The Mommy Quack

The Valentine Scavenger Hunt

2012-02-14T19:19:00.000-08:00

I don't normally create work for myself. In fact, I go out of my way to avoid it. BUT-there is something about Valentine's Day that makes me want to work twice as hard. If the day is really supposed to be about love and friendship, we should put some effort into it. That's just my feeling. This year, my boys are in a public school in the morning and a private one in the afternoon. That meant

The Play Date Chart

2012-02-07T19:35:00.000-08:00

Play dates rock. They save your sanity. You are not the only mom having the issues you have. No matter what-I have seen some of the best of the best moms lose it in the last eight years of parenting. It will happen. You need a play date to see another mom do it. I wasn't always the play date queen and because I work from home it is a lot easier to have a schedule and see the same people at

The moment for a lemon drop....

2012-01-28T06:56:00.000-08:00

"We have much to be thankful for. Would you care for a lemon drop?" "A what?" "A lemon drop. They're a kind of Muggle sweet I'm rather fond of." "No thank you, said Professor McGonagall coldly, as though she didn't think this was the moment for lemon drops (HPSS, p.10-11)." Sometimes we have to cling to what comforts us. Dumbledore knows he is about to drop a very well loved toddler off

(Southern) American Girl Hissy Fit...

2012-01-25T13:22:00.000-08:00

My college roommate and I went to New York two years ago and we took my daughter. :0) It was a wonderful trip to the American Girl Cafe. She was six and did what we said, and we bought what we wanted to buy for her. Now she is eight. She had a mission and a list of what she wanted before we got there. This year, her doll was going to the beauty salon. When we got off the train, before we

Snow and states of matter....

2012-01-22T18:56:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was the first official snow day of the winter in my New England town. It was a little gift from the universe for a couple of reasons: 1) It was a Saturday- I didn't have to work on the laptop and hear them say, "Can we go out now? Can we go out now?" We could do whatever we wanted! 2) I had everything they needed: waterproof gloves, hats, snow pants, boots...for all three of them and

Always a story.....

2012-01-19T19:18:00.000-08:00

This year the Three Kings came to my house. Normally they all come at once and fill shoes with little things and in Spain they bring children the big gifts-at least the family I lived with did it that way. The Kings decided that at my house, they had to come at different times and leave my children special letters-so Three Kings day lasted all day on January 6th and trickled over to Saturday

Jack, Harry, some Mushrooms,and Rachael Ray...

2012-01-17T18:22:00.000-08:00

I am so old that the kids I babysat for are now adults. Don't laugh, this will happen to you. They aren't just adults, they are pushing thirty. The good news? You can hang out with them and have relationships with them as adults. The bad news? You can hang out with them and have relationships with them as adults. One of my little babysit-tees used to drive me up the wall. I blame this one on

I'm under construction

2012-01-12T18:21:00.001-08:00

Twenty five days of blogging drained me...I'm re-vamping it and will be up soon....

Day 25: The Word

2011-12-25T12:38:00.000-08:00

Happy Holidays! In addition to being dragged to the Episcopal church every Sunday since I was born, I went to a Southern Baptist college and was required to take religion courses. I am most comfortable in the Episcopal church, but I can worship anywhere. I even went to a Bahai faith center once...long story. I know my Nativity stories-my children know the stories. They know there is more

Day 24: Arrivals...

2011-12-24T18:11:00.000-08:00

As my little Sister says, "Wowsa!" I created 24 Advent posts again. I only cheated twice and they were technically Advent posts-I didn't say I'd write a novel a day. :0) This year I was a little deeper than I was last year about the whole thing. Weird, because I just write what I'm thinking. I don't consider myself a writer, my friends laugh that reading my blog isn't any different than

Christmas in Old Salem.....

2011-12-23T17:47:00.000-08:00

Day 23: A day with my Grandparents

2011-12-23T17:46:00.000-08:00

On August 4th I took all three of my children to visit my grandparents. They rode in a wagon up and down the halls and sang songs and quoted Bible verses and showed off very well...:0) That was the day I got my sanity back and I'll never forget it. But today, I went to my grandparent's nursing home without my children. I had never been there without them and my grandmother has early

Day 22: The Santaland Diaries

2011-12-22T19:10:00.000-08:00

Well, I went to the theater tonight-any guesses on what I saw? The Nutcracker? A Christmas Carol? A re-telling of the Nativity put on by a Mega church? Oh hell, why keep you guys in suspense.... I saw The Santaland Diaries by the brilliant, witty David Sedaris. David Sedaris is one of those writers you can use to divide your friends into categories. If you say "David Sedaris" and someone

Day 21: Hogwarts Year 3

2011-12-21T19:57:00.000-08:00

Every time I read the Christmas chapters in book three, I can see the little village covered in snow at Christmas time. I want to join the crowd at the pub with a warm butter beer or have a snow ball fight on the Hogwarts grounds. I think that living in Guilford and wandering around the town green decorated for the holidays is as close as I am going to get to Hogsmede... This is my

Day 20: Time for an old friend...

