Confessions of a Delusional Mother

this is reality?!

2009-12-14T18:52:00.000-08:00

An update on the school front. If you think your kids are sweet and innocent... that ends at, oh, about 3rd grade.

Friday at school we had a drug bust on a ... get this... 4th grader. Yup, he had pot. Bragged about it to classmates. Bought it from a 5th grader.

And we don't go to some huge inner-city school where kids get lost in the cracks. We're pretty straight down the middle, middle class, average class size of about 100 kids, K-12 in the same building.

They're losing their innocence at a younger and younger age. Cherish the times your kids will sit with you and watch Elmo or Scooby Doo, or whatever kid-ish thing they're into. It ends all too soon.

Running interference...

2009-12-05T11:48:00.000-08:00

Ok, yet again I need the advice of the girls:

Situation:
Alex's girlfriend (mind you, they're 11) started rumors about herself that she was making out with a 10th grader. Why would you start rumors about yourself, one wonders. I guess she's trying to earn herself quite a reputation. (again, I remind you, they're 11).

So, I heard these rumors around school and asked Alex about them. She said, "yeah, mom. She told me she did. She goes to one of the classrooms afterschool and makes out with boys. (plural)" (did I say they were 11?) So I ask Alex if her friend had told her these stories and she said yes, face to face, not heresay. And it gets better... Apparently this friend (with whom she'd been friends with since kindergarten and her dad is a preacher, mom works at school, nice family!) considers herself to be "emo" (I am so out of touch, i had to look this up) and she cuts herself.

Now I don't know if these are true stories, but does it matter? I tried to explain to alex what matters is that she is actually telling people these stories about herself. So I tell alex she's not allowed to hang around her anymore.

Now here's my dilemma: Her mom works at school with me. We chat every day, multiple times. And we've told each other that we would keep each other posted on the girls so we can keep track of what they're doing, etc... So what do I do? I really need help here. If I go to her and tell her these stories from Alex, it comes down to the fact that one girl is telling the truth. I say this because I'm sure her daughter will deny everything. Will she believe my daughter or her own? Who would I believe? Would I want to know if it were my daughter? What will it do to the friendship (ours and theirs) and should I care?

(Oh, the room she supposedly sneaks into is one that her mom aides in every day and that teacher did tell me that she saw the friend and a boy in there one day and she jumped off this boy's lap when she walked in on them - so I know that much is true.)

Ok ladies, I am so not ready for this teenage thing that seems to be happening way too early!!! Again, I say.... they're 11!

thanks for your help! I need it!

oh, it's starting...

2009-11-09T14:09:00.000-08:00

I get home from Wal-Mart last night, check my Facebook and this is the message waiting for me:

"Mrs. Daly, I asked Alex to be my girlfriend, and I wanted to make sure it was ok with you."

Too cute :) Alex has been friends with this boy for years, since about kindergarten. They email, chat, hang out... So my question to you is, how young is too young to "date?" That's what she told me, that her & Kevin were "dating."

I have no problem dropping her off at the skating rink to meet him there, or going to a movie. What do you think? Am I being too lenient? She's liked other boys before, but this is the "first" boyfriend. You know, now they're in Middle School... they're so "grown up" (or so they think).

Update: as of 6:30 tonight, she's already broken up with this poor boy. Yesterday they were in love, today it's no more. I don't know if I can handle the pre-teen hormone roller coaster, what will I do in the teenage years?!

startling confession

2009-10-06T19:11:00.000-07:00

I'm sitting here in my pj's, curled up on the couch watching Jay Leno. Marc is working late, kids are in bed, one dog is sleeping on the recliner and the other is laying on the floor curled up on a blanket. I'm watching them sleep, in all of their cute furriness, and have finally come to the realization that I've been trying to bury deep down within...

I don't like my dog.

I know. I'm a horrible person. I love the other one - more than anything. He's my big, cuddly, lovable, dumb, lug of a baby. The other one - not so much.

Now anyone who knows anything about me knows that I LOVE animals. All kinds. And I've always had dogs, forever. Our last dogs were 11 and 12 when they died. They were a huge part of our life, as are these 2. But I just don't like one of them. She's bitchy, always causing us headaches, and I just have no tolerance for her. I've tried to get past this feeling for a while, but it just keeps festering and I'm not quite sure how to change it. And the more dominance and bitchiness she shows towards the other dog, the more and more I dislike her.

So, am I a horrible person? What do I do to change this feeling? I feel like I've turned on one of my own children!!!

the start of a wonderful week (?)

2009-09-28T16:51:00.000-07:00

We had a really good weekend. Flag football started and, with the exception of a few stressful situations, turned out pretty good. 110 kids and only a few minor mishaps. Not bad.
My mom and dad came down on Saturday to watch Sam play. Later that day I had a cake to deliver, Marc had a wedding to DJ and my dad checked off a few things on our "to-do" list - namely the ice maker and garbage disposal I've gone 2 years without.

Saturday night after my parents left, the kids and I went to see "Cloudy with a chance of meatballs" while Marc was at his wedding. Sunday we got up and went to church, went to the local orchard afterwards for the corn maze, came home and relaxed. Sounds like a nice, relaxing weekend, huh?

Now let me fill in the blanks.

* At football I had 16 irate parents whose kids didn't bring home the information because their teachers didn't give it to them.

* The cake I had to deliver went off without a hitch. Even though the lady wasn't home and she told me she'd leave the door unlocked, and not to mind her dog, she wouldn't hurt the cake. Well she didn't... until about 11:30 that night. The poor lady FB'd me about 10 times asking if I could "fix" the cake her dog ate half of. Sorry...

* Marc came home from his wedding and gave me the check the next morning, which was considerably less than I had budgeted for. For some reason he charged this wedding less than normal and I had no idea.

* Being thrilled about having a garbage disposal and an ice maker again after 2 years was nothing compared to the mess I found when I got home from school today to see something in the water connection had caused my dishwasher to empty out 2 cycles onto my kitchen floor, thus seeping down into the basement by the bucketload!

Happy Monday!

New Year

2009-09-08T14:08:00.001-07:00

It's a new school year! We've ventured into middle school territory now... whoa! But it's also a time for new schedules, new habits, new beginnings. I just hope we can keep it all up. I'm starting it all with a positive attitude!!!

summer's almost over...

2009-08-17T10:34:00.001-07:00

I can't believe how fast it's gone by. When I took my job at school, I was in complete amazement that I would get 3 full months off work - while still collecting a paycheck! Oh the perks of that! No more outrageous summertime daycare payments, and TIME - time to organize, time to clean, time to visit family & friends, time for EVERYTHING.

Well, we go back to school in 3 weeks and I can't even grasp that the time has gone already. What did I get done? I'm tempted to say "nothing". But then I think back and I guess I did get quite a bit accomplished, but of course nothing that I had planned to!

I didn't really even get to start my summer until 4th of July weekend because for the first 4 weeks after school got out I was so busy baking cakes every single day and night. I am thankful for that business, but I'll never overbook like that again.

I did some babysitting for a friend 2 days a week. We usually spent those 2 days finding something fun to do outside, which meant I spent some time at the local swimming hole.

I took on an extra job painting that took about a week. Not bad. Got a little extra money for that. But all in all, my expectations were high for my first summer off. I didn't organize my closets or my basement, I didn't get my house clean, I didn't get my books read. I did get to sleep in until about 8:30 on a regular basis though.

One of my principals told me this just before school got out: She said one summer she made a list of everything she wanted to accomplish then she spent the whole summer making sure she got everything crossed off that list. She said it was the most miserable summer she'd had. So I guess I have to learn not to have any expectations, to enjoy it day by day. And there's only about 22 more of those left.

Surprise, surprise...

2009-07-30T18:53:00.000-07:00

No email with a Western Union confirmation today. I registered online and of course there isn't any record of a transaction pending either. I just don't understand how someone can think they can have someone else do something for them and then NOT PAY FOR IT?!

how to get revenge???

2009-07-29T12:49:00.000-07:00

I like to think of myself as somewhat savvy when it comes to dealing with people. I don't normally let people railroad me, and I'm not a sucker. But I do like to believe the best in people most of the time.

I made a cake for a lady about a month ago. Dealing with her was really a pleasure, she was very nice, polite, easy to please. She was going to pick up the cake 4th of July weekend. Circumstances on my end changed and I decided to go out of town a day earlier, so I asked her if I could drop the cake off to her destination early (she was coming into town to stay at a hotel for the holiday). I called the hotel, arranged the dropoff and told her to just drop the check in the mail to me. After all, I was the one who changed the plans.

Well... 4 weeks later... still no check.

I emailed her a couple times with no luck. So I called her. She swears up and down she gave the money to her MIL to send to me, and didn't know why I wouldn't have gotten it. But that she'd go right out to the post office and send it again. That was 2 weeks ago.

Then 3 weeks went by and I called her again. At least she still answers the phone. She again swears up and down she sent it to me TWICE and that she is so upset, and appreciates the time I took with her cake, she apologized up and down, but if I don't get it in the next day or 2, she'd Western Union me the money.

That's supposed to take place tomorrow. How much of a fool am I to actually think I'm going to get the confirmation number emailed from her tomorrow so I can go to Meijer to pick up the money she owes me?

I've made my opinion clear to her. I am no fool to think that it takes 4 weeks to get something mailed to me. And I am no fool to think 2 different items got lost in the mail, coming from 2 different locations. I told her I expect to get the confirmation number and money from Western Union tomorrow. But in the meantime, I've been trying to come up with some ways to make my frustrations known about her. I could call her answering machine daily to remind her that she has still not paid for a cake I made and delivered for her. I thought about contacting all of her friends on FaceBook and letting them know that their friend stiffed me (that's a bit stalkerish, I thought - but deserving). Then I thought I could just drop the whole thing - chalk it up as a lesson learned. Any ideas?

Summer icky-ness!!

2009-07-24T08:46:00.000-07:00

There are some things I can't stomach (pun intended?) when all the summerwear comes out. The top of that list HAS TO be this...

Ok girls... I don't care if you're a size 2, if you buy your jeans in a size 0... you're gonna look like this! And it is not attractive!!! I think it's a sign of me getting old, but the first thing that comes to my mind is, "their mother let them out of the house like that?!" For anyone who's ever watched What Not To Wear, they've said it a thousand times... buy clothes in your size! Buying them in a smaller size makes you look FAT and trashy!!! Buying them too big makes you look FAT and frumpy!!

Second summer peeve...

I don't care how attractive you are, butt cracks are gross.

and right up there with buttcrack grossness... I really don't need to see your underwear! Just another summer fashion lesson because I, myself, am such a fashion plate :)

Playin' in the sand

2009-07-17T17:14:00.000-07:00

Alex, Anna & Sam playing in the sand at Rolling Hills Water Park - didn't get any water pics before my batteries died!

