Sticks and Stones

The internet is a tricky thing.

You make "friends" with people.

You get some real idiots that can argue with you, say mean things that leave a mark or just make your life miserable by stalking you.

Like most recently I was scouring a certain "list" for things to pick up around the house. You know for a deal? Like an internet garage sale.

Things I was looking for:

Used Cedar Swing Set for Casey
Used Patio Furniture cuz we need a 2nd table and chairs for all the entertaining we do
Pub Table for our kitchen we literally never eat in but would look good with a much smaller table
Poker Table

So I find a pub and poker table on the same listing. I emailed the person asking for pics of the pub table because I want a square one. This person emailed me back pics with a round one and a poker table used a few times in the original box. This person lists OBO.

In the spirit of BEST OFFER, I did a little research on the poker table. Found the exact same one on a local sporting good store and Target for $99.

So I emailed the person and said "Sorry, I was hoping the pub table was square not round but I'd like to offer you $50 for the poker table."

The email back to me "I was hoping for $100 on the poker table."

I emailed back and said "Thank you but I'm not interested. I can buy that table new in the store for $100. Thanks anyway for your time."

Email comes back "Really? The box says $200 but I won't argue with you about it." Really cuz that's what it seems like you're doing trying to justify your nasty crabby self.

My better judgement should have stopped me right here. But I wanted the guy/girl whatever to know I wasn't lying. So I emailed back "Yep. Target and Sports Authority both have it online for $99"

The email response to that.

"Then go get one. Tired of these Craigslist Deadbeat FUCKS"

DUDE----If I was trying to surprise my husband with a poker table as a "little surprise"--- I'm trying to get a BARGAIN...hence what the list is for....people looking to sell shit they don't want locally without ebay or having to set up for an actual garage sale.....why would I spend the same amount of money on your USED one that I could get in the store for the SAME price.???

Insert staring emoticon face here.

I mean I'm not looking to strike a goldmine here and find a NEW $400 retail patio set for $100. I'm looking to find a slightly used $400 retail patio set for $100. If I just wanted to drop $100 I'd go to Walmart and buy their slightly crappier craftsmanship 5 piece set for $99. I'm looking for a deal. Someone sick of their patio furniture. Someone moving and not wanting to move perfectly good patio furniture. I'm not looking to score a $500 brand new for $75.

Nor am I expecting to find a $2,000 Rainbow cedar swing set for $200. I'm finding slightly used sets that were that much when they were originally bought and are now 3-4 years old for around $400-$500 sometimes $600. And we're trying to decide if we are going to spend that much.

Your stupid $100 DEADBEAT FUCK comment over a poker table.... that takes a special kind of idiot.

Sticks and stones....

Sanity Is a Luxury

My world has been a crazy place this last year.

This last week I've realized all the little things I missed. All the little things I took for granted before I got sick.

Things like taking my daughter to play group and having her get so excited to see me when I pick her up like she hasn't seen me in days.

Things like taking her for a "birthday meal" (because she hears me saying HAPPY meal at her favorite golden arches) and then taking her to feed the ducks at the river.

Things like snuggling for the afternoon because it's just her and I.

Things like watching my son pitch a baseball game. Seeing him up there on the mound...just amazes me. THAT is MY son and he's kicking ass and taking names up there.

Things like phone calls from my Dad telling me he's ok. He had an infection. No sign of cancer. He's OK.

Things like my sister calling to tell me that her pathology results came back clean. No sign of cancer from tissue taken out under her armpit.

All these things are good.
All these things are amazing.

When all these things happen on the SAME Friday; it's a GOOOOD day.

Borrowed Time

Once cancer has touched your family everything is different.

Simple flu "bugs" seem monumental.

Colds that hang on too long become worrisome.

Once cancer has touched your life you seem to be in constant limbo.

Waiting for that other shoe to fall.

Remission is a tricky place. Grateful for it to be gone but constantly looking over your shoulder waiting for the day it might catch up to you again.

