And So It Begins... The Barbie Saga.

And so it begins! My daughter is 4, and asked me for a Ken Doll.
I was distracted with trying to get ready this morning, and at first I ask her, "What's a Ken doll?"
She replies, "He's Barbie's best friend, she loves Ken... and I need a Ken doll."
She is holding up her Barbie with a baby wipe on her head, to take to preschool for share day... She tells me she needs to attach the wipe to Barbies head. (?) She wants Barbie to wear a vale, because she is the bride and is going to marry Ken! CRAZY how is my daughter figuring all this out? Where does she come up with this stuff?

In considering buying a Ken Doll for her later, after school, I am hesitant as the cautious parent.
(I never had a Ken doll as a kid... Barbie has boobs, and I'm curious of what the Ken doll will look like naked? I've never seen it. So being the concerned parent, I Google the images of "Ken dolls" but those Kens were all clothed... THEN I Google, "Ken dolls naked" *don't Google this! Or at least not with the kiddo in the room. (Don't worry Kara's was already at preschool when I hopped onto the computer this morning.) WOAH! there are some images of Ken doll naked, and then there are other photos of nakedness I didn't need to see. As well as modified Ken dolls naked! LOL. This was something I totally walked right into.

In the end, I think that the "store bought Ken doll" is not all that bad. It is just a small mound where his private area is, similar to Barbies bottom actually. Not a big deal. I think I can buy Kara a Ken doll now and her Barbie can marry him. It's strange, I don't really remember the whole relationship part to Barbie, with her dating Ken or being married to Ken? As a kid, I just liked dressing up Barbie and playing with her hair. I never had the Ken doll or even a friend that had one. We just had Barbies to play with. I guess I don't see the harm in buying my daughter the Ken doll. It is fine.

Preschool Drama!

PRESCHOOL DRAMA!

Today was suppose to be an exciting day at preschool. She was moving up to Room #2...with the other 4 year olds. BUT in her previous class has a new layout to the room, making the room look better. The teachers also spiffed up the "Home-living area" which was Kara's favorite area in the class. So today she is crying in the car ride home, trying to tell me that she doesn't want to be 4 and that she wants to be 3 again!

Kara: "Momma, call me 3! I'm not 4...I want to go back to room #1. (crying) I don't want to be in room #2...I wanna be 3..."
ME: Why? what is going on? I don't understand? All I can hear is 3...2....4  something about room 1 and more crying.
Kara: I want to be 3!!! I don't want to be 4. Tell me I am 3...then I can go back to room 1
ME: You are a big girl now and moved up, with the other 4 year olds, to the big kid class in room 2. That is exciting, honey! Being in room 2 is fun! and you are one of the big kids.
Kara: I want to be 3!!! <<>>

Over some time of figuring out the difference of the two classes, I realized that she was missing out on her favorite play area, Home-living. It is an area with the baby dolls and the play kitchen, and baby high chair and cribs for the dolls. Apparently, room 2 doesn't have the home-living area. This is a tragedy for a preschooler! She is making this big deal out of room 1 having the home-living all spruced up (it does actually look cute how the teachers made it a little more of an area in the corner of the class room.) BUT she has to be in Room 2 now as a four year old.

Her differentiation between the two classes is the room with the home-living area is only for the 3 year olds now and she is 4 and in this other class. So her solution is to say that she is 3 and not 4, to be able to go back to her old class room. Simple as that, in her mind. But that is just not how it works, kiddo.

I tried to explain to her that she could still play a bit in the other class, in the morning time when all the kids first gather there during drop off. Then later on they split up to go into the new class room with the big kids...the 4 year olds! She didn't like anything I would try to tell her.

She was so upset that she was 4 and she wanted to be 3 again....I tried my best to not laugh. This was a serious "mid-life crisis" she was going through! But on my end, being the mom, I thought it was so adorable and my lil girl is growing up, and she had her first school drama. When we got home we ate a Popsicle and watched a smurf movie together. I will see how it goes tomorrow, if she can survive the day in room 2 with the other 4 year olds. Fingers crossed, for a better day, as one of the big kids!

