The Results are in...

First off...

I'm off today because Miah and Devyn have their "Field Day" events today. (YAY!) This is something I don't want to miss. I have my camcorder ready. I am also getting paid for today cause I am using some of my PTO. This way I don't feel guilty about not being at work making money that we need. Plus, I'm not usually at work every day for the full 8 hrs. I'm pretty efficient in my work and know how to manage and treat more than one patient at a time. At least I'll be getting paid for a full day's work.

Now...
For those of you who have been reading my blog. You will know that I have been having some problems with my oldest and his grades or his behavior at school. This isn't a new thing. This has been an ongoing event since he's first started first grade. His grades of course were better in the lower grades but since 5th grade and up we have been having some problems. He's not mentally incapable of completing his work...he's just lazy. This I found out because, well...he takes after his mother.
He's a 'Deadliner'.
I'm a 'Deadliner'.
We wait until the last minute to pull through, but we pull through. Not a good quality to have in some aspects, but good enough in others.
I was worried that I was going to have to tote him around with me to work in the afternoons because he was going to have to go to summer school. (The other two children are going to be spending the summer with my mother and father in the Valley).

I just looked online and noticed that this may not actually have to take place. He may not have to go to summer school after all.
He had some pretty bad grades during the 5th week of their 6 week term. Here's what we had:

Texas History.....71
English.................65
PE.........................33
Math.....................72
Theater Arts........71
Science..................50

Yeah. Pretty terrifying isn't it.
I pretty much busted out crying when I saw that. I was really shocked.
Anyway, those grades resulted in Dom being grounded (I tried to ground him for life...but Angel intervined). Dom kept telling me that he was going to pull the grades up. "yeah, Right" was what I was thinking. Four weeks into the last six weeks they send home with the kids their progress reports. This report stated that Dom was failing Math, PE, and Science.
Well, I knew about the PE and Science...but now he's failing Math too? C'mon now.

Get this...

I get a letter in the mail from the school about Summer school. But, it's for failing Language Arts (English).
Failing. Four classes. Geez.

I called Dom over and told him: Look at that. School isn't even over yet and they are already telling you that they're 'saving you a seat' in summer school (it actually said "A reservation has been made for your son or daughter...etc). Not to mention the fact that Summer school is only for 2 classes. Not 3. (PE doesn't count) And....There may not even be a chance that he will be promoted to the 8th grade at all.

He reassured me that he was going to get to go to the 8th grade.

He only had 2 weeks to bring those grades up.

Not all of the grades are posted but I did manage to get 3.

*drum roll please...*

English from ...65 .....to....72. Semester 1 and 2 average is 69.5 (70...they round up).
Theater Arts from 71 to..89. Average is 90.
Science from...50 to 73. Average is 74.

He passed English, Theater Arts, and Science so for.
Two classes down...two to go. I swear... I almost busted out crying.

I called him into my room this morning and hugged and kissed him and told him "Thank You".
He asked: For what?
I showed him the grades on the computer and told him how proud I was of him for bringing them up. I also pointed out the other classes that were mentioned in the progress report and told him I hoped he was doing the same there.
He reassured me again that he was. So I left it at that.

Wish us luck.
Tomorrow is the last day of school.
Think he pulled it off?
I have faith that he did.

He's a Deadliner.


---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Angel....

He lost his wallet the other........week....and just went yesterday to go and get a new license and SS card. Well. In his wallet was his and my fishing licenses.

Now, I don't mind going fishing with Angel.....occasionally. I've been looking for ways to get out of going fishing with him lately. Not that I don't want to be with him and the kids building memories together....it's just that the mosquitos are out and they TEAR ME UP! I get welts all over...I hate it.
Everyone asks me why they get me all the time and I just explain that 'they love Brown Shuga'.
That's right.

Now another reason is the friggin SUN.

I am not one to be outside in the sun with out a tent.
Please.
I need shade.
Honestly, I can smell myself cooking out there. I can hear the faint sound of 'sizzling' next to my ears.
I need to be sheltered.

Anywhoo.....what I was saying was...
My new excuse for not going fishing is......

"I can't fish without my license and my license was in your wallet and you lost your wallet......again."

Ta Da!!!

Abandoned!

Well, not really but ....yeah.

We had a BBQ yesterday. We had a few of my friends that I graduated from the PTA program over. We made lots of food and grilled corn...also stuffed jalapenos..mmmm. We watched the UFC fights while we ate.
Note to self: stuffed jalapenos should be eaten in moderation.

I'm starting to feel that now...during #2 time.

Miah had gotten an invitation to a slumber party so she wasn't there with us.
Here's what the invitation looked like:

I thought it was super cute. So of course she had to go. The invite said the party started at 6:30pm but she had been watching the clock since 7:30 am. She kept telling me that her little friend (the birthday girl-V) said she could go over early.

I didn't know if that was true. So Miah wanted to call and talk to her friend. I let Miah make the call and I sat by her to feed her her lines. Miah is 8 yrs old, It's time for her to start making her own calls.

I did it with Dom. If he wanted to ask someone something and it required making a phone call...I used to tell him that HE had to call them and ask himself. At first, he would just sit on the phone in silence and I would just look at him....wondering if he was going to say something. The other party would get tired of saying "Hello? Hello?". Then Dom would look at me and say.."What do I say?" Ughhh...used to drive me crazy. Now he knows and it's Miah's turn.

B-Day girl's(V) dad answers phone: Hello?

Miah...looks at me...: What do I say?

Me: Say..Hello is V there?

Miah: Is V there?

Dad: Who is this?

Miah: Her friend.

