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Friday, October 31, 2008

freaky friday














granny is in hospice, opening her eyes a bit but thats it. i havent visited yet.


garage "might" help us with our huge repair bill. "might". not fixed yet. yogi is using my SUV & getting rides to jobsights, so we are ok for now.




replaced cell phones last night, Yogi's didnt work at all & mine wont hold a charge-been 3 years since we got new ones, so we got 2 really cool slidey phones for free. LG shines? no idea what those words mean.





doug refuses to pack up his stuff even though he knows that if i pack it, it will all go far far away, never to be seen again. tough love, man.

here are some pics. not much else going on- THANK GOD.





Wednesday, October 29, 2008

more bad news

granny is ina coma and wont last
the mechanic(and i use that term loosely) couldnt figure out what was wrong with the truck after they fixed it yesterday, so we took it to the FORD dealership. FORD just called. the work the other garage did (cost almost 600$)broke the truck so badly it will cost another 1500.00 to fix. they are writing up a report with their findings but heres a list:
bolts were "floating around". 2 were not tight, the ones that fell off damaged the intake gasket. 3 different things/lines were "crushed, "crimped" and otherwise compromised. it was a complete disaster.
will the first garage cover the expenses without a huge fight? how do we proceed? how do we start? will we need to sue them? how am i gonna pay for the work that FORD needs to do? can we trust them any more than the first place? how can we roof houses without a truck?
can things get any worse?

well.... damn

Granny had a massive stroke last night, less than 2 weeks after leaving her assisted living facility and moving into a real nursing home. she was in perfect health other than her dementia and a few ovarian cysts, and just had a full work up done in september. you just never know.....my mom is devastated and she & her 2 siblings have many decisions to make today. My sister is real close to granny too, so i'm feeling bad for her. we cant drive there to say our goodbyes until they move her from ICU to another room, so we havent seen her yet. for some reason, i was closer to my Grandfather than i was to her. Jackson adored her, she was just his size and speed since he came here. he last saw her in january at a party they had at her place. no idea how many days she will hang on, but they are saying "days". i feel so bad for my Mom.
our truck is still messed up after 1550.00 in repairs. yogi has a roof to start tomorrow!
doug came to visit. has been sleeping all over town. yay. hes still attending school at this point, so im shutting up. i wish he'd take all his stuff.
the kitten left.
shawns top molars HURT.
i didnt sleep well last night.
i'm taking jack to find a halloween costume. he wants to be "scary".
phone keeps ringing!
be good!

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Lessons I've Learned Lately, by Ali-installment 2(1st installment see july 18th post)

1. roaches don't die. ever.
2. text messaging while making an illegal u turn is frowned upon by the police.
3. rinsing bad smelling chicken doesn't neccessarily make it safe.
4. when your spouse calls you from the grocery store, asking for help with choosing a hair color, answering "whatever you like, babe" might not be the way to go.
5. never store chocolate in your glove box.
6. in a house full of teenagers, it is dangerous to fall asleep on the couch. think permanant marker.
7. E.T is just as sad the 23rd time you watch.
8. E.T. merch is expensive on Ebay
9. never let a 3 year old carry the bag containing the lighbulbs and eggs.
10. if you can't find your keys, look in the fishtank.
11. if your credit card is missing, look in the fishtank.
12. toddlers love gum & fishtanks
13. when teenagers move out of the house, they still expect you to do their laundry and provide them with pizza.
14. the FCC doesnt really care.
15. just because it says "washable" doesnt mean it is.
16. canned chili isn't really chili.
17. to kids, "a few" is 20 or more.
18. colorful language is not welcome at the DMV.
19. toll takers give lousy directions just for fun.
20. if a hairdresser offers you an alcoholic drink before she starts cutting, she's got big plans for you.

Monday, October 27, 2008

PMS makes me mean & other tales

ok.. so.. whatever. mary poppins doesnt live here NO MO. she left. mommy dearest took her place last night lol. i am on edge, tired, achey, and irritated that "C" & Kayleigh stole all my Tampax! Luckily, kristin left me some inferior backups & i will head to the store momentarily. i decided that blogging my thoughts might put me in a better frame of mind so i dont yell at the sweet autistic kid who bags my groceries. i usually adore all my special baggers, & they dig me bigtime, im just afraid i may blow it today if i dont snap out of my mean-ass funk.
about 6 weeks ago Yogi's truck was fixed. cost us 1200.00$ now its broken again. estimate? 600.00$. its an 04. what the hell? we just dropped it off and are hoping the estimate stays where it is!
electrician is coming to fix our problem on saturday, but we will be without power for 5 hours or more. oh, well.

