Cat's so called life

@$!$% rat bastard!!!

2010-09-13T09:48:00.000-05:00

Open letter to the asshole who hit my car and drove away:

Dear scumbag,

Monday mornings are NOT good for me. My kids are slow to get up & get moving, I'm usually yelling at them as we run out the door to get to school on time. After getting them in the car & buckled up, backpacks stowed in the front seat, I walk around to the drivers side, and Lo & Behold....a GIANT dent & scrape!! What a glorious sight to see!! Thank you soooo much for driving away after you hit it.

Since you didn't bother leaving me your insurance info, I'm going to assume that you don't have any. However, at the VERY least, the decent thing would have been to leave a note saying that YOU'RE F'ING SORRY!! Didn't need to leave your name & phone number, just a simple "I'm sorry" would have made the whole friggin thing less screamy for me. I hope that my neighbors don't think any less of me (HA!!) for the foul language that I was flinging around this morning out on the street.

Maybe you were at the bar for the stupid loser Eagles game and had one too many. Maybe you just didn't see the black car. It was rather dark last night. Nights *do* tend to be dark around here. I guess the tan top wasn't visible either.

I'm thinking that it was alcohol related since you smashed into the DOOR of the car, not the front-quarter panel, where one would theoretically hit a car while trying to park in front of me, or the rear quarter-panel if you were trying to pull in behind me. So I'm thinking you swerved for some unknown reason (maybe one of my lovely neighbor's stupid, outside cats ran into the road) and hit my car.

Guess who's going to have to pay for this?? Yep. Since I only carry liability on a 14 year old car, that would be me.
In a way, you will too because I am going to get all CSI tonight & check every friggin' bumper in the neighborhood. If you have black transfer on your truck (the damage is right below the rear view mirror so I know it's a larger vehicle) I will slash your goddamn tires.

Have a nice day.

Black convertible parked on Toll Street.

Tattoo You

2010-08-31T10:20:00.005-05:00

Joe has been talking about getting a tattoo. I just roll my eyes every time he brings it up.

He wants a four-leaf clover with each of our names in a leaf. I'm pretty sure it's never gonna happen because he doesn't like pain and I make my "ewwwww, tattoo" face every time he says it.

Well. Saturday evening we take the kids to boardwalk in Ocean City. Me & Maggie go one way (to the spinny, tilty, fast roller-coaster-type rides) and Joe takes Will to the round and round "monster-trucks", the choo choo train monorail, carousel, little bumper-car type rides.

We meet at our pre-arranged location (Fun-house) at the specified time, Maggie is running as fast as she can across the "Rickety Bridge" when the boys showed up. Joe says, "Hey Willz, show Mommy what you & Daddy did tonight."
My little blonde-haired, blue-eyed baby boy pulls up his shirt-sleeve aaannnnddd........

My men got matching tats.

It should only last about a week. I'm sure it will be pretty much gone after the holiday weekend as we'll be back down the shore from Thursday through Tuesday.

Sand, Sun, Saltwater, and the pool at the campground should bleach it before school starts.
Good thing too, since he's running out of sleeveless t-shirts.

The Good Dream Hat

2010-07-12T12:54:00.003-05:00

I am loving seven. Maggie has been so damn cute lately, I wish she would stay this age forever.
Last night I put her to bed a little after 8:00 with a Junie B. Jones book and told her that she could read in bed for a little while. I could hear her giggling to herself and then it got quiet.
I was sitting downstairs watching Leverage, and she came creeping down the steps, telling me that she "felt like she was going to have a bad dream." I walked her back up to her room, re-sprayed some "good-dream spray" (rose scented linen spray) tucked her back in, and re-adjusted the animals on her bed. She asked if Roger-Belle could sleep on her pillow. Of course I agreed, telling her that a Tiger was the perfect (purrfect?) choice to have sleep near your head if you were worried about bad dreams sneaking in. She was worried that bad dreams came in bubbles and popped near your ears so that they could climb in your ears and up into your brain.
I had a fantastic idea! Stop laughing. I did! I went to her closet & pulled out a hat. I was looking for the one with the ear flaps, but I couldn't find it. We went with the pink polar fleece. I pulled the hat tightly over her ears & kissed her goodnight.
20 minutes later, Joe came home from work & I was telling him about the bad-dream-drama. He went up to check on her & snapped this pic.

She was sound asleep with Roger-Belle (I don't know WHERE she came up with this name) guarding her & her little hands holding on the Good-Dream-Hat.

My kid is funny. And cute. And sweet. And a little weird.

Cancer is a Water Sign

2010-07-08T10:51:00.002-05:00

Lord have mercy.........

Maggie has conquered her fear of the diving board.

What this picture doesn't show is me standing ON the ladder, waiting to dive in to rescue her.
Seconds later, she pops up, yells to me that , "THAT WAS AWESOME!!!!" and proceeds to doggie-paddle to the ladder.

She went off about 8 more times after that.

Memorial Day 2010

2010-06-02T09:26:00.023-05:00

Ahhh, Memorial day. The un-official start of summer.

A day to pause and say “Thank you” to the brave men and women who fought and died to defend our freedom. A day for parades, flying the flag high with pride, water ice and pony rides, fireworks and barbeques. The kids and I went to the beach.

These kids are so silly

My children made me a cherry-banana-strawberry-apple pie. The broken pieces of shell are Rainbow Sprinkles. The seagrass are candles.

Wow. I need a pedicure. And a pair of flip-flops that *don't* give me a blister. Band-aids on the beach are soooper-sexxxy, no??

I love pictures of her when she doesn't realize I'm taking her picture.

Otherwise, I get this.

We are in soooo much trouble when she starts dating. We only have another 23 years to prepare for that.

God, my baby is getting so BIG!! I can't believe he's almost 4.

Fireworks.

Sometimes husbands are more trouble than they're worth

2010-04-22T10:47:00.000-05:00

Why am I married??

My sister-in-law is throwing a 30th birthday party for her boyfriend. She mentioned it in passing a few weeks ago. Last night Joe was on the phone with his sister & I overheard him telling her that he “has to work 9-5 at Villanova and then he’ll take the train into the city for the party and either take the train home or ask his brother for a ride.” About a half an hour later, we were watching TV & he was telling me about his hectic schedule for the rest of the week when casually turns to me & asks, “Oh, did you want to go too?”

Seriously?? It’s pretty plain to me that he didn’t think I’d be there as I’m certainly not driving into center-city with my kids by myself at night and since he was going to take the train & get a ride home with his brother, he knew I wasn’t planning on being there. Plus, his sister never ASKED me if I wanted to go; she was just telling me about the party plans. There was no actual invitation extended to me, so therefore, I assumed (I know, I know when one assumes…) that it was a “friends” type of party. However, that is not my gripe.

If a family member of yours extends and invitation to you, do you automatically assume that it is a FAMILY invitation or just you? Sometimes I think my husband forgets that he is a part of a COUPLE. We are married. There are the 2 of us AND our children.

It’s a damn good thing that our next-door neighbor is throwing a purse-party that evening so I will have something to do besides sit around & stew about Joe being out having fun without me.

What the HELL is WRONG with me???!

2010-02-18T11:39:00.003-05:00

I'm not sleeping well. Usually, at 11:00 pm my body just shuts-down. I go upstairs, wash my face, brush my teeth & climb into bed. I usually fall asleep within minutes of getting into bed. For the past 3 weeks, I've been lying there, listening to Joes light snore, hearing Will breathe in his room (he doesn't like his door closed) I can hear Maggie talking in her sleep, I hear the neighbors running (don't they EVER WALK up & down a flight of stairs?) next door.

I look like shit. The circles under my eyes are so dark. I look like Uncle Fester.

Even my kids have noticed. "Mommy....why you haf all dat brown unner your eyes?"

I bought Loreal Eye treatment, Olay's lightener with concealer, Physician's formula yellow concealer & some regular concealer. I still look like death warmed over.

I've tried Tylenol PM, a glass of wine (or 2) and even going to bed a little bit earlier.

Why can't I sleeeeep????

If you aint first, you're last

2010-01-22T11:12:00.002-05:00

OK, so I married a guy a lot like Fred Sandford. If someone is getting rid of anything, my husband will say, "Oh, I'll take it."
I have more crap in the garage & basement that I have no idea what we're supposed to do with it.

His boss was throwing away his kid's Razor Ground Force Go Kart. Of course Joe said, "Oooooh! Will would like that. I'll take it."

As leary as I was about letting my baaayyyybeeee ride on this tiny death-machine, I agreed to let him ride as long as he had a helmet & Joe was to supervise at all times.

He charged up the battery, bought Will a shiny red helmet and out they went to the alley.

My kid is a smaller version of Ricky Bobby. He likes to go fast.

Merry Christmas

2009-12-21T13:24:00.004-05:00

From our house to yours......

May your days be merry and bright.

Will is a BIG Phillies Fan

2009-10-30T13:27:00.003-05:00

He LOVES watching the games with me. He knows all the players!

Let's go PHILLIES!!

Like bringing a knife to a gun fight.

2009-07-09T10:30:00.007-05:00

My husband thought it would be funny to give the kids water pistols so that they could squirt Mommy. Yeah, 'cause I can't HEAR him outside telling them how to fill the guns, showing Will how to pull the trigger, and telling them to wait at the front of his truck for me to come around the side of the trailer so that they could "GET ME"!!!

The Ambush.

Return Fire.

COVER MEEEE!!!!!!

So like my kids. Bringing a water-pistol to a HOSE fight.

I Win.

They know me so well.....

2009-06-19T11:57:00.002-05:00

Tomorrow is my 44th birthday. Yay me.

The ladies that I work with know me too well. So far, I've received 3 bottles of my favorite wine, an apple crumb pie, and a bunch of gerbera daisies.

I love these people.

What Happens In Vegas.....

2009-06-03T11:11:00.003-05:00

Joe is jetting his way to "Sin-City" right now. His friend, Bob, has stage 3 liver cancer. He's done the chemo thing and he's scheduled for surgery on June 12th. Las Vegas with his buddies is on his "bucket-list".

Joe's not a gambler, so he has trips to the Hoover Dam (I've asked him to bring the kids a DAM rock & some Dam water), The Grand Canyon & maybe (if he can find the balls) Skydiving. Him & one of the other guys might drive to L.A. to see the Phils play the Dodgers. Personally, I think thats a silly idea. He can see the Phillies play here and get PAID for it while working in the dugout.

I hope they have a great time and that Bob can break the bank and LIVE to spend it all on his wife & son.

Have a Light Heart

2009-05-14T08:37:00.005-05:00

I'm a long-time stalk...ummmmm reader of Chookooloonks. Every Thursday she posts a gorgeous picture of something that reminds her of Love and invites her readers to do the same. I've always wanted to participate, but really? Who wants to see a picture of my kids every week?

The little rip in a lace panel on my kitchen curtain is transformed into a Heart of Light.

Hello Old Friend

2009-05-11T09:28:00.009-05:00

First beach pics of the year. I KNOW!! You guys are so excited, right?

Joe was working at the trailer. The toilet broke while we were opening up this year. Some little teensy-weensy metal thingy in the foot-flush pedal rusted out & when we turned on the water, it snapped. For 3 weeks, we had no running water in the bathroom at the trailer.

I am not cut out to be a pioneer woman. I really did not enjoy flushing with a bucket of water.

While he was busy with that, I took the kids to the beach.

Please enjoy the pics of my adorable children.

My children are a little bit INSANE! The water was 52 degrees on Saturday. They did not care. Mag's feet were so red & she said her toes felt "sharp". Must not have been too bad as she stayed in the surf, jumping waves and harassing the seagulls.

Being the bad mother that I am, I did NOT pack a change of clothes for Will. We were only supposed to stay for Saturday, but the weather was so nice, that we decided to stay until Sunday. They really didn't care that they were wet & full of sand.

They both cried when it was time to go back to the trailer for lunch & naps.

Nothing like a day at the beach to induce a 3 hour nap.

Easter Finery

2009-04-15T09:50:00.000-05:00

I don't know why the neighbors insist on letting their cats run loose.
Can't they see that it distracts my children when I'm trying to take their picture??

SPROOOIIINNNNGGGG

2009-03-20T10:51:00.002-05:00

Did you all hear that?

This morning on the way to school, I was telling Maggie, "In a minute or two, if you listen realllly hard, you'll hear it... SSPPROOOING!! Then it will be Spring."

When I dropped her off at school, she told me that she didn't hear it, but she could FEEEELLL it. She said that she felt "springy". The air felt warmer, the sky looked bluer, and the birds are singing!

Happy Spring everybody!

Army Day

2009-03-04T09:19:00.003-05:00

March Fourth.

March Forth.....Get it??

It's also my friend Trish's birthday. Happy Birthday Trish!

It was also my due-date for our lost babe.

I had forgotten about the significance of the day until I went to write the date on a folder here at work. I was in a pretty good mood until that hit me. I guess I will always feel this way about today. A little sad, but then I get glad again because now there's William.

