Wordless Wednesday

My three wonderful children. Yep, my Timbo put his "frohawk" up!! How cool is that!?

Tweet Tweet

I have begun tweeting on twitter. I must be careful as this could become very addicting... Thanks to my sister-in-law (insert sarcasm). There have been some neat people that I have met and there are contests that go on. I have entered a contest to win a $100 Target gift card. I haven't been to Target in years! Mainly because with 3 children, Walmart is pretty much the only place I go. Convenience is the reason. So - you can go to Ooh La La Mama Blog and check it out. How I wouldn't love to go and get some ear muffs to put over my ears when the little people start whining!

Picture Pages Sunday

This is me when I was little and when plaid was "in." I loved being barefoot outside and rarely wore skirts. Such the tomboy!

Christmas Day Pictures

Meryck opening presents.




Kyle opening presents.




Tim opening presents.





Think they are happy?





Me having been up until 6 am being Santa's helper, then getting back up with the kids at around 7:30am. Not a pretty picture!





Hope everyone's having happy holidays!

Worth Reading

I got an email from my wonderful father today that I'd like to share with my readers. He happened to send it to me when I really needed to read it. Although I have read this email before, but for some reason it really struck something in my heart tonight, hence my reason for sharing. It is as follows:

A MAYONNAISE JAR AND 2 CUPS OF COFFEE

When things in your life seem almost too much to
handle, when 24 hours in a day are not enough,
remember the mayonnaise jar and the 2 cups of coffee.

A professor stood before his philosophy class and had
some items in front of him.

When the class began, wordlessly, he picked up a very
large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill
it with golf balls. He then asked the students if the
jar was full. They agreed that it was.

The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and
poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly.
The pebbles rolled into the open areas between the
golf balls. He then asked the students again if the
jar was full they agreed it was.

The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured
it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up
everything else. He asked once more if the jar was
full. The students responded with a unanimous 'yes.'

The professor then produced two cups of coffee from
under the table and poured the entire contents into
the jar, effectively filling the empty space between
the sand. The students laughed.

'Now,' said the professor, as the laughter subsided,
'I want you to recognize that this jar represents
your life. The golf balls are the important things-
your God, family, your children, your health, your
friends, and your favorite passions--things that if
everything else was lost and only they remained your
life would still be full.

The pebbles are the other things that matter like your
job, your house, and your car.

The sand is everything else -- the small stuff.

If you put the sand into the jar first,' he continued,
'there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls.
The same goes for life. If you spend all your time
and energy on the small stuff, you will never have
room for the things that are important to you.

Pay attention to the things that are critical to your
happiness. Play with your children. Take time to get
medical checkups. Take your partner out to dinner.
Play another 18. There will always be time to clean
the house and fix the disposal.'

Take care of the golf balls first -- the things that
really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just
sand.'

One of the students raised her hand and inquired what
the coffee represented.

The professor smiled. 'I'm glad you asked. It just
goes to show you that no matter how full your life may
seem, there's always room for a couple of cups of
coffee with a friend.'

The emphasized paragraphs, I highlighted because they are those that mean the most to me. I am sure a lot of you have already read this email going around. I ask that you please contemplate and really think about what the meaning is behind this story. Even if you don't remember it tomorrow, today it could make all the difference in the world - especially to those you love and care for.

Thanks Dad for reminding me to basically stop and smell the wonderful roses I have. They are beautiful and worth every moment, good, bad, ugly and glorious. I love you. xxxxxxxxxxxxoooooooooooooo

Picture Pages

This is my grandfather which we grandchildren called Pupa. This picture was taken while I was first pregnant with my second child, but didn't know yet.

He was a most wonderful man to me. He always had words of wisdom such as "You have a dollar in your pocket, you have many friends. You have no dollars in your pocket, you have no friends." He would always greet you with a "Hello there" which sounded like hello der. He was from Puerto Rico. I looked up to him. Growing up, he would make me breakfast EVERY day, such as scrambled eggs, toast, coffee and orange juice or cereal (even mixed types) with coffee and toast...I had coffee and toast almost every morning (beginning at the age of about 7). He truly believed that milk and orange juice was not a good mix for anyone's stomach and would make you extremely ill.

He was a believer in walking. He taught me how to play tennis and was my coach for many years. There was ALWAYS enough room for me at his home when I had hard times. He would always pay you for any favor you did for him. He spoke mainly Spanish, but when he moved to the US, made it a point to learn English. He learned English from watching TV and reading newspapers. He also spoke French and a little Italian. He was in France during WWII where he picked up French and would use it frequently. His favorite English sayings were "Go fly a kite" and "Go jump in a lake" which he said often and would crack himself up every time.

Unfortunately, he met his untimely (in my opinion) death by collapsing on the corner of the block while on his daily walk to the local store. He had a very high fever but couldn't be stopped. Once taken to the hospital, they found colon cancer (don't ask me how...I have no idea). Things quickly took a turn for the worse with him. We did not put him in a "home", we took care of him AT home until his demise. He would frequently speak phrases that no one else understood (I still remember what you really meant Pupa). At the time, I lived 1 1/2 hour away. I got the awful call that it was "time" and I needed to get down to where he was. Me, my big, fat, 8 month pregnant belly and my oldest child immediately packed up and went to his house. We arrived late at night. My loving Pupa waited until I got a night's sleep before he passed away. In the morning, my mother and aunts said it was that time and we all went into my grandparent's room where he lay in his hospital bed. We gathered around him and held hands. I held their hands, but with my right hand, I held his. I then layed my head on his chest and told him I was there and he could go. His heart stopped beating a few seconds later.

