tonight's forecast

It's not looking good bud. I can tell you that right now. Though I sit in a peacefully quiet house, I know all too soon the chaos is coming. And quickly. It may even happen before I end this post. Sad.

I don't even much care that this is the last night of 2007. I don't care to watch the ball drop. I don't care to watch thousands partying around the world. What might please me most at this moment, would be continued peace and quiet. And to crawl into bed, unbothered. And sleep. Unbothered still

However that's not highly likely. Lacka is sleeping in her lilac lamb covered fleece footed jammies. Ah, what peace it is to have her life. Not a care in the world. And so much love.....

She's such a sweet baby.

I made two graphics to help celebrate the holiday. There is a bottle of champagne laying abandoned in the floorboard of my car. Sad.

How strong I am.

Tonight was a bundle of joy. And if you bought that, I am in the market to sell my home. So just shoot me an email and I will get in touch with you. My stress level has been tested.

But on a happy note, I did get a new pair of Jam-Jam bottoms, and the kids each got something cute and or on sale. Weee. Got to love that. Well, I do. I'm ready to surgically remove my larynx. My throat hurts. And I was trying to blame it on mom's super spicy cooking. (sorry mom) But it's official, I have caught yet just one more fun and exciting virus. It's 8:35 and my daughter is sitting in my lap. Does anyone know what's wrong with that?

Anyone? Anyone? Bueller??

Ok, so yeah. It's past her bedtime. Of course dh can't get her to go to bed. He never puts her to bed. And stinker that she is.... she knows it. So it's just all wrong for her. Alyssa (my step-daughter) has confirmed that they actually did try to get her to go to sleep. And she cried, and cried. Hence, why she is sitting in my lap while I blog. She's sleepy though, and about to knock off. Which will make my blog posting go alot smoother momentarily.

Anyway, my step-kids are here. They are very large. Tall. Devon weighs about 108, so said my bathroom scale. And according to my eye scale in my head, standing next to me, I would say that he is about 5'4" tall. He's gaining on me. And his 14 year old feet are 10.5. Whoa! Same size as dh! Those boy feet are no longer. He's been pretty respectful this trip. Of course it's still early. They've really only been here 3 days. There's still time for them to muck it all up.

My dh did call to tell them to bring jackets with them. I shouldn't at all be surprised that their moron of a mother forgot to pack her daughter's. And it's been in the 30's here in the mornings. Really cold!!! So she's been wearing a tiny jacket in a smaller size, plus my sweater to layer up. Poor thing. I do feel sorry for her. Her mother has since had two new children with an adulterous man and doesn't have time to take care of Alyssa. At least that is my take on it. When she comes here with her hair looking like a bird's nest, I can't help but wonder if her mother ever spends time with her showing her how to comb her hair. It reminds me of the old days when she would do the same. Pity.

Anyway, all I can say is so far so good. I haven't had to strangle either one of them. Or wanted to really. Now Eddie on the other hand...... he refused to take a nap today. And he cried so hard that he made himself throw up. That was heavenly bliss for me. Dh worked today. Lovely.

Lie.

And then this evening we went to In n' Out Burger. I'm pretty sure that I will never go there again. Unless of course all the other food sources in the world dried up, closed down, and this were the last place there was to eat on earth. But just maybe. Because the place was seriously standing room only. And we were a party of 9. Looking to get some tables together. And it wasn't like you were going to go stand in line to order your food, only to stand around and not have a table to sit. Those people that were standing around were circling the other tables like vultures. When anyone would get up, the patrons would make a mad dash for the table. Even if they were just going to get a refill on their drinks. Amazingly, we got 3 tables together. I'm not even going to tell you how long it took us to do that. Meanwhile, I had two seriously hungry toddlers. So we had to get their food first. I got a little worried when they told me that I was number 25 and they were only on number 12. Yeah. It was kind of concerning. While we were among the sitters, we had people eyeballing our drinks, our sandwiches and the levels on our fries. They were scoping us out to see how soon we might be leaving. It was kind of scary. So honestly, this is not someplace I am going to willingly walk into again. With kids. And not just my two kids, my step-kids as well. Especially on a day like I had already had. Watching my son throw up just because he can doesn't make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. In fact it makes me kind of mad. Mad that he is so stubborn that he won't listen to me and just take a nap like a normal toddler.

