singlemomstory@gmail.com

Just a place to clear my head, and immortalize our story.

Saturday Night

Listening: Beyonce

With: The kids and our best bud, 8 year old Hannah

Doing: Tumblr & making a Play-Dough undersea wonderland

Loving: EVERYTHING about this

Let it rain.

Figuratively, and physically.

The past two days hath wrought highly unusual weather for this area. Long, slow, drenching rains. The past two months hath brought nothing but bad, or worse, news. I find myself asking the big, depressing questions. “What’s the point? Should I just give up? Where’s the bar?”

I am buried in work and activity that keeps me from the kids far more than I want to be. They get on the bus at ten til seven every morning. There are a few nights a week that I don’t see them until somewhere between 8-10 pm. Every time I stop for more than 10 seconds, I panic… wondering how much they might hate me for not spending more time with them.

K has never quite been the same since Grandpa passed away. He took a piece of her with him. V isn’t that far off the mark, either. He’s just a boy and exhibits it differently. Last night his Grandma said she needed to sell the tractor Grandpa bought before passing, and V went into a rage. I made the choice to attend grief counseling, but we have yet to go to an appointment.

The only thing I know to do is try to make the time I spend with them as quality as possible. I know that things need to change, but as for right now, I have very few options, if any at all. The scary thing is, even if I wanted to apply for another job, or something of that nature, I honestly have no time to go apply for jobs. Do people do interviews at 11 PM? That is where my free time window begins.

So, this is my life. This is our life. If you want to call it that, that’s it. I may have left out a few details about being behind on rent, or my inability to allow myself to be in a healthy relationship, or the kids squirting an entire bottle of dishsoap around the house last Saturday morning. But you got all that between the lines, right?

Good morning!

To those of you who live in my general area, meaning half of the US, happy first day of school.

I can’t believe I haven’t posted here in so long, but that is merely a testament to how busy our summer was. Very soon, I will be the mother of a seven year old, and a nine year old. Yes, I just sent my baby girl off to third grade. I think that makes me officially old.

Welcome to a nice, peaceful two hours before work.

My son, future Tumblr

  • Him: What do we have to eat?
  • Me: You're STILL hungry? Do you want some cereal?
  • Him: Do we have any bacon?
  • Me: Yes.
  • Him: Make me some of that.
  • Me: JUST bacon? Nothing else?
  • Him: Yeah!
  • K: Who is Michael Jackson?
  • Me: You know that song, (singing) "I want to love you, pretty young thing"?
  • K: (face lights up) YES!
  • Me: That is a Michael Jackson song.
  • K: Oh, that's sad. Did he have kids?

Dear Walt Disney Corporation,

Please stop making unadulterated shit. I realize that you are forced to be politically correct in the most morally bankrupt society our nation’s soil has ever seen, but I don’t think resorting to poop and peepee jokes is the answer.

I don’t care if you can’t think of anything original like Pixar. Keep remaking old stories into movies. Even Mulan and Pocahontas are really pretty good.

Parents: WE HAVE TO STOP TAKING OUR CHILDREN TO ANY AND EVERY MOVIE MADE FOR THEIR DEMOGRAPHIC AND PUTTING FOOD IN THE MOUTHS OF PEOPLE WHO THINK IT IS OKAY TO MAKE THIS CRAP.

Thanks.

Working mom vs. Stay at home mom

I believe the quality of the time you spend with your children is of far greater importance than the amount of time.

In this day & age of round the clock children’s television programing, video games, computers, being a stay at home mom does not automatically qualify you as a good parent. It’s too easy to pass of your guardianship on electronic vices.

Regardless of your employment, I think you should just constantly check to make sure the lines of communication are free-flowing. Play with them. Do what they want to do when you can. Make sure they are showing appropriate levels of independance and ability to take care of themselves for their age.

Are your kids happy? Do they laugh and smile a lot? Do they have healthy relationships with their peers and siblings?

The attainability of these goals is certainly not exclusive to stay at home moms.

Catching up and so on.

Summer time, and the livin’ is… easy?

That depends, I suppose. We were supposed to be participating in a summer day camp program this year. The administrator lost some of my paperwork, lied to me, and her assistant snapped at me. Therefore, my children were withdrawn. You can’t keep my paperwork together, and I should trust you with my kids? No, thanks. We’ll figure something out. We’ve been doing okay so far.

My daughter leaves on a plane trip to Minnesota to visit my brother tomorrow. She’s traveling with my mother, and this is her first plane trip. TELL ME EVERYTHING WILL BE OKAY, PLEASE! She’s so excited it is just adorable. On top of the excitement, her father got her a $50 American Express Cash Card today. She thinks she’s Princess Caroline, I think.

In the meantime, her brother and I will commence our daily routine as we usually do. We do have a kayaking trip planned Friday. I’ll probably get to answer a lot more of those classic little boy questions, like:

“Mom, when I get big, can you take me to a volcano?”

On single parenting

People ask me about and comment on single parenting all the time.

Sure, it’s hard. But since being single, I’ve never had a single day as hard as it was to try to be a good parent in a bad relationship.

I’m fortunate to have a successful business working for myself, so I don’t have to deal with any corporate nonsense.

If you’re miserable, search deep within… there are answers and opportunities out there.