Good news from the battle lines:

I'm almost afraid to type this outloud- as I'm afraid I may jynx myself- but Allyson has stopped crying and whining every.single.week as I drag her to her piano lesson.  Don't get me wrong- I don't think she is loving it- but she may have finally realized that wasting all that energy was just.........wasted.

But here's the really exciting part.  A few days ago I looked over and saw her writing her own piano music.  Plinking it out on the keys, humming it, writing it all out on paper and then transferring it to the handdrawn music bars. 

And I realized at that exact moment that a full year of head on torture (for me- nothing like draggin a kid around who is in constant 'buy whyyyyyyyyy?  I haaaaaaaate it?  I don't wannnnnnnt to goooooooo?' mode) may have been worth it.

A different way of living

I'm sure many have read this before through forwarded emails- I know I have.  But today, when I re-read it, it really struck me.  And today I thought I would completely steel something that is probably copyrighted and post it on my public blog- and I'll probably go to jail or get some huge fine, but I take that risk because I really want to share it.  You can thank me later.  When you bake me a cake with a file in it.
Their marriage was good, their dreams focused.

Their best friends lived barely a wave away.

I can see them now,


Dad in trousers, work shirt and a hat;


and Mom in a house dress,


lawn mower in one hand, and dish-towel in the other .


It was the time for fixing things:


a curtain rod, the kitchen radio, screen door,


the oven door, the hem in a dress.


Things we keep.


It was a way of life, and sometimes it made me crazy .


All that re-fixing, re-heating leftovers, renewing;


I wanted just once to be wasteful? Waste meant affluence. Throwing things away meant you knew there'd always be more.


But when my mother died, and I was standing in that clear morning light in the warmth of the hospital room,

I was struck with the pain of learning


that sometimes there isn't any more.


Sometimes, what we care about most gets all used up and goes away...never to return.


So.... While we have it, it's best we love it... And care for it...


And fix it when it's broken... And heal it when it's sick.


This is true: For marriage... And old cars...


And children who misbehave at times...


Dogs and cats with bad hips...


And aging parents...


And grandparents.


We keep them because they are worth it,


because we are worth it.


Some things we keep.

I'm the laundry goddess- welcome to my kingdom

Oh no.  Those are the only words I could come up with as I folded Sam's laundry.  He got a new outfit for his birthday from a certain set of grandparents (not sayin' any names here) and I neglected to wash them alone.  And Sam's whites are paying the price.

I decide it's not that big of a deal- who doesn't like pink underwear anyway?  Dan put his foot down.  He said there was NO WAY Sam could wear these clothes.

Men- I swear.   He's gonna have to move out of my kingdom.

What an honor

Allyson was placed in a couple of advanced classes this year when she transitioned to intermediate school.  Reading and math.  I was glad for her.  She really is a bright young woman.

Of course- her grades aren't exactly supporting that right now.  In fact- it turns out that she is in fact not bright enough to just know the vocabulary words.  But she has given it a valiant effort- I must admit.  And we have the total and complete failing papers to prove it.  Looks like she may have to give something else a try- like actually studying them. 

That is not my point.

My point is that she brought home this really exciting resident camp thing for Purdue.  All of the students in the advanced classes are invited to participate in a week long thing this summer at Purdue that includes days filled with all kinds of really cool activities like science stuff, math activities, civil war things, pop art, lego robotics and medical school madness.  She'd get to sleep in an actual dorm and I'm sure it is a really cool week of great memories.

She was not feeling it.

Dan and I talked to her about what a cool opportunity it was, how much fun it would be, I went so far as to look at our calendar and even though we are scheduled to drive to Florida the day that the camp is over- I don't think swinging by Purdue (a mere 3 hours the opposite direction) would be a problem.  This could be an opportunity to give her a taste of 'college life'- to set her on the path to obtain a degree.  Give her a taste of how awesome college is.  Although college doesn't really involve legos or games- but don't tell her that.

She still was like  eh- only if Betsy goes.

I still was huge excited about this opportunity.  Although sending her all the way up there for a whole week with people we don't know- pretty scary stuff.

