Guest Post: Lewis Harmon-The Day My Wife Cried Watching ESPN

Hi, everyone! L, here. Happy 4th of July!! I'm excited about today because of more than just the fireworks, Cherry Coke and BBQ's. Today is the first (of hopefully many) posts from a guest author and friend of mine.  Look forward to more posts from my mystery pal, and share the love.

-L

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The Day My Wife Cried After Watching ESPN

I’m a sports junkie and I love my country.  I’m not alone in those two categories I’m sure.  There’s nothing better than watching a baseball game on the 4^th of July and the accompanying fireworks show after the game.  You get all patriotic seeing the red, white and blue of our country’s colors contrasted against the green of the grass field and the straight white lines painted on the infield diamond.  Better than that though is the way our country takes time to honor our service men and women.  Last year I was at a major league stadium for the 4^th and they paraded out several young military recruits to the field and swore them in for duty with a huge American flag spread over the field for a back drop. Man, that’ll get ya. 

I’ve watched my fair share (and then some) of ESPN and other sports programming over the years.  My wife is the best and she tolerates my sports enthusiasm. Most of the time she just “tunes out” basically whenever I “tune in” to the nightly highlights of some over priced athlete slamming a game winning home run or drilling an incredible 3 point shot at the buzzer to win the game.

But this time it was different when Sports Center came on.  I caught my wife shed a few tears as she peaked away from reading her latest novel.  What you say?  How could this happen?  Was it the book she was reading?  No it was a great video piece put together by the folks at ESPN about military service men and women “coming home” set to the sounds of recording artist Daughtry’s “Coming Home”.  Wow, if that piece doesn’t pull some emotion out of you for these great people who serve our country and the love their families have for them, I need to check your pulse, or better yet check to see if you have a soul.  Not sure how that last one’s done, but anyway you get the idea.

See the video “Going Home" here. It’s a tribute to our military, and the folks who put together the ESPN front row blog produced it. I think you’ll like it.

Like Daughtry sings, “be careful what you wish for, you might just get it all…”  Our country is blessed by the selfless service given by our service men and women. They give it all so we can have it all. 

Yeah, that was the day my wife, who once called the great Yankee shortstop Derek Jeter, "Jeret Deter", cried after watching Sports Center.  A few tears might have leaked out of the crevices of my eyes too…

What a country!  Happy 4^th of July!

-Lewis Harmon

It's Just Not That Kind of Blog

I was recently an eavesdropper to a conversation about the typical "mommy blogs". You know, those stay at home moms. The ones who have time to bake all day, always have a clean house, make crafts and actually own a sewing machine.

The conversation went on to say that these moms are "fake". That they probably have husbands who don't care about them or compliment them enough, so they go to the internet and create a faux identity and make us feel bad about ourselves for not being that perfect mommy.

The concept was brought up that these blogs are the cause of our guilt induced and self destructive ideas about our inadequacies as mothers because they force us to compare our worst to someone else's very best, most photographable moments.

Um...

What?!

No.

I'm just throwing this out there: It seems to me that a lot of things go around the internet, blogs, facebook, instagram, twitter, etc. showing the perfection of another person's life. But diminishing another person's light, or saying that there is no way that they're "that good, that way, that crafty, that pretty, or that perfect"...that, my friends, is judgemental. That's exactly what you're irritated with those mommies for being so arrogant as to be.

How dare they put makeup on before they take a picture?

How dare they do the dishes before they show the refinished kitchen table?

How dare they wipe off the Kool-Aid moustache before posting a picture of the kids?

I can't help but think that you might have judged them had they had a bare face, a dirty kitchen, or a messy kiddo??

I think it's less about judging and comparing others' best to our worst, and more about judging ourselves.

I love those blogs.

I love seeing those chocolate chip cookies she just freshly baked before her adoring children came home from school. Am I going to bake them? Hell, no. I don't have time for that. I'm going to send my husband to the grocery store to buy me a bag of them.

I love reading the tutorial about how she recovered her dining room chairs. Am I going to recover my dining room chairs? Please. I live in a 4plex. I don't have a dining room. But the colors are pretty!!

Just because I love those blogs doesn't mean I have to be them. I can be me, and be real without it. Is this one of those blogs? Ha. No. But someone showing you their best doesn't make them any less flawed, and it certainly doesn't make them any less real.

And just in case you don't take me seriously, this is what is real in my life. Because though I have respect for and love reading those blogs or seeing those pictures on facebook, this just isn't that kind of blog.

Real:
Walking into your bathroom to see that your daughter has decided she needed a makeover. You've suddenly hit pan on three eye shadows that you've yet to even use yet. Odd how that happens.

