Who we are - 2015.

OMG, we've made it 3 years now.   Blogging has kind of taken a back burner, but I am working on getting things back to a level playing field.  

New things that AREN'T on the ORIGINAL "Who we are" blog

Kids have got older & changed:

• The Oldest is now 19, and is back home.  He went back to Oklahoma for a while, made another stab at building a relationship with my brother - his bio dad, he never did finish school, and got into some legal trouble (but he didn't call home to get bailed out!), but now he's back home, and I'm glad, I really need him - and I'm getting him on the path of "growing" He is a super help with the younger kids, helping around the house, getting things built around here since Babe is working so much!

• Drama Rama is now 17, she has only been gone since June - and she's back.  She's made a stab at staying with all kinds of random people and her father, and bio mother - none which worked out.  She got very sick last week - she had cellulitis (bacterial skin infection) there is a link below.  She has psoriasis - there are 7 different major types, and she now has all 7.  You can google that on your own!  So she is back home recovering after being in the hospital on heavy steroids and antibiotics for 4 days. She didn't finish school either, so as soon as she is capable of moving around freely, I will get her started on a forward direction of education! http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0001858/#adam_000855.disease.cause

• PeaceKeeper is now 11, turning 12 in March, in the 6th grade and started middle school this year, he is taking band, and got 1st chair, his first year, we are all pretty proud.  His grandmother played brass in school and so she has been able to teach him quite well, and done an amazing job, and he loves it!  He is almost as tall as I am, and is such a fun kid.  He's a comedian at heart and I love it!  School is more of a challenge for him this year - 1st year in Jr High, 1st full year at this new school district and its more advanced than their old school, I had no idea 2 schools 12 miles apart would be so different!!! He got a cellphone this year, he has started going to friends houses and doing independent things, and so my Mom decided since she never uses her cellphone and we are paying for it - might as well give it to the kid for doing so well in school and making 1st chair.  He was super stoked.  Its not a smartphone - its a blackberry q10, its touch screen, BUT it doesn't have all the access to the crazy apps, most of blackberry apps cost money and it has parental controls on it so he can't buy anything - and he wouldn't anyway cus thats not currently his nature!
  

• Wild Thing is now 10!  He is doing so much better in school, has claimed down soooooooo very much!  I would believe its the same kid!  He's sweet, loving,  and full of cuddles whenever you want them - he is always running around moving - but stops by everyone for a hug and a kiss at least twice a day, and thats a school day.  He's very tender hearted!  School isn't such a battle for him anymore because he's calmed down so much and learned to pay attention.  I can't reiterate just how sweet he is!  Now give him a chance, and he will get fired up and my house can look like a tornado went blowing through.  He is playing basketball this year, he is doing great.  His team has only lost 1 game so far.   He is loving that we moved to closer schools because he gets to do more activities than before.

• Darling Diva will be 9 in April.  She has a very strong connection with God and church.  Example, I've been sick and thank God we live where we do, and she went next door Sunday morning and told them we were all sick, could she ride to church with the neighbors, and they gladly took her - they text me and said that she was the first to voice up when ask if there was anyone who needed prayer requests.  She's now the reason that I try to on a nightly basis working a bible study - its a bible study/mix of us getting to know about each others day.  Its cut down some since basketball season started.   She's playing basketball also, she's doing great.  She loves it and is very athletic - her and Wild Thing will at least be the 2 that keep me on my toes learning about all the sports I never cared to play!  School is a breeze for her, but she's having to learn to study, because again, school here is harder than where they were!
  

• Leggs just turned SEVEN - 7, yes my baby is SEVEN.  His birthday is in December so this year he was in 1st grade.  We had some major issues with his teacher so we pulled him out of school, he started Kinder at this new school end of the year last year, and he was already struggling and behind, because of his surgeries, and then had another one this year and it just seems like a never ending cycle for him sometimes - get caught up. . . fall behind.  So we pulled him out and are homeschooling him.  .  . . we are on week 3 and so far its going great, I am getting way more accomplished than I thought, even with me being sick and not getting to work with him as many hours as I had planned.  He knows its going to be a fight to get to 2nd grade next year, so we are probably going to end up working though end of June, but I am in hopes that it wont have to be that way for him.  He wanted to play basketball BUT because he had to have surgery, he missed sign ups :( 
  

In other news:

            My parents are living with us, my Mom has dementia, and needs assistance/isn't comfortable living alone.  We got screwed by a contractor on turning Babe's man save into a bedroom and laundry room and finishing the downstairs bathroom. . . The Oldest has been working on it but its a slow process because we are out so much money.  It sucked...BAD!  So we are kinda packed in like sardines.  Mom and Dad have a room, our live in has the tiny room, The Oldest is on the hide a bed couch, Drama Rama is sharing  room with Mom and Dad, Babe and I have a room - and the 4 littles are sharing a room stacked on bunkbeds with multiple TVs in one room so they can multi-task.  They are all being really awesome about it and know its not forever, but know that we have no end date in mind.

