First birthday's through the years

Genius (first of the first birthdays)

Daredevil, who slept through most of his party, and wouldn't touch his cake

Princess, scarfing down. We hosed her off after!

Doorbuster

Happy Birthday to you!

We celebrated the last of the 1st birthdays around here. Doesn't that just sound sad? It's actually a relief around here, as we aren't big birthday party throwers. Our tradition is to go DO something special, either as a family, or with the birthday child. Then we do a cake and a few presents at home.

For Doorbusters birthday, we had a little party at our house. At Pirate party! Argggg! Now, our family and friends have grown and a little party involved 25 people or so. I originally had a list of 60, but that was entirely too crazy!

Doorbuster picked out the invitations. I was leaning for a sports themed party, but when I held up the invites to him, he picked. It was really cute! I'm sure he just loved the colors.

We made things easier by doing a baked potato bar, so we didn't have to stand around the grill the entire party. We wanted to have time to visit with our guests, and cuddle the birthday boy.

Best part about doing a first birthday party at home? Throwing the baby in the tub afterward!

Rocking my Socks Off

I'm making headway on the sock front! We've been busy-busy-busy so I can't get very many pairs done, but since it's crunch time I've been working my fingers off. I figured I would both sell my socks at the craft fair, and here on my blog! Plus, it will promote my blog which is something I have been working on here and there. These are Princess's favorite socks to wear. Hers have lasted 2 years now!

I was rather inspired when my sister-in-law's mom talked about some of the crafts she used to do, and how she would sell holiday pins for a few dollars apiece, then she saved the money up bit by bit, and helped her daughter put a good sized down payment when she bought a car. It was just the kick in the rear I needed to get working harder!

So here are some of the socks I have done so far for the craft fair:

Finished Product, packaged with a instruction card

 I just love the dark blue!

Close up of the beading.

Don't worry, I will still be blogging here! If you are interested in ordering any socks, check out my for sale page!

Taking a minute to count my blessings!

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays. Good food, good friends, and a change to slow down and appreciate all that we have been given. It's a shame so many stores are trying to rush us through our appreciating, and right into buying things for Christmas. I have so many things to be thankful for.

1) I'm thankful for our Lord, as without him, I wouldn't be so wonderfully blessed. James 1:17- Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.

2) I'm thankful for my husband, who sticks with me through the good and the bad, who works hard to provide for and care for us.

3) I'm thankful for Genius, he is such a thoughtful and smart kid. He helps with his brothers and sisters and sets a good example of serving without complaint.

4) I'm thankful for Daredevil, he is such a loving little guy, with such a big imagination. He teaches me patience!

5) I'm thankful for Princess, watching her help her friends and play with them, I can see that what I teach at home really does stick.

6) I'm thankful for Doorbuster, his laid back attitude and smiles are the perfect completion to our family.

7) I'm thankful for my step-daughter, I can see what a beautiful young lady she is turning into, and it makes me very proud.

8) I'm thankful for my hubby's job, the stability and benefits it provides, and the flexibility when we need it. I'm very, very thankful that my job is here, in my home, caring for everyone.

9) I'm thankful for having plenty of food, and clean, abundant, water. Many people lack such basic necessities, and I'm thankful that we always manage to have enough for our needs.

10) I'm thankful for our house, it's perfect for us, in a great location, and so exactly what we needed. I didn't ever think it would be a possibility, and now it is. I'm thankful when I wake up, and thankful when I go to sleep. I'm thankful even when I scrub toilets!

11) I'm thankful for loving parents, a loving extended family, and I am thankful our family is growing. It seemed like we were going to more funerals then birth-days, and I am glad it looks like it is changing. I am so excited for my nieces arrival very soon!

12) I'm thankful for my friends, who are my sisters. Friends are the family you pick, and with them, that saying is so very true.

Happy Thanksgiving!

My Costco Deal That Wasn't Had

We have a Costco membership, like the other 70% of Southern Cali's population. It's almost like a status symbol- when you make a certain amount of money, or have a certain amount of children, you buy a Costco card.

Costco is like a secret society- you have to flash your membership card, and you get to push around a massive sized cart, which you load up with massive amounts of bulk items. Some of it a good price, some of it not. (Side note- that's why it really is important to know price per ounce and price per pound of the things you buy, and don't be afraid to use the calculator on your phone to figure it out!).

