Call from Santa

Christmas Eve my 2nd boy was being NAUGHTY. He was torturing my 3rd, just for fun. He was completely ignoring everything he was told to do, and doing everything he was told NOT to. He was hitting, yelling, whining, and talking back. I told him over, and over, and over that Santa was watching him and wouldn't bring him anything. He acted like he couldn't care less. As we were pulling up to our house (after a  horrible trip to Albertsons) so that we could drop off the groceries before going to my Mom's house-I just lost it. I screamed like a banshee that I was absolutely sick of his behavior, and I was going to be calling Santa to tell him to not bring Nick anything. That seemed to hit home, because Nick immediately started crying, and begging me not to. I told him that since he didn't care about his brother crying-I wasn't going to listen to him either. I was definitely calling. I was super mature, I know.

So I went in the house and called my friend Malcolm, who lives in Australia, to see if he could play Santa for me. I couldn't reach him. I stayed in the house and put away the groceries while the kids were in the car because I needed to calm down. Nick came peeking around the corner, to see if I was calling, and was quickly told to get in the car "right now!" After a few minutes I went out to the car, and told them I had left a message with the elves, because Santa was flying and would have to call me back. The kids were all in disbelief.

"Did you really call him?"

"Yes, I did."

"Is he really going to call back?"

"Yes. He is."

"You didn't mention me, did you? Just Nick?"

That was Ben. Making sure he wasn't on Santa's 'S' list. Nice kid.

So we got to my Mom's house, and I sent Malcolm a message on Facebook, but who knows when he would get that. It was Christmas already there, and he had family visiting. So I went on to "Plan B". I told my sister and Mom what I was thinking, and they suggested my brother in law. So I called my sister in Louisiana, but Justin was sleeping (he works nights). Luckily my brother Travis was there and said he would do it.

I told him to tell Nick he was "Very disappointed in him for how he was acting, and how mean he was being to his brother." I said to say that he was "on the naughty list, but that he has one more chance to do better." Santa would be checking in with me sometime during the night, and it would be up to ME if Nick got presents or not. I told him the rest of the kids may want to talk to him, so be prepared. Also throw in some geographical location in, so they would know where Santa was. Then I hung up, and waited a few seconds for him to call back.

When the phone rang, I answered it, and said, "Oh, Hi Santa! Yes, Hold on a second..." turned to Nick, "Uh, oh Nicholas. It's Santa. He wants to talk to you....."

Nick's eyes got huge, and he slowly walked to the phone.

"Hello..." He quietly said into the receiver. He looked at me, to which I shrugged, raised my eyebrows in my best "I tried to tell you..." serious face, and turned and walked into the kitchen. I barely made it in there before I met my mom's gaze, and we both started cracking up.

Travis was very convincing, and firm but kind-just like real Santa would be. Nick won't tell me everything he said, but I pretty much had to pry the phone out of Nick's hands so that the others would have a chance to talk to him. Nathan got on, and was told he was on the "Good" list, and "Santa" sang 'Santa Claus is coming to town' for him.

When I went to hand Ben the phone, he panicked, and was like "Why do I have to talk to him?!? I wasn't bad!!" I almost lost it. I had to try very hard to not crack up as I told him to just talk to him for a second. He was also on the Good list, and was happy afterwards to get to talk to him. My niece Darby listened to him for a second, and then ducked away from the phone. My other niece Kyra, was very serious that she did NOT want to talk to him. I grabbed the phone and told him "Thank you for taking the time to call, because we knew how very busy he was."  After saying goodbye, Nick was like "let me see the phone. I want to see the number he called from." Thankfully I know this phone well, and hit delete very quickly. I said he could look if he wanted, but it won't show up because he's magic. Nick was astonished to see that the only number showing up was my home number from when I called to say we were on our way. As he was looking at that, I quickly deleted the number from the other phones as well.

Afterwards, they were all so excited about talking to him. Ben and Nick, who had been questioning his very existence a few weeks earlier, were now 100% sure that they had just talked to the man himself. Nathan, Kyra, and Darby were jumping around, holding hands and singing "I'm on the GOOD list, I'm on the GOOD list." Nick was telling people he was on the Naughty list, and trying to have a brave face, but was really on the verge of tears. (Sometimes you just have to crush their little souls a tiny bit.) Is that completely awful of me to say? I was about to do something physical to him after the day he had put me through, so why not wage some mental warfare?

Ladies and Gentlemen-I am SOOO happy to report that it worked! When I asked them to do something, they jumped up and did it. I had them clean the front room, and they did it without complaint. A first!! There was little to no fighting for the rest of the day. They were cheerful, and helpful right up until bedtime. Nick started acting up a little then, but I think it was just the excitement of Christmas-so I let it go. Santa calling was a brilliant plan, born out of desperation. I am so thankful that my awesome brother was able to pull out his best "Ho, Ho, Ho" deep voice and scare the crap out of Nick so he'd behave.

This was after "the call". They were behaving so we made a cookie wreath. Thanks, Mom for the stuff!

Don't get caught being naughty at Christmas Time....

