Ohhhh Emma

My youngest Emma is like a sponge! Last year, in Kindergarten Emma's teacher attempted to educate the kids during Black History month. I have to say that Emma has taken the topic very seriously. I am surprised at such a young age she has taken such an interest in the topic. On several occasions though this topic will often come up as some of the oddest times. They are humerous, not beause of the topic but the way they come up and the situations themselves. I have been told that I need to write them down. We had another "episode" this weekend, which made me chuckle on the inside so I thought it was time to chronicle this for her.
Last year, while in the kitchen my 5 year old comes up to me and says "mom, let's play slave". My curiosity made me responded calmly with a "how do you play that?". "You know, I will be the black person and you be the white person, and when you get mad at me, you send me outside to pick cotton."

I was caught so off guard. Where the heck did this come from? I tried really hard to hold it inside.

A few days later, I was for what felt like the 10th time, asking the girls to pick up toys downstairs. Emma, somped in front of me and says "why do you treat me like I am the black person and you are the white person?"......AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. What is so hard about these comments is they are not meant to be harmful and they are not terribly out of context, but they come at the oddest times.

A few weeks later it was parent teacher conference time. Wheww. After we finished talking about Emma's social and academic performance, it was time to bring up the subject of Black History month.
I told her of Emma's comment about wanting to "play slave", I said "it may be a good idea to put a little more emphasis on the negative part of this period in time". We both got a good little chuckle.

So here we are 1 year later. Besides the occasional "he is a famous Black American" everytime she hears Tiger Wood's name, we have been relatively comment free....until this weekend.

Emma's oldest sister decided that he didn't want to share with her sister. Something so silly as hair bands became a major issue and an opportunity to teach them both about sharing and hurt feelings.
While in the car, We talked about how it made Madi feel that she could not "share" the viewing of Emma's DS, and how Emma might have felt with Madi declared that Emma was not to use her hair bands. Emma pipes in....

"now I know how the black people felt when the white people wouldn't share with them." Emma so profoundly exclaims.

Huge sigh from Mom, Emma I am sure it is not exactly the same but I see what you are saying.

Ahhh Febuary. Each year you supply my daughter with more metaphor material.

Emma is not just funny, she is hilarious!

There are 2 ways to "hate" someone

I realized this week that there is 2 different kinds of "hate". There is the kind where you truly do not like someone. The kind of dislike that makes your stomach turn every time you think of them. It has been my experience that eventually this kind of "hate" wears off.

Then their is the other kind of "hate" the kind where you say you hate someone yet secretly realize you do only because you wish you had what they had. I suppose some would call that envy or jealousy. I decided this week that I would call it inspirational. Wanting something someone else has is more like a undiscovered dream or goal. Having a dream or a goal is what keeps most of us going on a daily basis.

Now I do not consider myself some who "hates" a lot. In fact, I can count on half of one hand how many people I have "hated" in my lifetime. But I do think that dreams and goals can get lost in the everyday shuffle. So I thank those recently that I have "hated", it has put my life back into focus.

Life is funny that way.

TIme to Reflect!

Since I do not call my new life focus a "resolution", I decided to check in with myself on how I was doing with the changes I made prior to the end of 2009.

I am almost 1 month in to my new routine of getting up early to workout and shower (I know, this is a lot of detail) before getting the kids up. I have to say, I am really starting to enjoy it! I feel like I get so much more done,  my mood is drastically different, and I don't feel the constant stress of "running" out of time and not getting it all in. I think it has improved my personal frame of mind and professionally too!

Today I began to reflect on the physical results of my new lifestyle. While I haven't seen any drastic results on the scale, I do feel much better, look leaner and seem to have more energy. I took to the message boards for the exercise program I am using and apparently to make sure my results are typical and found some good suggestions on small changes to make. Confiding in others who are doing what you are doing is a great way to find out what works and what doesn't. Don't pretend to be a expert that knows it all, even they learn new things now and again.

What makes life funny is that I have apparently traded late nights of t.v watching ( I now am in bed before most 60 year olds)  for 5:30 wake ups and workouts! And you know what??? I like it!

