sprinklehouse

Alone

2011-12-02T17:26:00.000-08:00

I was addressing Christmas cards the other day (I like to get them out as early as I can) and among the list of 90 some odd names and addresses it was the first one that my eyes went to:
Mark Savage
PO Box 52
Harvest, AL
This had been my brother’s mailing address for the past 20 years of his 55 years on this Earth. This was the address that I sent my first Christmas card from my very first place of my own when I was in my early 20’s. This was the address from which I was guaranteed a Christmas card every year. It would be without fail a western Santa card: Santa on a horse somewhere in the snow with fences and pine trees. And it always made me feel proud to be on his Christmas list (his list consisted of a very few people and if you were on it you could consider yourself special) and his card took its rightful place at the top of my front door, right next to my mother-in-law’s “Florida” Christmas card (you know the ones: sandy beaches with palm trees decorated with Christmas lights). This year I will be leaving that spot empty as a reminder (not that I need one) of my first Christmas without my parents or any siblings, effectively an “orphan”. Of course my parents and my other brother and my sister have been gone for several years and Mark and I were the only ones left. And now I am the last man standing. It’s funny how heavy that moniker is.

I have been through grief before many times. This is different than grief. This is a feeling of separation that I have never experienced before. I am the only one left in my immediate family. No one else knows what I was like as a baby, or a little kid. No one knows how much I loved Snoopy and hated fractions and how I used to fall asleep between the bed and the wall in the summer because the wall was so cool (something my youngest Jakob does now). There is no one left to remind me of how silly I acted the first time I fell in love or how proud I was of my first job. There is no one left to connect with on that level. It leaves me feeling almost lost and certainly confused.

I can tell my boys stories about their “other” grandmother and grandfathers that they have never met and I can tell them about their Aunt Becky and their Uncle Kevin but it isn’t the same thing as being there. They knew Uncle Mark and they miss him too. If they want to talk about him we do but, as is the way of children, they don’t bring him up very often and I am glad. It means they are concentrating on the business of living, as I am most days too.
It may seem that I am wallowing in self-pity. I assure you that I am not. Some days it is necessary to stop and acknowledge how you are feeling in that moment and when the moment has passed to move on. I have stopped, I have acknowledged, and now I am moving on.

Peace allllll………………………………….

2011-06-08T23:09:00.000-07:00

Tell someone that you love them today. They may already know it but they'd probably like to hear it anyway. It's currency in their emotional pocket:)

2011-04-24T04:32:00.000-07:00

He is risen, yes He is! Thank you Jesus and Happy Easter everyone!!

PBJ

2009-04-12T20:07:00.000-07:00

This is a conversation that took place in my kitchen earlier this evening while Grover was making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for Jakob.

Jakob: Dad, please hurry and make my sandwich!

Grover: Relax, Jakob. You can't rush perfection.

Jakob: I'm not rushing perfection. I'm rushing YOU!

And this is one of the many reasons I love being a mom.

Peace allllllllll.............

2009-04-12T04:44:00.000-07:00

He Is Risen Indeed!

Have a beautiful Easter everyone.

Blessings!!

Peace alllllllllllll.......................

Nicotine Cessation and Clarity of Thought

2009-03-15T12:53:00.001-07:00

Wow, it's been a while huh?

When I quit smoking, almost a year ago, I never realized the effects that it would have on me mentally. Of course, I had read about the physical benefits and was told that the physical discomfort of withdrawal would not last very long. And that was true, all of it. I breathe better, I can actually smell things, I don't cough unless I have a cold and even then it is nowhere near as lung shattering as it was when I smoked a couple of packs a day. So, my body is grateful.

But I had never taken into consideration what my mind might go through during this process. It has been quite a trip. Let me explain.

Nicotine causes the brain to release dopamine. Dopamine causes a person to feel relaxed. Yes, that's an oversimplified statement or two but that's the upshot of the whole scenario. When one ceases ingesting nicotine, within 72 hours, the brain has started to basically rewire itself. (Brains are cool like that.) The brain is alright with that. You, as a new ex-smoker might not be......for a while. Because it takes a while to come through the other side of the looking glass.

For months, I could not concentrate. I would sit in front of this computer and say to myself "Self, you will post on your blog today. Self, you will read this book today. Self, you will do something that you actually have to think about doing for more than 5 minutes." And for the longest time, I just simply didn't have the level of concentration I needed to stay on task. It felt like I couldn't think straight.

I dealt with depression for a while, and then I dealt with anger for a while and then I just dealt with dealing with emotions that I used to suffocate with nicotine and tar. Because if you can't cover them up with chemicals, you just have to go through them. And that has sucked on more than a couple of days. But I got through it.

Anyhow, not trying to sound like an anti-drug campaign. But here I am, almost a year later and I am LOVING every minute of it now. It is NICE to be able to breathe, and it is NICE to be able to walk a mile, or two, and not feel like your lungs are bursting.

I know I'm probably not making much sense. And that's okay. At least some things have stayed the same.

Peace allllllllllllll.....................

2008-12-24T12:49:00.001-08:00

I know...... ..I know I haven't been around like I should.

I know that I have neglected my blog terribly.

I know that I'm a rotten person and a horrible individual.

But I still love you all!!!

WISHING EACH AND EVERYONE ONE OF YOU A WONDERFULLY BLESSED AND BRIGHT CHRISTMAS!!

And may God bless us every one!

Peace alllllllllllllll..........................

Tired, Tired and More Tired

2008-11-21T05:56:00.000-08:00

I am so tired. Not necessarily physically tired, although there is that, but just tired of things going on around me lately. I have tried to ignore them but they have just taken over.

I am tired of morning talk shows on the radio. I don't turn on the radio because I want to hear someone flapping their gums. I turn on the radio because I want to hear some music. Music, please. And yet, between the hours of 5 a.m. and 11 a.m. I cannot find any music on the radio. All I hear are people talking and talking and talking about what they like and what they don't like and what this country should do about that country and on and on and on and blah, blah and blah. I can talk to myself and hear that. First thing in the morning is when I need a pick me up, a boost, a little jumpstart. I want to hear, no I NEED to hear "We're Not Gonna Take It" by Twisted Sister or "Working for the Weekend" by Loverboy on the way home from taking the kids to school. I don't need to hear someone's opinion on why frog penis is the new wonder drug.

I am tired of having this whole "go green......or else" issue shoved down my throat. I am a tree hugger, yes I am. Have been since I was a kid, when it was considered weird or hippyish. But this thing today has long since ceased to be about the environment. This is a political movement, a force if you will, that has taken on a life of its own. Someone must be making a whole lottttttt of money off of this. Going green has become fashionable, not necessarily conscionable. And it just leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

Speaking of bad tastes in the mouth, I am also tired of people telling me that if I eat meat, then I must not love animals. Are you nuts?? Much like the tree hugging, I have been an animal rights activist most of my life. I wrote a letter to then President Ford protesting animal testing when I was 8 years old, so please spare me. If you don't know me, then don't attempt to put me in the box where you think I belong.

I am tired of the eternal infernal celebrity news coverage on television.

I am tired of people's lives being reduced to sound bites on the 6 o'clock news.

I am tired of the educational system leaving NO room for individuality in children and attempting to either force them into a cookie cutter mold or labeling them as "problematic". And then, in a move of the utmost hypocrisy, telling them to "be themselves".

And I am tired of my husband just dropping his stuff (clothes, books, work manuals) wherever it lands and then expecting me to know what happened to it the next day. Just because I happen to be the ONLY one that cleans the house, what does that make me a suspect:)?

And now I am really tired, so I think I'll take a nap.

Peace alllllllllllllllllll................

Politics Again?

2008-11-10T04:05:00.000-08:00

First of all, let me start by saying that I really am very uncomfortable with discussing politics. I have my personal opinions and I don't expect them to be anyone else's opinion and we all have the freedom to think what we like. Okay, having said that, I really need to say this.

For those of you who may not realize it, the election is over. Okay? OVER. Whoever you voted for at this point is irrelevant. The deed is done, the die is cast and so on. And yet people are still yapping about it like there is something left to be done, like forgetting to turn the stove off.

One of the things that I have been seeing lately that is really igging me (igging is not a real word I know, but it's one of mine:)) is this all out Republican attack on Sarah Palin. You can't blame her for McCain's loss. Sure, there were a lot of people who didn't agree with her personal politics. Sure, there were a lot of vegetarians who were simply abhorred at the fact that she would shoot a moose. Sure, there were a lot of redneck men jealous that she could shoot a moose. (That's not women's work ya know!) And there are even more people who didn't like her for whatever reason, from her politics to the style of her eyeglasses. I really do not think that is why they didn't vote for McCain.

See, when I vote, I like to think of myself as voting FOR someone, not necessarily AGAINST someone. I vote for the person I would like to see in office, not against someone I don't want to see there. See? It's all in how you look at it. And I don't think that Palin wielded that kind of influence over millions of votes. Just get off her back and let it go already. Scapegoating never looks good on anyone.

And this whole is Obama a real citizen issue. I don't know and at this point I don't care. *GASP* "Why!?!" you may ask. Well, I'll tell you why. All of this garbage about the man's citizenship should have been resolved before he was ever allowed to run. And yes, I say "allowed" because there are rules one must follow to participate in the privilege of running for President. If he was not following those rules, if he didn't fit the criteria, before he started running, something should have been done about it then. It's a little too late now. It's kind of like being in labor and deciding to put the baby back. Ummmmm.....you can't do that. And in trying, it looks rather sad and desperate. The man did win, some say fair and square, others say not. But the upshot is, that he will be taking office in January. And since he will be our leader, I will give him just as much respect and courtesy as I have our previous leaders:)

Exactly.

So, can't we all just get along?

Just my opinion.

Peace alllllllllllllllllll.......................

Mr. President

2008-11-05T05:58:00.000-08:00

Last night, as I was taking out the trash, I stopped out by the curb and listened. In the distance I could hear fireworks going off and maybe two, three streets over I heard a woman shout "OBAMA I WANNA HAVE YOUR BABY!!" (did I mention I love my neighborhood?:)) And although I do not want to have President elect Obama's baby, (I have enough of my own and Grover's thank you), I do wish him the absolute best during his term. A lot of people are looking for great things and today, this country seems more hopeful than it has in a long time.

I only wish my mom and Rachel's parents (and a long list of other people) could have been alive to see this. Wow. I wish that I could be more eloquent but I can't so I'll just leave it at that.

Wow.

Peace allllllllllll...................

2008-10-31T16:17:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to stop by and wish everyone a

HAPPY HALLOWEEN !!

Stay safe!!

Peace allllllllll.........................

Because Some Days

2008-10-11T21:09:00.000-07:00

Because some days I just shouldn't leave the house.

We ran out of pickles today and so I decided to hop in the car and run to the dollar store real quick and buy some. The dollar store is maybe a quarter of a mile from our house. Two turns and you're there. Fine. It was on the second turn that I cut the wheels a little too close I guess and hit the curb with the front and back tires....HARD. Rattled my nerves a little, not to mention the fact that it was quite embarassing. But I trudge on to the dollar store anyway. Grabbed a little basket, got my pickles, put them in the basket and went to stand in line at the check-out. (This store always has a line....ALWAYS...and the slowest cashiers in the land.....but they're close so whatareyagonnado?) Waiting in line and I don't know how this happened but some way or another my pickles flipped out of my little basket and fell to the floor, in an explosion of glass and pickle juice. (Did I mention I was like 5th in a line of 11?) Oh, what fun. Young girl came out to clean up the mess and I helped her get it cleaned up, because I felt incredibly guilty for being so incredibly clumsy, lost my place in line and waited another 10 minutes, still horribly embarassed, before I could finally pay for my pickles and leave.

Upon leaving the dollar store, I realized I needed to go across the street to the convenience store and pick up a bag of ice (no the dollar store doesn't sell it and even if it did, I would not have gone back in there). So, I went across the street, parked in that madhouse maze between the gas pumps, half of which were out of order and the other half of which were simply out of gas, went in the store and bought my ice. Came out, everything's lovely. Tossed the bag of ice on the front passenger seat. You know, the comfy, cushy, upholstered front passenger seat. The bag of ice immediately split open all over the front seat of the car. I saved what I could, chunked the rest and got myself home as fast as possible.

Sometimes you just shouldn't leave the house. I'm just thanking the good Lord I made it home in one piece. May not have made it home gracefully, but at least I got there safely:)

Peace allllllllllllll.....................

Taking a Breath

2008-10-06T12:37:00.000-07:00

Finally! Fall break has arrived and I don't have to take kids to school this week, I don't have to get up at the crack of dawn this week, I don't have to call teachers or talk to PTA people or look presentable or do anything other than schlep around and clean the house. No homework, no laundry, no pairing off of the Garanimals every night (or a week's worth on Sunday night), just playing outside and enjoying the falling leaves. Aaaaaahhhhh......

So, now that I finally have a chance to sit down and write....or read...or breathe. Lots and lots of things have been going on in the world and don't think I haven't noticed.

First of all, congratulations OJ Simpson. You might not have paid for the first time but thank the good Lord someone is ensuring you pay for your second. It does come around in the end after all don't it?

Second, I don't ordinarily watch the television show The View. My friend Rachel does and since she spent the night over here last night, guests rule and we watched it this morning. That Elizabeth (sp?) chick is a dope. Yes, she has the right to her own opinions and free speech and all that. Just quit bein such a big crybaby about everything. The doe eyes and the pouty lip thing....does that ever really work?

And thirdly, the debates. I have enjoyed the first two better than anything you could possibly catch at the movie theater. I have laughed, I have cried, I have gasped in shock. Really? No, not really. But they have been entertaining. It's always fun for me to see who can outcon the other. The concerned facial expressions and the warm body language. These guys...if politics ever fails, then Broadway would love to have 'em. Am I a little cynical concerning our Presidential and Vice Presidential hopefuls? Little bit, yeah.

Speaking of the candidates however, one thing. If you choose to divulge for whom you will be voting, then that's cool. That's your business, after all. If you choose NOT to divulge for whom you will be voting, then that's cool too. That's YOUR business, after all. I don't feel anyone should be coerced into sharing their politicial opinions. That's why we have SECRET ballots, because some things are just not anyone else's business.

But, however it goes, it is gonna be an interesting next few weeks.

Now, I'm off to see where I can buy the best Halloween candy.:)

Peace allllllll................

Snoots

2008-09-21T07:00:00.000-07:00

Meet the newest member of the Sprinkle household. Her name is Snoots. One of Grover's friends from work had a friend who was going to give her to the dog pound, so we decided we would take her. And can you blame us? Who could resist that face??

And so now, after a bath, a flea dip and a vet's appointment later, she is firmly ensconced in the household. Now, if I could just get the cats to like her, everything will be lovely!

Peace allllllllllllll..............

HBD to My Joshie

2008-09-11T11:09:00.000-07:00

And now, for the young man who never met a camera he didn't love:

HAPPY 15TH BIRTHDAY TO MY BIGGEST BOY, MY OLDEST, MY MOONA TUNA..........JOSHIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (and no, you will not be using my car to learn how to drive in...but I love you anyway!:))

Peace alllllllllllllllllllllllllll.........................

9/05

2008-09-04T20:32:00.000-07:00

I had originally posted this on August 27, 2005 but I needed to post it again. September 5, 1997 was on a Friday too:

The date was September 5, 1997. A little boy, 3, a little girl,2, and a lady were asleep in their apartment. They had fallen asleep in the living room while watching Cartoon Network. The kids had fallen asleep first and the lady wondered momentarily if she should carry them to their bedrooms but decided against it as their grandmother would be returning home from work soon and they could put the kids in bed then. Not an unusual event for any of them. The lady stretched out on the other couch and in no time had dozed off herself.

She was awakened by the smoke. Sitting straight up on the couch, she called for the children. It was then that she realized the entire wall by the front door was on fire. Not being able to see through the smoke, she had to rely on the children's voices to give her an approximation of where they were. She runs to the front door, grabbing one child's hand as she goes. She doesn't know which child it is, just that it's one of them. She opens the door and pushes the child through it. As she turns around to grab the other child no more than 3 feet away, the room explodes and throws her across the hallway into the door of the other apartment.

By this time the neighbors are there, the living room is engulfed in flames, someone's calling 911 and someone has gone to the back to try to get into the apartment that way. It's impossible. The lady is still trying to get through the front door to reach her other child but the neighbors are holding her back because (as she was told later) the heat was simply too intense to get through. She can hear her child calling her name, screaming for her. So she keeps trying to get in. But she can't. It isn't until the fire department comes and forcibly removes her that she stops.

So they can do their jobs.

The fire department is notified, however, that the lady's upstairs neighbors have a propane grill on the balcony upstairs. At that point, they refuse to go in to try to rescue the child, because "it's too dangerous." They simply try to put the fire out. It seems to go on forever.

At some point, the lady really doesn't know when because time and reality have ceased to exist for the moment, the fire is extinguished. She knows that her child didn't make it, but hopes against all hope anyway.

She walks up to a fireman and asks him "Did you find the little girl?" He responds "Yeah, what was left of her." Torn between being dying herself and wanting to kill this man, she simply says "I'm her mother" and walks away. The fireman rushes after her saying that he didn't know and she tells him "That shouldn't have mattered."

Briana Grace Brown died on September 5, 1997. We buried her on September 10, 1997. Rachel (her grandmother)...her father died on September 17th, exactly one week after Briana's funeral. He couldn't take it.

In the space of six months, from March 17, 1997 to September 17, 1997 I lost my mother, my father, Briana, and the man who had been like a second dad to me. And I don't mean to lessen the others but Briana was my child. She's the one that ...when her life ended, so did half of mine.

During the week of the funeral, we stayed at Rachel's sister's house until we could find another place. One day I was sitting in the bedroom and watched someone come out of the bathroom. And I knew that there were razor blades in the bathroom. And it just seemed like it would be so easy and mercifully quick. I was getting up to go there when two thoughts stopped me.

1. If you do this you'll go to hell and you'll never see her again.

2. What would Josh do? He wouldn't be able to deal with both of you gone. You have to be there for him, even if you don't feel like you're going to make it yourself.

And so I stopped.

In December of 1996, I had a tattoo put on my upper right arm. It is the only one I have. It is a phoenix. At the time, I liked the symbolism of rising up from the ashes. If only I had known how prophetic it would turn out to be 10 months later.

It's getting close to that time of year again. Briana would have been 13 years old this year. Some days are good, some not so good. Some nights I can go to sleep. Some nights I still hear her screaming my name and I cry myself to sleep.

Joshua and I talk about it sometimes, more often than not we don't. See, we were the only ones there that night and we already know what the other one's going through. It's a bond we share, one that neither one of us would have chosen voluntarily. But oftentimes it makes conversation unnecessary.

I get glimpses of her every now and again. The way Josh will move his hand or tell a joke and laugh at himself like she used to...a little girl who looks just like her but isn't her..and I feel her around me sometimes it seems. Crazy? I don't think so. I think it's just God's way of sending comfort my way.

I just hope that when I get to Heaven she remembers me and finds no fault with how I've turned out.

Why did I decide to tell this? Because I wanted everyone to know that there once was a girl named Briana Grace Brown.

And she was loved more than you will ever know.

Peace alllll..............

Where Was I Again?

2008-09-03T08:27:00.001-07:00

Good grief...

Who knew that there was this much to do with 3 kids in school? Well, the people out there with 3 kids in school obviously. Wow.....between getting them up, getting them ready, getting them to two different schools (on time, no less), half-days, PTA, volunteering for a million different things, Fall pictures (already!), Fall fundraisers (already!), Band fundraisers (always), getting them home from school, doctor's appointments, dentist appointments, signing up for this, that and the other....I don't even know what I am doing half the time anymore. But I am having a BLAST doing it! Who knew it could be this much fun?!

Only one problem (and isn't there always just one?).....one of the teachers. She's not mean or anything, she's just.....maybe....I don't know....a little cold for a kindergarten teacher (in my opinion anyway). This would be Jakob's teacher. Lukas' teacher is a real, old-fashioned good teacher. I love her to pieces. You can tell just from talking to her that she really loves her job (she's been teaching for about 20 years) and she has a real heart for children (you can't fake that, no matter how hard you try). She's not syrupy sweet but she is really kind-hearted with her kids and Lukas and the rest of them are just crazy about her.