There's also certain behaviors that always go on at Costco. Out of all the stores I shop at, their are things people do at Costco that they don't do anywhere else. People always shop in packs, with as many people touching the carts and blocking the isles as possible. People always leave their carts in the middle of the isles, blocking traffic, and even after several dozen "excuse me", are oblivious to anything but their deal finding. And the free samples! They are the best part of shopping (free lunch anyone?), but I don't think it's neccessary to congregate with your cart (usually empty), blocking all the isles, to try a tiny bite of something. Sometimes the ladies will tell you it will be another 5 minutes until the sample is cooked, and there will be a pack of 10-15 people standing around, with all their carts pointed, waiting to pounce on the food.

As if all the free samples weren't enough, you can fill up on massive sized pizza, and cheap hotdogs (the hands down best part of Costco- the $1.50 hotdog and soda). It is interesting to see that they now offer a Carne Asada bake, instead of the chicken bake. It certainly shows what the new demographic is at Costco.

There's a select group of things I usually buy at Costco. I buy their ground beef, because I like the lean beef and the quality even though it costs a bit more. I buy their chicken breasts, since it's very convenient the way they are individually frozen (if I had to thaw and separate chicken, I'd probably ruin more then we'd save). I like their Kirkland brand Vitamin Waters too, and we buy bottled water there too. We buy grapes, apples, carrots, broccoli and their frozen corn is the best. Seriously- the organic frozen corn is so sweet! We also buy our spices and gravy there too. We don't buy the other meat, because you can get it cheaper by watching the supermarket sales (Costco sells London Broil for $3.99/lb, Stater Bros sells theirs on sale for $1.97/lb).

So how did I not get a deal? I made the mistake of getting an Executive Membership part way through the year. Someone came up and scanned our card, then as we were leaving talked us into upgrading to a Executive Membership. They told us how much we had spent so far, and how much we would of been getting back (2%). It was another $30 to upgrade (normally its an extra $50). We asked the guy if they would count all of the purchases we made for the year, or just the ones from that point on. He said for the whole year, so we decided to upgrade.

Then come last week- and I get a reward for $16.32. I figure it can't be right, since the guy who upgraded us said we would of been getting $60 back when we upgraded to the Executive Card, so maybe there was a mistake. I took it to the membership counter and found out that was our reward- they only count from when you upgraded on. So did I want to upgrade for next year? Uhhhh No! I don't use any of the executive perks aside from the cash back- and my hope was to get at least $50 or more in cash back to make it worthwhile (Ideally- it would be to spend enough to get the $100 back for the membership, making my Costco membership $0).

Costco though, is good with their refund policy, and I got my $30 back, and downgraded to a regular membership. So I was back out the door, happy I got my money back, with my 10 lbs of ham, huge pizza, 6 lbs of bananas, Kirkland Vitamin Water (trying to keep my vitamin C up!), and two seedless watermelons from a very odd meltdown from Daredevil who was crying because I didn't get watermelon. 

Merry Christmas!

I know, it's not Christmas yet. Apparently the stores do, as everyone is decked head to toe in Christmas colors, and they are playing Christmas music. I am resisting the urge to start decorating until after Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving needs it's own time in the year.

I'm saying Merry Christmas because I can this year!

Being an apartment manager for the past 7 years, I've had to say Happy Holidays. You can't appear to be for or against any religion, and you can't throw Christmas parties (they must be Holiday Parties). Decorating when you work out of your home? Can't go too overboard, and appear to be discriminating.

So this year I am going all out (well, as much as my small budget will allow), and shouting Merry Christmas, blasting my Christmas music, and enjoying time that isn't interrupted by broken toilets, faulty ovens and other maintenance problems.

That's something I am very, very Thankful for!

Shopping at Michael's. A Tale of Woe.

I love to go to craft stores with no kids. It's enjoyable to be able to look at everything they have, and be inspired without my kids driving me nuts with touching everything, or asking when we are leaving the store, or acting like I made them cross the Shara to get there. Oh, and no potty stops!

So I headed to my local Michael's store to get more beads and more thread (since I finally ran out of thread/yarn stuff...it's only been 10 years I had the last spool). When I walked in, I noticed they rearranged. Scrap-booking has taken up the whole middle of the store. It was like scrapbook land! Then they had a huge jewelry making boutique looking area, with tons and tons of beads, bead holders, display racks, etc. I wasn't there for jewelry making supplies but I sure was sidetracked! They had some neat stuff!

