Like the wind...

Or maybe not so much...

Kay has decided that since they really don't have to "try out" for the track team, she wants to do that. She can run.

So, we scrambled to get her a physical, and she has been going to practices. She had been coming home from practices and wanting to die. She said that she has muscles hurt that she didn't even know she had.

Not to mention that she is NOT a runner... I mean she can run, but I'm not sure she can run to win. She wants to keep at it, and that's fine. I told her that when she starts having meets, I would come to cheer her on.

I have told her she needs to be sure she is eating balanced meals... she won't be able to maintain by living off of easy mac. She will need to eat veggies and proteins... I think that was worse than telling her that there was no Santa. Sheesh.

Anyway... I'll be there supporting her and cheering her on, cause that's what mom's do. I'm just glad I was able to talk her out of lacrosse.

On a knitting note, this past week was a week of firsts. I knit the swatch for the Mystic Light Shawl. We had to use a provisional cast on. She wanted us to use that so that we would be sure to know what we were doing since we'll be using it for the shawl. I guess I did it right, I haven't tried to remove the crochet chain yet. I'm not sure about that whole "grafting" thing... my other first was reading a chart. I was all stressed out, but I did it! I have to tell you though, it sure feels weird reading from right to left. I used a sheet protector and a dry erase marker so that I could mark where I was on the chart so I didn't get lost. I posted the picture on flickr so you can see how I did... I think I did ok... I have to be honest... I was a little worried about the striping, but then I thought about how it's just a small piece with shorter rows (only 17 stitches... ) when it's on a bigger row, I'm sure it will be fine. I'm really loving the yarn, thanks again Michele!

Oh, and on a completely different topic... I belong to this really great online mom's group. We met about 9 years ago... well they all met about 9 years ago, I was late to the party... anyway, we "talk" everyday. These ladies are way more than online friends. I let my oldest spend 2 weeks with Traci as an intern when she wanted to be a journalist. I got married at one of our annual BBQs. My mom couldn't understand the bond we have... she went to my wedding, and she said, "You know, I think I get it now... they are great people." We flew Cherie out for a BBQ at Kim's, and as a group we mourned the loss of Kim. Sharon was gracious enough to open her home for us to attend the funeral. We are that close. I tell these women stuff I don't tell my own mom. I talk to them more than I talk to my own family.

Where am I going with this? We are celebrating as a family! Sharon, the one that let me get married in her front yard has gotten engaged. Tex is a great guy, and he makes her very happy... good thing too, you don't want 20 pissed off mom's after you. ;) If you could, go tell her congrats! Let her know I sent you.

Hope your Monday is the start of great week... Oh, and this whole "Spring forward" thing? sucks. I need a nap.

Where to Buddy?

Intersection of Detention and Annoyance? Got it!

Let's head down Detention Lane for a moment... and we have to take a little side trip to I'm bursting with pride but still pretty ticked off...

My mom called me at work. School called her. My oldest daughter, the honor roll, never gets in trouble child is in trouble.

The school is doing a production of the musical Beauty and the Beast. They were having final rehearsals yesterday during school. My dear daughter asked her Trig teacher if some of the students could go to see the play. He said no. They went anyway. She claims that he never gave them a definitive answer and they couldn't find him to get one so they went. He said that he told them no.

When called, he gushed about what a good student she was, and how she was never in trouble and how well liked by both staff and students and friendly she was. He felt awful about having to give her detention, but he couldn't single her out and not punish her. He had to be fair.

He just so happened to have had Nikki for Algebra last semester. He told my mom that we should know that we are doing a great job with both of them. They are both great kids and he was very lucky to have had them in his class.

So, while I could kill her, because she seems to be getting a case of "Senioritis", and messing up, it's really nice to hear about how good a kid she is...

Now, we'll take a left on to Annoyance Street.

About that play... Nikki wants to go. Her and her friend want to go. They want to go tonight. So, they have made all the plans. All but one. The friend needs a ride. The friend can't go unless I pick her up. Think it's possible for the friend to live on the way to the school? Nope. Think it's possible for the friend to have someone come to pick her up after the play? Nope.

I agreed to do it. But only this one time. I would not be the taxi cab. Gas is way to expensive to be running around picking up AND dropping off. I would agree to do one way, but that's it from now on.

As punishment to her... Kyle and I are going to the play too. Well at least that's the plan for now. He might change his mind. If he does, I'm not sure I will go.

Oh, and on the boys suck front, they still do. But, thanks to Traci's great idea, they don't seem to suck quite as much. Everything looks a little better after a Peanut Butter cup sundae. (I had a sundae with coffee flavor ice cream with caramel sauce. It was AWESOME!)

