Is it just me?

Maybe I am looking too deeply at things. Maybe I am not. It just seems to me that Tuesday's inauguration of Barack Obama is becoming very racist. When I looked at the new google header it seems to be as if it delves into his ethnicity. I just don't recall it being like this in the past. I don't recall pictures of Carter with peanuts for his inaugeration celebration, pictures of Bush with anything symbolizing Texas, Clinton with anything symbolizing Arkansas, etc... Do you get what I am saying? There were not pictures, logos etc that symbolized ethnicity. I think it is disrespectful to our new president actually.

In my humble opinion, it seems as if the incoming president should be pictured with nothing other than the stars and stripes, the Presidential seal, the white house, the outline of the United States of America, I don't know, just plain patriotic pictures and logos. Then again, maybe its just me and I am overthinking again.

Oh I think I am going to regret this decision...

All day long I have been clicking on the National Weather Service website and checking the weather report and thinking, yeah, yeah, yeah, I will believe it when I see it.

Most of the evening I kept wondering if maybe I should run into town to the store and pick up a few more items. The thought of three kids in a house for a day or two with limited snacks kinda scares me. But for whatever reason I decided the extra milk and fruit punch I have in the garage will be ok, we have several frozen pizzas a couple of packages of hamburger, some chicken breasts and plenty of other things to make a decent meal or two or three... but man o man there sure aren't very many oreos left.... not much ice cream....hmmm I do have a stash of reese cups.... we can make popcorn, everyone loves popcorn......yes I am sure all will be just fine.

But then I looked outside and the snow started on time, just as predicted. What if they are right this time? Oh God, what if we have a snow day or two even, me, three kids, three cats and a puppy and I still have to work and am behind....omg....can I do this? Will I survive?

Finally

Well finally, things are starting to resemble a routine around here. The kids were off from school on Monday also, so it was one more day of chaos. But it was a day where I was able to bribe them to take down the other Christmas tree and return all of the decorations back to the basement. (My son wanted to go see his girlfriend and wanted his sister to drive him into town.) It was amazing all of the work they got done around the house for me in one hour! My daughter is grounded, so she was happy to get out of the house and chauffer her brother around.

My daughter's vehicle is back in working order. The computer board had to be replaced and the carpet shampooed. Her dad fixed her car for her and in the process made great strides towards repairing their broken relationship. He bought her a new set of tires for her vehicle also. She went and visited with him a couple of times over Christmas break, his girlfriend and her son were out of town so it made it easy for my daughter to spend some time with her dad.

The overall body damages that tonka suffered in its trip into the creek exceed $2200. The passenger side doors are difficult to close, but something she can deal with unless she manages to collect damages from the "boyfriend". I know she still has a thing for him, but presently he is sitting in jail and I am hoping she will meet someone new and get over this thing with trouble.

Work has been extremely busy and I am taking another appraisal class and working towards getting into some online classes through Ball State. I spend most of my time in my office, thank goodness its at home so I can still spend time with my family. I have been working long hours this week and getting up in the middle of the night and working too.

This evening I am going to slack off and spend some time with the kids watching movies and having a fire in the fireplace.

Normal?

Please tell me its finally time to get back to normal? No you say! One more day of the lunacy and then a weekend? If you promise that Monday will start to seem normal again I think I can survive. If you say today is the last real day of the holiday season and vacations, I think I can make it. I think I can.

Its 2009 and its a new year and time for another new beginning. This past year has seen many changes in our lives and we survived and are the better for many of them. I learned my kids are growing up and earning more freedom in their lives. They learned that sometimes the words of wisdom I offer truly are "words of wisdom". See my daughter's adventure in December with her truck being wrecked by her boyfriend. We are still dealing with that mess.

Speaking of that mess. We have tonka truck back. It had to have a new computer board installed. Her dad stepped in and fixed it and paid for it for her. We still have recourse from the boyfriend however. The prosecutor did act upon my statement of the understanding the boyfriend and I had regarding the vehicle and he now sits in jail on two warrants, one missing a court date, and one unlawful use of a vehicle. As I hear it, no bond is set and no hearing until this coming Thursday.

