All in a days work

I have an Eagle Scout. Officially he will be presented and celebrated July 25. I am so proud of him. How much he has matured over time. Yeah I know, the kid will be starting drivers education Monday. How the heck did that happen?

The kiddo's will be out of school next week. Another summer with bored children. haha. I hope we can find something to keep them busy every day.

Superdaddy is still working at his job thank heavens. We are trying to adjust to having 1/3 of a paycheck that he used to have. Hopefully things will iron out soon.

New job brings him home everyday but once a week. Part of me misses him being gone all week. Talk about feeling guilty about it. I wish some days he would be gone a few more days. Never mind him having to drive to and from work everyday and gas prices are going up and up again. Our grocery bill is going up. I used to package food for me and the kids for the week, and package family packs for the weekends. Well to be honest, for the first time in almost 2 months, it is time for the grocery store. Never mind I go almost weekly for bread and dairy products. Our freezer has never been so empty. Can almost holler into it and have an echo back.

I know I am so thankful that PIA has gotten married. She is so preoccupied with her new hubby that she is finally leaving my hubby alone. Last weekend she tried to dump kids on Superdaddy but he was out of town for work and told her to call me. No phone call so I was let off the hook.

Hope everyone is ready to have a wonderful summer. I know I am.

Eagle Scout?

My brain is fried. My anxiety level is so very high. I have forgotten to mention a "good anxiety peaker". Bubba has his "Eagle Board of Review" today. HOLY CRAP!!!

I almost have an Eagle scout at my house!

Anxiety my friend

Looks like I'm gonna be a mom again.

Sigh



Superdaddy's little brother will be staying with us for a little while. He wants to go to school and get his diploma and such. He is 18 and I am clueless!!! I have an almost 16 year old. I don't know how I will cope with an 8 year old.

Oh yeah, and his 14 year old sister will be staying with us for the summer. She is the one I wrote about last summer.

Yeah 2 more mouths to feed. 2 more people's laundry. I am not dealing well right now. My anxiety level is beyond peeked.

Belated!!

Things have been chugging along.

Happy belated Mother's day to everyone. Those that have babies, those that have 4 legged babies, those that are desperately trying for babies, those that have angel babies, those that are parents to babies who don't belong to them.

Mother's day was wonderful. I was woken up at 5:30 by a baby Thumper who just wanted to cuddle. Again at 6:30 by Miss G wanting to tell dad Miss J made me breakfast instead of them all making it. Again at 6:45 by Miss M telling on Miss J. Yet again at 6:50 by chicky telling dad that I'm gonna be mad for having eggs and cereal all at once. Yes, my breakfast consisted of:

2 over easy eggs (pink eggs) by Miss G
butchered apple by Miss M
huge glass of cherry Koolaid (yuck) Chicky
Cereal and milk (Miss J)
banana (Miss J)

Lots of blessings. I was blessed beyond belief that after the girls woke me up I got Thumper to sleep with me on the couch for some cuddle time. Slept through church oops. I made home made macaroni & cheese YUM. The girls had to go home at 4:00 pm though.

My grand parents finally made it from Florida for the summer. They have yet to see Thumper until Saturday. I took the girls over to visit them. It was so nice to see them again. Need to get pictures next time. They are getting up there in age.

Words to live by

Lord, please keep Your arm around my shoulders and Your hand over my mouth! Amen

Three's

The master cylinder has proven to be a royal pain in the rear end. Well rather not the cylinder itself, but the bolt that holds the darn thing onto the car. It has been stripped out by a nameless child of mine that was working on removing it for repair.

My lovely daughter, Miss J has pointed out to me that it comes in Threes.

Car 1.) Blower motor in van goes out. No heat, no air, no defroster
Car 2.) Master Cylinder goes out. No brakes. Just found out it is a dealer only part. Apparently cars from1990 did not come with ABS; only the SSE's and that was a special order part. That special order part costs $2,000 to reoder. That is more than the value of my 1990 SSE car with over 223,000 miles on it. Just lovely.
Car 3.) Yet to come

House 1.) Water in bathroom; Sprinkler
House 2.) Furnace blower goes out: no heat, no air. Cost of replacement part is to the tune of $200.
House 3.) Yet to come

Banking 1.) Foreclosure?
Banking 2.) IRS seizing assets
Banking 3.) Yet to come

Sheesh!! I cannot wait to spend some time outdoors. Heck, I long to mow the lawn now a days. How crazy is that?

Dumped again

Lately things have dumped...and dumped...and dumped. And regarding my last post, I am not suicidial.

