The Mommy Command Center

I used to have an office in my house. It was a bright, sunny room that made me happy the minute I went inside.

Then, I had these two...

And they grew into these two...

And they got some of this stuff...

And some more...

Soon my beautiful, "Shari world" office became this...

And now my office looks like this...

It's a nice little spot in the world but it is just that - a spot. 

So, I needed a place. A place to put all of this stuff. 

Don't you hate all that stuff? 

So, I got inspired by this.

So, I created this. 

My favorite part is this. I bought it at Kirkland's. 

Mail is stressful. Bills. Coupons you have to suddenly memorize the expiration date. Magazines. Which to me are just giant to-do lists (make more nutritious meals that cost $1.99 per family, paint my dresser a whimsical color, take a class on how to do that, buy the latest color nail polish although I am forty-one and shouldn't be wearing lime green nails, etc...). So, mail, yes, it can be stressful. Especially when it's usual home is the front seat of your car, a big bag, your kitchen countertop, or stuffed in between school notes. So, I had to stop the madness. I splurged and bought this beautiful chest of drawers. 

Ever since then, my mail is non-existent(well, at least out of sight) until I am ready to take it on. The first drawer is the catch all (walk in the door and dump everything into this drawer), second drawer is for bills, third drawer is for coupons, forth is for electronics (cameras, extra headphones, batteries, plugs) and fifth is stuff for my husband because everything he ever has to worry about in his life takes up one single drawer (Lol!). As long as I stay disciplined, it all fits in these five drawers. I bought the wall unit at Pottery Barn outlet years ago. It was always so heavy that I was afraid to hang it. I am very fearful of nails in walls. They intimidate me! Especially when it comes to working with studs and these little things. 

They scare me as much as these do! 

So my handy friend came over and helped me bite the bullet and hang it up! Thanks! 

We lovingly call this new area The Mail Center but I secretly call it The Mommy Command Center! 

My sister asked me to help her make one up too. So we went to Target and found all of this! 

Click here if you want to check out their collection of furniture. 

Click here if you want to check out their collection of organizational stuff. 

Click here for a coupon code if you buy any furniture from Target! Yippee! Coupons! 

Then, we went to Office Max and found all of this! 

Click here to see what is 50% off at OfficeMax! 

Click here to see their furniture and get coupon code. 

So, I hope this post helps you create something fun for yourself! It's winter, you are probably bored and you have mail on your counter just staring at you. Right? Why not create a space all your own that doesn't have Cheerios in it? Enjoy! If you do, email me pictures of your awesome center to everydayhighsandlows1@gmail.com

I'll do a follow up post with all the pics to inspire everyone! 

If you like this post, please click the Facebook button below! 

To all my D mommies, you amaze me!

 I am sending this out because it touched my heart. I am also sending it out to all my other T1 Diabetes mommies out there too! Hope the night check goes well tonight;)! 

HOW GOD SELECTS THE MOTHER OF A CHILD WITH DIABETES by Erma Bombeck Most women become mothers by accident, some by choice, a few by social pressures and a couple by habit. Did you ever wonder how mothers of children with diabetes are chosen? Somehow I visualize God hovering over earth selecting his instruments for propagation with great care and deliberation. As he observes, he instructs his angels to make notes in a giant ledger.  "Armstrong, Beth, son. Patron Saint Matthew."  "Forrest, Marjorie, daughter, Patron Saint Cecilia."  "Rutledge, Carrie, twins. Patron Saint Gerard. He's used to profanity."  Finally, He passes a name to an angel and smiles, "Give her a child with diabetes." The angel is curious. "Why this one, God? She's so happy."  "Exactly", smiles God. "Could I give child with diabetes to a mother who does not know laughter? That would be cruel".  "But has she the patience?" asks the angel.  "I don't want her to have too much patience, or she will drown in a sea of self-pity and despair. Once the shock and resentment wear off, she'll handle it. I watched her today. She has that feeling of self and independence that is so rare and so necessary in a mother. You see, the child I am going to give her has her own world. She has to make it live in her world and that's not going to be easy."  "But, Lord, I don't think she even believes in you."  God smiles. "No matter. I can fix that. This one is perfect. She has just enough selfishness."  The angel gasps. "Selfishness? Is that a virtue?"  God nods. "If she cannot separate herself from the child occasionally, she will never survive. Yes, here is a woman whom I will bless with less than perfect."  "She does not realize it yet, but she is to be envied. I will permit her to see clearly the things I see .... ignorance, cruelty, prejudice ... and allow her to rise above them. She will never be alone. I will be at her side every minute of every day of her life because she is doing my work as surely as if she is here by my side."  "And what about her patron saint?" asks the angel, his pen poised in mid air. God smiles. "A mirror will suffice."

