My worst christmas present ever

It started on Friday. I was a little phlegmy and my throat felt funny. Then by Saturday morning it was full blown. My tonsils were the size of golf balls and they felt like they'd been wrapped in barbed wire. I suffered until Wednesday morning when the doctor came back to work and called in some meds for me. I love my doctor. Just so you know. I pretty much spent christmas not eating and being miserable. I did however lose ten pounds by not eating for four days. Nifty, but I don't recommend that you try it.

All in all though christmas wasn't all that bad. I got some gift cards and had as enjoyable a time as I could. Now that I've been taking my meds for almost two full days I'm actually starting to feel human again. Just in time for my parents to visit for New Year's. Hopefully I'll be fully recovered by new year's eve so I can actually enjoy myself and party a little. Last year I slept through most of it. I was still working nights back then.

The kids had a blast and enjoyed all their gifts. Now we have to figure out where to put them all. I think we need to buy a five bedroom house just for all the storage space.

It's nap time now.

Oh the shame!

Imagine my horror when wrapping presents yesterday I discovered that my son has 5 more presents than my daughter. That means I get to go shopping again! Just four days from the big day and I'm going shopping. At the mall. Pray for me. If you don't hear from me again I was most likely run over by an old lady driving a land yacht. When I asked Katie if there was anything else she wanted for christmas she replied that she wants all the presents. Nothing in particular, just everything. That's all. Mikel's most wanted? An AK-47 airsoft gun. Now if you're not familiar with airsoft guns, they're like bb guns except they shoot plastic pellets instead of metal ones. Instead of a Red Rider bb gun with a compass in the stock, kids these days prefer automatic weaponry. None of that pesky having to squeeze the trigger over and over again. Yes, he is getting the gun for christmas. But before your feathers begin to ruffle, I was completely against it. I said so more than once. His father cares not. For christmas I want a divorce.

I'm kidding. Probably just an extremely long vacation. Dh is going to Vegas for the CES show for a week in a half in January. So christmas comes a little late for me. I'm a big girl. I can live with that.

Mikel's christmas program was this morning. He actually stood up there and sang! He didn't do any of the hand motions though. That's just not cool. I swear he's a 15 year old in a 6 year old's body. It was very cute. The teacher sent home the letter yesterday that they needed cookies and juice for snack afterwards. Shouldn't she have sent that home on Monday instead of Wednesday? Give people some time to prepare woman! Oh, and you'll love this. The school district doesn't allow any goodies that are made at home. Only store bought items and they must be sealed when they're handed over. I understand that it's for the children's safety not to mention health for children that have allergies. But what ever happened to home baked cookies and cupcakes? That seems wrong somehow.

What if I don't want to get my fash on?

Don't get me wrong, I love Old Navy, but those commercials are starting to get on my nerves.

I'm proud to say that I have finished all of my shopping and have started wrapping the mount o' gifts. We managed to keep the spending under a thousand this year that is a major feat my friends. You have no idea. My husband thinks christmas should be like disneyland. If the living room floor isn't covered with gifts then we must have done something wrong. Last year he bought so much candy that we couldn't fit it all in the kid's stockings and wound up putting it all in a HUGE mixing bowl. Insanity! And he thinks I'm the crazy one. As the kids get older their taste in presents grows more expensive, not to mention sophisticated. An mp3 player and stylish and oh so fashionable clothing to name just a couple of items on their lists. Yes, that was my 5 year old daughter asking for clothes. Oy. I'm in some serious trouble.

My parents will be coming to visit for New Year's as is becoming a tradition. My brother and his boys may also be visiting as my brother recently lost his job. Not a good thing, but I'm still happy that I may have to the chance to see him and his family.

Yikes! La Katie is going to be late for school. Am I the best mom in the world or what? Blogging when I should be getting the girl to school

I brought sexy back and all I got was store credit

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. We ended up just staying home and having a wonderful day all to our selves. I made a turkey, mashed potatoes, candied yams, macaroni salad, cranberry sauce, gravy and of course the lovely brown and serve rolls. We got our pies from Costco. I could have made the pies, but with the kids off of school the whole week there was no way that was going to happen. With much prodding and whining from Katie the house was decorated on Saturday while the guys went out riding.

I actually got up at 4am on Friday and braved the crowds to do some shopping. WalMart was insane! It was so packed that people were abandoning their carts and just carrying their stuff around. I saw pallets of merchandise completely knocked over by people pushing to get stuff. Crazy, crazy. I don't really think that anything is worth that. The deals weren't that good. I got a couple of things, but mostly just a headache. We're planning on taking the kids to Knott's Berry Farm for Christmas so this year I don't have a whole lot of shopping to do as that will be their BIG gift.

This is DH's third week of work and he still hasn't complained about how far he's having to drive. Although I'm complaining about the cost of gas! So far about $260 every two weeks for gas and lunches. That's over $500 a month! More than a car payment! It's just wrong, wrong, wrong. Whatever happened to gas being 99 cents a gallon? I'm guessing we'll be lucky if we ever see gas for $2 a gallon any time within the next year. Dh's employer did give him an express lane pass so he can use the express lanes. It doesn't seem to be helping much, but for the last week traffic has been really super bad and will probably stay that way through the holidays.

Our medical insurance starts at the end of next week so I've been busy on the phone scheduling check ups and trips to the dentist. I'm so dreading taking the kids to the dentist. I'm such a bad mom. Mikel has only been once and Katie has never been at all. The time I took Mikel it took three people to hold him down just so the dentitst could examine his teeth! I'm going to have to heavily research sedation dentistry. I can see we're in for a lot of problems there. I just hate going to the dentist. Every time I get my teeth cleaned my mouth aches for a day. I'm such a wuss.

Tomorrow, I promise. The book review. If you're as frantic as I am, then it will be a big help.

Welcome to procrastination nation!

Wow, an entry a week. I'm not exactly breaking records now am I? It's a good thing I have my stunning good looks and razor sharp wit to fall back on.

Dh started his new job on Monday. It's 84 miles from our house, but it takes him about three hours to get there. Traffic in SoCal is a nightmare, but especially bad in LA where his office is located. He seems to like it though. The company he works for will be paying for his health insurance so he just has to pay for me and the kids. So we're actually going be saving about $300 a month! Maybe now we can actually catch up on our house payments. Those darn mortgage companies are so darn picky about people actually making the payments!

I'll be reviewing a book on here within the next couple of days. It's awesome and I can't wait to try some of the stuff in there out. Notice how I didn't give a specific day, that's where the procrastination part comes in. Being vague always helps.

Now that Dh is back to work and the kids are in school, and my sil is gone my house is starting to look normal again. I can actually see the counters in my kitchen and the top of my dining room table! What a concept! I'm getting back into my routines with FlyLady. I don't know why, but for some reason for the past month or so nothing has been working through blogger. Well, not nothing but my bold and italic buttons don't work and inserting a link isn't working either. Hmmmmmm. Now blogger hates me too.

Please let it be true!

Britney has finally filed for divorce. I have to assume that she doesn't know that she didn't have to marry that asshat to have babies. I'm sure most parents are happy that she played the good role model and waited until she was married to have a baby, but as a parent I find the fact that she actually married that loser more disturbing. Katie my sweetheart, should you ever become a world famous pop star and you are worth millions of dollars and you want to have a baby please don't feel like you need to marry a backup dancer to make that happen. I'll drive you to the artificial insemination clinic myself and then laugh when you complain about not getting any sleep.

I can see what's coming

I'm going to wind up being one of those old crochety people that yells at kids to keep off my lawn. Last night almost every single kid either complained about our screen door, the amount of candy we gave, what kind of candy we gave, and the fact that we ran out. Not only that, but two of our pumpkins were knocked over, one was smashed on our sidewalk, and another one was stolen completely! For most of us Halloween is a time to get dressed up and get some free candy. Apparently for teenage girls it's a time to dress like a hooker and get some free candy. For teenage boys it's a time to dress like a teenage girl or a baby, get some free candy, and destroy/steal pumpkins. The kids had a great time and totally wore themselves out. It was actually pretty cold outside this year and we ended up not going through the whole neighborhood. Our friends and their two kids came over and we all went together. I had a lot of fun and really enjoyed myself, except for the part where I had to clean up dead pumpkin off my sidewalk.

My son hates doing his homework. He drags it out as long as possible and comes up with new excuses daily. Yet when it's time to do the extra credit homework he's all over it. WTH?

It's really embarassing. My five year old daughter can walk in high heels better than I can. I thought I was such a girly girl.

Mikel's new thing is to tell me that he's going to leave and find a new mom. A mom that doesn't make him do homework or take a shower and brush his teeth. Yeah. Good luck with that kid.

Can I have the candy now?

Pretty scary huh? Saturday we went to the pumpkin patch. The kids had a blast and got their faces painted. Katie said she wanted to be Dracula and that's what they gave her. Doesn't strike me as all that Dracula like, but she was happy with it. Mikel requested ladybugs. I swear sometimes I think my children have swapped bodies.


The smoke has finally cleared. Now there's just tons of ash floating around. We really need a good rain storm to wash all this crud away.

Why is it that the kids are completely capable of getting themselves a snack, but ask me to do it any way? Even if it means that they have to wait, they'll ask me to get it. What the heck is up with that?

Mikel think's he's Katie's second dad. The child defines bossy. He's more strict than I am! I turned around just now to see him standing on the kitchen counter with his shoes on. He couldn't understand what the big deal was. Men.

The fire. It still burns.

It's now being called the Esperanza fire and allegedly it was started on purpose. Don't you just love arsonists? Still smoke and ash everywhere. Not as black and ugly as the day before, but still ewwy. The school cancelled the Fall Festival that was supposed to be tonight and they are talking about rescheduling it for two weeks from now. The kids aren't as bummed as I thought they would be. At least Halloween is close at hand. What's really sad is that I was excited that they cancelled the festival because that means that I can eat the candy I bought for it. Whoopee!!! PMS season has begun and I'm working my way through a bag of snack size kitkats as I write. Chocolate is goooooooood!

