crap weekend

It's been forever since I haven't had a good weekend. I guess I was due for one. Not that it has been so terrible, but nothing really great has happened either.

Brian wasn't feeling well when he came home from work on Friday. I have no idea what was wrong with him. Bad stomach pains without nausea or any other symptoms? No clue. He spent the rest of the night and half of Saturday in bed. Nothing we did made him feel any better, which completely sucked. We were supposed to go out Saturday night but he still wasn't feeling well so we didn't make it. It was disappointing because he was supposed to play a few songs with the band. I do love seeing him onstage, probably as much as he loves being there.

The girls and I went to Borders Friday night for coffee and book shopping. I bought some Mother's Day presents and Hannah found the gift that she wants to get me. Coincidentally, she wants it too. Casey spent the rest of her birthday money on two books, which she has already finished reading.

Saturday was spent taking care of Brian and running a few errands. I was planning on coming to work for a few hours but didn't make it due to lack of sleep Friday night. Plus I didn't want to leave Brian with the girls while he wasn't feeling well. Not that they can't take care of themselves, but I didn't want him to have to worry about anything.

So I stayed home yesterday, which means I'm at work today instead. At least it's quiet! And Brian is finally feeling better, so that makes me happy too. I'm getting a lot done, in spite of spending time on Blogger :)

I know

I'm getting really bad about updating my blog. I'm not really sure why. There's a lot going on at home right now, some bad and some good. Mostly good, of course, so that might be the problem :) I blah more when I'm upset, in real life and here. But that's no excuse. Then again, who really cares whether I post or not? A handful of people at most.

No big catastrophes, no secrets left to spill really. I guess there are a couple, but nothing earth shattering or life changing. Just everyday life, which in my case, tends to be pretty boring. We work, we eat, we sleep. We spend time with the girls, with our friends, with each other. We laugh, we worry, we love. It's incredible and ordinary at the same time. And I wouldn't want it any other way.

So Brian got his car on Thursday. It's the Maxima that he found online:



This is a picture of the actual car, stolen from the dealer's website. It is so nice and has tons of cool extras. I have driven it a total of one time since we got it. I don't expect to get behind the wheel much more than that :)

We had a great time at the zoo on Saturday! I'll post about it later and add some pics. I hope Blogger is nice to this post. I hear it's being an ass.

my keys

I just recently realized how much the stuff hanging from my keyring says about me. Yep, that's about it.

new car

Apparently, we're looking for a new car. Brian really does need one. The Punisher is getting old and little things are wrong with it. Plus he deserves to have a nice car, he works so hard for us. He did some shopping online the other day and last night we actually visited a couple of dealers. We test-drove this car:



It was nice and in our price range, but a convertible isn't very practical. Casey didn't like driving with the top down. When we got back to the dealership, she said that her neck was sore from having to duck down to avoid the wind. We weren't really serious about buying it, but Brian said that the weather was perfect for a spin in a convertible so we took it for a little drive. It was fun! But I doubt that we would have enough nice days to justify buying it. Stupid Ohio weather.

I think he's looking for a car similar to mine (Nissan Maxima). That would be cool...his and hers Nissans :)

hula hoops

our weekend was lovely. Casey had a great birthday, part one. Dinner at Joe's Crab Shack was delicious and fun. She ate a ton of crab legs :) She loves the cell phone and our waitress made her spin a hula hoop in the middle of the dining area while they sang Happy Birthday. My brother-in-law was a party pooper and just held his. I have a great picture of the two of them laughing at Casey's attempt. I'll try to post it later. This weekend we're going to the zoo with family and some of her friends for part two. I hope the weather is nice! And then she's planning on having a sleep-over.

Sunday was a good day too. We're not at all religious so Easter just means candy for breakfast and ham for dinner. We did a little housework and a little yardwork, took the dog for a walk and relaxed all day. We watched Elizabethtown (we're loving Netflix!), which was really good.

