It Would Be Rude Not To Accept This Award....Just Sayin'

Bloomingly Lovely  Awarded me with The Versatile Blogger Award....I changed it to:

(I can't award myself and how else can we get a new one started?)

  My Rules for accepting this award:

Thank the person who gave you the award and link them in your post, after all they noticed you rock.

Give us a list of things that are on your mind...you know, "just sayin'..."

Award 15 5 (however many you want) recently discovered new to you bloggers that are
worthy of such an award.

Contact these bloggers and and let them know they have been given this award and give them your rules.

Here are my things

 I'm Just Sayin'...

I have decided that my son has been too preoccupied with the lazy susan on our kitchen table and I think its time we gt him a real sit and spin of his own.


I would be willing to bet that since Ben Roethlisberger stopped being such a pussy on the field he has women throwing themselves at him and he doesn't have to assault be pushy with them now.


(We are a Steelers football family, if you don't like football I don't really care)

How is it possible my two year old can repeat the word hideous while watching Shrek, but when he asks to watch Shrek it sounds more like he is saying the word fuck and not Shrek?

A 7 year old and her father don't always make the best fashion choices...

(There was no snow...it was sunny and dry.)


I have decided to change my never wake a sleeping baby rule, or at least adjust my son into the not a baby anymore category...I can't handle the 4 hour naps that start at 3pm and end with us both being up till 2am waiting for him to get tired enough to sleep.

Getting hit with a fiberglass (waterproof) cast in the face leaves a mark and hurts like hell!

The Tv show Modern Family and the movie Red are my current favorites...if you haven't seen last weeks Modern Family I highly recommend going to Hulu and watching. ' I am just spit balling here but, Knock, Knock..'

I hate being computer illiterate! I think it would be really cool if I could understand programming shit to go with my husbands hardware knowledge, but that will never happen!
(anyone who can help me figure out how to add the code under my button on my blog so others can 'grab it' that would be awesome!)

My son telling his sisters to "shhhh!" and "b-up" (meaning shut-up) was funny as hell
until he started doing it to me!

I would love to start another blog but I can barely keep up here.


(the nickname my husband gave me, and I love it).


I would like to pass this award onto 5 blogs that have gotten my attention, kept it, and made me laugh!


WARNING

these blogs are not all for the faint of heart...in other words there is no censorship, just raw true feelings...so if you are not offended easily by some swear words and enjoy a good laugh I encourage you to click on over and have some adult reading time!

I personally feel these are all Badass Bloggers, I'm just sayin'...

Number 1

Cigarettes and Stilettos

Number 2

Absolutely Narcissism

Number 3

PWT (Please Wear Tiara)

Number 4

The Blog By Fannie Applecrack

Number 5

The Random Blogget

I didn't consider those blogs I have passed awards onto before...maybe later I will do a list of Badass Bloggers to share with everyone (my personal opinions of course) since there are soooo many!

If Mom Wasn't a Tough Enough Job, Lets Just Add To It!!!

Its like playing a video game...each level harder than the last.

Level one:

 Being a Mom

Level two:

Being a Mom of 5

Level three:

Being a Mom of 5, 4 of which are girls

Level four:

Being a Mom of 5, 4 of which are girls, and the oldest is a Type 1 Diabetic

Level five:

Being a Mom of 5, 4 of which are girls,

the oldest is a Type 1 Diabetic, and dealing with the school (and a teen).

If you have ever played video games with your kids (or if you can remember back to before the kids) then you know that each level has new challenges and it takes most of us a few tries (maybe hours of tries) to get to the next level, there is always that one spot you just crash and burn at no matter how hard you try!

Well that is how I feel right now about being a mother to a Type 1 Diabetic teenager! We aren't new to this. Its been 8 years since Macy was diagnosed. The part that is new is giving up the control and letting her do what she needs to. She has 2.5 years left and she will be an adult! She will have to do it all on her own and no one is going to be constantly on her case asking her what her blood sugar is and how many units of insulin she bolused. That in itself scares the hell out of me.

We strive for testing a regular 5 times a day (to you moms with young diabetics, that will seem like way too few), with more if there are problems. So she must test her blood sugar 1-wake up/breakfast, 2-lunch, 3-home from school/snack if necessary, 4-dinner, and 5-bedtime. If there is a high or a low blood sugar then there are more testing times to get it back to where it needs to be. She has an Insulin pump so she needs to dial in her insulin bolus' when she eats. We have an extra injection at meal times of a hormone that helps with her Insulin insensitivity as well (which sucks because it is in the pen shot form even though she has an insulin pump for the insulin). On top of all this she must monitor her supplies: battery life, test strips, lancets, insulin in her pump, and her pump connection. She must always have a test kit with her, a snack of some kind (in case she goes low), and her cell phone must always be charged and with her when she is away from home. And the final steps are refilling her pump and reconnecting her pump to her body every 2-3 days depending upon insulin usage and site maintenance.

