Out of the Mouths of Babes!

My children (and husband) are hysterical most of the time. These four guys are the funniest around and keep me laughing constantly. Here are some of conversations we've had over the past few days. Keep in mind that the youngest boys are 4 and 6, thus explaining the abundance of what my youngest likes to call "bathroom talk."

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Conversation 1

Mom: Nick, do you have to go pee?

Nick: No

Mom: Then why are you holding your crotch?

Nick: Because it's sweaty!

Conversation 2

Mom: Christian, why are you grabbing your butt?

Christian: Because it's itchy!

Conversation 3 (in the middle of Olive Garden eating dinner)

Christian: Smell that stink?

Mom: Christian, SHHHHHHHH!

Christian: I tooted!

Conversation 4

Mom: Christian, I love you sweetheart!

Christian: I love you too, sweetie!

Mom: You make me laugh, baby.

Christian: You are as beautiful as a MagiKarp

Conversation 5 (the park)

Mom: Nick, it's not a good idea to ride the merry-go-round after drinking that 32 oz. red Slurpee

Nick: Oh, mom, I'm perfectly fine. What's the worst that can happen? Geez!

Mom: I'll tell you the worst that can happen - you can be puking up that Slurpee if you don't be careful

20 minutes later...

Nick: Mom, I'm not feeling so good

Mom: I told you, Nick. You should rest. We'll be home soon.

Nick: Mom, I'm REALLY not feeling good (*insert the 'puke is churning' cry here*)

Mom: Here's the empty Slurpee cup, Nick. Puke in this if you have to before we get home

Nick: BLLEEEEEEEEEEECCCCHHHHHHHHHHH! Gross, it's red!

Grateful For...

I've had some degree of trouble lately sitting down to the computer. Yes, I often tout the excuse that "I'm busy" (and I am); however, my lack of sitting down at the keyboard has more to do with the fact that the things I want/need to write about expend a good deal of emotional energy, and most days, I'm just not prepared for that. It's definitely a character flaw of mine that came about within the last few years and I do recognize the need to work on that in the near future. Because I've been feeling a little down lately with all of the stressors in my life and could use a "pick-me-up", I decided to pen a "Grateful for..." list, yet another post inspired by Kym.

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In no particular order...

1. I am grateful for Memorial Day weekend 11 years ago and for the two people I once called friends who left me in a situation that forever changed my life. At my expense, those people taught me what friendship is not.

2. I am grateful for the two true friends I have in my life now who make me a better person, and without them, I wouldn't be me.

3. I am grateful for Ricky-Roo because even though we are constantly at each other's throats (in a funny way), he always makes me laugh. His friendship brings out a side of me that I had forgotten was there.

4. I am grateful for Doozie's banana splits...even if it's 40-degrees and you have to stand in line for an hour to get one.

5. I am grateful for my baby, Christian, who continues to teach me so much about life and living, and despite his chronic health troubles, has a spirit that is truly inspiring and magical. I am also grateful for his "old soul" that knows just when I need a little cheering up because he'll take my face in his tiny little hands, look me right in the eye, and says, "Mommy, you are as beautiful as a flower stem." I.heart.him.

6. I am grateful for my Nicholas because he has such a fighting (and stubborn) spirit and has the ability to always make me laugh. Although he would deny it, he reminds me so much of myself. His drive and tenacity (and occasional temper tantrum because he got an A- instead of an A) inspire me to be a better mom.

7. I am grateful for the moments with Zach were I don't feel the need to pull my hair out because of an irrational insecurity that I'll never be the kind of step-mom that he needs or deserves. Without him knowing it, Zach and I have more in common than he realizes, and it's those unrealized bonds that will help us get through these trying teenage years.

8. I am grateful for the alarm on my phone going off to alert me that I should be at work in 15 minutes, yet I'm still sitting her in my robe with wet hair. More of my list later....