We were on our way home from Alan's friends' house on Saturday night, and we saw some flashing lights at the end of their street.

"Uh, oh," I said. "Someone is in trouble..."

"But it's almost Christmas! Why would they do something when it's almost Christmas?!?" Ben asked.

"I don't know. Looks like they are getting a ticket. They were probably speeding." I said. (The road we were on is notorious for it.)

"But if they go to jail, they won't be home for Christmas. That would be bad. They wouldn't get presents!" Ben exclaimed.

"Does Santa bring presents to jail?" asked Nick, now joining in on the conversation.

"No, because the people in jail were naughty, and Santa doesn't give naughty people presents. Remember?"

"What the heck were they THINKING?!? Don't they know it's almost CHRISTMAS?!? Don't they want PRESENTS?!?" Ben questioned loudly.

"Yeah...." Nick said-clearly not as upset as his brother.

"Maybe they were in a hurry to get home," I offered. "But they just got caught."

"But, don't they know it's Christmas soon?" Ben wondered.

Life is so cut and dry for a 7 year old around Christmas. Good people=presents. Bad people=no presents. If only he'd remember this rule applied to him as well.....

New Hair!

It goes down to the middle of my back, where you can't see... =)

 
I last cut my hair right before my sister Holly got married-almost 2 years ago. I have always wanted long hair, but would tire of it before it got very long. I don't know why, but I decided to just start growing it out then and there, and see just how long I could get it this time before throwing in the towel. It has NOT been easy. I'm not girly, in the least so I have no idea what exactly to do with the tangled mass on top of my head. Plus, after having my last kid it has stayed fairly thick, and gotten curly! Two things I have never had to deal with before! My hair was always super soft, and thin. So thin that the tiniest barrettes would simply slide right out of my hair. It was a joke, trying to get my hair to do anything. Then it got curly, and discovered frizz. Now barrettes would stay in, but it would look atrocious! It has seriously been in a ponytail for the last year and a half, and I was sick of it.

Once I get an idea in my mind about something, I seriously obsess over it, and can't think of anything else until it gets done. Probably undiagnosed OCD or something, but it is what it is. So I had reached my limit a few days ago when I went to run my hand through my hair and found a knot. I swear a sailor would have been proud of the mess my hair was in. It was seriously complicated to get out, and I was about to amputate that whole section of hair! (Teach me to sleep without a band in my hair. I must have had some serious restless sleep that night.) So I decided that the hair had to go, like yesterday!

I woke up today, and honestly couldn't deal anymore. I couldn't function. All I kept thinking about is how much it is bothering me, and how life would be so much easier without it. I noticed the hair of everyone on TV, judged it, and wondered if they just wore it in ponytails when they were away from the set. See? ALL CONSUMING! (I totally almost just pulled out my 'Yoda' talk....."All consuming, this hair is". I have no idea where that came from. I even had his voice inside my head.)

Anyway, I talked to my mom and she agreed to watch the 2 wee ones while I guillotined it. We went to the first place and there was a 45 minute wait. Nope! So off to the second shop we went, and there was no line there. Awesome possum, I was in! I went in totally gung ho, like "I want it all one length, to here." I sat down on the chair and told the girl that exact thing. She looked at me like I was nuts.

Her "I have an idea, how about it goes like this and frames your face? And I cut it to here?"

Me "Um, I'd rather have it all off. I have no idea how to do it, and it is frizzy. I hate it, and want it off..."

Her "That's why you want it off? That's fixable! How about to here, I can show you how to do it..."
She started cutting on one side, and looking at me for approval. "See? If you don't like it I will cut it the way you want it....I can't believe you want me to cut all this off!"

Me "Ok," still planning on having her cut it how I wanted it, "Go ahead..." After a minute or so, I saw what she was talking about, and had to swallow my pride. "Ok, I like it your way. Keep going."

I was so wrong about how I wanted my hair before! I love how she did it, and I'm very happy she wasn't too shy to basically tell me I would regret it, because now that I have this hair, I know I would have. I did tell her half way through the cut, that I really appreciated her speaking up because I could now see the possibilities. She was very sweet. She put product in, explained how to use it, and showed me a couple different ways to style my hair now. She was terrific!

I'm so thankful to my mom for watching the boys, and I'm thankful that they were good for her. I'm thankful that we went to the place we did, and the girl spoke up. But, I'm most thankful for my new SHORTER hair! I love it! Fast showers, and longer lasting shampoo-here I come!!

This is how she styled it.

This is out of the shower. See the curls? I can blow dry them out, but I didn't want to. I apologize for the red cheeks..This happens when I get headaches.

I need to be sleeping...

The adorable cause of my sleep deprivation.

