Hands Not Full

10 Things Not To Say To a Working Mom

2010-10-22T11:55:00.004-04:00

How do I know that you shouldn't say these things to a working mom??? BECAUSE I HAVE. If I haven't said it I certainly thought it. 12 years and 5 kids later I'm in the working world and blammo, instead of being the insulter I'm the insulted. Yea a strange twist of karma.

As I've been on both sides of the coin I'm going to put a few things in perspective here.

1. I don't want someone else (presumably the daycare) raising my child.

As I can't really leave my 4 yr old at home alone all day I figure the daycare my husband & I carefully picked is a safer option. Let me make something clear, these women are not RAISING my child, they are assisting my husband and me as WE raise our child.

2. Don't you feel guilty?

Every single moment of every single day. No, that's not true. Sometimes I feel bad that I don't see my children as often as I want, or that I miss a game or occasional minor holiday, but for the most part I'm proud that I'm out there doing what needs to be done for my family (I said MY family) and finding a way to make it work. I've been blessed with a superb support system, which includes a fantastic husband. One of us usually makes it to everything, and if we can't we pull out the big guns and ask grammy & pappy to go in our stead. We've even arranged to get an older kid out of class to go to a classroom event with a younger sibling, families are TEAMS.

3. I can't imagine sending my child away every day.

Sending your child away means putting them on a plane with a one-way ticket. Hubby & I usually remember to pick all of the kids from school/daycare at the end of the day.

4. Isn't your child more important than money?

Yes...but without money I can't buy food, and that's kind of important. Without a job I don't have money, and thus the circle of life is molded.

5. I couldn't go that long without seeing my children.

You know, one day they will get married and move out of the house. I feel you though, I do. Well, I did, until the kids reached their teens and according to them I saw them quite enough, thankyouverymuch. Seriously, I may physically see my children less now, but the time we do have is much more important to me (and them) so I'm way less likely to screw it up with yelling, making demands and other not-so-nice stuff like that. I enjoy being with my kids much, much more now.

6. My child is my best friend, too bad you don't have that.

Dude. That's just....creepy.

7. I wish I could get out and have adult conversation every day, you are so lucky!

You assume I have adult conversations at work? Sorry, I'm too busy WORKing.

8. I'm lucky that my husband's salary can support us.

Yup, *you* are. How does your husband feel about that? My husband has had lots of those jobs (emphasis on MY husband). It almost killed him and our marriage. We didn't see him for weeks at a time and he missed pretty much every first step, every birthday, every play and event for several years. He downgraded his salary 30% in exchange for 90% less travel. We may have less $ in the bank and may scrounge more, but I will gladly work in exchange! Having him home almost all of the time has made a HUGE impact in our married life and in the kid's lives. I think he's happier too. This is the choice we made.

9. How do you find time for yourself?

Having the ability to visit the women's restroom alone is bliss. You should try it someday!

and finally....the last thing you should never say to a working mom (courtesy of my husband)

10. Stay-at-home mom

Large Families Don't Raise Their Hands (LLBP#2)

2010-04-29T11:02:00.002-04:00

Long Lost Blog Post #2, a personal favorite about a situation many a friend & I have chuckled over!

This one is for Mama Flan ;)

Back to 2005.....

Tuesday, June 14, 2005

Large Families Don't Raise their Hands

Yesterday we attended a simply delightful puppet show. The puppet show
itself was very homeschool friendly, it wasn't dumbed-down to the
common denominator, it was great for nerds like us. I attended with
three other families, 13 kids (and one on the way) between us, all of
us homeschoolers.

Afterwards, however, we saw exactly how engrained school life has
become in our society. The puppeters came out to quiz the kids on what
they saw. Correct answers won a little prize, IF the child sat quietly
in their chair and raised their hand to answer the question.

What a lot we were. Here we were, 13 homeschooled kids who never had
to raise their hand to answer a question in their life (parents ask,
kids answer, it's that simple!) in a room full of 2 and 3 year olds
(seriously, I dont think there was a kid over 3 who was in the
building except for our homeschool group). Can you imagine what the
scene was?

My first thought was "Oh my kids look awfully impatient and rude",
then I thought "ok, why do they have to sit down?" The kids all
managed to sit through 10 minutes of audio difficulties, a 35 minute
sing-along AND a 30 minute puppet show...and now they were supposed to
quietly sit during the active participation phase?

Well, rules are rules so I explained to my kids that while it is a
bummer, they have to follow the rules if they want the prize.

Can you imagine the pain on a six year old's face when she was told
she couldn't have the prize because she mispronounced the answer
(which was correct, by the way)? What about the three year old who
reallllllly wanted that prize but doesn't have the capability to
remember the name of a character she saw for 10 seconds over 30
minutes ago?

It really is sad that children are expected to be little identical
cogs until the age of 18, when they are released into the world with
very little instruction on how to be individual and independent. Even
sadder yet, a friend recently told me that her relative expressed
concern that her children will not learn to raise their hand or wait
in line if they are homeschooled. WHAT? They are concerned that her
children won't learn to raise their hands when asked a question?? If
your boss asks you when she can expect your finished project, do you
raise your hand and wait for her to permit you to answer?

Lessons to be learned: If you are concerned that your child won't know
how to raise their hand to answer a question, take them to a puppet
show. If you are concerned your child won't be able to wait in line,
take them to the bank with you (or DMV, or library, or grocery store,
or that awful discount box store you hate so much, or the doctor...)

In the end my 8 year old gave her prize to her two year old sister and
my 6 year old gave her prize to the above-mentioned 3 year old. My
heart swelled with pride and proved to me that even if my children
don't know how to raise their hand when asked a question, they are
doing just fine!

posted by Meg - Bad Homeschool Mom @ 1:08 PM

How I Do "IT" (long lost blog post #1)

2010-04-29T10:50:00.002-04:00

I'm sitting on an old PC today. I found some stuff on it dated from years ago, before I entered the working world, when the kids were homeschooled. I'm not sure how it got on THIS PC but that's not the point. **this is me sparing you the boring details of how I came to find these long lost posts, blah blah blah**

I originally posted these on my old blog BadHomeschoolMom

This first post is from June, 2007. I'm not going to take the time to compare then details to now details, no need to rehash history in this case.

FWIW I didnt bother editing it and from the looks of it this was a rough draft.
Enjoy, I did :)

TUESDAY, JUNE 05, 2007
How I DO "it"
For all of you who wondered out loud about "how I do it", let me enlighten you.

Yes, I have five children, more than the average American family these days. Yes, there are days when I mourn the days I only had two kids or I wish I could run away and hide, but I have never considered any of my children to be a burden. My kids may drive me nutty some days, especially the toddler folk, but my vents don't mean that I wish I didn't have said kids.

Yes, my hands are full sometimes. Yes, they are all mine. Five, yup, you didn't miscount. I actually have six, my little world skipper may not be here to accompany us to the grocery store, but it doesn't mean that he didn't exist and that I don't miss him every single day.

Now you ask how I do it, you just "don't know how [I] do it" and you shake your head, sometimes you may give a sly grin.

I'll tell you.

1. Every single morning I am given a hug from each and every child. Most of them give me a kiss too. It doesn't matter what happened the day before, how much they fought going to bed, how many peas they threw on the floor, how many times they rolled their eyes or pouted...it's a new start each and every day.

2. Delegate. I have older kids and a husband who help tremendously; I'm not doing "it" alone by any means. In my opinion people with less kids who are younger and closer in age and single parents with only a kid or two have it way harder than I do.

3. Organize. Ok, I can see my mother gasping and everyone else who knows me laughing at this. I do not appear organized, but guess what, I am. Ask me where something really important is and I can tell you, even after packing my entire household into boxes and moving them to a new home. I may not have known where my husband's brown belt was this morning, BUT, last night I knew he'd need a clean towel and socks...and I knew where those were, and those are more important than a belt in my mind (his pants aren't going to fall down without the belt).

I know where a pair of shoes for each kid is. Sure, they may not match and Liam may wear an old pair of flower shoes...but the point is each kid has shoes on, which is way more important than what the shoes look like and if they match their hair accessories.

I organize in piles. It's a classic ADD coping mechanism, actually. My piles are my organization, it works for me. A box for everything and everything in it's box!!!

4. Learn to say NO and mean it. Your kids may hate you for this one, but they will get over it. I know it's hard to say, but I also know it's the most beneficial word a parent can know. Let's practice...repeat after me:

"No, we are not going to the pool today."
"No, we are not going to the pool today."
"NO, WE ARE NOT GOING TO THE POOL TODAY."
"No, we are not going to the ^%&$^#^~!@! pool today!"
"NO AND IF YOU ASK ONE MORE TIME WE'RE NOT GOING TO THE POOL FOR A MONTH!"

