Working out when you can't watch Oprah

Okay, first of all let me start by saying that going to the gym and working out on the first day of your period SUCKS! It makes you feel like you've never worked out before! At least it did for me today.....

It was one of those days where I just wanted to stop the machine, get the hell out of there, go home and lay in bed.

But I didn't.......yes, I was a good girl and finished my workout, although I was certainly counting down the minutes I had left, or how many I had done.......

Into minute 10.....Damn, do I really want to do this today? Oh, my stomach's not feeling so hot, maybe I should stop.....

No Doubt comes on the mp3 player.....Okay, I'll get through this song and then see what happens...

A few more songs come on, I'm busy thinking about my sister, Heidi, who recently called, and thinking about the house that we're selling...Wow, we actually got an offer on the house, but it's a sucky offer. Hopefully they'll take our counterbid, either that or someone else will come along soon and make a better offer.

Now I'm 1/2 way through the workout...Wow, I made it 1/2 way and I'm still breathing okay, I guess it's not THAT bad, let's see what it's like at 30 minutes, I've already done 2 miles...

Okay, now a few sucky songs (I guess I can't call them sucky, after all I DID put them on my mp3 player, didn't I?), or should I rephrase that, some songs come on that just don't fit the "mood" for exercising.

::::::::::::off track for a second:::::::::::::::::

A friend of mine was saying how certain foods can evoke memories of things, or people. Well, I think that's DEFINITELY true of songs as well. So many different memories come to mind when so many different songs come on. Whenever I hear "Saturday In the Park" by Chicago, it brings me back to hearing that at a Motocross event that my mom took me to, when I was MAYBE 5 years old. That is the oldest memory I have regarding a song. There are way too many more to even start writing about

:::::::::::::okay, back to the gym::::::::::::::::

Which makes me think....Um, why don't I just change the setting to just play a band that I like a lot of songs to work out to? Damn, I don't want to do that now, let's just see what comes next. Linkin Park, okay, cool, that's a good song to keep going on this machine...

You know, it's amazing the things that just go through your mind, when you're trying to finish your workout, and there's nothing on the TV's there, that you want to watch....Damn, if I was able to get here an hour earlier, I could have been watching Oprah. Now that's always riveting and keeps my mind of working out. It makes the time go by faster.

36 minutes into the workout....Woohoo, I'm getting there! I can finish this! What's next coming on? Danzig? Uh, no, heard that "Mother" song way too many times, I'm bored with it. Next! Usher....Okay, I can deal with this one.

I can't even remember what the last songs that were on that I was listening to, I just remember that I got down to the "cool down" period.....Yea! Only FIVE more minutes left!

I finally finish, thank goodness, and get off the darn machine (I shouldn't call it that, I really DO like working out on it most of the time), and go clean it off, like a good workout person does, grab my stuff and head down the stairs. I go down the first stair and what happens? My stupid ass left knee starts giving out....WHAT??!! Okay, shit, come on body, I just gave you a good workout, working out the cardio for 50 minutes and my knee doesn't want to cooperate? Damn.....

So I do a sort of hop quickly on that leg when I use it down the stairs and make it look like I'm just trying to get down quicker. Once I'm on level ground, it starts working properly again. Guess my knee just didn't like the stairs today....

To my car I go, and off to home I go to shower and eat dinner with my family. See you next week YMCA!

Quick with the Wit

My youngest always seems to ask the question of all questions. She constantly asks about things. Now, my oldest did too, but either she let me think about it for a minute, or the questions were easy to answer. Not my youngest......

This morning.......

"Mama, why are is the fish smiling at me?"

"Because he's happy to see you!"

"Why is he happy to see me?"

"Because he loves you!"

Okay, that wasn't so hard. But these questions just come out of the blue and she wants an answer ASAP! If I don't answer within the first 5, or 2 seconds, she's asking you again, and again, and again.....

So here is when I was quick with my wit......

About a year and a half ago ( I think), she was watching the signal lights on the street. So she asked what the Red, Yellow and Green lights mean. No problem! Those were easy to answer!! Then she started coming up with other colors. Here's where I had to get creative.......

"What does a pink light mean?"

"Be a Princess"

"What does a blue light mean?"

"Be Happy"

"What does an orange light mean?"

"Be a clown"

"What does a purple light mean?"

"Go crazy!"

What does a brown light mean?"

............

...............

..............

(okay, trying to come up with something neat, but, alas, the first thing that comes to my mind............)

...........................

..............................

......................"Go poop"

Yea, and I'll bet you'll never guess which light makes her laugh the most when she asks what that light means..............

Yea, the "go poop" brown light.....

So I'm not ALWAYS quick with the wit, but at least I'm creative sometimes....................

My Baby Turns 4 Today!!!

Wow, I just can't believe my baby is turning 4 today! She certainly has been waiting for it long enough! A while back she wanted to know whose birthday comes next before her birthday. So I had to go down the list of family members to get to her birthday. For months she knew that after it was Uncle Dan's birthday, it would be her birthday. And that when she turns 4, she gets to be in a booster seat in the car. No more car seat! Wow.........that is going to be so eerie, no car seat! She'll now get to use the regular seatbelt with her booster seat. Oh, speaking of booster seats, we got a COOL one! We were going to get her a "girlie" one, but the one they had in Target was SOOOOOOOOOOO pink it was pukey! (And I LOVE pink!). So this one is upgraded, dark brown & black, more cushey and even has lights on the headrest part in case she needed light to read or do activities! Damn!!!

Awwww, she just woke up and I hugged her and said, "Happy Birthday! You are FOUR years old today!"

"I'm FOUR years old today?!" (Holding up four fingers)

"Yes you are!"

"YEAAAA!!!!"

What a much better day today is than the day she was born. It was exciting, but yet scary too.

See, I was only 34 weeks along when she was born.

A few days prior, I took a non-stress test for my pregnancy. They noticed my blood pressure was high (I have been diagnosed with high blood pressure for about 9 years now) and had me go up to labor & delivery to get checked out. Well, after examining me, they noticed I was about 2-3 centimeters dialated! They said I had been having some contractions, but I never noticed them. (Which is odd, since I do feel just about everything in my body!)

So I got put on steroids to help further develop my baby. I had to come back every 12 hours to get a shot. In the meantime, my oldest daughter was at gymnastics and they wouldn't let me leave the hospital just yet to get her. So I called a dear friend of mine to go get her for me.

After they finally released me, I went to get my oldest daughter and we went home. I was able to get a hold of my husband too (yea, he wasn't here, he was up in Seattle on a port visit with the ship he was connected to), and he had me call his parents to come down just in case I needed them.

Next day....we went to the hospital around midnight to get my next shot, then came home. I actually went to work that day too, because I had to do payroll. While there though, I didn't feel good AT ALL! So my boss drove me home and my in-laws took me back to the hospital (it was time for the next steroid shot anyway). By that time labor seemed to progress a little more, my blood sugars were way up (oh yea, did I mention I had gestational diabetes as well?!), my blood pressure was up, etc. So they put me on more medicine, and stopped my labor.

Next day.....August 3, 2002..........doctors wake me up EARLY in the morning. My body is not doing well, and I am far enough along that they think my baby has a REALLY good chance being born early...34 weeks along.....it took me FIVE HOURS to get a hold of my husband.....FINALLY!..... and he got permission to come home and then tried to get a flight home.

In the meantime, I called my dear friend, Michelle, and asked her if she wanted to come help me deliver this baby! She was SOOOO excited to be there and witness it! My in-laws still had my eldest, but my mother-in-law wasn't doing too well with all the excitement and stress going on, so she called my mom and asked her to come down to help with Cheyenne. So my mom and my aunt came down. And I'm so glad that they did, my mom was able to see a grandaughter right after she was born.

My husband made it to the hospital just as I was getting ready to push my daughter out. Now this was an experience for us as well, as my oldest daughter has to be born via c-section. It was the most amazing thing, giving birth to my youngest. I cried, I was so happy.

She did end up having some problems though. Her lungs weren't fully developed so she was on Surfactin (sp?) for a few days to get her lungs matured, one of her lungs did collapse and she had to have a chest tube inserted, jaundice, multiple tests, BUT she was only in NICU for a week. But that week was the longest week of my life.

Now?! She's so incredibly healthy! She's full of life & vigor. She makes me crazy sometimes, but makes me laugh just as much. She's a spitfire, that's for sure. And she's mine. And she's FOUR years old today! (I always remember that Bill Cosby performance when he talks about the boy, Jeffrey, who was on a plane with him one time and said over and over, "I'm four years old. I'm four years old." ) :D

Listening to him read and sing.....

I am sitting here on the computer and off in the living room, I hear my husband reading a story to my youngest, on the eve of her 4th birthday. It's a Blue's Clues book with a button that plays music that you sing rhymes too. Now mind you, he reads the books fabulously to her, but his singing? Well, let's just say it's not in tune with the music. Either he ends before the song is done or the music is done before he is.

But you know what? My daughter could CARE one bit! All she cares is that Daddy was reading a book to her. And that is just the sweetest thing ever.

I just had to share.........................

The Elusive Camping Trip

Ahhhh, now I have time I can sit down and write about our camping trip. Let me just start off by saying that I do NOT care for camping at all! I don't like the bugs, I don't like sleeping in a tent, I don't like having to walk 1/2 mile to the bathrooms. I want a nice bed (even in an RV would be okay), I want a toilet nearby, I want a shower, I want a stove, I want electricty. I want the comforts of home. Sure, I like sitting around a campfire, talking, laughing and such, eatins S'mores, but that's about it. I went up there for two reasons, to scatter my mom's ashes and to see my family. And I'll put up with just about anything to see my family. Not anything, but just about.....

Okay, back to the story......