Chocolate Donut loving Will.

How can I look at that face and want anything else??

My little pervert

2009-02-26T14:13:00.002-05:00

When the kids were born, we opened 529 plans for them.

If Maggie wants to go to college, we should have her education paid for by the year 2022.

With Will, we joke about not saving for college, but his first bail payment.

Yesterday, I went to pick him up at daycare & Miss Amanda pulls me aside & says, "Oh. wait til you hear what William said to me today." Miss Amanda is maybe 24 years old, stands at around 5'4" and weighs maybe maybe 98 lbs. She's really cute & always in a good mood.

Amanda was straightening up the puzzles and was slightly bent at the waist since the shelves are at "kid-height". William comes up behind her, pokes her in the rear-end and says, "you have a cute butt." She laughed, thinking maybe she heard him wrong and asked him "What did you say?" He laughs back at her & says "You have a cute butt."

She thought it was funny, but I guess I have to stop grabbing his adorable little butt cheeks after bath time and telling him that he has a cute butt.

Icky

2009-02-13T13:17:00.003-05:00

I'm so sick. I started feeling a little squinky yesterday afternoon. FREEZING cold, lightheaded, coughing, did I mention COLD? Seriously, I could NOT get warm. I spent most of yesterday afternoon, huddled in my "work-sweater" bitching about how cold I was.

So last night I ordered hot wings for Joe & chicken fingers for the kids. After I cut the kids meat, I took a shot of Nyquil and went to bed. I went upstairs at 8:00, put on a thermal t-shirt, sweatpants, fuzzy socks, 6 layers of blankets, turned on Survivor, watched the 1st 15 minutes of it, turned the t.v. off, and slept until 5:45 this morning. You know what? I don't feel better today. I keep getting this weird electric-crampy-shooting-stabby pain in my temples. Maybe it's a tumor. (It's NOT a tumor!!) my joints ache, even my skin hurts. Is this the flu? I've never had the flu. I'm not puking, no diarrhea, my glands don't feel swollen, but every time I eat something, the back of my jaws gets that strange, "I just bit something sour" feeling. I'm eating blueberry Jello right now, doesn't get much more "not-sour" than that.

We were supposed to go to the Scottish-Irish Music Festival and Fair tonight at Valley Forge Convention Center tonight (Fish & Chips!!!) but I don't think I'm going to make it. Joe may still take Maggie, but I think Will & I are going to be homebodies.

I feel so crappy that I just might bug out of work early today.

Little Miss Manners

2009-01-20T10:08:00.003-05:00

So tell me, O wise Internets. What is your take on this issue?

I am the chief cook & bottle washer in the house. I get home from work around 5:15. I start making dinner pretty much as soon as I walk in. Usually one or both kids are "helping" me in the kitchen. Will's job is making sure that everyone has at the very least 6 spoons and 4 forks at your place setting. Maggie is busy licking(haha, gross; I know!) & then putting ice cubes in Joe's glass for his soda. While I am plating the dinner, and Maggie is setting the plates at the table, Will announces that it is time to,"EAT, EAT DINNA!!!" At this proclamation, the 3 non-cooking people seat themselves. I am usually still in the kitchen, turning off burners/oven, getting drinks for the kids, grabbing napkins, putting away the extra 30 pieces of silverware etc.etc...

By the time that I sit down at the table, they are already digging into/halfway through their dinner. Isn't it proper etiquette to wait until everyone is seated before eating? Don't even get me started on the whole saying Grace before meals thing. I pretty much give thanks while I'm serving so that the little barbarians don't have to wait another 45 seconds to bow their heads and give thanks.

I really don't like to serve dinner "family-style" and just put everything out in bowls & serving platters to just "help yourselves" as:

#1 the table isn't really big enough for that (I could put the leaf in, but I don't want to)
#2 that's just more dishes for me to have to wash (by hand, mind you) later that evening.
#3 I have found that if I leave the whole roast/meatloaf/chicken/meatballs whatever
on the table, Joe takes it as a personal challenge to see if he can eat the entire thing.

There have been many a night when I finally sit at the table to start my (now only slightly warm) meal when everyone else is just finishing. I still try make them wait to leave the table until everyone is finished, but usually, I just let them be excused to go play or whatever.

So, Interwebs, am I just being overly sensitive and feeling more like Alice, than Mommy or do I have a legitimate gripe here? Any and all suggestions /validations will be appreciated.

Resolutions Schmesolutions

2009-01-05T13:40:00.002-05:00

I don't "do" resolutions. Every year I tell myself that I am simply going to try to be a better person. A more attentive wife, a more patient mother, a harder, more productive worker. I will try to be more fiscally responsible.

This would be easy to do if I didn't have a husband, kids, a job and like to buy stuff.

Joe has been working double shifts since Friday. I spent the ENTIRE weekend by.myself. with.the.kids. Dear God, I need a hug.

It's Official

2008-12-09T10:08:00.004-05:00

I finally started Christmas shopping.

Yesterday on my lunch break, I went to W*lmart and bought Joe a massage w/heat pad thingy. This gift is actually for both of us in a way. Now Joe gets to have his achy, sore, tired back muscles massaged and I DON'T HAVE TO DO IT!! Yay me!

The Av0n order came in so Maggie will have Disney Princess lip balm in her stocking.

So far, that's it. HAHA. I can never seem to get into the swing of Christmas shopping until the last minute.

On another note, I think I have found my next new car. A friend of Joe's knows this lady

who wants someone to take over the balance of her loan. The car in question is a 2007 Chevy Equinox. Thom (Joe's friend) brought the car over last night so that I could test drive it for a few days. Guys, this car is gorgeous! It's big enough so that there is plenty of room for the kids & all their stuff, but it's not as big as my old Explorer. I love being able to see the whole road instead of feeling like I'm sitting in a ditch like in the Sebring. Anyone have $14K laying around that they don't need right away?

The stuff of dreams

2008-11-25T09:09:00.003-05:00

I had a dream last night that I was palling around with another blogger. A pretty famous one at that. We were in some building (I think it was my junior high) and we were hurrying down the back stairs because we were late for class. We had been in the girls bathroom fixing each others makeup and teasing our hair.

I have no idea who this famous blogger was. It wasn't DD, Dooce, Finslippy, Julie, DaMomma, or Julia. I don't think any of those listed above even read my blog (other than DD)

Was it YOU?? If so, please let me know if we made it to Earth Sciences on time.

T.G.I.M.

2008-11-17T11:04:00.002-05:00

I'm so glad to be back at work. No, really.

We were all sick this weekend. Will was sent home from daycare on Thursday. He vomited once there, but not again all night, so he went back on Friday and was fine.

Friday night, Joe was working, so the kids & I had a little piece of ham steak and noodles. I had a glass of wine around 9ish and went to bed at 10ish. At 12:45 I woke with that, "OH NO!! I GOTTA GO!!" feeling and sure enough, the runs. ewwwww. I go back to bed & wake at 2:something feeling all oogey in the tummy. yep. I'm sick. get up a couple more times in the night.

Saturday Joe comes home from work with a queasy stomach. He goes to bed a t 6pm. I hear him in the bathroom around 7:30.
I get Maggie ready for bed at 8:00. As I'm helping her with the footies, she says, "I think I'm gonna puke Mom." She tears down the hallway trailing her snowboarding penguin footie pjs behind her. "HOLD MY HAIR!!!" she yells. I drag my sorry ass into the bathroom with a scrunchie & tie her hair up for her. While she's barfing, I run the cold water in the sink & get a washcloth to put on her forehead. She's a little trooper. She does what needs to be done & straightens back up, grabs a tissue, wipes her eyes & blows her nose (she cries too when she gets sick) turns to me & says, "ok I'm done." I wipe her face with the cool washcloth & give her a little cup of tepid water to rinse her mouth. She gargles a few times and spits. I pull her jammies up & zip her in. We walk back to her room, I'm rubbing her back as we go. She crawls into bed, grabs Roger-Belle (her stuffed tiger) and curls up. I put her Princess trashcan next to her bed & tell her that if she needs to be sick later in the night and doesn't think she can make it to the bathroom, just use this. I'll hear you & come to you. I kiss her little clammy forehead and shuffle back to my bed. Sure enough, four hours later I hear her being sick. After she's done, we head to the bathroom to clean up and I tuck her back in. While I'm heading back to my room, Joe comes out and rushes to the bathroom. Oh, god will it never end??

I woke Sunday morning to a clear blue sky and sun pouring into my room, a new day has dawned. May it be puke free. Sure enough, the sickfest has ended. We're all too weak to do much, but we *did* manage to go to Target & spend $140 on a bunch of clothes for Maggie a few tshirts for Will and some stuff for Joe's birthday (which is today). I also managed to go food shopping & late last night, I baked cupcakes for Joe's 46th. Wow. He's old.
Tonight, we'll order hot wings & get some beer (Favorite-dinner-for-the-birthday-person-tradition) open presents & eat cupcakes. Hopefully, no one will puke.

It's a major award!!

2008-11-11T11:43:00.003-05:00

So yeah, I've been tagged. Sorry, Kate, that it's taken me so long to get around to doing this. I think you're pretty great, too.

There a couple of rules that go with the award.

Here they are: 1) Answer the following questions with one word.

2) Pass these awards on to blogs you love!

1. Where is your cell phone? Purse

2. Where is your significant other? Home??

3. Your hair color? Brownish-blondish blah

4. Your mother? Awesome

5. Your father? Heaven,butAwesomewhilehewashere

6. Your favorite thing? Kids

7. Your dream last night? Work-related

8. Your dream/goal? Financial Freedom

9. The room you're in? Work

10. Your hobby? Reading

11. Your fear? Disease

12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? Beach

13. Where were you last night? Home

14. What you're not? Self-Confident

15. One of your wish-list items? Kickassshoes

16. Where you grew up? Pennsylvania

17. The last thing you did? Had snack

18. What are you wearing? Khakis/sweater

19. Your TV? Usually tuned to Nickelodeon

20. Your pets? none!!!

21. Your computer? PC

22. Your mood? Peaceful

23. Missing someone? yes

24. Your car? Convertible

25. Something you're not wearing? kickassshoes

26. Favorite store? Macy's

27. Your summer? BEACH

28. Love someone? Lots of someones

29. Your favorite color? Yellow

30. When is the last time you laughed? this morning

31. Last time you cried? Sunday

Now I'm supposed to tag more people, but being the rebel that I am, I'm not going to .

If you want to do this, feel free. If not, that's ok too.

One down, 19 to go

2008-11-07T09:33:00.006-05:00

Guess what happened to Maggie last night??

Give up? She lost her first tooth! Well, she didn't lose it, we know where it is. In a little glass jar to keep forever and ever.

At her last dentist appointment, Dr. C told me that her bottom front teeth were both loose and he expected them to be out within 2-3 weeks. That was Oct 13th. He's pretty good huh?

She cried a little while we were wiggling it & trying to get it out, but once it popped free, she was ecstatic! Really. Jumping up & down, cheering, showing Will her teeny-tiny little tooth.

After we carefully wrapped it up in a tissue and put it under her pillow, she went to sleep & I headed for the internet. I found a website that had free, customizable letters from the Tooth Fairy. I printed one out, taped a crisp $1 bill to the letter & swapped it out for the tooth.

She's growing up so fast. It's scary.

NOT A POLITICAL POST

2008-11-04T16:07:00.004-05:00

Superman wants you to vote

So does Ariel

Happy Election Day

Bloody mess

2008-10-24T09:32:00.002-05:00

Will has a cold. The air in my house is dry. This is the perfect combination for middle of the night nosebleeds. He woke up at, oohhhh, around 5:07 this morning, whining pathetically, "Mbammmmba, Mbammmmba, hmmmmwaaah" He stumbled into our room clutching his blankie, and climbed into bed with me. I elbowed Joe & told him to get up & go to work, then promptly fell back to sleep. When my alarm went off at 5:45, I took a shower, made the coffee, got dressed, did my face & hair. I dragged Maggie out of bed, got her morning grooming finished, sent her downstairs for breakfast, went into my room to get Will up & found a crime scene on my pillows. Poor widdle kiddo. As I was cleaning the gore & bloody, crusty boogers from his face, it started again. I took him into his room to get dressed and his pillow and comforter was a mess too. Gah. I stripped the bed linens & sprayed them with Holler or Shout or whatever that stuff is called. Threw them in the washer. I'll have to go home at lunch today & see if I have to run them through another cycle.

On a side note, Joe was picking Maggie up at school yesterday afternoon and overheard a few Moms talking about trick-or-treat. Apparently, in our new town, they trick-or-treat on Mischief night. WTF?? Halloween is FRIDAY people! Being my usual distrusting self, I called boro hall this morning to ask if this were true. The secretary told me that there was a flyer being put in everyone mailbox today outlining the time frame(??!) for trick-or-treating on THURSDAY.

