Confessions of a 30-ish Year Old Easily Distracted Mother

Ok, so the title is not really that clever, but I thought it was silly and a fitting title to this blog post. I do have some confessions for you, my avid readership. Here they are, in no particular order:

1. I was shocked to discover that I do like more rap than I realized. I recant my statement from my previous post. I admit that I was 100% totally incorrect. (Shocking, I know, but I am rather frequently wrong and have no qualms in pointing that fact out. Just do NOT tell my husband.) Thinking back over the years, I realized that some seriously good music has made up the soundtrack of my life, and mixed in, was some seriously good rap! To name a few: The Sugarhill Gang's "Rapper's Delight", 311's "Down", Beastie Boys' "Brass Monkey"... I KNOW some of you out there in cyberspace will scoff and say "That is not REAL rap music." All I can say to that is "Quit yer hatin'!"

2. I have written at least 10 blog entries in my head since the last post. Rest assured they were all much wittier and much more interesting than this one will be...I guess the REAL confession in this one is that I am a total slacker, at least when it comes to actually writing down these mentally composed blogs.

3. I have NO idea how to add cool links and pictures to this blog. I have also not taken the time to research it to try to figure it out for myself. I would rather someone just tell me, as it would mean less effort on my part. See, at this point, if I knew how to do those things, I would put in a link to my friend Cameron's blog, The Cameronomicon, of which I am an avid reader, partly because the guy is so darn funny and a great friend, partly because I like the idea of being considered a Cameronomiconophile or is it Cameronominconologist? I digress...

4. I oftentimes inadvertently hit the silly little built-in mouse pad with my hand,thereby repositioning the cursor in a place I did not intend for it to go, resulting in really, really, really jumbled sentences. Why do I not disable the silly thing, since I use a wireless mouse for all things mouse-worthy? Again, because I do not know how, do not want to figure it out, and would rather just deal with the issue of fixing my jumbled sentences than take the time to fix it.

5. I do not like ear buds. They give me a headache, no matter how low I turn the music (which then creates the problem that I cannot actually hear the music to which I am attempting to listen).

6. Sometimes, I feel like motherhood is a mind-numbing, intelligence-stealing, sanity-breaking series of monotonous actions. Other times, I am left breathless at the beauty of my children's hearts and minds, and would not change a thing in my life. The more I let go of my preconceived notions of what motherhood and family relationships should and should not be, the more I appreciate and love my family. It is a different adventure for every person.

7. I have had to learn, the hard way, to say "No." Otherwise, I get involved in too much, and cannot do any one thing well, just a lot of stuff only halfway sufficiently.

8. I am carrying around a spiral to record my brilliant ideas for blog entries(I command you to stop laughing...ok, laugh all you want, it was a ridiculous statment), lest I continue in this bad habit of mentally composing beautifully touching entries and then promptly forgetting them. We will see how long that lasts...

9. I have home schooled my older children from time to time, and I am currently homeschooling my two youngest children. I have spent many hours of my life reading all sorts of websites, books, blogs, and magazines dealing with home schooling. The most recent read is "The Teenage Liberation Handbook." I highly recommend it. Although I do have 5 children enrolled in public school (another blog posting in and of itself...), my opinions of the way young people are expected to learn are very, very staunchly anti-establishment. Sure, there are kids who do just fine in the great experiment that is public school, but, as we all know, there are kids who do not do well at all. Of course, the parents of these kids and the kids themselves have to take ownership of their education if the standard norm of public school is unacceptable and avoided. This is, for many, just not feasible nor desirable. To each his own. To swim against the current of popular opinion is not an easy feat, and it can be both exhausting and disheartening. It is worth it, however to attempt to think for oneself. Unlearning and deprogramming myself after my numerous years of schooling is both difficult and painful at times. Deeply held beliefs, no matter how unreasonable, irrational, illogical, and just plain dumb they may be, are comfortable and familiar. Schooling is something that, as we have been repeatedly told, only occurs in the classroom under the authority of a person who has learned how to infuse knowledge into your noggin', and can only be considered successful if you fill in the correct little bubble with your newly sharpened pencil. This country was not founded by people who unquestioningly followed arbitrary rules. I could keep on going on this topic, but I will spare you, dear reader, and climb down from my soap box...

10. I really do not have a #10, but for some reason, could not leave it off at #9 and felt compelled to add it. Must be the public school coming out in me...

10.