Change is not Easy

Change is not easy!

After 20 years in the same salon, it was hard to leave.  There were so many reasons to leave but not the ones that usually prompt a change.  

This summer was the summer of no tan, no swimming and no vacation for me.  I took on a new career or rather two new careers.  The first as the Coordinator of Pastoral care for the Archdiocese of Baltimore.  This lets me do work in a ministry area that is close to my heart by leading the chastity talks to the youth in our area, hoping to make a difference in the choices they make upon entering high school.  In other words, maybe they can do things in a better way than I did.  I also get to coordinate Project Rachel which helps women who are suffering from post abortive stress.  1 out of 3 women have had an abortion and many suffer the forbidden grief that Project Rachel tries to heal. 

As if that was not enough, I took on the position as Director of Community Life at St. Johns.  This position is about energizing our parish and engaging parishioners. As a "HOLY EVENT PLANNER" I hope to motivate parishioners to live in community and form lasting friendships, helping them to live an authentic family life. There is much work to be done and with the help of the Holy Spirit I hope to do the work I am called to effectively. In case you are wondering, I am still homeschooling and yes I do think I am a slight bit crazy. 

All of these changes make it quite impossible to work many hours as a stylist and God willing I will be able to retire from that sometime soon.  I have a relationship with my clients and I love them so I have to try and hang on at least for a while which means a change in salons for me. This is bittersweet because leaving to work with my cousin, Kim as she chose a new salon makes me happy but leaving the comfort of a place I have been for 20 years and a boss I loved is hard.  I worked with her for 20 years and watched her daughter grow up into a wonderful woman.  But on my last day there were no warm goodbyes, hugs or understanding of why.  There was just a text message asking me to leave my key. Heartbroken, I left and waited until I got into the car to cry.  I have to make a choice to remember the good times, be grateful for the opportunity my friend Donna has given me to continue to be a part time stylist and create new memories with a new team.  

For I know the plans I have you, says the Lord, plans for welfare, not for evil, to give you hope and a future...Jeremiah 29:11

Not so SUPER lice

This is my laundry room. I am sure you are wondering why I am sharing a photo of my messy laundry room. There is a load in the washer, dryer, and I already took two loads upstairs.  All of this is bedding from a lice infestation that hit the Golden Kiddie Ranch. I wonder myself how everyone, including myself ended up with lice. I really thought all the scratching Jillian was doing had to be dry scalp because there is no way we could have lice AGAIN. I think we just became "that family". We have had lice a few other times and my house may become the one kids are banned from visiting. Every time a kid within a ten mile radius gets lice they will probably be asked if they were at the Goldens'. Odds of getting lice do greatly increase in a large family. I have to keep saying that so I don't feel so crazy over it.  I no longer get rattled. I calmly pick microscopic sized nits and bugs from my children's hair repeating to myself that I did ask God to give me girls. I am thankful that they have their fathers straight and not very thick hair as well as I'm picking through their head like mama monkey (although I'm not eating them.) Now I hear there is a super lice going around. My 12 yr old informs me of this as I am desperately trying to find every last one. So now the worry is they won't die. Oh dear Lord, please no!!! Kids are sleeping in one room to avoid a laundry crime scene such as this in the coming days. By the way, lice picking would be easier if I had my under 40 eye sight back but I can do it. And I will do it every day for 3 weeks until I want to shave the girls heads and say it's a hot new trend. So this is a big apology to all my friends who itch every time I text the word lice. Thanks for not shunning us and remember if you think bad things about us you will have to go to confession. LOL! 

Having lice is nothing compared to what my dear friend Jeanette is going through right now.  She tragically lost her son during a very brief deployment. She sits and waits in foreign country to return with her son Nathan's body.  Her husband and other children wait for her return as they mourn the loss of a child and brother. We continue to pray for her safe return as well as the repose of the soul of Nathan. As I spoke with Jeanette, for a moment I was thankful we had lice when she actually laughed out loud when I told her. It was nice to hear her laugh although I am not sure why it is funny. Ok, it's a little funny. 

Please pray for the Sudano and McDavitt family in this time of grief. 

I'm back!

