Kingdom of Chaos

Day 3 - the one with the yelling..

2016-01-03T19:49:00.001-05:00

Remember how yesterday I was all oh man I can't believe winter break is over and the kids have to go back to school in a few days *insert sad face* ?

Yeah well that ended today. The kids must have somehow heard me talking about how well behaved they've been because Lord have mercy they have been showing their asses today!

In the last 10 mins, I have had to yell and send 2 of the 4 to bed early. Then dealing with the huffing and stomping off to bed makes me want to call them back down and yell about that. Don't you stomp on that time with me young lady!!

Sigh.. Well it can't be all roses and sunshine, can it? Only one more day of the kids vacation and then back to school! Plus tomorrow is our first Monday to watch the new little itty bitty so I expect best behavior will be reigning or they won't be allowed to hold her. Lol

Day 2 of rambling...

2016-01-02T22:39:00.000-05:00

So question of the day --

As I sit here binge watching Friends on Netflix - how does Phoebe always get her hair to stick up at weird angles like she does? I love it. Lol.

After two weeks of everyone off school & Daddy Chaos off work, I think we are all in that spot where we are ready to go back to our normal routines yet we are basking in these last few days of freedom and laziness. No routines, no time schedules ... Sleeping in til 10am every day. It's been blissful. The kids have all gotten along fairly well which is quite surprising considering the kids that we are talking about. lol. My kids rarely get along this long when all confined together. I usually get a LOT of "Mom!! I'm bored..." Bored in this house equals chores so they have quickly learned to not utter those words within my hearing :) Mean Mom and all :)

Today was another laze around day. The kids played with their tons of new lego sets that they got for Christmas/ birthdays. I spent the day reading which in my opinion is pretty much the best way to spend a lazy day :)

Who's ready for the kids to go back to school and who's with me on enjoying these last few days?

New Year's resolutions - Do you make them? #2016

2016-01-01T20:45:00.001-05:00

Happy New Year!! 2015 went faster than I expected. Time flies by when you aren't paying attention (or are a bit too preoccupied with other things). 2016 has dawned new and fresh.

It's the time to make all those crazy resolutions that we all know we will never uphold.

For example, I would love to post something small every single day of 2016. This is my resolution. But we all know that in reality, I will probably fail this before January is over with.. Lol. I suck at resolutions.

Our New Years Eve was pretty quiet. Attitude King spent the night with friends as they have been doing for the past several years. The little girls spent the night with Gma & Gpa. So it was just Daddy Chaos , me & the little boys. We ordered ONE pizza (wow, that seems crazy!!) and watched Fantastic Four (the new remake) together. The boys were in bed by 9:30. I thought I was going to get to go to bed early but Daddy Chaos turned on the Hallmark channel and I got sucked into one of their darn Christmas shows. The kind that you know from the beginning exactly how it's going to end (she's going to dump the snobby boyfriend & hook up with the cute down home lawyer guy and save ChristmasLand! )but you still just have to see exactly how it plays out. So we ended up staying up til 1am (with a brief pause in the show to watch the ball drop. lol). Sigh. It's a good thing my kids have finally learned the art of sleeping in! :)

Today we went to my parents. We had to pick up the girls and I convinced Mom to cook a New Years day dinner for us. They always say you should start the New Year as you want it to continue ... back when the little kids were just babies & Southern Darlin' wasn't with us, Mom made a big family meal once a week. Things kind of fell to the wayside when they moved farther south and we moved farther north. But it's a tradition I'm committed to bringing back! LOL! I had full intentions of working on a few new hats for Miss Itty Bitty (My friend T's new foster baby!) but somehow I got sucked into helping Mom make dinner. lol. Oh well, best intentions and all.

The kids are off school until Tuesday, so just a few more days of freedom until we have to get back to a schedule of earlier bedtimes & much earlier waking up times. I'm not ready yet!!!

The one with the Trauma #Adoption

2015-12-02T13:42:00.001-05:00

**Due to scheduling issues - aka blogger hates me at times and likes to leave scheduled posts as drafts - this did not post in November with National Adoption month like it was planned. It's still an important message. **

It's National Adoption month and I felt that maybe this is the time to let this one out. It's not the face that we show of adoption many times. But it's still a face that's out there.

Let's just start this out and say go here and read this.

Go ahead, I'll wait....

Did you read it ?

This is the truth that most foster/adoptive parents feel at times. The lie that you portray because you don't want to admit even to yourself how bad things can be at times. The lie that makes everything look hunky dory when in reality you are questioning every decision you've ever made.

I'm not saying that every single foster/adoptive situation is like this. Some will make the adjustment and coast along and have a grand ole time.   But sometimes, the trauma is too much to let go and put in the past. Sometimes, it rears it's ugly had over and over again.    Sometimes, it makes you question everything despite the love.

I think we were fairly lucky - 3 out of 4 of our adopted kiddos escaped with the bare minimum of trauma from their pasts. One was just not so lucky. His situation is not unique, I believe it's more on how his brain has chosen to deal with the trauma he was dealt. Some are able to shrug it off or bury it deep within themselves and move on to be happy, healthy individuals. Some wear it like a badge and you know constantly the trauma that they deal with. Still others, like ours- take it and tuck it into their pockets. They walk around like 'normal' and life is a happy , well-adjusted place ... until it's not. They grab that trauma out of their pockets and all hell breaks loose.   This, to me, is the worst kind of trauma to deal with. You never know what might trigger the meltdowns, the anger, the hatred. You never know if you will have your loving happy family or one where one child repeatedly causes issues with every single family member.   So you sit and you wait... you wait for the shoe to drop, for your beloved perfect child to turn into the angry hateful resentful child for whom you can do no right.

I wish I could explain to you what causes the trauma and why it affects each child so differently. 3 of my children came home to me from the hospital, they have been with me their entire lives. 1 was tossed from drug house to drug house, subjected to unspeakable things and finally found her way to me at age 5.5. If she were my traumatized kid, I would well understand it. I am thankful and surprised daily at how well she has adjusted into a normal happy tween.   Instead it is one of the 3 that came to me at birth. Do I understand some of his issues? Certainly !! Lots of hospital stays (despite the fact I was always beside him) can cause trauma, prenatal drug exposure is proven to cause trauma (rejection), and a birth mother who repeatedly showed favoritism to one child over the other (abandonment issues). So can I understand why he has trauma? Yes, but it doesn't help us deal with it. Does this change how I feel about it? Do I regret adopting him?? Absolutely not. All of my children are MY babies. Whether I birthed them or not, I love them the same. Some just like to test those bonds a little more :)

This month we celebrate the Adoption Day anniversary of Dimples & Fishing Pole. I am thankful each and every day to have them in my life. .

The one with the nearly severed ear.

