I woke up this morning much earlier than I had planned or wanted to.

I actually got out of bed this morning much later than I had planned or wanted to.

In between it all, I had a bad dream.

5YO's internal clock is just so set in stone since she started school. No matter what, she wakes up around 6:00 a.m. and her eyes start to get heavy around 8:00 p.m. It doesn't really matter where we are or what she's doing...she hits her wall and is OUT LIKE A LIGHT. I have pictures of her when she's little sleeping in the tile hallway against a wall, or in the middle of the living room floor that she just happened to be walking across when she decided she was done with her day.

Anyhow, so the past few days have had me busier than usual and up later too. We don't eat our Thanksgiving dinner early, so it wasn't necessary to get up and get the turkey going at the butt crack of dawn like so many other people across the country. But, like clockwork, 5YO had other plans. She wakes up early and HUNGRY. I try to put her off a little while to get a few extra Zzzzz's in, but she tends to be pretty persistent. And, once 5YO is awake, it's usually only a matter of minutes before 2YO is up too.

Sooooo, they are both up and I'm rolling away from them and begging for a couple of more minutes. They both scoot across the hall to their room and play for awhile. In the meantime, I fall back to sleep and have a rather odd dream.

In my dream, it was Thanksgiving morning. The girls were in to wake me up. Sound familiar? I thought so! So, they are doing everything to annoy me from poking and prodding me to going through my jewelry box. That part also seems strangley familiar to me. Next thing I know, I'm getting out of bed. Only, my floor is littered with the last load of clothes that was in the dryer, dirt, crumbs, and some stuff from my jewelry box. One thing in particular that bothered me was my 2nd favorite ring being amongst the wreckage. Once I located the ring, I realized that the stone was missing. Now, this is not really an expensive ring at all, but I think the stone is pretty and I wear it almost every single day. Aside from my wedding ring, it's the only ring I wear.

I dropped to the floor to look for the rest of my ring. I was sobbing out of frustration. How could these kids make such a mess? Who took the laundry out of the dryer without folding it right away? Why did they think they could just dig through my jewelry box and ruin things? After all, it was still Thanksgiving morning and I had a busy day ahead of me. First, I had to find the stone and sweep my floor. (Which was wood in my dreams, though my room is actually carpeted!)

I woke up about then and, started my day. The day actually ran a lot more smoothly than I'd thought. The kids were noisy, things took a bit longer than we'd hoped, the television blared and the men yelled over it.....it was PERFECT, as far as our Thanksgivings go! I've been wanting to fall asleep for hours now. I blame the turkey. Or, it could have been the pie. The pie was good.

For now, I'm finishing my peppermint tea and going to bed. I will not be shopping with all those brave/crazy/violent people in a few hours. I plan to sleep in, drink hot cocoa, listen to Christmas music, eat leftovers and decorate for Christmas.

I hope yours is a wonderful and successful Black Friday, whatever you choose to do.

The Twilight Bandwagon, Rip-Offs, and Drunk Turkeys

I have a confession to make: 12YO and I checked out the first two books in the 'Twilight Series'...okay, so they were the audio books, but still.

I'M HOOKED. I listened to the first one last night and today and I truly believe that Edward is just another character that is cocky, yet awesome and makes us a little sad that men aren't really like that. For example, I can't read a Nicholas Sparks books without getting just a leeeeetle bit irritated at my husband. You know, because he's not THAT GUY. The hero in the book who says all the right things and...

I know it's not real. I know that I have a good husband. I guess I just get so absorbed in the stories (the ones that are well-written, anyway!) that I temporarily lose touch a bit. Plus, a good book can take over my life. Everything else goes to the back burner until the book is finished. Needless to say, I don't read too many books! Audio books, on the other hand, allow me to live my ordinary life and still get the story. I still like to read, but don't have the time that I wish I did. Who does?

I'm a little proud of myself right now. I just paid a credit card off (which is good, but not what I'm actually bragging about!) and the finance charges they tried to charge me after the payment had gone through didn't make any sense. True, the payment posted the day after the due date. I had already made my regular payment for that billing schedule, so I wasn't worried so much about the day. But, apparently, there is a window of time you can make a payment and it won't apply to the previous month OR the new billing schedule.

Does that make any sense?

