A Big Shout Out To Alaina.....

.....CONGRATULATIONS!!!! I'm so very proud of you for passing the bar exam! You're going to make a terrific lawyer. And, as always, you're a terrific sister-in-law. Love ya, chickie!

Why I'm Not a Teacher.....

.... for those of you who've been around, you know that I taught German for a year. I spent four years and a shed a lot of tears of frustration to learn a language that I thought worthy enough to pass along to others. Because of the lack of respect that teachers receive from students and parents, I had the worst first year imaginable. There were other things that contributed to the fact that it was an awful year, but that was the main factor in why I decided that maybe teaching just wasn't the gig I was supposed to play. I even declined an offer to teach German to go to work in an accounting firm, not knowing what I'd be doing. I was that disillusioned with teaching.

...funny that today's lunch conversation and a phone call I received from my husband would be so interrelated. Today at lunch, we were discussing the differences between schools in the Middle East and in America. It was affirmed that teachers are given the utmost respect. My colleague said that if he would meet his teacher coming down the sidewalk that he would move out of the teacher's way. He said that if you got into trouble with your teacher that you were certainly in trouble at home. What the teacher said went.

...I received a phone call from my husband today, who has been the recipient of some not so nice discussion recently. He takes these criticisms to heart. He works so very hard at providing a fun learning environment for his children. They learn a lot from him and he tries his hardest to make it fun for his students. Only for people to say that he doesn't take his job seriously enough.

....people seem to have the opinion that teaching is such an easy job. Why is it, then, that so many people have taught for a few years, but switch professions? I'd like to see some of the critics take the podium for a year or so to get a real feel for what being a teacher is like. And yet again, try to feed a family of five on one teacher's income. Especially in our neighborhood.

...Maybe we could learn something from the Middle East?

So....

....I tried to blog yesterday, but Blogger ate my post. grrr....

....ANYWAY, a very Happy 1st 29th Birthday to Katie! I hope that you got to go out to dinner yesterday....

...also, a very Happy 22nd 29th Birthday to my Dad! *winks*

...in celebration of their birthdays, I decided to steal their thunder by having a car accident. I'm OK, the car's drivable, and, most importantly, it wasn't my fault. It was the Purple Piece of Shit, which was a break. Another break was that I had just dropped off the twins, so they weren't in the car. Especially important, since she ran into the passenger's side door. I think that would have scared little Erin Lou, who sits on the passenger side (back seat, though...put down the phone) in the purple car...a treat for her, since she sits behind the driver's seat in the van. lol

*sigh* not loving life so much right now.

ooooh.... Cider....

....yes, Chipshaker, I have become a cider drinker....lol...but lately I prefer the gin with the Minute Maid cherry lime-aid. Good, good stuff. ;)

...so really, I did become a Den Mother..... Yes, "sucker" is written on my forehead in ink visible only to those who can take advantage of me......



....other news of note...if the old blog updates become ever more sparse, it is because, due to fiscal complications, I turned off my landline phone, satellite television, and internet at home. Yes, indeedy.

A Woman With Many Hats....

.... so tonight, I became a __________________________.

fill in the blanks. go ahead. guess.

My Heart Hurts....

...for these people. Different hospital than Erin and Griffin, but both were on that medicine while they were there, and it very easily could have been them. My heart goes out to those families.

Feeling Guilty....

...not that my family didn't need to eat supper, but I'm suddenly feeling guilty about ordering pizza. True, it cost less than taking us all out to a sit-down restaurant, and even perhaps going to McDonalds', but I feel guilty nonetheless. It might have something to do with the fact that I not only bought the stuff, but ate FOUR slices of it.

...I also feel a wee bit guilty for going to a Stampin' Up! party and spending a few dollars on more scrapbooking/stamping stuff. I feel a wee bit guilty, yes, I do.

...Am thinking of buying a table at the school's fall festival and selling cards/other miscellaneous paper craft items there. We shall see. I need to clean out my craft area first, though, and make good use of the space that I have so that I can sit down and start cranking out the cards. Sometimes this takes more energy than I have.... Need.More.Energy.

