SingleWorkingMama

• 29May

  Camping 2.0.X

  Single Mama Life 508No Commentshttp://singleworkingmama.com/2010/05/29/camping-2-0-x/Camping+2.0.X2010-05-30+03%3A26%3A14Heidi

  Something inspired me to take the kids camping yesterday. (I believe it was the unnaturally amazing Wisconsin Memorial Day weekend weather.) When I was younger, camping with friends was a tradition this calendar weekend, but so was being drowned at the camp site, or freezing our hineys off!

  While looking at tents at Fleet Farm, (“If you can’t get it at the Fleet, you don’t need it.”) my daughter spotted a Mac Sports Rockies Quick Set Tent“>, which claimed to be incredibly easy to set up. It was on sale, and said it would sleep 5. Done!

  She also spotted some “very inappropriate” camouflage bikinis… Ha ha! Now you can catch a good tan while not really standing out! (Please don’t grow up, honey… Keep thinking that Fleet Farm bikinis are inappropriate!)

  

  Bikinis aside, the tent went up quickly as promised. We popped in some pillows and sleeping bags, and voila – our backyard oasis was nearly complete.

  The fire pit would have been the icing on our camping cake, but my rusty camp fire skills combined with spongy old half-rotten wood led to a steady puff of smoke for most of the evening.

  

  On a normal evening, my kids will push their bedtime out as far as I’ll let them, but last night they started asking if it was bedtime at about 6:30. When it got dark, we went into the tent with our flashlights and some books. I read them a story, we played some flashlight games and soon they were both sawing logs. One minute after that, I realized just how hard the ground actually was and that there was a prominent (seemed like) boulder directly under me.

  

  What’s a wide-awake Mama (who is laying on a boulder) to do when the kids are sleeping in the tent?

  For starters, I was happy to see that my laptop could still get excellent wireless reception in the tent. I checked a few work emails, upgraded Wordpress (since it has been SO LONG since I’ve posted), enabled mobile blogging on Wordpress for my iPhone (no more excuses), chatted with a long lost friend on IM, Tweeted and (hee hee) watched a couple episodes of “The Hills: Season One” on Netflix.

  The rest of the night went pretty smoothly. There were no “owl vs. bunny” murders that we could hear. There were no audible mosquitos in the tent. Despite my careful surveying of the flattest possible site in my yard, we woke up all crunched together at the bottom of the tent, around 5:30 am. My sciatic nerve is a little tweaky today, but air mattresses are for WIMPS!

  I may be a geek, but I am not a wimp!

• 04Feb

  Valentine’s Day Party Planning Update

  Single Mama Life 503No Commentshttp://singleworkingmama.com/2010/02/04/valentines-day-party-planning-update/Valentine%27s+Day+Party+Planning+Update2010-02-05+00%3A57%3A52Heidi

  I just re-read my post about this Valentine’s party deal I signed myself up for.

  Monthly Outlook calendar checkpoints? Bwahahahahahhaaaaaa!

  I never did it once. Now, I am 07:06:51:51 from the party, (see timer on the lower left of this page) and I am, in typical fashion, panicking.

  On one hand, I thought ahead and took pictures of each kid in her class at the Winter Fun (Christmas) Party, which I have every intention of printing at Walgreen’s with a cute heart border for them to bring home to their parents. (Now, if I can only find the memory card.)

  

  Moving on, my craft idea is to make little V-day themed snow globes. Messy? Yes. A pain in the hiney to coordinate? Yes. Cool? Totally.

  All I have to do, really, is buy all the supplies and call fourteen parents to remind them to send the napkins/cups/juice they committed to in August.

  Let the good times roll.

• 28Nov

  Please pass the soda…

  Single Mama Life 472No Commentshttp://singleworkingmama.com/2009/11/28/please-pass-the-soda/Please+pass+the+soda...2009-11-29+00%3A39%3A32Heidi

  I think I may have outdone myself today when it comes to embarrassing moments.

  By now, you’d think I’d be numb to humiliation, but I learned the hard way that isn’t the case at all.

