A New Direction

Just taking a moment to stop in and say hey.. Life has been trudgin along full of potholes and teenage angst. Right now we are trying to figure out what college word girl is going to and whether or not pita boy is going to join the navy but it is Hair Boy who is offering me the most change.

This weekend, yes just four days away my baby (21 1/2 years old, 6'8") is moving to his own place. I will surely miss him. He is moving down state to go to school and get an apt with his friends. I am sure he will be checking in on me constantly because he is sure I can't breathe on my own and need constant surveillance but still, I will miss him.

I am still computerless so I am only on sporadically I am trying to be online once a week or so but if you look at the past few blogs you will see how that has worked out for me so far....

be well all.. enjoy those beasties in your life.. I mean if we didn't have them what would we have to write about?

A moment in Time

I didnt have the chance to get here last friday but I wanted to take the time to say Happy Birthday to Word Girl...

On Friday October 30, my gorgeous, insane, pain in the rear turned 18. I am ever so proud of her. Can you imagine what joy it is to be able to say that came from me... of course I admit I often say it in an extremely different tone of voice.

Word Girl is my complete and total do it yourself girl. At 3 she taught herself how to ride a bike, there I stood all read to hold the bike up so she could get her balance and wobble along but no.. "no mommy, I can do it myself" and sure enough she did. That was really the first time I heard those words from her but I promise not the last. She has made a career of doing it herself. I am so proud of the woman she is becoming (of course if she would just once let me have the last word life would be so much better....

anyway Happy Birthday precious girl

Senior Year

Word girl is going through her senior year. This is such an incredibly fun time filled with so many promises of things to come yet saying goodbye to what has always been. She is anxiously awaiting responses to her applications (ok, mailing them out then anxiously waiting). Currently she is hoping for UC San Diego or Hawaii Pacific. Me, I want, UC Santa Barbara or University or Oregon. The girl wants to study Marine Biology and she wants to escape the midwest so her choices stand to reason... (OK she wants to escape mom, I won't tell her that is how I ended up in the Midwest and yet mom is still there, leaning over my shoulder telling me how to breathe.. it is just life).

For each new adventure there is a bittersweet goodbye, I know she doesnt get it yet.. and since she has lived in a small town all of her life, everyone knows everyone else's business.. she isn't aware of the fact that sometimes you are alone, you actually WANT your family around. Of course if she attends Hawaii Pacific I can pretty much gaurantee monthly visits from some member of my family or other.. anyway, Friday night is Senior night for Marching band. It is when we get to stand up there and be acknowledged both the parent and the student. It is really the only time it happens. Most of the time the senior is acknowledged but not the parent so this is fun. After band night it will be senior night for swim team.. one more child to say goodbye to competitive swimming. This will be a tear jerker for me, it always is.. Of course Blond Girl will continue but she has always swam because well the rest of them did it and she looks great in a bathing suit.

Soon, there will be college ads and senior announcements, we already went through Homecoming, Prom is next.. what's a mom to do when all of her babies are suddenly all grown up.. Word Girl will be 18 this month... OGL.. world look out!!

It is HOMECOMING so Insanity Reigns!!

Thiss week is homecoming here in our little slice of the world so the girls are doing all they can to fit it all in.. lets see.. Monday was pajama day... so of course the new jammies came out (I insisted Word Girl actually wear jammies but that is an argument for another time).. Tuesday was red carpet day (the Homecoming theme.. ) honestly how does one dress up for teh red carpet when one is in HS? Wednesday is Twin day... grins... blond girl gets a call from a friend telling her to wear a white tee.. the friend had a shirt for her. Any way since she was sleeping, lovely mom that I am I answered her phone.. BIG MISTAKE..

ME: Blond Girl N called and said to wear a white tee

Blond Girl: when? why didnt you wake me (the girl sleeps like the living dead sometimes I check just to make sure she is breathing).

Me: last night... and believe me I tried to wake you...

Blond Girl: oh... well ok, what pants? jeans, sweats? light jeans dark jeans, skinny jeans?

Me: um I didnt ask, I am just relaying the message she sent

Blond Girl: SIGH... ok, shoes? heels, boots, gym shoes?

Me: again I dont know, I just am passing on the message..

Blond Girl: well next time ask...


Are any of you the proud parents of teens girls? she wanted me to insert my opinion, think for myself.. even GASP ask questions of one of her friends???

oh well that was resolved..

Thursday was sports day.. and powederpuff night.. the JR/SR game was called due to rain Word Girl is saying no one won due to the rain ( they called it after half time and the Seniors were getting creamed)

Today... tailgaiting party at 5:oo am for the seniors, pep rally, parade, game....

Tomorrow the Dance...

Now I am not sure exactly what Word Girl will be doing cuz well I dont really need to know (so she says...) but Blond Girl will be meeting with her friends at 4... taking a 20 person limo to dinner then off to the dance... then back to a friends house for after dance party.. poor thing...

talk to you all soon.. I promise

As If They Dont Do Enough!!

So the little darlings (Word Girl and Blond Girl) came home at the end of last year telling me that the Spanish program was going to Puerto Rico this year. It was an exciting concept and we all looked forward to teh details.

