The boys are making AMAZING progress in that whole “peel the paint from the walls” project. I estimate they’ll have one wall completely bare by Christmas. And I’m OK with it. I may even give them scrapers and turn it into a contest – how quickly can we get this craptastic paint off the walls so Mommy can put something BETTER up. Ready? Set?  GO!!!!!

A new livingroom color has finally been decided on, I picked out bookshelves from Target, and now I’m looking for a media center computer that I can dedicate to the task (rather than streaming content to the Wii) from the external hard drive. Now I just need to slipcover my recliner, toss this ugly sofa and find a good corner desk for the livingroom.

And I have a question: What do you do with the kids books that you can’t donate? I don’t mean the stuff with a crayon scribble here and there – I mean the stuff that’s been gnawed on, ripped apart and otherwise rendered unrecognizable. I don’t have the patience to rip ALL the spines off them (making the pages recyclable), nor do I want to send a gigantic pile of books to the landfill.

Hmm…come to think about it, I may use them as landscaping material. Put the books down, then put mulch on top of them. That might work…

Stay tuned!

Originally published at Mama's Bloggin. You can comment here or there.

That was my Note from the Universe Friday morning, and oh how true it is. And last week was particularly challenging.

Warning: whining ahead. If you don’t want to hear it, press on.
~~~~~

I have fluid in my ear – have for the last week. Yanno how it sounds when you put your head underwater and then thump the tub wall? Try walking around like that all day long. For a week. What’s obnoxious is that I’ll be walking right along minding my own business and get whalloped with vertigo (fluid pressure buildup in the inner ear). Taking ibuprofen seems to help, I have no idea why.

~~~~~

There was a Teen Girl Rumble earlier in the week. They’ve been mouthing at each other for (I couldn’t really tell you how long) and it finally spilled over. The police were called, The Teen decided to not press charges and hope it all blows over….and the next morning her tires were slashed.  She’s OK physically (bruises and scratches do heal) but is definitely freaked out.

~~~~~~~

A plumbing connection corroded and was spraying water all over the wall. In the laundry room. I found it the hard way: the “next load on deck” was soaked. I got to rip the plumbing access panel from the wall, find the leak, and then wait for the plumber to show up. We waited for three days. I know it’s not an inordinately long time to wait for a plumber, and I’m thrilled that we didn’t lose water while we waited (although the plumber would’ve bumped us up the line had that happened, I’m sure) but…

BUT…

Three days without my washer means the dirty clothes piled up. And piled up.

And PILED up.

I was sorely tempted to turn the back of the truck into a gigantic washer while it rained Tuesday and Wednesday. I wanted to toss it all in the van and drop it off at the laundrymat. I wanted to call a few of Teh Teen’s friends and offer them money to wash and fold.

Fortunately, I got over all of that and got it done.

8 loads of laundry.

1 Saturday.

I even got most of it folded and put away!

(Don’t tell anyone. I might lose my lazy fatass designation.)

