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Friday, January 29, 2010

the arctic

yah, it's damn cold. 12* today OY. I'm supposed to be painting, remember? But then I realized the ceiling needed work first, so Yogi is over there preparing it today, i will start painting Monday and will likely be there all week. The weekend is too full with Jackson's all star basketball tournament and stuff...they won their first game last night 62 to 28! He looked amazing out there, scored 16 points.
Kris booked my tickets! I'm flying out of Boston at 630am(which means get up at like... 2!) on march 29th, come home the 1st of April-so 3 nights 4 days or so...It's HOT there, so that should be long enough. I'm excited!
Doug asked if he could move back in here until he leaves for whatever he's leaving for. i said ok. But I haven't heard from him in 2 days since, so I have no idea what is going on.
Bought some outdoor winter running clothes last night, let's see if I can get my nerve up to start getting used to the outdoor thing when it warms up on Wednesday... maybe. I bought a few things for indoors too- everything was too big! Yogi went shopping with me, just to be sweet. It was 8:30 pm by the time I decided I was motivated and felt like going and it was snowing lightly. we stopped in to TGIF for salads afterwards, so it turned into an actual date! I'm so lucky, he's got skeellz! How I landed such a hot, sweet, guy all those years ago, I have no idea. Maybe I'm the one with the skeellz! Anyway, I want to run a 10k in Detroit with a friend in May, so I have to get ready. I'm not so sure i can go from 4 miles to like......7 in that amount of time! I progress very very slowly. I am FAT, after all. We shall see.
It's cold in my kitchen. I hate that.
OK, I need to make like I work here... and, NO. I haven't taken any pictures lately.. not sure why. Winter is ugly to me, most days. I just don't see the beauty in it, for the most part. eh. I will take kid pictures soon though.

Thursday, January 28, 2010

I SEE YOU

Think i don't see you? I know you're looking over here, eyes passing up & down the row, sizing the 8 of us up, trying to figure out who will tire out first and exit so that you can jump on next. You, with your firm legs and perky little breasts. You, with your single chin and tight, dimple-less booty. Yah, I see you, snickering with your friend, scheming on how you can score side by side treadmills so you can chat & trade I Tunes while you run. I know you've got your sights set on me & the old, wrinkly, knobby kneed man next to me. Little do you know, he's here every night. He runs 8 miles. Move on, little girls, move on. What's that? We've lasted too long, the old guy and me? Are we holding you up? Ah, I'm happy to see you've decided to abandon your staring contest and settle for treadmills 3 apart from each other. That's excellent, Dear. Good for you. Good choice. Oh... wait......you two are finished already? Tired out? I see......See you another day, Perkies. Better luck next time.

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

thoughts

I miss Kristin. shes been gone.. let's see...3 weeks now. I think I miss her more than usual because of what my head has been going through lately. She knows me better than anyone. She doesn't have phone or internet access, so we aren't in touch as much. I wish I could talk to her for a few minutes. She's having a blast and is BURNED to a crisp, at least on her face, from what I can see. The pictures from this past weekend are gorgeous. She and her friends went to another area of the island and dang, it is beautiful. She has only put them on Facebook so far, but I'm hoping she'll put them on her blog. You won't believe these pictures! They look like advertisement posters hung in a travel agent's office! I'd like to frame a few! I'm hoping to get my new zoom lens before I go visit her in late March for her spring break/Birthday. She'll be 21! I hope to get some great photos too. Her host family wants me to stay with them instead of at a hotel, but.. it may be way too hot for me. After a hot day, I like to escape to an air conditioned bedroom. Even Haiti had that.(well, most nights, anyway.) But, i might as well try it, and move to a hotel if i can't handle the heat. I tend to throw up LOL.

Painting job coming up on Friday, i think. Living, dining, kitchen and hallway. I'm ready! I need something to do besides care for the kids, clean, run errands and run on the treadmill. I work from home, but those hours have dwindled lately! I need to get away from CNN & the web. Even at the Y, the news is always on and I need a break from it.