Hot Air Balloon Ride

2009-07-08T19:24:00.001-07:00

All I can say is, "Oh..My..God!!!" It was one of the most amazing things I've ever done!!! I was a little nervous at first, not really terrified, but anxious. Then I got into the basket (see how small it is!), and the anxiousness just went away. I could say it was peaceful, beautiful, exhilarating, fun... but none of those words do it any justice. I didn't want to come down.

spirituality overload

2009-07-07T07:51:00.000-07:00

I came across this comic strip posted by a friend on FaceBook and couldn't believe how true (and kinda funny) I found it to be! I know I'll probably get some slack on this, but I'm really looking for some enlightenment on the subject.

I have a neighbor friend that fits this perfectly. I love her to death, but let me say, sometimes she just wears me down with her spirituality. I thought it would go the other way, that the more I was around her, the more I would want to grow and expand in my faith. I'm finding it to be the opposite.

She just left her husband, which she tells me is in the Bible for her to do so, to take some kind of break if she doesn't feel her relationship is working out. But she also tells me she has no plans whatsoever to divorce. Just living in a different house, about 1/2 mile away, shipping their 10-year-old son back and forth between the 2 - which he hates - because his house, friends, belongings, etc... are all at his normal house. At his mom's she doesn't even have the TV plugged in because she doesn't subscribe to cable (the giant-screened TV that she insisted to take from her husband, just because...) Again, I say, the houses are only about 1/2 mile apart, but on a busy road, so the boy can't just run back and forth.

So she pulls her kid away from all his "stuff", making him sit in an old farmhouse with no TV, no air conditioning, no one to play with... because she left her husband - not because he beat her, not because he was mean, not because he was even a bad man. But because he wouldn't go to church with her. She's become one of those people that believe God has blessed her with every single fiber around her. Now don't get me wrong, I know that's true. But what I mean is this: She went down into her new house basement and found an old carpet remnant and says, "it was God speaking to me because he knew I needed a carpet runner, and Lord, there it was. It was a sign that I should have moved out." And "I needed a lamp and found one in someone's trash, it was a sign from God that I should be where I am."

Can't anything just "be?" It's my opinion that she's trying to justify everything in her life so she looks for something to be a sign from God to tell her she's doing the "right" thing. I am the first person to say that things happen for a reason. I know that I had to turn around the other day because I forgot to lock the dogs out of the house,and missed a car accident by mere seconds. There was a reason...

And like I said before, I really like this woman, but she's driving me farther and farther away from where we'd like to be in our quest for a church.

girl drama...

2009-06-29T17:36:00.001-07:00

They're all friends... for today anyways.

Girl Drama: 21st century-style

2009-06-28T12:27:00.001-07:00

We have a bunch of girls in our neighborhood, all aged 10-14, so girl drama happens... A LOT! I can't even keep track of who's friends with whom from one day to the next. And as parents, we've all kind of agreed to keep out of it, because one day the girls are BFFs, the next day they're not speaking, then the day after they're BFFs again.

Last night Marc was DJing a wedding and the kids and I were home watching movies when Alex checked her email about 10:30, only to find that one of her BFFs had logged into her email and sent a message to another girl in the neighborhood telling her she hated her and never wanted to be friends with her. Alex had just been playing with the other girl all afternoon too, so she was probably blindsided by the mean message.

My question... how do I handle this? Do I ignore it like all the other arguments they get into? This was the only girl alex had told her password to, so we're 99.9% sure we know it's her. I went back into the "sent" folder and didn't see any other emails that she had done this with. We really like her parents, and I'm sure the girls will work this all out, but I somehow feel this has gone above and beyond girl spats. I told alex to call her to confront her to make it sound like we know for sure it was her, to get her to confess to it, then tell her she needs to approach the girl she sent it to and fess up to it. Alex has learned her lesson about giving out her password. Or do I drop it altogether?

when did that happen?

2009-06-19T07:05:00.000-07:00

The other day I was looking thru the cupboards trying to figure out what to make for lunch when it hits me... I wanted a Tuna Melt. Huh? I've never in my life even had a tuna melt, much less craved one! (by the way, this is a pic of my lunch creation today).

How could I want something I've never even tasted? Well, I love tuna sandwiches, tomatoes and cheese, so what's the problem? And all of the sudden my grandma's words (that I've so often rolled my eyes at) flowed through my mind... "You'll like it when you get older." Gram, I'm 37. If it hasn't happened by now, it ain't gonna.

This is what she's always told me about onions. From as far back as I can remember I've hated onions and from as far back as I can remember, she's been trying to sneak them into my food just to prove I "won't even taste them." So why put them in then, I ask?! If you can't even taste them, what's the point?! For flavor... she says! Um, what's wrong with that logic?

In all fairness, I have tried to eat onions. And it's not so much the taste of them I hate, as opposed to the texture and crunch. I've tried McDonald's little freeze dried flakes, the onions in potato salad, in meatloaf- nope. Can't do it.

But there are a lot of other things I've suddenly acquired a taste for that I would never have imagined! For instance, sauerkraut. Being Polish, this has always been a staple food in my grandma's house. Who in their right mind could ever eat shredded cabbage that's been left to ferment for weeks on end? Now... I love it! All the vegetables I never thought I'd eat: brussel sprouts, asparagus, squash, eggplant - love them!

So who knows...

THE most comfortable shoes possibly ever invented!

2009-06-15T10:03:00.000-07:00

I bought Sam these shoes the other day - they're Nerf flip-flops - and I'm convinced they may possibly be the most comfortable shoes ever invented!!! I mean, come on, have you ever squished a Nerf football between your hands? Now imagine walking on that squishiness all day long! Who would've ever thought?! I wonder what else they could turn into shoes? Maybe bubble wrap, or egg crate foam?

They only had them in kids' sizes, but I'm convinced if I can find them in a boys size big enough, they'll be my comfy summer shoes!

Some things kids just shouldn't do...

2009-06-05T19:17:00.000-07:00

I have kids, but come on guys... there are just some things they shouldn't do. And I'm not talking about staying up late, eating junk food or driving the minivan. I'm talking about serious stuff here!

1. Kids should not be allowed to record your voicemail/answering machine message. I know I'll probably strike a chord here, but come on, really?! "Hi. This is Suzy. My mom and dad can't come to the phone right now..." Is that really the message you want played when your doctor calls, or when you're waiting for a call back about a job interview. I know when I get those messages I hate leaving one because for some reason I still feel like there's a 3-year-old on the other end writing down my message to give to Mom and Dad.

2. This is an even bigger pet peeve... Tonight we were invited to a birthday party for a friend's daughter. Problem? The daughter (did I mention she was turning 7?) wrote out the invitation. Ok, it was cute. But when you're driving down the road looking for 178 on the mailbox, and the actual address of the party is 1780, this could pose a problem! Couldn't mom proofread the invitation before it went out to the whole class? Cars were driving past the house 3 times before they figured out where to stop. Lord knows how many just turned around and went home.

At the same party I listened to 2 moms say they would have RSVP'd, but the number they called went to some old lady who insisted she wasn't having a party.

And when it comes to writing out invitations, in case there's any confusion... The lines on the invitation should be filled out like this:

For: (name of the birthday child goes here)

This is not the space to write who the invitation is for! Seriously?! I can't tell you how many my kids have brought home and they say "For: Sam". When I ask who gave him the invitation, he has no recollection, or it was put in his mailbox at school. It's bad enough when the kids have written it out that way, but honest-to-God, I've gotten some written by the parents like that!!!

This concludes my Martha Stewart etiquette on children. Thank you.

Dancing thru the decades

2009-05-30T05:58:00.000-07:00

Alex and I had our night out last night - it was a blast!!!

We got home from school around 4:00 and started getting ready in our 80's gear - Wow! What a flashback! I had been transcended back to a friday night in 1989, standing in front of my bathroom mirror with curling iron in one hand and Aqua Net in the other. What I really hated was the fact that I had to curl, rat, tease and spray my hair, but I was actually having a good hair day up until that point. But I couldn't very well put on my big shirt, neon earrings and jelly bracelets without doing the hair!

So here's some pics of our night out...

The saga continues...

2009-05-28T18:50:00.000-07:00

The drama of Alex's grades continue...

I knew we were supposed to be getting progress reports last week, but never got one. So I go into the office and ask they went out before I inquired that of the teacher. I was told, "Yes, they all went out last week." Well, guess what? We never got one. So the principal goes down to ask the teacher why. Why? Because she decided not to do them. She told the kids to ask their parents if they wanted one, and then she'd send it home with them.

Ok, so here's the scenario: Little Billy is sucking in Math - getting a D or maybe even an E. He's told to go home, ask his parents if they'd like a progress report to see aforementioned D or E, then go back to the teacher and say, "Yes, my parents would like to be informed of my failing grades. Please send them one so I may be grounded for the next month."

Anyone else see anything wrong with that picture? So I point out to my daughter's teacher that we had been inquiring of her grades for the past month, and I was sorry to assume that would warrant a progress report, knowing we'd been waiting for a report on her progress. I should never assume. But yes, I would like one.

So she gives my principal the report of her grades, and mentions that, oh, Alex's attitude has been a problem all along. That she is rude and disrespectful. Huh? All along? I've been in her room countless times and in touch via email and NEVER once was told that my daughter was mouthing off, being rude and disrespectful. So now I start thinking she's mad at me for involving the principal about her lack of communication with us and is pulling things out of the air to account for falling grades. Of course, my child would never do anything like that (no... really I'm not one of those parents....)

Oh well. I'll give her the benefit of the doubt. We made Alex sit down, write out apology letters for being disrespectful to her, and I've threatened her within an inch of her life: I dont' care if the building is on fire, you go into class in the morning, you sit in your seat, you do not say one word, you do your work, then you go home. And you do this for the next 9 days. Got it?!

It's almost over.

Parent vs. employee

2009-05-27T14:16:00.001-07:00

Now that I work at the school, there's a fine line between being a parent of a student there, or a nagging employee.
We've been having problems with my daughter's grades. So when I talk to the teacher or principal, I have a feeling they're treating me like a fellow employee who's just bitching about something, and not like they'd treat any other parent who walked thru the door, sat down with the principal and teacher, and wanted to discuss their child's progress.
Why should I feel like I'm being a bother to them? I know I shouldn't, but I do. Maybe I'll have to call from home and set up an appointment to come in, then ask my boss (aka the principal) if I can have an hour off because I have to go talk to my daughter's principal & teacher.
Don't get me wrong, I love working at the school, I love the perks of being there, but there are definitely drawbacks!

Best date ever!

2009-05-25T15:42:00.000-07:00

I have a date Friday night... with my daughter. Our school performing arts club is holding a fundraiser dance called "Dancing Thru The Decades," and they encourage participants to dress up from their favorite decade. So, what else could we do except the 80's!

Problem? Absolutely none! We went to the mall and low-and-behold... they have EVERYTHING 80's again. That's when you know you're old - when they've remade/redone what you used to wear. We hit Claire's Boutique and got our fill of rubber bracelets, big neon earrings, mesh hand-glove thingies with the fingers cut out. They had so much more that we couldn't even get it all: paint splattered painters hats, neon sunglasses (the kind where the sides and the front are 2 or 3 different colors), big belts.

