My darling husband has a talent for stating something, and then having it happen.

Back in 1997 I discovered this when I was watching a movie about Saint Theresa, and how when she died the house she died in filled with roses. He was not paying attention and said “What? Mother Theresa died?” That was September 4th, 1997…. on September 5th, 1997 this world lost a great woman when Mother Theresa died.

He also put a ton of Chinese restaurants out of business when he told me that by us ordering from another place, and this “cheating” on our regular place we were going to put them under. One by one, he put three Chinese restaurants out of business.

There are countless other examples… but the most recent happened on Saturday. I got Bobby a new laptop at Best Buy to replace his four year old one that was dying. On Sunday he comments that we probably need to replace our modem, as it was a couple years old and probably far behind the times and a new one would give us more speed…. so who do you think I wanted to throttle this morning when I woke up and I had no internet?? A 30 minute call to tech-support revealed that my area was fine, Qwest was fine, I just could not connect to my ISP. Since Best Buy carries the Qwest DSL products we need and has a return policy, so I met Bobby at the store and we got a new modem.

We get it home, and the fun continues… we hook it up and encounter one silly problem after another, and when the Internet light fails to light up, I call tech support back. This time I am on the phone for an hour and nothing works. He tells me he has no choice but to send tech support out on Wednesday, but in a last desperate attempt tells me to unplug the modem and plug it in again. He is just about to put me on hold to get the appointment time, when the light comes on and ta-dah, we have internet!

While I was on the phone, our friends brought their 18 month old by. Matthew had a lot of fun playing with his new friend as he called her. At one point, they ran up to each other to hug and it was like the movie cliche of a couple running up to each other to hug, except for his little friend ran harder and knocked him onto his ass and landed right on top of him… where is the video camera when you need one? It was a total AFV moment.

Sophie’s little sheepy came in too, she loved her “soft”… this is a name my niece gave my parents sheep skin that they brought back from New Zealand; all the other grandbabies loved it so much, I wanted one for Sophie. Pictures and more plugs to come in the morning!!

Miss Sophie got to wear the onsie that was passed from Christopher to Matthew to her. This was the very first baby gift I received and [start geekyness] it was given to me by the Sysop of the BBS I had been a member of for 3? 4? maybe even 5? years of my life at that time. [/end geekyness]

Sophie was called a boy at Best Buy today… I told myself after 3 boys, if I ever had a daughter she would never leave doubt in anyone’s mind as to her gender. Oops!

This morning, Sabin was a furry door mat, this is how I found him when I opened my bedroom door:

When I got up, my house was 78 degrees! Why? Because Matthew decided to turn the thermostat up and then move the button over to heat! HOLY HECK it was hot! I think he was trying to prepare my friend Julia for 100 degree heat for her trip back home to Vegas. We were very sad to see her go.

….every child expresses his or her creativity by modifying their personal appearance. Depending on the child, depends on the medium they use. Some use markers, some use makeup, and some use scissors.

Or, like my children, they use all of the above at one time or another. Last night, Matthew used them all, except when I was scraping aftershave out of my heating vents and scrubbing lipstick off his cheek I did not notice his new hairstyle.

This morning it became a little more apparent

So after Austin’s trip to Best Buy to spend his money he has been saving since Christmas, I dropped off Bobby and the kids and took Matthew to get his hair cut for the second time this week. The after looks almost as bad as the first because there is only so much you can do to fix someone else’s mistake.

As soon as he was finished with his haircut he ran behind the counter and said “I need a lollypop” and he had it in his mouth before I could even say no. Ugh.

Oh my goodness, the tax stuff this year has me wanting to pull my hair out.

First, we waited FOREVER from a W-2 from his college, it just came yesterday, so I was thrilled to be able to finally file… however, because one of our forms we did is one of the four forms the IRA is not accepting until at least the 11th I went ahead and filed, having the online Tax place hold it for e-file until the forms will be accepted.

So today… what do I get but another form!! This time a 1099-Misc from freelance writing that I was not expecting. I made $75 more than what I would not have to claim, so now I have to amend my taxes. Worse yet, because they do not deduct taxes, I will end up OWING! It looks to be around $200 from first glance. CRAP. We already owe the state $600 (plus whatever this little surprise will cost us) in taxes and my real estate taxes are $800 and due too. Since our federal return is going 100% to paying off his car, that leaves around $1600 we owe, and soon, that we don’t have the money to pay all at once!! Hopefully the economic relief (which I am SO against) will come and then we can put that towards the “economy”… a la taxes… woot!