Hepmfest in Seattle, WA

I saw this video clip from the CNN site, about a Hempfest in Seattle, WA. The festival was full of "pot heads" smoking joints and bongs out in public...and free to do so, because it's now legal to smoke Marijuana in WA. In the video clip is a couple (Mike and Barbara Hughs) in there mid-60s visiting from Virginia. In Virginia they currently can't smoke Marijuana legally. While on vacation, in legalized Marijuana town of Seattle, they can partake legally at this festival. Seattle Police passed out "munchies" with a label on the bags stating the DOs and DON'Ts of legal Marijuana. (image below)

This got me to thinking...others who are there, from out of state, visiting and partaking in this public use of Marijuana....then they go back to their home towns where it is illegal to smoke...the drug is still in their systems. Let's say a person was at the festival over the weekend, and on Monday has a new job starting up, and needs to do a drug test. The company will have tested for drug use, and comes back as positive. The applicant has recently smoked Marijuana and therefor is "on drugs" which is illegal in their state. But technically that applicant was legally partaking in the drug, at a festival? Does this applicant get the job? OR Is he/she automatically denied the new job for failing the drug test?

This seems like a questionable scenario as more states start to legalize the drug and other states remain illegal use of the same drug. In the state of WA, people are allowed to smoke Marijuana within their homes legally and still not be in public (aside from the festival) using the drug. The way that it is explained by the article "Mariwhatnow?" on the Seattle.gov page, Marijuana will be treated like Alcohol use, only for people over 21 can use Marijuana, and it's illegal to drive under the influence, and like cigarette smoking rules to follow, with certain public areas to not be able to smoke Marijuana either.

I am curious how the economy of getting hired for a new job will be affected? We can't show up to work drunk with use of legal alcohol, so we also can't show up to work high off of legal use of Marijuana. Does the applicant for a job still get drug tested? We don't get tested for alcohol use. Do they get the job if the drug test is positive? Does the applicant continue to smoke legally in their home and work at the company as we would be legally drinking alcohol on our personal time off work? Can I work here in California and visit my Brother up in Washougal, WA for the week and smoke some Marijuana at his house, then come back to my workplace in CA where Marijuana is illegal to partake in? In all 50 states, alcohol is legal, but currently only a handful of places have legalized Marijuana use. It will be a few more years to a decade when all 50 states come to legalizing Marijuana nationally. I don't know what my point to this blog post is? Really was just curious about the couple from Virginia visiting WA and attending the Hempfest. It opened up a list of questions I had for other people visiting WA and partaking in the Marijuana legally, only then to go back home where it is not. And how this could affect people from getting a job after taking a mandatory drug test?

Yoga Pant Wearing Momma!

I was dropping off Kara this morning at preschool, and she tells me, "Momma you are wearing your jammies still!" (like it was a fashion faux pas) "No honey, these are yoga pants!" (which in reality, I wear my yoga pants as jammies...)

I'm turning into one of those people who go in public wearing yoga pants, like at a Starbucks or grocery shopping. Where it looks like the person just came from a yoga work out... from the gym, and they are making a quick stop for coffee on the way home... when really people are wearing yoga pants and a cute top for an outfit. It's like a modern day version of sweat pants and a tee. It's the upgraded version of a lazy day outfit. Granted, some of these people at Starbucks are actually wearing the pants and a cute top because they actually came from the gym or a hike....(about 3% did) the rest of "us" are just wearing jammies in public! It's becoming the staple for wearing comfy cloths out in public; and you never have to have actually step foot in a gym...it just looks like you had. Most of us, yoga pant lovers are "on the go moms."  I am dropping the kid off at school, grabbing a coffee, and going food shopping before heading back to the house on my day off. I am going to be comfortable and wear some yoga pants, in doing so.

*The photos above are celebs wearing yoga pants in public (Yoga pant wearing mommas). In a blue tank top, is Nichole Richie out and about doing errands. Dressed all in black, with black yoga pants is Elle Machpherson who just dropped of her kid at school. In the bright orange cardigan with grey yoga pants is Julianne Hough, out in public wearing yoga pants. (disclaimer* These images, I found under a Google search, "yoga pants" and some of the photos provided a title of what the celebs were doing at the time, which is how I know Elle Machpherson had dropped off her kid or kids.)


With wearing yoga pants in public, it is this better version of sweat pants, and looks a little bit more pulled together than the baggy sweat pants with a tangle up draw string. I am a yoga pant wearing Momma, and I just dropped off my kid at school wearing these. Later today I might even go into a Starbucks! Heck, maybe I will actually do some yoga!

Oh No She Di-int! Oh Yes I Did!

So what did you do this fine Saturday Morning?

I made myself a cup of coffee with breakfast, then went outside and raked leaves.

Seems pretty ordinary and not odd, right? Well, let me back up, to a few days ago. Back on Thursday, I wend to the Dollar Tree Store. There are so many possibilities there, a huge variety of products sold for how much? ONE DOLLAR! Some items though, you should be weary on buying for a dollar! It is just too good to be true, on some items. I did find a large bottle of white vinegar for a buck! SCORE! Two, empty, spray bottles to make my own Vinegar and water cleaning concoctions, for a buck! Then it got a little iffy. I saw a box of pop tarts that come with 3 pairs of pop tarts inside...so that is 6 pop tarts total for 0.16 cents each. DEAL! Then I see Coffee K-cups in a package of 3. This calculates out to being 0.33 cents a K-cup. I bought one package of the "Breakfast blend" and one package of the "French Vanilla" coffee K-cups.