You ignore the mounds of laundry all around you needing to be folded because your new title is Jungle Gym. And that's better than Laundry Folder, any day.



-L

A Letter From a Working Mom

This letter originated in the personal journals I keep for my kids. You can read more about that here. I decided to take it from the pen to the computer screen.

Dear Babies,

Sometimes, I have to leave you. More mornings than not, you are sad not to have morning snuggles and you are wanting for a slower routine.

I can't give that to you.

Sometimes, you cry when we go our separate ways each day, holding out your sweet arms for me and telling me you don't want me to leave.

I can't stay with you.

Sometimes, I look at the clock about mid day, and I realize you've had your lunch already, and you're probably going down for your nap. You're holding your sippy and you're snuggling your blanket.

I can't be there with you.

Sometimes, I wonder if you've fallen down today while riding a scooter or jumping from a swing. I wonder if you cried.

I can't kiss your "owies".

Sometimes, I text your babysitter just to tell her I miss you or ask her how you're doing. I love her, because she loves you. I love her, because she takes care of you when I can't. I love her because you love her. Each day, I give her the most important pieces of my life, and she loves you while I am away.

I can't thank her enough for that.

Sometimes, I feel bad for being away from you most days. I feel bad because I worry that you don't understand. That you don't know that if I could, I would be with you every minute. But our family doesn't work that way. Your daddy and I are away from you during the day because we love you so much, and we know that we need to take care of you.

I can't help that.

Babies, please know that when I'm away from you, you are always on my mind.

In the morning, when I stop for gas or a drink and I open up my wallet, I see you. I think of you, and I miss you.

When I sit down in my office at work, I see you. I smile, and I'm proud of you. I'm happy to show any and everyone who walks into my office that you are mine. You are perfect.

When I pull out my phone at lunchtime to talk to your dad for a minute, there you are. I see you.

Long after you go to sleep at night, when I sit down at the desk to do my homework, write, get caught up on emails, finish things up for work the next day, etc. I look over and I see you.

Babies, I'm sorry for all of the "can't". But though I miss you throughout the days that I can't be with you, know that I work hard because I love you. I realize that a lot of your friends have mommies or daddies that get to stay home with them all day long. Our family isn't that way, but we love you just as much as any mommy or daddy ever could.

Know that I want what's best for you. I might be sad to be away from you, sad when you reach for me and I have to leave, sad for the naps I don't get to put you down for or the lunches I don't get to feed you, but I'm at peace knowing that you're in good hands, and I am at peace because it is all because I love you.

I'm at peace, because this is the very best I can do.

I treasure the few days a week that I get to wake up and snuggle you, get to see your sweet faces marked with blanket and pillow lines after your nap, get to smile at the static in your crazy pig tails after you rolled around and played on the floor, and get to put Monsters Inc or Angry Bird bandaids on your owies.

Sometimes, I can't always be there. But I see you wherever I go, and I love you.

Love,
Mommy

Five Irrational Fears

Inspired by a hilarious blogger (and my friend) that you can find here, and her most recent hilarious blog post, I decided it's high time for me to discuss some of my irrational fears.

Jena hit the nail on the head in her post when she asked if she was alone in her irrational fears. I submit, she is not! We all have "normal person" phobias. You know, like spiders or snakes or heights, etc. But what about the ridiculous ones? Nobody cares if you're scared of spiders, sister. Get in line. But here are some not quite so rational phobias I have:

1. Tupperware.

Yes, I'm petrified of opening Tupperware that housed leftovers for any amount of time. I don't care if the food hasn't gone bad, I don't care if the food is all gone and it just needs to be washed. I literally go weak at the knees at the thought of prying open the plastic lid and the inevitable wave of "food smell" that will find me.  I have been known to throw away many-a-Tupperware as an alternative to having to open it, scrape out whatever it was on the inside, and put it in the dishwasher. Not.worth.it.

2. Dumpsters

Any time I have to walk out to a dumpster (like the one outside of my apartment complex, the big one outside of my office building, etc.), walk past a dumpster, or be in it's vicinity whatsoever, I stop short of the enclosing fence and reach deep down to find courage. There are four things that haunt me in their very idea that I associate with dumpsters. Dead bodies, cats, mice, and dead mice. Obviously, the latter is the most terrifying.

3. Chalkboards

Sure, they're not that big of a deal in theory. But I literally cannot concentrate on anything going on when I'm in the vicinity of someone writing on a chalkboard. I'm petrified by the idea that the person writing is going to do that awful thing where the chalk skips and then their fingers hit the board. Ohmyword. I'm done talking about this. It's upsetting.

4. Wings

(I tried to insert a picture of a moth, and I literally could not. It upset me too much.)

