I've Been Tagged

Sammy tagged me for this. I blame David because he tagged Sam. Only because I have to think to do this and because Sam had to think and I was giggling over his thinking about this that Sam tagged me. Now if ya'll can understand all of that More Power To You! So, off we go and sorry David, I know we have never spoken so I really don't blame you! I'm just crazy

7 Things to do before I die (in no particular order)

1. Visit Ireland and Australia, I really want to see a live Koala Bear and not in a zoo.
2. Help people understand that I don't want to change my oldest son (he has Asperger's Syndrome) and I love him just they way he is.
3. Lose weight or at least get healthy! It is so hard to be motivated to lose weight when your doctor tells you that you might never lose the weight you want to and why bother when your cholesterol is always fine and blood pressure is always fine. punk
4. Develop the patience of my mother. I wish every day to be like her or at least have her patience. Considering my family, I don't know where she got it from.
5. Be able to not worry, I am a worrier. I need to learn techniques for relaxation and how to become stress free, you know, let the little things slide!
6. Travel all over the country with my husband, in an RV even. Ok, this will have to wait until the kids are grown and I am sure Ethan will be ok on his own for a few months.
7. Buy a cabin in a forest that is by a lake and totally private. Just so I can go there, of course, take the kids and my husband, but just be able to go and just relax.

7 Things I can't do

1. Go near a spider
2. Tolerate ignorant people
3. Not be sarcastic. Sarcasm is a huge part of my life.
4. Refrain from arguing. I grew up arguing with my granny and I think I will always be that way. I don't debate, don't like to speak in front of large crowds, but I love to argue with one or two people.
5. I can't stop eating chocolate. Well, I could if I wanted to but I really don't want to!
6. I can't see my feet when I am standing. The boobage gets in the way. BOOB-A-LANCH.
7. I can't stop talking to myself in the car. I'm really not crazy though, I've never answered myself, at least not yet.

7 Things that attract me to blogging

1. Reading so many different opinions on every imaginable topic.
2. Venting my frustrations on family and the SW and the OutLaws.
3. Finding others with similar interests and making friends all over the country.
4. Finding information and other sources of information about the disorders my son has.
5. I can indulge in reading blogs from people so totally different from me and find it fascinating to read about their lives and (ok this is corny) how many different kind of people it takes to make the world go round.
6. The giggling that can ensue when I read the same blog as my co-workers and the post is so funny that we feed off each others giggles.
7. Reading people's sites that are in an area where I used to live and seeing some pictures of places I miss.

7 Things I say most often

1. Dumbass
2. Stupidheads
3. Stupid Ass Punks
4. F*ckers (sorry, ex-navy wife here and I just can't drop the habit of cussing!)
5. SHUSH
6. Hi Honeys
7. BLEBLEBLBEBLEBLEBEL This is yelled while waving my arms in the air and running around the room. This has the sound of a turkey gobbling, kind of.

7 books I love

1. Harry Potter all of them
2. Anything by Laurel K. Hamilton
3. Anything by Jennifer Weiner
4. The Best of Dreams of Decadence by Angela Kessler
5. Any book with Winnie the Pooh
6. Most books by Nicholas Sparks
7. Ariel, I don't know the name of the author but I have had it for years. It is about a sudden change in the world and magic comes back with a bang and one man's struggle to survive in the new, magical world as he tries to befriend a Unicorn because everyone knows that only virgins can touch Unicorns!

7 Movies I watch over and over

1. Singles with Bridget Fonda and Kyra Sedgwick
2. Harry Potter movies
3. Miracle on 34th Street the original one
4. Blade Trinity because it has Ryan Reynolds, too yummy for words and Sam agrees with me! Or any scary movie.
5. any cheesy movie on the Sci-Fi channel
6. Love Actually
7. Practical Magic with Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman

Ok, now that I have shared I'm not going to tag anyone. If anyone reading feels like playing, go right ahead!

New Years Eve Eve

Yesterday was rather uneventful and a welcome change to the past week and a half. The OutLaws now have their visitation rights and haven't said a word about them. Granted I haven't talked to them but at least I haven't received a nasty call.

I'm still up in the air about New Year's resolutions. I haven't made a list in years and have always said why do it when I end up breaking the list half way through January anyways. Maybe I'll be stronger this year and try one.

Emma is feeling so much better after her "puking fest" (Emma's words not mine). She is very tired though.
Ethan is stressing about his upcoming hair cut but if I don't start advance notices on things like this he has a major breakdown where ever I take him for the cut. I think he is about ready for one. I've let it go and his hair is at his collar and so curly. When he was a baby people would mistake him for a girl because of his thick, curly hair. And what does Emma have? Stick Straight Hair. Not even a wave to it.

Harley's hair is in need of a cut too. My MIL got his haircut the weekend Scott and I took the kids to Disneyland. I had asked her not to when she told me she wanted to cut it. She almost begged me to cut his hair and I said if you do, make sure you cut it short, short, short otherwise he'll have a bad cowlick. Actually, it's more like a peacock tail waving around above his head.
His hair is still baby fine so I think it's quite adorable but it bugs my mom and Scott's parents. Eh what can you do. I'm tired of pleasing everyone so I'm leaving his hair as I want it.

Harley is starting to talk in small sentences. One silly example: Last night I asked him if he was ready to get his pj's on. His response was UMMM Nope. He shook his head and ran out of the kitchen. Little turd. He's too adorable to be upset with though, even when he is doing something naughty. He has taken to hiding things, like my hairdryer, my comb and brush, his toothbrush, one of Ethan's shoe, not both, just one.
Oh, and he uttered his first curse word. Now, I really, seriously thought it would be Dumbass because that is my word and I say it way too much and I know it but for some strange reason I am unable to discontinue that word from my vocabulary. But it wasn't Dumbass. It was Bullshit but it came out of his mouth as Booshit.
Only Scott and I heard it so I can just imagine the looks on the grandparents faces when he says it in front of them.

Harley's favorite fruit is apple, favorite vegetable is spinach, he loves oreos and won't really eat any other cookie. Ice cream is just ok and he loves meat. Any kind of meat, ham and chicken are the best.

I am ready for the new year to see what else my little pudge will show us. Ethan too. He has come so far and yet in ways seem to have regressed but after reading this post I'm going to re-think my ways on handling some of the things he does. I'm also going to get this book and see what else I can learn.

If I don't make it back here before tomorrow evening, I am wishing each and everyone of you a very happy and fulfilling New Year!

No Pictures

But here is a picture of Harley from a couple weeks ago with his stolen cookie and daddy's slippers.


I just today realized that Christmas day was so FUBAR'd that no one got pictures of the kids opening their presents. This is the first year since they were born that I have no pictures of present time. I was in a just ok mood until I realized this! Now my mood is down in the dumps again.

I am so ready for the new year and to start all over with everything. I have a different work schedule for 6 months, the OutLaws have there visitation rights and I refuse to budge from them, I am in the process of planning an exercise routine and yoga ( have to find a way to relax somehow), and pretty much just finding ways to do what I want to do for a while. I have spent so many years trying to make sure everyone else in my life is happy that I feel it is now my turn to make sure I am happy. I would never neglect my family but if I don't start taking better care of me than I won't be a very good mom.

So, on to better Christmas Day memories.

As I said Emma adores her skateboard and loves to ride it, even around the house. She got a Bratz karaoke microphone and will carry that around while she rides her skateboard. She sings and sings and sings and the poor girl can't carry a tune. She also got a Bratz doll rock stage that came with the stage, drums, bass guitar, microphones, and one of the dolls with, something like, 4 changes of clothes. She also got a collection of Bratz lipgloss and some cool jeans that have embroidered butterflies that are so much like Bratz clothes MOM!!!!! EEK I do not like Bratz! I never liked Barbie Dolls when I was little though. Let's see here, what else did she get? She got some hair ties and other hair stuff and bath soaps and chocolate that she didn't share (she's learning!) and a couple of other things I can't thing of right now. Just remembered one of the gifts, the Ice Princess DVD.

Ethan was carrying around his fishing pole last night acting like he was going to catch the biggest fish in the world, Harley! It was quite funny. He also got a train set and we have the track half set up in his room. We would be finished with it but Harley keeps running off with a piece of the track and Ethan chases him and then he forgets what we are doing. Before Christmas Ethan had so many cars and trucks and plays with all of them. He'll line them up in their garages that are positioned in his room, the play room, Emma's room, just about anywhere he decides to put them. After Christmas I think he added about 25 more cars and he might even have talks of adding two story parking garages. I'm not sure. He got some pj bottoms and a sweater and a couple of books. But the cars, there are so many! He got chocolate too but he shared some, at least with me. He told everyone else NO! He also got the DVD Madagascar and we have watched it at least 4 times a day since Sunday.

Harley got a rocking horse that will stay at Nana's house because I really don't want to lug that bulky thing back and forth every time he goes to Nana's house. It can stay there and he'll be fine with it. When he saw it Saturday night his eyes lit up and his little baby rosebud mouth formed an O and he said oh and ah over and over again. I picked him up and put him on it and he just kind of sat there. I put his feet in the stirrups and moved the horse back and forth and he was off from there. He rocked and rocked and would giggle and the whole time the family would try to get him to say Yee-Haw. I, for one, didn't encourage the Yee-Haw. Nothing wrong with saying that but, um no. He never said it though. he he
Sunday morning the first present he opened was a huge bin with the giant legos in it. He loved the bin and once it was opened he dumped out all the legos and and tried to climb in the bin. He got some clothes and books and more toys but I really think the gift he loved the most was that bin for the giant legos.