My wee one has been sick lately, and has been doing his best to keep me up at night. ALL NIGHT!! He likes to wake up every 10 minutes or so, just to cough, cry and go back to sleep. Sometimes he will throw in a cough that sounds like he's going to puke all over the bed, so I am scared awake-propelling myself towards him at the speed of light, only to discover that it was a false alarm. AND that he is back asleep already, whereas I am now wide awake thinking about how he better not puke on his bed because the blankets are in the washer waiting to be dried from the last time he actually did throw up, and how I had forgotten to dry them. And how I really should get up and put them into the drier while I am thinking of it, but I don't want to walk across the freezing house in the dark, because then I'd really be awake all night. Slowly I drift off to sleep, only to repeat the pattern as soon as his little body senses a dream starting up in my head. It has been about 4 straight nights of not getting any sleep before 6 am, just to be awake by 8 or 9, because he is wide awake thanks to the older, louder children. Thanks to the lack of sleep, I have been in a constant zombie-like state, and ravaged with massive headaches thanks to the complete exhaustion.

Then a miracle happened last night. He fell asleep around 8:00! I was sure he would wake up any time, so I started to make a stuffed animal for my friends daughter that I have been putting off. Only around midnight did I realize that he was still out, so I tried to hurry up and finish what I was doing and get in bed. Didn't happen. Things always take longer than I think they will. I was finished with as much as I could get done by 1:45, so I cleaned up and crawled into bed. I put on a show that I was interested in, since I fully expected to be up again in a few minutes-and pretty much passed out. Next thing I knew Alan was calling me at 6:35 to say the bus didn't show up. I told him to call the "bus people", and texted him the number. Then passed out again. It's a good thing the bus did show up, even though it was 25 minutes late and caused Alan to be late to work, because I was sleeping hard! I wouldn't have heard the phone if he did call back. I didn't wake up until Miles woke me up by throwing his bottle at my head. Good Morning, indeed!

It was wonderful to get some sleep....finally! But I'll be danged if I haven't been yawning all day long! If you talked to me on the phone, it wasn't you-I swear! I am still feeling seriously sleep deprived, and yet here I am 12:10 in the a.m. and I am blogging. Miles fell asleep about 9:30 and has been out since, and I am supposed to be up by 7:45 to get ready to go somewhere with my friend. I have no idea when I will have the chance to post another blog for a while, so here it is! Now that this is done, I bid you all adieu-and say goodnight!

I plan on sleeping tight, and hope he does too!

Cuss!

A long time ago I told my kids that they were not allowed to swear until they were 30. This was because I had a little guy who overheard some naughty words somewhere, and LOVED to yell them at high volume, during some very inappropriate times. He thought it was hilarious. I didn't, so this rule came to be.

Me "You are not allowed to swear until you turn 30."

Nick "Can I be 30 on my next birthday?"

Recently while at my mom's house, my son Nick overheard my sister (who is 28) swear. He asked why she could swear, because she isn't 30 yet. I said that being a mom ages you, so while she is 28 in "real" life, she's really 35 in "Mom" years. Then he asked why I don't swear, because I'm older than 30. I told him that I just choose not to. He didn't like this answer, and quickly informed me that he was definitely going to swear when he is old enough. (Sigh) Little boys, and their goal for life.

I only bring this up, because as we speak, Nathan and Nick are in the kitchen arguing about why "Dad can swear vs. why Dad isn't allowed to". It's very entertaining. I agree with both of them because-even though Alan is allowed to swear-he's not allowed to swear at me. Not if he knows what is good for him.

Ok, When Did This Change???

There are certain things in life that you are taught as a youngster, that you just take for granted are true then, and always will be. I never questioned things that were taught to me in science, because frankly-I thought that scientists knew their stuff. But as I learned with the whole "Pluto is not a planet now" fiasco, I should've picked up on the fact that things aren't always so concrete.

I was putting the boys to bed last night, and watching 'Sid the Science Kid' with them. It was all about rainbows, and what makes them, and prisms, and stuff. They teach, they sing.....the kids eat it up. But when the teacher started singing the song about the order of the rainbow colors, I was all like, "What the H?!?"

I was raised thinking that the rainbow looks like this......

Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Purple. All colors accounted for. Good job, Me.

WRONG!!!!

Her version in the show was like, " Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, INDIGO, and Violet too...."

Surely this couldn't be true. This was the second kids show I had some across this on, though. I saw the rainbow on Max and Ruby, and just thought they were taking their artistic license a bit far, but who was I to complain? Then here comes, STSK and I was like "Hold on.....I need to check this out...."

So I googled it. This is what Wiki.answers.com has to say.......

ME: What are the colors of the rainbow?

In: Science, Meteorology and Weather [Edit categories]
The Colors Of The Rainbowwww.webcrawler.com

Always remember the name ROY G. BIV (a clever way to remember the order of the rainbow.....)


RED, ORANGE, YELLOW. GREEN, BLUE, INDIGO, and VIOLET.

Seriously?!? When exactly did this change? Why weren't those of us who were mis-informed, told? I remember the episode of 'The Smurfs' where the color yellow was stolen by Gargamel, and the smurfs were all in an uproar because they couldn't have their rainbow festival with out YELLOW!! They didn't mention the absence of Indigo, even once! Doesn't the scientific community owe an explanation to us, that they led astray all these years? I guess not. And isn't INDIGO really another name for 'dark blue'? Does it really deserve it's own spot in the rainbow? I don't hear any complaints from pink. Or puce, or even mauve for that matter. Pretty selfish, Indigo......