5. Learn to adapt. For example, all parents have the experience of having a child wake up sick out of the blue. Parents of large families know that this is just the beginning of a LONG road. Kid #1 wakes up sick, two days later kid #2 wakes up sick. Two days later kid #3 wakes up sick, two days later kid #4 get it and two days after that kid #5 gets it. By the time kid #3 recovers it's gone back around to kid #1. And then YOU get it. And then your husband. You get the idea. The illness that takes 36 hours to clear one child takes about 5 weeks to clear the family with a lot of kids. You learn how to adapt quicker than you thought possible when kid #4 is born.

6. Accept that you will be flakey and embrace it. You will occassionally be late because it took longer to get all the kids awake and dressed. You will forget to pack breakfast before you leave, thus making more stops than you wish at fast food joints. Once in a while you may throw in the towel and not show up for something because a kid is sick or the bickering has reached such a level that you turn the van around and go home. You may even have the day where you are ready to walk out the door and someone asks you to buy them something and you have a meltdown because ALL they do is ask you to buy them things, so you announce that you will not be going anywhere that day and they had better get to cleaning the things you already have bought them.

You will become known as flakey, accept it and embrace it as your newly found excuse for getting out of the things you really didn't want to do in the first place.

7. Think BIG. Super crates of diapers, the 5 pound container of ketchup, the 3 gallon bucket of mayo, the 15 seater van.

8. Plan ahead. Make a shopping list and arrange to do the shopping with grown up help or after hubby gets home from work. Always keep extra clothing, towels and plastic bags in the van because the day you forget is the day 3 of the kids will get carsick.

9. Buy a calendar and get to know it well. You will have a lot of doctor appointments, a lot of extra curricular activities, a lot of library books due, etc.

10. Take each day one at a time. Take it one minute at a time if you have to. There are good days, there are bad days. There are realllly good days and there are realllly bad days. There are days when you don't think you can possibly be pulled in one more direction or asked one more question without imploding. Temper those with the days you get extra hugs, the days the kids are all healthy, the days the kids work together to create a musical.

The irony of it all is that there ARE more good days than bad, but it's the bad that we tend to remember. I'm working on trying to remember the good, being a pessimist by nature it's not easy.

and finally...

11. Develop a wicked sense of humor. Sometimes it needs to be snarky, sometimes it needs to be sarcastic, sometimes it needs to be genuine. Sometimes all you will have to fall back on is your sense of humor.
AS SPOUTED BY MEG - BAD HOMESCHOOL MOM AT 7:41 AM

The self-centeric essay

2010-03-05T12:38:00.005-05:00

I'm writing an essay for a college application.

...no...

I'm in the process of writing a college entrance essay.

...that doesn't sound smart enough...

I am constructing a literary composition with the aspiration of entrance into university.

:P

I'm trying to write an essay, the purpose of which is to attach it to an application because I've decided to go back to college.

500 words is easy, right? Sure. 500 non-whiney, easy-to-read but intelligent words is easy, right? Sure. It used to be.

There was a day, not terribly long ago, that I could spout off 500 convincing and compelling words in five minutes, and I could do it 10 times or more a day. I wrote for a living, well more like a hobby that sometimes earned me financial gains, including a not-so-lucrative-but-did-pay-me-an-advance book deal.

I love writing for the sake of writing. I love putting the stories in my head down on paper just to have them there. I adore writing research papers, informative articles, narratives...hell I love writing overly-long emails with way too much information in them for no other reason than I love words and I love it when people aside from myself SEE those words. Simple words, difficult words, "smart words", I love them all.

I detest writing when I'm told what to write, especially if it's about myself. I hate writing about myself because let's face it, no one wants to hear about me (including myself!) I'll write about the best way to toilet train your kid and have you believing me, even if my 3 yr old is still in diapers. I'll write about the reign of some emperor I've never heard of and get all of the information right. I'll write an article about nothing and win the regonition of organizations around the nation for it. I've done all of those things with raving success because I wanted to, not because I HAD to.

Tell me to write a simple 500 word essay about myself and I'm lost.

My essay thus far (the topic is to explain the "bump in the road" I hit in pursuing my educational goals and why I'm on track now)

*************************

I'm in my thirties, I have children, I have a husband and I kind of have a career. I finished half of college and dropped out, I'll spare you the reasons why. I thought I had life all figured out and managed to squeak by for fourteen years until one day I woke up and realized there is something missing, as corny as it sounds. Sure, I'm happy enough, I'm mostly content in life, but when I woke up that day and I finally knew what I want to be when I grew up, I realized that I've been squeaking by long enough. It's been a long journey to get to this point but I'm finally here and I'm finally ready.

The caveat to my great master plan is that in order to be what I want to be I have to finish college, which means I have to write this assigned essay when I'd really rather be writing about what a waste of time reading Walden was when I was in college the first time. So please, just take my application, take my money, let me figure out a schedule and let's get this over with so I can get on to the good stuff.

***************

Alright so that's not really my essay, my essay is 500 words, but it's a pretty good representation of the real essay.

Again, I say :P

My lesson to my kids...go to school, get good grades, get scholarships and loans and whatever else you can get. Go to college, finish college and get a career. You don't have to love that career, but get it anyhow because you're just going to want to change it when you're my age, and at least you'll have that 4 yr degree under your belt and it will just be so much easier for you...and you won't spend the rest of your life frying chicken and slicing salami for people who don't care if you exist.

As I was previewing this entry I realized that I managed to write an entire essay about myself without even trying. I'm just THAT self-centered. I can write an essay about myself complaining about how I can't write an essay about myself and I can convince myself for 10 whole minutes that the essay isn't about myself. Yeah, sounds about right for an undergrad student.

See ya'lls on the other side.

POTD - Jan 29. 2010

2010-01-31T07:38:00.003-05:00

Friday was our monthly date night :) I am going to buy this shirt, I'm just going to. It's about the only Spanish phrase I know.

January 29, 2010 - Por favor

The hubs and I ate at Raglan Road Irish Restaurant at Downtown Disney then walked around a bit and watched the street performers, drank some coffee and then headed back for the kids. Twas fun!

January 27, 2010 - Walkin' the dogs, walkin' the dogs

2010-01-27T09:12:00.002-05:00

I wanted to spend my day off napping. I wanted to spend my day off watching tv...but instead I decided to get some exercise and walk the dogs. It's also a bit of a weight lifting workout as you sometimes have to restrain Sheba.

We peed, we pooped, we sniffed....

FWIW Sheba is the big one, a mix of pit bull, boxer and lord knows what else. Linus is the smaller one, the bassett hound/something-or-other mix.

Photo of the Day, January 2010 (vol 3)

2010-01-26T14:30:00.004-05:00

January 19, 2010 - ZOMBIES! THEY WANT TO EAT ME!!!

January 21, 2010 - "No photographs, please!"

January 25, 2010 - Much to my husband's chagrin this is my bedtime (PM, not AM)

Photo of Day, Jan 2010 (Vol. 2)

2010-01-22T19:33:00.007-05:00

January 5, 2010 - Bed on Wheels

Train & Giggles received a radio flyer wagon for Christmas. Train wheeled it in front of the tv and set it up with blankets and pillows. Whilst Train was in the potty Giggles grabbed his "'lankey" and hijacked the wagon.

January 8, 2010 - The One Where Meg & Jason Go Out

Jan 16, 2010 - Veggie Sub

Mummy and Train went out on a date :)

Jan 17 - Conspiracy Theory

up to no good, no good at all

Photos of the Day, January 2010 (Vol. 1)

2010-01-22T14:16:00.007-05:00

I can't promise to do that catchy 365 photos thing, but I like the idea :) I like the idea of remembering the little things.

Things are pretty crazy right now. I get hung up on the daily crappola a lot, maybe this will teach me to slow down and chill the heck out, at least for a few seconds every day.

Please keep in mind that 95% of the photos will have been taken on my crappy cell phone camera. I actually have a wonderful nikon digital, but I don't keep it with me and it's a lot easier to take crappy pics and email them to myself ;)

January 3, 2010 - Giggles Vs. the Potty

Mister Giggles is potty-learned, meaning, he knows HOW to go on the potty. Heck, he even knows how to tell when he has to go. Now...will he??? Eh, that's another issue. He was actually doing great when he was in the 2yr old room at daycare See the daycare story here. In November he moved to the 3 yr old room and it went downhill because a. the toilet is loud and b. the teachers demand pull-ups for kids not totally trained. Yeah, yeah, I'm arguing w/them about it.

