Friday, June 29, 2007

Climbing the walls

Just a typical day around here. Monkee-ing around. Notice the two-fer? Monkee see, Monkee do!

Thursday, June 28, 2007

At least the kids are cute

More pictures on The Other Site~ http://myduckies.spaces.live.com/

It's a hard knock life...

Have you ever felt like you were getting the short end of the deal, that the "good stuff" happens to other people? That you have missed out, been passed over, over looked and/or disregarded? Invisible and in demand all at once.

Kinda feeling like that this morning. And It sucks.

I KNOW I am lucky to have what I have, to have been the places I have been, raise the children I was blessed with... It is horrible to feel this unappreciative, there are people who tell me how lucky I am. That they always wanted a big family, etc...As they are on their way to a spontaneous dinner, or headed for a vacation, or out shopping for things they want, rather than just the things that they need.

Damn, some days are hard. Impossible hard where you just want to throw a tantrum (you've seen enough to know how to do one properly!) and cry.

I wouldn't trade what I have for the world, it would just be nice to catch a break once in a while. A little extra time. A little extra money. A little less stress. A lot less bickering.

There are a lot of "It would be so nice to.... get away for the weekend, have extra room around the house, to just be"- instead of to be just constantly struggling.

Then, I get surprised with a good day, and unexpected hug. A toothless baby smile, and I feel better- and couldn't ask for anything more in life.

But not today. Today it's hard.

Wednesday, June 27, 2007

In L-O-V-E

I am smitten. Twitterpated. Head over heels in love-

with my washer and dryer. They WORK!!! They are HUGE- I can wash nearly twice as much a load as I could with the old set...And with the amount of laundry the Mud Monkees create... this is a VERY GOOD thing.

Enough about my love...I just wish the rest of the chores around here were so pleasant. Or I didn't have to do them.

Sure... Like THAT is going to happen!

It has been an odd week around here. Besides my new love moving in, Grandma has been taking the Big 'uns out golfing. That leaves me at home with the 3 shortest (loudest) ones. I just about don't know what to do with myself!

It is beyond strange to go to town, and start to talk to a child who isn't even there. The head count seems weird, I never had 3 kids (well, for more than 9 minutes anyway!) and I keep looking around for "the other ones."

I don't know how many times I went to show the girls a shirt, and then realize they were with grandma... or ask Billy to go grab something, and feel like a total dork when I notice that I am just talking to myself. JJ even thinks I am weird. And he's 3. What does THAT say?!

The Big 'uns seem to be doing pretty well- the eldset 2 have had lessons before, and seem to have the hang of it. Bill has pretty much always been able to drive farther than me, and Ken is doing it now too. It is just an ego killer to know that the 7 year olds can... and the 5 year old is better than they are. (Don't tell them I said so though, that wouldn't go over very well with the dynamic duo!)

It is pretty amazing to watch them, especially when they don't know that they are under observation. The serious ones are not who you'd expect, and it is scary to know that the girls already have their flirt on.

Oh, Big Brother... you have your work cut out for you!!

It's nice they get to go out and play, and practice... but I kinda miss having them all around. Even though they drive me nuts. Maybe because they drive me nuts.

Tomorrow is their last class, and then all the little monkees will be back- them complaining about not having anything to do, and me whining that I wish they'd just do something other than pick on each other.

Ahh, summer living... back to "normal!!"

Monday, June 25, 2007

Chunk. Chunk-chunk.

Today was different.

Went and picked out the new (to me) washer and dryer. Ours OF COURSE- died within a week of each other. Very nice. At least they were considerate enough for one to short out, and the other to flood the laundry room. Alternately.

Anyway, they are GONE. Bye Bye Peg and Al... Hello to Betty and Barney. I figured I should name them, I spend SO MUCH of my life in their presence. This way I can pretend they are friends of mine, and people won't think I'm looney when I go on and on about the time spent with them.

I know, I need to get out more.

So after that lovely CHUNK of the budget, I made an appointment to replace the windshield of "The Cool Car"... chunk chunk.

Now I get to plan and prepare for THE July. We have 5 family birthdays in July- My Sister, My hubby and 3 kids. So, it's a lot like Christmas around here. But with more cake. And no tree.

Chunk chunk chunk.

Ahhh, and here I sit. No job, no school...and me naming the apppliances/

Wow, I love this town- and all of its opportunities. Honestly, if I had a life (outside of these walls) I never would have met Betty. And that would just be sad.

Embrace the simple life

Here it is Monday again. (It IS Monday, right?) Hubster is off at work, the big boys are at grandmas "helping" (aka living it up with Uncle Bobs big screen and Grandpas ice cream) and the Girls are using the team approach to getting Blondie to actually DO her homework. Cross your fingers!!

Yes, I make the kids do homework. IN. THE. SUMMER. I got really tired of hearing "I'm bored" and they are too short to paint the house. Just another attempt at saving what meager portion of what sanity I have left.

I'll let you know if it works.

I do love that the kids are getting big enough to sit at home if I need to do an emergency diet Pepsi run. Seriously. Me with out caffeine is an Emergency. Capital E. Ask the kids.

Well the store is only about 5 minutes away, so a 15 minute sprint (sanity break) is nice. I usually have a clinger or two, but sometimes a break from the 10 minutes of load, buckle, run back inside to get what someone forgot. Drive the 5 minutes to the store, 10 minutes to unload. Brave the public (are ALL those YOURS?!) Reload. Unload. Pop some Tylenol. A 15 minute near solo trip is a nice break from the near hour it would take otherwise.

Inevitably someone will make it to the car missing at least one shoe. Or pants. But that's a rant for another day. Unloading has its own quirks, such as Where did those fries come from? What was that smell? How many heads do we have? And "don't leave your shoe in the car?!!!"

Come to think of it, it might same time if they just kept them in there. Hummmm.

Cheap flops in the van= peace of mind + minutes shaved from the loading process.

Might have something there :)