me to a T - Tracey Odachowski

On me? Nah. Good luck finding them under the hair color anyway.

Oh no, today I found White Hairs on….my husband!

How, you ask, did I accomplish this impossible feat on his impossibly shiny head??? (see photo above). Well, you see, my husband is actually bald by choice, not by need. He Bics it, quite literally, several times a week. Looks like Santa Clause with all of the shaving gel. So, on the in between days, it gets, oh, what, an 1/8″ long or so??? (looking at his head each week is truly a testament to how fast hair grows.)

So anyway, I came home from a parent conference this evening, and he was outside w/ the kids. When I came up to kiss him, I noticed White Hairs, LOTS of them, along his sideburns, glistening in the sun.

:O

Can’t say I was anything but shocked before. Where in the WORLD did they come from???? And, yes, he is probably now reading this, ready to stop doing the dishes every night or the laundry on weekends. You know I can’t handle that! So to make it up to him, I will post the following. (hey honey, pay particular attention to the one w/ the word ‘pumpkin’ in it. You’ll like it. Sorry that I can’t tell you what number that one is…a man wrote this and they are all labeled #1. Jeesh. Just like a man).

Enjoy!!! (ps - thanks Di for sending this to me!!!)

The Man Rules­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­
At last a guy has taken the time to write this all down

Finally , the guys’ side of the story.
( I must admit, it’s pretty good.)
We always hear ” the rules”
From the female side.

Now here are the rules from the male side.

These are our rules!
Please note.. these are all numbered “1 ”
ON PURPOSE!

1. Men are NOT mind readers.

1. Learn to work the toilet seat.
You’re a big girl. If it’s up, put it down.
We need it up, you need it down.
You don’t hear us complaining about you leaving it down.

1. Sunday sports It’s like the full moon
or the changing of the tides.
Let it be.

1. Shopping is NOT a sport.
And no, we are never going to think of it that way.

1. Crying is blackmail.

1. Ask for what you want.
Let us be clear on this one:
Subtle hints do not work!
Strong hints do not work!
Obvious hints do not work!
Just say it!

1. Yes and No are perfectly acceptable answers to almost every question.

1. Come to us with a problem only if you want help solving it. That’s what we do.
Sympathy is what your girlfriends are for.

1. Anything we said 6 months ago is inadmissible in an argument.
In fact, all comments become Null and void after 7 Days.

1. If you think you’re fat, you probably are.
Don’t ask us.

1. If something we said can be interpreted two ways and one of the ways makes you sad or angry, we meant the other one

1. You can either ask us to do something
Or tell us how you want it done.
Not both.
If you already know best how to do it, just do it yourself.

1. Whenever possi ble, Please say whatever you have to say during commercials..

1. Christopher Columbus did NOT need directions and neither do we.

1. ALL men see in only 16 colors, like Windows default settings.
Peach, for example, is a fruit, not A color. Pumpkin is also a fruit. We have no idea what mauve is.

1. If it itches, it will be scratched.
We do that.

1. If w e ask what is wrong and you say “nothing,” We will act like nothing’s wrong.
We know you are lying, but it is just not worth the hassle.

1. If you ask a question you don’t want an answer to, Expect an answer you don’t want to hear.

1. When we have to go somewhere, absolutely anything you wear is fine… Really .

1. Don’t ask us what we’re thinking about unless you are prepared to discuss such topics as baseball
or golf.

1. You have enough clothes.

1. You have too many shoes.

1. I am in shape. Round IS a shape!

1. Thank you for reading this.
Yes, I know, I have to sleep on the couch tonight;

But did you know men really don’t mind that? It’s like camping.

Pass this to as many men as you can -
to give them a laugh.

Pass this to as many women as you can -
to give them a bigger laugh.

“If you wait til the last minute, it only takes a minute.”

My husband just informed me of this. He’s slightly amazed at the moment that every time I go on a trip I manage to wait until the last minute, then pack at lightening speed. I’m just that way, I guess!!!

I’m heading out in the morning to fly to Scottsdale, AZ until Thursday. Super excited since I get to spend all of that time with Jen Grant, some of the I Remember When gang, Alexis, Linda Harrison, Angie Hagist, Kim Moreno, Summer Fullerton, and Eva Flake at Xyron HQ. Ok, so we’ll be spending most of Sunday at the pool next to the mountains at a golf resort, but you get the idea.

Of course, after what happened the other day w/ Gabe, I was ready to cancel. I started to tell him that last night, and he proceeded, quite literally, to push me out the door. Seriously! Yeah, I panicked over nothing. (Surprise! Cuz I never panic! NOT!) Evidentally his ‘I wanna spend more time with my family’ attitude is only present during school hours. That Little Stinker.

Anyway, I hope everyone has a fabulous week!

OH! I almost forgot! Don’t forget to check out the CK Message Board for the latest HOF Product Challenge. This month we did Dream Street and One Heart One Mind. Here’s mine:

Dream Street:

One Heart One Mind:

I love this kid. There’s no denying that. So many people make comments to us about what a wonderful boy he is. So, it breaks my heart when things in his life aren’t absolutely perfect.