Jan. 4, 2010 - Tornado Takes a Rest

Tornado was particularly tired one afternoon (as was mommy), so I invited her to 'nuggle with me on the couch. She looked so peaceful.

2010-01-06T11:52:00.001-05:00

Test post from my phone

Well hello!

2010-01-06T11:30:00.003-05:00

I've been thinking about blogging again now that I have an hour or so to myself a few days a week between work & school.

First, I need to get some updated pictures to share. Wow, the header pic is like 2 years old now. I'd share my christmas pic but it pretty much turned out terrible ;)

Quick updates as I need to brainstorm some topics...

Jason - just celebrated his first year working for Publix at their HQ about an hour south of our house. He's doing ok, had a rough year, but is doing better.

Meg - still working at target, coming up on 1 year in my new position at the new store. It's a very, very busy store but it's been fun as far as work goes. My dept continually leads the district, region and sometimes company, in sales. Fun, but still work and I still have idiots that work for me.

Miss Death Ray Eyes - doing great in 7th grade, definately worked out the bugs of 6th grade & going to school for the first time ever. We've encountered some interesting teenage issues with her that I thought I was prepared for, I think jason & I are muddling through them reasonably. Shes's a GOOD kid though, she's got a good head on her shoulders so she'll be ok, it's just mostly dealing with the other psychotic 13 yr old girls....aye! Parenting isn't so much fun after your kid starts making their own friends. Anyhoo she's turned out to be the athletic one, she just made the basketball team as a power forward (try finding basketball shoes for girls in size 10W! Did i mention she towers over me??) She found time to be in drama last season too and had a lead in the christmas play.

Miss Universe - doing great in 5th grade. She has a fantastic teacher this year, though she's not keen on being in the only 5th grade non-rotating class. I think it's good for her to stay in one place though, she's so in her own universe I think she needs just one more year to prep for the middle school rotation. She was put into an advanced reading program a few months ago, is on student council, is in chorus and drama (had a big part in the christmas production)

As if the older two don't keep me busy enough running to and from practices...we have

Tornado - who is in first grade this year and doing great. She got all As on her first report card, though we had a "mishap" with her last progress report. She was crying when she got off the bus and wouldn't tell anyone why. She told me she got all Ds on her progress report and Ds are bad. When we got home I looked and had to laugh, she sure did get Ds on everything, just that it was a list of skills and D means "developing", which is good! :D she was much happier after that.

Tornado and MU switched to MDRE's school this year and Tornado's not thrilled. The first week of school a little boy named Marcus professed his love for her LOUDLY and since then she's been a bit leary of the class...but she's doing fine.

Train just turned 5 last month! He's doing well in daycare and pre-K, he goes to daycare half the day and pre-k the second half, all at the same facility. He just finished holiday camp and went on his first real field trips. He's such a little man, and such a huge mamas boy. My favorite time of day is picking him up from daycare, he's so happy to see me and in such a great mood. I almost started crying the other day when I realized he'll be in kindergarten next year :(

Mister Giggles is 3 and woah, what a charmer. He talks now. A lot. And in full, amazingly complex sentences. And holy crud is he active. He's got all of his daycare teachers fooled into thinking he still needs diapers, he needs someone to feed him, etc. One teacher told me he "knows the other kid's weakness and uses them." Raising a manaical evil genius, I guess. Either way, he should do very well in life :D

more later, and some interesting stuff!

#2 on my I Will Never Do List is complete.

2009-06-17T07:26:00.004-04:00

Which may be a good thing, afterall. BTW, there are pics at the bottom, INCLUDING one of Miss Death Ray Eyes in a DRESS for the first time in about 6 yrs!!

So as you know I was forced to leave my 12 years experience in stay-at-home momdom last year in favor of working, for like the first time ever (almost). I blame the republicans (JK, had to get a punch in somewhere).

My children left the safe haven of homeschooling for *gasp* public school. That went alright, aside from the first few months of middle school (please see earlier posts from January/February).

Now, I've hit #2 on my never do list, day care. It's been going great, for the first week anyhow. Train wants to "go to school every second and every minute of every day!" and Mister Giggles, well, the first thing he does in the morning is grab his backpack and try to escape out the door yelling "GO COOL, BYE MOMMY!"

So why did they end up in daycare all of a sudden, after I've been working for a year? BTW, Happy Anniverary Target, since you didn't wish me one first ;P

Jason and I managed to work swing shifts until he started working at Publix HQ and I got my promotion and transfer to a new store. My neighbor had helped out over winter break so we hired her to watch the boys while the girls went to school, 7am - 2pm, 4 days a week.

All was well until the last few weeks. I could see she was getting more and more stressed and then school let out and she had my kids on top of her own 2. Really, she only had Train, Tornado and Mister Giggles cuz the other 2 stayed at home. ANyhow, I digress..

Her kids got off for the summer and I think it was just too much for her. In one week she managed to bring the kids to me at work and expect me to take them, even though I was AT WORK. She slapped Mister Giggles and her son kicked him. She told my 10 yr old to "get the H*** out of my F*&%*$^ house" when she went over for lunch. And she asked me for $3 more dollars an hour because she's now watching Tornado too, and believe me, Tornado is not a problem (and I cannot believe I'm saying that, those who have known her from day 1 know exactly what I mean!!)

Oh yeah, and last week her husband (who doesn't work in town) was home so he let Jason and the kids in. When Jason left he put on cartoons and went to bed. I tried all morning to call the sitter, finally at 9:45am I had Miss Death Ray Eyes go to the house and ask sitter to call me because G was sick the day before and since I go to work at 4am I wanted to make sure he was ok.

Sitter calls back 10 minutes later and sounded like she was sleeping. She denied it, but when the kids got home Tornado told me they were both sleeping until MDRE came over, and they didnt eat breakfast until then.

In other words, she left my 6, 4 and 2 yr olds ALONE in front of the TV for 3 HOURS!!!!

Yup, YOURE FIRED.

And that's how I came to break my Things I'll Never Do Rule #2. And I'm happy about it.

She called me at least 4 times to apologize, ask for her job back, whine about how she can't pay her bills. I'm so frustrated with her. Every single day I give her enough food to feed my kids AND her kids (and her!) breakfast (including milk), lunch and 2 snacks...why? Because I'm nice. She told me she needs more money because she takes my kids out to eat and sometimes uses her own food and that's expensive. Um, that's why we agreed I'd provide food. I started giving her food for her own kids because I was sick of hearing "well, L wanted to eat what your kids were eating". Aye. I'm too nice.

And, in the end, daycare is saving us about $30/wk in babysitting fees and even more in food costs.

With some trepidation I utter a small "yay". Happy the kids are happy, but sad that things have had to change so drastically over the past 2 years, from fat cow to starving cow. Lesson learned.

Miss Universe and Train poking a sea urchin @ Daytona Beach.

MDRE before her sports banquet and first ever middle school dance.

Tornado's Kindergarten Graduation

2009-05-29T13:46:00.003-04:00

pics at http://www.flickr.com/photos/itszen4me

This is Tornado's class singing "My Florida Alphabet". My favorite letter is N, as in Naples, where the old folks go ;)

Mister Man goes to Disney!

2009-05-27T10:49:00.002-04:00

A few weeks ago my parents took Train for his very first trip to Disney!

I don't have much to write, except that he was a very brave boy and rode Pirates of the Carribean (and loved it!), so here are the pics:

The long lost update post

2009-05-21T10:43:00.003-04:00

Well, it's not like I have all day every day to post blogs anymore ;) I *WISH* I did, but alas I don't.

Anyhoo...

let's see.....

Miss Death Ray Eyes - oh dear sweet goodness. She reminds us daily that thirteen is coming up a little bit too fast. I haven't scanned her new school pics (dude, they do them twice a year now!) She went on a few trips to Disney with my parents over the past few months. My parents took her on her own and again for Tornado's 6th birthday.

She managed to pull out all As & Bs last semester and I assume passed her FCATs, we'll find out next week. If you remember we pulled her out of the local middle school in January and put her in a much smaller charter school. The change has been AMAZING. She's still got a mouth and attitude to rivel that of the 12 yr old Meg's, but all-in-all she's doing MUCH better. I'm impressed at the projects and assignments she has to do, the education standard seems to be much higher and help is available BEFORE she fails a class (GASP! Can you imagine that?!?!?!?!)

Miss Universe - What a few months! First, MU won 1st place in the Tropicana/4H public speaking contest in her classroom. She moved onto the school-wide contest and won 3rd place out of 400 kids! WOOT!

