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It’s been a very busy weekend around here.  I am going to try to have a garage sale next weekend so this weekend was spent sorting, pricing, moving, and arranging a lot of stuff.  It’s amazing how much stuff I have.  It’s actually embarrassing.  No one needs so much stuff.  And what’s crazy is that even with getting rid of lots of stuff there is still too much in this house!  It’s driving me crazy.  I want less stuff.  Doesn’t that sound weird.  Some people would kill for a little stuff and I want some of mine to go away!  I’m sick of the clutter!!!

So since I had so much to get done today I had Sylas K go with his pops and Kathy for the afternoon.  They like having some time with him and I can get much more done.  In four hours this afternoon I got more done than I would have in two days.  It was a nice break.  It’s one of the first times I’ve had Sylas go somewhere so I could do things and I kinda felt guilty at first…. then when I saw how much I got accomplished and how happy he was when I picked him up it was so worth it.  He got lots of attention and I got lots done.  So it was a win win for both of us.

Even though it was a busy weekend we still had lots of time to snuggle and read and play and swing outside.  Sylas is loving books right now.  I have read to him since the first day I brought him home, at least 20 minutes a day but he just recently started trying to get the pages.  He really likes the colors and will touch the pages now and laugh when I read in funny voices.  I love reading to him.  Some of my favorite times with my mom were reading so it’s nice to do with him. 

He also has gotten very vocal this week.  I thought he was vocal last week but this week it’s crazy noisy!  He has something to say all the time now.  He will make noise the entire time he is playing, taking a bath, bouncing.  All the time.  It cracks me up.  And sometimes he seems to get tickled at the noises he makes and then he will laugh at himself.  It’s so cool to watch him learn and change all the time.  I think I’ll keep him for sure! 

Now it’s back to the grind for another week of work and school and daycare…. Good times!  Thank goodness next week is a long weekend!

I recently watched the movie The Great Debaters.  It was a good movie.  The debate coach was pretty responsible, level headed and mature.  He was played by Denzel Washington.  I think that is the way debate coaches are probably supposed to be.  But recently in good old Kansas the debate coach from Ft. Hays State University made a real ass of himself.  He was anything but great.  If you haven’t heard or seen this yet here is the video.  Crazy fool!

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School started for me today.  YUCK!  I wasn’t ready to go back.  I’m really ready to be all done.  I only have two semesters left so I just need to suck it up and quit complaining.  But I hate it!  I’m just really not interested in school at all anymore.  At this point it’s about jumping through the hoops so I can have that piece of paper.  Good times. 

I’m gonna try my best to stay ahead of things this semester to help ease the stress a little.  I actually don’t have too many huge assignments so the few that I do have I’m going to get started on soon so they are done and out of the way.  I also have to do an internship but I’m doing that through my current job so hopefully they will go a little easy on me… We will have to wait and see about that. 

I’m having a really difficult time at work lately.  I recently was reassigned to another office.  They are down a supervisor and several staff members so I’m being sent to that office to supervise temporarily.  After they hire a new supervisor I will still stay there to supervise a couple teams two to three days a week.  So each day I get to make a lovely two hour road trip journey to El Dorado.  I tend to think of this office as the portal of hell!  It’s a pretty negative place.  Lots of unhappy people, a nasty court system, and horrible morale.  I usually cry most of the way home after I leave there.  Not fun!

I’m trying to think up some activities or things to boost the morale of the staff.  They are in such a bad space that I know I can’t make many changes until morale improves.  It’s pretty hard to ask overworked, under-appreciated people to do more work or better work when they are completely miserable.  So all night tonight since Sylas went to bed I’ve been looking up inspirational quotes, making posters, creating goodie baskets, and coming up with an incentive program.  I’m hoping maybe I can boost them up a little and then make some effective changes and improve some of our outcomes and services.  I guess we will see.  I may be setting myself up for a bigger let down.  But at this point I figure it’s my job whether I like it or not so I might as well try my hardest.  If anything maybe if I’m more positive then they all will be more positive too.  Who knows….. Wish me luck!

I’ve been without TV for over a month now.  I really hadn’t missed it.  It was like I had it one day and then I didn’t have it anymore.  No big deal.  Then the Olympics started and so did the TV withdrawals.  I really really love the Olympics.  I always have.  I remember when I was a kid and they had the big handout in the paper that listed all the events and when they would be on.  I would go through it with my parents and pick all the ones I wanted to watch.  Swimming was always #1, then diving, then gymnastics, then boxing.  I love the Olympics! 

