A Day in My Life

Okay, so I was feeling a little badly about myself after reading all the things my friends can accomplish in a day, but then I realized, I have been busy too! I mean, it takes a lot of energy to:

Wake up (before 7, small miracle), shower, and brush teeth before kids bound from bed.

Clean up puke from aforementioned teeth brushing episode.

Spend three minutes in limbo wondering if I should leave bathroom or attempt to puke again "just to get it all" You know what I'm talking about.

Awaken children and serve breakfast, and by breakfast I mean frozen waffle slapped on a plate.

Repeat the words "get dressed", "brush your teeth", "make your bed" twenty times each.

Wrestle to the ground Dress sweetest baby in the whole wide world.

Pile children in vehicle and dodge angry commuters getting child number one to school door safely.

Buy groceries. Eat samples in store. Stock freezer with ready made frozen meals to get us through the next week. Splurge on a banana colada Fuze drink and cool little pretzel sandwiches, yet can't eat either without needing to throw up on the cold tile floor.

Return home and locate Motivated Moms calendar and set to work. Cross off all the things I refuse to do, such as change AC filters and clean out the vehicle. Sit down to rest while thinking of where to start.

Turn on The View just to see Hot Topics. Send baby child off to play independently because it's good for him. Swear I will turn television off after Hot Topics.

Get sidetracked and decide I need to see what Rachael Ray is cooking today.

Get sidetracked again and need to see what the lady on Knitty Gritty is making today, which makes me feel like knitting so I hang in the recliner and knit two rows of crappy baby blanket that will never be finished. Switch to Desperate Housewives on tivo and realize AAGGGHH, the rain from Sunday scrambled the satellite and, thus, no episode.

Go upstairs to email friends to see who might be able to tell me what happened in DH Sunday night and maybe Brothers and Sisters too while they're at it. No reponse yet.

Write scintillating blog entry that is sure to entice many readers while baby pastes millions of Hallmark gold stickers all over himself.

Realize it's time to pick up oldest son, write out tuition check and absence excuse, all late, drop those off in office after retrieving son. Sneak out before anyone can say anything.

Prepare hearty lunch for children consisting of Kid Cuisine, pimento cheese sandwiches, and fruit punch from a can. Am told this is the best lunch ever.

Attempt to scrounge my own lunch but am brought to dry heaves by all in the pantry. Settle on Rice Krispies. Again.

Spend ten minutes wrestling rocking baby child to sleep, lay down and take hour nap with him while big brother enjoys his brand new Thomas DVD and thinks he's getting an awesome privelege.

Wander into computer room and take note of all the things that need organized, thrown out, and cleaned. Keep telling myself I will get right on that.

Watch Lazy Town with oldest kid and laugh for thirty minutes because Robby Rotten called Stingy, Stinky.

Checked on baby man and stuffed couch cover into washer on the way up. Yeah, me!

Spend five minutes unbalancing washing machine.

Had conversation with oldest son about the Cars characters and read the newest book he is developing on the subject.

Played light sabers with youngest son.

Picked up the entire toy room. It is not a waste of a day! Baby child wakes up and along with oldest child proceed to destroy all that was done.

Check emails to see if anyone knows anything about Desperate Housewives. Nope.

Survey the damage in the computer room and decide it's too late in the day to tackle that one and instead watch a rousing episode of Little Bear on Noggin followed by our daily Good Night song ritual which even the dog took part in today. Warm fuzzies all around.

Prepare a nourishing dinner of Kraft Spaghetti in a box while juggling cell phone to talk to my good friend on her way home from work all while trying to change a diaper and ignore begger child who has located something he cannot live without in the newspaper.

Wave goodbye to children and husband, climb into tub, pop two tylenol pms, update my blog, and crawl into bed....ready to try and be more productive tomorrow.

Let the Games Begin

Jacob started soccer this weekend. He has missed two practices and a game due to what we will now call the bypass saga, but he really did do pretty well for a kid who has no idea how to play soccer. It would have been a nice afternoon, too, if he hadn't found the one kid you never want your kid to be around. Now, my kid can be weird. He babbles incessantly, copies television commercials, and makes all sorts of strange noises, but this kid made Jacob look like a choir boy. Jacob learned more stupid phrases and noises and complete idiocy in one short hour than he has all year long in school. Of course, I am always the only one who finds chasing the coach around and smacking him on the ass while yelling "you talking to me?" a bit inappropriate and all the other parents, namely the one belonging to said weird child, found it all endearing and sweet, but crap, I am there for my kid to play soccer not act like a complete buffoon. If he wants to act like a buffoon, he can do that for free in the privacy of our own home and away from unfamiliar adults. Can we just meet some normal children with normal parents?




You know, it's really hard to get a good picture of a kid playing sports. All that moving around I guess. See...he can actually kick the ball. Toward something. While running. Very impressive.






He got to be goalie for a while and it was the perfect position for him. He could use his hands, stand around and rest, and look awesome in his uniform.



Aside from the weird kid, so far so good. They hand out blue powerade at the end, don't ya know, and the uniforms are so cool . I think he might be a little disappointed when he realizes he is going to have to actually play everytime. So that is that...I am officially a soccer mom. Do I get a medal or something?

I Don't Do Monday

I am in a funk. I can't dig myself out of it. I want to lay down and sleep and not get up for days. I want to leave my kids with their dad for an extended period of time and be left completely alone. I have no desire to clean my house, fix a meal, or go anywhere. I am depressed. I have been depressed before, after Jacob was born and at the end of graduate school like 1994 or something and was able to shake it, so I assume will be able to do the same this time, but I feel my funk getting bigger every day and this time I have kids to deal with so that's never good.

I am just mad. Mad at everything and then mad at nothing at all. My kids are driving me crazy because they are just so damn needy and it's not even the necessity needs that drive me nuts, it's the I need more toys, more fun, more undivided attention, more hair to yank, more face to beat, more, more, more. They aren't the only ones. I get email daily from someone wanting me to make meals for someone who just had a baby, or donations for someone's kid's school, or more blood from my turnip and it just grates on my nerves. I know I am totally being selfish here, but not one person did one damn thing for me when I was going through all that hell with my mom. NOT. ONE. PERSON. Now, I didn't really need anything and probably would have turned anything down, but hell, where were the phone calls just to see how my mom was doing? I know every single person at that moms group I belong to knows what happened because I had to inform them I wouldn't be there that Friday to do all the damn jobs I have to do. My friend even told me they brought it up at the meeting, but did any of them call or see how I was doing. Hell no. But, I have sure gotten plenty of emails letting me know not to forget the craft this week and to line up all the day care workers. Bite me. My dad has to go back home to WV this weekend, just like my own husband work comes first in their shallow little world, leaving my mom at the lake ALONE. Alone with her wired together chest, nitroglycerin, and inability to drive. All those friends of hers who wanted to do so much when they thought she might die, now can't even go sit for one day with her because they have to work, have their grandchildren to watch, or have vacations scheduled. I truly understand that people have lives, but you can't spare one day? Of course, she would just roll over and die if she knew I was trying to line up her company for next week because she is convinced she will be just fine there in the boonies all by her lonesome. I, on the other hand, am not so sure. I mean, my Lord, it probably takes her all morning long just to down all the new medications she is now on. What if she were to choke on it all. Oy, just the thought.

How did it become late October? I have Halloween to get ready for too. Can we skip it this year? Would that totally destroy my kid's psyche if we did that? Geez. Of course, the dad signed us up for some ridiculous fall festival at church that seemed like a good idea at the time, but now just seems expensive and bothersome. Oh, and did I mention it's at "our" church? The same church that hasn't called or emailed to ask how my mom is doing or even how my church going husband is doing. The same one that decided not to put my name in the bulletin on my birthday or acknowledge we have Adam, sweetest kid of all time when he's not pulling your hair or poking your eyes out. I really don't want to go to that middle aged high school, but I know we will and we'll pour out tons of money and do tons of work and no one will say thank you or talk to us, just take our candy and run, just like every other time.

I think the whole, "we're moving to Ohio, psych, no we're not" thing has set me off. I think I was okay with it at first, but now that we are in mid-October, about that time we would be packing up and moving out, I am getting a little bitter. Not at my husband, it wasn't a good move for him at the time and he did truly do what he thought was best, but I was so, so, so looking forward to moving. I was really eager (just, for you Sadie) to experience the change of seasons, see the leaves turn colors, play with the dog in the snow, move into a nicer neighborhood, maybe make some friends. It was going to be great. Now it's all just a faded dream and I sit here still with tomorrow's forecast to be in the nineties while I melt away in my little funk. Ohio State is number 1 in the country right now, it really would have been good times. Sigh.

