Stand Up For Autism Event -San Luis Obispo

Posted on January 26, 2012 by Eileen

Back in high school I spent many weekends heading to “The City” (San Francisco) to The Punch Line to see comedians. When Ellen Degeneres came to San Luis Obispo we were lucky enough to score tickets from some friends and sat in the center of the third row, (I KNOW!). I’ll choose a sitcom over a drama most days and have been known to guffaw on a crowded airplane when watching a favorite movie to pass the time. I LOVE to laugh.

When my friend called a few weeks ago to see if I wanted attend a comedy night I jumped at the chance. Then I learned it benefited the Central Coast Autism Spectrum Center -laughing AND benefitting a good cause?!? Right ON! I’m in!

If you’re a laugh-lover like me, you can join in the fun this Saturday, January 28, 2012 at Cuesta College here in San Luis Obispo. Purchase your ticket and get event details here.

As a thank you, I bought this for my girlfriend who invited me to the event -shhhhhhh! -it's a secret!

You don’t live near here or have other plans? No worries! You can still support the cause by purchasing a gorgeous dichroic glass puzzle piece necklace from Janine of Designs by Ja9. (The name of her business is so clever -JaNINE -get it? I love that!)

Janine is a total Rock Star because she uses her powers for good by adopting a cause every quarter and making online sales available for non-profit groups or even a walk team. This quarter her cause is The National Autism Association and (like I said before, but have to repeat myself) her designs are beautiful! 

I’ll be getting my smiley-face on this Saturday! No matter what your plans are, I hope they put a smile on your face, too.

In case you’re wondering, I wrote this post for fun and to benefit the event and/or product in this post. I wasn’t paid, or compensated, or bribed, or asked to do anything strange for writing this. And, of course, these opinions are my own. But of course, that means they are CORRECT. Remember: always use our powers for good. Onward!

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Nominate a Mom on a Mission with HealthyChild.org

Posted on January 16, 2012 by Eileen

Healthy World Healthy Child - CHEC Creating Healthy Environments For Children

Every morning I wake up and I ask myself, “What can I do to make the world a better place today?”

If you know me at all, you read that statement and laughed.

Bwahaha! I do NOT wake up this way. I wake up wishing I’d set up the coffee maker the night before and cleaned up my room yesterday. I wonder how I can manage to stay in bed ten more minutes and still have time to brush my teeth and get dressed. And I can never remember if I have carpool that day.

If I do get around to wondering about it, it’s usually never in my mind before my second cup of coffee. Sometimes it never enters my mind at all during a day as I’m running around my life trying to put out fires. I would love to be someone who wakes up this way. Some women do. I’m just not one of them.

If you know a mom that’s changing the world, get the word out by nominating her as a “Mom on a Mission” through Healthy Child Healthy World. Nominations are now open at http://www.healthychild.org/mission to find eight extraordinary parents (folks who wake up wondering how they can make the world a better place). From January – August, Healthy Child will select and honor one finalist each month. In September and October, the general public will choose the winner and that winner will be honored at a gala event in New York City in November.

The person you nominate might end up in New York City and be honored at the gala. And who knows? They might think of you as they get up that morning. Because you changed their world.

Onward!

I’m letting you know about “Mom on a Mission” thanks to being a Founding Member of Mom Bloggers for Social Good. And because here in the Calandro Clan, we always use our powers for good.

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And Now I Go On a Rant -Again

Posted on January 11, 2012 by Eileen

Now this note now proudly hangs on our "Look What I Did!" wall at home. It's a confidence builder, for sure.

I became THAT parent a while ago. I can’t believe I did this and waited to post because I had to be sure I wanted to go public with my actions.

Well, here goes:

M1 called from school, “Mom. I forgot (my project) at home. Can you bring it to school for me?”

Deer in the headlights.

Here’s what ran through my head as I froze on the other end of the phone: He’d worked on the project last night. I’d offered constructive criticism and forced him to work a little harder. He did the project all on his own. He did a good job and he was proud of himself. I’d patted myself on the back for not assisting him at all in the process. (I’m not THAT kind of mom. You can spot those projects a mile away.) I was exactly the kind of parent I wanted to be…last night.

Today’s another day.

Here’s where I got stuck: He was working with another student on this project. Others were counting on him for their grade.

Ugh.

“You know I shouldn’t do this, but I will.”

Commence kicking myself for the next three hours. Last night I wasn’t THAT parent. Today I became THAT parent.

Sh**.

I took the project to school with a note attached reading “For the irresponsible student, M1.” I walked into the office proclaiming, “I’m here to drop this off for my son and I promise to all of you sitting here I will NEVER do this again.” The folks sitting there gave me a look like they’d heard that one before.