I am grateful to have had not only the time I did when I cared for him so many years prior, but that he waited for me before he passed. I'm thankful that I had my head on his chest and he was not alone at his last moments. I'm fortunate to have had someone so special in my life to be a mentor and inspiration.

Sometimes I miss him so much it hurts. Yesterday, December 20th would have been his 96th birthday. He will be forever remembered, not only by me, but vicariously through my children as well.

Thank you Pupa for all that you've taught me, how you raised me and the qualities in me that are of you.

My Thoughts

Ok, I haven't been around much because I've been working my ass off trying to make money for Christmas. Having to get gifts for 3 children (one being a teenager, mind you)...plus a husband, is not an easy task on our income. I will, however, give you a little insight as to what's going on in my brain where my blog is concerned.

First, I need to do a review of something. What the something is, I really am not sure at this time. I still have yet to find the time to open the box to find out what it is. Hopefully, it will be sometime within the next couple of days.

Second, I'm going to ask a couple people I admire for interviews. I hope they say yes. Not that my blog is so popular (yet) that I get ALL this traffic, but I always say, some is better than none! Hopefully that will come within the next couple of weeks.

Third, I've updated my Autism link for those that are interested in, or have a child somewhere on the Autism spectrum. If you are knowledgeable about the subject, please feel free to contact me (via my "Contact Me" button) to discuss anything that I may be missing or for more information. Few may know, but I have a highly functioning Autistic son who is 6 going on 7. The challenges are many, but none that really can't be overcome with some sort of guidance and love.

Lastly (for now until further notice at least), I feel I may start discussing/posting more every day things about my life as a mother (and more often). Reading back on my posts, I don't feel I fully capture what my original intent was with this blog. I will be keeping my Picture Pages Sunday and my WW, as well as adding a post for Talk to Me Tuesday post mostly because I feel inspirational is ALWAYS good.

So, all in all, I will do my best to be around more often and thank you to all out there that actually read my blog!

Best Early Christmas Gift Ever!!!

My teen and I were in the car and he turned to me and said "Hey Mom, I have a song for you" and proceeded to play this:




Needless to say, it brought me to sobbing tears...I will never forget this gift from him!

Picture Pages Sunday... (albeit late)

These are my paternal grandparents. They were absolutely wonderful people! I loved them so dearly when they were in this earthly world! They were from West-by-God-Virginia. I have fond memories of just sitting and listening to my Grandma talk. She had such a southern drawl it was hard for me not to be mesmorized. I would sit there and say to her "Grandma, just talk. Talk about anything." She would always give me this "You are off your rocker (add southern drawl)" look, but I so loved it. My grandpa was a chewer of tobacci (no, not tobacco, but tobacci). I remember him dipping and spitting and a spitoon. I also remember sitting with him watching Hee Haw, boy he loved him some Dolly Parton! They were wonderful grandparents, but a word of caution with them...beware when it was time to pick the switch stick...don't ever pick the little ones!


I miss you Grandma and Grandpa. What I wouldn't give to hear your voices. I love you Grandma and Grandpa! You are in my thoughts...RIP

This picture was taken with my cell phone. Not very clear, but we were happy to be out on the town!

Winter Social

My wonderful husband and I are going to the Winter Social which is his work's Christmas party. I am so excited! I only get to dress up, and I mean really dress up, once a year...and that is for the Winter Social. My dress is absolutely fabulous! I got it at Ross, no less! It only cost $27.99!! That was a bargain for what the dress looks like on me. The funny thing is that while at Ross, I had picked out a few dresses to try on. As I was walking away from the rack toward the dressing room, I noticed a dress at the end of the junior dress aisle. It was a royal blue dress with these silver (and when I say silver, I mean chrome looking, sparkly, shiney kind of silver, polka dots. It tied around the neck with a low back. The front top looked like a bathing suit type of cut, just enough to hold the breasts. The bodice was form-fitting and at the hips there were four layers of fabric...the top layer was a chiffon type with the polka dots that was cut to a point right below the knee on the left side. The second layer was a heavier royal blue fabric without the polka dots, the third layer was the same as the first only came to a point on the right side just below the knee, and the fourth later was just the same as the second.

The dress looked horrid there on the hanger and I remember thinking to myself - "Oh, what the hell, let's just try it one for shits and giggles." So, in my hand it went and again, I was off to the dressing room.

While in the dressing room, I tried on all the other dresses I had picked out. I'm not trying to be conceded, but MAN, did they look good on me! Other women that were walking out to the three sided mirror were looking at me in awe and literally saying stuff like "Oh, if I had her body, I could wear something like that." Then they would turn to me and say things like "Oh my God, that dress looks great on you!" I could tell by the sharp dagger looks in their eyes that they meant it. Then I decided to try my shits and giggles dress on...it felt pretty good, it was very comfortable, (the others were skin tight and I would have done the knee together walk to get anywhere). This one didn't have any zippers (that was a plus - slip on, slip off). It tied around the neck and hugged what is left of my breasts and I could lean over without anyone getting a peek at my nubles. (I just don't have enough to pop out.) When I went to the big mirror outside of the dressing room, no one was there to advise me, I was left there to fend for myself. This was a great relief because my stomach was starting to hurt from all the daggers! So, as any woman would do when left alone in a dressing room, I twirled around...again and again and again and again. "This was it!" I thought. I couldn't believe myself! Here I had picked out this dress just for fun and it turned out to be the "one."