Babe is working a full time job, a part time night job, and even a Saturday job when they need him.  he's trying to cover all basis.  God love him, and I pray that he doesn't fall out, I worry about him A LOT!

Homeschool, WHAT?

So Leggs, now 7, in the 1st grade, is being homeschooled.  After much debate, teachers meetings and various other things,  emails, failed attempts to set up meetings with the principal, Babe and I decided that if he was going to thrive in school he was going to have to come out of public school a while and have some one on one time and learn more and faster.  It's much easier when it's one on one vs 1 on 15.  Our issue, we changed their school last year and their new school (actually in our district) is a lot farther academically than the old one, they are 12 miles apart,  we had NO idea.  So he started behind and the transfer just made it even harder.  He's dealing well.   He likes it, but he also didn't have extra curricular activity anything because he had surgery again this year and we didn't know what the recovery time was going to be.  So while 1 is in band, 2 play basketball - he didn't have any team or anything.   But, we are hoping this year was his last surgery and that next year will start a whole new level of schooling for him!!!!

So right now I'm wrapped up with band,  basketball, homeschooling and working from home.  

Where is my coffee mug again?

All about the ramble 2015

What I'm doing for me in 2015!

I will continue to distribute Young Living Essential Oils and use them in my home and replace my medicine cabinet with them.

I will go back to the gym - I lost and gained back 20lbs - lazy is not an excuse!

I will take Mom every couple weeks and get our nails or hair done as its something we both enjoy and usually the only 1 on 1 time we get together.

I will play games and aggravate my children.

Church will become a larger priority for all of us. I will keep my commitment to Darling Diva and we will go every Sunday.

. . . .This is just the beginning list and I'm sure I'll add to it . . . .

Hello 2015!

     There are so many things that have come and gone since the last time I blogged.  I seriously had forgot all about this place.  I get so tied up with day to day things, ME - well the things that bring me joy sometimes get thrown out the window, run over by a semi and then get sent back to ME.

     So I am saying good bye to previous years, and hello the 2015 and going to hold on tight to it and hang on for the ride, cus if you follow my Facebook page, you know even that gets left behind sometimes and that my life is one hell of a roller coaster ride, depending on the day!

     I've worked, and stopped working out side the home - I've had 2 children move out, and 1 move back in.  My brother and I are on civil ground, we still have hell when it comes to dealing with the children though.  My amazing husband is now working 3 jobs, my parents are living with us.  My Mom had some major illnesses strike her and caused her to have a stroke and she now has vascular dementia and can't be left at home alone.  She came to live with us and then shortly after - so did my Dad.  My house is full - and I never thought Id say that considering how large it is, and we are even adding on another room and laundry room - and it seems the laundry room will now host as another bedroom as well!  Fun times right?  Right!

     I am going to just see where it all goes and live it all up in 2015.

 I am in sync with the fact that my life will always be hectic and that my family strives on random drama's that come into play.  So here we are.  There are currently 10 of us living in a 4 bedroom - soon (prayers!) 5.5 bedroom house.  Yes I am serious about putting "The Oldest" in the laundry room so that he isn't sleeping on the couch! - I hate having people sleep on the couch!  My brother was staying here for a while, but that didn't work out - so he went back to Dallas to live this girlfriend and I hope that works out for him this time - they seem to have some crazy connection - I hope they keep it!  

     Drama Rama dropped out of school and is living with some boyfriend about 30 miles from here - she ran away in 2014 and went to live with MULTIPLE people but ended up back with my brother who kicked her out - and now she's working on getting her camper live-in-able - she will be 18 in May and there is nothing I can do because when she ran away she took all legal documents out of the safe so I have no proof that I ever had any custody of her what so ever, because I never thought it would be necessary to file them with the county clerks office.  

     Peacekeeper is playing the trumpet in the 6th grade middle school band, and is AMAZING at it.  Darling Diva and Wild Thing start playing basketball this month.  We bought them a basketball goal for Christmas and they have been practicing everyday that the weather would allow - which up until a few days ago was possible - not sending my kids out when the windchill is in the negative numbers and we live in Texas, home of the notorious bi-polar Mother Nature.