Doug's life has improved since my last post. He isn't being deployed to *band camp until September 11th. He cannot find work. 8 more months is a long time to just BE. He is headed for a downword spiral. Well.....my cousin Tom is an Army recruiter, stationed in AZ. He had told me a year ago that Doug decided he wanted to be in the active Army, instead of The Guard, to say the word; he'd get him switched over and stationed somewhere in about 2 months. At that time Doug was fine and wasn't interested. That's all changed now and he and my cousin had a conversation. Lots of paperwork, a flight to AZ and some more training, in a new MOS(not his choice), will happen soon and he will be, God willing, stationed somewhere by June. He wants to go infantry now anyway. Mechanics are deployed to *a boring place and infantry guys go to *a happenin' place. This will get him out of the toxic environment he's living in, benefits, full time work, structure.... all of which Doug needs so desperately. He does so well when he's on active duty! We are excited for him. this post was much longer, but BLOGGER had a glitch and i had to re type EVERYTHING, so you are now getting a condensed version. You're welcome!

I'm still running every day, but not losing much weight, if at all. Like Corey(from Watching The Waters blog) said, Running doesn't really charge weight loss, but it re distributes your weight, which it is. I may just pitch the scale out the nearest window.

i better go, Shawn is being very ugly!

*WAR

Saturday, January 23, 2010

recent happenings/developments

* Courtney, after spending a $215.00 (final)paycheck in under 48 hours, yet neglecting to hand Yogi a single cent of what she owed him for constantly putting money in her account-to prevent overdraft charges-then flipping out when i had the nerve to bring it up, moved back to Maine 2 weeks ago. The first week she was gone was the quietest week I've experienced in years. Kris had left for Costa Rica, Doug is on his own, Courtney was gone...BLISS. the second week was filled with Doug Drama, then the earthquake hit Haiti..so, not so much. Glad I enjoyed the first week.
* I am now running over 20 miles a week, as of yesterday's totals. Not losing much weight anymore, but that's expected-although not welcomed. I feel great! no nagging pains, no injuries... I love Celebrex! Wish I was taking it in 02/03, the last time i ran every day. i was way lighter than I am now, but always had nagging, serious pain. weird. I LOVE my YMCA membership. The treadmills give you more info and have way more shock absorption. I want to try the kick boxing classes, but i'm too chicken right now.
* Neuro mailed us a letter, telling us when Jackson's sleep study was scheduled. Wasn't that kind of them? First of all, NO THANKS. Secondly, On April 15th we won't have health insurance anymore so... forget it. As of March 1st- no insurance. We are looking into obtaining private for the rest of us, but those companies won't touch Jackson with a 10 foot stick so... no sleep study. No reason for it anyway! I called and left a message on the secretary's voice mail that we "are not interested at this time". She didn't call back LOL.
* Speaking of Jackson, he is doing very well, still. At school, here, everywhere. Right now he's really trying to irritate me by taking out the nerf shooter that the baby has fits over & won't share and can't operate without needing help and getting frustrated..., but I'm ignoring that. I haven't blogged in forever! Now Shawn is freaking out. NICE. He took the gun out JUST to piss me off, too happy of a morning i guess. Needed some chaos. That's fine.
* In the last week Doug has:
1.Hit a snowbank while driving his sports car around during a snow storm to search for his room mate, who had had a fight with his girlfriend, eaten a bottle of Ritalin, jumped out a window and taken off into the woods. broke a tail light. knocked the spoiler off.
2.slid through a stop sign and hit a highschool classmate's car, while driving around in a snowstorm, after leaving here in a fit of rage because he was mad at one of his room mates, was screaming and swearing in our home, could/would not calm down when asked, took his fit to the driveway, was asked to calm himself again, could/would not, so was asked to leave our property. He blames the class mate. he blames the room mate. yup. broke a headlight-i think.
3. was pulled over and handed a 200$ speeding ticket for driving 60mph in a 30mph zone, while on his way here to meet his friends. Including the room mate. UGH.
4. was pulled over and handed a ticket for not having his car inspected. He cannot afford to get it inspected, and it will not pass, due to a broken tail light & head light, due to hitting the snow bank, and then hitting Mary Windgate's Volvo.(see above if you're confused LOL)
TIME FOR AN INTERVENTION! but hey, at least he didn't chug a bottle of Ritalin, jump out a window, break a mirror on the wall over some chick's head and be arrested for criminal mischief, have an arraignment, be banned from his own apartment until April, pay a $2500.00 retainer fee to an attorney or have a restraining order filed on him...right? Oh- and he hasn't impregnated anybody either! he leaves ALLLLL that stuff to his room mates LOL. We spoke at length yesterday, my cousin is an Army recruiter for the full time active Army(Doug is National Guard) and he thinks he can have Doug moved and deployed in 2 months time. Since he cannot find a job, he might as well go full time and get his life going. I hope this works! Being here, hanging out, driving around and not working is just going to get him into trouble.
* Many well meaning people are sending me e mail like this: "hey, can you tell me how to adopt a Haitian? we don't have any money, but we'll take one." I know they all mean well and their hearts are in the right place, but, like another blogger so eloquently said, "this is NOT a Pet Smart parking lot Adopt-A-Thon!" If you have sent me legit e mail, or if you e mailed me about the whole TEMPORARY hosting thing, I'm not talking about you and will keep you posted, but I have also gotten some CRAZY notes. People think I can help them, "hook them up" with a kid, just because we have adopted from there in the past. NO CAN DO. International adoption was tough BEFORE the earthquake. It took me SEVEN MONTHS to compile our dossier and mail it to Haiti. Adoptions in Haiti have gone from taking 6-9 months to 2-3 years. steps have been indiscriminately(in my opinion) added by the Haitian Govt. When adoptions begin again, and it will likely be a while, we are HOPEFUL that the entire process will be examined, streamlined, pointless steps will be removed from the process, more people will be put on the job of getting the adoptions completed, and the entire process will be expedited.. but TIH(This Is Haiti), and This will all take time, effort and know how. Until then, i DO still hold out hope that they let some kids come here to be taken care of, but you cannot just pack planes full of kids and drop them off somewhere. This invites corruption, trafficking... BAD THINGS. It all has to be done right. We will all have to be patient. We are hoping to take in an HIV infected toddler boy who is living at GLA(Dixie's program) to get him on treatment & get him healthy, whether it will be temporary or permanent, but we have no idea whether she will choose us anyway. It's all just conjecture at this point. We are open to it, but who knows?
* Kris is having a blast in CR. her blog is on my list to your right if you want to check in on her("Dude! we're in Costa Rica!")
* Kendyl earned a glowing report card and had a fun Birthday party at the glow bowling place. Can you believe she's FIVE???? me neither!
* I still have a cold and I am so tired of it! i think my current nasal spray addiction makes it worse lol
* I better go, the Craze-O-Meter is climbing and I have to pee!
hugs to you all. PLEASE send 10$ to haiti charity of your choice!

