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8/23/10

14

Happy Birthday to R!!

Let's all enjoy some photos of her through the years....




**click images to enlarge**

I never thought she looked much like me, or my side of the family, but in a couple of those earlier photos, you can tell she's my kid!

8/22/10

Do you remember when?

Another poem I dug up from a box that's been put up on a high shelf and forgotten.

I'm surprised I haven't been emailed this 5 times in as many years!

Remember When?

Hippie meant big in the hips?
And a trip involved travel in cars, planes or ships?
When pot was a vessel for cooking things in?
And hooked was what grandma's rugs would have been?
When fix was a verb that meant mend or repair?
When to "be in" meant merely existing somewhere?
When neat meant well organized, tidy and clean?
And grass was a ground cover, usually green?
When groovy meant furrowed with channels and hollows?
And when birds were winged creatures like robin and swallows?
Fuzz was a substance real fluffy like lint?
And bread came from a bakery, not from the mint?
When rock was a stone and hang up was something you did on the phone?
When swinger was someone who swung on a swing?
And pad was a soft, sort of cushiony thing?
When far out meant distance - a long way away?
And no one thought twice when you said you were gay?

8/21/10

Angelic

Today I did some more packing.  Well, more cleaning than packing actually. 

And I only broke out in a tiny sweat.

When I took some trash out to the alley.

I'm going through every box, bag, drawer and container.  I am no longer going to cart from house to house stuff we do not need or use.

It's time to simplify.

In the process, I'm finding little mementos I'd forgotten about.  Like drawings and paintings from when I used to be an artist.

Like this little gem ~



It's not dated, and I think I copied it from a Greeting card.  Most likely it's from the mid to late 1980's when I was doing the majority of my drawing and painting.

Sometimes I wonder why I ever stopped.

And why I don't start up again.
 

8/20/10

This pretty much sums it all up

I found this poem while cleaning out boxes of junk.  I hand wrote it on a piece of paper torn from a spiral notebook.  I do not know the original author (I'm pretty sure it's not me!) and I think I wrote it in the early 1980's.

Anyone with kids can totally relate.

Anyone who was a kid can totally relate! 

And I'm pretty sure I've said most of it at some point since S was born.


A Mom's Life

Take your plate to the kitchen, please.
Take it upstairs when you go.
Don't leave it there, take it upstairs.
Is that yours?
Don't hit your brother.
I'm talking to you.
Just a minute please, can't you see I'm talking?
I said don't interrupt.
Did you brush your teeth?
What are you doing out of bed?
Go back to bed.
You can't watch TV in the afternoon.
What do you mean, there's nothing to do?
Go outside.
Get off the phone.
Tell your friend you'll call her back.  Right now!
Hello.  No, she's not home.
She's still not home.
She'll call you when she gets home.
Take a jacket.  Take a sweater.
Take one anyway.
Someone left her shoes in front of the TV.
Get the toys out of the hall.  Get the toys out of the bathtub.  Get the toys off the stairs.
Do you realize that could kill someone?
Hurry up.
Hurry up.  Everyone's waiting.
I'll count to ten and then we're going without you.
Did you go to the bathroom.
If you don't go, you're not going.
I mean it.
Why didn't you go before we left?
Can you hold it?
What's going on back there?
Stop it!
I said stop it!
I don't want to hear about it.
Stop it or I'm taking you home right now.
That's it.  We're going home.
Give me a kiss.
I need a hug.
Make your bed.
Clean up your room.
Set the table.
I need you to set the table!
Don't tell me it's not your turn.
Please move your chair into the table.
Sit up.
Just try a little.  You don't have to eat the whole thing.
Stop playing and eat.
Would you watch what you're doing?
Move your glass, it's too close to the edge.
Watch it!!
More, what??
More, please.  That's better.
Just eat one bite of salad.
You don't always get what you want.  That's life.
Don't argue with me.  I'm not discussing this any more.
Go to your room.
No, ten minutes are not up.
One more minute.
How many times have I told you don't do that?
Where did the cookies go?
Eat the old fruit before you eat the new fruit.
I'm not giving you mushrooms.  I've taken all the mushrooms out.  See?
Is your  homework done?
Stop yelling.  If you want to ask me something, come here.
STOP YELLING!  IF YOU WANT TO ASK ME SOMETHING, COME HERE!!
I'll think about it.
Not now.
Ask your father.
We'll see.
Don't sit so close to the television, it's bad for your eyes.
Calm down.
Calm down and start over.
Is that the truth?
Fasten your seat belt.
Did everyone fasten their seat belts?
I'm sorry that's the rule.  I'm sorry that's the rule.  I'm sorry that's the rule.


