Another Day, Another....uh....Spent Some Dollars??

I know I didn't MAKE another dollar today....but hey. I had a good day. That's what counts. Life isn't about the money anyways. Course, if you don't have any, it can make life a little more difficult....

Thursday Thirteen
Thirteen Miscellaneous Things (did I spell miscellaneous right?) from today.....

1. I mailed three books out for my new addiction (Paperbackswap.com).
2. They moved the ATM that I always used when we lived in town. I wasted at least a gallon of gas trying to find one to get some cash so I could go back to the thrift store to get the few things I had them hold. That one didn't take credit or check....cash only. Who carries cash anymore? Anyways, I probably would have been better off if I had just driven to the one that wasn't close by, but that I knew where it was at....in the long run it would have been faster. Oh well. I did manage to get back before the little girls bike got gone. 3 bucks! Slightly used, but in perfect working condition (only I had to pump up the tires and wipe off the dirt when I got home). It even had training wheels on it already. Now....how do you teach a kid to pedal???? *sigh*
3. It's true....apparently you can acquire a taste for that nasty ol nail biting stuff. Good gravy....KC double coated it tonight and even put in on the skin on the other side of the nail.....and he didn't even comment about it as he sucked his thumb. All I gotta say is....there is no way he should have complained about the green peas tasting so nasty at supper the other night....they didn't taste nearly as nasty as that stuff he sucks on at night now. Next week we're putting cayenne extract in the bottle of nail biter stuff. He hate, hate, HATEs spicy hot stuff....he will go berserk!!!! LOL! We'll break him one way or another. Hehehehe.....come on ya'll...be positive for me....haha! just kidding....you can be realistic. I understand.
4. Next year for Vacation Bible School at church? I'm going on VACATION with my vacation days, and letting them have the bible school without me. It hasn't been terrible, but there have been some things that have really kinda....um....irked me. Oh well. Such is life.
5. The thrift store had books 12/$1.00. That is like....really good. They had some nice young adult fiction books....so I picked up some of the nice looking books and came home and listed them on paperbackswap. So far no one has taken those yet, but for that price, I'm not losing anything!
6. Does anyone happen to know why Yu-Gi-Oh Cards are supposed to be so bad? A kid at school wants to give some to the Bouncer and the kid's mom asked me if I allowed him to have those. For some reason, I'm thinking they were bad, but I don't know why...and researching the internet today didn't pull anything up. Does anyone have any input on this from a Christian perspective? That would be appreciated. I told the kid's mom that I appreciated the offer, but I would get back with her. She also said that she would appreciate it if I let her know what I find out about them.....so ya'll help me out here.....
7. I got one closet cleaned out today. Tomorrow I'm going to tackle the coat closet and quite possibly start working in the garage to pull the yardsale stuff together and get a pile started.
8. KC nixed the yardsale for this Saturday morning idea. Said he doesn't want to have a yardsale here b/c of our yucky drive way and parking would be inconvenient. But he did approve 100% of working to get the yardsale items pulled out of the house to get things in better shape.
9. I really want to stay home. I liked getting to take the bouncer to his counseling appointment at one of the local schools this morning. And then running an errand and coming back to get him when his session was over. And taking him back to summer camp at the daycare and going to get his prescriptions filled.....and running my other errands. It was lovely.
10. Tomorrow I would like to scrapbook. I'll let ya know how that goes. I've got a lot....LOT....to get done.....and my week of vacation is too close to being over! I need to find some time to take my friend's little boy's 2 year pictures since it will soon be a month past his 2nd birthday. Maybe I'll call her tomorrow and set that up for Monday morning.
11. Bouncer is excited about getting to spend a week with our friends that are working on getting their license. We're not telling him yet that they are thinking about adoption, we just told him that they're getting ready to be foster parents and would like some practice, and did he think he could give them some practice? He said, SURE! Do I have to stay with them until they don't need anymore practice? LOL!!!!! We said, no, just for a week this time.
12. I've only drank half a 2 liter of doctor pepper today. It's kinda sad that I feel proud of myself for that. LOL!
13. I WANNNNNNNAAAAAA stayyyyy hooooooooooooommmmmeeeee!!!! To the point of, I'm actually ready to sit down with KC and go over the budget and discuss what we need to do to make it happen sometime in the not so distant future. And I absolutely DESPISE doing that budget thing! LOL. And the irritating thing is, now that I'm ready to sit down and do this, KC (who has been after me for awhile to do it) doesn't seem to be ready anymore. ARGH. I just wanna sit down and look at what is going out and what I'm bringing home to see if it's really worth it b/c frankly if I'm working 40 hours a week and only bringing home a couple of hundred extra a month, I'd rather stay home and find a baby to keep for a few hours a day and make the same amount b/c I'm not having to drive 2 hours a day or eat out all the time.......well...you know what I mean.

Anyways. that's thirteen.
I'm tired now. If you want the official thirteen, you can go to www.thursdaythirteen.com and see all the rest there. I haven't done it officially since I got that rude anonymous comment that came from there.....kinda gunshy now.....so anyways. There it is.

Later!

Like I Need Anything Else To Be Addicted To

Here are some of my latest addictions:

Being an at home mom. This week has been AWFUL! It has made me really, really want to quit working a full time job. LOL. Oh well. Actually, I think I want to have a house with a yard to send the kids outside whenever I am staying home. Right now I can't do that....I'd be afraid they'd tumble off our mountainside or run out in front of a car or something. Anyways. Either that, or I'd want to send them to daycare a couple of days a week so I could do something productive with my time. Like take a nap. hehehe!

Paperback Swap.com - I joined today and listed the nine books you start with to get the three credits and three of the nine are already taken. I'm mailing them out tomorrow. Not only that, but I've already used the three starting credits and there should be three books on their way to me very soon. Whoopee!!! I've already started rummaging through all the books in storage to start cleaning things out. Yeah, I know I won't be getting any money out of this, but at least I'll have an opportunity to get books that are more appropriate for this time of our lives. For example, I just listed some of the teenybopper books from my adolescent years that were in my ever growing "yard sale" pile b/c books on the subject of "Dealing with your hyperactive child" or "Making Your Children Mind Without Losing Yours" are the types of things that are on my current reading subject list. Anyways, if you're not part of it, you should go check it out, it's way cool.

Naps. I have been in a very nice mood all afternoon. And I'm now wide awake b/c I already got my 2 hours....I should be able to go to bed around 1.....haha. Just kidding. Actually, my hubby is ready to go to bed now. He didn't get a nap today. Poor thing. So I'm going to oblige him and go to bed.

Later!

PS I have about one inch of precious liquid substance left in the 2 liter of Dr Pepper I have been working on today. Does this mean I have gone beyond addiction and into a drinking problem?

Ahhhhhhh......

Today I decided I needed a little R&R. That would be rest and relaxation, not rushing and running. LOL.

And. It. Was. LOVELY!

I woke up this morning and got dressed. Got the munchkin and the bouncer up and dressed. Got everyone's medicine down, called the daycare to let them know that the kids would be in late (around lunchtime), and then grabbed the "due today" library books and got everyone in the car.

Then we all rode down to the town where I work. I took them into my office at work and sat them down with a puzzle while I checked my emails to make sure everything was still going smoothly in my absence. Introduced the bouncer to my mom, Wally, and whoever else happened to be in earshot, since the bouncer has a hard time remembering to use his inside voice. ROFL. Nah, actually he did really good today....but he usually does pretty good in the mornings....it's the evenings when he's the wild child b/c his medicine has worn off.

After I finished with the emails (all 160 of them, most of which were junk and just needed to be deleted), we rode down the hill to see my friend, Susan, who is now their friend for life, since she gave bouncer a lego happy meal toy and a bottle of bubbles to the munchkin. LOL.

Then we went to the library and returned the books and checked out a couple more and then headed back to the town where we live and I dropped them off at daycare.

I drove all the way into town before I realized that I didn't have the medicaid card for bouncer to get his medicine, so I just turned around and came back home. Found the card. Guess I'll have to go do that tomorrow after I take bouncer to his counseling session in the morning.

I really should get some things done this afternoon since tomorrow morning is shot (SW visit, counseling for bouncer) and Friday morning is a meeting with bouncer's one on one teacher and SW to discuss his progress and needs. Also Friday, I will have to put together the story quilt for VBS that the kids will do tomorrow night (it's posterboard squares, and they have holes punched in them and we'll use yarn to tie the squares together to make a quilt....it will be cool!). And at some point before Sunday, I need to make a couple of signs for the festival booth that I have to work on Monday, but I need to drop the signs by for the ones who are working the booth on Sunday.

Busy busy busy.

So today after I finished lunch, I decided to take a nap. So I did. And it felt lovely. Almost two hours. And my headache is almost gone now. *grin*

Now. What should I do next? Probably get off the computer.

Anyways. Later, ya'll!

Vacation?

Who said anything about vacation? I haven't had time to BREATHE, much less take a break! I get more rest at work! LOL.

So I was really frustrated with the kids tonight. Not their fault by any means, but I spent all day cleaning the house and it looked SOOOO good. Notice that I said that in past tense. It took all of 15 minutes after they got home and you could barely tell that I'd cleaned.

