I really do. I like to shop. I like to decorate. I like Christmas music. I like to bake - some. I like to eat too much. I like to spend time with family. But somehow I always get depressed at Christmas. My house is half decorated. My shopping is half done. Nothing is wrapped. I haven't baked anything (except chicken burritos for dinner last night.) I'm okay with all of that even. But every year it hits me. There is something missing. I want this perfect Norman Rockwell Christmas where everyone is happy and we all get along and go for rides to look at Christmas lights and have parties with friends and family and then go home and sit in front of the fire and drink hot chocolate. But we don't get along and don't go to parties and don't have a fireplace and hot chocolate makes my kids wild. I want to go to church on Christmas Eve and for the kids to get up Christmas morning and say "look what Santa brought me" instead of "see I told you Santa wasn't real because he didn't bring me a go-cart or an ipod or a new computer like I asked for." I realize this is unrealistic. And I also realize it is part of the problem. When my expectations are high, I'm going to be disappointed. And yeah, my kids are past Santa age but they could still either get in the spirit and pretend or at least realize that Santa is a single mom with 5 kids and a budget.
Oh well, I'm off to gather the kids to decorate the tree and eat candy canes and probably break up a couple of fights.....
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Friday, December 2, 2011
10 inches
That's how much hair I had cut off this week. I am donating it. I've done it once before and have been thinking about doing it again but waiting until my hair was long enough. It finally was...just barely.
The woman that cut it was really nervous. I didn't realize this until she was done. The fact that she really wasn't talking should have clued me in but she said she doesn't talk much when she gets in a zone. And I told her to begin with that I had done it before and that it was just hair and would grow back. When she got done I could tell she was surprised. She kept saying "Thank you Lord" and "that was all Him" and stuff like that. I really love it a lot! Today I didn't even do anything to it and it looks good. And when I run I don't have to worry about constantly readjusting my ponytail or anything like that. And it feels good to have my hair loose and let the wind blow through it. It might have even made me a little faster....okay, not really but it sure feels good!
 |
| Here is what was cut off |
Friday, November 18, 2011
A block of cheese and a box of wheat thins
Just 2 of the many things that have gone missing from the kitchen only to turn up in the boys' rooms at a later time. I'm tired. Really. Really. Tired. I now have 2 kids in alternative school. And 2 more who I'm doing my best to teach to do the right thing while they watch their brothers go down the absolute wrong path. Their dad is checked out. He doesn't have to deal with it on a daily basis so he just pretends everything is fine. He doesn't show up for meetings at the schools and even though he only lives 5 minutes away he does not help out with discipline when the boys are acting up at home. Not that I would expect much from him....he doesn't even come to soccer games....even when the boys are at his house for the weekend. This isn't really about cheese or wheat thins but sometimes I wish it was. If dealing with hungry boys pilfering food was the worst of my problems I would love it. But it isn't. It is about boys with a lack of respect for rules and laws and other people's things who are impulsive and want what they want when they want it and don't care about the consequences or who gets hurt in the process.
Monday, November 14, 2011
You
You say I am strong.
I am not.
You ask me how I am.
I lie.
You say you could not do this.
You have not had to.
You say you feel sorry for me.
That is not what I need.
You say you would do it differently.
You have not been in my shoes.
You blame, you point, you pity.
But you do not help.
I am not.
You ask me how I am.
I lie.
You say you could not do this.
You have not had to.
You say you feel sorry for me.
That is not what I need.
You say you would do it differently.
You have not been in my shoes.
You blame, you point, you pity.
But you do not help.
Saturday, November 5, 2011
Alabama LSU
I am watching the Alabama vs. LSU game tonight. I'm watching because it should be a really good game, not because I care too much who wins. I have decided to root for Alabama though. Here are my reasons...
- Geaux is not a word
- Yellow and Purple? Not a good combination.
- Shelley from Big Brother was an LSU fan.
- Alabama is ranked no. 2 behind No. 1 LSU and I like to root for the underdog.
- Alabama is Red like my GA teams.
- The Alabama A is similar the the Atlanta A for the Braves.
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Life goes on...
Today was a bad day....I spent most of it in bed. Things are not much better but I said I would update and try to have some positive things to say so here goes. In the middle of my life crisis...
- My Tiny Moon decided to turn 9.
- My oldest turned 21 and bought himself a beer....that he then didn't finish because he's not really a drinker...
- I helped my boyfriend move.....it was rough, but we got it done in 2 days and now he is WAY closer to work.
- Halloween! We had a bloody doctor, Scream, and a girl (he made a really good girl too!)
- Yes I have 4 kids who are trick or treat age.....but trying to stay positive here
- we didn't get any trick or treaters so I have lots of candy sitting next to me calling my name....
- I am down below 130 pounds....and trying not to listen to the candy
- I saved over 60% on my groceries using coupons
- One soccer season ended with a winning record
- One game left on the other and they are working on winning one game...
Thursday, October 27, 2011
I'm ok
I'm posting in order to move my last post down and not make people think that I'm suicidal or anything like that. I'm not and while things are really rough, I will get through this. Its not something I can blog about right now. I started this blog thinking it would be a place to write everything down almost like a journal and that no one would really read it but people occasionally wander by here and this is something that I just dont want out there. I'm signing off to go watch Nancy Grace to remind me there are people out there worse off than me. Hopefully I'll be back by next week with some more positive posts.
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Too hard
Today was a really rough day. I cried all day long off and on. I dont know what to do. One of my teens cried himself to sleep. it was his own fault. It still hurt my heart to see and to know why. I have some big decisions to make. I dont want to make them. I just want things to be better and they aren't.
Thursday, October 13, 2011
I am on steroids!
I don't go to the doctor....except for annual checkup at GYN because well I have to. But I don't get sick and I don't go to the general practitioner. Hadn't been in at least 3 years. Until I started running...
I have a spinal condition called spondylolisthesis and when I first started running I was (and still am) having a lot of back and hip pain so I went in to get checked to make sure running wasn't making it worse. The doctor said everything looked okay and that I needed to strengthen my core and sent me off with an anti-inflammatory and some muscle relaxers. Which I don't take. Because I'm not very good at taking medicine. I don't like it and I don't remember to do it. I did take 1 muscle relaxer.....I couldn't do anything the entire next day. The anti-inflammatory only works if you take it regularly and doesn't really kick in for 2 or 3 days. So I'm sticking to my ibuprofen and aleve.
But yesterday I was back at the doctor's office. I really don't feel horrible. I felt like I might be coming down with something and usually when I feel like that I deny that I'm sick and take some airborne...ya know, just in case. But during my runs this week I have not been able to breathe after about 10 minutes. Like literally gasping for air and feeling like my lungs are closing up. And then coughing and tightness after. Normally I would think okay time to take some Airborne and rest up a little. BUT, I'm running a 5k on Saturday morning. And since my last one took me 43 minutes I'm thinking that not being able to breathe for the last 33 minutes would not be good. I thought they would give me something to break up the mucus that I just knew was beginning to fill up my chest and maybe give me an inhaler to use to make sure my lungs were opened up on Saturday.
My lungs were clear. She asked me if I had acid reflux. Well yeah and it's really bad, but I came in here because I can't breathe, not because I wake up in the middle of the night choking on yuck stuff from my esophagus (ok, gross, I know.) Apparently it turns out that somehow acid reflux can trigger bronchospasms. And so can running in cold weather. And the weather here has just gotten colder over the past couple of weeks. So I have been diagnosed with exercise induced bronchospasms and acid reflux. I left the office with 3 prescriptions. Which I am going to do my best to take. I did get an inhaler to use before running and remembering that won't be a problem. A 5 day dose of oral steroids to help with breathing should also be easy to take since it's a short time. But I also ended up with a prescription for an acid reflux medicine that I have to take EVERY DAY....for 4 MONTHS! I'm gonna try but not sure how that one is gonna go. Did I mention I don't like taking medicine?
Took the steroids this morning and discovered a wonderful side effect. My hips didn't hurt all day! Then I ran tonight...2.8 miles. My right hip did start hurting by mile 1 but my left hip did not hurt at all and still doesn't! Now my only problem is that I have gotten slightly out of shape over the last couple of weeks from not being able to run as long, but I still took about 30 seconds off of my mile pace tonight so my goal Saturday is just to beat 43 minutes....I'm a really slow runner I know....
I have a spinal condition called spondylolisthesis and when I first started running I was (and still am) having a lot of back and hip pain so I went in to get checked to make sure running wasn't making it worse. The doctor said everything looked okay and that I needed to strengthen my core and sent me off with an anti-inflammatory and some muscle relaxers. Which I don't take. Because I'm not very good at taking medicine. I don't like it and I don't remember to do it. I did take 1 muscle relaxer.....I couldn't do anything the entire next day. The anti-inflammatory only works if you take it regularly and doesn't really kick in for 2 or 3 days. So I'm sticking to my ibuprofen and aleve.
But yesterday I was back at the doctor's office. I really don't feel horrible. I felt like I might be coming down with something and usually when I feel like that I deny that I'm sick and take some airborne...ya know, just in case. But during my runs this week I have not been able to breathe after about 10 minutes. Like literally gasping for air and feeling like my lungs are closing up. And then coughing and tightness after. Normally I would think okay time to take some Airborne and rest up a little. BUT, I'm running a 5k on Saturday morning. And since my last one took me 43 minutes I'm thinking that not being able to breathe for the last 33 minutes would not be good. I thought they would give me something to break up the mucus that I just knew was beginning to fill up my chest and maybe give me an inhaler to use to make sure my lungs were opened up on Saturday.
My lungs were clear. She asked me if I had acid reflux. Well yeah and it's really bad, but I came in here because I can't breathe, not because I wake up in the middle of the night choking on yuck stuff from my esophagus (ok, gross, I know.) Apparently it turns out that somehow acid reflux can trigger bronchospasms. And so can running in cold weather. And the weather here has just gotten colder over the past couple of weeks. So I have been diagnosed with exercise induced bronchospasms and acid reflux. I left the office with 3 prescriptions. Which I am going to do my best to take. I did get an inhaler to use before running and remembering that won't be a problem. A 5 day dose of oral steroids to help with breathing should also be easy to take since it's a short time. But I also ended up with a prescription for an acid reflux medicine that I have to take EVERY DAY....for 4 MONTHS! I'm gonna try but not sure how that one is gonna go. Did I mention I don't like taking medicine?
Took the steroids this morning and discovered a wonderful side effect. My hips didn't hurt all day! Then I ran tonight...2.8 miles. My right hip did start hurting by mile 1 but my left hip did not hurt at all and still doesn't! Now my only problem is that I have gotten slightly out of shape over the last couple of weeks from not being able to run as long, but I still took about 30 seconds off of my mile pace tonight so my goal Saturday is just to beat 43 minutes....I'm a really slow runner I know....
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Tiny Moon explained
Since I recently posted a picture of my Tiny Moon Man I figured I would explain why I call my youngest child Tiny Moon. He does not like it .... but I do and I'm mean like that. And I think it's cute and he earned it. I have lots of little silly nicknames for him and he hates them all, and it doesn't stop me from using them when cuddling and snuggling with him. Tiny Moon is the name I use when referring to him on Facebook. One of my friends once commented and said the fact that we call him that was so profound or deep or something. She had no clue why we call him that. It's really not profound or deep or anything like that.
