STAY AT HOME MOM

Yesterday I had to leave work early so I could be at home when the kids get off the bus. Dewayne is normally there, but he wasn't able to - no big deal. I like being home when they get home. I got home and had supper started - got a load of dishes in the washer, and a load of laundry - Shelby was folding her clothes on the couch - Hayden was cleaning his room, and Sarah was playing in the floor. It was really nice and cool after the rain yesterday, so I opened the house up, and there was a slight breeze coming thru - it was so quiet and peaceful just being there with the kids and talking about their day. I made homemade steak fingers with fries and snap peas - it just smelled so good with supper on the stove - It just makes me want to be a stay at home mom all the time!! So when my husband got home, I gave him a kiss and told him it could be like that every day if I could stay home!! I would love to homeschool the kids and be able to stay home everyday with them. Maybe one day soon. We'll see. I'm working on it. I would have to find a supplemental income, but I have some good ideas.

BOWLING

Hayden had a great time Friday - I learned a HUGE lesson... when you haven't been bowling in about 10 years, initially, you think that 1 hr isn't long enough... BIG mistake... even with 8 people on a lane, after an hour, the only 2 people who had the stamina to keep bowling was Matt and Zach, and by the end of the night, those 2 were bowling for all of us old decrepit washed-up has been bowlers - lol... even Sarah didn't want to bowl anymore... We put my 3 youngest and Hayden's friend on a bumper lane by themselves - and then us old fogies + the 2 teens on a lane together, we had a blast, but my parents still can't move. I haven't checked to see how Dewayne's dad is doing yet, and Dewayne bowled twice - and was done.... I had fun the first hour. As long as Hayden was having a good time - that was alright with me. He got everything he wanted -$$, legos, his first RC car - I'm glad to get him involved in something... He doesn't play sports, just cause it really interferes with all the work we do at church. Too bad they don't have leagues that refuse to play or practice during church time, and I don't want to sign him up for something that we can't commit too, it's not fair to other players and families - but the RC races are on Friday's - so we can be involved in that. Shelby spent the night Friday with Eddie and Barbie, and then Hayden was in a fishing tournament at the little pond in Kennedale on Sat. I know that this is UNBELIEVABLE - but he caught a 4 lb bass - 13" long out of that little pond, and they thought that he won 1st place with it, but then was disqualified because he caught it 5 min. before the tournament actually began... He was so excited though. Then Hayden spent the night with Eddie and Barbie on Sat night. It was nice to have the boys 2 weekends in a row too - Matt drove all weekend - he was finally allowed to attend driver's ed, so he has his permit now. He's all excited, and the last bit of good news I have is that Sarah is pacifier free since Thursday - what a hurdle this has been... Neither of the kids were attached to the pacifier like she has been, but she's doing good, she hasn't cried for it, or thrown a fit or anything. She hasn't even really asked for it, she just tells me, "my pabi lost, I lost it. I big girl now" - and that's it... now we're down to potty-training... Overall, we just had a wonderful weekend with the family - and I'm thankful it's raining - that means I don't have to feel obligated to work in the yard - whoo hoo!! I can do housework instead - blah...

I HAD A BAD DAY...