...Speaking of less energy these days, another thing that I've been experiencing lately is hair loss. I wonder if it has anything to do with the fact that my hair is as long as it's going to get. Does anyone else experience excessive shedding? If I run my hands through my hair at any given point, my fingers are laden with strands of hair. It's digusting and a little unnerving.

A Good Saturday....

....so today went fairly well. It was more relaxed than I anticipated. A few unexpected guests came by, and that took up the time that would have otherwise been spent doing things like painting the house (for Aaron) or doing the laundry (for me). I did, however, get some familial filing done, which has made a very microscopic dent in what is the pit of my craft area.

...so, these unexpected guests?? One, my sister-in-law and niece came by this morning. SIL's car is getting quite small for the niece's car seat (it was a two-door coupe), so she neeed a new vehicle. BIL has been working a lot, since it's his busy season at work, so she had Aaron take her to a few car dealerships until he got home this afternoon. So, the niece, being the four-month old that she is, wouldn't have wanted to hang out and look at cars for very long, though I have no doubts that she would have been decent enough....so she stayed with me. *grins* She's so cute and snuggly! I do miss having babies around my house, even though I wouldn't want to go back to doing daycare.

....the other unexpected (up until Thursday evening, that is) guests were my Gran and Grandad. They came and took us to McDonalds' for lunch. There was a small overlap in having my niece with me and them coming, but we managed just fine, and I think that my Gran was happy to see a bitty baby, too. We just don't have them that small on our side of the family right now.

...and this afternoon and evening, we had our anticipated guests. We'd planned last month to get together with some friends from Aaron's fantasy football league. It's so nice to hang out with other people that are in my same life-stage. Younger kids (or, like Judy, kids around the same age as Collin) and credit card debt and all that fun stuff that makes life so "interesting" right now. There is a measure of comfort in knowing that there are others who are very similar to you.

...anyway, I'm sleepy, and I feel like I should clean up a bit before heading to bed with my belly full of gin and Minute Maid cherry limeaid (a very good mixed drink, by the way).

How was everyone else's weekend??

Etsy.com

....so, I think anyone who knits needs to go .... here ....she's my best friend, after all. *winks*

feeling a bit down in the dumps....

....nuf sed.

oy...

...it's time to get a part-time job, methinks. I'm just not seeing this whole, let's-pay-600-a-month-even-though-that's-a-good-deal-for-two-kids daycare bill. I knew that this was going to be an issue, but I'm not sure how much more we can cut back, ya know? *bites nails*

And the Gloves Woulda Come Off, Baby!

...so I'm really glad that I wasn't there to witness the following. For the record, I was in Cub Scout hell. I will post more on this in a bit, but first I must tell you what a champ my husband is.....

....let us set the scene. Aaron is a teacher for a local school. The PTO of said school gifts teachers with obscene amounts of money due to all the crazy-ass fundraising they do throughout the year. Teachers get to spend said money on their classrooms. (Thus, our friends, Ginny and Lucy) Aaron needs to figure out how to spend all the fat cash, so he takes the twins with him to your favorite place and mine...Target. Well, being the three year-old that he is, Griffin decides to have a full-scale melt-down in the aisles, where Aaron is looking for outdoor toys for his classroom. Screams of "Mommy..... MOOOOMMMMMYYY" no doubt fill the entire store. I'm not saying that it is pretty, but wait until you hear about the nice (ahem) customer that approached Aaron.... "He's screaming for his Mommy." she says. "Mom's five miles away, unfortunately," he says. "No seriously, you need to do something with him. He's irritating me." she says. (Wait, it gets better...) "Thank you for your parenting advice, lady, but I am doing the best I can," he says. "No seriously, you really need to do something about him. He's been screaming like that since I got in the store. It's very irritating. You need to do something about him or leave." she says. "No, YOU'RE irritating, bye-bye," he says. Oooooh...that bitch is so lucky that I wasn't around, because I believe that I would have landed my sorry ass in jail for assault after I pimp-slapped her interfering ass! Obviously she doesn't have children, and certainly was she never graced with twins. So, join me folks in some bad karma and yell "fuck you" to this lady.

