Feelings from the heart

Tomorrow my family will go camping. We do this every year on Halloween weekend. Some things are different this year than in years past. We are not going to Gettysburg which is a family favorite. This year we will go to Holiday Park near Denton. This place is a new tradition for us which we enjoy with our much loved extended family. It is funny how neighbors can turn into family that I rely on and treasure.
Last year at this time my life was crazy and sad and busy. Much like this year only worse. This time last year my MOM was in a rehabilitation/ nursing home and my DAD was living with me temporarily. John took him for the weekend so that I could try and escape some reality and spend some quality time with my kids and Joey.
She died and I still spend my time caring for dad and life isn't easier but it is sadder. She died and the family split and I am blamed for things I don't understand. She died and the family fights. She died and I am trying to just do the right thing for dad.
Mom may not have given birth to me but she loved me and she taught me right from wrong and most of all she just loved me and she was proud of me and told me so often.
So tomorrow I will go camping with my family and my dad is with Keith. I will spend some quality time with my kids and Joey. Somehow it will be brighter having my extended family that I love with me. I won't worry about Mom like last year but I will be sad just like everyday because the one person who loved me unconditionally and knew I was a good person is gone and isn't here to defend me against all this nonsense in the family.
Quote of the day: Forgiveness doesn't mean letting people back in your life that have done you wrong. Thanks Courtney McGeady for the inspirational words

Go Ravens! Monday Night Football is celebrated much differently in the Golden house these days. PJs on and ipads and computers going while we are watching the game. No parties or beer drinking. Thank God that Monday night football moved the time back til 8:30 so now I may actually stay awake for the 1st half.
Violet is crawling. This is the stage I like to refer to as "the biggest loser era". A crawling baby makes for good weight loss and exercise for mom! Maybe they should assign each biggest loser contestant a couple of crawlers and maybe throw a toddler in as well and make them take care of them for 90 days. I wonder how the results would stack up? Trust me, I didn't push for crawling but now that it is here it should have some advantages so bring it on!
Along with the crawling stage also brings extreme vacuuming. Everytime I turn around there is a choking hazard on the floor. Mostly other kids toys are laying around or the occasional grape or fruit snack but also leaves, grass, acorn remnants make their way in. I freak out everytime someone walks with their shoes on and then my baby crawls and puts her hands in her mouth. Every public facility is being tracked in so this leads to extreme mopping.
I bought Charlotte a leash. You know the cute stuffed animal backpacks with the leash attached? I never really thought of myself as a leash kind of mom. They are for the moms with too many little ones and not enough hands or control. Oh wait... that is me! I am getting ready to take the kids away for a few weekends without the hubby and would like not to lose my crazy toddler in the crowds. I have decided I don't care what others think of the leash because an amber alert is much worse!
Tip of the day: Forget about the radiation warnings, toddlers are dangerous to cell phones. I bet you there are more insurance claims for phones because of toddlers than water damage. Pretty soon they will be refusing to sell the insurance to people who have kids under 5. Charlotte, "Char break mommy's phone" as she hands it to me with a shattered screen.

Definitions of "crazy"

There are lots of types of "CRAZY". There is "crazy fun", "crazy good" and "wow that is crazy". I think it is good when someone says "it will be a great time with Stacy cause she is crazy". This definition would be "crazy fun". However sometimes crazy actually means....CRAZY.  I  happen to be the lucky one that is surrounded by a lot of crazy. I think I know a couple of peeps that could guest star on Criminal Minds (and I don't mean as a detective). It took me a long time to figure out that some people can never be fixed. These are the people that get great pleasure out of screwing up other people's lives. You know the ones that lie and are so manipulative that they can make you believe anything, even if you know it is untrue. This kind of crazy actually feeds off of your reactions to their actions and words. The more they upset you the happier they are. Well after many years I have finally figured out that the best reaction to this behavior is NO reaction at all.
Watch out for the smart crazy person. This is the worst kind. They suck people in like a devil in sheep's clothing. Warning signs: Never keep friends but it is never their fault. They make up crazy(there is that c word again) stories that sound like they could be true and even pull others into it so it sounds more believable. Sometimes these people steal too so you never leave them alone with your valuables.
I am an expert at sniffing out the "crazies" if you ever need any help!
Tip of the day: Swimming with the sharks is a bad idea. Sometimes people actually do get bit. Watch out!



Go Cowgirls

It was a great day for Sunday in the Country! The weather was awesome, the bands were great. The beers went down too fast and I needed a nap. I slept through a band and then recovered to enjoy the day. I rode a bull, climbed a rooster and woke up Monday with one hell of a bruise. I'm not as young as I once was but I certainly think I am once in a while.

I do believe I am either out of practice and need to drink more often or I have to realize I need to drink less when I do go out. And what the hell was my out of shape ass thinking...riding a bull...and then I held onto the horns...really!



Bryan, Sadie, Aaron and Stephen at the stadium



I took the big kiddos to the Ravens Stadium tonight. The news actually tried to interview Aaron but when they asked him why he was there he said "I have no clue" so he is not going to get his 15 mins of fame today. Maybe I should have explained ahead of time that it was a charity event for Big Brothers and Sisters. He could of at least said he was there to see his Daddy and we could've gotten some free advertisement for Tall Oaks. They had a booth in the celebrity chef area. Their presentation and food was awesome if I must say so myself.  The kids got to run on the field and some of their friends were there too so it was a good time by all. We saw the locker rooms for the players and I have to say I wasn't all that impressed but then again what was I expecting? It definately looked like a locker room.

