Grace-Filled Days 9-30-09

1. I love, love, love an asiago cheesebagel from Panera and a White Beryyblossom tea from Starbucks (light, 1 sugar!) It's the best way to start the morning.

2. Just put clean sheets on the bed, sheets that dried on the line in the sun. Is it time for bed yet? I can't wait.

3. #2 is home again from Grandma's house. It sounds like he had a really good time. Now comes the fun part, when we get to retrain him after a week and a half of being the only child.

4. I took #1 to get measured for her new cheerleading uniform last night. All the other girls kept telling her "I love your mom." I didn't tell them that it's because I'm "the Mom". It was fun to be the cool mom, she kept hugging me and glowing all the way home. Yay for the cool Mom!

5.I love it when predictable people do exactly what you knew they would. Hence the whole predictable thing....It amuses me every time when I can accurately tell word for word and action for action what someone's response will be.

That either makes them predicable or me psychic! Fear me! Muahahahahaha

Enough Already

I know that #6 is a beautiful baby.
I know his little feet are the cutest thing you've ever seen.
I know he looks sweet in his sling all curled up on my chest.
I know that seeing his sweet face may remind you of your own babies who are now grown up and don't look so sweet when drooling in their sleep.
I know that one of the best things in the world is sniffing the baby head.
I know that the lure of a baby's cheek is nigh irresistible.
I know.....and yet.

If I don't know you...
If I've never seen you before in my life...
If I'm in the grocery store buying bananas....
If he's sleeping....
If I'm trying to have a conversation with the two year old who's trying to escape...
If you haven't even bothered to ask me...

If you haven't even bothered to ask me!!!!!!

Please, please, please don't touch the baby.

All Hail The One

At what point will people wake up and see this bizarre Obama worship for the evil that it is? When do we stop being called kooks for calling it the evil that it is? Will people face the truth when Obama is actually "deified" and his followers actually begin praying to him instead of for him? WIll they need to see it to believe it? Here it is:

Citizens prayed to Hitler. They prayed to Stalin. They prayed to many of the worst despots in history. He may not be a despot, but do you have a plan for "what if?"

Grace-Filled Days 9-27-09

1. Somehow I missed the two year blogoversary of Shoved to them. Has it really been 2 years and a month since I first came right out and fessed up to my affinity for Hamburger Helper and all things tacky? Thank you to those of you who hung in with me while I found my voice. Thank you to those of you who have found me along the way and made my world a part of yours.

2. Got a blog post I had written sent to me by a high school friend yesterday. She told me that she had found a "great blog" that often made her think of me, this post in particular. It should remind her of me since it is me!

3. We had our parish picnic today, hamburgers and hot dogs and just hanging out. It was fun. #4 broke out of her shell a bit and ventured of on her own to play games and play on the moon bounce. Is her shell of shyness finally cracking? I certainly hope so.

4. I ate amazingly good pinto beans at the picnic. I love beans when they're cooked right. These were. Would it have been rude to ask to lick the serving bowl? I wonder if I can find the cook and get the recipe....

5.The Computer Guy let me get a nap this afternoon while the little kids slept. It was wonderful. The only thing that would have bben better would be if he had napped with me.

Grace-Filled Days 9-26-09

1. Just finished watching the Friday night movie with my sweet Computer Guy. I love that he lets me pick the movies and never complains about what we see, even when Slumdog Millionaire makes me want to buy a ticket to India to go and adopt all the children I can. He just smiles and hugs me.

2. Called my Mom earlier today. It's he 60th Birthday today. I'm so grateful to have her. She almost died before reaching her 40th. We weren't sure she'd ever get this far. I love you Mom!

3. Bought a big bag of squishy rolls from Sam's club today. I could eat a dozen by myself. I was good and only had two. I'm trying so hard to lose this baby weight I'd hate to blow it. Although I think a bag of those rolls might be worth it.

4. Took #1 to get her eyebrows done today. She looked 5 years older immediately. She's pleased and keeps smiling at her reflection whenever she sees it. Mine look great, too, by the way. I just want to know how they actually do such a great job using only twisted thread. It's pretty amazing.