Saturday, January 16, 2010

the earthquake

i want to blog about it. i want to get my feelings out, i really do. i just dont know what to write, what to say. it is hard, very hard. the time just goes by and i have no idea wht the hell im doing. i just float through the day, gather news, absorb what i can, dream like crazy all night. its still not even real to me, hasnt sunk in. we will open our home to 2/3 more, if the rumors we hear are true- thousands of refugee children being flown to the states(and elsewhere) to be taken in by host families. simple backround checks with fingerprints may be all thats needed to apply. i will keep you posted, incase you are interested-IF it all comes to fruition. it is so much worse than you are seeing on the news. SO MUCH WORSE. please GIVE, give until it hurts. orphanages with No food, No water, No baby formula. it will get even worse before it gets better. my son's homeland, a place we all love, in ruins. people we miss and care so much about, MISSING, feared dead, confirmed dead, possibly hungry, thirsty and afraid....i get on the treadmill and just run and run and run to help with my feelings, the weight is falling off quickly now(25lbs). kendyl had her Birthday party today, she will turn 5 tomorrow, i went through the motions. i love my kids. haitians love their kids. the whole thing is so unbelievable. GIVE. please. ali

Monday, January 11, 2010

Neurologist shmologist..... or something.

I've been meaning to blog about that Neuro appoinment that i mentioned, but I've been too busy.. um.. LOSING 20 LBS IN 6 WEEKS, BABY!!!!! ok.. now that I got that out, the neuro visit was interesting.
ok.. so back in late 03/early 04, every time we took jack to his PID, the guy was always asking us questions like,
"is he always this busy?"
"is he always this active?"
"does he EVER stop?"
we were actually pretty ok with his activity level. Dr. P talked us into medicating him in the first place, but this year, he suddenly became *uncomfortable* with prescribing it. he wanted us to have a *quick visit* with neuro, just to make sure he was on the right medication, right dosage. a *one time visit*. i knew damn well that's not how it would end up, but... we set it up anyway.
So....
firstof all, the apt. was set up for 10am, he didnt even get in a room until 10:40. then, the doctor had no idea who they were, why they were there or even who had referred them. he had no chart, the computer wasnt booted up, even though they open at 8:30am, that took a solid HOUR... the list just goes on and on. complete(what rhymes with) Bluster Cluck. yet, i digress. we might as well live in haiti at this point. so..the guy agrees with the diagnosis, meds and dosage. great.
BUT... he wants to:
examine his brain
do a sleep study
see him monthly
get him set up with a shrink
put him in a study
yadda
yadda
yadda
yadda
I knew it. he says he wants to help him *be a better kid*. great! supercalifragilistic! BUT YOU ARE AN HOUR & A HALF DRIVE! and we already come here all the time.
he also prescribed him a drug for his bed wetting, a drug Dr P. says messes with his HIV meds. maybe the protcol change we made this fall makes this drug ok.. i have no idea. he started it 3 days ago and hasnt wet the bed once, and also isnt getting up 6 times a night to pee, which reduces his stalking options. he also has a better attitude since his sleep hours increased.. um.......where has this magic shit been for the last 6 years of our lives? as far as the rest of the stuff he wants to do, the doctor didnt bother to set up another appointment when Yogi left, so no idea when we will see him again. don't misunderstand, i thought we should be seeing a neuro 6 years ago, its not that im not grateful for the fantastic care, i promise. its just.. sometimes i feel like "too little, too late, folks!" but.. i will try to keep an open mind and wont be a bitch. thats all i can promise. a no bitch guarantee. take it or leave it LOL
hes having an absolutely wonderful week. i adore him right now. did i just say that out loud????

