Crying over spilled milk

Went to Aunt Mary's funeral this morning. Sad. I'll always remember her as being a very eccentric, lively, enthusiastic, and active person. She was 85 years old when she passed but didn't look more than 65. We had my cousins' wedding last September and she was out on the dance floor jamming all night long. Truly incredible.

The boys got contacts yesterday. I woke them up early this morning so they had time before school to put them in. LOL! Yeah RIGHT! They haven't quite gotten the hang of it yet so I ended up putting them in. Dreamy came home from school and told me that his eye was itching him during class...so, in the midst of scratching the itch one of his contacts "popped out". He says that his teacher walked him to the teachers' lounge where they luckily found another teacher with contact solution...only he couldn't put it in himself so the teachers had to put it in for him. The teacher apparently told Dreamy to kindly ask me to put solution and contact cases in his backpack. oops. So I did overkill....they now each have baggies full of contact supplies in both their school bags and gymnastics bags...just in case. Hopefully they'll get the hang of this soon....I'm starting to wonder if this whole contacts thing wasn't a HUGE mistake.

Papa Smurf's out playing poker tonight...the kids are all in bed....TV is off....dog is sleeping....total silence! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh..... Of course 2 hours ago it wasn't so quiet. Dreamy Smurf and Smurfette decided when we returned home from gymnastics that they wanted a bowl of cereal....they were both hungry. So....They're playing at the table and after yelling for the 10th time for Dreamy to "sit down and eat and quit goofing around so you can get in the shower"....he decides to tickle Smurfette and somehow during this "tickle torture" (as my kids like to call it) Smurfette ended up dumping her entire bowl of cereal ...which, by the way, Dreamy had poured for her and so the cereal was overflowing and the milk was to the brim of the bowl.....it was EVERYwhere....it somehow managed to spray from one end of my kitchen to the other...up the walls, up the cupboards, down the legs of the kitchen chairs, the milk covered half the kitchen floor, and Smurfette had frosted flakes hanging from her ears and dripping from every piece of clothing....O.....M.....G!!!!!!!!!!

It IS my life!

I found out yesterday (from a fellow parent and friend) that Brendan's picture is on the school hallway wall for success skills "personal best"...It's a thing the school does...the teachers pick a few kids from each grade and award them for doing good at certain things...this time it was "personal best" but they also have things like "respect", "positive communication",....etc. and then once each month the principle picks 4 kids from that group to take them out to lunch. Anyway, apparently his photo has been on the wall for quite some time but of course I knew nothing about it because my kids don't tell me ANYthing! When I ask them how their day was they say "fine"....when I ask if anything exciting happened I get "yeah, recess"....so then something like this comes along that makes me especially proud and I can't even give him the pat on the back that he deserves! .....AND..... then I look like a total SCHMUCK for not having a CLUE what's going on in my kids' lives.....DRIVES ME CRAZY!

I'm reading the new Oprah book..."A New Earth: Awakening to your life's purpose"...trying to anyway. I'm having difficulties getting through it. I like it. I like the message. The truth in the message is enlightening...that is, when I actually "get" the message..... But I'm thinking it's just a little too intellectual for me. Too many big words...LOL! Reading this book is exhausting. I have to share a rather lengthy excerpt from the book...it made me laugh...I'll tell you why after I type it...although, I doubt you'll need my explanation!

"Ego comes about through a split in the human psyche in which identity
separates into two parts that we could call "I" and "me" or "me" and
"myself". Every ego is therefore schizophrenic, to use the word in its
popular meaning of split personality. You live with a mental image of
yourself, a conceptual self that you have a relationship with. Life itself
becomes conceptualized and separated from who you are when you speak of "my life." The moment you say or think "my life" and believe in what you are saying (rather than it just being a linguistic convention), you have entered the realm of delusion. If there is such a thing as "my life," it follows that I and life are two separate things, and so I can also lose
my life, my imaginary treasured possession. Death becomes a seeming
reality and a threat. Words and concepts split life into separate
segments that have no reality in themselves. We could even say that
the notion "my life" is the original delusion of separateness, the
source of ego"....blah blah blah....."So there is no such thing as "my
life"....

I think I should change the name of my blog. According to Eckhart Tolle I must have titled my blog "My Life" because I'm both schizophrenic and delusional....and the contents of this blog truely don't exist because there is no such thing as "my life". I don't think I'm getting it. He wrote in the beginning "It can only awaken those who are ready"....I don't think I'm ready....

Its my hair and I'll cut it if I want to!

Dreamy Smurf has made it through a major childhood rite of passage....he is now a man (in his eyes anyway).... I forgot to mention this last week. We were in our hotel room and I kept trying to fix his hair...only it wouldn't fix....I couldn't figure out why half his forehead was higher than the other...It almost looks like there's a chunk of hair missing....odd....that's very unlike Kelly to cut his hair so crooked....ahhhhh....that's because it WASN'T KELLY....my son felt the overwhelming desire to take a chunk out of his hair. I finally weaseled the truth out of him. Apparently, he took the scissors out of his desk at school and decided he needed a hair cut. Why do all kids do this...I did it as a kid...Hefty has already done this...now Dreamy....I'm sure Smurfette will eventually....why??

