According to "Mayo Clinic," a hiccup happens when a muscle separates from your chest, then from your abdomen. It also plays an important role in breathing. Each contraction is followed by a sudden closure of your vocal chords. Tonight I got the hiccups. I don't know about you, but I HATE the hiccups. It got me to thinking. I am not the only person who gets the hiccups and if they are annoying to me, then they have to be annoying to others too. When I looked up the meaning of a hiccup, I immediately began to contemplate on my daughter (referring to "a sudden closure of your vocal chords"). Math is not my strength (as much as I wish it was). When Maddie comes home with homework...math homework...we immediately know that it is daddy's time to intervene. Last night, Maddie had a math worksheet for homework. Well...we are re-doing our office, and while her daddy was out in the workroom getting things ready, mommy was on MATH homework duty. Math homework ended up in a yelling match. Actually, my sweet Maddie's temperment has changed in the last month. She still argues with me, but not as much as she used to (I know moms, I know I have it coming to me, but I am cherishing this moment for now). Maddie is at a point where she wants to please me and her daddy and doesn't want to upset either one of us. You can see where this is going....I ended up screaming and Maddie ended up even more confused and sad. After telling her she would have to wait for her daddy I went upstairs. She then came up to my bathroom just to make sure I was okay. Mr. Facial Hair...aka "dad" won. (just this once) :) After looking up the definition of a hiccup...I wish I had had the hiccups last night. My vocal chords should have had a sudden closure. There are MANY times where I wish I had not said something that I ended up saying... it should have ended in a hiccup. Many times we use the word "hiccup" to refer to a mistake or an accident. Moms, sisters, wives, friends...it is an important role in our breathing, but, thank goodness we all have them. I sure need a sudden closure in my vocal chords every once in a while. Maybe this is a wake up call. Maybe it is a wake up call to be more patient with my kids. Maybe it is a wake up call to not say what is exactly what is on my mind. A hiccup is an accident, and that is exactly what I had the other night. I did not mean to end Maddie's homework in a screaming fight. I did not mean to hurt a heart that is trying. My repurpose for today: When I get the hiccups, I need to realize that my sudden close of the vocal chords is a sign!
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My two kids have decided to create little mailboxes outside of their bedroom doors. This morning they received a note that said, "Good Morning, it is National Fun at Work Day, how will you hop out of bed this morning?" Once they opened their door they found a hopscotch board lining the hallway. While I was downstairs making breakfast, I hear, "thank you mommy!" (I wish I could record those words sometimes!) As they headed downstairs they found eggs, heart-shaped toast, and to really top it off, chocolate milk. My husband looked at me and said, "you know it isn't a holiday?" I then reminded him that it was time to get their little minds working! Both of my children LOVE their school and their teachers so for them not to have fun at work during their normal work day would be out of the question. Once we got home... the real fun began! Thanks to some mom's help and comments, we played a board game at dinner time! Once dinner was over we headed upstairs to review our math facts to a hopscotch game. Once our math lesson had completed we moved to bath time! I sprayed shaving cream all over the side of the bath and began to give them a spelling pre-test! My son then replied, "this was the funnest day ever!" As I sit here tonight I realize that this was an amazing day of work. It was fun! I enjoyed seeing a smile on my kid's faces. The cool thing that I am realizing about this blog is that I can no longer use the excuse I am tired or I'll do it tomorrow...if I post it, it needs to be done...and...I thank you as a reader for helping me become a better mom. I thank YOU as a reader for helping me continue my repurpose everyday. Throughout my entire day, because of you and the blog, I focused on how I could make my day at work a "fun day." How could I create my classes to be fun, how could my attitude reflect an attitude of fun? My husband sent me the sweetest text today saying that he cannot wait to go home and enjoy our evening together. Ladies, I know our husbands exhaust us sometimes, but make today a fun day to work with your husband. Make the ending of your day a fun day with your parents. Make the ending of today a prayer just thanking God for giving us fun! We are so lucky that we are given the gift to watch our kids enjoy having fun. Isn't it crazy how the pain of childbirth goes away so quickly? We are immediately filled with joy and overwhelmed with the amount of "fun" that will happen in the next several years of our baby's life. My repurpose for today: Try to find something fun in everything, even if I don't want to do it. Tomorrow is National Fun at Work Day. This one really got me thinking (as I sit here pondering and not being able to go to bed). As moms, do we love our job? Maybe you are a single mom who is exhausted and needs help. Maybe you are a mom who is juggling multiple jobs and looking for an escape. Maybe your primary job is just to be a mom and at times are looking for a night out on your own. Whichever category you are in...we all have the same priority...our kids.