**The answer I now get to most of the previous questions are "I don't know", "It's not me" and "No one".  I've been convinced Idontknow, Itsnotme, & noone are living with me, and have been the past few years.**

8/17/10

Open door policy

I'm not claustrophobic.  In fact, although I'd rather not be in a small confined space (who does?), it doesn't freak me out.  And I can ride in elevators with no problem, even full ones.

But I can not use the bathroom with the door closed. 

Part of the reason is most of the bathrooms I've had were fairly small, and they get all steamy and humid after a shower.  

Another reason was, after having my first daughter, leaving the door opened allowed me to hear what she was up to.

Which also lead to me always having a kid follow me into the bathroom.  When they were toddlers I didn't mind.  This was, after all, the perfect opportunity to teach them all about using the potty. 

But I think it began to become something that was "normal" to my kids.  As they got older, my "open door policy" started to come back and bite me in the ass.

I can't even begin to tell you how many times I was in there and a kid just walked in.  

"Hey Mom! Do you know whe.....Ugggg!  I'll ask you when you're done."

I can't really blame them.  They were taught that my door is always open, and an open door is an open invitation to enter.

Which has caused us to have some "oops!" moments where they're usually way more embarrassed then me.

Now that they're much older, they've learned to ask if I'm using the bathroom, or doing my hair.

It's saved them from those embarrassing moments.

And now, when I need to escape, I go in and close the door.

I've heard that's what many mom's do.

It just took me until my kids hit their pre-teens for me to catch on!

8/16/10

I must be crazy

As I wrote in my last post, our lease is up the end of the month and we have decided to not renew and move to a more cost effective place.

Cost effective = smaller.

One of the things I have decided I don't want to cram into an apartment (again) is my big desk.  I love my big desk.  Aside from the bench my dad made, it's the only piece of furniture I have a hard time parting with.



But I'd like room to move around, so I've decided not to take it with us.  But I'm still undecided as to whether to sell it or store it.

I've got two weeks to decide....

Anyway, on Saturday Mom & Jane stopped by.  While we were chatting about the move and what stuff they want to take, I mentioned wanting to get a $30 desk from Wal-mart that will better fit in our new space.

Mom tells me "No, no, no.  You do not want a desk from Wal-Mart.  It won't be you.  We should go looking at the Goodwill.  If you find a desk you like I'll get it for you for your birthday.  How's that?"

Cool with me.  So the three of us headed out to the Goodwill to find me a desk and whatever other treasures we could find there.

Boy, did we find some good stuff.  And amazing deals.  Because, you see, Saturday's are half price.  Yup.  Everything in the store is half off!

Jane found two big Ikea wardrobes for less than $100.  For both!  Mom found some material (like she needs more!) 

And, me?  I found this sweet deal.




A desk, two drawer chest and chair, all for only $27!!  Yes, they need work.  But I love refinishing furniture.

So, today, when I should be packing up more boxes, looking for the serger CD for mom, pricing yard sale junk, and vacuuming, I'm sanding and painting.

I'm loving it!!


**But if you ask me how I feel about all this sanding tomorrow, I'm pretty sure I'll hate you.   Because I'm hand sanding.  And I know my arms are going to hurt like hell in the morning.**

8/14/10

Overheard at Target

While in the Health and Beauty aisle, a heavily pregnant woman and her significant other walked by.

Her:  Oh wait!  I need to get hair bands.

Him:  Do I have to pay for them?

Her: No.  I do have my own money.

Him:  Why do you need more anyway?  You have plenty you just keep loosing.

Me:  That's why she needs more.  She keeps loosing them all.

Her:  See?  She knows.  She understands.

Him:  I'll be over in Electronics.

8/13/10

Finding words

It's been a while since I've had anything to say.  

Ten days to be exact.  

It feels like it's been a couple of weeks where nothing is happening, yet everything is happening.  

And in between it all, I have lost the ability to write.

I've wanted to jot down some things the past few days, but as soon as my hands get on the keyboard, the thoughts escape my mind.  

