Tuesday Treasure

It's Treasure Tuesday again. Boy, do the weeks fly by so fast, especially when you are barreling toward something you are dreading...anyway, that's another story.



To the right you will see an autographed picture. My son's first, I believe. For those of you who do not know who that is, it is Mr. McFeely from Mister Roger's Neighborhood. When we were in WV we drove up past Pittsburgh to a beautiful park where they were celebrating Neighborhood Days and we met Mr. McFeely, Neighbor Aber, and Mayor Maggie. They were all so nice and friendly, letting us know where to find cool things in Pittsburgh and even wondering how we fared with Hurricane Rita and Katrina once they found out we were from Texas. So very cool.

I LOVED Mister Rogers as a kid. It wasn't just the show, but the man himself. He was so calm and friendly and really like your own neighbor. I loved King Friday and Lady Elaine and especially Daniel Tiger. I was thrilled when my son, at around age two, discovered Mister Rogers as well. We would spend mornings watching him on PBS and there was always a lesson that needed to be learned that was right up Jacob's alley at the time. I recently borrowed some videos from the library after returning from our trip to tour The Land of Make-Believe and it is a nice respite from the Cars and Pinky Dinky Doo we have been enjoying lately.

Jacob was really excited to meet Mr. McFeely that day, but he continued to ask where Mister Rogers was. I didn't want to ruin his trip by explaining death to him, he's had enough of that and is scared of it as it is, and told him that he was busy that day. He would tell me he was sad and hoped that Mister Rogers would be done "working" in time for us to meet him that day. Each time he would say that it would bring tears to my eyes because it WAS sad. What is the neighborhood without Mister Rogers? We had to wait in line to take the trolley into the Land of Make Believe (aka, the ride) and behind us was a heavily made up lady and her four obnoxious, way too old for Mister Rogers kids. Jacob, in all his excited glory, leaned over and asked one of those big boys if he was excited to see Mister Rogers (forever holding out hope, my boy) and that kid turned to his mom and said "Isn't he dead?" I was horrified. I push Jacob away and start speaking loudly to his dad and try to act like nothing just happened when that nasty woman leans over there and says, "Mister Rogers has been dead a long time" UH, not your place to tell him that ugly woman! Thank goodness, my husband was talking with him, loudly, and I didn't think he picked up that panic inducing statement. Yesterday, however, as we were watching another fine episode, he turned around and said, "Mister Rogers isn't dead is he?" I pretended to be too engrossed in the show to have heard what he said, but I fear I have to fess up and give him the truth. Would you?







Anyway, I have gotten off track a bit here. I picked my son's autographed picture as my treasure today because it's a little bit of something left over from my own childhood that I can share with him that makes me a bit nostalgic and misty eyed. I also think that Mister Rogers was a wonderful treasure to all children for many, many years and hope that he can be for many years to come. His entire life was devoted to children and even after his death he touches them and helps them face problems and issues with grace and understanding. I wish my son could have met Mister Rogers, but I am glad he spent some time with Mr. McFeely and Neighbor Aber, and Mayor Maggie and hope that he keeps that memory with him forever.

West Virginia Vacation - Part 3

Wheeling now has a Children's Museum. Interesting. I don't know what I was expecting, but that wasn't it. Don't get me wrong, though, the kids had a blast and I am wishing the boys and I had checked it out earlier and gotten more use out of it while we were there. The best part was that we strolled in about 11:30 and I guess everyone is eating lunch then because we had the place completely to ourselves for over two hours.


There were dress up boxes and construction bins and an entire art room where the kids drew and painted. There was a mini rock wall and rainbow tunnels and huge jungle gyms and an obstacle course. There were blocks, a rice table, and a huge reading nook with cozy chairs and pillows and wonderful stories to read. In short, it was a preschool paradise.


At the make believe grocery store.....it was eye opening to watch my son argue with Abby the cashier over having rung up something the wrong price and then refuse to buy something "because he didn't have a coupon for it"




My sister is never one to pass up a good time. She spent her time constructing a lego house built specific to the new hurricane building codes in Escambia County (she's from Pensacola and just recently patched up from Hurricane Ivan).




They call it a Children's Museum, but it's fun for everyone! Bruce, my BIL, enjoyed the rice table and the cool sifting gadgets that went with it. He said he was only showing Abigail how to make them work, but he stayed there long after she ran off to play with something else.






Now if they had just served beer there.......

Swimming Lessons

Raise your hand if you took swimming lessons at as child.


Was your instructor like mine? My teacher was about 80 years old, mean as a hornet and if we didn't do what she told us to do, she just shoved us under the water until we did it anyway. It sucked at the time, but now I realize that if she hadn't done that my parent's money would have been wasted and I would have sat on the side never having learned how to swim. Once I figured out she meant business I did what I was told and eventually even learned to like the old bitty.

Jacob had his first "real" swimming lesson yesterday. I say real because he did have some swim lessons at the Y when he was two that were basically Mommy and Jacob tooling around the pool while the teenage teacher flirted with the lifeguards. Yeah, I know there isn't much you can teach a two year old, I was just looking for something to kill time and hoping to get him liking water, but the whole plan backfired. Jacob has been afraid of water ever since that fateful class.

Fast forward three years. I think things may go better because, hey, he's five now! Don't five year olds love to swim? I catch wind that our neighborhood pool is giving lessons and sign him up. As I touched on previously, we have heard from the instructor all week long. First off she called to change the class time from 8:30 am to 6:15 pm. I wasn't happy about that as, gee, we might be eating at 6, but whatever. I can go with the flow. Then she called back two hours later to ask if 4:15 would be allright because 6 "just didn't work for her" and we would start the class on Wednesday instead of Tuesday because she was busy on Tuesday. Yeah, it's not like you haven't known about the class starting all summer long, but whatever. So Wednesday rolls around and while the kids and I are having a lovely time at the library the swim girl leaves a message wanting "whoever is in charge of Jacob" to call her back. So I do and she informs me that the class will be at 5:30 because 4 didn't work for her either...wonderful. I am being played like a puppet by a teenage girl. She calls back around 3 and tells me she is cancelling the class due to rain. I look out my window and see the sun shining through and tell her, just to be helpful, "It's not raining outside" and she says she couldn't get a hold of her supervisors (who I would love to chat with BTW) and had no way of knowing if they even opened the pool (it did kind of pour that morning) so she took it upon herself to just cancel. Now I paid $55 for six 45 minute lessons, T-W-Th, so far no class on T-W. She assures me that we will make up the two days on the next two Fridays, which puts a damper on my plan to head to the lake next Friday MORNING.

