My dear friend you will be missed.

I write this post filled with sorrow.  My dear vacuum has bit the dust (pun intended).  You, my dear readers, have listened to me go on and on about my wonderful dirt bunny eliminator.  I packed her up with tender loving care to take her to the repair shop to ask him about the noise level being that of a jet plane taking off.  The kind man looked me straight in my eye and said "She's dead, you might as well put a bullet through her she is a goner."  Too expensive to repair might as well replace it.  So I am on the hunt for a good vacuum again.  She is sitting outside in the freezing cold waiting for her final resting place, the garbage truck.  She was a good vacuum, she never hurt anyone and always kept my floors nice and clean.  You will be greatly missed dear friend.

My morning smile

I know that Blogs are not the usual place to post forwarded emails.  A friend sent this to me and it hit WAY to close to home.  I thought I would share....

Did you hear about the Texas teacher who was helping one of her kindergarten students put on his cowboy boots?


He asked for help and she could see why..

Even with her pulling and him pushing, the little boots still didn't want to go on. By the time they got the second boot on, she had worked up a sweat

She almost cried when the little boy said, 'Teacher, they're on the wrong feet.' She looked, and sure enough, they were. It wasn't any easier pulling the boots off than it was putting them on. She managed to keep her cool as together they worked to get the boots back on, this time on the right feet...

He then announced, 'These aren't my boots.'

She bit her tongue rather than get right in his face and scream, 'Why didn't you say so?' like she wanted to. Once again, she struggled to help him pull the ill-fitting boots off his little feet. No sooner had they gotten the boots off when he said, 'They're my brother's boots. My mom made me wear 'em.'

Now she didn't know if she should laugh or cry. But, she mustered up what grace and courage she had left to wrestle the boots on his little feet again.

Helping him into his coat, she asked, 'Now, where are your mittens?'

He said, 'I stuffed 'em in the toes of my boots.'

She will be eligible for parole in three years!

100th day of school!

Victoria finally got to go to school for the 100th day!  They had a party today (suppose to be yesterday but due to the 1/2 inch of danger was cancelled along with school).  Victoria could choose to be 100 years old or wear 100 things.  She chose to be 100 so we put this get up together.  Sponge rollers in the hair, "specks", her wrap and don't forget the broach to "pull it all together" as my Granny would say.  Any day that you can wear clip earrings to school is a great day in Victoria's eyes.

You MUST wear the polyester pants and I told "Grandma" that she would have to wear her tennis shoes to school because I didn't want her to fall down and break a hip on a patch of ice. 

She was so darn funny sitting in the front seat of the car while I took her to school.  She had her legs crossed and her hands folded in her lap with her white lace gloves on.  I felt like I was taking granny to the super market to pick up a half a dozen eggs and a 1/2 gallon of milk for the week.  Bless her heart, her missing teeth in the front just helps the look even more.  Looks like she forgot to put in her denture before she left the house.  So cute!  I can't wait to hear how the party went.

While we are on the subject of days and numbers.  I realized something today.  I am 17 days nicotine free!  I believe that would qualify me as a non-smoker.  James is in the process of quiting.  Pray for him.  He has cut down dramatically!  He just is unable to do cold turkey, but is making great progress towards his goal.

The need for Superman in a 1/2 inch of danger

Snow day again!  We have about a 1/2 inch on the ground and car wrecks everywhere!  School was called of and so was Bible study.  Anthony still has a runny nose, Addison's viral rash that she has had for the past few days is almost gone, and my stomach bug is turning into a sinus infection.  I was glad Bible study was cancelled because with all of us teetering on full on sickness I didn't want to miss study.  It has been SO GOOD already. 

Victoria is crushed because today was suppose to be the 100th day of school.  It is postponed until tomorrow.  Victoria is dressing up as a 100 year old lady, she is bringing 100 banana chips for the trail mix that they are going to make, and has 100 pretzel goldfish in a bag for the 100 collection guessing game.  Sounds like a good time.

The morning proved to be interesting thanks to the help of "Aunt Punkin".  She gave A&A place settings for Christmas.  Anthony "Super-MAN!" and Addison "Cake Cake" (Strawberry Shortcake).  Anthony will not eat without a fight if it is not his Superman plate, bowl and cup.  Heaven forbid if the mashed potatoes are covering Superman's face!!!  I have to wash it after EVERY meal!  He was ticked because after I stood at the stove making eggs, sausage, and biscuit sandwiches he didn't receive his on his favorite plate.  I had the audacity to present him his breakfast on a Teddy Bear plate.  The nerve!  He attempted to pitch the plate and it's contents across the room I intercepted in time before the poor teddy bear plummeted to it's death.  I decided to make a deal with Anthony.  Eat his breakfast on the teddy bear plate and I will give him his fruit cocktail in the Superman mug.  That was the only way that I could get that boy to eat a bite.  Breakfast is long over and he is still carrying around that silly cup like it is made out of pure gold.  He has his sippy cup nested in it and using the handle of his Superman mug to tip up his drink.  My little man has invented a drink cozy!  Such a nut!  I have a feeling it is going to be a long long day.