You will have to forgive my funkiness. Hopefully it will be short lived this time. Maybe if blogger will ever let me post some dang pictures I can enlighten you with my son's first attempt at athleticism or just how seriously cute my youngest son is...I mean, really he is. There must be supermodel genes in my lineage somewhere. Why Baby Gap hasn't come calling is beyond me. Oh, and were you able to see Steve Slayton pull it out against Syracuse on Saturday? If he isn't nominated for the Heismann it will be a travesty. I, of course, couldn't see it because I live in Texas and they don't televise good number five ranked football here, but I did thoroughly enjoy the whooping that Auburn gave Florida, and I am not that big of an Auburn fan, being a semi LSU fan by association. Now if Baylor could have just pulled it out against Texas I might be a happy camper. No offense to all you Texas fans, but I am all Texas'd out at the moment and might barf if I see anymore burnt orange.

For Lack of Anything Better to Say......

As I was attempting to rustle up some dinner the other night and cruising through the old cook book, I found a recipe I hadn't prepared for some time and whipped it up. I am now craving it about as much as I am craving that blue cheese chopped salad from Outback and thought since I love it so much, you might as well, so I am sharing it with you.

This recipe was given to me by one of my third grade students back in 1997. After hastily doing the math, I think I have figured she graduated high school last year or maybe this year, but still, she was a sweet little nine year old girl back then, the cutest one I have ever seen, what I imagined I would be raising at this point in my life. LOL. Anyway, we used to do Student of the Week where they got to have all kinds of neat priveleges like returning all the library books each morning and using my pencil (you would be surprised at how much kids want to use the teacher's pencils) and they had an entire poster displayed with the weekly student's picture and all their favorite things. So where every other kid in the class listed pizza as their favorite food, this little girl lists Sundown Oven Pancake. Of course, I had to inquire. Cheese, veggies, and a pancake. Okay. Sounds interesting. The next day she brings me the recipe, painstakingly printed in her finest pencil handwriting on plain white paper with a tendency to lean toward the right. I am sure it took her a half hour to complete. She really wanted me to try it and although it called for broccoli (bad, bad, very bad) I did cook it, sans the horrid green vegetable and found it to be just as awesome as she had described. In fact, there was a time in my life, living alone and half broke, where I made it three or four times a week and ate it daily. It was that good. So here it is:


Sundown Oven Pancake

1 T butter
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup milk
2 eggs
1/4 tsp. salt
2 T butter
2 cups broccoli florets
1 cup chopped red onion
1 cup chopped green pepper
1 cup chopped ripe tomato
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

Heat oven to 425. In a nine inch pie pan melt 2 T butter in oven. Meanwhile in a small bowl stir together flour, milk, eggs, and 1/4 tsp. salt. Pour into pie pan with melted butter. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown. In a large skillet melt 2 T butter. Add remaining ingredients except cheese. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally until vegetables are crisply tender, about 12 minutes. Sprinkle 1/2 cup cheese in bottom of pancake; top with vegetable mixture. Sprinkle with remaining cheese. Return to oven; continue baking for five minutes until cheese is melted.


For the health conscious and those just coming off bypass surgery, you can skip the butter altogether and use cooking spray.

Warning: Much Bitchiness Ahead

I am in a mood. I am mad at people today. I am having issue with myself for it, as I know I should be elated and thankful that my mom is no longer facing the grim reaper, but still, I feel absolute disgust for all persons, especially those in the Houston area.

I have never met so many rude people in one area in all my life. I am guessing that it is because we live in such a big city now, but truly, does everyone I encounter have to be rude? Rudeness is one of my biggest pet peeves. I wasn't brought up to be that way. I was taught manners and politeness and how to help others and have lived my life that way, even when I didn't feel like it. I would like the same courtesy extended to myself, it's just common decency. This is what I have encountered in the past two days:

Driving to pick up my son from school I make the stupid decision to pass a man who was driving below the speed limit in the left lane. Apparently it is a rule in Texas that the slow lane is the left lane because everyone does it, but I think it is my prerogative to speed if I so desire so I pass him. Well, men get ticked off when women pass them, I notice this everytime. They speed up to keep you from doing it usually, but that's the extent, until yesterday. This man apparently had his ego bruised by the dented SUV with sunshades passing his megatruck and I ended up having to pass him at 85 in a 35 just to get around him then he proceeded to ride my ass all the way to my intersection then pull beside me, roll down his window, call me a bunch of names and threaten to kill me. All while chomping on a huge hamburger. Nice. I didn't do anything at first, ignored the asshole, but it was a long light and I eventually rolled down my window and smiled at him and told him at least I wasn't fat. If you want to piss someone off, say that. The guy followed me all the way to Jacob's school, which is at a church. He didn't do anything but sit there and stare menacingly while chomping that burger, but WTF? He's allowed to spew obscenities at me and I am in the wrong for defending myself? Whatever. Beginning of bad mood....

So my mom almost died last week, remember that? I am a little jittery as a result and my worry limit is extremely lowered at the moment so when I couldn't get her on the phone last evening I started to panic. After ten minutes of silent wonder I decide to call back and search for her and as I reach for the phone I get a phone call instead from a one Robert Jones from here in town, at least that is what my caller id states. I answer it and it's some nine or ten year old girl giving me the refrigerator running schtick and not well, my first instinct was to laugh and correct her, but my blood pressure was up and I didn't have time for that crap so I told her to hang up and not call back. So she called back. I hung up. She called back again and tried the Prince Albert in a can, yet it was Prince Harry and she couldn't remember the rest and then I got pissed. I told her loudly. DO. NOT. CALL. THIS. NUMBER. AGAIN. She called again. I let it ring and then I called Robert Jones at the number on my caller id and asked for a mother, no mother but I got a dad, told him he needed to have his daughter quit calling my number because I needed to use the phone BECAUSE IN MY MIND IT WAS AN EMERGENCY and he was like, "well, which daughter?" I don't know dude, just keep your daughters off my phone. I was nice about it too, told him I might find that funny any other day, but not that day and please, please, please never call my house again. Then he lets me know that he doesn't find that a real problem, his kids were just having a little fun where I then told Robert Jones that if it kept up I would press charges against HIM, since his name kept showing up, for phone harrassment. Choice words again. His poor little girls, so misunderstood. Bite me. Bad mood escalates......

Go to small grocery store, not the one I typically go to, and find it is FULL of people, should have known then to leave. I didn't leave. I had my feet run over, my cart shoved out of the way WITH MY BABY IN IT, and at least three women get in a complete huff because I had the audacity to stop and actually take a product from the aisle. You know I am rude like that. Then they tried to charge me the wrong prices for just about everything I bought and the heavily perfumed chicky behind me had a big old hissy fit because she couldn't buy her Reeses Cups and Dr. Pepper fast enough.

Now as I type someone, don't know who, has parked their car in my driveway, somebody's, don't know whose, kids are playing in my yard trampling all our bushes and bouncing balls off our windows. This has been going on daily for the past seven years. We are apparently the neighborhood playground. It wouldn't bother me at all if the kids would be nice to my kid, but they aren't. They are downright mean and their parents are okay with that so we just keep him inside or in the back yard. It really sucks.

So, where I am extremely grateful that my mom is doing allright (still in the hospital, oxygen levels aren't great and she may have a touch of pneumonia and wont' be coming home anytime soon, but still, she's alive) I just don't have the tolerance for this kind of crap this week....or maybe not any more weeks. I am tired of being the nice one, I am tired of people running all over me and my kids, Is there a friendlier place because I want to go there, I want to experience manners and cheerfulness, and a helping hand now and then. I am nearing the end of what I can take here. Husband be warned.

Huh?

Tell me if you find this odd......