We left our house about 3:30 a.m. for our 6 - 6 1/2 hour trek up to Mammoth Mountain. Ugh...... I tried to sleep on the way, but I just couldn't. Oh well, I'll sleep later. I called my youngest sister about 6 a.m., once we got on the 395 to ask her where she was. Lone Pine! Damn!!! She was at least 2 hours ahead of me, and she left about the same time I did! Well, she is closer. She was so excited to get up there!

First day of camping is always the set up. Hubby was busy setting up the tent, while I was busy carrying EVERYTHING ELSE in the campsite! Hmmm....makes me wonder if he was "taking his time" setting up that tent.........

I was SOOOOOOO fucking tired that day!! I think I took a nap, I can't remember. Did I? Or did I take one the next day, or did I take one each day? Damn, I was so tired those days, I really can't remember!

Now we had all tried to coordinate who was bringing things, that way we would have everything when we all got up there. I would say that for the most part, we did have everything. Of course everyone made fun of me, because if they didn't have it, it was like "Oh, I'm sure Tina has it!" My eldest thought they were being a little mean when they were saying that, but they really weren't, I told her. They all just know that I wanted to come prepared. I brought a full sized broom for Pete's sake to sweep out my tent! I brought a standing shower tent so I could take a shower. I brought enough baby wipes to clean everyone off for a month. Enough paper plates for everyone. What can I say? Gotta love COSTCO!! And if they were being mean, well, you know what? Don't care! Bite me! I love my family!!! :D

Hubby set up the horseshoes that he brought, and the men DEFINITELY loved that! He took my eldest fishing with him, he got to relax some, read a book, watched a video on his video Ipod, and so on......

My eldest wasn't so keen on the camping when she first got there, but grew to like it after a couple of days, especially spending time with her cousin and our family.

My youngest??? Well, that's a different story alltogether! Let me first start off by saying that she is one that likes routine. She wants to know what we're doing days in advance, and will keep asking sometimes throughout the day. When her routine doesn't go as planned and there's not enough advance warning with it all, she can break down. And now while I don't think she is autistic, I do think she may have some autistic tendencies sometimes. I need to research that more though. Now, she can have a problem with dogs. That's not an autistic tendency, it's just a little girl not liking some dogs. Back at Easter, when we were up at my aunt's house, she was terrified of their german shepard, Burbank. She would be outside, and Burbank would be inside looking out the back door and she would freak out and start crying because Burbank was looking at her. Yikes! I did sit down with her and we sat next to Burbank for a long time and she got used to him, and now she just loves him! I think the size of Burbank scared her the most, because Burbank does NOT jump on people. He's a very mellow dog. Okay, back to camping.........

My aunt brought Burbank, my sister brought her dalmation, Lucky (which she liked right away), and then my youngest sister brought her dog, Clyde. Clyde is part Rhodesian Ridgeback, has some pit bull in him (but is a VERY NICE dog), and something else. Well, I guess Clyde was excited to see people, and came too eagerly to see my youngest and scared the living shit out of her. That was it. She wanted him no where NEAR her. Now, my sister couldn't keep her dog tied up the WHOLE time, and let's face it, my youngest needed to get to be more comfortable with Clyde. Not that I wanted to FORCE Clyde upon her.... but she did give Clyde a hug when we left, but of course someone was holding Clyde and daddy was holding her.........

The second night up there, was probably the best night I had sleeping up there. Too tired to freak out about mice and bears, got through the first night of no mice or bears, more used to sleeping in the tent. I did have a nap that second day were were up there too, now that I think about it, because my youngest sister saw me sleeping in the tent, pulled my other sister over to me and they both saw that I was sleeping the way mom slept when she took naps up there. Awwwwwww........... :)

Forward to the third day. Okay, now I'm in the groove, getting more used to it, even decided on not taking a shower in our shower stall. (It actually was a PAIN IN THE ASS to do that, the shower bag we had took up the majority of the top part of the tent stall, and to get the water to flow freely out of the hose on you (or should I say the TOP 1/2 of you), you had to squat down really low. Yea, nice picture, huh? Oh, and also the shower bag had sprung a leak so it was taped up with duct tape. Hey, at least we gave it a shot for the first two days!

So anyway, I just wiped myself down with baby wipes (lord know I brought enough of them!), used my sister's squirt bottle (and what a cute one it was too! She always has the cutest little gadgets. Even the spatula she brought was cute. I knew it was hers right off the bat!) to wet down my hair, and put my hair up again.

We all went up the mountain to sight see. My, what beautiful lakes and scenery they had up there! Here are a couple of pictures:


We went hiking down to the waterfall:



And hiked back up. That was a nice workout there though!

Afterwards, hubby and I took our girls, along with our two nieces to lunch. We thought we'd treat our nieces, since we don't see them that often.

Then we made our way back to the campsite. Hung around for a little bit, and my aunt and I drive back into town to get dinner. We decided to have hot dogs. Found hot dogs alright, but when we went to go get the buns, there were none! Yikes! My aunt was like, "Well, we'll just have to use bread." I wasn't giving up yet. I asked one of the clerks to look in the back to see if they had any buns, and after a short while, and him talking with a couple of people, magically he came out with enough buns for us! Yea! I KNEW my youngest would not be eating a hot dog on a piece of bread! So we made our way back to the campsite.

That's when things started going downhill. Shortly thereafter, it started raining. At first we thought, no big deal, we've been dealing with this every day since we've been here. It rains a little bit, then it clears up. Did that happen in this case? Of course not! It decided to keep on raining! UGH! I don't care for rain as it is, and I certainly don't care for it when I can't get under some decent shelter to stay away from it, AND be able to go to the bathroom without being in the rain! (As you can tell, I have bathroom issues and want the convenience of them!) (And yes, I even brought an umbrella!) So we made dinner in the rain (thank goodness we had two tarps to cover the picnic tables, for the most part), we were all wet though. I was just miserable by then. I wanted to go home right then and there! Of course I didn't. And, of course right after I went to bed (very early, I might add), it stopped raining! Go figure.........

Now we're on the last day of us being there (because I was going home THAT day - Monday - and I wasn't staying another night longer and have that possibility of more rain again!) Slept crappy that night too, but I did get to sleep in even more, thanks to my youngest child sleeping in as well! Hubby and I slowly packed up everything throughout the day, since we didn't leave until the afternoon. We left our tent for my sister and her family, since her tent leaked and they all had to sleep in the car the rainy night! :( We also ended up giving them the tent too because, as my husband put it to me, "Okay, Tina, now really, when is the next time YOU are going to go camping, and in a tent?!" Yes, he was right. It would be a long time, if ever, before I would go camping in a tent again. Give me an RV, a cabin, or even better yet, a HOTEL, anyday! LOL!!

We left our stove there too for them to use. My youngest sister will just bring it down next time she comes down. Oh! I forgot about the stove fiasco!!! Okay, 2nd morning we're there....I was using one of the stoves (we brought one and my youngest sister had brought my mom's) for something, and I needed to use the other stove, my mom's, which hadn't been used in a few years. Well, no one had used it yet, so we hooked up a propane to it and started using it. Well, part of it caught on fire a little bit. No big deal, we thought at first, it was just burning something off. Well, noooooooooo, that wasn't the case. We turned it off, and it was still on fire! AAAAAAAUUUUGGGGHHHHHHHH!!!!! My husband grabbed it, threw it out in the open and yelled to everyone that it was going to explode! HOLY SHIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Well, after a minute, it didn't so we started grabbing the dishpans and filling them up with water to douse the damn thing! Finally got it put out, and thank god it didn't blow up! Shit.......................................

Okay, back to the last day.........we then scattered my mom's ashes (see post below).........and then made our way back home, but not before stopping at the local t-shirt place to get our Mammoth sweatshirts. (Because you know you HAVE to get those while you're up there!) We were going to get the pull-over kind, because that's, you know, the "ones to have", but then we saw they had zip up ones and we all really liked those much better because we're more of a zip-up kind of family. (Yea, and a bunch of geeks to boot!)

Got home around 11 p.m., brought our stuff in the house and then I went to bed.

So there you have it. My, probably-last-one-I'll-ever-have-in-a-tent-without-electricity-a-bathroom-VERY-close-by, camping trip.

Ahhh......back to the real world...............................showers, a bed, a refrigerator, air conditioning, a bathroom in the same house I'm in, and most of all ELECTRICITY, E-LEC-TRI-CITY, ELECTRICITY................ :D Yea, I know, I'm a wimp. Bite Me.

Mom's Ashes

I will write more about our elusive camping trip later, but as scattering Mom's ashes was the main reason for our camping trip, it deserves it's own title and story.

The last day we were camping, was the day we scattered my mom's ashes. It was her wish that her ashes be scattered up at Sherwin Creek where she always went camping when we were kids, and then later on with my sisters and my aunt and cousins. I never went camping up there again after Junior High, as I didn't care for it.

It was about 3 p.m. or so, and everyone was at the campsite together. No one offered to start, so I went ahead and started. I decided to start scattering her ashes at the old campsite, where we used to camp when I was little. On our way to the campsite, my eldest started crying, along with my youngest sister. I comforted my eldest as we walked over there. Once we got there, I decided to scatter her ashes in a circle of some sorts, around the campsite. I went around the fire pit, asking questions about the campsite as we went along.

I would say that about 1/2 way around the campsite, tears started forming in my eyes and I started crying, realizing the full enormity of what we were doing. We had said goodbye to Mom in the hospital room, after her body stopped beating, and said goodbye at the memorial service, but it all came back to us again, as we were scattering her ashes, saying goodbye yet again, and reliving the day she passed away. Even though I know mom has been gone for a year and a half now, it just all came back to me, that my mom died. My mom is gone. I can't call her anymore. I can't hear her laughing at my sarcasm or silly jokes. I can't hear her call me "honeybabe" when I need it. I feel like an orphan. She can't watch my children grow up. My youngest will never REALLY know her. She won't be around to see my youngest and her antics and call her an awnry stinker. The hurt of being without her all came back.

