This one’s for the girls

Well after the sob fest Wednesday night I received some wonderful phone messages.

I’m lucky. I have collected some very choice friends along my journey in life. Two of them called me Wednesday night but my phone was in the car. Instead of chatting about happy times gone by and catching up I was sitting alone crying.

Granted, we all need those nights to cry when no one is watching, but I would have loved to talk to my girls!

There’s nothing that makes me feel younger than hanging out with my 30-something gals!

Who else could you go to a Kelly Clarksen concert with and not feel awkward around all the teenagers?

Please note the 11 year olds in the background…and why are we the only ones rocking out?

Yes, I was quite the mosher in my day.
Do they still say mosh? Anyone?

I do love my friends. I miss the ones I’ve had to leave along the way, but that’s the beauty of today’s world. They are never REALLY far away.  We’ve got cell phones and blog sites and picture sites and instant messaging, and web-cams. And true friends do visit each-other, even if you happen to live at the edge of civilization in a very rainy part of the country.

The other wonderful thing about girlfriends is no matter where I go, I seem to find some real gems. I’ve been lucky with this recent move to meet some “kindred spirits.” Women that I can call and ask “I’ll clean your kitchen if you’ll clean mine.” or more often than that “I don’t feel like lifting a finger today. Can we ditch our house keeping duties together and can my kids trash your house while we do it?”   It’s great.

Speaking of making new friends, today some fellow female bloggers are driving from the far reaches of the Northwest, and meeting up in Seattle. I’m really  excited to meet everyone. I’m totally green to this blogging world and I don’t know what to expect, but I’m hopeful to come away with the beginnings of some fun relationships.

I’ll bring the digital camera and cross my fingers for some really good, embarrassing photos that I can post and talk about later!

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It’s a long long road…

What a long and strange day for me.

I was whisked back about 15 years as I was forced by State Law to retake my written and driver’s test to obtain a new driver’s license.  I was nervous to the point of nausea…but as I reminded my husband last night, I have never failed any type of licensing test, EVER.  Today was no exception.  I did pass both with a hugePHEW! But because I live in the boonies I spent a couple of hours driving back and forth to the DMV to retrieve the proper documents that I didn’t realize I needed. Should have checked before hand.

I was overly frustrated with my oldest. He’s only five. How can I train him to be more respectful. He’s getting so mouthy. I never expected that from him. He was such an obedient and loving toddler. 

I spent the afternoon with 12 eight year olds.  This became both aggrivating and hilarious. The comments that come out of these girls mouths really make me laugh. I wish I had a memory for quotes so I could share them. There were just too many moments there. 

Then tonight, Hubby left for Scouts and his weekly late night b-ball game. I made sure to put the kidlets to bed earlier than usual.  I enjoy these nights where I really have some time to myself…  

So of course I spent the evening BAWLING. Yes, I’ve been crying my eyes out on my wee pillow. Did you watch American Idol?  Well I did, and although there were many moments of overdone celebrity cheesiness, there were many many moments of humbling. stark reality.  When they showed clips of the African slum…they compared it to the size of central park, and it was packed with houses made out of mud and paper.  Children, so many children without parents. So many people dying of AIDS and Malaria.  I was just sobbing.  Then they showed Louisiana, and still two years later there are so many living in these little trailers, not even full sized trailers. These camping trailers, packed together to house families that lost their homes in the hurricane. There is not a lot of “scope for the imagination” in these places, but there is a lot of crime.  
There were many other disheartening stories. It hurt to watch.  

There was just this feeling of helplessness that came over me. I know I can send money, but I’m so tainted with these big commercial charities. You never know how much of the money really gets there.  When I was growing up, one of my close friends lived next to this family and their huge mansion.  When I asked what the father did for a living I found out that he worked for The United Way.  I’ll never forget that.  Why did this man that worked for a charity foundation make so much money to live in excess as they did.  I didn’t get it, even then when I was young. Since then I have been hesitant to give freely without to charities such as this. If my family sponsors a child I don’t want the money going to Sally Struthers and her T.V. commercials. Show me something legit. Show me something I can send my money to and know that it’s not paying for someones million dollar home.  

Mary, from Owlhaven has adopted 4 children from around the world if I’m correct. She’s in the beginning process of adopting more. This brings some peace to me. I know there are many like her.  They’re helping one child at a time.

I don’t know where this is going. Never blog with PMS, and you can quote me on that one. You’ll regret it in the morning.

I want this world to be a better place. I want to be a good mom and wife, with everything that that entails. I want to be a crusader.  How can I do this?

My cheeks are still wet and I’ve used every inch of my sleeves as a snot rag.  But I feel okay. I had a good reason to cry tonight. Tomorrow I’ll work on that good mom and wife thing. Because I do have some control over that.  

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My Husband is the MOST BEAUTIFUL contest

Sara  inspired the contest and Chris brought on this next bit so blame her!