Since Jacob had been absent for two days last week and seeing as how he has been through a somewhat traumatic experience, I thought I would walk Jacob into his classroom this morning to speak with his teacher and give her a heads up to what's been going on the past few days. We ended up arriving late due to stinky, eight wipe diaper at the get go, so I was hesitant to go in for fear of disrupting the morning routine. School begins at 8:15 and the nice man has informed us many times through meetings and newsletters to pretty much be the hell out of the building by then. We showed up at 8:25, but I felt it was important to speak with the teacher given the situation so I forged ahead, I mean, shoot, I took a shower and everything. So I very quietly head in that room, ten minutes after start time remember, and find six other mothers just hovering around the room, beaming at their little angels, and just kind of there. I was wondering if I missed some sort of party or what not but still, I approached the teacher's desk and had to wait in line to speak with her as there were three other mothers waiting to speak with her as well. OOOKKKKAAAYYYY........so I can't help but over hear and one mother wants to know what kind of lunch her kid should bring for the field trip this week (you know what your kid likes to eat was teacher's response LOL), another asked if she could help be the room mother (already have one but you are welcome to help, just ask that lady over in the corner), and the next lady just wanted to ask how the teacher was doing and how her weekend went (blank stare). By this time it is well after 8:30, I know the teacher is wondering what gem I have to share, but she was genuinely concerned about Jacob and my mom and glad I let her know what was going on, we spoke about two minutes and I turned around and left. I didn't even wave good bye to my kid as he was already engrossed in some writing practice and really didn't seem to notice that I was there at all. I was the first mother to leave. Yes, I left after 8:30 and there were still about ten mothers there and another one walking in the door as I was leaving. What the hell is up with that? Now, I am clingy mother......my kids have never stayed with a babysitter, I watch their every move like a hawk, and I monitor everything they eat, drink, watch, or read. I fully expected to want to walk Jacob in daily as well, but I knew that wasn't good for him. In fact, he is so independent he has been dropped off and cheerfully going in alone since day two. It has never even occured to me that I should sit beside him for half an hour each morning and pat his hand and get his bag unpacked for him, yet I am apparently the only mother who thinks that way. I noticed when I went to chapel that the other mothers seemed to know one another real well and I wondered how that came about and now I see. They have a little coffee klatch right there in the classroom each morning.....very, very weird. I thought it might be an isolated incident, but the same thing happened yesterday morning when I walked in and found a substitute there.

Do you think I should say something about this? The teacher is wonderful and Jacob loves her so I don't want to tick her off, but I kind of get the impression that them being there is a bit of a nuisance to her. I kind of feel that this is an intrusion into my child's educational day and since I am paying for it I should say something, but I don't want to be the bitchy, gripy woman. Am I making too much out of this?

Short and Sweet

Here's an update:

My mom had double bypass surgery on Friday afternoon. After much monitering and testing and a night in the scariest hospital I have ever been in, they found she had some significant blockage in a main artery and apparently some sort of hereditary malfunction, which is most likely what killed all her siblings as well. We wanted her moved back to Houston, to the finest heart hospital in the country, but they were afraid she wouldn't survive the transfer so, obviously, she stayed in small town hospital for the procedure. She is doing pretty well right now. She is still in ICU, but they expect to move her to the regular floor this evening. We are home, my mom insisted that Jacob miss no more school, so I grudgingly obliged. My dad is there and my sister will be there through today and we will take it one day at a time from there. She will need a lot of care for the next two or three months, apparently cracking your chest open is pretty painful and can lead to all sorts of complications, so she is homebound for a while. We haven't figured out all the logistics, she can't go back to West Virginia for at least a month, but at this point we are all just so thrilled she is still alive we will do just about anything they ask us to do.

This was one of the worst things I have ever had to deal with. The four hours my mom was back in that surgery were the slowest and most painful of my life. I think I cried about as much those three days as I ever have in my whole life put together. The worst part was that one of the tests required shooting some radioactive dye into her heart...that is how they found the blockage. As a result, me being knocked up and all, I couldn't go within ten feet of her for SEVENTY TWO hours. I could not hug my mom before they wheeled her into that OR, I couldn't even hug her good bye last night. It was so cruel. All I could think in that little room with the big green phone was "What if....and I didn't even hug her" Soooooo........for all that, this little dude better be my best behaved yet....he owes me!

Thank you all for your prayers and good wishes. You don't even know how much it means to me to know that people I have never formally met took the time to pray for my mom in her biggest time of need. I am forever grateful and glad to "know" everyone of you.

Damn

Well, crap.

I just got a call that my mom is in a back woods hospital possibly having a heart attack. Nothing like a little shock to the heart to wake you right up. We will be up there for a while.

All those little problems I just bitched about...nothing, forgotten. I am sick.

Blah, Blah, Blah

My mom left yesterday. Oh, woe is me. I have now had to step up and start raising my children again......oh, I am so tired.

You know what? I have been tired my entire life. I cannot remember a time when I was well rested. In elementary school I slept entire weekends away, catching up from the early school hours. In high school I was a walking zombie from waking up at 6 am to curl my 80s doo and make it to school on time. In college I learned very quickly not to schedule classes before 10 and if it were the only time it were offered, I typically skipped it scraping by with C's when I could have been making A's. I even had a summer job once where I drove the five minute drive back to my dorm room and napped my entire lunch hour, never once eating lunch. I chose the location of our honeymoon because there weren't many activities, therefore guaranteeing a nap every afternoon....no, I am not kidding. I am tired. That is all there is to it. I have tried caffeine, exercise, the ten glasses of water a day thing, a diet of no carbs, meats, or sugars, vegetarianism, aromatherapy, and anything else short of a frontal lobotomy and shock therapy. Nothing works. I am destined to be sleepy all of my life. I have no idea how I will be able to function with three children, especially one that will be keeping me up at night. I want to fast forward to retirement when I can sleep until noon again.

I feel sorry for my kids, I really do try to keep them entertained and busy but since I have had this parasite feeding off me for the past few weeks I have had absolutely no energy whatsoever to do anything remotely fun or even useful. My house is only clean right now because my mom cleaned it, but it is already on it's way to complete chaos again. I have lost two checks and the downloading attachments to the camera because they are somewhere buried on my desk from, oh say, eight weeks worth of non organizing. I haven't made a from scratch meal in at least three weeks. FYI: SuperTarget has cheap and good frozen dinners. Do you know what we are having tonight? The five for five Arby's roast beef sandwiches and quite possibly a can of veggies if I can muster up enough energy to run the can opener. I suck. I am a horrible mother right now and it really upsets me. I try to drag myself outside to run and play but then find myself slumped over in the hammock hoping for some piece and quiet. I know my husband is mad at me, he came in last night whistling, twitching, and popping veins when he saw that shepherds pie in the tell tale frozen tin. He always whistles when he is pissed at me. If I hear him whistle one more time I am going to explode. How unfair is it that he can go about his life like nothing is happening, drink his wine and coffee and eat three huge meals a day without puking and still wonder why I am so tired when he wakes up earlier than me. GGGGRRRRRR. Now that's not to say he doesn't help, he actually does help out a whole lot, he just doesn't do it in that cheerful, I would do anything for you way that my mom does. My poor, poor mom. She did way more than any 62 year old woman should be doing and if she didn't have, like, a colonoscopy and heart scan scheduled next week she would still be here keeping my kids company until I dig myself out of this blood sucking funk I am in. I actually got some good pictures of them all together this time and would post them if I knew where in the hell my camera doodads were. Can you just go out and buy those things or do I need a whole new camera? Crap.

Well, I didn't mean for this to be a miserable post. I guess I could tell you how my kid sang the school fight song at chapel this morning with the rest of his class and although I didn't get any pictures for all the rest of the mamas shoving me out of the way, I was able to hear him louder than the rest and he knew ALL the words. I wouldn't have been able to download the pictures anyway.....I could also tell you how at least three of the little girls have crushes on him, I can tell by the way they wave at him and bat their eyes at him and I wasn't upset at all that he ran off away from me after chapel to walk hand in hand with one of them....well, not too upset. At least it was a cute girl. Is it Friday yet?

What is Wrong With People?

This turned my stomach. What makes people want to terrorize children? What is wrong with people?

Is any one else afraid to drop their kids off at school this week?

I am fully aware that there are millions of schools in this country and the odds of something so horrific happening at my kid's school are like one in a billion, but still.

