Unbelievable

Early on I decided I would volunteer my time in the school.  I got involved in the PTA when my boys were in first grade.  We moved here soon after they started Kindergarten and I needed a little time to settle in. 

I have held a role on the PTA since then in many capacities.  I have done special events, fundraising, membership and currently holding the role of secretary. Sometimes I have done 2 roles at once.  As is typical, it is difficult to find volunteers and it is usually the same people every year. 

The president is was serving a 3rd year because no one wanted to take on the role.  The President just happens to be my neighbor and good friend.

What many people don't understand is that you should join the PTA every year and that does not mean that you have to volunteer your time.  Our school seems to have minimal members.  Why?  I haven't figured it out.  The PTA does so many nice things for our kids and teachers, from assemblies (4 a year) to special events to  teacher appreciation events to so many other.  It sounds like a great thing, right?

Well, what has transpired the last couple of weeks has made me re-think my role in this organization.  I will never be able to explain in detail, that would take too much time but hopefully enough to understand.

The principal of our school has decided to no longer have a Halloween parade at school.  The parade consisted of kids having to change into costume in order to parade outside where parents are waiting and watching.  Then they have to go back inside to get out of their costume. Typically each class has a celebration with a sweet treat and games.  The only item getting axed is the parade.  There are many who do not celebrate Halloween and a teacher must be responsible for them while others are parading around. It is time.  The communication was done in the weekly newsletter that only gets posted on-line.

A local on-line news source got wind of the demise of the parade and posted a story.  As you can imagine the comments that were left were not very nice.  One comment was encouraging people to get to the PTA meeting so that this could be discussed.  On the advice given by the county PTA, our president posted that the parade was not on the agenda, however, the principal would stay after to discuss with those interested.  The PTA meeting was adjourned and no word was brought up about the parade.  The Principal and VP stayed around and no one said a thing.

Well, the next day comments went crazy blaming the PTA president for everything.  The personal attacks on both the President and Principal were unbelievable.  It said that the President did not have the best interest of the kids and that the principal was lazy. And no one liked either one.

In response to the cancellation of the parade, the PTA changed from a Hawaiian party to a dance and come in costume party.

Another article was printed about other schools in the area and how they were going to continue their tradition of parading.  And once again people started commenting.   Each and every comment really just made me get angrier.  The PTA does so much for the children in the school and the president has dedicated so much of her time for everyone else's kids. 

During this time, the president decided she needed to resign.  She was done with the personal attacks.  At a certain point everything you do will be scrutinized and who can live with that.

And if that was not enough, a third article was posted yesterday.  It was a letter that was written from the president of the PTA council, over a week ago.  The letter was not posted in its entirety.  Once again, the comments started to trickle in. 

I have to say, I just don't understand why everyone has their panties in a wod over a silly parade.  If you want to fight for something, fight for a way to better the education of our kids, fight for a better spelling program.  If you want your child to parade do something at home for them.

I think about how incredibly silly this issue has been and how much of my time I have spent discussing it.  I have spent time reading comments and listening to the PTA president.  I have started to think maybe it is time to do something else with my time.  This bothers me because the PTA does so much  for the children and that is the only reason I have stayed on at this point.  But maybe it is time to do something else that will be appreciated. 

I know....civic duty

I was originally summoned for Jury duty in August during the time we would be on vacation.  As the directions stated, I immediately sent a letter stating that I would be out of town and need to be reassigned.  What I wasn't expecting is a letter a few weeks later giving me another week.  That week just happens to be this week. 

As I mentioned, I called on Friday and my group number 42 was not called.  Groups 1-19 were to report.  My thought was that Tuesday groups would probably be 20-39.  That would make sense to me.

I called today around 4:30 to listen to the message for today.  The guy on the system started with the group numbers to report.  Group number 20, 21......then he got to 39 but kept going and then 40, 41 and you guessed it 42.  All groups are to report at 8:30.

After my 5 minutes of panic, I had to start thinking about what to do with my kids.  The two older ones are not the problem, it of course, is Tee who has preschool for just 3 1/2 hours.  I ended up getting it all taken care of.  It is times like this when I wished we lived closer to family.

I am fortunate that the courthouse is close by and parking will not be a problem.  I do dread the fact that the majority of what I will be doing is just sitting and waiting.  I have a stack of magazines and some other things to do while I am doing my civic duty.  I am just glad that this civic duty will go away for at least 3 years.  Stayed tuned as I am sure I will have some good stories.

Ride a bike or take a walk

I am old fashioned and conservative in many of my views.  Not too much I can do about it.  I have caved in many times and gone against my beliefs. 

Several years ago, we opted to purchase the boys a DS system.  They loved them, but I always thought my kids would never have a gaming system like that.  Like most new things, they played with them a lot for a while but it had been cyclical for the most part. 

