MIA

I know it's been awhile and I could make a hundred excuses but it's just been LIFE. And I know everyone knows what that's like!

It's just starting to get light outside and I'm watching it snow. It's beautiful and relaxing. At least until I have to go out into it later today! I keep hearing a line from a song in my head over and over every time it snows lately. I can only hear the one part and can't think of the title or who sings it and I know it's not a Christmas song. "There's a kind of hush all over the world tonight." One of my favorite things about snow is how it muffles the sounds outside. A kind of "hush" if you will. So far we've just had patchy snow this year but if it keeps up like this then we may have a white Christmas. I think later in the week it's supposed to be icy rain though and after the great ice storm of Wichita a few years back I have no desire to go through anything like that again! Good thing Santa has an ATV sleigh!

I finally got some pictures up on Facebook of the whole plumbing mess. The new flooring is down but not without some complications along the way. The two guys who came in to put down the flooring said they had to call someone to move the toilet in the half bath because they don't do that. Apparently they were told over the phone that they DO do that but they didn't put it back very well. First it was a rocking chair and then a recliner. They finally sent an actual plumber out to reset it. Then a different man came out to put the shoe moulding back up. Supposedly they took the old to the shop so the paint could be matched up. It's not. The new pieces are white and the baseboard is more of an almond. Mark and I both agree we're just tired of dealing with the whole mess and we need to paint this spring anyway so we're just going to live with it. I'm sick of us having to call people back out and I'm sick of having people in and out of my house all day long lately. The man who is POC on the flooring is coming out tomorrow for a final inspection and to have Mark co-sign the check from the insurance company so I am going to point it out to him. And who knew a couple of tiny holes could be so costly! So far the cost to us has been $3000 and the restoration company got a check from the insurance company too. We're hoping they reimburse us for some of the plumbing costs as well. But trust me, find something more fun to spend your money on!

I could ramble on and on but the youngest just got up and I need to go make sure he eats some breakfast!

Moving in with Kermit

We have a swamp forming around our house. I noticed a spongy spot in the yard last week and pointed it out to DH who said "We'll keep an eye on it." NOT one of my favorite sayings but in the interest of family harmony I try to ignore it when I can. Last night the neighbors came over to show us what the small side yard between our two houses looks like and the dampness on our foundation. Today in the sunlight we see how swampy it is on the other side of the house too. Huge sigh.

A man from the water company came out, checked the meter and said "Nope, it's not here". Which I'm sure is what his job description entails but to quote my son's friend who was here all afternoon, "C'mon dude!" A little more helpful insight would have been appreciated.

This was while we were getting ready to hang Christmas lights outside since it was a warm, sunny day. DH discovers he has again misplaced a piece off the staple gun that fell off a few months ago. He found out and apparently it got lost again. So off to Ace he goes to buy a new one and I got online to check the town's website. I found a number to call for possible sewer emergencies so I call it and hear "Sheriff's Department" My tongue trips over itself as I start apologizing and tell her I had call the number listed on the website to call for sewer emergencies. She assures me it's ok and that she's working at "dispatch" and on the week-ends they get emergency town calls too. I explained I wasn't sure if we were an emergency or not and tell her what's going on. She put me on hold and then came back and said she had called someone from the sewer company to come out. Alrighty then!

A little bit later a kidlet brings me the phone outside and it's "sewer man". He said "I just got a call from the sheriff's department???" So I explained the number on the website to him too and we both agreed how strange it was. He comes by a little later and said he doesn't believe it's a backed up sewer since thankfully there's no awful smell. He said he thinks we have a leak and that all the pea gravel under our slab foundation has absorbed all the water it could so now it's spreading out. Then he says "It could be a pinpoint leak and been there since it was built." GREAAAAAAAAAAAAT! If we're lucky it's in a spot he pointed out on the side of the house. If it's under the house then I have horrifying images of jackhammers and flying concrete and linoleum through the kitchen in my head.

But how bad can it be to live in a swamp...really? Kermit did and look how well he's done for himself! I have kids, aren't they like fuzzy Muppets sometimes?! Then again, Kermit LEFT the swamp for Sesame Street.....can you tell me how to get...how to get to Sesame Street????

Oops, two weeks?

Ok, I did pretty well there for about a week! Then the girls were in a car accident and this and that and I just didn't get around to blogging.

I'm going to skip over the car accident for now...both girls are ok but Samantha's car had over $2200 worth of damage done to it. Luckily it was someone else's fault and their insurance is paying for it!

One of the big stories of the week is the CELTIC THUNDER SHOW!!!!! Oh my gosh, it was so AWESOME! And yes I am talking as badly as, if not worse than, my 12 yo daughter! Even Mark is saying "I want to see them again!" Such a great show! And they ain't bad to look at either! LOL

We picked Katie up early at school so we could make the over 2.5 hour drive to South Bend (which is north of us which I just found funny and Katie found confusing!). Mark went in to get her and I snapped a shot as they were walking to the van. Notice the Celtic Thunder t-shirt Katie is wearing! I ordered that from their website for her birthday back in the spring. And you can see Mark lugging her very pink and very HEAVY book bag for her, such a good dad!

So we drive while listening to the three Celtic Thunder cd's on the iPod! The Morris Performing Arts Center (PAC) was basically right off the road we drove most of the way up there. We were on a divided highway and then right into the city. Easy directions, gotta love that! We got there around 4 pm. The show didn't start until 7:30 pm and they didn't allow anyone into the theater until 6:30 pm but we weren't sure about the drive, traffic, etc and I wanted to make sure I could get a picture of Katie with the marquee since cameras weren't allowed into the show. So I got THIS shot....

See tiny Katie there?

I take pictures and then we drive around to find a place to eat and park the minivan. A lot of one way streets in the area (as it seems to be in almost every downtown!) so we find ourselves coming up a side street behind the theater when I saw the Celtic Thunder semis at which point I'm excitedly telling Mark, who was NOT in the turn lane, "Turn down that way!!!!!" He managed to make the turn without angering any other drivers and we parked. The back of the Morris is up against a one way street, obviously we didn't know that or know how easily we'd be able to see the trucks AND the tour buses!

Somewhere on that bus is my future son-in-law! At least that's what Katie tells me!

We get back into the van (even though Mark tried to keep my door lock so I'd get hit by oncoming traffic! That's my story and I'm sticking to it!) and cut through the parking lot and I ran into the ticket office to ask about parking. The kind man there told me where a parking garage was and we found our way there. Right across the street from it (on the same one-way street as the back of the Morris) we saw an Irish pub called the Fiddler's Hearth. Katie was game to try it so off we went. She surprised us both and went for the Irish stew even though there was lamb in it...there was some discussion over being able to eat "tiny, cute little lamb" or not beforehand! I had a seafood stew called Molly Malone Stew and it was really good! Good food at reasonable prices and we were in the Irish atmosphere getting into "the zone"! We finished our early supper and still had over an hour until we could even get into the theater but the place was starting to fill up with others going to the concert so we gave up our table and walked down to the theater.

We walked around in the front a bit even though I wanted to go back by the buses. Katie kept worrying they'd call us stalkers if we went back there though. Mark finally said "Let's go back there and see if we see anyone." There was a group of three women back there who told us we had just missed Damian (my future SIL for those keeping track!) Then we saw Keith walk out of the building and into one of the buses, he waved but didn't come over to the portable fence thing set up. One of the guys with the tour said they normally don't come out as a group because people pay big money through the PBS stations for the meet and greets and the organization doesn't want to upset those people. He also said though "What they do on their own though is out of anyone's control." So we were just standing there chatting with him and other fans when Ryan comes walking out. We all assumed he was going straight to the bus but he looked over and said "Hey there" and started walking towards us. Ok, I'll admit it, I freaked out! Ryan is the one who plays the "bad boy" in the show but he was so friendly to everyone. All I had to give Katie to hand him for an autograph was our dinner reciept. He laughed and said "I'm signing a receipt?!" in that gorgeous Irish accent! I said "I didn't know you were going to come out here!!!" So he laughed again and then let Mark take a picture of him with me and Katie.

Katie and I were saying to each other "He touched my shoulder!" We were such girls and Mark was such a good sport about it all! We also got to see George and his wife but they didn't come over to the fence.