Jakob's teacher, on the other hand, is the "cold" one. She's nice enough but it's like a fake nice. It really makes me uncomfortable. Jakob likes her well enough, so it's just me that has the issue. And I don't want to show favoritism between the two teachers (since I have to see and talk to them both everyday) because I wouldn't want the kids to be affected by it. Anyhow, it's just one of those irritations that you find in life and ordinarily it would just be something for me to fuss about, but since it involves my boys, it kinda makes it something else.

Anyhow, I'll get over it, I'm sure.:)

And I just wanted to drop in and let everyone know, I'm still around and as soon as I can get my schedule organized then I may actually have time to sit down and blog (or stand up and blog, either one is fine).

Oh, yeah, don't forget: HALLOWEEN IS IN 57 DAYS!! (And we all know that is the kickoff to the holiday season) So, get your battle armor on, because it's almost time to go Christmas shopping!!!!!! (Too soon? Please, I've got a Christmas tree put up in the spare bedroom. It's not decorated but it's standing there and has been since the end of July. Don't ask.)

Peace allllllllllllllllllll................

Guess What?

2008-08-23T22:54:00.000-07:00

Hey guess what?

In three days, I will have been a non-smoker for 5 whole months! Whoo Hoo!!!!!

In the past 3 weeks or so I have lost 5 pounds and 2 inches in the waist. Whoo Hoo!!!! America's Next Top Model, here I come!!! (Yes, I KNOW I am too old for that show!)

And speaking of old, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!~!!! I am a raging, ravishing 41 year old today! And yet another Whoo Hoo!!! for me. And for the first time in my ENTIRE life, I have not mentioned my birthday to anyone at all in the past couple of months (like I usually do). I want to see who remembers on their own. This is gonna be fun, I can tell!:)

So, I'm healthier, lighter and one year more experienced . Does it get any better?!?!?

Blessings on everyone!

Peace allllllllllllllll....................

Anonymity and A Tear or Two

2008-08-21T10:47:00.000-07:00

You know, I was over at Slade's blog just a little while ago and she posed an interesting question. She wanted to know if any other bloggers sometimes wished that their blogs were anonymous so that they could relate events,stories and whatnot about people without other people knowing who they were. (I think I got that out right.) My answer to this is a resounding YES!!

I think that anonymity=complete and total honesty. If people don't know who you are, then you are totally free to say what you want, to give your honest opinion and to present your feelings with complete abandon without fear of repercussion. And, although I like to consider myself an honest person, sometimes I just want to let loose with some of the darker things that plague me from time to time. Such as:

Sometimes my husband gets on my nerves. I love him, I really do. But sometimes, late at night, when he farts in his sleep for the thousandth time or when he steals every last one of the three (count 'em 3) blankets off of me and I wake up freezing while he is wrapped up like King Tut, yeah....I kinda want to punch him in the back of the head. On the occasions that he is in a somewhat perverse mood and decides to bait me until I get really irritated and then complain that he can't deal "with such an oversensitive person".....yeah, I kinda want to punch him in the front of his head.

Sometimes, I worry about my kids' futures. I worry that they may not go down the right paths, despite all that we are trying to teach them about being good Christians and good people. You know, you read so much in this day and age about children who were raised the right way and then decided to chuck it and do some pretty awful things.

Sometimes, I don't even feel like talking to people. And sometimes, when people are talking to me, I look like I'm listening but inside my head I am really thinking, "Are they ever going to shut up?......EVER?" And then I smile and nod and that gives them encouragement to just keep going.

All in all, I am normally a pretty happy person. But, even the best of us need to let the junk out sometimes. And at the risk of offending someone, or sounding crazy, at this point, I just wait on Grover to go to work and the kids to go to school and then I let the junk out....by cleaning, exercising, writing, yelling...whatever. See, this way everyone stays safe, and happy...and oblivious.:)

Peace allllllll................

P.S.

Just had to add this: Last night, I was putting the boys in bed and as they were laying there in the dark and I was sitting on the foot of their bed like I always do, Lukas started crying. When I asked him what was wrong, he told me "I miss Sunny and Izzy (the two kittens...Izzy passed away and we gave Sonny to a friend of ours.....the other two still live here)" I told him that Sonny had gone to live at Ariels house and that Izzy had gone to live with Jesus. As a concession, in the hopes of making him (and Jakob, who by that time had gotten a little upset himself) feel better, I asked him if they wanted to go visit Sonny over at Ariels house this weekend. They said yes, and the matter seemed to be settled. Then Lukas pops up with "And then we need to go see Izzy at Jesus' house." After I told them that we wouldn't be able to do that for a long, long time, I asked if he needed a hug and he said yes, "And a kiss too please." So, I hugged them both for about an hour (or a minute or two) and they went on to sleep. And I cried for the next hour. Sometimes I don't think we realize how very hard life can be on the little ones. And how very carefully we must nurture and protect tender hearts and gentle spirits.

Hug your kids today and tell them that you love them. They need it, no matter how tough they are.

Peace allllllllllllllll....................

HBD

2008-08-12T14:30:00.000-07:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO LUKAS AND JAKOB, THE BEST BOYS IN THE LAND!!!!! (Even though your teachers haven't realized this yet:). Give 'em time, give 'em time.....they'll come around. Mine always did....sometimes:) ANYHOW- MOM LOVES YOU!

Peace allllllllllllllll....................

First Day, Hopefully Not The Last

2008-08-06T13:44:00.000-07:00

Lukas working on his next masterpiece. (The calm before the storm:))

5 minutes after this picture was taken, Jakob decided he needed a flatter piece of Play-Dough and proceeded to sit on some until it was flatter than a pancake. Then he made butt flavored castles.:)

My babies started to school today. And truthfully, I was more upset about it than they were. They were excited, they were ready to go, up and at 'em at 6 this morning. They were happy to see their teachers and ready to have a great day. We dropped them off in their classes, took a few pictures and they forgot all about us. We wondered and worried and prayed that they were having a great day all the way up until it was time to go and pick them up. It was at that time that we discovered we had a problem. (See, we kind of figured it out when we pulled up in the car and their two teachers were like "Oh, THERE they are!!" with looks of gratitude that we had come to rescue them.)

This is the problem: somewhere along the way of getting them excited about going to school, we may have neglected to tell them that they had to stay there ALL day. I'm sure I told them this at least once, but then again maybe not. Because my children were under the impression that they could just come in for a while, hang out for a minute and then pack up their backpacks and leave. And so they did. Both of them at separate times packed their backpacks up and just walked out of the room. Jakob came back when the teacher called him but it took a teacher, an assistant teacher and a music teacher to corral Lukas. If they weren't my kids I would think that it was pretty funny. Oh, let's face it. I STILL think it's pretty funny. Unfortunately those teachers didn't.

That is one thing that I had forgotten about, despite having been around teachers most of my life. They have a tendency to get that worried look when things like this happen. You know what they're thinking but don't want to ask: "Is your child alright? Is there something wrong? Does he have ADHD or PTSD or BAD?" So they simply ask you how you handle these things at home. And I had to tell them that since they have been 2 they haven't tried to pack up and leave home. It is, after all, their HOME. I don't think they appreciated my humor.

So, I made the mandatory apologies, put on my concerned parent face and brought my children home. And yes, I put on my concerned parent face because I don't really think that this is cause for alarm. They are almost 5 and 6 years old, they have never been to school before. They evidently decided they had had enough for one day. I just had to explain to them that the day is not over until I or Dad come and get you. Easily understood. I think. We'll soon see. I've given the teachers my reassurance that they will probably be fine with the new rules and structure and whatnot by the end of the week. Heh......I love that word "probably". It's kind of like "maybe". Doesn't mean a whole lot, it just sounds like it does.

So, who knows what kind of shenanigans will take place tomorrow. All I know is: when Lukas and Jakob get together wackiness ensues!!:) Yeah, they need to have their own sitcom.

Peace allllllllllll.................

Out of Shape Blues

2008-08-04T07:33:00.000-07:00

Oh .......my.......goodness.

First off, thanks for your encouragement and ideas on how I can lose this extra fluffiness of mine. It got me off to a really good start. I went and registered at the Daily Plate, borrowed a workout DVD from a friend, gave the contents of my kitchen cabinets the once-over and got started, just KNOWING this was gonna be a breeze.

After the first 5 minutes of the exercise DVD, my body said "What are you doing? It's time to sit down now.....please.....NOW." And when I didn't, my body proceeded to curse me like a dog, all the way until the end. Today, over a week later, it's not as bad...but it still ain't good yet. Does it ever get good? Really? Because I see these people that just LOVE to exercise and while part of me is kind of envious because they are in such great shape, another part of me is just thinking "Freak......you twisted, abnormal, exercise loving freak."

I guess I just didn't realize how out of shape I really am. My teenage glory days of running a kazillion miles a day without being out of breath are gone. Used to be my heavy breathing was reserved for amorous occasions. Now, I'm gasping by the time I reach the end of the block. Not quite as sexy I'm sure but, oh well. It serves a better purpose anyway. (Not really....I'd love to count sex as an exercise but it doesn't burn enough calories.......I mean, it could, but you'd have to get the pony and the top hat and........well, never mind.)

And this evening, there is meet and greet at the boys' school where we get to go and meet their teachers and so on. Sounds like fun, except they are calling it an Ice Cream Social. That's right. My fat tuchus and a room full of ice cream. Does it GET any better than that? Oh, well, I guess I can walk an extra mile (or 20) to work it off. If my body will let me get out of the chair that is.

Peace allllllllllllllll.....................

Weight and See and In and Out

2008-07-25T07:02:00.000-07:00

Okay, I've got a problem. You all know that I quit smoking, right? (Like how could we not, you bring it up all the time, whoot, whoot, whatever, okay) Now, although I am pleased as proverbial punch to be coming up on my 4th month as a non smoker (as of 11:30 Sunday night:)), there is one thing that I am not pleased about and I was thinking that maybe you guys or girls or any in betweens could give me some advice.

I have gained a buttload of weight. Not just a buttload, but a stomachload, a couple of armsloads, and definitely a thighload or two. I'm not talking a couple of chocolate pounds....I'm talking like around the 35-40 pound mark. I have never been so uncomfortable in my life. I have never been a heavy person (except for my two pregnancies and I don't count that) and I have never had to go on a diet. But, oh how times have changed.

Thing is, since I have never had to go on a diet until now, I really don't know what I am doing. I tried to cut back on intake but everything just looks so darn good! Especially now that I can actually taste it:) If I could just lose the first 10 pounds, that would be motivation enough to kick in on the rest. It's just I don't know how to lose that first 10 pounds. If anyone has any advice, other than the eat less and move more advice (which I really don't need), please send it my way. This is gonna be a lot of fun I can tell! (insert sarcasm here.....)

And on a completely different note:

Congratulations to my best friend in the whole wide world Rachel on becoming a GREAT-GRANDMOTHER on July 23rd to Amore Deshaun. Welcome to the world, little one!! Now this IS gonna be a lotta fun!

Peace allllllllll..............

P.S. RIP Estelle Getty.......you made my teenage years much more bearable, and I have many memories of me and my mom yukking it up while you were on. Thanks so much. You will be missed.

Peace.............

Checking In

2008-07-16T13:11:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone!! Sorry I haven't been around lately. Well, around blogland that is. I've been around here, at home of course. Otherwise, I would have been missing and there would have been a national call to arms and so forth:).

I never realized that getting 3 kids ready for school would be so much work! Bear in mind that for the past 8 years, I've only had to get Josh ready but that was so routine I was used to it. This year, we had to get the boys registered, get blue cards, fill out forms, get supply lists, buy said items on supply lists and on and on and on and on and....well, you get the point. Not to mention the fact that Josh has decided he just MUST have $100 shoes this year. That's fine though. We kicked in $50 and he's working odd jobs around the neighborhood to come up with the rest. He only has $20 to go and those unnecessarily expensive Nikes are his. Not happy with the price tag, don't think any shoes should cost that much;HOWEVER, I am quite happy with his enterpreneurial spirit. This time next year, he wants to have a real job (as in a paycheck and all) so he can buy his own school clothes without our help. I am thrilled at the prospect, even though he has an ulterior motive. See, he thinks that just because we don't buy them for him, then we won't be able to say anything about what he buys. WRONG! As I have mentioned before, this is not a democracy in our household. It is a sprinkleocracy. We're lenient enough, but we're not crazy.

And I am trying to cram as much fun into every day that we have before school starts. (Because this is the last free summer that my babies will have for 12 (at least) more years!! The rest of them will just be mini-vacations in between grade levels.) And I must admit, I am actually having a great summer, the first one I have had in a long time! Must be something about being smoke-free I can actually go out and DO more without having to take a smoke break every 20 minutes.

And speaking of doing more, I am going out to play now. What, you thought 40 year old women didn't do that? Think again!:)

Peace allllllllll....................

2008-07-05T23:32:00.001-07:00

This.......THIS.......gives me hope for this world.

Peace alllllllllll...................

2008-07-04T05:36:00.000-07:00

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY EVERYONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
BE SAFE! AND THANK YOU TO OUR ARMED FORCES FOR MAKING ALL OF THIS POSSIBLE!!!!!

Peace alllllllllll................

2008-06-28T18:11:00.000-07:00

This is where we went today, boys and girls. The Blue Angels air show. And I say this in my best surferspeak : "Dude.....it was AWESOME!!!" It was totally off the chain and all that other good stuff. If it comes anywhere near you guys (or girls), make sure and go see it. Hope you don't mind me telling you what to do and all. Have a great weekend!!!!

Peace alllllllllllllllll...........................

Still Not Smokin'

2008-06-26T13:11:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to let everybody know :

As of 11:30 tomorrow night, I will have been smoke free for 3, count
'em, 3 WHOLE MONTHS!!!!!! Whoo hoooooooo for me!

As of right now, I have not smoked 3,626 cigarettes and I have saved $655.16. Of course, I really don't know what I did with all that money...but at least I know it didn't go towards poisoning myself:).

I'm not running marathons yet, but I'm on my way!

Peace allllllllllllllllllll................

Stuff and Such

2008-06-24T07:09:00.000-07:00

You know what irritates me? Well, not so much irritates me as things I could do without.

You know when you're watching television and right when the 10 minute block of commercials comes on, they have someone say "Don't touch that dial (remote)" or "Don't even think of changing channels, we'll be right back"? Well, I do. That's right, I change the channel, if only for a second. I shall not allow some disembodied voice to tell me what to do and so, when this happens, I must go against the grain....I just must.

People who wear those #@$%****? bluetooth headsets all the time. Unless your company is in the middle of a hostile takeover or your wife is about to give birth, you don't really need one of those things growing out of your ear, do ya? I will tell you what everyone around you is thinking.....you are NOT that important and you really look kinda dumb. Sort of like those potbellied men who wear black socks with sandals and have their shirts unbuttoned so everyone can see their gold medallion nestled in a carpet of chest hair........yeah, about that dumb......and egotistical.

Ladies (and men) who let their underwear ride up over their pants. I don't care what your drawers look like. I really don't. If you want the world to see your bloomers, just don't bother putting on the pants. Like your butt cleavage has the world at large drooling...it doesn't. Maybe a little bit, like you get right before you throw up but beyond that....well, you know.

And now for something completely different.....

We bought the kids some bunkbeds....you know, the stackable kind that as they grow older you can take apart and make two twin beds. Well, turns out neither one of them would get up on the top bunk! So, we had to separate them. Oh, well....at least they have beds to sleep in....if they'll stay in them, that is. They really love to sleep with Mom and Dad.

The remaining animals are all doing well. They really love to sleep with Mom and Dad too. (Mom and Dad need to get a bigger bed)

And I stayed up until 1 a.m. last night (this morning) doing laundry and cleaning the house. Why? Because I didn't want to do it today:) Because I am at heart a lazy scrub who would much rather lay in the grass outside and read a book alllll day while the kids play. That's what summertime is for anyway.

See ya! Don't forget to use sunscreen!!

Peace alllllllllllllllllllllllll.............................

Terrible and Wonderful

2008-06-20T15:44:00.000-07:00

I experienced something today that was both terrible and wonderful. It's kind of a long story so please bear with me.

Monday night, about 11:30, I was lying on the couch watching television. One of our kittens, Izzy, (the runt and therefore my favorite:)) climbed onto the couch and sat on my hip. I noticed that she was shaking and it scared me. I thought maybe she was sick and so of course I looked up "trembling kitten" on Google. And the best I got was maybe something had scared her. So, I wrapped her up in a blanket remnant I have, warmed her up, loved her up and after a few minutes she stopped shaking and went on to sleep.

The next day,(Tuesday) she looked a little tired but otherwise fine. She was eating and drinking and sleeping a lot, kind of like her brothers and sister, like any other cat on the face of the earth.:) She looked no worse for the wear and so everything was back to normal. But I still kept a close eye on her. Like I said, she's the runt so she's my baby.

Wednesday passed and Thursday was in full swing. Izzy was having a blast. She was running and playing and rolling and bouncing and trying to catch a fly (and almost did!) and climbing the curtains and beating up the dog.....just another day in the life of a well-loved kitten. Later that evening, I noticed she was missing from the group. See, her and her sister and brothers all hang together a lot and when they sleep they normally jump on a kitchen chair together. I saw them but not her. So I went to looking for her. (Little kittens can hide in a whole bunch of places you know.) I found her asleep under the couch. I picked her up and loved on her and when I laid her down on the couch, she cried for a second. She was breathing funny and acting like she was in pain. Our vet doesn't open until 8 in the morning so I settled in for a long and difficult night. I put some cloths in a little shoebox and she slept in there for the night with me in the livingroom.

Grover took her to the vet this morning and then he had to go to work. Dr. McCurdy, our vet called me about 10 a.m. and told me that she was really bad off....he had run some tests and couldn't tell what was wrong with her....she was anemic with petechial hemmorhages all over her body....all over. (A petechial hemmorhage is one that looks like tiny dots.) He said that he could possibly do a blood transfusion but that he didn't think that it would do any good because he didn't know what was causing the problem. He said that she was NOT in pain but that she WAS going to die. And that if we could come down there to sign the papers for euthanasia but she might not even make it until we could get down there. He also wanted to check the other 3 kittens. So I got in touch with Grover on the job site, told him what was going on and waited.......and waited.....and waited. It took him almost 2 hours to finally get off the site he was on...he came home and we went straight to the vet.

Dr. McCurdy checked the other kittens and they were all fine. He then began talking to us about Izzy and he said, "Here let me go get her and I'll show you what I'm talking about." He brought her into the room (in that same little Spiderman shoebox....I will never forget that) and we were looking at her while he was explaining the tests he had run and so on. Up until that point neither Grover or myself had said anything. When he put her back down on the cloths in the box, I said "Bless her heart", Grover said "Poor thing". We said it at the same time. Right after we said that, the doctor told us "She's going now." And so she did. She was in no pain, and she just slipped away.

On the ride home, we were both in tears. For different reasons. Grover was crying because this wonderful creature had just departed from our lives and he was heartbroken.

I was crying because my heart was hurting as well but I was also crying because I was thankful. I was thankful that I had experienced her life with her. Three months ago, I stroked her mother's head while she gave birth to Izzy. And today, I shared her last moments with her. She waited for us to get there. She waited until she heard our voices before she went Home. She waited....Say what you want, I know that she was waiting for US. And that is a gift I will be forever grateful for....that she knew we were there with her and that we loved her. I think maybe it made it easier for her....I hope it did anyway.

I know that being able to say good-bye made it a little easier for me. And it was something I can look at and say "That was a moment of wonderful" in a terrible day.

Love ya Iz. Your brothers and sister and momma send their love. And I've got a shoestring with your name on it:)

Peace allllllllllllllllllll................