When we moved to Md. I again gave in and purchased the kids a Wii system.  I did almost feel like I was pressured into it.  The boys would have friends over and the first question was, "do you have a wii or xbox?"  My justification was that it is so cold here and we unfortunately have to spend a lot of time indoors.  And like the DS system, playing is cyclical, sometime they play a lot and other times they have no interest.  Our kids like to read and play outside so I don't worry as much about them playing video games.

I am sure there are other things where I will be swayed in my beliefs.   

What I do know is that I will never purchase a motorized scooter for any of my children.  I will stick with the old fashioned bicycle.  You know where you have to pedal to expend some energy.  And when and why did those become so popular?  I absolutely can not stand to see kids riding those in our neighborhood.

Now let's take that one step further, what about a golf cart.  Yep, there is a family who owns a golf cart in our non-golf community.  Just for clarification, my kids will not have one of those either. 

So the daughter in this family, who is about 13 years old, rides the golf cart up and down the street.  In a matter of a few hours, I probably see her ride past one way and then the other 6 or so times.  Sometimes it is her and a friend and other times she has girls piled in.  It bothers me every time I see her.  Forget that it is not safe I think she needs to be walking or riding a bike. 

A neighbor just happened to be home yesterday and witnessed what I have seen just about all summer.  He started a thread regarding how dangerous it is.  The father of said girl commented back that he would only have his daughter ride on the sidewalk and make sure there are no more than 4 people in the golf cart.  He was actually a little ticked off and couldn't believe that this is a concern in the neighborhood.

Many neighbors have chimed in with what they have witnessed.  And many neighbors have said that riding a golf cart on the sidewalk was not appropriate.  Thank goodness they said it because I was thinking I would have to chime in also.  My kids walk and ride their bikes on the sidewalks.  Tee gets freaked out if someone is walking towards him, I can't imagine what he would do if he saw a huge golf cart coming towards him.

After all of these threads were posted, the father got really mad.  He thinks we need to stop worrying about an innocent situation and start worrying about important things like vandalism and other community issues.  This father is clueless.  Luckily, our new HOA president, who just happens to be an officer of the law, posted a thread on the laws of our county.  Guess what, it is against the law to ride a golf cart in a neighborhood such as ours.  Shocker.

So rest assured no motorized scooter or golf carts will reside in our garage.  Now on to more important things.

How to get things done.

In April, we decided to make a change.  I don't particularly like change.  I like to keep things the same for the most part.  But my husband finally convinced me that we needed to switch cable companies. 

The cable company decided to change to digital and every TV needed a box.  We figured it out after the fact.  Yes, we had received a letter but it didn't make much sense to us as our TVs are digital.  So we get all the boxes and put them on our TVs.  We had trouble with the one in our bedroom.  We, my husband, made several phone calls that made him incredibly frustrated.  As a side note, I am usually the one who handles these types of phone calls, but he took this one on.

He was transferred to an area that was closed on one particular day, on one call the rep was yawning on the phone and no one really offered much help.  We wanted someone to come fix the the problem, but there was a question on whether we would be charged.  After many calls, my husband finally escalated it to a manager who said it would not be a problem to get someone out the next week.

After thinking about it for a few hours, we he, decided that it was to move to fios.  In addition to this situation, we had problems with our phone.  During conversation, people would say that I was coming in and out. 

Our transition was great.  As soon as fios was installed, we returned and disconnected the other cable company. 

I ended up receiving an invoice in May with a credit balance.  I thought that I would be receiving a check.  I wasn't shocked when I received an invoice again the next month with a small credit balance.  I decided to make a phone call.

I spent the next 2 plus hours on the phone.  The first time I called, I was transferred and on hold for over 30 minutes.  I called back and although the rep was very nice and held with me for the next 30 plus minutes he ended up disconnecting me.  During the conversation, he told me I had to be taken care of by this other area.  It appeared they must have been having problem with the phones.  Yes, they are a cable, Internet and phone company.  My third call back is when I decided that I would no longer be nice.  I immediately asked for a manager.  I went over the situation and explained that I was done with the company.  It needed to be handled, I was not going to be transferred and did not need to speak with anyone else.

The next week I did end up getting 3 phone calls from corporate.  Why do they need to talk to me?  I returned my equipment and canceled my service.  They had a total fail of closing out the account. 

Well, just yesterday I ended up getting an invoice for an amount due.  I was beyond angry.  They are charging me for Internet and Cable that I have not had.  I decided that I was going to send a letter to corporate outlining the situation.

I did a little research trying to find an email address to corporate.  I found this website that an executive carpet bomb.  Not sure why it is called this.  But people determine format of the email (@whatever) then take the executive and make a list of all emails.  