Smurfette's short pixie hair cut is growing out so we are back to the battles with the tangles...every morning is a fight to brush her hair. So, I asked her if she wanted it cut again so it wouldn't get so knotted and she said "no, because haircuts make me itch"...LOL...

Found out yesterday that Dreamy doesn't have any broken bones. Doc thinks he just hyperextended his toe. Told him to stay off it for a week...lol....yeah right...and told me to give him an anti-inflammatory.

Let the training begin!

Getting back into the swing of being back home. Spent the last 2 days getting caught up on laundry and Oprah! LOL! Also getting back into the workouts...ran a little over 2 miles this morning on the treadmill and followed it up with 45 minutes of resistance training. Felt great! I actually think I have Papa smurf talked into training with me. HE brought it up...not me! Good sign! He won't commit to the full marathon and unfortunately the 1/2 marathon isn't an option at Chicago...so he's just going to train with me...as much as he can....it's not easy with his work schedule so he'll just do what he has time for. I'm excited! Now if I can just get Tom out there with me too....

I'm sad to say that my Great Aunt Mary (my grandma's sister) lost her battle with Leukemia this past Sunday. Her enthusiasm for life and bright spirit will be missed. Papa Smurf also recently found out that a good friend of his and former employee from his MSX days was recently diagnosed with Leukemia. She's young...in her 40s...i think....not that her age matters in the least but just showing how this disease does not discriminate. When I decided to run another marathon I decided not to sign up through TNT this time around....didn't want to commit to raising a specific amount...which for the Chicago marathon would have been significantly higher minimum donation than the Detroit marathon was. I felt funny hitting up family and friends 2 years in a row...I think though that I will set my own goal for raising donations on my own for the Leukemia and Lymphoma society....not the TNT group....this way I know that 100% of the donations will benefit the society. We'll do the same thing we did last year and match donations up to $1000.00.

It seems we can't get enough of Dr. Basch (the foot doctor)....had to make an appointment for this afternoon for Dreamy Smurf...his big toe hurts...lol....his big toe has been hurting him for over a week now...hopefully it's nothing!

We're back. So sad. Vacation is over. Have I mentioned I hate Michigan? So I'll recap our last couple days....

Thursday.....The second day at the Kids Escape went pretty much as expected...they hated it...to be honest I think they kinda enjoyed it but at this point there was no way in hell we'd get them to admit it. Smurfette admitted to making a couple friends...and Hefty Smurf was able to get on a computer...& Dreamy Smurf was just too tired to comment. BUT....Papa Smurf & I had a great time! We went straight to the casino...1st stop...the slots! I put a 20 into the same machine that hubby hit on the previous night and won $155!!! Yeah! Took that $155 and played all night long (well, for 4 hours anyway....because at 10pm we turn into pumpkins) on the black jack table! Even walked away with $75 of it! It was a great night for us.

Friday....Anthony's Grill for breakfast...again....Then we came back and did a little packing and a little bit of relaxing until it was time for the Dolphin Swim. Which really was more of a Dolphin "pet" than a Dolphin "swim"...but the kids had fun and enjoyed it. Smurfette was afraid to kiss the dolphin. But she participated in the rest of it. Papa Smurf stood on the side lines and took pictures. We got to meet the 8 month old dolphin baby...Smurfette enjoyed that. When it was over we took a taxi to the fish fry. My only complaint about this trip is the food. It's just not that good. And for what we're paying for it...I guess I was at least hoping to enjoy it....not so much. Even the food at the fish fry was a bit of a disappointment. After our dinner we went into town to do some shopping only to discover that all the shops close up by 5:30. We walked through the "straw market" as they were closing up to get some t-shirts and hats for the kids.

And that was it. We came back to the hotel and packed. Anticlimactic end to a fabulous vacation. Papa smurf and I spent a good part of the evening on the balcony soaking in the heat and the background tropic sounds of the ocean and reggae music...ho hum. This is the first vacation that we've ever taken that I wasn't ready at the end of the trip to come home. We've all decided we're gonna move there...Papa Smurf's gonna quit his job and we'll move into a little shack on the water...just kidding. As fabulous as the trip was...I don't think I could live there...my allergies were horrible all week. I guess that's my 2nd complaint about the trip. The rooms were not very impressive. You already heard about our first room. They must have prepared our new room with air fresheners before we got there because by the end of the next day it started smelling just as bad as the first one. The kids' room had a leaky air conditioner that dripped all night long...I'm wondering if the damp carpet from the leaky air conditioner wasn't the cause of the musty odor. Anyway...the mustiness of the rooms killed me...next time we take this trip we'll be sleeping in better rooms. I unpacked the suitcases last night to get started on the laundry and that same musty odor has infiltrated all our clothes.

So back to reality. We've decided that the reason this vacation was so incredible is because it's the 1st vacation we've taken in the middle of our winter. Our 1st February vacation. So, we've decided to repeat this trip yearly...not necessarily to the Bahamas but at least a warm destination. We've already decided on the Disney Cruise for next February.

Less than 2 days left

Another gorgeous day...the hotest one yet...not a cloud in the sky. Spent the day at yet another pool area...the consensis is that this was our favorite pool area. Spent 4 hours there and Hefty and Dreamy Smurf went on some more water slides but we all had to call it quits early as Hefty and Papa Smurf have sun poison bumps all over their upper bodies. I guess there is such thing as TOO much sun.