Basically, the bill was due on the 13th. I made my regular payment on the 4th, so all was well and good with them anyway. Then I made another payment of the entire remaining balance a little more than a week later, but it didn't post until the 14th. Since it wasn't applied to the balance for the previous billing period, I'd expected that there would be a little interest to pay this month. What I didn't expect was that, while the balance on my statement DID reflect both payments, I still had a minimum payment due for the next month. I called them and talked to some guy SOMEWHERE who told me that, while the payment was accepted and the balance reflected it, that payment didn't apply to the last billing period OR to the current one. For one day, they charged me a whole month's worth of interest.

I'd sort of expected that, since most credit card companies are usually jerks anyway but are now more desperate than ever. I was just wondering why, if I had to pay more interest because the payment didn't apply to the previous billing cycle, then why did my payoff amount not apply to the following one?

Does this even make sense enough to not make sense? I'm really tired...

Anyhow, I called and some guy from some country other than the one I'm from and I talked circles around each other. I finally asked to speak to someone else. I was on hold for a few minutes, but I was then greeted by his supervisor who told me that she'd taken the finance charges off as a 'one-time courtesy' thing.

YEAH, THANKS A LOT! The card is paid off now and we have no intentions of using it anyway. And, if we do grab a card later to use, it will NOT be this one! 12YO had David on the cell phone (he had called and was waiting to see what would happen with me and the credit card people!) and he tried to give me a high-five through the phone for my effort. It's not often that I don't back down for people like that. Normally, I'm more worried about being nice. I never like to go into any situation as if I've been 'wronged' somehow or trying to get something for nothing. I think there's a certain karma that comes along with people like that and I want no part of it.

Well, I need to give my turkey a sip of wine and get it back into the outside fridge. That bird won't feel ANYTHING by the time I put him in the roaster! Just the same, I hope he saves some of that wine for me...I could use a sip (or six) myself!

Have a great night!

Have you hugged YOUR panda today?

OMG...this is just too entertaining for words...

Apparrently, some college student in China decided that a PANDA BEAR in an exhibit there NEEDED A HUG. He climbed the fence and attempted to hug the panda.

And what do you think happened next?

YEP! You guessed it! The freaking panda bit him. A LOT.

I especially like the part where they didn't think that the panda had suffered any negative psychological effects.

I'm sure we'll see a clip about that on the next episode of 'When Animals Attack.' (Otherwise known as WHEN STUPID PEOPLE LEAVE THE HOUSE.)

And that's all I have to say about that!

Don't cry over chopped onions...

David is making breakfast this morning. He's now on a mission to find the best way to chop onions without shedding a single tear. As you can see, he starts by using his face shield he wears to protect his eyes from flying debris while doing yard work. That not only didn't work, but concentrated the fumes once inside. It made things worse.

He tried using swim goggles next. They actually worked. But, in the end, he spent a good 30 minutes or so chopping up the onions when he could have just sucked it up for 90 seconds or so to get them all chopped and be done with it. Sometimes, it's best to just power through it!

While frying bacon, he had 12YO stand against the door frame in the kitchen where we've been keeping track of their growth. In less than three months, 12YO has grown almost and inch and a half! (See? THIS is why I chose not to buy her any pants until it actually became cold outside!) Darn kids!

She's also been pushing to be able to drink the occasional cup of coffee. I drink coffee, and I have since I was small. My mom sees nothing wrong with the occasional cup of coffee for kids (especially since it's barely considered coffee once it's diluted with all the sugar and creamer!) and neither do I. David, on the other hand, is totally opposed to the idea! So, she has to work that out with him. I'm staying out of it, they both know where I stand. My experience as a parent is not better because I get to choose whether or not my kid can drink coffee, nor is her childhood affected. I'm just glad we usually agree on the big stuff and we're disagreeing on something trivial like COFFEE.

12YO has been having more stories as to the drama going on amongst her friends. Poor David told me that he's not sure he can do this three times, because we all know how girls can be! I know it's so not a big deal that 'so-and-so' doesn't like 'so-and-so' and 'so-and-so is only nice to 'so-and-so's' face when those other people are around. But, that is about the size of her world right now, so it's huge to her. I will probably spend the next few years trying to put it all in perspective for her without belitting the size of her world. Not that I'll be able to, and she's sure to hate me as much as all of her friends will hate their parents.

Isn't that why the teen years are so bloody difficult anyway?

