Saturday, August 14, 2010

Girls just wanna have fun

I'm tired. I have a little bit of a lingering headache. If it weren't for the kids screaming and giggling in the next room, I'd think I stepped back in time to when I would go out and party and bar-hop 'til 2 a.m.

Oh wait! I did go out and party and bar-hop 'til 2 a.m.!! Thanks to the kids' Vacation Bible School (shameful, I know), the night started with a triple date with good friends then thanks to our husbands taking the kids back home, the girls headed out to a nightclub in Trenton (or "Tre-in" as the Trentonians say!) It was girls' night out to celebrate a friend's 40th; nine or 10 of us danced and people-watched the night away...well, until about midnight anyway! After watching bumping and grinding for a couple of hours we moved on to a small bar in town where the Karaoke machine was fired up and American Idol wanna-be's crooned or squawked at us through speakers turned up way too loud.

Geez, how old am I?! I remember going to see bands and wanting to stand by the 10-foot tall speakers! Of course, I was watching David Crosby, not Suzy the cashier at the local deli reliving her high school musical days! I'm wondering if that's where my headache stems from. Oh, and did I mention that I personally squawked out Summer Nights with the bartender? Um, yeah...sorry to all my bar peeps out there!

It really was a great night. To think, I would do this weekly (sans the nightclub) back in the day. But the old gray mare just ain't what she used to be so I'm thinking this little excursion should keep me content for a good couple a months!

~Eileen Cassidy Bishop

Thursday, August 12, 2010

Invasion of the sweet boy body snatchers

Can someone tell me what happened to my sweet, lovey-dovey, smiley little boy? He was here just a second ago! Has anyone noticed or heard of any UFOs in the area 'cause I'm thinking he may have been snatched and replaced by a cranky, overly sensitive, stingy little non-sharing alien who's mean to his sister and fresh to his parents. Anybody? Anything? No, didn't think so.

The thing is, I know the real kid is in there somewhere. I see glimpses of him often but not often enough. I hear him giggling with his sister and playing happily often. But not often enough. I feel him snuggling with me in the early mornings chatting with me or watching Arthur and I think today will be the day sweetness will overcome meanness and that sweet son and brother will come back one hundred percent. But it's fleeting. His sister gets up shortly after and wants to snuggle as well. And so it begins...the alien rears his head and the sun of another day shines upon his face.

I will not give up. I will continue to use intense therapy of love and patience mixed in with direction, re-direction, and discipline and I know that eventually the good being will take over the creepy one and peace will once again reign over the land (or at least my house). The mission will not be easy. Nails may be chewed, hair (specifically mine) will be pulled out, tales will be tattled, and feelings will be hurt. But I have donned my mother's armor and am prepared.

I just hope victory comes sooner rather than later as though my love for him is immeasurable, my patience is very measureable; one needs only a very short stick!

~Eileen Cassidy Bishop

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Pillow Thinking

Don't you miss the days when you could simply turn off the light, flip over onto your side, and be asleep in five minutes? I do. I do a LOT! Everyone knows the feeling; your mind starts racing...what do I have to do tomorrow? Who do I have to call? I really should have registered the car today so I have it by the end of the month. Why did I have to yell at the kids like that? Why did the kids make me yell at them like that? (see how I turned that around right there?)

Even when I am DOG tired, as soon as my head hits the pillow....BAM! Wide awake while my husband and dog snore away incessently...that's the salt in the wound right there! I tell myself I should get up and write or at the very least, make a couple of notes on the pad I keep on my bedside table, as I think my best ideas come at either bedtime or at 2:30a.m. when I wake up in a panic about...see above! But I don't. Instead I beat myself up and fight with myself to STOP THINKING. We all do that. I'm sure there are heads nodding emphatically reading this and thinking, "I know exactly how she feels!"

So how do I fix this? Hmmm.....make a list today to answer the question of what I have to do tomorrow and who I have to call? Register the car sooner than two weeks before it expires? Stop yelling at the kids? (yeah, right) It's doable, I know it is, just like reaching over and grabbing my notepad in the middle of the night. Ahem.

I love reading articles about how incredibly easy it is to organize your life, your house, your family...it's as easy as 1,2, 3! "Come on, now, no more excuses! Just follow these 25 easy steps and within only a few short weeks you'll be able to lay your head down at night and sleep peacefully." In a perfect world there are 25 easy steps...well, in a perfect world I guess I wouldn't need the steps in the first place because I'd be organized and happy and channeling Donna Reed. In my world, though, I get to step 4 and I start to wane. By step 9 I'm starting to line up my excuses and by step 14 I've added that article's magazine to my recycling pile never to lay eyes on again. "Easy steps"....riiiight!

So here it is...I'm not going to beat myself up. Well, I'm going to try not to anyway. I'll renew my website favorites to include Flylady.net and pick and choose what I'll do and listen to, but perhaps not always take, advice on how to get it done. I'll tell myself, and try to believe, that tomorrow is another day. I'll register the car, I'll call so-and-so, and I won't yell at the kids. I'll try not to yell at the kids. I'll try not to yell at the kids too much.

I'll give myself a clean slate every morning and try to give myself a break. It's the best I can offer myself.

~Eileen Cassidy Bishop