Ya'll. I mean, I CLEANED! All the way down to the sheets on the beds, sorting all the toys back into the right rooms, vacuuming ALL the bedrooms, sweeping and mopping (even doing the bathroom and laundry room and moving the furniture to get all the cat hair clumps and stray odds and ends that seem to collect under there), doing the dishes and putting all of them away, cleaned the litter box, emptied the trash, cleaned out the fridge, cleaned out the cat water which was beginning to grow algae, washed up all the laundry, dusted, cleaned out all the junk in the coffee table, even going so far as to start pulling out old junk to put in a yard sale....not only all that, but then I cooked supper! Granted, it was just macaroni and cheese, peas, chicken, and biscuits, but STILL. It was hot and it was more than one dish!

Now. There's dirty dishes in the sink. I spent 10 minutes before bedtime crawling under the dining table and picking up the mashed peas from my beautiful, previously Murphy Oil Soap fresh, hardwood floors. Kid stuff is no longer contained to kid rooms. Trash can has smelly remains of supper in it.....

But I have to ask myself....as frustrating as it was to spend all day cleaning and watch it come apart at the seams as soon as the family got home.....would I rather have the house stay picture perfect or would I rather enjoy having a loving family?

I'll take the family.

Whiney, fighting, disobedient, and all. Cuz heavens.....I most certainly have my whiney, grouchy, picky moments myself. Sometimes I wonder what they would do if I suddenly put myself in time out. LOL.

Couple of funny things from today.

As I was cleaning today, I started to dust the time out chair.....and then thought.....of all things in this house, that is probably the least dusty object of all. ROFL. It gets dusted by the seat of their pants on a regular basis.

Bouncer came home from school and told KC, "My thumb let me suck it today!"
(I guess he finally just sucked all the bad taste off. YUCK!)

KC re-applied the stuff tonight. And then after he was in bed, he snuck in and applied it again. I was putting the Munchkin to bed when I heard it, "BLECH, PTWAH, WHY IS IT HAPPENING AGAINNNNNNNN???????"

KC is getting ready to go wake him up for the next bathroom trip.....I would almost bed that on his way back to bed, he'll be in the half asleep "wanting his thumb" mode and there will be more drama again!!! ROFL. I know it isn't funny, I know it's not. The poor kid. It's gotta be awful for him, but he is SOOO funny, I just can't help laughing!!!

Well, it's past bedtime again. There just aren't enough hours in the day.

Later.

Quote of the day: Cleaning the house while the kids are still growing, is like trying to shovel the snow off the sidewalks while it's still snowing.

Drama, Drama, Drama!!!!!

And people, I'm tellin ya....it's not just limited to the skits they're performing for Vacation Bible School, either!!!!! HOO-EEE!

If it's not one thing, it's another....or five.

Because it is very rapidly getting late and I'm really tired, I'm going to try....TRY.....to keep this kind of short. And of course I don't have to try to keep it random....you know it will be.

1. I'm glad I didn't give myself a long to-do list today. I would have been sorely disappointed with myself. All I told myself that I needed to complete, was to meet up with KR and get all the VBS craft stuff that we needed to brainstorm and work up together finished. And if I got anything else done, it would just be a bonus. Well. No bonuses for me today. Bummer. Thank goodness for daycare though. I can't even imagine how hard it would have been to get anything done if we'd added bouncer and munchkin to the mix of kids trying to kill....er....I mean play nicely together with...each other while us three mom's tried to get all the posterboard measured and cut for each of the projects. Huge sigh of relief that that is done, though!

2. Remember the sticky squishy Dora who is missing a limb? Well, there is a companion "sticky squishy" which is purple and is a monkey named Boots. Munchkin has this companion "sticky squishy". I'm seriously considering making these "sticky squishies" mysteriously disappear while I'm cleaning house tomorrow and Munchkin is at daycare. No, it's not because there was any drama with munchkin over Boots missing any rubber limbs.....this time it was me. I walked up to the window in the Munchkin's room in my bare feet to close the curtains. Guess what is laying next to the air vent? Yes. I stepped on a cold sticky squishy. I nearly had a conniption until I figured out what I was stepping on....it felt like....well, never mind. Use your imagination! LOL....and then I breathed a huge irritated, discusted sigh as I wondered if she would realize they were gone if they disappeared. Ugh.

3. And then there was this. Ya'll, it's the closest thing to perfection that I've seen in quite a while. MMM....so good! I LOVE it. I actually went out and bought two cartons of my favorite....Edy's Fully Loaded Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough. I had to beg the stockman to check the freezer in the back for it b/c they were out. Whew....that was a huge sigh of relief when he came back with a case!!!!! I was beginning to get worried. Honestly though, I didn't buy both cartons for myself....I was going to share with the VBS Craft team (otherwise known as us three moms) but we were so busy with the crafts that we never took time to stop and eat the stuff. Oh well. Then I got home and KC laid a guilt trip on me for getting two cartons of my kind and none for him. Too bad, so sad! Besides, I didn't finish the last carton of my stuff and me and him are the only ones in the house that eat it....so there! *grin* Plus, he's still got about three opened cartons of his kind of ice cream in the freezer.

4. Oh yeah, and can't forget this......oh my. Ya'll, I'm sorry. I know it's not funny, but i can't help it. I was totally cracking up!!!!!! KC picked this stuff up for our seven year old thumb-sucker to try to start breaking that habit.

Have any of ya'll ever tasted that stuff? SICK! It's like a cross between sour apples, nail polish remover, and listerine. Not, not, NOT a pleasant combination!!!! And it stays on your fingers like nail polish....you can't just wash it off....it takes like days to wear off.

So KC put it on his thumb to see how it worked. No, he doesn't have a problem with thumbsucking, he was just checking it out!!!! Hahahah! I tasted it, too and it was absolutely sicko.

Then we were sitting in church with the munchkin tonight during the skit and I leaned over and whispered to KC to let her taste his thumb. ROFL! I'm so mean. Anyways, he stuck his thumb up near her face and she just bit it and then let go when he pulled his thumb back. So when he pulled it back, she grabbed it and pulled it back in her mouth and got a good taste of it. It was HILARIOUS. The look on her face was absolutely priceless. She was spitting and trying to wipe her tongue off and everything. I gave her a drink and that pretty much solved it, but it was SOO funny!

Well, tonight it was on with the bouncer. OH MY GOODNESS!!! KC waited till he fell asleep and put that stuff on his thumbs. A little while later the bouncer got a rude awakening. Let me just give you a few exerpts from tonight's conversation (as told by KC....and partially overheard by me).....***imagine extreme whine from half asleep kid*****

B: "I've gotta go wash my hands! I've gotta go wash my hannnnnds...."

KC: "Your thumbs must not want you to suck them tonight!"

B: washing mouth out and spitting over and over: "This is horrible, I can't understand this, they taste bad sourrrrrr!!!!!!"

KC: "Maybe they'll let you suck on them tomorrow."

B: "I wanna suck my thummmmmbbbbbb....why won't they let me suck on themmmmm???????"

KC: "here, have some mouthwash."

Well, anyways. He ended up falling asleep sucking his thumb anyways....despite the yucky taste. KC is going to put more on later....poor kid.

ROFL....well, maybe he won't need to put anymore on....I just heard an extremely irritated screeched "NOOOOOOOOOoooooo" from the back bedroom, accompanied by some spitting noises, so my guess is he just tried to stick his thumb back in his mouth again. LOL. I know it's not funny, but I so can't help it.....I'm sorry!!!!

Well, that's it for tonight. Seems like there was more, but I'm tired, KC's tired, and it's past bedtime again and there is no way we're ever going to get caught up on sleep at this rate.

Later!

It's Me

I'm here. Still alive. Amazingly enough. After killing our routine by spending an entire day up at the church b/c VBS started tonight and after Sunday morning service, we ate pizza in the dining hall and then all the folks worked on getting the VBS stuff set up, we actually survived until the end of the evening.

Tried to get naps in there....didn't work. I felt like I was defeated by a three year old. I was SO incredibly frustrated about that. I finally gave up after an hour and a half and said okay, fine...you don't have to take a nap, but you don't get to go play or anything either. UGH. I knew the bouncer wouldn't sleep, but he did good and just laid still (unlike his sister) and had some quiet time. And then he got to go play again afterwards.

*sigh*

Why can't they both be good at the same time? Anybody? All I know is they sure know how to be BAD at the same time. Hahaha!

Okay. I'm okay. Really. It'll all work out and be okay. I know it!

Oh yeah, and she was not able to fight sleep very long tonight. HA! She tried, but could not keep her eyes open. I rocked her for five minutes and she was actually asleep when I laid her down. No faking. *grin* LOVED THAT!

Bless her little heart, she had huge dark circles under eyes all afternoon, she was so tired.

Her SW is going to training tomorrow and will not be able to do the visit, so I don't have to worry about her having a really bad day because of that on top of being worn out. That is going to make 3 weeks now that her BM hasn't seen her. And if she misses the next one.....

ANYWAYS.

VBS crafts went okay tonight, and my awesome hubby did an incredible job with tonight's story skit for the VBS kids.....I was in total awe.....

It was real sweet, too, when.....well, let me give you a little background so you understand....