2011-12-20T18:59:00.000-08:00

The other day, I took some time to spend with a very good friend from growing up in Greensboro, NC. Kristen is one of the few that has known me since elementary school, and knowing me in elementary wasn't an easy thing to do.... She is a business owner in Manhattan and I am the mother of three on the Connecticut shoreline. A few years ago, she called me and said, "I'm coming to Connecticut to

Day 19: A day in New York...

2011-12-19T15:59:00.000-08:00

Very busy.... I'll write two posts tomorrow....

Day 18: The Fourth Sunday in Advent...Joy!!!!

2011-12-18T19:07:00.000-08:00

Fourth Sunday in Advent is extra special to me because ... It's for joy/love! (I keep getting different google answers....I give up). My third child was baptised on the fourth Sunday in Advent. I went to high school with the priest and all but told him he had to do it. That day my baby's older sister couldn't go in a large crowd and wasn't with us around the font. I say it over and over

Day 17: Dinner and A Christmas Carol

2011-12-17T19:51:00.000-08:00

In addition to our nutcracker obsession, we have now seen three versions of A Christmas Carol: the Muppet version with Michael Cain, Mickey's Christmas Carol with then entire gang from the Clubhouse, and the Jim Carey computer puppet version. Here is what I have learned from the classic this year: 1) With your children, I recommend watching the Mickey version first. It covers all of the

Day 16: Friday night playing the Dreidel....

2011-12-16T19:06:00.000-08:00

We had made plans to get together with another family tonight, but due to illness that was canceled. What to do when something like that happens? There is always another plan, and my son brought it home in his backpack: A Dreidel! In Kindergarten today, he learned about Hanukkah and brought home a Dreidel! He wasted no time teaching his brother and sister how to play the game. If it is

Tatty: X-File #3212

2011-12-16T05:56:00.000-08:00

Day 15: The X-Files: The truth behind the elf on the shelf

2011-12-15T17:33:00.000-08:00

I am fed up with being told there is no such thing as normal- there has to be a standard deviation or something that I one day will fall into. All moms have good days and all moms have bad days but I don't know anyone but me who has my days. Today I had to tell my boys the truth behind the Elf on the Shelf. My boys were playing with all the Christmas things I have out: Santa, Reindeer, a Plush

Day 14: What Numeracy Means to Christmas....

2011-12-14T15:06:00.000-08:00

Numeracy has become my new favorite word. Numeracy, Numeracy, Numeracy.... Wikipedia defines numeracy as: the ability to reason with numbers and other mathematical concepts. A numerically literate person can manage and respond to the mathematical demands of life. Aspects of numeracy include number sense, operation sense, computation, measurement, geometry, probability and statistics. What

Day 13: The Smiths plan a family picture card

2011-12-13T18:33:00.000-08:00

Everyone has seen those extended family Christmas card pictures: the grandparents, the children, all the grandchildren and cousins. Everyone is wearing a complementary outfit on a serene beach somewhere. It rocks. It reminds me of a really long novel that spans two or three generations, like The House of the Spirits or East of Eden. My family has never gotten their act together to produce one

Day 12: Mary was just a mom...

2011-12-12T17:57:00.000-08:00

Today (December 12th) in Mexico and other Latin American countries, they are celebrating The feast day of Guadalupe. I always wanted to talk about her when I taught in brick and mortar schools but I never knew how to work it in with its really heavy religious overtones... It took me just about all day to figure out how to work her into this blog. Then I remembered it was my blog and I could do

Day 11: Getting dressed.....

2011-12-11T17:47:00.000-08:00

My daughter is the youngest granddaughter on her father's side and the only granddaughter on my side of the family. Between me and her two grandmothers, she always left the house looking like a children's catalog model for the first seven years of her life. I don't know what happened when she turned age seven. Maybe it was an independence thing, maybe it was a mother/daughter thing, maybe it

Day 10: A Nutcracker Scavenger Hunt

2011-12-10T18:20:00.000-08:00

My sons have become obsessed with the Nutcracker. I wrote about this yesterday. Today was a cold day in the north and I didn't feel like bundling them up to run around the green but I also wasn't in the mood to let the television take over. Yesterday we made Christmas Rice Krispie treats so baking was out. Besides, I don't think I used enough cereal because the batch was quite sticky. After

Day 9: Fighting the Mouse King

2011-12-09T19:25:00.000-08:00

This is my fourth year at the Montessori center and therefore my fourth Christmas learning about the Nutcracker. I remembered watching it as a child in this post last year. I saw it performed at least twice, but not within the last twenty years. I have about twenty friends who were in it as children and about twenty more friends whose children are performing in it now, but I'm good to get my

Day 8:The Office and the Christmas Party

2011-12-08T19:38:00.000-08:00

The Office is the only show I watch on regular television consistently-everything else is on cable. The very first Christmas episode aired in December of 2005 when Kenneth was two weeks old. They were doing a "Yankee Swap" for an iPod. Switching gifts like that is not the southern way. There have been some Christmas exchanges in my life where I would open a gift and I had no idea what the

