Back To Normal

It has been a CRAZY few months around here to say the least, but things can now get back to normal........ at least for a little while.

On June 9 Michael and Kristin graduated from High School. ( * side note they are "adults" now so I will be using their real names from now on) Fourteen years of school, starting with pre-school, all leading up to this moment. I was/am so proud of those two!

I only cried twice during all of it too ! Once when the Superintendent asked all of the moms and grandmas to stand up and then again after it was over with and I saw the two of them together.

Last week Kristin signed up for all of her classes and then a few days later we took Michael down state to sign up for his.

Kristin will be staying home and going to I. U. N. for radiology. Michael will be going to Vincennes for art/graphic design.

Last Saturday was the Open House- good times! Yummy food, YUMMY local beer , and lots of family and friends to share in our joy.

I have so much more to say , but my brain is still mush lol

I hope all is well in your part of the world.

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I'm Happy For Her But...............

Daughter A's 16 birthday was on Halloween.

The birthday wishes started rolling in pretty early and didn't stop until sometime in the afternoon.

One of those calls pretty much knocked me over...... it was her Grandma K, this would be her Dads mom. The reason it shocked me was because that part of her family hasn't spoken to her in almost 2 YEARS! Not by her choice it was ALL THEIRS.

The first time the kids and I went down to visit Barry in Arkansas was Spring break. She had made the choice to not go with us and stayed with her Dad. I was fine with that, she needed to spend that time with him and that part of her family.

When her Dad dropped her off a week later, he informed me that while she was there she had a teen age fit. That it was uncalled for and he wasn't going to deal with that kind of attitude at his house. That he wanted me to punish her here at home for it. Now keep in mind I had just gotten home from a 8 hour drive and my brain was pretty much mush, so I just stood there nodding my head. He was never able to tell me just what caused her fit either.

If I punished my kids every time they had a fit they would pretty much be punished every day of the week. So what ever she did had to be HUGE for me to punish her for something that didn't even happen under my watch. I tried talking with her about it, but she wouldn't tell me. It wasn't until a few days later that Oldest Son M filled me in, she talks to him about everything. Her boyfriend broke up with her that week. UMMMM hello? She's 14 and when your boyfriend breaks up with you at that age the world is coming to an end, no wonder she had a teenage fit.

I called her Dad and filled him in and he said to me that's no reason to have a fit..... over some stupid boy. She needs an attitude check big time! To which I said if you couldn't handle a 14 year old girls melt down over a boy then all you had to do was call me and I would have called my family to come get her. After that all contact with her Dads family came to an end. Not for her lack of trying, she would call and they never answered or returned her calls.

That was until her b-day and her Grandma K called. She wants to have lunch with her next weekend. I'm happy for her but at the same time I don't want her to get hurt again. I spent the last 2 years picking up the mess they left behind and if they do that to her again... UGH!

It's not like that side her her family had a gleaming track record. Three years ago Christmas, Daughter A called her grandma K to find out when they were going to pick her up. She told her right then and there that her Papa ( great grandpa) is in the hospital and that things aren't looking very good for him. Yep they dropped this bomb shell on her on Christmas Day... you can guess how the rest of her day went. He had been sick since Thanksgiving and was in the hospital for the last two weeks. One would think that maybe someone in that family would of thought to fill Daughter A in so she could have visited him before things took a turn for the worse, but I guess not. One would think that after things did take a turn for the worse they would have filled her in. Maybe they didn't know how to tell her, if that was the case they could have called me and I would have found a way to break the news to her. But to do it on Christmas Day !

When he died a few weeks later, they did call to let me know and she of course didn't take the news very well. I told them I would try my hardest to get her to go to the wake/funeral, but it may be to hard on her to go. They said to me that's OK she really doesn't need to be there anyway. Gee wasn't that nice of them ? Maybe they were looking out for her, but it sure sounded like they didn't want her there in the first place.