Does anyone else out there live where the boro rearranges holidays for no apparent reason?
I simply cannot think of a reason for this. Joe is a police officer & he doesn't understand it either. The town he works in has a extra officers on duty on for Mischief night & a full force on for Halloween night. They also have a few guys at the fire house to help with the checking of candy. Hopefully, the flyer will explain it.

Farewell to the Seashore

2008-10-14T10:08:00.013-05:00

Last weekend, we started closing the trailer for the winter. I snapped these pics from the promenade.

This past Friday, the kids and I closed the "beachhouse". All the linens were packed & brought home, the plants were brought home, the beach toys were cleaned off & stored under the trailer, the bikes were put away, deck chairs stacked, covered & stored.

We spent the morning cleaning the counters, mopping, vacuuming, cleaning the windows. Not much fun.

Before we made our way back home, we stopped at the beach to say our goodbyes.

Will was not happy. He kept telling me, "No, Mama, no say bye-bye to da oh-chin"

He's crying in this shot.

Maggie is used to this little tradition of ours. It's a sad day, yes, but she knows that in a mere 169 days we can come back & re-open the trailer.

After wishing the beach a Happy Winter, we got back in the car & drove home.

The drive home was highlighted by the trees starting to turn.

Yes, again, I am taking pictures while driving. In my defense, there was not another soul on the road with us at that particular time of day.

Joe & I will have to take at least one more trip down to winterize & roll up the awning, so by then the foliage should be gorgeous.

Fatty McButterPants

2008-10-13T09:43:00.003-05:00

I accidentally caught a glimpse of myself naked this weekend.

Holy shrimp, I've really let myself go. You would think that walking the beach, promenade, chasing a 2 year old around would be enough. Apparently not.

I wouldn't post pictures of the ugliness that is my thighs, but trust me. It's bad.

I had on size 10 jeans yesterday and the "sit-fat" was awful. The belly-fat roll was ohmygod disgusting! My hips/thighs/ass are gross.

I'll give you the numbers:

I am 5'6" tall.
I weigh 158.4 lbs
My measurements are: 38-30-40 My thighs are 21 inches around at the fattest part.
I do have a large frame, and I used to be very athletic. My shoulders are broad and my arms are really nice and toned. You wouldn't believe how good a workout picking up a 30 something lb toddler is!

Now, to be kind to myself, for the most part; I do look ok with clothes on. Except the Phillies t-shirt that Joe brought home for me the other day. He picked up Men's Medium & boy, do I look lumpy in it. I think I'll take it back & exchange it for a Large. So this is mainly a "toning" thing. I'm sure the cookies don't help, but I really just need to get up & move.

When I got pregnant with Will, I was 135 lbs. I was too thin. I think I had lost a bunch of weight after the miscarriage. Since I was so sad, I never felt like eating.

It's not even that I eat too much (well, maybe a little) it's WHAT I eat. The kids seem to think that you're supposed to have pasta with every meal. Elbow macaroni w/tomato sauce is a staple.
Chicken is always fried. Never baked/sauteed/stewed or roasted. There is a LOT of ground beef. Meatloaf (yuk) hamburgers, beef-a-roni(yuk), meatballs, stuffed peppers etc....

I'm the only one in the house who really enjoys salad. The kids will eat it if I put it on their plates, but they only like the cucumbers/tomatoes/carrots not so much the lettuce part of the salad so I generally don't make salads. The lettuce would go bad before we ate it.

When I make a meal that I don't particularly like (see Meatloaf/beef-a-roni) I will usually just eat whatever vegetable I make & some bread. Then at 8:30 after the kids go to bed & I'm sitting on the sofa either folding laundry or reading/watching t.v., I eat tortilla chips & salsa or a bag of the kids' lunch snacks.

I'm going to try to eat better. Today I had 1 piece of Cinnamon raisin toast, a bowl of Cheerios w/ banana slices for breakfast. Lunch is going to be a small chef salad from Wawa, and I didn't take anything out of the freezer for dinner, so that's up in the air right now. I didn't buy any junk food this weekend at the grocery store, so the 1 pound bag of pretzels that I bought for the kids will have to be hidden from me.

Anybody want to give me some diet tips or exercises that do NOT include jogging/running (I have a bad ankle, I can't run) I'd appreciate it. I think I might go stock up on some of those frozen diet dinners & I'll have that instead of the stuff I make for Joe. I hear the South Beach stuff isn't so bad.

Say, wanna join me in a little Internet competition? We could do our own version of "The Biggest Loser" Whoever loses the highest percentage of body weight wins a prize? Maybe a tin of cookies.

Dear God, Not again....

2008-09-23T16:53:00.002-05:00

Another Philadelphia Police Offer has been shot & killed.

What the hell is WRONG with people??

Call me old-fashioned but when a Police Officer stops your car, person, or catches you in the act of doing something you're not supposed to be doing, it is NOT ok to open fire on him.

Joe is a Police Officer. He joined to help people. To Protect and to Serve. He means that. He lives that. I hate seeing him in uniform with the mourning band over his shield. I've seen it 3 times already this year. It makes me worry more about his safety every single shift he works.
I would never ask him to stop being a cop. He's been on the force for 14 years now; it's in his blood. It's part of who is.

I don't usually ask this of you, internet, but could you please say a little prayer or think good thoughts for Officer Patrick McDonald and his family and friends?

Holy Matrimony, Batman!!

2008-09-19T07:44:00.003-05:00

Today is my anniversary. 16 years of wedded "bliss". My, how time flies.

To celebrate, at 4 PM today, we will be joining our very good friends Mike & Kellie at their wedding! Joe will be the best man. I get to do the 2nd reading. I wonder if we'll be able to get together & hold hands or something during the exchange of vows, so we can sort of renew our vows.

This promises to be a very Irish-themed wedding; Mike has a drum & fife group scheduled to play as they are leaving the church and at the reception. Should be pretty good time!

1st full week of Kindergarten

2008-09-15T11:43:00.002-05:00

ME: So, what did you do in school today?
MAGGIE: Played.
ME: Really? Well, did you learn anything?
MAGGIE: No. Just played. With Abigail, Erin & Jeanine.
ME: Hmm. So how do like Kindergarten so far?
MAGGIE: It's alright.

For this, I'm paying over 2K a year.

I was "Snack-Mom" on Friday. I sent in 4 bags of presliced apples & caramel dipping sauce. (I should have sent martinis as was the suggestion from PeevedMichelle) I put the shopping bag in her backpack, with strict instructions to give the bag to Ms. H. Guess who left the bag in her packpack all day? Yep. When I went to pick her up after school, I grabbed her bag from the hook & almost gave a little boy a concussion. Don't you think at snack time, Ms. H. would have asked Maggie what snack she had brought in for the class?

I hope they don't think I'm a deadbeat.

Saturday at the pool / my mini stroke

2008-08-18T09:51:00.004-05:00

The kids & I went to the trailer this weekend. Not anything new, we go every weekend.
This weekend, Maggie has "besided" (decided) that we will go to the pool first, go back to the trailer, have lunch, Will can nap & then go to the beach for late afternoon. After dinner, we could all go to the Promenade for the music. (I should have named her Julie)

After an hour or so of standing in the water, catching Will as he jumps off the side of the pool, talking Maggie through her strokes (She has had 3 different swim classes in the past 4 years, WHY can't she swim???) I decided that I was sufficiently pruned and that we should head back to the house. While I was trying to convince Will that he needed to put his shoes on, towelling off, and trying to stuff the towels/sunblock/swimmies into the pool bag, Maggie says she wants to take one more quick dip.

I was busy with Will and it didn't hit me until I heard the note of panic in her "MOMMY!!!"

She never put her swimmies back on. She went down the first 3 steps and pushed off the bottom step into the 4 foot deep water. As I spun around, heart in my throat, clutching the ladybug swimmies I had been attempting to stuff into the bag, I saw her little face under the water, blue eyes HUGE, she broke the surface of the water, and dog paddled back to the steps.

"Mommy, did you SEE me??!! I was SWIMMING! With NO swimmies!!"

Yes, Peach, I saw you swim. You forgot to put your swimmies on, huh? Were you scared?

"When I didn't feel all "poofy" in the water, I knowed I forgot to put them on , but then I bemembered to keep some air in me so I would float and I just keep kicking my feet. I knew I could do it. "

Next time, wait for me to be in the pool before you decide to swim without the swimmies on, OK?

"Sure Mom, I can't wait to tell Daddy that I swimmed without no swimmies on!"

Swam without swimmies, Peachie-pie.

"Huh?? Oh yeah, whatever"

Yessiree Bob.

2008-08-07T09:24:00.003-05:00

I love my husband.

Church talk

2008-08-04T08:43:00.002-05:00

Here's the scene:

Maggie, Will and myself are at 10:15 Mass. There is supposed to be Sunday School for Will, but the woman who usually handles the little ones is on vacation, so no Sunday School. SIGH. Will is NOT good at Mass. He lays on the pew, jumps on the kneeler, touches people in front/back of us, (sorry about that, ma'am) shouts at the statues, pulls Maggies hair, etc....

As we're getting ready to head up to the alter so I can receive communion, Maggie loudly complains, "Mommy, it's not fair! I never get one of those Church Mints!!" The woman in front of us BURST OUT LAUGHING! Father actually paused in giving out the host to see what was so funny. I almost expected Sister Kate to ask her to share with the rest of class what was so funny.

It was a nice way to start the week.

Light reading?

2008-08-01T12:19:00.003-05:00

Will doesn't like it when I read while on the beach.

He had just finished bouncing on my back and wanted to go in the "oh-chin". I told him he would have to wait until I was finished reading before we could go splash around.

He didn't want to wait.

not dead

2008-07-08T13:19:00.006-05:00

Wow, almost a month has gone by since my last post.

Here's a few pictures of Maggie's week long 5th Birthdaypalooza.

I simply cannot believe that this kid is 5.

We spent some time on the beach....

She had a birthday party at Putt-Putt Mini Golf...

Had a special "Daddy-Daughter-Day" fishing trip...

And topped off the week with a trip to Dutch Wonderland where after being caught in a torrential downpour, she got to meet a REAL!LIVE!PRINCESS!!!

All in all, she had a pretty good week.

Now, what to do for Will's 2nd birthday? Any and all suggestions will be considered.

Heat Miser?

2008-06-10T10:53:00.002-05:00

Maybe it's just me (but I don't think so)
I can't stand it when I go to work wearing a seasonal-appropriate-sweater-set (A tank top shell & a short sleeve cardigan) and when I get to work I need to put on my long sleeved knit sweater because they have the thermostat set at 65 degrees.

My feet are freezing & I even have knee hi's & ballerina flats on. I don't know how the people who wear flip flops to work can stand it. I hate to be cold. ESPECIALLY in summer.

Back to the Beach

2008-06-06T13:34:00.004-05:00

Oh YEAH! We've got an awesome beach weather weekend coming up.

90 degrees, sunny all weekend. We'll be at the beach.

I'm not sure if the video will play, I almost peed my pants when I uploaded this to the pc at home. I forgot the camera records audio too.

See ya Monday, Hope you have a great weekend.

He's going to hate me

2008-05-21T15:24:00.003-05:00

I swear, I tried to NOT post these pics .....

If he needs therapy later in life, this will be why.

My Little Will Bundy

Alright, I cried a little......

2008-05-16T09:01:00.006-05:00

Yesterday Maggie graduated from pre-school. Holy crap. When did this happen?

This means that in September, my baby-girl will be in Kindergarten. This is going to require registration, uniforms, teaching her that you can't say "pickleshit" in Catholic school. Do they issue demerits to Kindergarteners?

She graduated first in her class. OK, our last name starts with an "A", so it's not like she's brilliant (even though she is). I bought her a bunch of flowers, took lots of pictures, and today I told her that as a special treat, she can choose where we have lunch(say Applebee's, say Friendly's...just don't say McD....) she chose McDonalds!!! And she wants to sit.inside.McDonalds.and.eat. We've never done that. I usually just hit the drivethru & eat at home. Since it's a special occasion, we'll eat in. at mcdonald's. Big fun huh?

Here are the 3 amigos. This group has been in the same class for the past 4 years.

Morgan, Maggie & Brett. BFF.

My Phillies fan

2008-05-12T12:20:00.003-05:00

Will loves his new "beeeess-a-ball" shirt & hat....

But, not as much as he loves his cars.

My kids are so kewel!

2008-04-28T12:34:00.003-05:00

Will has this thing for "sa-gassis" He will wear mine if I let him. I have caught him wearing Maggie's big, pink, Tinkerbell sunglasses.

I was in Kmart one day last week to pick up a birthday card & saw a 4 pack of kids sunglasses. One blue, green, gold & pink. Will got the blue & green ones, Mag got the gold & pink pairs.

He immediately tore the arm off the blue pair. A few days later, the green pair went out the window of the car. Maggie graciously (HAH!!) let him have her gold ones since she has 4 other pair of sunglasses.

He also loves his knit hat. Keep in mind that it was 85 degrees on Saturday.

