Shell's Diaries

I mean really, what mother on earth glories in this day? Can we just skip the festivities, the potted plant from church that dies a week later, and move on to Monday? Is it really the only day of the year that those we care for feel the need to celebrate who we are and what we do?  Don't worry, I don't really feel this way. I feel blessed that my family does not limit their gratitude towards me just on this day only, I've got loads of cards and pictures from all my children made on all the other days of the year, celebrating me, their mom, who, for some reason, they love. But maybe there are some out there who DO feel it's the only day, out of obligation, they are celebrated.  And what a shame it is if that is the case. One of my favorite books is by Emily Watts, Being The Mom : 10 Things I Learned By Accident, Because I Had Children On Purpose .  Just the mere title of the book put my mothering days into perspective. I knew, as I read through those pages, that the...

Frogs and snails, that would be Josh. Puppy dog tails, well, neither Hunter or Josh, since I refuse to have a dog in the house at the current time. But these boys of mine are made up of plenty, that is for sure. I remember well the baby shower I had when I was pregnant with Hunter.  There were many ladies there that I watched  raise a plethera of  boys.  I observed these boys growing under their mother's wings with compassion, stability, endurance, and a firm belief that they knew their mother's loved them.  Each of the women at my baby shower were given a piece of paper that said, "How To Raise A Boy".  Of course, there was still advice from my friends who did not have boys that were meaningful.  But I have always cherished the words that were given just for me from moms who had already experienced what I was about to. There was a mom there, that raised 3 boys, and her advice was this.... "When your son becomes a teenager, and even maybe before, you...

It's the same question I ask myself every time election rolls around. Do I want to pay more taxes? Or rather, do I want to pay more taxes if it will help our schools?  In general, I never want to pay higher taxes than I already am; whether it be my property taxes, which are a whopping $4000 a year, (I know, some of you may be wishing that was ALL you paid), or our business taxes, and, being self employed, we are taxed so high.  I won't even go into how much we pay monthly and quarterly, but it's up there, that's for sure.  But, I will say, being self employed was a choice, one that we don't regret (so far), and knew it wouldn't be cheap to run either.   I thought, years ago, that the lottery was supposed to "save the schools".  And it seems that every year, there is some sort of measure on the ballot to, once again, "save our schools", and of course, this money will be tacked on to our already high property taxes.  Last year it was measure 6...