The Daily Grind

And the TV Gods have smiled upon us...

I am so freaking happy about this next statement that I could shout it from...well...my keyboard!

The writers strike is over.

Not as excited as me?  Let me try again:

THE WRITERS STRIKE IS OVER!!!!!!!!!!

I am so happy I could weep.  The last three months have been nightmarish for me.  Yeah, I know there's worse things in life than not having any new episodes of my favorite TV shows, but right this very second, none of those things are coming to mind.

So me and my trusty DVR remote are going to get reacquainted.  Hello "Criminal Minds," "Bones" and "Desperate Housewives!"  Yay! :o)

The things that come out my kids' mouths...

Ok, so my beans say some funny things.  No...really...they do.  Things that make me laugh out loud one minute, yet cringe in the next nano second.  Just to share a couple of examples:

When LB1 was about 5, the hubby and I were playing a video game (no surprise there...).  At one point something happened to anger said hubby and these words left his mouth, in no whisper: "Awww B**ch!"  Now, me being me would never, NEVER say something so foul (input obnoxious snort) and I gasped and looked at him.  Before I could admonish him, LB1 turned to him, because he heard it as well, and said this: "Daddy, don't say that word.  Say Mommy."

Yeah. 

For LB2's shining moment:
The other night we were getting ready for bed.  LB2 was once again bemoaning the fact that "he's tiny."  In normal speak that translates to "being a 3 yr old."  He constantly wants to be "big" like his brother. As I am trying to usher him into his bed, he notices that I am in my night shirt and undies.  He looks at me and says "Mama, why you got those HUGE underwears?"

Oh. My. GAWD.  Great, as if me worrying about the size of my hiney isn't enough, my baby now tells me I need HUGE underwears to cover it.  Ugh.

So I tell him...because his question must be answered..."Because Mommy is a grown up and grown ups have HUGE underwears."  Well I should have known better since he was already whiney about being "tiny."  After my statement we had about half an hour of me trying to calm him down because he started pitching a holy fit.  This is what could be heard throughout a 5 mile radius of my home:

"I DON'T WANT TO BE TINY!  I WANT HUGE UNDERWEARS!  I DON'T LIKE MY TINY UNDERWEARS! WHY NOT ME HAVE HUGE UNDERWEARS LIKE YOU?!"

Man.  Those 30 minutes of my HUGE underwears made me regret that Ho-Ho that followed dinner.

LB1 and his new word of the day...

So we all know about my fabulous job as a part time tax preparer.  I'm getting ready for work...on what is hopefully the last day of my last full week- woohoo!...and walk by my oldest, LB1 who is sitting at his computer doing his school work, or supposed to be doing his school work at any rate.  He's twirling in his chair, grasping a fly-swatter thingy like it's the most mighty of swords and he says "I'm going to get that fly!"  I laugh and continue onward to the laundry room to get my shirt out of the dryer...a machine that I lovingly call "the unit that does my ironing." 

On my way back by him, he looks at me and says "you know mama...the word fly is a homophone."

Wha...huh...?

Wow.  At this point I'm looking at him, mouth agape, so he feels the need to repeat himself.  I'm ecstatic!  Why?  Because...normally I have to pull teeth to get him to tell me what he did in school that day, or the previous day.  I know what he is doing, but we are working on retention skills right now and he struggles with being able to tell me what it was that he did earlier in the day.  He learned about homophones earlier this week, but apparently being a fly terminator reminded him. 

The next few minutes were spent with him telling me other homophones.  "Bear is a homophone.  And tear, that is too.  Oh...and don't forget fly.  And tail...like a "folk tale and a tail on a dragon." 

LOL...excellent start to my Friday!!  YAY!!

"I get by with a little help from my friends..."

I love the Beatles and that is a great song.  Very true.  We all need friends from time to time to help us with something.  It doesn't matter if its to gripe about your spouse, vent about something or someone, or just to have someone to have a Grande Caramel Mocchiato with and talk to when we need them.

I have a small group of close friends, but they are all always there when I need them, and I am so thankful for each and everyone of them.

I would like to introduce you to a child of some very dear friends of ours.  Meet Isaac:
Isaac will be a year old on March 2.  He is little brother to Nat, a 5 year old girl who is simply too adorable for words.  He is son to R and C; a couple that is as genuine and as kind as any I have ever met.  They have a strong sense of family and a strong sense of faith.  They are beautiful people that consider themselves blessed with each of their two children.