Then we went to Deb and got some neon tank tops and big shirts to wear over top of them. Alex got a pair of neon orange leggings with lace on the bottom of them, I got some slouch socks.

Wal-Mart had jelly shoes. Had to have them. They even had banana clips. Go figure! I even got the jean jacket with all the pins & buttons to put on it.

Now to put it all together. I can't wait until Friday night. I'll post pictures soon. Oops, forgot the Aqua Net. Better go stock up. Oh, Marc is DJ-ing too. He's thinking of going as one of Run DMC. I hope I don't forget my mix tape so I can ask him to play it.

I'm a baaaad pet owner

2009-04-26T06:15:00.000-07:00

This is what my dog is supposed to look like:

This is what my dog really looks like:

Time to call the groomer!

schedules...

2009-04-22T18:55:00.000-07:00

Time to vent again. Sorry!
Today I had a teacher come to library with her class. She was 15 minutes late. Ok, when you have a 1/2 hour time block, and you're 15 minutes late, how long does that leave you? Anyone good at math? Apparently this teacher isn't, because she thought she still had 30 minutes.

It didn't matter I had another class coming in after her "time block." She still felt she was entitled to her 30 minutes. So I actually had to ask her to leave - 3 DIFFERENT TIMES. Then...(believe it or not)... she got mad at me! Her response? She told me (yes, this is what actually came from her...) that I should be more flexible, because schools have to be flexible, not like strict schedules in the business world that I was used to.

Hmmmm... last I knew the WHOLE SCHOOL DAY WAS BASED ON SCHEDULES! Am I wrong? If you're 15 minutes late for music, gym, band, lunch, recess, does that mean you get to stay 15 minutes longer? I don't think so. School starts at 8:40. What if you don't feel like starting at 8:40 and want to start at 8:55. Does that mean you can keep the kids 'til 3:45 instead of 3:30. I don't think so. What the hell... make those busses wait. They can be flexible.

when you gotta go....

2009-04-08T17:31:00.001-07:00

Ok, I have a problem. I'm not the biggest fan of public restrooms, but let's face it, when you gotta go, you gotta go! And being a woman, that happens more often than not.

Now here comes the problem...What do you do when you gotta go but you're out shopping? Well, you'd like to think most businesses would be able to assist you in that. Wrong! I was out shopping this past weekend and couldn't believe the places we were that had no public restroom. So when you gotta go, you gotta leave.

My gripe: In this economy, stores should be bowing down at my feet when I walk thru their doors, debit card in hand, checkbook open, ready to spend my money (or lack thereof). But when I'm looking around, piling their goods into my cart, and have to use the ladies room (or for moms out there... when you have a little kid pulling on your coat saying, "I gotta go potty!") what do you do? You leave! And when you have to go out to your car, load the kid(s) back in, drive down the road to the closest fast food restaurant, are you really going to go back to that store to finish your shopping?I think not. At that point, I'm so pissed that they wouldn't let me use their exclusive employee-only washroom that there's no way in hell I'm going back. I'll show them.

You may be saying, just finish your shopping before you leave. Ok, for anyone out there with kids, you know they do not give any sort of buffer potty-time. When they say, "I gotta go potty," they mean: "I had to go 10 minutes ago, but held it this long, now it's really an emergency!" And if you don't have kids, and it's just yourself, can you really do some good quality browsing for just the right sweater/blouse/pants knowing you hafta pee!

Just my little gripe for the day.

Betrayed

2009-04-01T19:26:00.000-07:00

The Book Fair is in town...or I should say, in my library. It's a hectic week, and I'm wearing 2 hats. 1) ultra-super-dedicated librarian, running my library to a T, keeping things orderly, helping students, researching new book titles... 2) PATT (our version of the PTO) board member, the organization that sponsors the Book Fair in my library.

So between running regular classes, I'm also running the book fair, and much to my dismay, the volunteer list to help out has dwindled dramatically! So there are basically 3 or 4 of us running everything. But that's not the point of my post tonight.

I have a few students who come in religiously. And by that, I mean 5 or 6 times a day. I really develop a relationship with these students. Some are the braniac all-A students, some are the remedial reading students who check out books 3 grade levels below theirs.

A couple weeks ago, 2 of my girls were taking a reading test on the computer when I caught them cheating. Wow...really? How could they do that to me? They're good girls, or so I thought them to be. It really bothered me. I still have trouble looking them in the eye. They took our relationship for granted and cheated right in front of my face. So they're not allowed to take any more tests in the library. And they don't venture in much anymore to check out books either.

Today it happened again. I was watching another student browse the book fair and then she was gone. I heard a noise in another part of the library and saw she was there looking at books. Another adult in the library whispered to me that I should keep an eye on her, thinking she took something from the book fair and stashed it somewhere in the library to come back for later. So she came up to the circulation desk and I said, "didn't you have a package with you a few minutes ago?" She said "huh?" So I asked her again, only to have her open the side of her jacket and pull out a $10 electronics toy. I asked, "did you have anything else?" To again have her open the other side of her jacket and pull out another one.

Man...this is where I feel so naive. I can't believe she'd do that. I know she's an "iffy" student, an be a handful, a little bit of trouble, but never thought she'd betray me. I've given her a little extra leeway in the library, a few more"liberties." To have this. So she's not allowed in anymore without a chaperone. And she got suspended, and they're calling in the police to file a report. All this for a 9 year old.

The other sad part is, she knew what she was doing. She almost got away with it, so she must've learned it somewhere.

Venting...

2009-03-31T17:55:00.000-07:00

Ok Ladies, I'm using this space to completely vent to you. Because as Fer just said, I know my girls will make me feel better :)

I get home tonight, and (as if I don't have a million things going on in my life) explain to my husband how I have become responsible for purchasing the coach's gift for my daughter's basketball coach. One of the other parents actually collected all the money, but she's leaving on spring break in a couple days. Our problem? One of the dads have been helping out at every practice, so we thought it would be nice if we used a portion of the money collected (we collected $100) to get him something too.

So I ask my husband, "What portion do you think we should dedicate to the coach, and what portion to the dad? Should we do 50/50? or 75/25? or 60/40?

You know what he says to me? "What about 66/33?" You're F#*%ing kidding me?! You want me to go buy a gift certificate for $66 and another for $33?! And you know what he says to me? "You don't have to be such a bitch about it and snap at me!"

Me! A bitch!? Snap at him?! Well this starts a huge argument about how I talk to him. All I asked for was an opinion. What kind of "NORMAL" person suggests 66/33?! I tell him, "you can't even give me a decent opinion?!" Everything that I've got going on: wrestling practice (which I am currently helping to "coach"), running the book fair at school, helping the kids with homework, getting them up and ready every morning, packing lunches, baking about 1500 dozen cookies for the bake sale tomorrow, and oh... I completely forgot that I WORK FULL TIME! Hmmmm... let's see, he gets up in the morning, takes a shower, goes to work, comes home, watches tv, (some days he cleans up the dinner dishes from dinner that I MADE), and oh wait, there's the nights he has to go back into his office to do work for the radio station.

Oh, now I'll veer off on another tangent: He can work late 3 nights a week, come home the other 2 nights and work on his computer, but I have to go into school on Sunday afternoon to get some stuff done, and he calls and asks when I'll be home, between the other 3 calls I got from the kids about where things are located, if I can stop on the way home to pick up something, how much longer am I going to be....

Ok, I'm done. I feel much better. I'm sure things will be back to normal tomorrow, but tonight is a very "quiet" night. Because if he's justified in calling me a bitch, the least I can do is abide by it!

thanks girls !

trivia questions needed!

2009-03-25T17:52:00.000-07:00

I'm the chairperson for our Family Reading Night next month, and I have to come up with activities that are reading-related. So, one of the games I've come up with is Children's Book Trivia, but I'm in a lull. I've googled to my heart's content and can't come up with anymore, so I'm beckoning for your help!

I need questions suited for K-5 graders from your favorite children's books. (give me the answer too!) An example is: In "Horton Hears a Who," what kind of animal is Horton?

So please, take the pressure off me and send me your cleverest question!

mothering skills

2009-03-16T19:00:00.000-07:00

(Before I go into this story, I have to give you a little background. We always joke around that when the weekends come, our parenting skills go out the window. We don't eat as good, we let the kids stay up late, it's kind of free-for-all.)

I knew it would come sooner or later... Sam has always been "Mama's Boy," very cuddly, very affectionate. Well, this weekend he had a friend over and he came and sat next to me on the couch (his friend was laying on the living room floor). I put my arm around Sam's shoulder and he shrugged me off and moved a few inches away. I asked him if I embarrassed him. He kind of whispered to me, "Mom, not in front of my friends!" So I said to him, "But it's my job as a mom to embarrass you," to which he answered, "I thought you always say you don't mother on the weekends."

Last night on Manswers...

2009-03-09T15:59:00.000-07:00

How big do boobs have to be to smash a beer can? (HHH if you're wondering)
What's the fastest way to get drunk? (it involves lower bodily orifices and is apparently very dangerous to try)
How can you tell if a hooker is an undercover cop or not? (ask her to pose for nude pictures - if she's a cop, she won't do it)
What's the most dangerous animal in America? (the deer - they attack hunters, they cause car accidents and they carry lyme disease).

Just a little educational lesson for the day.

Embrace It...

2009-03-02T18:21:00.000-08:00

I feel that Marc and I are embracing our white-trashiness whole-heartedly. We've found 2 new shows that we can't get enough of... both on SPIKE-TV (the network of the American Trailer Park). We came across both of these on accident and it was like a train wreck, we couldn't stand it, but couldn't quit watching them!

Manswers is the most male-chauvenistic thing on TV right now - I'm sure of that. They take the dumbest questions - things that most men seem to wonder about and answer them. But the problem was, the more we watched them, the more I wanted to know the answers too!

Which animal can drink you under the table? How many patients a day wake up during surgery? Who should you pray to to cure a hangover? How cold do you have to be to freeze your balls off?

See... you want to know the answers to these too!

The other show we accidentally found while channel surfing was "1000 ways to die," also on SPIKE-TV. (gotta quit watching Spike!) The best part about this show isn't the cheesy re-creations of the wacky ways people died, but the clever names they come up for the cause of death. One clip was about a guy named Dale who was a city worker that cleared out brush with a wood chipper. He got stuck in it and it chipped him up... aptly named "Chippen' Dale." Another one was a sword swallower who decided to swallow an umbrella, and it opened up before he could get it out -- "Dumbrella." A magic trick gone wrong - 'Abracadaver." See, I just watch it to see what more they can come up with!

Anyways, I figure, if I can't fight the white-trashiness, I may as well enjoy it.