As excited as I am, I will be going now to get dressed. I will update with photos and you can tell me what you think of my "shit and giggles dress," which is what I call it now.

Wordless Wednesday

Me little.

Straight No Chaser

I love this song!!!

The Stressful Day

Today was a bit of a stressful day. It began with too little sleep. Within 20 minutes of awakening and after Tim took a shower, we left the house to run some errands. The first stop was the cell phone store 30 minutes away. Tim's phone had been repaired and it was ready to be picked up. What was supposed to take a little over an hour, ended up being an ordeal of nearly 3 hours. The head technician in the store broke the car charger that we had and blamed us. When a new charger was bought, it too did not work and the technician blamed it on the car. The charger ws returned and money refunded because there wasn't another charger compatible at the store. It had to be ordered.

We needed sustinance, so off to Waffle House, a favorite spot to eat. Having eaten, stress levels decreased some. Tim had a project to do with his friend for school which is due Monday. He was supposed to go to his friend's house, but because of the delay at the store, there wasn't time to stay at his friend's house to do the project. A different plan was implemented and now Tim's friend was going to spend the night, but needed a ride.

On our way to his friend's house, a police officer pulled us over for speeding. A ticket was given for driving 63 in a 55 (which was a blessing because it should have been 73) and a warning was given about dear husband's tint on the front windshield. The registration was nowhere to be found and the police officer allowed a phone call to dear husband. When he found out about being pulled over, he became upset about the ticket and the warning. Especially since he had bought the car with the tints already on it. Stress levels began to rise again and another snag occurred in what was supposed to be a couple quick errands.

As we neared Tim's friend's house, we noticed traffic was slowing and bright orange cones seperated one lane from the other on a one-way street. As we inched up, we saw that traffic had been redirected because of a parade. Stress levels rose more because time for work was quickly approaching and we still had not picked up Tim's friend. We arrived at Tim's friend's house and began our trek back home. Traffic was worse on the way back and tick, tick, tick went the clock. Once past the traffic, a glance at the gas guage showed very, very, very little gas was in the car, but there wasn't time to stop. We got home with just enough time to get into uniform and put on make-up.

it was decided that the other car was going to be used to get to work. Once at work, there was hardly any guests, so the first hour was spent running food, stocking, helping, standing. One server who got there an hour after the closers got a table before the closers. Needless to say, the closers were a little bothered. It began to feel like it was going to be a long night and the restaurant didn't close until 11:30 pm.

Finally it started to get busy, but not as busy as a typical Saturday. At about7:30 pm, other servers were getting cut off the floor, which is not typical. After all servers, except closers, wer cut, the influx of guests became steady. Fortunately tips were pretty good tonight. As the night wore on, the slow down of guests allowed the closers to do a lot of the necessary nightly cleaning. Finally, the restaurant closed and within 20 minutes, it was time to go home.

On the way home, a realization came...the car had expired tags on it. Heavy duty praying insued that a police officer would not be around to give another ticket in a different vehicle. God said yes to the prayer and grateful thanks was given.

Exhaustion has taken over as it has been extremely difficult to write this without the occassional resting of the eyes...

A day that started out on the stressful side, a couple of planned things did not get done, but overall ended on a happy note and now dreamland is calling...


(Can anyone figure out what is lacking in this post???)

12 Mental Exercizes

I was doing my normal surfing and came across this article written by Gretchen Rubin. She cited an author by the name of Dorothea Brande which includes 12 mental exercizes. I looked over the exercizes and thought - hey I can do these! I like keeping my mind sharp and love changing things up. So, I've decided to try them for a while and see what happens. Here is a quote from the story along with the exercizes:

"Here are Dorothea Brande's twelve mental exercises. Note: she wrote these in 1936, so you need to adapt of few of them.

1. Spend an hour each day without saying anything except in answer to direct questions, in the midst of the usual group, without creating the impression that you're sulking or ill. Be as ordinary as possible. But do not volunteer remarks or try to draw out information.

2. Think for 30 minutes a day about one subject exclusively. Start with five minutes.

3. Write a letter without using the words I, me, mine, my.

4. Talk for 15 minutes a day without using I, me, my, mine.

5. Write a letter in a "successful" or placid tone. No misstatements, no lying. Look for aspects or activities that can be honestly reported that way.

6. Pause on the threshold of any crowded room and size it up.

7. Keep a new acquaintance talking about himself or herself without allowing him to become conscious of it. Turn back any courteous reciprocal questions in a way that your auditor doesn't feel rebuffed.

8. Talk exclusively about yourself and your interests without complaining, boasting, or boring your companions.

9. Cut "I mean" or "As a matter of fact" or any other verbal mannerism out of your conversation.

10. Plan two hours of a day and stick to the plan.

11. Set yourself twelve tasks at random: e.g., go twenty miles from home using ordinary conveyance; go 12 hours without food; go eat a meal in the unlikelist place you can find; say nothing all day except in answer to questions; stay up all night and work.

12. From time to time, give yourself a day when you answer "yes" to any reasonable request.

If you'd like to read a more lengthy explanation of the twelve disciplines, or about Brande's explanation for these exercises, go here and search for Chapter 11 - Twelve Disciplines."

I encourage everyone to try this, either at home or not.