It has been quite a while since I have been inspired to write this blog.  As I look back I realize many of the blogs I posted don't reflect who I am now. I even thought about starting a new blog and leaving this in the past.  But that is not the answer because who I am is because of who I was. I am not ashamed of my silly posts because every situation has helped me to grow as a person, mother, wife and friend.  My family does funny things and I have not taken the time to share and that is going to change. I could spend hours writing about the trials and amusement of homeschooling alone.  As I reflect on the posts of the past I wrote during dark times while trying to find some humor in the situations that were tearing me apart.  Nothing and everything changed all at once.  I surrendered to the only One who could help me.  I surrendered slowly until my heart became full of love and forgivesness.  Now I am that wierdo, the "religous girl", church lady, etc... and that is okay.  I am still the same silly, miller lite drinking, camping girl but now I have someone tagging along with me in everything I do.  Everyone should get to know Him because you will never be alone again and I promise you can handle things much better with His help. The dark times I spoke about could not touch what this family overcame recently but as hard as they were I had hope.  
When the restaurant closed I wasn't sure if I should be happy or sad.  I was so sad for Joey who had spent the last few years working hos fingers to the bone.  Sad that he was wronged by his partner when Joey is so honest.  I was happy for myself and the kids to have him back but unsure how he would fit back into our lives after so long.  And then the biggest obstacle we had to face was financial.  We struggled through for awhile and then nearly lost our home.  Stress was definitely the greatest struggle for me and daily I prayed for a solution to the situation so we were not on the street. Thank God for being granted a modification on our mortgage so we could stay in our home.  I realized that all the times I had longed for a nicer, bigger home that none of that matters. I have never been so happy to just keep our home. People have been generous to us, helping with the kids tuition and prayng for us. We are not fully recovered by any means but we are thankful, hopeful and happy. There are many other things that jumped in our way and knocked us down during the last 18 months but we kept getting back up and trudging forward. This family has faith, hope and love even when we are yelling at one another!
It is time to revive this blog and share my "Golden" moments at the "Golden Kiddie Ranch" so stay tuned for posts to come.
This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad.  Ps 118:24

Just one of those days, or not?

         By 9:30 this morning I was I  tears and I had screamed several times at my children.  School was well under way and there was whining.  Little kids were yelling and chasing bunnies, they had let out of the cage unbeknownst to me. I went down to change over the laundry to find a washed pull up in the machine. There was gel from the diaper everywhere and the piles on the floor were forming a small mountain. I lost it at that moment screaming the Lord's name in vain as Joey ran downstairs to see why I was so angry and then acting sorry enough for my luck went right back upstairs leaving the clean load and basket behind as he left. Needless to say I felt overwhelmed so I decided a hot shower may help. That may have done the trick only the shower was not hot since the washer and dishwasher was going and apparently my husband had just showered. So I took a cold shower and came out to find that my glasses which I knew I left on the kitchen counter were gone. Certain that a child took them;more yelling. So I call Joey, crying that no one helps me and my house is filthy. By this time Aaron and Sadie were well into their math lesson and luckily did not need my help(not sure they would have asked anyway). Just then as I ask Aaron why he has paused from his lesson, he tells me he was praying.....for me. Then after he finished checking his math work, he suggested we go onto our religion lesson because I should take some time to pray and maybe my day would get better. So we sat down and wouldn't you know that the lesson spoke of taking quiet time each morning with God before the day gets started. I had to admit to Aaron that I had skipped my prayer time this morning, which I try not to do. I prayed with my kids before we started school but I missed my one on one with HIM. I am pretty sure I learned more from the religion lesson today than he did. Thanks to my wonderful, faithful son my day did get better. Immediately after reading scripture with him I felt at peace. I found my glasses. They were on the dryer where I must have left them when I had my rant over the washing machine. Then the phone rang and Joey told me to be ready at 4 to go run errands because the cleaning lady would be here to lighten my load (we have not had a cleaning lady in a very long time). So now I sit as one child naps and another plays  while my big kids are snow tubing with my wonderful neighbor. I can write instead of clean and share how simple it was to convert my heart from attitude to gratitude. Thanks be to God! (and Aaron)

