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7 sure signs it’s time to fire super-mom

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My alarm didn’t go off on Saturday morning at 6am as I had programmed it to.

Darn it.

After a full week of working until 1-2am each night and, of course, staying up until 11pm on Friday dreaming of all the personal assistants I could hire if my Mega Millions ticket was a winner, I was simply in no state to wake up on my own accord.

I scrambled out of bed, attempted to wipe the bleary from my eyes, threw my hair up in a ponytail, pulled on a fleece and sprinted down to the kitchen.

Why such a tizzy on a Saturday morning?

You see, by 10am all kindergarten moms had to deliver a cake to room 109 or risk excommunication from the PTO. The cakes were slated to be prizes in a cake walk game at the school fair, an event that raises a big portion of the funds that make our school such an awesome place.

My ~~hectic~~ insane week meant I had no cake already made. Although I did have a few Pinteresting fantasies of what I could have made.

Like this gorgeous rainbow cake from Sweetapolita, for example.

I looked at the clock. 7:20.

In the words of Eminem: Oh! Snap back to reality. Oh! There goes gravity! Oh! There goes Rabbit but he won’t give up that easily.

I knew how to make cupcakes. And although the instructions specifically called for a cake, I figured I could put 6 together on a plate in lieu of a cake. If I made 24, I’d be able to contribute 4 cakes. Super Mom bonus points!

Being a kindergarten mom, I hadn’t a clue where room 109 was, but I figured if I pulled into the parking lot by 9:53, I could find it in the nick of time.

Now, cupcakes generally take 45 minutes to an hour to bake and 15-20 minutes to cool enough to put icing on…so you can see why I wasn’t happy about the alarm failure.

Nonetheless, I put on my Super Mom cape and went to work, barking at any poor soul who got in my way.

In the two minute break I had after the icing was made but the cupcakes were still baking, I panicked. The instructions said cake. What was I thinking, going off the brief and making cupcakes?!

I looked up “delicious chocolate cake” on Pinterest and found this gorgeous confection from My Baking Addiction staring back at me.

I went for it.

Cut to 10:10am. Chocolate cake was complete, but left abandoned on my counter top. After I read the small print on the school flyer, I realized that it was unsuitable as the chocolate powder I had used to make it was made in a factory that also handled nuts.

NUTS! Back to Plan A.

I skidded into room 109 like Kramer from Seinfeld, hair askance, fleece spotted with flour, icing, and a few sprinkles. I breathlessly hand over my cupcake “cakes” to a volunteer who looked at me sympathetically (or was that derisively?) and put my clearly handmade goodies on some risers amidst a sea of gorgeous, store-bought cakes.

Now why didn’t I think of that?

On my race back home to shower and dress so that I would be ready for my volunteer shift at 11:00, I pondered the lessons from my rushed, stressed-to-the-max morning.

I came up with these seven signs it’s time to fire your inner Super Mom.

You’re Muttering to Yourself Under Your Breath

When you start repeating what you have to do next under your breath like Rainman, it’s time to hang up the cape. Definitely. Definitely. Time to hang up the cape. Yeah. Time to hang up the cape.

You Feel Put Out

My husband has a little noise he makes, sort of an annoyed-sounding, breathy “eh-eh” that pretty much sums this one up. If you make that sound. Hang it up, sister.

You Make/Bake Something from Scratch When Scratch Doesn’t Matter

Yeah. No kid in the world cared if the cake they won was homemade or not. In fact, they probably preferred the professionally made ones. My morning would have looked a whole lot different had I just raised the white flag and run to Stop & Shop to pick up a ready-made confection.

You’re Barking At Your Family When They’re Just Being Normal

Enough said.

You Don’t Have Time to Shower Before Heading Out the Door

Yep. It sort of ruins the whole Super Mom image, now doesn’t it?

You Start Comparing What You Do to What Your Spouse Does

This, along with barking at your family for being normal, is the real death trap of Super-Mom-itis. Just because you agreed to bite off more than you could chew does not make your spouse a slacker.

You Feel the Need to Go 80 MPH in a 40MPH Zone

Think of the children, okay Super Mom?

Any other “Super Moms” out there? Can you relate? What warning signs did I miss?

Posted by Sarah on Apr 02, 2012 print article e-mail to a friend

Chelsea Croteau

Oh my HEAVENS! I so get this!

I have a VERY clear idea of the kind of mom I want to be (or more accurately, how I want to be seen) and I tend to get going and knock anyone down who stands in the way. A little counter productive, non?

I will post this at eye level, on my refrigerator!
http://GlobalTableAdventure.com/ Sasha (Global Table Adventure)

I can relate to this all too well… sigh. I secretly love that you made two different recipes only to go back to the first. Talk about over-achiever (and I’m pretty sure I’ve lived the exact same thing with fruit salad – only to find the other moms had clearly hired a professional watermelon carvers to make their mammoth amazing creations. lol)
Blainepw

makes me so glad i didn’t get married. Hehehe
http://twitter.com/CandGsMom Danielle Jefferson

I get this feeling all the time! But good for you for baking…I’m the store bought kind of mom. In fact, when they have parties at my son’s school I always sign up to bring chips and salsa. No cooking of any kind involved! =)
SarahButtonedUp

@google-08298a3964803d8e92a17b5a9cb5d745:disqus Un petit peu counter productive, I’m afraid (she says speaking from full experience).
SarahButtonedUp

@272f335f4caf3e08750661412ba857a5:disqus – We ate the chocolate instead of the Turkish Delight from your Albanian meal post. It was pretty darn divine, but not exactly the right accompaniment to the heavy lamb dish. Here’s to remembering to keep things low-key in future school pursuits and to hold our fire for moments when it really matters.
SarahButtonedUp