We won!!!!

Thank you Imagination Movers!!!



We won the Imagination Movers bloggy contest, so here's a vlog to thank them! Oh, and the yellow note Kyle is holding up says "We love you guys" which was intended for the Imagination Movers. Awwwwwww

Our Thanksgiving adventure (this is a long one)

I started the day off with a cup of coffee because I was extremely tired from having worked the night before. Yeah for Hubby making it!! We got the kids dressed and planned to go to my in-laws for Thanksgiving. I was a little sad because this was the first year in 16 years I wasn't making a turkey. My recipe was my grandmothers and she is no longer with us, so I was especially sad. After a cup of coffee or two, or maybe three, we all packed into our Nissan Pathfinder.

We started up the road and were listening to Christmas music (which actually is one of my pet peeves because I don't believe in listening to it until after Thanksgiving). We listened because the little people wanted to listen to it and yes, anything for a nice screamless hour and a half drive to the in-laws. We were about 20 minutes into the trip (my husband driving, of course) and the engine in the car just turned off out of nowhere - while we were on the expressway - in a construction zone. We were able to make it to the shoulder, that was as wide as half a car and had a guard rail. We started to shuffle all the kids out of the car once we realized that it wasn't going to start up again. Now, my husband had told our oldest to hold the little ones' hands and walk them down the other side of the rail so that they would be safe in case some idiot were to come along and broadside our truck.

This is where it gets scary...(keep in mind that our middle child is autistic). As I am fumbling through the car to get out our drinks, my husband is looking under the hood, and traffic is whizzing by...I hear my husband scream "KYLE STOP!!!" I look up to see Kyle bolting for the interstate and my oldest son run and scoop him up within an inch of Kyle's little life. Kyle was afraid to go toward the wooded area at the bottom of the hill, so opted to run into traffic. Now, as cars were passing, no one was slowing down even though we were hogging nearly half the lane because of the small shoulder and no one stopped. I about had a heart attack! How could I really lay into this child that didn't truly understand what he was doing? I explained to him what could have happened and that he scared me half to death. His response "Mommy, you don't look half dead." All I could do was hug the breath out of him - well, almost.

Once we were past that fiasco, I called our insurance to come tow the car back to the house because surely we had emergency roadside assistance since I am so anal about car insurance having worked for lawyers doing personal injury cases for so many years. Alas, the insurance company advised, that no, we did not have that coverage on this vehicle. Soooo, we ended up paying an arm and a leg to have the car towed back home. While waiting for the tow truck, I think I had a nervous breakdown, or maybe a panic attack, I'm not quite sure. All I know is that I kept crying and felt like I was going to pass out. Of course, I would walk away from the children after making them a seabear circle (those that watch Spongebob will know exactly what I'm talking about) and telling my husband to stay with them so I could break down. We finally made it home safe and sound.

Then, we unloaded the car with the carseats of course, and all piled squished into my husbands Mustang to try to make the trip again. Our oldest is quickly becoming a man size teenager that there was no way he was going to fit between two car seats in the back, so guess who got to sit there....yes, me! My tiny butt got to sit like a sardine in between two bulky car seats for an hour and a half to our destination and an hour and a half back. My butt did fit between them, but these car seats have these head rests so my shoulders wouldn't fit between them. I had to turn my upper torso sideways just to fit. No, it wasn't very comfortable needless to say.
Off we were again, this time, I was much less comfortable.

Kyle was very concerned that Thanksgiving was going to start without us. I told him that I didn't think they would start without us to try to put his little mind at ease. So, again with the Christmas carols singing on the radio, we drove. We arrived at my in-laws and guess what!?!?! The started eating WITHOUT us! Kyle was disappointed. I made the little ones their plates, got them all set up with drinks and all and I noticed our big boy didn't have a plate in front of him. I asked him where his food was and his response was a shrug of the shoulders. At this point, I'm starving because I hadn't eaten yet. I only had coffee running through my veins, but, me being the mother I am, offered to make him a plate and I wasn't surprised that he accepted. I made his plate. Then I began to make my plate and by this time, my husband was half way through with his. I thought, ok, one last check on the kids to make sure they didn't need anything before I filled myself with much needed sustinance. But no, it was not to be yet, the little people wanted seconds of certain things. So, as my food got even colder than it already was, I now had to serve my little people seconds.

Finally I got to sit down and eat my dinner when one of my nephews came up to me (he has very bad speech delays, is very difficult to understand and according to his mother, refuses to use sign language) and wanted to eat off my plate. That I didn't have a real problem with, especially since he is this little thing that really needs to put some meat on his bones. He sat on my lap and helped me finish my plate.

Now, I have to explain a little about this sister-in-law. She is my husband's sister. She has 3 children. One beautiful little girl, one active older boy, and a son that she acquired through her husbands baby momma. She is not allowed to come to our home. I play nicely with her for the children's sake, but I do not like her at all. I do not agree with her parenting (i.e. doesn't bathe her children nearly as much as they need bathed, doesn't brush or have her children brush their teeth, gets these diagnosis' on her children to collect social security on them so she doesn't have to work, is the epitomy of trailer trash - no offense to those living in trailers, my mother lives in one with my step-father and my father lives in one with my step-mother - I speak of the stereotypical trailer trash that don't care about anything/anyone but themselves and are extremely dirty people who live off the government because of laziness).