One day a friend and I were sitting on the back deck chatting when she looked at the door and what did she see but a butt. The butt of my youngest son to be exact. For some reason he felt the need to pull his pants down and press his little hiney against the glass of the deck door. My friend said "hey, I see a tiny moon," and it stuck. She calls him that every time she sees him. He "grrrrs" at her and pretends to be mad but I think he secretly likes it. And besides, like I said he earned it.....and he'll probably never live it down...
One day a friend and I were sitting on the back deck chatting when she looked at the door and what did she see but a butt. The butt of my youngest son to be exact. For some reason he felt the need to pull his pants down and press his little hiney against the glass of the deck door. My friend said "hey, I see a tiny moon," and it stuck. She calls him that every time she sees him. He "grrrrs" at her and pretends to be mad but I think he secretly likes it. And besides, like I said he earned it.....and he'll probably never live it down...
Thursday, October 6, 2011
Status updates
Since it is so much easier for me to update Facebook than to blog and since i haven't kept up with blogging much the past couple of months, I figured I'd post my last 2 months of status updates.....including the never-ending Cosmo status that got stuck in cyberspace and kept resending itself.
Wed October 5, 2011, 8:30 pm: Watching the blind side with my boys
Tue October 4, 2011, 1:51 am: Wide. Awake.
Sun October 2, 2011, 10:06 am: Brrrrrrrrr!!!!!!
Sat October 1, 2011, 10:28 pm: Finally crawling into bed after a long day...i feel old
Sat October 1, 2011, 11:50 am: Someone needs to teach that dude how to catch...
Fri September 30, 2011, 8:57 pm: Just had flashbacks to skate a long U.S.A....saw a woman with a comb sticking out of her back pocket ...
Fri September 30, 2011, 3:02 pm: I am nuts.....signing up for another 5k before i chicken out!
Tue September 27, 2011, 5:48 pm: Tiny moon goal!
Mon September 26, 2011, 9:33 pm: When my mama told me life was hard I had no clue this is what she meant...
Sun September 25, 2011, 2:50 pm: Not last...
Sun September 25, 2011, 1:13 pm: 5k day!
Sat September 24, 2011, 9:02 pm: 15 minutes into a pg13 movie and I've heard the d word (referring to male genitalia) and the f word ...
Wed September 21, 2011, 10:32 am: I miss my most recent button....
Sat September 17, 2011, 9:52 pm: Tied up....Go ' Noles!
Sat September 17, 2011, 5:51 pm: I've never seen Christian P... eat so much!
Sat September 17, 2011, 12:43 pm: cannot wait to see Christian P... today!!
Thu September 15, 2011, 1:37 pm: I always worry when I hear the word "hypothetical".....
Tue September 13, 2011, 12:52 pm: Soccer snacks are expensive...
Sun September 11, 2011, 10:43 pm: That was not pretty...
Sun September 11, 2011, 4:39 pm: really glad my team isn't doing as bad as Nicole C...'s team is....
Sat September 10, 2011, 6:43 pm: Love that Boykin kid!
Thu September 8, 2011, 7:50 am: Will hopefully be washing clothes by this afternoon.....
Wed September 7, 2011, 9:58 pm: Dear words with friends friends, if you use a word generator or an anagram helper or similar cheat, please do not send me a game request....
Sat September 3, 2011, 7:39 pm: I love that Boykin kid!
Sat September 3, 2011, 1:49 pm: GO DAWS!
Sat September 3, 2011, 12:49 pm: thinks that Nicole C... is amazing......
Fri September 2, 2011, 12:12 pm: Had fun visiting with Angela C.... ...get well soon!
Fri September 2, 2011, 6:47 am: They told us never to put anything that isn't edible in the garbage disposal....contrary to what my kids think, legos are not edible....
Wed August 31, 2011, 5:59 pm: My baby is getting on a plane to Bahrain in a couple of hours
Tue August 30, 2011, 11:15 pm: Just finished "The Help" ... Very good!
Mon August 29, 2011, 10:34 am: To the friends who have not deleted me after the neverending Cosmo status fiasco....There are 4 runaway status comments that are randomly posting to friends' statuses. So far I've only seen them on statuses I've already commented on myself, but if you happen to see a weird or inappropriate comment by me on your status that's probably why and I'm sorry.
Sun August 28, 2011, 9:58 pm: I am going to bed...and hopefully my status is going with me.....
Sun August 28, 2011, 9:06 pm: Do not order a cosmopolitan from harrah's
Sun August 28, 2011, 6:19 pm: I swear I only sent that once...dang cherokee airwaves musta screwed it up
Sun August 28, 2011, 5:41 pm: I swear I only sent that once...dang cherokee airwaves musta screwed it up
Sun August 28, 2011, 5:25 pm: I don't know how to fix this....my status is stuck in cyberspace and keeps resending itself....
Sun August 28, 2011, 5:21 pm: Do not order a cosmopolitan from harrah's
Sun August 28, 2011, 2:10 pm: Ok, I left Cherokee and rebooted my phone....hopefully that will stop the repeat statuses...
Sun August 28, 2011, 1:46 pm: I swear I only sent that once...dang cherokee airwaves musta screwed it up
Sun August 28, 2011, 11:05 am: I swear I only sent that once...dang cherokee airwaves musta screwed it up
Sun August 28, 2011, 10:49 am: Also...do not update your status from harrah's...
Sun August 28, 2011, 10:43 am: I swear I only sent that once...dang cherokee airwaves musta screwed it up
Sun August 28, 2011, 10:42 am: Do not order a cosmopolitan from harrah's
Sun August 28, 2011, 9:50 am: Do not order a cosmopolitan from harrah's
Sun August 28, 2011, 9:37 am: Do not order a cosmopolitan from harrah's
Sun August 28, 2011, 3:45 am: Do not order a cosmopolitan from harrah's
Sun August 28, 2011, 1:17 am: Do not order a cosmopolitan from harrah's
Sat August 27, 2011, 11:58 pm: Do not order a cosmopolitan from harrah's
Sat August 27, 2011, 11:36 pm: Do not order a cosmopolitan from harrah's
Sat August 27, 2011, 11:22 pm: Do not order a cosmopolitan from harrah's
Fri August 26, 2011, 4:15 pm: If you can read this you have a strong mind: TH15 M3554G3 53RV35 TO PR0V3 H0W 0UR M1ND5 C4N D0 4M4Z1NG TH1NG5! 1MPR3551V3 TH1NG5! 1N TH3 B3G1NN1NG 1T WA5 H4RD BUT NOW, ON TH15 LIN3 YOUR M1ND 1S R34D1NG 1T 4UT0M4T1C4LLY W1TH OUT 3V3N TH1NK1NG 4B0UT 1T, B3 PROUD! 0NLY C34RT41N P30PL3 C4N R3AD TH15. R3 P05T 1F U C4N......
Fri August 26, 2011, 10:25 am: so DONE with Sam's Club.....
Fri August 26, 2011, 6:53 am: Stupid cancer... we all want a new car... a new phone... freedom... a person who has cancer only wants one thing... to survive. I know that a lot of you "who think you're too cool" probably won't re- post this. But a very little amount of my friends will. Put this on your wall in honor of someone who died of cancer, survived, or who is fighting against it now
Sun August 21, 2011, 10:36 pm: This is so not the night for all my friends to go to bed early and the tv to not work!
Sun August 21, 2011, 9:25 pm: Could really use nancy right now....guess I'll clean some bathrooms...
Sat August 20, 2011, 8:36 pm: Going home with 3 tires
Fri August 19, 2011, 11:59 am: I've come to the conclusion that what I thought wednesday was just a headache and yesterday might be a sinus headache is actually a migraine...:(
Fri August 19, 2011, 9:38 am: ran 2 miles and then watched hundreds of 3rd through 5th graders run 2...
Thu August 18, 2011, 7:57 pm: I so wish I could post a video of my child dancing around to country music singing right along....
Tue August 16, 2011, 10:04 pm: Need to break up the icky stuff in my chest so I can breathe better
Tue August 16, 2011, 5:20 pm: Soccer!
Sun August 14, 2011, 9:48 pm: When the washer says it has one minute left I expect it to be done in one minute...not 18+
Sat August 13, 2011, 7:47 pm: Is getting crabs tonight...
Sat August 13, 2011, 11:04 am: today I don't feel like doing anything....
Fri August 12, 2011, 8:41 pm: New rule this year...no beer after halftime....that should have been announced earlier.....
Fri August 12, 2011, 5:33 pm: Sprayin' on the white rain, gonna get rowdy tonight down at the football game!
Fri August 12, 2011, 3:24 pm: 7 down 173 to go...
Fri August 12, 2011, 7:05 am: is ready for some Football!!
Thu August 11, 2011, 11:15 am: Just signed up for my first 5k....Lord help me!
Wed August 10, 2011, 9:19 pm: Will not be sleeping now....
Wed August 10, 2011, 9:32 am: Passionberry bliss just fizzed all over me...
Tue August 9, 2011, 12:05 pm: Now knows the entire life story of a woman in kroger who didn't know the price of the cheese slices...
Tue August 9, 2011, 11:10 am: Sams club will not be getting my money today...heading to kroger
Tue August 9, 2011, 8:11 am: Ran for 3 straight minutes...twice...
Tue August 9, 2011, 7:34 am: Cannot find my running shoes...
Mon August 8, 2011, 2:18 pm: When suddenly turning around after starting up the steps never assume you went up one...
Sun August 7, 2011, 9:47 pm: Nancy....where are you?
Fri August 5, 2011, 10:45 pm: Booyah....there, better yahoob?
Fri August 5, 2011, 10:18 pm: Blah...
Fri August 5, 2011, 11:46 am: filling out school forms....in triplicate....
Fri August 5, 2011, 6:40 am: Note to self: sleeping in your workout clothes does not make you more likely to work out in the morning...
Fri August 5, 2011, 5:58 am: In the 45 minutes that I've been up I've managed to open the back of the coffee maker...
Thu August 4, 2011, 8:13 pm: Cannot wait to sit down and watch mindless guilty pleasure television...
Thu August 4, 2011, 3:50 pm: All boys home and accounted for
Thu August 4, 2011, 2:01 pm: 1 down 3 to go....
Thu August 4, 2011, 9:53 am: Just realized.....I'm not getting anything done!
Thu August 4, 2011, 6:09 am: The bus just left to take my boys to high school!
Thu August 4, 2011, 5:20 am: It is too early!
Wed August 3, 2011, 10:41 pm: My children will not go to sleep!
Wed August 3, 2011, 9:38 pm: To my child's teacher: my children have lost all off my kitchen towels so when I dumped water all over the kitchen floor just now I had to use your roll of paper towels to clean it up...i did however send the kleenex and wipes and sandwich bags you requested...
Wed August 3, 2011, 7:27 pm: Apparently belts have feet...just wonderful with school starting tomorrow and a belt required..
Wed August 3, 2011, 5:20 pm: Animal planet is much better than nickelodeon but man it makes me cringe...
Wed August 3, 2011, 3:17 pm: Note to self. Don't take 4 kids grocery shopping...EVER
Wed August 3, 2011, 9:28 am: Just made coffee and realized I have no creamer and no milk in the house...
Wed October 5, 2011, 8:30 pm: Watching the blind side with my boys
Tue October 4, 2011, 1:51 am: Wide. Awake.
Sun October 2, 2011, 10:06 am: Brrrrrrrrr!!!!!!