Dh got a job! It's good because I really like this house and I'd like to keep living in it. He stars on November 6th so I only have one more week until freedom reigns again. I can't believe the man loves to watch Maury and Jerry Springer. Seriously if I had known what I know now before I married him I might have reconsidered. He hates chocolate and pizza and thinks having vanilla ice cream with apple pie is disgusting. The man has ISSUES. But he clearly has awesome taste in women.

Hopefully when the insurance starts up I can go and get myself some glasses. I feel like my eyeballs are about to fall out. I can't sit in front of the computer for more than five minutes without my eyes starting to burn. Am I getting old?

Deja Vu

There's a big fire about 15 miles from where we live. There is smoke and ash everywhere. It reminds me of the wildfires in San Diego a couple of years ago. The sun is completely blocked out and the smoke burns your nose when you go outside. It really sucks. The kids are on rainy day schedule until it clears up. That's a scary thought huh? Hundreds of kids kept inside all day and all night. There could be a mutiny. Already people are walking around with masks on, it looks like a sars outbreak.

I got myself a membership to the aquatic center. A very lovely heated indoor pool. Swimming year round yes indeedy. I used to swim a lot when I was younger. Swim team in high school and all that. It sure is different and a lot harder than I remember. It's funny how you remember how to do something but now that you're older and heavier (well maybe you yourself aren't heavier, but you get what I mean) that your body doesn't exactly work the way you want it too. Not exactly like riding a bike. When I got home from my first workout yesterday dh asked how it went and I told him I thought I was dying. Yikes I'm out of shape. Not that I thought I was in all that great shape anyway, but it seemed a whole lot worse yesterday. I've been walking a mile and a half to sometimes three miles a day and I didn't think the swimming would wear me out the way it has been. I guess it's not really the same huh? Duh.

As I stated in the last post, Katie has decided to be the Little Mermaid for Halloween. She's now launched a campaign for mermaid shoes. Ummmmm, honey, mermaids don't have feet. Thus, they don't wear shoes. She's not buying it. Not that I'm advocating her going barefoot on Halloween, but has anyone seen a pair of shoes with Ariel on them?! Cause all the other princesses that have feet have a pair of shoes with their picture on them. But not Ariel. What's up with the non-mermaid love?

Back to normal, if you want to call it that

My sil moved out last Thursday. I strongly suspect that she wasn't going to say anything until we noticed her moving her stuff out. Last time she just left and then came back a week later to get her stuff. I don't think she even told the school that her daughter would no longer be attending. Nice. Very adult. She said that it was just too hard to live down here. Not hard really, just not as easy as living with mom and dad and having them pay all the bills. I guess the reality was quite a shock. Being a single mom with two kids has to be pretty expensive especially when you're not working and refuse to get a job. Call me crazy, but the welfare system is extremely out of whack when they're not even requiring her to look for a job and the state keeps sending her checks. I thought the whole point of welfare was to help you along until you got back on your feet.

Kids never seem to pick up any good habits from each other do they? Every night at dinner now Katie spends the whole time whining about how she doesn't want to eat her dinner. Mikel takes at least an hour to do his homework. I really hope it doesn't take that long for them to unlearn this stuff. It's really frustrating to see another child behave badly and not be able to say anything and then have to deal with your kids behaving the same way. The lack of discipline is appalling. I never really saw myself as all that strict until I saw someone else that clearly wasn't. I told dh that never again will we have family live with us like that. Unless they really don't have anywhere else to go, and even then there will have to be some sort of time limit. The upheaval it causes in our lives just isn't worth it.

Katie has decided to be the Little Mermaid for Halloween and Mikel still wants to be an "Army". I'll go out on a limb and assume he means a soldier. Anybody have an army helmet I can borrow? The only costume store in town doesn't have any and the nearest Army surplus store is 40 minutes away. I'm creative and all, but I'm at a complete loss as to creating an army helmet. We used to have dh's, but of course we can't find it now. Perfect timing.

Our dog escaped on October 2nd. He found his way back home about 3 weeks later. He'd been groomed and he had a new collar. Thanks neighbor! Then a day after he found his way home someone left the back gate open and he escaped again. Sunday night while I was watching tv I heard something outside the screen door. I looked, and there he was again! At least we know his sense of direction is good. He's managed to find his way home twice. We've put a lock on the gate so hopefully this will be the last time Charlie goes walkabout.

I'm a Blogging Chick!

Look! I finally got the dang pictures up

Here's my Katie Lou at her birthday party. She was sitting around waiting for her guests to arrive. Well actually only one guest that doesn't live in our house showed up, but it worked out any way. There's a way to guarantee guests at your party, have them move in with you. She had a wonderful time and got tons of new Barbie stuff. My parents got her the collectible Disney Princess bells, they are so pretty. Katie's been very good about not playing with them.




Dh is using the treadmill right now. But it's only because he found out that I used it earlier this morning. What a copycat! Haha. I'm trying to work excercise back into my routine because I did feel a lot better when I was excercising. With the kids being in school it shouldn't be a problem to get something done while they're gone.

I went to the store the other day looking for a bag of the mallowcreme pumpkins. I love those things! The store was sold out so I settled for a bag of harvest mix. Turns out the pumpkins are Katie's favorite too. So now there's two of us digging through all the candy corn and indian corn to find the pumpkins. Disgraceful. You wait and see, out of the whole bag only the indian corn will be left. Nobody loves the brown ended candy corn.

Katie stayed home from school today because of a tummy ache. I told her that's what she gets for eating all the pumpkins. I'm kidding I didn't really tell her that. Now she's languishing on her bed wearing her Belle costume and a Sleeping Beauty tiara.


P.S. Haha Flickr! I have defeated you at last! I've gotten wise to your post eating ways and remembered to copy before clicking publish. Hahaha! You'll never eat another post of mine again.

Holy cow!

I just realized that this is my hundredth post. Wow, those went by pretty quick. 100 posts of absolute nonsense! If you're looking for something meaningful, you're probably not going to find it here.

If celebrities allegedly have stylists, then why do so many of them get photographed wearing outfits that look like they got dressed in the dark? Is there some sort of fashion trend that I'm missing out on? If I were paying someone to make sure that I'm fashionably dressed then I would expect to go about looking like, well a million bucks. Isn't it the stylist's job to stop them at the door and ask if they're really going to wear that? We see far more fashion dont's than fashion do's and that's just sad. They're supposed to have more money than most of us, so why aren't they better dressed?

Dh and I went shopping at Tar-jay a few days ago and something caught my eye. There was a rack in the very front of the accessory section of Dooney and Burke purses. At first I thought that Target was selling knock-offs, but then I realized that holy crap! they're the real thing. Is there anyone out there that actually goes to Target to buy a $179 purse? Isn't Target supposed to be like a bargain? Or at least affordable? It would be like walking into WalMart and seeing Versace, or ordering steak at McDonald's.

I spent all day in my sweat pants and it was wonderful.

Really, you should try this

For the past month or so I've really gotten into freebies. I've signed up for several freebie newsletters and have gotten some awesome stuff. I just love getting stuff for free. I get packages almost every day in the mail. My mailman looks at me funny, but he's the one wearing the funny postal shorts so there! One of my subscriptions is to FreebieFanatic they have tons of categories including free stuff for babies, for weddings, pets, coupons, and even free food! When you're as broke as I am free food is great. Just last week I got a free Senseo coffee maker. Everyone swore I was crazy when I told them that I was getting one. I had to do the "I told you so" dance when it arrived. It even came with free coffee!

I stockpile all my free samples of shampoo and toothpaste for when I travel. That way I don't have to buy the travel size and I don't have to try and take my full size stuff with me. I have so many free samples of deodorant that I haven't had to buy it in months. Sure it does take some time to go through all of the stuff, but you find some really awesome deals that way. So far I've gotten free books, dog treats, a t-shirt, drink mixes, a Kahlua shaker, and way more stuff than I can even begin to tell you about.

Could just be that I'm crazy, but free stuff is always a good thing.

What if the hokey pokey really is what it's all about?

While out and about today I saw a mechanic's shop. It was called Certified Automotive, but certified was spelled CERDAFIDE. I don't know about you, but that doesn't really inspire a whole lot of confidence for me. Kinda sounds like a place where you'd drop off a mercedes and pick up a metro.

My son just asked me what being gay means. Next he'll be asking where babies come from. He's only 6! He shouldn't be asking these questions. I explained as best I could without giving too many details, but when he asked me I almost swallowed my tongue.

Dh and I were having a "discussion" earlier. He said that all people that have tattoos are ghetto. He thinks that people are disrespecting themselves by defacing their bodies. I don't see it that way. It's their body, if they want to get tattoos all over themselves, then why not? I don't judge people based on the fact that they have a or several tattoos. That just seemed sooo judgemental and snobbish to me. We must have "discussed" the subject for 45 minutes before I finally gave up. I seriously wanted to take off his hat and smack him with it.

The in-laws are talking about coming to visit for Thanksgiving. Isn't that great? Can you feel my joy radiating through the screen? I'm sure you can. That light on the horizon? That's my smile! I'm beginning to feel like my house is a VW bug and we're going to see just how many people we can cram in.

I hate the surround sound

Dh traded something and got himself a surround sound set up. What does this mean? It means that everything now must be watched at window rattling volume. Our entire living room had to be rearranged and speakers had to be stuck to the walls. I've had a headache since he installed it and I'm pretty sure it's because all the fillings in my mouth have been vibrating for four days straight. Now he's talking about building all sorts of racks for the equipment. How exciting.