To Sleep, Perchance To.....Something Like That

2008-06-18T18:48:00.000-07:00

See this handsome young man? This sweet natured, tender hearted animal lover and the best big brother in the world? This is Lukas, one of the lights of my life, one of the stars in my galaxy. Lukas has a problem. Lukas does not sleep....not like kids his age are supposed to. He never has.

When he was a little bitty wee one, he was a night baby for the first couple of months. Up all night, sleep all day...fine. Then he switched on me and slept all night and was up all day....even better. And then he kept switching back and forth and has done so for the past FIVE years! The first year was not so bad, as I would just switch my sleep to adjust to his. But when baby brother Jakob was born, that was no longer an option. It was at that point in my life that I learned that sleep can sometimes be considered optional:)

When I say he doesn't sleep, I don't mean that he bounces off the walls all night, no. He will get in his bed and will lie in his bed ALL NIGHT, in the dark, and stare at the ceiling and think. (And of course I'm not sleeping either) He will then get up at sunrise (which he calls "rise and shine") and begin his day. At some point during the day, depending on how long he has been awake, he will finally fall asleep. He will then sleep from 6 to 8 hours and be up again for who knows how long. The longest he has stayed awake is 22 hours.

I have taken him to the doctor on many occasions, had him sleep studied and examined many times, all with the same results. There is nothing wrong with him. I have had his blood sugars, iron levels and thyroid tested. He has been tested for ADD and the other initials. Everything is fine. He is a normal, well adjusted, bright little boy. Who doesn't sleep. And the doctors say he is fine. (I did have one doctor who offered to write him a prescription for Klonopin so that I could get some sleep.......ummmmmmmmmm....NO....ya doof)

(Oh, and yes, I keep him and his brother on a nightly routine/schedule so that's not it)

Maybe he's just not a big sleeper. My father wasn't. He slept maybe 4 hours a night most of his life. Or maybe, once he starts school, he'll WANT to go to sleep at night. As long as he doesn't go to sleep in class:)

But this week, he's on track for an all night sleep. This week. Maybe it'll stick. Or maybe I'll be watching another night long infomercial. We'll see.

Peace alllllllll................

And good night Lukas and Jakob!:)

The Graduate

2008-06-11T22:37:00.000-07:00

Sorry it's been a minute. Seems while I was going through my mid-life crisis, my beloved husband, Grover was going through his as well. Fortunately for him, he's much more of a problem solver than I am sometimes. This is what he decided to do with himself:

He is going back to college. Uh-huh, yep, that's right...I said it. He is going back to school. And not only that, he is going back for a degree in something TOTALLY unrelated to the field in which he currently works. He is going to obtain a Business Degree. Don't know what he will do with that but I'm interested in finding out. Does anyone out there know what one does with a degree in Business? I don't.

So, while he's doing that, I am going to just do whatever comes to mind..........writing, reading, cooking, sleeping, origami (yeah, right), bungee jumping (even bigger yeah right). I am going to reintroduce myself to myself for a little while....chillax a bit.....and then go from there. I think this new chapter in my life might be more fun than I thought.:)

Sorry I've been a bit boring lately. Maybe I just need to go looking for someone to tick me off. Or if I wait long enough, chances are they'll come to me.:)

HAPPY 275TH BLOG POST TO ME!!!!!!

Peace allllllll...................

Warning: Self Pity Ahead

2008-06-03T07:00:00.001-07:00

For the past couple of months I have had this annoying sensation of being kind of draggy, just a little tired. Coupled with that have been these feelings of what I call "chronic nostalgia" (if you don't understand what that is you will one day...it's kind of hard to explain). And until today, I really didn't have a clue on what was causing it.

I knew it wasn't physical so much, considering the fact I have been making some strides to benefit myself in that area (i.e. not smoking, exercising more etc.). I knew that it was more emotional in nature than anything, given the bouts of nostalgia, not to mention some episodes of just flat out weepiness.

I figured out what it was this morning. And it was really simple.

I was sitting there talking to myself (I do this a lot....a LOT) having a very rambling conversation in my head and I said to myself about a particular thing "Well, you're 40 ya know...what'd you expect?" And it hit me like a ton of bricks.

I am 40. I will be 41 in about 2 months. I AM 40!!! And I haven't done a single thing that I said I would do when I was 18. Not one.

I'm not talking about getting married or having kids. A lot of people want to do that and actually do. I'm talking about:

going to Ireland and England
getting my degree in Romance Languages
writing a book
going on a cruise
learning to swim
winning the Nobel Peace Prize
finding a cure
going to a wine tasting
going to a Broadway play
having a Japanese tea garden
vacationing in Maine
riding horses in Montana

and a ton of other small, seemingly insignificant things. But if they are so small and inconsequential, why is the fact that I have not done them bothering me so much?

Because what HAVE I done, except get older? And time is ticking and here I am, still just trying to make it through until tomorrow.

I thought I had it beat....but this whole 40 thing will sneak up on you. It's tiresome, it's depressing, it's irritating. (They say 40 is the new 30. Well, tell a 20 year old that and see what they say.)

Hopefully, it's also only temporary. I know a lot of people in their 40's and they are doing just fine. Just a matter of adjustment is all. So, let me get to adjusting and so on.

Sorry about the depression....hopefully, I'll snap out of it before I hit 41. Because that's just another year further away from 39;)

Peace allllllllll.....................

Plans

2008-05-27T10:23:00.000-07:00

My children start to school on August 6th. ALL of them. Josh will be starting the 8th grade and Lukas and Jakob will be starting kindergarten. (We didn't start Lou last year because he wasn't quite ready yet...so now he and his brother will be starting together.) They will be starting on a brand new chapter in their lives. I will get them up in the morning, get their breakfast, get them dressed and take them to school. Then I will come back home to an empty house and .......what?

What will I do all day while my kids are in school? Clean the house? That doesn't take all day. Well, it kind of does now because I have to chase after the kids while I'm trying to get everything done. But when they start school, I will have roughly 6 hours a day, 5 days a week allllll to myself. What do I do? Oh, I know, I know!!

I will......

Write a book (the Great American Novel)

Paint the house

Paint my nails

Teach the old dog some new tricks

Train the cats for the circus

Start a social club...Soon to be Old Ladies in Fuchsia Hats

Eat.........no, never mind that one

Start watching soap operas......don't think so

Go back to working outside the home during school hours

Volunteer at the school library a couple of days a week

Aaaah, the opportunities are endless!!

But I think the first two days are gonna go like this:

Day number one: cry until they get home because I miss them
Day number two: enjoy the silence:)

BUT....that day is a couple of months from now, not today. And I plan on really enjoying the next couple of months closing out this chapter before the new one begins.

Peace allllll....................

PS By the way as of 11:30 tonight I will have been a non-smoker for TWO WHOLE MONTHS!!!!!!! Yay for ME!:)

Beautiful

2008-05-21T04:22:00.000-07:00

My mom passed away when she was 65, 11 years ago this past March. In all of the years she was alive she never once colored her hair. She used to say that she earned every one of those grey hairs and she wasn't gonna cover them up. By the end of her life, her hair was entirely silver. She had crow's feet around her eyes and laugh lines around her mouth. She was a bit on the heavy side. And I thought she was warm and fuzzy and smushy, like a momma should be. I thought she was beautiful.

I've been looking around lately and sometimes I feel a bit overwhelmed by the "let me look like a teenager until I am 90 and let me be as skinny as a corpse until I am one" marketing spiel. My mailbox has been inundated with ads from Oil of Olay, Avon, etc. and they are trying to tell me that the only way I could possibly be happy in this life is if my face is baby bottom smooth and my hair is 3 shades of rich, luxurious non-grey color. According to them I must look like this every day until the day the world ends and I must never gain more than 5 pounds and that must be during "that time of the month" and they've got something that will help me with that too.

I must drink energy drinks and watch "Sex and the City" and read Oprah magazine and take my children on "play dates" to be a content and fulfilled woman in this go get 'em world of today. I gotta be a MODERN woman.

Bull.......

What I MUST do is this: accept myself for who I am, make sure that I am as healthy as I can be, and make sure that my character speaks more to people than my looks.

What I MUST do is make sure that my kids know how to pray, that they know how to treat people with respect, and that they know their mom is always there for them.

What I must do is be able to look in the mirror every day, beyond the few grey hairs and the couple of crows feet and see someone that I really like, not necessarily someone with perfectly arched eyebrows who is still swollen from the latest botox injection.

I'm sorry, but I just can't be bothered to look the way some CEO in some office somewhere thinks I should. I have a real life here and somedays I kinda resent that CEO (and his cohorts) for making other people think that we should all follow the same cookie cutter standard of beauty. Instead of helping to pay his rent, I can be putting that money aside for my kids. You know, the ones who think I'm beautiful anyway.

A lot of women out there look like models......and a lot more look like mommas.

I look like a momma.

And no matter what I look like I know that God loves me, my husband loves me and so do my kids.

Now THAT's beautiful.

Peace alllllll..............................

Let's Hear It For The Boys

2008-05-15T06:27:00.000-07:00

As the mother of 3 boys (and the wife of one) I gotta admit.....I love guys. I do. Don't get me wrong, I like girls and women just fine as well, but I really have a heart for the males of the species, bless 'em. And I often feel that in this day of female consciousness, that men get an often unfounded bad rap.

If you look at the mainstream media you would think that men wouldn't remember to breathe if they didn't have a woman around to remind them.

Case in point: television sitcoms. If you'll notice, most of them have the husband/father around as window dressing....scenery....just there for looks and not really anything else. They will portray the wife/mother as the emotional/spiritual/mental backbone of the family as the guy just walks around looking confused most of the time, the entire while being cuckolded by his superwoman/shrew of a wife. Is this really a reflection of our society as a whole? I don't think so.

If you watch the news, you would think that men are responsible for the decline of values in our society. Not so. It is shared equally. I know a lot of men who are smart, talented and responsible and yet they are not given nearly enough credit. Yet, when something goes wrong, who gets the blame most of the time? Sorry guys.

Yes, there are some sorry men out there......no good, irresponsible, lazy, abusive, unfaithful and a waste of time. Equally, there are just as many women out there with the same traits. However, you just don't hear about them too often do ya? There are a lot of single mothers out there.....there are also a lot of single fathers as well, raising the kids alone, working the two jobs, cooking, cleaning, etc. You just don't really hear about them do you? And when you do, most peoples response is "So, he's just doing something women have been doing for a long time." When can a fella catch a break? When can he get credit for doing something right?

I mean, they put up with us most of the time. And ladies,don't fool yourselves. We are not easy to put up with, no matter how hard we might try to pretend that we are. To most men, we are at times a pit bull/killer rabbit mutation that they have no hope of figuring out (and that's WHEN we're crying).

And so, if you have a good man...or know a good man (and chances are that you do, somewhere), take a moment and let them know that they are doing as good a job as they can with what they have. As for the rest of them....stay away....far away...from them.

Now, I'm going to go turn Grover over in his sleep and remind him to breathe before he suffocates.

Peace alllll.....................

P.S.

This picture of the boys here.....while I was taking it, instead of the standard "Say cheese" line, I told them "Say cheesedoodles!" They thought I said "Say cheese do-do!" which made their day. See? One of the many reasons I love boys!

2008-05-14T10:18:00.000-07:00

HAPPY 60TH ANNIVERSARY TO THE STATE OF ISRAEL!!

Peace to you alllllll....................

MOMS!

2008-05-11T05:21:00.000-07:00

To all:

Mothers.........
Those who have mothers,
Those who want to be mothers,
Those who have been mothers,
Single dads who are both dads and moms,
Foster moms
And all of you who act like my momma when I need it the most:)

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!!!!!!

Hope it's a beautiful one for all of you and my wishes for a delicious meal, a manicured yard and a clean house....none of which you had to have any part in creating!!

Peace allll.................

Because

2008-05-07T13:27:00.000-07:00

Because I know you just can't get enough of hearing about me:

1. How many people do you know with your name? 1

2. Do you still associate with the person you fell the hardest for? Nope

3. What do you want in your life right now? Peace, health and happiness

4. What do you smell like? Grass (as in I've been rolling around in it.....outdoor grass on the ground...not the other kind people)

5. What's your favorite Gatorade flavor? None....it's worse than drinking dishwater

6. What's your favorite thing to have on your bed? My kids....asleep

7. Are you wearing anything you borrowed from someone? Yes....I have borrowed a pair of my husband's underwear while I wash all of mine. What...don't act like you've never done it...or wanted to anyway. As long as he doesn't borrow mine we're all good. I KNOW that was TMI but.....eh, what're you gonna do, ya know?

8. Do you sleep in jeans? Not anymore

9. When are you normally on the phone? In the morning

10. Are you a cuddler? yes

11. Something you just don't understand? Hatred, rudeness and basic algebra

12. What is the last thing you bought someone? Gummi worms for the kids yesterday.

13. It's 4 in the morning and the phone rings. Who do you expect it to be? Somebody with nothing good to say.

14. How is life going for you right now? Pretty good if I do say so myself

15. Can you play Guitar Hero? Never tried it

16. Do you prefer warm or cold weather? COLD

17. What do you currently hear right now? The water dripping in the kitchen sink

18. What do you think your best friend is doing right now? Sleeping of course:)

19. Would you rather watch football or baseball? FOOTBALL

20. Do you feel like dancing? Not at the moment but let me stretch a little and then we'll give it a whirl....or a dip

21. Do you speak another language other than English? Yes

22. Where were you Friday night? Spending time with my guys

23. What is something you want right now...be honest? Peace for allllllllllll

24. Do you like the color orange? Yes

25. Sometimes do you wish you were someone else? No, I just wish I was doing different things sometimes.

26. Three feelings at the moment? Happy, content, satisfied......for now:)

27. Ever been kissed under fireworks? NO:(

28. Where's the weirdest place you have slept? In my car

29. Where can I find you at 7 pm tonight? At home probably but call first to make sure

If you've read this consider yourself tagged.......because I want to know more about YOU!

Peace alllllllll.................

My Guys

2008-05-04T07:41:00.000-07:00

Okay, I have been a little remiss in posting lately......and this is why.....Jakob in the red and Lukas in the green, teal or blue-green, whatever you wanna call it. Who could resist when these guys ask you to come in the back yard to play? If only I had a laptop. Hmmmm.......Hey Grover? Honey? Where ya goin'?

Oh, yeah...Lukas isn't mad. The sun was just in his eyes:)

Peace allllll...........

Is It Safe To Come Out Now??

2008-04-28T05:59:00.000-07:00

Well, I made it through the MIL and the Auntie's visit. They are leaving this morning and Grover is on his way to see them off. Was it really that bad? No, not really. The boys really, really enjoyed being with them, and the feeling was mutual, so....anything that my babies enjoy, I can deal with:)

Lukas and Jakob got their very first ride on a carousel....the first ride was in one of the teacup things and the second one was on the horses with Dad....Jakob freaked on the horse ....Mom freaked on the teacup. I didn't know those things would spin like that while the rest of the carousel was spinning the other way! Oh, I got sick and dizzy and they had to stop the thing so I could get off. It was pretty funny, after the fact of course.

And I learned this weekend that going out to eat will make you tired. See that's what they like to do....they don't really like to cook at home and they have the money to do it, so they eat out more often than not. They took us out to eat twice and both times I was absolutely exhausted by the time I got home. Still am as a matter of fact.

And now, everyone is gone....MIL and Auntie back to Florida, Josh to school, Grover to see his peoples off and then to work. The kids are asleep and the house is quiet. Aaaaaaaahhhh.....how sweet it is! But maybe I should be catching up on MY sleep.....hmmmm. Clean the house or sleep? Clean the house or sleep? I think we all know who is coming out on top in this one.

HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY GROVER!!!!!!!!! LOVE YA CUZ!

Peace allllllllllll...............

Go Green? You Know Where You Can Go

2008-04-21T10:49:00.001-07:00

You know, I'm just gonna say it. If I see one more magazine advertisement, commercial, or product in a store encouraging me to GO GREEN, I'm going to grab the nearest spin doctor and beat the crap out of him or her. I am SO tired of being told what to do by people who think that they know best. So tired.

I recycle. Have been since I was 10 years old.......a little while before it became fashionable. I turn off the lights if I leave the room and I turn off the water while I'm brushing my teeth. Because I don't want a kazillion dollar electricity or water bill that's why. I don't do it because I'm told to....I do it because it makes sense. I don't do it because I think that if I don't I will kill the earth. I do not think that we will ever kill the earth. It will kill us first. Because guess what people? We are ALL going to die eventually.....the earth is gonna last a whole lot longer than we will.

In the rare case of a Christian agreeing with an atheist on anything;), I do wholeheartedly agree with George Carlin on the absolute arrogance of people who want to 'save the planet'. We can't even take care of the PEOPLE on the planet. "4 and a half billion years of existence vs. 200 years or so of industrialism".........well the math is not hard. These people aren't worried about the planet, they're worried about themselves. Half the world is starving, people in Haiti are having to eat dirt cookies and companies are spending billions of dollars to make their packaging pretty and green and pretend they're socially responsible. If you were socially responsible, you'd be sending someone some rice or cheese or something.

My husband, who is a great guy and who really knows how to push my buttons, bought me something yesterday. He bought me a can of chicken noodle soup. Campbell's chicken noodle soup. In a GREEN and white can...in celebration of Earth Day. WTF?????? You just spent millions of dollars to make that can green and white and with the money you spent to do that you could have just sent some soup to somebody who was HUNGRY!

I celebrate earth day every day. Every day I go outside and I am thankful that we (I and the earth) are still here for another day. And then I proceed to use a little common sense to help take care of the place where I live. I don't do it because it's socially fashionable and I don't do it because some celebrity told me I should. I do it because it makes sense. I don't make commercials about it and I don't take out ads for it. I prefer to use my money for a better cause........like helping the PEOPLE who are on the planet. By trying to make a person or two's life a little easier while they're here on this planet.

My point is, take care of your part of the earth because it makes sense, not because it makes you look good.

And now, I am going outside, taking a deep breath of fresh air, while it's still available, and reminding myself to take care of my little corner of the earth while I'm still here.

Peace allllll................

2008-04-18T07:29:00.000-07:00

Hey all....

Sorry I haven't been around much lately. Been trying to prepare for the MIL's impending doom, OOPS...visit. Cleaning, cleaning and cutting the grass and all the various minor junk one must do. Will be back with a real post soon.....

Oh, not to pat my own back or toot my own horn....oh, who am I kidding? Yes I am:) I have been a NON-SMOKER for three weeks today!! Whoo hoo for me!!

Peace alllll..........

My, Grandma....What Big Eye You Have!

2008-04-14T07:29:00.000-07:00

The following is a true story.....seriously.

A friend of mine, I'll call him Mr. Naive, bought a digital TV a couple of weeks ago. Well, he had the parental locks set on it so that his children could not access certain channels. One day he wanted to access one of those channels for himself. He couldn't remember the password he had used to set the locks, and he couldn't find the paperwork where he had written it down. (Organization is obviously not one of Mr. Naive's strong suits.)

So, he went to the store where he had bought it to see if they could help him. Of course, they could not. But they did give him a phone number to call. He goes home, he calls the number. After a couple of mechanical menus and a few minutes of irritation, he reaches a real live person. Great! Now we can fix the problem. We'll call the real live person on the other end of the phone Mr. Brother.....Mr. B. Brother if you will.

Okay, Mr. Brother asks Mr. Naive to look on the back of the TV set and give him the registration number and so Mr. Naive does. A few keystrokes later, Mr. Brother says, "Okay, okay...there.....I've GOTCHA!" Mr. Naive does not like the sound of this and asks "What do you mean?" to which Mr. Brother responds "I'm looking at your house from one of our satellites....go outside." Mr. Naive goes outside and Mr. Brother says " Yeah, there you are at such and such street. You're wearing a red shirt and you have a blue truck parked in the drive." At this point Mr. Naive is starting to freak out a little and goes back in the house.

Once back in the house, Mr. Brother asks Mr. Naive to take a seat and he will fix the problem with his TV. He says that it will take a few moments and suggests that Mr. Naive might want to get something to drink. Mr. Naive says that he already has a soda to which Mr. Brother responds "No, you don't....I'm looking right at you." He then went on to describe Mr. Naive's living room furniture, etc. right down to the pictures on the walls. How could he do this? Well, it turns out that Mr. Brother was looking at Mr. Naive through his own TV.