....So, back to my own bit of bitching about life. Boy Scouts. You know, in my rose-colored world, there would be no pedophiles. There would be no one who would abuse anyone in any manner. But in the real world, there are many such people. Unfortunately, some of them have been within the BSA. So what do I get to teach my kid about now? You guessed it. They've made talking about such things a necessary part of being in Scouts. I suppose that all of this goes along the same lines of the sex talks that we'll be having later this year. But I wish, looking through my rose-colored glasses, that I didn't have to teach Collin about this stuff yet. Just to hang onto that innocence a little longer?? *sigh* My little man's going to grow up.... I know...

A Small Break in the Dry Spell....

...for crafting, that is. You see. I'm a slob. Crafting tends to be a messy sport. I create, and along with the end product is a huge mess. I hate cleaning (slobs tend to be that way), especially when I feel like it would be a big job and don't have the energy to give it a good go. So, I procrastinate. Well, the procrastination has led me to not craft for months. After thinking that I'd spent a few hours in the morning up to my knees in sledge and who-knows-what-else, cleaning in the office didn't seem like such a daunting task. So, I straightened out a bit in here. I made good progress, yet still have plenty left to do. I have plenty of storage in this room, yet feel like I do not adequately use it all. I need help in that department. Anyway, after I straightened a little, I had enough space on my desk to be able to create a card for my less-than-pleasant-yet-has-been-nice-lately-boss. You see, for reasons I will not go into here, she wound up in the hospital last week. She's going to have her work cut out for her when she gets back in the office, because no one touched her stuff. So I made her a card (Please don't be mad at me, dear friends for whom I still need to make thank-yous for all my neat-o birthday gifts!! They'll be coming!). My other colleague, the other female in the office, had a really tough go of it last week, so I used one of my stamp-camp cards and am going to give that to her. It's not entirely what I would have picked for a pick-me-up card, but it is good enough. And hopefully, it will give her a smile. Now I'm working my way down my list of people whom I need to thank for all the wonderful things they gave/did for me last week. I do have some wonderful people in my life.

...I also did the most-hate-task of cleaning the bathrooms today. *pats self on back* After three weeks or more, they really needed it. And now I feel unclean and need to take a quick shower.

Initiation to Cub Scouts

...setting the alarm for 6:15 a.m. on a Saturday...

...being disoriented enough to think that it was a weekday, cussing Aaron for not getting up and taking a bloody shower....

...apologizing to Aaron as I came to, for I'd hit snooze no less than three times...

...getting Collin up before the sun rose, promising him that we'd go to McDonald's once he got dressed (a treat we used to do before preschool and kindergarten...a mommy/son date, if you will)....

...listening to an unhappy Collin whine about the fact that he thought it was an AFTERNOON event.....

...buying marigolds....dish gloves, for those who've not been exposed to the witty UK culture....

...getting to the river, thinking that I wouldn't be getting too dirty....

...spending about an hour WADING IN WATER KNOWN TO BE UNHEALTHY.....

...getting threatened to receive a leadership role, because I've no shame in telling other people's kids to behave themselves....

...Welcome to Cub Scouts, Zookeeper!

All In All Was a Pretty Nice Day...

...name that song. *winks* I know one of my faithful followers will know this, as she and I saw her in concert a few years back....

...ANYWAY. There are days where I just want to hide, and those where I feel fairly content with life. My favorite parts of today? Eating with my old boss, who has always been first and foremost a terrific friend. We had a loooong lunch (I am sure that when my current immediate supervisor returns from being ill that I will atone for this sin! Her poor in-box was stuffed to overflowing, so I know that we're in for one helluva a week next week...*insert doom music here*), and had a huge heart-to-heart. We chatted away about everything from family dramas to things that had been bothering us for far too long. Was awesome. Love that lady, I do. And she's spoiled me into thinking that everyone should wear the rose-colored glasses that I wear and treat eachother with respect.