My ex-husband has exhibited an about face in his behaviour the past few weeks, he stepped in and helped my daughter and they have been talking on the phone and spending some time together. He called her the other night and told her to go to the tire shop today because he is buying her a new set of tires for tonka. She refers to him as Dad now instead of calling him by his first name. He has had the boys this week and let the youngest come home last night because he was homesick for me, in the past, he told him to "be a man". We didn't fight over the Christmas visitation this year, we just went with how it is supposed to be and everyone seems to be the better for it. My goodness the man even wished me a Merry Christmas and I even thanked him for his help in the wreck situation.

More on tonka truck, it has $2700 in body damage, so little Mr. Boyfriend has quite a bill to pay, and no job and no ambition.... I am hoping this will be a lesson learned for my daughter that she will apply to her own book of wisdom.

I will however hold an little gratitude for Mr. Boyfriend in that he brought back some healing in a very broken relationship between my daughter and her dad. I hope the progress made will continue and she will have her dad back. She needs that very much in her life. He is certainly not the best dad in the world, but he is her dad.

This year will bring about more big changes in our world as my daughter will graduate high school and step out into the real world a little more. It will be a difficult transition for me, to let go of my baby, but I am sure we will find our way. My oldest son will be getting a driver's license this year which will be another set of worries for me and my little boy will continue on his journey in life, with his thirst for knowledge overwhelming and mind boggling, I think I will soon have to keep a dictionary nearby in order to engage in conversations with him, he loves new words and using them in proper context.

I wish all of you a happy new year, a return to normalcy as we all know it and health and happiness in the year to come.

A new addition to our family

We have a new addition to our family. We have a black pomeranian puppy. She "officially" joined our family on Christmas Eve as a big surprise to my youngest son at least. In reality she had been hiding in my bathtub for a week prior with me sneaking her out to potty when the kids were in their rooms or sleeping or not home or whatever. Surprisingly enough they were gone a lot during the days before Christmas so she got to start her potty training and get out and play with the cats too.

My daughter went with me to pick her out, so she knew and helped me with the secret. My oldest son figured out something was up because all of my daughter's friends were coming over and they were all going to the bathroom in my room together. And then forgetting to use the bathroom and running to one of the other ones shortly after a trip into my room for that purpose. We finally clued him in the day before Christmas Eve. But my youngest son was completely surprised and elated.

She is a good dog with a fun personality. I have only heard her bark twice so far. She whines sometimes and she growls when playing with the cats and some of her toys. She won't get over 5 lbs. when full grown making all of the cats bigger than her, but she thinks she is a big bad dog and just goes into any situation with no fear at all. Totally adorable. The pictures were taken of her when she was helping me at work the other day.

God Bless Us - Everyone

Politically Correct but author unknown...

To all my Democrat friends:

Please accept with no obligation, implied or explicit, my best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low-stress, non-addictive, gender-neutral celebration of the winter solstice holiday, practiced within the most enjoyable traditions of the religious persuasion of your choice, or secular practices of your choice, with respect for the religious/secular persuasion and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions at all. I also wish you a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling and medically uncomplicated recognition of the onset of the generally accepted calendar year 2009, but not without due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures whose contributions to society have helped make America great. Not to imply that America is necessarily greater than any other country nor the only America in the Western Hemisphere. Also, this wish is made without regard to the race, creed, color, age, physical ability, religious faith or sexual preference of the wishes.

To all my Republican friends:

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

What's on my tree Wednesday

So here it is again, Katie At This Crazy Life is hosting a weekly blog carnival featuring our favorite Christmas ornaments, so here is this week's choice...

Raggedy Ann and Andy are paper ornaments I made out of cookie molds. Fifteen years or so ago, I was a very crafty person, always making something until I got hooked on the ultimate rubber stamping and scrapbooking. But I made these ornaments by putting all of this stuff in a blender and mixing it up really well and then squeezing out the excess liquid and pressing it into a cookie mold. It was a long drying process, I can't remember if I used the oven on a low temp or not, it seems like a thousand years ago.

After the paper was dry and I could remove it from the mold, then I was able to paint it. I have a heart one also, but the picture didn't turn out so well, but here is good ole Raggedy Ann and Andy who hang around on my tree every year.

Our life as we live it, LIVE and in FULL COLOR

Where to begin? I fell back asleep this morning after the two older kids left for school. Still not feeling very well from this bug I have....so....

I awoke from a deep sleep to what was obviously a dream of my daughter screaming my name for help......