What? Mr. Naive is then instructed to turn his TV off and Mr. Brother will then fry the system so that he can access whatever channels he wants. Of course, this will permanently wreck his parental lock system so that he can never use it again...but I don't think that at this point Mr. Naive really cares. So, after a second the big green dot appears on the screen, gets brighter and brighter, the TV starts rattling (literally shaking like it will explode) and poof, it's done. The TV is reset. And so is Mr. Naive's trust in his government.

You know, way back when Orwell wrote 1984, big brother was really just a matter of fantasy. Now it is a matter of reality. There are cameras on our street corners, at every traffic light, in every sewer and subway system. Some of these are for safety reasons, sure. But why in the world would you want to look into my living room or my bedroom? And now we have this whole switch over to digital TV for everyone in 2009. Hmmmmm...........I am not a conspiracy theorist or anything.....my name is not Fox Mulder. But it will certainly make you think won't it?

And it makes me think that I'll be doing a whole lot more reading in the future, because I"m probably throwing my TVs out. They might view me with some other camera but they're not gonna get my help to do it.

Just remember, next time you go outside SMILE for the camera that's watching you.......and if there are no small children around, you can use your favorite obscene gesture as well:)

Peace allllllllll..................

Irritation, Frustration and All the Other Ations

2008-04-09T10:52:00.000-07:00

I'm frustrated and irritated.

I am frustrated because people have a tendency to frustrate and irritate other people and this is what has happened to me recently. Some of it could be considered none of my business but that has never stopped me (or any other breathing human) from having an opinion.

I'm irritated that a whore has a "singing career" jump started and people are inordinately interested in her because she's a whore. Prostitute, call girl, trollop....whatever you wanna call it...a ho is a ho is a ho. Not that I have anything against them necessarily, except for their tendency to perpetuate the marginalization, objectification and exploitation of women in our society. Sorry, yes you CAN work at Waffle House. (And no, I don't think I am better than anyone......except maybe someone who would sleep with a married man and use the fallout from it NOT to apologize for my part in it but to further my non-existent "career".)

I'm frustrated because I've been watching American Idol and this whole talk of some the contestants having had previous record deals is annoying. In my fantasies, the winner of this show should be someone who has been plucked from the cornfields of Kansas or the subways of New York....a person whose only audience to this point has been their church members or their parents or the family cat, or horse, or chicken. You know, a real undiscovered talent. These people with their previous record deals that went nowhere, well you had your shot, now let someone else get theirs.

I'm aggravated because this season's crop on Hell's Kitchen is pathetic.

I'm frustrated because no network execs have come to make a reality show out of MY life....I gots some reality for ya! And it has nothing to do with big boobs and who is sleeping with whom.

I'm irritated because my mother -in-law and her sister are coming to town for the weekend of Grover's birthday. Oh, I love them....it just takes an entire month for me to get the house "clean enough" for them. And even then it won't be....you know it won't. And he acts like a totally different person when his mom is here.....kinda rude and patronizing like he's afraid I'll make a mistake or something. What kind of mistake? Oh, who knows....maybe buying the wrong kind of gum...something dumb like that. The whole thing is making him a nervous wreck and irritating me.

I'm aggravated because I reallllllllly want a cigarette.....realllllly.

And I'm frustrated because, courtesy of YouTube (which I love, don't get me wrong), idiots can become stars overnight. Literally.

And on that note, let me figure out how this webcam thing works.:)

Peace alllllll..............

Additions and Checking In

2008-04-03T07:02:00.000-07:00

I woke up today, went to the bathroom, took out the trash, and woke Grover up for work ......all without coughing once. So? So, I haven't been able to wake up without hacking up a lung in 10 years! Yeah, this whole no smoking thing is working out pretty well. This whole gaining weight thing ....well, maybe not so much:)

We have had a few new members added to our household recently. We got a call yesterday from a friend of mine asking if we wanted a dog. Well, as you know, we only lost Prancer last week, so we weren't really sure if it was too soon or if we should wait. But, since it was my friend calling, we thought we would go over and give it a look-see. It was a little rat terrier/hound puppy who was about two seconds from having to go to the pound. It was love at first sight. When Grover gets watery eyed, know that all bets are off.....the puppy was coming with us.:)

So we got him home and made introductions all around and the puppy proceeded to start jumping on Foxy's head....which she did not like at all but she put up with it. We have named the puppy Colonel. Because he came in and took over the house:)

Our cat Thunder just had a litter of kittens 3 days ago. Her first litter but she's a natural born mommy cat. She has 4 babies...don't know if they're boys or girls yet...haven't wanted to bother her by looking. But I have explained to her that this is her last hurrah. She's getting spayed in 6 weeks. We had the appointment to do it 2 months ago, but that was before we realized she was pregnant already. Tramp:)

So, let's do the head count now for sprinkleshouse:

2 dogs
2 cats
4 kittens
2 little boys
1 teenager
1 dad

and me.

Where did I put my Calgon? I think I'm gonna need it!

Peace alllllllllllllll.............

Detox Blues Update

2008-03-30T07:30:00.001-07:00

Sorry I haven't posted in a few days. As you can probably imagine, it has been a little tense around my neck of the woods. But, it is slowly getting better.

I had originally tried to stop smoking on March 24 but when I realized that Prancer was not doing well and would have to be euthanized, well....not smoking went out the window for a couple of days. Just a couple though.

I smoked my last cigarette on Thursday, March 27 at 11:30 PM. I have been smoke free for exactly 2 days, 10 hours, 6 minutes and 25....26.....27 seconds. I have saved $17.50 and added 16 hours onto my life. Whoo Hoo!!!! Now, I am going to take that money I saved and buy me something to eat. Because....wow! I stay hungry. But it's okay....I'll knock off the extra weight I may gain.

Other than that, it really hasn't been as dreadful as I thought. Sure, my house is the cleanest in the entire state of Alabama, I have almost choked my husband on more than one occasion and my friends accuse me of having the thousand yard stare.....but my children have no clue that mommy sometimes feels like climbing the walls. And if you can keep your kids from having to deal with it, that's all I can ask. The little ones anyway.

Insofar as Josh goes, well, this has been a really good anti-drug lesson for him. Nicotine detox, like any other kind, no matter how well it goes, is crazy hard. And it certainly ain't pretty.

The only problem is this: I can smell a lit cigarette from a mile away...and then I really want one. Only for a few minutes, but that few minutes feels like a looooong time. I was sitting on my front porch yesterday, enjoying the fresh air (which I can actually smell now for the first time in 20 years) and my next door neighbor came outside and spoke. You know, usual neighborhood chit chat. Fine, except for that cigar he was smoking and waving back and forth. I was polite, courteous, engaging and conversational......all the while imagining jumping over the fence, grabbing that cigar and just smoooooooooking it down to the nub while I had a foot on his chest. But he will never know that:)

After he went back inside I had to get on the phone and call my friend to talk me down. Fifteen minutes and an entire bag of jellybeans later and I was fine.

I know that this is a very boring post today. Sorry about that. But unfortunately, I'm still in the mire. Should be better in a day or two and I'll be back to my old self. Baby steps....... I'm gonna go clean my house now....or choke my husband...whichever comes first:)

Peace alllllll...................

Prancer

2008-03-26T07:03:00.000-07:00

We had to have our Min-Pin, Prancer, euthanized yesterday. We are absolutely heartbroken. Especially Grover....he never had any pets as a kid (well, except for that field mouse that he kept in his shirt pocket until it ran away) and this is his first experience with losing one. And my heart really goes out to him. He was Prancer's favorite person and she was his favorite dog. And a dog I was proud to call my friend.

See ya at the Bridge, Prancer Dancer.

Peace allllllllll.................

Just Trying To Be.....Smoke Free

2008-03-24T07:16:00.000-07:00

I am starting a new phase in my life, well at least attempting to anyways.

I am trying to stop smoking....cold turkey that is. I've tried the patches and had a REALLY bad reaction to them and quite frankly I'm scared of the pills. So, it's just me. The reason I'm even bothering to post this is I may post quite frequently in the next couple of days......and I may not make much sense when I do. Or I may be just fine. I'm just gonna ride it til the wheels fall off I guess and see which way it goes.

Anyhow, I'm 10 hours in right now....almost half a day...(baby steps...baby steps). That may not sound like much to some people but believe me, it's a whole lot to me :) Especially when you consider that I have already saved $2.88 and added 1 hour and 20 minutes onto my life. Grover's excited about the money saved:).....I just wanna be here longer.

Well, I'm gonna try to muddle through the rest of the day......the rest of the hour....the rest of this minute....the rest of this sentence, without caving. Can I do it? I think I can.....but I will be glad when the detox part is over and my head unfuzzes because right now concentration and I aren't really getting along....

Peace allllll................

Thank You Jesus!

2008-03-22T22:13:00.000-07:00

He Is Risen! Indeed!

Happy Easter! And it is my prayer that God pour His blessings on you all! God loves you and so do I!

Peace allllllllllllll.........................

My Grover

2008-03-21T07:22:00.000-07:00

For those of you who may be interested a slightly more sardonic wit, I now present:

the Romeo to my Juliet
the Mark Antony to my Cleopatra
the cat to my dog
the chocolate to my peanut butter
the gas to my lawnmower

the love of my life,
my husband Grover

http://groversgripes.blogspot.com

Give him a whirl. He's a natural born smart-aleck too!:)

Peace allllllllllllllllllll..................

I Love My Children, Yes I Do

2008-03-18T19:31:00.000-07:00

I love my children, yes I do. How do I know I do? Because I tell myself that at least three times a day. Sometimes I tell myself that when they have done something that is particularly kind or loving. Other times I tell myself that when I am questioning their sanity, or my own.

Whenever Jakob breaks wind, or poots, or passes gas (or as the OGO family calls it, "fluffing"), he will run up to me wherever I may be and say "My name is Jakob." I have no clue why he does this. He will be in the backyard and I will be in the den and he will run inside to let me know "My hame is Jakob." I am hoping he discontinues this practice before he starts school in the fall. If not, I am looking forward to a very lively parent teacher conference. (Not to mention the fact that the child loves broccoli so the amount of flatulence he produces is astounding for a 4 year old.)

Jakob: Mom may I have some candy please?
Me: No you may not.
Jakob: Don't say no momma! That's a vewy, vewy bad bad word!

Lukas hates wearing pants that button or zip. In other words, he only likes wearing sweat pants. When I try to get him to wear jeans he will tell me they are "too small" even if they are a size too big. Most guys wait until they are around 40 beofre they give up fashion for comfort. I suppose he is just advanced for his age. Either that or he just takes after me. He also like for me to bite his feet. Now, that was fun when he was a little baby and hadn't started walking yet. But now? You're 5..... I don't know what your feet have been in but chances are whatever it was, dirt was a major component.

Lukas: (hitting something in another room): I hate you!!
Me: Who are you talking to?
Lukas: The wall....it hit my head!
Me: Are you okay?
Lukas: Yes.
Me: Okay, then....don't say hate...it's a bad word.
Lukas: Well.....I still don't like you wall!

And then there's Josh....the great debater. "Not everything in the world is up for discussion" goes in one ear and out the other. "Why? Why not? Why? Why not?" is commonly heard in our household, and although I SWORE I wouldn't do this when I was a kid, I have committed the parental crime of telling him "BECAUSE I SAID SO!!!" more than a few times. Hey, it worked for my mom.......sometimes.

But I love them....I do. They have caused me to think faster, be more resilient and certainly more creative in my reasoning. They ask the questions that I asked when I was a kid. "Why are people sometimes bad? Why do some people have to be poor? Why am I here? What can I do? When will I be big enough or old enough to.......?" And they're the same questions I still ask myself. And we try to figure out the answers together.

But one thing....well, one thing never changes. They are all still so beautiful when they sleep. The peace and innocence on their faces is striking (and yes, even a 14 year old can be innocent to a large degree).

And then they wake up with messy hair, bleary eyes and morning breath;) And we start all over again.

I love my children, yes I do.

I really, really do.

Peace alllllllll....................

Celebratin' The Green

2008-03-17T06:35:00.000-07:00

Happy St. Patrick's Day to everyone!

This is the first St. Patrick's Day that I will be celebrating in 11 years. Let me give you a little background.

My best friend Rachel and I have known each other for 22 years. I met her when we were both working at Shoney's and we have been road dogs, best buds, friends for life, whatever you want to call it, ever since. The only holiday that Rachel really dislikes is St. Patrick's Day. This is because it was her mother's birthday and her mother (also named Rachel) was killed by a drunk driver when Rachel was 14. So, she has pretty much avoided the day in any kind of celebratory way.

Now, me, on the other hand. I am half Irish and half Native American (Apache/Cherokee). The Irish side is my mom's. After Christmas, St. Pat's was my mom's favorite holiday and as such, she raised me in the grand tradition of the green. Shamrocks, leprechauns, my pot o' gold, Danny Boy and the whole nine yards. Every year, she would make a special outfit for the day, a green pantsuit or a green dress. She was so incredibly proud of her Irish heritage that it was contagious. Between the two of us, we finally managed to get even Rachel to enjoy the day, as her own mother had. And it was that way for a long time.

On Monday, March 17th, 1997, St. Patrick's Day, my mom passed away. She was talking on the phone to my brother and had a massive heart attack at 7 p.m. and was pronounced dead at 7:16 p.m. I was absolutely devastated. My mom, on the other hand, given her proclivity towards really wicked humor, was probably standing next to me (in spirit form of course) laughing like a maniac. Because, although I know we can't choose the day we die, if we could, she would have chosen St. Patrick's Day. I can hear her now "What better day to go out on?"

Anyhow, it was years before I even thought about celebrating this holiday again. It just didn't seem right without her here, ya know? But now that I have children, it just doesn't seem right to NOT celebrate it, to pass down those Irish traditions that I learned at my mother's knee. Because that's one of the ways that we connect with who we are and where we came from.

And so, this year it begins. I will teach my children the legend of the Blarney stone, the lyrics to Tura Lura Lura, and how to find a four leaf clover. And as they get older, I will tell them about a wonderful woman who found moments of joy in a treacherously difficult life and who celebrated those moments of joy with reckless abandon. A woman who taught her daughter to do the same. I think she might be proud of that.

Happy St. Patrick's Day, Mom!! And Happy Birthday Mrs. Rachel!!

(Don't forget to put your green wings on:))

Peace alllllllll..............

Juno?

2008-03-13T13:29:00.001-07:00

No, I am not referring to the title of the movie. I am using dialectical Southernese, a form of language that is unable to be translated by anyone other than a Southerner. Juno is actually a shorter way of saying "did (or do) you know?", as in "Juno that man over there? Well, he's looking like he knows you." Call us lazy if you want to, I prefer to think of us Southerners as language efficient.

Anyhow. Let's see.....

I was watching Dr. Phil earlier today. I don't know why either. Just something about a loud, arrogant Texan that just greases my skillet. And he had one of those mother-in-laws on there. You know.....one of those. She doesn't like her daughter-in-law, for really no good reason, and she attempts to disrupt the girl's life as often as possible, without regard to her own son and the fact that he loves this woman. Now, I have seen this happen before, on televsion and in real life. And I just want to ask one question: Why in the world don't these husbands tell their mothers to butt out? I know, I know, they love their mothers, they don't want to hurt their feelings, blah, blah and blahdeblah. But still. If you're old enough to be married and raise a family, then you are old enough to look at your mother as a real person and have the fortitude to protect your wife from any unnecessary cruelty. If you want to still be a little boy, go back home and live with your mama.

Not saying all mothers-in-law are bad. I happen to like mine. Of course, she lives 2 states away and we only see her every 4 years or so. She talks to Grover once a week on the phone but that has nothing to do with me. We manage to co-exist at this point very happily. Of course, if we lived in the same town, we would probably manage to drive each other crazy. But that's another story for another day. She lives in Florida, the Spring Break State.

Speaking of Spring Break (nice segue huh? huh? yeah, I know:)), it starts here next Monday. This means I have a notebook sized spring cleaning list for everyone in my house. Josh gets the yard work. Ah, so nice that he's only 14 and I don't have to worry about him going out of town, getting drunk and ending up on a "Something Gone Wild" video during break. I just have to worry about him accidentally digging up my flowers from last year.

I know that eventually all of my kids will have to grow up and leave to have lives of their own. That's why I am so enjoying my days with them now. Because, right now, I'm still cool, hip, smart and funny. We all know that I will suddenly become dull, corny and out of touch soon enough:) And then they will all turn 40 and realize that no I didn't. They just thought I did.

But, meanwhile, Spring is here. New life, new growth, new perspectives, both good and bad, on a lot of things. New kittens, new kites, new flowers. New sunrises to greet and new sunsets to enjoy. Shaking off the slumber of winter, I suddenly don't feel 40 anymore. I feel a whole lot younger.

Juno what I mean?

I think you do.

Peace allllllll................

Back In The Saddle Again

2008-03-11T06:30:00.000-07:00

Good morning. Today is Tuesday, March 11 and this is the news from Sprinkleshouse.

First off, we have the weather. As you may or may not know, it did snow over the weekend. Accumulations reached approximately one kazillioneth of an inch and by the time the sun came up the snow was gone. This did not however stop my husband from taking pictures of our kids outside making the required one snowball. Yes, the snowballs were only the size of marbles but that's beside the point. The snow was there and they were in it. This week we return to rain and heat. Sunny early becoming darker later.

In local news, Lukas and Jakob got haircuts yesterday and survived without so much as one tear. Of course, they held my hand the entire time and so I am typing with one hand today as the other one is still waiting on the circulation to return to it.

On the political scene, my 14 year old Josh has recently re-discovered that our house is not a democracy. It is at best a benevolent dictatorship, a Sprinkleocracy if you will. This news was met with howls of protest, which will probably continue for the next 4 years. We'll keep you updated.

On to sports: our daily cat-dog Wrestlemania event was held promptly at midnight. The cats made the most noise but the dogs look like they got the short end of the stick as they will go nowhere near the cats today. Rematch is scheduled for midnight tonight while everyone is trying to sleep. Get your tickets at the door, which we will be kicking the dogs and cats out of.

In economic news, we are still broke. So I guess that's not really news is it? Oh, well.

In other news, Sprinkle has a therapy appointment this afternoon, and while she is anticipating a pleasant outcome, it has yet to be determined if her husband will be on time to drop her off. Stay tuned.

And in the "old news is still good news category": God still loves me, I still love Him and today always has a chance to be better than yesterday.

And so we leave you with these burning questions: will Sprinkle clean her house or cook dinner today? Will Josh do one chore without rolling his eyes or complaining? Will Lukas and Jakob scratch the cats or will the cats scratch them? Will Grover lose more hair? Will Sprinkle lose more patience?

We'll keep you informed, whether you want to be or not.:)

Peace allllllllllll

My Girl

2008-03-10T06:04:00.000-07:00

Happy birthday Briana Grace. You would have been 13 years old this year. It's been a long time. 11 years and it still feels like yesterday.

I love you.

I miss you.

Always,

Mom

Winter Wonderland (Yeah, Right)

2008-03-06T20:13:00.000-08:00

So this is what our local weatherman is saying:

It's gonna rain Friday morning. It's gonna snow Friday night. It's gonna snow Saturday morning. So what? you may be saying. No big deal. Oh, maybe not where YOU live, but here......oh here, baby puppy, is a different story indeed.

See, it doesn't snow here very often. And when it does,it's never over a couple of inches. That means it snows 3 inches every ten years. And since this is Alabama, deep southern United States, we are not equipped to deal with it. Equipped? you may be asking. How equipped do you have to be for 3 inches of snow? Once again, you must remember that this is Alabama. This is what happens when they forecast snow for this area.

1. The grocery stores are overrun with panicked customers, buying all the milk and bread they can get their hands on. (Why do people buy milk and bread in preparation for a "snow event"? I have never been able to figure that out.).

