It's The End Of the World As We Know It....

.... ok, so if it weren't bad enough that the bar I go to closed down (albeit there is some speculation on whether it will reopen in November with remodeling... there was a pizza place down the street from the bar that was closed for nearly a year due to "remodeling"), I just found out today that they're cancelling Saturday Night Fights!

...Swear, if the Coca-Cola Company comes out to say that they're pulling diet Coke off the market, I will slit my wrists!

I Got Little To Say....

....so here it is. Happy Halloween! Have fun. Be good. If you can't be good, have fun. Be safe.

Sad, Sad Day....

...So I just found out from my good friend that the bar I go to every Wednesday closed down this week sometime. Can I just say how sad I am? Seriously, the place was kind of going downhill. It used to be packed every night I would ever go in. Over the past six months or so, fewer and fewer people showed up. And now it's gone. But. It has been like Cheers. I go in. Same bartender behind the bar. Knows what I drink. Same people to hang with, mostly. I know these people. I feel comfortable hanging out with them if they're in the bar. And now that's gone.

...I know this sounds stupid. But I'm sad now.


ETA: the day is not all for naught. I just ate lunch with Judy at Kebab Corner. And I also found out that my baby brother is, in deed, coming with me to see Disturbed. Still don't know where my Coors Light is coming from tonight, though, or who I will be imbibing with..... *sigh*

Frustrated....

...with karate. Of course. There is little else in my life, you know. Kids, husband, karate. Pretty much it. Well, and books and hard rock music and the occasional lunch with my girliefriends, but you get the idea. I kind of knew that this would be the case. And part of me wonders if my frustrations are largely why adults don't tend to stick around after they get their black belts. What bothers me is that karate is one of those things where you practice a small set of moves over and over and over. Until you can't take it anymore. And when you really love anything.... you do it like that. And damn it. You LIKE it. For real. Well, the new things we're learning in our school are things that to remember from one week to the next, you need to go over just a tad more than what we're doing currently. I need about two more times through it than I'm getting right now. But he's ready to move on to the next thing. So not working for me! I know for certain that I'm not the only one who feels this way. What's bad is that I think that even the kids would benefit more from it if we went over it just a few more times than what we're doing. I feel the need to go every freaking night of the week just to stay up. I love learning new things. I really do. But if I can't remember things from week to week and we're blasting on to the next thing, it makes me very frustrated. I enjoy trying to remember things at home. Sometimes we blow things so quickly that I can't remember them when I get home even. I only live five freaking minutes (ten if traffic's bad) away from the dojo! OK, rant over.

...today was a goofy day. I like the guys I work for. They tend to be the more laid back variety. Is awesome. But when they get uptight about something, we drop everything that moment and work on it. I'm ok with this. I would, however, like a wee bit more warning if we're going to have a four hour meeting (over lunch, mind you) on the spur of the moment. Am glad that I didn't have lunch plans! I did, however, have to raise protest when lunchtime came. You see. I get up early. Breakfast is always consumed before 9 a.m. Despite the hour which I eat breakfast, I'm ALWAYS hungry at 11:00. I will rustle up the troops early if I can. So when noon went by and we'd not eaten yet, my mood went a bit south. Get to the point already and move on. So, they did what they felt wise for the safety of those around me....they fed me. Then we went back to the meeting. I spent the non-meeting hours of the day reading through my materials from my landlord-tenant law class and our leases....I know you envy me!

A quiet Weekend....

....and I do love some quiet weekends. There just aren't enough of them around here.



....Friday night, we had our first competition class at karate. Am crossing my fingers that it will be good. We'll see. A shout out to Stephenie for keeping the Gruesome Twosome so that Collin and I could go to class and Aaron could go spend the night with his friend Curt. Class went well. Erin and Griffin had a good time. Until I got there. And then Erin turned evil. It happens. And cuts the night severly short! I took them home and put them in bed. And then I took a shower and read the final pages of Raven Rise, the ninth Pendragon book. Is a good series. I started Brisingr, the third book in the Eragon series. I claimed my favorite side of the bed back as well. Lord help me if I should ever try to spend the night someplace else.... I'll probably have a replacement when I get home! *winks*