Saturday, January 9, 2010

Distraction Jackson and the technicolor dreamcoat

no dreamcoat. just kidding. lotsa stuff this week, bad....... AND GOOD!
early in the week he messed up. He asked if he could eat dinner at Christian's house, we were fine with that. i finally called there at 815(school night) to ask why he wasn't home yet. the mom said he had just left. he never arrived so i called again. she looked outside and saw the boys bikes. why would Jackson leave his bike there? she had heard Jackson tell her son "i need to be home in 10 minutes.", so she knew he had intended to head home at 7:50. She yelled to them, I yelled to them. nothing. Courtney drove the neighborhood twice, never saw them. Now I'm in a panic, a total panic. It was very dark, very cold and it was 9pm. i called again. she said the boys had come back to the door and she told Jack to run home as fast as he could. Jack knew he was in trouble and looked terrified. I felt bad that he looked like that. i knew that Christian had pulled something. he told us that when he told the kid he needed to be home in 10 minutes, they stepped outside and Christian told him he had asked me(when he called to ask if jackson could eat dinner there) if jackson could stay until 9 and i had said yes. Jack didnt believe him and wanted to call me. he talked him out of it by telling him "your mom is sick of us calling there." ??????????????. they had gone down the street to talk to a couple of kids in the neighborhood. I told him Christian was NOT his friend. he agreed. so thats it for their friendship-finally. jack has NO idea how to stand up for himself and just say, " Chris, I'M LEAVING!" we role played some scenarios, i hope it helps for next time. i told him we were terrified. i know this is NH, but a guy could pull up to them and drag them both into his van in 2 seconds flat. its just scary.
2 days later, i found his Ipod in his backpack. that ticked me off, he knows he's not allowed to take it to school. I hid it away. I could tell he was looking for it, but didn't want me to know it was missing, so he said nothing. then i wanted to borrow it and use it on the treadmill. I asked Kris to add my music to it. she did. Then she found 3 porno movies on his I Pod. the porn was added in a very complicated way, he couldn't have done it. He was in bed when we found them. In the morning I asked him who did that for him, expecting him to say nothing. he told me who it was right away! I was in shock. at first, he tried to calim he asked the kid for music and got porn instead, much to his surprise. i reminded him that i wasnt born last night and he fessed up. I grew up with this other kid's father, so i called him before 7 am, hoping to catch him before his kid left for school with porn on his I pod. the kid had already left. if they get caught with that crap they will get expelled! he never thanked me for calling and filling him in, he was humiliated i think, but he was nice. i was sort of nice lol. when Jack came home, he told me that the guy showed up at the school, took the I Pod and told the kid he'd "never see it again". oops LOL
yesterday, Jacksons teacher called to tell me of the amazing turnaround theyve witnessd in the recent weeks. behavior, attitude, effort.... all of it. she seems to think we are doing something at home, i'm not sure. He said that school is more fun when teachers are happy with you. Um..... DUH??????????????? Ive only been preaching that for 6+ years!!!! goofy kid. with all this height, voice changing and hair growth, maybe some brains are growing too! anyway, we surprised him with his favorite-chinese food- last night, and he was really excited about that. I really hope this continues, but I know more setbacks with rear their ugly head....we'll keep trying. he's also(suddenly) hanging out with a neighbor kid named james. we like him. jack said,
" James is cool. he doesnt like to get in trouble. he just hangs out and he's nice to girls."
CAN WE KEEP HIM???? wait..... we have one too many as it is. so yesterday was a great day. hes been very open lately too. he looked amazing in his basketball game today, the kid is incredible!
Kris left for Costa rica on thursday. her blog, "dude! we're in Costa Rica!" is on my blog list to your right, if you want to keep up with her daily life there. so far, they've been in a bus accident on a cliff LOL kate(travel buddy, best friend) seems to have internet at her house, seems like kris may not have it(yet). i am so excited for her and i miss her already!
i better go. babies need to crash out.
oh! i'm down 18 lbs now! its coming off really slowly now, but thats ok. im sneaking in a workout in an hour. I'm proud of how well i have stuck to my plan. 18 lbs in 5.3 weeks. GO ME! its such a habit already, i felt so sluggish today, too busy to run today, until now.
stay warm!