I get to have an evening out with the girls tonight, and not the ones that have bedtimes. Actual grown-ups! This could be fun.

If anyone has any better suggestions for dealing with onion fumes, David is really curious. I think he may actually be gaining a better understand for this whole blogging thing. He did, afterall, let me take the pictures AND ask me to blog it to see if anyone had any better suggestions! So, don't let him down!!!

Have a great weekend!

Reality and the Price of Cheese

I'm starting to get that knot in my gut again.

It just seems like so much is crumbling around us. Bad things can happen to anyone. No one is immune. While I'm only talking about money now, it really seems to be able to make or break a big chunk of our lives. I have two good friends whose husbands are both out of work. Nothing they did wrong...sometimes crappy things just happen. Another good friend, who seems to have it all together and taken care of, is thinking of trying to wait tables once or twice a week just to be able to have a little more money. I was feeling like David and I were in a pretty good place financially, but it still seems like there is barely enough to cover the necessities. His workplace normally has to lay off a few guys after the holidays, until business picks up. Most of them are able to work in a different area for a little less money to fill in the gaps and are back to full time work in no time. The list of people that could be laid off is significantly larger this year. While they say that David's job is safe, we still understand that there are no guarantees.

It's funny, because we've all been so focused on the price of gasoline and how much that was affecting our lives. But, gas is under $2.00 a gallon in some places around town, yet I just paid almost 40 cents more for the same bag of cheese I bought the week before. That's a pretty big difference once you really count your pennies. I was lucky to happen upon a 24-pound Thanksgiving turkey for just over $7.00. That's probably the best deal I've ever gotten and it's a good thing because of how much more we'll probably be paying for the rest of the feast.

I'm actually a bit proud of myself for all the ways I've learned to cut corners and save money. That's a nice feeling to accompany the knot that currently resides in my stomach. We've been living so much more responisbly these days and the only thing we have to show for it is that we're a bit less strained than we would be otherwise. I guess we're still pretty lucky.

The word 'lucky' takes on a whole new meaning now, doesn't it?

It's probably going to get worse before it gets better. Before you know it, we'll all be living on Ramen noodles and washing and reusing our Ziploc bags. At least we'll have them.

In the meantime, I have a whole new appreciation for the 'free' or 'paid for' things in life. My ten-year-old Saturn Wagon has never looked prettier.

A 5YOism, Jonestown, and Bags of Crap

"Home is better than school because school doesn't have anywhere to sleep."

-5YO, November 19, 2008

5YO had that to say this morning as she was trying to convince me that she shouldn't go to school. She was in bed and asleep by 8:00 and even woke up on her own. Yet, she wasn't sure she wanted to go to school today. She was bitten by an ant yesterday on the foot and believes she is, in fact, handicapped now. She even said that! I'm assuming it was an ant because it didn't swell up like her spider bites do. She didn't even need Benadryl with this one, but is convinced that she cannot walk because of the small bite on the top of her foot.

She'll live. In the end, she decided that she really wanted to play with her friend at school and that helped move her along to get ready. I had David help her shower. He doesn't get to help her shower that often and she's nicer to him than she is to me because of this. It works when it needs too!

When will this kid be old enough to drink coffee? She SO needs it!

**********************************************

Did you know that yesterday was the 30-year anniversary of Jonestown? I could have been quite happy not knowing that, but David and I fell asleep in front of the television last night and a documentary about that awful day was on PBS when I woke up. Once I started watching, I couldn't turn it off. I had to watch it to the very end. I was fortunate to be able to see actual pictures and video from that very day....oh yeah, really fortunate. Thanks to the awful images in my head, I knew it was going to be very hard to get back to sleeep. I put the movie 'The Truth About Cats and Dogs' on in my bedroom and was asleep within ten minutes, sans those awful, horrible pictures that I was trying so hard to escape from.

It's so weird....I was three years old when that all took place. The same age of so many of those children that were taken before their time. I asked 12YO if she had heard of Jonestown while she was getting ready for school this morning. I explained a bit about what I'd seen and told her to ask her history teacher about it. Her eyes became wide as I described a few of the things I saw, even though I left out the parts that might really upset her. She's intrigued and wants to know more, but I warned her that she probably didn't want to know.

Ummm...yeah....I don't really have anything else to say about this.