For me, that day seemed to be Friday night again.

I was standing in Linens N' Things when my cell phone rang.

It was my Dad telling me he's being admitted to the hospital. Whhhhhhatttt? Why?

It seems he's been unable to keep anything down since Tuesday (which I knew he wasn't feeling well) but he's had it coming out of both ends since Wed and his doctor is concerned.

In 1990 at the age of 38 he was diagnosed with colon cancer. He fought it and beat it.

Since then; every cold, every flu, every ache and pain....haunts you.

He's had a battery of tests run and we're supposed to find out today what's up.

The statistic that's not good? When you beat colon cancer.....cancer usually comes back later somewhere else.

1990 until now..feels like borrowed time.

So now..we wait....

In the Land of Men

In the Land of Men

• Remembering to put the toliet paper roll on should make up for forgetting to clean out his closet of dry cleaner wrappers for WEEKS on end. (HELLO we have a toddler in the house! PLASTIC IS BAD!)

• Merely getting his late night dinner dishes from the living room to the kitchen counter should be enough for me. It doesn't matter that I left a note 3 inches away that read "Please start the dishwasher after you load your dinner dishes."

• When I ask for you to start some of the things on my to-do list while I'm at work...READING the list.... does. not. count.

• Pretending that you aren't capable of combing our daughter's hair will not get you out of continuing to try to learn and saying to me "You're better at it than I am." will not be enough flattery to absolve you. Believe me.

• Taking my car to run errands and then coming home to tell me "Your gas light came on" when you have to pass 2 different gas stations to pull into our subdivision..might just get you stabbed in the eye.

• Lastly, when I'm showering DO not think it's ok to simply walk in and take a piss claiming "I just wanted to be close to you."

This is what happens

This is what happens when you don't update your "family" picture for 3 years. You get 2 more grandchildren. My nephew Gabriel and Casey weren't even born the last time we took this picture.

This is how much your children grow up in a year when you don't update your blog.

This is how much you realize that even though you're one big blended family across the board.; all those years of people telling you "You have a half brother and half sister" and your son being told he has a "half" sister....you're all family. ONE BIG NUTTY DYSFUNCTIONAL FAMILY!

We decided to take new family pictures for my Mom for Mother's Day this year. Mostly cuz of the 2 newest additions but well none of us could think of any other kind of cool gift so this worked.



Getting 11 people together for one picture..with 3 kids under the age of 5. Not so easy. I was less than impressed with the photographers...and this is what we ended up with.



This is one Kelly and I decided to take for our Dad.



And this one is our very first professional family picture since Casey was born. In almost 3 years we've never done it. I think we should start doing this more often.



Notice the toy in her hand. She REFUSED to give it up and ya know what???? I don't care.

Creative Juices? Ewww

So last night it occurred to me that if I'm going to start blogging again I should sit down and ponder getting back my sense of humor. These last few months have just wiped me of it so it seems.

I start thinking of funny things, silly things, hilarious things that my kids, husband or dog have done.

I came up with a whole lotta nuttin'.

It was wretched.

I'm a pretty funny girl and I usually look for the funny side of most shit that occurs in my life otherwise I'd end up screaming at trees and scaring the neighborhood children. This time...not so much.

Then it happened....

My son walked past me smelling like not just ONE gym locker, but TWO. It should be a crime to smell that bad but he had baseball practice and then rode his bike home..in the rain...so he smelled like sweat AND wet dog. Wonderful. Anyway, enough about my son's stink.

He sees me sitting at the PC.

"What's up MOM-EE?"

"Not much Bubba....you ARE going to shower soon? Right?"

"Yeah. After I eat this."

I'm now looking down at a plate with 4 sloppy joes, a can of pringles and an additional tupperware with the equivalent of 1/2 a can of chopped pineapple and 1/2 a pint of strawberries mixed together. HOW IN THE WORLD anyone consumes that much is beyond me. My stomach hurt just looking at it but he IS a growing 15 yr old.

