Road Trip to Florida

2011. Our first road trip as a family.So there we were my husband, my mom (this was when I still talked to her), me and two kids one which was still in diapers. (Side note: Road trips and diapers go together like two peas in a pod; no really they do…NOT!!)

From New York to Florida (The beautiful Sandpiper Beacon Beach Resort a place I highly recommend) in our trusted Suzuki Grand Vitara XL7 SUV. We were all so excited. I’m personally a summer person so that thought of spending the whole week by the pool/beach in warm weather was heaven on earth.

When I started packing for our trip my husband suggested that I use a big suitcase to put all our stuff in and we would attached it to the roof BUT I thought I had a better idea of using multiple bags (my thinking was it would be easier to get something if I needed it rather than taking a big suitcase down from the roof) and filling our car to capacity so that my two kids and mom had to sit in the second raw the whole way there. I know, Mother of the Year Award! What the fuck was I thinking? Now don’t get me wrong I did realized my mistake almost immediately after we started stuffing the car but at that point it was too late. We needed to hit the road and get to Florida ASAP to start our vacation.

You’ll be happy to hear when we were coming back we bought one of those duffel storage bags that go on top of the car and the whole back of the SUV was empty. We put a bunch of towels and pillows and the kids slept very comfortably.

We left our house around 3:30 PM and by our calculations we would be in Florida by 12-1 the following day. Perfect timing since check in was 12.

I have to say considering that it was our first ever road trip with two small kids and a car filled to capacity with stuff (BTW now that I think about it what the fuck did I pack that it filled the whole car, we were only staying for a week) and my mother the whole road trip went pretty good. I came prepared. We had a DVD player with many DVD's. Coloring books, cards, food and drinks and we made it a point to stop every 3-4 hours. The kids did really well. I think they started complaining the last hour and honestly even we (the adults) were all "Are we there yet"?

BUT no trip can be complete without some fuck ups.

We did have a moment in Virginia where out tired popped. I frantically tried to call every place I could find on my navigation system on a Friday night around 10. Everything was closed. This doesn’t happen in NY and I was completely unprepared. In NY you can always find anything you need with a 10 mile radius. I guess I just assumed that it worked like that in every state. It doesn't. In Virginia everything was closed by 8PM. My husband tried to find all the tools to change the tire himself but we couldn’t find it in our trunk so we had to call someone. We finally found someone who had some kind of an accent and we barley  understood him. After the phone call finished I wasn’t sure if he understood what we wanted or where our location was but almost an hour later he did show. During that hour the kids constantly asked what’s going on, can we look? And we were just trying to keep them in the car. You know the whole highway, kids running around like crazy thing. After the guy came he told us the tools were actually under the driver’s seat but don’t say duh yet cause it turns out our tires needed a special key (that Suzuki so graciously did not provide) to get them open so even if we had found the tools we would have to call someone. $200 dollars later and we were off to Georgia where we would buy a new tire (the one we had was a spare). Another $165 and we were off to Florida. See bump $465 spent and we hadn't even started out vacation.

As a side note we left NY one a nice warm/cool May day (about 65-70). Once we got to a Wal-Mart in Georgia to buy our tire holymotherofsunwhatthefuck it was like 99 and not even noon. This I was not prepared for. Like all the saliva sucked right out of your mouth, can’t breathe, just need water now, feel like a vampire that's about to melt in the sun kind of hot.

The other bad thing was my driving. I’ve been a driver for almost 16 years. I’ve spent many years and many times driving from my house to my friend’s house in upstate (that’s 4 hours each way). I never had any issues. I just did it. For whatever reason this time I just couldn’t do it. My husband drove the first 4 hours and then I offered to drive so he can rest. I just couldn’t do it. As soon as I started driving I couldn’t keep my eyes open and as soon as my husband took over the driving I was fine. I felt like someone had hypnotized me; I tried everything; loud music; coffee; my husband talking to me to keep me company fuck if anything worked. All I wanted to do was sleep. So hubs took over the wheel and guess motherfucking what I’m up like a baby at midnight. I felt so terrible. I really wanted to help him. As a reward while we were in Florida I drove to most of the place cause wouldn’t you know it when we were coming back the same thing happened.

The rest of the trip was amazing. We had a wonderful time. My kids still talking about Florida and how it was the greatest vacation they ever went on.



So Beautiful. No that is not any of us!



This was my view from my balcony.

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Not being able to think of a good title for this post is driving me crazy!

What’s been driving me crazy lately?

OMG I don’t even know where to start with this one.  Do you guys have time to read a book? No? Shit ok let me try to make this short.

