Hi, how are ya?

Life is busy. I admire the bloggers who can post multiple times a day or even once a day! I just can’t do it! I would love to, but most of the time I feel like I don’t have anything in me worthy enough to write about.

Kids are back in school. Big A is doing well in first grade. He is a great speller! He gets 10/10 on his tests on Fridays. He is not bad at math either. He is eating lunch at school and using a pin number to pay for it. I hadn’t checked up on it recently and got a slip home today that his account was -$1.00. Oops. They still let him eat, however. Then he got off the bus and walked home to find no one there. My mom got stuck in traffic and was two minutes later than the bus. Somehow he got into our building and stood in the hall crying. Poor guy! He thought no one was coming home for him! Mom! She felt bad, of course.

Little A had the share bag today. You have to pick something to share with your class and think up 3 clues to help the other kids guess what it is. His clues were: he wears a mask, he is black and gray, and he is a super hero. Any guesses? It’s Batman. Jeremiah was all over it. Miss Laura says he didn’t need any help with his clues and his voice was loud and clear as he announced them and then paused for dramatic effect, keeping them in suspense. Then he called on Jeremiah to guess. He is such a character. He has been in some scrapes the last couple of weeks. One day, he slipped in the bathroom after washing his hands and hit his chin on the sink. Big old cut and swollen chin that night. The next day, some kid ran into him, hitting him in the chin, and making his upper teeth cut up his bottom lip! Big old bloody and fat lip that night. Then on the weekend, he got bit by a goose at the zoo. I told him not to try to feed them. He doesn’t listen well all the time.

 

 

 

 

 

Hubby and I went to the U2 concert at Soldier Field (where the Chicago Bears play) on Saturday. That was wicked awesome. He got tickets through his work so we were in a box enjoying appetizers and alcohol and air conditioning. Way cool. That is their stage in the picture. They bring it with them everywhere on tour. It is unbelievable.

Then last night, Hubby somehow wrenched his neck. He was walking stiffly with his head to one side and his shoulder hitched up in the air. I told him to stay home today – I didn’t want him driving the kids around. Who knows what kind of crazy accident you could get into! Then I told him when he saw Big A off to the bus, not to walk him all the way there. We don’t need him embarrassed at this early stage of the game! “Hey, Big A, is that your dad? What is wrong with him? Why does he walk so funny?” I had a hard time sleeping last night because he came to bed and was grunting and grimacing. I felt so bad for him, but couldn’t do much. I tried to look for muscle relaxers, offered him some other meds which he turned all down. Only to wake me up and hour later looking for them. Then I couldn’t find any and he took some Alieve. Then 10 minutes later I got out the heating pad for him. Got him all set up only for him to use it for 10 minutes and then hit himself in the head with the controller part of it.

Today Little A asked when hubby got home if he was going to walk around like that all night. Daddy feels like the boys pick on him. This morning I was explaining to Big A that Daddy’s neck hurt and he was walking funny so he wouldn’t ask him what was wrong. I guess he told Little A that he was walking funny so we hear him announce loudly that he saw Daddy walk out of the bathroom walking like this: and then he must have mimicked him. I couldn’t help laughing. Hubby said the kids were mean and he gingerly climbed back in bed and covered his head with the covers. Poor guy!

Nothing is going on with me. Busy at work – our conference is coming up in a month. This year it is in Covington, KY! Is that near you Sammanthia??

And that is about it! I am going to try to post more often!

What I did on my Summer Vacation

Well, despite the fact that I have been away from here for far over a month, I have not gone anywhere too exciting. Life and work have really gotten in the way of my blogging and reading my favorite blogs! But, we have gone away the last two weekends on two short kind of “stay-cations”. The first weekend we went to my friend’s lake house in Michigan. It was nice to go on their boat and just relax. It rained all day that Saturday so we all read books pretty much or played the PS2. We even went bowling to do something different. Here are the husbands with contrasting opinions. It was a complete coincidence that they wore these on the same night.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here are some of the boys, too. This was Little A’s first time bowling!