Bleeding Heart

2009-03-01T19:49:00.000-08:00

We ran out to do an errand tonight and when we got home, a stray black dog was hanging around our house. He's an older dog with some gray around his nose/mouth, very thin, and sweet as can be. He's got a collar on, with no tags. So I took him some dog food and water and he scarfed it all down. I pet him for a while and he really seems in no hurry to leave. So I called the Sheriff's dept., the local radio station, the Humane society and I posted him on the local Yahoo group. Someone emailed back that they saw him in their area - about 2 miles away - the other day.

So I put a blanket out in the garage for him, with some more food, and he seems content to stay for now. Marc says he keeps remembering the scene from "Marley & Me where Marley wanders off because he's old and wants to be alone when he...passes on. He's convinced when we wake up tomorrow morning this dog is going to be frozen stiff in our garage.

I keep pushing to let him in so he doesn't get too cold out there, but I think Marc will win this one tonight. Hopefully by tomorrow we'll be able to find his owners, if not, I'm such a sucker, we'll probably end up with a 3rd dog for the time being.

So good, it's worth suffering for...

2009-02-21T14:56:00.000-08:00

Ever since I had gastric bypass surgery, just over 2 years go, I've learned what foods I can and can't eat anymore. I've really been pretty lucky, in the fact that there aren't too many things that I'm really miserable about not being able to consume anymore. But there are those few things...

#1 Honey-Mustard & Onion Pretzels: I haven't had these in over 2 years and then had the uncontrollable craving last weekend. I also paid dearly for it - on the couch for hours sick to my stomach. And after gastric bypass, it's not just indigestion or nausea, it's called "dumping syndrome" (even the name makes me sick). I get nausea, break out in a cold sweat, shiver - and it can last anywhere from 10 minutes to hours.

#2 Ramen Noodles - I'll never learn. Every time I eat these I get sick. Yes, I said every time, because i haven't quite realized that the outcome never changes, even though I think that this time may be the time I'll be ok with them.

#3 Culver's Coconut Cream Pie Ice Cream - I can't eat any kind of ice cream anymore, which doesn't make me too sad, because I only really liked the toppings on the ice cream anyways... but this stuff is SO GOOD, I will take the suffering that accompanies the few minutes of bliss.

I can't complain though. Obviously there was a reason I needed to have gastric bypass, and if I can't eat like I used to, then I won't end up like I used to be - 135 lbs. heavier. So I'll gladly accept what I've had to give up, and hopefully learn my lessons with the rest!

talent show '09 - act 2... sam

2009-02-19T14:53:00.000-08:00

Talent Show '09 - act 1

2009-02-18T19:55:00.000-08:00

Alex's talent show performance

White Trash Mom, Vol. 2

2009-02-15T15:17:00.000-08:00

We've been doing a lot of basketball the past 2 months - tournamnets every weekend, both Saturday and Sunday. And we usually have to drag Sam with us, kicking and screaming. There are other boys there his age but some tournaments just make for a LOOOONG weekend.

The other day we caught wind that the local professional wrestling group was going to be in town on Saturday night. Sam has been into WWE wrestling on TV for the past few months, so we thought it'd be fun to take him to see this. We got done at the basketball game at 6 p.m. Saturday and rushed back to town to see wrestling by 7 p.m. We didn't have advance tickets, so we had to wait out in the freezing weather for 1/2 hour before they let us in. Luckily (and I say this very sarcastically!) we still got front row seats.

You know the crowd that hangs out at the local county fair? Well, multiply that by 7 - I came up with that number because the fair lasts a week - and that was all condensed into one night. Men with missing teeth, 350 lb. women wearing tank tops in 20 degree weather... the girl that sat behind us with her brother, sister, and dad was truly the culmination of all that class. She couldn't have been 8 years old. One time she yelled at the wrestler that he "sucks balls," another time she yelled that they could "suck his d**k," (at this point, I turned around and told her to watch her mouth), then the last comment was when she yelled at one was a "f*!k face". I yelled 4 seats over to the dad that his daughter had the mouth of a sailer. He just gave her a dirty look.

Even though Marc and I agreed we were truly embarrassed to be seen there, the kids had a blast (even Alex, although she won't admit it) and at one point, the wrestlers threw each other out of the ring, and one tossed the other over the railing, landing almost right on top of the kids. We're such good parents.

crazy life...

2009-02-07T07:17:00.000-08:00

My mom emailed me the other day asking if she had done something to make me mad because she hadn't heard from me in so long! Really? I usually talk to her every night, every other night, tops. Then I stopped to think about it...

Basketball tournaments every weekend, talent show auditions, chairing the Daddy/Daughter Dance (which is tonight!) and sports practices that don't put us home until sometimes 8:30-9:00 at night really did set me back! Not to mention the hours of math homework my 5th grade daughter has that neither Marc nor I can understand - and I truly believe anyone without a PhD would! And her birthday is this month too. I haven't even thought about that yet!

It'll slow down - 2 more basketball tournments this month, the dance is over tonight and I can finally clear out my house from the pink & red explosion of cookies, flowers, decorations, etc... that has taken over!

Then wrestling starts next month. Maybe if I got my mom to join Facebook... :)

Now I am a complete white-trash mother...

2009-01-21T17:00:00.000-08:00

After school yesterday I had to stop at the grocery store. I HAD to, we had no milk, nothing for dinner, not even things I could throw together to make a semi-decent meal. So the kids and I go to the grocery store, and I tell them, "I'll be 5 minutes, tops," and run into the store. I made a bee-line for the milk, grabbed a frozen lasagna, some veggies, and checked out.

As I'm walking out to the car, I see Sam curled up in the corner of the car. I ask Alex what his problem is and she tells me he's crying. My immediate anger/frustration kicks in. I'M NOT GONE 5 MINUTES AND YOU CAN'T GO THAT LONG WITHOUT FIGHTING!

Alex: "I was singing along to the radio (Yes, I left the car running with them in it while I went into the store) and Sam got mad at me and then just attacked me."

Sam: "I told her to stop singing and she wouldn't"

Mom: "Were you just singing, or were you obnoxiously yelling just to annoy him?"

Alex: (in a defeated tone) "I was being obnoxious"

So as I start yelling/lecturing, I find out that a man in the car next to them saw the whole thing and got out of his car, knocked on the window and asked Sam if he had fun beating up his sister, telling Sam that he was watching the whole thing. Sam said, "yes." Apparently when Sam hit her, she split her lip and was bleeding at this point.

So I say... "A strange man knocked on the window and started yelling at you guys? And you rolled down the window for him?!?!"

Kids: "Yes"

OH MY GOD! Have I not taught them anything?! Apparently they know not to take candy from strangers and to look both ways before crossing the road, but I've failed to imprint into their heads that you do not open the doors for strangers! I'm surprised this man wasn't waiting for me when I got out of the store. Alex said it happened about a minute before I got back to the car (which, by my calculation, they started fighting before I was even out of sight!)

I know you're wondering...

2009-01-15T15:20:00.001-08:00

My internet is back up (along with my phone). After 2 days without service my internet finally came back up on it's own. I spent about 45 minutes on the phone with the tech guy who finally set me up with an appointment for a service guy to come out ( a day and a half later). But what cracked me up was, after being transferred 3 times before someone could finally take my information to find out what was wrong, I ended up talking to Sheldon in the Repeat Repairs Department. He gave me his direct extension so next time this happens, I should call him. Do not call the direct 1-800-COMCAST number, do not pass go, do not collect $200. Call Sheldon at his own personal extension.

So I'm pretty special. He told me they don't give this extension out to anyone. After looking at my records with our service interruptions, he agreed that we merited special rights to Repeat Repair connections. Is it just me, or does anyone else find it funny that they even have a department dedicated to Repeat Repairs?!

Punishment ideas?

2009-01-14T19:43:00.000-08:00

My daughter, my loving pride and joy, has dropped the bomb on me. It's 2 days until the end of the marking period, and I find out tonight that she may quite possibly get 2 E's on her report card. I knew we were struggling with her math, but really thought she could get a C on it.

Then I go through some of her stuff tonight and find about 35 papers that she never showed us, most of which were E's. And a progress report (without a date on it) letting us know she was averaging 45% in math. And then I can go into her reading grade. How does someone fail reading? (well, she may get a D). That is pure laziness. All she has to do is read the book, but it's a fight every single night of the week. She'd rather be doing anything else.

So... this is what Marc and I came up with for her punishment for next marking period. Please feel free to add to this, I'm feeling generous.

1. No social contact on school nights
2. No overnight friends on the weekends. Friends are to go home by 6 p.m. on the weekends.
3. No internet
4. No cell phone
5. No singing lessons
6. No talent show
7. No extra-curricular activities during the school week

This grounding extends through the next marking period. Please give me some ideas or input. We feel like we have failed as parents when it comes to her school work. It's not like we aren't connected to her teachers, I see them every day. She was just really good at being really sneaky.

Stupid Comcast

2009-01-14T08:01:00.000-08:00

Ok... let's see if this works. Our internet/phone is out... YET AGAIN. For anyone keeping track, that's the 3rd time this month, and a total of now 8 days.

I did ask for a credit to our account, however no one seems to want to get back to me on this. However, they are very adamant if I don't pay my bill by Friday, they will shut me off. Now to be fair, when I do get a hold of someone, they are VERY nice, almost bending over backwards to try to help, EXCEPT when I ask about a credit adjustment on my bill. I've even emailed the comment that appeared on my last blog report (wierd in itself), with no response.

Why do we continue to put up with this, you ask? Well, we have no other choices. And we got sick of stealing the wireless signal from our neighbors. We literally had to sit in one certain chair, turn the computer on a 90 degree angle and pray it could connect. We can't get DSL where we live by anyone else either. The other companies tell us "soon", and as for Cable, nope, no other options either, unless we go to satellite. At this point, that may be coming soon though. And we opted for the Triple Play (phone/internet/cable) to save money. It does that much, but doesn't help much when 2 of the 3 don't work anyways. STUPID COMCAST!

So, we'll see. Maybe they'll flag this again and I'll hear something. Otherwise, don't try to call me, or email me... my Comcast phone and internet is out. STUPID COMCAST!

2009 Resolutions

2009-01-01T07:01:00.000-08:00

I’m going to try to remain realistic this year. As I look back over last year’s resolutions, I know I tried… So here we go again.

Manage money more wisely… (see last year’s resolution). Again, I have not figured out how to do this. Maybe this year will be a charm! And since last year, they’ve raised my overdraft charges from $25 to $37, that's the best reason to stick to this one!

Lose weight. Last year I said I wasn’t focusing on this, so I gave myself a year off. Now I have to get serious and lose the last of my post-surgical weight so I can finally get to my goal! I’d say “exercise more” should be a resolution, but I HATE to do that, so I don’t think I should put myself through the disappointment when I don’t stick to this one! Although we did buy that treadmill that we talked about last year, Alex likes to use it as a stage for her Barbies. That’s the most action that thing gets!

Get organized! Organize my closets, drawers, cupboards, shelves… It all needs it! Other people have figured out how to do this, why can’t I?