Camp Discover

It is that time of the year again.  Time for Camp Discover!!  I am so excited.  This year Victoria is too old to participate (it is for age 3 to Pre-K) and I find it funny that even though she is disappointed because of it she has this sense of pride that it is an activity that she is "too old" for. 

This year I got a chance to help out in some of the planning and behind the scenes stuff but the thing I am most excited about is that I am going to be Elbib!

Yep here I am as Elbib.  He is one of our puppets we use upstairs in Large Group.  His name is Bible spelled backwards and he is the one responsible for teaching the kids their memory verse each week. 

Here is a pic of the actual puppet that we photo shopped into a post card to our volunteers during summer break. Don't ya think I look just like him?  LOL

I got to entertain the kids as they were registering and play with them while they were on the bouncy house.  After my debut as Elbib I had to fly upstairs and change into my regular clothes and Team Lead the Large Group portion of the camp.  We had about 70 kids last year when I was there with Victoria.  This year we had over 120 kids and that isn't including their parents! Everyone appeared to have a great time! I didn't get out of there until around 11.  All of the kids spent the night and the Centrum was filled with tents.  They did a great job this year!  All of the hard work paid off.  My pals are suppose to send me some pics of Camp Discovery that they took.  When I get some more I will post them. 

Pride

So guilty!  I started Breaking Free last week.  I am very excited, scared, and curious about the journey it is going to take me on.  The study helps us get rid of strongholds in our lives.  Pride will be the first one that I face.  Grace will be the first thing that comes to mind...

Sunday night around 9pm James and I ran to Walmart for a few things.  I was my usual self, mind racing, and not paying much attention to the road.  James asked me "Did you see that cop you passed?"  I quickly responded with "What cop?".  He then informed me of how broke the states are and how they are going to be writing tickets left and right to try to bring money to the state.  Free money he called it.  He told me that if I didn't reduce my speed to a Grandma pace that I would get a ticket.  I did the polite wifely thing and rolled my eyes and said sarcastically "Whatever, Honey"  as I got out of the car.  I have been pulled over a time or two but I have only had one ticket and didn't see any more in MY future.

Monday Mom met up with us to go to breakfast at Horseshoe.  Oh my goodness!!!  I ate till I wanted to bust. We drove around New Albany for a bit trying to find something else to do.  We had originally planned on going to the zoo but the weather didn't work well for that, it was a bit cold.  As I was entering New Albany on Spring Street it happened.  Lights in the rear view mirror....  At 9m the night before I got warned of a ticket and the ticket came at 1pm the next day.  I didn't even make it 24 hours from my husband's warning!

I came home with my head hung low and told James of the news.  I knew I deserved an "I told you so!"  but it never came.  He showed such grace that I stood there and cried.  I didn't deserve such love at that moment, but that is exactly what I got.  It didn't matter what my response was to his warning.  My "sure, whatever" attitude wasn't taken into consideration when I came to him with the bad news.  I totally deserved a lecture or some kind but it never came.  I got forgiveness and a hug.  It kind of reminded me of someone else that I know when I come to him in a tearful mess after I don't listen to his instruction.

Dense

Go Grant Line!  Victoria got a letter that they were wanting kids to bring in money for Haiti.  It was great to see Victoria excited to help!  When she came home today the newsletter said that they raised over 2,000 that will be sent straight to the Red Cross.  Isn't that wonderful?  These kids these days have giving hearts!  So nice to see in such horrible times.

Ah, evening when my day tends to wind down and I get to relax a bit.  I usually just enjoy the quiet and do nothing but tonight I decided to get a little family time in and watch American Idol with the kids.  It turned into redirecting the kids for 2 hours with a blaring TV in the background.  The Cars rug with all of Anthony's matchbox cars didn't work too well.  Anthony didn't want to share anything and was hitting anyone in his path to what he wanted. Victoria thought that the couch was a jungle gym and was having a hard time sitting still, along with Addison who decided that the living room needed to be rearranged and started moving things.  Mom stopped by in the middle of the chaos and I tried to bake an Angel Food cake.  I failed to read directions and greased the pan making an Angel Food brownie.  Unable to tip the pan over to let the cake continue rising it fell flat, very flat and is now about 2 inches tall and buckling over on the sides. So much for light and fluffy.  It's consistency resembled the bakers mental state this evening.  I decided to go with a second try and a different cake.  I tried the Angel food for the fat free lure but ended up making that chocolate cake that was right beside it in the pantry.  I mixed it up in the middle of mom coming over for a quick visit, Anthony hitting Addison, Victoria believing that she was also auditioning for American Idol, and Addison still moving furniture.  Greased my 9X13 pan and shoved it into the oven before my little ones noticed the oven door open.  I set my timer and continued on with my evening.  I now sit here at my computer disgusted because my timer went off and I opened the door to my oven to find my cake uncooked in the cold oven.  Apparently in my craziness I turned the oven off and set the timer for my cake batter to "cook" in an oven that isn't even turned on.  Nice!  I believe a glass of wine is in my future.