Then she won a poetry contest at school! And she won artist of the month AND she was one of 3 kids in her school (3rd-5th grades) asked to enter an essay contest about how she hopes to change Florida's future. She wrote an awesome essay about how she hopes to bring art to the masses.

The school called me one day last week, MU "blacked out" and school, was dizzy and collapsed on the stairs. I picked her up and took her to our new ped (whom I have yet to be impressed by) and he referred her to a nuero because of the way her eyes dilated (he thinks she possibly had a small seizure) and to the cardiologist because there is a "click" in her heart. She had all the bloodwork done and goes to the neuro June 4, the ped June 11 and the cardio sometime after that. Until then she gets out of PE until the rest of the year, which she doesn't mind one little bit. She doesn't get to participate in field day, but she's going to sit in the art room and draw/watch movies all day, so she's happy.

Next year she will start attending the charter school MDRE attends. I figured that while I'm happy with the elem school I'd rather switch her for 5th grade then have to switch her for 6th and maybe be put on a waiting list and have to spend a few months at the local middle school...ain't gonna happen. As she's a "sibling" of a current student she doesn't have to wait on the waiting list this year.

Tornado - just turned 6. She's been doing great at school, acing her "classes" and gifted program. She's one smart little cookie, maxing out these things called dibels and whatnot. She's excited for her Kindy graduation on the 29th, they're singing a Florida alphabet song (A is for alligator, b is for boat, etc). Cute! I can't go because Target expects me to show up once in a while, so my parents are going in my stead and videotaping it for me.

Tornado will be going to the charter next year too, she's excited about that and already has some friends there.

Poor Tornado had a tooth pulled two days ago. She had 3 large cavities, all of which had been filled previously but the fillings rotted away (for real?) Anyhow, she had this one pulled cuz it was infected. The other two will be filled and a spacer put in next next month. She did really well but I kept her home from school yesterday anyhow.

Train - Is such a sweetheart. He's so...boy. It's different. He won't be going to preK next year because our locally zoned school is only accepting 24 kids next year and only those who are low income. I think we're low income, but they don't ;) It doesn't bother me, considering he still screams every time I leave him with the babysitter, and he's been with her since November. FTR he does not scream when daddy drops him off.

Mister Giggles - could be nicknamed Train now, except he's still tiny. Having had experience with several two year olds before him, I now know why it's referred to as terrible twos. We have every door locked and chain-latched 24-7 and he can still figure a way out of the house. He refuses to eat for anyone but the babysitter, he screams, he throws tantrums, he gets on his bike and runs away...aye. He's also talking quite a bit (when he wants to) and we can understand what he says. The babysitter says "he may not be much of a talker, but he's a thinker and I think that's more dangerous." Uh, yup.

Everything else is status quo. I spent the morning cleaning my children's bathroom, which is the master BR, and it rivaled the worst gas stations. It was GROSS. I did their toy room too, now moving onto their bedroom.

Oh, did I mention I am on vacation from work this week? I arranged for the sitter to keep the boys Mon-Thurs so I could get work done. YEAH RIGHT. Today is Tahursday and the first day I haven't had to run someone to the doctor, the dentist, take forgotten things to school, argue with the bank and whatnot. Fun.

Here are some pics & MU's art essay! Enjoy!

MU's Essay:
Florida is a wonderful place to live because it is so culturally diverse. Every culture has a unique view of life. One way people can show their heritage and beliefs is through creating art of many types.
In my future I see myself volunteering at and creating community art centers. Bringing art to local communities will help people get to know their neighbors, get people to share their heritage and it will help people become involved in their community.
Community art projects, like murals, make neighborhoods better and give citizens pride because they can say “I helped make this a better place to live.” Participating in art lessons and projects, and being able to relate to their own and other cultures will increase self-esteem and acceptance of others. Violence and crime may decrease because of the education and pride citizens will gain by being involved.
Being involved in art helps develop creativity, relieve stress, allows feelings to be expressed and may create income for people and communities. I would like to bring art lessons, projects and a mobile museum to places like community centers, hospitals, libraries, senior centers, animal shelters and schools. I would raise money to donate art supplies to those who can’t afford them. I would also travel to people to show them the art created in the program and share the joy, encouragement and inspiration of art.
Having connected communities, involved citizens, a creative way to express feelings, a possible source of income and a way to fill spare time will greatly benefit the communities of Florida.
Florida is a playground of many cultures, let’s make it a playground of art!

The One Where Meg Goes All Steve Irwin

2009-03-22T17:39:00.006-04:00

Attention: Do not adjust your telephoto lens.

Wanna know why?

Cuz this big boy (girl?) was actually that close.

So yesterday we were minus two kids. Miss Death Ray Eyes was with a friend and Miss Universe enjoying Disney with my parents. We packed up Tornado, Train and Mister Giggles and headed out to Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge.

We saw one lousy alligator, a pretty big one at 8ish feet, but that was it. Bummer.

As we were making a right out of the park I saw this sucker. "JESUS! DEAR JESUS!" I'm yelling at the top of my lungs as I fumbled for the camera (BTW, we finally bought a new camera, a wicked cool 10 megapixel something or other). I knocked the camera to the floor but Jason, being the dexterous man he is, was able to catch a pic. I scared Big Bertha here away, he/she actually made a run for it when I was yelling. ;) It really was comical, you had to be there.

So, what would you do if you saw this sucker just 3 feet from your van?

Naturally you'd yell "THIS IS MY STEVE IRWIN MOMENT!" and jump out of the van.

No?

Well, that's exactly what Jason did. ?!?! The alligator, thankfully, moved faster than Jason and hit the water before Jason was able to jump on his back and wrastle him into submission (yeah....riiiiiight)

I mean...wrastle yerself a gator and it's your business. Track mud into my van and it becomes MY business and mama don't like that!

What to do when...

2009-02-28T18:05:00.002-05:00

Your 2 yr old son gets a handful of what could either be birth control pills or trazodone and he swallows them...

1. freak out
2. look up the number for poison control
3. call poison control
4. kick yourself for not remembering the number for poison control (BTW, it's 800-222-1222....duh)
5. Find out if it ws the bc pills he'll be fine
6. find out that if it was traz he'll probably be fine
7. kick yourself for not tossing the pills 6 months ago since you don't use them (and no, don't even GO there on either account, way TMI, TYVM)
8. Kick yourself for keeping your pills in one of those daily dose container things, even if they were hidden in your top drawer
9. Call your husband and demand he bring home a chain lock
10. Tell your kids to stop bragging about peeing in the bathtub (and giggling over it)
11. Listen to husband's talk about how we don't need a chain lock, we just need to not put the pills where any kid can get them
12. Beer yourself
13. Call it a night

Dangit

2009-02-25T16:48:00.002-05:00

What a freaking day.

First, did I tell you all I GOT the new job & promotion? Well, I did. I've been at the new store for a bit over a month, our soft opening is 5pm on the 3rd. It's been nutty but fun...as fun as work can be. My boss was not too happy about the following...the 3rd time in 3 wks I've had to pick up a sick kid:

Today I got to leave work early to take Miss Tornado to the ER. She smacked her head on a table at school and she had a teeny cut. The nurse wouldn't send her back to class until I saw it, and if I didnt come and see it she was sending her right to the ER. Way to let the school dictate medical care, note that it wasn't bad enough to call 911 from the start.

So anyhow....I went to the school and the cut was so minor BUT the nurse said she had to get a doctor's note to let her go back to class. Probably a liability thing, but still...nice....

I called the ped and he said he'll look but he won't suture or glue the eye area because of scarring issues, so save a trip and just go to the er where a plastic surgeon can look at it.

By the time we were finally seen at the ER (which is tiny and overrun by people with the flu, mind you) the damn thing had healed up nicely. They smeared a teeeeny bit of glue on it to satisfy the school, wrote me a note to give the nurse and sent us on our way.

AND THEN...I finally get around to checking my "work" (from home) email. A week or so ago I emailed my editor about my book, it was kind of in limbo for a while and they were thinking about nixing it because of the whole sending my kids to school thing (which I get, I don't like, but I get). Last I heard it was on but I didnt hear again from them for months. So I send them an email about some little things and I get a response saying that the publisher sold the company to another company and all books in the queue were scrapped except the ones already in the process of being printed. NICE. How about picking up a dang phone and CALLLLLING me? Or maybe even an email? (I checked, there wasn't one!) I was told to feel free to submit it elsewhere, but what's the freaking point now? I wrote the dang thing 3 years ago and it's already outdated.

