Ahhh, tantrums....

OK, I need some serious help here. I am going to go crazy if Lily doesn't hurry up and move out! I know, I will regret saying that one day. I will long for the days when she was little and yahdy, yahdy, yah.... We fight DAILY about her clothes. Tonight she cried so hard she threw up while standing in the middle of the kitchen because I would not let her change into PJ's with princesses or animals on the front. What's the harm in her wearing animals or princesses, you ask? Well, no harm at all if she would put them on and leave them, but she wear them for an hour or so and then she wants to change. The laundry this little person creates is absolutely ridiculous. I have decided to put my foot down. Since she would not put on the PJ's that were laid out for her, so I told her she had to wear a plain t-shirt to sleep in tonight. You would have thought I had pulled her fingernails out and poured rubbing alcohol on her hands! I lugged her up to her bed and put her under the covers where she continued to try to convince me that she needed some other jammy's. She just would not be able to sleep in that plain t-shirt. It was a boy t-shirt, not a girl one. UGH!!!! On and on and on. We fight about the length of the sleeves, whether to wear hose or socks, the list is endless. We went out to eat the other night with Becky and Daniel and she wore a little cotton skirt and t-shirt with her frilly Easter socks and dress shoes. She wore FOUR headbands with a hair clip on top of one of the headbands. Refused a jacket ("I don't get cold.", she says.) and I was just to the point that if she had wanted to go naked I would've let her. I just hate the fighting. She cries about her hair.... wants it braided or in piggy tails. If she isn't satisfied she will tell you how stupid it looks and commence to crying until her hair is suitably styled. I know I probably need to just stand my ground and be tough but good gosh I get SO tired of fighting everyday over the same stupid trivial junk. And poor Sam, he has to literally scream to get any attention because she refuses to let anyones else share in her ownership of the freakin' WORLD!!! What am I gonna do with this one when she's a teenager? I mean really... she's three and I already can't handle her. I know I have had a hand in spoiling her, but I haven't done it alone and I don't know how to "fix" it. Suggestions....please? (Hear the desperation in my voice?)

My big, fat hand...

Well, I had my surgery on Wednesday to remove the ganglion cyst that had returned since I last had it surgically removed in 2005. The surgery was relatively easy but I don't remember being this sore or this swollen. My hand looks like it belongs to the Stay Puff Marshmallow man! I went this morning to let the doctor check my wound and I will have to go back in 1 week to have my stitches removed.

I had Brad take me to the video store last night so I could have something to keep me entertained. We rented "No Country for Old Men" (the ending was terrible), "I Am Legend" (very good, I held my breath a lot, wasn't crazy about the ending), and "Atonement" and "Dan in Real Life". I haven't watched the last two yet. We are going to Greg and Katie's tonight and I thought I would take one of the last two just incase anybody feels like watching a movie.

I have been messing around with Facebook and I have found a few friends that I haven't spoken with in years. It's always nice to touch base with old friends. If you don't have a Facebook page, go make one so I can add you to my friend list. Mine is pretty pitiful right now seeing as I only have 4 friends. I made a MySpace page because I wanted to be able to see Billy's page, but I have to say I think MySpace seems a little trashy. (No offense to anyone, I hope.) Facebook seems a little more professional and a bit "cleaner". Anyway, try it out and send me a friend request.

OK, well, the pain meds are kicking in and I am feeling a bit drowsy so I think I'll try to catch a quick nap before Katie & Greg's. Easter break is almost over :(

New Pictures...

I am up late trying to download some pictures to Winkflash. I haven't put any new ones up since January. Use the link at the right... I may not get finished tonight but check back tomorrow evening if my Easter pictures and my pond pictures aren't there.
I have discovered the macro feature on Sam's new camera and I have been playing around with it. See what you think.

Hoppy Easter...

Well, the Easter Bunny has come and gone at my house. We spent the day yesterday with my mom and Lea dying Easter eggs and getting their Easter goodies from her. Sam stayed to play with Billy and Lea and some kids at the lake while Brad, Lily and I went out to eat and we did a little last minute Easter Basket shopping.

We got up this morning and got ready for church. Sam wore his new suit and he looked as sharp as a tack. Lily, of course, wore her new Easter dress, complete with all the frills. She walked into the sanctuary at church, went up to some visitors and said "I have on a new dress today, see?" She can be so over the top. We had a fight about her clothes, as usual, because she wouldn't wear hose or socks with her new shoes. So by preaching she had a nice little blister on the side of her foot, but she still refused to wear anything under her shoes.