...Saturday, the twins let me sleep in until about 8:40, though they were awake before 8. Actually, the odd thing is that they NEVER came into my room. Usually, they hop in bed with me. Anyway, we came downstairs and I fixed them breakfast. I took some time to enter in my Monopoly codes. I didn't realize that you could only enter 10 a day. I still have two more days' worth of codes to play. Yes...I've an addiction to McD's. It's not something to be proud of.... After that I took the twins to the library after giving Collin permission to go to a movie with a friend. His first movie where an adult wasn't in the same theater as him. *nostalgic sigh* So we went to the library and I put the fourth Twilight book, Breaking Dawn, on hold, as well as Disturbed's Ten Thousand Fists (Did I mention that I'm going to see them on December 15th?? *winks*). After the library, I took the twins to Burger King because they wanted iDog toys. I went through McDonalds', and we took our booty home to feast. Later in the day, we went to see Wall-E. Was a good movie. I do agree with Judy when she said that it was a bit preachy. But if you let trash build up and don't recycle, the Earth will eventually be covered. And if you ride along in a floating chair and NEVER walk around on your own, you will gain weight. Love the Earth. Love yourself. Recycle. Exercise.

....Today we went to church, and soon my friend Todd will be coming over to watch non-Colts football and eat lunch with us. Is so very nice not to have any real plans!

Co-Workers....

...immediate supervisor: am so not appreciating the current micro-managing of me.

...colleague with a tickle in your throat, causing you to audibly clear it fifty times in the morning: how about some water? You're two offices away from me. I shouldn't have to hear this....

...dear boss: if you really want the cleaning lady, who is currently standing in front of you, to dust your desk, how about you ask her directly instead of having me do it? Really, you speak Spanish just about as well as me...

...the one with ugly feet: how about a nice pedicure? The calluses on your feet, which are black in color, are an eyesore!



(Yes, am feeling snarky today.... Happy Rainy Friday!)

Fall Break....

....Happy Fall Break for those of you lucky enough to have the time off! Aaron just sent me this picture from the pumpkin patch. We're fortunate enough to live in an area that has tons of them to choose from.

....Just bought my tickets to see Disturbed. They're coming to Indy on December 15th. Not sure who's going with me. I bought two tickets. Aaron will take one for the team and take me, but I'd rather take someone who enjoys the band. Am hoping that my baby brother will go with me. We shall see. I might be begging for a babysitter for that day. Is a Monday. Bad day for a concert, but I'm going anyway. Merry Christmas to me!

At My Wits' End....

.....I can't seem to figure out what to do with Griffin. He's historically been the child who has given me the most pause, as far as his behavior goes. He gets frustrated really easily, having inherited his parents' perfectionist streaks (heaven help the boy who got it from both sides!). Case in point... this morning he got up early, which he normally does. He crawled into bed with me to snuggle me awake, which he normally does. I get up and hop in the shower, giving Griffin instructions to get dressed while I was there. All of his clothes that we recently folded were on the floor in my room, which I informed him were there. I hop in the shower and start scrubbing away, when Griffin knocks on the shower door to tell me he's cold. I tell him to find his clothes and put them on. That he will not be cold once he gets dressed. He cries. And cries. I tell him that he'll have to wait a minute. Am showering. He starts throwing a knock-down tantrum, kicking the wall, which brings Aaron back upstairs (he'd already said his good-byes and was headed out the door) to see what was going on. I finished up my shower as quickly as I could, and dried off and got myself dressed. Then I turned to get him dressed. I found him a pair of pants (that he couldn't seem to locate, which were right in front of him), and gave them to him and told him to put them on. He just sat there and cried, making no moves to put them on. I let him go while I helped Erin get her clothes (I typically don't do this for her, either, but it was red, white, and blue day at school and I was helping her get an outfit... she doesn't have much patriotic wear, as she's a girlie-girl through and through with pinks and purples). Gave her clothes and went back to Griffin... who hadn't put on his pants. Normally, my philosophy is that I should wait it out until he were to put the damn things on. But how long can I possibly give him when we've got to be out the door in 45 minutes and he's not eaten yet? So I get the pants partially on him, and make him pull them up the rest of the way. He still cries, not making any moves to do his part. I go downstairs, offering Erin up breakfast. He follows us down, pants only half-way up, sobbing. I get her breakfast. He proceeds to fall face-down on the floor, screaming as if in pain. I finally lose it completely, swat his ass and put him on the sofa. I even cover his mouth to stifle the now-screams. He FINALLY stops crying. I tell him to pick out his cereal, and he finally eats. While he eats, I tell him how unhappy I was about how he behaved. I ask him if I cried when I was cold as I got out of bed and got showered and dressed. He finally stops. But let me just say, it started my day with a defeated air. I feel defeated. No matter how unbelievably calm I am at the start, he pushes it to where all of us are crying. I channel the preschool teacher in me every day for this boy. But it doesn't work.