Be nice. I am not a horrible person, but I can be a little catty and judgmental sometimes. And if I can hold back the first time that stupid girl at Burger King screws up my order….

There are a couple that I’ve taken right off the list, because, let’s face it, some things will never change. Last year I vowed to volunteer wisely. Since then, I’ve gotten a job at the school and well, now I just spend ALL my extra hours there.

All because of a little gas

2008-12-29T18:27:00.000-08:00

My gas bill was due today. Not just due today, but past-due today. I know… not very responsible of me to put it off for so long, but with all the holiday hassle, I knew I had time, or so I thought. I kept saying I’d drop off the payment but the due date came (and went). Then the past-due notice came. I still had time. Then we went out of town for the holidays. Crap! It was due Friday and we were 2 ½ hours away. I could just put it in the drop box Sunday night when we got home. I remembered this Sunday night at 11:30 p.m. while watching TV in bed.

Ok, so I’ll call them first thing Monday morning and explain everything and bring it right up to them. Normally, I wouldn’t be so paranoid, but about 10 years ago I did the same thing and THEY SHUT ME OFF! I got there 20 minutes after they opened and they already had a technician out and had shut off our gas service! So I vowed never to take that chance again. So I got up at 7:45, they open at 8:00. Then I fell back asleep and woke up at 8:20. They probably already shut me off. I picked up the phone to call them and plead my case. “Welcome to Citizens Gas automated customer service line. Press 2 for billing information…” I pressed 2 and nothing, dead silence. My phone went out. STUPID COMCAST! I went over to the internet knowing what I’d find, since both our phone and internet service were out for 3 days last week too.

Ok, where’s my cell phone? I picked it up to dial and it said “Powering down, please charge…” ARE YOU SERIOUS? (My phone charger is in Marc’s van, in Jackson- 45 minutes away – because I forgot to grab it when we unloaded last night).

I guess I’ll just have to throw on my sweats, drive uptown with check in hand and hope they show me some compassion. I grab the car keys, throw on my jacket & boots, and… the car battery is dead. REALLY? Am I being watched? Is this some bad sitcom? Wait! My grandma’s van is parked in the driveway… with 2 flat tires. (Yeah, we’re the neighborhood hillbillies!) And it’s been in my driveway for 2 weeks without being driven. I’m sure it’ll need to be jumped. It’s been so cold out. I grabbed the key for that, turned the ignition… it started!!! And I know I have a can of fix-a-flat in my car’s trunk in case of an emergency.

I screw the hose of the fix-a-flat onto the front flat tire and push the button on the can. Of course I didn’t have it screwed on tight (my fingers were frozen together at this point because the plastic bins that I have at the top of the coat closet labeled “gloves & mittens” no longer have gloves and/or mittens in them, but a misplaced unsnapped jacket hood, a scarf, and a fleece headband) and it sprayed out all over me - my hands, my arms, down the front of my coat. And this crap is made of something gas-like because that’s what it smelled like!

So I go into the garage and drag Marc’s air compressor down off the shelf (which I had been trying to avoid doing) and dig out the extension cord and inflate the 2 tires and head uptown to pay my stupid gas bill.

I look in the rear view mirror on the way and notice I have eyeliner smudged and try to wipe it off so I look somewhat presentable (who am I kidding?!). OH CRAP! I didn’t wash my hands after the fix-a-flat fiasco. That burns!

So now I get to Citizens Gas Company where, I hate to admit, they were very gracious. “No problem!” they tell me. Well, since I’m out, I should run up to work and try to call Marc and tell him to call Comcast and get the tech out again to fix our phones/internet service (again I say, for the 2nd time in a week!!!). But wait, we can’t make long-distance calls from work. I’ll just stop at a payphone. I know I have some change at the bottom of my purse. Man, I haven’t used a payphone in like 5 years. And you know what, most other people must not have either, because you can’t find them anywhere! Finally Walgreen’s comes to my rescue. The only payphone in the tri-city area, I’m sure of that! I call Marc’s office and wait for about 3 minutes (I have 7 minutes left and no more change!) when Marc comes on the phone. I have to give him this low-down in about 20 seconds and have him call Comcast, insisting they send someone out ASAP – because we’re not happy customers at this point, messing with no service AGAIN!

In the end, Comcast will be out Tuesday between noon and 2 p.m. Hopefully I’ll have my beloved computer back online, I still have heat because my gas bill is paid, and hell, it can only get better from here, right?!

(But you know, I was going to ask Marc to drop off the gas bill on his way to work this morning, but I didn’t because it was out of the way of his normal route, and I didn’t want him to complain about it. That makes all of this his fault, right?!)

Thanks Chippy!

2008-12-28T07:27:00.001-08:00

I made these cookies for Christmas this year. They're not hard to do, but time-consuming. And they're DELICIOUS! Melt-in-your-mouth, chewy chocolately deliciousness.

So I made a big tray of them to take to my family Christmas this weekend. Marc loaded up the van. I made sure to tell him to put them on the top, because they're very fragile. So he did. Then he called the dogs and kids to load in...but he didn't shut the van tailgate. Need I say more? Chippy used my plate of cookies as a stepping-stone to launch his 50 lb. body into the minivan.

These cookies don't just crush, they "poof" into dust. No remnants but cocoa powder at the bottom of the tray. Thanks Chippy!

Merry Christmas

2008-12-24T18:51:00.001-08:00

Merry Christmas! It's Christmas eve and we're sitting here, just the 4 of us, getting ready to head to bed. It's a nice, relaxing evening. We spent the evening at my in-laws, munching on snacks, visiting, opening gifts. Tomorrow will be just as relaxing... just the 4 of us, watching the kids opening gifts, playing, and I think tomorrow evening we're heading out to see "Marley & Me". I love these kind of holidays. We used to do the whole "fit every family member in" visits, where we were driving all over kingdom-come, but we vowed that we will stay home on Christmas with the kids from now on. Of course, on Friday afternoon we'll head out to Memphis for the weekend to spend the holidays with my family. Usually Grandma Ruth and Grandpa Ted come here for Christmas morning, but Dad threw his back out and Mom had the flu last week. So plans got a little mixed up.

Anyways.... not to leave you without wonder... I finished the 4th and final book in the Twilight series last week. Now I don't know what to do with myself. I'm thinking of starting book #1 over again and reading it to Alex. Her and I plan to go see the movie again. And I read in one of her teeny-bopper magazines that Rob Pattinson (aka Edward) has signed on for the next 2 movies, with #2 out next fall. So I do have that to look forward to. Aaaaaahhhhhhh.

First Snow Day!

2008-12-19T10:12:00.000-08:00

Yay!!! It's the first snow day of the year, and for once, I don't have to worry about what to do with my kids! As I sit here still in my PJ's at 1:25 p.m., I am so thankful for my new job :)

The neighbor plowed our driveway, I've got the day to finish my Christmas baking, and it's beautiful outside! Although Marc doesn't see things quite my way, it took him almost 2 hours to get to work this morning.

Merry Christmas!

Healthy Competition

2008-12-10T03:51:00.000-08:00

A couple weeks ago, while I was going through my christmas decorations to take to school, I sent out an email to the staff asking if anyone wanted to participate in a door-decorating contest that the students could judge. The winning class would get something like a pizza party or gift certificate or something. A bunch replied saying it sounded like fun, and the decorating began.
Then the other day, the principal came up to me saying someone on staff complained about the "competition" and thought the school should be promoting "cooperation" instead. So... the contest was no longer a contest... now anyone who participated at all won something and if they chose not to participate, it was up to them.
GIVE ME A BREAK! I understand the whole "cooperation" thing. But what's wrong with a little competition? Oh, I forgot... kids are all winners. That's right. There's no competition in life. They all get stars on their charts, we wouldn't want to hurt anyone's feelings now, would we? We don't keep score at games anymore (because that will prepare them for high school?!) because everyone should be a winner. And apparently now, even the adults can't handle a little competition either.

Full-fledged Vampire addiction

2008-12-06T16:02:00.000-08:00

I finished the 2nd book in the Twilight series tonight. Not that I did't have anything else to do... Besides work (which, may I say, it ROCKS that I can read during work and it is actually job-related now! No one thinks twice about it when they see me!), Alex had 2 basketball games this week, I worked late 2 nights until 8 p.m., I had PTA stuff all day today...and it was a must that I fit the Twilight movie into my schedule last night!!! OH-MY-FREAKING-GOD! I sat through that movie with my heart fluttering and my stomach full of butterflies for 2 hours. Alex really enjoyed it too. I can't say the same for Marc or Sam. They both said it was OK, but they probably got bored because it was mostly a love story, with the exception of one very good fight scene. Maybe Alex and I will go see it again alone this time. It feels so wrong (illegal) that he evokes such feelings in me :)

I'm just glad that when I went to WalMart to get book 2, I thought to buy book 3 at the same time. Now I don't have to wait to start that one! I need to finish this series so I can get my life back in order!

Curse you, damned vampire!

2008-12-01T13:24:00.001-08:00

Ok, I gave in to peer pressure. I wasn't going to do it. I had no intention of doing it. I had no interest in it, but I caved in to follow the crowd and bought Twilight this weekend. Saturday, to be exact. And I finished it this afternoon. W-O-W.

I have absolutely no interest in vampire books, movies or the like. I'm not into any of that supernatural, sci-fi stuff, but I couldn't stop myself. I stayed up til midnight last night and then up again at 5 a.m. this morning because I couldn't wait to read what was going to happen. Edward made my knees weak and gave me butterflies in my gut. I felt 16 again, the feelings you used to get when you'd catch "him" out of the corner of your eye, see him looking at you... that first love/lust. Again, this is not normally my type of novel - I keep saying that because I'm just dumbstruck that I got so into this book and actually liked it. Then do you know what those evil book publishers did? They put the first chapter of the next book in the series at the end, just to give you a little taste of it. And of course I read it- which I shouldn't have- because now I will obsess about getting the 2nd book and then spend the next 2 days doing nothing but reading that one!

We're going to see the movie this weekend, Alex and I. I know the movie won't do the book justice, but I can't help myself.

Shopping!!

2008-11-30T04:06:00.000-08:00

Well... I braved the day-after-Thanksgiving crowds with my mom this year. We got up early and headed out shopping Friday morning - with nothing in particular to get, and no particular place to go (makes you want to sing that last line doesn't it?).
First stop: Target. People are crazy. Some might say I am for getting up to go shopping on the busiest shopping day of the year, but I really do enjoy the people-watching part of it all. The lines were wrapped from the registers all the way to the back of the store and back around front. Crazy. So to keep more with my pace, we went to JoAnn Fabrics, Michaels, and the Flower Factory. For some reason, the women who hit these craft stores for holiday savings were a lot less psychotic than the ones who hit Wal-Mart, K-Mart and Target.
By about 11 a.m. the crazy crowd had dispersed, and we could shop the retail chains without any problem at all, still getting the same bargains they waited in line for. But then again, I wasn't waiting for one of the 5 available video game systems or big-screen TVs. Just good deals on winter boots or hoodies.
Holiday Observation #1: Despite the jolly season, people are RUDE. I'm not sure if it's just lack of common sense, but in one store alone, my mom and I waited in line to pay for a few minutes, and when the cashier said "I can help the next available person" an old lady appeared out of nowhere with hands full of stuff, and walked right up to pay. Of course no one said anything to her. Why? Because she's OLD. Sorry... no excuse for being rude! What did she think the roped lines were for? Then I checked out and went to return my cart and a lady asked, "Are you done with that?" I went to hand it to her and a man walked up and took it from me. I assumed it was her husband. Wrong! Just a rude man. We both just looked at each other and shrugged.

he must take after his father...

