~UTTERLY DEVESTATED~

NOTHING MORE TO SAY ABOUT IT.............................................
I AM OFFICIALLY IN DENIAL...................................
AND I HAVE NO HAPPY PLACE TO GO TO RIGHT NOW.

Boycotting...

I am refusing to check the mail these days.

I am avoiding answering, let alone talking, on the phone.

I kinda am backing down from discussions with my own husband.

I don't like change. Not all kinds of change suck to me, but lots do. Or maybe they don't suck at all and it is me that sucks.

Whatever the case... I could go years without changing my hair. I could go on forever without changing cars. I could survive on the same food month after month, without change. That is how I roll.

And now, there are some serious changes in the works.

Nothing is "FOR SURE" and nothing is "set in stone" and nothing is there to stress over, yet. So, here I am thinking, "change sucks and I want to curl up in the corner with a Sonic slush and just wait it all out!"

Yet, I can't do that
so now we just gotta wait and see.....
and maybe answer the phone
and make the trek to the mailbox........
cuz whether or not I like it, change is here
and it is only going to get worse as the kids grow up
and Tommy moves on in his job!

Wax Museum

Our fourth grader had a huge social studies project to complete this quarter. It is called the Arizona Wax Museum Project. It is a lot of work, memorization, research, prop preparation and learning, over the last quarter. (The OCD Mom in me tends to over-think some of these projects. I would have way-overdone it if Jax had let me help any more than I did. I have to remember this kid is 10 and not an adult.....) Speeches have to be memorized and work completed along a time line. Jax was so nervous practicing his speech with us, in the kitchen, but after practicing with his class buddy, Megan, giving the presentation to the kindergartener's and 3rd graders, he was so ready!

And we are pretty darn proud of this kid!!!!!

I DON'T HEART BIRDS!

A few weeks back I finally realized I am not hearing things.

I finally realized that my downstairs bathroom is not possessed.

I finally got to the bottom of the toilet talking and the water lines making scratching sounds. Yeah, I am being serious. For a few months, there have been scraping noises going on in our bathroom downstairs. Scratching and just strange noises that I could not figure out what they were. I was, of course, the only one who would hear these noises. That being said, for a long time, I was the only one waking up at 4:30 in the morning. It was driving me nuts.

Every time I heard it, I would call someone and have them come into the bathroom and of course, no noise.

Flash forward about 2 months later. I am still hearing the noises and just don't say anything. I am sitting on the driveway with my cousin and I see a bird dive bombing our courtyard. He keeps going towards the air vent to the bathroom. It, of course, is sealed off..... right.

Well low and behold, Mr. Bird is actually Mrs. Bird, who has forced the painted shut valve open, and built herself a little nest in our venting tubes. We now have the oh so sweet sound of chirping baby birds in the bathroom. Night and day, day and night. Chirp, chirp, chirp.

I freakin hate birds. They are disgusting animals that carry disease and make me sick and now I have baby ones living and yapping in my houses walls.

We tried sticking the vacuum down into the tubes to suck out the nest, before we knew there were babies in there. No such luck.

So today I decided to see how far down this darn nest actually is.

For crying out loud... they are like 5 feet into the house....... once they fly away this thing is getting super glued shut!

GROSS!

I know you can't see the birds... well barely. There are 4 in there and if I didn't have kids, I would have someone come and suck them outta my vents! Urrgh!

exactly, Pudgie~

Ok, seriously.....

Why am I always that person that people want to chat up their ideals and beliefs with, at the most inappropriate times?

I made the "simple" decision to take Justice to the dollar store with me... to grab some pool stuff and get the heck outta dodge. Well, as luck would have it, we were like 2 minutes too late to check out before "woman with 1000 items" got to the checker. Now, she immediately apologized for all her items.... which was random... because why apologize for the snazzy stuff you are buying... right?

So being me, I check out.. ok, I oogle, all her goodies. She is planning a par-tay... least that is what I deduce. I am kinda right. I make the huge mistake of commenting/questioning...... "wow, are you having a huge end of the year party for your kids with all your fun stuff?" Common sense right? 50 palm trees, 20 blow ups and party supplies later........I am thinking, wow, we need to up our party supplies for our party that is coming up........ WRONG...............

Dear Lord, here it comes............and I will sum what quote was, from there on out, continuously, with one breath.......... spewed.....

"well, I was raised Penticostal and my father is a Baptist Minister but I am now learning Jewish Sabbath which has a huge party later on in the year having to do with trees. Now I am not a cult freak or anything like that, because most people think when I start talking I am talking about a cult but you should really look up how the Sabbath was changed from Saturday to Sunday but we still honor the Sabbath on Saturday which makes it hard because all of our sporting games and such are on Saturday so I never know what to do because most of the town is Mormon....they honor the sabbath on Sunday," pause for a breath, look at me, (which, at this point I think I may have some drool puddling around the corners of my mouth and my eyes have rolled back into my head, and I am thinking, WHY DON'T I EVER JUST SHUT MY MOUTH??????) She asks, Are you Mormon? I kinda shake back to reality and say,

"UM No."
(seriously....I am wearing a tank top, a push up bra, a cross on my necklace and I had just pretty much told my son to stop flippen touching everything and asking to buy everything he could grab or I would beat his ass in the store.. and you know I didn't say flippen' right?)......