Dad: V!!!

V: hello?

Miah: Hi

V: Oh hi!

Miah: hi........................... Hello?

V: Hello?

Miah: I can still hear her...

Me: Well...talk to her

V: Hello?

Miah: Um, what time can we come over?

V: Oh!! HI MIAH!!

Miah: hi, what time can we come over?

V: Let me ask:

Miah: ok

V: (in the background of her phone) Mom! (bang, bang,bang) Mom!

Dad: DON'T BOTHER HER, SHE'S IN THE SHOWER! (never fails, huh?)

Mom: WHAT?

V: (yelling through bathroom door) Can Miah come over at five?

Mom: WHAT?

V: CAN MIAH COME OVER AT FIVE?

Mom: YEAH...OK.

V: (back on the phone with Miah) She said you can come over at five.

Miah: Ok

V: It's about time you call me Miah (then she hangs up).

Miah: Hello? ...She hung up.

So this all happened around 4:15. From then until 5pm I got a minute by minute update of the time from Miah.

She was like.."27 minutes.....25 minutes......22 minutes..."

I was like..."girl...go get your stuff together and take a quick shower so you can be ready"

She completed the countdown all the way to the last minute.

I took her and V's mother told me that V had been counting down since this morning too.

Little girls and slumber parties. They can't miss out on that.

I missed her last night (I miss her now). I missed hearing her laugh at Devyn's random comments. Devyn curled up and slept with me last night. Then I put him in his bed.

This morning Angel got the boys ready cause he and his friend were taking the boys with them fishing. As they were loading up everything I started to think....Oh good. Miah and I will have a girlie day and go eat breakfast.

But she's not here. And I pouted for a little bit.

I can't go pick her up early cause she would like to stay til the end. I pick her up at 1pm. It's 8:20 now.

Guess I'll start my countdown.

Spanked.

( know what you're thinking Jared...totally not what you think...)


A couple of days ago...

I spanked Dominique.

Now, I know what you're thinking...*gasp*.."you spank your children??"

YES! I DO.

I am a strong believer in spanking your children.
I was spanked when I was a child and I knew I didnt want to get spanked again so I refrained from repeating any crime I was spanked for.

Also, I've seen Maury and all those other show where these bad-ass kids are shown smoking and drinking and tellin their mommas off on TV. Mommas are sitting there crying about what a little hoodlum her 6 yr old has become.

Not gonna happen here.

I don't go around spanking my kids for every little offense.
In fact, Miah may have been spanked only 3 times in her life...and she's 8 now. (she's a good girl).

Devyn..maybe 5 and he's only 6 yrs old.

Dom..well..of course, more.

So here's the spanking story:

I rarely leave the kids alone in the house unless I am going to HEB or someplace that will only be a half hour trip. The kids know the rules and they follow them. I also leave an extra cell phone in the house for them to use to call me.

Well, I had just locked the door behind me and walked out to my truck and realized I left my cell on my bed. I go back in the house (unlocking the door quietly..cause we all like to sneak up on our kids to see what they are doing when they think you're not around) and I can hear Dom in the hallway talking (he's supposed to be in his room behind a closed door cause he was still grounded at this point). Miah sees me in the living room and I put my finger to my lips to signal a 'shhh'. I'm closer to the hall and I hear Dom telling Devyn, "It's the name of a song. Really. It's called F... me in the A..". (here he's actually saying the bad words) I'm thinking..WTF? I move closer and I can see Devyn on the floor (his back to me) on his knees sliding one of his hotwheels cars back and forth and Dom is standing by his doorway telling him this ..like 3 times.

I step into the hall and Dom looks at me and just froze. Then his head drops and he looks at the floor.

Me: What did you just say?

Dom: I was just telling him about a song.

Me: What song?

Dom: F...me in the A.. (he said it just like that too..without the bad words)


Me: That's not what I heard you telling Devyn.


Dom: Yes it is


Me: No dear...it isn't.


At this point...it went back and forth with him denying saying any bad words.

Now..I'm not dumb. I know he is running around cussing with all his little friends, he's 13 for goodness sake.

I sent Devyn out of the hall and into his room and I closed all the doors. Dom finally repeated to me what he had been saying to Devyn (with the bad words). I yelled at him for continuously repeating that phrase to a 6 yr old.

This is also the point where Devyn chimed in behind his closed door, "Six and a half!"


After the spanking, I explained to him that there was no need for him to speak that kind of language to his sister or brother. I know they are hearing out in the real world, but I prefer to raise my children to show respect for each other. I sent him to bed (this is around 6pm) without dinner.


The next day, he decided to make quesadillas for them.

That's Right Baby!!

Check this out...

I got paid today and went shopping.

I didn't get anything for me because that wasn't my objective.

I got started on the kids summer clothes. My poor babies have been just wearing anything. They are growing so fast it's hard to keep up.

I stopped at my favorite kid clothes shopping place (cause it's SUPER cheap and I think their clothes are passed down from other department stores...don't laugh...or do...I don't care)...and here is what I picked up:

For Dom:

2 pairs of swimming trunks, 2 shirts and a pair of jean shorts.

For Devyn:

2 pair of swimming trunks. 2 shirts and a pair of jean shorts...too.

For Miah:

2 pair of swimming shorts (I will have to find her some tops to go with them), 4 tops, and 2 pair of jean skirts.

Keep in mind..I didn't buy any this as 'outfits'. I bought them as individual pieces randomly around the store.

Here's thing. All of this had a grand total of 80 bucks. That's right..you read right. It came out to 87 bucks with tax.

