Friday, July 28, 2006

Woo Hoo!

We're leaving bright and early in the morning for a week of rest, relaxation and FUN! I'll catch up when we get back.

Posted @ 8:34 PM ~ 4 comments

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Thursday, July 27, 2006

Frustrated

Dear Internet,

Have you ever had a child who wanted to be in an extracurricular activity? Then when it was time to go, said child didn't want to go but had fun when she got there? So much fun that she talked about it, showed off everything she learned, and refused to stand still--until it was time to go again? Same song, second verse. "I don't want to go. It's boring. I'm tired, hot, sore (insert adjective here)." Then afterwards, "Look what we learned tonight. We got to do (fill in a plethora of activities here) at class. When do we order my leotard?"

What did you do with said child who drives you to distraction because she loves the class but doesn't want to go, especially when it interferes with her social life? Any helpful tips or ideas are beggingly requested.

Sincerely,

Frustrated Momma Who Is Paying Lots of Money For This Extracurricular Activity

Posted @ 3:05 PM ~ 1 comments

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 Vacation!

We're leaving for vacation on Saturday! I can't wait. We are headed to Branson, MO, a favorite of our family. We'll be getting a 3-Park Hopper Pass, so we'll be hitting Silver Dollar City, White Water, and Celebration City several times throughout the week. We're also taking our new camper, so this will be the first time that we've ever camped while there. My parents/siblings and I camped there repeatedly when I was younger, but it's a first for us.

I'm not an official Thursday Thirteen member, but because I am too tired to think properly today, I give you:

Thirteen Reasons I'm Glad I'm Going on Vacation
1. I will only have 2 children with me instead of 8, and they both belong to me.
2. No diapers! Hallelujah!
3. No biting, pinching, hitting, kicking or screaming. At least there better not be!
4. I don't have to get up at 6:15 to make The Hubster's lunch when I could have slept in until the very last minute.
5. I can stay up late and sleep in.
6. Time with my family without TV's, Gameboy's, computers (although I may sneak a trip to the library to check my email and leave a little blurb on my blog), or any other electronic devices.
7. Three theme parks for at least four days.
8. Time to relax and do nothing if I want.
9. Plenty of time to read.
10. Camping! Woo hoo!
11. No time schedule that we have to adhere to.
12. One definite and one other possible dinner with friends while we are there.
13. As many naps as I want, for as long as I want.
It can't get here fast enough.

Posted @ 10:08 AM ~ 1 comments

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Wednesday, July 26, 2006

Babysitter Nightmare

When I was pregnant with Karate Kid, I refused to believe that I would have to go back to work. In fact, I didn't start looking for child care until two weeks before my maternity leave was over! A friend of ours at church watched a little girl but I knew she wasn't wanting to keep doing child care anymore. Someone mentioned her watching K.K. while we were all standing around talking after church. I told them that she didn't want any more children and she said that she would take him, no problem.

No problem except that she was leaving and going to a weight loss center in another town and leaving my child with another lady from church without telling me. No problem except that she threw a huge fit when I asked for her social security number so I could file my taxes. Apparently she hadn't turned in any of her child care money EVER.

But the biggest issue with her was a HUGE problem. I was at work one day and got a call from her. Actually her son talked to the receptionist because she was too hysterical to talk. She was on the phone by the time I picked up. She asked if she could take Karate Kid to the doctor, but the rest was unintelligible because she was so worked up. I caught something about potpourri. I asked if I should come home then but she told me he was more scared than hurt.

After we hung up I started thinking. What about potpourri? Did he eat some? Did he pull a dish of it down and split his head open (my brother did that with an ash tray at our babysitter's house)? I was still pretty much in the dark, so I was waiting for her to call me back.

The next call from her was while she was at the doctor's office. Again with the babbling. She mentioned something about going back to the doctor's to have the bandage changed every day. That finally clued me in.

Me: So he cut his head?
Her: No. He got burned.
Nurse: Ohhh, Momma didn't know he was burned.
Me: I'll be right there!

I'm frantically driving and thinking. Where was he burned? How bad is it? It has to be bad because he has to have bandages changed. No matter what I thought, I wasn't prepared when I walked in the door. My baby, my 6-month-old baby, had his head and one arm completely wrapped in gauze. My heart stopped for a few seconds. It turns out that his babysitter had a large popcorn tin sitting in her living room floor, the ones that all the stores sell at Christmas. Apparently she saw nothing wrong with setting a simmering potpourri pot on top of the tin in the floor! With young children around. Karate Kid, who had just learned to crawl, had made his way over there and yanked on the cord, spilling the hot potpourri on his head, down his face, and onto his arm. It had just missed his eye. Everywhere that it hit him, he had second degree burns. That's when my anger began to boil.