We finally got to our seats (I'll skip over the crowd getting into the place and at the merchandise table). We were in the balcony and we had warned Katie that it wouldn't be like watching the DVDs. She said "Mom, these are good seats, they won't look too small at all!" LOL She kept thanking us over and over throughout that night! They made the final announcements and the lights dimmed. The show opens with Heartland which has a strong drum beginning. Katie grabbed my hand and I thought she was going to break my knuckles she was squeezing so hard! Once Damian came on stage she let go of my hand, let out a sigh and was riveted to the stage! They sang for about two hours and it all went by way too fast. If you've ever enjoyed watching one of their two DVDs seeing them in person is about a million times better!

After the show we walked back behind the building on the way to the garage. We saw Keith again who this time came over to the fence but my camera was in the van since it couldn't go inside and the camera phone didn't take a good picture in the dark so we didn't get one with him. No one else came out for awhile and it was getting late and we had a long drive ahead of us so we left. I wish Katie would have gotten to see Damian up close but it didn't work out that way. She kept thanking us again and then asked "Can we do it again sometime?" They're supposed to have another U.S. tour next fall so I hope we can take her again!

But I've been typing for awhile now and I'm getting tired so there's your short update!

Freaky Friday

We had a tanker truck explode on the interstate yesterday. The amazing thing is no one died and there were only a few non-life-threatening injuries. The pictures on the news and in the paper (you could try wishtv.com or indystar.com if you want to see) make you wonder how anyone survived it. It happened where I-69 and I-465 come together here on the northeastside so now we'll have to find some alternate routes to get into downtown Indy for awhile. It happened on an underpass so they have to check the bridge structure stability before anyone can drive on it. That's the big local news.

Personal news....I'm feeling frustrated and worn out this morning so instead of griping I'm going to my three things and wishing you all a fabulous Friday!

1. Leaf rain--you know that sound leaves make as their skittering across pavement....I love that sound!

2. the fact the overnight downpour of actual rain, no leaves, seems to have abated long enough for me to walk the boy to the bus stop in a few minutes!

3. alone time--everybody needs it every once in awhile.

Wily Wednesday

Three days in a row I've blogged now. I hope certain people have noticed! ;-)

I gave Katie the last of the nighttime cold medicine last night because she needed it worse than I did but I woke up with a nasty sinus headache. Eh, we're supposed to hit 70 today so I'm sure that will help it go away quickly!

Minor complaint, and I know it is so minor in the scheme of all we've been dealing with with the boy, but I wish we could go just one morning where I didn't have to keep repeating directions over and over just to get him ready for school! "Eat....eat...eat....drink your milk....drink your milk.....brush your teeth.....have you brushed them yet......get dressed.....have you changed yet....what are you doing in there and why are you still in your pajamas......etc...etc....etc" I think it's just bothering me more this morning because of the stupid headache. I'm glad the medicine for the ADD seems to kick in by the time school starts but there are mornings I wish I had woke him up around 4 am just to take the medicine and then have him go back to sleep until it's time to get ready for school! Hey, I never claimed to be mom of the year!

Robbie mentioned something about my flamingo marionette (see what I mean about focusing on getting ready for school?! lol) this morning. I'm grateful to him though because it sparked an idea to expand upon my Christmas card idea! Heeheehee....when we bought the house in Kansas (I still miss that house! sigh) I had flocks of flamingos arriving from all over the U.S. So now I think.......well, I don't want to ruin the surprise!

My three things.......

1. My quirky kid that inspires me even when he's driving me around the bend!

2. Our 13 yo Belle the Heinz 57 variety of pooch. She's an "old lady" now but she still likes to be in the same room with one of us at all times. I was so sick when I was pregnant with Katie and Belle would curl up next to me as I just laid there on the bathroom floor since there was no point in leaving the bathroom at that point! She can't see or hear as well as she used to but she still likes to position herself so she'll notice movement and can haul herself up to follow us to the next room.

3. My husband--who will get up and make me and the kids brownie sundaes during the Biggest Loser without commenting too much on the irony!

Toddlin' along Tuesday

I think from this point forward I'm not going to mention the job until I hear something. I drove by the new branch yesterday and it doesn't even have a paved parking lot yet so I'm hoping that means there's still a chance. But it gets old saying "No news yet" so when I know you all will know!

Katie stayed home today. A lot of congestion and coughing from the drainage but still no fever thankfully. I think a day of rest and fluids will do her good. The good news is we're actually into the 60s today! The weatherman said this morning it was the first time in 23 days we were going to be near average temps, not that anybody's counting! So I just opened the windows and hopefully all the old, stinky, germy air will blow out and we'll have nice, fresh, sunshine-smelling air in the house instead! Let a woman have a dream, ok?!? ;-)

I spent the morning dusting and washing dresser scarves and the like in our room. Dusting sets off my allergies in a most undelightful way so I always put it off. Evidently I had put dusting our bedroom off for a lonnnnnnnnng time! achoo! Another reason I hate turning the furnace on (besides the gas bill!) is all the dust that seems to come out of the ducts even though we had someone come in to clean them last summer. But for today and tomorrow I'm going to enjoy the non-forced air breezes and those afternoon temps of mid-60s!

I think I'm going to try to keep my three things I'm thankful for going until Thanksgiving. Here's hoping I can do it!

1. warm, actual fall-like weather!
2. a nice cold Coca-Cola
3. a certain Schnoodle named Daisy Doodle that likes to jump in my lap and "help" me read whatever it is I'm reading at the time!

Oh, and just for the record I have to say it's kind of weirding me out that I'm seeing hits on my blog from Seoul and Jakarta when I don't know anyone there and it looks like they're finding me through some sites that tell you how to get more hits and referrals on your blog! I don't need more hits or referrals on my blog, folks! I welcome new friends but this is just a little strange!

Just another manic Monday

I started to blog a couple of times this week-end and got sidetracked every time and now I'm not feeling chatty. Go figure!

Still no news on the job front.

Katie has a cold and is sharing it with me. Grrrrrrrr, I just barely got over the non-oinking flu! At least there's no fever this time so there's a bright spot.

Two weeks until we take her to see Celtic Thunder!!! I'm getting as excited as she's been since the ticket arrived! Soon we'll be northbound for South Bend. Very confusing! lol

Samantha asked me last night if I'd be mad if she moved back to Kansas next summer. Mad? No but..... I told her before we wouldn't be paying for the move like we did this summer and last night I told her people wouldn't be mad......and she said "Upset?"...... I basically said that people wouldn't be thrilled but she has to do whatever she feels she has to do at this point in her life. And that's about all I can say about that.

My three things:

colorful fall leaves --just wish it would be warm and more importantly dry enough to get out and try to take some pictures of them before they're all gone!

a Steeler win yesterday--makes for a happier hubby and even though I couldn't give you any stats on the team I'm always glad to see them win!

my son showing compassion towards others--we were watching Extreme Home Makeover last night and Robbie out of the blue said something along the lines of us being terrible for not helping all those people. I explained how not everyone can go build a house but we help others in different ways. He commented on how bad some of the houses are on that show and how he has a good house and shouldn't care that he doesn't have everything he wants. Pretty heady stuff for a nine year old! Do I think he'll continue that thought when it comes time to ask Santa for Christmas presents? Probably not but at least I know he DOES think about things like that and will hopefully continue thinking about it and become quite the compassionate young man as he grows older!

the waiting is the hardest part

Sing along, you know you want to! Early Thursday morning and I still haven't heard one way or the other. But I'm surprisingly calm about it. If I get the job then great and if I don't get it then I'll be disappointed but I'll try to take it as that means there's something better out there. Eh!

Again it's a rainy, chilly day. A local weatherman said this morning we could not get another drop of rain or snow this year and still end the year above normal in rainfall. I've heard Seattle is beautiful but if this is what the majority of their weather days are like I could never do it! AND....there's a chance of snow flurries this week-end as it's supposed to get below freezing overnight! WHAT?!?!?! In October?!?!?! We went straight from muggy-running-the-a/c-temps to grab-a-sweater-break-down-and-turn-on-the-heat temps. Where were the jeans and a t-shirt weather days? If this is a sign of the winter to come then I'm afraid, very afraid!

