You get one luxury item. What's it gonna be?

I'm packing for a weekend trip to the lake, and I'm desperately trying to decide what I should bring as my luxury item. Afterall, me at the lake for the weekend may as well be me on some deserted island playing for immunity from tribal council. I'm just not a nature girl...well, if nature consists of a beach by the ocean with a lounge chair and a cabana boy, then I AM a nature girl, but if it doesn't, then no-nature and I are not that close.

I considered bringing a ginormous Texas flag-Colby style-for shelter, and because we will be in Oklahoma...but honestly, I'm not that loyal to Texas (and we are staying in a hotel).

Maybe I'll bring floss-yes floss! Afterall, you only have to floss the teeth you wanna keep, and if we get desperate we can use it to tie something up-surely you need to tie things up in nature...

hmm-maybe my Iphone-ya know so I can call for help if the bears come to attack-are there bears in Oklahoma? Gotta google that before I leave...

oh wait-bug spray! Yes, I'm sure there are bugs at lakes-great! Wonder what kind of bugs are at this particular lake? Wonder if Family Off will handle them all or if I need to bring Raid...note to self-google this also...

Bottle opener is a good option-lord knows I can go without eating, but a girl's gotta stay hydrated. It's acceptable to drink wine out of a solo cup if you are doing at the lake right? I wonder where I can find acceptable lake behavior...no doubt I will be googling all afternoon...

Maybe I'll just bring my own personal fireman! Yes, that's it-that should cover all my bases-well except maybe the floss...

I will no doubt be out of my comfort zone this weekend, but so what? I am up for an adventure and some of my favorite people in the whole world will be there. It will be a fantastic weekend and I know we will have a fabulous time!

Besides, I survived an all girls trip to Cancun, which I assure you was scarier than anyting Jeff Probst could come up with on Survivor-camping should be cake...

mommy guilt

Today I drove through the McDonalds drive thru and bought my kids happy meals. This is not something that I do. Seriously, unless we are on a trip, I try not to let my kids eat fast food. Even on crazy soccer/baseball nights I try to plan dinner early, or at the very least, pack thier dinner for us to take. As I sat in the line waiting to get their bags o grease I felt SO guilty!!! What in the world possesed me to do this? Was it easy? maybe... Was it good for them? NO! What was I thinking???

What is it in mom DNA that makes us feel guilty? Why can't I just chalk it up to a special treat for the girls and get over it???

I have this crazy idea in my head of what the perfect wife and mother is. The house must be clean, the kids must be clean and well mannered, the wife must cook a nutritious and delicious meal every night, the food must be organic, non processed, all the while with a smile on my face because I have the most amazing husband who works so unbelievably hard to give us this life, the life I want for my family...

This is next to impossible to do btw...

But I try-I try hard. Sometimes to a fault. Sometimes I work so hard on the house, I neglect my kids. Sometimes I'm so wrapped up in Emi's homework, dinner ends up being chicken nuggets and tator tots. Sometimes the folded laundry doesn't get put away. Sometimes I'm just so stinking tired at the end of the day that all I want to do is go sit somewhere and let someone else feed my kids and husband. So much for the perfect mother.

So for tonight, I will try to get over the guilt. Tonight I will relish the fact that I was able to take my kids to McDonalds and let them have a happy meal for no other reason that I decided they could. I won't feel guilty that I didn't cook for them, that it wasn't organic, that I didn't see what actually went into making it, and I will be happy knowing that tomorrow they will eat healthier.