Yes, Maggie is wearing a lei and a Phillies dog collar. See? Kewel, I tell ya.

to kill my husband or not

2008-04-23T12:45:00.003-05:00

I don't know if I should kill him or just hurt him a little.

Monday night, he was in pain from a cortisone shot in his foot (OUCH!!) so he took a Perc0cet before bed. Percs make Joe a little "goofy". He doesn't get sleepy, he just gets silly. While he's all Per'cd up, he likes to talk to me while I'm trying to go to sleep. Monday's night conversation was the differences between Barack & Hillary. After a slight difference of opinion, he started his next sentence like this:

Joe: "Let me explain this to you in a way that you can understand."
ME: :::THUMPATHUMPATHUMPATHUMPA::::: the sound of the blood pounding in my ears.
Joe: "WhanWhanWahnWah, WhanWhanWhanWha" (Like Charlie Brown's teacher)

I didn't hear anything after "In a way that you can understand"
After a few noncommital grunts and Uh-huh's from me, he let me go to sleep.

Now while I undertand that he didn't mean to imply that my IQ (134 in high school, if you want to know) was in question ,I was pissed off at him all day Tuesday.
While we were having dinner Tuesday night, I brought it up that he sort of offended me the night before. When I told him what he had said, he apologized profusely and told me that he doesn't remember saying it.

After we were finished eating, he said, "Lemme make it up to you. Don't worry about the dishes tonight."

I said, "Oh, THANK YOU!!" (We had fried chicken, veggies & mashed potatoes, so there were A LOT of dishes)

Joe says, "Yeah, No biggie, you can do them in the morning."

I think it is his gift of being able to ALWAYS make me laugh that saves his ass.

Songs about Puppies

2008-04-22T10:04:00.003-05:00

Normally, I listen to the all-news-station in the car. This morning, Maggie asked if we could have music. SURE! I say, there's probably nothing going on in the world today anyway.

I put on the Classic Rock Channel & Led Zepplin is just coming on. Maggie is sitting in her booster JAMMIN"!! Wearing her hot pink sunglasses & denim jacket giving me "Rock Fingers"

Maggie: I LIKE this song, Mommy. What's it called?
Me: This is called "Black Dog"
Maggie: Oooh! A song about the man's dog?
:::As I sing along with the opening verse:::

Hey, hey, mama, said the way you move,
gonna make you sweat, gonna make you groove.
Oh, oh, child, way you shake that thing,
gonna make you burn, gonna make you sting.
Hey, hey, baby, when you walk that way,
watch your honey drip, can't keep away.

ME: Ummmm, no honey, it's not about his dog.

I almost don't want to post this.....

2008-04-11T13:09:00.005-05:00

Ever feel... invisible?

Maybe it's me, but I'm not feelin' the love from Joe lately.

He gets home from work at 2:30 - 3:00 in the afternoon. When I'm done work at 5:00, I go pick up the kids, drive home, lug them & all their stuff into the house, take off/hang up jackets, supply snacks, make dinner, clean up after dinner, give baths, then put aforementioned kids to bed.

For the past few days, when I come home, he heads downstairs to work on the car or putter around in the workshop, or download some music/play on the computer. He comes up for dinner, then usually heads back down for another half hour or so. He'll come back up to watch some tv, play with the kids, then head to bed around 10ish. Couldn't he do that crap before I get home?

Last night, He went up a little after 10, I headed up around 11. When I walked past our door heading to the bathroom for my nightly ritual of peeing, hand washing, contact removal, make-up removal, face washing, teeth brushing & hair brushing, the tv was on & he was sitting on the side of the bed.

In the 5 minutes it took me to complete my pre-bed maintenance, the lights were off, the tv was off & he was lightly snoring. I think he was faking.

I don't think that there's anything going, I believe that he's faithful. (I'd kill him if I found out otherwise) I just think that maybe he's been working too hard.
Just sometimes, I feel like an afterthought with him. Like I'm the absolute last person he thinks of. There are days where he enthusiastically greets the kids when we come home, "Hi Mags!! I missed you ALLLL day today!! How was school? Hey there Willz!! What's going on big guy? Gimme some knuckles!!" To me, "hi. what's for dinner?"

I'm not asking for a friggin' marching band, but damn! A little affection would be nice.

Meaningless Drivel

2008-04-01T11:14:00.004-05:00

A few thoughts that are running around on the treadwheel in my head.:

I shut my right index finger in the truck door last Monday. First of all, how the hell did I do that?? I was standing on the sidewalk facing the car. I had put a box on the front passenger side seat. I shut the door with my right hand. How did my finger manage to get in there? Anyway.... the cut is pretty deep. It's right at the 1st knuckle so typing is difficult, writing is painful and that's usually the finger that Will holds when we're walking anywhere. It hurts.
I probably should have got a stitch or five. Now, I'm thinking that it's getting infected. The skin around the cut is raised and dry looking, but the tip of my finger and the area surrounding the cut is really warm to the touch. The swelling has gone down considerably. but it's still swollen.

The Powers That Be here at work have made the decision to move the accounting dept into a teeny-tiny little area of the Import dept. Have I mentioned before how much I HATE moving?
I think the P.T.B. should pack up all this paper & move it themselves.

My husband is driving me crazy. Not in a good way. Not only did he forget to pay the car insurance (yes. I am driving around with no insurance. GAH!) He also needed have his vehicle inspected by yesterday. Guess who didn't take care of that? Asshole.

I forgot my purse today.

2008-03-17T10:44:00.000-05:00

Didn't know the Easter bunny was Irish didya??

Waiting for someone to throw candy

LET ME OUTTA THIS STROLLER!!!!

Will's leprechaun hat.

St Patrick's Day 2008

2008-03-17T10:41:00.000-05:00

Maggie's Steppin'!

Will's DRINKING!!

The only way they'd look MORE Irish is if they had red hair!

Will had a GREAT time at the party

What's Next? Locust?

2008-03-10T15:25:00.003-05:00

How much more can this poor kid take?
In the past 2 months, Maggie has been healthy for about 3 weeks.

She started the year off with a wicked head cold. The kind where your face feels swollen? She said her eyes felt "big".
A few colds here & there; allergies acting up; that sort of thing.

Last week she had the flu. When I took her to the Dr's (after the 3rd straight day of 102 + temps) he agreed that she had flu. She got sick last Sunday. (The 1st) She did nothing but lie on the sofa all afternoon. Monday & Tuesday she stayed home with Joe. He would give Tylenol/Motrin and the fever would go down, but she was still very sick. She wouldn't eat, could only keep sips of water down. Nothing tasted good to her. She usually likes Gatorade, but she wanted nothing to do with it. She finally started coming around Friday. Saturday & Sunday she was back to her old self. She even helped me with the laundry & dusting.
Spent the better part of Sunday harassing Will. Sunday morning she even demanded "REAL pancakes, not the frozen kind", after seeing this kid refuse food for a whole week (she even turn down Jell-O!), I made her pancakes. REAL pancakes. Extra butter & syrup.

This morning she woke up with "ear-juice". While we were at the Dr's, he was looking at her ears & found a hard, chunk of wax that he could not get out with his little scooper-outer-thing. He told me to put a couple drops of mineral oil in her ears every other day & that would "melt" some of the wax. If I didn't see the wax plug come out in 7 - 10 days, she was to go back in. I was hoping (HA!!) it was just that. No such luck.

Daycare just called. She's running a 101.6 temp & complaining that her throat/ear/belly/head hurts. Joe just went to daycare & picked her up & said the gunk is flowing out of her ear. Eww.

Good News on a Sad day

2008-03-04T16:10:00.003-05:00

The good news??

My friend here at work had her ultrasound this morning. A BOY! They are so excited. They already have a girl. Delaney turns 2 in April.

My Internet friend had her ultrasound today. It's a....... BABY! Of the human variety. They are so excited. They already have a boy.

The sad news?

I just realized that today was my due date. 2 years ago. So.

Bittersweet, huh? Actually, not too bad.

I look at like this: If I DIDN'T have the miscarriage, I probably wouldn't have started blogging & got to meet & know all of you fine people.

Also, there would be no Will. I can't even imagine.

TAGGED! oh crap

2008-03-03T13:29:00.004-05:00

Thanks to DD for tagging me with this: <~that was my sarcastic voice... (I kind of hate MeMes), but since I love, love, LOVE DD, I'll do it.

The Rules:

1) Link to the person who tagged you.
2) Post the rules.
3) Share six non-important things / habits / quirks about yourself.
4) Tag at least three people.
5) Make sure the people you tagged KNOW you tagged them by commenting what you did.

1. Check.
2. Check.
3. You asked for it: I'm the most boring person on the face of the planet.

a. I listen to news radio CONSTANTLY in the car. It started when I was going to the beach house & needed to know the traffic situations. Even though they give Traffic-on-the-2's & Weather-on-the-8's I always seemed to miss them. We're usually too busy playing "I Spy" or "Guess the Animal".

b. I watch "Ghost-Hunters". It pisses me off EVERY episode because they NEVER "catch" anything. Just once, I'd like to see them get a full body apparitionof a ghost giving Grant the finger on camera or a really clear EVP. "Hi, My name is Frank. I am the ghost here, now get the hell out of my house!"

c. When I pluck my left eyebrow, it always makes me sneeze. Never the right side, just the left.

d. I majored in Culinary Arts in high school. I really enjoy prepping & cooking; I especially enjoy baking. I married a man who likes everything PLAIN. He would eat meat loaf every night if I would cook it for him. No spices, sauces or "fancy-schmancy" foods for him. SIGH. I miss real cooking.

e. I am "directionally challenged".

f. I have 7 siblings. 5 older brothers, one younger sister, one younger brother.

4. Tagging Christy, TCole and Kate

5. Check.

Mother Pus Bucket!

2008-03-01T16:07:00.003-05:00

What a way to start the weekend.

I was gently awakened from my peaceful slumber by Maggie poking me in the forehead saying, "Wake up sleepyhead!" I opened one eye & saw that it was 6:45. What 4 1/2 year old wakes up at 6:45 on a SATURDAY??! I roll out of bed, get dressed, feed the little so and so her breakfast. Go back upstairs, wake Will who has once again, peed through his Pamper & soaked the bedding. The bedding that I washed Friday afternoon & put on his bed last night! I should have taken that as an omen & gone back to bed.

I loaded the kids into the truck & drove to the bank. I HATE going to the bank. I had to cash my paycheck from the 2nd job. They do not offer direct deposit.
I took a second job cleaning offices. People, be nice to your cleaning crew. Please don't throw half empty cups of coffee in your wastebasket. Don't try to see if you can stuff that Overnight envelope into your trashcan; the liners, they are cheap. They rip. Most companies put a spare bag in your trash can (I do, anyway) use it.
Aaaannyway, we're at the bank. I park the truck, get the kids out, there is a pickup truck waiting to get out. I stand at the bumper of my truck & wave him on. There is a car parked (illegally) at the MAC machine. White truck goes around the car & smashes into the side of my truck, breaking a piece of trim & the tail light. No major damage right? Dude gets out of his truck, comes over & makes a big fuss about how sorry he is & makes all friendly with the kids. There is no need for the cops since no one was hurt & the damage is minimal. He writes down his name, address & phone # and gives me the name of his mechanic so I can take the truck there & he'll pay to have it fixed. Cool. Off we go. I go to the bank, go to Target, get back home & call Joe at work to tell him about the taillight.
Joe says, "Oh, give me his information, I'll call him & tell him that it's no big deal, we can get the taillight for about $20.00, I can fix it myself." I give him the info & He calls back telling me that some little old lady answered the phone & had never heard of David Stone (the name the guy gave me).
Since Joe is a cop, he logged into whatever system the cops use to track people down and ran the info that I gave him & there is no such address. Son of a Bitch!

At least I'm pretty sure the guy is local since he was at the bank branch. It's a stand alone branch so there was no other place of business he could have been there using. I didn't bother checking his license since I had the kids there & was in a hurry. What an ass I am. But, I'm an ass with a mile wide mean streak. I didn't get the guys plate #, but I DO remember what the truck looked like & I'm VERY good with remembering faces, so if I see this loser around again, you can be sure that I will get his name & CORRECT information and this $20.00 lens that he's trying to dick me out of will be MUCH more expensive.

Man, it sucks to be me lately. But hopefully, good times are rolling around again. It's only 1 more month til we can open the trailer, the Phillies are back on the field & daylight savings starts again on the 9th!

SNOW DAY!!!!

2008-02-22T07:49:00.003-05:00

Thankfully, It's Friday. My workload is usually very easy on Fridays. I spend good part of my day playing on the Internet anyway.

When we went to bed last night, they prognosticators were calling for 1 - 3 " of snow starting around 3 am. I had a good feeling that daycare would be closed.

