Happy Mothers Day - Part Two

Happy Mothers Day to all of my wonderful mommy friends! I love you all!

And extra special Mothers Day wishes for my friends, Ann, who is celebrating her first Mothers Day as a mommy, and Michelle, who is my girls' Godmother.

And, last but not least, Happy Mothers Day to my own mommy. I love you!

Escape

I finished the book. I really enjoyed it. I won't tell you what happened since some of my friends are still reading it (or haven't even started it). I wasn't sure what to expect because the reviews from people on Amazon.com were that the book was either really good or really bad. But it held my attention and I had a difficult time putting it down, so I guess that means it was good enough for me.

Happy Mothers Day

It's 4:30 in the afternoon, and I'm still in my pajamas. Yep, it's been a pretty good day so far. While I didn't get any expensive gifts, I did get to stay in bed for as long as I wanted to and read or sleep. I'm thinking of going back to bed to read for a while until my dinner is ready for me.

The book I am reading, Escape by Carolyn Jessop, is a wonderful Mothers Day read. It is about a woman who was brought up in a polygamous culture and about how she finally escapes with her children. Throughout her horrible marriage, her only thoughts were of her children and how to protect them. She decides to take her children and flee the FLDS so that they can have a chance at living happy lives.

Tyrant Toddler

Katie has been so demanding lately. Ever since she started learning to talk, she's been quite the bossy little thing. But things have gotten worse lately.

We babied her quite a bit when she was sick and pretty much gave in to every little request she made because she was so miserably ill. But now that she's feeling better, she seems to think that we're still going to just give in to her every little demand.

She thinks that she can boss us all around, too. She's always been pretty bossy with Emily, which we thought was funny that she would single Emily out like that, but now she thinks she can boss us all around.

When we don't do what she wants, she threatens us with a spanking, which sounds more like she's offering us bacon. "Do you want a spanking?" sounds more like, "Want bacon?" She so cute when she does this that it's hard to keep from laughing at her.

I am over this little attitude of hers, though, so I guess I have to get over how cute she is and lay down the law. Wish me luck.

Award

This afternoon, Sarah brought home an invitation to an awards ceremony. Apparently, she is going to receive an award next Tuesday morning. For what, we don't yet know. I guess that will be a surprise for us. I can't wait to find out!

Of course, I'll update you all, too, after the ceremony. Hopefully, I'll remember to bring my camera with me so I'll have photos to share, too.

Friends & Yardwork

I found out this morning that the best way to do yard work is with friends. Sure, it's still hot, sweaty, dirty work, but it just doesn't seem as bad when you've got friends to help you and chat with you while you're doing it.

The moms group that I'm in just recently started a new "Moms Helping Moms" thing where one mom is chosen each month to have the other moms help her out with a project of her choosing. Last month, my friend Julie got to have some help cleaning her cabinets. Today was my turn, and I had some wonderful ladies come over to help me rake and bag leaves.

My friends Heather, Holly, Andrea, and Karen came over to work on my yard. Heather, Andrea, and Karen brought their little boys with them to play with Katie while we worked on the yard.

Here are a few before pics, courtesy of Andrea* and her awesome camera.



And a few pics from while we were working...




And, of course, the after pics...




After all of the work was done, we were all completely filthy. The kids had gotten a nice covering of dirt, too. So, once all of the lovely ladies were gone, I went to give Katie a bath. Since I was so hot, sweaty, and dirty, I decided not to wait to take a shower until after Katie's bath and just got in with her. Katie quite enjoyed that, and we both got clean.

All in all, it was a good day. Katie and I both had fun this morning, and we both took nice long naps after lunch, too. Thank you so much, ladies, for coming over and helping me out this morning. You are all such wonderful friends!


*Unfortunately, there are no photos of Andrea since she was behind the camera.

Such Sad News

I took Katie to get her hair cut this morning. It was our first time at the new salon that Casey is working at. When we walked in to the salon, the girl behind the counter greeted us. She looked so familiar to me, so I asked her what her name was. When she told me, I realized that she was our old hair stylist's sister.

Our old hair stylist, Roxanne, used to cut my entire family's hair. She did such a fabulous job with Sarah's hair; no one before her had been able to work so well with Sarah's double crown. She loved us as much as we loved her. She always bought Girl Scout cookies from the girls, and she kept photos of the girls on display. She would always tell me that my girls reminded her of her little sisters when they were little.

A few years ago, her husband got a promotion and job transfer, and she moved away to Ft. Lauderdale. We've missed her terribly, and have just recently found someone (Casey) who could do as good of a job on the girls' hair as Roxanne did. I still haven't found anyone that I love for me, and I doubt I'll ever find someone who will do as good of a job coloring my hair for as little as Roxanne charged me. Phil doesn't care who cuts his hair anymore because it's not Roxanne.