So then I ask....
"Uh yeah, no I am not Mormon, why, do I look LDS???

Not offending anyone here... but they just don't wear tank tops in my neighborhood and boobs are not talked about let alone seen......... Seriously, the cross shoulda been a dead give away!!!

Any whose....................she wasn't even listening again..... she just started with her gobble-de-gook.

She gurgled and started in, with. "You should google "blah blah blah, it will explain how the Jewish believe..........." Blank stare........I seriously could not keep up with this woman.
Something about going camping for a week to celebrate trees or something.
Something about fasting to save paper
and then there was the whole, "my father keeps asking me if I am in a cult."

"Ahhh."
"Hmm, Are you?"
(WTF, where in the world did that one come from? I mean come on DeAnna, do not encourage this woman.) I needed Tommy there. He would have ignored the woman and walked out with nothing. Yep, he woulda left everything on the belt and kept on going.

She starts in again.

The checker was finally done and I really believed it would all end right then and there. Nope. Not my luck. She pulls her cart to the side and keeps blah blah blahing.........

Now, I truly love to learn about religions. I ask people all kinds of questions about their religion... all the time. I probably irritate a lot of people. I am so not kidding....... With that said.. I am not a lost soul that needs saving. I am just curious about what and why people believe the things they do. I do find it really disturbing that so many people feel the need to defend what they believe and then repeatedly tell me they are not part of a cult. Which chatty Cathy just kept going on and on and on and on about......

Thankfully Justice stepped in. My oh so wonderful little boy finally just looked at this woman and said,

"We have to go swimming. Can you please stop talking."

My thoughts exactly Pudgie, my thoughts exactly!!!

Just For Today~

I have so many posts that I need to finish up from the last two weeks. They are slowly coming together...

But just for today... they can wait.

Last night I was watching some very sad television shows. It was the first night in a few weeks that the kiddos were sound asleep, Tommy was working and I was alone with me, myself and I.... and tons of laundry to do.

I was beat.
Exhausted.

We have all been running on empty but loving every second of it the past week and a half. My kids were so tired they actually put themselves to bed ten minutes after they had gone upstairs to play for the 25 minutes I had given them until bed time. Tommy had already gone to work so I figured they would wind down and come tell me they needed, "just 10 more minutes," like they usually do. I came to check on them at 7:45 and found each of them snuggled under their gigantic blankets, each in their own little spot, on Jaxi's bed, sound asleep. Brinkley had a smile on her face, Pudgie was flat on his back, arms stretched wide apart like he was ready for a hug, with his head under the pillow and Jax was stretched out long, looking like a young man instead of a 10 year old boy. After getting everyone tucked and snuggled and into jammies I got to stop and wonder where did my babies go? Then I remembered how our conversations somehow got on the subject of planning babies, early this morning.

We joked how only one of our kids was really planned. Jax chimed in, "so you planned to have your first baby and the rest of us were accidents?" I laughed and said, "No Jax, you were the planned baby. We planned and planned and planned you and then Brinkley was a gift when I was in motor school... and Pudgie was a miracle!" Funny how kids see things so differently. Brinkley is begging me for another sister. She sees all these families having 5, 6, 8 and 10 babies around us and does not see how lucky she is to be the sole little angel in our house. What she does not know is that, I too, wish for one more.

I don't stop to remember what my body went through when I was pregnant with Pudgie man. I remember the doctor basically asking me to end the pregnancy. I remember everyone holding their breaths. I remember one person saying, "Don't you have enough to handle with these two? Why would you want more?" And they were family....

I would love another baby in this house. I would love to watch Pudgie become the big brother and see how responsible Jax and Brinkley are at this age. The smell of that newborn and the newness of everything again. I would love to watch in awe as my kids teach a new little one everything they know. And who knows... stranger things have happened right? Even though I am done with babies..... I have heard people say that before.

For today, I am working towards making my family realize:
*what a great life we have
*how lucky we are to live in the house we do
*to have food on the table
*clothes on our backs, when we decide to actually put them on
*we have cars to get us where we need to go
*and we are lucky that they are really nice
*we are not wealthy but we are dang rich
*Tommy loves the job he does
*how lucky we are Tommy has that job
*that working together as a family makes play time that much greater

I watched these shows last night with families that are in serious crisis. I am not talking about people that are simply not able to make mortgage payments and are losing their houses. I am talking about families that are living in filth and have no food let alone cars or insurance or clean water for showers. I am talking about people that move every night and hope that they are still alive. The kids only wish they could go to school. They wonder where exactly their next meal or any food at all, will come from. It isn't always about drugs or alcohol. Some of these people have been dealt really bad hands in life and some of these people are where they are out of sheer laziness and do actually deserve where they are. Some of these people were born into this way of life and don't know any better and some just don't care anymore.