  I took the kids to see “Old Dogs” today, and we invited the SuperManny.

  We settled into our seats with our enormous tub-o-popcorn and sodas, and about halfway through the movie, Boo had to use the facilities.

  When we re-entered the theater, we got to our row and he went in first, sitting next to Drue. After a couple minutes, I wondered if my coat had fallen under the seat. “Eh,” I thought. “I’ll find it later.”

  A couple minutes after that, I got thirsty and realized our soda was missing. I leaned over Drue in her distinct “cabbie hat,” and tapped the SuperManny on his shoulder. “Hey – where’s the soda?”

  

  Drue, wearing the *very* hat in question...

  “Excuse me?” said NOT Mr. Brent, but the father of a young girl wearing a hat just like Drue’s.

  Suddenly, it all spun together, and I realized that Mr. Brent and Drue were sitting not next to us, but ONE ROW AHEAD OF US.

  Yeah! I fumbled, bumbled, and Boo and I scooted down to our seats. I laughed my head off then, and also at the end when I got to confess what had happened to our new friends.

  I’m really relieved that I didn’t put my arm around the girl, thinking she was my own child! OMG!

  Everyone had a great laugh about it at the end.

  By the way, we enjoyed the movie. Cute family flick, to be sure!

• 04Nov

  It’s Okay to Fail, Mama. Really.

  Single Mama Life, Tips and Tricks 468No Commentshttp://singleworkingmama.com/2009/11/04/its-okay-to-fail-mama-really/It%27s+Okay+to+Fail%2C+Mama.++Really.2009-11-05+03%3A20%3A04Heidi

  We’ve all heard that as you get older, you tend to get set in your ways.

  Sometimes, those ways aren’t that great, and whether it is cooking the same dinner or watching the same shows again and again, you might start to notice your life zoom past you. Why is this? I think a big part of it is being in your comfort zone, and feeling too tired to try something new only to flop.

  Clearly, I am in a self-exploratory phase of my life. I realized not long ago that it’s very easy find reasons to stick to the status quo and never make a change. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that it doesn’t take that much extra energy to branch out and try new hobbies, meet new people, and really just try to “think outside the box” in all different areas of life.

  In the past year, I have taken on a few new challenges by choice:

  • Knitting - Just for the heck of it, I decided to try. It was beyond frustrating at first, and I wasn’t sure it was for me. However, I took a class and slowly got the hang of it. I sat around a table with 8 other women, many of us struggling in different ways as we dropped and added stitches, and chirped for the ladies who were obvious naturals. I have crashed and burned on a few projects, but the reward of finishing something as minor as a dishcloth is enough to make me laugh it off and try again. (It’s funny – it really DOES go faster the second time you try something!)
  • The Gym - OMG, I joined a gym. OMG, I am actually going, and quite regularly. I keep trying new classes, and go into each one with the knowledge that I could very well fall flat on my face, and that is okay. At the end of the day, everyone going into that class with me (with a few exceptions, I’m sure) has some kind of insecurity, and it’s sort of therapeutic to laugh with classmates as our yoga teacher contorts herself into circus-worthy positions as we fall on our bums. It has been fantastic to see people of all shapes, sizes and physical restrictions fight their way through classes, and even better to start seeing them week after week. Camaraderie and pressure are being formed. We cheer each other on through that next wave in rowing class, and give each other grief if someone misses a class.
  • Reading. Yes, reading. I read all the time as a matter of business and necessity, but I’ve recently begun reading for leisure. My attention span is short, so instead of giving up on a book, I’ve taken to reading a small, digestible chunk at a time. Whether that means reading a chapter, ten pages, or for ten minutes, I am finishing books.

  Here’s the thing about all of these activities: It’s okay if you fail at any of them. The worst thing that can happen to you in any of them is that you may forge new friendships, learn a new hobby, or just become a tad bit smarter.

