buh-bye 2007...

is it just me or was 2007 the fastest year EVER?? I seriously do not believe that I have to write 2008 on stuff already. One of my family members said aloud yesterday to anyone who was listening (I think just me) "hopefully 2008 will be better because 2007 sucked". It gave me pause because my own personal 2007 wasn't all that bad. It was pretty good. I made some new friends. Settled into a new house that I love- leaky pipes and all. Got to spend more time with my family- psychotic behavior and all. Got to spend more time laughing with my oldest (not in years, just in time) and dearest friend than I have in years. Continued to laugh my ass off with my oldest (in years- sorry Carol) and bestest friend. Laughed at my husband (not that this is unusual, just seems like I laughed at and with him more often).

There was a little bad here and there thrown in, but if it was all good people would start questioning my vodka/tequila consumption.

When asked for my resolutions I snort. No, seriously. I literally snort. I don't DO resolutions. I suck at them. I want to get back on track with my weight loss but that has less to do with a new year than it does with the holidays being over and me being less likely to encounter trays of cookies at every destination. I guess if pushed I would say that I resolve to start running this year. I want to run the 5k that I usually walk in the Race For The Cure this summer. However I have been saying for 2 years now that I am going to do that, so is this THE year? I dunno. Maybe. No really, trust me. I suck at resolutions. I could resolve to say NO more often, but puh-lease. Who would I be if not everyone's 'yes girl'? It is not a resolution I can even say with a straight face. So I guess I resolve to make no resolutions and just try to keep laughing at myself and those who I love and hold dear. Sounds good for 2008. Cheers!

sick and twisted are we...

so there is a lot that my mom, sister, and i don't see eye to eye on. I **think** I may have mentioned something about it in my last post. HOWEVER, we are each as sick and twisted as the other. We went on a girly date yesterday and took my grandma to a movie. She loves Johnny Depp (yes, my grandma has a 'thing' for Johnny Depp. He's even hot to the grandma set) so of course we chose Sweeney Todd. I gave them all a heads up on the story line, because if you aren't prepared for it, gory doesn't begin to describe the plot. My grandma is who made me the horror movie lovin' girl I am today and hello?? Johnny Depp?? So, I wasn't at all worried about her. I was a little worried about my mom. She's not a big fan of gore. I shouldn't have been concerned. Her inappropriate sense of humor outweighed her gross-out level. We were knee slapping the whole way through the movie and cackling like hens. The teeny-boppers in front of us were HORRIFIED at what was happening on screen. We thought it was hysterical. So I guess we do have something in common. Cannibalism can be funny. To us. And Tim Burton.

christmas mission statement...

so this was THE YEAR for our family. The year where you decide the stress of trying to have a fun family-lovin' get together is neither fun nor family lovin'. This is the year that all of my "issues" came to a head and I have officially hit my personal limit. My family can continue going down the path they have chosen. Without me. I will, from now on, not participate in opening gifts around my siblings. I will stay home and enjoy my family, my kids, my husband. These are the things that bring me joy. Watching my siblings open the gifts my parents lavish them with is like pouring salt in all of my open wounds. I can't much talk about it without sounding like an ungrateful brat. My parents buy me nice things too, don't get me wrong. I appreciate all they do for me. Just in comparison...well there is no comparison. I apologize to everyone who has had to listen to me rant this week. It has been an ugly week for me. Now I have come to understand that I have to take control of my own life, my own family and not let anyone else spoil what should be a fun holiday.
I love my parents and sibs to pieces. I know that we don't see eye to eye on a lot of things. I think that's pretty normal. I just have to let a lot of stuff go. Stuff that has been clouding my vision of who I am for too many years now. How I am going to do it is a mystery to me, but I gotta do it.
There...wasn't that fun? I sort of feel like Tom Cruise in Jerry McGuire. I'll just bag up my fish and go now.

your holiday laugh...

