At age 17, I dyed my hair because it pissed my mom off.
At age 22, I dyed my hair because it was fun. And it pissed my mom off.
At age 27, I dyed my hair because the changing hues had become a part of my personality. And it pissed my mom off.
At age 32, I dye my hair to cover the gray. And my mom is completely supportive.
We moved to this city, an hour away from all my friends, nearly 10 years ago. In that time, I’ve made very little progress in making new friends and done a crappy job of keeping up with the old ones. Part of that was being a stay-at-home mom. Where was I supposed to meet people?
When Stacia started school, I thought I’d finally have the opportunity. I met plenty of other moms, but that’s when I realized something—I am was a young mom. Stacia came along in my early 20s. As in, I turned 21 when she was 2 months old. That put me at a disadvantage in the making friends department because there was such a divide between the other moms and me.
Now that Brenia is in school, I have met several moms like me (that’s moms who are like me, not MomsLikeMe, though I’ve met several of them too). There’s a connection between Montessori Moms and natural living that I was not aware of when I researched schools. This has been quite helpful in meeting people who share my interests and lifestyle. Plus, now that I’m an old mom the age gap has been erased.
One of the moms I met was Angie. Angie was smarter than I when she became a mother in a new area and she has what I’ve been craving. She inspired me in ways she could have never known (except she will now!). I set out to find it for myself. I started a Bunko group and invited all the women I kinda, sorta knew from school, Scouts and IndyMoms.
To be honest, we rarely play bunko. Mostly, it’s just a group of women who share cocktails once a month, laugh, share stories and commiserate. Our group is small, but I cling to our monthly girls’ nights like a lifeline. I didn’t realize how much it meant to me until last month, when our regular night fell on Good Friday and we failed at scheduling a new date.
Last Friday night, my friend and I decided to go out anyway. It was exactly what I needed. I wore a little black dress, but not the little black dress (that’s still 40×40“>on my list) and we hit the Indie Lounge theater to see Ghosts of Girlfriends Past starring my fictional boyfriend. We thought the movie was hilarious, but were apparently in the minority. Did I mention this theater has a bar? Clearly the other attendees should have taken advantage of the fabulous concession stand.
A chick flick, cocktails and girl time—obviously a new necessity.
Once upon a time, I was a blogger. I journaled my thoughts in a not-so-private diary, shared funny quotes from my kids and posted pictures for the world to see. There was no real purpose to any of it. My hubby started it, really, and I just randomly posted now and then. Before I knew what was happening, I was entrenched in the world of blogging—making connections, meeting friends and enjoying debates. It was a world I had grown to love, and even though I shared much of my life there, it was completely separate from my real world.
Not too much later, I started a business that I loved. It grew, changed and threw me in the public eye. This blog was a place where I could be “Just Heather”, but suddenly I wasn’t just anything. I became that girl on the news. That’s when things started to fall apart for me here. There were things I couldn’t say and subjects I shouldn’t discuss as I was now someone in the public eye.
Enter Facebook. I’ve been a member since the day it was opened to the public, but it’s reserved for people I actually know. My sisters invited me and it seemed like a great way to keep up on their lives. Through Facebook, I found childhood friends, my college girls with who I had lost touch and reconnected with out-of-state cousins I haven’t seen in years. I could not be a better advocate for Facebook, but it isn’t the same.
Next came Twitter. Oh, how I love Twitter. I may not be as obvious about my Twitter love as some people, but I’m pretty much an addict. I can use Twitter through Facebook and update Facebook through Twitter. That’s where I thought it would end, but I’m finally learning to use Twitter as it was intended. I’m once again making connections, finding friends and enjoying the conversations. I’ve found old-time blog friends, discovered new blogs and realized how much I missed my little blog world.
However, I couldn’t just dive back in to blogging. My business is again growing and changing and I’m still (somewhat) in the public eye. Instead of resisting that concept, I’m ready to roll with it. Instead of trying to find a way to separate the personal and business, I’m learning to connect them. Sure, there are still things I won’t share with everyone, but I think the community and spirit of blogging will be restored anyway.
