Random

Okay, I have nothing new and fresh, so I'm just gonna ramble on and see what comes to mind. If you're looking for deep insight or a refreshing outlook, this blog may not be for you. I don't claim to be a deep thinker or philosopher. Sometimes my most contemplative thought is what will get the poop smell off my hands. Seriously. Nasty. Diaper.

*Ever notice how, when you have a big family get together and there isn't enough room in the kitchen to seat everyone, it's always the men who go downstairs or to the rec room and the women get stuck eating with fifteen demanding little mouths. The men get to enjoy a hot meal while we women are bombarded with sticky fingers, juice spills, hungry bellies and empty cups. When we finally get to sit down to our now-cold meal, we hear a chorus of "dessert?"

*Lately, this is the conversation I have over and over with my boys.

Benen - "Mom. Connor kicked me off the couch."
Connor - "It was an accident."
Benen - "Nuh-uh. Purpose."
Connor - "Accident."
Me - "Okay, Benen. So Connor kicked you off the couch?"
Benen - "Yup. On purpose."
Connor - "No it was-"

Me - "Connor just a minute." I turn to Benen. "Connor kicked you?"

Benen - "Yes."
Me - "What did you do to deserve it?"

Benen - "Well, first I sat on him and then he kicked me and I fell right off the couch."

Me - "So you sat on him first?"
Benen - "Well, yeah."
Me - "Connor did Benen sit on you?"

Connor - "Yes, and I told him to get off but he wouldn't. So I kicked him off."

Me - "Benen, is that what happened?"
Benen - "Yup. And I fell off the couch."

*I'm on a diet. Well, technically I am not on a diet. My husband has decided to use this new eating plan and, since I couldn't persuade him out of it, I went with the old adage, "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em." So now I am eating mostly veggies and poultry with the occasional fish thrown in. And rice.

Travis over at One Word and I share a strong dislike and aversion to anything in the vegetable category. I've never met a vegetable I liked. Today is day one and so far I have thumbed my nose at the black coffee and added my 18% cream. I've dreamed of chocolate at least a dozen times and by accident (I swear it was an accident) popped half a Ritz cracker in my mouth.

We'll see how tomorrow goes. If the dreams turn to full-fledged fantasies, I may have to chuck the plan altogether. BTW, can you die from a chocolate craving?

*The shower tap in my bathroom is dripping. Actually "dripping" is too mild a word. What started as a slow "drip..........drip..........drip" increased to a "drip, drip, driiiiiiiiip, drip, drip, driiiiiiip." That was two weeks ago and now the tap just won't shut off. It runs at a constant "drrrrrriiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiip, drrrrrrriiiiiiiiiipppppp, drip, drrrrrriiiiiiip." You get the idea. Anyways, I called my hubby at work today and told him he needs to fix that tap tonight. It's driving me crazy listening to it all day. I've taken to shutting the bathroom door which cuts down on the sound, but with it being the hot water tap, my bathroom is actually warmer from the constant, running hot water. But tonight it gets fixed. Yeah!

***********Update****************

I wrote the above yesterday, so here's an update.

I'm off the diet. I lasted 15 hours. The thought of meat and veggies started making my stomach heave and life just didn't feel worth living if I couldn't enjoy my meals.

So today I've had coffee-with-cream for breakfast, eaten chicken, veggies and rice (bland, no butter or salt) for lunch, snacked on a donut in the afternoon with more coffee and had a McDonald's hamburger with a handful of fries for supper. I'm happy. I'm full. I'm feeling a little guilty.

I think it would be nice if my hubby had a wife who supported him......so RAH, RAH! You GO, Honey!!

Oh, and he fixed my bathroom tap. Yeah!

Insurance

I need an insurance policy for my books. Can you do that? I have quite the collection and they're at the top of the list of things I'd save if there was a fire. Right below the kids. Hubby has to save himself.

The last two mornings I have come downstairs to find my books off the shelves and scattered across the floor. Some were slightly damp (drool), though most were unharmed. But I'm getting nervous. I'm thinking I should take out a policy for natural disaster.

Does a baby count as a natural disaster? 'Cause he is! He's upped his game. It's like he thought to himself one day, "Hmmm. Mom's already seen it all. I'll have to find something new." And he has proceeded to find more mischief than I thought possible for such a cute, little package.

He's drawn to toilet bowls like a bug to a zapper. They're irresistible. I mean, what's more fun than taking a refreshing splash in a kiddie-size, porcelain pool? And I'll be honest and say it hasn't always been fresh water. That's one thing with kids; they don't always remember to flush.

I can handle a lot of it - cell phones, markers, papers, pens, cupboards, dressers, purse, iPod, headphones, computer, CDs - just don't mess with my books. Seriously.

What's a mother to do?

Now, I gotta go. My three-year-old is brushing the baby's teeth.

Blonde Moment

I have never been the most observant person. My husband claims he goes shopping with me just to protect the innocent. So where was he yesterday when I needed him?