2. The hardware stores are overrun with panicked customers, buying all the flashlights, kerosene heaters, generators, candles and whatnot associated with cold weather.

3. Wal-Mart is overrun with panicked customers, buying all the hats, gloves and blankets they can grab.

4. They break out the snow plows and the salt trucks. All 2 of them, so that the panicked drivers who may happen to see one snowflake don't run off of the road.

5. The school board sets up an overnight vigil to determine whether or not schools will be open for the next day. No one wants these panicked parents to have their children caught out in "the weather".

Seeing a theme here? Perhaps "panic"? This is Alabama. This is what we do.

Doesn't matter that they have forecasted a "snow event" several times in the past 6 months and it has come to naught. Doesn't matter.

Doesn't matter that it only snows a couple of inches every 10 years. Doesn't matter.

Doesn't matter that any child in this area from the ages of newborn to 10 years old has NEVER seen a snow covered yard. Doesn't matter.

This is Alabama. This is what we do.

Why do we do this? Is it because we're inherently dumb? No, we're not. Well, most of us aren't anyway. We're desperate. Desperate for a change of pace. All we ever get here is rain, and not a whole lot of that, considering we're still in critical drought range. Rain and heat, that's us.

So, even though most of us KNOW it's not gonna snow and we know that all these preparations are in vain, it gives us something different to do. We've been around out weathermen long enough to know that they don't know what they're talking about anyway. We're not THAT dumb.

By this point you may be asking "So, Sprinkle, are you going to be part of the panicked crowds rampaging through those stores?" Well, of course not. I did that 5 years ago and I still have the unnecessary stuff I bought in a storage room. What I am going to do is this: I am going around the corner to the Dollar Store, buy some cheap generic hot chocolate for the kids and a couple of cans of soup for myself. Why am I doing this when I know that it's not really going to snow?

Because you never really know do ya?:)

Peace alllllllll...................

Fussy McFussy and the Fussytons

2008-03-05T07:19:00.001-08:00

You know, I am not even sure what I want to talk about today. Got a lotta things going on in the noodle but it's all kind of rumbly and mixed up. One thing I do know is that I have a few complaints I'd like to put out there, but other than that who knows? So let's start stepping and see where we end up.

It's time for Grover to refill his medications for the month. They are for his cholesterol, blood pressure, etc. They all do a really good job, no problem there. The problem is that one of these medications, for a months supply is $200.00. You heard right, 200 smackaroonies. For ONE prescription, for ONE month. There is of course no cheaper generic for this drug, so you don't have a choice but to pay the money. And even with insurance, you only get 80% of it back (after about 6 months of red tape) so you can put it on the next refill. The AMA is one of the most proficient drug dealers in the world, because they will ALWAYS get you on the comeback. You can get a better deal off of your neighborhood crack dealer. And it's not like you can say "Oh, well, then I just won't take this drug." I mean, you could, but then you would probably die a lot sooner than you have to. No wonder people get their scripts from Canada. Capitalism is a wonderful thing but come on.

Why is the government so intent on getting people to quit smoking, while there is almost no mention of banning alcohol consumption. ( I am aware that we tried this once during Prohibition and it didn't work out too well.) Yes, cigarettes do kill people. Yes, secondhand smoke does kill people. So does alcohol and drunk driving. As I have said before, I have never heard someone say "Don't know how I ended up going home and having sex with a stranger. Maybe I shouldn't have smoked so many cigarettes last night." I have also never seen someone smoke so many cigarettes that they cussed their boss out or slapped their kids. I know, I know. People shouldn't smoke, people shouldn't drink and people really shouldn't eat red meat.......but either catch 'em all in the crosshairs or leave well enough alone. But if the government tries to ban/limit all of them, wouldn't that be considered an undue invasion of a person's freedoms? Hmmmm....I dunno. All I know is they ain't gonna be shutting down a McDonald's anytime soon. (They make too much money and pay too much in taxes....sounds like maybe the government is on the take.)

Okay, I'm starting to sound like a nut job now.

And another thing: I am getting SOOOOO tired of turning on CNN, Fox News or even my local news, or opening a newspaper in search of real, relevant news and instead seeing pictures and blurbs about celebrities. God bless 'em but I don't care about Angelina's baby bump or Brad Pitt's new haircut. I don't care what kind of toothpaste George Clooney uses or how many hairs Sean Penn has on his backside. I really don't. The stories about these people that are being shoved in our faces (Britney's rehab, Amy's rehab, somebody's latest arrest) as a form of entertainment would otherwise be considered simply pathetic if they were about regular people. The fact that a woman has lost her children because she has some serious issues is not entertaining for me. That you got a picture of an Emmy winning actress picking her nose is not something I am particulary interested in.

I know I can change the channel or turn the TV off. And I often do....that's how I end up here:)

Oh, and one last thing. I am SO, SO, SO sick of Oprah. I am tired of seeing her everywhere, hearing her everywhere. She likes a book, 50 million people buy the book. She likes the shoes, 50 million people buy the shoes. She endorses a particular candidate, 50 million people vote for that candidate. I mean, like I said, I am all for capitalism and hers makes for a very compelling rags-to-riches story. But, when all is said and done: she is a TALK SHOW HOST. That is what she is, people. She's no Edgar R. Murrow, Bob Woodward or Walter Cronkite. She's not even a Matt Lauer. She holds no degree in literature, journalism, or even fashion. She is just a regular person who connected with a lot of other people,as a TALK SHOW HOST. It's kind of a sad world, when people will donate to a charity because a talk show host says it would be a good idea, versus just doing it on your own. Who are these people that allow another person to think for them?

Well, my spleen has been vented, my chest has been unloaded. Hopefully I offended no one. And if I did, well, wait until tomorrow......I may offend someone else. :)
Whoo, I'm spent.

Peace alllllllllllllll..................

Thinking and Wondering

2008-03-03T14:50:00.000-08:00

This is what I am doing today:

I am sitting in the den on my computer looking out the window wondering when the storms are going to start. Today's high was 75 and tomorrow's high is going to be about 50. See, I don't know how it is in the rest of the world but when that happens here in Alabama aka the bowels of the world, it means it's a gonna come a gullywasher afore the night is done. We are sitting in the crosswalk of Tornado Alley, so March is always a fun month here.

(When my husband first moved here 6 years ago, he knew that we had tornado "issues" here but he was unaware of the floods, electrical storms and occasional mild earthquake. He also didn't know that the city in which we live is actually built over a huge underground lake, and every once in a while a sinkhole will just pop up out of nowhere. Poor guy, no wonder he hates this town;))

I am wondering what the big deal on the Gary Busey kissing Jennifer Garner on the neck on the red carpet is. He saw her, he kissed her on the neck in front of a kazillion people. She's a married woman, this is true but I don't think he was trying to get her into bed. And we all know that Gary is a little "eccentric" but ultimately harmless. Those voices in his head have never told him to hurt anyone.

I'm thinking that , with one or two exceptions, the whole American Idol group is kinda sucky this year.

I'm wondering just how many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop?

I'm wishing that they still had SchoolHouse Rock on television. That is how I learned the Preamble to the Constitution when I was nine years old. I can still sing it today. (For you young folks that don't know about School House Rock, just go to YouTube).

I'm wondering what my cats would say to me if they could speak human. Probably something like: "You call this a meal.....I spit on this! Now you may pet me for 3.5 seconds and then you may feed me again...now." (Oh, yeah, they have a French accent as well. Don't ask me why....ask them.)

I know what my dogs would say if they could speak human: "Throw the ball....throw the ball...throw the ball!"

I'm wondering how much I will inadvertently embarass my children as they get older.

I'm just sitting on a cornflake waiting for the milk to come.

I'm wondering when I will start wearing Mom Jeans.

I'm wondering if I will ever act my age.....I hope not. That's boring.

I'm wondering what my neighbors would think if I suddenly came charging out of my house and ran down the street naked. Knowing them, they would probably say something about the weather. (It's kinda warm today, ain't it?)

I love my neighbors!

Have you ever talked to your appliances and told them to hurry up or do a better job? Or is that just me?

Now I'm wondering how I'm gonna break up this fight that's about to erupt between the cats and the dog. Darnit, I see too much through this window sometimes. Maybe I should just put a curtain on the thing.

I'll think about it.

Peace alllllll.........................

Ramblings Of A Rumbling Mind (Or Vice Versa)

2008-02-29T14:57:00.000-08:00

This is my 245th post. In honor of this milestone, today's topic, boys and girls, will be: general stuff that has floated through my head in the past few hours. There is really no connecting thread linking these thoughts together. This is actually how my brain works.

My right ear has a tendency to stop up whenever it rains outside or whenever it gets too cold. My right ear has been bugging me today. I wish I had a small plunger to use on it to take the pressure off of it.

The latest craze in make up has been the "natural" look. If I wanted to look natural, I wouldn't wear make up in the first place. I normally don't at home because my family is used to looking at me when I first wake up and they haven't run away yet. When I go out in public, I don't WANT to look like my natural self. People may not be able to handle it;hence, make up for me.....unless I'm going to some place like the Dollar Store, because who cares what you look like there?

I think that maybe I need to get out more. I feel that I am losing my edge and becoming dull and flaccid. I love that word.....flaccid. Say it real loud 3 times.....fllllllaaaaaaaaccccciiidddd. I need to get out in the world more and allow people more chances to irritate me.

I have two dog houses in my back yard and the dogs won't sleep in either one. They would rather sleep on the back porch.

Being 40 is harder than it looks.....believe me. Physically....I feel 40. Mentally I feel....12. And sometimes it is really hard to reconcile the two.

Sometimes I miss being young and idealistic...other times I am glad I am no longer that naive.

I don't know if you guys have Sonic resaurants where you are. If you do, try buying a bag of their ice. It is wonderful. Don't eat the food though. That's kind of gross.

The average life span of a woman in this country is like 78 years. If the Lord blesses me to live until 80, that means I am exactly half-way through my life right now. I hope the latter half is a whole lot better than the first half.

I want to read, read, read. I want to paint. I want to lie on the beach at sunset and listen to the waves crash against the shore.

I want to surprise someone in a good way.

I want to change someone's life with my words.

I want to change my own life with my actions.

I love it when it's really cold outside and you've been asleep in a toasty house all night and first thing in the morning you just open your front door and stick your head out and brrrreeeeeaathe in realllllly deeply. That's a great sensation.

I love reading to my kids but I like it better when they read to me. That way I can get misty eyed at how grown they are becoming and they won't see me.

I write letters to my kids that are not to be opened until 20 years after the date I write them. That way, in 20 years, we can all read them together and remember how wonderful life was (is) then (now).

My husband eats gross food. So do I....just not the same kind.

I smoke too much. Have tried (am trying) to quit, but with no success.....yet.

My boys like to get in the bed with me at night and I don't look forward to the day when they are too big to, or no longer want to.

They start school next year. They will probably not shed a tear on that first day. I will.

I cry a lot.....it's just what I do.

I think a lot...probably too much.

I talk a whole lot....definitely too much!

I don't sleep enough.

I don't appreciate myself enough.

I count my blessings...all of them.

Don't forget to count yours.

Peace alllllllll........................

Talking and Listening

2008-02-26T14:12:00.000-08:00

I started therapy again today. I had actually started some months ago but when Grover had to go in the hospital and all that, I had to put it on the back burner for a while. So I finally got to start again. Oh, I love therapy! I mean that. I really, really love it. I think that everyone should go to therapy for at least 6 months (with a qualified counselor of course).

I mean, think about it. An hour or so every couple of weeks where you sit in a climate controlled environment, soft lighting, warm surroundings.....and talk. About anything, about everything. And the person to whom you are speaking actually....listens. Aaaah....speaking as a wife and a mother....who could ask for anything more? I love my husband but let's face it. If the subject at hand is not martial arts or bills, well.....his eyes have a tendency to take on that glazed "I'm not listening and I really wish I was somewhere else" look. He loves me .....but that whole ADHD thing is a real pain sometimes.

I love my kids but, well........let's face it. Unless it involves money, candy or McDonalds, they aren't the most rapt listeners sometimes either.

And sometimes, that's all we really need......for someone to listen.

After all....I think that's why actors and politicians choose their respective fields. They just want someone to listen to what they have to say and think that it's important.

Not everything I have to say is important. More often than not, it's fairly irrelevant. But that doesn't negate the need for a good listener. From time to time anyway. I talk to my animals, but they don't talk back. I talk to my husband and my kids but that's a 50/50 proposition at any time. I talk to my friends but they are often wrapped up in their own problems. That's the way of the world. It is what it is.

And I talk to God. I know HE listens. But sometimes I have a hard time hearing what He's saying. Which lets me know that if I want to have a good listener, I need to work on being one as well.

Peace allllllllll.................

Sickies

2008-02-22T10:43:00.000-08:00

Tuesday: the kids started to get sick. Grover and I gave them medicine, popsicles, soup and warm blankets, not to mention much love.

Wednesday: the kids got worse and Grover started to get sick. I gave them all medicine, popsicles, soup, honey lemon tea and warm blankets, not to mention much love.

Thursday: the kids were getting better, Grover was getting worse and I was starting to get sick. I gave them all medicine, soup, popsicles and warm blankets, not to mention much love...all while I was coughing, shaking, shivering and sweating.

Friday: the kids are fine, Grover is good enough to be at work. So, where's my soup, popsicles and warm blankets? Well, I guess I'll have to get 'em myself.

Not to mention: where's the love people...where is the love??

Ah, well....such is the price we moms pay. (At least I don't moan as much as Grover:))

Peace alllllll...............

Tuesday Is Saturday

2008-02-19T10:01:00.000-08:00

Josh had a sleepover this weekend with two of his best friends, Johnny and Ariel (yes, that's a guy). Sounds like fun right? I thought so too, at first. But, as they say, hindsight is 20/20.

Consider, if you will, who occupied my home for three days: 3 fourteen year old boys, a 5 year old boy, a 4 year old boy, a 40 year old man (who sometimes acts like a 14 year old boy), 2 dogs, 2 cats and me. You may think you know but you have no idea. I thought I knew but I was wrong.

First, I failed to realize just how much 14 year old boys can eat. They eat a lot. A LOT. Huge, massive quantities of food go into their gullets....constantly. They are NEVER full......NEVER. I went to the grocery store on Friday in preparation for this event. I have to go back again today. And the funny part is that the skinniest one, Ariel, the one who looks like he has bones poking through his skin, ate the most. Where did he put it? Does he have two stomachs??

Second, I failed to realize just how much energy teenagers have. My little ones have energy, this is true;HOWEVER, they cannot compare to the boundless energy these young men have. Seriously, these guys would go to bed at 2 a.m. and be back up at 6 a.m. ready to roll. Just when I thought sleep deprivation had left me for a while.

Third, I also didn't realize what it would be like competing for computer time with 3 teenage boys, not to mention phone time. I have a cordless phone that in all the time I have had it has never had the battery die. It did this weekend. Truthfully, I could leave my phone off the charger for 3 days (and I have) and it would be fine. This weekend, after marathon phone calls to "girlfriends" and homies, my poor phone needs a 24 hour nap.

Add all of this to the regular routine of one 14 year old, a 5 year old and a 4 year old (not to mention the dogs and the cats and the husband) and my house looks like someone just tried to beat it to death. My house literally looks tired. And then consider the two boys that came over are as different as night and day. Johnny is a lady killer who talks all the time. Ariel is a shy guy who sees dead people. (Really, he does...just like Rachel. What is it with me knowing people who see dead people? Suddenly I'm feeling very much like Bruce Willis in "The Sixth Sense")

So, where I would normally consider Saturday to be my "day off", not this week. This week Tuesday is my Saturday and that's all there is to it.

They were loud, they were hungry, they were boisterous. They taught my children how to belch louder and how to run through the house at breakneck speed without falling. I got no sleep, refereed wrestling matches between them and my husband, played more video games than I ever thought possible and delved far too deeply into the minds of teenage boys. (Some things that teenagers are thinking adults really don't need to know about.)

I am sore, I am hoarse, I am exhausted.

And I can't wait to do it again. :)

Peace allllllll.................

3 Reasons Plus 1

2008-02-14T07:43:00.000-08:00

There are 3 reasons my husband loves Valentine's Day:

1. I would prefer that he wait until the day after to buy any chocolates. The cheapskate in me just can't refuse a "holiday clearance" sale!

2. He doesn't have to take me out anywhere....he just has to let me take a nap.

3. He doesn't have to buy me flowers....he just has to pick up his socks.

And there is only one reason that I love Valentine's Day:

My husband is still here for it.:)

Happy Valentine's Day to all of you!!!!

Peace allllllllllllllll.........................

One Question

2008-02-12T21:28:00.000-08:00

I only have one question today.

The answer to this question probably won't matter to a whole lot of people. It really shouldn't matter to me. But.....for the life of me, this question has been nagging me constantly for the past few days.....ever since I saw a commercial for a "documentary" entitled "Air Guitar Nation".

Seems there are national competitions to see who plays the best "air guitar". I guess one would be judged on costume, "playing" style and stage presence because as we all know.....an air guitar is a PRETEND guitar. It's not real....it's IMAGINARY! Yet, these people spend months "practicing" on something that is not real.

This is my question: If you are going to spend all of that time learning how to play something that doesn't even really exist, then why don't you go out and get a real guitar? Learn how to play that?

I know, it's not my business...it's theirs. It's not my concern...it's theirs. If I don't want to watch people engage in oversized rock star dreams to the embarrassment of themselves and their relatives, I know that all I have to do is turn the channel. I know all of this. But still....isn't it all a little childish? A little silly?

And a little bit pointless....since we all know; that,given a bedroom, a bathroom...or a kid-free house any day of the week.....I would SMOKE ALL of 'em!!

(Just not in public;))

Peace allllll................

(Bi) Racial Equality

2008-02-08T18:35:00.000-08:00

My 14 year old son is bi-racial. His birth mother is black and Blackfoot Indian and his birth father is white. We have raised him with an appreciation and a respect for not just one, but all facets of his ethnicity. This was not hard to do, it didn't take a whole lot of extra effort and it has been very rewarding in many different ways. He has been educated in the history and cultural differences of whites, blacks and Native Americans. If you were to ask him "What color (or ethnicity) are you?", he will tell you "I'm mixed". This has never posed a problem for him and it has never been an issue for us.

The reason I bring all of this up is this: lately, it seems, over the past few years, I have noticed that fewer and fewer people are willing to embrace the idea of multiethnicity. Some people, and the numbers are growing larger, are insistent on a bi-racial person claiming or "identifying with" one race, even though their bloodline contains two or more. Why is this?

Why do so many people (especially celebrities) feel compelled to choose an etnicity? It's like a game show, "Pick -A- Race". I think that I need to remind them of something: in embracing just one, you are discarding the others. You are tossing away an entire history of people, a bloodline that flows through your veins. What are you so ashamed of?

Barack Obama: I love you...love that you are a young idealistic man....but you're not black...you're biracial. And if black people don't like to be reminded of that...tough. If white people don't like to be reminded of that...tough.

Halle Berry: Honey, you are bi-racial. I realize that your mother told you when you were young to "identify with the group that you looked the most like." But you know, part of growing up is realizing that maybe mom is not always right.

Tiger Woods: Well, you have had issues with both sides concerning your ethnicity. That's because you choose to be "black" when you're dealing with black people and you choose to be "asian" when you're dealing with non-black people. And that's just sad.

Most of us were taught when we were children that color doesn't matter. Martin Luther King Jr. once said "let us not judge a man by the color of his skin but the content of his character." When did that idea meet its demise?

It's frightening to think that a 14 year old child has more character than those in the public eye.

There are those who will disagree with me. Okay. You have the right to do so...it's still a free country. Too bad some of those freedoms don't extend to everyone.

Peace allllllllllll......................

Not Much

2008-02-03T10:26:00.000-08:00

Well, there's not a lot going on today to ruffle my feathers so I think I will answer this little questionaire I ran across the other day? Ready....set.....go!

