1momjustsaying

Global Warming - How I Love Thee

miaarticoli@verizon.net (Mia) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 13:22:00 +0000

We've been having a new roof put on our house. This project was supposed to take place a month ago, but with the weekend weather for most of October being rainy and then the flu set in on the men who were doing the work (i.e. Husband and his friends) they didn't get started until recently.

It was cold on the weekend that they started but sunny. This weekend they planned to finish it up. What a glorious weekend it turned out to be.

Boy Child and Diva have been in their "I can't stand you" modes all week. They were bouncing off the walls and off of each other to the point of my shear exhaustion. I think I said "Stop Touching Her!!" eleventy-billion times. So finally, finally, by the grace of God, global warming decided to hover over Pittsburgh this weekend and give us the nicest two days.

I was able to take them to the park and they were able to bounce off some new kids and swing until they were exhausted, sweaty and sore. Tonight they can come home from school and go into the backyard and swing some more. Yeah me!

Help'n her spread the Christmas Crazy

miaarticoli@verizon.net (Mia) — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 15:01:00 +0000

I just saw and ad that said there was 48 days until Christmas. Oh my, I'm so behind schedule. I haven't even started the shopping for Thanksgiving. I certainly haven't started the Christmas shopping yet. We get a double whammy at Christmas because my nephew has his birthday on Christmas day and my Boy Child has his two days later. Not to mention that my dad's is then a week after that. Yikes! I really do need to get it in gear. My kids have been adding to their Santa list for months. It has been up on our refrigerator since summer. They were very careful during our move to be sure that list didn't get lost. Yeah, wonder how much of that stuff will actually make it under the tree.

Well, if you are kinda, almost done with your shopping then I'm very envious. If you might have some extra money left over you might want to stop by a really great blog so that you might be able to help out some kids have a happier Christmas than usual. If you read here http://www.theburghbaby.com/2009/11/christmas-crazy-for-kids.html you will find out what greatness she is putting together for some Pittsburgh kids.

Also, since it is Thanksgiving time and we should all reflect on all that we have to be thankful for and if your family likes to do something special for those who need some extra help during the Christmas season and you want to bring a smile to some families ~ then I encourage you to stop by her site.

Ghouls Among Us

miaarticoli@verizon.net (Mia) — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 14:15:00 +0000

For my kids it seemed to take forever for Halloween to get here. For me, it snuck up on me way too fast. With sickness and my chaos at work with our Gala that took place in October I just never seemed to catch a gear and get it together. We never even carved our pumpkin. It looks like Mr. Pumpkin will now be my Thanksgiving decoration or end up being a snack for the deer.

It was exciting for me this year that my kids didn't want to be the pooh pooh baby stuff costumes. I've been waiting for them to come around to the ghoulish side of Halloween for years now. I hope the trend continues because next year I want to finally do the decorating in the manner this holiday deserves. Oh yeah, I know I'll have to ease into it but at least I now know my foot is in the door.

We had one vampire and and one zombie this year. Mom was pleased.

We headed back to our old stomping grounds to do the trick-or-treating this year, because we now live on a private drive that only has us and one other house. The kids were excited to see all the neighbors that we just adore. Dad was happy because the neighborhood it flat - no hills to climb. I was excited that I could sit with my friend and drink mango margaritas (strictly to keep warm I tell ya) and gossip and gawk at the great costumes all the kids had this year.

Boy Child was in rare form this year. We have never been prouder of his behavior. He was perfect. This was the first year he didn't attempt to enter everyone's houses, he didn't stop at all the mechanical decorations and try to figure out their inner workings, he didn't whine, pout or tantrum. This was a wonderful blessing. He was polite, engaging, had appropriate conversations with people and Husband said he was a joy to be with. Huhh? That, my friends, is something that has not been said in this house for a very long time. Thank you God.

Diva was excited to hang out with her friend from the old house. Unfortunately, she was disappointed in the level of enthusiasm from her friend. It was an awkward and slightly uncomfortable evening for her. I feel badly about that. It isn't like we've moved that far away but yet this girl acts as if we have moved across the state. Maybe it will work out, maybe it will fade away - time will tell.

As soon as I saw these fellas coming down the street, I knew Boy Child was going to freak out. He loves SuperMario and Luigi from the Wii games. No sooner did those words come out of my mouth did Boy Child spy them from the opposite end of the street and come running to them screaming their names - Mario, Luigi, Mario Luigi. How we all laughed. The boys were good sports and got a very big kick out of it. They even let me snap their photo with him.

As you can see, the evening was a huge success. The bounty was enormous. The kids had a blast.

...and I bet the dreams were sweet!