I should not be allowed near Target. That is dangerous. I can go to Costco and spend less than $100 no problem. I can't go to Target without spending at least $50, if not more. That's a problem because I get things we actually NEED at Costco. At Target I get all the goodies we don't need. But I want them, and their on sale! So buy them I must. They call to me, I swear they do.

Dh just told me that his dad is talking about coming to visit for Thanksgiving. I think I need to visit my parents for Thanksgiving. My sil and her two kids, plus my in-laws. That is a recipe for disaster my friends that no one should prepare. That's like put me in the psych ward kinda good.

Mikel asked me this morning if his girlfriend could move in with us. I barely managed to restrain myself from shrieking, "oh helllllllllllllll no!" I replied with a much more sedate, "you're way to young to even be thinking about that sort of think. When you're older and you have your own place, then you can do that". I think I did ok, considering he's six.

Weekend recap

Why is it that weekends go by so fast? I mean I know they're only two days long and all that, but the days go by slower during the week. Friday my sil went grocery shopping and got all of the basics. We came to the conclusion that it's impossible to feed 8 people for a month for less than $600. It doesn't help that she refuses to buy anything other than name brand stuff. I, on the other hand have a hard time paying for a name.

Saturday we all suffered another shopping trip to Wally World. All 7 of us. I still contend that shopping with children is hazadarous to their health. I don't know why but my husband seems to think that it's ok to let our children run about the store as though their hair were on fire. I was never allowed to behave that way in public. Not sticking by my parents and touching anything earned me a trip out to the car. We all know what happens at the car. That was a trip that I only took once. It took us about three hours to go through just the grocery side of the store. About 5 minutes into the trip I had a screaming headache. Dh just couldn't seem to grasp why I insist on shopping without the kids.

Sunday we just lazed around and didn't do much of anything. The kids spent most of the day playing outside. Here's where the ranting starts, so fasten your seat belts. I don't know why. I cannot for the life of me find a good reason, but my niece just drives me up the wall. Well, it's not just her. It's my sil and her kids. Don't get me wrong, their nice enough and for the most part we all get along rather well. The problem comes in where our parenting styles differ. My sil has lived with my in-laws pretty much the whole time before she moved in with us. My mil doesn't believe in really discipling a child. No spanking, no time outs. She thinks children should be happy all the time and that you should just give them what they want. So you can imagine what my niece is like. Spoiled rotten and thinks everyone should pay sole attention to her. Also, being an only child she's not really used to sharing. Now I know that I can't expect her to understand and it's not really her fault, but when she doesn't want to share her stuff, but expects my kids to share with her, it drives me nuts.

I think part of it is that I'm not used to being around a baby 24/7 any more. Every time he starts crying, and he's been doing a lot of that lately, I have the overwhelming urge to snatch him out of her arms. After dropping off Katie at school today I came home to hearing the baby screaming his lungs out while my sil took a shower. At first I thought he was in his crib, but then I realized that he was in the bathroom with her. I offered to take him for a few minutes while she finished up, but she declined and the baby continued to scream for at least a good 10 minutes. I find it hard to believe that doesn't bother her. I could never just stand there and listen to one of my babies scream like that. The poor baby is totally off of his schedule, he's not eating like he normaly does and the naps are non-exsistent. I mostly just feel bad for the baby. I find it frustrating because I know she doesn't know much, but I don't want her to feel like I'm telling her what to do. I would really like to help and give her a break if she needs it. Being a single mom can't be easy.

Over all the weekend wasn't too bad. Not long enough as usual. For some reason I still keep trying to do more stuff on the weekend instead of during the week. I need to get back to my routines and FlyLady. I really fell off the wagon. I was a good girl today and got up early and got myself put together and had the house cleaned before taking Katie to school. That felt really great and I felt like I could relax for the rest of the day.

Convo in the kitchen

Whilst in the kitchen this fine October evening Mikel and Katie joined me to help prepare dinner. Doesn't that sound nice? What actually happened is that while I was trying to chop vegetables with a wickedly sharp knife Mikel and Katie came in to drive me screaming up the wall. I've completely strayed from my point. Brace yourself, here we go.

Mikel to Katie: Did I just hit you in the head?

Katie: No

Mikel: Good. Because if I did I'd have to beat my own butt.

Note: I do not beat my children. The wooden spoon does all the beating, I just hold it still.

Say what?

I had an appointment to get me some drugs last night, out of town of course. Not too far out, just far enough so no one would recognize me. The place was dark and hard to find but the people sure were friendly. Lest you think this blog has suddenly gone a very bizarre direction, I was at my psychiatrist's office. She moved darn her. Darn her all to heck! For some odd reason she only does evening appointments so I was out of the house all by my lonesome after dark. Of course I missed dinner and got home after Grey's Anatomy. I forgot to set the DVR!!!!! I missed it!!!! Now we know why I need medication. When I did finally get home all I wanted to do was go to bed. It's exhausting being crazy. I believe I've said that before. Any way, to get to the point, dh accused me of using the doctor's appointment as an excuse to go out to eat by myself. Say what? Why would I do something like that? The thought has occured to me, but why would I feel the need to sneak off. Nope, not me. If I'm gonna bail he'll know it. LOUD AND CLEAR.

I had to sit down and write about this in the middle of clipping coupons. Whoever that chick is that's guest hosting on The View just said that Halloween is a "devilsh" holiday. That it celebrates the occult and the devil. Ummmmm, ok. You know I think there probably are some people that celebrate it that way, but the vast majority of us just think it's a time to dress our adorable kids up in painfully cute costumes and gather as much chocolate as we can. For my family it's about having fun. Nothing else. My dh and I remember going trick or treating as children and how much fun it was and we want our children to experience that. It's all about what sort of meaning you place on it. It's that way with any holiday. I have to wonder how people's children feel that don't get to go trick or treating. What does that do to them?

This post has taken me all day to write. A minute here, 30 seconds there. Having four kids in the house is a lot of work! Sil and I did some grocery shopping today. I seriously do not know how people with large families do it. Not only the cost, but where to put the stuff once you get it home! Holy cow what a workout. I have a HUGE pot of chicken soup on the stove simmering for dinner later. I have to learn to shop and cook for 8 people. Major brownie points to the families that have more than 2 kids. I have all I can handle with just my 2, I don't know what I would do with more!

I just love using the exclamation point. Really I do. I'm not shouting. Just making a point. Haha.

Someone Please Shoot Me

I've been trying for the past hour and a half to post an entry about Katie's birthday. But there's been an attack by a screaming baby and Flickr hates me. I'm now emotionally drained. I need a cheeseburger and a chocolate shake STAT.

My sil and niece and nephew have moved in and have been living with us for almost two weeks. I don't know how much longer I can hold on. It's not that I don't like her, but I feel like my home has been invaded. My poor son had to give up his room and our lives are being turned upside down. Not only that, but her fiance is here every single night for dinner. She is helping a lot with food and cleaning. But I feel like my house is just a total disaster area. Here I was finally getting things in order and under control and now my kitchen looks like a bomb went off in there.

My niece is really acting up. I'm sure it's due to all of the moving around and new environment, but I can't just sit here and let her set a bad example for my kids. Already Mikel has picked up the smartmouth. She keeps the kids awake for at least half an hour after bed time with her antics. It's already hard to get them to go to bed as it is. Really, I've never wanted to spank a child so bad in my whole life. My sil is just letting her get away with stuff or is letting my niece wear her down until she gives in. I don't want to overstep my boundaries, but at what point do I say something to keep it from affecting my kids?

Gah! I thought last month was bad. Perhaps I need to double my medication.

And baby makes 21!

My son's teacher is due to have her first baby in about two weeks. He said that she told the class this afternoon that she was going to the hospital today and was going to stay there. She didn't say anything when I picked him up and since this is her first baby, unless there are complications I can't see her doctor inducing labor 15 days early. My point in all this mess is that Mikel was in tears because his teacher is going to be gone for 6 weeks. He wants her address so he can go visit her. He's completely distraught. Even though Mrs. H says that she'll visit, that's not good enough. He cannot bare to be parted from her. He already hates the substitute and his teacher hasn't even left yet.

My sil and her two children might be moving in with us temporarily. At least it better be temporary. Our house isn't that big and I can barely handle dh being home all day, much less his sister and her two kids. Talk about home invasion. Oh yeah, and I'm sure her fiance will be spending quite a bit of time here too.

LaKatie sings the hits!

First we have a classic

Row, row, row your boat
gently down the stream
merrily, merrily, merrily
gently down the stream!

Next, an ode to Paco. Whoever he is.

Ring around the rosie
Paco buys a posie
Ashes, ashes
I fell down!

Finally, LaKatie pays homage to the great Ashley Simpson

L-O
L-O
L-O
L-L-L

yeah, she just makes the l noise. Cause that's what the letter l does. It makes the L noise. I need to catch her Gwen Stefani impersonation on tape. It's really something.

I'm not making this up, I swear

Last night dh told Mikel to quit farting around and finish his dinner. La Katie asked, "why? can you smell the farts?"

Then later while I was helping her with her homework she needed to use the glue stick. When she opened it, it was a little messed up, but still usable. She asked me what happened to it and I told her I didn't know but that the glue was ok and I wouldn't worry about it. She turned around and told me, "yeah. But I would!"

I need to carry around some sort of recorder.

We finally managed to get approved for food stamps. So now we have food. We had to re-apply for medi-cal for some strange reason, but that's typical.

Katie is turning 5 next week. It's funny how she's so independent. Mikel will be 7 in March and still wants me to walk him all the way in to his classroom. Katie insists on walking into school by herself. The child I'm actually ready to let go of a little bit doesn't want to let go of me and my baby, my preshus babee! She can't wait to let go of me. My baby isn't really a baby any more. She even refuses to shop in the little kid's section any more. Now she wants to shop in the big girl section. Oy vey. Soon she'll be asking for a car.

