This site is dedicated to my ever loving bratty children, my tolerant husband and well to my friends who support me in so many ways even when we don't speak for years. Cheers - to the beautiful and not so beautiful passings in our lives. In other words - those moments when life is painful and all you can do is laugh until you cry (or pee)!

Sunday, April 29, 2007

Disconnected - Taking some time

So I haven't posted in a couple of days....... I have been taking some mental time off....... I decided that digging up dandelions was my new favorite past time.... They are a magical flower, no matter how many of them you remove they magically pop up again.... I think I may become a dandelion florist....... cheap and you can't kill them..... Someone suggested a funeral spray of dandelions - I don't think that I can go there...........

Amber on the other hand has discovered that scissors are her favorite toy now, and just like like the dandelions no matter how many you get rid of, they magically appear. She has trimmed our beautiful slow growing fire bush - just a lot, right off the top.... Then of course she trimmed off my tulips and painted our rock garden pink and blue - Ron was so happy to see the splash of color... NOT!

Mallory discovered that being 7 minutes late for curfew is a bad idea - the whole "we were finishing a movie" doesn't count as a valid excuse.....

Ron has spent a lot of time working in the back yard, he's a good guy..........

Anyway - not a whole lot of exciting stuff going on - THANK GOD!!!!!!!!!!

Friday, April 20, 2007

A day to mourn and remember

So many people have contacted me today to tell me that we are in their thoughts... Thank you to all, however, I am pushing all good thoughts and hopes to the families in Virginia that have just begun a tragic journey of grief.

As time goes on our life finds an equillibrium between grief and hope that turns to survival and happiness. We must endur the grief to be rewarded with the happiness. I am happy to report that I have made it through the grief and found happiness. However, on this day each year a great sadness becomes overwhelming.

I watch the clock and remember EXACTLY what I was doing 8 years ago at this very moment. The fact that 8 years ago right now - my life was "normal" and the words Columbine were only the name of the school where my dad worked. I also think about what he was doing, feeling prior to the tragic events...

As much as we are in your thoughts today, you are also in ours...

To Dad: Your last words were "tell my girls I love them", to you we say every day "we love you too".....

Wednesday, April 18, 2007

Sick kid competition

So I am on "vacation" this week at home and so far Amber was home sick Monday, Mallory on Tuesday and then today (Wednesday) Mallory called and wanted to come home from school. In a moment of selfish irritation I told her that if she was sick enough to come home, she should call an ambulance - not me to come and get her...... I JUST WANT ONE DAY TO STAY HOME ALONE ON MY VACATION..... Yes, this proves that we do have a selfish side no matter how long we have been a mommy...

I am sick too - sick and tired of the kids that think one staying home means the other kid is automatically sick and gets to spend a whole day with mom.

LISTEN UP PARENTS - HERE ARE SOME OF OUR SOLUTIONS TO PARENTING

CHILD HOME SICK TOO MUCH - Take them to a Dr. to make sure they aren't dying like they say they are. If the child (or teenager) stays home or comes home sick during the week, there will be NO MAKING PLANS for the following weekend. Amazingly, the kids hate this idea.

TEENAGER DITCHING SCHOOL - We told Mallory that she can have a car "free and clear" at graduation "IF" she didn't have a single unexcused absence from school until then. If she does have a mishap and ditch a class, the car will be traded in for something for us and she will be on her own as far as a car. MODIFICATION: If your child is not good with long term rewards you can tell them that for every class they ditch it will cost them $500 to the price of the car....

NOT DOING DISHES - We decided that if Mallory did not have the dishes put away by 6:00pm that was fine, but then she also had to load the dirty dishes into the dishwasher. This is working well because it gives her a choice... there are nights where she doesn't feel like doing them until after 6:00 and she just loads the dirty dishes..... it gives her choice and freedom.

NOT BRUSHING TEETH - Although I find the thought repulsive, my daughter Amber does not....... So, instead of paying hundreds of dollars to fill cavaties, we will pay amber twenty five cents per day... YES, $91 per year to keep her teeth from rotting out of her mouth.

We have no other words of wisdom as parenting is subjective and it changes daily.

See you all soon!!!!!

Friday, April 13, 2007

Comments

Hey all - I changed my settings so even if you don't have an account you can leave comments.... Love you all!! Coni

Monday, April 9, 2007

I bought a sewing machine - OH MY - I am not kidding!!