Fever and Boogers and Coughing ~ Oh My

miaarticoli@verizon.net (Mia) — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 22:51:00 +0000

On Wednesday I received a phone call from Boy Child's school that he had a fever. Poor little man, he was so pale and had dark circles under his eyes. When I got there he said "Mommy I'm so glad you came for me. I'm so happy to see you." So we made a pit stop to Rite Aid pharmacy to stock up on the Motrin, Tylenol, and Triaminic.

I've been wiping with Clorox wipes and spraying Lysol on everything.

On the second day he was quite sick with the fever and the usual cold symptoms of cough, stuffiness and headache. The fever was up to 102.5 and he says so quietly to me, "Mommy, I'm worried." I asked why he was worried and he replied, "I think I'm going to die, I feel so terrible." I assured him that his life has just begun and he was not going to die. He just had a virus and would feel better soon. Poor thing.

On Saturday, Diva started with the watery eyes and runny nose and feeling like poop. Then by the time Husband came home from work on Saturday he also was beginning a fever.

It has been such a wonderful 5 days of taking care of my family of sickos - literally. Poor things. As of Sunday morning Boy Child has had no fever. Diva is feeling a bit better. Husband is still suffering. NyQuil is his best friend right now. That and football.

I hope they remember how kind I've been when it finally hits me.

Are you feeling clickie?

miaarticoli@verizon.net (Mia) — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 17:58:00 +0000

The Animal Rescue Site is having trouble getting enough people to click on it daily so they can meet their quota of getting *FREE FOOD* donated every day to abused and neglected animals. It takes less than a minute (about 15 seconds) to go to their site and click on the purple box fund food for animals for free. This doesn't cost you a thing. Their corporate sponsors/advertisers use the number of daily visits to donate food to abandoned/neglected animals in exchange for advertising.

Here's the web site! Please pass it along to people you know.

http://www.theanimalrescuesite.com/

What a bugger.

miaarticoli@verizon.net (Mia) — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 15:32:00 +0000

We went to my brother's house this weekend to celebrate his birthday. We were very reluctant to go because of Boy Child and how most events always end up. Because we hadn't seen my brother since last Easter we decided it would be nice to go and watch the Steelers game with them.

Before we were out the door Boy Child had started his usual antics of hitting and pushing and hurting his sister. At one point Husband asked him why he had to always ruin everything.

As it turns out, Boy Child was fabulous. He was all "okay, mom" and played nicely and didn't hit or hurt anyone. We were so proud of him. It was an enjoyable family gathering for a change. So uplifting.

When we were getting ready to leave, however, Boy Child went up to his father and said "Dad, you owe me an apology. I DO NOT always ruin everything." Well, that sure made Husband feel awful. Boy Child was right and he did get his apology. When Husband told me of this, I just cried.

He is such a bugger, a smart one at that.

I'm just say'n - It's one of those days.

miaarticoli@verizon.net (Mia) — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 19:23:00 +0000

I've been so busy the past few weeks. Other than the events at work though, I cannot even tell you what I've been busy doing. It is a shame really.

Because I love Fall. I love the temperatures, I love the colors, I love Halloween and Thanksgiving. I love pumpkin flavored breads, cookies, cakes and pies. Oh and the pumpkin pie Blizzards at Dairy Queen are just awesome.

I've always dreamt of the things I would do with my kids in Fall. Taking walks, choosing Halloween costumes, baking, going to pumpkin patches, having campfires, craft shows ~ well you get the picture.

We don't do those things. We don't do anything. Everything we do seems to be hurried and a hassle. There really isn't much enjoyment in the process or any memory being made. Unless you count the memory of aggravation and stress over how to afford whatever it is that you want to go do.

Quite frankly, I'm sick of it. I know Diva is sick of it too. Her friends all go shopping on Saturdays and they go here and there, so when she calls them they aren't around. It just echos the fact that she is around and not here or there.

Normally, I would say that you can stay home and still enjoy things but you see we have Boy Child. This makes things not normal. If you want to watch a movie, he is pushing or poking. If you want to play the Wii he is hitting or grabbing. If you want to play outside he is throwing or chasing you with something to hit you with. So, you couple those antics with the response from Diva ~ you know the screaming and oh yeah the screaming, and did I mention the screaming ~ you get aggravation and sometimes disgust with it all.

Boy Child is really starting to get sick of not having any friends. He says it all the time, but yet he just won't learn the lessons that he needs to in order to make friends. It's quite a quandary because he is at a special school for kids with behavior and emotional problems and he is surrounded with kids who act just like him. Part of me is saying that it is a good thing for him to see how it feels to be on the receiving end of his behavior but then we worry that he will think that this is the norm, what school is really like. I'm on the fence with that because he doesn't like those kids at school very much because they act the way they do and he wants to be around the kids who don't act that way. Yet for a kindergarten boy who is working at the third/fourth grade level academically you would think he would be smart enough to understand the differences and adapt. He knows, I know he knows. He just won't keep his hands to himself.

