Late Night Ramblings

     Okay, so I'm sitting here covered in hives, surfing Pinterest to make myself feel crafty even though out of the 100 plus things I've "pinned," I will probably only do three or four. And heck, even if I do three or four there should be some sort of ticker-tape parade. So here I sit on Pinterest pinning blueberry lemon muffin recipes when honestly sometimes pouring Cheerios in a bowl and just pouring blueberries over them in the morning seems overwhelming. But I feel like a better mother simply by "pinning" them. So that is what I am sitting here doing.
     Isn't this what everyone is doing at 12:24 a.m?
     I am actually staying up until I can take my next dose of Benadryl so I don't take another layer of skin off with my itching hives. Yep, woke up with hives all over my body this morning. Could it have something to do with the 20 plus chocolate covered Hershey almond Kisses I ate before bed? The jury is still out. So anyhow, here I sit until my next dose, so please forgive me if my sentences run on or if I make no sense whatsoever. I'm pretty sure this blog post is going to be the rambling of a itching lunatic.
     First, let's start with Pinterest. Honestly, it's one of the most fascinating websites I've ever seen. If you aren't already a member, beware, it is extremely addictive. Because for some completely illogical reason, I feel like when I find an idea for a craft to do with the boys or a new recipe and I pin it on my board, well, I feel like I have already done it. So basically you sit at your computer for sometimes hours while pinning things, and then you feel like you have done them. You feel crafty, productive, and happy, when basically you have done nothing but surf through a website. Facebook has nothing on Pinterest.
     We are all looking for ways to be better cooks, more crafty, more spontaneous with our children, more fashionable, etc. I say it's high time for us to stop being so hard on ourselves. Yes, I might have lush cascading curls if I roll my hair up with socks, but seriously, who has time for this??? I did an art project on Pinterest, but only because I had a "team" of people at my house for Christmas, kind of like J. Lo's entourage. My husband could be handling the unruly, wild dog who runs with his spindly legs through our house like an antelope, while my Grandmother cooked meals, and my grandfather and Mom entertained both boys with man-to-man defense. So, yep, I finally completed a craft. Woohoo for me.
     I just feel that our mothers and our grandmothers and our great-grandmothers NEVER put pressure on themselves like we do today. I mean seriously, have you noticed some of the birthdays that are getting thrown out there? What ever happened to cake and playing in the yard? Now the cute invitations take up more time then the whole parties did back in the old days. And I am not about to try to convince you that I haven't gotten caught up in all of this too. I have. For my oldest son's first birthday, I had an Easter themed party with a complete hunt, picture board documenting how he looked every month up until the age of one, made a rabbit cake myself, and made a personalized cupcake for each child attending. I clearly still had medication from the epidural in my system. But I have now finally come to my senses. And things have gotten even more out of control now. Our parents had to worry about Santa. Well, now we have these elves. I want the person who created this elf phenomenon to show her face. Just like Nixon was confronted with Watergate, I want the elf inventor to have some accountability and come out of hiding. Making those flippin' elves do something creative every night? Are you kidding me? One of my New Year's resolutions was merely to wash my face before bed. Do you really think I feel like making an elf zipline through my house at midnight? But hats off to all you moms who did something every night. I did not. Our elf was sporadic. He did things when he felt like it. I remember feeling so ashamed one morning as I told my seven-year-old that perhaps we needed to give Terry the Elf a vitamin because he seemed tired. But yes, I did step up to the plate quite a bit. I made the elf make a snow angel in dog food and other silly things. Then I found out that some elves were giving gifts.Shut the front door! Seriously??? So our elf gave the boys a little snow globe. But apparently other elves shopped on Rodeo Drive. These elves were giving big ticket items. But remember, our elf had a Vitamin D deficiency.
Anyway, then I found out there were new things called pocket elves. I want that inventor's head on a platter.
I just wonder if there is ever going to come a time when as mothers we quit making things so hard on ourselves? Everything is so much more, more, MORE than it used to be. No wonder half of the world is on anti-depressants. As one doctor said once, we are putting our bodies through overload, more than they can possibly handle. I truly believe that. We run from this activity to the next because we want to make sure our child isn't missing anything. Oh, that kid got this little gadget, and now that is what all the kids are getting so maybe we should consider one too. We are going to have to worry about much more than our parents did. Our parents worried about drinking and driving. Now we still have to worry about that, and texting and driving, and talking on the cell and driving, and "sexting," and what is getting on Facebook that could keep little Johnny from getting into Yale. On and on and on.
     All these devices that are supposed to make our lives easier are actually making them harder. Are we not washing the dishes before we put them in the dishwasher? We have to check our phone messages and e-mails and Facebook inboxes because we could seriously be missing an important message.
     One woman on TV was actually trying to figure out how to hook up a crockpot in her minivan because they are always running from place to place and never had time for a decent meal. I heard one parent say that they did not want to do one particular sport because it would all be too much, but then said, "But that's what he wants to do." Umm, excuse me, but aren't you the parent?"
    When are we going to just say, enough is enough!!! We are raising overloaded, entitled kids (as Dr. Phil says), and why don't we just stop trying to keep up with the Joneses. And who are the Joneses anyway? Let's throw the Joneses off the balcony along with the Pocket Elves.
     See I told you I had hives and was testy and would ramble. I've gotta go now, time for my Benadryl.