we didnt kick doug out. he left. i called him and told him i thought he made a hasty& rash decision, and gave him until 8pm to decide what he really wanted to do. all my kids know that once theyre out-theyre out. he called me at 630 telling me he would be coming home. great. what time???? I DONT KNOW. you dont know? you are grounded, tonight was the night that you desperately wanted to go out, and were upset when i said NO, THEN you were booted from school a FOURTH DAY. so now you are out with all your friends, getting EXACTLY what you wanted all along, and are telling me that once you have your fun tonight, THEN you will come home and start over???? um.... NO. come home NOW, face the punishment, give me the car keys back and deal with it. you cant have it both ways. he said OK, but then never showed up. kristin, who didnt know doug called me at 630, called her brother at 745 and said "its almost 8pm! get here or mom is locking up! youre an idiot!" to which he replied, "no, i dont want to come home, so i will face the consequences." so.. he literally moved out of his house in trade for ONE NIGHT OF FUN. why is is that 18 year old boys can only think with Mr. Big Man???(their penis). M.B.M. isnt gonna find you an apartment buddy! M.B.M. needs to take a vacation! he also needs to get a job.

On a MUCH happier note-jackson continues to flourish. you know how they say RAD kids really improve when they get to that point of being with you as long a they were with "them"? maybe its true! hes been with us over 5 years now, and has been in the states almost 5 years(nov. 5th) he was between 6 & 7 somewhere when we adopted him. so we are getting there. he is a happy guy right now, having his very best school year so far, his SPED teacher is an old friend of mine- i was a teaching assistant for 5 years way before he came home- and she is AWESOME. shout out to terri maki! he works hard for her. he also has a male teacher this year for regular classroom stuff and enjoys that. he also LOVES science. his attitude at home is wonderful and GET THIS ONE!!!!! 2 nights ago i was watching baseball and whining to yogi that it was cold in the living room. jackson went down the hall to kristins room and brought me back a blanket and covered me up!!!!! i was so blown away i almost cried. he said "this blanket is warm, MOM!" it was so cool. Yogi & i just kept looking at each other like WHOA. thats one for the books, folks. if only he'd curl up under the blanket with his old mom......eh, who cares?
OH! heres a cool thing. jackson was the #1 draft pick for basketball this year out of 314 kids. he got an amazing coach and his black friend and him are together, like we asked for. pretty fly huh??? gonna be a good year.

we are "babysitting" a 7 week old long haired kitten. i cannot wait for him to leave lol. the kids LOVE him and the kitten loves Yogi to pieces, but shawn keeps dumping the food, water & litter and im about to go out of my PMS affected mind. hes got to go! hopefully today. our adult cat, Pheobe, hates his guts too. the dog has been surprisingly gentle & kind to him.

ok, i will stop there. thanks for the ear. if youve called me & i havent called you back, its not you-its me. i get weird about the phone sometimes...... sorry. call you soon. love al

Sunday, October 26, 2008

no news is good news?

not so fast LOL
i am steadfast in my decision to not alow doug to slither his way back into our home & disrupt my mary poppins existance. its all about ME now!husband is a wuss. he is wavering in his TOUGH LOVE persona. must reel him in before he blows it! he worked all weekend. i cleaned and organized and plotted my evil plan to extract toddler son from his corner of my bedroom. it will happen. it must happen.

Saturday, October 25, 2008

nothing good

nothing good to talk about or report today. doug moved out, dont feel like typing the whole story but lets just say, long story short, he'd rather move out than be grounded or be without a vehicle. he went back to school after his 3 day suspension, and was kicked out again in the first half hour. thats how it all started. now hes asking to move back in, now that the fun he wanted to have last night is over. NO. whether hes going back to school, i have no idea. he doesn't turn 18 for 5 more weeks, so im not sure how this will all play out. all i know is-jackson wants his room, and shawn wants jacksons room!
kind of a crappy weekend so far. we've been cleaning out our storage room in the basement for days, no fun but im happy to report i found some things id been looking for. jackson went clothes shopping, we found all dougs size 14, 16 & 18 clothes i had saved way back when, size 8 1/2 work boots and 2 good winter coats in jacks size too! SCORE! hes thrilled. i also found another bag of clothes for shawn i had forgotten about. he is SET until age 4 or 5.
today Yogi worked and i cleaned. yay. tomorrow we may go back to the pumpkin patch with a camera and get jack a halloween costume.we may go visit some friends who just put a huge addition on their house. havent seen them in ages. that should be a good time.
geeze, i sound like crap! i will try to be funny tomorrow. OY.