My mom loves frogs and turtles and anything to do with them. She got a new frog and turtle shower curtain with the matching frog and turtle curtain hooks. She got froggie pj's, a big frog sitting on a swing that she has hung outside on the hooks above our front porch. And I really don't know what else she got. I was too busy trying to keep an eye on what kid got what from whom so we could do thank you notes soon. I don't know how successful those are going to be but we are going to try.

Scott got the Mary Mary audio book by James Patterson, he got a nice shirt that I am banned from wearing just yet (Yes I wear my husband's shirts), he received some collectible NasCar cars, some cashews (he loves cashews), um, and I don't know what else. I was kind of ignoring him during present time.

I got a beautiful green sweater, a Christmas towel set, a dolphin water fountain, two snowmen that the kids had decorated at school, and a snow globe.

Church was fun, lots of singing and watching the two toddlers, Harley and the preacher's daughter, run around the whole time, laughing and playing, playing their version of tag. Our church is so small and no one minds if the little ones run around creating havoc every once in a while. Most of the time they are in the nursery.

I did enjoy my Sci-Fi movie marathon all weekend. It was a bright spot in an otherwise horrid weekend.

Christmas Day warning cussing is involved

The day actually started out late. I was surprised to wake up at 7:10am when my alarm went off and all the kids were still sound asleep. I didn't get them in bed until 11:30 the night before so I'm glad they were able to sleep in.

I took a shower and got ready for church and by this time the kids were up and running around screaming about stockings and presents and wanted to open everything NOW! I was mean and made them wait until we were all up and in by the fireplace. I woke up Scott and asked him when he would be getting up so the kids could get into their stockings. He grunted at me in a while and rolled over. By this time it was almost 9am and I was getting more and more upset that he wouldn't just get up and watch the kids.
I finally told the kids to go ahead and open their stockings and then hurry to brush their hair and teeth for church. I woke up Scott at 9:15am and he finally rolled out of bed and stumbled into the shower and I asked if he was ready to talk yet. He told me nope, not ready, drop it and let it go. I told him I really didn't want to, I needed to talk and get this resolved so it doesn't ruin our Christmas. He refused to talk again and told me to leave the bathroom and not watch him or talk to him. By this time, after being ignored the night before, having to do all the work to get ready for that day by myself, and then being yelled at to not look at him (like a child) I was angry to the point of tears. I went to the bedroom and lay down on the bed to cry. I knew the kids wouldn't come in to our bedroom so I felt safe venting my frustrations through crying. I don't like to cry over relationships and I know that sounds shallow but I spent much of my first marriage in tears and I don't want to have to do that with this marriage.

When the kids were done with hair and teeth and ready to leave for church we all headed out the door and I fully expected Scott to stay home and pout some more. Can you tell I'm feeling better about it, ok, maybe not better but I'm more angry over all of it now, not sad!?!
But, Scott followed us out to the van and went to church with us. Where he proceeded to ignore me some more but was so nice and wishing everyone else a Merry Christmas.

As soon as we got home I started getting the turkey and ham ready and told the kids to calm down, we would open presents as soon as dinner was cooking.

Scott sat on the piano bench during the present opening and helped Harley open his presents and then every present that went to him he tossed my way and just looked at me. So I opened his presents right along with mine. The only one he did open was what I got him. He said thanks, set it on the piano, and went right back to helping Harley.

The kids were thrilled with their gifts and Ethan was so happy to get his own fishing pole and tackle box. Scott looked up and said "Yep, now you can go fishing with your grampy."
I couldn't help it, I smacked Scott and hissed at him quit being mean to them, it's my fault not theirs that you are angry! He did apologize to Ethan and said he would take him fishing too.

Emma's favorite present was a skateboard and she is already riding it like she's had it for months.

After presents we ate and Scott talked to Harley and well, that's about it. Mom and I did dishes while the kids played with their gifts and then I did a very bad thing and popped Polar Express into the DVD player and I took a nap.
Scott was already in bed watching TV so I climbed in and closed my eyes. He didn't say a word to me until I woke up from my nap and heard the kids playing and decided to ask if they were hungry yet. He asked how my nap was and if I felt any better. I couldn't help but give a curt answer of No as I walked out of the room.

He followed me and watched me get the kids some pie and sit there with them while they ate and after that every room I went to he would follow. I couldn't even go pee without him following me. And he was close enough that when I tried to shut the bathroom door he was already half way in and I smushed his toe.

By the end of the night we were talking and he asked me to go for a ride to talk about stuff and mom said go, get out of here, I'll put the kids to bed. She was probably tired of our bickering.

We talked and I discovered that he was hurt and he hadn't stopped to think about how all this fighting with my ex-in-laws (from now on will be referred to as the Outlaws) affected me.

We are getting along a little better. He told me that it will take a long time for him to get over this hurt and I told him I could only apologize so many times for giving in yet again. He said just the one time was sufficient and I asked how I should have known considering he wasn't talking to me.

We talked some last night, but not much. We have talked a little more today.

This will take some time to get over and I don't know how long before I feel ok to even talk to the OutLaws without getting so angry I start screaming and spewing profanities and calling my ex MIL and fucking psychotic bipolar bitch. Sorry for the language but there is not a nice way to put that. That phrase needs those specific words.

So, hopefully tomorrow's post will be more cheerful and I can tell you real reactions to Christmas!

Christmas Eve

I was feeling quite a bit better Christmas Eve morning. I put Scott's paycheck in the bank (it feels so good to say that!), took Emma shopping for some last minute, wrapped some gifts for the party at Scott's parents' house, and made dessert and dips. It was almost 4 pm so I started getting ready to head out the door when Scott called to say he was off work. I spiked Ethan's mohawk (which is about to be cut off), put Emma's hair up in a bun ( she prefers her hair up), and was almost done with my hair when the phone started ringing. I check the caller id and found is was ex MIL's number so I didn't answer it. I let it go to voice mail and continued to get ready. A few minutes later it rang again and this time it was their cell number. Again I let it go and chased Harley down to change him and started getting presents stacked by the front door. A few minutes later the phone rang again and it was the kids' cousin calling from her cell phone but I knew she was at the ex-in-law's house so again I didn't answer it.
Emma kept asking why I didn't answer the phone and I said because I'm too busy to talk to anyone right now. Probably not the right thing to say but she dropped it and went back to torturing Ethan.
When the phone rang, yet again, a few minutes later Emma heard it and beat me to the phone. It was her cousin crying and screaming that Emma wasn't coming over as ex-in-law's had promised.
So within a half hour or so time frame they called from 4 times from 3 different numbers, just trying to get me or someone to answer the phone. The cousin talked to Emma and then ex MIL talked to her and then ex FIL talked to her. All 3 of them trying to talk her into talking me into letting them go over there for the evening.
I was so angry at them for doing this. How manipulative they were! How absolutely rude! I have so many other things running through my head but they aren't very appropriate for here. I was married to a sailor for 6 years and still talk like one sometimes!
I asked Emma again what she wanted to do. She asked if I would be mad at her and I told her no I wouldn't be mad at her. She said she wanted to go over to their house. I told her to tell her grampy she would call him back and I called Scott and left him a message telling him what I was about to do. I let him know if he was upset then we would deal with it but I was giving in this one last time and letting the kids' go over to the ex-in-laws for tonight, that they had called 4 times in a half hour time frame from 3 different numbers and I was tired of the harassment. I then told Emma to call her grampy and let them know they needed to be their within 10 minutes to pick them up and I would pick the kids up around 11:15 that night after the party was over at Scott's parent's house. They agreed to this, which I knew they would, even after they had told me that I needed to pick the kids by 8pm that night. I figured if I was bending for them, AGAIN, they could abide by my terms this time. Which they readily did.

I got the kids off with ex FIL, who didn't come to the door and sent in the cousin to get them, and got the van loaded with the goodies and gifts for the party. Scott called and I made sure he had listened to his voice mail. I asked if he was mad and he said no just upset. He said that he felt like I had given in again and would always give in to the ex's and they know now that they have control over me and he has no control over me. I chose to ignore that part and told him we were on our way to meet him at his store and said goodbye and hung up.
I managed to put on a happy face for mom and Harley as we got in the van. We listened to Christmas music on the way to Scott's parent's house.

Scott didn't greet me when we got there. He didn't say hi, give me a hug or kiss, or even look at me. He helped us unload the goodies and talked with everyone but me. I had to go to the bathroom and he chose this time to tell his parent's why Ethan and Emma weren't there. They were ok with it but didn't say much to me either after that.
I sat by Harley at their kitchen table while everyone else talked and laughed. I was hurt and on the verge of tears and afraid if anyone said anything to me I would lose it. Scott's sister was nice, she didn't bring it up and knew I was upset, and kept trying to draw me into the conversation but someone else would find a way to change the topic.
When it was time to do the gift exchange I had given up on having any fun and helped Harley with his presents and opened mine and just sat on the floor. I was probably very, very pathetic but I at that time I didn't care. I had spent the past week trying to make everyone else happy that I'd forgotten about me and I was suffering mentally for it.
We played a Harry Potter game, which I did participate and had some fun. We got home about 10:15 so I still had about an hour before I was going to get the kids so I finished wrapping presents and getting stocking stuffers separated so it would be easy to do when all the kids were sound asleep.

Scott didn't help me finish the wrapping or get the stocking stuffers ready. I totally understand why he didn't want to go with me to get the kids. After I was sure the kids were asleep I arranged the presents under the tree, stuffed the stockings, and finally fell in bed and tried to talk to Scott. I asked him to please talk to me now and he didn't answer me. I asked him if he was angry or hurt and he didn't answer me. He just lay there staring at the TV. I finally gave up and told him I loved him and good night. He still didn't say anything.

