Morning chaos

Can it be possible that dad arranged for his little angels to be crazy on this fine Father's Day morning; knowing that I would let him sleep, snuggled in blankets, behind a closed door, away from the morning madness?

We have been up a mere moment yet it seems like an entire day. There have been demands for paint, breakfast (no surprise), a broom (my son likes to sweep) and to go outside. All of this and my eyes are barely open. Yet, I am blogging. I have run over here for refuge. They cannot grab me in cyberland. They cannot dictate what I type. Of course, I suppose they do since they are of what I write. Hmmm, it seems the troops have overtaken everything.

In any event, it is Father's Day. Blessed be the men who have fathered children all over the world. Okay, maybe not all of them.

I will say this though, despite the fact that I believe my husband and children have conspired to wreak havoc on my every single morning routine and dwindle my sanity, I adore him. I am honored to share this life with a man so loving and caring that he would take the time to educate his children on how to push mommy's buttons and drive her to blogging about the craziness so early in the morning, when I should be changing a diaper and fixing some eggs. Hey, it could be worse, couldn't it? The liquor cabinet is still closed, and I haven't quoted "it's five o'clock somewhere" yet!

Happy Father's Day!

WW

Bribery at the Grocery Store

I am well aware that bribery with children is not uncommon. I swore I would never become one of those parents. I would have such well-behaved and disciplined children that bribery would be completely unnecessary and foolish. Fast forward to me having children. I think that went out the window in the first 12-18 months when my first child was mastering walking and talking.

Today, in the checkout line, at the grocery store, as my oldest two children were pummeling each other, I didn't so much bribe as I lied. I neurotically scolded, Stop hitting your sister. See all these cameras on the ceiling. *they look up*. The policemen are going to see you and come and take you away. If they don't, I'm going to call them. Half chuckling, half embarrassed at my stupidity, I turn back to the cashier to see her smirking and say, Whatever works, and the lady behind me whose eyes seemed to say I've been there too.

Alright, so bribery would have been more like allowing them to swipe all the chocolate in the aisle to get them to listen to me. Whatever. Lies and bribery go hand-in-hand, after all.

Of course, my wise-cracking eldest will usually respond with something like Uncle Mike is a police officer, he'll take care of us. So, much for using the illusion of police authority to scare my kids. Hmmmm, maybe a different, more sensible approach would be better.

Bad Blogger

I admit, I'm the world's worst blogger. I can't focus on more than one blog at once. I SWORE I would write here once a week, you know for that one person who might read my blog. Obviously, I have failed miserably.

To my latest commenting reader, no, it's no longer snowing. Thank heavens! The sun is actually shining here today and the children and I are headed to the park to meet up with one of my oldest daughter's friends. She hasn't seen her since December and has no idea we are going. She is going to be so surprised.

Let's see what else is going on....I just vacuumed my kitchen and living room. Actually, I more or less chased my 2 year old around with the vacuum as he exclaimed with glee; all the while scolding my middle child who was running around naked. That child is a wild one. Thankfully she has long since grown out of the stage where she would strip buck naked in the middle of a department store. Gosh, those days were fun.

As I'm typing this I have just run to get the phone three times. Apparently, my darling husband misses me so much or he can't answer his own questions. It's no wonder I don't get any blogging done.

Ta ta for now.

Going back into hibernation.

Apparently, Mother Nature has laughed at my attempt to come out of hibernation. Go away snow! I have nothing witty or worthwhile to say. Just, go away. I'm ready for spring already.

Coming out of Hibernation

I wish I could say it was sunny and warm here and that is why I am virtually popping out of hiding. Alas, it is still dreary winter. And, we are due to get snow AGAIN tomorrow. Perhaps I was overly optimistic that this winter would not be a long one. In any event, I am here. Quiet, but here. I am have been ridiculously consumed with work and the family that I have little time to focus on my vices, which quite obviously include this blog.

I must tell you that I have had an overly attentive husband that has been keeping me off the computer too. I don't mind that all too much. :)

In other news:

Lately I have had all these grand plans and ideas swirling in my scatterbrain. Now, if I could just focus on my energy on seeing on item through to its completion, I might actually get a sense of satisfaction. It is like a book you pick up with really good intentions and then put it down one day and never find the time to get back to it. I have a big, huge shelf of those--books and ideas. Work is really cramping my creative style.

A note on the career - The daily grind, albeit time consuming, has reminded me that my talents do not only include toilet training and baking. Of course, I will say that I did bake a scrumptious batch of brownies which I am currently enjoying. Pardon me typing with my mouth full.

On trying - I will not make a promise that I can blog everyday. The truth is that is not even feasible right now. However, I will make a concerted effort to type a bit of dribble at least once a week. Deal?

Grrr-troop troubles.

I once was a Girl Scout leader. That was before I had children. I have opted to get back into it since my kids have showed interest in scouting. Piece of cake, right? Leading troops is somewhere on my resume and surely a gaggle of little girls is easier than that.

Well, it's not the girls causing me heartache, it's the fact that my troop can barely get off the ground. Here we are in January. I commenced this journey over the summer. There were few folks, if any, who stepped up for leadership positions. Because I didn't want my oldest to have to wait another year, I said that I would take on a troop. Well, if you know anything about GSUSA, the rules have changed. Each troop now must have two registered leaders present at each meeting who have completed required training.