 

 

 

 

 

 

We had more boating on Sunday and a sunburn for the effort. But all in all it was a fun weekend.

 

 

Last weekend, we went to Lake Geneva, WI to a hotel with a water park. We have gone to this hotel for the past couple of years. The kids could not get out of the pool. They loved it. Our stay was from Thursday to Sunday. Of course, 10 minutes after we got there, Little A threw himself into the wall and cut his upper lip. Dork.

Then that afternoon at the pool was very exciting. I was laying on my chair, watching Little A in the baby pool. (This year he didn’t try to fill up the baby swing with water. I think he got it into his head that there were holes in the bottom, which was why the water wasn’t staying.)

Anyways, lying in the chair – people came and went. This Hispanic family came in to my left and claimed the chairs there. A little while later, an older man and his wife with their grand kids comes up and immediately accuses them of taking their chairs. Now, I remember the grandpa sitting there before, but he had left and had been gone for so long that I forgot he had been sitting there. Whether he had put stuff on the chair to save it, I don’t recall. But he started yelling and insulting this woman. And he said it was “Typical” that she was denying that anything was on the chairs and that she stole them. That she moved his shirt from the chair and put it on another chair. Well, she calls him a racist and says he’s lucky her husband wasn’t there. She tells her oldest son to go find him and they all get into this verbal fight. The man says he could beat her up and her son and she called him an old man. Eventually hotel security got involved and the older man gives up but she keeps on complaining to the hotel. She feels harassed and no longer safe because he was threatening her and being a racist. Finally, the family gets moved to their sister property and everyone is happy. Wow. I just watched it all happen. I would have jumped in if I knew whether or not his shirt was on the chair but I didn’t know. I was soaking in the sun and mostly watching my kid. Oh, well. A little entertainment.

Friday, we came up with the brilliant idea to put life jackets on the boys so we didn’t have to stay in the baby pool. Duh. So they loved playing in the bigger pool and felt safe with them on. They went down the slide a million times. At first, I was catching Little A, but then he caught me in the chest (right between the boobs – its still tender!) with his foot and almost knocked the wind out of me. So I stopped catching them and let hubby do it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I love the pic where Big A hits the water – the little girl’s face is funny.

That is basically what we did all weekend. Pool all day and then went out to dinner. Sunday we checked out and then walked around the town of Lake Geneva which has shops and restaurants. We stopped at the chocolate shop and sampled some fudge and caramel corn. We stopped in a store called Allison Wonderland that had tons of toys that the boys wanted to purchase. And we also went on the ferry that toured the bay and told us about the famous homes on the lake front. The girl tour guide said that they were trying to figure out how much property cost. She said that she was 5′5″ or so and that enough land for her to lie down on would be the same as what she is paying to go to four years of college. Whoa. To tell you who owns most of the property – the Wrigley family.

We had a fun time but next year hubby wants to visit the badlands of South Dakota. Has anyone ever been there?

Hope you all are doing well! I will be in to check on your blogs soon!

RTT: Loose Lips Sink Ships or LONGEST BUS RIDE EVER!

Today’s Thoughts are brought to you by my mom! “If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all!”

Onward ho!

My nephew Chris, mentioned in this post, has been in the hospital for the last few weeks. He was transferred downtown to the University of Chicago hospital last weekend. Thankfully he is being released today! But for this random story, he was still in the hospital. Me and the A’s and hubby live in the northwest suburbs of Chicago. It is about a 45 minute drive downtown to the city without traffic. Triple that with traffic. And once you are there, well, it is nearly impossible to find parking, get around, etc. So we felt it easier and more fun for the boys, if we took the train downtown to see Chris this past Saturday. It is about a 50 minute ride on the train, a 6-7 block walk from the train to the EL (Elevated train over the streets of Chicago) and then another 4 blocks from the EL to the hospital. So all of this and three hours later, we were able to see Chris! He was looking much better and happy to have visitors.