Oh, I was sarcastic at one point and said Thanks so much for helping me with the wrapping. He still didn't say anything. I couldn't help the sarcasm. I was hurt. I understand he was too but to ignore me, I don't know what to think or say about that.

I think I finally fell asleep around 3am.

What a lovely start to Christmas.

I'll tell you all about Christmas day tomorrow.

Be Warned Long, Venting Post

It's turning into a not so very merry Christmas all of a sudden. My ex-in-laws are all of a sudden demanding to have the kids this Christmas.

It all started Tuesday when my ex MIL called to see what plans we had for this weekend, specifically Christmas Eve. I told her we were going to Scott's parent's house around 6pm that night. Ex MIL told me she wanted the kids that night and really didn't want to listen to me when I told her again what our plans were. I told her she is more than welcome to have the kids all day Saturday and I would pick them up about 5:30 that night but that wasn't good enough. I even brought up the fact that they had the kids last year for Christmas Eve and Christmas day. She chose to ignore this. I finally quit trying to explain and told her I will tell the kids their options and let them decide and have Emma call. That was mistake one. I should have had Emma tell me what her decision was and I should have called. hmph
Emma called her Grammy and told her what they wanted to do, which was to be there during the day so they could go to Scott's parent's house at night with us. Apparently Grammy talked her out of that and so Emma, being the emotional sweetheart that she is, gave in and said they will go for the night. I know she did this so she wouldn't hurt their feelings. She won't tell them no for anything just so she WON'T hurt their feelings.
I called ex MIL last night to confirm what had been said and she told me that Emma had never said they would go during the day that they only wanted to be their at night. I asked Emma about it while I had ex MIL on the phone. Emma told me everything she had told her Grammy. I left the room and asked ex MIL why she lied to me and she said I didn't lie to you Emma must have forgotten and you and I had miscommunication. Mistake two was me just giving in and telling her fine, do what you need to do and let me know when exactly you want the kids. We said goodbye and hung up.
Scott came home not long after and I told him what had happened and what I did. He became upset and proceeded to call ex MIL and explained what the annual plans were for his family on Christmas Eve and that they had missed last year, so he really wanted them this year. Ex MIL became extremely angry and started yelling at Scott so Scott raised his voice to try to talk so she could hear him over her own screams. He wasn't necessarily yelling at her but he was talking louder. Ex MIL told Scott to kiss her ass and hung up on him.
Scott immediately called back and ex FIL answered this time and both started in right away, Scott saying that ex MIL wouldn't calm down and let him talk and explain and ex FIL yelling that Scott had no right to yell at his wife. This went on for a few minutes until I could hear ex FIL start screaming at the top of his lungs.
I could hear ex FIL screaming but couldn't understand a word he was saying. At this time I just walked out of the room to get away from it. But Scott followed me and the next thing I know Scott is shouting that no, ex FIL can't come and take the kids away and if they step foot on our property the police will be called. He repeated that a couple times and then handed the phone to me and yelled at me, "TELL HIM HE IS NOT ALLOWED ON THIS PROPERTY". I took the phone and held it up and very calmly said to both men, "All of us need to stop this and realize that none of this is about us. It is all about those 2 beautiful children who are totally innocent in all of this."
Then I talked to my ex FIL and he started in on me saying that Scott had no right to yell at his wife and threaten them for coming to get the kids and telling them that Scott's parent's meant more to the kids than my ex's parents did and they were shit compared to Scott's parents. I stopped him right there and said that was a bold faced lie and how dare he stoop to that, where did he think I was during that whole phone fight. He never answered just went on to say that if anything ever happened between myself and Scott that Scott's parent's wouldn't care about the kids and I, we would be shit to them. I lost it right about then and started crying, ok more like sobbing, and told ex FIL I had to go and would call him back when I had calmed down. He kept trying to stop me and keep on talking but I hung up the phone.
Scott hugged me and I just clung to him as I cried for a few minutes. I calmed down and called ex FIL back and by that time I could hear ex MIL in the background talking to SW, I just couldn't hear what was said, just his name. Ex FIL also confirmed that they were talking. Ex FIL told me they had decided to just drop it and they would get the kids either Christmas night or the day after. I said fine and was about to tell him goodbye when ex FIL said "Hey Shannon, Merry Christmas". My response? "Yea to you too." So very cheery wasn't I?

I just knew that it wouldn't be long before SW would call and scream at me for everything that had been said and threaten to take the kids away. I waited and waited and calmed down enough to actually eat some dinner. I bathed Harley and got all the kids in bed and told them they could watch the Grinch movie just keep the volume down on their TV's.
The dreaded call never came so I gave in and called only to have to leave a message. I really didn't know if they just weren't home or if SW was avoiding me. I wouldn't put it past him to do that. I waited a while and became even more impatient and called again with still no answer. This time I waited for an hour before I called a third time. No answer again.
I decided a hot bath might help some and made sure all the kids were asleep and told Scott what I was going to do. He said ok if I wanted anything to let him know. He was being awfully nice because he knew I was upset with him as well. Not nearly as much as my ex-in-laws though.
I had my cell phone in the bathroom with me and had finally calmed down enough to really get back into the book I am reading, Memoirs of a Geisha, when my cell phone went off. It startled me so much I almost dropped the book into the water.
I just sat there staring at the phone as it buzzed and vibrated over to the edge of the tub and almost fell into the tub.
I braced myself and answered it and SW said hey, how are you, are you ok, I know we have issues and we'll get them straightened out and you don't need to worry about my parents. I was shocked. He asked me to tell him my side of the debacle. He sat there quietly while I started at the beginning and told him everything that had happened. He said ok this is what I got; his mom had called and said there was a tiny mix up for Christmas Eve and I had asked his mom not to call SW and tell him what was going on because I didn't want SW to be upset and didn't want to get into a fight. I told him I'd never said that and, in fact, he wasn't mentioned at all.
After sharing stories of what we had each heard, said, or did we decided that Scott and I would sit down and type out the visitation rights that are in our divorce papers and give them to his parent's and let them know this is when they can see the kids. We will stick by the holiday schedule unless SW wants them for that specific holiday and then the ex-in-laws will just have to deal with not seeing them. I also threw in that I will no longer deal with ex MIL, only ex FIL. That may seem childish but that woman has been nice to me once in the past 12 years. And that was this past September when my granny passed away. She has offered up nothing but snide, sarcastic, mean, nasty, and rude comments for as long as I can remember. She maybe said two words to me, if that, when SW and I were married and finally started talking to me only after I had Ethan.
I have done nothing but bend over backwards to accommodate the ex-in-laws and make sure they see the kids whenever they want to. The first 3 years after the divorce I called them every single time the kids asked to see them so the kids could at least talk to them. About 95% of the time the kids were told they couldn't come over because Grammy and grampy were too busy right now. I was so pushy about it because my ex's older brother had divorced a few years before SW and I had even married and SW's parent's had to fight for grandparents rights to see their grandson. I wanted to make sure they were aware that I would never do something like that.
After Scott came into my life I quit calling them but still let them see the kids whenever they asked.
After last night I have decided I will no longer cancel plans or rearrange plans to accommodate them. I did it for 6 1/2 years. NO MORE!

The only thing SW is upset about is Scott supposedly yelling at his mom. I told SW that Scott wasn't yelling he was just talking louder to try to have ex MIL hear him over her own screams. I said I refused to apologize for him because of the nastiness I have dealt with over the years and he would have to deal with it this one time. I did promise it would never happen again and Scott did say it wouldn't, mainly because he wouldn't be talking to them again.

I am sorry this is so long and thinking about it now I should have done this post in two or even three parts but once I started typing I didn't stop. It all just came pouring out. I'm sure I'll add on a second part when I think of something I missed or feel the need to vent some more.

I am just wondering what happened to the immature ex-husband from even a few months ago. I do believe he was replaced by a pod person. I totally expected him to take their side but surprisingly enough he didn't. He took the kids side. He kept reminding me that the kids were the ones suffering right now. I kept telling him I knew that and had tried to tell both my husband and his parents that but both kept screaming.
He asked that if it does happen again that I hang up on his parents and call him and he will 3-way them back into the call and he'll see just how nasty they'll be with him actually hearing the conversation, not just getting it second hand from one of us.

I'm ready for some heavily spike eggnog right about now. Or maybe a strong margarita.

I just still can't believe they really threatened to take the kids away from me. I am still in shock over that.

Tequila anyone?

My Christmas Elf Name

Borrowed from Yellow Rose's Garden


Ok I tried to put up a post as to what my Christmas Elf name is. For some reason it didn't come out right so I'll just tell you what my Christmas Elf name is.

It is Jolly Candy Lips. Lovely

You can go here to find out what your Christmas Elf name is.

Sick People Everywhere

Do you all want to hear what I woke up to Friday morning? It's such a lovely thing to hear.

Emma: "EEEWWWWWWWWW Ethan's puking again! Ethan get to the sink Ethan EThan ETHAN ETHAN NOW GO TO THE SINK!"

I fall out of bed and stumble into Ethan's room, which reeks. Harley is standing on his bed just yelling at the top of his lungs SHUSH SHUSH SHUSH. Emma is standing in the doorway with her fingers pinching her nose shut and I go out to the kitchen to find mom holding Ethan's head over the sink.
When Ethan throws up his whole body stiffens up so bad that it's hard to get him to move towards an acceptable place to vomit.
I tell Emma to quit yelling and please take Harley to the front of the house and then I start stripping Ethan's bed. The poor kid threw up so much and I don't know if he did it while he was asleep or if he was awake and couldn't come get me. It was all over his bed, the floor around his bed and the bins that held my winter clothes that I had opened the night before and just hadn't removed from his room. Why were they in his room you ask? Because his bed was the only place the bins would fit neatly under without being seen. And yes, my clothes were covered too.