Sure enough, when the alarm went off at 6, I got up, took a shower, made the coffee, turned on the news & there was the Daycare listed as "CLOSED". Whoo-Hoo! I let the kids sleep in. Of course Will was up at 7 anyway, Maggie is STILL asleep at 7:53 a.m. She'll wake up soon enough.

After some nice hot oatmeal, we'll put our snow pants & boots on & go outside to play in the snow for a bit.

Happy Friday everyone.

Two posts in one day! It's a freakin' lenten miracle

2008-02-08T16:47:00.000-05:00

Joe sent me this joke & I had to share.....

THE MIRACLE OF TOILET PAPER

Fresh from my shower, I stand in front of the mirror complaining to my husband that my breasts are too small.

Instead of characteristically telling me it's not so, he uncharacteristically comes up with a suggestion.

"If you want your breasts to grow, then every day take a piece of toilet paper and rub it between them for a few seconds".

Willing to try anything, I fetch a piece of toilet paper and stand in front of the mirror, rubbing it between my breasts.

"How long will this take?" I asked.

"They will grow larger over a period of years," my husband replies.

I stopped. "Do you really think rubbing a piece of toilet paper between my breasts every day will make my breasts larger over the years?"

Without missing a beat he says, "Worked for your butt, didn't it?"

He's still alive, and with a great deal of therapy, he may even walk again, although he will probably continue to take his meals through a straw.

Checkup

2008-02-08T14:30:00.000-05:00

Maggie: 4 years 8 months Height: 46.5 " Weight: 45 lbs 95th percentile
Doc says he would be surprised if she's not at least 5'8".

Will: 18 months 1 week Height: 33.5" Weight: 29 lbs (I swear he's

heavier than that!) 90th percentile.

Doc mutters: got a six-footer here....

This amazes me as neither Joe nor myself are "tall" I am the runt in my family at 5'6". Joe is about 5'9". We do have height in both families.
Both of my parents are tall. Dad was 6' & Mom says she's 5' 11", but I think she's 6". My brothers are HUGE & my sister is 5'8".
One of Joe's brothers is 6'2" (He has a 14 year old son who is 6'5"...at 14!! I would hate to have to feed that kid)

Docker's No Iron Twill? I think NOT.

2008-02-07T10:18:00.000-05:00

GAH!!! Moving SUCKS ass!

I can't find the iron & my slacks are a wrinkly mess.

I took them into the bathroom with me this morning hoping that the steam from the shower would help. Yeah, not so much. I hate wrinkled stuff.
My mom had bought my sister & me gauzy prairie skirts when we were kids & I refused to wear it because Mom wouldn't iron it for me.

Are you ready to RUMBLE?????

2008-01-28T14:22:00.000-05:00

Maggie is despondent!

We let her watch "The Royal Rumble" last night. Yes, we shelled out $38.95 to let our little girl watch ::ahem:: pro wrestling.

She has "written" 3 letters to Rey Mysterio telling him how she likes the way that he "rassles" and that she hopes that he comes to our town so that she can meet him.

She has left these letters in the mailbox and thinks that the postman came & took them for her.
Is it me or she a bit too young for a Crush?

Well, her little heart was beaten to the mat with a steel chair last night when Rey lost his match to Edge. We were all lying in our bed watching the match & she was cheering and pumping her little fist when Rey would do his acrobatic moves. At the end, she was practically in tears yelling at the t.v. for Rey to "KICK OUT!! GET UP!!"

We simply held her & let her know that even though Rey Msterio may have lost that particular match, there's a Friday Night Smackdown in a mere 5 days and Rey should be back to his high-flyin' 619'ing self and hey, Mommy's favorite (Batista) got tossed out of the ring in the Rumble.

Oh, God. We're lame.

Let's hear it for the BOY!!

2008-01-21T10:30:00.000-05:00

First off, let me just say, SURPRISE!!!

I am thrilled and honored to be invited to Julie’s Virtual baby shower.

We’re supposed to post little story/anecdote/tips about raising a boy-child. Since Julie IS a girl and has 2 daughters, there’s a little stress regarding the care & maintenance of a boy and his bits. Here are a few things you’ll need to know:

Yes. Boys and girls are different. In every way, shape and form. Not better or worse, just different. Maggie & Will are like night and day, with the exception that if you happen to lie on the floor, you become fair game. I was picking up the toys one night, and noticed a Polly Pocket shoe under the end table. I lay down on my belly to reach under the table & was immediately set upon by two screaming banshees. I guess it’s my own fault for letting them get hooked on WWE FRIDAY NIGHT SMACKDOWN, but DAMN! That Batista is Hott.

I, personally, have never been peed on by Will. Maggie has given me 2 golden showers. I guess when girls get out of the tub & the air is a little chilly…..the towel just isn’t enough to soak up the pee. He has, however, peed on the bathroom floor while we were waiting for the tub to fill. We have since adopted the “no-naked-baby-while-water-is-running-rule” in the house. Plus you can usually tell when a boy has to go. Yep, even the little guys get the “pee-pee hard-on”

Toys: Boys Toys are so much more fun than girls. Unless you really enjoy a cup of pretend tea & a plastic cookie on a teeny, tiiiny little chair.
Boys have the trucks, and the planes and the robots and balls. Oh! The balls! Will can barely run 10 feet without tripping over his big ol feet, but give him a ball and he will happily kick it all over the house.
A girl will grab a teddy bear & give it a big, squishy hug. A boy will grab a teddy bear & give it a good, hard, shake. Then a hug.
A girl will push a toy car back & forth saying, “broom, brrrrooom, Beep beep!” A boy will pick up the car, bang it on the glass top of your coffee table and yell at the top of his lungs. A girl will find a stick and stir her pretend soup with it. A boy will shoot you with it.

Clothes: Ok, the girls get this one. Boys clothing is just no fun to shop for. Sure, the first pair of jeans is sweet and they look so cute in their first little Hawaiian print shirt, but after that, meh.
Yes, you can find some funny t-shirts and really neat shoes, but for the most part, your boy is going to live in Osh*Kosh overalls and you will love the fact that yes, you *can* pick them up by the backs of the overalls.

BabyBits: I was a little leery with first few times changing Will. I actually had to call Joe in & ask him how far back to push the foreskin while cleaning his bits. Hey, I’ve never had foreskin to clean around, what do I know?

The Lovin’: Oh, the Lovin’. Will is a boy’s boy. He’s a rough & tumble kind of kid. If you ask for a kiss, nine times out of ten, he will say, “Neh”. But let him fall off of his trike, or Maggie knocks him over, and he will run to Mama and hold his arms up while standing on his tippy-toes. As soon as I scoop him up, the tears stop and he snuggles into my shoulder with his chubby little hands wrapped around the back of my neck, and he whispers, “Mama, awwww-aaaa-aaaww, yuv-ooo” and I just melt.

Congrats Julie, on the impending birth of the one guy who will love you his entire life, no questions asked.

I can hardly wait to “meet” him.

Welcome back?

2008-01-10T16:05:00.000-05:00

Well, Hi there! Yes it *has* been a while. What have I been up to, you ask?

There is so much to talk about, but none of it is anything I want to talk about.

Let me ‘splain. There is too much. Let me sum up. (in my best Inigo Montoya voice)

We are moving. Out of necessity, not desire. We didn’t find a bigger, better house, we had to find a smaller, cheaper house. NOT a happy time, very very stressful.

On Monday, my Mother-in-law had a heart attack. Early Tuesday morning, she had another (Thank God she was already in the hospital). I *Heart* my Mother in-law. No, really. She’s awesome! I wish she had taught her son to clean up after himself, but other than that, she’s a wonderful lady.

I’m so stressed out and I know I’m taking it out on the kids. Mostly Maggie as she’s the bigger of the two. I’ve yelled at her almost every day this week. This morning was the worst. We had come downstairs & I asked her to put her socks and shoes on while I packed the lunches. 20 minutes later, she is still barefoot. After I told her to PUT HER DAMNED SOX & SHOES ON, she finally tore herself away from morning cartoons and complied. While I was busy trying to wrangle Will into his coat, Maggie casually tells me that she “broke her coat”. My Mom got her a gorgeous Rothchild’s winter coat for Christmas. She was twisting the zipper pull and snapped the pull off the zipper thingy.

Look there, on the dining room floor. See that piece of straw? That’s the one.

I lost my ever-lovin’ mind. I was in her face, grabbed her by the front of her coat, SCREAMING, raw throat, face contorted, veins popping out, screaming how she is so irresponsible! That Me-Mom got her this beautiful coat & she broke it! She can’t have anything nice! She doesn’t take care of her toys, her room is always a mess, she can’t even follow simple instruction on putting!her!damn!shoes!on!!

Each one of these exclamation points was punctuated with a shake. Yep. I shook my kid. Not the violent shaken-baby-type-shake, but one of those point-making shakes. They’re not so bad, right? Every body does that, right? Don’t you? Oh. Please don’t call CYS on me, I don’t think I could take it.

Her big, gorgeous, blue eyes were wide with fear and then they welled up with tears. DUDE! There was fear in her eyes. I had scared her with my freaking out.
Needless to say, we were late this morning because I had to go back upstairs and fix my make-up after sitting on the dining room floor hugging and rocking my favorite little girl in the whole wide world and telling her over & over how sorry I was, how much I love her, that it wasn’t her fault, I know she didn’t do it on purpose, I’m the worst Mommy ever, I’ll see if I can fix the zipper thingy for her, etc.

I’m taking my frustration/stress/fear/anger that I should be accepting as my own and dealing with and I’m dropping them on her skinny little 4 year old shoulders. Yeah. I suck.

They're coming to take me away, ha ha

2007-12-05T11:22:00.000-05:00

Having a breakdown.
Be back soon.

on my soapbox

2007-11-27T09:08:00.000-05:00

I don't normally do this, but really?
What is wrong with the people in Hollywood - have they lost all their morals????

The Golden Compass" movie is set to premier on December 7, during the Christmas season, and will probably be heavily advertised. This movie is based on a the first book of a trilogy by atheist Philip Pullman. In the final book a boy and girl kill God so they can do as they please. Pullman left little doubt about his intentions when he said in a2003 interview that "My books are about killing God."
The movie is a watered down version of the first book and is designed to be very attractive in the hope unsuspecting parents will take their children to see the movie and that the children will want the books for Christmas. The movie has a well known cast, including Nicole Kidman,Kevin Bacon, and Sam Elliott. It will probably be advertised extensively, so it i s crucial that we get the word out to warn parents to avoid this movie. Please consider a boycott of the movie and the books. Also,pass this information along to everyone you know. This will help to educate parents, so that they will know the agenda of the movie.You can research this for yourself.

I thought you might find the following article from snopes.com interesting: http://www.snopes.com/politics/religion/compass.asp

(I read the snopes article and this is definitely worth passing around. It's very disturbing & I think it is well worth spreading.)Not tired of reading about the movie? Here's MORE DETAILS-

--The movie has been described as "atheism for kids" and is based on the first book of a trilogy entitled "His Dark Materials" that was written by Phillip Pullman. Pullman is a militant atheist and secular humanist who despises C. S.Lewis and the "Chronicles of Narnia". His motivation for writing this trilogy was specifically to counteract Lewis' symbolisms of Christ that are portrayed in the Narnia series.
Clearly, Pullman's main objective is to bash Christianity and promote atheism. Pullman left little doubt about his intentions when he said in a 2003 interview that "my books are about killing God." He has even stated that he wants t o"kill God in the minds of children". It has been said of Pullman that he is "the writer the atheists would be praying for, if atheists prayed."

Please pass this on to everyone you know! Families, (particularly children) are in great danger of this twisted mindset.

Conversations with Maggie

2007-11-19T13:42:00.000-05:00

All conversations took place over the weekend:

Maggie: HI! I’m four. I’ll be 5 in 7 months, then I can go to REAL school.
Man at Home Depot: Oh, that’s nice.
Maggie: What’s your name?
Man at Home Depot: My name is Frank. What’s yours?
Maggie: My name is Princess Buttercup.

Daddy: Hey, Mag-a-roni, tell Mommy what stores we went to this morning.
Maggie: We goed to Fashion-Wholesale-Liquid-taters, then WalMart, then Home Depot, then to then PET STORE!!!
Mommy: Oh, God. No.
Maggie: But Mommy, they had the CUTEST little guinea pig.
Mommy: Oh, God. No. Please.
Maggie: She was light brown, has a little pink nose, I will name her Buttercup.
Mommy: Oh, God. No. Please. Pretty please.

Daddy: Maggie, are you going to be a good girl at the restaurant and eat all of your dinner?
Maggie: Oh, yes, I will. Pinkie-promise.

Mommy: Mags, here’s your towel, lets get you out of the tub & get your jammies on.
Maggie: I was in the tub so long that my fingers are all wrinkledy.
Mommy: Yep, you are all wrinkledy.
Maggie: WOW! Now I’m so cold, I’m shimmering!
Mommy: You mean shivering?
Maggie: NO!! I’m shimmering! And my teeth are chatter-ding too!