My parents will be visiting next weekend for Katie's birthday. I love how they always make it a point to visit for the kid's birthdays. The kids really appreciate it and like knowing that no matter what, they'll be seeing grandma and papa for their birthday. My parents just re-financed their house and are getting some new furniture and will be passing some of their older stuff on to me! I'm getting their goregous china hutch and my mom's antique desk. Now I get to set up a nice little office for me. Finally a place to work at other than the dining room table.

Someone slap if I sound that bitter again

The childrens are back to going to school without numerous attempts at avoidance. It's so nice when they get up, get ready, and go. No having to drag them out of the house and into the car, and then out of the car and into the school. We are getting back into our routine finally. Just in time to have two weeks of peace before my parents visit for Katie's birthday. Thankfully when my parents visit, chaos doesn't reign the way it does when the in-laws are in town.

Mikel informed me today that he kissed R behind the bushes at recess. I so don't want to have the "keep it in your pants" speech with my six year old. I advised that maybe a hug is a little bit better at this stage. Maybe I'm over reacting, maybe I'm not. Better safe than sorry.

I'm making homemade chicken noodle soup for dinner. The house smells so yummy. They seriously need to make a candle that smells like that.

I cut my hair last week. It went from being below my shoulders to being just above my earlobes. Dh still hasn't said anything. I'm afraid to ask and hear the answer. Not that it matters, I like it and it's my hair. So neener neener. I also dyed it back to my natural dark brown. I'm rather pleased with it. Now my hair has a style other than ponytail or bun.

Mikel's teacher is due to have a baby in about 4 weeks. I honestly had no idea. I thought she might just be chubby. The shirts she wears don't really look like maternity clothes. I didn't want to assume that she was pregnant. I guess assuming that she was fat wasn't much better though huh? At least I didn't open my big mouth about it. She's gonna have a teeny tiny baby though. For being 8 months along she's not very big. Lucky her. With both of my kids by 7 months I was the size of a small house.

We had a nice visit with Dh's aunt and uncle yesterday. We just hung out and visited. Aunt B and I madea trip to the mall and she bought me a delicious chocolate covered strawberry. I'll be going back to that store. They had rocky road covered apples!

We should be getting our approval for food stamps by tomorrow and our medi-cal worker should be calling soon. Now we can get actual groceries instead of just winging it and buying what we needed by the day and trying to minimize our food spending. It's hard living on just disability. Dh has his unemployment interview this week and hopefully he'll be getting some money from that soon as well. Of course it would be nice if he got a job, but I'll take what I can get.

Gently down the stream!

Because I'm sick, and tired I'm posting one of my drafts. It made me laugh. Of course that's probably the drugs talking. Katie still loves Barbie.com though. It is my bff.



Katie is on a continous loop of Row Row Row your boat. I think her internal CD is stuck. It was absolutely adorable for about the first 30 minutes. Now it's just cute. Instead of singing "life is but a dream" she just repeats "gently down the stream".

Barbie.com is the greatest invention known to man. It keeps four year old little girls occupied for hours. I have to pry her away from the keyboard. What's truly odd is that she likes to listen to the instructions in Spanish. Dh and I both speak a little spanish, but she doesn't. Soon she'll be fluent.

I'm just plum tuckered. I haven't even done anything and I'm tired. I think I need more vitamins. I go to bed around 10pm and I didn't get up until 8:30am this morning and I'mready to go back to sleep.

Blah, blah,blah.

That loud noise you hear is me screaming

Dh is still home. He still has no job. He is still driving me insane. I have begun to plot ways to torture him. Every time I go somewhere he comes out and inspects the truck for water spots. Water spots! Silly me, I actually drive through puddles. I don't stop the truck and the very slowly driving through them so the water doesn't splash up onto the truck. He needs a job. He already has a hobby. His hobby is driving me crazy. I'm already crazy enough on my own. I'm taking two different kinds of medication. I will most likely need a third shortly.

Today he complained that I wasn't putting the whole potato chip in my mouth. I was biting it in half. Sue me. I have no need to put a whole Pringle in my mouth. This while he sat in the recliner with his laptop and dispensed child care advice. Why!? Why not actually be a parent and act out this advice instead of telling me what I'm doing wrong? What an asshole! I did actually call him an asshole to his face and I'll probably be doing it again soon. If he doesn't find a job soon I'll be going to live with my parents for a while. Or maybe I'll just kill him and live off the insurance money. That sounds like a great idea!

The underwires on both of my bras broke within two days of each other.

We were turned down for cash aid because I make too much money. I'm on State Disability people. But I make too much money.

I accidentally made a double car payment causing several checks to bounce, including a check I wrote to my mom for all the work we had done on the truck while Dh's dad was in the hospital. Luuuuuuuuuuvly.

We had our niece over last Friday to play and she stole Katie's crayons. She also tried to adopt two brand new glue sticks and a bathing suit. It could just be that I'm cranky because I haven't had more than 2o minutes to myself in the past three weeks. Or it could be that she's a spoiled brat.

I think I might be PMSing. I sound really bitter.

Amazingly Dh is cooking dinner. But he undid all that amazingness by ordering me to "figure out" what to make along with the chicken. He also called me a jackass for telling him not to stir things in the skillet with a butter knife.

Someone shoot me please. I'm begging. Put me out of his misery.

My hair is on fire right now

Dear Blogger,

I hate you with the burning passion so hot that it rivals the sun. You have eaten three posts in a row. You never give any sort of indication that I should save my draft as a I go along because you intend to eat this post. You simply lull me into a false sense of secuirty and act as though you'll publish my exquisite efforts and then sit there. With your little circle going round and round. Click, click, click. Then after 15 long minutes of anguish I try something, anything to get you to proceed and am met with a blank screen. The frustration is eating at my very soul. You mock me and I don't like it.

What are you lookin' at?

Yesterday we had a major storm. Just as school was getting out. It was really nice. Nobody was prepared for what happened. I'm talking 60mph winds and flash flooding. I got stranded on one of those cemet parking things when the parking lot at the school flooded. Dh had to come get me in the truck. I just knew having a lifted truck would come in handy some day. The minute I got out of the truck I was soaked. I looked like I just jumped into a pool. There were all kinds of kids running around soaking wet crying. It looked like one big giant wet t-shirt contest. I felt really bad for all the kids that had to either walk or ride their bikes home. The MAJOR road in town was completely flooded and had to be closed. It was just insane. I love the rain, but that was a little much for me.

LaKatie has taken to emptying the shampoo and conditioner into her bath. Ah the things small children can get into when your back is turned. The other night I went to get my water and when I came back the shampoo had "fallen" into the bathtub and was now full of water. Last night I went to turn the diswasher on and when I got back the conditioner had "fallen" into the tub. I sense a pattern forming here. All other bottles of anything that could possibly be used to make bubbles have been removed from the bathroom.

We've also had to hide the scotch tape. Mikel thinks anything can be built with it. Scotch tape, a kid's best friend.

I came out of my bedroom today to find the dog on top of the dinning room table getting ready to have himself a snack. LaKatie left her cookies on the table. No food must ever be left sitting around or it becomes property of the chow hound.

Katie's birthday is in three weeks. I have one week to make invitations and get them mailed/handed out. I will do it this time! My children will not suffer through another birthday party with only one other child in attendance. Even if I have to kidnap some. We will have guests at this party. Incidentally, if you hear of anyone going missing around October 1st, I had nothing to do with it.

I thought it would be great . . . . .

but it's snot.

Thursday of last week Dh lost his job. His new job that was supposed to be so much better than his last job. Things just didn't work out according to the HR person. Hmmmm. Oh well, things happen for a reason and hopefully this will lead to something better. So he's been home with me now every single day. I thought it would be nice having him home. Most of the time it is, but I have to admit. Sometimes it drives me crazy. Now I really don't have any time to myself. Puh-lease let him find a job soon. I just found out that his parents are coming to visit for about a week so they can try to find a place to live down here. Oh goody. Pray for me. I'll need the strength. My fil is not a problem. It's my mil that drives everyone up the wall. Even Dh.

We went down to social services today to apply for aid since Dh hasn't even applied for unemployment yet. Hopefully we won't need it for long. There is just now way we could survive on my disability checks. You can't buy booze with food stamps can you?

Gah. This past month has been a real downer. I feel like a little black rain cloud is following me around. Happy, happy, joy, joy.

Only if I'm extremely lucky

Dh and the boy are contemplating a night of camping and dirt bike riding tomorrow morning. Please let them go and be gone until at least 4pm tomorrow. I need a break. I need to take my daughter out to breakfast and then spend some quality time in the movie theater. Maybe a pedicure thrown in for good measure. Yes indeedy, that's what I need. Cross your fingers.

We spent the day looking for a fan for LaKatie's room. Even though it's still over a hundred degrees here, there are no fans to befound. Just heaters. I know about the whole preparedness thing and getting ready for winter. But for the love of Pete people! It's 108 degrees outside right now. Due to the outrageous power bill for last month we've gone back to suffering through the heat. Why does it have to be so hot? I should not be sweaty within five minutes of getting out of the shower. Gah.

In search of fan we bought a chainsaw, school clothes, and a set of 50 fine tip washable crayola markers. Do we know how to shop or what? There are so many bags of junk on the table righ now and I don't know what is in half of them. I should never have taken the menfolk shopping with me. Not only did we lose Katie oncein Walmart, but we lost Dh and Mikel several times in Big Lots. No wonder I have grey hair.