We so desperately want to start doing things as a family. I want to go downtown and hang out at Station Square or at the Point. I want to go to a Pirates game - yeah I know they suck but at least when I cannot pay attention to the game because I'm tending to Boy Child I won't be missing anything. We want to go on a vacation - like actually get on an airplane and go to a hotel vacation.

But mostly, I'd really like to just enjoy watching my kids doing whatever it is they enjoy doing. Together, as a family. I'd love to watch Boy Child play a sport or something. It would be nice for all of us together to go to Diva's softball games.

I have so much envy when I read the other mom blogs who get to "do things" - they have play dates, and dinners, and fun stuff. If I want to "do things" it would take a great deal of organization and chaos and aggravation before I even get out the door, then I would be so consumed with what was going to go wrong that I would never enjoy it, that's if I can even get out the door without a stomach ache.

So when these kind of days hit me, I try to find the zen in the day and what is going right and what is good. Like today, my kids had way more moments of not getting along but when they did it was sweet. Diva read to Boy Child for 30 minutes today. They sat in the same chair and were sweet to one another for 30 minutes. There was no screaming, not hitting, no punching, no anything. That was a miracle. I'll take it. It keeps me going. Enjoy your day!

50 Cents

miaarticoli@verizon.net (Mia) — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 23:17:00 +0000

Okay, so it is a rainy day in the 'Burgh. What else can you do but purchase 3 mustaches by the gumball machines on your way out of the grocery store for 50 cents each.

Yeah, we had a ball and it only cost us $1.50 but the memories will be priceless!

One Hour

miaarticoli@verizon.net (Mia) — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 21:00:00 +0000

In one hour I can get a lot accomplished.

Really, think about it. What can you get done in one hour?

Most days I crave for one hour uninterrupted.

This is what Boy Child can get done in one hour.

Yep, he had to write his 10 spelling words 2x each.

I guess if you count the poo break, the 9 times falling off his chair, the methodically tearing the paper while mom was out of the room, the throwing the paper in the garbage and then retrieving it and the 17 kisses I received while helping him with this task, he really did accomplish a lot in one hour.

Whew!

Peek A Boo

miaarticoli@verizon.net (Mia) — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 09:16:00 +0000

I see you!

My Memory

miaarticoli@verizon.net (Mia) — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 12:47:00 +0000

I remember that day very well.

I was at work when my husband called me to say that a plane had just crashed into the Twin Towers in New York City.

I remember my office scrambling to get a radio on that would give us some information, any information on what was going on. I remember us hearing that moment when the second plane hit the towers.

I remember my desk phone ringing and it was a colleague up on a different floor speaking in a panicked tone. She was telling me information that was not yet on the news, as she received a phone call from her family member who worked at the Pittsburgh International Airport. She spoke about the Pentagon also having a plane crash into it and then she said that a plane was high jacked and crashed in Shanksville, PA.

I relayed this info to my boss and he just sat there stunned. He then told me to tell the Department that if anyone wanted to leave for the day that we could. He said that the uncertainty of what may occur for this day might make it difficult to leave the downtown area hours from now.

Then we heard the confirmation of the Pentagon crash and the Shanksville, PA crash on the radio. You could hear the controlled fear in the announcer's voice. A co-worker started crying. Her father was the highest-ranking civilian working in the Pentagon. She couldn't reach him by cellphone or by his office phone. She was terrified.

By the time I shut down my workstation and headed to my car to get my 2 year old Diva from daycare all cellphones were no longer working. I remember that seeming a bit surreal to me. I sat at a red light and looked to the sky thinking my God how could this happen in America.

I picked up my child at the daycare and the daycare had no idea what was happening. They obviously do not have the TV or radio on there. They hurried to get the TV on at that point.

When I got home, my baby played with her toys just happy to be home with her mommy. I sat glued to the TV watching the events unfold. It was all too real and very very sad for the loss of all those lives. I kept thinking what an awful, horrible, painful way to die. I hugged my daughter so many times that day, thinking that you just never know what could happen to you at any moment. Those folks in the Towers were just going to work, like any other ordinary day. I wonder how many had an argument with there kids or spouse that morning and left in a bad mood or how many left that morning thinking that this was going to be such a great day and they were looking forward to something or some event coming up. Sad, just too sad.

I remember over the next few days, sitting outside with Diva while she played thinking how eerily quiet it was without any airplanes in the sky. I remember at work how we had professors that were stranded at their conventions and were renting cars with strangers to drive home from several states away, since no one knew when the planes would be flying again.

Those were the days of a reality check for many people. We came together as a Nation then. Individuals stopped being so self-centered and started caring more for their fellow Americans. We were reminded of what made our beautiful country so great. We were reminded of the freedoms that we do have and how thankful we are to have them. We were reminded that we never wanted to lose these freedoms, not even for an instant.