So, I’ve dusted off the ol’ blogroll, cleared a few cobwebs and redecorated a bit (thanks, babe!). My blog is now officially ready for company, but please call before you stop by my home. I’ve been neglecting it far too long.
I did it! I withdrew Stacia from school last week. She started at the Montessori school the next day. She’s very excited, which was a pleasant surprise. I thought she’d have more mixed feelings, but she’s so excited that when I got to the school to withdraw her she had already completed the paperwork and had the contents of her desk piled in the office. All they needed was my signature! I had sent an email to her teacher that morning letting her know so they did have reason to believe her.
She seemed to enjoy her first week. It’s funny, but she actually won’t have a full week until her 4th week there. Last week was the transfer, this week is an in-service day (they have 2 each year, I think) and next week they’re off for President’s Day. She’s behind on the science fair project, but she has a good idea and is having fun with it. I’m sure they’ll let her have more time if she needs it since she’ll only have 2 weeks but we’re doing our best to jump right in.
We’re going to have to make serious budget cuts and the Disney vacation I had booked with high hopes is going by the wayside, but it was the right decision for us. She’s having better days with both health and behavior so I know it is good for her. I’m already much more relaxed just having made the choice. I had some good ideas and loved the theory of homeschooling her, but having that off my back is such a relief.
And because I am the most embarrassing mom on the planet, I had to take a picture of her first day at the new school. And share it with the internets. She was her typical pre-teen self and forced me to take the picture at home before arriving at school in front of real, actual people. She did, however, allow a few pictures on her last day at the old school.
Her Former Teacher
Never Again
We are considering pulling Stacia out of public schools for a variety of reasons. Let’s just say that my extremely bright, off the charts child is getting Cs and Ds in school. Ridiculous. Anyway, I’d really prefer to send her to Brenia’s Montessori School, but I’m not sure I can do that. We’re looking into the homeschool option, and I’m a little intimidated by everything that’s out there. Ultimately, I’d love to unschool; I’m just not confident in myself.
She is shadowing today with the upper elementary at Brenia’s school. I just don’t think we can afford to send her there. I did sit and talk with the directress this morning and she’s willing to work with us. Sibling discount, locked-in tuition, 12-month payment plan instead of 9. We’re considering all our options, but if that ends up being as affordable as it sounds I’ll probably be transferring her there. I’m ashamed to admit I just don’t think I’m up to doing it myself. I will if I have to. She is leaving public school this week no matter what, that much I promise.
It’s been an odd month. Actually, it’s been a rough year. It gets capped off this week with fabulous news from the station. My executive producer called yesterday to talk about my segment. The Tribune Company (which owns the station) filed bankruptcy this week which results in budget cuts. The want to keep my segment, but no more than once per month. They already canceled me for tomorrow and I have no idea when I’ll be back on.
It sucks because we had really begun to rely on that money. We’ll be okay, for the most part, but there goes any fun whatsoever. I’m also really going to miss doing it. I loved the creativity of it all, and I’ll admit the recognition was nice to. My dad was finally proud of something and now it’s (mostly) gone.
I was just getting ready to put a deposit down on the Buy 4, Get 3 free Disney resort for a summer vacation. That’s not likely to happen now, though I’ll probably put down the $200 just in case we can come up with a way to replace the income. Of course, part of me hopes the station changes their mind down the road. The segment has been a huge hit and I’ve been told my several viewers that it is the only reason they tune in.
Step 1. Make a serious mess with gravy in the oven at dinner.
Step 2. Ignore said mess and go to bed
Step 3. Decide to bake the next day, suddenly realizing smoking gravy will not make pumpkin taste good.
Step 4. Set the oven to self clean, without attempting to remove any of aforementioned gravy.
Step 5. Watch enormous flames wick from the gravy while you attempt to unlock the self-cleaning oven.
Today, Brenia’s school had a field trip. Brenia rode with me and 3 classmates. Her carpool friend rode with the teacher and 2 classmates.
When I picked them up from school today, she was telling Brenia how great Mrs. L’s car is.: “She had this really cool thing that you twist and the window rolls down!”
Here we all are adding special automated features to our car that take away the coolest part!