Well I'm rambling on now. I just don't want my "baby" girl hurt again by that side of her family. Now with her grandma K calling her all this past crap just comes rushing back to me. I just hope it's my fear and nothing more then that.

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Happy 13 Birthday B

Today is B-Monkeys 13th birthday!

Happy Birthday little bud!!!!!!!!

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Homecoming Dance 2009 Pics.

Daughter K and her friend.If I could get her to stop tanning I would be a happy person! This is her last year of dances.
Daughter K and her date/boyfriend.
Daughter A, Barry, and Daughter K.
Daughter A. this was her first dance, she didn't go last year. She didn't go with a date just some friends. She's also not a dress girl at all and it drove her nuts having to wear one.

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Yesterday

Yesterday would have been my Moms 57 birthday.

She died 14 years ago from pancreatic cancer, she was just 42.

Happy Birthday Mom, you are deeply missed.

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Hello Blog

I know, I know I'm way behind with the update I promised this week. I got semi busy again and today is the first day I've had the time to collect my thoughts.

Lets see where to begin????

Our 4th of July was good, wet but good all the same. We hang out with the same friends every 4th of July, it's become tradition. We start out at our house and watch the parade, then head over to their house for lunch and swimming, then back to our house for dinner and firework watching, then back to their house to light our fireworks. It's a good thing we only live 3 minutes from each other......lol It's a lot of driving back and forth but I think that's half the fun.

The week after the 4th was filled with odds and ends , plus getting ready for Oldest Son M's 18 birthday party.

Barry & Daughter A, painted the railing of the front porch. I love having a huge porch but I hate painting it ! It looks so much better now and hopefully we will get a few years out of it before it needs to be painted again.

I got a new "Mac Daddy" grill that I'm just thrilled about. I've been wanting a larger grill for some time now and after enough whining ummmm asking Barry and I went out and bought one. I just wanted one a little larger then what we had, but Barry said if we're going to do this lets DO THIS. This baby is fully loaded with 6 burners, a smoker box, built in rotisserie , sear station and lights. So now when I have a taste for a grilled piece of meat at 10:00 at night I can see what I'm doing lol.

Moving on..... Oldest Son M's 18th birthday party was last Saturday. It turned out really good..... just the right amount of people were here. I even invited his Dad, his dad's girl friend and his grandma & great grandma. Hurt feelings are a thing of the past and I can be a big girl and deal with all of them for a few hours for Oldest Son M's sake. I know he was very happy they all came to his party.

It's so hard for me to believe that my "baby" is now 18, but at the same time I'm fine with it. It's weird but as he's hit every mile stone birthday it's never really bothered me. Yet, when Daughter A hits them I'm a total cry baby the entire day.

This week I've been busy cleaning out the garage and just relaxing.

Barry & Daughter K will be coming home again with weekend. Daughter K will be coming home to stay after being in Arkansas for 3 weeks with her dad. I'm not sure how I feel about it, 3 weeks with her dad does not make for a changed child. But I will just hope for the best and take each day as they come.

So, that's pretty much it for the update. I hope to have some photos posted soon on my photography blog, if not this week then early next week for sure.

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18

My "baby" is 18 today !

Today is Oldest Son M's birthday.

As everyone has been telling you ...... It all counts from here on out.

Pictures from his birthday party will be posted later today.

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Hawk

The other day a hawk landed in one of my neighbors trees. I quickly grabbed my camera to take some pictures of it before it flew away. This was the best of the bunch.

In other news I will be back next week. Tomorrow ( Saturday) is Oldest Son M's 18 birthday party, so I'm busy getting ready for that.

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend.

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Hellllllllllllloooooooooooo

I haven't forgotten about all of you..... been a VERY BUSY WEEK & WEEKEND.

I promise I will post this week.

Until then here's some pictures I took yesterday of B- Monkey and Barry playing frisbee.

He's such a show-off. Can you tell he lived on a beach in his 20's ?

