7 Random Things About Me

I have been tagged by wait another year, and asked to write 7 random things about myself.

Here goes.

1. I have lived in California twice. My mom's family moved there was one reason, and my dad was offered a job was the other. It's where I started Kindergarten and then Junior High.
2. Due to those moves, I was in three different kindergarten classes, two junior highs and two high schools.
3. Even though I have moved often, I am still a reserved person. Once I get to know you, though, I will talk your ears off!
4. I LOVE home remodels! I have only one room to go!
5. The first thing I thought about Hubby when we met was that he had beautiful blue eyes. Then he started talking. That led to the second thing I liked about Hubby. I thought 'He has a career. And money.' (He knows this.) My 2+ year relationship had just broken up, so I came up with 'criteria' for the next guy I dated. He had to be at least 3 years older than me, education equal to or more than me, have a career, and have blue eyes (I have brown and just love blue eyes!) I know this all sounds snooty, but I had been in multiple relationships where I was older and felt like I had to make all the decisions about things. In both of my 2+ year relationships, the men and I had different interests. We were just different people. Both guys and I believed it was because we had different backgrounds. Gosh, it still sounds snooty!
6. For most of my life I never imagined being a SAHM. When I was in my sophomore year of college, I believe I uttered these words. "Why go to college if all you're going to do is stay home. Hear me laugh now about the 'all' part. In my defense, my mom was a working mom. Part-time and then Full-time when we got older, so I just expected that I would do the same.
7. I do worry that my kids may become my life. That after they grow up I won't know what to do with myself. I worry about not being able to get back in the workforce. And I especially don't want to be like a few of my mom's friends who were SAHMs. Their lives were their kids, so when the kids grew up and had children of their own, they babysat them. Also, one in particular defined herself by kids. If one got a better grade, we had to hear about it. If they got something nice, like a pool, we had to hear about it. Everything of theirs was always better. They always were competing to be the best. I just wanted to be me, so this made me not want to be friends with their daughter.

I Had To Post This; Will Post Tag Next Time I Promise

Place: Psychiatrist's Office

Me: (as my son keeps opening the door) Stop opening and closing the door! You're driving everyone nuts!

Katie

I'll get to my 'tag' the next time I post.

It Always Happens That Way, Doesn't it?

After dropping S. off at kinder., I went to pick up one of Tot's asthma meds. I had to go in the freakin' Wal*reen's because my husband's company has decided to switch the part of the insurance that deals with the prescriptions. Don't get me started on them...Serenity now, Serenity now... Anyway, as I was leaving I saw a woman who looked familiar. It only took me a second to figure out who she was. (That's good these days!) So I tentatively said to her, "Mary???" She turned around and said the same to me. I then remembered that I didn't have any makeup on except powder and lip gloss. Let's just say last night our house became the house of puke and diarrhea, but that's another story.

Now I haven't seen Mary since we were about 19 or 20. We went to junior high and part of high school together. She was the crazy fun one of the group. Jeez, memories of swimming in her pool, movies, etc. etc. As I left, I realized just how weird it is to see people I used to know so well, and haven't seen in over 10+ years. That's another story for another time, though. Let me get back my point It just always seems that I meet someone when I look my worst. I think all you moms out there can empathize with me when I say after a night of vomit and a morning of minor diarrhea, I didn't look my best. Why do I never meet someone when I'm wearing a good outfit and my make up is on. Or when my hair is not sticking up? I'm sure if she meets one of the friends we shared, she'll say,"Jeez, FT didn't age well." Lovely.

Cold/Warm

I walked my son to the bus stop and thought it felt warm. The temperature is a mere 26 degrees. It's crazy to think 26 degrees is warm! Oh, and the sun is out. Bonus! I always feel better when the sun is out. This is what the winter is like in the Midwest!

My New Love

Any of you who are living in the mid-west, Canada too, know how cold and snowy it has been. For example, I don't have to do cardio. at the gym anymore, all I have to do is use the snow blower and shovel. And if you think that couldn't possibly be enough exercise, then you live in one of those 'warm places', where if you receive a dusting of snow it goes down in the record books.

Because of all of this weather, I hate grocery shopping even more than usual. And I HATE grocery shopping. I loathe it. If I could figure out some way to avoid it I would. Enter Life According to Jim. I watch re-runs of it on WGN at 11:00PM. Last week I watched one in which Cheryl, his wife, had their groceries delivered at the delivery charge of only $7.00. That got me thinking. How could I do something like that? Then I had an epiphany. Is Pe*pod still in business? I went online, and lo and behold, they are! I was so excited. (See kids how much fun it is to be an adult!)

I then had to think of a way to get Hubby to agree. His first question was,"How much is this going to cost?" I told him $6.95 for the first delivery, and $0 for the next 60 days. He couldn't believe how cheap it is. They even sell the Oberweis milk that we have delivered, no hormones, antibiotics, and in cold glass-Yum!) I am cancelling that service, so now we are actually coming out ahead. For those of you who like organic products, they have those too. Can you hear the excitement in my words? All I have to do is use my computer, click on the foods I want, and then SOMEONE ELSE SHOPS FOR ME, and delivers it to my door. No carts that have wheels all screwed up. No crabby people. No one banging into my cart or vice-versa. No long lines. No sweating because I had to bundle up to go outside, and the store is so warm inside.