But here are my three of the day (I know I'm not blogging every day but take what you get! lol)
I'm thankful for:

1. The boy's teacher this year
2. My computer that allows me to keep in contact with my friends
3. Samantha made cookies last night!

still no word

It's Tuesday afternoon and I still haven't heard either way about the job. If only they'd come to my blog or Facebook page they'd see from some of my friends that I'd make a good employee! Hmm, do you think we'll get to the point where you really can get referrals right off of Facebook??? Sort of an enterprising yet scary thought at the same time!

Robbie had a good appointment yesterday! I'm always nervous about celebrating the good things because I feel like the fickle hand of Fate is just ready to smack me down for daring to announce any joy! Hey, if you really know me then you understand and are not at all surprised by that fact! ;-) Robbie has been drawing comic books for a few months now. It came up yesterday during his appointment and we asked him what "the thought" would be called and look like as a super villian. He came up with Super Stinky and drew a picture for the therapist. She gave him "homework" of drawing out a story of Super Stinky being defeated. I think we may have finally found something that will make him believe he IS strong enough to "talk back to the OCD". I hope and pray so anyway!

I'm part of a group of women that I "met" online that sounds around a book box. We use a priority box so it's the same shipping for everyone and then when each person gets the box they take out the books that look interesting to them and in turn put in their old books to refill it. I got that box today! Always a good mail day when you get books! I have so many paperbacks I need to read from the last time they came around and some my mom gave me in the spring. I need to avoid the library for awhile and catch up on them but I just can't seem to do that! Have I ever mentioned that I LOVE books?!?!? lol

I've also kicked around a Christmas card idea using my Cricut. Haven't tried to make a prototype yet but I have an idea in my head after seeing some cards online. I'm taking bits and pieces of other ideas for mine, it won't be fancy but hopefully those that get it will like it! (assuming I get them finished!) After having a family member laugh and tell me I had too much time on my hands after sending out handmade cards one year I don't send handmade cards to everyone. It's a little disheartening when you craft something and you feel it's not appreciated!

So my three things today.....
1. I'm thankful for Robbie's great and funny mood yesterday and this morning! Even if I could have waited for the one joke he told last night until AFTER supper! lol

2. I'm thankful for books, those who write the books and the LIBRARY!

3. And I'm thankful for the two guys at Mike's Car Wash that saw how muddy the wheel wells on the van were after the "boys" scout trip this week-end and they worked on cleaning them for me even though I didn't pay for the Deluxe wash! Sometimes it's the smallest thing that can make a person's day!

The sun!!!

After what feels like months of constant rain and no sunshine we have a cold but SUNNY morning! It definitely rained basically non-stop from Thursday morning until late last night so maybe not months but it felt like it! It was supposed to stop around noon yesterday but apparently the front stalled out. The guys' scout den decided not to camp out last night (I'm not sure the tent stakes would stay in the saturated ground anyway!) but they went up to the "event" this morning and plan to stay the whole day and maybe the night too. So at least they got to stay warm and dry last night!

It's just me and Katie today since the guys are gone and Samantha's at work. I HAVE to vacuum since it hasn't been done in over a week thanks to the flu and I bet there's probably 10 pounds of dog hair in the carpet! But after that I think I may just play with my scrapping supplies today! I say that and always get distracted but today I'm going to try to stay on crafty task!

My interview lasted for 45 minutes so I'm hoping that's a good sign. I don't think it was a slam dunk but I think I still have a good shot. I'm not sure how many others they're interviewing or when they're planning on making a decision. Two good questions I SHOULD have asked but didn't think about until I was driving home! Those nerves I said I didn't have started hitting the closer the Garmin told me I was getting yesterday morning! The fact I don't have actual banking teller experience isn't helping since my credit union days was back office but I stressed I did have face to face interaction with people there and also said "If you can help a mother of the bride whose daughter has decided at the last minute she wants handmade invitations to her wedding stay calm and have her leaving the store happy then you can deal with just about anything!" And I think I answered some of their questions in a good way if I'm any good at reading faces! We'll see and if nothing else I survived my first job interview in over five years! Almost four years at the Garden and then a year off.....wow, doesn't seem that long!

There's a website by Jessica Sprague that my lil dinosaur here would just lock up on if I tried to use. (I think I got the name right, Jeanne, Kelli or Marg can correct me if I'm wrong!) Apparently one of the things they're doing on that website now is listing three things you're thankful for each day. I saw Jeanne's been doing that so I'm going to do that too. I think it's a good exercise to help keep a body out of the "dark and twisty" place! So here goes:

1. The sun shining today! This morning I picture this cartoon sun out there wearing his shades just beaming away at us all!

2. The fact I got a job interview. Even if I don't get the job (though I hope I do!) I'm thankful that something I said in my application and phone interview made me seem interesting and smart enough to get the in person interview. You spend days just thinking of yourself as someone's mom or wife and you'll get that!

3. I'm grateful that I AM someone's wife and someones' mom! Even on the days I want to go screaming into the night with car keys in hand I always come back to being eternally grateful that I have them all!

quick update

It's raining cats and dogs here this morning and has basically been raining since yesterday morning. We went straight from summer to brrrrrrrrisk fall and I'm not liking it! None of the jeans and a t-shirt and feeling fine in the fall sun while soft breezes blow over you! Straight from running the a/c to "Is tonight going to be the night we cave in and turn on the heat???" le sigh

But the phone interview must have gone well because I have an in person interview with three or four different people late this morning. After I get the boy onto the bus this morning I have to come back here and............gasp...........the horror...............IRON!!! Usually I try to get Mr. Retired Military Man to iron for me since after 23 years of ironing uniforms he does an excellent job! But he and the boy have a Webelos camping trip this week-end....in the rain and the cold.....so I didn't want to bother him with ironing my blouse while he was trying to pack them up for the trip.

I'm a little nervous but no where near what I think I should be. It's all happened so fast I guess I haven't had time to get nervous. I just filled out the online app on Monday!

So now I have to go get the boy (who has no fat on him to keep him warm in the rain and cold while camping....yes I can mulit-task...do an interview and worry about my kid!) up and going for school.

Happy Friday to you!

Wacky Wednesday

I'm still fighting the crud, some wheezing and sinus gunk going on, but since no one will put me out of my misery I'm trying to fight the good fight!

I've applied for some jobs recently and this morning I got a phone call from one of the places. I talked to the woman for almost 15 minutes and she scheduled me for a formal phone interview in the morning! It's with a bank but the job I applied for is probably already filled if the person they're offering to accepts it today but there is an opening in Zionsville for which the HR person wants to interview me. It's about a 30 minute drive WITHOUT rush hour traffic and it's a part time position so that's the downside. But it's a foot in the door and there is the possibility of transferring to a branch closer to home if a position ever opened. I'm also thinking that part time might be a better transition for the kids for now...or maybe it's better for me thinking of them since I think they're ready for me to be gone! At least that's what they say now, once Mom isn't around 24/7 to take care of things that tune may change a bit! ;-)

I badly need a haircut but haven't wanted to infect anybody with this crud. There was a small part of my brain that started thinking "Must get haircut today!" For a phone interview! And no, I wasn't thinking it was because they'd see me over the phone, I'm not that far gone! But I was just thinking of the whole "feeling good/sounding good" issue and if it's a bad haircut that's one extra day for it to grow out before an "in-person" interview. However, common sense has won out (for now at least) and someone will be spared the possibility of my germs for one more day. No promises for tomorrow!

Blah

We're fighting the flu here but according to the half of the time accurate test at the doctors' office it's not swine flu. What is the point of a test that's only accurate half the time?! Just another of life's mysteries I guess!

Yesterday I thought I was getting healthy but today I feel like it kicked my butt all over again. But this time it feels like the baby elephant is trying to sit on my chest and I didn't have that last week. Ick.

Katie had to have seven baby teeth removed this week too. All at once. The stubborn little things did NOT want to come out on their own so the permanent teeth were hanging out the baby teeth. Not a great mix! She was a trouper there and is doing so much better now.

I'm just feeling blah and lonely and....and....again I say ick.

Not an exciting entry but that's all you're getting today!

Where to start?

Ok, Jeanne, I get the message! ;-) It's kind of funny that you (and I'm including myself in that generic sort of "you") don't write for a bit because there's not much worth writing about and then it becomes a "Oh my gosh, all of this has gone on and I don't even know where to begin!" Not that I think my life is overly exciting and what movies are made of, mind you, I have no delusions of grandeur!