I have issues with Jacob's school because each and every morning at least eighty percent of the parents walk their kids into the school. We were told in no uncertain terms that after the third day of school you were to be dropping them off at the door, but no, two months later same old parents walking those kids right to the classroom and no one says a word. These aren't just kindergarten parents either, I see plenty of teenagers being escorted in as well. It used to just be a nuisance with the parents parking their cars all willy nilly everywhere, and quite humorous to watch the same woman get out with her sweat shorts and Budweiser tee shirt each morning, but now I consider this a safety issue. With the sheer amount of adults wandering in and out of that building each day, any crack head weirdo could case the joint and see that he could get in just as easily with no questions asked. Visitors are supposed to go to the office and sign in and get an id tag to wear while you are in the building and that is all fine and good on paper, but last week when I went to chapel with my kid I was the ONLY one with an id tag and there were plenty of parents there. I pay a lot of money to send my kid to that school. I like his teacher and he is having the time of his life there, but I fully intend to make an appointment with the headmaster and give him my opinion on this issue. I am giving him through the end of the week to realize on his own that he needs to step up and enforce the rules, after that, watch out dude, I don't back down easily where my kid is concerned.

I Love TV

Can I just say that I love the new Thursday night television line-up? Oh, I was sweating, I liked my Grey's Anatomy right after Desperate Housewives on Sunday night to start my week. I thought I would hate, hate, hate waiting until Thursday for my George and McDreamy fix but I couldn't have been more wrong. I love watching Grey's Anatomy and then instantly switching over to ER....so, so awesome!

I am still a huge ER fan, I have followed it since episode one, back in my twenties people....early twenties at that. Some may say it should have been cancelled years ago, and maybe they are right, but I cannot give it up.

I would have given it all up, though, if they had let Abby and Luka's baby die. I was starting to sweat last week when that baby was born so early and she had to have that hysterectomy, but this week when that poor baby, the only one she can ever give birth to, almost died because his dang daddy thought he should be on some new drug trial that ended up perferating his intestines, nuh, uh, you can't do that to me! The NICU is a scary, scary place to me. I have a hard time watching shows in which it is a central part, even for an episode. Jacob spent three weeks there, a blip on his radar screen, but the longest three weeks of my life. He never had issues, he was always a feeder and a grower, but the whole premature birth and leaving my kid behind traumatized me. I was extremely lucky, I know. My friend's son was born prematurely with a heart defect and damn if he didn't nearly die there more times than I can count. The pictures she would send me were like a knife through the heart. She was having the horrible NICU experience and there was nothing I could do for her. It sucked. I am glad to say he's doing well now, but it was a long road and I know she carries those NICU scars with her just like everyone else who has ever been there. Let's just say, thank goodness Abby was there holding that healthy baby at home in the end. PHEW, I would have hated to give up my show.

So....it's been said before that I love, love, love television. I was just remembering last night when I was single and living alone how I could come home, flip on the tube, and watch uninterrupted for hours. It. Was. Awesome. Now, I am lucky to have a few favorites and even luckier if I actually get to watch them on the night they are actually shown. Thank you makers of TIVO, you should win the Nobel prize. Sadie made a nice detailed list of her fall line-up and I thought I would add an extremely modified version of mine. Not that anyone is that interested, but here it is:

Sunday: Cold Case, Desperate Housewives, and Brothers And Sisters

CC and DH are on at the same time this season, it kind of presents a problem, but I think I have finally decided to tivo DH and watch CC....still haven't seen last week's premiere, don't spoil it for me. Brothers and Sisters was really good and I didn't expect it to be. I am not a big Sally Field fan, but if I can handle her on ER I can handle her here.

Monday: The Class, How I Met Your Mother

They cancelled King of Queens! First Raymond, now Doug, it's a travesty. I was ready to give up on CBS altogether for that one, but I like The Class and LOVE How I Met Your Mother. I remember Marshall from Freaks and Geeks, loved him there, love him here and loving that he and Lily broke up, puts a new spin on things because um, if Ted is already hooked up with Robin, the love of his life, where is how I met your mother coming in?

Tuesday: Nothing looks good to me until January when American Idol starts again.

Wednesday: Lost, Jericho

At least I think Jericho will be coming on Wednesday nights. I have caught it on Saturday, Wednesday, and I think a Monday. I liked it, but if it comes on at the same time as Lost I will have to ditch it. Lost is the only show my husband and I watch together so tivo isn't an option there, we have a Wednesday night date.

Thursday: My Name is Earl, The Office, Grey's Anatomy, ER

The BEST night on television as far as I'm concerned. Earl is comic genius and The Office is a riot as well. I am wondering if they are strong enough shows, though, to fend off ABC. I did tivo Ugly Betty last night, but haven't watched it yet, but I doubt I can like it enough to quit Earl. Grey's Anatomy and ER need no explanation...they are my favorites, pure and simple. My husband needs to come to terms with the fact that I will not be available on Thursday nights, he's on his own.

Friday: Men in Trees

I found this one channel surfing and was pleasantly surprised. I don't care for Anne Heche much, the whole breaking into someone's house thing kind of turned me off on her, but it was a nice show. Not as good as Northern Exposure, though, which I think they are trying to rip off of just a little bit.

Saturday: SNL

I can never desert SNL, even if I have no idea now who the musical guests are, and Will Ferrell is no longer there.

So there you have it.....here's hoping my kids will go to bed early and without a fight so I can actually enjoy them and they don't end up still on my tivo in May. Does anyone have any favorites you think I should catch?

Thursday Thirteen

Thirteen Things about My Mom Has Done For Me This Week 1. Bathed my children nightly 2. Read stories to Jacob every night and made sure his teeth are brushed before bed. 3. Swept and mopped my nasty floors 4. Discovered moths and moth larvae (gross) in pantry and spent an entire day cleaning it out and wiping it down with chemicals so I wouldn't have to do it "in my condition" 5. Did all the laundry PLUS she ironed 6. Drove thirty minutes each way to my favorite BBQ joint just because I said it sounded kind of good 7. Spent way too much money on said BBQ and all my favorite sides just to make me happy 8. Changed all the poopy diapers since they now make me gag 9. Located coveted Curious George video and purchased it for first son making for at least an hour of uninterrupted clean/nap time 10. Wrestled Adam to sleep at both nap and bed times which is a major undertaking 11. Trained dog to stay off couch and away from upstairs 12. Changed cat litter box and cleaned it out daily 13. Showed up on my door step when she needed to be home because she knew I would have a rough time with these kids while battling the dry heaves and insomnia. I have the best mom ever! 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!

View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

Take 3

Well, there he is......Take 3. So far, so good. You can see his enormous head to the left and his itty bitty tadpole legs to the right. Looks just like his brothers at that age. This puts me at 9 and a half weeks with a due date of April 28.

This pregnancy is different than the others because I just don't spend that much time thinking about it. Maybe that's because I do not need to take my twice daily supplements to keep my hormone levels up or because we didn't spend months trying to get pregnant this time. Maybe I am just busier this time around and don't have time to dwell on every little thing. I have yet to crack open my pregnancy books, I didn't even know my due date until last week. I try to remember the vitamin, but truthfully, I forget that sometimes as well. The days just continue to fly by and before we know it there will be another little person keeping us up at night. It is all so strange to me. We had settled on being a family of four, I haven't yet been able to wrap my brain around five yet. I guess I better start getting used to it, he's real, I have pictures to prove it.

At this point with my boys I knew already they were boys. I had dreams of meeting them at various points in their lives, and with Adam he even told me his name. That came in real handy when we were struggling to find a name for him....did I ever tell you his name was Paul for a wee bit yet he just wasn't a Paul? Anyway, I haven't had one solid dream about even a baby this time, no new kids, no gender revelations. I keep waiting, but nothing. My gut instinct is to think it's a boy, I mean I already have two, odds are I will have another one, but I have absolutely no feeling like I did with the other two. I personally have no preference. When you are 38 years old having a surprise baby, you just hope for the best. We won't be finding out what it is until it's birth and we are okay with that. I figure since it has surprised me from the beginning, it might as well continue to surprise me until the bitter end.

So, tell me.....anybody have any telling revelations about their children prebirth? Did you find out it's sex before it was born or after?

RIP KW

My best WV friend sent me an email, on my birthday, letting me know that their twenty year old cat had a stroke and had to be put down last week.

Ah, I loved Kitters. I will always have good memories of her trotting across the street in the mornings to sit out in front of my glass door and await her daily treaties. Somedays she would sit out there all day, like she belonged there, and I know some people thought she was my cat. After we moved, I heard she still trotted over there to my porch, waiting by the closed door for some time. That broke my heart.

I last saw Kitters this summer out at my friend's house. She could barely see, couldn't hear much, and had trouble getting around. She was old. But, when I came in and sat down she eventually made her way over to me to snag a few petties and probably hope from some snacks. I kept meaning to bring some to her, but I never did. I am sorry Kitty Witty, sorry I didn't bring those snacks, sorry you had to wait out on the porch when I wasn't there, sorry I didn't get to give you one last pettie. You were a good cat, hope you are having a big time in heaven chasing birds and eating well and I hope there's a soft snuggly spot on a couch just for you.

