Today the Musical Starts

Today starts the beginning performance of our local High school musical. This is a wonderful tradition in our town and at one time ran for two weekends with many full houses..

I remember when my mother in law was alive it was a guarantee that we would go see one of these wonderful productions..These plays are not hack jobs but rather good solid productions that the community needs to rally around and support.

At least one of my children has been involved with the local plays for over 6 years.. It is a family tradition. If they do not act in it they work on crew... some do both..

The boys worked on every single fall play and spring musical the entire time they were in HS.. Word Girl is a little less inclined as she has track and enjoys it.. but Blond Girl is carrying on the family tradition.. She is working the sound board something her brothers always handled and is having the time of her life..

Everyone I know you can't go see OUR school play but look up and see what Your local HS is doing... Believe me these kids work hard to put on a good show and you will be impressed with their talent and enjoy an inexpensive night out..

Respecting the Individual

I have raised four unique and wonderful individuals... they are creative and bright, clever and talented... They are amazing.. of course they are teenagers which means they are moody, broody and annoying.. They fight me on every step they are supposed to...

But I worry, they are so independent and self sufficient I worry sometimes that they just forget what family means... that family first and always comes first. Last night Pita Boy pushed me over the edge.. and Word Girl came to the rescue (his not mine) so I guess right now I am doing something right....

Blond Girl has decided that next year she wants to audition for dance force at school. Now I wouldnt mind this except she seems to think that the activities are the important thing and she can get through life on her looks alone.. I know it sucks to be beautiful..

Actually I was watching the apprentice last night and Brandi was asked was about the difficulties of being blond and beautiful.. did she think it made it harder for her or easier.. It was interesting because she said it was never a problem. I seriously find that hard to believe... I watch my beautiful brilliant daughter fall back on her looks time and time again... and it hurts me, the child is BRILLIANT.. scary smart and yet she limits herself constantly.. Needless to say dance force is going to be a bargaining chip.. anything less than a B from here on out and she is gone.. and those B's she can only get an occasional one not settle for them...

Guess it sucks to be her...

Finding Neverland

The kids were watching Finding Neverland today and I heard one line that made me think...

It seems that Peter is trying to grow up too fast...

Our children grow up so very fast way too fast.. where does the time go? How did this happen? All the things I had planned to do with them were swept away by all the things I did do with them...

Hair Boy turns 21 in 44 days.... I think (oh I know when his birthday is I just am getting messed up on the math.. sheesh an embarrassing thing to admit).. but it brings to mind all the years of his childhood.. all the amazing and happy times we had..

but soon my son is going to reach a milestone.. and it is wonderful and scary and fretful and exciting...

oh well more on this to come I am sure...

A Few Good Books

Whenever I wander the bookstores I try to find books that my girls will enjoy. The boys are harder to pick for and have their own eclectic styles so I sorta glaze over when choosing for them. Of course I can always count on anything by Tolkien but face it the man died in the 1970's and is unlikely to produce any more work...

Anyway I was looking around and stumbled upon these fabulous books by Cindi Chima... I suppose You could call it the "Heir" Series. It is about teenagers finding out that they are different that they have gifts that there is a place for them in this world and that there are others out there who are like them. It talks about standing your ground, fighting for what is right and believing in yourself. All wrapped up in an exciting story about Warriors and Wizards and the age old battle of good vs. evil. For more about the impressive Ms Chima please hop on over to her website I found it to be easy to maneuver and am very much looking forward to her next series..

Sometimes the Schools Get it Right

Last night Blond Girl came home and although exhausted proceded to tell about her day. She had a field trip and had gone to see a stage rendition of.. "Of Mice and Men". She was telling me about how it had made her cry and what it was about (like I haven't read it) but she was very excited.

Suddenly Word Girl and Pita Boy popped in and began a lively, interesting, informed debate. Oh it was wonderful.. Yes they were disagreeing they were arguing but it was about a classic piece of literature. Each had an informed opinion and had the facts to back it up. Oh I was so very proud.

Halfway through the debate I realized that our school system must be doing something right.. For all three of them to have been able to make such remarks and comments it meant they had not only read the book, seen either the movie or play but they had also discussed it in class. And thankfully it was on one of the two Steinbeck books I actually enjoyed..

I chose to stay out of this discussion even though all three gave me plenty of opportunity to join in and none of them would have been upset had I done so. But this was their time, the stretching of their minds.. A far cry from gossip girls and Family Man...

I Can't Believe These Words are Going to Come out of My Mouth

When does a good thing become too much?? Now for those of you who know me please have a cushion and some smelling salts at hand.

I have decided that the Lord of the Ring movies need to be put away and not watched for a while and hello TNT?? You really don't have to show all three movies together on a regular basis..