Love one Another, peacefully

One of the hardest things to do as a human being is to fight the urge to defend oneself against false accusations.  It takes great strength and courage to remain quiet as others whisper and spread lies.  It is so easy to tell someone to plead the fifth but so hard to hear it. In this age where news is at the click of a button and there are more than 5 ways to reach any individual at any time, peace is hard to find.  The term, think before you speak ,is rarely applied these days. Everyone is so inclined to post on facebook the thing they are feeling at that very moment that someone annoyed them.  Where is the cool down time? Remember that when you speak your mind against another it may make you feel liberated and free but what about the person who is being humiliated? As I began to write this post I thought about defending my husband and then I decided to practice what I preach. So I took time to think before I speak and decided that all I will say is this...
My family will hold our heads high and continue to be proud of the man who we love and who is the head of our home. I said "I do for better or worse" and I meant it. 
Always remember there are 3 sides to every story...His and his and the Lords..

Christmas blessings

We all want better for our kids.  I hear parents say it all the time.  I think to most parents better means, better education, friends, giving things that they didn't get to have as a child.  I am no better than other parents and want the same things for my brood.  I think I just may define it differently.
First and foremost, I want my children to have a relationship with God. A deep, meaningful relationship. 
As for the Christmas Experience....
I never remember going to church on Christmas, or giving back to the less fortunate with acts of charity. I always however remember LOTS of presents.  I probably couldn't tell you what one of those presents were now.
So I do want my children to have a "better" childhood and Christmas than I did but not in the conventional sense.  I want them to celebrate the birth of our Savior and give him gifts of love, praise, and glory through their acts of charity. I want them to carry on traditions that are important ( I don't mean the elf on the shelf).
Nothing made me more proud than my children's willingness to help out with giving to the homeless and I hope that it only grows from there. Even as little kids we would host a birthday party for Jesus and the kids would donate socks and mittens that we would deliver. I hope my children will remember their three gifts under the tree, not for what was in them but because Jesus received three.
 I want my children to have a love of all creatures.  It took me a long time to feel this love but really is the greatest gift. Some would say I take this to extremes with a dog, 4 chickens, 3 cats ( one that only has one eye and a crooked tail that we rescued.  It is no surprise that this year there will be 2 bunnies under the tree.  We really need a farm!
Ultimately, my goal as a parent is to make sure my children are lead to the gates of heaven after their journey here on earth.  What I want better for my kids is to have a better education, friends and things I didn't know I had which is the love of God. I want them to do all things for the glory of God and their lives will be just as they are supposed to be.
As for my Christmas wish and if you are looking for anything to add to your prayer list... There is an empty spot at our table and I have full trust in God that he will fill it in his way and in his time.

And this is my prayer: that your love may increase ever more and more in knowledge and every kind of perception, to discern what is of value, so that you may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ for the glory and praise of God.  Pilippians 1:9-11
Merry Christmas to all! God Bless!

Summer catch up with the Goldens

I cannot believe how long it has been since I have written. It seems as though every time I picked up a computer I couldn't find a thing to say. That is very odd  for me I know. So this is a summer catch up of the Golden family.......
As always camping is great and I still get lots of looks pulling up in my big van with lots of kids, a dog and a 36 ft trailer. This has been a great season for all of us but me in particular. With only one in diapers and no more crib on the camper it's been easy. Many will laugh that it is easy with all those kids but they are so accustomed to it now that it's a breeze. Lucky for us we procrastinated and waited to long to book at Cherrystone and missed the tornado. Instead we spent a great week at Bethpage.
Thanks to spending some of my summer with Matthew Kelly I have a new philosophy on life which just makes all things easier.  As I am continuing my journey to becoming the best version of myself I am also living in the present day, not yesterday, not tomorrow. It really takes some stress out of things. Let's hope as I embark on my new journey of homeschooling that I can continue to remain patient in the present day. That is right, I am homeschooling Sadie. I like to keep things new and exciting and let's face it... If it never bothered me to hear what others say about me having all these kids nearing menopause I am surely not to be bothered by comments on homeschooling.
As always, I am sad to see summer wind down and have to get back to a more rigid routine. I'm definitely going to enjoy each and every last day of it and fill it with at least one more weekend trip. I will most assuredly miss the sun, pool, and my dear friend Miller Lite when summer goes. Hope you all enjoy the rest of yours...

