So, sue me.  I have totally slacked off on this blog of mine.  Thing of it is, school is kicking my big , fat arse!  Oh, and I got a job.  So, now I am a working, college student, wife and mother.  I don’t have time to do much else, but work, school, mother and wife!

I bumped into one of my advisors on campus on my way to class one night.  He asked how I was doing, and through my big, fake smile I told him “oh, I am doing OK.  But um, this school thing…boy, it sure is a lot of work.  I mean, 20 hours or more of homework a week?  Wow!”  His response?  “Ummm, remember, it is an accelerated program.”  Oh………..I see……

Boy, do I feel dumb!  I guess when they told me “accelerated”, I was thinking time wise, as in I will get done a lot quicker!  It never hit me that the material and class speed would be accelerated as well!  Huh…..

So due to me having a crazy amount of school work to keep up with along with my house desperately needing a good cleaning, bills that need to get paid, errands that need to get ran, groceries that need to be bought, I think I will just give some highlites!

~I got a job.  Yup.  A  real job.  Don’t get me wrong…that whole stay at home thing was a blast while it lasted.  I mean, I have almost 200 Facebook friends, I got an A in Spanish 101, I cleaned out the fridge several times and organized the cabinets.  The basement got new shelving units and all of my “stuff” got sorted and shelved.  But my bank account has dwindled.  considerably.  I needed to have a job that would allow me to continue to study all of these crazy hours, and still be a wife and mom.  So, I am now a….bartender.  Beer wench, as Mr. T. likes to say.  My friends own a few local  hot spots and they were kind enough to let me come aboard.  My hours are clutch and the pay is not too shabby!  It will work out fine until I graduate.  I feel old when I am there, especially when some of the other employees are twenty-one year old  hotties in skin-tight clothes, push up bras and layers of makeup.  Maybe I could be their mentor and tell them that the makeup will fade, the boobs will sag and before they can say “Sunday Absolut Bloody Mary with a Miller lite chaser” ten times, they will be forty years old and looking for something more.

~My parents were here for a visit and we loved every minute of it!  T here is nothing like coming home from work and seeing your Mom cooking in your kitchen!  My Mom’s pasta, homemade meatballs and sauce are one of our favorites and it has been a long time since we have been able to enjoy her Italian heritage!  Somehow, my Ragu out of the jar just pales in comparison!  I know, I know.  I need to learn!  I have tried, sauce is just not my strong point!  The other thing Mom made that was a huge hit is a Carmel Apple Cookie pizza!  Just like how it sounds…delish!  We polished that off with out a problem!  It was also my Mom’s birthday while they were here, so we celebrated with roasted beef tenderloin, baked potatoes,  steamed broccoli, garlic bread and salad.  Chuck and Ann brought fabulous desserts and we all had a nice time!

~I was the parent that poo-poo’ed the whole Swine Flu epidemic.  I thought the media was making everyone panic and it was a bunch of nonsense.  Well, then my boy started “oinking.”  He came down with a fever and a cough.  I took him to the doctor and sure enough.  He was swabbed, we waited the 10 minutes and our very much-loved pediatrician came into the exam room and stated, “well, this is his fifteen minutes of fame!  He is positive!”  My stomach just sank and I had to reach for the Kleenex box because I started to cry.  I felt horrible that I did not take it more seriously.  But no  harm done.  The doctor started him on Tamiflu immediately.  I brought him home, put him in his SpongeBob jammies and made the “sick couch” for him.  The sick couch is when I get out a sheet and cover the couch, bring down a pillow and blanket and get the afflicted family member tucked in for recovery!  By Saturday afternoon, he was fever free, and back to his spunky self.  Luckily, we were only down for a short time.  I have heard others in our area that have been sick for a week or more!

~My Boy #1 got a full mouth of braces on Friday.  He looks so adorable!  Eating has been a challenge for him due to his teeth being very sore.  We have made oatmeal, soup, pasta, mashed potatoes,  and whatever else he requested to try to make him more comfortable.  I think the worst is over and hopefully today will be the start of him getting back to normal!

~I have for the very first time in my life, started Christmas shopping!  I have a few gifts purchased and it feels so good!  I want to have a calm, relaxing holiday season and this early shopping can only help!  I found some great gifts and could  hardly pass up the sale price.  Now, I just have to remember that I have them and not forget about them hiding down the basement!  Christmas is only 55 days away!

~Although the whole cupcake thing has taken a backseat lately, I did manage to receive two large orders.  One order is for a retirement party in November, the other for a Christmas party!  I am going to be busy!  I love baking and I am glad that others enjoy the fruits of my labor!  It would be pretty awful to have so many cupcakes just sitting around my house.  Well, I guess not that awful!

The hammer came down yesterday.  I will not be going back to my place of employment.  The economy has not been kind to the real estate industry and there is no job there for me anymore.  I had, in the back of my mind, thought that this would be the case.  After all, you cannot squeeze water from a turnip, or something like that.  So, the search for a job has begun.

I sent out an email to my contact list, telling all of my friends that I needed a job.  I thought, it would not hurt to network a little, spread the word.  I had several responses from friends.  Some told me they would keep an ear out, some gave me some good ideas. 

Then my friend, Mom of 1 + 2, who is a regular reader of my blog and also a great friend,  sent the email that has caused me sleepless nights since I received it.   My friend is a department head in the advertising department of a major pharmacy chain.  She told me of an opening that was at her company and although it might be a long shot, she was the one to decide who would get an interview and I would be on her list.  She told me that I would be perfect for the job.  I am very detail oriented and I am a hard worker. The job is what many might consider a dream come true. Unbelievable pay, which I felt I was not worthy of (after all, I still don’t have a bachelors degree!) profit sharing, vacation time, 401K, insurance…all of the bells and whistles.

