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Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Guest Post: Middle Age in a Digital Age

My aunt is hilarious. She should have her own blog to blog about her life. She's one of those that things just "happen" to. She also has a funny outlook on life so she can take any "happening" and make it into a funny story. Well, until she has her own blog, I am welcoming her here to guest post! Hopefully this will be the first of many times Mrs. G appears here on Suddenly Snowden!

Ramblings from one being dragged into middle age…

When I was growing up, we thought we were so much more together than previous generations.  We were groovy and cool. Our parents were, in fact, square.  We uttered such catchy phrases as “where’s the beef” and “Heeeeyyyyyyy”.  In fact, all of our phrases came from television and commercials.  We relied on the Fonz to show us how to be cool (Heeeyyyyy) and an old woman to bring us to the reality of burgers made the way we wanted them (where’s the beef?!?).  We made plans around our favorite shows, because we had to watch them when they aired.  Heaven forbid we went to school without knowing the latest drama on Dallas.  We couldn’t be out of the conversation loop about this gem.  And, ‘who shot JR’ consumed us for a whole summer!  We didn’t have anyone that gave us advanced information based on shows already shot (Reality Steve), and shows were not aired again and again in syndication. 

Here are some phrases I would never have considered to be part of my main stream conversation:

Text me – I don’t even know what I would have thought that meant 30 years ago.

Friend me – this is something we did on the playground, in person.

Unfriended them – this also is something we did on the playground, in person.

Did you pin it? – this would have referred to setting the hem on a new dress.

Tweeting – only on Halloween, in a Tweety bird costume.

Google it – what in the world is a google?  I didn’t know until it became a search engine.

Search Engine – WTH?

Shut up – we meant it literally.  And said it often.

OMG – I had enough trouble figuring out what ‘ING’ was when they began the advertisements.   Although, I would have appreciated this phrase as I got in a lot of trouble for always saying ‘Oh my God!’

Yahoo – uttered on ‘cowboy dress up’ day at school.

Totes – what my daddy did when I was too tired to walk.

Shoot me an email – we shot clay pigeons and the occasional squirrel.

My bad – this would have been a sentence fragment.  Minus 10 points.

Really – this was an honest to goodness question.

Seriously – this was always part of a sentence that usually involved getting in trouble.

The tribe has spoken – only on vacation in Cherokee, NC.

Set my GPS – we had to call and get verbal directions, or, even worse, read a map.

I have it DVR’d  - we had to actually watch commercials!  How inconvenient!

Let me check my phone – because it wasn’t working.

Let’s touch base – this had two meanings.  One involved playing baseball or softball, the other involved the back seat of a car.

Some things that are on television now that were not on when I was growing up:
  •  Kids’ shows where the kids are the smart ones and parents are portrayed as stupid.  Check out any Disney channel show, the kids are always showing up the parents.  And parents wonder why their kids don’t respect or obey them.
  • Viagra commercials.  I didn’t even know this was an issue until I was grown up and found out there was a drug for it.  In fact, I’m still too embarrassed to type it.  My children know what these drugs do.
  • The president’s sex life – thanks to President Clinton, I now know what is sex and what is not really sex.  I’m still somewhat shocked that JFK slept with other women besides Jackie.
  • KY Jelly commercials.  We had to learn about this from a friend’s older sister. Usually a college age older sister.  This is so embarrassing when watching television with your college age son.  I had a hard enough time with tampax commercials when I was a teenager.
  • Shows where the dialog is very direct involving having sex, wanting to have sex, or thinking about having sex.  It seems that no one has any imagination anymore.  We knew what Richie Cunningham wanted when he sang “I found my thrill…..”  He didn’t have to say it crudely. And if we wanted to think he just meant getting to first base, that was okay too. 

Monday, June 4, 2012

Guest Post: Mom

Thank you to Mom FITting it All In for guest blogging for me today! I am still loving soaking up precious moments with my little baby boy and was so pleased that she wanted to offer a post to the blog. Enjoy!