The white swim trucks I got Dom were only $1.99.

The only thing about this shopping trip is that I didn't have the kids. I hope the clothes fit. Soon as I pick them up I'm going to make them strip and try on these clothes with my receipt clutched in one hand and the shopping bag in the other ready to make a U-y to the store to exchange if I have to.

Anyone want to go shopping with me?

Alright.......KATHY.

I see whacha doin, chica.

Now..why would you believe it was me that Jared was talking to? hmmm.
Cause he posted one of our conversations and it was a dorky conversation so you automatically linked it to me?....

OR...

You are still trying to draw the attention of our mutual friend toward me in the off-chance that he may still be a serial killer (cause it hasn't REALLY been proven otherwise). This way I may still be "appetizing"(I believe is your word) to him and he will come after me first.

That, my friend, is a NO-NO.

And maybe you are thinking that telling him a compelling story about a childbirthing experience (which was beautifully written, I must say) will sway him from looking at you first.

Not gonna happen.

NO WAY JOSE!

You see. You've already got him won over. I do believe in one of his earlier posts..he announced that you were his favorite blog so far. I haven't heard him exclaim anything else about a new favorite so I believe you are still top runner.
He's more fixated on you than me with the whole 'marriage in 10 yrs' so I feel pretty safe in the knowledge that my family should be safe for now.

Your plan has been thwarted. (or however they say it)

I read your blog about how you pretty much constantly run horrible tragic scenerios of things happening to the family...I do it to0.... constantly. So I am already one step ahead of you by deflecting your gestures. (if that makes any sense).

Remember....you started it.

Thank you for your time.

Your friend,

Sheila

Will it ever end???

Okay...So you know what's going to happen right? We are all going to get stuck tagging each other over and over again till one (or half a dozen more) of us decided we need to fake sick just to get out of playing "Tag".

No?
We like "Tag"?
Oh, Okay.
Carry on...


I'm glad Kathy detailed this last one. Instead of thinking of some random dumb line of info, I get to rack my brain thinking about all sorts of unorganized crap in my hippocampus. But still..when you put it like..."Five people I want to get to know better:"....it just makes it allllllll better.

So..moving on...

What I was doing 10 years ago?
In 1998 I was a cocktail waitress in a pool hall. I had 1 child (Dom) at the time and I was single. I have the same story as Kathy when it comes to the man and the girlie dressing. Met Angel and was learning to dress more girlie cause I always wore caps and jeans...etc. I hung around boys all the time.

Five Snacks I Enjoy:
-Ice cream...I like to try all kinds of new flavors but Blue Bell Chocolate Chip is my favorite.
-Sweet Tarts...especially the easter edition with the bunny and the chicks.
-Lasagna..I make spinach and mushroom lasagna
-Cereal...sugar smacks, apple jacks, strawberry cream frosted mini wheats.
-Milk Shakes...Strawberry banana..if not..Chocolate/strawberry.

Five Things On My To Do List Today:
-Pick up kids from latchkey
-make sure they do their chores/homework
-help Angel prepare for our fish fry tonight (mmmmm, fish..Jared..lots of it)
-make sure kids shower and brush their teeth
-Make Angel watch Medium with me (cause he says he hates it but he ALWAYS watches it with me...he loves it).

Things I would do if I were a billionaire:
-Buy a house, boat for Angel
-Buy my immediate family houses and distribute a reasonable amount of money to family members
-Trusts for kids
-private school...(maybe even military academy for Dom if he don't shape up.)
-sleep

Five jobs I have had:
-*ahem* massages in lingerie (I think I've mentioned that before)
-blockbuster video...(loved it),Movie Gallery -(again..video store and loved it too)
-Sirloin stockade-waitress (among many other restaurants)
-Stay at home mom..who eventually went to school leading to....
-Physical Therapist Assistant ...which I am currently

Five of my bad habits:
-Falling asleep while watching a movie after telling Angel he better not fall asleep while watching the movie
-Crashing out RIGHT after I just ate.
-Eating ice cream, feeling cold, cuddling up in blanket, falling asleep.
-rushing home to take a nap.
-longing for my bed

Five places I have lived:
-Abilene, Texas
-Spokane, Washington
-Alamogordo, New Mexico
-Richmond, Virginia
-New Braunfels...McAllen...San Antonio...Corpus Christi, Texas

Five People I want to get to know better:

-CJ at CJ's Story

-Erika at Mom 2 Five Bratz

-Jared at Chaotic Pantheon

-Shelby at Its a Wonderful Lie

-Heather at Mindless Junque

6 Random things about me:

-I can't stand whiney children or kids who run wild in public places
-My kids are the best (despite mild behavior problems)
-I wanna take showers with my husband but the Punk won't let me.
-I freak out a little every time my lesbian friend visits and she gets out of the shower and sits on my bed naked...it shocks me every time.
-I leave work 2 hours early just so that I can have "ME" time before I have to get the kids
-I love when my kids visit their Aunts and Uncles for a WHOLE summer.

There ya have it.
Do with it what you will.

Now..if you don't mind.. I need to make sure we have all of the ingredients for tonight's fish fry before Angel gets home from work. No sense making him stop and get them..we'd never eat.

Question.....

Okay..I was reading several answers to the question..

Without ever being able to wash them, be forced to forever use the same bath towel -or- sleep in the same sheets?

The majority of the answers I saw were "use the same sheets"

Why people?

Why would you use the same sheets ....forever???

Have you never heard of bed bugs?

I choose the: SAME TOWEL.

Mainly because your ass should be clean enough to pat dry with a towel. Now if you are the type of person who constantly drags the towel between your *ahem*"cheeks" this would be a problem and I say stick with the sheets.