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The Weekend

I'm completely aware that a new weekend is upon us, but I forgot to post about Sexy Stud's weekend home. I blame PMS, which would probably account for my mood lately.

anyway......

Friday Sexy Stud and I went out to lunch and then went to Target & Home Depot. We are looking for a wall like structure to put around two sides of the hot tub so we can have some sort of privacy when the neighbors are outside. I've seen what I want in a catalog but the price is out of the range I want to spend. So it looks like I will have to get my Dad to build it for me. That night I grilled steaks, potatoes and some corn on the cob. Which for corn in May it was REALLY good! After dinner Sexy Stud took B-Monkey to the store to get the game he has been saving for.

Saturday I talked Sexy Stud into edging the walk ways , something he said he would do last fall but never did. Only thing I had to do was clean up the mess he made..... no problem. While he did that I went around and popped out all the dandelions out of the yard. I put down weed & feed a few weeks ago, but it's not working fast enough so I did it the old fashion way. Of course I got sunburned.... when will I ever learn!? For dinner that night I grilled pork tenderloin on a cedar plank. The smell of cedar on the grill is heavenly ! Along with that I grilled garlic red skinned potatoes and more corn on the cob. That evening we just hung out on the front porch watching the lake and finished the bottle of wine we started with dinner.

Sunday ,Sexy Stud was going to leave, but when he woke up he checked the weather down in Arkansas and saw it was going to rain all day Monday so he decided to stay another day. Fine by me! That afternoon we went to a birthday party for a friends son who turned 13. Had a good time.... yummy food and conversations always make for a good time.

Monday Sexy Stud left around 9 AM which just left me and the kids for the holiday. Which was pretty much uneventful. I grilled some Italian sausage, made my grandma's fried cream corn with the left over corn on the cob and that was pretty much it for the holiday.

I think that's pretty much it. Better late then never I suppose....lol

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Scary, Scary, Scary

B-Monkey had track practice after school yesterday, he needed to be picked up at 4:30. I had to pick up Market Day at 4:30, so on Monday I asked Oldest Son M if he would pick him up for me. He stayed in town ,so he wasn't wasting gas driving back and forth.

A little after 4:00 I was upstairs in my room and B-Monkey sends me a text - Is he on his way?

I had just gotten off the phone with Oldest Son M so I replied- He's on his way, he's in town so he should be there in a few minutes.

I walked down stairs to put on my shoes so I could leave. I just sat down when my cell rings, it was Oldest Son M- I was in a car accident, my car will need to be towed.

The only words that came out of my mouth were- Are you OK?

He told me he was Ok and where he was at, only a few blocks away from the school.

I yell at Daughter K to move the car, she was parked behind me.

I'm walking and texting B-Monkey letting him know what's going on.

Daughter K is yelling something at me, but I don't hear what she saying, I'm only thinking about my 2 boys that needed me right now.

I drive the 15 miles to pick up B-Monkey and drive the few blocks to the accident. I see Oldest Son M walking around, he appears to be fine. The police and tow truck are already there. I pull into the nearest parking lot and tell B-Monkey to stay in the car. I walk over to the car to see the damage, the entire passenger side of the car was smashed in.

If B-Monkey or one of Oldest Son M's friends been in that seat, it could have been so much worse. The Gods were indeed looking over us yesterday.

Oldest Son M is indeed fine, only a small scratch on his stomach from either the seatbelt or his belt, he wasn't sure which caused it. He's upset over not having a car anymore, but he's fine and that is all the matters.

In a span of less than 5 minutes my life went from normal to scary as hell.

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He's Home

Sexy Stud is home!

He ended up leaving last night after work.

Not sure what time he got home...... all I know is he's in bed this morning.

So I'll me MIA until he leaves.

Have a wonderful rest of the week

Have a wonderful weekend

Have an Amazing Mother's Day

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I'm Back :0)

I'm back from the weekend visit with The Husband.