Oh yes I did.  I wrote a letter and thought about it a little and re-wrote some of it.  I copied every single email address and hit send.  Out of the 100 emails, I had less than 30 not deliverable. 

Today I had a message on my machine from corp (maybe the same person who called me several weeks ago).  She stated that she had closed my account and is expediting the shut off outside our house.  I have a credit balance of $138 that will be sent to me once the shut off is completed.

It makes me sad but that is how you get it done.

Why I dislike Valentine's day

My husband asked me yesterday why I had such a dislike for this day, today, Valentine's day. I am not sure when it happened but it definitely did.

Why do we need one day set aside for love. Love should be celebrated everyday. In my opinion, it is a hallmark holiday in order for you to spend money on cards, flowers and candy.

Maybe I am frugal or better yet practical!

I despise all of the cards and candy the kids get on this day at school. This morning I was in Tee's preschool class for his party. It was utter chaos. The kids could not read the names on their cards so they needed help. After passing out 3 or 4 Tee was done. Well, he was probably done because he saw a cupcake and cookie waiting for him at his seat. I ended up having to finish for him. Every card he received had some sort of candy with it. There was even laffy taffy included in his candy. Who lets their 3 year old eat sticky candy like that. He received at least 2 bags that were full of candy.

The older boys had parties at their school this afternoon. Tee and I volunteered in Jay's class. They both received so much candy with their cards also.

So now I have 3 decorated brown bags of V-day cards and candy sitting on my counter. They will be emptied many times in the next few day and I will be the one putting everything back in the bag. My hope is that in the next few days the bags and candy will disappear.

I did try to make this morning a little special for the boys. I bought them each a little Lego set. They found them when they got downstairs for breakfast with a little note on them.

I was surprised by the boys who purchased a really LARGE card to give to me this morning. It was very sweet. I feel very loved by all of the boys in my house.

I hope all the boys in my house, especially the big one, know how much I love them........today and everyday.

No more goody bags

Tee is in preschool with 19 other children. He has gotten invited to many birthday parties. He has gone to some but not all. One of my friends told me she doesn't let her daughter go to any party unless she is good friends with the child. She got me thinking and made me realize thatmy child doesn't need to go to every party and I don't need to feel guitly because of it.

Tee was invited to a party where the Mom suggested we drop off our child and pick him up 2 hours later. I decided that was not going to work for me especially since I don't know this Mom well. So without any guilt I declined the invitation.

Tee is also invited to another party that starts at 6:15 and ends at 8:15, which is way past Tee's bedtime. So I will have to decline that invite also.

But this post is not about party invites it is about goody bags being handed out at school. Parents are allowed to bring in a special treat on their child's birthday, which I am ok with. But in the last 2 weeks, Tee has brought home 4 goody bags. Yes, 4 bags full of candy and junk. Two of the bags had whistles in them, which I despise most of all.

I wish I could tell these parents that I really think the goody bags are a bad idea.

What would you do?

I found out recently that one of my gym instructor's (I will call her Jill) husband was convicted of embezzling money from his company. I googled his name and found out the specifics of the charges and noticed he had been sentenced to 1 year in prison. I wondered where he had gone as he used to do the class many Mondays.

I know someone who is an acquaintance of Jill's and Jill almost broke down to her today. She didn't give her specifics but more about what is happening today. Apparently, he had a terrible gambling problem. She had no idea and I assume he was in trouble which is why he stole the money. He is now in town and is at a half way house. My guess is that he got his prison time reduced for time in the half way house. He has a job waiting for him once he is freed, which is surprising to me.

I feel bad for Jill, she is such a nice person. She has two young children and it seems like it all is wearing them down.

I told my husband about the situation. Jill seems to be standing by her man. I told him that I don't know that I could do the same. I think I would resent him terribly for turning our world upside down for a very stupid act. Everything would change. I would have to go back to work to support the family and our living status would change drastically.

My husband called me shallow. He could not believe I would not stand by him. He asked me if I would leave him if he cheated and my answer was probably. He could not understand why I would definitely leave if he stole but would "probably" leave if he cheated.

He couldn't leave it at that. What if he made a mistake at work, got fired and caused him to be unmarketable. I don't think they are comparable.

The answer is very simple, just don't mess up!

To be practical or not

As I mentioned previously, my car is getting older and has needed a lot of work. We are torn because we have dumped so much money into it lately. We wonder, should keep it a while or unload it as fast as we can. It has a fairly decent trade in value for a 9 year old car.

I love my car and am finding it hard to part with it. It is just the right size for our family. But I feel it is probably time to get a new vehicle.

I test drove a new Sequoia the other night. It is really large, so much more than my 9 year old one. It was a nice drive but the thought of having to park it leaves me a little uneasy. It is a good amount over what we would like to spend for a vehicle.

