Friday, January 30, 2009

Well, Bubbles has fallen to the sickness, I'm the last one standing. Blossom is still coughing her brains out and Buttercup is just generally really, really, REALLY onery. The Professor has taken a turn for the better and I suspect, might be out playing this very minute. He tends to get off work early on Fridays- I am always driven crazy when I don't know whether he's at work or out messing around somewhere. Driven crazy by any small amount of freedom while I sit here, listening to the endless coughing. . . . .

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

My Affirmations

I am Positively Affirming all over the place. I am putting them out in the universe to get what we need! THG had a 2 great interviews at a great company. He believes they are about to make him an offer. So, these are my affirmations for the week. 1. TGH has a great new job! 2. This company really wants him to work there! 3. They are offering him great pay and lots of overtime!


Also, I have to push the book, You Can Heal Your Life, by Louise Hay. I have been using one of her affirmations: 'Money comes to me from expected and unexpected sources'. Since TGH was laid off, we have received more money than he made at work in his last 2 months. I'm not kidding. For one thing, when he was first laid off off, the company was not giving any severance. Then, about a week or so later, they called him out of the blue and gave him 6 weeks severance pay. I paid an overdue bill the other day, and today, the company sent the money back and said the account was already paid. Last week, the mortgage company sent us an escrow refund. The last two years, we have owed an escrow shortfall of nearly $200. How do I explain this? Prayer, positive thinking, and positive affirmations. I also believe in feng shui, as an fun hobby, but I'm not going into that here. I will say, I did go over the house and rearrange a few things... Mostly, what I know is that my life is being healed. And I can live with that!


Here's my funny thing for the day, thanks to Lynn for emailing it to me!


This is hilarious!







(Here's the reply the teacher received the following day)
Dear Mrs. Jones,
I wish to clarify that I am not now, nor have I ever been, an exotic dancer. I work at Home Depot and I told my daughter how hectic it was last week before the blizzard hit. I told her we sold out every single shovel we had, and then I found one more in the back room, and that several people were fighting over who would get it. Her picture doesn't show me dancing around a pole. It's supposed to depict me selling the last snow shovel we had at Home Depot. From now on I will remember to check her homework more thoroughly before she turns it in.
Sincerely,
Mrs. Smith

AH! We're all dropping like flies around here. Blossom, Buttercup, and the Professor are sick! I want to grab Bubbles and run for the hills......

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

An introduction for those who may not know me

Here goes. I tend to be a bit ego-centric so I assume everyone knows who I am and all about me. So am Lynn, also know as LynnMarie and Lynnie. I have been married for almost 16 years. I am a stay at home mom of four very active kids. I have a degree in Spanish, Elementary Education emphasis in bilingual education. I serve at church as the Primary secretary and webelos leader. I volunteer at my kids schools and am there often that I am on a first name basis with most of the staff. I love to read and crochet. I love to use coupons.
My GLH works as a probation officer. He loves football and most other sports. He is a good dad and hubby.
WU=weird uncle, My GLH's youngest brother who lives in the basement. He rents a room from us, works with GLH, and owns 2 birds. He used to own two chinchillas. He is single and 31 if anyone is interested ;)...)
Abuelita= My mother-in-law who live with us. She moved in about 9 years ago when her husband died suddenly of a heart attack.
DIVA=my 14 year old daughter. She plays the flute and piano. She loves to read and write.
chicharon1=my 11 year old son. He loves legos and computers and playing chess. He loves to read. He recently finished The Three Musketeers and has started reading Oliver Twist.
chicharon2=my 10 year old son. He is considered gifted by the school district standards but I think he lacks common sense oftern. He loves to read and questions everything.
chicharon3=my five year old son. He is funny and cute and spoiled. I have to watch because he is not a baby anymore and that is hard to remember.

I speak Spanish

CHICHARONS MEANS PORK RINDS OR FRIED PORK FAT!!!!

Monday, January 26, 2009

I just want to rant for a moment. My little Blossom is only 5 years old. Now that we are living at Grandma's she has become totally addicted to NINTENDO! She wants to play it every day, all day. She plays it with her 12 year old aunt and 17 year old uncle. (They actually think she's uncannily good at it.) When I tell her no she asks every half hour if it's time yet. It's all she wants to talk about. I think she dreams about it!!
This should not be a problem! She is only 5! She is a girl and my sexism says this should be more of a boy problem!
ARGH! Curse the Nintendo!