Well, I am here to tell you that there is apparently another rainbow now people. The good old simple 6 color rainbow from your childhood is no more....so please....no more drawing incorrect "*bows or arcs of prismatic colors appearing in the heavens opposite the sun and caused by the refraction and reflection of the sun's rays in drops of rain". You can't claim ignorance anymore when drawing a picture. Please, for the love of all that is Holy...Draw it right!! Kids are aware of this, and they can be pretty mean. Go ahead, ask your kids the order of the rainbow colors. I'd bet they are aware of this.

This just doesn't look right to me.

Like the website says......
"Just remember Roy G. Biv". Although, I'm not entirely sure why that is supposed to be a catchy phrase/name.

* Online dictionary definition for rainbow

The Great Toy Migration...

I have let the toys in my house go so long without weeding through and giving any away, that when I actually think of going in and sorting them, I get so completely overwhelmed I can't even stomach the thought of going through with it. (It really is that bad.) But, I saw Toy Story 3 about four times this past week, and it lit a fire under my butt and made me want to do this. I definitely feel more in the mood to tackle this horror, and move this stuff onto new kids that will enjoy them, now that my kids have moved on. Now is the time!

Also, my friend Kirsten decided that since this is a tough year for everyone-money wise-that we should all sort our stuff, and have a "Girls Night Out-toy swap meet" where what's old is new again (to each others kids'). It's a completely fantastic idea!

My problem is, my boys have a way of mutilating almost everything they touch. They are toy serial killers! "Sid" from Toy Story could be based on my boys and what they do to their stuff, I'm not kidding. I have had 7 bags of garbage, and 1 bag of goodwill stuff. I only have a small pile of stuff that looks new-ish enough to give to another kid for Christmas morning. I'm not done though.....I still have a few more places to sort through. But, since I have been at this for 5 hours now, and I am ready to scream in horror at the sight of another toy, I am quitting for the night.

I am happy to know that this toy room will finally be unpacked, and sorted for the first time since we moved in (in MARCH!!). This is reason enough to keep on cleaning tomorrow. Plus, I have sorted through most of the toys, so there really isn't much left to throw on the ground and mess up. It's awesome!

My friend Erica has been getting her kids toys and things from garage sales since this summer and packing them away for Christmas. Another brilliant idea! I plan on making some of the presents I am giving, and I'm actually pretty excited about the one I'm making for my brother, Adam. I drew his name and have a genius idea (that I can't share on here in case he actually reads this), but trust me.....genius.

How are some of you coping with the holidays coming up? Any money-saving tricks you'd like to share?

Swap meets of your own? I'm interested to see  how creative people are getting this year.

Is It Worth It?

The photo element of this Blog, really is one of my favorite things to play around with. What do I do then, when it goes from happily uploading many, many wonderful pictures at a time-to uploading only one at a time, all the while taking 3-4 minutes per picture-which may or may not even upload correctly? Now, I must actually have something interesting to say, since I don't have cute pictures of my kids in their Halloween outfits, my visiting family having fun playing board games, or even random bizarre pictures I find on-line. A blog where the entertainment factor is based almost entirely on what I have to say is a scary thing. Brace yourself-entertaining or not-until this photo uploader stops being stupid, my words are pretty much what you are going to get......I apologize in advance.

Lately I have come to realize how easy it is to fall into that "comfortable" stage in the marriage. Where you get so used to having the other person there, and doing what you need to do for the kids & your day to day life, that you put your partner to the side. There is always tomorrow, right?

"Comfortable" is awesome in clothes-I would have mine no other way. "Comfort" food is delicious, and brings back warm, fuzzy memories while it adds the loving inches to your butt and thighs. "Comfy" blankets are great to snuggle up in when the weather turns colder, and the rain starts to fall outside....but in a marriage, "Comfortable" is a dangerous place to be. It's so easy to get too comfortable, and start taking the other person's contributions for granted, and wonder why they aren't helping out more? You feel like nothing you do is recognized, and then you begin to feel taken for granted as well. You feel like you could just disappear, and nobody would be upset until the food didn't get made or you weren't there to find the homework that someone was told repeatedly to put away, and of course didn't-so now it's up to you to find it-again! Yes, I found out that while comfortable is a good thing, for the most part.....it can lead to some pretty  uncomfortable situations.

I love Alan. Really love him. Yet, while I love him-there are days where I don't like him so much. This is normal, I hear. But I had a really bad day, a few days ago. One where I really was wondering, if all of this is worth it. I was feeling particularly unloved, under-appreciated, and very lonely. When I tried to talk to him about my day, I was repeatedly told "I didn't ask you that", or just cut off in the middle of my sentence so he could tell me I was wrong. I snapped. (I have to say- I was unknowingly PMS'ing pretty bad that day, but I can sure pull out the drama from time to time. I am only female, and I just can't help it. It's in my DNA.) Anyway, after hanging up on him for the second time I just stopped answering the phone all together. I started thinking about how I wasn't happy. And it seemed that my not being happy stemmed from Alan's complete dis-respect of my feelings. I started weighing the Pro's and Con's of the "D" word, and really spent the day thinking hard about if I want that for me, Alan and the kids. By the time Alan got home, I did my best to avoid him, because I was still not sure I had the strength to talk to him without being totally irrational, and saying things just to hurt him. By midnight, I was calm enough to talk. I had decided that I did want this marriage.  It is worth it-but things had to change. I refuse to be ignored. I refuse to have him cut me off, mid-sentence like he does all the time. I want him to show me he loves me, and appreciates me. I need attention. This is a hard thing for me to acknowledge. I always thought I didn't need much, but as I get older, I am now coming to find out I really do need to be shown affection and recognized from time to time.

