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I’m a Hazard to Myself

So the other day after I was trying to close the door of Bobby’s car with my foot (because you know, my arms were completely full of all the Stuff Moms Have to Carry in From the Car All the Time – you know, that STUFF?) and somehow banged my knee really hard on the corner of the door, and screamed and cursed because it hurt SO BAD (and yes it did bruise within 5 minutes), I came into the house ranting and raving about how sometimes I just freaking HATE being me.

{sidebar, was that not the LONGEST run-on sentence/paragraph EVAH? I know you loved it, Berry.}

Like last week’s attempt to make coffee that failed thrice, many things I do or don’t do, or can’t do, make me crraaazy.  Like two days later I banged my other knee on something else and got a matching bruise, but now I can’t even remember what that something else was, which also makes me craaaazy. I JUST.WANT.TO REMEMBER THINGS.  And also not bruise myself all the time.

For the past couple days, I haven’t been able to get this Pink song out of my head…

I’m a hazard to myself

Don’t let me get me

I’m my own worst enemy

It’s bad when you annoy yourself

So irritating

Don’t wanna be my friend no more

I wanna be somebody else

More often than not, I find myself in a state of annoyance…with myself.

Good times.  Anyone else?

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From one mom to another

A little less than two years ago, I found out that a friend of mine, Jeni, whom I’ve written about before because of her fab business Custom Carabella’s, was about to become (in addition to being a mom of three) a foster mom.  I was totally surprised (because I’ve never known anyone who did that), and extremely impressed (because I think it would be a seriously hard thing to do). But Jeni has a real heart for kids who needed families, whether temporarily or permanently, and she has been foster mom to B, a darling little boy, since he was just a few weeks old.  Since then, she has been encouraging and recruiting others to care for kids who need families.  She’s become a crusader for kids who live in Greene County, Ohio, which is the county just next to where Emily and I live. One thing I’ve heard Jeni say as she has worked to spread awareness about the need for loving foster families is that many people say they’d like to help, but they don’t feel called to foster.

Well now, Jeni has come up with a way that those people can help.  A way we ALL can help.  And I am going to challenge you, my readers, especially if you live in the Dayton area, to help Jeni out on this one!  She has single-handedly committed to providing NEW Christmas presents for every child in foster care in Greene County.


So she has committed to it, and I am asking YOU to help her make it possible!  You can check out her blog post here on the exact details of how this all came about.  As a foster mom, Jeni knows that a lot of foster children receive nothing from their birth families on holidays or birthdays (her own foster son got nothing for either from his birth family).  It can be a terribly lonely time for kids trying to fit into their foster families own holiday traditions.  And, many of these kids have little or no possessions of their very own to even take with them from family to family.  Jeni has committed to providing each of these children with at least one wonderful possession of their very own.

So, how can you help? You can give.  You can sponsor a child in Greene County foster care’s Christmas present.  You can give $100, $50, $25, or any old amount you want!  I am going to challenge you, like I did when my friend E was working to beat Ovarian Cancer, to give at least $5.  Emily and I have chosen to sponsor a gift for $50, because once again, we are not going to ask you to do anything that we would not do ten times over!

So, I am asking you, especially if you are local, but even if you’re not, please help make this Christmas amazing for the kids in foster care in Greene County, OH. Let’s show them some love, and help them believe that they are lovable.

Here is the button to donate to PayPal – go give!


And before you do, or after you do, please go read Jeni’s blog about this effort – Fostering Christmas Care.  Take a couple minutes to read how this amazing effort came about!

Jeni’s goal is to have all the funds raised by November 6th (which just happens to be Orphan Sunday) – so get clicking and get giving!  LET’S DO THIS, Mamas!!

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Life on the Main Drag

Perhaps I’ve mentioned a few times, that I live in the city.  Specifically in an older, only kind-of run down neighborhood called Belmont.  And, I live on one of two “main drags” in Belmont.  It’s a very busy street.  It’s really busy around 4 p.m. on weekdays because the entrance to our local high school is on the street that is directly across from my driveway.  So, getting out of my driveway around 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. every day is murder.  And so is turning left off of the street the high school entrance is on. (And may I just say, yes, 9 a.m to 4 p.m.?  What kind of crazy school hours are those?  Oh, the “urban” kind. Where you can’t get anyone to get up and be at school before 9.  But whatevs.)

So there’s your background, now imagine me yesterday afternoon standing in my dining room, joyfully parenting my three beautiful children, when I hear a loud BOOM and my house shakes.  I ran to the back window to see if someone had hit my neighbor’s car (they park behind their house), because I could tell the boom came from that side of the house.  But there was nothing to see.  So I ran to my front window and saw this:

Well, the hedges DID need trimming...

That right there is the front of a Toyota Tacoma pickup truck in my hedges and the bumper in my front yard.  The blue you see peeking out from behind the tree is the fire hydrant that is usually under where the truck is sitting.  Thank goodness it didn’t spray everywhere!

So, I called 911, which made me feel pretty bad@$$, and reported the accident.  From what I could see, it didn’t look like anyone was hurt, and there were plenty of people out there checking on the driver, so I decided to stay inside until the cops got there.  Which took FOREVER.  After they got there, I went outside with Jonah and talked to the policeman.  I had him put the damages to our hedges in his report, because, there is now a huge hole in our hedges and who knows how much that costs to replace? Beats me.  I talked to the driver and she was fine but her airbag did deploy (thanks to the fire hydrant I’m sure!) I didn’t get the story of what happened, because I just wanted to get inside with Jonah, it was a pretty yucky day out.  Which leads me to what I am thankful for…the weather has been really nice this week, and we’ve been outside playing a lot.  I am so thankful that yesterday was yucky and we were safe inside!

I am also thankful that they built a big new high school with a nice traffic light entrance around the corner and that it opens in January. It will make it much safer at my house!  Also, it will cut down on teenagers walking down the sidewalk yelling the F word in the afternoon. SCORE!

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