NAG......and you SHALL receive!

I have been wanting a new computer for a long time.  The last computer we bought was a laptop in 2008. Shortly after its arrival our sweet little princess Ava popped off half the keys on the keyboard resulting in me spending HOURS trying to figure out where they all went.  The laptop had a pretty rough life.  It endured having its screen colored with crayons when James couldn't figure out a coloring game, being slammed closed every time I told one of the kids it was time to get off the computer, being dropped on the kitchen floor, being mutilated by Ava, and who knows what else that I never knew. This thing was TOUGH.

Early on Saturday morning (well.....not early....I tend to rise around 10am) I walked into the kitchen, gently tapped the ON button on my way to the coffee pot and waited for old faithful to boot up as I sipped my morning coffee.  I waited.....and waited.....and pushed again........and checked the outlet......and checked the charger........but nothing happened.  Puzzled, I looked at Sam and her friend sitting at the kitchen bar and asked "Did you guys use the computer this morning?"

"No, mom.......it wouldn't turn on."
"Hmmm........" I said, "I wonder whats wrong with it now?"
"We don't know...........<insert whisper> do you think that maybe it would do that if someone spilled water inside of it?"
"Uhhhh......YEAH.......I do! What happened?"
"Oh.........well that didn't happen.......we were just wondering........"

Slap forehead.

I went over to the geriatric PC and gently turned her upside down.  Slowly......drip drip drip........the guilty liquid spilled out.  Lemonade.

I wasn't mad...........I of course had to pretend to be because it was a really big deal, but honestly, I had been waiting for that thing to die so I could finally upgrade my family to an iMac Desktop computer.  My glee quickly turned to panic as I worried about my documents........my pictures..........everything that hadn't been backed up onto a disk.  Crap.

As I slowly dismantled the laptop and placed its hard drive into a bowl of rice I quietly surfed the net on my phone and shopped for a replacement.  It felt so dirty.  I managed to mask my excitement when I typed a frantic text to my husband and broke the news.  Secretly I was wondering what I should do for Sam's friend, Gretchen, to thank her for effortlessly carrying out the grotesque hit on our family's computer.

The next day, much to my surprise, my husband had the hard drive back in old faithful and it was slowly limping along.  Great, just great.  WHAT do we have to do to this computer to END its reign?
I remember leaving for work Sunday morning glaring at that hunk of junk on the counter just barely breathing and running on fumes and lemonade residue and I stated simply "I don't care that you fixed it I want it GONE and I want a new computer!"  I seriously said that.   Then I stormed out like a spoiled little child.  Luckily we were busy at work and I didn't have time to fret about my temper tantrum.  When I returned home at 11 that night there she was.....still sitting on the counter running like a champ, in better condition than when I had left.  I just sigh and walk past, pretty embarrassed about my earlier outburst.

 As I walked into my bedroom, past my sleeping husband and towards my closet door (which for some reason was shut) I saw a glow.  A soft beautiful glow from underneath the closet door that captured my attention and led me through to the dark room......I slowly and anxiously opened the door to a miraculous sight.  I actually did it.  I managed to be a total bitch.........and had effectively applied the right amount of pressure/guilt to get what I wanted......AGAIN!  My husband would make a horrible Dog Whisperer......you don't reinforce bad behavior with a reward!  How do you expect to break the cycle?!

The shiny modern flat screen monitor had a personalized screen saver which simply read "Your welcome."  At the moment when I should be elated with this amazing sight..........all I could do was correct his grammar.  Thanks honey, you are the best..............and here I sit on my throne.......just living the dream ;)

Night of the living children

Is it just me or is there nothing scarier than seeing your children in the middle of the night? Mine aren't the kind of kids that come in crying and throwing a fit tapping you on the head asking to crawl into bed.  My kids are like SWAT team snipers.  Sam likes to stand right outside of my bedroom door and just stare at me while she does surveillance and comes up with a plan of action.  Sometimes she crawls to my side of the bed, gets inches from my face and just waits for me to wake up.  When I wake up I fear for my life.  Why does this freak me out? I don't know........ maybe its because of horror movies like "The Ring" or the Amityville horror movie that have those creepy children standing in the doorway holding their teddy bears with evil smiles on their faces.    