Dollhouses

Violet will be 3 next week. We decided to buy a dollhouse. We thought of everything as well as one that fits barbies to ensure many years of play. What I failed to think of... There is one bedroom. Now this is a huge dollhouse and it only has one bedroom with one big canopy bed. This makes for one big fight between my girls. Have you ever noticed that if you buy the people that go with the dollhouse they come in a perfect set of Dad, Mom, boy, girl, maybe a pet. Well I propose a new kind of dollhouse.... An authentically Catholic Dollhouse. This would come equipped with features such as dad, mom and 4 or more kids. It would have 2 or more bedrooms and probably some broken furniture and of course some graffiti on the not so clean walls.
I am not sure this would be a big seller but I promise this... It gives hope for an extremely happy future!

Merry Christmas

Christmas is a time we should be rejoicing in the coming of the Lord.
How come December seems to bring the most stressful time of the year? We blame commercialism, flu season, visiting relatives. The  stress is different for all of us.
As for me....
I don't get all caught up in these things. I go into the season with respect for what Christmas really stands for. However bad news finds me every December. I am not sure why it happens like that. Deaths, stomach viruses, colds, etc...
I just want a healthy Christmas for my family to really enjoy the season but yet another year of disappointment..
Really 2013 was fine until December which brought an unexpected miscarriage as well a tooth implant gone bad for Joey. Sadie's retainer was chewed by my mother's dog yesterday. Oh yeah and Violet has a fever and cough.
All of these things combined will not stop my family from heading to church tomorrow to celebrate the birth of our Savior Jesus. Of course we will also be praying that next December is finally the one that brings a stress free holiday. One can only keep hoping that the bad luck of December passes from the Golden house one of these year.
Merry Christmas my dear friends and Good blessings for 2014.

A great loss to our family

How can you love someone you never met? Well it happens.
Everyone likes to joke around about how many kids we have. Letting everyone know there is another one coming gets many replies? Most are "Is this it?". Once the critical time of the first trimester passes along with the blood work saying all is fine and "It's a boy" we feel pretty confident shouting it to the world.
Yesterday at 15 weeks at a routine appt we found that out precious baby had no heartbeat. A sonogram confirmed it and like that it was over.
No matter how many children we have this is awful and sad and we are devastated.
Then we had to tell our kids, another gut wrenching event. Off to the hospital we went and before they can even get me into surgery my water breaks and labor begins.
This was a truly horrifying experience for Joey and myself. Our love and our strong faith in God will get us through this.
I wanted to share this with all of you so that if you ever experience a similar situation know that you are not alone and it is okay to love and grieve someone you never met. My baby is in heaven with my family that went before us and I hope he is loved as much as I love him.

Food for Thought

A leopard doesn't change his spots

We hear that, we believe it and then we think somehow we found an exception to the rule. I think the real meaning to this quote is that some people suppress their behavior, hide their behavior even can go their whole lives without repeating the behavior but....
Somewhere deep within them the evil habit lies and if given the opportunity, BAM. It creeps out and hurts someone who actually was dumb enough to believe they were exempt from said behavior.
Don't get me wrong I think there are a lot of success stories. The husband who never cheats again, the alcoholic that never drinks again. The drug user that never uses again. This is amazing and should inspire people to forge ahead to achieve greatness.
I just also think there are people with good intentions but they are weak and give into temptation. The alcoholic who drinks once in awhile and knows their actions will hurt their loved ones. The husband who cheats again even though he loves his wife. These stories are sad and split families and friendships leaving us with the question...
How do you help someone who won't help themselves? Do you throw in the towel or continue to live in fear of the repetitive behavior? Do we feel sorry for these folks or do we often say " You made your bed..etc".  Do we offer forgiveness at the expense of our own feelings?
It is hard to separate the heart from the mind. Good luck to all those struggling during this holiday season. May you find peace and happiness.