Then the fun began. K.K. didn't like the bandages and spent most of his time pulling them off. We had to keep them covered to keep out any germs that could cause an infection. The Hubster was working nights at this time, so I called the babysitter to come over and help me. I figured if she could let him get burned, she could come help me bandage him up again. Even though he was so little, it took two people to get the job done--one to hold him down and one to wrap him up.

Amazingly, two weeks later you couldn't even see that he had been burned. For the next couple of years we tried to be very careful when he was out in the sun. Once that side of his face got really red again. I thought that we hadn't used enough sunscreen, so I kept slathering it on. It took a few days for me to realize that K.K.'s allergies were bothering him, causing him to have a runny nose. Instead of using a tissue, he was doing the typical swipe with the back of his hand. What I thought were remants of his burn was really chapped skin from wiping snot across his cheek over and over!

That was the biggest scare from Karate Kid. His sister, on the other hand...

Posted @ 7:15 AM ~ 0 comments

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Monday, July 24, 2006

A House with a View

Sorry I haven't posted in a few days. I have been completely swamped. So swamped that I stayed up all night Saturday night, fell into bed at 5:30 Sunday morning and was back up and at it at 8:45. Last night--this morning actually--it was 1:30 before I got to bed. I have one more day of this madness and then things should be back to normal. Sorry I haven't had time to read any blogs. I'll be checking in with you shortly.

In the meantime, let me leave you with one little tidbit. After 5 children and their parents had trooped into and out of the house this morning, I realized that there was a pantyliner in my driveway for all the world to see. And it wasn't wrapped up all nice and neat in its pink little package. Nice.

Posted @ 7:49 AM ~ 3 comments

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Friday, July 21, 2006

Foto Friday #2

Well, I decided to go ahead and swallow my pride and post the pictures of The Great Tanning Experiment. The ones of my arm didn't turn out right, so I had to go ahead and post my legs. I know. Sorry. And I figured that if I was embarrassing myself, my family should get in on the action too.



This is out of order. This is actually the after pic. Notice the festive stripe running the entire length of my thigh. Apparently not only can I not draw a straight line, I can't spray one either.









This is the before photo. I know, I know. The difference is startling. Actually, I think I need to apply it a couple of times to make a bigger difference in the before and after. That would be after I learn how not to spray circus tent stripes on myself.











Like father, like daughter. There is a good reason why The Hubster had the eye mask on, but it kind of ruins the fun when you put a valid reason behind it.















Drama Queen is forever grabbing my camera off the charger and snapping random pictures. I am always surprised by what I find when I transfer them to the computer.

This was after applying makeup that my sister had given to her (that my sister no longer used). Can you see the child behind those lips? Gah.



And I leave you with a snippet of conversation between Karate Kid and myself after I had called him over for a kiss and a hug.

Me: I do not want you to grow up!

K.K.: Why?

Me: I don't want you to leave. I'll be lonely without you.

K.K.: Well, Drama Queen won't get a good job, so she'll still be here with you.

Posted @ 9:54 AM ~ 2 comments

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Wednesday, July 19, 2006

The Results

Well, the new tanning product gets mixed reviews. The color wasn't that bad. Since I am so deathly pale, I have to make sure that I get things that don't take me from please-put-your-skin-away-you're-hurting-my-eyes to oh-my-gosh-you-look-like-you've-been-subjected-to-a-nuclear-reactor-experiment. The new stuff did a very good job with not being too drastic. In fact, my children didn't even realize I had applied anything until I pointed out a few, er, color striations.

I was going to post pictures until I saw how my legs really looked. There's something to be said for shaving your legs before you post pictures all over the internet for God and everybody to see. Suffice it to say that I need to work on my application skills. One thigh looks like the big top tent at the circus. Dark, light, dark, light. *cue calliope music* Oom pah pah, oom pah pah. Thankfully that portion of the experiment is mostly covered by my shorts.

My dilemma now: try it again and hope it evens out? Or try it again and make the dark stripes darker and the light stripes...lighter? Gah.