Sat October 1, 2011, 10:28 pm: Finally crawling into bed after a long day...i feel old
Sat October 1, 2011, 11:50 am: Someone needs to teach that dude how to catch...
Fri September 30, 2011, 8:57 pm: Just had flashbacks to skate a long U.S.A....saw a woman with a comb sticking out of her back pocket ...
Fri September 30, 2011, 3:02 pm: I am nuts.....signing up for another 5k before i chicken out!
Tue September 27, 2011, 5:48 pm: Tiny moon goal!
Mon September 26, 2011, 9:33 pm: When my mama told me life was hard I had no clue this is what she meant...
Sun September 25, 2011, 2:50 pm: Not last...
Sun September 25, 2011, 1:13 pm: 5k day!
Sat September 24, 2011, 9:02 pm: 15 minutes into a pg13 movie and I've heard the d word (referring to male genitalia) and the f word ...
Wed September 21, 2011, 10:32 am: I miss my most recent button....
Sat September 17, 2011, 9:52 pm: Tied up....Go ' Noles!
Sat September 17, 2011, 5:51 pm: I've never seen Christian P... eat so much!
Sat September 17, 2011, 12:43 pm: cannot wait to see Christian P... today!!
Thu September 15, 2011, 1:37 pm: I always worry when I hear the word "hypothetical".....
Tue September 13, 2011, 12:52 pm: Soccer snacks are expensive...
Sun September 11, 2011, 10:43 pm: That was not pretty...
Sun September 11, 2011, 4:39 pm: really glad my team isn't doing as bad as Nicole C...'s team is....
Sat September 10, 2011, 6:43 pm: Love that Boykin kid!
Thu September 8, 2011, 7:50 am: Will hopefully be washing clothes by this afternoon.....
Wed September 7, 2011, 9:58 pm: Dear words with friends friends, if you use a word generator or an anagram helper or similar cheat, please do not send me a game request....
Sat September 3, 2011, 7:39 pm: I love that Boykin kid!
Sat September 3, 2011, 1:49 pm: GO DAWS!
Sat September 3, 2011, 12:49 pm: thinks that Nicole C... is amazing......
Fri September 2, 2011, 12:12 pm: Had fun visiting with Angela C.... ...get well soon!
Fri September 2, 2011, 6:47 am: They told us never to put anything that isn't edible in the garbage disposal....contrary to what my kids think, legos are not edible....
Wed August 31, 2011, 5:59 pm: My baby is getting on a plane to Bahrain in a couple of hours
Tue August 30, 2011, 11:15 pm: Just finished "The Help" ... Very good!
Mon August 29, 2011, 10:34 am: To the friends who have not deleted me after the neverending Cosmo status fiasco....There are 4 runaway status comments that are randomly posting to friends' statuses. So far I've only seen them on statuses I've already commented on myself, but if you happen to see a weird or inappropriate comment by me on your status that's probably why and I'm sorry.
Sun August 28, 2011, 9:58 pm: I am going to bed...and hopefully my status is going with me.....
Sun August 28, 2011, 9:06 pm: Do not order a cosmopolitan from harrah's
Sun August 28, 2011, 6:19 pm: I swear I only sent that once...dang cherokee airwaves musta screwed it up
Sun August 28, 2011, 5:41 pm: I swear I only sent that once...dang cherokee airwaves musta screwed it up
Sun August 28, 2011, 5:25 pm: I don't know how to fix this....my status is stuck in cyberspace and keeps resending itself....
Sun August 28, 2011, 5:21 pm: Do not order a cosmopolitan from harrah's
Sun August 28, 2011, 2:10 pm: Ok, I left Cherokee and rebooted my phone....hopefully that will stop the repeat statuses...
Sun August 28, 2011, 1:46 pm: I swear I only sent that once...dang cherokee airwaves musta screwed it up
Sun August 28, 2011, 11:05 am: I swear I only sent that once...dang cherokee airwaves musta screwed it up
Sun August 28, 2011, 10:49 am: Also...do not update your status from harrah's...
Sun August 28, 2011, 10:43 am: I swear I only sent that once...dang cherokee airwaves musta screwed it up
Sun August 28, 2011, 10:42 am: Do not order a cosmopolitan from harrah's
Sun August 28, 2011, 9:50 am: Do not order a cosmopolitan from harrah's
Sun August 28, 2011, 9:37 am: Do not order a cosmopolitan from harrah's
Sun August 28, 2011, 3:45 am: Do not order a cosmopolitan from harrah's
Sun August 28, 2011, 1:17 am: Do not order a cosmopolitan from harrah's
Sat August 27, 2011, 11:58 pm: Do not order a cosmopolitan from harrah's
Sat August 27, 2011, 11:36 pm: Do not order a cosmopolitan from harrah's
Sat August 27, 2011, 11:22 pm: Do not order a cosmopolitan from harrah's
Fri August 26, 2011, 4:15 pm: If you can read this you have a strong mind: TH15 M3554G3 53RV35 TO PR0V3 H0W 0UR M1ND5 C4N D0 4M4Z1NG TH1NG5! 1MPR3551V3 TH1NG5! 1N TH3 B3G1NN1NG 1T WA5 H4RD BUT NOW, ON TH15 LIN3 YOUR M1ND 1S R34D1NG 1T 4UT0M4T1C4LLY W1TH OUT 3V3N TH1NK1NG 4B0UT 1T, B3 PROUD! 0NLY C34RT41N P30PL3 C4N R3AD TH15. R3 P05T 1F U C4N......
Fri August 26, 2011, 10:25 am: so DONE with Sam's Club.....
Fri August 26, 2011, 6:53 am: Stupid cancer... we all want a new car... a new phone... freedom... a person who has cancer only wants one thing... to survive. I know that a lot of you "who think you're too cool" probably won't re- post this. But a very little amount of my friends will. Put this on your wall in honor of someone who died of cancer, survived, or who is fighting against it now
Sun August 21, 2011, 10:36 pm: This is so not the night for all my friends to go to bed early and the tv to not work!
Sun August 21, 2011, 9:25 pm: Could really use nancy right now....guess I'll clean some bathrooms...
Sat August 20, 2011, 8:36 pm: Going home with 3 tires
Fri August 19, 2011, 11:59 am: I've come to the conclusion that what I thought wednesday was just a headache and yesterday might be a sinus headache is actually a migraine...:(
Fri August 19, 2011, 9:38 am: ran 2 miles and then watched hundreds of 3rd through 5th graders run 2...
Thu August 18, 2011, 7:57 pm: I so wish I could post a video of my child dancing around to country music singing right along....
Tue August 16, 2011, 10:04 pm: Need to break up the icky stuff in my chest so I can breathe better
Tue August 16, 2011, 5:20 pm: Soccer!
Sun August 14, 2011, 9:48 pm: When the washer says it has one minute left I expect it to be done in one minute...not 18+
Sat August 13, 2011, 7:47 pm: Is getting crabs tonight...
Sat August 13, 2011, 11:04 am: today I don't feel like doing anything....
Fri August 12, 2011, 8:41 pm: New rule this year...no beer after halftime....that should have been announced earlier.....
Fri August 12, 2011, 5:33 pm: Sprayin' on the white rain, gonna get rowdy tonight down at the football game!
Fri August 12, 2011, 3:24 pm: 7 down 173 to go...
Fri August 12, 2011, 7:05 am: is ready for some Football!!
Thu August 11, 2011, 11:15 am: Just signed up for my first 5k....Lord help me!
Wed August 10, 2011, 9:19 pm: Will not be sleeping now....
Wed August 10, 2011, 9:32 am: Passionberry bliss just fizzed all over me...
Tue August 9, 2011, 12:05 pm: Now knows the entire life story of a woman in kroger who didn't know the price of the cheese slices...
Tue August 9, 2011, 11:10 am: Sams club will not be getting my money today...heading to kroger
Tue August 9, 2011, 8:11 am: Ran for 3 straight minutes...twice...
Tue August 9, 2011, 7:34 am: Cannot find my running shoes...
Mon August 8, 2011, 2:18 pm: When suddenly turning around after starting up the steps never assume you went up one...
Sun August 7, 2011, 9:47 pm: Nancy....where are you?
Fri August 5, 2011, 10:45 pm: Booyah....there, better yahoob?
Fri August 5, 2011, 10:18 pm: Blah...
Fri August 5, 2011, 11:46 am: filling out school forms....in triplicate....
Fri August 5, 2011, 6:40 am: Note to self: sleeping in your workout clothes does not make you more likely to work out in the morning...
Fri August 5, 2011, 5:58 am: In the 45 minutes that I've been up I've managed to open the back of the coffee maker...
Thu August 4, 2011, 8:13 pm: Cannot wait to sit down and watch mindless guilty pleasure television...
Thu August 4, 2011, 3:50 pm: All boys home and accounted for
Thu August 4, 2011, 2:01 pm: 1 down 3 to go....
Thu August 4, 2011, 9:53 am: Just realized.....I'm not getting anything done!
Thu August 4, 2011, 6:09 am: The bus just left to take my boys to high school!
Thu August 4, 2011, 5:20 am: It is too early!
Wed August 3, 2011, 10:41 pm: My children will not go to sleep!
Wed August 3, 2011, 9:38 pm: To my child's teacher: my children have lost all off my kitchen towels so when I dumped water all over the kitchen floor just now I had to use your roll of paper towels to clean it up...i did however send the kleenex and wipes and sandwich bags you requested...
Wed August 3, 2011, 7:27 pm: Apparently belts have feet...just wonderful with school starting tomorrow and a belt required..
Wed August 3, 2011, 5:20 pm: Animal planet is much better than nickelodeon but man it makes me cringe...
Wed August 3, 2011, 3:17 pm: Note to self. Don't take 4 kids grocery shopping...EVER
Wed August 3, 2011, 9:28 am: Just made coffee and realized I have no creamer and no milk in the house...
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
5k
Have been feeling super blah lately and haven't been able to make myself sit down and read blogs, much less update mine.
I ran my first 5k last weekend. It was 42 minutes and 56 seconds of pure hell! It was 86 degrees outside with no clouds in the sky and the sun blazing at 3 in the afternoon. I think the heat index was around 90. There was only 1 water station. My fingers swelled up like sausages and I thought my ring was going to cut off my circulation. A few times I was actually afraid I might pass out. I had been training for this for 3 months, but my runs had all taken place early morning or late evening and most were only 2 miles ( I had only completed 3.1 miles twice.) It was brutal; however, I did finish. Second in my age/sex division. There were 2 of us in that division. I was 48th overall out of 62 and ended up with a medal and a tshirt. I must be a glutton for punishment because I'm getting ready to sign up for my second 5k. Hoping to do better this time around.
I ran my first 5k last weekend. It was 42 minutes and 56 seconds of pure hell! It was 86 degrees outside with no clouds in the sky and the sun blazing at 3 in the afternoon. I think the heat index was around 90. There was only 1 water station. My fingers swelled up like sausages and I thought my ring was going to cut off my circulation. A few times I was actually afraid I might pass out. I had been training for this for 3 months, but my runs had all taken place early morning or late evening and most were only 2 miles ( I had only completed 3.1 miles twice.) It was brutal; however, I did finish. Second in my age/sex division. There were 2 of us in that division. I was 48th overall out of 62 and ended up with a medal and a tshirt. I must be a glutton for punishment because I'm getting ready to sign up for my second 5k. Hoping to do better this time around.