And on the knitting front... I think I'm having SWWS.... LOL... I cast on for the 2nd Fetching, but couldn't get the join to be right, so I had to rip it out... 4 TIMES. Finally, this morning while waiting for Kay in the Drs office (physical for track) I got it right, did my 4 rounds and got to the cable part but didn't have my extra needle and I'm too nervous to try it without one so I took my pen apart and used the little ink tube thingy (what is that called anyway?). I should probably practice doing it with out a cable needle since we got our swatch today for the Mystic Light Shawl, and it's a cable and lace pattern.

Oh, and I found a really cool pattern that will only use a little bit of yarn so when I'm done, I know what to do with any extra.

I can't wait to get home and get started... though it will just be the swatch, the pattern doesn't start until the 26th? 28th? the Twenty somethingth.

Ok, now that we've reached our destination, the fare will be your sanity...

This is beginning to look like a knitting blog...

I went out on Saturday morning with Kyle's scout pack to pick up the donations for Scouting for Food (lemme tell you, it was bad! We only had about 15 donations out of about 400 homes... ) and one of the other mom's had on a pair of wristwarmers. They were a synthetic striped pair. She bought them out somewhere, and she really liked them. I will admit they were cute. But, other than the stripes, they were pretty plain.

I came home, and thought, "You know, everyone and their brother has made some, so I might as well too..." I immediately cast on for a pair of Fetching. I was using some Paton's Classic Merino that I received as a gift for Christmas a couple years back. I didn't know what I wanted to make with it, but it's perfect for them!

I knit most of the evening Saturday, and most of the afternoon on Sunday and I have one done... I was a bit stressed about the thumb, but it looks ok. I need to work on how to pick up the stitches with out it leaving a hole.

I'll post pictures as soon as I get the second one done.

In other news, that is not knitting related, boys suck. Especially boys that make my girls cry. Kay sent me a text message saying that she "thinks" her boyfriend broke up with her. Let me explain why she doesn't know for sure...

Saturday they were supposed to go out. He cancelled on her. They didn't speak all weekend. She said they had a long discussion about how he always cancels on her and if he doesn't want to go out, he needs to just say so. He gave her some long speech that ended with him saying he needed time to think by himself.

Ugh... I told her if that was what he was doing, he wasn't worth it. That he isn't worth her tears, and that he was stupid.

I hate when my kids hurt... I'll be thinking about her all day... I might have to call her after school to see how she's doing.

Stupid boys.

Can I quit?

At least tonight was a better night than last night... kinda. Tonight's battle was Nikki and her PSAT class. They are working on the math portion and she doesn't remember some of what they are going over. Trying to explain it to her, very frustrating.

Kay is done being mad at me. They told her at work that they want her to stay on as an instructor, and that she could still work 6-8 Monday to Thursday and would be off on Friday since there isn't a class that night. She will be "Managing" the school track team. (I think her best friend got that for her... she's the school's best track team member.)

Kyle is preparing for the state's assessment tests... I hate those! For 2 weeks there is no spelling homework, just math. Math vocabulary. ick.

I'm really excited about the Mystic Light Shawl KAL I joined... I can hardly wait for Michele to tell me that my yarn is ready... The only thing I'm slightly nervous about is that the shawl is going to be only charted... I'm pretty sure that Knit Picks has a tutorial on chart reading. I'm also sure that if I look on the net I will find something to help...

I've caught up all my dishcloths and am waiting for the new one to start on Saturday.

There are new pictures on my flickr of our weekend with Grandmom for her 90th birthday. It was a lot of fun. My whole family hasn't been together like that for a long time. There were kids everywhere it seemed... lots of talking and laughing.

I was very happy that out of all the kids there, mine were the best behaved. Of course I might be a bit biased, but watching the others in the restaurant, we win hands down.

I'm a little ready for this week to be over... I need a weekend. Thankfully there's one coming and so far, it's empty! Woo Hoo! and on that note, this post is over too!

Can I slow down now?

It has been non-stop going for the past I don't know how long... 2 weekends ago was the birthday/homecoming insanity.

This past weekend was Confirmation insanity... Nothing like seeing how dysfunctional the rest of your family is to get a glimpse of how normal you really are.

It started out that it was StupidX's weekend with the kids. He picked them up on Friday, as usual on his weekends. Nikki informed him that she wanted to come home on Saturday night so that she could just get dressed at home instead of having to take all her clothes/hair accessories/makeup and stuff over there. He agreed that was a good idea and said he would bring her home Saturday evening.

