It's raining popcorn!

Today we invited friends over. And if you tell 3 kids they each can have one friend over, well that makes for 3 friends. And when you have 4 kids of your own, and 3 of them each have a friend over, well that makes for a lot of kids. It is always lot of fun though. They are good kids and today was going to be “playing outside in the water day.” They all piled into the yard making a mad dash for the water of course. As time went by they were hungry. Hmmm, what to feed a pile of kids that is easy, quick and cheap. I thought popcorn would be a great idea. I didn’t have any microwave popcorn so I thought I would do it the old fashioned way. So I dumped some oil in a pan and thinking that since I had a pile of kids I should make a pile of popcorn, I dumped quite a few kernels in to make a big batch. I had only ever popped my own popcorn once before and that was with a friend. The kernels started popping and I had my bowl ready. As the lid began to lift off the pan I picked it up to dump into the bowl. The pan was a large pan so I had to hold on to both sides, and since I hadn’t attached my third arm yet today I just dumped the lid in the bowl with the popcorn, figuring I would grab it out when I set the pan down. The popcorn came out fast and lots of it. In a matter of seconds my bowl couldn’t hold even one more popped kernel. So I set the pan down and before I could fish out the lid, the remaining kernels, and lots of them, started popping all over the place. Josh and his friend were watching and laughing while I was screaming and taking cover behind them. Yeah, not my best protective instinct in play there. I finally grabbed a pan out of the sink and ran over to put it on top of the pan. On my way over I was stepping on very hot unpopped kernels. How the Unpopped kernels jumped out of the pan with out popping I am not scientific enough to know. All I know is those little babies were HOT! When I wasn’t singing my feet I was crushing the popped corn into tinier pieces on the floor. The boys decided to get out of the kitchen themselves but as they walked out they too became aware of the hot fire coals on the floor. So we all were bouncing around the kitchen looking like we were doing some sort of rain dance. What is it about me and the kitchen that is a recipe for side show entertainment. I prefer to call it that over a “disaster” it makes me feel like a professional rather than a “crazy mom”. Haha Hey at least no one was hurt. I didn’t have to sweep the floor. Bo came in and ate it all off the floor. Just kidding. I’m not that bad that I would let my 3 year old eat stepped on popcorn off the floor. Now had I not stepped on it I am pretty sure the 5-second rule would have been in affect.

The little black shoes.

Well today was a pretty good day. For the most part things ran smoothly, so smoothly in fact I decided to run into Jackson with Jess to return some clothes and hopefully by a pair of shoes. I need a white pair now that it is summer. Anyway, while I was taking in all the shoes in a payless, Bo took off his shoes to try on a pair of women’s high heels himself. When it was time to go I said, “ok Bo let’s get your shoes on.” And as I glanced around they were nowhere to be found. “Bo where did your shoes go?” I asked, “Where did shoes go?” He repeated. “Yes, where are they, did you stick them in a box?” I asked “Shoes in a box.” He replied. At this point in time I am wondering, is he just repeating me again or is he telling me he put them in a box. “Ok Bo what box are they in?” I asked hoping he would know. “In a box.” He stated again. He seemed to be pretty set on the fact that they were in a box, but I guess and the age of 3 all the boxes look the same. So there I was surrounded by tons of shoes wondering which box the little black flip-flops could be in. I knew they could only be so “high” on the shelf so I began to scan the lower 5 shelves. Eventually I was lying on the ground looking UNDER all the shelves. Boy was that a sight. A mom and her 3 year old were sprawled on the floor of payless searching for the shoes to put on the now barefooted toddler. Oh why didn’t I buy him glowing shoes or neon shoes? I swear out of all my kids, Bo’s shoes are the ones I loose the most. I finally just had to give up. Timmy had a soccer game that night and I had to get home. So I left my phone number with the sales clerk. So if you are payless and you find a pair of black flip-flops, call me! haha