2015-12-02T13:28:00.003-05:00

Let me start this by saying that I wrote this days ago on my phone with the handy dandy Blogger app. If you don't have the Blogger app for your phone- don't bother getting it. It's completely worthless! No copy & pasting allowed. You can't pick where you want the photo to go, and when do you get a post written it refuses to post OR Save! ARGH. Hence the reason I am now re-writing this post and possibly loosing any humor that was in the first telling. Again, I say ARGH.

So this was meant to be the story of Spoiled Princess' ear and how it is that she ended up with it nearly severed. It's really not as gloriously gory as it sounds but who could resist a title like that?

Several months ago, Spoiled Princess started complaining of pain in her right ear (yes the particular ear is important for later). It started out after swim lessons but eventually it was hurting on days that she didn't have swim lessons. So off to the doc we went .

Dr H, our absolutely favorite pediatrician - so beloved that my nearly 20yo still goes there b/c she doesn't want to lose him, came in and asked what was wrong and what we should do about it. Spoiled Princess said that her ear hurt and Mom said we could give a shot in the ear or two in the butt to fix the problem. (Mom is nice like that!). I also piped in with the thought that we could just cut it off. Dr H agreed that we could do any of those, which would SP like to do? She rolled her eyes at both of us and huffed that she didn't want to do any of those options. Ha. We tried.

Once Dr H looked in both ears and reaffirmed which ear hurt, he decided that we needed to go to ENT. You see when Spoiled Princess was around 3, she got tubes in her ears and she was still tubed in the left ear. Dr H's theory was that right ear pain as caused by the tube still being in the left ear and not being able to adjust to the water pressure.

Off to ENT we go. I called and made the appt- clearly stating that we needed to get a tube removed. Naturally they scheduled us with a dr who does NOT specialize in ear surgeries. Imagine that. So we had our initial appt, discovered that Spoiled Princess had mild hearing loss, a small hole in her right ear (the ear that hurt) and a much larger hole & retained tube in the left ear. Yep, definitely needing surgery but of course we need to wait and have a consult with the actual dr that specializes in ear surgeries.

3 weeks later and we finally see the dr we need who confirms that yes we need surgery.

1 week later and we are into surgery!

Boy oh boy was that rough! Spoiled Princess did good and was so brave. She elected to get the IV and go to sleep that way vs the smelly gas. No flinching or tears! Brave girl! Surgery itself went well. They put a paper patch on the tiny hole in the rt ear. The left ear was more in depth and had a significantly larger hole which required a graft. In order to see clearly, the dr had to make an incision behind her ear. I finally looked at the incision several days later and realized that it was pretty much an ear removal. LOL. That thing was hanging on just barely!

From tippy top to the bottom.

Waking up was pretty rough and some of her anxiety kicked in but once we got out of the hospital she was doing better. Its now been 1 week since surgery and she's doing well! She goes back next week for a check up but at least now she has a story to tell and a scar that no one will see :)

The one with the puking...

2015-11-22T20:00:00.000-05:00

It's bound to happen sooner or later...

Dimples caught a stomach bug. He is really not in tune with his own body and how he feels so he rarely will tell you when he doesn't feel good. Or he'll tell me his stomach hurts, and then point to his throat. He definitely knows the puke feeling though - thank you reflux.

He does NOT know how to puke however.   What?? You didn't know that most people knew how to puke? Sure you do- normally you just follow your body's cues.

Step 1. Your stomach gets upset.

Step 2. You normally get a rush of saliva.

Step 3. Your stomach rolls and voila! Puke.

Dimples feels that his stomach is upset and so he must instantly puke. So he squats at the toilet and does this weird scream heave thing. I honestly can't even describe it.   But no matter what, he insists that I be there beside him to wipe his mouth and "calm him down" .    After about round 5 of the scream puking, I told him that he needed to stop making himself puke and just let it come on it's own. And also that he didn't need to yell when he puked.   Mean Mom - right here.

No matter what you do, do NOT say that he just has a stomach bug. Which will cause him to look around in alarm and point to his stomach asking In Here??   Which will immediately remind you that he is deathly afraid of bugs and so you switch to a stomach Virus. Which, of course, means he will constantly ask you to get a flashlight to look down his throat and see if the virus is still there..

2 Pukes later and he's laying in my lap exhausted and asks me : "Is this the sound that means I have to puke?" meaning the moaning that he's currently doing.

2 more pukes later " Am I following the rules of puking?"

Sigh. There are no rules of puking dude.. Just stop trying to force it out because you're only going to feel worse.

6 hours later and he's finally holding some applesauce & 7up down. Fingers crossed that we have passed that particular bug!

The one where @MsRandomFamGal & I went to the movies! #Mockingjay2 #awesome

2015-11-22T15:08:00.004-05:00

Bestie T and I went to see Mockingjay 2 last night!   We've been waiting an entire year for this one to arrive - since the moment we sat through the credits of part 1 to see if there was a sneak peek of part 2. :)

Naturally I have some thoughts , I will warn you ahead of time that my thoughts are all over the place on this one and I'm too lazy to try to organize them better. lol.

This is a spoiler alert here and now! If you have not read the books, do not read further b/c I will give away major plot points.

Let's start by saying how in the hell did they film Plutarch's parts when Philip Seymour Hoffman is no longer with us?   His parts are reduced quite a bit but it bugged me throughout the movie. I did google it afterward and it's just as I figured - they filmed part 1 & 2 back to back. So most of Philip's scenes were completed prior to his death. I am very happy that the director elected not to use CGI to put him back into the movie in other areas, but on the other hand -- PEOPLE! They were filmed BACK TO BACK, which means they just sat on the 2nd movie for an entire year to torture us! Sorry, that bugged me and I had to get it out! lol!

Now back to the movie :

It starts out with us getting a look at Katniss' freshly bruised neck - immediately reminding us how part one ended with Peeta trying to kill her. Personally, I was thrown back into the whole quandry - who does she end up with? Gale or Peeta? I could NOT remember for the life of me. For this entire series, I've lofted back and forth on who I think Katniss should end up with. I always had really good reasons for each team but ultimately, the reason she says goodbye to one in the end is right. Katniss could do nothing else.

I feel like I was distracted for much of this movie and probably need to see it again for a true review. In the beginning, seeing Philip Seymour Hoffman (why do I have to write all 3 names?? IDK. ) made me wonder how he was in the film.
Once we started seeing more of Gale & Peeta (who is still hell bent on killing Katniss for much of the film), I was distracted trying to remember who she ends up with. One kiss with Gale and he says it's like kissing someone who's drunk. This should be telling, dude.. And then we have Peeta who , when he's not trying to kill her is constantly asking her questions ending with "real or not?" You love me, real or not?   sigh, yes we all love you Peeta...

And then we have Finnick & Annie. I love Finnick - I have since we first met him. I kinda wished that somehow we could realign things and make Katniss end up with him. Lol.