Elf on the Shelf season of torture

Maybe the dinosaur will eat him and I will no longer jump out of bed and run to move Chippy before the kids wake. I am sure Ms. Carol Aebersold is laughing all the way to the bank now that her Christmas tradition has thrown up all over America. All you new parents out there.... go ahead and try to not participate and I guarantee you will lose that battle and next thing you know some little boy or girl elf will appear and you to will be scrambling for new places for a month to put the dumb elf. In my house there is no avoiding the little ones touching Chippy so he always has to be up high or tears will flow as Jillian bites his head and the others believe he loses his elf magic.  Thanks to Pinterest (sarcasm) you can find new and exciting ways to pose your elf.  Some not so g rated though( maybe that is facebook). Now my kids are saying "Why doesn't Chippy respond to my letter? My friends elves write back.") Really??? I told them maybe our elf was dumb and never learned to write (True story, bad mom moment). Inevitably our elf forgets to move at least one or two night during his stay. When that happens I tell my kids they must have been bad so he decided to sleep instead of travelling to his home for the night and Santa knows if the elves don't come there is no good news to report. Their behavior throughout the day never seems threatened by the elf anyway. And btw it was my kids that were not even clever enough to come up with a new name for the elf. Sadie says she dropped the E from his name to give him his new identity. Well here's to twenty more days of jumping out of bed!

Simplifying clutter

As I was doing my normal daily routine I started thinking...
Why can I not keep my house clean?  Why is everything always scattered about? Why are there always loads of laundry to be put away?
Then I thought... Why am I asking myself these questions?
I mean a lot of kids live here, that is the answer. So then the next question was... How can I make this clean up thing easier?
Well I have the answer......
Instead of saying "NO" about 100 times daily I need to re child proof.  Yes I know the old school moms out there that say " I never moved anything when my kids were little." Well here's a news flash... If they made child proofing kits you damn well would've used them and stopped smacking hands.  Times change and by the way... now we don't smoke around our kids either. Oh and kids ride in car seats too...
So as I was using the magic eraser on several drawings on walls in a few or more rooms I decided that either I move the pens to a remote location like my make up which now lives in the top of my closet. Or I can yell at my husband until he puts new latches on every cabinet in this house!!!
Now let me say if you are a mom who can not child proof and just say no my hat goes off to you. However, 3 kids 4 and under and lots of mess from the older kids is leading me to reevaluate!!!
Oh and for the record, the kids always break the latches so we are on our 3rd round of latching again. I have tried to impose the no kitchen rule unless I am in there but it never works. Now if I could only find a way to keep them from climbing on the counters.

Simple things are so important

Listen up....
                   To all you people who want to be parents... Your responsibilities do not end when your kids turn 18 so don't even have them if you think that happens. Also, you have to still take care of your kids after they stop pooping in their pants, stop needing their shoes tied and food cut up. You have to take them to the doctors, make sure they do well in school, take them to the dentist every 6 months. As well as cleaning their clothes and being their personal chauffeur you also have the responsibility to guide them to be respectable citizens. 18 comes quick and no one wants another loser lurking around so you have to make sure you have what it takes to do all you can to ensure you are not adding to the welfare society. Hey, sometimes good people have bad kids. It happens and we all feel for them but let's be honest.. that is not the norm...
               However once in awhile great people are born from bad stock and they overcome their situation and never go back. These people become successful and good parents. God must know they are special so they grow up and the things people take for granted are things they never miss. Simple things like taking their kids to the dentist regularly and making school and church important.
              I know someone that special and happy to have that person in my life..

