Well that's a new one

Around here we can have dinner pretty late, especially during the summer.  But last night I hit a new late night dinner time.... 11:30!   I walked in the door, scarfed down 2 pieces of lasagna (inquired why they didn't bother to cut into the $7 of fresh bread nor touch all the fresh greens I'd bought for salad to go with it) and then fell into bed.  You'd think I'd sleep until next week but I was awake by 5:30 and finally got up at 6:30.   Meg was crying by 6:45 so I had her hang out with me.  Her mommy and daddy needed to sleep in.  They'd only had a few hours of sleep the night before and Saturday was even harder for them.  

Drew and Allison had Tom, Luke, Jake, Cory and my nephew Joey helping them load up the Uhaul.  I lucked out and only had to go to the apartment once, when I picked up Meghan.   I took Tom, Luke and Jake to the small city to pick up the Uhaul and they drove it to the apartment.   They needed to take two trips to get everything.  Their storage unit is stuffed!   I just kept thinking....I'm glad it's not me having to do this.  What would I get rid of? Keep?  How and where would you store 23yrs (in this house) and 12 kids worth of stuff?  It was pretty late when they got here to drop off things so most of their stuff is sitting in a pile in the living room.  They managed to set up Meghan's crib and throw their box spring and mattress on the floor for the night.  Right now they are enjoying (I hope) some down time with her family for birthday celebrations.   Me, I'm sitting here for a few minutes.  Already this morning I've done... 2 loads of laundry, scrubbed the entire tub and one toilet, fed and gave baths to the 3 little ones, washed dishes, and cooked egg and bagel sandwiches.   After Meghan's bath she needed a new diaper but the disposables were in the bedroom with her sleeping parents.  So I grabbed her cloth diaper and cover out of her diaper bag.  (Allison was using the disposables during the busy moving time)  It's been a loooong time since I've had to pin a diaper on a little one.  Luckily Meghan was a doll and just lounged on my lap until I was done.   Although I think I saw her roll her eyes and heard her chuckle once ;o)   Give me a few days and I'll be an old pro again.

So today I'm trying to get some semblance of order in this place.  Not only do I have the kids stuff piled high but I haven't been here in a few days and we've been moving rooms/tearing areas apart trying to rearrange things which always manages to make messes too.  Right now I'll be concentrating on the kitchen and a few storage areas that I wanted to make available for Allison to utilize.   Then there are toys I want to clean up, mostly doll house stuff that's been sitting in the closet.  I saw Meghan eyeing the tote this morning.  I think her, Dylan and Sean would have fun playing with it on Monday.   Tom just let me know his friend is coming over in a little bit to work on his riding mower that won't start.   I wish he would also work on the van.   I don't think I can fit 3 car seats across the back of the Elantra so we won't be able to go anywhere as long as Dylan is here during the day.    Who knows though, I may try it and find out I was mistaken, which would be awesome!

Well, my coffee cup is empty so I guess my break is over.   Time to switch laundry and whip the kitchen into shape again!            

It's almost that time

Right about now 28yrs ago I was getting irritated at Tom because he wanted to watch his favorite show Jeapordy and I was in heavy BACK labor for the first time in my life.  (not that having gone through it previously makes it easier)  Thankfully he thought it through and decided it might be better to turn it off and devote his attention to me.   Almost 2hrs later Drew was born.  (his birth story).   The poor kid is dealing has to celebrate his birthday all by himself.   He's in the Catskills working until tomorrow night.    When he gets home there'll be little rest in his future, we have a busy weekend ahead of us.   I'll be spending most of it in the car.

By tomorrow night I'll have taken at least one trip to Liz's new apartment, maybe 2.   Driven Liz and Val to work and picked them up.     Gone grocery shopping.    Taken the kids to the youth meeting.   Cleaned the bedroom Drew and Allison are moving into. Cleaned the bathtub.  And the regular stuff....cooking, picking up, etc.  

Saturday starts with me taking Val to work by 7am, picking up Meghan at the apartment, getting my car loaded with stuff.   Home so the kids can empty the car and Tom can use it to go to the dump.   Then Tom, the boys and I are back in the car and back to the apartment by 11.   I get another load to take home, Tom and Drew go pick up the Uhaul.  They then fill it, take stuff that needs to go to storage to their unit and then the rest gets brought here to be unloaded.   In the meantime, I'm heading home to watch Meghan, finish the cleaning I didn't do, and make Drew Lasagna for his birthday dinner.   Val gets picked up from work at 2:30 and Liz goes in at 3:30.  Then it's back to pick up Liz at 8:30 for the last time and take her (and any stuff left here) to her apartment. Oh and the Uhaul has to be returned sometime that evening too.

The last thing we need to do is go back to the apartment Sunday night or Monday morning to clean the apartment and take pictures incase the stupid landlords try to keep the security deposit and they have to be brought to small claims court.

Tom's been busy this week setting up loft beds for the girls so rooms could be moved around.  They look cool, although I wish I'd had the time (and cooperation from the weather) to paint them before they were put up.

Well, as much as I'd like to continue the kids are wanting to read the new books I bought from the thrift store.   Maybe I'll get back here later and post about how I again aced the "mother of the year...not" award today.  

It's stuck...

The smell of bleach is stuck in my nose and won't be leaving.  Tom treated the well and put too much in.  Now I'm afraid to do laundry for risk of bleaching everything out.   Carrie did her's and said it got some hard set stains out. lol    I keep telling everyone to hook up the pool filter and we'll throw the water in there....won't need to chlorinate it.   So what if we can't cook with it, at least it doesn't smell like rotten eggs now.   One thing that's bothered me with our water, no matter how much bleach I add to the washer, the clothes still come out looking grey.  While researching I found that it's the reaction to the BLEACH!  The thing I was adding to make it better was actually making it worse.  I saw a suggestion to use oxygenated bleach instead so maybe I'll try that.

One of the fun things about driving so much is observing life in the villages I drive through.  It's always great to see tons of people out walking, working and socializing.  It also makes me want to get some things done around here.   Now if I could work while I'm driving......I'd be all set. lol   I've decided the two things village/urban houses have over rural ones is convenience to places of importance and sidewalks.   I'm actually quite envious of people walking and biking on the sidewalks.  Oh to have a huge box of colored chalk and all the sidewalk squares you could want.  Oh well, at least I don't have to worry about keeping them cleared in the winter.

One more week until  Drew, Allison and Meghan will be living here.  I'm hoping tonight Tom and I can get the loft/bunkbeds up so people can move into their new rooms.  I'm still trying to figure out what to do with a toy bench and totes of toys.

