Monday, June 26, 2006

Men and assembly instructions

Men and assembly instructions. An oxymoron if ever there was one.

The men at my house assemble things in true Tim Taylor fashion. Lay out the parts and go to work, instructions are unnecessary and used only as a last resort.

Extra parts? Aaahh who needs them?

We got a new trampoline yesterday the old one was 7 or 8 years old and if Toby hadn’t welded it several times would long since have gone to the trash. My 19yos laid it out and was going to assemble it, but it went together differently than the old one and there were a bunch of screws he didn’t know where they went. Solution, let’s consult the directions ...... but wait, I hear “This sucks, it doesn’t have any pictures. ” hmmm appears that even when we consult directions we don’t want to actually read them, we simply want to look at the pictures. LOL, it was time for me to leave for work and apparently they figured it out because the trampoline was assembled and in use when I called the use later in the evening.

Is it the Y chromosome that inhibits the ability to admit that one needs directions to assemble something or heaven forbid that they need to ask directions of someone because they are lost?

Saturday, June 24, 2006

The Game

The game was girl's slow-pitch softball 5A/6A East against 5A/6A West All State. Our Katie was one of the pitchers for 5A/6A West and pitched five of the nine innings. The game started at 3:00 and it was hot. So hot Katie's MeMa couldn't stay for the game, so hot that at the end of the game my clothes were soaked and everyone got sunburned but ......

The final score was 10-6 our favor.

The West girls shut the other team out after the 2nd inning. It was a really good game and since these girls had never played together as a team and didn't get an opportunity to practice or even warm up together they played an awesome game.

Wednesday, June 21, 2006

dark days

It’s a dark day and I hate those.

I have at least one a month and I know it is hormone related but it sucks big time to feel like this.

Much of the day will be spent in tears. I don’t want to be with family, friends, or communicate with online friends. Friends? Hmmm I wonder if I actually even have anyone that I can really call a friend. Lots of acquaintances but how many would really consider me a friend? I want to be liked by people but feel as if I’m a neurotic, attention seeking, know-it-all that people don’t really like.

My kids hate me; I’m a horrible mom, a mediocre wife. I’m fat and can’t seem to make the long terms changes need to lose weight and keep it off.

On days like today I feel as my family would really be better off if I just went away and didn’t come back. I want to sit and eat chocolate and drink Diet Cherry Vanilla Dr. Pepper, hibernate in my room and bury myself in a good book that will take me away from my life.

I do things that are supposed to help; exercise at least 3 days a week and many weeks 4 or 5 days, use a natural progesterone supplement, take essential fatty acids these things have helped reduce the number of bad days but nothing seems to really help completely.

Tuesday, June 20, 2006

Dogs and Gardens

Okay those two subjects really have nothing to do with each other except I'm going to rant about both.

I love dogs I really do. We have a four year old Sheltie, a two year old part Alaskan Malamute, and then we have my oldest son’s two chocolate Labs. One is six years old and the other still just a puppy at about 18months.

I love the son too, at least most of the time.

However with the tremendous heat we’ve had this spring ........ we kinda skipped spring actually and went straight to summer..... having so many dogs in the house everyday is getting to be a chore. You may ask why I have them in the house, I ask myself that too, but the truth is for some reason the flies just will not leave their ears alone. If we leave them outside in the heat of the day then the flies chew their ears until they are covered in sores.

Back to my rant.....

I’m sweeping the floor everyday, and despite making the kids comb the dogs outside at least once a day I still get enough hair off the floor to cover a small dog. And it is Not my Sheltie’s hair; it is the short haired dog’s hair that is all over the place.

Now about the garden. I posted to the friends on one of my loops how last week some evil green worms/caterpillars ate every single leaf off my broccoli plants practically overnight. Well this weekend we had thunderstorms which brought some much needed rain but also brought some very high winds .........

The winds destroyed my squash plants.

My green beans are only doing so so and while my pepper plants do have several buds on them I’m not going to get my hopes up. Last year I actually got ONE pepper off each of my plants.

Next year I’m only planting flowers, because the Marigolds are the only things I planted that seem to be thriving.

Thursday, June 15, 2006

Is it stamped on my forehead?

Today at the gym the gentleman on the Stepmill next to mine asked me if we homeschooled. I assured him we did, and he informed me that he subbed at the local high schools. He then went on to talk about how awful it was at the schools and that despite complaints to administration they are hesitant to make changes which is a whole other topic.

He is not the first at the gym to ask me that question and okay I can see if we are there during normal school hours, which we sometimes are, that would be a clue. But it is summertime. We are also the only family that I see come in together, but surely there are other families that do things together. And just to clarify not all of go together; usually it is just the youngest two, the DH and me although sometime the 19yo will go with us.

Several times the DH and I have been complimented on our older children [21, 19, 15]. How mature, polite, what good workers etc. I always wonder if they are talking about the same children that live in my house or if pod people take them over when they are away from home. The youngest [12] doesn’t do too many things yet without a parental close by. He is to me a quintessential youngest child in that he is not near as mature or responsible at this age as the others were, and still needs firm supervision. I just wonder if we really appear that different or if it is stamped on our foreheads “WE HOMESCHOOL.”

What would cause you to look at a family and think they homeschool?

Oh and btw, my side of the conversation was somewhat monosyllabic. Like I can talk when I’m on that torture machine? I’m up to a whole six minutes at level 4 – 46 steps per minute, but talking is not really an option when I finish.

Tuesday, June 13, 2006

Girls's Day Out

Today was girls’ day out around here.

My mom, my daughter-to-be and I went to lunch and a movie.

For lunch we went to Olive Garden ......uuuuummmmm I really love their salad and breadsticks. I also tried something new today from the Garden Menu, the Chicken Giardino. It was really good.

After lunch we went to the $1 movies ...... yeah we’re the last of the big spenders, especially since today was 50¢ Tuesday. We saw Failure to Launch and it was great. We laughed and laughed. I’ve been a fan of Matthew McConaughey since I saw him in A Time to Kill the movie based on the John Grisham novel. The southern voice, the hair, *sigh* what’s not to like?

Anyway we all had a great time and that was the point, right?

Oh! I almost forgot on Thursday evening I get to go wedding dress shopping with Katie and her mom. I hope all goes well. Only having the four boys, well five if you count the DH, I've kinda got out of the girly shopping mind set. The last time I took a girl shopping was eight years ago for my niece's 14th birthday. It was torturous to say the least.