Now if you are a non-diabetic family that sounds like a lot doesn't it? But to us Diabetic Moms, its not that bad, really it's not. We are lucky in a lot of ways. Macy is old enough to monitor her own blood sugars and doesn't have to go to the nurses office at her school. She doesn't need the school to supervise her insulin usage and manage her every move. That's how it was when she was younger. I have fought long and hard every step of the way to get her out from under the "school nurses control". My argument being that she needs to be the one in control and learn to manage her own life. In college there is no school nurse to check in on her and control everything. (Believe it or not the schools absolutely hate this. They want to be in control of everything for liability purposes.) We are also so lucky because I have never had to give her shots or attach her pump for her. She has always done it for herself, since the very first shot in the hospital. (It may not sound like much luck but those with very young Type 1 Diabetics have to do all this for their children and I cannot even begin to imagine the emotional pain and toll it must take to jab their little fingers/toes to test sometimes over 10 times a day and give them shots multiple times a day.)

The way you control what the school can and cannot do (and they in turn try to control what your child can and cannot do) is a 504 plan. Every year you have to review and change the 504 plan with the school administrators. For us this has been especially difficult because we have moved 3 times in 3 years (although we are done with the moving now). So each year it has been a new school district with new administrators to deal with. We have had to fight each time to protect the rights of our daughter. Each time we have been angry, frustrated, and have had to be on the defensive.

So the reason for my frustration today is all the work we have done to protect our daughter and she doesn't want to deal with it. WHAT? Well the semester ends on Friday, so the 12 absences she has had this year so far (not too bad for a type 1 diabetic but definitely not our best) have resulted in missed classwork and a missed chorus concert. Each absence was followed up with the documentation from us to make sure it was excused. However, she has 2 teachers who have given her F's on her classwork  and tests she missed and that winter concert for chorus. Once I figure all of this out the teenage fight is on. Mom wants to know why you let it go so long and teenaged daughter is flippant and doesn't care so why should her mom? Are you kidding me?

So a couple of emails are sent (cc'ing the principal of course), both emails were very polite but also strategically mentioned the 504 plan my daughter has in place that is protected by the ADA and IDEA. However, the teenager must also talk to her teachers and get the make-up work completed, before Friday. This week is going to suck. I am already at my limit with the daily arguments my daughter and I have over managing her diabetes. I really am not looking forward to dealing with the school work and make-up assignment arguments.

My mom used to have a bumper sticker hanging on her bulletin board when I was a teenager. I remember scoffing at it. It said "The older I get, the smarter my Mom gets". I can't wait for the day when my daughter realizes: I am not a complete moron, I do understand what she is going through as a teenager, that her daily battles being a diabetic child hurt me too, and I am smart (not a dumbass).

This Mommy Rocks!!!

It wasn't easy and it didn't come out as exact as I tried to make it (there is nothing quite like drawing on a two year old who can't sit still), but it still looks awesome! Especially in the dark (since his cast is glow in the dark). With the choisces available in colors at the doctors office I wanted to help my adorable son like the cast that he has to wear. So when they said glow in the dark, I immediatley thought of Buzz Lightyear and my sons new love of Buzz and Woody.

I need to patent this idea and come up with a skin for casts in superhero, princess, etc (Dont' you dare steal my idea!)

It's Broken, Mine is Broken...

It was a lovely Saturday afternoon. I had the chili simmering on the stove, the cornbread cooling, and the kitchen semi-clean. So what if I was still in my jammies, its Saturday. The Steelers game was all set to record (because we have 5 kids and can't watch anything without being interrupted, well that and we hate watching the commercials). There are those days that you just have everything all lined up and things go according to the plans you made. This was not one of those days.

Let me back up to the previous evening before our unscheduled chaos occurred. Haley and Ethan were playing in his bedroom. Ethan was climbing on his bed and jumping onto the mattress over and over again (as he does). He must have gotten bored because I heard Haley telling him that was too high and he needs to get down. So up the stairs I go, and sure enough Ethan had found a new item to climb on. He was standing on top of his 5 drawer dresser. I explained as you do to a 2 year old that this was too high and he would get hurt. So naturally I made 4 more climbs up the stairs before I finally shoved his dresser into his closet (which is empty so there is plenty of room for it in there). Problem solved. The thought crosses my mind 'how that kid hasn't seriously hurt himself is amazing'. Of course this thought has crossed my mind and I have even said it out loud to him many, many, many times. It just hadn't happened until now.

My adorable son likes to climb, he enjoys a challenge, and is very stubborn. His usual mode of operation to get to what he wants is a laundry basket or a toy bucket (which is damn near the same thing and leaves just as big of a mess for someone to clean up, and by someone I mean me).   