because everyone is maxed-out, tired, stressed, cranky, and more. You need to laugh today. NEED it. Trust me. I'm offering to you the one thing that makes me laugh like a loon no matter how many times I see it. If Pete Schweddy and his balls don't make you laugh, there is something wrong with you. Go to the doctor today. No seriously. Go.

do you hear them calling???

so we spent most of saturday watching the snow fall and baking cookies and other christmas goodies. Now I have all of my teachers goodies done and the frames to go with them. This is FABULOUS! What is NOT fabulous? The fact that I have lots and lots of extra goodies. Chocolate covered pretzels and all of my favorite Christmas cookies called out to me all day yesterday. Since I am not one to ignore the pleas of a good cookie...well... I ate a lot of cookies yesterday. It's scary what a chocolate covered pretzel does to my will power. It obliterates it. Leaving nothing but a whisper of a memory of a will power.
But damn...cover a pretzel in chocolate and drizzle it with toffee chips. A word of warning: it might just become your new best friend. Consider yourself warned :)

send me the therapy bills...

i remember many years ago, reading a book that had a chapter in it that pissed me right off. It was a parenting book and they have a tendency to piss me right off in sections, because they spout "the best way" to parent and I just don't think there is a best way. Anyway...this particular chapter was on the the PROPER age spacing between children. I was pregnant at the time with Miss H and Justin was a wee infant. The chapter talked about how unfair it was to have children less than 2 years spaced because the older child misses out on so much one on one time with his/her parents. In my brain at the time I was all "WTF!!" I mean, the 2nd and subsequent kids never experience true one on one time, so does that mean they're never going to be truly happy either? And also...I feared I had destroyed Justin's chance at happiness because "whoops... we got pregnant this time a little earlier than we planned" it took us forever to conceive Justin so when we got pregnant after a mere longing glance at each other from across the room (it may have been a little more than that, but not much) it was a bit of a shock. The accident that is now my one and only girl child, put our 1st two children at a little more than an 18 month apart spacing. So you can understand my WTF response to the notion that I was destroying my son's happiness by giving him a sibling 6 mo earlier than the experts suggest. I was already putting money aside for his therapy later. OK..not really... but I wanted to. Fast forward 6 or so years. Yesterday while the older 2 were at school and I had Ry at home with me, we were snuggling on the couch watching a movie. As I lay there content with him in my arms it occurred to me that I never got to do that with the other 2. I always had a younger child underfoot. There has never been a time until now that I could have spur of the moment, unscheduled, one on one time with one of my kids- well not since Justin was 18 mo old. I don't really think it has caused them to be mentally unbalanced. Well...maybe a little, but no more than the average mentally unbalanced child. It just made me realize that I need to carve out time for each of them on their own. And be thankful for the 30 min or so that I can sometimes get Ry to stop being a whirlwind and just sit under a blanket with me and watch part of a movie.

bitter is the soup of the day...

i hate my spot as the oldest, responsible child in my family. No really. I. HATE. it. My family is going (for the second year in a row) to the National Championship football game this Jan. 7 to watch the Buckeyes play. My whole family. Oh. Except... not me. Because really, who would stay and take care of the dogs? Actually my sister is also not going, but only because she has to be back to Boston for classes before it's over. Otherwise FOR SURE she'd have gotten a ticket. But I'm not bitter. No, seriously.

the curse of the cosmo...

so matt's company christmas party was last night. And they decided to do an open bar this year. I was all "Wheeeeee!! Belly up to the bar!! Order me something delicious!" So was Matt's co-worker's wife. Quite a pair we were. Then later I lost her. Only to find out later she was very sick. Not to be deterred by her inability to hold liquor, I was all "Wheee!! I'll have another Cosmo!!" Only it was my 4th Cosmo. And they were mixing them suckers strong. Needless to say there are whole pieces of last night that are missing from my memory. Matt promises I never made a fool out of myself. He won't promise that he didn't take advantage of my weakened condition. Bastard. What I learned from this experience?

