Happy New Year’s Eve! Maybe if you’re trying to stay up late tonight, this will help. Orrrrr, it might put you to sleep. In which case, lo siento mucho.
Hubby: Oooh, you doing another photo dump post?
Me: I thought I’d sneak one in before the year was out. Why? You like these?
Hubby: I enjoy the randomness.
He knows my middle name.
Anywho, without further ado, random things that made me think of you. (Move over, Dr. Seuss.)
I had another* article published at Four Columns for a Balanced Life.
Read this in a loud, echoey voice — BEHOLD:
Here’s one tip from the article:
Because parenting is hard, cruddy stuff is going to happen. It just comes with the territory. Taking a deep breath and moving on after an unfortunate incident will help you maintain a happier demeanor, inside and out, especially when it comes to things you have no control over. Some days your children are just going to be fussy like they’re taking turns or have it scheduled on a secret calendar. Keeping a sense of humor helps. Once I asked a friend how her kids were. She responded: “For sale.”
Little secret, though: I only combed through the first couple of chapters for these ten. I could get 10 or more “top” 10 articles out of this book. As one reviewer put it:
She was tipsy when she wrote this book. (It contains more tips than the apron of the prettiest bar maid at Oktoberfest.) It’s clear that she’s a happy, fun person (Betsy, not the bar maid), who followed the advice from her previous books…
She shares her struggles and successes with a healthy dose of humility and humor. Well, maybe it’s more a gluttonous dose of humor.
(Here’s that review.)
I also got this text from my sister: “I CAN’T GET MY WORK DONE BECAUSE I CAN’T PUT YOUR BOOK DOWN.” She wrote that during her “I can’t figure out how to get rid of all caps on my phone” phase (though she would’ve written that in all caps).
Another person said, “I might have raised better kids if I had had your book a long time ago!”
And my favorite:
Three people have told me their Amazon review of my book, Be a Happier Parent or Laugh Trying was rejected by the inscrutable Amazon police. Since they went to the trouble, I hate for their thoughtful words to be lost in the ethos of the internet. The hilarious, thought-provoking Tref of Trefology, and non-blogger, Theresa, were kind enough to share their efforts with me.
Here’s what Tref wrote:
I am a long time reader of Betsy’s blog, Parenting Is Funny. I am not a parent, or a pediatrician, a Franciscan, or a retired early-childhood mental health counselor. I do have a turtle. And it’s a very naughty turtle, but, really, I am just a guy who likes funny things. And Betsy Kerekes is very, very funny. She is also very wise. In classical philosophy she would be called a sage. But fortunately for us, classical philosophy does not enter into it. Nobody ever put down a copy of Schopenhauer’s Parerga and Paralipomena and said, “That is hilarious!” But with this book, you will do just that.
Golly, thanks, Tref!
And Theresa said:
Mrs. Kerekes writes a book about parenting that is very helpful with good advice and very entertaining, making me laugh— which is something highly needed at this time in my life as I have 2 teenagers and one young adult in college. My previous life was as a registered nurse in a neonatal and pediatric ICU with many challenging children to take care of, but I must say, parenting trumps that job and is the most difficult thing I’ve ever had to do. Taking the attitude and humor that Mrs. Kerekes recommends is what gets me through this parenting job….. All I can say is thank you, Betsy, for making me a happier parent!!
Garsh, Theresa. That was swell of you.
And now for the non-related pictures, because I did promise pictures. Read the rest of this entry
Recent conversation with a friend:
To prove their love and devotion, my kids will often let me sleep with stuffed animals carefully chosen from among their vast stores.
It’s a little like paying tribute but without the volcano. One daughter will even hold out the proffered gift, head bowed, and back away, still bent at the waist, arms out. She’s a silly one. I don’t know where she gets it.
Lately the girls have been on a rabbit kick, so the space between Husband’s and my pillows has become filled with Thumper, Hopper, Flopper, and friends.
Five stuffed rabbits, one bear, and one Alf in an apron and chef’s hat.
Husband said, “Why do there seem to be more animals here instead of less?” Read the rest of this entry
One day my son is two. The next day he eats cold pizza for breakfast, so apparently he’s now in college. [My husband was on breakfast duty that day.]
My husband was googling what to do when your paint cans won’t close securely, so I asked him, “How did we find things out before Google?” He said, “We talked to people. This is much better.” Read the rest of this entry
Author Mike Allegra, featured last week here, is kindly hosting me on his blog this week. Check it out!
Hi, Betsy! Come on in. Pull up a chair. How do you like your waffles?
Thanks, Mike! I’m so honored to be here. As to my waffles, normally I just have syrup, but since this is a special occasion, I say go all out: gimme some whipped cream, blueberries and strawberries. I feel like living large today.
Then live large you shall. How did you get started in the advice book business? Was there an epiphany, an aha moment when you thought, “Hey, this stuff I’m doing might help others?”
There kind of was. I remember lying in bed one night running through a potential scenario with my kids, advising them how to handle whatever situation had befallen them, as I tended to do whilst trying to fall asleep, and I thought, these situations may never happen, but I should still write this stuff down.
And then I never did. Read the rest of this entry
In the book launch furor for my beloved blog buddies, (Oooh, BBB!) it occurred to me that I might as well mention that my third book hit shelves last week. BEHOLD:
Amazon and Barnes and Noble will get the book in about a month, but the publisher has it now.
Here are a few excerpts:
It helps knowing that I’m not the only parent who messes up. I saw a picture of a t-shirt tag that bore the instructions: “Remove child before washing.” I mean, if that has to be stated for some parents, I can’t be doing too badly.Some days your children are just going to be fussy, like they’re taking turns or have it scheduled on a secret calendar. Keeping a sense of humor helps. Once I asked a friend how her kids were. She responded: “For sale.”Though I’m no athlete, it doesn’t stop my friends who wake up at 5:30 to run, from trying to convince me to join them. There must be something to it, though, as they seem very happy. Also insane, but crazy people do tend to laugh a lot, so it’s hard to tell the difference. My workout comes from lifting the baby on my legs while I lie on the floor. He cracks up and that makes me crack up too — until he drools into my mouth.Any brand of silliness is bound to earn you points with your kids. My mom would often say, “You in the pink dress.” No one was wearing a dress. Or pink.
When the kids eat m&m’s, I make them give me all the ones with my initial on them.
My blog presence lately has been scattershot at best. Deadline this, deadline that. Too little time to keep up, sadly. 
But on the plus side to all this work… Read the rest of this entry
Motherhood and Martial Arts 