Hello! My name is Tristine Fleming. I'm on a new adventure through blogworld. My first novel, She Is... was published in 2005, since then I've done some ghostwriting, had a recipe and a suggestion in the Love Us Not section published in Everyday with Rachael Ray, had two articles published in American Moms magazine, and was a rock n roll journalist for a music review magazine, Intense, based out of Chicago back in my wild Mommy days.
As a writer, I want to document just about every thought that pops into my head, and since the main portion of my day consists of saying, "No!" about 300 times, and listening to the words, "kerker" (a.k.a cracker) and "coo-kee" approximately the same amount of times I say "no," I thought it might be a bit hysterical to share the highlights of what it means to be a mom who has to have incredible discipline in order to teach it.
I was a single mom through most of Josh's childhood and early teenage years, so staying in college was not an easy feat. Over the course of the last twenty years I've changed my major three times, eventually landing on Fiction Writing at Columbia College Chicago, making the Dean's List with a GPA of 3.94. (Not to brag or anything.) You'd think that was pretty impressive until you discover I've yet to finish college. Financial woes have withered my fantasy of ever finishing. However, I'm not discouraged. My experience, my determination, and my talent far outweigh any college degree. I don't care who demands I have one to be successful, because quite honestly all that says is that I could be disciplined enough to listen through a bunch of mumbo jumbo liberal agenda hoo-ha without vomiting from sheer propaganda overload and still come out a Conservative Christian. There. I said it. Now you know.
And in case you haven't noticed...I'm incredibly outspoken, positively political (and Right), and one heck of a good mom if I don't say so myself.
This blog is a fun way to share those challenges with you. If you're a mom, they will encourage you, enlighten you, and hopefully make you feel better about your own parenting woes. You will, quite literally, grab your child and kiss him or her with pure delight that you have it somewhat easier, because I know some of you do. You know how I know? Josh was one of those special kids that never back talked, never threw temper tantrums, and when you told him “no” once, he got the message loud and clear. Josh was the reason I decided I’d give motherhood another chance at my age. I thought I’d have it made in the shade. As an experienced mom of an already fully functioning adult, this time around should be easier. You'd think so, right?
Let’s find out…
