I Am A Member of An Elite Club

I am in a club that only so many mothers can join. In fact, I didn't really have a say whether I wanted to join the club, but I am in the club and am learning all sorts of new things. The club I am talking about is the three sons club, more specifically, the three sons in a row club.

We all know that there is a difference between boys and girls. I have heard that girls are easier when they are young and harder when they are older. I also heard that the opposite is true with boys...they are harder when they are young and easier when they are older. But there is something to be said about having three boys in a row. It is quite overwhelming.

My house in known for its chaos. There are always kids over here. It is not uncommon to see a rope or a chain contraption hanging from something in the yard. Even more common is seeing three boys running around the neighborhood in bare feet no matter the weather. The yard is full of freshly dug holes, clothes and play weapons of all kinds. It is a boy wonderland.

When we found out we were having another boy when I was pregnant with Zander, the first thing John Robbins (An old neighbor) said was, "Get them into wrestling." He kept saying that to me every chance he could get. One day I finally I asked him why he kept saying that. He explained that coming from a family with three boys in a row, he knew first hand the chaos that ensues. He described full out fist fights and a poor mother trying the best she could to control the boys. He told me that my boys are going to fight. I might as well teach them how to do it right.

I did not see his wisdom until tonight when we went to a "Little Vikings" wrestling practice. The gym was full of boys from 3 years old to probably 14 years old. I could just feel the testosterone in the air. There is a whole boy culture I am just learning about. Boys need to use their muscles. They need to explore their power. They love the feeling of pinning someone. It is all just so foreign to me.

Zander needed a drink and so we wandered out into the hall in pursuit of a water fountain. Around the corner from the fountain I heard girls giggling. What I found was a group of girls all holding hands standing on a stage waiting for the cue to jump off in time for a picture. It was such a dramatic change from the testosterone filled gym of pain. I pictured myself with three boy teenagers. It scared me.

It's About Time

I am glad I waited to post this till now, because if I would have posted it last week it would not have been nice. Sometimes it is good to wait a little bit.

Do you remember the document camera that you all donated toward with Donors Choose in April? I have been waiting for it since then. They had said that because it was close to the end of the year there was a possibility that I would not get it until October. They asked me to wait until October to contact them. Meanwhile, I spent everyday asking the front office if a package had come for me. I bugged the office clear until the end of school. But to no avail.

I didn't even bother to ask the office once school started because somehow I knew it wouldn't come. I was frustrated. I think what made me the most mad was that I couldn't tell all my friends that had donated towards it how much better it had made my life. I was still writing everything up on the board and using up precious time in the process.

I patently waited until October. Then I e-mailed them telling them that I still had not received it. I received and e-mail back telling me that it had indeed been shipped back in April. Let me repeat that...IT WAS SHIPPED BACK IN APRIL. So then the question was, where was it?

The front office advised me to check with Fed Ex and see who had signed for it. I checked into it and it was a name of someone that didn't work at my school. In my mind I could just see a person coming in, signing for it and taking it. I was losing all hope of ever getting my document camera back. I dug deeper and found out that they shipped it to some place in Clearfield.

I e-mailed Donors Choose again and told them that it was shipped to the wrong address. I asked them where we were supposed to go from there and how they were going to rectify the situation. I didn't hear back from them. I was not happy. Then two days later they e-mailed me and told me that the company School Outfitters did send it to the wrong address and they were sending out a replacement. I was so relieved. But disappointed that I still had to wait.

Well the happy ending came about on Friday. The office brought me a big package as soon as it was delivered. I think they were as excited about it as I was. I opened it up and found not only had School Outfitters sent out a document camera, but they had upgraded it to a real Elmo. An Elmo cost $400 more than what I had ordered. So needless to say I am very happy.

We used the Elmo for the first time today. The kids loved it. I can't believe what a difference it makes in the classroom. It makes a huge difference. I have a student that has really had a hard time keeping track of where we are in class. She has dyslexia. She always needs me to direct her exactly what part of an assignment we are on, even when she is following right with us. But today, she was able to look at the actual assignment and stay right with us. It was amazing. The entire class understood all the concepts that I taught better when we used the Elmo.

So I want to shout out a great big thank you. Thank you for helping my little girl that is struggling. Thank you for helping the entire class to learn more. I can't wait to see how much they learn tomorrow.

Calling all artists...

I am looking for someone that would like to work on a project with me. I am looking for someone that can draw cartoon like pictures. Anyone know anyone?

To Move or Not to Move

That is the question
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them?

Yeah, there is only so much stress I can take. I cannot spend every free moment I have cleaning the house. I can try to keep it clean, but I can continue doing this deep cleaning every chance I get is too much for me.

So we spent Saturday moving everything that we had packed, back into the house. Yeah, good times. Now I have a basement full of boxes and I can't find a lot of the things I need.

Don is excited to work on getting our house fixed up. He said he was going to try to paint my room. Yeah, the one that is pink and yellow and hasn't been painted for 20 years, that room. Maybe something good will come of all of this after all.

Okay, where is the hidden camera?

Don and I put our house up for sale a week ago. Have you ever tried to sale a house with kids? Now think of how hard it is and consider my past week.

When the realtor listed our house, he just used pictures from when it was listed four years ago. He wanted to get it on the market quickly and we still had to get the house ready before we could take pictures. I was fine with that. Working full-time makes it hard to spend hours cleaning at the end of the day.

