Green Onions

My older two kids (aka Social Guy and The Artist) are growing up fast. This summer they have started getting more and more freedom and of course more responsibilities too. One of the best examples of a growing experience happened just last week. It was a few days before our family camping trip and we had just returned from an amazing long weekend at a friend's cottage. We had a lot to clean up and a lot to get ready for. Our errands list looked something like:

Get Social Guy a hair cut
Go to Cub Foods and pick up green onions
stop at body shop for estimate
go to the bank
go to Target (just because I like to browse and Target is one of my favorite stores...Did you know they have *everything* at Target?)
stop at the library to pick up a book on hold
pick up flea and tick junk for the dogs at Chuck'N Dons
plan the upcoming menu
double check to see that we have all school materials
dishes
laundry
blah blah blah

So I drove up to Great Clips and asked Social Guy if he needed me to come in or if I could just hand him $20 and he could get his hair cut on his own. He agreed that he could get his haircut on his own, so I dropped him off and told him I would be back.

I pulled into the auto body shop. Walked in and talked to the receptionist. She told me to hang out for a bit and one of the estimators would be with me in a couple minutes. After a few moments the estimator, The Artist, and I walked out to the car where he looked it over and took notes. The estimator told me to wait there and he would have my estimate ready in just a few minutes. The Artist noticed I kept looking over at Cub Foods, which was right next to the auto body store.

The Artist, "Do you need something from Cub?"

Me, "Yeah." *at that moment wishing The Artist was more like Social Guy and would be able to run over there and get those green onions for me.*

The Artist, "I could go over there and get what ever you need?" (Yes, she said that as a question.)

Me, "wow! That would be cool. I need green onions. Do you know what green onions are?"

The Artist, "No, but you could describe them to me."

I went ahead and tried my best to describe to her what they looked like and where they would be in the produce department. I handed her $20 and said, "Thanks!" A few minutes later she comes back. She's looking pretty proud of herself and hands me the bag.

The Artist, *in a beautiful, happy, sing-song voice* "These are the green onions, right?"

I look inside the bag....nope. I smile at her and say, "No, these are collard greens."

She was disappointed and mad, more at Cub Foods lousy produce labeling then at herself. I didn't show her the ribbon on the collard greens that said 'collard greens'. I did look at her with a huge smile and said, "Hey, I've never cooked these before. What an adventure! We'll go home, look up a recipe, and try them out. How cool!"

So that night we added a couple things to the list:
look up collard green recipe
make collard greens

The Artist grew a lot that day due to a mild mistake and our whole family tried something new AND loved it! Collard greens will become a new family favorite food and story to remember :)

Tiaras and Tutus~
The MFP

No Apologies!

WARNING! Some of you will read this and say, "must be rough..." I know this because someone already said that to me this week. So I am starting out this blog by refusing to apologize for my life. I refuse to apologize for the fact that I am a stay-at-home mom, instead of a career mom. I refuse to apologize for homeschooling my kids, instead of sending them to school. I refuse to apologize for having a husband who works from home, instead of spending fifty plus hours a week at work. I refuse to apologize for being over-weight, instead of thin. I refuse to apologize....period.

This has been a typical week for us:

Monday at the beach, with friends.
Tuesday at the river, with friends.
Wednesday, at a friends house for science co-op. (Yes, we are still doing school. At our house we finish the course before moving on and I refuse to apologize.)
Thursday at the park with friends, plus grilling dinner at the park with husbands when they are done with work.

Considering the fact that the kids and I have been using the house as "base camp" this week, it is no wonder that I have had a hard time keeping up with the household chores. Sure I've done some dishes and tossed some laundry in the washer and dryer, but tonight it hit me. Mount St. Laundry is about as big as it gets. I am pretty sure the only clean dishes we have left are the big serving spoons and a few large Tupperware containers. The bathrooms have sand on the floor and my plants are drooping and begging for water. So what do I do? I look at my husband and I say....

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry the laundry is out of control. I'm sorry the kitchen is a disaster. I'm sorry the entryway is piled high with towels and shoes. I'm sorry you've had to take care of the dogs. I'm even sorry I haven't shaved my legs all week. I'm sorry." and he says to me.....

"I'd rather have a girlfriend then a mom."

You see, apparently he's okay with a messy kitchen and having to find his own matching pair of socks sometimes, but he doesn't want us to stop having fun together. And after what we have been through lately that is the best thing I have heard in a long, long time. (Oh, by the way I did shave my legs, but the dishes are still piled to the ceiling!)