...and I just have no idea where to find it.  I swear to you that the phrase "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger" is a complete lie. 

Joey is having problems with his leg again.  Went in for x-rays yestereday, but they really couldn't find anything.  So........I called today because our care coordinator was out yesterday and I wanted to touch base with her. She looked at the x-rays and from x-rays past and said that the bone looks weaker than before.

Pray hard you guys.

What is this?

Something you would have never known if I wasn't such a blabber mouth that over-shares wildly........It took me three tries to spell the word school correctly in the title of this blog.  Wow,  good thing I'm not home-schooling.  Except I *DO* know how to spell the word school correctly, my biggest problem was the fact that I have fat fingers that tend to try to type much faster than they really can sooo.......

Anyway, my babies are in school and I would totally share a photo but my computer isn't recognizing that I even have a camera card in the slot.  SO you'll have to just take my word for it.  They were adorable and the day was very special and great and all things good.

Joey loves...LOVES...pre-school and Isabella is already adding subtracting and doing some simple division and multiplication.  I know!  Except she's not doing the math stuff. I'm just kidding.  She is doing well and is already showing me that she's learning stuff! 

Anyway, Lori, I need an update with what you've been up to as well as all the other pea-totters...I miss you guys!

What is this?

I have already bzzed about the CoverGirl Campaign on my blog here at peatot, but I am a member of BzzAgent and was recently given some Cover Girl make up to try out and I wanted to post the video they gave me a link to! Bonus! I am oh so easy to please!

I've had a nice time trying out a make up that I normally wouldn't try! The color they sent me has some sort of greenish color on one end and the smoky color on the other end. I normally would stay far away from green, but since they sent it to me without charging me anything but my time, I sort of figured I'd be adventurous and give it a try! I'm oh so glad that I did because it's not a jump in your face shade of green. It's actually quite subtle and looks pretty good with my skin tone! As I said before, the other end is the 'smoky' end and the smoky color looks great alone or paired up with the green. I like to think of the SmokyShadow Blast as a three in one make up tool, but that's just me.

They also sent me the Shine Blast lip gloss which is really nice because I'm a glossy type of girl. I really like to get my gloss on. Anyway, I just wanted to tell you all about the CoverGirl campaign along with BzzAgent. You can go sign-up to be a BzzAgent too and you'll get stuff to try!!

What is this?

Tomorrow is the day.....Joey goes in at 6:30am to start his MRI.  Pray all goes well and we get good news.

What is this?

You know how when your child goes in the hospital for surgery, the anesteiologist (spelling) will sometimes ask you if you think it would be a wise idea to pre-medicate your child?  For those of you who have never had a child in the hospital for various procedures, pre-medication is basically giving your kid a pill to calm and relax him. 

My son LOVES adutls and goes straight to the nurse who takes him back to give him the sleepy medicine.  Now the conditon he wakes up in depends soley on the amount of pain medication he is given befor he wakes up......but he is always carried away with a smile on his face waving his wee little hand, without pre-medicating.

However, I think it would be a good idea for hospitals to offer a pre-medication for the parents.  Think about it, you could be filling out the forms and one form that is full of pretty little rainbows and sunshine illustrations and it has pretty bubbly writing at the top that says "Parents Options for Pre-Medicating THEMSELVES"  Now, because the medication would be despensed by the hospital nurses and you would be in the surgery waiting room, I'm pretty sure you'd be in good hands with just about any drug. 

I really don't want to discriminate because when it comes to your baby being in the operating room, you need your drug of choice.  You could go through the entire checklist of options including but not limited to; street drugs, prescription drugs, over the counter drugs, liquor, and beer all the way down to something as innocent as an ice cold Pepsi.

By the time they whisk your child away, instead of being on the brink of tears and about to completely fall apart, you could be in your hazy pre-medicated fog of happiness.  When the surgeon calls you from the operating room, you'll be all "Sure! Sounds great! You're doing a great job Doc.  I looooveeee yoooooouuuuuu!!!!"

I think the cheerfullness and declaration of love could work for the doctor in the operating room.  Naturalyl, it would give him a boost of confidence.

And, if something were to go wrong or if he had to deliver any bad news, you'd already be flying pretty high and you could think of good questions to ask and not completely falling apart.

Do you have anything to add?  The idea was sort of taken from and expanded upon from Stefanie Wilder Taylor's book....I forget which one though.  She has three.

What is this?

Keep Joey in your prayers.  Dr Gutmann's office called and they want to run an MRI (which I really don't understand because he has a metal rod in his leg so if you understand how someone with a metal rod in his leg can go through an MRI unscathed, let me know) because his eye is pulsating and bulging.  They think it could be an optic glioma or a brain tumor.

Call friends and family and have them pray. Post it on facebook myspace twitter and everything.........

What is this?

So, several months ago, I was at the mall and swore that I saw someone who looked familiar and after I finally figured out who I thought she was, she was down the hall and I sort of figured I'd make the poor kid feel like she's being stalked or something if I said hello.  I mean, she's only 16 and I'm like, old or something (according to a youngin' like a 16 year old).

Anyway, today something similar happened.  I kept passing this girl (not the 16 year old) in the grocery store that looked really familiar.  Then it hit me and I was all, I so know who she is....or at least I think I know who she is.  And I can tell you that it was  pretty firm think.  But then, nerves got the best of me and I was all shy and coudn't muster up the voice to say 'hello' the forty three times I passed her in the grocery store.  Real life me can be a bit speechless at times.  (I know! who would have thought me being speechless!)

So, toward the end of my little shopping spree, I saw her again and I remember how much I wanted to kick myself in the butt for not saying hello to the 16 year old, even though the 16 year old doesn't know me (I know her mom!).

Well, the grocery store girl is the 16 year old girl's mom.......that I know.  But don't know.....but now that I've introduced myself, I guess I can say I do know her, right?

Confused?

Well, don't be.............I saw Lori at the grocery store and have known her here on Peatot for over a year now, but have never really MET her.  Just the online Lori.  A few months ago, I had seen her daughter at the mall, but didn't say anything to her daughter because......I thought it would be a little creepy (for the daughter).

So, I saw Lori at the grocery sore and said hello. 

You guys, she's so nice and it was so wonderful to finally MEET Lori!!!

She has such a warm smile and sweet voice...just like her words here on Peatot!!

She knew immediately who I was!  It felt like seeing an old friend!

It was nice meeting you Lori!!!

What is this?

Joey might be having some problems with his left eye. He's been rubbing it a lot and blinking hard.  Not all the time, just every now and then....and I'm worried.  We all still need any and all prayers we can get.  For his leg, for his neck/head, and now especially for his left eye.  Call all the prayer lists you know.

Him messing with his eye so much has got me worried enough that I've called and scheduled an appointment for his neurologist.  We're a bit over-due on that anyway.  So, on the same day we go in for the computer/wired to the head test for his vision.....and the same day we also consult with the opthomologist, we will see his neurologist as well.   Lots of good news or at least no news on that day..........right?  Lots of prayers please.

What is this?

My baby is officially registered for kindergarten.....and I have the paperwork so that I can be a volunteer in the building.......I'm a little ...just a wee tiny bit, frustrated that I am the one responsibile for paying the background check fee, but it's a small price to pay to be able to volunteer in the same building in which my daughter will be going to school............

I already watched the 'volunteer video' the school district makes their volunteers watch......I'll say that 96 percent of that stuff was stuff that I learned about in college when I was in the teacher education program.  Good to know that it made understanding the video a bit easier.......Although the video was so simple and easy to understand that I'm pretty sure that the kids understood the video well........

Wow....kindergarten is so very close.

What is this?

I am sick of winter and sick of being cold.  How many more days until spring?  It's been snowing all day long and it just looks horrid and terrible and just plain gross and cold and all things bad......Am I making myself clear?

For the past few days food has grossed me out.  I've wanted to drink plenty of juice, soda, milk and water, but just not all that interested in food.  I've been only hungry for about one good meal a day.  I wansn't really all that hungry for breakfast or lunch today so I'm thinking that dinner will be my meal today.  ((Just know that pregnancy is NOT the reason)).  I tend to get in and out of eating slumps every now and again......I'm currently in a slump.  I hope it lasts long enough to shed about 30 pounds...........Hope against hope, but you never know.

The house is a complete wreck right now.  I moved everything around so I could clean under and around stuff that normally doesn't get cleaned and once I did that part (with the help of a 2 and 4 year old) went on to other things and never made it to putting stuff back.  Now, I have to take care of my internet addiction and tell you what's going on in my life.  Kevin will be frustrated that the house isn't tidy when he gets home.  *sighs*

Tomorrow is Saturday school and I have been looking forward to it since the fall.  Yep, it's been that long in the planning for me and I'm so very excited.  BUT, if the weather isn't good, I think it will be cancelled and no make-up date.  This makes me sad.  Saturday school is 2 hours of school at the school where the kids will attend elementary school..........If you like drinking games, take a shot everytime I say the word 'school'.  . . .Go back and re-read everything after you have your bottle and shot glass........Now, we continue.  They are also supposed to get out a school bus and give the kids a ride around the school parking lot.  My daughter has wanted to take a ride on a school bus since she was about 2 years old.  She used to talk about it almost daily......especially when we lived in the other house because our driveway was the school bus stop.  Pray the snow eases up and we don't get much accumulation so that we can do the entire Saturday school thing.

What is this?

He's oh so Rotten!

So, Joey gets one of my shoes (as I'm starting to put them on!) and takes off with the shoe giggling.  He goes across the room and throws the shoe back in the closet and shuts the closet door and says "Ha! Ha! Ha!" then runs down the hall giggling.

Isn't he a little turkey!!!!  Oh So Rotten!!!

Also!!!  He took Isabella's shoes from her closet, puts them on her little toy kitchen counter top, then takes out one of the baskets...turns it upside-down, gets up on the basket, takes her shoes and puts them one at a time on the very top of the kitchen, then he gets down and puts the basket back where it belongs...........All the while, he is giggling like crazy!!!  He was trying to be a stinker!!!  (((What he doesn't know is that his sister can reach the top of her kitchen with ease!)))

Can anyone say little stinker??

What is this?

It's never fun to post anything about normal but that's what happened, folks.  I posted something on craigslist (here too).  M. sent a message asking me to call her.  I called her and she was quite pleasant.  She didn't demand that I take $50 off my asking price.  She didn't ask for me to drive 40 miles away to collect the prized crib.  She didn't ask me to have it shipped to my house and then do all the work to get the discount and the crib to her. 

She agreed for me to meet her at the Chesterfield location.  She was happy to pay $150.  She mentioned that the crib she wanted was on clearance at Babies R Us so I volunteered to go out last night to meet her there.