All good news, right?  Well, here is the bad part.  It is a commute.  Not twenty minutes, not a half hour, nope.  About an hour and fifteen minutes and that is on a day when traffic is pleasant and the weather is good.  My friend told me that there are days where it will take  her 2 hours to get home, especially in the winter months. Wow.  That is a lot of time in a car!

My initial reaction was, “I’ll take it, where do I sign?”  Then something popped into my head.  Two things actually.  Those two things are named Jordan and Collin, commonly refered to Boy #1 and Boy #2.  According to Mom of 1 + 2, I would have to leave my house by 6:00 -6:15 AM daily, on good weather days.  That would mean J and C were on their own in the AM to get ready for school, and get out the door on time. What if they overslept?  What if they did not feel well? What if they were fighting  and arguing?  What if it were raining or cold out?  All of these thoughts popped into my mind and I started to cry.  The thought of making my kids get themselves off to school in the morning hit a nerve with me.  I like being here in the morning, telling them to have a good day, making sure Collin’s  clothes match, making sure notes and lunches are in the backpacks.  I am a mom first.  I want to be a mom first.  I need to be a mom first.

I am so struggling with this decision, that I cannot sleep or talk about anything else.  I called my Mom and told her.  I constantly talk about it with Mr. T.  I need someone to tell me what to do.  Is a huge paycheck worth it?  Does a huge paycheck make up for the fact that my kids will be latch key kids?  Does the huge paycheck make up for the fact that I would only see my kids about 2 hours a day?  Does a huge paycheck make up for the fact that I will miss every single baseball game, football game and talent show at school? 

 I am struggling with this.  I need to make money, and thinking that I not only would be making money, but enough money to pay all of my bills, pay student loans, maybe add another bathroom on the second floor, put in a rec room basement, live the American Dream?  Is all of that worth the sacrifice of being around for my kids?  I am so conflicted.  What is the right thing to do?

At this point, I don’t know.  I need to work.  I need to make money, but I also need to be a great parent and raise my kids.  I only get one shot at that, right?  I surely don’t want to screw that up!  I know the rest of this week is going to be spent contemplating, discussing, crying, sighing and not sleeping.  How does a person say no to an opportunity like this?  How does a Mom take a job that is more accurately described as a career?  Why does this have to be so hard?  Why can’t I hit the Powerball?

I guess , for now, I have to look at it like this:  I am so lucky!  I have friends that think enough of me to consider me for a job like this.  I am so flattered!  Wow…me, a career woman?  I know this is a good problem to have.  I know there are people who have been looking for work for a long time, and most people would not think twice about a decision like this.  Thing of it is, I am not most people.

Once again, I have been called out by my Dad as to my lack of posts.  I have made it my mission to update today, no more procrastinating!

I have been delinquent due to my school schedule. If you remember, I was only taking one class at a time.  How hard could that be, you may be asking?  Well, let me tell you, HARD!  There was so much reading and writing to do, I needed at least a couple hours a day to focus on school.  Between the research paper, the oral presentation with Power Point and the most difficult final exam I have ever been faced with, it has been a LONG seven weeks!  I spent a total of about seventeen hours on the final exam, and that is not an exaggeration!  There were nine questions on the exam. NINE. Seventeen hours.  Do the math!  They were all essay questions, some two part questions, and all required me to go back to one of the three books and refresh and research.  Once I hit ’send’ on the email to get my final to the professor (on time, I might add) I felt like a hundred pound weight had been lifted off of my shoulders!  I still do not know what my grade is.  I will be anxiously waiting.

School is back in session for all of my boys.  Everything has started out with a bang and we are back into the swing!  Here they are on the first day:

Jordan's first day of 7th grade

Collin's first day of 4th grade

Doesn't he look so grown up?

We have the first week under our belt, and everything is feeling fine!  Collin loves his teacher!  She is sweet and kind and I think he is going to have a great year!  Last year at this time, we had some tears and Mr. T. and I already had to meet with the teacher.  So far, so good this school year.  No tears, only smiles!  Collin’s words were “Mrs. J. is super nice!  She is strict, but nice-strict…not mean-strict!”  That is Okey-dokey with us!  We like strict, especially nice-strict!

Jordan made his way to 7th grade without incident.  He is getting so big, and so grown up looking.  As you can see, he would not even wear shorts on his first day.  Much too cool for shorts!  I dropped him off and he was met by many friends with high fives.  He also started football, which has been interesting.  The first few days of practice, Jordan told us that there were about 75 kids going out for the team and those kids would be divided up into the varsity team (mostly 8th graders) and the junior varsity team (mostly 7th graders).  We went to watch the practice last night and it looks like they are down to about 40 kids TOTAL!  Apparently, there have been several injuries already.  Fabulous.  Just what I wanted to hear.  Even Jordan’s best bud, Eddie Haskel is out for the year.  He took a pretty hard tackle Thursday night, and separated his shoulder.  According to Eddie’s mom, the orthopedic doctor has not ruled out a torn rotator cuff.  He will be having an MRI in a couple weeks to determine the extent of the injury.  This, and there has not even been an actual game yet!  Poor Eddie!  He has been waiting and waiting for football season. 