This is just frustrating enough to be comical….especially since I have not done much freelancing, or so I thought!

I remember when tax time used to be FUN!!

Today was supposed be Austin & Christopher’s first day back to school after a LONG, LOOOOOOOOOOONG winter break, but the school had other plans and I guess we missed the start date and assumed it was today.

Nope, it’s tomorrow. I leaned this after Austin called me to ask if I wanted him to walk home or if I would pick him up from school. W.T.F??? Why would I be picking you up from school 15 minutes before classes start?? He then explains there is no school today, so I get dressed and drive to get him in my freezing ass van. The heat was on full blast the entire time, but of course never kicked on. Twenty-damn-degree weather is NOT the time to have no heat, and totally not a great way to start the day. Bobby also showed me the hideous clicking noise it makes instead of cooling. Lovely. A full year without heating, cooling, and four kids ages 12-newborn… how ever did I get so lucky?? Oprah needs to give me a new van, otherwise my only hope of having a vehicle that keeps the passengers happy, does not turn my driveway into an oil slick, and does not smell like death warmed over every time it is started is some rich long lost relative kicking it and leaving me their fortune. Otherwise I just don’t see us having the $37k I would need for a van anytime this decade. At least in a year when my POS-car is paid off I can justify a car payment.

I am exhausted. I got two hours of sleep total last night in 30 minute increments. The dogs are at my feet with horrible gas, and I am hungry and feeling quite nauseous. The worlds-crankiest-toddler has decided today would be a great day for fits and tantrums… because he did not want a clean diaper, did not want to eat, and lord forbid I watch the news this morning instead of Sesame Street or the Wiggles. This is of course after he dominated the television for an hour.

I just want to crawl back in bed and emerge to happy kids and a working vehicle.

I hate my van, I hate it, I hate it, I hate it! I should have taken it back the moment we got it home and it started leaving oil spots on my driveway, or sold it when the dealership could not fix the leak the first, second, third, fourth, or even FIFTH time I had it in for a visit. The perpetual overheating smell it lovely, even when you drive it two blocks to the store. I have cussed at it all winter long when I go start it at 7:00 to find it still blowing cold air at 7:15 and get home from taking Austin to school at 7:35 JUST for it to start warming up. Today takes the cake though, I get two blocks away to a stop light and it sounds like I have a pain can full of marbles in the paint mixer coming from the dash of my car. It was the most hideous sound ever to where the baby was saying “too loud mommy, too loud!” and Bobby could hear it through the cell phone when I called to bitch. I wish it was paid off, I really do, because I want nothing more just to get rid of it and get something that is not falling apart at my fingertips!

Seriously people… it is Friday, you don’t have to act like fools because the weekend is here. How many jerks can I encounter in a 10 minute drive??

To the man in the Suburban: If you plan on disregarding the STOP sign and pulling out in front of me, can you at LEAST have the decency to go the speed limit?? Going 15 under is going to do nothing but piss off the drivers you illegally pulled in front of. I understand that reading a stop sign may be too difficult, but if the speed limit sign says 35, could you please at least match up the number on your odometer that looks the same? I get that you are driving a beater, and it may not go that fast, but WHY on earth were you heading to a road with a 50 MPH speed limit?? You can’t even make it up to 35! However after meeting asshole #2, I guess you are just a mini-hole.

To the MAIN asshole in the green SUV: Your kids go to the same school as mine, which means I see you 2x a day. WHY do you have to act like the world’s biggest (or maybe I should say littlest?) prick? Let me educate you on something… the little yellow lane in the middle of the road is called a turn lane, to allow you to turn onto residential streets. It was NEVER intended to be a passing lane. If a truck stalls and takes up the right lane, and also takes up the middle lane, it is STILL first come first serve on who gets to go first. Since I was there first, that would be ME, not you. You do NOT have the right to zip around me just because the stick up your ass is pinching you and causing you physical pain. A nice head on collision might be a nice refresher on how to drive, but no one deserves to be injured at the hands of your road rage. The 30 seconds you saved by speeding past me is NOT WORTH THE LIVES OF YOU CHILDREN!! And VERY not worth the lives of my own children. Had I been an inpatient prick like you, you would have slammed into the back of my car and I would have sued you for everything you own, including the shirt on your back. Take a pill and calm the fuck down buddy, we ALL have to share the road.