On the way back, however, we decided to take a bus to get back to the north side of the city. The hospital was on the south side. If you know anything about Chicago, then you are familiar with the south side. That is where the White Sox come from – boo! (Go Cubs!) Also, however, some neighborhoods are a little shady. Now, I have raised my children to not see color and to just realize that everyone is different. How boring would the world be if we all looked the same? So, we get on the bus, and we are pretty much the only pink people on it! For some reason, this bus has a lot of mirrors. There were four up front by the driver, and two or three in the back. Maybe a couple of random ones here and there. Little A is like Rain Man right now and needs to count everything. He counted every time someone came or left Chris’ room when we were at the hospital. He counts cars, he counts lights, he counts trains. Whatever it may be, he is counting it!

This story is longer than I thought, and actually not so random, hmmm.

Little A says the word mirrors kind of funny, too. Now, remember, he is just 3 and cannot pronounce everything exactly the way it should sound. He, too, says “L” words like “Y’s” just as Big A does. Yittle A…so the way he says mirrors is kind of like this if you were to read it out loud: ME-ROES. Unfortunately for us, that sounds a lot like the word Negroes. And then there is the counting. And then he is also pointing at all the ME-ROES on the bus. “One ME-ROE, two, three, four. The ME-ROES are ALL over the bus! Yet me count them again!” He says in his not so quiet voice. This is the time when I really could have used that magic chip with a remote that silences the child. YES, there were people staring at us in horror! O. M. G.!!! So, I just kind of pretended that it was not the most embarrassing moment ever and I said, “Yes, baby, look at all those MIRRORS! Why the hell are there so many gosh darn MIRRORS on this bus?!” In his ear I am frantically whispering, “Please stop counting and pointing and saying ME-ROES! No one wants to hear your voice on this bus right now. This is quiet time – people are trying to nap.” Little A yells loudly, “But, Mama, I have to tell you about the ME-ROES!” Back to me whispering frantically, “No! I don’t want to hear about them. You have counted them many times already, please stop, please, PLEASE, for the LOVE OF ALL THAT IS HOLY, STOP counting the ME-ROES!!!”

This was the number two bus ride from hell. The first being from the “You’re Dead Meat” post on the way home.

For more random Random Tuesday Thoughts, head over to Keely at the Un-Mom!!

These are a few of my favorite things…

I was tagged by Shay at Auguries of Innocence to do this meme. The rules: I have to list six unimportant things that make me happy; I have to tag six other bloggers; I have to link who tagged me; and I have to comment on the blogs I have tagged. And here we go!

 

1) Bewjeweled Blitz - just can’t get a high enough score. Got to keep playing over and over and over again!

 

2) OMG. My new addiction. Pint shmint, bring on the gallon!

3) My Berry. I have arthritis in my thumbs, but I love my berry. I just discovered Blackberry App World. Craziness – I LIKE it!

4) I don’t have time to practice really, but I love my piano. If I see a song on sheet music that I love, I MUST buy it even though I will probably never be able to play it. And I am always downloading music with great piano in it!

 

5) Seriously addicted. And this is where my Bejeweled Blitz is as well.

6) Got to have my iPod with me at all times. I love music!

 

Now, who to tag?? Let’s try these awesome bloggers:

1) Captain Dumbass at Us and Them – he is hilarious.

2) Sammanthia at My A-Cup Runneth Over – hysterical. Anyone that names their blog after their boobs would be!

3) Kweenmama at Kweenmama’s Kastle – oh so wise and what a great mama she is!

4) Will over at Veggiemacabre. He always has a unique way of looking at the world and is a Firefighter – probably looks hot in uniform, ladies!!

5) Kirst over at My Life for the World to See - her daughter Meggers is adorable and she is an awesome mom, too!!

and finally 6) Otto Man at A splendiferous spectacle of supernatural and superfluous soliloquies – a very talented and funny man! And obviously loves the Simpsons – how cool is that?!

 Check out their blogs!!

You’re Dead Meat!

So, back in the saddle again! It has been so long! Hi, Sprite’s Keeper! I’ve missed you!!

