The Latta Family

My mom came to visit for a few days. She hung out with my chilruns while I went back to school. A perk of her recent retirement (although, I just want to say-I didn't ask, or insinuate- she called me & volunteered. I am no fool- I accepted).  Anyway here are a few thoughts I had while she was here: 1.  She and I flew in the house around 6:30pm one evening, and threw together our dinner. As she was at her work station and I was at mine, I thought how different cooking with a woman is. We didn't plan to work on separate recipes, but it was automatic. I didn't tell her, "Why don't you do....?" And she didn't do that with me. Somehow we never got in each other's way. Somehow it was organized, efficient, & comforting. I thought to times I've worked with my mother in law or friends. It's similar. When Doug is in the kitchen, I feel bossy, controlling, and naggy. Somehow he's always standing in the exact spot I need to be. We overlap tas

So I thought I would do one more blog today to say, stick with me, but posting will probably spotty for the next . . . bit.  School officially starts for me tomorrow, and I just don't know what will happen. The past 2 years, the beginning of the school year has been chaotic. This year . . . fingers crossed, please don't let me jinx myself . . . well things are so far, smooth.  Chaos could happen any minute, because I forgot something super important, and it was due 2 years ago, and why the heck did I fall behind?!!!!   But right now I am not feeling chaotic. So . . . to tide us over a bit, here are a few random thoughts from my day . . . 1. Alexa got her first bee sting today.  I won't lie- I have dreaded this potential event.  She has a tendency to occasionally  react in a way that is a bit  more dramatic than is entirely necessary.  When Andrew got stung by a bee for the first time I thought he had been attacked by a mass murderer. Anyone within 100 yards of us though

Years ago . . . like maybe 10-15 years?  I don't know, but years ago, Doug brought some boards to our house, that came from his grandparents house.  We had reclaimed wood, before it was trendy.  It sat in a pile in a corner of the garage.  I asked what we were going to do with it, if we were ever going to do anything with it, if we could get rid of it . . . the answer was always, I don't know, and no we can't get rid of it.  Hmmm. The thing is this.  I cannot stand piles of things that aren't being used. I am not a hoarder.  I doubt I will ever be a hoarder.  Unfortunately, my kids and spouse are.  One day about 10 months ago, I became aware of the farm table trend, and the rest is history! Doug could make us a new table with the boards that were stacked in a corner in our garage.  It made me happy because the stack would go away, we would get a brilliantly cool table, and Doug would have a project.  He's always happy when I think up projects for him . . . so I

Yesterday Doug and I went to our local home improvement store to get some wood for a project we're working on.  While we were parking, I saw a family walking in.  As we approached the aisle to pick up our needed materials, that family was pushing a cart laden with several pieces of boards.  It took them all of . . . 5 minutes to pick out probably 10 boards. Also on that aisle was another gentleman, we'll call him . . . Hug.  I had observed . . . Hug since we entered the store.  He is a very handsome man.  He looks like he is probably moderately tolerant of his wife, very handy, and SMART.  His eyes shine with intelligence.  But anyway- he was so entertaining to me.  He clearly had a very discerning eye.  I mean, he looked for just the right cart. You have to figure, if he was particular about the type of cart he selected, he would probably be very selective about all other decisions in his life (I bet his wife is amazing: beautiful, smart, funny, and not a pain in the rear).

Y'all I had a realization today.  I started to become aware of it yesterday, but then today . . . well it could be denied no longer.  The truth was directly in my face.  I realized I am the Weak Link.  I have always thought of myself as the hard a$$ parent.  I am the tough one.  I am The Boss. It turns out those things were only in my imagination.  In my imagination I'm the tough parent.  In my imagination I'm the hard a$$.  In my imagination I am The Boss.  In reality . . . I'm the push over. I'm the sucker.  I'm the one they come to because they know the other parent says no. I'm stunned.  Truly. All these years I've been disillusioned.  I guess because I come up with the creative consequences, and the ones that are the most punishing, I have assumed that I am the one they don't want to mess with.  Well you know what they say about assuming. Now that I am thinking about it, it turns out I am soooo much like my dad.  My dad was the weak link