If you had asked doctors back in the late part of 2006, they would have told you that Isaac would never make it to meet his family.  Early in the pregnancy, R and C found out that their little boy had quite a few serious health conditions and were told not to expect too much.  So they prayed.  And their family and friends prayed.  And amazingly enough, Isaac grew stronger.  With every day spent inside his mommy, Isaac defied the odds that doctors placed against him.

One day in the last week of February, R and C went to a doctor visit and found out that things had taken yet another turn for the worse.  Little Isaac was going to have to make his entrance into the world far sooner than he should...at about 33 weeks.  Again, R and C were given a prognosis that no parent wants to hear.  And again they prayed and asked their family and friends to pray with them.

Isaac was born with a few serious conditions, but he was here and he was alive.  I couldn't tell you the names of any one of the conditions, but I know that the worst issue was his kidneys.  He persevered, as did his family.  He spent several weeks in the NICU at a hospital and even when he was able to come home, there were many trips to the doctor and many, MANY medications.

We all continued to pull for Isaac.  He has been such a trooper, as have R and C.  Unfortunately, last month they were told that Isaac was going to go on dialysis and was going to need a kidney transplant.  Even with that news, the family is staying optimistic.  Isaac is getting dialysis 3 times a week I think and he is on a mission to gain some weight.  At last check, he was 16 pounds, but needs to be 22 pounds to be put on a transplant list.  Of course family and friends are going to be tested to see if they are a match.  If no one is a match, they could face a 5-10 year wait for a kidney from the donor list.

So...I am now at my point for this post.  R and C have not asked for anything, ANYTHING from anyone, other than thoughts and prayers.  Since I have no shame whatsoever, I took it upon myself to ask the world for help.  I'm not going to ask for money (but you can give it if you have it) and I'm not going to ask for a kidney (although most of us have two, so we can spare one).  I will ask for prayer and I will ask for thoughts and well wishes for the family.  I can't imagine going through what they are going through as parents.  But I can't help but think that knowing there are people out there who will be thinking about them and praying for them will be a huge comfort.

I created an email address for Isaac and his family.  Please, please visit Isaacsangels@gmail.com and send along whatever thought or prayer you can for these folks.  I don't care what your religious or spiritual background is, and neither will they.  I just want to them to have optimistic and comforting things to read from others.  I will make sure that they see EVERY email that comes in.  You can also email me at that address if you want more information on what you can give to help them out, or more information about what you can do to tested to see if you are a match to be a kidney donor.

Thanks for taking the time to read this.  I know it's not the caffeine induced dribble that you might expect from me, but I thought it was worth putting out in the blogging world.

Headlines That Make You Go...

WTH?? 

Yeah..I know...abbreviating is SO adolescent.  However, I thought that particular abbreviation would be appreciated more so than what I really wanted to say. :o)

So I like to keep up with news and entertainment stories.  FoxNews, E! Online and TMZ are all bookmarked sites that I visit a couple of times a day.  I can understand why I visit the news site repeatedly, but why am I so consumed to see what goes on with celebrities?  I have no idea other than I like to kick people when they are down.  I leave those celebs alone that try to maintain an ounce of privacy.  Typically, those aren't the ones that do something stupid in the public eye and then cry "Why can't I have my privacy? Whhhaaaaaaa!"  I like to snicker and snarl at trainwrecks people like Britney Spears and Paris Hilton. 

Anyway, normally those wild headlines that make me shoot my coffee out of my nose are generally found on the gossip sites or something.  Rarely do I find those headlines on a ligitimate news site.

Until today.

I pull up FoxNews and I'm glancing at the news and I come upon this headline:  "Wife Killer Flirted in Jail with Mom Who Murdered Kids."

What in the name of all that's Holy?!?! How does that conversation go?

"Hey what are you in for?"

"I took out my wife."

"Oh yeah? Well I got rid of my kids."

"Neat. Wanna get together in the yard after lunch?"

People. PEOPLE! I don't know what's worse, the fact that these two people were allowed to correspond with ANYONE after what they had done, or the fact that the story made it on an outlet like FoxNews. I mean, its Super Tuesday for God's sake! Could there not have been one story that could have taken this one's place?

