A lot of his classmates were going to be there. He wanted to know if any of his girl classmates were going to be there. I went through the girls, and he smiles and nods.

“Okay,” he says. “I’m going to use some of Daddy’s cologne then.”

Now, it was a good thing I’d just swallowed my coffee because at that pronouncement I would have spit it out all over everything!

Fast forward to New Year’s eve. He did, indeed, wear cologne to the party. The next morning we asked him if any of the girls noticed he was wearing cologne. “Nope,” he said.

I asked him if he’d asked any of them to smell it to see if they liked it. His response?

“Nooo! I didn’t want them near my neck! They might try to kiss me!”

Lol! Really?!?! What a little knucklehead. Silly munchkin. And yes, we’re sooo in trouble. At least for the time being he doesn’t want the girls kissing him. Guess we should be thankful for small favors.

Now, on to the story. As I’ve said in the past, we’re in for trouble when it comes to the munchkin and girls. He’s seven going on 17.

While he’s been commenting on “cute” girls for quite some time now, lately, he’s been asking specific questions about dating, boyfriends/girlfriends and kissing.

For example, the other day he asks (out of the blue, I might add), “When did Daddy first kiss you? How old we’re you?” Huh?

Now, the good thing with this is that we didn’t meet until well after school, which means my answer was 23. “Twenty-three?!?!” he answers, amazed. “Wow, that’s old.”

Yep. Of course, I didn’t bother to explain that people kiss a lot younger than that. He didn’t ask me when my first kiss was, and I wasn’t about to give him any ideas that kissing was something to undertake before your 20s! Lol!

Oh yes, we’re in trouble. Stay tuned for the continuing saga.

Works for me. He can tell me I look like I’m in high school any day.

You see, my mom bought me these cool jeans, we had a family date night tonight at Macaroni Grill, and I didn’t feel like straightening my hair. So, I let it go kinda wild, put on my cool new jeans & off we went. When the munchkin saw me, he said, “Mom! You look good. You look like a high school rock star!!!”

Awesome! He then informed me I should form a band. I should sing, he would dance & Daddy could play the drums. He thought we should call it: Laura & Her Boys. LOL!

Too funny! Let’s hope he continues to think I’m cool. Ha! Who am I kidding?

Until now. *Sigh.*

For some reason, lately, I can’t get enough of Starbucks coffee. Really? What is the deal?

It used to be that I thought it was too acidic, too strong and just plain not as smooth as Dunkin’ donuts. Now, my tastebuds have decided that Dunkin’ is too sweet – even when it’s black.

It’s giving me an identity crisis. And I’m not sure what to do about it. Ah, the trials and tribulations of the coffee enthusiast. What’s your favorite brew? Drop me a line and share your common grounds.

Uh…what?

“Sometimes, yes…”

To which he responded, “Did you like it?”

What?!? LOL! “Ummm…once I realized it meant they liked me. Why do you ask?”

“Oh,” he said. “A few of us boys have girls chasing us at recess. I just wondered.”

Unbelievable. Seven-year-olds?!?! Boy, are we in trouble!

That’s how it’s been for me lately.

Rock ‘n roll, Hip-Hop, Pop, Country…Books?

I haven’t been listening to music for the past few months, preferring instead to listen to audio books on CD on my drive to and from work. I don’t know about you, but I often do this: flip back-and-forth between books and music or even types of music.

But, for some reason, I just haven’t been interested in listening to music at all lately.

Now, for those of you who know me, this is absolutely nuts. Right? After all, music is a huge part of my life. It always has been. For those who don’t know me, I love to play the piano and began singing at an early age, and continued throughout school, sang in a 60-voice a capella choir in college, played the piano in jazz band and even now sing at church (when my mother convinces me to do it because I love it). *Shhh…don’t tell her she’s right; she’ll get me to do it all the time.* . Not to mention just enjoying listening to all types of music.

So what’s the deal?

Good question. Just haven’t felt like listening to music – until now. All of a sudden, I can’t get enough. I’m listening in the car on the way to and from work, and at home and work via my iPhone/iPod. What gives?

It seems there are several songs out there right now that stir something within me. They speak for me when I feel like I can’t express myself properly or clarify my thoughts.

That’s why I’ve always loved music, and I think I forgot that for awhile. It speaks for us, through us and to us. It creates a mood – whether it’s melancholy, happiness, frustration, fear or passion.

It tells a story.

What about you? What story is your music telling? Drop me a line. I’d love to know…

*Sigh.*

I heard a scary stat recently that said women 40 and over (not quite there, but close) put on 10 pounds a year unless they exercise at least 30 minutes a day. What?!?! That can’t be right. How is that fair?

Um, what happened to age 24, is what I want to know? Where did it go and why can’t it come back around again?

The Trainer
So, I pulled out the Wii fit balance board tonight, and asked the munchkin if he wanted to do some yoga with me. Of course he was game. The child has more energy than a Duracell battery.

All is going well. I’m about 20 minutes into the groove, and the trainer (on the Wii) decides to inform me the following brilliant nugget: Flexibility and agility tend to diminish as we age.

Well thank you for that. I said, “Hey, are you telling me I’m old?” to the TV. Yes, let’s not talk about me talking back to the pretend cartoon trainer on a video game. The munchkin chimes in and says, “Well, she knew when you took a break a few minutes ago. Evidently, she knows you’re old, too.”

Yep. Thanks for that, munchkin. I love you too. Unbelievable.

What do you do to stay fit? Drop me a comment. I’d love to share our common grounds!

Pardon me?