KC's story skit was on Abraham offering Isaac and having faith in God to do what God asked. So at the end of the skit, he asked the kids what some of the things that were very special to them were, that they would be very very sad to have to give up.......

And the bouncer raises his hand and KC calls on him, and he says, "my little sister"

And the whole crowd goes, "AWWWWWW"

It was incredibly totally sweet. Makes me almost cry thinking about it. Cuz his only "little sister" is the munchkin. And that was his thing that was very special to him. Not only that, but he was the first volunteer, so it's not like he was copying someone else's answer. It was just too adorable.

Oh yeah, and the Sunday School for the 3-5 class went okay this morning, too. Nothing happened to give me the urge to vent about it on here, so I consider that a success.

Well...let me take that back. It was good until the end of it, when the munchkin needed to go potty and I still had the other kids that I couldn't leave and so I sent munchkin across the hall by herself while I quickly wrapped up the other kids and sent them back out to their parents (b/c we were finished and it was time for the adults to be finished, too). Sending munchkin by herself? Bad idea. I was on my way to assist munchkin, when I hear her hollering for mommy. Uh oh.

I walk in and she is standing in front of the potty, splashing in the water on the floor. People, I thought the toilet was backed up. Honestly! I, for real, thought something had happened to the toilet and that's why she was calling me.

Until I smelled it....and she pointed to herself and said, "me p p in my pannies" (boombooms)

Oh dear heavens. And I'm not kidding, ya'll. The puddle was deep enough that she was splashing in it, and it was around 4 foot across, right in front of the potty. Not only that, but her shoes were completely drenched. The only pair I had brought.

I'm just going to say that I didn't make it to sing in the choir today. I was too busy supervising cleanup of Lake Weewee. Well, and assisting in decontamination duty. And I refused to go to the car to get her change of clothes. Her outfit was too cute to only make it through Sunday School. LOL. How do you like THAT logic?

Well, the only part of her outfit that was wet was the bottom of her undies, anyway, so I just rinsed them out good and dried as much of the water from them as I could, and then put them back on her. They were a little damp, but they were okay, and they were clean, and I set her on an old shirt so she wouldn't get the pew wet while she dried. LOL.

Yes, I am aware of my oh, so many, shortcomings as a mommy. Ya'll will just have to pray for me, kay? I'm trying. Really. And I have yet to meet the perfect parent.....all I know is that it's not me! I hate it, but I'm just not up to that level yet.

Oh and ya'll totally cracked me up with the comments on my last post. Teeehehee......thanks, guys. I needed to laugh....and to know that there was someone else laughing with me. *grin*

Anyways....it will all come out in the wash.....it always does.....*grin* I just prefer it not to be coming out in the HAND wash....I much rather it come out in the MACHINE washer. ROFL!

God help me. I can already tell this is going to be an incredibly TOO short week.

Sorry for the randomness.....I'm so exhausted. My friend, the pillow, is calling my name. Quite loudly, actually. Oh wait....that might be the munchkin having a bad dream. ROFL! Nah, I think it's the pillow. Really. It's the pillow. Please be the pillow! Yeah. It's the pillow. I know it is. I'm going to answer the call of the pillow now (and ya'll, honestly, it really is the pillow. All kidding aside.....if it were the munchkin, I would go to her and comfort her, not ignore her and go on to bed....I'm not THAT mean). *grin*

PS to my friend Jules, I'm dreadfully sorry about missing the wedding shower yesterday. Honestly, you read my blog so you know how crazy our house is right now and I know that's no excuse but I totally lost track of the date and it did not even cross my mind that it was supposed to be yesterday until KC mentioned it today. PLEASE forgive me. It was totally not intentional and I'm am completely embarrassed about it. Please don't hate me! *embarrassed grin here* =) I would continue grovelling, but I really need to go have some fellowship with my pillow. *grin* All I can say is, I love ya, girl! Oh yeah, and I hope you feel better soon...I'm sorry I woke you up today when I called to apologize.....okay. I have to go. I do love you and I'm sorry!

Night night....

It's The End Of The World....another DramaQueen Day

Oh my word. Ya'd a thunk she was traumatized for life from the hysterics she went into this morning over this:



Yeah. So the hand is missing. It's not exactly worth writing home about.....course I am just sitting here blogging about it....haha.

But, oh my goodness, the crocodile tears and drama that erupted when she realized her poor Dora is now an amputee....you'd have thought she had squashed her hand in the door or something. Good gravy! I was SO not expecting that.

And it wasn't even my fault. See, I was cleaning house this morning and ran across that sticky, gooey, stretchy Dora toy and you know how those toys get sooo dirty cuz everything sticks to them? So I just took it to the bathroom and washed it off. While washing, I realized that at some point in Dora's travels throughout the house, her hand has gotten shredded beyond repair. It was pretty much just like a little string hanging on the end of her arm, and I have no clue at what point the hand actually disappeared. So I just popped that little string off and left her hand-less. Munchkin, who is climbs up on the stool at the sink just as I finish washing the now hand-less Dora, curiously watches me finish up and pick up the little string and throw it in the trash and then hand her the hand-less Dora. It took about three seconds and then you could hear it at the neighbors.

"DORA......WAHHHHHHH.......BROOOOOOKKKKKEEEEEE!!!!! NOOOOOooooooooOOOOOoooooOOOOOooo.... MOMMY!!!!!!!!"

Me, gaping in astonishment at the real tears that are streaming down her face from out of nowhere, "Do huh? SHEEESH, I'm sorry! I didn't break her, I don't know who did, I just washed her off."

I've never seen her actually get that upset over a toy before. I mean, she's three. She's had plenty of toys that have broken at some point in the last three months....either by her or by accident.....and she has NEVER had that kind of a fit over it. Good night!

She was definitely in drama queen mode today. Everything was fit-worthy. I didn't realize how good she was doing until she did this relapse thing....she hasn't been throwing fits like this for awhile. I guess it was because of the adjustment with Bouncer being here.

She got mad b/c Bouncer's "chores" were supervised by KC, so he got to "help her daddy."

She got mad b/c she didn't want to help mommy.

She got mad b/c she needed a nap.

She got mad b/c she wanted daddy's energy drink and I flat out refused. (DUH)

She got mad b/c daddy took Bouncer out to run errands while she had to stay here and help mommy.

She got mad b/c we had to leave Mawmaw and Pawpaw's this evening.

She got mad anytime Bouncer picked up a toy because only then did she want it.

UGH.

And a few times, when I would threaten her with a loss of privilege if she didn't stop whining and crying, she would take a minute and cool down and then give me this huge grin and say, "me HAPPY, mommy!!!"

Great. For how many seconds? Until I say, I'm sorry, I'm glad you're happy, but you still only get to drink juice or water (I'd have to be an idiot to give her an energy drink)." or "I'm sorry, sweetie....I'm glad you're happy, but you still get to lay down and take a nap." Yep. That's how long, alright.

Sheesh. It's just been one of those days. And the bouncer? Well, he's been typical....bouncy. *grin*

I think we do pretty well handling the two of them, considering. We don't generally lose our patience as often as I would have thought we would. However, I have come to the conclusion that our little family life would be a lot smoother (mom and dad included in that) if we didn't have so much on our plates. Like today. So much to get done and trying to juggle them around all of it without messing up their schedules too much and not dropping any of the balls we are frantically trying to keep in the air (like sunday school lessons and vbs crafts for tomorrow morning, home routines, birthday parties, housecleaning, laundry, grocery shopping....and the list just goes on....).

It's nuts around here. Course we knew that was true without throwing a busy schedule into the mix!!! Ha!

Anyways. KC is falling asleep in the recliner next to me, and it's almost midnight so I should really get my little self moved toward the pillow in my bed.

Hope ya'll are having a great weekend.

Later!

Journal Jar #2 -- Doodlebug

Do you doodle? What figures tend to come up most often? Boxes? Circles? Faces? When are you most likely to doodle? and for those of you who are interested, feel free to copy any of the journal jar questions and answer them about yourself on your blog or in the comments here. let me know if you do, cuz I'd love to see what you say!

Yes. Guilty as charged. I can't help it....give me a pen and paper and it will end up with something scribbled on it. Especially if it's in my possession while I'm concentrating on something else.....like a meeting or a phone call.

I've always had that tendency. When I was a kid in church, my parents were strict about us paying attention and it killed me not to have anything to do, so we compromised and I was allowed to have a notebook IF I was using it to take notes on the sermons and not to write notes to my friends. Now I'll have to admit, I have written a note or two during church services, although at this point, I tend to feel much like my parents did about the subject, however, if I still had those notebooks full of sermon notes, you'd see all kinds of doodles all around the edge of the paper.

Now mind you, the sermon notes were generally not much more than the title of the message, who was preaching, and the five scriptures he used, so I had quite a bit of room left for doodling.

My favorite thing back then was faces. Particularly guy's faces. Attractive guy faces, no less. Now they weren't of any guys that I knew, just generally the characteristics of male faces that I find most attractive. Come to think of it, if my recollection serves me correctly, I think some of those faces bore quite a bit of similarity to my dear hubby's face. Interesting.

From time to time I drew girls, or flowers.....but that was pretty much it.