So, yesterday was finally the big day. Jacob actually seemed excited about them and the sun is shining so I know she can't use the rain to call and cancel on me again. We arrive just in time and I let the guy at the "desk" know that we are there for lessons. He tells me that Cynthia will be there in just a moment to go ahead and wait and WAIT we did. 5:30 passed as did 5:40 and 5:45. By this time Adam is going nuts wanting to get in that pool and Jacob is frying in the Texas heat so he asks to get in and I tell him yes, but stay by the steps and don't get off or go to the baby pool. I am getting ticked off at this point. I sit on a lounge chair and proceed to change Adam into a swim diaper so I can keep him entertained in the baby pool. Jacob's dad walked in just about that time all apologetic because he was late when he notices Jacob doing pretty much nothing sitting on those steps and he wonders if we weren't supposed to show up at 4 or maybe 6 or even 8:30 because, geez louise, what the heck is going on here? So I hand Adam off to him and he goes up to the "desk" to try to find out what the deal is and I wait there with Jacob for a bit but then hear Adam screaming so I turn around to go retrieve him from his dad and for whatever reason I turn around to check on Jacob again and I don't see him. So I slowly, seemed like slowly anyway, go around to the other side of the pool, still don't see him, but then I notice just the top of some hair bobbing about just beside the steps. Shit, there was Jacob, the unswimmer that he is completely underwater and struggling to pull himself up RIGHT BESIDE A LIFEGUARD! So, with my cement feet because it did seem like it took a lifetime to get to him (Pro talked about the same thing once, can totally relate) I jump in that damn pool, fully clothed IN A DRESS that is floating up to reveal my ugly underpants to everyone there. I pulled my kid out of that water. He was walking and talking, but his entire face was blue as were his toes and fingers. Of course, I am in a world of disbelief at that moment and my adrenaline is pumping and I am PISSED! I yell, "What wonderful f****** lifeguards yall are!" Yeah, I shouldn't have said the F word around all those kids, but my mind didn't have any censor at that point, I was still shaking and, honestly, about to vomit. As I looked up at the one lifeguard who was, say, three feet from my drowning kid I noticed he had his right leg draped over the lifeguard chair, his sunglasses on his head, and his bottle of water in his hand. Not once did he ever appear concerned or even attempt to try to help my kid. Of course, the sight of a grown woman jumping fully clothed into the pool turns heads, so people quickly figure out what is going on, nobody tried to help (my eyeballs probably turned yellow at that point so they understandably stayed away) and the lazy lifeguard keeps gesturing at me. He doesn't attempt to move from his relaxing position, but he wants me dripping wet with a blue kid to come to him because he can't leave his post because "he has to be able to see the entire pool." Am I living in the damn twillight zone or something???? Is lazy and rude the new lifestyle because if it is, I can get on that, but I didn't receive that memo. Anyway, finally lazy lifeguard yells down at me that the depth at that point of the pool is 3 feet, 6 inches, that my son could have stood there, he was just playing, he was watching him when I spit back at him, "3 feet, 6 inches equals 42 inches and my son is only 40 inches tall. NO, he could not stand there, NO he is afraid to put his face in the water, we struggle to wash his hair at night, he would NEVER have played like that. He was struggling and you didn't help him." At which point lazy lifeguard with his leg still draped over the chair arm, lifted his arms and shrugged at me. Yeah, you know I am calling the pool company this morning, but I doubt they do anything about it. For starters, I didn't have enough wits about me to get the kid's name and I have only dealt with teenagers at this place all this time, I doubt I get an adult, but I feel like I need to report him because, heaven forbid, a kid really gets hurt out there if it happens again.


Sooo.....Cynthia finally showed up right about the time I am fishing Jacob out of the pool. Of course, he isn't going in any water and NOOOOO, he will not take lessons, I mean, can you blame him? BUT, we finally coaxed him into the water with the promise of two bucks if he followed directions (yeah, I bribed my kid, I said I didn't have enough wits about me). The instructor was extremely meek, there was no structure to her lesson, and most of time she would put one of those diving rods on the steps and tell the kid's to fetch them. They all did WITH THEIR FEET. She did attempt to get some to float, but she wasn't forceful enough to get her point across so most of the kids just tittered around in the water while she stood around staring into space. I am paying for that. I am an idiot. I am really hoping that yesterday was just a "get used to the water" kind of day but, when you only have 6 days (if we're lucky) I think you need to get to the point.

I am thinking maybe I should take up teaching swimming lessons. My old bitty teacher would be so proud.

Thursday Thirteen

Thought I would try this and see how many weeks I can come up with thirteen things about myself. If you would like to participate as well, pick up the code below and get started on your own list!

Thirteen Television Shows I Must See This Summer 1. Big Brother 7.....I have been addicted to this show since Season 2. I wasn't real keen on the idea of all-stars, but it's getting crazy in there! 2. My Fair Brady Looks like that show is over now the wedding was on last week, but WOW, it really made me realize that my marital relationship isn't as dysfunctional as I once thought. 3. Nancy Grace My mom got me hooked on her. I wasn't a fan at first, but now I can't look away. She's a riot, makes Bill O'Reilly look tame. 4. Family Feud Everyone loves Richard Dawson, am I right? 5. Press Your Luck No More Whammys! 6. I've Got a Secret Yeah, I like Game Show Network 7. Guiding Light Is Reva going to die? Will Jonathan and Tammy raise their baby together? What is up with Gus, man? 8. Pinky Dinky Doo Only because I am forced too. 9. King of Queens I like this show all year round, forced to now view reruns on WB and have heard talks of cancellation so I am getting my fill. 10. My Name is Earl It was funny the first time, it's still funny in reruns. 11. Paula's Home Cooking How can you not a love a show with two boys who love their mama so much. 12. The Office How did I not notice this show before now? It's funny! 13. and finally....Seinfeld If all else fails, fall back on the old favorite. Links to other Thursday Thirteens! 1. (leave your link in comments, I’ll add you here!)

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!


The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

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The Zoo Continued

Am I the only person who is a big sucker for these things? You may have to click on it to see Abigail's expression. She could really work the pout, cracked me up. Oh, do NOT ask me to be in a picture, the horrors! The vacuum stashed in the back corner is a nice touch as well.






As I was hoping to head out for home. My BIL somehow took control of MY camera and insisted on a picture. And you see my baby's bump? If you look closely you can probably see his bloody fingers too, but hey it's more important to get a picture made.






I took this picture from wwwaaayyyy across the room. My telephoto lens is THAT good. It's out of focus a little, but I thought it was sweet. He was showing his Gammy how hurt he was....he knows how to work it.