I found my beads, both multi-colored and even red & green individual ones in the Christmas craft area. Then I went to hunt up the thread I needed. Problem was, I had no idea what it was called. I now know it's crochet thread. I looked in the sewing isle but didn't see anything like it. I looked in the bead isles, but there was nothing there that was like it either. In fact, they had beads, but apparently had no stock in anything to, you know, string them together.

So I asked an employee, if maybe she knew where they were. Michael's must not employ people who do crafts at all. Or people who don't venture from one spot in the store, because no one knew where anything was located. Finally I found someone who showed me to the bead isle and we looked at the lack of choices of beading string/wire/whatever. Then we looked at the yarn area. I'm terribly sorry, knitters, Michael's must hate you all, since your stuff is all relegated to a tiny corner of the store. They didn't have what I needed to actually make the socks.

So now I have to go to Joann's and hope they have the thread to go with the beads Michael's sells. Hopefully, Joann's actually stocks their shelves!

*Just as a note, I was not paid nor compensated for this post, I am just ranting, in hopes possibly it will inspire someone to stock their shelves with stuff! 

I'm sorry

Dear Poor, neglected blog,

I'm terribly sorry. Life came up and gave me a through kick in the behind. I've given up on NaNoWriMo. Maybe I will continue the story when things have settled down a bit, just for the heck of it. I've even been too busy to put stuff on facebook, and if you know me, that's pretty busy!

Our dear, trusty van has bit the dust. I love my van. I put the kids in the van to go to parkday, tried to back out of my driveway, and rolled into the street. My van wouldn't go anywhere it couldn't roll too. Thankfully, our neighbors came and helped me push it back into the driveway, and I called my hubby with the bad news. We changed the transmission fluid, but it was no use. My trusty van is going to need a new transmission. As sad (and extremely expensive) as that is, my car is a 2003 windstar, and this is the ONLY problem I have had with it, aside from a oil pump going out. And it died in my driveway. At least we weren't stranded somewhere. Thankfully too, my parents both are understanding and are letting us borrow their cars so we have a second one. It's only Wednesdays we run into problems with having PE class and Awanas on the same night, and it's not do-able with one car.

I'm also so thankful we live where we can walk a lot of places. It's really, really handy.

On top of that, Doorbuster has learned to walk. It's the cutest thing! I love to sit and watch him toddle around. Unfortunately, he tends to get going and land face first into things (mostly the floor), and he needs lots of cuddles. We just had his first birthday party, even though it's a bit until his birthday. I didn't want his birthday to get lost in the Thanksgiving/Christmas rush. That took a lot of planning, and a lot of cleaning. Cleaning after 4 kids is not something that goes too well.

Then add in school work, once a week PE class, once a week parkday, and having birthday parties and other activities each weekend, we rush, rush, rush everywhere. It's been almost 2 months since we've been to Disneyland, and I miss it! I'm trying to fit in a visit this week, but who knows if we will make it.

Oh, and I forgot I am making some hairbows and beaded socks for a craft fair at a friend's work and a friend's kid's school. Extra money is extra money, right? How many hairbows will it take to pay off a new transmission? More then I can make! So if I'm idle, I make hairbows, knit beads on socks, and watch movies on netflix.

Also, it's almost expansion time for World of Warcraft, so I'm helping guildies, stock piling gold, and enjoying all the new things blizzard has put in the game. It's the end of the world, don'tcha know? That is my little bit of relaxation in all the craziness.

Hopefully I'll be blogging back on a regular schedule now!

Much Love,
Me

My crap-tastic Day

The day we went to the PE class was great, until we got home. Apparently, in order to leave the house now, I have to make sure to bring the contents of the refrigerator, cupboards, and the bathtub.

While the older boys were at their PE class, I took Princess & Doorbuster to the park to play for a bit. It was a very nice little park. Princess played for about 15 minutes until it started. "I'm thirsty! I'm hungry! I'm thirsty!" I take her to the drinking fountain for a drink. (I should of brought water bottles, but I didn't think it'd be 90 degrees at 9:00am!). But then, she doesn't want to drink out of the bottom fountain that she can reach, she wants to drink from the top fountain. That would of meant holding her, and the baby, and pressing the button.

Last time I checked my third arm hasn't arrived yet.