I met her there and she gave me $150 cash and she was so nice and friendly and her boys were amazing and cute and I so want to have a play date but.......I guess if I start asking for play dates I will be the craigslist crazy.  I don't want to be a crazy, but she was pretty cool. I could tell.

What is this?

I'm so completely sick of cold weather and now that snow is in the forecast, I think that I'm about ready to run and hide.  I want to hide  somewhere near Miami Beach Florida or southern California.

Will it ever get warmer.  Aren't we supposed to have something like a January thaw? Or Indian summer?  What would be the politically correct way of saying that? Native American Summer? Whatever.......I just want the weather to warm up a bit.

What is this?

Math is hard.  Very.  Difficult.  I've always sucked at math.  I still have trouble understanding fractions, can't multiply to save my life and forget division.  That's what calculators were made for, right? RIGHT!!!   Yep, that's what I thought.

So, my very giving and sharing and have I mentioned SMART daugthter did something that amazed me yesterday.  She actually proved that she understood the concept of division.  So, maybe I'm being a bit generous.  Maybe a lot generous.

Here's the story.....She asked Kevin to give her some junior mints to share with 'mommy and Joey'.  So he gave her six.  In my mind, when you give a four year old six pieces of candy the said four year old will eat them all until there is only one left and then those without will have to share the remaining piece....with the four year old as well, of course.

What my sweet and precious four year does is come to me and give me two pieces of candy.  Goes to Joey and gives him two pieces of candy.  Then enjoys two pieces of candy for herself.  In my book that is division.  So, maybe I'm  a bit proud, but I'm her mom and that's what I'm supposed to do.

Want to hear the icing on the cake part of the story????  Of course you do!  My son, my sweet precious little angel of a boy comes running down the hall saying "mommy, here mommy, mommy here mommy" Until he makes it to me and he has one Junior mint in his hand and he gives it tome.  The kid is two years old and he wanted to share the candy with me.  The candy that he only got two pieces of.

So, I did the only thing that I knew to do....I broke it in half and gave him half, then I broke my half in half and gave Isabella half.  So, 1/2 plus 1/4 plus 1/4 equals a whole.

Math is hard.

What is this?

My 'give you a toothache because he's so gosh darn sweet' little boy riots.  Can you believe it?  He riots!  He has to be super happy and excited and a bit over-stimulated but once he's there...once he's out of control excited, he riots!  I have to come up from behind the little monster and take him to his room where he settles down.  I'm just glad he's still so small and I can actually remove him from the scene.

I can see it now.....20 years from now he'll be downtown where the Blues FINALLY win the Stanley Cup and Joey will be the ringleader who starts it all.  He will singlehandedly ruin the entire city in one fell swoop.  The whole place will be a rioted mess.  Yep.........I have a good imagination.

He'll come home as calm as can be and want to snuggle with his mommy because he'll be cold and need a nice warm place to snuggle. 

What is this?

So, how well did you and yours recover from the chaos that Christmas creates?  We did well.  We weathered the storm and survived the madness. 

It was actually really plesant.  I was excited because on Christmas Eve, my husband and I took the kids to his mom's place and celebrated with family and friends.  We opened mountains of gifts and ate a large cache of food.  We talked, we laughed and we all had a great time.  It was a Rockwell moment.  My brand new baby nephew was there...so maybe he's not brand new anymore but he's the baby in the family at just 10 months old.  We patted my sister in law's belly and talked to the baby she is growing inside of her.  A little girl she's calling Peanut until she's born.  Then, we aren't too sure what we'll call her. 

We missed naps that day and the kids did fabulous.  I'm so proud of them for being so well behaved on such an over-stimulated day.  Dear Santa, my kids are VERY good!

The next morning, we celebrated Christmas again.  We opened the presents that Santa left for us and played and cleaned up the mess and then headed out to my parent's house.  The weather was treacherous for a little more than half the trip, then, like magic, the roads were dry and the skies were almost sunny.  The roads were very slick Christmas morning.  We were actually driving somewhere in the neighborhood of 40/45mph most of the way....even on the interstate.  People who were going faster skidded off the road.

Anyway, the kids actually slept most of the way......*blinks hard* WHAT??!  Yes, they actually slept in the car on the way down to my parents and on the way home from my parents.  So. Gosh. Darn. Proud!!!

We opened presents. Ate copious amounts of food and enjoyed being in the presence of family. 

What is this?

Or is it round three? Four? Five, Six, Seven, Eight???  I've lost count and math is hard.  VERY.  Anyway, I've been at it again and giving stuff away on the craigslist website.  Anyway, I do a strange thing when I'm craigslisting.  I cross check EVERY e-mail on google.  I know it's not the best source of 'finding out about this person' but at least it makes me feel better.

Anyway, I gave away a headboard and foot board (parts of Joey's crib), girls bicycle (too big for Isabella and I had found it in the trash LONG ago thinking I would fix it up) a working lawnmower that is about 20 years old (we got a new one, a bagger)

The reason I chose to give these things away is because they were in pretty bad shape.  The headboard and foot board were used as chewing toys by my son, and a kicking plate.....in his spica cast and now his brace.  The girls bicycle was in need of new tires, paint job, and basic cleaning up.  The lawnmower......20 years of mowing grass.

Everyone who left with the stuff was what I'd call 'normal'.  Can't give MY stuff away to crazies, can I? Anyway, the headboard/foot board, and lawnmower each generated about 20 e-mails.  The one that stood out for each are as follows:

Headboard/foot board........Some chick felt it was necessary to let me know it wouldn't be worth her time to pick up the headboard/foot board if it had any moderate to severe damage.   Seriously, do you think I'll give away something in pristine shape?

The lawnmower......when cross checking his e-mail address I found stuff that someone had posted on craigslist that said  that the guy was a scam artist and would want to meet at some QT and drives some car and he gives you a sad story to make you feel sorry for him.  The 'warning' went on. Wow! Glad I dodged that bullet!

In other news........I might have another crib voucher that I want to sell.  I am waiting on the voucher to come in the mail.  It shouldn't take too long.  I think I will try to wait it out and sell it by word of mouth, rather than on craigslist.  The last voucher was somewhere near $250 so I'd like to sell it for $150.  Know anyone in need of a crib.......they can get $150 off their purchace at Babies R US.........AND they'll be able to use coupons and other store discounts.

What is this?

I just found myself in a new mode of distraction and killing time.  It's Winser.  Come and join me Winster.  I'm still learning, so I'm not the best person to tell you about it  BUT....people can join different rooms and you can join room of people you know and it's really nice when you are in a room full of people you 'know' because you can trade pieces and take turns getting a jackpot

What is this?

Isabella....my oldest and most behaved child is the one breaking ornaments this year.  Joey ....he's doing the nice boy 'pointer finger touch' with everything.  My daughter on the other hand is driving me bananas.  She's broken THREE ornaments.  I told her that next year I'm only going to put the tree up a few days before Christmas because she can't be a gentle girl.  Grrrrr..............

What is this?

My daughter thinks it would be better if all of Santa's reindeer were named "Rosa, Sara, Hannah....." (basically all girl names) because it would be better if all of Santa's reindeer were girls. 

I just told her that girls are pretty much the rulers of all things good.

What is this?

An amazing thing happened today.  And it happened to me!  We had some pretty great Target toy coupons and Target had a couple of the toys we were wanting to get for the kids on sale for about half price.  Half price + Coupon = excitement!

Anyway, both toys we wanted were not on the shelf and I was extremely lucky in finding the Target sales associate that I found.  She was truly the most amazing minimim wage worker I have ever encountered.  I told her about the sale items that I was interested in and she got out the product sheet and had someone search the stores stock to see if they could find it.  As luck would have it, they had ONE of the toys we wanted to buy.  Another Target had the other and she phoned them to be sure they REALLY had some in stock.  They confirmed by phone that there were some in the store but since it was in their sale ad they couldn't hold the toy.

So, Kevin rushed through the check out line while I was talking to the Target sales associate at guest services.  So, the kids were sort of busy playing with the registry computers and Kevin sort of snuck by me (the toys in the cart were for Isabella's Christmas present), told me something and went to the car. 

The guy at the service counter completed giving me directions to the other Target we needed to go to and I started on my way. 

(Christmas Story Part)

Anyway, some lady who was in line waiting to return something stopped me and said, "Was that your husband"  My answer "Yes".  She went on to tell me that she was only going to return a shirt and afterward she was going to go to the consignment store to try to sell a few toys to the store.  One of the toys was the EXACT same toy we had just purchased.  I kindly told her that the toy was more of a gift (didn't say who for because by now my children were hanging on to my hands).  I thanked her and went on my way. 

Well, she had parked right next to us and as we were getting in the car she said that the stuff was in her trunk and asked if we wanted to look at it.  We looked and she said that the kids (My Kids!) were so sweet and cute that we should go ahead and take the toys so that they could have the toys. (I guess she assumed the gifts weren't for them)  So, we went ahead and took the toys.  She actually gave us the toy we had purchased (originally $40 but on sale with coupon for $20) and another toy.  Both toys were Fisher Price and still in very good shape with all the pieces.

So, we plan to take the toy we just purchased back to Target and  figure something else to buy for Isabella cause she's loving this 'new' used toy we got in the parking lot of Target. 

She gave all that stuff to us FOR FREE.  She was just so nice and friendly and it's the Christmas season and Merry Christmas!

What is this?

Here is a conversation that my daughter and I just had....

Isabella:  Mommy, I'm bored.

me:  Well darling, I think that you must be tired. Go take a nap.

Isabella: No, mommy, bored means that there is nothing to do and I want to do something.

me:  Well, I think that you're just really tired and need more energy to think of something fun to do.  Go take a nap.

Isabella: No, I'll just sit here and watch the movie.

**I had JUST put a movie on for her not five minutes ago**

***Less than an hour ago she woke up from about a 2 hour nap**

What is this?

Or perhaps a chance to win a free gift card?  If you're feeling lucky, go for the free gift card.  If you don't care for gift cards or don't feel lucky then go for the dollar donation.  It's for a good cause, yo!

I am a member of BzzAgent. (http:www.bzzagent.com).  Recently they sent me a few samples of Aveeno products to try.  One of the products they sent my way was Aveeno Baby Soothing Relief Diaper Rash Cream.  I like the cream.  It's a nice thick cream without being so thick that it's hard to spread.  It's also easy to wipe off between changes and easy to wash off in the bath.

We don't really have big rash worries these days because my son is two years old.  However, he is still in diapers and has no idea what's going on when it comes to potty training. We generally use a small glaze of rash cream between all diaper changes for prevention of rashes and such. 

