My Theory:

What happens to our parents when we grow up and they come for a visit:

They seem to fall into 1 of 3, possibly 4, categories…they become either a) “Guests only” – doing nothing, and expecting to be waited on hand and foot, b) Overly demanding and taking charge – parenting your kids, telling you in many ways how you do it all wrong and that their way is better,   c) Completely clueless and “dumbing down”, or d) If you’re lucky, your parents know just how to handle being in your home with your children and they doing almost everything right!!

This theory developed after a meeting with my therapist.  And of course, there is no research and no data to back this all up.  It’s just me exploring my own experiences.  The thing is, there are reasons why parents might fall into these various roles.  And further exploration is something worth doing, probably for all of us!  And I imagine there may even be more “types” of  parents out there.

I’d love to hear what you have to add!

Let’s Make Just One Correction, Shall We?

My Dad forwarded this email to me:

How many women with MENOPAUSE does it take to change a light
bulb? Personally I think this question is not being asked the right way.  The question and it’s answer have nothing at all to do with a woman’s reproductive disposition.  Here’s how the question should be asked (please note the answer does not change…because it’s the right answer, for any woman!):

Question:
How many women does it take to change a light bulb?

Woman’s Answer:
One!
ONLY ONE!!!! And do you know WHY? because  no one else in this house knows HOW to change a light bulb! They don’t even know that the bulb is BURNED OUT!! They would sit in the dark for THREE DAYS before they figured it out.
And,once they figured it out,

they wouldn’t be able

to find the #&%!* light

bulbs despite the fact that

they’ve been in the SAME

CABINET for the past 17

YEARS!

But if they did, by

some

miracle of God,

actually find them, 2

DAYSLATER, the

chair they dragged to

stand on to change

the STUPID light

bulb

would STILL BE

IN THE SAME

SPOT!!!!! AND

UNDERNEATH

IT

WOULD BE

THE WRAPPER

THE FREAKING

LIGHT BULBS

CAME IN!!!

BECAUSE NO

ONE EVER

PICKS UP

OR CARRIES

OUT THE

GARBAGE!!!!

IT’S A

WONDER WE

HAVEN’T ALL

SUFFOCATED

FROM

THE PILES

OF

GARBAGE

THAT ARE

A FOOT

DEEP

THROUGH-

OUT

THE

ENTIRE

HOUSE!!

IT WOULD

TAKE AN

ARMY TO

CLEAN

THIS

PLACE!

AND

DON’T

EVEN

GET ME

STARTED

ON WHO

CHANGES

THE

TOILET

PAPER

ROLL.

I’m sorry.

What was the question?

Wishing I Was in a Mastercard Commercial

• A visit from Mr. Rooter: $130.00
• A visit from Cripe’s (the septic tank people): $211.00
• Knowing that when you flush the toilet or do a load of laundry that your septic tank won’t back up and cause gallons and gallons of poopy water to come out of your toilet and flow all over the bathroom floor: Priceless

I’ve Got Some Dirt!!!

Literally!! Here are a few shots of our McKade truly enjoying what boys like, no not that, this: ⁄

So here’s the story: Rogan and I were bike riding one day when we rode past a house with one 16″ X 16″ paver on display along with a sign that said they had about 116 more of them and they were $1.00 each. Normally this would have meant nothing to me as I do not often shop for pavers while riding bikes with Rogan.

But, several days before this discovery, Mike and I had been discussing the idea of putting in a fire pit (thanks a lot Scott D.)!! We discussed the various options for said pyromaniacal projects and determined that a patio area with a built-in pit would be the best…in another couple of years.

Cut to the bike ride and my discovery of these pavers. I snapped off a few shots, with my trusty camera/phone, and planned to call Mike as soon as I got home. I didn’t even make it in the door before Mike called, all interested in the pictures…actually I think he thought hoped I was sending him “nudey” shots, but was nonetheless pleased to hear and see my great find.

I called the woman selling the pavers and she agreed to let the lot of them go for $90.00…a deal even better than I originally had found. Then, several weeks later, Mike discovered the exact same pavers for $4.65 each!! Yeee-Haw!! We got us a deal!!