So to help with my withdrawal symptoms my brother and sister-in-law brought me some rabbit ears for my TV today.  And shockingly with those I get really good reception of about 6 channels.  One of those being NBC!  So after some moving of the ears Michael Phelps was swimming away on my TV!  AWESOME!  I had a blast watching.  We watched swimming and volleyball and gymnastics and more swimming.  Good times.

But as the day wore on and more Olympic events were shown I noticed something.  The noise in the house was getting louder and louder.  The kids were fussy and very noisy.  Sylas was LOUD for him.  Sylas also didn’t nap well and then wouldn’t go to bed until 8:30.  That is unheard of for him.  I noticed that I was grumpy and on edge.  I figured I was just getting tired.  But as soon as Shawn and Amanda left I shut the TV off.  And within 30 minutes Sylas was calmed down.  I was much calmer and not grumpy at all.  So I’m beginning to think that TV really isn’t good for us.  Even the Olympics overloaded him and I both.  I can’t imagine was regular TV would do to us.  It really is crazy how much it can affect you.  But it is pretty load and intrusive.  I just never really noticed it before.  Odd!

So while TV is not impressing me anymore the Olympics still rock!

The toads are taking over around here!  Tonight Miss Lena the crazy dog and I were outside.  I was trying to get flower beds weeded and she was trying to see how loud she could bark.  Then she somehow found a herd of toads.  There were big toads, little toads, fat toads, and thin toads.  So of course the crazy dog chases the toads, barks at the toads and tries to kill the toads.  But toads have a great self defense system.  So as soon as Lena bit down on the toad she dropped it and started foaming at the mouth. 

I’ve never seen anything like it.  She started rolling around on the ground and whining.  She looked like she had rabies!  Crazy dog.  While she thought she was dying for a bit she ended up being fine.  The toads don’t kill ya they just make you spit.  So after some water and some loving she was fine.  I got a good laugh at her expense.  Silly dog!  But I have no idea what I’m going to do about the toads.  There are a lot of them in the back yard.  Does anyone know any way to get rid of them….

Julie requested some new pictures of my little man. So here is Sylas K. He is turning into such a wonderful little guy! Happy, healthy, and laughing like crazy!!!! He really is a great little baby. Very content and calm. As long as he is fed and watered all is well. He loves to eat everything now and is drooling like crazy. I have a feeling teeth are coming soon!

I had an interesting experience this evening in my bathroom.  I was just a sitting on the potty trying to pee before Sylas had a meltdown.  For some reason this week my going to the bathroom angers him greatly.  He really has no patience for it.  I’m beginning to think that I need diapers too.  So I’m trying to pee faster than humanly possible when I see something move in my peripheral vision.  Of course the fact that I’m startled stops the pee midstream.  As I turn I see something odd…. I am not sure exactly what it is as it is no longer moving.  So I convince myself that it is a rock… Yeah because rocks just always hang out in my bathroom. 

I think that I should pick it up.  But then I remember that it probably isn’t a rock.  So I think I should poke it with something first.  Well I’m not in the best position to find something.  But I don’t want to move because I don’t want to startle the “rock”.  By now Sylas is screaming in my bed room.  The kind of scream that means that he thinks little trolls are lighting his feet on fire scream.  So I hurry up and finish peeing and slowly move from the pot to the sink all while keeping my eyes on the “rock”.  It of course doesn’t move.  The screams intensify as I wash my hands so I have another decision to make.  Do I leave the “rock” and get the screaming troll attacked baby or do I handle the “rock” first…. Decisions, decisions….

So I slowly back out the bathroom to the bed room while keeping my eyes on the now breathing “rock” and singing some dumb song to screaming Sylas.  I pick him up which immediately stops the screaming (He is very dramatic and quite the faker) and slowly move back to the bathroom.  Since I don’t keep any big sticks in my bathroom I get my comb and poke the rock.  I just expect it to move a little but oh no!  It leaps at me!  I scream like toads are attacking me because it is!  Sylas screams because I scream.  He is then crying.  I’m screaming the dog is barking and the toad is taking off for my bedroom!  Shit!!!!

So I lay the screaming, now crying real tears baby down on a towel in the bathroom and grab the plunger.  Yes the plunger and head for the toad.  I finally corner the disgusting creature in my closet.  It’s wedged between a lime green Nike and pair of flip and flops.  I trap it inside the plunger and then I can’t decide what to do.  So I leave the plunger that is now housing the toad and go back for Sylas.  I then called the little neighbor boy who always wants to “work for me”  and have him come over and remove the toad from the plunger and my house. 

