That's going on the blog....

LOL!

I must do my Ravelry update...as of today there are 5631 people in front of me in line.

Well today was LegoClub. We had a good time, and I found out that I have a new reader! Miss M is funnier than heck, and keeps us laughing all the time. She's planning on starting her own blog, so I can't wait.
Like I said, today we had our get-together and I noticed that ALL the older kids went back for seconds on the snack (and some had thirds) I think they are all going through a growth spurt of something. I FED MINE before we went to Miss B's house and by 2pm, the Hairy One was asking for snack.
We finally got rain today...in fact it is still sprinkling right now. But that made the roads crazy because Californians (especially desert people) can't seem to drive in rain. So the kids all had to stay inside. By about 3pm they were getting stir crazy, so Miss B allowed them to go outside, but they had to stay on the patio. We kept having to define "patio" as in the covered area, not the long driveway that was uncovered and was calling to them.
And remember what I said about kids being bad when they are guests at someone's house? Well, today my son was that naughty one. I discovered he was outside - ALONE and not only that, he was climbing on the wet swing set that was NOT on the previously established "ACCEPTABLE ZONE" known as the patio. I had already told him the rules and he thought he could sneak away. I wasn't really concerned about him being alone, because the yard is fenced in, but with the wet ground he could have slipped!

I have my project that I want to do. Tomorrow I am going to get the yarn and needles and get started on my swatch. I don't know - is it rude to take your knitting to an adult party? Because that is where I am going on Sunday, lol. I have to check it out and report back.
LegoQueen is in her room, secretly making plans for tomorrow. My ILs will be here tomorrow.
You better believe I'll put it on my blog....

Park Day!

I am so close to Ravelry, I can taste it...only 5631 people in front of me! Maybe I should get back to knitting something so I have a project to post when I get in!

Today we had Park - a very eventful one!
One of my friend's kids locked her car keys in the trunk. Another mom ended up calling AAA to come and try to get the keys out, and they ended up towing the car to her house because they couldn't.
We sang Happy Birthday to another mom, and 5 seconds later her daughter had been hit in the eye and it was bleeding a little, forcing them to go home early.
Near the end of park, I overheard one of the moms telling the story of why she got kicked out of our weekly playgroup. She was saying that her son had accidently overfed the hostess's goldfish, and that he did a couple of other small things that little boys just do and now they are banned. But it was okay, because they had formed their own little group that meets weekly.
Whoa, whoa - let's back up a little bit. Her family was STILL coming to the Lego meetings long after her son killed my friend's goldfish by pouring KITTY LITTER in the bowl. Last time I checked, goldfish do not eat kitty litter in any quantity. Second, it is not normal to break the sliding screen door or tie yourself to the fence while you are a guest at someone's house. It is not okay to sit on your arse knitting, while your daughter steals another child's shoes and then begins beating the door and screaming because there is a locked room in the house. There is no excuse to let your kids act like brats in someone else's home.
SO yes, I am glad that you have your own little group....because now I can enjoy my Friday's and have friends over without dreading who is coming over. The group we have right now is awesome, and if any of the kids misbehave, we can tell each other and it is dealt with. And wow - those times are few and far between.
Whew...boy I just went off, lol! It just made me kind of mad, because I saw her being all friendly to my friend, and then she goes and says stuff like that when my friend has her back turned (literally).

SO anyway - I have a sweater that I want to try to knit. I am going to bring the magazine tomorrow (to show said friend with dead goldfish) and see how I am going to start this. OH, and its from a magazine that she lent me...lol.
We are going to a movie theater opening with our group in the morning, following with our weekly meeting at a house.

Wednesday!!!

Ravelry - 6888 people in front of me.....still moving along.....can't wait....paralyzed with anticipation....
lol.

Not too paralyzed to get going today, though. We had a busy day today. First of all I was on the phone and sending email back and forth all morning that we didn't get out of the house until after 10am. We went to Target and had to circle the store several times so I could get everything on my list. I forgot my returns in the car...DANG!
Then we went to drop off something at my friend's house, and she was on the phone and one of her daycare babies was ready to leave out the front door. you could see it in her eyes, lol! So I picked the little girl up and carried her to the dining room so that I could make a fast escape!
On the way home we went to the grocery store - ground beef on sale! We bought a few things and then it was off for home. We have still not made it to the library, or to Lowes, but we will get there.
We had lunch and then there was the "chores, lessons, work" rotation. I was trying to fold laundry and reply to email at the same time, while sneaking in help to the kids for their lessons inbetween. We got it done though - one load left to fold!
I fed the kids early, and then I made Hongo drive out to Apple Valley to pick up some stuff. We grabbed In-N_Out on the way home.
Oh, and amidst all this, my MIL kept calling and wanting to talk to Courtney. They have something "Secret" going on. I wonder what it is?
Saturday is my birthday (could that be part of the secret???) and it should be rather relaxing. It will be the first birthday where I don't have to dread a middle of the night phone call involving my dad. I guess that is something to look forward to!