A wedding in the midst of going to war against the Capitol just screams of romance. A few days (a week?) later and Finnick is in the Capitol with the rest of the crew. He was prominent enough in this movie that I fell back in love with him and was slowly plotting ways to make him & Katniss be a couple, and then... then he dies. A ghastly death. A ghastly death while he screams for Katniss. Like this isn't going to haunt her forever. WHY kill him now? Why??!

Slip into a depression for the next bit of the movie while we all mourn Finnick :(

The troops rally and move onto the purpose of killing Snow.

I'm not even going to talk about what happens to Prim. If you've read the books, you know. If you haven't - well you shouldn't be reading this --- Hello SPOILERS!. Let me just say - devastating. Again, why ???   But I know why- this is what makes Katniss ultimately make that choice between Peeta & Gale. How can she forgive this?

I definitely feel that this is one of those movies that you are going to need to watch several times in order to get a full appreciation for it. As I mentioned, I got distracted by certain ideas & situations which I'm sure lead me to miss smaller details while I was still in shock or mourning.

Many people have asked me how the gore level was. Is it kid appropriate? I think that it was definitely less graphic than some of the previous installments. Would I take my kids to see it? No way! But my kids are stuck strictly in the PG rating area, and PG this isn't. It definitely is something you have to decide for yourself and your own kids. Everyone and every kid is different. I personally jumped in my seat 2-3 times and may have made some exclamations as well. Lol.

Watch the trailer below and then get your butt to the theater and see this movie! The end of a great series!

The one with the forgetting...

2015-11-17T13:01:00.002-05:00

It was a typical evening in the Chaos household : all of the boys were downstairs playing, Spoiled Princess was at cheerleading & Southern Darlin' was at the kitchen table working on homework.   I had just sat down on my bed while I looked through a pile of papers when Southern Darlin' pops her head in and says "Uhmm, Mom? Dad? Are you guys going to go get Spoiled Princess? Did you forget about her?? I mean it's 5:58 !!"

She was actually getting upset. LOL. I gently reminded her that SP was cheering at a game tonight and wouldn't be done until after 7pm which had SD breathing a sigh of relief.    Normal cheerleading practice is over at 5pm so if we had forgotten her - we had really forgotten her. lol!

I'm not sure why in the world she thought we had forgotten SP, it's not like I forget the kids on a regular basis. Sure there was this ONE time a few weeks ago and I wasn't even late to pick them up!

Once a month SD & SP have student council after school. It just so happen that SP also has cheerleading practice (both at the school building) and so she splits her time between the two. Adding to the craziness, Dimples has group therapy after school 15mins away and Yep! you guessed it, they all get out at the exact same time!   On this particular day, Daddy Chaos was at home with a sore back and so I assured him that I would pick up Dimples a few minutes early and then swing by to get the girls. Off I went, grabbed Dimples - who happened to be in a talkative mood- and chatted with him the entire way home. It wasn't until I walked into the house that I realized (okay I admit it, Daddy Chaos realized it first) that I had driven home vs going from therapy to school to grab the girls. So I hightailed it off to school and arrived toward the end of the line of parents picking up kids. STILL I wasn't technically late.   But I made the mistake of mentioning to Southern Darlin' that I had forgotten to get them and had to rush over. She apparently it going to let this one go.

In my head - no one sat outside alone and wondering, I was there with the other parents and so it doesn't count. In her head - I admitted that I had forgotten them for a brief moment and therefore it can and will happen again.    sigh.

The First Trailer for @FindingDory is finally here!!

2015-11-13T20:20:00.001-05:00

I am so beyond excited about this! How many years have we been waiting?? I don't know but I do know that it's been wayyyy too many!!! Finally we have a trailer for Finding Dory ! Finding Nemo was definitely a favorite of my kids. We watched it so many times I can recite it from memory, which means that the kids say it right along with the film. I'm pretty sure Finding Dory will be the exact same way :) LoL!

Finding Dory swims into theatres everywhere July 17, 2016 !!

Disney•Pixar's “Finding Dory” reunites everyone’s favorite forgetful blue tang, Dory, with her friends Nemo and Marlin on a search for answers about her past. What can she remember? Who are her parents? And where did she learn to speak Whale?

Directed by Andrew Stanton (“Finding Nemo,” “WALL•E”) and produced by Lindsey Collins (co-producer “WALL•E”), the film features the voices of Ellen DeGeneres, Albert Brooks, Ed O'Neill, Kaitlin Olson, Ty Burrell, Eugene Levy and Diane Keaton. “Finding Dory” swims into theaters June 17, 2016.

For all things Finding Dory, Stalk here:

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Review - WaterWipes a natural, chemical free baby wipe!

2015-11-06T17:16:00.001-05:00

“This post was sponsored by WaterWipes as part of an Influencer Activation for Influence Central. I received complimentary products to facilitate my review.”

Whether you're a new mom or one who's been around the block a few times like me, one thing that is almost always on your shopping list is baby wipes. You simply can't have enough of those things! From wiping bottoms to messy faces (and quite frankly everything in between!), baby wipes are simply a necessity if you are a parent!

Something we always worry about is putting things to our delicate newborns skin. We pre-wash everything in special mild baby detergent while sterilizing bottles and pacifiers. I think most of us with a newborn would prefer to dunk our older kids in sanitizer if we could get away with it! Clean and mild is what we want for those precious newborns and then we live and learn a bit and aren't quite so picky anymore. Sterilize a bottle - pshaw, a simple washing with hot water will be just fine! lol!

One thing I still worry about, even with 6 kids plus multiple other babies I've taken care of, is the chemicals in our baby wipes. What is the point of the delicate baby detergent only to be wiping their bottoms, hands & faces with harsh chemicals in the wipes? This is why I was excited to be able to try WaterWipes!   WaterWipes is a European brand (everyone say ooooh, ahhhhh!!) that is completely chemical free! In fact, it only contains two ingredients - 99.9% purified water and 0.1% grapefruit seed extract !    This makes me happy for multiple reasons -

- How many of us have had to deal with diaper rashes? That cringe when you have to wipe you poor baby's bottom and know it might sting?! No more-- no chemicals = gentle as can be !

- If you have a baby like Baby D, you'll know that 95% of the time anything within reach will go directly in their mouths! Not such a big worry when it's only water & a tiny bit of grapefruit seed extract! A definite plus !

I'll be honest, I was a bit skeptical. 99.9% water? How is that going to do any of the zillion things that I do with baby wipes effectively? But I tested these babies! Let me say this is one of the sturdiest wipes I've found! There is absolutely nothing worse than being in the middle of a diaper explosion clean up only to have your wipe tear mid-wipe. *shudder* I stretched these wipes and was unsuccessful in making them tear - Woohoo! They cleaned up everything just fine!

All in all, I'm sold. They clean great, they smell good, and they are perfect for sensitive skin! The only con I can think of is the price ($4.99 @ my store) but price is reflected in the quality in what you buy!