Thursday, September 1, 2011
Bra Shopping (TMI maybe)
I hate bra shopping! I have 2 favorite bras and one semi-favorite bra and they have been discontinued. I have tried NUMEROUS bras since I got these and nothing fits like they do.
I recently made a comment to my boyfriend as he was helping me do laundry about how this was my favorite bra and I couldn't find it anymore. I mainly made this comment because I was a little embarrassed that the bra was starting to look a little - okay maybe alot - tattered. He took this to mean he needed to make it his personal mission to search out that bra style (which had been long rubbed off the tag) by scouring the internet's vast selection of bra photos looking for it. I told him I was pretty sure it was discontinued thinking that might steer him away. I looked over a few minutes later and discovered him on his phone on ebay. He is an ebay freak and while I have bought stuff from there and you can sometimes get good deals, well, just NO, EW, nothankyou! "I DO NOT want a bra off ebay," I say. "Even if it's new?" he replies. "NO!" I say, hoping this will end the bra search. Really, finding the right bras takes hours of standing in front of dressing room mirrors which make me look at least 10 if not 20 pounds heavier than I actually am and then most of the time I still can't find the right bra, just one that will do. Which is why I'm wearing bras with holes in them that are about to fall apart. I know, nice mental picture.
So this morning I get a text...
Him: I'm looking for your bra, I think it might be such and such style.
Me: No, that's not it.
Does he really think I haven't looked and looked and looked for this particular bra style. Finally after a few more texts and an email I say...
I'm pretty sure I know the style numbers, the one you emailed is not one of them. The ones I like are discontinued.
Surely this will end his quest, right?
Him: I know they don't make them anymore, I just thought you might like the one I emailed
Me: I have found bras that I like and can wear, but I LOVE these bras and have never found any that fit like them.
Maybe that will do it?
Him: Ok, I'll keep looking
Me: Really. Don't
Him: OK
I hate to be so blunt but I guess I'm not good at getting my point across otherwise.
My phone just buzzed...
Him: You are a (insert size here) right?
Him: I'm sending you an email
AAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!
I recently made a comment to my boyfriend as he was helping me do laundry about how this was my favorite bra and I couldn't find it anymore. I mainly made this comment because I was a little embarrassed that the bra was starting to look a little - okay maybe alot - tattered. He took this to mean he needed to make it his personal mission to search out that bra style (which had been long rubbed off the tag) by scouring the internet's vast selection of bra photos looking for it. I told him I was pretty sure it was discontinued thinking that might steer him away. I looked over a few minutes later and discovered him on his phone on ebay. He is an ebay freak and while I have bought stuff from there and you can sometimes get good deals, well, just NO, EW, nothankyou! "I DO NOT want a bra off ebay," I say. "Even if it's new?" he replies. "NO!" I say, hoping this will end the bra search. Really, finding the right bras takes hours of standing in front of dressing room mirrors which make me look at least 10 if not 20 pounds heavier than I actually am and then most of the time I still can't find the right bra, just one that will do. Which is why I'm wearing bras with holes in them that are about to fall apart. I know, nice mental picture.
So this morning I get a text...
Him: I'm looking for your bra, I think it might be such and such style.
Me: No, that's not it.
Does he really think I haven't looked and looked and looked for this particular bra style. Finally after a few more texts and an email I say...
I'm pretty sure I know the style numbers, the one you emailed is not one of them. The ones I like are discontinued.
Surely this will end his quest, right?
Him: I know they don't make them anymore, I just thought you might like the one I emailed
Me: I have found bras that I like and can wear, but I LOVE these bras and have never found any that fit like them.
Maybe that will do it?
Him: Ok, I'll keep looking
Me: Really. Don't
Him: OK
I hate to be so blunt but I guess I'm not good at getting my point across otherwise.
My phone just buzzed...
Him: You are a (insert size here) right?
Him: I'm sending you an email
AAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!
Friday, August 12, 2011
I signed up for a 5k!
I may be crazy! I am not a runner. I hate to run. Two months ago I could not run for 60 seconds without stopping. I was in horrible shape and had put on 30 pounds over the past 2 years so I decided I needed to do something. I started the couch to 5k program in June and spent 3 weeks repeating the week one workout. It consisted of warming up with a brisk walk for 5 minutes and then alternating 60 seconds of running with 90 seconds of walking for the next 20 minutes. I couldn't do it the first time I tried and at the end of 3 weeks could still barely get through it but decided I better move on to week 2. It is now August and I just finished week 3. I can run for 3 minutes straight. In 25 minutes today I went 1.62 miles including my warmup. Which means I should be able to finish a 5k - providing I don't pass out in the middle of it - in an hour or less. My goal is 30 minutes, but I'll be happy with 45. Who am I kidding, I'll be happy if I finish without collapsing!
Thursday, August 4, 2011
Back to School
My boys went back to school today! 3 of them in new schools... 2 starting their first year of high school! Everyone got up and got ready on time - early actually - and rode the bus. I sure hope it lasts. I just can't do car riders at 4 different schools, the farthest being 13 miles away. That's 26 miles round trip which makes 52 miles a day. In my van with gas prices what they are, that's almost $11 a day....yes I figured it up...and I also let my boys know if they got suspended from the bus this year, they would be using their allowance to contribute to that $11/day. Their allowance isn't near enough to cover $55/week. So, yeah, I hope it lasts. I'm off to enjoy my first day of freedom....getting all the stuff we forgot when we went school shopping this week.
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Learning to Enjoy Life
I feel like i need to learn to enjoy life. It's not like I work all the time and never have time to relax and enjoy myself. Quite the opposite as a matter of fact. I'm home all day and haven't had a "real job" in 15 years. It's more that I don't tend to just enjoy what is happening at present. I'm always looking to the future or waiting for the next thing to happen. I'm a very project oriented person....whether it's planning a vacation, researching a purchase (I can't buy anything without checking reviews and comparing prices), or looking into a new diet plan, exercise program, or housecleaning routine. And as soon as the vacation is over, the purchase is made, or I tire of the diet, exercise, or cleaning, I'm back in a slump. Most of the time enjoying life translates into lazyness for me. Lately I've been addicted to the Casey Anthony trial so yesterday I just enjoyed watching it and playing games on my computer and catching up on blogs. Unfortunately that meant I didn't really get anything else done and then I felt guilty and went into furious planning mode.....because I can't just do something without fully preparing for it first ya know. Gotta make a list of all the things that need to be done and then prioritize them and then...well then it's time to cook dinner and then clean up the dishes and fix dessert and get the kids settled down. And then I'm exhausted and some sort of reality TV show is on and I just want to sit down and relax and enjoy it but the bills didn't get paid and laundry didn't get done and the cat pooped in the bathtub and I never went back over the spot where the dog peed on the carpet so even while I'm sitting there watching mindless television, I'm not really enjoying it. I'm thinking about what I need to do next. So I'm going to do my best to try to enjoy whatever it is that I'm doing and not worry so much about what I'm not doing or what I need to do next. However, if i don't get the bills paid, I won't be enjoying TV, or hot water, or electricity, or phone service.....
Monday, June 27, 2011
French fries in your ears?
A friend of mine recently got her associates degree from a local community college and I attended her graduation. The graduation was held in an arena that also hosts sporting events and concerts. I was surprised when we arrived that some of the concession stands were open. I was even more surprised after we sat down when a couple came and sat down on our row with hot dogs and french fries. I just don't think about eating hot dogs and french fries at a graduation ceremony - or any other food for that matter. They did not however appear to have any of the beer stands open. I was intrigued by the people sitting next to me munching on hot dogs and french fries while graduates were marching into the arena. At one point I noticed the man appeared to have a french fry stuck through his ear and I had to wonder if it was just a weird piercing or if he had actually stuck one of his french fries through there in case he got hungry later. I really wanted to take a picture of it but I thought that might be a little rude.
Before they got started with the ceremony they asked everyone to please remain seated so that people behind them could see and to silence their cell phones so as not to disturb others. They forgot to announce that crying babies should be taken to the lobby and that you should not let your child sit in your lap and kick the person in front of you in the neck. Not that it would have mattered since I could hear cell phones ringing and the people in front of us were standing up blocking our view as the graduates marched in. Maybe if I had had a hot dog and french fries I wouldn't have cared.
The ceremony was very long and didn't end until 9:15. They asked everyone to please remain seated while the graduates marched out. At 9:30 when the last graduate had left the floor, I think my date and I were the only ones remaining in our seats. We went in search of my friend, congratulated her, took pictures and then headed out to find something to eat. Now I know why they were selling hot dogs and french fries at the ceremony. Because it was a Thursday night, most of the local restaurants closed at 10pm. By the time we got to our car and out of the parking lot and to a restaurant it was after 10. I was starving and beginning to think the dude with the french fry in his ear may have had the right idea. Eating at the graduation that is...I'm still not sure storing french fries in your ears is sanitary. In the end we did find a restaurant that was open and we didn't starve.
And my friend is moving on to a 4 year University to pursue her bachelor's degree so that she can go on to help kids with behavioral issues like mine.
Before they got started with the ceremony they asked everyone to please remain seated so that people behind them could see and to silence their cell phones so as not to disturb others. They forgot to announce that crying babies should be taken to the lobby and that you should not let your child sit in your lap and kick the person in front of you in the neck. Not that it would have mattered since I could hear cell phones ringing and the people in front of us were standing up blocking our view as the graduates marched in. Maybe if I had had a hot dog and french fries I wouldn't have cared.
The ceremony was very long and didn't end until 9:15. They asked everyone to please remain seated while the graduates marched out. At 9:30 when the last graduate had left the floor, I think my date and I were the only ones remaining in our seats. We went in search of my friend, congratulated her, took pictures and then headed out to find something to eat. Now I know why they were selling hot dogs and french fries at the ceremony. Because it was a Thursday night, most of the local restaurants closed at 10pm. By the time we got to our car and out of the parking lot and to a restaurant it was after 10. I was starving and beginning to think the dude with the french fry in his ear may have had the right idea. Eating at the graduation that is...I'm still not sure storing french fries in your ears is sanitary. In the end we did find a restaurant that was open and we didn't starve.
And my friend is moving on to a 4 year University to pursue her bachelor's degree so that she can go on to help kids with behavioral issues like mine.
Monday, June 20, 2011
I'm back
I've been thinking since I got back from Vegas that I needed to update my blog. But then again there really isn't anyone who reads this, right? Wrong, apparently! So for you 3 who read this and for myself in case I ever want to write that book, here is my latest update.
I have post-vacation depression. I'm working my way out of it though. Trying to focus on the positive. And there really is alot of positive stuff.
My oldest son hasn't spoken with his dad since before October of last year - I don't remember when it was exactly but i know his dad didn't wish him happy birthday (by phone or mail) which was Oct. 31. In case you were wondering, I'm not quite to the positive stuff.
As I said in my last post - I think, it's been so long I can't remember- he got invited to go on vacation with his dad, stepmom, and brothers at the last minute. What I don't think I mentioned (but I'm too lazy to go back and look) is that his dad also offered him a job. We thought at first that he wanted him to travel to Bahrain to assemble a machine. Turns out that his passport has expired and even if he renews it he needs to have had it for 6 months before he can travel there so that is not happening. But while on vacation, they talked and his dad offered him a full time job at his facility 5 miles down the road from us (Dad owns his own business). In addition, he gave him a cell phone and added him to his plan. Ds will have to pay the $35/month bill but now he has money coming in to do that. His dad loaned him one of their 5 cars and is going to help him buy a used one in the next few weeks. I'm not sure what got into his dad that made him decide to step up and help out but at this point I don't care. Ds has needed this for a long time and whatever the reason, it's finally happening. Of course the pessimist in me knows that now I'm the bad parent who makes him cut grass and pick up dog poop and now that he has a job - pay rent. But I'm okay with that and hopefull he will remember that I'm also the parent who took him in after he'd been arrested twice and was living in his car and his dad refused to have anything to do with him. Regardless of all that, DS has been in the best mood I have seen him in in a long time. Even with having to get up and go to work every morning.