• 12Oct

  My Little Matchmaker, With a Motive

  Kids, Single Mama Life 4337 Commentshttp://singleworkingmama.com/2009/10/12/my-little-matchmaker/My+Little+Matchmaker%2C+With+a+Motive2009-10-13+01%3A39%3A30Heidi

  Recently, I’ve been wowed, impressed, and most of all thrown off of my parenting game by the logic and persistence of my seven year old.

  While her interests seem to come (and go) in waves, her most recent request for a baby sister is hanging around much longer than I’d like.

  It’s really funny. First, I try to explain that in order for me to have a baby, I should be married. (It’s the way I roll.)

  “But,” she reasoned, “you have Brett and me, and you aren’t married.”

  Sigh. This is the time I realize that gone are the days of pacifying my kiddos with a simple answer to any question they pose, and when I have to remind her that when they were born, I was married; that I didn’t enter the realm of the Single Mama until I got a divorce.

  “Well,” she said (wheels turning) “I think I know a really nice guy for you. My PRINCIPAL!” She’s also commented on people we run into out and about, and once decided that because a man winked at me at the gas station that he thought I was beautiful and wanted to marry me.

  Not good. Now she’s on the hunt to find not my soul mate, but the papa for her dream baby sister.

  When I first got divorced, I was getting clobbered from every angle by friends, colleagues, neighbors and even vague acquaintances trying to set me up with “so-and-so,” who was always “really great,” and “blah, blah, blah.” I never imagined that one of these forces would be my own offspring!

  I’m trying to prove to my kids that I don’t need some nameless, faceless entity to make my life whole. So how do I do this?

  So far, my approach has included the following:

  • I laugh with her when she tries to set me up, and agree with her when we see a “cute one.”
  • I tell them constantly that I don’t need to be in a relationship to be happy!
  • I remind them that happy families come in all shapes and sizes; that they are my focus, and that when the time is right, maybe I will get involved again.

  At the end of the day, I stand by my conviction. I really hope that my theory that they’ll get a stronger sense of themselves holds true, and that they learn much earlier than I did about what it really takes to have an awesome relationship.

  C’mon. Who else out there has gone through this? Who else has dealt with similar efforts and requests by well-meaning children? I want to hear from you!

• 27Aug

  Den Mother in Training

  Single Mama Life 3881 Commenthttp://singleworkingmama.com/2009/08/27/den-mother-in-training/Den+Mother+in+Training2009-08-28+00%3A37%3A56Heidi

  Last year was a very tough year for me to be really involved in my daughter’s first grade class, for a few reasons:

  • I work, and the last school year was particularly intense at my job.
  • I don’t tend to relate well to the moms who are uber-involved with the school activities, try as I might. I can’t explain it – but I just don’t. (It could be that I feel like an oddball among the moms who are not in the same boat as me, and that even though they’re friendly to me, it’s in a guarded fashion that excludes me from Silpada parties, etc. Not that I’m complaining about THAT! Or, I’m just paranoid because I don’t quite fit the suburba-mom template.)
  • I realized two years ago that I had a difficult time saying “no,” and got into many pickles because of it. I kind of went on “yes” strike for a little bit.

  

  My very favorite Anne Taintor magnet, which helped me realize I had a volunteering problem...

  Well, I’m a recovering overzealous volunteer. Tonight, when I circled the table signing forms, I saw that one of the few blank spaces on the Valentine’s Day party was for the party planner.

  Seriously? We were late. We were on the tail-end of the open house, and SuperMoms are usually there in the beginning. Clearly, this was a sign.

  The pen hovered above the black line as I tried to talk myself out of it. Then I remembered, I’m trying to break my own mold these days and try something new.

  Next step: Book MONTHLY checkpoints on my Outlook calendar. If I can’t pull this thing off in six months, I am a major loser.

• 24Aug

  “Mom can’t talk, she’s getting her eyebrows waxed.”

  Single Mama Life 3813 Commentshttp://singleworkingmama.com/2009/08/24/mom-cant-talk-shes-getting-her-eyebrows-waxed/%22Mom+can%27t+talk%2C+she%27s+getting+her+eyebrows+waxed.%222009-08-25+02%3A29%3A34Heidi

  Tonight was Girls Night at my house. My little boy went off to spend some quality time with his dad, and my little (quickly growing big) girl and I went out to find an outfit for the all-important first day of second grade.

