[Written by Debi's husband, Travis Townsend.]
One of my very least favorite things to do is assemble an artificial Christmas tree. The tightly wound steel wire ends shoot out like unassuming razor barbs waiting for me to run the palms of my bare hands down to release the “branches” into full, pine bloom. With each branch, more and more fake needles fall to the floor like winter’s first forest-green snowfall adding the extra duty of pulling out the vacuum when I’m done. Someday, all that will be left of the tree will be a pitiful, Charlie Brown, wire skeleton in the shape of a 7-foot-tall triangle.
Once it resembles an actual tree, I have to jam fists full of lights into it every two feet spiraling upward to the top. In the end, my hands and arms look as if I’ve helped Chino State Prison replace 100 miles of barbed wire fencing with no gloves on. [Read more]
I love, love, LOVE watching the food network! The chefs are always so friendly and make me believe I can do anything! I love Paula, the Neelys, Giada, and Ina! These chefs toss around words like; “you simply”, “you just” “so easy..y’all!” and I just know by their confident style and neighborly encouragement, I too can whip up Pecan Chicken with grapes or a perfectly puffed up Pear Fritter! I can stuff a butternut squash while uncorking the perfect bottle of Cabernet so my husband and I can enjoy an autumn meal. Well, let’s step in to reality, shall we? Usually, I am watching the food network on my DVR because I simply don’t have all the time these chefs do to prepare a “quick and easy” meal! In fact, I have done my share of cooking demos on my own talk show and it took 2 guys chopping, peeling and measuring for a few hours the day before we shot the segment! Then of course, they would put the measured out ingredients into matching little bowls. [Read more]
Debi Gutierrez wishing you a Happy Thanksgiving!
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An honorable father in pop culture seems as hard to find as a mythical creature. Now, I know an honorable father is not the Lockness Monster or Big Foot and he’s not mythical. I do have to search to find one, but it is well worth the effort! Right now, pop culture, specifically Hollywood, is shining the spot light on fathers who are nothing more than a mockery of the role of father. A father is a man who supports, guides and protects his family, not pimp them out or do nothing while his family spirals out of control. [Read more]
I read this morning that the Duggars, from 18 And Counting and then 19 And Counting, are considering having yet another child; their 2oth! The Duggars are a Christian couple who lead a Christian life and take every baby they feel God blesses them with. Who am I to question God’s plan for someone’s life, but I do have an opinion about their choice.
I do believe children are a gift from God. I also believe God blesses moms with the ability to love all her children. But if God meant for us to have 20 children, He would also have given mothers an extra pair of eyes, preferably some that could rotate completely around our head, and some extra arms! Our knees would bend with ease in the either direction. We would have super sonic hearing and a voice that would never grow weary of explaining things over and over and over again! Mother’s would look like some freaky monster from a sci-fi movie! [Read more]
So, it’s that time of year again! Sun, fun, swimming and barbecuing take up our long summer days! And then I look at the calender….NO! NO! SAY IT ISN’T SO! But the calender, like that bathroom scale, doesn’t lie! It is time to get ready for Back To School! The time of year that sends mothers shrieking and children crying and tween girls…well, they are in a league all by themselves!
This year would be different in our household. My youngest, Pilar will be going into 7th grade and for the first time ever…no uniforms! It has always been so easy to try one style of shirt and pants on her and then buy 5 uniforms in her sizes. We finish off with white socks, regulated shoes and the school hoodie! Done! Of course, like every mother of a private school kid, I went away licking my wounds at the cost of the uniforms, which incidentally, could only be at purchased at one store which never seemed to have items on sale! [Read more]
My daughter, Anna Maria, is a lover of the earth and has encouraged me to take better care of my corner of the planet. A few years ago she was talking about hanging a clothes line and drying her clothes outside. I decided to surprise her and order one from the internet and send it to her. While I was pricing the different styles, I saw one that was perfect! The best way to describe it’s structure to someone is to tell them to picture an umbrella turned inside out from a severe wind storm. It was big enough to hold a few loads and best of all, it was portable.
Now, I grew up with a gas dryer. I remember a neighbor having a clothes line and when it rained, my mom let her use our dryer. The closest I ever came to line drying clothes was in a hotel room. (And does a pair of panty hose and underwear count?) [Read more]
I was room mom for my daughter’s class for 3 years and had a wonderful time celebrating all the usual holidays and took advantage of some overlooked holidays. When my daughter went on to 6th grade, I was ready to put on my room mom apron and kick off the school year. I was shocked and yes, I must admit, little hurt, when she asked that I take a back seat this year. I think she wanted to spread her wings at her new school and having a mom everyone knew would certainly cramp her style!