Posted @ 9:54 PM ~ 0 comments

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Tuesday, July 18, 2006

Tan-tastic

I understand that God had to make us all different colors. I really do. I just wish He could have seen fit to add just a little more pigmentation to my particular skin. Of all of the people in my family, extended and immediate, I am the whitest person around. Think fish-belly white. I'm scared to swim in the ocean for fear that a shark is going to mistake me for a nice big meal. I never know whether to be really still so they don't notice me or flail around to try to scare them away. Since I don't make it to the ocean very often, you would think that wouldn't be a problem. Ha! I saw a picture yesterday of an alligator gar caught in an Oklahoma lake that weighed 327 pounds. I would be a very tasty meal for one of those. I've heard that the fish are the biggest over by the dam because the water is so much deeper. I try to never, ever go near the dam while we are in the boat, but if I fall in while tubing I'm back to the question: be still or try to walk on water?

Since my siblings and even my own children always have a beautiful tan despite being slathered with sunscreen, I always feel obligated to try to do something with the pasty whiteness of myself. I've done some crazy things in the process. Before it became taboo to tan, I used to lay out and try to bake myself. I once actually went so far as to slather myself in Crisco to help produce the great tan that I heard would result. Helloooo? Crisco is for cooking, and that is exactly what happened. I would have made a perfect lobster dish.

Of course, I am a fair weather person. No matter how much I wanted a tan, I just could never lay out for more than 5 minutes if it was too hot out. It wasn't the accelerated heart rate, the shaking or the rivers of sweat running down that forced me to head inside. No, it was my feet. I absolutely cannot STAND to have hot, dry feet. It's a good thing I don't have any vital information to guard. All my captors would have to do is make sure my feet were hot and dry and I would cave in about 5 seconds flat.

When I finally wised up to the fact that my body takes to tanning about as well as my Southern Baptist ordained minister father takes to gambling, I had to explore other golden avenues. Since the world was realizing that tanning causes cancer about the same time I had my epiphany, I was saved by sunless tanner. Heh.

Do you remember the first sunless tanning lotions? The neon orange results that others could smell from five houses away? Good in theory. Thankfully they have progressed by leaps and bounds. Now we can have a more subtle tan and only the people in the houses on either side of us can smell it. I actually found a very good product that works very well and doesn't have the bad smell. But not only am I too cheap to buy it more than every few years, I am also incredibly lazy about actually applying the stuff. The solution to that was the new machines at tanning salons that sprayed the stuff on for me. Of course the inside of my lungs were also a beautiful golden bronze.

But I apparently will never lose my desire to have a healthy golden glow because the sunless tanners beckon to me as I pass by the sunscreen kiosk at my friendly neighborhood drug store. My dilemma of deciding to be blindingly white or to actually put forth the effort to try to apply the fake stuff in a "smooth, even layer" has possibly been solved. I am now the proud owner of a bottle of micro mist airbrush tanning product. Promises of an easy application, even in those hard-to-reach places, had my little heart tripping merrily along when I saw it, so I had to buy it.

As of right now I have been happily misted and am awaiting the promised two shades darker, even tan to appear in two to four hours. Stay tuned to find out how it turned out.

Posted @ 6:53 PM ~ 2 comments

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Monday, July 17, 2006

A Glimpse of My Future

Drama Queen is only 9-years-old, but her main goal in life is to be a teenager. The thought of hormones running amok in her little body is terrorizing to me. The in-the-fetal-position-in-the-corner-rocking-and-sucking-my-thumb kind of terror.

Case in point: She had a friend over this weekend to play. DQ walked into the room wearing a long-sleeve satin shirt. They were playing some game that I've since forgotten, but I remember she walked into the room and said (as she opened her shirt to reveal a T-shirt underneath rolled up to expose a good portion of her stomach) "We have to wear this shirt because our mom doesn't like us to show our bellies but we do it anyway."

At this point in time we only have two hard and fast rules for clothing: no bare bellies and no words plastered across her tail end. 'Cause those boys don't need any excuse for looking at a cute little body. She and the current population of boys that she knows may be too young for all of that now, but why get her used to dressing like that now only to tell her when puberty hits that it's off limits?