Today I pray for those folks that lost their lives on September 11, 2001. I pray for their families too. I pray that we all never forget that day. I pray that we all remember that this is the greatest country in the world and we should never let our freedoms be taken away from us ever. We should always remember why so many immigrants come to this nation each and every day ~ ask them, they will tell you why they come here ~ freedom of choice. Freedom of choice whether it be to pray, to work, to have medical care, to be educated, or to become rich. All of these are available to us each and every day unlike individuals in other countries.

Let us never forget.

So What - It Was Great!

miaarticoli@verizon.net (Mia) — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 13:07:00 +0000

This post is a long time in coming. We have struggled for the last 3 years with Boy Child and his problems. I have been on a crusade for the last 11 months to get him placed in a school that will help him to get his emotional/behavior problems in check as well as foster his genius IQ so that he isn't bored.

It has been a tremendous strain emotionally for the entire family. We have had to even resort to putting him on a medicine. That was a very difficult decision to make for us and one that we still struggle with daily.

But the fight has been won and we were able to get Boy Child placed in the school that we feel will best help him right now. Our goal is not for him to stay there but rather for him to learn what is expected from him in school and the structure and rules for safety and then to migrate him back to our public school. Hopefully, that will unfold in a timely manner rather than be a lingering objective.

So today, when I put him on the school bus this morning, it will be with a joyful heart. I'm still sad to see that my baby boy is starting his journey toward leaving the nest, but I'm excited to see how he develops and starts to explore his personality on a new level.

UPDATE: Okay so the morning bus (supposedly)broke down and they were 40 minutes late. So what that he had to be restrained twice and was kicking, hitting, spitting and biting the teachers. Who cares that the afternoon bus was an hour late to get home. When you ask Boy Child how his first day of school was, his reply was "It was great, Mom!" I guess that is all that really counts for the first day of Kindergarten.

Blow 'em out!

miaarticoli@verizon.net (Mia) — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 02:13:00 +0000

Diva celebrated her 10th birthday over the last week. It is so hard to believe that she is double digits now!

She is turning into such a wonderful young lady.

We love you so much baby girl! Happy Birthday!

It's all worth it when you see them smile

miaarticoli@verizon.net (Mia) — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 12:37:00 +0000

With all the work and stress of moving that took place over the last month, we are still exhausted - mentally and physically. We are finally 100% moved into our new location and are settling in quite nicely. Yesterday, the last piece of furniture finally was moved - the piano. If you never have to move, don't do it. What a ridiculous episode it is to go through your belongings and pack them up, just to unpack them again. You find things that you never remember having or thought you got rid of long ago. I found this under my steps in the laundry room at the house we were moving out of. Boychild fessed up that he had tossed this in there quite some time ago. Eeewwww.

Diva is really enjoying her new school and Boy Child starts next week. He is counting down the days. I hope he likes it as much as he thinks he will. It will be quite a change for him. We are really hopeful that this school will help him and we will eventually be able to mainstream him back to public school.

The kids are really enjoying the backyard fun ~ as you can see by the photos and video. I keep telling them to just wait until next Spring when we get the pool up and running, then the real fun starts. It's just too late in the season to go through the hassle of installing a new liner and filling it up, just to turn around and cover it for winter. We decided to just start fresh in the Spring.

We really feel at home here, it's going to be a very nice new beginning.

No, Not My Daughter

miaarticoli@verizon.net (Mia) — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 15:40:00 +0000

Were in the world does the time go? One minute I'm rocking and singing my baby to sleep at 2am and the next I'm calming down the new school jitters at 3am. Either way I guess I'm still tired. I want to scream to Father Time though to stop it, stop making time fly so fast. I cannot believe Diva is going to the 5th Grade.

Today marks the first day of school for Diva. This is not just any ordinary first day of school either. This is the first day of school at a NEW school and a PUBLIC school for that matter.

Gone are the uniforms that made life so easy. Here are the days of school clothes shopping for those clothes that are so in style and cool but yet don't cross the line to hussy. What an interesting experience it is to clothes shop with a tween girl! I don't wish it upon anyone.

Gone also is the class size of 13. She now has 48. So nice that she will have more than 9 girls in the grade to make friends with, and boy is she looking forward to that.

I'm more nervous for her than she is. I was tossing and turning all night. She came into my bed at 3am saying that she couldn't fall back asleep. So we talked of when I was in 5th Grade and we laughed and then she yawned and went to sleep. I love her so much. I worry that the parochial school she had attended won't be up to par academically to the public school and she will feel overwhelmed and be behind. I worry that her first day will be awful and she will dread returning. I worry that she will get on the wrong bus coming home. I just worry, she is a very sensitive girl. Silly to worry, I know.

