Diary of a Mad Mommy

At my house, we believe in the multi-step approach in parenting. Asking, showing, and then telling.  This has worked in many different situations like cleaning rooms, unloading dishwashers, and even doing their own laundry. I try to teach my boys how to open doors for the next person. Looking out for the next person is an amazing quality that I think men should have. There's no surprise that this quality doesn't come natural to every man, so some must be taught to some. Whether it be filling up the wife's gas tank or picking up his clothes in the bathroom, all little tasks are appreciated when someone goes the extra mile to make life easier.

However, today was not a teaching-type day.

"I've left a friendly reminder for you all (boys) to remember what to do after using the toilet,"

Mommy's warning

"I, personally, do not want to fall in while trying to pee. If you all would like to see what a wet butt feels like while trying to squat and use the bathroom, I would be glad to remove all the seats in the house. The difference is, that I am used to squatting while peeing. You are all used to standing while peeing. Try squatting  and hovering while trying to poop."

No yelling, no screaming. Just a smooth calm voice was used this time. That's what scared me. My dad used to yell.  He was 'always' right. He would get so red in the face, that I could see jugular vein distention in his neck. I swear steam would come out of his ears. I did learn from him, though. That's the exact reason yelling didn't take place today. Every time I did something wrong as a child, I got yelled at. Therefore, I knew what was coming. Call my name, scream at me, run away crying, repeat. That walk of shame feeling was happening as I dragged my feet with my head down when I heard my name being called. The red hulk was about to unleash. 

Mommies shouldn't be a hulk, I think to myself. But, I will stay true to my word and follow through with the removal of a toilet seat if need be. One time of holding the squat position while utilizing the toilet should be a valuable lesson that a seat is a perk and not a necessity. 

Learn, my children. Please learn the easy way. 

The Madison Reed Hair Color and Care Experience

If you're like Liz, you're a hair dye aholic. She does her hair at least once per month in order to battle the grays. Now, thanks to Madison Reed, you can have salon quality hair color, shampoos, and conditioners shipped directly to you. You can even schedule to receive hair color once per month - no more "Oh no, I need to color but I don't have any!" The Color Crew experts can even help you choose what color to try! What else does Madison Reed offer?

From Madison Reed...

The Madison Reed experience includes: 

Salon-Quality Results: Radiant, long lasting, multi-tone formula is ammonia-free to create dynamic, natural shades for sophisticated color at home. 

Expert Advice: Get free professional consultations from the experts on our Color Crew. 

Shine On: Rejuvenate your hair with our gluten free, paraben free and sulfate free, nourishing shampoo and conditioner. 

Convenient delivery: Set up auto-delivery and have our hair color shipped when and where you want. Change you color or delivery frequency as often as you'd like.

Find your perfect hair color now!

Traditions...interrupted

It was a sad, cold day here. January 6th was Three Kings Day/ Epiphany. It's a day where children in Puerto Rico and other Latin countries wake up to find presents delivered all the way from Bethlehem by the Kings as a reward for their good behavior all year. Only...we had a problem Houston. It was 19 degrees outside with snow, and we couldn't find any grass to leave out for the camels to eat, as tradition dictates. This isn't going to go over so well.

The tradition is that children leave grass and water for the camels and leave some food out for the Kings to take a rest at your home, before heading out to the next house. Because we are the only part Latin family in this 'hood, the spawn know that the Three Kings will have a long camel ride before they get to the next house. Needless to say, they looked for grass for an hour to no avail. With tears already welling up, they called it quits and headed inside: " I hate living where there is snow sometimes, Mama."  Trust me kid, me too.

I have to admit that it made me kinda sad too. I felt like we didn't do things right, like something was missing. I sat back and remembered my childhood in Puerto Rico. I would go to the fields near my house and pick the best and greenest grass for the camels. I also would ask to leave out some rice, beans, and pastels out for the Three Kings. If we'd had time to prepare, the Three Kings would get a soda to drink with their dinner or a Maltita India and the camels would get ice water to drink. I remember feeling so proud of myself for putting all these things together and also feeling like they would appreciate the meal. Maybe they would leave me that Barbie mansion I'd been after for years. Sadly, they never left me the mansion, but they did bring me a Barbie Corvette! That was a big deal!! I remember how happy I was that morning, opening up the gifts. Everyone knows the Three Kings are better than Santa Claus!!

Trying to avoid a complete catastrophe, I pulled the girls to me and told them: " let's make the best of it! They won't have grass this year but they will appreciate some water, and I'm sure the Kings would love some cookies, cake, and Maltita. I'm sure of it! Traveling by camel in the cold is hard on them, you know." The girls looked at me and agreed that this was the best plan. Pixy seemed cheery laying out the treats, while Banshee was worried that the wolves would eat everything before the Three Kings got to it all. I agreed to keep the boys upstairs,; I mean we didn't want them barking when the camels came inside to warm up, right?