Not only will the clothing be an issue, but it will also be boys. Oh, the boys. My sweet child has been boy-crazy since she was 5! Her first crush was on a boy 5 years her senior. That same year we were headed to a water park, and she strutted out in her very modest and covering- lots-of-skin bikini/tankini and swim skirt (my one concession to showing no belly since it makes it so much easier to go to the bathroom). She struck a post, complete with hand on her hip, which was cocked to one side, and announced, "I'm going to find me a guy today. They'll like this swimsuit because my belly shows." After I regained consciousness, I asked her why she needed to find a guy. She declared that she needed someone to swim with her. I told her there would be plenty of girls who would love to play with her. Crisis averted.

Saturday Karate Kid had a friend over that DQ and I have never met, since they just joined the same Boy Scout troop. She knew he was coming but didn't know he was here yet. She went into K.K.'s room to tell him something and was surprised to see his friend. She came back into the room where I was and said, "Moooommmm, K.K.'s friend..." in a shaky voice. I asked her what about him several times but she couldn't ever get past, "He's..." I could practically see the hearts and birds circling above her head. I finally helped her out by saying, "He's cute, isn't he?" She sighed dreamily and said, "Yeeessssss."

I've said it once and I'll say it a thousand more times before we get her raised, we are in so much trouble. I think it will take lots of prayers and quite possibly lots of booze (on my part) to get her through puberty.

And, Keilani, Drama Queen seems to think that you and your girls should just jump on a plane and come visit us because she thinks it would fun to play with your oldest. I'm not sure how old she is, but I think DQ thinks she is close to her own age. If she wouldn't be such a bad influence on your little ones... *sigh*

Posted @ 9:21 AM ~ 8 comments

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Saturday, July 15, 2006

Tooting My Own Horn--And Also a Friend's

I posted my previous post today and then went to check my email. I was totally surprised to see that Kailani had nominated me for the Blog of the Day Award yesterday. And I won! Woo hoo! I even got a cool little button to put over there on the sidebar and everything. She's a sneaky one, that Kailani. She asked for my permission to use one of my blog entries for The Carnival of Daily Life that she hosts over at her site, so I was totally surprised to see that she had nominated me for this award.

I had a couple of reasons for starting this blog. First of all, it's kind of like an online diary for me to remember what has happened in my life. I can type way faster than I can write, so it seemed like the perfect idea. Secondly, I wanted to make some new cyber friends. In "real life" I am shy at first, and I worry about what I'll say. The internet gives me the additional time to think about what I'm going to say before I just blurt it out there. It's a great way for me to visit with new people without the nerves and sweating. 'Cause who likes to meet and shake hands with someone who looks like they're going through detox tremors?

Right now I have two loyal readers: my sister and Kailani. I know I can count on them to leave a comment and let me know that someone has been by. There are other people who meander by periodically and leave comments. I lap up every one of those comments like a little kitten lapping up a bowl of cream. Keep 'em coming, will ya?

I am going to go bask in the glow of my award right now. You, dear reader, need to head over to see both of my faithful readers. They both have great blogs that are very entertaining. And if you stop by to see me or are a regular lurker, please let me know you've been by. That'll give me just one more reason to purr.

Posted @ 10:59 AM ~ 5 comments

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 Contrasts

Good grief is it hot! It's 9:45 a.m. and the heat index is already 93 degrees (can somebody please tell me what the keystrokes are for the little degree symbol? I have to type the word out all the time.). We are under an excessive heat watch here, but the southern part of the state is under a warning. Good thing I've got a project that I have to do that keeps me indoors.

*edited to add* We now have a heat warning for our county too. I would imagine so since the heat index is 107. It's the humidity that really adds the punch.

Last night a group of girls from my former bunco group and I went out for dinner. We had a blast. We met for dinner at 7:00 at a little deli here in town and sat way in the back where we wouldn't bother anyone and they wouldn't bother us. I haven't seen some of them in months, so of course the conversations were long and full of laughter. I pulled out of the parking lot at 10:25. Karate Kid called three times asking when I was coming home. He just couldn't understand why we were there so long "just for dinner." I haven't felt that relaxed in a long time.

On the other end of the emotional spectrum, Karate Kid told me something very disturbing. Seems that when he was at his friend's birthday party/sleepover last weekend, the birthday boy made the comment: "I wish my life was already over. There's nothing worth living for." I just about came out of my skin when I heard that. This boy just turned 12! Karate Kid told me he couldn't tell if he was joking or not. I explained that those are the types you have to really watch. When they tell friends something like that, there's a good chance they will try to kill themselves. K.K. made the comment, "Why would he say that? He has everything he wants." That gave me a good opening into explaining that having everything you want doesn't make you happy.

