OK....I went into daycare about a week ago and all the teachers looked at me really sympathetically. The director called me into the office and asked me if my house burned down. I had been at work all day, so I was wondering if they knew something I didn't. I said I hoped it didn't burn down. They looked a little relieved and told me that Tristan, my 3 year old, had convinced them all that his house burned down. Apparently he went as far as to say that he and Casey climbed out the window, ran to the neighbors and the fireman came. He then said we had a new house. HMMMMMM.....a big story or bad dream??? Tristan has been obsessed with the smoke alarm in our house for a long time and makes me tell him about it at least 10 times a day. The story he told at daycare is pretty much what I told him to do if the smoke alarm ever went off. Well, at least he listens. Other topics of interest for Tristan include jail and poison. He has liked poison since he watched snow white. He tells us that he is going to make up drink poison all the time now. I don't know how he got interested in Jail, but he makes us tell him about that too. He went to school yesterday and told his teachers that mommy and daddy went to jail and that he had to go get us out. Luckily, they didn't belive it...at least they say they didnt..... Oh, the last thing. Tristan is obsessed with running around the house completely naked. Yes, completely. Not even underwear. Anyway, he also pokes at his butt and scratches it a lot. Of course, this makes it red and itchy and ultimately hurts. So, he goes around the house saying my butt hurts. I put Desitin cream on it to relieve the itching and he now says his butt hurts and that mommy touches his butt. So, the daycare teachers are now being told that mommy is apparently a child molester for touching Tristan's butt, went to jail and our house burned down (probably me engaging in arson). Thankfully, people know me pretty well by now and don't believe it.

Decisions, decisions, decisions....
OK...I am a bit conflicted about certain decisions that I am going to need to be making within the next few years. Mainly, whether I want to have a third child or not. I keep going back and forth over this and just can't figure it out. I know that if I have another child, I will have to wait until I'm 31 and 1/2 or 32 to avoid having three kids in daycare at the same time. That doesn't bother me so much though. I am one of those weird people who enjoyed my pregnancy and the experience of giving birth (as freaky as it sounds). The first baby was an easy pregnancy and delivery (except I didn't want anybody to talk to me while I was in labor). Tristan was a pretty easy-going baby too! My second pregnancy wasn't horrible but I had more problems. My feet were more swollen than anybody had ever seen. The positive side to that was getting a doctor's note, allowing me to wear open-toed sandals to work, which pissed off some co-workers! LOL! I went into pre-term labor at 27 weeks, which scared us because of how premature the baby would have been. It was because I had a urinary tract infection that I wasn't aware of. Fortunately, they were able to stop the labor and I went full-term. My labor was scheduled and induced at 38 weeks. It was a much harder labor and they had to break my water with the pick thingy (didn't really hurt though). Casey's heartrate started dropping with my contractions so I was prepped for an emergency C-section and rushed into the operating room. Luckily, my doctor gave things a few more minutes and I had him without the surgery. Unfortunately, my parents couldn't be in the room for this one, as they did for Tristan. Casey was fine and so was I. I had a nice luxury suite after both childbirths, so I had a lot of privacy, which was nice. Things with Casey were (and still are) harder than with Tristan. He was very gassy and we thought he was colicky but it turned out to be acid reflux. I couldn't put Casey down during my entire maternity leave without him crying. He got up every hour or so at night and we were both so sleep deprived. He got RSV and was hospitalized for three days. He has had exema, which occurs mainly in the back fold of one knee. It looks like a painful welt when it flairs up. Casey has a worse temper than Tristan and tends to be a bit more grumpy. My parents compare Tristan to my brother b/c he is so self-righteous and a know-it-all and Casey is a carefree, laidback slob who doesn't care.

Anyway.....I sort of want a third baby in a couple of years but there are drawbacks. I would want a boy b/c it would be easier to have three of the same sex, plus I love raising boys. I wouldn't know what to do with a girl, and wouldn't want to deal with what my parents went through with me! I don't want to automatically throw Casey into the middle child position, if the middle child really does typically feel ignored or left out, as he's had enough issues! I would want Tristan and Casey to want this, and not feel left out of the decision making process. We would have to build on an extra room and finally fix the foundation problem, which would cost about 10 grand. One positive thing is that work is getting short-term disability insurance, which would give me 1000 dollars a month for 3 months of maternity leave. So, what do you guys think? Especially people who have three or more kids, help me out here!!!