 
 
I have the great honor of being a “guest blogger” for Mrs. S. I am so excited and eager to do this for her while she gets to bond with the most precious baby. With that in mind I started thinking “oh she is a mommy” – I can remember that overwhelming love I felt with our son the first time seeing him through the glass – I knew that moment that our world would never be the same I was his MOM he needed me he loved me and oh boy I was so ready for this.
Being a mom what does that mean? To me the list is endless but ONE of my favorite things about being a mom is seeing life through the eyes of our children. It is like waking up to a new day – a new BRIGHT day – having a purpose larger them myself. Every time we take the kids somewhere, eat something, buy something it is just so new to see it from their point of view.
A few weeks ago we went on a weekend mini-vacation to the Safari Park. Now I have been to other zoos and parks more times then I count however this time topped even the first time I went as a child. Our kids were running up and down the path looking at every animal, every cage. They wanted us to read all of the name plates and signs for them. They were just grinning from ear to ear and wanted to absorb in every detail. They even got the biggest kick out of the 25 cent duck food that we bought. And you know what??? Every step of the way seemed like my first time too! That is what kids do for you – they have you enjoying all of the LITTLE and BIG things!
Now having children is not all flowers and ups there are down times, whining times and fit throwing times as well – but I have to say that I don’t like these moments as much as the FLOWERS, HUGS and SMILES but they are part of me being a MOM to two small children. As they grow everything becomes more: their love for you, for each other, their vocabulary, their adventurous side is MORE but that means the emotions are MORE, their opinions are more (why does my daughter refuse to wear certain clothing…) their imitation skills of YOU are more. This has put so much in perspective for me. Being a mother is taking everything good and bad and growing with it and learning from it to ensure that our babies grow up wonderful and that I am learning on this journey too ( what being a parent doesn’t automatically put me in the I know everything phase???).  I stated “imitation skills”. This SCARED me and is forcing me to be more patient and understanding of our babies. I have heard my daughter on more than one occasion “talking” “disciplining” her doll. IT scared the crap out of me – do I sound like that? Do I say that to her? Do I? OH NO. So that put me in check right away because if I am seeing her like that she is seeing me like that. It has turned (okay a slow process) me in the way I talk to my children, love my children and discipline my children. I get down on a knee or chair to talk to them (it doesn’t always start out this way but I am trying to catch myself earlier to change to this) – it puts me on their level and makes them focus on me and what I am saying. FOCUS is the biggest problem we have so I need to ensure that I have their FULL attention – this decreases my yelling, repeating and getting upset that they are not listening! But there are great “imitations” too! Like our son who wants to be little adventurous off road biking dude just like his dad, our daughter who is a neat freak like her mommy – she is always helping me clean up, our children desire to read, read, read because mom and dad do it as often as we can, sitting down at dinner time and they both ask us “How was your day mom/dad?” “How was work today?” now that makes my heart melt.
Seeing LIFE through their eyes is something you can’t put into words other then UNCONDITIONAL LOVE.  There is no love like the love of a child.
So to me being a mom is living life to the fullest with your children and the unconditional love you receive in return is priceless.
Sincerely,
Sharee' M. Andrade, PHR 
"Love all, trust a few, do wrong to none."  - William Shakespeare


Friday, June 1, 2012

Guest Post: Vacation Recommendation

While I'm getting used to life as a new mommy and enjoying every second with my little "bean" Parker, I am so excited to have a guest blogger today! Stephanie is so cute, please check out her blog! Have a great day and THANK YOU Stephanie for posting today!! 

Hello folks! My name is Stephanie, I blog over at Creating Mrs. Cox. This is my first ever guest blog post and I'm so excited! 
I want to share one of my favorite vacation spots with all you Suddenly Snowden readers.
My husband and I visited Gulf Tides Inn in 2009 and I fell in love with the place. So much so that we are going back again in July for our babymoon. Gulf Tides is located in St. Petersburg, Florida. Living in Ohio, with all the glorious bipolar weather we have, the beach and sunny weather is a welcomed destination. 

The inn is located within walking distance of the beach along with many business and restaurants. It's owned and operated by the sweetest husband/wife couple and they are the most friendly, helpful hostesses. 

And the bonus?? It's super affordable! Many families, mine included, are much more budget conscious these days and the Gulf Tides Inn gives you a big bang for your buck!  For a week, in season, you pay $525 for an apartment that includes a full functioning kitchen, spacious bathroom, a living room and a bedroom with a queen bed. There is also a pool at the inn so it's perfect for little ones that aren't comfortable with the ocean just yet. 

Okay, enough of the sales bit. Here are some pictures of our trip:







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