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

31 things

1. Where is your cell phone? next to me-a rarity
2. Where is your significant other? in kristin's room studying for some test
3. Your hair color? blondish brown
4. Your mother? Gail
5. Your father? Doug
6.Your favorite thing? lemon cake lol
7. Your dream last night? Don't remember...
8. Your dream/goal? for all my kids to outlive me.
9. The room you're in? kitchen on laptop
10. Your hobby? photography, writing, scrabble, baseball.
11. Your fear? getting any fatter than this
12. Where do you want to be in six years? in a bigger house(add on to this one is fine) but would love a large log home with a (still)happy family.
13. Where were you last night? at Libby's house.
14. What you’re not? happy that the red sox are not playing in the world series tonight :(
15. One of your wish list items? season tickets.
16. Where you grew up? NH
17. The last thing you did? put babies to bed
18.. What are you wearing? jeans, Tevas, t shirt.
19. Your TV? ancient & not worth watching tonight. hhmmpphh!
20. Your pet? Dakotah(lab) pheobe(cat)
21. Your computer? HP laptop
22. Your mood? decent
23. Missing someone? for the rest of my life, yes.
24.Your car? 2005 ford expedition, white.
25. Something you’re not wearing? real shoes-ever
26. Favorite store? target
27. Your summer? mediocre at best
28. Love someone? love many people
29. Your favorite color? Red
30.When is the last time you laughed? 7 minutes ago- it doesn't take much.
31. Last time you cried? september 9th
i tag ERIN, KATIE & GALE

is it neccessarily a bad thing?





that i allow my son to live on ninnies, goldfish, applesauce and carrots doused in hot sauce? oh- we also encourage him to stand on chairs. the kid eats next to nothing-and not much of that. i push pediasure and hope he grows. i am only one woman!

kendyl looks so cute in this hat i had to snap her picture. she says she looks FLY.


Tuesday, October 21, 2008

my 2 little monsters





shawn is 15 months old today!

brain dump

you know how sometimes you wanna spill it all but have no idea where or how to begin? i am having a day like that. my sister called, she always makes me feel bettter with her "TO HELL WITH 'EM ALL!" attitude. yet, here is sit. staring at a blank slate wishing my play list worked while posting. the sound of my crappy, ancient dishwasher will have to suffice. oh-and jerry's noisy tractor mower.... and Doug grumbling to himself under his breath. yah... he's here. suspended. again. 3 days for shoving the kid who kicked his chair out from under him in woodshop class, causing him to hit the floor. nice huh? doug got up and shoved him causing a piece of equipment to fall over. Doug sees no fault on his part-the thing should have been bolted to the floor to prevent such accidents, afterall. @@. i am so done with teenagers! ready for them to find housing and see how well it goes living solo. good luck! last night i told doug & kayleigh they could invite a "few" friends over for cake & ice cream for kay's birthday. i went out & got a cake, balloons..... they invited 15 people. they all showed up. it went on until 10pm. they sucked helium and made noise. i rock. next morning, this is what i get. a slap in the face! whatever!
when will he exert some self control?????? funny how he held it together all summer at boot camp. hhmmm. husband says hes going back on his concerta and he doesnt care what the damn Army says about it. discharge him then! hes gotta graduate. hes now failing 4 classes-one being english where he had an A 2 weeks ago. he has no car keys, no vehicle, no friends & NO kayleigh. GO RAKE LEAVES! then he punched a dent in my fridge and screamed in his dad's face, after being yucked out last night for putting a hole in his bedroom wall yesterday! this KID!
ok.. vent over for now. back to your fun blogs. i need a drink! ok.. i need minute maid.

Monday, October 20, 2008

a few pics





had a little shindig for dougs girlfriend tonight






Sunday, October 19, 2008

good news/bad news

we had a great day today. Daddy was home and it was relaxed and fun. i wish some of the events that took place, took place in a better /more convenient order, but... i am happy they took place at all.

