And the Winner of the Bad Mom Award goes to.....

Me.  That is all there is to it.
For those of you just joining us (welcome first of all), I'm Lise.  I took over the care of my MIL who has Alzheimers and various other things that go along with it.  I have appreciated all the support here and the praise I received at home for the great job I was doing with Ida and what a amazing caregiver I was.....hmmm.  So why the award?  Well, lets get to the outfit first.  Joy and I haven't seen each other for a few days and so I had one of my kids take pictures.  It turns out that my 9 year old daughter was having an off day with the camera.  We are doing our best here ladies, ok??


Oh, look at that misery disguised as a smile. lol



What? you think I forgot to take down some Christmas decorations?
What are you talking about?  Thats crazy.

 So, I paired black and blue which, when done right, can live in beautiful harmony.  I also used a great necklace from Charming Charlies to pull it together.  The necklace/earring combo was turquoise and black which also gave the traditional boucle jacket a bit of snazz. 
Dress: BR (thrifted)
Jacket: ? PS Too (thrift store)
Jewelry: Charming Charlies ($10 on clearance and then 75% off of that!!!) Booya!

So, I am not looking particularly perky in the photos.  Why?  For a couple months I have researched and worked so hard to give my MIL a fabulous life here.  I tried so many things and most of them worked and she blossomed here.  And gave us laughter and tears.  I love IDA!!  But today I want to tell you why I get the bad mom award.  I also have 4 kids.  My 10 yr old is Josh.  He is the most gentle, loving, tender boy in the world.  He is always happy!  So I was perplexed to see him sitting all bunched up with his head in his hands.

I also see that my little man is shaking.  I pull his face to mine and he is crying.  And then I look to the ground near him.  The Pinewood Derby car.  Josh has been looking forward to this day at scouts for...well a year.
I forgot all about it.  And the conversation went like this....
Bad Mom (me):  Joooosh, baby! We have go to get to work on this!
Josh: It's too late
Me:  No lets get to work and get it done
Josh: No, its too late.
Me: When is the Pinewood Derby?
Josh: It was tonight.  We missed it.
*silence*
Me: Oh no.  Why didn't you remind me?
Josh: I tried, but you were always taking care of Grandma. And she always gets worse when we get home and cries a lot and what was I supposed to do? Tell you to leave Grandma alone?  And I didn't want to stress you out and it is really hard to have her here and you are always trying to take care of her and I can tell you are really stressed out and I didn't want to make it any harder on you and I was trying not to care about my car....But I do! And I miss you being my mom!!!!

Yes, I am crying again while writing this.  And I have neglected this blog a bit the last couple days.  But we are working on a new care plan for Ida.  I can't make up the Pinewood Derby for Josh, but I held him and we cried and I realized how blessed I am for the privilege of being a Mother and having a son like Josh.

So son, this is my public apology and I think you will like the new plan in place for Ida.  I'm thinking we will go out for pizza today.  And work on your car.  Maybe I will make one for myself and we can race each other.  Mothers, aunts, grandmas and friends of people with kids.....lets take time out for the little ones that so many times in the rush of our lives, get put aside.

Josh getting buried in the sand!