Quote of the day: " I am not sure if it was the bull or the rooster that gave me this bruise but I know it wasn't the jackass."  Thanks Candy! (come check out the new bows by Candy)

Weekends

I can remember a time (barely) when weekends were about carefree fun. I would buy a new outfit for a night out with the girls. I would sleep in and go to breakfast with friends. I could go away on the spur of the moment. Then there were kids....
Now weekends involve sporting events and church events and sleepovers and play dates. Nights out require a babysitter so they are well planned in advance. Kids get up the same time as during the week and usually there is an extra kid or two lingering in my home.
I don't miss my old life (I am surprised I even remember it) but I do miss the lazy Saturday mornings and going shopping alone to buy something for me instead of one of my offspring.
Well here is to another weekend. One kid is going to a birthday party tonight. Two games tomorrow. Choir tomorrow evening. Two sleepovers and I have my Dad for the weekend. AHHH... but Sunday I am going out ALL DAY with friends. I will be carefree and laugh and drink beer and sing.(poorly!) Hopefully my cell phone will ring less than 10 times. A few hours in I will have an epiphany that I have to get up with lil ones and work on Monday morning and I will swear that I am going to slow it down. Although I will probably wake up Monday feeling shitty with no voice and say "damn that was fun!"
Happy weekend!
Tip of the day: Don't be hatin' on Barney the purple dinosaur. He is one of the best babysitters I have and he is free!
If anyone would like to share a tip of the day please email stacygolden100@gmail.com. Thanks

Teddy Bear Day

Today was "take your teddy bear to work day"! You heard me right. How many of you would laugh your ass off if your coworker actually took a teddy to work. Could you imagine if you got in the elevator and your 40 some year old male coworker was carrying his favorite bear. I guess it would make good water cooler conversation. I guess it's better than "take your kid to work day". I think I get that but somehow it seems ridulous to take your young kids to work. A teenager could benefit from seeing a work atmosphere but people who take their lil ones with them are only distracted and probably get nothing done. I guess if you take a teddy bear they at least don't talk. But seriously who makes this crap up? Who decided that it would be a good idea to have people take a stuffed animal to work? Well I researched this and noone seems to know the origin of where this day came from. You want to know why? Because it is RIDICULOUS! To all you people who got up extra early to dress your bear up for a day at the office....seek professional help!
Tip of the day: Just laugh at the people you don't understand. Don't judge. Think how boring life would be if everyone was perfect like ourselves.

memory loss

It always amazes me when someone can remember the names of their grade school teachers or a grade they received in sixth grade. It makes me wonder how bad my memory truly is. I can't remember anything like that. Sometimes I have to focus when I wake up to remember what day it actually is. This I like to blame on sleep deprivation though. I hope! I know some people have an extroardinarily good memory but I think mine is worse than most. Once I read an article that drinking alcohol in your teens can lead to memory loss. Well I like to think this explains it! However lots of my friends drank with me and they seem to remember a whole lot more than me. Maybe it is good that I don't know everything I did back then. My husband knows that I am worried about how my mind will age but I think he is hoping I will lose my mind and he can have a girlfriend when I am completely senile. He actually jokes about it! I keep journals, I read and I write to help my brain along. It is funny that I can remember very clearly every single thing Joey has done that pissed me off. Poor man!
Well one thing is for sure...If Charlotte doesn't start behaving I may lose my mind long before I lose my memory and my posts may look more like John Grogans daily columns from Marley and me only instead of a bad dog it will about a very cute but bad little girl!
Tip of the day: Yelling at your kids will only make you feel good for about a minute before you begin to feel guilty. However it could be the only minute you feel good all day!

Witches!

Charlotte made a new friend as I decorated for Halloween. This may be the last Halloween that this witch survives in the Golden Home after Charzilla gets done with her. Just today as I finished decorating I found a smaller witch so now Char has two friends. She takes them from room to room as she travels through the house.

Charlotte's new friend

You would think she may want to be a witch for Halloween but no.. If you ask her what she is going to be she says "Babyzilla..Babyzilla". I think she is wearing this dinosaur costume and calling herself babyzilla for Halloween. Hey it saves me money for her to wear Aaron's old dino suit! See I like Halloween but I hate that the kids always want to buy overpriced cheaply made costumes. Unless you are the crafty type who makes fab costumes for your kids. I am not that mom. I actually save all the costumes and recycle them or parts of them from year to year. (remember I am a hoarder.. see last post). This pisses my kids off. They want to go to the big Halloween store and spend way to much money on a costume that they will wear for 2 hrs and throw on the floor as they dig into their candy. I wonder if this will be the one thing they rebel against as adults. Will they take thier kids and buy extravagant costumes and say "My mom never let us have these so I am not doing that to my kids." What I really want them to remember is that I take them camping every year and they get the mother load of candy going from trailer to trailer!
Tip of the day: Husbands can be clueless and when they are sick they are worse. Instead of showering them with affection just leave them alone. You will both feel better!