Now? Well. Keeping up with kids in church kinda kills the opportunity to take notes on the sermon, so I don't do much writing there anymore, but every now and then I'll have a meeting or a long phone call in which I have a piece of paper in front of me and nothing with which to occupy my hands.

Faces generally don't appear in my doodles anymore, now the majority of the time it's triangles with little rectangles next to them to make them arrows. And then it becomes a box around whatever my notes are....then I do a matching triangle and rectangle set on the other side of the box.....

Occasionally my doodles will include flowers or swirls, but only in the REALLY long meetings.

Now. To conclude this post, I'm going to go google the meanings of doodles. I googled "doodles meanings" before I wrote this post, but when the first result said it would tell you what the doodles you make say about you, I decided I would wait and see what I wrote first before I looked up the meanings. So that way it wouldn't be like I was cheating. *grin*

>Arrows represent direction and ambition. Drawn aggressively, they represent a desire for action. Drawn in careful outline, they indicate a desire for progression or advancement, especially if pointing upwards. Arrows traditionally have masculine associations. Drawn with a heart, it becomes cupid's arrow.
>Regular patterns from geometric shapes tend to indicate an organised and efficient mind. Triangles are a geometrically stable shape but also suggest direction and sense of purpose.
>Doodles of flowers indicate a gentle personality, a love of nature, sometimes childlike innocence or wistfulness.
-from about.com

>Arrows:Arrows indicate a person who is aggressively ambitious. Yikes! I don't think I'm "that"!
>Portraits:Faces are usually doodled by adolescent girls, seeking to produce an idealized self-portrait. Faces in profile, however, can be a sign of an introverted personality. Comic faces are usually drawn by men, indicating a desire to be the centre of attention.
-from bbc

>Many people who doodle may seem like they're not paying attention to what's going on around them. Actually, they're very focused, but not on the doodling—they *are* paying attention, and the doodling is helping them do that. They may not even realize they're doodling until someone points it out to them. HA! Do ya see that, all you people who never believed me when I said I was paying attention?!?! LOL!
>Doodling seems to have two purposes. The first is to help the writer express emotions that may otherwise be stifled because of the situation; for example, it's usually inappropriate in a business meeting to show what you think of your boss's new proposal. But you can doodle all you want, saying how you really feel without anyone's knowing! And doodling can also be a great way to boost your creativity. When used for this purpose it can be a really good tool for problem-solving—although you may not know how you managed to come up with that perfect solution.
>Pictures of boxes can indicate organization and structure.
-from Associated Content

Ahh. Anyways. That is interesting. I'd have to say from reading the few pages I saw, and thinking back to how I feel at the times I usually doodle, that it appears to be on track. Maybe not a hundred percent accurate, but not too far off the mark either (no pun intended).

Anyways. So that's my doodle personality.

Oh Dear.

I have a LOT of pictures. I'm so behind! I just posted a few more that I've had time to resize from the reunion....over here.

And here is one I can post here.....

thought that was an interesting perspective. The munchkin loved that basket.

"Look, Munchkin, see the basket????"

"Me want that!!" while reaching out for it

"Baby, that basket could fit our entire neighborhood in it and it's way too big for you to carry. But you can look at it!"

"Heavy, mommy????"

"Yeah, baby. It's very heavy! You couldn't lift it. Even mommy couldn't lift it! We'll just have to look at it from here, okay?"

sounding kinda bummed "Oh. Awwright mommy."

She's a funny kid!

This morning she was an awful kid. I have never seen such a fit from her in the whole time we've had her. At least not over something as simple as getting up and getting dressed. Wooo EEE was she mad. Lord, love her. I think she's been doing that faking sleep again and not going to sleep when I think she is....which means she'd be tired in the mornings. So tonight....she went to bed at 7:30 instead of her usual 9. Of course, she did the faking sleep thing, but by 8:30, I think she was out, so I left her. At least maybe she'll get a few minutes longer than she has lately. I really don't want any repeats of this morning, I can tell you that much.

I also kinda enjoyed her being in bed by 8:30....I had an extra hour of not worrying about keeping an eye on her while I messed around on my computer. *grin* Course it also means that there are still wet clothes that need to be dried....oh well. Can't do everything! I did get the tub and toilet in the main bathroom scrubbed up tonight.....eesh it was grungy! Amazing what adding one little boy will do to the mix of tub grime! Lovely! LOL!

Anywho....I'm going to hop off of here and work on a journal jar post. I haven't done one since the first one I posted and I think it's time to do one.

Catch ya later!

All My Titles Are Beginning To Sound The Same

Exhausted. Exhausted. Wore out. Tired. Whew. Exhausted. Yeah. Well. Anyways.

Guess that is because it fits so well. Haha.

Church tonight was.....interesting.

Dealing with the kids tonight in church was like.....hmmmm.....let me think of an accurate comparison......it was like wrestling with a greased pig..... And just as noisy. Yikes. I'm not upset about it at all....I'm sure everyone thought we left early b/c we were frustrated or couldn't deal with it anymore. And yeah, it was a little frustrating, but more for the sake of those around us who had a hard time paying attention for watching the greased pig wrestling nearby, and dealing with it wasn't the easiest thing in the world. Lord, give us wisdom. But the main reason we left early is b/c his bedtime is at 9 and in order for us to hit that, we have to get home by at least 8:50. So we got them in bed tonight around 9:15. Not too bad.

He finally started calling me Faith a few times. We haven't forced the issue, but we did let him know that ma'am and hey you are out of the question.

He was really pushing the boundaries tonight though. Poor kid. As much as it frustrates me to see him pushing us like that, I have to say that I understand where he's coming from. He's so desperately looking for love and afraid that we're not going to love him that he's checking to see if we still will love him when he's disobeying. We've emphasized the fact that we love him even if he isn't doing what he's supposed to be doing or listening to us, and we don't want to put him in time out, but it's because we love him and want to help him do better. And bless his heart, he's so pitiful then. I looked down the hall tonight and he was hugging KC's neck for dear life as KC was letting him get up after a time out and reassuring bouncer that we love him.

It was really sweet tonight when we had family prayer before bed. Bouncer said he didn't want to pray tonight, and Munchkin interrupts and says, "me pray" so KC says okay, go ahead. Then she gets shy and doesn't want to, so I ask her if she wants me to help her. She says yes, so I say a little prayer and pause after every few words and she repeats them. Or tries. *grin* It was cute. Only she won't repeat long phrases, like "thank you for helping me at school," she will just say "kool" and then when I say "in Jesus name," and pause, she doesn't repeat it, she just says "AMEN!" Haha! She was really good at the "help so and so's" though. *grin*

And then when I had told bouncer goodnight and KC had told munchkin goodnight and we headed off for separate rooms, she got upset b/c she hadn't told bouncer goodnight. So I took her in his room and she ran up to his bed and hugs him and he says, "goodnight, sister" and she says, "night" and then she comes back to me and we go down the hall and she looks up at me and says "my bouncer!!" (Only she said his name, of course) It was real sweet and all.

They're good kids. It's gonna be hard to let them go. I don't even want to think about that.

I'll just remind myself of all the rest I'm going to have time for.....and then I'll cry b/c I'll miss the sweet moments like her prayers. *sigh*

I'm gonna head out now....I might try to work on some more of those reunion pictures for a few minutes. I should really just go on to bed.....maybe I'll go read a few of the blogs I subscribe to and then head to bed. I'm sure a little sleep would do me good!

Later!

Wordless Wednesday

Misc Stuff

the scene that absolutely cracked me up last night when I walked by the door and looked in on them. I had to immediately run for my camera. The bouncer grabbed a chair to prop his feet in and the munchkin very carefully pulls the other one out and tries to copy him.....and her feet kept falling off the chair b/c she didn't quite have it pulled close enough. LOL!

The lap tray that I talked about in this post.

Results: I am forever indebted to the genious who invented magnetic toys and to the person who thought of using them with cookie trays for car rides. It worked better than I even imagined and the munchkin LOVED it!

And for those of you who are interested (you'll need to send me your emails to be given access) I posted some of the reunion pictures on Always Faith -- The Pictures just now....some of the ones that I've gotten resized for web that I can't post on here for confidentiality reasons.

Exhausted....again.

I can barely keep my eyes open. I've done good though. (done good....sheesh. my grammar shore ain't done good......oh well. I'm tired. We're going to use that for my excuse.....LOL).

So I got the kids to school this morning with little problem. Only 15 minutes late getting to work. Not too bad.

What was bad is that in all the busyness of the weekend and traveling and getting bouncer....I forgot to call my daddy for Father's day. I got him a card on Saturday but we were out of town and then I didn't think about it on Sunday and when I got back on Monday, things didn't slow down any, so I missed it. I felt terrible. Especially when, in the rush to get out of the house this morning without being too late, I forgot to grab the card that I'd had ready two days ago....and then he stopped by work to see mom today and I didn't have it. I felt like scum of the earth. I love my daddy....he's great.....two bad he got stuck with a forgetful daughter....although normally I don't forget stuff like that, it was just crazy around here with everything else.

The day was busy, haven't had time to think, although I did take my computer and let my pictures download off my camera while I was working.....so that I wouldn't have to wait on them to download at home. Maximize all time, you know....it's of the essence anymore.