What time did you get up this morning? Well, if you don't count the times during the middle of the night when I got up to a) go to the bathroom b) check on the kids for the 100th time c) get a drink of water (which leads to back to "a") or d) let the cats in or out of the house.....then I would say that I got up for the day at around 6:30 a.m.

What was the last film you saw at the cinema? "Halloween H2O".....yes, it's true....my social life is that sad

Favorite TV show? "House" and "Criminal Intent"

What did you have for breakfast? A banana-tangerine smoothie....made it myself and it was fabulous!

What is your middle name? Gail

What food(s) do you dislike? Beets and anchovies.....together or separately

What kind of car do you drive? 2001 Jeep Cherokee ....it's boxy...but it's good:)

Favorite sandwich? Pita bread stuffed with tuna and lettuce

What characteristic do you despise? Rudeness in all its forms

Favorite item of clothing? My blue toboggan hat. I would wear it year round if I could

If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation, where would you go? Ireland

What color is your bathroom? Peach accented with green

What is your favorite brand of clothing? The cheap brand!

Where would you like to retire? In Maine.....definitely on the beach in Maine

Your most memorable birthday? My 16th.....I had a party at my brother's house in the country with about 20 people...the highlight of the evening was the "no-hands spaghetti eating contest"...my best friend Nicole won by a nose....literally

Favorite sport to watch? Football (come on I'm from the South....you're exiled if you don't watch football)

Faorite quote? "The best portions of a good man's life is his little, nameless, unremembered acts of kindness and love." William Wordsworth

When is your birthday? August 24th

Morning or a night person? Night, night, night!

What pets do you have? A dog, Foxy and two cats Thunder and Lightning

What did you want to be when you were a little kid? A veterinarian

Favorite flower? Daisies and roses, in that order

What color crayon would you be? Blue...it goes with everything:)

Siblings? Two brothers, one sister.....Mark, Kevin and Becky

What is your favorite day of the year? Christmas Day

What was your favorite toy as a child? My stuffed Snoopy and then my stuffed Henry dog

Summer or winter? Fall

Hugs or kisses? Hugs....especially from my boys

Coffee or tea? Neither....it's either water or Sierra Mist

When was the last time you cried? This morning.....something I was reading in a book....it doesn't take a lot to get me going....it's a great source of amusement to my family...yeah, they're kind of twisted ;)

What is under your bed? Who knows? Not me!

Favorite smells? Citrus, coconut and flowers......also any really, really good men's cologne

What are you afraid of? Heights...won't even use a step ladder

Salty or sweet? Salty

Favorite day of the week? Thursday

How many towns have you lived in? 3 Madison,Alabama Huntsville, Alabama and Newport News, Virginia

Where do you live now? Huntsville, Alabama

If you have read all the way through this, consider yourself tagged:)

Peace allllllll................

Truth or Dare

2008-01-31T04:29:00.000-08:00

You know, every fall and winter, I enjoy seeing the new crop of shows that the networks bring us. I like the whole process of watching the commercials, debating on whether or not I'm going to try watching this one or that one, and then giving the show(s) a full 5 minutes of my attention before deciding "oh, this is garbage" and moving on.

Occasionally, however, there comes a show with such an ingenious premise that I simply must watch...if only for 10 minutes instead of 5. The latest show to hook me like this is Moment of Truth.

It seems like it should be the easiest game in the world. It really does. Prior to the live airing of the show, the contestants are given a polygraph exam. They are asked 50 questions during the exam. 21 of those questions are chosen to use on the show. If you answer a question truthfully (compared to the results of the polygraph), you win money in ever increasing amounts, all the way up to, I think, a million bucks...or half a million...something like that. As long as you tell the truth, you're okay. If you lie, you walk away with nothing. Sounds simple, right? It is. There is a problem however.

All of the questions are of a personal nature. The higher up the dollar amount goes, the more personal the questions become. Questions like, "Have you ever stolen money from your job?" and "Have you ever made a pass at one of your wives friends?" to "Do you really love your wife?"

The thing is, you want these people to be telling the truth. If they say that they DID steal money from a job and they DID make that pass at the wife's friend, you want that to be true so that they will win all of this money. HOWEVER, if that is the case and the answer is truthful and they win that amount of money....what kind of person does that make them? and us?

What are some of these people admitting to? Yeah, I think my wife is ugly....I'm cuter than my sister....yeah, my mom IS fat....no I don't love my husband

The audience applauds like mad for each truthful answer....but I wonder if they realize AT THE TIME what they're applauding? A man stufffing his pants to make himself look more well endowed, a woman who thinks her husband is lousy in bed? Yeah, it gets that personal.

When if first came on, about 15 minutes into it, my husband and I both looked at each other and said "You should go on that show"......halfway way through the sentence we both stopped and said..."Never mind."

Because although the truth is great and the truth will set you free, there are some truths you really should keep to yourself...or at least not spew out on national television.

However, it's hard to look away from a train wreck.

Will I continue to watch? I don't know, to tell you the truth.

Peace alllll...............

Hospitals, Heart Attacks and Hallelujahs

2008-01-29T08:46:00.000-08:00

So this is what happened:

August 24th, my birthday, was a pretty good day considering I turned 40. But the entire day Grover complained about heartburn, acid reflux and indigestion. He has had a problem with acid reflux for years now, so a couple of Pepcid later I thought he would be okay. Well, it stayed with him and nothing he did could get rid of it, and instead of getting better it was steadily getting worse.

August 26th, Sunday morning: Grover had spent the last two days dealing with this whole reflux situation and it had gotten so bad that I finally was able to talk him into going to the emergency room. Call it one of those things, but something didn't seem quite right.

So, off he went and several hours later, after getting someone to watch the kids, I managed to get up there to sit with him. I got there just in time to talk to the doctor who was treating him. The doctor tells us that it's not acid reflux....it's blockages around his heart, two of them and he will have to be admitted and have an angioplasty done the next day.

Let the freak out begin.

He's admitted into the hospital and begins the first in a series of tests. By 11 the next morning we have more news. He doesn't have two blockages around his heart...he has SEVEN. They will not be able to do an angioplasty for this...they have to do open heart surgery in the next 3 days.

And the freak out continues.

So over the course of the next 3 days, they run endless tests, take copious amounts of blood, and poke and prod in places a person never wants to be poked and prodded in (unless they're really weird or something;)). And with each new test comes new information.

He has an arterial blockage in his kidneys. Well, we can still do the open heart surgery. Run some more tests.

He has had open heart surgery before. Years ago, when he was a kid and got shot in the chest, they had to crack him open to repair that, and his sternum healed improperly. We'll have to get a Black & Decker blade saw to get through the bone. And we don't know what kind of scar tissue we'll be looking at when we finally get in there. But, he's still on for the surgery. Run more tests.

He has an arterial blockage in his right leg. We can still do the surgery. Run even more tests. And get him ready for surgery on Friday.

Friday morning, the morning of the surgery, we are waiting. They are supposed to be coming to get him at 6:30 a.m. Nobobdy shows up. What's going on now? Well, we soon find out. His cardiologist, his heart surgeon, and the vascular surgeon come to see us. There is another problem. He has an arterial blockage in his intestine. They cannot do the surgery. If they do, the minute that they put him on the heart-lung bypass machine, they will "kill his intestines", which will in turn kill him.

So what are you going to do docs? Well, we're going to do an angioplasty, stent the two most severe blockages and put him on medication for the rest and hopefully they will never get any worse, with diet and lifestyle changes put in effect. Okay, cool. Angioplasty, not that big of a deal, people get those all the time and leave the hospital the next day!

My husband, my dear Grover, love of my life....is not most people.

They came and got him the next morning to do the procedure and his doctor calls me about an hour and a half later. Turns out the first blockage was a lot worse than they thought, instead of being like 85% blocked, it was 99%blocked with a slow flow.So, in hindsight, if I hadn't have made him go to the hospital on Sunday morning, he would have had a heart attack and been dead by Sunday night. Instead, he has his heart attack in the middle of the procedure. Oh what fun!

And the freak out has reached its peak. (When you have doctors use phrases like "Never sen anything like this before" and "This should be in a textbook", it opens up a whole new surreal level of existence for ya.)

24 hours in cardiac ICU and he is back in a room and waiting for another week to have the second angioplasty to stent the second blockage. Imagine the tension in the waiting room that morning! Another 3 days later, after much hemming and hawing and they finally let him come home.

He's home for two days, starts feeling really sick, thinks it's the meds they have him on (all 12 of them) and goes back to the hospital, where they keep him and perform yet ANOTHER angioplasty on the third blockage (the other 4 were pretty minor) and he comes home after a couple of days.

2 weeks later he has day surgery on the blockage in his leg. That was a walk in the park.

So, all in all, Grover spent roughly 3 and a half weeks in the hospital, 6 weeks recuperating and has finally, FINALLY returned to work. Good as new, or at least a reasonable facsimile thereof. I think that rates a hallelujah:)

Poor thing, now he can't even cough without me asking him if he needs to call the doctor;)

Heck of a way to quit smoking huh?

So enough about me......how are you guys doing?

Peace alllllllll................

2007-09-21T10:21:00.000-07:00

Hey guys and girls.....

Just wanted to let everyone know that we are all still alive and will be back to update as soon as possible!

Love ya allll!

Peace alllll!!!!!!!!

No Phones, No Lights, No Motorcars

2007-08-17T08:40:00.000-07:00

Well, my husband's vacation starts this week. And this year he was given the option of deciding where we would go. Now, he could have chosen just about anything......the beach, Disneyland, a 5 day road trip....anything. So what did he decide, where does he want to go? Back to nature. He wants to go on a week long camping trip. Of course, to him it's not just camping. It's camping and fishing and boating and looking up at the stars at night. Grover, the Eagle Scout, wants to get back to his youth. I've no problem with that, except we got two youths that are coming with us. This should be fun. Blue skies, green trees.....bugs, snakes and assorted other animals. Whoo hoo!

And no phones (except the emergency cell), no tv, no stereo, no computer.......but plenty of BOOKS I can take with me. Hmmmm.....this might be better than I thought.

See you all in a week or so!

Peace alllll...............

I Don't Make This Stuff Up

2007-08-14T10:29:00.000-07:00

I don't make this stuff up.....I promise I don't.

My children are dangerous. There are many reasons for this. One, they are big for their ages. They are 4 and 5 and the are the size of your average 6 and 7 year olds. Because they are still little boys, they don't have much experience in knowing their own strength and they don't, as of yet anyway, have very good aim.

A couple of months ago, I was sitting in the backyard playing with the dog while the kids where running around, swinging, etc. I heard Lukas say "hey, mom!", and looked up just in time to get knocked in the head with a golf ball. He was throwing it at me so I could catch it, but either he didn't call me in time or I didn't look up in time. I'm still not really sure which. Anyhow, he threw the ball hard enough to give me a mild concussion. Seriously, a concussion from a golf ball. Didn't know it could happen but it did...and it happened to me.

Flash forward to last night. I am sitting in the living room along with everyone else, watching "Hell's Kitchen" (GO ROCK!) and the phone rings (cordless phone, bear in mind). I know it's over there on the loveseat where Grover and Jakob are sitting so I pay it no mind. I'm looking down reading something when BAM! I got hit square across the bridge of the nose with a flying cordless phone. Turns out that Jakob, while trying to throw the phone TO me, threw the phone AT me. (See, one of Jakob's jobs during the day is if the phone rings, he will run and grab it and bring it to me....so I can kinda see where he may have gotten the idea to "toss" the phone to me......kinda) Anyhow, upshot of that is......my nose is broken. Not badly, just a crack really.....but hey, a crack, a break...all the same really....it hurts...a lot.

You know, if I could improve their aim, when they get older, they would both make really, really good football or baseball players. Cause, they really have some power throws!

But, until then, I think I'll start wearing a helmet.

Peace allll............

HBD Lou and Boo

2007-08-12T09:17:00.000-07:00

August 12, 2002 3:59 p.m.
August 12, 2003 3:49 p.m.

Will the best boys in the land raise your hand, raise your hand?
You are!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LUKAS AND JAKOB!

Out of all the boys I could have gotten, I got the best ones!

I love you, Stoogie Brothers!!

Peace allllll...........

Counseling And Choking On A Cornflake

2007-08-08T13:31:00.000-07:00

You know, you'd think I would know better. You would think I would know that just because a day starts out normally doesn't mean it will necessarily end that way. There's always a little bit of something different going on here at Sprinkleshouse.

For example, the other day I was sitting around talking to my friend Rachel. It had been, aside from the sweltering heat, an ordinary day. Kids were watching SpongeBob, Grover was at work, and Rachel was in her room on the phone with her sister, while I was sitting in there watching TV and eating some delicious Apple Cinnamon Cornflakes. I don't use milk in my cereal, because I don't like milk. So I was eating it dry, right out of the box and it was wonderful.........until I swallowed a cornflake the wrong way. It got stuck in my throat and it felt like one of the little corners of it was just stabbing me right in the tonsil area. I couldn't get it loose. I started to cough, at first delicately,( because Heaven forbid I choke loudly and run the risk of embarrasment) and then that made it even worse, and I started coughing and couldn't stop. It felt like I couldn'tbreathe, (but of course I could because if I couldn't I wouldn't have been able to cough) and I was coughing and heaving and gagging and I ran into the bathroom (I don't know why either) and when I left Rachel's room, then and only then did she realize that there was a problem. She (finally!) came in there and hit me in the back and knocked it loose for me. I thought it would end there but nooooooo.......turns out I had coughed so hard that it made me lose my voice! I walked around croaking for the next 24 hours and my throat was sooooo sore I couldn't swallow anything stronger than soup. I'm doing much better now even though I am still eyeing those cornflakes with deep suspicion, not to mention animosity. Darn, raggedy cornflakes. (Anything I don't like I call raggedy by the way.) Maybe I'll start using milk now. Who'd have thunk it?

Speaking of who'd have thunk its, Grover and I have been going to couples counseling for about a month now (nice segue huh?) He's been working too hard outside the home and I have been working too hard inside the home and we were just under way too much pressure. We weren't headed for divorce court or anything (man, I do love that TV show though) but we just kind of needed to regroup. Neither one of us thought we would like counseling but turns out we LOVE it. We work with a "care couple" through our church(Bonnie and Doug) and they have been just wonderful. Of course, they have been married for 35 years so they've been through a whole lot more than Grover and I have. It's really nice to have an objective ear to listen to you. Not to mention the fact that you get to sit in a nice air conditioned office on a nice, cool leather couch and be away from your kids for an hour a week, for free. Not to mention the fact that it has really helped us to regroup and destress. Like my favorite former prisoner Martha Stewart always says :"It's a good thing!"

Now, if it would just rain, cool off, or rain AND cool off, things would be pretty close to perfect these days. Thank You , Jesus for a good life!

If only I can stay away from the cornflakes. Maybe I should switch to oatmeal.

Peace alllllll.....................

Irritation

2007-08-05T15:32:00.000-07:00

Would you like to know what irritates me? You would, wouldn't ya? Lots and lots of things do, but I will only mention a couple, because all of my peeves and irritations would take forever to list.

1. It irritates me when people use K and Z in words when they really don't belong there. You know, like "Krazy Al's Used Cars" and "how you guyz doin'", "Boyz in the Hood" and so on. It also irritates me when people use that backwards "R" like in "Toys R Us". A lot of people disagree with me (I can tell because I've read their writing.) They look at these things and think "Oh, how cute....that's written just like a first grader would write it", never bothering to think that the person that came up with this "cute" idea is making a whole lot of money teaching people that illiteracy is cute.

2. The birds that eat the dog food out of the dog's bowl irritate me. Look, fellas, it isn't winter yet. Get your own box!

3. Kids that don't listen irritate me. Not little kids. We all know that they never listen unless they're not supposed to be. I'm talking teenagers. How many times do you have to be told to do something that is your responsibility before you finally break down and do it (with much attitude I might add). If you had just done it the first time, you could have saved us both a lot of trouble.

4. Drunk/high people that get philosophical irritate me. I don't know why they do, they just do. I would just like to stuff a sock in their mouths until the buzz wears off.

5. When I check my local radar and get a temperature reading of 96, then turn to the Weather Channel and get a temperature of 91, then turn to my local news and get a temperature of 89, that irritates me. Can we all get on the same page once a day?

6. People that stare irritate me. Not people that may be staring at me but people who are staring at nothing. The reason they irritate me is because I will always look to see what they're staring at and when I realize that they're staring at nothing, I feel really stupid.

7. Feeling stupid irritates me.

Okay, I'm reviewing my list, reviewing my list and........yep, I'm a little anal. I suppose that's irritating to a whole lot of people.

Peace allll.............

Peace, Rusty

2007-08-02T06:48:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, we had to euthanise our beautiful bloodhound Rusty. He was a heck of a dog and one of the sweetest animals I have ever had the privilege of knowing.

Love ya, Ruster. The boys and I sent up a special prayer for you last night. We miss you, and so do Foxy and the cats.

Peace allllll...........

Conversation and the Lost Ovary

2007-07-28T21:59:00.000-07:00

My friend Rachel went to the Emergency Room this morning. She was there for about 8 hours. She was having some "female" issues and of course they put her through the gamut of the usual tests. During one of these tests, the attending doctor made the pronouncement that they "could not find" her right ovary. Well, doc, what happened to it? It was there when she left this morning. So, after a strenous game of internal hide and seek, they found it. I'm not quite sure where they found it, but they found it all the same. (And I'm guessing moved it back to where it was supposed to be in the first place.) ((Did you know that they could do internal ultrasounds?? I didn't...and I wish I still didn't because the description of it was quite vivid.....not to mention disgusting)

The other night (I'm thinking Thursday? or was I thinking Arbys?....anyway) we had ourselves one big ole gullywasher of a storm come through. Stormed so bad it knocked our power out from 6 p.m. until about 1 a.m. So, it's about 90 something degrees or so with a humidity of 100 percent (and for those of you who don't know, humidity in Alabama is not like humidity in the rest of the world. It's worse......much, much worse....think Rain Forest worse.) and we are sitting in the living room, in the dark (because it's just too hot to light a candle) with absolutely nothing to do except stare at each other (or try to stare at each other....it was dark, remember?) and we ended up having to rely on that old standby for boredom.......conversation.

So, we started telling stories....funny stories, scary stories, true stories and tall tales. We did round robin stories (you know, one person starts and you go around in a circle with each person adding on to the story until it becomes so convoluted you have no idea how it's going to end you just wish it would......kind of like this one.) for about three hours. The little ones got so bored they just crawled up on the couch and went to sleep. And, after a while, we picked up their sleeping, sweaty bodies and carted them off to bed. I slept on the couch and was just too hot to do anything but doze. And when the lights finally did come back on and woke me up, the first words out of my mouth were "Thank You, Jesus, for this wonderful air conditioning!"

And, last but not least, my goddaughter is back from her summer vacation with her dad and ready to start 2nd grade in a couple of weeks. Welcome back, Terrianna!!!!

And now that I have bored you all into a comatose state, I have done my job.

Peace alllllll.......................

Falling and Throwing

2007-07-23T22:54:00.000-07:00

Man, I have been falling down on the job in my posting. (Wonder where they got that phrase "falling down on the job" from? Hope it wasn't from one of those high rise window washer guys.) I promise to do better.

Anyway, this is what happened today. Last week, we had to take the boys to the dentist for a checkup and Jakob had to get a filling in one of his teeth (bottom, back, left hand side). Well, this morning, he said his tooth was hurting, so we called the dentist. They told us to come in this afternoon and so there we were, in the dentist's waiting area.

Now, I love this group of dentists. They are all so very nice to the boys and the boys just love them. In the waiting area (which is HUGE), they have a window on the far left side so you can look in at the patients having their teeth cleaned if you want. Wonderful idea for anxious parents and anxious kids (i.e. my family). Directly in front of this window is a little play area for kids. It has a couple of plastic tables and chairs, books,a mini-slide, a little basketball goal and a couple of those really soft Nerf-like basketballs. Okay, cool.

