Picture Time! May 31, 2007

I suck at blogging. I really do. It’s been a week since I last posted. Oh well, here’s another one for those of you who are still sticking with me!

We went camping at the lake last weekend. It was a lot of fun, but it rained on us every day. It didn’t matter, though, because Squeaks loved it. We let her play down on the swimming beach, but she wanted in the water. We humored her, thinking she would get so cold she wouldn’t want to do it. No such luck. We finally had to force her out of the water after her feet and lips turned blue!

I had to spend Sunday at the laundromat drying all of our bedding and clothing because our tent leaked and literally everything got soaked. But we stuck it out until Monday night and wound up having a great time. It makes me wish we could go camping more often!

Okay, I’ll leave with some pictures of our trip!

Playing in the leaves right after getting out of bed.

Parade time!

Taking advantage of a break in the rain.

Me, Squeaks, and Drama Queen playing in the COLD water!

All Hope is Lost May 24, 2007

I don’t know if I’m just becoming bitter towards reality shows or if they’re starting to suck even more than usual. I normally get pretty involved in them because I watch a lot of tv when I’m sewing my bows. And I’ve gotten pretty good about picking out one person in the beginning who will go on to win it all, whether the prize is money, marriage, or a trophy. But this season of reality shows was total crap. On American Idol I never had a person that I liked so much that I would pick up the phone and vote. Dancing With the Stars was boring. The Bachelor was full of girls that I would have kicked off from day one. I don’t know how many of you watch reality tv, but did you all feel the same way I did? Maybe I should get over my tv addiction…

Alex to the Third May 23, 2007

I sit here blogging to the sound of hammering and sawing. Our new siding is going up as we speak. Let’s just say it’s been an adventure thus far. We went through a very reputed company around here who does excellent work. But their workers…oh, their workers. They are 3 Russian fellows, all named Alex (and if you’re my husband, you suspect that they share a social security number, as well).

They all showed up about 2 weeks ago to do a sample area to make sure we like the color, but we had no idea they were coming. They woke me up by beating on my bedroom window, then we managed to have a very strange conversation in which none of us could understand each other. Finally after phone calls to their English-speaking boss, we got things lined out. And now today they are beginning the real work.

I know they think I’m spying on them (and I am), but they crack me up. All you have to do is step outside and say “Alex” and you have 3 of them looking at you. And the best part is they take a break every half hour or so to sit around on my back patio, eating snacks out of lunch baggies and drinking what I suspect is vodka. They’ve been here all day, yet I am seeing very little work done.

Normally this kind of thing would piss me off, but I’m out of school right now and lacking for entertainment. I know that they are competent workers, so I am simply going to sit back and laugh at them for awhile. And besides, we haven’t yet paid them a single penny. They get their check when they’re finished and we’re satisfied, so they can dick around all they want but I hold the power!

Bittersweet Graduation May 21, 2007

I’ve been MIA because this weekend was a little emotional for us. Saturday night would have been the night that my husband’s brother would have graduated from high school. (For those of you who don’t know, Casey was 15 when he was killed in a car accident.) We agreed to go as a family to watch the graduation ceremony and be supportive of Casey’s friends.

Everyone gathered on the school’s football field for a very bittersweet ceremony. Not only had Casey and another child died in the accident 2 years ago, but Friday one of the class seniors drowned while attending the Sr. Picnic at the lake. His body was found just a few hours prior to graduation.

In the area where the class was seated, 3 chairs were left empty in the lineup for the boys who had passed. The school placed caps and gowns on those chairs, balloons were tied to the backs of the chairs, and many friends placed flowers. Many kids had Casey’s name written on their caps. It was very overwhelming.

The bigwigs at the school did a very good job in keeping graduation a happy event for the seniors, though. The 3 guys were not mentioned until after the kids had all received their diplomas. Then the class president got up and said that they wanted to present diplomas to the families of the deceased, to honor their memory. When we went up to accept, the balloons on the chairs were released and the crowd cheered in their honor. It was a very surreal time.

Lots of tears were cried for what could have been, but we were just thankful that we had 2 years to prepare for that day, unlike that family whose son died the day before. I can’t imagine the anguish they must be experiencing.

But on a good note, being there with my husband’s family made me see just how far we’ve come. Two years ago we were a devastated mess. Now we have all managed to come to terms with what’s happened. We can actually talk about Casey without someone falling apart. I guess time really does heal.

Just Call Me Supermom May 18, 2007

Squeaks and I went to visit my mother today. When we all went out to run errands, we decided to take Mom’s car, as it’s cleaner and get better gas mileage. She has a carseat she bought so that we don’t have to constantly change seats out, so it was so problem to go in her car.

We drove around Mom’s semi-small town for awhile in order to get to this little store where they sell the kind of bear that Squeaks is so freaking attached to. (We needed another backup, as she left the last one outside and the dogs sacrificed it or humped the stuffing out of it or something.) Anyway, when I went to get Squeaks out, my heart literally dropped — while she was buckled into the car seat, the seat WAS NOT BUCKLED IN! We had been riding all around while she was buckled into a seat that could fly out the window at any minute! Thankfully my mom’s nearing 60, so she doesn’t drive that fast!

She apologized over and over and explained that my dad must have taken it out and never strapped it back in when he put it back. I told her it was my fault for not checking — I’m the one who buckled her in! I can’t believe I did that. Oh well, thankfully nothing happened and she didn’t get hurt. But you can bet that I’ll always be checking from now on!