So back to Saturday, my husband lay napping on his couch storing the energy he would soon need for the playoff football game, Haley and Ethan were watching one of the movies they watch over and over again while they were running around playing and chasing each other. As soon as I sat down Ethan decided he wanted something off of the kitchen counter. So he did what he does, he grabbed a laundry basket and climbed on up. So I did what I do, I got up to help him and to make sure it wasn't something like scissors or a knife that he had decided to climb for. This time it was just a cookie, so he got his cookie and he is on his way. So I sat down again, my mistake. Ethan took his laundry basket back over to the counter and as I noticed he was climbing again, the basket slipped back and Ethan fell to the floor.

Now this fall was not a scary or spectacular fall of any kind. Ethan has fallen much farther and much harder  daily. But what was different about this fall was the landing. He hit that right arm just, well I guess I should say he hit it just wrong. As he fell I was already on my way over to get him, I scooped him up and he gripped my neck with his left hand and arm, leaving his right arm loose. That was my first clue that this was not the normal fall. His little cry was different too. His right hand and arm got very warm and just a little swollen.

I sat down on the couch with him to calm and cuddle him. It was about this time that my husband woke up (if he woke up every time someone in our house cried the poor guy wouldn't get any sleep). I had been looking at Ethan's arm and noticed that it had a little bump on the outside edge along with being swollen and hot. My husband asked if everything was ok, and I said, "nope, I think he broke his arm". My husband immediately scoffed at this and said, "no he didn't". He wasn't being an ass or anything, I think that logically it just didn't make sense for a little fall to have broken our boy of steel.

Ethan calmed down some and even let me ice his arm. Which is another sign something was very wrong. In my mind I am planning out what we need to do and while holding this adorable crying boy I realize shit, I am still in my jammies and haven't showered yet! (Oh,  shut up! It's Saturday. But I am not going into public  messy in jammies.) So, I had to take Ethan upstairs, lay him on my bed, and somehow convince him to let me go take a shower and get dressed.

I even considered taking Ethan into the shower, he was a bit of a mess (he was eating cookies remember)and if they put a cast or splint on him it would be almost impossible to bath him later. However, I managed with a baby wipe quick wash and changed his pants (no way in hell I was going to change his shirt risking hurting his poor little arm). Before we left, every other child in the house begged to come with us. They have all been to the ER at one point or another as a patient or with their sibling, why they thought they wanted to go is beyond me. Yeah, they were worried about their little brother but worry only takes you so far when it comes to endless waiting in a boring ass room. Before we left I even remembered to turn the stove off! And while I was in the shower my wonderful husband packed the diaper bag with every imaginable item we may have needed while we were gone.

So anyway, we are off to the ER. Ethan is in his car seat with his ice pack (cleverly wrapped in a Cars pillowcase) and to keep him calm I decide to ride in the backseat with him. How the hell do the kids do that?! Ride in the backseat I mean? I was carsick almost instantly! My husband wasn't driving crazy (which was a nice change, thank you dear) and we have a Honda Pilot so I could see out just fine. Its a 15-20 minute drive to the hospital and it took me about 15-20 minutes after getting there for the carsickness to go away! Back to Ethan, he fell asleep watching Despicable Me with his little arm propped on the ice pack. Back to me, he's asleep and I am in the back trying not to watch the movie because that makes me more nauseous thinking I so could have sat up front.

The ER at our hospital is pretty nice and by nice I mean in the 2 times (this time included) we have been there they got us back to a room to see a DR in less than 5 minutes. That's pretty impressive compared to the Hospital we are used to back in California where you could have an open gushing chest wound and they would say "take a seat, we will call you back as soon as we can (when what they mean is "when we have finished chit chatting, having our break, and finished doing all the crap that is completely unnecessary we can find to do we will then help you)".

Ethan did great. He sat in my lap, kept his arm on the ice, let the DR look at it (although he would bury his head on my shoulder each time someone looked at him), he only moderately fought me when I gave him the liquid Motrin they brought him for the pain, and they only had to take 2 x-rays because he held still and did exactly what he needed to. What wasn't so wonderful was waiting, but when is waiting ever fun? We did everything we could to entertain Ethan and ourselves. We turned on the Tv and of course Disney had tween shows on, so we flipped over to the Cartoon Network (all the while being very careful not to see anything football related, remember the game was recording at home) and there it was...the worst possible cartoon imaginable...SpongeBob. The only slightly entertaining part of this cartoon is the opening song. Every other part is disgusting, useless, and completely stupid. If you are a SpongeBob fan, I am sorry but you should look into counseling, seriously. Even Ethan wasn't entertained, he had the presence of mind to grab my Iphone and ask for Cars. So we ended up watching Cars and Toy Story clips on UTube .

Finally they came in and said, yep he broke his arm. They showed us the x-rays and explained all about a "buckle fracture" and how common they are in young children. They told us a few times that Motrin should be enough for the pain (which is total crap, if you or I broke our arm and they told us to take Motrin, F bombs would be dropping everywhere!) There was a good part, he didn't have to have his arm "set". So no more trauma for any of us (which was nice after that SpongeBob crap). They brought him a Popsicle and we waited some more for them to come and put a split on his arm.