*sigh* Oh and on another happy note I love my new camera. I have taken some more pics. So here are just a couple more. Let's hope tomorrow goes better for me, 'eh???

Here is a picture of Devon and Alexa. I like this one because he makes her look so small!

This is how Alexa fell asleep today. aww!!

And here is a picture of Miss Alyssa.

The calm before the storm.

So to speak. As calm as it can be while Eddie and Alexa keep running up and down the hall. They alternate rooms to run into. First they run into Eddie's room. Then they head into the bathroom and turn on the faucets and play. Next they run into the laundry room. And I never like them in there since the litter is kept there. Lord knows only what they can find to play with in there. I hear screams in nearly every room they enter. I wonder if it is just for fun, or if Eddie is tormenting his little sister. Today I thought that just maybe I had closed the cat in the dryer. Can you even imagine how hideous that is? I didn't. But I'm trying to rationalize my dryer door throwing itself open with such force it banged into the wall really loud. Pretty loudly. How does that happen? I'm open to all theories. I was home alone, and in another room.

My step-kids have officially landed at Sky Harbor International. Oh the joys. If having two under one roof wasn't enough fun. And we no longer have a car large enough for 2 car seats, one teenager and one pre-teen. (Is nine a pre-teen?) Well, if we decide to all go somewhere as a family, it is going to involve 2 cars. *sigh* Eddie just ran in here and climbed into the crib with Alexa. Because he can. Because he is two. (and a half) And because why on earth would he want to sit in the other room watching Shrek 3 when he could be in here keeping her awake?

I don't know. But like I said before, the kids have arrived. The once chaotic household I knew is about to take on new life. And the fridge is still dirty. I refuse to throw out the stuff that needs to be thrown out. I am seriously going to let it sit there until it grows arms and legs and starts eating the other things in there. It's dh's turn. Because honestly it's always my turn and I just don't feel like doing it right now. He can do it. And if he wants a Coke, he is going to have to move the moldy 2 week old chicken in order to get to it. Or if he wants orange juice or eggs he might have to push past the hairy pot roast that my mother made us last month.

Oh fun times. Anyway. I better let Alexa get some sleep. I think my typing is making her want to play. And Eddie is getting restless in the other room. Oh yeah... his bed is now in our room again. Since we only have a 3 bedroom house, we have taken Eddie out of his room to give our teenage son the privacy. Wow. That seems weird. I still remember washing his hair in the bathtub.

Ok, time to go. I think I need to call and see where they are at. It's all about to break loose here shortly. But here's a pic or two for your perusal. Thanks for stopping by!

Christmas Eve at Nana's.

I love Nana's tree. I also can't wait to see the kids tear into their presents. A few days ago, I was able to officially open my Christmas present. It is a Nikon D40. I'm so loving it. Tonight's pictures are a few of my first with my new camera. I can't wait to take even more.

This is Eddie in his Christmas sweater that I totally forgot all about this whole season. Can we say, "DOH!"I wish I hadn't, but I think I can let him wear it through out the coming months as well. There isn't a Christmas tree on it, it just has a little bear and some snow flakes. But it's really cute.

Here is Eddie being silly. Plain and simple. This kid rules the world. I'm trying my darndest not to let that be so, honestly. Not all kids listen. This is the prime example.

Miss fussy pants. She wouldn't smile. I'm guessing it's due to her current state of teething. She's not been the happiest little camper in the woods lately. I'm hoping that a small boat load of toys will cheer her up tomorrow!

And just in case you didn't believe me. She really was fussy. Is. Teething is not fun.