I let myself get booted off the computer and am now in the middle of a bunch of projects.   I've decide that we'll be deviating from the meal plan and instead clean out the fridge/freezer and have a few fun things like rye bread dip and chicken wing dip.   So it'll be a snacky day.   I've torn 2 counters  and my stove apart and scrubbed them down,  cleaned the microwave and done the dishes once.  The next load of dishes is soaking and the laundry is screaming my name.  I think a few of us need some things done so we'll have clean clothes for the meeting tomorrow.    I convinced Tom to go pick up Liz and take Danielle.    I'd made a deal with Sean to help around here on Thursday to earn money so he could buy his own dorito taco on Friday.   He did and yesterday we went to taco bell and he ordered and paid for the taco himself (only thing we ordered, Liz and I just sat and watched him enjoy it lol).  So Danielle was a little bent out of shape over it.  I made the same deal with her and now it's her turn.  She's been a major bug about it all day, asking it if was time to leave.  Asking if she could go to taco bell now, etc.  She wasn't too enthusiastic about having to buy it herself but I'm sure she'll do fine.    I also gave Tom a few dollars of my birthday money so he could order one for himself.  :o)

Poor Liz, she just wants to get home and get things done.  She's packing up since Saturday is her last day of work at her old job.  She had an "interview" with the boss of the place she's suppose to be transferring to.  When she told me the hours she'd work I informed her that she couldn't do it, the buses don't run from the jobsite after 6ish (she's working until 8:30pm and AJ is usually working at that time).   We searched the bus schedules and checked cab fares ($36 a trip!?!  For a 10mile ride!?!?)  She's hoping when she calls the new place they'll have another job for her during the day time hours.  If not she'll be pounding the pavement, looking for a new job.  She's hoping she can be a waitress at one of the many restaurants that are in her area.

Oops...I thought I posted this but guess not since I found this in my drafts.   So just posting it as is right now.   Originally wrote this Saturday the 21st.   

Thursday already!??!

Not that I'm complaining....I'm looking forward to the weekend already.  

One of the hardest things about having all these kids is watching/letting them make their mistakes and live with the consequences.  This week it was Carrie's turn.  She took her GED test all day on Tues and Wed.  She woke up Tuesday morning with a headache you knew was killing her just by looking at her.   She could barely open her eyes and they were watering.   She loaded up on Ibuprofen and when that didn't touch it, Excedrin and a cup of coffee hoping that the caffeine would help and out the door she went.   She wasn't happy when she came home.  She made a major mistake on the test and she thinks it might have caused her to fail.   She didn't finish the multiple choice reading questions, had 6 of 50 left to do but she could go back and finish it after she finished the second part which was an essay.  She decided to brainstorm and write the intro paragraph on the scrap piece of paper they provided.  The proctor reminded them that the essay was to be on the good paper to be counted.  She got the intro done and knew what the rest would be but FORGOT to move over to the good paper and kept on writing on the scrap.  She realized what she'd done when it was announced there was 10 mins left for the exam.   She'd written five paragraphs and was about to tackle the unfinished multiple choice when it hit her what she'd done.  She quickly tried to copy the essay to the good paper but only made it to paragraph 3 when time was called.  She's hoping it's enough to pass (need a 2 out of 4 score) but said it probably wasn't.   She also thought they said if they didn't finish the multiple choice it wouldn't be graded at all which makes NO SENSE to me but then I'm not the state so she could be right.  I hope not.    Luckily Wednesday was better for her.   It was also the day most of her strong subjects were being tested....Math and science.  Social studies was the other subject but not a good one for her.   So I guess we have to wait a week or two to get the results mailed to us.  I'm not sure what Carrie's suppose to be doing in the meantime and neither is she.   I guess we'll have to call the school.

I'm suppose to be cleaning up around here since I'll be getting company in an hour or so.  Meghan and Dylan (Allison's sister's son) will be coming over for the afternoon so I can babysit them.   Seems Allison has a first appointment with a MIDWIFE!!!!   Yep, I'm going to be a Grandma again!  It was the birthday present I said I had to wait for delivery of.  I was waiting for Allison to announce it on her blog but she's pretty busy right now.  It is Facebook official though so I feel ok sharing it here.   She gave me a birthday card that said "Guess What?" on the outside.    "I'm going to be a big sister soon!  Love Meghan"  on the inside.    It was the best birthday present ever!   She announced it to her family on Easter with Meghan wearing a tshirt that said I'm going to be a big sister soon on it.  She's feeling tired and icky just like a good pregnant person should.  :o)   Drew should be coming home tonight from his first week of work.    I mentioned to Tom that it's probably going to kick Drew's butt!   Allison stopped by the other night and said he sent her a picture of his blistered hands from digging holes all day his first day.   Thing is, Drew's always liked to be busy and do things so I'm sure he'll like this job.   Especially if it can help him get buff. lol

oops..a phone call and now the kids are here.   So I can't think/write more now.   

PHEW!

Finally getting to sit down to my first cup of coffee, and it's only 11:29. lol   I knew today would be hard after having over a week off but waaaah!   I want summer vacation to get here already!  And the weather doesn't help either, it's such a tease.  This morning was absolutely gorgeous!   Danielle was so concerned she'd need her jacket but eventually I convinced her it was ok to go out the door without it.   I can't wait until this weather is an everyday thing.   It kind of feels ungrateful of me to want to rush it here after the barely winter we just had but I LOVE me some summer!   Driving home from the small city with all the windows down in the car reminded me of the car trips we used to take around the lake on hot summer nights.  Oh to just be able to jump in the car and drive for the pure joy of driving.   Stupid gas prhmices!

So I'm pretty sure Drew started a new job this morning.  At least I know he was suppose to, whether he actually went to it or not I haven't a clue until I talk to Allison.  He's on the road Mon - Thurs doing refurbishing work on log homes, I think.   I'm glad that he has a new job, I'm sad that Allison will have deal with things on her own so that he can do it,  and that Drew will miss out on things.   I'm glad that she's moving in so I can help her out for a while.   Drew's work schedule is going to make moving a bit trickier.  They will be moved in within 2 wks and I have a lot to do.  When I mentioned to Tom some things I would need help with, he told me to call Drew and have him come over and help.  Not happening now.   If only my mind could do the actual work!  This place would be set straight in a heartbeat! lol    Everywhere I look I see things I need done or want todo.   Then I spend tons of mental energy doing them in my head, sometimes many many times.  Then I wonder why I'm exhausted and have no energy to do the actual project.

Of course having to drive so much doesn't help either.  I'm working on putting on 1200 miles on my car this week.   With Tom being on call, I've put on all but about 150.  *heavy sigh* So at the top of my todo list is to convince Tom it's time to find the time to teach these kids to drive!!!!  Originally we'd agreed he'd be the instructor, mostly because I always had little ones with me and that wasn't a good thing for a new driver to have to deal with.   Now it's because I've tried and  I'm not very good at it.   It's one of my faults...trying to tell someone what and how to do things doesn't come easy.  It's one of the reasons why I tend to just do things myself.  Or is the other way around?  I can't instruct because "it's easier" to do it myself?

So the rest of the list...

Make up a meal plan for this week and next
Paint and put up loft beds (3 of them)
Go lay in the grass and enjoy the warm breeze
Clean out the car
Pick up Sean and Danielle's room
Clean the large bathroom
Dishes
Straighten up my room
Put away some laundry
Clean out the sock bench
Start moving things out of Danielle and Sean's room
Paint my room
Play in the gardens
Plant some seeds
Crochet!  Crochet!  Crochet!
Patch the pool wall
Hook up the pool filter and start filling
Clear the leaves off the pool floor
wash windows, walls, cabinets, floors
And so on and so on and so on...

A funny this morning.  Sean was outside with Danielle while she waited for the bus.  As she was getting on the bus he started fooling around like he was going to get on the bus and go to school too.   Or at least I thought he was.  I stopped holding him back as the bus started pulling away and he started running after the bus like a puppy.   Then he started crying as he walked back, wailing... I WANT TO GO TO SCHOOL TOO!!!!!   Awww poor thing.   Liz has the day off and is making his day a fun one.  They've already gone for a walk down to Billy's pond, taken showers to wash off any poison ivy oils, had tortilla pizzas and are now enjoying Kung Fu Panda for the umpteenth time.  (yes, it's 1:14 now)

Today is Carrie's last regular day of the GED program.  She takes the actual test all day tomorrow and Wednesday.  I think she'll find out if she passed before she leaves on Wed.    She brought home a packet to join a summer program but arrived in the middle of the presentation for it.  I think it's for a summer training and employment program.  She'll find out more.  I know I don't want to be driving her to the small city every day for it but we'll see whether I do or not, especially after I find out more about it.

