Any Suggestions?

I need a new blog to read. Someone funny, intelligent, funny, interesting, and funny. Any suggestions?

Yum

I made brownies last night. Only one thing to say about that. They REALLY hit the C-spot. Yummy!!!

Politics and Gas

Political Debate:

This is my conclusion: If you are watching the pol. debate, you already have a good idea of who you are voting for. The debate will confirm your decision. If you are not watching, chances are you really don't care, and the debate will not matter anyway. So, people must watch for entertainment purposes only. Although I did hear of a debate party with good food. Only catch was you had to take a shot everytime you heard the words "change", and "economy". Needless to say I didn't go.

On another note, Josh was VERY gassy at his last speech therapy app. And people say parents embarass their kids? I was impressed by the fact that he continued to say "scuze me." He doesn't do that at home. But then he got bored, and wanted to get out of the rest of the session. He asked to go to the bathroom, but I told him no. And that he only had 5 more min. This is when he got very excited and stated
"But I haf ta poooooop weawwy, weawwy badwy. Tat's wa I keep on fawtin n fawtin." The therapist cracked up at this, and I was mortified, and didn't know what to say.

Interims

Interims today.

But first, Rainia woke up with her eye red and swollen half shut, but at least her Dr. office was open, so we didn't have to go to the ER. They are not positive, so they are treating her for pink eye and allergies.

Now, Interims. It's only half way to the report cards so we have time to pull them up, but I am very excited anyway. ALL are better than last year. My kids are AWESOME!!! I am so proud of them!

Brooke:
3 A's
2 B's
1 C

Andrew:
2 A's
2 B's
2 C's

Brittney left her's at school, and Rainia was sick, and drumroll please......

Kyley:
A
A
A
A
A
A

For the first time!!! She has always had a B in math! We are VERY excited!!! And now, Kyley CAN read this book

I am not Alone.

I've never touched on anything so personal here before. I just got back from reading Baggage's recent post and I cried. Hard. Because I was dealing with my past today, and I had a conversation with Rick about it, and then she wrote about it. And it's weird that she would write about it today. She is brave, and open, and I feel like I'm not alone, and that is a good feeling. So for that reason, I will share the conversation that I had with Rick today.


Me: What are you doing?

Rick: Just got done talking with a customer, what are you doing?

Me: On my way to the school. Are you alone?

Rick: Yes, I'm in the office, by myself. What's going on?

Me: I was thinking about what happened to me when I was 4. You know what I'm talking about?

Rick: Yeah, the abuse. Are you OK?

Me: I made a tape. I know because my Mom told me years ago. The dectectives interviewed me, and it's on tape. What do you think about me trying to locate the tape?

Rick: Oh. I don't know. I don't know if that would be such a good idea. Why would you want to do that?

Me: Because I don't know if my memories are real. My memory is foggy, and I can't recall everything.

Rick: That might be a good thing. It might bring up all sorts of issues if you heard it. That would be really hard.

Me: But I already have issues. I have relationship issues, and I have sexual issues, and there are parts of my body that you can't touch, and there are parts of your body that I don't want to touch, and I'm messed up. I just want to be normal. Maybe if I can hear it, and work it out in my head, I'll get better.

Rick: I don't think that is something that you can just work out in your head. I really think you might open up more than we can handle. I wouldn't want you going off the deep end or anything. Where would you get it? The police in VT?

Me: I guess. I don't think there is a time limit on that kind of crime. I guess they still have the tape. I don't know.

Rick: Why now? Why do you want to find the tape all of a sudden?

Me: I've been thinking about it for ten years.

Rick: Oh. Maybe you should try to find it then, if you've been thinking about listening to it for ten years.

Me: I'm at the school. I can't talk about this anymore, here comes Kyley.

And then tonight, when I read Baggage's emotional post, I cried, and I showed Rick, and he read it. And I am so lucky to have someone who will deal with this with me. And although he doesn't and can't understand, he listens. But Baggage understands. She's been there. And that felt good. So she gave me the courage to talk about this. Because I understand too, and I know that we are not alone. That the statistics say one in four women will be sexually abused.

This was not my fault. So why shouldn't I talk about it? I don't need to feel like there is something wrong with me anymore. I don't need to feel guilty, or bad, or less than. I didn't ask for this, so why do I need to carry around shame, and guilt, and secrecy?