Tomorrow is Park (TG!!!) DramaQueen has been driving me up the wall. She cries for everything. And when she's not crying, she harassing her siblings. LegoQueen must have told DQ 6 times to quit putting her hands on the computer screen, until she started screaming at her. Ugh. They all need a break from each other right now.

What day is it anyway???

This week is off to a great start! First, I have 7200-odd people in front of me for Ravelry....Yeah!!!


Yesterday my friend called me to ask about Nintendo Wii stuff. Our conversation was WAY too short, I am going to have to call her back soon. I didn't get to ask her about her doctor's appointment she just had, or how her hubby likes his new job....there just wasn't enough time and my brain has deserted me, so I didn't remember to ask. Doh!
Last night I made it out to Starbucks for knitting night. My friends are so awesome - I had a great time and I didn't even pull anything out to knit. It was just fun conversation for 2 hours (even though I was there for 3 hours, the first hour I was alone, lol). I had a really good time.
Today I was the queen of packages! I got some pictures in the mail that I had ordered for myself, and then tonight Hongo asked me "Hey, weren't you supposed to get some memory cards for your camera in the mail today?" OH YEAH!!! Sure enough, they were sitting on the porch! Sweet! Now I have extra memory cards!
I cannot procrastinate anymore - I MUST get the kids' Christmas pictures done this week! The dresses and the suit are hanging nicely pressed, so I better hurry up.
We weren't home today - we got up and went to the park for 4 hours. Then we came home, had lunch, and then went out to my friend' house to pick up some cards that she made for me. ANother package!!! We stayed there for about an hour and a half. Then we came home and I started dinner.
Now we are all downstairs watching Hongo play his video game. I haven't really accomplished any housework all day. Maybe I should sneak up stairs and do something.
Nah....I would probably fall asleep. I am so tired!!!

November 24th

First of all - a Ravelry update. I incorrectly reported how many people are in front of me. But as of today, there are 8969 people in front of me. I am moving up in line!

Okay, so on to today.....

We had our visit with GMIL (grandmother-in-law) and the new aunt, and the new cousins. It was obvious why they came - just to check out the house and the kids. Oh and to fish around for info about Hongo's parents and brother. New aunt kept slipping up about how the size of our house compared to hers. I guess she was embarrassed.
New aunt is kind of strange. She looks at you with gigantic eyes, as if its taking everything she has to pay attention. It may just be me though - I am a pretty boring person!
Grandma was her usual interesting self. It was obvious that the day belonged to New Aunt. New Aunt and cousins can do no wrong. Except.....
Boy Cousin took great joy in pestering LegoQueen. At lunch, the kids got free sundaes, and Legoqueen did not get one because she didn't order off the kids menu. Well, Boy Cousin (who is older than LQ and did get ice cream) kept teasing her with his ice cream. "Haha, you didn't get any.....oooooh this is soooo good!"
Grandma totally ignored LQ getting frustrated, but New Aunt caught it and thankfully told him to knock it off. Good, because I was just about to tell him something. We are all family now, right?

Other highlights of the visit:

- Grandma is a Pepsi freak. She's worse than me. She asked for a can and was drinking it. 3 year old cousin comes over and asks for a drink. Grandma hands the can of Pepsi to said 3 year old and lets her drink the rest.
- New Aunt had the nerve to tell me that Drama Queen looks just like New Aunt's husband, aka Black Sheep uncle who hates my husband, my FIL and is uglier than dog crap. To make it worse, Grandma agreed. Usually Grandma says DQ looks like HER, and every time I have to remind her that DQ happens to have her own grandma with blue eyes and features that more closely match.
- Sadly, 3 year old cousin DOES resemble said uncle. Poor child.
- Grandma insisted on me taking her picture with all the kids. Originally she said that she wanted pics with her grandkids, which would exclude MY kids. I guess at the last minute she realized that she had two different sets. And guess what? She offered to reimburse me the cost of printing her picture. When I asked her what size she wanted, she decided on a whopping 5x7!!! Oh wow - I don't know if I can handle $1.50 in printing costs! LOL! I told her not to worry about it - I will send it in to be printed at a Wal-Mart near her and she can just go pick it up.
-New Aunt TRIED to engage me in a negative homeschooling discussion. She started off with "Don't your kids ever ask to go to real school?" Hongo spoke up immediately and said "Nope." in a tone that said "Don't even go there." I could have gotten up and given him a giant kiss right then and there! She tried to rephrase it a few times, and eventually gave up and asked a couple of non-confrontational questions when she saw that we weren't going to defend ourselves.