The preschool set really enjoyed the make believe zoo vet clinic they had set up inside. They gave those stuffed animals a real work up! We had to drag them out of there as well as my BIL who was still reading all the signs.

West Virginia Vacation - Part 2

We spent an afternoon at the Good Zoo one day. It is a lovely place in Oglebay Park in Wheeling. We have been there about every single time we have been back to WV, so Jacob chose to spend his time inside at the train exhibit, snack counter, and gift shop with his Gammy, go figure. Therefore, you won't see many pictures of him. Teresa and her crew had never been there, so since she was driving, that was where we went.


Our first stop, of course, was the train
It used to be an awesome train ride, worth the extra $1.25 you pay to board, this time we saw one sleeping (at least I hope it was sleeping) animal and then we rode through a bunch of over grown brush. Nice. The kids liked it though. Adam was thrilled. He kept signing car and babbling his head off.
Jacob probably would have enjoyed it more (yeah, he wouldn't miss the train, but the animals are such a yawn) had Linsey not spent the entire time poking her finger in his ear. I found this particularly interesting as we (Adam, my mom, and I) were sitting behind them and witnessed the entire thing, yet everytime he'd complain Linsey would deny it and my sister would call him a liar. I kept picturing myself pushing them both to the wolves, but alas, we never saw the wolves. They must have moved them because of people like me.

Anywho.....the Good Zoo is a pretty small zoo. There are no lions, no giraffes, no elephants. We did see a variety of birds, an ocelot, a kangaroo exhibit, your basic farm animals, and a bear.
Can you see that bear? Yep, he's sleeping. In fact, every animal in the place was sleeping. Kind of made me nostalgic for the lion here at our zoo that likes to pounce at the glass at us and pee for everyone to see. We did come across a deer habitat. We could actually go inside and feed the deer. Now, we could have done pretty much the same thing in my parent's backyard, but my sister really wanted to go in and spend all her extra quarters for a bunch of smelly pellets so the kids could feed the deer so we did. Did I mention that the zoo is in West Virginia and WV is full of hills? Yeah, after giving our lungs a work out hiking up that hill to the deer, we let the kids loose and don't you know my little Adam went chasing after a deer so excitedly that he went tumbling down the hill (after eating most of his pellet handful). The screaming scared the deer away so we threw our pellets in the grass and took off out of there with my bloody kid in tow. He scraped his forehead and banged his hands and fingers all up, trying to catch himself I guess. After that point I was pretty much done with the zoo, but my brother-in-law had to see EVERYTHING. What is it about men that they have to stop and read EACH AND EVERY SIGN? Come on! You know that's a cow, let's go already. I swear I almost chewed my own hand off in the Smithsonian one time with my husband. I actually laid (lay, lain? I never do remember that one) on the floor kind of hoping that would give him a little sign that I was done, and crap, my feet hurt, but NO, he read EVERY sign. Anyway, where was I? Oh, so that was pretty much it for the zoo trip. I have other pictures to post but blogger has quit allowing me to post pictures today so I will finish those tomorrow.




**and no, that is not Elvis sitting with Abigail! That is my brother-in-law who is going through a huge Harley midlife crisis phase. He thinks he looks cool. I just know that he scared the beejesus out of my kids when they first saw him.

And it Just Keeps Getting Better.....

I just discovered that another of our fine neighbors was arrested and charged with murder. This makes three that I know of. This will probably kill our plans to put our home on the market this fall.


On a brighter note, it might bring our property taxes down......

Tuesday Treasure

Back to the old grind.....Are we still doing this?


This is my neice, Abigail. She is three years old. She is a treasure to me because I never thought I would have neices or nephews. My sister, as you know, is married to a man with his own children. He wasn't really keen on adding to the brood so kids were out of the picture, so we thought. Teresa started to feel the baby bug not long after they were married and to make an extremely long drawn out story short, she issued an ultimatum. I kind of blame myself as this wasn't an issue until she met Jacob, but really, who could not look into those shiny blue eyes and not want to take one home? Anyway, her husband had "a procedure" during his first marriage that prevented spontaneous conceptions and for whatever reason it could not be reversed. Soooo.....my BIL had some sort of "extraction" done and my sister had IVF, implanting three embryos with Abigail as the result. Another long story shorter, she tried to do it a second time for a second baby but that never developed. Abigail will be my only biological neice, the only biological child of my only sibling.

It's a given that my own children are treasures to me, I write about that everyday, but it is different having a neice. I can love her, enjoy her, yet let her parents deal with the rough stuff. Much like I am sure grandparents feel about their grandkids. I only see Abigail twice a year, if we're lucky, and each time she is different. It's sad that she doesn't live down the street where she can play with my boys whenever they felt like it. I hate that she is closer to her daily babysitter than to me or even my mother because we all live so far apart. I wish I could see her develop daily instead of yearly, but that will never be. I am grateful to have had almost a week to spend with her, lavish love on her, listen to her stories, and view the girly world for a while (wasn't for me, thank you, hats off to all you girly moms). So until Christmas or next summer I will continue mailing pretty dresses (she's wearing one I sent there) and hearing her stories over the phone. She's a far away little treasure getting bigger all the time.

But I Saw This and Felt Instantly Better.....

My mom was dreaming of a beautiful portrait of her three precious grandchildren together. This is what we got. Linsey wouldn't get in the photos, Abigail kept making a frowny face and crossing her arms, my sister was beet red from yelling at her girls, Jacob just sat like a stone, and Adam bawled his head off crying for his mama. My mom and I stood in a corner laughing our asses off. This was the ONLY time Adam allowed me to sit him down, probably because Abigail had her iron paws wrapped around him so tight he couldn't budge. That photographer lady kept waiting for the "perfect shot" and I was just yelling "take the picture, take the picture" because I knew Adam wouldn't stay there too long and, by golly, I was getting a picture of those grandkids for my mom! I don't think it's what she had in mind, but I love it!

Gripe, gripe, gripe

OK, I lied, I am going to complain again.

What is wrong with people these days? What happened to polite, hardworking, good mannered individuals? I want to know where to find them because they aren't here...

Today I:

1. Spent the morning dealing with shady carpet dealers trying to get out of a scam deal they presented to us this weekend. My husband and I want new carpet. We don't know the first thing about carpet. In hindsight, I see where we should have researched carpet BEFORE placing down payment on carpet, but having done the research after the fact we found out that the salesman totally lied to us about the chosen carpet and basically told us everything we wanted to hear instead of the facts about it being a subpar piece of flooring. WHY couldn't the salesman have been up front with us? We would have ended up buying the more expensive rug therefore rendering him a bigger commission? Instead my husband had to take a half day's vacation to straighten that out.