On Friday the first realtor called asking to see the house ten minutes from then. I had just walked in from work. The house needed a deep cleaning. I asked if they could wait an hour so I could clean it. He said that he didn't care if it was dirty because he was just looking at the layout of the house. I agreed as long as he took responsibility for insisting on viewing a dirty house.

On Saturday we had Josh's baptism out in Orem. We had to leave at 9:00 in the morning. There wasn't much time to clean the house before getting everyone ready and out the door. As far as I knew, no one was coming to see the house. When I came home, Ky told me that someone would be there in a few minutes to look. I was ready to die. The house was a disaster. I called Don to find out when the people were coming and he said that the people had already come. I laughed and told him that we wouldn't be getting an offer from them.

A couple of days passed. I still hadn't had time to get everything done. We had decluttered a little bit, but there was a long way to go. I was at work when Don called and said that someone was coming to look at the house. He said that someone would come at 4:00. According to him, the house was clean. I usually don't get home by then, so I knew I had no choice but to trust him.

The next day our realtor called trying to figure out why he was hearing such horrible things about our house. People had said that our house was dirty and that the carpet was beyond saving. I was embarrassed. I explained that we were still trying to get the house ready to show. It really put a fire under my butt to get the house completely clean.

I borrowed the carpet scrubber and carpet cleaner from my parents. I spent the entire night cleaning the carpet after work. It looked amazing. But, unfortunately, it stirred up old smells from the carpet.

I hired someone to clean our house. I knew I just didn't have time to clean the whole house in time for the next viewing. She came and spent two hours wiping our kitchen counters. (They were not that dirty, she was just incredibly slow.) Don't ask me how much I paid. I am still waiting for those wounds to heal. Don told her that we didn't need our house clean after all. I came home from work to dirty house. The counters didn't even look clean. I spent the night scrubbing walls, counters, floors and everything else I thought the house cleaner was going to clean.

I woke up this morning and the entire house stunk from the wet carpets. I spent the day trying to think of ways to get the smell out of the carpet. Then, an hour before I came home from work, I decided to just rip it out. I had one hour before a couple was coming to look at the house. Ky, Porter and I moved the sewing machine, piano, and T.V. and ripped out the living room and hallway carpet. There were still little staples all over and the nail strips, but the smell was finally gone. We grabbed some food and ran out the door.

Did I mention that it is parent teacher conferences at school? Today I taught school and then stayed late to meet with a ton of parents. Parent teacher conferences take a lot of energy. I barely had the strength to drag out the last of the wet disgusting carpet. What a day.

We left the house. We parked at the church just a few houses down, across the street. I shoved my mouth full of food as we watched to see if the people came. I wasn't planning on parking there and watching the people come. I was just too hungry and I had to eat right then. They came and spent a total of five minutes looking at the house. Disappointed, I drove back into our driveway. We were greeted by Lexi barking at out through the window. Somehow she was left in the house, to attack innocent victims. I can just see the couple walking nonchalantly through the house. When out of the clear blue a small, fat attack dog comes running at them. I can't wait to hear what my realtor has to say.

God Bless the Pharmaceutical Companies!

Years back when I suffered with depression with my first child, my doctor offered to put me on Prozac. I couldn't stop crying so I decided that I really had no choice. But I was not about to tell ANYONE that I was on Prozac. Oh, the embarrassment! I was an "in the closet" Prozac partaker. I took it daily. It made a difference. But, it was our little family secret. That was almost 11 years ago.

A year ago, I realized that the Prozac wasn't working anymore. I was in the worst depression I had ever been in. I went to counseling and I went to my doctor. She prescribed an additional anti-depressive. It took a month to make any difference, but what a difference it made. I realized that maybe Prozac had never completely solved my depression.

Wellbutrin has made my arthritis subside. I have tons more energy. I am able to work full-time. My one continuous headache went away. Oh, and I am nicer too. It has made a world of difference. I am thankful for how the pharmaceutical companies have improved my life.

I love Coke!

I can't say that I am a soft drink junkie. I don't go to the gas station everyday to get a soda. I don't even buy soda at the store. My preferred drink is usually water. But some days, Coke is the only thing that will ease my headaches. I have had this freaking headache for the last few days. I have taken Tylenol and Ibuprofen (At the same time) and not really felt like it has done anything. So I snuck off to the gas station and got my fix. Now I am hiding in the dining room drinking it as fast as I can. The last thing I need is for my kids to take a sip of Coke right before bedtime.

Dresden's Breakdown

Dresden brought a chewed up binkie to me today. Gina must of got a hold of it, because it was mangled. Dresden just kept holding it out like, "Fix it mommy." When she realized we just had to throw it away, she cried and cried. I knew we had more binkies around the house. I just couldn't find one at the moment. So Dresden just fell apart. I finally wrapped up one of her dolls in a blanket. She carried her for around and that helped her calm down. I felt so bad. Luckily we found another binkie and she is just fine.

Debbie came and took all the kids for a couple of hours. Have I written about my sister and how great she is? She just showed up and took all four. We took advantage of the time by going to visit my beautiful new niece Grace. Debbie brought them back and Dresden was wearing another cute new outfit. Her nails had been repainted pink. It is good that my sister takes so great care of my kids. I am lucky to have her as a sister.

As Good As It Gets

As I was doing dishes and after doing countless loads of laundry, the title of the movie "As Good As It Gets" came to mind. I know I didn't really like the movie all that much even though I am a Helen Hunt fan. But I started asking myself, "What if this is as good as it gets?" That would really suck.