History in the making

I don't consider myself to be very politically minded. There are some things that I have strong opinions on, because they affect me very personally. But for the most part, I don't think that I am knowledgeable enough to rant and rave on politics. I know who I'm voting for, but I don't do campaign contributions. I wouldn't say that politics are a huge part of my life. My Mom, on the other hand, well let me just say straight from the words of my good friend Shannon, "My Mama Loves Obama." Whether you love Obama or not, no one can dispute the fact that this is indeed a historical election. This is why I gladly allowed my Mom to take our three oldest girls with her, my brother, and his girlfriend, to see Obama in uptown Charlotte. With 30,000 other people. I guess there were actually 29,995 other people. :)

They were so excited to tell me all about it when they got home. Before this field-trip, we had rarely spoken about anything political. I guess that I'm not really doing my job, as I do believe that you should raise your kids in a way that encourages the thought process that you believe to be right. This is what parenting is all about. You try to teach your children to be the adults that you hope they turn out to be. So when they come to me with any questions or issues, I feel wonderful and free to discuss the issues and give them my opinions. I guess I just wish that I was initiating more of these conversations.

One of our girls has had more of an interest in these type of conversations then the other kids, but now, after this field-trip, the other girls are suddenly interested. It is wonderful. Brooke even remarked that now she was going to like Social Studies class, because it would be interesting to her. So if for nothing more than that, mission accomplished.

Please ignore the big yellow wrong date in all of these pics.

Kyley looking just so happy to be taking a picture


Brooke and her new best friend


Some security very high in the sky


And the reason for all the security




And a random picture of Charlotte that they found interesting


I'm still working on getting my brother's pics. If he has anything good, I'll post it at a later time. All in all, I feel like my kids have participated in something beyond them. Beyond the scope of middle school drama. Beyond the scope of what we live and do on a daily basis. This was big. I feel that they have grown from this experience, in ways that we wont even know for years to come. So thank-you Mom, yet again, for doing an awesome job.

Oh, and I have to say, Brooke is running for school president, and Rainia is running for school secretary. Both are already through the preliminaries. Good luck girls!

Also, I was given this cool link from a girl on the knot. Thanks Everam. It's just a little game where you can match up your beliefs with what the candidates are saying. They don't let you know till the end who said what. I thought it was interesting, and it confirmed my vote. (I don't know how, but it also confirmed the votes of some of my friends who said they were voting for the other guy) Check it out!

Dear family,

Do not fear. As you well know, not all children turn out thinking politically like their parents, or other siblings. Some go in the opposite direction. Not to mention, I am raising them in the oh-so-open-minded south, where I am sure that they get plenty of the other viewpoint as well. Surely at least one of them will turn out to be on your side. Hell, there are 7 of them. Maybe you will get 2.

P.S.- If you get 2 of them, the other 5 will more than cancel out their votes. hehe.

Coming soon

So I have a new post coming soon with pictures and everything involving my oldest 3 girls, Obama, and 30,000 other people. Very exciting. In the meantime, why did my dog have such a nasty area of grossness on her behind?

Dear Dog,

I would appreciate it if you would learn to wipe your ass, so that I don't have to fight you in the bath to wash the crap off.

Thank-you very much,

Your human Mama

Couch to 5K......My Way

The ten tips of a successful excercise program:

1)Try on a beautiful gown that you are in love with. Have the seamstress tell you that you need to lose 3-5 lbs. to wear the dress. Buy the dress anyway.

2)Find a partner. Make sure the partner that you chose is someone who you feel comfortable saying very bad words around, because it will happen. In fact, the partner should be someone that you can actually CALL a very bad name, because this is very likely to happen as well.

3)Do minimal research on your program. Find a program that has a catchy name, and google the program. Do not actually read the sites that come up on google. Just read the headlines. (Podcast? What podcast?)

4)Tell your partner to make you do the program. (see above about choosing a partner that you can call a bastard) Not the actual program mind you, because you haven’t done any research. The program that you make up as you go along. It may help to tell him/her that you DID do the research, because they may be more apt to do it your way.

5)Bring your dog. There will come a time when you do not give a damn anymore that your partner is wanting to do the program. Your dog, on the other hand, has the cutest wittle bittle sad eyes in the world, and she wants to wunny wun yes she does.