Being a teacher has many responsibilities as well as multiple other jobs. It is very much a rewarding career but at times can be very tiring. I do a lot of after school activities and most every day my hours begin at 7:30 and go until 5:30. When the four of us get in the car the last thing I want to do is talk. I want peace and quiet and just want to sit....I am with kids all day long....but of course the questions begin as soon as we get in the car. Once we get home, dinner is made, homework is done, and the kids are bathed, it is time for the kiddos to be in bed. Another day is gone. If you have been reading my blog, the gone feeling tugs at my heart so very badly. I don't want another day gone. My kids have become very interested in knowing what time it is in California (or another part of the world) when it is 6:00pm our time. Today when that question was asked, I could not help but think to myself that we should all get in a plane and fly to California so we can go back three hours. We could get those hours back!! (I mean not really but what if?!) What would you do? I want your ideas! How can we, as moms, make tomorrow our National Fun at Work Day? Maybe I will make a fun breakfast to start their day. Maybe we will go outside and practice their spelling words with chalk. Lets rally together and show our kids that they are our fun! Show them that the work that we do is for them but also show them that we want to do it. I promise you they will remember it. Let's make tomorrow THEIR National Fun at Work Day! Please leave me your ideas below and unite together in the one thing we have in common...our kids. My repurpose for today: Remember my attitude is not only an example for my work place but also my kids. So tonight I wanted to watch the Red Carpet while we ate burgers on our TV trays. Justin (my husband... for those of you who do not know me) reminded me to keep my finger on the remote "just in case." Maddie (of course...my intuitive one) heard her daddy say this and then asked me why he just said this. I then had to stop and think about what I was going to say. My kids were unaware of the red carpet or anything outside of the world of "Good Luck Charlie." This weekend I had to tell my kids what the word "drunk" means and what "inappropriate" means all because of outside influences. Maddie had heard about Justin Bieber from kids in her class. I asked her what she had heard and she was right on. As a parent of a young child I always had the fear that I was not teaching them the right thing or if what I was trying to teach them was really sticking in their brain or most importantly... their heart. Now that peer pressure is beginning, my fear has become, are they choosing the right friends? Have I taught them enough to have them stand their ground? Will they be able to say no? I know we have A LOT more ahead of us, but I still get the joy out of hearing my kids ask if they are even allowed to watch a certain show. In the few years that I get to have my kids care about what I think.... I will cherish the moments around the dinner table. When I get too busy to sit, play a game, or even listen, I am making a mark on my kid's life. They remember. They remember when mommy was stressed and I asked them to play hide and go seek...just to escape reality. They remember when I had a CRAZY day of work and I sprayed them with the outside hose in their uniform just to have fun! Cherish the moments around the dinner table. When the appropriate age... begin to tell the truth to the point that they can handle it. Tonight, it was funny to hear their sweet, innocent voices say, while watching the red carpet... "what is he wearing?" I just hope and pray that it sticks. They need to know what matters most and hopefully, not turn into their mom who unfortunately, wanted the approval of everyone else. My repurpose for today: Cherish the dinner time table talks. "I would rather have thirty minutes of wonderful than a lifetime of nothing special." - Steel Magnolias This summer I lost my grandmother unexpectedly. She was a friend to many, a wife, a grandmother, and a mom. One of her best friends created a quilt out of my Nanny's sweatshirts. I hold it so dear to me and LOVE the smell. It still hurts my heart every time I breathe in the smell but it is a scent I will always cherish and never forget. A good friend of mine also lost someone dear to her this past summer, her father to her two sons, her best friend... her husband. Plans were made, dreams were dreamed, life was set until one day the unexpected happened. We all know that time goes by in a quick blink of an eye. Whether life is going pleasantly, sadness is occurring, or we are just in the hustle and bustle, time flies. However, in each blink we take, a picture or memory is shown behind our eyelids that sometimes, hurts so badly we no longer want to blink or close our eyes. Sometimes, when the unexpected happens, our eyes become so dry from the lack of sleep or the desire to hold our blinks... then the pain enters all over again. When I heard the news about my friend losing her husband I called my mom in tears. I could not understand why this was happening and remember asking, "how on earth could I handle this or raise my kids if I had to go through what my friend was experiencing?" My mom reminded me that women are made of steel. We have an instinct that men do not have. We have the toughness and strength of steel when it comes to family, hard times, and sad times. However, we also have the loving tenderness and inner beauty that shines through. We know that we have to persevere...for the sake of our children, and that is exactly what my friend is doing. My friend is made of steel. She lives each day with a mission. I cannot even