We have also talked about a Sienna. Yes, I said it a mini-van. Something I swore I would never drive. It has automatic doors. Second row has 2 captain chairs, which means less arguing of children who are now forced to sit right next to each other. It even comes with a dual DVD player and GPS. It is large enough for the luggage we take on our excursions. It is definitely more affordable than the above.

What to do?

I know you missed it!

I know you must be surprised that I have not ranted in a long time. Truth be told, I have had many situations just no time to sit and write. I can't remember most of the situations, which is probably a good thing. But there is one that has been lingering around.

I have a neighbor that I have spoken about many times, I will call her Lizzie. She rarely seems to be happy with anything and she lies a lot. Most recently I posted about her here and here. After the last incident regarding baseball, I decided I needed to get along with her or it would be a LONG baseball season. So I buried the hatchet and that was that. We picked up her child for a baseball game or two and she was able to help me out one time. I did not let it get much further than that.

I noticed that she has many people convinced that she is super Mom who is always willing to do anything for you. Of course, she complains behind their backs about what she has done for them.

It seems like the lies are so silly. For example, the other day she stopped by to drop money off for the bus driver. She made mention of going up to the school with Popsicles on the wrong day. The dry ice gave out and the Popsicles were melted and disfigured. My neighbor who happened to be standing there asked where she had gotten the dry ice. Lizzie mentioned that she got it at the grocery store with the exact location. My next door neighbor had mentioned that she was just there looking for dry ice but they said they did not sell it any more. Lizzie said yes they do that is where I always get it from.

So my next door neighbor just happens to be at the store the next day and asks about dry ice. The cashier said they have not sold dry ice in about 6 months. Now really, what is the deal?

I have so many stories about Lizzie that it would make your head spin. I have such a hard time believing anything that comes out of her mouth.

There is one thing that was the last straw. I collected money to give a gift to our coach. I like the boys' baseball coach and know that he spent an enormous amount of time with our children. My husband was an assistant coach with one other person and then there was one person who took score the entire season. Most of these people were at every practice and game including my husband. The team also had help from several of the other Dads.

Lizzie said that she would get picture frames for the other coaches. She would have the boys sign the matting (which they did), put the coaches name at the top and put the picture in the frame. We agreed to have it completed by the last regular season game. So I made sure I had collected money from everyone and purchased a gift card that morning for the coach.

Lizzie gets to the game empty handed. She said she was having issues with the picture size. She asked if I wanted to wait until one of the following games to present the coach's gift. I told her that I was doing it that day. That is what I had planned on not to mention that I had to make a special trip to get the card.

The next time I saw her, no picture frames. I am sure you guessed that none of the other coaches received their gift. That makes me incredibly angry. If I would have know she was going to flake out I would have taken things into my own hands. I just felt a little awkward since my husband was one of the coaches.

I will always be cordial when I see her. I will wave to her as she drives by my house. But my hope is that our paths will not cross in the future. I don't think her son will be playing baseball in the fall. The boys were on the same basketball team in the winter, so I need to make sure to be a little more involved during evaluations.

I have never met anyone like here. I wonder if there are more people like her out there?

Liar.....Liar.....pants on fire

I have found myself explaining the difference between the truth and a lie to my 3 year old. What happens is that I will see him do something he is not supposed to be doing and tell him to stop what ever it is. Then he says “mommy I not doing anything”. Well, obviously he did do something or I would not have said anything to him. Oh, I hope one day it will sink in.

We read the Berenstain Bear’s book about the truth often. Believe it or not he picks it out. By the way, the Berenstain books are really good; they typically have a very good moral lesson. That Momma bear is so smart. I can relate to her. Ha!Ha!

Anyway, in the book about the truth, the young bears break Momma’s favorite lamp but blame it on a bird. The lying does not go so well and they confess. Tee thinks the point of the story is that they are not supposed to play soccer in the house (instead of lying to their parents). The bears do feel really bad and they help Momma fix the lamp.

When I think of lying, I think of kids lying to their parents, friends or teachers. But recently, I have determined that so many adults lie. Adult liars are not good ones. I think the brain is a little more fried and they forget what they tell you and it goes on to another lie.

At baseball, the last 2 Monday I have sat with the same Mom. On both Mondays, I heard the same story about the previous weekend. It was about her son having someone stay the night with him and then she finds out the child had lice or could have had lice. Ok, bad that I wasn’t really listening to the story and I did hear it 2 times. A few of the details changed, like the second time she didn’t mention having someone in to clean her carpets. Unfortunately, I tend not to believe much of what this Mom says. I have found her to be the type of person who always needs to be praised for how much she does. I think she tells half truths.