Gut Feelings

I am the self-proclaimed queen of "gut feelings." I think this curse, errrr...gift, was passed down through my grandmother and my mother and then on to me. I seem to have this innate ability to have "gut feelings" about things well before they even happen. I'm convinced that it's a rather eerie form of ESP or something like that. I have correctly predicted many of my own life-altering events based on these gut feelings which others can even vouch for.

So, because of these gut feelings, I shouldn't be surprised about what transpired this evening.

After work, we drove out to the house we are/were planning on buying for a second round of inspections with our building inspector. The first round of inspections went ok, not stellar, and there was some work the seller needed to do as a result. I wasn't feeling great about this first round of inspections, but thought I was just worrying too much (like I have a tendency to do). As a result of the first inspection, we decided that the seller needed to do some work (like install an access to the attic for us to verify the type of insulation that was supposedly installed). There are many reasons more than this, but I have had a bad feeling about this house from the time of the first inspection. The feeling has been nagging at me for weeks, yet I have chosen to ignore it.

After our second round of inspections tonight, my gut feelings seem to have gotten the best of me. Not so suprising is the fact that the insulation was not what the seller boasted it was. In some places, there is only 4" of insulation (at most). This is on top of the fact that there is not a system in place to empty the water from the crock that is installed in the basement, and a whole host of other issues that, on their own, might not amount to that much, but when added all up, we're starting to talk about a considerable amount of money just to make this BRAND NEW house liveable.

Rob's at a baseball game right now, so I haven't talked this over with him yet; however, I am leaning toward withdrawing our offer on this house. My gut feelings have been telling me for quite some time now that this isn't the house for us, but I've been ignoring the nagging feeling in the pit of my stomach.

Moral of the Story: If you are cursed (or blessed) with these gut feelings, they really are there to protect and warn you. The trick is that they only work in that way if you LISTEN to them.

Picture Me

Here's a fun little thing that I shamelessly stole from Kym's website, but hey, it looked like fun!

My name is:

My Relationship Status is:

My favorite color is:

My celebrity crush is:

My dream vacation is:

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When I grow up, I want to be:

Note to Self

With coaching a tee ball team, selling our existing home, buying a new home, and having young children, you're bound to learn something new each day.

NOTE TO SELF:

1. Coach certain male child on tee ball team NOT to pick dandelions and smear them on his teammates' faces and annoy the holy heck out of them while playing in the outfield.

2. Front-load washers and dryers (for our new house) cost a ginormous amount of money.

3. Husands and wives get irritated with one another after about the sixth appliance store (although we did finally decide the pair that we wanted).

4. Forty milligrams of Medrol per day is enough to elicit a two-hour screaming fit in our adorable, severely asthmatic son, who didn't like the color of Gatorade he had chosen moments earlier in the gas station.

5. Do not take it personally when aforementioned, adorable, severely asthmatic son, hopped up on rediculously high amounts of Medrol, tells you repeatedly that he hates you when you refuse to let him eat a dozen chocolate-chip M&M cookies.

6. Coach children on tee ball team that tee ball isn't (and never has been) a contact sport. There is no need for 14 players to dive for the ball and scratch each other's eyeballs out for it.

7. It is not abnormal to worry yourself into a tizzy regarding the fact that your 14 year-old son is going to prom tonight with his 16 year-old girlfriend. Afterall, you were his age once and went to the prom, too. DOH!

8. It is peculiar to go to Menards and only end up buying two Magic Treehouse books, a CARS book, a bag of gummy peach rings, and a box of Runts.

9. It is not necessary to have a coronary after realizing that there is no linen closet in the new house (but where will the towels go?).

10. How in the H-E-double-hockey-sticks did we collect so much crap in the past nine years of living in our current home? For the love of mankind - stop being a pack-rat!

Welcome to Our New Blog!

Since I decided to take the summer off from higher education (for the first time in two and a half years), I figured that I really should find some sort of a hobby to keep me busy.

So, here we are in all of our glory - uncut and uncensored!