ahhh, the van is back at home

755

755

755

that's how many dollars I just had to pay to spring my piece of crap family mobile out of the shop.
but, it's Friday. I have a vehicle again. long weekend. the man has Monday off with us.

going to my happy place. it better have alcohol in it.
oh, look...it does have alcohol and the man and I are there together.....

shhhh.....I'm whispering

I am so so so so glad that Hurricane Gustav is not heading towards Florida.
sorry New Orleans people....


and...I spoke too soon. this cone looks very much like it is heading to Florida, right? its' name will be Hanna.

well fuck me(excuse the language)

the van is paid off. what happens? I now am without a vehicle because yesterday on my way to work, I noticed the brakes were making a hissing noise and were not braking as quickly as they were before. so, I get the receptionist to follow me at lunch to drop off the van at the place where I just got a complete brake job done a year ago and is still under warranty. she drove me back to work.

a few hours later, I get a chance to call and check on the van.....
diagnosis= the problem is not covered under the warranty because my brakes are absolutely fine. the power brake system in the van is about to completely fall apart and it is so bad that they cannot release the vehicle to me because they took it all apart to see what was happening, and a part that they took out is disenigrating and they do not have a new part to replace it with, so basically, I'm screwed.
and how much will this cost? about $600. lovely.

I'm so glad I don't have a car payment to make anymore. I'd much rather pay it to Goodyear. it's so much more...fun. fun to know that I own a piece of crap vehicle that could have killed me and my children at any given point.

so, car should be ready on Friday. now I just need to come up with $600 by Friday to be able to pick up the piece of crap car. I guess it's a good thing I went back to work. although, I had thoughts of buyign a new car with my extra income, one that gets better gas mileage and is a bit smaller. I had no idea I would be paying to keep the van all in 1 piece first before i could even save some money for a new car.

silly me. I thought this would be easy. hahahahahahaha. wth was I thinking?

well, today had to have some sort of entertainment

didn't I just write saying that I got so much accomplished today? did you hear the "dum da dum dum dummmmm" like I did after publishing that?

so it got really quiet. too quiet. and then I heard the laughter. I followed the little sweet sound to my bathroom.

my baby was standing in the toilet. marching. splashing water ALL OVER THE BATHROOM. watching himself in the mirror, very pleased with this new trick.

and yes, the toilet was clean. and now the whole bathroom gets to cleaned again, and he is getting a tubby.

who knew a toilet could be such a source of entertainment?

ahhh, school IS IN!

wow, I have gotten so much accomplished today. the older 2 are at school and are riding the bus home, so I have some free time. free time. what a concept.
yesterday was spent at a bridal boutique. a poshy, friffy froo froo bridal boutique. and no, I am not getting married. my sister is getting married(for the 3rd time)and is having an all out wedding bash. so, I was able to drop the boys off with an uncle and a nephew and I took my daughter to go shopping. I am a bridesmaid and she is the flowergirl. she wasn't really all that pleased with the idea of looking at dresses at first. then, when she saw the racks of frilly, swirly, fluffy dresses in her size, she quickly made the turn to frantic "oooh, I like this one!", ""ooohhh, look at this one!", "wow...this one is soooooo Cinderellery". yes, she made up that word. also, the promise of a new WebKinz worked wonders. so, we all chose dresses and they will all be in the same color. the bride chose a flowergirl dress, but I had them hold off on ordering it. $150 for a little girl dress was a bit much, I thought. (and, lucky I did...I found one today for $30 that comes with a matching headpiece/tiarra! woohooooo! this Momma loves a bargain!)
and now we're at today, Monday. my daughter was very easy to get up this morning. surprisingly so. you know those moments when your child is really easygoing and quick to do exactly what you ask of them and you end up looking at them with a farawy look in your eyes as if you're thinking, "is this really my child? did the bodysnatchers make an appearance last night while she slept???". anyways, she got right up and ate breakfast and was sitting on the couch, fully dressed by the time my older son got up. he is what we call, "morning challenged". he is so going to be a coffee drinker one day. he needs to roll around and stretch and grumble. a lot. once he is awake, he's generally a pretty pleasant kid. at what age would introducing coffee be acceptable to speed the pleasantness along?

well well well...I do live in the Sunshine State!

oh my...my eyes.....it burns, I'm squinting. oh my Lord! the sun is out!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

yes, it appears TS Fay has moved westward and Central FL is now not getting dumped on by horrendous amounts of rain anymore. at least for now. it is still smack dab in the middle of hurricane season. and hey, the weathermen thought it would be hilarious to actually SHOW us that there are like, 2 more systems forming right now in the Atlantic Ocean.
those guys...they are really precious.