Jordan’s has been wiped out every single night.  His schedule consists of getting up about 7AM.  Leave the house at 8:15 to go to school.  School lets out at 3:50, practice starts at 4PM.  He has practice until 6:45!  He comes home, eats dinner (he is ravenous at this point.  If you know Jordan, you know that kid needs his food!) takes a shower and goes to bed by 8:30 or 9PM.  He is exhausted!  Luckily, he has not had any homework the first week.  I am not sure how we are going to fit that in!  I guess keeping this busy will keep him out of trouble.  And away from the girls.  I could not help but notice last night at the football practice that there were two girls, both of them Jordan’s friends, in their cheerleader warm ups, giggling and hanging out near the practice.  And so it begins…

I have had a few orders of cupcakes lately.  That went very well.  I made 6 dozen last week for one order.  We also went to a neighborhood picnic last Sunday.  Our neighbors have a “Back to School” bash each year before school starts.  I made my banana cake with creme cheese frosting.  It is one of my favorites and I had some over ripe bananas, so that was my contribution to the picnic.  I had a lot of really nice compliments.  Two days later, one of the ladies that was at the picnic called me and asked me to make a cake for her son’s birthday.  Although I have never done “cakes” before, I thought I could give it a try.   I explained that I was trying something new, and it may not be pretty, but if she were willing, I was as well.  Her son requested marble cake with chocolate frosting.  The chocolate frosting was not a problem.  I can whip up a wonderful chocolate butter creme.  It was the cake I was worried about!  Since I have a recipe for a fabulous butter cake and also a scrumptious chocolate cake, I decided to make both batters and “swirl” them together.  Once the cake was baked, the hard part began.  It is so hard to make a layer cake, and make it even and flat.  Usually, they turn out a little “domed” or they crack across the top.  I did some research and got some good tips.  I also went to my favorite chef store and bought a cake leveler, which was the best $7.00 I have ever spent!  Then I took two layers, made them into four and started the frosting and filling.  Here is what I ended up with:

A four layer marble cake with chocolate butter creme.  I was happy with it and so was the neighbor.  I am anxious to try some more cakes.  I found a recipe for a coconut cake filled with lemon curd and topped with a coconut creme frosting.  It looks heavenly!  I am hesitant to make it for a couple reasons.  Mr. T. will not eat anything with lemon which would mean I would have this 4 layer, fluffy, decadent cake in my house with no one to eat it except me.  And maybe the boys.  I would eat it.  All.  It also seems pretty complicated and I am not sure if I am ready for something that has two pages of instructions.  I may start off by trying things that are a bit simpler.  I could literally spend hours looking through cook books and baking web sites. Hours!  If I could find a way to make a decent living by baking, I would be one of the few people in the world that is truly passionate about what they do.  Sigh….as Mr. T. would say, “If I had a stack of hundreds laying around with nothing better to do…”  I would rent a space, buy my equipment and start my bakery.  There are a few ideas brewing in my head, so I am not ruling it out just yet! 

This morning, the boys and I grabbed a couple garbage bags and went into their rooms and started doing a “pitch and clean.”  We do that every couple months.  It never fails to amaze me that after only a couple months, I drag out a few bags of garbage!  Shoes that don’t fit, old sketch pads, dried up markers.  Collin is a little pack rat and he seems to accumulate a lot of junk very quickly!  If I start to throw stuff out with out him looking, I can usually change two bags of garbage into three or four!  Seriously, I don’t know where he gets some of this stuff from!  There were little gadgets and cords that even he did not know what they belonged to!  Out it goes!  Once it is complete, they both comment on how nice their rooms look.  My response never changes…”Let’s see how long we can keep it like this!”

I am off to look for recipes.  It is a gorgeous, sunny day!  I am ready to enjoy the weekend!

A couple of weeks ago we had such a great experience, I have to share!   I am always thankful for good friends and this time was no exception.

A few weeks ago, Mrs. Tennessee called me from her cell phone and hurriedly instructed me to not make plans for the 25th of July. Okey-Dokey, no problem there.  We are not usually the kind of couple witha full social calender!   Turns out, Mr. and Mrs. Tennessee were the winner, winner chicken dinner of a fabulous night with a visit from a professional chef.  The chef came from Chicago to their home and the Tennessee’s had to invite two couples over for a night to be remembered, and remembered it will be!   We were lucky enough to be included, along with Matt and Nancy.

The Cornell's

The Tennessee's

Mr. T. and I

I am a lover of food.  Good food.  Expertly prepared food.  I looked forward to this night all week long and called Mrs. Tennessee mid week to see if there was something I needed to bring.  I am lying.  I knew I did not need to bring anything, I just wanted to see if I could get her to spill the beans on the menu selections for the night!

We were told to arrive around 6PM for a cocktail hour.  For one of the few times in my life, we were right on time!  Maybe even a few minutes early, as I did not want to miss a single minute.  When we walked in, the chef was in the kitchen, dressed exactly as a chef should be, in a white coat embroidered with her culinary school logo and her name. 

The kitchen was busy and she had the center island full of fresh herbs, carrots and plenty of utensils and bowls.  A quick introduction was made, and we made our way to the patio for drinks.

When it was time for the first course to be served,  Chef  Jennifer from Chicago came out to the patio and let us know.  We filed into the dining room, found our seat and this is what we were presented with:

The first course, lemongrass, ginger and bean thread carrot consomme garnished with Asian spiced shrimp.   Not only was it beautiful, it was delicious as well.   The chef was alerted to my shellfish allergy ahead of time, so my consomme was served sans shrimp.  I didn’t miss it!  The consomme was light, refreshing, crisp and delightful!  A perfect way to begin a meal, and tease our taste buds.  The chef also included wine pairings with each course, and the consomme was served a dry white wine.

The next course was something that I think I will remember for the rest of my life.  If you have ever seen the Food Network Show, “The Best Thing I Ever Ate”, this is the course that would definitely be featured as my selection!