Saturday night, while staying awake waiting for the "devastating storms" threatening our area I was trying to keep my eyes open at 3am when I saw a child like flash dash across the hallway.  Honestly I was so tired and sleep deprived that I wasn't sure it was real.  I woke my husband.  At the time it seemed like an emergency because I was pretty sure I had just seen a ghost.  James has the tendency to make a mad dash into my room, fall to the floor in front of my bed to avoid breaking his cover, and then army crawls to his dads side of the bed to sneak inside. We searched the room........no James............I assumed I was crazy. I laid back down to check the current radar and once again the child like flash dashed across the hallway towards the living room. I knew it wasn't my imagination this time and soon found they both were huddled on the living room couch scared of the storm.

Ava on the other hand clumsily stumbles into my room, throws her blanket and sippy cup onto my head and hoists herself up.  She kicks me in the side and steals my pillow and makes no attempt to hide the fact that she is claiming her spot.  This I can handle.  She is a "regular" in our room every night.  Really the only creepy thing about Ava is that she has decided to start referring to herself in the third person this week.  "Ava is hungry", "Ava has to go potty", "Ava doesn't want to go to bed"............I am struggling to figure this one out.

One store, two store, three store.....FAIL!

So tomorrow is dress like Dr Seuss day at school. I have been VERY excited about this and racking my brain for ideas. Sam didn't have anything in her closet that was red and white striped, nothing even SOLID red! A trip to the store was unavoidable. I think I went to five stores last night with little to no success. I finally scored a turquoise Henley and solid red top for underneath but not a single thread of anything striped. Leaving a little disappointed I went home and immediately called my friend Jess at Drama Girl and asked her to whip me up a tutu.....Dr Seuss style. She is amazing and had it made before the night was over. Score!

Next was to think of a rhyming snack and I had been brainstorming that one for awhile. I finally decided on "fish in a dish"!

So while I should be sitting here excited for tomorrows festivities, I'm not........Sams not going to school Friday.....she has strep. FML.

Lent..............the new diet

With no intentions of offending anyone I have to say I am a teeny bit irritated at all the people giving up things for lent that really don't fall into the category of fasting yourself of something that strengthens your relationship with god.  I don't think lent should be a 40 day crash diet, or a 40 day detox from alcohol or chocolate.  I think lent is giving up something you NEED in your every day life.  Something you NEED.  I also think lent isn't only about giving something up, but gaining something in your life to change who you are. (in a good way) We don't have to give up bad habits to prove to our god that we believe.  Instead of giving something up this year I opted to add something to my life that makes me feel like a better person.  Something entirely selfless, other than being completely and totally rewarding to my soul, and something that shows my god that I am working on becoming the person that I am supposed to be.  I was recently blessed with some new amazing people in my life.  A family that brings so much clarity when I am with them, and so much inspiration just having known them.  I truly believe they were brought into my life to show me what the important things in life really are.  They aren't Coach purses, German vehicles, and designer jeans. This family has opened my eyes to the kind of life that I want to lead and I could not be happier that god has sent them to me.

So I've been tagged............

Thanks Cori Ingram for tagging me in your blogging questionnaire...............I'll give it a go.

1. What is one thing you would change about your physical appearance if you could?
Would it seem conceded if I said nothing?  Ok, I guess if I had to change something I would have been born with straight hair.  I had fought with my naturally curly hair most of my life. It hates humidity, and I hate it.
2. Where was your first date with your significant other?
Jimmy and I were introduced through a mutual friend when I was a senior in high school.  We met at a party at his house.  I dont include this as our first date.  He had me over to his house (his parents had just divorced so he had it to himself in college) and cooked me a Lobster dinner.  I hadnt had time to mention to him I hated seafood.  To make matters worse, the lobster were still alive.  Apparently he thought I would be impressed as he stuffed their screaming bodies into the pot to boil.  I cried.  He had the most amazing flowers waiting there for me but I couldnt take them home because my parents had no idea I was seeing an old man his age.  It was a lovely evening.  He told me several years later that after I had left he invited some of his friends over and they ate the mountains of crab that I refused to eat.  
3. What job do you see yourself doing in 10 years?
I would love to go back to school when my kids are all in school and become a pharmacist.  Chemistry amazes me and I love drugs.  The legal kind.
4. What is your favorite dessert of all time?
Wow.  Probably an amazing home made banana cream pie made by our very own David Angelotti
5. How long have you been blogging, and why did you start? :)
Only a few months.  Primarily because I had so much useless things to say that I was tired of clogging up my Facebook wall with all the nonsense.  I figured people read blogs because they want to hear what you have to say, you shouldn't bog down everyone's news feed updating your status every hour about something funny your kid just did.
6. What is the biggest obstacle you have faced in life so far?
I don't think I have faced a big obstacle in my life yet.  I have been so very blessed my entire life and surrounded by the most amazing family that I don't feel like I have truly suffered.  I guess I am pretty lucky that even though I had my first child at such a young age I was able to stay in school and graduate from college while juggling a family.  That was hard.
7. What is your favorite room in your house?