Well let's see what I can get done on my todo list in the next 2 hours before I have to leave again.    Hope your day is a good one.






     

Ok, still sitting

And I finally got my phone to send a picture to an email addy. (said mine wasn't a valid address grrrr)

Here's a cute one that Olivia (I think) took after we'd finished cleaning Sean and Danielle's room.....

I'll have to get on the other computer to see if I can find any other pictures to share.  This computer doesn't have a card slot and the monitor usually displays everything in a blue or red hue, so not good for photo editing.

Oh and I found my camera......IN THE COUCH!!!  And wouldn't you know it, it's showing a lens error message is unusable right now.  GRRRR!  

Aahhh a day at home

I lucked out this week, Liz and Val both had the same days off....Monday and Wednesday.   On Monday I ended up running Eileen and Olivia somewhere and going to the small city anyways (stupid Redbox!).  Today though, I have no choice but to stay home, Drew has borrowed the car for the day and the van still isn't working.    I have big plans for the day but not sure where to start, so I'm stalling here.

Easter brunch was very nice.   Michelle came over very early in the morning and hid plastic Easter eggs with Val.   She also brought over lots of yummy fruit, orange juice and chocolate milk which was a bigger hit then the Easter baskets. lol   I had almost everything done when I said it would be but forgot about the boxes of brown and serve sausage just before serving.  So there was a small delay.   After everyone stuffed their faces they went outside to have an Easter egg hunt.   I admit, I skipped out on that one feeling only a teeny tiny bit guilty.  I used the time to sit down and drink a cup of coffee and relax, it had been a really busy morning.   I then grabbed a steak knife and the thrift store angora sweater I had dyed with the leftover Easter egg dye and headed outside to join everyone and enjoy the beautiful day.   You're probably thinking......WHAT were you doing with the steak knife and a sweater?.  I know a few of my older kids who aren't around much to see my madness were.  I was starting to reclaim the yarn from the sweater    It's a way to get expensive yarn for dirt cheap prices.  It's also a cheap way to have fun and experiment with  kool aid and food coloring.  I like to do it outside, especially the fluffier yarns because deconstructing can put lots of loose fibers in the air and it stirs up my allergies.

Most of the older kids left in the early afternoon for celebrations on the other side of the family.   Drew and Allison came back over to visit until Meghan graced us with a major blowout in the diaper department.   Unfortunately Allison had already used the extra diaper cover on a previous messy diaper so it left us a bit exposed to a possible wet diaper in the future.   Then Allison and I had the brilliant idea to convert a plastic grocery bag into a cover!  We made holes in the bottom of the bag for Meghan's legs and Allison tied the handles around her middle.    Drew decided it was probably a better idea to just head home anyways.   I couldn't help but think, in a few weeks they will be home!  Yes, it is official....they will be moving in by the end of the month.

That being said, I need to get off my rear end and start getting things in order and make room for them.  My mind keeps trying to trick me and jump into...What time is it!?!  Is it time to go out the door yet?  mode.  Only to remember...I'm not stepping foot out the door today!  Have a good one.

All together

I'm excited for Easter morning although I'm feeling a little like a backslider.  The reason....I'm not going to church. The kids are all going to come over tomorrow morning and we're going to have a nice Easter brunch.  It was the only time that would work for everyone.  Most everyone had plans in the afternoon./evening and Liz has to be to work at 3:30.  I think the last time we were all together was Christmas and I don't see it happening again until June for my parents' anniversary.   So I'm skipping out on attending church on one of the most religious days of the year.   Yeah, backslider...that's me.

So far the menu is looking like....

Cream of spinach and asparagus soup
Ham
Quiche
Apple Stuffed French Toast
Seafood Salad Canapes
Cheesy Potatoes
Sausage
Various sweets and goodies
Fruit basket

Oh course I have way too many ideas for the sweets, so we'll see what gets done, if anything.   It's not like there won't be anything to eat if I don't make pumpkin muffins or gingerbread cookies or whatever else I've been drooling over lately.    

Yesterday most of the kids pitched in and we managed to clean the little kids room!  YAY!  I think everyone was surprised (including myself) how fast it actually went since the room was totally trashed.  We're talking about bookcases cleared off, drawers of things dumped out, etc.    Now we have to figure out whether to keep or get rid stuff and find a place to find to keep it all.  

This morning I woke up thinking...it's Saturday, not Sunday...I only have to go to the small city twice and I'm so glad I don't have to go to the Dome today!   I'd signed up but stated...If you happen to get a ton of people wanting to work, feel free to take me off the list.  My name wasn't on the final list so I'm assuming someone decided to be nice to me and let me off the hook for the day.  I'm a little sad that I'm missing out on the last event of the season but glad I don't have to stress about leaving and getting things done for tomorrow.  Plus Danielle has been really unhappy at me coming and going so much.  I walked in the door Thurs night to hear...I was just crying because I missed you.  And last night she was begging Tom to do the running so that I could lay down and read to them at bedtime.   :o(    Olivia went with me yesterday afternoon to take Liz to work and pick up some things for tomorrow.    She had the brilliant idea that I could get a job and Allison could watch them while I worked.    She didn't see why it wasn't a good idea, especially for this summer.   I assured her there'd be plenty of time for me to get a job....after I grow up/Sean goes to school.   That we don't need me to work that bad and I'm not willing to be away from home any more then I have to.     Hmmm...I just mentioned this to Tom and he said it's a good idea!   Maybe I'm on the wrong page here, although I don't think I am.

Alright, the cinnamon bread nor the quiches are making themselves.    Guess I need to get off my fanny now.  






    

Vacation!!!

I did a little dance yesterday morning as the bus pulled away.  Not that I was happy Danielle was going to school, I was happy that my vacation had officially started.  I won't have to get up any exhausted cranky kids for the next 10 days!   Woohoo!

Yesterday was grandparents/special friend's day at school.  My parents had decided a while ago that they'd only attend with the kids in Kindergarten....so this year was their year to go.  My mom crabbed a little about having to go and I reminded her it was the second to last time.  That by this time next year she'd go for Sean and then be all done.   :o(    Val and Liz have already volunteered to go with Danielle next year/the other times.     I messed up and ended up having to leave,  which means I missed seeing my parents when they brought Danielle home for lunch.  (my mom hates ziti so didn't want to eat at school).   I dropped Val off at work for 10, thinking....I'll get home just in time to take Carrie to school.   I got home, walked in the door and immediately started cleaning the living room.  Carrie stumbled into the living room 45 minutes after the bus left school and 15 minutes before her class was to start (GED program school is 35+ mins away in the small city, a few miles from where Val works).    She HAD to go since she only has 2 days to practice for her test and was in the middle of doing essays.    I hate when I can't keep a thought for more then 3 seconds, it seems to happen a lot lately.

So in the next few weeks my front door may as well be a revolving door.   Liz is putting her 2 week notice in at work or maybe asking for a transfer.  Either way she'll be moving out at the end of the 2wks.   Val is looking for a place to rent in the small city and it's almost certain that Drew, Allison and Meghan will be moving in with us at the end of the month.   YAY!  It'll be interesting to see how that goes.  I'm sure we'll be fine.  