The other story that blows my mind is about our neighbors. I heard from the wife that her husband wants to go somewhere over spring break. She went on to tell me everywhere he suggested and how she doesn’t want to go there for one reason or another. We spoke to her husband this weekend and he said he was looking for somewhere to go because his wife thought they needed to go somewhere. He would prefer to just stay home during the break. What?

These are just 2 examples. I have witnessed many others.

Does anyone tell the truth any more? What is it with people? Is it more fun to make up stuff than tell the truth? Does it help them to make someone else look bad? Or is it just blabber to fill the conversation?

I am going to give this more thought. I hope I am not telling lies. Hmm……

The long weekend recap

1. The boys have been playing basketball for the past few weekends. This year has been a little different than last year. Last year they were the tallest on just about all of the teams and they didn't play real games. This year there are many kids who are much taller and more aggressive than mine. In fact, I think there are a few kids who are too aggressive and maybe just a bit too rough on the court. I get the sense that EE is having a difficult time. I think he feels a bit intimidated when he gets the ball and is immediately surrounded by several kids. Jay has scored in a few of the games and seems to do a little better under pressure.
2. The boys practiced baseball this past weekend also. There are still a few spots left on the team so another tryout was held this past weekend. I am thinking about getting them into a clinic for either pitching or hitting. I believe we will begin playing sometime in March. Yikes, I am sure it will still be chilly out.
3. Jay had his party this past weekend, the one where he was not able to spend the night. He spent the day saying he did not want to go but we explained he committed to going. EE ended up regretting he said no to going. My husband picked Jay up at 9pm. He said the parents had people over and looked like they were about to have dinner. He also said there were a few beers out. I found it interesting when I walked Jay up to the house, there was one lady who introduced herself to the parents. I can't imagine not having met the parents but allowing your child to spend the night. Maybe I am a little old fashioned.
4. On Monday, my neighbor had us over for lunch. She had a few Mom (and kids as school was out)in order to discuss our work on the school auction. I was not up for the mayhem. Wow those kids (not mine or hers) were wild. So glad to have Tee as an excuse to bolt.
5. The boys each invited a friend over Monday afternoon. As I was standing outside talking to one of the Moms, the boy who always rides his bike down showed up. I told him that each of the boys already had a friend over. Including him would have changed the dynamics too much and I had already had my fill, read number 4. Not two minutes after I walk in the house I get a call from this child's Mom. She wanted to know what the deal was in an almost insinuating tone. I didn't feel like I owed her any explanation. But I did say that each child already had a friend over. She had just wondered because one of the friends over was a friend and close neighbor of hers. Some nerve.
6. I have lost some weight over the last 5 or so months. My youngest is only almost 3 and I thought it was about time. I was also tired all the time. So I started eating a little healthier, cut out sweets (although I do indulge sometimes) and increased my workout intensity. This is a life style change (ok I watch a little too much tv, Biggest loser). I feel like I now weigh what I should. The nervy Mom in number 5 has mentioned my weight loss several times. She has been working out but has not lost any weight. I run into her at the gym today and she got on the stair stepper right next to me. She turns to me and say how much weight have you lost and I told her. She asked me for the second or third time if I was done losing weight. Yes, I am not looking to lose any more weight but I will continue to do what I need to in order to stay healthy. I am not sure why that is such a hard concept.

Real or fake.....I just don't know

I grew up with a fake tree, colored lights and ugly ornaments. I always vowed that when I had my own place I would get a real tree with white lights and pretty ornaments. For the last 12ish years that is exactly what I have done.

This year seemed to be a bad one for us with regards to our tree. We picked out a real tree from a produce stand near our home. We typically get our pumpkins there as well. It was a beautiful tree so full that it barely fit in our corner.

We did not get the tree in the stand straight to begin with and after decorations went on it fell. My husband noticed that before Christmas it was not soaking up any water and it was becoming dry. This became very noticeable on Christmas eve. The tree was sagging. So on Christmas evening we had to bring down the tree. What a mess everywhere. I am sure I will be finding needles all over my house for some time.

Now we have to decide if we should buy a fake tree. I do have to admit the trees out now are so pretty. It is nothing like I had growing up. But I love the smell of a real tree during the holidays. My neighbor tells me to get pine scented items and it will give the same affect. My husband wonders if Christmas trees is like giving birth. It is not pleasant but then you forget about it all and do it all over again.

I am not sure at this point what we will do. I guess we will have to wait until next Christmas before I make the determination.

Speaking of falling. I had to run to the grocery store for a few things today. The kids, all three of them, were hanging on the cart. I was driving and I ran into a display of garlic keepers, which went all over the floor. Lovely! We picked them all up and the nice produce guy told me not to worry about it that he would organize it. Why in the heck are there so many of those displays throughout the store? The store is crowded enough without having to manage around them.