Now as many of you know I waited 30 YEARS for these movies to come out!! I adore them, I think that Peter Jackson did a fabulous job but yes even I can have too much of a good thing. While we own these movies readily available for any to watch.. yes even here in these cramped quarters we have the movies and a separate TV to watch them on.. anyway Word Girl insists on watching them every time TNT shows them. That means the rest of us get to watch these movies over and over and over again.. and folks it is time to say so long to the LoTR...

OMG!! I can not believe that those words came out of my mouth... just goes to show you what kids will do to you..

Adding A Donate Button

I have considered this very deeply believe me I was incredibly worried about appearing to be begging for cash. This is not my way.. but after some careful consideration and advice from my fellow bloggers I have gone ahead and done it.

Look right on over to your right.. take a peek yes there it is.. if you enjoy the site and would like to donate to the upkeep of it (ok the upkeep of the muse for the site) please feel free.. I would not like to keep anyone from fulfilling some previously unknown deep seeded need to donate..

Sorry.. I couldnt help myself.. but there you have it, the lovely donate button.. ignore it if you choose. I still want to see your smiling faces coming around to visit.

Pita Boy Gets a Checking Account

Every day a new adventure.. Pita Boy got his income tax check back and immediatly went to open up his very first checking account. Now I am a bit worried as they also gave him a credit card.. not a debit card (well he got that too) but they gave him a credit card!! OH My they are indeed working hard to make money.

So of course when he came home we had to discuss, balancing a check book, the proper way to use a credit card.. and all of that.. and it just broke my heart.. sighs one more step towards adulthood and real life.

I may rant and rave, threaten and terrorize but that is one of my babies and watching him with a checking account, knowing it is one more step towards eventual independence.. and it makes me just a little sad.

I will of course get over it because eventually they will all be out and it will be time for me to party.. ooops I meant live a mature and responsible life without children...

A Cinquain Challenge

I have been challenged by a friend to write two Cinquains.. now she challenged me in an entirely different format and I have chosen to accept, just me being me I have chosen to accept on my terms not hers.. giggles sorry sweetie can't help it. So here they are about the beasties.. enjoy

Precious
Dear Ones
Individual, Creative, Unique
Strong, Independent, Beautiful, Mine
Precious

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Children
Insane, Creative
Demanding, Rewarding, Infuriating
Brighter than the stars in the heavens
Pests

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Shut Up
Go Away, Now
Drive me Crazy, clueless
Quiet please, the Noise is too much
need sleep

So here is my challenge to you.. write a Cinquain, make it blog appropriate.. see this blog is about my kids therefore my cinquains are about my kids.. my other blog Shaunispeaks is about other stuff so my cinquains would be as well.

What is a Cinquain you may ask? It is a poem, structured and concise not unlike a haiku in it's regiment just less known outside of poetry circles for some reason.. guess haiku just sounds sexier or something.. The poems can be of three separate styles within and hold a separate purpose for each style. The style types are outlined below.

• Line1: One word
  Line2: Two words
  Line 3: Three words
  Line 4: Four words
  Line 5: One word

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

• Line1: A noun
  Line2: Two adjectives
  Line 3: Three -ing words
  Line 4: A phrase
  Line 5: Another word for the noun

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

• Line1: Two syllables
  Line2: Four syllables
  Line 3: Six syllables
  Line 4: Eight syllables
  Line 5: Two syllables

Happy Easter

From our house to yours hope you are all enjoying a special Easter and have your bonnets in place...

* just wanted to make sure to state I pilfered this pic from the internet... as much as I would love to say it is mine.. alas it is not

So Not Getting into the Middle of This

So Blond Girl comes home tonight from singing at church services and Word Girl is off Volunteering at the Children's Museum. To most this would seem an ideal situation one child giving her voice to God and another serving her community. How could this ever be turned???

First words out of Blond Girl's mouth... MOM, can you please explain to Word Girl that just because she got a haircut it does not mean her hair is thicker?

Me... Hon, I am not going to get involved in this..

Blond Girl.. Well everyone knows it makes it FULLER, not thicker...

Me... Hon, I am not going to get involved in this...

Blond Girl... Your hair remains the same thickness no matter how it is cut the strands on your head do not change....

Me... Hon, I am not going to get involved in this...

Blond Girl... Why not I am right!! You know it!!! You just never let me win!! (goes into the bathroom in a huff)

Me (to Hair Boy and Pita Boy) what would you get involved in it???

Hair Boy (who has the thickest most gorgeous hair in the world).. Mom, why does it even matter???

Blond Girl (from the bathroom) yeah what would YOU know.. and sure take her side...