Anyhow, I asked Roxanne's sister how she was doing, and she told me that she passed away about two years ago. I didn't ask her what happened because I didn't want to pry. Her sister looked so sad when she told me that she was gone.

So, rest in peace, Roxanne. We loved you so much, and we still think about you. You were really a special person and you really made a difference in our lives.

A Conversation with Phil

A couple of days ago, Phil noticed the necklace I was wearing and began questioning me about it. The necklace in question is a lovely diamond heart pendant.

Phil: Where did you get that necklace?

Me: That's none of your business.

Phil: None of my business? My wife is suddenly wearing a new necklace and it's none of my business?

Me: Yeah.

Phil: Who gave it to you?

Me: No one.

Phil: Did you buy it for yourself?

Me: Like I can afford to just go out and and buy myself a diamond necklace.

Phil: Well, where did you get it?

Me: None of your business.

Phil: Have you always had it?

Me: No.

Phil: Why won't you just tell me where you got it from?

Me: Because it's none of your business.

Phil: Did you get it from your mom?

Me: Yes.

Phil: Why wouldn't you just tell me that? You were just going to let me believe that some other man bought it for you. How could you torture me like that?

Me: How could you not notice that your wife is wearing a new diamond heart necklace for the entire two or three weeks she's been wearing it? Shows how much attention you pay to me.

Phil: Oh, have you been wearing it that long?

Me: Yes.

Catching Up

A few weeks ago, I was tagged by a few people to do a photo meme. I was too busy with my mother at the hospital and taking care of her when she came home to think about doing it. But now, things have slowed down a bit, so I can do it.

This is a Front Door, Back Door photo meme. What you are supposed to do is take a photo (or photos) looking out your front door, then do the same out your back door. You can explain what is being seen in the photos, too.

This first photo is looking straight out from my front door. You can see my lovely neighbor, Mrs. Smith's house, and her wonderfully kept yard. If you look closely, you'll also see her late husband's classic car in the carport.


The next photo is turning about 45 degrees to the left. In it you can see my neighbor Brian's house across the street. Unfortunately, his dogs are not in the photo, or you would see a couple of large mastiffs, too.


This is a view to the left of my front door. You can see my horrid neighbors trash all along the side of their house, as well as another box of trash out by the sidewalk. Oh, and that big, blue truck in the driveway hasn't run in over a year!


Since my garage is all you can see when you turn to the right of my front door, I went down my walkway a bit to take this next photo. In it you can see my wonderful car. Yes, she's older than all of my children, but still runs great and only has 82,000 miles on her. Beyond my car, you will notice several oak trees and one lonely pine tree. How it ended up in the middle of all of those oak trees I'll never know.


These next three photos should explain why it is that I have no grass growing in my front yard. They are looking up at the sky from my front yard.




Now, on to the backyard! Here you see directly out of my sliding glass door that leads onto my tiny back porch. On the porch you can see Phil's grill on the right. Through the screen, you can see the big plastic play set that we bought for Katie to play on. To the left of the play set is one of our orange trees.


Next is the northwest corner of my back yard. Growing back there are a couple of palm trees and several banana trees. During our first hurricane season in this house, the banana trees were all broken and Phil had to cut them down to about a foot from the ground. More than double what had been there grew back!


In this next photo you can see our larger play set. It has two regular swings and a toddler swing, monkey bars, a rock wall, a picnic table, and a big yellow slide.


In the southwest corner of our back yard (off to the left of the large play set) is our crappy little metal shed. It's not very nice, but it certainly serves it's purpose. In front of the shed is our other orange tree. You can also see our lawnmower that Phil has neglected to put back into the shed.


And last, but not least, a look out of my side garage door. Off to the left, you will see the ladder near the oak trees that I have been working on trimming with my chainsaw.


To the left of my side door, you can catch a glimpse of my other next door neighbor's beautifully landscaped yard. He's a single guy with no children, so he has plenty of time to work on his yard several times a week.


So, there you have it! My yard in all its glory - LOL!

Now, if you haven't already done this meme, consider yourself tagged!

Sicko Update

Things are a bit better around here today. Sarah is nearly fully recovered - her fever is gone, but she still has a bit of a cough - and went back to school today.

Emily had a bit of a fever this morning, but said that she felt well enough to go to school and go on the field trip. I made sure to give her some Motrin before we left for school, and she made it through the day alright.

Katie is slowly, but surely, getting better. She is still running a fever, but it's down below 100 now. Of course, she's still very whiny and clingy. And she can be down right mean sometimes, too.

As for me, I'm still running the same low-grade fever I've been running all week long. If it's still there when I get all of these kids back to normal, maybe I'll take myself to the doctor, too.