My life in a NUTshell

I haven't been writing anything recently, but I have a very good reason. I have become a mother of three. (Only one child is actually mine). I have become responsible for the care of my nieces. They will be with me until December of 2008 and I have had them since August of this year. Their father is in the U.S.M.C. (marines) he has been deployed overseas.

It has kinda been like instant family. I have been on the point of pulling my hair out by the roots. When you have two 5 year old and a 4 year old just about anything can happen on any given day. Like hitting, biting, pulling hair, arguing over who has to clean the playroom, saying mean things to each other, and etc. If you have more than 1 kid you know what I mean. I have been raising my 1 child for the past 5 years and I never realized just how easy I have it. My husband will help out when he is not at work but the major battles are all mine. When the kids moved in with us it was a big adjustment for everyone but it was hardest for my daughter, who has never had to share anything including moms attention. She was taking it pretty well until recently and has now reverted to the most dreaded attention getter, whining!!!!!!!!!!!!

My nieces has of course had a difficult time with the whole process, they really just don't understand what is going on and have resorted to some amazing attention getting tactics. Destroying toys or furniture was one of the best I have come across so far. One of them has been spoiled her entire life which is only four years, but boy oh boy does she let you know she is spoiled. She cries when you ask her to do the simplest things, she doesn't get her way she throws a full blown temper tantrum, or even yells I HATE YOU!, but he best yet with her is the gagging herself to throw up to make you feel sorry for her and think that she is sick.

I have had a very easy time so far, oh yes indeed. But I am trying to make it work. I am having to adjust just like everyone else in this house, and maybe eventually I'll figure it out. But of course by the time that happens they will (hopefully) be back with their father.

Just wanted to share with all the moms out there

Dear Santa, I've been a good mom all year. I've fed, cleaned and cuddled my children on demand, visited the doctor's office more than my doctor, sold sixty-two cases of candy bars to raise money to plant a shade tree on the school playground. I was hoping you could spread my list out over several Christmases, since I had to write this letter with my son's red crayon, on the back of a receipt in the laundry room between cycles, and who knows when I'll find anymore free time in the next 18 years.

Here are my Christmas wishes:

I'd like a pair of legs that don't ache (in any color,except purple,which I already have) and arms that don't hurt or flap in the breeze; but are strong enough to pull my screaming child out of the candy aisle in the grocery store. I'd also like a waist, since I lost mine somewhere in the seventh month of my last pregnancy.

If you're hauling big ticket items this year I'd like fingerprint resistant windows and a radio that only plays adult music; a television that doesn't broadcast any programs containing talking animals; and a refrigerator with a secret compartment behind the crisper where I can hide to talk on the phone.

On the practical side, I could use a talking doll that says, "Yes, Mommy"to boost my parental confidence, along with two kids who don't fight and three pairs of jeans that will zip all the way up without the use of power tools. I could also use a recording of Tibetan monks chanting "Don't eat in the living room" and "Take your hands off your brother ,"because my voice seems to be just out of my children's hearing range and can only be heard by the dog.

If it's too late to find any of these products, I'd settle for enough time to brush my teeth and comb my hair in the same morning, or the luxury of eating food warmer than room temperature without it being served in a Styrofoam container.

If you don't mind, I could also use a few Christmas miracles to brighten the holiday season. Would it be too much trouble to declare ketchup a vegetable? It will clear my conscience immensely. It would be helpful if you could coerce my children to help around the house without demanding payment as if they were the bosses of an organized crime family.

Well, Santa, the buzzer on the dryer is ringing and my son saw my feet under the laundry room door. I think he wants his crayon back. Have a safe trip and remember to leave your wet boots by the door and come in and dry off so you don't catch cold. Help yourself to cookies on the table but don't eat too many or leave crumbs on the carpet.

Yours Always, MOM...!

P.S. One more thing...you can cancel all my requests if you can keep my children young enough to believe in Santa.

*Santa has asked that this gets passed on to all the mommies you know

The Joys of TRUE Motherhood

We had some excitement here recently. My daughter was in a ballet recital. That in and of itself was a wonderful experience for her and for me. However the reality of a recital is gruesome. We had a rehearsal the night before the recital, which began at four o'clock. We did not leave the rehearsal until eight thirty that night.

