Hey, It's Okay

I got this idea from Glamour magazine. You can link up any day of the week. All you have to do is make a list of what you're okay about. Simple! Please do not link up a post that has nothing to do with Hey, It's Okay. It's rude and I'll delete the link.

Hey, It's Okay....



....to hope Natalie has fun at her dance workshop on Friday. She gets to learn some dances from some high schoolers. She's been doing dance in middle school since you can take it instead of PE.



....to have gone to Trader Joe's over the weekend. I seem to skip all the healthy stuff and go straight for the cookie butter and candy. Also, some people have been finding Pancake Bread. My store didn't have it. I asked. They said "not yet, but check back next month."



....to have not participated in the how hard has age hit you challenge on Facebook. I might be one of the few!



....to have entered to win two VIP tickets to see the closing night of Hamilton in Puerto Rico. YES, Lin-Manual is Hamilton! You also get airfare and a 2 night hotel accommodation, plus you can hang out at the cast party. The money goes towards to support the Hispanic Federation AND the Flamboyant Arts Fund. You can donate and enter here. 50 winners will win! And if you don't win, well, at least you know your money went to a good cause.



....to have found this photo of Natalie when she was tiny. I always taught her about Tudor history from a young age. Her middle name is Elizabeth after Elizabeth I, Henry and Anne Boleyn's daughter who ended up kicking butt and not putting up with man crap.

Inlinkz Link Party

Sometimes I Miss The Frozen Days

Middle School.


It can be like another world. There are cliques. Fights. Actual fights with fists involved. My daughter started, and I've noticed many changes. In how I parent. In how my daughter behaves.


Suddenly, all sorts of worries are popping up.


Sometimes I miss the Frozen days.

How much makeup is too much?


Should I let her get that app or not?


How often do I need to check her texts?


Is that shirt appropriate?


Maybe I need to start the sex talk now. My daughter says there's an eighth grader pregnant at her school.


Sometimes I miss the Frozen days.

I see her stressed about math. I send her to tutoring. She goes, but she's miserable.


The mood swings. Oh, the mood swings. One minute she's laughing. The next, she's scowling and telling me things like, "I was in a good mood before you started talking." Do I punish her for the mood swings?


Friendships are changing. One day she's okay with one girl. The next she's fighting with the same one. Everyone has the mood swings, it seems.


Do I let her toss out clothes from her closet because she deems them too childish even though she wore them last year?


How far do I let her go in the neighborhood? Do I let her walk down to the Circle K on her own?


Sometimes I miss the Frozen days.

Don't get me wrong, I'm proud to watch her grow.


It's nice to be able to watch movies with her that I enjoyed when I was a tween. I don't have to sit through Barbie or My Little Pony movies anymore.


I can take her out to real restaurants, actual restaurants, and not have to worry about her getting impatient.


I'm eager to see the woman she will become. Sometimes I see flashes of it.


But sometimes?


I miss the Frozen days.

We Got Another Class Pet

So, over the Winter Break, my daughter brings home another permission slip to bring home a class pet.

(Remember we brought home rats during Thanksgiving Break.)

I was like, "Okay, fine," and Natalie said, "I hope we get Speedy the guinea pig! He's so cute!"

As it turns out, she did.

I have never been around guinea pigs before, so I didn't know what to expect.

For starters, the cage collapsed when I picked Natalie up, because apparently you can't lift from the sides. I immediately did this when I took the cage, thinking everything was bolted down, and Natalie was like, "You have to lift from the bottom."

That would have been news to give me BEFORE I went for the cage.

Luckily, Speedy didn't escape. He just hit in his igloo and was like, "Oh geez, now what?"

When we got home I told Natalie to take good care of Speedy.

"I will," she said solemnly. "I took good care of the rats. I didn't let the cats eat them!"

Thank goodness. I always worry when we bring a class pet home that it'll die and Natalie will return to school and be known as the Student Who Killed A Class Pet.

I checked on Speedy a few times, and I didn't know they made noises. Coos, purrs, things like that.

"Is he broken?" I asked Natalie.

"No. That's just sound guinea pigs make," she replied.

Oh.

Also, our cats didn't eat him. They were curious, but I stayed close when Natalie was cleaning out Speedy's cage.

Ruby was all, "WTF is that?"

Max was all, "What kind of cat is this?"

But neither made a move to eat him.

So good news! Speedy survived!

Natalie is going to miss him.

In fact, we made a deal: if she does well on her report card, she can have her own guinea pig.

Have you ever been around guinea pigs?