Fast-forward to this fine, Saturday, morning. I am looking at my selection of K-cups to choose from, on my spinning rack. Oooh goodey! I am going to brew my Breakfast blend K-cup! WHAT IS THIS? YUK! This coffee had the taste like the instant coffee does! Horrible. This had a real cheap taste, and a not so freshly, roasted, coffee taste. If you were to open up the foil seal of a used Coffee K-cup, then the packaging will have a water logged clump of coffee grounds remaining inside. With this K-cup, I pealed away the foil seal and nothing was inside? There were no remnants of coffee grounds! Instant coffee was packaged in a K-cup form and sold to me in a steal of a deal for 0.33 cents a K-cup at the Dollar Tree Store! Sucker! I fell for the "It was too good to be true" Deal! At least I only bought the two boxes, and only stuck with 5 of these instant coffee K-cups left on my spinning rack (along side my other, more wonderful K-cups). I tried to sip the rest of this coffee, but I just couldn't stomach it, and poured the rest into the sink of doom!

Now on to the rest of my morning. Our daughter wants to play outside with the dog. This turns out to be a full yard clean up for me! Something so simple, I can not ignore and just sit down on a patio chair, while she plays with the dog. I noticed the dog poo needed picking up, so I grab a baggy. Then notice the leaves and tree debris all over the yard, that I have been avoiding. I need a rake. Going into the garage and also grabbing our snow shovel and a yard bag from the Kitchen. Seems ordinary, you may think...well except for the part about having a snow shovel, and living in sunny California?

Let me back up a bit. For the past 7 years we have lived in the Mid-West with snowy winters and own a snow shovel. Just recently we have moved back to CA and still have the snow shovel in with our collection of yard tools. This shovel is awesome for picking up big leaf piles at the end of a raking job. Anyways, the odd part to this is, my front yard has Faux Grass, AstroTurf, phony... as in NOT REAL GRASS! I am raking leaves on a FAKE LAWN!? It seems so very strange! I am giggling as I do this, thinking to myself how ridiculous this is. I have never had fake grass before, it is not something I can mow or water, but I have to still rake. THEN, the rake doesn't really get all the tree debris off the "lawn." What should I get to finish all of this up? Hmmm. A BROOM! I am sweeping the grass!

(Oh no she di-int!)  Yes...yes, I did! I was sweeping my fake grass and thinking how stuff like this only happens to me. I always find myself doing such odd things and just have to giggle about it. Drinking fake coffee and sweeping my fake grass! Odd moments like these, keep my life filled with giggles. Sometimes, I need to just sit back and laugh about it all.

Mother of the Year Award...?

It is not even 8:00 am yet, and I have already made a fool of myself as far as being a mom, while getting our daughter ready for preschool!

We recently moved back to California, and she has a new preschool. This preschool gives the option to pack a lunch or use a meal ticket, to eat what they are serving as lunch for that day. I have a calendar, showing me what is for lunch each day, and can decide if I want to pack a lunch instead. Yesterdays lunch was Chicken Nuggets. Her teacher told me that my daughter DID eat all of her chicken this time. The last time they served Chicken nuggets, she didn't eat the chicken. It is sort of hit and miss with our daughter, on what she will eat.

She sees her class mates with lunch boxes and wants me to pack a lunch for her. It has been ongoing with her asking me to get her a lunch box. I keep putting off buying a new lunch box at the store, only because we are in the middle of unpacking, and I know we have one some where still in a box? I just can't find it!

So this morning, I am looking for an alternate lunch box, to pack a lunch for her. We have some pizza left over from last night, two cookies in a zip-lock baggy, an applesauce cup and some peanut butter crackers. I first grab a plastic bag, but that was too flimsy. We have this pretty pink gift bag from a bottle of wine we got from our Realtor.  It fits all of her lunch inside...and it's pink...BUT IT IS A WINE BOTTLE BAG! I am going down as a "bad mom" for this! I have lost any chance at earning "the Mother of the Year" award (if that even exists) . I just know this is wrong, to send my daughter to preschool with a wine bottle bag as her "lunch box". But I do it anyway, I can't find anything else, and we need to get going!

