Mama always told me to wear clean underwear.

Yep, since the dawning of time mothers have given such sage advice. Mothers live by the just in case rules of life. Now that I am a mother, I say the same things to my children. I tell them to wear clean underwear, always keep the house tidy, brush your teeth, stay together, and all the other pearls of wisdom passed down by mothers everywhere. When asked why, and children always feel the need to know why, about everything, I give the age old response, just in case.
As it turns out just in case does not have a shelf life. Just in case can bite you in the tush any time at any age. Like when the town stops by and needs to see where your water intake pipe is. And it's in the garage. Which in itself is not a problem. Two very nice men were standing in my garage talking to me about survey questions and taking pictures of my pipes. I suddenly noticed they were trying to keep very odd looks off their faces. Okay, I admit, I had a moment of panic. I had just let two total strangers into my house and I was standing alone in my closed garage with them. And what's worse I had locked the dogs in their crates. I was never so grateful that I always have my cell phone in my pocket in my life.
I tried to very nonchalantly look over my shoulder and gauge the distance between myself and the door. And that's when "just in case" hit me right between the eyes. I had failed to remember to keep the garage tidy. I got lazy and procrastinated and didn't get to the bottle return as soon as I should have and I still need to put a second coat of paint on the bottle tops we're making magnets out of.
I can only imagine what those men thought of the 15 or so cases of Budweiser bottles I've collected from people and the 600 bottle tops on the newspaper on the floor. I couldn't have stored the 9 garbage bags of soda cans in the garage where they could see them. Nope, they're on the back deck where they don't need to go. I wil be smiling to myself for a long time at what the town water department will most likely be saying about that red-head who had all those beer bottle in her garage.
I will also, from now on, be faithfully returning the bottles on a weekly basis, just in case.

Give the kid his own name

That is my sage advice for anyone who is having a son. I made the mistake of allowing my husband to name our son after him. Which in itself is bad enough but my husband was himself named after his father. Who was named after his father. Yea, add 'em up and the poor kid actually has IV in his name.
I had no idea when I allowed this to happen that I would spend the rest of my life, or for however long they are both alive whichever comes first,asking which one every time someone calls the house and requests to speak to one of the two males in the house and correcting constant mistakes made by people. The latest of which was the bank teller accidentally deposited our refund check in his account. It gets confusing I guess when I'm joint on both accounts but that is just one of the millions of things I've had to correct since we filled out that darn birth certificate.
I understand that in days gone by it was the practice to give the oldest male child the same name and just tack on a number at the end because they had lands, estates and titles to keep in the family. And while, according to my paternal Grandfather, I do hold an English title. I really don't think an acre and a 3 bedroom raised ranch qualifies as lands and estates to leave behind.
So save yourself the endless hassle and give the kid his own name for pity sake. Life is hard enough as it is.....

So, if I write it, you have to listen right?

Well, isn't that special? Oh great now I have the voice of "church lady" from SNL in my head. And before you ask, yes I do frequently hear voices in my head. I like the voices, they keep me company.
I've been reading some blogs from a couple of friends and have been highly entertained by them. Of which, one is about frogs and one is the life of a sloth. I have some very interesting friends.
I have decided that I too can be somewhat entertaining when I put my mind to it, no, you don't get an opinion here, and want to try my hand at this blogging thing.
So, this is me blogging. I will periodically blog about whatever pops into my head, voices and all, for your entertainment.
And trust me, with 5 kids, 2 dogs, 2 cats and a husband I swear is the reincarnation of general Patton my life is definitely entertaining. Especially when you get to sit on the sidelines and watch rather than actually be the one to figure out how to get the teacher to believe the dog really did eat her homework.