2008-11-21T19:26:00.000-08:00

Sam at the elementary lock-in on Friday night. (he's in the red sweatshirt)

I'm official!

2008-11-19T16:21:00.001-08:00

How funny does that look?! I still can't get used to the fact that everyone calls me Mrs. Daly - EVERYONE! At school all the other adults call each other mr. and mrs. I guess that's a good thing. Could you imagine if the kids were like, "Um, Bob, I don't understand this question..." or "I had to go to Carol's office again today..."

not another one?!

2008-11-17T17:25:00.001-08:00

We got yet another pet last week. Alex helped one of her girlfriends pick out a hamster at the pet shop, and low and behold, that hamster was pregnant... so we were the lucky recipient of one of the offspring. He is a cute little guy, though, isn't he?!

Marley

2008-11-11T17:48:00.001-08:00

So I've been a little behind-the-times on current best-sellers, and finally started reading Marley & Me this week. Actually, I only started reading it because I saw the movie was coming out and a co-worker offered to let me borrow her copy before I see it. I always thought it was a cute cover, and looked interesting, but never had the ambition to sit down with it.

Let me tell you... the Preface made me cry, if that was any inclination as to what was to come. This book is so light-hearted and heartwarming that I can't put it down. I read it with a smile on my face and tears streaming down my cheeks.

So whether you're a dog-person, a cat-person, or a non-animal person (those exist?) I highly recommend it.

Diversity

2008-11-09T05:14:00.000-08:00

The kids and I were volunteering at the Book Fair at school last week. On the way home that night, Alex told me how she heard the other kids there talking about their Mom and Other Mom. This prompted a great conversation between us that night.

This Mom is very involved in our PTO, and the kids have known all along that her kids had 2 moms, but I guess it never sunk in with them until they heard the kids calling her Mom and Other Mom. Alex and I talked about how families come in all different varieties - not just Mom, Dad, Brother & Sister. Actually ours changed a little a couple years ago when it added Grandma Fran to the daily routine.

Then I started realizing how fortunate the kids are to live in our neighborhood. We have great neighbors, all very nurturing and protective. But all VERY different...
1. One couple who adopted their son
2. One retired couple who have grown kids and adopted their neice's son
3. A remarried mom who's 10-year-old is now an uncle
4. Friends who have half-sisters and brothers
5. Grandparents raising their grandkids after mom died of cancer

And this is just the first block of our neighborhood. I know it's not diversity at its finest - although we do vary. But Marc and I are about the plainest, most textbook family here. Married for 13 years, no ex's, no other baby-mama's or daddies... how boring.

Growing up in Memphis, we didn't see much diversity except for divorce. We didn't have any Jewish or Indian friends and there were only a handful of black families in Memphis. Now Adrian isn't the melting-pot of Michigan by any standards, but I am thankful that my kids do have the opportunity to experience some diversity.

Double Dipping

2008-11-02T05:37:00.001-08:00

This year the kids wanted to go trick-or-treating in our neighborhood...which is not known for its abundance of trick-or-treaters. So we told them to go ahead, but they'd probably be disappointed. So, Friday after school they got their costumes on and headed out the door, which was wierd because this was the first time we didn't go with them. After about an hour they came home with a bag full of candy - the BIG stuff - because neighbors knew there wouldn't be many out - they really splurged!

Afterwards, we had a neighborhood party at our house. That was fun, but in all the excitement I didn't take a single picture.

The next day Marc found out about a town next to us that had rescheduled trick-or-treating because of football playoffs, so my nieces came over and we packed up the 4 kids and headed out with them again. This was traditional Halloween - walking the downtown streets, crowds of kids and their parents. It was fun. But we noticed it was a bit like walking thru Wal-Mart. Let me tell you... I'm being catty... but it was hard to tell if some people were dressed up or if that was the norm for them. I wanted to tell one lady that just because it was the last $20 crushed white velour bride costume on the shelf that was about 3 sizes too small for her... didn't mean she really had to get it - much less wear it without a bra and a MUCH-NEEDED girdle underneath!!!

Anyways... the first night the kids dressed up as the Blue's Brothers. I didn't get a picture of them together. I'll have to make them dress up again so I can get that. But Sam is posing with his best friend (who was trick-or-treating for his first time ever). Notice the candy cigarettes. Nice, huh? The next pic is my kids and my nieces.

2008-10-26T06:04:00.000-07:00

This is my kitchen on a normal weekend. Ok... I straightened it up a little before I took the picture. Anyways... I'm making Frankenstein and pumpkin lollipops, ghost and skeleton cupcakes, and working on a baby shower cake. I'm in my glory until I open Sam's backpack to find a note from his teacher regarding his Halloween party at school this week. "Dear Mrs. Daly, thank you for volunteering to bring cupcakes for the party, however, would it be possible for you to send plates and cups instead?"

come on, ladies!

2008-10-20T13:43:00.000-07:00

I really need you to back me up! I'll never be able to openly purchase anymore footwear unless you come to my rescue and help me convince my husband it's completely normal to own 37 pair of shoes!

What is appropriate?

2008-10-19T18:22:00.000-07:00

Marc and I were cleaning out our closets this weekend (not fun!) and I was reorganizing my stuff. I've always ripped on him for having too many clothes and shoes, until I counted 37 pair lining my closet floor. 37 pairs of shoes. Now, honestly, these include flip flops and sandals, but is that really a lot? It doesn't seem like it when I'm getting dressed in the morning. There are still so many more that I still feel I need when I go to the mall. How many do you have?

Loving my job...

2008-10-15T18:14:00.001-07:00

Well, tomorrow I actually get trained at school. I've been there a week and a half and I've learned to check books in and out. That's pretty much it. I'd be happy with that, but it does make for a long day when there aren't any classes in the library. I have to say I am surprised at what people depend on their local librarian for though. Apparently, I am the scheduler of the use of TV's/VCRs/DVDs, projectors, the monitor of the laminating machine, the supplier of light bulbs for any aforementioned machine or projector... Not that I mind any of that. But once I actually learn how to actually manage a library, I'm hoping I won't have a lot of spare time. And I do have to say I'm getting very accustomed to the end of the workday being 3:30.

why couldn't I come up with something

2008-10-11T17:19:00.000-07:00

like this?

Ouch!

2008-10-07T14:06:00.001-07:00

I came across this and it was so disturbing to me.... I had to share it. EEEEWWWWW!

http://matthewsrecord.ning.com/profiles/blog/show?id=1997432%3ABlogPost%3A13578

First Day of School

2008-10-06T17:49:00.000-07:00

Today I started my new job. I really wasn't nervous, but I did change outfits like 3 times this morning. It went very well, except for the feeling of being lost, not knowing what to do. I know soon enough it'll all fall into place. It was a lot of hustle and bustle, classes coming in on every half hour for their library time, checking in books, checking out books... but I did get two 1-hour blocks without classes where I got to kind of explore thru stuff, sort mail. I still kinda feel like I'm on vacation from my other job, or doing some kind of volunteer work at the school. I don't know how long it'll take before I feel normal there, but hopefully it won't take too long.

North branch of "Icing on the Cake"

2008-10-05T16:37:00.000-07:00

My mom has decided to be my north branch chain of my cake business. Here's her first cake. It was for a celebration party for a friend of hers that went through Breast Cancer.

If anyone around the Memphis area wants a cake, you can call her :) (810) 392-2864.

Insights into a 7-year-old's mind

2008-10-03T19:53:00.000-07:00

Marc had to work late and Alex stayed the night at a friend's house, so it was just Sam and I tonight. We decided to make a McD's run for a late-night snack and on the way, had an insightful discussion. He brought up Grandma Fran and how he missed her, then we got to talking about all the big changes our family has gone through the past couple years. I said, "We moved, Grandma died..." and Sam said, "Let me list the changes..." So he started to list them.

1. We moved

2. Max and Erma died (our dogs)

3. Grandma died

4. We switched to Comcast

5. Anna was born

I'm not quite sure what came after that, I was still stuck on the "switching to Comcast" part. I asked him why he thought that was a big change in our life. He answered, "Nickelodeon used to be on Channel 27, now it's on 43, and I can never remember that."

The next George Lucas? - a short movie by Sam Daly

2008-09-28T17:14:00.000-07:00

Full Force Ahead....

2008-09-27T16:02:00.000-07:00

We had our first weekend of football this morning. It actually went very well. Only a few complaints, and surprisingly it was from 2 adult men who volunteered to coach. We had to switch around a few kids to even up the teams, and these 2 men just couldn't comprehend it. I was about ready to tell them they could volunteer to do it next year, but I graciously held my tongue.
3 more weekends of it left, but we are having a great time.

The cake business is going full force also. I'm getting people calling me out of the blue telling me they heard from "so-and-so" that I do cakes. I had one for a quincinera (a Mexican Sweet-16 type party for a girl - only it's for her 15th.) Then another cake for a boy's baptism, and this week I have a birthday cake for an 80-year-old nun. It's such a wide variety.

And in the middle of all this, I start my new job in exactly 9 days. Only 5 more work days at my old job - and I'm finding it REALLY hard to be there every day. I don't know if it's sunken in yet that I'm leaving for good, not just on vacation. But I know they'll manage without me, just hopefully not right away :)

I got the job!

2008-09-19T03:05:00.001-07:00

I had a 2nd interview yesterday morning with the principal, assistant principal and superintendent, and got a phone call last night about 6:00 asking me if I'd like to accept the job. Wow! I was really confident after yesterday's interview, I knew I had no regrets, and I couldn't have done any better. But I also knew 2 other people were up for the job, and if they had any experience, they'd outdo me.
So today I go into work...the same job I've gone into for 14 years, 8 months and 22 days... to give my 2 weeks notice.

Holiday Party

2008-09-07T08:55:00.001-07:00

Ok, I know it's a bit early, but I saw this idea and HAD to do it...Ugly Christmas Sweater Party. So I'm thinking it can be a girl's night or something, or not. You tell me. I have room for people to stay over.

Put me in coach...