So now we are driving to preschool, I have the radio on to 98.7 FM. I love the Red Hot Chili Peppers, turn up the music, and the next song that comes on is a totally different. I am listening to the words:

(the song went something like this)
I'm going to wear your Grandpa's clothing
and I'm going to look incredible...
I only got twenty dollars in my pocket... (It's a catchy song, about going thrift shopping...)

Kara chimes in and says, "he's gonna wear his Grandpa's clothing?"
"What is this silly song?"

I respond, "I don't know honey, it's called Rap" (Oh geese I am listening to Rap songs, while driving to preschool!)

I played it off as a silly song and it ended, the next song after that was Tom Petty! I pushed the INFO button on my car radio, to see what that song was called, and it is called, "THRIFT SHOP" (Googled the song to listen to it again) OH GOODNESS! The music video is CRAZY SILLY, and I love this goofy rap song about being a thrifty shopper!

***Of course the radio version of this song doesn't sing all the bad words in it...*** Warning the video clip below is the non-radio version of the song, and includes some bad words like "Fucking Awesome" and if you have a child in the room, I'm just letting you know...before you click to listen.

CLICK HERE for the song. Don't laugh at me if you happen to know this rap song, or it turns out to be some big hit song, I just never heard it before. It was the strangest thing to be driving to PRESCHOOL, of all places, and blasting a rap song as I drove, with my daughter. This just added on to my chances of becoming the "Mother of the year!"  Haha.

I don't get the random selection of songs for the morning drive on this radio station. The Radio DJ mentions that they are playing 98 minutes of commercial free music on 98.7 FM. I'm thinking 98 minutes of good songs mixed in with Rap, a total mix of songs!

I am going to buy her a lunch box today, and turn this all around tomorrow on the drive to Preschool. To Kara, it is just a pretty pink bag...but to the teachers? I know they might question the bag being a gift bag for wine bottles! And as far as the Rap song, it wasn't that bad, it was just ironic.

Nursery Rhyme

I came across this cute version of the classic song, "You Are My Sunshine"

I think this is so cute with the picture of the little dear and the "grey cloud" Only I found the last verse to be different from how I remember it. I use to sing this song, rocking my baby to sleep, and still today she asks me to sing her the "Sunshine song" sometimes when going to bed (4 yrs later). I have always sung this with the last verse being, "You take all my cares away." and NOT, "Please don't take my sunshine away..." So who is correct? My version or this cartoon photo of the song? According to Google search... the
lyrics to the song are actually "Please don't take my sunshine away" I never knew this! I was singing this differently for four years...but in the end I have also added on verses to make the song longer for my daughter. Apparently there is more to this original Sunshine song that is not as cute and happy to sing to a kid...

The other night dear
As I lay sleeping
I dreamed I held you in my arms
When I awoke dear
I was mistaken
And I held
My head
And cried

That addition to the classic song is sort of depressing, and has been left out of the song that people typically sing to their children.

Interesting, how nursery rhymes are so morbid to think of, once you actually break it down and look at the words of what we sing to kids. We are singing these songs to our kids as a soothing, kind song; a way to interact with a child through a song. The kids like to sing along as well, and think these songs are sweet and cute, when really it's about a baby falling out of a tree (Rock a by baby nursery rhyme)! Look at Humpty Dumpty Nursery Rhyme for example:

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.
All the king's horses and all the king's men
Couldn't put Humpty together again


He's an EGG that is on the top of a wall, and then SPLAT! He fell off the wall, and is DEAD!  The King's men could not save him! 

But back to this Sunshine song, *the last part of the song (which repeats) is, "Please don't take my sunshine away." I always thought the last verse was, "You take all my cares away" This to me makes sense, that I am saying that my child is my Sunshine, she brightens up my day and makes everything better when she is around. She takes all my cares away...meaning that I have not a care in the world, everything is fine when I am together with her. At least, this is how I see it and will remain singing it to her...

My version of the Sunshine song:

You are my sunshine
My only sunshine
You make me happy
When the skies are grey
You'll never know dear
How much I love you
*You take all my cares away

             (New version I made up over the years)
I love you baby
my pretty baby

I'll love you forever
and ever more

You are my sweet girl
and always will be
you take all my cares away

you are my Sunshine
My only Sunshine
You make me happy
When skies are grey
and I know dear
How much I love you
You take all my cares away!

My version of THE SUNSHINE song is from the heart, singing to my daughter. This is one Nursery Rhyme/song that I have not found to have hidden (morbid) meaning to it. She calls it The Sunshine song and sometimes asks me to sing it when we are cuddling on the sofa or settling down for bed time.