1. Just because top shelf alcohol is being offered free of charge, you don't have to drink it. All.
2. A Cosmo is really nothing more than a giant vodka with a splash of cranberry juice.
3. 4 Cosmos? Not a good idea.
4. The porcelain gods are still not good to me.
5. I don't know how I survived college.

Because....I didn't crawl out of bed until 11 am today. Well unless you count the 5 times I ran to puke my guts out. I will NEVER touch a Cosmo again and just the thought of cranberry juice makes me queasy today.
But P.S... I looked really cute last night. I think. I don't really remember much.

this makes me want a do-over on our 1st dance...

maybe for our 25th anniversary we can renew our vows???

how could you???

i am in hair misery right now. My hair is well... miserable. I have neglected it for entirely too long. I hate that I do that to my hair. It just happens. It grows out into a ponytail and without realizing it I become "ponytail girl" who never does anything resembling style. Unless you still think scrunchies are the rage. I do not.
I am just at the trust point with my new hair dude (this is my first hair 'dude' and I ADORE him) where I was going to go in and say to him "Drew, if you could do anything you wanted to with my head, what would it be?" and then I was going to LET HIM DO IT. I called to schedule an appointment this week before Matt's company Christmas party and **GASP** Drew is no longer with us. WHAT??!!?? Where has he gone? Why didn't he call me? How could he? Apparently he wasn't allowed to call me and tell me. I am in mourning over this. I now have to turn my head over to a complete stranger the day before the party and hope I don't come away looking like Dudley Moore. Or go to the party with a festive scrunchie. Neither is an alternative that makes me happy.

things i managed to accomplish today...

1. telling my mother i would NOT help her with her christmas decorating.
2. telling her again.
3. and then one more time because 2 solid NOs are never, ever enough for my mama.
4. ordered my Christmas cards
5. re-ordered family pics because I grossly underestimated their cuteness.
6. tackled laundry- actually washed, dried, and put away most of it. Most of it.
7. looked at cowboy ass.
8. wished I was born in OOOOOOklahoma (where the winds come sweeping down the plains) (and there are cowboys aplenty)
9. took picture retake money to my first born at school.
10. could not curse first born for forgetting to take it with him today, since the reason he needed retakes on said pictures is because his ever-lovin' mama forgot to put his picture envelope in his backpack the first time around.
11. ****sigh**** cowboys. Just once more. Or twice. But not a third time. Well maybe a third. Or fourth. But that's all!!
12. stripped the sheets on the girl child's bed. Hoping this helps kill the flu bug that is following her around these days.
13. noticed grimy toilets.
14. did nothing but ignore them and put them off for another day.

Can you say excitement? I know my life lacks passion on most days. Not today, though! Did I mention the cowboys??

bringing crazy back...

that about sums up what this weekend has been. I had in mind a nice relaxing weekend. Silly me. Matt was off work Wed. thru Sun. so I thought we'd get some stuff done and have time to vegitate. Not so much. Hannah was sick Mon- Wed. Ryan was sick Thurs- Sat. Hannah started puking again on Sun. morning and we're still dealing with that. This weekend was a lot of: you go visit with your family, I'll stay with the sick chiclet. Then we'll switch. Fun! Family togetherness! Relaxation! NOT. My house is a pit of destruction that smells vaguely of vomit and I don't have lick of energy to fix it.
I got a little Christmas shopping done on Sat (the one day that no one had a fever or ookie stomach) but when I got home and looked at the loot it became all too clear how much I actually have left to do. This week the calendar flips to DECEMBER. Can I get a YIKES??
I also came to the realization this weekend that there are some people who you cannot possibly make happy. And also those same people will never like you the way you want them to. This was a hard realization for me because I am one of those personalities that craves for everyone to like me. Oh well. I just have to live with it. Or at least try to. And now I can relax. Instead of always being on guard and not acting like...well...acting like me. I'm just going to be myself because what difference does it make at this point? I've tried every other possible me-ness and none of my fun personalities has been pleasing to said people/person.
Family time can be oh-so fun.

wear something stretchy...

and eat up!!!

