Apparently, there is always hope.

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My son kind of lives in the back of the house while I live in the front.  He can come to the front of the house and spend time with me anytime he likes, but he is always incredibly involved in .. er.. something or other back there.

In the past people may have heard me say - no one will know if I die because God knows Andy will never notice if I don't come out of my room.  It's not that he'll think I'm sleeping, or that I have a day off work .. he just won't think about it.

On Monday I stayed home from work and spent most of the day in bed.  Thought I was working on birthing another kidney stone but it ended up okay.  Since there was pain involved I was only sleeping some of the time and at some point I heard Andy coming toward my room.  I opened my eyes and said "Hi Honey, what's up?" 

This is where it gets really strange.  He said he noticed my car, that I hadn't gone to work, and he was just checking ...
Do you hear the angels singing???  AH-H-H-H-H-H-H ......



My sleep might be a little more peaceful from now on.
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Best note ever!!

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*For those who don't know, Riley is the cat, Dani is the daughter.
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Okay, call me a sap.

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I feel bad after watching Jon & Kate Plus 8. It was so obvious how far apart Jon and Kate are, for whatever reason. It seems what it comes down to is Kate wants to continue the show because it provides for the family. And Jon on the other hand, doesn't want to do it anymore because he doesn't like the stuff attached to becoming a celebrity.

It's sad to see any family break apart and I hope this one isn't heading there - as much as it looks like it. I don't know if Jon is having an affair, not my business. Or Kate - with her bodyguard? Puh-lease. I am not privy to whether or not Kate has gone from "Mom to Monster" as some of the tabloids are reporting. I just know I was sucked in when the show started, I love watching the kids - all 8 of them, and how their parents handle life with all that entails. I don't want to see it all fall apart.


I just keep remembering the evening my ex and I sat our kids down to tell them we were getting a divorce. I still count it as one of the worst, if not THE worst day of my life. That's where my feelings lie regarding this family. I hope they don't end up there. Sad.

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Oops - forgot a title even. I'm seeing a pattern . .

So I never did remember whatever it was I was going to write about the other day. No clue. Don't you just love it when that happens?

It might have had something to do with Christmas though. Every year I ask my kids for Christmas lists. I need help and figure their suggestions are better than anyone else's. But they aren't giving me their lists this year. I know they are 22 and 24 years old but my gosh! What am I supposed to do without those ideas? I might have to give my daughter some Polly Pockets, she did love those once upon a time. And I could get some Legos for my son except I don't think we ever got rid of the ones he had when he was little. Maybe I'll just get them from the garage and clean them up. It would serve both of them right.

Actually Andy did tell me one thing he would like. ONE. And this is from the kid who used to give me a 2 page single-spaced typed list of CDs and DVDs he wanted. But I suppose with all the new forms of media out there - he may not want that stuff anymore.

And my daughter? Dani hemmed and hawed and finally said "I don't really have any . . . wants . . . right now I guess." WHAT????

So I started my shopping today, and I made a dent in it - without the lists. Hear that Dani? It really WILL be a surprise this year! I do most - if not all my shopping online so I'm usually done earlier than other people and I love that part. I get the stressful part out of the way so I can enjoy the season and the decorations and all that goes with it - in peace. Theoretically anyway.

And I keep lists of everything I buy all the way down to the stocking stuffers because with the proven faultiness of my memory - I'm sure I would forget something I bought and it would never make it under the tree. And that would stress me out.

I'm all for a peaceful Christmas season, and it's coming fast. Amazing, isn't it? This year has gone by faster than any I have ever experienced. Weird how that works. Hope it's not just that I've forgotten big chunks of it!!

Over. It has to be over.

I am convinced that every single time my son changes the toilet paper roll he puts it on with the paper going under instead of over, not because he likes it that way, or because he doesn't know I like it the other way. I believe he does it for the simple amusement of knowing that every single time he puts it on the wrong way, the next time I am in there, I will turn it around.

Just amazing.

I follow all the blogs I do using Google reader. I don't usually read them right there, but if it says there are 42 posts to read, I don't go looking for 43 and 44. So it was with great surprise that I scrolled down to the bottom of my list of blogs last night, and discovered I had somehow managed to put a bunch of them into a folder! ??? I have no idea how.

But that is why Stimey had to email me to tell me I had won a Stimey luggage tag in her give-away - YAY ME!! - and why it is only tonight that I am commenting on some posts from Wednesday. How do I do things like that and not know it?

And the choice of blogs that were in the folder didn't even make sense. They didn't all fit into one category or anything. I had to drag them out of the folder and back up into the regular list which apparently doesn't alphabetize on it's own and now they are all out of order. I amaze me sometimes.

For the most part though, it's been a good week. Several people out on vacation at work so things were super busy which is always better than super slow. Plus I had a few issues I was able to resolve which not only made me feel good - it made me look good too. Always a good combination on the job.

Tired though, but it's a good kind of tired. Feel like I've accomplished things, and I rewarded myself with a mini-nap after work today. I managed about a half hour nap after finding a comfortable position on the couch, letting the cats sort things out while they jockeyed for position and finding something on TV I could sleep to. Nice. Just long enough to feel refreshed but not so long that I can't sleep tonight.