I learned so much about budgeting, party planning and crafting while I was a room mom and wanted to share some of those tips! Here are ten tips for room moms and will also come in handy for any party planner on a budget.
I used my position as room mom to teach the children bout the world outside of theirs. We not only had parties, we learned about other cultures, life styles and even did charity work. [Read more]
The reveille bugle call trumpets out awaking military personnel all over the world! Brave and well prepared men and women jump to their feet and answer the call! Well, my husband, a former Marine and proud vet, is using this tactic in our home for our 12 year old daughter. Her call is to homework and assignments that she has dawdled over or flat out ignored! As many of you parents know, homework can be an ongoing battle and frustrating to no end! As a mom of two adult children in college and graduate school and as a writer, “homework” is ever present so we have to make peace with it!
Our daughter, Pilar, can sit at the kitchen table from 3:30 in the afternoon to bedtime doing just a few assignments that her teachers have assured us should only take 1 1/2 hours! The entire time she does homework, she is looking out the window, laughing at the dogs, getting a drink of water, going to the bathroom, looking for a definition on the computer or just SITTING there STARING!
Or, how about this….you and your kid struggle, fight, argue and finally the assignment is complete and then your kid DOESN’T turn it in! I try to picture the class room…easy for me to do since I was a teacher for 10 years. The teacher is at the front of the class and asks the kids to pass in their homework. Each kid passes their paper to the one in front of him and the teacher collects them all….right? And yet…and yet…for some unknown reason, my kid will sit there and not hand in a a COMPLETED homework assignment! WHAT??? SERIOUSLY? HOW DOES THAT HAPPEN?
After all the begging, pleading, crying, and yelling, my husband had it! Pilar had been sitting with a math homework lesson for 2 hours and during that 2 hours finished 3 questions…FROM THE WRONG LESSON!!! Oh, and not just a lesson one chapter over… but 23 lessons back???
“GO to bed!” he thundered! We all sat shocked!
“What?” Pilar answered. “It’s still daytime and we didn’t eat dinner.”
“I don’t care!“, a daddy so frustrated and mad we didn’t even recognize him answered. “Stop what you are doing right now, get on your pajamas, brush your teeth and go to bed!”
I watched, stunned as she went upstairs and went to bed. She fell fast asleep and he woke her up for dinner and before he put her back to bed, he calmly told her, “Tomorrow morning I will wake you up at 5:00 a.m. and sit with you while you do your homework.” Now, this family hasn’t been up at 5 AM since and earthquake, and even then, we questioned if we should get up. My husband set his alarm and went to bed. When that alarm went off, he was out of bed and woke up a very surprised 12 year old! There was no yelling, pleading, or crying. Pilar went to the table and her assignment was done within an hour!
Later that night, she actually thanked her dad for taking the time to help her. I wish I could say that one time was all it took, but as you know, our kids can be very stubborn and may have to have a lesson taught more than once. My husband had to set the alarm again this morning for an unfinished book report on a book she didn’t finish reading!
My husband is more than willing to go the rest of this school year, setting the 5 or even 4:30 AM revellie bugle call to get Pilar out of bed and to tackle homework she dilly-dallied over the day before! Now that’s a dad that means business!
As a mother of three children, I am so disheartened about the trend in Hollywood and in reality shows featuring moms raising children with cameras capturing every move. Specifically, I am referring to Kris Jenner, Kate Gosslin, Deana Lohan, and all of the Real Housewives of Orange County.
Kris Jenner, a self proclaimed “momager” and matriarch of the Kardashian children exploits her more than willing daughters to display themselves as tawdry sex objects, including going behind her husband’s back to book her daughters for a nude Playboy Magazine shoot. I am not a prude, all I am saying is; is this the job of a mom? Do you not realize what most men use these photos for Kris? You are a big grown up girl, so I am assuming you do know, it just doesn’t matter to you. I think the one photo that bothered me so much was the one of a very pregnant daughter in g-string and thigh highs posing in a sexual position…again, I say, I can see how some smarmy agent would arrange that photo shoot…not a mother and future grandmother.