Day 7: Christmas at Hogwarts year 2

2011-12-07T19:02:00.000-08:00

People who participate in the tradition don't just roll out of bed on December 25th and have it going on. It's a process and sometimes it starts in October. First you make your list, then you do your shopping, wrapping, your card mailing, and gift shipping. Where are you going to eat and how do you divide up your time? This isn't something you tend to do alone either-family and friends play a

Day 6: Christmas at Hogwarts year 1

2011-12-06T19:09:00.000-08:00

It's no secret or surprise to anyone that I am a Harry Potter freak. That's really all I have to say unless this is your first time stumbling upon this blog so let me just say the main point: Second baby-labor-Goblet of Fire movie. Now I'll move on. Each year in the novels, Harry celebrated Christmas. With each year came a different lesson or realization about his life and what he was meant

Day 5: Why I Christmas Shop at the Independent Book Store...

2011-12-05T18:25:00.000-08:00

I love to read and I always have. I'll read almost anything. I could spend hours in Cary, NC or Pittsburgh, PA combing the aisles of a huge chain bookstore. For my birthday, for Christmas, for Mother's Day...I want books!!!! I'll read a good memoir like Angela's Ashes or a classic like East of Eden. I'll read a Stephen King novel, a John Grisham court drama, I'll read Isabel Allende in her

Day 4: The Second Sunday in Advent Crazies...

2011-12-04T11:29:00.000-08:00

Over and over again we are told to slow down and reflect on the true meaning of the season. I have come to the decision that is not possible to "slow down" during Advent. Advent is for "The Crazies" For the last eight years in two different states I have taught the middle school Sunday school class. This keeps happening for two reasons: 1) I LOVE that age group and 2) No one else rarely

Day 3: The 2011 Tree lighting

2011-12-03T10:17:00.000-08:00

While I am two months into my fourth year in this town, last night was my second "Tree Lighting." Last year's post is here. Pamplona has the Running of the Bulls, Guilford has a tree lighting. Pretty much the entire town shows up on the green to watch the tree lights come on after a countdown. It is a cool thing that I never witnessed growing up in North Carolina. That isn't to say they don't

Day 2: The Smith's Holiday Wiki....

2011-12-02T05:58:00.000-08:00

Since I started teaching online, I have become quasi proficient in blogging, message boarding, tweeting, podcasting, skyping, teleconferencing, glogging, emailing politely, status updating, and now creating avatars of myself singing in Spanish. What I haven't fully mastered is the Wiki. A Wiki is a really cool concept. A group can work on a document or other social media something together.

Day 1: A Facial from Rituals....

2011-12-01T05:45:00.000-08:00

I went to a women's college. I was a girl-scout. I went to a camp for girls for four summers in a row. I have read The Traveling Pants series. I get sisterhood, and motherhood, and the feminine mystique. Women need each other. You help each other out, you cry on each others shoulders, you cheer each other on. Viva la sisterhood!!! The holidays are coming. Most of my goody-goody friends

Advent 2011 is here

2011-11-28T06:33:00.000-08:00

Wow, another block of Ordinary time is gone again. The Sundays after Pentecost went from around Memorial Day weekend, until yesterday, the first Sunday in Advent. The fact that this was called "Ordinary" time in the liturgical church calendar floors me because the "Page" calendar from Memorial Day weekend until last week was anything and everything but ordinary. Perhaps that is why it is God's

One bag of Oreos

2011-11-11T18:35:00.000-08:00

When one of my kids has a tantrum or refuses to follow directions, or even more creatively does the opposite of what I say just because I said it, I have to remain calm. I don't always. Girl, every mother loses it every now and then, but if I want results, I need serenity. I need to wait out the rebellion and then they will do what I asked. I simply say, "Go ahead, I'll wait." I'll wait until

Snow in October....

2011-10-30T17:55:00.000-07:00

I had never heard of snow in October-ever. Until Yesterday. So what do I know now that I didn't know before? Which cliche should I go with? To live is to see it happen? Nothing is impossible? To never say never? Did I really need Mother Nature to remind me of something I should have learned a long time ago? I guess I did or it wouldn't have happened. That's my new philosophy. We played in

Pumpkin Spice in a place not always nice

2011-10-29T05:45:00.000-07:00

One thing that floors me about New England is the dramatic change from small town to small town. I don't sugar coat jack-the people one town over can be downright snobby. I grew up hearing about Madison, CT, from my mother actually. One of her best friends from college lives there, and has always lived there. (People don't leave the shoreline). My mom would go visit this "Madison." It took

The Grocery Store Diaries: Halloween Special!

2011-10-27T19:29:00.000-07:00

I own the grocery store parking lot now. All three of them know they don't open a single door until I give them the go ahead. All three of them know they can't ask for junk. All three of them know we stick together and don't scatter in 101 directions. I said they know it. I didn't say they do it. The pumpkins outside the store would be fight number one- but we get to avoid this because we

My Harry Potter Movie Timeline

2011-09-13T18:40:00.000-07:00

The summer of 2011 is always going to be the season the most catastrophic life changing event happened to me ever ever ever..... The Harry Potter movie franchise ended.