So now we're gonna chill in our room for awhile and get washed up for dinner before dumping...I mean dropping off....the kids at the kids' escape for another night of fun at the casino....we've continued hearing the complaints about the kids escape all day...."they fed us stale pretzels.....they only gave us 1/2 cup of water......we couldn't use the bathroom except for designated bathroom breaks".....to be honest, and in all fairness to the kids.... it really does sound like a poorly run kids program....but, damn it, I want some adult time!

Tomorrow is our dolphin day and then we still hope to make it down town for the "fish fry" for dinner. HO-HUM....it's almost over....only 1 more day left before returning to cold snowy dreary MI. We've decided we want to retire and live on one of these huge yachts that are down on the boat docks....one can dream....last night I was playing black jack next to a guy that is down here for a month. He's a boat captain for 4 of those said yachts. Maybe that's what we should do...quit Dan's job and learn how to captain someone elses boat.

Feel'n lucky!

We got our first torential downpours late last night...woke up this morning to more of the same. So we went down to the continental buffet for a quick breakfast....4 muffins, 1 danish, 1 donut, 1 yogurt, 1 cereal, 3 milks, 2 coffees......= $65.00.....O....M....G....!!!! This will be my first vacation ever that I actually LOST weight...a bag of fritoes at the convenience shop....$8.99....JESUS! We had planned on taking a taxi over to the shopping district and "Fish Fry" but the black clouds didn't look promising. So after breakfast we went for another walk throught the resort and over to the Dolphin Cay where we'll be going on Friday and by the time we returned to our room the drizzle had stopped so we decided to spend another day at the pool instead. Went to the kiddie playground pool for Smurfette and the boys all went for a few rides down the water slides...even Dreamy Smurf braved a few of them. The day was VERY windy and mostly cloudy...by 3pm we were cold and water logged. We loaded everyone down with sunscreen before we left but forgot Hefty's face and he is now fried....the sun got through those clouds anyway. Went to an early dinner at the "Shell Top" outdoor restaurant and then back to the hotel to clean up. Papa Smurf and I signed the kids up for the kids' "evening escape". Smurfette didn't want to go and had to be pryed from my leg with Hefty's assistance. Papa Smurf & I went to the casino....I told him I was feeling lucky and we'd win enough to pay for our evening out....first slot Papa Smurf went to he hit for over $500.....oh BABY! Spent the entire night playing black jack on his winnings and had a blast! Came out $100 ahead even AFTER you take into account the cost of the day care! YEAY! Picked up the kids at 10 and lets just say....the kids' escape was a bust....they did NOT enjoy it at all. So...the following conversation took place while tucking them into bed....

me: "you know guys....you have to make the best of the situation....you're going back tomorrow night because after all we've done for you during this trip we'd like some alone time"

them: "they don't have xbox like they said and the line to play WII was too long....they wouldn't give us water....they were giving kids "time outs" for talking during the movie"....(the complaint list went on for quite awhile)

me:...I don't think it's too much to ask. If you go there tomorrow with a bad attitude then you WONT have fun...try to make the most of it. We'll send you next time with your own bottled water..... You want to go swim with the dolphins?.....then please do this for us...."

them:....fine

I then tucked them in for the night in their room....closed the door between the adjoining rooms and said to Papa Smurf "well....looks like the "kids escape" was a bust"....Papa Smurf's reply?....a good old fashioned fist in the crook of his opposite elbow and a hardy "SCREW'EM"....there goes this years "parent of the year" award....we had high hopes...

Can I say again...my kids have been great all week....but if I hear one more argument over who gets to push the buttons on the elevator I'll go mad! It's gotten so bad that Papa Smurf and I have actually had to forbid ANY of the kids from pushing any elevator buttons...Papa Smurf and I are now the official "elevator button operators"....sad...I know!

Day 4

The best day yet...spent the entire day at an inland beach area. The kids spent the day playing in the sand, swimming, and snorkeling. It was very shallow and so I was relaxed and enjoying my quiet time under a canopied lounge chair with a Long Island in one hand and my book "Eat, Pray, Love" in the other (excellent book by the way). I sat there watching my kids....Dreamy Smurf chasing sea gulls, Smurfette building a sand castle, and Hefty Smurf....well, just being Hefty Smurf and marveled at how much they have and how lucky they are. I'm feeling a little nastalgic...or maybe sentimental is a better word.... here....bare with me....but then again maybe it was just the Long Island talking. Papa Smurf and I were commenting on how awesome the kids have been all week...they've been playing so nice together. And with Smurfette being sick she's been awesome....going along with everything without complaint...well...with the exception of her multiple boo-boos on her feet...new sandals aren't agreeing with her feet.

So we're back at the hotel room washing up and getting ready for our dinner. We plan to take a taxi into the nassau shopping district tomorrow and eating an early dinner at the "Fish Fry" (our taxi driver from the airport, Dee-Dee, told us this was the place to go. We found out there's no Kid's Escape tonight so that'll hopefully be tomorrow night's plan. Probably better that way anyhoo since Smurfette woke up with 100.7 degree fever again this morning....ugh! Signing off for now.....