Next positive...I got a new computer! I keep lots of photos and stuff on my computer and my hard drive had gotten full so I was looking into an external hard drive or a faster computer with a bigger hard drive - and heavily leaning toward the second option. While on vacation, my son's netbook died. Now that he has a job he has money, but isn't dying to spend 300-400 on a new computer. However, he has $150 to pay me for mine so I can put that toward a new one for me! It's a win-win. My old computer is a pentium dual core 2Ghz with a 160GB hard drive which is plenty for him - especially since he doesn't need a lot of storage space and that is the biggest thing slowing mine down. My new computer has twice the hard drive space and a better, faster processor. So using his $150, I got a jam-up computer for $300 out of pocket!
To be continued, I'm being summoned......
I have post-vacation depression. I'm working my way out of it though. Trying to focus on the positive. And there really is alot of positive stuff.
My oldest son hasn't spoken with his dad since before October of last year - I don't remember when it was exactly but i know his dad didn't wish him happy birthday (by phone or mail) which was Oct. 31. In case you were wondering, I'm not quite to the positive stuff.
As I said in my last post - I think, it's been so long I can't remember- he got invited to go on vacation with his dad, stepmom, and brothers at the last minute. What I don't think I mentioned (but I'm too lazy to go back and look) is that his dad also offered him a job. We thought at first that he wanted him to travel to Bahrain to assemble a machine. Turns out that his passport has expired and even if he renews it he needs to have had it for 6 months before he can travel there so that is not happening. But while on vacation, they talked and his dad offered him a full time job at his facility 5 miles down the road from us (Dad owns his own business). In addition, he gave him a cell phone and added him to his plan. Ds will have to pay the $35/month bill but now he has money coming in to do that. His dad loaned him one of their 5 cars and is going to help him buy a used one in the next few weeks. I'm not sure what got into his dad that made him decide to step up and help out but at this point I don't care. Ds has needed this for a long time and whatever the reason, it's finally happening. Of course the pessimist in me knows that now I'm the bad parent who makes him cut grass and pick up dog poop and now that he has a job - pay rent. But I'm okay with that and hopefull he will remember that I'm also the parent who took him in after he'd been arrested twice and was living in his car and his dad refused to have anything to do with him. Regardless of all that, DS has been in the best mood I have seen him in in a long time. Even with having to get up and go to work every morning.
Next positive...I got a new computer! I keep lots of photos and stuff on my computer and my hard drive had gotten full so I was looking into an external hard drive or a faster computer with a bigger hard drive - and heavily leaning toward the second option. While on vacation, my son's netbook died. Now that he has a job he has money, but isn't dying to spend 300-400 on a new computer. However, he has $150 to pay me for mine so I can put that toward a new one for me! It's a win-win. My old computer is a pentium dual core 2Ghz with a 160GB hard drive which is plenty for him - especially since he doesn't need a lot of storage space and that is the biggest thing slowing mine down. My new computer has twice the hard drive space and a better, faster processor. So using his $150, I got a jam-up computer for $300 out of pocket!
To be continued, I'm being summoned......
Saturday, June 4, 2011
3-1-1
It's been a really busy week:
- I've been to my parents lakehouse twice- once for Memorial Day and back again for my boys' birthday.
- My Twins turned 15 on Thursday.
- My nephew had emergency surgery on Thursday night.
- I returned home Friday to an injured cat which prompted an emergency Sat morning vet visit.
- My oldest son was invited last minute to go on vacation with his dad and brothers which means he can't take care of the animals
- So I just got back from a trip halfway to my parents' to meet my dad so they can take care of my dog.
- And on the way home I had to buy an automatic cat feeder because...
- I'm going to Vegas first thing tomorrow morning!!
Which brings me to 3-1-1. Whoever came up with this had to be a man. For those who don't know, 3-1-1 is the TSA guideline for bringing liquids in your carry-on baggage. Since bags cost $25 to check, I'm carrying everything on. So 3-1-1 means All liquids must be in a 3oz or less container. All those containers must be in a 1qt zipper bag. Each passenger can have only 1 zipper bag. These are some of the things affected by this rule:
toothpaste
hair gel
hair spray
conditioner
liquid foundation
mascara
lip gloss
Carmex (I'm addicted)
facial cleanser
face lotion
perfume
Have you ever tried to fill all that in a 1 quart bag? It took me an hour...
My quart sized bag
Friday, May 27, 2011
And I thought no TV was bad...
2 big things happened last night.
1. The power went out.
2. My 14yo had a tantrum.
Normally when our power goes out it is either only out for a half hour or less or it goes out during the winter when ice has weighed down the pine trees and one of them falls on a power line. Last night was neither of those. We had a small thunderstorm. There were no tornado warnings or even watches, no hail, no heavy winds. Just some rain, light wind, thunder and lightening. There was no loud boom or bang and when we drove up the road to see who had power and who didn't, there were no trees down, no car accident, no power crews working. The street behind mine still had power. These are the things you can't do when the power is out (and yeah I tried them all:)
Turn on the light in the windowless powder room.
Watch the small TV upstairs...not even a dvd.
Turn on the bedside lamp.
Use the fan.
Look at the thermostat to see just how hot it's gotten since the air stopped.
Get water out of the spout in the freezer.
Charge your cell phone.
Make your kids behave.
Which leads me to the second big thing that happened.
My 14 year old had a tantrum. This is not new. He has had them before. I call them tantrums for lack of a better word. Sometimes they actually look like what you would see a 3 year old do but magnified. Sometimes they are different and a better word is probably episode. This one was more like an episode. But it all stemmed from not getting what he wanted and anger at receiving consequences for misbehavior. The tantrum/episode started shortly after the power went out. It was still light outside so we were all hanging out in the living room because it has the most windows and they face west. After being told to leave the cat alone several times 14 yo picked him up yet again and held him until he meowed and growled. He is working on earning back privileges and has to go 5 days without cussing, hurting others, or being disrespectful to me before he gets his phone back. I promptly let him know that this day was not going to count toward those 5 days. That's all it took. He started by yelling and cussing and threw a couple of things, then wrote the word Fuck on his stomach and ran around the living room in his underwear chanting "fuck fuck fuck." At this point I took the younger boys upstairs to my room and locked the door. When we got up there I also realized that they could not watch a movie in my room like I had planned. It was around 7pm. For the next 3 hours the little boys played on the total gym, drew pictures and cut paper while 14yo son yelled, banged on the door, went out onto the roof and banged on the windows, found an unlocked window that is above the foyer and threw things into it, ran around the house with a broom speaking gibberish, and was generally obnoxious. But he did not break anything and he did not put any holes in the wall. I was in and out of the room several times making sure everything was ok and 14yo remained safe. Finally at 10 I told the younger boys to go ahead and go to sleep in my bed and blew out all the candles, left one electric one on and locked them in the room. I went downstairs to sit in the dark. 14yo followed me down there and crept around trying to get my attention for about an hour. Finally he said, "you know what, I'm done" and went to bed. I slept on our 4 foot 8 inch couch since there were kids in my bed. I'm 5'3". It was uncomfortable, and hot, but I don't know how hot because the thermostat is electric. Finally, at 3am the power came back on. I checked the freezer and everything was still frozen and the milk in the fridge still felt cold. All was well again at my house...for the moment....
1. The power went out.
2. My 14yo had a tantrum.
Normally when our power goes out it is either only out for a half hour or less or it goes out during the winter when ice has weighed down the pine trees and one of them falls on a power line. Last night was neither of those. We had a small thunderstorm. There were no tornado warnings or even watches, no hail, no heavy winds. Just some rain, light wind, thunder and lightening. There was no loud boom or bang and when we drove up the road to see who had power and who didn't, there were no trees down, no car accident, no power crews working. The street behind mine still had power. These are the things you can't do when the power is out (and yeah I tried them all:)
Turn on the light in the windowless powder room.
Watch the small TV upstairs...not even a dvd.
Turn on the bedside lamp.
Use the fan.
Look at the thermostat to see just how hot it's gotten since the air stopped.
Get water out of the spout in the freezer.
Charge your cell phone.
Make your kids behave.
Which leads me to the second big thing that happened.
My 14 year old had a tantrum. This is not new. He has had them before. I call them tantrums for lack of a better word. Sometimes they actually look like what you would see a 3 year old do but magnified. Sometimes they are different and a better word is probably episode. This one was more like an episode. But it all stemmed from not getting what he wanted and anger at receiving consequences for misbehavior. The tantrum/episode started shortly after the power went out. It was still light outside so we were all hanging out in the living room because it has the most windows and they face west. After being told to leave the cat alone several times 14 yo picked him up yet again and held him until he meowed and growled. He is working on earning back privileges and has to go 5 days without cussing, hurting others, or being disrespectful to me before he gets his phone back. I promptly let him know that this day was not going to count toward those 5 days. That's all it took. He started by yelling and cussing and threw a couple of things, then wrote the word Fuck on his stomach and ran around the living room in his underwear chanting "fuck fuck fuck." At this point I took the younger boys upstairs to my room and locked the door. When we got up there I also realized that they could not watch a movie in my room like I had planned. It was around 7pm. For the next 3 hours the little boys played on the total gym, drew pictures and cut paper while 14yo son yelled, banged on the door, went out onto the roof and banged on the windows, found an unlocked window that is above the foyer and threw things into it, ran around the house with a broom speaking gibberish, and was generally obnoxious. But he did not break anything and he did not put any holes in the wall. I was in and out of the room several times making sure everything was ok and 14yo remained safe. Finally at 10 I told the younger boys to go ahead and go to sleep in my bed and blew out all the candles, left one electric one on and locked them in the room. I went downstairs to sit in the dark. 14yo followed me down there and crept around trying to get my attention for about an hour. Finally he said, "you know what, I'm done" and went to bed. I slept on our 4 foot 8 inch couch since there were kids in my bed. I'm 5'3". It was uncomfortable, and hot, but I don't know how hot because the thermostat is electric. Finally, at 3am the power came back on. I checked the freezer and everything was still frozen and the milk in the fridge still felt cold. All was well again at my house...for the moment....
Thursday, May 26, 2011
No TV
We are having a "no tv" day in my house.
Actually just no tv for the kids because I'm addicted to Nancy Grace and Court TV and have got to get caught up on the Casey Anthony trial.
But anyway, I'm wondering what ever possessed me to have the brilliant idea of taking TV privileges away from my kids for their misbehavior. Seriously! They fought all day yesterday and I somehow thought that giving them one less thing to do today was going to lessen the fighting? Once it came out of my mouth though, there was no taking it back.
Guess what? It seems to be (gasp) working! Now that I've said that, I'm sure a huge fight will break out upstairs where the younger boys are (gasp again) cleaning their rooms...without being asked.
So I guess I better finish this quickly and go out back and set up the homemade slip n slide while things are still calm.