And one last picture for the road. Here she is in a little bit more playful mood. She opened one present tonight. And it was a very soft pink fleece blanket with a little animal attached. (a cougar??) Anyway, she loves it! Thanks nana!!Merry Christmas and happy present openings to everyone!!! More pics later!!!

I bake. Therefor I am.

Ok, I don't really mean that. But I do enjoy baking. Here and there. And mostly, the stuff I attempt to bake turns out quite yummy.

So, I guess what happened to me just goes right along with how my month has been going. At least one person in my family and usually two at the same time have been sick for the entire month of December. Now, there are still approximately 8 days left of 2007 (and of December) so it's entirely possible that we may be well by then. But I'm not a betting woman, so I'm going to say that it's not going to be a safe one to put your money on. At least I'm hoping we will get well soon. I'm not going to go into the specifics, because it kind of makes me ill just to think about how hard it has been to be sick, Christmas shop, and then take care of sick kids also. It's not good times.

Anyway, since all is nearly said and done, I thought I would bake a little. I tried fudge. That nearly went to the crapper. It was overly soft. And my apologies go out to those who were recipients of my mushy fudge. It usually firms up better than that. I tried cookies. Big mistake. HUGE. I've never in my life encountered an incident such as the one that had occurred to me on the other night. I think I should have just stopped when I realized that I did not have any "fresh" baking soda.

I did however have a box from the fridge. Normally, I would not have taken it out and used it. But I was thinking to myself, how bad can it be? I had just purchased that box a couple weeks ago. Ok, maybe about a month ago. But it wasn't old, honest. I mean, the only thing wrong (if you could say wrong) was that it came out of the fridge. Besides, the fridge keeps things fresher, right?

Apparently not. You are apparently not supposed to use cold baking soda. Cold baking soda that had been sitting in my fridge for a month, it should not be used to bake chocolate chip cookies. Well, the dough came out nicely. It looked and smelled nice. I plopped the little cookie blobs on my non-cookie sheets. You see, even though I love to bake, I do not have the correct bake ware necessary. Anyway, I used an 8 x 8 pan and two cake pans. That should have worked. Except for my fatal error in using that baking soda.

I placed the cookies into the oven to bake for about 11 minutes at 375 degrees. Seems pretty simple, 'eh? Well, when I went back to check on the status of my cookies, I found a scary sight. It appeared that they were melting, and burning all at the same time. The dough completely ran together in the pans, the centers of the cookies looked like blobs of raw dough and the edges looked as if they were on the verge of burning. There were holes in the center of the cookies where no holes should be. They were all flat and looked just plain wrong. My eyes filled up with tears as I broke in to hysterical laughter. I summoned my two year old from his bed with my shenanigans. He came to the kitchen and looked at me with his puzzled two year old intense face. He said, "What you doing Mommy?" I cried, "Laughing baby. Mommy's laughing." He wanted to eat the cookies, but I couldn't explain to him that mommy had killed the batter. I went on to laugh for a good 10 minutes. And when I called my sister, I went on laughing some more. I have never in my life seen a more pathetic batch of cookies.

So, what did I do? I photographed them of course. Before I pitched them down the sink, I had to snap a few shots to share with the masses. Or just you few who read my blog. So here are my cookies, which drove me to buy refrigerated cookie dough just a few days ago. Don't laugh, this really happened!

Oh yes, and the squares in the middle look a little scary. But what's scarier is the fact that the chocolate chunks (which is what they were) failed to melt in the oven at 375 degrees for 11 minutes. Seriously! I really do know how to make chocolate chip cookies. And someday, not in the near future, I will attempt to make them again!

My son is broken.

He used to not be broken. But now he is. There was a time when I could take him to his room and lay him down and he would stay there and sleep. I can't tell you how long it's been since he's actually laid down in his bed when I told him to. I can't tell you how many nights now in a row that I have waken to his little body twisted in some strange configuration in our bed. He's just there. I don't hear him get in. He just slithers in like a little snake. He's quiet and I don't hear or feel a thing. I just see him in the morning.