Sean was so excited.  He's been waiting for me to make "donuts".  I told him he had to wait until Friday when everyone was home from school.   So this morning we cut up and fried refrigerator biscuits to make cinnamon donuts.  The plan as of right now is to finish this up and then get some people moving in the little kids' room.   It'll turn into Carrie's room since Drew and Allison will be taking over her room.   The only roadblock is what to do with all the toys.  I don't think they'd do well in the living room.    I'd love if I could get into my bedroom.  It shouldn't take too long to straighten up but I want to paint it!  Then again it would be nice if we could paint the little kids' room before we rearrange bedrooms too.  And if Allison wants to repaint Carrie and Liz's room..... It's not bad, they painted it purple and yellow last summer, but she might want a color scheme more to her liking.

Well, guess I should get up and get moving since no one will do anything as long as I'm sitting here.   Maybe I'll get my act together and start using my camera more and make it a bit prettier here.  

            

Time flies

When my mom called me to sing me Happy Birthday last week I asked her....does it make you feel old to have a 47yo daughter?  She said the feeling old didn't bother but the passage of time did.  I so get this.    Sean has gotten so independent (even though he can still insist on acting like a baby too), he keeps himself entertained with drawing, writing, building ramps for cars and playing in his own little world.   Wasn't he just born and demanding all my attention.....throwing me for a loop like I've never been thrown before?   Some girls are moving or planning on moving out very soon.   Weren't they just 3 and 4,  playing church with their baby dolls and booster seats?     While those hit me hard every once in a while what really hits me hard on a regular basis is reading blogs of my online friends.  Seeing pictures of kids that I don't see on a regular basis.  Ones that I remembers being  BORN and then to see them maturing into young men and ladies!    WOW!  Has it really been 11 years since I saw them in real life?  Have I known their moms for THAT long or longer!?!  It seems like yesterday we were all camping together.  

One of the greatest perks of being a mom to so many kids over such a long time span..... wisdom and experience.  To realize just how fleeting  and precious those early years are and to enjoy them more with the later kids.   The experience to realize a 2yo tantrum isn't a direct reflection on my parenting skills and it doesn't matter if anyone else agrees with that idea or not.   Sometimes I feel bad for the older kids to have gotten the less experienced, harsher and unrelaxed mom.  But then I think.......WAIT!  They got the mom who was energetic and fun! lol   The one who had first experiences right along with them.   Of course I still try to be the fun mom now but it's a different fun.   And I try to remember that as mind numbing as the 11th kindergarten function is......it's THIS child's first and only kindergarten function and just as special as the first time I sat through it.

Anyways, this weekend was a busy one.    I had a very nice birthday celebration on Thursday night with most of the kids here.  THANK YOU for all the birthday wishes from all my online friends!!!!   The kids bought pizza so I wouldn't have to cook.  Drew and Allison brought me flowers and another gift that I have to wait to be delivered.   Michelle bought me 2 tickets to a fundraiser at the MOST Museum on Saturday evening...a beer tasting extravaganza with her driving and picking us up so no worries of drinking and driving.   It was very fun grown up night!  Val bought me flower bulbs and Matt bought me a HUGE fly swatter which was a big hit for everyone.  (a new spanking stick!)  Tom gave me a $25 gift card to Home Depot then suggested I buy a new filter for the lawn tractor. lol  

Friday saw me driving the girls to work, grocery shopping and getting ready for the indoor garage sale the next day.  I tried to sit down and crochet some things but I couldn't, I shut down.     At least I had my fabric and craft supplies to sell.    I stayed up way too late getting everything ready and had to get up way to early to get to the sale.   We were at the sale by 7am to finish setting up and the people were waiting at the door for the start at 8.   It seems like everyone that sold garage sale stuff did well but the crafters didn't do too much.  Poor Allison didn't sell a single cowl.  I think it was bad timing.   We'd just finished up 2wks of summer weather and I don't think people were in the scarf/cowl buying mindset.  My fabric and Michelle's stuff went well.    After the sale I went home, threw in laundry so I'd have an outfit for the night and then took a nap.  I felt guilty but I was TIRED!   I woke up, got ready to leave and out the door we went on our date.   We were home by 10:30 which was way too early in my mind.  My body didn't agree and I was asleep on the couch with Danielle and Sean in no time.     Sunday was the meeting.  Tom dropped us off so he could take Val to work.  After he picked us up I was headed out the door to take Liz to work.   Then I headed to my parents' house.   We had to spill the beans on the surprise anniversary reception.  :o(    There was ONE problem we just couldn't get through without their input.  My dad is not happy.  He didn't want us to do this because of the money.   My mom now has something to fret about for a few months. lol   But it makes things a little bit easier for us (like making a play list).  Then it was back into the small city to pick up the girls.  Although I missed seeing them I was glad the little ones were in bed when I got home....again, after 10pm.  

Yesterday was my day off, both girls didn't have to work.   My head thought we would get a lot accomplished with no time limitations looming over us.  My body said...think again I'm sitting here and you can't make me get up!   I did start a crochet project though..  I think it might be a Christmas gift for one of my kids, so not saying right now.   Today Val went into work early this morning.  I'm picking Carrie up from school early so she can get her ID.  She needs it by Thursday since she'll be taking her GED test the day after we return from spring break.    I'm also going to renew my driver's license which was suppose to be done last Friday and totally slipped my mind until Saturday night.   Then it's to Aldi's for fruit for Danielle's class.  They're having their Easter party tomorrow and it's my turn to contribute.   Tom signed me up for cut up fruit during open house (I was at the ER with Olivia who had a fondue fork in her foot).  When I asked him WHY!?!!   Why couldn't he sign me up for something easy like paper plates and cups or juice he said there wasn't anything else to sign up for.  So I'll cut him some slack, but GRRRRR!  and cha-ching!

I am counting down the minutes until Spring Break starts!   Come oooon vacation!  But now it's time to get ready to get out the door.

  

Here I sit

and all I can hear is the roaring of my computer fan...NICE!    It's late but I took a nap I guess.   I was exhausted tonight so when I laid down with Sean and Danielle just before 9, I went out like a light.   I woke up when Tom came into bed and then fell asleep again.   Finally I woke up for good, or so I thought.  Then I came out into the living room with kids still up and doing things.   I looked at the clock to check the time before I started yelling at them for staying up so late only to discover....it was 11:30!!!   Are you kidding me!  I thought it was like 3am.   Now most normal people would think......oh yeah!  Tons of time I didn't know I had! I can get some things done.  Not me, I've been sitting on the couch engrossed in Criminal Minds and Without a Trace shows for the last 4 hours.

Taking Danielle to McDonald's was fun.  She was surprised to discover that I didn't have Sean with me when I picked her up.   She thought we'd gone over to Della's and were getting her up "on the way home".   Well I canceled on account of not having propane, lack of a shower or clean clothes.   I love having one on one time with my kids!   Her mouth didn't stop for a second.  I heard all about playing with Charlotte and Charlotte's friend on the playground.  Do you know Charlotte's friend is named Abigail.  Isn't it amazing..... she has a best friend with the same name as her sister.  Apparently Danielle thinks so.   I was only going to get a hot fudge sundae for myself but decided at the last minute to order a happy meal to bring home to Sean.   The poor kid,  I think he's only had them a few times.   I told the big kids...I used to buy them for you all the time when they had good prizes like mini barbies,  madame alexander dolls, and such.   Of course back then they were only $2.  Since when did they resize the fries in the happy meals!?!?!  They used to get a small/value fry, now they're some rinky dinky cardboard container that mimics  the large fry one.   For Danielle the fries are the best part (since she doesn't like hamburgers which was news to me).   Anyways, we talked, ate and got home in time to pass her bus a few doors down from our house.