Herb crusted beef tenderloin with garlic Gruyere potato flan and caramelizedport wine and thyme red onions.  Can we just pause for a moment, please? (Pause, pause, pause.)  The. Best. Meal. Ever.  The tenderloin was like butter, so tender and moist that it melted in your mouth.  The potato flan?  There are no words.  I have made it my mission to try to duplicate the potato dish at some point in my lifetime.  They were a creamy, cheesy, rich and decadent.  Comfort food at it’s best and a fantastic compliment to the beef.  All of this was topped with the caramelized  port wine and thyme red onions, which added just the right amount of sweetness to offset the richness of the potatoes and beef.  Mr. T. is not a fan of onions, but after a taste of them, he was ready for seconds.  And thirds!  I think we talked about this course for the remainder of the night, it was that good. 

Finally, the third course. Dessert.  I come from a long line of dessert connoisseurs, so let me just start by saying that I know a good dessert when I taste one.  I can sniff out a store bought cake or a box mix from a mile away.  I am critical and not very forgiving.  I scoff at Betty Crocker and Duncan Hines and Funfetti cake mixes are taboo in my home.  I am a baker that uses all fresh ingredients and am known to spend double digits on a few ounces of imported Madagascar Bourbon vanilla.  Chef Jennifer did not disappoint!  To cap off an already fantastic evening, we were then served this:

Chocolate Mousse torte with raspberry puree.  The mousse was so smooth and silky and the raspberry puree was fresh and so good, we all joked about licking our plates clean.  Well, some of us joked, some of us actually did!  I am not naming names, though!   The dessert course was served with a type of wine called Muscat.  That was new to me, and although I am not much of a wine drinker, I really liked it!  Definitely a dessert wine, maybe that is why I liked it so much. 

Muscat

What a fantastic evening shared with good food, good wine and even better friends!  Is there anything better than that?  I think not.

Here is to good friends!

Suddenly, my blog traffic is going crazy.  What is going on?  If you are a new visitor, please leave a comment!  I would love to know who is checking it out!  Sorta strange that the stats are picking up out of nowhere, but I guess I should not complain.  So where are you?

I survived the first night of school, which basically means that I have not dropped out yet and I made it home safe and sound.  Once home, I collapsed on the couch and begged Mr. T. to pop a bag of microwave popcorn for me and pour me a glass of Crystal Light, fruit punch of course.   I almost started to cry, but then my sweet family presented me with a card congratulating me on completing the first night.  Yeah, we thrive on praise over here!

When I arrived on campus I found my class room in a jiffy after parking a mile away.  That morning, I threw my back out and so the walk was not only difficult but very slow as well.  It was a good thing that I left the house so early!  There were ten others in my class and I was thrilled to see that I was not the oldest one there.  I wasn’t the youngest either, but fell somewhere right in the middle, which is fine with me.

The name of the class is Heritage Studies: Issues in Cultural Interaction.  I was somewhat prepared because I had purchased all of the books and started reading one of them the week we were on vacation, so I thought I knew what to expect.  I thought wrong.

The first question asked by the professor was “what does it mean to be human?”  (blank stare, blank stare, blank stare, blank stare, blank stare.)  We actually had to get out paper, and respond to the question.  Now, I am not a philosopher by nature and I tend to lean more towards cut and dry, right and wrong answers.  I really struggled with that question.  What does it mean?  I cannot remember exactly what I wrote, but I fell somewhere in the middle of one students answer of “having opposable thumbs” and another answer of “being a living, thinking, emotional being that can feel.”  Turns out, there was not a correct answer but the professor rebutted every single one of us.  “Does that mean that someone born without thumbs is not human?”  Does that mean that someone in a vegetative state is not human?”

When we got on the subject of life support and decisions to end said support, we discussed at great lengths the rights of those involved.  Whose decision is it?  What gives us, as humans to make such a choice, for ourselves, or for family members?  I found myself getting slightly annoyed, because I felt like this professor was preaching religion to us.  It is a Lutheran school, and he is a religion professor, but I was annoyed none the less.  I believe that each situation is unique and what is right for one family, may not be right for another and that ending life support is a very personal choice.  When he called on me, I said just that and Mr. Professor man shot me down, with a little smirk.  He told me I was living in a world of relativism, and that was going to get me into trouble!   Well, that just made me really mad and I almost walked out.  I hate when other people shove their views down others throats and present themselves as so self-righteous. Ick.  

I, of course, stayed in the class and finished the night, not without having such back pain that it almost brought me to my knees.  The syllabus is what brought me to my knees!  This is a four credit, 7 week class.  I have five books to read, cover to cover, a nine page essay to write, two quizzes (each on a different book), an in class presentation, a group project on the book The Art of War  and a final exam, which from what I have heard from a woman that had this class and professor before, the final exam is, let’s see, what did the lady say????   Umm, “extremely brutal.”

So there you have it.  The next 7 weeks are going to be incredibly difficult for me, for sure.  I am a little grouchy about it!  For now, I am just going to hope that my back starts to feel better, that I can actually understand what I am reading and that I am not going to get kicked out of class for living in a world of relativism!

Here it is, two days away and I am starting to panic a bit.  My first class starts Tuesday.  I have completed orientation and bought my books.  There were 5 books required for one class!  That averages about 1 book per week.  Mr. T. smirked a little when I came home with all 5.    He seems to think that the books are optional and that I will soon learn the difference between which books are required and which are optional.  I am a rule follower for sure, so all 5 were purchased!