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Free Stuff!

You can go to Macy's Dept store and get free Estee Lauder product! You can look online for the details, something involving a class action lawsuit and price fixing. Just go and sign your name and get some:)

Be careful what you wish for

So as I was cleaning house yesterday the phone rings. It is the kids piano teacher who wants to cancel because she is sick. I think YAY, one less thing to do today (I had been secretly wishing that she would call and cancel)And more time to clean before the visiting teachers come that evening. Then before I can even celebrate a little the phone rings again. UH OH--It is the middle school and worse the nurse. Chicharon1 has fallen on his arm in gym and they are concerned about it. I am thinking are you serious?????Now it is the end of the school day so I decide will just pick him up at the regular time. I pick up him and the diva. I look at his arm which is swollen and he claims hurts incredibly. I pick up the other chicharones and call the dr. They say come right in and so off we go. Icall GLH on the cell and ask if he wants to meet us. He does. We wait for x-rays while chicharon3 and 1 extra bounce through the waiting room and diva rolls her eyes. YAY--not broken. As we are leaving I check the time, 6:00--uh oh my visiting teachers are supposed to show up at my house before I will even get home. I get the diva to dial the phone since I am driving and quickly cancel. Then it hits me, earlier in the day I had been wishing the kids didn't have piano and the visiting teachers weren't coming... I just start laughing. Be careful what you wish for.

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Two Things

First. TGH had an interview today. The pay isn't great, but the company looks good and there is room for future growth. Plus, we need a job!

Second. #6 was laying on the floor falling asleep after a long day of licking furniture and drinking chocolate milk. Finally I hear snoring...and then it stops. I look over from my cross stitch and see Caboose STANDING on #6 head! I run over, yank Caboose off, swat his posterior and send him away, trying to be quiet because having his head stood upon did not wake him up. Weird. A couple of minutes later, I go to the bathroom. When I come back, Caboose is SITTING on #6 head. Why, oh why? I yank him off again, swat him again and send him down the stairs again! #6 snores peacefully through this. I sit down to do cross stitch again. The phone rang, it was my good friend Melody! After I hang up with her, I check on #6, only to find...you guessed it! Caboose is piling toys and shoes on his brother's head. AHHH! Yank, swat, send, snore. TGH comes in and asks, have you seen my coat? #6 sits bolt upright, suddenly wide awake from having his father speak in the same room. Unbelievable. Well, like I always say, "I just give birth to them, I don't explain them."

Sunday, January 18, 2009

What to do with the next 30 years. . . .

I am laughing really hard as I write this because lymalu said she has/had a secret fear of blogging. The funny part about this is that I have a not-so-secret fear of practically everything on earth but I have never thought to be afraid of blogging. So I admit I have not been doing many entries lately. There are several reasons for that. First of all, we are living with our in-laws, so I am mildly embarrassed by spending too much time on the computer- not to mention my father-in-law works from home and so if I do get on the computer I feel akward sitting in his "office" with him. But now that the legislative season has begun, he is a representative, the office is almost free for a few months so I will do better. The second reason is, well, I live with my in-laws. We are in limbo. Waiting for the smallville house to sell and living here has completely blown my mind in some ways. I am starting to come to my senses and realize this could be a very long process (unless Obama really does turn out to be some kind of miracle cure for the economy, yeah right) so I better start building a life here and not just waiting on that house- which by the way- no one has looked at in about 3 weeks. ahem. The third reason, is when I try to think of entries I feel pressure to be funny. When I try to be funny, it usually doesn't work out too well. I am more of a thinker/worrier than a comedian. So this has been a long, long way around, but the thing I wanted to mention is that I've been thinking about this country song I heard on the radio. It's something about what are you going to do with the next 30 years of your life. For some reason, this idea is lodged in my brain. I am really starting to think that I should make some kind of plan for the next part of my life. I don't want to get to be 60-ish and still wondering if I'll ever become a good seamstress, and whether or not I should take painting lessons or learn to play the violin. I need some focus. I think I've come to grips with the fact that I'm not going to be amazingly famous or anything, but I'd like to feel proud like I have some skills to be remembered by. Anyway, that's what I've been thinking. Anyone else have thoughts or suggestions for me, I ALWAYS welcome advice on the subject of what to do with myself. :-) I'm all ears.

Friday, January 16, 2009

I am speechless

WU wants to bring home two birds....like we don't have a big enough zoo already. Don't worry he did get rid of the chinchillas he used to have.