After scattering some of her ashes at the old campsite, we came back to our campsite to continue scattering her ashes. We scattered some in the creek first. I started the line of ashes where the bridge over the creek ended, and continued in circles around the two campsites we were at. At one point when I was scattering them around the fire pit where she used to hang out with my sisters, aunt and cousins, I broke down completely and had to stop to compose myself and stop crying so hard. Both my sisters took turns scattering the ashes with me. While I was scattering I took it all in and watched everyone grieving and crying again. My aunt's boyfriend was embracing my aunt, my sister was with her husband and kids, my husband was helping my eldest and holding onto our youngest, my yougest sister was embracing her boyfriend, my cousins were grieving and even one of my cousin's friend, who came camping with us, was crying and she had never even met Mom.

After we had finished at the campsite, we went back to the creek to scatter the remainder of her ashes. My husband had suggested that we scatter the majority of them in the creek, that way they would dissolve, but not completely, as when they went to the lakes below, they would evaporate up into the air, making clouds and rain over Mammoth, so she would always be there. Everyone agreed that it would be a nice thing to do.

At the creek everyone took a turn scattering her ashes. My aunt (her sister), my two sisters, my two cousins (who always called her Auntie, even in their teenage years), and two of her grandchildren, my eldest and my sister's eldest. At one point the two eldest grandchildren were hugging each other to comfort each other. One of my cousins asked if she could keep some of Mom's ashes, and my two sisters and I agreed that it was okay for her to do that. I know my mom would have liked that as well. Plus me and my two sisters each have a small urn with a small portion of her ashes in it, that has a picture frame in front so we can put a picture of mom in the frame.

Once we were all done and I put the small portion left back in the urn to give to my cousin, my youngest sister took a can of Bud Light (my mom ALWAYS drank that) and poured it into the creek so that she could have a beer with her as well. I thought that was SOO incredibly neat to do!

Even though it's been a year and a half now since Mom died, going through the ceremony we went through has brought back so many emotions and sadness. I know the pain and sadness will lessen as time goes on though.........

Some Things Change, Some Things Stay The Same......

I was taking my two girls, along with the eldest's friend to daycamp this morning. My eldest's friend started talking about "The Ghost of Bloody Mary". Oh my goodness, I TOTALLY remember about that when I was their age! Talking about how if you closed your eyes really tight, spun around 13 times and said something about believing in the ghost of Bloody Mary, you would see her in the bathroom mirror. LOL!!!

Oh, and then she was talking about how if you had a friend lie down and then you push down on her and then you all can lift her up with just your fingers and she would levitate. I SOOOOOO remember doing that between 4th & 6th grade!

I just sat in the front seat driving the car and grinning, because I just find is SOOO fascinating how some "legends" just keep repeating themselves, and they seem to be around the same ages for each generation.

There's new technology out there, so many things out there that weren't created when I was a pre-teen, yet kids are still fascinated by "The Ghost of Bloody Mary" and levitating your friends at a sleepover.

The Good, The Bad & The Ugly

Ahhh.....what a weekend!!!

The Good...........Got a message from my attorney telling me that the court approved our request to end probate and distribute funds. YEA!!! Which is a good thing too, because we put my mom's house on the market on Friday as well!

The Bad.........Actually, it's sad, I think, my 16 year old cousin got married on Saturday. :( And no, she's not pregnant. Her boyfriend is being stationed overseas and they think that by getting married, she'll be allowed to go over there with him. Maybe not now, but maybe later. Well.....his orders are for "UNACCOMPANIED", which means NO dependents are allowed to go over. Has there ever been times when "unaccompanied" change to "accompanied" orders? Yea, sure, but I really, really doubt that is the case here. He is supposed to be going to Iraq after a short stint in Germany. I don't like that he urged her into wanting to do this as well, when I had talked to her a week prior and she said she was so unsure she wanted to do this. I think that if he really, really loved her and wanted what's best for her, he would WANT her to have the wedding with all her family and friends around. Heck, weddings ARE for the bride mostly. It upsets me that they didn't sit down more and really think about this. Take time, say a year or so, at least even wait until she's 18 to get married. She may think that I'm mad or upset with her, but I'm not really. I don't think that going into a marriage where he says, "Hey, if it doesn't work out, you can always divorce me" is a good thing. That's NOT what a marriage is all about. She is SOOOO young, although, granted she is definitely mature for her age, but she still is so young. She has never lived out on her own, she barely graduated high school, she hasn't experienced so much that there it to experience out there. Sigh.............................

The Ugly....................Well, I think that was expressed above. Really, no one was happy she got married, except for her and her now "husband". And that is truly sad. When people are crying at your wedding, not because they're happy for you, but because they're sad for you, how can that be a good thing? What's done is done now though. I guess we'll just have to see what transpires with this, you know? Let's just hope that the camping trip doesn't get ugly.

Military Life.........When you marry a military person, you basically marry the military. In his order of importance, the military comes first, and you are second. He is helping to defend our country and he needs to focus on that, and as a military wife, you have to be able to accept that. Now, if my husband got orders away from here (accompanied, of course, since he had a wife and two children, and the military knows that, and he's not trying to "sneak" a marriage in, when it would be totally denied by the military, had my cousin's "husband" done it the proper way), I would definitely go with him, but he also knows that I LOVE living here and he will do whatever he can, take whatever orders he can, to stay here. Marriage is a give and take thing, even if you're not in the military, and if you constantly give, and don't get to take, that's just NOT good. Yes, I put up with a lot, with the military, having my husband gone for months at a time, but it's something I accepted when we got married. Do I like it? Of course not, I want him home with us, but I know that this is what he has to do. I'm extremely proud of him and his accomplishments. But he also gave me my dreams come true too. All I ever wanted was a husband, kids and a house. And he was able to give them to me. Of course I helped in that too. But he also knows that I want things, I want to be able to do things, and he wants me to have those things. It's a give and take thing, Ying and Yang. We balance each other out.

We had both been on our own before we got married. We had gone through our "partying and wild phase" (starting in high school), and so by the time we did get married, we were ready.

You Say One Thing and then it Bites You In The Butt!

I was emailing with some of my friends today talking about how when you have more than one kid, they can play together, and then what happens? I hear crying and yelling not an hour later. Geesh! C'mon kids, cut me some slack!

Now my two are not that close in age, in fact they are 7 years apart. So yea, I can totally understand how it can be hard to "play together" at times. But when my eldest has friends over, my youngest wants to be involved SOOOOOOO much! So I have told my oldest that she does need to include her little sister. Even if she just gives her some small menial thing to do with them. Most of the time that works okay. But there are plenty of times when it doesn't work as well. My youngest LOVES routine. She always wants to know what exactly we're doing the next day. She has an amazing memory for being so young! She also has a scream that will rattle your bones too. And a whine that will get under your skin and make you give in just to shut her up. She's what you call a "high spirited" child. Now, later on in life, it will be a good thing, she will be (hopefully) an independent thinker, not resort to peer pressure, etc. But right now? Yikes....... She's a handful alright. But that's only a small part of her personality. And when she's not like this she's the most charming person in the world! She's got a smile to make you melt. A grin to make you laugh, and she's so intelligent too!

I know my eldest would love to have time here with just her and her friends. And soon my youngest can have friends and playdates over. She does have one friend that I could call her mom to see if they can play together. Maybe we can do that this summer......... Hopefully we can find a better balance where she has to include her sister, but also have time with just her and her friends too.

Kids.............it's a constant work in progress!!!

Ahhhh.....this is going to be a long day.

30 hours of no kids.....

First let me say, I absolutely LOVE, LOVE, LOVE my girls! They are SOOOO important to me and a main part of my life. But hey, EVERYONE needs a break now and then.

Friday I went up to Burbank to see my sister and have a garage sale with her, to get rid of the remaining things of my mom's that none of us wanted. I was so torn going up there. On the one hand, I was looking forward to being without children for a while, but on the other hand, I did NOT want to do this garage sale. It's almost like one of the final steps of saying goodbye to my mom. Plus we have done so much work trying to get through probate and such, and we are just tired of it all. We want it to be done.

Once I got on the road though, I was fine. It didn't matter that I was stuck in MAJOR traffic, I had the music blaring, and I didn't have to turn it down to listen to what my children wanted to say to me. I was free for a while! :)

Once I got up there, my sister and I had the daunting task of going through each room and clearing it out (we had gone through so much beforehand, thank goodness, so it wasn't THAT much, but it was enough). We both confessed to each other that we did NOT want to do this garage sale, but we knew it had to be done. My father-in-law came over too, to help out and my sister's boyfriend was there too to help us get the big things out. My cousin came down from Vegas too, to see the house one last time. She was able to go through things and take things she wanted, which was good.

We got pretty much everything priced, said goodbye until the next day.

Fast forward to the next morning. The garage sale started at 8 a.m., but we got there at 7:00 a.m., to start putting things out. Of course there were people already waiting to check things out, but they had to wait until we got everything else out of the house.

I must say, that even though we were not looking forward to doing this, we did have a good time doing it. We made it enjoyable. We made jokes about things, we talked about things that were mom's to people who bought them. There was a picture of a tree at sunset that a lady bought and when I told her it was one of my mom's favorite's, she asked me what mom's name was and said that she owns a theatre on Magnolia and that she was going to name the picture "Janet's Tree" and that anyone who walked in there, would see the sign. That made me and my sister get choked up with emotion that was so sweet! Then there was another picture a friend of my mom's had drawn for her. It was a picture of four animated girls in a bathtub that said,

There's too many kids in the tub
There's too many elbows to scrub
I just washed the behind
Of one that's not mine
There's too many kids in the tub.