It was bad enough that I had to clean off the bedding before we could put it in the washer. While I was doing all of this and getting everything to the washer area mom deposited Ethan in the bathroom and started working on the floors. When I finally got things clean enough to wash I checked on Ethan and he was laying on the bathroom floor, buck-naked and moaning. I had him get in the shower because he was filthy too. I had planned on staying in there with him and helping him but Emma started yelling something about one of the dogs breaking the fence. I told Ethan I'd be right back and ran out to the living room. She was watching something on tv and a dog was breaking the fence on tv. I told her to please SHUSH and went back to the bathroom. By that time Ethan was lying down in the tub and letting the water pound on him. He had turned the water up too and it was very hot and steamy in there. I'm surprised that didn't make him throw up again.

I barely made it to work on time and felt so bad for leaving mom with a puking boy and Harley but she told me to go and I have had so much time off lately that I felt I needed to come in. I told mom to call if he got worse and she needed help. She never called.

I was in the hopes that we could just veg at home all weekend and not leave. At all. Did I get my wish, NO! Saturday morning Ethan felt well enough to eat some toast, and it stayed down. But doing the regular laundry and and cleaning only lasted in the morning. Scott talked me into going shopping in the afternoon and promised we would only be gone for an hour or so. I managed to stay in my pj's until 1pm that day. My goal was for all day pj wearing!

Mom said she didn't mind if we left so I got dressed and off we went. We went to K-Mart, the mall, and Hell-Mart. We were going to hit Best Buy as well but couldn't find a parking spot so we left. We were gone a total of 5 hours and I was just a little (A LOT) irritated and locked myself in the bathroom for some quiet time without someone poking me or shoving me. Scott actually left the bathroom door shut and locked this time.

I am amazed at how extremely rude people are at this time of year. And these are the same people who don't teach their kids not to run in a store or restaurant. And they probably teach their kids it is ok to walk up to someone who is eating at the mall food court and try to poke their food (gross). Your kid touches my food, anywhere, doesn't matter where I am, I WILL slap their hand. Not enough to hurt them but enough to let them know that what they are doing is wrong. I don't care how mad you get I'll not deal with grimy hands touching my food!

When I finally came out of my hiding place Scott had dinner started. What a great guy! He met me at the kitchen door with a glass of wine and told me to sit down and he would get the kids' plates ready.

I did the dishes while Scott changed Harley's poopy diaper and asked Emma to run the diaper to the outside trash can. She pitched the biggest fit about that. It's dark outside, I'm scared, I shouldn't have to it's not my diaper, I didn't change it, I'm scared. This went on for a few minutes and I lost my cool and informed her, in a very quiet voice, she needed to get her butt in bed and not say a word until tomorrow morning. I must have scared her because she minded. After that Ethan went to bed pretty well and Harley acted like he was going to bed and every time we checked on him he would get out of bed and run around the room. He thinks he is such a ham. Ok, he is but when I'm ready for bed it's rather irritating.

Scott and I made the mistake of putting 40-Year Old Virgin in to watch at 11:30pm when I had to get up early to leave for Holbrook, AZ, which is a 4 hour drive. Scott had chickened out of meeting my aunt G and family for dinner at Denny's. Scott couldn't get off to go to Mesa next weekend so we met in Holbrook to eat lunch together and exchange gifts and then we headed home. Scott told me he had to work Sunday and then he admitted he might have to work on Sunday but he'd have to wait to see if they called him in. Then he told me as we were leaving yesterday morning to drive to Holbrook that he just didn't want to go. I was so upset with him. I asked him why he just didn't tell me the truth to begin with and now I'm upset and I don't want to go but I didn't want to stay home and be around him until I cooled off. He apologized and said he just didn't want me upset with him. Yep, that's the way to do it, LIE about it and then come clean as I am about to leave for an 8 hour drive. I got over it and can understand why he didn't want to drive just to eat lunch and exchange gifts when his work shift was last night from 6pm to 3am. We would have gotten home about an hour before he had to leave for work and he would have been exhausted but at least just tell me straight up you don't want to go. I won't question and will be ok. I promise. I'm not a fragile thing that you have to worry about. I can out-cuss any sailor I've ever met and I can be just downright mean, at least to SW but truthfully not to many others.

Ok, now that I have been disgusting and then vented I think maybe I am ready to go back to work now.

Oh, one more thing. Apparently Emma told Ethan's teacher and his aide that it looked like someone had picked up Ethan by his feet and swung him in a circle as he puked. My daughter portrays such lovely, vivid imagery sometimes.

Christmas Stories

Flashback Friday is about Christmas/December stories.

Every year, for as long as I can remember, mom, grandma and I would pile in the car on the first day of Christmas break from school and drive the 8 hours to Mesa AZ to spend Christmas with my aunts, uncles, and cousins.
We always stayed at my favorite Aunt G's house and always had so much fun. I always wanted to move to Mesa to live near her when I grew up. But I haven't made it there yet. I'd still love to move there.

We would always have so much food around and go out to eat for so many dinners and my cousins and I would run around, playing and having fun.

There is not really one particular Christmas that sticks out in my mind because our parents' kept the holidays so similar that they seemed to blend together. I could always count on seeing my cousins and playing, watching the original Miracle on 34th Street on Christmas Eve, getting up on Christmas morning and opening our stockings, and then eating something yummy for breakfast. But, before we could even touch the presents we would all have to get dressed and make our beds. That's ok, we managed to survive those minutes of torture.

When we could finally open presents it wasn't a free for all. It started with the oldest person in the room and went down to the youngest. You would open one present and then the next youngest person would open one. It would take up to 3 hours to open all the presents and all of the kids would get so antsy and wiggle and run around looking at what everyone else had and try to sneek peaks of unopened presents.

I was always the quiet one and my cousins would get told to sit down and be quiet, please sit down, where are your manners, quit hitting your brother or sister or whatever my cousins were doing. I wanted to act up so bad but I was the oldest and I had figured out that the quieter you were and if you sat very still you would get to all of your presents much faster.

I did act up one year. It had been a tough year with granny and she just seemed to be much meaner than she was in the past. We had our two chihuahuas with us, Chiquita and Chaco, and that meant there were 6 adults, 5 kids, and 4 dogs. There were fewer relatives that year. One night just after Christmas day and right before we went home the chihuahuas got stuck together. They were outside, trying to um, reproduce, and got stuck. Now I understand why but back then I didn't understand what had happened. Mom told me not to tell people about it because that is just not the kind of stuff you share with anyone. I still didn't understand why you can't tell people about it, I was only in the 4th grade and it worried me to see those two little dogs hopping around outside, stuck together. At one point they were butt to butt trying to run around the yard. The adults were trying to not laugh and us kids were just concerned they were hurt.

Of course since mom told me not to tell anyone about it I proceded to tell everyone about it. Everyone I met at my Aunt's Catholic church heard about the stuck dog incident, everyone at the restaurant after church, and of course any one else who was around to hear the story. I even told my class about it for show and tell when we got back from Christmas break. My poor teacher, it was her first year teaching and she had no idea how to handle it.

I was in so much trouble when we got home. My mom was very disappointed in me for doing exactly what she had told me not to do. I think because I rarely did that. I was such a quiet little girl and always had my head stuck in a book. I think it just shocked her so much that I would disobey her like that and about something so embarrasing that she didn't know what to do!

Christmas's have changed obviously. We can no longer go to Mesa every Christmas, mainly due to work schedules. That is ok, we try to meet half way one weekend day for lunch and to exchange presents. At least we get to see them. Since mom was an elementary school teacher it was easy to get away. Now, not so easy.

Now we spend Christmas Eve with Scott's family and Christmas day at home. We still have fun and I have managed to carry on some of my mom's rules. You can open presents when everyone is up but you have to be dressed with your bed made before we do presents. I think that is the only day of the year that I make my bed anymore. I'm such a hypocrite sometimes. LOL

This year is so different. I am normally so ready for Christmas by now. I wear Christmas shirts and jingly earrings and necklaces and santa hats. I am just so much cheerful. I know it all has to do with granny passing. It will be strange this year but we will all muddle through it.

I'll eventually get in the holiday spirt, probably on Christmas Eve during our church service when we are singing my favorite Christmas hymns.

Everyone have a great weekend.

I Passed

YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA I passed my final with flying colors. It is done and over with, for now. I probably have another course on the way. That's ok, it will help with my career.

Last night was our church Christmas party and I made myself go. I called our bowling partners and told them I wouldn't be there and to please start looking for replacements for Scott and I because his Wednesday schedule has him working until 10pm almost every Wednesday for the next 6 months at least. I am so glad because I am tired of bowling for now. We bowled once a week for 2 years straight. When the winter league would end Scott would find a summer league to join to get the cool Nascar jacket or a specialized bowling ball. But now it's over! Happy Dance Happy Dance
The mean old biddy church lady** was there but she stayed away from me and didn't say one word to me. I had a few people come up to tell me how happy they were to see me and they were so glad I'd come.

Harley sat on Santa's lap for all of 2 seconds before his little face crumpled and he started crying. Santa kept him though and managed to distract him by helping him unwrap his present. And what did he get? A little gameboy type game. I am so thrilled about that. It's just so Great that he got that with all the lights and buzzers and beeps and music and tiny buttons that are just the right size for pudgy little fingers. It says it has 265 different games on it. whoopee ee can you just feel the sarcasm?

Emma opened up a table ping pong set and Ethan opened up a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle. They are both thrilled with their presents. Ethan still slept with his King Kong toy though.