First 3 days in paradise

Today is day 3 of our trip to the Atlantis Resort on Paradise Island. In short, this is the best family vacation we've ever taken! We had a rocky start. Our first 24 hours here were a little disappointing but things have improved drastically since.

DAY 1

We arrived at the airport here at a little after 1pm on Saturday and it took us almost 3 hours to get back to our hotel....an hour to get through customs and another hour to find our luggage and a transfer to the hotel. So by the time we got settled in our room we were all very travel weary and a little (to say the least) tired. So all we had the energy for was to grab a bite down on the boat docks village at Johny Rockets. Our bill was nearly $90 for burgers and salads....OMG! We roamed the resort a bit to see what all we had to look forward to and then called it a day by 7pm. But let me back track. We got to the hotel and received our adjoining rooms on the first floor right off the main lobby...which translates to "noisy". The second we walked through the doors of our rooms we were hit with the overwhelming stench of mold/mildew. It was bad! Real bad! But I thought...well, we're in the Bahamas...it's humid here...moisture must be a problem. I remember being in Venice with my Grandparents back when I was 16 and was overwhelmed with the same odor...I didn't want to be that same complaining 16 year old...so we tried to suck it up. We didn't have remote controls in EITHER room. Called the service desk and it took 4 hours to get remotes to our room....it was 10:30 when they came pounding on the door to deliver....we were all asleep by then (or in bed anyway). Papa Smurf stumbled in the dark to get some clothes on to answer the door. But then trying to sleep was a nightmare because we were off the main lobby and listened all night long to the loud drunks roaming the hotel lobby in the weee hours of night...needless to say sleeping was difficult. Then, I woke up in the morning and my eyes were so bloodshot I was convinced I had pink eye and started to panic wondering what I would do for medical treatment. Turns out, it was just my allergies because of the mold problem in the room. Then, we try to make coffee and NEITHER room has a coffee machine. We had the coffee and creamers....but no coffee maker.....I started having flashbacks to our trip to Philly. Anyway...We were a tad disappointed in our stay thus far...I figured after the amount of money we spent on this vacation it was not unreasonable to expect a blissful experience....show me the bliss!! So we complained and asked for a new room.

Day 2

Went to the breakfast buffet in our hotel....$100 later....I was force-feeding my daughter her froot loops...that's all she'd eat....we paid $20 for her plate to the buffet and all she'd eat was a bowl of frootloops...she took 5 bites and claimed to be full! Most expensive damn bowl of cereal she'll ever eat. I spent the whole 1st 2 days comparison shopping...."Jesus, I could of bought 7 boxes of cereal for that $20"......or, in reguards to the $15 kiddie burger that Smurfette took 2 bites of at Johnny Rockets...."I could've bought 7 McDonald's kids meals for that". Since those 1st 2 meals that we purchased here on the Island we have learned to "let it go"...it is what it is....it's killing me....but it is what it is. We've learned not to look at the prices. Day 2 was a blast...this resort is incredible! I've never experienced anything like it. We'll spend a week here and probably still not see everything. It's huge! Theres at least 2 dozen pools and a dozen water slides. The kids spent most of the day on the beach. They just kept repeating..."this is incredible"....Papa and Hefty Smurfs went on a few of the water slides...We spent some time in a few of the pools...we all got WAY too much sun. We were all pretty water logged by the end of the day. Somewhere in there Papa Smurf returned to the hotel while we were at the beach to move our stuff to our new room. Went to Dinner at a Mexican/seafood place down on the boat docks. Food was OK...nothing to write home about....and like I said, I've learned not to ask what it costs. Did some more exploring of the resort and then called it a night by 7:30. We were all whipped from the day at the beach. Our new room.... by the way......MUCH better! We were in a much better place by the end of day 2 than we were after day 1. The rooms are still just "OK" but the resort itself more than makes up for the mediocrity of the accommodations! Also looked into the "Evening Escape" for the kids....it should be called the "parent's escape".....so that Papa Smurf and I can have some alone time one night....or two....

DAY 3

Woke up after a VERY restful night's sleep =) and went outside of the resort for breakfast...much more reasonable in price...Smurfette's 5 bites of FrootLoops only costed $5 instead of $20...OK, so maybe I haven't "let it go" entirely....me and Papa Smurf are completely fried from the sun but we spent another entire day in the pools and lazy rivers. Even talked Smurfette into taking a ride on the "rapid river"....probably not the best idea...she didn't enjoy it much. In fact she spent the entire mile and a half of "rapids" clutched to my legs in the intertube. Poor thing has been miserable since we got here with the same nasty cold I had. In fact, the day before we left she started complaining of a sore throat and I paniced thinking she probably had the same strep throat that I had and so 5 minutes before the doctors' office closed on Friday night I was calling and begging them to call in a prescription antibiotic to the pharmacy. I explained my predicament that we were leaving 1st thing in the morning for a week long vacation and my daughter was complaining of a sore throat...blah blah blah....and they did...thank god. But anyway, she has been pretty sick with this cold...but has been quite a trouper concidering! Papa Smurf & I were going to ship the kids off to this kids' camp thing tonight but when we got back to the room we discovered that she has a fever. She's pretty pathetic...so we put our plans on hold and decided to give her another day to get better. She was laying in bed earlier this evening and Papa Smurf went up to her and said:

Papa: OK honey you just lay there and rest....can I get you anything
Smurfette: yes...(with that pathetic sick look in her eyes)
Papa: OK...what can I get you?
Smurfette: ummmm.......i don't know.....