What a day in my life

AHHH. Today... Just another Thursday and..........
A broken AC, a broken van in need of a backordered part not available in the USA at the moment, 2 bloody noses, an eye dr apt ( which left me blind for a bit after dilation), some braces removed (Sadie's teeth look great), a few fights... enough to leave some in a really bad mood however this is life for me so I shake off the stress and look to the positive....
A minor AC repair, a loaner van since mine will be awhile, a positive 20/20 vision appointment (lets not talk about reading though), some really great friends and cousin (Kathy, Jess) to help me out..
And one great laugh when Kathy said they would probably give me a shitty loaner when they took a look at my dirty van and I was given the same vehicle as mine but brand new and shiny!!!
All of these things are a part of every day life... lots of crying kids, occasional fights, lots of spills and toys all over. I get angry sometimes but only for a moment except if....
Joey recently told me (and he is a man of few words) that as soon as someone pisses me off I am ready to just write them off and I hold a grudge (true) forever and I need to stop it. This really bothered me so I thought about it for awhile and then decided that although I can be hot headed at times ( I love throwing things) that really whenever I feel the need to "write someone off" they may have done me wrong but mostly they have done my kids wrong or maybe even my husband. Don't mess with my young or I might have to go all mama bear on your ass.
So the bad days don't get me down. You will rarely find me crying over these things but anyone that knows me can understand when I say that whenever my kids are treated unfairly those people will be evicted from the Golden home with no chance of seeing my HOH room!

Regrets and Penance

I have done a lot of wrong things in my life. Spent some time being a not so good person occasionally. I think if the wrong things lead you to be a better person than it all happened for a reason. We all have regrets. My regrets when I was younger were self fulfilling. Kind of like.. If I had done this then these things would be better for ME.. Now that I am older my regrets are more about how the things I did affected the people around me. That has become my biggest regret. I can say that I am not a hypocrite but I do now sometimes think I am an expert and give my opinion freely.( Please just nod and agree. ) Anyway Live with your heart and live by God!! It pays off. Although I still wish my kids could have the equality that I never had I am thankful they have the parents I always wanted ( no offense Gladys and Earl.. I appreciate all the love and that is why I am who I am. )and always wanted to be. Another regret for earlier years that I have made up for with actions and not words!

Lets share some family stories

I know many people believe they live in dysfunctional families but let me just say that if awards were given for dysfunctionality in families I would win hands down! In my world my ex husband has a relationship with my parents and I don't. Let me be clear when I say that this may be just one example of why I don't speak to my mother. I would give the laundry list but I am not writing a book today. I was just outside helping Mitch pack his car up for college when he told me that he had lunch with his dad, stepmom and siblings last weekend at his grandparents house (and not his dads parents.) Don't get me wrong I am glad for Mitch that he sees all of them but at that moment it never became more clear to me that I truly made the right decision when I disowned my mother and reclaimed my values. Also let me state that as of late I have been struggling and reevaluating our current status after she reached out to me, wondering if maybe this time she actually had changed. How does it go " a leopard doesn't change its spots." Maybe one day I will actually put down all the sordid  details of my life on paper. Also I will for the record state that there have been times of happiness with my mother but I also over looked a lot of the obvious to achieve that. Also there isn't hate in my veins, sometimes jealousy when others are sharing times together as a family but I AM AT PEACE! I no longer care about the lies that are spoken so she feels better about herself. I love living the truth. The truth that I will always love her and truly harbor no resentment anymore. I have forgiveness in my heart and soul. Only my forgiveness also includes forgiving myself for what will never be again. 
Since we all live with some dysfuntionality I encourage you to comment on the blog page. Write it out and see others stories.

Riley Strong.. an amazing girl..an amazing family

Everyone has a bad day here and there. Any mother and father knows there are days when we think we will never survive another like this one. Kids screaming and fighting and other things go wrong like the roof leaking, a bill you can't pay, a fight with your spouse, an appliance goes up and we say " God doesn't give you more than you can handle". At that moment we think God must think we can handle a lot. Well...

This is a story about a family dear to my heart. Many years ago a young woman named Wendy started getting her hair done by me. We shared a mutual friend. She got married and had a beautiful baby girl named Rebecca. Like all married people they had a rough patch and then along came another perfect baby girl, Riley. The second of what became three girls. Riley was just as well behaved and easy as the first but over time things just didn't seem right. Turns out after many tests that Riley has Angelmans syndrome. Riley doesn't speak and it was a struggle to learn to walk along with many other things. Thankfully Wendy and her husband Jimmy were just blessed that Riley didn't suffer from the health problems that plagued so many with the same syndrome. Until.. the seizures started and then long stays at the hospital. Finally after trying many things Riley once again was healthy and thriving and more adventurous, even learning to roller skate with assistance. Wendy never let Riley's condition slow her down, never uses it as an excuse to stop enjoying life. She is  definitely the root of the saying " When life throws you lemons, make lemonade. " Always upbeat even when her own health wasn't the greatest. Wendy takes her kids to the beach, they play sports, she takes them in the pool. She is just a great mom with three great kids.