Let's just stick with the boy for this entry, shall we? There are days I feel like it's one step forward and three steps back. I can only imagine what it feels like to his nine year old mind! The "anti-touching" thing is still an issue. Long story short they did a med change thinking it would help and it actually got worse, noticeably worse. Even to himself. The doc's solution? Let's add back the old medicine on top of the new so now he's taking three pills a day which makes me more than nervous. I keep expressing my concern about this and the docs keep telling me "It's not forever....it's just until HE can manage to control these things himself without use of the meds." Ok, I get that. And I get that they are far more trained in this area than I am or will ever be BUT....(you knew there was one coming, didn't you?! heehee) he is NINE YEARS OLD. The boy is intelligent (he gets it from his mama!) but at nine years old does he even possess the skills to "apply tools" for this? I'm...um...NOT nine years old and I'm not sure I could do it all the time.



And it's one thing to take a medical cocktail myself not sure of the results but it's an entirely different story when you're basically forcing your child to do it. You have to wonder what long term affects will be. And could this come back to bite him later on down the road if he wants to apply for some job and he has to say yes, he took some of these medications? It's just so harrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrd! And now for a moment of bare naked honesty....there are days I just don't want to do it anymore. Take the basic parenting stresses and irritations that pop up and then throw a mental health issue on top of it and it's "no gouda" as we say around here. There are a couple of online scrapping buddies that help me hold on to whatever scrap of sanity I have left. And on those days I hear one of them saying "Just get through this minute, then the hour, and then the day". And that's what I do. And I remind myself that as frustrating as it is on my end it has to be even worse on his. Which also adds to my angst because I CAN'T take this thing from my child so he doesn't have to deal with it but that's a whole other post!



We are blessed this year in that he got a wonderful teacher. She's used to "quirky" kids because she's been teaching the gifted and talented class for a few years now. She is one of those teachers that still enjoys their career and she goes out and studies up on methods and things on her own personal time. I try to remember to thank God for her every day! I love that she will make allowances for some of the boy's issues but she also holds him accountable when he needs to be. She called me to warn me about his grades but assured me that he knows his stuff. He's just not taking the time to get it down on the homework and tests like he should. He wants to rush through those things but could talk about it to her for hours she said. She told me that she will catch him doing something else when he's supposed to be listening so she'll call him out on it. She said "And darn it if he can't repeat to me what I said word for word and then expand on it!" I said "I know! Don't you hate when he can do that because he does it to me too!" We got a good (and probably much needed laugh) over it.


The other night at supper Robbie was telling us that his teacher changed the seating around in class. He said "It's a test! She put girls with girls and boys with boys! And she put my two best friends right next to me!" I told him "Well son, I hope you can pass it!" Then he said she told them she changed seats around because they were being loud and obnoxious! I about spit peas across the table at Katie from laughing so hard! I asked "Well, where you all being loud and obnoxious?" After a few beats of silence he said "Um...probably." LOL I know some parents would be up in arms over it but in the context Robbie told me and from chats I've had with her I LOVE the fact she called them all out on it! And he owned it. She told me that's another good thing is that Robbie will own his mistakes in class. So he'll admit to them, he just won't slow down to prevent them from happening again!

And so there is the novella on the boy. Jeanne, that should keep you reading for awhile! Hugs my friend!

Blog entry coming soon

I just saw Jeanne's comment about my falling off the face of the Earth! LOL I'm still here, it's just been either "nothing to say" or "way too much to say" lately! Right now I'm fighting a headache for the past few days so I'm not in much of a bloggin' kind of mood but I will be back! Don't worry, there will be new entries for you insominacs ("I wish she'd write something so I could fall asleep! heehee) soon!

It's that time of year again!

Time to start meeting the kids at their bus stops and hosing them down with the Lysol before they enter the house! Friday afternoon I was suddenly hit with the dizzies that lasted a few hours. Since the dogs were acting fine I assumed it was sinus and/or weather related and not a gas leak. We all have our own testing methods! Yesterday I had some stuffiness but felt ok. This morning I woke up feeling pretty icky as did Samantha and Robbie. Robbie definitely sounds like he has a "cold in the nold". Katie's head is hurting her and Mark said he doesn't feel too badly right now but not good either, just sort of wiped out. Eight school days in and we got hit! I'm thinking that has to be some sort of record for us! So I've been pushing fluids on everyone today and Mark and I scrubbed down the bathrooms. Hopefully tomorrow everyone will have some sort of miraculous healing!

We went to Borders yesterday so Katie could spend her prize from the summer reading program. She was second place in the teen category and won a $25 g.c. to Borders. I saw a couple of books from The Biggest Loser that picqued my interest. I have a "membership" card to B&N and had an internet coupon so I ordered the family cookbook and the 30 day jump start books today. I believe it's September 15 when the new season starts. I'm hoping with some motivation, the books and watching the show I can make some changes and can answer their question of "What have you done today to make you feel proud?!" I'm a stress eater. Bury the crap under food! But then that just creates more stress and blah blah blah. I know why I bawling along with the contestants EVERY time I watch an episode! It's a very emotional thing. Hopefully this year will be THE year! I think once I'm ready to make it official I might blog it just to make myself a little more accountable. I don't know if that will work or not or if I'll just say "blank it"! We'll have to see. And I doubt I tell y0u my starting weight either! Hopefully I'll be able to just list pounds and/or inches lost!!! There's only so much accountability a gal can handle! ;-)

Surprise for Katie

We've been a little worried about Katie feeling lost in the shuffle with all that's gone on around here the past few months. All of the things Robbie's dealing with (along with the rest of us in trying to help him) and then Samantha moving in here this summer had us worried she'd feel resentful or ignored. So far she's showed no signs of it other than reminding people that it IS her room! ;-) And she's made some comments in comparing herself to her brother or sister but no major acting out or anything like that, thankfully!

She was so sad that Celtic Thunder wasn't coming to Indianapolis and asked "If they EVER come here will you please take me???" She even offered to find a way to pay for her own ticket. We saw they were coming to South Bend, IN which according to Mapquest is a little over 2.5 hours away from our house. But it's on a Monday night and with work and school we just thought it would be too hard. Then a week or so ago Mark asked me something in passing about when and where they were going to be. I think it stewed in both our brains for a few days and then Saturday afternoon we made the stealthy decision to order tickets online because "she can sleep on the way home" and Mark could take a vacation day if he needed.

We kept it a secret from her. Today the tickets came in the mail. When Mark got home from work he handed the envelope to Katie and said he had a nasty paper cut bugging him so could she open it for him. She did and tried to hand it back without looking inside. He told her to pull whatever it was out of the envelope. She did and said "It's tickets." I said "Tickets?! To what???" The following pictures (taken while I was "adjusting the light settings on my camera because I think they're messed up" heehee) tell how excited she was far better than I ever could write it!

Sunday in Chicago

Edited to add: For some reason Blogger won't leave my spaces between paragraphs in once I publish it. Sorry for the seemingly run on paragraph if it doesn't take again this time!

We sort of decided at the last minute to take a day trip to Chicago Sunday. We talked about it off and on but didn't really make the decision until Saturday. We went to American Girl Place and the Lego Store and walked along the Magnificent Mile between the two. A lot of walking in some very warm and humid weather! Along with a gazillion other people since the Boat and Air Show was last week-end and just a short distance away! I was worried how Robbie would do (and myself a bit too since I'm NOT a crowd person) but he did great!

Katie and Samantha both got to fulfill a childhood dream (Sam a little later than Katie which we heard about!) by visiting the American Girl Place. They were both sad that their dolls, Samantha and Nellie, were retired last year (which we knew about) and that the store had nothing for those dolls. Books and videos but no clothes or accessories. Sam got a Bitty Baby and said ( a few times) "I used to go through those catalogs at Christmas and add up what it would costs to get one and all the stuff to go with her!" We just bought her the Bitty Baby, she's 22 yo, she can handle any accessories! Katie got her picture on a magazine cover and a contemporary dress for Nellie.