So today is my 47th birthday..    I've already declared that there's no such thing as calories today after snacking on a bowl of homemade kettle corn (with brown sugar and real butter.......yum!) and some microwaved pepperoni's.   Then I wonder why my scale says the numbers that it does.   Della gave me some resistance bands to use to get in shape. (along with a shirt and a box of chocolate bars!)  It's the best thing since the main feature that bothers me about myself is how large my arms are.  What was once chiseled muscle is now flapping flab.   Problem is, I have to USE the bands to see any benefit from them. *grumble grumble*.   Carrie already gave me a card she made me and huge hugs and kisses.  I told Sean all I wanted for my birthday was hugs and kisses all day.  He wasn't really gungho on the idea for some reason.     I told Val I'd take a facial and my eyebrows waxed if she felt like it.  My guess is going to be she doesn't feel like it.  Liz already gave me my present.  She switched days with someone so she'd have this day off and I wouldn't have to drive her.   Of course she had ulterior motives for doing it in the first place but that's ok, I'll take it anyways.   And now I get to enjoy a few hours of total peace and quiet in here.  It's almost to the point that I hate to waste it by going to bed but my eyes are saying I should.   Besides, who wants to feel like they need to go to bed by 8pm on their birthday!   So I guess I'll try to get some more sleep.   If I'm unsuccessful, I may be back to ramble some more..   Night

       

What a way to start the day

Or actually it might be more appropriate to say what a way to end the day since it started last night.  I went to make dinner (stroganoff) and discovered......WE WERE OUT OF PROPANE!   Great!  There was no reason for it to be, we were paid in full!   So now  I had a house full of hungry people, a sink full of dishes, laundry to do, showers that need to be taken and none of it could happen!    Luckily I had purchased a few packages of Old El Paso Tortilla Stuffers at the dollar store, so we microwaved those. (we had the steak and 2 chicken varieties) They aren't too bad, especially with some added cheese (doesn't cheese make everything better?).  But now I have to deal with a kitchen full of dishes.

This morning I was awake around 3ish.  Instead of getting up I made myself try to go back to sleep so dozed on and off until 5.  Then I had a stupid dream.  Someone seriously offended me in my dream and I started going off on them.  Thing is I woke up in the middle of my rant and it continued in my head while I laid there.   It totally threw me for a loop and I started bawling like a baby.   I had NO idea those thoughts were rolling around in my head and I was shocked at how easily it was coming forward.  WOW!   I knew I had a lot of things to work on spiritually but geesh!  And now to add on fighting down and out discouragement.    Maybe I'll just go back to bed with the other kids who REFUSED to get up for school this morning.  I'm about to plant some dynamite in some mattresses.   This routine is getting very old, very fast.

All done sending the kids to school.  Only Olivia remains, Jake went in late with Danielle.   Olivia's been having a really hard time getting up every morning.   I don't know if they aren't going to bed at a reasonable hour or not.  With her  I worry it's another huge bout of depression rearing it's ugly head.   UGH!   Why do they have to grow up?   Why can't I just hug the hurt out of them?   Or kiss it and make it better?  

Oops!  I got to puttering and forgot I was writing.    The gas man came so I decided to try to flush out the hot water tank before we turned it back on.  Not sure how well I did it, but I did manage to get some crud out.   Now there's a huge tote of water I have to deal with before I can get to the pilot light of the tank, so no hot water yet.  Then I came upstairs and started going through my fabric.  I decided that I'll probably never use it (even though I LOOOOOVE a good bit of it) so I'll try to sell it at the garage sale on Saturday.   I also have a ton  of other craft supplies, books and leaflets.  So I've been examining, measuring and folding fabric for most of the late morning, but it's done.   My thinking is if it doesn't sell this weekend I can list it on ebay or etsy, especially the vintage stuff from my grandmother.   And I could probably get a good bit more for it then I'm asking now (especially on etsy).  Funny thing though, I kept hearing my girls say....I'd like a summer dress in that!   Oh that's pretty.  One of the reason why I never used these fabrics way back then  is that my girls refused to wear anything I made with them.   lol

Even though today is my day off (Val and Liz both have today off) I'm still watching the clock.   Danielle was awarded a coupon for a free happy meal this month.  It's part of the Parents As Reading Partners program.   We send in a slip that she's read so many minutes for the week and they give her a prize.    Well her coupon is burning a hole in her pocket and she's begging me every day to redeem it.   It's in a village that's not in the direction I usually drive the girls.  So I'm picking her up from school today and we're going in to use it.   As a test to see just how much I care what people think of me, Danielle told me....I told the teacher we haven't really been reading.  WHAT!?!?!!   I told her, yes it's true I haven't been reading you the 4 books before bed lately, but we read during the day don't we?   Yes.  Do the other kids read to you? Yes.   Do we play games with words to see if you can rhyme them, spell them or figure out the beginning sound?   Yes.   Then you are reading!!!!!   Seems she was suppose to color in a star for each day she read and I forgot to have her do it the first two weeks....so that's why she said it.  UGH!  Oh well, add another gold star to my "mother who cares.....NOT" award the school will be giving me soon.  

Well I guess I can do laundry without hot water, so I'll get off my duff and throw some in before I go out the door.   Have a good one.

God is Amazing!

So on Saturday I was emotionally at my end and exhausted.   Feeling like I couldn't handle a simple social function like a birthday party.   WRONG!!!   On the way home from the small city yesterday morning God had me turn the car around and offer an elderly lady walking down the road and struggling with her packages a ride.    (which I normally wouldn't ever considered) Thing is, the elderly lady wasn't elderly and was someone I knew!   I can't really share too many details since she has a right to her privacy.   Let's just say I knew she was a loooong way from home and shouldn't have been where she was and doing what she was doing.   This led to 10 hours of out of my element experiences and an emotionally exhausting day in my already busy day.

I learned that life is relative.  That while I think life is hard and I'm at my limit...I have NO clue.  I dealt with difficult issues yesterday, ones that people I know and are close to have to deal with every single day....scary, scary stuff.   I went places, called people (I HATE making phone calls), and talked to people without a second thought that normally would've made me want to roll into a ball and cry.   When I thought my life couldn't get any busier and crazier.....I discovered it can and I will survive it.  Not only did I survive, I came to a better place in my life because of it.    I'm not saying all my baggage from Saturday is gone, far from it..   But it's easier to bear today.

Someone I was talking to joked......."and we didn't have enough things to do today".   I said you're not kidding!  But God had me turn around and pick her up for a reason.   I'm not entirely clear on what that reason was but it was definitely for a reason.    As of right now I'm still not sure what became of all  the goings on of yesterday.    Maybe I never will.   But I learned a lot.
    