Actually just no tv for the kids because I'm addicted to Nancy Grace and Court TV and have got to get caught up on the Casey Anthony trial.
But anyway, I'm wondering what ever possessed me to have the brilliant idea of taking TV privileges away from my kids for their misbehavior. Seriously! They fought all day yesterday and I somehow thought that giving them one less thing to do today was going to lessen the fighting? Once it came out of my mouth though, there was no taking it back.
Guess what? It seems to be (gasp) working! Now that I've said that, I'm sure a huge fight will break out upstairs where the younger boys are (gasp again) cleaning their rooms...without being asked.
So I guess I better finish this quickly and go out back and set up the homemade slip n slide while things are still calm.
Monday, May 23, 2011
Summer
The school year has ended! No more getting up at 6:30am! No more worrying whether my boys will make it through the day without getting in trouble. No more dropping off and picking up at 2 different schools every day. No more scheduled activities for my kids for 7 hours a day...
Now what am I going to do?
I have spent the last two weeks running from school to school attending awards (yes my kids actually got awards) ceremonies and field days and end of year parties and sock hops and band concerts and checking kids out early because they "aren't really doing anything the rest of the day anyway."
Even though I was busy, at least my kids were too.
It is suddenly HOT - 95 degrees yesterday.
Our neighborhood pool is closing - not happy about this one.
We bought a slip n slide on Friday - it was broken 30 minutes later.
We also bought water balloons - they are all gone.
There was a family fun fest in town on Saturday. It had bouncy houses and a spider jump - all for free! It ended with a concert by a Jimmy Buffet tribute band. We spent alot of time there and I am really sunburned, but the free fun for the boys and entertainment for the adults made it worth it. They gave away free beach balls at the festival....I have confiscated 4 of them.
Last night my boys had a friend spend the night - we are not doing that again. He ran around yelling that he was gonna go crazy if he didn't get apple juice and then collected money off of the floors of my boys rooms and hounded my 20 year old son until he agreed to go to the convenience store and get him apple juice with all of the dimes and nickels he had found. Then they woke everyone up at 7am. I posted a comment on my facebook about not having anymore sleepovers and his mom called him and made him go home...same mom who wouldn't let her kids play with mine 2 weeks ago.
One neighbor still won't wave at me when I go in and out of the neighborhood. That's okay, one of my bad influences got a certificate from his teacher for most improved behavior and the assistant principal gave him a $20 Burger King gift card and said he was the "turnaround student of the year" out of the entire school (over 800 students.)
So 3 days into the summer and 2 1/2 months to go. With a week of vacation with me and a week with their dad plus his weekends I figure that's about 45 more days for me to figure out how to fill. When I was a kid we went outside and found stuff to do on our own. Why is it my kids can't do that....without getting in trouble?
Now what am I going to do?
I have spent the last two weeks running from school to school attending awards (yes my kids actually got awards) ceremonies and field days and end of year parties and sock hops and band concerts and checking kids out early because they "aren't really doing anything the rest of the day anyway."
Even though I was busy, at least my kids were too.
It is suddenly HOT - 95 degrees yesterday.
Our neighborhood pool is closing - not happy about this one.
We bought a slip n slide on Friday - it was broken 30 minutes later.
We also bought water balloons - they are all gone.
There was a family fun fest in town on Saturday. It had bouncy houses and a spider jump - all for free! It ended with a concert by a Jimmy Buffet tribute band. We spent alot of time there and I am really sunburned, but the free fun for the boys and entertainment for the adults made it worth it. They gave away free beach balls at the festival....I have confiscated 4 of them.
Last night my boys had a friend spend the night - we are not doing that again. He ran around yelling that he was gonna go crazy if he didn't get apple juice and then collected money off of the floors of my boys rooms and hounded my 20 year old son until he agreed to go to the convenience store and get him apple juice with all of the dimes and nickels he had found. Then they woke everyone up at 7am. I posted a comment on my facebook about not having anymore sleepovers and his mom called him and made him go home...same mom who wouldn't let her kids play with mine 2 weeks ago.
One neighbor still won't wave at me when I go in and out of the neighborhood. That's okay, one of my bad influences got a certificate from his teacher for most improved behavior and the assistant principal gave him a $20 Burger King gift card and said he was the "turnaround student of the year" out of the entire school (over 800 students.)
So 3 days into the summer and 2 1/2 months to go. With a week of vacation with me and a week with their dad plus his weekends I figure that's about 45 more days for me to figure out how to fill. When I was a kid we went outside and found stuff to do on our own. Why is it my kids can't do that....without getting in trouble?
Friday, May 13, 2011
Yet another appendix scare
I think I am almost caught up on sleep after spending all night Wednesday at the hospital.
My 14yo son didn't feel well and stayed home from school Wednesday. By that evening he felt well enough to eat 8 chick fil a nuggets and an ice dream cone. Then he felt like playing basketball in the driveway after we got home. When bedtime rolled around his stomach ache was suddenly back. He started rolling around on the floor moaning and groaning about his stomach. I told him to go to bed. 30 minutes later he was thrashing around the hallway. I told him to go to bed. Another 30 minutes and he was running up and down the stairs and thrashing around the living room. I told him to go to bed. I am by no means unsympathetic, but I had been up in the middle of the night for 3 hours just a week ago with what I imagined was this same stomach ache. I had also taken a child to the Urgent Care center 2 weeks ago for a very similar stomach ache that was caused by constipation. So while 14yo son was thrashing around and yelling about his stomach I calmly explained all of this and told him to try using the bathroom. This cycle repeated a few times with the drama increasing each time. At one point I said "You do not have a fever and you are not throwing up and there really isn't much I can do for you." And then a little later, "I can give you some Pepto or Mylanta if you would like but I don't think it is going to help." I kinda wish I hadn't said that part. He opted for the Pepto....Pepto is pink. I also should have listened when he smelled it and said "no, I changed my mind I don't want to take anything." But I persisted and he took the Pepto....did I mention Pepto is pink? I walked out of the room and no sooner had I gotten to my bedroom did I hear him throw up. He had a bucket in his room just in case this happened. However, he did not throw up in the bucket. He threw up 6 inches from the bucket....all. over. the. floor... it was pink. He then proceeds to run to the bathroom that is farthest away from his bedroom...all the way downstairs. The closest bathroom is the one the boys share and it is always nasty and no one wants to throw up in a nasty bathroom and I guess I was blocking the way to the second closest which was my bathroom and I sometimes get mad at them for using my bathroom because I don't like to sit in pee. As I'm downstairs helping him all I can think of is how I sure hope the dog does not go into his bedroom and how I don't yike Fo Up thanks to a post I read earlier that day on Holy Mama's blog about Fo Up and dogs eating vomit being in the Bible...which it is.
Even though I'm thoroughly frustrated with the pink vomit not in the bucket tracked down the stairs I'm thinking this is gonna be good because now 14yo will have some relief and hopefully get to sleep. Not so. He is still in horrible pain, so I decide in order to not be the mom whose kid had his appendix burst because she didn't think he was that sick that I will take him to the ER.
We arrived at 12:20am. They felt his stomach, listened to it, put in a line for an IV, took blood and ordered an Xray. By 3:30am the doctor decided there was nothing seriously wrong and we could go home with a prescription for nausea medicine and rest. The nurse came in with all our paperwork and took out the IV which had not been used except to draw blood. She offered to go ahead and give him a dose of the nausea medicine before we left. In a shot. In his butt. He said yes please. After watching him move over to the bed to get ready for the shot, she decided to go talk to the doctor, who decided that we should go ahead and do a CT scan to be safe. I'm thinking ok that won't take long because this place is deserted. I was thinking wrong. They needed to use contrast dye for the CT which requires drinking some nasty stuff and letting it move through your system......FOR TWO HOURS!! They also had to insert another IV to give him saline solution and some pain and nausea meds. After that they moved us into another room because the TV channel in the room we had been in could not be changed without standing on a chair and I had been watching Shepherd's Chapel for 3 hours. New room, new TV show, and feel good meds for ds so he was able to sleep. The two hours passed quicker than I thought and we headed down for the CT scan at 5:30am. Around 6am the doctor came in and said everything looked normal on the CT so we could finally go home. I got home just in time to start the next day....And the carpet in 14yo son's bedroom.....stained PINK!
My 14yo son didn't feel well and stayed home from school Wednesday. By that evening he felt well enough to eat 8 chick fil a nuggets and an ice dream cone. Then he felt like playing basketball in the driveway after we got home. When bedtime rolled around his stomach ache was suddenly back. He started rolling around on the floor moaning and groaning about his stomach. I told him to go to bed. 30 minutes later he was thrashing around the hallway. I told him to go to bed. Another 30 minutes and he was running up and down the stairs and thrashing around the living room. I told him to go to bed. I am by no means unsympathetic, but I had been up in the middle of the night for 3 hours just a week ago with what I imagined was this same stomach ache. I had also taken a child to the Urgent Care center 2 weeks ago for a very similar stomach ache that was caused by constipation. So while 14yo son was thrashing around and yelling about his stomach I calmly explained all of this and told him to try using the bathroom. This cycle repeated a few times with the drama increasing each time. At one point I said "You do not have a fever and you are not throwing up and there really isn't much I can do for you." And then a little later, "I can give you some Pepto or Mylanta if you would like but I don't think it is going to help." I kinda wish I hadn't said that part. He opted for the Pepto....Pepto is pink. I also should have listened when he smelled it and said "no, I changed my mind I don't want to take anything." But I persisted and he took the Pepto....did I mention Pepto is pink? I walked out of the room and no sooner had I gotten to my bedroom did I hear him throw up. He had a bucket in his room just in case this happened. However, he did not throw up in the bucket. He threw up 6 inches from the bucket....all. over. the. floor... it was pink. He then proceeds to run to the bathroom that is farthest away from his bedroom...all the way downstairs. The closest bathroom is the one the boys share and it is always nasty and no one wants to throw up in a nasty bathroom and I guess I was blocking the way to the second closest which was my bathroom and I sometimes get mad at them for using my bathroom because I don't like to sit in pee. As I'm downstairs helping him all I can think of is how I sure hope the dog does not go into his bedroom and how I don't yike Fo Up thanks to a post I read earlier that day on Holy Mama's blog about Fo Up and dogs eating vomit being in the Bible...which it is.
Even though I'm thoroughly frustrated with the pink vomit not in the bucket tracked down the stairs I'm thinking this is gonna be good because now 14yo will have some relief and hopefully get to sleep. Not so. He is still in horrible pain, so I decide in order to not be the mom whose kid had his appendix burst because she didn't think he was that sick that I will take him to the ER.
We arrived at 12:20am. They felt his stomach, listened to it, put in a line for an IV, took blood and ordered an Xray. By 3:30am the doctor decided there was nothing seriously wrong and we could go home with a prescription for nausea medicine and rest. The nurse came in with all our paperwork and took out the IV which had not been used except to draw blood. She offered to go ahead and give him a dose of the nausea medicine before we left. In a shot. In his butt. He said yes please. After watching him move over to the bed to get ready for the shot, she decided to go talk to the doctor, who decided that we should go ahead and do a CT scan to be safe. I'm thinking ok that won't take long because this place is deserted. I was thinking wrong. They needed to use contrast dye for the CT which requires drinking some nasty stuff and letting it move through your system......FOR TWO HOURS!! They also had to insert another IV to give him saline solution and some pain and nausea meds. After that they moved us into another room because the TV channel in the room we had been in could not be changed without standing on a chair and I had been watching Shepherd's Chapel for 3 hours. New room, new TV show, and feel good meds for ds so he was able to sleep. The two hours passed quicker than I thought and we headed down for the CT scan at 5:30am. Around 6am the doctor came in and said everything looked normal on the CT so we could finally go home. I got home just in time to start the next day....And the carpet in 14yo son's bedroom.....stained PINK!