Another shopping day

Anyone who has read my earlier post, “A trip to Meijer with Bo” & “Back to Meijer with Bo”, is aware of how I remedied the whole grocery shopping circus act. However, tonight Bo decided to test me again, only this time I was in a hurry and really didn’t want to take the time to take him to the van for time out. It started out as a little boy who turned his water bottle into a pretend gun. There wasn’t much water left and he would point it at me a make his “pew, pew” noises. It was all harmless until he tipped the bottle just right and what little water was left came right out splashing me and my list. He of course thought it was quite entertaining, while I was trying not to rip my list of groceries. Next he was making up some song with words that I am certain are not found in the English language and he was singing it with all his heart. He was so loud the people 3 isles down could hear him. But I figured at this point in time it was better than a screaming fit. So anyone who thought I should shut him up, well, they just didn’t have a clue of what they really could be subjected to. After his concert was over he began ripping little pieces of notebook paper out of my note book and dropping them on the floor just like Hansel and Grettle. After first I didn’t mind so much, again I figured it was better than the alternative being broken jelly and the famous words, “clean up on isle six.” However, I did take the pad away when he began ripping out full sheets and throwing those on the floor. Eventually grocery shopping was over and I couldn’t wait to get home put the guy to bed and dive into my chocolate moose tracks!

When it all comes down to it, what REALLY matters?

When it all comes down to it what really matters? Sometimes when I feel stressed or worried about situations in my life I just have to ask myself this question. Really, setting all the “trauma & drama” aside, what matters to me most? In the grand scheme of life all that matters is that when I go to bed at night my 4 angles (they are angels when they sleep anyway) are breathing peacefully in the rooms next to mine, and my husband is lying in bed next to me, the man I have officially been with over half my life. All the kids’ whining and fighting, any argument with Michael I may have had just doesn’t matter. All those opinions of what other people have of me that seemed so important at the time, just seem to fade away as I focus on what is REALLY important to me. As I sit here with the house quiet I am just so grateful for my family. The past 10 years has thrown me some curve balls I never expected, as often life does. I am sure all of you have had curve balls of your own. But I have learned to appreciate my growth through my adversity, and continue to learn to appreciate it everyday. And despite my own trials at the end of the day nothing else matters except the love I feel flowing through my own personal household from the people who live in it. These are the most important people in my life. So tonight I encourage you all to sit down and think about what is REALLY important. Sometimes we just need to take a moment and focus on that. It may be your children, your husband, or a close group of friends and family that have supported you. Just let what you are truly grateful for warm your hear and let all the other “stuff” that just doesn’t REALLY matter in the grand scheme of your life’s happiness just set on a shelf. Stress and worry will always be there, let’s not let it rob us of our happiness today. So what matters to you in this big picture of life. For me it is my babies sleeping in the rooms next to mine, and my man lying next to me.

Potty training ahead, I hope, I think?

Ya know those computer updates that pop up on your computer. You click ok, and your computer restarts and says, “your computer has now automatically been updated.” Well I wish kids had a “potty training” update. At about the age of two, shoot I would even take the age of three. At that age if something would just say, “ok, time to update your child with the latest and greatest features, less whining, more listening and most importantly the going potty on the pot feature.” Boy that would be great. My fourth is to the age where he is so close the being potty trained. I think anyway we will see. But he is my last kid of four to potty train and I can just taste the freedom. Once he is done I never have to go back!!!! Well, today I put underwear on Bo for a little bit. I figured I would give him a taste of the good life in hopes he would want to join the land of the “briefs.” As he was sitting at the table playing play dough in his undes I started to hear liquid dripping off the chair, and Bo’s little voice. “Huh, potty is hot.” “Wait stop” I said as I rushed over to him and stuck him on the potty chair next to him. “Try to go on the potty” I said. By this time he was finished, but still found it fascinating to sit on the potty chair. He would stand up and sit, and stand up and sit over and over. Then he sat and pushed himself backward down the hall as if he were on a ride toy. I had to draw the line and take the chair away when he was picking it up turning it upside down and putting it on his head. If this is any inclination of what potty training is going to be like for him, I might wait until he is 13.