A weekend visit for a few hours we thought wasn't going to happen after all.

He left Wednesday to head up to Rockford, Illinois for his business meeting on Thursday. About 30 minutes into his trip I get a call from him....... the transmission went out on the van and he was waiting on a tow truck.

Several hours later he was back on the road again , after a guy from work let him use one of his car. He drove until 1 AM and then found a hotel for the night. Got up at the crack of dawn and drove the last 4 hours for his meeting. A meeting that lasted an hour....... then back into the car again for another 3 hours so he could come home.

All in all we had a great visit with him. It was short but much enjoyed.

Hope everyone had an amazing weekend.

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The Husband

The Husband made it home safe and sound yesterday evening.

He'll be here until Sunday morning.

So if you need me....... you know where to find me :0)

Have a great weekend !

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Happy Birthday Daddy

Today is my Dads 57 Birthday !

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Will Be M.I.A.

Just wanted to let everyone know that I will be M.I.A. for a few days. With The Husband coming home tomorrow, for yet another unexpected weekend, I won't be getting online much while he's home. So don't be sending out any search parties for me.

It's funny how way back in the beginning of Feb. he said he wouldn't be home at all in March and now after this weekend he will have been home twice. Me thinks the man needs to make up his mind.

Anyway in the mean time while I'm gone I thought I would try something a little fun. Post a question, any question ( with in reason) that you would like to know about me and when I return on Sunday or Monday I will answer them all.

Until then I hope everyone has a super weekend

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I'm Proud Of Him

My oldest son ( that's him on the left hand side) M- not allowed to use my nickname for him anywhere on the web, he's 17 I would probably loose my coolness factor with him if I did. So anyway M has been taking Graphic Design classes in High School for the last two years. It's something he wants to do as a career, he's very artistic like his mama so this didn't come as a surprise to me at all.

Over the past two years he's had projects he's liked working on and others not so much. His last project was for the design the Google banner competition. His teacher thought it would be a fun project for all of them plus if one of her student won the graphic design program would get some much needed cash. The theme for the contest was " What Do You Want For The World" . He bounced quite a few ideas off me until he settled on something to do with peace and flags of the nations.

Once all of the projects were done, the teacher was picking her top six choices from each class to go onto the next round..... and his made it.He was so excited about making it that he sent me a text from school letting me know- big No,No but I over looked it due to his excitement . From there the students ( in the classes) then voted for their favorite and the top six ( out of 48) will then be sent onto the Google competition. Sadly his didn't get enough votes, but I'm proud of him all the same for making it as far as he did.

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Happy Dance !

With it being crunch time where the husband works, he wasn't going to be able to come home in March at all. I wasn't all to happy about it, but what can you do?

Well this afternoon I get a call from him...... I have a dilemma ......... I want to come home....... I said then come home. It didn't take before he said....... OK then as soon as I pack up my computer and tell the guys I will be on the road.

It's only for the weekend, so not very long, but I'll take it.

SO if ya need me..... I'll be the one snuggling with her husband on the couch.

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ROFL

So we finished the 11 year old homework and he pulls out this paper that goes along with the story he's reading. It's a volunteer form thing.He gets extra credit if does volunteer Now don't get me wrong I'm all for helping others, etc. but it took all I had in me to not have him fill out the for like this......

What are you good at.......... Driving my mom nuts

Where can you do this........ At home, in the car, in general all over the place

Who can you ask to help you with this............ I don't ask, I just do it.

When can you volunteer........ 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.

ROFL

You may now return to your normal blogging...... I have a certian 11 year old to wrangle so I can cut his hair.

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50 years apart

My favorite photo from the husbands surprise party isn't even the best shot I took that night. This is him with baby P, she's our dear friends little peanut and is just 3 weeks old. It's my favorite photo because of what he said to her. He said I hope you look at this photo when your 50 and remember all the great times we had together and all of the great times you had in your life. 

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