Good gracious, yesterday was absolutely horrible... it was just one thing after the other...
First I found out that our cell phone bill was $400 again this month - which just really ticks me off. I know my hubby needs it for his work, but he isn't reimbursed for it, and all of his drivers are signed up with all different providers, and of course, he's on the phone with them during work hours, so no free minutes... I just get so angry over that stupid phone bill. Then I realized that I'm $200 short to pay all the bills this month - probably cause of the stinking phone bill... then I get a call from a bill collector from a debt like 3 yrs ago - I'm trying to make payment arrangements with the lady, and tell her that I can't make any payments in May (since I just found out I'm short this month anyway) she gets really tacky with me and just transfers me to someone else.... so when I got the other person, I asked why I was transferred when I was trying to make payment arrangements, and the guy has the audacity to tell me that he tells them to "transfer everyone to him that causes trouble" - I came UNGLUED all over the guy - I said I was NOT causing trouble, I'm trying to work out some payments with them... O I was so mad....
Last night was Shelby's school program (she was one of the main characters, I was so proud of her) and I was running late - I got my paycheck, but the bank conveniently closes at 4:00 - what the heck?? so I had to go deposit it to the ATM - at which point I learned that they decided to place a hold on half my check - why do they place a hold on some, but not all?? that's just enough to make you mad... so I get home, and had a letter in the mail from the IRS which said that we owed $3800 in taxes!!! WHAT?!?! we use the same CPA that does the books for Dewayne's dad, and the mistake was with his earnings.. They have us down as making $100,000 together - yeah right, I wish!!! I could use an extra $30,000 - but I don't want to pay taxes on it if we didn't make it... so get inside, I'm already late, but I knew that my memory card was full in the camera, so I needed to download pics real quick - tore the desk up cause I couldn't find my cord, come to find out today, my brother has it... so I had to delete pics off of it that I might have kept otherwise, but I had to pick some that had to go just to have pics of her program... AAAGGGHHH!!! By this point, I'm flaming, and since I was running late, there were NO seats left. we had to stand. For the first song I couldn't even see her, but then she was in the middle of the stage the rest of the night. The play was sooo cute that I had really settled down by the time I got home, and then my bad day picked right back up where we left off... I had laid out backstrap to fix with rice and gravy - well, I didn't check to see if I had any gravy, I just thought I did - then I found out I didnt... so we'll have meat and rice - no gravy... I got the water boiling, got some carrots out to steam... went back to the stove, poured the rice in the water, and stirred a little, when I noticed little black things coming to the top of the water - they were BUGS!!! little black bugs, just a little bigger than ants... I've never seen them before, they kinda look like beetles... I was furious... I poured out the rice, started some more water boiling... and went to get another bag of rice... I checked this bag first, and they were in that bag too!!! now I'm really mad.... so I'm checking all my food in the pantry - I never did see any bugs anywhere else - but I guess I'll have to call the exterminator... that was sick... so I got down a bag of uncle ben's rice that you steam in the microwave, but I was so flustered, that I forgot to tear the bag so it could vent, and about half way thru the cook time it just exploded all over the microwave... so 3 bags of rice later, and no gravy, I just chunked it, during all this time, I burned the meat - so I just gave up and went to take a bath... I guess I'm fortunate that my hubby turned off the stove and fed the kids - cause I left it all like it was.... I kept telling myself, I'll just take a bath, go to bed and when I wake up, it will all be better - and sure enough it was...
I've been hoping for a hummingbird to come to the house for 3 yrs now - I have planted everything I know to plant that attracts them - and have NEVER seen one, but there was one in the garden this morning, the kids ran inside to get me, so me and Sarah went out to see it - she's so cute, she can't say 'HUMMINGBIRD' - it comes out "HINEY-BIRD" lol. I don't know why we have bad days, but we get thru them and move on and everything looks better in the morning (except the IRS bill - lol)

GETTING OLD LOL

My baby will be 9 in just 2 days - I feel old... If I didn't have Sarah I sure enough would feel old... she brought life back to me after waiting so long between her and Shelby to have another baby, it's like a breath of fresh air. I wish I would/could have enjoyed Hayden and Shelby like that when they were her age... it stinks being a single mom though, and needless to say, I didn't enjoy that time of my life. I'm glad that's all over with, and I look back at it with regret now - regrets over not spending more precious time with my little ones and realizing that they wouldn't be that young for long. Now they think they're all grown up and the only time they want kisses is at bed time! But at least they still want kisses at bed time :) I'll take whatever I can get. Hayden has grown up so fast, and I'm so proud of him. He's had it pretty rough in his short life so far, and against all odds, he's a good kid. Don't get me wrong, he still has his moments, but overall, he's just a little boy that I am very proud of. I know 29 seems young, but as I look back over the last 9 years of my life as a mother, I wish I could go back and edit/undo - lol. Hayden has turned out into a fine young man, in spite of me!!