Today also marks the first day of school with contact lenses. How excited she is for that. She has very large blue eyes and Dad had enough of her glasses. She likes the kind that are black or color plastic frames and he wants her to have the wire frames. It's not her and she knows it. So his compromise was to eliminate the glasses altogether and get her contacts. I was 16 when I was allowed contacts. Incredible how times have changed.

I cannot wait until she gets home, so she can tell me all about it!

Brotherly Love

miaarticoli@verizon.net (Mia) — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 09:44:00 +0000

At first glance you think awwww how sweet the siblings are hugging.

Take a better look, notice the face of Diva is pain, notice the death-grip Boy Child has on her arm and neck. Brotherly love right there.

Oh man, we caved

miaarticoli@verizon.net (Mia) — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 00:43:00 +0000

When you have children you worry about their safety constantly. I'm having a difficult time in letting Diva explore her boundaries. I worry about her safety in public. The news is riddled with so many stories of abuse and stupid things tweens/teens are doing.

I worry about Boy Child but I worry about him in a different way since he is never anywhere without us. I worry about his safety because he does unsafe acts - like running without looking where he is going, like bolting out the front door and down the street, being too rough with other children - things of that nature. Not the same worry at this point in his life.

Girls you worry in a different manner for their safety. Diva is a good girl and she still has a conscience that slants to the guilt ridden side. If she did falter she would own up to it because it would eat at her until she told on herself. I'm thankful for that. I worry that she is not street smart enough to know when not to trust people. I've talked to her but she isn't exposed enough yet at this age to understand without me getting into graphic detail about what I mean.

She still plays with Barbies and the majority of her Internet interest is still the Build-a-Bear site and iCarly. She still is on the fence about Santa, even when we flat out told her the truth when she asked last year. She just refused to believe it, which suited us just fine. It's just way more fun when they believe - time enough for growing up later on those situations.

We have been debating on the cell phone issue for months now. There have been quite a few occasions where it would have been extremely helpful if she had a phone for us to call and or she to call us. Like camping with the Girl Scouts or softball practice or at after school program. So, today was the big day. We caved in and got her a cellphone. Oh how I may regret this but with school starting up and fall softball and after school bowling, I think it just may come in handy. I just hope she is responsible enough to take care of it. She has done very well with the iPod Santa brought her at Christmas and also with the Nintendo DS her aunt and pap pap bought her at Christmas also. Except for yesterday when Boy Child snapped it backward and broke it - but that's another story.

If anyone has any words of wisdom for us or horror stories I'd love to hear 'em!

Where did I put that invisibility cloak anyway?

miaarticoli@verizon.net (Mia) — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 01:44:00 +0000

Did you ever wish you could become invisible? or be like a chameleon? You would think that they could have figured out how to make that invisibility cloak by now, right?

There are some days where that would be really very cool to do. Today, well today would be one of those days.

Boychild had his first ever dentist appointment. He worried about it for days. This morning he tried to convince me that he was sick and couldn't go. Oh yeah, I talked to him about it and Diva told him all about it and he would laugh and smile but it was that smile that you knew was just for show. I keep telling myself that I'm going to stop preparing him for events. We were told repeatedly via the wraparound services and psychologists that it was best to discuss the upcoming events and this way he could plan and prepare himself. We could tell him in advance repeatedly what our expectations were for him. I think that approach for Boychild is just a bunch of hooey. I think that he would be best if I just said hey get your shoes on we have someplace to go and just tell him when we get there.

We got to the dentist office and it was like he was a crackhead in search of his score. He was weaving in and out of the rooms stealth-like and non-stop chatter. It was like he owned the joint and they were his minions. Thankfully, there was only one other patient in the office at the time and that one was just finishing up. Everyone was catering to him but heck I couldn't keep up. Then when you tried to talk to him he would just scream at you. Sheeeesh, I tell you.

Then they decided that the best idea was to have Diva go first. Heck the poor girl didn't even have an appointment but she went along with it. She had a strange look on her face, like she had wished she had flossed that morning or something. He watched for a while then decided it was his turn. He didn't quite get that now he had to wait for his turn. So I had to hold him on my lap for a few minutes. He was like trying to put a greased pig in a barrel.

I wished I hadn't forgotten the camera and I wish I knew how to get the photos off of my phone so you all could see that he did in fact simmer down and had his cleaning and exam after all. I'm glad that there are no videos of me and Diva doing the funky dance of praise for Boychild while he waited the 1minute for the fluoride treatment.

Yep, invisibility cloaking would sure be nice some days.

Craziness Abound

miaarticoli@verizon.net (Mia) — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 23:33:00 +0000

There has been a lot of hustle and bustle around our house lately. I've been so busy I'm not even sure what the date is. It has taken me 4 days to write this post. Seriously.

