One of my best friends must be trying to send me a hint or something. He’s very excited about his new blog, as am I, and tagged me in that. He added me to a writing group. He tweeted a “webcast” at me about blogging mothers. I think this is the hint I should be taking, right? Thank you for the ever subtle jab, Hayden.

I’m working on it. I’m really having such a hard time fitting in everything that I love to do. Then I look down a couple feet at the 34 month old clinging to my legs and I give myself a little leeway. I’ll get to things.

Anyway, I did want to let you guys know that I can now report that we have a new car. It’s a silver 1997 Volvo wagon with black leather seats that were so well kept  and comfortable that I feel like a queen when I sit in it! I’m really looking forward to getting my life (and papers) in order so I can drive it.

No name car gets a fill-up.

We are also saving a lot of money on fuel. Repeat after me: $50 a week. The Volvo can zoom down the road on the lowest grade fuel. It has an 18 gallon tank (unless there’s extra for reserve) and my husband uses only an 18 gallon tank a week rather than a 26 gallon tank plus some of premium fuel.

This does, however, mean that we had to say goodbye to Serenity. She was a good car while she lasted, and I’m thankful that she lasted past her expected date of expenditure. Serenity was also given a lot of TLC from us and also from the amazing mechanics that we had working on her. I was fairly sad to see her go, but she was “decommissioned” and our new car, while in use, still has yet to receive a name.

Goodbye, Serenity.

The fuel situation being what it is and the fact that we no longer fear that a car is going to fall apart when it goes over a pothole, we decided it’s finally time to get out travel on.

This past week we went to the Higgins Armory Museum in Worcester, MA. I took quite a few blurry pictures on my phone. My husband, on the other hand, took some really nice ones which I’m still waiting to get my paws on. For now, you’ll just have to deal with mine.

The armor you see is from all over. Most of the pieces seemed to be from Germany from the 1600s, but there were pieces from Japan, the Middle East, and the curved out shield on some of the armor is something that you’d see on the men that would joust.

I’m hoping to get more time at some point to put educational captions with the pictures, but seeing as I had to rewrite this… HA! Fat chance of that happening today.

I hope you enjoyed these. If you have any questions before I get back to this, feel free to leave them in the comments.
Megan A.K.A. “Mom”
 

Neylan in his “cool dude” sunglasses

We woke up LATE this morning. As in 9 AM late, which is a butt load of extra sleep for me because he normally wakes up at 6:30ish.

The reason: Neylan took a late nap yesterday, and considering my stressed state of mind and the clear fact that he was overtired, I didn’t care when he finally fell asleep. I just let him rest. I needed a break too. A break from even the noise that my child makes (especially the whining). I needed silence. I got silence.

Neylan and Daddy “working”. (Yes Neylan has a real computer. He’s more careful with it than I seem to be with mine. )

He woke up around 5 PM from his nap. The rest of our day wasn’t quite normal. Dinner happened after 6:30 PM and we all went up to the bedroom at about 8:30. Instead of reading, my entire 3 person family got snuggled up under the covers of the bed and watched an episode of Star Trek the Original Series. It was a nice little break that we all needed just to have time to ourselves.

Because of how yesterday went, I didn’t get my workout in, but I made up for that missed workout today.  I did both upper and lower body today. I feel a little tired and sore, but my spirits are high. I’m looking forward to my walk at the gym later with my mother.

Now to get on with my hopefully somewhat prosperous day.

Megan A.K.A. “Mom”

I’m breathing. At least I’m breathing. My throat is dry, and my mind is racing. I can’t help it.

Don’t tell me what to do. Don’t tell me how to fix me. I know how to make this better. But I just need to write. I need to let my feelings out. Don’t down play them just because you don’t feel the same way or because you think I shouldn’t be feeling this way about it. Just let me talk, please.

No. I wasn’t at the Boston Marathon. And no, I haven’t been told to stay inside my house and hide, but I am a “Masshole”. I grew up here. Never did I dream that Boston would turn into something you’d see on Criminal Minds.

Everything going on right now does bother me. It’s not affecting me directly, but I have friends who live in Cambridge. My cousin and my aunt work in Boston. My cousin is currently still at work in Boston. My friend’s husband works near MIT. My neighbor works at TUFTS University in Somerville. I was supposed to be in Cambridge last week. My husband was sent home from work early today because of the man-hunt going on 40 minutes North West of his workplace.