~~~~~~

I’m looking at taking on a second job. I’m not hurting, but I’m not COMFORTABLE financially. I have health insurance but I don’t have the copay without juggling bills. I want to take the boys out to dinner without worrying that I’ll have no gas money at the end of the week. I want to be able to go to the Dr. when I need to, not “after payday”.

~~~~~

I finally had the first of what I’m sure will be many conferences, getting the boys tested and appropriately placed on the autism spectrum. I do not love this process, nor do I enjoy sitting there enumerating all the ways my boys are “different”.

I miss homeschooling.

Originally published at Mama's Bloggin. You can comment here or there.

The work on the wall continues. Daniel puts himself to sleep by scratching the wall. Joe likes to use it for a map when he goes into the bedroom to pretend. I’ve pretty much decided to just let them have at it and sweep up the chips – the other three walls are essentially intact.

This is what I saw when I opened the door to snap the photo.

And then he showed me how he gets down….and bounces from Daniel’s bed to his.

Originally published at Mama's Bloggin. You can comment here or there.

The work on the wall continues. Daniel puts himself to sleep by scratching the wall. Joe likes to use it for a map when he goes into the bedroom to pretend. I’ve pretty much decided to just let them have at it and sweep up the chips – the other three walls are essentially intact.

This is what I saw when I opened the door to snap the photo.

And then he showed me how he gets down….and bounces from Daniel’s bed to his.

Originally published at Mama's Bloggin. You can comment here or there.

Wordless Wednesday: Schoolboys, originally uploaded by MamasBloggin’.

Originally published at Mama's Bloggin. You can comment here or there.

The alarm chirped at 630 this morning. Out of bed I rolled, quietly walking past the bedroom full of sleeping snorting boys.

I made their lunches. Folded a load of laundry. Debated on whether or not to make a pot of coffee (I didn’t – Mama did when she woke up). Looked at the clock – time to get them out of bed.

I opened the door, leapt up on Dan’s bed and started singing

It’s the first day of school!

It’s the first day of school!

Get your booty out of beeeeed!

It’s the first day of school!

To the tune of Happy Birthday. I know, so creative and awesome. Worship my awesome creativity! (Why yes, I’m that obnoxious in the morning. If I’ve gotta get up, EVERYBODY has to.)

I whipped together a gourmet breakfast (in my head. In reality they were clamoring I WANT CHICKEN NOODLE SOUP and I WANT FRENCH TOAST STICKS and NOT THE FRENCH TOAST YOU MAKE MOMMY THE ONES IN THE FREEZER!) and lovingly slapped it down on the table in front of them.

Then we all got dressed and popped down the road to school. Where we immediately ran into The First Dayers.

Oh have mercy, I forgot about The First Dayers.

Cars. Parked everywhere. On the side road, in the driveway, in the MIDDLE of the driveway, at the end of the car-circle. Back it in, throw it in park, it’s not a spot but it’ll do! Hit that button to make the car go WOOP WOOP and stride purposefully into the school like you own it.

(But just for today. Tomorrow you’ll be back in your office and I’ll be able to park and walk my boys in like we always do.)

We pulled up to the front of the school building, got backpacks out of the back of the truck and well…

The good news is that they took off down the sidewalk and didn’t look back. The bad news is they quickly got swallowed up in the crowd of adults. I managed to get one clear shot of them on their first day – and their backs were to the camera.

~~~Dear Internet,

Please excuse the weirdness involved in the timestamp of this post. Emily was awake from 630 am til after midnight with no nap and hit “save” instead of  “publish”.

Originally published at Mama's Bloggin. You can comment here or there.

Wordless Wednesday: Supplied, originally uploaded by MamasBloggin’.

Originally published at Mama's Bloggin. You can comment here or there.

Remember this cutie?

That picture was taken in June. And oh my sweet lawd what a difference two months can make…

Joe, see if you can get Kiko to stand over there by that bush and SIT there. No, that’s not gonna work. Here, YOU take the camera and I’ll see if I can get him to sit.

Chelsea-girl, you’re not helping. I know you need love too but right now I want a picture of Kiko. Now go play so we can get this done.

And now you’re blocking the shot. I know you’re beautiful baby, but MOVE.

Okay, fine. I’ll pet you both. Just hold still, mkay? Joe, try to take the picture so I’m not in it please–I’m not dressed for The Internet.

Joe? They’re sitting, TAKE THE PICTURE! Joe take the picture before they move again. You ARE taking a picture of the dogs, right? Joe, stop messing with the dial on top – you’ll take a blurry picture. PUSH THE BUTTON BOY BEFORE THEY MOVE!

I give up. Y’all go play.

Originally published at Mama's Bloggin. You can comment here or there.

We just can’t have Nice Things, originally uploaded by MamasBloggin’.

I had to work last night and woke up to this little piece of heaven.

Originally published at Mama's Bloggin. You can comment here or there.