Busy Week To Come...

...so yesterday was the start of a busy week. I ate lunch with Judy on the spur of the moment. After work I went to see about Collin's saxophone. Slammed down supper. Took Collin to Boy Scouts. Went to karate. Picked Collin up from Scouts. Worked out a little more at home. Loaded up my new iPod...that was Collin's old iPod, but we got him a new one off eBay for his birthday so he gave me his old one. Read a bit. Then went to bed....Busy day!

...today we will get together to celebrate Judy's birthday. We're having a Mexican feast (which totally cracks me up as we had a Mexican feast yesterday at Taco Bell for lunch!) and perhaps watching a movie. The rest of the week will be the normal busy stuff. Karate, karate, more karate.... only the kids will have Fall Break on Thursday and Friday. I know that Aaron's anxious to get the time off!

....the twins fought a lot yesterday evening. I think it largely has to do with the total lack of sleep over the weekend. Anyway, I heard that Griffin did some pounding on Erin while they were Krogering yesterday. So, being the great mom I am, proceded to make their ears bleed by yelling at them. When they fight I remind them that having brothers and sisters is special. I ended it by saying "Because when your dad and I are done screwing you up, you'll only have eachother. So you better be nice!" Don't know where it came from. But it makes me giggle now.

What Is It....

...about hanging out with family that gives you license to eat whatever you want to and can put in your body? We went down to southern Indiana this weekend for my cousin's wedding. It was a good time. So awesome to see my cousin so happy. He's only 25, but so much has happened in his short life. So seeing him this happy and contented is wonderful.

...am exhausted from the weekend, though. And this week will prove to be busy, too. Seems like there is not enough time and so much to do!

Parent-Teacher Conferences....

....so my kids are good. Too funny how much worry you invest in your children, only for people to say they're just fine. They're normal. Seriously... they're MY kids. How could they POSSIBLY be normal??

ETA: they're normal, even though they have me as a mother? Normal is SOOO good, considering all that my kids have been through! Am happy about that. Just astonished that ANYTHING that is in my care isn't screwed up beyond belief....

So....

...had a nice time at the apple orchard on Saturday. Was very fun to be outdoors in the sunshine. And the company, Dante's family...he's no longer hell-boy, was awesome.


...yesterday I spent the day on the sofa, sick. Won't go into any details, but suffice it to say, I wasn't having any fun. So I didn't get to go to help the campaign. *whines*

The Onion....

....so Aaron showed me the following video. Is funny, and not something I would take the time to find myself....


Study: Most Children Strongly Opposed To Children�s Healthcare

Competition....Karate and Politics?

....so it's funny that they should appear in the same post.


....tonight was our first meeting for our karate school's competition team. I'm excited about the prospect of improving my fighting skills. Am hoping that I can learn enough to keep going with tournaments. We shall see. I have several things tossing about in my head regarding my martial arts future, and much of it depends on how things go with the competition team.

...Collin and I went to sparring class before the meeting, and both took some swift hits to the solar plexus....one of my black belt buddies delivered my punch to me. I wound up delivering Collin's punch to him. YIKES! Felt really bad about that. But, am very happy to report that.... 1) Collin forgave me. and 2) Collin got back in the game. Of course, I got back in the game, too, after my hit. But let me just say, it took me a second to get my wind back. Usually I just shake it off and keep going. I had to stand there for a few seconds before my breathing returned to normal. Not my partner's fault, really. I walked completely into it. Oh, and Collin snagged me in the face as I was nailing his chest. So he got me back, really.


...anyway, I have my loyalties where the vote is concerned. And if you sign up on anyone's website, you'll get bombarded with emails to either donate to the cause or to get involved in the cause. Now, because I have my viewpoints doesn't mean in any way shape or form that I feel comfortable either calling people or knocking on doors. 1) I do not feel that it is my place to tell anyone which way to cast their vote. 2) I do not feel that my intelligence level would be adequate to hold any sort of arguments. HOWEVER, I've been called since the beginning to get involved, both figuratively and literally speaking. Today I got a call to help out this weekend. At first they said that they would love for me to call others. Um. No. Sorry. BUT, I will do anything BEHIND THE SCENES to help out the cause. So am going on Sunday to do some data entry for the cause.