I may not be directly in the line of fire. I may not be locked inside my house with SWAT teams outside my door or patrolling my street. It doesn’t mean that I am not an absolute basket case.

I’m honestly afraid. And I agree that fear is the greatest thing to be afraid of. Fear is my greatest demotivator. It makes me lock my spirit up, not allowing it to have the proper air that it needs. Fear pulls me from my duties. I’m stuck in an absolute stunned shock, and I feel like I can’t move. It makes my spirit hide in the center of my chest panicking, rocking back and forth, and wondering what to do. What can I do?

I have no control over anything. I’ve said my prayers for those I love and even those I don’t know who have been influenced by everything that is going on.

I can only hope that it can get better and that the hatred and killing will stop.

Megan

Our story starts with a tired and already sleeping Daddy who, while sick with a cold, still has to wake up at about 5 AM to beat the traffic to work. My sweet Neylan fell asleep earlier in the day and got a lovely nap, so he wasn’t tired until about 9-10 PM. After telling me he was sleepy we went upstairs. Mommy brushed her teeth while Neylan went into the bedroom and climbed onto the bed.

The next thing I heard was “Megan!” and Neylan crying, so I ran to the bedroom to find out what happened.

Because Neylan was sick with a cold a week or so ago, there was a little container of Vicks Vaporub next to the bed. Neylan knew that this “special ointment” helped him feel better at night while he was trying to sleep. Daddy was sound asleep, but coughing and sniffling. Neylan must have felt bad for Daddy, because the cry of my name and the tears from my little boy happened because Neylan was trying to put Vaporub under Daddy’s stuffy red nose. Instead of getting it under Daddy’s nose, he got some IN Daddy’s nose, and Daddy woke up very suddenly knocking the little man off his chest onto the other part of the bed. When Daddy finally woke up enough to realize what was going on, he gave the little one a hug and thanked him for being so caring.

Our second ointment story took place just this morning.

I was in the kitchen getting my breakfast, like every typical morning. My little boy was in the livingroom watching Mickey Mouse Club House… or so I thought.

All of a sudden I started to hear clapping noises, which isn’t abnormal for a toddler, but for mine to be doing that without that type of a show on and for him to not be answering me when I called out to him, meant there is something concerning going on. I walked away from my food and into the living room with my fingers crossed.

There was my child, seated on the couch, covered in Burt’s Bees Baby Ointment.

Anyone who has used this on their child knows that it’s a great ointment. It’s not smell free. It’s not cheap, either.

Rather than getting super angry that it was all over the place, which is very easy for my reactionary self to do, I decided to breathe for about 10 seconds and take in the situation. I realized it looked pretty bad, but it wouldn’t be too horrible to clean. I decided that, while letting Neylan know I wasn’t happy about this situation, getting angry would only ruin what could be an amazing day, and I knew that I’d be laughing about it in years to come, so while I couldn’t laugh now, I wouldn’t ruin our relationship over it.

Most of the mess was on the two blankets that were on top of the couch and on Neylan.

First thing I did was take the container of ointment and throw it away. It would be worth replacing the jar rather than me totally loosing my cool over it. (I firmly believe, that buying another container would be better than me angrily fuming at my child all day, or doing or saying anything that could ruin my relationship with him. I’d rather not say words I can’t take back, if I can consciously avoid it.)

Next, I took Neylan off the couch and told him I was unhappy, to which he replied, “but you are happy!“ I know I looked at him fairly astonished because I’m sure “happy” was nowhere on my face.

“No. I’m not.” I said a bit more firmly.

Upon hearing that he started to cry. I grabbed a wipe and started wiping his arms, legs, belly, and face, telling him that although I wasn’t happy about the mess, I loved him. I asked him why he got into it in the first place, and he replied saying that he had a “strawberry” on his finger.”Strawberry” is his current word to describe blood and scabs. He thinks every “owie” needs ointment and a bandaid at this stage for some reason.

I finished cleaning him up, grabbed the blankets off the couch and put them in the washing machine upstairs, then came back down to clean up the small amount of mess that was left over.