2. Was called by teenage swim lesson instructor TWICE. First time to switch swimming lesson time from 8:30 am to 6:15 pm. I paid and had these lessons scheduled since early May, but they called me THE DAY BEFORE to reschedule. Teenage girl stated 8:30 "just wasn't good for her". Then she called me back two hours later while I was attempting to get my little one to nap to ask me if 4:15 would be okay, "because she just can't be available at 6". Then she lets me know that she won't be at the first class at all, they will be cancelling that and moving the first day to Wednesday. Gee, Thanks. THEN, the company in charge of swimming lessons calls and another teenage girl wants to confirm my charge card number although I was charged for the damn class two months ago. Only then did I find out that Yes, class will be at 4:15, previous airheaded teenager didn't give a follow up call like she said she would. My guess about the whole thing: She has a date one of those evenings and doesn't like waking up before noon. The real work world is going to suck for you one day girlfriend, hope you marry a rich man.

3. Tried to make a dentist appointment for Jacob as he is due for his six month checkup. They cannot see him until late August. That's okay by me, but when I ask for an afternoon appointment (he gets out of school at noon) they inform me that only children six and up can have the afternoon appointments, would I be interested in a school holiday appointment, say December 31? They then keep trying to schedule me at 9 am and I keep saying HE WILL BE IN SCHOOL and they keep transfering me to the next rude lady, one who said the reason he couldn't be seen in the afternoon was because it said on his chart "does not like cherry flouride treatment" and obviously, according to her, this made him a behavior problem so behavior problems were seen in the morning. Why? Because they are afraid he will turn into a werewolf after lunch? The next lady told me that they have previouly had issues with him and I told them that I asked specifically if he had behaved and was given a glowing report, and really, my kid tattles on himself, had he acted up I would have known about it, she again reiterated the notliking cherry report and apparently that is a crime in the dentistry world. So be forewarned! I asked them to put down in his chart that he didn't like the cherry kind because, God forbid, he doesn't! I then asked the third lady if they didn't do school age kids at all because, HEY, I ain't getting an appointment no matter how hard I plead my case and this is what she says: "Most normal parents take their kids out of school for the morning of the appointment" So I say, yeah, well when you are only going three hours that equals a whole day and I think the administration would frown on that" so she says, and I kid you not, "Then I think it's time to find a new dentist" and hung up on me. Yeah, you better believe it. Of course what I really want to do is wait until he turns six and show up there IN THE AFTERNOON!

4. Stopped at Taco Crapana after the floor fiasco and ordered our meals along with a kid's meal. No toy with the kid's meal even though there is a GREAT BIG SIGN that says you receive a toy. When I asked if I could get a toy the rude cashier said that the meal's didn't come with toys. I pointed out the sign, she went in back and found a crappy toy and pretty much threw it at my husband. They also served all of our food upside down in a big heaping mess. Queso all over everything, ten bucks wasted, won't be eating there again, thank you very much.


I do know that there are worse things in the world, but rude and inconsiderate people bother me. I was not brought up to be that way and would never treat people in the same fashion I am treated here on a daily basis. Is it like this where you live? If not, I am moving there. I have been in Texas close to seven years now and I can count on one hand the number of times people are polite to us in a service situation. Is it just because this city is so big? AAAGGGHHHH, enough already. I want to meet some nice people for a change!

Adam's Meme

Adam was tagged by Tracey's little one.....



3 Things That Scare Me
1. Waking up alone...I am finally sleeping in my own bed!
2. Loud noises
3.

3 People That Make Me Laugh
1. My brother always makes me laugh. We have lots of inside jokes nobody else understands.
2. Grandpa
3. I laugh when my mama kisses my belly


3 Things I Love
1. My family
2. Phoebe and Ezra
3. Mommy's hair...have to rub Mama's hair, it's my lovey.

3 Things I Hate
1. Having my face washed by someone else...I must do it myself. 2. Being strapped into the car seat, it is inhumane to sit like that!
3. When my brother takes those cool cars away from me.

3 Things I Don't Understand
1. Why my penis won't detach from my body no matter how hard I pull
2. Why my brother gets chocolate milk and I am forced to drink whole milk.
3. Why people talk so much, you can get so much accomplished by grunting and pointing.

3 Things On My Floor
1. dried up diaper wipes, I rescued them from the lonely box
2. books, lots of books, they look much better there instead of the nice shelf
3. a huge stuffed Tigger and Winnie the Pooh

3 Things I'm Doing Right Now
1. Looking at pretty pictures of my brother and me in a scrapbook
2. Pulling all the fancy scrapbook pages apart
3. Signing my name to the pretty scrapbook pages while "singing"


3 Things I Can Do
1. I can use sign language to communicate with others. I know about thirty signs.
2. I can wipe my own bum while getting a diaper change, although my mom says that doesn't help.
3. I can jump on the bed with my brother


3 Ways to Describe My Personality
1. HAPPY
2. determined
3. gentle

3 Things I Can't Do
1. Talk
2. Have cookies and doughnuts whenever my heart desires.
3. change a flat tire

3 Things I Think You Should Listen To
1. 106.9 the point
2. My brother sing television theme songs
3. My Gammy singing a Good Morning song on a picture frame of her...I carry that everywhere...I miss my Gammy.

3 Things I Think You Should Never Listen To
1. My mom when she says no cookies
2. My dad when he says time for bed
3. the warnings on toys that say ages 3 and up, come on, I can play with those things, it's unfair to make me play with all these baby toys

3 Absolute Favorite Foods
1. bananas
2. strawberries
3. Gerber cheese crackers...I ate an entire box at Target last week.

3 Things I'd Like to Learn
1. How to make the remote control work correctly
2. How to play the computer and Leapster like my brother
3. How to sit and ride on a big boy bike, wagons are so yesterday.

3 Beverages I Drink Regularly
1. milk
2. water
3. extremely watered down pear juice

3 Shows I Watched as a Kid
1. Charlie and Lola
2. Go, Baby
3. Bob the Builder, Thomas the Tank Engine, and Jay Jay the Jet Plane because my brother controls the DVD player in the car....can't wait to do that too.



If your baby wants to play, go right ahead!

Happy Half Birthday!

Dear Adam,

You are eighteen months old today! How did eighteen months pass so quickly? I can barely remember when you weren't apart of our lives, brightening the days with your beautiful smile. I know I have told you this before, but you were smiling the day you were born and haven't stopped since. You are a happy little guy and you enjoy everything about life, except those times when you aren't getting your way, and even then your unhappiness is short lived. Your dad says we should have named you Isaac because it means laughter and I agree, except you don't look anything like an Isaac, you are Adam all the way.