All of that being said, I do realize that I am not the perfect wife. His most common complaint is that I don't clean enough. To this I just get defensive, and say that there "isn't much point, since the kids mess it up too quickly when I do clean, and how is he to know when I do it or not?" This was more of an issue than I knew. I do clean, but not as much as I should, because honestly-I hate it. I loathe it. It does feel pointless, and the kids give me grief when I try and get them to do anything. I figured, I did enough during the day raising the kids that the housework-while it (randomly) got done-could wait.

I would much rather do things with the kids & spend time with them, than spend my time cleaning. They would remember the time I spent with them more than if the house was clean or not. But I didn't take into account Alan's feelings on this. It's a lot easier to not clean when you hate it, than do it just because someone else wants it done. I mentally revert back to the bratty little kid inside, and automatically don't do it because it's expected. This is wrong. Also, very immature.

So there I was, at midnight, strong enough to finally talk calmly-and Alan was asleep on the chair in the front room. He was totally avoiding me too! We really haven't slept apart our whole marriage-even while fighting. We usually just do the "I won't face you, and don't you dare cross over onto my side of the bed" game. Then we wake up refreshed, and over it. So the fact that he was in the other room, was saying something! I walked out, woke him up and told him we needed to talk-"can he please come in to the room?"

He did, and we sat down and had the most open, honest, heartbreaking talk we have ever had in our marriage, and it was wonderful. There were plenty of tears (all from me, go figure), lots of telling what we wanted out of being married, and also telling what we felt we weren't getting....but most of all, no yelling. We pointed a few fingers, but we both sat and listened to what the other one had to say-no matter how bad it made us feel, and we came out of it knowing how much we loved each other, and how there is a reason that we are married to begin with. We vowed to do the things that the other wanted, whether we felt like it at the time or not. We were going to try.

Here I am, a few days later, and I am doing so much better! He is showing affection to me-in front of other people-which is a huge thing for him! He has been saying 'Thank You' for things that I do, and he is listening when I talk. I don't feel like he doesn't care, and that is huge for me. There is a much happier, content feeling around the house. We are putting each other first, and though I may not feel like cleaning, I am. The house has been much cleaner the past few days, and he is grateful for that. Plus it just makes me smile knowing that I can do this small thing for him. He isn't asking too much, I realize that, and I choose to do it now. I am trying to put these horrible rebellious feelings away, and concentrate on what I want in life, and what it will take to get me there. I am trying to stop thinking about what I feel I am missing, and try to make others happy, and in doing so-I don't feel like I am missing anything! It's such a simple concept, but a difficult one to live. Selfishness is way easier to practice than selflessness.

I know this is a pretty personal thing to be sharing on here but, this is what I have been going through. I appreciate my sister Holly for talking (texting) me off the ledge-so to speak. She told me to just get space, and calm down so I can think things through with a clear head, which I did. I realized that Alan wasn't the root of my unhappiness, I was. I just needed to admit it to myself, and move on. I do want to be married to Alan, not because we have a comfortable life.......who does in this economy? I want to be married to him, because I love him and he is most definitely worth the effort.

I've Been Busy.......

With a month like this.......

My blog has sat, lonely and abandoned. I hope to be better in November.

Burying Grandma



Grandma Teigen, my brother Jeremy, and me a few years ago.

This past Friday we buried my Grandma Teigen. She had been sick for a while, and was in an old folks home for the past 4 1/2 years. It's odd thinking about her being gone. It was always a joke that she was going to out live us all, but we were wrong.



I remember she loved singing. Loud. And it was exactly what you would expect from an older lady-closest word I can think of is "Operatic" if that is even a word. My sisters and I would spend 2 weeks every other summer with my grandparents, and when we would go to church, we would race to get the end of the pew so that we didn't have to sit next to her. Wendy-the youngest-tended to lose. I think we used to play dirty, shoving and all. We would sit and giggle through every song as she sang her heart out, thinking everyone around us was staring. I feel bad now, because she probably did have a really nice voice-I just never really gave her a chance.



She has always loved flowers. Real and Fake, and her house was always filled with both. Any bookshelf, coffee table, side table, counter, TV, or dresser with a 12 inch clearing would have some elaborate faux floral arrangement on it. Even though that was never my taste, I can honestly say-I can't look at fake flowers now and not think of her.

