Momma Drama

...otherwise I forget what has happened in my life. ;)

Sad.

We don't mess around here in MI for the first snow storm of the year.... It took me 3 hours and a few minutes to get downstate in the rain this morning. It then took me 7 hours to get back home in the snow. It was very much like the day we moved up here, and I got my first taste of "black ice". That day pretty much scarred me, and I didn't leave the cabin for two weeks after we got here. My hip hurts after a 3hour drive in the car......it is totally cussing me out right now! I know I have said this a few times before, so please join me when I say:

I (she) fucking (this word optional for any non-cussers...) hate(s) snow!!!

It snowed from about Brighton, all the way home. That's about 150 miles maybe....I may have to move south without my husband and kids. I did stop at one point to eat and try to call Dave for moral support (secret: I usually end up crying while trying to drive in this weather...) I wasn't able to get through to him at work, so I had to brave it all alone.

Did I mention that I still have onions in the ground in the garden? I also had some parsley and oregano the other day. Not anymore I'm sure.

Off to drink now......
Happy Thanksgiving all, enjoy the day!

Saturday~
Shopped in the big city with no-nicotine man. We went to:
Goodwill
Menards
Golf Galaxy
Linens and Things
Lunch
Toys R Us
JoAnns
Office Max
Target
Comp USA
Gander Mountain
The mall-Sears/Olgas/Coffee Beanery
And it all went well. Nobody killed anyone else. Kudos to Dave, I know that was hard for him. ;)
Sunday~Trip to Meijer for the last gift, Toys for Tots items and baking supplies. Lunch at Applebees, Lions (groan) game.
Monday~Village work, laundry up the ying-yang, rearranging the bedroom.
Today~Village work.....the finance committee meeting minutes, the council meeting minutes, the budgets finished and plugged into the computer. For such a dinky town, it's amazing that we have 8 different accounts! Some baking; 2 pumpkin pies, 2 cheescakes, one caramel pecan pie, baked the sweet potatoes, made the stuffing, got the scalloped corn ready to go, got the spinach dip ready for baking. Thanks for all the cooking prep help Dave!
Tomorrow~A road trip. By myself. Ten hours total.
Two out of three kiddies are sounding rough here lately. Number 1 and 3 are snotted up and looking puny.
Have a wonderful hump day all!

...to Momma Drama!

...for me.

Devin and I were on the road by 8:10 this morning, to go get her hair cut. It is so short now, right at the back of her neck. I for one am glad. She is too.... I gave Cheri a pedicure then we hopped over to Save-A-Lot to get salt pellets for the water softener. I'm so thirsty! And that never happens.......we've been out of the pellets for about two weeks now, which means the water tastes like well water. Cacapooey! Then we gassed up the car and got Dave some lifesavers. So far so good on the nicotine free kick for him.

Got home, made lunch. Spaghetti and italian sausage. Since then Devin and I have whipped through the house to straighten it. I made blueberry muffins, some for Devin's preschool party on Monday, some for the daycare lady who's birthday was Thursday, and some for the neighbor who blew some of our leaves this fall. I have taken a nap. (Yay me!) I have made some raspberry jam. And now I'm thinking about dinner and running copies of the budget stuff for tonight's meeting.

Yesterday I got my swap ornaments out. (Yay me!) Got all the Thanksgiving grocery shopping done and then some. Took a nap (Yay me! Not really.....migraine/Imitrex induced.) Scrapped 4 L/O's.

Tomorrow is the big city shopping trip. Maiya is getting a Hop ball, and I. Cannot. Wait. To see her on it! All she does anymore is jump. She thinks it's the coolest trick, she is so funny.

Have a great weekend all!

Monday was meeting day...nice short one. Got a slew of village stuff done this day, including the filing. Filing that dated back to January of this year. Eek! The kids were all home this day, but somehow got along fine. Wonder how that hole in the living room wall happened though....?

Tuesday was post village work day. Met with the village insurance lady also. Had spaghetti dinner down at the church. This was a scrap 3 L/O's night.

Today was preschool field trip day. Whoo hoo! Christmas tree farm was the destination. Today is also damnit my head is killing me day. Probably sinus/weather related. It's been about 50* and rainy for two days now. It was foggy all day today too.

Tomorrow is take the girls to daycare and go Thanksgiving meal/regular grocery shopping with Dave day. He loves these trips.....;)

Friday is haircut for Devin day.

Saturday is take all three kids to daycare and go Christmas shopping in the big city full of people with Dave day. He loves these days even better. He is supposed to be quitting the cigar smoking/tobacco chewing habit tomorrow, Great American Smoke Out Day. He ought to be a real joy to shop with both days, no?

Off to look for my tatting stuff...

...on this computer. At all. I should be doing village things for tomorrow's meeting. The kids don't have school tomorrow, so I'll be trying to keep the peace all day tomorrow. Dave is going hunting and won't return until it's time for him to get ready for work.

I did do the bulk of the meeting stuff today, tomorrow (look how fast I decided I was punching out tonight...) is a bunch of 'non-thinking', typing things. I told Trent we would watch Oklahoma tomorrow too.