Tomorrow I'm taking my parents to an appointment with the Social Security office nearby to see if my mother qualifies for disability benefits since her doctors think she is not able to work. That will be lots of fun. But they can't take themselves and I volunteered. I hope it doesn't take too long. At least I'll have the morning to myself after I take the girls to school. And maybe, hopefully, there will be a couple of cold beers in the fridge when I get home. Trust me, I'll need them :)

food poisoning?

How do you even know if you had food poisoning? I have no idea. I do know that Brian and I were both sick today and last night. We had almost the same dinner as the girls but with different cheese. Neither of them were sick, so at least there's that. We stayed in bed until 11:00, then spent the rest of the day on the couch.

The girls came home and gave us some sympathy. I always love that. We're feeling much better, but not all the way. After dinner, the girls and I went outside to take pictures of the beautiful tree in our backyard:





Well, Hannah and I took pictures. Casey played with the neighbor's dog, Cinnamon:



We brought in a branch to take some closeups. Hannah's:



turned out a lot better than mine:



But they're both nice. Hey, if you want to make me feel even better, click on the thumbnail under my profile and go visit Mulligan :)

so pretty

I have a new renter this week. And look how well her thumbnail matches the new colors of my blog! Coincidence, I swear.

Anyway, I really like her blog. She's a teacher (very admirable) and she's political, but doesn't beat you over the head with it. She has some great pictures in her photo gallery and a bunch of great links. Check her out by clicking on the thumbnail under my profile.

In other news, it's Casey's birthday this weekend. She will be 13. bleh. We're getting her a cell phone and she chose Joe's Crab Shack for her birthday dinner. It's also my brother-in-law's birthday on Sunday (he'll be 39!) so she invited their family to come out to dinner with us. It will be nice, I know we'll all have a great time. I'm not excited about my youngest turning 13, but what can you do?

Writing Collaboration: Episode Two

So, did I already mention that I joined the Crazy/Hip Blog Mamas webring? Even though I don't consider myself hip, at all. Apparently it's an and/or thing, because they let me in, despite my lame assedness.

Anyway, I love them. The other members are so cool and funny and have great sites. There's this thing on the website called the Writing Collaboration that I'm going to try. Because sometimes I really need the motivation to write something besides the bullshit I usually post. So the topic is:

If I had an entire weekend to myself I would...

My initial reaction to this topic is that I would most likely have a breakdown (See? Crazy, that's how I got in :) but I realized that probably isn't true anymore. There have been many times in my life when the thought of being left alone for 48 hours would have sent me over the edge. There were times when a weekend alone sounded like heaven. These days, it's neither torture nor a fantasy. And while it's not something I would ever seek out, I wouldn't curl up and die if it happened. I can imagine what it would be like though, and I'm sure it would be lovely.

The first thing I would do is check into a hotel, one with a jacuzzi in the room. We stayed in a room like that on our wedding night and it was so nice. Anything that reminds me of my wedding or my wonderful husband is always a plus. I know I would have to bring pictures of the kids and hubby to put in the room, because I'm just that lame. I can't stand to be away from my family for more than a day. It's pathetic, I know. Anyway, these are the things I would do with my weekend:

1. Sleep in as late as possible.
2. Spend a few hours with a cup of coffee and my writing journal.
3. Take a million pictures.
4. Soak in the jacuzzi.
5. Catch up on my reading.
6. Call home too much.
7. NOT shop.

Of course, I don't need a weekend alone to do any of those things. But for some reason, I never do them. Too many errands on the weekends, I guess. And it's so easy to put off doing things for myself if it means doing something for Brian or the kids. I call it the price of motherhood. And they're completely worth it.

Go Bucks!