While we waited my husband asked for copies of the x-rays (because he is smart like that). A few minutes later an older woman brought us the copies for our DR. Apparently she felt the need to have some kind of chit chat session. She could have just said here you go and left. But oh no, she had to be an asshat. We had made it all this time avoiding texts messages, phone calls, and the TV for game updates (because we planned on watching the game later at home). My husband was wearing a Steelers shirt and rather than walk away after giving us the x-rays she pokes my husband (actually pokes him) and says "your team is losing". Oh shit! I watch my husband make that face, take a deep breath and simply turn his back to her. So me being me, I politely say, "we are recording the game and plan on watching it later. Please don't tell us anymore about it." Now you would think that me being so polite and giving such simple instructions she would have just said oh, sorry and left. But noooo, she continues! "Well, its half time and Baltimore is ahead..." So then I pulled out the "No, no, no...don't say another word. We don't want to know!" in a much stronger tone of voice. All I could think of was my husband may speak any second and it wouldn't be polite at all. And just when I thought she would leave and the damage could be contained she said, "sorry, I am a Ravens fan". Well laaa deee dah to you, get the hell out of here before my husband tells you all about the kind of asshat you are! (Well, that part wasn't necessary because she finally left so it was just in my head. Oh and her team LOST! So Ha Ha!)

Back to why we were there and enough about football. Question, whatever happened to the days where you broke a bone, went to the ER, had it x-rayed, and they put the damn cast on right then and there? Then in 4-6 weeks you went to your own DR and he used that saw that looked like it was made to just cut your limb off at the joint to take the stinky cast off and you were done? Now they do a splint and have you go to an Orthopedic DR in the next day or two (in our case 3 because of the holiday weekend). Its no wonder our health care costs are so high, they keep adding all these steps that really don't do anything other than cost money.

Ethan got a custom molded hard splint and an arm sling. The splint had to be cut down because the toddler size one was too small and the sling was too big because again the toddler one was too small. They wrapped the molded hard part with ace bandages and 3 pieces of tape. Are you f'ing kidding me? You think a two year old is going to leave that alone? I asked the tech or nurse or whatever she was to wrap more tape on it, but oh no they can't do that. What she could do was give me extra tape though. WTF? So you can't make it so the toddler won't pull it off but I can? She gave me one roll of tape and I took one more (yeah I stole a roll of tape, whatever). It only took Ethan 3 minutes to start pulling apart the ace bandages so I taped that damn thing all the way around, twice. That worked (so well in fact that the Ortho doc 3 days later had to cut the bandages off instead of just unwrapping them).

One more Popsicle and a bunch of paperwork later we were finally being checked out. The last DR who saw us before we left handed me more papers which included a prescription for Tylenol with Codeine. Yay, no Jack for you buddy! (Which is what my husbands solution to everything is). I thanked him and we left. Ethan walked out of the ER. He was so cute and so happy to be able to leave (as were we). So even though the day started and ended (with the football game and chili) as planned, the middle sure did suck.

7 Hours Without Children

On Saturday (my birthday) I got to be all alone for almost 7 hours straight. It was fabulous! (Thank you to my husband for making it all happen and dealing with all the children).

While I was out and about for these 7 hours, without children, I had a rare opportunity to notice things I normally don't. I got to experience the world thru a normal persons eyes. It was wonderful.

To the Pontiac G6 that drove over 15 miles with your hazard lights blinking I have a few questions.
I drove behind you for the first 10 miles and then realized hey I am in my husbands truck with no kids so I took the chance and ignored your flashing warning and passed you.
What I saw in the car: a woman who appeared bored was driving, kinda leaned up against the window and door. An older woman in the passenger seat, doing nothing but was definitely alive.
What was wrong? Why were you warning the rest of us out there of something? Were you concerned your driving skills sucked and just wanted us to know? Your car was pretty new so it doesn't seem like you were concerned you may break down any second. Maybe you were being held captive by the old woman in the passenger seat? Were you driving with a trunk full of explosives? I am assuming since you were going in the opposite direction of the hospital that there was no medical emergency, I doubt the old woman with you was in labor. Maybe you are one of those people that suddenly makes turns with no warning, so you had both sides going just in case? There is no way you could have not noticed the flashing and clicking inside telling you that your hazard lights were on...Ok, clearly I have spent too much time on this, I will end this subject by saying a sarcastic thank you to this woman. Thank you for reinforcing that bullshit belief that women are bad drivers!

Did You know that some people are assholes? No, not you, no. I am talking about people in general and more specifically the ones I encountered. Normally I have anywhere from 1 child to 5 children with me. So I am the one saying 'excuse me', 'excuse them', 'I am so sorry', 'thank you for being patient', etc. Well with no children with me and nothing to apologize for guess what I noticed? Rude ass people!