The last few days

I won and yes I do like winning. My husband brought home HIS gift. It is one of those brownie pans where you put the divider down before you bake for perfectly cut brownies every time. My husband pointed out it has many more uses.

I spent the entire day yesterday baking. And today I sent all of my packages out. I am now worried that all my cookies will be destroyed before reaching their destination. The postal worker was not very kind to them. So if you are a recipient sorry. I need to find a better way to mail them out for next year.

I think there is something wrong with having to smell food while you work out at the gym. I do the StairMaster which is near where it is open to the bottom floor. And wouldn't you know that is where the cafe is. Maybe this is how they keep gym membership up.

Speaking of being wrong. This past weekend, EE was invited to a birthday party of one of his good girl friends in his class. The invitation did not request a RSVP and the time was from 1-3:30. My husband dropped him off at the house which is in our neighborhood. The Mom said that she had things for the kids to do so pick them up between 5 and 5:30. I thought that was a bit much. So at 3:30 I started pestering my husband to go pick him up. He finally left and when he didn't come home right away I knew I was going to be in a little bit of trouble. He has gotten there right when they were doing the cake.

I found many things about this party bizarre. A 2 1/2 hour party is good a 4 1/2 hour is a bit too long for everyone involved. EE came home with nice gifts. Imagine getting a gift for going to a party. He got a boxed set of 3 small balls (football, basketball and soccer) along with a winter hat and a little bag with chips, candy bar and a truck.

Later in the evening, as we sat down to eat our pizzas EE asked if he could have something else. He didn't want to eat pizza again. So somewhere in that time frame she fed them pizza. They played games but not sure what they did the entire time. He had a great time from what he tells us but I still think it was a little weird.

Christmas re-gifting

Yesterday, I prepared a few hams and about 10 lbs of pork BBQ and picked up a few chicken nugget trays for my husband's work office pot luck lunch today. A few years ago, I opened my mouth about how much they were having to pay for a catering company to bring in meats. It is not a big deal and I get to eat with them.

After the lunch they feast on desserts. I opted not to make anything this year. I had enough with the meats and I still have to get my Christmas cookies made and sent.

The last part of the work party is a gift exchange. I spoke with my husband a few minutes ago and asked what he got as his gift. He said he would not tell me because he was going to wrap and put under the tree as a gift for me...a Christmas gift. My response was that he could not re-gift his gift to me, but that he could bring it home and just give it to me.

He goes on to say that this item was on his list so he went after it with that in mind. I gave him more grief. His response was that he should have gotten the $20 Target gift card in order to go buy this item instead. He was being facetious. What do you think?

Hair woes

I had the same person cut and color my hair for most of the years we lived in NC. Once I found her I knew I had to stay with her. At times, it would drive me a little crazy that she was running so far behind. But for the most part I always got a good cut and my color looked great. The advice she gave me before I left was to go to a spa type salon.

When you move along with finding new doctors for everything a good hairdresser must be found. I started out by looking at people’s hair. I never looked at anyone and thought wow I really need to know who cuts their hair. But eventually I did ask someone. I looked the salon up on-line and it looked nice and seemed to be what I was looking for.

I ended up with some one who was newer because she had an opening when I wanted to go in. She did not want to thin my hair out like I wanted her to and that frustrated me a lot. My hair is very thick and must be thinned A LOT. I was also a little nervous after she colored my hair and put highlights in. She ended up having to put more product in to tame the color of my hair.

I ended up trying someone new. She understood my need to thin and cut my hair really well. I do have a little problem with how she does my highlights. She doesn’t put color right up to the root of my hair. My hair tends to grow quickly and by 2 months my gray is popping through and the highlights have grown out. But she normally cuts my hair so good.

Last weekend, I had an appointment for the works. Trust me on this, when you stylist tells you that she went out the night before, had a lot to drink and didn’t get to sleep until 4am run like the wind. My color doesn’t look great and she left my sides too long. I ended up calling her to talk about my issue. Something was not right. I went in on Friday for the correction. She didn’t wet my hair. She just “fixed” the sides. Now she ended up cutting them too short and it looks really goofy.

I am not sure what to do at this point. I can’t afford to get my hair colored every 2 months. I don’t think I am up for trying to find a new stylist right now. Maybe a good new years resolution.

Rainy and dreary

It is a rainy dreary day here today. The rain is supposed to be around for the next few days. It really does make me want to lay on the couch and watch TV. But I have things I need to get done especially writing here.

The rain has put me into a mood so this post is going to be about what drives me nutty, well maybe nuttier.

The boys are all waking up WAY too early for me. As I turned in bed, I could see Jay’s light on in his room and it was only 5:30. EE was up at a little after 6am and then Tee. Even if I am awake in the morning I really like to have time to fully wake up and watch a little news by myself. That has not happened much lately.