So maybe I should have agreed with her but some fights we don't need to have and since winning a fight with Word Girl is something of an impossibility... and was this battle really that important??

Oh, Ain't Life Grand???

Can You Believe This?

I try very hard to understand the reasoing of the school system but this one has always gotten me confused. The current outcry is seperation from church and state.. at some public, actually many they are not even allowed to have a Bible club on campus. They are very very strict about this especially Christian beliefs why then do they get Good Friday off?

I can understand if they still celebrate spring break around that time but if they do not.. if they consider it a part of the extended time off which many schools do. I can even make it work for me if they just add it on.. BUT.. my kids had spring break last week they were back in school this week and voila!! they get tomorrow off.

They aren't trying to dress it up or call it anything else NOPE they get Good Friday off.. and it ticks me off.. I guess I expect the schools to remain consistent. They can not shoot down things the kids create to make their lives better to share their faith then take a day off so they can lounge around.. It doesn't work that way!! Well unfortunately it does and that is just plain irksome..

Seriously? But You Went to All His Stuff.....

I am seriously considering a trip out west again. My High School is having a major anniversary party it will be great to see so many of my friends and well to be honest I am just looking forward to it. Unfortunately it conflicts with the HS school musical a major deal here abouts..

Blond girl is on the stage crew and very excited about the play.. I just informed her of the date of my trip and she rushed to the bathroom full of teenage angst...

Seriously?? But you went to all Pita's... yeah but I didn't have a life back then. Also hey I hadn't done the math and .8751 days a year vacation is no where near enough. I want my average to leap to 1....

Sorry blond girl mom is gonna start having a life. You graduate in just a little over 3 years what am I gonna do then? Sit around and knit?

School is in Session

Oh this week has been lovely!! The girls are back in school!! What that means is two less people to drive me nuts for at least 8 hours a day.. of course my girls are active and involved so often I don't see them for hours after that. And when they do come home they are exhausted, they eat and fall into bed..barely managing to stay awake long enough for Homework...

Now how is this lovely? well Pita Boy and Word Girl have taken bickering to a fine art.. there should be documentaries made on living and surviving these two. They still to the "I'm not touching you" thing and oh good lord.. "stop looking at me". Hello??? these two are 17 and 19... I am thinking drugs.. and if I can't get any for them I am perfectly happy taking some for myself.

Blond girl has decided that blond is indeed a good color so it looks like we are going to go back to her natural golden locks.. whoo hooo!! While red is cute she has Christie Brinkley hair why would anyone EVER want to change that?

Oh, and I guess I should tell them soon that I may be off on another grand adventure soon... They may think they have a right to know...

Oh well it is about time mom has some fun..

When Will I Ever Learn?

So on Saturday night I went out to dinner with the ex and the kids it was a pleasant enough dinner and I as usual tried to overlook the ex's overbearing personality but here it is 2 days later and the repercussions are still coming in.

I guess I had forgotten about the way he is always right.. Pita Boy has ADHD we have worked for years on dealing with it without medication, proper eating, sleep and structure habits. We have created a format that works relatively well. Then one dinner and poof suddenly my son decides he doesn't have ADHD so he doesn't need to follow them.

We had discussed the navy which I strongly believe will be a wonderful choice for him.. provide structure, reward and set limits with stated repercussions and give him a chance to do something until he figures out what he wants to do.. and yet again the ex shot that down.. ONE DAMN DINNER...

Sighs I am a bit angry as this man has been what we like to term an absentee father and I have done all the work raising the kids yet he persists in deciding that he knows what is best for them. I could go on but I just needed to get this out.

Watching Hair Boy at Work

Hair Boy has what has to be considered one of the coolest jobs... now part of it I don't get. He drives the Zamboni machine at the local ice rinks.. For some reason this gets an interesting reaction. Almost everyone says oh cool... I had to think abou this. I mean he drives around in circles for 10 minutes of every hour. What is it about the Zamboni that so fascinates us?

Could it be the constant renewal? The way just a simple pass over the ice makes things smooth again? Do we feel something inside? Does something click? I don't know but the reaction is the same everyone loves the idea of the Zamboni driver. That isn't what I got to see him do though. The other part of his job now that is a treat to watch.

Hair Boy is the Mascot for a local hockey team, what I guess we could term a farm team (does hockey have farm teams?). This child of mine has always gotten on well with children. He has a pied piper personality and the little ones adore him... well here he is all dressed up like a giant dog and children flocking around him. It was fun to watch him take the time for high fives and hugs and the occasional picture. It was great to see that he instinctively knew which child needed what attention. This child of mine will someday be a great parent. He will also be a good teacher which is his goal.