I keep getting hits from people looking for pictures of AJ Hawk and Bobby Carpenter so I figured I'd post the ones I have. They're not great, but maybe someone will appreciate them. Or not.

update

• The boy had his court date yesterday. Fines and community service and a year of probation. Not too bad. None of that really affects us, since he is over 18. At most, I'll have to nag him to get the shit done, but maybe not. He is remarkably capable of handling his responsibilities if it means not having to listen to me bitch about something. Hey, whatever works.
• Hannah won't have a court date for a couple of weeks, since she is a minor. Apparently, that makes it takes longer. Right now, she is sick with a terrible cold. I feel bad for her. She spent almost the whole night last night sitting beside me on the couch. That's not like her.
• Good news (to me anyway): My sister had the same court date as the boy. He told me that she and her husband got two days in jail, fines and court costs and three years of probation. I'm enjoying all of that way too much. I was hoping for more jail time, but I'm satisfied with what they got. Yes, I'm still mad. As if you couldn't tell.

I had a terrible weekend, thanks for asking. Really, the worst one in forever. First of all, Casey was gone from Thursday morning until Sunday night, which sucked because I really missed her. Whenever one of the kids is gone, I'm always on edge. And probably on the verge of a breakdown. So yeah, I was already jittery and scattered and off balance.

Brian and I had a fight on Friday, over nothing really. I blame myself, I overreacted and took another step closer to that breakdown. It was terrible. I hate it when we fight. Luckily we don't do it very often, this may have been our third or fourth fight ever.

We worked it out, of course, and everything was fine again. We ordered a pizza and watched some tv before going to bed. The fight alone would have been enough to ruin my weekend, but then, something even worse happened.

I wish I knew how to put a long post behind a link that you would have to click to read it. Because I would definitely put one here. Since I don't know how to do that with blogger, I'm filling the space with this nonsense to heighten the tension :) it's working, right?

Anyway, at about 2:30am, the phone rang. I checked the Caller ID screen and it was my youngest sister. I answered but there was no one on the other line. I assumed that she was drunk-dialing people and that she called me by mistake. Because everyone knows not to call me after my bedtime unless they want to be killed. I hung up the phone and less than a minute later, it rang again. It was her again and the first thing she said was, "I have some bad news." Scary. Seriously, I thought someone had died or something. It was a completely irrational thought though, because no one would charge her with calling me to tell me that someone had died. Hell, it was 2:30, I wasn't thinking rationally.

The next thing she said was, "I'm calling to tell you that Stephen and Hannah were just arrested for underage drinking." My response was, "I assume you're joking." but unfortunately, she wasn't. Even more unfortunately, they had been drinking at her house. Right after she told me that, call waiting kicked in and it was Hannah, calling from the police station. She was crying and was so upset that the police officer had to take the phone from her and tell me what was going on. He said that they were going to give her a breathalyzer test and that afterwards, we could pick her up and take her home.

So yeah, we got dressed and drove about three blocks to the police station. Since we live so close, we had to wait around for them to finish whatever it was that needed finishing. One of the arresting officers came out to talk to us, said that they picked up 9 underage drinkers, including my two. He told us that my brother-in-law said that they didn't buy the alcohol for the kids, but providing them a place to drink is also against the law. That really pissed me off, that he was trying to get out of trouble when both of them had clearly been doing something wrong.

I asked the police officer what would happen to the "hosts" and he said that they weren't able to bring them in because the three squad cars there were full and they didn't have room. He also said that it was up to the prosecutor to decide whether to press charges against each of them for each underage drinker or whether there would just be one charge for the whole thing. Personally, I'm still so mad, I hope they get them for each one. If I was able to vote...well, lucky for both of them, I'm not.

We took the kids home and tried to go back to sleep but by then, neither of us really felt tired. We talked for a long time and then watched some tv before we were able to fall asleep again. Even then though, I didn't sleep well. Too much bad stuff was running through my head and I eventually gave up. Our plans for Saturday were pretty much ruined, even though we still kept them, because I was too angry and tired to enjoy myself.

I know that kids drink, lots of kids. Hell, we all did it. Except for you, Ian. I'm not really angry at them for that. I am angry at Hannah for lying to us about where she was (she was supposed to be spending the night with a friend), but we've all lied about that too. I am glad that they got caught, because being arrested and handcuffed and taken to the police station probably makes a bigger impression than listening to me bitch about it. At least I know it did for Han. She was really upset, even the next morning.

