To celebrate Earth Day I suggested to my sons that we clean out a creek near our house. I thought for sure they would moan and groan about doing physical labor, but believe it or not, they enthusiastically replied, “Sure, Mom.” In fact, they approached the job with determination and vigor. Turns out, they were just as disgusted as I was that people were deliberately throwing trash out of their car window as they drove by.

“I don’t get it, Mom. Why can’t they just wait until they get home to throw their trash out?”

“I don’t know, dear. I guess they just don’t care that they are ruining our environment.”

“That’s so, so…WRONG.”

“Yes. Yes it is.”

As a mom, this was such a proud moment for me. I felt like all of my “preaching” about the environment was actually getting through the noise of the video games, television, and computer games they surround themselves with on a daily basis. Perhaps I’m doing something RIGHT? Hallelujah!

Now, if I could only get them to clean their rooms.

Man’s best friend has been dissing the man (a.k.a. my husband) lately. She used to come to him with wagging tail, kisses, and sheer puppy joy. But then…something happened. None of us are quite sure what it was, but all of a sudden she became “woman’s best friend.”

“Look at that. She totally blows me off. I’m the one who takes her out every morning, feeds her, takes care of her, and now she’s totally ignoring me and goes right to you.”

It was clear my husband felt dejected. I kind of felt bad for him…for a second. Then I realized that at various times during our relationship those words….that feeling…is something I had felt and tried to convey to him. I couldn’t resist saying…

“So, how does it feel?”

Our family is big on the whole green living thing and we try and recycle anything and everything possible. Fortunately, we live in a town that is also very environmentally conscious and they recycle just about everything at our local transfer station.

This isn’t the case where my sister lives and it drives me…and her…crazy. When I visit and have something in my hand, like an empty yogurt cup, that we would normally recycle I always ask, “Do you guys recycle these?” Usually the answer is “no.” It is of no fault of their own. In fact, my sister took it upon herself to stop the constant flow of catalogs coming into her home by signing up at www.catalogchoice.org. Unfortunately, not all companies will participate in this service so she called all of the non-participating companies and asked them not to send them anymore.

When I got through the terrible twos, trying threes and frustrating fours with both of my children, I thought it would be smooth sailing after that. WRONG! Right now I am encountering the Nasty 9’s with my youngest son. Somewhere along the line he got it into his mind that he’s in charge and everything I say or ask him to do is dismissed like old chewing gum.

“Drew, can you take the dog out.”

“No.”

“Why not.”

“I’m busy.”

“Doing what?”

“Watching TV.”

“Uh…that’s not busy. C’mon, it’s your turn. Remember how much you wanted this dog in the first place?”

All of a sudden, out of the blue, my dog decided she didn’t want to “eliminate” in the rain. Not only that, but she refused to go into the section of woods in our backyard that she’s been “eliminating” since she was a puppy. I don’t know what gives. Is it the wet leaves? Is she bored? Is it just a ploy to get us to take her for a walk? Who knows?

Last nights episode of the Apprentice was like watching an intervention for an alcoholic. In fact, that’s pretty much how Joan Rivers stated it at the end of the show. Once again, Rodman was all over the place with his actions, words, body control, etc. Some of it can be attributed to Dennis being Dennis, but most of it was due to Dennis being drunk. Voted as the project manager for this task, he had the opportunity to shine, the opportunity to show America (and Donald) that he wasn’t a total goof off, the opportunity to win the task. But…per usual…he just couldn’t get out of his own way.

Having a child with diabetes is a relatively new thing for us. Our son was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes last year at the age of 12. It was quite the shock, but not totally surprising since it runs in both my husband and my families. We’ve learned a lot along the way, but the one thing that always throws us off is when he gets sick. And I don’t mean, flu or stomach bug, things you think would really throw off his blood sugar. I’m talking about the common cold. His numbers are all over the place. His normal range should be between 70 and 180. One day he had a 67 at lunchtime and 300 at dinner. As a mother, it makes you wonder just what’s going on in that little body of his and how much damage is being done to his internal organs. Basically, it just makes your heart ache. But…we’re all in this together and we will continue to fight the fight to keep him as healthy as possible for as long as possible.

Cleaning out your basement. I’m sure you’ll come across old lamps, clothes, computers, bikes, exercise equipment, etc. that you want to get rid of. But before you load up that U-haul and drive it to the dump, think about giving the items away. I’m not talking about the rusted out hubcap that is probably of no use to anyone, but you would be amazed at what people will take if they know it’s for free.

It was a Sunday afternoon and I had spent the day in my pajamas cleaning house, doing laundry, chasing kids, you know, the usual mom stuff. At about 4 p.m. I decided I would take a shower and get cleaned up. The reason I waited this long is because I’m the type of person who if I know I’m going to be inside cleaning, why change into another set of clothes and get them dirty. Why not just get the ones you have on dirty. FYI, you do know I’m talking about long, cotton jammies not some lacy number held together with something the equivalent of dental floss.

Anyway, after my shower, I knew we weren’t going anywhere so I just put on some flannel lounge pants and a t-shirt. Oh yeah, and some underwear and a bra. When I came downstairs my husband looked at me and said, “I thought you were going to get dressed?”

You know, being a freelance copywriter, I always embrace good marketing copy, but let me tell you…the ad campaign that Proctor & Gamble is using to sell their Always line of sanitary pads just isn’t it!

They’re tag line is…”Have a Happy Period.” Are you kidding me? Tell me one person who rejoices when their time of the month comes. Well, except perhaps the women who were trying to dodge the pregnancy bullet. Other than that, I don’t know anyone who says, “Yippee. I got my period. I can’t wait for the cramps and the bloating to kick in. It’s going to be a banner day!”