It's exhausting being crazy

Ugh. No matter what the doctor's say about the depression not being made worse by my monthly cycle, it is making it worse. I'm living it. I know it. For one week a month I become a five headed monster. I spit fire and acid and it is ugly. UGLY. I'm on three different kinds of medication and it does reduce the severity. Perhaps I should a fourth. Like valium. Maybe I could just sleep my way through my period. Wake up looking refreshed. That's not a bad idea. I don't care what they say about booze not helping. I feel like it helps, not to mention mass quantities of chocolate. Thank you Manic Mom, you little gift showed up just in time. The candy barely made it out of the envelope. Dh was too busy being stunned by the consumption to wonder why chocolate arrived in the mail.

Scotch tape is a kid's best friend. I think my son could construct anything from scotch tape and cardboard. It's amazing the things he puts together. Recyclable buildings. They're the wave of the future. Yesterday when I picked him up from school he asked if we had any destruction paper at home. I asked if he meant construction paper. Yes, that's what he wanted. Destruction paper. Oy. That's almost as good as him calling instructions the "constructions". You gotta love it.

La Katie is loving school despite getting in some sort of trouble every single day. You read that right. Every. Single. Day. First it was fighting, then she couldn't sit still, then she fell of a bike, and today she didn't want to go to school at all. It's so much fun. Really it is. Of course now that she's started school I can't wait until she's in first grade and both of the kids will be gone all day long. A full day of freedom is close, I can smell it. LaKatie will be turning the big 5 on October 1st and has decided that she will be having a pink poodle birthday party. The girl has style y'all. I'm telling ya. Black and pink pin stripes and little fluffy pink poodles. I still haven't figured out what I'm going to get her for her birthday. As usual she wants everything.

My fil is doing ok. At the follow up doctor's appointment this week, the doc informed him that they had done all they can and that any future incidents will most likely be the end for fil. Three stints and a pacemaker. Dh is stressed to the breaking point. You can tell that it's wearing on him. Knowing that his dad could die at any moment. Poor guy. I don't know what I'm going to do when his dad actually does die. That is going to be a huge mess.

Is it time to start drinking yet?

Hey, I just noticed something. Paragraphs!!!!! Woot!

Lord have mercy on me . . . . .

cause nobody else will. Ok, the whole no paragraphs thing is driving me nuts. My fil was released from the hospital yesterday and is resting at home. Dh took the kids and I over there to visit. My sil and her two children just moved to San Jacinto, which is about 5 minutes away from where we live. Some of their stuff is still there at the in-laws house. Mainly my niece's toys and some other stuff. Of course LaKatie wanted to play with the toys. My mil put their old, crotchey dog in my niece's room and said that LaKatie couldn't play in there because that's the dog's room now. There are two other rooms that the dog could have been put into. She was just trying to keep LaKatie out of there so she couldn't play with the toys. What a load of bullshit. Things like this have happened before. When my sil and her daughter were living with us mil would by my niece toys and give my kids grab bags from the 99 cent store. When I say she bought her toys, I'm talking nice Disney toys, not junk. She would send letters and gifts to my niece, and not my kids. Once dh's aunt and uncle were visiting at the same time as my mil and dh's aunt asked my mil if she missed her grandkids. My mil replied with "yes, especially my granddaughter". I asked her which one, because she does have two. It was clear to everyone there that she missed my niece, not my daughter. Or at least she missed my niece more than she missed either of my children. I don't care if my niece was the first grandchild or not, you do not come into my home and insult me and my children that way. If you're looking to piss me off, that would be a good way to go about it. I don't care how much she spoils my niece when she's staying with her, but don't do that in my home. In my home all the grandkids are equal. At one point yesterday I asked my mil if I could go into the room and get LaKatie something to play with as she was bored out of her skull. She said yes, but reluctantly so. I could tell that she didn't really want me to go in there either. I said something to dh later that afternoon about it and he said that he had noticed it too and that he would speak to him mom about it. This morning before dh and the kids left to go back to the in-law's the kids told me that LaKatie couldn't wear my niece's play dress-up clothes because my niece wasn't there. Mikel told me that my niece, "A" doesn't go into Katie's room and play with Katie's toys. Which is not true. I make darn sure that my children share, as they would want other kids to share with them. I mentioned it to dh just before they left and he assured me that as long as dh or my fil were there that the kids would be allowed full access to the toys and the he "chewed her ass out", already. I hope he meant his mother. That may make him feel better about the situation, but I'm still madder than a wet hen about it. Those are my kids and I'll go to the wall for them. They won't be treated like that while I'm around to do something about it, especially by a grown woman that should know better.

Freedom!

I drove my mom to work today so I can actually leave the house. Literally being stuck at home with both kids nearly drove me insane yesterday. I never even got out of my pajamas and it's been a long time since I've done that. Dh took Mikel with him to the hospital for the morning and La Katie is still sleeping. There is peace and quiet through out the land. Shhhh! If you listen really hard you can hear the angels singing. Ok, very weird but I still haven't figured out how to make this computer let me make paragraphs. This is really going against the grain of my high school english teacher's lessons. I'm sorry! I'd make paragraphs if I could. Fil had three stints (sp?) put in Monday. The doctor said the arteries were so badly blocked that it was a wonder fil was even still alive. Today he is having a pace maker put in and hopefully should be out of the hospital by Friday. It's so nice visiting with my parents. I don't have to clean or cook dinner. This is a vacation! I clean up after myself and the kids ofcourse, but I don't have to scrub toilets or anything like that. Lovely. Lovely, lovely, lovely. The dial up isn't as bad as I thought it would be. In fact it's faster than our cable modem at home. I may switch. I think it's cheaper too. Cheaper is always nice. I have no idea what LaKatie and I will do today. Probably go to lunch and maybe do some window shopping. I want to find a used book store and hopefully pick up a couple of cheap books. I'm going insane without anything to read. I brought two books with me and finished both of them by Monday. I really miss my laptop. I don't have all my links and I it drives me crazy that I'm missing out on so many blogs. Having to google everything is really getting old. The kids went off the deep end last night and began jumping from the bed onto the matress on the floor. Even after several warnings from both me and my mom. Finally my mom went in there and threatened them with papa's belt, thus ending the jumping for the night. Later I found Mike running and diving onto the matress and doing a somersault. Oy. They just don't get it. I should be glad that they weren't swinging from the ceiling fan. Friday night my brother will be back and he'll have my three nephews with them. I'll need to get some booze before then. Not for me, for the kids. Just kidding. Have a lovely hump day!

Bored, bored, bored

I'm sooooo bored. It looks like we'll be here for the week. So far my fil has had two surgeries and will possibly be having another one in a day or two. The outlook is pretty grim and they hope to improve his quality of life while he's still with us. Dh spends pretty much all of his time at the hospital and I stay at my parent's with the kids. The hospital doesn't allow children under 12 into the rooms. For some reason my mom's computer is not letting me use the enter key, so I apologize for the lack of paragraphs. Very weird, hit enter and the cursor dissappears. It's magic! Oooooo, better be careful. I don't want someone calling me an idiot again. My mother and I took my truck to have the tires rotated and balance at WalMart on Sunday. We had quite a wait, so we thought we'd have breakfast at the McDonald's inside. OMG. It was just scary. First, they had no hashbrowns. In place of hashbrowns, they offer two apple pies. Ummmm, wouldn't french fries be a better replacement? You know, stick with the whole potato theme. Second, the soda machine was broken. Am I on Candid Camera? Third and the most amazing, they were completely out of napkins. None. Zero. Zilch. Why even open? Why not just post a sign announcing that due to a lack of hashbrowns, soda, and napkins they would not be opening today. They weren't telling people before they ordered either. "I'd like a medium coke." "The soda machine is broken." They didn't tell anybody they were out of napkins until they were asked. Oy! The agony. That on top of having to spend three and a half hours inside WalMart. It's a wonder I'm even here. I should be in a padded room right now talking to my toe nails. The upside is that I spent less than thirty dollars, not counting the tire stuff. Not bad. But by then I was hating life and almost ready to vow that I would never enter WalMart again. That will never happen. It couldn't get that bad, could it? Another silver lining is that I'm getting to just sit around on my butt and not do a damn thing. It's lovely. No house cleaning. Just imagine. What a concept huh? Outrageous I know.

On the road again

My fil had another heart attack yesterday, so we're heading off to Fresno. I don't know if I'll be posting as my parents are still living in the stone age and only have dial up. Dial up! If being at the hospital 22 hours a day doesn't drive me crazy, then the dial up noise will. I don't know when I'll be back, but the kids start school on the 28th so I know I'll be back before then.

The kids are excited to be going to their grandparents. There will be much spoiling and toy shopping this weekend. I need Starbucks. I had no idea I would be going on a road trip this morning. I've been packing and cleaning all day. Thank you FlyLady. Seriously, if you haven't checked this lady out, you really should.

TTFN. Everybody have a good weekend.

I have the power and I'm gonna use it

Yipee! I got my very first hate comment. I feel so special. I read, thought wtf?, and then deleted it. As this is MY blog and where I post MY opinions, I can do that. If you don't like what you read, then move along. You're not going to hurt my feelings or anything else. This is the only attention you'll get from me. You should know however, that when you leave a comment with your blogger id and then go back and remove it so you can post anonymously, I still get to see your blogger id. So yes, I now know who you are. You can continue to leave negative, hateful comments I'm sure Jesus will think really highly of that, and I will continue to delete them.

See I do believe in God and I'm not about insulting or dishonoring him by going around being mean to people who's beliefs and opinions don't match mine. Love thy neighbor. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. I remember those, do you?

It's witchcraft

I took the ankle biters to the free family movie festival at our local movie theater on Tuesday. While sitting there waiting for the movie to start I could hear the girl behind me explaining to her caregiver what the movie was about. They were showing Zathura which is basically Jumanji in outerspace. Same concept. It is a good movie, very cute and kept the kids interested. So anywho, the girl is explaining and says that it's just like Jumanji. Her caregiver responds with, "Jumanji has a lot of witchcraft in it! Should you be watching this?" I had to roll my eyes.