PS Thanks to those who have left comments I love reading them. The last two comments left by Beth and Tonya were especially funny if anyone wants an extra laugh!

Whew, time to sit down.

Wow, so there are over 600 muscles in the body (says google, cause of course I don’t remember that from Biology), and I can feel 587 of them. I was off to be wonder mom today and run the 3K with my 3rd grader. Every year our 3rd graders run the 3K at field day. They train all year for it. I think it is pretty cool. Gotta hand it to the 3rd grade teachers for giving our kids such a great confidence builder. The kids are so proud of themselves. Anyway I headed out of the house later than I was supposed to as usual. I grabbed my old phone that I was used to running with my music. When I got to the school I remembered it wasn’t the phone with the music it was my memory card which was now in my new phone which I left in my van so I wouldn’t have to carry around 2 phones. Just as I was turning around to run back for it I remembered my new phone was at home with my music card in it, cause I had just received another new phone to replace I “new” phone that wasn’t working. Yeah, I think I just confused myself, so don’t feel bad if you didn’t get that. Bottom line, I was going to have to run the 3K with out my music. I mean seriously would Rocky have made it up those stairs without the "The eye of the Tiger" playing in the background. I don’t think so. Somehow, I did survive the 3K, beaten by my daughter of course. I spent the remainder of field day running back and fourth between 3 kids and their events. It was fun, but talk about crazy. I am just glad they were wearing color coded t-shirts. Once I finally remembered what color my kids were it was easier. After traveling back and fourth across the track at least 20 times today, field day came to an end. As I was driving home I drove our little sunburnt selves to the Dairy Kreme for ice cream to cool down before round two of our day began.

Round two went something like this. I dropped Kate off to Yoga, and came home to finish up dinner. Went back to pick up Kate and then Josh got ready for soccer while changed Bo so he could go to Lansing with Mike for Josh’s game. After those 3 were shipped off, Kate got ready for Softball and Timmy for soccer. Rather than leaving on time I spent 10 minutes searching for Timmy’s shin guards, finally loaded them up only to realize that when I sent Timmy up for his soccer socks he came down with ankle socks on. So I ran back in the house for the right socks. Finally I zip Kate up to her softball practice and then run Timmy over to the soccer game I was supposed to be coaching. This is the moment where I am thinking of “that Mom” that is always 10 minutes early and brings extra snacks for the kids that forgot, and remember, yeah, that isn’t me. Resolving myself to the fact that I am the mom who shows up running to the soccer field carrying her kids cleats while he runs sock footed behind me. I arrive huffing and puffing from the scramble with my hair fizzing out around my head just making it in time for the game to start, I decide hey, at least I am there, right! After the soccer game was over I went to pick Kate up. I saw an empty chair next to a friend of mine and plopped myself in it. With Bo gone to soccer with Michael, Kate at practice and Timmy running the bases on an empty field, it just felt good to sit and watch the cute little Springport boys play baseball.

Screw it baby, let the good times roll.

Screw it baby let the good times roll. How can that statement which is so simple and not even accepted in some social settings, be so liberating. Just think about all the crazy stuff you are worrying about right now and then say, “screw it baby, let the good times roll.” Can’t ya just feel the liberation. When my mind begins to over think it reminds me of a hamster on his wheel, running, and running as fast as he can, trying so hard to get some where yet accomplishing nothing. Running and running, and running until he can barely breathe, pushing with every last ounce of strength until “thump” he cant run any long and is tossed around the circular tread mill like a rag doll. Thump, thump his head hits each time he lands until the wheel slows down, eventually he’s just lying there on the bottom as it rocks up and down. He is so exhausted he just can’t move and then he thinks, oh “screw it baby let the good times roll.” And then some where out of nowhere someone gives the wheel a spin and whoo hoo, he is just along for the ride. Off the hinge the wheel spins, where exactly he’s going he is not entirely sure, but he is going somewhere. And he will enjoy the ride.