I generally use a variety of different brands of rash creams; depending on what I have a coupon for and what happens to be on sale.  So, I guess I can say that I have pretty good experience in rash creams.  Some rash creams are extremely thick and difficult to spread.  Some are very thin and wears off before the next diaper change.  Some seem to be a terror to wash off in the bath.  

The Aveeno Soothing Relief Diaper Rash Cream sort of hits the mid point for all of my concerns.  It's thick without being difficult to spread.  It stays on without rubbing off before the next diaper change, and it washes off well in the bath tub.

Because you're reading this review, you can enter to win a free gift card or chose to donate $1 to a charity of your choice.  Just visit http://www.chatthreads.com and enter conversation ID 101 282 577158

What is this?

Howdy ho peatot land!  As, I'm sure you all have forgotten by now, I am a member of the bzz.  I, my dear internet friends, am a BzzAgent.  I signed up quite awhile ago and the way it works is they mail you products to sample and bzz about.  I received. I sampled, and I'm all abuzz.

This week, I received a new bzz kit.  It's Aveno Baby Essential Moisture Shampoo.  First off, I like how the bottle is sort of covered in some sort of semi slip resistant coating.  The bottle also has a flip lid, rather than a lid you have to unscrew and screw back on.  Those two features, make hair washing slightly easier for me.  My son is a real wiggler and shows that he is most definately  two years old when it comes to a hair washing.  He resists getting his hair washed more than he would resist getting his toe nails ripped out. (Just an example! We don't actually rip out his toe nails!)

The scent is very light.  It's nothing overpowering or anything that actually stays behind at all.  For me, this is a good thing.  I for one, find there is no better smell than that of a child.  Are there baby pheramones?  He just smells so pure and wholesome that I couldn't imagine covering up his natural smell with a harsh perfume scented shampoo.  I love how the Aveno Baby Essential Moisture Shampoo feels very creamy in my hand and washes out easily.  Also, like all baby shampoo products on the market, it is tear-free.  Why can't they make adult shampoos that way too? Do adults actually like shampoo sting?

I've never really found the need to condition his hair because his hair is very short (because he is a boy with a boy haircut).  However, when I give my daughter her next bath, I plan to form an opinion on the conditioning aspect of the Aveno Baby Esential Moisutre Shampoo.

Anyway, since you're reading this blog, that proves that you are a smart person and need to be rewarded.  You can either enter to win free gift cards or chose to donate $1 to a charity (you get a few choices).  If you visit this website "ChatThreads" and enter this Conversation ID 101 282 577158.  The survey takes about 5-10 minutes to complete.  Okay, it's more like 5 but I'd rather over estimate just a little bit.

What is this?

Check out this story about a four year old's ride to school.

This, my friends, is why I hope that I have the ability and energy to drag my lazy bottom out of bed every morning the kids have school and drive them to in the morning and from in the afternoon. 

I just can't imagine how this could happen!  I'm shocked.  I can't believe something this severe can happen and not be noticed much MUCH sooner!

What is this?

I follow a lot of different blogs.  I comment on many of those blogs.  Usually, the blog owner comments back (It makes me SO happy).  It's a nice little dialogue.  I feel like these people are 'friends'.  It's odd to claim that some stranger, halfway around the globe, on the other side of the world, somewhere in Chicago, a real life author in LA, and various other places is a friend.  Someone that I've never met.  I'm saying she is my friend. 

I've never really had a tremondous number of friends.  I have a handfull of very close friends.  Friends so close they will do anything that I ask.  Friends so wonderful they will help me move on the hottest day of the year and ask if there is anything else they can do.  Friends so wonderful that they will come straight over from work to sit in the hospital with my son while I go home to take a nice hot shower and destress.  Friends so close they will come sit in the hospital with my son eventhough she just got out of her hospital herself and was probably feeling all groggy, the way you feel after spending a week in the hospital.  It's not really about quantity.  It's more about quality.  I have the best (real life) friends.

But my other friends.  My blog friends.  Every single time I read a blog from one of my blogger friends, I can't help but to think, "Would I like her in real life?" Most importantly, "Would SHE like ME in real life??"  I sure hope so, because I love reading these blogs.  These people give me insight to things I've already gone through.  They show me that life can be worse.  They make me laugh.  They give me a warm feeling about people in general. 

Here they are in no particular order......

Crissy
Aunt Becky (she's not really my aunt, just her blog name)
Stefanie Wilder-Taylor She lives in LA!!!
Two Makes Four (She's crabby about how people think twins are so cute, but you know what?? They ARE CUTE!!)
Bless Our Hearts She wrote a piece about a druggie who won the lottery. It's a really good piece.  And that's what got her the spot on my friends list!
My Bottle's Up She wrote a piece about how the TSA took her baby, which turned out to be a lie...I still like her
Just Eat It  I just like her writing.  Simple day to day life stuff
The Sphores Are Multiplying  Grab your tissues and get ready to BAWL your eyes out.  If you don't cry while following this blog your Prozac prescription is WAAAAYYY too high.  Ask your doctor to down your dose to about 1/8'th of what you're taking.  It's about a family who lost their daughter at 17 months old.  Sad sad stuff!

I love them all......

What is this?

So, last night while my daughter was playing unsupervised (I'm such a good mom) on the computer and my son was actually in his room playing cars all alone, my husband and I had a rare moment of watching mommy & daddy television. 

What did we choose to watch???  Well, that's hard to explain because we don't have cable.  We have the converter box and we were watching whatever was on Channel 9.3 at about 8:30ish.

It was something about toddlers, yes dear internet, TODDLERS who are being diagnosed with bi-polar! BI-POLAR TODDLERS??!!!  Isn't it a bit normal for a toddler to scream and shout and have days when they are completely moody?  And wouldn't you think the toddlers who have rage attacks, I don't know, have either grown up watching slasher movies, playing violent video games, or have DAP (dumb ass parents)?

Maybe I'm a bit closed minded to the fact that the parents were taking their precious 3 and 4 year olds to child psychologists to get Lorazepam, Paxil, Lithium, Xanax,......are just a few of the names I remember from the show.  These drugs were given to children not yet in school! CHILDREN!!!

One child who was just FOUR YEARS OLD was on 6 different medications.  They showed the family going to the doctor a few times and each time the doctor wrote a new prescription for a new drug along with a prescription to increase drugs the kid was already taking!!

Anothe child was on a bipolar drug for a few weeks and it caused a tick.  Well, they added another drug that had been known for redcuing the medication induced ticks.  Well they got worse so his parents took him off the drug causing the ticks.  Well 5 years later, he's still having the same ticks!!!

I'm so frustrated with doctors for prescribing these types of drugs for babies.  Can't we all agree that a four year old child is still classified a baby when it comes to big name drugs????

What is this?

So, how many peatotters out there have binged on their child's stash?  I sure have.  I think that yesterday alone, I cleared off about a dozen pieces of candy.  Isabella caught me eating her candy and said "You've been eating junk all day long momm! You need to stop eating so much candy and you need to eat healthy food like corn and carrots so you can grow to be big and strong like daddy"

Of course, I patted daddy's belly and said sure!

Anyway, it's been difficult not to gobble down all the yummy goodness that fills our pantry right now.  I mean seriously, what would you rather eat? Fruits and vegetables, or would you rather eat Snickers, Twix, Payday's, etc???? Don't lie to me cause I sure think I know the answer!!

What is this?

Whatever is it with nap time?  My kids shot out of my girly bits and resisted sleep in a most unusual way.  Weren't newborns supposed to sleep 3/4 of the day away?  Not my newborns.  They wanted to be awake and entertained.  Not just a little puppet show.  They wanted an elaborate stage performance.  They wanted all the song and dance of a Broadway Musical.  They wanted professionalism, they wanted Oscar worthy productions. 

I couldn't just read Oh The Places You'll Go and show them the pictures, I had to do a dramatic reading.  Creating different voices for each segment of the story, I had to dance and prance about, I had to be theatrical, live, and most of all awake.  I couldn't just breeze through the book like I had not slept for the past several months (which was true!).  I had to act well rested, and ready to face the day with as much steam and gusto as an Olympic athlete on speed.

I was tired.  My newborn screamer? Was not!  I don't know what it is about sleep that I so disparately need on a consistant basis and that world seems to do fine without.  I could seriously sleep from 8pm until 9am and take a big ole nap sometime in the middle.  I love resting.  I feel so much more energy once I've slept for several hours.  That's why I find it hard to understand why my newborns (isn't birth a big ordeal for both mom AND baby?) didn't sleep much at all. 

Every fiber of their being was used to fight sleep.  They would scream their wee little heads off all in the name of fighting sleep. At 2am I wouldn't have the energy to fall out of bed, much less interact with a little sleep muncher.  They would just munch the minutes away, every night, day after day.  I was dog gone tired!

I'm glad those days are over.  For the most part they both take an acceptable nap daily and go down for bed around 9pm and wake up around 7am and sometimes around 8am.  Thank The Lord.

Anyway, what got me to thinking about sleep is that last night Joey thought his crib was a playhouse noisemaker and he would bang his braced food against the rails and then slide it across the rails which sounded something like THUD.......dunk, dunk, dunk, dunk, dunk    THUD .......dunk, dunk, dunk, dunk, dunk  THUD .......dunk, dunk, dunk, dunk, dunk .  He'd keep himself entertained for about 5-10 minutes and then pass out for about an hour only to wake up and do it all over again.  He did this ALL NIGHT LONG!!!!!! 

So, today, I'm tired.  But, I can't nap because as soon as I click the magic "Post Blog" button, I'm off to clean and straighten the house because that work has been neglected, big time!

What is this?

If kids were potential dates, I just don't think I'd ever make it past the introduction, let alone the first date.  Here are random things that the kids do or have done on a regular basis at one point or another.

Make stinky potty in their diaper At The Dinner Table!
Make wet potty in their diaper While Sitting On My Lap!!
Sneeze and lick the snot that dribbles onto their upper lip.
Pick their nose, and dig really deep.
Eat boogers.
Eat random things off the floor, parking lot, park equipment, ground.
Put their hands in their pants to scratch bottom front/back.
Not washing their hands after doing some of the above things.
Wanting to sit in a stinky potty diaper and not change it FOREVER
Wanting to sit in a wet potty diaper till it leaks down both legs
Wanting to wear the same underwear for DAYS
Licking non-food objects, floors, cat bowls, etc.
Wanting to share food/drink with COMPLETE STRANGERS!!
Burping, tooting, slobbering pretty much throughout the day...

