Politics…and my darkside…

since this is my blog, I can speak my mind...

On Saturday, I took Joseph out to eat at Mimi's Cafe and Brent took Alycia to Famous Dave's. We took one car since the restaurants were nearby. As I was waiting for Brent, there were some people on the corner from where I was sitting that were huge Obama supporters. They were chanting "Chandler votes Obama", "Obama for change", "Honk if you love Obama"...yuck!!! I was seriously getting irritated.

 

I was having a dark moment....I thought to myself...should I "Boooooo" them. I know that's very immature, but that's me...sometimes… No Anna, you need to act like an adult, your son is with you. hmmm..."okay" I thought to myself. I'll just let this go. I won't say anything.

FINALLY, Brent pulled up, I no longer needed to suffer.

 

As we rounded the corner...there they were...chanting like rabid animals. Ugggghh!

 

I couldn't resist it any longer, I pressed the automatic window down, and yelled "WOOOHOO McCain for President! Go McCain-Palin!" My nine year old couldn't stop laughing. I want to say I heard him "booing" them...or was that wishful thinking? As a responsible parent I didn't coax him, but I didn't reprimand him either...hmm..am I a bad parent? Nope ...I don't think so. My sweet husband Brent was extremely embarrassed but laughed along with the rest of us.

 

Ah....Happy times!

my grumblings for the day....

today has been an interesting day for 'lil ole me....
The snowbirds are back AND with a vengeance. Living here in Arizona during the fall/winter is heavenly. No snow to shovel or drive in...wearing flip-flops ALMOST year round...ahh so nice. But there are drawbacks to living in a place with such a fabulous climate. What, you may ask is the problem...SNOWBIRDS...Some of you may not be acquainted with the term. Many are elderly from Minnesota, Ohio, Utah, and I can't leave out Canada. The neighboring community near us is called Sun Lakes. There you see plenty of golf carts parked at the grocery store and of course Walgreens. As I was pulling into a parking spot at Fry's, a white Crown Victoria decided she was going to back up and NOT look to see lil ole me pulling in. She was just inches from hitting my car. I seriously had to hit reverse to avoid being hit. Arrgggg! Her license plate stated she was from Ohio. I decided it wasn't worth getting hit, so I left to go to the library to drop off some overdue books. (BTW-someone owes me $1.20)....As I was backing up to leave, another snowbird in a black Caddy started backing up after I was halfway done...Ahhh...not again! Fortunatly, I was able to get out of the way before he hit the side of my car. This one was from Utah...
Now that I know they're (snowbirds) are going to be here for the next 5 months, I'll have to be extra careful and plan my day better....big sigh....I"m done grumbling....

Is fall really here????

Well I've got a lot of catching up to do....

Have you ever cooked something and had the feeling that you won't be able to enjoy the product of your hard work? It's happened to me twice in the past few years. The first time was when I made an absolutely perfect looking pie. Picture perfect. While I was preparing my delicious looking, magazine perfect, pumpkin pie...I had that sick feeling, like I won't be able to enjoy the fruits of my labor. I burned it...arrrggg....The second time was just last week. It was a crazy Thursday. Taekwondo day! I made my Chicken chowder soup. It was looking scrumptious and I couldn't wait to take a bite. I had to let it boil for just a few minutes. I thought, while this is boiling, I'll just go check my email and check a few of my favorite blogs to catch up, since I was out of the loop for a while...(see my previous post to get the scoop)...Well....time didn't stop and the "few minutes" I was going to dedicate to browsing blogs, turned into 10 minutes! Maybe even more! Arrrgggg!

Yuck! What is that awful smell! What stinks?

That smell, my dear friends was my "used to be" delicious Chicken Chowder Soup..._boo-hoo_It no longer had the aroma of something appetizing. My dear sweet husband re-named my now brown creation....Trail blazer stew....It was no longer edible and had to make it's exit from existance via the porcelain throne. Since they already picked up the trash for the week, we couldn't put in the trashcan...otherwise we'd have another revenge of the "turkey" problem...inside joke...I'll have to share that experience another time....Bummer...and I ACTUALLY made dinnner...

On Saturday we all went to Veteran's Oaisis park. It's a manmade lake that you can fish in, walking path, and has a nature exhibit. Brrrr....it was chilly....As we were driving there, the temperature in Brent's car said it was 73 degrees! I should've brought my puffy coat. All I had on was a light sweatshirt and SHORTS! Brrrrr.....Joseph asked if it was winter.....We stuck around for about an hour and a half.