Oh, the things you can do at eighteen months! You can run fast and climb everything. You like to jump on the bed with your brother and I let you because I love to hear you both belly laugh while you are doing it. You can sign so many signs, I cannot even keep up with all the ones you know. You understand and follow directions and I think you might even know your colors because you seem to be able to pick them out, but since you won't tell me, I can't be sure. You say Mama, Dada, Kee (kitty), oof (dog), and bobo (brother). If I ask you to say something else you shake your head no. I guess that is ok, because those are all the things that are important to you; you'll be a man of few words.

You and your brother are attached at the hip. You are truly best friends, when you aren't fighting over Thomas trains or cars. If your brother does it, then you must do it. Just last night your brother spilled a drink and you knocked yours over as well, just to keep up. I know you will miss him terribly when he goes off to school in a few weeks, but we will keep busy playing with all his toys while he is gone and going to story time at the library because I know you would miss going. The ladies all make a fuss over you and you bask in the attention.

You are a teeny little dude. You weigh close to nineteen pounds and are about thirty inches tall. You still wear size two diapers and six month clothes. You can finally wear size four shoes, but you don't wear them much because you pull your shoes off as soon as we get them on.

Your favorite things are a shake and go police car and a blue die cast car your Gammy bought for you. You also love the baby we bought for Jacob when we were expecting you. To watch you rock and love that baby makes my heart swell because I remember Jacob doing the same waiting for baby Ivo Hugh (that was his name for you). You like the Cars stuff, just like brother, and will point it out to us when you see it. I suspect you like it just because brother does.

You LOVE to eat! As soon as you wake up in the morning, you scramble out of bed and down to the table. Your breakfast must be served IMMEDIATELY! You always have a waffle and a banana. You won't have anything else. Your favorite foods are bananas, berries of all kinds, yogurt (only the most expensive brand, thank you) and corn. You also have a raging sweet tooth. You love any kind of sweets and we have had to really limit what we buy and bring into the house, because if you see it, you want it and you aren't letting up until you get some.

You love animals, especially cats. When we were in West Virginia, you would greet Grandpa at the door when he returned from work pointing at the basement and saying "kee". You loved for him to take you down with him when he fed the cats and he was amazed at how gentle you were with them. You love Phoebe and because you are so gentle, she loves you. She likes to sleep next to you in the bed and I see you reach over and pet her in your sleep sometimes. You love Ezra, too, and he is good to let you climb all over him and pull his ears while you straddle his back, pretending to ride him I suppose.

You love baths. I bet I could give you a bath ten times a day and you would never tire of it. You are not afraid of water at all. You put your head under and slide around pretending to swim. For this reason, we will not be buying a home with a pool. I love to watch you go to your brother's stool after a bath and grunt for your toothbrush. You are the only kid I know you loves brushing his teeth. You also wait for us to comb the small amount of hair you have before you trot off to be rocked to sleep. You do the same thing when you get dressed in the morning.

I could go on and on about the sweet little things you do but I don't think there are enough gigabytes in the world to capture how happy we are that you are a part of our family and eighteen months old today! We love you to pieces little man, can't wait to see how much more you learn on the way to birthday number two!

Lub, lub,
Your Mama

Jacob on top of the mound

I wanted to post this yesterday, but I was apparently over my limit.

West Virginia Vacation....Part 1

You cannot imagine how giddy I am to have high speed internet again! It was absolutely maddening trying to post even a short, written post as it took ages to publish. Add a picture and I was there over an hour. I wanted to write about all these places as they happened, but wouldn't have had the same effect without the photos so, now I will back track and let you know all that we did while we were in wild, wonderful West Virginia.

We spent the last six weeks (give or take) in Moundsville, West Virginia. It is in the northern panhandle about eight miles south of Wheeling and eighty miles south of Pittsburgh. Just three blocks from our old house is the Grave Creek Mound. It is one of the largest Adena Indian burial mounds dating back to 250 BC, hence the name, Moundsville. This was the first year we have been able to walk to the top as they have been repairing the steps the past few years, so Jacob and I made a day of it (actually a short morning) and checked it out.






Walking up the mound, finally got him to turn around and stop for a picture








We made it! In the late 1800s there was a saloon at the top. I was kind of wishing for one that morning. Where my kid ran to the top, I pretty much crawled to the top.







So there is the mound. We thought it was pretty cool. I think the whole concept of an ancient burial ground was lost of Jacob, but he ran off lots of energy and slept good that night.



Stay tuned for Part 2......the zoo!

This is the last time I complain, I swear

It's my blog and I'll complain if I want to....



So we went bowling last night. We like to do that on a semi-regular basis so when Derick said the church was going as a group, I was up for that. I should have known there would be trouble when I walked in and realized I couldn't order a beer. Well, I guess I could have, but I don't think that would have went over well. I mean...bowling and beer...it just goes together am I right? Anyway, the whole experience made me remember why I rarely go to church. Church is like high school: cliquey. We have been members of this particular church over two years now and STILL people do not interact with us. It's the same people at every function who run the show and talk amongst themselves. If they do speak to us, their eyes are always darting off looking for something else, as if I do not notice they haven't heard a word I've said. We looked a long time for a church to belong to when we moved here and as they say, everything is bigger in Texas. All we found were the megachurches, one even had a shuttle bus to take you from the far ends of the parking lot to the church while the others you just wish they had the shuttle bus. We definitely didn't get into that so I think when my husband found a semi-small church he got so excited he wanted to join immediately. I actually jumped on the bandwagon at the beginning and signed up to teach Sunday School, but they never let me teach anything. They wanted me to show up at 9 every Sunday and sit on the floor on my five month pregnant ass and "observe". After three months of that I just quit going. It was obvious I wasn't going to break into the churchy clique and by then, I really didn't want to. I also got a little peeved when every weekend they were having baby showers for every other pregnant lady, even members grandchildren, yet I never saw a sign go up with my name on it. At first I assumed it was because I was having a second child but then I wised up and realized I had a small family, these other women were having fourth, fifth, sixth children so that theory was blown out the window. I haven't been back on a regular basis since I had Adam. The straw that broke the camel's back, so to speak, was when we had a baby and NOT ONE person from that church called to say congratulations or offer any help. No meals, no cards, no gifts. Not that I need any of that, but that is usually what happens in a nice church family is it not? They never even announced in the church bulletin that we had a baby and when the church directory came out in January, when Adam was ONE YEAR OLD, it still only listed Jacob as our only child. Yeah, makes me all warm and fuzzy and wants me to become more a part of the fold.