Anyway, back to my story...after dinner, I was doing dishes and my wonderful (insert sarcasm) sister-in-law was just standing around, my nephew came up to me and wanted some more bites to eat. I told him it was all gone and used sign language with him as I spoke. My mother-in-law was so impressed with that, that she signed "very good, thank you" to me. Throughout the afternoon that we were there, I would speak and sign to him. All he wanted was to be around me.

By the time they left, as I was saying goodbye to them in their car, he started signing to me that he was hungry. I told (and signed to) him no, to wait until he got home. Now, as my sister-in-law had told me that he refused to sign, here he was signing with me after only about an hour visit. So, that frustrated me. I felt that she was too lazy to learn sign language and just didn't feel like doing it. By this time, I was angry because I felt these children (she has three and we think she has another on the way, but has not told us yet), deserved better than this. She did tell me that she has it set up if anything were to happen to her, that my husband would get the kids. As awful as it sounds, I secretly hoped that we would get the kids to be able to give them the care they needed and deserved. God forgive me for my thoughts. They left and we spend a few more hours spending time with family (I do adore my in-laws).

It was now time to squeeze back into the car. I knew that the little people would fall asleep on the way home and had prepared myself for that. Here I sat, one shoulder behind the right car seat, one shoulder in front of the left car seat, my left arm was being used as a head rest for our middle child and my right hand was holding up our youngests head up. I tried to lay my head down on the right car seat head rest, but it ended up being more like my head was at a ninety degree angle with my shoulders.

We made it home, put the kids in bed and after reflection of the day, I became thankful. These are the things I am thankful for:

Kyle did not get hit or killed by rushing traffic.
The car broke down while with my husband instead of on one of my many 3 1/2 hour trips to our youngest's doctor appointments.
We are pretty darn good parents.
My in-laws are proud of both my husband and me (this must be a rarity).
Our oldest reacted quickly and calmly under what was an extreme emergency situation.
Our oldest saved his brother's life.
Our children and what we can give them.
How well we take care of our children.
How much our children love and trust us.
Having the children that we do have.
How, now I get to drive my husband's mustang until my car gets fixed (which probably won't be until tax return time).
A job that gives me money in my pocket every night I work.
My husband is a good man and loves us very much.

I went to bed shortly after we got home because of the emotions that ran through me that day.

Boy, it sure didn't feel like a turkey day to me for the first time in I can't remember how long.

Picture Pages Sunday

This is my Dad (holding the bass...mmmmmm beer batter bass), my grandpa (standing to the right of my Dad), my younger brother to the far right and you guessed it...me at the far left. Ok, this was about 1982 when we lived in a podoke town and I obviously didn't give a shit about style. I'm guessing I just wanted to be warm ?. Don't ask what kind of face I'm making, I have no idea. I have so many fond memories of looking for nightcrawlers in the back yard, fishing, ice fishing, playing horseshoes, having the big spindles we used as tables for scaling the fish we caught and barbeques, swinging on the hammock and so much more. My grandpa and Dad made the best, by God, beer batter bass ever! Ahh the good old days...
Grandpa RIP, Dad - I love you.

Wordless Wednesday

How dare you!!!

Well, damnit, she did it again...I'VE BEEN TAGGED!!! I can't believe you, why? why? WHY????? Here are the directions...

Post pictures of the room that you blog from. Do not clean it up, take a photo of how it is RIGHT NOW and tell us what is in that room. Note from poster - this really sucks!!!
















My home is usually much cleaner - I just haven't been home much to do the cleaning, what with blogging work and all. Anyway - hope you get a laugh CLAIRE!!!!

As an aside, I will be posting pictures of what my area usually looks like - that is, once I get the crap monster under control...

Oh, and I guess I am supposed to tag some people, so here's to ya!

Stefanie
Who me?
Angelina

Picture Pages Sunday

My mother when she was in her early 20's. People say there is an uncanny resemblence between us...I don't see it.

Female Icon Quiz...This is what they say, although I don't fully agree with all of it!!!

Your result for Are You a Jackie or a Marilyn? Or Someone Else? Mad Men-era Female Icon Quiz...

You Are a Doris!

You are a Doris -- "I must help others."

Dorises are warm, concerned, nurturing, and sensitive to other people's needs.

How to Get Along with Me

• * Tell me that you appreciate me. Be specific.


• * Share fun times with me.


• * Take an interest in my problems, though I will probably try to focus on yours.


• * Let me know that I am important and special to you.


• * Be gentle if you decide to criticize me.

In Intimate Relationships

• * Reassure me that I am interesting to you.


• * Reassure me often that you love me.


• * Tell me I'm attractive and that you're glad to be seen with me.

What I Like About Being a Doris

• * being able to relate easily to people and to make friends


• * knowing what people need and being able to make their lives better


• * being generous, caring, and warm


• * being sensitive to and perceptive about others' feelings


• * being enthusiastic and fun-loving, and having a good sense of humor

What's Hard About Being a Doris

• * not being able to say no


• * having low self-esteem


• * feeling drained from overdoing for others


• * not doing things I really like to do for myself for fear of being selfish


• * criticizing myself for not feeling as loving as I think I should


• * being upset that others don't tune in to me as much as I tume in to them


• * working so hard to be tactful and considerate that I suppress my real feelings

Dorises as Children Often

• * are very sensitive to disapproval and criticism


• * try hard to please their parents by being helpful and understanding


• * are outwardly compliant


• * are popular or try to be popular with other children


• * act coy, precocious, or dramatic in order to get attention


• * are clowns and jokers (the more extroverted Dorises), or quiet and shy (the more introverted Dorises)

Dorises as Parents

• * are good listeners, love their children unconditionally, and are warm and encouraging (or suffer guilt if they aren't)


• * are often playful with their children


• * wonder: "Am I doing it right?" "Am I giving enough?" "Have I caused irreparable damage?"