What else can I add to this list.......Kids are gross!

What is this?

I could never be a doctor, nurse, or anything in the medical profession.  Sickness frightens me.

I could never be anything that deals with numbers. Even if it’s just inputting data into a spreadsheet. I don’t even know what a spreadsheet is, much less how to work one. I get a little dyslexic sometimes.

I could never be a waitress. I have no idea how waitresses can balance 14 drinks on that little round tray without her arm breaking off and spilling every ounce onto the customers.

I could never be a mortician. The dead freak me out.

I could never work in customer service because even when I’m wrong, I’m right. Keep that in mind. Dealing with already P.O’d people would send me into defensive overdrive and I’d probably be the one yelling.

I could never work in a call center because my hearing sucks. I guess you could also say that it’s not always so much my ability to hear, but my ability to pay attention to people on the phone.

I could never be an editor. I make too many mistakes and think my final draft is perfect, until someone edits my work for me.

I could never be a bricklayer. Heavy lifting doesn’t suit me.

I could never work outside for any type of job. Unless it was guaranteed that I wouldn’t work in the rain, excessive heat or cold (anything below 70F or above 75F) I also couldn’t work in extremely sunny conditions….i.e. no clouds. I like partly sunny skies.

Now that I think of it, I’m not fit for much.

What is this?

In case you never make it over the the Fe Fi Fo-Rum. I wanted to post a blog about how I've entered Joey and Isabella in the Gap Casting Call and I would much appreciate it if you not only vote for each of them every single day, but also beg, plead, threaten, ask your friends to vote for my kids too. 

I want them both to get the fan favorite vote, but some of the kids on the top of the fan favorite list already have over 36,000 votes.  While I don't want to give up hope so early in on the game, I'm also a bit of a dreamer, realist at times and I just don't think that I even know enough people to know people of people to get 36,000 votes.

So, make me a happy girl and vote for my kids every single day and ask your friends, family, co-workers, to all vote for my kids every single day over at the Gap Casting Call website.

What is this?

We went to McDonald's the other day and Isabella had to go potty.  I had just ordered the food and paid for it so I told Kevin go just take her (he needed to go anyway).  She pouted and asked for me to take her, so Kevin took the tray and stuff to the table and went once we returned.

On our way to the bathroom Isabella looks at me and says "Because mommy girls obviously don't go into the boy's restroom"   ......Hummm, well okay!

*Photo to follow*
Of course, my circulation in the lower half of my body is only running at about 14%, but I am wearing a SIZE FOUR JEANS!!!

When I asked Joey if he or Isabella made the mess of clothing on the floor he responded with "NO! Lucky Did IT!"  He was pretty serious about this.  He might not talk much but at least he's learning to cover his butt!

I'm still frustrated by the fact that JC Penney's, Nike, Stride Rite, New Balance, Buster Brown, and other stores all shot me down when I suggested that they all enact a company wide policy that would allow people with different size feet buy a shoe for each foot for the same price as just ONE pair of shoes.

I threw out the clay the kids received from the library for reading so many books over the summer because the clay is way too messy and leaves behind a sticky, gross film on everything.  Clothing, hands, tables, their supplies used to cut, and roll the clay.  I'm glad that stuff is gone.

*Photo To Follow*
I'm such a nerd.  Isabella's speech teacher gave her homework to do before her next visit.  I was excited for her to be doing the homework and excited to be helping her do the homework.  Partially because I miss homework and school and such, partly because it's new to the routine, but mostly because I know that once she's in the third grade I'm going to be all "I have no idea what you need to be doing because I don't understand this. Go ask your father for help"  A little piece of me will die when I can no longer help her.

What is this?

If you have ever owned a cat, you know that distinctive smell.  That pungent nose hair burning smell of cat urine.  Thank GOD it's in the basement and hasn't really traveled upstairs.  Thank GOD the basement is unfinished.  Worst case scenario we wash everything in the basement and what can't be washed, we just pitch.

I have rearranged EVERYTHING that was on the floor and couldn't find the stench.  Now comes the arduous task of rearranging the stuff on the big shelf that goes the width of our house along the side wall of the basement.  Thankfully 75% is still packed nicely in a box and the only area I'm concerned with (because it's most cluttered) is just one fourth of the entire shelving system.  I'm guessing that if I can't smell the stench, I should be able to see it, right?  Though....trust me on this one, it' smells to high heavens in the basement!

After dinner, I'm going to to downstairs and just soap the hell out of the floors, pour on lots of water, and then use the shop brush to scrub the floors and push the water down the drain.

Anyway, any suggestions?

What is this?

Yesterday was the day we went to celebrate my birthday.  Aahh, guess where we got to go?   Think really hard?  It's a yummy pasta place that is the most delicious place ever.  It's, it's.....Maggiano's.  Gawd I really do love that place.

We ordered from their family style menu but instead of going all Classic like a couple of rich childless people, we ordered from the family style light menu.  Ohh, how good would it have been to get Nona's Pound Cake??  It would have been amazingly delicious good, that's what!

We did get the Chicken and Spinach pasta dish that contained chicken that was so comlpetely tender that it practically melted in your mouth and the white creamy sauce was so delicious that I could have just asked the waitor to bring me a cup of that to drink, rather than water.  I know. I'm a classy gal!

Of course, since I'm the ho of all things birthday we shared with our waitor that we were there to celebrate my big day and at the end of the meal he brought his balls.  They were all chocolately and fudgy and gooey, gooey good.  There was a very long, very skinny candle they put in one of the balls and he just placed the plate in front of me and said "Happy Birthday" which I thought was actually very classy and nice. 

It's always nice to get a birthday treat but sort of sucks when they do crap to embarrass the birthday girl.  No embarrassing stuff goes on at Maggiano's. Thank Goodness!

Anyway, after pigging out at Maggiano's we went home to recouperate and around 5ish, we went to Kevin's mom's house to celebrate with his sister.  Her birthday is soon.  So she fixed a big dinner with two deserts and lots to munch on and snack on.  Yummy yummy.

So anyway, that's why I think I woke up at 2am with a bit of a belly ache.  But it was well worth it!!!

What is this?

Sometimes I wonder if we are rasising Isabella to be a bit narsistic because of the games that Kevin and I play with her.  We are ony having a good time and enjoying her while she is young and still loves everything that we do, what's the harm, right?

Just to give you a little window on what her world looks like, I invite you to the conversations that Kevin and I have about her, while in her presence.

Conversation A:
          Me: Hey Isabella do you want to do 'best friends forever'*
           Isabella: Sure
           Kevin: But I want to be your best friend
Then I will grab her and and sort of push Kevin away and we both are saying stuff like "She's My Best Friend!", "I want her to be MY best friend", "Well tough, she loves me!", "Uh-hu, she loves me", "Well she is my best friend"

Then she will say something like "We can ALL be best friends!"  Then when things are all calm and stuff she will say "The whole world loves me and wants to be my best friend.  Mommy wants to be my best friend. Daddy wants to be my best friend. Joey wants to be my best friend........(grandma, grandpa, Don, Aunts, Uncles, etc.)

Conversation B
           She wakes up from nap and Kevin and I are in the same room.  We both extend our arms for the first hug.  She looks at each of us wondering who she should hug first. 
              Me:  Hug me Isabella I love you sweet heart Royal Princess.
              Keivn:  You know you love me best, hug me.
              Me: But I'm your best friend forever, you have to hug me first.
              Kevin: Mommy is not your best friend I am, hug ME.

She eventually picks Kevin and I proceed to fall onto the floor in disbelif and I dramatically (but very softly) pound my hand on the floor asking "Why God WHY?" **

And lets not forget this episode where she still thinks people come out to see HER if they are all lined up on the streets for whatever reasons.

*Best Friends Forever is where Isabella and I will stick out our pinkies and then I'll wrap my pinkie around hers and we say in unison "Best Friends Forever" and then give one another a big ole hug.

**This performance deserves an Oscar. It's truly that great!!!

Will she grow up to be narcistic or grow up feeling loved??

What is this?

I am now officially 365 days older.  Yes folks, today is my birthday and in celebration of the birth of me, I'm making this post that will be all about me.

My favorite color changes regularly.  Though mostly it's either green, yellow, or blue.....sometimes pink.  Always pastel.

My favorite place to bee is the beach.  Any sub-tropical beach will do.  I tend to love the beaches in Florida along the panhandle but have visited southern California and admired the rocky shores with mountains in the distance.  True beauty.  I also loved the beach in Southern Miami.  However, my beach expertise ends there.  Anyone want to get together and pitch in to buy me and the family a plane ticket to fly to the beach along with hotel accomodiations?

My favorite people are my family.  My mom, my dad, my brother, my in-laws, my kids, my husband.  I also admire a few famous folk along with people that I don't even know.  The type of people who you see throughout the day doing random good things.  I love that type of person.  The person doing something nice for a total stranger for no reason other than to just be nice.

I love pasta.  I could eat pasta daily and not get tired of it.  My favorite pasta place is Maggiano's.  I really heart eating family style when I go there because they load you up on a variety of food and you get tons of it, some even to take home.  It's great!

I have a cell phone, though, I rarely admit to owning one.  Most people, even doctors that see Joey, have no idea I'm packing one.  I only talk to mom on the cell and have only sent about four texts EVER.  Texting bothers me.  I'd rather talk to somoene on the phone, or better yet, see them in person.  Human to human contact, wow, what a thought.

I probably couldn't live without the internet.  I think it's one of the greatest inventions of my time.  I could live without a microwave, I could live without the dishwasher (though I would miss the dishwasher).  I could easily live without the garbage disposal, I don't even use it as it is.  I could live without a cell phone, though my landline would have outrageous phone charges with talking to mom all the time.  However, life without the internet would be like living a life without indoor plumbing.  Possible, just not something I'd want to do.

I've always wanted to be taller.  I was in the third grade when I noticed that I was way short.  The kindergartners were bigger than me.  Now, most fourth graders are taller than me. 

I could easily go to bed at 8:30pm and sleep until 9:30am and take a two hour nap sometime in the middle of the day, every single day.  I am a sleeper.  I was born to rest.  Sometimes, I feel I should have been born in one of the countries that takes a 2 hour break in the middle of the day to sleep.

Sicness frightens me.  Even when my very own offspring who I love dearly gets sick, I wish someone else was around to help clean up them and take care of them, until they are less crusty and puky.

Google it right now.  My birthday along with various horoscopes.  You'll find that October 23 sometimes falls under Libra.  Usually falls under Scorpio.  I have traits from both.  When asked, I claim to be both.