Both mom and I got candles. One smells just like a chocolate chip cookie. It made me hungry for cookies and it didn't help that I had to make brownies for both kids class parties. They aren't allowed to call them Christmas or even Holiday parties any more. I was good, I didn't eat any brownies.

I just sniffed them.


**The mean old biddy church lady is the one spreading the rumors about Scott and I not taking care of granny and letting her die on purpose.

A Happy 10 year old

We didn't eat at Johnny Carino's because a large company here in town had reserved it for their Christmas Party. Ethan's second choice was Chili's. It was good but I was so looking forward to their lasagna and some dessert. Oh well, I'll get there someday.

Ethan asked everyone for batman stuff for his birthday and my mom was the only one who gave him batman stuff. He loved it but it was pushed to the side as soon as he opened one of the gifts that Scott and I chose. It was a King Kong toy from the new movie that comes out today. He played with them at the restaurant, in the car on the way home, King Kong and the lizard went to bed with him, ate breakfast with him this morning, and had to hug and kiss them goodbye when we left for school this morning. My mom also gave him a nice sweater and he hugged it too and said it smelled soft. Yep, you read right, it smelled soft. I didn't know anything could smell soft.
SW gave him Dukes of Hazard DVD's, from the tv series, not the new movie. SO, of course he will want to watch them. There are a couple of shows and movies that I can't stand because of SW. They are the Dukes of Hazard and Smokie and the Bandit. Smokie and the Bandit are not allowed in my house! For some reason I just can't stand that movie. I have been known to turn off the tv and totally leave the house if I notice it is on. ick

He was thrilled with eveything he received and went to bed a happy boy.
____________________________________________________________________

I am still tired and trying to recover from the weekend. You would think by Wednesday I would be but nope, I'm not. Friday Scott and I were just going to get groceries and then go to bed early because he had to work early Saturday and we had my office Christmas party. We had just pulled into the driveway at 11:15pm and were about to unload groceries when a friend called, she was extremely drunk and laughing so hard I could barely understand her, and yelled to come over come over come over I am drunk and I just fell off my stair and then I couldn't understand the rest of what she said other than it was another friend's 35th birthday.
Scott and I unloaded groceries quickly and went ahead and drove over to Friend's house. As soon as I sat down at her table I was handed a shot of Tequila (tokillya) and then as soon as I had that down everyone took a shot so I got another. They all thought I had to get caught up apparently. By the time we left, a little before 2am, I had 3 shots and 2 mixed drinks. I was warm and fuzzy and didn't have a care in the world.
Scott was the designated driver, mainly because he had to work the next morning, and just laughed at me the whole night and then the next morning when I woke up with half a hangover. I say half because my head never hurt, just my stomach. After I threw up once and ate some toast I felt normal.
I still had lots of stuff to do for soccer and managed to get all of it done along with helping to decorate for the party.
Scott and I made it to the part at 7pm and only stayed until 9:30. A friend's wedding reception was the same night and we flew over to their party to find that it had already ended so we went home and were in bed asleep by 11pm. Sunday morning I was up early to help clean up after the party and then the family went to see the Chronicles of Narnia. Excellent movie and I can hardly wait to see it again. We did take Harley because I had planned to take the kids to the movie Sunday but I neglected to find a sitter. I was concerned about having to get up to take him out of the theater during the movie but never had to. Harley watched all of it, except for a 20 minute nap, just enthralled with it all. Everytime the Lion roared he would say OHH and his eyes would get so big. If it was a part that was a little scary, at least to a child, he would cover his eyes and peak through his fingers (I just want to know where he has learned that! it was too cute). All 3 kids enjoyed it immensely and both Ethan and Harley were roaring for the rest of the day.
After the movie a friend came and picked up the couch we have wanted to get rid of for a while and he finally got a place to put it. As long as if it's out of our house I don't care what happens to it! I got busy sorting all the soccer flyers and had to count out enough to go to all 10 elementary schools in our area. Thank goodness mom sat down to help.
After that I had to type out the minutes of the last soccer meeting and e-mail those to all the board members and then get the agenda ready for this month's meeting. Scott went to work, the rest of us ate dinner, the older kids went to bed, and mom & I put the Christmas tree up.

I finally fell into bed at 11:30pm and knew when Scott got home from work at 3am he would wake me up. Well, the crew managed to get the stocking done early so he was home by 1:15am and I barely registered that he was home.

I'm ready for a nap just reliving it all!

Need to study a little more though because I am taking my final exam today. A little nervous but not bad. Yet

Everyone have a good hump day!

The Big 10 (oh my)

Today is the day my baby turns 10 Years Old**. You know, it's not my birthdays that bother me, it is my children's birthdays that bother me. My birthdays come and go, I celebrate and watch fire works (it's on the 3rd of July), and then go on with life and never blink an eye about my age going up one number.
When one of my kids has a birthday it is eye opener. Especially this birthday for Ethan!

My pregnancy with him was ok. I lost weight because I was sick 24/7 for 8 1/2 months. I finally felt ok the last 2 weeks of his pregnancy. I developed toxemia about 7 1/2 months and was supposed to be on bed rest but when you work full time and your husband likes to spend money we didn't have, well, I kind of ignored that order. I worked in an office and they did have a nice break room with a couch in it and they made me lay down for 20 minutes ever hour and a half. I went into labor with him Tuesday night and had him by c-section Wednesday morning. The labor wasn't bad at all. For this one, now Emma and Harley are totally different stories.
When I had a contraction my entire mid section was tighten up and my back would twinge but there wasn't any real pain. I was young and naive and sat there on my hospital bed thinking if this is all it's like what is all the talk about pain.
By the time I was taken to the OR to have him my contractions were a minute apart and they had to hurry to get the spinal done. I had to have a c-section because he was breech and wouldn't turn around for anything. They were going to let me try to push until the doctors realized that he was coming out folded in half, butt first. It would have killed Ethan and seriously hurt me, or killed me too.
SW was out to sea at the time and my mom had flown in to be with me and help out however she could.
Ethan came during hurricane force winds and rain. The news hadn't classified it as a hurricane though. My waters broke about 7:30pm on Tuesday night and I called the doctor to see if he wanted me to get to the hospital. He told me to head out and be careful because of the weather. Ethan was born during the eye of the not-hurricane. He was just fine but my blood pressure soared as soon as they were done with me. I spent longer in recovery because of my blood pressure but the doctors soon managed to get that back to normal and I was up and walking around when he was about 8 hours old.
The most vivid thing I remember about the surgery is that the moment they pulled Ethan out of me and held him up for my mom to see him, was my mom yelling "HE HAS BALLS". Everyone in the room burst into laughter. I laughed the hardest and the doctor had to tell me to quit laughing so they could finish up. They had me in a hammock type thing and it was shaking every time I took a breath and giggled. I laughed especially hard because my mom does not say things like that. She is a retired elementary school teacher and never cussed, ever. Or said anything derogatory. I was so shocked that she said something like that. The doctor had never promised it was a boy or a girl because everytime I had an ultrasound he would turn his back to us.

My life has not been dull one moment since he was born. He was a "normal" baby. He ate well, slept through the night right at 6 week, sat up, crawled, and walked right at the time all of the "experts" say he should have. It wasn't until he was almost 2 that I noticed he was different than others his age. He quit taking naps and would only sleep about 2 hours a night and be up and running the rest of the time. At first I didn't think anything of it because I had a new baby and was up nursing her anyways.
He has come so far from where we started. His school work improves every day. Some days are better than others and he still has blowups but those are easily calmed with a hug. He leans, I hug. We have to direct him to put his arms around us for a proper hug. Every time he has to go through more testing he is so cheerful about it. If something strikes him wrong about the tester he won't do as good and won't try but that rarely happens.

Ethan was so excited when I woke him up this morning because it had snowed. He was sure that God made it snow just for his birthday. All he wants for his birthday is a batman set and to eat supper at Johnny Carino's. He is so easy to please most of the time and that more than makes up for his special needs.

I suppose I should actually get to work now. I am excited to get home this evening to see how is birthday at school was!

**click on the link of 10 year old birthday and it will take you to a site that tells you about when you were conceived, how many months, weeks, days, and minutes you are alive, what you are in dog years and lots of other things.

My Birth Month

Your Birth Month is July

Introspective and intense, you tend to be a deep thinker.You are quiet and spiritual - and you have a unique perspective on life. Your soul reflects: Lightness, luck and an open heart Your gemstone: Ruby Your flower: Larkspur Your colors: Green and red

What Does Your Birth Month Mean?

Feels like a quiz day

You Are Comet

A total daredevil, you're the reindeer with an edge! Why You're Naughty: You almost gave Santa a heart attack when you took him sky diving Why You're Nice: You always make sure the sleigh is going warp speed

Which of Santa's Reindeer Are You?

Flashback Friday

Flashback Friday at HeartSongs is your favorite Christmas Song. This actually took lots of pondering over the past couple days as I wondered what really was my favorite song. I love all of them. I love to sing all of them in church, in the car, at work, at home, anywhere.

I have two favoritest ones. The first is O Holy Night. I love to sing it, hearing the range in the song, starting out softly and then building it up. I really don't know what else to say, I just love to sing it!

The other one is Silent Night. Same reason, I just love to sing it. I remember singing both songs in so many Christmas Contatas in my church choir so many times.

I think those are the first 2 songs I remember memorizing when I was a child. I like all the kids Christmas songs but the hymns are beautiful.

Wow, all that pondering and such a little post about it!

This post isn't very good, I think because I am just so tired. Scott's first day on the job went really well but he didn't get off work until 10pm. He got home at 10:30 and I stayed awake to hear about his first day. I had to get up at 5am this morning to get the kids up, ready, and out the door because I had yet another conference for Ethan at 7:15 this morning. I'm just not a fully functioning person without 8 full hours of sleep a night. Last night I only got about 5 hours. I need those other 3 sooooooo bad!