Taking a stand

Great news!  At least it is great news for now.  Most of you have been following the drama that is Victoria's mother.  I appreciate all of you listening to me vent and rant on here.  It has been very therapeutic to put it on the screen and try to get it out of my heart and head.  James and I spoke after yet another phone call from friends, and family of hers letting us know that everything that comes out of her mouth is a lie.  James has put his foot down and made a decision, to not let her have Victoria until this "stuff" gets straightened out.  Tina called today and asked about what time she can come and get Victoria.  James told her that she wasn't coming over this weekend and that we are getting bombarded with people telling us that she is crazy and up to her old tricks.  Not to mention that we were lied to about where Victoria was staying the last time.  He told her that if she would like to have Victoria again then her and her new husband can meet with James and I and we can lay all of this out on the table.  Now follow me here.  Thomas, her new husband, probably doesn't know that Tina is a compulsive liar, and that she was never pregnant and the miscarriage that she spoke of is all a lie.  Tina in an effort to see Victoria will have to expose herself to her new husband.  This can go many, many different ways.  This of course puts us in contempt of court, and scares us senseless, but until we get some honest answers then Victoria will be in her safe warm bed her at home.  This puts us in another delicate situation with the visitation agreement.  So please pray that we have clear answers on where to go from here.  She said that we can meet next weekend at her new house, that still isn't purchased, so we will see where she takes the lies from here.  You know I will keep you posted.  Right now I am just glad I didn't have to watch Victoria walk down the driveway with Tina knowing that I would have no clue where she was going.

Braggin rights

Not that I need a certificate to brag on my kids, but today I give myself extra permission to.  Not only is Victoria the Student of the month but she also brought home her report card and it was AWESOME!  In Kindergarten they have many different things that they grade on such as letter recognition, reading, color words and identification and so on and so on.  Victoria raised up 47 of her grades to a "S" and some are an S+.  We need to do some work on our sight words, we have been slacking on going over them and it showed a bit on her card.  She has worked so hard and I am beyond proud of her! 

Just a quick note..Victoria informed me that she won't be have school on Monday because it is "Marnar Loostin King" Day.  Just wanted to make sure you mark that on your calendar.

Snow Day!!!

Victoria's first snow day!  I got the call from school that it was cancelled around 6 this morning.  Victoria tapped me on the shoulder around 7:15 to tell me that we needed to get up and start getting ready.  I remember shaking my head no but wasn't able to muster up the energy to tell her that it had been cancelled, and drifted off into dreamland again.  At 8:15 a panicked 6 year old was standing next to my bed. Fully dressed, coat, new winter headband (with the tag still hanging off of it) , and her backpack saying "Mom we are going to be late, we have to GO!

After explaining that she didn't have school today I stumbled into the kitchen and started some awesome breakfast.  Scrambled eggs with cheese. mushrooms and sausage.  I even pulled used the teddy bear cake mold again the mom bought for us yesterday at Goodwill and made teddy bear shaped lemon poppy seed and Honey bran muffins.  I had ample entertainment in the kitchen listening to A&A argue whose snow it was...."MY SNOW!" "NO IT'S MY SNOW!"  "NOOOOO IT'S BUBBY SNOW!"   "NO IT SISSY SNOW!", quite entertaining.  We were all stuffed our faces. 

I sent all the kids to their bed for a little TV time while I prepared the living room.  I crawled into our closet and pulled out our tent, and set it up in the living room along with Victoria's Dora tent.  I walked into Victoria's room and gave her the test. She spelled her 7 spelling words without missing one, and I let her pass by to enter our campsite in the living room. Then the jumping started.  A&A were beside themselves.  I had blankets and pillows set up for them and even had Addison's "My puppy" waiting for her inside the Dora tent.  The kids had a ball!  Victoria picked Elf for our movie to watch and we all hung out in our tents snacking on Goldfish.

Anthony couldn't control himself he had to check out the Dora tent for himself...

Anthony trying to invade Addison's space in her tent.  You can see the finger pointing and can almost hear the "BUBBY OUT!"

She then gets her point across....

Victoria didn't mind the wrestling match across the room at all. It meant she got the big tent all to herself.  Such a sweet pic of her.

Addison spent most of the time screaming to whoever tried to get too close to her space.  It was quite hard to take with the static in her hair from the tent.  She would give her high pitch squeal with her hair standing on end.  It didn't show up too well with the gray background.