I do wish that she didn't have to go to court. I expect that they will put her on probation for a while, which sucks, even if she does deserve it. And of course, she's grounded, which means that she has to miss the concert she was planning to attend this Saturday. As for Stephen, there's not a lot I can do with him. He is an adult, technically. I can lecture him about drinking, which I did, but I have no control over what he does outside the house. It will be a long time before I trust him, even longer before Hannah is allowed to go anywhere with him. I am a lot more calm and rational about it today. It happened, and it sucked. But I'm trying not to overreact. So far, I'm succeeding.

The exception is my sister. And her husband. Thankfully, their boys were spending the night with grandpa. Because if those babies had been there while they were having a stupid party, I would have kicked her ass. We haven't spoken since she called me to tell me about the kids. I don't plan on speaking to her for a long time.

I'm so furious with her, not just for what happened Friday night but for the other times when she knew Hannah was drinking and didn't tell me. I'm angry at her for being so pathetic and immature that she and the loser she married think it's acceptable and cool to party with Stephen and his friends, who are almost all under 21. I'm pissed off that two months ago she looked me right in the eye and lied when she said she would keep an eye on Hannah and let me know if she was doing something I wouldn't want her to do.

I'm disappointed that she would rather "be cool" than be honest and mature and an adult. I'm angry that she not only turned a blind eye but also helped and encouraged the children to drink and hide it from their parents. I feel so hurt and betrayed and ashamed of her. Our friendship is severely damaged, possibly past the point of repair. It might be too soon to tell, but I can't ever imagine not feeling the way I do right now to some degree.

The rest of the weekend was uneventful. Casey got home Sunday night at about 6:30. Brian and I were grateful that she wasn't there to see or hear about all the other bullshit that was going on. She had a good time with her friend and was completely worn out. I can't wait to see the pictures. Man, this was a long post.

Anyone who is still here should visit my renter (click the thumbnail below my profile). I'm sure she has a much more entertaining post for you to read, once your eyeballs stop burning from staring at my lavender blog for the last hour :)

Class of '86

Apparently, my 20-year high school reunion is this summer. Sometimes it doesn't feel like it's been that long at all. Other times, it feels like it's been a lifetime. I'm definitely not going. Not just because it's 1,200+ miles away. Not just because it would put me in extremely close proximity to the rest of my family. Not just because there are only about 10 people from school I would even be the slightest bit interested in seeing again and half of them were in a different graduating class.

It's mostly because my high school years were such an unhappy time for me. School itself was no problem, and I had some great friends, but everything else in my life was a nightmare. I was miserable, suicidal most days and faking it the rest. I spent so much time living in my own head, I honestly don't know how I even managed to get out of bed sometimes.

School was an escape for me, if you can believe that. It was the only place I could go where I felt protected, where I didn't have to try to stay invisible. I still hid away a lot, but not from everyone. And it was so easy to pretend to be someone else, someone who liked herself and had opinions worth hearing and was smart and funny and nice. I could pretend to be the person I wished I was, and no one from home was around to point and laugh at my attempt.

I don't really recognize myself when I think about the person I was in high school. And that's a good thing. I can't even imagine what kids I knew then must have thought of me. I'm fine with not finding out though. The people that mattered already know everything now, whether they wanted to or not. The rest of them can think of me as they did in high school, if they think about me at all. I doubt if they'll even notice I'm not there.

another renter

I decided not to use Blog Explosion anymore sometime during Utenzi's stay here. Because it's getting annoying with all the mandatory 30-second stays on the Blog Rocket and Battle of the Blogs. I mean, seriously, enough already. But if I just use it for traffic exchange (which is what I originally intended to use it for anyway) then it's not so bad. Also, I kinda' like the Rent My Blog thing. So, I'm back. And I have a new renter: Bloggin' Bizatch.

