Parenting Fail #7,342

So, it's been a little over a year since Ian injured his leg. He's had the brace (sometimes more than one at the same time) and because of the nerve damage he doesn't really use his leg below the knee. That leg has gotten skinnier than the other leg, and because of the brace, when he walks without shoes that foot clomps when it hits the floor.

Is it wrong that I've taken to calling his bad leg "the pirate leg"?

At least we stopped shouting "Release the Gimp!" when he leaves the house. That's progress, right?

It's like this y'all, it's like that y'all....*

*I can't remember who sings that and it's not coming up on google - bonus points to whomever can identify that song!!!

Things go in cycles, I guess. Work has gone insane, from my looking for things to do to now cringing when people walk by my door because I have more on my plate than I can handle at once! That's good, because - overtime! But it's also bad, because - overtime! It's okay though, I don't mind, I'd rather be busy.

My parents are getting ready to take the girls to Houston for the weekend - how wrong is it that I can't wait?!? They leave Friday morning, and I go to work. Friday straight after work I'm going to a booksigning, then Saturday I get to sleep in *squee!!!!* Jerrod works Saturday day but will be off Sat night and Sunday. The kids come back Monday. I'm sure they will have a fabulous time in Houston and I'm jealous they get to see Mike and Hannah's house before I do.

Tomorrow, BB will cross her "bridge to Juniors" and go from being a Brownie to a Junior Girl Scout. I'm so glad she's having fun with scouting.

June 12 Hannah and I are each driving to Lake Charles to meet some blog friends (it's in the middle of where everyone lives) and we'll stay overnight and drive home Sunday - just in time to catch the season premier of True Blood season 3! Looking forward to that, I sure am!!!

Overheard from the kids:

Ian (talking to Molly): What? I can't understand what you're saying. Talk like a normal person! (my poor baby!!)

Molly at bedtime: Mom - I have a pull-up wedgie!

Oh - and we got the passports already so we're ready to head to Mexico in July - Vamanos!!!

This may be me....

I saw this video over at my friend Parajunkee's mommy blog:





I'll admit I've got a Swagger Waggon, but I want to buy this one just because the marketing is so awesome. WTG Toyota!

(Hannah - this one's for you!)

And then He sent the locusts...

I don't think it's a big secret I've been kind of mad at God lately. Between Ian's leg/surgery issues, plumbing issues, Catholic school tuition issues, sick kids, work problems, and other day-to-day little issues (like the window that doubles as a shower), I feel like I've been under a perpetual Black Cloud of Doom.

But, I've had such a terrific week or so, I was starting to think maybe it was just hormones or my imagination and possibly I've been blowing things out of proportion. I mean, God doesn't really hate me, does he? That couldn't be right.

And then he sent the locusts....or, as we like to call them down here in New Orleans - termites. That's right folks. We have termites - tons of them. When we turned on the hallway light they came out of the attic last night. For anyone not in New Orleans - termites = big, fat, no es bueno.

NO ES BUENO!!!!

Really, God? Really?

Looking at this list, I can check off 5/10 items checked off in the last month. This does not bode well.

Even though I know I shouldn't...

Found this on Indexed...titled "Too Soon?" Thanks Chris for the referral!

I added a few new-to-me sites to my sidebar, go check them out!!!

Fabulocity

Yup, that's where I spent my weekend! The last few months I've felt like Charlie Brown, walking around with a little raincloud over my head. This weekend, however, was full of awesome!

Here's the flan Jerrod made for my birthday, it was delish (don't be hatin'!)

The weekend started off a little questionable, as I had to work late on Friday, but that ended up being okay. Friday night I hung out with the kids while Jerrod worked.

Saturday, I woke up, took the girls (hehe - every time I type "the girls" I think of boobies) to the post office to mail off the book I gave away for my book blog birthday giveaway. Then we headed over to the used bookstore where I traded a few and picked up a few more! From there, since the girls (tee-hee!) were so good I took them to McDonald's to play in their Play Place while I read a bit. Then we came home and I got ready to go out to dinner and the French Quarter with Jerrod. It rained pretty hard all day so I was a bit worried about the weather - the vampire tour is all outside. By the time dinner was over, it was just a drizzle, and by the time tour started it had pretty much stopped.

I didn't get any pics at dinner (Byblos, with Mom/Dad, and Dean/Brenda),but here we are in front of the St. Louis Cathedral waiting for the tour to start:

and Dean and Brenda (aren't they cute?):

The vampire tour was fun in a campy, spooky kind of way (*cough* if you're not a cop *cough*). They took us past a few of the places where they filmed Interview With A Vampire, and the other stops were crime related, as in, crimes where they drank human blood. It was kind of creepy. Then, they took us by the Ursuline Convent, and told us a long story about how no one is allowed in the attic and one of the attic shutters opens every night and the last person who'd waited to see if it really opened was found murdered. Supposedly it's a great place for vampires to hide because they won't be bothered and it's somewhere no one would look. (I'm telling my Dad the story last night at dinner and he says, "I've been in the attic at the Ursuline Convent. They took us there for a field trip in our Church class." Okay, I guess that story is busted...)