The livingroom still smells like ointment, but I’m calm enough to write about this, so I’d say it’s a pretty good day.

Megan A.K.A. “Mom”

My Bucket List (Far from finalized)

• Keep myself as healthy as possible–Weight-wise, ability-wise, food-wise– “All the better to accomplish my goals, dear”
• Drink a cup of the most delicious and expensive coffee in the world
• Get little man to Dr. Gearhart for his BNR
• Homeschool Ney until at least “6th grade”
• Buy a house.

• Go to Scotland and see the places that Jamie and Claire would have seen (something like this: http://www.jamieandclairetour.co.uk/)
• Go to Seoul, South Korea
• Make a CD
• Learn Korean
• Get BE+ tattoo
• Write book (story) and either self publish or be published
• Publish book of Poetry
• Learn to Drive
• See the grave stones on Author’s Ridge in Sleepy Hollow, Cambridge, MA
• Salem, MA
• Met museums in NY
• Finish ALL of the Outlander Novels
• Read every book on “Rory Gilmore’s Book list“
• Every Agatha Christie Book
• Complete Works of Edgar Allan Poe
• Complete Works of Mark Twain
• All of Neil Gaiman

• Watch ALL of Star Trek with my husband
• Go on another “Honeymoon”Hey… This list is far from all I want to do. But it’s a start!

Megan A.K.A. “goal oriented”

Sometimes, you are part of a conversation that is just too amazing to not share. It’s too good for me to make up!? Enjoy!

Neylan: Daddy, You find a controller for me [looking at his helicopter].

Daddy: I want to do that for you sometime…

Neylan: We can go to Lauren and Jim’s and get the helicopter and the controller …

Me: [looking at the Daddy and my Mom] Oh goodness… he has one of THOSE amazing memories. I really hope that I can remember all the things I say.

Daddy: (Talking to my mother about how his budget needs to be bigger for a better helicopter that isn’t infrared and how he’d want to do it inside.)

My Mom: Why don’t you go outside?

Abbie: You know what happens when I go outside, right?

Abbie: I dissolve. Me: You sparkle.

Abbie: [Glares at me] No. I don’t. I’m not a gay vampire. (Goes back to explaining how sun will cause problems with infrared helicopter and controller)

Megan A.K.A. “Mom”

Annoyed. Very annoyed.

I’ve tried so hard not to openly complain about this on the website, but this blog is for everything… so I’m going to rant.

Growing up, I didn’t like the time change. It didn’t matter if it was Daylight Savings Time or the end of it. No matter what, I had to change my schedule and I’ve never been a fan of change.

I remember how particularly horrible it was when I was in my first and second year of high school. You see, I had to catch the bus to Somerset High every morning at 5:45 AM. You want to make somebody hate school? That’s how you do it. Want to make somebody hate college… make midterms right after the time change!

I remember when I was in college, Daylight Savings Time was horrible because my college had this lovely thing known as a curfew. Bed time was 11 o’clock. Ok… Problem? I made my first class later in the day (9 or 10) if I could manage it, but the fact that we had curfew and a mandatory “bed made by time” (7:30, if I remember correctly), my aversion to change kicked in and made it worse. For weeks after DLST was imposed in my roommates and I would be up either talking and getting ourselves a talking to for doing so or, as in my senior year, we were up playing 20 Questions. We just couldn’t get to sleep “on time” to save our lives.

Fast forward to the year 2013… when I actually like the idea of set bed times. The year 2013 when I have a 2 1/2 year old son. This time change stuff is a complete pain in the butt! Anyone with children hates the 2 time changes each year. Every parent knows that their children have internal clocks that are not easily changed. Stupidly I’ve been trying to change Ney’s.

Why? Well because it’s been getting lighter a bit earlier in the morning and he’s been waking up earlier. Right before DLST he was getting up between 5:30 and 6:30. I’m fine with 6:30. The time then is changed, and he’s waking up sometime around 6:30 or 7:30 depending on the time… That’s not too bad…But when I tried to get him to bed at “6PM” like normal, he of course wants nothing to do with this. My problem? I’m a selfish jerk who needs her reading time to rejuvenate so I can keep my marbles while dealing with my learning and exploring 2 year old and I am forfeiting an hour because he can’t sleep before 7 DLST. If I wasn’t under these circumstances (being a mother and a wife) I would just add an hour of time and read until 1 instead of 11 or 12… Only problem with that is I won’t get to cuddle with my hubby and my child is still getting up at 6:30.