I proceeded to the Student Services desk -the area set aside in the office for these sorts of things. The school employee working behind the desk read the note attached to the project and asked, “You want this attached when he picks this up?” She looked surprised and also a bit appalled at my parenting tactics. (I recognize this look, unfortunately.)

“Yep.”

I left the project behind and walked out. Kicking myself all the way to the car.

I realized I should have added this to the bottom of the note: “From his Enabling Mother”.

Shaming my son into changing his behavior is absolutely counter-productive. I needed to own my part in this process. I said yes, when I should have said no.

We discussed this entire situation when M1 got home. And I wrote my addition down at the bottom of the note. (He brought the note home with him because he thought it was funny and wanted to put it up on our Brag Wall. I love that kid.)

He also told me what happened when he picked up his project. The woman behind the Student Services counter told him something like, “Your mom is grumpy!” He defended me to her saying, “No she’s not. I shouldn’t have called her.” RIGHT ON! M1 stuck up for me and owned his actions. THAT’S MY BOY!

He knows I won’t help him like this again. He’ll need to figure out a way to fix his problem on his own next time. It’s not about me being mean, or grumpy or shaming him. It’s about him learning responsibility.

For me, this presented one more chance for me to walk a mile in THOSE parent’s shoes. After walking in them, I realized (once again) they hurt when they kick me in the a** and I don’t like wearing them. But we all do it and I won’t judge the folks who do wear them. We’re all just doing the best we can with the tools we have available to us at the time.

Be warned, M2 and M3. Your brother and I are figuring this out and I’m learning right along with him how to navigate this road.

Onward!

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You Can Tell Me Where To Go -To Pledge-A-Post

Posted on November 23, 2011 by Eileen

Here's how I feel about all of you who read this blog. Thank you!

Back in April I made a promise to myself and my faithful readers (all six of you) that I would pledge $10.00 for every post I wrote this year. I promised I would tally up how many posts I wrote to come up with a total amount to donate (up to $500). I called the idea “Pledge-A-Post”. I hoped doing this would get me motivated to write here and my goal was to write once a week.

Yeah, that worked. (Sarcastica font.) I wrote only sixteen posts last year. Sheesh. It just didn’t happen.

What did happen is life: Taxi-ing, feeding, shopping, birthday-ing, traveling, painting, switching around rooms for the kids, more painting, wife-ing, basketball, soccer, hip hop class, cleaning, avoiding cleaning, running, PTA-ing, hiking, sleeping, snuggling, reading, aunt-ing, volunteering, remodeling, homework helping, gardening, sister-ing, eating, cooking, doing dishes, friend-ing, working, and mothering. It all happened. Lots and lots. Sometimes most of these things happened in one day.

I know. I know. Plenty of you do all of these things AND manage to post on your blogs every single day -and your blogs KICK A**. And you work, and cook, and clean, and sew, and grow your own food, and make your own bread, and have time to brush your teeth and comb your hair and wear clothes that match and don’t look like you slept in them. HOW IN THE HECK DO YOU DO THIS?!?!? I clearly don’t know.

You people are amazing. Any tips or advice on how I can be more like the folks who exist like that last paragraph will be gladly appreciated.

Anyway, I didn’t post here as much as I wanted, so I didn’t have as much money pledged as I wanted. But guess what? You’re not the boss of me (and I know you didn’t say you were) -and this is my blog and I can do whatever I want.

So I’m donating $500 to charity. And I’m saying it’s because I posted here AND on momcentral.com as a part of my Pledge-A-Post promise to myself. Because if you total up all those posts, I DID write a post at least once a week. So WAHOO!

Plus -here’s some really awesome news -I got a matching dollar amount. Stacy DeBroff gave me matching funds to add to my Pledge-A-Post total because she knows how much this process meant to me all year. So WAHOO…AGAIN!

This means I have a total of $750 to donate and YOU get to tell me where to go…and spend it. That’s right. My faithful readers, YOU get to help me decide.

So, tell me the non-profit organizations near and dear to your heart; share their links, share their stories and why you feel connected to them. You know I feel passionately about supporting survivors of suicide, progeria, Stand up for Skateparks, brain tumor research, Make-A-Wish, creating parks for kids to play in, heart health, cancer research, charities for and about kids, reading, and art therapy. What organizations do you feel passionately about and why?

No, I won’t donate to the Human Fund. Don’t ask. (Or you can ask, because that would be funny, but I won’t donate there.)

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving -I’m so grateful to everyone who reads this blog and shares their thoughts with me. I’m grateful for my family and friends and have so many blessings in my life. While Pledge-A-Post didn’t get as huge as I envisioned back in April, I’m thankful for the chance to give and look forward to you helping me.

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours. Blessings all around.

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