So often we let our minds take over our LIFE. We waste so many countless minutes in a day just worrying over things that just don’t even matter. We think it matters, and in that moment it seems like a HUGE deal. In that moment, forgetting your kid’s lunch seems like you are the worst mom. Taking the wrong kid up to soccer pictures seems like you are an airhead mom. But in the bigger picture of our life we would enjoy more of our life if we just said, “Who cares” and let it go. Cause all those worries lead back to worrying about what OTHER people think of you. So you ran over the diaper bag today, you are still a good mom. So you backed into your sister’s car for the 3rd time, it will still be ok. She may not be very happy with you, but trust me, I have experience with this personally, and your true friends love you no matter what. They are just happy to know someone just as human as they are. Let it go, stop over thinking. We can either ride this ride of life freely, taking in each moment, learning from the up hills and down hills, or we can over think and fight it. But in the end over thinking will make you feel like the hamster spinning his wheel. My Dad used to say to me, “Jamie, don’t sweat the small stuff.” And just before I could utter the words “um, this isn’t small stuff,” he would interrupt and say “and it is ALL small stuff!”

I'm no martha, but he thinks I am pretty cool.

Today I tried to be Betty Crocker, Martha Stuart, or that mom from the Brady Bunch. I made brownies with marshmallows and m&ms on them. I saw it on the back of the box and thought it would be “very” creative and my “birthday boy” would think I was so cool. Well, anyone who knows me knows that the kitchen, creativity, and me all in one is just asking for trouble. Things started out looking very promising but ended up in a pile of colorful goo. The marshmallows swelled up while cooking and then stuck to the sides of the pan as they cooled. And I mean STUCK. When I tried cutting them for the class the brownies were so gooie, which I like, but a little messy for the kindergarten class. Besides that the marshmallows were stretching and oozing and the m&ms were melty and mushy. I would need a spoon to slop them out and splat them on the plate and the kids would have this tasty treat up to their elbows and in their hair. So I went to the store to buy a treat. I grabbed some chocolate donuts hoping Timmy would think they were cool and I could make up for the fact that my creativity had gone south. Needless to say a good friend of mine is decorating some brownies for me for his party. I brought the donuts to school and Timmy thought they were the greatest treat ever. So I am way cooler than Martha in his eyes, and that is good enough for me!!

How many times in one day?

In recent days I have been wondering what the count is for how many times I drive to the town in one day. So on my busiest day this is how it goes….I don’t have to take them to school, Michael does so that is nice. I just start by dropping off a forgotten lunch on the way to the grocery store, or some days I am headed in to volunteer, so that’s one. Then back up there to pick them up. That makes 2. Then back into town to take Kate to her activity, drop her off and back in to pick her up. That makes 4. Then back in to take Josh to soccer, drop him off, go back to house to pick up Timmy who had to go to the bathroom as we were loading so I left him with my mom who was on our computer working, thank goodness. So Timmy and I head back to the school to watch the game. That makes 6. Head home for dinner and realized I forgot to drop off the wrestling gear, so I ran back up there to turn it in. That makes 7. Wow, I am glad we are only 5 min. from the school. How many times do you all run into our little town a day! I am sure someone has me beat.

Eeeeeeeeew! Gross!