She taught us to play poker. She wanted to be remembered for something other than this, but really-there are worse things to be remembered for. It was a really fun way to pass the time during visits. She would get really into it, and even shattered a chip during an extra enthusiastic 'raise' one time. Grandma, Grandpa and I laughed for hours over that. Plus none of us grandkids turned into gambling degenerates, so she did a good job.

She loved to cook. Not always what I liked to eat. It was a crap shoot at her house if it would be something edible-to me-since I was a particularly picky kid. Still am. She cooked her eggs on one side only!!! Sunny side-up? More like Sunny side-yuck. I used to beg for scrambled eggs. When those were runny, I learned to ask for cereal.  She would put butter and mayo on bread! Still not sure why. A non-sexual barrier method as far as I can tell, from how she explained it to my mom. And, the mayo wasn't smoothly spread over the whole slice of bread like I was used to. No. It was chunked on there, hiding like a ninja under the lettuce, waiting to attack. I looked a few times, and feeling safe that there wasn't any mayo in it, I bit in. SQUISH!!!! Mouthful of Mayonnaise. Gag. (Now that I think about it, this is probably the root of why I don't like mayo on my sandwiches. Makes sense.) Regardless, she was a good cook at times, and I had many entertaining dinners with her and my Grandpa where they would politely argue over who actually came up with the recipe for my favorite Italian Chicken. Compelling arguments for both, but I don't really care who came up with it. Someone did, and she cooked it fantastically. I try and make it, and it comes out nothing like hers. I will miss it. I will also miss having pork chops every week that I was with her. Hers were awfully tasty. Again, mine can't even compare.

She loved telling stories of her youth. She was a dancer, singer and all around fun person to hang out with-the way she tells it, and I loved hearing the magical tales of her WWII era single life. I also loved hearing about her talk about my Grandpa, Mom, and Uncles. I got to hear her side of stories, and she would giggle her way through telling them-which made me like hearing them even more.

She had awesome dress up clothes for me and my sisters to put on. Gold strappy high heels. Oh, how we used to fight to get these!!

MTV-a-la-Woodsworth. We used to get a little bored after 2 weeks of no TV, so my sisters and I would put on little plays, or "live videos" for our Grandparents. We would put on music, and dance to it while lip-syncing. She would sit and laugh at us make fools of ourselves, and my Grandpa would record it. When our other siblings would come up to get us, they would get in on the fun. We found the tape a few years ago. Nobody outside our family is allowed to see it. It's too embarrassing.

She loved dolls. Scary, expensive porcelain dolls. They were all over the house. I do not like dolls because of a rather creepy experience as a kid, so when I was moving up to go to college, and live with her and Grandpa, I asked her to remove all the dolls. She thought I was crazy, but took most of them away anyway. I thank her for that.

She coined the phrase "Eat a piece of cake for me." She wrote this on every one of our Birthday cards, for years. (There were 9 of us kids.) We would laugh every time we saw it, and actually missed seeing it when she stopped. Now, somebody has to say it every Birthday. It is a Classic line, that was started by her.

She loved Jewelry, crossword puzzles, nail polish, travelling, pottery, and getting her hair done. Her hair was always perfectly permed, and dyed. When she gave up on dying it and let it go naturally white, it was beautiful. Soft and pretty.

I may not have always enjoyed being around her, but I choose to let any differences go and remember the funny, caring Grandma that she was to me. We were very different, but I can look back at all the things she taught me and appreciate her for her. I love you Grandma. I really do.

A few pictures for those not able to make it.





Her funeral is next week, so I'll probably be putting more pictures up, for the family that isn't here to be a part of.  

Wordless Wednesday

I love the idea of a wordless Wednesday, because it is little to no effort on my part to get the blog done! I am stealing this idea from all of you I follow. =) Without further ado......

I Hate Corn Tortillas!

I really do. Not the taste, so much.....but trying to cook with them! I fail every time, and have screaming fits at the top of my lungs at these flimsy, stupid, grain products that taunt me every time I attempt to make something even sort of ethnic. See here...this is what I'm talking about.........

Can they not crack, and break on me?!? No. They can not. Then I wouldn't be able to yell at them, and scare my children. I'm serious, I think it gives them a sense of vengeance for the fact that I will be eating them soon.

"You gonna eat me? Yeah, well how about this.....CRACK! SPLIT! Now you see the cheese inside me, don't you? HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"

Evil little round discs.

Here I am, trying to go a little easy on my system and eat corn tortillas since  I seem to be sensitive to everything under the freaking sun. Not allergic, but sensitive. Look up food sensitivity side affects, and you will see the insanely fun time I have every time I eat. Try and not be jealous. My mom tells me that the migraines I have been getting lately are linked to the fact that I am eating this stuff I shouldn't be. I think she might be onto something, but I can't afford to buy only meat, vegetables, and fruit-so it is what it is.

These are the results from the doctor, when I was taking a test to find out what was up with my body. Ever since I was pregnant with my last son, my body had been betraying me whenever I dared to put any food in my mouth. So I actually did a blood test to see if there was a medical reason for it. My worst fear was it coming back showing I'm not supposed to have bread. "That would be truly awful", I thought. Little did I know what was waiting for me.