Her most recent post is about Boone's Farm (completely cheap, hillbilly wine for those of you not familiar). How could I resist that kind of tenant? She has also been blogging about some of the other things that have been on my mind fairly recently (Botox, my upcoming high school reunion, Brokeback Mountain and Starbucks to name a few), so it was a pretty easy choice. You should check her out by clicking on the thumbnail below my profile. All the cool kids are doing it!

I know, I know

My blog is in desperate need of an update. Once-a-week posts are kinda' pathetic, don't you think? I don't know why I'm not writing, I always have that problem when things are going well. I'm a prolific writer when I'm miserable. Apparently when I'm happy I've got nothing to say. I know I'm not the only one though :)

The girls are on Spring Break this week, which is nice for them. The weather is supposed to be great too. I wish adults could have Spring Break. I would love a week off from work as a family. That would kick so much ass. Casey is going to the Biltmore Estate over the weekend with a friend of hers. She is pretty excited about that. Hannah isn't doing anything special, just hanging out with some friends and relaxing, I guess. Hopefully they both enjoy the break, that really is the important thing.

My brother moved out last weekend, and the boy moved back in. His roommates were leaving the house and he couldn't stay by himself so he's sleeping on the couch again, which sucks. I wish we had a room for him, but we just don't. And no one wants the girls to share a room. He should get the cast off his hand tomorrow so he can finally get back to work. Surprisingly he's looking forward to that.

We had dinner with my sister and her family and my parents last night. Dinner was delicious, the conversation could have been better. Since my sister and I are "the responsible ones" in the family, we had the pleasure of discussing funeral arrangements, what to do with their ashes, what to do if he dies before her, etc. I also learned that my mother is no longer able to work, per instructions from her neurologist, and that she was supposed to be on the Alzheimer's medication (Aricept) a year ago but no one was with her at the doctor's appointment and she forgot all about it. Nice one. Oh yeah, to make things even better, Casey was sitting at the table the whole time.

I guess it's time to think about what we're going to do when the two of them can't take care of each other anymore. And I think that time is fast approaching. He isn't physically well and she isn't mentally well. He gets more frail every day and even his memory is failing slightly. Convincing them that they might need to move to a nursing home or assisted living facility in the near future should be lots of fun. Can't wait for that discussion.

busy weekend

Busy, but good. Friday night we went to watch my brother-in-law's band play. Brian got up and played two songs with them. He was amazing, I am always so proud of him and impressed by how talented he is. He had a great time onstage (I have pictures) but we had to leave early-ish because Saturday was the District Science Fair.

We got home shortly after midnight and had to get up at 6:30 the next morning. Bleh. That really sucked and all three of us were tired all day. Casey didn't win an award, so she's not going to the State Science Fair but she didn't seem too disappointed about it. She really was tired from having to sit in the gym from 8:15 to 2:15 that day. I really don't blame her. She said that she wasn't going to participate next year but I'm sure that was just the lack of sleep talking.

Brian and I had to find something to do while she was busy so we did a lot of shopping (his favorite thing to do :). We did find some good bargains and bought a couple of things for our godsons and the girls so that was cool. We saw AJ Hawk and Bobby Carpenter (Ohio State Buckeyes football players - I have pictures) at the mall and that made Brian a little happier about being there.

It was nice, having some time all to ourselves. We stopped for coffee and talked and had a nice long lunch and talked. I really missed Casey but I did enjoy being alone with Brian for a few hours. We hardly ever get to do that anymore, we almost always have plans or are at home with the girls. I'm going to try to remember to make time just for the two of us.

Saturday was also Stephen's 19th birthday. So after we got home and took naps, we went to his house to wish him a happy birthday and then my sister brought the babies over to hang out for a while, which is always fun. Casey and I went to bed pretty early that night. We were both still really tired.

Sunday was pretty relaxing, except for when I had to take Stephen to Convenient Care at noon because he had injured his hand Friday night. He and his friends decided to have a "St. Patty's Day brawl" and he punched his cousin in the shoulder (in fun). He may have fractured a bone in his hand. So it's in a splint and he has the next three days off from work. It's his right hand too so he can't write or play video games on the computer or play guitar. We have to go back to our doctor in a week or so to see how it's doing. If it's still sore, there's a good chance that something is broken or cracked. The ER doctor said that because of the swelling, they couldn't be 100% sure.