You should be able to scrub your body, get out of the shower, pat yourself dry with the towel (that way only clean water comes in contact with the towel) and then hang the towel outside to dry appropriately.

If you are the type of person who sweats in the night on your nasty ass sheets...choose the towel.
That's just my rationale.

I was tagged by The Romero Diaries...

Six things about me:

1)..I am exactly 4 yrs older than my husband.
2)..I absolutely love...sleeping alone
3)..I'm still working on trying not to move to the valley.
4)..I finally put on a dress today (even though my boobs were trying to pop out of it).
5)..I'm looking forward to spending a summer alone (even though I totally adore all of my children)
6)...(in my younger years) I used to give massages in lingerie.....(shhhhhhh).

2 more weeks...

Well, technically 9 days of school left.

I am closing out the school year with 2 children who continued to stay on the "A" honor roll (of course they are 6 and 8 yrs old) and 1 who may return to his current grade come the next school year.
All of the kids were going to go to the Valley this summer to stay with my mom so I can work and not worry about who is going to watch them. My commute to work is too far for me to leave them home alone daily comfortably.

Dom is skating on thin ice....again.

I've been through this last year. Only thing then was that he failed only one class (language arts) and was required to attend summer school. He was in NY at the time visiting my brother and I wasn't able get enough money to fly him home in time to start summer school. (I had actually decided that I WASN'T going to spend the money). He started the next school year back in the 6th grade. Halfway through the school year he was able to take a 'credit by examination' test that placed him into the 7th grade.

This year he is in the 7th grade and at risk of repeating it again.

Now, I ask this....when do children learn to kick in it gear and get their shit together?

This year for him is a little different. He is failing 3 classes. 3 OF HIS CORE CLASSES that are mandatory passing classes in order to be promoted to the next grade.
Science
Math
Language Arts

Here's the dilema:

We got a letter in the mail stating that they have 'reserved' a place for Dom in summer school. He is to attend from June 9th through July 3rd from 8 am-12 pm Monday -Thursday.

Which means if he is in summer school, he will be staying with me during some of the summer and at noon I will have to drive back from work to pick him up and take him BACK to work with me for the rest of my work day. Also, since there is no summer school on Friday..he will be at work with me all day.
This will be going on for 4 weeks.

Angel will be out of town working for the summer so it will just be Dom and I.

This will only happen provided he brings up his grades and passes at least 1 of those core classes.
The summer school info clearly states that he is only able to make up 2 classes. If he doesn't bring his grades up..no summer school and he will be in 7th grade again.

I know you will think this is mean but I told him that I will not allow him to take another credit by examination test in the 7th grade to move him up to the 8th. Especially since he isn't putting in any effort to bring up his grades.

I had a long talk with him about all of this and come to find out..he tells me that he "is doing his homework...just not turning it in". WTF?

Why would you do your homework and not turn it in? Defeats the whole purpose.

When I asked him about his theatre arts grade which went from a 94 to a 71...he tried to tell me that he didn't do his monologue. That the teacher handed out a paper on it one day and they did it the same day and he didn't get a paper and he didn't do it.
When asked why he didn't do it he said, "because I didn't have a partner."

Now come on. Do I look like an idiot to you? A partner?! For a MONOlogue?!

I called him on it and he realized his mistake. I busted out laughing cause I thought it was a ridiculous excuse. He tried to run from my room crying, "Stop laughing at me!"
Whatever..I called his ass back and told him he should have saved the theatrics for theater arts class cause this shit doesn't work for me.

He has been grounded since we first got this last report card. He is supposed to be grounded to his room and only come out for chores, dinner, shitting and showering. Of course he pops out of his cell as if he wasn't on restriction to the other areas of the house.
He's become very inconsiderate.

My friend Jen was visiting and she had bought some fast food and left it in a bag next to her belongings. We left to run an errand and when we got back the bag was empty. We asked him if he ate it and he said yes. We asked him why he did if it didn't belong to him and he simply said, "it was just sitting there."

So I told Jen to go into his room and grab anything from there that she would like to have because...'it was just sitting there".
He gets into everyone's things and takes them even though he knows they don't belong to him. I've tried to break him out of this but I found it to be pointless. I've done the whole going into his room to take things away from him but he continues. There was a time where he had stopped for awhile but those times seem to be over.

Any suggestion?

So much for my summer alone.

Miah is such a girl.

But she's a lot like her mommy and daddy.

Check out her school pic.


(if you can see her shirt. she has little skulls on it. She sneaks her clothes to school and picks what she is going to wear on free dress day. I send her to school in her uniform)

Smooth Talker

Well that seems to be what my youngest Devyn is known for. He seems to be able to negotiate his way out of getting into trouble.


I went to get the kids from Latchkey and Miah said she REALLY needed to go to the restroom. She was looking urgent. So I said, "what's the matter Miah? Do you need to make caca or what?"


She did.


She wanted me to go with her down the hall to the restroom and as I was walking off ..one of the latchkey coaches was yelling to me that she needed to talk to me. I said, "Okay, When I get back from the restroom."

So I'm in the school restroom listening to Miah actually grunting and groaning and making conversation to me about how the 1st stall is her favorite stall cause the toilet seat is lower and some other nonsense all the while I was thinking about which one of the boys was in trouble. Naturally, I thought it was Dom cause of his previous track record. Finally Miah is finished she washes her hands and we walk out and Dom is standing there. I ask him, "Does the coach need to talk to me because of you?"


He says, "nope, Devyn..and I won't tell you what it's about."