2008-09-04T18:19:00.000-07:00

Ok, somebody's gotta stop me. I read a mug at Hallmark that said "Somebody stop me before I volunteer again." I've never seen anything fit myself so perfectly. What? You say you can't imagine what I've gotten myself into now? Well... let me tell you. I am the new Madison Elementary Flag Football Coach. Huh?! I don't know a damn thing about football. As much as Marc watches it like 15 months a year, I know nothing about it. In Jr. High cheerleading we did some cheer that went, "First and 10, do it again." I cheered it, but still don't know what it means. "Push 'em back, shove 'em back... waaaaayyyy back." Nope. Don't know what that means either. For me, the best thing about a football game is enjoying it on a nice fall day tailgating with friends, drinking beer. I can't necessarily do that with 150 elementary kids, now can I?

So in my defense, they were going to cancel the program because our varsity football coach decided he didn't have time to run the program for 4 saturday mornings. And I will have Marc there to help me (for the last hour of the program every weekend). I'll just have to make sure I get the kindergarten/1st graders. All they like to do is run around in circles and pull each others flags off. I can coach that. I'll keep you posted.

End of summer trip

2008-09-02T16:48:00.001-07:00

We did one last hurrah this last weekend before school started. We ventured down south to Sandusky, Ohio to America's Roller Coast, then spent the night at the Great Wolf Lodge. Either place in itself would have been a sufficient trip, but we had to do it all. The kids had a great time with their friends - we went with some friends and their children. It was a nice, relaxing time that ended too soon. What was really interesting, was my girlfriend's niece came with us and brought her foreign exchange student. It was a lot of fun seeing Cedar Point through the eyes of a Chinese student who hadn't done these things before!

Keeping my fingers crossed...

2008-08-28T19:51:00.000-07:00

I ran up to the school the other day to measure a bulletin board I'm putting together and ran into the principal. Just a thought, I asked if the librarian position had been filled. She said, "No, and actually I am doing the hiring for it." I told her I had applied online and she said she'd be looking forward to getting my application.

I got home that night and already had an email from her saying she got everything and they were starting the process after the school year starts. Oh, I got an email from the superintendent too thanking me for applying for the position. Not a form letter, but a personal email. I know the way to get places in life is by knowing the right people, and hopefully this will all fall into place. Getting 2 personal emails from the two doing the hiring is a good thing.

What a scary thing it is thinking about jumping into a totally new career after 15 years at the newspaper. Keep your fingers crossed for me... and it wouldn't hurt to say a few prayers :)

ever want something so bad?...

2008-08-25T12:57:00.000-07:00

...and not even realize you had wanted it in the first place?

I love my job. I have to stress that - I love my job. I love being a graphic designer. I have the flexibility to come and go, I've accrued a ton of vacation time, I love the people I work with. I've been her for 14 years. I love it all.

Then I was on the website for my kids' school today looking for an email for a teacher and I glanced at the employment tab. I like to check it out every once in a while to see who's coming and going. It's a small school so I like to keep up on that stuff.

Well, there's an opening for an elementary librarian. Totally different from what I'm doing now, but the qualifications are: 2 years of college and the ability to learn. Wow. 190 school days, the same salary I'm making now (as their minimum starting salary) and the chance to be at the school all day, off on snow days, vacations, summers... So I emailed my application and resume. I also emailed the superintendent directly. Marc and I won a volunteer award this summer for the things we'd done at school last year, so he knows us. And Marc announces the sporting events.

Does it sound like I have a shot? It gives me butterflies to think that I actually want this. I wasn't looking for it, I had no plans of job hunting, but I found this.

Hamsters can't swim

2008-08-24T17:20:00.000-07:00

My babysitter's son stayed with us this weekend, and he brought his hamster (which used to be my hamster, but I gave it to him, reducing my hamster count to 2). In the spirit of the olympics, they decided to hold Hamster Olympics. First event: Hamster Ball race. They put their hamsters in their little balls and let them roll around the basement. Second event: Obstacle course: They set up pillows and books in the living room and made their hamsters climb over it all. So this went on all morning.

I went in to my room to get ready to go away this afternoon. When I came out into the living room, I looked out onto the deck only to see the kids with their hamsters on makeshift boats floating in a bucket of water, only the hamsters didn't balance on the boats. They didn't swim either. I rescued them and declared the kids inadequate hamster owners, dried the nearly-drowned little rats and tucked them snug into their safe cages again.

I have to admit... I'm glad my kids found something inventive to do besides stay inside and play Barbies or video games all day.

Well... here it is!

2008-08-22T15:40:00.000-07:00

I've pretty much launched my new business. I made flyers and business cards at work, and while I was gone one day, Alex called me to tell me she took them around the neighborhood and stuffed mailboxes. What a promotions manager she'll be one day! So I got 2 orders that same day, one more order for next week, and a possible wedding cake order for December!

I don't know how to set up a website, so I did the next best thing. You can check it out:

http://juliesicing.blogspot.com/

Anna's Baptism

2008-08-17T17:32:00.000-07:00

Anna Elisabeth Suwalkowski, baptized August 17, 2008...and the cake I made :)

WTF?!

2008-08-12T05:48:00.001-07:00

My girlfriend at work had a party for her son's 6th birthday this past weekend. He got this toy from his grandma. She didn't notice anything odd about it at first, but when she was cleaning up after the party, she saw the wrappings laying face-down on the floor. You tell me.....

Searching...

2008-08-10T14:00:00.000-07:00

Our family is in a really akward place right now... we're searching for a new church. We've belonged to the same church for about 14 years now, they were our family. But do you know what it feels like to grow with, depend on, and love your church family for such a long time, only to find out at your time of most need, they weren't what you thought?

Before we committed to our church, Marc and I even "shopped around" for a different church. But something always led us back to the First Presbyterian. It was a combination of everything: the people, the environment, the pastor... We were so involved - leading the weekly children's group, attending Sunday School, never missing a week. Then something changed. I can't quite pinpoint it - maybe we grew too fast, adding a 3rd weekly service, a bigger administration, I don't know. When Marc's mom got sick, we turned to the church for answers. Ok, maybe not answers, but comfort. We got it from various people, but not from where we felt we needed it. I never approached our pastor about it, so maybe it's not fair of me to write about it, but I'm going to anyways. I felt like he was too busy for us. The day Marc's mom died, we called the pastor to let him know she was in her final hours. He came that day - 6 1/2 hours after I called him. And when he came, he brought someone with him, who chose to stay in the car, while he left the car running, came in to say a prayer with the family, and left (literally) 2 or 3 minutes later. Marc's mom died 2 hours later. I don't kn ow... maybe that's how things work. Maybe we were expecting too much... but we felt like we needed someone there to hold our hands, to guide us through this...

So we haven't been able to bring ourselves to go back. It's been a year now and his mom's birthday was Friday. We thought we should go out to dinner or something to commemorate it. Then decided the best way to honor her was to find a new church, and get back into going regularly.

Enter: Church on Steroids. We were asked by a neighbor to attend her church. She warned us that it was a very upbeat service. Whoa! It was an awesome experience but a little unexpected. People were throwing up their arms to heaven, shouting hallelujah, passing out from the Holy Spirit. There were movie theater screens, a rock band set up, stage lights, microphones, men wearing "Security" shirts, ushers with uniforms that looked like they worked at the local theater. There's nothing wrong with any of this, but we just came from a very conservative church where you sit in pews, sing a few hymns to begin, listen to the sermon, shake your neighbor's hand, then go home.

So we're going to keep looking. We have a few we are really anxious to try. After a year, I kind of fell out of my whole relationship with Jesus, so it did feel nice to be in the house of the Lord again. Hopefully we'll find our own new house.

Welcome to our zoo

2008-08-09T19:20:00.000-07:00

I tried the bunny thing, but couldn't get them to eat, so I ventured out to the backyard with them, sent them scurrying back into their hole, and let nature take its course. They seem to be doing well, I keep checking on them.

But Sam and Alex were gone for the week, and excited to come home to see the bunnies. When I called them and told them I put the bunnies back, they were really bummed. So I went out and got Sam his own hamster. Alex had her own, and he really liked hers. I got home from the pet shop with our new little addition, put him in with Alex's until we got him his own cage, and went to bed. When I woke up the next morning, both hamsters were gone. Top was off the cage, and they were nowhere to be seen. I looked around and found Alex's, but couldn't find Sam's anywhere. When I called the kids, I broke the news to Sam, and again, he was bummed. Alex told me the little girl down the road was trying to get rid of her hamster, so I called them and got hers.

Low and behold.... the next morning, as I was folding laundry, Sam's original hamster went running across my foot. So, if I haven't lost you yet, that brings the hamster tally to 3. What the hell... once you have one, what's 2 more. Now we have 2 dogs, 2 bunnies in the back yard, 1 bird and 3 hamsters. Just call me Noah.

Bunnies

2008-08-06T19:01:00.000-07:00

Marc was mowing the lawn tonight and just "happened upon" a nest of bunnies. The momma was MIA, one bunny escaped, and one didn't run faster than the mower. But we did save 2 of them. Now what? They're so cute and cuddly, I have just never taken care of baby rabbits. Google says to feed them kitten formula with an eye dropper about every 4 hours. No problem, I have the next 4 days off work. I'll just rearrange my day to nurse baby bunnies back to health. They sure are cute though!

Latest Creation

2008-08-06T14:50:00.000-07:00

I've been practicing my cake skills. Here's my latest one.

Let them eat cake...

2008-08-04T11:07:00.001-07:00

So I've decided to go into business. Just what I need to ad to my life, but I figure, if I do it anyways... why not get paid for it. I'm going into the cake & cupcake business. Someday I'll graduate to a full-fledged party planner and maybe even attempt wedding cakes, but right now my biggest dilemma now is what to call it, so I'm beckoning for your ideas. Marc and I were throwing some around, but nothing stuck with me: Serendipity Cakes, Piece of Cake, Cake Freak (that's marc's favorite). I need help! I've attached some of my recent attempts.

Date Night

2008-08-03T19:10:00.000-07:00

The kids are in Memphis for their last summer hurrah... so Marc and I had a date night tonight. We went out to eat and then to see The Dark Night. All I can say is FREAK-ING AWE-SOME!

Family Fun Night

2008-07-26T06:46:00.000-07:00

We took the kids to the county fair last night, along with half the neighborhood. Really, it was a lot of fun. We love doing stuff like this with the kids. But what baffles me is this...

We waited until Friday night to go because it was payday. This is a lowdown of the cost of a night out at the fair: $23 for dinner at McDonalds (so we don't have to spend a fortune on fair food), $5 per adult to get in, $1 per kid. Ride wristbands are $20, which is the better deal, because rides are $3-$5 each if you just buy tickets. Funnel Cakes: $5. Bottled Water $3. Small Sprite $2. Now here's the question? Why aren't the clientele at the county fair upscale, high class, white collar families? Aren't they the only ones that can afford it? I never run into my gynecologist and his family there. You don't see our financial advisor in line with his kids for Ocean Motion. What we did see a LOT of (since Marc and I spent the evening people watching) were VERY young, VERY pregnant women, men wearing wife-beaters and missing half their teeth pushing strollers with like 6 kids hovering around them, migrant workers and the mentally impaired. Ok, givng the benefit of the doubt to the VERY pregnant women, they can't ride the rides, so the save the $20 wristband cost, but you can't tell me those hormones don't require elephant ears, corn dogs and butterfly fries!

