Turn on your car heater.

What is up with you people in Michigan? The weather has been extremely cold lately and I have made an observation. Y'all drive dressed like you are skiing down a slope!! I see people in big down coats with scarves and hats clutching the steering wheel with big padded gloves. I have an idea for you ...take off the gloves and turn on the heater!!!! I don't know how anyone can make a turn in all that garb. When you are ready to exit the vehicle to enter the workplace you can put the gloves and hats back on but I really think you'll be o.k. in the car without them. Now I am from the South and I understand my views may be jaded but I really don't see the need to cover every part of your body except the tip of your nose to drive in your car. Loosen up a little bit and just try it. Tomorrow on the way to work with your seat heater on high and the car temperature set at 72 degrees take off one glove. Just try it and you'll be amazed at how liberated you will feel.

The truth can hurt...just ask Ashley

Saturday night Ashley was invited to a party by a guy that is a junior. She went back and forth about whether or not to go and being the extrovert I am I encouraged her to attend. She spent the afternoon getting ready and baking brownies to take and had all the driving arrangements worked out. I was at work and received a call about five o'clock. First she said that she was sorry that she had been raised so well but she needed to tell me that she had just found out that the parents were out of town. I promptly told her that she would not be going and that I was very sorry. She was understandably upset and refused to speak to me for the next 36 hours. Let me just say as a parent that moment really sucked. I was so proud of her for telling the truth and in return had to make her miss the party. You would think that there would be some kind of consolation prize for the honesty. It's hard to convince your child that you trust them but they can't go to the party. I pulled out the old cliche that I was protecting her from situations that she wasn't ready to handle but even as I was saying those words I knew she wouldn't understand for many years to come. I called my dad for support and he laughed. After he finished, he gave me the much needed pep talk about how one day she would thank me but it wouldn't be one day soon. That I was a good mom and to remember the couch story.

When my younger step sister was about fifteen she decided to have a party while my parents were out of town. Legend has it she invited about fifteen people and about 75 showed up. A group of them decided to find out how many people they could fit on our new couch. I can't remember how many actually fit but I think it was number 15 that popped the arm or as dad reminded me ,the entire end off the couch. You can hide spilled beer or pizza sauce stains on the carpet but the end of the couch being gone is really hard to miss. So, as I lament about the fact that I had to make a hard choice I find a small amount of solace in the fact that I may have saved a couch. Thanks Dad!!

No sirens on Saturday.

Ashley had her first driving lesson today and the instructor said she was an above average driver. She said he only had to use the passenger side brake twice which according to his standards is good. My concern is that I don't have that extra brake and pushing on the floor board as my dad can tell you does not make the car stop. I guess I would not be so worried if I didn't remember my own first driving experiences. I recall having windshield wipers that didn't work well so my friend Carol would hang out the window with a towel and wipe the water away. Not exactly things they covered in drivers ed. Then again, I didn't have drivers ed. My parents were divorced and remarried and my step mother needed someone to drive the five of us to school. So, they took me out on a gravel road until I could stay on one side safely and took me to get a "hardship license". This was a license designed for farmer's kids who needed to drive farm trucks and such. Since we knew someone at the license branch my mother convinced them that having five kids was a "hardship" and off I went in my Pinto station wagon with the whole gang. I was in no way road ready but as my friend Jamie used to say I must have had angels on my car. If I did I am sure they peed their pants more than once.

So I guess I should be thankful that Ashley is taking a driving course and that she will be more prepared than I was to drive. I just hope when the angels see my name listed as parent on her guardian application they don't run and hide.

Thank God for DNA!!

I just got the most exciting news ...my niece Taylor wants to be a cheerleader. I know that her mother is silently cursing me because although Susan and I are good friends we could not be more opposite. Susan is athletic and conservative and I am well let's say a little gawdy and much more RAH RAH when it comes to sports. Taylor has always leaned toward my tastes when it comes to clothes and shoes. Susan hates to shop but Taylor and I can spend the entire day in the jewelery store. I worried about my safety after I let Taylor buy red patent leather high heel sandals last summer but this cheerleader thing my just be what it takes for Susan to put a hit out on me. Please see Susan's blog to hear all the details and see just how cute Ms. Taylor Bug soon to be a cheerleader really is...
www.taylorbugsmom.blogspot.com

A pox upon our house.Read prev. blogs first

Finally we get moved to another room and it is beautiful. We wake up Saturday morning and Steve has a headache. Steve never has a headache. But he bravely ventured out. We had lunch, went to see Fool's Gold, walked around the mall and then had dinner. By the time dinner was over Steve and Michael had officially been diagnosed with the classic flu - head ache, fever, chills, joint pain...the whole nine yards. Ashley and I took them back and began nursing them back to health. Sunday morning I went to the Mexican market and purchased all the supplies I thought we would need to keep them and us alive during the next few days. Plenty of drugs and popsicles for them and magazines for us. We spent all day Sunday in the apartment watching pay per view movies. Michael was convinced that Steve was going to kill us for ordering all those movies but I assured him that movies were the last thing on Steve's mind. We all laid around until the next afternoon when Michael appeared to rally a little bit. Ashley , Michael and I showered and ventured down to the lobby to eat pizza and play poker. We had a blast but by evenings end Michael was wearing down.