SOPHIAAAAA!!!!

"Hello?"

"Hi, it's me." Michael says.

"Hi"

"Why did we pay Dr. Smith a $1000?" he asks with a tense voice.

"What? What do you mean? We haven't seen him in two years. I didn't pay him!" I reply as my head starts swirling.

I hang up the phone and try to realize how in the heck that happened. It takes me about twenty minutes.

Then I remember! A couple of days ago, I was paying the bills on my iPad. Sophia, our new bird, LOOOVEES the iPad (ever since Michael played a YouTube video for her of other peach faced lovebirds. Yes, even birds love iPads...) She was sitting on my shoulder, as I paid the bills, and then she  hopped on the iPad. It got really annoying because the heat from her feet was registering as letters and numbers on the screen. So, I got up, put her back in her cage, sat back down and pressed the "pay bills" button!! 

My stupid bird paid a doctor a $1000 from which we had no bill!!! 

Needless to say, she is also grounded from the iPad for 1000 days! 

(Thankfully, the bank said "That's a new one!" and reversed the charges.)

Who me????

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ZEEEEEKKKKEEE!!

“Mom, will you come here for a minute?” Zeke asked me with a quivering voice.

“What do you want Zeke?”, I admit, I was distracted and didn't feel like getting all excited about what I though was the latest LEGO creation. 

“Just come here for a minute, please.” He usually doesn't try twice so I went with him.

Before I made it into the playroom he started to cry. Then he started to scream with panic in his voice. “I did something really bad!!” he screamed. “I did something really bad!!” he howled again. This time he finished with “...I need to hide!” He started running through the house looking for a spot to hide, like a dog does when you say the word “bath”. “What did you do?” I asked. With his intense reaction, I was starting to panic a little myself.

“I bought gems! I bought gems!” he kept saying. The gems were referring to a game he plays on the iPad called Dragonvale. 

CRAP!! 

At the same time the phone rang. The Caller ID said “Visa Credit Fraud Alert.”

I decided to let Zeke cry and answer the phone. “Hello”, I said tentatively.

They told me that someone bought something on iTunes for $26 and wanted to know if it was a valid request. I looked down at my screaming son lying on the floor trying to hide himself under a blanket, remembered the word "gems" and I told them that, unfortunately, yes it was a valid request.

ugh....

I hung up, scraped my terrified son off the floor and turned on the computer. Zeke started to show me which buttons he pressed in his game. As we added it up, it turned out that he spent around $67, not $26! He told me he thought he had pressed the “buy” button five times.

So now I had to decide on a big kid punishment because this was obviously a big boy crime! Until now, I have usually used the Super Nanny tactic of putting the kids in a time out (on our step) when they did something wrong. That has worked in the past, but I knew that this one needed a little more substantial punishment.

My mother-in-law said it best when she gave me advice one day. The kids were two and jumping on the couch. I commented on how cute they were. She gravely warned, “What’s cute at two isn’t cute at six and what is cute at six isn’t cute at ten.” I have always remembered this through the years.

I decided to tell him that he made five bad choices in pushing that button, so he would get five days without any iThings (iPads, iPhones, iPods, Wii, etc...). It was his first real big kid punishment and his first time being grounded. 

I explained what that amount of money equates to - buying six Skylanders (a toy that he is into right now). I knew this hit home when his eyes grew big.

Then he panicked again and said, “Are you going to tell dad?” 

“No” I said, and he relaxed a little in relief. 

Then I added, “You are going to tell dad.” 

Then the screaming and hiding started all over again!

After a half hour, he finally calmed down and we called Michael. He was so scared but he apologized.  Because I knew this wasn't the end of the world, it was kind of sweet. I was glad he thought this small thing was such a big deal. Maybe we will get lucky and he will wimp out and never quite make it up to the really bad stuff. A girl can dream...  Michael felt his worry through the phone and was easy on him. 

Zeke and I talked about consequences and he kept saying sorry. I felt that the deed justified the punishment and the kid had tortured himself enough, so I was done with it. As I walked out of the room, I guess Zeke disagreed because he walked right over and sat in the timeout spot. Haha! So I did what any loving parent would do... I set the timer for seven minutes. HaHa! 

A couple of days went by and then I opened my Visa bill. “ARE YOU KIDDING ME????” I screamed out loud.