Well, back to the bowling....We wait forever to get a lane because it appears no one is in charge and hey, I have two kids here a forty minute wait isn't ideal, but we finally find a spot and settle in and the dang youth group comes in right beside us. That's ok, I don't mind kids, but these were the most undisciplined, rude kids for a bunch of supposed Christian kids who should have been taught better. I had to ask the kids to move out of the lane so I could bowl a few times and then we finally had to leave because they had pushed us out of the chairs and had taken over our entire lane, all without speaking a word to us. One of the boys even came over and took the small kid's ball we had for Jacob and ran off with it right when it was his turn. I stopped him and the kid looked at me like I was crazy and I finally had to raise my voice to make him put the ball down. I want to know where the parents were, but I suspect they dropped them all off for free child care as this is typical from the kids at our church. Is it like this at all churches or did we find a dud? I don't want Jacob to think that these behaviors are okay, yet I really think he needs to go to church on Sundays. I think it's time to start looking for another church, but I don't hold out any hope that another one will be any better.

That's my rant for the day....

Did you Miss me?

Well, we made it....back in the sauna known as Houston. I can't say that I am real happy about it, but we'll muddle through. It was a lllooonnnggg trip. Had we not stopped in Lexington (which turned out to be forty minutes NORTH of Lexington, just a little tidbit my lovely husband left out) and stopped farther south on Sunday it might have been bearable, but MY GOLLY it was a long day Monday. Note to self: No more side trips.



The kids did amazingly well. They took it all in stride and I rarely heard a peep out of them. Of course, Gammy bought them a fancy new DVD player to help them bide the time and they seemed to enjoy each other's company back there. It was actually quite sweet to watch them share snacks and toys. I cannot say the same for the poor, poor dog. He is just getting way too old to make these kinds of trips. His hips are bothering him now because with all the crap we had to haul home he could never find a good spot to sit and ended up standing almost all that time. Please don't call PETA on me. I feel bad enough as it is.


My house is a mess and my cupboards are bare. My refrigerator contains only condiments. I have to redo everything my husband "fixed" while we were gone. I have to transfer all the crap he dumped into my closet back into his closet. I HAVE to go to the supermarket today because I don't think I can stretch noodles another day. In short, I am going to be busy the next few days. I have TONS of pictures and places I plan to post soon, so stay tuned. Here are just a couple of the kids in the car. We passed up the Mickey Ds in favor of Burger Kings and Arbys. They don't get much fast food (aside from the Cars fiasco) so they enjoyed their kids meals and french fries because they know it's few and far between.

See ya on the Flipside!

Well folks, vacation's over and it's time to head home. It will take us a few days to crawl our way down south, so I am going to be off the air until Tuesday or Wednesday next week. I am sad to be leaving, but am ecstatic about having high speed internet again! I will be able to post pictures again! I know you have all been lamenting the lapse of photos of my gorgeous offspring and I promise...you won't be disappointed when I return!

In the meantime, here's another meme I got from Amie's blog. You can do it too, if you want.




What is your favorite pen color? I prefer pencils, but I was a teacher so I always had a red pen handy.
What time were you born? 12:36 pm
Do you know how to change a flat tire? I have been taught, but I did not retain that information. I have a husband..HE changes the tires.
Who taught you how to make meatloaf? My mother using my Granny's recipe...it was one of the first things I learned to cook.
How much was gas when you began driving? It was less than a dollar....YES, I am that old. I actually remember my high school friend scraping up change to go get a gallon of gas so we could make it home one night.
What is the funniest thing a kid has ever said to you? I think Jacob is funny on a daily basis so I couldn't pinpoint just one thing, but once my friend's daughter, who was three at the time, came over to see me and she went inside to visit my cat who happened to hate everyone at that time. Sara (friend's daughter) came running out to the porch saying, "Phoebe loves me, Phoebe loves me" and I asked her how she could tell and she said, "Because she just said HI to me" and she was saying Hi exactly like a hissing cat. I laughed all day.
How many junk drawers are in your house? Gee, lets see....there's the one in the kitchen, the one upstairs.....I could count the bathroom....5 is my final answer.
Do you know what Dippity-Do is? Yes, but do they even make it anymore?
Would you ask a complete stranger if you had food in your teeth? Yes and I have.
Do you bite your nails/fingers/lips? I bite my fingernails and have since I was four, weirdly it was the same week my sister was born the folks tell me, can't figure out why though.
How many jars of pickles in your fridge and/or pantry? Gee, haven't been home in a while, but I know there was at least one jar in the fridge when I left.
Toy you'd like to have back from your childhood: I still have all the things I was completely crazy about....I had some awesome lunchboxes I could sell for a small fortune on ebay but my mom GAVE THEM AWAY...those would be nice to have.
What's the last concert you went to? Bruce Springsteen
Is your Christmas tree still up? Why yes, it's Christmas in July.....NO, but remind me to tell you about our holiday tree at the lake sometime.
Have you ever eaten paste or glue? Nope
How long since you went to the Dentist? about a month, it was my anniversary activity this year.
Ever been on jury duty? No, but I just got a summons for it...these kids are good for something....I can get out of it as their primary caregiver.
What is your favorite kind of hat? The hats Adam wears every day....he is in a hat phase.
Are you a good speller? Absolutely! I won awards for it in elementary and middle school.
What is the last thing you dressed up as for Halloween?I have no earthly idea, it had to be over 25 years ago.
Whose wedding did you go to last? A family friend's son's in 2000....they are in the midst of a divorce right now. It was an awesome wedding though

And finally... Last time the top of your refrigerator was cleaned off? You're supposed to clean the top??


***I really do get a kick out of these, but I do wonder: Who makes these things up? Where do the questions come from? I mean, dippity-do and meatloaf?

I stole this....

Stole this from Pro-D. Feel free to do the same...

MEME-OLOGY

GRUB-OLOGY
What is your salad dressing of choice? I usually eat blue cheese, but it has to be Wishbone because all the others suck. I just found a great one here in town, Hendricksons, that is absolutely awesome, might make me forget all about blue cheese.
What is your favorite fast food restaurant? I don't care for most fast food, especially after our MickeyDs fiasco of late, but if we are on the road and have to eat, I will choose Sonic or Wendys.
What is your favorite sit down restaurant? A place called Mediterranean Chef down in Houston and Steak and Shake, another reason to hate Houston..no Steak and Shake.
On average, what size tip do you leave at a restaurant? If the waiter is polite and nice to my children always 20%.
What food could you eat every day for two weeks and not get sick of? Garlic Noodles from PF Changs
Name three foods you detest above all others. Cooked spinach, fish of any kind, broccoli
What is your favorite dish to order in a Chinese restaurant? General Tso's Chicken, vegetable lo mein, fried dumplings
What are your pizza toppings of choice? tomatoes, green olives, and onions
What do you like to put on your toast? peanut butter
What is your favorite type of gum? I don’t chew gum, gives me a migraine headache.