I said, "alright, don't tell me, Id rather find out from her anyway." (somehow info gets distorted when it is filtered through children)


So as we turn the corner before the long hallway to the latchkey area, I look down the hall and there is Devyn. He is waiting for me and he darts out of sight. I take my time walking down the hall and I see him conferencing with the latchkey coach. I walk up to the table and they kind of sidestep out of earshot and they are doing a lot of nodding. I see her mouth the word 'Okay' and Devyn walks away toward me and just stands there like nothing is going on.

I sign out the kids and ask her loudly if she needed to talk to me and she tells me "no".

I ask Devyn is everything alright and if there is anything I should know and he says that everything is fine.


Alright. Apparently he struck some kind of deal with the coach to do better tomorrow and she won't tell me about today.


Let's see if that sticks.


Ladies and Gentlemen,

If you see this face, please be prepared to get talked out of something:



(Go ahead and laugh...I busted out laughing when I saw this pic too) He was sooooo proud of losing those dang top front teeth.

My fun filled days....

Okay...So I took a few days away from blogging...well, not because I WANTED to, but because I HAD to. I really had to jump into gear these days.

So I'll start with:

SUNDAY. Mother's Day.

For those of you who read my very first blog. How I ranted, bitched and moaned a little because my husband totally forgot our anniversary. Yup. Ninth year in a row. My last words were how I wasn't looking forward to Mother's Day. I knew he would forget.


Well he didn't. He was actually telling me everyday to my face for at least 5 days before the day, how he knew when Mother's Day was. He got me 4 Gb mp3 player. It's SUPER cute. Very sleek. Plays Videos, the radio, voice records, audiobooks...etc. It's an RCA Opal.


Then, we packed to go to the river to let the kids play and fish. We took two cars. Miah rode with me and the boys rode with Angel. We're close to our destination and I notice that Miah is scratching and scratching and scratching her head. I froze for a second. I asked her, "Miah, why are you scratching your head?" her response, "cause it itches."

Me: "well, stop scratching.".......as if that were the solution.


You know what's coming next right???


I get there and we park. I instantly start looking through her hair and....yup. You guessed it. Little nits in her hair. I only saw a couple but that was enough to freak me out. Angel comes over to her window and asks what's going on and I tell him about her head and he's like ...."oh."


Typical.

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY TO ME!


Understand this people!! We are not that family that always has their kids at school with lice. You know who I am talking about cause you all have one or more of those families that frequent the schools.

WE ARE NOT THAT FAMILY!


Now that we got that clear.

She obviously got it from someone at school. The boys didn't have it. Of course, they barely have any hair. But still.

So immediately, I take off to the grocery store (I leave Miah behind cause...you know...I don't need any "extra passengers" in my truck).

At this point, I'm a little upset because this is what I have to do on Mother's Day. NOT TO MENTION.. going home and washing ALLLLL the sheets, pillowcases, towels, clothes and anything else that may possibly be infested. I have to spray ALLL the mattresses, pillows, couches...etc. to make sure they don't keep coming back. (All of which I did on Monday cause I called into work to spend the WHOLE day washing and cleaning) .

Now back to Miah.

I get back to the river with some bread and a RID kit. I lined the back of my truck with plastic and propped Miah up on it while I rubbed that shampoo in her hair. 10 mins later, I set up a chair under one of the containers that Angel uses as clean water for us to wash our hands or rinse off with when we go to the beach. Angel had an extra poncho in his tackle box so I put it on her and got to work.

I am not an expert at cleaning hair to get rid of head lice by any means, trust me..this is not a hobby of mine, but since it came down to me having to defend my child from these things..there's no messing around with doing a half-assed job.
I did the deed. And decided this little incident wasn't going to mess with my day. We still had a great time at the river (even though I was dreading the work at home).




When the time came.
I left early and got started on the job at home.
I called the school the next morning to let them know the situation and that way they can check all the kids in class.
I kept Miah out of school for two days. The Monday that we both stayed home and Tuesday just to make sure that the parents got the memo and took care of any potential problems with their kids.
This morning I took Miah to school so that the nurse could inspect her head and she went to class. The nurse told me that she has had several kids that were totally infested with it and Miah must have gotten it from them because one of the kids parents doesn't believe in using a treatment to rid their kids of lice (see...told you we weren't that family). Just combing them out is supposed to be sufficient for this family.OH HELL NO.
I turned to Miah and told her not to touch anyone, hug anyone, put her head next to anyones. The little girls in her class like to hug her when they see her and I told her she better tell them that 'High Fiving' is the new thing now.

I'm still trying to destress.
-------------------------------------------------------------

So you know how I say we are moving then I change my mind and said we decided to stay and find a place here?..

Well, we decided we were moving again.

Tune in next week ..we may decide to stay.

Who knows..my friend said we were wishy washy.

We just may be.

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

The kids decided to bake me ....not 1 but 2 cakes (of course I bought it for them) and they decorated them.

Here they are:
This one is Dom's..The flavor of the cake is Banana.

This one is Miah and Devyn's: Their cake flavor is Strawberry. I split their cake in half because they didn't need such a big area to decorate.
Miah's part is on the left and Devyn's is on the right. They only put the initials H. M. D.

Well, looks like I'm going to fall into a sugar coma this week.

Dom and Miah also made me breakfast in bed...scrambled eggs, toast and milk.

I love all my babies and their efforts.

To all the Mother's out there: Have a Happy Mother's Day!!!

10 YEARS AGO....

I was going to write all this loving stuff about Angel a while back but then he pissed me off.