A bit about WaterWipes :

As I said above- 100% chemical free which means they don't contain preservatives. Each package of wipes is good for up to 15months prior to opening. Once you open your wipes, it is recommended that you use the package within 1 month. If you are anything like me, that won't be a problem!

Unlike many other wipe brands, WaterWipes are not interfolded. This allows for a sterile environment to be maintained within the package. For the same reason, they recommend that you do not relocate your wipes into an alternative container. Quite honestly, their container is perfectly suitable for the diaper bag or changing table!

Ready to go try a pack of WaterWipes for yourself? I was able to find mine at my local Meijer. Click here for a store locator ! Just a warning, I had to look closely for the WaterWipes at my local store. There was not a big display and they blended in fairly well with the other brands!

If you do try them, I'd love to hear what you think !

The month of medical trips !

2015-10-27T14:11:00.000-04:00

It has been a long few weeks!   4 trips to the Children's hospital (3hrs each way) in 4 weeks is enough to make anyone want a nap.   I want a nap just thinking about it!

Thankfully we are over halfway thru the month of trips!

First trip - Dimples had a sleep study. ugh. Gotta love those things! There is nothing like sleeping on the hard pull out chair beside your child, all the while knowing that every movement and sound you make is being recorded. lol. Plus the fact that if you are like me at all, you will constantly be waking up to check his CO2, O2 & pulse stats...   And now I sit and wait because I should have had the results last week but our dr was on vacation and so who knows when I will get the results. Most likely the end of the week - which is TOO long.. ugh.

Second trip - Fishing Pole had a pacemaker check up. All looks good with his little chunk o'metal. Battery life is 7-8years which means if all goes well he will be in high school before it needs replaced!!! We also did an echo to check heart function but I have yet to hear those results.

Third trip - Fishing Pole gets to go back to get a baseline psych evaluation. Genetics decided it would be best for both boys to get one as they try to determine their cases since they are both pretty complicated. I love the idea of using the Children's hospital for our psych stuff as I'm hoping they will be able to quickly confer with cardio when needed and make medication decisions easier. Of course, I'm also hoping that they don't expect us down there frequently . We shall see what expectations they have and we can decide if this is the best course of action for us.   Thankfully after almost 5months of waiting, insurance has finally approved FP's chromosome testing! So he gets some bloodwork done while we're down there as well!

Fourth trip - Next week Dimples gets to go down for his baseline Psych appt. The boys can't go together b/c Dimples has to go to the Autism side of the psych unit. Apparently the two sides can't co-mingle. Go figure.

And that is our busy month of appointments. In the midst of all this, Daddy Chaos has been remodeling like a fiend! New laminate wood flooring in the main level of the house. I am in love! Zoey- not so much since she now slips and slides instead of runs and can no longer jump up onto the couch. Oops.   I'll post pictures soon! :)

#MeanMom tackles laziness

2015-10-19T08:00:00.000-04:00

Another installment of Mean Mom Mondays !

Okay this one I need some help with. I have not figured out the right punishment to fit the crime.

The Crime - Laziness

We all succumb to laziness from time to time; but my children seem to grab onto it, hold it tight, and wallow in it. Today I have a prime example for you ! Lucky you !!

This is our main bathroom. Mind you, we have 4. One downstairs that is primarily Attitude King's and I don't go down there if I don't have to. If you have a teenaged boy, you understand! One is upstairs which is mainly what the girls use for getting ready in the mornings or at bedtime. One is my master bathroom which NO ONE but me is allowed to use- okay, I let Daddy Chaos use it, but under protest! Lastly we have this bathroom (this is obviously not the entire bathroom but it's what counts for my point- which I will come to eventually) which is located just off the living room. This is the bathroom that sees the most traffic from all the kids.

Now I would like to point out my attempts to deter laziness. Do you see the cute toilet paper holder sitting there in the corner? Now do you notice that it is completely full of toilet paper? Slowly track your eyes to the left. BOOM! There it is! The empty toilet paper roll!! WHY??

All except the smallest boys can sit on that toilet, use the end of the toilet paper , r e a c h over and grab a fresh roll to put on - all without getting up. So WHY is it empty?

Nothing peeves my pickle more than this type of laziness. Now I admit I am a little neurotic on how the toilet paper goes onto the roll and I have been known to yell when it's on wrong.

The point here is - everyone knows the appropriate way to put toilet paper on the roll. There have been drills, there have been tests. It is knowledge that is ingrained into their tiny brains.

And they all know WHY we put the toilet paper on the correct way :

So we can't even use that as an excuse. And so I must concede that it is just pure laziness on the part of my children that leaves me with an empty toilet paper roll in this situation. Now, of course, I changed it and put a full roll on ... but I'm half tempted to change it back before they get home just to see exactly how long it will take one of them to change it.

I'm pretty sure I need this little reminder and maybe , just maybe it will help?

What do you do to cure chronic laziness in your kids?

The picture that was lost and now is found ;)

2015-10-14T10:47:00.002-04:00

Scrolling through pictures looking for something and I ran across this picture. One I took specifically for the blog but never posted b/c I'm a slacker like that.

This year I was super organized and made cute little signs for the kids to hold in their annual 1st day of school pictures. However, I also have decided that I'm iffy on whether I want to keep sharing pictures of the kids publicly as they get older. Ugh, the worries of adoption. I'm not saying I won't share pictures but I'm torn right now and so instead of seeing my normal couch photo, you get their feet. LOL It's something, yes?

It's hard to believe that we are a quarter of the way through the school year already. Next week is our Fall Break which also means it's Parent/Teacher Conferences. It's a time of year that I dread. We all know that one of the four will get rave reviews from her teacher, the other three are a toss up.

The One With the #MeanMom

2015-10-05T08:30:00.000-04:00

I am pretty much almost always a Mean Mom.

* I make my kids do chores. - What else do you have kids for if not to do the household chores that you hate?

* I make them read for at least 20 mins every night, more if they don't have homework. - hey, reading is good for you!!

* I make them still ride in various forms of car seats/ boosters despite the fact that they are 7-11 yrs old. If the seatbelt doesn't fit right then you sit in a booster, and if you are still scrawny enough to fit in a 5pt harness then by golly you'll be there til you outgrow it. I don't care if you will be 15 by then! lol!

* I believe in grounding. If you break the rules which you clearly know because they have been the same rules forever, then I am going to ground you from whatever you love most. For the oldest (at home) , he gets grounded from being in his room except for actually sleeping b/c as a teenage boy he virtually lives in that room. The others get grounded from anything that requires batteries or being plugged in. Hit 'em where it hurts! That's my motto.

So I thought it might be kinda fun to have Mean Mom Mondays where I can talk about all the ways my kids have deemed me a mean mom. I happen to have a prime example.

Laundry is a chore for the kids. They are responsible for bringing their own laundry to the laundry room in a timely manner. There is nothing I hate more than hearing "I don't have any pants" when they are supposed to be getting dressed for school!! It burns me!