Hubby’s a hotty
He looks like a teenager
I don’t think that’s bad

He puts up with me
Never hesitates to change
A dirty diaper

Entrepreneur
It’s hard work being “the man”
Thanks for everything

Really what I want to ask is for a cheesy Haiku on why your husband is the most beautiful.

Tag you’re it…and pictures if you dare!

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Glutony

How much is too much when it comes to…

Oreo’s and Milk?

Sleep?

Swedish Fish?

“Me Time?”

Blogging?

for that matter, video games or media?

I want to know…what’s your max? Do you set some kind of limit on yourself only to end up breaking it? Do tell?

xoxo  

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We’ll wait and see where this one takes us.

So, my apologies my friends, the drug of choice for me this week was a little game called “Viva Pinata.” Perhaps you’ve heard of it. If not, just know it’s a game designed for CHILDREN on the Xbox 360.   My  brother-in-law bought it and lent it to us,  (let’s see if he ever gets it back) telling me Buster may like it, but beware, he had read a review that parents loved it more than their kids. I laughed,  I’m no gamer, I wasn’t scared. I went ahead and pursued it as a fun little game both my son and I could enjoy together.

It started off well, we planted a little garden together. Whirims came, and Sparrowmints, lots of little cute painted pinata’s wanted to stay in our garden. Buster and I found it very exciting.

Perhaps Mommy found it a little TOO exciting. I became a little controlling, a little greedy, a little worried Buster would ruin everything we had worked so hard to accomplish!! And my pinatas! They were getting sick! He wasn’t hitting the Sour Shellybean! He wasn’t investing his chocolate coins in the right kinds of seeds! He wasn’t starting his Sour Totem Poll and I worried sick about having to chase the bad pinatas out of my garden all the time. PINATAS WERE DYING!  I needed to romance them! All Buster wanted to do was dig more ponds!

People do you understand where I am coming from? I couldn’t let him play that garden anymore. I just couldn’t…after all I had worked towards.

I realize I’m a freak. I hope I haven’t scared you all off…but when YOU get to level 44 and YOU become “Ultimate Gardener”  YOU go ahead and try to let a five year old play your garden.

It’s physically impossible.

Happier news, Buster has started his own garden now and made me swear that I won’t get involved. . .I have to leave the room when he’s playing.

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I didn’t smell the bacon

Who gets pulled over for going 27 mph in a 25 mph zone?

I do!

Who has been driving around with an expired license?

I have!

Who almost got arrested and had their car impounded in front of the wee ones, with the five year old in the back seat asking mommy all types of questions like “Is he going to take your car away?” “Am I ever going to get to school?” “How come you’re in trouble?” and all sorts of other questions that leave a mommy guilt ridden?

If you guest me again you’re on a roll.

I can tell you why I put off renewing my license, well I didn’t notice it was about to expire till we already moved, and then I found out in Washington you have to retake the drive test! Who has time for that? Well obviously I thought “not me” and assumes I was above the law. Secretly I always enjoy fighting the man!

Side note, you’d think the first time I was pulled over and got away with a slap on the wrist would have been my wake-up call. I’m such a stubborn cuss.

So now on top of retaking the drive test I have to go to court and prove that I renewed my license.

Why do I do these things to myself?

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The Blues

Well my head is reeling.  The shootings at Virginia Tech, what a tragedy. What horrifies me is these types of crimes are happening more often. I envision a future for my children with metal detectors at every school and campus, store and business.  Really, really sad. My heart goes out to all the families that lost someone, and the students and teachers that had to witness the events.

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Questions Questions

I believe her name is Jane, but I can’t be 100% certain, as the only name I’ve ever seen is mamadoggylove.  I love her blogs and asked her for some questions…here they are…

1) You are one of six kids. Where do you fall in the order and what were your favorite/least favorite things about growing up with so many siblings?

     My mom and dad had seven children, the fourth, my little brother, passed away in infancy. I am number two, but the first girl. That naturally makes me the second mommy in the house. I LOVED having a large family.  I would love to have a large family but I don’t feel as capable to handle it mentally, and I often feel discouraged as to why my three are such a handful for me, and why can’t I be more like my mom?      

          What did I love most about having a large family? The games, the constant playmates, the imaginative ideas we had that just grew into these wonderful days of tee-pee making, and fort building.  Digging holes in the tall grass and covering them up so someone would fall in. Baseball. Water fights. Little sisters trusting me to chop off their hair, and then hiding the cut hair in the closet so Mom wouldn’t notice. Get togethers now where we remember fun stories. Knowing if I really need something I have quite a few people to call. 

        What was the downfall of having a big family? I really can’t say, from my perspective.  I had privacy, food, not the best clothes, but that builds character. Maybe I was lucky. The younger ones complain about things, like not enough attention and not being noticed.  I wonder, did I just not need more attention? My older brother was 1 year older, my younger brother was 1 year younger, we were always together, but I never felt the lack of attention. I don’t think they did either.  The three younger girls, we would lump them together and call them “the little girls.”  “Where’s my hat?”  “You left it in the little girls room.”  They all had this huge bonus room and the older three, we all had our own rooms. I don’t think they liked it. But still to this day, especially now that I’m the only girl with kids in my family, I  feel a little left out of “the little girls” and their relationship with eachother. 