My older son complaining to do his homework EVERY.FUCKING.NIGHT. Suck it up buttercup you’re only in 2^nd grade, wait till you get to High School than you can tell me you have A LOT of homework

My younger son throwing tantrums EVERY.FUCKING.NIGHT for not giving him something sweet, for his brother not playing the games he wants to play, for eating dinner for a million other things. Dude get your shit together you’re almost 5.

Every time I ask my husband to do something that involves talking to people in English (he knows the language but acts like he doesn’t when I’m around) he gets this panicky look on his face like I’m asking him to find the cure for cancer. You’ve lived in America for over 9 years. Are you fucking kidding me? You too get your shit together!

My husband for waiting for me to do everything and then saying things like ‘you never laugh anymore”, “I never see you in a good mood”. Umm really, let’s see; why don’t you help me around the house more and then maybe I wouldn’t always be in such a shitty mood.

So much work at work lately that I have no time for blogging, Facebook or twitter. I know I know job security BUT this sucks, even my boss is complaining about all the work. Nuff said.

Facebook for sucking so much. I post something on my page and only like 20 people see it. What’s the point of having hundreds of likes if only a handful will see it?

The girl that sits in the cubical next to mine. Annoying voice, stank attitude and above all else when her son was 4 months old she was telling another co-worker that he son was so rude. Really at 4 months? Fucking drive me crazy!

White girls getting a fake tan and looking orangey. Orange is not a fucking skin color. WTF people?

The pimples on my face that have appeared lately. I’ve always had clear skin so I don’t know what the hell is going on. I’m about to take Something Clever 2.0 advice and to Proactive

Moms judging other moms. Fuck you. Stop judging. Have you guys read Insomniac's Dream lately. This is a mother struggling. She doesn't need us to judge her, I'm so proud of all that she's doing to make ends meat and to be with her boys. That's a real mother. We do anything and everything to be good moms and sometimes it only takes one asshole to judge us to make us rethink our whole strategy. Don't judge, support!

My husband is in the process of getting a new job. This would mean us moving to a whole new neighborhood. He has a really good chance of getting it BUT we don’t know when this will happen. I’m hoping it will be before the kids start school in September so they can start a new school year in a new school and it’s always better to move in the summer than during the school year. This is completely out our control but it’s still driving me crazy. I feel like we’re in no man’s land.

My period. I’m so tired of this bitch. I’ve had it for 22 years and I’m done. I’ve done my time, I would like this cry me a red river every month bullshit to stop

NY weather. One day its cold, one day it’s hot, WTF already! Make up your mind!

Celebrities making millions for doing almost nothing. Tom Cruise doesn’t deserve 20 million a movie just because he’s Tom Cruise. Fuck that shit. Millions of people are scraping by EVERY.DAMN.MONTH just to make it and these assholes are making millions just because. 

Not winning the lottery. What’s a girl got to do to win some money?! (just joking on this one but I wouldn’t mind winning)

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Parenting my way

Traditional vs. non-traditional parenting. I’m not sure which my husband and I are. I guess it depends on the person looking at us.  I think we mix a little of both depending what the situation is. I’ve compiled a list of the ways we parent our children and you decide if it’s traditional or non-traditional. This list barley scratches the surface but you get the idea.

1. I try to be as honest a possible with my kids. Yes there is a Santa Clause. No you cannot fly even thought you think your Superman.
2. I curse in front of my kids. I try not to do it often but sometimes it slips out or I’m just so frustrated by a situation I have no choice
3. As of the last 3 months my kids mostly sleep in their own beds. Once a week they will sleep with me. Until 3 months ago my oldest slept with us in the same bed since the day he was born and the little one in his crib attached to our bed
4. What I make the kids will eat. I don’t do separate meals for the kids and us. I have a friend who used to cook 3-4 different dinners every night to accommodate her husband, her two sons and herself. That will never happen at my house! I want my kids to get their taste buds use to all kinds of foods so that when they grow up they’re not living on chicken nuggets, pizza & hot dogs. Oh and also WTF? 4 dinners every night? This woman (even though she's my friend and I love her) clearly has way too much time on her hands
5. We’re trying to teach our kids to be good kids. Bullying is never an option. I’ve always told my kids that making fun of someone is not ok and if I ever catch them do it I will call them out and make sure that they know there were being little shits and this is not ok. At the same time I’m trying to teach them never to allow to be bullied and if someone does they should be comfortable telling us and then you better believe it mommy will take care of it.
6. Always use words before your fists but if someone hits you first than by all means hit them back. This applies to woman also. No girl has a right to hit my son just because he’s a guy. Fair is fair. He won’t hit you as long as you don’t hit him.
7. Always respect girls. Never call a girl a bitch or worst (or at least not to her face cause let’s face it girls we can be bitches)
8. We try to teach them that even thought we love them the most in this world and most of the people that we know are good there are some really bad people in this world. Don’t assume that no one will ever hurt you.
9. Things will not be served to your on a silver spoon. You want something you have to work for it.
10. Mommy and daddy as long as we’re alive will always be there for you no matter what. We will support you in anything you decide to do in life. We will always be your greatest fans and will help you in any way we can…always!