"Ok. Well I'm just sitting here trying to write down some stuff for my blog."

"Awesome. You're gonna blog again? That's sweet Mom. So basically you're trying to get your creative juices flowing?"

EEEEWWWWWEEEEEEEEWWWWWWWEEEEEEEEWWWWWWWW

Apparently the ability for my mind to jump from curb to gutter taking approximately 1.2 seconds has RETURNED because hearing your son say any phrase that includes the word JUICES and FLOWING .....

IS.JUST.WRONG

My disgusting perverseness is still intact. Check.

Seeing my son as a human being. Check.

Humor? I'm working on it.

Good thing he's cute.

Almost a Year in the Life

It's been nearly a year since I last blogged look at how big the children were at Christmas time.

I want to first apologize to anyone and everyone that read and ever began to care about me and my little family through their monitors. It hasn't been easy for me. I'm not proud of the way I handled the situation entirely. Some things I couldn't help and didn't see them for what they were until long after it was all over.

It wasn't right for me to only think of my own self preservation.

The depression just really set it once everything was over..cuz it was like chaos for a while and then the dust cleared and my family was a mess and I'd felt like I failed everyone and all my friendships were in ruins. That's when I really felt like I'd just screwed everything up. It wasn't fair to anyone for me to completely check out like that. I just had all I could handle trying to stay afloat during it all and then trying to fix the immediate and biggest problems once it was all over. Plus raise 2 kids in the middle of all that.

But to be honest, I haven't felt like me in a long time and I'm just now starting to realize what I almost lost. I almost lost ME....and the person I was so proud of being. The friend I was so proud of being. For what? A few months of hell...not worth it. I'm working really hard at balancing it all and getting back to being grateful for everything I have.

I don't expect anyone to come running back every day reading my every word. I'm not even sure I'm going to blog every day. I will get back to my humor and my chaos and hope that as time can heal me it can mend the fences in my relationships but still tear down the walls I built to keep everyone out.

If you're still with me....I'll give you a

"A Year in the Life of the Put the Fun in Dysfunctional Family in 12 paragraphs or less. (3 paragraphs per member)

Me

I don't want to talk about the treatments. It's over and done and it was one of the hardest things I've ever done. I will say this...fighting for your own life isn't as hard as fighting for your kids. With your kids you are pretty helpless and that's so hard. For yourself, you strap your boots on everyday and do it. Unfortunately for me...my motherhood skills didn't come in too effective when it came to multitasking..and while I was saving my body- I cut off all my internet friends that I know cared a great deal and I'm so sorry for ever making anyone angry or hurt. Therapy has helped a great deal and things are looking up. I can only imagine what an addict of some sort feels like when they have to say "I'm an addict" because it's hard for me to admit...."I just checked out." I've never been that type of selfish person and I hope I never am again...but I just couldn't deal with all the questions and the concern. It made me feel like I was already DYING and I didn't want to die. I am happy to report that I am cancer free.

It was a year April 15th that I got laid off from my job. Since then we made the big move. The house and yardwork are more than I ever imagined possible...but we're learning to balance our time. The beginning of the school year (isn't that crazy since the school year is damn near over) worked out well for all of us...even though it was an adjustment. For me the end of summer last year brought an opportunity I wasn't sure I was up for....a wife of one of Jeff's coworkers wondered if I should look into watching children since I would be staying home for the time being. I registered on one "nanny" website and 3 days later I had 2 interviews. I ended up taking a job for a family with 2 kids, a girl 9 and a boy 7. They live about 7 minutes from me. They needed me 4-5 hours a day from 7-9am and 3:30 til 5:30 or 6pm. Because of the split hours I got to be home and have my own time from 9-3 every day. Because of the split "goofy" hours my boss was willing to pay more for me with the "Mom factor" as she called it then some early 20something single girl. Because of all this....I get to be home and do my thing with Casey from 9-3pm 5 days a week with no daycare cost to myself and I make almost what I used to make after I was paying $800 a month for daycare for Casey while I worked. All this = partime work for almost full time pay=financially not all that bad It's turned out to be the best thing I could have done. They give me the day or afternoon off all the time, over pay me almost every week, gave me a week's HIGH salary for a Christmas bonus and I adore the kids and they adore Casey. They let me take the kids to Kyle's football and baseball games and I have so much flexibility. It's because of all of this and the friendship I have developed with my boss that I have agreed to work full time for her over the summer. So 50 hours a week. She's agreed that because of my inground pool I can spend 2-3 days a week at my own house with them and 2 or 3 days at her house so the kids can have friends over and play with their friends in their neighborhood...for $525 a week. So basically it starts June 9th through Aug 22nd. Then I get 3 days off before the kids start school because their Mom takes that week off to take them to Great America and shop for school clothes, etc. It'll be hard but double the income for 10 weeks doesn't suck...