I went into a store I can't go into with a stroller (Kirklands), there was one group of women who walked right in front of me, damn near stepping on me more than two times. I finally got irritated and looked one of them dead in the eyes and said, "Am I in your way? Would you like me to move? Would it kill you to be a bit more polite and stay the fuck away from me?" Ok, that last one I only said in my head. But the first two I did say and she just shrugged her shoulders like she wasn't allowed to talk to strangers.
Overall throughout the entire evening I was interrupted, cut off (walking), pushed in front of, and dealt with general rudeness.Wow, I never really paid attention to it because I am always focused on my children and making sure they are being polite.

Then there are the people who work in the stores I was in. Hey guess what, you work here! If I ask you a question, how about you not act like an asshat and just answer the damn question! With unemployment so freaking high maybe at least you could pretend to do your job?

So I have decided that next time I accidentally run over someones foot with my stroller, before I apologize I will be checking to see if that person was just too damn close and just deserved to get run over!

Aside for the people who were assholes, I had a lovely afternoon and evening. First thing I did was I went and had a facial at Face Logic that was heavenly and helped me feel less old.They were great and didn't try to push any products for me to buy when I was done. It was a very relaxing experience that I really needed. Since we have been having weather by Sybil with the cold and dry to the semi warm and humid. Then I went to my favorite grocery store (in our area closest thing to Whole Foods that we have) and spent a hour grocery shopping with no complaints and I wants. Then I shopped at stores that my son hates going in. And I bought some new pjs! Yay for pjs!

I got phone calls from my sister, mother, and father. I was able to talk to all of them uninterrupted! Not once did I have to say, "Hey, I am on the phone. Can you assault your sister when I am done please?"

My sister reminded me multiple times of my new age and that I am 4 years older than her. And since I look no where close to my age and have a husband much younger than me I will let that go with the 'screw you' I gave here then. While we were on the phone she reminded me of something I did to here when we were kids. It still makes me laugh that I was such a bitch at such an early age. If you are thinking of having another child (like I told her) 4 years apart is a bit much for the older sibling to be happy with the new baby. Well, either that or it was just me, which is entirely possible.

So I was maybe 11 years old, which means my sister was 7. We could have been younger (which is would be even more awesome). She had found some baby pictures of herself. She was one of those babies with no hair until she was like 3 years old, and once she had hair that changed her whole look. So she was showing me these pictures. I casually said to her, "That's not you. That's a picture of my real little sister. She died, so we adopted you." She cried and I got in so much trouble!

Yeah I think its funny! It still makes me laugh. Was it nice? No. I told my husband and although he laughed, he also looked at me and said "so our kids get their asshole behavior from you, its genetic." Yeah maybe. If one of my kids pulled this or anything like it, yeah they would get in trouble. But I would laugh with my husband later about it (privately) because yes, I am that bitchy.

On my way home I stopped at our area VABC store (for those not in Virginia, that's the state controlled liquor store. It is Virginia Alcohol Beverage Control and since I am from California it is really weird to me that I can't buy hard alcohol at the grocery store or even better at Costco.) just in time. I had only 15 minutes to closing and they aren't open Sundays, that was a close one. I wanted some vodka to have a nice peach martini when I got home. Which was very yummy!

My husband ordered pizza for him and the kids, so I didn't have to cook dinner. I got a salad from the salad bar at the grocery store and brought it home. When I walked in the door my adorable 2 year old son ran around the corner to the front door with wide open arms saying "hi mom". I scooped him up and gave him a big hug. He was all smiles, he grabbed my chin and looked me in the eyes and said, "how are you?" It was so cute, and I am happy to say I was and am good. It was a good birthday.

Thank you to everyone who has wished me a happy birthday. Today I am the feature blogger on Making Friends Monday

 

at http://couponsaregreat.net/category/blog-hops/making-friends-monday/ and I promise to respond and visit all my new followers! It may just take me a day or two...be patient with me please!

I am the Spotlight Baby! Making Friends Monday...

Welcome To Making Friends Monday Blog Hop 1/10/11
This week's spotlight is Teens and a Toddler. This blog is #5 on the linky this week.

This Blog Hop is hosted by Living on Love and Cents, The Thrifty Things, Reviewed By Mom , and Coupons are Great.

Would you like to be our spotlight? Follow these rules and leave a comment! We will randomly choose one blog to be spotlighted! Then you will be added to our linky!


Will it be you?
1. Follow the Making Friends Monday Hosts publicly(Listed as # 1-4) We WILL follow you Back! LEAVE A COMMENT so we can follow you back!
2. Grab our Making Friends Monday button and include it in a post on your blog. Grab our linky code to for even more followers!
3. Start hopping and remember following back is appreciated!
If you have any giveaways ending THIS WEEK go link up HERE. Take a minute to enter some too!