After a few more minutes of playing, I tell her it's time to go watch her brothers play for a little bit. There's 10 minutes left in the class, and since I watched Genius play at the beginning, I figured I could watch Daredevil play too. We walk over and stand in a patch of shade. Then Princess starts having a meltdown of epic proportions. She didn't want to stand, She didn't want to sit, the grass was wet, she wanted to sit on the bench, I told her to go sit on it, she complains its in the sun, she doesn't want to sit in the sun, why didn't I bring her a chair, she's thirsty, she's tired, she wants to sit. And then it comes- I'm itchy! So now she's scratching her head and her arms, stomping her feet up and down, crying, and otherwise throwing a standing up temper tantrum while crying about how itchy she was.

Of course, if she would of just stood there and watched the game in the shade, or played with the other kids there, she wouldn't be itching! I took a few steps away and let her have her fit. At this point, everyone isn't watching their kids play, they are all staring at my pyscho kid. (For the record- if there was something legitimately wrong with her, I'd be way more sympathetic. But there's not. I REFUSE to raise a spoiled brat, and if I bend over and do what she wants every time she starts with the itchy bit, life will not be good around here).

Finally we make it home, and it's time for lunch. Everyone has whined and whined over what's for lunch. Lunchtime over here is a pain. No one likes to eat the same things, and in Genius's case, if it was made funny once, or something wasn't right, he swears it off forever. So at lunchtime, I have 3 hungry kids, who don't want to eat sandwiches again, but wont eat anything else. Oh, wait, they'll eat pizza. But that gets expensive really quick. So dinosaur chickens gets decided upon when it happens.

Doorbuster comes around the bathroom corner with a soaking wet roll of toilet paper.

It's not just soaking wet, upon closer inspection, it's brown. Poop brown. He looks at me with pride in his eyes. They say "Look Mom! I played in POOP!". I pick him up, chuck the toilet paper in the trashcan and look in the bathroom. There's poopy water everywhere! Down the toilet, on the floor, on the side of the tub, and of course, all over the baby. Great.

So I put the baby in the tub with dish soap (hey, it's antibacterial, and what else do you do?) and flush the toilet. I start to wipe up the mess and disinfecting everything, when princess comes along. "Where's my Dinochickens!". I send her to time out for not being nice. If she's in time out, then I know she's not making a mess anywhere else. I get the bathroom cleaned up and get a towel for Doorbuster, when Genius comes along. "What's for lunch?" he mutters at me.

"Dinochickens, when I can make them." I tell him. He of course mutters about how he doesn't like dinochickens and he guesses he has to make a sandwich. Princess comes and tries again, "I'm hungry. I'm huuuuuuungry. I want Dinochickens!". But first, I must find out who the culprit was.

I look at each kid, one at a time, with that deadly quiet mommy voice. "Who. Pooped. In. The. Toilet. Last."

No one answered.

I look at Genius. "Did you?" No. I look at Daredevil "Did you?" No. I look at Princess "Did you?" Yes, she nods. I pooped in the potty.

Of course. I then asked her how I was supposed to make her lunch when her brother was playing in her poop that she didn't flush. Then we practiced flushing the toilet, washing hands and shutting the bathroom door, which is the new rule around here.

If you come over to my house, and there are pictorial signs in each room, you'll know why.

NaNoWriMo Chapter 2 (1,883 words)

(authors note- bare with me! I'm falling behind but trying to catch up and keep up as best as I can. I am trying to keep in mind that the goal is to write just to write a novel, not to write a best seller. Enjoy)

What on earth is this? Why is a rock glowing? Rocks don’t glow. I begin to question my sanity. Did I finally drop of the deep end? Did someone whine one too many times, and I went crazy, and this is some drug induced dream world? I am confused. And worried. I look again at the rock as if it would give me some kind of answer. 

                It starts to glow again, like looking at it causes it to charge up with electricity. I hold it up to my eye and start turning it over, looking for a battery tab, screws, a light bulb or any other way that a ordinary rock could be glowing.    

  

                Then it happens. Snap, Pop, Crackle, Fizz and I am back in the shower. I quickly look down and see I am in exactly the same spot and time as I was before the odd trip to who knows where. I stand there afraid to move for a minute. I try to rationalize what happened. I fell asleep, that’s it. That must be it. After all, when I tell the kids Mom’s going to jump down the drain and get out of the house, I AM joking. A person can’t possibly go down a drain, and most certainly not down a drain and into a forest. I suppose I should start taking naps or going to bed earlier. I begin to wonder how long I was sleeping for, and how badly was the house trashed, as I finish up my shower. 