When I got home, that precious time was spent referreeing the kids, fixing supper, doing laundry, trying to get the house back in decent order, baths, bedtime, etc. Just not enough hours in the day.

They said that bouncer did pretty good at school although he was kinda wild and he chewed through his shirt collar. I'm sure it was just because it was a somewhat new situation for him and he wasn't used to it. I hope he gets comfortable soon....cuz while it's nice that he's getting a little extra fiber in his diet, that particular fiber is quite processed and could get somewhat expensive to replace on a regular basis.....LOL. Lord, love him. He's sweet. Incredibly hyper, but very sweet. And my hubby is so very patient with him. They have hit it off extremely well, which is rather amazing since his last foster mom told us that he doesn't get along well with dad figures. I just think it's great that KC is doing so well with him. Tonight took about thirty minutes with the two of us rocking them in separate rooms like last night.....not too bad. At least on my end....I don't know how it goes on KC's end. All I know is that neither one of us better get sick anytime soon b/c the other one of us will have their hands FULL! EEK.

Anywhooo.....he told KC tonight that the reason he wants somebody to adopt him is because he's afraid he'll never have a family. I think he put it something like, "nobody wants me cuz I'm too wild." Awwwww.....KC told me that after the two of them were in bed and I almost cried. It broke my heart. We haven't told him anything about adoption plans for him, we are waiting to see how things work out, so that he won't get his hopes up in case anything falls through, but I did tell him the other night that I knew that God had a wonderful family just for him and even if it wasn't with us, I knew he would have a great home and a family to love him. We also told him that no matter what happens after this, that he'll always be welcome at our house. He seemed to be okay with that. It just breaks my heart that he's so young to be so insecure about not having a family. He told his last foster mom that he was afraid b/c nobody wanted him and he didn't want to have to live on the streets. How awful to be truly afraid that that could happen to you...especially when you're only seven years old. It's soo sad. I could cry for him. And he's such a good kid, too. He is trying. Bless his heart.

We're having issues with what to call us though. Especially since the munchkin calls us "mommy" and "daddy." I told him he could call me Aunt Faith or Ms Faith or even just Faith, but I don't think he's done that one time. A couple of times he's hesitated like he's looking for what to call me, but then he'll just call me "mom." I guess a kid can have several moms. The munchkin does. Although I'm not sure I'd classify her BM as a "mom" since....at least to me.....if someone were truly a "mom" they would do whatever it takes to get their child back....not drag their feet and mess around with their child's feelings and emotions. It's so aggravating!

Oh well. Anyways. Oh my eyes are so sleepy.

I was going to post more pictures but I don't think I'm going to get to it tonight. I did set up the picture blog as a private blog. It's over in the sidebar....if you click on it, it should tell you it's restricted access. If you'd like access, please send me an email. It is open to anyone in the family or my real life friends who would like access. Because of the foster care stuff being confidential, I must limit the access to those who have met our kids or will possibly meet them sometime in the near future. Thanks for understanding.

And I haven't gotten anything posted over there yet except for a few of the pictures from the reunion that I already posted in here, but I'll let you know when I post more over there.

For now....I'm going to bed.

Oh Dear Me.....

I believe the appropriate description for me tonight is "plumb exhausted"!!!!!!! I could literally keel over into a deep sleep at this very moment, but the fact that I still have so much to do is keeping me from doing so. And what am I doing instead of all those things that are desperately needing to get done (like those stinking piles of laundry on the bed that need to be folded or those pictures from the weekend that need to be uploaded....and let's not forget that the house is a complete wreck.....and the craft for the first night of VBS on Sunday night....). Anyways. I'm blogging.

At this particular moment, I felt like it was more important to document yet another milestone in our lives than to do the other things that need doing. That, and I'm addicted to blogging.

But enough about what I'm doing here when I should be elsewhere.....and on to the important stuff.

Like the fact that our family is a family of four now.

Yep. Bouncer is back. In his room. Currently asleep at the moment. And so is the Munchkin. In her room, that is....

And life goes on.

I can tell you one thing....if I didn't know that things will be better once the kids (and we adults) adjust to the new arrangements, I'd be worried. However, after our experiences with the munchkin and adjusting to a new person in the house, I know it gets better. So we're just bucklin' down and gonna get through this and adjust as quickly as possible.

It's a fun ride here at the nut house!

Speaking of crazy us and enjoying the ride........oh well....I'm going to talk about that on the private blog. I'll link it when I get it posted for those of you who have the password to that....all five of you....or at least whichever ones of you five that are interested in hearing me do more of this ramble thing on topics that are not for the general public to read. *GRIN*

So as for the weekend, we had a perfectly lovely time. The munchkin adored playing with her "cousins" and being the youngest there, received plenty of attention, which she totally ate up! Naturally. She did great on the ride home yesterday....only a couple of minor meltdowns and the last one resulted in her falling asleep about an hour and a half before we got home and she didn't wake up until 8 this morning. Bless her little heart. She was plumb worn out! Kinda how I feel today. Anywhoo....so when we got home last night, I just carried her in and laid her in bed, only taking her shoes off before tucking her in. Poor baby.

And she was disappointed again this morning when BM didn't show (for the second week in a row after requesting more visitation in court).

So they took her over and did a repeat of last week....and then BM calls later after they've taken her back to work....leaves a voice mail on the SW's answering machine, sounding distraught and saying "I overslept again and....oh @#$%......click."

SW said she has no idea what's going on, but I'm sure she'll let me know if she finds anything out. Very interesting. Again, I don't know how to feel about it. I'm upset that she's not calling ahead of it if she's not going to be there b/c it is so hurtful to the munchkin to go over to where she sees her BM and then she's not there. She was sooo down tonight when I went to get her. Definitely not her usual self. I even took a new hairbow over for her and a cookie and her mawmaw and pawpaw had stopped by the house to drop off some stuff she'd left in their car and she was barely excited over any of that. Not like she usually is....squealing and smiling and being happy. It was soo sad. Breaks my heart to see her that way.

hang on a sec....it's really hard to type while eating a banana popsicle. *grin*

Kay. I'm back now. (not like you noticed I was gone or anything....haha)

For today....got up this morning and started on the laundry and unpacking from the trip. (Strangest thing how much adding one little person to the family increases the amount of stuff that is needed for a 3 day trip) Took the munchkin to daycare and came back and got myself somewhat presentable and then met my friend to go to the big town to pick up the rest of the supplies we needed for VBS crafts next week. Also picked up a few other things while we were out....I had a good time. My friend is just the sweetest person....ya'll have no idea. Everytime I'm around her, I just have the greatest time and her boys are adorable. I have no idea how she goes out with them by herself though....between the two of us and the two of them (they're 2 and almost 5 months I think) I was worn out from shopping and maneuvering two little boys. But they were very good....I just don't see how she does it alone. It's a major handful.

Like....when we were leaving Walmart, me carrying oldest cutie and her carrying sleeping baby cutie and pushing the awkwardly loaded buggy between the two of us....and the stuff I'd laid across the buggy slid off, dumping our load in the parking lot....and it was extremely hot outside.....If I'd had any hands free, I'd have taken a picture....but then again, if I'd had any hands free, I would have (tried to) prevent the spill in the first place. Course, if I'd loaded the buggy in a more appropriate manner, we probably wouldn't have had any trouble, but you know me....an accident waiting to happen.

But there are nice people left in this world. Like the guy walking out behind us who immediately saw our dilemma and how we were trying to juggle the babies to pick up our fallen goods and dropped his very pregnant girl's hand to retrieve our stuff and help us reload our buggy while his VPG stood by in the extremely hot....heat and waited patiently. And then there was the man in Sam's who was in front of me in line with a huge load of items as I stood there with my two little things (while my friend and co. were waiting in the car for me) who saw me waiting patiently with my two items and insisted that I go in front of him since I only had two things. I was very appreciative of that very kind gesture. It's nice to know that there are still people who will do a kind deed for a stranger.

Then we went to the mall for lunch and to go in Children's Place. Oooooh....they had some goooood sales.....I could have spent a fortune.....I had a very hard time. I actually didn't go originally, I stayed in the family spot in the mall and gave the baby cutie his bottle while my friend ran down there with older cutie, but then she came back and was showing me all these cool things she got for so cheap.....so then we went back and I spent more than I probably should have. *grin* Oh well. It was for the kids.

Oooh. That feels strange. "It was for the kids." "the kidS" We are a family of four for now. That definitely feels odd.

So we went and picked up the bouncer tonight after KC got home and brought him and his things back to the house and settled him in....he had several bags of things and a box of toys that was his....I'm definitely going to need to pick up a few more clothes for him...especially summer clothes, but I'm sure the thrift stores will come in handy now that I know his sizes.

So just before bed as I was sitting in the floor folding laundry....the munchkin is sitting in her chair next to me in her adorable new six dollar jammies (which she absolutely LOVED), drinking her drink....looks up at me and says, "mommy, me happy."

Okay. So that just about made me cry. She was just so serious the way she said it....you just had to be there, I guess. It was sweet.

I really wanted to post more pics tonight, but i'm so tired that i think i'll have to wait. I need to set up an extension of this blog for password protected pictures anyways before i can post some of those pix, so i'll hopefully get to that soon.