***********************************

In less important and more frivolous news, I think the television in our living room is on its last leg. We have a 60-inch big screen projection set that's about 15 years old. Apparently, they are not supposed to last that long. David got it from BIL before we'd ever met. BIL is still amazed that the stupid thing still works at all. Suddenly, the picture the tv displays is actually bigger than the screen. It's not really obvious until you notice that the top of someone's head is cut off when it shouldn't be or you can just see the edge of the station logo on the bottom right-hand corner of the screen. From my estimation, we are missing about six inches of the picture all the way around. Who needs to read subtitles and credits anyhow? I can miss those for awhile.

We have a big living room. Too big, in fact. I like the big tv because I can see it from far away. I can't imagine getting one much smaller than this and I really don't look forward to paying for what we really want.

Maybe Santa will put us on his list this year....maybe I can just keep an eye on today's WOOT-OFF and find a 52-inch plasma in a Bag of Crap...

...or maybe monkeys might fly out of my butt! I've never been quick enough on the draw to actually be able to purchase a Bag of Crap, though I have come close.

Have a great day! Happy Wooting!

Homework on vacation? Please share your thoughts!

Does this kid look like she could use a little more homework?

As most of you probably know, I have a 12-year-old daughter who is in the seventh grade. Junior high.

Now, those of you who remember junior high (or middle school, as many of you may have called it!) might remember that is was a bit of a change from the hand-holding and coddling that elementary school provided most of us. The teachers have room to be a bit more eccentric or picky than those who teach younger students. I mentioned a bit about it HERE at the beginning of the school year. These kids are going to be dealing with people with all sorts of quirks for the rest of their lives and there's no time like the present to prepare them for such.

Sooooo, that being said, 12YO has a math teacher that is famous for giving homework over the vacations. All of the vacations. Now that they have a full week off for Thanksgiving, they have a homework packet to work on that week as well. I knew that was what he did and I really don't have a problem with it. Granted, we don't usually travel over the holidays, but even those who do travel should have a few minutes a day to set aside to work on homework! I mean, budgeting your time and making school is a necessary life skill, is it not?

That being said, I'm sure I would be one of those students that would be groaning and moaning about having to work on my math over a vacation. I didn't do well with the whole 'homework thing' when I was in school. 12YO is not like me in that way. She loves to learn, to study, to master the knowledge available to her. I am well aware that she is on the verge of a huge amount of hormones surging through her body and she could wake up a totally different person tomorrow, but this is how she is today.

Also, the kids who have better grades in the class will have less work over the break. His theory on that is that the kids with bad grades in his class have already HAD their vacation and need the work even more than the ones thriving. The students will be getting their homework packets tomorrow and will have two full school days before they are on their own for next week's vacation. To me, that is plenty of time to look it over and ask the teacher about whatever they don't understand. By this age, I believe the kids should be more proactive about their schoolwork when they don't understand something. I know that some are not, but it's sort of turning into a 'sink or swim' situation as far as I'm concerned. Plus, the teachers are all available through email for questions and things. 12YO has already emailed her teachers quite often and enjoys the access she has to them. Now, I'm not sure if this teacher will be checking his email over the vacation, but I'll be even more okay with the homework if he's willing to do that.

Anyhow, I received a call from a parent of another one of his students last night and she's not happy about the homework. She and another parent (she happens to be a teacher at the elementary school and the other parent happens to be the prinicpal at said elementary school!) both have students in his class and neither of them agree with the idea of homework over the break. They are calling other parents and trying to get as many to complain as possible to try to stop him from giving their kids homework next week and over the Christmas break.

I didn't want to ruffle any feathers with her, but I don't personally have a problem with homework over vacation. I'm assuming it's all review and it's nice to know that their little brains won't turn into mush with no stimulation. It's not like they will have to work on it six hours a day everyday to get it all done. I can't imagine it would be anywhere near that much work. I spoke to another parent whose daughter had this teacher last year and asked her what she thought of it. She said her daughter had about 50 math problems to work on over Christmas vacation, which is three weeks long. That doesn't seem so unreasonable to me, even though she thought it was.

So, here's my question: Do you think this teacher is being unreasonable for giving homework over the vacations? Do you think those other parents are overreacting? Do you think it should depend on the student? Am I just being too harsh for thinking it's not that big of a deal?

