Road Trips and Kids...Need I Say More???

Alright, here is how our trip to Utah this past weekend went... prepare yourselves, I was ready to SCREAM!!

We all got in the car to drive out of the driveway about an hour and a half later than planned, already we were in trouble. That meant that we would be pulling into my mom's driveway WAY later than our sanity was going to hold out. So, we get to the Victorville area and I unbuckle myself to turn around and start Parker's next feeding, only to reach for the tube to find he is sitting in a pool of STOMACH CONTENTS!!! Somehow his med port opened spilling the entire contents of his stomach, including his morning seizure meds, all over the van!! Did I mention that we had just paid the day before to have someone shampoo the stupid thing??? Yeah. And now we were going to have to smell BARF for the rest of the trip. NICE! So we pull of the freeway to figure out how we are going to get him cleaned up. It's not like we had a portable bathtub, or a convenient location of his suitcase, it was crammed into the furthest spot possible, underneath the wheelchair, Christmas presents, pillows, treasures that the kids "just had to take with them", snacks, winter clothes that we had to scrounge for, because, who needs winter clothes in Southern California???... you get the idea. So, we had to strip him down in the frigid temps, get him cleaned up as much as we could, noting, that we would have to stop in St. George and get him another pair of pants. Unpacking EVERYTHING to get to his suitcase???? We weren't even going there.

So we are back on the road. Now comes the regular stuff that most parents deal with. Tattling, complaining, wanting snacks, a different movie, the dreaded "Why is it taking so long to get to Grandma's house?" a zillion times, crying, refusing to just give in already and take a nap ...again, you get the idea.

So in between all of the whining, complaining and bickering, we finally get to St. George only to find that of course, the parking lot is PACKED! I mean, really PACKED! Fred runs in, because, are we unloading all of the kids, the wheelchair??? Do I look CRAZY to you??? He goes in, gets the loot, comes back out, and the sweats he bought for Parker are a 16/18. He accidentally grabbed the wrong size. Really, they were HUGE! I could have worn them (around the house only, of course). So, back in he goes, only this time he had to stand in the returns line. Grrr! So, several minutes later, he comes out, only to find that they didn't give him the right bag. So he had to go back in AGAIN!! Really, I am not making this up! Alright, so after sitting the the parking lot for 45 minutes, Parker is dressed, and we are on the road again.

Getting really P'd off now!

Down the road 10 minutes and it is more of the same. I can't handle reliving it, so, re-read paragraph 2 for details.

We finally arrived at Grandma's house at 10:45 pm!!! Watched the kids run crazy for over an hour, come on, I had to let them wear themselves out a little or we never would have gotten them in bed. And then the magic started...we had all sorts of hands that wanted to help get kids ready and tucked in.

Thank goodness for GRANDMA'S HOUSE!!!

Christmas Tree Needles and Other Useless Irritants of the Holidays

Okay - short rant......Christmas tree needles. Is there anything more annoying about the holidays??? They get EVERYWHERE and in EVERYTHING. They embed themselves in the carpet and cling to dust bunnies. And it's only been ONE DAY since we put up our Christmas stuff.

Next on the list - the mysteriously broken ornaments. Anyone else have those? They mysteriously end up broken and no one knows what happened. We had one this morning. It was funny.....next to the broken ornament was an open glue stick. Hmmmmmm.

And next.....the item that was charged incorrectly. Oh yeah. Ya gotta love these. Especially when you've been shopping too long and your back hurts and all you want is a Diet Pepsi and after waiting in line for-ev-er and finally getting your car loaded and getting home, you realize they OVERCHARGED you for an item. And not a small ticket item, a LARGE ticket item.

Anyone else have any they'd like to share???

What to do about Facebook and MySpace???

I joined MySpace and Facebook a year ago or so, mostly to get in touch with old friends since my 20th reunion was coming around. It was a lot of fun and I found a bunch of old friends, some of which were gay. They were friends and I was happy to get in touch with them and find out what had been going on in their lives the last 20 years.

And then Prop 8 came up. And my concern for hurting any of my gay friends prompted me to just avoid MySpace and Facebook for a while. I supported Prop 8 and I did so publicly, but was very careful not to make an issue of it with my gay friends or other friends who opposed Prop 8. So now, after the election, I have many friends who are not happy about Prop 8 passing. And they are fighting Prop 8 on Facebook and MySpace and I have no desire to go there anymore.

I am disappointed that it has gotten to the point of alienating friends. I feel that if I go to those sites, I will eventually feel the need to explain the other side and then I'll REALLY alienate some friends and so for now I prefer to avoid instead of cause a rift in friendships. Although, in a way, I guess the rift is already there.

I'll be so bummed if MySpace and Facebook are lost to me forever!!!

Seriously. Enough Already!!

This weather is depressing me!

What in the world is going on?  I think that the whole "Global" warming trend is a farce and it is actually "Southern California Warming".  SERIOUSLY!  Who has it out for us?  It's November for crying out loud.  Let's forget the whole Thanksgiving thing and head for the beach!!  Anyone care to join us?

I feel kind of like the ants we roasted with our magnifying glass as kids must have felt just before they were incinerated beyond recognition.  Is that the next step?  Is that what we have to look forward to?