I don't think I'm going to get to that private post tonight either....I can barely keep my eyes open and I've got to get some sleep if I'm going to be able to keep up with the bouncer AND the munchkin.

More later.

Ugh. Somehow it....

ended up being 12:34 am again. And tomorrow....err....I mean today.....we're going to have a long drive ahead of us. I really should get off of here and get some sleep. But I wanted to upload pictures...so I started that....and I have so many that it is taking forever. I'm only like halfway through. And I wanted to post a couple, so I stopped uploading and went ahead and got on here. So here are a few teasers for you. I have to figure out a way to put all these pictures on a password protected location so that the family can go look at the pics of the reunion. I'd put them here, but there are a LOT of pictures with the munchkin in them (don't act surprised or anything.....hahah), which I can't post on the internet. LOL.

Speaking of the munchkin....perhaps I should find some wood to knock on here, but she was really good today. Playing with all her "cousins" wore her out though, she was soooo tired on our way back to the motel. LOL. Bless her heart! She actually started dozing off in the car and she NEVER does that at night. Ha! It was really sweet how they all played with her and everything. I'll try to post more later, but anyways. We all had a really good time.

I'm going to post those pics now and then hit the pillow!

The kids playing on the swingset....

my cutie patootie....
the so awesome sunset! I LOVED it!
and lest you think I was going to forget about this one......LOL......well. It's not my best angle....but it's pretty funny. What's not funny is the way the back of my knees hurt this morning. Ugh. I don't remember having that problem as a kid.....haha!

Okay. That's all for now. Catch ya later!

Otay.....

I think I'm done for awhile. With the blog redecorating, that is....

I think I'm done for tonight, too....since it's like 12:15 and it was a late night last night and an early morning this morning....plus a long day in the middle there.

I actually had some pictures I was going to load up here, but I think they'll have to wait until tomorrow. :o) Sorry to leave you in suspense. *grin* I'll give you a little hint....in one of them, a person is wrong side up. I'll give you a really big hint on that one....who else do you know around here that is always flipped around. *grin*

Night night, ya'll.

Friday Funny

You Might Be A Nut....

If you are coming out of a store with a bag in one hand and kiddo following behind and realize that it has come a sudden torrential downpour in the last five minutes and you are going to have to cross a raging river once you step onto the street in order to cross to your vehicle and so you remove your new flip flops so they won't get wet and dirty (causing the kiddo to mimic exactly what you're doing) and put both pairs of shoes in the plastic bag and then proceed to wade through the river holding the kiddo's hand and walk barefoot to the car, getting drenched in the process (but the shoes in the plastic bag stayed dry).

If you proceed to drive without putting said shoes back on b/c they are not in easy reach.

If you stop to pick up a pizza and instead of taking the time to dig out the shoes and put them on, just go on in without shoes and pick up the pizza. While juggling the also barefoot kiddo on one hip, the pizza and breadsticks in the other. Then going back out and unlocking the door, setting the pizza in front and the kid in back, getting more drenched in that process, but not spilling anything or dropping either the food OR the kid OR the keys OR my wallet. (which if you ask me, is talented coordination, not nutty, but you know)

If you actually seriously contemplated finding a puddle to stand in barefoot in the rain next to munchkin and taking a picture of it in order to illustrate this blog entry. (Unfortunately for you, common sense got the better of me and I didn't feel like coming up with some kind of genious way to do that without getting the camera wet....LOL).

Anywhoo. That was yesterday evening. Came home after church last night and worked on a project for work that HAD to be finished by today. Thank goodness that my coworker had came over for the night and helped me. We were both up until 1 am this morning. Yuck. But the good thing is that it allowed us to be able to leave early today b/c we busted our tails getting all that stuff done to get it out in time.

This afternoon was busy. I cleaned out the car, did laundry, went shopping, rigged up a lap tray like they have in airplanes for the munchkin in back so when we're traveling, she'll have a table. I'm actually pretty impressed with myself. Of course, it's not be tested out yet, but I'll let ya know how it goes.

I read in one of the works for me wednesday's over at rocks in my dryer a tip on traveling with kids. I forget who posted it, but it was in the summer boredom tips post. They said they use a cookie sheet for the kids to play on while travelling and give them magnetic pieces to play with....like the magnetic alphabets or magnetic toddler toys and they stick to the cookie sheet which is great for travelling. So I decided to try that....only I wanted to make it like a table, so I used shelf brackets, tied them to the driver's seat with twine, put velcro on the bottom of the pan and on the brackets, and now there is a lap tray that can be removed by untying the twine. It's not the sturdiest thing in the world, but for a three year old, as long as she's not SITTING on it, I think it will hold up. I'll let ya know. An maybe sometime I'll post a picture of it. You'll have to promise not to laugh though. It definitely doesn't look like a professional job. Haha. The only thing missing is the duct tape. Although I might take a roll along in case any problems arise. Bwhahaha!!

Whew. I'm really tired. It's kinda late. We went to a little boy's birthday party (one of the munchkin's buddies from church) and they did a farm theme and had animals there to pet and a pony that the kids got to ride on....it was really cool. Unfortunately it poured down the rain before and after the party. It did let up a little, long enough for the kids to pet the animals and get all close up to them, but everything was still wet though. It was a very neat party though! They did a good job with it. I was surprised that the munchkin didn't have too much trouble going to sleep. She ate cake, ice cream, and candy between 7:30 and 8:15 and was asleep by 9:30. *huge sigh of relief* I was very surprised though b/c she seemed to be wired and didn't want to calm down to go to sleep, so the fact that it wasn't a huge battle was amazing! No complaints here though.

Okay. It's like almost midnight and I need to hit the sack. Early morning tomorrow. Here's a pic of the pot of lillies on our porch that has totally taken off this year. They're so pretty!

Anyways, catch ya whenever I get a chance again.
Later!

I Hooked Someone

*dancing around, clapping my hands in excitement like the ten year old person I look like today*

Checked my mail to find this note:

"...you've got me hooked and I thought that i'd let you check out my site. still working through it and hope to add pics whenever i find the time. (as well as add a little more life to it) hope you enjoy! :o) Love ya girl..."

YESSS!!! That is so incredibly cool. FINALLY! Someone who is going to post regular updates (or at least you better....I know where you live....hahah) and I can read up on THEM now instead of this one-sided thing that it feels like most of the time, where people know all about me and I don't know about them. *grin* And I love the rest of you guys, too, and just for the record, ya'll need to either start a blog or get posting on the one you got going. *grin* I'm loving this contagious thing. ACHOOOO.....I just sneezed my bloggy germs on you.....so catch it, will ya? I'm gonna harrass ya'll till ya get on it cuz I promise, you're going to get addicted once you really get in there.

I mean, hello....look at my stinkin blog. I'm so addicted that I spend meetings trying to stay awake by sketching out blog design ideas to try.

Speaking of blog design....I slept on it. I woke up and looked at it. Conclusion: it's much better, but it's not there yet. Bear with me, ya'll. Once I get happy with it, I plan to leave it for a good long while. *grin* And yes, aryo.....it's probably going to change....AGAIN. LOL. =)

Can't help it. I'm a perfectionist.

I'm also mean. Mommy, that is.

That's what my mommy told me this morning as I was sharing a little event from last night when we were over at our friend's house.

I'm really not that mean. Okay, so maybe I was a little mean, but hey. Munchkin's gotta learn the facts of life sometime.

Like if you don't like cleaning up, don't make a mess.

She poo'd in her drawers last night. And it was discusting! I'll spare you the gory details, but luckily, although very messy, it remained contained in her drawers. And she did FILL her drawers. I was so aggravated. I set her on the potty, she knew I was upset, so she tinkled and said....I peed in the potty, mommy! I said, that's good, baby, but you're 'sposed to poo in the potty, TOO!

So she finishes that tinkle business and I clean her up and put a pair of fresh drawers on her (that spare in the car sure comes in handy) and get her back in her clothes.

Then. I pointed at the full boom-booms laid carefully on the floor to keep from getting everywhere and told her to start cleaning. She was like, "huh?" So I picked them up and handed them to her and told her to dump the poo in the toilet and she takes them very daintily by the edges and dumps the poo in the toilet. I help her get all of it out and then drop them in the sink and make her rinse them out.

Oooh...she hates to get her hands dirty. It was soooo funny. I helped her of course, I mean, she's only three, but I wanted her to understand that those messes are not fun and not wanting to stop playing long enough to go to the bathroom is going to result in having to help clean up. I made her squeeze the water out after we'd rinsed them and put them in a baggy, and then I scrubbed my hands with soap and helped her do the same.

Ugh. It was discusting. Honestly, I wasn't mean about it, I just wanted to teach her some responsibility. She'll have to learn sometime. And I did help her a little, showing her how to do it and making sure she did it correctly. She wasn't mad or upset about it at all, I think she understood.

Besides all that, she loves to help....doing anything. The other night she helped me mop the floors. I put thick socks on her to keep her footprints from getting where I'd already mopped and gave her the extra mop and then I mopped the floor while she pushed the mop around behind me. LOL. She LOVED it....and it kept me from having to occupy her and I didn't have to worry about keeping her off the wet floors since she had socks on while I cleaned them. *grin*

Sometimes I amaze myself. Hopefully I will astound myself in the coming weeks after the bouncer arrives. I have a funny feeling "amaze" will not cut it with TWO of these guys.

