Dating and Baggage – Drawing the line

If you like reading my post below, check out other posts about my own personal dating experience before I met Mr. M.  A few posts about dating:

• Dating 101 - Part 1
• Dating 101 - Part 2
• Dating 101 - Part 3
• Dating 101 - Part 4
• Dating 101 - Part 5
• These continue in the bottom section of the right side bar on the blogsite.

A good friend of mine is using www.EHarmony.com as well as www.match.com because he is back in the dating scene.  We’ve been good friends for several years so he was sharing with me about some recent experiences amongst the women he has met and went out with.  He is in his thirties and most of his dates have also been in their thirties.  Most.

Baggage and Dating

Everyone has their share of baggage when you are dating at our age.  But when you are meeting others, where do you draw the line and say that’s just too much baggage?   When do you accept it as part of the  process… because you know you bring your own to the table as well?

If they share things about their past that they have put behind them and are determined they are going to make things different in their lives, do you disregard it?  Do you pretend all that ‘past’ doesn’t matter? 

What if that “past” was activity that went on for years and years?

These are valid questions, he has recently had to answer. 

I would have to ask many questions:  When did the past begin?  How long ago did you start making things different in your life?  Has your commitment to a better lifestyle been working?  Some things would add up to just “too much” baggage, in my opinion; but what do you think?

Share your thoughts in the comments section below.

Find yourself… keeping it real

Technorati Tags: dating,dating websites,match.com,single moms,single,romance,relationships

Photo Credit:  PhotoXpress.com / Andrey Kiselev (1066314)

Making Dot Mom’s life a little easier

Girl Scout moms and leaders, listen to this tip.

Back when Kass was just a brownie one of the most dreaded tasks as a scout’s mom was to affix those blessed badges to her sash/vest of her uniform.  I not only dreaded it – I was bad at it. They wouldn’t stick and I didn’t want to pull out needle and thread for all those blasted wonderful, well earned badges.  Finally I found the key to an easy, inexpensive way to place them on the uniform of choice (without the need of a needle or even a glue gun).  PLUS we now keep them attached beyond wearing it to two events or more!! 

Here’s my magical find:  Glue Dots.

So as a girl scout leader wanting to share this tidbit of info, when I learned about this blogging contest about my own secret weapon for badges and uniforms, I was totally game!

Here’s what I have found that works and keeps them affixed till the end of time:

1. Place a glue dot every 1 or 2 inches around the perimeter and one in the center of each badge on the underside.
2. Position the badge on the vest/sash where it you want to be placed, moving it around until it’s just right.
3. Press the badge in position with your fingertips around the edge and center of it.
4. Take an iron and on medium heat, press from the “UNDERSIDE” of the fabric of your uniform sash or vest to make the adhesive solidify to the max.  If you press from the underside of the fabric instead of from top of the badge itself, the heat reaches the adhesive more thoroughly. 
5. Voila! That badge is not going anywhere, I promise.

Find yourself… keeping it real.

Disclosure:

“I wrote this blog post while participating in the TwitterMoms and Glue Dots blogging contest to be eligible to receive a $30 gift card. For more information on how you can participate, click here.”

To be continued…

Remember the story of the guy who was slapped at the dance when he met someone special but said all the wrong things on the dance floor?  If not, read more about what happened and how I got involved with giving him a little advice – here.

I received an email from the “the girl” today and she is very happy and enjoying getting to know (John) better.  She has realized that he was sincerely a nice guy and is happy she gave him another chance after his rocky first impression.  They both sound like they have their acts together and both seem to be mature for their tender age of seventeen. It also impressed me that she has a good perception of herself and appreciates who she is as a person on the inside as well as the guys who do the same. 

I asked her to keep in touch over their journey… so maybe we will hear more from their budding romance. 

Perhaps those of us more than twice their age can learn a little lesson from their experience…perhaps.

Find yourself… keeping it real.

Technorati Tags: romance,teenagers,dances,self-esteem

She loves taking pictures of herself

Here is one of her latest… she takes them for facebook, but I am not sure how many make it on there.

Find yourself… keeping it real.