So, Saturday, Hubby and I are just finishing up dinner and the dog goes running to look out the front window... then you can see her watching someone come up the sidewalk on to the porch. The lack of insane barking and jumping at the window let me know it was someone she knew... The door opened and in came Nikki... with Kyle right behind her. I was a little surprised to see them both. After a very brief Q&A session, Kyle was also home because they weren't sure they would be at Church the next day... Um... WTF?!?! This is his daughter's confirmation. The day that she stands up and proclaims her faith. The day that she takes her faith in her own hands. And he's not sure he's going to make it?!?! UGH!

Well, Sunday morning, we headed off, picked up Kay's boyfriend, J. and headed to Church. Dropped everyone off, then headed to the grocery store like we always do. While wandering the aisles, my phone rings and Nikki is panicked because they want to do the pictures RIGHT NOW and where are we and when will we be back. We headed to the check out, paid, and tossed the groceries in the car. Got back to church with a few minutes to spare. Got our pictures, and while we were waiting for her Confirmation teachers to show up, in walked StupidX, Wifeypoop and her daughter. We chatted a bit, then headed up to the church. Our family pretty much filled a pew end to end... I was saving a few seats for the X and his Thing and her child. They sat about 3 rows behind us. I showed him the saved seats, but they declined. Before the service even got really going, Wifeypoop left. Yep, got up and walked out. Not sure why, but she just left. Well the reason was that she wasn't feeling good... big surprise. She never does when it involves the whole family.

Service was beautiful, Nikki was beautiful and I was so very proud of her.

X had to leave a few minutes early to pick up the cake, and then we all headed back to my house. X showed up, alone. Said that WP was not feeling well, and decided to stay home. No biggie. As it turned out, he only stayed for about an hour...

Anyway, the rest of the day was great, and she had a good time.

I was exhausted. A house full of people will do that...

Today is the day...

My babies aren't babies. I know this. But do they have to rub it in?

Today was the first day of school.

As the girls got out of the car, I realized how far they had both come... They are best friends. At times, they are worst enemies.

Kay is a Senior. As she walked away from the van this morning, I could still see that little tiny child headed to Kindergarten. Full of excitement and happiness. All smiles and joy. She is still excited and happy about so much, and it shows. But where did my little baby go?

Nikki is a Freshman. My little ray of sunshine. If you've ever met someone that no matter how down in the dumps you are, they can make you laugh, that's Nik. She is silly and goofy. She has always been my jokester. She start to tell you something, and start giggling, and even though you don't know what she's giggling about, you are giggling right along with her. I think this will be her turning point year though. I think she will grow as a person this year, but I don't want to loose the crazy goofy girl.

Kyle is in the "Big Hall". He's in 3rd grade. He's such a little man it isn't funny. He can negotiate better then some lawyers. Several people have commented on him being a little lawyer. Don't let the serious side fool you though, he's a prankster. One of his favorite toys? A whoopie cushion. He's also my snuggler... well, they all are to an extent, but he'll still come over and want to sit on my lap. When he was little, and he would be nursing, he would take my hair and rub it between his fingers and his thumb. He still does that. Pretty soon, my 3rd grader will be too big to fit on my lap. I'm going to miss those snuggly cuddles...

It has been a pretty melancholy day. I've been thinking about the past... my babies. A friend said to me, if my kids are independent enough to do their own thing, I've done a good job. I hope the job I've done is good enough to prepare them for the real world. I think they have enough to be able to handle it, but not so much that they are too jaded, and not too little that they are too naive.

Happy first day... Now I'm going to buy stock in facial tissues... ;)

Busy Mother's day weekend...

But they always are...

The girls had their dance recital on Saturday, and they did great! But then again, perhaps my opinion is a bit biased... Nikki has come a long way in her Pointe class. She actually got up on her toes! I was very proud.

The other big event this weekend was Prom.... Kay's Junior Prom. My baby went to her Junior Prom. I cried.

Please... Look at the pictures, and then tell me that you wouldn't have cried if she was your daughter...

Funny story... while we were in the front yard doing the pictures, the neighbor from across the street came over... She told a story of her Junior prom... and how 9 months later one of her friends had a baby. She then very seriously looks at Kay's date and says "I'll kill you... ". I thought we would die from laughing... He wasn't sure if she was kidding or not...

Kay had a great time, and she looked gorgeous.

Oh, and as for Mother's day, I got to take a nice long nap... what else could be wished for?

One of the ways I wear my Mean Mom title proudly...

Yesterday was Nikki's birthday. Happy 14th to her! She came into my room, all perky and bouncy and just stood there staring at me... I had 7 minutes before the alarm went off. I opened one eye and looked at her. Here's what it sounded like...

Mean Mom (MM): What.
Birthday Girl (BG): Nothing.
MM: Go Away.
BG: Ok. (she doesn't move from her spot, staring at me.)
MM: Look. Just cause it's your birthday, does not mean you can annoy me.
BG: (Huge grin) You remembered! I love you, Mommy!
MM: Go away... oh, and I love you too.