I told the person about the story behind it, how the four girls in the tub represented me, my two sisters and my baby cousin (whom my mom watched for my aunt at nights, since my aunt worked nights at the post office)

It was SO nice being able to tell people the stories behind the things that people bought! Some people asked about the house, if we were selling it too, and so I was able to tell the story about the house too. About how my grandma bought it in 1950 with my grandpa John. After my Grandpa John passed away in 1957, the house was paid off, thanks to the good sense they had to buy mortgage insurance in case something happened to one of them. I told them how it has been in our family for 56 years, how my grandparents paid $40,000 for it, and so on.

So while I didn't want to go up there at first, I am SO glad I did. It was nice to be able to tell stories about my grandparents, and my mom and be able to smile about the things I was saying. I do hope that the people who were listening knew that everything I said was coming from the heart.

Oh, we did have one :::::::::::::::shudder::::::::::::::::: moment! There was a TV stand we were selling (and by the way it never ended up getting sold) and one of the shelves was flipped down at an angle. Well, this one woman was looking at it and she went to flip up the shelf and screamed and dropped it again. I saw it happen and I was curious as to why she did that, because she didn't say what she saw. So I flipped it up and inside ::::::::::::::::shudder::::::::::::::::::, was a LIVE......LIVING........... NOSE TWITCHING.........BEADY-EYED MOUSE!!!!!!!!!!!

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK!!!!!!!

Yea, you can better believe that I screamed too!!!! I was in the driveway in the back and my sister was up in the front yard of the house and SHE heard me scream! I went walking very fast up to the front of the house yelling, "JOOOOOOSSSSSSHHHHH!!!!!!!" No way was I lifting that thing back up to let it out!!!! But my Father-In-Law, bless his soul, lifted the shelf up and let the little critter go. :::::::::::::::::::::::Shudder::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: YUCK!!!!

Oh, and there were these people who were looking at a OUIJA board game that my other sister had and for some reason we never got rid of it. I joked with them, that we'd pay them $.50 to take it instead of them paying us to have it. I joked that we keep trying to get rid of it, but it just keeps coming back! We've had five people buy it, but somehow it keeps coming back (ALL joking of course, it just never got tossed) My mom was not a COMPLETE packrat, but it did take her a LONG time to get rid of things.

I'll tell you one thing though, it sure makes me want to go through all my stuff and purge even more! I have to keep reminding myself to do that every year, even when I get old. I don't want to have to have my children go through all the stuff that we had to go through.

Of course the ride home was horrendous though. It took me FOUR HOURS to get home, when it normally takes TWO! It took me TWO hours to go SIXTY miles. EEEK!!! That's how bad the freeways were on the way home.

I did come home with a few things though. The high chair that had been in my family since my Uncle Dan, 64 years ago. Every child and grandchild has sat in that chair and I couldn't let it leave the family. Hubby's parents gave us their china cabinet, some magnets that were on my mom's refrigerator and some papers.

So even though I didn't want to go, I did, and I'm glad I did. It was a VERY nice break from my children.

A Day At The Beach

We had such a good time at the beach today! I took my girls and my friend and her daughter accompanied us. We didn't get there until noon or so, but that was okay. The older girls LOVED, LOVED going in the ocean, riding the waves on their boogy boards! My little one was a little timid, to say the least, about going in the water at first (which is fine by me, I love sitting on the beach in my beach chair soaking up the sun -- with TONS of sunscreen of course though), but she soon overcame her inhibitions on it. She held my hand the majority of the time, which is still, fine by me! Near the end of our day my friend and I were able to sit in our beach chairs and the older girls took my wee one out in the water. Of course, them being older, wanted to go in deeper, and sort of forgot about the wee one. Well, she wanted to go in with them, so she started going out a little further slowly. I had to get up and usher her back close to the shore, and "remind" the older ones that they needed to stay close to the shore with her.

We ate lunch, the girls played in the sand for a little while, and my friend and I enjoyed watching the lifeguards surf on their breaks (at least I would HOPE they were on a break!).

Oh, and we also enjoyed the aircraft coming in every so often. We were on a military beach, which, I actually LOVE!! Compared to the rest of the beaches around here, there are VERY minimal amount of people on the beach. I can see my children VERY easily, I'm not freaking out looking for them every second, it's quite relaxing! My friend loved it too. We can't wait to go back again! Of course everytime a helicopter flies overhead, I think I'm in an episode of "China Beach". Man I loved that show! I will definitely be getting THAT when it comes out on DVD!

I love my girls SO incredibly much!!!! Even when they can get on my everlasting nerve, I still am SOOOOO grateful for them!!! I love having days like these.......

Summer Vacation is in Full Swing....

It has now been over a week since my eldest got out of school and is on summer vacation. Geez, can they still call it that now? You know, I know about all this "politically correct" bullshit, but you know, when I was growing up, it was Christmas Vacation, now it's "Winter Break". It was Easter Vacation, now it's "Spring Break" At least there was never any holiday in the Summer Vacation title, so at least it's still called that........

I can tell my eldest is getting bored. She's getting snappy more and more lately. Now, she'll be 11 later this year, so the hormones are starting to come in full swing. She can't wait to be able to do things. She has wanted to shave her legs ALL of 5th grade. I told her that after 5th grade is finished, she can start in the summer, so that way she can get good practice and won't start 6th grade with all those nicks and cuts on her legs that we all did growing up. Of course now they have shaving gels and razors that have "moisture strips" in them to help protect our legs. Hello!!!!????? Why did they not think of that when WE were growing up? I'm sure women have been shaving their legs for a long time before I started, back in the late 70's, you know? So the DAY she got out of school, she went in the bathroom and shaved her legs. Quite a bit of hair to get off there, you know.... Now she's going to have to deal with stubble for the rest of her life.....such is life.....

The girl has more bras now than I did growing up! And of course she likes them to be "padded" a little bit too. Gosh, did we have padded bras growing up or did we just stuff? LOL!! I never stuffed, didn't have to. Some people might say, "Well, LUCKY you!", but I never saw it that way. Growing up I didn't want them to be as big as they were (C cup). I wanted to be able to wear the cute strapless tops or string tank tops or halter tops. Noooooooo.....I had to wear something to support the boobs!

I've already had "the talk" with my eldest. I don't just have ONE talk, I talk about things every now and then. I want her to know that she can come to me about ANYTHING. I want her to know that I know a lot of things that she may not think I know about, but I've either done it, seen it, know someone who has done it, or heard about it.

This world is a scary place nowadays! I think back to when I was young. I had no problem walking to 7-11 by myself. Walking down the street to my friends, not a big deal! A couple of times in high school, my friend, Stacie and I would walk to our friend, Vicki's house, and I think even one time we walked all the way up to Julie's house. Helloooooo!!!??? Yea, can't do THAT anymore! And you know, I don't think that there are really any more perverts or people who want to do bad things to children than there were back then, but I think because we are so aware about it now, people are so much more cautious about it. But you know, you'd think that because there is SOOOO much more awareness about it, that it wouldn't happen as much, but these sickos keep doing it. It's so sad...............

Ahhhh......summer vacations..........I did enjoy them though....................wish I could have one again, just for a little while...............................enough of my ramblings for now..............................

:::::::::Sucking Up?:::::::::::::: I think not........

What can I say? I've been busy! Yesterday was the last day of school (for the year) for my eldest. I was SO extremely busy last week with all that! On Monday I had to work so I could take Wednesday off, Tuesday morning I went to Roller SkateLand with her class (the youngest was at preschool), on Wednesday I went to the Lakes with her class (youngest got to come with me), on Thursday I went to the park with my youngest's preschool class, and then on Friday I went to work early so I could get off early for the ice cream party for the last day of school for the eldest. I LOVED every minute of it!!!

I was the room parent (it seems so odd to say "was", rather than "am", since school's just out) for my eldest's class. I have to say, I enjoyed being the room parent SOOOOOO much!!! I got to know all of the kids, got to know more parents and got to help out so much more than I ever have in previous years. Since I work, and have Jordan, it's so hard to be able to help out on a regular basis in the classroom. I was able to help out a little more when she was in preschool though.

A couple of friends of mine kept teasing me that I was trying to be an "UberMom" with the room parent thing. In a sense, yes, I was. I wanted to be the best room mom I could be. :) I just didn't want to do it half-assed, you know? We would joke too, that I was just "sucking up" and would make sucking noises when I did something. (It's an inside joke, because one parent, who I absolutely can't stand, accused me of trying to "one-up" or "outdo" all the other parents. Whatever............ At least I can laugh about it now!)

I made a scrapbook for my eldest's teacher for the end of the year. It included a picture of each student an then a note of thank you or recognition to the teacher beside it. After that, I included most of the events that took place in their classroom, and then at the end of that, I had 4 pages of thank you notes from parents too. I could tell her teacher liked it a lot. He told me that he's a very sentimental person and he was very happy about it. (I actually got embarrassed and was at a loss for words, which is quite odd for me. )

Sooo :::::::::::::::::sucking noises::::::::::::, one up for me! HAHAHA!!! Oh, I am SOOOO joking about that! I made that scrapbook BECAUSE I know he's a sentimental guy and he is SUCH a wonderful teacher! In a way, he makes learning SO much fun for the kids! The kids are interactive in their learning, doing simulations in class so they learn about it while they are having fun! I appreciate all the work he does for those kids (including my own, of course), and I just wanted to show my gratitude. Plus I took a lot of pictures throughout the year (he takes tons and puts them on his class website so the parents can see what's going on in the classroom. And plus I love to scrapbook! I LOVE seeing people's expressions when I give them a scrapbook. I think it all comes down to the fact that I love to make things for people. My mom always loved the things I made for her. One year I made her a calendar and she loved it so much she didn't take it down after the year was over for quite a while! I made her two little scrapbooks as well.