I got off pretty easy. we lost some limbs off of our maple trees. we have a ton of small branches and oak leaves all over the yard. also, some of my neighbor's have magnolia trees, and we appear to have part of their trees in our yard, too. I have already gone out and sprayed down the front and back porches and set up the patio table again.
we will be outside at some point today. it is a bit on the soggy side right now, but the sun is out and I have faith that the children will have outdoors time today. and Momma, too. I'm looking pale and frazzled. that is what a storm that keeps you cooped up in your house for days on end does to us Mommas.


and, just an update on the book....I am working on it. not a lot was done this week, as the kids were here and I cannot just sit and type a novel with 3 children asking me questions about barometric pressure and sinkholes and what was the first type of dinosaur that Jesus made.(yeah...try explaining that) and yet, kids are easy in that if you have a serious face and hold in the giggles and sighs, they will believe anything you tell them.
and the first dinosaur was the Adamasaurus, in case you were wondering;)

and it is still raining

hello from soggy Mommaland. yes, it is still raining. a lot. I went outside for a very quick tree limb pick-up and swept off the front porch. mustn't have the neighbors thinking I don't keep the house tidy during a tropical storm ;) and then, the rain started pelting me sideways and so I came back inside. to my hyper children who have been cooped up in the house with me for too many days. you know it's bad when they are fighting over a firetruck that sings. the 5 and the 8 year old were the ones fighting. the baby was sitting there, looking at his firetruck with an expression of "wtf? that is MINE" on his little face. Momma intervened and got the annoying thing away from the big kids and gave it back to the baby. however, this thing maybe just get "lost" when he takes his nap.

"Here I come, zooming down the street
with my lights a flashing and my tires squeak.
I'm cute but tough
I'm a rescue truck
I'm coming your way so don't give up."

do you feel my pain yet?

yes, the storm is STILL here

it's Thursday and it is still raining. actually, today we actually had tropical storm force winds and sideways rain...and school. so for two days the kids were home in cloudy, off and on rainy weather and today they got on the school bus in a monsoon. I kept watching for a news update, sure that they would be cancelling school. nope, the little ones are back in school.
I realize the school system cannot foresee the weather conditions. I realize they have to make a decision in enough time to post that decision and for the parents to get everything scheduled. however, having 3 children and a dog inside the house for 3+ days and no playing outside for longer than a 10-15 minute stretch is enough to drive a Momma insane. I seriously do not know how Moms who live in snow/blizzard country deal with this. perhaps that is what the basements are for..."Momma's quiet room", with padded walls and alcohol.

a huge public thank you to Holly!

she is the creator behind my new logo up there! I love her:)

Tropical Rainy Day called Fay

so, no school today. we all pretty much expected this. the weathermen were predicting winds of 40 mph or so and lots of rain. we had enough wind to fly a kite and enough rain to wet the garden well. and that was it.

school could have been open.

but, it is closed again for tomorrow.

this Fay chick is really messing with the parents of Florida. these kids NEED to be in school.
we have had such cranky attitudes and tantrums today that I think the barometric pressure must be effecting their brains. my oldest had such a fit over dinner that I did something I have never done before. I stood up and told the man that if he thought a good spanking would do any good that he had my blessing to go ahead and do it. and then I took the baby and we left to go to the bathroom for bath time.
no spanking occurred, but there was quite a bit of screaming. makes for such a pleasant, relaxing family meal to have it end with threats and screaming.

this never happened on The Brady Bunch.

1st day of school and oh yeah... Tropical Storm Fay

it is here! the 1st day of school for 2008/2009. I have a 3rd grader and a Kindergartener. (and the baby...he's still home with me for a bit)


sweet bliss.....they'll have a plan for Monday-Friday from 8:30AM - 3:00PM that I do not have to be in charge of. we purposely made this summer low key and not jam packed with "stuff". well, for the past few weeks all we have heard is how boring we are and how horrible we are as parents for not planning a super spectacular summer extravaganza for them.
hmmph.

and, on a related note...we have out 1st Tropical Storm/almost hurricane to threaten FL this year. her name is Fay and she looks to be trying to disturb the school schedule for Tuesday. we are supposed to have rain, tropical storm force winds and tornados on Tuesday/Tuesday night/Wednesday morning.
obviously, Fay is NOT a Momma. she would never have planned this appearance for the second freaking day of school is she were.

oh my....teeth are killing me

not my teeth. my baby's teeth. in the past 3 weeks he has gone from 3 teeth and me worrying and looking up every known syndrome as to why he would only have 3 teeth at 16 months old to now having at least 13 teeth in his mouth.
and yeah, laugh all you want at the dental hygienist who cannot get a good look at her own child's mouth long enough to get a current tooth count. the child has way more joints than normal and can wriggle out of any hold. and then he can scream pretty loud, too.
I've Motrined him. I've Teething Tableted him. I've frozen waffled and frozen washclothes the little man. Baby Orajel. teething toys. wooden spoons. a dog rawhide(new, unused..until the dog saw what was happening and promptly walked over and snatched it up and went to lay down on her bed and looked at me like I was the worst traitor known to mankind.
this may sound strange, but I'm so glad I get to go to work tomorrow and deal with other people's teeth. it's like a mini vacation. I deal with 1 single person per hour. and none of them say anything like "Momma, Momma, Momma......", and then forget midsentence what their point was.