• * can become fiercely protective

Take Are You a Jackie or a Marilyn? Or Someone Else? Mad Men-era Female Icon Quiz at HelloQuizzy

Imagination Movers video

Here is the vlog with my little people dancing to My Favorite Snack by Imagination Movers... Please leave a comment and tell me what you think!

P.S. Reminder for those that know me and those that don't - the blonde boy is high functioning autistic, hence the flailing arms, and the brown haired boy is medically needy and I about fell out my chair when he "broke it down." Also, the big boy is my teenager, which I was totally surprised that he participated even in the small way that he did - what a miracle.


Check out Single Mom Meltdown to enter the Imagination Movers Dancing Contest and make sure you check out The Posh Parent on Tuesday November 13th for an Interview with The Movers and a Live Mover Giveaway!!!

AAARRRGGGHHH I've been tagged...

Ok, I've been tagged by Claire at Single Mom Meltdown. Up until now, I had no idea what that meant. Then it was explained it to me. Damn, now I know and have to follow directions!!!!




Here are the 7 random/weird facts about me:

1. When I cut nails (kids, mine), I do it outside so the clippings don't linger around the house.
2. I pluck my own eyebrows, which I have to do outside as well (the lighting is God perfect).
3. I like to have control of the things I can control (obviously not my children or my husband...well...sometimes, he he) and I tell it like it is.
4. My pantry is stocked label out for cans, all are with their brothers and sisters (green beans with green beans, corn with corn, so forth and so on) and non-parishables all have the side out showing what extactly it is so there is no guessing.
5. I am able to easily read people (as in tell what kind of person they are) from the first time I meet them, and I'm usually right.
6. When I grow up I want to be like my Abuela.
7. I will be an attorney one day, or a radiologist or both!

Ok, that was also mind-straining...I have other tags that I may have to get to sometime, so, here are those I am going to tag...

1. Angelina
2. Stefanie
3. Country Diva
4. KatieZ
5. Kelly
6. Jay@halftime lessons
7. Angie

I chose these because I'm new to this. So, have fun and tag, you're it!
(I honestly don't know how many of these tags I will be doing, we'll see...)

Self love...

A new friend of mine, Kadi over at The Innsane suggested that we, as Moms, need to express some reasons why we love ourselves in order to promote some much needed positive self esteem. I agree! So all you bloggy people out there (doesn't necessarily have to be Moms), give a list of reasons why you rock!

Here are some of the reasons why I rock:

~I can go to bed at 4 am and still get up at 6 am to get the kids off on the bus.
~I have my teenager doing his own laundry.
~I am surviving the teenager hormone years.
~I try (operative word there) to do good because good comes from good.
~I have strong faith and trust in God.
~I like to learn something new everyday (like apples are served with pork because they help digestion...did you know that? If not, now you do!)
~I have birthed three beautiful boys - all naturally! And still at pre-birth weight (minus the breasts) without trying.
~I am a jill-of-all-trades, know a little bit about everything and a lot of nothing.
~I can change the oil in my car, a toilet out of the bathroom, tile a floor and a wall, crochet, sew and many other random and crafty things.
~I have very thick skin (no, not literally), I do not offend easily.
~I have an analytical mind and believe there is always three sides to every story, yours, mine and the truth.
~I am very good under pressure.
~I am a wysiwyg (what you see is what you get) kind of person.
~I am not ever two-faced, if I have an issue I will go directly to the ass horse.
~I am a multi-tasker at ALL times.


Well, it was hard enough to sit here and try to praise myself and my brain is now on self-love overload.

Why don't you give it a try! It will make you feel better even if, like me, smoke was coming out of ears brainstorming on things that you actually love about yourself.

If you are participating, please leave a comment here saying so, then visit Kadi's page, blog your list, follow her directions and you could win a fabulous prize!!

Well, what are you waiting for???? Get going!

World Bloggy Peace!!!

As my new friend Toni puts it, and I repost in full agreement:

Now come on all you blogging queens let's join together and let everyone know we won't stand for drama, we won't stand for blocking people from our sites, we won't stand for being immature, we won't stand for bashing other blogs...because we stand for BLOG PEACE!

We come here to have fun, to win stuff, to learn about others and thank God that someone else's child is not ours when we see him/her doing something naughty! It's a place to be yourself and share who you are with tons of people and brighten other peoples day.

Who's with me, who out there in bloggy land is tired of the blog bullies?
Who out there is tired of the mean girls in the blog world?
~And I will be the first to admit I was a mean girl to one blogger in the past and I am so very sorry for what I did~

Who wants to stand up and say
"We want blogging to be fun again",
"We want blogging to be about friendships?",
"We want to not have to look over our shoulder and wonder if we are going to be blogged about".

Let's stand together today and say to everyone out there in blog land "We Promote Blog Peace" and we want everyone to just get along.

Wordless Wednesday

Living in a house of boys....

Picture pages Sunday...

This is from a little over 4 years ago. A little picture collage that my wonderful father made for me. The baby is my llittle Meryck before he was diagnosed with Prune Belly Syndrome.

