Lucky

I have been feeling very lucky again lately. I am so lucky to have such great family and friends, healthy kids, and just everything. My friend Sharon was visiting from Tahiti and she totally uplifted me. She's one of those natural therapists and natural mothers. She was giving my kids kisses and telling them she loved them and helping out random crying children who couldn't find their moms at Chuck E Cheeses (where she met us even though she didn't have her kids with her! Now that's a true friend!) She made me feel so good, telling me I was such a good mom and just talking with me about everything so deep. I felt so good for a couple days after wards, and then I felt good for awhile after she called me from the airport in Los Angeles to say bye and tell me what a good friend and mom I was again. I wish she still lived here. Everybody needs a friend like Sharon.

Josh!

Josh and Brad went to Scotland for 9 days and when they got home on a Wednesday night and didn't get in bed until after 11 with 26 hours of travel behind them, I didn't know if Josh would be able to stay awake in school. He woke up at 4 a.m., but he said he was fine when school was starting, so I took him to class and left his teacher with my phone number to call in case he started falling asleep. It just warmed my heart and made me want to cry happy tears when we got to his class and his teacher saw him and was excited and said "Hi Josh!" Then all of the other kids in his class, boys and girls, said "Jossssh!!!" They all started talking at once "Where were you? We didn't know if you were coming back. Where did you go?" A boy said "He went on vacation" and the kids asked where and the boy said "He went on vacation to Scotland." Josh just stood there in one spot, with a blank face like he does. Not a bit of emotion on his face, but I know he was happy that he was greeted back with such enthusiasm. He is such a silly kid. I'm so glad all the kids in his class like him and missed him. His teacher said he's a total ham at the last parent teacher conference. She said he will say funny things in front of the class and make all the kids laugh. A good group of friends and classmates for your child is priceless.

My Mom

Wow. First of all, she came to our house every evening while Brad and Josh were gone to take care of the kids so I could sleep and go to work. All except Friday and Saturday when Dad and mostly Julie watched (and spoiled!) Connor and Kaytlynn. 8 nights she came, would fix dinner, take the kids out on their scooters, or do projects or teach them to cook. Then she'd give them baths and put them to bed, and get up with them in the night, then help me with them in the morning when I got home, then she would go to work and come back that night to help me again. She picked up stuff at the grocery store and cleaned. Basically she was my replacement Brad, and we appreciate her so much! So Wednesday night I went to pick Brad and Josh up from the airport and as we were walking from the baggage claim to the escalator, I suddenly realized my engagement ring was not on my finger. I went to twist it so the diamond was in the right spot, which I do all the time out of habit. I gasped when I realized it was gone and stopped. I looked back and didn't see it on the floor, so I called mom to see if I had left it on the bathroom counter. I always take it off and put it on the counter when I take a shower. I usually put it right back on. She didn't answer and Brad and Josh were tired, and I didn't see it on the floor anywhere, so we went home. I was worried the whole way home. When we got back, I went straight to the bathroom and my ring was not there. I called the airport lost and found and it wasn't there, then I called again to see if they would just scan the area quickly and see if they could find it. They didn't find it. Brad got me my engagement ring in Greece on his way home from minesweeping in Iraq. It is one of a kind and we definitely wouldn't be able to just go get another one that is the same. I had to work at 3 a.m. and it was about 11 p.m. It had been a long day and I was tired, but I knew if I didn't go back to the airport I would always regret not going back to look for it. I thought I could find someone to work my 3-7 shift, go and look, then come back and sleep. Then my mom called and said that she could go look. I took her up on her offer because I was so tired. I went to bed and my mom called at 2:45 a.m., just after my alarm went off. She had just gotten back from the airport. She had talked to security and the cleaning people and found out the police were doing a practice using rubber bullets at the airport at 2 a.m. and they would be doing a big cleanup after that. She had everyone on the lookout for my ring and had other people at the baggage claim helping her look. I felt so bad that she lost so much sleep and I felt so indebted to her. I couldn't believe she would do that for me, because this is a woman who needs her sleep! It made me want to cry that she would do this for me. In the morning when Kaytlynn woke up, I thought I'd just ask, not thinking that anything would come of it. I asked Kaytlynn if she took a ring off the bathroom counter and she didn't say anything, just turned around and went straight to her room. Brad and I followed her as she walked straight to her little doll crib, opened up the cabinet underneath it, and took out a little ziplock bag that had a spare button in it earlier. She looked so proud of herself as she brought it to me, with my ring in it. What a relief!! I felt so bad my mom spent so much time and energy looking for my ring that was at home the entire time. But overall I felt good and happy because I knew my mom would be so happy that I had it. My mom and I did not get along too well when I was growing up. We both hope we will never have to live together again. We have different religious, political, and parenting views, but I love her and I know she loves me, too. Thank you, mom!! This means so much to me!

