At least I have pasta

So I decided to hook up with The Mommyhood Chronicles for her Saturday blog hop. I have kind of been a blog-hop-whore this week--this will be my third--but it reminds me of when I tried to join every MOMS/MOPS group in Montana when I lived there. EVERY. SINGLE. MOMS GROUP.

I did it for my sanity. I did it for my children's safety. I did it to make friends. Mostly I did it so that I wouldn't become the mother you read about in Time or Newsweek who drives herself off of a cliff or who drops her children off at the neighbor's house and boards the AmTrak to Nova Scotia never to be seen again. Hypothetically. I figured that if the groups were there, they want people to join and why shouldn't those "people" be me?

So the blog hop thing is similar in that I meet some really great people--moms AND dads and it helps me to be a better mother when I know I am not alone in my quest to stay stable while raising well-adjusted, kind-hearted little people with minimal blood shed and tears lost. It is reassuring to know that others have some of the same problems experiences and issues fun times, and that all of us on here , no matter WHAT we may say (because we may or may not think that we are HILARIOUS), we love this parenting gig and wouldn't trade it for ANYTHING. Not even for a solid eight hours in dream land...

Okay...maybe for a few solid hours, but I digress...

This particular blog hop asks for five funny things, which really shouldn't be difficult since the three maniacs keep me laughing regularly. There's something about having to come up with things on the spot that makes my brain freeze. Suddenly my brain is emptied of anything funny and I live the most boring life ever. Since I know that isn't the case, I am going to try my best to find the five without hurting myself or anyone else.

5. Stabbing myself in the eye with a toothbrush. I wrote about it on Tuesday and though it has little to do with my maniacs, it was pretty funny. And painful.

4. My youngest (who has ALWAYS been showered with compliments) saying, "I yike to go to school, Momma, because eveyeeone yoves me, don't they, Momma? " We've decided that we do not need to worry about self-confidence in this family, but we may need to start working on humility.

3. I had surgery two weeks ago and was lucky enough to have some good friends cook for us. SO. VERY. LUCKY. We all absolutely loved what was made for us and I swear we could eat all of those meals every day for the rest of our lives and be quite content. The funny part? My son says, "Mommy--remember when I told you that I could eat pasta every day? We HAVE been eating it every day and I CAN eat it every day, but do you think we could have some chicken and broccoli or something soon? I'm afraid I won't even LIKE broccoli anymore if I don't eat it soon..."

For the record, we didn't eat it EVERY day. We had some yummy soup one day and the pastas ranged from ziti and rigatoni to meat lasagna and veggie lasagna. I need you to know that I. LOVE. LASAGNA. LOVE it. And ziti. And rigatoni. And I've been off the pasta for months, subbing spaghetti squash all the time to try to be healthy, so these comfort foods were the BEST for me--and my kids love them too (they seriously missed them--which brings me to number...

2. This wasn't this last week, but when I was boycotting pasta, I served spaghetti squash with EVERYTHING. I've done it for years, but periodically--not three or four times A WEEK. And not with clam sauce, red sauce, Asian dishes--the only thing I didn't use it for was dessert, though I'm working on it. Anyway, as I was serving up one of the dishes, my son and daughter both said, "You know we know it's not pasta, right? We know that it's squash..." and I realized that I overplayed my hand!

1. My kids are funny. ALL kids are funny. Now that they are 5,6, and 8 I find that we are laughing more WITH them than laughing AT their cute antics and innocent blunders that keep us from completely going over the edge. I LOVE laughing WITH my children. I love those moments when we are all on the same page. The moments that remind me of why I DON'T want to be that woman in Newsweek and why this truly is the best job ever.

And then they start whining and trying to physically and mentally hurt each other and me, sending me over the edge before I fully savored my time with sanity and laughter.  At least I have pasta. And spaghetti squash.