This week’s Spin is about memories! Boy, do I have one that stands out…

~~~~~(Wayne’s World dream sequence sound effect)~~~~~~

I was in second grade. I think that made me 7. I lived in an apartment complex and we had to walk through the complex to get to the bus stop. It was the equivalent of about two blocks. My friend Tiffany and I decided to dress up for school one day. I remember wearing a dress and white socks that went up to my knees and black patent leather shoes with a little strap and buckle around the ankle. Very stylish, I know.

We get to the bus stop and wait as usual. When the bus finally came, we noticed that this 6th grade boy named John, that rode in the back seat ALL the time, was absent that day. So we were excited to ride in the very back seat! At the next stop, John’s friend that sits with him in the back, got on and headed our way. Oops. We forgot about him. He stomped to the back and glared at us.

“That’s where me and John sit.” He growled.

I got annoyed. The seats aren’t assigned. There are no names on them. We could sit wherever we wanted to! Right?! Hellz yeah! (I was such an independent and free thinker at the age of 7). So, I said, “It’s a free bus!” And we refused to move.

“John is not going to like this.” He growled again and moved to sit somewhere else.

What. The. Heck. John was not even on the bus. So you are telling me that NO ONE could sit in the back seat EVER? Puh-lease. I looked at Tiffany and we shook our little second grade pigtails. Whatever!

The day went along fine until lunch time. Tiffany and I were eating our PB&J sandwiches and fruit roll-ups happily until John walked by our table.

“You’re Dead Meat after school!” He growled and punched one fist into his other hand. I guess he wasn’t that absent after all.

I looked at Tiffany to see if she caught that. Yes. She did. And so did the rest of our shocked second grade table. I think someone even piddled. Might have been me. I am not going to say one way or the other.

GULP.

The WHOLE school heard about what happened at lunchtime. Kids were passing their condolences out to us when they saw us. I think I even saw money exchanging hands betting on who would get away. I prayed that last period would never end. I prayed that clock would stop and the bell wouldn’t ring. But it did.

We got on the bus and sat in the very first seat behind the bus driver. Seriously. Lesson learned. I remember there was about 3 stops before ours. I started praying that the driver would keep on going and not stop at ours. I chanted, “Please don’t stop. Please don’t stop.” It did me no good. The bus stopped at our stop.

Tiffany and I bolted down the stairs and off the bus and didn’t stop running. It was so hard to run in those little patent leather shoes. I dared look back and saw the bus driver holding his arm across the seats so John couldn’t chase us. But he couldn’t hold him forever. Eventually he would have to let him off the bus and drive the other kids home. Speaking of which, had their noses pressed up against the windows of the bus watching us run away.

I was out of breath; out of shape. I believe I still had the little kid belly situation going on. But I ran like the devil. One block. Finally two blocks. I remember we hit my building first and she had to run on to hers. I veered off to my door shouting, “See ya tomorrow!” As I pumped my arms and legs and ran inside and up to the second floor. I unlocked the door and escaped inside and bolted and locked it. I grabbed the phone to call my mom at work. (I was a latchkey kid.) She just answered and I gasped out, “Mama!” When there was a pounding at my door!

“What is that?! What is going on there? Are you OK?!” My mama asked all worried.

I explained what happened and she said she’d be right home. I hung up with her and that John kid banged on my door for a little while longer. I curled up in a ball in the kitchen and started rocking until my mama came home. I was so scared. I might have even piddled, but I am not going to say one way or the other.

The worst part was having to go to school the next day. My mom called the principal who called John’s mom, but what are they going to do at the bus stop?? So, my big sister, Sherri-Bob, walked us to the stop. She was 8 feet tall and 8 months pregnant. She was a force to be reckoned with. I remember at the bus stop, she glared at all of the kids to even take one step near me or Tiffany. She has this look that is super scary with one eyebrow raised and a fierce scowl at the same time. I felt safe when she was around. She dropped us off and picked us up for the next few days until the situation blew over and he was on to some other poor kid.

But that was one of the scariest times in my life. I have never dared mess with any type of bully since. I have definitely learned my lesson.

It is not a free bus.

 

*For more great spins on memories, visit the Sprite’s Keeper!*