Last night, after his bath, I was waiting in his bed to cuddle with him and read a story. Because the kids had argued (a ton) in the bathtub, I told him that he wasn’t going to be allowed to go downstairs before bedtime, and instead we would cuddle upstairs that evening. His eyes started to tear up, his lips started to quiver, and he said to me, “But it makes me sad that I don’t get to spend more time with my family.”

Break my heart, I tell ya. I totally teared up.

He went on to say that it makes him sad that he is in school and he doesn’t get to stay home with me all day anymore. I, of course, started to question everything that is about to happen in our lives with me returning to work. I explained to him that we all have to go to school as it is a part of growing up. He said, “But Emily gets to stay home with you more than I do.” I replied that he stayed home with me just as much when he was Emily’s age. It didn’t matter. For some reason, going back to school for him was really difficult him this time around. He just wants to stay home with his mama.

Yeah, heart breaking more here.

I started to worry. I told him that in a few weeks, I was going back to work, and even Emily wouldn’t be able to stay home with me. Should I not return to my career? Should I stay at home, sell our house, and move to something much smaller? He said to me, “Oh no, Mommy. When you go back to work, I get to go to Child Care [there is a day care at their school] after school, and I love Child Care. I want you to go to work so I can go to Child Care!” Ummm, ok. How do we get past this???? I certainly can’t keep him home for the next two weeks that I’m off.

Well, he managed to weasel his way downstairs despite the punishment, probably b/c I felt so bad for him. Eh, what’s a few more minutes of cuddling, right? I asked him again if he wanted me to go back to work. He said yes, for the same reason as above, and because he wants to come visit me at my office and bring me lunch. So darn sweet. Well, then I started to question the fact that I’m supposed to go to Peg’s tonight to crop. I asked him if he wanted me to stay home instead. He said, “Nope. You have to go to Miss Peg’s because you like to scrapbook, and because Friday night is Daddy-Gabe night. You can’t be here.” (It’s a ritual in our house that Chris and Gabe spend Friday evenings together watching movies/playing/whatever they want after Emily goes to bed.)

So I’m thinking that ‘THAT’ age has finally hit where school just isn’t cool anymore. I’m trying to look at this in a positive way. That returning to work doesn’t make me a bad mother. My mother had to work outside of the home, and we made out just fine. I know we could probably finagle our budget to allow me to be a SAHM, but doing so would sacrifice keeping our kids in private school. I don’t want that, and, quite frankly, neither does Gabe. He loves his school. We love his school. It’s absolutely fabulous, it’s one mile from our house, and there is a child care there, too. I don’t have to worry about them there. They come home singing ‘Jesus loves me’ and reciting Bible verses, which I think is absolutely wonderful. I’m not prepared to give that up. So, as a result, I have to return to work, and our family has to go through a major life adjustment. And I have to find a way not to feel guilty about doing something for me, which, really, in turn should, for the most part, be a very positive thing for my family as well.

I just needed to know that I have the children’s blessing to do this, and they made it quite clear that I do. (although it seems one of them would much rather spend all day on the playground at child care than having to work on passing second grade.)

Ugh. Motherhood is NOT an easy job. God bless all of the Mothers out there!!!!

I GOT THE JOB!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I GOT THE JOB!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I’m finally going to be a nurse again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yes, after three very long, doctor-filled, disability-paperwork-stacked years, I’m finally going to be able to return to my nursing career. I still wasn’t allowed to going back to nursing in a clinical capacity (can’t do the heavy lifting), so I was a little worried as to what job I could possibly perform and whether I would be able to find something that made me happy. Well, I did. On a whim, I decided to look into the education department (I’ve always wanted to be a nursing educator), and the local hospital system here had openings for an ICU Staff Development Educator. I had my interview last Wednesday, and I received the call last night saying they would love to have me. It feels good to be wanted!

I’m used to applying for clinical positions where, pretty much, if you are breathing and you have a nursing license, you’ve got the job. I’v never had to compete for a job. I even had to do a presentation for them (um, don’t laugh - I did a scrapbooking/cardmaking presentation! They said I could do it on anything! Obviously, scrapbooking rules cuz it helped me get the job!!!)

So, yippeee! I get to go on a little shopping spree to replace my scrubs that have probably dry-rotted by now, and to get some nice business attire, too (I’ve always wanted to wear pretty clothes to work!) Hmmm, the idea of finding pretty, comfy shoes may be a challenge, though!

In case you didn’t know, several times a year, the awesome Miss Hillary Heidelberg has sketch classes call “One-in-48″ at her site, NYC Scraps. I’m thankful that I’ve been a guest designer for her classes a few times now, and that little sneak above is a dose of what is to come for Class 8!

Soooo, where have I been? Well, let’s see…in the last 1 1/2 weeks, we’ve been to 3 doctor appointments, 2 kids started school, I had an INTERVIEW (yes, I’m finally heading back to work…won’t know for a few more days if I got the job, though), held a birthday party, Emily turned 3, I was sick in bed for a day, and now I’m hanging out at the house watching a sprinkler system be installed and waiting for the driveway guy to show up to put a driveway extension onto the side of the driveway so that Chris will no longer need to park on the street. Phew. Is that enough for you? BUSY BUSY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And, for your viewing pleasure, here is my little wild-haired, newly-crowned, 3-year-old birthday princess:

(I SWEAR that I combed her hair! Honest!)