6)Shave your armpits on a regular basis. Seriously. When you run, your arms will inadvertently move. If you don’t shave your armpits, they will be very prickly and become itchy. At some point you will scratch them, and then, under your fingernails, you will find a clump of deodorant mixed with sweat. Not at all pleasant.

7)Choose a spot to run that is not near any children or elderly. This way, you will have no qualms about yelling out your very bad words, if need be.

8)Keep lots of snacks on hand. No one told me, but I will tell you, your appetite will go up! You will have an insatiable hunger like never before. I prefer
these:


and these:


But, if you find that you run out, feel free to dig into your child’s supply of these:

Hint: These are small bags, so make sure to eat two at a time.

9)You will be thirsty, so buy some of this:

You will have heard that you are supposed to drink water, and we all know that it is not so yummy, so keep this stuff in the fridge, and rejoice that you are doing something "good" for your body.

10)If you chose a program with a title like mine, make sure to do ample amount of the “couch” part of the program. You got off your ass and worked up a sweat. You deserve it dammit!

I can understand him

update on Joshua's speech:

Josh is 5 yrs. and 11 mths. old.

After testing, they placed his vocabulary at 6 yrs. and 7 mths. They figured it by showing him pics, and he had to say the words. They totally missed the things he was good at though. Would they have been impressed if they had shown him every single football helmet in the NFL, and he had told him the name of the team? Or if they had shown him pics of music artists, and he had started singing their songs? Or even parts of the computer. He could have identified the monitor, mouse, keyboard, even a myspace page. Relevance people. Who cares if he doesn't know the word for thermometer. He said it tells you if it's cold or hot outside.

Ok, so his vocab. is 6 yrs., 7 mths, but his actual speech level is 4 yrs., 1 mnth.

Well, I understand him. Can't he just stay with me forever and I will translate for him? Sad to say, I guess that puts him almost exactly 2 yrs. behind his peers. And then he spent the rest of the time working on forming the letter "L" with his toungue, and he couldn't do it, and it was too cute to hear him try so hard.

Cut the boy some slack!

OK, another look into the e-mail inbox. Man, that seems to be all this blog is about lately. Alright, I promise, this is the last one for a while. And, in this one I was VERY nice, because I know when to use the honey to catch the bees.

Ms. Teacher,

Hi!

I have a concern about Andrew today.

He says that he is positive that he put his homework folder in the appropriate place. He says that when you looked it wasn't there. He says that he had break detention because of it. He is worried that he will continue to have break detention, and not get homework passes because now he doesn't know where the folder is.

I know that he is trying extremely hard, and was so excited to get a homework pass last week.

Background info:

Andrew has cancer, and has no vision in one eye and limited vision in the other. He has had radiation treatments, which have affected his cognition. We are waiting for his first IEP meeting, have already spoken to a counselor, and understand that they will schedule it as soon as they can.

I only bring this up because is there any way that he could have placed the homework folder close to the box and not actually in the box due to his vision problems?

I looked through his bookbag and it is not there. I am more than willing to help him look through his locker, but I am hoping to avoid having to come to the school to help him find it, as this would be embarrassing for him.

Please let me know if you have any suggestions, as I am not sure what to do to help him.



Thanks so much,

Heidi Underhill McQueen

And the e-mail I received:

Ms. Underhill,

Andrew's folder was found. It was placed into the wrong class's homework tray. Since it was not signed, I gave it to the student in that class who has the same class number as Andrew. During planning yesterday, I checked into what happened to Andrew's folder. The other student returned it to me this morning and I then gave it to Andrew and explained what happened. Hopefully he will remember to bring it home tonight and you can sign it.

Thanks for your understanding and have a good day.

Ms. Teacher

I completely understand that we haven't had an IEP meeting yet. But we TOLD Ms. Teacher that Andrew had cancer and vision problems. When he told her that he turned it in during class that day, and she couldn't find it, could she not just take a little peek into the tray right next to the "correct" tray? It would have been on top of the pile. Did she HAVE to give him detention for placing it the wrong tray? OK, I understand it was his fault, but he has been trying SO hard. And now he has a DETENTION on the record. blah! Cut the boy some slack!!!

learnin how ti talk.

The e-mail I received from Compleat Rehab on Sat.:


Heidi. I am so sorry for your experience. I will call and further investigate this.

