"You only have what you give..."

Friday, 10 July 2009

  • Trapped

    I have had a shocking revelation in my stay here that has caused to me reevaluate my very existence.

    I can't get out of the baby gates.

    Seriously.
    This keeps me trapped in parts of the house till I can find a kid that can get me out. I have been trapped in the staircase, trapped in the laundry room, trapped in the living room and locked out of the house. This leaves me feeling quite vulnerable. Not just the sheer frustration of not being able to get out, but the fact that sooner or later, it's going to dawn on the kids that I am at their mercy.

    This could get ugly.

    I suspect bribes will be in order, so I have been collecting a mental and physical arsenal/toybox to negotiate with on a seven and nine year old level.  Ironically I know it will be the seven year old that will try first. I can see it coming...the redhead, blue eyed bowling ball of fate headed right at my down my 5 foot ally.

    I can win this.
    (and if I can't, I can at least stall till I leave. I think.)

Thursday, 09 July 2009

  • Bikers/Veterans/Punk Kids

    John is doing well for all he's been thru. I figure he's done three tours of Vietnam, he won't give up now.
    I am so grateful for all your prayers. Please keep them coming!

    Our big obstacle now is getting him home. I have never been to Kalispell, MT but apparently the phrase 'middle of nowhere' keeps coming up. If any of you have any suggestions on finding a trailer, truck or anything, please let me know.

    On other news, I am surrounded by punk kids. Lots of them.
    This afternoon's activities include tie-dying t-shirts and yes, I have mine ready to go. Miss Thang is still exercising her rights in the Terrible Two's and aside from being a holy terror in Walmart and whacking me upside the head with a ketchupy corndog at lunch and stuffing her ice cream cone in the leg pocket of my cargo pants so she could go play,  things are pretty normal.
    This is the crew:


    Somebody throw me a lifeline?

Wednesday, 08 July 2009

  • John Update

    And he's going to be ok.

    To all of you who have prayed and offered help, I am so grateful I don't even know where to begin. Forgive me if I have not responded to each of you yet, but know how much I appreciate it.

    I am told by Ron (masterboatburner) who was behind him, the crash "was spectacular!" Ron is a well trained medic and while he tended John, the others took pictures (because that's what your buddies do)

    Personally, this is something I never want to see:



    your buddy laid on the road and the lifeflight helicopter in the background. Ron (the boatburner) is the scruffy dude in the grey standing looking down.

    Today John is better and sitting up a bit. I heard they made him walk and I think he's eating a little. I spoke on the phone with him and he was still a little loopy from the drugs. At the time he was insisting he was leaving tomorrow and riding his bike back to Texas (I could hear laughing in the background). Ron got the phone and reassured me he was NOT riding back nor was he leaving anytime soon. As he put it, "He's not as good as he sounds".

    I didn't think so.



    I will spare you the other photos, but I think he looks pretty good.

    God is good.

    So are all of you.
    Thank you.

Tuesday, 07 July 2009

Sunday, 05 July 2009

  • Birthday Hint

    Yanno, my birthday is coming up soon and for any of you out there that may wonder what the perfect gift would be....I want this:



    yes, the helicopter too (what's a yacht without one?).
    And them. I want them too:



    aren't they just too darn cute?

    A girl can dream.

Tuesday, 30 June 2009

  • The Longest Day

    I looked at Amy around noon and remarked "This is one of those days when bedtime won't come soon enough".

    And it was true.

    As I posted on my pulse, most of the day revolved around Miss Thang and her 'no's'.
    As in, "NO!" and, "NO WAY!' and "LET ME OUT!" and "PUT ME DOWN!"
    I decided I would try and count how many times an hour that little punk said "NO!", but I lost count after five minutes. I simply couldn't keep up with her.

    Aside from her 'no's' were the other things that go along with being two:

    She escaped out the front door. Twice.

    I found her in her mother's room covered in some sort of pink lotion that smelled and looked like strawberry yogurt. It didn't taste like it tho.
    I dug all around the side of the bed and thru the covers trying to find the carton to see what she had gotten into.
    As it was,  the little punk had gotten into her mama's 'adult' drawer and slathered herself with edible strawberry karma sutra lotion.
    No, I didn't know what it was and please don't bother to comment on that.
    My life is pathetic enough as it is.

    She insisted on going down the big girl slide at the park, then stopping at the very end and screaming for someone to "Come get me!"

    She used a whole roll of toilet paper to cram down the front of her dress so she could have 'boobs'.
    To those of you who remember me from jr high, please don't comment on that either. Thank you.)

    She decided her chicken mcnuggets would be better if she just poured her chocolate milk on them.
    In her lap.

    Beach sand is better in your hair.

    It's better in your brother's hair too.

    I lost count of how many baths she had.

    To add to whole toddler experience, her brother got into the act too.  He is ten months old and learning to walk.
    There are some advantages to being short and teaching a baby to walk. For one, I don't have to stoop over very far to hold his hands while he 'walks', hence no backache.

    However...
    he learned a new trick.
    He was standing by the couch holding onto the side, when I walked by and paused for a moment. He latched on to my leg, then reached up and grabbed my butt.
    With both hands.
    (I have been reassured this is just a baby thing, but I have seen his daddy do the same thing to his mama, so I suspect it's in the genes.)

    And we walked thru the house like that.
    So I have grubby hand prints on my butt.

    Of course he gets tired and I swing him up on my hip. Not a bad thing, but he puts one arm behind me and grabs the front of my shirt with the other.

    Guess where?

    And the shirt is not good enough, he feels more secure grabbing the edge of my bra thru the shirt and hanging on to that.
    Which causes me to do this whole put-down-the-baby-and-readjust-the-boobage-while-pulling-my-shirt-back-in-place manuever.
    Which also leaves yet another grubby hand print.