That's pretty much the majority of what's going on in the nut house these days. Life is busy....can't hardly keep up. Don't know what we're going to do when it gets busier. Guess I'm going to have to start getting intravenous injections of Dr. Pepper....along with the regular 2 liter I'm consuming each day. ROFL!

Oh yeah, and I've got bronchitis....again. Joy. Pretty soon I'll be able to open my own pharmacy. *sigh*

Later!

So.....

what do you think? I'm really really tired and it's really really late....but I was playing around with the idea of changing up my blog.....

I'm not so sure what I think about it, but I'm getting the jittery feeling that says I really need to go to bed, so I think I'm going to sleep on it. *grin*

Later.

Stumbled on This

And thought it was interesting if there are any of you out there who are contemplating beginning a blog. (Kel, Nikki, and the rest of you guys....that means YOU) Hehehe. Anyways, it appears to have lots of helpful information, so for anyone who is interested, go here!

Contemplations

Hum. Lots of stuff rolling around in my turban wrapped skull. I should be combing out my hair so it can dry a bit before bed...but instead, what am I doing? Yep....you got it. This addicting thing called blogging strikes again.

So I've been giving major thoughts to the ol blog design lately. I'm thinking the "technical" look of the mic in my header just doesn't suit me. Sometimes I wonder if I'll ever find the "look" that is totally "ME" but I'm not giving up yet. I've kinda been pondering changing the title of this blog from Random Insanity to Always Faith since that is what is in the address bar anyways (Random Insanity was already taken). Of course, this would still technically be random insanity since you wouldn't expect anything else anyways, but you know, I will always be just little ol me, so Always Faith would be totally appropriate. I dunno. I'm still pondering. I'm also pondering the thoughts of going back to a photo of a flower in my header. I really like the flower photo looks. And you know. Flowers just seem more like "me" than a "mic" (as much as I think the mic looks totally cool). Anywhoo.

Let's see....what else have I been contemplating? I haven't forgotten the thoughts from the marriage "counseling" (or whatever you'd call that) session....but those are pretty deep. I'm not even sure I will be able to get those thoughts out appropriately. We'll see.

I've been thinking about the bouncer who is coming to stay with us on the 18th. I'm not stressing over it (maybe I should be, but I'm really not). We're probably as close to being ready for his arrival as we'll be....or pretty close anyways. I bought a spiderman full size comforter for the bottom bunk today....I think he'll like it.

Oh and I've been in serious wonderings about the munchkin's mom. Who did not show up for the visit today. Who did not call to let them know not to bring the munchkin b/c she wasn't going to show. Who called way after the point that the munchkin (after being highly disappointed and walking outside with the social worker three different times to see if her mommy was coming yet) was returned to the school......to say that she had gone on vacation out of state over the weekend and overslept this morning.
Oh. I seeeee. So what you're saying is, that you told the judge you were getting your license this weekend so you could start looking for a job, you were going to be at the college Monday morning to start classes, AND not only that, but you ALSO wanted to increase your visitations with the munchkin, and then you decided to go on vacation out of state, which caused you to miss the visitation that you DO have with munchkin. And I'm sorry, but where did you find the money to go on the vacation which apparently took place at the same time that you were supposed to be getting your license and looking for a JOB? I'm assuming you missed those classes you were supposed to start this morning, too? Nice. How very responsible of you.
Sorry for that little vent, but ugh. It's hard to try to understand BM's side of it when I see how hard it is on the kiddo. The poor munchkin. They said she behaved all day today at school, which I'm kinda surprised but then again not....I have some theories on that, but too much to go into now. When she got home tonight, she wanted love so bad....much more than usual. I felt so sorry for her b/c I knew why. I just held her for awhile, cuddled her and kissed her, and told her over and over how much I loved her and how much daddy loved her and she just ate it up. Normally the only time she's really that way for more than a few seconds at a time is at bedtime. It just broke my heart. She was soo pitiful. I wish her mom would make up her mind what she is going to do. I feel almost as pulled as the munchkin must feel. It seems like she's going to try and I want her to make it work, but then she'll do something like this and I'll just dread the thought of the munchkin going back to a home where mom isn't going to grow up and take responsibility.

I don't know. I just really don't know.

I also had really weird dreams last night. I should have wrote them down while they were fresh cuz they were REALLY weird. Maybe even the weirdest yet. At one point in one of my dreams, we were at some kind of campground like the church campmeetings with all the church peoples that we know, only they were real tents like those screened in kind that don't have floors.....and our tent only had some stiff yucky spots of grass and dirt on the floor and it was really uncomfortable because everyone was sitting and sleeping on the ground. Our tent was full of a bunch of our friends from years ago and had it not been for the fact that munchkin was with us, I'd have thought I was dreaming about the past. Anyways, this other man (who happens to be a preacher that I have mixed feelings about in regards to his actions and past messages) was in this tent that had really soft grass all the way through it, with a bunch of other people and preachers. For some reason we had to leave and I'm following KC and carrying the munchkin and we have to walk through that preacher guy's tent to get out and all of his friends are all around and I stop in front of the preacher guy and kneel down in front of him and ask his forgiveness b/c I coveted his grass and had hard feelings toward him about it. He laughed it off like I was crazy and I don't remember much of the rest of the dream, but I remember getting the impression that he was saying he deserved the better grass b/c he was better and me thinking that it doesn't matter how wrong his attitude might be, I still needed to keep the right spirit and not covet his grass. I guess that was the end of the dream cuz I don't remember anything else in regards to that setting.....it was very strange. Very. I had other strange dreams, too.

Must have been the cough medicine I took last night. I think I'm going to have to take it again tonight, too, although it doesn't seem to be making me any better.

I have a doctor's appointment tomorrow afternoon. Maybe he can give me something to make me feel better. Or at least tell me what is up with this sore throat that has nagged at me for a week now. I guess it could be my allergies....my medicine ran out a couple of weeks ago and I haven't had a chance to run it by the drugstore for a refill. I have a funny feeling that might be it.....I didn't seem to need it, so I thought maybe I'd be okay without getting it filled again, but now it looks like I may have been wrong.

Well...this is a lot of blah blah about nothing really, so I should think about heading to bed now. I thought there was one more thing I was going to say, but I don't remember what it was now, so I guess I'll go.

Oh wait. I just remembered it.

This morning a very weird thing happened as I was dropping the munchkin off for school. I pulled into the school parking lot as another car, that I didn't recognize as one that was usually dropping off kids or coming to work, pulled in and parked off to the side of the parking lot. It was an older model crown victoria that looked way beat up and had dark windows. I thought it was kinda strange as I walked around and got the munchkin out and took her into the school. I got her signed in and dropped her with the teacher and back out within about 3 minutes and by the time I got back out, the car was gone. No one ever got out, no one ever got in. It was like they just pulled up, watched me go in the school with munchkin and then left. It was very weird. Especially since I have heard that the munchkin's bio mom and grandmom have moved again.....this time into the district where we are.....kinda feels too close for comfort. I called the teacher as I was driving on to work to have her keep her eyes out and I plan to report it to DSS, too.....JUST in case. Ya can't be too careful. I can just see BM being the type of person to pick her up and run.

Anywhoo....I'm going to take some cough medicine now.

Later.

I Wasn't Going To Do This....

But after reading all the other blogging stories and their responses, it just felt...."right." LOL. So here is MY blogging story. Oh yeah, and you can find all the other blogging stories and more details here from Chilihead's site.

How did you start blogging?
Honestly, I don't remember. I think it started becoming a big thing on this scrapbooking message board that I read (or was addicted to) at the time and so out of curiousity after reading a few of their posts, I decided to try it. I was pretty much instantly hooked. I had kept a journal faithfully as a teenager up until I got married when I no longer had the free time to hand write all my thoughts down. (I have about 5 or 6 full handwritten journals from the time I was about 10 or 11 until 18) It's really interesting now to go back and read what I wrote back then and how my writing and thoughts changed over time. I figured it would be great to record this part of my life, too, for future reference, and blogging online is so much easier and faster, that it seemed like a perfect solution. And it was fun to play with the html and design. (Speaking of design, one of these days I'll come up with a design that I'm 100% happy with and then it will stay the same for a long time....so far, I haven't reached that point....so please forgive the constant changes)

Did you intend to be a blog w/a following? If so, how did you go about it?
Nope. The most I ever wanted this to be, is just a place for me to write out the thoughts that go through my head on a daily basis along with the details of my days and the days of those I love that will be forgotten if they're not written down. I don't think I have a following....outside of a few friends, and I'm fine with that. Occasional comments are nice though! *grin*

What do you hope to achieve or accomplish with your blog? Have you been successful? If not, do you have a plan to achieve those goals?
Um, it started out as just a place to have an outlet for my thoughts and random details of my life, and it's still that, but now, one of my biggest kicks is making Wally laugh at whatever I'm blogging about at the time (hahah). And since both of those things seem to happen fairly often, then, yes, I guess that means I have been successful. =)

Has the focus of your blog changed since you started blogging? How?
Maybe a little. I think my writing has changed some. I'm not sure if it is better or worse, but it feels a little different. The focus is a little more on life with kids and foster care, but since that's MY life now, I guess that's not really a change of focus since it's still a blog about MY life.