Right before Christmas, Superdaddy got laid off of work. For almost whole month of December. All of January and almost all of February. He was looking for a job during that time. Trust me he was a looking.

He never did get called back to the OO job. Any who, on maternity leave, we get 40% of our pay. Needless to say, we owed February, March, and April house note. Shut offs for utilities because one month we paid Gas and next month electric. Never mind our water bill is past due too (they are gonna put a lien on our home apparently).

Mortgage company will not make payment arrangements. I even offered them a payment and a half. No dice. All or nothing. I got paid Friday and got a certified check for a payment and a half and paid the baby sitter. I have exactly enough to have gas to go to work all week...or so I thought.

Last week I made arrangements with IRS for back taxes Superdaddy owes. He was 1099'd by an old boss. Actually 2 times 1099'd. Don't ask me how, but we only got one and only filed one. Needless to say, we owe close to $3000 for 2006. I knew we would owe this year and had to do the taxes to find out what we owed so I could make arrangements. I did and made them arrangements last week. YIPPEE!!!

IRS seized my assets. MINE!! Not Superdaddy's. They froze my bank account today. The froze and confiscated my children's bank accounts today. As in, I have no gas money to get to work rest of week.

I am so tired of living paycheck to paycheck. How do I tell mortgage company they took my accounts? How do I tell the sitter, she won't get paid next week?

Never mind, last night Chicky was taking a bath and the water wouldn't shut off. As in the hot water!! It kept going and going. We turned it off at the hot water tank. Therefore no hot water. Superdaddy fixed it today at the grand cost of $10 for parts, never mind the shower curtain rod, and the wall, and the paneling. Yeah.

Today the master cylinder went out on our 1990 car. This car has 230,000 miles. Is it worth it to fix it? That and the trans is slipping pretty good. Never mind we cannot get a new used car.

We are blessed to have 6 healthy children and employment. We are blessed to have a roof over heads (even if just for today). We are blessed to have some food in our home. Tomorrow is a new day. We will be blessed for another morning we wake up breathing.

Life

She's home from Chicago, she had a great time.

The IRS sucks....Now I understand why people take their own lives.

Dear God, make me a bird so I can fly far...far, far away from here. (Forrest Gump)

One day at a time

Irritation

I have a friend. She watches my kids. Tomorrow I have a wedding to go to and she will be watching Thumper and Chicky. She asked me to bring hamburger over so Chicky could eat Hamburgers with them. I guess that is what they are having for dinner. You cannot tell me that my 5 year old will eat them out of house and home. My burger is frozen into 2lb packages. I don't have money to go buy enough burger for her to have a burger. I said well I will bring McDonald's hamburger for her. She was like there are other kids here and that isn't fair. Uggg.

The IRS is going to garnish my bank account for taxes we owe. Never mind I called 3-4 times to set up arrangements but they didn't want to make arrangements until I filed taxes this year. We owe a total of $3,900. There are people who owe so much more and they go years and years. I just don't get it. Why do they insist on punishing the "struggling lower-middle class".

Off my pity potty. Good night.

Another day in paradise

So Miss J is in Chicago. I am still stressed. My Ex-SIL had made a comment that "maybe I'll just keep her forever". Can I tell you that particular situation has been in my dreams since before J went down there.

Miss J called me yesterday. Things seem to be going good. I miss her.

Saturday is the affordable vaccinate your animal day in our city. Great and wonderful. However, Superdaddy, mom and Bubba will all be at scout camp. I have to take my 60 lb German Shepherd, moms 40 lb Beagle, moms 10 lb. cat, my 8 lb cat, Chicky and Thumper and do this on my own!! This should be comical to say the least. Oh yeah, and I have a wedding to go to at 3:30.

My SIL called me today. She wanted to know if Miss S still has my insurance. She called from my MIL's phone. Why MIL didn't call me is beyond me. Something about "This is SIL. I wanted to know if Miss S still has Insurance? We found the insurance card and wanted to know if it would work to take her to the doctor. She is pretty sick." Are you kidding me? "If they need your SS# I will call you back." This is the same SIL who hit my friends car 3 years ago. The same SIL that just screwed over PIA with Girl Scout Cookies. MIL has guardianship over her. MIL is supposed to provide insurance on her not us. I had her on my insurance plan as a courtesy and in case Miss S decided to come stay with us, she already had insurance. My job allows for me to provide insurance for my step-children one we got married. With the economy, my premium was going up as with everyone else's and we opted to drop her off our insurance (haven't seen her in over 3 years). We will see how the dice land this time.

Stress

A lecturer when explaining stress management to an audience, raised a glassof water and asked
How heavy is this glass of water?