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
My least favorite holiday...
For years I have known that Mother's Day is my least favorite holiday of the year. Even knowing this I always had high expectations and was always disappointed. I recently told someone that it should be called Mothers with Husbands or Grown Kids Day although when I was married my husband used to always say, "well you're not MY mother."
This year started off no different. I had unreasonable expectations. I didn't want jewelry or lavish gifts. What I wanted was for my children to get along and behave for the day. That is probably not going to happen until they are grown. So after my kids let me sleep just late enough for them to not have to go to church, I got up and cleaned the kitchen, took out the trash, refereed a fight, and made some coffee and walked through the trashed living room and back upstairs to have my breakfast (coffee) in bed.
I decided that is where my pity party was going to end. We had plans to go visit my mom for the day and if just being able to spend the day with my mom weren't enough, she lives on a lake.....where we can sit on the dock and the boys can swim and play and be outside all day. So we got ready and headed out around noon. Despite being in the car with 5 boys for 2 hours round trip and the sporadic bickering throughout the day it was a good day. I haven't spent time with my mom in a while and it's the first time the boys have been able to swim in the lake this season. My oldest even took us out for a boat ride.
We ate dinner on the way home and got here just in time for the boys to head to bed. I was exhausted and in need of a bath after being at the lake all day, but wanted to watch the Amazing Race and knew if I went up to take a bath I would never make it back downstairs. The living room looked cleaner than I remembered and seemed to have fresh vacuum marks. But I was tired and I had just vacuumed the day before so I thought maybe those marks were left from then and I have a horrible habit of making everyone wait in the car as I run around and do last minute straightening so I could have done more than I remembered as we were leaving that morning.
When I finished watching TV I went up to get rinsed off and crawl into bed. But when I got up to my room I realized the living room wasn't the only room that looked freshly vacuumed. In addition to the fresh vacuum marks in my room, my bed was covered with new clothes. My boyfriend had come by while we were gone, cleaned up, made me a card, and left the clothes on my bed. I was so excited....but also still kinda stinky from being in the sun all day. I jumped in the shower and got clean enough and got out and started trying on clothes. It was depressing. When I got divorced I lost 30 pounds. Over the last 3 years I have put that 30 pounds back on. I have tried dieting and exercising but always end up right back at that same weight. I had just a week ago decided that I needed to come to terms with my weight. I am not overweight by most standards, I just don't have the body that I did before. My belly is flabby and my hips are big. But I still look good in most of my clothes. I decided that I am 40 years old with 5 kids and I don't need to wear a bikini anymore. Unfortunately one of the things my boyfriend had bought me was a really cute two-piece bathing suit. It didn't look so cute when I tried it on. On top of that 2 of the dresses that should have been my size were too small. So now I am right back to feeling bad about myself because of something that was meant as an act of kindness. My boyfriend knows my struggles and wanted to make my Mother's Day special. And he did. I'm the one who can't let those negative feelings go. I don't think Mother's Day will ever be my favorite holiday, but I'm hoping to at least move it up the list a little bit at a time.
This year started off no different. I had unreasonable expectations. I didn't want jewelry or lavish gifts. What I wanted was for my children to get along and behave for the day. That is probably not going to happen until they are grown. So after my kids let me sleep just late enough for them to not have to go to church, I got up and cleaned the kitchen, took out the trash, refereed a fight, and made some coffee and walked through the trashed living room and back upstairs to have my breakfast (coffee) in bed.
I decided that is where my pity party was going to end. We had plans to go visit my mom for the day and if just being able to spend the day with my mom weren't enough, she lives on a lake.....where we can sit on the dock and the boys can swim and play and be outside all day. So we got ready and headed out around noon. Despite being in the car with 5 boys for 2 hours round trip and the sporadic bickering throughout the day it was a good day. I haven't spent time with my mom in a while and it's the first time the boys have been able to swim in the lake this season. My oldest even took us out for a boat ride.
We ate dinner on the way home and got here just in time for the boys to head to bed. I was exhausted and in need of a bath after being at the lake all day, but wanted to watch the Amazing Race and knew if I went up to take a bath I would never make it back downstairs. The living room looked cleaner than I remembered and seemed to have fresh vacuum marks. But I was tired and I had just vacuumed the day before so I thought maybe those marks were left from then and I have a horrible habit of making everyone wait in the car as I run around and do last minute straightening so I could have done more than I remembered as we were leaving that morning.
When I finished watching TV I went up to get rinsed off and crawl into bed. But when I got up to my room I realized the living room wasn't the only room that looked freshly vacuumed. In addition to the fresh vacuum marks in my room, my bed was covered with new clothes. My boyfriend had come by while we were gone, cleaned up, made me a card, and left the clothes on my bed. I was so excited....but also still kinda stinky from being in the sun all day. I jumped in the shower and got clean enough and got out and started trying on clothes. It was depressing. When I got divorced I lost 30 pounds. Over the last 3 years I have put that 30 pounds back on. I have tried dieting and exercising but always end up right back at that same weight. I had just a week ago decided that I needed to come to terms with my weight. I am not overweight by most standards, I just don't have the body that I did before. My belly is flabby and my hips are big. But I still look good in most of my clothes. I decided that I am 40 years old with 5 kids and I don't need to wear a bikini anymore. Unfortunately one of the things my boyfriend had bought me was a really cute two-piece bathing suit. It didn't look so cute when I tried it on. On top of that 2 of the dresses that should have been my size were too small. So now I am right back to feeling bad about myself because of something that was meant as an act of kindness. My boyfriend knows my struggles and wanted to make my Mother's Day special. And he did. I'm the one who can't let those negative feelings go. I don't think Mother's Day will ever be my favorite holiday, but I'm hoping to at least move it up the list a little bit at a time.
Friday, May 6, 2011
My kids can't play with your kids....
It's been a rough 2 days. I have spent the last 2 days sick at my stomach, crying, and taking headache medicine. I'm not sure I'm ready to talk about it but I can't concentrate on anything else. Actually I have talked about it. To my boyfriend, my mom, my kids, the neighbors, the police, the assistant principal. This blog is more like a diary. I think only 3 people have read it. So if it helps me get things out then I can handle judgement from 3 more people.
I have difficult kids. They are impulsive. They do stupid things without thinking. They have a difficult time taking responsibility for their own actions. They can be disrespectful. They have anger management issues. I love them with all my heart.
My 8 year old started a fire in a vacant lot. There was alot of tall dry grass on the lot. The fire spread....quickly. Neighbors saw it and called the fire department and helped put it out. Thankfully no one was hurt and it did not reach any houses but it came close.
My 14 year old got in trouble at school....for the 14th time this year. He will be going to alternative school next year. I'm okay with this (the consequence, not the getting in trouble.)
My boys told me today they are not allowed to hang out with their closest friends anymore because of these things. I'm sure there is other stuff...my kids get in trouble a lot. I can't get in touch with the mom to find out if this is true or not, but another mom in the neighborhood has told me her son is not allowed to play with my boys. I'm trying not to be bitter, but I'm a little pissed. Best friends' mom knows our history and has never had a problem with me taking her boys to and from church on Wed nights so she can go out on dates or having me take them to and from school when they've missed the school bus and she is working or out of town. Her boys bring BB guns over to my house and I've had to tell them and her my kids aren't allowed to play with those.
I get it. I wouldn't want my sons hanging with people who were bad influences. But it still hurts. I want to move away. I want to start over. I want everything to be all better. Instead I have to drive by those houses and hold my head up every time I leave the neighborhood and every time I come back home. Instead I have to listen to my other 14 year old tell me how unfair it is that he can't go to his friends' houses because of the things his brothers have done. Instead I have to sit here at my computer pretending not to cry while we are all cooped up in the house because the boys can't go to their friends' houses or have company and I don't feel well enough to take them anywhere.
I have difficult kids. They are impulsive. They do stupid things without thinking. They have a difficult time taking responsibility for their own actions. They can be disrespectful. They have anger management issues. I love them with all my heart.
My 8 year old started a fire in a vacant lot. There was alot of tall dry grass on the lot. The fire spread....quickly. Neighbors saw it and called the fire department and helped put it out. Thankfully no one was hurt and it did not reach any houses but it came close.
My 14 year old got in trouble at school....for the 14th time this year. He will be going to alternative school next year. I'm okay with this (the consequence, not the getting in trouble.)
My boys told me today they are not allowed to hang out with their closest friends anymore because of these things. I'm sure there is other stuff...my kids get in trouble a lot. I can't get in touch with the mom to find out if this is true or not, but another mom in the neighborhood has told me her son is not allowed to play with my boys. I'm trying not to be bitter, but I'm a little pissed. Best friends' mom knows our history and has never had a problem with me taking her boys to and from church on Wed nights so she can go out on dates or having me take them to and from school when they've missed the school bus and she is working or out of town. Her boys bring BB guns over to my house and I've had to tell them and her my kids aren't allowed to play with those.
I get it. I wouldn't want my sons hanging with people who were bad influences. But it still hurts. I want to move away. I want to start over. I want everything to be all better. Instead I have to drive by those houses and hold my head up every time I leave the neighborhood and every time I come back home. Instead I have to listen to my other 14 year old tell me how unfair it is that he can't go to his friends' houses because of the things his brothers have done. Instead I have to sit here at my computer pretending not to cry while we are all cooped up in the house because the boys can't go to their friends' houses or have company and I don't feel well enough to take them anywhere.
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Groceries
I went grocery shopping yesterday.
I have not been grocery shopping in 3 weeks.
Other than to run in for milk and bread.
We have been eating out A LOT.
Which is partially because I have not been grocery shopping in 3 weeks.
But also because we have soccer almost every night.
So I went to the grocery store yesterday.
Without a list.
And Hungry.
Wanna see what I got?
I have not been grocery shopping in 3 weeks.
Other than to run in for milk and bread.
We have been eating out A LOT.
Which is partially because I have not been grocery shopping in 3 weeks.
But also because we have soccer almost every night.
So I went to the grocery store yesterday.
Without a list.
And Hungry.
Wanna see what I got?
Loaded into the van
(minus the dog food and cat litter which went into the way back)
pantry items
(my pantry is not this big and some of this is still on my counter today)
Fridge and Freezer
(barely fit all that in)
My kids love me again...
Thursday, April 28, 2011
My Sore Arm...and Detroit and Chicago....
Storms were all around us last night and for the second night in a row, I didn't get much sleep so am heading up early tonight. Fortunately everything passed north and south of us and we had no damage.
Figured I'd share a quick story first.
Spent a good part of the day trying to figure out why my left arm is so sore. Feels like I worked out yesterday but it's only the left and not the right arm. I keep touching and poking and twisting and turning it to see where it is most sore and it finally hit me. I went shopping yesterday morning at a thrift store half off sale.
You have to get there early or you don't get the best stuff. You also don't get a buggy (not sure why if I'm in the thrift store or Target it's a buggy but at the grocery it is a cart.)