Are we in Salem yet? Puh-lease. It's called fiction. That means it's not real. You know make-believe, pretend, or imaginary. I know, using your imagination is probably a strain what with all the time you spend at fund raisers for Republicans and pro-Bush rallys. It truly must be exhausting. Being so closed minded must take a lot out of you. It reminds me of when people were sayingthat the spells and incantations in the Harry Potter novels were real. That is one of the most ridiculous things I've ever heard. If that were true do you have any idea of how many people would be vomiting slugs right now?

I could really drive myself insane ranting about this. But before I get all fired up and pull out my soapbox I'll content myself with saying that I thought it was utterly ridiculous. Turns out that the girl had already seen the movie any way.

I will say though that I thought it was pretty funny when the words "dick" and "be-otch" were used and the whole audience gasped. I know it's supposed to be the family movie festival, but they're going to hear it sometime, if they haven't heard it already. That's your job as a parent to teach them that they aren't supposed to say things like that. Done right kids won't see it a so forbidden and not really think much about it. Hopefully. This from a woman who's cute little four year old daughter recently called her brother a f**ker. Uh huh, that's right. When she saw the look on my face she ran to her bed and buried her face and started crying. I didn't even have to say anything. She punished herself. That was pretty cool.

They've got his number

Dh needs to have "Impulse Shopper" tattooed on his forehead. You know all the tricks stores use to get you to buy all the useless stuff you don't need? Every single one of them works on my husband. End caps, anything marked "special buy", and fugedaboudit if it's on sale. The man loves to shop. I know, you think I'm crazy for complaining about it, but you're not the one shopping with him. If we're at the mall it's great. Especially because he usually spends money on me! But at the grocery store, where we're on a budget and I just want to get what we need and get out of there, he goes through EVERY SINGLE aisle. Every. Single. Aisle.

What's so bad about that you ask. Well, let me enlighten you. Even when he's not hungry he will throw whatever looks good into the cart. See I'm trying this thing where I plan dinner menus and get only what I'll need to make dinners for the next two weeks, and then shop for snacks and other meals. The first week I did it I cut my grocery bill in half. That was awesome. I was stoked because I actually had money left over. This week dh and the kids went with me. I overspent by about $70. Yeah. There went the fun money. Buh-bye. He better enjoy that food and none of it better go bad either. I swear I'll shove it up his nose.

La Katie has eaten a bowl of cereal, a popsicle, and is now on her second bowl of cereal. In the last hour. You think that they only eat like that when they're babies or teenagers, but really, they eat like wild animals all the damn time. She asked for some pirate cereal. I could figure out what in the hell she was talking about. She couldn't tell me what it looked like or where in the cabinet she thought it was. So I'm pulling every single cereal we have out of the cupboard and she points at the Captain Crunch. Ah! The light bulb goes on. Dur, d-dur, dur!

We bought some No More Tangles to help with brush La Katie's hair. It's all the way down to her butt and it is a bitch to brush and keep looking nice. She screams and hides any time I suggest cutting it. I'm not saying I'm going to cut it short, but jeez it takes forever to dry and she insists on wearing it down all the time. She never wants to put it back. Do you have any idea how tangled her hair gets? Any who, back to the No More Tangles spray. Apparently it's addicting. She's carried it around since we got home and she hasn't stopped spraying her hair. "But mom, I don't want my hair to get tangled!" Oy the vanity. Can you see me surviving her teenage years? I don't think I'm going to make it.

What I meant to say was . . . . . . . .

I was going to write a post about how I was kissing my husband and he asked me to move so he could see the tv. He's such a romantic. I know. I'm the luckiest woman alive.

But then I got up to blow my nose. I have pretty severe allergies. Sometimes my nose takes a pretty good beating. All beatings are good in case you were wondering. Some are just better than others. My point is I blew my nose and my nose started bleeding. Badly. Like for longer than five minutes badly. I had to put ice on my nose to get it to stop. Of course the kids were stuck like glue to me because wow, mom's nose is bleeding. Suddenly I'm a science experiment. They wanted to put me under a microscope.

Why is it that when something happens to you that the kids have never seen before, instead of just leaving you alone, they invite their friends over to watch? On the 4th of July I made the mistake of taking my birth control pill in the morning on an empty stomach. Not a good idea. We had stopped to get some ice when suddenly I began to hurl right there in the parking lot. I'm sure the people driving past thought I had started the party early. While I'm hanging half out of the truck clutching the seatbelt like a lifeline and puking my guts up in public. My son climbs over the seat to watch me and asks me what I'm doing and why I'm doing it. Then once I've gained control over my stomach he announces the keen observation of "wow mom, that was a lot of puke!" I can always count on him for help.

Even when I am sick and would like nothing more than to stay in bed, the kids continue to come to me for their needs instead of their father. I am the master of the run-on sentence. Fear my wrath! I don't need rest. I'm mom. Knower of all things. Doer of all things. Is "doer" a word? But you get my point. Even on my death bed, they will still be asking for sandwiches and lemonade. A mother's work never EVER ends. You think that when your sweet little baby grows up and moves out that you'll be done. HA! Ha, I say. It is never over. While that thought might not be a shock to you, there was one moment when my son was a baby that I thought "I can't wait until he's 18." Then I realized, even then it will not be "over". It's not like the minute he becomes an adult I'll never worry about him again. You think that you can cut or untie your apron strings, but the truth is they are unbreakable.

Wow, this went from something funny to really depressing. I'm not even drinking! Maybe I should be. That's not a bad idea.

How could you not know that?

I had to go to the Post Office today and ship a book that I sold on Ebay. Of course I made sure to have it packaged and labeled beforeI got there. I suspect that the reason Post Office employees go postal, is because of the idiocy they have to put up with on a daily basis. They will package and label your stuff for you, IF you are paying for Express Mail. My point? This lady brought in two boxes that weren't taped shut. I should also mention that one was a box from Milk that you buy at Costco and the other one was a box from Fruit Punch. When you use boxes like that, they have to be wrapped in brown wrap. You can't have someone thinking that you're shipping milk, that would just be wrong.

Not only did this lady not know about having to wrap the boxes, but she just couldn't seem to understand why the postal employee wouldn't tape her boxes shut and print out a label for them. Then she got really upset when the postal employee showed her the display of tape and package wrap and what not for sale. She was actually pissed of that she was expected to wrap and label her own packages! The nerve of those damn postal employees. Good help is hard to find these days.

I realize that many people may not have the shipping experience that I do. In my previous job I did a lot of shipping with UPS, FedEx, and the Post Office. So I guess I am more familiar with shipping procedures that your average person, possibly or possbily not. But, it just seems like common sense to me that you go to the post office to buy postage and have the package delievered. It's the Post Office. Not the Package and Post Office.

Aunt Flo has left the building. Now I get the joy of paying for my birth control pills without insurance! Yipee. Since dh switched jobs we have to wait 90 days before we can get medical insurance. Which means we'll be paying for meds out of pocket. Dh's blood pressure medication isn't too expensive, it's the antidepressants that have me in a cold sweat. I can't go without them and there is no generic brand of Wellbutrin yet. So we'll be paying full price. Yikes. That's a depressing thought right there. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that none of us gets sick or hurt. Oy! One thing ends and another begins.

Two and half weeks until school begins. I've started making lists of the things I'm going to do when the kids are gone. Like sleep, paint my toes, sleep, read, sleep, watch tv, and sleep.

I can't stand Jessica Simpson's new song. It's just the same thing over and over again. Sad that someone with such talent puts out such fluff. I still think poor Nick never should have married her. What a waste of a good looking man. Now he's a man whore.

Today's post brought to you by . . . . . . .

Caffeine and sugar, mother's little helpers. To hell with the swiffer, bring me a coke.

I felt so crappy last week. Aunt flo was visiting and she brought all her friends. Crampy, Bloaty, Grouchy, Munchy, Migraine, Hysterical, and Super Bitch. It was seven days and seven nights of pure unadulterated hell. At least that's what the kids are saying. The week passed for me in a sort of haze. It's hard to see when you've got a carton of Ben & Jerry's plastered to your face.

Now I'm back to my regular perky self. Well, not so much perky as my usual low level raving, psychotic bitchiness. Aren't you glad you don't live with me? The house next door to me is for sale, do I have any takers? I'm lots of fun three weeks out of the month! I'm a really good dancer and I make one heck of a fruit salad.

I must be going through some sort of manic phase cause I am bouncing off the walls already. Of course it could have something to do with the fact that I had a Coke and two Pepsis before lunch. I usually drink diet caffeine free soda, but I ran out so I dug into Dh's stash. Wow, this stuff is great. I cleaned my whole house this morning and I'm on my third load of laundry.

I so didn't feel like blogging last week. I didn't even read blogs last week. I checked in on a few, but my love affair with the computer fizzled a little. I spent most of my time holding down the couch. What in the heck are the Doodlebops supposed to be? Seriously, what are they? The question has been bugging for a very long time.

To prove just how insane I really am, whenever someone spends the night at our house, the minute they leave I strip all the beds and wash all the sheets. I think about washing the pillows, but that's too much even for me. I don't know what it is, but I get the creepy crawlies. I think I need a third medication. I'm just getting scary now.

Yes!!!!!!!!!

Lance Bass is gay. Is anyone actually shocked by this announcement? I totally called that one years ago. But, good for him. He says he's happy.