The next morning I had to get up early to get everything ready to go. I had to do make-up and hair, that only took oh three hours to complete. Then we had to leave in a hurry to get to the recital on time. We had to be there an hour and half before it even started. So that was at 12:30. We were doing okay until I realized how far apart my daughters acts were spread throughout the recital. (By the way she had three.) So with first act complete, it was immediate wardrobe change for the second, then hurry back to backstage for her to get ready. Then it was almost an hour before she had to go again. All this wouldn't be so bad but my daughter is five and by the third act she was tired and cranky and didn't want to do it anymore. The first recital was at two, we had another show at six. So in between we grab a bite to eat and then do it all over again, with the addition of a slide shown and award ceremony at the end of the second show. We didn't leave until almost 11 o'clock. Almost twelve hours and me, my husband and my daughter were about done in. I felt like I had run a marathon.

But when it's all said and done, I know that it was a good experience for her and for me.

Now onto gymnastics while we have our summer break from dance............I guess we will see how it goes.

Pictures Of My Babies

Only Nine We Lost One!:(

The wonders of motherhood

Hey everyone guess what. I have nine brand new babies in my home! Oh and by the way they are puppies. My baby Abby has had puppies again. Four chocolate and six yellow/white. This time I am determined to keep one. A pretty chocolate female. The rest I am sad to say I have to sell, mama wants a new car. I guess I just thought I'd post and tell. I'll try to get some pics on soon. See ya later.

Birthday Babies

------------------APRIL BABY -------------------
Suave and compromising. Funny and humorous. Stubborn. Very talkative. Calm and cool. Kind andSympathetic. Concerned and detailed. Loyal. DoesWork well with others. Very confident. Sensitive.Positive Attitude. Thinking generous. Good Memory. Clever and knowledgeable. Loves to look For information. Able to cheer everyone up and/orMake them laugh. Able to motivate oneself andOthers. Understanding. Fun to be around.Outgoing. Hyper. Bubbly personality. Secretive. Boy/girl crazy. Loves sports, music, leisure and Travelling. Systematic. Hot but has brains. If youRepost this in 5 mins, a Cutie that's caught your eyeWill introduce themselves and you will realize thatYou are very much alike in the next 2 day S.

The Mommy Test

I was out walking with my 4-year-old daughter. She picked up something off the ground and started to put it in her mouth. I took the item away from her and I asked her not to do that.

"Why?" my daughter asked."Because it's been on the ground, you don't know where it's been, it's dirty and probably has germs" I replied.

At this point, my daughter looked at me with total admiration and asked, "Mommy, how do you know all this stuff? You are so smart."I was thinking quickly. "All moms know this stuff. It's on the Mommy Test. You have to know it, or they don't let you be a Mommy."

We walked along in silence for 2 or 3 minutes, but she was evidently pondering this new information.

"OH...I get it!" she beamed, "So if you don't pass the test, you have to be the daddy." "Exactly" I replied back with a big smile on my face.


My own mother sent this to me. I thought it was to cute not to share with the other mothers out there.

Hope everyone one of you has a great day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Construction Zone

My house has once again turned into a construction zone. Not that I mind really, I guess it's for a greater good. Since we have moved into this house we have changed a lot of things about it. Built new walls, put in new flooring (more than once), painted the walls (more than once, but only cause we didn't like the color once it was on the walls) and now we are in the process of putting new doors in. I think that the doors are going to look great but it is a lot of work just getting prepared to put them in. You have to rip out all of the old doors and live without them for a few days. Because putting new doors in is not done in a day. My hubby does this everyday at work and he says you have to set them, then paint them, then rehang them and make sure everything is lined up just right so that they close the way they are supposed to. Well I don't know that much about it so I guess I will leave the technical stuff up to him and get out my paint brush.
I will have to figure out how to post pics to the blog so that I can show the finished product.

I guess that will be all for now. I have places to go, things to do and a daughter to see.