....and for those of you who are my faithful readers, I have only one thing to say. VOTE. Make your voice heard, whether it be for either candidate. But do it.

Rough Morning...

...so have been waking up around the same time as Aaron, which is 6, and is about 35-45 minutes earlier than I should be up. If I am out of bed by 6:45, I can grab a shower and start getting ready before the twins get up at 7. This makes for an easier-going morning. Well, as easy as it gets when you're working with two needy five year-olds. Yes, my friends, I've coddled my kids a bit when it comes to getting ready. Actually, I don't think that I've coddled them so much as having to play task master to them. If I'm not in the same room with them, they don't do what they need to do. So, say, if I try to go slap on some make-up and do my hair while they're eating, they'll never finish. So 15 minutes will go by, and I'm not sure what they've done, but it wasn't eating. So, anyway, getting up after 7 this morning was a bad idea. And for whatever reason, it took me half a freaking hour to shower? Not sure what is wrong with me. Aaron was nice and took care of breakfast detail while I showered. Or I swear, we'd still be at home! So after my shower, I put a boot to the twins' butts to get them dressed and their teeth brushed. No problem. Everything was groovy until I tried to put Erin's eye patch on. You see, we've had two different sizes of the same eye patch. Well, she prefers the SMALLER one. But we had a LARGER one put out this morning. She threw a fit and absolutely refused to let me put it on her. So I told her that she was actively making the choice to have a lazy eye. And that little tussle put us at the point of missing the bus. And the driver waited for us. Was just going to take them to school, but he waited. So we ran to the bus stop.

...then I get to work. We send out our payables every week on Friday. Our postal machine ran out of ink. No problem! I always order extra cartridges so that we never are out of ink. Unless the supplier sends the wrong cartridge. *sigh*

...am not feeling this shit today, folks.


.....Anyway, want to shout out to Judy. She is one of my dearest friends ever, and one of the funniest, nicest, craftiest, most caring, most open-minded people you'll ever meet. Today is her birthday. And she likes comments on her blog, so go tell her Happy Birthday!

Tooth Fairy....

...so Erin woke up this morning...but didn't look under her pillow. Aaron asked her if the tooth fairy brought her anything, and she said no. I get the death stare, but yell "check under her pillow!!" To which I get "shut up!" Sheesh! Anyway, he takes her to look under her pillow, and she exclaims "Wow! A Jesus coin!" I never noticed the similarities between the Statue of Liberty (which is on the reverse of the coin) or John Quincey Adams (who is on the face of the coin) and Jesus, but there you have it. Statue of Liberty I buy.... but not J.Q. Adams. By the way, the tooth was found on the back of the toilet downstairs. Was before Erin found it, so it will totally be like magic when she discovers it empty. I told her that the Tooth Fairy would know that she lost her tooth. And she did. So there.

...Another funny Chez Byers this morning.... Aaron went to the grocery this morning and bought Toaster Strudels. The twins both wanted one, so in the toaster they go. The toaster pops up and I put the things on their plates. I go to get the scissors for the packets of icing, only to find that they've both gotten the packets open on their own. When I expressed my suprise, Griffin said "We're big stuff!" Totally my phrase.

And She Loses Her First Tooth!

...and if you look at her mouth thinking, "It looks like there is still a tooth there!" You're not imagining things, and no, I didn't wait a month to post the picture.....the other tooth came through last week. Coincidentally, we went to the dentist last week, an he said that we were luck that the new tooth severed the old root. Or we would have had to have the baby tooth extracted! So am happy that nature took its course.

...and methinks we're starting a tradition with first missing teeth in my house. Collin lost his first tooth....He actually LOST it. And as I type, we gave up looking for Erin's tooth. Am sure that Collin's first one was inadvertently thrown away. He kept it in a paper towel of all things. But Erin? Her was in the nifty little buy-four-thousand-for-one-dollar necklaces that have a little container, which is shaped like a tooth, dangling from them. Am certain that she put it someplace for safekeeping......well. It's safe!

Three Out Of Five Ain't Bad???

...so today I got a TXT message from Aaron, telling me that Griffin failed his eye screening at school. So we might have yet another Byers family member with specs. We shall see. Griffin was a preemie, so glasses are common. And for the life of me, I can't remember the last time we got his eyes checked. He did have R.O.P., but was released from the pediatric opthomologist long before Erin was. So I thought, so misguidedly, that we wouldn't have to worry much about him. Wrong. Watch this space....we might have yet another four-eyes in the family!

