I AM BACK!

Greeting friends.....I have not fallen off the planet! I have just been very busy!! I also have found a new passion......FREE STUFF and Coupons! Who doesn't love that? I was recently introduced to free stuff and hosting parties to get get free samples, and LOTS of coupons for the items I buy!

So I will be starting a new blog that will directly be about savings for Moms and free stuff!!! Let me know if this would be fun? Would you check it out?

Toilet, Room Keys and Music, Oh My!!!

What a wild weekend we had in South Dakota:

So we planned a middle of the road trip to visit sister-in-law from Rapid City....we looked for a middle ground to meet and searched for a hotel that would meet our needs. We would have a couple of teenagers and a pair of adolecencents and 3 adults that needed not to go crazy! We found the Ramkota hotel in Souix Falls: It was a water park hotel with many amenities that would please everyone!

Arriving at the destination we were pleasantly surprised at the hotel. We were greeted with a modern, clean hotel with friendly staff. The kids could hardly wait to put on their suits and hit the pool! Bringing our stuff into the room, hubby comes out of the bathroom boldly stating "The toilet does NOT work!" Thinking he plugged it, I ask what is the deal? He says the darn thing has NO water in it and it won't flush. Immediately I check to see if the water line is on.....it is! A call to the front desk sends up maintenance to fix the toilet. Fixed biffy and we are off to the pool!

After about 3 hours at the pool and the teenage girls are ready to go to room and get changed...we entrust them with the room keys. After about 15 minutes I get a text message from daughter who says....The key doesn't work in our door. I reply for her to come and get the other key! Thinking all things are good, since about 1 hour has passed and no text, when we head up to the room to get the other kids warm and settled, I find that my room is locked and my key is not working. Texting my child, I find that she could not even get into room with other key. Heading down to the desk, I report that the keys are not working.....The send up maintenance again. This time the guys can not get the card reader to work at all!!! He pulls out a huge bent wire hanger and starts to jimmy the door open! Presto! We are able to get in! He promises to fix the door. After about 15 minutes later he reports that he fixed the key reader.

Leaving the room about half an hour later to go get dinner, we return to the card reader NOT working and once again we are locked out! Here comes the maintenance crew again! I am beginning to get agitated but hold it together....this time they replace the whole door mechanism. Key reader is working again! Which is good, since we are heading to bed and won't be needing to be in and out of the room!

A few other mishaps occurred between the hours of 10 and midnight,but nothing unexpected at a hotel: Like a the LOUD neighbors who are shouting at the top of their lungs, and noise in the hall and loud music in the parking lot! Nothing a few cocktails can't fix! That is until 2:17am....

Being awoken by LOUD LOUD music coming from the parking, we look out our window to see 40-50 people partying it up! 3-4 cars blaring music and beer bottles and kegs being tossed in parking lot and people shouting, prompt me to call the desk! After someone answers the desk phone, I ask if I needed to contact the police about the noise or would they be handling it? The response I got was " THE POLICE ARE IN THE LOT!!!" and then the phone slammed down. NOT OKAY in my book, and really not okay since it took them about 2 hours to shuffle the block party out of the parking lot!

In the morning we are ready to head out. As we are checking out, I am waiting for an apology and a thank you. Nope, the desk gal asked for me to sign for my room and if I wanted a receipt! I told her yes, and I also wanted a MANAGER! She summons the manager who comes up promptly!

Explaining all the crazy stuff that happened, and NOT getting one apology for any of the troubles we had, he apologized out his butt!! He also comped out room for the night! Would I stay there again? NOPE!! Did we have fun?? Yep! Our crazy weekend!!

Family Update....Finally!

Family Update....

Not much new in our household.

Marc... Working as ususal. We are planning a trip to Souix Falls to meet Sister in Law for the weekend at a waterpark hotel. So that means hubby works 10 days in a row!

Madison....Finishing up the school year with a BANG! She recieved an award for honor roll and 5 other acedemic awards, including an award for top 20 highest GPA in the 7th grade! Way to go girl! She got her nose pierced....yes, I gave in and let her do it! Why not she is a good kid and gets good grades!

MacKenzie.....Finishing up 1st grade and ready to start her summer vacation! She lost aother tooth on the top and has another dangling! The tooth fairy will be visiting our house soon!

Me.....Crazy busy. New computer changes at work has added a few extra training hours. I attempted a garage sale in cold windy weather. I spent a wonderful Mother Days with my kids, hubby, parents and brother and sister in law! My favorite teenage and future graduate stopped by also! What a blessed day I had!

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Please check the gene pool before getting in!

So I say this with the utmost respect to family, but really did NO ONE check the gene pool before expanding it?

I find it funny now that I am a Mom and a parent that I find funny little quirks that my kids have, that I nor my husband never had. Upon talking about them with "relatives" I find that Uncle So and So and my 4th cousin removed had the same quirk. I also find out I had a crazy and when I say crazy I mean hiding money all over and carried her bra's in her purse so no one would steal them, Great Aunt.