After the tour, we were going to have our fortunes told but it was very late and the fortune teller that was out looked like a meth addict. We'll go back during the day for that :)

THEN (and then......)we went for a carriage ride around the French Quarter. I knew it was going to be a good ride when the driver hops in and says "Excuse me y'all, I'm just going to unbutton my pants up here. Y'all won't be able to see it or anything, but my pants sure are tight, I ate a big dinner..." We had a great time - he was funny and told some good stories. Here's Dean and Brenda petting the mule:


Here's the back of the Cathedral. There's a statue of Jesus in the garden, and the spotlight makes it large up against the back of the church. According to the tourguide, the neighbors affectionately refer to it as "Touchdown Jesus".



On Sunday, Jerrod let me sleep late and he made me breakfast (cheese omlette and chicken/apple sausage). Then he had to go to Lake Charles for the next few days, and Ian and I left for our "date". He took me to Barnes and Noble, where he had coffee and I had a diet Pepsi, and he wandered the romance and scifi aisles with me without complaint. I'd picked out 4 books and he surprised me and bought them!

Then, we went to see Robin Hood. We both thought it was okay. Not great. Actually it seemed like a 2 1/2 hour prequel to the next movie ('cause you know there'll be one!). I was a bit disappointed but it could have been much, much worse. Then we went out to dinner with my parents and ended the weekend.

The only bad part? Our window is not fixed and it rained like crazy (Jerrod was able to figure out the problem before he left though, so that's good), and I accidentally cut up my debit card. Which means I have no access to cash for the next 7-10 days. No es bueno. But the rest of my weekend was so awesome I don't care!

I'm not blowin' out any candles....

Well, today I'm officially 40. The big four-oh (as in Oh My God I'm Old!!!) I was sitting with the fam last night talking about all the things we take for granted that were not invented when I was born (if it's got an * next to it, that was Ian's input):

Things that were invented after I was born:

~cable TV: I remember getting HBO and being amazed that we had 20 channels!!!
~personal computers: If we were really good, Dad would let us play King's Quest before bed! (when J and I were dating I'd complain he spent too much time on his Commodore 64)
*electricity*
~fax machines
~cell phones: Once when I had a near-death experience, my neighbor insisted I take his cell phone - it was a backpack with a phone attached by a cord!
*automobiles*
~CD players
~video games: I remember when Pac Man came to my neighborhood, I couldn't figure out what all the fuss was about!
~microwaves: When Ian was a little kid he asked how we cooked before microwaves :)
*fire*
~the space shuttle: I was living in Florida at the time and we got to leave class to watch it go up - 5th grade.
~rap music
~VCRs: Anyone remember when you'd go to the video store and they'd ask "VCR or Beta
~cloning
~happy meals


I don't feel 40 - I feel 27. This is bullshit! I was laying in bed with Jerrod last night and out conversation went something like this:

Me: "you know, this is the last night you get to have sex with someone in their 30s"
J: "no it's not."
Me: *pushes him off the bed*

I told him he has to call me Mrs. Robinson until he turns 40 in October :)

Passport Diaries, part deux

*sings to the tune of The Beverly Hillbillies*

Let me tell you a little story about a family named Spin...
They've had a couple 'days where they just can't win...
So early this morning we were tryin' to get our 'ports...
But through a comedy of errors now we're shittin' in our shorts!

Okay, okay, that's not the whole story but it does a pretty good job of summing it up. The passport office is walk-in only on Saturday, and only at one post office in the whole city. The plan is to be there before they open at 8:00 am, so we'll leave the house at 7:15. Well, we didn't actually wake up until 7:15, but we all got ready and left the house at 8:40. Jerrod is working a detail and will meet us there. On the way there Jerrod called to remind me I forgot to get cash as they don't take checks or credit cards. So I turned around and headed for the bank.

We knew they were raising the prices, so we guessed what we would need for 4 passports and I headed back to the ATM near our house to get the cash. Except when I got there, the ATM was not dispensing cash. Crap - the bank itself is in Belle Chasse, which is a 30 minute drive in the opposite direction of the post office. So I run next door to the Chase bank and try to get $400. I get a message that that ATM is not dispensing - WTF?! so I go to the one next to it and am denied - due to already reaching my ATM limit for the day. Excuse me? I didn't get any cash yet today!!!!

So, I end up having to drive out to Belle Chasse (luckily the bank was open on Sat morning) and pull out money. Luckily that was not all we had! BUT, now we have $400 in limbo that we can't touch while the bank tries to decide if it gave it to us or not. We won't even be able to dispute it until Tuesday when the weekend transactions go through. I have the receipt that says it didn't give me the money, but still, I'm pissed we have no access to that money.