I WANT INPUT HERE!!! At this point, I'm choosing to not jump on the bandwagon and complain about something that will seem to work for me and my child. I'd like to hear from people, whether they agree with me or not.

Give me your best shot.

Not Necessarily the News

Has anyone else heard the story about the pregnant man? Okay, so maybe you might live under a rock or something. Barbara Walters has gotten ahold of him, so that must mean it's big news, right?

I'm not judging them for their choices. I happen to be a woman who's married to a man and that works for me. I live in a yellow house. That works for me too. I can't judge someone else (especially someone I don't even know) for who they marry as much as I can judge them for the color they paint their house.

However, I can't help but groan and roll my eyes when I see the commercial for this Barbara Walters interview with the pregnant man, who is pregnant once again, for the umpteenth time today. It's not really all that huge that someone born with female plumbing chose to change their sex but keep their girly bits and remove their breasts and....get knocked up? Women everywhere suffer from horrible infertility and go through numerous treatments and painful procedures to try to conceive. When they do, that is miraculous! That's awesome and beautiful and scary and WHY THE HELL ISN'T BARBARA WALTERS TALKING TO THEM?

Yeah, I must say that if I were to see a dude walking down the street with a giant swollen belly and a five o'clock shadow, I'd be curious. Wouldn't you? But to make it national news? Now, that's a stretch!

Well, I must sign off now. My youngest miracle left another puddle on the couch.

Potty training sucks.

Next time, I'm gonna lick it! I swear!!!

12YO is a straight-A student. We were a bit confused as to when report cards actually came out. Our district just can't seem to decide if they want to go by a semester schedule or a trimester schedule. I assumed we were on a trimester schedule, but apparently we're not. Official report cards don't come out until Christmas break. That just seems like a little too long to make 12YO wait for her cell phone. Her second progress report came home this weekend. She has straight A's.

YAYYYY!!!!

Yes. We're a bit proud. She works her tail off and loves every minute of it. I never have to argue with her or nag her about doing her homework. She just always does it. (The dishes? Now, that's another story! But she loves her some homework!) I'm sure the other two will be exact opposites and fight me on their homework every step of the way, so I'll count my blessings with this one.

Anyhow, her phone is THIS ONE and she's a super-protective phone owner! Every time she hands it to me (which isn't all that often!) she has to yell, "Don't touch the screen!" like I'm some sort of child or something! It's actually very easy to hold onto this phone without touching the screen. Soooo...

We're in the cell phone store last night to check out their memory cards for this phone. The internal memory is so measley that you basically HAVE TO purchase a memory card for it if you ever want to use the Mp3 player. (She's 12. She SO DOES!!!)

So, we see what we need and realize we can get it cheaper somewhere else. My mom was picking up her phone there and we were just waiting for everything to go through. Just as we were about to leave, a boy from 12YO's school comes in with his mom. Before my mom knows he's there, she asks 12YO if she would take 2YO to the bathroom for us. 12YO wanted to die, from what I hear. Talking about the bathroom in front of a BOY!!! THE NERVE!!! As she was heading that way, I asked her if she wanted me to hold her phone for her.

She said, "NO!" as if I were some child with sticky hands. I teased, "Oh come on! It's not like I'm going to touch the screen!!!" She had this look of sheer embarrasment on her face. Wanting to end it on a high note, I yelled, "Next time I get your phone, I'm gonna LICK THE SCREEN! I swear!" She was already on the other side of the boy in question when I hollered that, and it was nice and loud.

I feel like I'm already reaping the rewards from this parenting gig.

Where did the rest of the week go?

I'm not sure about the rest of the world, but did you know that our school district only has thirteen days of school this month? And five of them are already behind us. They have two days off next week, one for Veteran's Day and one for a teacher inservice thing. Unlike my childhood schedule, these kids get a whole week off for Thanksgiving! The normal school month typically consisits of 20 days. Take away seven, you get thirteen. DAMN.

Like the picture? We do a 'Donuts with Dad' thing at our school every year. They take a complimentary picture and send it home with the student a few weeks later. Pictures like this make me realize just how much my younger two resemble David. The smile, everything. Except, my BIL made a comment that David looks more like he works for IPS rather than UPS here. Then again, that's a brother for ya, huh?

*giggle*

I'll take that as a compliment to my cooking, thankyouverymuch! Plus, he STILL looks like I could have won him in a raffle! I got me a hottie!