Then the day progressed...

That afternoon I got a call from her:

BG: I don't want to go to cub scouts. I want to go home and open presents.
MM: What presents. You aren't getting any.
BG: Well then I want to stay home and open my cards.
MM: There was only the one from Grandpa G.
BG: Yeah, but there could be more when I get home. If I say "card" and there are more than one, I won't be able to open them all because I only said one card, not several.
MM: Whatever.
BG: If I go to scouts, will they have to sing "Happy Birthday"?
MM: Probably.
BG: I'll let you know later then.

Later that evening...

BG: I'll go to scouts.
MM: Doesn't matter to me.
BG: Guess I'll just open my cards (at that point she only had 2 to open).

At Scouts...
CubMaster (CM): There's someone celebrating a birthday.. and she's 14.
BG: (giggle and blush... a lot of blushing!)
CM: I think we should sing to her.
BG: (Still blushing walks to the front)
Cub Pack: Sings Happy Birthday
BG: Thanks, Mommy, that was fun!
MM: Any time... do you really mean that or are you being sarcastic?
BG: I really mean it.

Later that evening, at home:

Lots of scurrying to get the cake out and candles on it that she didn't think she was getting until the weekend...

Birthday Girl's Sister (BGS): I'll keep her distracted.
MM: Thanks.
Birthday Girl's Sister: Nikki, can you come upstairs with me, I want you to hear my song for Hip Hop and see this move we learned tonight.
MM: Gets the cards out, and the cake and puts candles on the cake.
BG & BGS return back to the living room.
BGS: comes into the kitchen and whispers: Should I get Doug?
MM: Yes, and then I'll call her out.
Everyone gathers just off the dining room BGS and D in the hall, Kyle and me in the kitchen.
MM: (In irritated tone) Nikki. Come here.
BG: Hang on. I'm in the middle of Veronica Mars, do you need me right now?
MM: Yes. You're on dishes and I need them done now.
BG: What?! BGS didn't have to do them on her birthday. It's not fair.
MM: Come here.
BG: (plopping remote on the coffee table, and stomping out spots me in the kitchen with the cake with candles glowing brightly): CAKE! Yeah me!
BG: Hugs MM and says: I thought I was really gonna have to do the dishes!
MM: Well....
BG: No way!

She was completely surprised by the cake and cards. It's so much fun to mess with my kids... For the oldest's birthday, she really wanted a new tv (she was using an old hand me down from one of her friends). It didn't have a remote because the friend had lost it. We wrapped the remote from her new tv, and told her that we got her a Universal Remote to use with her tv. She was crushed! I told her that Hubby had already messed with it and it was programmed for her tv, but we all made the trek up the stairs to her room... she cried when she saw the new tv.

I want to make a big deal out of birthdays. They are special days, and should be memorable.

Happy birthday Snickerdoodle! We love you!

Man, I really need to keep up on this thing...

So, let's see... where was I?

Oh yeah, I was going crazy. You would think that things would calm down since the kids are on Spring Break. Not so...

Last week was just INSANE! Lots of the usual running with a couple extra church services thrown in there.

Friday I took the day off so that Nikki and I could go to our favorite service of all... Stations of the Cross... I LOVE that one. Anyway... I woke up Friday and something didn't seem right. I had a slight headache, my ears felt like there was water rushing... well or sounded like that... I thought maybe I was just hungry. Boy was I wrong... I have had what I thought were migraines before, but this? Way worse than any of that... It hurt to think, to talk, to listen to even breathe... I was nauseous, and shaky... I didn't eat all day because I felt so bad. I missed church, and dinner... I fell asleep around 7 and woke up about 8:30 that evening, and felt 99% better. I still had a slight headache, but not as bad as it had been earlier. Whew... I was still a little queasy thru the next afternoon, and my head was still a little "tender" but I was much improved!

There was something that I didn't connect, but my mom did... On Wednesday night, I had this weird rushing sound in my ears, and there was like a weird thing in my vision... kinda like when you look at a light, then close your eyes... know what I mean? Only it was with my eyes open. It looked like a letter C but with spikes on the outside curve. weird.... my mom thinks it may have been a precursor to the migraine. I hate to say that I'll have to wait and watch, but I'm not sure what else to do... anyone out there in InternetLand have any experience?

Oh, and this week? It's still a little crazy... prom dress shopping, interesting relationship talks with Kay (she informed me that she really didn't think that she wanted to wait until she was married, cause what if she never gets married?), toy shopping, and tonight we are on the hunt for a pair of shoes and a cell phone.

For those playing along at home, Insanity - 1... Me - 0