I don’t understand why people liter. I was leaving the ball field on Sunday. I turned around and this person threw trash out of his car and onto the ground. Where exactly do they think the trash will end up? And why would anyone think this was ok?

Tee had a play date with one of his friends in the neighborhood. We played at their house today. I really like the Mom a lot. However, it is hard to have a conversation with her because she is always tending to her child’s needs. I like to play here because we can be in the basement but the play room is hidden from the sofa area. The boys will go play and only come out every so often. I can’t tell you how many times I would start a story and not finish because she was interrupted. Very frustrating!

Do you know a crackberry addict? A crackberry addict is a person who owns a blackberry and must attend to the blackberry every time a vibration occurs. It doesn’t really matter where this person is or what he is doing. They stop in their tracks to attend to the vibrating that just transmitted on their phone. I live with an addict and sometimes I would like to toss the thing out the window.

Something happened the other day that really sent me into a tizzy. We have a neighbor who I have written about many times. She has a son in 2nd grade also. She is never really happy with anything and everything she does is to the extreme.

She does a lot of nice things for people and volunteers but she always has to make it a point to let you know what she has done. She gets gratification by praising herself. She is a nice person but I can only take a little bit of her.

She and her husband helped with basketball evaluations this past weekend. Her husband will be an assistant coach. They convinced the coach to draft my boys for their team. It is a 2 for 1 deal with them. She shared the information with me at the bus stop the other day. I really would have been ok with the boys NOT being on that team. Another season in which I will have to deal with her nuttiness.

Hopefully an hour or so of quiet

The older boys are at a birthday party a few houses down and I put Tee down for a nap a little while ago. He has skipped his nap 3 out of the last 4 days and I am hoping he has a little shut eye today. When he doesn't nap it means that I have to hurry through dinner and clean up to get him bathed and in bed no later that 7:30(preferably by 7:15). It is a definite trade off between napping and early bedtime. I am not ready for him to give up his nap just yet. I still hear him talking upstairs. I guess I better move on.

This past weekend was a hot and humid one. We spent the day in the pool on Sunday. This was for sure the only way we managed to stay cool. We often ask ourselves what we would be doing without the pool in the back yard. It is a good way for the kids to expend some of their energy and they have fun doing it.

My niece finally received a job offer yesterday and believe it or not started today. We were all very excited for her. She literally has been looking since January both here and Flroida. It is an admin support position. She will have benefits plus vacation and a few sick days. This is what she needed. I am going to miss having her around during the day, but I am glad she found a job.

One of the nice things about having my niece around is that the husband and I can go out every once in a while without having to pay a sitter. The sitter I have bee using is not cheap. A few Sundays ago we went out with our neighbors to a restaurant that we had not been to before. They sat us in eye shot of a board that had a wine listing but no prices. I saw one that caught my eye so I ordered a glass. The restaurant was primarily seafood which I don't eat much of. I ended up getting a salad and a shrimp appetizer. And I also got another glass of wine. Imagine my surprise when we got the bill and noticed that each glass of wine was $15. The wine was more expensive than my meal. I am positive we will not be going back to that restaurant again.

I am in the midst of planning a party for my husband's work people and their families. We are doing a pool/moon bounce party. I am struggling with the fact that many of these work people don't have children and what will they do here. I guess we will have to see what the RSVP is like.

Well, today will be one of the no nap days. I have him watching the Little Einsteins and must get a few things done before I have to focus my attention back to him.

A tweet about Twitter

I have heard a lot about Twitter. Some of the people who have blogs also have a twitter account and many times you are able to see their recent tweets. There are a lot of celebrities who twitter. So why is it that people want to detail many aspects of their life for others to see? And more importantly why would anyone want to follow someone on Twitter?

I have never been on twitter until recently. I have never had the desire to be on twitter. I have a hard enough time keeping up with my blog, facebook and the blogs of others I read. I could not imagine (nor would I want to) keeping a twitter account updated on my daily happenings. Honestly, it would probably put people to sleep.

Why would I have gone on Twitter? Well, I have been following a story of a little boy named Stellan with a congenital heart condition. This condition makes his heart beat dangerously fast. He was diagnosed in utero and the parents were told he would not make it. I think he is now 8 months old and is still struggling with his condition. You can read about him here. His Mom does such a nice job with her blog. Recently, Stellan was back in the hospital because of his condition. She posted the link to her Twitter account, as that is where she would be putting her updates. I wanted to know how Stellan was doing so I clicked and saved the link to her Twitter account. Thankfully, Stellan is now home and on medication. I am not sure what the short term plan is but I know that Drs. would like to wait until he is older for surgery.

As I read some of her tweets, I noticed that she had a few from the McGraws. That is right both Robin and Jay. You know I had to click on Robin's account. I saw a few of her posts. The ones I read were mostly about her walking in the mornings with a friend or going here or there. Really not so interesting.