The boy's mom is also Drama Queen's Girl Scout leader. They had an all day Brownie workshop yesterday, so I told her I needed to talk to her when she got home. She called and I told her what her son had said. She said that every once in awhile he'll make a comment like that. Her younger daughter has been seeing a counselor for other reasons, so she said she figured she better get him in there too.

Maybe I'm wrong, but to me it's one thing when you tell your parents that (hasn't every teenager said something to that effect when in the throes of a hormonal meltdown?), but to actually tell your friends that makes it seem so much more serious. And he hasn't even officially hit the teen years yet.

Posted @ 8:56 AM ~ 0 comments

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Friday, July 14, 2006

Clarification

For those of you who read my last post, I owe The Hubster an apology. I questioned him later about laughing as I told him my epic about the dentist. He wasn't laughing at me, it was an incredulous laugh because he couldn't believe what the dentist had done.

I'm sorry for all of you who took the day off so you could come do bodily harm to my husband. Maybe next time.

Posted @ 6:17 AM ~ 1 comments

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Thursday, July 13, 2006

Hell at the Dentist's Office (PG-13)

*I normally try not to use language on here that I wouldn't want my children to see in case they run across this. However, this story cannot be told without a few expletives.*

Today was my root canal. I'm an old pro at root canals, since this is my 5th one. Because of the pain I've been through, I was actually ready to go get it over with just so I could feel better.

My appointment was at 1:00. It is normally a 2 hour procedure. Normally. Today was anything but normal. After receiving the standard shots, I was also treated to 3 or 4 shots in the roof of my mouth. I was still okay with it because I told the dentist I would rather feel it then than later in the procedure.

Work commenced, we're drilling right along, and then we stop for an x-ray. When I say "we" stopped, I mean the dentist got up and left for 20 minutes and went to work on two more people. He did come check on me a couple of times, apologizing and telling me that he hadn't forgotten me. He came back to work on me some more and explained that he was the only one in the office today. He worked all of 5 minutes and then left to work on another patient. Back for 5, gone for another 10. After sitting there for 30 minutes with basically nothing being done to me, he finally came back and settled in to get down to business.

I don't know if you've ever had a root canal, but they have these little skewer/corkscrew things that they twist down into the root to remove it a little a time (I used to work for a dentist; you would think I would remember what those little torture devices are called.). That's all well and good until the Novacaine has worn off. I went from bopping right along, almost falling asleep, to dern near ripping the arm rests off the chair. "Are you feeling that?" No, buddy, I just like to fly up out of my chair periodically, just to keep you on your toes. Yes, I freakin' felt that!

Round 2 of shots with even more fun ones in the roof of my mouth. Basically we lathered, rinsed, repeated. More sitting around with my mouth pried open, swords sticking out of my tooth making it unable to close my mouth while the dentist works on other patients.

The third time he gets up to work on more patients ("I have three more patients to see and then I just have to fill up your teeth, put a temporary in, and you'll be done), I ask to sit up. 'Cause I didn't realize that the only way I had been able to swallow the fountain of saliva up to this point was because I was standing on my head. Just for kicks, try sitting with your mouth hanging open while you salivate excessively. Go ahead, I'll wait. Now try to swallow without closing your mouth. See that box of Kleenex over there? You're going to need about 15 of them to mop up all the spit that rushes out. You've seen those flooding stories on TV, the ones where the dam breaks and all hell breaks loose? Same song, second verse.

The dentist FINALLY comes back and gets back to work. Apparently he'd been gone long enough that the second round of shots is now wearing off. As he shoves paper points into my empty roots, the word "shit" is bouncing around in my brain like a pinball. I am unable to think of one other thing at this moment. Until they fire up the butane blowtorch. You think I'm kidding. I'm not.

Because I've got a rubber dam on my mouth, Dr. Genious doesn't realize that when I jump and say "Ow" it's because he just burned the shit out of my lip. What the hell was that? I am literally digging my fingernails into my hand, arm and anywhere else I can reach to keep from crying. Because how embarrassing would that be?