So, was it "sucking up"? Hell no. I just like to show my appreciation for people who are nice. :)

A Seinfeld Moment......

Okay, wow, it's sure been a long time since I posted! Ahhh, life gets in the way and sometimes there's just not all that much to write about!

I do have to write about a "Seinfeld" moment my littlest one had today. She had just come out of the bathtub with her older sister. Hubby and I were sitting on the couch eating chips and salsa. She comes up, grabs a chip, dips it in the salsa, takes a bite that has the salsa and then tosses the chip back in the bowl! We were so shocked! Then it reminded us of that Seinfeld episode of the "double dipping" in the dip bowl. Remember that? Well, geez, this was like that, except she didn't double dip, she just tossed it back in the bowl! Hubby started imitating her and we were just both cracking up at that.

You know, it's the little things in life that make it amusing, and sometimes the little ones in our life make it that much more enjoyable. :)

Girl, You Are Choco-Crazy!

Actually, this post has nothing to do with chocolate....

I was looking at my eldest's BOP magazine, and there were these quizzes to take. One was "Are you a Choco-holic?" And and the end if you were, you were "Choco-Crazy!" LOL!!! Ahhh, that phrase just made me laugh and will probably make me laugh all day long, and I'll probably be saying it all day long, driving everybody crazy all day long!

Ahhhh.....I remember the days of reading Tiger Beat magazine and all those other pre-teen and teen magazines. It was such a fun time! I got so excited when I would see my favorite stars in there with a poster I could tear out and hang on my wall! My eldest? Does the same. She's 10 1/2, although she doesn't hang them up on the wall, she puts them in a binder so they don't get ruined. Mine were up on the wall, in my corner of the room that I shared with my sisters. I had the top bunk bed, so I definitely had more wall space.

My eldest is getting into those years when she is starting to like boys, but it's still just the 5th grade "crush" thing, and it's like, "On a scale of 1 - 20, how much does he like me?" With all the friends going over to the boys and asking that, and back and forth. The time when the boy and girl who like each other don't really do much talking to each other at all. Their friends are the "go-between". I remember when I was in 5th grade, a boy named Mark Newman asked me to go out and I just couldn't give him a decision very easily. If I went out with him, would I have to kiss him? I didn't know if I was ready to kiss a boy yet. Yikes! Well, it turns out that I waited to long to give him an answer, because he ended up asking this girl Martha out, because I'm sure she did kiss. Ahhhh, the drama of being in 5th grade.

And you know.......the drama only gets worse as they grow older. As of right now, my eldest tells me just about everything her and her friends talk about, including boys. I want to keep reiterating to her that she can always tell me everything. I have to try and remember what it was like back when I was her age so that I CAN relate to it better, and not just think of me as THE MOM. Of course I have to be THE MOM when it comes to things she shouldn't do, or can't do, but I try to give her reasons as to why, you know? I just want to be as open as I can with her, and for her to be the same way to me. I want to help guide her through making the right choices, and learn from the wrong ones, and help to avoid some of those wrong ones. I've got a vault full of wrong choices me and my friends have done through the years, to help educate my girls.

You know, we may have made some poor choices growing up, (and just some, really only a few, because I think that we all had such a blast growing up, and all my friends that I have grown up with have turned out to be fabulous people), but we did have a blast!

And it sure is interesting to hear what the new "lingo" is these days as my girls get older. Gotta keep up with the new phrases you know..........

.........because, "Girl, you are Choco-Crazy!!"

Mundane............

........life here. Really..... Nothing has happened that much in my life in the past couple of weeks that has been worth writing about.

Well, my youngest was a holy terror last weekend, but I blame that on the full moon. My MIL asked if she grew claws and fur and started howling, and I said no, just horns.

Valentine's Day was nice, hubby brought me home flowers and I made heart shaped meatloaf and molded the rice into heart shapes as well. Hosted my oldest's classroom party for Valentines. Did goody bags for the kids, made heart shaped chocolate lollipops, had fruit punch soda, made cookies and even made heart shaped ice cubes for their drinks. Yes, can we say "Ubermom Day" for me? LOL!! Or as my friend likes to say, "OVERACHIEVER!" LOL!!! Hey, if I'm going to do it, might as well go overboard! :) This is going to be the only time I'll be room mom for quite a while. Maybe when my youngest is in 2nd grade or so, I'll do it again.

Ahhh....it's a Sunday night and the oldest is cleaning out her hamster cage, the youngest is watching hubby play the Simpsons on Playstation 2, and I am her vegging on the computer. Somedays you just need to have that vegging you know?

So like I said, life has been pretty mundane for the most part, no major emotions have been going on in my life, nobody's pissed me off majorly, which is definitely a good thing! :D

Ta!

Sometimes.............

.............I would like to be the one who is taken care of.

Sometimes I get sick of being the one who everyone comes to, but yet when I want to go to them, it's like "Oh, she couldn't possibly be needing help or need my shoulder to cry on".

Sometimes it just sucks.

Sometimes I want to be the "helpless one" who needs that helping hand.

Sometimes I wish I hadn't grown up being the "responsible one".

Somtimes I don't want to be the "strong one".

Sometimes..........

This weekend was just a sucky one for me, it seems in terms of emotions. You think I was PMSing or something. It seemed that things just ticked me off. Geez, why do I have to be the one who handles everything? Why do I "have" to know where everything is? Why is it my fault when something isn't where THEY put it? Why do I get to clean up the mess when I want to go out shopping by myself for a couple of hours?

I know why, because I brought this on myself. Because I grew up this way. It's just who I am.

And I love being able to know where things are, to help someone when they are having problems. I love taking charge and getting things under control. I love the fact that if someone needs someone to talk to or help dealing with something in their life, that they know they can come to me.

I want to be able to be the "rock" for them. But I also need a rock of my own sometimes.............

I'm Outtie...

Okay, apparently, somewhere between six months ago and today, I became "the mom who just doesn't KNOW fashion". My eldest, will come whining out here, saying she needs help finding something to where. So we go in her closet, which is jam packed full of clothes (a HELL of a lot more clothes than I had growing up) and try and pick something out.

So I offer suggestions. "Oh geez Mom, that SOOO does NOT go together!" She tells me.

Hello?!?!?! I picked out most of the friggin clothes in that closet, I think I KNOW what goes together! Pulease! Plus I've been scrapbooking for 7 years now, I think I happen to know patterns that go together........

So we try another outfit. Nope! That SOOOOO does NOT go together either!

And yet another top or pants.

"Oh mom, you just don't KNOW today's fashions!" I hear.

HUH?????

Since when did I become THAT mom??

I happen to think I have a pretty decent sense of fashion. Sure I may not wear those kinds of clothes, but I've sure seen them on people and I know what looks good together. Plus, 1/2 of the kinds of clothes she wears nowadays, I used to wear at some point in my life (because as we all know, the trends keep coming back in just "slightly different" ways) For one thing, I don't wear the "shrug" tops where it ties together and is more like a 1/2 or 1/4 jacket or sweater, because I have BIG boobs and it would look just plain silly or slutty. Oh, and while we're on the subject of clothes for me, it pisses me off that some of the cutest clothes that are out there right now (the tops that are basically slips), I can't wear, because I would show a tremendous amount of cleavage, and hello, I'm married with children, I don't need to be showing it off. Plus I never liked showing that much cleavage anyway. I like people to look at my face, not my chest.

Okay, back to the kid......

I finally pick something out that looks good :::::::::::::the angels are singing right now:::::::::::::, and of course I taunt her with it. "See, I DID find something good! You KNOW that looks good, don't you?! Now, make sure you don't smile, because you know I'll see it!" LOL!!! Geez, I sound like a kid, don't I!

So what does she do? She goes into her drawer and brings out another top to see if it would look better than the top I picked out!

I give up.........

I'm outtie......... (which is something my eldest has said on occasion, meaning, I'm outta here...)

P.S. She did end up choosing the shirt that I picked out in the first place (it's one of those bohemian tops that I ::::::clearing throat::::::::: picked out for her for school pictures that she loved.....)

100 things about me

I saw this on another blog and thought I'd do it too. :)

1. I’m a Mom.

2. I love disco music.

3. Growing up, I actually liked liver.

4. I love to scrapbook.

5. I used to be able to draw pretty good (haven’t sat down to try it in a long while)

6. Before I got married, I used to go down to the Venice Boardwalk and go
rollerskating by myself.

7. I met my husband at a party and we made out that night.

8. I love hard rock/heavy metal music.

9. I always knew I wanted to be a mom.

10. I love Basin Robbins Hot Fudge Sundaes.

11. I love the color pink.

12. When I was in 5th/6th Grade, I used to LOVE Unicorns.

13. I worry about money a lot.

14. I LOVE shopping at Target.

15. Sometimes I get carried away at Target.

16. I recently lost 30 pounds.

17. I love shopping for clothes now, and like to wear low-rise pants (not too low rise
though, I still like wearing underwear)

18. I can’t stand to wear thong underwear.

19. I have high blood pressure (it’s controlled though)

20. I suffer from anxiety and take medication for it.

21. I used to have very low self esteem.

22. I still worry about what other people think, although certainly not as much anymore.

23. I love watching hockey games.

24. I used to collect hockey trading cards and still have my collection.

25. I have a decent sized collection of the old Little People.

26. I have a few old Barbies.

27. I seem to have an obsession with collecting things, right now it just seems to be
scrapbooking supplies.

28. I love Gone With The Wind, and have read the book many times and seen the movie
many times.

29. I love music from the 50’s & 60’s.

30. I can’t stand bugs.

31. I always envied my sisters’ beauty.

32. I still envy my youngest sister’s good looks and her sense of charm.

33. I have 5 sisters.

34. I had a brother, but he died of cancer in 1992.

35. I love genealogy.

36. I can be a REAL BITCH.

37. If someone screws me over, it takes me a VERY long time to get over it, if I even do.

38. I love the movie, Gidget, and especially love the TV show Gidget with Sally Field.

39. I love the movie Steel Magnolias.

40. I watched it for the first time when I was down visiting my husband (then boyfriend)
for the weekend and he was on duty while I was waiting for him in the hotel room.