Mikel went on his first sleepover last night. The first one not at my mother's house. He actually stayed with his friend T. T was supposed to stay at our house, but at 9:30pm changed his mind. So K invited Mikel to stay with them. At midnight she called the game and told them to go to sleep. I don't think they actually did though. Mikel is quite the cranky, whiny monster today. He was making himself a sandwich and the dog stole his slice of cheese and he burst into tears. Mikel did, not the dog. I sense an early bedtime tonight.

I've had a pounding headache for about two weeks straight. Of course the fact that I cut back on my caffeine intake probably hasn't helped. Neither does the whining, crying, and nagging. And that's just from my husband. Don't even get me started on the kids. They're both exceptionally tired today. LaKatie had a marathon session with the PS2 and her Finding Nemo game. The girl was obsessed. I shouldn't say was, I should say is. It's sad when they get addicted so young. Next she'll have caluses on her thumbs and only want to eat in front of the tv.

The weather has cooled off, but now it's constantly overcast. It's rained a couple of times, which really helps with the humidity. There's nothing like going outside and have your clothes become instantly stuck to you. I hate the feeling of my legs sweating inside my pants. Not to mention getting a righteous case of swamp ass. For those of you not in "the know", swamp ass is when sweat drips down your back and into your crack. I just cracked myself up.

Blech! Blah, blah, blah

I started taking a fish oil supplement for the omega 3's. I've never noticed any weird aftertaste until today. Now every time I burp, I can taste tuna. Which would be ok if I'd had a tuna sandwich for lunch, but I had a venti Java Chip frappucino. With whipped cream of course.

They had a party for the end of the summer reading program at the library today. Would you believe that I spent three hours trying to get a picture of The Girl With The World's Worst Mullet? Seriously, I was trying to catch her at an angle that would showcase the horridness of the mullet and not show her face. But alas, it was not to be. Sorry guys. Her mom is really odd too. The library arranged for a hearing impaired lady to show the kids how her "hearing" dog helps her and the mom of the mullet went over to her and was speaking in a really quiet voice. Hello!!! She's hearing impaired, that means she don't hear so good. You need to speak up and annunciate. I don't know if I spelled that word right. My apologies, the margaritas are starting to kick in.

They also had clowns there making balloon animals and doing face painting. Apparently, according to the grumpy old lady clown, they were only supposed to be there for an hour and a half. Well of course every single kid there wanted to have something painted on them and wanted their damn balloon animal. Can't say that I blame them, who turns down balloon animals? There were a lot of kids there. A lot. Plus, they were high in the free cake and soda they were serving. So yeah, it was loud and obnoxious and I have a headache THIS BIG. Oy vey. The party started at 11am and they had the lady with the "hearing" dog go first with her demonstration. Then they did a raffle and then they started the face painting and balloon animal making. I guess the grumpy clown thought their time started at 11am and not at 12pm when the party actually got rolling. Everytime a kid sat down in the chair to have their face painted the grumpy clown would ask if the other clown was still there and say that they were going over the time they were booked for. Never once did she ask one of the librarians if she should stop or if they could make an announcement that the face painting was over. She just sat there painting faces and muttering to herself. I though clowns were supposed to be happy. Maybe she was one of those sad clowns that only laughs on the inside.

I was taking to dh earlier this evening and he finished every single sentence with "blah, blah, blah". Every time he said it, I so had to bite my tongue to keep from laughing or saying "yadda, yadda, yadda". He would say it almost every three words. "She called earlier blah blah blah. To find out about the stereo blah blah blah". I don't think he even realized that he was doing it. I though about pointing it out, but he hates it when I'm a smart ass. So he spends a lot of time hating it. Cause I'm always a smart ass. Better a smart ass, than a dumb ass.

What's the definition of a smart ass? One that can sit on an ice cream cone and tell you the flavor.

This must be what hell feels like

Because of the heat I mean. The weather man said it would be cooling down, into the high 90's. It's a welcome change from 100 + degree weather. Hopefully the storms will move out and it won't be so humid either. I'm tired of sweating like a pig at a luau.

La Katie is settling into the bedtime routine better than Mikel. Mikel is a nightowl like his dad. He likes to stay up late and sleep in until noon. He wants to lay in bed playing his PS2 games or watching army movies where they shoot down the bad guys. I've forbidden the games and the army movies. I think they're too stimulating and that's part of the problem with getting him to fall asleep. He's not liking the new rules too well, but he'll get over it. Katie goes to bed without wanting to watch tv and no fuss. Thank goodness one of them goes to bed easily.

While cleaning out underneath my bathroom sink the other day I found some cranberry bath gel and a cranberry bath fizzy that I had bought during christmas. Of course La Katie noticed them and asked if she could have them. I had completely forgotten that I had them, so I let her take them. Later that night while she was taking her bath I looked in on her and the bottle of bath gel was now filled with pink water. Katie sat up and said, "look mom, it went bad!" That's a good excuse for using a whole bottle of bath gel in one bath. I had to give her credit for her quick thinking. She obviously gets that from her mother.

I'm trying to plan menus for the next two weeks dinners. I've never really done this before, so I hope it works out well. Hopefully it will help keep the grocery bill down. Dh seems really excited about it. He put in several requests. I'll be flexing my cooking muscles pretty soon. I'll be the Ahnold of cooking. No, that wasn't a typo. Say it with an Austrian accent. Go ahead, give it a try. You know you want to.

They got game

Why is it that when I find a really cool game on the internet the kids always take it over? They both have tv's and game systems in their rooms, not to mention the desktop computer. Any time they hear noise of any kind coming from the laptop they stampeded like a herd of buffalo. Then the begging begins. They just want a turn! A turn that will last an eternity. A turn that will end only when they have to pee so bad that their eyeballs are floating, or when they pass out.

Today I found this really nifty website where you can make dolls. Digital dolls of course. It appeals to the girlie part of me. Pretty clothes and pretty shoes, stuff like that. It's Barbie for grown ups. La Katie came out this morning and saw it and she's been playing ever since. This morning meaning 7:45am and it is now 2:45pm. I want my game back! I don't think it's going to happen.

Mikel finally got his PS2 back after being grounded for a week. He shattered the screen on the in car dvd player in the truck. He was mad because he wanted to go to his friends house and I told him no. So he ruined a $2,000 video system. He spent the rest of the day in his room, got a spanking, and got grounded. No PS2, no going any where, and no friends over to play. Getting back to my original point. Mikel can't really read yet, just small words. So most of the games he has I get called into his room every five minutes so I can read him the instructions. That is driving me insane. In. Sane. Like I'm not crazy enough already.

It's FLOAM!!!!!

Have you ever tried that stuff? If you haven't, don't waste your time. Not only is it expensive at almost $7 a tub, it sucks. I bought some for my kids and even they were disappointed. All it did was make a mess. I'm still finding bits of Floam everywhere. Avoid the floam. Wasn't there already something like floam before? Made by Nickelodeon I think. Where do people get the ideas for this stuff?

Today is free movie day. We saw Hoodwinked. Katie and I saw it for the second time today actually, but it was new for Mikel. I forgot how funny that movie is. Mikel's friend T came over to play after the movie and is going to hang out until it's time for Karate. I think he's finally starting to like me. He let me make him a pb&j sandwich and actually ate it. This is the first time he's eaten at our house, well not counting fast food.

We got some really good news from our credit union this morning. They finally agreed to re-finance our loans and lower the payments. That was a HUGE stress reliever for both dh and me. Now we'll actually get to benefit from his raise instead of just being able to make the payments. Ah relief.

We started a new nighttime routine. Ok, we started a nighttime routine. Yes my children have never had an actual bedtime before now. We're shooting for a 9 o'clock bedtime and we're getting there. They actually go to bed, they just don't go to sleep. I'm sure that eventually they'll catch on and actually go to sleep at the right time. We've only been doing the routine for three days. We still have a month before school starts, I'm hoping that will give us enough time. Eventually I want them in bed by 8 o'clock, but with being light until 8pm, I don't want to push my luck.

It's been well over 100 degrees here for the last 19 days and doesn't show any sign of cooling off sooner. Don't you wish you lived in Southern California? Not to mention the storm systems that have been moving through so that every afternoon there are dark clouds and thunder. The kids don't want to play outside because of the heat and they're driving me insane. Stark raving mad. Loony tunes. Coocoo in the head. A few sandwiches short of a picinic. Not playing with a full deck. You get the picture.

Random stuff

We went out for a bit of shopping this afternoon and we stopped to get something to eat at Quizno's. While we were eating a couple came in with their two kids. One of their kids was a baby, still in his carseat. The woman set the carseat on the floor and then her and her husband and older son went to the counter to order. Nobody stayed with the baby. Then I noticed that the baby was only wearing a diaper and a button down shirt that wasn't buttoned. Granted it's pretty hot outside, but there was also a major storm blowing in and it was pretty damn windy. While they were standing at the counter ordering the baby started to move around in his seat, that's when I noticed, he wasn't strapped in. So not only were they carrying around the baby in windy/rainy weather, barely dressed, and not strapped in. Nice.

Then we went to WalMart. Oy. WalMart, on a rainy Saturday afternoon. What were we thinking? I'm going to backtrack a little here. Before we left the house my husband asked if I wanted to go with him. I initially said no because I thought I could at least enjoy some semi-quiet time with only one child to watch. Then LaKatie decided she wanted to go and dh said that she couldn't go if I wasn't going to go. His reason was that he didn't feel comfortable taking both of them out without me there to help watch the kids. What a sissy. Anywho, of course the kids start asking if they can get a toy. Which is one of the reasons I didn't want to go. I knew there would be the ritual begging for toys. I left the decision to dh since the shopping trip was his idea. So that means the kids got the toys they were after. Again, what a sissy.

