Blogging on the go!

So i have this wonderful phone that my hubby got me for my birthday last year and i find out today that i can blog right from my phone! Yippee! Hope it works smoothly!

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Boys and their toys...

Nic wanted to get a new Nerf gun today. He had a couple of gift cards from Christmas and maybe even his birthday so he figured he could spend them. Now please recognize that we already have a nice Nerf arsenal upstairs. Each boy only has two hands so I'm uncertain why we would need more than the 5-6 guns we already own. Well, something out there was better somehow and Nic wanted it.

I have tried many times to encourage and discourage certain purchases by my children. Limiting Pokemon cards, YuGiOh cards, Bakugan and most recently Bey Blades. Seems that if I give them an inch and say yes, you may buy one or two that they are unsatisfied and would of course prefer 5 or 6. Will recently used some Valentine's money from his Mamma to buy a double pack of Bey Blades. He then used some saved money to purchase a stadium for the Beys. He was satisfied with those purchases until...

Until Nic wanted a new Nerf gun. Then all the sudden Will was trying to sell me Barnes and Noble gift cards for cash so he could get a new Nerf gun too. I didn't bite. I don't need B&N gift cards and Will doesn't need a new Nerf gun. He needs to realize that they money he chose to spend on Bey Blades two weeks ago and last week impacted his ability to purchase a Nerf gun today. Tough lesson? YOU BET! Good lesson? I HOPE!

What type of mom am I?

So I was watching Good Morning America while I was on the treadmill this morning. Yes, you read right... I was on a treadmill, moving and making progress... And they had a segment about types of mothers. Helicopter, Tiger or Hippie were the options. They had three teenagers, products of the three different mothering types, attesting that they were only better off because of the style their mother had chosen.

I absolutely recognize the helicopter and hippie mom in myself at times.

I deliver lunches when forgotten (but NEVER snacks! Gotta draw the line somewhere). I remind my kids that I haven't signed a practice log or Thursday folder. I ask multiple times if they are sure they really want to sign up for _______ and do they realize the commitment that ______ requires?

On the other hand I let my kids run outside to play and not tell me EXACTLY who they are playing with and for how long. I let my kids ride their bikes to the park 5 blocks away ALONE. I'm crazy like that. A little too free for many who live around me. I even let them pick out their own clothes (although I draw the line at skulls. I refuse to buy clothes with skulls on them).

I just don't see myself as the Tiger Mom. If I were a Tiger mom my kids would be boring. I love that my kids are FUNNY! I mean really really FUNNY! They have great comedic timing and the sarcasm... It is genetic bliss. Tiger moms apparently don't encourage free thinking. They don't even encourage free TIME! I LOVE free time! I live for free time. I got really stressed this past fall when Nic was in the play and Will played baseball. There was NEVER a real conflict but just the fact that there could be stressed me out.

Sounds to me that being a Tiger mom is full-time work and I just love part-time gigs. Just like I enjoy subbing for 1/2 day. Now I do realize that parenting is a full-time job but it is not work. I love my JOB but I hate to WORK! Guess that says plenty about my future earning potential. Lucky for me mothering my two amazing boys pays in DIVIDENDS! Just as the kids on GMA gave their moms each a grade of A for parenting, I think my kids know that I am devoted and proud and feel VERY VERY BLESSED to be responsible for any small part in the amazing people that they are becoming.

Where have the blue boxes gone?

When I was growing up there was a blue mailbox two blocks east of my house. There was another one on a corner near my school and an third a little further by a mall entrance. Of course I could always take mail to the Post office, good old Bacon Station. Or I could simply put my letter in my own mail box where the smiling mailman would pick it up fight from my porch.

So recently I needed to mail a bill, which I don't like leaving in my own mailbox at the curb, and was trying to think about where the closest blue box was. I thought and I thought and that box sits outside of the USPS building 4 miles north east or three miles south west. There aren't blue boxes on any corners between here and there. There isn't one near the school. There isn't one near the mall or even the grocery. There aren't mailboxes anywhere around here except the drives in front of the post office.

That got me thinking about why there are not blue boxes on corners anymore. It surely takes time to stop and unlock and unload a mailbox. The USPS is losing money like some people lose their hair. They need to work smarter not harder so maybe that is why all of the mailboxes are gone. Additionally, there are bad people in this world who look at the USPS as their personal means to an end. They want to use the USPS to do their dirty work for them and deliver bombs or poison to people while they stand back and wait. Maybe you can't drop a letter or package in a blue box any more because the USPS wants to see (and/or record) who sends what packages through their system. Maybe there are many more reasons that the blue boxes are missing. Maybe they are expensive to build? Maybe the blue paint used to keep them bright was lead based? Maybe someone considered them more of an eyesore than a service?

I do not know the answer. There is probably more than one anyway. But I do wish there was a blue box two blocks to my east.