Robbie was almost quivering with excitement as we rode up the two escalators to get to the Lego Store. I think I was as bad, if not worse, as he was exclaiming over all the Lego sculptures! Monday was his birthday so Sam let him pick out his present from her there and we got him something too since the girls got something. Great Lego haul for the boy! That was a cool store but VERY crowded. One of the sales people told me it was a "little more" crowded than typically on a Sunday. I just know there were a lot of people in there!

We've decided that parking garages are THE business to go into up there! We paid a LOT in parking and ended up paying in two different garages since we weren't sure where we were going to eat so drove around a bit while deciding.

I took a lot of pictures of the buildings. I loved all the different shapes and angles and materials! The new up against the old. I wish I was talented enough to get some fantastic shots with the right camera equipment but I think I got a few decent ones with just me and my Canon!

It was neat to see how one little butterfly could make so many passer-bys smile! I actually did the "Yesssssssss!" when I saw I had captured the photo I wanted! Yes, I am that much of a dork! lol

I thought it was great that all my kids, even down to the a day away from 9 yo, knew this couple was from "American Gothic". I don't think I knew it was called that at age 9 or 12. I just always thought of it as "That picture with the grumpy looking farm couple"! Hey, I already mentioned my dorkiness, don't act surprised!

I have a lot more pictures that if anyone wants to see just let me know and I'll send you a link to Snapfish. Facebook won't let me upload photos this week for some reason.

Just some pic-a-tures

Robbie, Samantha and Katie at the local state park

See the little bug on the petal?

Me Tarzan....


You Jane!

It doesn't seem to be showing well here but you could see the clouds reflecting in the water that day. Sort of a Monet feeling going on!

I wanted to tweak this one but the editing software that came with the camera is limited but that was one humongous spider web!!!

Sweet, sweet bliss!

Today, for the first time since the end of May, I am completely alone in the house! Well, with the exception of Belle, Daisy and Lucky but they're all fairly quiet housemates! I am fighting another stupid barometer headache but it's tolerable since it's quiet! The sad thing is I have less than 30 mintues until the first one is due home! I love my family but it's so true that absence makes the heart grow fonder sometimes, especially after a crappy summer! lol

I talked to Mary for an hour today and while talking to her the mailman brought me the cardstock I ordered from Rocky Mountain Hobbies. Absolutely wuuuuuuuuuunerful hour!!! Archiver's was out of all the cardstock that the Bazzill matchmaker said matches the Cosmo Cricket Girl Friday line. I found maybe half of it online at RMH but they were out of colors too. What gives? Inspiration struck everyone at once?! Oh well, I also ordered some clearanced paper from RMH too to make it "worth the shipping costs". ;-) And surprisingly it was only a few sheets! Showing restraint in my old age!

Tuesday we had the meeting at school and I thought it went very well. His teacher this year really seems to enjoy her job and the challenges of teaching "gifted" kids and she had already done some online research on the issues Robbie's dealing with. She said, and I agree, that she thought we were going to work well together and get the boy successfully through 4th grade! I think I'm just going to love her!

We had some MAJOR snafus with the bus routes but I THINK (knock wood) that as of this morning we've worked our problems out. It sounds like there were problems throughout the district. I got thanked for being so pleasant everytime I called the transportation office. I didn't think I was acting all that special so they must have been getting some really cranky calls. There's some road construction messing things up on our side of town so I'm sure that isn't helping the bus drivers either. Not a job I'd want to do so I'll stay pleasant until they give me reason otherwise. I can't blame the first day snafus or construction on them though!

I know another round of Tropical Storm Crap is out there but for now I'm just going to enjoy the lull! And maybe....eventually....scrapbook something!

Monday, Monday

This evening was the "Back To School Ice Cream Social" at R's school. Robbie got to put his stuff away in his desk and see his new teacher. He also stopped in and talked to last year's teacher for a minute. I was surprised but impressed when last year's teacher asked if she could hug him and he said ok. He didn't hug back but just letting her hug him was a big step. I think they both frustrated each other at times last year (I'm keeping my opinions out of it) so it was surprising to see their interaction this evening.

Tomorrow I have an appointment with this year's teacher as well as the school counselor and the principal. I was surprised once again and impressed at how quickly his new teacher replied to my e-mail requesting a last minute appointment during what has to be a hectic time for them. I'm praying that's a good sign for the year ahead.

We hit McD's after the school thing and Robbie said it would be cool to get the mini flamingo beanie baby in his happy meal. He actually DID get that one in his meal and said that "today was a good day". Anytime I hear that I have a good day. Might be kind of silly to think that God is using a happy meal toy to remind me He's near but I'm going to go with it anyway.

I haven't slept well in over a week. I went to bed early last night and just laid there unable to sleep. Everytime I closed my eyes they'd just pop back open due to the never ending stream of thoughts in my head. I ended up coming downstairs and watching Roseanne reruns on TVLand until after 2 AM. I took a muscle relaxer around 1 am to help with the tension in my neck which meant that I was groggy most of the day.

Funny how a quick e-mail response and a Happy Meal flamingo can give you the "umph" to fight through the grogginess and find something positive to hang onto.

However, I'd still be willing to trade a child or two for some SLEEP maybe!

The web can be a dangerous place...

...especially if you're wont to go looking for as much information that you can find on a particular subject. I've been looking at websites concerning children with OCD. Apparently ADD and OCD can often go hand in hand so there's a crossover of information and a lot of it. On one website there was a FAQ section and a parent had asked what could they have done to prevent ADD in their child, one of the "possible" factors was a lack of oxygen during birth. Automatically my mind goes back to that prolapsed cord and the emergency c-section. I know it does no good to try to figure out why and who, if anyone, is to blame, and I'd be the first person to tell someone else that and mean it....for them. But for myself there are moments, not all the time but definitely moments, where I can't help but wonder "What if......". Does it do any good? Of course not but it is what it is.

It's an extremely helpless feeling to not be able to fix something for your child. And then that helplessness turns into anger. I get angry at God for starters, why should ANY child have to go through the things I see my son going through or the things I hear about a friend's child going through as a young adult. It's not fair, it's not right. And once again, I know life isn't fair, but it angers me that any child should have to suffer through any condition, medical, mental or lousy living conditions. As adults we either sink or swim through our own actions and decisions but for a child to have do fight to swim? It just isn't right.

Then I get angry at myself because I can't fix it and make life a little easier for him. And those days when I lose my patience and get momentarily angry with him I get both anger and guilt slamming through my body.

And then there are those family members, friends or acquaintances who scoff at what the family doctor, school counselor, two therapists and a child psychiatrist have said and say "He's just trying to control everyone around him. He just doesn't WANT to do x,y or z. Why doesn't x bother him if y does?" You know what? We don't know why x doesn't bother him if Y does and HE doesn't know why either! Yep, anger shows up there too.

Perhaps I should have titled this one as "My blog is an angry place..."! I'm just feeling drained and worn out the past couple of weeks. I've used up my reserves and somebody making a less than smart decision concerning the boy last week didn't help either. So yes, there's some anger there too. I'm trying to work through it all and get back to a calmer place so I can help my son as best as I can but right now I'm feeling tapped. And school starting this Wednesday has me concerned too. After talking to his therapist about it this week I've decided I need to call the school Monday and try to arrange a meeting with his teacher and the school counselor to fill them in on this summer's developments. And then try not to get too defensive for him during said meeting.

On a good day the boy is so awesome! He's even awesome on the bad days but you couldn't convince him of that. I just want to do my best for him and my girls too (I worry especially about my middle child feeling resentful of all this drama, so far so good but I couldn't blame her if she felt lost in the shuffle sometimes). And right now I'm falling way short of that goal and some of those dangerous websites don't exactly help either. Maybe I should be looking at "get rich quick" sites and then the travel sites???

I'm paying vet support this month!

Daisy's been twice this month for ailments and Belle went yesterday for her annual exam. They said she's doing pretty well for an old gal! But after a couple of tests (one of which she let them know she was not happy about them probing back there!), shots and another year of heartworm preventive meds I once again thought "Holy crap!" (ala Frank Barone) when I got the final bill. I'm still wondering if I can convince the insurance company they are newly adopted children with a hair body problem! We've paid around $500 to the vet's office this month, ok, the credit card company has paid it and I'll be paying them and paying and paying......! But you have to keep the critters healthy so what else can you do? Besides sigh a lot when the bill comes in?! lol

I think Robbie has passed his nightmares off to me. The past few nights I've been dreaming there's some faceless person after me because they think I know something. No idea what it is I supposedly know or why they want to kill me over it! Last night's version morphed into my getting a job tying bows onto candy but only if I'd come in and work on Thanksgiving Day when I had a houseful of company. No idea where any of it came from!