On the way home dh decided he wanted to stop at Jamba Juice. We parked and got out of the truck and walked up to the store. I noticed two pieces of paper taped to the doors and read only one of them which stated that they were unable to serve wheatgrass shots due to some mechanical problems. Well damn! That was my whole reason for going there. Now what was I going to do! I didn't pay any attention to the other piece of paper because I figured it said the same thing. So we're standing there waiting for someone to take our order and a guy walks out and says that due to the weather and the power going off and on so many times that they're unable to use any of their equipment or registers. Now why, if you can't use any of your equipment or your registers are you still open? Why are the doors unlocked? Why doesn't the notice on the door say "closed due to weather"? That was just annoying.

Take my children, please!

I was having a problem sending emails and pictures with my cell, so I called my service provider. While we discovered the problem and had it fixed, the kids were fighting in the background the whole flippin' time. They were trying to construct a fort in the living room and were having a difference of opinion as to the design of said fort. So after confirming that the problem with my phone was fixed the nice lady asked if there was anything else she could do for me. I hesitated about half a second and asked, "want to take my kids?" She laughed and said no. Big surprised huh? So I told her that no, there was nothing else I needed help with.

I'm still cracking up over the fact that I said that to her.

Lost Tooth

Fwd: FW: Mikel
Originally uploaded by princessr92004.

This is what I got when I told him to give me a big smile. I wanted a picture of him after losing his front tooth. He's lost four teeth on the bottom, but you couldn't really tell. Now that he's lost his first tooth on the top he looks so funny! What a goofball.

Paging Dr. Daniels, Dr. Jack Daniels!!!!

Oh sweet lord have mercy on me. The man is driving me insane. I'm seriously making a concerted effort here not to pull every last one of my hairs out. It started with a conversation about money. Dh did a side job and was paid with a check. He IMed me to say that he needed to cash the check and we needed to have him added on to our new checking account. So I offered to meet him at the bank to accomplish this. He then stated that he wanted that money to be used as a payment on the credit card. I told him that we needed to use that money to pay the car payment and loan payments. He then replied that the money was there when he deposited his last check from his last job. I said that well yes at the time the money was there, but with needing to put gas in the car and him needing some things for work and his inability to say no to the children, the money is now gone.

Breathe. Try to make this sound intelligible.

I would so love to post the actual conversation. That would probably be a little much though, wouldn't it?

Any who, it all boiled down to the fact that he couldn't remember a statement I had made not five minutes before and in writing no less. He just couldn't understand my frustration. He said that I called him a jackass, which I did not. He said I made him feel like an illiterate fool. All because I said that I was frustrated at having to repeat myself, more than once I might add. He also said that he's not some pathetic punching bag. I'm still not sure where that came from. I didn't resort to name calling or being rude,yet he's acting as though I did.

It's driving me up the freakin' wall. Now he says that he's becoming increasingly concerned with my anger at him. WTF? I don't know how he gets the impression that I'm angry with him. All this week I've greeted him with a kiss and hug when he gets home from work. Dinner has been ready when he gets home. I just don't get it. I really don't. Not only does it frustrate me, but it hurts my feelings. He's the only person I seem to have this problem with.

The last time I saw my therapist he said that I'm smart and very practical and that I have a good head on my shoulders. He said that I'm one of the most practical people he's ever met and that I'm only a small portion of the problems we're having. Dh is taking medication, but obviously it's not working. He really needs to be seeing somebody. Now that he's changed jobs we won't have insurance for 90 days and our current insurance runs out at the end of the month. This could go really, really wrong. I've made a follow up appointment with his doctor and I'm going to go with him. The doctor has tried two different medications and has doubled both and neither of them has worked.

Frankly I'm nervous and scared. In the past this type of thing hasn't gone well and I really don't want this to drag me down. I've been doing so good for a while now that I really hate to see it end. Oy. Sorry to get all dramatic and depressed on you, but it needed to come out.

Thank you. I feel better now.

When all else fails, blame it on the dog

My son asked me to make him scrambled eggs this afternoon. He even carried an egg into my daughter's room where I was cleaning. Since it was about 10 minutes before we had to leave for their karate lesson, I told him no. I went to grab an oh so delicious diet dr. pepper out of the fridge and I see a yellowish puddle on the floor. I asked my son if the dog had peed in the kitchen. He answered yes and it was over by the sink too. Since it's been a while since the dog has done this I thought it was weird that he'd done it once. Much less twice. I looked for a towel to clean the mess up with and it wasn't where I usually hang it. Then I noticed the two PS2 games propped up against the cupboards. When I picked them up I found my kitchen towel stuffed underneath the cupboards. When I picked up the kitchen towel I found a broken egg. In the sink I found another broken egg. So not only did he try to cover it up, he also tried to blame it on the dog. I sense a trend starting.

I just love it when my son feels compelled to tell me to ignore my daughter when she tells me she hates me. It's a good thing he's around. Otherwise, I might get my feelings hurt.

I don't know what caused it, but suddenly my husband has stopped his daily phone calls to ask if we got any mail and what's for dinner. I'm not complaining. I just find it fascinating that it stopped all of the sudden. It was one of my biggest pet peeves. I shall now do the dance of joy.

Washing your sheets is like washing your car. You wash your car and it rains. You wash your sheets and one of the kids wets the bed. At least for me any way.

Bits and pieces

We had a lovely weekend. Very quiet. The kids and I were still tuckered out from our beach excursion. Nothing wears you out like being in the sun all day. Sunday we visited dh's aunt and uncle. We barbequed chicken and carne asada for dinner. After dinner things finally started to cool off and it was actually enjoyable outside. Dh's aunt filled me in on all the latest family goings on. Some major drama involving a family friend that was pretty much family. Although I'll say she's definately not like family now. I wonder what posses people sometimes that causes them to just go off for no good reason and ruin a relationship. Or in this case several.

La Katie has decided that I'm hers and hers alone. She told me the other day that I'm not allowed to kiss her big brother or scratch her daddy's back. I'm only allowed to kiss her and I'm only supposed to love her. Now I'll admit that a little part of me just loves this and is doing the snoopy dance. But the majority of me is less than thrilled. I've always tried to instill the value of the brother/sister relationship. That they should love each other and look out for one another. I don't expect it to be all sunshine and roses. I know they'll be fights and whatnot between siblings. But I want them to know and understand that I love them both equally. My connection with them is special and unique with each of them. With Mikel because he is my first child and only son. With LaKatie because she is my baby and my only girl. I'm close with both of them, but in different ways.

I guess it bothers me that she doesn't want to share me with dh and her brother, because I want her to see me have good relationships with both of them. That's her role model for her future relationships with men. I'm trying to set a good example. I think it's a part of the phase she seems to be going through. She's testing her limits and learning how to express herself. It's difficult to remember that all the time. She's a very bright, emotional girl. I want to be so careful of the values I give her. I want her to be confident and not be afraid of asserting herself, butI don't want her to be a bully either. Ah, such is the life of a parent. You feel like someone has told you to program a vcr and forgot to give you the instructions. You're flying blind and taking daily leaps of faith with something so incredibly close to your heart.

My son is learning to read. Right now he can read most of the smaller words. He likes to play his PS2 games and games on our computer. Obviously he has trouble reading the directions. He'll ask for help and instead of spelling out the words, he spells out the whole entire sentence. Since I have my laptop on the dinning room table and our desktop is in the corner of the dinning room, he usually asks me for help. By the time he finishes spelling the sentence my eyes are rolling around like the wheels on a slot machine and I'm bleeding from the ears. He hasn't quite gotten the concept of the space between words. We'll be working on this a lot during the week.

Holding on

Dh got a ticket for not wearing his seatbelt the same day he found out his dad had a heart attack. The traffic court sent us the little courtesy notice telling us how much the ticket cost and when to pay by. They gave us over a month to pay. It was due today. Yes, I waited until today to pay the stupid ticket. I literally tried all flippin' day to get through to an actual human being. It's like calling the DMV.

Finally, I got through and this is what I listened to for 45 minutes. "All our representatives are busy right now. Please continue to hold and the next available representative will assist you." No crappy on hold muzak. Just static and that horrid, horrid message. For 45 minutes. That right there should be considered punishment enough and you shouldn't have to pay the fine. It has to be a form of torture in some small countries.

The whole 45 minutes both of the kids continually called my name and asked who I was talking to. There were several requests to shut up my phone, my ear piece wouldn't work so I had it on speaker phone. I was just sharing the joy. However, during the 45 minutes I was on hold, I made two bowls of cereal, took La Katie to the bathroom, and caught up on some blawg reading. I'm all about the multi-tasking.

Ouch!

While preparing dinner this evening I dropped a huge hunk of frozen cauliflower on my foot. It hurt. A lot. I wonder if that falls under workman's comp? I doubt it. I dropped it on my already messed up foot, so maybe I could some how work this in my favor. Not only does the bottom of my foot and my ankle hurt, but now the top hurts too. I really need to play it up. You know, limp and moan in pain. Dh might not fall for it, but the kids might be sympathetic. Stop laughing. It could happen.

So far I'm taking my baby steps with FLYlady and loving it. Seriously, if you haven't tried it, you should. If you're having any trouble at all managing home, kids, and everything else, she can help you get it under control. My house is clean, my sink is shining, and there are no huge piles of laundry built up.

Today was craft day at the library. The little girl with the worst mullet I have ever seen was there again. I feel for her, I really do. I sincerely hope that she didn't choose that style for herself. Her mom is a little odd. Not like scary odd, just very quiet and I don't know, there's something not quite right. Back to the mullet. She has bangs straight across her forehead, then the hair on the sides of her head is cut to just above her ears and the rest is long in the back. It looks like a bowl cut gone awry. I've never really been a fan of the mullet. I dig dudes with long hair, as long as it's kept clean. But I never really got the whole "business in the front, party in the back" deal. My mom loves the mullet. She thinks it's a nice hair style for a man. I was switched at birth, I swear.