2015 for me is going to be wrapped with more time!  

We are going to figure out a way to make all this work - I thought we'd have it down by  now - hell maybe it wont ever happen, and this will be a yearly thing of me trying to figure it out.  But we've made a pretty good start on it so far - basketball goal, pingpong table, fire pit in the back yard, the kids and I even started going to church on Sunday and Mom and I are going on a Walk to Emmaus next week!!  I am super stoked!

The one that has no name

     Sometimes I wonder, where did I go?  What happened to me?  I use to be so incontrol of everything, felt like I always had my shit together.  I was confident, secure, safe, stable, reliable, reasonable, manageable, intelligent, and so many more things!!  I feel like I have lost them all.

Confidence - ha, thats a joke - I'm a Mom.  I 2nd guess everything I do, say, how I act, what I think - because I worry about how it will affect my kids now -- and later.  People judge and say things and so again, the 2nd guessing starts and I wonder what I'm doing and if I'm even doing it right.

In-control - of my bladder (most of the time that is!) thats about freakin it!  My house is a wild play ground that I feel is falling down around me.  I'm not even in control of WHEN I can use the bathroom, when I can do household chores - it's all on someone else's watch.

secure/stable - I didn't worry about the petty crap - it wasnt important.  So what if I totally drained the bank account?  There would be more money on payday right?  Not anymore.  6 kids - bank is usually empty and when that happens a crisis usually hits and I freak out!

reasonable - I'm way past reasonable.  I hate having to listen to other people and making my kids and me avaliable for whatever whenever because thats what "good moms do" - I get tired of hearing that statement!!  Who the hell dictated you "master of the moms"?

manageable - manage what?  This place is a zoo!  about the time I think I have shit under control something happens and all hell breaks lose!  I'm left standing there scratching my head trying to catch on to what latest and craziest thing has kicked off in my living room.

Where we struggle.

      Things have been super crazy, haha does this sound any different than usual? This post is going to be pretty plain and to the point.
      I had to suck it up a few weeks ago and go apply for Texas medicaid and food stamps since we got the 2 teenagers. They are eating me out of house and home. I spend upwards of $1,000 or more dollars on groceries a month and that doesn't touch the "family products" we need. I bought bare minimals tonight between Sam's and Walmart. Dog food, cat food, razors,bath soap, tooth paste, dryer sheets, laundry detergent and spent right at $168.00!  Our water bill this month is $346.00 we used over 18,000 gallons of water - we had a cracked faucet and didn't realize it - at least we are hoping that was the problem ?!?!  We aren't totally sure.  It wasn't that freakin high when we filled the pool up over the summer!!  I thought I had longer to pay out "The Oldest" drivers ed program (hell I also thought his sperm donor would be contributing more to the cause too!) and come to find out - I have to have it paid in full by Oct 24th which is the week after "Leggs" has his foot reconstruction surgery.  Shit fuzzy.
      "Babe" twisted off the other night and had decided that maybe we/he couldn't do this, that the working 2 jobs and never getting to enjoy life was just more than he could handle.  Then once we talked about it things seemed to be okay for him - then it flipped and hit me last night and he had to return the favor and talk me through it.


      I know that we are going to make it, we always do.  We are good people and good things happens to those who wait.  "Babe" reminded me that we would be rolling in the blessings when our children (all 6) got out on their own and we got to see first hand what we had done :) it would show us what all our hard work, sacrifices and efforts went towards -- and he was right!  We have to keep up with each other, and make sure we are both getting through this.  We really had no idea what we were doing when we took in 2 teenagers from broken lives/homes...but we are doing the best we can to make things work and get from today until tonight.

"The Family Entertainment Center" - my ass!

How *I* see C.E.C

I want to start off with giving you the knowledge that I HATE children's "play places" (example - Chuck E. Cheese and all those places like them!)  

      We out grew the creepy mouse and his creepy robot friends this year and moved up to "The Plex" (has less games, bigger kid toys, activities - go carts, battle boats, batting cages etc).  This is our first experience with having a party at "The Plex" and it's NOT much better than C.E.C - cost a little less - and you get more shit to do (but costs extra), but that's about it.  $69.00+ tax gets you into the "party area" a "party coordinator", 2 medium pizzas - 2 pitchers of soda, 20 tokens per kid *up to 8 kids* and 40 for the birthday monkey, they put balloons on "Wild Child's" chair, had "THE PLEX" plastic linens/cups/napkins/plates and we had our own cupcakes brought in (cus they use the premade/frozen ones that are freakin N*A*S*T*Y!).