Hot Damn! Happy Birthday to Me!!!

I would love to say I awoke to a clean house and happy children who wanted to bow down and wait on me hand and foot! However, I woke up in my bed and in my house so, No. It didn't happen.

I just finished cleaning my kitchen from top to bottom. Why? What the hell is wrong with you? Are you out of your f'ing mind? you may be asking... well my lovely twin daughters are having some friends over today and I have issues with people in my house and it not looking like our life is, well maybe not perfect, but at least clean. I know I have issues. (and yes I think I maybe a little out of my mind...not full on crazy for the most part but definitely off in many ways).

(I must add that my husband did sweep the floor and steam it for me. Thank you honey)

I am actually supposed to be taking a shower right now. My husband took our 2 year old and Toria to go get her boyfriend (don't even get me started on that crap! Yes my 13 year old daughters both have boyfriends. But I would rather them spend time together here in my house than anywhere else, so we deal with it.)

 So I have a few minutes to myself without a toddler jumping up and down saying, Mom! Mom! Mom! (grabbing my face if I don't stop what I am doing and ask what immediately). He is a Momma's boy. Most of the time I love that, but sometimes I just want to be left the hell alone.

My husband is taking the kids to the movies today (thank you Auntie Lauren and Uncle Dustin for the 2 tickets per child as their Christmas gift. That is a cool present). So my husband is Haley's date for MegaMind and the twins are going to see...oh hell, I already forgot what they are going to see, ha! ha! But they are taking a couple of friends and meeting a shit ton more at the movies. They have been working on it all week, talking about it incessantly (which is why its so funny I can't remember what movie they are going to see). I am sorry if you are one of the people who paid money for a movie ticket and have the bad luck of being in a theatre with 20 something 13 and 14 year olds today! I sure as hell am glad its not me!

My husband was worried that I would be upset and maybe they should do it on Sunday because its my birthday today. But I am not. I spend time with my family everday. We have a nice family dinner every night (and by nice family dinner I mean loud and crazy). So they can all go to the movies. My oldest daughter Macy offered to watch the 2 year old (which works because the other girls will be gone) and I am going to have a facial and a pedicure all by myself! (Thanks to my Mom who called and insisted I spend my birthday money on something only for me, cause I have issues with that too. Remember I am a bit off?)

Then I plan to go shopping. I didn't tell my husband about that part. Hee hee. I doubt I will find much or spend much, so that's not a big deal. The big deal is I plan on going shopping without and damn kids! Holy Shit and Hot Damn!

I would also like to put in a little thank you to mother nature. It snowed last night, and I love snow. So I woke up to a lovely light blanket of snow. Just enough to make it pretty but not too much to keep me from my facial, pedicure, and shopping!

Thank you, Thank you very much! Stylish Blogger Award

I was awarded the Stylish Blogger Award by three wonderful blogs (two in the same night and another a couple days later). Thank you very much to Aimee at Classified Mom , Mrs.Tuna at Working Woman's Guide to Dinner or If I Cook Chicken A La King One More Time I'll Kill Myself  , Dizzy C's Little Book Blog and to Frugal Invitation !!! I spend a lot of time playing on my computer instead of cleaning like I should, so its nice to be recognized for it. I sincerely appreciate it.

As with anything else there are rules and the rules are:

1. Thank and link back to the person who awarded you the award.
2. Share 7 things about yourself. 
3. Award 15 other bloggers. Sorry I changed mine to 8 newer bloggers. See below for reasons.
4. Contact these bloggers and tell them about the award.   

Seven things about myself. Am I supposed to share seven things I haven't shared before? Because that would be difficult, I share a lot!

ONE

I like red hots and hot tamales a lot, but I don't like spicy food.

TWO

My house is always a mess and it drives me crazy, but I don't have the energy or motivation to keep up with it. I spend time playing with my 2 year old and playing on my laptop computer instead of all the cleaning I should be doing. When I say it drives me crazy, I mean it drives me bat crap crazy. My most favorite thing in the world is coming home to a surprise cleaned house. (HINT HINT - as my birthday is this weekend and my many children are always asking me what I want for my birthday, I don't think they realize how amazingly happy that would make me!)

THREE

I am incredibly afraid of the dentist! I have serious tooth issues, any talk of tooth pain, tooth related injuries, or dental procedures (even the sound of a dentist drill like in Finding Nemo) freaks me out. The last time I went to the dentist I had sleep dentistry done, which by the way was AWESOME!

FOUR

I hate it when my house is silent, but I am always telling my kids to be quiet. When no one else is home I always have something on for noise.

FIVE

I really enjoy football. I am one of those women who actually understands the game of football. I am not fanatical about it or anything like that, but I have a favorite team and like it. I am not one of those women who pretend to like football for their husband or boyfriends sake. I have even been known to watch the games without my husband even being home, although I try not to because I want him to wait for me (we use our DVR so we can fast forward thru commercials).