Now a similar story:
When Josh was just little-1 year old-he would throw things in the garbage all the time and put stuff "away". It was smart to always check the garbage before we took it out to the dumpster because we usually found something in there that didn't belong. One time I was feeding Connor and Josh came to me with a ziplock bag with my engagement ring in it, and he wanted me to close the bag, so I did. When I was done feeding Connor, I went to find Josh so I could get my ring back, and he didn't have the bag. For the next 3 days, I was looking everywhere--in the garbage, in shoes, in drawers--anywhere Josh could get to. I looked through the disgusting garbage and asked Brad not to take it out until I found my ring. I was dreading that I might have to go through the dumpster. Josh couldn't tell me where it was. I finally had an idea, so I put a toe ring in a ziplock bag and sat on my bed (where I was feeding Connor) I called to Josh and he came in sucking on his little pacifier (He was so addicted to pacifiers!) I gave him the bag and was sure to stay where I was so I wouldn't spook him. He walked out to the kitchen and I snuck to the hallway to see where he went. He went and opened up the drawer where we kept the ziplock bags and stuck the bag in the box. So I went out and got the box, and stuffed at the bottom under all the other bags was the bag with my ring. Relief!

One more ring story:
We went to a swimming pool for my work party. I didn't want my ring to fall off in the water, so I put it at the bottom of our pool bag under all the towels. When we were done playing, Brad got the towels out and shook them out, then put them on the kids. We left and I asked Brad if he saw my ring in the pool bag. He looked and didn't see it. We looked everywhere it could be and didn't find it, so I went back to the pool to look while they were having a private party. I looked in the grass around the area we were in for 15 or 20 minutes and couldn't find it. That night I went back with a flashlight to find it. I was going to jump the fence and look if nobody was there to let me in, but then I saw a no trespassing sign and that it was under camera surveillance, so I went home. In the morning I went back to look before the park was open and spent a long time looking with no luck. It was such a big area that the ring could have been flung into and the grass was wet, so it was shiny and sparkly everywhere. I wanted to cry. I thought I'd have to rent a metal detector and go back. I saw something shine in the grass, so I went to look and it was just a hair elastic with that little metal piece on it. I was really ready to go and I was late to something and I thought that I could go check out shiny wet grass all day long, so I tried to talk myself out of looking for a split second, but then I decided I'd just look at that one place, and it was my ring! I couldn't believe it. This is why I do not like having real, expensive jewelry, and if I do, I don't wear it, because I am so afraid of losing it. For good reason! I should probably go get a fake ring to wear around and put mine in the the safe or something. Seriously.

Is it a Big Deal or a Big Squeal?