It went better than I was dreading it to be. She was very nice and complimented the color I painted the walls. New Aunt was very nice...fake nice, but still nice. Little cousins were pretty cute. Boy Cousin (when he wasn't being annoying) was desperate for Hongo's attention. If Hongo was speaking, Boy Cousin was listening. Girl Cousin was pretty cute (she loved hanging out with Hayden) and my kids were on their absolute BEST behavior!

10 days....

that's how long its been since my last entry! I really need to get to this thing a little more often.
Right now it is the calm before the storm....my husband's grandmother is coming tomorro morning. I kept bugging my husband - "This needs to be done, and this, and this...." and all he was doing was sitting on the couch playing a game. He is usually such a great help, I don't know what his problem was.
We've had a really busy week. On Wednesday, we were running all around town and I wasn't able to get home in time to cook dinner. So we went out to eat that night. Thursday was a full day of being out in the middle of nowhere at my IL's house. Then today I had to get up and clean, I went to Staples for a memory card, but Hongo called me to tell me that he was able to get one online, so I put it back and left. The line at Staples was INSANE! Its freaking STAPLES!!!!
I bought lunch (because again, I am running around town and I have no time to cook)and then LegoQueen and I hit Home Depot and Lowes once each.
Tomorrow, great grandma is coming, and then after she leaves, Hongo and the two little ones MIGHT go to a birthday party, while I go somewhere else for a couple of hours.
Amidst all this, I talked to my mom on Wednesday (as I was driving from one appt to another) and she told me that my out of state family was coming down for Thanksgiving. She wanted to know if I wanted to come. I told her no, I had other plans, and thanks anyway.
But I will admit - I am hurt. I told myself that I would get over it quickly, and I fully intend to, but yeah.
I had been bugging my cousin for months to tell me when they were coming and we would get together. I also told my other uncle the same thing. Both assured me that they would. Obviously they didn't.
If they THINK they are going to call tomorrow and drop by on their way home, forget it. We are having company! Then the birthday party, and my afternoon appointment! I figure if they do call (and that is a huge IF) I will tell them thanks for the offer, but I'll have to catch them next year, if they can possibly spare any notice.
Tonight I told myself that with "family" like that, I don't need it. My life is going pretty well right now, so dwelling on this hurt does me no good. I would rather have positives in my life right now. Which means I might just delete my cousin from my MySpace account. It will make it that much easier to get over if I don't have to see his icon everytime I log in.
Speaking of "positives" and "family" - here is a story. On Thanksgiving, my Ils gave me my birthday gift early. It was a gorgeous black coat to replace the one that Hongo shrunk a few months ago. I know it set them back a couple hundred, but that is not the best part.
The best part is that my MIL went to to stores and tried on every flippin' coat in the joint to find "the perfect coat". She is 5'2" and I am 5'10". She looked insane to be trying on all those coats that were way too big for her. In the end, she bought me a gift that I love, and she put a ton of thought into it.
She could have given me any old black coat and a gift receipt. If it doesn't fit, just return it and get something that does. But no - she made sure that it fit and it was in a plain color for a plain gal like me.
I love my coat! I can't wait to wear it to park!
Hongo just asked if I was typing another book. I told him yes, lol.

I broke down and put my name on the waiting list for Ravelry. Peer pressure is SO awful! So K and B - I'll be seeing you. There are only like 8 thousand people in front of me......

November 13th

Today would have been my dad's 50th birthday.

Last year on the 13th, I sent him a text message saying "Happy Birthday Dad" I had been at the doctor's office all morning, and very tired. We also had not been on very good speaking terms, but I felt like I was extending the olive branch by texting him. It worked, because 2 weeks later he called me on my birthday. It was then that he told me that he was dying, but that he wasnt willing to do the things necessary to save himself. I remember getting angry with him again.... it was always the same argument with him - he didn't want to give up the things he loved in order to embrace a healthier lifestyle that would bring him more years with the people who loved him.

Three months later, what he told me on my birthday had come true....and there would be no more arguments between us.

Today I had to drive down the hill to my doctor's appointment, and I considered visiting the cemetery where my grandparents are buried. My dad was the only one of his 6 siblings that regularly visit the cemetery, and as a child I remember going with flowers to put onthe headstones.

But my dad is not buried there - his remains are in my home. The place where he was never permitted to come to for over 5 years. There was no reason for me to visit a cemetery where he is not at. So I came home instead.

I suppose that every year will get easier, but as each special day passes, I feel the pain of never being able to say goodbye. To have never been able to tell him one last time that even though we fought so much and the hurt he caused me growing up, that I still loved him and we were still family.

It's been nearly nine months, and so much has gone on in that time. I am so lucky to have the people around me that I do. As Thanksgiving approaches, I will certainly be giving thanks for all I have...