I have a lot going on this week while I am out for Easter break. I am having surgery to have the ganglion on my wrist removed on Wednesday. Monday I have my pre-op appointment and Tuesday I have a physical. Sometime this week I have to get together with Becky and Shelby from work to do some OBX paperwork. Right now, Brad just came in to get the kids so I can make my weekly trip to WalMart for groceries and other necessities.

Draggin'....

Whew! I'm getting too old to go concert hoppin'! I have been so tired all day. I convinced Brad to take Lily to dance so I could maybe grab a nap. So far I have helped Sam with homework and I am fixing some chicken nuggets for Sam and I. Maybe I'll catch a few z's before they get back.

JBJ and our new Wii...

Well, last night was the night. Bon Jovi and Daughtry at the Greensboro Coliseum. It was wonderful, fabulous, fantastic, excellent. It was downright other-worldly. There is something about a good concert that honestly makes me want to cry. It can be so emotional. You get so wrapped up in the music and the lyrics and, now that they have those video screens, you even get caught up in the facial expressions of the artist. Even though there were literally thousands of people there, I felt like I was the only person there with my main man Jon. He was singing every song for me and all I could do was sing them right back. I know it sounds corny and stalker-ish, but I just love that man and I hope he knows how much JOY he has brought to my life through his music (and his perfect butt and beautiful eyes... aahhhh). In all seriousness, it was one of the best concerts, if not THE best concert, I have ever been to. And I've been to a lot.

It was also especially good because Carmen and I got to spend some time together. We were talking and we realized we really haven't been able to do anything together (without kids or husbands) in about ten years! How sad is it that two best friends go THAT long without hanging out? It was really good for us and if we had about three or four weekend trips like that, we could maybe catch up and talk enough to make up for all the time apart. We had fun laughing at the slutty looking old women in our hotel who were also going to the concert. We made a new funny memory, too. After the concert our car wouldn't start. We had to get coliseum security to jump us off and then we had the same problem this morning at the hotel. We ended up buying a new battery for her car before starting home.

Earlier in the weekend, Brad and Greg went to Wal-Mart in Forest City at midnight and bought us a new Nintendo Wii. We have talked about getting one for a while now. Katie and Greg have been coming over on Friday nights and watching 20/20 because there's really nothing else to do. Now we can play our Wii. Sam has played all afternoon today. I have really enjoyed watching him because he gets so into it. I think it will truly be a good "family" activity for all of us.

Gotta go to bed now... I am SO sleepy after a really fun, really tiring weekend.

PS. Carmen, you need unlimited texting.
PPS. Judy, thank you for letting us borrow the "lady in the box".

What time is it???...

For the record, I don't think I have ever had so much trouble with the time change. I guess it has something to do with the fact that last week I started getting up at 5:00 am to walk and just as I was getting used to it, the doggone time changed. Now, it's like getting up at 4am. By the time it gets dark, I am about to fall over. The whole family took a nap yesterday afternoon so we all had trouble falling asleep last night. I was so sleepy all day today and I feel like crap. I am going to bed in just a minute (yes, I realize it is only 8:30, but I don't care!) Tough times call for tough measures.

Catching up and the ball-less, tail-less kitty...

Did you think I died??? I have been so busy...lots has been going on and this will probably be a long one!!!

First of all, Brad has been really sick, leaving me to do all the parenting stuff on my own. Second, I have been getting up early to walk on my treadmill and I've been going to bed early because of it. Third, I was so behind from the week I was out of work that it has taken me until now to get caught up. And just to make sure I don't forget.... if I leave out the part about my cat... somebody has gotta email me and make me tell it. It is hilarious!

So, let me start at the beginning... Brad, as you may remember, had pneumonia when I was diagnosed with the flu a couple of weeks ago. Well, he felt a little better and really helped out while I was sick all that week, but I am afraid he didn't give himself enough rest to get entirely better. He started feeling bad again last weekend and he went to the doctor again and they said his lungs looked really bad and that if they didn't clear up in a week or so that they were sending him to a lung specialist. I really fussed at him and I made him take it easy all weekend (as much as I could anyway - I mean, he IS Brad, right?) He had some kind of work retreat he had to go to Saturday that he said he couldn't get out of, but we skipped church on Sunday and I took the kids and went shopping and visited mom and dad at the lake for a little while to give him some good rest time. I think he slept most of the day. He has been gradually feeling better this week, using his inhaler and taking the other meds that the doctor prescribed. I guess it was my turn to pick it up and do all the stuff around here while he took it easy. So not a lot of time for computer. I just went through about 100 emails from the past week. Mostly junk of course!