@667e77cb778d5112254ee484046c1a10:disqus – (assuming this is who I think it is) you are married more or less, no? Just minus the kindergarten madness.
SarahButtonedUp

:) And that makes you the smarter woman for sure! I’m a slow learner. Coming up the curve though.
Blainepw

yes it is who you think it is and of course i meant minus the kindergarten elements. There is something to be said for living vicariously. a point i have made repeatedly to my sisters
SarahButtonedUp

@667e77cb778d5112254ee484046c1a10:disqus – XOXO just giving you a little grief. Love you.
Todd

LOL! Great one Sarah!
SarahButtonedUp

@9aa39e2f39e7014980f3d15b8bb238c4:disqus At least I come by the overachiever gene honestly, right? I’m picturing mom and grand up there in heaven giggling away. “Just do your best, dear!”
Christy

Oh my gosh!! You hit the nail on the head! Rainman was my favorite! =) Even Super Moms need a day off sometimes. =) Hey, but you delivered, right? A few apologies to the normal family and all is well.
http://GlobalTableAdventure.com/ Sasha (Global Table Adventure)

Yes for sure! And, if you ask my husband, chocolate goes with everything
michele

You totally hit the nail on the head here. The last four signs have my name ALL over them!
Annemarie

Hilarious! Lessons learned huh? – AMF
Bwcetc

Oh how I’ve been there! Now that my baby is 14 (and I’m a lot older than when my first went through school), I’ve let go of the “Super Mom” complex. My baby knows to sign me up for the napkins and plates!
Ann0257

OMG this is is hysterical and completely true!!!
I spent years trying to pull this off… Dropped off the kids at KinderCare at 6:30 a.m., one of the teachers took my kids home with her after 6:00 p.m. while I went to the University three times a week until 10:00 p.m., I’d leave school & go back to work and finally get home around 12:30 p.m..
I’d NEVER EVER do that again. The years that I lost with my daughters can never be recovered.
http://profiles.google.com/erisraven Cynthia Hahn

Oh, gods, can I ever relate to this one. Even though my school days are done, I was so there on the bake sale thing.
Finally taught myself to checklist, and make myself spend two minutes before starting each task to think what the quickest way to accomplish a task was. Makes all the difference in the world… when I remember to make myself do it…
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1265062652 Alyssa Walters

Wait — were you at MY house last weekend? SERIOUSLY! This is like a day in the life of me! I love this post! Thanks for sharing!
Amy McCready

Absolutely BRILLIANT! You described me to a “T” on so many occasions!
http://www.diapersanddivas.com/ Lani

This was like…my last week To. A. Tee. No joke…I need to send this to my husband because he keeps saying I need to start making things easier on myself, like buying that store bought cake. Oh man…I def think my inner super mom needs a vacation….
http://hersocialnetwork.com/ Nicole

Great post! Seriously, I can totally relate to this all and to be honest in the process of attempting to be super mom I turned into Godzilla or Hulked out. What I realized at some point is that all of this “crap” that I expected out of myself was so unrealistic that I would never be able to accomplish it in a day..I thought that I was the only mom with this “complex” but I’ve learned and watched over the last 7 years many moms, just like me, try to do this. Finally when I hung up my cape, I became the mom I was trying to be in the first place. So anyone out there that is afraid that by hanging up your cape you will be failing in some way, know you will have a happier family and be excited about parenting again.
JP5

Can I relate? Reading this post has saved me the call to a therapist I was planning to make! This is my life day in day out – a recovering Type A, who stays up past midnight, to organize nicely arranged lunchboxes for the kids, etc. then oversleeps because she forgets to turn off the silent button on her iphone/alarm (silenced the previous evening during a community association meeting I felt compelled to attend) and when Mama misses her 6:00am workout she’s oh so guilty of ‘barking at her family’s normal behaviour’. Great post – will work on giving up the cape.
Pingback: Around the Homeschool Blogosphere #4 | Learning With Mom
http://thriftymominboise.blogspot.com/ ThriftyMomInBoise

You couldn’t be more right. She is so fired.
TBurrill

OMG!!!!! THANK YOU I JUST HAD A LIGHT BULB MOMENT. I AM SUPER MOM!!!! BUT I NEED TO STOP.
Kstorch

This was so funny. I was laughing out loud. Reminds me so much of the cookie swap debacle this past winter at our house. If you are baking before 8am on the weekend or after 9pm on a weeknight–you need to take a BIG step back or at least that is my new rule. The funny part is that this super mom thing is my own issue–no one out there is saying to me, no you cant buy those cookies. I need to tell my inner critic to get a life.
SarahButtonedUp

@fb5bf0e9cb6c5cab6b8ce001a97b2829:disqus – I L-O-V-E that rule. Ingenious. This is me adopting that one into my repertoire. And I am right there with you – no one was telling me to make anything. It was ALL me.
Janet K

I am glad I intuitively always picked the best options that saved me time and hassles without living my kids and myself out of parties. Secretly I thought I wasn’t being a good “super” mom. Thank you! You all made me feel better about being a mom. I’m still impressed that Sarah was able to bake 2 options of cakes in one morning though.
SarahButtonedUp

@db4ca94be8f096ed618488ac13173e02:disqus – in full disclosure, my second cake did NOT look like the one pictured. I slapped on some icing with a knife and skipped the pretty bagged icing flourishes. At least it tasted good!!
5weare

Wow, are you me? I think I am going to burn my cape after reading this. Kids don’t care if you are perfect, just that you are not crazed. I don’t realize this myself day to day. The barking at your family for being normal comment really hit home. Wow.
meghan formerly “mega-mom”!

i need to hang it up asap and seriously feel better already

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