MamaBlogger365 - Resolving to Remember Potato Chips by Karrie McAllister

My mom has been hobbling around on her bum knee for years. If the weather was colder or if she spent an exceptionally long day chasing after grandkids, it was pretty obvious in the cockeyed shuffle she perfected. But enough had finally been enough, and she recently went in for knee replacement surgery.

The procedure itself went well. Her recovery in the hospital was as it should be, long, painful physical therapy, and mediocre (at best) food. None of this was new to her, because she had her other knee replaced just a few years ago so she knew exactly what she was getting herself into.

On her third day in the hospital, I went to visit her for the first time since the operation. I walked in and when our eyes met, I immediately saw that quiver in her chin, that automatic response that somehow keeps our eyes from turning into water faucets. No mother ever wants to break down in front of her children. We instinctively want them to always see us as strong, unbreakable, and the care-givers, not the ones who need the care. Having faced a number of heath hurdles myself in the past year, I know this feeling all too well. But here I was, staring my mom in her watery eyes.

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Photo credit: Crisps In Bowl by Petr Kratochvil

MamaBlogger365 - Mom Scout Badges by Karrie McAllister

In a moment of weakness and semi-insanity, I agreed to help take on an entire Girl Scout troop. And while anyone who truly knows me knows that there is probably no better job for me, I have to admit that it’s harder than I thought it would ever be.

Growing up, I was a Girl Scout for many years. The girls in my troop were without a doubt my best friends, and my leaders were positive and permanent role models in the way I live my life even today. It was, all in all, an outstanding experience that I wouldn’t trade for anything – not even all the badges in the world. As it was, for all of the years I was an actual scout, the number of badges we actually earned were very few. It was almost as if one night around a campfire the leaders looked at each other and said, “we don’t need no steenking badges!” and they erupted into hearty belly laughs.

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Photo credit: anitapatterson|MorgueFile

MamaBlogger365 - Easy Cheese™ and Kool-Aid™ Mustaches Ain’t So Bad by Karrie McAllister

I really do try to be a decent parent because when it comes to my children, I know that their general health and their behavior are the direct result of the upbringing my husband and I muddle through.

I correct their grammar. I watch their language. I encourage good moral character and am constantly forcing upon them such things as exercise, education, and healthy eating habits. Generally speaking, it’s exhausting. Parenting would be a much easier job if I didn’t give a hoot about how clean their bodies, mouths, and minds were. I may not be so drained at the end of each day if I let them just eat French fries and didn’t check their homework. But I do give a hoot and so it goes that by the time they are tucked in bed with clean teeth and a story with a life lesson, I collapse in a pathetic heap.

But the universe has something to say to me about all of it. At the store where I do most of my grocery shopping, right on the end cap by the snacks and beverages is a full rack of something that seems to jump out at me every time I roll my cart by. It practically leaps off the rack and challenges my very parenting techniques no matter how I try to avert my eyes.

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MamaBlogger365 - Butterflies, Not Rain, on My Big Day by Karrie McAllister

I’m always telling children to protect nature. They always look at me with the same puzzled look, because they don’t quite grasp the concept of conservation.

They do, however, get the point when I say, “don’t hurt Mother Nature, or else it’ll rain on your birthday.”

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Photo credit: Butterfly by Anna Cervova

MamaBlogger365 - Mama’s Self-Medicating Beverages by Karrie McAllister

I’d be lying if I said I didn’t base my entire day’s schedule around coffee and wine. And while self-medicating with normal beverages is not something I’m quite proud of, I have found over the years of my mothering career that pride goes out the window the first time you answer the door in your PJ’s at 2:00 PM or go to the grocery store with a long line of baby puke on your shirt.

It’s just life.

So my day goes a little something like this... (read more)

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Photo credit: Coffee by Robert Becker

MamaBlogger365 - Ain’t No Party Like a Mama Party by Karrie McAllister

I’m on this kick lately because it seems with each passing day I find wildlife more exciting. I’m not a biologist or a zoologist, not even a naturalist. Mostly I’m a mom who thinks that it’s pretty darn neat that we humans are not much different than the things that live in our backyards or the animals we see in the zoo.

I know this because I like to get together with my girl friends and drink coffee while the kids are in school and wine when they are in bed.

All over the animal kingdom, animals are doing the same thing. Perhaps not drinking a latte and whining about the rising cost of preschool tuitions, but certainly hanging out with gal pals because they know to do none other. Read more...

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Photo credit: Raccoon by hotblack

MamaBlogger365 - Claiming My Own Scar by Karrie McAllister

I have some of the best scars a girl could ask for. My three children all have their own set to claim, as if I purposely went through major surgery just to have their mark tattooed on my abdomen...

But now I find myself facing my own new scar, one I am going to earn all by myself. It will belong to no one else but me. read more

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Photo credit: lucasmalta|MorgueFile.