We all have "problem" family members, heck, I am probably one of them! Depression, Anxiety, Compulsions and many more. but I am talking about plain old CrAzY! You know those relatives, the ones that nobody invites unless you need a good laugh or want to start a family fight. The family member that shows up at functions with his latest pyramid scheme to rob you blind so he can live the high life! The family member who believes that they and their children are the BOMB, yet they can't hold a job or take care of each other. Those family members that when you go to a MANDATED reunion to celebrate your Great Aunts 105th birthday, you sit back and try to figure out who pissed in the gene pool?

So I try and gather information from the elders in the family: heck I want to know what else to expect since I am seeing that crazy skips a few generations. Here is some of the gene pool information that I found out.

• I have a great Aunt that would always wear lacy gloves: ALL THE TIME! She left the states to move to the Caribbean. She spent her life living the island life only to die down there. The crazy is not her gloves, or that she moved away to follow her dream, but that the rest of the family refused to fly her body home to bury her. They all were pissed that she lived her life to the fullest! They all still call her the crazy one...go figure!



• Homosexuality is something that we have often wondered about a cousin: It has ever been said nor asked. Her father who raised her like a boy, is in denial about his daughter. He even makes wisecrack jokes about homosexuals. The crazy is not the cousin, but the father who cant see beyond his own fears to accept his daughter for who she is.

I know that I can not judge people.....I know that I should not judge people but when you hear stories about an uncle who used to like to watch people sleep. He would get close to you when you are sleeping to watch you....often makes me wonder WHO PISSED IN OUR GENE POOL??? Really??

I Hate Myself!

So as a parent it is so easy to imagine what your child's life is going to be like: You dream that they accomplish everything you did or did not do! You push them to be driven and teach them to achieve. Or maybe I am the only one as a parent that thinks like that.

I am in the middle of a battlefield. I am the mother of a teenage daughter who body is changing and her emotions are changing. Before I set up the scenario...lets backtrack about 25 years. I am turning 13 and I am overweight. When I say overweight, I mean heavy! I wore the fat girl pants (anything with elastic waist band). Now I was not sedentary: I was physically active in many sports: Soccer, dance and softball. I just packed on the pounds while my body was physically changing. When the change was complete, I had extra weight in my belly that made me look like a 13 year old pregnant girl. I couldn't wear the cute jeans, and t-shirts. I was just too FAT! The realization came to me when I was in 9th grade. I was an emotional eater. I ate food for emotional reason: If I was sad, I would eat, If I was lonely I would eat, bored....eat! Not everything was a negative for eating, I enjoying eating, because it meant that we would all be together, either just the family out for a dinner or a HUGE family gathering: FOOD controlled my life.

I needed to get control of my life away from food. I made big changes in the foods that I ate and what portions I ate. That year I lost weight, gained strength and began my high school years as a tennis star! My life revolved around playing tennis,hanging with my friends and school. FOOD no longer has the control: I did! I look back at the pictures through out the years and I see the evolution of ME! So does that mean I have won the battle completely? HECK NO! At age 21, just finished college, and starting a new job I gained almost 40 pounds! 40 pounds on a 5 foot 3 inch stature is not pretty! On top of it all, I got engaged to be married. I hated how I looked and how I felt! Food took control again! I ate for stress, I ate for anxiety and I ate for fun!

My wedding day was as picture perfect as it could be: except I was still fat. I gained the confidence to love who I am and slowly get food under control. It just was not in time for my wedding. When I look at the pictures from that day, I still am happy because I married the man of my dreams. But a pictures says a thousand words! In my case a thousand words that all say FAT!

My battle with food and weight gain will forever be a part of my life! That is why when I had my 2 daughters, I never wanted them to ever deal with food as their enemy! Sweet darling little babies that grow up into beautiful girls: At 13 my daughter is starting the cycle like I did! A late bloomer and her body is so confused! She is gaining weight and not changing anywhere else. The words I AM FAT came out of her mouth today! I have been in denial about seeing her gain the weight. I have been in denial that her clothes don't fit her anymore. I have been in FAT denial! I did offer her words of advise about 4 months ago about making more healthier choices! That was shrugged off by her! I didn't want to push her.

As I write this I am in a sad place: I had the hopes and dreams that my daughters would never ever have to feel the way I did! After my morning of her tears and sobs about how she hates herself and her body, brought me back to my 13 year old emotions! Telling her how beautiful she is and trying to boost her self esteem up, I send off to school. With the car door shutting, I breakdown into an emotion of tears myself! I feel like a failure as a parent. I try to find blame in anybody! I blame my husband for not being more supportive in her being physically fit! At 6 foot tall and NOT over weight it is easy to want to sit and play video games or watch movies rather than being outside. I blame my daughter for not taking control and making better choices. I blame the neighborhood....not that many of her friends live close enough to have them here to play! I blame genetics! I could go on and on....but the reality of it, is do I force her to make changes? I don't want her to resent me or hate me! Or do I let her discover on her own that boys don't like the fat girls, and skinny girls are very mean! That could lead to self esteem issues that she bottles up! I think we need to have a family meeting to discuss the barrage of emotions that came to a head this morning. I think we all need to face the facts and take control!

