Top 5 List - Summer Mode (aka My Favorite Places)

5. Bailey's Island, ME - This is always one of our "must go" stops each year. Back when my grandfather was alive, he would take the entire family (his 3 daughters, their husbands and kids) up to Cook's Lobster House for my mom and aunt's birthday dinner (they were born on the same day, 16 years apart). Before dinner, we would all head to Bailey's Island to walk the rocks and shop at the kitschy Land's End store. My grandfather loved this statue of the lobsterman. This is the one place where I get very emotional thinking about him.

4. Cape Henlopen Beach, DE - We are very lucky to live an hour from the Delaware beaches. Dewey, Rehoboth, Bethany, Fenwick Island, Lewes....all have their own unique characteristics. All are extremely popular. But my favorite is Cape Henlopen. Tucked away from everything else, it is a state park that doesn't host too many from New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and New York. I love going early, digging my toes in, and watching the surf.

3. Naples, ME - This town has been our family's summer vacation since before I was born. My grandparents honeymooned there in the 1930s. They continued to bring their children up every August, a tradition that I now share with my own family. It is a place that connects me to my grandmother and grandfather, two people I miss greatly.

2. The National Cathedral - I love cathedrals and old churches, but this one takes the cake. It is in my favorite city, is majestic, and has all sorts of cool nooks and crannies. I was in middle school when I read Margaret Truman's "Murder at the National Cathedral", thus starting my love for the gargoyle-covered edifice. Going to a Christmas Eve service there is on my Bucket List...since my royal wedding didn't happen there. *sigh*

1. Cape Elizabeth, ME - I could sit here for hours, watching the waves crash on the rocks. There are plenty of spaces to sit quietly and think. Not that I have ever been able to do that since I am always with two active kids and a gets-bored-quickly husband. But you know, if I could...

Could I Feel Any More Inadequate as a Mom???

I was perusing some FB pages of some "friends" I don't see often. Imagine my dismay when I saw these lunchbox pictures:

I mean, I admire her but HOLY HELL. Every day? How do you have the time and patience to be so freaking creative????

I am a horrible mom.

Living on Starbucks as a Single Working Mom (for 9 days)

I've been out of touch with everyone and everything for the past week. The hubby was in Kansas City for 9 days, leaving me with the kids and the house and the laundy and the dishes and the cat and two jobs. I kept repeating the mantra "Just keep swimming."

My legs are so tired from treading water.

How do single working moms do it? Seriously? Perhaps I am the laziest person on the planet, but I found it nearly impossible to juggle everything. I definitely had no energy and lots of things took a backseat. I only washed the laundry we needed. I used paper plates and plastic utensils. The inside of the house looked like it had been hit by a tornado. I had to buy our neighbor a 12-pack of Bud Light to get him to cut the grass so it didn't look like our house had been foreclosed on.

And the kids? The poor things were shuttled from one person or place to the next all week. Daycare at 6:30, picked up from daycare at 3:30, driven to Grandmom's at 4, picked up from Grandmom's at 8:30, in bed by 9:30. Rinse and repeat. I felt like the only times I saw them was when we were getting dressed in the morning or undressed in the evenings. And 90% of that "quality" time was spent with me screaming. Because. I. Was. So. Freaking. Exhausted.

Conclusion? I would be a terrible single working mom.

There are many women (and men) out there who do a helluva lot better job at raising kids on their own than I would. And I give them all of the credit in the world.