I got online yesterday to get the details.  Details meaning pricing information.  How much would you say a week of fabulousness is?  $950.  As in dollars.  I have planned entire family vacations on that same budget.  I damn near stroked out.  One thousand habaneros.  No wonder the price wasn't listed on the flier.

Holy cow.

I think she's right- it does sound pretty lamo.  It is too far away.  We don't know these people. And she probably wouldn't have any friends there.  Besides- we leave for Florida that week and we'll need that money for mommas margharitas on the beach.

Besides- we all know she is going to college anyway.

Do they have room moms at college?

The time that Emily turned seven...........

 120 minutes............

 3 crafts.............

 8 little girls from her class.........plus one little girls brother........plus sam and allyson

 triple batch of buttercream frosting put into decorating bags and carefully placed into the hands of children so that they could each customize their own gourmet cupcake.............

 seven candles atop of pink and purple cupcakes baked in polka dot liners............

 lots of tissue paper, gifts & squealing............

 two games- one that didn't get to be played...............

Hopefully it was a day she will always remember. (I know I will).

On another note- Emily got upset with me this morning for making her get out of bed,  not letting her wear slippers to school, making the wrong kind of toaster strudel, and brushing her hair and she told me that she doesn't love me.  And now my heart is broken.

Little brothers of bigger sisters

I can not wait to share pictures from miss emily's first ever little girl birthday party this past saturday.

But it's monday and I'm running late- so it's not going to happen this morning.

But I will share what happens when little boys stumble upon little girl toys.
Emily got lots of polly pocket sets from her girlfriends at the party. Sam has no idea what they are for.

That's it- I'm taking matters into my own hands

Grey's Anatomy was a rerun last night.  It seems like every other week they have reruns.  Unless it's summer or christmas, and then they take 4-6 weeks of reruns.  It's insane.  I'm going to stop watching.  Not really of course, because it is like my crack and I begin going into withdrawals.

See- for the most part I have just a small handful of shows I watch each week that are all mine.  Grey's is one of them.  I wait for it like the UPS delivery guy.  It's like Christmas every Thursday- except it's more like every 3rd thursday give or take because they are not regular or dependable.  At.All.  And to a woman who spends the majority of her day washing other peoples underwear, scrubbing toothpaste out of the sinks and mopping urine off the bathroom floor (uhg)- my only breaks are when Sam demands I play legos with him and when I settle in to watch my Grey's.  Which sometimes is days after it airs because private moments are rare around these parts.

That being said- Sam and I have taken matters into our own hands.  So for your viewing pleasure- may I present the first ever Grey's Anatomy...... in legos.

After a long night shift in the OR- Kerev and McDreamy finish their shifts and say goodbye to the other residents waiting in the ambulance bay.

They each get in their respective motor vehicle.  Oh no- Kerev and McDreamy are wrestling with their constant fears to be bad boys and drive too fast again.  They jet off down the street- smoke rolling from their tiny rubber tires.  Drag racing each other.

LOOK OUT!
Just as suspected, Kerev looses control and they crash.  McDreamy is thrown from his hot rod and is trapped under the wheel.

Meredith hears the crash from the ER bay. She rushes to the site- but unsure of how to proceed she calls the chief.

The chief explains that he is heading into a super important surgery and he can not come and help her.  She will have to use a hand drill to release the swelling in her lovies head. 

Armed with nothing more than an alcohol wipe, a power drill and her hospital id tag she does the unthinkable.

The chief explains very carefully to measure two finger widths (not three) from the mincus pernium and drill .18 centimeters only while keeping pressure on the furius maximus. 
All while he performs his own very complicated noggin reattachmentium surgery.
To make matters worse, the nurses are all on strike.  So he is all alone in the operating room.

Up in the gallery- the interns are wondering who on earth the chief is talking to when they receive an urgent beeper message.

They are to report to the ER immediately.  There has been an explosion and many are in route.  STAT. 

The carnage is horrible.  Worse than they imagined.

Their only hope is that someone will bring a cooler of legs and arms.  And heads.

Meanwhile- Meredith finishes up her fancy brain drilling surgery, manages to hoist the car off of McDreamy and she loads both men into a jeep and speeds to the hospital.