...My other favorite part of the day was being at home with my little family. We had great belly-laughs around the supper table (I do believe that Griffin polished off half a box of angel hair pasta...AFTER declaring that he didn't want any spaghetti...). After supper, I grabbed my camera to capture Collin and Griffin having mock light-sabre duels with whiffle bats. Griffin running after Collin growling al a Darth Vader "I am your father!" And of course, Erin, ever the pixie, skipping around the yard. She does, however, hit a ball with fairly good accuracy for a three year-old, so who knows what she's going to be like when she's older. I can't wait to find out, though I do not want the time to get away too quickly.

....The weekend plan? Boy Scouts, Boy Scouts, and more Boy Scouts. Yeah, that Scrapbooking Convention that I wanted to catch a bit of? Nope. Not happening. I'm going to don my yuckiest clothes and clean up the White River with a bunch of icky boys. Why, oh, why, did I say yes to this?? Anyone? Anyone??

...OK, my moment of pleasant reverie is gone. The twins are trying to drown eachother in the tub. Teasing. But they're splashing, so I'm going to be mopping the floor if I don't get in there. Adieu!

An Overdue Update....

....so, I've not heard from my biological mother since my letter. No call on my birthday, no further contact whatsoever. I suppose I'm still undecided on how I feel about that, despite the fact that I'm justified in my hurt feelings and anger. I suppose it just stinks that I know that this is the woman who dropped me from her uterus. In some ways I feel like I'm similar to her. I hope that these are the good qualities that she has, though I know that some of the bad ones are also there. I just hope that the worst quality that she possesses...to be so oblivious to her own children...is not something that I have. It does tend to make me hyper-sensitive to when I'm not being the "perfect parent." During those times, I get very down on myself. *sigh*

...on a much lighter note.... I finally started feeling better at about 2 o'clock this afternoon. I still want to go to bed soon, but am not feeling like I'm going to hork.

...to change the subject yet again, I went to parent-teacher night tonight. Collin is in fourth grade this year. I am having a hard time believing that my baby..the boy who made me a mommy...is going to be TEN this year. Double digits, folks! My boss (the one I knew prior to going to work for him) were talking recently about having kids outside of marriage. He called it a big fuck-up. I asked him whether he was calling me a big fuck-up since that's exactly what happened to me. I then remind him how many many people have sex outside of marriage. Some people don't even take the precautions against pregnancy. I did. I still got caught. And, if that's fucking up, it has been my favorite mistake in life.

Feeling Hungover....

....and had not the first drink last night.

...we shall come back to regularly scheduled programming once the Office Monkey feels less like praying to the porcelain god.....

A Good Day After All....

...so...seriously, and Judy will laugh at me, but this was one of my best birthdays ever. Here's a little low-down on my day.

1. get up and help aaron dress the kids...snuggle little warm sleepy heads. get a card from aaron that was way hilarious.
2. go to starbucks for a venti tazo chai frappucino...get birthday call from my mother-in-law.
3. go to work and get stuff done that needed to be done.
4. set up lunch date for friday with old boss.
5. get text message from baby brother.
6. go to lunch with Judy and Rebecca....get lunch and fun gift of survival kit, pretty notebook with matching tin, and money (woot! hehe) from judy, and get a ton of fun scrapping supplies (all matching!!) from Rebecca and Stephenie.
7. badger boss into giving me work. don't get work, but get gift card to starbucks, so i might have a repeat performance of tazo chai tea frap! (of course, then insert figuring out what meal to cut out so that it doesn't wind up on my butt... hehehe)
8. dream up work for myself....get phone call from my dad and stepmom and a freaking awesome text message from Alaina!
9. go home to kidlets screaming happy birthday to me, and promises of cake that they bought.
10. dinner at Taco Bell.... yummy....
11. turtle custard pie from Ritters.... yummy....
12. choir practice.

all in all was pretty nice day.....

Things I know at 29 that I didn't know at 19.....