When my brother had to go off dairy for a while, I made fun of him. And thought about how I could never do that. Apparently Jesus does have a sense of humor-one that I don't share.

"Shame on you Tammy for making fun of your brother. Now I will make your last pregnancy have lasting effects on you. How about no longer making the enzymes to digest gluten? Not enough? How about I throw in eggs, yogurt, cheese, wheat, and milk? See who is laughing now." Not me. Well played Jesus, well played.

Anyway. Corn tortillas are horrible to work with, and give me serious anxiety attacks while I cook with them, but they sure are tasty when combined with enchilada sauce and cheese. Whether I'm supposed to have cheese, or not. That's why I have lactose pills.

******UPDATE*******
I finally finished the Sears Tower ornaments. I made one day time Sears tower, and the rest night time. Mostly because I didn't really like how the daytime one turned out. Nathan did, though and picked it. Oh well. Here is a picture of both the day and night ones. How do you like them?

I'm back......

Ok, so I have been away from the computer for a while now. I have been on twice, in a little over a week, and only for a few minutes at that! Not away completely, I guess....I can check my e-mail and Facebook on my phone-but away from blogging. I've been dealing with headaches, and the computer is not a great place to hang out when suffering with a migraine....but while I was up watching some late night TV around 4 o'clock this morning (because of yet another headache) I saw something that I  just had to talk about. I don't know if this impacts any of your lives, the way it apparently does mine, but here it is......

Who is the stylist for the Jonas Brothers?!?!? Hairstylist-in particular! I was up watching E! Channels biography on young Hollywood from A-Zac (hee, hee. Clever.). It was about Taylor Swift, Zac Efron, Miley Cyrus and The Jonas Brothers. I found it very interesting, really. I have never cared for Taylor Swift, or her music-but after I saw this I can now respect her for what she has gone through, and for writing her own music-while I continue to not like her. Zac is adorable, and I'm glad he either grew into his teeth, or had them capped. He is talented, and though there are haters out there, I think he will go far. Um, Hello......17 Again, anyone? One of the funnier movies I have seen in a long time! Miley, meh. Still couldn't care less. Then came the Jonas brothers. Genetically gifted family, talented in acting and music (singing, playing, writing songs......), and all while being religious, and pure.....Ok. But I couldn't pay attention to that-because of the completely AWFUL hair they sport so much of the time! Oh, you don't believe me? Be prepared.....this is going to get ugly.......

So not OK...... 

I don't care that this was the hair for the movie. They should have known better.

A Razor-cut mullet, is still a mullet.

This is a Rock Star don't.

Oh, Tiger Beat......Why?

This is like a nightmare. The stylist should be condemned to this style forever, for inflicting this hair on the world!

Again, Tiger Beat!?! Again!?! Shame on you.

No....Justin Bieber can't even pull off this look. Please, somebody stop the madness!!

See what I mean? Some of the ones in the show were actually worse than these-if you could believe it. I didn't want to put them on here, because I don't want to be the cause of anybody going into a bad-hair induced coma. If you feel up to it, just watch the Hannah Montana episode that they are on. I wanted to puke. Literally.

I just don't get it! For a family that looks like this-what would make you give them such appalling hair! It takes away from their natural looks. Very distracting. Joe has an idea of what he could do, on days where his hair just won't do what it's supposed to....

Thank you, iWin for the hat!! It is very much appreciated!

They seem to be doing way better lately. In Camp Rock 2, for example-their hair was actually pretty good. And I don't know if it was the movie stylist, or just God smiling down on all of us-but we finally got a break from the hair horrors that have been plaguing them. The more natural look is definitely the way to go guys!

We'll start with Kevin, since he is the oldest.

I find it kind of funny that all the pictures I find of Kevin, where he has good hair-his wife is also in them. I wonder if it is her doing?

"With this ring, I thee become your hair stylist......."

Whether it's all credited to her or not, I will say Thank you, Mrs. Jonas! Thank you, and congratulations on 1 year of marriage.

Next, Joe....the major offender......

See how gorgeous his brown eyes look when you aren't distracted by the train-wreck above? Who knew he was so pretty? Millions of tweens, I guess. But I don't understand them, most of the time. A picture like this, I get it.

and finally Nick..........

I must admit, he's my favorite. I was hard pressed to find any bad hair shots of him, since this is his usual style. I thank him for this. It's a good one to stick with. Natural curls = Good!! Plus, I think he is the best looking out of the genetically blessed gene pool. I can say that now that he is over 18, and it isn't so creepy. I do have to take some points away because he dated Miley Cyrus, but they didn't date long so he only loses a few.....

I don't know what made them start going "Au natural", and embrace their curls; but I do thank all that is Holy that they did. Now when my boys want to watch Jonas L.A., and Camp Rock 2 I can happily watch it along with them. The Hannah Montana episode came on a few days ago, and I totally changed the channel, and told the kids it stopped working. I can't go through that again! I'm not strong enough.

Why haven't I heard of these?!?

The diaper cake made by Chelsea.