we went to a farm with a pumpkin patch today. it was fun, we brought C with us. she slept over after babysitting for us last night while i dragged Yogi to see The Secret Life Of Bees.(LOVED IT SO MUCH). anyway, the farm was fun, the kids petted goats, cows, sheep and held baby bunnies.
we walked through apple orchard, picked pumpkins, enjoyed the sunflower garden and gorgeous views(the town we went to was just peaking with foliage) beautiful views all over the place,great photo op... but no camera. then we went into the on- site store. mmmmm i found rasberries bigger than strawberries!!!!!!! bought lemon bread, cinnamon bread and pumpkin bread. shawn loved the wagon ride too. jackson chose not to speak or walk near us the entire time, i just ignored his annoying, attention seeking behavior and kept trying to engage him in the many activities taking place around him. if i acted that way at his basketball games, how would he feel? maybe i will try it. he wouldnt even pick out a pumpkin. his loss. we are carving tomorrow night.
then we went home and found my camera 2 hours later while cleaning up the table for dinner! that whole order-of-events thing. i almost cried when i found it, on the kitchen table under a pile of rubble. paper rubble. chocolate mold rubble. a place several people had searched several times over. whatever.
the bad news? the disk is broken and all the pics I've taken in the last 10 days or so do not exist. pressing leaves with wax paper, fall foliage in full bloom, daddy playing with play dough with the 3 youngest, doug in uniform all dressed up, kendyl in her halloween costume(Spiderman.. don't judge me!)...... UGH! but.. i had another disk and it works fine so its all good i guess. atleast we have a camera now!!!
i made chocolate lollipops for kendyls halloween party at school this Friday. came out so cute! & yes, she has chosen Spidey for a costume. weird kid. jack hasnt decided yet.
C & I are taking the kids back to the farm on wednesday if we can make the time. maybe i can get some pictures then.
doug smashed up a couple fingers while helping a kid fix his car at school this week. needed a trip to the ER to make sure they werent broken and thankfully, they are not. just smashed up & bloody. made for an interesting Army drill weekend though, and he flunked his PT test. hes thrilled(NOT). well, ive bored you long enough. hopefully will have something interesting to say later in the week.
GO RED SOX!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! game 7 starting in 10 minutes! i am nervous for them!

Saturday, October 18, 2008

lots to say!

hey guys! missed you all so much. Verizon came here to fix my telephone on the 9th and mistakenly detached my internet while i was away at a playdate. there was no hurry to repair it on their part and after speaking to Bippy, Boopy, Boppy and Habib at the phone company over the course of several days, it was finally fixed by a guy named John with sexy blue eyes on the 16th. that didnt hurt much. in the next days we were busy with basketball try outs & i came down with a nasty virus and puked every 25 minutes for 6 solid hours. i am just feeling up to doing anything thismorning. during my blogging break:

the kids colds are gone!

the water & ice maker in the fridge magically repaired it itself. i'll take it!

we spent lots of time outside, i did alot of walking and the pounds are starting to come off

jackson has been excellent, aside from not even noticing/acknowledging the new basketball shoes, court shorts and knee wrap i surprised him with. oh well. kids!
his appointmnet in Boston on wed. went great. he gained 2 lbs and an inch in ONE MONTH. his knee does not require surgery at this time, just more diligence with ice & motrin. more self awareness & self led help too, but i dont see that happenin' LOL this is a kid who comes home with 7 bee stings and merely says "i got stung thismorning at Joeys house" ($#@!^&*%#@!$&*+????????)

Yogi is having his usual fall roofing fest. phone wont stop ringing and the cash is rolling in. chu-ching!

granny is all camped out in her new nursing home, farther away but with a higher level of care than an assisted living facility.

my brand new camera is missing. bad missing. sad missing. i cried kinda missing. i took pics of kendyl pressing leaves between sheets of wax paper on like... monday or something. never saw the camera again. we think shawn threw it into the trash can along with Kayleighs flip-flop, his own busy car Robeez left shoe and my best spatula. the hunt continues, but ive accepted that its gone forever, so if i find it i will be thrilled. the bright side? while searching for the camera, i came across my Forrest Gump soundtrack, my Staind CD's, Dougs birth video(yuck) and my favorite paint brush. anyway, if the camera doesnt turn up by Halloween, i will have to buy a new one. so much for the pumpkin patch photos i planned to take this weekend. ken is going to a birthday party at a karate studio today, so much for those pics too. GGRR. i hate when i get in these patterens of losing things.

Jack slept over a neighbors house last night, was supposed to come home by 830 for medicine. its 10am now. i guess the next time he asks to sleep over, he will be told NO. he missed last nights meds too.

must bathe ken for birthday party!
how is everyone????

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Verizon Sucks!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hi guys...all 7 of you, hahaha... I lost Internet a week ago and Verizon doesn't care. I'm hoping to be back online by tomorrow night...suffering withdrawals, need therapy...love, Ali.

Great pictures to post when I get back online.

(posted by Ju)