Now on to justify why we spent our evening here: The county fair is really a great place. Local groups get to perform in the bandshell - the neighborhood girls danced with their dance classes on stage for parents, grandparents and other onlookers. The merchant's buildings are filled with local businesses trying to promote theirselves in this crappy economy by giving away cool little things like pens, magnets, shoe cleaning kits, calendars and rulers. The 4-H'ers have worked really hard throughout the year raising their animals and we love to walk through the barns where you actually get to hold, pet and interact with the llamas, pigs, sheep, bunnies, etc... The conservation league has a bow & arrow station set up to teach people how to aim and shoot (this was Sam's favorite- even above the rides). Oh... and the food. Can't forget the food... the funnel cakes ROCK!

Stupidity

2008-07-23T12:42:00.000-07:00

The problem with America is stupidity. I'm not saying there should be a capital punishment for stupidity, but why don't we just take the safety labels off of everything and let the problem solve itself?

This is the best quote I've read in a long time. Saw it as I was Googling something at work. I guess it all comes down to survival of the fittest, or should I say "brightest." So I had to Google some more warning labels just out of my own curiosity.

Ramblings...

2008-07-19T16:23:00.001-07:00

I've been meaning to post for a couple weeks now, but when I sit down to write, I can't form my thoughts in any coherent manner.

Rambling #1:

I was supposed to go to a friend-picnic last weekend. I had every intention of going. I went to my parents friday night so it would be a shorter drive on saturday afternoon. Then my niece came over Saturday morning. I thought 5 hours would fulfill me before I had to head out, but I couldn't bring myself to it. I don't get to spend much time with her, and after 3 hours of crying (which the only cure seemed to be dangling her sideways, bouncing up and down, watching spongebob 3 feet from the flat screen), we packed her in the car to calm her down, and headed to the mall. The car ride did it. She was asleep within 2 miles. And when she woke up at the mall, she was the happiest baby ever! If that doesn't seal her genetic fate to me... then check out these legs! She definitely takes after me :)

Rambing #2:

Sam has been afraid of everything lately. I know I baby him, but even I think this is a little out of hand. Ever since Grandma died last year, he's been afraid of sleeping alone. Who can blame him. So we've been letting him fall asleep in our room and we carry him to his bed then. After that came his fear of sugar -because it's bad for you. So before he'd eat anything he'd have to be sure it was sugar-free. This lasted about 2 weeks. Then he was afraid to be anywhere alone. I have to sit in the bathroom while he takes a shower, and when he brushes his teeth, he has to pull back the shower curtain to be sure there's nothing behind it. (I should've done that before going to the bathroom at that party in high school - but that's another story). The latest thing he fears is choking. I don't know where he got that from, but he's quit eating almost everything. Even the babysitter questioned me about why he's not eating. We've moved forward though. Today he had a Toaster Strudel for breakfasts and 1 chicken nugget for lunch. (judging by the Toaster Strudel, you can tell he's gotten past the sugar-free thing.) I figure this too shall pass. Or maybe I should get the kid to a therapist.

Rambling #3:

The weather has been 90+ this week and my dogs were in desperate need of grooming. I should say "are" in desperate need of good grooming, since I gave them a home haircut. With the advent of summer comes summer daycare, which means we go into poverty mode for about 3 months. And the luxury of almost $50-per-dog grooming bills just isn't going to happen until about October. I'd post a picture of them if I didn't leave my camera cord at work, only because they look so ridiculous. The clippers I spent $50 on last year (which could be justified because after only 1 use, they would have offset the cost of one grooming trip). Well, those ceased to work after the first clipping. So I used scissors and every time they squirmed, they ended up with little bald spots. So now my springers look like dalmatians!

Rambling #4:
We went out to rent some movies tonight- as to save money. Or so I thought! $27.00 for family video night! I rented The Number 23 (Ok, but slow in parts), Marc rented Beowulf (I went to bed) and Sweeney Todd (not too interesting). And Sam got 2 Playstation games. We could have just gone to see the Dark Knight and snuck treats in my purse and called it even! It would have been a much better movie than these!

Rambling #5:
The county fair is here this week. I can go there to make myself feel better. But what if I blend in too well with the carnies. I guess I won't end up feeling too good about myself then.

2008-07-02T06:34:00.000-07:00

this is what happens when you're having a bad hair day and your stylist can fit you in that afternoon. No time for second thoughts!

countdown begins

2008-06-30T12:54:00.000-07:00

My kids are going to Memphis this 4th of July weekend to stay with family for a week. Yeah for them. Cousins from Indiana are coming into town and they're all staying out at the Rockin' F Ranch (Aunt shirley Fisher's country property with pond, dirt bikes, dune buggies and lots of fields).

Yeah for mom & dad... a week of quiet, calm, peacefulness.

Alex's Talent Show

2008-06-25T13:08:00.000-07:00

Alex performed at her School Talent show this year and I'm just getting around to posting it. She definitely has her father's no-fear-attitude about performing in front of people!

2008-06-17T10:06:00.000-07:00

Chippy is having a bad hair day. This is what fun around our house looks like.

I've lost my inner bitch

2008-06-09T17:48:00.000-07:00

It's official. Thanks to Prozac, my alter-ego, my inner bitch has departed. I think she left slowly, not quite sure when she was gone for good, but I do know now she's gone completely. I never thought I could say that about myself, but I fear I've turned into a big wimpy, gushing pushover.

My kids now know she's gone. My husband knows she's gone. My co-workers know she's gone. And even my dogs know she's gone. It's really nice living in la-la-land, but I no longer have the edge over everyone. I used to have coworkers who were fearful of asking me to do yet another task with my already overbooked schedule. Now they hand it to me and I just say, "Yeah, what the hell... I'll just take it home and do it over the weekend." My kids ask to do something, and if I say no the first time, they know they just have to do one little "...pleeeeeaaaasssseeee..." and I'll say, "Oh, just go ahead."

The worst part is my husband knows she's gone. I used to bitch about him leaving his shoes in the dining room, or his underwear in the middle of the bathroom floor. Now I just pick it up myself. It's easier.

Maybe I've just learned that all the bitching really got me nowhere, maybe I just got too old and too tired of doing it, or maybe it's all drug-induced. Surprisingly, I really don't care what the reason is.

Pretty in Pink

2008-06-06T07:34:00.000-07:00

Marc and I celebrated our 13th Anniversary on Tuesday. What did we do? Nothing, are you kidding... it was a Tuesday night. I'm too old to go out on a school night. But we are going to see Sex & The City tonight! Yeah!
Anyways... thought after the conversation at Steph's Beer Party, I'd share a little bit of the Pepto-Pink bridesmaids dresses! I would've posted it on Tuesday, but it took me 2 days to find the pictures!

look at those lips

2008-06-05T05:50:00.001-07:00

How could you not give this little face just about anything she wants!

summer project

2008-06-03T10:19:00.000-07:00

What should we do with all that extra money we got back to stimulate the economy?... hmmmm, let's commit ourselves to a huge summer project and build a fence.

The first pic is the wood I had to unload. Yes, me. Not that I can't do it. I can, and did. My problem was, I took the day off to clean house, get ready for family coming over to Sam's party, and ended up going to the lumberyard and coming home to unload 90 fence posts before I could actually drive the truck anywhere around town I needed to go. I wouldn't have, except they stuck about 3 feet out of the tailgate.

The second pic is how much of the fence marc has gotten done in a week. Or should I say, how much of the fence marc has gotten done before he hit the sprinkler line, cracking a leak.

The third pic is how much more of the yard we have left to do. No need to further explain that one. This will take us all summer.

The last pic is my poor puppies thinking they can't wait until we finish the fence so they can get out of their cramped dog pen. (And for any of you thinking, how will a split-rail fence keep dogs in the yard? We're actually going to put a wire fence tacked to the inside of it.) And keeping up with our inner-hillbilly... yes that's a blue tarp doubling for a roof on the dog pen.

My baby is 7

2008-06-01T19:13:00.000-07:00

Sam turned 7 this weekend. It's hard to believe how fast time has gone by. Marc and I were talking this weekend and I realized I don't remember most of his baby/toddler years. How sad is that? Somewhere along the line he learned to walk, talk, cut his first tooth... but looking back, I don't remember when most of that happened.

When Alex was born our life revolved around her every minute. Then Sam came and we had a baby and a 3-year-old demaning our every ounce of attention. That's not to say that you don't love the second one as much as the first. That's untrue, but now you have a completely chaotic life!

So now my baby is 7. He's far from a baby. He's got buddies, his own taste in music, girlfriends (too cute), and for God's sake... he's got a cell phone! At least he still plays with action figures.

As if I need another obsession...

2008-05-29T08:18:00.001-07:00

Sam got Rock Band wireless guitar for his birthday for PlayStation 2. Now Marc and I play it at night after the kids go to bed. Unfortunately for Marc, I rock at it! We're going out to get the drums this weekend!

Party time

2008-05-18T14:05:00.000-07:00

Marc and I went to a party last night, an actual grown-up, adult party. No kids, no balloons, no clowns, birthday cakes, moonwalks... and it was wonderful.

I don't see my girlfriends enough and it was just what I needed! I was just so lucky that Steph threw a party and my kids didn't have basketball tournaments, wrestling tournaments, Marc didn't have a wedding to DJ and there wasn't any of the usual things that eat up every weekend. And that there were other parents out there who volunteered to take my kids so I could go out for a night!

I made a vow that I'm going to do that more often. Sometimes there's things I can't miss, and with the kids getting older, they're involved in a LOT of stuff that I can't miss. But it won't hurt them to stay with other friends every once in a while so mommy can play with her friends!!!

Thanks Steph, Kelly, Colleen & Michelle!!! I'm counting down the days 'til the girls weekend!

Elvis is in the building!

2008-05-18T14:02:00.000-07:00

This is my niece, Elvis... I mean Anna. Love the hair!

who'd ever know...

2008-05-16T12:55:00.001-07:00

I'm unbelievably swamped at work right now, yet still seem to find time to play with PhotoBooth on my Mac. Just needed a quick laugh.

Another obsession

2008-05-12T19:06:00.000-07:00

I think I have a serious problem. My name is Julie Daly... and I'm addicted to lawn ornaments. Yup. As cheesy as they are, I can't get enough of them - angel statues, cement bunnies, gazing balls, bird baths, doggy memorial tombstones and the ever-lovable garden gnome. I got 'em all.

Thankfully, my addiction can be kept in tune with the rules of our subdivision. I imagine they include no plywood cutout dogs, fat ladies bending over or plastic pink flamingoes. I actually long for the day when Marc and I can retire to a senior citizen trailer park in Florida and I can publicly display those pink flamingos with pride.