So as I wipe my tears and look in the mirror and see myself as a fat 13 year old again....I can't help but wonder? Did I do something wrong?

Mama had a baby and her head popped off!

Today I had a random thought....my head exploding! Not from a massive headache,but from my children! Just like any other Mom, our days blend into night and we never get a chance to completely shut down.

My mornings can start off with a bang!! I am usually bombarded with a zillion questions and demands. Ranging from can I have a can of Pop for breakfast to I have nothing to wear! This can then lead into the famous "I need money for a school project" to "where is my science book?" My brain is lead into so many directions that many times I am agreeing to stuff that I normal would not agree to, such as the can of Mountain Dew my 13 year old had for breakfast this morning. Adding in the questions from the husband who mysteriously lost his wallet and turns his panic into your panic only to have him find the darn thing on top of the dresser, which I thought I asked him to check there but maybe the words eluded my mouth! All of this occurs before 6:30am most days! You can see why I find my peace and inner soul at work!

Returning home my brain switches into OVERDRIVE! Again those darn mothering questions....."What's for dinner? "Do I really have to have bath?" "Can I take all the cushions off the couch and jump on them?" Again, I am agreeing to things that I normal would not, hence all my couch cushions on the floor and a first grader jumping on them! My brain is hitting maximum overload, when the husband wants to discuss a major purchase that we don't really need.....I leave this blank since it can be anything...most husbands want a frivolous purchase!

So am I a bad parent that I take a little bit longer on the drive home from work? Or pour a glass of wine and sneak off into the bathroom for a hot bath with the doors locked and my Ipod on? Or if I make up an answer to get the child to be quiet? Or pretend that I did not see that paper in the backpack that is a homework sheet, and remind hubby to look into the backpack in the morning on my way out the door? Heck NO! That is the only way that I know to keep my head from popping off! After all I am a MOM!

No, what are you crazy? I am only a child!!

I can remember the day that I was going to get my ears pierced: I was 9 years old and we were heading down to the local salon. I was sitting in the waiting area by myself (because my Mom couldn't watch) and my teeth were chattering so bad that I had to bite on my sleeve! If I was this scared, why would I go through with it? I needed to wear earrings bad....so bad! Snap and they were done! I was so happy and yet in awe of what I could make my body if I wanted something so badly!

So when I was blessed to have 2 daughters, I was NOT going to wait until they were too old to psych themselves out of getting the ear piercing.....Nope when Madison was 5 we did it! Kenzie was 2 years old and got hers done. She did not even cry of flinch, even when we had to pierce them a second time at age 5 after the one ear closed. Do my kids wear earrings? Not so much! I even continue to buy the cute Claire's earring for them and our collection grows!

Now as the times are changing so have piercing. It used to be that you would get a double ear piercing or even dare to pierce the cartilage on top of your ear. Now piercing range from lips, tongues, eyebrows, and noses. I am sure you are aware of many other piercing locations also none that I am even to daring to write about. So when our babysitter was telling me that she was gonna pierce her own nose (because you have to be 18 to do it without a parents consent) and she was not gonna wait 4 months to do it....I offered to do it for her! Heck, I can use a better sterile technique than she would. So the piercing went great! It actually looked pretty awesome! My 12 year old even was thinking it look great! A shiny little nose stud that looked cute! I offered to pierce my daughters nose but hubby did NOT like that idea and suggested that she wait a few years!

So after a few thoughts, I began to think that maybe I would like a cute nose stud! I want a sparkly nare! A few thoughts came to my mind: 1. My mother was not happy that I got a tattoo but thought it was pretty. I think a nose piercing would put her over the edge. 2. Am I too old? Would I look like I was just trying too hard? 3. I am a nursing professional and how would that look to my patients?

So many thoughts and contemplations. I hold off for the time being, that is until my 7th grader brings up the nose piercing again....she wants to do it and hubby says that's okay! (I think he is thinking that she will chicken out!) My niece in South Dakota wants her nose pierced but was told she needs to wait. My daughters friend wants hers pierced also but was told she can only do it if Madison does it! So I make the plan in motions.....why not it's Spring Break!

So I tell dear daughter that we are going to get her nose pierced this week if she wants to! She stammers and stutters and states that she needs more time to think about it! (Again psyching herself out of it!) In the meantime, my adorable 1st grader is pissed! And I mean pissed! She clearly stated that she would be the first person in the family to get body piercing before anyone else!! She wants to get her nose pierced first! So I boldly state....Let's do it! I will take you in and have them do it for her. Her response......"No, what are you crazy? I am only a child!"

So in the mean time, we have NO new piercings to speak of....we will have to wait!!