We are watching Tinkerbell in the shop tonight. It's too cold to have our 'Lawn Chair Theater' outside in the yard, so we're taking it inside! It should be fun. None of us have seen that movie yet and what better movie could a house full of girls watch?

5YO had her first birthday party to go to today that wasn't someone she knew from family. She met this little girl at cheer practice and plays with her during recess sometimes. The party was at the Build-a-bear workshop and she had a blast! What a great place to have a birthday party! Just 5YO and I went to the party, and that was really nice. She's the middle child and we don't get as much one-on-one time as I'd like. She was soooo good. She was even nice and calm and helpful when I stopped by Joann Fabric Store on the way home for some more yarn. Yes, I needed more yarn! I have more Christmas knitting to do! I need to finish the baby hat I'm making, then I can cast-on something else. I've finished up two hats in the last couple of days and am eager to make more. I have so many ideas spinning around in my little head and not nearly enough time to undertake them all. I actually get very little knitting time at home and knit better when I'm out of the house. I'm halfway through a baby hat that I started at the party today, so that's encouraging!

I sort of wish I had some sort of timer that I could punch on and off when I was knitting so I could see how long it actually takes me to knit something. I've never been able to knit anything from start-to-finish in one sitting, not even a dishcloth!

Well, that's my life right now! I'm sure I'll be bored when the kids are older and I have a lot more time to myself, but I can't wait to see if that really happens!

Putting on my big girl panties and dealing with it

Let's just say that this election did not turn out the way I'd hoped it would.

At least now I feel like I can voice my opinions. Democrats aren't so scary when they're happy....

My name is Leann, and I'm a Republican.

No, I don't agree with every right-wing conservative decision out there...but I can identify with most of the views and believe that they are the best for me and my family. Tomorrow, who knows? David and I agree on most of this, too.

I'm not saying that BO is a bad choice. (But I do like using his initials! *giggle*) Maybe he'll do some good. In all honesty, I don't think that any one man really has all that much power, even if his name IS on the top of our letterhead. I've said it before. Today, in fact. I don't think we can blame or credit BO for things any more than we can blame or credit GWB for where we are right now. How much power does the man in charge really have? Everyone acts as if the president really does have a giant red button on his nightstand labeled 'BOMB SOMETHING.' Someone had to agree with him on what's been happening or nothing would have ever happened in the first place. And we had a say, as a country, as to so many of those people. And I cannot help but believe that things are happening for a reason.

12YO said that she didn't want BO to win because she worked hard to get all that candy while trick-or-treating and she didn't want to have to come home and give a chunk of it to some other kid who didn't bother trick-or-treating at all....

Kids say the darndest things....

Politics, Crap, and the Price of Cheese

There are my three girls on Halloween! An angel, Sleeping Beauty, and The Little Mermaid. Yes, 2YO actually did let me spray her hair with the coloring stuff!

Has everyone voted today? I'm going to....our polling place is actually 5YO's school, so I will pick her up and cast my ballot then. I try not to share my views on politics (and religion, for that matter) because they are MY views and nobody else's. I will vote my conscience, however. I just get so sick of seeing all the hateful venom spewing from so many blogs. Such hatred and venom being spewed in the face of all who disagree. It doesn't need to be that way. Some of my favorite blogs have given me a knot in my stomach when I read them. I will continue to read them when all the hoopla dies down. I will still enjoy those blogs, but so many are tainted with anger and bitterness right now.

It probably doesn't help that David lives and breathes all this stuff right now. It's on the tv at home, the radio in the car, it's everywhere. And depending on which channel you're watching, you can get a totally skewed view of the issues at hand. I know which party tends to watch which channels, that's for sure. So basically, people are directly feeding themselves more of what they want to hear by watching the right channel for them. And they are more and more convinced that they are right by all the the people on the channel who agree with them.

I vote. I keep up on the issues. But, I want no part of all the crap that comes along with it. I realize that I want the world to be a certain way because I feel that it's best for my family's future. However, someone else may feel completely differently, but for the same reasons. And that's why we have this system to begin with. I also realize that a big part of life is not always getting what we want. For me, what I don't want is a bunch of people who are regsitering to vote for the first time because they can choose from an African-American man or a war veteran and his female VP candidate. I really hope that people are looking at more than just that.

