Brief Details

• At this very moment I am sitting in a very quiet, very empty house.  Mike took the boys camping with our friend Scott and their 3 girls.  The Dads and the kids HAD to vacate the premises because last night Gina and I hosted a Pure Romance party.  And you know what?  Despite the fact that only one other girl showed up, we had a great time.  I will refrain from going into details about what was purchased out of respect for those involved!
• Remember those pices of furnioture I pauinted for the fundraiser?  They each sold for $550.00 at the auction the other night…and the mini corn home game the kids painted?  $130.oo  I’m already planning what to paint for next year!
• Girls’ Weekend is slowly approaching…and I’m struggling with whether or not to go.  School starts soon and I hate that disconnected feeling I often have after returining from being away from the house and the kids.  It’s like I have a hard time getting bnack into the groove and that concerns me even more since school is starting.  Mike thinks I should go and I have not ruled it out yet.
• If feels like the summer temps have finally arrived!
• I’m extremely angry with my father right now.  Both my sister and I have told my father not to contact us until he goes to therapy.  He hasn’t.
• The boys are done with swimming lessons and they rocked it!!
• We got Rogan’s preschool papers in the mail the other day…he will attend on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9:00 until 11:15.  We are both very very excited about this.
• Hang on, I need more coffee!
• Listen up!!!  I recently purchased jeans from BUCKLE.  They have so many freaking brands of jeans available and the sales associates are extremely helpful.  Granted the prices are a little high, however, I think we all know by now, great jeans are worth it.  Please be prepared to spend A LOT of time trying on jeans…we were there yesterday for about an hour and a half, and Gina came away with some HOT fucking jeans!!  It was worth it!
• The end.
• Goodbye!

Generic Clari*tin: My New Crack

I’ve noticed my readership is down.  Bwa-ha-ha-ha!  You know I can’t possibly be serious!  I just wanted to sound literary and important for a quick moment.  Did it work?

I’ve been absent from here, not really knowing what to write about.  All the usual is still happening…the kids fight a lot, Mike plays golf more, I still feel like I live at the gym, another freaking bladder infection!!  Same old crap.  I’ve spoken to my doctor again and she believes I don’t drink nearly enough water.  And I completely agree.  So in an effort to hydrate more efficiently I do hereby vow to carry water with me wherever I go.

It’s 5.29am on Thursday and I am awake for the day.  I had to take another 24 hour generic Clari*tin yesterday and I have a feeling it jolts me into complete alertness after 8 hours.  But seriously, I’d rather be awake at this time than the way I was yesterday before taking the meds!

The boys and I had just come home from getting some ice cream.  We sat outside, and all seemed well, even with the added drippage and stickiness that comes with little boys and ice cream.  As soon as we got home, my whole body just started to ITCH.  It was weird.  My nose became instantly stuffed up, I was ready to tear out my eyeballs, and my stomach felt icky too…although I’m not sure that was an allergic reaction to anything…I seriously could not get my watch off or my contacts out quickly enough.  I changed clothes and decided to take the allergy medicine despite the fact that the last time I took it, I felt felt all hopped up on um, crack maybe, or perhaps it was more of a symptom of withdrawal from crack.  I haven’t taken crack, but I sometimes talk like I have!!

The allergy meds kicked in thank gawd, but now I’m awake, and it is much too early to be awake.  I do see future opportunities for napping…we’re leaving today to head to the in-laws in Nicholasville, KY.  It’s about a 6 hour drive, and I get to not drive!  I’m looking forward to the trip!

Am I babbling?

I’m done for now, although I think I’ve just come up with a few more ideas for more blogs.

Hmmmm, perhaps this “hopped up” feeling isn’t so bad.  I wonder what else I can get done before the kids wake up!

Lacking Literary Inspiration

So I’ll start with this:  As we were driving past a local pet supply shop, McKade pointed out a puppy,  he then says, “I think that’s one of those “poo-dohs”!  “Honey”, I say, “Do you mean a poodle?”  And he says, “Yes a poodle!”  I have to admit, I absolutely love it when, with all innocence, the boys say things wrong!  Oh, and he also asked me not to tell Gina about this because he didn’t want her laughing at it.  He didn’t tell me that I couldn’t blog about it!  Just to be on the safe side, don’t tell him I told you guys!

It’s been a busy week, and frankly, we are at home today trying to be lazy.  We did force ourselves to run for groceries which I have been putting off all week.  But today, luckily some funds were deposited into our account thereby lifting the ban on spending money.  Nice how that happens!

The boys have had swimming lessons all week, and they are kicking ass and taking names!  (Why would anyone “take names after an ass-kicking”?)  I just don’t get it!