Which brings me to this.....Overall Jeff and I have never been better...we were both worried the financial crap wrapped up in all the chaos and changes would just lead us right to the path of divorce..but honestly he's never been happier with me home enjoying Casey. The hours sometimes present an issue like "Gosh I'm right in the middle of something. I wish I didn't have to go back to work at 3pm." but over time we've worked it out. I think he's just happy that his job has been so financially sound that I've been able to work part-time and have the time to be here for the kids. We both know the summer is going to challenge us...but we've hired a cleaning lady for ridiculously CHEAP..she works for the family I work for and she gave me such a good deal we just couldn't pass her up for the summer. This way since I'll be gone 50 hours a week I can spend the weekends with my kids. We have been together 6 years this past January and are planning a trip to Vegas for our 5th WEDDING ANNIVERSARY in October.

Jeff

After the move Jeff continued to drive about an hour and 15 mins to work until it boiled over in late November. He decided after the 1st of the year he wanted to transfer to a closer store and hopefully be a manager of his own store. He applied for a store 5 mins from home but didn't get it. He applied again in late March for another store about a 1/2 hour away..and I'm happy to report that May 5th he officially starts as MANAGER of his own store. Verizon has been very good to us. In less than 2 years he's been hired and promoted 2 times. This promotion brings a nice price tag of more pay between base and commission targets plus he a small gas increase but with prices where they are..something is better than nothing. He really just enjoys being able to support me emotionally as well as financially being home. Anyway, he's doing well.

His family is the same as ever...they suck. (Is that a paragraph?)

He's been able to grow more in being such a wonderful Dad since this move....because I'm not screaming or nagging or whatever at him to help me do things around the house because I'm home all day to do them. When he gets home he just gets to be DAD...with the exception of the yard work lately for spring..he gets to spend his days off with the kids and me doing something fun. He and Kyle have been working on their relationship and with a little therapy have come a long way. We've both started weight watchers in January and he's lost a ton of weight and 2 pants sizes. I'm down 20lbs since January 14th. We bought an elliptical machine with our tax return and we hit it about 6 times a week between the 2 of us.

Kyle

Kyle's transition to high school as well as the move has turned out quite well. Not without a few bumps in the road but by all accounts..he's done extremely well. He's had 3 girlfriends but is currently single. He's been to 2 formal dances at his own school and 2 formal dances at the school from back home. That's 2 homecomings, a winter formal at his school and one dance where the girl asks the boy from back home. He's pulling a B average in school with the exception of spanish. He struggles. I don't mind one C on the report card but he's pulling 3 or 4 As, 2 Bs and 1 C every report card.