41. I love my husband with all my heart.

42. I love the song, My Sharona, by the Knack.

43. I don’t hesitate to dance around when I hear that song, even in the car.

44. I sing along to the songs in the car.

45. I’ll drown or crush ants to death if I see them in my house.

46. I can be very emotional.

47. I breastfed each of my girls for 18 months each.

48. I would have breastfed my eldest longer, if I wasn’t “encouraged” to stop.

49. I’m surprised I lasted as long as I did with the 2nd one, as she tended to “nip” quite
often.

50. I love sentimental things.

51. I don’t like the Grateful Dead.

52. I married a man who LOVES the Grateful Dead.

53. I can be VERY stubborn.

54. I’m not that afraid of heights.

55. I can go up on a roof, no problem.

56. I love roller coasters.

57. As much as I love my husband and my children, there are times when I just need
some “me/alone” time.

58. I didn’t get my own bedroom until I moved out on my own.

59. Growing up, I shared a bedroom with my two sisters.

60. I used to sleep on the top bunk of a bunkbed.

61. I loved my bunkbed with my own “closet”.

62. I love 80’s music.

63. I don’t like cleaning my house.

64. I love gardening, but hate weeding.

65. Eventually, I want to get a Jeep Wrangler.

66. I love wearing dresses, but rarely wear them.

67. I also love wearing high heels but they hurt my feet and rarely wear them either.

68. I love wearing all black.

69. I used to wear mini skirts and midriff showing tops.

70. I’m a pretty good mom and love my children with all my heart.

71. I love to bake.

72. I don’t mind cooking, but would rather have someone else do it.

73. I believe in God.

74. Sometimes I think I should go to church, but I just can’t stand listening to a sermon.

75. I love to sew.

76. I love to crochet.

77. I love to cross-stitch and needlepoint.

78. Other than sewing recently, I haven’t cross-stitched, crocheted or did needlepoint in
quite a few years.

79. I used to slouch a lot when I was younger, because in 4th grade when I was starting
to develop, a boy made fun of me because I was wearing a shirt that said “Squirt”.

80. I was worried that I’d have to kiss a boy who asked me to be his girlfriend in 5th
grade.

81. I never did go out with him.

82. He ended up going out with a girl who did kiss.

83. I’m a Navy wife.

84. 4 months after my husband proposed to me, we were married.

85. No, I wasn’t pregnant.

86. I had a miscarriage before I had my first child.

87. It was one of the most heart wrenching things I had to go through.

88. I wish I could be a full-time stay at home mom.

89. I bring my youngest to work with me every time I go to work.

90. Even though it will be nice when she’s in kindergarten in a couple of years, I will miss
having her with me at work.

91. I don’t like a lot of rain.

92. I like perfect mid 70’s weather.

93. I like getting tan, even though it’s not good for you and I don’t get THAT tan.

94. I like being barefoot.

95. I don’t care to swim in the ocean that much.

96. I have to take a shower every morning.

97. I don’t care for rap music all that much.

98. I can get embarrassed easily sometimes.

99. I love being married with children.

100. I love to take pictures.

Thoughts of Mom...

I've been thinking a lot about my mom lately. That's not to say that I stop thinking about her, far from it, it's just she's been in my thoughts quite a bit lately.

The other day my eldest was having a meltdown for some reason (to tell you the truth, I can't remember if it was because of clothes, homework, reorganizing her room...) and I just sat down calmly with her and said, "Well, let's figure this out". Saying that TOTALLY brought me back to when me and my sisters would have a problem. My mom wouldn't freak out or yell at us, she would calmly say, "Well, let's figure it out" or "Let's see what we or I can do". She was SOOOOO awesome that way!! She brought the tension level way down and brought us down to be calm and have us totally trusting in her to help us out. And she always did help us out.

I was talking with my sister, Heidi, the other day and we were talking about how a lot of our mannerisms are a direct copy of our mom. Sometimes I'll position my hands in the same way Mom did, or talk in a certain way that she did as well.

It's hard to believe that it's already been a little over a year since she passed away. I sit here and still can't fully grasp that she's gone. If I sit and really think about it, I will feel SOOO alone and lost without her.

As Heidi and I were saying, there's so much we want to just sit and tell her. I loved talking to my mom. I would call her at least twice a week, most of the time more. And whenever hubby would go out to sea, I would call her EVERY DAY. I kid you not. Even if I was just on the phone for five minutes, I would still call her every day. Boy is my sister going to be in for a surprise when hubby starts going out to sea again. She is going to get SOOOO sick of hearing my voice! LOL!!! I'll try and break it up and call my aunt or my other sister too, along with my cousins. It's just when he's out to sea, I need to talk to SOME adult, a family member every day.

Back to mom.....I truly, truly know she is in heaven, and watching over us. I'm not sure exactly which one she watches over the most, probably the grandchildren. I know that my grandma watches over me. Some people may think it's a bizarre thing, but I KNOW she's watching over me. I just know, you know?

One of the hardest people I had to tell, when my mom died, was my friend, Stacie. She grew up with me. She has been my friend since my baby sister, Heidi, who is now 27, was born. I rarely ever think about that day, after we left the hospital, because it is still just too painful to deal with again.

Before, growing up, whenever I did mannerisms or things my mom did, I would so try and change them. Because, of course, I wanted to be ME, not my mom. Oh my goodness, like who would want to be that (in my totally Valley Girl voice). But now, I cherish the mannerisms I have from my mom. I adore saying some of the things she did. It makes me so proud to carry on things she did. She was such a good mom to us and totally devoted her whole life to raising us and loving us. There were times when money was so tight, we would have soup and corn muffins for dinner, but mom made it to be a treat for us. That, and cottage cheese and peaches, or macaroni & cheese and hot dogs were SO special to us!

Mom made the little things so special for us, and I truly hope that I can do the same thing for my girls.

Because I did!!

Well, I had this other entry I had typed to put in here, but apparently I pushed the wrong button and lost the whole damn thing. So I'll just sum it up. Got no sleep because a duraflame log lasted too long and wouldn't go out without drenching the damn thing. Can't function on no sleep, become Mr. Hyde. Get enough sleep, I'm Dr. Jekyll. Yada yada yada.......... (really, I thought it was a good post, but apparently the computer didn't and erased it for me.......

So onto the phrase, "Because I did!" This is my youngest's absolutely, ultimate, without a doubt, favorite phrase.

We ask, "Why did you hit your sister?" She replies, "Because I did!"

"Why did you color on the couch?" "Because I did!"

"Why did you put the whole roll of toilet paper in the toilet?" "Because I did!" Hey, at least she's honest and admits she does it!

We always joke that later on in life she'll do something horrendous and when they ask her why she did it, she'll say, "Because I did!"

Hubby always sucks himself into that "Because I did!" black hole. He asks the question to her and then when she says her catch phrase, he'll keep pulling himself deeper and deeper in and asks her why she says that and of course, her retort? "Because I did!" Sigh........

I admit, I get sucked into it too at times and I almost always laugh after she says it. At least I have found a way around it and I'll ask her if she did it (and she'll always admit to it), then I'll ask her if that was a bad thing to do (and she'll usually say yes it was), and then I'll ask her if she's going to do it again (She SAYS no, but hey, she's a 3 year old......they're going to do it again.....). But every once in a while, I'll slip up and ask "WHY did you do it?" Her answer?

"Because I DID!" LOL!!!!

Damn, I love her..... Never a dull moment around here, I'll tell you that!!! :D

My Friends.......

On Friday night I got together with a bunch of my friends to do a gift exchange (yea, we're a little late, but at least it wasn't during all the hustle and bustle of Christmas), and then we all went out for a bite to eat. We had SOOOOO much fun talking and laughing and such! I just dig all my friends you know? I'm so blessed to have them, as well as all my other friends.

One friend of mine was saying how I have my "category" friends (and not in a bad way). I guess that's true in some respect, and it's not a bad thing. I think everyone has friends in certain areas of their life.

I have friends that I've known since high school, my scrapbooking friends, my email friends, friends from having our husbands all be in the military at one point, family friends, and friends from my daughter's school. I feel SOOOO blessed to know all these people and have them in my life.

I remember growing up and not having such a wide variety of friends. I had more of a variety in high school versus grade and middle school, but nothing like this. I truly enjoy being able to associate with such a wide variety of people. And even within each group of friends, they are all diverse as well!

Not everyone likes the same music, or has the same taste in different things, but we all have a common interest, and we all respect the fact that we are not all alike, and accept that. That, I think is an amazing thing in today's world. We have come SOOOOO far in society in acceptance, but we still have a ways to go. I don't mean that we all have to be "Politically Correct" either. I like someone who will say how they feel, but also accept the way I feel as well, and not dislike me as a person for it.

One thing I think that a LOT of people in today's society need to work on is manners. I get so choked up when I see people do good for others, just because, you know?! But I certainly don't see that as often anymore. Too many people are in such a hurry to just even hold the door open, or watch where they're going. Hopefully we as moms will be able to have our children help to bring those manners and "niceness" back to each other.

Such A Nice Day With The Children....

Today was one of those days that makes me enjoy being a mom.