So Mike tore in to the planning phase and about 693 Auto Cad drawings later, my engineer/jewelry designer/babies’ daddy/landscaper had created us a patio!! And the digging commenced!! And McKade romped!! And the pit is now absent of dirt and awaiting the delivery of 4 freaking tons of crushed stone and 1 1/2 tons of paver sand!! Sounds expensive, I know, but trust me, rock is cheap!!

Have you ever “shopped” for crushed stone and paver sand? Yeah, well don’t! It sucks!  It took me about 9 calls before I found someone selling “crushed stone paver base”!!

So I’ll post more pictures when the fire-pit-patio is complete! By the way, have I ever mentioned how handy my husband is?!?!? Seriously, he’s awesome!

HOT

I’m not sure what it is about the morning, but it seems like I’m always expecting it to run ‘relatively’ smoothly and it doesn’t.

For starters, I am always so HOT!!! in the morning. Not the “oh she’s so sexy in the morning kind of hot”. No, it’s the “I’ve got boob sweat and I haven’t even moved yet” kind of HOT!!!…Gross? I know, I know!! The kind of HOT!! that makes you check the thermostat expecting to see that some idiot turned it all the way up to “HOT AS HELL°“!! I’m cold in the evening and FREAKING HOT!!! in the morning. But WTF? I don’t understand. I readjust the thermostat, but I’m still HOT. And if you’re curious about my thyroid, it’s fine, but it’s HOT!!! too!

And when I add in anything strenuous the HOT just gets worse. It’s like I’m HOT, which stresses me out, and that makes me even more HOT and so on and so forth, it’s a STEAMY, HOT!! and vicious cycle.

So I woke up this morning, HOT, with a headache, the kind of ache that thumps, and increases with every move you make. Then, I found a big pile of dog puke, thanks for that Mazie!

Get this, my head was hurting so badly, that I put off cleaning up the puke until the 1,000,000mg of ibuprofen I took kicked in. I know, I know! I fully understand how gross this is too.

But, the carpet cleaner is in the basement, and I was on the second floor. It’s really heavy, the water tank is heavy and with all of this strenuous activity, I was convinced it was going to either make my head explode or cause me to OVERHEAT and melt. I mean how much more stained can the carpet get in 20 minutes? What if I would have slept longer and discovered it 20 minutes later anyway? But I guess the truth is, I was awake and I consciously ignored the puke! I know, I know!

So, back to the bumpy morning. I’m HOT!!!!! Did I mention how HOT!! I am? There’s puke, a headache, and the boys start fighting over TRANSFORMERS again and I’m still HOT!!! I questioned out loud: “Is there anything we can add to this morning to create even more stress for Mom?” And OMG, I thought, I just referred to myself in the third person. This must be the result of some DEVIL HEAT induced FEVER psychosis, because that is not something I normally do.

Now for the silver lining time:

Nothing else happened.

• Mike left!
• McKade hopped on the bus!
• The house felt quiet and less chaotic.
• The puke is being worked on.
• I’m currently waiting for the “Magic Stain Remover” to do it’s thing.
• It’s raining, and the temperatures outside are cooler than they have been in days.
• The replacement dishwasher we purchased will be delivered this morning, fingers crossed and
• Miraculously, I don’t feel as HOT as I did before.

Have a great Thursday!

P.S. The dishwasher guy just arrived…let the installation begin!

Look What I Did!!

We have this small area in our house that I have loved since we moved in but have never really known how to accentuate it’s cool concave shape. It’s in our front hallway off to the right as you come towards the living room. There is a small recessed light directly above it and a small shallow shelf built in. I knew that I wanted to display the kids’ artwork there, and that I also wanted the flexibility to change the pieces frequently, as our little artists are quite prolific! Originally we came up with a multiple wire system which would utilize small clips to hang the art…this somewhat complicated concept never happened.

The other day, it occurred to me that this area might work well if covered in magnetic paint. Which would also mean that I would have to shop for cute little magnets!! Well, here is the end result:

And here are just a few of the very cute magnets McKade helped me pick out:

And here is what some art looks like on the wall with the magnets:

The very dark gray of the magnetic paint provides a very classy background for any color schemed art the boys produce. I am looking forward to maintaining a dedicated area for the boys’ artwork…and I know their Auntie Doo will just LOVE this!! My only challenge is to figure out how to store and save the pieces that I take down…