Family Woes

I need to vent for a little while because there are things going on in my life that just make me angry. I am married and have a daughter and my life itself is okay, but I live right next door to my in laws and their problems have become my problems and it is driving me nuts. I have a mother in law who is pretty okay but she can't seem to make any decisions on her own and she is constantly asking my husband to do things to help her. Not that I mind that, by itself. But then I have a brother in law who has a wacky messed up life and it seems little brother is the only one who can fix it for him. Not to mention that he seems to think that I have no life of my own and has absolutely no respect for women in general. Then I have another brother in law who is constantly trying to get big brother involved in his schemes and trying to get him to help with things I could do (even though I'm a girl(stereotype)) like changing his oil or putting new spark plugs in his truck. I mean come on is it really that hard or is he really that lazy. Then on to the next brother in law, this is really the beginning of my problems, not that every thing else doesn't matter, but then this is just icing on the cake for me. My brother in law is rude, there is no nicer way to put it. For starters he will call at dawn to try to get my husband to do something for him, I mean come on people are asleep here and we have already had to talk to him about this, but he still insist on doing it. Then he has no life, I swear he doesn't. He just quit school (he's in 11th grade) so he sits at home all day then goes to work to work from 3:00-5:30. 2 1/2 hours. If you are going to quit school get a real job. Then he will come home from school and for some awful reason feels the need to sit at my house til 10:00-11:00 at night. I have a life I have a family. My daughter has to get in bed at a reasonable hour not stay up all hours of the night. Plus he doesn't leave at all during this time. I don't like to be rude but when I'm hungry I'm ready to eat so I just end up being rude because he will stand right in the door way of the kitchen and watch us eat. Then we have certain T.V. shows that we like to watch and he will sit and watch them with us, which is okay, until he starts talking while the show is on, not during commercials, but actually during the show. I know its probably mean , but I will sit on the couch and as he is talking I will steadily turn the volume up until he gets the hint or until I drown him out. Now for my biggest grievance with him. I know that most of the time I am a softy, and most of the time I am okay with that, but it just really upsets me to even think that somebody might be taking advantage of me. I only have one vehicle and the way my husband works most of the time it is at my disposal. But the other day my brother in law was having problems with his P.O.S. vehicle and he came to me to ask me for a ride to work. Well it just so happens that this week my hubby has been driving to work and when I told him that no I couldn't he started trying to curse me out and to curse my husband out. Now I don't put up with being disrespected in my own home and I almost jumped on him and told him exactly how I feel. The only thing that stopped me was my daughter. I don't know how it is my fault that he doesn't have a ride to work or with the way I am beginning to feel how it is my problem. I am not his mother and he is not my responsibility. I know that probably sounds harsh but I have my own family and my own problems. I don't like having to cart everyone every where just because I don't work. Which brings me to my sister in law (the one and only). She is still in school and she is doing really well. She is involved in all kinds of extra curricular activities. But she is constantly asking to use the computer (They don't have one) and typing papers on it. I don't mind really I don't but it has become an all the time thing. Once or twice a week. I don't remember writing that many papers in school. I wouldn't mind so much if it wasn't all the time, but I do care that she seems to forever be using the computer and PRINTING those papers out. I am not an ink factory and for those of you who have a computer you will understand that printer ink cost the earth for just one tiny little cartridge. I don't want to be mean but I just can't stand that my ink cartridge is empty and I am not printing anything on it. Then she asks me to pick her up from school. Again I am not a taxi. I don't mind every once in a while, but it is an all the time thing. I am not your Mother. I don't think that you should let your kids be involved in any extra curricular activities if you as a parent can not handle toting them to and from these activities. My mom did so why does it seem no one else can. I know that this just seems like a lot of complaining, but I can't help it. I can only deal with so much of everyone else's life before I blow up because I haven't dealt with my own. I thought maybe this would help ease the frustration.

I would really like to know what anybody else thinks about these issues and maybe if you are going through anything similar you can enlighten me on how you deal with it. So post a comment let me know if I am just being Nasty or if I am in the right with how I feel.

It's a New Year and A New Generation

It's been a while since I have posted anything, but so much has been going on. Christmas came and went in a flurry of presents, squeals of delight, and the inevitable family argument. New Years came and went with a good friends fortieth birthday party. So much black it was scary. Now it seems that my little girl has grown over night. My daughter is five years old now and I have to sit back and wonder where did time go. Wasn't she just born yesterday? She is a totally independent little person. It seems she dosen't depend on me as much as she used to. No more crying in the night for mom. No more cuddling with mom, no more does she need me to do every little thing for her. My daughter has become her own person in the blink of an eye. Where did the time go? She will be starting school in August of this year and I know it will probably be more difficult for me then it will her. She will make her own friends, her own intrest, her own world. I think it will make me cry. But you know what I can still remember my school years, suprisingly enough. I can remember my mom being there even when it seemed I didn't need her always standing just in the background waiting until I called. Being at all kinds of school functions, field trips and carting me to many, many, many vollyball and basketball games. She was always there just in the background cheering me on, just waiting for me to call. I want to be that kind of person, I want to be that kind of mom. I want to be able to take a step back and just be there when she needs me. I want to be able to let her go and create her own place in the world. I don't want to constanly wonder if she will be okay or if she is strong enough or smart enough to do it on her own. I just want to be there waiting for when she calls.

I know it is probably a little soon to worry about these sorts of things, but then again she did turn five over night, next time I blink she might be sixteen ;). Scary thought!

That's all for now, time to go. I think I hear my daughter calling.