I enjoy the occasional glimpses a parent gets to see into their children, seeing what they could become... oh yeah and the hockey game was ok as well.

Do Not Ask Me Why

So I have had this poem in my brain lately.. I am not sure why...

There was an old lady who swallowed a fly.
I don't know why she swallowed the fly,
I guess she'll die.

There was an old lady who swallowed a spider,
that wiggled and wiggled and tickled inside her.
She swallowed the spider to catch the fly.
I don't know why she swallowed the fly.
I guess she'll die.

There was an old lady who swallowed a bird.
How absurd to swallow a bird.
She swallowed the bird to catch the spider,
that wiggled and wiggled and tickled inside her.
She swallowed the spider to catch the fly.
I don't know why she swallowed the fly.
I guess she'll die.

There was an old lady who swallowed a cat.
Imagine that, she swallowed a cat.
She swallowed the cat to catch the bird.
She swallowed the bird to catch the spider,
that wiggled and wiggled and tickled inside her.
She swallowed the spider to catch the fly.
I don't know why she swallowed the fly.
I guess she'll die.

There was an old lady who swallowed a dog.
My what a hog, to swallow a dog.
She swallowed the dog to catch the cat.
She swallowed the cat, to catch the bird,
She swallowed the bird to catch the spider,
that wiggled and wiggled and tickled inside her.
She swallowed the spider to catch the fly.
I don't know why she swallowed the fly.
I guess she'll die.

There was an old lady who swallowed a cow.
I don't know how she swallowed a cow.
She swallowed the cow to catch the dog.
She swallowed the dog, to catch the cat.
She swallowed the cat to catch the bird.
She swallowed the bird to catch the spider,
that wiggled and wiggled and tickled inside her.
She swallowed the spider to catch the fly.
I don't know why she swallowed the fly
I guess she'll die.

I know an old lady who swallowed a horse...

She's dead of course!

This song was written by Rose Bonne, with music by Alan Mills, Peer International (Canada) Ltd. bought the song's copyright 1952 and has held the copyright 1960 onwards.

Ever Wanna Say What Lola Wants Lola Gets?

So Lola over at Lola's Diner has once again honored me with an award. She honors me more with her continued support than by any awards but hey.. I am happy with the award.

"This award is bestowed upon a fellow blogger whose blog’s content or design is, in the giver's opinion, brilliant."

Thank you so much Lola! Although why you seem to insist that my blogs are so specatular is beyond me.. I mean I know they are but I didn't realize the rest of the world had caught up

Now with this tag I have to list at least ten (10) honest things about myself, now here we go.

1. I will never ever be good enough for my mother no matter how hard I try and most days I can accept that.

2. My first car was a Ford Comet.. ugly as sin but power under the hood. Not that I ever sped or drove it more than to work or school (just in case Dad happens to see this)

3. I honestly adore teenagers and toddlers.. don't have much use for some of the in between ages as then just seem boring.. (well except my children who were of course brilliant at all stages of life).

4. If I had my way I would ditch the Chicago suburbs and be catching some rays at the Main Beach in Laguna.

5. I adore my siblings each and every one of them for different reasons but they all hold a special place in my heart.

6. If I had money I would buy an apt complex install it with solar panels and laugh as the electric company got energy back instead of cash and my tenants would not be constantly screwed.

7. I am still trying to figure out how to make my words pay for themselves.. If I could sell my poems on a regular basis my world would rock.

8. I went to a private protestant HS by choice.. and it is celebrating it's 50th anniversary next month.. GO HERALDS

9. I have almost no friends in the state of Illinois which to this day astounds me as I am a social creature and have always been surrounded by friends.

10. If I had it to do all over again I would... because if I didn't some of the things I find most precious might not be there..

now whom do I pass this on to?

1. A Mom on a Spin one of my daily must reads she cracks me up and just makes me feel better about being a mom.. and of course not so alone.

2. Crazy Mom with Four Boys yes I have four kids but she wins.. 4 boys? at least I got two and two.

3. Mom Knows Everything Come on even if I didn't adore her blog she would get prizes just for stating the obvious.

4. On the Verge Ok so I lied.. four boys is impressive four girls is heroic...

Thanks again Lola for all of your support

They are Having Fun, Do They Have to Come Home?

Raise your hand if you believe the reason I don't want the girls to come home is because they are having fun...

After 6 funfilled days they arrive home tonight. I am sure they will be full of exciting stories, fun filled facts and fabulous pictures.. I am equally sure they will be on the computer sharing away and I will see none of the pictures and hear only about how blond girl's shoes hurt and word girl got lost..

But seriously they arrive tonight at 5ish and life returns to normal...