I helped in my youngest's preschool class today (She goes to a preschool through the parks and recreation department in my town - it's such a wonderful program, I think. Each session is 10 weeks and you HAVE to help out at 3 classes and go on all field trips. I love being able to get to know the kids and the parents too), and I so enjoyed being around all the kids! (Yes, I said that, I'm not crazy, I just finally got enough sleep!) I got to catch up with her teacher (she was the same teacher that my eldest had quite a few years ago), and get back in that "mom" mode.

What, you say? You mean I'm not always in a "mom" mode? No, boohoo. Work calls, the house calls, bills call, people call, etc..... Sometimes things get so hectic. I do love working, (it's just part-time and I get to bring my youngest with me), but I would love to be able to take a month off, and just be a complete stay-at-home mom and catch up on all that I need to do.

One thing I do love about after the holidays, is that you are so used to things being so hectic and having so much to do, that when January comes around, and things have settled down, you feel like you now have tons of time to get things done. Not that it always gets done, but at least you finally feel like you have down time.

Anyway, back to my nice day today. After I helped out at my youngest's preschool class with her, we went and got lunch and brought it to my eldest at her school, and sat and ate lunch with her and her friends. It was so nice and calming, and I got to enjoy watching my children.

Afterwards, the youngest and I came home for a while, before we had to go back and pick up the eldest from school. Then I came back home and made dinner for the family, gave the youngest a bath, and then she fell asleep sitting next to the oldest at the computer, allowing my husband and I to actually sit on the couch and watch some TV together. That's a rarity.

It is just so nice to sit here and be so calm and not worry about all the crap I've got to get done. Oh believe, me I do have a LOT of crap to get done, I'm just not worrying about it right now. I'm reflecting back on the nice day I had with my children.

Sleep, what's that?

Geez, you think I had a newborn again, with as sleep deprived as I've been the last week. It seems like every other night, I'm getting no sleep. On Wednesday of last week, the youngest took a VERY long nap during the day, and by 12:30 that night, she still wasn't asleep. So I was extremely tired then. Then on Friday night, I went out, and got home at a decent time, 11:30, was in bed by midnight and the youngest (who fell asleep in our bed and stayed there the entire night) proceeded to keep kicking the covers off of her, and then pulling them back on her for at least two hours. So I was dog tired on Saturday. At least I got to take a little nap on Saturday.

Then comes last night. She crawls in bed with us in the middle of the night, which is fine by me, I don't mind, but then she did the kicking covers off again, along with grinding her teeth, after hubby's alarm went off at 4:00 a.m. (which he had forgotten to NOT set so early) and thus, a lack of sleep again.

I can't stand it when I don't get enough sleep. I need at least 7 hours of sleep a night, preferably 8 or even 9, but 9 is VERY rare indeed. I just can't function when I don't get enough sleep. I feel like a total sloth and feel like my whole day is wasted because I just don't have the energy to do anything, and it sucks because I just have absolutely no energy to exercise either and I love to exercise in the morning, it gets me moving for the rest of the day. (You know, and that's just not good for my "ubermom" status LOL!!)

I've always been this way though. Even before I got married and had kids, if I went out the night before and didn't get at least 7 hours of sleep, I called in sick to work. I'm not kidding! My body just can't function, it's just the way it is.

When the youngest was a baby, I was SOOOOO sleep deprived, that at one point I laid my head in my husband's lap and started crying because I was so tired.

Another thing that drains me? Whining!! Constant whining totally drains any energy I have in me. I'm telling you, they should tape kids whining all day long and put that in the enemy's camp, they'll surrender in no time!

On a good note, the youngest finally seems to be potty trained, yea!!! She gets to go in the 3 year old preschool class starting tomorrow. I'm so excited for her, but also nervous as well. Sometimes she'll hold it until the last minute and then have an accident, and I'm worried that that will happen at preschool. I was going to go look at furniture tomorrow, but I think I might stay a little closer to home, just in case I get a call that she's had an accident. I hope not.

I just hope I get more sleep tonight...........

I got a look!

Okay, the day started out with me reading about Barbies. Now, I, personally love them! I so enjoyed playing with them when I was little. I never compared myself to them, they were plastic dolls after all, just a toy. The most envious I ever got, was when my friend got the Barbie Dream House for Christmas, and I didn't. But, being the good friend she is, she let me play with it too.

So, fast forward to this afternoon. A friend of mine dropped off my eldest child. After she left, I left the kids in my husband's capable hands to go off and do errands, mostly just dropping off items at the Salvation Army. Gotta get that write off in before year's end, ya know......

Anyway, so I'm in my Hyundai Santa Fe, driving down my street, and I get to the stop sign. There's a truck in front and to the right of me, turning right, while I want to turn left. I look over to the right to see if any cars are coming, and glanced at the guy in the truck. No big deal, I do it all the time. Then I noticed him looking at me with a little smile. Oh my goodness, I'm getting looked at! I'm actually getting looked at, complimentary! Okay, let me just say that this certainly hasn't happened in a long time, and let's face it, I'm with my children most of the time and what guy is going to look at a mom with two kids?! So yea, I tried to play cool and calm and then I just started grinning from ear to ear. I couldn't help myself. I was friggin' getting looked at!

So as soon as I get home, I go to hubby, "Guess what?! I got looked at! A guy actually looked at me!" LOL!! What a thing to tell your husband! He was so amused at it!

Now don't get me wrong, I get compliments from my husband and "looks" from him and I love that and it makes me feel so special, especially after 13 years of marriage. He truly makes me feel beautiful.

Okay, so you all think, big deal, whoopee, I got a look. But let me tell you, when you're a mom of two, have had an extra 30 pounds on you for 10 years or so (which are gone now), and a hectic life of shuttling kids around, doing dishes, cleaning house, balancing checkbooks, yada yada yada, it's nice to get a compliment out of the blue from a stranger. Yes, I know my life is so boring that a look from a decent looking guy is so exciting I have to write about it, but hey, that's my life and I love it. :)

A day of #2's and screaming cries in the mall, not necessarily in that order.....

Sigh........

What a day.........

It started out great! I got to sleep in for a little bit and got up to do my pilates DVD I got for Christmas from my sister. Of course the pilates workout was amusing. I was able to do some of the moves, and then comes this one move, laying on my back and I'm supposed to put my legs over my head and the butt supposed to go too. Well, the mind said, "Yea, sure you can do it", but the butt? Hell no! I think it kind of just laughed at me as I was trying to get my body to go that way. Oh well, it WAS only the first time doing it after all.

So I get the kids up, breakfast made, showered and dressed, dressed the kids and we all piled into the car to go shopping, and use those wonderful gift cards we got for Christmas.

No problem, things are going good, the youngest needs to use the potty and tells me. Hey, potty training has come along pretty well, I never thought we'd get to this point. But wait, there's a glitch with this one, I think she's afraid to go poop, so she holds it in until she can't hold it anymore. And by holding it in, it makes her grumpy and cranky and wants to be held all the time.

Ahhh....the shopping continues....we go to Sears and the "butt-clenching-to-hold-it-in" child is getting crankier and starts crying and yelling very loudly. Now, before I had this one, I would think when I heard a child crying, "Geez, get some control on that child, what is wrong with them?" Now? Bwahahahahaha!!! I have total empathy! Sure, I used to get embarrassed when she would do it, but now, I'm just too damn tired to care, and I'm used to it. Of course I do try to calm her down and I get out of there as soon as I can, but I no longer just drop my stuff and run out of the store. I'm going to pay for my stuff first! I don't have time anymore to just try going shopping a gazillion times to get things I need.

So the shopping finally gets done, and yes, the butt clenching is still going on with the little one.

We get home and do our various things, yada yada yada. I start cleaning out the hall closet to reorganize it, and the youngest is crying, saying she needs to go to the bathroom. So we start the dance of going to the bathroom, to try and go poo. She'll sit down, go pee and then 1/2 second later, she's crying because the poo may be coming out and she's afraid. I truly think that's the only thing it could be, because she certainly never had a problem going in her diaper! I'm sitting there, holding my child while she's sitting on the toilet because she's crying about going poo! Other times I'll walk away and see if maybe she just needs "privacy", but then she'll scream my name like she's being tortured! So this dance goes off and on for probably about a 1/2 hour until FINALLY! :::::::::trumpets blowing::::::::::: She finally, literally, lets go! And what does she say? "See, it DIDN'T hurt! Now I get to have a slurpee because I went poo-poo in the toilet!" Sigh........

Is that the end of it? Nooooooo, because she's been holding it in for so long, we have to do this dance again and again for about another 1/2 hour.

Well, finally she was done and I got to finish cleaning out the closet.

Sigh.....now we get to go through this again next week.............

I love my children SO very much and I love being a mom and going through all this, and thank goodness I have a sense of humor over everything, otherwise I'd have gone running and screaming out of the house a LONG time ago! Of course I still go running out of the house at times when the husband gets home, but at least I'm not screaming and pulling my hair out. Sometimes moms, like kids, need some down time. Thank goodness for retail therapy............

I've been "tagged"!

Okay, my friend put one of those questionnaire's on her blog and wanted her friends to partipate as well, so here I go! ......

7 things yet to do with my life: in NO particular order

1. Go to Australia

2. Go to the New England states and look at our country's history.

3. Go on a cruise. (you get the gist of traveling now, don't you?)

4. I think I would love to get something published too, whether it be any article, or scrapbook layout.

5. I would love to run in a race, too bad I don't like to run!

6. Maybe learn to surf?

7. Dang, this is hard! I guess I'll stick with the traveling stuff and go to Europe!

7 things I can’t do:

1. Listen to Howard Stern, I can't stand him.

2. Roller blade....give me skates any day.

3. Paint a picture. I suppose I could paint walls of a house, if my husband would ever let me, but painting a picture, naw. Not unless it's a paint-by-number!