When I was a child, my grandparents lived right next door to us.  They had about an acre of property.  Most of which was a garden. Even at the tender age of about four or five, I hated gardening.  I swore that I would never marry a farmer because farming was so terrible.  Today, I want a garden. I want to farm my very own vegetables.  I also think it would be nice to have a hen house so we could have fresh eggs.  I just wouldn't slaughter my chickens.  My chickens would have names and they'd be more of a pet that provides food by means of eggs........I'd still buy chicken at the store.

Despite being hired as a math coach at a local school district before Isabella was born, I suck at math.  I DO have the abilites to teach math. I just can't do math.  Adding, subtracting are actually hard for my brain to compute.  Fractions are impossible.  I've never memorized my times tables.  If you asked me to multiply random numbers like 7 times 4, I'd need to use a calculator or my fingers.  Kevin is the exact opposite.  He practically drools at the thought of doing math. He. Loves. Math. That. Much.

I really want a gym membership.  I want the membership to include a personal trainer who helps pushes me to work harder than I'd do on my own.  I think that if I had the membership, I could get down to my pre-baby weight and be in better shape because while I was a mere 95 pounds with all my clothing on...maybe even wet with all my clothing on, I was in terrible shape.  Yes, I could fit in a size two, but I couldn't run half a block to save myself, let alone ever do a push-up.  My muscle tone has always sucked.

Happy Birthday To Me

What is this?

Dear Insomniac,

I do realize that it's hard to find someone to talk to at 2am.  I understand that the television programing at 2am leaves a lot to be desired.  Furthermore, I get the need for another human to socialize with.  However, 2am is not anywhere near an appropriate time to phone ANYONE, unless of course there is an absolute true emergency that only my husband or I can fix.  Just so you know, there was this great invention that's been around for at least 20 years.  It's called the Internet and it's filled with millions of people just like you!!

I do not find it amusing to be awakened by the telephone ringing at 2am.  I do not find it a pleasant sound to hear either.  Also, it terrifies me to think that the ringing could possibly wake up my children.  My children who are feather light sleepers.  My children, who after just fifteen God forsaken minutes of sleep, thinks they are done with sleep for at least eight hours.

TWO AM sucks for me because my kids think it's appropriate to wake up at 7am (B.C. I'd sleep till the soul recharging hour of 9:30).  TWO AM sucks for my husband because he actually works for a living and gets out of bed way before 6am so he can be on the road at 6:30am.  TWO AM sucks because if my kids are waken by a ringing phone, they will undoubtedly scream and cry because it will scare them.  TWO AM sucks because after being asleep for nearly five hours they will be up and ready to go.  It sucks to be awake at TWO AM.  I get that, do you?? Don't bother me at TWO AM.

Just so you know.  My heart jumped into such a fast, racing beat that it took nearly an hour for me to settle down and fall back asleep.  I said a few un-christian like prayers for you last night that includes something along the lines of

Dear God,  I'm sorry to be bothering you at such a terrible hour.  I'm sure you're working with some really brainy scientist to cure malaria, N1H1, Cancer, and a whole host of things, but I have to beg of you for one simple thing.  That the person who is calling me at 2am will grow up to marry a wonderful, amazing husband/wife.  They will have plenty of money, but not so much that they can afford extras like maid service and nannies.  They will give birth to two very healthy although very colicky children.  The children will be about 4 years apart.  I pray that those colicky babies will scream their heads off at the sound of a butterfly fluttering by.  I pray they will scream at the slightest hint of a breeze drifting through the room.  I pray they will scream so much they will consider renaming their offspring  something like Scream I and Scream II.  I pray on the rare occasions that Scream I and II are sleeping soundly and they're finally getting some MUCH needed rest, that their telephone rings.  That their cell phone rings.  That someone knocks at their door and then rings the doorbell at approximately TWO AM! I promise to try to make it to Church more frequently.  I've driven by a church in our new neighborhood that I'm feeling pretty good about.

What is this?

So, I've blogged in the past about not so smart moves on my part.  Well, today, I'm thinking about other dumb things I've done. 

So, way back in the day before I was of legal drinking age, I was known to have a drink or two of various adult beverages.  The best thing about owning a vagina is the fact that boys, men, guys...will do anything to get near it.  That being said, one evening my best friend and I thought it would be a good idea to find something to drink. 

We were, both of us, under legal drinking age so we just got in the car and drove around.  We found some guys in a parking lot and drove by where they were parked, parked our car, and proceeded to walk to the building they were parked in front of....a post office perhaps???  Yea, we needed to mail some letters and wanted stamps......yeah right!

Anyway, of course they hooted and hollered and called us over to talk.  We started talking about how thirsty we were and how it really sucked that we were so thirsty.  They offered to buy us something to drink from the drive-thru liquor store.  So we followed them.  They got some Jack for us, and we got some Pepsi for our Jack.

We met them down the street from the liquor store and collected on our Jack.....get this, they wanted NO money!!  Gosh, I love being a girl!  It was then that they informed us that they owned some property somewhere out there...wherever...I don't remember.  So we thought, great lets follow them there.

Oh My Gawd!  Sort of a mistake, I mean we already had the liquor, what did we need them for??!!  So we followed them out there.  It was first a gravel road.  The gravel road turned to a dirt path.  The dirt path turned into a weedy, grassy area.  Don't even think field because we were in the WOODS.  They were driving a Jeep 4 wheel drive.  Me.....I was in my little Ho.  Back then, I drove a Plymoth Horizon.

Good thing that I drove such a small car because there were areas where the trees were so close that I thought the'd knock off my side mirrors.  But we made it.  There was a small trailor somewhere in a clearing, IN THE MIDDLE OF THE WOODS!!!

Nothing happened.  We had a mildly nice time.  They were friendly.  But gezzz, how stupid was that?  I really hope that Isabella is much smarter than me and never tries to pull some of the stupid stuff that I've done. 

We were seriously deep in the woods...........Scary!

What is this?

Alright, if you've been following my blog for anytime, you know that while I love to share my life with you, dear Internet, and that while I LOVE to write, I'm just not the best writer/blogger out there.  I blog because it entertains ME.  The benefits of having others read my stuff is just the icing on the cake because it makes me feel all important and stuff to know that at least ONE person out there is reading. *crickets chirping*  Uhhh, there is at least ONE, right??!!

Anyway, because you know that you're a way better writer than me, I'm asking you to do something for me.  I want EVERY single one of you to write a letter for me, send an e-mail for me, or call the powers that be for me.  Who? What? Where? Why?

I've blogged before about Joey and his leg.  You all should know that he's wearing a brace on his leg.  The braced foot measures a size  7 1/2 and his healthy foot measures a 6.  That is a big enough difference to warrant a shoe in each size.  Thankfully, Nordstrom will sell mis-mates, for the price of just one pair of shoes.  Other shoe stores think they are doing me a favor by only charging me half price on the second pair of shoes, or another store thinks they are doing a public service by offering 40% off the second pair.

BullCrap!  Don't you all, all one of you, agree that stores should sell a single pair of shoes to their customers who need specialized sizing?  Would it really hurt the profit margins of shoe companies or shoe stores to sell a customer shoes that fit each foot?  Rather than making them buy TWO pairs of shoes???

Shoe shopping is so depressing and I'm a GIRL! Girls are supposed to love shoes, right??!!!!!

So, head on over to your favorite shoe brands and shoe stores and send e-mails begging them to change their policies to include training for their employees on how to fit children with special needs and let them buy a single pair of shoes that FIT.

What is this?

So, you see, my husband added vision care to the health insurance this year.  Unlike my blind as a bat husband I for one have perfect vision so I have never, ever gone to the eye doctor.  I'm sort of scared of doctors and creeped out by eyes so going to a doctor that likes eyes so much she spends all day playing with them....really creeps me out.

But, since we have one free eye exam per family member per year, Kevin has been bothering me to get the 'free' exam.  So, I made an appointment right smack dab in the middle of nap time, with every intention of cancelling the appointment as soon as the kids fell asleep. 

The little stinkers didn't fall asleep at all.  So when the appropriate time came, I loaded them up and drove to the eye doctor.  They were marvelous and they (doctors and nurses and whoever else was there) wouldn't stop gushing on and on about how well behaved the kids were!  I'm so lucky because they really are that good!

Anyway, the appointment wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.  She was way better at putting eye drops in my eyes than ANYONE ever.  She was great about talking to me about the kids and life and her children to ease my worries.  She was friendly and talked to me along the way to let me know how things looked.  She said that my vision is perfect I am just a little bit nearsighted, but don't need any type of correction.

Driving home was a very difficult task as it was very sunny and I'm assuming that the fact my eyes were dilated made the sun seem even sunnier.  I was all driving along the road thinking Oh Dear God let me make it home safely because everything seemed all bright and shiny and full of glary....is glary a word?  Anyway, it was difficult.  That was probably the hardest part....driving home.  Oh well.  We made it safely and I had my first ever vision check up and like I said before....my vision is perfect, I'm just a little bit nearsighted.

What is this?

Wow, so, I read this story about how the TSA agents took some girl's child because security beeps went crazy when they went through security.  I read that story and believed every single bit of it. 

I read a lot of her comments and the people who told her that the story sounded like a lie.  That they thought SHE over reacted.  Those comments made me even more angry than I already was about TSA taking the girls baby away from her.

All I know is that if anyone ever took my child away, I would be crazy, mad, angry.

Anyway, turns out, her story was a huge exaggeration, maybe even part (mostly) lies.

Avacakes mom said it pretty well in her responce to the story about TSA taking a baby.

Here is the TSA blog that has a video of the scene.

What is this?

I would have been angry.
I would have been scared.
I would have been enraged.

I would have thrown such a fit, I'd be in jail right now.
I would have cried so hard, I'd pass out.
I would have thrown some punches and have assult charges against me.
I would have kicked the man in the shins so hard he'd have broken bones.
I would have screamed so much, I would need a straight jacket.
I would have freaked out so much, they would have to medicate me.
I would have been damaged from sight of him carrying my child away.

What has gotten me in such an uproar?  Visit this link and find out, while you're there lend your support.  Cause I know I'd need it.
 

What is this?

So, when I was in about seven, my father got a brand new job.  I was quite excited about this job because he had been laid off for quite sometime and we were hurting for money, in a bad way.  Know what a welfare Christmas looks like? I do!

So, dad had spent all this time on the telephone talking to human resources at McDonald's.  He was practically begging them to hire him.  One day out of each week, he would be on the phone asking if they had an opening.  It would be a long distance call too, which was a big deal because in our family WE NEVER CALL LONG DISTANCE!!!