Laura

It's been a year.

One long, yet short, year since Laura passed away.

So. Very. Sad.


I still cannot fathom how God could take a child, especially one so faithful and devoted to Him. One whose only goal in her short life was to live, to become an adult, to drive a car, to get married, to have a baby. She will never see those things, the things I take for granted each and every day. She will forever be fourteen, her sisters will, God willing, surpass her in age. It doesn't seem right.

My sister is, understandably, having a bad day. She is still the odd man out standing on the sidelines. People do not feel that her grief should be so real and lingering because she wasn't her biological child, but my sister raised that child every other weekend and every other day since she was four years old. They formed a bond quickly and in a sense, she was her first child. My sister was a good mama to her and loved her like her own. We loved her as well, it was hard not too, she always had a kind word and a hug and a scratch for your back. She knew she was dealt a bad hand, but she took it all in stride. She hated the doctors and treatments, but that was a part of her life and she handled it. The prize at the end for all those years of pain and inconvenience should have been a brand new set of healthy lungs and a life where she could run, ride a bike, ice skate, or just sit outside without worrying about oxygen levels. Instead she lies in a fancy box at the base of a huge oak tree surrounded by other dead children. It is not right. I sat down the other day to write out a check to my sister so she could take some nice purple flowers to the cemetary on this day, but I stopped myself. I cannot celebrate this day, it's too hard still, too horrible and I am still filled with so much anger and sadness about it. I cannot imagine how her dad and my sister and even her real mom are doing today. I did decide that Laura deserved those flowers, even if she couldn't see them or smell them, but I will wait until next month on her 16th birthday, a day she looked forward to, what would have been a happy, happy day for her and maybe on that day I can smile a little picturing her taking that drivers test, barely reaching the pedals probably, big smile on her face. Do you think they have cars in heaven?

Another Year Down.....

I had a good birthday. Derick, Jacob, and I spent two days in Galveston and the weather couldn't have been better. Mid-week at the end of September is definitely the time to go. No crowds, no noise, no craziness. Adam was supposed to come as well, but he came down with a fever and a stomach bug of sorts the night before and stayed home. The dog was a great babysitter..... No, my mom came over on Monday, kind of on a whim, to help me out while Derick is gone for the next THREE weeks, and thank goodness for it. It was the first time I had been away from him overnight, but he did great, didn't even miss us, until he got back and realized he'd been left and, oh, the hell that ensued then.





We stayed at an awesome and cheap motel, tooled around the beach for hours, ate the most awesome Mexican food I have ever encountered (and I was able to keep it down, small miracle), and swam in the pool. It was all very entertaining and relaxing. We missed Adam, but it was soooo nice to have an only child again, even if it was for just one night. Jacob had the best time. I just spent a lot of time watching him laugh and enjoy himself and that was the best birthday present ever, of course, that cool sewing machine is nothing to sneeze at either. Jacob was so proud of it, he still had no clue he had tipped me off about it. Now, if I could just muster the energy to take it out of the box and figure it out.....




All in all it was a good birthday, even if we did have to celebrate a day early again. Last year on my birthday I loaded up my kids, my pets, my mom, and my car and headed north to the lake to evacuate for Hurricane Rita. It was also on that day that we found out that Laura had been declared brain dead and would not survive. We spent the entire day waiting for word of her condition, wondering if she were already dead yet. It was horrible, absolutely horrible. In fact, it's like I didn't even have a birthday last year, it was all so weird and surreal. Do you think that means I can erase a year off my age? Anyway, I am extremely thankful for a less stressful birthday. I am happy to have spent it with those closest to me and for the little break in my life to enjoy the sun. Happy Birthday to me!

I Hate Monday

DAMMIT!

Someone hit my car!

I am livid!

This morning I had a doctor's appointment and Derick was going to meet me there so he could juggle Adam since the last time I attempted an appointment he screamed all bloody hell and they still didn't see me since the doctor got called out for an emergency after we waited two hours and, dang, I wasn't listening to that caterwauling again so, grudgingly, he was there waiting in the parking lot. I am glad to see he actually showed but then I notice him flailing his arms and looking all mad and getting that weird tic that he does so I stop. Does he not want me to pull into that space? Has he been taken over by aliens? He finally motions me on and practically accosts me as I get out of the car: "You've been in an accident! What happened?" He shows me where some total jack ass slammed their shitty car into the back half of the driver's side of my car! WHAT THE HELL? I am freaking out and trying to scour my brain for any info that can give me some answers because A. I didn't notice it taking the kid to school this morning, yet I would have remembered being blindsided. and B. I want to kill the asshole who did that to my car and didn't have the damn decency to leave a note. So, I think and think and my husband is griping and complaining and wondering how in the world I didn't notice that at the crack of dawn if I didn't do it, when I suddenly remember. Hey, buddy, I didn't take the car out at all this weekend....YOU DID. Then he is all like, oh well, that kinda stuff happens. Yeah, right! It's all a catastrophe when it's my fault, but when it's his fault, we can live with it for a few months until we save the money to fix it! GGGGGRRRRRRR! I mean, it isn't the worst thing to happen, the car still runs, just looks like we pulled it out of a demolition lot, but why couldn't someone have left a damn note, even an anonymous one to at least say they were effing sorry? Things like this make me like people less and less. Where is common courtesy anymore? AAAGGGHHH, I am so mad!

Birthday Surprise

My birthday is next week. I wish I could say I was looking forward to it, but as it brings me another year closer to old age and death, not so much. My husband is leaving on a business trip overseas the exact day so being left with two fiesty kids while trying to keep my lunch down for a week doesn't appeal to me much either, so kinda dreading next week.

Derick took the kids out this afternoon "to hang out" which is code for buying my birthday gift. I had hopes of getting a long nap but my friendly neighbors felt like it was a good day to have tile installed AND play rousing games of loud as thunder basketball so that didn't happen. So, or course, what was left to do after watching all my tivoed episodes of Desperate Housewive (oh, please tell me Mike isn't going to die!)? Clean. Yep, spent my free time cleaning. I have no life.

Anyway, Jacob came in quite excited, trying so, so hard not to spill the beans and to his credit, he didn't. Then. We went out to eat at one of my favorite places with my free birthday meal postcard (yeah, free food) and he kept mum there as well, the Longhorn game keeping him busy I guess. When we returned home his dad went out to mow and I curled up in the bed and watched some tv with the boys and Jacob and I had this conversation:


Jacob: Mom, do you want to know where we went today?
Me: No, that's okay.
Jacob: We didn't buy you anything for your birthday.
Me: Okay.
Jacob: (waits a few minutes) Do you remember all the trouble you've been having?
Me: Which trouble, you will need to be more specific, I have many troubles.
Jacob: Remember when you were sewing my pillow and your sewing machine fell apart and now it sits in the garage? We didn't buy you a brand new, much more better and more expensive sewing machine that will work and not fall apart like a piece of crap.







Hmmmm......wonder what I'm getting for my birthday this year?

Thursday Thirteen

Thirteen Things about Jacob 1. He was born on March 4, 2001, but he wasn't due until April 26. 2. He has the most beautiful blue eyes I have ever seen. 3. He could identify every single Thomas train before he was two years old, all 100 or so of them. 4. His favorite color is blue. 5. He loves to draw and write his own picture books. He goes through a ream of paper about every two weeks. 6. His favorite food is tomato soup. 7. He is an excellent big brother and I melt every time I hear him whisper to Adam when he thinks I am not listening that he is his best friend. 8. He learned to ride his bicycle without training wheels when he had just turned four, but he took a tumble at some point and now refuses to ride without them. His dad will not put them back on, so he doesn't ride his bike. 9. He was kicked out of Mother's Day Out at the age of two because the teachers deemed him to wild to handle. It was at this same MDO that he learned the Spanish word for shithead. He really surprised the teachers with his language acquisition skills. 10. He is so friendly. He will talk to anyone, anywhere and try to be their friend. He has picked up buddies in the grocery store, rest areas, and doctor's offices. 11. He loves to play board games and he is pretty good at them. He likes to win and it took him a while to learn to be a good loser. His current favorite is Monopoly, just tried that this weekend. 12. He has never liked bubbles. 13. He is afraid of bubble gum. He loves to watch people blow bubbles, but won't go near a stick if you offer it to him. I think I scared him as a small tyke when I would slap gum out of his hands in the trick or treat bucket. I didn't want him to choke, ya know. 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!