If you've gotten this far I'm sure you've realized absolutely nothing is going on here. At least with me. My daughter's boyfriend will be coming for the weekend but they can't stay here because he is allergic to cats. I am not offended by this - he can't help it. It's fine. Allergic I can handle - I would much rather he was allergic than be someone who feels the need to stomp their feet or throw their hats at my animals. That's weak. But when your body tells you you can't be near something - you have to pay attention. So I won't be seeing much of Dani this weekend.

Andy either actually, he's at Lollapalooza tonight, tomorrow, and Sunday. He'll be home to sleep and shower and that's about it. He'll be home after I go to bed tonight and up before I wake up in the morning. I probably won't even see his wristband run by. That boy does love an event.

So here's to hoping I won't totally sit on my butt this weekend and do nothing, because God knows - there are always things to get done around here!

Fabulous, I tell you!

Yesterday my son and I spent 5 hours on the road driving to my daughter’s university to see her performing in The Vagina Monologues. 3 of those hours we spent listening to coverage of the shooting at Northern Illinois University. Did I mention I live in Illinois? And my daughter goes to school at an Illinois state university? Yeah. Not that one. But it makes you incredibly aware of how little control you have once your children are out of your sight.

The play was wonderful, very funny, very poignant and meaningful. Dani did a monologue about pubic hair, oh I’m so proud. :) And I am. She was very good; she was funny and has such a flair for the dramatic. Her 2^nd monologue was done as a 6-year old girl whom of course I found quite adorable seeing as I remember her at that age myself. Up on stage perched on a stool, swiveling and kicking her feet she was the picture of sweet innocence. Did I mention that her performance was fabulous? No? Well let me tell you, she was fabulous!

The sobering part of the evening was Dani’s boyfriend Tony telling us that one of the students shot at NIU earlier in the day is a young guy who lives just down the street from him at home. He was hit with shotgun pellets while trying to shield his girlfriend. He was treated and released but will have to have the pellets removed at a later date.

Dani had some frantic moments earlier in the day trying to find out if one of her close friends who attends NIU was okay, finally reactivating her own Facebook account to see if she could find news about her friend. She was relieved to discover he was fine.

When Andy and I arrived we went to the theater with Tony and settled into our seats. Looking up at the stage there was a black curtain behind the performers during the play and it was difficult not to picture someone stepping out from behind that curtain to confront those on the stage and in the audience. For the most part I was able to concentrate on the play in front of me but I will admit to feeling a bit unnerved by the comparison.

So very sad.

It was over all too soon and Andy and I needed to turn around and drive 5 hours back home. And listen to 5 more hours of coverage of the NIU shooting.

There was something surreal about seeing my daughter onstage, enjoying ourselves and laughing, sandwiched between the sad events of the day. Did I mention Dani was fabulous? Yeah, she was. Andy too. He spent 10 hours in the car with me to spend 3 hours with his sister. I love my kids and what happened yesterday was one of those reminders to hold them both a little closer, to enjoy them, and to appreciate them for who they are.

And they are fabulous!

Worst Mom EVER.

Stimey had an incident yesterday that left her feeling a bit bruised and battered in the parenting sense, and I know we’ve all had things happen that made us feel less than the perfect Mrs. Brady. And the ones who think they are the perfect Mrs. Brady? They’re kidding themselves.

We do the best job we can as parents but kids don’t come with a manual and we make mistakes. Things happen when we’re tired and overwhelmed but for the most part we don’t damage our kids. They are resilient and generally grow up just fine in spite of our blunders.

The good far outweighs the bad and we forgive ourselves for our missteps because we are human. Then because we blog, we tell our stories and we laugh because the kids are wonderful in spite of the things we do sometimes.

When my son Andy was in 5^th grade we got a note from his school saying he had failed the eye test. Really? Not a big deal, he’s probably having a little trouble seeing the board in class. We took him to the eye doctor for a complete exam and sure enough, he needed glasses.

Andy always sat close to the TV but I thought it was a kid thing; don’t all kids want to practically press their noses against the screen? When he held a book he held it up and in front of his face instead of looking down at it in a relaxed fashion like most kids do. I thought that was a quirk carried over from when he was a toddler. He learned to read at 2 and a half and I figured the way he held a book was simply a habit from early on that just “stuck”. I really didn’t think too much of it.

When they were ready we took Andy to get his glasses. It seemed so uneventful. Andy was not a kid to make a big deal out of many things. He let the technician check to make sure the glasses fit well, answered her questions about how well he could see, and waited quietly while she made a few adjustments and we were on our way. Again, no big deal.

In the car on the way home Andy started reading every single thing he could see through the car window. His voice was getting higher pitched and louder and frankly it was getting a bit annoying. I was about to ask him to ‘knock it off’ – but before I had the chance - in a voice filled with excitement and awe he asked “WOW. Does EVERYBODY see like this?!!???”

Okay? Worst Mom ever.

So what have you done that made you feel like the worst parent in the world?

More snow

The snow we were supposed to get last night, is coming down now. I could probably get to work, but coming home would be as long as my work day I think. I've been looking for more pictures of that 1967 snowstorm and they are surprisingly hard to find! But I did find this. It would be nice if it had some sound with it, but really - the pictures tell the story. 1967, some super 8 home movies. The cars were pretty cool back then, what you can see anyway! I tried to embed that video but could not do it to save my life. Still, take a peek!

Here are a few more pics I was able to find.

The snow drifts were huge

A little blurry but you know these kids were having fun!

I love the walk to the house, the snow is piled as high as the kids!

Hopefully I can get some pictures of our current snowfall, sometime during the day.