Do you know that little monster racked up charges of $231!!!

“ZEEEEEEKKKKEEEE!”

He actually pushed that “buy” button 16 times! Are you kidding me?

"NO iTHINGS FOR 16 DAYS!!!” I roared.

Rocco panicked this time and said, “Mom, he has already done three days so I will take half of his days left and we can split the last one.” Although, I was impressed with the brave child falling on his proverbial sword and also with his new math skills, I denied the request. 

“Zeke pushed the button so Zeke does the time!”

Ugh! Stupid kids!!

My mom warned me about the age of seven, she said it was the first year of trying things and testing the limits. So, I called her to thank her for the heads up. Without that warning, I swear I would have thought he needed boarding school! LOL! We have also blocked the “buy” button for a safe guard. However, I must say. I thought we had already done that....Hmmmm....

I did feel a little bit better when my friend told me her niece spent $983 on virtual furniture in a virtual decorate your house app! Haha! 

Shoe on or shoe off?

I have made up a new universal rule. I think you will agree with me that it really needs to happen. The rule is that when someone puts out a party invitation, instead of including a dress code on the invitation, the invitation must include a shoe code. To make it easy to implement, I will include a sample invite. 

Friends and Family,

Please Join us for a Holiday Party

Saturday, February 23, 2013

7pm

Food and Drinks will be Served. It is a shoe-on Party

RSVP by 

See? Nice and easy. Let me explain why this needs to happen.

When you are attending a party at someone's home, it is always a question whether or not they will let you keep your shoes on. Personally, I like to have it both ways – off at my house, on at your house!  As hypocritical as this might seem, that's how I like it. You probably do too. Haha!

If I know whether it is a shoe-on or shoe-off party can I confidently plan the rest of my outfit. For example, I have some pretty rocking, high-heeled boots. Of course, my life consists of running to volunteer at the school and buying shaving cream at Target, so never is this girl going to wear these fun, festive boots to anywhere but a house party. If I wear these boots, I like to wear them with jeans that go down to the floor. Never does a high-heeled boot look good with floods. I know, why would I buy a pair of boots just to cover them up?  Doesn't make sense to me either. It just looks better!  Bare feet and long jeans make your butt look dumpy. Am I right? This is why God created high heels. To make our butts look better!

If it is a shoe-off party I will forgo the "long" jeans and just wear the "regular" length jeans. Because long jeans rolled up also make your butt look dumpy! Once the length of the jeans is determined, then I can pick the top. Then, the hair. Then, the jewelry. The shoe-on or shoe-off decision really is the key to all of this.

Then there is the question of socks or no socks. Summertime is easy. Most of the time during the summer, your toes are pedicured. However, in the winter, like the shape of your armpits and legs, toes are anybody's guess. If you have been married for more than five years, it's probably safe to assume that by Christmas only your big toe is sporting polish, left over from your summertime pedicure. As for the armpits? Probably the same deal.

I should also mention here that I can never seem to get the bottom of my socks clean! This is basically because I am afraid of bleach. Who knows where one, left over, little drop will land! I am always fearful that it will happily plant itself on the thigh of my favorite pair of jeans! (You know the ones that fit you perfectly even though they are titled "curvy"? The same ones that they don't make anymore. Probably because women all over the world don't want to be called curvy, especially every time they sit to go to the bathroom! Get a clue fashionistas, would ya! Yep, those.) So, I stay away from bleach. To add insult to injury, I throw white socks into any load. New jeans, red sweatshirt, whatever. I figure they already look rough so why bother. They are usually white enough-ish! But they are never white enough-ish for a shoe-off party. 

Don't even get me started on what it's like to be standing in someone's kitchen with a summer sundress, barefoot! Talk about dumpy...

So, for the foreseeable future can we all just agree to include the shoe code in our invitations? Maybe I should call e-vite and pitch this idea...hmmm.... 

YAY!

 

Celebrate! 

Because of you, we got a spot on the Circle of Moms Round Up! 

Thanks for all the votes! 

More to come this year... Onward! 

Click here to see the post! 

Chasing Rainbows During Soccer

Let's face it. Being a first-time mother is a challenge. When twins are your first-born, you unfortunately learn everything for the first time - twice. For example, as a second-time mom I would have definitely shopped at mom-to-mom sales for everything for my second child. Nope! These two little ones didn't start wearing hand me downs until they were three, thanks to my nephew and a few, generous friends.  