What do you know now that you wish you'd known when you started?
Well, before I answer that question, I would like give you Shannon's answer to this question as I feel like she said it better than I ever could.....
No matter what you write, no matter how plain-jane-vanilla your subject matter will be, somebody, somewhere, will find a reason to be offended. I wish I had realized this more fully and been more prepared for it. - Shannon @ Rocks In My Dryer
Since that technically can't be MY answer, then I guess my answer to that question would be that I wish I'd known when I started that I should keep last names out of it, keep all specifics out, etc., so that I wouldn't have to go back later and try to fix it after the fact.

Do you make money with your blog?
Nope. Personal satisfaction is worth more than money anyways. LOL. Okay, so I wouldn't MIND making money with it, but I highly doubt anything would come of it since I don't have a "following" as previously mentioned. Hehe. S'okay though. I ain't mad about it.

Does your immediate or extended family know about your blog? If so, do they read it? If not, why?
Uh. Yeah. And, uh. Yeah. And uh. Sometimes. It's used against me. Bummer.
Nah, really it's no big deal. At first I kept it under my hat, but after awhile when people asked me questions or wanted to catch up on my life, it was just easier to say....do you really want to know? Just go to my blog. And then I lost track of who I'd told that, so when someone asked me how things were going I had to start asking them if they'd read my blog so I wouldn't be like telling them something they already knew.....and then if they weren't aware of my blog before, they were then.....LOL. I do miss the privacy sometimes, but then that's when I started the private blog....that helps.....although I don't feel the need to use it very often. I only know of a couple family members that read it though....the rest of my readers (that I know of) are friends.

What two pieces of advice would you give to a new blogger?
1. Keep it anonymous. Don't give out your last name, your town, your work, etc.
2. Blog for yourself first, and do it regularly. You'll thank yourself later on in life, and if you pick up readers on the way or give your friends a chance to keep up with your life, then that's just an added bonus!

And that's it for now.
Later!

I Can't Hide These Cryin Eyes

No. I haven't been crying, but my eyes look like I've been on a crying jag that lasted longer than Britney Spears' first marriage. I'm not sure what the deal is. They're kinda red, but they're not itchy, so I don't think it's pinkeye. Actually, it feels very similar to the feeling you get when you have been swimming in a chlorinated pool with your eyes open for a very long time. Kinda burning. And they're rather dry, too.

I mentioned it.....err....whined about it......to my husband this morning, who not so sympathetically asked me if I wanted him to take me to the emergency room. UH. NO. "I just wanted you to pat my knee and tell me how sorry you are that I am in such discomfort," I say. To which he replies, while patting my knee, "Oh. I'm sorry you're in such discomfort, honey. That must feel terrible."

And there you have it. Another illustration of the vast differences between men and women (or Mars and Venus). I tell him my problem. I do not want him to solve my problem. I want to feel validated. He hears my problem. He wants to solve the problem. He does not get the validation issue without being told. Classic. Lord, love him. *grin* I'm not mad about it. Although he was being rather facetious about it. LOL.

Anyways. Mom came up to visit this morning. That was nice. She entertained the munchkin for awhile while we worked on the disaster that is also known as our house. Munchkin sure loves her Nonna and Mawmaw. Poor thing....Poppa and Pawpaw rarely get to see her so she hardly knows them, but Nonna and Mawmaw.....whew. Mention their names and hear her squeal. LOL.

By the way, to the anonymous commenter who is a social worker, thank you so much for commenting. That was really cool. Have you been reading my blog very long? Could you do me a huge favor if you read regularly....?? If I ever seem to be saying too much in regards to foster care or giving out any kind of information that is not vague or non-identifying enough, could you shoot me an email (link over in the sidebar) and let me know? I try to be careful, but not being familiar with the other side of the system so much sometimes leaves me wondering if I'm careful enough. So anyways, I really appreciate the comments you left, though, and I'm glad you were encouraged. I hear horror stories about social workers, and I have to tell you that I have not yet seen anything that I have not admired out of any that I have seen so far. The one who is currently working with munchkin and bouncer is terrific! She is always helpful and on top of returning calls and emails, gives plenty of information, and puts up with all my questions. LOL. I think you guys are doing a very much needed job that doesn't get enough recognition or pay and not only that, I know a lot of times you all are looked at as bad people for taking kids. And I would need to get my soapbox out for my thoughts on THAT. Especially after being in court. Parents are given every (in my opinion -- TOO many) opportunity to make changes and get their kids back. It is NOT the county's fault that the children need to be taken because they're neglected or abused. ARGH.

Sorry. I'll get off that now. LOL.

So the munchkin is asleep now. Nonna's gone home. The house is almost back in decent order. Except for this junk in my head, things almost feel normal. I still have to finish cleaning out/packing up my scrapbook stuff and get a place cleaned out in the munchkin's closet for it to go. BUT. It's coming. That is an excellent feeling.

I'll tell ya another excellent feeling......the feeling of the fourth (or is it fifth now) glass of Dr. Pepper sliding down my throat. Well, actually, the Dr. P is sliding down my throat, not the glass, but you know what I meant. I love my mummy....she stopped at the store on her way here and picked up (2) 2-liters for me. *huge blissful sighhhhhhhh*

Okay. Break's over. Back to work now!

Later!

Hey

Today's Friday.

Our house is a wreck.

In the words of munchkin when she came out of her bedroom this morning and gasped in horror: "UH OH! MOOOOM-MEEEEEE???!!!"

Yeah. It's a wreck.

I'd like to say that since this morning, this evening has come, and we've improved the matter.

I'd like to say that.

Truth of the matter: it's worse. MUCH worse. As in, you can no longer walk all the way around the coffee table. The cats have to go through an elaborate obstacle course (that I sincerely hope they are not urinating or defacating in on their way through) to get to the litter box in the (ex-) office. The only way to get into the kitchen is to step over the objects in the floor and turn sideways and squeeze through the small opening between the trashcan and the table and chairs blocking the kitchen. (or you can be like munchkin and walk under the table....which is almost tall enough for her NOT to knock her head against.....almost.....heh! don't ask how I know) The only part of the house that still looks normal (although still messy) is our bedroom and the munchkin's. Don't worry....that will change tomorrow. Haha!

But there has been some things accomplished tonight....she played very nicely by herself for the most part and stayed out of our way most of the evening and we were able to get the heavy desk into the dining room and start moving the computer and all the million and one cables. I'm sure glad I have a wonderfully techno-geek....err....I mean techno-SAAVY.....hubby who knows all about what cable plugs in where. I mean, I know how to hook up a computer....power cord, monitor cable, mouse, keyboard, and basic speakers, but when it comes to networking this computer into this router and from there into this and this and from the computer into that sound board for all those surround sound speakers......well....not my cup o' tea. I have to say though....I'm rather good at squeezing my leetle self down on the floor behind the desk and passing cords through the holes that KC instructs me to.....I make a great assistant.

Speaking of my great assistant skills.....I impressed my hubby when it came time to move the heavy furniture this time.

For the record, in past history, I can't recall a single episode of helping KC transfer a piece of our extremely heavy furniture where I haven't ended up causing something to break or someone (usually KC) to get hurt due to my wonderful talent for dropping my end or running into something.

This time however, I've been practicing. I've been weight lifting. 37 pounds of munchkin, to be exact. Many, many times a day. So not only did I not drop anything this time (well, nothing was dropped b/c of my lack of muscles anyways), I also easily carried my part of the weight....in other words, he wasn't carrying 3/4 (okay....maybe he usually carries 3.5/4) of the weight compared to my 1/4.....but anyways, I carried my half with no problems.

He was pleasantly surprised. It was written all over his face. Well, that and the fact that he stepped back after we moved the first piece down and in a shocked tone said, "I'm PROUD of you, honey!!!" LOL Heh!

Anywhoooo.....lots to get done. Not enough time to do it. Off to spend time with the handsome dude that is my hubby before this friday night is all the way over.

Later.

PS Thought this was interesting, but tonight as I was rocking the munchkin to sleep, I think she was praying. I had already prayed and she had lay there for a few minutes and next thing I know she's babbling quietly to herself (but I think maybe she was really babbling to God) and it sounded like she was praying. And her eyes were half closed like she was trying to keep them closed but they kept coming back open before she'd remember to get them closed again. It sounded like she was saying something like hep poppa hep poppa hep pawpaw hep cuch anku bada suit anku ice cream anku cuch hep bada hep a b c d e je-duh ob me in my heart ama.....and more of the same.

Now I'm not sure, but I'm venturing to say the translation of that was something like: help poppa help poppa help pawpaw help church thank you bathing suit thank you ice cream thank you church help ??? help then she starts singing: (the abc song...what she knows of it) (a cross between jesus loves me and making melodies in my heart) amen. And I'm not for sure, but I know today was water day at her daycare (which is also a church) so she got to wear her swimsuit and I think they gave them ice cream this afternoon. Anywho....it was real sweet and all.