I thought that was pretty funny. We also made reservations for Friday to swim with the Dolphins....we're all very excited about that....and we also spent some time checkin out the aquariums.

So this is the end of day 3...having a great time so far. Plan on spending some time in a different part of the resort tomorrow where you can rent cayaks and paddle boats and snorkel stuff....maybe rent a jet ski for awhile...need to try to stay out of the sun somehow...or just keep the sunscreen on because Papa Smurf & I are a little crisp. The weather has been perfect. 80 and sunny everyday. We also hope to drop the kids off for a while so we can enjoy some time in the casino....maybe if we're lucky we can try doing that 2 nights in a row and sneak in a "nice" dinner and comedy show...we'll see if Smurfette cooperates.

Oh...also spent some time checking out the Detroit forcast.....LMAO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Signing off for now...ps....my spell check isn't working so forgive the misspellings!

=)

In my blog entry yesterday....or was that Wednesday.....I skipped the "3 people that made me smile today" question....so, there were many more than 3 people/things that made me smile so I'm revising the question to suit my needs. My revised version reads...."What were the happiest moments of your day"?

1) Woke up in the morning and found a very nice card and candy kisses (layed out in the shape of a heart...how sweet) from my hubby. Made me smile.

2) Realized early in the day that I seem to be over the hump of this strep throat / sinus infection...good drugs go a long way! I went to see the doc Wed. and he did a flu test....it was negative....but he said my tonsils were "glowing and pussy" and suspected a sinus infection so he gave me a prescription for antibiotics. 24 hours later....feeling much better.....makes me smile!

3) I was sitting in the waiting room at the foot doctors office with the boys (Smurfette was still at school/daycare). Hefty Smurf was sitting in the seat behind me and just wrapped his arms around me from behind and rested his chin on my shoulder and just stayed there for a long time. I know that probably sounds rediculous but Hefty Smurf is 11 now and I don't get the affectionate snuggles with him anymore. It meant alot to me and made me smile.

4) Sitting in the room of same doctors office...Dreamy Smurf walked up to me....... farted .......and then walked to the other side of the room laughing....yeah I know it's disgusting but I busted out laughing and told him to "get back over here because the doctor's gonna walk in and take a wiff and think I did it!". Why would this make me smile? I have no idea, I guess because it's just so "Dreamy Smurf-Like" to be such a goof ball. =)

5) found out that Hefty is finally in the clear with the foot doctor and we no longer have to make our weekly visits....yeayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!!!

6) Smurfette came running up stairs last night all excited while I was going through the boys' backpacks and says "MOMMY, COME QUICK, I HAVE SOMETHING SPECIAL TO SHOW YOU"....she was bouncing up and down and smiling and waving her arms around....so I rush down stairs to see what the excitement is about and she leads me to her chalk board where she wrote "Smurfette Loves Mommy".... =)

7) I officially signed up for the Chicago Marathon! Payed the entry cost so there's no turning back now! =)

8) Got the majority of our packing done yesterday.... =)

9) Compared Sterling Heights extended forcast with Nassau's extended forecast..... =)

And I'll be smiling all day today because in less than 24 hours we will be above the clouds of Michigan on our way to peace, relaxation, and sunshine! Papa Smurf will be bringing his laptop so I hope to use this blog as my travel journal while we're gone...not sure if we'll be able to connect to the internet though. If I'm unable to blog while in Nassau I'll tell you all about it when I return. Have a great week!

60 things

Reading the famous mommy bloggers' blog this morning and she had these questions on her blog so I'm copying them and answering them in my own blog....

60 Things You Possibly Didn't Know About Me

1. What is in the back seat of your car right now? A full frozen container of McDonalds chocolate milk, empty McDonalds bags, 2 empty juicys, a few french fries, Jordyn's back pack, 2 gym bags, 3 pairs of gloves, 2 barbies, 3 game boy games, a pencil....that's just the list of things that I know of for sure....there's much much much more that I don't know about off the top of my head.

2. When was the last time you threw up? I honestly have NO idea....I'm not a throwy uppy kind of person....so it's been a while. Years. Although, now that I've said that I'll probably throw up this afternoon.

3. What's your favorite curse word? hmmmm.....shit?

4. Name 3 people who made you smile today? I'll have to get back to you on this one....It's only 8:21 in the morning and I feel like shit so I haven't smiled yet!

5. What were you doing at 8 am this morning? Got on the computer to check emails

6. What were you doing 30 minutes ago? Pouring Smurfette a bowl of cereal

7. What will you be doing 3 hours from now? If I can get my butt moving this morning I'll be running errands (bank & book store) and getting Smurfette off to school

8. Have you ever been to a strip club? yep

9. What is the last thing you said aloud? Get a spoon.

10. What is the best ice cream flavor? Chocolate snickers blizzard

11. What was the last thing you had to drink? hazelnut coffee

12. What are you wearing right now? jammies

13. What was the last thing you ate? oatmeal

14. Have you bought any new clothing items this week? yep...bought a bunch of stuff for our trip

15. When was the last time you ran? Last week at the gym

16. What's the last sporting event you watched???? watched my boys at gymnastics last night

18. Who is the last person you emailed? The last email I sent was a forwarded message about a virus to everyone on my email address book last night.