View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

It's Always Something.....

Man, I was on a roll today! I woke up before the alarm clock without grumpiness, I fixed top notch breakfasts for my kiddos, and even finished the laundry (including wet sheets) before I had to pick up Jacob from school! My kids were happy, I was happy; Bring on Number Three, I was thinking, piece of cake!

Then this happened:





I mistakenly thought I would practice handwriting and the fifty states with Jacob this afternoon for thirty minutes while Adam played quietly at the train table, or so I thought. I kept glancing at that little angel, with his back to me, and smiling thinking what an awesome little kid he is all while Jacob is reading and writing and pointing out states on a map and I am like, man, I need tissues, my kids are so cute. Then the lesson ended and I called for Adam and he came running, black marker in tow, teeth as black as night, even his scalp was colored.





Now, any other day I might have flipped out, but since I have already spoken with poison control about this very issue, I decided to find the humor in it and let him spend some time in one of his favorite places, the bath. Jacob, of course, not to miss out on a good time, proceeded to mark himself up as well, but he cleaned most of it off before I could get a good picture of him. See, there are the faded remnants of Thomas the Tank Engine on his skinny torso, a good likeness I think.



It was all fun and good and we got a good laugh about it all. I did not realize until after I helped Adam walk upstairs that he had completely covered the soles of his feet with that marker. Until two weeks ago we had dark, green, ugly carpet so it wouldn't have made much of a difference. We now have light, almost white (yes I picked it, I'm a moron) carpet....and now that has little black foot prints on every step. OOPS. I am wondering if Kiwi can come out before my husband comes home.

Row, Row, Row Your Boat

Why do I not live at the lake? It's beautiful and quiet and low key. The house is easier to keep clean and the yard is twenty times bigger than the one we have now. Oh, yeah, because there is only a Dairy Queen and a bait store there and I think they have all the employees they need.




Dude, what is going on? What is this contraption you have strapped me into? Am I on the way to the looney bin or what? I promise I'll behave....no more wire hangers!!!!




We took Adam on his first boat ride this weekend. I really thought he would dig it since he is all into cars and trucks and things that go and those boats in the bathtub really make him happy, but I believe his reaction was more of stunning disbelief. Even after we had stopped so that Jacob could fish, he sat still as a stone staring out at the water for ten minutes. I could lie and say he is just so gifted that he was soaking in that moment of nature's pure beauty to remember for a lifetime, but really, I think he was scared shitless, which is ssooooo unlike him. It was actually quite nice, no chasing him off the edge or bribing him with snacks to make him sit still like his brother. I was actually able to sit with my feet up for about ten minutes. But as the shock wore off and he came back to reality, he realized he was surrounded by water (fun!) and there was a steering wheel (double fun!) and my relaxing ground to a halt. No, no baby, mustn't jump into the lake. Big motors are not for little fingers. Worms taste yucky! A good time was had by all, although we did miss our old friend Budweiser who couldn't join us.

We Will Never Forget......

Alan J. Lederman was 43 years old on September 11, 2001. He just recently began a new job as a senior client specialist with Aon Corporation on the 92nd floor of the World Trade Center, Tower 2 and was living in Manhattan with his wife. When the first plane hit Tower 1, Mr. Lederman called his family to let them know he was okay and people were trying to leave the building, but he never did leave, as far as they know, because he stayed behind to help two women who were too afraid to go.

Just a couple of months before September 11, Mr. Lederman and a friend took a vacation to California in hopes of climbing Mount Whitney , the highest mountain in the continental United States. While his friend didn't quite make it, Mr. Lederman did. When he reached the summit, he signed the guestbook with "Where's the Snack Bar?" For a short time he was on top of the world.

I never met Alan J. Lederman. He was a name given to me to honor on this day, the fifth anniversary of 9/11. While I watched in horror at the events of that day, I could not fully understand what those families went through or the panic those people in the buildings and planes must have felt. I did not know anyone personally who perished in the attacks, but I look at this man's face and I wonder what he was thinking, what it was he said to comfort the women with whom he stayed behind, and did he ever try to get out of the building? I think these things and realize his family must struggle with those thoughts every day, their lives changed forever in one horrible morning.

My hat is off to Alan J. Lederman. He lived too short a life and will forever be missed by his family and friends and by one complete stranger who wishes she had the answer to all the questions.


To view other tributes click here.

Thursday Thirteen

Thirteen Things I Like About Having Boys 1. Thomas the Tank Engine 2. Overalls 3. Their ability to pee on the side of the road or in the backyard with little effort. 4. Trucks 5. Legos, lots and lots of Legos 6. Baby Blue 7. Football, soccer, and Little League games 8. The rough and tumbleness 9. The inate ability to say vroom upon seeing a car before they can even speak. 10. No hairdressing skills required 11. Match Box Cars 12. The lack of prissy attitude 13. They always love their Mama. Links to other Thursday Thirteens! (leave your link in comments and I'll add you here) 1. Lisa 2. Sadie

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!

View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

And So It Begins......

I have been pregnant for a week...or at least known about it for a week. I can honestly say that aside from the awkward moment when I told my mom and sister about it, it completely slipped my mind the entire weekend. I had no symptoms whatsoever, nada, nothing.

Until now.


Tooling through the Kroger, I was blindsided by the wretched smell of seared chicken flesh. Spontaneous gagging ensued. That was just the beginning....

I can no longer even look at my toothbrush without developing dry heaves. But brush, I must, so I toil through. Brush, brush, gag, brush, brush, gag. Rinse, spit, puke.

I can only eat french fries and cold ones at that. Anything else falls to the pit of my stomach and stays there...all day.

I cry at anything. Yesterday it was Crocodile Hunter and Katie Couric. Today it was Sesame Street because how cute were those girls playing in that doll house and then those mean kitties came and crashed it all down but I love the kitties because they are just like my kitty and my kitty is getting old and could die in, say, eight years, and oh that would be so horrible and, Oh, Lord, my kids keep getting old and one day they won't want to watch Sesame Street but grow up, marry some skanky girl and spend their holidays with her family, then I will die all alone, with just my cat.

I want to sleep all day, but can't sleep at night because of the insomnia. Wretched hell.

And this is only the beginning.....just shoot me now.

How the Saga Ends....

Last Friday, Derick called new company and accepted their offer.


Today, he called new company and told them he changed his mind.


WHAT?


Gee, thanks for dragging me on this dizzying ride for the past six weeks. Wait until I tell everyone we are moving and then change your mind.


Crap.


I was really looking forward to leaving Texas. I wanted to be able to drive to my mother's on a whim. I wanted White Castle and Skyline Chili. I wanted winter. Yet, here I stay another year, or five, fighting the humidity, mosquitoes, and traffic. We are not Texans. We don't fit in here and I am tired of trying. We have lived here seven years and still don't know the neighbors. We are alone here with no support, no back up, no help in a crisis. We shouldn't have to live like this. Life is more than work and jobs and who has the most money at the end. I thought my husband understood that, but apparently not enough. I am mad.





You mean we aren't going to see snow this year????

Book Meme

I was tagged by Michelle over at Big Blueberry Eyes.....


So here are the directions:

Grab the book closest to you.
Open to page 123
Scroll down to the 5th sentence.
Post the text of the next 3 sentences on your blog - name of the book and the author.
Then tag 3 people.


Here goes....
I studied one picture of Rachel, Annalise, and me after a football game. I was in my cheerleading uniform, and they were both wearing Naperville High sweatshirts.

That was from Something Blue by Emily Giffin. I just finished all of her novels and recommend them all, but if you choose to read them, you must start with Something Borrowed as it came first and you need the whole story to get you through.

Now I tag.....
Shane, Sadie, and OneHung, but anyone else who sees this is welcome to play as well.

Labor Day

Way to Go, Mountaineers!

WVU beat Marshall 45-10. It was a great game even if I didn't get to hear a bit because the goofballs at the bar restaurant couldn't figure out how to turn up the volume on their big screen.




We had a good weekend. My sister, mom, and neice came over from Florida to surprise Jacob and, boy, was he surprised! I think he ran on autopilot the entire time. It's a shame he can't see Abigail more often. They had such fun.






We went to a picnic at an awesome wave pool....







We went bowling....










and we ate lots of ice cream.....