I wash the clothes, I dry the clothes... Heck I even lay out any shirts nicely so they don't get wrinkled from sitting in the dryer or basket. But they must bring their dirty clothes to the laundry room in order for them to get washed. I am not chasing them down. In fact the only part of laundry that they actually do it gather it, fold it & put it away. Not too hard right?

Well I have been getting pretty sick and tired of these kids being slobs. They either a)don't put everything away and just throw it in their closet *ahem. Fishing Pole * or b) they try something on, get told to change b/c it's not weather appropriate and toss said clean clothing item on the floor/bed/chair - so when they are gathering their dirty clothes they get all this clean crap -because by now, who knows what's clean and what's dirty?- and into the laundry it goes.

It infuriates me to be sitting there (yes, I sit on the floor to sort laundry... you try doing laundry for 7 people and see if you don't sit to go thru the mounds) sorting laundry only to come across pairs of matched (clean) socks or a clean shirt that is STILL FOLDED. It kills me. So I finally got sick of yelling b/c let's face it, it doesn't change. I now charge per clean clothing item that I find. Said offender has to give 5 mins of foot rubbing per clean item I find. This is a newly instituted rule in the house and Southern Darlin' just happened to be the first to pay it's price.

Hers was a shirt which she had on for 5 mins and was told to change. Now she tried to blame Spoiled Princess b/c she gathered the laundry but I explained that if she had put the shirt away when she changed, it wouldn't have been laying on the floor/bed/chair and Spoiled Princess wouldn't have thought it was dirty.

Mom - 1 Southern Darlin - 0

There was huffing and eye rolling. We are in the midst of the tween years and she's trying out her attitude. Of course attitude is something else I don't put up with so she got the joy of folding 3 baskets of laundry alone without her siblings help. Yep, Mean Mom status reaffirmed!

Are you a mean mom too?

The One with the catch-all

2015-09-30T12:38:00.001-04:00

Dear bloggy friends,

I have been neglecting you something awful. Do I have excuses? Sure tons!! But like I tell my kids, excuses don't make things better. Just say you're sorry. And so - I'm sorry.

I'm trying to figure out some sort of schedule so I will have a certain topic to post every day (or at least several days a week). Not that I'm so conceited to think you guys actually read here often, but I started this blog as a way to remember all the ups and downs, the little things that pass by so quickly and then the kids are grown and away. If anyone has any ideas - feel free to shout them out!

For now, a major catch up :

Let's just go down the list -

Drama Queen- is back in school and still living with her cousin. Next semester she'll either be moving back home and commuting or more likely getting her own place. She enjoys her freedom but also seems to get a little homesick from time to time.She comes home probably twice a week on average. :) It's hard basically living alone when you come from a large family. Just the general chaos is soothing sometimes! But all in all, she's good! Classes are going well and she's happy!

Attitude King - is a senior in high school this year. We are slowly bypassing the teenage boy stage where the only communication consists of grunts and eye rolls. He actually comes home from school and tells us what he did that day. PROGRESS! He's starting to get excited about college and we have 2 college visits planned this month! Ahhh!! Just when you finally start getting the kid back and he's ready to move away! lol!

Southern Darlin - is a 6th grader this year! In our school system, our elementary goes until 6th grade, then you go to the middle school for 7-8 and the huge high school after that. So this is the last year that she gets to stay in the same school with all her younger siblings. In fact, it's the LAST year that all four will be in the same school ever again! Ahhh ! So anyway, things are starting to get a little tougher for Southern Darlin.. She has switched from having math in a small group setting back to the regular classroom - which means homework every.single.night. Ohh the horrors! She is finally starting to learn the ins and outs of friendship and a bully (who she swore was a friend but was really a controlling brat) finally moved away leaving her with the ability to actually make more friends who are actually nice to her! Yay! In her eyes, the most exciting thing so far about 6th grade is that they get to use iPads! lol! They are supposed to eventually be able to bring them home, but honestly to me- that's just too much responsibility and I don't think she needs the extra screen time anyway. I mean this is the kid who loses her jacket on a weekly basis and breaks a water bottle (how?!) monthly. Yeah, no. So she's not thrilled that I told her the iPads were for school use only. lol. Oops, mean mom strikes again!   She's a tad bit worried about 7th grade already. I keep telling her it's an entire year away!! Worry later! But big worries - #1. She will have to ride the bus (I currently drive the group to school but middle school starts way earlier and it's just not going to happen) #2. No recess!!   So far those are the main worries. lol.

Spoiled Princess - is now in 5th grade! I still remember her first day of kindergarten; I don't know how they grow up so darn fast! She is my straight A student with tons of friends and no school worries. I worry a little that she's going to become too popular and become the mean girl but I've been firmly nipping any signs of that in the bud! lol! She got the brand new teacher at school this year but is totally in love with her :) Lots of new friends. Life is good for her :) All of the kids have been in swim lessons all summer but Spoiled Princess floats about like a cement brick! lol This kid struggles so hard to get this figured out. lol. DH says it's because she doesn't have much fat, just all muscle and us fatties just float easier. lol But of the 4 she certainly tries the hardest!!

Fishing Pole - is now in 4th grade. He's creeping up there! He's struggling bit with paying attention and behaving but overall is having a good year. His grades are decent, of course he gets a C on his midterm and is immediately worried that they will hold him back! lol. Southern Darlin' had an F and could care less. lol. I explained to him that he needed to always do his best but a C would not have them hold him back and again it's way too early to even be worrying about stuff like that! lol! Other than that, the boy has been a medical stress point for me. We saw genetics for both little boys over the summer. Genetics feels that they both possibly have ARND (alcohol related neurodevelopmental deficient) but also with all of Fishing Pole's many different medical issues they want to do chromosomal testing. So now we wait months and months to get insurance approval to get the testing done. If anything comes back ++ on him, then we'll check Dimples too. Next came a routine EKG to check things after we finally convinced the psych dr to put him on a stimulant to help his ADHD instead of the crap stuff he had him on that did nothing. Of course the EKG came back wonky and we had to stop the meds :( wait a while do another EKG - which came back fine - and restart meds. So now we wait for enough time to pass and do yet another EKG. Fun times I tell ya! Oh but that's not all, then the boy has been having severe leg pains and weakness. Dr appt = bloodwork = neg. for any arthritis type factors so now we sit and wait for a PT eval.. I'm honestly wondering if it's just not another sign of his Dystautonomia coming through?    Life is always busy and crazy with this kid!

