Confusion Ahead

The temperatures around here have not gone above 82 degrees this week and that means only one thing: SUMMER IS OVER!!!!!!! Ah, what a glorious feeling....oh, what a glorious day! I have made it through another summer season and am reaping my reward of cool, crisp, clear fall weather:)

We are forging ahead with our work for the Halloween party for the kids. We are making two pinatas....a pumpkin and a spider...which are medium sized. I have 50 pounds of candy to fill them with. Will that be enough? I'm a pinata virgin so I really don't know. I am also making a haunted gingerbread house....my first gingerbread house ever. (I'm okay at the arts things....just the crafts things I have never really tried my hand at so.....anyway....moving on.)

Parents: a question for you. Do you ever feel like a split personality, kind of like a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde thing sometimes? I mean, you are one thing for your kids....you love them and nurture them and try your absolute best to lead by example....but sometimes you are another thing completely around grown-ups or co-workers (which are not always the same thing ya know;)). Let me explain my situation here...

At home, I love playing with my kids, doing stuff with them, having quality time, snuggle time..I just absolutely LOVE being a parent. I try to teach them to be nice, and to resolve disputes peacefully as much as I can.

At work, I am sometimes referred to as a 'pit bull'. The reason for this: you all know that I work 3rd shift at my local IHOP...well, sometimes we have a customer(s) who are drunk, rude, belligerent or all of the above. When one of my co-workers has a customer or customers who are giving them a hard time, they ask me to please go and deal with them. This may be because I am loud, or because I am not intimidated by most people or it may be simply that I will not, ever, let a customer reduce me to tears. Don't get me wrong, most of our customers are very nice people. But occasionally (2 or 3 times a week), we have some people in there who have to be educated about proper restaurant etiquette and my 'teaching methods' have been known to be quite effective.

My problem is my kids don't know me as this person .....they know me as 'mom'. (some of my customers call me 'mom' too but that is a whole other story for another day:)) And I often feel like two people sometimes with one shared, very confused brain.

Sometimes I want my kids to know me as a real person one day. Sometimes I don't want to disappoint them with the reality of me so I just want them to know me as "mom" for as long as possible. Is this confusing you? Not half as much as it is me.

I read a drunk woman the riot act the other night because she referred to one of my co-workers as a b**** because we were out of carry out boxes (don't shoot the messenger right?) and then I went home and made my kids bacon and eggs for breakfast like any other mom.

The older I get the dumber I feel sometimes.

I think I'll go bake something now;)

Peace alllll........