It was really sad.
It was really eye opening.
It was a good way to clear my head.
It was a good night for me to thank God for all that is, was, will be, and has been done.... with my family.

It is nights like last night that I need.....
It is the slap across the face that wakes me up to the piddly things.....
It is the wake up call about priorities.....
It is what it is....

Reality.

The reality that:
*Life is hard.
*It takes work to be successful.
*It sucks to do housework instead of go outside and play all the time.
*It is boring folding laundry until the fabric softener smell is all over your hands.
*It is gross washing bathroom floors where your boys have accidents.
*Hard work doesn't seem like work when you are doing it for the ones you love.
*Some things suck less when someone tells you they appreciate your work.
*Boring is a state of mind. When your 4 year old asks if Optimus Prime can fold clothes too, it starts getting funny... and nothing gets done except lots of hugs and kisses and that is a lot of accomplishing something.
*Some people are out for everything for themselves.
*Those same people will use you for what they can get and then walk out of your life, and
*You will be a better person for letting them walk, rather than throwing something at their heads.......

So for today, and hopefully here on out.... letting the little things go a little bit quicker, loving a lot more, helping more and giving more and realizing that it is not about the things we have, but the people that we have!

Happy Monday little family. We have the choice to make it a great one or a beyond GREAT one!

I made my decision early on this morning!!!!

Now, on to laundry and finishing up those other posts Daddy has been waiting so patiently on!!!

LAST..

Tonight I dared to be kinda sad that we hit our last football practice of the season. I was a little sad that Jax was so sick that he missed practice on Wednesday due to a lil vomitinatious~ness. Yeah, I made the word up. Move on.

Well, instead of being all wishy washy and watching all the boys in awe... they pissed me off in a huge way. I was not paying attention to the pre-practice festivities that were going on. Coach was in a meeting and our boys were tossing the ball around. I heard another Dad yell in his most feminine voice, "Aww come on boys..." which was not loud enough for Tommy to hear on the other side of my chair.

I looked up and watched the coaches sons running around pulling down the shorts of all the boys on the team. Normally this would not happen in full gear, but tonight was offense night so we practiced in shorts and shirts with helmets.

I turned to Dad and said, "I will fix this and they will listen to me!"

Off I trotted to the center of the field and yelled, "What in the hell are you doing? Are you freakin kidding me? You can knock this crap off and act your age or I will go and get Joe and I can guarantee you that you will run a minimum of 20 laps around this park. (Discovery park is pretty grande to run around that many times) Got it?

I thought one might have piddled a little in his pants. Coaches daughter bolted for the meeting to tell him what happened and all the boys abruptly about faced for their parents who didn't dare open their mouths to utter a sound.

I smiled and winked at Jax (because let's face it, we all know he is not the kid that would pull someones shorts down).

Practice somehow ran very smoothly and no one said a thing to me. Jax informed me that all the boys asked if they thought I would tell coach and they said I scare them. That seems to be the consenses with a lot of people lately. Still unsure why so I may have to research this one......

Works for me! I tell you what, my kid would have had his ass handed to him had he been the one pulling that crap on the field.........

Dear Daughter.............

Dear Brinkley,

Lunch on Monday was very enlightening. Daddy and I were more than excited to eat lunch with you and spend a few extra minutes with you, on your Monday. I was so thrilled to take an extra second with your teacher to find out how you got into a fight with a boy, on Friday. Add to that, you conviently forgot to tell Mommy and Daddy about it over the weekend, and the day was just going swell.

Now I am not going to lie and tell you that I was more than pleased that you didn't actually say the "bad word" to the boy that called you a bitch. I would much rather you discuss it with myself or your teacher, rather than tell the boy to "Kiss my A!" I will admit, I am proud that you are not letting mean kids push you around but let's pick and choose our battles, k?

Speaking of battles. You and I have been on quite the collision course lately. I could not figure out what was going on in your little body to get you so amped up everyday. Your temper has been off the charts and your mouth has been running rampant. Thankfully Daddy and I got to witness you drink half your milk and throw all your lunch away because you did not like what you were served. Top that off, you did not have a snack, so that would absolutley explain your mood. You are over-tired, beyond hungry, and are basically just shutting down by the end of the school day.

Now that we have figured out what is going on, we can take the listing down on Craigslist. I don't think you need to be sold. I am pretty sure just feeding you and making you close your eyes even earlier will help.

Love,
Mom

12

I should have a long lovey dovey post about the past 12 years and how much I adore you and our life and how much I Love You. As you know, we have had 13 seconds without a little man in our face, two other little children driving us batty...... and then there is the dog.

What a Life.

What a marriage.

What a ride.

I love you and that is that!

Hang on for the next 12 years baby. I am thinking that this is going to just keep getting better and better!!!!!!