Answers called out ranged from 20g to 500g.
The lecturer replied, "The absolute weight doesn't matter.
It depends on how long you try to hold it.

If I hold it for a minute, that's not a problem.
If I hold it for an hour, I'll have an ache in my right arm.
If I hold it for a day, you;ll have to call an ambulance.

In each case, it's the same weight, but the longer I hold it, the heavier it becomes.

He continued,
An that's the way it is with stress management.
If we carry our burdens all the time, sooner or later,
As the burden becomes increasingly heavy,
we won't be able to carry on.

As with the glass of water,
You have to put it down for a while and rest before holding it again.
When we're refreshed, we can carry on with the burden.

So, before you return home tonight, put the burden of work down.

Don't carry it home.
You can pick it up tomorrow.
Whatever burdens you're carring now,
Let them down for a moment if you can.

So, my friend, put down anything that may be a burden to you right now.
Don't pick it up again until after you've rested a while.
Here are some great ways of dealing with the burdens of life:

*Accept that some days you're the pigeon,
And some days you're the statue.

* Always keep your words soft and sweet,
Just in case you have to eat them.

*Always wear stuff that will make you look good
If you die in the middle of it.

*Drive carefully. It's not only cars that can be
recalled by their maker.

*If you can't be kind, at least have the decency to be vague.

*If you lend someone $20 and never see that person again,
It was probably worth it.

*It may be that your sole purpose in life is simply to be kind to others.

*Never put both feet in your mouth at the same time,
because then you won't have a leg to stand on.

*Nobody cares if you can't dance well.
Just get up and dance.

*Since it's the early worm that gets eaten by the bird, sleep late.

*The second mouse gets the cheese.

*When everything's coming your way,
You're in the wrong lane.

*Birthdays are good for you.
The more you have, the longer you live.

*You may be only one person in the world,
But you may also be the world to one person.

*Some mistakes are too much fun to only make once.

*We could learn a lot from crayons...Some are sharp, some are pretty and some are dull.
Some have weird names, and all are different colors, but they all have to live in the same box.

*A truly happy person is one who can enjoy the scenery on a detour.

Have an awesome day and know that someone has thought about you today... I did

Anxiety

Miss J is going to Chicago to spend some time with her aunt. I am beside myself with anxiety. Not that Auntie has the capability of taking care of an 11 year old; just the fact that she hasn't spoken to or seen Auntie in almost 4 years except for a handful of times. Literally I can count on one hand the times. J is so excited to go. I cannot bear the thought of not letting her go. Bubba is kinda disappointed he doesn't get to go somewhere for spring break. I told him maybe next year. He was invited to go to Chicago as well, but he has baseball practice.

Good golly I sure do need a drink.

Hope everyone had a great Easter. I know mine was busy as is all the holiday's.

The garbage truck rule

The Garbage Truck Rule – anonymous

One day I hopped in a taxi and we took off for the airport. We were driving in the right lane when suddenly a car jumped out of a parking space right in front of us. My taxi driver slammed on his brakes, skidded, and missed the other car by just inches! The driver of the other car whipped his head around and started yelling at us. My taxi driver just smiled and waved at the guy. And, I mean, he was really friendly.

So I asked, “Why did you just do that? This guy almost ruined your car and sent us to the hospital!” This is when my tax driver taught me what I now call, ‘The Law of the Garbage Truck’.

He explained that many people are like garbage trucks. They run around full of garbage, full of frustration, full of anger, and full of disappointment. As their garbage piles up, they need a place to dump it and sometimes they’ll dump it on you. Don’t take it personally. Just smile, wave, wish them well, and move on. Don’t take their garbage and spread it to other people at work, at home, or on the streets.

The bottom line is that successful people do not let garbage trucks take over their day. Life’s too short to wake up in the morning with regrets, so… Love the people who treat you right. Pray for the ones who don’t.
Life is ten percent what happens to you and ninety percent attitude!

Have a garbage-free day!

Dont send me to Girl Scout Camp

Please mom don't send me to girl scout camp!

This weekend was draining. We went to Girl Scout Camp. Had a blast. 24 lil girls wanting to "mother" baby Thumper. Yes she went to camp with us. Daddy didn't think he could survive a whole weekend alone with her. That and one of my leaders wanted to have a weekend sleep over with Thumper.

One of the lil girls got sick on Friday night...in her sleep. As in, she didn't wake anyone up. As in, she slept in her sleeping bag filled with regurgitation. Saturday her lips turned blue.

