What can go wrong will go wrong!

My fourth of July, was crazy. On the 3rd we were driving to Tulsa to eat out and enjoy the day. On the freeway the car starts acting up. So we punch in home on the GPS. It took us on some back road. Just as we pull into a gas station in Catoosa the car completely dies. We look for the closest food and parts store on the GPS. By the way a GPS is handy when you break down and have to walk in a strange town. Back to the story at hand, the temperature was getting hotter with a high close to 100 degrees. We walked about 2 miles to Taco Bueno. When we ordered and sat down I noticed that one of my boys was acting like he was cold. My other son then informed me that his brother had a fever of 103 degrees early that morning. He did not want to tell me because he was afraid we would cancel our plans.
Lucky for us Walgreens was next door. I purchased some Ibuprofen and a thermometer. We walked around the store till my husband and other son could buy a battery at the parts store. On our way back I took my fever child and daughter in the Post Office so he could cool down and not over heat on the rest of the trip. My other son and husband continued to the car. After we were cooled down a bit we headed back to the car. My son comes running back to us. They had taken off without the car keys. He got the keys from me and you could see he was exhausted. He takes off running back for the car and his dad when he feet just quit. He falls and rolls down the hill, jumps back up and off he goes. We got home that day on battery power. We ordered our alternator and rented movies. Decided it would be safer for us to watch fireworks on Saturday in our hometown.
Saturday July 4th finally comes. We took a trip to the store for supplies for our cook out before fireworks. Apparently we should stay more connected with the community. On the front page of the local newspaper was the story about the wonderful fireworks display Friday night July 3rd. We had our first July 4th with no fireworks and no Independence to drive. On the sunny side it is Monday now and a whole new week for what can go wrong to go wrong.

Creative lies

There comes a time in all children’s lives where they start to learn that a white lie may save them from trouble. As children, they take action without thinking of consequences. Well, my story is a story of how a dozen eggs cost me five dollars. My son was nine and we had a store about three blocks from the house. I was going to bake a cake but did not have enough eggs so I sent him to the store. I knew that things at the convience store cost more than the grocery store but I figured a five-dollar check would work. I sent him on his way and told him to bring the change back. When he finally returned I asked for the change. He stated that there was no change. I told him to go back and get the receipt that they would probably still have it. There he went off on his bike to retrieve that receipt. Now moms can smell when something is fishy. It is our mom sense kicking in. I watched for him when he pulled back up in the yard. He took a couple of minutes to get something out of his pocket and place it by the AC unit. I walked out, met him on the porch, and asked to see the receipt. He responded to me by saying, “I asked for the receipt but Casey’s (the name of the store) doesn’t give receipts for checks.” I imagine it took him the whole trip to come up with that one. I checked his pockets and would you believe it I found a receipt. On that receipt, eggs were purchased along with some ball cards, which just happened to be waiting, by my AC unit.