I gave him five bucks, put the baby to bed, and now I’m calling it a day.  Good times here….

There are some things that are coming to my attention that concern me.  Things that no one seems to tell you about motherhood.  The things that all mothers must know but never mention.  So I’m telling….

1.  Vaccinations aren’t really medicine or vaccine of any kind.  It is really demon juice that mean doctors inject into your children.  They say it’s for the child’s good but I really think vaccinations are population control.  They ensure that people won’t have to many children because the reactions are so severe you at times wonder if you want to keep the one you have.

2.  Children have way to much crap to carry.  You have a diaper bag, your purse, the pack in play, the car seat, the bottles, the food, the entire house.  You then strap it all to your body so you can make one trip to the car.  Because you would be a bad mother if you left the baby alone in the house or the car.  So you drag it all to the car in the heat and of course you drop something and then you cuss and then you are a bad mother because you cussed in front of the baby.  So ultimately all the stuff that babies have cause bad parenting.  They say it makes it easier but it’s a lie!

3.  You can have nothing nice after children. Your nice blankets get spit up on, your nice blouse is covered in green beans and pumpkin, your books are missing half the pages, and to top it all off your 700 thread count Egyptian cotton sheets have pee on them from a leaky diaper!  There is nothing sacred anymore.  Nothing that is yours and yours alone. 

4.  People are not as nice to moms with little children as they should be.  There isn’t the door opening, help carrying bags, Norman Rockwell kindness I expected.  No no.  There are mean old men at the gas station in a hurry that push past you and about knock everything out of your arms.  There is the lady at the checkout that tells you your baby is crying.  As if I can’t hear him!  People on the moon can hear him you moron!  Thanks for pointing out to me that you are annoyed by us.  He is a baby.  He cries. 

5.  And no one tells you that in spite of all of this and all the other difficult things I haven’t mentioned it really is a cool job to have.  Being a mom rocks.  Even though I’m exhausted, covered in spit up, haven’t slept in two days, vaccination hell I love him and I love being his mom.  Even though people can be rude, my back hurts from hauling all his stuff, and my sheets are covered in baby pee I’m going to bed happy tonight.  No one tells you that your heart grows and grows and your tolerance for things that used to disgust you grows too.  So it’s a good job.  A good and messy and crazy job. 

I’ve been doing a lot of traveling for work.  I’m on the road almost every day.  This week so far I’ve logged 500 miles.  It’s good times.  Nothing like 500 miles in a Ford Focus to make you feel great about your job.  Wahoooooo!!!!  So since I spend so much time on the road I’m starting to become greatly annoyed by some other travelers.  I’ve found several traveling trends that just set me off.

1.  The I’m gonna pass you or maybe not traveler!  This is the person that gets in the passing lane and almost passes you and then slows down.  Then they speed up and slow down over and over.  This can occur for miles on end.  You can slow down or speed up but they are always there beside you.  It drives me nuts!  These people also tend to be cell phone talkers, make up appliers, food eaters, or karaoke drivers.  Hello folks quit multi tasking and set your cruise control!!!!

2.  The I’m gonna box you in and slow you down traveler!  This is the person that only drives in the passing lane.  They usually drive the speed limit exactly or at times they drive five miles below the speed limit.  These are the people that no matter what will not leave the passing lane.  They will have ten cars behind them, one semi a car length ahead of them and there they go slowly meandering down the highway.  These people are also usually taking in the sights, reading a map, over the age of 75, and from the state of Vermont, Iowa, or Kentucky.  Super slow travelers. 

3.  The I own every car magnet every made traveler.   This is the person that has numerous/dozens of magnetic ribbons, flags, signs, etc on their car or more often their Ford Ranger.  I really love the Ford Ranger I see regularly with over 25 magnets on it.  They have every magnetic ribbon made.  Everything from the yellow Iraq war ribbon to the cure Lou Gehrig’s disease ribbon.  They are saving animals, children, and endangered frogs from Brazil.  They have magnetic flags from the US, the Marine Core and the Confederate flag.  They are advertising for Jerry’s kids and Jesus.  They are pro-life and proud, want to find a POW, and their kid is an honor roll student.  But most of all they have hit the world record for the most magnetic items on one vehicle.  They should be proud.  Is there a magnet for that?

So that’s what I know from all this traveling. Fellow travelers are strange birds.  But to keep the trend going I’m planning on getting a few magnets and a traveling make up case.  I’m letting go of cruise control and I’m making friends with the passing lane.  I think I can play the annoying traveler game too!