I arrived 2 minutes after they opened. All buggies were gone! No big deal I figured, I'm just there to get some shorts for my boys. As I pulled them off the rack I threw them over my left arm. 19 pairs of shorts later, my arm felt like it was going to break and I headed up to the registers to see if anyone was checking out. Unfortunately only one person was and there were 3 people waiting on buggies, so I went back to shopping. As I got to the end of the rack, one of the store employees who had been gathering empty buggies just happened to be walking by and asked if I needed one. Which meant that I could spend another hour in the store! That's about all I could handle. Between the woman who was talking to herself as she jerked men's plaid shorts off the hangers and held them up to herself to see if they would fit and the woman who was letting her son sit in the floor in the middle of the aisle playing with toys while her daughter rammed the stroller into the clothes racks and the smooshed banana and cookie crumbs all over the floor, I was ready to go. 20 pairs of shorts, 14 t-shirts, a sundress, and half an upper body workout for $65. Definitely worth it.
11:00...see told ya I was going to bed early!
Edit 11:05...my boys took the Social Studies portion of the CRCT today. I asked 14 year old Twin B how it went. He said part was easy and part was hard. I asked if there was anything about Detroit and Chicago on the test. He said "no, but guess what? Detroit and Chicago are both cities!" Yes! Finally he's got it. He then went on to tell me "yeah Chicago is in Colorado." Ok, so maybe he needs some more lessons.
And I need to go to bed.
Figured I'd share a quick story first.
Spent a good part of the day trying to figure out why my left arm is so sore. Feels like I worked out yesterday but it's only the left and not the right arm. I keep touching and poking and twisting and turning it to see where it is most sore and it finally hit me. I went shopping yesterday morning at a thrift store half off sale.
You have to get there early or you don't get the best stuff. You also don't get a buggy (not sure why if I'm in the thrift store or Target it's a buggy but at the grocery it is a cart.)
I arrived 2 minutes after they opened. All buggies were gone! No big deal I figured, I'm just there to get some shorts for my boys. As I pulled them off the rack I threw them over my left arm. 19 pairs of shorts later, my arm felt like it was going to break and I headed up to the registers to see if anyone was checking out. Unfortunately only one person was and there were 3 people waiting on buggies, so I went back to shopping. As I got to the end of the rack, one of the store employees who had been gathering empty buggies just happened to be walking by and asked if I needed one. Which meant that I could spend another hour in the store! That's about all I could handle. Between the woman who was talking to herself as she jerked men's plaid shorts off the hangers and held them up to herself to see if they would fit and the woman who was letting her son sit in the floor in the middle of the aisle playing with toys while her daughter rammed the stroller into the clothes racks and the smooshed banana and cookie crumbs all over the floor, I was ready to go. 20 pairs of shorts, 14 t-shirts, a sundress, and half an upper body workout for $65. Definitely worth it.
11:00...see told ya I was going to bed early!
Edit 11:05...my boys took the Social Studies portion of the CRCT today. I asked 14 year old Twin B how it went. He said part was easy and part was hard. I asked if there was anything about Detroit and Chicago on the test. He said "no, but guess what? Detroit and Chicago are both cities!" Yes! Finally he's got it. He then went on to tell me "yeah Chicago is in Colorado." Ok, so maybe he needs some more lessons.
And I need to go to bed.
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
And the Diagnosis is.....
Friday afternoon, 45 minutes before the boys' dad was to pick them up, my 8yo began moaning and groaning and complaining of stomach pain. Spending time on the potty and burping didn't seem to be helping and I knew if I sent him to his dad's that way I would never hear the end of it. So 15 minutes before scheduled pick up time I sent dad a text, left the other boys with oldest ds to await dad's arrival and headed out to the immediate med center with my youngest. Amazingly, there are no other patients at 6pm on a Friday evening. We went right back and by 6:15 had a diagnosis.
Appendicitis? Nope.
Food Poisoning? Nope.
Stomach Virus? Nope......
Constipation! Yep, my 8 year old who had informed me an hour before that he had gone "number 2" after school both Thursday and Friday afternoon admitted to the nurse-practitioner that he hadn't actually gone in a week!
She gave him a laxative, he went to his dad's, pooped, and is all better!
Appendicitis? Nope.
Food Poisoning? Nope.
Stomach Virus? Nope......
Constipation! Yep, my 8 year old who had informed me an hour before that he had gone "number 2" after school both Thursday and Friday afternoon admitted to the nurse-practitioner that he hadn't actually gone in a week!
She gave him a laxative, he went to his dad's, pooped, and is all better!
Friday, April 22, 2011
17
I was all set to write about our appendicitis scare last night until I woke up this morning to a slew of emails from my boys' father. 17 to be exact. He and I don't have one of those friendly relationships you hear about some ex-spouses having. I guess if we could still be friends after 18 years of marriage, we'd probably still be married.
He spent last night reading 2+ years of my Facebook profile. He doesn't like some of the things I've said on there and he's threatening to use it against me because I'm friends with my kids and they can read my profile. He can read it because he has the kids' account information and used it to log into their accounts and read mine. I'm not sure my kids would stay up until 5am and take the time to repeatedly click on "older posts" just to see what I've said over the past 3 years but guess you never know.
I'm scanning back through to see if i said anything really bad. I don't know why I'm doing this. I don't have time for it and it isn't going to accomplish anything. I'm not really worried about it, but I guess I am or I wouldn't be doing it. I should probably stop reading but I wanna remember what all I've said because he has misread or misunderstood or just plain made some stuff up.
OK, I made it back almost a year. I'm tired and have gotten nothing accomplished today....but I did enjoy "reliving" the past year. Somehow I doubt my ex enjoyed it quite as much.
Oh yeah, My 8year old had a horrible stomach ache last night to the point that he was in tears clutching his stomach. So I loaded him into the van and headed off to urgent care. About halfway there after burping about 50 times he announced "I feel much better now, we can turn around." And so we did.
He spent last night reading 2+ years of my Facebook profile. He doesn't like some of the things I've said on there and he's threatening to use it against me because I'm friends with my kids and they can read my profile. He can read it because he has the kids' account information and used it to log into their accounts and read mine. I'm not sure my kids would stay up until 5am and take the time to repeatedly click on "older posts" just to see what I've said over the past 3 years but guess you never know.
I'm scanning back through to see if i said anything really bad. I don't know why I'm doing this. I don't have time for it and it isn't going to accomplish anything. I'm not really worried about it, but I guess I am or I wouldn't be doing it. I should probably stop reading but I wanna remember what all I've said because he has misread or misunderstood or just plain made some stuff up.
OK, I made it back almost a year. I'm tired and have gotten nothing accomplished today....but I did enjoy "reliving" the past year. Somehow I doubt my ex enjoyed it quite as much.
Oh yeah, My 8year old had a horrible stomach ache last night to the point that he was in tears clutching his stomach. So I loaded him into the van and headed off to urgent care. About halfway there after burping about 50 times he announced "I feel much better now, we can turn around." And so we did.
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Waiting for the school to call
It's been a rough couple of weeks around here....actually it's been a rough few years but things were getting better for a while...
Dropped the boys off at school and then held back tears all the way home.
Twin A was angry because he thinks Twin B took his pants and did something with them so he has decided that he is going to "Christmas Tree" his CRCT today. Also being in the mood he was when I dropped him off and being the impulsive child that he is, I would not be surprised if he ends up getting in trouble in school today.
So I have showered and put on decent clothes and makeup so I'll be ready if the principal calls and needs me to come up to the school.
You know how it never rains when you remember to bring your umbrella? I'm hoping it'll work like that and nothing will happen since I'm prepared. Oh wait, does just saying (typing?) that out loud make it not work? My desk is wood, I'll knock on it...
Dropped the boys off at school and then held back tears all the way home.
Twin A was angry because he thinks Twin B took his pants and did something with them so he has decided that he is going to "Christmas Tree" his CRCT today. Also being in the mood he was when I dropped him off and being the impulsive child that he is, I would not be surprised if he ends up getting in trouble in school today.
So I have showered and put on decent clothes and makeup so I'll be ready if the principal calls and needs me to come up to the school.
You know how it never rains when you remember to bring your umbrella? I'm hoping it'll work like that and nothing will happen since I'm prepared. Oh wait, does just saying (typing?) that out loud make it not work? My desk is wood, I'll knock on it...
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
You can't moon the school bus...
So Twin B got in trouble at school....AGAIN.
He mooned the school bus after he got off yesterday.
I am torn on this issue.
He shouldn't have done it. I know that.
He wasn't even on the bus when he did it.
The bus driver does not like my twins.
I know...he shouldn't have done it.
But now he can't ride the bus anymore this year....that's 23 days.
Guess who is being punished?
I have kept them off the bus for most of the year so that they wouldn't do something stupid and get suspended because there are days when I NEED them to ride the bus.
Yesterday was one of those days.
Next year I NEED them to ride daily.
They'll have the same bus driver next year.
He mooned the school bus after he got off yesterday.
I am torn on this issue.
He shouldn't have done it. I know that.
He wasn't even on the bus when he did it.
The bus driver does not like my twins.
I know...he shouldn't have done it.
But now he can't ride the bus anymore this year....that's 23 days.
Guess who is being punished?
I have kept them off the bus for most of the year so that they wouldn't do something stupid and get suspended because there are days when I NEED them to ride the bus.
Yesterday was one of those days.
Next year I NEED them to ride daily.
They'll have the same bus driver next year.
Detroit and Chicago
Several months ago on the way to school, Twin B asked where the Metrodome was and I told him it was in Minneapolis. He then asked if that was in the same state as Detroit. To which Twin A replied "Detroit IS a state." He promptly turned around and said "No it's not Detroit is in Chicago!" As we pulled into the drop-off lane I said that they were worse at geography than I was and Twin A says "wait, isn't that a type of math?" Twin B responded "No, that's geoMETRy" and then questioned "right?" Well at least he got something right.
Fast forward to last night when Twin B had been studying for CRCT. He walks in the kitchen and tells me I can ask him anything about the states because he knows everything about them. So I ask "Is Detroit in Chicago?" His brother walked in about that time and said "No, Chicago is in Detroit."
Twin B says "no it's not because Chicago is a state" then he thinks for a minute and says, "Detroit and Chicago are both states!"
I have decided that prayers might be necessary for the CRCT...
Fast forward to last night when Twin B had been studying for CRCT. He walks in the kitchen and tells me I can ask him anything about the states because he knows everything about them. So I ask "Is Detroit in Chicago?" His brother walked in about that time and said "No, Chicago is in Detroit."
Twin B says "no it's not because Chicago is a state" then he thinks for a minute and says, "Detroit and Chicago are both states!"
I have decided that prayers might be necessary for the CRCT...
Saturday, April 16, 2011
Peace and Quiet?
My oldest son took the other 4 to the park today.
I got 2 hours of peace and quiet.
There was a fight and one child came home with a bloody nose.
It was not quiet anymore.
Oldest son is not taking the boys to the park anymore.
I'm not sure the quiet time I got was worth it.
3 boys are in their rooms and 2 are in the showers.
It is quiet again.
Still have to deal with the behavior.
Another calm before the storm?
I got 2 hours of peace and quiet.
There was a fight and one child came home with a bloody nose.
It was not quiet anymore.
Oldest son is not taking the boys to the park anymore.
I'm not sure the quiet time I got was worth it.
3 boys are in their rooms and 2 are in the showers.
It is quiet again.
Still have to deal with the behavior.
Another calm before the storm?
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