Woke up the next day and they are both now sick with an upper respiratory infection. Yee Ha!!! Another trip to the Mexican market garnered even more appropriate drugs, more popsicles, chicken noodle soup and various other comfort foods. The rally to get them better was in full swing. It was Tuesdy and we were headed to Fredricksburg for the day. Michael really wanted to go so we gave him his medicine and a pillow and threw him in the car. He lasted thru lunch but then he and Steve had to go back to the car and rest while Ashley and I shopped all the little stores we could make it to before closing time. WE loved that town. We headed home and back to bed for the boys. Ashley and I went downstairs for the happy hour and then decided to call it a night. I called Ask a Nurse about Michael and they said if he wasn't better by the next morning to bring him in. So the next morning we did. The nice doctor gave him antibiotics and a major decongestant and we were on our way. Got him home and drugged up and Ashley wanted to go downtown since it was our last day. She preceded to drag me all over San Antonio for about seven hours. We saw a movie , ate and shopped. We had a blast but it was bittersweet without the boys.

Awoke to next day with the boys still not feeling well but better that the day before. Drugged the up before the plane ride and away we went. We made it home safely exept for poor Michael who had terrible sinus pain during the landing portion of the ride. We are now full entrenched in a snow laden lives and hopefully back on the mend.

Vacation coming to you backwards

Arrival: Arrive and the weather is beautiful. We can;t wait to get to our two bedroom suite. We throw open the door to find the windows open and an industrial blow dryer thing in the middle of the room. Ugh Oh!!

Called the front desk and they can't get us moved until the next night. So we settle in , exhausted and breathing in what I am sure tomorrow the health inspector will be calling black mold.

Day Two: We are all still alive and head downtown to the Riverwalk. It is really beautiful and the weather is in the eighties. We stroll down and around , take a boat ride where we are given all types of history about the river and the city itself. It was quite enjoyable. We decide to dine at an authentic Mexican restuarant. Micheal eats corndogs as his lunch but the rest of us dig in and enjoy the fine cuisine. Steve and the kids walk over to the Alamo to tour while I sit and rest my feet. When I was stuffing my suitcase I was more concerned with cute than comfort. Big mistake! Afterwards we strolled along Alamo Plaza and purchased a four pack of tickets to all the Ripleys Believe It or Not museums.

This vacation brought to you by Amoxicillin

Week before the trip: Make sure everyone has enough clothes packed to make the suitcases impossible to close. Locate all chargers for all electronics and cell phones so that no one will be bored and if they are bored they will be able to contact their friends immediately to complain about how bored they are. Find childcare for the puppy and pack all his necessities. New toy, treats and a blanket. Also, make sure his schedule involves at least four private playdates on the weekend when daycare is closed.

Day of Departure: Visit CVS and fill any prescription that either elevates my mood or decreases my anxiety level. Buy dramimine and those silly earplanes to prevent my ears from hurting on the flight. Stock the kids carry on bags with snack and gum. Clean the house before we leave so if we don't make it back the people that will have to enter will say "what a lovely home she kept and all the while working part-time. This will lead in to the "what a saint I was ..yadda, yadda, yadda.

Drive to the airport: Spend those minutes checking over and over to make sure I have my drivers license. Inform the kids that we expect great behavior on the plane. I have dressed us as a seemingly normal family now they just have to play the role for a couple of hours.

Drivers Education

My bitty baby girl is starting Drivers Ed today. I must admit I have not been this torn since she started kindergarten. Before she started schoool I laid in bed with her every night that summer saying things like "I can't believe you're going to school!" and "my bitty baby girl is all grown up now...." Finally being the practical girl she is Ashley sat up in bed and firmly stated, "Mother, I have to go. It's the law." Well, I didn't lay in bed with her this time. Mainly because I can't get to her bed and I am afraid of the things that are under the various piles but my feelings were the same. I don't want her to drive yet. We have so much fun listening to music, making jokes about people on the radio and having some of our best talks in the car that it makes me sad to think about driving around all alone. I remember praying for this day when I caught myself listening to the Barney tape on my way to work AFTER I had dropped the kids off at school. I prayed one day I would have a car free of chicken nugget aroma, where all the radio stations would be of my chosing and no one would be kicking the back of my seat. I thought of the cute little car organizer that would have with all my cds in it and a tissue box that would remain full and available at all times. Ladies , be careful what you pray for because now that it looks like one day my car dreams will come true I am a little sad. So if you see me in the next few months eating chicken nuggets and listening to Veggie Tales while I drive around aimlessly don't be alarmed. I am just "transitioning" to the new phase in my life. Sob! Sob! thank goodness for those tissues.