After having a mini freak out on Facebook, my friend Ivy politely asked if she could give me some advice. The following was a hard pill to swallow:

What I did with my kids was to pick a bedtime that worked with my schedule even if it changed by an hour. SO During the winter, they went to bed at 8pm, but during the summer at 9pm (or 7pm & 8pm, etc) that way their BODIES had the SAME bedtime, even if the CLOCK changed. (does that in any way make sense?)

Did I take her advice yesterday? You can believe I didn’t. I am a hugely stubborn individual and I wasn’t going to give in that easily on my “me-time”.

Do you think I’ll take her advice today? Yes, in the end I concede. The boy wins, not that he thought he was fighting a battle, although mommy did. 7 o’clock is bed time… Because the stress on both of us to change this is not worth the ruin of our relationship.

Mommy to Neylan: Just be warned little boy, when the clocks go back an hour, your bedtime will again be 6 until you can handle me adding an hour to it.

Megan A.K.A. “Mom”

PS… to prove that the sunlight issue is not just me being full of crap here is a link for a Sunrise/Sunset Calendar.

When my sister left Starstruck with me, I decided to check my Sony Reader to see what books I had by Neil Gaiman and found that Coraline was among the six that I owned.

I watched the movie “Coraline” and I thought that it was pretty good. I found it dark, but balanced because of the cartoon design of the characters in the movie. I was very interested to see how the book would actually be compared to the movie but because I watched the movie so long ago, I can’t quite completely remember it. Hopefully we’ll be watching the movie tonight.

A Little Bit About the Book

Author: Neil Gaiman, born November 10, 1960 in England.

Genre: horror, fantasy

Major Themes I Found: Don’t take things for granted, Confronting fear

Published: January 24, 2002

Characters You’ll Meet:

• Coraline- A very curious girl who likes to explore the areas around her and is easily bored by her surroundings when she gets used to them. She loves her family, but like all families, they have their quirks that drive her a bit crazy. Coraline has recently moved into this house and is home on summer vacation.
• Mr. & Mr. Jones- Coraline’s parents. They are kind and helpful, but both work from home on computers, so they tend to be very busy during the day and not in the mood for Coraline’s questions. Coraline thinks her mother is dull and she can’t stand her father’s homemade recipes.
• Cat- He starts off sounding rather snooty to her, but turns into a bit of a guide when they are in the latter part of the story. Cat speaks only in the “other world”.
• The Other Mother- This woman is clearly a witch. She can only twist and distort what actually is. She is the antagonist in the story and uses the others that she’s “created” for her every whim.
• The Other Father- Created by the Other Mother, his purpose is to entice Coraline to stay with them. He seems more attentive to Coraline, but he mistakenly tells her that he can’t talk to her alone. He tries to be cheerful around Coraline, but she can see that he is only a submissive pawn of the Other Mother.
• Miss April Spink & Miss Miriam Forcible (and their “Other World” counterparts): In real life Miss Spink and Miss Forcible are retired actresses. After reading Coraline’s tea leaves they tell her that she is in danger and give her a stone with a hole in hopes that it’ll give her protection. In the “Other World” they are young, pretty performers who do so unceasingly.
• Mr. Bobo (and his “Other World” counterpart)- You don’t know this man’s name until the end of the book. He is just known as the crazy man upstairs. He is currently “training mice” to perform in a mouse circus. You find his counterpart is a rat trainer and he is actually made of rats.
• The Three Ghost Children- Previous victims of the Other Mother that Coraline meets while locked in a closet. Coraline takes on the task of setting the souls of these wraiths free.

My Favorite Quotes

1)  ”Fairy tales are more than true; not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten.”
Why?This first quote is not technically from the book, but Neil Gaiman put this quote by G.K. Chesterton at the very beginning on the dedication page for a purpose. I feel that this quote, while it was amazing when I first read it, is augmented even more as you read the story.