Regards,

______________
______________
______________


The email I sent to them today, following my conversation with them:


Thank-you for finding a spot for my son. I am sure that having the treatment from your program will help him dramatically.

Sincerely,

Heidi Underhill

Somehow they found Joshua a spot! And, it's not with the "new" speech-therapist either. They found an opening with one of their "old" therapists. I'm guessing they magically had an opening appear this week, because there is no way they would have had an opening THREE MONTHS AGO! When we got the doctor's order.

When I told Josh, he said "toomawo? wa?"
"Remember," I answered, "So that they can help you talk. It'll be just you and me."
"YAY!!!"

mixed feelings

So I really try to not speak (write) on this topic very often because:

A) It seems braggy to me, and I'm not that kind of gal.

and B) It is REALLY not a big deal at our house. We have 7 kids, and ALL of them are incredible, and special, and make us proud.

KYLEY

Is gifted. She tests out in the 99th% of kids in our state in Language Arts. She tests out in the 97th% of kids in our state in math. She was reading before she went to kindergarten, and is in AIG at school. She is now in an all day AIG program at school, compared to elementary, when she had AIG once a week. (Hooray for crack-town middle school for offering this program!!!) To be accepted into the program, she had to test into it in LA(language arts) and MA(math). Some of her elementary AIG friends didn't make it.

I've been wondering how this was going to play out, as she has always been one of the two or three "smartest" kids in her class, and has always stood out as such. Now, in this program, she is only with the other students that were at the top of their elementary schools. I figured this could go a few different ways.

1) She would get VERY competitive, and try to rise to the top of the class.

2) She would blend in, and find herself average in a higher level class.

3) She would get overwhelmed at not being the "best", and give up.

I didn't actually sit her down and talk to her about my concerns, because I wanted to allow her the ability to work it out in her own head. I wanted to see what would naturally happen, before we discussed it.

The 2nd and 3rd day of school, she came home and cried during homework. I think it was a combination of stress during school, and for the first time actually having to struggle with something. I check their homework, so that I can try to help them learn the material that they are struggling with. For the other kids, it's never been a big deal. I lightly circle in pencil the ones they got wrong, and they try to fix it themselves. If they can't figure it out, I help them. So Kyley had a difficult math homework, two days in a row, and when I circled the problems she got wrong, she cried. She realized she wasn't perfect, and she wasn't used to it.

I can remember when she was younger the one other incident that she had gotten something wrong on a homework. I think it was 2nd grade. When I circled the problem, she cried, and started the whole thing over, because she felt that the teacher would be able to see the eraser marks on the paper from where she had gotten a wrong answer.

Kyley had a project recently. It was a fun project, and she had to put some pictures on it. I got her the picture corner things, so that after the project she could have her pics back with no damage to them. So she did the project, and I looked at it, and guess what? There was a little piece of the poster-board that was ripped. She quickly told me that she had put the picture corner thing in the wrong place, and when she tried to pull it off, it ripped the poster-board. She proceeded to tell me, before I could say anything, "It's OK Mom. It's not a big deal. You can barely see it." WHAT???? Who is this kid, and where is my daughter? I was SO happy for her. She didn't cry, she didn't do it over, and she told me that day, when I picked her up, that she thought her project was the best one. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? HOORAY!!!

She brought it up this weekend. I was going to broach the subject soon, but she started the conversation. "I don't think I really stand out at school this year."
"Oh-yeah?" I asked.
"Yeah." she said. "All the kids are really smart, they even go around telling eachother how smart they are."
"Well, you know Ky, they are all AIG kids. You're in an advanced program."
"I know." She said. "But I'm used to standing out, and it's weird."
"Kyley, how does that feel? Do you feel bad or guilty?"
"No Mom, I'm getting used to it. I just feel like I blend in. I guess I just feel normal." I wanted to scream, hug her, and cry for her all at the same time. How hard this must be, but also maybe a relief to realize that she didn't have to be the best? I didn't actually know what to say.
"Well Kyley, You are super intelligent, and you should be proud of yourself. Plus, you told me that your LA teacher has nicknamed you the Grammar Guru."
"Yeah, I still stand out in LA, but I think Maddie stands out more. I'm probably number 2 in LA."
Now we have already talked about Maddie. I knew that Maddie was on her mind, because Maddie transferred from private to public school this year, and I knew her because she beat out 4th-8th grade last year at her private school and made it to the county spelling bee. Kyley only had to deal with 4th-5th grade to go to the same spelling bee.
"Are you worried about the spelling bee Ky?" I asked.
"Yeah, she answered. I know Maddie will beat me."