Today is the first day this week I don't have to take a dog or a child to an appointment. There are plenty of household things I should be doing but I'm considering making myself scrapbook. I'm not really in the mood to do that either but I want to be so maybe if I force myself to do it it will work? I need something fun to reset my mood-ometer!

It's the end of the day

and I am oh, so glad it is! Today was another rough appointment day. This doesn't feel like the right forum to go into detail....so why bring it up, you may ask. I guess to ask for some prayers. I feel like I've lost a former sounding board area and I don't want to bother anybody with all this "schtuff", because it can be heavy schtuff, so I'll just ask for some prayers, if you don't mind. And ask you don't judge me too harshly if you see me on the evening news with the announcer saying "Indy Metro Area Mom Goes Bonkers!" ;-)

I just sat here trying to think of what else to write about and this week it all seems so negative! Sheesh I say! I had to take Daisy back to the vet because she had diarrhea all week-end. All their tests came back negative so they're treating the symptoms which meant more expensive medicine plus she needed another 'scrip for the heartworm medicine so there was another $180. OUCH! She's been an expensive doggy this month!

Good news is Samantha got hired as an assistant manager at The Children's Place last week! So I found something good to say but it's HER news not really mine so let's think some more..........

Well, it IS the end of the day so that's good!

Quiet for almost a month!

Who woulda thunk it possible?!? I just seem to be stuck in one of those phases where writing seems like a chore and nothing I've done seems blog-worthy. WARNING: I'm very much in a blah mood today due to lack of sleep. Nightmare having son around 3 am and then a Schoodle with a tiny bladder around 5:30. And it took me until almost 5 am before I could fall asleep from checking on nightmare boy.

Reader's Digest version of the past month....Katie went to camp for almost a week, Mark flew to Kansas and drove a truck back to Indy with Samantha and her belongings in it, next week Robbie and Mark went to scout day camp and that brought us to last week where we didn't do much of anything. I'm kind of feeling like I've become nothing more than a activity director/maid lately. I guess more than sleep is feeding that blah feeling!

I have so many photos I should be getting into scrapbooks and there's a part of me that wants to scrap but it just seems like work right now for some reason. I don't miss my former employers but I do miss my co-workers/friends and those CHA show recap meetings we had at work! Those always inspired me, probably more in the shopping department than in the scrapping one but still they inspired me! We drove to a scrapbook store on the western outskirts of Indy yesterday. We stopped in there once last summer too and Samantha and I have agreed it's not worth the trip from our side of Indy. It's not that it's neccessarily a bad store (although both times we were in there I didn't feel overly welcome) but there's not much there that I couldn't get at Archiver's or Michael's which are both much closer to me. And a lot of stuff I saw in there yesterday is stuff I remember stocking onto shelves and pegboards in Kansas over a year ago. I think some of that is just indicative of the hobby industry in this economy though so not all the "fault" (for lack of a better word) is the store's. It was just kind of depressing to go in and not get excited over anything though. There is a Sonic out that way (again none close to us!) and even that didn't live up to our fond memories! Both my and Samantha's lemonberry slushes were very heavy on the lemon and light on the berry! I'm glad she mentioned it first so I didn't think my blahness had applied itself to scrapbook shopping AND Sonic!

Friday we did go hiking through Ft. Harrison State Park. Very nice little state park and you really don't realize you're so close to the "big city" or one of the interstates! We went on trails and ended up hiking over a couple of miles, thankfully it was a cool day for July so we didn't sweat and stink nearly as much as we could have! lol It was me and the three kids and I think we all had a lot of fun. A lot of it would probably fall into the "you had to be there" category but we had fun together! Eventually I'll get the pictures uploaded and I'll share a couple. I never did get a good one of the countless daddy long legs we kept running across though. Those things were EVERYWHERE! Along with Samantha's would be killer squirrel and the "mountain" the three of them climbed up and almost fell down. I stood at the bottom to catch them as they came down in an uncontrolled run almost! I should have sang Miley Cyrus' "The Climb" so Sam could have done her interpretative dance!

And now we've started back to school shopping. Can you believe that? They go back in three weeks! Summers keep getting shorter and shorter it seems.

And there you have it, the blahness that is me! ;-)

The joys of life

We have heard from a wise philosopher today that "Once you get old and married and have a job and kids, coffee is one of the few joys of life." So says that great guru, my 8.5 yo son! Now do you see what I didn't cut out coffee too when I decided to cut back on the Cokes!

There are days that the boy can really crack us up!

Second time around

I had posted a blog early this morning that I think only Jeanne had the misfortune to read. (Thanks for the comment though, my friend!)

This has been a tumultuous week and I was definitely sliding into woe is me mode earlier today. I discovered that it's true the person who "fights back" is the one who gets into "trouble". I spoke to someone online in the same tone they've been using towards me for some time and got my fingers smacked for it by more than just the person to whom I "spoke". At first it did hurt because it feels I've discovered people I thought were my friends are not, but truth be told that feeling has been hovering around for awhile now. And sometimes that's just how life is, things and people change. True, the timing stinks with other things going on right now but like REO sings sometimes you have to roll with the changes. (Had to keep some musical reference in there somewhere!)

I'll try not to go too TMI in regards to the problems leading to my needing the biopsy Monday morning but cramping ALL month long is part of it and those have intensified over the past few days. It's become standard for me to have cramps at any time that can have me either doubling over in pain or grabbing onto something to keep myself up. I hope and pray the "unusual lining" isn't due to cancer but I hope and pray just as much they discover what's causing it and can make it go away. But the thought of the big C does flit in and out of my thoughts. Ooooooooohmmmmmmmmmm, that's me putting that back into the box and hoping the doctor doesn't tell me we need to open it!

Robbie had a rough appointment this week. I struggle with how much to share. Part of me thinks if I can help somebody else who stumbles upon this and is dealing with the same issues to not feel so alone then it's a good thing. But the protective mama lion in me has seen first hand this week the stigma is still applied to people who may have certain "issues" and that makes me want to shield him for as long as I can. I can't always do that in real life since some things our kids just have to go through on their own but I can do it here for now.

And I leave you with this quote for now. It's one I put in Samantha's high school graduation album and one I've been reading a lot this week....."Do what you feel in your heart to be right - for you'll be criticized anyway. You'll be damned if you do, and damned if you don't. "
Eleanor Roosevelt

I'm a rambling mom

Sorry, butchering song lyrics to make them fit my life seems to be a habit I just can't break! The other day I had "Where, oh where, has my lil scrappin' mojo gone? Where, oh where, can it beeeeeeeeeeeeee?" going through my head. I can't help it, it's a sickness! Ask my family, my friends, anyone who has ever worked with me, I just CAN'T HELP IT!!! ;-)

And my thoughts are in a rambling mood today so don't say you weren't warned! Lately I've been wanting to scrap but unable to for some reason. I'd sit down and have a fuzzy idea in my head but couldn't seem to recreate it with the cardstock and pictures. And what I did mangle together just seemed like "ICK" to me. I tried looking at some idea books, magazines and at 2 Peas but nothing was working for me. I had a layout that I had started using one of BH's sketch books but wanted a title for it. They're pictures from our hiking through Turkey Run last summer and I had two rows. The top one being pictures where we were above ground and the bottom where we were in a canyon and sort of "below ground". Not in a cave but we were eye level with tree roots. I googled scrapbooking titles and that took me to scrapbooks.com. In the hiking titles they had "Can't see the forest for the trees" (although they spelled forest wrong with two r's, another thing I can't help noticing!) and a light bulb went off. And I came up with "Can't see the forest for the roots?!" No, it won't win me any originality or scrapbooking awards but it seemed to be just the thing to break up the creative logjam going on in my brain and I finished that layout and started another!

I'm on a mission to use my scrapping stash and not go shopping for awhile. My shopping has already cut waaaaaaaaaaaaay back since I left my old job (tough to figure that one out! LOL) but in the past year when I have bought it's more because of "Ooooooooh look at the pretties!" than because I needed it for a layout. So now I'm trying to whittle down my stash and make myself get creative with the stuff I bought for some particular reason but now have no idea what it was! Anybody want to join me and start a SSA support group? You know, Scrapbooking Shopping Addict!