As luck would have it, my dad was hired at McDonald's.  I was so stinking excited about him being employed because that meant that we could go out to eat again, that meant we could get toys again, that meant French Fries and Chicken Nuggets.  I was so completely excited. 

I was dreaming of the day he became manager and he could bring home cheeseburgers and french fry happy meals daily.  The toys, happy meal toys were amazing and in my mind, he would bring one home daily for his sweet angelic daughter.

But then the big reality shocker came in one big swift blow to the stomach.  My dad came home with his new ID badge.  It wasn't white with golden arches.  It didn't have that familiar M logo.  It didn't remind me of that fast food favorite at all.   It was white with a photo of my dad's mugshot plastered in the corner.  It had something following the word McDonnell.  That word was Douglas. 

I was angry. Who was this McDonnell Douglas guy and why wasn't dad wearing that uniform that I so loved.  The uniform that promised french fries?! Gone, were my hopes and dreams of becoming a fast food junkie, my dad had been so lovingly referring to McDonnell Douglas as the one tried and true word......McDonald's.  The nerve!

He's now retired and I eventually accepted the fact he never worked for Big Mac's, and eventually found it so cool that my dad worked for the place that makes fighter jets.  It took awhile though.

What is this?

Sometimes I just want to know when it's okay to just throw in the towel because seriously there are just some days when I think to myself that the entire world is just about to collapse on my entire day in the blink of an eye and every single decision that I make has the possiblities to screw up routines that have been set in stone since birth.

Yes, folks that extremely long sentence is about nap time.  My daughter is a rock star when it comes to taking a nap but it hasn't always been that way.  You see, it took years and years of strict momma to get her to the place where she is today.  Her entire first year of life she was awake.  Forget the blissful baby days when the sweet newborn snoozes half the day away, for us, it was pure torture because if you weren't performing at circus level 24/7 she was upset.  As she got older, it got better.  By her first birthday she was sleeping through the night AND giving me about an hour of peace during the day. 

Strange enough, by the time she was two, she was sleeping for two HOURS per day.....and wait for it, wait, wait.......oh yeah, the sweet stuff was when she turned three, she started sleeping for three hours.  It was pure heaven.  Now that she's four, she's sleeping, on average, about two hours per day AND giving us a pretty steady 9pm bed time along with a 7 or 8am wake up time.  The sleep gods are giving us some love when it comes to Isabella.

But Joey, on the other hand.  He's my little munchkin who gave me 20 minute naps here and there every now and then as a newborn, around the clock.  He eventually slept through the night as long as he was laying on his tummy on top of me.........so, while he was sleeping well at night, I wasn't.  Oh well......just had to take one for  team momma on that one.

He was sleeping for one to two hours at about a year old, which is great, but the sad sad story I'm here to tell you is the fact that there are days, speckled throughout the year every now and then when the little stinker thinks he's too big for a nap.  And what does he do??? He just sits in his crib calling out "Mooooooommmmmyyyy" every now and then all while playing in his crib, having a good ole time. 

It drives me bananas that the kid just stayed in his crib today for two HOURS playing instead of sleeping.  I kept thinking that he'd settle down in the next 10 to 15 minutes or so.  Over and over again, I had that thought and never did he settle down.  Finally, around 3:45 (after being put in his crib at 2pm), I threw my hands up in the air and went to get him.

Know what the little stinker did?? He looked up at me with a big ole smile and said "Hi Mommy!!!!"  Can't get frustrated with such a cute little angel for something so mundane as not taking a nap.  Oh well, here is hope that tomorrow he'll take a nap.

What is this?

One day, (over this summer)  Kevin and I were going to eat at some place on Main Street and something was going on.......whatever it was called.....when they took  Clydesdale Horses, strapped them to the old time carriages, and delivered one case of beer to every business along main street.  There was a cammera guy, taking photos along the way.

And of course, the streets along the business section were all lined up with hoards of people everywhere.

Well, with all these people are all lined up, Isabella says something like "Hey mommy, what are all those people doing?". 

My reply, which is in a very excited voice..... "Wave honey, they all came out to see YOU!!".

So, she's all in the back seat, waving her hand off and smiling really big and saying stuff like "WOW, so many people came to see me, I'm so happy that everybody loves me!"

I was in the front seat trying my best not to laugh because it was so funny.  I was seriously in the front seat about to pass out because it was all so funny. 

She still sometimes remembers 'that time everyone came out to see me'.

What is this?

My parents are very conservative.  They made me wait to do EVERYTHING.  When my friends were all wearing make up and shaving their legs at 12, I was still going au naturale with unshaven legs.  When my friends started dating at 14,  my mom said I was crazy to want to date a boy at such a young age.  When my friends were all staying out past midnight at 15 on the weekends and summer nights, my mom said I could no longer hang out with such bad influences. And the real kick in the knee was when my friends all got their drivers license at 16, my mom said that I couldn't. Not Yet!  Mom and dad both made me wait, until I got more mature.  I just wanted to stick my tongue out at them and say 'pffft'.  Instead, (I had to show that I was mature, you know) I just stormed off to my room and slammed the door.  Real mature. I know!

Anyway, at about 16 1/2 they finally let me get my learners permit.  I was so stinking nervous in that room taking that multiple choice test.  Everyone knows that I suck at picking answers on multiple choice.  Give me essay and I can win every time. Multiple choice and I pick the wrong answer every time. However, I was delighted to find out that, I somehow managed to answer 75% of the questions correctly and they let me have my learners permit.

I loved driving around on the weekends with dad.  He would just sit on the passenger side of the old Ford Taurus, lean the seat back as far as it could possibly go, take his hat off his head and put it over his face and then proceed to snore as I drove around our tiny little town of about 3,000.  We did this for about every weekend until finally, sometime after turning 17 dad said that we could go in to take the test.

At the time dad worked at McDonnell Douglas (funny blog about when he got the job there will come another day!).  So, since we lived 2 hours away from his job and he wanted to be there for the big day, he took the day off work.  He wanted me to practice parallel parking (ha ha!) one more time before I went to the place that administers the drivers portion of the test and as I was trying to park parallel something bad happened.

There was this big ole snapping, scratching sound then thud.  The drivers seat to my dads old Ford Taurus just broke off. The back fell off for some reason. I figured, this is it, can't take the test, we're done for the day. I'll never get my license.  But my dad, being the proud dad he was, took that car to the dealership and spoke to the man behind the counter and said, "My little girl is about to take her driving test and can't do it with a broken seat. Either you fix it, or you give her another car to take it in".

I have the greatest dad ever.  I took my test and scored something like a 97% on the drivers portion and you know what??? The parallel parking event I NAILED!!  Must have been pure luck, or the short skirt that I wore because God and everyone else knows that I can't parallel park to save my life. 

But, now that I'm a mother, I know their motivations behind making me wait on every single thing.  Delayed gratification is amazing because it keeps young kids out of lots of trouble!

What is this?

Ironic turn of events.  Isn't it funny (not funny ha-ha, but weird funny) how things sometimes happen?  How something so random, so ordinary can just spin around and bite you in the rumpus?  Remember how I blogged about the sister of a deceased friend of mine.  I had written that blog almost a month ago.  She has never accepted my friend request or replied to my e-mail. I guess that's okay, she has her reasons for not wanting to be in contact with me.

I have always and will always have bitter feelings toward Kathleen's dad.  Angie's step dad.  He was, is, and will always be a monster to me.  When I think about him, and what he did to Angie my heart breaks.  When I think about her car accident, and how she was taken away so young, after being abused for so long, it makes me feel empty.  It makes me want to sit in a quiet, dark, empty room and cry.  It makes me angry that anyone would what to hurt a child so young.  The kind of anger that can punch holes in walls, and throw rocks through windows.  The kind of anger that makes you lose sleep and want to pace the halls looking for answers.  The kind of anger that makes you shake your head because there are no words for the questons streaming through your head.  Pure Anger.

I've said it before and I'll say it again.  I don't like feeling angry, I don't like feeling sad, I don't like feeling mad.  And I  just don't like the empty feeling that I get when I think about it all.  I also don't like it when I just don't know how to feel. And right now, I don't know.  I just don't know. I just take a deep breath and nibble on the inside of my lip because my nails are all chewed and the cuticles are too.  It's so sad but confusing. Empty and numb.

Empty and numb is something I started feeling when mom called me with the news.  She said that he had died.  She saw his name up on the funeral home marquee.  One convicted sex offender that is no longer on the registry (or avoiding the registry).  I don't know how he died.  Just that he's dead. 

What is this?

So I was trying to move a few of my 'recently added bookmarks' to the "Mommy's Bookmark's" folder and after I thought I had moved about 5 or 6 of them, I thought it was time to take a break and hang out with the kids and answer that ringing phone. 

So, after a nice chat with our old neighbors from the old neighborhood, and a romp around the living room dancing around with the kids, I came back to the computer to check out my remaining 'recently added' bookmarks.  Just before I was about to move another bookmark, I notice that the 'mommy's bookmark's' seems a bit less full than before.  They are gone.

I am frustrated because there are at least 10 blogs that I follow and about 3 or 4 that I recently added that I really LOVE.  Gone.  Unless they find it necessary to reply to my comments that I made on their page, or if they click on the link that I left, sign up for peatot, and comment with a link to their site, it's likely gone....forever. 

This. Makes. Me. Sad.

What is this?

Yes, I like to tease and taunt.  Refer to my bully question and maybe you can be the one to not only fix me but, not become the target of my taunts.  Though it's probably not a good idea to tease the piggy flu.  That old porker will come and hit this household hard and that would SUCK.

So, the piggy, piggy, piggy is referring to N1H1/swine flu.  Oink oink.  Turns out, there really hasn't been a great deal of testing on this vaccine *gasp* What a shocker, you mean they didn't test the stuff thoroughly? They've had an ENTIRE year.  Will someone stop to think of the children? The adults caring for the children, and the grandmas and grandpas who have cared for the children for so long? Whatever.

Anyway, I was wondering if anyone is planning on getting the piggy oinks vaccine?  Do you plan on getting the seasonal vaccine? Have you already gotten the seasonal flu vaccine? What about the children?  Vaccinated???  Or do you plan to use the plenty of washing and pray method? 

So far, Isabella hasn't gotten the flu vaccine. Ever.  Joey, he got it when he was 6 months old and had a strange reaction that happened after the initial vaccine and the booster vaccine.  BOTH TIMES.  So, I'm kinda worried about flu vaccines in general.

Also, the year I got the flu vaccine, I still got the flu several months later AND after battling with the flu for a few days, I ended up getting labryinthitis, which sucked then and still does cause I >STILL< get dizzy.  Maybe getting the flu once more will set stuff straight?