...My parents, while not being as almighty intelligent as I once thought, have intelligences of their own. These intelligences evolve over the years.

...Yes, there are very valid reasons why not everyone should have children.

...Being a parent is a mode of survival. Being a grandparent will bring a lot more fun...not that I'm wanting to rush the next, oh, say, twenty years. *wink*

...It's OK not to be perfect in EVERYTHING. Being good at several things is good enough.

...I should have not spent four years and too much money to be a German teacher. I should have diversified myself a little more.

...In retrospect, everything truly does happen for a reason. When looking back, I can see just how everything has fit together for the last twenty-nine years. But I still hate the phrase "Everything happens for a reason."

...Comfortable shoes are key.

...If you stop picking at your face, the acne will not be as bad.... honestly.

...Everyone needs good friends. I love my girlfriends, and wouldn't trade any of them. I don't mind the man friends so much, either. But there's nothing better than a good girlfriend!

...It's important to be nice to people. You never know what their situation holds. People tend to be shitty to others because they lack something within themselves. If you get to know a person, you'll understand a little bit on why they are the way they are.

...We all carry a load of shit on our back, full of all the things that aren't so cool in life. It weighs about the same, but takes on different forms. No one is truly as perfect as they might seem.

I knew I should have gone....

...to nursing school. Today at work, I walked on someone's back (an old-school chiropractic trick forced on unsuspecting grandchidren by their grandmas) and also administered eye-drops to someone who'd just received Lasik (spelling, anyone??) surgery.

...not that I mind, really....the back victim will buy me lunch at least. Who knows if the eye-drops dude will. *winks*

It's Been a Long Time Comin'....

....in preparation for the re-ghosting of our computer, I have been copying pictures to cd....I have all the pictures downloaded that were begotten with my Sony CyberShot. The second of my digicams. Now I need to copy the pictures taken with my very first digicam, the Canon Elph something-or-other. I really prefer Canon digicams. Which is why my new one is a Canon S3IS. Am looking forward to becoming close acquaintances with it. I could have gone for the Digital Rebel, but that would have been twice as much, and perhaps going a bit too far. As it is, I think that there are additions that can be made to this camera, as far as lenses and bells and whistles go.

...But for now, back to the fiery dungeon of doing what I should have done from the start. Copying pictures to disc. Adieu!

The Good Old, American Way...

...so nothing says the American way like being up to your eyeballs in debt! Today, I replaced the digital camera. With a nice one. Much nicer than anything I've had before nice one. 600 dollars nice. 18-months same-as-cash nice.

God bless America.

a pretty good day...

...i got to sleep in. always a nice way to start a weekend. *thanks, aaron* i then took the twins and collin to a nearby park with judy's son. they played and played, and then i called judy, and she gave park-side delivery of mcdonalds' to the seven of us (she has two sons, remember). after we ate, we went to the park's nature center, where the kids could use the toilet and see things like live snakes and turtles. the nature center has a trail behind it, so we went down the trail until the mud puddles started appearing beneath our feet, then made a hasty retreat the way we'd come. was still fun to spend ten minutes in nature with my girlie-friend and her boys. *smiles*

...so then judy took collin with her while i took the twins home and gave them a nap. during my kidfree time, i got a shower (see, i so know how to live it up, don't i??) and went to the grocery to get stuff for the cook-out we went to this evening. i made aaron make the guacamole (he makes some good guacamole), and i took along my favorite lofthouse cookies. if you don't know what lofthouse cookies are, you're soooo missing a wee bit of heaven on earth.

...anyway, we got collin and noah and went to this cookout out matt and nay's. was a bunch of fun. you see, aaron tends to be extremely anti-social around people he doesn't know all that well. but tonight, he actually mingled with everyone, and i believe he might have had a good time. *pats aaron on back* i'm fairly impressed with him. anyway, good food, good drinks, goog laughs. hope that we can do that again, k, guys?? :)

anyway, hope that you all are having a lovely weekend. i got kids to clean and put in bed.