Can it be? Is fall really here?

Yesterday we all went to Prescott and Jerome, which is a two hour drive from our home. It was nice to see TREES! Living in the desert, you don't see many of those things we call trees. I brought my puffy coat while everyone else chose to wear sweatshirts and light jackets. It was even cooler up there. I'm so glad I wore "puffy", I shoud've brought my scarf too. Oh well...In all it was fun to feel what fall should "feel" like.

Is it fall? Hmm...still debating on that...swimming in our pool now is out of the question....but it supposed to hit 92 degrees tomorrow....It was great while it lasted....It's so hard to get back in hot weather mode....grrr.....

my baby girl is growing up....

Alycia just turned 11 a few months ago and I decided to it was time for her to take a babysitting class. She's not babysitting til she's 12, but we thought it wouldn't hurt for her to take the class. Saturday was the big day. She packed her own lunch and was up and ready by 8am. She would learn how to perform CPR and first aid among other things. After class Brent and I grilled her as to what she learned and what they did. She had to learn how to change a diaper, which didn't really bother her. These were dolls they practiced on so I'm sure she has no idea how bad that will be. So glad my kids are past the poopy diaper stage! Uggg!

Last week she went to her friends' house to hang out and when I picked her up, she was wearing blue eyeshadow and an ample amount of blush. She didn't go crazy, like I did at that age but it did frighten me a bit that she was WANTING to wear cosmetics. Tweens......Am I ready for this???

Boys, boys, and more boys...
There are several boys at her school that she is interested in. She's not going crazy about them, but the thought of her even remotely thinking of them is putting me in "freaking out mode." I'm so not ready for this!

I guess I can't call her my little girl anymore since she's a bit taller than my 5 foot self. Okay, if I wear heels, I'm a giant or so I like to think I am. Just a few weeks ago I felt taller...am I just shrinking? Is this how my mom felt when I passed her in height?

I am seriously NOT ready for this....

...what's the big deal with the Twilight saga???

So what happened to my house....it looked like a tornado hit ( I can say this since I lived in Tulsa for 5 years)....it looked like utter chaos! At least the dishes where done...Thank you Alycia!..Hmm...dinner was basically leftovers, cereal and whatever was in the fridge...Four days of nothing done...uh...piles of clothes in baskets (at least they're clean)...Kids resorting to sort and put away THEIR own clothes....What happened you might ask yourselves????

Twilight....

Okay...everyone's been talking about the book Twilight and how great it is and how I've gotta read it. On Saturday, I saw it at Sam's Club and bought it and New Moon, just in case I HAD to read the second of the saga. I was SOOO hooked. I finished them in two days. On my way to school, I couldn't wait til Sam's opened at 10:30, so I went to Target and bought Eclipse and Breaking Dawn...Ah, I finished them all in 4 days! Technically 5, since I stayed up til 3am to finish up the last book.

By Tuesday, my eyes felt like they were on fire from lack of sleep. My fellow classmates asked if I was feeling well...I'm assuming it was due to the dark circles under my eyes and bloodshot eyes. I should've worn some makeup, duh? I hope I remembered to brush my hair...big sigh...Lucky me, I had my handy dandy cup of ice cold Coke next to me to keep me alert and awake...ahh...okay...I know there are some in my family that frown on my choice of beverages...but that's my only real weakness...-bigger sigh----

Getting back to reality isn't fun, since I have a lot of catching up to do...but my little vacation was so worth it!------Twilight rocks!!!!

Sad kids…bad mom…sad mom…

Sad kids…bad mom…sad mom…

I've been meaning to write this for a couple days…Tuesdays are piano lesson days. I needed to make sure the kids did their theory workbook and practiced all their songs. I took their notebooks out of the piano bag to see what the assignments were homework. Guess what? I forgot to put the notebooks back in their bags.

When I went to pick up the kids from piano, there were some seriously sad faces. Like, extremely sad…I asked how piano went (I thought they didn't pass of their songs)…It was worse than that…They didn't have their NOTEBOOKS! Uh-oh..Since they didn't bring their notebooks, that meant they didn't get to go to the prize jar AND they didn't get to put a sticker on the chart. Oh no…

My kiddos were not happy campers. I felt like world's worst mom. It was totally my fault. I was the guilty party. Was there a way I could justify it from being MY fault? Okay…I KNOW I'm a grown adult, and should know better…but that's the immature side of me showing its ugliness. I fessed up…I told the kids it was MY fault and that I was very, very sorry. I wish I could say that the kids said "that's okay mom, people make mistakes, we still love you"…nope…they just sat in silence on the drive back home. Silence was not golden this time…

As I was driving home I felt a knot in my stomach. I felt so bad. When we got back home, they ate dinner and as an extra treat, they were allowed to have dessert. (That was my way of saying sorry, again.) Ah…happy kids again…happy ending to a not so happy day..