But anyhow.

Beer me.

Later.

Oh I feel like i was hit by a semi

2009-01-09T06:16:00.003-05:00

I woke up this morning and felt AWFUL. But, more on that in a bit...stay tuned.

So yesterday I had my promotion/transfer interview. It went ok. I ran into some of the ppl in my dept applying for the same job, AWKWARD but ok since they are really nice people. I figure none of us will get it and we'll all go back to happily slinging salami as usual.

On the way back I get a call from the school that Miss Death Ray Eyes is having a "moment". I asked guidance to remove her from class and that I'd be right there. I hung up and said to myself "Meg, screw this."

I passed the middle school and drove straight to a small charter school on the next block. I walked in and asked if they had a spot in 6th grade and if they had a spot on the bus that comes to our neighborhood. They had both open. I hugged the enrollment lady, honestly, I was so relieved.

I drove around the corner and withdrew MDRE from her school. She is starting the new school today. There are 700 kids in the 6th grade class where she was going, there are 40 at the new school.

That only begins the improvements, I won't list out the rest, they're kind of dull unless you're sitting here looking at your kid crying.

TURNS OUT...the girl and her little gang that have been giving Cate trouble since the say we moved into this neighborhood (all because she befriended one of this girl's friends and the girl came to a sleepover at my house instead of hers, stupid girls!!!)....anyhow, turns out this girl had her friend text a bunch of kids in their classroom (they share the same "team" of 40 6th graders) and say that MDRE was sleeping with another girl in their class. This other girl became very upset and told the teacher, screamed at MDRE in front of the class. The teacher confiscated a phone and saw the message and that it was sent out to 33 people. The teacher reported it to the principal and also reported that MDRE had been crying all day and was being teased relentlessly at lunch and during PE and that she has nasty words writting on her locker and guess what he did...

Nothing.

He didn't even take the girl's cell phone away from her for a day.

Nothing.

*********************************
Screw that. When I was waiting for her and the counselor to clean out her lockers and say goodbye to her teachers one guidance secretary said to the other "ANOTHER TRANSFER?" I asked what she meant by another and she said they've had a rash of local transfers lately, 20 kids have left THIS WEEK alone.

Uh, well, did you ever think to ask yourself WHY??

I checked MDRE out for the day and took her to the new school for a tour. A world of difference. I could see MDRE's tension fading away. She met her teachers, a few kids in her team, saw her classroom (which isn't a stinky trailer with no air conditioning),a nd even ran into my neiece who is in 4th grade there.

She was in such a good mood after that. She came home, took all of her papers and her agenda from the middle school and tore them up, LOL.

**********************************************

and then we were hit by a semi.

Before I continue, the kids are FINE. I'm fine.

No, really. The beastmobile was sideswiped by a semi that ran a red light as I was turning on a green. It would have been ok had he not decided to change into the turn lane I was turning into.

The semi didnt even stop, the officer said sometimes when this happens they don't even know they hit anything.

The kids were freaked out, MDRE hit her head and the Tornado began to vomit immedidately. The paramedics came and determined MDRE was ok, would just get a bruise on her head. Tornado was also fine, just puking because she was upset and had just eaten. We had everyone checked out and we're all sore, but ok.

And you can't kill the beastmobile. My van looks like it was run over, truck tire tread and dents all over the driver side, but the only real damage is a creamated side mirror.

O.M.G.

If I had been a second earlier the cab would have hit us, not the trailer. The cab would have torn my van in two and killed at least 3 of the 6 of us in the van (Miss Universe was driving with Jason in the car a few miles ahead of us). The cab would have hit Mister Giggles dead-on.

I was hit by a semi and lived to tell about it. Yeah, I know it sounds dramatic but so much more interesting.

Tornado took the Mickey doll the officer gave her to school today. She took it to bed with her last night. She even took it in the bathtub with her last night. She said "I can't wait to tell my teacher that I saw a great big white truck hit us!!!"

nice....

I go for comfort

2009-01-08T09:02:00.002-05:00

I have an interview for a promotion at a new store today. I got dressed after I dressed the kids for school/babysitter and as I was primping in the bathroom Train (4) walked in and said:

"Mommy, you look silly. Do you have your jammies on underneath those fancy clothes?"

Easy ways NOT to get hried by moi

2009-01-07T16:06:00.003-05:00

WE put up an ad for a babysitter. We've had nothing but trouble since the day we hired one a few months ago...like having pot on her person while at my house, letting the kids leave the house for hours and listening to her ipod all night instead of feeding the kids. Almost makes working not worth it.

Anyhoo, the ad reads:

******************************

We're looking for a PT babysitter to come to our home in the ***** area to work approx. 3 days early morning & afternoon and 1 afternoon to early evening, and an occassional evening. The days will vary slightly week-to-week but the schedule will mostly be set and you'll always have at least 1 weekday and weekends off.

Responsibilities will include ensuring 3 kids walk to the bus stop on time, watching two kids during the day (ages 2 and 4), and occassionally meeting the kids at the bus stop and helping the kids tidy up (no cleaning, just picking up their toys with them, etc), and preparing meals (all food provided).

Mothers are welcome to bring their children with them, older teens who demonstrate responsibility in handling multiple children also welcome.

CPR training a bonus (we have 3 community pools).

*you must be willing to consent to a background check*

We have two dogs and a cat, they can stay on the porch or in a bedroom during the day if that is a problem. Pet responsibilities not required.

If you are interested we'd love to hear from you and talk about scheduling a two-week trial period to see if the situation is working out for everyone.

Call Meg & Jason at ***** if you're interested. Please be ready to provide a reference.

Thanks!
***********************

Ok, so how difficult is that? I thought I spelled things out.

How NOT to get a job babysitting my kids (all, sadly, real conversations/emails)

-Call me from a location an hour away and demand $25 an hour to compensate for gas money

-Call me and insist we talk NOW even though I said I was busy cleaning up dog vomit and changing a bursting poopy diaper and that I would call you back in 5 minutes. Why did I even answer the phone?

-Tell me you adopt dogs off craigslist and turn around and sell them for a profit (really?)

-Call me over and over and over and over and over....5 times in 3 minutes is a bit extreme

-Tell me you're a 17 yr old male who just lost his job and was kicked out of high school

-Ignore the "Call Meg & Jason" thing and email me. I check my email what, like once every three months?

Let's say I am feeling generous and open the emails anyhow.

-Tell me you're anywhere under the age of 16

-Tell me you'll watch some of the kids but not all of them, ever

-Reply in Spanish

-Tell me you've never babysat before but you're good with dogs

-Tell me you can't work DAYS (read the ad again!)

-Ask me if you can leave my 4 and 2 yr olds at home while you walk yourself and your own kids to the bus stop to pick up my older kids. SERIOUSLY!!!!

We actually have a perfect sitter right now, she lives 4 doors down and doesn't put up with crap from the kids and they LOVE her. She has two kids who are best friends with Miss Universe and Tornado...but she can't do Mondays. I have to work Mondays, not optional right now.

Wish me luck and sanity. Maybe I'll just quit slinging salami and stay at home again, but then you'd all be sending me copious amounts of leftover RXes, so maybe I should just keep working.

Since the World Hasn't Stopped!!!

2008-12-29T14:24:00.003-05:00

PICS! I HAVE PICS!
They aren't new, but they are pics!

Since I spoke with you last a few things have happened.

1. Mister Giggles turned TWO! See the boot cake? Yeah, I sooooo made that.

Giggles still isn't talking, except the occassional mimicking of "nite nite" or "dada". He is signing a bit, not as much as I'd like. He certainly knows what he means, however. He was signing milk and when I didn't get up fast enough to get it for him, he opened the fridge and managed to drag a full gallon of moo juice into the living room. He's also quite efficient at pointing, grunting and screaming to let you know what he wants at that particular moment.

We have insurance now so we're going to hop on speech therapy eventually. I keep saying "after the holidays" but somehow the holidays managed to sneak by without my noticing.

It's hard to believe the kid spent a year in physical therapy, I think perchance it worked TOO well??? He can escape locked doors, high chairs, cribs and probably a locked Houdini chest 50 feet underwater whilst handcuffed behind his back. I had to leave very specific directions with the new babysitter "He WILL walk out the door, even when you think it's locked, always chain the doors!"

2. Jason secured a REAL job with Publix HQ in Lakeland, FL, about 40 minutes south of here. YAY! Today was his first day, hoo-rah.