                Stepping out, I realize I forgot to bring a towel into the bathroom and end up using 3 baby towels to dry off. “What’s more laundry.” I mutter to myself. 

                Bang! Bang! Bang! “MOOOOOMMMMMMMM!” the little voice yells again. “He HIT me!”

                I sigh. How long was I gone? It must have been one good deep nap if I didn’t wake up to any banging. Well, she’s not saying she’s hungry, so it must not of been very long. I get out of the shower and get dressed for another day of cleaning, teaching, and driving all over the city. 

                I dig out my cell phone out from under the pile of toys that has collected up in front of the door. Only 10 minutes had passed from when I had gotten in the shower. I go about our daily routine, but still can’t shake the picture of the nice, quiet, leafy forest from my head. “Too bad it was just a dream.” I tell myself.  Forests around here involve a lot of walking, and walking with my four little ones is downright impossible. 

                Nighttime rolls around, and children begin to drop like flies into their beds. First the baby, then the toddler, then the two boys, all brush their teeth, collect their hugs, and head to bed. I enjoy the quiet, not wanting to fall asleep before my husband gets home. Sleep is important, but so is quiet, alone time. Even though I have a million things I could be doing, I make myself a glass of chocolate milk, grab a few Oreos from my hidden stash, and stretch out on the bed to watch a few of my favorite shows. Being able to watch TV without interruptions, is almost as good as the hidden Oreos. 

                On the first commercial, my mind begins to wander. I think back again to the forest. I can hear the birds chirping in my head. I wonder what would of happened if I stayed asleep a little longer, if sleeping was what I was doing. Would I have met anyone? What was at the end of the road? I shake these thoughts out of my head and stare back at the television.

                I give up, and head back to the bathroom. I step over the pile of dirty laundry, and stand in front of the shower. It was a long, hot day, and it would be nice to smell pretty by the time my husband gets home. This time though, I grab my cell phone so I can keep an eye on the time. I figure one can never be too prepared. 

                I get undressed, turn on the water, and get in the shower. The steamy water swirls around as I stand there and stare at the wall. I laugh to myself about how stupid I must be. “Why on earth did I ever think this would work? I probably should have just gone to bed!” Next thing I’ll be checking under my bed for the boogieman. 

                I step slightly forward to grab the shampoo, and my foot brushes the drain cover. Then I hear that strangely familiar sound. 

                Snap! Crackle! Pop! That slightly feeling, and there I am again, standing on that same dirt road, with the same trees, and the same forest. I listen and there are the same birds, tweeting away. I look down and double check, same clothes, same backpack. I look around on the ground, but I can’t find the rock I had. I grab my backpack and peek inside. 

                Same items as last time, some water, some bread, and the rock. I let out a sigh. I debate inside my head. Do I want to stay here? Should I follow the road? Should I try to find out where I am and why I am here? How did I get here and how do I get back? 

                I decide to go exploring. Since everyone is sleeping (probably me too, in the shower, like a moron), I might as well enjoy my brief break from reality. I again study the road I am standing on. I don’t see any footprints or tracks, or any sort of mark to show someone has traveled here before. I look off to the distance to see if there are any signs, houses or buildings. I wonder if GPS would work, if I had a phone. Or at this point, I would have settled for a compass and a map. 

                I start walking forward, since forward is as good of a direction as any. I move a bit closer to the side of the road, so I can better see what’s off to the woods on my right. Now aside from the birds chirping, I hear the crunch of gravel as I walk along the road. It’s actually quite relaxing to be strolling along to nowhere imparticular. After a few hundred steps along the road, I see a cow off to the side. After a few more steps, another cow. Maybe someone has a heard of cows, I wonder. But looking off to the side, I don’t see any people. 

                Of course, I wouldn’t see any people if I didn’t dream them there, I laugh to myself. I walk slowly, looking at the cow grazing lazily on grass and staring in return at me. I keep watching the cow when I run smack into a signpost. Ouch!

                I rub the side of my face and check for anything to be broken. That really hurt! It didn’t feel like a dream hurt, it felt like a honest to goodness smack. I look around in embarrassment to see if anyone noticed my mistake. It didn’t seem like there was anyone, so I turned my attention to the sign. It was a tall wooden round post, with two arrow shapped signs attached to the top. 