Dimples - is now in 2nd grade! He's finally gained a little weight and grown so he doesn't look like quite the munchkin in the class. lol. This year his IEP is finally in place. He doesn't have a 1on1 para but another student in the classroom does and they share. This year has been hard for him. He's having a lot of anxiety and is more restlessness/distractability. It's that fine line - the para who has known him for a few years is thrilled that they finally can see some of his personality coming thru which we definitely don't want to squash by raising meds too high, but he's also a distraction in class and having a hard time focusing. Some days it's great and he gets all his work done with no extra help, other days he gets nothing done. This year he has also become more socially aware - in that he says no one is his friend and/or plays with him. Yet he also hasn't really figured out how to play with others well. It's heartbreaking to hear several times a day that he has no friends but I'm at a loss on how to help right now. We've tried steering him towards the girls (who love him) because girls are more nurturing and forgiving than boys. Let's be honest, boys at this age can be little brats. lol. Medical wise, he is doing well. We have a sleep study coming up b/c the boy is having issues sleeping. His sleep meds used to help but don't seem to be working quite as well any longer. He also has some weird puking spells (middle of the night) and is fine the next day, along with random low grade temperatures that are driving me insane. I need to start making a chart so I can see if I can find a pattern. Lol.

Daddy Chaos & I are doing well. We've been working on remodeling the dining room. New paint *gasp* which has brightened the house significantly! My entire house was basically one color when we bought it and I finally got sick of it. lol. New flooring is in the dining room, we plan on putting it into the living room as well once DH recovers from the dining room installation! lol!   I'm still doing final touches - I need to find new drapes and an area rug but then I'll post a picture! :)   I would LOVE to redo the kitchen but that project is just above and beyond my ambitions for quite some time. lol! I know our limits :)

In other news, my niece moved in with us in June right after my great nephew was born. O.M.G. we are all so in love with the newest member to the family! Baby fest in the house every day! Sadly, she just moved out a week ago so we went from playing with the baby daily to not seeing him but maybe once a week. It's an adjustment for us all! lol   He'll be 4months old this week, just another example of how quickly time flies by! Baby D is the cutest, squishiest little boy you've ever met! I'm not the slightest bit biased :) LOL

If you don't read the review blog and need some (or know someone that needs some) proofreading, head over here and check me out! I'm branching out and hoping to add a few more clients to my list! *Note- don't ever look at my writing and judge from there! lol. I'm actually a pretty good proofreader (shameless plug) but I never proofread my blog writing because otherwise I'd never publish anything! LOL! :)

Take care all!

Review : Hotel Transylvania 2

2015-09-24T17:00:00.000-04:00

Hey guys! We had the amazing opportunity to go to an early screening of Hotel Transylvania 2 ! We are HUGE fans of HT 1 so this was something the entire family was excited about!!

First let's talk about the what Hotel Transylvania 2 is all about.

In part one, Mavis (daughter of Drac) falls in love with a Human! *gasp* Drac has spent the past 100+ years shielding his only child from the horrible humans. It ends with Drac and the other monsters realizing that maybe humans aren't so bad after all.

In part two, Mavis and Johnny (the human) have gotten married and had their own little monster. Or is he? Drac is convinced with such strong dracula lines, Dennis MUST be a monster, while Mavis is happy if he is a monster or human. Mavis has decided that if Dennis does turn out to be human, perhaps they should move to a more human location. Meanwhile, Drac is determined to bring out Dennis' vampire side no matter what. Mavis and Johnny go on a vacation to California where Mavis learns the many perks of the human world - Slurpees have SO many flavors!!

Back in Transylvania, Drac and the gang embark on an adventure to force Dennis' fangs to come through.

The entire family loved this movie. The kids even proclaimed that they thought part 2 was better than part 1! How often do you hear that?! lol! I loved the story line behind it. Learning to accept a person (or monster) as they are. Drac is determined that Dennis must be a monster but in the end when it looks like he is a human for sure, he realizes that it doesn't matter. Dennis is his grandson and he loves and accepts him as he is. There were so many funny parts but the top billing (according to the kids) is when a certain vampire bat has a large puff of hair. They couldn't stop giggling over that! We can't wait to buy this one and add it to our movie collection !

This one is well worth the movie ticket! I will say that we saw it in 3D and while it was good like that, I didn't feel it had a TON of 3D effects and would be just as good in regular format ;) So get ready to check it out and be sure to let me know what you thought!

Happy watching,

Momma Chaos

Medieval Times -- Yes, Please!!

2015-07-22T19:59:00.003-04:00

If you remember nothing else about me, you might just remember my love for all things medieval. Knights? Ladies? Jousts? Yes, please! I am convinced I was born in the wrong era. lol. We have traveled to Medieval Times once or twice ... or thrice. lol. I love it Every Time! Love it !

So when I received an email about this new deal from Medieval Times, I couldn't resist sharing with you guys ;) Let me just say it sounds phenomenal to me !

Let's look it over. For your $128 (with code WEB4P) you will receive :

Four Admission Tickets
Four Course Feast fit for a King ... or Queen
Two Rounds of select beverages
Two hour action packed show

and parking is always free :) Valid for shows thru 9/30 ! What are you waiting for? If you want to learn more about MT or just check out our last trip to Medieval Times click here :)

Now take a quick little jaunt over to the Medieval Times website and order your tickets now! I'm even making it super easy for you by putting the link HERE ! No excuses, go forth and have fun!

*Note- this is a limited time offer. How limited? Idk, but just go and get your tickets now :) *

Fare thee well,

Momma Chaos

The one with killings..

2015-03-06T14:38:00.002-05:00

We had a pretty good week or two with Fishing Pole. Safety measures were put into place after the morning we all woke up to the house smelling like matches/smoke. It was explained to him that we need to keep HIM and everyone else safe when he cannot make safe choices. I think taking away the opportunity for bad choices actually makes him more comfortable.

Whether it's the choices being taken away, new meds, or what - something seemed to be helping the behavior and attitude. He had some anxiety about state testing (ugh! Don't get me started!!) but was able to recognize that he was worried about it and talk to me about it (vs acting out, getting in trouble and making me play detective to figure out what was really bothering him). This is real progress! Part of the new safety measures is that he must be on the same floor and within eyesight of an adult. It seems to be working. He has been in a much better mood and very few behavior issues at all. I even complimented him yesterday on how well he was doing and how proud we were on how many good choices he has been making lately.

And then this morning, he woke up in an ugly mood. A mood where Every.Single.Thing is to cause a fight. He will argue over the fact that he is arguing.

I got the lovely "I hate YOU!" again. ooh ahh.. But this time he followed up with "I want to kill you! I really want to kill you!"

Uhmm no, this is just a step too far. Hate me all you want because I know the minute you get out of this mood, you'll be over it. But killing someone? The kid looked dead serious. If he had a gun, I'd be dead. All because a 9yo woke up in a pissy mood and decided I was mean to him.

Naturally as is true Fishing Pole fashion, an hour later he's calm and fine as if nothing ever happened. While I think part of this is normal boy stuff, part of me wonders and worries about what is going on inside his head.

Good Mom or Bad Mom?

2015-03-06T14:19:00.003-05:00

Being a good mother is something I think we all strive to be. With some kids, it's easy. They are people pleasers and always try to do whatever it is to make you happy. I was one of those kids and I have one of those kids. With others, it's not so easy.