I had one in September. We started the process and then she moved. I found another volunteer (who ironically has no daughters) and now she has to step down because of her health. I am at a loss. I have put some feelers out there to some of the parents. I sincerely hope someone is able to step in. I fear that these poor little girls will never see this troop come to fruition.

Salut!

I am about to share dinner with my family, so I hope you don't mind the copy and pasting of a post:

Happy New Year!

Cheers to all!

Holiday Update - more or less

Can it really be that a month has passed since I last posted?

My goodness.

Well, let me fill you in on some mundane (or not so mundane) happenings.

We have been battling the winter here in our neck of the woods since the beginning of December. Actually, things have been crazy since we returned from our vacation around Thanksgiving. My shoulder is healing, still never went to see the doctor, but I'm doing ok. I'm sure LAW will give me 50 lashes with a wet noodle for not taking her advice. Of course, since that incident, I also fell down a flight of granite stairs, seriously bruising my arse. Honest, I am not super graceful when it comes to difficult tasks like walking, but I try. This fall was due to wet stairs and slippery granite at work. My ego was greatly bruised as well. It was a heck of a fall and had it not been me, I would have laughed my butt off and rushed me to see the doc. Nonetheless, I'm doing ok. Oh, wait, I threw my hip out this morning. Who knows how that happened! Well, my loving husband decided to take the credit ~ funny guy.

At any rate, I am still alive. Hard to believe after all that, eh?

Outside of the injuries, we've had sick kiddos and numerous power outages because of the winter storms for the past few weeks. We roughed it here and there but made it through a little better than most. I can't believe the winter has only just begun.

Work has me straight out busy, but I'm still loving it. For those of you who give a hoot, I deal primarily with domestic relations work. Not surprisingly, things are really busy during the holiday season. Of course, my employer has been gracious to give us some early days here and there to tend to things with our families and whatnot. We also had a blast of a holiday party last week--on the day I fell down the stairs no less. Go figure! No worries the fall was at work and not at the open-bar festivities. ;)

I'm really hoping to get back into blogging soon. I truly miss it and was just telling one of my coworkers about it today. I feel as though I'm missing a part of me know that I don't blog as much. It's so much therapy for me to just write, even if it's just a brief posting. I'm sure many of you can relate.

For now, I should run, or hobble, to get a little one back to bed who has snuck her way down the hallway.

Hope this post finds you and yours happy and healthy and ready to bring on 2009!

Happy belated Thanksgiving my friends!

Well, I have so much to be thankful for this year. Not only did I have my husband home to celebrate the holiday with me and the children, but we also just returned from a wonderful vacation. Of course, it was one of those vacations where you need another vacation to recuperate from it. You know the type, right? What can I say, with three small children in tow, there typically isn't much relaxing on vacation, unless, of course, you had a nanny or mother's helper along with you. We entertained the thought but realized money would be better spent in other ways on the trip.

At any rate, we are home. And, as they say, there is no place like home. Going from a small hotel room with 2 adults and 3 pint size individuals and lots of luggage, anything slightly bigger would have been inviting. Mama needs her personal space you know.

Oh, and how I missed my big, comfy bed. Although, I will say, my big comfy bed may be too big or too high off the ground. Our first night/morning back home (around 0530) I fell off the bed (sort of) and busted up my shoulder. The baby was beckoning me by screaming "Mama Mama" from his room. In an effort to rescue the little critter, I decided to pick up my middle child (who snuck into our bed in the middle of the night) and return her to her room first. With her in my arms, I started to get off the bed, slipped but quickly regained my balance. Nevertheless, as soon as I did that, I tripped on something (a shirt I think) and down we fell faster than you can say "oops".

Well, that hurt like the dickens. Somehow I saved our heads from crashing into the closet or the corner of the wall and only injured my shoulder by landing on my side. My dear sweet girl says to me (as I'm screaming in pain) "Don't worry Mama, I've got you." Made my heart melt.

My husband leaped out of bed and consequently, so did my eldest daughter to see what happened. Well, folks it wasn't Santa landed on the roof or an earthquake, it was just me at my finest. And, that my friends, is why another one of my nicknames is "Grace". Honest. It all began with me walking into a glass wall at a bank once upon a time, but that's another story for another blog post.

The jury has been out as to whether I busted my rotator cuff or just pulled a muscle. My mother has been urging me to go to the doctor while my hubby says I should tough it out, like he does. I've regained motion (for the most part) and some of the swelling has gone done. Thanks to, the hardcore military medical regime so many of us are accustomed to. What is that? Why, it's 800 mg of Motrin and water of course. It's the miracle cure. ;)

Oh, and what to wondrous eyes should appear when I returned home, but a fabulous new blog to follow (created by one of my favorite bloggers and artists and her friend): Glam Gals. Glory be!

Ciao for now.

Tomorrow, tomorrow....

Is only one wakeup away. Yippee! We're going on vacation. We're going on vacation.

Can you feel the excitement! I can. Heck, I don't even know how I am going to work tomorrow morning. My adrenaline is already kickin'.

I'll be back around Thanksgiving to give you the lowdown and hopefully share some photos.

Have a great week everyone. :)