TECH-OLOGY
Number of contacts in your cell phone? 3, how sad
Number of contacts in your email address book? About 40
What is your wallpaper on your computer? A picture of my boys in the bluebonnets
What is your screensaver on your computer? pictures of my kids cycle through every few seconds.
Are there naked pictures saved on your computer? Just the ones of Adam seconds after being born...couldn't take pics of Jacob until he was eight hours old so he was diapered by then.
How many land line phones do you have in your house? none, all cordless
How many televisions are in your house? 3
What kitchen appliance do you use the least? Blender
What is the format of the radio station you listen to the most? 80's music, baby...106.9 the point

BI-OLOGY
What do you consider to be your best physical attribute? my hair
Are you right handed or left handed? right
Do you like your smile? Yes
Have you ever had anything removed from your body? I have had skin cancer and had those removed as well as some suspicious moles. I also had two children removed from my body surgically.
Would you like to? I am sure I will have to have more spots removed when I see the dermaguy in September.
Do you prefer to read when you go to the bathroom? no
Which of your five senses do you think is keenest? definitely not my sight, I have 20-400 vision...I guess my hearing, I can hear my little ones breathe.
When was the last time you had a cavity? I have only had one, about eight years ago.
What is the heaviest item you lift regularly? My baby is only 18 pounds, so I wouldn't call him heavy, so maybe the vacuum cleaner.
Have you ever been knocked unconscious? No

MISC-OLOGY
If it were possible, would you want to know the day you were going to die? I don't think so
If you could change your first name, what would you change it to? I like my first name, although I hated it as a child and wanted to be Sara back then.
How do you express your artistic side? I knit these days
What color do you think you look best in? greens and browns
How long do you think you could last in a medium security prison? Gee, I hope that never happens. I would probably freak out as they were driving me in.
Have you ever swallowed a non-food item by mistake? I swallowed an insect once while on a date with my husband, don't think he ever noticed.
If you weren't bound by society's conventions, do you have a relative you would make a pass at? absolutely not
How often do you go to church? about once a month
Have you ever saved someone’s life? no, but I have worked hard to keep my kids from killing themselves doing scary things, does that count?
Has someone ever saved yours? Well, an old man fished me out of my totalled car on a remote WV road in 1989 and kept pressure on my bleeding head until my dad came to fetch me an hour later, I don't think I would have bled to death, but it was sure nice of him to do that.

DARE-OLOGY
For this last section, if you would do it for less or more money, indicate how much
Would you walk naked for a half mile down a public street for $100,000? I had two children sprawled out naked for all to see and had all kinds of different people wipe my ass and poke into my privates for same reason, usually with the door wide open, so where six years ago I would have said no way, now I say bring it on.
Would you kiss a member of the same sex for $100? No way
Would you have sex with a member of the same sex for $10,000? Nope, I have trouble finding the time and energy to do it with my husband, not taking it off for a girl.
Would you allow one of your little fingers to be cut off for $200,000? No, I am now addicted to knitting, think I need all my fingers for that.
Would you never blog again for $50,000? yeah....any takers?
Would you pose naked in a magazine for $250,000? Well, maybe a million, but I am 37 years old and have had two kids, don't think anyone is buying that magazine.
Would you drink an entire bottle of hot sauce for $1000? yes
Would you, without fear of punishment, take a human life for $1,000,000? no, the guilt would get me.
Would you shave your head and get your entire body waxed for $5,000? no, I don't think so, I like my hair too much.
Would you give up watching television for a year for $25,000? I would love to, but I think I would go stir crazy without it...plus it's Big Brother time.

All Good Things Must Come to an End

AAAHHH...we have been so busy the past week. Between entertaining my sister's family and taking the Daddy to see friends and family we haven't had much time to stop and breathe. My sister had stated that all she wanted to do while they were here was sit and veg, but every, single morning they woke up at six raring to do something. We went here, here, here, and here. Jacob and his dad traveled to southern West Virginia yesterday to see his other grandparents. Adam wanders around this house looking for his "bo-bo". We will meet them down there this weekend and head for home. We will spend a couple days with the in-laws (Lord, give me strength) and then spend a night in Lexington, Kentucky with Derick's cousin and his family, a guy he hasn't seen in at least ten years. I just hope they drink because I am thinking a few longnecks is the only way I am going to be able to make it a stressfree situation. I am definitely not looking forward to the long, long drive, especially with two kids, two pets, and a car full of crap. I am not happy about having to see Houston again. Honestly, I hate it there. I can make the best of it and enjoy my life and my family, but after spending the past 2 months here in a virtual nature paradise, I loathe the thought of being crammed in with my rude neighbors, fighting traffic and mosquitoes, and being a slave to the AC once again. I would love to move back here full time. Yeah, I know there isn't much here, but I think that is what I like about it. It sucks that my kids can't play outside for six months out of the year down there. It sucks that they can't even run in their yard because we have a yard only a flea circus could love. It is so different here. I can drive a few miles before I ever meet a car. The AC has been broken the whole time we have been here, yet we haven't really missed it. We play outside all day and never once come in with a mosquito bite. The neighbors stop and talk to us here and actually remember our names and lavish love on my children. They mow each others lawns if someone goes out of town. I know we will come home to a letter stating that we better mow our lawn or the HOA will get their lawyers after us.....friendly huh? Yeah, I am a little bitter, but I will get over it. I consider this place my home and it's always hard leaving home. BUT....we may not be living in Houston long, opportunity is knocking.....

Because You Asked.....