SIX

My laptop computer that I use everyday all day is missing keys because my adorable son pulled a bunch of them off and I could only get about half of them back on. So this may explain some of my typing errors...The letter P, M, the comma, the period, and some control buttons (that I never use) are in a baggy and the X button doesn't always record the tap. I would love a new computer, but I really don't need one.

SEVEN

I am cheap. I hate to spend money on anything. I love to buy stuff, but I hate spending money on that stuff. Figure that one out. I have an even harder time spending money on myself. I love to buy stuff for my kids and husband, and I always can find stuff I know they will love and want. If someone wants to buy me something and asks me what I would like, I can never think of anything! (Except really expensive things).

Now the really hard part is awarding 15 blogs with this fun award. Its hard because I follow a lot of very wonderful blogs! So many blogs have gotten this award, I have even seen some who didn't care and ignored it. Ok, their choice. But isn't the whole point of blogging having readers and doesn't that mean that if someone says hey your doing a good job here's an award, shouldn't you at least say thanks? So I had to figure out some kind of system to award 8 blogs (not 15 because its too hard, I love all the blogs I follow). So here is what I did; since I am relatively new to blogging myself I can empathise with other new bloggers who are trying to keep up with the really speedy and high tech blogs. My first filter was to narrow it to blogs with less than 250 followers (with more than that you already know you rock and have probably gotten this or other awards before). The second filter is you write personal posts (meaning not just reviews, giveaways, or business blogs...if you do giveaways and personal posts or reviews and personal posts than I didn't filter you out.) And the final filter was if you recently were awarded an award for blogging. And to be honest, this really didn't help all that much in picking blogs to award. 

There are so many blogs I love. The following blogs I chose because they make me laugh out loud and I look for new posts from them every day (and they fell into the above categories).

Accidental Baby Maker

Baby Makes Two

Don't Come To My Circus and Try to Wear the Top Hat

In the Land of Mom

Memoirs of a Marine Corps Wife

Raising Marshmellows

this talk ain't cheap

three thirty three

Blog Dare with Bloggy Moms - I need to catch up!

I would like to try and keep up with the Blog Dare, and my husband would probably make that no trying only doing quote... but I will be trying.

So to catch up on the first 4 prompts....

1. Resolutions :

I don't normally make resolutions simply because life in our house is pretty chaotic. I have daily lists of things I need to accomplish, things I want to accomplish, and things I wish I could accomplish. I have goals and although that sounds similar I don't think it really is close.
I do plan to get more exercise this year because of a health scare we had a month or so ago. We got the equipment we need for more exercise, so done. More exercise, that can be my resolution.

2. To do list for 2011:

I would like to complete potty training with my 2 year old son. I would like to get my daughter's A1C level down another full point, if not more. I would like finish the indoor fix-its on our home (painting, trim, knobs, etc). The final big one for 2011, I would like for the adoption of our 3 older girls to be complete.

3. Morning Routine :

Our morning routine is choreographed chaos. My husband wakes up and gets out of bed anywhere between 4am and 4:30am. He showers, dresses, and goes to work. When he is leaving that is when the older girls need to get up. So either he or myself go from door to door knocking (quietly so as not to wake the 7 year old and the 2 year old up yet).

I go downstairs and start the coffee, the lunch making, and continue the cleaning up from the previous evening. Then it seems like every morning I have to go and wake the girls up again. They really aren't morning people, not that I can blame them. I hate mornings as well.

With my oldest who is a Type 1 Diabetic, we go through; did you test, what was it, did you eat, did you do Symlin, do you have insulin in your pump, a good battery, your test kit, test strips for your kit, and a snack in case you go low?

Then it is back to lunch preparing, homework reminding, no you can't wear slippers as shoes, don't forget to brush your teeth and your hair, now go go go go or your going to miss your bus!

Then I get to sit for a few minutes, and start all over with our resident drama queen Haley the 7 year old. Wake up, get dressed (which sounds easy enough right? Well something is always irritating to her. Pants too tight, not tight enough, socks poking her toes, shirt is itchy, wants to wear short sleaves but its 20 degrees out, shoes too tight, or shoes not tight enough). Then she is dressed and ready to eat, brush, brush and go. Which usually is compounded by no you can't take any toys to school, no you don't need to take extra books, no no no...its time to go go go!

And thats the point when I flop down on the couch, cuddle up with the 2 year old and we say yay!

Thats my morning routine.

4. Secret Single Behavior :

So since I really have continued my secret single behavior I am going to go with it.

Pj's. I like Pjs. I like to be in Pj's all day. I run to change into clothes right before my husband gets home from work because I don't want him to think I haven't been doing anything all day long. Even though I know he won't think that and he is usually aware I have spent the majority of my day in Pj's. But I do it anyway.