Football was awesome. They went undefeated. He had 7 interceptions as a safety for the defense and he LOVED IT! Baseball is going well. Lots of rainouts so far but right now they are 12-1. He's pitching and playing 2nd base again and when 50+ kids tried out for the team he was convinced he might get cut. They ended up taking 30 kids and he's a starter on the A team. So he must hold his own pretty well. He's made a lot of "friendly friends" as I would call them but not a lot of "close" friends yet. I miss the kids that are at my house all the time constantly..someone you can always count on him hanging with...but he hasn't made any of those, not yet anyway. It's pretty seasonal by sport. He hung with the same kids during football..then when a few went on to play basketball and he didn't he started hanging out with a different group of kids..now that his basketball friends are done and he's playing baseball but they aren't..it's a totally different group of kids. Which is fine...spread yourself around..but it's hard to get to know the kids really well when they constantly switch. He's taking drivers ed in summer school and has had his permit since December. He's actually a fairly good driver and we're hoping that my sister is ready to buy a new car by the fall and she'll sell us her 1998 Ford ZX2 for $1,000. It's transmission was replaced about a year ago and for $1,000 we'll have a 3rd vehicle for him to drive. Isn't that just crazy...he's going to be 16 in September?

He and Jeff have gotten closer and what they have now is less "StepFather/Stepson" drama and more your typical "I'm just closer to one parent" kind of "Dad you're annoying me" arguments. Much more respect between the 2 of them..and I have to wonder if it's the therapy or just that they might both have matured over this last year. He's still an amazing brother....does something with Casey every day he can. He reads to her, plays basketball with her little tikes hoop, and now that it's warm he's been taking her to the park. They have matching t-shirts I bought them. They are black and hers says in red letters "Big Brothers Rock"like in KISS or AC/DC lettering and his is black and says in PINK letters "Baby Sisters Rock".

Casey is doing great. Enjoying time with Mom. Although this week will be week #3 of Friday morning playgroup. I drop her off from 9-12 every Friday. She cries for a few minutes and then does well and loves the other kids. Considering she's going to be 3 in June....she's not doing well with the whole potty training thing. She has no real desire to go near it. She'll sit on it....but not much more.

She's a total diva yet a tomboy at the same time. She loves "pretty dresses", lipgloss and she's OBSESSED with shoes. Yet at the same time loves to wrestle with her Dad, play basketball and baseball (she has her own tee) with her brother and loves NOTHING more than getting covered in dirt in the yard when we water the flowers I planted.

We took her to see the Doodlebops live in March, she loves Caillou and My Little Pony. She can also watch Shrek 2 and Shark Tale over and over in day. She got a little play kitchen for Christmas that she adores and loves to sing and dance. Overall she's my absolute bundle of joy.

As for the rest of my family, they are all still nuts.

My brother and his family barely come around for holidays let alone anything else.

My Mom is still the atypical co-dependent. If her man likes hot sauce on his eggs, so does she. Most of her attire says Harley Davidson now and she's never around. Or wait..only to come over and basically tell me I wasn't keeping HER house clean enough and I need to get more organized. We didn't speak for about 2 weeks after that argument and then when we did, Jeff got involved and it got ugly and I've made her realize that she wasn't perfect when she had little kids in the house either.

My sister Kelly is cancer free as well after having her thyroid removed last year and doing better. She and her boyfriend (after 8 years) have finally OFFICIALLY agreed to live together. They will be moving into the townhouse he bought 2 years ago and has been making livable since....sometime this fall. They will be about a 1/2 hour from us after the move.

My sister Shannon joined the ROTC unit at her school with the National Guard and she is going for her annual training for 3 weeks in SEATTLE. I was hoping to come to her graduation but taking the full time job I won't be able to make it. From there she's doing a 3 week internship in HAWAII so she'll be gone most of the summer and we're throwing her a going away party May 31st at my house to send her off. She's doing so great and we'll miss her.

My Dad and StepMom miss us. Being over an hour away is hard but they came to all of Kyle's home football games and have been at all his home baseball games so we've been seeing them more. They still struggle financially but my Dad is looking for more full time work. He has 3 years before he can touch his MILLIONS in retirement.....but his 2 part time jobs keep them afloat for now.