More paper points shoved into the dark crevices of my aching tooth, more bad words bouncing around in my brain. Actually, it was still the same one. Kind of like following the bouncing ball on the sing-along songs. Then comes the torch out of the pits of hell again. Now it's not actually the torch he's using on me, it's some instrument that has been heated by that stupid torch until it reaches 350,000 degrees. And he put the damn thing on my lip again! This time there was no stopping the tears. I had had ENOUGH. As they both turned away, the deluge started. I put my hand up to hide my eyes, but there's something about a quivering chin and torrent of tears running down my face and neck and into my hair that's hard to hide. And because I'm the good little people-pleaser that I am, I blubber about how I'm okay it's just been a long afternoon. 'Cause I've been there for 3½ hours at this point. But then I mentioned that that thing was HOT. He had no idea that he had burned me. He apologized, of course, and I spent the rest of the time apologizing for crying (cause I'm a don't-rock-the-boat kind of person) and praying that the floor would open up and swallow me.

When he finally finished the root canal from hell and took the rubber dam off, he could actually see that he had burned me. Because I have two. blisters. on. my. lip. The upside? The huge zit that I was complaining about as I looked in the mirror this morning just screams out "Look at me!" Nobody will ever notice the blisters as long as the zitmeister hangs around.

The kicker to it all? When I came home and told The Hubster everything that happened, he laughed. Could somebody please come kick his ass? I'm just too worn out to do it myself.

Posted @ 5:37 PM ~ 7 comments

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 A Must Read

For those of you who have, ahem, less than perfect mothers-in-law, do I have the site for you. Now you realize, of course, that I would never, ever lump myself into the above category. Because my MIL is perfect just the way she is. She has very perfectly told us that we are raising our children wrong, that we don't visit often enough, that my siblings are wasting their money, that I should have a different job, that we should move...need I say more? But again, not that I would ever, ever need to go to this site and read it, but for those of you less fortunate ones, clickety-click on over to M.I.L.D.E.W. (and make sure you read what those letters stand for).

And for those of you who asked about the silence the other day, it was amazingly just one of those unexpected quiet moments. No one was lighting matches, severing limbs or practicing cannibalism. They were all playing quietly and happily for that brief 30 seconds. And all without the benefit of narcotics. Woo hoo!

Posted @ 6:30 AM ~ 0 comments

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Tuesday, July 11, 2006

A Word to the Wise

If you ask your husband to show you how to use the grill, don't wait a month before you decide to try it by yourself.

I may or may not have followed the above advice. And I may or may not have almost singed off my eyebrows, eyelashes, and all the hair on the front of my head in the ball of fire that erupted as I leaned over the grill trying to figure out how to light it, causing me to say a word that I am very glad neither of my children were around to hear. I'm just saying.

Posted @ 6:39 PM ~ 4 comments

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 What a Night!

Last night the neighbor called and asked if my two kiddos could go to the show with them and their children. Not a problem. Since movies are so expensive, they headed to a theater in another town that is much cheaper--$2 for kids and $4 for adults if it is not a matinee. This is for new release movies, too! We head over there whenever possible when we see a movie.

The movie started at 7:00, so they headed out a little after 6:00. I took the opportunity to shampoo the carpet while they were gone and The Hubster hadn't come home from work yet. After he got home for working a 12 hour day, he was exhausted. We sat on the couch watching TV, but he ended up going to bed. I turned off the TV to enjoy the thunder and lightning while I read my book. I got so sleepy that I finally decided I would just doze on the couch until the kiddos got home.

That was all well and good until I realized it was 10:00 and I hadn't heard from the kiddos yet. Then I started to worry. How long was the movie? Did it start late? What about them driving in the storms? What if they had a wreck? How would I know how to find them? Should I start by calling the police or the hospitals? What about going out to look for them?

I finally told myself to wait until 10:30 before I really started to worry. Sleep was definitely out of the question, though, because my mind was racing and my heart was pounding. FINALLY I heard them storm up to the door like bulls in a china shop. It was the best sound I've ever heard! But, I wasn't destined for bed yet.

Drama Queen had already been invited to spend the night, and Karate Kid had invited their son to stay with us. The neighbors are very protective and have just now started letting their oldest stay with other people overnight, but only VERY occasionally. All of the kids headed down to the neighbors' as soon as they got home, so I finished up stuff around here, locked the door and headed to bed. Until I realized I still didn't know if the neighbor boy was spending the night. I called down there--at 11:00!--to find out only to have Karate Kid tell me that they hadn't decided yet. I gritted my teeth and told him to please find out and call me back in 5 minutes so I could go.to.bed. He called right back and said that the friend couldn't spend the night down here but K.K. could stay down there. At this point I didn't care who slept where as long as I got to crawl into my own bed.