5. What prompted me to begin blogging:

We moved from California to Virginia a little over 2 years ago. All of my family and friends are in California. We have 5 children including our first son who was only a week old when we moved. I needed to feel some kind of connection to them and to find a way to share our everyday musings. I can write and put up pictures and everyone can see them. I feel like I am more connected to them.

After a little while it has become the only way I get to vent and communicate with other adults who have similar issues and situations like ours.

I love reading about other peoples day to days and it helps me feel normal.

So this catches me up on all the topics for the blogging dare. Until tomorrow when I can focus on one topic...or maybe one from bloggy moms and one from my own mind.

update: Screw it, I give up. I just don't feel like blogging about all those topics.

• 

Semi - Wordless Wednesday

My adorable son Ethan. He ran upstairs, went into our bedroom, locked the door behind him, and laughed alot! It took me a few minutes to find the little key thingy that opens the door and when I opened the door this is what I saw! How adorable is he? Eating my chocolate Santa...

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I Don't Like Pizza

I don't like pizza. Yep, I said it out loud. I don't like the smell, the taste, or the texture. I don't like it at all.

I am sitting here at the bar while my children and my husband are chowing down on cheese pizza and pepperoni pizza. They are having a blast being loud and eating pizza.



When I was pregnant with our son Ethan in California it was even worse. My stepdaughter (technically once removed but I don't follow that rule) is 22 now and she lived with us, our nanny/helpful live in friend, and of course my husband and the girls all love pizza. If it were up to them it would be pizza 4 to 7 times a week.
Well when I was pregnant the smell caused actual physical illness for me. Thankfully that went away, because my family's love for pizza didn't.

Now we have pizza once every week and a half maybe. And that is plenty for me! I almost feel like I am breaking some American tradition by not liking or even tolerating pizza. Am I the only one? Is there anyone else out there who dislikes this classic American grease fest of food?

Well I guess I am just weird then. I don't like pizza.

Common Sense

At what point in  most people's lives does common sense become evident? If it ever does, because we all know people who never seem to have understood common sense. However, that's really not what I am referring to. I mean common sense in our children. When does common sense make it to the part of their brains they use? Although as I write this I am thinking to myself I really do know a lot of people who can't seem to use or have any common sense whatsoever...so I guess we can open it up to everyone.

Now of course using the 2 year old as an example is much more fun and understandably he hasn't reached the common sense territory as of yet. But like I said its is fun, so here it goes.

Over the last few days my sons favorite thing to do has become going upstairs (under the disguise he is going to his room to play, more of an assumption on all of our parts) and taking a lovely glass ball ornament from the small Christmas tree that overlooks the foyer below, and tossing it over the railing to the floor below. It makes the most amazing popping and smashing noise all at once. I can see where he would be mesmerized by this fun activity. It is kinda cool, the noise, the blast radius of the colored glass ornament, and the sparkly mess left behind. Not to mention the words that daddy seems to shout out each and every time he does it. Then someone comes running, turns on the vacuum and cleans up the mess.
To a 2 year old, that's some serious entertainment! To mommy and daddy its a pain in the tush and a worry someone will step in the glass and cut their foot open (daddy worries about mommy doing it mostly because I clean it up a lot and I am a total klutz).
So common sense says don't throw ornaments and break them on purpose, no matter how cool the sound, because someone could get hurt. Easy one, right?




Common sense has many different interpretations which I found very interesting (which means it will be boring to you so I promise to be brief with this stuff). According to Aristotle, the common sense is an actual power of inner sensation (as opposed to the external five senses) whereby the various objects of the external senses (color for sight, sound for hearing, etc.) are united and judged. Where John Locke proposed one meaning of "common sense", each of the senses gives input, and then something integrates the sense-data into a single impression. This something is what Locke sees as the common sense — the sense of things in common between disparate impressions.

Ok so enough philosophical stuff for you that can be confusing and mind boggling therefor if it doesn't directly have any affect on you, its boring. But to me interesting.

So how does the average teenager gain and begin to use common sense? That is the mystery. There seems to be a time between toddler hood and teenager where they can understand common sense and actually use it, but then it slips away like a thief in the night.

I think they know about common sense, understand it, and could use it if the situation demanded it (to acquire something they wanted or for their own personal safety of course), but there is that "teenager code" that states although they are allowed to be kind, loving, supportive, and even helpful at times, but they must also fight all laws of nature tooth and nail. I swear if my girls could defy gravity, just to prove they could, they would!

I have far too many examples of no common sense in my teen aged girls that would fill this post to the brim of complete boredom and who wants to read all that? Not me. You know what your kids are like when they have no common sense. Well mine are the same...and sometimes worse.

The battle for common sense in our home is like the picture above...rolling waves, pounding surf, unreachable to anyone out there in the waves... so apparently if you can grab it, contain it, and use common sense in your life your a set above the rest!

"Common sense is genius dressed in its working clothes." Ralph Waldo Emerson