The Geek in Me Says "no"

I consider myself to be a gadget geek! I love all the new technologies and admit I love to get the newest "toys". But I am having troubles embracing this years "hottest" item.....the Kindle!

Don't get me wrong, I dig it! And who ever invented it did an awesome job! To be able to carry an entire bookstore with you in something the size of a piece of paper is awesome! But here is my beef.....
One of the most exciting things about reading is being able to boast about the size of the book! How impressed are your friends when they see the dictionary sized book your reading sitting on your table? And what about amazing your spouse with how many pages you read in one sitting? But the biggest disappointment with the Kindle is not knowing when the end is near! How disappointing it would be to just being reading along and WHAMOO, it is ends and you had no idea it was even coming because you didn't see just how far you were into the book!

Technology is cool, but life is funny, and there are certain joys in reading that a Kindle can not replicate!

My Wondering Eye

O.K anyone who truly knows me will not be surprised by this at all!

I got a listing referral today (Yeah!!) so I called the gal and offered to meet her tomorrow afternoon. She insisted on meeting today at 3:00, a mere 2 hours from our conversation YIKES! I begrudgingly agreed. I already had an appointment at 4:00 so it was going to be tight. And even when she called back and asked to move it to 4:30, I still just went with it.

So this is where it gets interesting. I am greeted by a gal who was in the garage she welcomes me in. Turns out she is the daughter (poor thing). Now I was told that they lived in TX but had this house in Vancouver to sell immediately. When I walked in the house it was not horrible but a mess. Dirty and no furniture, just "stuff" everywhere and a horrible smell that is just now starting to fade from my sinus's. So, mom comes out and immediately my eyes zoom in on this horrible tooth thing she has going on. This top front tooth is not only longer but apparently behind her others. I can't stop looking at it! I try really hard to pay attention to what she is saying. Rented to a family members friend, cheater this, lesbian that, just left house a mess yadayada. She is devestated cause this house is not how she left it but I can't stop thinking about the tooth. Why would someone not fix that???
They go on to tell me about how she has never sold a house only bought them (apparently they have 3) and my thoughts are....if you can afford to buy so many houses why not fix the tooth? Then she wants to know what they need to do to the home to get it ready for market and all I can think of is don't worry about replacing the nearly perfect vinyl kitchen floor....FIX THE TOOTH!

Anyway, we part. Supposedly she is going to talk to a few other agents which is fine. I think they would be good sellers because they seem to take great care and worry to the condition of the home. Too bad she doesn't take as much care of her self.

Man, not only is life funny but so are people!

Premature New Years Resolutions

This year I decided that I would make and put into practice by New Years Resolutions early.

1. I will create a blog and use it as my outlet for random thoughts about life, work and my family, giving my Facebook friends a break from 10 different status updates a day.

2. I decided this year that I will put myself 1st! Sounds a little selfish but in 2009 I started training from the spring to the fall for a half marathon. Getting exercise was a MUST in order to prevent death and embarassment. As a result I found I was more productive and happier. A better mother and wife, and a better agent to my clients. Well as soon as the race was over (yes I survived), so went my "need" to exercise. I didn't realize that what I had been doing had made such an impact on my life. I started back into old workaholic habits, was grumpy and well, you know the rest. So this year I will make myself priority #1 so that I can be "all that I can be" to others.

3. I will just let it go. I will not sweat the small stuff but instead enjoy them. It is almost pitch black out but we are getting a dusting of snow. And after 4 hours of driving around with me to take care of work, my girls couldn't wait to come home, put on all the snow gear and head out to sled on what looks like lightly dusted asphalt. I can hear screams of laughter, so they must be having fun. My old instincts would have been to say "no, it is too wet. Or, look at that mess you made (huge pile of clothes and shoes in the living room (why can't kids dress in there rooms?))" but instead, I said "have fun!".


So, this blog will be my outlet, my online diary so to speak. If you decide to follow me, thanks! I hope I am able to entertain you as often as I seem to entertain myself!

Afterall, Life is Funny!