Mom to the Screaming Masses

Desperate Housewives

I admit it - I'm a Desperate Housewives watcher.  I LOVE this show.  The only character I really don't get is Gabrielle - she has waaaaayy too much sex for me.  My sexual desire is so low that it's a negative number.  And, I'm not at all into teenage boys.

This past week was the rebroadcast of the premiere episode.  Lynette is probably the character I relate to the most.  She has four wild, out of control children, and is really frustrated and harried in her day to day life.  Her husband came home from a business trip, and he hustled her right off to the bedroom.  She told him that the doctor had taken her off the birth control pill, and he'd have to use a condom.  His response was, "Let's just chance it."  Her answer was to punch him! 

I laughed until I cried.  That was the funniest, most true to life thing that I've seen all week.  It completely paralleled my life. A little bit of background is, I think, needed here.  The Hubster and I don't use birth control.  (Reasons why are explained back in my archives, shown here.)

I am really ok with it - trust me, if I wasn't, you'd be the first to know. But, I also am in no hurry to get pregnant again.  Right now, I feel overwhelmed occasionally, and outdone frequently.  I feel like I'm just getting to the top of a huge mountain, clawing my way up hand over hand, and seeing that I've finally made it.  A new pregnancy would toss me back to the bottom.  NOW, DON"T MISUNDERSTAND ME.  If I was to fall pregnant, I'd be happy, once I got over the shock.  A new baby is always a blessing. God doesn't give you more than you can handle - I just wish he didn't trust me so much sometimes.  (You can see I feel fairly ambivalent about this, huh??)

The Hubster, I think it's safe to say, has a much more active desire for sex than I do.  There are many times when I say no, just because I don't want to get pregnant.  That's why, when Lynette punched her husband, I cheered.  Finally, someone understood me!

Just a little vent from the grammar police

Ok, I don't mean to be mean.  But, I've had just about enough of this:

mean/meen

lose/loose

peek/peak

there/their

and on and on.  If you are savvy enough to start a  blog, for the love of Pete, PLEASE use the correct word.  You LOSE weight, not loose it.  You PEEK at the presents, not peak.  The toys are over THERE, not their.  The lose/loose one especially grates on my nerves.

Now you know how petty I am, that sometimes I let this stuff get the best of me.

Eat and drink for less

I am probably not going to describe this well, but here goes.  There is a website called Restaurant.com and it offers certificates for meals at a discount.  A $10 certificate for $3, for example.  This week only, if you use code 53721, you can get all of your certificates for 1/2 price.  I bought a ton of stuff for us, and only paid $16. 

Check it out, and let me know if you decide to do it. 

Funny from Gabriel

Last night, I was sacked.  So, so tired.  The amazing baby who never sleeps is getting the best of me, I fear.  That, and my own body's inability to sleep longer than three hours at a time. I didn't feel like cooking, so I just heated leftovers.  Gabe was the recepient of spaghetti with alfredo sauce, green beans and chocolate milk, with apple slices.  He ate the beans and apples, drank a glass of milk, and got up from the table.  I was already up and cleaning, so I didn't take much notice of it.  After about 30 minutes, I cleared his place.  He went bonkers. After much pleading and many tears, I deigned to give him back his dinner, and another cup of milk.  But no dessert.  THEN the tears started in earnest.

"I waaannnntttt dessert!  Want it!  Want it!  Want ittttttttt!!"

Deep breath.  Remember what the books say, don't lose your temper.  Be the adult.  Let him be the child.

"Nope, not tonight.  Eat your dinner."

"No! No! No!!!  I want dessert, and I want it now!!!!!!"

I looked over in time to see his head spin 360 degrees, and flames shoot from his mouth.  Ok, time for bed. I took his dinner, and moved him to the stairs.

"I hate you!  I hate you!  You are the meanest mommy ever!"

Nothing new - I've heard THAT before. We went upstairs, and I attempted to remove his clothes.  He grabbed and held on for all he was worth, but he was crying too hard to be very successful. 

"I want my chocolate milk!  I want my dinner!  I want my milk!"

Yeah, and I want a glass of wine.  Get over it - neither of us are getting what we want right now, buddy boy.

"I'm going to do my prayers tonight, and I'm going to ask God to make you into a baby, and make me into an adult!  Then I can go downstairs and drink all my milk!"

WHERE does he come up with this stuff?

No nativity for YOU!

My neighbors across the street have two children, the same ages as my Gabriel and Mackenzie.  It's veddy veddy nice, except that her son always wants to play at his house.  My son gets upset, but whatevah.  They are Jewish, and it's been kind of interesting this year to explain the difference between Hanukkah and Christmas to Gabe this year. 

One day, the little boy came over, and he was struck dumb by the nativity we have under our Christmas tree.  He loved it.  He lay (laid? assumed a prone position!) on the floor next to the tree and just looked at it.  He played with the little figures until it was time to go home.

About three days later, his mom called me. "Are you missing a baby Jesus?"

I looked, and sure enough, it was gone.  He had taken it home. It made for a very interesting conversation, between the child and his mother, I understand.

Yesterday, his big sister came over, and darned if SHE wasn't mesmerized by the nativity!  It's not a big one, just a small set for under the tree, but they are both hooked on it.  I don't get it.

Maybe this is why she doesn't sleep

Who, me?

'Twas the day after Christmas...

And it was a zoo.  My house looks like Toys R Us threw up in it.  But, we all enjoyed Christmas so thoroughly, that I really can't complain.  The gifts were perfect, and I especially enjoyed taking The Hubster shopping for my gifts.  Then, I woke today to the picture above. It's a ruler, that registered the five inches of snow we got today. Here was the view from my front door.   

and some trees....      