19. Ever go camping? unfortunately yes

20. Do you have a tan? Not yet...but I will next week!

24. Do you drink your soda from a straw? If it's fountain pop....yes....otherwise no

25. What did your last IM say? I'm dying

26. Are you someone's best friend? I hope so

27. What are you doing tomorrow? Lets see ....tomorrow is Thursday....I'm taking Smurfette to school in the morning and assuming I'm feeling better I'm suppose to meet with my trainer for a work out. Then, I'm going to go get my toes done....can't wear sandals with these nasty feet as they are......then I'm going to the tanning booth to make sure I don't burn next week when we're basking in the sun....then I'll do some packing and some cleaning...then when the kids are all home from school I have to take Hefty Smurf to the foot doctor for what we hope will be the last visit...he had a plantars wart on his foot and has been going since November for weekly laser treatments....major pain....

28. Where is your mom right now? I assume she's at work.

29. Look to your left, what do you see? LOL....a camara bag, a phone, a desk lamp, a pencil sharpener, 2 coloring books, 2 crayons, a couple bills, an inflated balloon, a trash bag of clothes that I've been planning to list on ebay (they've been sitting there since before the holidays)....a plastic bag of books that my mom gave me over 6 monthes ago, a couple empty boxes of what used to contain computer parts, a box of computer paper, packing supplies, ebay boxes, dog carrier......I'll be here all day if I continue, so I'll just leave it at that!

30. What color is your watch? don't wear one

31. What do you think of when you think of Australia ? kangaroos

32. Would you consider plastic surgery? Yep

33. What is your birthstone? diamond

34. Do you go in at a fast food place or just hit thedrive thru? depends...we do both...but more often than not we just hit the drive through....which is why my van looks the way it does.

35.How many kids do you want? 3!

36. Do you have a dog? yep

37. Last person you talked to on the phone? Papa Smurf

38. Have you met anyone famous? Don't think so

39. Any plans today? Yeah...I'm going to see the doc....and run a few errands....then take Smurfette and the boys to gymnastics. And hopefully get a little packing and cleaning done.

40. How many states have you lived in? one

41. Ever go to college? yep

42. Where are you right now? in my office

43. Biggest annoyance in your life right now? this cold or flu or whatever it is I have

44. Last song listened to? was watching the Ellen show this morning (that I taped from yesterday) and watched James Blunt perform a new song from his new CD...can't remember the name of the song though.

46. Are you allergic to anything? cats

47. Favorite pair of shoes you wear all the time? I love all my shoes

48. Are you jealous of anyone? no

50. Is anyone jealous of you? I hope not

51. What time is it? 8:55....this is taking forever because I've had half a dozen interruptions since I started

52. Do any of your friends have children? yes

53. Do you eat healthy? yes. I eat healthy IN ADDITION to eating crap.

54. What do you usually do during the day? damage control

55. Do you hate anyone right now? no

56. Do you use the word 'hello' daily? Yes

58. How old will you be turning on your next birthday? 29

59. Have you ever been to Six Flags? I honestly don't know....I can't remember...maybe when I was like 5?

60. How did you get one of your scars? c-sections

pity post

I think I have the flu. I'm miserable. Wallowing in self pitty miserable. I haven't slept in 2 days. I've had 2 days of the achey fever and the right side of my face hurts...my eye, my ear, my neck, my sinus.....it just hurts. I've overdosed on every cold medicine you can imagine...I took NyQuil THREE times last night. Enough to knock out a horse but not enough to knock me out. All I know is this better be gone by Saturday! Called to get in to see the doc and of course he's not in tomorrow...gotta see some Joe-Shmo instead. I hate that because I know my doctor well enough that I think I could persuade him into giving me an antibiotic even though this is probably just a "let it run it's course virus"....just in-case....so that I'm not miserable on Saturday when we leave for vacation if I don't need to be. But every time I see a Joe-Shmo...they won't do it....drives me crazy!

Even though I feel I may possibly (quite certainly) be dying....we're still leaving on Saturday. So s--t still has to get done. Hubby says to me...."OMG I'm so excited I can't wait to leave....my reply was "I'll be excited when we get there...right now I'm just stressed about it".....his reply?...."STRESSED!? HOW CAN YOU BE STRESSED! YOU DON'T KNOW HOW TO TRAVEL!"....yeah ok buddy....all you have to do between now and Saturday is wake up Saturday morning to a limo escort! I'M THE ONE THAT HAS TO DO ALL THE WORK!! AND IT'S STRESSFUL! AND I'M SICK!!!!!! AND ALL I WANT TO DO IS CURL UP ON THE COUCH AND FEEL SORRY FOR MYSELF....BUT I CAN'T!

Lets see....I haven't blogged since last Thursday....surely I have SOMEthing interesting to type? NOPE!