A few days ago while unpacking from a beach trip Riley wandered off and fell in the pool. Wendy found her just a couple minutes later and along with her oldest daughter performed CPR and Riley is on a ventilator at Johns Hopkins Hospital. Imagine how a parent must feel. This was a horrible accident that happened to good people. I am sure this leaves this family wondering... why them??? Haven't they been handed enough to deal with, enough for a lifetime?

I beg you to keep Riley in your prayers. Pray for this family to stay together whole here on earth. And also the next time you have a bad day remember this story. Don't think about it as being luckier than them. Think about the strength, love and courage they have and strive to have the same in your own lives.

God Bless Jimmy, Wendy, Becca, Riley and Mackensie King

Camping and cats

Every day of my life is blog worthy. I just run out of time to write daily. It's actually quite a shame because funny things happen everyday around here.

For the first time in quite awhile Joey and I had 5 days together with the kids camping. We had a great time once he stopped complaining about all the things I do wrong.  See Anal Annie (aka Joey) thinks that the kids shouldn't break anything or dirty up anything. I think that only happens if you have a normal amount of children and I am thinking that only reduces the odds slightly. I am not sure why he thinks that the trailer would fare better than the house and all the broken furniture and clutter around here. However we truly had a great time and I am reminded how much I miss him on a daily basis. The kids hit some milestones and it was nice that Joey got to see them. Violet stopped giving everyone dirty looks and started talking and just telling everyone what she thinks of them. Charlotte is swimming without swim aids. (maybe now she will finally get big enough to give up the ninny) Oh and lets not forget the proud moment once we got home when Violet took off her diaper and pooped in the yard like a dog. I am so glad Joey didn't miss that moment. Also Sadie broke Joey down and he gave in to a new kitten.

We promised the kids a kitten and we made good on that. Yesterday we took all my kids plus 2 extras to animal control. We are quite a loud crew so I am not surprised that a cat got spooked and scratched Aaron. (always Aaron who gets hurt) Poor cat got quarantined and we had to file a report with the county. Really!!! Well we adopted a cute little kitten and then I got myself a discount kitty($16). A nice one eyed older cat with a crooked tail. Joey didn't have to tell me twice that I could go back and save the ugly cat.(He will never say but he wanted him too) I am thinking this is his ninth life so lets hope he doesn't think the needle would've been better than spending his days in this crazy house.

Just for informational purposes.... There are lots of cats needing good homes at animal control. Many are free because the people who gave them up prepaid for them to go to a new home. If you have room in your heart and home try one.. Discount kitties are pretty grateful to have you.

Summer.. here it comes!!

As a child I remember counting the days til summer break.  As an adult and mother to many I no longer count the days until school lets out. I begin counting the days until school starts again.  Let me clarify....  Since I spend all my days at home with the little kids it may not seem like a big deal to have the 2 big kids join them.  However chaos begins daily when the school bus pulls up so I can only imagine what summer will hold. Sure, we spend all of our weekends together now but Monday always comes. Don't get me wrong, I love my kids. I just would like them more if they didn't annoy me so much. Sadie can't utter a word without whining or crying and there is also the door slamming, feet stomping as she's yelling that I am not fair. Oh and the constant need for entertainment. "Can I go here? Can my friend come over? and will you take me to five below."
Now Aaron isn't nearly as annoying. That is probably because he asks for little. However he has this annoying DS game that he has to make loud noises as he plays and after awhile he sounds like he has Turets.
All of this aside I still love summer and it is my favorite time of the year. And this year I am even keeping a few other kids a couple days a week. I figure mine will bother me way less if I have others to focus on. It also helps that I can drink this summer since I am not knocked up. I think beer companies should mail out coupons like baby formula companies do. Or better yet... the baby store should sell beer. Maybe I will add that to the comment card next time.
Happy Summer my friends!!!!