Graduation celebration…for three days and three nights

The graduation day itself was wonderful.  Kass was graduating from elementary and we make a big deal of things like that around here.  Since Jas didn’t have any exams for his last day of school he didn’t have to go to school – so he went with me to his sister’s graduation. I took pictures of her getting classroom awards, etc. and when she was crossing the stage for her promotion to middle school, I stood up and got close to the stage in the middle of the room… aimed the camera, click… click… nice; the battery died and I missed it.  Snap.

But I didn’t let that ruin the day for us.  Following the ceremony, we went for a quick lunch and dropped off Jas at the house so Kass and I could have some girl time.  We went to see “Letters to Juliet” at the theater which was just awesome by the way.  It’s definitely on top of our buy list for dvds. 

Then we went shopping –- more fun just for us girls.  The day couldn’t have been any better…. well maybe if I could have gotten that snapshot of her crossing the stage during her promotion… but that’s ok.  We still created some great memories.  Later that day she went to stay at one of her friend’s house for a couple days to continue celebrating.

Saturday, she returned so we could go and have a big graduation dinner at Reb Lobster.  It is our tradition every year one of my kiddos graduates from a level of school, we go out to eat at Red Lobster.  The kiddos love the restaurant and that one night – they can get anything they want.  Mr. M, his boys and his mom and step-dad joined us for the fun.  It was a a lot of fun and more memories.

 

See, we love to celebrate around here.  We don’t mind finding a reason to have a party.

How did you celebrate the end of the school year?

Find yourself… keeping it real.

Technorati Tags: graduation day,celebrating,parties,Red Lobster,Huff Lane,Letters to Juliet,movies,shopping

A Mom’s Summer Wish

If you read my blog, you know about our whole crew and how we stay busy.  Between school activities, girl scouts, governor’s school, church events, ball games, and family outings, we stay more than busy.  Now that  the summer season is upon us and school is 48 hours from being over, it’s time to pull out the calendar once again and start planning more stuff - the fun stuff.  As a mom (single mom or not) you have to plan what you are going to do with the kiddos.  (We wouldn’t want them to get bored!) 

Working a full-time job, I plan at least a week of vacation to get away over the summer. (I’ll share more about how to plan this on a budget soon.)  I also like to plan other day trips.  A trip to the zoo, a day here and there at the lake, and a tour of the Natural Bridge Museum are only a few of the things we love to do during a ‘stay-cation’ on weekends.  There are so many options around our local area.

But because I do work all day during the week, I usually schedule the weekends to be with the kiddos, Mr. M, and his boys to enjoy fun summertime outings.  So with no time to clean house, my summer wish would be to have a professional cleaning service. 

I know I’m dreaming, but it’s ok to dream isn’t it?  Wouldn’t it be great if you could take the kiddos and do the things you want to do all summer long, whether it was an evening out at the park or a weekend event, and not worry about the house cleaning?  Have you ever tried to vacuum or dust while the kiddos were underfoot?  Plus if they need constant supervision….

I’m just saying…it would be nice.

Do you have a summer wish?

Disclaimer:  The above blog was a sponsored post.

Find yourself… keeping it real.

Photo Credit:  sxc.hu \ pale

Craziness of late = Little blogging

This is the busiest time of the year for me at work.  Like pull my hair out, run around in circles, and bark at people I never met for handing me a fork instead of a spoon crazy busy.  But after eleven years of doing this job and knowing it’s like this every year during these specific months, you would think I could handle the stress a little better. Yeah, you’d think, but…

With all this busyness making me especially grumpy it also makes me not want to look at a computer when I come home – not even look at the case it’s stored in! (Move that green bag out of my sight, will you?)  So with that tiny little set back during the last few weeks, I have done little blogging, and little writing.  The very activity that makes me happy has been neglected.  Perhaps I wouldn’t be so G.R.U.M.P.Y. if I was writing more, eh? 

So I thought I would write a little … a few paragraphs here and a couple nights ago I wrote an article for my column with www.Examiner.com about networking in your community as a single mom (in case you want to check out that article while you wait on more blogposts over here, just click the link). 

I’ll be back to writing more regularly soon.  Once my life quiets a little more, I won’t mind pulling out the laptop when I get the kiddos ready for bed and sharing my thoughts, my dreams, my wishes, and my realities that sometimes admittedly make me a grump. 

Till then…

Find yourself… keeping it real.

Photo Credit: photoXpress.com \ author: Laser