He knows better than to wake me. It means that he has to sleep in his own bed. I started to think last night that there is something wrong with his room. Something that he doesn't like. I can't for the life of me figure this out. I think that Supernanny couldn't even help me. I've tried her methods of walking him back to his room a thousand times. It doesn't stick. What on earth are we going to do? Wait it out? And maybe when he's 12 he'll sleep better? Well what about my sleep? I don't think I can wait 9 and a half years for him to get it right. I think I might just check myself into the loony bin before that day comes. I mean, it's not that he's a bad sleeper either, because he does sleep. He just won't go to sleep at bedtime. And he won't stay in his room. He gets up at night and comes into our room.

He just walks right out of the room. Over and over and over again. No matter how many times I put him back. No matter if I'm nice or if I yell. No matter if I loose my temper and give him a nice firm swat to the behind. He just keeps coming back out. It's especially hard right at bed time. I try at 7:30 and he isn't sleeping until 9:10. That was last night.

Did I forget to mention that I feel like death warmed over? Yep. That just about sums it up. I feel like the sludge left over on the side of a freshly shoveled snowy road. The dirty snow that gets tossed to the side. That's me. You see, I started to come down with a little cold last week sometime. Right before the weekend. I laid around a little, but I eventually started to feel better. Until about 2 days ago. My little cold took a U-turn. My slight cold turned into some crazy heavily congested, superfluous mucous making, energy draining, throat scratching, life sucking, tissue hogging kind of force that has taken over my body. I don't have a fever. I don't have fluid in my lungs. So I'm clear of pneumonia. It's all in my head. Which by the way, feels like it weighs about 15 lbs. I can't breathe and I even started taking drugs, which I don't enjoy doing. When I talk my voice sounds like a sick person. A very congested sick person that you want to take a few steps back from, if they were standing in or near your vicinity. Simply by doing so, it would lessen your chances of catching my deathly nasty Rhinovirus.

You know what's just sick about this whole thing? I haven't stopped for one moment. These poor kids are in my personal space and are in my care. They are trying really hard to catch this. And I'm trying really hard not to give it to them. Of course they don't know any better. They don't know what germs are. And they don't know that I'm harboring a nasty virus within my very cells that can make them feel just awful. They are too young to know about this kind of thing. I guess, in a way, that sort of ignorance truly is bliss. They just know that I'm mommy. Even stuffy head, unable to breathe or articulate words without sounding like a sick buffoon. I'm still mommy who rules their little world. Alexa does have some lesser version of this. I even stole the humidifier out of her room last night to try and help myself. I did it because she is feeling better. At least she acts like she is feeling better. She is coughing less and has virtually no runny nose. Virtually meaning almost none. Eddie doesn't seem to be showing any signs of illness at all. I give him a week. But I secretly pray that he doesn't catch this at all. Or maybe he has had this strain before??? Who knows.

I just know that I feel awful. I can't breathe, and well should there be more? Oh yeah. Right you are then. Eddie. He is broken and won't go to sleep when I tell him to. So, any suggestions, tips or offers to keep him at your place for the night, are all welcomed here! Thanks for reading!

Blah, and more blah.

This is me.

Today. Yesterday. And really, the day before that too. Unfortunately, life dictates to me that I am not really allowed to actually get any rest at all. So the feeling bad part is mostly done standing up. I haven't felt my normal self in days. I do blame dh as he was hacking pretty good the week and half previous. And Miss Alexa is now working on a nasty cough of her own. I have her sleeping with the humidifier right now. And pretty soon, I'm sure it will be Eddie's turn. The two of them can't stop sharing drinks and he constantly steals her binky and thinks it's ok to suck on it here and there. Ugh! So, like I said, he's next.

We got our Christmas tree. Yay! I was going to take pictures last night, but it fell over. And when I woke up, the decorations were all over the floor! I do think it looked prettier yesterday. Eddie helped to decorate it. Which really meant that he carried around a few ornaments and he would put them on a branch and then take them back off and put them somewhere else. He did that the whole time. Although I will say that he enjoyed that very much.