It's like my creativity has taken a vacation and forgot to take me with it.

Even my photography has suffered.  It's way too hot to go walking around the neighborhood, or driving in the non-air conditioned ghetto van, looking for inspiration.  When this happens, I can typically find something around the house to shoot in an interesting way.  But not these past ten days.

And let's face it.  I lead a very boring life.  I'm unemployed and when I'm not carting kids to and from school or cheer practice, I pretty much do nothing.

Seriously.

Laundry, vacuuming, cleaning the bathroom, doing the dishes, grocery shopping, playing computer games, napping.  That's the extent of it.  

And believe me when I tell you nothing exciting enough to write about happens when I'm doing laundry.  Or loading the dishwasher.

The highlight of the last ten days was last weekend.  I worked the home show, which wasn't too bad.  Friday was the toughest.  I was there from 9:00am until 7:00pm and it was the longest day ever.  Thankfully, Saturday and Sunday made up for it by being so busy we barely had time for a lunch break.  Now it's up to Derrick to close on most of the 42 appointments we set.  Meanwhile, I've had a few designs to work on.

Things will change, however, in the coming weeks.  Change in a big way.

Our lease on the house is up the end of the month and we've decided not to renew.  It's been too much of a struggle coming up with the rent every month, plus the utilities.

Last month our electric bill was nearly $300!  Between the pool and a very inefficient, much older house, the electric bill was slowly killing us.

So we have to move.  Lucky for us, our landlord owns a condo we can rent for a fantastic price.

Unfortunately, it's a two bedroom. And about 592 square feet smaller that the house we're in now.

The girls have to (again) all share a bedroom, luck them, Sean and I agreed to let them have the master, and I'm having a yard sale before we move to lighten the load.

Scaling down forces me to decide what I really need and/or want.  When we moved into the apartment we were in before we moved here, I did some editing of items, but we put quite a bit in storage.  Now I'm going to be doing even more editing.  Which gets easier when you pick up an item and ask; "Is it more important to keep this or get a dollar or more for it?"

Usually the money factor wins.

But there are some things I will not sell.  No matter what.  Like my dining room bench.  It's nothing fancy.  In fact it's very plain and a little beat up.  But my dad made it and I have so little from him, that I can't bear to sell it.  I'm hoping someday one of my girls will want it for their home and to pass it down to their children.



So, I will be busy the next few days sorting through all my junk to either pack or sell.  

In fact that's what I should be doing now.

But now I have to go taxi kids from school, then back to cheer practice.

At least some things will stay the same. 

Oh, yeah, I guess today could be called a highlight of the past ten days.

It's my birthday.


**I guess I found some things to say after all**

8/3/10

The game show where the questions are always the same and I'm the only contestant

Some days I get to be the unwilling contestant on a game show that can take place in the car, the living room or kitchen.   It always begins with the Host (one of the kids) asking the contestant (me) a series of questions that have been asked by children for generations.

And for generations we contestants (moms) have never had the right answers.

Here's how the game is usually played in our house ~

Kid: Mom!  Ya know what's so cool?
Me: Ice, snow, freezers, slushies....
Kid: Haha.  No.


Kid: Hey Mom! Know what's really funny?
Me: Comedians, sitcoms, clowns, knock knock jokes....
Kid: Haha.  No.


Kid: Hey Mom!  Ya know what I did today?
Me: Built a rocket ship?  Learned quantum physics?  Stubbed your toe...
Kid: Haha.  No.  And not funny.

This is where they get really mad at me and my "stupid answers".  Answers that are never right in a game I will never win.

Sometimes they like to shake things up with a tough Bonus Question.  They're usually questions kinda like this ~

Kid: Mom, my side hurts right here.  Why?
Me: Ummm....Maybe you bumped it?
Kid: No.
Me: Because....you ran too much at practice?
Kid: No.  That's not it.
Me: Do I get a Shout Out on this question?  I'd like to call Grandma.

Mom's a nurse, so she has all the medical answers.  Answers the Host usually doesn't like, so she says they're wrong.

And I loose the bonus round.

Bummer.

I was really looking forward to that Hawaiian vacation and $10,000 in spending money.

8/2/10

17

Happy Birthday to S! 

I thought you might enjoy taking a little look at her through the years.




click on each image to see large


She had some awkward pre-teen and teen years, but I think overall, she turned out okay!