4. Knit. Actually I was able to do it once, but I couldn't stand it and didn't like doing it.

5. Cut a straight line by eyeballing it.

6. Cook fabulous gourmet meals.

7. Be "fake nice" to someone I don't like.

7 things I admire about my spouse:

1. He has such a strong work ethic, that he will do it until the job is done.

2. That he takes care of me when I am ill.

3. That he puts up with my wacky, crazy behavior, especially when I am majorly PMSing.

4. He loves me.

5. That he can be just as goofy and dorky as me, and will do a crazy dance, just to make me laugh.

6. He serves his country in the United States Navy, and sacrifices time with his family so he CAN serve his country. Hell, I couln't go away for six months and not be with my family.

7. He loves his daughters and will sit and read to them and play games with them.

7 things I say most often:

1. "Bite Me!"

2. "Cool Beans"

3. "Hi darlin'!"

4. "Yada yada yada"

5. "Are you ready yet?"

6. "Not until you've finished (whatever it is the kids have to finish)"

7. “Knock it off!"

7 books I love:

Books?!! Holy crap! Okay....

1. ">Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix I actually love ALL the Harry Potter books, but I think this is one of my favorites.

2. ">Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince This would be my 2nd favorite.

3. Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum novels This series of books is such a nice light read and it's SO enjoyable!

4. Mr. Perfect, by Linda Howard. It's a nice light smut book to read.

5. Gone With The Wind, by Margaret Mitchell. My mom loved this book as well. I also like the sequel, Scarlett.

6. Little Town on the Prairie, by Laura Ingalls Wilder. This goes back to my childhood days, as I love all her books, but probably liked this one the best.

7. The DaVinci Code, by Dan Brown. Okay, I haven't actually READ this one yet, but I'm dying to read it and I have it on my bookshelf for almost a year now. Maybe I'll get time this upcoming year to read it.

7 movies I’d watch over and over again, and do!:

1. Roller Boogie, ahh, love those boogie dance scenes!

2. Stargate, I just love this one!

3. Steel Magnolias, a good chick flick to make you cry.

4. The Idolmaker, ahhhh, Peter Gallagher was so hot in this! I think this was his first movie, actually.

5. Now and Then, I love this movie, it brings me back to my childhood days, and wish that childhood days could be this carefee again.

6. The Cutting Edge, "Toepick!"

7. Pump Up The Volume, ahh, just one of those guilty pleasure ones.....

7 songs I can’t get enough of: I agree with my friend that songs are so hard to narrow down, because I love a lot of different ones, so I'll just pick certain ones out of music styles....


1. My Sharona, by The Knack.

2. Break Stuff by Limp Bizkit. Oh yes, when I am in a pissed off mood, this sure hits the spot. It's great for working out with too.

3. How Soon Is Now, by The Smiths. LOVE, LOVE this one! It totally brings me back to the days of summer with me and my friends in high school.

4. American Idiot by Green Day. This one makes me want to just head bang!

5. Wide Open Spaces, by the Dixie Chicks . I normally don't like too much country, but I like Dixie Chicks' old stuff, and some songs by Garth Brooks too.

6. Yea, by Usher. Makes me want to dance!

7. Don't Know Why, by Nora Jones. I just love this song.

7 people I want to join in, too: Bwahaha! Yea, right! Not gonna happen here! Okay one of the two people I know who have blogs, "tagged" this for me. Let's give a few a try.

1. Heidi

2. Shawni

3. Dianna, when she finally gets hers started. Hint Hint. Dianna, I'm adding her too.

4. Sue.

Whew, I'm done!

I just love my sister......

I absolutely adore my baby sister! Of course she's not a baby anymore, she's 27! She just called me about a 1/2 hour ago to let me know she made it to New York safely! I am so envious of her, getting to go to New York! I am also VERY happy for her! Her boyfriend took her there for New Years. Is that awesome or what?!

There are VERY, VERY few times that my youngest sister and I have every argued. We are 10 years apart in age, but we have always gotten along very well. Sometimes I see so many similarities in our lives, it's almost creepy seeing her do some things that I used to do when I was her age.

Just about everybody loves her as well. She's such a doll!

I hope she has a fabulous time in New York! How exciting for her!

It's that time of the year again.....

....when everyone goes through their house and declutters. I was reading my friend's blog on how she was cleaning and decluttering one of her rooms, and it made me realize that a lot of us do this right after Christmas. What is it, with it happening right after Christmas? Is it the fact that we take all of our Christmas decorations down, look at our rooms and realize, wow, it looks so nice too, without all that stuff everywhere? Is it because we get presents and have to find a place to put everything, so we start cleaning out closets? Is it the retail industry selling so many storage totes after Christmas that we feel we need to declutter and store? Who knows.......

I do know that I love doing it though. Today I put away all my Christmas decorations and even labeled the totes, according to decoration type (tree, mantle, shelf, kitchen, boxes & bags, etc.) It really made me feel like I accomplished something. Last year I had no desire to organize the Christmas decorations, I just wanted them down and away. I wanted to have nothing to do with Christmas then. I am glad to say that it was a pretty good Christmas this year though. It's been a year since mom passed away and while I still miss her terribly and my heart breaks when I think of her dying, I KNOW that she wanted her girls to continue loving Christmas like we always have in the past. That was her favorite holiday and she helped us to make it our favorite holiday too.

Okay, enough teary eyed stuff......back to the organization......

I have a mental list going of all that I want to do. I got some of my scrapbooking stuff stored away and organized. I just need to finish that and then work on the hall closet. I always have to clean that out about twice a year. I'm going to go through the games and puzzles and get rid of some more. I want to have room in there to store more toiletries and such. I went to Bath & Body Works the past two days and stocked up on bath gel and hand soap. Gotta love their deals!! I spent so many years buying the cheap stuff, to be on a budget, and now that we are able to make a little more, I am treating myself, damnit! I deserve it.

Tomorrow is a work day for me though, so it looks like I won't be getting too much organization done. Dropping one child off at a friend's on the way to work, picking that child and her friend up on the way back from work so they can spend time over my house playing with her new Christmas toys.

Speaking of toys....we got the family a Playstation 2 and I am having the most fun playing with the Dance Dance Revolution game we got for it!

Ta for now!

It's Christmas Eve......

....and I am finally done with everything! I finished my youngest's stocking today and now it is hung on the mantle with everyone else's. My body finally said, "THAT'S ENOUGH!" and so I went a took a nap for a while. Definitely needed it!

Wow, I can't believe Christmas is tomorrow! I almost made it through this holiday without crying, thinking about my mom. Friday night when we were leaving hubby's parent's house, I started thinking about how much I missed her and started crying in the car on the way home. I do miss her so much! It is amazing though how fast a year has gone by though. And it is true, the pain does fade and not hurt so much and be so intense. I will always, always miss her, but I know she's up in heaven and she's watching over all of us.

Okay, my kiddos are getting ready for Santa. I just read them 'Twas The Night Before Christmas, and now my eldest is putting cookies and milk out for santa, and carrots outside for the reindeer. Don't you just LOVE Christmas!!!

I am so excited for tomorrow, to see their faces opening their presents. I will truly miss having so much family around, but I will love the fact that it's just the 4 of us, celebrating together.

Now, of course, neurotic person I am, I always think ahead. Hubby will go back to sea duty next year and the year after that, he will go out to sea for six months, and it's a good possibility that he might not be home for Christmas. I've had Christmases without him, but this will be the first time without him and my mom, so at this point, I am unsure as to what we are going to do on Christmas. Stay home, just me and the children, or go up with family? Okay, that's like over two years away from now, let's not think about that. I can't wait until Monday and I can hit the after-Christmas sales!!! Teehee! Gotta love shopping!!!!

Merry Christmas to all and to all a Good Night!!!!!

The Hustle and Bustle of Christmas.....

Ahhh...........I finally have a few moments to sit down and type here... This past month has been one of the busiest months I've had in such a long time!

Wanna-be UberMom, here, decided to be the room parent for my eldest's classroom. Which means I have to coordinate class parties, contact parents, etc. So, okay, that's fine, working on that. Oh wait, now I've got a preschooler, and that child has a Christmas/End of the Session Party as well. No big deal, make the cupcakes, okay, fine. Oh wait, need to get a gift for the preschool teacher. Crap. Okay, did that..... Now the eldest is doing a play for her colonies project. She doesn't have a dress to wear. Sooo.....what do I do? Run to Wal-Mart, pick out a pattern and material and make a dress for that, along with a hat and apron. Next, I open my big mouth and offer to make a hat and apron for my friend's child as well. Okay...... now MY child wants me to make pound cake for their play...... Well, I just added that to my "baking" day with the cupcakes.

Oh wait.....did I mention that it's December and I have to do Christmas shopping, Christmas cards, finish a stocking I started for my youngest, edit a DVD for a Christmas present, go to my husband's Christmas party AND mine? And on top of all that, work outside the home part-time? Oh yes, and then there's the house. Clean it? Naaaaawwwww, forget about that for the time being. Yes, there's my one flaw in trying to get to "UberMom" status. I don't like to clean and will put it off, if other things come up.

Now, it's 5 days before Christmas. I've got my packages mailed (yes, did it on the busiest mailing day of the year, December 19th), the Christmas/Holiday/Winter Parties are done at the children's schools. The Adult Christmas parties are done with, the DVD's are edited and mailed, all the plays and "non" Christmas cooking is done, and with the exception of a couple of stocking stuffers for the hubby, ALL my Christmas shopping is done. All I have to do now is wrap them, and make my Christmas goodies. Oh crap.........eldest child has an orthodontist appointment today, AND it happens to be right in the middle of the day, when I was going to go grocery shopping.....well, let's hope they will let me reschedule......yea! They let me reschedule! Oh crap, it's getting late, I need to wake up the children and cart them off to the grocery store!

Ta!