                To the left it pointed and stated- Goldshire. To the right it pointed at stated- Stormwind. I stood and stared, my blood running cold. I got that awful feeling in my stomach that something was very, very wrong here. I had thought everything seemed vaguely familiar because everything was sort of familiar. I was in my warcraft game. Of all the places to imagine one’s self to be! I, apparently pick a warcraft game. I take two steps back and decide that, if I’m in an imaginary land that I apparently dreamed up, I might as well relive some stress over it. 

                I address the sign as if it was a person standing there pointing with its arms. “Why? Why me? Why can’t I just dream up normal things? Why not a beach with a hot cabana boy bringing me drinks with umbrellas in it? Have I lost my marbles!?”

                Then behind me a voice speaks up. “Well, you ARE yelling at a sign.” 

                I turn around quickly in complete and utter embarrassment. Please, ground, swallow me whole! Where’s the alarm? Wake me up already! I look at the person standing in front of me. He’s taller then me, wearing what looks like suit of armor. Of course he’d be wearing armor, if I am where I think I am. 

                I stammer in embarrassment, “Sorry, I was just, confused. Well actually, more than confused and imagining things. Do you mind if I pinch you?” 

                He stands there, leaning against his sword with an amused grin on his face. I began to feel even stupider, which I didn’t even know was possible until that moment. Again, why did I feel the need to embarrass myself in this alternate reality? Seeing that he was carrying a big sword and I had no weapon aside from a slightly heavy backpack, I decided against pinching him, or otherwise getting too close. 

                “Nevermind.” I tell him, and gathering what little dignity I have left, begin walking in the direction I was going in. I listen for the sound of footsteps following mine, or the hiss of a sword cutting through the air. Luckily, there is neither. I debate breaking into a jog to try and reach the town faster, but decide I’d look really stupid. PE never was my strong point, especially not running. 

                Then I hear it, the quickening sound of heavy, mail, feet. I swear under my breath. Now what? I keep walking with my eyes set on the horizon, when the same knightly man catches up to me and matches my stride. 

                “Well? What do you want?” I demand. 

                “Just an introduction. I’m Galeron. And  you are?” he asks. 

                I pause for a second. Should I make up a name? Run away and hide behind a cow? I decide it would be best to answer him. Maybe he would be useful in sorting things out. 

                “I’m Anna. Nice to meet you. Sorry about yelling back there. I was having a bad….moment.” 

                “Are you new around here Anna?” he asks. 

                “Yes, if you could tell me where exactly here is.” I reply. (Way to impress him, I think to myself. Keep making him think I’m headed for the loony bin, if they have a loony bin around here.) 

                He laughs and shakes his head slightly. “You must be new around here then. This is Elwyn Forest. You know where that is, or else you wouldn’t be here.”

                I stammer, “What do you mean, I wouldn’t be here?” 

                    He stops walking and leaned casually against the fence. He reaches into his pack, pulls out an apple, tosses it in the air and takes a bite. While chewing he looks me over from head to toe. I put my hands on my hips and tap my foot. I don’t have time for this sort of thing. At least, I don’t think I do.

PE "class"

Or as my kids were complaining, "You didn't tell us we were going to play baseball!" I've only been telling them that they have PE class Wednesday mornings, where they are going to play baseball. But what do I know? I'm only the one who signed them up for it.

I think they had fun. I loved that the bigger kids were split up- K-3 on one field to do t-ball, and the older kids on another field playing baseball. The coaches were great, encouraging, and really kept the class moving. For $20 a month, per kid, its perfect! The parents were all so friendly, I met a lot of friendly people. Even Princess had some friends to play with on the playground.

NaNoWriMo- Chapter One (1747 words)

Chapter One

“Mmmmliignggosooo” a little voice said. 

                “Moooom. Linnggoososiaa.” Repeated again. Ugh. I was lying there all warm in my bed, having a nice, long sleep. I cracked one eye open and looked at my daughter, standing there in a purple Dora nightgown, and hoped that maybe I could figure out what she wanted.

                “Mlrgrgrgr. Linnngguh.” She said again, in that awful little whiney voice again. It’s not that I hate her voice, it’s I hate being woken up after a long night with whining. Not just whining, a demand or a complaint. Something anyways, something that I don’t have a clue what she is saying. 