Otherwise everyone's health is looking up and doing much better. As for my friendships..I feel like I blew it and I miss those that matter most. I do feel awful for cutting EVERYONE out....I just couldn't and didn't know how to handle it. It took a long time for me to get where I needed to be. Meds weren't working, doses weren't right, depression was awful...and once the fog lifted I felt like I didn't deserve anyone back because I let it slip away. I didn't feel strong enough to ask the tough questions for fear of the tough answers. Yet..here I am....hoping you will forgive me. I feel awful for being absent. I can't wait to spend time catching up with everyone.

They Say The Truth Shall Set You Free

Last week That Chick called me to tell me she'd been getting emails asking if I was alright.

I'm getting emails asking if I'm ok.

There is something I've been trying to keep from my blog. Something I didn't want to creep over into my "alternative blog world". Something I wanted to keep very private almost as if I didn't talk about it here, it couldn't really be happening to me.

This was supposed to be my happy place.

Back at the beginning of Spring I was diagnosed with Stage 1 Breast Cancer.

I did a round of radiation treatments and some oral chemo.

About a month ago we find out that it's possible we didn't get it all.

So I had to cancel my trip to see That Chick because that was the week I had a port put in for additional chemotherapy treatments.

Since then...I've been pretty useless. I'm tired all the time, I'm sick, I'm losing my hair, I've had to hire someone to come in twice a week to take care of the baby because usually the day after treatment I don't get out of bed.

It's been 3 weeks and I have to go for 2 more. I'll wrap up just in time to attempt to move. Oh joy! Then more tests, more blood work, more poking and prodding and seeing if things have spread. Then we see what happens.

Lately, when I get online I hardly even check email. I get on to balance the checkbook, maybe research something I'm looking for that I might need for the new house..and that's it. I'm not very mobile these days. They gave me meds to help with the nausea...but just like with my pregnancy...they don't work all that well.

Some days Casey and I watch a lot of movies...some days like last week when Chick called me...I was up and running a quick errand..in an attempt to still feel human. Some days Kyle and I will take Casey to the park and he'll chase her all over while I find a bench in the shade and watch. Those are the days that hit me the hardest...I can't chase my little girl around. I can't run and laugh and play with her.

Other days..I do a lot of crying and feeling sorry for myself..but I do my best to snap out of it.

Right now...Jeff and I are tossing around the idea of a possible double mastectomy. I think if I beat it this time around..getting rid of all the tissue just makes sense to me...but it becomes quite a complicated matter when the things that make you feel so feminine are the things that could kill you.

Anyway, I just thought it was time to let my painful secret that seems to weigh 10 tons out of the box.

Only problem is...I don't feel any lighter.

17 1/2 doctor appointments and one possible sleep study

Sorry..the Land of Dysfunctional and Organized Chaos has been existing on less than 3 hours sleeps a night for approximately the last 2 weeks. Less than 6 hours for over a month.

Finally Monday we went in for her 2 year checkup.

My preemie is in the 50th percentile for both height and weight. She's caught up with all her developmental milestones and the doctors couldn't be more thrilled with her. "Just one tiny problem DOC----she hasn't slept through the night in almost a month since her nose started running clear snot. She's cried and screamed herself hoarse 6 times in the last 3 weeks."

Another 10 minute discussion brings us to the thought that because of her horrendous allergies she's not getting into a deep enough sleep to keep her from waking every 2-3 hours. The screaming sounds like it could be night terrors except you only get those in Stage 4 sleep and CLEARLY she's not getting there.

Off to the allergist we go---pollen, cottonwood, mold those get her HORRIBLE. Slight allergy to grass but the allergist says "don't let her roll around in freshly cut and she should be fine."

Back to her pedi that says..."If you can tough it out another 7 days or so I'd like to put her on Zyrtec. Give it to her about a 1/2 hour before bedtime...if it works...great. If in another week she's not sleeping almost through the night, I want her in for a sleep study."

Kyle's high school physical.
Kyle's annual eye exam.

3 different appointments for me. Check the oil and kick the tires...gotcha. What ever do you mean I need a tune UP? How dare you?