Wordless Wednesday

My baby when he had a catheter... :(

Picture Pages Sunday...

Ok, so I've decided that I will try to make Sundays, my days to show old pictures of me and the kids. Hope you enjoy...

This is me and my little brother in about 1976. I think I was trying to squeeze his head off...and no that is not my real hair, it is a big "fro" wig!

Day after Halloween pictures

Here are our Halloween costumes:


The little people:

Me, I forgot my lipstick...

Sorry, no pictures of my teen... he dressed up as the dark sith and did a really good job with the makeup on his face, but since he was pissed that, as he put it, I "ruined his Halloween" by making him stay with us, (he has lost our trust and cannot do anything on his own until it is gained back), he wouldn't let me take a picture. His loss!! My husband was a Dolphin fan which is what he is every year. He's not into dressing up.

Hope everyone had a safe and happy Halloween!

Crazy kind of giveaway...any takers?

I was sitting here speaking with a good friend of mine and a wonderful thought came to mind...how about I have a crazy giveaway. I'd like to give away my teenage boy. He is full of "bright ideas", is great at keeping his bed, the couch and his phone from flying away, he is very "outgoing" and has tons of "opinions". He comes with a blue-black frohawk, a couple of power ranger t-shirts, form fitting jeans and a "wonderful" attitude to boot. He is good at walking (away), riding his bike (away), and the latest and greatest running (away). He is very strong-willed and has an incredible way of standing his ground. He is very well liked, has "a way" of talking to people and an incredible selective memory. He is very clean (as in shower clean only). He doesn't require much... just (a lot of) food, space to sleep, bathroom, maid, cheauffer, human alarm, on call chef, video games, constant positive reinforcement and life must revolve around him. This child is not for the strong-willed person, he will wear you down. So, if you are weak, weak-minded, willing to give this teenager anything and everything he wants and have a lot of money (not for me, but for him to spend), then this is the teen for you...Any takers?

Wordless Wednesday

Me at 12...Weird then and weirder now...

ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!!!

Yesterday, Tim sent me a text about noonish asking if I would buy him the new Fable 2 that just came out. I told him "Hey, here's a novel idea...how about earning money by doing your chores so that you can afford to buy it yourself!" He wasn't too keen on the idea of working for it. I reminded him that now he's 16 and I will only provide him with his basic needs, you know, food, school clothes, shoes, haircuts, etc. Anything else, he would have to earn the money and buy it himself. Little did I know I was in for a fight when he got home from school.

Apparently, he wanted me to run out to the store and buy it the minute I got the text from him. Seriously?!?!?! What am I, his do-girl, honey-do, no, I don't think so. When he got home, he sat there and argued with me saying "Mom, you know I never ask you for anything..." (oh yeah, like earlier this week you didn't ask me to get him a new hair color), "...and when I do ask you nicely, you don't do it for me...." (as if I NEVER do anything nice for him, like, uh, I don't know...perhaps coloring his hair for him so he doesn't look like a madman with ya ya eyebrows) "...I wanted you to pick it up before I got home..." and get this rationale... "so I wouldn't be up all night playing it if you got it after you got home from work..." (as if he wouldn't have done that anyway! Pishaaa!)

After about 20 minutes of back and forth, Kyle interjected with "Will you two stop arguing! I'm trying to play my game here!" Oh, yes, I love to be told what to do by my 6 year old. I turned and told him that he was not to talk to me that way, he stopped (he's so good at that...stopping when I ask nicely!) Finally, I told Tim that I would do things for him when it was convenient to ME and not when HE wants me to and he was just going to have to live with it. If he didn't like it, I wouldn't get him the game at all, even if he had earned the money to buy it.

OOOPPPPSSS!!! What was that?!?!? Sounded to me like the changing of a tune... hmmmm could it be??? We crunched his chore allowance numbers and figured that he had saved just enough money for the game. Ok.

So, as I left work last night, I was on my way home and I swear that child has radar! I had just got on the causeway toward home and bling! a text message..."are you going to get it?" from Tim. Oh shit!!! I really forgot. Well, I guess I do need to buy some groceries so my children don't starve over the next couple of days while I'm at work. Now I have to turn around and go to Walmart. (Yes, I rationalize too.) Off to Walmart I went. I didn't get a buggy because I thought I would just get a couple of dinners for the kids and Tim's game (of course). All the meanwhile, I'm texting him telling him to go to bed. (I'm so mean! I didn't tell him I was at Walmart. He thought I was just leaving work...he he he) Next thing you know, I have a 10 pound bag of sugar in my arms (because sugar is my favorite food and that is one thing I won't run out of), a pair of pants for work, 6 boxes of frozen dinners for my little ones (need some variety so they can choose the one they want...seems to work better at getting them to eat) AND Tim's game. $110.00 later and I'm broke again and back to saving for Halloween (yes I know it's right around the corner, but damnit, if he's going to ask me to pay him for his chores so he can get this game, then he can wait to get a costume!).

Off to work again tonight... maybe I'll make $40....that would cover um, let me see..... GAS!!!

LIfe goes on

Ok, here's the long awaited picture of Tim's new hair...






This is, of course, before we dyed his hair black...again... I'll take more pics and show you what it looks like in his "frohawk."




Why do teens like to argue with parents ALL the time. Tim was complaining how the things we tell him to do don't make sense (like unloading the dishwasher, sitting in the bathroom with Meryck while he's taking a shower, take the trash out, you know, all those confusing things...) My husband broke down and told him that nothing we tell him is going to make sense for him at this age. Apparently, THAT made sense because Tim has been less argumentative! (At least for now...)