Luckily she has worn her blue flashing light hat and is able to make siren sounds out of the window so she can get around traffic quickly.  Don't die on her McDreamy.  And of course Kerev- but really the show wouldn't stop without him.  But McDreamy- it would.  But she cheers for both because she is a people pleaser- Stay with me Derik.....oh and you too Alex.

She arrives in the ambulance bay- luckily missing the two headed dragon that has set up shop there- and the chief fixes both men and now they are fine.

Afterward- the two interns are in the on call room.

They complain that there is not room for both of them in the same bunk- because anyone who has seen the show KNOWS what they do in the on call room (any medical people out there- is this really how it works in real life hospitals???).  So they decide to just take a nap instead.

The chief gathers everyone under that fancy staircase (use your imagination- I ran out of patience and legos).  "Good work today people. Way to use your heads"

And Meredith goes to the bathroom to take another pregnancy test.

The end.

Here's hoping they have a new episode next week.  I'd hate to make you live through this again.

Another reality show idea

10 men- 10 different houses.  Each with three children. 

All three children have fevers.  Big fevers.  They are whiny, discouraged, bored, and sick.  Occassionally one starts to feel better from either nature or motrin- and they get active.  They stir the pot.  There is screaming, complaining, hitting, major arguing.  They wear out and collapse- but another emerges, a tad of energy to steal someone video game or coloring set- more stink stirring- more crying.  Settle the tribes, they are restless.  Entertain them- rent movies, read books, play games, make crafts.

In addition to children having make up homework folders the size of Montana, he must deal with basketball team photos, basic household duties, bill paying, girlscout field trip, girlscout cookie orders (he's the troops cookie dad- so this means for ALL 12 of the girlscouts) and a job that is a bit more demanding right now because of an upcoming special event that may include the worlds best jet team in the universe that they just got confirmation for this week.  His cell phone is ringing- is it the doctor? Or the office? Or the school?  What- another sick to to pick up?  She was feverless when I put her on the bus?  Off he goes- kids in jammies with sickly ooze dripping from their ophaces- to the school to retrieve yet another sickly offspring.

All the while- 11 6-year-olds from his daughters class are scheduled to arrive at his home in T-50 hours (give or take) and he has promised a cupcake decorating tea party with fancy crafts and games scattered in.  6 hours prior to that- the inlaws arrive for an overnight visit.  24 hours after the party of all parties- the family joins you for a dinner celebration.  The night before the big girl party- a church youth function that he runs.  Games, lesson, crafts, snacks- the whole shebang.  His wife- his partner in crime- working.  She is of no help.  He must balance this on his own.

His task- to shop, plan, prepare, clean, wash, and decorate for all of these events while running around with sprite, cough syrup, disinfectent rags and puke buckets on 2.5 hours of sleep because 'someone' doesn't rest well when they are sick and they also become extremely chatty (did you know that super man has two capes? look at that- this is benforce 10. look. look.  look.  look mom dad.  look.  can I have a drink.  I spilled my drink.  can I have another drink.  can we go in the living room.  I'm cold.  I'm hot.  I'm thirsty)  He must still prepare dinner- only in multiple forms because NOTHING is worse than whiny not feeling good kids when they don't like what you are making.  He must keep up with the NORMAL laundry and cleaning, in addition to the extra cleaning and washing required of a sickly household.

And he must do this all while not catching this illness himself.

Only the strong will survive.

Mental note- be more specific

Sunday morning- 8:43am.  Sam is still in jammies.  17 minutes until we leave for church.

I instruct Sam to go get dressed for church and that he needs to wear a shirt that has a collar on it.

Less than 3 minutes later that kid  has completely followed my directions, and has even put on shoes.

Snow boots are considered shoes, right?

Yes- I completely took him to church like that. 

Mynde Moments- a plethora of stuff you probably could live without knowing

I haven't changed my earrings in over a week.  This is nothing new for me- but it is a fact so I just wanted to get it out of the way.

I have a sicky child with 102 fever.

In just five short days 11 first grade female children have been invited to our home for a crafting birthday party to celebrate a certain someones birthday.  I'm kind of scared.  And really unprepared.