Tomorrow is our office Christmas party. I'm really looking forward to a night out with my hubby, around my friends, with good food, good music, and some alcohol! Strawberry Daquiris are calling my name.

Ethan's IEP went very well. He is excelling so well with this 3rd grade teacher. I wish she would just move up through the grades with Ethan. She has just as much energy as he does.
He is almost caught up with his grade level academically. I'm so thrilled to hear that. I knew it but to actually hear it from his teachers and therapists it makes it that much real.
Socially he is still behind. He will always be unaware of social cues and others' emotions. That is just a part him and his issues. He is learning to take cues from his friends and schoolmates about laughing at jokes and when to be quiet. I am so impressed with this.
His teacher, aid, and therapists all commented on how long it has been since he had an outburst in school. None of them can remember, they know it was close to the beginning of the year though. That is excellent! I think he is saving it all up for home though. I'd rather he was good at school and lose it at home.

Guess I should go. Time to get back to the busy phones... blech

I should be studying

But I'm not. What am I doing? I am catching up on my reading of the BLOGS. You know, those blogs that are on my sidebar, the ones I read religiously every day, well, almost every day.

Now, I should actually study because I finished all of the chapters and now the final exam is waiting for me. I do have until February 12th to finish it but if I finish it before the end of the year it will look good on my year end review. It will be worth it to finish it now.
I am taking the final tomorrow so I really need to study.

Go Study.

Now.

Can't seem to drag myself away from here. It's just not working.

Little story about Harley.

It was -2 outside this morning. Really frickin cold. Not just cold but frickin cold. When it is that cold we let the dogs out long enough to do their business and then bring them right back in. This morning the dogs were back in for about an hour and already asking to go back out. Harley was spinning in circles, holding his cup (or bobble as he still calls it) high above his head. Pongo came flying in from the front living room and screeched to a stop right in front of Harley just as Harley was completing a spin and stopped nose to nose with Pongo.
It scared Harley and he yelped, threw his cup up in the air and fell down. He rolled over onto his stomach with his butt sticking up in the air and started to throw a fit. As he is crying he is kicking one leg back trying to kick Pongo. How dare that dog scare him and make him fall down! It was too funny and I couldn't help by laugh.
Here is this big black Lab, sitting just out of kicking reach from a fitting toddler, just staring at Harley with his tongue lolling out of his mouth. Harley is kicking and screaming and will stop screaming every few seconds to look back at Pongo to see if anything is connecting.
When Harley finally realized that he wasn't actually touching Pongo he gets up, picks up his cup, pats Pongo on the head and goes back to spinning.
That little scene gave me a good giggle before I had to leave for work.

Poor Harley thinks he can spin just like his big brother Ethan. There is something in Ethan's brain that allows him to spin and spin and spin and keep on spinning and he WON'T GET DIZZY. And Ethan loves to spin. He will spin so much some days that it makes me dizzy. Harley has this lovely part that allows him to get dizzy and he just doesn't realize yet that Ethan won't get dizzy.
Harley will realize this some day.

Must now S T U D Y

I survived Disneyland

We left Thursday afternoon, after Scott's job interview!!*, and headed to Mesa, AZ to drop mom off at my aunt's house. We got up kind of early Friday and headed off to Anaheim and Disneyland.
I slept during most of the trip and the kids watched movies. I love our portable DVD player. It keeps them quiet and there is almost no bickering. It was definitely worth the money we spent.

Ok, you would think since we are in a different state, with different restaurants than what we have here in the 4 corners that we would choose somewhere new to eat for lunch. Right? No, we ate at De1 Tac0. We have those here! I was ok with that and thought for supper we could do something different.

We headed over to Disneyland and wandered around downtown Disney and did some shopping. And spent lots of too much money. I was glad we did because I discovered that downtown Disney has an Anne Geddes store. I LOVE Anne Geddes. Besides Winnie the Pooh, our bathroom is decorated with lots of Anne Geddes prints.
As soon as we enter the store a sales girl walks up to welcome us and informs us that Anne Geddes is there and will autograph her new book. I rarely get excited about meeting celebrities, I don't know why. I figure they are people just like you and me, just with lots more money. For some reason I got very excited. I couldn't believe she was there and I could actually meet her in person and speak to her and shake her hand and OH MY GOD.
Then I realized what I looked like. We had traveled 5 hours to get to our hotel and then ate lunch, and wouldn't you know it but some hot sauce dripped on my shirt. It wasn't a big drip and I blotted it off and Scott said if you didn't know what you were looking for you wouldn't see anything. But still I had a stain on my shirt. That morning I didn't do my hair, I just showered, got dressed, got everyone in the car, and we left. Before we left the room I had pulled my hair back and tried to make it look ok, but still...

I quickly snatched up her new book and got in line to pay for it. Scott had barely moved away from the front door and was turning in circles, waving his arms around yelling Woa Woa where'd ya go. Emma had followed me and Ethan was standing next to Scott, kind of off in his own little world. He's off in his own little world alot lately, almost like he is backsliding not progressing. HMMM
Anyways, the line was very long to pay for the book but one of the associates said I could have her sign it before we purchased it. And no one was in her line at the moment so Emma ran over there and just started talking to her. She informed Ms. Geddes that our bathroom walls were covered in her pictures, and our screensavers, and clothes, and and and. Thank goodness Ms. Geddes found her so charming and the gentleman that was with Ms. Geddes got a big kick out of Emma. Their accents were charming. Emma kept talking to the man while Ms. Geddes signed our book and I paid for the book. If the trip had been ruined for what even reason, it still would have been a great trip because I got to meet Anne Geddes. :):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):)

After meeting Anne Geddes we wandered a little more and then went back to our room. I was still excited about trying a different restaurant but by the time we got back to our room it was almost 8pm. We didn't get lost but we forgot about traffic on the highways in California. So instead of eating at a new restaurant we went to the grocery store across the street from our room and got some fruit and salads and cookies. I know, nutritious except for the cookies, they just looked good.

Disney was open from 8am to Midnight that day. We got there at 8:15 am and didn't leave until 11:45pm. I was so tired I could hardly walk to the tram that took us to the parking garage. The kids were grouchy, which I knew would happen, and Scott was glaring and upset because he wanted to ride Space Mountain one more time before we left and it broke down right before we got up to ride it. The computer system shut down for some reason. There was also gossip running through the line that some kid had puke in the middle of the ride and they had to shut it down and turn on all the lights in it to clean it all up. Just glad it wasn't me doing the cleaning if that was the truth.
We had a blast and walked around the whole park at least 6 times. The Haunted Mansion was decorated with The Nightmare Before Christmas and Jack Skeleton. Splash Mountain was actually running this time, it wasn't when we were there in July, and I actually got on it. I don't like roller coasters and long drops. I was brave though and said I would ride it with the kids. We get through the line and get in our canoe, or whatever they are called, and get up to the first short drop and there is one canoe stopped in front of us. We sit there, waiting for them to go and it never moved. Apparently the little doors wouldn't open to let them down the drop. We were bumped from behind as at least 4 more canoes piled up behind us and after about 2o minutes of sitting there, listening to the water rush by underneath us, one of the "cast members" came up and helped us out of our canoes. We got a fast pass to use on any ride but Space Mountain because it broke down while we were sitting there. We got to go on it finally and I did ok down the last drop. I just had my eyes closed and screamed. Really loud. I wish we bought the picture it took of our canoe because it was hilarious. The kid in the front seat had his eyes closed and his hands together as if he were praying. The kid right behind him had his eyes open and his arms spread wide. Emma was scrunched way down and you could barely see her, Ethan was grinning, I had my eyes closed and was hanging on for dear life, and Scott was sitting up straight, his arms reaching above his head.

It was a fast trip, lots of fun, and I am exhausted. We got home Sunday at 11pm and by the time we got kids in bed, and things situated enough for us to go to bed it was after midnight. And I even made it to work yesterday.

I feel so much better, even after the fast trip. My throat just feels scratchy and I am tired.

The next thing coming up is my office Christmas party and a friends wedding reception. All on the same night. So half the evening will be at my Christmas party and the other half at the wedding reception. I'd just skip the party but I have helped plan it and feel I need to go for a while.