Diva's team won the 10U Fastpitch Championship! In remembering last year her team won the championship for slowpitch too. She has become interested in pitching this year and has gotten to pitch in quite a few games. She has really done very well considering she hasn't had any formal coaching or attended any clinics on pitching. Now she is even interested in fall softball and wants to go to a clinic this winter to really learn the pitching techniques. Good for you Diva ~ I'm glad you have found something you are interested in. Please don't be angry at Daddy when he becomes a bit over zealous with you. He has a bit of an addictive personality and since Boy Child has no interest what-so-ever in sports (he's a bit of a techno geek) he tends to overcompensate with you, sorry but he just loves you so much and sports and movies are his ways of feeling connected to you.

We finally made it to Pap Pap's campsite for a Zambelli fireworks display. It was a week later than the holiday this year but still just as wonderful as always. Diva and Boy Child both caught their first fish! Man you should have seen the excitement on Diva and Boy Child's faces when they told me all about it (I was busy fighting with my sister back in the trailer). It was a very nice day at the camp this year. The kids played on the playground, fished, road in the annual golf cart parade, road their bikes and saw fireworks. Heck what more could a kid ask for?

This week I found out that my co-worker is quitting. I'm not really surprised since she hasn't even been there a year and has already been on probation. She just doesn't quite click. She didn't even announce it to our supervisor in person, she waited until she was on vacation this week and wrote a ridiculous email about something that she couldn't possibly handle from vacation anyway even if she wanted to and then threw in the "oh yeah by the way" sentence that HR was going to be calling. Coward. My work environment is much like my life - high tension, drama-filled and consuming. If you cannot be quick thinking, detail-oriented and manage to calm everyone's ruffled feathers (usually over nothing) at crunch time, then you really do need to hit the road. I have never in the 25 years of working ever had a job that wasn't like that. Really. I'm a sucker for it I guess or it is just my niche. Whatever it is, I'm tired. Unfortunately, I'm about to get even more tired I guess.

The Letter

miaarticoli@verizon.net (Mia) — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 20:46:00 +0000

I try very hard to not get on my soap box and spew my political ideologies or religious beliefs on this blog. I respect and adore that we live in a country where we all have the right to our own beliefs. I may not agree with everyone out there and you may not agree with me but that is what makes our country so wonderful. Our freedom to live our lives the way we want to without being persecuted is why there are so many different people from all over the globe who risk their lives and the lives of their families to come to our country to live and enjoy the same freedoms.

But lately I've noticed that the men and women who we have elected to represent us are not really paying attention to us and what we want. They seem to be in some impenetrable bubble with their hands over their ears singing the "la la la la, I don't hear you song" and not focusing on what is best for the country and our futures. It is quite frightening really. What is even more frightening to me is that I feel like the majority of the people, especially those 20-something and younger crowds, really do not care and have lost some of their rationale for what is right and wrong. There has to be accountability or their will be chaos and that is why our Forefathers painstakingly designed our country to be a Republic, because they had the insight to and clarity to know what would happen to us as a country if we failed to understand where things can go very very wrong.

I fear that we have made that turn in the road which is leading us down to the track of things going very very wrong. I'm not putting blame on one man, please understand that. This has been a collective process of sweeping things under the rug and let's just get re-elected at whatever cost by all politicians for several years. But I do need to say that I believe the current batch of folks in Washington have lost all credibility and do not see what destruction they are creating for our children's futures. The folks in Washington do not live the same lives as us. Because we have done away with term limits, they do not take a hiatus from their everyday jobs to work in Washington for a while and then return back to their everyday jobs and live by the same laws and rules that they just passed - as was intended. They live in their bubble, they have their own health care, their own retirement plans, their own schools, they vote on their own pay raises, and are pampered and catered to daily. They do not live the same lives that we do any longer. They preach to us to hate the rich and wealthy, but yet they are all rich and wealthy. History has proven that with power comes greed and with greed comes destruction.

I recently ran across this article on the Glenn Beck website. Now don't get all up in arms and think that it is going to be some right-wing wacko stuff. Just read it. It makes sense. Here is an excerpt from the article:

. . . Take a breath. Listen to the people. Let's just slow down and get some input from some nonpoliticians on the subject. Stop making everything an emergency. Stop speed reading our bills into law. I am not an activist. I am not a community organizer. Nor am I a terrorist, a militant or a violent person. I am a parent and a grandparent. I work. I'm busy. I'm busy. I am busy, and I am tired. I thought we elected competent people to take care of the business of government so that we could work, raise our families, pay our bills, have a little recreation, complain about taxes, endure our hardships, pursue our personal goals, cut our lawn, wash our cars on the weekends and be responsible contributing members of society and teach our children to be the same all while living in the home of the free and land of the brave. . . . .