Yesterday we left the house at 7am to drive to Saginaw for a meet. Both boys had fantastic meets. They did great and scored well and both boys won 1st place in the AA.....never mind that they were only competeing against themselves...no I'm not kidding. There were 2 level 6 boys in Dreamy Smurf age group....so Dreamy Smurf won 1st place in 4 (of 6) events and the All Around trophy (AA score 51.9)....The other boy won the other 2 events. Hefty Smurf was the ONLY level 7 in his age group....6 gold medals and a trophy (AA score 50.6)....there were only 4 level 7s total....so why would they divide the ages?.....Good question!.... I guess that's one way of coming home with medals! It was such a rediculously small meet there was actually a kid who won 1st place in his age group with an All Around score of 37.something....for those who arent familiar with gymnastics scoring....that's not good....in fact, it's really bad!

Here's a picture of my smart alleck son drawing an uproarious laughter from the crowd by acting shocked at the results of the meet....he of course new he was the only competitor in his age group when he was called up to the podium.

And here's Dreamy with all his bling!

We left the gym around 5:30 pm and as soon as I got in the car I started feeling rotten. Cold, achey, shivering....couldn't warm up or get comfortable...just felt awful. By the time we got home I was miserable. I curled up on the couch with a low grade fever. I was up most of the night and slept with a kleenex shoved up my nose...pretty. Finally got up at 2am and took some Ny-Quil. I've never had a cold hit me that fast. I guess better now than on vacation! I'm hoping Papa smurf doesn't get it while we're gone!

School was cancelled for school today due to the sub-zero degree weather. Oh joy! So I spent the day doing my least favorite thing in the world (all the while feeling like shit)....shopping with the kids for our trip. They all needed sandals and summer clothes...so we braved the cold. They of course didn't let me down...this trip was filled with the ear blistering "are we done yet?", "my feet hurt", "my legs are tired", "can I sit down somewhere?", "I'm thirsty", "I don't need shoes...I'll go barefoot", "I want this", "why can't I get that?", "I'm bored", "what, it was an accident" (when Dreamy...not looking where he was going.... heelied right into another lady), and so on and so on and so on........I HATE SHOPPING WITH MY KIDS!

Everyone has a scent

I found a hat on my counter last night that didn't look familiar to me. It looked like it belonged to a little person so I thought I'd ask the little people in my house.

me: hey guys, do you know who this hat belongs to?
Hefty: no....let me see it

He then grabs the hat from me ...sticks his nose inside the hat and takes a huge wiff of it....hands it back to me and says "it's A's" (my nephew's)

me: how can you possibly know that by sniffing it
Hefty: everyone has a scent and I know everyone's scent....it smells like Aidan
Me: I just stared at him with a look of doubt and bewilderment
Hefty: (sensing my doubt and with a very matter-of-fact look on his face) I'll bet you anything it's A's

sure enough - I called my SIL to see if A is missing a hat - the hat is indeed my nephew's.

Hefty has done this before....after a party we found a shirt someone left at our house....I asked the kids if they knew who it belonged to and Hefty identified it as one of his friend's shirts by sniffing it. That's just not normal!

Are you gonna put some make-up on?

I worked out this morning. When I finished and came back up stairs Smurfette gives me a once over and says...
S: uh, mom.... are you gonna help in my class today?
me: yep
S: and are you going to put normal clothes on?
me: laughing - why whats wrong with what I have on?
S: your clothes need to match mom.(with a look like...duhhh)
me: my clothes do match
S: why don't you wear the shirt you had on yesterday.
me: why? it's dirty now...I just wore it.
S: because it's pretty & I like it. & you need some make-up too.

OMG...where does she get this?! This was her 5 y/o way of saying "uh ma...you look like shit right now and if you think for one second you're going to come to my classroom in front of all my friends looking like THAT you're sorely mistaken!"

Talking Horses Happy Land

I just remembered something that Smurfette said to me a couple weeks ago that I meant to blog but forgot. She told me "mama I don't want to ever grow up...because being a grown up is no fun...all you ever have to do is work." That statement makes me sad. Why is that all she sees. When I was a kid I used to have this recurring dream. We were in our house in SCS and I was walking through the front door to get to my mom ...she was in the bathroom in the back of the house....only I couldn't get to her because the house was filled from wall to wall & floor to ceiling with washers and dryers...I had to crawl and climb through the doors of the machines like a maze to get to her. I don't need a PhD to analyse THAT! Unfortunately, my mom was a single parent who worked full time to support us and the time that she was at home was usually spent cooking and cleaning....and ....doing laundry. So here I am...a stay at home mom and my daughter still sees me that way. So when she made that statement I thought....I'm going to try harder to set aside time each day to spend with her. So you know what we did yesterday....for our "together" time? .......we put on the jams....and......CLEANED....I actually tried to make her think that emptying the dishwasher was FUN.....and she fell for it! I think I've defeated the purpose! The problem is...when I ask her what she wants to do she usually picks something that I HATE doing...like playing pretend play with her dolls, babies, or barbies....I HATE pretend play. I'm just not good at it. I'm not imaginative enough for pretend play. I usually just end up saying in my pretend Barbie voice "I'm tired, I think I'll go take a nap now"....I suck at pretend play. I would MUCH rather read a book or do a puzzle or play a board game. Maybe we can incorporate "pretend play" with cleaning....now that's an idea....again, probably defeating the purpose. Oh well.