2)  “Coraline? Oh, there you are. Where on earth were you?” “I was kidnapped by aliens,” said Coraline. “They came down from outer space with ray guns, but I fooled them by wearing a wig and laughing in a foreign accent, and I escaped.
Why? It sounds like a story a child would make up on the spot. Although I think she’s being snooty in the manner she says it. It’s a needed line in the story because it clearly adds to the background of the relationship she has with her parents.

3) “And he said that wasn’t brave of him, doing that, just standing there and being stung,” said Coraline to the cat. “It wasn’t brave because he wasn’t scared: It was the only thing he could do. But going back again to get his glasses, when he knew the wasps were there, when he was really scared. That was brave.”
Why? Did you just read that? When I read that quote it changed the way I thought about bravery completely. How can you be brave, when it’s something that causes you no fear?

4) The cat wrinkled it’s nose and managed to look unimpressed. “Calling cats,”it confided, “tends to be a rather overrated activity. Might as well call a whirlwind.”
Why? This book is a dark story and while it may not be the scariest thing anyone has ever read, the comical break is always appreciated.

5)  It is astonishing just how much of what we are can be tied to the beds we wake up in in the morning, and it is astonishing how fragile that can be.
Why? It’s a really interesting thought. If you wake up in the “wrong bed” bed or a bed different than you were thinking, you are most certainly going to be “off” for part of the day.

6) There was nothing here that frightened her. These things– even the thing in the cellar– were illusions, things made by the other mother in a ghastly parody of the real people and real things on the other end of the corridor. She couldn’t truly make anything, decided Coraline. She could only twist and copy and distort things that already existed.
Why?After Coraline mentioned to the cat earlier that you can’t have bravery in the absence of fear… she’s thinking through the situations that she’s been through up to this point and realizing just what the other mothers powers allowed. She realized that she couldn’t do anything but create a demented version of the other world that Coraline came from.

7) “You really don’t understand it, do you?” she said. “I don’t want whatever I want. Nobody does. Not really. What kind of fun would it be if I just got everything I ever wanted? Just like that, and it didn’t mean anything. What then?”
Why? *MY FAVORITE QUOTE!* Wouldn’t life be boring if we got everything that we ever wanted? Sometimes opposition, no matter how small, is the spice of life. Opposition makes us try harder.

New Words I learned

Wraith- noun \ˈrāth\

I hate to say it, but I’m kind home sick from Church today. Only problem is that I’m not sick, just in a lot of pain from my back and for no reason that I can understand. My favorite things today are coffee, black cherry juice, ice, heat, and Advil, though I’m trying to not take much Advil.

Mommy and Daddy made a promise to Neylan yesterday that he’d be going to Church today so he could sing songs and play with the kids. When I woke up in so much pain that I didn’t want to move and being afraid to lift him for fear of making whatever is causing the pain worse, I asked Grammie to bring him with her if he still wanted to go. She was glad to bring him but wasn’t sure how he’d handle being away from us. He’s been out with his Auntie Rei and Uncle Brad plenty of times and had an amazing time, so I figured that he’d do OK. After asking him if he still wanted to go and hearing an enthusiastic and ecstatic “YES! I want to go to Church and sing songs and play for the kids!”, I slowly and carefully got his clothes on and he was out the door with Grammie.

Not knowing what else to do, and really wanting to actually be at church today, I decided that I’d go back and review Matthew 5 after pastor’s message last week.

Who knows, he could be preaching on the rest of it this week, because Matthew 5 isn’t just the beatitudes.

After the Beatitudes there is a bit about the Law in practice… Matthew 5:19-47

The main thing that stuck out to me today was the following:

Matt. 5:46&47 “For if you love them which love you, what reward have ye? Do not even the publicans (tax collectors) the same? And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? Do not even the publicans so?”

As anyone who has read the Gospels knows, Jesus didn’t like the actions of the tax collectors. To be compared to one of them and be found similar or lacking was a wake up call.

What else does the New Testament say about the “publicans”? You find the words “publicans and sinners” and “publicans and harlots” in many verses… together. Publicans are mentioned in Mt. 9:10&11, 11:19, 21:31&32, Mk. 2:15&16; Lk. 3:12, 5:29&30, 7:29, 7:34, 15:1, 19:2 and it seems that every time they are mentioned, they are grouped with the “imperfect”.

There is one thing that is pretty cool to read… their changes of heart.

That is why Jesus came.

Megan A.K.A. “Believer”