Who the hell sends their child to camp an hour and a half from home and doesn't answer the phone that they gave the leader to call for emergencies?? They do. I left 5 messages! They didn't call back. Never mind she vomited in her sleep, never mind her lips turned blue. NO ANSWER. NO RETURN CALL!

Finally got a hold of the grandmother who got a hold of the parents. They couldn't pick her up. My mom had to drive her home. The dad claimed he took her to urgent care. There was nothing wrong with her. The doctor told the dad the blue lips were from lack of oxygen. NO doubt! Her mom said it was probably just poor lighting in the cabin.

Oye. Will post a picture of this really wicked bridge the girls went on when I get mom's camera. The bridge was about 5 feet off of water. A beaver built a dam under the bridge. The bridge was about 18 inches wide. With no rails to hold onto. We crossed it.

I now need a vacation.

Burnout!

It has been a long week. Things are status quo around here.

I have been asking myself what the hell did I get myself into? More times this last week than I have I think in my lifetime.

PIA has been letting the kids come over for church during the week. This is great for the kids have been wanting to go to church for the Monday kids program for the last 5 years. Plus midweek services and such. Problem is...I have child burn out. I love the kids dearly with all my heart, I am just burned out.

My girl scout troop is going camping this weekend coming up. I have so much to do to prepare for camp myself and yet I have the kids under foot and I have to pack them for camp too. It is "our" activity so we have to provide the "supplies". Thumper will be joining us for camp as well.

The Circus is coming to town. I don't mean my children will be in town. The Shr.iners have donated 5,000 tickets to this Thursday's circus. I along with hundreds of other Detroiter's braved the cold wind to get 4 free tickets per family. See the logistics. Only 4 tickets. I had to drag my mom's butt out of bed to stand in line with me. We almost got tickets in different areas. Luckily I had the brains to ask if it was seat specific which it was and drag mom's butt to my window to get consecutive seats. Even had to drag Eddie (my babysitter/friend's husband) to my window so we could all sit together.

Bottom line, this was our weekend. Had the kids last week, Friday (scouts), Saturday overnight to Sunday (Miss G came), Monday (church), Wednesday (church), Friday (scouts), Saturday, Sunday, Monday (church), Wednesday (church), Thursday (circus), Friday (scout camp), Saturday (scout camp), Sunday (scout camp), Monday (church play), Thursday (church), Friday (church) in the last 2 weeks. I think she should be paying me child support. Ha Ha!

The issues are still there at home. I think he is ready to bolt. This economy sucks, we are sinking and both tired of not having any money for anything. We still have not celebrated Chicky's birthday, let alone Miss J's or Miss G's birthday. We barely have gas money to get to work this week. I know it is ever where and I apologize for making it my "pity potty". It just sucks.

Parenting teenagers suck....Parenting pre-teen's sucks even more. Reality vs Fantasy. The lies the children come up with. The rooms that never see clean floors. The dressers that remain empty even after laundry has been done. Oye.

Just another day in Paradise.

Issues

I have issues.


Things have been hectic on my front. Some things are hectic for the best...some not so much so.

Parenting teenagers sucks.

Parenting pre-teenagers sucks worse.

Sick-O's

I managed to be off of work for 6 weeks and care for my sick-o children. Guess what? hubby got sick last week and I managed to get a "leaky" nose yesterday. My darn nose looks like Rudolph from wiping it so much. Thumper had a fever the last 2 days. Fun times I tell ya. She has not been sleeping well due to her stuffy nose.

Superdaddy has to stay out of town tonight due to work. I am somewhat relieved and somewhat nervous. His ex has no heat in her house. We had the kids this weekend, Monday for church, Monday night, Tuesday night and tonight for church. It is draining me to have to get 6 kids ready for me to be to work on time every day. The girls just don't want to get moving and it drives me crazy. I am used to getting 3 ready, now I am getting the routine of 4, but the other 2 are used to moms routine. Akkk!!

Thank goodness cookie time is almost over. I have had nightmares about the Girl Scout cookies. We did very good this year considering the peanut butter contamination and all. Will be so happy once the last 6 cases are gone.

D Day

Today is my dreaded return to work date. Of course, last night Thumper decided to pull an almost all nighter. She should sleep well for the sitter today. Haven't been able to update at home due to no funds to pay the Internet bill. Hell no funds to pay many bills.

Superdaddy got a local job that is a huge pay cut, but hell he can be home nightly. He isn't driving a 53 footer though. He is driving a box refrigerator truck. I'm not quite sure how I feel about him being home daily though. Strange. Probably because I was home with him for 6 weeks every day. He was driving me batty!!!