I got all my forum swap ornaments done last night. I finished up the little cards today and addressed all the envelopes. I'll wrap them in bubble wrap in a few minutes. The biggies made some of the same ornaments today.....I need to finish them up. The string and hot glue part of them. I started the cut-outs for our "24 days of Christmas activities" string up deal. I made trees this year. We will all decorate the trees some time soon, then I'll attach an activity to the back of each one. Then they all go up on the dining room wall and we do whatever activity the "special kid" of the day flips over for that day.

I pinned Dave down to the BIG. CHRISTMAS. SHOPPING. DAY. today....we are going next Saturday. All day, one day, in and out. Done by the end of the day. If it kills us. That way, I only have the baking to do. And the E-bay shopping for the kids.

Hope to finalize the downstate family Christmas plan by tomorrow, without totally pissing off the mother of the clan.

I'm dying to make a braided rug lately. Looked up all the instructions. Wonder if Santa could bring me about an extra 4 hours for everyday for about 6 months. Maybe then I'll be caught up....

Trent went out today on his first hunting excursion. Tree stand and all. Oy vey.

My sinuses are killing me. I'm suspended in the "Am I going to get sick or not? Get on with it already if I am" mode.

I need to go grocery shopping for the Thanksgiving goods this coming week. Dave's sister, BIL and nephew will be here "either Wednesday or Thursday", and will be staying until "Gosh, I don't know." It's the most wonderful time of the year.........;)

Dear gawd. I do believe I need to drink more.

...for the 300th post!

Some days I wished I worked during the day. Just to be able to drive in the car and listen to Bob & Tom every morning.

I want a 1986 Monte SS so bad it hurts.

It occurs to me today that cake and Mt. Dew will not take me far in my healthy eating quest.

I appreciate the fact that it was sunny and snow free today.

Collective Soul is back together and coming here soon. There are no tickets for sale, you have to win them. I love Collective Soul, and would be giddy to see them for the third time. Of course I wouldn't turn my nose up at the Megadeath concert next week either...

I tried to take a nap yesterday. What has happened to me that I can no longer pull that off? I slept for 15 minutes. That's it. Then felt the overwhelming urge to get up and do stuff. Ugh!

Same thing happened while shopping today........couldn't relax, even though I was childless. Felt compelled to get home and do stuff.

I found a wonderful scrapbooking store today. And that was after I had been to JoAnn's and another SB store already.

I'm getting sick. I feel it in my throat.

McDonald straws are ridiculously huge.

I am so buying one of these. No kidding.

This has got to be my all time favorite song. Hands down. I have loved this song for forever. Since before there was a Dave, or kids, or even before I lived on the outskirts of town ;).....I heard it twice today.

I enjoy Ray Liotta, and thought tonight's ER was pretty touching.


Tomorrow is village budget day. I managed to get the filing cabinet back together today after emptying it last night.

Playing catch up again. Need. To. Strike. A. Balance.

Friday.....Dave left that day to go hunting for the weekend. Whoo Hoo! But *shhhhhhhh*, don't tell him that. He gets his feelings hurt because I don't usually miss him. (Wink, wink! Love ya big daddy!) We watched Gulliver's Travels that night. After the kids went to bed, momma relaxed! A two and a half hour, change the water twice, read half of a Nora Roberts book kind of relaxing. Bliss!

Saturday was a laid back day....some cleaning, finished the rest of the book, movie watching, and some preparation for Grandmas arrival on Sunday.

Sunday was the party day for Trent. He had a volcano cake, and Grandma and the neighbors here to share. Daddy was home in time too. He said it was the best party ever. Ha, got to love that. He got lots of cool presents, his favorites being the Spiderman costume and the Batman watch. Birthdays are pretty cool around here...they start a few days before the actual day thanks to presents sent early to the post office. He got more presents today from the post office too. A really annoying guitar and a electronic robot. God love the IL's... (Side note...I got a present from the post office too. A box full of lovely goodies. A beautiful knitted scarf, bath bombs, lotion, chocolate, and souviners from afar. I am a lucky girl today, with wonderful online friends. Thank you! ;)

Yesterday was back to the regular grind. School for Trent and preschool for Devin. Trent took turkey cookies to school to share for his birthday. After he got home he picked Bob Evans to have his birthday dinner at, complete with the birthday sundae dessert.

Today was bust yer hump on village work day for me. Still have things to do tonight after the kids go to bed. Trent came home with a paper for me to sign today too......he is really beginning to act up at/in school. Actually I'm not sure if it's 'acting up' per say, or he's becoming more normal.......he's always been a people pleaser kind of child, seeking to do the right thing for approval. So I'm not sure if he's growing out of or actually making trouble. Any input? Anyone? Please?

I saw snow yesterday. Little ones. In my yard. Bastards!

Devin speak of the week:
"I love huff-puffs!" (LJS's hushpuppies.)
"Why do you hafta make me Cinderella!?! I wish a Prince would come and save me....!"

.....Where did I put that day off anyways?