To the police department: Sorry you are so understaffed, overworked, and underpaid, we could have really used the revenue from these assholes to balance the city budget.

While in the grocery store on Saturday, we ran into Austin’s little friend in 5th grade, whom I did not particularly care for (he was in trouble a lot at school). The mom asked what school Austin was going to and I replied [Name Withheld] Charter School, and she said “Oh, my son goes to [Name Withheld] Middle School. I figure, sure it has a lot of fights and drug problems, but what school doesn’t?”

My jaw dropped. As a parent, is that really the selling point you want to describe your 6th graders education?? I cannot begin to say enough about Austin’s school, how wonderful the teachers, administrators and support staff are.

Here is the rating that Great Schools gave the Middle School her son was in. This is the default school in the district for my neighborhood.

This is the school Austin goes to, the ONLY thing we did different is to enroll him at the end of 5th grade for the 6th grade year.

Here are the standardized test scores for the Middle School.

Here are the test scores for Austin’s Charter School. They are a new school, so they only recently have started standardized testing.

Obviously there is more of a problem than just the occasional fight the mom mentioned. I don’t understand defending a school with such a poor rating, low test scores, and obviously a hostile environment. The Charter School does not have the bullying problem other schools have because the children are ALWAYS supervised. The curriculum is more strict, and children spend less time in the halls getting from class to class than they do at the Middle School.

Which one would you chose? The middle school with drug, violence and education problems? Or the charter school with strict rules, higher standards and excellent test scores? Both are free. Can you believe these schools are only 0.3 miles apart?

Yesterday I started spotting light pink, so I called my OBs office and they got me right in. They did an exam and said everything was ok, but to head to the ER is it gets worse (since I had no cramping). Well around 10pm I was getting ready for bed and the blood was a lot heavier and bright red. I argued with myself if it was worth going, but decided 4 hours in the ER was worth the peace of mind…. ha!

I get there at 11:30 and the ER is PACKED. I should have just come home and gone to bed and called my OB in the morning, but by this time I am starting to cramp. SIX hours later they finally call me back (after telling me I was the next one going back and calling 5 people after me). They do a ton of blood work, an ultrasound that they will not let me see, a pelvic that hurt like hell and 6 hours later send me home. So I was there for 11 hours, crazy huh? No one offered anything to eat, drink, and I could not sleep because they needed the lights all on.

When they did the ultrasound I could see part of the side of the screen, and when the measured the fetal heart tones I freaked out because I could only see flat lines. I was so worried my baby’s heart was not beating yet. After what seemed like a lifetime I was able to see the radiologist’s report and it said I was measuring 6w6d (I was barley 7w0d so that was perfect) they saw a fetal pole and a heart rate of 124 BPM. They also saw “minimal subchorionic low echogenic material seen that may identify minimal blood”.

The OB’s office called back this morning and said I have an infection that may be causing all these problems combined with implantation bleeding from the placenta. I am on bed rest until the bleeding stops and I have a follow-up appointment on Monday. Between the ER copay, 11 hours of my time, and the medication NOT being covered (one application was $92!!) this has turned into an expensive LONG day. For the most part I am pretty bored, up in bed with my laptop. DH is being pretty good, other than the fact that he is STARVING me up here. LOL

PS. Husband brought me clam chowder soup & crackers and Matthew to cuddle with so he’s back to the status of best hubby ever.

Housework sucks so bad right now, because guess what? Dishes stink, laundry stinks, garbage stinks, vacuuming makes me cough and coughing makes me want to puke and my energy level is consistently somewhere in the negative levels.

However I thank my lucky stars for this pregnancy daily, don’t get me wrong…. but why does something so wonderful like a baby come with all these lovely side effects?? One would think morning sickness and fatigue are “natural birth control” for future children, except for the lovely mom-nesia in which you forget ALL the bad the moment you hold the baby and think to yourself “I could totally do this again, I LOVE being pregnant” WTH!?! Talk about mixed messages body!!

I wonder if I can talk Bobby into hiring a housekeeper for me a few times a week? LOL Hell, it’s half tempting to beg my friend to come clean my house for $10 an hour one day a week while I take a nap.

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