Happy Thanksgiving from our corner of the world :)

go with a smile and wear armor...

i decided to brave the grocery store this morning for the turkey day fixins i need. It's the Tuesday before turkey day and people are already rude and nasty. I just can't figure it out. It wasn't busy, so there wasn't any of that cart jockeying in the aisles to get to the spot you need. People are just grouchy. In my opinion, if going to the store to get your turkey fixins causes you to be a sourpuss, you should not go. Easier said than done, right? I know. I didn't WANT to go. I went out of necessity, but I also plastered on a smile and tried to be cheerful. There's a Starbucks in the store for crying out loud! Get happy over a gingerbread latte!
I had so many people who rolled their eyes and huffed away because I had the AUDACITY to forget my x-ray glasses so that I could see them coming as I came out of an aisle. It wasn't like I pushed on ahead. I stopped, let them cross, smiled and said "OOPS! Sorry." When a cranky old lady rolled her eyes at me, I added on a "Happy Holidays!" just because I knew it would piss her off. Cause I'm sweet like that.
This is why I'd rather be strung up by my toenails than shop the day after Thanksgiving. There are just some nasty, crabby people in this world. Not even a full-fat gingerbread latte can make shopping with hordes of cranky and greedy Grinches do-able.

no good title for this one...

it's been a rough week around these parts. One of those weeks where you find yourself mumbling "this just sucks" under your breath. A lot. I tried to find humor in little things this weekend, but it was tough. My very good friend Marsha lost her miracle baby last week. Little miracle Marissa, who blessed our world for 3 short months. Her funeral was last Friday and it was by far the worst thing I have ever been through. The worst part was knowing it was so gut wrenching for me and I wasn't Marissa's mommy. What Marsha is going through now, cannot even be imagined by me. I do know that Marissa is in heaven with her grandma. And her grandma is spoiling her rotten. In fact, Marsha's dad said to me at one point, Carol is running up some extreme credit card bills in heaven. Thankfully those suckers don't have to be paid back. We smiled about it. Smiled, during a day where there was so very little to smile about.
After everything was over and everyone had gone home, Marsha, me, and our good friend Elizabeth sat around with a fabulous BOX of wine. We drank and talked and laughed and cried. It was therapeutic for me and I hope it helped Marsha in some way. My heart is broken for her, but I know God will bless her with a child someday. She is destined to be the world's greatest mommy. I have known that to be a fact during the entire 15 years that I have known her.
I know the next days, weeks, months, are going to be the worst for Marsha and family. I hope if she pops on here and finds this post she knows I love her and I am sending her hugs in my head all day, every day.
I am ever so thankful that I was able to come home and hug the pieces out of my 3 chiclets. You sometimes forget how blessed you are in the day to day nose wipings, butt wipings, battle breaking-ups, etc. Marissa now reminds me daily how very blessed I am and I thank her for it. And also we have photographic proof that she was pissed off at the Buckeyes for losing to Illinois. She really was a cool kid. Even if it was for a brief time.
We love you and miss you sweet Marissa.

clark griswold revisited...

it was once again, not so much a winning pinewood derby day for justin and his golden silver shark car.
It was also once again a day where I could sit back and watch the psychotic parents wanting THEIR cars to finish first. The kids of said parents were running around the gym not watching or even caring about their cars. The dads watched with intensity, critiquing the way the cars ran on the 2 different tracks. It was, quite frankly, obnoxious. I guess for some people this is the highlight of their year. Building a car for their child and watching it run, hoping their kid scores a trophy on a car they didn't spend 1/2 a minute working on or even thinking about.
Matt & Justin plan to get reinforcements next year. He's hoping for the car the rivals Clark Griswold's experimentally lubed up sled in Christmas Vacation. The type of car the zips off the track, and runs clean through the bleachers, lockers, and few classrooms, and into the cafeteria down the hall. I fear Matt will be the freakish dad watching the cars run down the tracks and sweating over a dorky trophy.