Wednesday was parent-teacher conference with Devin's preschool teacher. "She is so quiet in class...." This isn't the first time someone has mentioned this about her a large group setting, but still! Knock me over with a feather, again. Good report on her otherwise...it's pretty hard to flub up preschool I imagine. I took Trent back to the orthodontist this day also. He needed a new spacer, since he yanked the other one out by eating taffy. Oops.

Thursday was parent teacher conference with Trent's teacher. He does very well over all, and especially well in math. He has started slipping in the listening department though. After that I took all three kidlets to the mall to get their pictures taken. Trent's first grade/7 year photo, and attempted to get a decent shot of them to put in the Christmas cards. Those pictures turned out so-so.

Maiya is heading for some time-outs lately. She is quite the bugger some days. Although she is very cute when she says, "Knock, Knock" then when we say, "Who's there?" she says "I dunno.", complete with the shoulder shrug and hands out with the palms up. Or she'll say "Daddy!" and laugh herself silly.

We are watching Gulliver's Travels right now, the Ted Danson one. One tape of it for tonight, the other tape for tomorrow. Dave left this afternoon to go hunting for the weekend. I need to buckle down this weekend on the Village stuff. It has been ignored while I concentrated on doing house renovations. I did manage to clean up the yards a bit today, get the porch chairs and things into the garage.

Trent's birthday is Monday; I talked him into taking cookies to school on Monday rather than cupcakes. I figured if he took cupcakes, I'd have to transport him and them to school. He requested Thanksgiving cupcakes. Don't you know I have no Thanksgiving themed cookie cutters. Time to pull a rabbit out of my hat....He's getting a volcano cake this year for cake and ice cream on Sunday with Grandma. Mr. Smartypants requested a Spiderman costume as a present, probably because I told him that I don't buy store bought Halloween costumes, so he needed to save his money for next year if he really wanted that SM costume. Ha! So we bought him that, and a Spiderman Leap Pad reading book.

The chocolate chip cookies are beeping......happy weekend all!

Bush 411, Kerry 342 at our precinct.

Whew!!

Last Thursday Trent "Poked a kid in the butt." And according to the principal, "They have never had to deal with anything like this before..." He was suspended from school, and I had to go pick him up. So I rode the rollercoaster of emotion, (otherwise known as the burning feeling of sheer terror) starting with the "Oh dear God, I have taken him somewhere, over and over again, where he has been molested. Now he is acting out...." That day and Friday were spent questioning him, calling the ped's office, talking with the principal, and discussing it with Dave. I'm confident that he has not been molested, he is just a normal, somewhat immature little boy who did a dorky thing. I did not want to lose sight of the fact that some other child had been touched inappropriately, but for the school to say that they have never had to deal with anything like it seems a stretch in my opinion. Then I started simmering, and checking the sexual harrassment policy (which does not call for an out of house suspension until the third offense...) A follow up call to the principal was placed, and she assured me that it was not going into his file. I will be popping in at the school, unannounced about 3 months from now and requesting his records on the spot. We spent this last Saturday having a nice chat with all the kiddies about good and bad touches, no touching between the neck and the knees, not allowing or giving touches, etc. Hopefully it will sink in!

Saturday was trick or treating night here. Trent was a pirate again, Devin was a superhero (what she calls Batman), and baby M was a duck. Poor duckie though.....I never tried her costume on until it was time to get ready. It was too short (what did I expect with an 18 month size?) from the head to the seat. I couldn't pull the hood up over her head without splitting her in two. I had to make some cuts in the butt of it to give her some room. I'll pick the pictures up tomorrow.

Poppycock brand pecan delight popcorn is just the devil in a can really....

Okay, on to the virtual (sort of) house tour.....

Guest room:
Paint, boder and new light.
Bear. Lovely huh? I combed this damn thing!
Again. With MY damn comb!

Kitchen:
Look what a difference a little sanding makes!
Corner shelves that Dave put up, I love them. The border in no way, shape or form *goes* with the style of the house, but I love it too. And it's my house. ;)
Cabinets, these open from both the kitchen and dining room sides.
Upper hoosier cabinet. See the canning jar on the bottom, right shelf? It's filled with unwrapped Smarties. It keeps me from picking up the smoking habit again...;) Thanks Cherie!

Bedroom ceiling/wallpaper:
It's hard to see the wallpaper pattern, but I love it. I patched all the loose pieces back on, in an effort to save it (it's the old, old real paper, not vinyl stuff) I took off all the loose sections of the ceiling paper in order to put up the textured ceiling paint. Then everything went to hell.....I snagged yellow paint chips the other day at HD. I think I may cut out a nice big section of this wallpaper and frame it, then hang it when the bedroom is finished.

Living room window:
It is not easy to try to find a border, to go with this window! Can you see the border that was up? The 1" one? To the right in the picture? On 10' ceilings? Me either, hence the new border.

Stairway:
Top.
Bottom.
Scary!!!

Before.That patched job at the bottom had exposed lath thanks to time and Maiya.
After.

Wish me luck tomorrow. I'm working from 6:30am to probably 10-11pm at the polls.