Long lost friends

2007-11-13T10:18:00.000-05:00

Tina & I go waaayyyy back. To the cradle.

I first spoke to Tina on my 3rd day of Junior high. She was a friend of a friend. While we were talking, she had asked me what my birthday was. June 20th, I replied. "HEY!!She said, That's MY birthday too!" We thought that was neat. Later that day, I went home & was telling my Mom about this new girl I met at school, and how we had the same birthday. Mom asked me what her name was, when I told her, she laughed. She told me that her & Tina's mom were in the same room at the hospital. Tina & I were in the nursery together, our bassinets were right next to each other.

We went all through junior & senior high together. We lost touch after graduation. We both got married very young; hers lasted, mine didn't. She has 4 grown children, I started over at the ripe old age of 38. She lives upstate, not farm country, but very rural.

We recently "found" each other again through Classmates.com. We've been catching up via emails.

I got this in an email from her today.

God's way of saying, "Have a nice day!!"

I just got my 25th High School reunion notice in the mail today.

I hope she's going.

Sick AANND tired

2007-11-12T14:09:00.001-05:00

I guess it was to be expected.
I am sick.

I went to bed at 10:30-ish. Woke up at 11:22, 12:12, 1:42, 3:36, 4:54 and then the alarm went off at 6:00.

11:22 was Joe coming home from work.
I had called him & informed him that I was not feeling well & was going to turn in. I like to wait up for him when he works middle shift.
He said he would try not to wake me, but when he got into bed, he gently pat my hip & woke me.

12:12 Will. Decided that he couldn't sleep in his crib. Needed to sleep propped on my shoulder.
I took him back to my bed (shut up. I'm sick, I don't wanna sleep in the chair.)

1:42 Me. Pee & blow my nose.

3:36 Maggie. "Mommy, I had a bad dream, will you lay with me?"

4:54 Maggie squirming around so much that I woke up realized I was still in her bed. Shuffled to the bathroom, blew my nose & went back to my bed.

6:00 Alarm clock. Up and At'em.

Advil Cold & Sinus & strong coffee are my best friends today.

Halloween 2007

2007-11-01T15:39:00.000-05:00

I'm waiting for Joe to give me back my camera so I can download the pics, but here's what we have so far.

At daycare, Will was a lion & Mag was Stephanie from Lazytown.

For Trick-orTreating, Maggie was a princess riding a unicorn & Will was Superman.

Your Momma says "YOU UGLY"

2007-10-23T09:01:00.000-05:00

Not only do our professional sports teams suck, we're not as pretty as you either.

So, we're one of the fattest cities (Hey! If YOU had soft pretzels, tastykakes, Hershey's & cheesesteaks, you'd be fat too!)

Our teams SUUUCK! With the exception of the Flyers, but the season is early. There's still plenty of time to choke. The Phillies will always be my #1 team (Chase Utley is soooo cute!) good or bad, I watch & cheer on my beloved Phils.

The Crreeeeeper

2007-10-22T13:28:00.001-05:00

Mag sat for 30 minutes in the "time-out" chair last night.

She didn't take her usual nap in the car on the way home from the shore, so yeah, she was tired.
We had company for the football game and she was a tad over-stimulated.

A few of the infractions include:

∙She knows that she's not allowed to sit upside down on the sofa.
∙She knows that she can't knock Will over just because he's playing with her stuff.
∙She knows that she's not permitted to have a glass of orange soda in the living room (of course she spilled it).
∙She knows that it is NOT O.K. to punch your father in the mouth breaking his tooth & cutting his lip because he kept teasing her about the ghoul that scared her almost out of her pants on Friday night*.

The last incident was what put us over the edge. Duh! Ya think?
You see, Wednesday afternoon when I went to pick the kids up at daycare, Ms. Nicole told me that Mag had been in Time out and was not permitted to go to the park with the rest of her class for hitting Ms. Amy. Amy was trying to referee a disagreement between Maggie & other child over who's turn it was on the PC. When Amy gave the mouse to the other child, Maggie smacked her on the arm & yelled "NOT FAIR!!!" at her.

We had the "talk" with her about how we don't hit, hitting is not nice, etc.etc.etc...
Joe had her pinkie-promise that she would not hit anyone again.

Friday night, Maggie told me that she hit another girl in school. I didn't tell Joe because I really didn't feel like listening to him harangue on & on & on about how he's a policeman & he takes people to JAIL for hitting (Is that wrong or is it just me?)

I'm more of a sit you down, yell at you & get it over with disciplinarian while Joe is more of the humiliation & degradation school of thought.

I thought that the half hour in the chair was bad enough, but he just kept harping on her about how he can't believe that she would HIT!HER!DADDY! after they *just* had that talk about hitting. blahblahblah..... How it was o.k. if Will plays with her cell-phone & magic wand since she was in TIME OUT and couldn't play with any of her things anyway...Every time she as much as shifted her weight, he would bark at her to SIT UP STRAIGHT! SIT STILL!
All I wanted to do was take her upstairs, get her bathed & put into bed. She knows that what she did was wrong.

Once she was finally freed of the chair, she took a nice warm bath where there were Mommy hugs and gentle words all around. Freshly scrubbed & shampooed, she went downstairs in her pjs to have her nightly "snuggle & sniff" with Daddy. (He always smells her hair & tells her that she smells deee-licious). He refused. He actually turned her away and told her that he was still not very happy with her. Her little face just crumpled. I carried her back upstairs, (giving Joe the evil eye as I went past) and got her calmed down again. Poor little bunny.

I went back downstairs and ripped into him like I've never done before. I didn't stop his version of punishment in front of Maggie, united front and all that hoo-ha, but I let him know that I was not in agreement with his type of discipline. A child should never be told that they are bad. There are bad choices and bad actions, but I don't think you should ever tell your baby that they are bad.

When he was ready to go to bed I made sure that he stopped in her room & smelled her, and gave her a kiss goodnight. As soon as we walked into her room, she sat up in bed and with fresh tears in her eyes all sincerity said, "Oh, Daddy! I'm so sorry I was bad at you. Can we be best friends again? Please?"

Needless to say, they are as thick as thieves, like peas in a pod. Really, they are like THIS.

* - Friday night Joe decides that Will should NOT be a lion for Halloween (too cutesie, says he)
So, we trudge out looking for a Superman/Batman/Bob-the-builder/anythingbutacutelittlelion costume. We go to the local Kmart because I am not spending 20 bucks for a costume this kid will wear once. I've already spent $15 on material/pattern to make the frigging lion costume.
While we are in the Halloween aisle, there is a life size ghoul with glowing red eyes, who groans and moans when you walk past him. Not thinking, I pull the cart directly in front of this fellow and stop to look at candy bars. I'm hardly paying any attention to her because, well... candy bars. 3 Musketeers. Hershey bars, SNICKERS, Oh my.
A strange keening noise breaks through my reverie. Oh, that wailing? That would be my kid. She catches this thing out of the corner of her eye, does a classic scooby-doo double take and proceeds to freak right-the-hell-out. She damn near climbed out of the cart trying to put as much space as possible between her & that creeper! Her word. Creeper. But you have to say it like this.... Crrreeeeeeper with a sort of Vincent Price accent to it.
She was sitting in Joe's lap & he kept saying, "Crrreeeeper" she had turned to him and asked, "Daddy, will you please stop saying CRREEEEPER to me?" After the 2nd time, she turned and hit him with a right jab that on any other day would have made him proud.

He has a dentist appt on Wednesday to get his tooth fixed. I almost hope that the Dr. forgets to numb him up before he starts.

Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

2007-10-11T09:43:00.000-05:00

I need to make a few life changes.

I want to quit my job & find something else. Maybe a “middle-shift” job so that I can stay home with the kids during the day & Joe can be with them at night.
This would essentially save us over a thousand dollars a month in daycare costs.

I think that if I were home, the house would be kept neater, the laundry would get finished & put away, meals would be more nutritionally sound, and I would get to watch my kids grow up.

My current employer doesn’t have any shift-work, besides the fact that I really don’t like my boss very much anymore. I used to get along with her just fine. But after having the kids, she doesn’t seem to realize that they will ALWAYS come first in my life. Not work.
Lately she’s been so negative about EVERYTHING.
It’s getting to the point where I dread getting dressed & going to work on Wednesdays & Thursdays.

I don’t think I’d be disciplined enough to work from home. First, we don’t have a room that could be considered an “office”, just the computer desk on the front porch. Second, there would be 2 kids there asking for juice-boxes or Pee-Wee’s Playhouse on Demand every 15 minutes, or a trip to the playground so how much work could I possibly get done?? Third, I have no marketable skills. Sure, I’ve been in the Accounting field for almost 17 years, but I have no degree, just on-the-job-learning.
I can only type about 45 wpm, so I think medical transcription is out. (My sister does this from home & is very, very good at it.) SO… Wide World Webernets, know anyone who’s looking for an undereducated, hard working, quick learning, positive person to fill a position that would allow me to work from say… 3:30 to 11:00 pm?? Well if you do,
let me know.

not much to say

2007-09-26T15:24:00.000-05:00

Here are some of Joe's favorite pics of the year.

Irish Weekend

2007-09-21T10:31:00.000-05:00

You'd never know that my kids were also of German/Lithuanian/English* descent.......
This weekend is Irish-Fest in Wildwood, NJ.

We'll be there. Drinking Harp & Killian's Red, listening to Irish music, spending unreasonable amounts of money (that we REALLY can't afford) on Irish-themed t-shirts, sun-catchers, beads and food. Sounds like fun, no?

I can't really complain, Even though there is not a drop of Irish blood in me** I still LOVE anything Irish-themed. One of my dream destinations is the Emerald Isle and someday we WILL get there.

* Joe says that this is grounds for divorce.....When my Grandmother traced our family tree, she found that somewhere along the line, we are descendants of King William. Of Orange. Yes, THAT Orange.

** As a saving grace, Joe tells me that I am "Irish by Injection" or IBM (Irish-By-Marriage)

I've got my grumpypants on

2007-09-10T13:41:00.000-05:00

GAH! I'm feeling grumpy.

The last few weeks, I've been sort of miserable. I'm not happy with my life. My marriage, my job, even my kids. I've been moving on auto-pilot for about a month now. Get up, go to work, make dinner, go to bed, rinse, repeat.

I think I need a attitude adjustment. I'm trying everyday to think of only the positives.

I'm in excellent health.
We have 2 healthy, beautiful children.
I have a husband who makes me laugh.
We have a home that we love.
We are able to afford a weekend place at the beach.
I have a job.
I have a car that gets me where I need to go.

You know what works? Believe it or not, smiling. Yep. That's it. Yesterday, we were on our way home from the shore, and I had just finished snapping at Maggie for whining about a toy that she had dropped and now couldn't reach. After I apologized to her, I looked in the rearview mirror and saw her smile at me. I smiled back. I felt better. The tightness left my chest. I took a deep breath and felt some of the tension leave me.
Even now, as I sit here typing this, I'm smiling. Not a full-on pageant smile, more of a pleasant, relaxed Mona Lisa type smile. Give it a try. Yes, right now. Sit back a bit, take a deep breath and release. Now, give me a little smile. Feel that? Pretty neat huh?

Wow, Tony Robbins had better watch out.

I'm going to try be grateful for all the things that I do have instead of worrying about the things that I don't have and see if this breaks me out of my funk.

If this doesn't work, maybe I'll try a nice bottle of Merlot.
♥

What do you guys do when you're in a slump?

Why Post-it notes are NOT a good gift for a 4 year old

2007-08-20T12:10:00.000-05:00

Joe got these in a little pack for back-to-school, he bought it because it had a notebook with a butterfly thing on it (It's a dragonfly, but oh well).

She started off saying that she was going to give them to her friends at school.

I guess she really really loves the television set.

and the china cabinet

and the sideboard

and the light switch? Maybe the wallpaper?

and of course her baby brother.

Calls to Ireland

2007-08-19T15:09:00.000-05:00

Since some of you weren't aware of our house guest, I had started to reply in the comments, but got a little long winded. So, I'll make it another post.

Joe is a member of the Ancient Order of Hibernians (A.O.H.) It's an Irish-Catholic men's association. Every year, they sponsor a group of children who live in the Northern area of Ireland to come over on "holiday" during what is known as "The Marching Season". This season starts towards the end of June and runs through the month of July. While I don't think the religious friction between the Catholics and Protestants is as bad as it used to be, the A.O.H. still likes to get the children out of the way of any trouble that might arise.

We had wanted to host one of the kids, but since we both work during the day, we agreed to host one of the chaperons. Deborah is a really nice kid. Kid. She's 21. But to me, that's still a kid.

Aaannnyway.. we opened our home to her, told her that if she wanted to have some friends over to swim, that would be fine as long as she remembered that this is our home and she was to respect it. Me & the kids go down the shore every weekend and Joe works over the weekend. She was basically on her own over the weekends.