Isn't that what Labor Day is all about?

Let's Go Mountaineers!

IT'S FOOTBALL SEASON!



This is Mountaineer Field, my most favorite place in all the world. My blood runs blue and gold as I am huge West Virginia fan. I spent seven years, seven awesome years, attending West Virginia University and consider them to be among the best times of my life. I would like to say that I chose a college because it would give me a quality education, but that would be a lie. I went to WVU for the social activities and I was not disappointed. It doesn't rank up there as one of the top five party schools in the country each year for nothing. Home football Saturdays were legendary. My dorm mates and I would wake up before daylight and cruise down for our obligatory keg and onto the best, free tailgating spot in the place. We tailgated for hours before the game, during the game if it started to suck, and well after the game so as to avoid all the traffic. I even went on to graduate school so as not to miss a moment of the football fun. After graduation I would occasionally meet up with a friend or two and hit a game and after I hooked up with Derick I convinced him that he also was a Mountaineer fan so we purchased season tickets and sat through every home game. We had horrible seats, but I was happy. One of the worst things, for me, about leaving West Virginia seven years ago was giving up my football fix. For some damn reason, we get a lot of Longhorns on the tube and no Mountaineers, go figure.

So, tomorrow afternoon as I am sitting downtown in a crowded bar watching the season opener (against Marshall, should be spectacular), drinking my O'Douls (so sucks), and tearing up as they play the fight song, I will be just a little bit happier because very soon I will be just a stone's throw away from that beautiful field and maybe, just maybe, I can make it there in time to catch a game this year.

You've Never Heard of Boudin?

For those unlucky few who have never tasted it, or even heard of it:


THIS is boudin.


It is a mixture of pork, pork liver, rice, peppers, and spices all pushed together in a sausage casing. Healthy? Nope. Tasty? Oh, heck yeah! It is a Cajun delicacy that I am lucky enough to be able to buy in any supermarket I walk into here in Texas, a perk to being that close to Louisiana, I guess. You northerners don't know what you're missing!

Thursday Thirteen

Thirteen Things I Would Miss About Texas 1. Sonic Drive-In 2. Crystal Beach 3. Spring time in February 4. Barbecue, specifically Central Texas BBQ, but it's all good. 5. Central Time Zone.....I can see my shows AND still be in bed by ten. Sweet. 6. Boudin.....I LOVE boudin and they don't even know what it is in Ohio. 7. Jacob's school or more specifically, I would miss him going to that school, the teacher is working wonders with him. 8. My library and my library ladies who love my boys like their own. 9. The lake....that's a big one. I love the lake and would have a hard time not being able to go there every couple of months. 10. My other Mamas....this I need to explain. I grew up east of here and spent time with my mom's friend's kids and spent nights with them etc. You know, basic kid stuff, well, I loved those women like my own mom or at least very close aunts, and those same women have been with me now as an adult since we moved here through the births of my kids and each one of their birthdays just like good aunties should do. It will be hard, HARD, to have another kid without them coming over to lavish love on him. 11. Erin...we may never be this close, distance wise, again. 12. My OB, God love him. He has the worst bedside manner in the free world, but he knows how to cut on my dotted lines and I don't want to have to fill someone else in on all my bodily malfunctions and birthing quirks. 13. Mexican Food! Real Mexican Food, not that Chi-Chis crap. Mi Casita, Dos Mas, Casa Ole, that dive in La Porte that I can't remember the name Links to other Thursday Thirteens! 1. (leave your link in comments, I’ll add you here!)

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Surprise, Surprise, Surprise

Well another factor to take into consideration in the big move saga.


I'm pregnant.


How can this be? It took me months and years of jumping through hoops and standing on my head to end up with these two. I am flabbergasted and just a little bit sick. That's not to say we won't be happy to welcome number three to the brood, it's just, well, a bit.......surprising.


BTW....if you know me in real life and especially if you know my mother in real life, please do not mention this new little turn of events. The family won't be notified until we determine this is a keeper or until I work up the nerve. Am I the only one who feels awkward informing the parents of these things? It's like now they know, for sure, that I have sex. It's embarrassing. But, it would be so much worse if they found it out from someone else, so please remember the old saying: Loose lips sink ships and, well, consider my mom the ship and picture her sinking to the bottom of the ocean hearing this news.


When it rains, it pours.

Early Morning Observations

1. Why does the same damn lady in the seafoam green buick pull into the right turn lane to turn left EVERY DAY? Does she not see that she is backing up traffic into the next intersection because the light is TTTTTHHHHHIIIIIISSSSSS long and the left lane is EMPTY? Lady, for your own safety, you better quit that shit because judging by the honking and swearing I saw today (not all of it from me) somebody's going to snap. I'm just saying.

2. Most elementary school children should be walked to the bus stop and maybe even watched there by a parent or other trusted individual. I almost hit three, count em, three kids on my morning drive today. I am nothing if not cautious and I know those kids are there but I cannot stop that 2 ton SUV in a millisecond when your kid runs out TWO FEET IN FRONT OF ME even if I am only going 15 mph. Safety 101 people.

3. Middle and Junior High girls WILL apply make up at the bus stop and it ain't pretty. I am nearly blinded by the glitter and orange faces as I drive past. They also pin up their skirts with safety pins. They're sly ones.

4. Now, I have been known to give the finger in my day, but with impressionable youngsters in the back seat I hold back unless there is a truly heinous offense, BUT, I have never gotten the finger directed at me so much in my life as I have these past two weeks by folks going to the very same Christian school as me. If my going 55 in a 35 is too slow for you, then you need to leave the house earlier. Passing in the turning lane is illegal as is riding the turning lane a half mile at 45 to get past all the rest of us who need to go the same place as you. I got a good laugh at you, gold altima, when you raced like a maniac to get around me and my kid got out of the car before yours.

5. Panera Bread is empty at 8:15 in the morning but they charge two bucks for a small carton of chocolate milk.

6. Nothing is cuter than brothers in matching shirts.

Which Do You Like Best? Check one....Texas or Ohio?

Well, we still haven't come to a decision about the big move. There are many pros and cons to consider. Of course, the fact that we would be so much closer to family and Mountaineer football outweighs some of the cons by just a hair, we cannot overlook the fact that we may end up as poor as church mice as a result. I think we were all set to go until they fed exed the benefit package Friday afternoon.....Holy Crap!....why don't you ask us to cut off our big toe as well, because we would probably miss that less than what they would be hacking out of the monthly paycheck. Geeze, we never knew we had it so good and honestly, I worked for the government and ours wasn't even that bad. Add that to the monthly mortgage increase, the state income taxes we would have to start paying (Texas has no state income tax, one good thing about it) and all that extra salary would be no more. We may even end up earning less each month. Ouch.

BUT, it is soooo close to the family we just hate to turn it down. My kids have NEVER lived closer than 22 hours away from their grandparents and they aren't going to live forever ya know? AAGGHH.....ultimately, the decision is Derick's at this point. He is the one who will be working that job every day and bringing home the bacon, but my stomach is in knots contemplating either outcome. On the one hand, we would be back in the land of 4 seasons, have a bigger home and a nicer neighborhood, and be within a three hour drive of all family members BUT it will cost us. A lot. On the other hand we could stay here, take our chances during hurricane season, live comfortably and not in debt, put my kid in private school, and have affordable health care. Why aren't these things ever easy?

Oh, and about my sister....I did find out that Houston is just ONE option for her, although if we stay it would be her first option because, obviously, she wants needs free child care (although it's a long shot, I do a little happy dance in my head when I think I could watch my neice every day). She could also go to St. Louis, which she hates because that is where Laura passed away and brings back too many bad memories, or somewhere in Alabama, which wouldn't be good for me, but good for her because it would be closest to her step-daughter who will stay with her mom.

I will keep ya'll posted as I know you're waiting on pins and needles for the conclusion to this saga. I would have more interesting things to post about if Blogger would just allow me to post some pictures now and then.

This is my kind of luck

So I think we are, like, 85 percent sure we are going to move to Ohio. There are many things to consider, like Derick will only get three weeks vacation EVER which sucks and milk might be considered a luxury item there, but it is so much closer to family and we really hate the year round summer here so it just seems like a good opportunity. Let's go Buckeyes!

But today, I get this little bit of information.....

My sister, in order to advance in her company, is being forced to take a transfer.

Guess where.

Come on, give it a shot.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.

Houston


HAHAHAHAHAHAHA....figures.