“Ewww. Gross, someone stepped on and then tracked a giant dog turd in here” I heard my sis say from out side the bathroom stall. At that point in time I had just laid Bo on the changing table, so I couldn’t step out and see what on earth she was talking about. We were traveling the last leg of our vacation home and stopped to eat and change diapers. Well about 2 seconds later I knew what it was, as I went to pull Bo’s pants down my fingers ran into something warm and smushy. Oh yeah. Every mom knows what I am talking about. He was oozing out of his diaper. I began to pull his shoe off and noticed he had poo on the back of his shoe, I then realized it the poo oozed out of his diaper and down his pant leg. Now, hearing my sister go on and on about this nasty “dog” poo in the bathroom, I knew what it was. I refrained from saying anything until I heard the stranger finish washing her hands and leave. I just couldn’t bring myself to announce to anyone that my kid’s turd was lying in the middle of the bathroom floor, and I step in it and tracked it into the stall I was currently changing the diaper in. Yeah, I decided to keep the grand announcement to my sister’s ears only. Although now that I am sitting here blogging about it I don’t know what difference it makes. I got my kid stripped and my pregnant sis kept handing me wet paper towels all the while trying to keep her 1 year old from playing with the obscure looking play dough. Finally, I got Bo all cleaned up. Jess then got as far away from the bathroom as she could so not to be associated with the mishap. Once I had a clean diaper on him I stepped out to survey the damage. I put Bo on the sink and started cleaning the floor with wet paper towel the whole time Bo is saying, “yucky, yucky, yucky poop.” Once I cleaned up the floor I took my pant less kid out to Jess so I could go to the van and get pants out of our suitcase. As embarrassing as it was I did let the staff know they would want to mop the bathroom floor to sanitize it.

The big birthday present

Tonight we gave the boys there birthday present from us and my Dad and Chris. It was so cute. We all were so excited about giving them the present because we knew how much they were going to like it. All three of them tore into the paper and revealed the blow up pool with a slide. “Whoa!” they all exclaimed. They all jumped around and were excited and when things calmed down I asked Timmy who was just staring at the box, “whatcha think Timmy” and he said, “can we get one of these.” I said “honey that is what is in the box, we did get one of those” and then my daughter followed up with “wow,” I never thought our mom would let us have one of these.” We all laughed. Kids sure do say the funniest things sometimes.

An embarrassing parenting moment

Well, here is just a little story that I am actually embarrassed to share. But I figure if there is some mom out there who has done something similar, they might want to know they are not alone. Ok so this goes back to my vacation. It was a rainy day so we decided to go to a museum. All ten of us piled out of two vehicles and headed toward the building. The kids were bouncing with excitement. So was I actually. The building we were headed into was built to look like it fell out of the sky and landed upside down. It was called Wonder Works and I highly recommend it!!! Anyway, we were headed toward the building when I looked at Michael and said, “Did you get Bo?” He responded with “No I thought you got him.” So all-5 adults are exchanges glances of “nope I didn’t, did you” and we realized NO ONE got Bo out of the van. Oh my gosh I was just mortified, granted we didn’t get even out of sight of the van, but still how awful. It was only less than minute, so the kid shouldn’t need too much therapy. Good thing I know a good life coach to help him through any “child abandonment” issues he may have. Anyone who knows Dean would agree he is the BEST!!!!! So there ya have it. Not my “proudest” moment. When you start forgetting a kid and it takes you a moment to notice, that is when you know you have a pile of KIDS. haha

Happy Mother's Day

Mother’s day is tomorrow and I find myself thinking about my mom and my “kidhood” with her. I consider myself so greatly blessed. My mom is the most caring person I know and the one thing I never doubted was her love for me. I remember the feel of her cheek on my forehead when I was sick. I remember the feel of her arms around me when I was sad, and the feel of her fingers running through my hair, as I would lie in her lap. I remember her coming to all of my softball games when I was in high school. She came and so proudly watched me sit the bench, and she cherished the moments I was called in to play an inning. She was my biggest fan at all my choir concerts and plays.

She ALWAYS made me feel important. Even in grade school I remember her listening to me talk and making me feel so proud of what I had to say. I always felt like my opinion mattered to her.

Now she supports me as I raise my own. It is crazy to think even today that I am the mom. So many times I still feel like a kid, raising kids. But I wouldn’t trade this job for the world. I have to say it is the toughest job I have, but the most rewarding.

I still feel my moms love for me today just as strong as I felt it as a child. So I have to say I am very grateful for my mom. No one can hold a candle to her in my eyes.

I hope my kids never doubt my love for them, as I never doubted my moms. And I hope I make them feel as important as my mom made me felt.

If you want to share, I would love to hear what mothering traits you want to pass on to your own kids that your mother gave to you!