PIA did get married. Her fiance had a "major heart attach" the eve of the wedding. Sometime around 3:00 am Saturday morning he collapsed in the hall way and had to go to ER. According to the story, he was on life support and walked out Sunday morning. I saw the wedding album and have to say, the "life support" was an oxygen mask. Next she tells, he pulled his trach out so he could check out. My dad had a trach and he definately does not have one of those. Any which way, she is sweet as sugar and honey to the kids and Superdaddy. She even let them come to midweek service at church last week for Ash Wednesday.

How bout this, she even invited Miss J to Miss G's birthday party to celebrate together. They are only 3 days and a year apart. She wants the kids to all come. Ha!

Maybe just maybe she will "cool her heels" for a little bit.

Got lots of catching up to do.

Here is a pic from "party girl Thumper" last night.

Almost 2 weeks already?

Life with Thumper seems to be much harder on mommy than it was 5 years ago. She is a really good baby and sleeps a lot. She only wakes 2 times at night one around midnight and one around 6 am or so. I just have no energy. I don't remember being so damn tired after Chicky was born. Superdaddy has been home to help (yeah ok) and isn't expected to go back to work for like another 3 weeks or so. Lets hope GM doesn't push it back again. The bill collectors have started to call already.

Bubba is pretty sick this week. I took him in to get checked out and weighed myself. I am down 18 pounds or so since delivery. Not bad I guess. Only bonus was that I only gained 0.4 pounds my whole pregnancy due to the gestational diabetes diet.

Work is driving me crazy. They got a new temp I guess the week after I had the baby. She seems to be working out I guess. They cannot figure out how to order supplies or board surgeries. Not a good thing when you work for 6 surgeons.

The girls got webkins for Christmas. They seem to have got me addicted to "checking on them" during the day. I like the games you can play with them and earn coins. Too bad my "no cleaning" restriction is up Sunday. Poor webkin will get neglected I think as the house will not clean itself.

This weekend the step kids will be back over. They have not been over since Thumper was born. I wonder how they will deal with us being home now. Grandma brought them to the hospital but I wasn't there for their visit (having a procedure done). Our dog still cracks me up. She paces the floor when Thumper cries. Only 2 times has the dog woke her up by being "nosey" and touching Thumper with her cold nose. The cat however, has no clue there is a baby in the house. She is too busy tormenting the dog.

Hope to catch up on everyone's blog soon. (during my free time again).

Thumper has arrived!!

Baby's Name: Thumper/Violet

Gender: Female

Date of Birth: January 17, 2009

Original Due Date: January 19, 2009

Height/Weight: 7lbs. 6.5 oz. / 18.9 inches long

Story/Pictures:
Saturday dad and grandma were supposed to take Bubba to a boy scout function. In our state, it was single digit weather so I kind of advised against going. They were gonna see how I was feeling. Thumper had not dropped into my pelvis yet. When I woke up Saturday morning, I began having contractions that were about 16 minutes apart. They were lasting about 30 seconds. Pain scale rated about 3. Went back to bed until Chicky woke up. When she got up, I got up with her. All morning, they didnt get closer or longer. Dad and grandma did not go to the function (good thing). it was supposed to be from 6am until about 9pm. The girls were bickering all day and the youngest needed a nap. I talked her into going to take a nap with me about noon.

When we got up around 3pm, the contractions were about 4 mintues apart. Very mild. After watching the clock and trying to keep busy, dad decided to make supper and we were gonna call the doctor after supper. I told him we could not stay until after supper and it was almost time to go. He went and started the car while I called the doctor. She thought it was probably early labor and said because we were under a snow advisory I would come in if I really felt necessary or try to weather it out. We waited about 15 minutes for me to decide it was definately time to go.

We got to the hospital about 6pm. They took me to triage to assess if t was really labor about 6:15. When they hooked me up to the monitor, Thumper's heart rate went down with every contraction. They wheeled me into the room and the room was filled with people (probably 6:30 or so). She checked me and I was at 6 cm. After a few minutes, dad was gonna go get something to eat and I told him she would be here within an hour. My mom was not really convinced though (she was watching the other kids at home). My body was trying really hard to push and when they checked me again, I still had cervix and my water had not broken yet (though I was a 9). Once my water broke, they put an internal monitor on her head and her heartrate was still going down fast. The doctor pushed my cervix out of the way and they told me to push.
As I pushed, they were calling out the heart rate and it was going down and not coming back up. As daddy put it, she spit out like a watermelon seed. She was born in literally 70 seconds of pushing. The nurse told me because of her heart tones going so low, they were worried she was "going to the light" and I was 30 seconds away from a c-section.

We are doing well and has a very strong suck reflex.