Today dh went outside and grabbed some strangers off the street who were browsing at the vacant house across the street, and brought them through our very mess house. I was pretty steamed about that. I mean, if they were thinking about buying one, my dirty house certainly had to have turned them off. In fact, I think they might even be moving to another state altogether. Hmmm. I mean. Who does that? Who pulls people into their house off the street in hopes that they will love it and make an offer??? Really??? Did he show them the red craft paint stain? Or the crooked blinds in the dining room? Oh man, I couldn't even bear to be in the house at the same time. I came outside and sat until they left.

My throat is still itchy and I have like this nothing cough. It's itchy and I need to cough, but there is nothing there. It's like a phantom cough. Almost like I'm not really sick. I feel awful and completely drained. I just want to feel better so I can make fudge. And cookies. I am still not finished Christmas shopping yet.

Oh and dh's birthday is 4 days before Christmas. So he's going to get a Merry Birthday gift, like he gets every year. And then maybe we will go out to dinner. Because that's what I want to do. I think I need to line up some babysitters for that night. Oh yeah, he works swings. I forget. OH well, maybe I can go out to dinner. Nah. I better take him.

Well, Mario Lopez is in a Christmas movie and I NEED to go see him. I mean, that movie. Gotta run! Ciao~

Monday.

So, I took some pictures of my kids last night. And I'm even more convinced that I need that Nikon D40. My mom has a Canon digital rebel. I helped my dad pick it out last Christmas. I was salivating all over the box. Seriously. I'm jealous and I really want one of those too. But anyway, I get to take pictures with it when I go over there. And last night, I just picked it up and went crazy. I took pictures of everything. It was so much fun. I imagine if it had been daylight, the pictures would have turned out soooo much better. I had to delete a whole bunch because the lighting was bad. Also because the kids were running non stop and I got many of them in motion. Which that too makes for a cool picture. Anyway, I'm so in love the digital SLR cameras. And I don't yet know all the features and what they do. I just know that they are frikkin' awesome and I NEED one. Maybe I was a photographer in a past life? I don't know, but I just had so much fun last night taking pictures.. I think I would take even more pictures if my camera took pics like hers did! But here is the camera that I currently have my eye on. Nikon D40 I heard it from a source that this particular item is going on super SALE, on December 4th. Online with free shipping and no tax. (thanks to the military!). And I am ALL IN!!! These cameras start out being expensive. Shoot, I'd love to have the 10 MP one, but that one is just a wee out of my price range at this time. So, I'm going to stick with the 6.1. Still, I've read the reviews, and I've seen the pictures that it takes. I'm impressed, to say the least.

So, if I'm not mistaken, the sale starts tomorrow. {{{{clapping like a wild woman}}}} And this is going to be my Christmas present from dh. Only, he doesn't know it yet.

Here are a just a few of my favorites from last night. First I will start with a graphic I made on PSP. (paint shop pro 9)

Ok, I particularly like this picture. For two reasons: #1 It's cute, and my daughter is just too cute doing this. #2 It shows that she is imitating the behaviors that she sees. That being of me doing yoga. If you aren't at all versed in the techniques of Yoga, it's truly bizarre. They have you twisting and turning into insanely unnatural positions that are meant to push you right up to your breaking point. Or just until you fall over, and I do mean falling over. Literally. Because no matter how easy they look. They aren't. Trust me. So Alexa sees me assuming the "downward dog" position, and guess what, so can she! And ever since I started, she has loved this position. I honestly did not make this up. Here is an actual photo from the online Yoga Journal. This stuff is for real. It's supposed to help you with your balance. Or something like that. But this is way cuter......Alexa in downward dog:

And take a look at this smile. This is the reason she gets whatever she wants.

And one of my favorites of Eddie. Although the lighting is far from perfect, it truly captures his personality. If you know Eddie, then you know this is how he is most of the time. Cracking up, silly, laughing. He's a stinker!