Ya know, that mom.

Ok, so I am tired and grumpy. I am having one of those weeks where I am just struggling to keep my head above water. I seem to have this image in my head of what a mom is “supposed” to look like. Or rather what I want to look like. Ya know that mom who has the freshly pressed uniform for pictures, but no I was just glad we found the thing, never mind it was wadded up at the bottom of his closet. Ya know the mom who volunteers to coach soccer. Well, I am volunteering to coach soccer but I was 10 min. late to practice on Tues and Amy had to start both U6 and U8 practice by herself. Ya know that mom who is really organized. I am actually usually pretty organized but lately my kids are calling me to remind me about fundraisers being due, or field trip papers I forgot to send in. Ya know that mom who sends in extra snacks, just in case one mom forgot. Instead I forgot to send my 6 year old with a sack lunch for his field trip. So another mom ran home to make him a lunch. On top of all this my laundry is piling up in the corners, in a matter of time I could probably just use them as beanbags in my bedroom. I have puzzle pieces scattered all over the office floor. My main floor is pretty clean, only because I have the greatest sister in the world, who I am sure saw the insanity setting in and thought she better help before she had to put me in a home. I gotta tell ya though, as I sit here and think back on the week, first I am glad it is over, second, I just have to laugh. I have been pretty stressed about all my mishaps this week, and now it is just time too laugh at them! And as a good friend of mine always says, “Don’t worry, you get to start over tomorrow with a clean slate!” So to all those moms out there who have been feeling like me….give yourself a break and just laugh. Cause lets face it, our lives is what writers are making sitcoms out of, so technically we are all famous!!! haha

Day two on the road, are we there yet?

Day 2

Well we stopped off in Columbus Ohio last night and are now back on the road for the remaining 6 hours of the trip. I got up earlier than my husband to start getting things around. Finally, I marched myself down stairs and said in my “loving wife voice of course” “Get up, you’ll have to skip your shower, we are leaving in 5 min. And 40 minutes later we were finally in the car. We made it five minutes up the road and stopped to get gas. I jumped out to use the restroom, because somewhere in the middle of getting everything loaded up and making sure all of my kids used the restroom, I forgot to go myself. Finally, we were on the road 1 hour an 20 minutes past our target time, only to stop 15 minutes later because 2 of my munchkins had to go potty. Fortunately we didn’t have to stop again after that till our half way mark where we intended on eating lunch.
The ride was quite entertaining. Our husbands rode with my kids and my mom, sis and I rode with Ayden. Poor kid. We sounded like a bunch of cackling hens, laughing and chatting. Needless to say he did not nap like he was supposed to.

We made our stop in London Kentucky, and went to a little store called Dog Patch Trading post. It was a place my family used to stop on our travels as kids. Michael and I stopped here last time we went to Gatlinburg. Then, we only had 2 kids and I was pregnant with the 3rd. Keeping track of all four in this store with toys and trinkets was quite the adventure so we didn’t stay long. We walked across the way to Wendy’s and put on a whole new sideshow there. Our younger two were bouncing off the walls just like puppies who had been let out of a cage, and my older two were trying to negotiate with me about why they had to order off the dollar menu(when you have 4 the dollar signs for food that I am quite sure has no nutritional value begins to add up, so I always tell them they have to order off the dollar menu. I am sure the people behind me were wishing they had picked somewhere else to stop for lunch. Scenes like this generally bother my husband cause he is really good at thinking about what it would be like if the roles were reversed and wants to be considerate to others. Me, well, I’m just trying to keep the zoo under control. I figure if we make it out of there with all 4 kids and all our food, well we did pretty darn good. And the people behind me in line just got some free entertainment. I mean lunch and a show; seriously, people pay good money for that. I might just stick a hat out next time and see if we can collect some change.

Fist day back, and first day of vacation!