imagine how she feels every day. I can't imagine how it feels to go home. I can't imagine how it feels to look at her two handsome babies. She is doing it and doing it so very strongly. She is a role model for me and I will forever cherish her and her strength and love for her sweet boys. Tonight moms, I cannot help but to send out a reminder to keep that steel in your blood. Be the strength for your kids. I also think it is important that we remember that it is okay to cry and breakdown. We are not Superwoman (even though we have to act like it at times). Just like the burlap....we are vulnerable, and that is OK! We can turn it on and off....and that is okay too. Just like water spigots....when we are on we are on! Show those babies how much you love them, do your day to day activities and jobs. I do however, think it is okay to have the moment where we need to turn it off. Have a "me" time and know that it is okay to cry, it is okay to scream. We are steel in front of people but when we look at our hearts, we are a big magnolia flower that has our withering moments... but we are still beautiful. My repurpose for today: Know that it is okay to have my "off" moments. "Oh how the years go by, Oh how the love brings tears to my eyes and all through the changes the soul never dies, we fight, we laugh, we cry, as the years go by." - Amy Grant I am not big on "TBT" but could not help but look back on my "repurposes." Do you ever wish as a mom that we could stop time? I tell my kids over and over again that I wish we could move to Never Never land so they do not have to grow up. I know that growing up is part of life, but I am in the phase I do not want my kids to know the world. I do not want them to know sadness, I do not want them to know pain, I do not even want them to know what sex is! I guess this is all a part of being a mom. There is joy but also pain. I know many woman who do not want to have kids because they do not want to bring them into a world full of all of these emotions. I do not have anything against these woman, I actually understand their point of view. However, when I begin to think about the hurt, disappointment, sadness, and life stories my kids are going to have, I cannot help but think about the happiness they have brought me. I would not trade it for ANYTHING. Already in the 9 years of Maddie's life and 6 years of Macaiden's life, they have taught me more than I could have dreamed. Things are easy for them to understand (right now anyways...or at least with one of my two). It is what it is. What a vision a child has...they see things we do not and yet we hide things from them that we do not want them to see. Moms, there is so much more that I have to share. As you know, each child is different. Both of my kids are completely different, and I cannot wait to share, however in the end we all have one thing in common : time flies. I used to count the days until summer or the next holiday. My calendar no longer has a counter. I realized that I was wishing my life away...not my life, but my life with my kids who will soon no longer be in my house. The years go by. My repurpose for the day: Cherish today. A mom plays many roles. We wear many hats and have multiple jobs. We are a cook, housekeeper, organizer, tutor, chauffeur, chaperone, detective, a friend, some are wives, and some are sisters. I must admit my job as a sister is a little easier than a mom. My sister is the best friend anyone could ask for. Don't get me wrong we have had our spats and pushed each others buttons. We have laughed, cried, hit, punched, pulled hair, got each other out of trouble, but best of all...we are there for each other and always willing to listen. I absolutely LOVE watching my sister with Maddie. She is Maddie's idol and would do anything for her. Over the last couple of months I have really wished I lived in the same city as my sister. She is needing some extra love and probably needing my Maddie a little more right now than normal. My heart aches for her. I know God has huge plans. It is so hard to understand or even wait to find out what God's plans are for our lives. In the end He always surprises us! Even when we have pushed each others buttons, it has made us stronger. We find which buttons are our weaknesses and which ones are our strengths. They bind us together just like the buttons in this wreath. Once they are all put together it then turns into a big, beautiful circle of love. Maddie and I love you so much Casey. You are a model of strength and from me being a mom, you teach me many lessons. My repurpose for today: Realize that God pushes our buttons not to make us weak but to only make us stronger and show us that we are in His circle of love. Have you ever been stuck in a situation where you are torn between two choices? You want to know the right answer so you say the first thing that comes to mind, whether or not it was the right thing to say. I was a kid who HAD to make straight A's. I studied and studied... more than the average person. When it came time for midterms or finals I was the one who could sell my note cards so everyone else could earn a good grade. Something that I am learning as a mom is seeing my own mistakes in my children. It is probably the hardest thing I have experienced so far as a young mom. Maddie wants to know the right answer so badly and wants to be the first one finished. It is so hard for me to explain to her that it is okay to slow down. I have a child (like myself) who just reads words. The big picture takes a while to enter into the brain...I want to know the answer and so does she. I began to think....do we have to know the answers right away? I think that my mind is focused on the "right" answer so I say what comes to