*And Scott is now fully employed. He starts Thursday and he is the assistant manager at Checker Auto. Its something he enjoys, working with cars and car parts, and I can quit worrying about paying all the bills and groceries and whatever else might pop up because he'll be bringing in a paycheck again! Happy Dance Happy Dance

One Sick Puppy

And that would be me. I felt ok Friday and Saturday.
Sunday I woke up feeling a bit yucky. Emma went off to church with my mom, Scott went to work (oh yea, he got a job with his dad, still not sure if it is a good thing), and Harley, Ethan, and I stayed home. I got up enough energy to paint almost all of the cabinet doors and some more of the cupboards. I'm almost done! Yea.
When dinner time rolled around none of us felt like cooking so Scott and I went to Papa Murphy's for pizza. You have to cook their pizza but you don't have to make it. Plus it's really good pizza! I only ate 2 pieces of their pizza that night. Normally I over do it and eat lots of pizza. I didn't think anything of it and cleaned up my painting mess and made the older kids get to bed and finally coerced Harley into bed. We finally put him in his toddler bed and so far it is ok.
I woke up about 2am shivering and my whole body was aching. My throat hurt too but I assumed that was from the paint fumes. Scott threw another blanket over me and I lay there shivering and dozing until my alarm went off. I managed to get up long enough to tell the kids to have a good day at school and call in sick to work. Then I went back to bed for the whole day. I managed to sit up for a whole 20 minutes that night, and it was in front of a nice fire that Scott made. I drank maybe a total of 3 cups of hot tea and didn't eat anything. Emma kept insisting on taking my temperature and she panicked when she read one that said 102.2. Nyquil was my friend that night.
When I woke up Tuesday and didn't feel any different I decided to drag my butt to the doctor. I thought my fever had broken but I still had one when I got to the doctor. I was half asleep when doc walked into the room and took one look at me and said you are SICK. Really!
Ok, sarcasm comes on so much more when I am ill. He looked down my throat and did all the tests that needed to be done and told me I have acute tonsillitis and strepthroat. Just what I needed right now!
Today I feel a little better. I have run a slight fever all day but I have eaten a little and drank alot. I've also managed to be up for over 5 hours without getting dizzy. Progress!
I had tonsillitis in the 3rd grade and both my mom and the doctor threatened to put me in the hospital because I wasn't drinking. Scary for an 8 year old.
We have had a surprise trip planned for the kids for a couple of weeks now and I really don't want to cancel it. I took all week off to recover but we are supposed to leave tomorrow afternoon. It's an early Christmas present to Disneyland again. I know we just went this past summer but they loved it so much and Scott won tickets to it so we thought we would go again. I'll have had 4 days of antibiotics in me and hopefully will feel up to it. If not I'll just feel crappy as I twirl in the teacups and scream down Splash Mountain. Scott told me I can sleep all the way there to save up energy. We have our portable DVD player packed with lots of movies to keep the kids quiet and happy. We actually have them believing we are going to see the Statue of Liberty.
My mother-in-law is keeping Harley and I'll miss him but he just didn't appreciate the last trip there and he wouldn't appreciate this very quick trip at all. This trip will just be one day, not two, and it will be much faster. He'll be happier chasing the puppies and chickens with Nana. We are dropping my mom off at my aunt's house in Mesa, AZ so she can have a break from everything.
I need to go, still have a little more packing to do and the bed is starting to call my name.

Turkey Overload

Yesterday I ate the most turkey I have eaten in a long, long time. I'm not sure why. Turkey for Thanksgiving dinner and then leftovers for supper. I was so full!

The day started out like a normal day. Harley yelling from his crib, HEY, letting us all know he is awake and ready to terrorize the house, the guinea pig squealing from his cage, ready for his daily carrots, and Ethan and Emma running around arguing over the bathroom. I remind them I don't know how many times a morning that we have more than one bathroom, please quit fighting over that one bathroom.

Mom cooked the turkey, which I volunteered to cook but no, she had to do it. Not sure why. She also made the pies, stuffing, and vegetables that we were taking to dinner at the in-laws. She wouldn't let me do anything.
So, since it was not even 7am I put Emma in charge of Harley and went back to bed for a couple hours. Scott and I snuggled until the rambunctious children had the house rattling.
I braided Emma's hair, threatened to cut Ethan's hair, and we all watched the Backyardigans with Harley.
At noon we headed over to the in-laws and played the radio and sang loud to keep Harley awake for lunch. We got there and Harley ran wild chasing the dogs around and poking his chubby, little fingers through the chicken coop wire. Those chickens love him. They won't peck him but they'll crowd around the fence when he is there and just talk to him. It's pretty loud. The cats come chase him around and he is in heaven.
We finished preparing food as my sister-in-law and her family filed in. My SIL & BIL sat around watching TV with my husband, complaining about the lack of programming for the holiday and whatever else came to mind. My BIL went off about my hair and kept telling Scott what a stupid man he was for letting me cut my hair. My husband told him that he likes my hair cut, he doesn't take care of my hair, and he's not a controlling ass like BIL is so he really should just shut up before I lose my cool. I managed to ignore the whole conversation until SIL said she really loved my new hair cut and then BIL went off on her. I don't condone divorce but wow, he is such a controlling jerk and I can't stand him. I manage to be civil to him but that's about it.
When all the food was done SIL's family filled their plates and started eating before the rest of us were done serving ourselves. Oh well, the sooner they finished eating, the sooner they left for their other thanksgiving dinner with BIL's parents. Is that bad of me to think that?
Harley sat next to me for dinner, not at the kids table. Instead of putting him in his booster seat my MIL pushed a step-stool with a back up to the table for him and he was thrilled with it. He'd eat a little and then run check in sissy. Then he'd come back and eat some more and look for his puppy's. He was worn out by the time we actually made it home.
When we were done eating SIL's family left and we started cleaning up the food and divvying up what was left. I had the kids take stuff out to the van and followed them to help open the back door. I had towels arranged to put the food on in case anything spilled. I took the food from the kids and sent them back in to get the rest. As I was putting the food in the back all 4 of my in-laws cats started winding around my legs and then one by one, jumping into the van and pawing at the food. I'd throw the cats out and before I could reach up to grab the door to shut it, they were back up in the van. I did this I don't know how many times before I gave up and just stood there, holding the food, screaming for help. I was laughing at myself too hard to actually go into the house to ask for help. Scott came running out of the house and as soon as he saw me he cracked up. I had a pan of turkey in one hand and a bowl of stuffing in the other. I had one cat literally climbing up one leg and another cat pawing at the other. The other 2 cats were sitting in the back of the van trying to jump on me. They were meowing, the chickens were bac-bacing, the dogs were barking at the cats and chickens, and I was laughing hysterically.
It took a kid in the front seat of the van, Scott in the middle seat of the van, and me throwing cats away from the door for us to get the food in the van and the door shut. After all that was done we said goodbye and got in the van. I almost had my door shut and a cat tried to hitch a ride. It was the pregnant kitty and I'm sure she wanted that turkey.
We giggled all the way home and then most of slept for a couple hours. We watched the Charlie Brown Thanksgiving and got the biggest kick out of watching Ethan, not the show. He was laughing so hard at the part where Snoopy was wrestling with the lawn chair that he was crying. He was laying on his side, holding his stomach as he belly giggled through the whole thing. At the next commercial he ran to the bathroom, and he was still giggling in the bathroom.

Unfortunately Scott had to leave at 5:30 this morning so we were in bed early, even after the 2 hour nap.

Now I am at work and there is still an hour and a half before my work day is done. We are having Mexican food for supper though. Seafood Enchiladas. YUMMY and of course left over pie when we get home from the restaurant!

Everyone have a great weekend.

Turkey Day Eve

Well, Thanksgiving is tomorrow and I still haven't found my holiday spirit. So much has happened this year that I don't know if I will find it. Scott and I are even talking about going to Disneyland for Christmas. Just packing up for a long weekend and leaving the state. The kids would be thrilled but grandparents and other family members would be angry, hurt, depressed, who knows what else.
Tomorrow will be spent cooking in the morning and then lugging what we do cook over to Scott's mom's house for the family dinner. Dinner will be at 1pm so it's still light enough outside to do whatever we wish when we are through eating.
Don't get me wrong, I will enjoy the time spent with family but by now I'm normally ready to cook and bake and EAT.
So much has happened and it will just be weird not having my granny here to celebrate the holidays with us.

I am thankful for my life, my children, my husband, my mom, my job, and so many other things.
My life is filled with so many wonderful things.
Humor and chaos from my husband, and yes, in this case chaos is good.
Hugs, kisses, imagination, playfulness, mischievousness, and big ol' belly laughs from my children.
Peace, calmness, and tranquility from my mom.
Wonderful friends at my job that help keep me sane when things are falling apart around me and make me laugh so hard I cry.
I am also thankful for the many different kinds of CHOCOLATE! Especially Dark Chocolate. Yes, that is probably strange to some but I love chocolate. I am a chocaholic, something I'll probably always be.

I'm even thankful for my children calling me a mean mom because I made their dentist appointment for today, their first day off for the Thanksgiving Holiday. I was informed that it is their time off and they shouldn't have to worry about chores or reading or even Dentist offices. I just laughed as I walked out the door for work this morning. My mom took them to the dentist. Was that mean of me? Eh oh well. They'll get over it.

Harley refused to say bye-bye to me this morning. I guess because dad and brother and sister were home mom should stay home too. It carried over to lunch time. When it was time to come back to work he still hadn't looked at me or hugged me. He'll get over it too. I hope.
His newest thing is telling someone OUT while he is pointing at the door, if he doesn't like what you have said or done or not reading his book fast enough.

Time to go, we still have to bowl tonight, yuck. I am really very tired of bowling and want to stop but we have to find two people to replace us so the captain of our team isn't stuck paying our weekly fees.

Wishing everyone a Happy Thanksgiving

Monday Morning

I am sitting at work still trying to wake up. It is 10:15 and I have been up since 6am and still don't feel awake. I've been staring at my feet and just now noticed I have paint on the big toe of my left shoe.

I finally got my butt in gear and started painting kitchen cabinet doors yesterday afternoon. I started this project two years ago. Re-painting the kitchen has been going since before Harley was born. I knew I was a procistinator but WOW. I am bad.

It all started when mom and I decided to build on to the house. Once the addition was complete I decided I wanted to re-do the kitchen too. Scott and I bought new countertops, a new stovetop, and a new dishwasher. All of those items are in, including the new carpet. The only thing left is the painting and for some reason I can't get my butt in gear to do it. Yesterday I made Scott take the paint back to Home Depot to have it remixed since it sat in the kitchen for those 2 years. I managed to get 8 doors half way painted.
Hopefully now that I have started I'll keep on going and finish in the next couple weeks.