So, Lukas and Jakob were playing over in that area when two bigger kids came in (maybe 6 and 7 years old.) They started throwing one of the little basketballs at each other in a little game of inside dodgeball. Not too much running, so no big deal. Well, Lukas decided he wanted to play with them. And seeing as how these other 2 boys were brothers, they did what brothers all over the world do. They decided to play a game of keep away. One of the boys would have the ball and ask Lukas "Hey, kid....do you want it...do you want it?" and when Lukas would make a move for it he would throw it to his brother. Okay, no big deal. Guys all over the place do this. Lukas played along and dealt with it fine for a few minutes. Then he started getting a little irritated with them. I was wondering to myself..."I wonder what Lukas is about to do?" I found out in a second.

The brothers were standing with their backs to the wall. One of them had the ball. Lukas was standing just a couple of feet away by one of the small plastic tables with the 2 plastic chairs. The boy with the ball held it out and said "Hey, kid....do you want it...do you want it?"

At which point Lukas picked up one of the plastic chairs, held it over his head and said "Do you want it? Do you want it?" and proceeded to chunk the chair at the boy. Of course, Grover immediately took him to the car and talked to him about how inappropriate that was, etc.

I didn't say anything when the boys were playing keepaway with Lukas for 2 reasons:
1. Kids do that and sometimes you just have to learn to deal with that kind of thing if no one is getting hurt.
2. I wanted to see how Lukas would handle it. He handled it pretty well at first.....then of course, there was the whole chair thing, which gave me a pretty clear indication of his patience level.

I have had the conversation with him about how to respond appropriately in a situation like that in the future. He listened. Hopefully he retained the information and no more chairs will be thrown in the future.

Did he hit either one of the boys with the chair? Of course not.........they ducked. Smarter than they looked, evidently.

Peace allllll.....................

P.S. Jakob was fine.....turned out the filling was a little too thick and they had to file it down some. So a good day was had by all!

225

2007-07-17T22:07:00.000-07:00

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls and children of alllllll ages.....WELCOME to the 225th post at sprinkleshouse!!

That's right......this is the 225th time that I have sat in front of this computer (well, maybe not this computer exactly...but you get my point) whilst venting my rage and frustration, or telling a (sometimes) funny story or opening a window to my past or my present.

As I look back on my previous 224 posts I see someone who is:

often confused
sometimes outraged
occasionally tickled
more often than not aggravated
periodically reflective

I see someone who is:

loud
opinionated
passionate
honest
real
sensitive
insecure
hard headed

and not too terribly often at a loss for words.

In other words, I see a work in progress. But at least it's progressing.

For those who have been with me from almost the beginning.....thanks for taking the time to read this often incoherent explosion of words.

And for those of you who have just recently joined me......stick around.....every once in a while I actually make sense.:)

Here's to the next 225!

I love alllll you guys....on the real. You're better than any therapist:)

Peace allllllllll..........................

13

2007-07-13T16:59:00.000-07:00

Happy Friday the 13th to you allllll!!!

I don't have any superstitions or anything related to this particular day, but there will be a lotta good slasher flicks on tonight! (You know, it doesn't take a whole lot to make me happy)

Be careful out there.....don't step on any cracks or walk under any ladders or whatever it is you're not supposed to do today.

Peace allllll..............

I Want Brains!

2007-07-12T13:33:00.000-07:00

Where, oh where, has my grey matter gone? Oh where, oh where ,can it be?

You know, back in the day, I used to be pretty smart. 4.0 GPA, spoke two foreign languages (French and German) and could remember what I had for breakfast on February 3, 1981. I wasn't a genius, but I could hold my own. I used to read alllll the time, and used to love the classics. I could curl up with a bag of apples and just devour "Silas Marner", "Wuthering Heights", "War and Peace" and anything else with great enjoyment.

It's not that way anymore.

Ever since my kids were born, I have honestly felt like I have been slipping a little at a time. I find it harder to concentrate when I am in the middle of a conversation. I have on more than one occasion zoned out when someone was talking to me, only to look at them and say "huh?" after they had been talking for at least 5 minutes. (People do not appreciate this.)

I find myself making lists alllll the time so that I will remember everything that I have to do in a day. Without a list, the kids might get fed, but I can pretty much guarantee that the dogs and the cats won't.

I often find myself in the middle of a sentence and really wanting to use the right word and for the life of me I can't think of what it is.......until 10 minutes later. Then I shout "That was it!" and by that time the conversation has been over and I become the recipient of some very odd looks.

I feel like my brain is in slumber mode a lot. I used to be interested in things. I used to be interesting. I used to be able to talk all day and all night about a thousand different things with passion and zeal. I used to be a big fan of "spirited debate". And now, in the middle of a "spirited debate", I will often do one of two things. I will either stop and say "what are we talking about?" or "okay, this is becoming boring....i'm ready to shut up now."

I have become dull and boring.....I used to greet each new day with a burst of enthusiasm. And now I wake up and ask myself "Is it time for bed yet?"

Ah, if only I could get my brain to wake up! Or if I could just replace some of the cells that I have lost over the years.

Do they sell grey matter at Wal-Mart? Maybe on a buy one, get one free type of deal? Wonder what the roll back price on that is?

Peace alllllll............................

B's and H's and the Rest of It

2007-07-10T21:19:00.000-07:00

***DISCLAIMER: There will be profanity in the following post, not because I enjoy it, but because I feel its use is necessary to make a point. Thank you......******

I have just about had it with this nonsense. The nonsense to which I am in reference is this whole "bitch, ho" debacle. Because this isn't about some random curse words, this is about empowerment or lack thereof.

Men should not call women bitches and hos (is that the correct spelling or should it be hoes?......no that's a garden tool.....anyway). This is true. Women should not call other women bitches and/or hos. This is a problem that should have been addressed and solved by WOMEN a long time ago.

I'm sorry, I for one do not need Al Sharpton or Russell Simmons or Harvey Levin or even my own husband telling me this. This is something that my MOTHER (a WOMAN, mind you) taught me a long time ago. I was taught as a very young girl that there are certain things that you simply do not allow anyone, be they man, woman or child, to call you. You know, things such as "stupid", "fat", "ugly", "bitch" and "whore". I'm pretty sure, not positive, but pretty sure, that every little girl (and a lot of little boys) were told this at some point in their life. At what point did we forget this?

Was it when we were trying to look cool in front of friends when we were teenagers and dog out on some girl who had the "reputation"? (Bear in mind, reputation is not always fact and oftentimes is a complete fabrication.) Was it when we were trying to emulate some rebellious rock star or movie actor, not realizing what they were doing was putting on a show for our entertainment, not for our imitation? Was it when the first man called us a bitch or a ho because they were angry or jealous, not to mention incapable of producing a word which more accurately reflected how they were feeling at the time? When was it? When did we forget to act like civilized creatures with a higher logic and a higher purpose than the animals around us?

And when did we, as women, start letting men tell us, after so many years of this, that we were allowed to say something about it now? I've been saying something about it for years and have pretty much either been ignored or told "well, boys will be boys." Okay, so when do boys become men? Oh, I suppose when THEY make the decision to be morally correct and righteous. It's a little too late for that fellas.

Women have been fighting this battle for years and now, just because some MAN decides that we (women) need to organize a march to protest how we have been treated for YEARS, we're supposed to jump up and say "Yessah, massah"? I don't think so. Ihave BEEN protesting this treatment over half of my life, and I am not the only woman who has done so. Where were you THEN? Yes, you Mr. Simmons, with your Def Comedy Jam with it's misogynistic overtones. Was it when you had two daughters of your own? So, what, now you're trying to take back decades of the garbage that you and your ilk (men that is) helped to spead like the cancer that it is?

This is for women to take care of. This is for women to teach their sons and daughters to be better than. ( Men, I'm sorry for the few good ones that are out there. You have a hard time letting your light shine through this. Keep trying though. Maybe, after enough generations have passed, this will be but a distant, if ugly, memory in our collective subconscious.) This is not for men to take us by our hands and tell us "It's okay, you can do it." This is for us to tell ourselves "we can do it together." Because until we can demand respect from ourselves, there is no way that we can command respect from anyone else.

Now, Al......chew on that.

Peace allllllllll.......................

School Daze

2007-07-08T20:42:00.000-07:00

At church this morning, our pastor informed us that our church is launching a home school program. They are having a meeting on it tomorrow night for interested parties to get more information about it. I have thougth about homeschooling the kids for some time now, but I (and Grover) have been unable to make a decision thus far.

There are several pro points on homeschooling, such as the ability to let the kids go at their own pace, be it fast or slow, the freedom for religous instruction, and not worrying about bullies and fights and bad teachers.

However, by the same token, there is not really enough socialization in home schools. I know that they have groups and meetings and dances and sports events for the kids, but it's just not the same.

If I homeschool, there won't be any class parties, or homecoming dances or proms or being in the band or clubs or any of the great things that make public schools great.

Lukas is due to start kindergarten in August. Kindergarten is not mandatory in Alabama, though, so I do have a minute to decide, if I need more time. But something is telling me to get all the research I can, pray about it and decide. I don't want to waste time if I don't have to but I do want to make the right decision for my kids.

Ah,more questions than I know what to do with these days!

Have an abfab day peoples!!

Peace allllll................

Oh, My Joshie, Oh Don't You Cry For Me

2007-07-05T10:01:00.000-07:00

Some of you may know who Josh is. A lot of you don't. Let me give a little background.

Josh is 13 years old, about to be 14 in September. For the past 13 years, I and his grandmother have been raising him. This is because when he was born, his biological mother, Tars, who was 16 at the time, wanted nothing to do with him. She "didn't have time for that". Granted, she was young.......and also heartless and cold-blooded...but another story for another day.

Anyhow, Rachel (his grandmother) and I decided to raise him as more or less our own. He knew who his biological mother was and some of the story behind his coming to be with us. So for 13 years, we have taken care of him, fed him, loved him, bought his school clothes and Christmas and birthday gifts. We are the ones who have gone to parent-teacher conferences and worked with him on his homework. We are the ones who have taken him to the doctor and sat up with him when he was sick and when he broke his ankle and was laid up for a month, we were the ones who were at his beck and call 24 hours a day. No big deal. We were, for all intents and purposes, his parents and that is what parents do for the children they love.

As I have said, he has always known his biological mother, Rachel's daughter. We have never attempted to keep him from her and we have never attempted to keep her from him, even though for the first 9 years of his life, he barely saw her or heard from her.

Over the past, oh, year or so, he has spent more time with her. Actually, the purpose was for him to see his brother and sisters who live with her. But nonetheless.....I digress.

When school let out for the summer he wanted to go spend the weekend over there, a couple of nights. No big deal......it was summertime after all. Well, that weekend has turned into a month and a half. And he tells us the other day, actually the day before yesterday, that he now wants to live with his biological mother. That was a hard hammer to have fall on you.

Now, the reason I have a problem with this is: Tara is 29. She had her first child when she was 13......that first child she took care of for about 6 months and then she sent the child to live with her father. Fast forward about 13 years and the father decides he doesn't want the girl anymore and so he drops her off at Tara's house and basically says "have a nice day". That's child number one.

Child number 2 is Joshua.......she didn't want him when she had him and spent the next several years having very little to do with him until recently.

Child number 3 is Briana.....we were raising her as well. She passed away when she was 2 and a half.

Children numbers 4 and 5 are Corey and Gabby.....she was married to their father when she had them so she kinda had to keep them. They are the only 2 out of 6 children that have always lived with her. She considers them "her" children.

Child number 6 is Colin.....she didn't like his father so when she had this one, she gave him to her cousin and his wife to raise.

After Colin, she finally had her tubes tied. Thank you God, for all miracles small and large.

So, now Josh wants to live with her. Why? I'm not really sure. I know that he and Grover have a rough go from time to time. I know that she doesn't have as many rules in her house...and I know that he can kind of run wild at her place.

But is all of that worth walking away from me and his mom? Who walks away from a mother who has been so good to them their whole lives to live with a woman who could really care less about him?

I'm trying not to be angry with him. I'm trying not to have my feelings hurt by all of this. And I am failing miserably at both. Not really sure what to do at this point. Do I wait it out and hope he comes back.....or do I cut it loose and let him go completely?

I do not have the answers, just the questions.

Peace alllllll........................

2007-07-04T05:46:00.000-07:00

HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY !!!!

Y'all have a safe and fabulous day.

And a special thank you to our Armed Forces!

Peace alllllll........................

Not The Best Mother

2007-07-01T16:36:00.000-07:00

I may not be the best mother in the world.

Yesterday, my children ate kool-pops for breakfast. It was a nice switch from the standard eggs and cereal.

Today, my children went out to the pool and tracked mud in and out oh, I don't know, three or four times. I simply mopped and mopped again and didn't even fuss about it.

I let them jump on their beds last week.

Sometimes I let them stay up late.

I don't always have the right answer so every once in a while I just make one up.

I am often too willing to abandon housecleaning for roughhousing in the back yard, or the front yard, or just wherever.

Not too long ago, they drew all over their bedroom walls. I fussed at them of course, but I was secretly pleased at their 'artistic expression'. It's gonna be a big pain to have to paint over it but, oh well.

I have been known to tell them "just wear what you have on" if I'm in a hurry and it's a quick trip.

I don't do a lot of things that a lot of so-called "good moms" do. But I do this much:

I take them to church.

I read to them.

I talk to them.

I listen to them.

I bandage and kiss every owee and boo-boo, real or imaginary.

I hug them.

I pray with them.

I pray for them.

I love them.

So, I'm not June Cleaver. I can't walk very well in high heels and haven't owned a pair of pantyhose in years. The last nice necklace I had I broke. I'm loud and clumsy and will probably never look very put-together no matter how hard I try. I can't bake bread without burning it and the dogs won't even eat my homemade biscuits. The microwave is my best friend somedays. I don't sew or knit or do anything that could be considered dainty.

But I do walk barefoot in the yard and talk to my kids about God and life and love and how to treat people. And for now, they listen. And at the end, of the day, when I am sitting on the back porch eating yet another kool-pop, that's really all you can ask for.

I know I'm not the best mother in the world. And one day, my kids may even tell me that I'm not. But today......

they think I am.:)

Peace allllllll....................

2007-06-27T21:18:00.000-07:00

There are a few things in this life that I just don't understand. Actually, there are several. Truth be told about it, there are so many that a lot of the time it keeps me in a state of mild confusion.

Thing number one: They used to have cigarette commercials on TV. Now, I don't remember ever seeing any when I was young because they have been banned from commercials for a verrrrrrry long time. Question is: why do they still have commercials for beer, wine, whiskey and a host of other alcoholic beverages on TV? Not understanding this at all. I have never personally heard of anyone hitting someone with their car while they were under the influence of nicotine. I have also never seen someone try to beat the mess out of someone three times their size because they had been smoking. And there has never, in my recollection, been heard by any spouse or significant other "Honey, I'm sorry. It was a one night stand. We had been smoking cigarettes all night and I don't really remember the rest of it." Just curious......maybe the tobacco companies weren't willing to pay the government as much money as the alcohol companies. Hmmmmm..........

Thing number two: What happened to excessive skin exposure on TV being a late night thing? I can be watching cartoons and all of a sudden a deodorant commercial with the half-dressed woman dancing in the leather pants at the club comes on. My kids have the rest of their lives to see half-dressed women once they get grown. I don't think they need to see it on the commercial break of "Sponge Bob".

Number three: What is really going on with "sport tampons"? What in the world is a "sport tampon"? Women have been playing sports with the same old non-athletic tampons for years. Next thing you know, they'll be selling "extreme tampons" or maybe even "extreme sports gel tampons". Are they trying to get men to buy them? We all know that pretty much only men can be swayed by a product with the words "sport", "extreme", or "magnum" on it.

Four: What has happened to Cartoon Network?? Used to be the place for me all night long, with "Tom and Jerry" and "Cow and Chicken" and even "Johnny Bravo". Now, all they have on after 7 p.m. is Adult Swim. And my cable company is telling me that I can add Cartoon Network "Original" on to my cable lineup for only "a few dollars a month." Ummm.......no. Why can't adults pay the extra for Adult Swim and keep the cartoons on for the kids? Just another example of grown-ups ruining everything fun.

And last but not least.....why do doctors make you wait 2 weeks for the results of any test when they know they can have the results back in about 24 hours? And why, oh why, do they tell you that your appointment is at a certain time and please don't be late when they know, they KNOW, that the doctor is actually overbooked and you are going to be sitting in that waiting room for at least 2 hours reading those same crappy out of date Ladies Home Journal and Fish and Stream magazines from 1994??

Sorry about the kvetching.......but sometimes ya gotta let it out on screen so you don't let it out on your husband:)

Peace allllllll...................

Saturdays and Random Stuff

2007-06-23T07:48:00.000-07:00

So, I thought I would check out this new template and see if it worked for me. I dunno......looks a little too shushi fushi....but we'll see.

Anyhooooo......I hate Saturdays. Hate may be too strong of a word though. Loathe, detest, dislike immensely maybe. Saturdays are boring, there's never anything on TV, and all the yard wark is just staring you in the face like "Are you gonna get to me TODAY maybe?" And with Grover working six days a week, it's just like Friday except without the paycheck and any good movies. I find it hard to believe that I spent all those years as a kid looking forward to this day of the week and now I just wish it would hurry up and go by. Grover says it's because Saturday is a play day for people and I've forgotten how to play. I haven't forgotten......I just don't have time! By the time I finish cooking and cleaning and cutting the grass and cleaning some more and bandaging cuts and scrapes and bee stings and washing the dog and washing the car and all the mundane junk associated with my life these days, I really do not have time, much less energy, to play. And that's kinda sad.

Moving on......

Lukas, who is 4 and a half, is now working on simple addition. He can read and write his ABC's and he loves math but he has no interest at the present time in learning how to read words. I'm trying and he's resisting. But I'm pretty confident he'll start within the week. That's how he is. He has to do it in his own time and his own way. Fortunately, his own time is pretty quick.

However, Jakob, who is 3 and a half, is now reading. Everything. Anything. He just started out of the blue last Monday when I was working with Lukas. I was going over words with Lukas when Jakob came up and just started reading the list. After a moment, as it is with reading, Lukas got bored and went on to more interesting things. So I tried to see just how far Jakob could go with this reading thing. He did pretty well, if I may say so. The biggest word he got was "submarine." It was incredibly exciting for me (of course, I am his mom.....that may make all the difference.)

Joshua, who is almost 14 now (4 more years buddy and you're outta here!;)) is in a dance group. They have been involved in a local competition and have made it all the way to the semi-finals. The finals are next week. That, plus band, and his new found fascination with weight lifting has been enough to keep him out of trouble this summer, so far anyway.

My goddaughter, Terriana, is leaving for Florida today. She's spending the rest of the summer with her dad. So, by the time she gets back (and we deprogram her from 2 months of being spoiled rotten:)) she'll be ready for the 1st grade.

And the dogs are outside, rolling around in the grass play fighting and the cats are in the house rolling around on the carpet play fighting. And Lukas and Jakob are just fighting......don't think there's any play in this one. Aaaaaahhh, brothers......gotta love 'em cause you can't shoot 'em :)

Well, that's my Saturday. How about yours?

Peace alllllllllllllllllllll..............................

Numbering My Days

2007-06-19T08:48:00.000-07:00

There is a verse in the Bible, where it is escapes me just now. It says something to the effect of "Lord, teach me to number my days." Now, I could go off on a whole tangent about this but.....well, you know what? I think I will.

The whole upshot of this verse is to never take a day for granted. It could be your last. And this is really heavy on my mind today because yesterday was a very strange day. It seemed like everyone, and by everyone I mean EVERYONE, even the cats, was tripping about one thing of the other. Everyone wanted to walk around with a chip on their shoulder, some pebble sized and some big ole boulder sized. (We won't discuss what size mine was, suffice it to say I was walking with a serious lean.) And late last night when I was lying in bed, it came to me: this could have been a wonderful day and we just about ruined it because none of us wanted to keep it that way. We all wanted to act ignorant and demand what we wanted when we wanted it and act as if the whole world should have paid attention. It was sort of a messed up day and we're the ones that messed it up.

And it may have been our last.