Being a first-time mom to a diabetic child is a little bit of the same. I am making new mom mistakes along the way but learning as I go so I don't repeat the same ones twice. However, as you may have guessed from recent posts, dealing with Type 1 diabetes is truly like chasing a rainbow. You can try and do the exact same thing every single day but you never know if you will land on that perfect number. Somedays, when I feel discouraged, I feel like my day would have had better results getting in my car and looking for the end of a rainbow.

 

Trying to get to that magic number of 90-120 is difficult enough. but throw sports in the mix and you might as well just throw in the towel! Haha! Dealing with the highs from stress and the lows from the physical aspect of the game is hard to navigate and end up with an in-range number.

It is for this reason, many of you know, at times I struggle with sports. 

But after kicking a soccer ball with a boy from the neighborhood, Rocco came running in and said he wanted learn how to play soccer. It frustrated him that the boy in the neighborhood was better than he was. In true Rocco fashion, he never once realized it was because the boy was three years older than he is and had been playing for four years! Rocco just has always thought he can grab any sport and just be great at it! I try not to squelch his confidence. There will be plenty of people, later in life, trying to bring him down... Lol! 

So, I signed him up!

This morning was our first practice. He looked so cute in his outfit. He looked like he belonged in it!

When he woke up his blood sugar was 187. Perfect for a morning of running around. He had a yogurt and an Eggo waffle. The total amount of insulin his pump recommended seemed high. I was afraid the insulin would hit him before he started to process the food. This could make his blood sugar tank before we got to the practice. Thankfully his pump allows me to do a “dual wave”, which means he gets some of the insulin immediately with the rest gradually kicking in over an hour. So I did that. I felt safe with that.

As soon as we got to the practice, the coach got the kids running around. I was worried that his blood sugar could be low, but it was too soon to check it, since he was still getting the second part of the insulin and was still processing the breakfast. So I waited. I watched him try so hard to learn the moves and listen to the coach. He did so well.

But I could tell that the super intense coach (who had a thick accent) was stressing him out. In true tough love fashion, I silently cheered him on in his stressful moment. Giving your kids tough love is hard. I like that in sports it is important to persevere and barrel through. I want them to struggle a little in their life when they are with me, so when they grow and are away from me, they will know how to process, cope and move on from hardships. So, as much as it was hard to see him stress, I knew it was better for him in the long run. This is one of the hardest things, I believe, parents need to let their kids experience. 

What was harder was not knowing where his blood sugar was.

As he played on, I saw him taking deep breaths. This is a sign of fatigue, which to the mom of a diabetic child can mean low blood sugar. Finally I couldn't take it any longer and I was able to take him out of the practice for a moment to check his blood sugar. When I did, the monitor gave me a little "how do you do".

Total shock! Poor guy. In true Rocco fashion, he drank some water really fast and hurried back to the practice. I gave the amount of insulin the pump recommended. Even though he said he felt fine and didn't want to come out of the game,  I wondered how he felt. Most times with him, you just don't know. Unless he is really low, he acts normal. And sometimes he may get a little belligerent when his blood sugar hits between 200-250, but other than that, he acts just fine. I felt sorry for him as I watched him persevere through the vagaries of his disease. Just sucking it up for the good of the team! He is so sweet and tries so hard at everything he does; I just wish I could take this away from him. I know I never can but I always wish...

Thankfully, there was only ten minutes left in the practice and when I got him home to check his ketones (high ketones are a potential complication of high blood sugar), they were negative.

I tried to memorize what I fed him and how nervous he was before the game. I always feel if I memorize every aspect of how a high or low blood sugar day went, I can make adjustments and hope to get his blood sugar number in range (90-120) the next time. However, I know I am only fooling myself because how can you really tell what level of nervousness your child's body is processing? But, I will foolishly keep trying to chase the magic number at the end of the rainbow. As I do everyday. Ugh! Poor Rocco.Who needs to learn how to "barrel through" sports? This kid already knows how to barrel through... 

Battle of the giggling babies!

Somebody please tell me which of one these is funnier! I just can't choose. They are both hysterical! 

Baby #1

Or 

Baby #2

Some fun, eye candy today!

  

Thankfully, I only remember the threat of the spoon. If you remember the belt, let me know how therapy is going. Haha! Not sure about that flip flop. Maybe that's a Florida thing...

Just funny!

Drum roll please... My ultimate favorite of all time. 

Trying...

Trying very hard to maintain my good mood as I remove an entire package of gum from my load of laundry!!! At least I caught it before it hit the dryer. Boys...

Darcy

 

Click here for tonight's post(s). I hope my friend is doing well so far!