I have provided you with the link here. Please take a moment and read it. Please let's all become educated on the happenings of our country. Let's not rely on the TV news channels. Let's use our own judgement and find out more information on things from various sources. We the People are who matter most right now. We have the ability to make sure our freedoms are not stripped from us in the middle of the night while we sleep. Please just think and use common sense not political bias. I have never in my life voted for someone just because they were of the same party as mine. I listen to their beliefs and I choose who best fits with what I believe is best for this country. So many people have so much to lose right now, it doesn't matter if you are gay, straight, black, white, latino, asian, etc. We are a great country "together" and we need to make sure that the folks deciding our futures are deciding it with our best interests, not theirs, at heart.

Anyone around me can tell you that my life is extremely stressful right now. Some days I feel like I'm losing the battle, but then I gather the strength and keep going. I have people that depend on me to do the best I can. I'm sure my husband feels the same. We have lost so much in the last 2 years but we haven't lost our family. We have our daily struggles with Boy Child and the ramifications of that takes its toll on all of us, especially Diva, on a daily basis. We have our daily money crisis. We have lost all of our savings and my retirement 401K is at a whopping $14K. My husband has to rebuild his business from the ground up. We are back to renting a house after 12 years of owning. We cannot go on vacations or just head to the mall. Yet, with all of our life's downs we know that we live here, in the United States of America, where everyone's dreams can and do come true. We pray to God for strength and the wisdom we need. We will work hard as we always do and we will have our dreams come true. None of that is done with greed, malice, or one-sidedness. We analyze our situation, research our best approach and act on the best scenario that will help our family to succeed. That is what I'm sure you all do as well. So why don't we expect the folks in Washington to do the same exact thing for our country and for us? Have you ever signed a document that you haven't read? I haven't. I have read and re-read everything I have ever signed. Why don't they take the time to read the documents they are imposing upon us as law? That just doesn't seem rational to me. What is their rush, isn't this their job? I just ask that we all start paying better attention and speaking out to what is going on. Let's not be blindsided, but be prepared.

Whew, okay I'm done. Thanks for hearing me out. Enjoy your day.

Nothing Like Some Splashy Fun

miaarticoli@verizon.net (Mia) — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 00:12:00 +0000

Wow, what fun we had as a family this Father's Day. Instead of traditional backyard barbecues and stuff we decided to head up North a bit and have some "splashy fun" as my Boy Child likes to call it.

It was very nice to not have the distractions of moving preparations, school placement for Boy Child, softball and all that stuff. The first day was the best - very nice. For a little while we were like a 'normal' family of four. We weren't 'that family' with the boy who is mean or out of control, Diva and I actually had some time to spend together, actually talking and playing in the pool without my eyes constantly searching behind her for the location of her brother. I could look into her eyes, those beautiful baby blues. I could see the sadness and loneliness that shouldn't be for a 9 year old but because her brother is the way he is, she feels a bit cast aside. It's hard when you have had mommy and daddy and all your relatives to yourself for 4 years and then here comes a baby brother. Then after 2 years of adjusting to the fact that you have a baby brother you come to find that he is different. She is still adjusting to it all, we forget sometimes that she is 9 and it is extremely hard for her to accept how our lives have been turned upside down due to Boy Child. Heck, it's still hard for us too to accept some days. So it rare that she gets my undivided attention, even if it is brief.

Diva loves going to Splash Lagoon. Boy Child loves it too, but he has some quirks with it as well. One of the things he doesn't like is the noise level. Yeah, it is a bit loud but once you are in it, you get used to it. Even him, but every now and then you would catch him doing this.

The first day we couldn't get Boy Child to partake in any water slide fun. Dad did, however, get him to run to the Tiki Tree House when the horn blows. This is a play area that is topped by a 48 ft. high bucket that every now and then dumps 1,000 gallons of water onto the thrill seekers below. Last year he tried to become one with the wall when the horn blasted and stared trace-like at the bucket while it dumped the water. So this was a huge improvement!

On the second day, we finally got him to ride the Maui Wowie slide. It is the mildest of all the slides and is situated at the Tiki Tree House and beside the small kids pool/play area. He tried several times to go down but chickened out each time. Then I finally got fed up and stood in line with him. He sat down and then fear took over him and clung to the wall of the slide. I looked up at the life guard and asked her if she minded if once I pried him loose could I just shove him down the slide. She thought that was a great idea too. I did exactly that. Guess what - half of the way down you could hear him screaming "This is awesome!" Yep, we couldn't get him to stop riding that slide after that.

Diva, she is another story. Diva loves her some water slides. There are slides there that take you 40 mph and then drop you straight down into 6 feet of water. Yep, I've done it. It is a rush. I like the ones where you can sit two to an inner tube and ride. She wants the extreme rides and the activity pool. Next time we will have to bring her a friend, because Dad's new partial knee and my excess pounds do not do so well with keeping up with a 9 year old running up the stairs from water slide to water slide for hours non-stop.