3. I'm still working, a lot. I've learned a few things working in the deli.
-Like it takes A LOT of salami to equal one pound.
-Sharps knives cut much more effectively than dull, especially when they are cutting through human flesh. Get the stitches the first day, if you wait longer hoping it'll stop bleeding they can't stitch it back together and it ends up being much more of a mess.
-I have to pee more than anyone I work with (my boss is 23...eesh)

4. The Train turned FOUR!!!! FOUR!!!! That's 1, 2, 3...4!

5. School. aye. For Tornado and Miss Universe it's going well. For Miss Death Ray Eyes it's been, interesting. Jason and I have spent HOURS at her school, on more than one occassion, trying to sort things out. The principal makes us promises he doesn't keep. It's getting RIDICULOUS. She's also failing math, miserably. We tried to get her into the intensive math program BUT since we weren't in FL last year she didn't take the FCAT, thus she didn't fail it and you cannot get into intensive math without failing the FCAT the year prior. Apparently there are several kids in the same boat in her class. It's frustrating to us, MDRE and her teacher, we all know she needs the slower class but there is nothing the school can do. I even begged the school district since we moved from another state, but no go. SOOO, she has to fail the FCAT this spring and wait until next year to get into intensive math. What sense does that make?? "Sorry, but you have to fail to get help...we can't give you help to prevent you from failing." Screwed up, that's what THAT is.

We actually have her on the waiting lists at two semi-local charter schools, we just have to wait for an opening and hope they can add her to the schoolbus schedule. I'm still holding out on the hope we can bring her back home, but I don't see it happening. If nothing else, I have learned A LOT of how to teach my kids from their brief exposure to public school. A LOT. I woulda/shoulda/coulda changed a lot of things in years past. That being said, the schools and I still have different priorities and ideas about how/when/what to learn. Oh well, I can say this...school has gotten MDRE to enjoy reading, A LOT. She's been reading like a fiend and for that, I am thankful.

My parents have been helping out with babysitting on the weekends and took the kids to Cypress Gardens a lot before they closed down. Here are some pics.

October, 2008

2008-10-26T20:33:00.003-04:00

Yesterday we celebrated Mister Giggle's 2nd birthday. Wow, it's really hard to believe he's two! That's like potty-trainable.

I didnt take may pics, my camera has been dropped one too many times, but I managed a few. I'll get some from my mom soon.

All-in-all the worst month in the history of the universe has gone ok and since it's mostly gone I'm feeling alright. Tomorrow is my "double whammy day", I don't have to work so maybe I'll keep myself so busy dredging out the house I'll be able to keep my mind off things. Maybe, just maybe, my warped sense of humor will return...nah, probably not, frying chicken and slicing salami all day tends to take the life out of you.

Here are some pics, mostly taken by a relative a few weeks ago to tide you over.

Angel Babies, I miss you.

2008-10-13T20:10:00.003-04:00

Hokey Smokes, I'm here

2008-10-12T15:50:00.002-04:00

Wowza, guess who FINALLY got the internet hooked up?

Let's see, where were we the last time we talked?
I was probably still living with my in-laws ;) Well, that lasted a few weeks (thankfully, on all accounts!) and we managed to find our own place in July. It may not be as big as we're used to, but it's ours!!

Holy cow, oh the changes. I don't even know if I should mention them, there are too many.

1. I finally conceeded to having Mister Giggle's hair cut. Leigha$$, I'm sure you're thrilled, I'll take that bacon now. He doesn't look like a baby anymore. Jason and his parents waited until I was working late and lopped it all off :( I came home and my baby was a little man.

2. Speaking of the little man, he's going to be 2 at the end of the month. TWO. Wow. He's doing well, still not talking but he's signing up a storm.

3. I'm working...as in a real, paying, outside of the home job. It's a different world out there people. I've been spoiled with being an at-home mom the last 11 years. I actually do enjoy my job most days, I don't enjoy GOING there but once I'm there it's ok and the people I work with are super cool (mostly).

4. The biggest change - the kids are in school. Well, not all of them, but the 3 girls are. I'm still a bit heart-broken, but we didn't have a choice (well, we always have a choice but let's just say that *I* was given no choice except to accept or lose my marriage and face a custody battle...aye. I'm still bitter.) Miss Death Ray Eyes is in 6th, Miss Universe in 4th and Tornado in K5. MDRE and MU have had quite the adjustment period, but it's gotten considerably better the last 2 weeks or so....that is until MDRE was almost suspended from school for stealing something she didn't steal. I had my first experience dealing with an inept middle school principal and worn-out, frazzled teachers and I'm NOT impressed.

MU and Tornado, however, are in elementary school and I'm more impressed, especially with Tornado's class. I've been volunteering in Tornado's class when I can, I'm helping her room make their own book and have them published. The kids are so cute and sweet.

Miss Universe was honored as Terrific Kid of the Week in her class last week and now I have a corny new bumper sticker to put over my "unsocialized homeschool kids" sticker.

Speaking of socialization, yeah...well, I can now say from experience that school socialization is not something I ever want my kids exposed to. Nasty, mean little squirts whose only concerns are not being blamed for the crap they do and blaming it on everyone else, or being so bored they resort to teasing, bullying and physcially harming the other kids.

My oldest was in school not two weeks when she was physcially assaulted because she said no to a boy who asked her out. She's TWELVE, she's not dating or "going with" anyone (her decision, not mine, but I do agree with it!)

You don't even want to know what I did when the elementary school staff refused to let me walk my kids to their classrooms the 2nd day of school. See, we had one day, then two days off for a hurricane, then a 3rd day, then the next day off again due to hurricane. So, the fourth day of school was really the 2nd and I had a very confused kindy kid who didn't remember where to go. The school refused to let me in the doors and called her teacher to come get her. In the midst of my confusion and hurt I actually said "Wow, it's almost like you think the kids belong to you, I'm the one who pushed them out!" or something that I'm sure was much snappier when I said it. I'm not a confrontational person but I guess I'm learning to be.

Anyhow, enough of the horrors of public education and how miserable it is. The truth is, I miss my kids. I miss them a lot, and they miss me (well, they SAY they do!) The first two months of school for them and work for me were very difficult, they were totally out-of-control from going between dad (at home during day) to school to babysitter, to me when I finally get home from work. It's not be ideal, it's been very difficult on ALL of us, but we're making it work.

Things have calmed down, the kids are in a routine and I changed my schedule so while I work less hours I can be home when the kids get home from school. It'll be a good change for all of us.

I actually have 2 hours alone right now, Jason is at work and my in-laws took the kids to a birthday party. I could waste it here, I could waste it catching up on the 12000 emails in my inbox from the last 5 months or I could try to clean. I'm opting for cleaning, or at least putting things away. I actually took off a week later this month so I can spend it cleaning and purging, and we've only been in this house 3 months!

Later all, let's catch up!!!

meg

It's the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse...

2008-06-09T15:21:00.002-04:00

Reaching out to you from the suburbs of Disney World.

We are now all in Florida, in one piece for the most part.

We weren't scheduled to leave until the 28th or something like that but we changed schedules because my dear old dad had a heart attack (something he denies, but still...DADS!)

I left stupid GA with things #2-5, a cat, a fish and a lizard on May 22 and made the trip in one day. Jason arrived a few days later with thing #1 and the dogs.

We are currently ~~mooching off of~~ temporarily living with Jason's parents until he finds a job. So far, nuttin.

I found a job though. I'm now a hard salami slinging deli/bakery person at target. Yee haw.

I'll update ya'll later as I can.

Holy Crud It's May (lots of pics!)

2008-05-12T15:15:00.010-04:00

I've been enjoying my online non-existance for the most part. That doesn't mean I've actually gotten more work done, mostly I've been dealing with the fun stuff like going crazy, trying to keep husband from going crazy, etc. It's been interesting. I did manage to get the first run-through edit of the book done, now I have to add some content to it. I have interviews to add, but it's been tough trying to find time when Jason's been job-searching 24/7 and we're sharing a computer cuz I can't afford to get the other laptop fixed :P

We had a birthday last month! Miss Tornado turned the big FIVE! It's hard to believe, 5 years ago she came into this world. She was born in the caul during a very nasty evening thunderstorm and she was so stubborn she decided not to breathe and be born blue, scaring the heck out of me and the midwife. No noise did she mutter for a full 14 hours after her birth. We should have known then ;)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABY!

For some reason she wanted a Finding Nemo cake. I must say, I'm damned surprised, she usually wants princess cakes. Nemo is easy enough though, I made a bowl cake and stuck some nemo gummies on it and cut up some yogo strips for kelp. Actually, she did most of the decorating.