I placed it on hold until he came to his senses.

So anyway...this is a short story about when I met him 10 yrs ago and all he has done for me and Dom.(I won't be selfish and talk about all that I've done for him cause that list would be endless).

Here goes:

Angel was 21 when I met him (I was 25). I was working as a cocktail waitress at a pool hall (yes I had no life) when we first met. And I have to admit...I was hot..back then.

He had come in with a buddy of his and was standing with his back to me and that's when it happened.

Love at first site (I know it's corny..but it's true). Actually, I didn't even see his face yet. I could see his build and his nice legs and that was enough for me. I walked past him to deliver drinks to a table and he only saw me from behind at that time. (he told me it was love at first site too...Yes..more corniness).

Now, there is another waitress there who spotted him too. All through the night she was hitting on him and trying to get him to talk to her. (little did she know...he was SUPER shy). Finally, she comes up to me and tells me that he wanted to know my name. Okay. I tell her to let him know what it is and so she now goes from being the person who wants him to being the person who relays our messages.

Back and forth this went on for a good hour. At the end, she comes to me and tells me that he wants to talk to me.

Okay. So I put my stuff down and walk over to him and ask him.."did you want to talk to me?"

He looked stunned. He mumbled something about meaning some other time when it was quiet or something. I couldn't hear him. (at that time he was very soft spoken) not like now.

So long story shorter...we end up talking on the phone a lot ... and most of our conversations were me telling him to talk "into" the phone cause I couldn't hear him very well and he was always telling me that he was talking into the phone.

At this point, I was living with my roommate (who happened to be his distant cousin and we didn't know this at the time) we lived in the Valley and he lived up here past Corpus.

What he didn't know for a whole month was that I had a child (Dom). He was 3 yrs old at the time. The only reason I didn't tell him was because I had dated several people before him and I just didn't need Dom to be trying to get attached to any one particular person. Dom mostly stayed with my parents because I worked nights and was trying to get my act together.

So the time came when I decided I was going to go ahead and tell Angel about Dom. I grabbed the phone and went and locked myself in the bathroom to have some privacy. I still wasn't sure how I was going to tell him or how he was going to take it.

So, I call and we are having just normal casual conversation. Finally..I blurt it out. "I have a kid."

Silence.

Silence.

Me: "hello?"

Him: "I know."

Silence

Me: "how did you know?"

Him: "because I overheard you telling someone that you needed to get stuff for a birthday party so I just figured you had a kid."

Well, that was easy. This birthday conversation was almost a month ago so by my calculations......he knew pretty much the whole time we have been dating. Later on, we discussed why he never said anything and he said he was just waiting for me to bring it up.

He had already told his parents and all of his family so they already knew before I even decided to tell HIM. They didn't mind. Of course they had their doubts about all of it but they were never ugly or rude to us about it (at least not to our face).

From then on...it was the 3 of us. (until my other 2 children came along, but that's another story). He has taken care of us since we've been together and he continues to do so despite having severe Rheumatoid Arthritis since he was 23.

For those of you who know me...you know my husband likes to fish...a lot. That's what he does to this day.

That's it..that's the short story.

So...I was on my hands and knees today.

Yup.

I got out of work and my friend Jenn had been visiting for a couple of days so that she could house hunt during the week. She is moving up in June and she was looking at places.
She was just getting ready to leave and I walked into the kitchen to get something to drink...and I saw it.

Something scurried across the kitchen floor.
Okay..so I live in an apartment which means my kitchen floor my be only about 5 ft wide.....and it was easy to spot. Not to mention the fact that it was white and tan and scurried pretty slowly.

The stupid gerbil (Shadow) got out..again.

I think fast. I need to block the entrance so it (he) doesn't get out and hope he doesn't run behind the stove or fridge. I run and tell my friend Jenn that I need her to help me catch this thing.

Like a friend..she did.

I grabbed the cage and put it at the entrance with the side door down like a ladder back up into the cage. The last time I did this It was because he ran behind the entertainment center. I had to trap him there and herd him back up the ladder and into the cage.

It worked then.. it'll work now.

So I'm blocking off parts of the door way with one of Angel's lunch boxes and his cage in the middle with the ladder down. There was only a small space (maybe 3 inches) on the far right corner of the door that I was covering just in case. Jenn's job was to stay behind me and grab him in case he ever got past me.

He ain't gettin past me.

So Shadow starts inching his way toward his cage (like I knew he would) and as he gets closer...I see in his eyes that he caught on. It was like he jerked his head a little and was like.."oh...I've been here before". And like THAT *snap fingers*. He darted his little pudgy body towards me like a fuzzy bullet.
It's a good thing I have cat-like reflexes cause let me tell you....that's EXACTLY what I looked like. A friggin cat pouncing up and down on all fours with my front paws cupping the ground in all different places trying to catch Shadow, who for some reason kicked it into turbo and started zig zagging all the way past me.

"JENN!!! GET HIM!!

Poor Jenn (who was already convinced that she wasn't going to have to actually participate...because I was so cocky about the fact that " he wasn't going to get past me anyway") actually had to spring into action and land on all fours too.

Shadow flew right past her.

Straight behind the entertainment center.

Me: "Okay, we got this".

Jenn: "Grab something so we can trap it or cover it".

Right then I grabbed the laundry basket and was getting in position on one side of the entertainment center and Jenn was on all fours ready to catch him on the other side.

Bare-handed.

(See where this is going folks??)

At this time Shadow must have had another one of his "oh I've been here before" moments and decided to dart straight for the hands who belonged to the girl who was convinced by me that she wasn't even gonna have to do a thing.