There's also a teeny tiny thought in my head that I need to be cranking out pages "just in case" right now but I'm surprisingly shutting that voice down for the most part. I had an ultrasound a week and a half ago to see what Mr. Golfball aka the fibroid had been up to in the past year. When I heard from my family doctor's nurse last week she didn't mention the fibroid but there are some other new surprises. I have two small cysts on my right ovary but they appear to be fluid filled and I'm told that's a good thing! But the endomietrial lining "looks unusual" so I'm scheduled for a biopsy this Monday. That looks to be not a big deal, just in the doctor's office and then home again, which is good! The nurse did say there could be some discomfort for the day but taking Aleve or something like that should keep it under control. Of course, I hit WebMD and Google and then promptly turned away from those sites and didn't go back! A lot of the issues I've been having and blaming on the fibroid also fit other ailments. I'm not going to freak out about any of it at this point. Surprisingly I even manage to go hours at a time without even thinking about it! Highly unusual for me! It is what it is and worrying about it will not change it. I just pray that it's NOT certain things but if it is then we'll cross that bridge when we get to it. But I wouldn't object to any prayers you wanted to include me in, either! ;-)

They also put me on iron because I'm anemic, I knew that was coming. I started those lovely iron pills and I do think they're already starting to help. My glucose also came back a tad high so I've cut back on Cokes. I was drinking one a day, with the occassional skipping of a day, but thought if I could even cut that back it would probably help! I did ok the first four days and then I was craving a Coke badly! And so we had McDonald's last night and I had a Coke.....I know, I know, the shame of it all! Both the food and the drink! @@ I'm only human, people! lol

And I don't know who even reads this anymore, I see places on the viewer list from where I don't think I know anybody but the more prayers the better right? I have a dear friend whose life has been turned upside down. I'm not going to tell their name or their situation because that's their place to do so if they choose but if you could just say a prayer for them to find strength and peace to help them through all this I'd be grateful!

I think I'm finished rambling for now!

We went to the zoo, zoo, zoo

how about you, you, you? Thanks to Samantha's young infactuation with Sharon, Lois and Bram I hear that song in my head anytime we go to a zoo! Which of course leads to "One elephant came out to play upon a spider's web one day........." when we're by the elephant exhibit! My kids have just added to my life's soundtrack over the years!

Last Saturday we all (minus Samantha since she's still in KS) went to the zoo. We went first into the aquarium since we hadn't ever made it into there in previous visits. Pretty cool place! I just wish I had realized my camera has an aquarium setting WHILE we were in there and not awhile later when we were over at the dolphin show! There's a shark pool where you can reach in and touch the sharks so we all did that. Robbie was the first one brave enough to try and he kept trying to touch them as they swam by, of course we HAD to find a place for him to wash off afterwards before he could fully relax. He did pretty well but we could tell he was feeling a little tense about the "shark smell getting on everything" until he could wash his hands. There's also a neat penguin exhibit inside there too. They can swim under the floor from one viewing area to another and if it's not packed with people (and it was!) then you can look through areas of the floor and watch them. I put some of the pictures over on Facebook so you can view them over there, and if you aren't on Facebook and feel the need to view someone else's zoo pictures (because you know we all have them! lol) then let me know.

I still think I like the Sedgwick County Zoo better than this one and primarily because of the layout. The Indy Zoo is downtown so they're limited on space while the SCZ has some room to spread its wings if needed. But I did come away last Saturday liking this zoo more than before. We saw more exhibits than before so it didn't feel quite as small as the other two times we've been there. But I still have to vote for the Memphis Zoo as having the best polar bear exhibit!

Yes, I'm putting off being productive around here by ranking zoos now! lol

Life in the "wild"

We've had quite a bit of "wildlife" visiting us lately. The word, wildlife, makes me think of "lions and tigers and bears, oh my!" even though I know the true definition works for what we saw too!

Thursday afternoon when I went to meet Robbie's bus for the last time this school year I found this little guy sitting on the driveway behind my van.

He wasn't trying to fly or walk. He looked like he was just trying to balance while squawking every once in a while. Katie said he was there when she came home 45 minutes earlier and he stayed there for quite awhile after Robbie got home. I looked outside later and saw he was on the sidewalk and an older kid and his dog were standing there staring at it. I don't think they had harmed it (the dog was just sitting looking around like he was bored) but something was wrong with the little guy. Robbie came in later saying the bird's eyes were closed and he was "sleeping". Mark later went outside to check it out when the kids were getting ready for bed. All I'm saying is that the bird was gone when the kids checked Friday morning and they think his mama came back for him.

Saturday afternoon I was sitting on the couch reading when I heard some rustling noises and then Daisy was at the window trying to stalk something through the screen.

This little one was jumping around inside the bush and when I took his picture then this one jumped out of the flower bed underneath the window.

This is the look I was getting from Daisy after I told her to be quiet and sit down and that no, she couldn't go chase our guests! I hope I don't fall down a well anytime soon because from that expression I think she'd leave me there!

About an hour later the tornado sirens went off startling everybody. It was still partly sunny near our house when they went off but from the looks on the tv it was all around us and one possible tornado was heading our way. I, of course, went outside to take pictures and watched the clouds move in like a scene from a ghostly movie. I thought of Ghostbusters. I watched one area get a little rotation off and on but thankfully nothing came of it in our neighborhood other than a freaked out 12 yo and an interrupted Penguin game on television!

This was the view out our back door as the different cloud banks were converging.

I need a tripod so the shots using the nighttime setting aren't blurry but this was the view down the street. This is the view that had me thinking of the giant Sta-Puff Marshamallow Man!

I'm still here!

I've started to write a few blog entries but I type a few words and then POOF the writing mojo is gone. No idea why but that's why I haven't written in awhile.

I got a surprise Thursday evening. Mark, Katie, Robbie and I were eating supper when I heard the front door opening. In rapid fire succession these thoughts tumbled through my head "check, check, check, we're all sitting here..........then who the hell is just walking into our house?!?!.......why isn't the door locked.........why isn't Mark alarmed by this??........." That was all in a split second and I was up out of my chair heading towards the front door ready to kick some stranger out of my house. I came around the corner with Katie and Robbie behind me and see Samantha about the time Katie yells, "Sissy!!!" My first comment to her? "What the hell are you doing here?!?" Ah, nothing like motherly love to make you feel at home! LOL Mark knew she was driving from Wichita that day and they kept in contact through the cell phones. Katie knew she was coming but not on Thursday. Robbie, the dogs and I were left in the dark. She brought out a car load of her stuff before the move next month.

Which brings me to the next item: the post-college job hunt is not being kind to her in the Wichita area. Her lease is up in June so she's moving here to look for a job that will pay her bills without her working 24/7. She's never minded working a lot of hours so that's not the problem. It's just finding a job, or two, that will allow her to cover her expenses and actually have a few hours to sleep too! Indy was named the top city for job seeking college graduates this year so hopefully one of those jobs will belong to my brilliant, hard working newly graduated from college daughter! All employers having just read that please contact me and I'll get you in touch with her! ;-)

Alumni week-end a couple of weeks ago was great! I'll have to post on that sometime soon!

Rainbow at the end of the crapstorm

I know I'm tempting fate but you know what I'm going to live dangerously! I think we're actually having a respite from the crapstorm of the past year. Maybe it's just the eye of the crapstorm hurricane but it's wonderful to have some time to regroup and not feel like we're having to bail out the life boats 24/7!

Tuesday night was the parent info meeting for the REACH program at Robbie's school. I think this is going to be a wonderful fit for him! The teachers were going through a list of personality traits of "gifted" kids (I dislike that word because it seems pompous to me. ALL my kids are gifted just in different ways! But I digress....) and Mark and I kept looking at each other like "Check, he's got that!" The teachers warned that there is an adjustment period at the beginning of the school year because these kids have never really had to THINK before. Most of the material they see in class they automatically get and don't have to figure out how to figure things out basically. I related to that myself. I never studied in high school and was still second in my class (yes, it was only 15 that graduated but I was still second! lol) but once I got to college I felt like I was struggling to keep my head above water. I don't want that for any of my kids! But everything they were saying at this meeting just felt like a balm to my stressed out Mama's soul! I had tears in my eyes on the way home talking about it to Mark. Then the clouds parted (no, seriously they really did! lol) and the evening sun's rays were shining down and looking like a light from Heaven. I know you've all seen what that looks like! I said "I hope that's a sign!" I'm taking it for one anyway!