5. I've been noticing gaps in my own education and have decided to fill them in with great books. It's harder reading than I anticipated. I read some of them in high school, but it's been years since then. My brain hurts with some of them, but I suspect it's just growing pains. Just look at me. Don't I look smarter to you? It's all the reading I've been doing. Or my fabulous eyebrows.

Learning Disabled

Please allow me to preface this post by saying that I am not now, nor have I ever been, a regular viewer of the Dr Phil Show. Upon occasion, I have channel surfed by it and paused for a moment to see what the drama of the day happened to be, then I usually roll my eyes and go right on by.

But not last Thursday.

Thursday I skimmed by and stopped on the "heartbreaking" story of a 15 year old girl with big plans for herself. She dreamed of being on Broadway, of falling in love, of being the mother of 10 children. She wanted to marry her boyfriend when she graduated high school and then start having babies while she was in college. She reasoned that while it would be hard to do, it would take a while to have 10 so she should start young.

Dr Phil railed at this poor young woman about the blinders she had on her eyes. Ten children? What was she thinking? Did she have any idea how much it would cost for her to raise 10 children to adulthood? $1.78 million he told her. It costs $7000 a year per child just to care for them. What kind of job were she and this boyfriend of hers going to have that would make this kind of money? He told her that chances were that she would never see that much money in her lifetime.

Wow. Supportive. I can see why he's such a big star.

He has no problem with her wanting to work in the theater. He has no warnings against the seedy side of being an actress. Go to college, he says, follow your dreams, but be realistic about how many children you want to have. Realistic.

He sends this poor girl to spend 24 hours with a family that has 4 smallish children to get a taste of what it is that she's really asking for. Somehow he managed to convince a mother of 4 to do this, we should pray for her. The girl went and spent the day with this family and concluded that she should maybe go to college before starting a family, but she still wants 10 children. You go, girlfriend!

Dr Phil then began a "lighthearted" conversation with the mother of 4 that quickly became anything but fun and light.

"Were your children planned?" he asked her.

"No." she replied they just all happened."

"Didn't you figure it out after the first couple? Where they were coming from?" he retorted. "What are you learning disabled or something?"

At that point I had to pick my jaw up out of my lap. Was he serious? Learning disabled? He went on to tell this poor woman that she should have "turned the hose on" her husband after the first one or two.

I've thought about this a lot since then and I admit that I have been keeping a secret from you all.

I am learning disabled. No matter how many times I watch the good doctor, I just can't figure out his appeal. He just seems smarmy and mean to me.

I am learning disabled. I've seen his boys and listened to his wife talk and for the life of me I can't see what is so repugnant about them that he thinks a man in love with his wife should be treated like a dog in heat in order to prevent any more of the vile creatures.

I am learning disabled. I listen to his brand of common sense and I just can't find the sense in it no matter how I try.

I am learning disabled. Because I can't believe that a studio full of mostly women sat and laughed and clapped as this old man defamed their dignity as women.

I am learning disabled. I just don't get it. I thank God for my inability to learn the lessons he is teaching. The thing I keep coming back to is that one of us must be touched in the head, so either I am or he is.

Grace-Filled Days 9-25-09

1. I love friends you can have a great conversation with. The kind of friends that walk you to your car and then you stand in the driveway for the next hour just talking about something deep and meaningful. The kind of friends who know that you really do want a slice of cake left over from their kid's birthday, but would never ask, so they offer it to you up front.

2. I made meatloaf tonight. It's my favorite recipe, Paul Deen's Barbecue Meatloaf. I'm not so much a great cook as a great finder of other people's recipes. Google is your friend.

3. I went to the zoo with my older brother and my nephew. We don't always get along, but it's nice to spend time with someone to whom you don't have to explain your whole backstory and your motivation behind everything you do. They've known you long enough to know why.

4. I've had a headache for the last week due to my allergies. Headaches suck, but somehow I've managed to be a relatively nice person instead of snapping at everyone and crawling back into bed as I do at this time every year. Yea me!

5. I'm missing #2 more than I thought I would. I knew I would miss him, but I thought we would be so busy that we would be fine. We're busy. I'm not fine. I miss my baby and want him home.