THEN, we get to the post office, and there's one family in the office and we're in the lobby. Then another family comes in and they get to go first because they were there earlier and left and came back. Whatever. We wait, but now Molly has to go potty. Did you know there is no bathroom in the whole building at the main post office? Nope, not one. (What do the employees do, really?) I tried to get her to go outside in a bottle but that didn't work so well. In a rare stroke of good luck she didn't wet her pants the whole time we were there.

So, back to the post office. We finally get in and go through all the paperwork. Then she chastises us for not bringing Ian's school ID (I think because she had to fill out more paperwork). Hello - he's a minor and he doesn't have his driver's licence yet due to all his leg issues and the fact that his truck is a standard, how were we supposed to know a school ID is a valid form of identification? Then, once we finish up, we have to go over to the main postal area with our cash ('cause they don't take checks or credit cards) and stand in line to buy money orders and pay fees. Then we bring the money orders back to the passport lady (and wait until she's done with the next group of applicants) and she checks we paid our fees and we can finally leave. We had seen the people before us do this routine, so Jerrod tried to go pay the fees while we were inside the passport office waiting for our copies to print, but she wouldn't let us go (apparently that would have saved time and been efficient).

So three hours after we left the house we walked out of the passport office. The passports should be in in about a month. H2, you're lucky we love you.

Our very own Awkward Family Photos!!!

Alright, I may or may not have mentioned previously that I have three brothers - two of whom are married. My middle, unmarried brother (H2) is getting married to a wonderful woman this summer (H2F). H2F is from Mexico, although she's lived in the US, in Texas, for about 15 years or so. So the wedding is being held in Texas, but the reception is being held in Mexico so as to include her family that is not able to come to the wedding. I'm very excited for so many reasons I can't count them all - I'm excited they're getting married, that we get to see her home (the pics are beautiful!), and that we get to go to Mexico to name a few. We're all in the wedding so we'll take formal family pics while we're there, which we haven't done since Molly was born.

We're getting down to the wire as far as getting passports for everyone. I'm the only one who has mine - we need to get them for hubs and all three kids. We're going to go Saturday morning to get them, so Wednesday I took the kids to Walgreens to get their passport photos.

(Please excuse the grainy-ness, these are pictures of pictures) These are the pictures in the order in which they were taken:

Ian looks like he just got out of prison. Yes, that's a white t-shirt on top of an older white t-shirt. He didn't have any shirts without designs on them. What teenager wears plain t-shirts? None that I've seen...



Bridget looks like she's about to go to prison. I'm sure you can imagine she's got a shiv in her hand and is about to cut the photographer. Which is weird, because she was so laid-back about the whole thing. She just didn't want to smile.


Molly's picture is pretty self-explanitory. She was so excited to get her picture taken - until we got there. Then she didn't want anything to do with it. She cried and cut up so loud I actually went all ghetto and spanked her butt in the store. It took us a good 15 minutes to get this picture:


Yes, that is her Passport Picture. For the next 5 years that's what she's got. And lest you think I was kidding, when Jerrod went in yesterday to get his picture done, he brought Molly along for the ride. The store employee recognized her from Wednesday and KNEW HER NAME. Yes, she totally busted me and told Jerrod she recognized her from the day before when she was crying and hollering in the store.

So there you have it - there's no way Mexico is letting us in!!!!

Is the grass actually greener over there?

Driving in to work today, Institutionalized by Suicidal Tendencies came on my ipod.




I used to love this song and have great memories associated with it. It got me to thinking though, because now my son is at the age where he can identify with it. So I guess now I'm on the parental side of the music? I don't think so, because I remember what it was like to be a teenager and while I no longer have all those angsty issues, I think the teen/parent relationship is sometimes comparable to the employer/employee relationship. Thoughts?

Then, thinking about the parent/teen issue and how I still have emotions when I hear that song, I thought to myself, "OMG, I'm that mom in Bowling for Soup's 1985!"



No, not really, although there is a ring of truth there. Is my generation, or really I guess the one before us, the first generation to refuse to grow up? Or are we just doing it on our own terms?

____________________

In other news, it's now possible to take a shower while standing next to my bedroom winow. On the inside. No, there's no bathroom there - apparently we have a major leak. J was outside at midnight last night during a heavy rainstorm trying to clean out the gutters in the hopes that that was the problem. It wasn't. Don't know what the problem is but we went through out whole supply of extra towels (beach and bath) trying to keep it from spreading across the floor.

___________________

And I'll leave you with this:

Last night, I was watching a commercial for Jamaica. "Ohhh, let's go to Jamaica, honey," I said. To which Bridet replied "But mom, I don't know how to speak with a Jamaican accent!" OMG I love her so much!!!