My living room.  It is covered by the sweet canvas'd faces of my little angels, its warm and inviting.  My living room is not at all formal and I absolutely adore curling up on my sofa wrapped in a blanket and reading a book.

8. Do you follow politics closely?
Not really.  Not as much as I should.
9. Do you like Scentsy? Which scent? (I have recently become a Scentsy nut. I don't sell it, I just adore the products.)
The best Scentsy scent out there is Spring Clean, hands down.  Its discontinued of course, but they just brought it back last month for the Bring Back My Scentsy promotion and I bought a TON of it.

10. Name one thing you wish you could change about your high school years?
I wasnt really involved as I would have liked to have been in high school.  The activities I was involved in really didnt connect me with school.  I was at horse shows every weekend and spending my afternoons with my horse at the barn.  It I could do it all over again I would have played more sports and really enjoyed my high school years.
11. Name one splurge you would not want to live without.

Well my one splurge was my Volvo SUV we purchased after the birth of our second child.  Thanks to child #3 I lost my dream car to a minivan because we had a 3 kid minivan rule.  I'll get her back some day though............some day very soon ;)

I Dont Wanna Grow Up!

Whew! What a week! We have had so much illness over the past 10 days, I am just exhausted.  It seems just as one child seems to getting over it there is another one waiting to break with a disease.  We received a letter home from school that informed us Samantha's class had been exposed to pink eye.......keeping our fingers crossed we dont end up with that crud.  When the note came home, it listed several communicable diseases, and it highlighted the illness your child was exposed to.  Sam and I had to chuckle because her dad has been throwing a royal hissy fit over the lice "problem" at the elementary school.  He warned her that she should steer clear of any children in the affected class, and that if she brought lice home, the only way to cure it would be to shave her head.  As impressionable as she is.............she has been terrified ever since.  I never knew my husband had such a lice phobia.  When news broke that a child had been identified with lice he was up all night on his ipad researching ways to prevent/treat this apparent killer bug.  When we got the note Sam and I came up with a little practical joke, and we highlighted lice on the list along with pink eye, and posted it on the refrigerator.  As we pretended to do laundry and mind our own business we watched and waited for dad to see the note and flip his lid.  He caught on rather quickly to our scheme and preceded to lecture us about the serious nature of this little mite.  I guess I should grow up and be the adult here but it is just oh so much fun tormenting my husband.

On another note..........speaking of not wanting to grow up............I realized this week that I guess I have to.  As much fun as it is to pretend to be youthful and carefree, I must remind myself I am a 31 year old mother of  three and that the decisions I make DO affect others.  I try to live a pretty drama free life, as my husband reads this he will instantly call my bluff, but I've just gotten too busy for the drama that comes with life.  I would much rather avoid it like the plague than get myself wrapped up into it, but sometimes its unavoidable.  I made some questionable decisions recently and they weren't decisions that I feel represent my true character. I've learned to base everything I do now on whether or not I would approve of the decision if it was made by one of my children.  Basically I have just updated the "golden" rule.  I am teaching myself to treat others as I would expect them to treat my children, my mother, or my sisters..........basically...........just treat everyone with respect.  It sounds pretty simple but adding to that some peoples......"charismatic" personalities........its harder than it sounds.  I ask myself the same question whenever I am having trouble judging the best course of action.........would I want my son or daughter to have a friend like me.  If I answer that honestly, the answer is not always yes.  I would be one disappointed mother if I raised a child that knowingly and maliciously treated people poorly, as I am sure my own mother would feel the same.  I'm not on some mission to conquer bullying, I am just on a mission to do my best to raise good people that will make a positive difference in someones life.