What's Wrong With Me???

.....if I thought that my face wouldn't end up looking like this, I would so want to become like her....

A Good Weekend....

....so this weekend went well. On Friday, I had way too good of time. For the first time in my life, I couldn't actively remember how much alcohol I'd had. I remember everything. Just not precisely how much I'd drunk. Let's just leave it at I christened a couple of lawns on the way home.....but not in the same way ANOTHER member of our party did.... *winks*

....Saturday, I got up bright and early (ok...8...but when you're hungover, that's the freaking butt-crack of dawn!) and gave a feeble attempt at making banana pancakes for the kids. I didn't do too badly, even though they LOOKED horrible! Get the griddle to hot, they burn and are gooey in the middle...not hot enough? you can't scrape them off the griddle! So they looked AWFUL. But Griffin ate SIX of them and Erin had like four or five, so I think I did OK. We then went to Sam's Club and to Skyline Chili. Oh, we also went to the library, where (and here's a shocker for you...) I was the ONLY one of the family that DIDN'T have fines! *self-righteously pats self on back*

...Sunday, I went to church with the family and then went to the gym. I pushed out three miles on the eliptical trainer, lifted weights, and did some push-ups (girlie-style) and sit-ups. Then I took Collin to get his hair cut. And then I went to get a birthday present for a friend, who came over with her family to grill out and hang. I went to the store with said friend, thinking that the Colts were going to lose anyway (not having a good season, we are), and the guys wouldn't have left until it was over. We shop for the leftover necessities and get home, for the guys to soooo rub it in my face that the Colts managed to shit out a win after being down 27-10 with FIVE minutes left in the game. Ooh, I was pissed off.

....This morning, I thought I'd make an attempt to go to the gym to work out again. Am feeling the need to keep up the momentum of working out. Though I suppose if I gained a few pounds back I wouldn't be so desperate for new clothes. But I feel like a slug since I've not kept up the momentum of building up to the black belt test. So I feel the need to work out a bit. Of course, why does it seem like everything takes so much effort in the morning? Now that I think about it, I'd had a cup of Peppermint Mocha yesterday before I went to the gym. No wonder I could keep up so well! Perhaps I need to swig some caffeine if I'm going to work out in the morning. I hopped on the elliptical for 10 minutes and did some ab stuff and then called it a day. What a weenie I am!

Going Out Tonight!

Am way excited to be going out tonight!


Happy weekend to all!

Crazy Morning....

...so Aaron went to exercise this morning, and Griffin got up when he did. At five or whenever it was. So Aaron told Griffin to crawl in bed with me. Which he did. And we fell back asleep. Sweet sleep with your little one at your side....until it was time to get up. My momma called me to catch up, which I love. I don't love that it seems my kids won't function unless my attention is fully on them. And the morning went a little nutty from there. Erin decided that she didn't want cereal, but didn't know what she wanted to eat. I think she'd be perfectly happy foregoing breakfast each morning. Which would prove easier for me, until I had to explain why she'll never go beyond 35 lbs in weight. So we finally settled on an English muffin with peanut butter and jelly. So I fix it for her, and then bounce upstairs to wet down my crazy hair and wash my face. I get dressed (no easy feat, since none of the new clothes I bought really match anything more than one other piece of clothing, if any) and head back downstairs, and the girl's not eaten a thing. I blow my top. She cries. I then sit down and eat the other half of English muffin with peanut butter and she calms down to eat. See what I mean with them not doing anything unless my attention is fully on them. After we ate, we had about 10 minutes before we needed to head out the door. And if any of you have five year-olds, sometimes each task they have takes them half an hour. At least for my children it does. So, I trick them. I tell them that we're having a contest to see who can get ready the quickest. Oh, yes, they've inherited my competitive streak, so they were on it. They were done before I could get my hair dried, and we actually had time to spare! So then, they start talking to me.... and what is the topic? Death! And of course, Griffin is in tears by the time we're done. Why? Because they ask questions like "Will you die, Mommy?" and say things like "But you and Daddy can't die. Who will take care of us then? Will we live with Grandma?" OK, someone pass me a beer.... am feeling alcohol deficient because none of my drinking buddies were at karate last night, so I went home after.....