I don't get the attraction to Twitter. Even after reading a few entries from people, I don't understand the how or why people twitter. I suppose it is really not for me to get, it is what it is and I don't have to have anything to do with it.

Not happy with the Super Store *****UPDATED*****

I have been surprised at how many coupons you can find on the Internet. Not just any coupons but coupons for products that I actually use. And not just grocery coupons, you can also find coupons for popular clothing and home goods stores.

Last weekend, I found a coupon for Kirklands on the Internet that we used to purchase our mirrors for our bathroom. I think that saving $10 is awesome. I have also signed up to get notifications for coupons that are posted for some of the places I shop regularly. I have learned that I will not purchase anything until I have checked for a coupon or discount of some sort.

I also print out grocery coupons. This is such a nice feature to have. A few weeks ago when when I went to the Super Center(SC), I was told that I could not use Internet coupons. I didn't think much about it especially if that is their policy. However, I happened to come upon their coupon policy and guess what? That is right, it says they accept Internet coupons.

I called the local store today because I really need to go grocery shopping and I was thinking about going to the SC tomorrow morning. I spoke with a customer service manager who proceeded to tell me that they do not accept Internet coupons because of fraud by some and then are NOT reimbursed by the companies. Although I think it is a shame that there are people out there who ruin it for those of us who are honest, I do understand. What I don't understand is that the documented policy should be correct. As I was explaining this the manager hung up on me. I did not say anything mean nor was I argumentative in any way. This to me is unacceptable behavior.

The next call I made was to the SC's corporate customer service area. I logged 2 complaints. The first was for reporting the customer service manager. There was no way I would let that one go. The second was to have them update their coupon policies. If they accept them at some stores then they need to state that very clearly or state they do not accept them at all. I will follow my complaints until I get someone to help me with them.

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I ended up getting a call at 7pm last night from the store manager. She explained that they do accept Internet coupons and that there has been some confusion among the staff. She was going to take this opportunity to review procedures with her staff again. There have been some fraudulent coupons circulating the web so this is something that they are trying to keep on top of. They are also instructed to accept only original Internet coupons, no copies.

I received a contact name in case of any issues during my shopping trip which she gladly gave me. I am happy to report I shopped and used about 6 Internet coupons with no issue.

I am not completely happy with the way I was treated by the customer service manager and I did make mention of that during my conversation. She took the lady's name but I have little doubt that anything will come of it.

My main issue was that the policy needs to be accurate. So if not all stores accept Internet coupons then it should be clearly stated.

My focus is blurred

I have really been having a time staying focused on everything that needs to be done. I am a very organized person and feel like there is so much disorganization around me right now. I work best when I have a nice clean space around me. The biggest problem is my office (it is a disaster). It seems as though when I clean up the house, the office is a default room because I can close the door to hide all of the papers and such that can be dealt with later. Then we have the issue of our bathroom. All of our bathroom stuff is sitting along the wall in our bedroom. Construction will hopefully begin next week and I am thinking at least 4 weeks to have everything completed.

On top of all that I have a crib sitting in my living room. I really want to be able to donate the crib. The shelters around here won't accept the crib due to the issues of the slat needing to be the correct width. I guess they don't want the liability if something were to happen. I did find one pregnancy shelter who would LOVE the donation, but it is an hour drive away. If we have a free weekend we could take it and then head to the outlet stores, but baseball, lacrosse and household chores seems to take up a lot of weekend time. See what I mean about disorganization? There is just so much stuff everywhere and it really is driving me nuts.

I seem to have lost steam in the homework department. For the last few weeks it has been a chore for me to help the boys' with their homework. I have slacked in reading time with them also. I would much rather be outside enjoying the weather than sitting inside. Plus we have 2 days a week where we have to rush through homework to get ready for baseball. I think school work is important but we are down to our last 24 days of school (yes I am counting).

A few weeks ago we had the need to find our signed mortgage papers. We refinanced our loan recently. I looked everywhere and could not find the paperwork. This really bothers me. My husband remembers us receiving them in the mail and I don't. I have a really good memory and can't figure out why I have no recollection of this.

I am still working on some administrative tasks for the school. But they will linger until school end. I will once again be collecting for teacher gifts. The teacher gifts will be given on June 15th so luckily I will have time to get it all done. I am not complaining. I put all of this on myself. I am glad I am able to do this for our wonderful teachers who do so much for the kids.

I have so many items on my to do list that seems to be getting longer and longer each day. I am really looking forward to our vacation after school lets out. It will be a glorious week at one of our favorite beach spots. I hope after a week of fun in the sun maybe I can get focused and organized and then possibly start crossing some projects off my list.