Final family outings are being planned as the summer draws to a close. As the days get shorter, the children are getting bored, parents nerves are frayed and the back-to-school items are stocking the shelves. The days filled with swimming, running and playing are slowly being replaced with indoor activities and homework.

But! Don’t get sad yet! Though summer may be wrapping up for 2008, we’re having a giveaway here at temporarily me!

A giveaway you say?

Oh yes. A giveaway!

What’s up for grabs you wonder?

Well, I’ll tell you!

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I let my kids wear clothes with stains.

Carter sometimes puts dirt in his mouth.

If he wants Nutrigrain bars for breakfast, I’m OK with that.

They may not have a bath for a few days.

Hudson may even wear the same sleeper for an entire day.

The dirty diapers may sit on the living room floor.

And may even be in close proximity to a sippy cup.

The kitchen table has food in the cracks.

I don’t know how long it’s been there.

The floor hasn’t been mopped in over a month.

If Carter falls off the side of the deck, I don’t go running to see if he’s okay.

Instead it sit in my lawn chair and encourage him to shake it off.

I use my laptop in the backyard during playtime.

I have been known to have a drink or two around my children.

I let Hudson sit in the swing while I sit on the couch, blogging.

My laundry is washed and folded.

But it sits in random piles throughout my house.

I let Carter even dress himself for daycare sometimes.

He wears rubber boots on the hottest day of the summer and I don’t mind.

My car hasn’t been cleaned for a really long time.

There’s empty sippy cups littering the backseat.

They don’t stink, so I’m not worried.

I wear my pajamas to drop my son off at daycare.

I wear jogging pants, even when I leave the house.

My roots have grown out.

My bangs are in desperate need of a trim.

I leave the house without makeup.

I buy donuts for lunch sometimes.

I couldn’t be happier.

I.

Am.

BETA MOM.

“Sold!” I said and immediately I felt sweaty. My heart began to race and I instantly wondered if I could take it back.

I will be able to pay for this.

I will not be in trouble from Mike; he didn’t put up a fight when we talked about it before.

I’ve wanted to do this for ages. I just have to bite the bullet and actually do it.

Where the hell is Heather when I need her? I wanna enjoy this. I should enjoy this.

I deserve it.

I deserve it.

I deserve it, don’t I?

All thoughts running through my head at the time, yet still didn’t make me feel any better.

Sweaty. Oh. So Sweaty.

I hate making big purchases. I clam up, get sweaty (did I mention sweaty?) and all flustered. I second, triple and fourth (?) guess the purchase over and over while trying to justify it repeatedly. I think of all the things that this money could have bought. What this money should have bought. Eventually I just have to stop listening to myself and pay more attention to my credit card that is begging to be removed from my wallet and have its stripe gently rubbed against the long slot of a card reader.

Saturday, I bite the bullet and just dove in and did it.

I splurged and bought myself a new laptop. (added: It’s an HP, guess I should have mentioned that.)

A bright new shiny laptop. I have yet to have a moment to show it some love, but I intend to. Boy, do I ever intend to.

I wanna rub up against it, whisper sweet nothings into its speakers, gaze into its webcam and profess my love to its processor. I wanna fondle the keys and stroke the touch pad while I dream of the eternal love we will show each other.

Dear brand new laptop; you complete me.

Whilst shopping for my newly beloved, I also bought an external hard drive. After my dear Karly recently lost her pictures of the past four years of her children’s lives I began to panic about all the images I had saved on my desktop that was 3 years old and could fail me at any time. Not to mention all the designs and programs I have on there: I’d be royally fucked (and not in a good way) if I lost all that.

So. Here I sit with my beloved, IN MY LIVING ROOM with my children.

I feel like a better parent now that I don’t have my back to them anymore!

Hallelujah for new laptops and better parenting!

:::

Please keep any comments pretaining to my parenting to yourself I am totally joking. Hudson doesn’t even watch television and Carter is playing outside alone - so he can’t even see the back of my head anyway.

And make sure you visit my post about changing the name of this site. Have your chance to weigh in - should the name change?

Me: I feel fat and frumpy. I’m so fat! *pouty tone* I hate being fat!

Mike: Well, first off. Stop wearing shorts from grade nine.

Me: How did you know they’re from grade nine? (cuz really. THEY. ARE.)

FAIL.