Why I sort of hate the month of April

Earth Day. I hate April because of Earth Day. Look, I turn of my lights when I'm not in the room to save $$ on my electric bill! Not to "save the world"! People who buy electric cars are certainly entitled to do so and have every right in the world. But, where, pray-tell, does the electricity to run your stupid vehicle come from?! Oh, wait! I know! A magic unicorn who runs on a magic treadmill in the middle of Kentucky and eats butterfly farts for energy. That's where electricity comes from. Seriously, there's a word for you hippy-morons out there and it rhymes with dip-nits. Anyway, so now that I have a child in the public education system, we get bombarded with Earth Day memorabilia all month long. Apparently the cirriculum hasn't changed much from when I was a kid, tho. It's still turn off your lights, shut off the water jibberish from my childhood. Aria was pleased to report she tattled on me to her class that I always leave the water running when I brush my teeth. Yes, I do, but it's because it takes like 5 minutes for the hot water to travel from one end of the house to the other! I'm mostly okay with it, tho. Whatever. I don't mind bringing my unused grocery bags (yes, I use plastic ALWAYS!) to the Walmart recycling bin. If there were a recycling center close by, I might even recycle more paper and cans. I don't have a problem with these things. I do have a problem with a group of people telling me or my child that the world is going to implode if we don't do what we can to recycle.reduce.reuse everyway, everyday, earthday! The mindset of these people, sadly, is a belief in mother earth, not a Creator of the universe. Their world view is pretty narrow, and as such so is their tolerance. WE are the only ones who can save the world. We created this mess, so WE must fix it. My belief is that God created everything we see and use. And that HE supplies all our needs and HE is in control of everything. And if HE decides that the world will end, it will. There will be nothing that WE can do to stop it. It's actually pretty liberating and a relief to know that the things I do today, 10 years ago, 10 years from now, will NOT destroy the world; whether it's drive my car, throw out my garbage or leave the water running. Now, I'm not going to delibrately leave the water on, that adds up finacially. But, I'm not going to be guilted into feeling bad about living! Again, feel free to recycle as much or as little as you want. It won't change the outcome in the end, tho. We are to be good stewards of the land, and I believe that also goes hand in hand with common sense. If there is a naturally occuring good being produced, and we have the ability to gain access to and use it, we should! If we can find ways to make that product benefit millions, it just makes sense to keep producing and distributing it for others to enjoy. And if we can find ways to duplicate it or even reuse it, all the better! But doing it in the name of saving the planet is foolish and ignorant. I did however observe Earth Day like I normally do; I drove to work, I washed my laundry and dishes, I vacuumed my floors, I threw out my baby's dirty diapers, I turned on my lights when it was dark so I could see to cook dinner on my electric stove... I lived out my ordinary life on an ordinary day! Happy EVERYday!

Stay-at-home mom vs. Working mom

I would put my self right in the middle. I don't work full time, I don't stay home full time. I know plenty of moms who do one or the other. Here's the thing: they're all pretty good moms. Now do they live up to MY standards? No. Does that matter? No. Do stay at home moms deserve to be called lazy an out of touch? NO! Do working moms deserve to be called neglectful and selfish? NO! But both sides to a pretty good job at judging the other.

I read an article, it's coincidence that it came out the same day as this Ann Romney controversy is to me no accident. The article was about a mom who was a stay at home mom, SAHM from here on out. She was exasperated with the endless questions of how's the bon-bon's and life must be easy for you from her condescending working mom friends. She laid out her typical day (which I might add was somewhat exaggerated) for these moms to contemplate. Basically, she kinda made her kids sound like all they do is scream, cry, pee, and sleep thismuch. Now, kids have their moments, but they aren't like this ALL THE TIME! Some of her comments were funny and I could identify with some as well (I never thought putting my kiddos in the basket of a shopping cart was dangerous! Honest!). Now, however, this was her side of the story. I know life is busy, but how stressful one makes it is kinda a personal choice. If bringing your daughter to ballet class is too stressful, don't do it! If you can't handle that, then don't... duh. I know you want to give your kids the best opportunities, but if it stretches you too thin, the only one to blame is you. Work or not. Working or not has nothing to do with this issue. It about our assumptions, our opinions, what we do or don't put on our plate.

To me, dusting isn't a big deal; I live in an area with hardly any paved roads. It's dusty all the time! So, I'm not quite as anal about dusting. Someone else may have the opinion that dusting must be done weekly, and if they go to someones house like mine and see it's dusty, well to them, clearly, I work too much and don't take good enough care of my home. Or the other way: I am pretty anal about laundry. I hate having piles of laundry. When it does pile up, I do it all in one day. I get it over with. I don't drag it out because to me, a pile of dirty clothes is just plain nasty. Now someone else may have the opinion of laundry as I have about dusting. But when I go to someones house and notice a HUGE laundry pile, I tend to judge them rather harshly. It's not fair but it's how we all are. Some moms notice the littlest things about their own kids or other kids. It's their gift, tho annoying, it's what they're good at. Perhaps it's the competitor in all of us that wants to be better than anyone else, but we tend to notice the negatives to make ourselves feel better. But there's no reason for it, really.

SAHMs do what they do and do their best, I'm sure. They take pride in being with their kids full time, caring for them %100, running the house. Working moms also do what they do and do their best. They take pride in earning an income, helping their kids with homework, keeping up with the dishes, running the home. However, we both work hard to keep our family, our kids and our sanity in check all day. To ultimately criticize one group over the other is plain ignorance. To say one group doesn't have a say in something because their lack of experience with the other group is just plain mean. As women, we all devote our time, energy, love to our families and home. Pitting one side against the other is counter-productive. Each side probably envies the other on certain days. We all want to be the perfect mom, who can juggle home, kids, marriage, social gatherings, bills, pets, dusting, laundry and still make cookies and drink a hot cup of whatever before going to bed at a decent hour. It never goes as we plan and why should it? Life is full of surprises, unexpected's, uh-oh's. Saying a working mom has it harder or easier doesn't matter. We will always have our opinions, our perceptions... it's maybe not fair, but it really fine. But when your kids have a mom they love, no matter what they do or don't do, the rest just plain doesn't matter.