Good Morning

This is how my day starts. I get Bubba up, I get 411 and Blondie up, I get Chick up. I go back to Bubba's room and wake him up again, I go back to Chick's room and wake her up again. I start the first of 15 loads of laundry. I tell 411 she is NOT wearing that, to go change. I make Bubba get out of bed and put clothes on. I yell down the hall to make sure Chick isn't still laying in bed. By this time the 20 questions from 411 has started. I tell her I don't know where her tennis shoes are since I don't wear them. Then Chick comes stomping out telling me that she can't find a bra. I tell her that she knows how to operate the washer, and maybe she should use that knowledge (which, by the way, she did when she wanted a towel for the pregnant stray). Off she huffs to her room. Blondie is up and dressed and staring off into space, until I leave the room, then she follows me. Tell Bubba that he has to wear his tennis shoes. And socks. Try not to laugh at the anguish on his face. Remind myself that 411 is trying new looks and she won't always look like a homeless child. Give Chick her meds, give Blondie her meds. I go to open the curtains in the living room and return to see Chick getting a bowl for cereal. I tell her that the last of the milk got used this morning. She gets all pissy because 'gawd, I only got 1 bowl of cereal yesterday' I explain there are 5 kids who want cereal, and apologize for not getting more milk. I go into the dining room to get the table straightened up since no one else seems to understand that seeing the top of the table isn't a special occasion. Chick decides to get waffles and has trouble with the toaster, to which she mumbles something under her breath about it not being plugged in. Blondie looks over and says 'hey, its not plugged in' . Just trying to be helpful. Next thing I know, Chick is bringing out the entire ugly attitude. I told her she needs to stop being so hateful, Blondie was just trying to help. To which Chick says, no, she was being really snotty to me. UMM, no, I was standing right here and she wasn't giving off any vibe of rudeness at all. So then Chick goes (this is my favorite part) "you are not hearing her right" .Are you serious right now? For pete's sake. I hope she gets over herself and has a good day but I am sure I will get the whole list of who did her wrong when she gets home from school.

People Piss me off

There is a person, A, who knows that a situation is not going to happen. There is no way it will be possible. So let's get the kids all excited about it and let them try to make it happen and when it doesn't, A can sit back and go, Gee, I really wanted it to work, I don't understand why it didn't. So then everyone else gets to look like the bad guy. It is bad enough that people in this world are manipulative, deceitful users but to drag the kids in on it is totally inexcusable. And if it was just this one person, maybe it would be different but I have seen this happen time and again. This is just the episode that blew steam out of my ears. I wish I could just stand by my old favorite, stupid should hurt. This incident wasn't stupidity though, this was calculation. Ok, I vented, much better now.

How I spent my weekend

Saturday we went and bought my new van. And I must mention that our sales guy, Chas Terry at Rhoden, was AWESOME. He made us feel like valued customers and that is not something you see everyday. I had to give him props. Anyway, on Sunday me and the girls went shopping for the Halloween Spooktacular with Dudette, Kizzie, Megs, Deanne, Whimpy and Cindy. After the first stop we decided that lunch was in order so we all went to the Olive Garden. This is one of my favorite restaurants of all time. Mikey hates it so I haven't been for years and years. Anyway, I was really impressed with all the girls behavior. They were very respectful and used their manners while we were eating. After lunch we went to Nobbies. That was a madhouse, kinda like a week before Christmas at Walmart. Then Cindy got sick and Wendy took her home. I have to give her kudos for facing Nobbies not feeling good. Deanne, the girls, Dudette and I then went to a dollar store to get the last little bit of odds and ends that we needed. Then we decided to stop by a thrift store to find prom dresses for Chelle's teens. Megs, Kizzie and Blondie are all going as prom queens/princesses. Chick didn't want to do it and is going as a roman goddess. 411 is going the opposite, she is goth. Complete with piercings, black make up and hair. It was a really quick stop, we found a beautiful dress for each of the girls that is similar in color to Blondies, so they will look like triplets. After this adventure, it was off to walmart. I am afraid to say this is where I pretty much left Deanne and Dudette to their own devices as far as finishing up the shopping. I thought they did awesome, they got all the decorations, candy and toys, and supplies for the games and still had about $100 left in the Halloween account. Hot dogs and pumpkins are all we have left to get. Now we just got to get the garages cleaned. That is a big PPBBBFFFFTTTTTT.



Here are the triplets, showing off their dresses..















and lil miss 411 in her 'tude.