mind first... whether or not it is the right thing to say. A friend recently told me that the most successful doctors and attorney's in the world, were the C average students in school. She told me that they wanted to know "why?". They didn't focus on memorizing or knowing every right answer but they really wanted to know why everything worked the way it worked. Maybe that is what I need to focus on as a mom or a teacher, or as a wife, or even a friend. If we just stop and listen and WANT to know why, we could really change a situation, a relationship, or even the world. As hard as it is to see my weaknesses in my kids, it is becoming a strength to know I can grow from what I am witnessing and maybe help out my "little me" to overcome my weaknesses (even though she may never know it). Burlap is breathable. As a mom we need to take a moment to breathe (yes I know that is difficult at times.) Burlap is gentle enough to protect it's contents from spoilage. But, at the same time, is durable enough to protect it's contents from rough handling. Moms....we are burlap! We are to protect our kids! When we see ourselves in them...tell them! Well, maybe not everything, but tell them how much you love them, tell them the mistakes (depending on the age). We are their burlap! It hurts so very badly to watch them grow and experience life, well parts of it. However, it is our job to not let it spoil. As woman, we are durable. Be vulnerable to your daughters. Share, laugh, love, and when at the proper age, be honest. I just said it is hard to watch my weaknesses come out in my daughter...well, maybe I am the generation to stop it. We can be the burlap. My repurpose for today: Sometimes, finding out "why" may take longer than just finding the right answer. Maddie has gotten to the point where she wants to be a teenager but at the same time still wants to be little. I can actually remember around the age of 1o being pulled and torn between what I thought was cool and want my heart told me. I can remember a favorite outfit I wanted to wear every single day. My mom (as long as we were not going anywhere) would let me where it. There were no fights and eventually I grew out of that outfit. When I hit my teenage years, clothing choices between me and my mom became a different story. It seemed that arguments were bound to happen with my style choice. I am thankful to say that when my mom buys clothes for me today, I love what she picks out! Thank you mom! This morning I had it coming to me. Maddie asked me to pick an outfit for her (this has happened multiple times). I picked out an outfit and of course she did not want to wear it. After telling her to pick out an outfit, I would then see if her selection matched... the fight began. We screamed, cried, and ended up in Maddie's bed. One of the biggest and most important things to me as a mom is to explain why I get upset and why my kids get in trouble. After talking in our "calm" voice, we hugged, laughed, and picked out an adorable outfit for Maddie to wear for the day. After thinking about this for a while I cannot help but realize that my baby is in the "in-between phase." She still wants her mommy to help her but still wants to look "cool" at the same time. I remember those days like it was yesterday. Today I have to reflect on the love and the acceptance that my child needs and wants. We made this sign out of Maddie's baby box last summer. I let the kids pick their favorite color crayons. We glued them to her box then blow-dried them to melt. I do not want our love to melt but to flourish and grow, however, this was an amazing and fun project that we made from items around the house and gave them a repurpose. This sign is now hung in our hallway upstairs. My repurpose for today: Tell my kids that mommy is sometimes wrong and I am sorry. What does the term "repurpose" mean? To me it means how I am going to live each day of my life. How am I going to repurpose how I live today? We all have a purpose, sometimes it takes us longer to find that purpose. I once thought I knew my purpose but when I unexpectedly got pregnant with my baby girl, my "purpose" (or so I thought) changed to a "repurpose."
May will be my 10 year wedding Anniversary. We are young in age but over the almost 10 years of our marriage we have experienced more than most people have before they are 40. I am not complaining. It has made us a stronger couple and we have learned a lot from each other as well as others in our lives, however, it has also been exhausting and emotional at times. We have to learn everyday to stay focused, keep God first, and decide what our repurpose is going to be for the day. Life changes so quickly and when you have your own plans sometimes God wants us to repurpose our lives. My husband and myself are both teachers at an amazing private school. Both of our kids attend this school. I get to see them everyday and the four of us get to travel to and from work together! I am so blessed! Because we are both teachers, we have had to become very creative with how we purchase things. From clothes, food, and furniture, being frugal is a word that is used very frequently. Over time I have LOVED taking older items that I find at antique stores, flea markets, and garage sales and giving them a "repurpose!" It has been so much fun creating old and used items to become my own style! I am overjoyed to share ideas, special moments, and smiles with you through my journey. My repurpose for today: Tell my kids that they are important to me. |
AuthorI am an everyday mom who likes everyday things. I love taking everyday items and giving them a repurpose. Our number one seller is our candles! Archives
October 2019
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