Anthony won.  He got the Dora tent and wouldn't leave once he discovered the star cut out.  He kept playing peek-a-boo with me on the couch. 

The snow outside is just gorgeous!  I wish I could send some to my family in California.  I haven't been outside yet, I just can't bring myself to mess up the perfect blanket of white on my driveway and yard.  Maybe later Victoria and I will manage to get out in it later this afternoon.

Student of the Month

I am now the proud owner of a Student of the Month at Grant Line Elementary.  I am elated!  I found out two nights ago from Mrs. Anderson.  She chose Victoria and she had the most improvement since the start of the school year, I know because I asked her if she drew the name out of a hat.  LOL!  She said she can't wait for me to see Victoria's report card at the end of this week.  She said she is doing great! Still working on harnessing that energy but academically she is soaring.  So great to hear. 

Victoria was suppose to find out today (Wednesday) but I knew as soon as she got off of the bus that she knew.  Monday, the first day back after vacation, she was sent to the corner 3 times for talking. She came off of the bus that day with her head hung low.  Not today, she touched the ground about 3 times as she flew to the car from the bus.  "MOMMY MOMMY YOU AND NEVER GOING TO BELIEVE WHAT HAPPENED TODAY!  YOU ARE JUST NOT GOING TO BELIEVE IT!"  At least that is what I think she said.  It was hard to understand at the speed, pitch and volume it was said in. 

We celebrated with Gramma Harb with Pizza and a movie.  Cloudy with a chance of meatballs (cute movie!).  My girl is walking a little taller, standing a little prouder and I love seeing it!  Can't wait to get my bumper sticker for my car too.  Wait till they see me at Walmart now!  ;)

Back to our routine

Well it is back to the daily grind here in the ol' Craig home.  Trying to concentrate on getting back into the routine and things that I have some kind of control over, trying to maintain sanity.  All of the Christmas stuff is away, the house is clean, laundry is 2 loads from being caught up, the backpack is packed and James is about to leave for his regular schedule of work.  Kinda happy, kinda sad.  I have so enjoyed the time off, and getting to get a break from our day to day life, yet I am happy to have some sort of "normal" in our home.  Victoria has had a full Christmas break with all of our trips to Charlestown, the zoo, visiting friends, Christmas parties and plenty of craft time at home.  I have enjoyed having her home.  I am going to miss the little stinker.  Kids are tucked into bed and I must head there shortly, I am not one for being an early riser.

(Insert VERY loud screaming here)

My oh my, where to start.  2010 is starting with a bang!  Victoria got picked up Thursday by Tina to have her weekend with her.  James said that he asked her again if she was staying at her dad's house (Victoria's grandpa) to which she said "Yes". We have been told for months now that Thomas is purchasing her a newly built home.  Victoria has led me to it to show off where her "new room" is going to be and I noticed the for sale sign in the front yard.  I called the realtor to find that the house is still for sale and no contract is written up for it. He laughed at me when I asked if the house was being built for someone like I had been told.  Victoria got home in time for church today and told me of waking up crying from a nightmare that she had in the middle of the night while with Tina about the Joker trying to kill her.  I asked her what made her think of the Joker and she told me the poster on the wall where she was.  I asked her if the poster was at Grandpa's house.  She said "No it was in the boys' room"  A few questions further and I found out that Victoria spent 3 days 2 nights with her womb donor at her current husband's ex wife's house. Did you catch that?!?  If you are scratching your head you heard it right.  Tina and Thomas (her boyfriend of about 3 months, husband of 1 month) are staying with his ex wife and kids.  Thanks to the wonders of Facebook, and my crafty private investigator skills the divorce was filed around Aug. of last year.  Tina told Victoria that she (tina) hurt her back and that his ex was wanting to help her while her back was hurting her.  Victoria said that she and Tina stayed there the first night and that Thomas was with them the second night to spend the night.  I spoke a little bit to Tina's ex husband that lives in Florida, whom I met and LOVE, tonight about it asking if he knew of this.  He said that they have been staying with Thomas's ex for the past two weeks now, not sure why but they were staying there when they were up to visit with the two kids that they (Tina and ex Hunter) have together last week for Christmas.  Someone please explain to me in what world is living with your current husband with his ex ok?  I can't handle being lied to. Lying about going to cosmetology school (I called to acting like I wanted to make an appointment with her at the school that she told me she was going to, only to find that they have never heard of her)I can deal with no big deal.  Even lying about being pregnant with twin boys , OK whatever! Lying about building a house, big woop, but lying about where my kid is sleeping at night SOOOOOOO NOT OK! My mind can't wrap itself around this.  Should I go ahead and sell the rights to the movie yet, or hold out for more money? I promise if I have any more posts about Tina drama I will include a chart so that it is easier to follow.  I just REALLY needed to vent!