We returned from the north woods yesterday afternoon.  Although the weather did not cooperate with our plans of sun, fishing, skiing and tubing, we did have a great time regardless of Mother Nature’s plans.  My parents are still working harder than what I would like to see, but as Mr. T. repetitively tells me, it is not my decision.   When my Mom told me how tired she was, I responded by saying, “well, sell this place and come home.  Enough of this nonsense!”  I felt like the parent, lecturing the teenager.  That comment brought a look from Mr. T. that told me to shut up and mind my own business.  So I did. 

I have a lot of pictures from our trip and hopefully I will find the time in the next few days to post some here.  I am so nervous about school that I need to just focus on that for now.  I have heard that often times the professor’s assign “pre-work” and post something about a paper that will be due on the first night of class.  I am obsessively checking my email and looking on Blackboard to see if I am missing something.  Nothing has been posted yet.  I am afraid that I will walk into class and be the only one that has nothing to turn in.  I guess no news is good news.  I will find out tomorrow!

All is well at Casa Teenie.

 I was given this “award” by my favorite blogger who happens to also be my “Aunt” Kristin.  Along with it comes the requirement that I list 10 things about myself.   I think I am going to have a hard time coming up with 10 very honest things about myself, but I am willing to give it a shot!  This may take me a few days to ponder, but here it goes:

1.  I think not finishing my degree is the biggest regret of my life.  At the time, graduation seemed so far off, and so unnecessary that I just gave up.  It was easier to get a full time job and get all of the things I thought I absolutely needed at the time.  Now, I have no job and no degree and I am forty years old and I still don’t have all of the things I thought I needed or wanted.  I have always been someone that needs to learn the lessons in life the hardest way possible and this was no exception.

2.  When I look at my kids, I wonder what in the world I did right to get them.   They are my pride and joy and someday, I hope I can put into words what they mean to me, how they saved me from myself.  While other people are getting rich, working hard at a career to get their reward, I know deep inside, I already have mine. 

3.  I have always thought I was overweight, even in high school.  I have never, ever been happy with my body.  Now, when I look at my pictures from high school, I think I have a very distorted body image!  I was thin and cute and oh, how I wish I appreciated it back in the 80’s!  I would give anything to look like that again.

4.  I honestly think, scratch that, KNOW I have a 6th sense.  I am sure it was inherited from my Grandma Rhey.  She had a 6th sense as well.  Some people think I am wacky when I say this, but if you lived with me, you would be a believer.  It has taken my husband many, many years to admit it, but he is now convinced.  I can tell when things are going to happen.  Often.  Sometimes my visions are extremely random, like I will just know I am going to run into someone at the grocery store, and sure enough I do.  Other times it is something heart wrenching and scary.  When we got on the plan to Vegas, I knew we would never see Rob again.  I knew it.  When the phone rang, no one even needed to tell me.

5.  On a daily basis, I worry.  I worry that someone in my family is going to get hurt, get sick or worse.  I wish I could let my kids go on a bike ride and actually feel okay about it.  I get butterflies in my stomach and worry the entire 15 minutes that they are gone.

6.  The older I get, the more I dislike Christmas.  I know, it sounds scroogey and I of course don’t let on to my kids that I dislike it, but I really, really do.  For many reasons.  First, I am not very religious and it may come as a surprise to some, but Christmas is a religious holiday.   I do consider myself spiritual and I do pray and talk to God, but we are not church goers and part of me feels a little guilty for celebrating Christmas on such a grand scale.  Second, I hate the commercialism.   It irks me when I hear people talk of the exorbitantly expensive things they buy their kids for Christmas.  I hate the greed.  I get sick when some of my kids’ friends call my kids and want to know how manypresents they  received.  Not “Merry Christmas.  I am glad you are my friend”  not “did you get something that was a surprise”  but how many did you get?  That makes me really sad.   It makes me scared for the future, really. 

7.  When Dicky and I got married, we got a dog.  It was my idea.  I always had a dog growing up, and I thought we needed a dog in our young marriage.  I found a puppy at the humane society and brought her home.  We loved her, but of course we were never home and the poor dog never got much attention.  We gave her to a co-worker of mine that had two boys because we thought the dog needed some kids to romp and play with.  The dog ended up biting one of the kids, and he needed a lot of staples to close the wounds.  In his face.  I still feel terrible about that, fifteen years later.  Once we had kids, we got another dog.  I knew in my heart it was the wrong dog for us, but did not have the heart to say no.  I disliked that dog a great deal.  She shed so badly, I needed to vacuum twice a day.  She never greeted us at the door, she constantly knocked boy #2 down as he was just a toddler learning to walk and she and I never bonded.  She had bathroom issues and after about the gazillionth time of cleaning up dog crap in my house, I had enough and she went too.  For many years, I was really down on myself.  I thought I was a terrible person.  What kind of human does not like dogs?  Why did I suddenly turn into this evil, dog hating person?  I swore off dogs forever and ever.  Then boy #1 begged.  And begged.  And begged.  “We’re boys…we are supposed to grow up witha dog”  he would plead.  I studied breeds for about a year.  I took a test to match a breed with my alpha female personality.  A Toy Fox Terrier came up as an 88% match.  Hmp.  Never heard of them.  Found one.  125 miles away.  Bought him.   As cheesy and melodramatic as it sounds, I cannot imagine my life, or my kids life without this little 8.5 lb creature.  He has made me a better person and I can honestly say, he is truly one of my best friends.  He knows when I am sad, he knows when I need a hug and he is always right beside me.   I love him.  Also, when my parents moved away, my Mom gave me a box with all of my childhood things in it.  Newspaper clippings, kindergarten art projects and things like that.  Included was my baby book and for the first time, I read it cover to cover.  My Mom was so good about journaling and making note of little things I said or did.  On almost every single page, she wrote about how much I loved our dog, Kelly.  She wrote about me laying on the floor, covering the Irish Setter with kisses and hugging her constantly, wanting to be next to her all of the time.  When I read “Teenie is such a dog lover and loves Kelly more than anything” it made me cry.  I felt better about myself and it justified to me that I really am not a terrible dog hater, I just needed an 8.5 lb Toy Fox Terrier to bring out the best!