RECAPPING THE WEEKEND

Easter was great - we had great services Sunday morning and Sunday evening at church - it was just a blessing to be there. One of my friends from Amarillo that I grew up with since I was probably in the nursery has been visiting, and it was really nice to see her again. I hope to have some pics to post this week.
Well, we decided on the Botanical Gardens in Ft. Worth - the kids didn't remember going, so that's where we headed off to on Monday morning. The kids were just ecstatic, they had such a good time. We packed a picnic lunch, which they all thought was the greatest thing ever. I think the best part was the Japanese Garden. I've never been to the botanical gardens in April, and now I'm a believer that April is the best time to go, most everything was in bloom, and it was just gorgeous. Me and Dewayne were both so relaxed, and just enjoyed watching the kids play, it was just a wonderful day.

Easter weekend.

I am so glad it's Easter. I'm off on Friday to be with the kids, and I have SOOO much yardwork to do. I have to finish putting up the edging around the flower garden, and hopefully the last of the frost was here yesterday, so I'm going to take the chance of planting the rest of my garden. (Wish me luck) And I have a shade garden of bulbs and ferns to get planted, and I have to re-till it since I did that right before I fell and hurt my foot - so it's going to need to be redone.
The girls already have their dresses, but Hayden is getting a new suit, he just doesn't know it yet. I do have to get the girls some new shoes and maybe sweaters since it's supposed to rain all day Sunday :(
Then I'm off again Monday and maybe Dewayne will join us - I want to go to the botanical gardens and get pics of the kids and then I don't know what else we'll do. We talked about going to the zoo - but I want to do something different that we haven't done before... but we've been to Glenrose - the kids went with mom and dad on spring break - but I want to do something like that... I just can't think of anything.
I always enjoy Easter - ever since Hayden was born. I went to the hospital on Sat. evening because something just didn't feel right - and they hooked me up to all the monitors and said that I was loosing the water around the sack, that it was leaking, rather than bursting. So they sent me home and told me to come back at 5:00 Sunday afternoon to be induced. So we went to church that morning, and I really started to have labor pains, and went home and rested, got ready to go to the hospital, and was induced, fully expecting to have my first baby on Easter Sunday... (little did I know, being my first time and all) Hayden was in no hurry, he arrived around 1:00 pm on Monday afternoon. Easter Monday. I'll have to remind him of that this Easter Monday while we're out together. I can't believe he'll be 9 this month. Makes me feel so old. He's turned into quite the young man, and I'm so proud to be his momma.

My busted foot

It's been a loooong time since I've posted anything Candy so kindly pointed out... I forgot all about my blog. So, I fell down the stairs last week at mom and dads while I was dropping Sarah off before work. At least I didn't fall while carrying her down... My toe nail was ripped off, and I broke my big toe, pulled the ligaments and tendons in my foot and have 2 HUGE bruises - one on my left arm, and the other on my left hip... and all of this just 3 days before Nascar :(
Oh well, I had a boot cast on and made it thru, now I think I have a 3rd degree sunburn cause I just didn't think about the sunscreen lol. I was sidetracked. Biffle came in 3rd on Sunday, and we really need a win to move up in the points standings - so go BIFFLE!!! Had a great time with my hubby though - this is the first time since Sarah was born that we have gone by ourselves, and it was nice. We like to go with Jeff and Debbie too, but we had a good time just the 2 of us. Jeff and Debbie are on schedule for Nov. though :)
not much else is going on, having some issues with Hayden - so keep him in your prayers, I would rather not discuss it for the world to see, you never know who's watching... nothing major though.
Work is going good I guess, the economic crisis - if you call it that - has started to make it's way through our industry - drilling - so things are somewhat slow. My brother will be laid off in August and that plant will be shut down, so I know that God was taking care of me when he moved me 2 yrs ago - I might not have been able to find a position if I was laid off now.
The garden is growing well, I already have sweet oregon pea pods coming up, those are my favorites... will be planting tomatoes, squash, cantelope, zuccini, okra, and watermelons this weekend - not sure what else, I think that's it.. and my strawberries are doing well - this is their 2nd year, so I should get a good crop. I think we're under a freeze warning tonite :( of course...
my azalea's have bloomed, and I'm waiting on the irises - but they are 'pregnant" so it shouldn't be long. will be planting about 10 hostas this weekend about 200 bulbs, so I've got a lot of work to do with my busted foot... glad the kids are out of school, I'll certainly be putting them to work...
I'll try to remember my blog that way I don't have to write so long...