Do I think I am a good mother? Yes, and no. I am a good mother to 5 out of 6 of my kids. I have 1 kid who maybe I am not the best mother for him, but I am the mother that he got. This one knows how to push every single button that I possess and knows how to make me angry in 2 seconds flat. Is it his fault? Is it mine? I think we both share that responsibility but he's a child so it falls to me. Does that make it any easier to parent him? No. I love him to bits and pieces but that love doesn't make it easier to deal with certain behaviors.

I am not the slightest bit surprised that I was yelled at this morning:

I don't like you at all! You are a mean awful mom.

That's okay. You don't have to like me. I still love you even when I'm angry with your behaviors.

Well I don't love you! You are the worst mom ever!

Now here we are an hour later and he's wanting to show me his drawings. So yeah, I know his words were in anger and it's typical for a kid to lash out. I've already heard the dreaded "I wish you had never adopted me!" as well.

Knowing that a lot of behaviors are impulses that he can't control (oh please new ADHD meds, please work!) and he realizes later that it was a bad choice and some times a dangerous choice (lighting things on fire in his room - not the best choice). While we deal with each behavior as it happens, I feel many times like I am always yelling. I'm sure he feels the same way.

As a mom to 6 kids, always yelling seems pretty typical. Someone is probably misbehaving at one point, but sadly in my house it's the 1 kid 90% of the time. Sure I try to pick my battles but with a kid who never learns from his mistakes but does the same thing over and over, it's getting more and more difficult.

Am I a good mom? Sometimes.

*I wrote this two weeks ago and never hit publish for some reason. Bad blogger. lol*

It's been 7 hours and 15 days....

2015-01-14T21:54:00.000-05:00

Quick, did anyone get the song reference? I hope so because now I can't get it out of my flippin head! Argh! Sinead, please no more singing in my head! Apparently, I'm showing my age today! lol! Okay, it's really been quite longer since I've posted but it was catchy. We'll just say it's been a while. We've passed thru Christmas, New Years, and two birthdays. Drama Queen turned 19 and moved back home (she's switching to a college closer to home and commuting this semester). Southern Darlin' turned 11 and this was the big birthday. This was the year that she has officially been with us for more birthdays than not. Some days it still seems crazy to me that she hasn't spent her entire life here. She has wormed her way right into the family and it's not until questions about when she was a baby arise that I have to remind myself that we didn't meet her until she was 5.

Once again, I got to play mean mom. I scheduled both girls for oral surgery over Christmas break. What?? They were off school, why not? Drama Queen got all four wisdom teeth out (the day before her bday... ooops) and she is super lucky and ended up with a nice case of dry socket as well. Bonus!! I was given access to her cell phone and given instructions to video tape her when she came out all goofy. Sadly, she woke up and was fine. I was just a tiny bit disappointed. Southern Darlin', on the other hand, was enough laughter to make up for it. She had 4 baby teeth pulled plus 3 exposures (where they cut into the gums, hook little brackets & chains onto the teeth that have decided to go completely sideways instead of down and hook the chains onto her braces). Apparently she was not cooperative with the sedation. She sat there just fine but would not go to sleep. Of course once they got her knocked out, she didn't want to wake up. lol. The dr came out and said he gave her enough meds to knock me & Daddy Chaos out. Eeek! That girl was all over the place. Crying because she was scared (which was super sad), then wanting to sit up and just flopping all over. She had double vision which she thought was quite hilarious and kept giving commentary. Blackmail, my friends, I have blackmail..

Thankfully both girls are healed up from oral surgery and we can finally *hopefully* move forward with Southern Darlin's braces.

We are all trying to adjust to being back in school. We were supposed to start back last week from Christmas break and went for 1.5days but had delays & snow days (which technically were because it was cold as can be and no one goes to school in such --- temps).. Another closure yesterday but we finally went back today. All these delays and closures are playing havoc on Dimples and his need to know what's going to happen next. He did fine for Christmas break because we were able to count down how many days of no school. Sudden changes in the schedule make for an unhappy kiddo. Well that and the fact that he doesn't particularly care for school. lol. I keep hoping that one of these days he'll decide it's not half bad, but I am not holding my breath.. If you hate school in 1st grade, I don't see how it's going to get any better.. lol.

The Birthday Tree- seems appropriate for a Season of Birthdays...

December began the Season of Birthdays. 2 in Dec, 2 in Jan, 2 in March (4 if we count my BIL & niece).. Life is busy and hectic this time of year. And costly. Life is definitely costly during the Season of Birthdays. Along with birthdays come annual well checks. Dimples & Southern Darlin' go to the dr every three months to get a med check (height, weight, blood pressure) so it's nice to see a little growth there. What surprised me this year was that Southern Darlin' has finally left Spoiled Princess in the dust! For years and years, Spoiled Princess was the bigger of the two despite being a year younger. This year Southern Darlin' has finally taken the lead at 4'10.5" & 80lbs! Woot ! Woot! Spoiled Princess is 4'9" & 74lbs. No wonder all the sweat pants/ yoga pants (Soft pants as Dimples calls them ) won't fit around her waist and just fall off. Even more amazing is that Dimples grew 1 inch & gained 1 lb in the past 3 months!! If you recall, this is the kid that has been tiny forever. He's not a whopping 39lbs & 3'9" tall. Yeah, he's still a bit of a munchkin for a 6yo but hey, he's finally grown into 5T pants & size 4/5 shirts (not 4T!!!). It's the little things, people.

I could write on and on about the IEP madness that is about to make me pull my hair out, or the thoughts of another surrogacy and random email I received, or Fishing Pole and his increasing anxiety issues which directly turn into behavioral issues.. But I think this is enough playing catch up for now.

Until another day...

Because I forgot ....

2014-11-17T13:02:00.001-05:00

A while back, before it was super cold , Fishing Pole came home from school with his jacket zipped all the way up. Now this is the same kid who today argued about wearing a jacket when it was actually SNOWING, so my Momma radar was on almost immediately. He got home and went upstairs and immediately put his pajamas on 'because he wanted to be comfortable'. Okay, something big is up. Wth? Finally he says well, I might have gotten just a little bit of paint on my shirt in art today.

This. THIS does not constitute a "little bit" in anyone's books. I asked him why he wasn't wearing his art shirt - you know the hugely oversized paint shirt that we are required to send in at the beginning of the year in order to avoid getting paint on our SCHOOL CLOTHES? He forgot. Of course he did. That seems to be happening a lot lately.

I received a letter home from school. Strike that. He hid a letter from school in his closet under various piles of dirty/clean clothes and shoes -- his sisters found it when I paid them to clean his room so that I didn't kill the kid if I did it myself. I find one thing he's not supposed to have and just pay them to do it b/c after that every little thing that he's taken ticks off my pissed Momma box. Where was I? Oh yes, the letter. This letter was written by him (with prompts) and I was supposed to sign it and send it back.