Some of you asked for a little more info on Laura....here it is:

Laura was my sister's stepdaughter. She passed away last September. She was born with a rare lung disease. Don't ask me what, because I can never remember the name, but they used the short form, PID, in referring to it and I always think of an STD with that so I rarely use it. Pulmonary something. It was so rare that Laura had an extensive autopsy done after her death and her parents had to undergo testing as well to do studies on the disease to try and help other families going through the same thing. She had a feeding tube until she was five years old. She spent much of her life back and forth to doctors and hospitals and took it all like a trooper, although she hated it all. She used oxygen ALL the time. It was so odd not to hear the tanks clanking around in my sister's car. Her parents were told very early on that she would not live a full life. Even with a lung transplant she was only looking at a life to her thirties at best. Her disease started progressing about two years ago and her doctors redosed her medications, her therapies were increased, and her activities were limited, but eventually they recommended a transplant and after much persuasion Laura's parents convinced her to go for it and she and her biological mom moved to St. Louis and waited. And waited. And waited. She had the rarest blood type and she was extremely small. She went on new medications that puffed her like a beach ball. That was hard on a soon to be high school girl. She waited out the summer and her doctors gave her the okay to enroll in school in St. Louis. She loved school and was so excited. She went for three days and made a few friends and was happy. Then she got an infection, I don't know what exactly, that sent her into the hospital and she never left. What should have been a routine trip (for her) for antibiotic drips and lung treatments turned into our worst nightmare. On her tenth day there (they never could get the antibiotics to work) she was talking to her mom and beading a necklace when she said she didn't feel good and fell backward. She went into cardiac arrest and coded for ten solid minutes. She was in a drug induced coma after that episode but they slowly started bringing her back and she was quite lucid, squeezed my sister's hand and shook her head when she asked her if she wanted her to quit talking (my sister's a talker), but then she started to have seizures and they would drug her up some more and this went on for about four or five days when finally she stopped squeezing hands and her kidneys quit functioning and the rest of her organs started failing. They said the shock from the machine, what do you call that? The one you see on ER that they shock people's hearts with? Anyway, using that for as long as they did damaged her organs beyond repair and when her organs started failing she became brain dead. Her doctors advice was to discontinue life support, which they did. It has been extremely traumatic to my sister. Although she was not her "real" mother, she felt like she was. She was a second mom to her most of her life and in turn we were another family to her as well. She considered me her aunt and my parents her grandparents. We loved her to pieces and she loved us right back. It was really hard to see them all pile out of that car without her. Since we live so far apart it is easy to push it into the back of my mind or pretend she is at her mom's when I call but the family dynamic has shifted, someone is missing and it is sad. Abigail doesn't understand death yet, she is only three, she still thinks she is coming home after the doctors make her better. She asked me once if I missed Laura and I told her, yep, sure do, and she said she did too and couldn't wait until she got home because she had so much to show her and tell her. It was one of the saddest things I have ever heard.


Soooo.....that's the story on Laura. One day I will give you the story on the rest of my sister's family (it's a doozy) but we have things to do and people to see here.

Just like every other holiday....

I hope everyone enjoyed their holiday. Ours sucked here. It poured all day long leaving us cooped up in the house with four kids, three cats, and eventually a barking dog. My sister and her family came for a week's vacation arriving Saturday evening. Derick and Ezra (my oh-so missed dog) showed up last night. It is complete chaos. My sister has a three year old daughter, Abigail. If it wouldn't take me all night I would post a picture of her because she is cute as a button, but she wears me down. She is a handful to put it nicely. The one thing I am totally not used to is the dramatics, she can work it, let me tell you, and it can go on for hours. She is moved to tears by the smallest action and then can turn on a dime and cross those arms and stomp her feet and let us all know that she WILL NOT do as she is told and how dare we even suggest such nonsense. OHHH...and the lying....she can throw a story down in the drop of a hat, she doesn't miss a beat. When I found her outside with the air vent covers from the study and asked her where she got them she instantly told me...."out back in the woods". Poor Jacob looks like a deer caught in headlights when she is caught doing something and she will say Jacob made her do it when it's obvious he didn't. BUT, the kids are having a great time together and I am glad they are having this opportunity to spend some quality time, just hope they can go outdoors tomorrow. It is quite weird to have them here without Laura. My friend called the other afternoon and Jacob answered the phone and was telling her all about who was here, naming each one and then he said, "but Laura can't be here, she's not alive anymore" and then kept on talking like that was such a normal thing to say. Linsey (her sister) keeps referring to her in the present tense and I can't get a grasp on whether that is just a slip or if it is a defense mechanism. She has never seemed bothered by the fact that the sister she was so close to has passed away, spending these few days with her I am kind of feeling like she is in denial or something. It's just extremely strange. Of course, I have never had a sibling die so I don't know what is "normal" there, but I am sad for her because here she is a twelve year old with only preschoolers for company. I have tried to do some things with her, but we never had the relationship I had with her sister. Linsey and I (and everyone else) have always had issues. She is just a hard kid to be around, it's like she was born with an attitude and I don't think she likes my family much. She isn't very nice to Jacob, but she's sneaky about it. My sister is totally oblivious to the things she does and thinks she can do no wrong. I think if they don't get a clue soon the shits gonna hit the fan in a couple more years when she goes to high school, but I can't bring that up to my sister without her going off, so I just keep my mouth shut and try to keep my kids away from her. They are leaving Saturday morning so I think I can keep everyone busy enough to keep the chaos from getting out of hand for that long. Now if only the weather would cooperate.

Funny Story.......

I had a weird thing happen to me last week.....

I took Jacob and Adam down to the local library as they were bringing in some zoo animals for some sort of program and I thought it might be a neat way to kill a morning. We arrive and it's packed, which is shocking in this small town, but we had a good time, pet us a baby alligator and a one-winged owl and then I start fighting the crowd to get out the door. As we are leaving I keep hearing someone say: "andria, andria" but I can't tell where it is coming from and I am not seeing any people I recognize from this town. Finally, as we get out the door, a girl stops me and after a split second I realize I know her. She was a good friend with whom I lost touch about thirteen years ago! Now, thirteen years ago, give or take a year, my parents lived in the town about thirty miles south of here where I went to high school. I had just finished my second (or was it third?) year of college and took a semester off (don't ask) and Donna (library girl), my good friend Jennifer, and I spent that time wasting our lives cruising the bars and drinking too much. It was tons of fun. We could have done it forever if all three of our parents hadn't issued us the "get out and do something with yourself or hit the highway ultimatum" that got my life back on track and made me become the fine, upstanding citizen I am today. Well, Jennifer and I have stayed in touch all these years, I don't know where I would be without her, but for whatever reason we both lost touch with Donna. So I sit outside the library and chat with Donna a little bit and she wonders, of course, why we are there (remember neither of us are "from" this town) and I tell her the story of how husband and I lived her first, moved to Texas, and then parents came here after and she wants to know where they are living so I tell her and she says, "No, shit....I live on that road too" Turns out Donna has been living in the big house we have been admiring at the head of the street for the past five years. I have driven past her house at least once a year all that time and never once knew she was there. How crazy is that???? So, you know I shot Jennifer an email as soon as I got back here and she drove three hours up here yesterday afternoon and the three of us hit the town...well, as much as you can hit a small town. It was just like old times, if you don't count all the times we gushed over our children and compared birth stories, OR the fact that we are lightweights now and were home by midnight.