Work, Work, and More Work May 15, 2007

Oh what a busy time it’s been! We’ve been doing our best to get rid of the hillbilly look that our house has. And by that I mean that we got new windows installed, are getting new siding, we tore off our white-trash-screen-porch, and are finishing up the indoor projects.

And to top it all off, we already have a screen torn on one of the new windows that were installed Friday. I was so pissed at first, but it was a total accident made by a close friend who was helping us tear off the porch. Thankfully we opted for the lifetime warranty, so the screen should be fixed in a week or so!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Mother’s Day. Mine was….different. I’ll have a whole other post about it in a day or two. Until then, I’ll be quite busy getting this housework done!

Doing our best to raise a high-maintenance girl May 9, 2007

I cleaned out Squeaks’ closet tonight and was shocked by what I saw. Does a 1 year old really need this many shoes?

Something tells me we’re in for it.

When a Noun Becomes a Proper Noun May 7, 2007

Once more, Oklahoma is being hit by severe storms. One more day that we haven’t seen the sun, but the humidity has been enough to make even the dog look like Napoleon Dynamite. The newscasters around here get a massive hard-on for this kind of stuff, as evidenced by the constant scrolling at the bottom of the television screen about Thunderstorm Warnings! and Tornados Watches! (because apparantly capitalization of key words means the difference in small storm and Life Threatening Emergency). But as much as we need the Rain and as much as I love to sleep during a good Thunderstorm, I’m sick of this. Being stuck inside the house with an 18-month-old is enough to make me want to bang my head against the wall. Truthfully she’s not that bad, it’s me that gets bored too easily. It’s as if my normal functions cease to exist when there is Inclement Weather. The house becomes trashed, the laundry piles up, and there is an inch of dirt on the floors. It would seem that I could catch up on such things while being stuck indoors, but instead I am also delayed for rain.

One day last week the storms got so bad that we were advised to Seek Indoor Shelter. In Oklahoman, that means get your ass in the house and in the most interior room you can find as your house will be blown away. The bad part about our new house is that there really is no central room. The rooms are so large in our house that they are all connected to an exterior wall. There is one tiny closet off the kitchen that currently holds a bunch of junk and I had deemed it earlier in the season as our designated storm shelter. When the meteorologist said to Take Cover Immediately, I was throwing junk out of the closet, waking Squeaks up, and flying to cover. The Hubby was at work (taking shelter in the bathroom), but he called to say that a rotation was right over the top of our house. Lovely. I was terrified but Squeaks thought it was great. She had her library books, a flashlight, and a box of Tedddy Grahams. What more could a kid need? She rolled around on the blankets I had on the floor and snacked for the majority of the time, while I was figuring out how to anchor myself to the floor with her underneath me if need be. Thankfully the storm passed quickly with no tornado touchdown, but it made me aware of how quickly we could lose it all. I’ve lived in OK my whole life and have witnessed many twisters, but thankfully none have hit my home.

So tonight I will stand vigil. By vigil I mean that I’m afraid to go to sleep because I’m afraid a tornado will blow us away without my knowledge beforehand. As if I can do anything to prevent it even if I do know about it, but at least I could prepare myself. And do you remember this great new guard dog I got? She’s hiding behind the couch because she’s scared of the thunder.

I Think We’ve Got a Bully on our Hands May 5, 2007

Squeaks is entering the terrible twos a little early. Eighteen months and cue the bad behavior.

It started innocently enough. We would go to my sister’s so that she could play with the daycare kids and I could have an adult conversation. We started noticing that Squeaks would get very jealous whenever any of the kids would get near me. At first it was kind of funny, but then she got to the point where she would push them and yell (babble) at them when they got within a 3 foot radius of me.

Then on Tuesday she stayed over there while I took one of my finals. Apparantly she decided to kick one little boy, just because he happened to be the one standing closest to her. Thankfully my sister knows how we discipline (and has my permission), so she was able to take care of things.

And in the last few weeks, Squeaks has done this thing where she flops herself down on her stomach and whines. It’s totally annoying and she does it for any reason: the dog looks at her funny, I decide to sit on the couch instead of the recliner, the barometric pressure in the room changes…

But today she did something mean that made me laugh my ass off. We were once again at my sister’s (yeah we go there all the time — so what?). A different little boy than she attacked last time was there. Usually he and Squeaks get along really well, but he is well-known for his read-headed temper. At one point he was throwing a huge fit and was laying (lying?) in the floor with his face buried in the carpet. Squeaks stood there for awhile, just watching him, then she chunked a block at his head! It was so unexpected and totally not like her that I burst out laughing, as did my sis. Of course I shouldn’t have laughed, but she didn’t hear me over the noise of Red-Head screaming. Once I pulled myself together, I was able to get on to her for throwing toys at people, but I’m still giggling over it.

I’ve heard that this is a trying age, but I have the feeling it’s only beginning. But if it’s starting early, that means it will end earlier, right? Right?

Finals May 3, 2007

My last final (as redundant as that sounds) is today at 12:30. Then I am free! For a month, at least.

Stupid accounting. I don’t want to be an accountant, nor do I remotely like math. That’s why I’m blogging at 6:30 in the morning instead of doing the studying that I’ve managed to put off thus far.

Wish me luck…