So he rushes past her into the hall and straight into a room.

Jenn: "He went into the room."

Me: "What room? Not Dom's room! Noo, not there! We'll NEVER find him in there!!"

Sure enough. Dom's room.
Dom's room is a disaster.

Lucky for us that we have a spare mattress under Dom's bed and his TV stand is right next to the bed and the door so it cornered off. The gerbil ran directly into the corner amids all the crap under, behind and beside the stand. Jenn had the basket and I coaxed it out again and sure enough...we caught him. Not with our hands of course.
Now I had to just reach under and grab it and put it in his cage.
I reached under the basket trying to keep my hand as flat as I could and snatch it. As soon as it got near my hand it saw the gaps that were on the sides of my hand and tried to make a run for it.
I swear. I looked like a fricken cat again pawing around trying to catch the gerbil. I caught it though and finally got it stabilized in my hands while we looked for the piece of cage that was missing. Can't find it in this messy room.

Whatever...I turned the basked over and stuck him in there, he can't climb out because it's one of those round tall ones.

Jenn finally got to leave and I am going to get the kids now...they're gonna love this story.

Totally inappropriate to show but....

I was debating about whether or not to post this and then I thought...whatever....

Now please keep in mind....THIS IS NOT ME.



Don't get confused please and not pay much attention to what is being written.



This is a picture I came across on one of my friend's myspace profile pages as a comment they received.



Don't pay much attention to the fact that this chick (whoever she is) was bold enough to take a pic of herself in this get-up, but ........







....the fact that she REALLY wasn't paying much attention to her surroundings.

Need a little help...

Does anyone know of any good places to take my Hi 8 cheapy camcorder tapes to get them converted into DVD? Does Walmart or Target or any accessible place do that?

Maybe I should have checked them out before asking here...Oh well.

Maybe if you know of any websites where I can ship them off to so it can be done??

I have several tapes that need to be converted and they are all family stuff.
(nothin dirty or naughty--ya pervs) besides, all my high teck equipment gets used on that stuff.


awww...I'm lying...I use the same stuff. I can't afford the high tech stuff dammit!


Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Dang it!

Obviously I came across J's blog and so here it is:

1) Three days from now will you kiss someone?
I have kids...I kiss someone everyday..or ..is that not the type of kiss you were talking about?

2) What color are your eyes?
Doo Doo Brown

3) What does your third text say
"Goodnight, Love you"

4) And who was it from?
Angel

5) Do you like what you see in the mirror?
Only when dressed

6) What are you wearing right now?
jeans and a T-shirt.

7) What are you most looking forward to?
Not having car payments again.

8) Gotta work today?
Nope...played hookie.

9) Have you kissed anyone on the lips within the past 7 hours?
7 hrs? Nope..11 hrs..yeah..the kids before school...or are we still talking about a different type of kissing??

10) Have you ever been awake for 48 hours?
Well..I've been awake during some of these 48 hrs. I'm a sleepy-head. I've been asleep for the majority though.

11) Do you like your first name?
yes, only if you don't sing that song by Ready For the World.

12) Do you like to cuddle?
Sure..as long as I don't get smothered in your chest...I have a small phobia of being suffocated.

13)What are you listening to?
The kids in the background sorting out their chores and possibly negotiating with each other.

14) What are your initials?
SPH

15) Baseball or football?
Baseball...only because I know all the rules...Oh and Basketball for the same reason.

16) Married?
Yes,....Is there a celebration every year about it??? Well...one of us always remembers.

17) Favorite kind of blanket?
Any one that I can hog all to myself.

18) What's your biggest fear?
Something terrible happening to any one of my children.

19) How do you feel about chocolate-covered strawberries?
Giving or Getting? I'm a greedy pig so I prefer getting and not really sharing...but I have kids who hover when I eat sweets soooo..that doesn't always work.

20) What kind of soap do you use?
Dove or Ivory..less irritating on the kid's skin.

21) Europe or the Caribbean?
I was born in England...does that count? Never been to the Caribbean.

22) How do you feel about racism?
I don't.

23) Who is the sexiest person alive?
Well..maybe David Boreanaz and T. J. Thyne of Bones ....and for some reason Dule Hill of Psych.
(what? no 24?)

25) Name a song that reminds you of old memories?
When Miah was a baby we would put on a Destiny's Child CD and it would totally calm her down.

26) Do you like the color gray?
Sure...if I'm wearing sweats.

27)Is there anyone you can't stop thinking about?
Everyone...there..that covers it all.

28) Look outside, how's the weather?
Very sunny and it sucks cause I wanted to take a good nap in the rain today and the weatherman lied.

29) Are you jealous of anyone right now?
Sure..I'm always jealous of anyone who has more money than I do....one day...ONE DAY!

30) Did you ever think someone didn't like you, but came to find out they really did?
Yeah...at work. Not really important.

31) Last time you ate grilled cheese?
Probably about a few weeks ago. The kids make it for me now.

32) Name something great that happened today?
I spent the whole day just doing what I wanted to do cause I didn't go to work.

33) Do you regret doing something today?
Naaa...no regrets.

34) When you think of the rainbow, what pops in your head?
My lesbian friends...They have flags everywhere.

35) How are you feeling?
Almost frustrated but not really. The kids are home so there is always a slight elevation in anxiety when they are around.

36) Do you watch the Oscars?
Nope.

37) Favorite movie?
Love and Basketball...kickin soundtrack...for us people from 'that side of the tracks'. (no #38 either, huh?)

39) Desktop or Laptop?
Desktop....although my friend tells me she can get me a laptop for $250..hmmm..(shhhh).