So as I was zoning out at work, missing I don't how many phone calls, I noticed there is white paint on my shoe from yesterdays painting spree. I have on black shoes too. I didn't even notice it last night or this morning when I put my shoes back on. I'm just glad I was painting outside and not in the kitchen. I'll need to check the back porch to see how many paint drops are on it. And yes, this does mean that we haven't had any cabinet doors up in the kitchen for 2 years now.


We managed to finish Christmas and Birthday shopping for three of the demons so only 2 more demons to buy for. Those two are easy. They live in other states so they get gift certificates. I know, I know, that is cheating but the shipping is so much cheaper and they can buy what they want.
I would have no idea where to start looking for a present for a 13 year old and a 22 year old.

Time to go doze off again.

Mental Note to Queen of Procrastination: Remember to wear white shoes when painting!!!!!

FlashBack Friday already

Time sure does fly when you have an amazingly busy, boring week. Flashback Friday is back at HeartSongs and this week it is about stitches, casts, childhood injuries or surgeries.

I wasn't a physically active child. My kind of activity consisted of the page turning kind. I started reading at 4 and was reading a few years above my grade level all through school.

The 5th grade brought the first big fund raiser that I remember participating in. I sold the most of flower seeds, vegetable seeds, and who knows what other kind of seeds in the my grade level. At the school assembly to present the awards I was presented with a phone. I was so happy, a phone of my very own! I felt so cool to have won something like that and that motivated me to run out to the playground with all of my classmates and join in an impromptu softball game. I was still chicken though and played way in outfield. Way way outfield. One kid actually managed to hit the ball to me though. Straight to me. In fact, it landed a few inches in front of me and as I bent to snatch it from the roll, it bounced off a rock and hit my nose, just under my eyes. I never lost consciousness but my vision blacked out and I saw stars. A couple of friends led me to the nurses office where they got the bleeding stopped and just had me sit there with my head tipped back, waiting for my vision to return. When it finally came back the first thing I saw when I looked down was blood, covering my jeans. And then I saw my mom sitting there. I knew she was there because I had heard her voice but it didn't register. Lucky me, I went to the same school that my mom taught at.
She did look concerned but ok. She is like me and can handle blood just fine. She helped my clean up my face and combed my hair and then sent me back to class with a can of coke and the dried blood on my jeans. GEE THANKS MOM. My head hurt for a few days and I never saw the doctor. She never really felt bad about not letting me go home or taking me to the doctor.
I was tested for allergies when I was 19 and found that I had a deviated septum. Mom realized that the only time this could have happened was the 5th grade softball incident. This is when she felt bad and apologized the whole 3 hour drive home. I made her buy me dinner when we got back home.

Other than the nose thing I haven't had any stitches, casts, or major issues. The only surgeries I have had are the 3 c-sections for the 3 demons that now reside in my house. And I had staples after all three.

I was pretty active in high school playing volleyball. I wasn't on the team but had fun during P.E. and sometimes practiced with them. And I broke at least 5 pairs of glasses during those years. There were probably more glasses broken but I never counted. It was bad enough that I had my own box at the eye care office we used. They had written my name on it in black marker.

So far so good with the kids. No broken bones, sprained appendages, or any cuts requiring stitches. It's only a matter of time though. Emma is bound and determined to become a professional soccer player and Harley is a rough and tumble little boy. He loves his Backyardigans and that is the only time he sits perfectly still. You can't even get his attention. Well, you can if you walk in front of the tv and then he will pick up his little Pooh chair and drag it around you, put it down and sit back down. He'll do this without taking his eyes off the television. Once the show is over he is off and running. Or trying to ride the poor dog.

Almost time to go home. This week was very long for some reason. Scott stood in line for a few hours and managed to get tickets to the opening night of Harry Potter for tonight.

Everyone have a good weekend

Harley-isms

Our little pudge is such a HAM. He loves the camera and will give his most winning smile when he sees it at ready. He still doesn't talk much but he sure does "talk". He'll say EH and AH to try to tell us what he wants. When I ask him to say a word he will just look at me and giggle as if I just said the funniest thing in the world. He'll answer yes and no by nodding or shaking his head and he understands what we tell him to do. He is so smart, very intelligent. Even though he is my son, I am in no way biased. Of course Not. hehe

The other day I was getting ready for work and he sat in there and watched me dry my hair, put on makeup and deodorant, brush my teeth, and get dressed. While I did my hair he sat there and brushed his hair. When I was putting on deodorant I looked at him and he had his shirt pulled up, pointing at his armpits. When it was time to brush teeth I handed him his toothbrush and he stood right by me and "brushed" his teeth. Ok, mostly he chewed on the bristles. When I was done and spit and rinsed what does he do? He spits. And he does have spit in his mouth. But, because he is still a shorty and can just reach up to the bathroom counter, not actually see the bathroom counter unless he backs way up to the wall and stands on his tiptoes, his spit landed on the floor and the cabinets. Then he giggled and threw his toothbrush on the floor. Lovely. It sat in mouthwash for a while. I do keep my bathroom clean but we don't put a toothbrush in our mouth after it was on the bathroom floor. No matter what.

When he has a temper tantrum, which are few and far between, he will very carefully sit down on the floor, then lay down, and then he will kick and flail his arms and scream. After having 3 kids now my reaction is to just walk away. Mainly because I think it is so funny that he doesn't just throw himself down and start to pound the floor. He is oh-so careful to not hurt himself.

He loves baths and if you even mention that word in his presence he will grab your finger and drag you to the bathroom. I truly think that is his favorite room. He loves to play in the cabinets and take everything out and inspect it and then he'll put it all back and start all over. I'm glad I have never kept anything harmful in those cabinets. Ok, he could hurt himself with clippies but so far so good. He hasn't even put them in his mouth. The only things he likes in his mouth, besides food that is, are his fingers. And only his fingers. When he is teething and I try to stick on of my fingers in his mouth to check the lumps his lips clamp down tight. Nothing is getting in there.

Let's see, what else does he do? Oh, he tries to ride the poor dog around. Our lab, Pongo, is so good with him and will take any abuse that Harley doles out. Pongo will just be laying there and Harley will run up and jump on him and bounce up and down. I think Pongo loves the attention though.

When he is done eating he will throw his fork or spoon on the floor and throw his food at us. Wait, he quit doing that. Now he still throws his silverware on the floor but he will push his plate away and shrug his shoulder and hold his arms up as if to say I don't know but to him that means ALL DONE. Or, I'm done, get me out of this chair so I can run and play, now woman, NOW! Sometimes I really think that he has this inner dialogue like Stewie on the Family Guy. Quite often he has a similar look as Stewie. Make yourself useful Woman and wipe my bottom

And a side note before I go. I am feeling like an Amazon woman at work lately. Not sure why. I'm one of the tallest women here, if not the tallest, and I'm not that tall. I'm only 5'6 but I'm feeling so tall. If only I could grow another 4 inches, then I wouldn't have so much weight to worry about!

FlashBack Friday

Today's theme at HeartSongs is The First Kiss.
I remember the first time a boy kissed me but I really don't count that because I was only 12, I think, and it was all slobbery. Pretty gross

But a person can have so many first kisses during their life. The first time my first boyfriend kissed me it was just a peck on the lips.
We had decided to start hanging out together because the two that we liked were dating each other. We just kind of fell into hanging out together to keep each other company, I guess you could say comfort company. We watched movies together, played video games, did what ever friends do. But we were a boy and a girl. Not many people believed that we weren't dating because we were always together.
The night he kissed me we were at his house and he was laying on the living room floor and I was laying on the couch. It was just him and his dad that lived in the house, his mom had died when he was young. His dad was out on a date.
We were watching some movie, again it seemed like that's almost all we did, and he rolled over and looked at me for the longest time. I finally asked WHAT! He said nothing and rolled back over. A few minutes later he did it again but this time he asked if I wanted something to drink. I told him no thanks but he continued to lay there, his hand propping his head up, staring at me. I started staring back at him and after a while his face started turning red. The blush started at his forehead and rolled all the way down his face to his neck and disappeared below his collar.
I started giggling and asked him what his problem was and he said nothing but continued to stare at me. I tried to ignore him and a few minutes later he crawled over to me and kissed me. It was just a peck but..... there it was. A kiss.
I had no idea what to think because I still liked this other boy and as far as I knew he still liked the other girl.
We kissed a couple more times, they were a little more than pecks, and then went back to the movie. When the movie was over I said "OK, goodnight" and got up and walked out.
He called the next day and apologized and asked me to come over for yet another movie that night.

We ended up dating for about 2 months, until the two that we liked broke up with each other and he called to tell me about it. Then he broke up with me and was on a date with her two nights later. At first I was upset but then I realized it was pointless to be upset, we had started out as friends with no intention of becoming anything else and I wanted to stay friends. We are still friends, and he is married to a wonderful woman and they just had their first baby.

I did get the other guy and we were together for 3 years and I almost married him.
Now his first kiss, that was a KISS.
It made my knees weak and my insides melt. I lost track of time and probably almost lost consciousness. It was soooooo good.
See, this guy had joined the Navy and was stationed on the East Coast. He came home on leave about 8 months before our wedding to help finalize most of it. About 3 weeks before our wedding he called to tell me that he had gotten his roommates girlfriend pregnant. I hung up on him and proceeded to call every single friend and family member that had received an invitation and told them the wedding was off.
And then I didn't speak to him again for over a year. And then we hooked up again when he got out of the Navy and because I just loved him so much. And we had another first kiss which was just as good as the very first kiss. I love my husband very, very much but this guy still has the ability to make me weak in the knees. I really hate that!

Actually, the best first kisses I have had is when each of my three babies learned how to kiss and I received my first kisses from them. Those are sweet and cherished and tucked away in my heart.
And now that I have become a little sappy I am done for a while.

I hope everyone has a great weekend.