To fill you in on my first day back...Of course it was still as crazy as when I left. This evening I was rushing out the door for soccer pictures. My sister was over so I left the other 3 kids home since I had an hour and a half in between when Josh was supposed to be there and when Timmy was supposed to be there. As I pulled through Springport in with one minute to arrive on time I realized I had the wrong kid. Josh was supposed to be at 5:40 and Timmy was at 7:00. But there sat Timmy in my rear view mirror. Seriously, how embarrassing. Yet, I wasn’t that surprised at myself. This week everything is colliding. It is Josh’s last week of wrestling, he has soccer, Timmy has soccer, AND baseball starts this week. Yeah! I might not know my name by the end of the week.

Here is the first day of our vacation!


Family Vacation… Have we left yet? Oh my gosh. Finally we are on the road. First we had a crazy week, cramming in soccer, wrestling, ballet, and get an alignment, tires rotated and balanced, oil changed, and a new windshield. So finally it is the day we leave. But we have two boys in wresting and I am a mom obsessed with watching them. So naturally we had to go to the home tournament and leave when the boys were done. It was fun and the boys had a blast when they were finished we headed home to shower and leave. I was hoping to have the boys showered and be on the road in 20min. I know, optimistic, but miracles do happen. The boys were actually showered and ready to go in twenty, but we didn’t leave, Michael grabbed the cat to take to my moms and I opened the door for him and somehow set of the van alarm. So the cat is clawing my husband while I fumble around for the button to shut it off. We got the cat over to moms when we realized the dog had eaten the cat food. Not my dog, I don’t have a dog Right, whatever! My mom’s dog, who is my neighbor and might as well be mine. Keep in mind I said yes to the FISH! So one of us runs to get cat food while the other finishes loading. Everyone goes potty and climbs in the van. Then I have to run back in the house for my cell phone charger, and back in for my jacket, and back in for my “sedative” that I am going to need on the 10-hour road trip. Haha. We ride over to pick up my mom cause she is going with us, and then had back to our house cause I didn’t remember locking the door. And for anyone who read yesterday, I was trying to keep the vacuum cleaner salesmen “robbers” out. Finally, we head down the driveway for the last time and we are on our way.

I am BACK!!!

I am back! I went on vacation last week and had a hard time keeping up with the posts. I did do some writing but I didn’t want to put the fact that I was out of town on-line. Never mind I already told the vacuum cleaner salesmen robbers I was leaving town. Yeah. For those of you who haven’t heard, the day before I went out of town a beat up vehicle with a spider web broken window pulled in my drive. A scrawny guy probably about the age of 20 jumped out of the car and handed me a fabreeze can. At this time I was standing in my driveway watching my windshield get changed. I stared at the can and looked and him and he said “Probably wondering what the catch is right”. Oh brother I knew there was a catch and since I had taken the fabreeze out of the guy’s hand, I was going to hear about it. He ran to the back of the vehicle and grabbed a vacuum out of the trunk. As soon as I realized what was happening I ran up to the vehicle and waving my arms saying “Don’t leave, don’t leave, I don’t want a vacuum, I don’t want to see a vacuum, don’t leave him here.” I had heard of these guys dropping people off for hours while they talk your ear off about their vacuum. And the others drive around to other homes in the mean time. Well, I certainly didn’t have time for that. Of course they pleaded to let him stay and earn his 20 dollars just for his demonstration. Just wanting to get them out of my driveway I said “I don’t have time, I am getting ready to go out of town” Oh my gosh as soon as the words came out of my mouth I was horrified. And to make matters worse, I found out the next day that there were vacuum cleaner sales scams. They show you a vacuum, scope out your house while they are there, and come back later to rob you. Oh my gosh! Yeah, so I gave the police a description and let them know not only was I going out of town, but I actually TOLD them I was going out of town. Needless to say I was embarrassed to say it out loud. Good news is we made it back from vacation and the house was great. Whew!

So the next few post to come are from my vacation. If you think my life is crazy as is, well, imagine a 10 hour car ride with 5 kids, 2 husband, a couple of sisters, and our mom. Yeah, it makes for some stories!