I’ve recently seen a growing popularity in TOMS shoes with friends. I’ve even seen a few bloggers like Hannah hop on board and spread the word about ODWS (one day without shoes)! If you’ve been following me for a while then you already know my deep love for TOMS shoes.

Last year, Milo & I participated in One Day Without Shoes, and we will be doing it again this year.  We want to invite you to participate as well.  Just one day, you can do it.  Children through out the world do it every day of their lives, see what they go through for just one day.  Sure you will get some real strange stares as you stand bare footed in the checkout line at the grocery store. But, guess what, that’s the best moment to tell the people that are staring at you why you are doing it and spread the word about TOMS and why they are such an amazing company.

Get involved, get active. Take a few minutes to check out what the company is all about if you’ve never heard about them.  Essentially, for every pair of TOMS shoes you purchase, a child in need receives a pair of shoes as well. That makes me feel so good each time I pick up a comfy new pair.  Aside from the awesome charity that comes with each purchase these shoes are pretty comfy. I buy mine nice and snug, they stretch out and practically mold to my feet. I love them.

April 5th be part of the mission to spread the word. Just one day with out shoes. You can do it. We will be. Follow TOMS on Twitter to stay up to date with the movement.

sidenote: I am a TOMS shoes affiliate. Certain links on this page will take you to their site through my affiliate links.

This week has been a roller-coaster of emotions for me. I’ve done copious amounts of reflection on multiple aspects of my life. One thing that has came up in this for me this week is “help”. Accepting help when I’m in need of it and when it’s offered.   Read the rest of this entry…

I’m not sure if any of you can relate to this or not- but, my child acts his craziest when he is in my care.  He pulls the craziest things, craziest melt-downs ever, and so on.  When my husband has him alone while I’m out and about running errands and what not he never pulls the stuff on his Dad that he does to me.  I don’t get it.  Maybe just because he’s the most comfortable with me, or that we spend the most time together? Anyways, it results in me looking like an over-dramatic MOM, and liar.

Yesterday MJ was scooting down the hall and shaking something.  I perched up from my comfy spot on the couch and looked at him, held out my hand, and asked him to bring “it” to Mama.  He did (he’s really good at that. He’ll bring me anything I ask him to. Perhaps I should teach him how to uncork a bottle of wine and up his level of usefulness.) and some how he found an old, dried up, bottle of White Out.   Of course I took it and held on to it. That is when he lost it.  Like, ridiculously upset over me hijacking the White Out.  Flips out.  Grabs my arm with his hand and digs his dagger nails into my skin, and then proceeds to squeeze as hard as he could, with a severely malicious look on his face.  Like, “that bitch is gettin’ it” Seriously scared me.  And then , he got more pissed off and proceeded to try and rip my face off, with the same little shit headed demeanor about him.   He scratched my nose and gouged out a chunk of skin.  I couldn’t believe it.  I didn’t know how to react, was a bit in shock, and had a burning nose.   My reaction ultimately was ignoring him.  I pushed his hands off of me, and then stood up and tried to re-direct his attention.  It seemed to have worked but, I wish the entire situation could have been prevented in the first place.

My question is how does he know how to do this?  To hit and hurt out of anger.  He’s done this type of thing once before but not on this level.  I have to tell you that when I get SUPER pissed off, like LIVID, my first instinct even as an adult is to hit (like another adult, a child could never anger me to that point).  I don’t act on that feeling, but, it’s definitely there.  Do we just have that naturally built into our systems?  Or is that just me?

I’ve smacked MJ’s hand twice.  After the second time I did it, I knew it was not a style of parenting that I was personally comfortable with and we never did it again.  Do you think that’s where he learned it from? Those two times? I’ll punch my own self repeatedly if he learned this crap from me!  Taking breaks from my shame spiral.

Does anyone else’s child do this? Is there a good remedy? Is this early signs of him having future, more severe behavioral problems? Seriously, any input would be appreciated.  My Google searches failed me a bit on this.

I’m going to start out by saying that I think this oil spill is a great tragedy.  It makes me insanely sad, and gives me a sense of utter helplessness.   If the smartest scientists and engineers are having trouble Read the rest of this entry…