Our Newest addition

Look what I got today!! We traded in the ugly truck and the Kia and I got a 2007 Grand Caravan. I am so loving the radio working, the seatbelts all working, the windshield not leaking, the smell. Mikey is taking over the other van as a work car. He is already talking about getting the windshield fixed, the radio fixed and fixing the air before summer. Yeah, I don't see it lasting that long, I will lay money he has a new work vehicle before then, any takers? :)

Zippidee do dah

Well, never let it be said that I don't give Mikey props when he deserves it. I have been teasing him about never doing anything for my birthday and I just knew he would blow off our 10th anniversary. I knew it. Stuff like that is just beyond his scope of important. All on his own, he arranged for Chelle to take all the kids and for us to have an evening out. I thought it was great that he was willing to go out to dinner on a work night and not even complain about being tired (not a lot anyway ) :) Nothing spectacular but then it has never been about that, just acknowledgement of some kind. Some no kid time was really good. Of course we spent a lot of the time out looking at stuff for the kids but hey, they weren't there driving me nuts. Speaking of looking at stuff, we checked out the new 08 Grand caravan's. I am so in love. I liked the Uplanders but I LOVE the caravan. Dianne had one and it finally died around 250,000 miles. That is just nuts. So I am hoping that maybe, just possibly, I can convince the gods that I really need one and I'll be able to get one. Soon.

Doing better today. Yesterday Chick and I spent the day together and met up with Chelle for lunch and a quick trip to the local dollar tree for some Halloween Spooktacular supplies. We spent 3 hours looking for shoes. 3 hours. We went to every store that sells shoes. We even went to the Buckle, which by the way, I wouldn't recommend unless you like being followed around and shown merchandise at every pause. That is not my preferred way to shop. After we finally found a pair of shoes that was way to expensive but by that time I just wanted to be done, Chelle came and we had lunch. After our adventures to the middle of Omaha, she brought us back to our Kia. Yeah, let me tell you about that damned thing. It is a gutless little thing normally but at least it doesn't smell, doesn't leak and all the seat belts work not to mention the radio and air conditioning. So Chick and I braved Walmart and then made another stop real quick to get gas. When we went to pull out of the gas station onto Broadway (the main drive in Council Bluffs), it wouldn't go. It rolled far enough into traffic that people were stopping to let us out but it wouldn't go any farther. Then I couldn't get it to go backwards either. Did I mention that this is at 5 pm or so? Really fun. I called Mike, he couldn't leave right that second but he was on his way as soon as he could. I called my mom who had driven down to stay with Mr after he got home from school to let her know I was going to be a little later. I tried to move it again, I got it to scoot back (after 5 full minutes of trying) 10 feet or so, so I was at least out of traffic's way. I called Mike again, called my mother again, and vented a little to Chick. I decided to try it again, and I noticed that the air was on. I turned that off and the little P.O.S. took right off like there had never been a problem. Made it all the way to Mike's shop without a problem. Then I had to go get Chinese because I didn't feel like cooking. :) Chick didn't want anything and Blondie doesn't like Chinese and it still cost me $40. It is nuts how expensive it is but damn is it good. I should have then been prepared for Chick coming into my room in the middle of the night to tell me she puked. She LOVES Chinese and something must have been bothering her pretty bad to miss out on it.
Mr was very good for my mom. Of course, she is convinced that he is Damien reincarnated. She never has sugar coated things for me and sometimes that hurts but I know when she says that my kids were good for her it is the truth. I always worry that people tell you that your kids were good and then go 'damn, I am glad they are gone' when you leave. Not that anyone would ever do that. ;)

I am sad.

Yesterday, Chick wrote me a letter. In this letter she tells me that I don't listen to her, I don't know what I am talking about when I make suggestions, and that I am comparing her to Blondie. It broke my heart. I have made a point of listening to everything she has to say since she learned to talk. I have worked really hard to make sure that we had what I thought was a good relationship. I have made jokes about my daughter thinks I am stupid because she is a teen. But she really does think I have no clue. How can she not know how proud of her I am? How does she not see that I think her individuality is amazing? I don't understand how she could possibly think that I would want her to be just like someone else. I thought I have made my opinions clear. Yes, I get mad at her behavior. That is because she is not perfect, no one on this planet is. Her and I are taking a mental health/mommy&daughter day tomorrow .
I am proud of her for writing it out for me and having the courage to tell me. That says something of our relationship, right?
I know that everyone with daughters has/will go through something like this but it truly, deeply hurts.