Even though we bought her one of those pre-paid Trac-Phones, we had told her that it was ok for her to use the house phone. I was thinking to order a pizza, call the other chaperons and host families to schedule some of the outings that they do on their holiday.

Apparently, towards the end of her visit she got a little homesick, and made 409 minutes worth of phone calls to Ireland. Most were kept under 5 minutes, but one was 75 minutes and the other long call was 69 minutes. My International Long Distance bill was $118.74.

Other than this, Deborah's visit with us was a great one. The kids absolutely adored her, she really liked the kids, she never asked us for anything. She was a gracious guest. The evening before she left for home, we had gone to Joe's parents for dinner & Deborah was invited too. She told us on the way back home, that we were the best family she had ever4 stayed with. Some of the other hosts she felt were a bit controlling. Made plans to drag her all Philadelphia and see the sights. Not that that's a bad thing, but the chaperons and the children already have an itinerary planned before they get here. Deb said that last year, her host family was a really upset that she couldn't go to Penn's Landing for the 4th of July fireworks show with them, but the group already had plans to take the children to a Phillie's game.

Since she's gone back home (7/27), Maggie asks me every Sunday on the way back from the shore if Deborah's going to be at the house to go swimming with her.

Deb brought the kids each a little teddy bear from Ireland, and Maggie has named hers Deborah-Bear.

Random

2007-08-17T15:26:00.000-05:00

A few things:

1.) Will's Dr's appointment went fine. There is still a mild dilation of the ureter, but nothing to worry about. He goes back in a year for follow-up.

2.) Got the phone bill today. $118.74 for calls to Ireland. DAYUM!! I told her she could use the phone, but I was thinking, to order a pizza; to check on the other kids; to schedule outings. Not to spend 409 minutes over the course of her month here. Would it be bad manners to drop her an email and ask her to "contribute" to the bill? Heck, we even bought one of those pre-paid phones with a couple hours worth of minutes on it for her to use while she was here. :::SIGH:::

3.) When is DD going to publish #500????

4.) Should I have a chicken quesadilla or pizza for dinner tonight?

Will's 1st haircut

2007-08-15T10:12:00.001-05:00

Oh gawd! The drama! The trauma!

Before

During

After

He looks so grown up now!

Oh! Elizabeth, It's the big one, I'm coming to join you honey!

2007-08-13T10:29:00.000-05:00

When we first bought our house, we had wall to wall carpet installed. It's a sort of dark teal-ish green, jade-ish color. Think Philadelphia Eagles Jersey color.

Then we were stupid enough to rescue a puppy from the street & make him our own. Benny decided to repay our kindness by peeing all over the living room. After Maggie was born and we caught Benny running around the house with her toys in his mouth, we decided to get rid of him. He wasn't very good with strangers, little kids and loud noises. He barked at the neighbors. I know that that is a dog's job. To bark at people. Usually when they knock on OUR door, but when the guy 5 houses up on the other side of the street decides to take his garbage out, I don't think that is a barkable offense.

There were big, ugly stains from me scrubbing and steam cleaning the same spots over & over. We went out & bought an area rug to cover the stains. I know, right? Brilliant.

Somewhere along the line, my husband has turned into Fred Sanford.
Back in February, a friend of ours bought a new dining room set. Mike gave us his. I hate it. The set we had was just a cheap table & chair set that we paid maybe 500 bucks for around 10 years ago. But this stuff? It looks like it was from the 70's. Oval table with big, clunky legs, captains chairs with spindles, the china cabinet is not too bad looking, but I hate the hardware & trim. I think it's supposed to look like bamboo. There is also a sideboard with the bambooesque trim.

The university where he works was replacing a carpet from one of the conference rooms. It's only 6 months old, but the new director doesn't "like it". Fred, errr I mean, Joe decides that it would look wonderful in our house. He's pulling up our old carpet right now & replacing it with the free stuff. It's not an ugly carpet per se. I just don't think it's suitable for my home.

It's a sort of a sage green color with darker green designs in it that Joe thinks look a bit like a Celtic knot. I just went home on my lunch break and he's got it halfway finished. I must admit, it doesn't look too bad. It's a bit "busy" for my taste, but you really won't see all that much of it once the furniture goes back in. I think the nap of it will be good with the kids. It's a high-end commercial grade berber, so they can still play rough on it without destroying it.

He recently signed up for Freecycle. Either tonight or tomorrow afternoon, we will be picking up a black, tubular Queen size bedframe. Our bed needs to be replaced. It creaks. The veneer is peeling away from the legs. Probably from me stubbing my toes on it.
He keeps telling me that he wants to build us a bed. He's sketched it out for my review & approval. It will be beautiful. Once he builds it.

Just once, I'd like to save up a wad of cash & go buy something brand new.

On a side note, Will has another appointment at A.I. Dupont hospital tomorrow to follow up with his kidney issue. Keep your fingers crossed please.

Checking In

2007-08-10T09:49:00.000-05:00

Hi Everybody!

I got a cyber-boot-to-the-head yesterday regarding my lack of posting. Although I regularly comment & email with my very 1st blogger friend, I didn't realize that I was neglecting to update you guys on whats going on in my life.

Basically my life is BOOORRRRRIINNNNNG right now. I get up, shower, get the kids up & ready for daycare, drop them off, go to work, pick them up, make dinner, do dishes, bath time, bedtime, rinse, and repeat. I've been living vicariously through your blogs....such a lot going on! Pending births, recently announced pregnancies, cycles to track and the everyday stories that I so enjoy.

So, my life huh? Could you really be that interested? I'm almost back to my pre-pregnancy weight. I can squeeze myself into my size 10 jeans, but I'm more comfy in the size 11 stretch jeans. I'm VERY VERY self conscious about how I look. I was always "the thin one" in my family. I'd like to keep it that way. We had a friend over to swim the other night. She is a rather large woman, and when she removed her cover-up, she was wearing a leopard print bikini. After a few minutes Joe sidled up to me and whispered, "See, you could wear a 2 piece." Ummm, no. Some people are more comfortable in their skin than I am. The last time I wore a 2 piece was on our honeymoon 14 years ago. Now, I *would* wear a tankini, if I had the balls to go out & find one. Maybe next year.

I just can't seem to find the time (or energy) to work out. If I decide to go for a walk in the evening, Maggie wants to come along. Not that this is a bad thing, but when I walk, I tend to go fast. Maggie strolls. Even that is too fast. What's slower than stroll?? Meander? She stops at the neighbors to say hello to the ceramic bunny & turtle in the garden. She stops & says hi to the dog 4 doors up. It takes almost a half hour to get to the top of the block.

We are finally getting around to finishing Will's room (yes, he's 1. FINISHING his room). Joe is real good out of the block, but he tends to leave things unfinished. He's a fabulous carpenter, he really is. He just sucks at follow-through. Not one set of bi-fold doors have knobs on them. I went out & bought decorator handles for the closet on the front porch, Maggie's room and Will's room. All are still in the little plastic baggies. I'm sure a few of you are rolling your eyes and thinking, "Why don't you just do it yourself?" Apparently, I am retarded. I tried to install the pull knobs on the kitchen drawers and screwed them up royally. Something about a counter-sink boring drill bit blah blah blah....I was "asked" not to touch his tools (haha sounded dirty didn't it?)

I haven't put curtains in the room since he was still "going to be working in there" and I don't want them to get ruined. I only have a pic of the shelves that Joe built. I'll have to get a few more shots of Will's room since Joe made all the trimwork. Window trim, baseboards, the chair rail & train cabinet are all handmade.

Other than working, housework, and childrearing, I have nothing to talk about.

So here are some recent pics of the kids.

A year?? Really?

2007-07-27T10:22:00.000-05:00

William at 1 day old

Ready for cake

Tasting the icing...............

Will sorta digs cake.

Holy smokes! He's 1.
We had cake & ice cream at Grandmom & Pop-Pop's house last night.

He woke up this morning at 5:52. 8 minutes before the alarm was set to go off...I brought him back to my bed hoping that he'd go back to sleep, but he was crying & rubbing his jaw......
His first molar broke through. Not a bad birthday gift, huh?

I think we might take him out for his first haircut tonight. I almost hate the idea of cutting his baby-hair. Even Joe thinks it looks cute all messy. When he gets hot, the ends get all curly. In certain light, he has a touch of strawberry-blonde. I'm afraid that if we cut it off, he'll have my crappy, fine, do-nothing hair.

I can't belive it's been a year already. He was born at 12:14 so, in a mere half hour, it will have been a year. Amazing. He's still not walking, but he does "cruise" along the furniture & we have seen him letting go. He'll stand there for a few seconds before he realizes it & then he either grabs on real fast or just sits down.

It's been a fun-filled, crazy year, Will. I can hardly to see what you have planned for the next year.

Do YOU think they look alike??

2007-07-24T15:37:00.000-05:00

Maggie age 10- ish months Will 11 months

I think Will has a leaner face than Maggie did at that age.

Misc Maggie photos

2007-07-24T12:45:00.000-05:00

This shot is from Saturday July 21st

Here she is wearing Daddy's Viking Helmet, making her "mean face". Try to ignore the
food smeared all over her face. Viking's DON'T use napkins!

This is Mag & Deborah. Deb is our house-guest from Ireland.
She goes home on Friday. We'll miss her.

Come Monday

2007-06-22T13:34:00.000-05:00

We'll be on vacation....

I love vacation, don't you?

We're heading to the shore for a few days. Monday is Maggie's birthday. I can't believe she's going to be 4! Time flies.

We're going to spend the day on the beach and take them to the boardwalk for the evening.

We'll probably go to the Cape May Zoo, maybe Storybook Land, and Maggie loves the Promenade at Sea Isle.

I should have a picture or 200 when we get back.

Ear suckage

2007-06-14T13:09:00.001-05:00

BOTH kids have ear infections. Yipee!

Will had his diagnosed last Friday. Daycare had called saying that he was running a low-grade fever and his right eye was a little “goopy”. They thought he had pinkeye.
Will’s eyes get all goopy when he has a cold, so I didn’t think it was pinkeye, or I wouldn’t have sent him to daycare. DUH!

He’s been on Augmentin since then & he seems to be fine.

Last night, Maggie kept complaining that she was FREEEEEZING. Then she sort of fell over when she stood up. Really. She just fell.over. She just looked at me like, “WTF??! What happened to the floor?” She asked me, “Did you SEE that??”
I feel bad about it now, because I laughed at her.
She didn’t sleep well at all, so that means that I didn’t sleep well because I had to lay with her and her bed is sooooo uncomfortable.

Joe just took her to the Dr & she’s on Augmentin too.

This is SO not funny,

2007-05-30T12:03:00.001-05:00

That it's actually kind of funny.

We came home from the shore on Monday afternoon so that we had some time to putter around the house, work on the pool, blah, blah, blah. While I was emptying the deck box to see how many new floats, noodles, swimmies, etc we were going to have to buy this year, I found a bright orange package. Not knowing what it was, I asked Joe if he knew. He replied in the negative & said, "Open it up & see."
I opened the packaging and lo & behold it's a Slip & Slide! Maggie got it from her Uncle Matt for her birthday last year. We've never even opened it because Maggie was not one to get her face wet. "Let's set it up & try it out", Joe suggests.

Maggie puts on her bathing suit and walks down the length of the slide....."No, No, No," Joe says, "Mag, you have to run & SSSLIIIDE on it. Watch."

He backs up, takes off running, hits the edge, dives into the slide part & breaks a rib.

He'll be out of work for at least 2 weeks, possibly longer. On one hand, this would be GREAT! He could work around the house, fix the tractor, cut the grass,work on the getting the pool opened, etc etc etc, but I think it's going to be more of him sitting around milking this injury.
I know a broken rib hurts like hell. I do have *some* compassion, even pity for his pain. But dammit, I do everything else around that house! I even take the garbage out & usually it's me dragging the trash cans back to the house. Now I'm even going to have to do the outside stuff! It's going to be a long next few weeks.

not a good song for me to hear today

2007-05-24T13:02:00.000-05:00

Today was my Dad's birthday. He would have been 72.

Sitting here at work (illegally) streaming my YahooRadio station & Luther Vandross' version of "Dance With My Father" comes on.
Even though I KNOW it's going to make me cry, I sit & sing along.

I miss you Daddy.

MeMe about ME

2007-05-15T13:47:00.000-05:00

MeMe about Me

RULES
• Use the the first letter of your name to answer each of the following.
• Answers must be REAL places, persons, things. . .NOTHING MADE UP!
• If you can't think of anything, skip it.
• Try to use different answers if the person before you had the same initial.
• DO NOT use your name for the boy/girl name question.• DO NOT use a search engine to look up answers!
• GO!