The snow was great, just wonderful. The kids played hard, as did The Hubster, and they are all asleep, even the school friend who is sleeping over.  The Hubster is sleeping hard as well.  Everyone is out, except for me and the amazing, never sleeping baby. 

OH!  I almost forgot the excitement that happened Christmas Eve!  I looked out at The Hubster's Suburban, and noticed that something was, well, funky.  Funky like this...

Forget that it posted twice, and just see that the car had been hit and the wheel bent.  That's the axle on the ground.  Apparently, my neighbor's 17 year old son, who was coming home from a party at 3 a.m., fell asleep at the wheel and hit our car.  Of course, his mother said, he was no drinking. Of course. This is the second time he has done this.  Woo-hoo.

But, I got good gifts, my kids got good stuff, we made three Masses between us.  Two of my girls had birthdays, so I'll post birth stories tomorrow. 

Merry Christmas!  Now, on to New Years!

Christmas Eve

I went out today with The Hubster.  See, he has a habit of going shopping for me at 4 on Christmas Eve at Wal-Mart.  He runs like a fool, and I get various things that either don't fit, aren't my style, or are just ugly. 

This year, I took the bull by the horns.  I hired a sitter, and we went to the mall today, WITH NO KIDS.  I took him to Barnes and Noble, Starbucks, Lane Bryant and Old Navy.  I said, "Go in there.  Buy me a gift certificate."  Life is much better this way, I assure you.  A girl can only wear her five bathrobes from the past five Christmas celebrations one at a time, after all. 

I'm sitting in my almost put-back-together downstairs, smelling a chocolate cake in the oven, and looking at a brand new, really  beautiful kitchen floor.  I'm waiting for relatives, some of whom just showed up.

My kids sprinkled reindeer food outside, and set out cookies, so I guess we are set.

MERRY CHRISTMAS, EVERYONE!!!!!!

And so it goes on and on....

We apparently need a new hot water heater.  As in, today.

I.just.can't.take.much.more

In my series of depressing posts, I believe that this one will take the cake.

When we first started on this home improvement project, we both decided that one of the things we wanted to was replace the vinyl, or "linoleum", as The Hubster is fond of saying.  It was old when we moved in here, two years ago, and the seams are beginning to pop.  We called Lowe's and had an estimate done.  $2000 for all of it.  It was expensive because the installer felt that Luon, I think that's how it's spelled, needed to be applied over the original floor, in order to smooth it out.  We picked a vinyl, filled out the app for financing at 0% for a year, and tried to make an appointment.  This was in the beginning of November. 

Meanwhile, I remembered that a girlfriend's husband owns a flooring company, and he said he'd give us a break.  We had HIM out for an estimate, and it was about $1500-$1800.  Only problem being, he couldn't get the vinyl we liked.  So, we agreed to purchase the vinyl from Lowe's and have him install it.  He said that the installation would cost $700.  With a vinyl cost of $670, this was a much better way to go.  He said that no Luon was necessary.  That was why it was much cheaper.  He could just put the new floor down.

Well, we ordered the vinyl and it came in three weeks ago. We've been trying to get this taken care of, and finally made an appointment for Monday. 

Monday, and no one calls or shows.  Turns out, the installer had to take his wife to the airport, and swears he will be here Tuesday.  We stayed up late last night, me until 12, and The Hubster until 3, clearing everything out of that room, removing the table and everything off the counters in order to make it clear for them to work.  Now, my main room in the downstairs is the one that had the flooding.  We are kind of back in that room, but not really.  Now the other half of the house is into that room.  We still have to move the washer, dryer and fridge.  I called the installer at 10, when he was supposed to be here at 9, and he said, I kid you not: "I don't have your address. "  WTF????  Ok, fine. Do you not have my phone number as well?  Then, he said, "Do you have the seam sealer, and the adhesive?"  Holy hell, what was he talking about????

" Exactly what do you mean - you are doing the installation, don't you have that stuff?"  "No, ma'am, you bought the vinyl, you have to provide the other materials as well."  "Fine, tell me what to buy and I'll pack up the six kids and the two friends over (cuz I'm just sick that way!) and run to Lowe's.

"Oh, no, I can't tell  you that.  Different types of vinyl take different sealers, and Joe - the big boss, my friend's hubby - has to tell you that."

I called there, and explained my dilemma, in a pretty bitchy way.  I'm fairly sick of this crap.  The installer showed up, with the materials, and pulled the floorboards.  Then I overheard a conversation I could NOT BELIEVE.

"Joe, it's Larry.  They need Luon here."

$*&(#@#!!!!!!!!

Now, the job will take two days - one to apply the Luon and seal it, and one to apply the vinyl.  It saved us NO money, in fact it's going to cost us MORE, take longer, and mess up our house longer. 

And in another twist, the siding is STILL not finished in the addition, and the contractor showed up today and his helper did not.  He claimed it was too cold to work.  It's 45 degrees outside.  It's your JOB, you do this for a LIVING.  So, the contractor is attempting to do the siding by himself, as it's supposed to rain again this week, and when we had snow yesterday, it snowed into the addition.  It HAS to be water tight by Thursday.  No way around that, I don't want any more water damage. 

We called a friend of ours, and he came over to offer his help to the contractor.  I'm pretty sure we pissed him off.  Oh, well.  Come join me.

In an unrelated rant, WHY does The Hubster insist on purchasing cheap tissues and toilet paper?  He thinkgs he's doing me a favor, by stocking up.  I am strictly a Charmin/Puffs kind of girl on my tender regions, and he doesn't get it.

Remind me that this will all be over by about February.