Monday, January 4, 2010

RAD puts my mood in the crapper, and other recent revelations

I forgot to tell you guys about some Honkinshtank Jackson pulled over vacation. Let me preface the story with a few thoughts:
I just never thought I'd have a *mean* kid. No matter where we adopted from or what the child's age or special needs, I never, ever thought any mean-ness would last. Cuz we aren't mean. I'm a bully, but I'm not mean!(I do, in essence, consider my parenting style to be slightly "bully-ish", after all. I'm sure that's no surprise to any long term readers.) I don't fill the day with needless chit-chat about one's behavior after an incident, nor do I feel the need to slather affection on kids that do nothing but screw up and make others feel like poo. I'm not an abuser or a hater, but.. to me, the niceties in life are earned. To me, you get back what you put in, throughout life, and it begins in the home. My children certainly received lots of love, guidance and affection, but crapola wasn't tolerated or rewarded with MORE attention. The consequences stung. Call it Lackluster Parenting. Now, all that being said... where Jackson is concerned, as I've written about on my blog many times in the past, We've had to completely change how we parent halfway through the game, and it aint easy! Nowadays, Hooplah, Hootinanny, Honkinshtank and Hubbleegook have to be A OK WITH US. This is a huge adjustment for all.
So.. back to my story: Christian came by and Jackson told him he was going to play at D&R's house, a place where Christian isn't welcome(rightfully so). They were expecting him at noon. Chris really pushed and prodded Jackson to play with him instead, he actually got kind of pissy, and I was proud of how Jackson stood up to him and went to D&R's anyway. Chris left in a huff and I wondered how it would go, since they're all neighbors. Issues have come up before between the 4 boys, and I can't see their houses from mine. I never heard anything, so I assumed all went ok. Next day, same thing. 3rd day of vacation, Christian came by and the 2 were talking about going to his house to play video games(we don't have video games here. I'm a bully, remember?) Then Christian mentions an incident that had occured a few days before. I guess Christian, Jackson & the D&R brothers had an "ice ball fight", 3 against 1. I piped in and said, "why 3 against 1?" Jackson laughed and said, "nobody wants to be on Christian's team. he sucks!" right in front of the kid! They were both laughing at first, then it became clear that it wasn't funny to Chris or me. I told them that if everyone refuses to play fair/even in a game like that, then that's when someone needs to speak up and say, "then we're not gonna play". 3 against 1 in an ice ball fight? how mean can you get? from what they said, it got UGLY. We had a long conversation about what being a friend means. Jack apologized to his friend. We talked about ways to get out of doing something shitty, without looking like a nerd, when you KNOW it's wrong but the guys all want you to join in. I let the 2 boys go to Christian's house to play, but called to check in later and make sure they weren't having any problems. The Mom was glad I called and thanked me for having a talk with the boys about the ice ball fight. I asked her how she knew. She told me that before she let Jackson in the house, she sat the boys down to talk to them about the prior 2 days also. Not only did the ice ball fight thing happen TWO days in a row, but she and her husband were in the house watching ice balls hit her husband's truck, equipment, their windows, their KID.....Jackson was swearing, D&R were chasing Christian onto his lawn, attacking him, and then, when Chris stepped foot on their lawn, the 2 boys would run & tell their Mommy and she would come out and tell Chris to get off her lawn and egg her boys(and jackson) on!
GET HIM!
KICK HIS ASS!
LOSER!
SERVES HIM RIGHT
2 days in a row! Yes, D&R have had problems with Christian before, but STILL. That is NOT adult behavior! all 3 adults-D&R's Mom and both of Christian's parents- took vacation from work all week(gee, wonder why! none of them can trust their kids to be home without them!) and this is the crap that spews. Christian's Mom said she never called me, because she felt that jack had just "been sucked in" and also, she knew I'd punish him and he wouldn't be able to play the rest of the week(and she's RIGHT). Christian doesn't really have any other friends.