Last night was day 3 of the Zyrtec and to me it's working so HOPEFULLY we don't need the sleep study. She's sleeping in (2) 4-5 hour blocks with a "water" break in between.

What does all of this mean?

Well it means that I had to cancel my trip to see My Best Friend in the world and I'm just devastated about it. More than I think she'll ever realize...

It means I've spent $100 in copays in the last 3 weeks and another $60 on medicines WITH my insurance. (Thank God for insurance)

Hopefully back to the world of blogging and catching up and tomorrow maybe I'll have something more comical to write about.

Overwhelmed by Love

Sorry to be so in and out lately...lots going on at home.

Still not feeling very well. Casey has been sick with a runny nose/allergy something or other for almost 2 weeks and she hasn't slept through the night since it started.

Throw in a trip to your in laws (16+ hours in the car), a graduation, a graduation dance, a baseball tournament and your daughter's birthday..and well you get one tired Mama.

I will spend the day catching up on my blog roll, sending and responding to emails and trying to get a nap.

In the meantime, graduation was wonderful and of course emotional.

Preparing for his dance was exhausting but fun.

His dance was so much fun. I got to watch him have the most fun I've seen him have and I got to give him a class award. It was too much fun.

In the middle of that he played baseball games 7pm Friday night, 10am Sat morning, 3pm Saturday afternoon, had to shower and be ready for the dance Sat by 6pm, dance at 7pm and another baseball game Sunday, which was also Casey's 2nd birthday.

We had cupcakes at the game and all the boys sang to her. She had a great time. My Dad had Kyle's rocking horse that he gave him for his 1st birthday fixed up and gave it to Casey at the baseball game. I still have to dump those pictures but she loves it.

Funny to think in just a few short months Kyle will probably be turning 15 and going to his first homecoming dance. My goodness the time flies by.

Graduation Night

Leaving for the dance

My handsome boy

The Family

Giving flowers to his date, Madeline

The Cute Couple

The "Group"

Then we have the birthday girl---poor kid spends all her birthdays at her brother's baseball games.

Pomp and Circumstances

Sorry for the interruption of the regularly scheduled program.

I had every intention of blogging on Friday before I went out of town..and things just got away from me.

Friday night at 8pm CST we left to go up North to the UP to see Jeff's family. We arrived at 3am CST and 4am local time.

Circumstances beyond my control left me with the following:

• Jeff's nephew is HIGH FREAKING MAINTENANCE and because of this...
• Jeff's sister is HIGH STRUNG the entire time and reminds me "Just how lucky" I am to have a child that isn't high maintenance....all while huffing and puffing around me and Casey.
• Jeff and his Dad had a running argument all weekend...ready? Per Jeff's Dad...anyone that buys bottled water is a dumbass and you don't need power windows in your car.
• We drove 8 hours to be exhausted and see the actual graduate for 20 minutes.
• At some point my digital camera died.
• Our normal 8 hour drive home...ended up taking almost 9 because Casey started full out crying about 2 hours from home and we had to get out of the vehicle when she'd been crying for nearly 45 minutes STRAIGHT. She then cried another 25 standing in a parking lot of McDonald's. We finally managed to bride her with ice cream and she ran around for 20 minutes and then we managed to get her back in the car and finish the last 2 hours of the trip. What is the first thing out of Jeff's Mom's mouth when we call to tell her we are almost home???? "Well if you made the trip MORE OFTEN she'd be more used to the drive." ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME? Twice a year is twice too many.

So because of this.....I had a super duper clingy child all day Tuesday but we did manage to get to Best Buy to get a new Sony Cybershot for only $65 out of my pocket (thank you for saving gift cards from Christmas and birthdays).

WHY do I need a new camera?

Because TONIGHT is son's 8th grade graduation. My baby is graduating tonight.

So basically my day consists of ironing 10 items for the family, charging the battery and running somewhere to get him black dress socks and tissue for the ceremony.

Lord knows I'm gonna need it.