GUILT

Seems I've been writing about this a lot lately.   This morning it actually smothered me into a crying fit.   Well a harried and stressful drive didn't help, but still it's got me physically.  I'm working on not letting it and everything else that comes with it (depression, anxiety, etc) get to me but today..........EPIC FAIL!   It's been a hard week.  Tom's been on call and hasn't been able to help with any of the driving. To top it off the girls both worked mega hours and there wasn't a lot of coordination of schedules.   Amazingly God's hand is at work though.  Another huge work week for both of them but every day there's some overlap with their schedules so my trips are reduced.  Val's only day off happens to be a day Liz has off and they are both working the same hours on Tuesday which has never happened (meaning I only drive in twice that day!).  The hard day is going to be Monday because Luke has a dr appt in the big city for worker's comp 2.5 hrs before Val needs to be at work. As long as they are expeditious at the appt, I'll be ok. But a big delay and I'm in deep doodoo.   I guess I could leave him there and ask my parents' to pick him up when he's done, or he can walk to their house since   it's only about 4 or 5  miles.  Only problem with that is then I'll have to take another trip to the big city that day.   It would be nice if Tom could pick him up after work, but only county workers are allowed in their vehicles.

I'm suppose to be attending a surprise birthday party for a friend from church tonight.   I leaning toward not going.  Right now I don't feel like I could go physically, which has never happened to me.  Be so overcome that  it prevents me from having fun.   I know people would say....all the more reason to go....to get encouragement and support.  I feel like if one person says hi to me, I'll break down, not really birthday party material IMO.  I also would really like to be able to stay home with Tom (if he doesn't get called out) and the kids since I would be the only one going to the party.

Tomorrow is a lacrosse game at the Dome and the church is working it.  I was hoping not to sign up but they're 2 people short and asked and I've been debating it.  This morning I decided there was no way I could do it.  Then I realized that Tom's on call and might not be here to take the girls to and from work tomorrow afternoon,  so I have to be here.  I MIGHT be able to coordinate drop offs and pick ups with someone else, although I'm not sure who.  Thing is my brain won't let me have the brain power to work on that, so I'm declining.  Now if I could just get Luke to feel some sense of obligation and volunteer to take a spot, I'd be good.

Yesterday morning I woke Danielle up for school.   She took one look at me, wrapped her arms around my neck and said.... MOMMY! I hardly seen you last night!   Words to bruise a mommy's heart.   I was so tempted to not send her to school but she's missed a lot lately so we cuddled for a little bit and I sent her on her way.  I can't wait for spring break!!!!!  

OOPS!  I lost it again..   Tom was bitching about the cat getting into the trash which tends to be one of his weekly trash day rants.  It was bothering me to hear it and I asked him to stop.  He got irritated a more about that and bitched some more.  I yelled STOP and then locked myself in my room to have a good cry.  The poor kids (especially Olivia), I'm glad my niece just called and invited her over to spend the night.  I really hope this is a PMS thing.   I'm due for my period to start around my birthday (the 29th) so the timing looks right.  Because if it's not......    

So today I had some time to kill

Liz went into work at 5 and Val got out at 6:30.  To save some gas and time I decided to stick around the city between those times.    I had kids begging me to go and if I was a good mom I'd have let a few come and talk my ear off.   Or taken them for a walk along the nature trail at the community college.  But I wasn't and didn't.  I said sorry, I'm being selfish and going alone.  Then I grabbed some crochet things and out the door we went.   Now the question was where do I go to kill the time?   The final decision....the Rite Aid parking lot!   There was tons of shade on the east side of the building so I parked there with all the windows down, enjoying the breeze.  It also helped that I remembered I had a $2 coupon toward anything.  I ran in, picked up a jug of dish detergent, a buy one get one free Arizon Iced Tea  deal (the sweet tea is stupid!  basically just sugar water with a tea bag swished through it) and a buy one get one free candy deal.  What did I choose?   Heath bar and a cherry sparkling Laffy Taffy...yeah I know...how mature.   At least Val really appreciated my second iced tea.

MAN!  What is wrong with people nowadays!?!  I can't tell you how many times I heard the F word while sitting in the parking lot.    I was about to break out the bottle of dish soap and administer it.   Has everyone lost all adjectives except that word?  I swear EVERY car that pulled up on both sides of me had it being thrown around.  And the cigarette smoke.  I don't want to be one of those ex smokers that's intolerant of  present day smokers but....ICK!   It was stuck in my nose and I couldn't get it out.  It felt like what I was crocheting  was going to smell it was so bad.    It made me VERY glad we have a no smoking in the house rule.   Before Carrie had cancer it was how I smelled all the time.   (when the no smoking rule was enacted).   I can't get over the amount of beer I saw going out of that place....and it's only Thursday!   One would think it was Saturday evening.  I won't even talk about the amount of missing teeth.  But  I did see a pretty sweet mullet and it was on a pretty young guy.   Are they coming back?   Oh I can only hope.

Tom's on call this week and his phone just went off.  Guess he's going to have to head into work.  He started bugging me about being up at this hour.  I assured him I'd slept from 10 until 2.   He's always on my case about how I don't get enough sleep.   Then again, he'd sleep 20 hours a day if he could.  I guess he's not the only one with that opinion though since Sean casually mentioned the other day....Mom...how come you never sleep?

Oh weird night.  Tom headed out the door and two of my kids ended up waking up and coming out.  One went to back to bed shortly after getting up.  The other asked to use this computer and then started talking.  Talking about things that haven't been talked about in years.  Things that I've always wondered about.  And the best thing....they told me they loved me and appreciated everything I've done.   Words that make a mom's sacrifice totally worth it.

I think I'll end this on that note.  

  

I should be doing something else

but here I sit.   Well, not entirely true...I just made myself get up and throw in laundry so as to not be wasting time while I sit here.  Plus I dug up some things on my laundry room floor.  ACHOOO!    Allergy time is starting up with this nice weather.   The trees are budding, my lilacs are actually leafing out, just hope snow and frost don't come to kill the early bloomers.   I'd be perfectly happy if we were done with snow (after all, it is spring now) but I live in Central NY and there's no hope of that happening.  So I'll just enjoy it while I can.

I need to get my camera, batteries, charger and memory card together and start using them more.  This place is BORING without pictures.  Besides, my kids are so cute it's a same not to share them.    Now my house....that's to be hidden from anyone's view for eternity.  Who knows though, I may figure out how to stop being a messer and get my house in order when the nest is empty.

I've already driven Val to work and don't need to head back in until 4:30.   5 hrs uninterrupted....what to do!   Part of me wants to take off and not deal with this place, part of me wants to stay here and ignore it and crochet all day, the other part of me wants to get it in order so I don't have to consider option 1 or 2 regularly.    So why am I here?   Because I feel like I need it.  I need to do something for me.  My head is full of stuff needed to be done for everyone else.  And to tell you the truth, it makes writing here a bit hard.  I feel like everything I write are random half thoughts.   ARGH!   Yes, I'll finally admit, I'm feeling a bit stressed.  It doesn't happen very often but I'm seriously battling with not biting anyone's head off for no reason or just totally shutting down.    This is not a pretty place to be and I've been asking for God's help a lot lately (which is what I should be doing all along anyways).

There is reprieve on the horizon and I'm feeling mixed about  that too.  Liz is talking about moving out in the next few months.  Her and her boyfriend have an opportunity to share a nice apartment in the big city with one of their friends.   While I want to say...WAIT until you're married!!!  From past experience I know it'll fall on deaf ears.  The good thing about it,  it's on the bus line and within walking/biking distance to a lot of job opportunities for her.  That means it's not so important that she learns to drive immediately.  She's still trying to buy a car that she can use to learn on though.   My main request to her....don't get a job in that area until you're already living there.  There is no way I could drive in two different directions all the time.   So she'll have to save up so she can float a few months of her share of the rent while she transitions between jobs.