The morning started...well not good, seeing as I don't do mornings. But early hour aside, I managed to get ready, drink one-and-a-half cups of coffee, feed clothe and groom three boys, and get them all out the door by 8:25 a.m. I packed up the two youngest in the red wagon and started off to walk Connor to school. As we passed through the gate of the field, I noticed that there seemed to be an unusual amount of children playing with balls. They were running and kicking and throwing the balls.

"That's cute to see so many kids playing together," I said to myself.

We continued on and I noticed there was a man running and playing with the kids. I figured out he was a teacher and I was surprised and pleased with his dedication to his job and the kids. "Isn't that nice that he's interacting with them," I thought. "It's wonderful to see a teacher who really cares."

As we drew nearer the commotion, I realized I was faced with a dilemma. These kids were playing right in the middle of the field and I needed to go through them to reach the school. I glanced around to see if there was a way around the activity, but I would have had to go waaaaay around. So, I figured I'd just cut through. Now, I had a baby in the wagon, so I was watching out for flying balls.

I had just reached the other side when I felt a tap on my shoulder.

"Mame?" I stopped and turned. It was one of the teachers.

"Yes?"

"Would you mind going around next time? We're having soccer practice."

That's when I noticed the whistle around her neck. I felt an uncomfortable tightness begin in my chest. "Oh, I'm so sorry. I didn't realize. Did I just walk through your practice?"

"Yes, but that's okay. Next time, if you could just go around the orange pylons."

There were pylons?! I looked back and sure enough there were four orange pylons placed at four corners. And right through the middle, on a diagonal, from corner to corner, were two wagon wheel tracks.

Can you say blonde moment??

Here She Is...

Kadeja Stevona, 2 1/2 hours old

(not sure on the spelling of the middle name yet)

Here's the happy family. Mom, Dad, Big Sister Senaye and Li'l Bit Kadeja. Senaye is holding a plush, stuffed puppy that she picked out herself to give the baby. Aren't they cute! (I'm not talking about mommy and daddy. LOL!)

I took the three boys up to the hospital the next morning to meet their new cousin. The boys were great; no fighting, yelling, stomping or screaming. Except for Kolten, who pulled a Great Escape and wandered off down the hall. It only took a minute to catch him. Connor was very excited to get to hold the baby. He was gentle and sweet and in awe at how small she was.

And Benen with Kadeja. Benen has loved babies since he was barely old enough to walk. His eyes lit up when he first saw her.

New Arrival

I am the proud Auntie of another little niece. My brother and his wife just had their second little girl.

Kadeja was born Sunday, September 16 at 3:49 p.m. She weighed 8 lbs. 3 oz. and was 52 cm long. She has beautiful dark hair and the cutest little chin. I have yet to see her eyes, but I'm sure they are bright and beautiful like the rest of her. Kadeja (Cad-ae-ah) means "trustworthy."

I went up to see them in the hospital and both mother and baby were doing great. Daddy on the other hand wasn't looking so hot. Why is it the man seems to do worse through the whole process than the woman actually giving birth? Ever notice that? You go up to see the new baby and, although the mother may be tired, she's entertaining family and friends, busily showing off baby and chatting about the whole experience. Meanwhile, the father is bleary eyed, hungry and talking about how exhausted he is. He's slumped in the chair or lounging on the counter under the window, guzzling a coffee and asking if anyone remembered to bring him something to eat. LOL!

But, my little niece is here, she's a darling and all she had to do was sleep and grunt and she managed to steal every heart in the room.

Her big sister, Senaye, stole the show when she told mommy, "I go Gramma's, have ice cream. Mommy, you go back in bed."

I took pictures and if I can gain permission, I'll post them here for y'all to oooh and ahhh over.

Pre-Coffee Conviction

I've always wanted my children raised with good principles and Godly values. And thanks to Veggie Tales, my children learn a lot while we drive around doing errands. Aren't those built in DVD players great!?

My children are also fascinated by superheroes and have lately taken to Larry Boy, the Superhero of Bumblyburg. Their newest favorite is "Larry Boy and the Bad Apple," a story about avoiding temptation. From these movies they have learned that "We need God and other people to help us avoid temptation", "God is always with you even when you're scared", "God likes it when we share our blessings", "God made you special and he loves you very much."

These are great things to know and I have been thankful to Big Ideas for planting these important ideas in my children's heads. Until today.

This morning my son Benen woke me by saying "Mom, all your books fell down off the self." It was 7:40 a.m., my eyes were barely able to crack open against the pounding in my head, but this sounded serious. Something had happened to my books?? I rolled out of bed with visions of earthquake disaster in my basement and wondering how I had slept through the crash of five shelves and 400+ books hitting the floor.

Turned out it wasn't an earthquake but one very naughty baby who had decided, last night, to create some mischief. He had swiped some of my books off the shelves. I felt relief that none of the books were marked or bent mixed with the disappointment that I hadn't caught him in the act. You can't discipline a 1 year-old the next morning for something he did the night before. So instead, I huffed and began putting the books back on the shelves in alphabetical order.