     We get there at 2pm - our "party time" we told them on the phone 6-7 kids *since we are such a large family, we don't usually invite others to gatherings like this because honestly it costs to damn much - want a "friend part"? OK - we go to the park!!! We walk in and see our table in the "party area" - which is a long table on the high rise part of the room, NOT in the "PARTY ROOM" - that says HAPPY BIRTHDAY "WILD CHILD" on the door - they say its because "Your party isn't big enough, and we don't have any other parties for today so we put you out in the open instead of opening up the whole room" Whatever - roll my eyes and walk away - We  get the kids their tokens, order the pizza's and 2 extra (we always have more adults than kids at these things) We are rocking a long - and I realize we are 1 bag of coins short - the "party coordinator" gets us more coins - apparently she couldn't count to 8?  Pizza is very good, I was impressed -  but they advertise and told us on the phone the party came with 2 LARGE - we got 2 medium - Thank God we ordered Extra - there was only 1 piece left over.  The additional 1 pepperoni and 1 cheese cost an extra $25.00 (I just THOUGHT pizza hut was proud of their pizza!) During the "free time game play" every machine we touched broke - and I am NOT exaggerating - the "ticket counter" broke while we were putting in our tickets and they tried to jip us out of 930 something tickets (I took a picture with my camera to show the manager just in case...smart move on my part!!!!!) "Babe" hit the jackpot on 1 game and won over 2000 tickets - paper jam - tickets held up - call for assistance.  I won 100 on the spinning jackpot game - nope, call for assistance.  The "1 token gets your free candy claw game" took "Darling Diva's" token and they wouldn't help fix it because they were having "computer issues"  - We were hand written a "note" for the 930 something tickets they tried to jip us out of.  We decided ok - GO CART - BUMPER BOAT TIME -  because we bought the "party package" the rides were cheaper - we did one "game" of bumper boat wars - they spray each other with water - it was cute (once someone showed up to let us in to play!!!) there were ducks in the water too so that made the smaller kids happy! "The Oldest" got in and drove one so that "Leggs" could play too (hes not tall enough or old enough) Then to HELL go carts - $3.50 a ride - we bought 15 rides (5 adults, 3 rides each - cus none of the kids are old enough to ride and they told us they had enough carts for all us to ride doubles together - WRONG - we needed 5, 2 seater, go carts - we get out there and they only had 4 running and 2 singles.  SINGLES DON'T HELP US!  "Babe" is much more amazing than I am, and can make ANYTHING work - while I'm freakin out and pissed - he's making "the best of things"  - so TA DA - we ride
     Everyone is having a great time - kids are having a blast!  I go in to get drinks for everyone - and come back to find my  "Darling Diva" bawling, "The Oldest" laughing, "Drama Rama" almost in tears, and cousin chasing me down!  She grabs me in the middle doors and tells me that "The Mom From Hell" 

My Version of Mom from Hell!!

has come over screaming and irate with "Drama Rama" because she ACCIDENTALLY spit on her daughters leg.  She apologized repeatedly in front of many witnesses when she realized what she had done, but that wasn't good enough - "That's assault and I am pressing charges and suing your parents"  I have no idea what my husband was doing at this point.  ((No one said))  The lady in line behind us told the women to watch her mouth and get back in her place/space because she was being rude and making a scene infront of way to many children and making herself look like a fool.  My cousin tried to reason with the women - made "Drama Rama" apologize again and when the "suing your parents" came out it was all over - she laid into her like no other - (pissing her off is BAD BAD JUJU)  Sadly, thank god I missed it and just walked into the after fire.  I totally understand standing up for your kids and making people "right their wrongs" but this was a little extreme - I hate to tell the lady that if her kids think there aren't "accidents" in life - they are in for a long rough road a head of them!  "Drama Rama" is a handful at times, and can be very much my child and run her mouth with the best of them, but she would NEVER spit on anyone just for shits and giggles - punch them, scream, cuss, yell, try to fight them maybe, but not spit (and walk off!!) -   Rides were over and done shortly after - we cashed in over 6,000 tickets for prizes for "Wild Thing" and headed home.

      We realized during this horrible adventure  that we had an appointment at Sam's Club at 5 to pick up our "click and pull" items - I thought they closed at 8 on Sunday - no that's regular hours - they close at 6 on Sunday -- ooops another trip tomorrow! But thank GOD no "Party" tomorrow!