Connors teacher says this, apparently. Connor says it almost any time Josh comes to tell on Kaytlynn for doing something. "Is it a big deal, or is it a big squeal?" Most of the time he comes to the conclusion that it is a big squeal and he really takes the time to think about it and not come to me with big squeals. Monday Connor and I went snowboarding. When we went to pick up Kaytlynn at my stepmoms house, she had been spoiled as usual, and Connor said he wanted a toy, too. He kept whining over and over "I want a toy." Then he stopped and said "I am going to say this one more time. Then if I am going to say it again, I will do this." He clapped his hand over his mouth. I thought that deserved a toy! He did not say it again, and he fell asleep on the way home, so I didn't stop at the store. He woke up when we got home, and looked at me with dissapointed eyes, clapped his hand over his mouth, and looked at me with puppy dog eyes. My mom graciously took him to the dollar store for a toy so I could go to bed. Kaytlynn said that while she was at grandma and grandpas, they all had a tea party. What good grandparents. Imagining the 3 of them having a tea party together on my dads break between jobs makes me smile :)

I Gave up Today

Today was supposed to be a great fun day. The plans were for me to get home from work at 7:15, read Josh and Connors school books and help them with their homework, get Josh ready for school and take him to school, come home and try to catch a quick nap, then take a shower, get Kaytlynn and Connor ready and go to the Mom and Me fiedtrip at Jumpin' Jacks for Kaytlynns pre-school. I had plans to really go jump and play with her and Connor, not just sit and watch them like I usually do because I'm just too tired. That's why I wanted to catch a quick nap, so I wouldn't be too tired. I also wanted to get a shower so I wouldn't be stinky and possibly embarrass my kids. I was supposed to take a shower last night before work, but apparently my body wasn't happy with 6 hours of sleep and wanted to take that extra 35 minutes. I can't blame it because Sunday I got 4 hours of sleep in the morning after working all night, then went to my moms for dinner and to celebrate her and Brads birthdays, then came home and only managed to get an hour more of sleep before I went and worked all night from 11 to 7, then went straight to the post office and worked until 4:45. Then I went and picked up the kids, got them some dinner, ran to the grocery store, and went home and got 4 hours of sleep, once again my body deciding I needed a little more sleep rather then a shower. So then I went to work at 11 to 7 and got a call in the morning that the post office needed me to come in. I called around to see who could take the kids, went home, got the kids all ready, took Josh to school, took the kids to Wendys, went to do the auxillary route. I was starving, but just wanted to get it done. I got that done around 1:45, then went to pick up Kaytlynn. I had a nice chat with Wendy until 2:40--our chats always make me laugh. Then I went to pick up the boys from school at 2:45. Went and grabbed some McDonalds, went to the grocery store, went home and found the boys shin guards, found out I was supposed to call everyone on Connors team to remind them of the game, so I made whirlwind calls to 10 people. Then my wonderful step sister called so we could figure out my dad and Julies birthday party coming up. Brad went and picked up treats for soccer while I did that. Then we were trying to get both boys ready for soccer and Kaytlynn ready to go. They both played at 6:15 on different fields. Thank goodness they aren't playing at different parks this year, that was rough. Kaytlynn was being a little punk. She is such a hot blooded girl and is always hot. She will go into a frenzy because when she's hot, it also smells bad to her. I think breathing in the warmer, fuller air makes her think it stinks. She also decided she was hungry and the only thing she would take is mac and cheese. So I started making her mac and cheese 25 minutes before the game started. I thought I could quickly make it and take it with us, but Brad took the pot off the stove (and left the stove on!), so that didn't work. We finally got all the kids into the car and Kaytlynn started having a fit because she was starving but she would only eat mac and cheese. So I dropped Brad, Josh, and Connor off at 6:13. Brad ran Josh to his game, then ran with Connor to his game (which Brad is co-coaching) I took the starving, whining girl to Wendys. She did not want anything there, so I just got some chicken nuggets and some fries hoping she would stop being so stubborn and picky and be so starving that she would try something. When we dropped the boys off earlier, the entire parking lot was packed. There was not one spot left and the parking lot is pretty big. When we got back from Wendys, there were some spaces pretty close, so that was a positive. Also, the Wendys line was not that long, so another positive. So we got a spot, then sat in the car and luckily Kaytlynn tried the chicken and thought it was so good. Yay! Then it was a struggle trying to get her shoes on. She always puts her shoes on, whines "It feels funny." and then screeches and tries to kick them off in a rage. The shoe ordeal with her always takes a good 5 minutes with lots of whining, screaming, and crying. She usually ends up wearing no socks (which is why her shoes and then her feet stink!) and has the shoes on the wrong feet, but whatever. That is fine with me. So we got the shoes on and went to watch Josh's team play, since Brad was over helping coach Connors team. It was cold, so Kaytlynn huddled under the blanket. There was a cute little girl that came over and was staring at Kaytlynn. Kaytlynn put a scowl on her face and said "Why is that little girl staring at me? She just keeps staring at me!" scowling the whole time. I smiled at the girl, and she smiled back this cute, cute smile. I looked back at Kaytlynn who was still scowling at her. I told Kaytlynn to say "Hi, I'm Kaytlynn, what's your name?" or ask "How old are you?" or say "I like your jacket." But no, she just kept scowling. Poor little girl. Josh's game ended around 