I may only keep the service until the nice weather comes back. Yeah, that ain't looking too good! For now, I will keep assessing how cost effective it is. I love you Pe*pod, and hope to keep loving you for a very long time.

I Couldn't Make This Shit Up If I Tried

A week or so before Christmas, Hubby and our brood were at church on Sunday. I had a few things to do after the service, so there were only a handful of people still around. One of them was our pastor. Our pastor, PT, motions for the Hubster to come into his office. For the life of me, I couldn't figure out why. I took the kids down to one of the kids' rooms while they talked. Finally, the natives were getting restless, so I walked them back to PT's office. Hubster walked out with us, as they had just finished talking.

He told me that we'd talk about it later. The kids were in the car with us, and we don't like them to hear certain things. Later that night, Hubster told me that my ILs have apparently been sending him letters every so often, and they had just sent him a new one. Now my ILs do not like our church one bit, and the only time they ever talked to our pastor was when all of the shit was going on between us, and they wanted him to talk to us. To get us to realize the error of our ways. Can you say manipulation???

I had assumed from that time til' now that they had given up. Since they moved down south, watch me do my happy dance!, and the cousins that live here won't get involved, the only person they have that could possibly tell us the error of our ways would be our pastor. Can you believe that now they are using a man of God? And I mean use. They care not one iota about that man. They just want to use him to get to us. How pathetic is that? It has been three years since that fateful day whereupon they demanded to see 'their' grandchildren'. I kid you not. My FIL expected just to push his way into our house. Lovely, eh? They showed their true colors, and scared S. because he could hear Hubby's dad yell at me. For the next week S. was acting out. So MIL and FIL get over it. You screwed up big time. Don't use my pastor or my boys. EVER.

Right before Thanksgiving, Husband's sister did tell us that his parents wanted to see the boys. That we had said after a period of time went by that we'd let them see the boys. What their selective memory doesn't remember was that was only going to happen when/if our relationship was salvaged. And yes, we had assumed some part of the relationship could be salvaged until that fateful day. Hubby simply responded they can't see our kids if we, the parents of said kids, aren't having a relationship with his parents. I mean how confusing would that be. Besides we simply don't trust them with the boys. They have taken S. places that we specifically told them not to take him. There are other examples, but I'll leave it at that.

So there you go. Can anyone imagine just why we don't have a relationship with them? This whole episode with our pastor reiterates who they really are. Master manipulators who will do anything to get what they want. How sad is that.

Feeling Like a Fool

Yesterday night, as I was driving my kids down the usual two-lane highway by our house, I saw flashing lights. No, I didn't hear anything because, apparently, my radio was too loud. Yes, I know that's a big no-no, but the kids were driving me nuts, and I...I just love listening to music. I mean when we bought our van, the thing that made me all giddy with excitement was having the control to the radio on the steering wheel. I thought it was the best thing to happen to me with the exception of getting pregnant with the reason why we bought the van in the first place. Back to the the story. I immediately pulled over, because hey, that is what I was told to do in my driving class from umpteen years ago. Guys, as I saw the vehicle come near me, I realized it was only a snow plow and not an ambulance. I felt like the biggest idiot! I also was incredibly lucky that I didn't get hit.

The night didn't end on that awful moment. Remember I was summoned to jury duty as a standby? Well, I had to call to see if I had to report to the courthouse. I prayed that I didn't because I had absolutely no one who could watch my kids. Well, God answered my prayers because only people whose last names began with the letter F through the letter H were called. I don't even have to call again today. What a relief!

The one thing that bothered me was I couldn't understand what the pre-recorded message said. I couldn't hear it. It was not clear, so I had to have hubby call back to confirm that I didn't have to go.

The lesson I learned from both of these incidents is: number one turn the radio down in the car, and number two turn down the volume on my iPod. I really think most of my hearing loss has come from working out with the iPod being too loud. At times, I feel about 80 years old! ( It is really pretty though, isn't it?)

Another Post About Winter...Sorry!

I just shoveled our driveway. Our driveway is incredibly steep, so if there is any snow or ice on the ground we can't get our cars back in. Today the snow wasn't enough to use the snowblower, but enough that it needed to be removed. On the bright side, I am sure that I've reached my cardio goal for the day! I'm trying to think positive!

My Blogger Anniversary

I cannot believe that I have been blogging for four years already! Read http://finallygettingsomewhere.blogspot.com/2005/01/i-am-so-happy-holidays-are-over.html to where it all began. There are a lot of things that I had forgotten about, so a trip down memory lane was nice. Yesterday I took the boys to a crafting morning at our church. They, mainly S.,
needed to get out of the house! I also needed to, and was able to talk with some friends. Of course, we got interrupted by each of our children, which is really annoying, but it was fun nonetheless. At noon, we each had our 'cup' ready to toast the new year. Yes, it was only 12PM our time, but we were going by Hong Kong's official New Year. Last night we went to my brother and SIL's house for dinner, etc. We got home close to midnight, so the boys went to bed very late, and were total bears this morning! They are presently napping. It better be for a long time. I can't stand when my kids are whiny and defiant. At any rate, Happy New Year to you all!!!