My Renewal On Life Poem

I woke up this morning with such a new found feeling on our new adventures that are brewing up and moving back to California. We are in the midst of it all and packing away, with today as our last day in Omaha and then tomorrow, on Monday, the movers come and then we head out. Driving across country towards our next chapter in life together. My husband and I both grew up in California, and now it is time to raise our daughter there. It is such an awesome feeling to begin again, and move forward towards something that feels so right. I am overwhelmed with a sense of hope... and with God on our side, it is all working out so well.
So when I woke up, I was in the shower and this poem came to mind. I sat in my daughters rocking chair with a pad of paper and just wrote it all down.

Poem, On The Move By: Martiel Hay Jan 27, 2013
(read this with a rock star jingle in your head)

Got to pack it all away
for a rainy day
gotta get up and move
sing this song, our very own way
gotta get up and groove
I've got all day long
to pack away
pick up and move
the very next day.
pull it together
no matter what the weather
grab the keys
bring the dog along
and drive all day long
gotta get up and drive
all the way from 680
to the 405
I feel so alive
with God in my heart
we are on a fresh new start
I love my man
I love our girl
I love our dog,
Take them for a ride
along the country side
pick and move
we'll be dancing again
to this new groove
Cal-i-for-ni- A
here we come, the very next day!

Kara Cuteness

I have an ongoing list of Cute things Kara has either done or said. I useually post these as Facebook Posts marked, "Kara Cuteness" but I am writing so many every now and then, it is almost enough to start a whole new blog on just this topic! For now I am posting this one, so I don't forget it later.
I remember back on my 8 hr car ride with Kara. We were moving up to Omaha (from St. Louis, MO) earlier this summer. It is just Kara (3 yrs old) and I in the car driving for a long time. We stopped at a gas station and I bought her a single serving size cup of Lucky charms to eat in the car ride.

Kara Cuteness #8923:
      Kara: (hands me back the Lucky Charms cup) "Here you go!"
       ME: (I reach back for the cup and it is empty)"Oh you ate it all"
      Kara: "They're in my tummy, now. There's Sprinkles in my tummy!" (the sprinkles are the mini marshmallow shapes, she was referring to)

Poem By Martiel Hay 07/2012

I am getting ready to move again, with my family. We are going to move back to where we both grew up, in California. Currently living in Omaha, NE and it has been a quick 7 months here. This will be the shortest time frame of living somewhere. It was really hard to comprehend the feeling of temporary and moving up here to Nebraska, knowing that we were not planning on staying here for too long. We lived the past 6 years in St. Louis, MO and owned a house, and didn't think we were even moving till a few months before hand. It was all based on a job opportunity with my husbands work.

We wanted to make this move to Omaha for a promotion in becoming a manager, only it would be temporary to fill in the spot of Manager for a time frame of 2-5 years. We knew this was a good move and knew it was not permanent, and eventually we would move again to a place (in one of the 50 states) to then stay and raise our daughter in. Little did we know, the crazy time we would have in readjusting to a new area and starting all over again, with no one to know in the area, and not knowing the way to anywhere. Trying to drive around town, we relied allot on our Google Maps app with our phones. The Summer of 2012 was so up in the air, with mixed emotions and also having to sell our house in St. Louis, and downsizing into a smaller rental, becoming renters vs. owners...not knowing how long we were going to live in Omaha.

We were both going bonkers with the unknown. Our future was so unplanned and so up in the air. I hated the frustrations, that moving to an unfamiliar place gave me. I was upset so often, not knowing how to find a simple store, or find a park to play in, and to remember the area. I made so many U-turns while driving places and back tracking all the time. My preschooler in the back seat of the car was even catching on that we were lost at times. One day, after making another U-turn she says, "Oh-man!" I ask her, "what's wrong?" She then tells me, "We are lost!"

It made me smile, but made me realize that she is so observant and I need to be careful with how I feel about Omaha and try not to complain or show frustrations with her around. She was catching on...

So one day I was at Starbucks sitting in the cafe, and often I like to jot down poems that I write on scratch paper as I sit there. Here is a scratch paper poem I wrote (over the summer, when I was still new to the Omaha area) and forgot about this poem til I came across it today.

This poem, I wrote, is about my many times of getting lost: driving in the unknown, new area, trying to navigate and find a Target Store on L Street. In the end I found a different Target store located on another street and just settled for that location.

L STREET
    BY: MARTIEL HAY 07/2012

New State
New Town
New Streets to become my back roads
My destination from here to there
I found the L street
Camouflaged with three other streets
Each one meets in the West Center
A tangle of streets
My GPS was at its best
found a neighbor L
but not the L for me.
It wasn't meant to be
we shall see.
Give me the run around
Let's try another go around

L is for Long at last
I have found you.
My new state
My new town
My new street