Grace-Filled Days 9-24-09

1. I have fallen in love with Facebook. I know that some people think it's an evil in their home, but for me it has brought many important people beck into my life. People I can't believe I let slip away in the first place.

2. Blueberry bagels fresh from the toaster with a little smear of real butter. How could I spend so many years eating margarine crap? If this is my only life...give me real butter.

3. The baby chased me across the bed last night trying to snuggle into my back in that wriggly 2 month old way. It kept me up and made me smile. In a few months when we move him to his own bed I won't think it's so sweet that he wants to moosh into me. Today I find in lovely.

4. #2 sent his first letter home from his grandmother's. It was to his 5 year old sister. How cool is it that he knew she was the one missing him the most? She stuck it in her top drawer for safe-keeping.

5. There have been hummingbirds outside the classroom window every day this week. I am trying not to wonder how much longer they will hang around and just enjoy the intricate dance they perform each morning.

Grace-Filled Days 9-23-09

I'm introducing a new feature here until I either run out of stuff to say or until I get bored with it. I blog I read regularly (Sprogblogger) has a daily list of things she's grateful for, just to keep things in perspective. She may not always write a post, but she always has her list. I'm stealing it, in that whole copying being the highest form of flattery thing. I hope she thinks so, too.

1. The first crisp, cool morning of Fall. I'm not a huge fan of Fall. It goes by much too quickly and then we're right into gray and depressing winter, but the first crisp morning is heavenly.

2. Last night #1 and I got a Dr Pepper slurpee at 7-11. It's instant brain freeze in a cup which makes us laugh and it's tasty too. It's happiness in a cup for the bargain price of $.69. Where else can you get such a bargain?

3. #2 is at his grandparents' house in Texas for 10 days. From what I can tell on the phone, they are having a nice visit. My mother-in-law is doing his homeschooling while he's down there. She's still not sure that we aren't ruining the children academically, but she was willing to give it a whirl and I was eager for her to see that it's much more "school-like" than she fears. Pretty cool.

4. I just bought a new blender and am enjoying fresh smoothies every morning for breakfast. I just have one question, is the soy milk I use considered dairy or a vegetable on that whole food pyramid thingy?

5. We signed up for a video service that sends me two new videos every time I send the old ones back. (You know who they are, they don't pay me to shill for them.) I didn't think I would like it so much. The Computer Guy and I get a pseudo-date night whenever a "grown-up movie" arrives. I should have put more of those on my list.

Aw C'mon....Would a Little Variety Kill You?

I was looking at old baby pictures this morning and kept getting confused as to which baby I was looking at. I know that makes me seem like a bad mom, but I think God has found a model that works for us and stopped coming up with new designs a few babies back.

See if you don't agree.

Here's #6looking a whole lot like

#5
and #5looking for all the world exactly like

#4
It's not that I want a lot here, but it seems as if God stopped being creative after #3


Is it asking too much if I want one with flaming red hair for a little variety, or bright green eyes to liven things up? I don't need Quasimodo-like creativity to make me happy (in fact I'd rather not have it, thank you just the same), but just a little something to spice up the family photos. Thanks.

A Blessing and A Curse

I hate my neighbor's dog. I'm a dog lover and like most of them, especially gorgeous German Shepherds like the one next door. I owned a German Shepherd once, and he was my favorite dog in a life filled with lots of them. I hate the one next door. He won't shut up.

Last night, the backyard beauty barked from just before midnight until just before dawn. He wasn't barking at anything in particular, just sitting on his porch by the back door and barking. Non-stop, did I mention that part? Or how the houses in our neighborhood are pretty close together even though it doesn't seem that way? Or that I'm already sleep deprived because of #6?

Anyway. Barking. All night. He set off our dogs at 2AM and the wonderful Computer Guy got up and let them inside. What's the big deal? They were muddy after an afternoon of hard playing (which is why they were sleeping outside until I could bathe them) and he had to towel them off before letting them in the house. Have I mentioned how much I love him?

The German fellow kept barking. I don't know if his owners are deaf or just bad neighbors. Does it really matter when I'm trying to catch a few precious moments of sleep? No. It does not.