Specifically: moths, birds, butterflies and dragonflies.
I will cry. I will sob. I will hyperventilate.
If there is a moth in my house at night, I do not sleep until it's found and destroyed. My philosophy? Kill that thing so that it can't have babies. And a note to my husband: You cannot just smash it against the wall and go about your nightly business. A moth carcass is the last thing I wish to find when I turn on the bathroom light in the morning. Happy wife, happy life. Kill the thing with wings, and hide the evidence.

5. The Taste of Medicine/Vitamins

I'm scared to death that when I take my vitamins or any kind of medicine, that I will taste the pill itself before I drink the water and swallow it. This is especially true for vitamins. They are vile. They are horrible. I'm not even being dramatic here, they're putrid. And in my anxiety and rush to hurry and shove the pill in my mouth, grab the water, and swallow before I taste the powdery outside horrible-ness, I often either spill water everywhere or miss completely and end up not only tasting gagging on the wretched taste of vitamins, but I end up having to start over entirely, and clean up a mess.


Tell me some of your irrational fears! Are Jena and I alone in our acceptance of unrealistic/unreasonable worries?

-L

HauteLook Summer Beauty Bag

Because I love you, I will share this bit of loveliness.

Until Thursday, the Summer Beauty Bag is on HauteLook. It's $29. HIT IT UP. Worth WAY more than $29. The retail price is $100.  You want it. I promise. CC cream, Lipstick, primer, mascara, blowout spray, and a lot more!! It includes brands like Aveda, Estee Lauder, Laura Mercier, etc.

Find it here. You won't be disappointed.

You're very welcome. ;)



The Not So Green, Green Smoothie

Here's a little well known fact about me. It's something that I'm really good at. It's something I do well; something I've always done well. I guess you could say it's a strength of mine.

I'm excellent at eating junk food.

Like, excellent.

And I can put it away. This.girl.can.eat.

I eat Oreo's by the sleeve. I love all members of the carb family, especially when they marry a nice Mozzarella or Asiago and have an adorable pizza or pasta baby. When we get a pizza, especially BBQ Chicken pizza, I out eat my husband. I've pretty much always got a soda in my hand, and there is a drawer filing cabinet in my office devoted to one thing: candy.

That being said, I know the importance of fruits and veggies, and we always have plenty around the house. Not a meal is had without both of them (once I ran out of fresh fruit so we just had our regular meal with sides and veggies and my four year old said, "Mommy, you forgot to give me my bowl of fruit."), but that doesn't mean I don't need to be better.

One way I'm trying to cram in what's good for me (and use it to replace, oh say, my second pizza of the day), is my morning smoothie. My goal is to have one every single morning (as my breakfast--okay, there may be granola bars involved as well from time to time) and on the mornings when I don't have one, I can tell the difference in not only my hunger level throughout the day, but my energy level. It is really sweet and you don't taste the greens at all. I love feeling like I just had a treat, but knowing that I got all of those veggies and greens in my system.  However, I don't do well with a green smoothie. Maybe it's psychological, maybe it's that they taste like crap...but they're just not my thing. So this is my take on the green smoothie, even though it's not quite so green.

 

Here's the recipe:
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1.     8 oz. Apple Juice (Any juice is fine, or even water. Just make sure your juice is NOT juice cocktail. 100% juice, only. No added sugar, or else you might as well just drink fruit punch.)
2.     8 (ish) frozen strawberries
3.     1/2 frozen banana
4.     1/4 cup frozen blueberries
5.     1/4 cup frozen raspberries or peaches (optional)

Blend until liquid and moving easily through the blender. Then add about 1 1/2 cups fresh spinach (without stems) one at a time until they're completely blended, followed by about 1/2 cup of fresh kale (without stems). I use my Ninja blender, and it works great, although Vitamix is the bomb.com.
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On my busy work mornings, I mix it up as soon as I get up, and keep it next to me all morning as I'm getting ready. If it's not all gone by the time I head out the door, I just take it with me! But on mornings like today (Saturday), magazines are definitely involved. And always a straw.

Share your smoothie recipes with me!!

-L

First and Last

Being a mamma means a lot of things.

Too many things to ever try to dictate in a blog post.

But among the many, being a mom means you witness a lot of "firsts", both for yourself and your babies.

There are first haircuts.

And first days of pre-school.

But there are lasts, too. I think that sometimes, we just don't recognize them as much. Slowly, but surely, they grow up. One day, there will be a last time that these crazy babies find a laundry hamper to sit in while they watch a movie...

One day, Ellie won't sit in a high chair anymore. She won't say "no" to everything, even if she means "yes". It will be done, it will be gone. One day, Landon won't say "K" sounds like a "T" ever again. And one day, he'll be able to pronounce "directions" instead of saying "delections."

I think they're worth every first and every last.