Thursday Thirteen

Top Thirteen Songs on My IPod


1. Forever Young by: Alphaville
Classic 80s tune, high school dance material at it's best.

2. Take Me Home, Country Roads by: John Denver
No West Virginia native can hear this without a getting a tear in their eye.

3. Ohio (Come Back to Texas) by: Bowling for Soup
The whole leaving Texas to go to Ohio seems sort of familiar.

4. Over the Rainbow by: Israel Kamakawiwo'ole
If you haven't heard this song you are truly missing out.

5. 100 Years by: Five for Fighting
Yeah, that Citibank credit card commercial song.

6. December, 1963 by: Frankie Valli
This one really dates me doesn't it?

7. Change of Heart by: Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
I remember Erin and I bopping around to her bright red 45 (remember those?) on Friday nights when we would stay up late to catch the Twillight Zone and by late I mean midnight....we were so cool.

8. Mr. Heat Miser
I'm Mr. Heat Miser, I'm Mr. Sun. I'm Mr. Green Christmas, I'm Mr. 101. Need I say more?

9. More Than a Feeling by: Boston
A little head shaking and air guitar, you know you've done it.

10. 1985 by: Bowling for Soup
When did Ozzy become an actor? She is still preoccupied with 1985. Yeah, my theme song except for the yellow SUV, high school kids, and sucky life.

11. Bad Day by: Daniel Powter
Because I can't go a whole year without something to remind me of American Idol.

12. Jack and Diane by: John Cougar....no, not John Cougar Mellencamp, he was John Cougar then. Am I the only one who remembers that? I love the 80s.

13. Just Like Heaven by: The Cure
My absolute favorite song of all time.

Links to other Thursday Thirteens!
1. (leave your link in comments, I’ll add you here!)



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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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*Yawn*

I. Am. So. Tired.

Is it May yet?

Who knew that starting the day so early would be so.....tiring

See, I am so tired I can't even come up with colorful words to convey that.

I had a dream last night that Brad Paisley was confessing his undying love for me and I was asking him what about his wife, you know that chicky from According to Jim, and he opened his mouth to say..........beep, beep, beep, beep. What the heck? Has he been taken over by aliens? No, my alarm clock went off jolting me out of bed waaaayyyy before I was ready. Dang, it was still half dark outside, that's just unnatural.

Jacob has to be at school at 8:05. Technically, it's 8:15, but he can go in at 8:05 and I avoid all the traffic if I leave earlier. This means I must leave my house by 7:50. This also means I must wake up by 6:50 to get the kids fed, dressed, and washed and hope to do the same to myself. This morning I said screw the shower. It's the first time I have left my house without cleaning up since those early morning classes in college. I have hit a new low.

Now, I have routinely awakened at 6:30 most of my mommy days. Shoot, when there were infants in the house I might even have been up for hours by then but the difference there was that I didn't have to leave the house. Laying in bed a little longer could always be negotiated with pop tarts and Max and Ruby. We could leisurely begin our day at, say, 9 or shoot, 10. Sometimes I didn't shower until after The View because my son loved Star Jones, yes he really did and Dr. Phil too, come on, I just turned it on for him.

Really.

Our View days are over and it's not just because they canned our gal Star to replace her with crazy Rosie, it's because I have to drive him to school EVERYDAY. It's only been five days, how will I make it the other 175?

Must. Have. More. Sleep.

Oh, my friendly mower dudes showed up last week after 8:00 for the first time EVER! Yeah, figured it would be the first day I had to wake up at 6:30. Gee thanks, couldn't have done that LAST YEAR?

What to do, what to do.....

Another week....

Why does the time go so quickly now that I am so old? I don't remember weeks passing like this as a child. Remember when someone would tell you it was three weeks until Christmas and it was like a small lifetime to you? Now you hear three weeks until Christmas and you are scrambling to get everything done. If it just keeps getting faster I shudder to think about what it will be like when I am, say, 60.

Anyway, it's a big day here. Today should be the day we find out if we are moving to Columbus. We have finally figured out the logistics and although it might be a bit of a stretch, I think we can do it. We might have to live on rice and beans and the kids might have to give up their love of fresh produce, but I think we can manage (i.e. hanging on by the edge of our splitting fingernails). The cost of living is a lot higher up there (you wouldn't think so, but it is) and our mortgage payment, well, la, la, la, la, la, la (picture me covering my ears) it won't be that cough, cough bad. Will I have to go back to work?....maybe, but for now I think we have things figured out in that dreamy "life will be grand" way but then you get there and realize, what the hell did we just do? I have to say the thought of being within three hours of my old friends and family does make me a little bit giddy and that, maybe, just maybe, my parents can watch my kids on the weekends when we might want to GASP, go to a movie makes my head spin. We have never even met a babysitter here, we do nothing if it's not with the kids. How nice it would be to eat out without having to corral and conquer.

But seriously, aside from the money thing, I am worried about Jacob. Like, a lot. His is doing well in school and making a lot of progress, but I fear moving him away from everything he has ever known might scar him for life. There is no way in hell we would be able to afford private school there so he would have to go to the full day kindergarten at the public school. He is not ready for that. He barely makes it through his three and a half hours as it is. Plus, starting a new school even at the beginning of the year is bad enough, but mid-year, it's like social suicide. I know, I know, we don't even know if Derick will get the job yet, but you gotta know my angle by now, I MUST plan everything! I have to know every possible scenario before I make a commitment. I am just weird that way.

But the good news is that they have Skyline Chili there. It's worth it just for that isn't it?


Well, keep your fingers crossed.......

Fun at the Lake......and Farm

The lake was wonderful! Remember, I went to the lake last weekend? Geez, seems like forever ago. Anyway, it was the first time I ever took the kids up there alone and I really didn't have to take up smoking to get through it. The cable was out when we arrived (anyone know anything about Rapid Cable because I am thinking they are running a scam) and I seriously considered turning around and going home as you know I love my television, but it turned out to be pretty nice without the old boob tube. We played in the wading pool and the sprinklers and the boys played an entire evening on the swing set slide in their underwear/diaper (don't ask). Jacob asked if I would sit out with him one night and look at stars, so I did. We don't see many stars here in the city and it was absolutely heavenly. One morning my mom's friend called to invite us to their farm, so we took them up on it. We had an awesome time, if only it had been thirty degrees cooler though.

Let Them Eat Cake

Ta da!

It is Thomas the Tank Engine in edible cake form for your viewing pleasure. Can you believe this cake cost half as much as my wedding cake which fed over 100 people? It definitely was a splurge, but you only have a first day of school EVER once.

Jacob's first day went allright. They are learning letters and what sounds they make but Jacob already knows that. I think he is a little ahead of most of the kids, the stuff he brings home is like the stuff he did last year and, of course, he can read. I don't know if any of the other kids can but I felt my chest puff out when he went around the tables and read all the kid's names off their tags. Yep, that's my kid! He might not be the best behaved but he's smart!





As you can see the cake was a big hit. It came in a huge box shaped like a train shed and I think Jacob liked that better than the cake itself. Adam was just thrilled to be eating cake. We had blue lips and blue teeth afterwards and my fingernails are still a blue tint today. It took two baths to wash it off, makes me wonder if it's safe to ingest. When I went downstairs this morning I found blue frosting on the pantry door and all over the table. I clean it up and
it mysteriously reappears! I won't even go into the technicolor diapers I have changed today. The best part is that I can reuse these Thomas pieces and make this cake on my own. I won't have to bake that dreaded cake pan Thomas with the three hours of frosting stars EVER again! It was almost worth the price just for that!

Another First.....

As if I didn't have enough milestone occasions here, we took Adam to have his first haircut last night.



Before....








During.....










After.....






Well, almost after. He didn't actually get the haircut completed as he decided he had enough, threw a fit and flung himself into my arms. The back looks good, but it's still long in the front, kind of your reverse mullet going on where we have to do the comb over to keep it out of eyes. He enjoyed it at first, the cool car to sit in, Go Diego Go on the tube, but DANG did it take forever for that girl to cut his hair. If she had been a little speedier I think she could have finished, but who can blame a one year old for not wanting to sit still for fifteen minutes? Now he looks like such a little boy, so sweet, but I miss my baby. No more milestones for a while, I hope. Erin informs me that her son, who is only 1 month older than Jacob, lost a tooth yesterday and may lose another soon. I cannot even go there right now. Please, please, please no loose teeth for a while!