I went to a baby shower this past Friday. It was a lot of fun, but the big hit? The diaper cake and the cake pops (pictured above). They were absolutely adorable! Of course I just had to know how to make them so I can "borrow" this idea in the future. The cake pops were very easy! And sinfully delicious. They tell you how to make them on Bakerella.com, as well as a bunch of other ones that you couldn't make no matter how long you were in pastry school. My friend Erica was cool enough to share the site with me! So, of course-I had to try.

I didn't have any lollipop sticks, or colorful chocolate, but I did have Almond Bark, which is my favorite chocolate coating anyway, and popsicle sticks. They were, in fact, very easy to make. My only tips are make sure that you have room in your freezer for these so the chocolate can set, I didn't have room and it took quite a while. Also-get styrofoam to stick them in after they are dipped. I used a box, with holes cut into it, and wax paper put over it to catch the drips, but the weight made the pops want to topple into the one next to it. Styrofoam would fix this, plus it's what is suggested. Otherwise, this is awesome to do with kids. Probably 7-8 years, or older.

I am not putting pictures up because mine weren't Martha Stewart like. I can't face the shame of less than perfect cake pops.....no, just kidding. I forgot to take pictures. Plus, they didn't last long. I have tried chocolate, red velvet, and I made vanilla. Chocolate is hands down the best. I had to have a moment when I first bit into it. The taste overtook my whole body, and I didn't want to chew-I just wanted to live in that second forever. It really was that good.

I googled how to make the diaper cakes, but the results didn't turn out as fantastic as this one. I might just have to do a Girls Night Out, and pick Chelsea's brain for all her fabulous ideas.

I'm tempted to make Yo Gabba Gabba cake pops for Nathan's birthday in November. We'll have to see if the temptation turns into anything productive though. Some people on bakerella did these, and I want to try . Only, I'll make them better. =)

Say What?!?!?

This is a letter I got in the mail a few days ago......



Since when do you find out your kid may, or may not have asthma by mail? And by your Health Insurance, not by your PCP? This is new to me. I opened this, and literally said "WHAT?!?!" really loudly, making my kids suddenly take notice of me. I had been trying to get them into the car so we could leave, and they were doing their best to ignore me completely-yell out "WHAT" and they are all ears.....I may be onto something. Anyway, I read that and immediately launched into 20 questions with Ben.

Me "Do you feel like you can't breathe sometimes? Like after you are running?"

Ben "I don't know what that feels like. What do you mean?"

Me "When you run, do you sound like (then did my best asthma/wheezing impression. I think I sounded pretty dead on. I should be in asthma commercials...)

Ben "Not really."

Me "Does running around make you cough a lot?"

Ben "Yes."

Nick "Me too. I sound like (winded kid impression) after I run."

Me "That's normal Nick. That means you ran fast."

Nick "I do run fast."

Ben "No you don't. I run faster than you do..."

And I lost them. This is typically how any conversation goes at my house. Someone feels left out, and Ben has to say he's better than them since he is the oldest.

I need to call and make appointments for Nick and Nathan at the pediatrician, They have been sending me reminder postcards for months, but I dread the paperwork. The 20  page packet that tells you if your kid is 'normal' or not compared to other kids their age. I usually have all the boys with me, so sitting down and paying any attention to the questions, and asking the boys "Nick can you hop on one foot and rub your belly at the same time?" & "Nathan, can you say the alphabet in Pig Latin? No?! I'll just put sometimes...." is really distracting. It doesn't get much better once I am in the room either. Making sure the boys don't climb up, and jump off the examining table, and watching them so they don't steal anything out of the drawers while holding a clinging baby who is terrified we are there to get him shots-doesn't allow me time to really listen to what is being said to me. Maybe, he said something about asthma, but I really don't think he did. That is a word that I would think would stick out in a conversation. Like, swearing. Tell me you don't zone out on things and then suddenly you hear it....

"Blah, blah, blah.....F******..."

Suddenly you are all ears. "Did I really just hear that?" You turn to the person next to you, "Did they just say what I think they said?" There are certain things that get your attention in life, and I would like to think that if I hear the name of a disease in the same breath as my child's name, I would pay attention. I guess I should get on the ball and make the appointments for the other boys so that I could bring it up with him.

I wonder if it is because we have a nebulizer? Ben gets croup every time he gets a cold. It sounds horrible and scary, and leads to bronchitis, so our wonderful Dr. P gave us a nebulizer, and a ton of alboterol that works like magic for him. The treatments with it help him breathe so much easier! It was a life saver during the cold/flu season last year. Maybe the fact that they paid for that gave them the impression he has asthma. I would think that since he hasn't been prescribed any inhalers, that means no. I don't know. They were very helpful though. They sent us a paper explaining Asthma, and gave me the kick in the butt I needed to get off my butt and get these kids seen.

I'm just old school, and have a hard time taking healthy kids to the doctor. Stuff had to practically be falling off for my dad to take us, and I only remember my mom taking me when she thought I might be faking a cold just to stay home. At least that's how I saw it.....and the A-hole doctor didn't help. He said he couldn't find anything wrong with me. Jerk! I was feeling bad that day, Mom. Just so you know. All these years later-I wasn't lying.