Connor sat on the couch watching me sort through the pile and insisting that his brother needed some discipline. Then he looked waaaaaay up to the top shelf and observed, "You sure have a lot of books." I nodded. "You must really like books." I nodded again and murmured an affirmation. "Hmmmm. I think books might be your temptation."

Ouch.

Knockout!

In boxing or UFC, the term knockout refers to when one competitor hits his opponent so hard it knocks him to the ground and sends him off to la-la land. Okay, maybe that's not the official definiton, but you get the point.

Well, today I went 9 rounds with baby number three, Kolten, a.k.a. Short Fuse. We lovingly call him this as he can go from a laughing, giggling baby to a screaming mad monster in a nano second. I kid you not. He has the most innocent face and sweet personality, but watch out! He's a regular Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

Now, this kid is 18 months and has finally learned to walk, goes up and down the stairs and has mastered a few simple words. Amongst them are the words "all done" and "down." He says them all the time, just not when you want him to.

Today after lunch, Short Fuse was wanting out of his high chair and he began screaming, crying and whining to get my attention. This is nothing new; it happens everyday. But I had had enough. I was tired of being whined at and yelled at. So, I told him no, mommy would not get him out of his high chair until he said "down."

"Are you all done?" I asked. "Do you want down? Down? All done?"

He just stared at me, narrowed his eyes (I'm serious), shook his head....and let out a whining yell. I turned my back and continued eating my lunch while ignoring his grunting demands.

This went on for many rounds. I was loading the dishwasher when I realized it had grown strangely quiet. I looked over to find this:



Mommy wins by KNOCKOUT!!!

The Rant

*WARNING: Anyone who is easily offended or wishes to retain some nice thoughts of me may wish to skip this post all together. I'm about to get nasty!*

I'm gonna take a minute and rant. I haven't had many thoughts lately and so haven't been blogging. But when I came across this comment on a beloved author's blog, I was disgusted, appalled and furious. The author had posted a funny video that pokes a little fun at computers and why people may not read. Here was this jerk's comment:


"Yeah a funny video, but basically a waste of time. Hey, are you aware of the amount of times you use the word "I", "me" and "my" on your websites? No wish to be rude, but maybe you should try and sorta be more aware of other folk on your blog sites other than publicising yourself and your books own gain? Dammit, I mean, you're supposed to be a Christian, aren't you? I see very little here that would be of any advantage to anything or anyone but yourself. I don't wish to offend you, but as a Christian myself, I'm shocked by your total and utter lack of anything here that would be of advantage to anyone but you. Think about it and perhaps do something useful with your websites."


I'm sorry, did I miss something here??? I was under the impression that a blog is a place where someone can voice their thoughts, their feelings and details about their life!! Isn't that the whole point?? Obviously this person thinks the comments section is a place where HE can voice HIS!

And, yes, it was a "he", though I strongly question his proclaimed "Christianity"! More like pompous, religious, holier-than-thou, self-absorbed jerk!! Way to show some brotherly love! (sarcasm, sarcasm) I was under the impression that as Christians we are to love one another as Christ first loved us. It's that whole "love thy neighbor as yourself" bit!

And may I just say, he has some nerve, to suggest that someone should make their blog and/or website about "others". Hmmmmm, "others" being HIM??? What audacity!

Now, I'm gonna point something else out. When I visit an author's website or blog I'm EXPECTING to find information on THEM and THEIR LIFE and THEIR WORK!! I want to know a little more about them and the books they write. It's interesting to read about their journies, successes and, sometimes, failures. That's the whole point of a website!! TO SHOW PEOPLE THEMSELVES!! You'd think that would be obvious to a living, breathing person with at least 14 brain cells in their head! 'Course, maybe I should give the guy a break; he may only have 13 cells left!! And he probably used those precious few to write that garbage!

Now, am I being any nicer? No. But as my children would say, "he started it!" And since this is MY blog, I'm going to post MY feelings. He chose to use his voice to insult and criticize where he had NO CALL! His arguments are petty, childish and completely WRONG! They don't even make sense!! It's A BLOG and A WEBSITE!! Sheesh. Need I say more??!

Well, I'm going to. I was so furious when I read his comment I decided to click on his profile and find out who this guy was! And guess what? It came up "User Profile Unavailable". Surprised? I wasn't. Apparently along with being a complete jerk, he's also a coward! Doesn't even have the strength to stand behind his comments. He'd rather do it from afar. Well, I was certainly not surprised, though I was angry.

Also, remember this line, "I see very little here that would be of any advantage to anything or anyone but you"? I'm sorry, is he looking for some help? May I suggest he pick up a self-help book? Or perhaps see a professional?

I also want to say that this author handled the conflict with grace and smarts. Her reply:

"D****, that post made it pretty clear that you do wish to offend me. But taking offense is my choice, and I'm not in the mood to do that today.;-)Maybe you'd be happier reading somebody else's blog."

Now that takes class.