40) Would you date someone 10 years older than you?
I wouldn't really mind as long as he doesn't ask me to change his diaper or clean his dentures.

41) What would you do if your significant other wanted to go into the military?
What's the difference...mine already travels with his company so I am usually alone with the kids...although he isn't carrying any guns.

43) What's your dream car?
Any car that is driven for me and someone puts the gas for me.

44) Have you lost contact with someone you wish you didn't?
Yeah..I am still looking for her though.

45) List one fact about you?
I am EXACTLY 4 yrs older than my husband.

46) Do you think you're old?
No..but then again...maybe it's denial...or dementia...who knows.

47) Are you afraid of the dark?
Nope...my favorite time of the day.

There...any more questions?

Decided.

Well...
Angel and I decided that we weren't going to move to the Valley after all. After weighing the pros and cons of moving...the cons won out.

The upsetting part about it is that right after we put our foot down and finally decided that we were sticking to this decision, I get a call from a business owner who offered me $30/hr to work for them in Harlingen (the Valley).
The only thing keeping me from throwing my hands in the air and changing my mind again is mentally listing all the renovations that will need to be done to the house we were planning on moving into. That coupled with the commute (gas wasted) to and from work everyday from the house to work. It all comes out the same as being here MINUS the expense that it cost to actually do the moving.

My little sister is a little bit upset because we aren't moving there closer to her but it's only 2 hrs away and my parents live there along with all of Angel's family members. A visit every now and then will be sufficient.

On the bright side, my best friend is moving up here early next month. So we will finally be living in the same city and won't have to travel back and forth to visit.
I'm super excited AND Angel gets to stay and fish like there's no tomorrow.
-------------------------------------------------
Dominique has a girlfriend. He's only newly 13 and this little girl is 14. I think she may be a little to advanced for him. She told ME that as soon as she saw him she wanted to just kiss him because he was so little and cute. She was actually chasing him around cars and he was really running. She's a lot taller than he is.
Now here's the thing....

He's GROUNDED.

He didn't get good enough grades this past 6 weeks to be socializing (and what I mean by good enough grades....72 being the highest grade out of all 6 of his classes). That won't do. I told him that he is not allowed to socialize with anyone until I see some improvements in his grade. Hopefully he will make it out of the 7th grade.
He thought we were moving, and since we aren't, he is going to be in the same school next year possibly with the previous 6th graders.
This is definately a consequence that he will have to face.

-------------------------------------------------
Miah got paid and spent all her money on Monday. Now she is sitting around doing more chores to earn more money to spend. They need another lesson.

Lesson 1: Make money

Lesson 2: Bookkeeping

Lesson 3: Budgeting/Saving

There's another lesson here (negotiating) which Devyn is becoming a master at but we aren't working on that yet.

Anyway...Tonight I am serving leftover Lasagna. The kids liked it last night...they'll love it tonight.

PAYDAY!!!

Today was the first payday for the 'Kids Paid Chores' test run experiment...(I need a better name). Well, not actually today..yesterday seeing as how it is now 3:20 am on Monday. I went to bed at 7:30. Why? I don't know. Laziness. I took the kids to an illuminated light parade on Sat night...more about that later. Anyway, I woke up at 2 cause Angel fell asleep on the couch and he came in to bed at that time mumbling something about me leaving him out there. whatever dude...I don't mess with bears in hibernation.

So..anyway.. I am up also cause I remember the stupid blockbuster movies are due on Sunday and I was freaking out because of their new rules about returns and after 5 days they charge the amount of the movies to your bank account and you only get store credit.

CRAP!!

I had 3 movies out that were due and my stupid ass knocked out at 7pm!!

So I started shuffling around the house wondering if I should drive over there at 3 am to turn in the movies and hope that I don't get charged.

You are probably wondering...Why don't you just drop them off in the morning before you go to work, the store won't even be open then and it serves the same purpose?

Answer: Because my Dumb Ass will forget! I know it. No way around it.

I know that Angel isn't going to work because he is waiting on an appointment to open up at the dentist for him. So he will be home all day.

You are probably wondering...Why don't you have Angel drop them off in the morning before they open?

Answer: Because I can't rely on that Sloth. He will have the movies with him allllll day in the truck and decide to drop them off at 3 pm. Even if I call to remind him...which I won't because I'm at work and already forgot about the movies.

So I took them.

Now...back to my original topic...

The kids got paid today. Of course I had to make this a business adventure for them because I don't want them to become naive about money.

Here is the list...

The kids started asking me.."What's monies?"

Anywho....so here's how it went...I decided to go with the random pick from a jar idea first. It worked for a little while but then they started not wanting to do what they picked. Dom was mostly washing dishes. Miah the living room and Devyn liked cleaning the dining room and microwave. Each of them had to keep track of the chores they did each day and the amount of each chore. Then they had to submit it to me with the week's total in order to get paid every Sunday.

Here's Miah adding up hers.

Here's what I got....

Dom's list: He actually got $4.20 because he threw the trash. I told him that next time if it wasn't on the list he wasn't getting paid for it.

Miah's list: She actually got $3.74. She didn't count a bathroom job. I told her that the same rule applied to her.

Devyn's list: Apparently he decided to do the math in his head. He actually thought he was going to get paid $550,755.00.

As I was cracking up in the corner... my friend Jen showed him how to add it up.

He really got paid $1.70.

The kids are happy. I'm happy I don't really have to do much work.

All is right with the world.

Well...since it's 4:30 I guess I may as well try to get a couple more hours of sleep before I have to get up for work.