The big one!

Dear Readers, I wrote this to my husband and framed it along with the picture. I thought you'd enjoy the story. :)

From May, 2004

Sweetheart,

This weekend, you took the boys fishing. They love to go and they always have a great time. Usually you all don't catch anything worth keeping but it's the thrill of the hunt, so to speak. This is just fine with Anthony who feels that fishing is just for sport and all the fish should be thrown back. He is tender hearted and doesn't like to see anything killed or hurt, even fish when it would make a great dinner. We are completely fine with the way he feels, and do not at all make him feel silly for thinking this way. Besides, like I said, you don't usually catch anything worth keeping.

UNTIL YESTERDAY! You caught the biggest bass of your life!! You had caught a smaller fish before that and Anthony asked his usual question, "We're gonna throw him back, right Dad?" To which you replied, "Yes, we are, only if we catch something really big will we keep him." thinking what are the chances?? Well the next fish was the whopper!! He was huge!!! You told the boys, "Holy cow! He must be the daddy of the lake!!! Look at the size of him!" That's when Anthony said, "The DADDY of the lake??? Dad, are we gonna throw him back? I know he's big, but...."

My poor honey, the one time you catch the BIG ONE and only our boys are there to witness it. You said it was mountable, it was so big...and here is this little guy, fighting back tears, hoping beyond hope that this fish will get to "go back to his fam-i-ly."

You were fishing right across the street....so you raced home, dug up the digital camera and raced back so you could get a picture of this monster. Then you told Anthony, "We have him captured on the camera so we don't have to have him captured in real life. Let's throw him back to his family."

You are such a wonderful dad. You made our little boy sooo happy yesterday. I'm sure it will be a memory he keeps forever about his daddy throwing back the big one.

I love you!

************************************************************************************

See ya next time! :o)

Snakes and Snails and Puppy Dog Tails....and Frogs

Michael was 15 at the time and in the basement skateboarding. He comes upstairs and is sobbing but he doesn't show anyone but me and quietly calls me to come see him.

As a mom, the first thing I am looking for is bodily injury. My eyes automatically flick over his body looking for blood, protruding bones, growing lumps, bruises, etc.

Finding none, the next thing I think is a fight with his girlfriend (who he talks to on the phone while boarding sometimes) but the phone is on the charger, so it's not that.

He starts walking back to the basement and nods his head to follow. The next thing I think is that he boarded into something and broke it and it has to be something important because he is so upset. My mind is flashing as I'm searching the basement as I walk down the stairs...washer, dryer, water heater, basement windows, all still standing and in tact.

He brings me over to the other side of the basement and points to the floor, still not saying anything because he's crying. On the floor I see what has him so upset, but can't really tell what it is. I have to ask him, and he breathes deeply in that sobby, can't quite catch my breath way and says...It's....a ..frog. I.. came off... the... board ..and.... stepped... on... hi-i-im. He was just heartbroken. :(

I hugged him (thinking it's just a frog, but clearly not saying or even looking like I was THINKING such a thing). And then he says, I saw baby frogs too, what are they gonna think when they come out and see this??? He was just sobbing about this. I just kept hugging him telling him it was an accident and not his fault.

So we cleaned up the frog and put him in a box. I said I would do it and he could go wash up and take a breath but he refused. He wanted to do it. Afterwards, he went off by himself for a bit in his room. Before bed he came and hugged me, all calmed down and said, Thanks for the help with the frog, Mom. :)

This is something I will always remember. Teens, they wanna be so tough...so independent of MOMMY, but I love that when the going gets tough...the tough get going...back to Mom. :)

See ya next time! :o)

Multi-tasking.....new? Nah!

So I was thinking today about the fairly new term of "multi-tasking." It's a term that people think of in an office situation or a career but think about moms.....yep just regular old moms. Shoot, we've been multi-tasking since the beginning of time!!

When my kids were younger, I had a childless friend who came by to chat around 4:00 and sat at my table while my kids sat doing their homework and I made dinner. We're having a nice conversation when suddenly I notice she's looking at me and has stopped talking. I stop my stirring with one hand and grabbing dishes with the other and say, What?

She just sits there and says, How do you do this?

This? This what?

She's still staring and says, I'm sitting here and watching you cook dinner, set the table, help two kids with homework, keep the baby happy and you can still have a perfectly logical conversation with me. HOW do you DO that?????