What is this?

So, today was a big day.  It was the day that we got together and talked about Joey's progress.  By we, I mean the care coordinator for First Steps, the speech therapist, the developmental therapist, and of course the physical therapist was invited but since she never actually sees Joey (just on a consult basis) she didn't come.  Then the biggie.  The school district was invited to this meeting.  See, I told you it was a biggie.

Getting the school district involved seems so much more official to me.  For me, it's like First Steps is taking a birthing class before you go to the hospital to have the baby.  School district is labor and delivery all wrapped up into one.  The make it or break it point.  Will he qualify and if he does, will he recover, will he be okay, will he be able to go to college (if he wants) and get a job that pays enough that he will move out of the house and buy his own food for once.  Then of course, if he does not qualify, what makes you so sure he's okay, what if he gets kindergarten age and you say something long the lines of there might be trouble ahead.

What she said that  hurt (just cause it's true, I think) was that she was 'pretty sure he'd qualify, but we can't make that assumption until after all the screenings have taken place'.  The screenings will take place in February.  A lot can happen between now and then so we'll see when February, cold, dark, dreary, February rolls around.

On one hand, I'm glad that the school district will be there to pick up where First Steps stops but on the other hand, I would be so much more comfortable if the kid would just wake up one morning and start talking and doing the things that all the other two year old children are doing.

I hate the fact they want to test his hearing to make sure he's not deaf First because the kid wakes up at the slightest hint of noise in the house while he is napping.  Second, because we've been through this before.  Hearing screenings SUCK BIG Donkey Toes!

When Joey was a newborn, he did not pass the infant hearing screening before they let him out of the hospital.  The machine kept saying "Refer". So I was told to go to the audiologist at Children's.  I took this information to the pediatrician and he said that they had the same equipment in their office and they would test Joey themselves.  The machine said "refer" again.

It was explained that sometimes the babies who are born early (he was ONLY 11 days early) have that white lotion-like stuff built up in their ear canal which can prevent the machine from working properly and that I should bring him back in about a week.  The week flies by and I take him in again only to be told that the machine says "refer" again.

Even though the kid was startling at a butterfly flitting by I had it in my head that I was going to have the surgery for a cochlear implant before he was 6 months old.  We were going to do whatever possible to make that surgery happen ASAP, next month maybe??

So, week after week we were told 'refer' but not to worry about it.  I guess he was about a month or two months old when it finally read out that he had a great range of hearing and everything was okay.  Thank God for that day!!!

But then something else happened.  He started having problems with his neck......once that was fixed....his leg broke....we're still dealing with that so I guess we're safe for now.

Anyway, I just don't want to mess with hearing test but I know the school district will make us do the hearing test.

What is this?

So, I have to admit that I completely know where my kids get their easy to entertain gene.  The gene that gets them more excited than Christmas morning when I say, "We're going to drive through the tunnel today".  The gene that makes them throw their hands in the air and say "Wheeee" like they were on a roller coaster ride every time we go around the turn-a-bout, over a bridge, or up and down hilly roads.   Yes, this is my reward system for the kids.  It's easy, it's free, and I can make it happen as I tout them around while doing normal, everyday errands.  Do I hear a mommy of the year nomination? *crickets chirping* Ehh, guess not.  Oh well.  At least we're having fun.

So, imagine if you will, your most favorite blogger visiting your blog.  Just knowing that she clicked on your link and tried to comment.  The fact she came, she clicked, she left, and she told you about it!!!  Trust me, at this moment,  I'm all starstruck.  If all of you reading this haven't already clicked on one of my links to Aunt Becky's blog, you should finish this blog, comment  to tell me how much fun you have reading my blog, and then click as fast as your little fingers can possibly click and read Aunt Becky's blog. She's funny.  She clever.  She has an adoration for encased meats! and her kids are cute.  I still can't believe that she came to my blog page.  Aunt Becky wuz here!  When she publishes a book that goes all New York Times Book of the Year....I'll be all like, "Yeah, I knew her before the publicity.  She even visited my blog once"

Nobody will believe me so that is why I'm asking you John and Tracie McClain to see if you could add a feature that will allow non-members to comment on blogs.  Cause once Aunt Becky is known internationally, you too will be able to say....Hey She Came To PeaTot the site we run!!

I love you Aunt Becky

What is this?

I always hate it when I don't have something to blog about because 90 percent of the time, Isabella says something, Joey does something, or something happens while we are out that I think "I Just HAVE To Blog About This!".  Then when I sit in front of the computer, I come down with internet amnesia and have no idea, what it was I wanted to blog about no matter how long I sit in front  of the PeaTot 'Create New Blog' page.  But, today!  Au Contraire! I have a new blog! Even though it happened a bit ago, I just remembered it, Bonus!

So, we had this turtle.  I don't completely remember how it was acquired.  All I really remember was that it was living in a cardboard box with some twigs, berries, nuts, grass, and a shallow Tupperwear of water.  The deal was that we'd keep it two DAYS.  That seemed fair enough.  So, you can imagine my disdain, when Kevin informed me that I'd have to let it go that very next day.  His deal was something along the line of  "We got it yesterday, now it's today....yesterday is a day, and today is a day.  That is two days"

As mathematically challenged as I am, I could only come up with one day because by my calculations, we only had the turtle for less than 24 hours.  So, technically, we had it for less than ONE day!

Since Isabella was sad to release the turtle, I started out alone.  The walk across the parking lot, across the busy street, into the soft, dry sand.  But somehow, Isabella made it to my side and insisted on helping the turtle find his family.  So as we walked toward the beach, I realized that we didn't have a sea turtle on hour hands.  We had just a plain ole pond, river turtle.

We then proceeded to walk toward our left, but walked nearer the water because that's where the wet sand is located.  And if you've ever visited the beach, everyone knows it's easier to walk on wet sand than dry sand.  Especially since I had Joey along with me, as Isabella wasn't feeling well and was taking a nap with daddy in the hotel room.

When we make it to the woody area that reaches out along the beach, we took a few steps in the 'woods' and make our way deeper into the forest, so that we can release the turtle near the freshwater stream and pond.  I gently put the box down on the mostly dirt but partly sandy terrain and the strangest thing happened.  Although I laid the box down gently, there was this huge crashing sound.  Almost like a metal box was being thrown down on the metal bed of a pick up truck.

As the turtle slowly walked away, Isabella picked up the empty box and we headed back toward our hotel room, in the rain.  It wasn't really raining too bad.  Just the kind of rain that drops down big, really big, wet drops every now and then, and you see the rain constantly falling but you just don't get wet, almost like you're walking between the rain drops.

Well, since Isabella made it to the Nature Reserve and learned about reduce/reuse/recycle, she insisted on recycling the box that the turtle called home for less than 12 hours.  The problem with that simple request was that I didn't know which trash can housed cardboard boxes.

As we walked along Primrose Beach, I noticed dozens, HUNDREDS of recycle containers.  The only thing was each container collected something different things.  Paper......books......aluminum cans.......cat food cans........plastic 1.......plastic 2...............Each can wanted ONLY what it was tagged for carrying.

Finally, after what seemed like HOURS of searching, we found the cardboard box recycle container, and it was then that I noticed it.  I can't believe that I didn't notice it before.  But each recycle container looked exactly like what it was to carry.  The paper recycle box looked like a huge piece of paper, the book box looked like a, book, the aluminum can trash can looked just like a big Pepsi can, etc.

So, it was odd to me that I actually had to look at and read the tags to figure out which recycle container the box had to go in, when in fact, the box recycle container looked like a gigantic oversized box!  So, we put the old turtle habitat in the recycle bin for boxes and made our way to the hotel room where we were staying.

Isabella and I talked about how it would be nice if Joey was up from his nap, so we could go to the beach and splash around for awhile because there wasn't a cloud in the sky and after walking in the blazing sun for so long, we were not only thirsty, we were hot and ready to cool off with a nice dip in the ocean.

And then all of a sudden, like a wet towel being pinched and pulled up in dramatic fashion only the way a magician could do, everything is ripped away and I am in my room.  In my bed.  And my daughter is standing in front of me, dressed and ready for the day.

It. Was. All. A. Dream.

No wonder it was all so strange.

What is this?

There are a few forum posts about how annoying it is to get millions of door to door kids selling something for school.   You'll all be proud to know that since I don't have kids in school I'm not part of the door to door harassment that goes on during the school year.

The odd news is that in our old neighborhood the kids probably got into so much trouble at school and rarely attended or paid attention in class that a school fund raiser was all off their radar.  We had ONE child ask us to buy something in the 10 years that I lived there.  Of course we bought stuff.  Of course it was the cheapest thing on the list.  Refrigerator magnets!

Just a few moments ago, a little girl rang our doorbell and asked me to buy cookie dough.  So, of course, since she was cute and friendly, I bought the chocolate chunk pre-measured cookie dough.  The cheapest thing on the list but I bought something.  I'm so excited.  Yes, I'm a dork.

I may be a dork but I know that in a few years, my little girl will be going from door to door and it would break her heart if she couldn't sell what her school was begging her to panhandle throughout her neighborhood.  It just puts a sappy little smile in my heart to be a part of school fund raising.

What is this?

While on vacation, Kevin and I took the kids to the Museum of Transportation.  We were able to ride the trolley, the train, and of course paid admission to the museum (thank you PeaTot!  and entertainment book for the buy one get one coupon!) 

We also paid the extra fee to play in the "Creation Station".  For some reason, I expected the creation station to be a bit different.  Sort of a guided learning opportunity with planned activities that are lead by a group leader.  Instead it is basically a free for all open play room.  Please don't misunderstand the fact that it is a really nice play room that is also well organized, I just wasn't impressed...but it's only about $1.50 for each person (including the parents which I don't understand*) so I guess you get what you pay for, maybe?

In the playroom there were two employees from the Museum.  There was Linda, who was so completely friendly and nice and helpful in all ways and I pray that God will send someone to her to teach her how to use the internet and how to start her own website because she had that many nice, thoughtful things to say.  I want to read Linda's blog.  She needs a blog!

She was so sweet and said so many nice things to Kevin and I about our children, and about us.  She said that Kevin has a kind and gentle soul, which is funny because some random stranger said that about Kevin when I first started dating him.  My great Aunt Bummy also said that about him when she first met him. Which is probably why I love him so much.

She also had a lot of life lesson stories to share with us.  She told us about her son and even said that she hopes her son marries a girl as sweet as me someday.  She told me about how she did special things with him daily because the most important thing in life is to be nice and helpful.  She was a really nice person.

