"Terrific" Tuesday

Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! That alarm clock is so annoying! It is too early to get up. So I push snooze..... 4 more times. Dangit! Why didn't I get up when my alarm clock rang? Now I don't have time for a shower before I get the kids out the door for seminary. I throw on some ratty sweats, Parker's old flip flops, and my hat. Hurry up guys, your ride is going to be here in 20 minutes! Hurry up and make breakfast, lunches and iron clothes. Say prayers, that it is going to be a great day and get the big boys out the door, wake up the other kids, feed them breakfast, tell Gabe to get dressed, and break up the fight between 2 little boys who want the same tippy cup. Tell Gabe to stop looking at the hole in his mouth where his 4 teeth used to be and get dressed! Start packing up little ones in the car to go and pick up the kids from seminary. Tell Gabe that he is going in his underwear and crazy hair because I am leaving RIGHT NOW! We are in the car and I am playing the compassionate mother and laying on the horn for Caden and Gabe to get out there. We get the boys picked up, and dropped off at school. I am heading home and the suburban starts sputtering and then dies. Thank goodness I had enough sense to pull off on the side of the road. At that point it dawned on me that 2 days earlier I looked at the gas gauge and it said empty. I was riding on fumes for a good solid day. I call my WONDERFUL visiting teaching companion, drag her out of bed and beg her to bring me some gas.
You gotta love living in the south. Everybody stops and asks you if you need help. Good thing I was all dolled up. We make it home, and I take a shower, dress the kids, and we head out the door to run some errands. We stop by Sam's and wreak havoc on the monthly budget. As we get out to the car and unload the last of the groceries, Jacob informs me that he has to pee right now!! I tell him there is no way we are going back into the store. He starts dancing, so I look around and see a vacant parking lot. I tell him to come out here and block his view with the 2 doors of the car. He pees, and I stand there waiting for him leaning up against the car beside us. All of the sudden there appears an elderly couple right beside me. I realize at the moment, that I am not leaning against just any old car, it was a BMW. Their BMW. They look at me, and as I turn bright red and try to pull up my kids underwear, I try to explain my lack of reverence for their car. And the puddle Right in front of their driver's side door. Thank goodness, they laugh and tell me not to worry, but I am glad for this one time that we live in a huge city and I will probably never run into them again.




I race home, put away the groceries, feed the kids lunch which Abigail tells me she doesn't like and is really not that very hungry anyway. We load back up into the car, and go and pick up the kids from school. When we get home, everybody bolts from the car, with an assigned buddy to take care of as Joseph and I head to the orthopaedist to get his ankle x-rayed from spraining it a few weeks ago. As we sit there in the office, and wait, and wait, and wait, Joseph starts fidgeting because he has to be at work at 5:30. "Will you just chill already, we will make it in time," I keep telling him. As we leave the office to pay, I glance at the clock and HOLY COW, it is 5:03! We are NEVER going to make it across town in time! We fly down the stairs, jump into the truck and tear out of the parking lot and race across town. We get there right in the nick of time. Whew! He calls me 30 seconds later and says, "um, mom, I didn't have to be here until 6:00."




I sit in the parking lot waiting for a woman that I contacted on Craigslist. She has a brand new converter box for the TV that she is selling for $25. Sweet deal. "Not me", threw our other remote down the stairs and busted it into smithereens. No biggie, I will just get another remote. Nope, can't do that. They have to be the original one that came with the box. You will just have to shell out another $60 bucks at Best Buy lady. I buy it from her and head home to make some supper. I talk to my mom on the way home and tell her that I will be able to watch our favoritest show in the world tonight (biggest loser) because I finally got a new box. She says, "please tell me you did not go and buy a new box." I tell her, "no sweat, I got it pretty cheap off of craigslist." She then informs me that she has 2 brand new boxes that she doesn't need because they have cable. Of course you do!! Aagh! (not your fault mom, save one, because I will probably be needing it in another year or 2 ; )) I get home, throw burgers on the grill and go back inside to wash the dishes from breakfast, so that the kitchen will be clean for 30 seconds before we eat supper. Parker is outside hollering at me and gesturing wildly toward the grill. Aagh, the burgers! They are now each of the size of a silver dollar and blacker than soot. I'm all for eating them and masking the charcoal with a bunch of mayo and ketchup, but nobody else is going for that idea. Joe makes new burgers, and fries them, much to my delight. I throw the kids in the tub and run upstairs to watch "my program" as the boys like to call it. We get about 23 minutes into it and Joseph calls and says he is done. Mumble and grumble all the way to work to pick him up and then head back home to get everybody settled in bed. I sit on the couch and snuggle with hubby to watch the news and fall asleep in approximately 5.3 minutes.




I wish that I could say that this day was extraordinarily crazy, but unfortunately this is very normal.



Meghan, this post is for you! ; )

I need some warm weather

It is snowing. Again. The ground is already white. Yesterday I worked outside all afternoon cleaning, removing toys from the yard, putting up sleds because it is almost spring you know. It won't snow anymore this year. I really need some sunshine and flowers. I figured the only way I was going to see any signs of bunnies, flowers, greenery, and the like would be to change the background on the blog. I wonder if they will let school out early? You know we don't know how to drive in the snow. I wonder if I should run to the store to buy all the toilet paper and milk on the shelves? We might run out. I only have 3 gallons in the fridge. That will only last us for 3 days.
On to happier thoughts. I have the smartest kids in the world. I am not bragging, it is totally true. Yesterday as punishment, I sent Parker out onto the roof to wash the windows and put the screens back in. What was he being punished for? When it snowed a few weeks ago, he took out the screen in his bedroom window and flung coat hangers out onto the roof to watch them *poof* and disappear into the snow. We entertain easily around here. I didn't really mind, I am sure that it was pretty cool, however I really don't care for the redneck look of hanging your clothes out on top of the roof, so I made him gather them up and do some cleaning. He forgot to get the screen while he was out there, so he concoted some contraption with some of my thread and a fish hook to snag it and pull it up to him while he was in the bedroom. When he finished, he dropped it out into the yard.
This morning when I went to feed the cats, I saw a spool of thread on the porch and thought, "I know I just cleaned off the porch last night, where in the world did this come from?" So I start realing it in. Man is this thread long. Rolling, rolling, just as fast as I can. The cats must have played with this thing last night. Yeah, that is how it got out here, rolling, roll...OWWW!!!! Fish hook in the finger! Quite painful, although before asking and not even knowing how Parker got the screen onto the window last night, I already knew that this was his creation. He is very ingenious like that.