Some reasons why moving Stinks

Moving is like unpacking a box from Wal-Mart. Once you take it out of the box you can not get it back in the way it was. I just spent one week moving. I only moved six blocks away but in alot of ways it feel like it was miles away. How can it take so long to move such a short distance? My boys were wonderful they moved so much and worked so hard doing it. It still feels like the work will never be done.
I have noticed when you take your furnishings out of your house and into the daylight and the neighborhood your stuff looks crappy. As you load it on the Uhal you ask your self "Why am I taking this, it looks like a piece of junk?" You hurry to get it in the Uhal and hurry to get it in the house before the new neighbors see it. Once it is in the new house it doesn't look so bad. I find that odd.
Moving can be wonderful too. It makes you clean that unseen dirt that never bothered you before. But once you start there is no end to it. You also find all of those little things that you have been looking for and just couldn't find.
In every move you will have atleast one person that walks into your house when there are boxes all over your house, place is trashed, and your trashed and tired but yet this person will say "Are you moving?" You just want to say "No Spring Cleaning." It reminds me of the Here's your Sign guy. He tell the neighbor "No we just like to pack all of our stuff up and see how many boxes it takes." I mean come on what are they thinking?
Nothing ever fits. I have a collection of dryer cords for new houses. The new plug can never be the same as the old plug. Would it really hurt the world to use one universal plug? What could be wrong with that?
Even the cable guy thinks this was a tough move. They send me out a cable guy who is in his late 30's and he really didn't want to work on this particular day. He had to run a new line to the house and take the one in the living room and put it in the dinning room. I hooked up everything for him but I have never heard so much huffing or gripping before. It was like telling your nine year old boy to take a bath.
Finally, you get the comments from people who, like never move. I have lived in Kansas, Texas, New Mexico, and Oklahoma. I seem to be the perfect target for those who have lived on the same block for their whole lives. I am checking on this one house and somehow the topic of all the places I lived came up. And the lady says to me "you sure move alot." I am thinking "no not really" I just left Kansas and I was there for ten years, that's a decade, feels like along time for me. She couldn't imagine living in more than one place and for those like me we can't imagine looking down the block and seeing our whole lives looking back at us.
No doubt I will move again eventually. This time I am going to hope that moveing is like childbirth. After awhile I will forget the pain and be willing to do it again.

“Where did it go I was just smacking on it.”

My daughter was the cutest little thing when she was little. She started talking so long ago I cannot even remember when. She was one of those children that would talk in big long complete sentences with a big vocabulary. We were at grandma’s house on this particular day. The grandkids could not have gum, colored drinks, or food outside of the kitchen. My little blonde headed daughter was standing in the doorway of the living room and the bedroom. All of the sudden she starts going around in circles like a dog chasing his tail will do. We started watching her and wondering what on earth, she was doing. Finally, she says, “I lost my gum, where did it go I was just smacking on it.”

Swine flu and our kids

If you are like me, you have watched the news and heard all about the swine flu outbreak. At first, I was very concerned like I am sure many others were. I bought the germ X and extra hand soap. I told the kids all about making sure they used their “flu precautions” and insisted that my husband take a bottle of germ X with him. As time has gone by I am not quite as worried however, we have a vacation coming up and I want everyone to be well for it. Can you truly keep your kids well? One of my boy’s true loves in life is food. Therefore, there is no such thing as the 5 second rule it is more like 30-second rule. My daughter, thank God she grew out of it, used to lick the counters at the stores. What was up with that I do not know? We would get ready to check out and she would lean in and out would come the tongue for a quick taste of the counter. There is no amount of germ X going to take care of that. So in the middle of the night when we get that dreaded “Mommy, my tummy don’t feel so good” call it might have something to do with the counter tasting at our local supermarket. However, it is all good just another day in the life of married with children.

"Mom he peed in my pocket"

How does that happen, one might ask themselves. But first let me say for women, raising boys is like venturing into lands we never knew existed. My eleven year old twin boys were helping us move. My husband had taken a job 100 miles away. We were packing up our home to move to the new life that awaited us. It was long hours and lots of work. We had two bathrooms however, one was out of commission. Both of the boys had to pee. Being the strange species they are they did not take turns going they rushed in together. While one had his aim right on apparently the other turn for some unseen reason. Next thing we know they are both rushing out the door to my husband and I. "Mom David peed in my pocket" Daniel complained in an upset manner. You can imagine my expression being a women I never knew that was possible especially in pants someone was wearing. That is a day in the life of married with children.

Mother's day

I hope everyone had a wonderful Mother's Day. My kids fought like normal. For many years, I have only asked for one mother's day present. A mute button installed in my kids. I think of the joy it would give me to watch them argue and fight on mute. We drove an hour and a half to visit my mother for Mother's Day. What is it about kids that as soon as you get into a car they fight? Someones pillow is touching the other or someone is looking at the other. I always thought that having three kids is where the true fun starts. You need the first child who thinks of the mischief the second child to help the first. Then the third child becomes the witness, testifying to how "I saw it all." All in all the trauma was minimal. Just another day in the life of being married with children.