Other than that, we've been packing a lot (not that much, just packing what I can at this point). We're moving memorial day weekend. We still don't know the exact arrangements for when we get to FL but it'll work itself out. Jason has an interview out at Disney next week so will be doing a turn-around trip down there.

See these jammie pants? yeah, I made them :D I made a pair for each of the kids and some other random easy-to-sew stuff they didn't need, neck pillows and, uh...Mister Chuckle Bunny.

Jason signed up for a volunteer gig at the GA Aquarium, a bonus is free tickets for family. So, here we all are..Mrs. These Shorts Seemed Like A Good Idea at the Time (that's me) is hiding in the back holding MIster Giggles (who was wearing his whale Gymbo outfit, how appropriate!), and from left to right we have Miss Death Ray Eyes, Train, Miss Universe & Tornado.

I'm not sure when I'll be online again or when I'll be able to post regularly again, hope these pics will tide ya over :D I'll be back with some stunning content, promise!!

How about 'dem....um, apples?

2008-04-15T07:49:00.002-04:00

Bobbing for Bratz??

I reached for an apple and had to take a pic.

Lots of news to share! I don't even know where to start.

Jason was laid off yesterday. He got the heads up Thursday on his way out of work, at least it wasn't a surprise this time. Thursday night we decided to sell off everything we have here and move to Orlando, the less we have to move the better since we both hate carrying things ;))

The company was very generous with a severance package and insurance, so we're good to move and start again...again.

So, we're going back home to Orlando after freezing our butts off in beautiful northwest Georgia for 2 years.

Rough plans have us leaving GA May 28, but that's not set in stone, we have a lot to wrap up before then.

Movie Mayhem Answers

2008-04-03T08:59:00.002-04:00

Cookies will be arriving soon :)
Nessa is the only one who actually answered in the comments, the others came via email.

The challenge was to name the movie the quotes came from. All are from 10 of my favorite movies.

Here are the answers:
1. "I can't control my destiny...I trust my soul, my only goal is to just be."
-Rent

2. "I'm very pleased and scared to be here."
-Hairspray 2007 (I adore this remake but I am still loyal to the 1988 movie)

3. "...don't be jealous that I've been chatting online with babes all day. Besides, we both know that I'm training to be a cage fighter."
-Napoleon Dynamite

4. "Have you any last words before I dispatch you?"
-Enchanted

5. "Oh, listen girlie! I always talk to myself... you see, I'm my own grandmother and I have to keep the old girl ticking!"
-Swing Time

6. "I don't pretend to be a man of the people. But I do try to be a man for the people."
-Gladiator

7. "It is an honor to die at your side. ... It is an honor to have lived at yours."
-300

8. "Be rary of wousing a rizard's wrath - rousing a rizard's - Be wary of making a magician angry!"
-The Last Unicorn

9. "Anyway, my mum always said things we lose have a way of coming back to us in the end. If not always in the way we expect."
-Harry Potter 5

10. "Do you have monkeys in Scotland? ... No, but if we did we'd probably deep fry them!"
-The Last King of Scotland

Meg-a Movie Mayhem

2008-04-01T09:13:00.004-04:00

First...HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOMMA!!

Second...I don't do April Fools because I'm gullible and because it's my mom's bday and I'd rather celebrate that.

So, instead we're playing Meg's Mega Movie Mayhem.

Want to win a cookie? Leave you answers in the comments section with your blog/website addy if you have one. Give me a few days and I'll check the answers, visit you and hand out the cookies :) Not a bad internet cookie, a GOOD cookie!

Feel free to use google, all's fair in movies and cookies.

Theme: Meg's Favorite Movies
Name the movies the following quotes/lyrics are from:

1. "I can't control my destiny...I trust my soul, my only goal is to just be."

2. "I'm very pleased and scared to be here."

3. "...don't be jealous that I've been chatting online with babes all day. Besides, we both know that I'm training to be a cage fighter."

4. "Have you any last words before I dispatch you?"

5. "Oh, listen girlie! I always talk to myself... you see, I'm my own grandmother and I have to keep the old girl ticking!"

6. "I don't pretend to be a man of the people. But I do try to be a man for the people."

7. "It is an honor to die at your side. ... It is an honor to have lived at yours."

8. "Be rary of wousing a rizard's wrath - rousing a rizard's - Be wary of making a magician angry!"

9. "Anyway, my mum always said things we lose have a way of coming back to us in the end. If not always in the way we expect."

10. "Do you have monkeys in Scotland? ... No, but if we did we'd probably deep fry them!"

There ya go, good luck!
Don't forget to leave your answers in comments with your blog/site addy. It's ok if you don't know them all!

Thanks!
Meg

Meg the....farmer?

2008-03-31T07:11:00.004-04:00

Let me tell you why "Meg the farmer" is soooo inaccurate.

1. While Meg doesn't mind being outdoors on vacation or hiking or something similar, in general Meg does not like to be outdoors

2. Meg has horrible allergies to grass, pollen, weeds, pollen, trees, pollen, hence #1. This is the time of year everyone starts mowing their lawn and lemme tell ya, one face mask isn't enough for me.

3. Meg does NOT like to be dirty, sweaty or worse yet, dirty & sweaty

4. Meg does NOT like physical labor

With all of that said, Meg did a full half of the work of putting in a garden this year.

I'd show you pictures, but uh...I can't find the USB cord. Yeah it's a pain BUT it's lasted 2 years without becoming lost, so I'm actually proud of myself :D It kinda sucks though, for once I have the camera, the batteries are charged (I finally broke down and bought recharagble, thus far 4 of the 8 batteries are lost, *SIGH*)...and no USB cord.

Ah well, it's around here somewhere. I did a LOT of spring cleaning and sorting out last week as Jason was in NYC, and a lot of it ended up on the kitchen counter and table waiting to be thrown out, picked up or dropped off somewhere. See, our home inspection is coming up fast, it's on April 8, and "housekeeping" is one of the things they are inspecting *SIGH*

Anyhow, back to the garden..

We dug up a plot of land that's about 15' long and 8' wide. It's not huge and is smaller that what we had in FL but it's the first real garden we've had in years.

We broke the land on Saturday, Jason using a pick-ax thingy and me using a rake and good old fashioned hard work. It was cold this weekend so there was no sweat :D Did I ever mention how disgusting georgia soil is? It's clay and dirt mixed together, the color of I don't know what and feels like dog crap. And rocks, oh my goodness the rocks. ANYHOW...we ended up at Home Depot buying a garden rake, some long shears for the tree roots and a hoe. We looked at tillers but they ain't cheap!

We got it all sorted out and Sunday went back to work and I said "oh just go rent the tiller", so Jason took off for home depot as I showered and snoozed on the couch with Mister Giggles (he has not been feeling well and running fevers, poor wittle munchkin!)

It took Jason about 2 hours to till the garden ($31 to rent, not terrible, we'd have to rent one for 7 years at that price to pay for a tiller). We then went through to remove the last of the rocks and roots, even everything out and we were good to go!

I was really impressed at the amount of worms in the soil, and in this case (but very few others) worms are good. In FL we'd have to lay newspaper down for weeks after turning the soil to encourage worms to visit.

The produce!

Last year we grew cherry tomatoes, peppers of many varieties, herbs and beans in our front yard, in the "landscaped area". The herbs are still going strong so we didn't buy so many this year.

In the front area we have chives, spearmint and a raspberry bush that are new. We have HUGE bushes of lavendar, oregano and rosemary that just won't stop from last year.

In the new garden we have:

a bunch of sweet pea plants (these were Tornados from last year, we saved seeds and for some reason Jason had them in his toolbox, the box got wet and they started growing in the box. Our lawn guy mowed down half of them for some unknown reason, so we moved them to a tree by the garden with rocks around them)

9 georgia collard plants (greenhouse started)

40 stalks of corn (seeded)

25-30 radish plants (seeded)

2 poblano plants (started)

9 bell pepper varieties (started)

1 sweet 100 tomato plant (started)

10 tomato of mystery origin (we have to seed those today, I cannot forget!!) - these were the tomatoes from Tomatosphere so they are school projects for the girls

a whole bunch of sweet mix salad greens (seeded)

a whole bunch of spicy mix salad greens (seeded)

*sigh* if only bacon grew on trees *sigh*

I think there is more but honestly my brain has gone mad. The train picked out marigolds and helped Jason plant them around the rows and Tornado picked out morning glories in addition to her peas.

I still plan on getting some started nasturtium and dianthus to go with the salad greens and flavor oil.

I will post pics as soon as I find that cord. I was actually up early this morning so I'm gonna squeeze in some work.

Proof!!!!