8.  Now that both of my Grandma’s are gone, I miss them so much.   I wish I would have taken the time to know them better, to really sit down and talk about their past, their youth.  When your young, you don’t always think about those kind of things.  About a year before my Grandma Joyce passed away, I started going to play Bingo with her, every Sunday.  I wish I started earlier.  There are many things I wish I could have asked her.  One month before she died, my Mom and I took her to Vegas.  We went over Mothers Day weekend and for the rest of my life, I will remember that trip.  Life is short.

9.  I have a bucket list of things I want to do or accomplish in my lifetime.  Some of the things on the list are silly but some area really meaningful to me and I can only hope that I will be successful in achieving most of them.

10.  As much as I love my kids, I don’t always think that I am a great mother.  I wish I listened more, took more time to just sit and be.  I wish I could just relax and enjoy being with them instead of asking them if they made their bed and brushed their teeth.

So there it is.  10 Honest truths about me.  I am supposed to now nominate another blogger and I would if I knew anyone else that blogged.  Aunt Kristin already did her list, and my friend Dana is saving Africa right now and I think she probably has more important things going on.  Although I am almost old enough to be her mother, Dana is one of my favorite people.  I can only hope that my kids turn out a smidge like her.  Check out her blog here. Dana in Kenya  She is an amazing young lady!

Although I am currently not working, I feel like I am so busy that instead of blogging, I blog daily in my head and make mental notes of things that I want to write about, then I forget about them until something else pops up and then I remember the long list of  blog worthy material and I continue to add.   And so it goes. Not very productive, I know but that is the way it is!

A few weeks ago,  Dicky and I went on a long walk along the lakefront.  We live in a beautiful area and are lucky enough to have the shore of Lake Michigan in our backyard.  There is nothing more peaceful then walking along the path and listening to the boats and the waves.  We really enjoy it.  As we walked, we approached a very plain looking woman with frizzy black hair wearing glasses that were too big for her face and a tattered tie dyed sweatshirt.  She was walking a large standard sized poodle (ewwww) and was stopped while the dog was doing her business.  When we got closer, we heard the lady talking to the dog.  Now, that is not so strange, as a lot of people talk to their dogs, me included, but as we walked directly passed her, she looked up at us and giggled a little.  She then said, “Ohhh…she just had the most beautiful bowel movement!”  I looked over at Mr. T. ..And then I gagged.  We could not believe what we just heard.  It stunned me into silence and as anyone in my family would attest to, just discussing something like that will make my eyes start to water and I will start feeling like I just might throw up.  I had to put it out of my head for the remainder of the walk for fear that I just might lose my lunch right there on the sidewalk.  What a strange lady.  What in the world is her life like if she finds such beauty in such a vile, disgusting thing?  Hmmmmm…..

Global warming.  The whole topic makes me cringe a bit.  I am not so sure I have an opinion either way, but right now in the state of Wisconsin, I am pretty sure there is no such thing.  Last night at the fire works, we all wore jeans, sweatshirts and had a blanket.  The kids were amused by the fact that they could actually see their breath!  In July!  If there is such a thing as global warming, why is it so freakin’ cold in July?  Ya see what I mean??  I don’t get it!  Hmmmmm…..

I did it.  I was actually that Mom.  I marched in two parades yesterday with Boy #1 and his band.  I wore the band t-shirt and had two squirt bottles filled with ice water to squirt the kids as we marched.  Luckily, it was a global warming mild 65 degrees with overcast skies so no one fainted or got so overheated in their black polyesther pants with long sleeve, heavy polyester coat.  It was a lot of fun and I enjoyed it more than I thought I would.  There are  some overbearing parents that never were in band and are now living vicariously through there kids and like to be in charge.  Of everything.   I get so amused at their sense of importance.  I so enjoy these functions, not only to hang out with my very cool, trombone playing kid, but to also people watch some of these parents.    All in all, the day was great and the band kids are for the most part, really great kids.  I only had a few sitting with me in the back of the band bus that made me feel like I wish I had a roll of duct tape.  You know, if I could get away with it, I may have taped a few mouths shut.  One boy in particular was soannoying.  I wondered where his mom was?  Is he so rude and disruptive all of the time, or only when his parents are no where in sight?  Does  his mother know he acts like this?  I think every kid that behaves in such a matter should be required to bring a parent on every single field trip.   Or maybe they know their kid is obnoxious and they stay far away on purpose?  Hmmmm…..