pinewood derby....

in other news, today is justin's pinewood derby race. Since he lost miserably in every heat last year, he and Matt decided to try a different route this time. The car looks the same, but the weights are in a different place. Also the wheels got graphite this year. Matt refused to do anything "extra", like graphite, last year. He wanted to win the old-fashioned way. HA. Did you catch that whole lost miserably section earlier?
One other thing he did? He glued the axles in. The wheels fell off after the race last year, so he figured a little glue would do the trick. A little glue would've been perfect. He used gorilla glue. It expands. Are you starting to form a picture of what happens when you put expanding glue on an axle, really close to a wheel? Yep..he pretty much glued the wheels to the axle. Oh yeah...that baby is going to fly down the ramp. Or maybe it'll just sit there at the top because the wheels are unable to turn. And of course everything gets done at the 11th hour in this house so Matt was pulling off the wheels and trying to drill the glue off 15 minutes before weigh in time. Never a dull moment. It's an entertaining looking car anyway. It's painted shiny bright gold. Justin picked shark stickers. The stickers that also had the cool "Silver Shark" label for the hood. So his shiny gold car is called the Silver Shark. Keep 'em guessing. That's our motto.
Race results will be posted tomorrow.

take it back....

when i said bring it on, i shoulda been more specific. By "it" I meant wine (not whine), sunshine, happy comments, a tasty yet fat-free and thus guiltless dessert, something fun, something to make me laugh.... anything but what I got.
What I got? Oh... a teacher that has pegged my son as a problem child. He's a pain in the ass, but not a trouble-maker by any stretch of my (or anyone else's) imagination. I also got a girl child screaming in the middle of the night about her painful (and now goopy and pink) eye. Thanks to the gods of pink eye, our home is infested with whatever creepy-crawly germs cause the dreaded pink eye. **cringe** **hork**
So to whomever I provoked with my former statement "bring it on", I beg of you to TAKE IT BACK!! And next time you bring it on?? Bring more wine. I really needed it to survive this pissy week. Thanks in advance.

bring it on...

it's been one of those days. More like one of those weeks, but I don't like to whine. I could hardly type that with a straight face.
You know how it is when you clean like a crazy woman and then you turn a corner and realize your house is STILL A COMPLETE PIGSTY? Yeah, that pretty much sums it up. Oh and, add to that, pink eye. In both my child and the teenage girl who was supposed to babysit tonight during the 8:40 **PM** conference that I must attend with my girl child's teacher. I believe the 2 instances of pink eye to be unrelated but each puts a special and significant kink in my week. Add to THAT the normal day to day splitting up arguments between children who are never, ever wrong, finding socks that were taken off in 2 different rooms (and we wonder why there are no matches) trying desperately to find mittens and gloves that match because this week Mother Nature decided to turn all winter and shit on us, and let's not forget that 8:40 **PM** conference. I was told to list my 3 choices. I listed 2 times around **6** pm and one time that was in the middle of the day tomorrow. Somehow out of those 3 choices, I was given the obvious one. The one that is the last conference of the day. The day where the teacher has been in conferences since 11 **AM**. Oh, yeah. That's going to be an effective conference.
But I don't like to whine. Really, I don't.

my husband is a genius...

he taught me how to link. It is with joy that I can link you back to this post, or this post, or my personal favorite- this post. Or if I want to embarrass myself again I could link to this post.
If you wanted to buy me a Christmas present, you could look here, or anywhere here.
You want my favorite cookie recipe? Right here it is. Although I personally delete the walnuts. I also found using Heath chips is a fabulous substitution for chocolate chips. You're welcome. What about my nightmare? Right here it is. Wanna see the cool artist I found at a craft show yesterday? Here she is!
How fun is this???? If I had asked him a thousand years ago I could have done this way back then. He gave me the "duh...you don't know how to do that?" look when I asked him about it. Whatever, I never claimed to be a computer geek :)