Sometimes I feel like a Freak

You have been there I am sure. You are at the park, playground, whatever, and "those" moms are there. They are there with their 1.2 kids each, dressed immaculately, hair done, nails done, tippy cups labeled, looking like they and their spawn have just walked off the modeling runway. Their children are never farther than 1.5 feet away from them because they may have too much fun if mom were actually sitting on the park bench.
You are there in the only pair of jeans that fit you right now, hair in a ponytail, nails that have never been done, with only 3 of your 7 hoodlums. You are stared at in dismay because you actually allow your children to use the play equipment as it has been intended. "Don't run Susie! You might get hurt! Johnny! Get down from the slide. It might be too hot!" Meanwhile yours are not only using the play equipment, but abusing it too.
I would love to actually bring all 7 of my children one of these days and just let them wreak havoc on the playground and the minds of those helicopter parents.

It's not easy being Sick around Here

I have MANY posts to catch up on. I just figured that I would start with this one so as to explain the lateness of the others.


I woke up Sunday morning to an exclamation of "It is 8:00! What are you still doing in the bed?!" "I don't feel good, leave me alone." I mumbled back. Joe normally leaves around 9 for meetings and we have until 12:00 to get ready and out the door. He took off his suit and stayed home to play Mr. Mom while I slept the entire day away. I haven't felt that sick in a long time. Fever, body aches, sore throat. I figured I had strep throat. It is usually a yearly occurance for me. Every once in a while the bedroom door would open and someone would escape thru the crack before they were caught by dad or an older sibling. Abigail thought that I might get "sick" so I was brought a bowl and I woke up with that next to my head at one point. I found an extra blanket on me since I was cold. There was a lego airplane on the nightstand and 2 get well cards CRAMMED under my pillow. I had 6 water bottles, a cup of STRAIGHT lemon juice with some honey to sweeten it up, and a glass of gatoraide on the nightstand. I woke up once to detangler spray being sprayed in my face, because I had tangles and my hair needed to be fixed because, it was a mess. Once when Joe ran to get me some medicine, the hockey game in the living room got so loud and heated, that I had to drag myself out of bed to make sure there were no casualties. I drifted off to sleep that night thinking that (hoping that) this was just a bug and tomorrow would be another day.
Monday I went to the doctor and found out that it was indeed strep, and that I was also severely dehydrated. This sickness came on the heels of a 10K . So coupled with probably not drinking enough fluid while running, and definately not drinking while my throat hurt, that was not surprising. I picked up the prescription, and headed back home to make a tent with the couches and blankets for Abby and Jacob to watch tv in, stock the coffee table with an arsenal of tippy cups, bowls of cereal, granola bars, and fruit snacks, put Matthew in the bed, and crashed for a couple of hours in the tent with the kids. They were Very good, but it did look like a General Mills factory had exploded in the living room by the time that Joe got home. I went to get Parker, Caden, and Gabe from school later on and told them all what and who they were responsible for and fell back in the bed. At one point I heard someone screaming that they wanted, needed, demanded popcorn right now!!! I have never heard this child speak to anyone like this ever before. I sent word to him that he was to come to my room and he told his sibling he wasn't going until he had his popcorn. He had a serious whispering to and was told that he was going to get it when I felt strong enough to swing more than a shoelace. About 30 minutes later I was woken up by the exclamation of "Whew, she is still asleep." I then felt another note being shoved under my pillow. This one said: I im so sarey for throeng a fet mama (I am so sorry for throwing a fit mama). I drifted off yet again thanking his teacher for being so patient with his spelling. Later that night when Joe came home after the wrestling pickups, work drop offs, and stopping by the store so we would have something for dinner, I could hear the house being whipped into shape, and was feeling somewhat better. I ate a half a hamburger while the family entertained me with the tales of the day. Joe informed me that I really didn't look all that good and that I needed to be drinking more. I don't really enjoy chugging water, so I just sipped on some here and there. At around midnight I woke up SOAKING wet. My fever had broken and I was freezing because I was so wet. I went to the bathroom to change and literally scared myself to death. My hair was sticking up on end and my eyes were sunk back in my head with dark circles under them. I could have gone out for the part of The Wicked Witch of the West with no time in the makeup chair required. I figured I might need to drink some water. Tuesday morning found me feeling So much better. Joe and were in the bathroom getting ready and he made the comment, " Well, you did say that you needed a day away not to long ago..." I was thinking more along the lines of shopping, spending a couple of hours at the library with a good book, getting some lunch somewhere other than McDonalds, maybe even a pedicure. Better be more specific next time!

Sometimes my life is a little busy

You would think that I would have noticed something this obvious, but apparently not. Thank goodness I did not have to go into town, just to pick up the kids from school. Still, I think that along with checking to make sure that I have all the kids in the car when I leave, I think I need to add checking to make sure my shoes match, to the list.