2008-03-20T11:59:00.003-04:00

Dear Neighbor,

This is PROOF that it's not my cat pooping in your yard. You know my cat is grey with a pink collar, you said so yourself. Wasn't I nice to pick up the poop anyhow??

Thanks for your concern and the passive-aggressive note you left in my mailbox instead of knocking on my door. Thanks also for screaming at my kids and their friend (passive-aggressively of course, not screaming directly at them, more like screaming in their direction). Do that again, I call the police.

Meg

Post #3 today

2008-03-19T15:27:00.007-04:00

Posts #1 & 2 are just before this one, scroll on down.

I have come to realize something.
I am still grieving and I am really bad at it.
I'm a wallower, I can't just pick myself up, dust myself off and start all over again.

I'm still grieving for the baby I lost this fall, which is turning into an all-over grief for my loss 6 years ago.

I mentioned this to my new doctor and she said nothing, didnt give it any creedance. She also rolled her eyes when I said I have 5 children. I won't tell you the look she gave me when I told her why I had 5 kids home all day. I wanted to see a female doctor but I'm seriously reconsidering, no male docs have ever given me grief for my family size or educational choices. Then again, lately my male docs have all be OBs and benefit financially when I have another kid...

but I digress.

In the song "I Grieve" by Peter Gabriel he sings:
"They say life carries on and on and on."

Who is/are "THEY"? Cuz they suck and I'd like to shout at them and throw things at their head.

Life is carrying on I suppose, MY life anyhow. I'm supposed to be having a baby in late May, but I'm not. The baby was a little girl, I just know it. But this is the baby I am never going to hold. I'm never going to sneak into her room to make sure she is still breathing. I'm never going to rock this child, dress her in tiny clothes, change her diapers and watch her grow. Jason is firmly against having more children, the thought of ending my childbearing years with a loss is heartbreaking.

How am I supposed to pick myself up, dust myself off and start all over again? Where is my Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers? Victor Moore? Helen Broderick?

Anyone?

I Grieve (by Peter Gabriel)
It was only one hour ago
It was all so different then
Nothing yet has really sunk in
Looks like it always did
This flesh and bone
It's just the way that we are tied in
Now there's no one home

I grieve for you
You leave me
'so hard to move on
Still loving what's gone
They say life carries on
Carries on and on and on and on

The news that truly shocks is the empty empty page
While the final rattle rocks it's empty empty cage
And I can't handle this

I grieve for you
You leave me
Let it out and move on
Missing what's gone
They say life carries on

They say life carries on and on and on

Life carries on in the people I meet
In everyone that's out on the street
In all the dogs and cats, in the flies and rats
In the rot and the rust, in the ashes and the dust
Life carries on and on and on and on
Life carries on and on and on

It's just the car that we ride in
A home we reside in
The face that we hide in
The way we are tied in
And life carries on and on and on and on
Life carries on and on and on

Did I dream this belief?
Or did I believe this dream?
Now I can find relief
I grieve

Post #2 today & Burn-out update

2008-03-19T11:36:00.011-04:00

Post #1 is directly before this one.

Post #2
My kids are dorks but I love 'em!

Mister Giggles eating an apple. Isn't he just the cutest ever??

And here we have the Tornado. If you look closely you can see me in the spoon, how artsy-fartsy is that? At least I wasnt naked.

And here we have Miss Death Ray Eyes NOT making death ray eyes, though I'm not sure what she was trying to accomplish or look like. A weasel, perhaps?

This would be the Train showing himself in a new light. In a new light...har har... GET IT? Isn't he looking a little bit too old?

I could't find a really recent pic of Miss Universe but here is a picture of the dear w/Miss Death Ray Eyes from Halloween 2001, she's in blue. Wow, life was so different then! We still lived in Orlando, in "luxury" apartments near the airport, we only had 2 kids (I had just lost angel baby). MU had just turned 3, MDRE was 5 and hadn't fully developed her death ray eyes.

BURN-OUT UPDATE
We took last week off. I took some time to prioritize and differentiate the most important subjects (grammar & math) from the subjects that are now secondary (reading, writing, science, art, social studies, etc.)as they are proficient in them at the moment. This doesn't mean we're neglecting the less important, it just means that for the next few weeks/months we're concentrating more on grammar and math and less on the others. When I feel their grasp on math and grammar has strengthened I'll reprioritize.

I also figured out a workable schedule of what to study on what day. They are doing grammar together (Simply Grammar, Charlotte Mason a la Karen Andreola) and working math seperately. The grammar also covers writing, how nifty is that? We do no more than 2 subjects a day and we're now alternating unit studies for social studies and science. Currently we're going a unit study on digestion once a week that I expect to wrap-up in the next 2 weeks.

So far this week, so good. We're keeping it light and fun and that helps.

The Battle of Kennesaw Mountain (by Miss Universe)

2008-03-19T11:13:00.003-04:00

Learn about the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain

14 Questions

2008-03-18T09:36:00.010-04:00

1. What do you feel when you see all the homeless on the street?

In July 2007 it was estimated that there were 744,000 homeless people in the streets and shelters of the United States.

Read Eight Ways to Truly Help The Homeless

2. What do you pray for at night before you go to sleep?

President Bush doesn't attend church. President & Mrs. Clinton went to church almost every week while he was in office and they continue to do so today.

3. What do you feel when you look in the mirror?

President Bush pardons himself and his administration from all accused and potential war crimes. Guilty conscious?

4. Are you proud?

5. How do you sleep while the rest of us cry?

According to The American Research Group President Bush's overall approval rating is 19% as of February, 2008

6. How do you dream when a mother has no chance to say goodbye?

There are over 1,000,000 dead Iraquis since the war started. Many of those are children, every single one was someone's child.

The official US body count is 29,395. This does not take MIAs, POWs and severe brain injuries into account.

7. How do you walk with your head held high?

8. Can you even look me in the eye and tell me why?

Some interesting Bush statements and counter-statements.

9. Were you a lonley boy?

President Bush has 3 brothers and 1 sister.

10. Are you a lonley boy?

President Bush has two children.

President Bush currently has one dog, a Scottish Terrier names Barney, a cat named Willy. In 2004 they had to put their Spaniel, Spotty, to sleep. Spotty was the offspring of Millie, his parent's famous dog.

11. How can you say no child is left behind? (We're not dumb and we're not blind, they're all sitting in your cells, while you pave the road to hell)

NCLB is the biggest educational faux pas in 150 years.

12. What kind of father would take his own daughter's rights away?

Read W's view on abortion here.

13. What kind of father might hate his own daughter if she were gay?

Dick Cheny's daughter and her female partner gave birth to a baby boy. He will be 1 soon.

14. Dear Mister President, you'd never take a walk with me, would you?

(questions from "Dear Mr. President" by Pink)

Something you never want to see...

2008-03-12T10:59:00.000-04:00

I was filling the dishwasher last night and as I pulled the top rack out the DW fell out of the counter...again. "Why?" you ask? I have preschoolers who find it fun to pull the screws holding it into the counter out. I moved the screwdrivers and they still find a way...I digress...

Miss Universe said "Hey mom, there are a whole bunch of screws in a bag in the cabinet, the bag says 'extra crib parts'".

EXTRA CRIB PARTS?

Now that can't be good.

That's my handwriting *sigh*

When we left Orlando I didn't bother setting the crib up here in stupid GA. Train was 17 months or so, I just set up the toddler bed for him. Ok, to be truthful, he slept in the porta-crib for a few weeks ;)

When Mister Giggles was born he slept in my bed for the first 5 months, then he slept in the porta-crib. When we moved to the new house he got his very own room but slept in the porta-crib. We didn't put the crib up until he was 9 months old and had just come home from the meningitis hospitalization. My parents were in town and it took dad & me at least an hour to put the thing together, I swear it's an IQ test and we failed ;)

Giggles was sleeping when I found the bag and as he's been in the crib for 7 months I figured it was safe enough for one more night. This morning found him jumping up and down as usual (I really have to video that, he hangs onto the side of the crib and jumps. Jason says he's going to go airborne one of these days.

Anyhow, I searched the crib and nothing is missing except the springs that make the side go up and down. Dad and I couldn't get that to work so we just left it stationary since I never used that feature anyhow.

I am still perplexed as to what the screws were for but they may be for my bedframe, though that's an awful lot of screws for a bedframe. My mattresses aren't on a bedframe anymore. See, I was 7 months pregnant with Mister Giggles and tossed myself down on my bed in exhaustion and heard a horrifying CRACK and the next thing I knew the mattress was half on the floor. I can honestly say that I broke my bedframe, wish there was a better story to go with it though ;)