I laid there in my bed for most of the night and listened to the sweet, gentle breathing of my baby as he curled up into his father's back. I heard the deeper rumblings of my sweet husband as he muttered to himself and then scooped our newborn onto his chest and sighed. He pats the baby's bottom as he sleeps. It's just instinct now for his hand to keep patting the warm lump curled up next to his heart.

I prayed. Deeply, quietly talking with my Lord about the blessings in my bed and those sleeping down the hall. I discussed with Him my fears for my children and asked for His help to keep them on the straight and narrow. I thanked Him for the blessing of 4 boys and asked for the strength to live through it all. I asked Him to guard my children, not from mistakes which instruct them, but from the big errors I made which still cause my heart to ache. I told him how I wanted only the best for my girls, whichever path that takes. I told Him that I hope that my children become people who instinctively scoop a squirming baby onto their chests and pat them back to sleep. I asked for His help to get them there.

I always mean to pray during the day, but rarely have time for anything but a quick 'Hello.' Last night I had time for a long conversation. All because of that stupid dog.

New Camera

I bought a new camera this weekend because my previous new camera stunk. I wasn't taking any pictures of #6 because they were so awful I'd want to cry. Seriously. Cry. And this is me and I don't cry about stupid stuff. So, I bought the new new camera, which I love and spent the weekend terrorizing my family with the flash and the 15x zoom. I can take pictures from across the house and look as if I was standing in front of them. I told #3 he had a giant booger, and I was in the kitchen while he was watching tv in the living room.

Eyes in the back of my head and a zoom lens. No one is safe. (insert evil cackle here.)

Thank you to the Computer Guy for letting me buy my own birthday gift and give it to myself 2 months early. I love that guy.

Here's #6 giving me his "What the heck?" look. He's been looking at me this way all weekend.



Some days it's good to be "the Mom".

Wanna Be My Friend? You've gotta be a girl named Brian

According to Facebook, If you're a girl age 30-ish and you're a Capricorn named Brian....Well, you're just the kind of girl? I like to hang out with. So all you girls named Brian in your 30's.....make sure to friend me. Apparently I'm your cup of tea.


Your Friend Stats customize
Most common name Brian (3 friends)
Most common zodiac sign Capricorn (11 friends)
Female/Male 61% / 39%
Single/Taken 15% / 85%
Average age 36 years old
Oldest friend 81 years old
Youngest friend 14 years old

Can You Knock First?

We had a stranger in our backyard this morning. I knew he was there when the dogs went crazy. Imagine my surprise at seeing a perfect stranger in my backyard not wearing a uniform of any kind, waving a huge wrench around and spitting at the dogs. I don't know what possible purpose spitting tobacco juice all over my yard could serve, but it's probably the same thoughtlessness which allowed him to scrape the dog poo he stepped in on my patio rather than on the grass.

He was from the gas company, but who knew that? He never knocked on my door to let me know he was here to do something to my meter. If he had, I would have brought my dogs inside so he didn't have to spit at them or threaten them with that huge wrench. If he had bothered to ring my doorbell, he could have walked across my lawn and looked where he stepped because he wouldn't have been chased by a wild-eyed schnauzer and he wouldn't have gotten the poo on his shoe. If he had knocked and asked, I could have saved him the trouble of going in my yard at all since he was actually looking for my neighbor's meter across the street. See how much time and effort we could have saved if only he had bothered to have a bit of courtesy this morning?

My first instinct was to call the gas company and give them a piece of my mind. (I'll probably still do that.) They need to know that one of their employees was trespassing this morning and that he was just generally a disgusting human being. The way I see it, the economy is not so good that they can afford this kind of poor customer relations. Then again, they're the gas company and I have no other choice about where to go for hot water and heat. They're the only game in town.

While the yahoos in Washington are trying to "fix healthcare" with a bit of competition, why don't they do the same thing for the utility companies? Most of them operate as local monopolies and could use a bit of competition to keep them on their toes. If there were another gas company I could go to, then this yutz would have been told to clean up his act or find a new job a while ago. As it stands now, he's competent enough, and reliable enough, and not too disgusting, so there's no reason to make any kind of change. After all, we're a captive audience and the gas company knows it.

Did you have some Kool-Aid today?

h/t to Suzanne. I love you, man!