Sunday, February 7, 2010

Happy Birthday, My Love

To...
the man I married nearly 19 years ago.
the wonderful father of my children.
the man who loves me, despite my faults.
the man whose strength and resolve continue to amaze me.
the man I couldn't imagine living without.

Happy Birthday!


Saturday, February 6, 2010

It's a curse

Be careful what you wish for.

Some years ago, after settling comfortably into the waters of marriage, we decided it was time for children. I remember lying in bed talking to God, and I asked him nicely to give me boys. I didn't think I could handle girls, for various reasons. First on the list being the drama. Second on the list, well, I'm a girl and I know what they're capable of.

So God, in his infinite wisdom granted my wish. I got two great boys out of the deal. Exactly what I asked for. I had no idea the snowball effect that would cause.

The oldest is pretty much a jock. He's into football and wrestling, sports populated by violence and blood. Bragging rights include declarations of slamming people into the ground, giving and receiving concussions, and breaking noses. Blood is a merit badge for this kid. But he's a good kid. And a cute kid. See?



The youngest is an aspiring jock, having tried football, wrestling, and cross-country. He's found a niche in wrestling. Again, possibly for the bragging rights. He's also the kid who dismantles everything. EVERYTHING! He wants to be an inventor, even though he hates math. Well, who needs math anyway. Last week, he took apart the treadmill I scored for free. The incline function wouldn't work. He couldn't fix it, but did figure out the problem. He's also a good kid, and a cute kid. See?



Now for the snowball effect.

We are an animal loving family. We have had, and always will have cats and dogs in residence. Currently, we have two dogs and five cats.

The big guy is Mike's dog...130+ pounds of American Bulldog man-dog.

The other dog is a Heinz 57 of boisterous, crazy, idiotic male cow dog. Don't be fooled...he's no longer the cute puppy in the picture.





Do you sense a pattern yet?


Now for the cats. Actually, four of them are kittens. Cute as can be with personalities as individual (and warped-crazy) as they are.




Cute, right? ALL MALES!





But if there are kittens, there is a mama, right?


You bet! But she's a raging beyotch!













In a moment of stupidity, I got rid of the female kitten...it seemed easier than having her spayed. What was I thinking?? And, of course, she was ADORABLE.

Saturday, January 30, 2010

A bevy of frustrations...

The dog chewed a shoe. One shoe to the one pair that one son possesses.

The other dog opened the door and let all the cats out. While everyone in the house was asleep. The subsequent round-up was successful, however.

Communication between Mike and I seems to have devolved into a battle of "he said...she said".

Sigh.

Saturday, January 23, 2010

Catching up

So I've spent the last 2 weekends trying to catch up on the blogs I like to read. Oh my gosh there's been a lot going on while I had my nose plastered to the screen of Facebook!

Not that I don't love you Facebook, because clearly I do. But sometimes nothing communicates better than a blog.

Carry on while I continue to catch up.

To blog or not to blog

I started blogging years ago as a way of emptying my head. It helps to write things down to put them in perspective, find answers, institute solutions, or just make room for more crap.

But it's hard to blog when the things that take up space involve other people. People who may not appreciate their information and problems being talked about. So what's a person to do?

I'm not sure and I haven't found the answer to that yet.

Sunday, January 10, 2010

You know it's time when...

I may have mentioned some time ago that our cat had kittens. In fact, she had kittens, five of them, in August. August 5th, to be exact. We still have the kittens. Yes, I've procrastinated on finding new homes for them. I knew I'd keep two of them, but which two? How is a person to choose when they're all so damn cute??

Mike has been bugging me since they were eight weeks old, "Are you going to get rid of these guys?" At 12 weeks old, "I'm going to have the kids load them up and take them to Wal-Mart if you don't get rid of them." At four months old, "I'm going to turn them loose outside if you don't get rid of them." And now, five months old, "Are you EVER going to get rid of all these cats??"

Now, you see, they've reached the point their personalities are really becoming evident. We have the cuddler, the trouble-makers, the independent-yet-lovey one, and the sweet little girl. I love all of them and tear up thinking about giving any one of them away.

But yesterday was a pivotal moment in the care and consideration of the cats.

I needed litter and food, two items that I must buy with GREAT regularity. Yesterday, I needed to restock both at the same time.

I bought 20 lbs of food, which will last a bit more than a week. And I bought 56 lbs of litter.

56 freakin' pounds

I'm such a bad blogger.

When I started blogging, I swore to myself I would post daily. Well, at least a couple times a week. Obviously, that never happened. And once I started on Facebook, my blog was just a memory. Should I make a resolution to blog more? No, I'd just break it. But maybe I can increase my blogging without the resolution.

Maybe.

Probably.