We just have to have faith, I guess. Faith in a higher power, faith in the system. Just faith. And I wonder how many people will come out of the woodwork and say that they'll leave the country if one person or another gets elected. I mean, isn't that what Brad Pitt said he'd do if Bush were elected four years ago? Granted, a lot has changed in his life, but he seems to be bringing children from other countries now so that they can grow up here.

Couldn't be all that bad, is it Brad???

I just can't help but think that all the extra problems this country (and world, for that matter!) are having is for a reason. Maybe gas prices had to become ridiculously high in order to force people to find a more efficient way to get around. Maybe we were on the verge of something really awful happening if we didn't start emitting less garbage into the air or stop going through our fossil fuels like they were a bottomless cup of coffee at Denny's. Maybe we, as a country, are just so spoiled that we take too much for granted.

I, for one, feel like I have benefitted from things getting so tough. I take our finances much more seriously than I had in the past. I am more efficient when it comes to time, money, and tasks at hand. I don't have less now, I just work a little harder to get it. And I appreciate it so much more.

But what do I know? I'm just a stay-at-home mom of three who lives in the middle of California. Most of the decisions I make are whether or not I'll let 12YO get those jeans that everyone else is wearing or if I'll spring for actual ricotta cheese or just use cottage cheese to make the lasagna.

My world is small, yet the future is partly in my hands. GO FIGURE!

I just can't tell you how busy I've been

Really, I can't. We're still in the middle of the chaos!

We had our last football game last night. We made it to the playoffs, but lost last night's game. Soooo, that officially concludes our football season. I would have been more than happy for our guys to win it, but was equally relieved that the season is really over now and we can have our Saturdays back!

Last night's game was an hour and a half away. Today, we have a league cheer competition to go to, also an hour and a half away in a totally different direction. I promise I'll get the pictures of Halloween and other random shots up eventually. Right now, I have a little less than two hours to get my family ready and in the car.

I did find something out about myself, however. Yesterday, we had two hours of cheer practice in the morning before we could go home and get ready for last night's game. David and some friends took their quads to Hollister to go riding yesterday. He had quite a drive and had to leave by 6:00 a.m. In an effort to be a good little wifey, I got up with him at 5:30 and made his lunch and helped him get his stuff together. I went back to bed at 6:00, after he left. By 6:30, 5YO was in my room, bugging me for cereal. I stayed in bed as long as possible, or until both 5YO and 2YO were up and bugging me as a team.

I just knew it was going to be a long day.

So, I put on a pot of coffee (even though I usually just stick to tea these days) and poured the whole pot into my thermal carafe. I took a travel mug full of coffee and my carafe with me. I nursed that thing well into the afternoon. And I had an energy burst that I hadn't experienced in a long time.

I HAD A COFFEE BUZZ!

I had been so stressed out about when I would have time to do the laundry that was piling up and the kitchen floor that was almost dirty enough for it to ask me personally to mop it. Yeah, it was that bad! Well, my little energy burst got my table and chairs moved, my floor swept and mopped thoroughly, all of my laundry done and put away, my little ones both showered and dressed, and I knitted half of a hat in the process. Seriously, coffee hasn't affected me this way in YEARS. Honestly, I moved around so much yesterday that I'm actually a little sore today.

Wow.

Today, we have a bit of a drive ahead of us and a cheer competition to get to. I think I'll stick to my tea. It's nice to know that coffee will really kick my butt into gear if I save it for when I really need it.When I used to drink coffee every morning, I never had a good coffee buzz. At least, not one that I really noticed. I just needed the coffee to be able to not kill anyone before noon. Now, tea keeps my family alive and coffee really gets me moving, if I use it sparingly!

Well, 2YO just said, "Hey Mommy! Watch my trick!" This could be cute, or it could make us end up in the ER. It's a crap shoot. Nah, she's okay.

This time.

By the way, the little booger is actually pooping in the toilet now! She only has accidents when she is outside playing and gets distracted. Otherwise, she's putting her excrement in the potty like a good girl. YAY! Life just got a little easier. And cheaper. THANK GOODNESS!

I have to take her shopping with me tomorrow. I have to actually break my newfound cardinal rule because there hasn't been time to go shopping this weekend. Like, NONE. Well, I have a system down now and shouldn't really be all that hard with one child, right?

Great. I think Ijust jinxed myself!