Funny part was when we were talking to the teacher for next year she said Robbie's current teacher had great things to say about him. Mark and I both asked "She did?!?!"

Yesterday was my birthday. Mark and the kids made me a chocolate cake which was uniquely and beautifully decorated! I'll have to keep the pictures uploaded soon. And the pictures are from my combo birthday/Mother's Day present that I went and got. Mark used my camera over the week-end and complained about the lag time between being able to take pictures. He told me to not worry about the costs and to go get myself a new one. So I sucked it up and I did! A Canon PowerShot SX 110 IS wish a 10x optical zoom! I played around with it yesterday and took pictures through our back door since it rained all day. I was able to zoom in on a house on the other side of the pond and pick out the details on their grill! LOL Niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiice! Then last night I played around with it and took pictures of the beautiful tulips Sam sent me. I'll have to get it all uploaded soon!

And then this week-end I'm heading back to Rankin for my 25th high school reunion. A month or so ago I wasn't even sure I was going to go and now I can't wait for Saturday! The last I heard 11 out of 15 are going to be there and I'm surprised by how much I'm looking forward to seeing everyone and catching up again! I'm also surprised by how many memories have been crashing and tumbling over each other in my head! Things that would mean nothing to anybody else but would get an "Oh yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah" and a smile from us. I know that's true for everyone, there's just something when it's your own set of memories though. And then go further and go into the one-liners that my best friend, Sharon and I could spout off to each other and be able to have entire conversations in just a few words where no one else would know what we were talking about....... to quote Sam, "Good times, good times!"

My own little Rainbow Connection!

It's a new dawn, it's a new day...

..and I'm feeling good. Go ahead, sing along with me! I was just thinking how many of my posts refer to music. There are so many songs that take me to particular moments in time or the lyrics just seem to fit my mood at the time. Must be why my musical tastes are wide and varied!

But the reason for my feeling good? The day before yesterday Robbie brought home a letter from the school saying they wanted to put him in advanced math next year. He'll be in fourth grade but would be doing at least fifth grade math. I wasn't suprised since he can often grasp Katie's homework before Katie, and even me sometimes, can. I was a little surprised after this school year that THEY finally acknowledged his abilities though!

Then in the mail yesterday I got a letter from the school district saying that Robbie had tested well enough to be placed in the entire advanced program! Whoo-hoo!!! I had to pick him up early from school for a doctor's appointment so I took both letters in with me to ask why we got two different letters. The secretary gave me a somewhat twisty/turny explanation but said he did qualify for the advanced program. There's an info meeting next week we'll be going to to get more answers. I'm just so happy for him! And I have to admit the mama lion in me said "HA!" when I thought of certain school personnel! (I never claimed to be mature all the time!) Robbie said he wasn't sure he wanted to do it because he wouldn't be in the same class with one of his friends but when I told him his teacher had already told me she was recommending they not be in the same class next year because she thinks they "might visit too much" that seemed to help. I also hope that means he won't be in the same class with the little snot that's been tormented him all year....and "snot" is not the word I wanted to use!

I'm just going to enjoy being happy over this "win" for him in a school year that's been so topsy turvy!

It's a new dawn, it's a new day and I'm feeling goooooooooooooooooood!

Summery Sunday

We have by-passed spring and went from cold to hot it seems. Don't get me wrong, I'm still not a fan of the cold temps but I could use a little springtime action too! It's been hot and a tad muggy today. And right now I'm wondering which of my neighbors is outside using some sort of power tool in the dark! It wasn't THAT hot that they had to wait for the sun to go down to play with electricity in the dark!

We're having some computer issues here especially on Facebook. It will just lock up and you can't even ctrl/alt/del out of it without waiting an eternity. I tried deleting some stuff today and defragmenting it and tonight I deleted a bunch of Facebook apps off my account (I'll leave Mark's for him) to see if that helps but so far no luck. I'd love to get a new computer but that's just not in the budget right now. (siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh) I was planning on getting a new camera (mine is slowly dying) for a birthday/Mother's Day present but thanks to dental bills and vet bills I don't see that happening either. Sometimes being a responsible adult is highly over-rated!!!

But in less than two weeks now I'll be headed to Rankin, IL for my 25th high school reunion. How the heck did that happen?!? I don't feel old enough to be out of school for 25 years.......well, ok, somedays I DO feel old enough but that's besides the point! Right now it sounds like we have 2/3 of our class coming back for it. We had such a large class too......15 graduating seniors in 1984! Boggles my kids' minds! LOL I went from a big elementary school in Louisville, KY to Rankin when I was in the sixth grade, biiiiiiiiiiiig change! I was talking to my BFF from high school (for the third time this week) today and we were talking about things and we agreed that there were times we were more like a group of squabbling siblings than just classmates. There are several people I don't think I've seen in 25 years and it's funny the closer to Alumni it gets the more memories start crowding back into my brain. I wasn't even sure I wanted to go to it this year for a variety of reasons but the closer it gets the more excited I get! It will be fun to see everyone who shows up and then everyone else at the banquet from the other classes too! '84 parties more! Didn't we have great poetic rhyming skills?! lol

Biggest Loser

First I'm going to talk about the show and then how it applies to me so if you've recorded this past week's episode and not watched it yet then you want to stop reading my blog now! Okay, then I guess that means the rest of you have either watched it or don't watch the show at all and don't care, if you don't watch it then this first part won't matter to you but here goes........... I was SHOCKED at Ron's whispered conversation with Mike! I feel for them and I like Mike but Ron has been rubbing me the wrong way for a few episodes now. I was starting to feel like he was shifty and he just confirmed that on this week's episode. And from her comments before leaving I think Kristin had his number! She was my favorite and I really wanted her to win but I bet she wins the "at home" prize. Mike WAS my second favorite but after his "Yeah, I think I'm going to win it" at the elimination table I don't know. He HAS broken records and he has worked hard but I'm wondering if I haven't misjudged his true character. And yes, I do realize I'm talking like I know this people personally but I think most of the fans of this show DO feel that way! Now I don't know who I want to win. Not Ron. Helen irritates me. I lost respect for Fillipe when he blamed Jillian for not working with him and not taking the blame for his over indulging during their "night of luxury". Tara has seemed cocky to me but maybe she's entitled to that after this season? Right now I think she's my favorite but I do think Mike will win.

I really related to a lot of the things Kristin has said in her interviews. I've related to a lot of the contestants but this week when Kristin said she's afraid to voice the things she wants for fear of them being yanked away I SO got that! That is me. It's a mentality of "if people know how I really feel or what I really want then something in the universe will prevent me from getting it" so you plod along in the same self destructive habits while getting angry about it but not feeling entitled to voice that anger or brave enough to do something about it. Don't draw attention to yourself, keep your head down and put up barriers so people won't look your way. I ask why I bawl during every episode but I know why. I could be one of those contestants, I get what they're saying.

And after a recommendation from my friend, Sarah, (I don't know how to turn her name into a link but she's here too) I read the book "The Amazing Adventures of Diet Girl". I wanted to cry during parts of that book too. Excellent book but if you're like me be ready to possibly see yourself in the proverbial mirror when you read it! She would eat out of frustration, boredom, anger, etc. I DO that! And you (generic 'you' there) tell yourself it's the one thing you can control, what's going in your mouth, but you really aren't in control. In a way it's like taking every crappy thing ever said or done to you and just putting it into your gut.

So how do people get beyond that and maintain? I wish I knew. I wish I could do that.

And now I have my 25th high school reunion in two weeks which is just bringing all these careening into the forefront of my mind for me. I weigh considerably more now that I did when I graduated. I've gained more than my son currently weighs. Imagine how having that visual smacks you in the face! Ugh, ugh and triple ugh!

And I wish you could hear my "tone" as I'm typing this. It's not boo-hoo, woe is me, but more of a quizzical "how do they do that and why can't I?"