7:30. One of the apple juice boxes had leaked all over the other juices and snacks in the plastic bag, so I was dealing with that mess while Brad took Connor to the bathroom because he had to go so bad. I had to pick up Joshs soccer schedule, then figure out how to get all the garbage, treats, soccer balls, and cones, jackets, and kids to the car. I ended up putting all the soggy stuff in the grocery bag and taking all the soggy but still good stuff and folding it up in the blanket and hoisting the soccer and cone bag over one shoulder. Kaytlynn whined that she was cold and she wanted me to carry her, but that wasn't happening. So we made our way slowly to the car, freezing and whining. The boys slid down the slide a couple times and we made it to the car. Oh, yeah. I started feeling bad before the game--headache, sore throat, fever. Ug. So I went to spend time in the cold weather, blah! I just wanted to sleep. So we made it home and I slept for 6 1/2 hours. Did not get up in time for a shower, so still stinky from working at the post office. Got up and went to work at 3a.m. until 7, went home and started the daily struggle of trying to convince kids to do everything--homework, eat, get ready, brush teeth, go to the bathroom (None of my kids use the bathroom at school. They just hold it, yikes!) One of them usually ends up having to poo right as we are rushing out the door because we are going to be late. Bring on the lateness....you can't exactly not let them do that. So we are back to the plans I had for the day. Come home from work, do homework and reading, eat, get all ready, take Josh to school, take a short nap, take a shower, go refreshed to play with my kids at Jumpin' Jacks, take Connor to school, go back and have some mother/daughter time at Jumpin' Jacks, and pick the boys up at 2 (early out day) Then I was going to try to catch another little nap, get the kids fed, homework and reading done, go to a work meeting for an hour, eat dinner, then go to a Flash game at 7. We got the Utah County Pass of All Passes which gives us unlimited mini golf, laser tag, slick track racing, batting cages, Seven Peaks water park passes, roller coaster and other games, and tickets to every home game of Flash basketball and the Orem Owlz baseball. We have not gotten around to going to a Flash game and tonight was the last one. Since we weren't able to go to the Jazz game for Brads birthday, I thought we could all go to the Flash game and have a good time. I even got someone to cover my 11 to 3 shift. So here's how the day actually went. I got home at 7:15 and was talking to the kids. I looked out the window and saw the guy who carpools with Brad and realized I hadn't heard him up. So I went in and woke him up and he was mad at me for not waking him up earlier or setting the alarm for him. He got up and out the door. Then the kids ate and we were going to do homework and reading and get all ready for school, when all the whining and crying and fighting started. They all wanted me to do stuff for them, but I was trying to make Josh's lunch. The only lunch bag we had was a Dora lunch bag and Josh did not want that, so I was trying to turn it inside out and it was ripping. I didn't have any clean good knifes to cut up his apples, so I used a butter knife and Josh did not like the way they looked. We had to go through a pile of laundry to find clean socks. I think Josh's new soccer cleats kind of rubbed the back of his heel and it was a little red and hurt a little. No blisters or anything. I told him he needed to wear his other shoes, not his high top ones that were hurting him. He refused, because he likes those shoes and he said he will not wear his other shoes to school. Whenever he tried to stand up and walk, though, he was crying. I tried to bargain with him, and look at the problem intellectually, and have him come up with a solution to the problem. He was being so stubborn, and then he said, well, now I'm so late already, I'm not going to school. The whole time, Kaytlynn and Connor were whining and crying for stuff and fighting with eachother. I got very overwhelmed. My kids are so stubborn. I also remember going to school every morning with a red splotchy face because I had been crying because my mom wouldn't let me leave the house until I ate my oatmeal. I have Crohns disease and if I eat early in the morning, especially something scratchy like oatmeal, my stomach will hurt the rest of the day. Other bad things happen, too, but that's too gross to write, so we will leave it at it hurts. I don't want to have a struggle with my kids every single day they have to go school. I want everyone to be happy and with non splotchy crying faces when they go somewhere. So we were 20 minutes late by now, so I called the school and said that he was late. They said they'd just excuse him for the day and if he came he could go to the office and check in. Then Kaytlynn started whining and being a brat. First she didn't want to go to Jumpin Jacks with the kids in her class. Then she didn't want the teachers to be there, and then she didn't want me to go. Well, by this time I was already feeling pretty broken down, so why make it a stuggle to go and do something so fun? They were making me crazy and I put myself on a time out. I came in and layed in bed--depressed. The kids of course did not leave me alone. They kept coming in wanting stuff. We didn't go to Jumpin Jacks, I didn't even take Connor to school. I had them all home all day making messes everywhere. I lay in bed--got a little sleep and a little thinking done. Lots of whining, crying kids in and out all day. Josh missed school, Kaytlynn and I missed her jumpin jacks field trip, Connor missed school, I missed a meeting I had at 4, and we are currently missing the Flash game. Brad came home and was SO MAD at me because the house was a total mess and the kids didn't go to school.
I have ideas that I'm all excited about and when other people don't share my enthusiasm, it just crushes my idea and I don't have the desire or drive to make it happen. Just too tired. Well, tomorrow will be another day, so hopefully it goes more how I'd it like. Good night! for 2 hours til I have to go to work. Sorry for the rotten post!