Speaking of dreams...I've been having some very vivid dreams lately. I usually don't remember my dreams but this past week I've woken up remembering every last detail. Last night I had a dream that I was on our girls trip...I was trying to do my hair but my hair was like shaka khan's...thick, poofy, curly and frizzy....in other words....AWEFUL! And I had to go to the bar with this head full of nastiness. While we were at the bar we ran into 2 guys that we went to highschool with...can't even remember their names....Stefanowski was one of their last names...and I can't remember what the other one's name was....but how those 2 ended up in my dream I will never know...I never hung out with them in high school and haven't seen them since. Crazy.

We had Dreamy's 3rd Grade winter concert last night. He was like a stone statue up their...his lips were moving but not a single facial expression or movement. Hefty said "Dreamy is in his talking horses happy land"....talking horses?...."yeah, happy land always has talking horses".....LOL! Dreamy Smurf didn't have his glasses with him ....they broke last week and are now being repaired....HE didn't break them....his MOTHER broke them....but that's another story.....so every now and then we'd get a squinty smile with a wave. Meanwhile, his friends R and D were on either side of him dancing and jamming to the music they were singing. It was pretty comical!

Went to the gym again this morning and had my second (of 4) personal training session...I'm going once a week for a month. The goal is to get my butt back in shape before training begins for Chicago. I know once a week isn't going to cut it but she gives me homework for the week. I didn't want to commit to more than 4 sessions....just wanted someone to help me jump start the work outs. Holy crap. She's killing me. Nicole is her name and she's one of these perky, pretty, happy people....in perfect shape and always smiling....she even has dimples for cry'n out loud. She tells me today (with a smile and a giggle) that she had a huge house fire...(smile smile giggle giggle) the furnace started a fire that ran through all the duct work (smile smile giggle giggle) and smoked them out of their house...she had an adjuster at her house that originally told her that her insurance wouldn't cover the damage..... :::giggle giggle::: ....OMG! She's actually a very tough and good personal trainer if I could just get past the smiling giddiness thing. She's probably good for me....maybe she'll rub off on me. Anyway, she kicked my butt today. I doubt I'll be able to lift my arms over my head tomorrow. My upper body is so rediculously weak. But I'm gonna change that! I'm gonna be buff by April....LMAO....can't even type that with a straight face!

Happy Birthday Dreamy Smurf

I'm feeling a little nastalgic. It was 9 years ago today that our little guy was born. ::: sigh ::: At the risk of being cliche.....Time sure does fly by fast.

We're having the family over for dinner for Dreamy's birthday. It should be a fun filled evening. We all have a lot of catching up to do...I'm sure there's some new developements on Grandma's bowel patterns that we'll all need to know...LMAO!

Speaking of which...I was surfing the internet looking for "smurf stuff" for the boys for Easter. The boys at gymnastics all have nick names for each other and my boys are "papa smurf" and "smurfling"...the funny thing is they've never watched a single smurf episode and I'm not even sure they knew who the smurfs were before the older boys started calling them this...but anyhoo...I digress...so I was surfing around looking for shirts, smurf figurines, stuffed animals, etc(they're into having their "good luck charms" at the meets in their gym bags so I thought little smurf stuffed animals would be cute)...I came across a funny shirt that said "if you choke a smurf what color does it turn?"....you know I have to get it. But anyway, I'm sure you're wondering what on earth all this has to do with Grandma's bowel patterns....during my internet search for smurf stuff I came across a shirt that said "Ask me about my explosive diarrhea"....I laughed so damn hard I nearly peed my pants...the first thing that popped into my head was a picture of my Grandma in this shirt...that shirt was meant to be hers..if only I had the balls to give it to her.

The above entry was from yesterday...it's now Sunday...I was interupted while typing and so never got around to publishing yesterdays post so I'll just add to it. Had a nice visit with the family last night. Dreamy Smurf has been glued to the TV ever since last night watching one Monk episode after another. That's one of the gifts we got him...season 1 and 2. We somehow almost made it through the evening without bowel patterns coming into the topic of conversation...but in the middle of a conversation about politics a picture of Grandma with that T Shirt popped into my head and I started busting a gut...so everyone was wondering what I was laughing at and it was like my own private little joke so when I finally caught my breath enough to tell Grandma about the shirt she didn't think it was as funny as I did. She just couldn't appreciate the humor in it. Oh well. I still think it's hilarious!

Here's one for you Kelly. Try analysing THIS dream that I had last night...and no....I swear on my kids lives I'm not making this up....

I was on Kelly and Randy's front porch just finishing up washing their windows...(I don't even wash my own windows, so much for not dreaming things you wouldn't do in real life) I had to use the rest room....desperately....but they weren't home and their front door was locked. But there just happened to be a little tykes potty training chair on the front porch and so I just dropped trow right there on their porch and proceeded to relieve myself on the potty chair...but then Randy walks out from the side of the garage and gets in his car...while I'm sitting on the potty chair and looks at me...says "oh, sorry" and drives away...I'm still sitting on the potty chair and Randy's brother drives up in the driveway...I'm convinced Randy called his brother laughing and says "hey hurry up and go drive by my house Tammy's going to the bathroom right on my porch"....and that was it...LMAO...OMG...I think I may need a shrink!