Jen Mann's Blog, page 19

Preschool vs. Kindergarten - What to Take, What to Ditch

Recently I saw a list on Yahoo educating incoming college freshmen as to what to take with them to college and what embarrassing items to leave at home because they are too "high school."

You know me, I love a good, informative list of rules, so it got me thinking.  Adolpha moved to Kindergarten this year from preschool and before school started she let me know exactly what was too babyish for her to take to Kindergarten.

1.  Ditch any backpack or lunch box with Dora the...

You Can't Drop F-Bombs at the Grocery Store

I read a story today that made me sit up and say "What the fuck?"

So, this lady went grocery shopping with her family and another shopper overheard the first lady say, "Stop squishing the fucking bread." Ms. Nosybody thought the woman was talking to her kids, but the woman says she was talking to her husband. Either way. What the fuck?
Ms. Nosybody confronted the shopper and said, "You just said the f-word" and then called the cops!!
That's right, the fucking bread squisher lady got arrested...

The Craziest Conversation I've Had With My Children in a While

As I've mentioned before, riding in the car seems to be the time when my kids really want to talk and I learn a lot about how their little brains work and what they think.  This is the craziest conversation I've had with my children...recently.

The other night we had a 30 minute drive and Gomer and Adolpha started talking to each other.  I'm not sure how the conversation got started, but by the time I figured out what they were talking about, I realized that somehow I have raised a...

I Took the #Icebucketchallenge

Have you heard about the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge yet? No? Well, let me enlighten you.

Let's start with ALS. You know what that is, right? It's amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or Lou Gerhig's Disease, which is a debilitating progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord. People with this illness eventually become paralyzed.

To bring more awareness and to raise money, the ALS Association is challenging people to dump a bucket of...

Back to School

School starts on Thursday and I am only a little bit excited.  OK, I'm really excited.  This will be the first time in almost 8 years that I will have a house to myself all day long.  (The Hubs will be here too, but luckily we each keep to our own "area".)

There is nothing I love more than my alone time.  I absolutely love a quiet house.

I'm talking pretty tough today, because it's only Wednesday.  We'll see how I feel tomorrow.  All week long as we've edged...

The REAL Back to School Checklist

School starts tomorrow and Pinterest is on fiiiiiire with helpful back to school checklists, morning routine printables, ah-may-zing lunch tips, and the cutest teacher gift ideas you've ever seen. (Seriously, what sort of brown noser brings a teacher a gift on the first day of school?)

Last night I overheard a bunch of moms talking about how much they had to do before school started. They were sooooooooooooooooooo busy. I looked at my calendar. I've got absolutely nothing on there for this...

Open Letter to Sadist Teachers

Pick your poison.  I've got all sizes covered this year.
Guess what this week is? BACK TO SCHOOL!!

I'm not excited at all. Can you tell? We've had a great summer. I took my kids to New York City, Washington, D.C., and McPherson, KS - all vacation hot spots. What more could a kid ask for? We've got a couple more days to get ready for the Big Day. I plan to have the kids thoroughly clean out their closets and then get drunk on television, because once school starts they'll have to earn that...

50 Shades of Grey - The PIWTPITT Review

STOP!  SOME OF YOU ARE UNDER 18 YEARS OLD.  DO NOT READ THIS POST.  (I KNOW, I KNOW, THAT ONLY MAKES YOU WANT TO READ IT MORE, BUT REALLY - STOP.)  THIS IS NOT FOR YOU.  GO READ YOUR SEVENTEEN MAGAZINE PLEASE AND TRY AGAIN HERE TOMORROW.  IF YOU STILL REALLY WANT TO READ THIS, THEN LET YOUR MOM READ IT FIRST AND LET HER DECIDE.  I CANNOT BE RESPONSIBLE FOR SULLYING YOU.

ALSO, IF YOU HAVEN'T READ 50 SHADES OF GREY, GO BACK UNDER YOUR ROCK AND I'LL SEE YOU...

To Breastfeed or Not to Breasfeed

I read this article about the New Zealand La Leche League protesting a picture of a dad feeding his baby daughter a bottle.  The picture was part of a PSA ad for not smoking.  The ad ended with the man saying he wouldn't smoke because he has a baby in his house and then he feeds his baby a bottle.


The LLL decided this was not the proper message that needs to be sent out to New Zealand and they pressured the government to edit the ad and remove the feeding.  They think that...

A Greeter at Wal-Mart Tried to Have My Husband Arrested

Last night a greeter at Wal-Mart tried to have the Hubs arrested for abducting Adolpha.


Yup. That really happened.

The four of us went to Wal-Mart last night. We had some things to buy. After filling our cart, Gomer and I said we'd wait on line to make the purchases and the Hubs and seven-year-old Adolpha went to get the car.

When we got in the car, the Hubs asked me, "Did that greeter at the door accuse you of stealing Gomer?"

"What?" I asked. "I didn't even see a greeter."

"She asked...