If I had my camera set up I could show you pictures of things I'm making for the garage sale/craft show.  Right now they are a bunch of half done things but it shouldn't take too long to finish each one up (famous last words...I KNOW!)  I'm make blanket buddies which are little blankets turned on end (diamond shape) with a head at the top.  So far I've made a bunny and a pig with a bear on my hook right now.  I'm also trying to get an owl hat done like the one I made for Olivia.  Problem is I'm not sure what size it'll fit nor how long to make it.   Next on the list are a few different keychain ideas I have.  I don't think afghans and baby blankets will sell well at this thing since it's being advertized more as a garage sale then a craft show.   So I'm trying to do a bunch of low ticket items that people might want to buy for Easter presents or baskets.  

And on that note....I'm getting off here and getting something else done.  Maybe next time I get on I can find the time to share some newer pictures of the kids and pretty up this place a bit.   

I can't win

I have a paragraph in a draft from  Saturday that talked about feeling guilty because I was gone from the kids all day that day.   I left the house at 8am and got home about 7ish.   Thing is, I got some important things done that day.   There are a few wrenches in the monkey pile (or wenches in the monkey file as Tom thought I said...and yes, I know that isn't how the saying goes) but we have time to iron them out.  Actually I've already ironed them out in my mind...now to convince certain people that I'm right. lol     Today...I was going to post about how I got to stay home all day besides driving to Carrie to school.   And what was I going to post....that I felt guilty because I didn't get enough done around here.   Pfftttt!

I loved being home and puttering all day.  Problem is that I made just as many messes as I cleaned up.  I did some crocheting for the sale at the end of the month.  I tore apart the coat closet, cleared and cleaned the shoe cubbies.   I didn't finish it though and have a huge pile here that needs to be sorted.    I'd gotten into the habit of throwing the shoes that were too small away.  Easy Peasy.  My kids tend to only have a few pairs of shoes and wear them out pretty well anyways.  Plus it's the one area I'm a bit squeamish about using second hand and handing down.  I have some kids who have pretty funky foot patterns.  This time though I ended up with a few pairs that Danielle doesn't like wearing or hardly wore (like for the wedding she was the flower girl in).  So I'm saving them for the sale table at the end of the month, which means....another pile to deal with.  I need to get a box to throw things in for the next 10 days.  Funny thing...Sean found out I was selling all the shoes that are too small for him.  Now he's trying to put all his shoes in the sell pile.    This sale coming up makes me want to go through the whole house but my body won't cooperate.   It's been pretty summer like here this week.  For some reason my feet don't like it, and have been threatening to explode with water retention.   This makes it hard for me to move around, although it's the best thing for it.  Tom said something about how slow I was moving the other day and I wanted to cry.  Normally I'd have a big huge pregnant belly to blame, what's my excuse now?

We're in a bit of a pickle right now.  Carrie is suppose to take her GED test next week and we just found out she's suppose to have gov't issued ID to get in.  We seem to have misplaced her birth certificate after a trip up north to Fort Drum to visit friends, and any ID she can get can take 2 wks to arrive in the mail.    Tom took half a day off today and is in the big city getting her birth certificate as I type this.  Carrie called me in the meantime to let  me know that they'll accept  a police issued ID and you get it when it's made.  So looks like we'll be doing that tomorrow morning.  UGH stuff like this is what makes taking care of so many kids so exhausting.   Above was written this morning, now it's almost tomorrow.  Looks like Carrie will be waiting a month to take her test so she can get her ID (test is only given once a month).  I think she's a little relieved and admits she felt a bit rushed.   More practice can't hurt.

Annnnnnd now it's the middle of the afternoon the next day.  Geesh!   So much for just posting when I have to get off.   Today was suppose to be a nice coordinated reduced trip day.  Then Liz got her hours switched, allowing her more hours, so I'll end up taking the 4 trips a day today.   Having Tom home for the afternoon (after getting Carrie's birth certificate) was nice.  Him and Sean had a blast hanging out together out back.   Tom even shared his secret stash of lemonade and peanuts with him...LUCKY DUCK!   It's neat to see Tom's relationships with the younger kids change and especially with Meghan.  It's like he has the time to enjoy them now.   Although he's not working any less.  Maybe he's just learned that it's fun to be involved with them more.  I don't know.  All I know is that Sean is a lucky boy to be born last when it's come to Tom.  

Sean loves to write and draw and it's driving me cRaZy!   He is writing on everything....the xbox drums, the walls, the groceries, his body.  He feels the need to mark everything.  It's almost impossible to put up all the writing utensils around here and I don't really want to.   I know it's a phase, I just wish he'd hurry up and get over it.   In the mean time I'll keep reminding him....paper only and get the magic eraser out.   At least he's old enough now to help clean up his mess. :o)

It's almost time to run back out to the city (she types while yelling....HEY!  NOT THE WALL!!!   GET PAPER!....told ya)   At least today I remembered to take something out for dinner.  Do you think it'll hop itself into the oven?  Or better yet, go start some charcoal and climb aboard?   I didn't think so.    /kicks at some stones and grumbles...Why do I have to do all the work?  I don't want to be the mom today!



 

  

This is my life

So much for sleeping in.  Sean's eyes opened almost as soon as mine did.   Whether I would've gone back to sleep or not this morning...oh well...sleeping is highly overrated.   I was dreaming I was blogging so it was the first thing that I thought of when my eyes opened.   I was feeling a bit off because my posts seem to be so disjointed and just end.   Then I realized...but that's my life right now...little segments...impulses.   So I've given my permission to post posts without a clear cut beginning, middle, and especially an end.  It's why I blogged so little in the last months.  I kept holding to...there's no ending...I can't post it.  So I have a bazillion drafts saved up.  Or I wouldn't even start one because I didn't have enough time to get it all done in one sitting.  So no more, I'm ramble and blather like I do in real life, it may be quick because I only have a few minutes or it may just end because I've realized I needed to run out the door.  Or I sat on the couch for a second and fell asleep.   The important thing is that I'm getting it down.   I've missed not being able to go back over the last few months and a rereading about what went on here.    I'm blogging for myself, not for an english teacher.  

Thia!  I just want to say HI and THANK YOU!  I wouldn't know you if I literally ran into you on the street but it was an awesome feeling to see that I had comments from you.   It made me all warm and fuzzy and it still brings a smile to my face to think of it.    People in my real life thought it was weird when  I'd talk about my online friends,  like I was living in an imaginary world or was trying to escape reality. But you know what...you guys are real darn it!   Looking back on all the years of posts and thinking of all the years posting on community boards, all the support I've gotten when things were rough and  the celebrating when things were going well.   My online friends are an important part of my REAL life!

So what should I do today?   It's raining right now so I don't have the pull of the great outdoors to lure me.  Our van isn't fixed yet so I couldn't take everyone somewhere even if I didn't have to run to the city four times today.   I can't get into any huge projects because of the aforementioned running.   I guess I could and should go grocery shopping while I'm in the city since it's payday and "there's nothing to eat!" here. .  Right now that doesn't sound like too much fun.   Hmmm how long can I drag out bill paying  and meal planning this morning?  Maybe meal planning will motivate me to go shopping.  I'm thinking it's time to start my annual...all I want for my birthday is a clean house campaign.    But if I'm not here to crack the whip then hands tend to stop working around here....including MINE! lol  

Meal planning....with three of us going to the doctors and stepping on the scale yesterday it's come to my main attention.   I'm back up into my higher weight range.  At my dr's appt on the 1st I had gained back 6 of the 13 pounds that I'd lost.  Yesterday I gain 3 more since the 1st.  BOOOO!   I felt bad for Jake since the nurse practically yelled out what he weighed.   Thing is...I was right!  He's lost weight.  And then Eileen sat there and said...I'm fat before anyone's weight was taken.  The nurse didn't utter a word aloud about her weight.   I wish she was as thoughtful for Jake.  I asked Eileen how it was.  She told me what she weighed and then said....I've gained a lot of weight recently.   I know how you feel sweetie.    Now to help her do things the healthy way without making it into an unhealthy thought.   DARN YOU SOCIETY!