Oh, no, nothing dangerous or bad or unfortunate happened. But what if it had? What if we hadn't made it through to see today? The best thing that anyone could have said about our last day was....."Well, they seemed to be in a bad mood all day....man, that sucks." The last memory my children would have had of me is that I was not my normal outgoing, effervescent, ebullient self.....that I was a grouch.

Everyone is entitled to a moment every once in a while. A moment. Not a day, a week, or a lifetime. How much time, how many days have you wasted being in a bad mood, being upset, being ticked off or frustrated?

I'm not saying you should walk around singing "Happy, Happy, Joy, Joy" all day every day. We are, after all, only human. But take into account how much energy you are putting into negativity, and how much time you are wasting.

I do not want to look back at the end of my life and say "Man, i could have done so much more if I would have only gotten my head out of my butt and the chip off my shoulder and just done it." I want to live every day as if it were my last, and accomplish as much as I can in a 24 hour period. Carpe Diem and all that. I want everyone I love to know that I love them every day, even if I am having a moment. And I want those moments to be shorter and fewer and farther between. Because, all in all, it's a good life and, when it isn't, half the time the fault can be traced back to me.

Live like you were dying and I think you'll live a lot better.

Amen.

Peace allllllll.................................

2007-06-17T15:40:00.000-07:00

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY GROVER!!!!

And because it's your day, you get the big piece of chicken tonight. (Yes, I'm talking about dinner people, nothing else!)

And Happy Father's Day to the rest of you wonderful gentlemen out there. Enjoy it while you can. Tomorrow's Monday, remember:)

Peace allllllll...............................

Lessons Learned

2007-06-12T20:36:00.000-07:00

For the past couple of days, I have had the distinct, if dubious, honor of babysitting mine and Grover's goddaughters. Their mom had to go to Atlanta for a couple of days to take care of some business, didn't want to drag them down there for 3 days and so here we are. They are both girls, aged 6 and 2. Add to that my two boys and we have four children, 6,4,3 and 2. Whoo hoo!! What fun. And what a learning oppurtunity this has been for me. For example:

I learned exactly how many stuffed animals it takes to fill up 2 blue plastic wading pools that are already full of water. Answer? 24

I learned that yes, if properly lying face down and head down, 3 people CAN go down a slide at the same time.

I learned that the 6 year old wants to grow up and marry the 3 year old and the 2 year old wants to grow up and marry the 4 year old.

I learned that alllllll children under the age of 4 will take their clothes off once they go outside.

Foxy the dog learned what it is like to be ridden by a 2 year old.

I learned that my children are abnormally tall for their ages (3&4) as they had to bend down to hug the girls (2&6 respectively).

The cats learned how to swim.

The boys learned that if two people are on the monkey bars and they meet in the middle, that the boy is obligated to jump down so the girl can finish. They also learned that if they do NOT do this, they may get whopped one.

I am used to carrying my boys to bed if they fall asleep on the couch. They weigh 60 and 45 pounds. What I am NOT used to is carrying someone who doesn't weigh that much. The two year old fell asleep and I bent down to pick her up and thought she would be heavier than she was. Upshot of that was I almost tossed her over my shoulder like a bag of potato chips. Good thing she's flexible;)

I learned that when you say something to a two year old and they say "Huh?" and you repeat yourself 5 times and each time they say "Huh?" to stop after the second time. Why? Because if someone else asks them what you just said they can repeat it word for word. They were just messing with your head. Why? Because they can.

If you see a 4 year old and a 6 year old standing in the corner of the yard talking to each other break them up....they are up to no good.

Ditto on the 3 year old and the 2 year old.

But the most important thing I learned is this: when it is summertime and the sun is beginning to set and there is a cool breeze blowing......and you can smell the honeysuckle in the air.....and you watch children running and laughing and occasionally stopping just to turn their face up to the sky and smile in the purest form of praise there is....

And when you see them all sitting on your bed watching "SpongeBob" and they are laughing with the exuberance that only innocence can provide.......

And when you see them sleeping peacefully, even if they are hanging half-way off of the bed....

Don't interrupt. Just enjoy.

Teach your children well. But learn as well as you teach.

Peace alllllll.......................

Corneas and Commotion

2007-06-10T20:25:00.000-07:00

Okay, so remember I had mentioned in a previous post that I had had a scratched cornea? Well, that diagnosis came at the very end of the best time I have ever had in a hospital. Let me tell ya the story:

The day that I got this injury, Grover was at work so he couldn't take me to the emergency room. Well, that was okay, because Rachel was home and she said that she would do it. So we dropped the kids off over at Tara's house (Rachel's daughter) and proceeded to go to the hospital. Now, bear in mind that I only have one contact in, I can't really see very sharply, the bad eye is red and just running water when I open it so I'm keeping it closed. This sort of gives me the pirate look without the eye patch. So, we're going down the road and everytime we stop at a red light, I look over at the car next to us and go "Aaarrrgh!" Fortunately, road rage is not really common around here or else I may have ended up in the hospital with something much worse, like some broken bones.

So, we get to the ER and I sign in and get triaged and everything and in a relatively short amount of time, I am taken back to Direct Care. Now, for those of you who don't know, Direct Care is a separate section of the ER, pretty much reserved for bumps and bruises and colds and corneas......nothing too severe ever shows up in Direct Care. They send people who are realllly in trouble to Trauma. So I'm glad that this is where I am going because it's a looooooot faster this way. This is where the trouble starts.

I'm lying back on the gurney (it's in one of those open bay areas) and I have the head part of it up. Rachel is sitting by me with her feet on the bottom of the gurney. You know that lever that says "PUSH" to release the top of the bed? Well, see, it doesn't matter whether you push it with your hands or your feet, as I found out really quickly when the head of the bed dropped completely down unannounced, almost flipping me upside down onto the floor. Turns out Rachel had accidentally kicked it. Accidentally? Yeah, right.

While I was waiting to see the doctor, the area started filling with patients. Some of them looked like they didn't feel well or were in pain. But some of them looked okay. (You know, sometimes pill heads will come in the ER with "symptoms" so they can get a pain prescription). So Rachel and I came up with an idea, which we didn't get to use. She said "You know, why don't we, whenever we see a patient come in here, sneak up behind them and yell "RUN!!!!" and if they run we'll know they don't really need to be here." I know you probably had to be there but this idea struck me as hilariously funny. I started laughing and couldn't stop. Now you have to have the visual here........I am sitting there looking like a pirate and braying like a donkey and Rachel.....well, when she laughs she sounds a lot like a hyena....seriously. And every time a new patient would come in or leave, we would look at each other and whisper loudly "RUN!!" and start laughing all over again.

It got to the point where one of the nurses had to come over and tell us get quiet or we would have to leave. We tried, I promise you we tried. Alas, we were not completely successful but it was enough to keep them from calling security.

I would like to take this moment to apologize to anyone we may have annoyed, irritated, frustrated or otherwise discombobulated that day in the ER. I understand that there are sick people here, yes nurse, I am sorry.

And if, the next time I go to the hospital, someone looks at me and yells "RUN!!!!", I'll know where they got it from;)

Peace allllllll.....................

One Tid And A Couple Of Bits

2007-06-09T22:25:00.000-07:00

Well, since there really isn't a whole lot of interesting stuff on the news lately and no one has really gotten on my nerves in a couple of days, I thought that I would just throw out some relatively unknown facts about myself and my family. Some are a little weird and some are a little scary. Or that could just be me:

1. I hate flourescent colors. Have hated them since they hit their heyday in the 80's. They make my eyes hurt and they are just ugly.....really ugly.

2. I rock back and forth when I talk. Sometimes just a little bit...sometimes a lot. I once got so agitated during a conversation I actually rocked myself right on off of the couch.

3. My best friend, Rachel, sees dead people. For real, like in "The Sixth Sense"....she has since she was 4 years old and she is now 45....some she knows, some she doesn't. She doesn't sleep a lot.

4. I never clean the house before 1 p.m. and I actually prefer to clean it just one more time before I go to bed when everyone else is asleep. That way it doesn't get trashed and I wake up to a clean house, which makes my day much better.

5. I am ambidextrous....which translates to freak of nature;)

6. Every morning when I wake up, I say "This is the day that the Lord has made. I will rejoice and be glad in it." And somedays I have to remind myself of that:)

7. Whenver I catch a cold, I sleep on the couch. Don't know why..I think it is a comfort thing for me.

8. When I was little, we owned a black hen named Fay and about 30 rabbits. Have no idea why, but it was fun and fostered my love of animals.

9. I always mute the TV when commercials are on.

10. Rachel has a lot of illnesses. The last two times she was in the hospital she had to stay about a week each time. The bill was around $200,00.00 Yep, you read that right. And when the business office called her she told them she would be in on the first of the month to pay it off. The woman then proceeds to tell her "Okay, I'll put you down for the first." I'm sure Rachel will just make that payment tomorrow. She's a few days late.

11. Grover has selective hearing. He can't hear me say a thing unless the words "money" or "chocolate" come up. Then he'll wake up from a dead sleep;)

12. Lukas is afraid of cars coming into his room at night while he's asleep. (Because the headlights of cars going down our street shine through his window)

13. I'm afraid of Lukas coming into my room at night while I'm asleep. That means I'm going to get kicked at least 5 times before I give up and go out to the couch.

Okay, are you thoroughly bored yet? Yeah, I know...so am I. But never fear, someone's bound to interest me (or at least tick me off) in the next day or so;)

Peace allllllllll...................

Snob

2007-06-07T09:08:00.000-07:00

Let's see.......what is the best way for me to put this? Okay, I think I've got it. Here we go:

I cannot tolerate a snob. An intellectual snob that is.

Everyone on this earth was born with a certain amount of intelligence, some more and some less than others. But most of us, by the time we are grown anyway, have figured out how to put our pants on and wave good-bye. Most of us also recognize the importance of a good joke, not to mention a good cheeseburger. I like to consider that our common thread of humanity.

I am not talking about everyone.....just a select few. You know, those people who are constantly trying to impress others with overt displays of their "intellectual superiority." The kind of people you see in public and you know, you just know, that when they go home, they put on their smoking jackets and puff on their pipes and sip their Earl Grey tea and look down their noses at the "common man."

Don't get me wrong. I'm a fan, a big fan, of book learnin'. Have a little of it myself. I , too, know how to read and cipher and such. (Did I spell cipher right?;)) I even know Pig Latin. But I do not believe that it is ever, EVER, in good taste to beat someone over the head with all them there books you done learned from. Do I beleive that these "intellectual giants" (and I DO use the term loosely) should never converse with us normal folk? Well, of course not. But, dude, just sit down and talk. Have a normal, fun conversation. Eat a cookie. Tell a knock-knock joke even. Because I have to tell ya, your pedantic displays are not impressing anyone, except maybe you. And your flatulent condescension is gettin' a little too funky for me. You can find information in books but not wisdom. That, my friend, is found out there in the real world. You do remember where that is don't you?

Now, to other end of the spectrum.......Paris Hilton just got out of jail after 3 days. 3 days......just goes to show that money really does talk sometimes.....and very loudly at that. Think she learned anything, other than how to use a payphone? We'll see. Think her 3 days with the "common man" had any impact on her? Oh, yeah, that's right. She was sequestered for her stay in the big house. Separated from everyone else based on who she is. Hmmmmmm.......that sounds like a whole different kind of snobbery, now don't it?

Peace alllllllllllllll................

Fussy and Almost 40

2007-06-05T06:08:00.000-07:00

You know, like most people out there (closet masochists excluded), I hate to be told "no". I don't like it but most of the time I can get over it. It is what it is. HOWEVER, there is one thing that I hate worse than being told no and that is a qualified no. A qualified no for those of you who may not know this is a no with an exlanation attached. I don't need an explanation of why you're telling me no. I have already gone over these possibilities in my head before I even asked you the question. Is your explaining to me why you are telling me no going to change your no to a yes? Of course not. So why are you wasting your time and mine. Just tell me no so that I can consider you a jerk and go on with my day versus explaining it so that I consider you an illogical jerk.

There, that feels better. Must be this countdown to 40 that I'm on that has me all irascible and stuff;). Grover just turned 40 last month......and hasn't felt well one day since then:) I tried to tell him it's all in his head, that he just needs to stop brooding over it since he's in the last half of his life now and doesn't really have that much time to waste. (he didn't think that was funny either...I did;)) Turning 40 for me is like getting a shot. You're all tensed up waiting for it to happen and then when it does you go....."hmmmm, that wasn't so bad after all." Of course, there are the grey hairs and creaking joints and lack of nimbleness to look forward to but I've had all that going on since I was 30 so what's the big deal? And I'm already sounding like my mother more and more everyday: "Oh, these kids these days. It wasn't like this when I was growing up (yeah it was, I just don't want to admit it)."

But there is part of almost being 40 that is the most time consuming and sometimes painful part: the whole reflection over your life thing.Going down the list of mistakes and regrets and shoulda coulda wouldas. If I could change anything that has happened in my life would I? I might change a couple of things but nothing too big. Yeah, I've made a lot of mistakes (a LOT) in my life but they have all been a part of getting me to where I am now. And where I am now ain't too shabby. I'm not Bill Gates or Stephen Hawkings or Halle Berry but who cares? I am what I am and that's good enough for me. (But not good enough for my kids in 10 years probably;))

We'll see how I'm doing when I'm almost 50.

Peace allllllllll...............

Seven Days

2007-06-03T08:36:00.000-07:00

So, since it will probably take me a little while to catch up on the past few months or so, let me spend a few moments just catching up on the past week. In the last seven days I have had:

a corneal abrasion, otherwise known as a scratch on the eyeball. Since I wear contacts ALL the time and have for the past 2 years, I have never been bothered to purchase a pair of back-up glasses (yeah, I know...stupid is as stupid does NOT do). Consequently, for about 2 days I had to go around with one contact in and one out. 20/20 vision in one eye and 20/200 in the other. Do you know what that does to person's depth perception? Nothing nice.

a burn on my hand. What happened you may ask. Simple...I was taking biscuits out of the oven and because I couldn't really see them very well, I put my bare hand not on the potholder but on the pan itself.

a really ugly cold, which I then proceeded to give to everyone in the house.

I cooked a wonderful dinner the other night which included baked fish. When I put my childrens' plates on the table and told them it was time for dinner, Lukas comes to the table, looks at the fish, looks at me and says "Oooh, Mom.....that looks asgusting." Not disgusting, but asgusting. This ain't "Hell's Kitchen" young man.

I went into my kitchen the other day and Lukas had gotten a pack of hot chocolate out of the cabinet, put it in a blue tumbler, put cold water in it and was trying to put it in the microwave to heat it up. When I walked in on him in the middle of this and asked him what he was doing, he replied "Making coffee mom, what're you doin'?" He wasn't trying to be a smart aleck...just a grownup. Oh, if he only knew.

Jakob was in the backyard swinging the other day and had to go pee. I suppose in his mind it was just a little too far to actually come in the house and use the bathroom so he just whipped his pants down and took care of business in the back yard. What I wouldn't give to be 3 again:) (Or just a guy somedays;))

Jakob has also developed an affinity for anything that buttons or zips. Okay, that would be okay if he hadn't gone into the winter clothes and found a fleece jacket of his that does both. Now he won't take the thing off except to bathe. And the second he gets out of the tub he puts it right back on. Which I wouldn't even be concerned except he wears it outside to play and it's like 90 degrees during the day now. I've tried to hide it but he keeps finding it. And let me tell ya, when he puts that on and the sunglasses he's become so attached to, he looks just like a mini jazz musician out in the backyard. Let's just hope that he doesn't finish off the outfit with his dad's hardhat again. Now that really will have the neighbors calling the funny farm. I believe in self-expression but come on now.

Josh got a concussion on the slip and slide the other day. He slipped instead of sliding and landed on his head. Fortunately he's got a hard head and a looooot of hair.

Has anyone been watching the Flavor of Love Girls: Charm School? That Larissa is one eeeevil little girl. Yeah, I know it's brain rot but after a full week of watching Sesame Street, Backyardigans and WonderPets, I have to have something to zone out on.

I know that this post is all over the place but give me a couple of days to get my mind refreshed and remolded back into the steel trap it once was, albeit a bit rusty;) I feel like I've been in hibernate mode for a while.

And now I'm going to cook my pot roast since today I can see it and won't be coughing over it .

Peace aalllllllllllllll.................

Dennis Quaid Said It Best

2007-06-02T08:39:00.000-07:00

Hello boys!!!!! I'm baaaaaack!

(Oh yeah, that goes for the girls too).......

Peace allllllll...............

Still Ain't Rich

2006-12-23T13:42:00.000-08:00

And that means I have no brand spankin' new computer as of yet. Oh, well, woe is me ....all for tomorrow and nothing for today. But, hey, income tax refunds are just around the corner and as much as I hate if for ya Grover, you're getting me a really nice anniversary gift this year;)

Just wanted to drop in and wish everyone a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!! I love you and miss you alllll soooo much. Many rants and raves are just crying to get out these days:)

Will be back soooon.

Peace aaaallllllllllllllllllllllll.....................

So This Is What Happened

2006-07-25T16:31:00.000-07:00

Whoooooo, it's been a while huh?

So this is what happened. My computer died on April 16th. And being as how I am not independently wealthy, not yet anyway;), I am currently saving up for a new one. Hopefully this daunting task will be completed in another month or two. Hopefully.

Meanwhile, the kids are fine, Grover is fine, I am fine and the dog is fine when the kids aren't trying to kill her.

Will be back online as soon as I possibly can, and hopefully it will be soon cuz these withdrawals are killing me!

I love each and every one of ya!!!!!!

Peace allllllllllllll................

Whose Child Is Gonna Be President?

2006-04-15T07:28:00.000-07:00

My mother was a school teacher. That meant a lot to me when I was a kid. It meant that I had to stay one step of the game in class because with her there were no excuses. It meant that I couldn't BS my way through anything because she could see right through it. It meant that I was extremely proud of her for spending her life imparting knowledge to young minds. My mom was one of those people who understood the power of education.

Last week, Joshua's school had their SAT's. It was a very big deal of course, meaning that reminders were sent out 2 weeks in advance, along with the standard "tips" for good test performance: get plenty of rest, eat right, study, study, study...etc. And as I read these letters and talked to some of the kids in the neighborhood, it really hit home with me. What did? This did:

We are starving our children by giving them too much. We have Playstations, and XBoxes and DVDs and ipods and video games and this and that and the other. And we have the latest in technology and the best foods and the best clothes and the best entertainment and we feed this to them on a daily basis.

But what we are not giving them, what they are lacking, is: motivation, a desire for learning, a thirst for knowledge, a purpose in life, an insatiable curiousity, an endless litany of "why" and "when" and "where" and "what if". We have singlehandedly created the largest group of apathetic, self-absorbed, lazy young people that has probably ever existed. Need help with a problem? Sure, we'll either spoon feed you the answer or give you a pill that makes you feel better about not knowing the answer. Heaven forbid you actually have to work for something or that your parents let you figure it out for yourselves. That would require too much work and patience on both sides.

We have the best educational system in the world, despite the butchering it has undergone in the past 30 years, and we are turning out some of the dumbest people. I know 4th graders that don't even know who Betsy Ross is. Betsy Ross people! I know teenagers who can't name the first 5 presidents of the United States. I shudder to think what this world will be looking like when these people are running the show.

Our children are being ruined by our attempts to "give them a good life". Want to give your child a good life? Make 'em work for it. Stop handing every single thing that they want over to them. I have a 12 year old that's cutting grass this summer so he can buy his own school clothes for next year, without me having to do it. That was his idea. That on top of the mandatory summer reading list that I have for him.

Make them think. Foster their sense of curiousity and amazement with how the world works. (It's still in them somewhere, you just may have to look pretty deep to find it.) Remind them every chance you get that no matter where you live or what your circumstances are, education is the key to changing everything. Education is knowledge and knowledge is power and with that power you can change the world.

Parents, look closely at your children. They are the future. Non-parents, look closely at the children around you. They are the future. We are all role models, whether we like it or not. Let's just try to be good ones.

Peace allllll.......................