Some other headlines that made me giggle and wonder about folks:

"Five Reasons Men Stop Having Sex" ( do men stop having sex? lol)

" British Man Killed in Italian Alps While Sledding on a Mattress" (not mocking a loss of life...but mattress sledding?  Really?)

Seriously.

"Oh..uhh...I made $31,000 last year..doing uhh...hair. Yeah...hair."

That's just one of many statements I have heard the last couple of weeks doing taxes.  It's not a bad gig really...work for a few weeks and save the money for vacation.  Key West here we come!! :o) But I have got to say that I have met some of the...delicately put..strangest people lately.

So we all know the basics of taxes.  You work (hopefully), you pay in taxes (hopefully enough) and you get a refund sometime the next year (hopefully).  Unless you are like some people and you don't work, don't pay in taxes and yet still manage to get a refund.  A BIG one.  Ugh.

Anyway...so this is the first year that I have been doing this and apparently I am uber naive and have been living under a rock.  Did you know that people can just claim that they made cash money?  Even if they didn't?  While this isn't technically alright with the IRS (ok so maybe its not alright with them at all), people claim that they made money when they didn't.  Now, my poor feeble brain does not process this.  Why would someone want to claim money that they didn't make?  Why?!? Well...to get earned income credit.  Geez.  Really?  REALLY??

I have heard the following statements this week:

"Why can't (pronounced caint) my refund be higher this year?  I had another baby.  My 4th baby's daddy said I was supposed to get more money if I had another one."

Her:  "Oh..uhh...I made $31,000 last year...doing uhhh...hair.  Yeah...hair."
Me:  "Really?  (inside I'm snorting, thinking YEAH RIGHT! lol) Wow that's great.  Well since you earned so much more than last year, which you should be quite proud of, your refund will be a little less than last year because you have to pay in a little more taxes."
Her: "Oh...did I write down $31,000?  I meant to put...uhhh...I meant $3,100."
Shocker, huh?

Me:  "Alright Ms. Smith" - obvious name change :o) - "how many children do you have?"
Her:  "Well, I have five but I'm going to see how much I get back if I just put 2 of 'em on there."
Me: "Oh...well...uhh...ok.  Do you mind if I ask why?  It's just that normally people want to claim all of their children."
Her:  "If I don't get enough of a refund on my income, I got some people who will buy their social security numbers from me and give me $1,000 for each of 'em."
Me:  just wanting to be a smart ass "Oh? will you get $1,000 for each child, or just for their identity?"
Her:  "Oh lawd" (yes...lawd is how it's pronounced in these parts, lol) "I wouldn't sell my younguns.  They's how come I get such a good refund."

Seriously.  Seriously? O. M. G. Where do these people come from?

Now it's Friday and I get a couple days off.  I'm going to sit at home, with my hubby and my boys, drink my coffee and be thankful.  What am I going to be thankful for?

- that I have the opportunity to make money and save for vacation.
- that I married my "baby daddy."
- that I completed the 6th grade.

I wonder what I will be thankful for next week? :o)

The Daily Grind...

So this is our blog.  If you have made it past that first line, then YAY!  :o)  This blog is going to be about many things.  My family's journey through homeschooling.  Mine and my husband's adventures in working from home.  What cute new word our 3 year old said today.  My 8 year old's trials in reaching his goal of becoming the next David Beckham.  The Vera Bradley bag that I HAVE TO HAVE RIGHT NOW!  Music that we love.  The riduculous 20 somethings (yes...that translates to 20 year olds...) that I meet in life that have an inflated, very inflated, sense of self worth.  Reviews and rants about whatever TV show I just blazed through on my DVR. I'm a TV...ummm...enthusiast?...to say the least.  I watch every thing in prime time I think.  Way too much for sure, lol.  Unfortunately I watch it at 3 in the morning, but I still watch it.  Wonder if anyone out there is looking for an obnoxious insomniac as a TV critic?  HA!

You get the picture?  Everything is basically what I was trying to convey.  I want family and friends to keep up with us through this blog.  I want someone to read through this and snicker.  Maybe even go "awww...what a cute family!  And that Java Mama?  She's a flipping GENIUS!"

:o)

There is so much to my family.  Along the way, you will meet some very interesting characters in my life, in our lives.  Read my About page, start to get know me, if you don't already.  Then, come back often.  :o)