      Is that too much? I really could talk about my family all day long.  

2) You mentioned that you love reality t.v. Which can you absolutely not live without and why? 

     I think I could live without them all and it would be better for me if they did not exist. Then I would have more time for the important stuff, like blogging. 🙂  I think if I had to name the one I couldn’t get enough of it was the whole Laguna Beach/The Hills.  I don’t know why. The girl drama is just too intriguing for me. I always want the nice girl to finish first and everyone to get what’s coming to them.

3) You and your husband met at a surf shop… you said it wasn’t love at first sight. How and when did you know he was The One?

   Oh Hubby, he’s so sweet. He is the nice guy. I guess what needs to be revealed is that I had a “previous marriage.”  I’ll wait for the gasps to die down. Yes everyone I had a previous marriage, to a High-school sweetheart, it turned out to be not so sweet, surprise, surprise. We were both very young.  So I left that relationship with the knowledge of what I DIDN’T want.  I didn’t want someone young,  and inexperienced. I wanted someone that could buy me a house right away, someone that was wise to the world, but very good at the same time.

Hubby looked like he was 19. He was always blushing, and a little nervous, and awkward. My roommate was always asking why I was dating him. I kept saying it was just for fun and soon I would have to break the poor boy’s heart. He told me he loved me after three weeks. I had to end in soon after that, I just knew it. And I tried to tell him I might never feel the same. He then did something very smart, he gave me permission to break his heart. He said he could handle whatever happened. After that I didn’t feel any pressure from him.  It was very easy to fall in love with him, he was different than all the other boys out there. He was genuine. There were no games between us, and we were engaged after two months of dating. Married after a total of 7 months. Never have I regretted it. I often wonder if he got more than he bargained for. But he loves me despite myself. It’s wonderful to feel this comfortable in a relationship. It will be 7 years this June.

4) What brought you and your family to Seattle from Southern California, and do you think you will live there for a long time?

      My husband was born and raised in Orange County, CA. He’s never lived anywhere else. Every-time we came up to Seattle to visit the family he joked about moving here. Then finally one Christmas he told me that sometimes he just felt stupid for living in California when he felt there was so much more for a middle-income family up here. He’s very brave and hard working, he took the leap and started his own Cabinetry bbusiness up here. He also bought a hard wood supply shop. So he has a lot on his plate. It was a tough decision, but even though I have always in my heart wanted to live in California for the rest of my life, I knew it was right. And I’m very proud of him.  I think we’ve made it through the roughest patch of the transition.  

5) We share a disdain for house cleaning. If there was ONE house chore that you never had to do ever again, what would it be and why?

     BATHROOM! It grosses me out.  I have to put on gloves and keep my head very far away form the grossness. Yes that is a word.  I think it will only get worse as my young grow into teenagers. (Although, by then they can clean it!)

So thanks Mama! And anyone who’s actually finished reading this very long winded post.  But I guess that’s what is so nice about having your very own blog. 

If anyone else wants an interview, I’ll come up with some questions for you.  Just let me know in the comment section.  

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I just want some alone time

My son was frustrated with his siblings. Of course he was the one getting in trouble for trying to wrestle with a 3 and 1 year old.
He said “I just want some alone time!”
I completely understand.
When you’re so used to using the ladies room with the door open, that you forget to shut it when guests are over, you know you need a break!

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There goes another one!

So I have a tendency to be lazy, a fact that I’ve discussed in numerous posts…but you’d think I would learn from past mistakes?

This morning as usual I brought my 1 1/2 year old into bed with me to wait until the other kids wake up to join us.

I’ve been changing diapers for six years straight now. I have perfected the technique of laying on my side, in bed, and have an effective changing a diaper with one hand. This technique was developed to provide maximum for mom, and minimum disturbance of baby.

Can you see where this is going? It’s happened before. And yet, I still continue to use the same methods.

  I give his diaper a good yank, because as usual it has reach full capacity. And I see it flying…a rather large clump of “the stuff” now on my bed and on his pajamas and still squished on his undercarriage. My three year old who has just entered the room, has witnessed the whole thing and runs out screaming.

I am now WIDE AWAKE and full of spring loaded, super mommy action. Diaper in pail, baby in bathtub, duvet cover stripped and all infected blankets are now safely bunched together ready for the washing machine.

Clean and dress baby, take laundry down to the washer, look for anything I may have missed and viola! Back to relaxing.

I have to say that as bummed as I am that this happened, when it could have been so much easier, I am secretly amazed and proud that within 10 minutes or less there is absolutely no trace of the incident.  I think I just may be getting the hang of this mommy thing!

Which is good. Because I can’t tell you how many times I’ve gotten into trouble for incidents such as this one!

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