I'm not sure why, but lately I've been hearing a lot more about preppers.  You know, people who prepare for some type of extreme, large disaster.  I don't know if this presidential election is such a disaster, it's got people freaking out, or The Walking Dead has us all starting to wonder . . . "What if?", or these "know" something intuitively that the rest of don't. Whatever the reason, the Preppers are getting a lot of internet attention. Because I like to worry about things that are 75% unlikely to happen: werewolves, zombie cats, Boogey Men, etc . . . I'm going to start worrying about disasters that are kind of unlikely- although not entirely- unlikely.  I don't actually think there will be a zombie apocalypse.  I mean- what?  That's totally unlikely.  30%. . .  well maybe 65% unlikely.  Anyway . . . My disaster thoughts all started way back in February.  We were eating dinner with a couple of friends who relocated from New Or

Sometimes when we go out in public, I see babies and I say, "Oh! I wonder if those random people, that I have NEVER seen before in my life, would let me hold their cute baby?!"  Doug always, and I mean always, rolls his eyes at me.  Like a random person is going to let me hold their baby?!!!!  I mean- really.  I wouldn't actually ask.  In this day and age, I accept the fact that would be weird, alarming, and socially unacceptable behavior.  I can't just ask people I don't know, if I could hold their baby.  No matter how squishy, adorable, and desirable that baby might be. Today, we were at a restaurant and I wondered if the random people that I have never seen before would share a bite of their delicious dessert.  My mother humored me with fantastical possibilities of how that conversation could turn out.  She thought those conversations were pretend, I was practicing for when I really did ask.  Hahaha . . hah. . . ha (I 65% considered it.  That dessert looked F

We have had the most boring summer.  Which is okay.  I would WAY rather have boring, then drama and stress due to health, money, family concerns.  Boring is okay sometimes. However, coming home last night, I thought, "Man, we really needed that."  Sometimes you just need to switch up. For the past 5 summers, we have vacationed with family friends.  We didn't this summer.  Between heading up to my brother's wedding, and the new house . . . a week at the beach wasn't in the cards for us. We decided to do some camping, but then our kids sports got in our way, and camping didn't work out. However- we WOULD hang out.  Kids extra-curricular activities, mine and Alexa's squeamish-ness about all things outside, would NOT prevent us from hanging out.  Plan B, after ditching the camping idea, was to just hang out at their house.  Hours before we left to go visit, I texted, "Do we need to bring bathing suits?"  The response, "Sure.  You never know wh

It's 3am. I'm wide awake.  Like wide. Awake.  If this stupid house didn't echo so badly, I would do something massively productive.  Finish a load of laundry.  Start a new painting project.  School work.  I mean, if I am going to be awake I might as well use my time.  Except, I really don't want a kid awake right now either.  It could make for a L O N G day, with one in particular. I'm not sure why I woke up.  I fell sound asleep by 10:30, possibly before Andrew did.  I wanted to see the Syrian refugees come in the Opening Ceremonies.  I wanted to watch Jimmy Fallon and Seth Rogan Lip Synch Battle on The Tonight Show .  The last country I remember seeing was Ghana, because Doug told me he was Ghana do something. Yeah, I was Ghana  do something too- snore away. About a year ago, I started having night sweats.  They started inconsistently, but the last few months it's every night. Forty is a joy y'all.  I mean- I sweat profusely, when I am literally doing

There are days when we are knocking parenting out of the ballpark.  I mean.  We are ROCKING it!!! For example today: I took the kids to Carowinds- way to be a fun mom.  Then we stopped at an amazing- new to us- donut place.  Way to teach my kids to try things.  Then we went and brought a donut to Doug.  Way to teach kindness and generosity to others.  Then we taught Alexa that when she really gets hurt.  We don't care.  Suck it up buttercup.  Life's hard.  Ain't nobody caring when you get hurt. Doug and I were working on a the top of my farm table (it's going to be done in a few weeks- I mean- the plans said a weekend, but we want it perfect.  And perfect means s u p e r   s  l  o  w     ).  Andrew and Alexa were playing some type of game that required chasing.  They weren't in full out runs, but they were moving in a slow paced running fashion.  In fairness- they have been told A LOT, and I do mean A LOT to not run- every time we stop in to see Doug.  Suddenly A