Med Truck

Here is an idea that I have wanted to make into a video for a long time now. If anybody has the desire to make my dream come true, please do!

Focus in on an elderly couple sitting at their dining room table. You can hear faint music. The old man turns up his hearing aid and his face lights up. It is an ice cream truck tune. They look at eachother and get up as fast as their old legs will let them. Next we see old people flocking out of their houses, very excited. They are walking just as fast as they can. Some with walkers, some with canes. They are all headed for the ice cream truck playing the music. But it turns out that it's not an ice cream truck. They wouldn't like that any way because of their sensitive teeth. They are after the Med Truck. They all want to be first in line to get the best meds before they sell out. One man with a walker throws a rope or bedsheet or something that catches the truck, and the man hangs on to the sheet and bounces along behind the truck, hanging on to his walker, which also bounces along. K. I can't finish the rest right now, but I thought it would be hilarious!

Dance Monkey, Dance!

I dread working Wednesday and Thursday nights with Lana. She makes me tap dance on the table for her to keep her awake. She makes me bring microwave popcorn so she can eat it while she watches me dance. We work 2 nights a week together and Wednesday night she spends the whole night coming up with complicated dance routines and expects me to have them memorized perfectly for Thursday night. Sometimes Melvina stays and watches, too. Lana made me buy her a taser off the internet and if I try to take a break, she tases me and says "Dance monkey, dance!" Then she makes me do all the checks and she tases me to make me jump up and go when I'm too emotionally and physically exhausted to get up on my own. Melvina is thinking about getting a taser of her own off the internet, so she doesn't have to drive all the way to Lanas house to borrow hers every time we work together. Melvina wants tasing capabilities because she also does not want to do any checks. Help me! What should I do? Oh no, now Wendy is telling me that she might make me dance for her, too!