Thursday, January 15, 2009

My name is LynnMarie thus lymalu...makes sense to me. And in my defense (lame though it is) I have 1 GLH, 1 diva, 3 Chicharons, 1 Abuelita, 1 WU, 2 dogs (both lovable dumb mutts), 1 tank full of fish, and 3 church callings. And most importantly up till now a secret fear of bloggging.

Sisterhood

So, the 3rd sister finally shows her face! We've (Carrie and I) been hassling her to post on our blog, but she has been too 'busy'. We are 3 sisters out of 6 kids. I'm (Maren) the oldest, Lymalu (she can tell you her real name if she wants) is the 3rd kid, second sister, and Carrie is 4th kid, 3rd sister. The 4th sister is 5th kid and is married, no kids, has a job. We have 2 brothers, 2nd and 6th in the line up. We 3 sisters live in 3 different states, but do a pretty good job of staying close. Thank heaven for technology. I remember the days when lymalu and I were setting timers and saving pennies to talk long distance and then contemplating hiding the phone bill!:) We talk too fast, love chocolate too much and adore our families. We love each other, and now, have found yet another fun thing to stay in touch and have fun together. Yay for sisters!!

Am I the Yes Woman?

So I said Yes again and I will probably regret it. Chicharon2 wanted to participate in a extra-curricular program called DI, and you guessed it, they needed a parent volunteer. That's my cue. He did DI last year but after it was over, he vowed to never do it again. That lasted till they passed out the sign up sheet.
In my defense I am NOT going to the PAC (think PTA) meeting at the school tomorrow. They are looking for a new treasurer(been there), secretary(done that) and committee chair in charge of fund raising(no way). Just the thought makes my head hurt. I think that will be my excuse to miss the meeting. I will have a migraine tomorrow.
I am actually home alone today, of course abuelita is here. But no kids, chicharons and divas are at school and the extras are with their parents. GLH and WU are at work. The house seems empty and very quiet. I should probably clean something. Instead I am blogging and may take a nap. I say that, but in reality I will spend my free time doing laundry and planning for our Webelos den meeting tonight.

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Today is about perspective

I am the #2 stay at home mom sister. I have one GH. I have 1 diva and 3 chicharons. During the day I watch extras to help with money. Today as I was listening to them play, my youngest chicharon was explaining in great detail how this game they were plying was going to go. He was the dad, the only girl would be the mom, the other boy would be a brother and the youngest would be the dog. Right off the bat I here the extras complaining. I thought the complaint would be from the youngest, why do I have to be the dog...instead the boy assigned the role of brother was mad because He wanted to be the dog. It is all in your perspective.
The WU ( who lives in the basement) like to watch Biggest Loser with the diva and chicharones. So the other night the chicharon3 goes up to GH and says well at least you're not as fat as that guy on our show. Perspective...we all need some.
I was venting (okay complaining) to a friend about how chicharon1 just won't turn in homework or classwork and just seem determined to fail 6th grade. Then I was blessed with perspective when she told me about a mutual acquaintance and how her daughter that age would probably be repeating 6th grade but it was because she has been too sick to go to school and was having gallbladder surgery. Perspective...he may yet fail but isn't sick.

Monday, January 12, 2009

Glass Half Full

Positive affirmations are the theme of the day! It's been one month since TGH got laid off and the honeymoon is over. Christmas went well, thanks to the prayers and donations of many of you. Now, we are having a little post-holiday letdown and trying not to let it get us down! I recite about 5 positive affirmations everyday to myself and then about 3 of those out loud to TGH. We cannot afford negativity now! We must remain standing, remain strong, remain faithful. When I feel my little boat rocking, I recite to myself: Stand up, suck it up, walk it off, take it like a man (although I'm not sure who that man is) straighten your spine, keep on keepin' on. Is that enough cliches for one sentence?

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

the "Death Fabric"

Some time ago the Professor read that Search and Rescue people call jeans the death fabric - I guess because they stay wet and aren't actually good for survival and all that. Anyway, the Professor LOVES to mention it to people. So the other day, all his bro's and sis's were getting ready to go skiing. I wasn't in the room but I was listening to them getting ready, trying to find snow pants and gear for everyone. I could see just where the conversation was heading and I found myself smiling and thinking, wait for it, wait for it. Then sure enough, there was a pause and I heard the Professor begin his speech. "You know, search and rescue people call jeans the death fabric." haha! I just love that man!!