The boys came running down to get K.K.'s stuff. They burst into the door laughing and telling me this:

K.K. "Neighbor girl" called 911!
Me: Why?!
K.K. Because "youngest neighbor boy" hit her. She said that it was against the law to hit girls, so she called them. The police called them back because she hung up.

Drama Queen arrived home right after that telling me that she didn't want to spend the night because the police might show up at their house. I told her that she might not get to spend the night anyway because her friend might be in trouble.

Neighbor Boy: No, she won't get in trouble. Drama Queen can still spend the night.
Me: But your parents may not want her to since your sister called 911.
Neighbor Boy: No, she won't get in trouble. She's done it before--over at my grandma's house.

Just what I wanted to hear. What about consequences for her actions? What about a little discipline? What about being parents instead of her best friends?

And to top it all off, Karate Kid told me that both of their oldest children have permission to spend the night over here tonight if it's okay with us. Joy.

Posted @ 8:34 AM ~ 2 comments

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Monday, July 10, 2006

Drip, Drip, Drop

God is smiling on me right now. I went to use the restroom and was blessed with silence. Enough silence with 8 kids here that I could hear the rain drumming on the roof. Do you know how long it's been since I've gone to the bathroom without someone being pushed, bit, kicked, hit or generally flogged? I savored 30 seconds of quiet before I came flying out to see why it was so quiet...because every mother knows that silence is a bad omen.

Posted @ 3:07 PM ~ 0 comments

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 Unexpected Fun

Saturday both of my kiddos were invited to a birthday party/sleepover (birthday boy was Karate Kid's friend and Drama Queen was invited to occupy little sister). Their first item on the agenda was to go to the nearby amusement park. Drama Queen mentioned something about me riding with her and was truly surprised that I wasn't going. Karate Kid mentioned it too, and I told him I didn't have the money to go. Here's where I get all misty-eyed--my son, miser of all misers, offered to let me use his allowance money to go with them.

Long story short, I ended up going with them because we were getting the birthday rate instead of the usual entrance fee (and the birthday boy's mom ended up paying for me and another mother that went). The kids and I had a blast. Drama Queen surprised me by riding a ride with me that I never in a million years thought she would get on. Karate Kid rode my favorite ride with me 5 times in a row. Gotta love that!

***
On the topic of fun, Karate Kid made a comment Friday afternoon that has stuck in the back of my head. I was lying on the couch trying to get rid of the excrutiating headache that had bothered me all day. I told him, "If this headache ruins my fun tonight, I'm going to be mad. All of the fun things I've planned this week will be ruined for me. First my tooth ruined my 4th of July, and now my movie will be ruined if I don't get over this headache." He thought for a second and then came back with, "Is that all of the fun things you had planned for yourself?!" I thought having two things planned in one week was pretty good. Guess I'm going to have to work on incorporating more daily fun, huh?

Posted @ 9:17 AM ~ 0 comments

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Saturday, July 08, 2006

Two Thumbs Up

Run, don't walk, to see the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie. We saw it last night, and it was great.

Even though we already had tickets, we went to the theater early to get good seats. The line just for our auditorium was stretched all the way from the lobby to the end of the hall and out the door. They were also showing it in several other auditoriums at various times.

It was lots of fun because the employees were dressed up in pirate dress. Several of them came into the auditorium before it started and pumped up the crowd by getting us cheering and by throwing out "booty"--strings of fake pearl necklaces and green coins, a la St. Patrick's Day.

I was afraid that the people around us were going to get irritated with us during the movie because we were laughing so loudly. Either nobody else was laughing at the same things, or the 8 of us were making too much noise to hear anybody else. I highly suspect the latter because it was such a funny movie.

So there's my opinion of this flick. Definitely worth the money and much better seeing it on the big screen.

Posted @ 8:28 AM ~ 1 comments

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Friday, July 07, 2006

Foto Friday

Since I can't seem to come up with anything to blog about today, I thought I would show you a random picture of each of the three "kids" I'm raising.

#1: The Hubster can't leave our dogs alone, just like his clone in the making, Drama Queen.

#2: Since my camera is on the computer desk charging, my children grab it and snap pictures all the time. I never know what I'll find when I download them, like this picture Drama Queen took of herself standing on her head (propped up against the furniture). It makes for a fun time of looking through what I've downloaded.