I don't know the other girls name but she was a bit on the polar opposite side of the spectrum.  She didn't smile and greet Isabella and I when we came to the table where she was sitting.  I had to ask her to give me the pieces to create the project (the ONLY project) that was planned for that particular day.  Then when my son (who is 2 but is on developmental charts somewhere near an 12-18 month old) came to the table she looked at me and said "Will he even do this?"  I just responded with something to the nature of...., Well he wants to know what's going on here and he wants to do what his sister is doing so he's going to try and if he doesn't complete the project, then we'll finish it at home.

She didn't ruin our day because Linda really outshined everything.  The kids loved dressing up and running around.  Of course, Joey is still afraid of other children so that night he had a few problems.  He was up most of the night crying.  But, all things aside, I plan to go back next year and I really hope Linda is there.

*Wouldn't you think that by letting parents in for free it makes the job of the creation station workers a bit easier?  Fewer brats to patrol?  Besides, I'd be easily tricked into paying $3 per child, parents always free.

What is this?

So, I was on MySpace and do you know how there is that sidebar that says "people you may know" or whatever it says?  Up pops a familiar name alongside a really familiar face.  I clicked, out of curiosity, and was excited the page wasn't a private link.  I looked at all of the photos and read all that was posted. . . . . . .and then I bawled my eyes out.

It's funny how time sort of makes things dull for awhile, but then jumps up on you and sort of gives you a big fat shiner right between the eyes.  There is this big fat empy space deep inside of me.  A place that will probably never be the same again, a place that I don't like to go because feelings can sometimes be bad.  I don't like bad feelings, I don't like feeling sad, I don't like feeling angry, and I don't like thinking about that day.  Sometimes life can suck. Sometimes life can be so unfair.

I came across the page of the sibling of a friend.  A friend that I had known since kindergarten.  I sent that sibling an e-mail.  Sort of asking about life in general, and giving the low down of my life.  You know how MySpace sort of tells you if the e-mail has been read or not?  Well it's been read.  But, it's been a few days and no reply.  I know that if I read something and I don't reply the second I read the mail, I just never reply.  Out of being too busy, or laziness, or not being interested....I just don't reply if I don't do it that moment I read the mail.

So, now I'm a bit sad.  I want to know why there wasn't a reply, but am a wee bit embarassed to admit that it matters that much to me.  I don't know. . . but I wish that I did.

The sibling is Kathleen.  The friend was Angie.  Just to give you the short story. . . . .  Angie and I met in kindergarten.  We were friends throughout school.  I was the one who introduced her to the man she married.  She had a rough life.  Her stepdad molested her from the time she was VERY young until she finally FINALLY told on him.  She was 17.  She married Tim shortly after graudation.  She had a fatal car accident a few months later.  I miss her so much and think about her more than I think is normal. 

So, I sent Kathleen an e-mail.  I told her that I'm glad MySpace is around because it was good to see how she's doing.  I told her that I miss Angie and think about her often.  I told her that I'd like to hear from her.. . . .but the letter only remains to be 'read'.  No replies.

And her sick monster of a stepdad only spent a few months in the county jail.  The legal system is royally screwed up.  He needs to have his boy parts cut off and needs to remain behind bars for life.

What is this?

I keep putting it off.  Not today, because the kids woke me up too early and I had trouble sleeping last night.  Not right now because the kids need me.  Not this moment because I have to clean the house and put away laundry.  It's not a good time because I'm on my period.  The coffee machine blew up today and I didn't get a caffeine fix, I can't possibly do anything at all productive today.  The list grows longer and longer with each passing day.

I never really intended on doing it at all because, if the fat can't just melt off then why bother.  Losing weight shouldn't have to be hard work, it should come naturally. It sure wasn't hard work to put all the weight on, was it?  No, what did it do? It came naturally! So, obviously, it should melt off naturally, right?

Yeah yeah yeah, my rump keeps growing but it's not my fault my kids are extremely light sleepers and I have to sit on the computer chair the entire time and play on the internet.  I'm quite certain if 130 pounds came crashing down on the floor every second or two (jumping jacks), the kids would think the house was falling down and would wake instantly.  Or if they heard the fat rolling around on the floor as I grunted and groaned my way up and down to do crunches or sit-ups they would wake up and be rolling all over me, thus preventing any attempt at working out.

Of course, I can't work out when they are awake because re read that line in green again.  I already roll on the floor with them and play around, I don't need to accommodate their rough housing needs during my work out.  Plus, working out with kids just isn't my thing.  I'll play with the kids all day and night long, coloring, art projects, reading books, having a picnic in the meadow, playing ring around the rosie, etc. . . .Just leave me alone when I work out.

Then there is the husband threat.  While he's never mentioned my spreading behind, and he  is kind and patient and wonderful in every way (yes he really is that amazing and smoking hot too!) I just can't stomach the fact that he KNOWS I'm working out.  I don't want to risk comment from anyone that I  love about my exercise routine.  I'm weak, and I know it.  I just don't want him to know that I am or even want to work out. 

So, this morning, after going to bed way too late, waking up at the crack of dawn, and having an unusually crabby morning with both kids, I decided that today, just today, I would do something to help improve the fat that is accumulating around my mid section, hips, bottom, belly, thighs, etc.  So, after I got out of the shower, I ever so quietly did a few sit up's while the kids and Kevin were playing in the living room with the television on.  I did 25 and boy was it difficult and did it take a lot A LOT of time.  Then I did 25 left elbow to right knee, right elbow to left knee things. 

It was only the first day so I wanted to take it easy.  Maybe I'll find it in me to do again tomorrow. Lets hope so.  Better yet, maybe I'll expand on what I'm doing.  Just a handfull of exercise things that can be added to my shower routine on a daily basis to help melt off more fat and keep new fat from forming.

What is this?

So way back in the day, long before children, long before maturity had set in, I was living life to the fullest and working at a local dollar theater.  Only, as time went on, the price went from 75 cents, to a dollar, to a buck and a quarter, to a buck seventy five, to two dollars, and that's about the time I quit working there. 

Read that again, I quit working there.  Did I get fired? Nope!  I don't know why not because I deserved it many times, even times I don't plan on sharing with anyone because the times are seriously that incriminating. 

Anyway, it might not have been a good idea to use an empty paper towel roll as a straw while working at the said movie theater.  The boys dared me to do it and, well when I was in my late teens and early twenties, anytime a member of the male species dared me to do something, I pretty much had to do it.  The result?  About 30 seconds give or take an additional 30 seconds...or so of water filled lungs.  Lungs that are filled with water can not breathe.  I started seeing stars, I started getting all hot and sweaty and things started to go dark and fuzzy.  Right before black settled in I started coughing.  I coughed so much and so hard that the soda I was drinking through this dare induced straw spewed out of my nose and mouth in the form of lung vomit.  It was gross and it hurt.  So, it might not have been a good idea to use an empty  paper towel roll as a straw.

Also, it might not have been a good idea to let the boys pick me up and carry me to the ice machine and put me inside the ice machine.  But, it was about 480 degrees outside and we had been really busy that day and I think I was on my period.  PMS days make me crazy and well the boys who worked at the cinema were cute (most of them!).  They were all very lean boys who knew what the inside of the gym looked like and they must have worked out often (most of them!).  So, when Hercules thought it was a good idea to pick me up and he asked me "What am I going to do with you", I may have suggested being tossed in the ice maker.  Furthermore, I may have WANTED to suggest for him them to take me upstairs in the projector room to get candy to restock the candy display, dance, okay, get naked and have crazy sex.  Okay, so maybe it was the middle of February when the boys did this to me, so maybe I meant to say it was 480 degrees inside of me!  The ice bin was needed to cool ME off.

It might not have been a good idea to eat all those doughnuts.  But, in retrospect I had cravings.  I was hungry and they looked tasty.  I will not disclose the number of doughnuts I ate but in my defense, I paid for every single one of them.  Who cares that I didn't share them.  They were good.  So maybe it was a sugar high when the little girl came up to me and asked for a refill on her Mountain Dew, maybe it was something else, but that was just too gosh darn funny for me to handle at such a sensitive time.  So I did what any girl would do in such a situation, I laughed, and laughed, and laughed.  It was funny.  Trust me it WAS funny!

And this my friends, isn't even the tip of the iceberg.  I thank the Good Lord Above that I wasn't fired because I did something almost daily that deserve the title "It Might Not Have Been A Good Idea"....but at least I had a lot of fun!

What is this?

I am so completely impressed with Chick-Fil-A.  Today (Labor Day) they had something on their website that if you wear your team logo, you'll get a free chicken sandwich.  So, my husband and I called the Chick-Fil-A in Chesterfield and asked about the promotion they said it was true so we drove over there to collect on the goods.

I was wearing a Rams shirt, my son was wearing a Cardinal's shirt and my husband was wearing a Cardinal's shirt.  We don't have a team logo shirt for Isabella and we knew the kids wouldn't even finish half a sandwich so we just put her in normal clothing.  We only need three sandwiches anyway.

So, we get to the store and the parking lot is PACKED, the parking lots are packed (people were parking next door and surrounding areas and walking over) the drive through was wrapped around the building.  We load up and head to the store and found the line was actually OUT THE DOOR!!!  I thought about finding a place to sit, with the kids but Kevin reminded me that we all had to be in line to get the free sandwich (logo shirt!)  So reluctantly I waited in line with a very busy 2 and 4 year old and a husband (childlike too?)

Much to my amazement the line went very quickly.  We were in line for maybe 5 minutes.  Our food was on the tray before the girl got the soda's poured.  I was completely amazed.  What amazed me even more was the fact that people were pretty generous with seating.  It seemed that people were basically eating pretty quickly and leaving, so we got a seat as soon as we left the line.  As I was eating, I noticed that it was almost like a well oiled machine.  People coming and going and no real problems at all.  The staff working at Chick-Fil-A, were amazing too.  They had people walking around, checking on if anyone needed their drink 'refreshed', cleaning up the booths and tables as soon as someone got up.  The store was amazingly clean even though there was a HUGE volume of people in the store and in the drive up.

Even more amazing and great about this particular visit was the fact that everything was delicious.  The fries were hot and fresh.  The sandwich was hot and fresh.  Everything tasted just as it should, or normally does, when they aren't so packed.  Even the employees were very friendly....all I'm saying is when I have to deal with hundreds of people, my nerves get a little frazzled and I get a bit uneasy.  I used to work at Jack In The Box when I was a teen......they let me manage the place, that still makes me laugh, but that's another blog!

Anyway, if you read this today and you want a free Chick-Fil-A sandwich, stop by while wearing your team logo, the lines might look frightening long, but it goes quick and it's worth the wait.