ALZHEIMERS OR PLAIN OLD FORGETFULNESS?

Well it's Christmas evening and things are winding down as we all sit back with that sleepy feeling only turkey can give you. As I sat around last night with my three children and talked and laughed we decided to open our gifts instead of waiting until morning. At this age, the boys would much rather gain a few hours extra sleep in the morning and we were all in the mood for gift exchanging. As I said in my last blog, although finances were tight we still managed to get little gifts for each other either handmade or store bought.
The children had a good laugh (at mom's expense) :) as they each opened a small gift from me and realized I had put the wrong names on each of their gifts, mixing them up somewhat.
They shook their heads and said jokingly "Mom, we worry about you. Is the Alzheimer's setting in????"
Hmm...Alzheimers my *((.....lol. I then went on to explain to my children...forgetting which gift is for who is a simple case of a mother being so busy trying to do too many things that I wasn't paying attention. Alzheimer's would be if I forget their names altogether!!! Right?
Another example was when I was driving my son somewhere and went right past the turn without thinking...we've all done that. Again he brought up jokingly the 'A' word. Once again I informed him of the difference between short term memory loss and Alzheimers. If I'd forgotten how to drive the car and not just where I was headed....then that would be a different kettle of fish.
In these busy hectic days we are under a lot of stress and constantly trying to multi-task that we all at times experience temporary forgetfullness.
Ah...but payback is a 'B*(CH' I told my 25 year old daughter as she laughingly informed me one day after returning from work that she had gotten dressed for work only to discover once she got there she had forgotten to put on her bra!!!! Well, at least she remembered what a bra was for.
Ah....do I see signs of Alzheimer's creeping up daughter???? :)

CHRISTMAS - IT'S MORE THAN GIFTS

Well the Christmas holidays are fast approaching and once again this year I find myself unable to purchase gifts for my children due to low finances. At this moment I have all three of my children spending the holidays here with me and while I would have loved to have had gifts and lots of munchies on hand I am happy that they truly understand and are not bothered by it. After all, they aren't young children anymore but young adults of 20, 22 and 25. They too find themselves a wee bit short this holiday season and now realize the stress of trying to buy gifts when the money isn't there. It is hard enough for them to manage day to day expenses in these difficult economic times for our youth.
However, that has not stopped us from gathering together for a week in our small 2 bedroom apartment and enjoying each others company. Sitting around with the three of them earlier this evening and talking and laughing was like a gift in itself. It is not easy to get all three together at the same time with work and college occupying most of their time so I am really grateful for the time we do have together.
Funny to listen to these three young adults joke around and tease each other and seem to genuinely enjoy each others company. It doesn't seem long ago that they were arguing and fighting over silly things like..."She's sitting too close to me!" "He ate the last bowl of cereal!!" :) I use to wonder at what age do siblings become friends? It makes me happy to see that obviously I did something right in raising these three as they seem like such 'normal, well adjusted' young adults.
So we are making our plans for Christmas, turkey for sure, and just enjoying each others company. Who knows when we will all be together again? Hopefully we have created a strong enough bond that we will continue to try and spend time together despite our busy hectic lives.
** Don't tell them but I did manage to make them a few gifts, just like Santa. But even without them, we know the true meaning of Christmas is being with our loved ones and being thankful we are all healthy and happy and still together...not the number of gifts under the tree.

CHILDREN GET BIGGER, BUT SO DO THE WORRIES

It's been awhile since I've posted on this blog. I admit I've been extremely busy with my artwork and keeping up my blog The Functional Artist, but also I've been so darn busy just being a parent.
I remember my mother saying to me, "The children get bigger but so do the worries." Oh, how right she was. No longer do I worry about them running out into the street in traffic or whether or not they'll be warm enough without their jacket. Now I worry that one is wearing herself out running between two jobs to meet expenses. I worry that with today's economy they will never experience the secure life style we were so fortunate to have. Yes Mom, the worries do get bigger. Does the worry ever end?
Being a parent/mother is a life time commitment that doesn't end when they walk out the door. I loved and appreciated my mother, however, I don't think I truly understand how much she gave up for us until I had children of my own.
So to all you people out there that are still fortunate enough to have your mother's in your life...go give them a big kiss and hug and thank them for being there.

WHOSE BIRTHDAY IS IT ANYWAY???

I am really excited to be going to visit my youngest son tomorrow at College. It is his 20th birthday tomorrow and I'm happy I'll be able to spend it with him. Wow, 20 years already. I remember twenty years ago tonight I had my husband take me for a drive on the bumpiest roads he could find...:) I was bound and determined I was going to go into labour that night. You see, my best friend was pregnant with her first child, I was with my third, and we were due a few days apart. I got a call earlier that evening that she was in labour and headed to the hospital. Not without me I said!!!! Well, lo and behold if I didn't go into labour later that evening.