" I am sorry that I stood on the shelf and broke it. I will not do it again."

Me: Fishing Pole, why in the world were you standing on the shelf at school?
FP: Well I forgot that I wasn't supposed to.
Me: .. ... ...

How in the world do you 'forget' something like that? Apparently my kid is extra talented in the forgetting department :-)

Today I was organized ... somewhat

2014-11-05T19:20:00.000-05:00

Today I spent 3+ hours organizing my Kindle.

Yes, you read that correctly. ORGANIZING my KINDLE... Apparently I am that person. My bookshelf used to be in alphabetical order, grouped by authors until I had kids. Now my books are hiding in cupboards away from tearing hands. No Touchy Momma's books!

I seem to have this one-click problem. Especially when I see a free book. I simply cannot pass up free. I tend also to be that person that will take a free item even if I have absolutely no use for it. For instances, Sam's Club has these adorable vending machines where you scan your member card and get free samples. Last week I scanned both my card & Dh's card in order to get free coffee creamer. We do NOT drink coffee.    It's okay, I'll give it to my mom - if I remember. FREE Stuff gets to me people.

This is why my Kindle (I have no idea why I feel I need to capitalize Kindle every time. I just do) had almost 200 unorganized books just floating around in there. So I spent my day writing down all the books, then looking them up on Amazon to discover what Genre they were - it's amazing and slightly irritating that I couldn't always tell based on the cover- and then put them in the appropriate 'collection'.    By the time I was done, every book was in it's corresponding collection and I had a headache so I didn't get to actually read any of them. :sigh:

And now as I sit here typing this - some old Godzilla remake from the 90's is playing on the TV and I keep catching glances of Matthew Broderick and am constantly confused as to why Inspector Gadget is being chased by dinosaurs...

This is my life.

Happy Halloween !

2014-10-31T10:49:00.000-04:00

This year I am being a bad mom. I did not bring up Halloween, Trick-or-Treating, or costumes to my kids to see if they would ask about it themselves. They waited until TUESDAY to say "Hey, are we going to go trick-or-treating this year? What should we be?" Uhm, nope guys - no trick-or-treating this year. Actually they took it just fine.

I have several reasons beyond my own laziness for not participating this year.

1. Dimples does not do well with tons of strangers and around people all hyped up. Last year our neighborhood had a small trick-or-treating day before Halloween just for our own neighborhood kids. He actually got a kick out of that because it was controlled. The entire neighborhood kids got in a line and did a parade of sorts thru the neighborhood collecting candy. There was order to it, clear rules not chaos - this is what Dimples likes. This year, with Halloween being on a Friday, our neighborhood didn't do anything early.

2. I am not a creative one who can whip up a costume from our closets and go. No, if my kids want to dress up that means buying 4 costumes and frankly, I'm not feeling that expenditure. #CheapSkate

3. I don't give my kids a lot of candy. I have 3 who have ADHD ,do you think they need more of a sugar rush? Uhmm, no. We end up tossing out the leftover Halloween candy around Easter and the leftover Easter candy around Halloween. It's not worth it.

This year, we are going to stay in. I'm contemplating taking them to the movies because it's sure to be bare there tonight with all the other witches and goblins out raiding people for candy :)

Speaking of movies - I cannot wait for this one to come out!

My husband refuses to let me watch #Supernatural without him, hence this post

2014-10-30T13:20:00.000-04:00

Over the course of 2(?) months, I have gotten thru Seasons 1-7 of Supernatural. You might say that we are just a tiny bit addicted. Nonetheless, I have learned several things during this sabbatical into the Supernatural world which I will now share with you. Let me addiction encourage your own addiction...

1. No matter how many times Dean or Sam die and go to Hell (or Purgatory, or Heaven) they will always come back. This was kind of a given since the show is about them. Still, I think the writers must have a contest every season on how best to kill off one of our studs.

2. Bobby loves to say BALLS & Idjits like a lot. I love Bobby. When he died , I cried. Then he came back as a ghost and died again. I think the writers were having a contest on how many times they could make the viewer cry over the same person. I'm still not 100% he's not coming back some way or the other. I just started Season 8 people, there's still time!

3. Season 8- Dean is in league with a vampire?? What the hell happened in Purgatory and WHERE is CASS???

4. Season 10 *which just started for you non-viewers* teasers and commercials are KILLING me. I don't want to know what's going on 2 seasons from now, but on the other hand - I really really do!!

5. Watching an entire series on Netflix completely spoils you for regular tv watching. No more commercials to fast forward thru (because we DVR all our shows to skip commercials), now there's just a moment of black screen and then moving on with the show. We have still not perfected the art of fast forwarding thru commercials- either you come up too short and have to watch the tail end of some toilet paper commercial or you go too far and have to rewind while valiantly trying to not look at the screen so you don't get a spoiler.

6. When you have watched 7 episodes in a row and they suddenly do a flashback to 4 years ago, you sit there yelling at the tv - No, Sam did NOT look like that four years ago. Come on!


Sam Season 1

Sam Season 6

So as you see, I have learned many things while entertaining my obsession with Sam & Dean Winchester.. Least of which is the enormous amount of pins to be found on pinterest. Enjoy a few of my favorites while I sit back and contemplate whether to slow my viewing down (on Season 8 now, Season 10 is live) so that I am not forced to wait an entire week per episode in the very very near future. #HazardsOfSupernaturalAddiction ...

Unlocked doors = spilled milk

2014-10-29T10:53:00.001-04:00

There is nothing worse than being in the middle of pumping and hear someone walk into your house saying "Hello?".

This was my morning ... ugh.

Someone remind me again why in the world people give their sprinkler company the code to the garage? And why in the world would said sprinkler people not ring the doorbell before just barging in? *Note- we did not give them the #, the previous owners did. I'm not that particular brand of crazy.*

So here I am, sitting on the bed , hooked up to the pump, with the dog in my lap, and playing Monster Busters on my phone. Yes, for 15mins ever 3-4hours I play games on my phone. I tried reading during my pumping time, but 15mins is not enough time and I can't put a book down after that short amount. I can however, use up all 5 of my lives in one, sometimes two games. Back to this morning - I'm sitting there pumping, doing my normal stuff when I hear a noise and then a man's voice saying Hello? Quite honestly, my first thought was WTH my 15 mins are not up yet! I can't stop . But a strange man walking into your house is something that you just have to deal with, 3mins left of pumping or not.

So here I am trying to disengage the pump - quickly and with as little mess as possible because There.is.a.stranger.in.my.house. If you have ever pumped before, you will know that stopping mid-flow so to speak is not the cleanest way to stop. Drips may occur. Thankfully I was able to get things covered up with no wet spots to speak of and deal with my intruder.

Remind me to start locking the door from the garage to the house. :sigh: