Are you there God? It's me, Ky and Digby's Mom.

I always lay down beside my two-year-old son, Kylan, for about twenty minutes until he drifts off to sleep, although there are nights where he falls off to sleep by himself. I enjoy our quiet time together, and especially the conversations we have just before he nods off.


The other night, I slithered toward the door because I thought he had fallen asleep, and was startled by his little voice.


"Mommy, can we say prayers?"


I told him that we could, of course, as I'd forgotten to say them that night! We usually ask God to watch over our family, and I go through the list of family, and then of close friends. I always ask Kylan if he can think of anyone else he wants to say a prayer for. Then, I always end the prayer with, "Always be kind and love one another."


At the end of our prayers that night, Ky asked, "Mom, who's God?"



Holy Heck! What a question from a two year old. I tried to keep my explanation short and to the point, but I wasn't really sure of the answer myself, so my answer was probably more confusing to Kylan than anything else.



"Well, God is this, uh, being who watches over all of us on earth. Earth is the planet we live on. See, there are these things called planets- we'll talk about that later. So God loves us more than you can ever imagine and wants us to be loving, too, just like him... or her."


Ky responded with, "He's a man."


I said, "He could be."


He came back with, "He lives in heaven."


Surprised, I replied, "Yes, he does."


I don't remember telling Ky about heaven, although maybe I've read a story about heaven or mentioned it before. It just goes to show how absorbent our children are, and although I'm open to Kylan choosing his own faith, I think it's important to introduce our little ones to some kind of faith. I know that having my faith and some spirituality has helped me find direction, and it always shines it's search light bright when I start to lose course. I want to teach my children to know to look for that light when they need it, for any reason at all- that God is always there to talk to, and if you listen carefully, he'll answer you.

Misguided Credit Score

I am a misguided mama because I have made mistakes-a-plenty. The mistake of the day is my poorly managed credit of my early twenties. Oh, how I thought credit cards were such blessings! In reality, these evil slabs of plastic can ruin your chances for buying your own house, or even simply renting in a nice complex. They can act like your best friend when you don't have the cash to buy another drink at Roland's, but become your worst enemy when you realize you just bought a round of red-headed sluts for the whole bar. You will be paying off these shots in small eight dollar increments for the next 50 years- keep that in mind. Hidden amongst the fine print when applying for these faux-friends are the hefty late fees, the over-limit fees, and the dreaded yearly maintenance fee... because we all know what a pain in the ass it is for our credit card company to maintain our accounts. In fact, I'd like to see a breakdown of the hundred bucks I spend yearly to maintain my account. Does my account at least get a hot stone massage and lavish spa treatment?



When I married my husband, we both had screwed up credit, and it was this screwed up credit that helped us realize how valuable good credit is. We longed for a good credit score. Hell, at least one of us! So we worked on my husbands credit first.



For my husband's Christmas present that year, I paid off one of his accounts that had been in collections. My Christmas card to him went a little something like this:



Dearest Husband,



Should you ever see you ex-girl friend again, please tell her she needs to thank me for the diamond earrings I purchased her back in 2000. I talked the collection agency down to $500 to mark the account paid-in-full. You are now one paid debt closer to a semi-decent credit score.



Thankfully, we both have been able to rehabilitate our credit ratings. The book that helped me and hubby get through all of this chaos is called Managing Debt for Dummies, by John Ventura and Mary Reed. I am a professed Dummy Book and Guide for Idiots reader. I'm not quite sure what that says about me, but if there's a Handbook for the Helpless out there, I'll add my name to the presale list at the local Barnes and Noble, too.

Not Afraid to Admit It- I Have Children!

There is an unspoken phenomenon where a great deal of moms are hiding their true identities. They pretend like they don't have children. I don't understand these women. I get that these moms have their own lives, their own ambitions, and their own dreams, however, what I don't get is why they don't factor their children into their aspirations, or even act like they exist!

I was speaking to a fellow blogger about her blog. I told her my favorite part of her blog is where she wrote about her children. She responded with, "I don't like to write about my kids much, because then it becomes just one of those pathetic mom blogs.

Hi, my name is Misguided Mama, and I am a pathetic mom.

My kids have taught me more about myself that I have been able to learn about myself in the past 30 years. They are a reflection of who I am, and you can believe me, they most definitely are included in my life long goals. After all, having them here on this planet is an accomplishment in itself.

This blog doesn't exist to help boost my ego to see how many responses I can get, or to go on endlessly about what and who annoys me. I honestly just want to encourage myself (since no one actually reads this much) and others to be the best moms we can be, regardless of the many mistakes we've made in the past.

I'm not going to pretend to be perfect... but I must say that my kids make me feel like I am sometimes. So yes, I will write about my children in this blog. Whether or not you think that's pathetic might sum up your own definition of motherhood. And lastly, let's hope my fellow blogger's children never find out how she truly feels about suppressing her motherly pride. Apparently writing about her top ten favorite make-up products and whether or not to pay a personal trainer for private sessions are more self-defining.