#3: Karate Kid's Boy Scout Troop did the flag ceremony at our city's 4th of July fireworks show. He's the cute one on the right in the jaunty little red hat that is oh, so attractive.




Maybe I'll get my head to quit hurting and actually think of something to blog about tomorrow. In the meantime, I'm off to see Pirates 2 tonight!

Posted @ 2:50 PM ~ 1 comments

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Wednesday, July 05, 2006

I've Been Tagged

Oh, how I wish I could really reprogram the buttons on my remote. Kailani over at The Pink Diary tagged me to see how I would use mine (like in the movie Click).

Mute: My children's fighting/tattling
Pause: Snuggling with my children in my bed while we read together
Delete: Cooking--I want a cook!
Play: Camping with my family
FF: The heat of summer
Slo Mo: My children growing up so quickly--I'm not ready for 6th grade!
Skip: Seeing my in-laws

I'm adding a button too:

Rewind: This would be a dual-purpose button--press once to replay that moments that made me laugh so hard I had tears rolling down my face. Press twice and see all the precious moments from my children's lives, moments that made me laugh or cry (or both).

Posted @ 1:41 PM ~ 0 comments

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Tuesday, July 04, 2006

The Fun Continues

So Monday was quite the day. About 10:00 Sunday night my tooth started aching. It took until after 2:00 in the morning for me to finally get to sleep. I woke up Monday morning feeling fine. I sorted laundry, had my day going nicely, and then I ate a bowl of oatmeal. Apparently that was a big mistake. The heat from the oatmeal started excrutiating pain in my tooth. I started calling my dentist at 9:00 in the morning and got a message saying they were out of the office until Wednesday but to call a different number for a dental emergency. Apparently that number was his cell phone number, and his cell phone was turned off.

I called my mom around 11:00 to ask her about her dentist and ended up bawling on the phone, so she came over to help me with the kiddos. I called my regular doctor to see if I could get in to see her, and she was also gone that day. The receptionist kept telling me it was a dental problem.

I ended up going to Urgent Care. The fun thing about that is that insurance won't pay for a visit to them if it is for dental reasons. The only way I had been able to keep the pain from totalling consuming me was to swish ice water over my tooth. Urgent Care doesn't allow food or drinks in the waiting room, so I ended up standing outside so I could keep ice water on it. I stood outside for an hour before it was my turn!

The doctor ended up giving me a shot, antibiotics, pain killers, and an NSAID, none of which worked. I spent $154 for nothing. In fact, I ended up getting ahold of my dentist, and the only thing he told me was to double to dosage of pain meds. At 8:00 that night my tooth finally quit hurting, just in time for the medicine to make me sick. We were driving when it hit, so we had to pull over.

Those of you who have been reading for awhile know that Drama Queen is afraid of throwing up. I was standing outside the truck, in the middle of no where, and could hear her crying and saying, "Daddy, please, please just take me over there and drop me off and then come back and get Mom!!" Because being sick isn't enough, she wanted me to stand out on a backroad by myself until he dropped her off at the empty lot we were going to to shoot fireworks. Always the compassionate one, that girl.

Now I'm battling my antibiotics until tomorrow afternoon when I can finally get in to see my dentist. Fun times.

Posted @ 12:21 PM ~ 0 comments

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Monday, July 03, 2006

Ouch! A Poem

Abscessed tooth.
Excrutiating pain.
Dentist closed for the holiday.
Hasn't returned emergency call.
Waaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh!

Posted @ 9:02 AM ~ 1 comments

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Saturday, July 01, 2006

Blackmail Pictures

Oh, blackmail is wonderful! Two of the three boys that spent the night last night slept on the trampoline. I snapped these pictures this morning while they boys were still asleep. After showing Karate Kid and Red Head, they were complaining about the pictures and wanting to know why I took them. I told them so that when they got older and had girlfriends, we were going to invite them over and break out the pictures. I told Karate Kid that they were perfect for blackmail--I don't intend to be poor when I'm old.

BTW, Karate Kid wants me to make sure that you know that they were farther apart than it looks. The angle I took the picture makes it look like they were kissing. They weren't, but isn't it a great pic?! Bwahahahaha!

He's afraid these pictures are going to get out to people he knows. "MoooOOoomm! If anybody in the 6th grade sees these, we'll never get girlfriends!!"

Posted @ 7:25 AM ~ 3 comments

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