I just finished a painting project I did for a local fundraiser.  It’s called Benchmarks.  They provide the naked pine furniture and volunteers then paint whatever piece they choose which then goes into a silent auctions to raise money for a local women’s care center.  Here’s a few pictures of what I did:

The top is découpaged.  This was my first experience with that art form and I really enjoyed it.  The auction is some time in August and between now and then, I think my piece might be placed in a local shop to draw attention to the fund raiser.  The boys also painted some mini corn hole boards.  And I just realized I forgot to take pictures before turning them in.  One of the perks of volunteering is that the artists receive two tickets top the function.  So I’ll be able to take pictures then!  I actually one more piece to work on.  It may not get done, but I can work on it all the way through until next year’s event!  This is a total low pressure volunteer project: the best kind!

OH I ALMOST FORGOT!!  I GOT MY BOOTS!!!!  I saved up and bought a pair and I am damn proud of myself for not using credit to pay!  I shamefully admit that these boots are fucking expensive!!  Here’s another picture:

It’s Friday and I am looking forward to spending some time with Mike this weekend.  It feels like it’s a busy week which did not seem to provide much time for couple time!

Well, that’s all I got!

If Jealousy is Green, What Color is Guilt?

Tomorrow is my 36th birthday.  I’m excited!  I feel like I have finally reached a point in my life that I am starting to appreciate the value of making good choices for my body.  I’m trying to eat better, exercises regularly and maintain a better mood.  The mood part remains the most challenging area for me.  In addition to managing the guilt I feel when I “violate” my routine!

The summer is going well despite the skin-melting heat we are enduring right now.  The boys are enjoying the activities we do from time to time.  I do not have them enrolled in many summer activities, and I still struggle with indecision and guilt regarding that being a good thing or bad.  There are so many families that schedule daily activities for their kids, and I have chosen to “fly by the seat of our pants” instead.  Does that make me lazy, cheap, or neglectful?

Next month the boys will begin swimming lessons, which in our opinion is a necessity.  They must know how to swim.   I sometimes feel guilty about the fact that they don’t know how to swim yet.

I’m noticing a theme here…why is there so much guilt associated with living life and raising our children?  Where the hell does that come from?  I’ll tell you: we compare ourselves to everyone else instead of feeling confident about making independent decisions without second guessing them.

And with that, I’m making a New Year’s resolution:  STOP COMPARING MY FAMILY TO OTHER’S FAMILIES!!  STOP FEELING GUILTY FOR DECISIONS I MAKE!  I HAVE THE FREE WILL TO MAKE WHATEVER DECISION I WANT!!

“It’s not New Year’s”, you say!

No shit!

Try To Picture The Grin On My Face As You Read This!

O my fucking gawd.  I re-instituted “quiet time” today, and at the moment, each boy is in his respective room doing whatever they hell they want.  And me?  I’m feeling a little more hope that this summer won’t be so bad after all!

Last summer, when Rogan was still napping and McKade was a raving pre-kindergarten maniac, we started quiet time.  It was a multi-faceted move on my part:

• Preserving my sanity
• Preserving Rogan’s nap time
• Calming McKade down a little as he was losing control towards the end of the day
• Eventually McKade started napping too and it became obvious that “quiet time” was even more valuable that I had originally thought
• Allowing the boys to have their own space, in a week-assed attempt to decrease the in-fighting around here
• Encouraging independent play…something my boys do not seem to know how to do
• And did I mention the preservation of my own freaking sanity?

So in conclusion, I strongly encourage EVERYONE to partake of the “quiet time” intervention!

Thank you for your attention!

Summer “Fun”

Ok…so this has been the first full week of summer with both boys.  There were moments that absolutely sucked ass and I think I recall one that didn’t.

Take for example today!  We spent the morning lounging around, the boys taking turns on the computer, or “ohmpooter” as Rogan would say.  I’m pretty sure they were playing age-appropriate games as I’ve successfully blocked the porn sites McKade uncovered, but of course there’s always some way around those damned parental controls isn’t there?

I skipped the gym today, feeling only slightly guilty that the boys have been there with me all week already.  I did my little abs workout just so I could say that I did and then the rest of the morning started shaping up in anticipation of heading to a local spray park.

I got the boys and myself bathed and dressed, encouraged a zippy lunch and then off we went to the park.  Suddenly my cell phone rang and my friend Nicole disappointingly shared that the spray park was closed.  WTF!  There I stood, clad in my bathing suit, 2 boys ready for fun and all buckled up to go, and the goddamn spray park was closed.  We did some quick thinking and remembered the other spray park in the downtown area.  (Please, when I say “downtown”, I don’t really mean “downtown”…I mean a slightly busier street with slightly taller buildings than the average residential area!)

We played at the park for several hours.  The boys had a great time, as did I.  Watching them play with abandon as my children rarely do, brings me such joy.  That coupled with the fact that I got to sit on my ass while they played made for a good time!

On the way home, we stopped for ice cream!  And unfortunately, wink-wink, Rogan still needs a little bit of “help” to prevent his ice cream from melting all the way down his arm.  And by “help” I mean preemptive and supportive licking in strategic locations around the cone!

That’s my story and I’m sticking to it!