It was kind of comical, as they wheeled her into the delivery room they wheeled me into the prep room. We had a chance to say hi and wish each other a safe delivery. As was typical of a first baby her delivery took somewhat longer and we ended up having our boys 2 hrs. apart. Her son was born on September 7th and mine 2 hours later on September 8th delivered by the same doctor. It was fun to share that experience with a close friend and our children grew up as very close friends also.

As I spoke with my son tonight about our upcoming visit tomorrow I asked him, "What are you giving me for your birthday?"

He responded..."What am I giving you? But it's my birthday!!"

"Yes, I realize that son," I replied, "But who was it that went through all the pain, sleeplessness and worry 20 years ago? I think flowers will do nicely. :)"

MOVIES WITH IMPACT

Have you ever watched a movie that seemed to really make an impact on your life or left you with a new insight on something? I can think of a few that for various reasons have impacted me, sometimes just from a line that was uttered. Such an example was Jack Nicholson in "As Good As It Gets". The scene where he says to Helen Hunt, "You make me want to be a better man." I found that line quite profound after some thought, however, it's not the movie I want to talk about in this blog.

This morning I was relaxing watching an old movie, which is something I don't do often enough. It was the classic "To Sir With Love" starring one of my favorite actors Sidney Poitier. I can recall watching that movie when I was younger, in my teens, and I realize now that it had a bigger impact on my life than I was aware of. It is one of those movies that I feel all adults and those working with youth should watch. For those who have never seen it, the movie is based on a young black Teacher that takes a temporary teaching job working in a low income neighbourhood with rebellious teens of the early 60's. Okay, I realize it is fiction and that it isn't quite as easy to convert troubled youth as it appeared to be for Sidney Poitier in the movie. However, the methods he employs are timeless and in my own opinion quite effective even today. Basically, he is showing how one person, taking an active role and sincerely trying to reach out to the youth can make a difference. How showing that he genuinely cares, listening to what they have to say and offering them respect for respect in return, brings about positive results.

From the get go he refuses to interact with them unless they show him proper respect as well as each other and other people they might deal with in their daily lives. He helps them to understand that life is full of dissapointments and unfair people and those are just some of the things they have to learn to deal with using effective people skills. He shows that by working hard how even the most challenged can eventually create a decent life. He shows by example.

To sum it up, these students could tell he was genuine, that he truly cared about them individually and anything he did or said to them was done with their well being in mind.

I think Sidney's character in this movie truly did have an impact on the way I have interacted with youth in my adult life. I wish everyone would sit down and watch this movie and hopefully find it as much a 'good feel' movie as I did.

I would love to hear from some of you what if anything has had an impact on your childrearing methods.

On a lighter side...
Try this with one of your children the next time they complain..."How come he/she is allowed to and I'm not?"......."Because I love them more than you....duh.." Then wait for the shocked expression while you try to contain your laughter. It usually lightened up a situation for me. :)

AND THE AWARD GOES TO....

I am thrilled that I now have the opportunity to spread the award to sites I feel deserve it and here they are. Please pay them a vist.

RICK'S TIME ON EARTH

A MOM'S LIFE

THE FASHIONISTA AND BABY

MONDAY MORNING POWER

I know there are many more excellent blogs out there that I just haven't come across yet...but I know I will.

Take your prize and spread the love. If you have already received this prize from someone else, well then you deserve it multiple times over.

I THINK I'LL STICK WITH IT

An interesting thing happened today when I opened my blog. I received this award.

It was awarded to me from a very uplifting blog 'MONDAY MORNING POWER' and it made me think.

You may have noticed on my blog that I have a Stat Counter. It is becoming common to have them on your blog or website and they are really interesting in that they can tell you how often your blog is visited and what city/state/province they come from, not to mention the site they accessed yours from. In many ways they are interesting as well as helpful. It's nice to know how often your blog is viewed.

I have to admit I was getting somewhat discouraged that this site got very few visitors whereas my art site THE FUNCTIONAL ARTIST was increasing on a daily basis. I had to ask myself some thought provoking questions. Was my topic choice for this blog an unpopular topic? Was my method or style of writing boring? Did I come across as a person who thought they 'new it all' when in fact that is the last image I want to portray. Or was it something as simple as an 'overtalked subject' on the blogs?

Well after a lot of thinking and debating I came to the conclusion that in the big picture, none of that mattered. As long as I have this passion for children and believe in what I'm writing then I should continue on with it. If even one person reads and follows my blog taking with them some confort or reassurance or even amusement, then what more could I ask for?

And now I must go on and spread the award to other very deserving bloggers.