We got everything taken care of and everyone went to bed on time. Pixy looks at me and says, " I hope they don't mind, Mama. I don't want them to be sad. They bring us such nice things every year and we don't have anything to give them!" Banshee added:" it's not even nice outside!" I agreed wholeheartedly, as I remembered going to bed in 80 degree weather with the windows open, waking up at every sound outside because it was the Three kings. 19 degrees, snow, and ice out there. What a crappy night to travel by camel. Here's hoping they make their way safely and in spite of the weather, come morning, we still find a little bit of sand on the floor from the camels' feet.

Photo courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net "Camel Caravan In Desert" by Photokanok

Blogger Opportunity - Maggie Bags Giveaway

Are you a blogger who likes to post giveaways on your blog? If so, this is a great opportunity to drive traffic to your blog and to your social media outlets. Tell them that Mamas Around the House sent you! 

Blogger Opp!

Free & Paid Options Available

Hosted By: Mami's 3 Little Monkeys

Sponsored By: Maggie Bags

Prize: Tote of Many Colors

$72ARV

Open to US only

You must post Announcement Post OR pay $4 fee if you wish to not post.

Free link and additional links for a small fee are available.

Co-Host Spots will be $5/ea. The number of Co-Host Spots depends on the amount of sign-ups I receive. I will send out an email notification of how many spots are open at the end of February. 

I will also do one free co-host spot to the blogger who refers the most bloggers to the sign-up form!

Please be sure to let them know that Mamas Around the House referred you!

Grab the Announcement post HTML Code here!

SIGN-UP NOW!

A Year's Reflection - Not Your Typical What We Learned Sunday

Usually on Sundays we reflect on the last week and talk about what we learned or observed, but this past week was kind of different - we started a whole new year (never mind a week)! The start of the new year is a time that people reflect on their last year and think about what they want to do in the next year. As a blog, as three moms writing together, we've got a lot to reflect on. We did some awesome things in the last year.

A year in review!

As a Blog

First of all, we came together. In August of 2013 Robyn and Lisa joined Liz in the adventure of blog writing, and the blog went from MamA to MamaS Around the House.

We grew our readership and our social media communities like mad. Prior to August, most of the blog posts had 20 or fewer views. After Lisa and Robyn joined up and we were posting more consistently, those numbers doubled and sometimes quadrupled. We went from 184 "likes" on Facebook to almost 3,000. We're working to "talk" more to our readers through Facebook and Twitter. Come join the conversation (or give us a "like").

We started building our Pinterest (and someone...ahem...Robyn) became addicted. We're constantly trying to figure out what would be interesting to pin, so look forward to seeing some new boards from us in the coming year.

We caught some people's eyes. Every day people are emailing us, asking us to promote their product or something similar. Sometimes we find some great things we want to share with you, but it leads to a lot of email.

We wrote some pretty good things. Our top ten posts from the last year included...

How well do we know our neighbors?

Losing your self in parenting

My own game of dungeons

Why I don’t have an Elf on the Shelf

Blogger Idol Play at Home – Write your own eulogy

Little Monsters – Children and Halloween

Pardon me, do you blog?

Mirror Mirror – Adults and Friendship

An Ode to Bloggers

Paleo Me

 

As Individuals

Robyn:

I became associated with the Civil Service world through a new job offer. While on leave, we took the family on a 5 day road trip to Disney World. Our original trip was a cruise that was booked, but the Carnival Triumph got stranded in the middle of the ocean. Therefore, Disney World was our plan B. I was then able to work through June and nest my house from top to bottom. I won a scholarship through the Air National Guard and then Reagan was born in July. We took her to her first pro baseball game at 1 month. She slept through the entire night at 4 weeks. Sean and Kasen got to ride in a helicopter as a birthday present. Bailey started high school and has kept busy running from school to ROTC, and Boyscouts. Mike took several bike trips to Ft. Worth, Corpus Christi, and Oklahoma during his short break in between classes for his almost finished masters degree. We ended the year with taking the family on a cruise as the kids' Christmas present. 2013 was the year of making memories by living out our dreams! 

Lisa:
We've had a busy year here. The happy highlights: we were able to get a diagnosis for the Banshee, Pixy has developed a knack for singing, Sailor is doing much better now that he's sleeping with a CPAP for his sleep apnea, I began to write with Liz and Robyn, Cubby!, moving to a new house, reading...you name it. We have had our sad moments too, but without those, we wouldn't ever learn anything about life and the universe, right? :) We are happily setting off at our usual crazy pace for 2014 and getting things done, all while managing to Carpe Diem as much as we can. We're happy you're here for the ride!!

Liz:
We've had a lot to be happy about in our house this past year. My husband graduated with his Associates in Fine Arts and got a "real" job (after working 19 hours a week and going to school part-time for five years). Sage started sleeping through the night (praise to all gods) and started walking. Silas learned to use the potty. I finished my dissertation and graduated with my PhD (yay student loan payments). We added Lisa and Robyn as authors to the blog and I've enjoyed working with them on making this an amazing blog. Overall a very good year and I'm looking forward to seeing what 2014 has in store for our house.

We'd love to hear from you. Tell us what you did in the last year that you're the most proud of or that makes you all smiley inside.

Photo courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net "New Year 2014 Calender" by Danilo Rizzuti