I follow him downstairs and peer outside into the inky blackness. Our front porch light is clearly illuminating the critter who is determinedly pulling up the grass along the edge of the sidewalk. It’s long bushy tail overpowers the rest of its fluid body, and I stare in awe as I realize it’s…a skunk.

Now…I grew up in farm country. Central Illinois. One of my best friends lives on a farm. I was there a lot. And, until this point in time, I have never seen a skunk up close and personal.

They’re adorable!!!! Really. For a rodent, they’re too cute! As we both watched the skunk pull up our lawn, my husband says, “Only us.”

What’s odd is that we’re in the middle of a subdivision. We don’t have forest around us. We don’t even have farmland right near us. There are several houses between us and the nearest field. So…why, exactly did this lovely little skunk choose to build a nest under our porch?

The Extraction

The hubby contacts animal services the next day, and later that afternoon the man arrives to set the trap.

And then we wait.

Based on how the skunk was behaving, the animal services man believes it’s a female and she’s building a nest for, yep, you guessed it: babies. Lovely. Just what we need.

In the morning, we wake up to find the mama skunk in the trap. We, thankfully, were not around when animal services came back to remove the skunk. He called us, though. And, yes, there were babies.

Eight babies!!! He said they were each the size of a D battery. Wow. Eight of them. All under our porch.

Unbelievable. Well, at least we’re now skunk-free – even if we’re several hundred dollars shorter after paying for the extractions. Needless to say, that was one of the more unusual weekends we’ve had in awhile. And, I’m hoping no one else decides to inhabit the hole under our porch – at least until we can get it filled.

So, how about it? Any animal stories of your own you’d like to share? Let’s hear it. Drop me a line below, and let’s share our common grounds.

Maybe you can relate. I know I can. You see, I didn’t learn how to ride a bike until second grade. Yep, that’s right. Second grade. and, it looks like my little guy is on the same path.

Now, not to make excuses, but there are a few simple reasons for this:

1. We live on a hill, and the driveway is definitely not flat. It angles downward and ends up right on a busy street. Not an ideal place to learn to ride a bike.
2. We have no sidewalks directly in front of our house. There’s a sidewalk to our left or across the street. Again, can’t really send the child out to practice riding up and down the sidewalk by himself, and the neighbors don’t particularly like it when you camp out on their lawn for a couple of hours.
3. I don’t like outside. Yes, it’s true. I know. Whatever. It is what it is. I love the sunshine, the warm breeze blowing into the house, the windows open. Ahhh. Perfect. But…I do not want to enjoy all of that outside. I like screens, shade and the comfort of being inside. This is a bit prohibitive when trying to teach someone to ride a bike, and leaves the majority of the weight on the shoulders of my husband, who, by the way, loves being outside.

The Right Size

Now, with that being said. The munchkin has this really cool blue and green bike with training wheels…that is waaaay too small for him. My parents have a bike for him, which is really cool. (See the picture above? The one in front is the actual bike.) Unfortunately, we’re not sure there’s a way to attach training wheels to it. It’s a 20″ and many of those don’t allow for training wheels.

As we explained this to the munchkin, he was a bit distressed at first. You see, his current bike is a 14″ and an 18″ is still too small for him – those are the ones that allow for training wheels. The 20″ is what he needs, no question. So…what to do?

Definitely Not a Daredevil

While the little guy appears to be laid back and willing to try anything, this is definitely not the case. He’s extremely cautious, likes to think things through and is not willing to take risks when it comes to anything. Ah…like father like son.

So, back to my question: What to do?

He was totally freaked out when we tried the Daddy-will-run-behind-you-holding-on-to-the-bike scenario in the bike store the other day as we were getting a feel for sizes. That did not go over well at all – for either of them, actually.

In the end, we decided to see if we can find a way to fit the training wheels on the 20″ and go from there. Decision made.

The Plan

Enter, the plan. After we get back home and let the p’s know that we’re going to use their 20″ bike they got – even if we can’t put training wheels on it, the munchkin says, “Here’s the plan, Mommy.”

“Um, okay. What’s the plan? What are we talking about?” I inquire.

Using lots of hand gestures (he is part Italian, after all), he explains. “Okay. We’ll take my little bike with the training wheels and take them off. Since I can totally touch the ground easily on that bike, I can ride it without putting my feet on the pedals and instead get used to the feel of balancing the bike. Then, I can use the bike Grandma and Grandpa are giving me and have Daddy hold onto it until I get the feel for it. Then, I’ll know how to ride a bike without training wheels.”

He smiles and walks in the other room.

Alright then. Glad he has it all figured out. My little planner.

What plans have you or your children made to help you adjust to a new situation? I’d love to hear about them. Drop me a line below, and let’s share our Common Grounds.

“Hmmm. That’s a hard one,” says the munchkin. He attempts to spell it, fumbles over “suit” and completes “case” with no problem. After he finished trying to spell it, he asked to see the word.

Ah yes, the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree on this one. I’m a visual learner, and seeing something is how I better take it in, process it, understand it and eventually learn it. Like mother like son in this case. *Smile.*

So, I show him the word. He frowns a bit, and I can tell he’s noodling something in his little mind. After a pause he says triumphantly, “I get it. It’s just like ‘pursuit.’”

Huh? I turn around to look at him, wondering how he (a) knows the word and (b) comes up with this comparison. And then it hits me.

“Yes. Yes, it is. You mean from Pokémon, right?” I ask. He nods and smiles.

You see, “pursuit” is one of the moves a Pokémon may use, and he was drawing the comparison with the “suit” part. Well, I thought that was pretty good logic, and a great way to remember the word.

What clever comparisons, tricks or tips have your family members come up with to remember something? Drop me a line below. I’d love to hear about it.