Then there's my treadmill. We spent a lot of money on it so that's one reason that I am motivated to get up and walk each day. The other motivation is my wide caboose, of course. I have been getting up at 5, walking 2 miles (takes me about 45 minutes) and then getting ready for school like normal. I finally convinced Brad to let me take the kids to his mom's in the mornings so I could get to work on time. He still has that sleeping issue that makes me late, so hopefully me taking the kids and not having to wait around on him in the morning will help me get out the door so I won't be late like I have been for the past two months! Anyway, getting up that early has not been easy but believe it or not I have been feeling much better during the day. I am ready to hit the hay around 8:30 or 9... and boy, is it gonna be a butt-buster when the time changes! Anyway, I am really proud of myself and I just hope I can keep it up. I was really sore the first couple of days but now I think my old tired out-of-shape body is starting to adjust. And I am getting a lot of reading done! I have been reading while I walk (since I really don't have to watch where I am going) and I really am enjoying those Evanovich books. They are easy to read and they don't get boring. It really makes the time fly and that makes me not mind the exercise so much.

So, as far as work goes, I am swamped. Me and Becky are in charge of the Outer Banks trip and we had the deadline for the final payment so we've had to start working on finalizing lots of other details about the trip. I often wonder how I got myself into this mess? It is so crazy. Then there's high school registration that we started dealing with today. I always hate that! It is such a mess and nobody ever fully understands the high school's requirements (including them). We are transitioning from one grading program to another and we are having to get more training every Thursday and we are having to reenter all of our grades. This has taken up a lot of time on top of everything else. Honestly, it has just been so busy lately!

So, now for the cat story... this is a good one, y'all! My cat is driving me crazy. Bouncing off the walls and tearing stuff up. He needs to be neutered but the vet said at the last visit that he wasn't ready. So, I decided that this past Saturday was a good day for the kitty to meet the great outdoors. I shut the dogs up in the garage and put the cat on the front porch. He meowed and carried on which worried the kids to death. So Sam kept going out to "check on him". After about thirty or forty minutes, I was in front of the washing machine when Sam came in and said, "Look what I found in front of the door!" I looked and he had a big chunk of kitty fur. I took the chunk and it appeared to have some skin attached so I was a bit worried. I went to the door to find the cat and the first thing I see is a few little spots of blood. Uh-oh. Open the door and there is lots of blood all over the front porch. So then I follow the trail back inside the house and there sits kitty about halfway up the steps with a bloody tail. Apparently Sam had gone to check on him and caught the end of his tail in the door and I guess the kitty pulled the end of his tail off because it didn't break, it just kind of skinned about the last inch of his tail. I panicked and called the vet. They said yeah, bring him in so they can see if anything needs to be done to it. This was Saturday morning at around 9 or 9:30 so we all had to hurry up and throw on our clothes, throw kitty in the carrier and take off to the vet. Lily had on a pink dress, red hose, and pink shoes. Diva. Anyway, sit in the vet for about 30 minutes, he says kitty needs to have the end of his tail amputated to keep it from getting infected, but he's too busy to do it that day. Scheduled the surgery, asked about neutering and he checked and said yes, kitty was ready (hooray!). Start back home with the bloody cat in tow and my cell phone rings. It was Brad's daddy. He sounds a little funny and he asks if I am alright. Yes, why? He said, "Well, I am at your house with the POLICE!!! Your alarm went off and they could reach anybody so they sent the police to make sure everything was ok. Your front door was standing open." So I think to myself... I forgot to lock the front door, left in a hurry, wind blew front door open, alarm goes off, etc. Then I get to thinking about what my house looked like, you know... is there any dirty underwear sitting around in the floor? And I suddenly remember all the blood! And when I left the house I just left. I mean, I didn't turn off lights or tv or anything. So, it basically looks like I was busy cleaning my house when someone kicked in the front door and, oh I don't know, maybe bludgeoned me with an ice pick or something! I felt so bad! I don't know what he said to the police but when I got home Linda had come up there with her garage door opener to help lock up and the cops were gone. I cannot even imagine what it looked like! They probably have been driving by my house to make sure that Brad and I aren't mutilating people on our front porch. Well, alls well that ends well. I picked kitty up from the vet yesterday and he is now a fully castrated feline AND he has about 1-2 inches less of a tail than he had before. And I am sure he is completely terrified of going outside... I mean, who wouldn't be after an experience like that??

So, now I am feeling like life is getting back to normal after several week of not-normal. I am sure ready for my spring break (my job is getting on my nerves) and I am in need of a stress reliever. Maybe I need a nice daquiri and a massage? Sounds good. Or maybe I just need a night of Bon Jovi... right, Carm? Counting down the days until March 16th! Ahhh...