When Jackson came home i told him I had heard the rest of the story, processed through the entire thing with him a second time, and took his I Pod and his DS away for 2 days. Then I kept him home. Christian was mad, but too bad. The only reason I didn't keep him in all week was because Christian admitted that on the 2nd day he asked the other 3 boys to play the game again! So.. how upset was the kid? His mom thought he was being treated horribly, but if you come out begging for it a 2nd time then.. what am i supposed to do about it?
Jackson has NO idea how to be a friend. He still has NO critical thinking skills. NO candor. NO scruples or moral compass. The "boys will be boys" mentality does NOT wash with me. It never will. We preach it all, and it's all for not. None of it goes in. None of it sinks in. I fight with myself, in my head, all the time.
Are we just wasting our time?
Anyway, the rest of the week was pretty excellent. I can't complain too much. he's not appreciative or thankful, but really.. who is? He was decent to the little ones and Yogi is even getting into DS now, they were playing the football last night-that was funny.
Yogi and Jack are in Boston right now at a neuro appointment. Dr P. at PID isn't comfortable prescribing Jack's ADHD meds anymore, so he set us up with this guy@@ but that's a story for another day!

Friday, January 1, 2010

updates





























still no arrest of lauren. Courtney can't do anything or file anything with the courts until Lauren is apprehended. best part? DCYF gave the kids to her Mother, and Lauren is hiding in her Mother's house. DCYF had "no choice" but to allow the Mom to take the kids, atleast until they can deem her "unfit" through an investigation, which is underway. DCYF has been excellent. The intake worker claims that finding the Grandmother "unfit" won't be a problem either. the Nashua NH police dept. says that the Derry NH dept. refuses to get a warrant to search the house. Courtney claims that another officer told her that this whole thing will be ruled a misdemeanor. DOUBTFUL! but what do i know? stealing a car, filling it with alcohol empties, crashing the truck, leaving the scene, abandoning your children and hiding out from the law is a misdemeanor???? nevermind the stollen cash and used stolen credit card. she also has called Courtney and said "why didnt you cover for me? i didnt crash your truck! its fine!" is she crazy? I've told courtney not to talk to me about the situation anymore. I need a break. stuff is showing up in the mail now. the damage caused to the home, parked car, municipal property.... she has all this stuff to fill out. HOW? she wasn't even there! anyway.......







Jay came home from last minute training before *band camp, to celebrate Christmas. He left today for the Real Deal and will be gone for a year. we took some pictures during his visit. I'm down 15 lbs and still have a double chin. whatever! He doesn't seem afraid at all. I am. he better come home to us.







New Year's Eve was.. well.. EH, at best. Atleast it was calm & quiet. the entire day had been CRAZY. Kendyl had a play date here for 8 hours, Courtney was fired up, we had visitors, then Yogi, Tim & (loud) Doug came home from work....but after all that was over, Kris attended a black tie event, she dropped Courtney off at a "friend's" house in the city(terrific. but hey, I am not her Mom), and Jackson was at Christian's house until 830. so it was QUIET after the 3 youngest went to bed... until 11pm when Shawn woke up screaming. We were watching Where The Heart Is. I put him back to bed. 20 minutes later he was screaming again. He NEVER does this! Yogi put him back to bed and promptly fell asleep. The movie ended at 11:45, so then Tim & I watched the ball drop and we both went off to bed. Yay. 3 years in a row I've been pretty much pissed off. fine. It's just another day, what do I care? I don't drink anyway. enough about that lame crap.







the rotton bananas on the counter are calling my name, but if I make banana bread I will have NO will power to not eat it. bananas don't usually go bad here, the boys all eat them, but they kept freezing in their lunch boxes at the jobsite, due to the sub zero temperatures. why am I telling you this? like you care!







can you tell i woke up to MAJOR hormones today???? i am UGLY and I want everyone to go away so I can be alone. there. I said it! Shawn was up all night, for , what seems to be, NO GOOD REASON, and I came out of it with no sleep.







the roof will be done by noon(the snowstorm kicked them off yesterday at noon) and then, hopefully, I will never have to hear about it again, and neither will any of you.







aren't you glad you checked in?







HAPPY FRIKKIN NEW YEAR.







* WAR