LOL, she was amazed at my every day ...day. I just looked at her and said...I'm a mom, it comes with the territory. :o)

Think about it, you do it too, all day long. On your way to the bathroom, you pick up toys and stray socks, you straighten the pile of library books waiting to be returned, you sign a permission slip, hug a child, fix a toy, wipe a tear, check out the YouYube video your teen wants to show you and flick off light switches in unused rooms as you pass by. While you're IN the bathroom, you eye the sink, reach for the spray and wipe down as much of the sink as you can from your sitting position and make a mental note that the empty prescription bottle needs to be refilled...in fact, you grab your cell phone off your hip and call that in, while you have a quiet moment behind a closed door. Sitting time over, you wipe down the rest of the sink that you couldn't reach before, toss the empty prescription bottle and open the door. On your way BACK, you turn off more lights, head through the kitchen, take out something for dinner, add to the shopping list on the fridge, pick up another sock, get a snack for a child, pick up another toy, feed the dog and answer the phone.

Multi-tasking...a new concept? Not for moms!!! This is just our regular day! It's part of who we are and what we do. Think about this the next time YOU get up to go to the bathroom. I bet you'll see just how much multi-tasking you do and you don't even realize it. WTG SuperMom! You ROCK!

See ya next time! ;o)

Another school year is upon us.

Here, in Virginia, the summer is over even though it's still 100 degrees out there. Last week I joyously took my teen boys to their schools to meet their teachers, all the while singing in my head my theme song for this time of the year, stolen from the Staples commercial....It's the mooooosttt wonderfulllll tiiiime of the yeeeaaar.....

I try to conceal my giddiness at having my house back to myself, at not having to listen to Guitar Hero blasting from my 17 year old's room and annoying cartoon voices from my 13 year old's room. I try to hide the fact that once they are back to school that I will be basking in the golden silence that is coming. I'm already thinking of the money I will be saving on gas carting them to friends' houses, the pool, the movies, not to mention the money I will save on sodas and snacks even though according to these young men of mine, There's nothing to eat in heeeeerrrreeee. Did you hear the whine?? Of course you did....hmmmm wine....maybe later. What was I saying? Oh yes, school. :o)

I happily fight the crowds at Wal-Mart to buy the specific folders, pens, protractors, notebooks, yada yada yaaaaddaaaaa that the teachers require my kids to have. The boys came with me as I hold up folders for them to choose from trying to hide the grin threatening to come out and give my excitement away. They roll their eyes at me saying, We're not 5, Mom...it doesn't matter what kind of folder, can we GO??? I toss the "boy colored" folders in the cart and we move on.

I was in all my glory packing their book bags with all their new loot. A pocket for every little thing as I stuff them full and sit them neatly at the door, waiting for that first day!

Monday....it's here!!! The alarm rings at 6:30 am and it's time. Up, dressed, breakfast, lunch money, teeth brushed, face washed, ready to go!! The bus is coming and I stand on the porch and wave......Have a good day, boys!!! Love ya!! I call with a grin.

I step inside and close my eyes and listen. There it is....the silence. No TV, no video games, no trumpet practice, no computer bleeping and blooping......just the ticking of the wall clock. Tick, tick, tick, tick, tick......

THEN, I do my traditional Happy-First-Day-of-School dance. Legs pumping, arms in the air, a tiny squeal of joy escapes into the silence. Freeeeeeeee!!!!!!! My day is freeeeeee!!!!!

I'm not surprised at this feeling....I've been preparing for it and waiting for it for weeks and now it's here!! What DOES surprise me is that while I'm waiting for 4:00, I'm getting another feeling...a feeling of excitement because they are coming home. I've missed them. I want to hear all about their day. I wait with the dog at the window for the bus to appear and grin when I see them get off. I hug them as they come in the door and tell them, I missed you guys today. They grin and hug me back and say, I missed you too, Mom. :o)

Now, where's that wine.....see ya next time!

Where does "Chaffy" come from?

Well, my last name is a long Italian name. When my husband and I were teens, they used to call him Chaf for short on the football field. (pronounced CH like choo choo, short A like half) I always thought it sounded so cool. So .....I STOLE IT! LOL Chaffy evolved from there from my good online friends and so it stuck.

A note: I used to also have another name KMAmom...for my three kids, Kristi, Michael and Anthony. People kept asking my why I was so angry....and I didn't know what in the world they were talking about. UNTIL, I found out that KMA is an acronym for Kiss My @ss !!! OOPS!!!

I don't use THAT name anymore. LOL