    People are starting to talk.

    I'm seriously too old for this.





Monday, 29 June 2009

  • Terrible Two

    I am here and settled into Norfolk again.

    The most notable changes are
    1) the baby is HUGE (pics to follow of course) and,
    2) Miss Thang is most notably...
     most definitely...
     and most tragically...

    in the TERRIBLE TWOS!

    For those of you that need a refresher course in what this looks like or have never witnessed it yourself, well here ya go.

    It starts off looking like this:



    then escalates to this:



    Even in the car no one is safe!



    and just as it starts....

    her brother gets into the act:



    and after that, it the whole thing just wasn't any fun.



    I have found that  pulling the camera out when the tantrum starts automatically stops the theatrics. The little punk is so used to smiling and being cute for the camera, she just can't keep up the frowns and fits and I start getting pictures like this:



    I just bring out the best in people
    Currently
    How to Survive the Terrible Twos
    By Caroline Dunford
    see related

Monday, 22 June 2009

  • Downhill Slide

    This week has been on a downhill roll and hopefully will slow down once I get off the plane in Norfolk Wednesday.

    Then again, I have this waiting for me, so maybe not



    This last weekend was filled with a family reunion. True to form there was lots of family. So much so that one of the members got lost and found the wrong reunion down the road. It wasn't as bad as it sounded because it turned out they were related to us anyway. Afterwards, some of ours meandered down to theirs and vice versa.

    You gotta love small towns.

    There was lots of food and fun and games and even a little pickin' and grinnin' going on:



    (I have no idea who any of those people are, but they show up every year so I assume they are in laws or out laws in some manner)

    The lovely matriarch of the family was in residence:



    Of course not everything was all sunshine and roses:



    and the younger generation was busy taking notes so they could change things up when they seized power:



    and naturally when it got to be just too much hanging around with the old geezers, the kids bailed:

    (when I first married into this family, I was up that tree a lot!)

    Last but not least were the 'trunk shows' where everyone was buying, selling and trading handmade jewelry,  crafts, Avon and Mary Kay out of the car trunks.
    Yours truly even bought a new necklace and earrings:


    (pay no attention to the scruffy looking bum hanging on my neck...the whole family is nothing but moochers)

    So today there is running around and running amok to do.
    Tomorrow more of the same, plus a doctor's appt.
    Wednesday ...
    I am outta here



     
    Currently
    On the Road Again
    By Willie Nelson
    see related

Friday, 19 June 2009

  • Possibilities

    Tonight one of the punks declared she wanted to learn to crochet. When I offered to teach her, her response was "I want to do more than just make a chain".
    Understood.
    But I had to point out you can't do more till you learn to make the chain. Once you learn the chain you can do anything.
    So we sat on the sofa in the library and I showed her how to make a chain and go in circles.

    It wasn't as easy as she thought.

    In time tho her chains will become even and steady and she will learn to make warm hats and rag rugs. Being the eco-conscious child she is, she has already been making 'plarn' from recycled plastic bags. What she will make of that, I have no idea, but sometimes she dwells in possibility more than I do.

    Eldest has declared she wants to learn to knit or sew. Something to keep her hands busy. Somehow to create something out of almost nothing. Now that she is a mother to be, this appeals to her. It is what mothers do. The awakening of possibilities. The yearning to leave something behind that declares her existence to the world-something useful and warm.

    My son has declared his spot in the world by learning to make furniture. It is rough hewn, cedar post stuff. He calls it manly, but I call it rustic and sweet. I get disgusted snorts for that, but it is what it is. I am the mama and I say so

    They are all in their twenties and just learning their crafts. It has only been in the last year I have learned to crochet.  I wonder what we will accomplish a year from now?

    Better yet...

    what will you?

    Currently
    Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band Live/1975-85
    see related

Kater's Playlist

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k8tthelate

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About Me

  • The kindest person on the planet-or so I'm told. I like to read/study, paint/draw and create. I would rather have roses on my table than diamonds around my neck. I long for summer mornings and winter nights, the sound of rain on the roof and the chance to sit before an open fire...blessings. So many blessings....

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Chatboard (33)

  • k8tthelate
    @jassmine - Greetings madame-I was just over at your place. You always encourage me and I needed that this evening. Thank you
  • jassmine
    How you doing Girl. How is 2009 treating you. Judi
  • jassmine
    Thanks so much for recommending my blog. Merry Christmas and may the New Year be a blessing. Judi
  • jimwilloughby
    A Special Merry Christmas to you and yours. Uncle JIm Noel spelled backwards is Leon.
  • k8tthelate
    @mikecalimbas - you don't like alvin singing? what's up with that?? I'll give you a pass, but you better like the muppets! the muppet's christmas carol is like a classic at our house.eldest is apparently pretty enamored with you as well. be good to her
  • mikecalimbas
    Hi again! I'm in Alexandria, VA for business so I'm spending some free time perusing your musings online, all in an effort to get to know you better in a way so I can make up for missing meeting you this past weekend. Anyhow, I figured I'd just put it out there and let you know I'm absolutely enamor
  • jassmine
    Well, Xanga will not let me reply to you on your site. I keep getting this site is not found when I try and post a comment. I did not say anything important anyway. Glad you had a nice Thanksgiving. Poor Dump having to stay home this year. Judi
  • k8tthelate
    @jimwilloughby - buttermilk sky..wasn't that an old Hoagy ..somebody's song?-no wait, kay keyser sang it I think-is that right?
  • jimwilloughby
    Well, of course, when I came here willie would be singing Ga. on my mind. I want to know if you know. O buttermilk sky-my mothers favorite song. Uncle Jimwell, I guess I've worried you enough tonight;You are the greatest.
  • skillusionz
    @k8tthelate - Okay thank you very much.