Here is Meryck in last years costume.

This year he's going to be a knight.

We went to his nephrologist yesterday and things look pretty good right now. We have to get an ultrasound of his kidneys and some more bloodwork next week. That's when we'll have a better idea of what is going on. With him, no news is great news!

Luscious Raspberry

I went to work on Thursday night and I came home to Tim with raspberry color in his hair...well that's not all. He also decided that he would try to dye his eyebrows! I couldn't believe my eyes, here was my child with what looked like clown paint on his face, color all over his neck, ears, forehead and EYEBROWS!! I couldn't even get mad! So, once he finally rinsed his head and tried to scrub his eyebrows, he realized it stained his skin. I believe that he thought since the dye was a "temporary" color, that perhaps it would be easy to wash off his skin. Boy was he wrong!! I ended up doing some research on the internet to see what we had here at home that would take off the stains. We tried fingernail polish remover and peroxide, both of which really irritated his skin and really didn't work well. Then I came across a site that said to use a damp cloth and ashes. (Perfect opportunity for me to take a break from this crisis and go smoke.) I was shocked that this actually worked better than both the others combined, with much less scrubbing. It still wasn't perfect, but MUCH better than it was! Here is the result...

His roots were so much lighter and had a pink shade to them. When we bleached his hair, they were much lighter than the rest of his hair. I don't have a picture of the back, but he had also missed several spots.

Here's another picture that gives a better view of his eyebrows, but the flash really washed out his face...

Needless to say, he didn't want to go to school the next day. Well, since he wanted to do it himself and didn't have the patience to wait for me, guess what...the next day, off to school he went. When he came home, he told me he was PODO'd (I have since found out that it means Property Of the Dean's Office). He didn't get into trouble, but was told that he had to change his hair color to a "natural" color, which we will be doing this weekend.

Kyle had his first pack meeting, where he earned his first badge...his tiger badge. If anyone is familiar with boyscouts, you know that when you get your first badge, two people hold the child upside down and the parent pins the badge on the child. Well, Kyle didn't know he was going to be upside down and he also didn't know that they were going to put paint on his face as a mark of induction. When they first turned him upside down, I could see in his face that he was getting uncomfortable. Then when they put the paint on his cheeks, I knew he was going to have a problem with it. We went to sit down at the table and Kyle kept wiping at his cheeks. I took him to the bathroom so he could wash it off. Even though it was finger paint, he scratched at his cheeks trying to get it off. Here's a picture of him before he had the induction. I will post pictures of him after the induction when I get the camara developed (oh, yeah, we like to use those disposable camaras...).

Welp, I've got to get ready for work...another day another dollar. I've gotta pay for some "natural" hair dye now, so...off I go.

Until next time...

Wordful Wednesday

So, Tim wants to dye his hair Luscious Rasperries. I can't really blame him, he is his mother's son. Since we had dyed his hair black already, we had to bleach his hair which we did last night. We left the bleach on for an hour (he has course hair) and I warned him that his roots would be a lot lighter since they no longer had dye on them. Well, this is what we came up with......


Before...

After....

This picture was taken this morning before he left for school. As you can see, he's not a morning person and was like Aww Mom!!! when I told him I wanted a picture. We decided to wait to see how the bleaching turned out before we dye it the raspberry. That may be coming tonight. Woo Hoo!!

Yesterday I cut Kyle's hair. He wanted his hair to look like his father's, short military cut with a small fade on top. Kyle has very thin, naturally bleach blonde hair and already has a receding hairline. I got the clippers out to buzz the back of his head, made him look down, began to buzz ...and out of nowhere he said to me "What are you trying to do, make me bald woman!" I couldn't believe it. It was all I could do to not fall on the floor laughing and the only words I could utter out of my mouth were "Excuse me?" What does Kyle do in all his literal-ness? He repeated exactly what he said. I couldn't help but laugh! Later, Tim was being a typical older brother and started teasing Kyle, telling him that he would shave Kyle's eyebrows off while he was asleep. Kyle, in a very calm and controlled voice, told Tim "Well, you won't be able to find my eyebrows because they are the same color as me." What a great response! My little Kyle - what a character!

We were decorating for Halloween yesterday and I got some window stickers for the kids to put up. They had a blast. Some were glow in the dark, so they put them on the bathroom mirror, would go in the bathroom, close the door and scream like they were scared. The best part about putting up the decorations was when Tim and I put up this spider that is sound and motion sensitive and drops down on a string when activated. When Meryck came home from school, he walked inside and when the door slammed, the spider went off. Meryck about jumped out of his skin! He was so afraid. As the awful mother that I am, what did I do?? I laughed so hard at him. Tim took the spider down and I tried to get Meryck to touch it and he completely freaked out. He was screaming at the top of his lungs and clawed to get away from it. Meryck wouldn't even walk down the hallway that the spider was in, he would walk around the kitchen so he wouldn't have to walk under the spider. Then Kyle came home and the same thing happened with him. They both thought the spider would come down and get them. After quite some time (and a lot of reassurance from me that it was fake), they would stand under the spider and scream "BOOO!" to activate the spider. It was really funny at first, but after about an hour of hearing two little voices screaming at this spider, I realized that I must've been out of my mind to buy this thing. Happy Halloween!!!