14 is the year of the can opener in marriage years.  I say that because ours died last night.  Dan is responsible.  He physically broke the magnet thing off of it.  Our marriage outlived our can opener wedding gift- which is huge.  I might send a notification to the newspaper- with a picture of us and our can opener.

The Fly Lady is just a raving lunatic who is trying to show us all up and she can cram it.

There are 38,163 (give or take) pairs of shoes in this house and they are making me stark raving mad.  It is a conspiracy and I am solving this shoe issue TODAY.

My kitchen cabinets, hall closet, laundry room closet and garage are in on it with the shoes.  I will use every single ounce of restraint I have to keep from throwing everything in the entire house out on the front lawn while screaming profanities.

It is raining and washing away our beautiful snow- and that is kind of sucky.  If it were snowing I would feel happy.  I just know it.

I'm going to wash my van today.  I mean it.  And I'm going to vacume up the crushed oreos that Dan spilled all over the place from Sam's birthday cake.  And then I'm going to complain to Dan about it.

Dan will not be able to do anything right today.  I can just tell.  I can't wait for him to get home so I can begin telling him.  I bet he can.

I have to go to walmart (again) to have emilys glasses repaired (again).  I HATE that place.

Emily has been awake since 6am.  Before that she was awake at 3am.  And before that, 1am.   I keep begging her to not wake up Sam.  That could only add to the chaos I already am experiencing.

I want to go see a movie with the kids really bad.  Nothing in particular, just a trip to the movies.  But it costs $800 to take 3 kids to the movies- so we're not going.

I have no pictures of our family in print form from 2009 OR 2010.  I am a huge slacker and I suck.

I have over 1400 my coke points.  Thought you should know.

I started a garage sale box yesterday- today I'm going to fill it up.  And maybe another one too.

I have a solution for the worlds problems, and it involves Orbeez.  I'll spare you the details.

I want a martini- and it isn't even 8am. 

Hope you have a good day and aren't as cranky as I am.

A birthday fit for an emi sue

 Seven years ago this sweet young lady entered our world.  Full of energy and life- excitement and wonder.  It was a blessed day that will forever live in my heart as one of my favorites.  Because it gave me my emi.

 For three days before her birthday this child begged to open her gift.  Rest assured that as soon as her eyes popped open on 'the big day' she got to open them.  It was 8:00am.  That is her breakfast on the table.  And in her hands- penbo the talking penguin who carries a baby penguin in it's belly.

 Dan is not going to win any fabulous grandpa awards from penbo.

 I managed to leave my camera at home- but our day involved a trip to build a bear (that is what emily really wanted for her birthday) and then dinner at chuck e cheese.  About an hour and a half after we arrived at the joint Emily's eyes looked glassy.  She proceeded to give all of the rest of her tokens to sam and ally and she sat down in the booth and closed her eyes while resting her head on her hands.  She was burning up with fever.  It came from nowhere. Just a sneezy morning and the starts of a running nose in the am- and then BLAM!  We came home and she curled up on the airmattress in the living room (where they camped out the night before) and went to sleep.

 Around 11pm she awoke and decided she wanted to do her birthday cake.  I was glad, because I hated to put her to bed on her birthday without seeing her blow out her candles.  That lonely birthday cake sat on the counter all alone all day waiting it's big moment- and it finally came.

 Ally suggested a rainbow cake- we decided to give it a whirl.  I colored and layered the batter- she did all the fancy icing decorating and sam helped with the sprinkes.  Birthday cakes are an event in our home- one of my favorite parts of their big day!

 My sweet emi- I hope you had a good day right up until you didn't feel so good anymore.  I love you with all of my heart- and I feel blessed to be your mother.  You have a huge heart and big eyes and a tender loving soul.  I feel honored to hold your hand and snuggle you up and kissy you goodnight.  I would have never ever been complete without you coming into my world.  Thank you for being the perfect emily elizabeth pearl in the entire universe.  Welcome to seven, may your new year wonderful!

Our three new buildabear babies. 

I couldn't help but smile.  They are as unique as the kids who selected them.

Nuff Said

Lets get ready to rummmmmmmmblllllleee!

I can not begin to tell you how excited I am for the start of the girls basketball season!  Sam is too.