I busted out all of our fall clothes (there is no such thing as winter clothes in So. Cal.) when we had our cooling trend.  What!?!  You don't remember that?!?  Remember, it was like 3 weeks ago and it lasted for about an hour and a half.  Anyway, the kids have outgrown all their summer stuff and so I figured, it was getting to be that time for it to start cooling down, so I  just pulled out the next seasons attire.  Yeah.  Now what?  Sweat all day long wearing long pants and long sleeved shirts, or buy an entire new summer wardrobe for 3 kids?!?  That won't happen.  We could also just let the cheeks hang out the bottom of the shorts, or have some serious Baby Huey shirts, with little bellies hanging out or I guess they could all run around in their underwear...  Hmmm.  That won't happen either.  Imagine the talk that would ensue.  So...we are stuck wearing our cool weather duds in this ridiculous heat.  

Here's hoping we can stave off heat stroke.

Why?

Why do children have to have a holiday in the middle of the week?

Why do they save up all their energy for that one day?

Why do they pretend they don't hear you and think they can get away with ignoring you?

Why do they have volume controls that conveniently break on their day at home?

Why don't mom's get paid millions for this????

But I Want The Blue Bowl!

Alright, well it looks like I am the only one who has stuff to complain about. Not really sure I know how to feel about that...

That being said.

Why is it that as soon as you sit down for a "Mommy Moment", you know, those times that you have been running around all day and decide that for two seconds you are going to sit your butt down in a chair and, oh, I don't know, BLOG?, check e-mail, or even better (at my house at least) make a stinkin' phone call, (serious run-on sentence going here) that your kids decide that they no longer want to watch a movie that up until the second you sat your sorry butt down, they were TOTALLY into, or decide that they need a different color cup, or (my personal favorite) body slam their little sister?

Seriously, kids must have this alarm in their heads that screams at them, "Warning! Warning! Your mother is taking a minute for herself. Warning! Warning!" Does anyone know how to short circuit said alarm?

I feel like I am a fairly creative person when it comes to keeping my kids entertained (not every day of course, sometimes they need to work through boredom, right???) I will make a batch of salt dough and let them create, I will make sugar cookies and let them decorate. OK, TOTALLY busted, the sugar cookies are actually for me...YUM! But no matter the lengths I go to, it is never appreciated or enjoyed in quite the way I was hoping. I guess I should learn the lesson and just let them body slam each other...much less work.

So next time you try to call me on the phone, or send an e-mail, know that I will most likely have screaming children in the background demanding the blue bowl and not the perfectly fine Nemo bowl that I thought would be more fun and spent more stinkin' money on.

Someday, this will totally be worth it. Someday, this will totally be worth it. Someday, this will be totally worth it. That's right, keep repeating it, suck it up and know that someday they will appreciate all this work!

They will appreciate it someday, right???

It's Been A Day...

Why, you ask?

1.  No sleep last night.
2.  Children won't get dressed.  Where are your shoes???
3.  2 year check up = SHOTS!!
4.  Grumpy 2 year old.
5.  Preschool pick-up = more kids to manage.
6.  Cotton balls thrown all over the bedroom.
7.  Grumpy 2 year old.
8.  Constant tattling.
9.  4 year old WILL NOT leave grumpy 2 year old alone.
10.  4 year old and 2 year old digging through purse.  Gum... need I elaborate???
11.  Lotion everywhere!!
12.  Halloween candy.
13.  Halloween candy chewed up and spit on the floor for a laugh.
14.  Will you leave her alone already!!!
15.  Time outs all around...AGAIN!!
16.  It's already 4:00???  No naps.
17.  Seriously P'd off 2 year old!!!!!!
18.  Did any one notice that it is like 150 degrees outside!?!
19.  It is only 4:00 and my list numbers 20!
20.  Seriously!  Lotion.  Again??
21.  Time outs.
22.  How many times do I have to tell you.  DON"T BLOW YOUR NOSE ON YOUR SHIRT!!!!
23.  No!  Don't teach your sister to pick her nose.
24.  I need a Diet Pepsi.  Standing in line behind someone who pays with $3 in dimes and pennies!!!
24.  Husband is out of town!  Oh, I forgot to mention that???

Seriously,  Daddy might find Mommy locked in the closet in the fetal position when he gets home...

My Horrible, Awful, No Good, Very Bad Day

Okay, so maybe I'm exaggerating, but I really felt like I had a crappy day. Have you ever had a day where you just felt like you kept saying everything wrong?

You know how they have all those quizzes all over the internet? If there was one about how well you communicate, I think I would fail it. Sometimes I'll be talking to someone, and I'll think I was very articulate, and then they look at my like I just spoke in a foreign language. I have a knack for offending people when I have absolutely no intention of doing so. And I hate it.

I really like everyone I know. Even my friends that occasionally bug me - I love them. Because I get annoyed at EVERYTHING. So just because I get snotty and irritable sometimes, it doesn't mean I don't like them anymore. It just means I'm moody and hormonal. And before anyone says, "Uh, Tracy? I think you just insulted some of your friends," I just want you to know - it's not YOU I'm talking about.

Okay, seriously, I was just kidding with that comment. What I really meant to say was - I really like all my friends. Even the ones who think I don't like them. And I would never, ever intentionally hurt someone.

So back to my day - I just had one of those days where I kept feeling like I couldn't please anyone. And I HATE that feeling. When you start loving the dog, simply because the dog is so pleased to be in your presence, you know you have a problem.

And for one more heave - my parents are coming next weekend. Why is that a complaint? Because I have to clean my house. And go to the store. We should probably have food when they come. Well, I guess the kids need food, too.

I really think I just need a year at the spa. What?! You think that's asking too much???