I don't know what I was dreaming, but I sent a text to her right away asking if she was ok. She responded she was fine and in class and why was I asking.... so, well, nevermind, on with the day.

I decided I am not getting any better from this "sinus infection" and I don't want to be sick over the holiday, plus I have a ton of things to do in the next week, so I called the doctor and was able to get an early afternoon appointment. It turns out I am having an allergic reaction to amoxicillin, so new scripts in hand, off to the pharmacy I go.

While at the pharmacy, I get a call from one of the principals at the high school. It seems my daughter's boyfriend has taken her vehicle and wrecked it. You have got to be kidding me. I threatened this kid a little over two months ago if I ever caught him driving that vehicle again I would report it as stolen and press charges against him, it is in my name.

I get out of the pharmacy, head to the scene of the accident, and call the police on my way and tell them its stolen he has not been authorized to drive the vehicle. Well wouldn't you know he, he wrecked in front of the shop of my ex-husband's best friend, and well of course, my ex was already there when I got there..... Little Tonka Truck was laying in a ditch on its side in water. The fool boyfriend was standing there crying....and apologizing. Too late for apologies with me, I had already told him was never to drive it...

I talked to the officers and told them he knew he was not to drive it and it was stolen and I wanted to press charges. Now....get this.....my ex, was kind and supportive of me through this and helpful as far as getting the vehicle out and working towards getting it fixed. He advised me to not let them tow it, just to leave it at his friends shop and we could see what to do from there...

I needed to go to the high school and pick up my daughter and take her to the police station and my ex told me to go ahead and he would handle the vehicle for me. I thanked him very much. He also kept me from hurting the boyfriend, you cannot imagine how mad I was...

At the police station it was determined the scoundrel had implied permission from my daughter, so it was not auto theft, however, my statement indicating a prior discussion where this kid knew he was not to ever drive this vehicle, may carry a bit of weight in the long run, it appears there are several other issues going on with this kid.....

After our statements were taken and my daughter got a bit of a lecture from a concerned police officer (who I am very thankful to for taking the time to talk to her), we were out the door. I talked to my ex husband, he indicated the damage doesn't appear to be too bad, some water damage, perhaps the rocker panel on the passenger side and it wouldn't start, probably because of water in the engine, maybe tomorrow we can assess the damage a little more and maybe it won't be so bad. My ex is going to call a guy to work on it, and seems to want to be involved in this situation. I thanked him again.

This evening my daughter texted her dad and thanked him for all of his help. His response, "it's what dad's do, I love you." Maybe, just maybe, this is the beginning of some healing in our family.

But I am still mad at the boyfriend.

OH and little Tonka, if it could have just held tight to the road for two more days.....it would have made it to one whole year since the last wreck.

This is not.....

This is not just a sinus infection. I went to MedStat yesterday and was diagnosed with a sinus infection. A sinus infection so bad that he prescribed pain pills too. Throughout last night and today I have gotten much worse...I am not sure if I have something else too or if I am allergic to the antibiotic. If I feel like death warmed over again in the morning, I am going back to the doctor...

Terry Polston - Hero

Our community suffered a great loss last week with the death of our beloved D.A.R.E. Officer Terry Polston. He touched thousands of lives, and each of us has one or more precious memory of him.

Mine came the night of my daughter's D.A.R.E. graduation and Officer Hawn selected her essay for her to read at graduation. She talked about how her dad's alcoholism has affected all of our lives and helped her to see what choices she should make. I was standing along the wall, tears streaming down my cheeks, Officer Polston came over to me, put his arm around me and whispered "Just be proud, Mom, be proud of your little girl, she is a fine young lady." I know am only one of thousands of parents that he reassured and comforted. He was a wonderful man and our community has truly suffered a great loss, but his legacy of love will live on.

Continue to keep his family in your prayers now as the dust settles and they are left with a big empty space in their lives going into the holiday season. I know he would not want them to be sad, but it will be so difficult for them.

What's on my tree Wednesday...

Ok its time for what's on my tree Wednesday. This is one of my favorite ornaments. A long time ago, before I ever had kids, I sent out this Hallmark Christmas card just because it was so darned cute...

And now, I have three kids and I can tell you it changes on a daily basis as to which child has the crooked halo, but you can bet, when one is really bad, the other two are absolutely perfect.

Thanks Again Katie, for hosting this Blog Carnival!