About this time we were interrupted, and the subject hasn't come up again. I'm sad for her, and I'm happy for her, and I had to get this out, because it's been weighing heavily on my mind. I'm glad that she's dealing with this now, because a lot of kids, especially in smaller areas, don't get a program like this. In fact, it's the only one I know of in our county. And when these kids get to college, and meet other "smart" kids, they are shocked, and overwhelmed, and don't know how to deal with it. So I'm glad she's working through this now, and also learning important study skills that she wouldn't need if she wasn't in this program.

But I'm also sad. She has lost part of her identity, the thing that made her special, and I know that must be hard for her. Plus, what am I going to do come awards day, and don't have an experience like the beginning of this post. Or when Spelling Bee season comes around, and I don't get to feel this. And I feel like I've lost something too. I know how silly that sounds, and I know that there needs to be a difference between being proud of my kid, and being so wrapped up in my kid that her experiences are the basis of how I feel. But it's hard. And I'm sad.

Ode to Wedding Dress

Oh dear dress I love thee so,
Only now I have to run, so my butt wont grow.
With you I am so in love
Do you have to fit just like a glove?
My legs hurt, they are so sore,
And honestly I looked fine before.
I’ve never been worried about my weight,
So now look what you helped create.
You squeeze me in, and push me up
In you it appears that I grew a cup.
Because your mine, I now walk the line
But even you wont stop me from drinking my wine.
Yes I adore you and you fill me with glee.
I just hope when I wear you I wont have to pee.

Dear Compleat Rehab Gastonia,

I feel that you have been incredibly unprofessional, and I don't appreciate it. My 5 year old son was referred to you by his doctor at the beginning of June for speech-therapy. This was good timing, because it gave him 2 1/2 months to recieve help before he started school.

I heard nothing from you, and called my doctor back 3 weeks after the initial order to find out why. I was informed that indeed the order had been sent to you, but that they would send it again. 2 weeks later, I made the exact same phone call to my pediatrician, and this time, as well as sending the order, they gave me your phone number.

I called your office, to explain the situation, and no sooner than when I got the words "My son was referred here..." You told me that I needed a doctors order. I explained that the doctors order had been sent THREE TIMES! This is when you explained that yes, you can see how this happened, because you didn't have enough speech therapists right now, but one was being interviewed for the position that very day.

A couple of weeks later, I recieved a letter in the mail, stating that if I was still interested in services, I could call you to set it up. I immediately called, to set up an appointment.

My son came in for his evaluation, and it was determined that yes, he needs speech therapy, and that you needed to get approval from his insurance. Oh, and by the way, You need ANOTHER doctor's order, because the THIRD ONE you had recieved was over a month old, and therefore outdated. I immediately called my doctor to get this done. For the fourth time.

You called me yesterday to let me know that you had recieved the approval from my son's insurance, but unfortunately, you are completely filled up with patients, but could see him for a half-session once a week until you got an opening.

I am beyond angry.

In the first place, when you recieved the first doctors order, THREE MONTHS ago, and you knew that you didn't have openings, you should have contacted my doctor or myself to let me know. This way, he could have been referred somewhere else to recieve treatment. Furthermore, you should have done this upon reciept of the second and third order as well.

Also, my son has obviously been on the waiting list for three months, and deserved to have had a spot held for him until his insurance order approval came through. It is obvious that you do not care about the individual children who come to you needing help, but rather about getting paid as much and as soon as you can.

I will tell my docor's office exactly how we have been treated, so that they have further information into your practice, and can make a more educated decision as to if they should continue to refer patients to you. I will also post this e-mail on both of my blogs, one of which is on the "Care Pages", and is specifically read by healthcare patients and their parents.


Sincerely,


Heidi Underhill

YAY!!!! I am officially a member!!!

I have to tell you that I was questioning my acceptance into this club.

I'm not usually a "club" kind of girl. Actually, I've always been a kind of "do your own thing" girl. But I have read the blogs written by these awesome ladies over at Operation Skinny Bitch, and this was a club I really wanted to join.