                “Mom needs a minute.” I tell her. I stretch out, and try to rub the sleep out of my eyes. I look over and see the baby with his big drooling grin smiling at me. At least he wakes up happy. I stick one leg out from the blankets and decide it’s entirely too cold to get out of bed. Except for, I have to go to the bathroom. I debate turning on the heater and decide the bill and the smell just aren’t worth it. It’s going to be in the 80’s today anyways.  Eighty degree weather in November! 

                I get up, do my morning business, and go to fish the baby out of his bed. I change his diaper and set him on the floor. Back comes in my daughter. She’s a morning person. I, since having children, am not.

                “Mom. My foot hurts.” She says. 

                “Guess we’ll have to cut it off then.” I reply. I don’t know why I couldn’t have figured out this earlier, it’s been her complaint every morning. She has a tiny scratch on her foot. A bit of lotion makes it go away. To her though, it’s the end of the world. 

                “Mom. My foot hurts. Can I have some candy, please?” 

                She didn’t even say a normal please with that, it was a I’m so cute, I’m so little, you just have to do what I’m asking you voice. I stood firm though. The last thing I wanted to do was deal with 4, sugared up kids all day. Then, my husband would come home from work, and depending on how the day went, I could end up with 5 sugared up, bickering kids. That makes me rather outnumbered. 

                “No. It’s too early. You have to eat some breakfast first.” 

                She runs out of the room and I hear the cupboards open, then slam shut. Then I hear the rustling of a box being opened. I fluff my pillows and get back into bed and stare at the ceiling. We have a ceiling fan that has been on since we moved in. I think we turned it off once. I should probably dust it. I close my eyes and try to silence the part of my mind that is already making a to-do list for the day, which now includes dusting all the fans in the house. Do dishes, wipe counters, do 2 loads of laundry. Put away loads that have been done and thrown back into a basket. Sigh Mentally. I could use just five more minutes of sleep. 

                Guess it’s time to get up. I get up, put on some socks, and go peek on the baby. He’s waking up his brothers. I guess that’s nice of him. Then I find out that my lovely daughter shoved two handfuls of cereal in her mouth and decided that constituted breakfast. The boys eat and get right to their favorite activity, playing games on the computer. We follow a set schedule around here, and now free time to play is a precious commodity. 

                I guzzle down my Dr. Pepper. I don’t like coffee. I don’t like hot drinks. There’s just something wrong about them. A good deep sleep is very rare for me, so a good jolt of caffeine get my day going. Most people think Stay at Home Moms just lay around in their pajamas and eat bon bons. There are many days when I try to accomplish that, but it rarely happens. Just the demands of my children during the day make that impossible.  There are mouths to feed, clothes to wash, diapers to change, noses to wipe, appointments to schedule and places to get to. Being a stay at home mom is being CEO of your own company. 

                Being a CEO 24/7 is tiring! 

                I gaze at the after breakfast tornado on top of the leftovers of nights dinner, dump the bowls of soggy cereal dumped out in the sink, and since everyone is occupied, it’s my time to sneak away and try to take a shower. A shower makes me feel clean, pretty and productive. If you work away from home, you have to get dressed for your job. I feel the same way. I just don’t have to rush out the door by a set time. I step over the knocked over laundry basket, look the other way from the destroyed bathroom. Another thing to add to the never ending to do list. 

                I turn on the water, get undressed, and make sure the water is warm. All while gazing at my never ending laundry pile in my own bathroom. Add that to things to do today. Five people depending on me to wash their socks, underwear and other clothing, yet no one to check if I have any clean socks. I think to myself, “It’s lonely at the top”. This cracks me up, before someone comes banging on the door. 

                “Mom! Bryan hit me!” the little voice shouts. 

                “Well, stay away from him”. I shout back. In our house, there is always an argument before the hitting occurs, and usually it’s provoked. Both of the parties are presumed guilty and appropriately punished. But this time, I am not getting dressed to deal with it. It’s already getting late in the day, and if I don’t make it in the shower, it won’t be pretty! 

                I open the door to the shower; stick one foot in, and then the other. It’s nice and warm and for a few seconds, quiet. I close my eyes and let my mind go blank for a few seconds.

                Bang! Bang! Bang! “MOOOOM!” “MOM!” comes another voice. 

                “What?!” I exclaim. Exasperated. What on earth could they possibly want this time? 

                “Do we just have cereal for breakfast?” asked the oldest. 