OK enough rambling...everything is yelling at me to pay attention to them.  Who can yell the loudest...bills?  groceries?  dishes? the floors?  laundry?  the little kids room you can't walk in?

What is this place...

you call home?   I do not like days like today!  Days when driving is all I do.   I left here this morning at 10:25am, took Val to work, went to my dr visit, dropped Carrie off at her school, went back home, pulled into the driveway and honked for Jake to come out, went to school and picked up Eileen,  took  Jake and Eileen to the dr, went to Wegman's to grab bread, milk, and Jake's prescription (forgot dish detergent), drove back home, got OUT of car, said hi to the kids, kicked off shoes and jumped into bed for a nap (had been up since 3am), got woken up 30mins later, back into car to take Liz to work, ran into RiteAid and grabbed a bottle of dish soap, drove home, started to make dinner before we realized the kids were late for a soccer game, grabbed keys and back out the door and headed to church, back home and puttered for an hour...decided we could have leftovers for dinner and the kids would cook hotdogs over a fire out back with Tom,  ran back out and picked up kids from soccer (got eaten by mosquitoes already!), back home, heated up a bowl of chili and called my sister, lost track of time then realized it was 15mins AFTER Val got off of work, hung up the phone, grabbed my  keys and ran out the door again, picked up Val and Liz from work and finally  back home for the rest of the evening (9:43pm).

I tried to get Jake, Eileen and Danielle into the doctor's today but they didn't have any appointments.  I asked if Eileen could at least get in and get a throat culture done since that was her complaint.  I also begged them to please find room for at least Jake.  He was up all night with the right side of his face hurting.   When the nurse said something about not knowing what to do I suggested that the dr could save us all some work and just believe me when I say he has a sinus infection and call him in a prescription.  It didn't fly and she crammed both of them into the books.   I told her I wasn't too concerned about Danielle just yet and she could wait a day or two.  She's had a cough all week and woke up with a 102+ fever Wednesday morning.   Luckily it's gotten to be a lot lower on it's own by now and the cough hasn't gotten worse.   I just hope they're all feeling better on Sunday since we're having a party for Activity Club at the gym Olivia had her birthday party at last year.

Carrie redid the writing part of her predictor test.  Seems her teacher had told her they'd review that part but never did it before she tested.  She wasn't sure how to do that part of the test so only wrote a paragraph for the first attempt.  It appears she was suppose to write quite a bit more.   The second time she did ok on and is now cleared to take the real GED test.   After looking at the state site I think the test is scheduled for March 27th and 28th.   That means technically she could be done with school by my birthday!

NO SCHOOL tomorrow!!!   Woohoo!  And Val doesn't need to be to work until 12:30 so I can sleep in! Welll, if Sean lets me.   He tends to be an early riser.   Olivia started making cookies just as I was running out the door tonight.   When we walked in the door we found a HUGE cookie sitting on a piece of parchment on the kitchen table.  I walked by and pinched a tiny taste off it.  The kids couldn't help but start laughing, and the face I made had them rolling on the floor. ICK!!!   It seems Olivia mistakenly added 1/2 cup of salt instead of half a teaspoon.   I guess she didn't think anything of it since we'd used more then that to make the salt dough for her Egypt project.   Unfortunately she used all the chocolate chips we had in the house on that batch.   Luke threw together some peanut butter cookies instead.   What I want to know is...WHY won't anyone make banana bread like I keep asking them to.  The bananas will be at  the point of no return soon.

* YAWN *

I can't stop.  I have no idea why I'm so exhausted today, I went to bed by 11 last night.   My eyes don't want to stay open which is not a good thing when you have to drive in about an hour....Carrie is going to school, Val is going to work.  Liz has today off so I'll only need to drive to the city twice.   Jake and Danielle are home again today.   I think Jake is dealing with sinus stuff which he's never really had before.  Danielle sounds croupy and woke up with a 102.1 fever.   YAYME!  Actually I can't complain, she's pretty self sufficient even with feeling yucky...a little needier in the mom department but that's ok, I'm always up for sitting and snuggling.

It looks like Carrie will have her GED by the end of the month.  She's finishing up the practice test today.  If she passes then she can sit in on the real test when it's given in March (not sure of the date) I was pretty sure that it wouldn't take her long to be test ready but really...it makes all those years in high school she was suppose to do seem a bit of a waste.  Especially when I've got kids who really don't want to go to school when it's so nice out.   Olivia had a hard time going out the door this morning, saying something like...they shouldn't have school when it's so nice out.  lol  I was waiting for her to start asking for me to homeschool her.   I think she'd be the first in line if I started.   This time of the year is so hard for her.  She misses her Uncle Billy so much.   They were best buddies and spent all her free time together.   I've noticed lately she's gotten a lot more quieter.   When I've taken her on car rides with me she's been really hard to keep in conversation.    But insists she's ok and she will too since she's more worried about making things harder for Tom and I.  It's frustrating...I'm almost have to yell/punish her to make her think of  herself first. It also scares the snot out of me because someone like that could really get taken advantage of as an adult.   Although I know they also make some extraordinary people who just want to serve others.

It's hard to concentrate.  Between wanting to go back to bed and having Liz behind me with the music blasting while she does her workout, my brain is pretty backlogged.   So Tom and I have been having unofficial dates lately.   He grabs his coffee and jumps in the car when I head into the city to pick up the girls from school....30 minutes of uninterrupted talk time.  YUM!  I have to laugh though because while I'm enjoying the time we're together, I'm also wishing and thinking we should have MORE...like a whole weekend.  It won't be happening anytime soon but it's nice to dream about.   Maybe for our anniversary in June (29yrs!)     Monday was my day off.  Both girls had the day off work, I only needed to drive Carrie to school at 11.  So what did I do?  Stay home?  Get housework done?  Nope, I took Sean and we went into the big city for the day.   First I got together with my sister Tracy and brother Brian (there's only the 3 of us) to talk about our parents' 50th wedding anniversary on June 9th.  I can't share too much here since I know my mom reads...HI MOM!  I LOVE YOU!   Let's just say it was an interesting time, especially since Brian and I tend to butt heads something fierce.   The funny thing is the next day Tracy and I came over to Brian's line of thinking.  I called to let him know only to find out,  he had decided we had the better idea!  LOL  So we're still at a divide but a bit closer to coming to a final conclusion.    After Brian went to work I loaded up Sean and my niece Sam (she's a few weeks younger then Sean) and headed to my mom's and dad's.   The plan was for Sam to spend the night...she didn't make it. lol   Brian had to pick her up after he got out of work.    It was so hard for Sean to leave my parents' place.  He wanted to stay the night too.   It wasn't going to happen, especially with Sam, the two of them tend to bicker a lot.  

Oops!   Time to head out the door...Be Back Later