I love the Fourth of July.  I love what it means.  Essentially, I love all birthdays and America’s birthday is no different.  I love red, white and blue, I love fireworks, I love sparklers and I love picnics.  So after the long day of marching in two parades and after a quick stop for an ice cream cone,  Boy #1 and I came home, took showers and started to pack up for our night.  I made a huge picnic of sandwiches, fruit, crackers and cheese, pickles, dip, and even jello.  We loaded up my picnic cooler with very cute plates and utensils, a few ice packs and juice boxes for the kids.  Mr. T. loaded another cooler with “juice boxes” for the adults.  We put the bug spray, a blanket, a football and frisbee and lawn chairs in the wagon and we were on our way.  We went to the lakefront where there was live music and we staked out our spot.  We had a great dinner, just the four of us and listened to patriotic music.  When we finished our picnic, the boys started playing football and I got some great action shots of the fun.  It is such a good feeling to see and hear my children play a game together and get along with each other.  They were so happy and it made me so happy.  Here are some fun photos of the night:

We had such a nice time, even though it was freezing!  Once the fireworks were over, we started packing up the lawn chairs, coolers and blakets and loaded up the wagon to head for home.  It was dark, but I noticed my boys picking up some trash.  At first, I thought they were our cans, but I knew that we did not drink that much!  Boy #1 had an arm full of cans and bottles.  He proceeded to walk to the overflowing trash can and dumped them all in.  I did not say anything, but was touched that my kid was kind enough and cared enough clean up a mess, even though it did not belong to us.  As we walked home, we chatted about people littering the park and my boy said to me, “ I think it is really sad that a twelve year old and a nine year old have to clean up after a bunch of adults, who should know better.”   I agreed with him and I was also really proud at that moment that they were my kids.   How is it that two kids are more concerned with their neighborhood park than the adults that were also there?  Hmmmmm……

And finally, today is Mr. T.’s Birthday.  His 40th Birthday!  Although we celebrated earlier this week, I think the actual birthday needs to be recognized as well, so the boys and I will make a cake and we will have a late lunch together.  Both kids have baseball games tonight, so Mr. T. will spend his 40th birthday coaching his kids.  I think there is no better way to spend it, don’t ya think?

So much has happened in the last few weeks that I thought I better get blogging before I forget details and lose them completely.  Since all of the boys have been off of school, I have found it harder to find the time to sit down and start writing.  Not that we have been outside enjoying the summer weather because here in our neck of the woods, it has been cold, rainy, cloudy, foggy, damp, windy….did I say rainy?

Ahh yes, the rain!  I don’t keep track of weather statistics but I am sure this past weekend, SE Wisconsin has set a new record.  It had rained most of the week off and on.  I have not had to actually water my flowers but maybe once since we planted in mid May.  We get so much rain, that I actually think some of my pots are getting too much water!  Friday night was met with a cancelled baseball game (AGAIN!  At this rate, the kids will be playing ball in October due to the many, many make up games that are in our future!) and a storm like no other storm.

I had long standing plans with one of my best friends for dinner that night.  She was in town from Naperville and I had not seen her since Christmas.  I had looked forward to it all week and could not wait to see her, catch up and have a drink.  Julie was my maid of honor in my wedding and I have been friends with her since, I think, kindergarten!  As a matter of fact, I cannot ever remember my life without her in it!

We talked earlier in the day and the plan was to go out around 7:30 PM. At about 5:30, the clouds started to get darker.  By 6:00, the tornado sirens started to go off, not once but twice.  If you knew me and my kids, you would know that the sound of a tornado siren puts all three of us right over the edge.  There were tears and some quick gathering of pillows and blankets and we trodded off to the basement after I very quickly shut windows and doors.  We pleaded with Mr. T. to come with us to the basement.  He looked at us like we were nuts and said he was not about to leave the living room where the Cubs were in extra innings with a tie score.   I had visions of a tornado touching down and the kids and I being safe and the rescue crews finding my husband strewn somewhere in a Cubs hat and t-shirt clinging to the remote.

Once the sirens quieted, the rain came.  I have never in my forty years of life seen anything like it.  The tree tops seemed to bend in two and the rain came down not in drops, not in buckets but more like sheets.  It was a wall of water.  The street was flooded in a matter of minutes, the lights flickered off and on a few times and I had a TV (not the one with the Cubs game on!) tuned to my favorite weather man, John Malan.  By 6:30, the tornado warning had been cancelled and once we heard that, my sweet little Collin announced that suddenly his stomach did not hurt anymore and he felt really, really happy!

My friend John Malan announced that SE Wisconsin had severe flooding and there were cars stranded and the interstate was shut down.  I tinkered with the idea of canceling my plans for the night, just for the fact that the street was swimming in water, it was still pouring and my kiddies, although not crying and huddled in the basement, were still a little unsettled.  I knew I could not count on Mr. T. to be of any source of comfort to the boys, after all the Cubs at that point were in the 12th inning!

The rain had slowed, everyone seemed OK with the idea of me going out, so Julie and I agreed that we would keep our plan and head out, just a little later than the original plan.  I went to the bathroom to wash my face, fix my hair and put some makeup on and Mr. T. went to the basement to grab some frozen pizza from the freezer for boys night!  The kids love it when I go out because, as they say, Daddy lets them watch movies that Mommy thinks might be inappropriate.  They were excited that they were going to be sitting on the living room floor eating pizza, drinking soda and watching Pirates of the Caribbean : At Worlds End.  If I were going to be home, we would have watched a rated G Disney movie!

I was in the bathroom with suds all over my face when I hear ” UHH, HONEY!!  WE HAVE A PROBLEM!”   The tone in Mr. T.’s voice was not that we were out of pepperoni pizza and he would have to settle for just cheese, not that the Cubs lost in 13 innings, ( they actually won that night in 13 innings!) but something a little more serious.  I dried my face, walked to the basement steps and I did not even have to look.  I could hear.  I could hear the sound of Mr. T’s flip flops wading through water.  At that point, I was not too panicked.  We usually get a little water in the basement with heavy rain.  A small puddle from slight seepage near the west basement wall that is easily taken care of.