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What would you do over if you could??

Do over. A chance to go back in time (if only we could) and correct a mistake which you made. Many (if not all) people would love to have at least one do over. Sometimes the do over is minor like remembering to buy flowers for your wife on your anniversary so that now you're not sleeping on the couch and other times its more serious. I think we can all say that when we were young we did things that we wish we hadn’t. I know there have been many times when I’ve said shit I can't believe I was so stupid/naive to do that I wish could have a do over to make so so right. Thankfully I’ve never done anything so terrible (except for one) that I’ll have to live with the consequences for the rest of my life. Now don’t get me wrong. I’ve done my share of stupid things (some very stupid things) but overall I don’t have anything major (except for this one thing). Honestly if I had a chance for a do over I wouldn't take it (except in one case). Why not you ask? Well because I’m petrified that if I did have a chance to do something over (like not date a particular guy) that my life would go in a completely different direction & I wouldn’t have my kids today. True I might have other kids & I’m sure I would love them just as much as these but THESE are mine and I can’t imagine having others. I strongly believe that everything happens for a reason. It might not be a right reason but all the choices that I’ve made so far have led me to where I am today. And even thought there are times when I wish things were different at the end of the day I have my kids and that’s the greatest wish that came true for me.

So what’s this one thing that I mentioned above? SMOKING. I started smoking when I was a teenager. Back then I never thought I would get addicted (see young and stupid above). It wasn’t peer pressure. I had the type of friends that literally begged me not to smoke. They were a couple of years older than me and were smokers themselves and basically told me that I would get addicted. I was all like “please never gonna happen. I’ll smoke a little and then I’ll stop”. Now almost 20 years later I’m still trying to stop. I’ve tried to stop more times than I care to count. I’ve gone for months not smoking but at the end I’ve always started again. I’m still not giving up because I do want to stop. I don’t want my kids to grow up and smoke “because that’s what mom and dad did so it’s ok”. My husband and I always tell them how stupid & dangerous it is to smoke but then we lite up and so we’re a bunch of hypocrites. There are so many times when I’m so sick and tired of smoking. I don’t even enjoy it most of the time. It’s the nicotine, it’s the drug that makes you do it over and over again even when you don’t want to. If I could go back in time I swear I wouldn’t think of taking a puff of a cigarette let alone smoking a whole one. I’m not giving up on the whole stop smoking thing and I know I’ll be successful at it one day I just hope it won’t be too late.

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My Favorite Time

Times sure have changed. When I was in school summer vacations meant so much to me. No school, no homework, no waking up early, no school cafeteria food. The summers were mine to do as I pleased. I went to the beach, pool, hung out with my friends really late, sleepovers. And because I’m born in the summer I love the hot weather, summer time was my time.

Now things are different. I have a job and my summer vacation consists of if I'm lucky a week off. True that I have 3 weeks off for the whole year but with two small kids I always have to save my days for when they need me. It’s no longer my time it’s my kids’ time. It’s their time for no homework, sleeping in late, no cafeteria lunches and I? Well it’s our time to make sure that they do enjoy their summers like we did. We take them to the parks, beaches, pools, lakes, water parks and theme parks. Since we both have full time jobs we try to make the most of the summer. That means dinner is always a little late cause once I’m home (hubs works from home) we take the kids outside. We try to do this everyday because summer lasts only 2 months and before you know it its over. I want them to enjoy their summer vacations. I know how much I enjoyed mine and I want them to experience it just as much as I did. We try to go away at least for a week during the summer when we can. This year I think we’re going to go visit the in-laws in Europe. And I don’t feel sorry for me. I love my in-laws (probably the only one) but they are great. It’s still too early but we’ll see as the months roll by.

Do I miss my summer vacations? Of course I do. Who wouldn’t want to have the whole summer off to do nothing but lounge on the beach or by the pool? I still do enjoy them but on another lever. But it’s the circle of life. My parents had their time, I had mine, now it’s my kids.

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