The rest of the day was a typical Sunday. We did some housework and some laundry, Brian did the grocery shopping because he is just that awesome. We watched the Buckeyes lose their game, ate a yummy dinner and watched FOX until it was time for bed. This week should be relatively calm, maybe even a little boring. But we've got some fun plans for this weekend. I'll have pictures :)

blank

I don't know why I'm posting today. I can't think of anything to write about. Oh well, that has never stopped me before!

Casey and her friends did such a good job at the DI tournament. Their skit was very cute and they were very outgoing and seemed to be having fun. They were there for pretty much the whole day and she was completely worn out afterwards. She also had a choir concert on Monday, which was nice. This weekend is the district Science Fair. After that, I think we get a small break from Casey's activities.

Brian has been really busy too. He's in the office almost full-time at work now. We're both excited about that! I really need to send in some pictures for his desk or something. I'm sure it's still pretty empty and plain. He's been working a lot of overtime, which is good for our bank account, but I hate it when he's gone so much.

He's also been practicing with my brother-in-law's band for the last few weeks so he's gone in the evenings sometimes too. Actually, he's playing a few songs with them at their St. Patrick's Day show so that will be very cool. I think he's even singing a little. I can't wait!!! I'm glad he's still playing music and hanging out with people he likes but I miss him when he's not around. I'll be okay though. It's probably good for me or something :)

Not a lot is going on with Hannah, or me. I'm sure we sound boring and lazy, maybe we are. But personally, I enjoy not having a lot to do sometimes. I like having quiet evenings at home, reading or scrapbooking or watching television or playing cards with the kids. I wish we could have more of those nights honestly. Then again, if we did, I'd probably wish for more excitement. There's just no pleasing some people!

ps - It's Utenzi's last day here. Click the thumbnail under my profile to visit his blog. He's got a great post up today about a recent segment on 60 Minutes. Very interesting...

F*ck Blender

The 50 Most Awesomely Dead Rock Stars

Not to spoil it for you but Selena ranks higher that George Harrison? Notorious B.I.G. ranks higher than Elvis and John Lennon? What a bunch of crap.

JOY!

The weekend is finally here. I'm so glad! We don't have a lot of plans either, which I'm glad about too. Casey has her Regional Competition for DI on Saturday. That should be fun. Her team has been working really hard for the last few months and we're excited to see the results! She will pretty much spend the whole day there. We're just going to watch their skit and maybe take her to lunch. I hope she has a good time. I'm sure she will.

I love it that she's so fearless and isn't afraid to be herself. She will try anything that interests her, even if she doesn't think she'll be successful, and I really admire that about her. She's a great kid with a healthy dose of self-esteem and an outgoing personality. I am so proud of her. And so lucky that she is my daughter.

news - bullet-style

• I have a new renter. Utenzi has a great blog, it's very diverse and interesting and he seems like a really nice guy (I noticed that before he bid on my blog). You should check him out, I honestly think he offers something for everyone :) Click on the thumbnail below my profile to get to his blog.
• My brother is living with us for the next ten days...bleh. He is on some kind of house arrest for driving without a license or whatever. Rolling his truck in the middle of the night, probably after spending a few hours at the bar probably has something to do with it. And I'm sure there's more to the story that he's not telling, but he's like that. So he's sleeping on our couch until March 17th, leaving only to go to work. Did I already say, "bleh."?
• Casey participated in her school's Science Fair last week. It was completely voluntary, she's such a little weirdo :) She didn't feel like she spent enough time on her project though, and she wasn't that happy with her presentation board. But she still got a "Superior" rating, which means that she can take her project to the district Science Fair! We're really proud of her, even if she is a nerd.
• Hannah made the honor roll, yay! And the boy is trying to get his diploma this year. I hope he does it. So kid-wise, everything is great. That rarely happens. It feels so strange. In the good way.