                “Yes. Didn’t you just eat?” I shout back. 

                “Yeah, but it didn’t taste right. I think the cereal is bad. It just tasted wrong. They must of made something wrong with it. It’s not the right cereal. I don’t know what they might of done, because it tastes wrong. I don’t think they know how to make it right any more.” Drones on the oldest. 

                I cut him off. “Eat something else then. Have toast. Leave me alone until I get out of the shower Please.” I shout back. Who knew cereal could be so complicated? My precious seconds are ticking away before the baby notices I am out of sight. If I let the baby in the bathroom, he’ll want to take a shower too. He doesn’t need a shower right now, and it would make my quit five minute shower into a half hour extravaganza. Not to mention, getting out of the shower with him is difficult without my husband home. 

                I pour shampoo into my hair and scrub it around, when I notice the drain to the shower is a little loose. I tap it with my foot, and the cover to the drain flips off. Great. A perfect hole for things to fall into and clog. I flip the cover back over with my foot and go to slide it over the drain. 

                Then it happens. I hear a pop, a snap, and a crackle. The air around me gets static and I start to panic. Suddenly, I’m not in the shower anymore. I’m standing on a dirt road. I take a quick look around to figure out that No, I’m not in the shower, and No, I’m not anywhere that I recognize off the top of my head. Thankfully, I am dressed somehow, so at least that’s one less thing to worry about. 

                I look up, and I see a bright blue sky. I look down, and I see the dirt road. A light, sandy covered, dirt road. The kind that looks well traveled, comfortable to walk on, and possibly leading somewhere interesting. I look behind me, and the road stretches on in the opposite direction. Around me there are tall, green, leafy trees, small bunches of wildflowers, and roaming wildlife. 

                This is defiantly not a shower, and it’s most certainly not my house. Where am I? How did I get here? What was in that cereal I ate? I pinch myself. It hurts. I don’t think I’m dreaming, but what could of happened? This sort of thing doesn’t happen! 

                I walk to the side of the road and place my hands on top of the brown wooden fence that lines the road. I cup my hands around my eyes and try to peer through the trees to see as far as I can. There’s no people, no buildings, no signs, no cars. Where could I be? And more importantly, How do I get home? Where are my kids? I try to keep the panic that’s rising in my stomach at bay. Panicking isn’t going to help anyone. 

                I search the strange pair of pants I am wearing. No pockets. I look at my shoes; basic brown flats that seem to do the job, and look at my tank top like shirt I am wearing. Not anything I recognize, but they are strangely familiar. Like something I’ve seen before and might of tried on, but didn’t buy. I’m wearing a backpack, which I anxiously open and rummage through. Inside the plain brown bag is a bottle of water, a loaf of bread wrapped in a blanket, a rock with a swirling shape on it, and a picnic basket, complete with umbrella and blanket. What odd stuff to be carrying around, and for what purpose? I figure, that everything in it seems useful in some way, except for the rock. 

                I pick up the rock from the bag and hold it in my hand. It starts to glow a funny blue color, so I look a little closer.

NaNoWriMo- Intro

So on a whim I've decided to participate in NAtional NOvel WRIting MOnth (Otherwise known as NaNoWriMo). Yeah, I'm probably nuts.

I figure it would be fun to get a mental workout by writing something longer then I have written before (well, more like the stuff I may have written since high school). I also figured it'd be a good opportunity to show to my kids that reading and writing is important. Genius is going to be writing this month too, but probably on a much smaller scale. I'm thinking around 5,000 words instead of 50,000.

What do you get for participating in NaNoWriMo? Nothing except the pride of finishing a Novel. Or the pride of writing 50,000 words. I just want to do it to see if I can. I haven't come up with much of a plot, or much in the way of planning. I am going to write, and see how it goes. Writing is the important part, practicing putting words onto the screen and getting the mind working.

With 4 kids, it's probably more of a practice in keeping a train of thought while being interupted.

So, my story may be a little disjointed. It may repeat itself. It may wander through different places and subjects, and it may be hard to read. It may be completely crazy. It may be something you have no interest in reading. I'm teaching my inner editor to shut up, and focusing on writing about anything at all, and letting
the story go where it may. If you'd like to read, go ahead! If not, feel free to skip my NaNoWriMo posts, and find something else on here (or anywhere) to read.

Here's to hoping I reach my goal of 50,000 words come the end of the month!