OK, I am really going to do it this time

I am making it an announcement. I have always wanted to write a book. maybe more than one. maybe I'd really love to be Tom Clancey without the guns and spies. OK, I admit it, I want to write a book and I would love for at least one person out there to read it and say, "hmm, not bad". I'm not asking for New York Times Bestseller List here, although, hey, I wouldn't turn them away.
what has made me say this in public? well, I'm not really saying it in public, I haven't even told the man in so many words. it's easier to write it all out. I did tell my children. the 8 yr old was impressed that I would actually think sitting at a computer and doing something other than a game was in any way interesting. the 5 yr old sort of thought it would be cool to one day go to the library and see her last name on the cover of a book.(ahhh, I knew I loved her...she shares the vision) the baby, well, the baby I think in his own special way was excited for his Momma. in his own special way I mean that he threw a handful of rice onto the floor and said "uh oh". let's hope that's not some sort of premonition of how this all goes down. I do not want to end up splattered on the floor.
well, back to what made me finally really try this. I finished reading the 2nd book in the Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer. (I know I said before, but please, if you have not read this series, go right now and get them. you will love them) I also was reading her website, and she answered some questions about how she wrote the story, how she got published, etc, etc. I just realized, you know, if I want to do this, then I need to do it. no publisher is going to "discover" me by shopping in Target. I have to actually send the stuff out there. and probably get rejected. and probably never get published. but hey, I can send it out and know that I tried.
Stephenie Meyer wrote something that really caught my attention in her autobiography. she wrote something about how she simply could NOT stop writing the story because it was as if the characters were talking in her mind, playing out the storyline. I am SO glad she wrote that. I'm not the only person out there that has imaginary characters playing out a whole storyline in their mind. minute details. colors. facial expressions. smells. whew, thank you so much, Stepenie Meyer. I thought I was going nuts.
OK, so....when this is nearing completion, I will share what the story is about. I started yesterday and have no idea how many words I typed out during naptime. it is fiction, with a little bit of my real life thrown in here and there. it's a love story, really...with a twist.
now off to make lunches for three hungry littles. a hotdog, a pb&j with no crust, and a fruit platter with cheese. hopefully, none of it will be thrown to the floor.

reading will be my demise

so, Holly tipped me off to a really good series to read. it's going to be a movie that comes out in December and looks really ,really good. it has that really hot guy who played Cedric Diggory in the Harry Potter movies in it. (why did poor Cedric have to get offed by Voldemort? seriusly, if JK Rowling had known this yummy guy would be picked to play Cedric, she may have rewritten that little part. maybe? oh geeze, who am I kidding? that woman has that whole series mapped out in her mind in a concrete block vault. no changing the storyline.of course, she is kind of successful at it, perhaps her way is better in some way. but Cedric is nice to look at next to those Weasley brothers.umm, I digressed...sorry)
the books are called The Twilight Series by Stephanie Meyer. who knew you could actually want to be the girlfriend of a vampire?
well, I finished the 1st book and went right into the 2nd. I stayed up until a little before midnight reading last night. and then, since my son has been sleeping so well lately, he decided this morning he needed to get up at 4AM and start his day. loudly.
I got him up, gave him breakfast #1. he ate, played, generally wayyy too happy for this time of day. we stayed up for about an hour or so, and then the man got up and asked me why I was up. yes, yes, he saw that the baby was awake and playing in the family room. he still asked. (in my mind, the response was, "oh, I don't know. I just thought it would be a great idea to start the day at 4AM and see what the house looks like at this time of day." ) instead, I just stared at him and sipped my coffee a bit. he ate, got dressed, and left in a while to go to work. he gets in at least 3 hours of work sometimes before anyone from the outside world arrives. he likes it this way. less smile time for him. Mr Grouchy Grouch McGruff Gruff.
so, I'm up. all kids are up and dressed. we're off to the grocery store. maybe I can sneak in some reading time this afternoon. oh, wait, we have a playdate scheduled. yeah, more midnight reading for this Momma.