  Somewhere along the way, I had an appointment to take care of my eyebrows. I’ve foregone such luxuries as pedicures, but one of the (multiple) things I’ve proven ineptitude for is eyebrow maintenance. Tonight’s appointment was more than overdue, and Drue came with me.

  I was horizontal on the table, getting lectured by the esthetician for tweezing inappropriately when my phone rang. I instructed her to answer, saying “tell whoever it is Mom will call them back – but don’t tell them what I’m doing.”

  SLAP. Hot wax on the brow.

  

  Luckily, my results were better than Uncle Leo's.

  “HELLOOOOOOO?” (PAUSE) “Oh, hi! Mom can’t talk right now. She’s getting her eyebrows waxed.” (PAUSE) “SHE’S GETTING HER EYEBROWS WAXED!!!”

  I couldn’t open my eyes to signal her to “zip it,” so I let it play out.

  I returned the call later.

• 08Aug

  SingleWorkingMama Goes Facebook

  Single Mama Life 355No Commentshttp://singleworkingmama.com/2009/08/08/singleworkingmama-goes-facebook/SingleWorkingMama+Goes+Facebook2009-08-09+03%3A30%3A04Heidi

  I’m a social networking butterfly, in several areas: My day job, my personal life, and right here on singleworkingmama.com.

  So, it seemed only natural that I should take on one more parallel venture in the form of a Facebook fan page.

  If Facebook is an establishment you frequent on a regular basis, I invite you to join me – my Facebook presence offers room for discussion, and heartily invites YOUR ideas for topics you’d like me to write about!

  SingleWorkingMama on Facebook

  Tags: facebook

• 31Jul

  Mama Time

  Single Mama Life 3461 Commenthttp://singleworkingmama.com/2009/07/31/mama-time/Mama+Time2009-08-01+00%3A19%3A30Heidi

  Tomorrow, I’m going to Boston.

  Life has been freakishly busy lately, and I am getting away from it all to visit my brother and sister-in-law.

  I’d be dishonest if I said this killer trip isn’t a self-imposed distraction.

  My kids are going out of state for a week-long vacation with their dad. It’s the first time I’ve ever been away from them for an entire week.

  This morning was tough, for me. As my SuperManny arrived, the kids said goodbye to me not too differently than they do on a usual day. Yes, we acknowledged that we’d miss each other, and little Boo hung on a little longer than usual, but it wasn’t dramatic.

  Whew. That was probably good for me.

  I’m excited they get to go on a fun trip and know they’ll have a great time. But, I WILL miss them terribly, and came close to tears as I left.

  On the bright side, I am THRILLED to be going to Boston. I’m not going to think about anything other than things that will benefit me personally.

  I get to spend time with my Bro and SIL, which I don’t get to do often.

  I get to see the sights.

  I get to spend some time exploring the city solo while they work.

  I get to actually think about my readers, and how this site can be helpful to them.

  I get to read a book in Boston.

  I get to visit a knitting boutique near Harvard. I’m going to buy some funky Boston yarn and make some funky thing with it for a souvenir!

  I get to eat Chowdah.

  I get to take 8 million pictures.

  Yeah – you get the theme… Me, me, me.

  Oh – one more thing: I am going to engage perfect strangers in passing conversation, and report back on it, with pictures and/or video.

• 03Jul

  Announcing the SingleWorkingMama Shop

  Single Mama Life 3391 Commenthttp://singleworkingmama.com/2009/07/03/announcing-the-singleworkingmama-shop/Announcing+the+SingleWorkingMama+Shop2009-07-04+02%3A53%3A27Heidi

  I’m a designer, and I haven’t had much time to do any fun personal design work lately. I’ve been thinking about it a lot, though, and today set up a Cafepress.com store, the SingleWorkinMama Shop!

  

  This is the flagship design.

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