Motherhood

Motherhood…..

Today is the third day of the kids' fall break. Things went well. The kids practiced their piano and did their chores. Just a few reminders was all that was needed. Ahh…the sweet sound of the dishwasher that I didn't have to load and unload. My kids are growing up so fast. Just yesterday, Joseph cleared the table after breakfast and threw out the recyclables in the right container WITHOUT being asked. Alycia helped prepare dinner by frying the tortillas for the taquitos (with adult supervision, of course). I think she appreciated dinner a little more than usual.

As I sit here typing away, I think of how grateful I am that I have this opportunity to be a mom. Two kiddos are all the Lord has blessed us with, and I'm thankful for this opportunity he's given me to teach these wonderful little spirits. Yes, Alycia's almost taller than me and Joseph's not too far behind…but they're still my little ones.

As I was doing my math homework, Alycia was loading the dishes and Joseph was practicing the piano….such sweet sounds. No bickering, no corner time, no essay writing and the dreaded…no sentence writing. Good day for me!

I remember being pregnant with Alycia. I thought for sure I was going to have a 13 pound girl. I was huge…my weight gain frightened my poor sweet husband. I ate everything in sight. (this is no exaggeration). It didn't help that our apartment in Tulsa was right next door to Braums…ah...Braums. It was an ice cream place that had awesome burgers. I remember waddling myself there many a times. (We only had one car, and Brent usually took it to work). Brent nicknamed me "Big Momma."

When Alycia was born, she only weighed 7 pounds. I remember seeing her, thinking…she's supposed to be a lot bigger! Why am I still fat? I'm supposed to fit into my size 8 jeans!!!

As the nurse brought her to me, I was so scared. I wasn't prepared for motherhood. I didn't know what to do? I didn't babysit like most girls did…I told Brent to hold her…I thought if I held her, she would break. I was 23 when I had her. She was truly a blessing from Our Father in Heaven. She was so perfect! Bathing her was a scary thing for me. I would wait for Brent to come home and have him help me. A couple days after Alycia was born, Brent's mom flew out to help us. She was an answer to our prayers. Linda showed me how to take care of this sweet little spirit. She made me feel like I could actually do this "mother" thing. She built up my confidence and helped me become comfortable in this new role I was to play. Thank you Linda! My mother came out a few weeks later and also helped me with our new little bundle of joy. After everyone left, I was left alone with Alycia. I remember thinking "Will I remember all that Linda and mom taught me?" "Am I ready for this?" "Is this girl going to cry the WHOLE TIME???"

When Joseph was born, I was much more prepared. I didn't gain as much weight with this one, since I didn't eat gallons of ice cream a week this time! Joseph was definitely different from Alycia. He was really mellow and was truly a momma's boy. I didn't complain. All was not well with him though…I remember thinking… "Joseph's not really talking. Alycia was talking in sentences by this time…this kid just points and grunts. Something is not right. Am I being overly worried?" My gut kept telling me something was NOT right. After getting rejected for services, I had to get in what I call "Momma bear mode." I challenged those professionals and finally got speech services for my little cub. He has made amazing progress since he started services 5 years ago.

I wish I could say motherhood is easy, but it's so worth the sacrifice. Staying home with my kiddos has been an awesome experience. They are growing up so fast and have their own personalities. As a mother you have to make many sacrifices, not just financially, but emotionally. Sometimes we have little ones that have struggles that you wish they didn't have to go through. With my little Joseph, there are struggles I wish the Lord would give me instead of him. But trials are given for a purpose, and I know my little guy will be a stronger person because of this. I will forever treasure this experience I have to be a mom. I know that the day my kids leave the house for college, missions, marriage and are on their own…my heart will ache. I'm sure I'll miss the sound of my kids playing the piano off key, the sound of Alycia singing to her favorite Tegan and Sara song, and perhaps even the sound of grumblings of having to do chores….

Motherhood can be challenging but like I said earlier…it's so worth it…..