Ok so Mallory is taking a fashion class and is making herself clothes. I can only remember my own adventures of making clothes at her age. I was trying to make a pair of shorts and cut the fabric for the front the same size as the back (no room for my butt) and I couldn't sew, so I hot glued them together. To get an "A" in the class we had to wear our garment to school.............. so I did, I safetey pinned the shorts to my shirt because well...........my butt wouldn't fit in them.

Mallory is much more adventurous - she is making a beautiful dress (or so the pattern says).... I felt like I was standing in an auto parts store, since I can't even sew on buttons, the fabric store was just as scary. Sewing on buttons would be the equivilant of changing my own oil.

So, I found a wonderful salesperson who was able to read the pattern, show me what a "hook and eye" was since I thought it was fishing tackle......... By the end of the trip we bought fabric, zippers, other little unknown doo dads and a sewing machine. The sewing machine even came with an instruction video (unfortunately the video doesn't start with how to turn it on or explain why it has what looks like a gas pedal).

So now 3 hours later we have a sewing machine that looks like it went through a tornado of string and I still don't know what to do with the gas pedal (I tried to sit on it, bite on it-still don't know what the hell it is for). We haven't yet been able to put fabric under the little metal gadget.......

It still sounds like fishing stuff - hook, eye, bobbin..........

Anyway, I am sure I will be sewing you each something "interesting" for christmas - Love you all.

Coni

Sunday, April 8, 2007

Our Hamster came out of the closet!!!! + Easter

Happy Easter to all.

Well, the same night we bought a new hamster (more like a miniature ginnea pig) and threw out the old cage......... guess who blessed us with his little spirit............. CHUBBS our dwarf hamster. So he is not dead after all although I am sure his 5 days of freedom could make for a great "Stuart Little" movie.

Apparently Chubbs had gotten into some bedding that was on the floor and collected some food he had thoughtfully stewn on the floor before his escape into the back of Mallory's closet.

So... in the middle of the night Ron had to go buy another cage......... the next day - he yet again escaped......... Guess where we found him - in his condo in the closet..........

So now we have 2 hamsters - one a magical escape artist and the other looks like the giant hamster that will take over the house at any time... damn he's ugly........


EASTER - The day when we wait for a giant bunny to hide eggs - how was this connected to Jesus' ressurection???????

Well we awoke this easter to a fabulous winter storm of which the weather men stated would only be a "dusting"......... We thought it was christmas so we contemplated pulling out the christmas tree and decorating it with easter eggs......

We had a nice time celebrating Easter with the family that could make it......... we did not barbeque hamburgers and hotdogs but my mother saved the day with a ham and so far nobody got sick from it.

The boys spent much time out in the garage staring at the garage princess (Ron's full size toy truck) that looks the same as it did last year, but hey boys are slow right...



It was a great day!! Happy Easter

Sunday, April 1, 2007

Mini Vacation and Dead Hamsters

Wow - what a great weekend.

It started on Friday when I was preparing to leave the house to take Amber my sister in law Shelly and her two kiddos on vacation to Colorado Springs. I went to make sure Mallory's Hamster Chubbs had food. He wasn't in his cage. I called Mallory who was with my brother Zach, Zach says that Mallory saw a mouse in her room and went and got the cat to catch it...... We now know - Mallory "sicked" the cat on the hamster (by accident)................ oops, the cat ate the hamster.

So I leave for the Springs we go to the hotel and have fun eating dinner and swimming in the pool. Saturday morning I go out to the car and start it................... my high tech car says "STOP ENGINE IMMEDIATELY COOLANT PROBLEM"................ Crap......

So I call around looking for a rental car, a repair shop or a priest....... my husband Ron is in Las Vegas and I don't want to bother him with any problems... I finally got hold of a Midas repair shop and they said it is OK to drive it across the street to their shop as long as it isn't overheating. I call my credit card company to see how much money I have available just in case it costs a lot.......... $3,500 should cover it right??

I drive it over, it will be 2 hours to change the oil and check the radiator..... we walk to a Villiage Inn to eat breakfast and plan to go rent a car for the remainder of our trip....... after breakfast we are walking back toward Midas and they call to tell me the car is ready and it was low on coolant, I paid my $60 and was off to continue my mini-vacation. GREAT!

We went to Cave of the Winds (VERY COOL)! We went to go see the movie Meet the Robinson's - I would like to tell you how it was but I think I fell asleep.

Today we went to Garden of the Gods and it was beautiful, if you haven't been there....... you should go!!

Now I am home waiting to go to work for the night............

Love you all!!!!