The kids loved it so much that they want this to be a new family tradition. We'll see, maybe we will.

On the first day, Dad even got into the fun as you can see by this quick video.

A Divalicious Forecast

miaarticoli@verizon.net (Mia) — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 12:44:00 +0000

Since we just had atrotious weather here in the 'burgh I thought that this video is worth A Thousand Words on this Thursday.

During one of our park adventures this week, Diva in her true fashion, put on a small show for me.

She really is a shy girl.

Chores and Memories Don't Mix

miaarticoli@verizon.net (Mia) — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 12:50:00 +0000

There are days where laundry and packing and cleaning and all that other stuff that are constants in our lives need to wait. I don't do that enough. There is always something that I think I need to be doing and I tell my kids to wait or when I'm done or shoo them away.

I need to stop doing that and realize that they need me to form memories and traditions for them. What I do now directly reflects on what they will someday do or not do with their children.

It is a constant battle because we are constantly battle our money situation. There never seems to be enough of it and Husband is always working to meet that next deadline and I'm just brain dead and scattered from all the Boy Child issues that I forget we need and they are craving just some time from us. Diva asked last night if we could have a family movie night this week. I don't remember what the answer was or if we even gave her an answer. She went to bed last night and didn't even come and kiss us goodnight. Okay, yeah we were a bit pre-occupied with a small little thing called THE PENGUINS WINNING THE STANLEY CUP!! but heck she still could have come downstairs and told us she was going to bed.

When we move (in the next 40 days), we will NOT be having a TV in Diva's room. The kids will have a computer in their rooms but no TV. I think that is partly the problem with Diva. She tries to stay away from her brother and she shuts herself up in her room with her TV and music and barbies that she forgets the rest of us. The new house does NOT have a playroom for them, so that will also force them to not retreat to that section of the house. Yeah, it's a downsize but yet we are gaining so much more in the way of a yard. This yard has a pool, swingset, play houses and a sandbox almost the size of my dining room. So I know that we will be outside much more.

These photos are of the 2 hours we spent at the park earlier in the week. We had a lot of fun playing on the playground, riding bikes and playing in the creek. They made friends with some butterflies. One even let them pick it up on a stick.

So much fun, that I think I'm going to sign off now and head on out to the park again this morning. So my advice is to make memories as often as you can, no matter how small. The chores will always be there, children will not, life changes in the time it takes to blink.

There are alot more wonderful pictures over at Melody's site if you'd like to visit.

Tomorrow I WILL Be Bald!

miaarticoli@verizon.net (Mia) — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 19:41:00 +0000

I had a very nice post in my mind today about how much fun I had with the kids at the park the other day, BUT then I realized that this is hockey night! It all rides on tonight for our dear Pittsburgh Penguins. Those boys have played their ever-loving hearts out and they deserve to be in GAME 7 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs!!! How much fun this is for our town. It would be way too cool to have the Super Bowl Champs AND the Stanley Cup Champs in the same year!!

I received that picture in an email today, I got a chuckle from it.

I'll hope to have hair left tomorrow. I find myself running my hands through my hair madly during these games!

Another year older and what do you get?

miaarticoli@verizon.net (Mia) — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 23:17:00 +0000

Yep, another year older today. For the first time, I actually feel another year older. I think that this past year has taken a bit out of me. I'm tired.

The past year was filled with so many wonderful events in my children's lives. Diva has grown so much this year and is such a sweet girl. She is a bit mouthy but I really do blame it on the extra attention given to Boy Child because of his needs. I know at times she feels like she is second fiddle and that can be very hard but there are times when it just cannot be helped because Boy Child can be too out of control. Boy Child has not disappointed us in the chaos he can create. It has been quite a challenging year for him. Thank God we have gotten him accepted to The PACE School and we will be able to give him the academic challenge that a 5 year old with an IQ in the 140's deserves and give him the help he needs with his emotional and sensory issues. Both of them are hysterical and loads of laughs - the stuff that they say just cracks me up sometimes. It is interesting to actually have more meaningful conversations with them both. Diva asks typical girl questions like make-up, hair, nails, puberty. Boy Child asks more indepth questions like how was the wheel invented and can you clone people. Yeah, he doesn't have an imaginary friend - he has his clone. A hoot people, I tell ya, they are a hoot.

I think that I've learned this year that faith, determination and patience coupled with my family's love is really all I need to get through anything. I know that all my puzzle pieces are starting to finally fit together and we will be alright. I'm encouraged now that Husband and I are making the right choices to rebuild the mess that was made last year.

This next year is going to be momentous and full of smiles!! I'm very excited for us. Our new house and new schools will be a nice change and a fresh start.

Maybe, just maybe, the Pittsburgh Penguins will give a wonderful birthday gift tonight - Like kicking some hockey butt and winning the next two games!!!