When I got to the bottom of the steps, I think I stopped breathing for a minute or two.  There was not a puddle.  There was a small lake.  And this was not a crystal clear lake, it was a murky, STINKY lake.  And the water was not trickling from the wall on the west side, it was coming up from the sewer.  I immediately pulled up my pant legs and waded through to get some irreplaceable items like baby pictures, scrap books, gifts that the kids made for me in preschool for Mothers Day.  All of those things that can never be replaced were down in my basement.  In cardboard boxes.  Most of our precious things were safe as they were stored against walls and the water was coming from the center drain.  I grabbed what I could, handed things off to the kids who were perched on the steps and we formed our own bucket brigade.  I quickly called Julie and told her I had to cancel our plans.  Her Dad chirped some advice in the backround and I immediately heeded his words.  I called the city right away, not knowing what they could possibly do.  The city worker assured me I called the right place, he would put me on the list and dispatch a truck to our house.  Then we waited.  And waited.  And waited some more.  After several calls to the city water and sewer department and being told the same thing each time I called, ‘We will get there as soon as we can”  Mr. T. and I put the kids to bed, sat on the couch and watched TV in silence.  At about 1:00AM we decided to call it a night.  At that point, we didn’t care, we were so exhausted.  I thought it might be morning before the city showed up.  At 3:00 AM, I heard the truck pull up.  I woke Mr. T. up, he quickly got dressed and by the time he made it to the front door, the city workers were gone!   I was furious because we were under the impression that they would come into the house, go to the basement and make everything all better.  I was wrong.  Apparently, they survey the sewer in the street before coming into the home.  If it is determined that the city sewer system is over worked, then there is nothing they can do in the basement.  I only wish someone would have told me that at 9:00PM so I didn’t waste so much time waiting!

So on Saturday, our work began.  I called a few plumbers that specialized in sewer backup problems and each and every one was overbooked.  Most had been working since Friday late afternoon, with no sleep.  We got a few price quotes over the phone and one actually showed up in a reasonable amount of time.  He quoted a price that Mr. T. thought was a little too much, so he sent  him packing.   Now, I am all for getting a deal, but when you have the plumber right in your basement and he has all of the equipment to get the job done and says he can be done in an hour, I say you start writing the check.  I am a firm believer that you get what you pay for, and sometimes you have to pay a little more for top notch service.  Not Mr. T.  Nope.  Too expensive for his taste so he sent Mr. Plumber man on his way and thanked him for his time. 

It was now in Mr. T.’s hands and he made a few more phone calls.  He found another guy that quoted him about half the price of the first guy and he asked how quickly he could get to our home.  It was about 10:00 AM, and  ”Mike” the plumber said he could get here by 1:00 PM.  Sounded like a plan, except that did not happen.  Ol’ Mike the plumber apparently ran into a few snags in his day, and didn’t show up until 5:45 PM.  We wasted the whole day AGAIN waiting on someone to come and help us.  When Mike and his partner finally showed, I took one look out the window and I think I said, “you have got to be f***ing kidding me.”  If you have ever seen the Sanford and Son van, you will get an idea of what I was witnessing.  Mike the plumber was about 400 lbs, short, dirty and sweaty.  He had a ripped up sweatshirt on and many, many gold chains around his neck.  He also was sporting an ID bracelet with some of the gold flaking off and his name spelled out in rhinestones.  Nice touch for a plumber!  I could not believe Mr. T. sent away Johnny on the Spot plumber at 10:00 that morning, and now I get Mike with his buddy he picked up along the way in their beat up van, only to save a few bucks.  I think I choked back some more tears and shot Mr. T. a look of disgust.

We showed Mikey boy the way to the basement, the whole way down he loudly told us he was so sorry he was late, the last job was a nightmare and he had not been to bed yet from the night before.  He didn’t need to tell me that, I could smell how long it had been since he had been home to shower.  I was still really angry at this point, and in my head was ready to tell Mikey, his partner AND Mr. T. right where to go!

Mike opened the sewer, assessed the situation ( “hell, she’s blocked all right!  Damn!) and told Mr. T. and I that he needed to go the van to get the “400 lb. monster and bring “her” down.”  Mr. T. then whispered to me “He means the other 400 lb. monster” as Mikey the plumber was not necessarily svelte.  That broke the tension a little and I lightened up.  Mikey brought down the beast and got to work.  He was sweaty, stinky, short and dirty, but he did the job and did it well.  He was very knowledgeable about sewers and gave me more information than I probably needed.  I ended up really liking ol’ Mikey and offered him and his buddy a bottle of water.  They were so appreciative and I was grateful to be able to run my water and start the disgusting task of cleaning up the mess.  On the way out, I handed them each a sandwich wrapped in plastic wrap.  I certainly thought that they would eat them after cleaning up a bit, but then I witnessed Mikey washing up in the van with a bottle of Clorox wipes.  He unwrapped the sandwich and started munching away.  It was the least I could do.  I was happy to have the problem fixed.  All in all, we ended up saving about $100.00.  Was it worth it?  Probably not, but at least I had the opportunity to meet such a colorful character.  He made an impression on me for sure and I know that if I ever need sewer or drain work again, Mikey is the man I will call, gladly!  I guess it is true when someone says that you cannot judge a book by it’s cover.  Mikey boy and his buddy, although a little harsh in appearance, did the job they came to do and we did not feel like we were being taken advantage of either.  As a matter of fact, Mikey talked about other plumbers and how storms like this were their  meal ticket.  Most people are so desperate for help, they will pay anything quoted  just to get the job done.  Not Mikey.  He informed us that we would pay the same exact price whether it were an emergency or a random Thursday.  Always the same price, no matter what.  And all I have to say to that is “Hey Mikey, we like it!”