So, why was I questioning my acceptance? Part of the e-mail I sent to the two Shannon's:

Dear Shan's,

I am wondering if I am allowed to join your club. I question my membership acceptance for two reasons.
1- I am already fairly skinny, and
2- I am definately already a bitch

My goal is not actually to lose weight, but rather to shift it. What kind of excercise will make my belly fat move to my boobs?

Yes, I was worried they wouldn't want me because I'm already a skinny bitch. But guess what? Some skinny bitches need to get in shape too. That's what.

I'm in the club and I feel so COOL!!! And I promise this time, as a club-member, I will not try to influence anybody to drink whiskey with me in the girls locker room.

Anybody????

Want to make my veil? I'll send you pictures, pay you, and love you forever. It's ridiculous what the bridal shop wants for it. Pretty please? With a cherry on top?

Getting Fit? Oh Sh!t!

1st Mistake:
Smoking for the last 16 years. Yes, I know, I never cease to disapoint you.

2nd Mistake:
Doing nothing that could possibly be considered excersise with the exception of carrying my twin boys, which stopped happening 3 yrs. ago.

3rd Mistake:
Going to my dear friend Mama's blog, and getting inspired.

4th Mistake:
Going over to check out the ladies at Operation Skinny Bitch and reading this.


5th Mistake:
Telling my darling fiance that we need to start the couch to 5k program


6th Mistake:
Telling my evil fiance to make me do this no matter what I say in the morning.


So this is my 2nd day.

My first day's excuses?

I have asthma. I can't leave my dog. I am tired. and finally, we didn't do the appropriate amount of the "couch" part of the program.

With the dog, after a puff on the inhaler, and the thought of getting back in bed as soon as we were finished, we set out.

We walked for 2 min. to warm up, and then started. Run for 1 min., walk for 1 min., run for 1 min., walk for 1 min. We did a total of 10 minutes. The first min. I can remember saying "Hasn't that been a minute yet?" and having Rick answer "No, that's only 30 seconds." and then me replying "OH-SHIT!!!" By the 3rd. minute of running though, I realized that the walking part wasn't that far off, and I would be able to catch my breath. The worst part was when we realized that the 2 pit-bulls down the road were NOT CONTAINED!!! The best part was when we finished.

My 2nd day's excuses?

There are 2 pit-bulls down the road. You have to get to work. I need to change my clothes.

So, with prodding from that evil fiance of mine, I changed my clothes, got the dog, and we drove to a new housing development that hasn't actually been developed yet. We did 12 total minutes today. Both of my calves hurt afterward, and so did the spot where my right leg meets my um...lady area. Tomorrow, if he actually makes me do this stupid shit again, I will stretch first.

Random Question

Random Question brought to you by my brother:

I've often seen flies walking upside down on the ceiling. When a fly decides he wants to walk on the ceiling, does he fly upside down, straight up to the ceiling and then stick there, or does he fly up to the ceiling, and then at the last minute, flip over and stick to the ceiling?

hhhmmmmmm.....???

Knottie Love

Can I just say that I am VERY impressed with the amount of traffic that this little blog has recently received via "The Knot" I love it and am very honored that you ladies care to read about little ol me.

BTW- My stats only tell me how you got here, not who you are. So, if you want me to know that you've been here, LEAVE A COMMENT!!!

Trouble in Paradise

Jazmyn is Rainia's best friend. We love Jazmyn, especially Jake, who once said, during a lull in dinner, as he was sitting accross from her staring for a few minutes "KISS ME JAZZY". She of course, was incredibly embarrassed, although I don't know why now that Iv'e had this conversation with Rainia:

Me: Did you have fun at Jazmyn's house?

Rainia: Yes, very much.

Rick: Was that a bebe gun in Jazmyn's hand?

Rainia: Yes, but she was just moving it. She doesn't use it when I'm there. Because I'm afraid of them. She got shot with it once and it hurt really bad.

Rick: Who shot her with the bebe gun?

Rainia: Her ex-boyfriend.

Rick: She's 8 yrs. old, and she's been shot by her ex-boyfriend?

Rainia: No. She's 9.


Rainia and Jazmyn on "Rainia's special day" They were Hannah Montana:

From Doodlebelle

From Doodlebelle

Who's Tired? Not Me

Is it terrible that my favorite time of the whole day is when the kids are in bed? I'm exhausted, and I always am, but just to have the peace and quiet makes me want to stay awake for as long as I possibly can.