Fast forward to this year and we find out the estimated cost for 8 students. It is ridiculously astronmical! Both girls came home saying that they didnt need to go. Other things were more important and that we could take a family vacation for the amount of money that they were being charged.

This was a wonderful that they felt that way but I went to the meeting anyway. I mean would the price go down if more children were involved? Was the price set in stone or was that just the high end estimate? Turns out that the price can go down as much as 1000.00 if enough kids register. This is a wonderful turn of events. And the family vacation thing, yeah.. hasnt happened yet.. oh and the price, I can guarantee that many of their individual trips to CA to visit grandma came close in cost.

So they are going to give it a try. They are going to fundraise. They are going to work hard at their jobs (ok Word Girl is, Blond Girl is 15 and currently jobless) and they are going to see if they can do it.

With all that being said.. if anyone feels teh deep seeded need to make a donation, feel free.. my paypal button is alive and well (hey if I dont ask, I wont get). Seriously though, I appreciate just having the format to write about the beasties, to share what is going on and to work things through.

For those that Doubted

In my last blog during my catch up I mentioned how blond girl once knocked herself unconcious with her trumpet.. I was nice.. I didnt mention her tuba injury.. but this week she managed to do it again.

She was at swim practice on Friday and for some reason the pool was not open, I am not sure why. So instead of swimming they decided to run around on the ice (our pool is connected to a skating rink.. our own personal form of sea and ski). Anyway, blond girl took a tumble. Not just oh bump that hurts.. no way.. not our girl.. Nope she went sailing across the ice and smashed into it HARD.. came home with a black eye and a bruise on her shoulder. It has been four days now and the bruise is still a pretty black and blue, the size of an orea cookie and her eye while not swollen looks like she is wearing some very interesting makeup..

Hey I cant a make this stuff up..

Surviving the Summer

I am sorry all for the incredibly long absence from my page.. I know I committed to writing these blogs then suddenlylife happens and I crash and burn. I also know that in the grand scheme of things me not writing this blog does not really make a difference to anyone but me but.... I am back, I think... well at least 2 to 3 days a week.

How has your summer been? Mine has been filled with drama, trauma and triage... well the beasties have at least had an exciting time..

Lets see...

Blond Girl, had an exciting time in California, Vegas and Utah this summer. Visiting relatives, sightseeing and hanging out at Knotts.. only one trip to the emergency room for her. Poor thing, she has stress induced asthma and is known to have dibilitating attacks that seem to come from nowhere. So this summer she was at Knotts with her cousin have a grand old time and after the 6th time in a row on one of the roller coasters she went into a full blown attack. Lauren, my cousin who is 13 handeled it like a pro, got help, contacted family and took care of business.. Knotts being that they were obviously concerned and in are litigious society needed to watch their backs... sent her to the emergency room. Now she has made something of a career of going to the ER, getting hit in the head with a 2x4, knocking herself unconcious with her trumpet and of course the odd asthma attacks. It is to the point where I, sympathetic mother that I am usually am laughing when I get the call (hello, she knocked herself unconcious with a trumpet). So here she is in CA, at the ER.. and what does her grandma do? She comes into the ER yelling at her because she left her inhaler at the house. What good does it do at the house?? Poor girl everyone else goes to the ER and gets sympathy.. She came home and has been gallivanting around the Chicago area being blond and 15. band camp was last week and yes she has been known to say "and one time at band camp". Swim team started yesterday and school starts on tuesday. Remember when summer lasted until September?

Word Girl... she too was off to sunny California this summer. She managed to fit a trip in, between summer swim team and two jobs.. She cracks me up because she honestly was worried about what she was going to do for 12 entire days in California. She was going to playland and thought she would be bored. The girl honestly took her summer homework with her to work on while she was there. Now while visiting she managed to be in California for 4 of the 12 days of her vacation. On those days, she went to Knotts, twice, the beach, shopping, the dentist and visiting. The days she wasnt there she was in Utah and Colorado. She went to Mesa Verde, the continetal divide, horseback riding in the Rockies, a family reunion in Denver and back to CA.. good thing she took her homework.

Pita Boy... Pita Boy was home for the summer, no grand adventures for him.. well he was on one of the teams for guard games, worked his buns off (has developed a four pack - still working on the 6er) and oh yeah, fell of a guard chair, cracked his head on the concrete and fell into the pool. yes he is fine.. so now we can all laugh. The boy has been a lifeguard for FIVE years and he FELL of the chair?? All I can say is I hope she was smokin............. He starts working with Hair Boy at the skating rink next wink. Yes I will have two children that drive the Zamboni... a mother's dream..

Hair Boy... is currently in CA visiting grandma. This is the first time He who walks on water has gone to CA since he was 13. I am sure the red carpet was rolled, the trumpets were glaring... Have I mentioned he can do no wrong where his grandma is concerned? Oh he is going to have a blast.. one of his best summer friends is going to be dragging him from pillar to post, showing him her world.. they are 21 so it should be interesting..

other than that life is slowly moving back into place.. I hope to be able to write again on Sunday but if not I will be back at this public computer on Tuesday.. Have a great summer all