1. Your Name: Catherine

2. Famous singer/band: Celine Dion (Sorry, it's the 1st thing that popped in my head)

3. 4 letter word: Cuss

4. Street name: Carter Road

5. Color: Cyan

6. Gift/present: CASH

7. Vehicle: Cadillac Escalade

8. Things in a Souvenir Shop: Crappy t-shirt

9. Boy's Name: Calvin

10. Girl's Name: Cassandra

11. Movie Title: Cars

12. Drink: Corona

13. An Occupation: Cashier

14. Flower: Carnation

15. Celebrity: Cher

16. Magazine: Cosmo

17. U.S, City: Cooperstown, Ohio

18. Pro Sports Team: Cardinals

19. Fruit: Cherry

20. Reason for Being Late to Work: Car trouble

21. Something You Throw Away: Crusty stuff from the back of the fridge

22. Things You Shout: CRAP!!

23. Cartoon Character: Chuckie (from Rugrats)

OK..... your turn

Mother's Day 2007

2007-05-14T10:42:00.000-05:00

Well, the day started off good, but the ending kind of sucked……..

So, yesterday was Mother’s day. Both kids slept until 8:00am. Cool.
There was a pretty plant, cards & a box of pastries left on the dining room table. Cool.
Joe works on Sundays. Not cool.
But on the other hand, I get to spend the whole day just me & the kids. So, sort of cool.

We went food shopping, then wandered through Tar-jay ogling the bathing-suits & cute little summer outfits for Maggie. We got 1 bathing suit & 2 short-sets.

I ended up getting my Mom a pretty Jasmine scented candle with real jasmine flowers embedded in the wax, a toss pillow, cashmere (like) throw and new cozy, cozy slippers. Joe’s mom got new bath towels, bath mat, soap dispenser & wastebasket.

We headed over to the MIL’s first as she was serving sausage scaloppini, & spaghetti & meatballs. Lemme tell ya, Dot makes *the* best friggin’ scaloppini in the WORLD.
After we stuffed our faces, I mean....nibbled delicately on the scrumptious fare, we hung around for a while so Maggie could run around screaming at the top of her lungs with cousin Haley, then we said our goodbyes and went over to my Mom’s.

As soon as we walked in, I knew something was wrong. Only #1 of my 6 brothers was there, my sister wasn’t even there. I asked her where everyone else was & here’s the low-down:

Brother # 2 was coming over after his girlfriend was finished work. She’s a waitress and got stuck doing Mother’s Day dinner shift. BLAGH!

Brother # 3 & 4 live in Florida, so they were given a “pass” to miss Mother’s Day, they did call though.

My brother # 5 & his new wife were at her mother’s house as her father was just diagnosed with colon cancer. He found out the day before they were married. (April 14)
She is a staying as close as possible to him for now as they say his prognosis is “not good”.

My sister’s husband has just had a testicle removed. He was diagnosed with cancer last week, but didn’t want anyone to know. He’s still a bit too “tender” to drive for an hour to visit. Understandable.

My younger brother # 6 & his wife were spending the day at a B&B upstate. So, ok.

Then Mom informed me that she leaves for an Alaskan cruise on Tuesday; she’ll return on the 26th, Monday is Memorial Day, then on Tuesday the 29th, she will go into the hospital to have a hysterectomy as she was just diagnosed with uterine cancer. Her doctor has told her that she’s pretty sure the cancer was contained to just the uterus, but they’ll still do follow-up tests to make sure they get it all. Mom’s pretty ok with all this. She was saying that her uterus had served her well over the years, she got 8 great kids to grow in it & she’s done with it now anyway. I think she said that just so I would stop crying. She’s good like that.

Mom is healthy, and has a great outlook on life in general. She never frets or worries; rarely does she raise her voice. She kept telling me how she’s sure that she’ll be ok. We discussed the procedure; she was amazed at how they’re going to do this: Dr. will go in laproscopically, sever & tie off the ovaries, cut whatever holds all the stuff in there, then her uterus will be removed through her vagina. Is it just my fascination with all things surgical or is that really kind of neat? Less incisions, easier healing seems like a win-win to me. Well, if you can get past the hysterectomy part of it.

I’ve already decided that while Mom is off cruising, I will go to her house & get her bedroom ready for recuperation. I was in there yesterday & since she’s packing for her trip, there are clothes & shoes strewn all over. I’ll get her some pretty pillows, heating pads, trashy novels and set up her TV, make a few casseroles or easy to put together meals for her, set up a little table for a pitcher, snacks, crossword puzzle books etc…

GOD! This sucks!! I hate it when the people I love are sick!

Beach Day

2007-04-23T14:46:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was our first day back to the beach this year. How I've missed it.

Joe opened the trailer on April 1st, but I hadn't been down yet. With the temps soaring into the high 70's on Sunday, we got up around 7 am, packed up some stuff & went to the trailer.

Joe stained the deck and fiddled with the fuse-box while I scrubbed the floors and made the bed, unpacked the dishes & other wimmin-folk stuff. Once the deck was stained and all the stuff put away, we decided to go see the ocean. Maggie wanted to say "HI!! We missed you all winter long!"

Maggie greets the ocean with open arms....

She was so happy that she did a little dance in the sand...

Will was good to go. He could hardly wait to get into this new squishy stuff...

But it lost its appeal pretty fast.......

Mag says, "The ocean makes me happy, Mommy."

Will says, "Food makes me happy, Mommy."

Then we packed up the van and drove back home.

So, what did you do this weekend??

Child Labor

2007-04-23T14:33:00.000-05:00

Here is how I make my daughter earn her keep.

Hell, those rain boots alone cost 15 bucks. The very least she could do is help me scrub the patio furniture.

Karma is a bitch

2007-03-28T11:26:00.000-05:00

I called in sick to work today. I told my boss that I was up since 4 a.m. with diarrhea. Can't prove that I wasn't right????

In reality, I wanted to get the house cleaned. No kids, no husband underfoot to make a mess as soon as I finished something. Vacuum, dust, do the windows, go through the massive piles of toys, straighten the bedrooms, hang my spiffy new mirrors in the bedroom...you know, spring cleaning type stuff.

I dropped the kids at daycare & went home. Pulled out all the supplies that I would need. I had just put the Prince Greatest Hits Volume II in the player when the phone rang.
It was Miss Amy at daycare. Will had just filled his diaper (again) with diarrhea & had vomited all over himself. I had to go pick him up.

The moral of the story is:

Don't fuck with Karma. She's a bitch & will get you back EVERY time.

2 in one day!

2007-03-17T14:37:00.000-05:00

I found this particularly ironic...

The snow plows buried my car. I should have parked in the driveway, but I didn't think of it.

I just shovelled my car out of 3 or 4 inches of HEAVY, wet, slushy mess while listening to the Phillies play ball. The Phightin' Phils won 3-2 over the Yankees. C'MON already, Spring!!!

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY

2007-03-17T07:23:00.000-05:00

Our lil' leprechauns.

Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone!!

Mag's shirt reads I Like Irish Boys. She tells me that Daddy is an Irish boy, so is Will and Pop-Pop. Well, OK. I guess I like Irish boys too!

Busy Busy Busy

2007-03-09T16:20:00.000-05:00

Blogger tells me that this is my 100th post. YIPEE!! I've bored all 5 of you silly 100 times!

ANYwhooo, in regards to the title, I'm one busy lady lately! This coming weekend I have 2 functions on Saturday. The Ancient Order of Hibernians St. Patrick's Day Parade steps off at 10 am. Joe is in the AOH, so the kids & I will be required to go stand on the sidewalk and watch a bunch of people that we don't know walk by. (I'm not real big on parades) After the aforementioned parade, there is a KICKASS partay from 1 5 pm Food, drink, Irish music, face painting & a magician for the kiddies & a lady who makes stuff out of balloons (do they have official names??)
THEEENNN, at 5 o'clock is a "scrutiny" at church (????) Father W. who teaches my R.C.I.A. class is presiding over mass that day and has asked us if we could make it to the mass. "Uh, no, sorry, Father, I'll be tying one on right around then" probably wouldn't look good in the eyes of the church so of course I said, "Sure! I can be there." Never giving another thought about the par-tay or the kids or how I'm getting to church or what I'm wearing to church!!! AAAACCCKKKK!!

Next weekend, I have a wedding to go to. Very informal, justice-of-the-peace-type thing, but I still would like to wear a dress or a nice skirt.

Following this is my baptism on Holy Saturday. I need to find a white (!!) dress/nice skirt-sweater-outfit. I have been to 3 malls already and there is not 1 WHITE dress out there. I asked a saleslady for help last night in Macy's and she said, "A WHITE dress??? In MARCH???" So I got all cocky with her & said, "What the hell, I can buy a friggin BIKINI in March, why not a white dress??!!" Bitch. I hate Macy's.

My brothers' wedding is the weekend after the baptism. Need something to wear to that. Maybe the same outfit from the wedding..... THEN, eventually, we are going to have to have Will baptized. I'll wear the outfit from the weddings. If I ever find one.

Looks like I'll be out tonight again, looking for a white dress. I wonder if I went to a bridal store??? Would they carry something that's not too, too dressy, like for a casual wedding???
There's a thought. I also know where on is. And right across the street is an Annie-Sez.
OK. I have a PLAN!!!! Go pick up kids, run home, change Will, run BACK out to the shopping center, try David's Bridal, then if THAT fails, try Annie-Sez, if THAT fails, go to Borders and buy a bunch of books, then stop at the wine store & pick up a big ol bottle of Merlot.

Let sleeping kids lie

2007-02-24T11:25:00.000-05:00

This is what I woke up to today.

Both kids in our bed. Our.double.bed.

Of course, Maggie had to bring both of her own pillows and blankets. Will just wanted a cuddle.

No wonder my neck and shoulders are stiff today. Oh well, at least they kept me warm and it's not like I have to go to work today.

My Valentines

2007-02-15T13:20:00.000-05:00

Look Ma!! No Hands!!!

Maggie picked the outfit herself. Luckily (?) yesterday was a snow day, so she didn't get to wear this in public....

See the teeth??

Try to forget you can see the booger.

C-C-C-COLD!!

2007-02-09T14:20:00.000-05:00

MAN! IT"S COLD!!!!
Can I just tell ya how much I hate winter??!!
It makes me want to learn how to knit. Or crochet. My Grammy tried to teach us how to crochet when we were little. I remember how to make a foundation chain, but that's as far as it goes.
Joe even bought me a "Learn to crochet" kit for Christmas with Green, White and Orange yarn. He thinks I'm going to make him an Irish flag afghan. I tried it out for a little while, but the instructions are not the clearest. I'm much more of a "hands-on-learning" kind of girl.
I hear that JoAnne's fabrics is having a knitting class.....40 bucks though.... Anybody want to join with me???

Too early to start??

2007-02-05T15:11:00.000-05:00

So, how old should a child be before you allow them to gamble?

We went to my In-laws for a Superbowl Party yesterday.
My BIL ran a pool. A dime for 1 block. Someone threw Maggie a dollar. I still don't know who gave it to her. I was going to my in-laws house! I don't take cash with me! I throw some bottles, diapers, wipes, change of clothes in the diaper bag & go.... I rarely even bother to take my drivers' license.

Guess who won the 1st quarter pool? Maggie. 5 bucks! Whoo Hoo!!!!
When asked what she wanted to do with her winnings, she promply replied, "GUMMY WORMS!!"

Around 7:30, we packed up & went home. There were baths to be had, bags packed for school, laundry to be finished..... we got home in time to see Price (Super bad-ass-MF'er that he is! Gawd! I loves me some Prince!)

While Mag was just getting ready for the tub, the phone rang. I figured it was Joe since he was working and knew that I wanted to be home around that time. WRONG! It was my BIL....
Maggie won the halftime pool too! WHOO HOO PART DEUX!!
I asked her what she was going to do with her additional 5 dollars, she replies, "Ummmm, Gummy BEARS???"

I guess as long as she wins, 3 1/2 is a fine age to start.

SICK SICK SICK

2007-02-02T11:32:00.000-05:00

How much snot can 1 kid produce?
Do they EVER run out?

Poor Will. He's caught the cold that EVERY other infant in the daycare has.
Now, don't get me wrong, I lurve my daycare. These women love the children like their own.

But Tuesday afternoon, when I was picking the kids up, I was in the "Big Kid Room" gathering Mag's lunchbox, papers, and other detrius that seems to find its way into her cubby, I watched one of the bigger kids give Will a teething ring. OUT. OF. HIS. OWN. MOUTH. ewwwwwwwwwww. The teacher went right over & took it out of Will's mouth, but I guess the damage was done. As this kid turns around, he sneezes and I see what my BIL calls "a lipper". This is a nice stream of warm, germ-filled goo that spans the area from nostril to the lower lip.

I wanted to race home & boil Will.
I can't very well boil the boy, but I *did* give him the once over with Purell.
Didn't work. Poor little guy was snuffling all night. He could barely take his bottle this morning since he couldn't breathe through his nose. He fights me when he sees the aspirator coming at him. Even tissues, or a warm, wet, washcloth. He hates to get his face wiped. Such a boy.
I was able to get a half-dose of Little-C*lds medicine in him, so the congestion eased up enough for him. Looks like a nice, warm vapor-bath is in store for him tonight.