He Just Might Get It

I had a recent conversation with Jake at Walmart that impressed me. I try to NEVER take all the kids to the store at the same time, because my experience is much like this one, curtesy of the lovely Dawn over at Because I Said So. So I take them 1 or 2 at a time, and they love the "quality time".

Jake asked me if he could get a toy, to which I replied "No Jake, we are not getting any toys today." He proceeded to tell me that when he went to Naz's house, Naz had lots and lots of toys. More than he has. So I took my Mom's advice to take this opportunity as a learning experience. I don't remember why my Mom and I had been talking about this exact topic, oh yeah, now I do. My Mom and I had been talking about the very wealthy girls over at the barn, and how Kyley had recently commented that "Just when you think you have something REALLY cool, someone always has the same thing better than yours." She was referring to her saddle.

So I took my Mom's advice, and this is what I told Jake, to the delight of the older gentleman in the lightbulb isle. "Jake, you are right to feel like that. I'm sure Naz does have more toys than you, and someone will ALWAYS have more toys than you. And then, when you grow up, someone will have a better car than you, and someone will have a bigger house than you. So you need to go ahead and get used to it now." I heard the older gentleman in the lightbulb isle trying to stifle his laughter.

And this is where Jake suprises me. His reply was "I have a lot of toys Mommy. My whole room is full of toys. I don't even play with all my toys." Oh My. The happiness that filled my heart. We went on to talk about the kids who DON"T have a lot of toys, and had a really nice together at Wally world. And then, when it was time to go, Jake didn't even ask for a pack of gum, which he ALWAYS does.

And, have I told you all recently that I LOVE being a Mommy?

Wedding Stuff

OK, so I have created a wedding planning site, and it is here

Oh Happy Day

Why I'm so happy:

Nobody that would vote for Hillary would agree with Sarah's viewpoints.

The REPUBLICANS are arguing sexism/women's rights!!!

Inexperience is off the table

The people who are truly sexist wont vote for her, extreme conservatism and all.
-Granted said people wont vote for Obama either. Write-in perhaps?

The REPUBLICANS are condoning raising a kid who has a baby out of wedlock!!!
-After all, she "did the right thing"
-Teenage mothers unite!

We have one ticket with a minority, and one ticket with a woman! PROGRESS PEOPLE!!!

Great Debate Continued

Rick and I were continuing our debate, I told him that instead of enjoying and loving her, he wanted her to be a sex-slave spitting out babies for his pleasure. To which he replied: Well, that's what I want you for too. Very funny baby, very funny. Thank god that I chose to get my tubes tied. He did say that he wanted to beat his dad, who, by the way, had 9 kids.

The Great Debate

We have a purebred white german shepard. She is beautiful. She is timid. She is humble. She accepts leadership from all of the kids including the boys. She is quiet. She is well-behaved. I love her.

I would NEVER purchase a purebred dog. There are WAY TOO MANY dogs in shelters throughout this country that don't have a home. There are too many dogs that are euthanized simply because of the overwhelming amount of un-spayed/fixed dogs already in this country. A purebred dog is no better than a mutt, in fact, most health issues with purebreds are eliminated by mixing dogs. Shelter dogs are sweet, shelter dogs are smart, and shelter dogs need a home.

So how did I end up with a gorgeous, snow-white german shepard? She was given to Andrew as a "wish". When he was going through radiation, a kind couple found out through his nurse that white german shepard was his favorite breed, and they gave her to him.

She was 7 wks old, and cute as could be. She is now almost 1 1/2, and still cute as she can be. She is well loved.

Now for the GREAT DEBATE. The sweet love of our lives in now in her 2nd heat. Rick feels that about 6 months from now, when she is in her next heat, we should breed her. Although I am aware that the breeder she is from has full papers, and was selling her for $400, I feel that she should be spayed. Not because I am against the $3200 we would make if she has 8 puppies, but because of the thousands of shelter dogs put to death daily.

I am fully out-voted in this family. Even my vegetarian, animal loving daughter does not see it my way. Not my Mom, not my brother, I have NOBODY seeing how us bringing more purebreds into the world adds to the problem.

Opinions? Please? Even if, like the rest of my family, you disagree with me. Opinions desperately needed.