Button Pusher v. Paranoid Eye

Road trips with children are a been there-done that sort of realm in my book. During my growing up years, my parents, 5 siblings, and I would trek cross country in a round-trip van excursion from Michigan to Utah to California and back again every summer to visit family. I could write a chapter book on some of the stories from those weeks-on-the-road. Comic relief aside, I'll spare you the page turner synopsis for now...

Tonight I arrived back home from a round-trip Texas to Utah jaunt in the car with my boys. The visit for my sisters wedding was so wonderful, I really can't say the car-ride wasn't worth it. But, that doesn't mean it was perfect. 

Our favorite Z-ism's on the way to Utah started when we crossed over from New Mexico to Colorado. He had located the Four Corners on Google Maps. For you non-Western or non-American folks? This is the intersection between Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona, in which the boundaries exist in orthogonal lines. Smartphone in hand, when he noticed we were not going directly from NM to UT he became convinced that we had deviated from our course. He didn't really make it a mystery that we "had no idea where we were going", "had made the wrong turn, "were driving in circles", "were going the wrong way", "had missed the turn to Grandpa & Grandma's house", and (my personal favorite) "were just driving in circles until dinnertime". These statements were repeated regularly from Colorado to my parents house. Yes son, because the joytime of being in the car for 2 straight days with small children and hubby...is my heaven-on-earth. TIC.

On the return trip Z's repeated phrase shifted, garnering the tone of one of his recent pre-springbreak declarations, "Everyone else has better siblings than me." Before I share his mantric repetition, I must admit, he got this from me, AND it rings of a stance that soooo many of us take against each other, all too often. Here is the text I sent out to my family, to which my siblings promptly responded with quotes from our own past:
:

Yes, the "Summer, stop breathing on me!" was exclaimed more than once by my own lips. Button pushing, reciporacal annoyance, or whatever you want to term it, is one of the common denominators in most families. My husband and I couldn't even roll our eyes in joint exasperation. We glanced knowingly at one another in joint acknowledgement that we too had just played out this scenario 30 minutes prior, and thousands of times before. For those of you that don't know us well? Johnathan is the self proclaimed "button pusher", and I'm the hypercritical "paranoid eye"...most of the time. If we really break it down though? When we get into these roles we are both playing out the "heart of conflict", "heart of war" battle. I think the Arbinger Institute explains these positions well in their promotion of changing our approach to others with a "heart at peace". In an article titled "Resolving the heart of conflict", James Ferrell of the Arbinger Institute states:

 "When I choose to see people as objects, I become invested in seeing them poorly, which investment invites them to respond poorly to me, which mistreatment I then count as justification. I end up valuing problems more than solutions and conflict more than peace. The grim truth is that whenever we start seeing others as objects rather than as people, we value justification more than results and find more advantage in war than we find in peace. In conflict, the heart of the matter is that our hearts have come to find advantage in conflict. Until we can escape this need for justification, we will continue to wallow (and find advantage) in the problems of the past. Until we can learn to acknowledge the obvious truth—that my coworkers, family members, and fellow citizens are as important and legitimate as I am—then my relationships will continue to be strained and our results together much less than they could be."

Well for now, at least our results together got us all home safe & sound, but that doesn't mean we aren't "Still Truckin" for the long haul. Though, we are blessed with some fabulous scenery for our journey.

Bend in the Four Corners, iPhoto. Janelle Jensen Fritz

A week in the life of BIG MALARKIES

It's Monday, it's a new week. I'm pretty sure our household is on the up & up now. But before I let last week settle in the dust, I have to give a shout out to my neighbor. Because my week, last week? Is pretty much, her week, every week. She's a pro, and doesn't let it get her down. I'm not exactly sure what her mantra's are. If I had to guess? They would somehow encapsulate the phrase: "You've gotta do, what you've gotta do.", or something to that effect. She's a great mom, and a lovely woman, and my role model for "rolling with the punches". To protect her privacy, I have affectionately named her "Big Malarkies". 

Instead of typing out the whole week I'll just give you the abbreviated version in equation form. 

Sunday+ 2 year old+ (Pink eye * Fever) = Urgent Care + Pharmacy + (a weeks worth of traumatic eye drops)

Friday+ 6 year old+ (Cold sore * nose sore * rash) = Pediatrician + Pharmacy + (Creams & Antibiotics for a week)

Friday+ Moo-shu+ (bladder issues) = Vet Visit + X-ray + Shot

Saturday+ Hubby+ (head cold * nausea * in bed & out of commission) = I'm healthy + I'm exhausted

Sunday + Sick Hubby+ 2pm church= NOT a Lazy Sunday

The total cost equals $325, just a little bit more than I had budgeted for our weekly breakdown...

I have to say, with my superstar "Big Malarkies" exemplar, the week rolled out better than what I would have conducted in the past. Attitude really is a make it-break it mentality. This is me, hoping with a positive attitude, that we all experience at least a notch up on the smooth-sailing-spectrum this week. But if not? I found this Backdoor Survival to Rolling With the Punches for us all.  
 

Saturday Morning Shuffle

Our Saturday mornings vary, but you can pretty much bank on the probability that we don't jump feet first into warp speed. Unless there is a soccer game. Then we can rally. 

Some of our low-key favorites include, Dad-made pancakes, or Dad-bought donuts. Movies, cartoons, and Lego extravaganza are also frequent favorites. The Lego spread is not a weekly tradition, but I'd say at least once a month or more, we end up with a family room full of Lego's. I think it dates back to my childhood. I vaguely recall Pee-Wee's Playhouse and a carpet full of Lego's on Saturday mornings. 

There was one Saturday where a specific request was made of me. It sounded simple enough. As in, reconstruct the disassembled Lightening McQueen and Mater Lego figures from Cars. I had the instruction booklets, but all of the pieces were mixed in with the two large buckets of individual or stray pieces. I still can't say what possessed me to acquiesce to this request. Cute little boys in pj's with rustled hair that offer hugs & kisses probably had something to do with it. I will never admit or acknowledge the amount of time it took me to sift, sort, and retrieve all the pertinent pieces, as well as assemble these two small Lego Cars figures. I recall my victorious emergence with both vehicles held in opposite hands, built in exactness. A quick glance at the microwave clock, and all semblance of success deflated, as I realized how long this assembly had actually taken me. Lets just say, that I will not be winning any speed records in Lego construction, EVER. My Lego engineering pace is definitely a slow shuffle.

Donuts, artwork by Janelle Jensen Fritz