OK....what I call assertive, many people (film geek, jedi, 75 and a long list of others) call tactless, mean, hurtful, insensitive, etc. I grew up in a family with a fairly assertive mom and dad. Not mean, just assertive. If somebody did something that pissed them off, they stood up and told them. When I was younger, I was really shy and a bit embarrased by people being assertive. However, I have now grown into a very assertive (and hot) person myself, which sometimes embarasses my husband. I don't really think I'm that mean, I just like to make sure and get my point across. Sometimes I like to argue or if I'm in a bad mood, a good confrontation calms me down. 75 thinks I'm a hothead like my parents. My brother isn't innocent in the hothead issue either. I remember a time at the taste of Charleston when my mom was still in the recovery period of a hysterectomy. My dad, brother, me and two of my friends were off getting food and mom was saving our seats. Some bitches tried to tell her she couldn't save the seats and tried to move in on them. My mom was looking around for my friends and me to come and put them in their place, but we were too far away and couldn't see. My brother (Jedi) came over with his food and used the famous Mr. Beaks line from Trading Places. He just looked at the bitches and said "Hey, fuck off lady!" They looked horrified and completely offended and walked away speechless. So, Jedi,while you accuse me of sometimes being a tad bit mean, that wasn't the sweetest comment in the world. It was, however, one of the funniest and most memorable experiences I can remember! So my question is....where do you draw the line between assertive and "tactless" as my mom and I are often called!? Just curious as to what others think.

Christmas is right around the corner! I already have at least half of my shopping done for people but still have plenty more to do if I'm going to spoil the kids again and be miserable in the end for doing so (like last year). Thanks to my mom's obsessiveness, we got two of the new Elmo's and yes, they are nestled safely under the tree. The night before they went on sale I gave her those as an idea for the boys. She called Toys R Us and they wouldn't tell her how many they had that hadn't been reserved. Being the good, obsessive mom I am thankful for, she and dad went out at 8pm and drove to Charleston to reserve them. At the store, they found out that there were only three (after their's) that hadn't been reserved and would be available to the general public. The next day was a madhouse. Elmo's sold on ebay for 190 to 220 dollars. I wished I had thought to reserve more. I wished I was a bad parent and would sell the two we reserved and buy new ones later. Luckily, I didn't go that route! Mom and dad picked up the Elmo's and dad, who never locks the car doors unless physically prompted, immediately locked the back door after putting them in, in case a crazy guy like Arnold in Jingle all the way was around. Anyway, for my one or two people who may or may not read this, here is a survey with some questions.

1. How much do you spend each Christmas?
About 1200 dollars (at least) now that I have two kids and a greedy husband

2. Do you get what somebody asks you for (if they give you ideas of things they want) or do you pick what you want them to have?
I go from ideas whenever people will give them to me; as far as for the kids right now or teachers I go by instinct.

3. What is your favorite Christmas movie?
It was Miracle on 34th street but now it is a tie between Jingle all the way and Elf.

4. Do you shop on Christmas Eve?
I think I did last year or the year before one time! It wasn't very fun!

5. Do you hit the after-thanksgiving sale?
I do! I used to think this would be miserable but I've done it the past few years and it's kind of nice. I mean, it's a lot of standing in line and crowds but you kind of bond with the other freaks there and get to know that you aren't the only obsessive one around! Plus you save a shitload of money!

6. What is the worst Christmas movie you've seen and why?
Prancer. My mom and I went years ago to see this movie about a sweet, little reindeer. Christmas movies geared towards kids are supposed to be happy. Well, sorry to ruin the surprise for everybody but Prancer dies! I left the movie theater crying and mom was on the warpath b/c it crushed all the kids in the theater!

7. What is your favorite Christmas cartoon/animated movie?
Defintitely Emmet Otter's Jugband Christmas. I introduced rt. 75 to emmet otter several years ago and he is a huge hit in this household. The dvd or vhs was hard to get for awhile and went for high prices on ebay. Luckily, I've always had my copy!

8. Do you use real or artificial trees?
When I was younger we used real trees and I always felt sad when dad would have to throw it out after Christmas b/c we killed it and then just dumped it. Now we use the fake and I am much much happier!

OK....that is all I can think of for my first 2-hot-4-you survey, so it'll have to do.

Scrapbooking is great! That is really my only hobby now. I got started thanks to an old co-worker years ago who showed me all the great stuff in the scrapbook world. She, like most scrapbookers just kind of buy as they need. I, however, have a bit of obsessive-compulsive like tendencies and like to stock up and buy in bulk everything I see that I like (it makes sense b/c when I eventually need it, it'll be gone if I don't buy it now). Rt. 75 doesn't like or understand that concept for some reason. When I first got started scrapbooking I went t0 the scrapbook page, which used to be a great store. I spent about $400 dollars there and then raided Michaels and AC Moore, dropping another 4 or 500 bucks. I of course had to tell 75 about it later. He freaked but just said I better not get sick of it and quit after dropping so much money into it. The scrapbook page is now under new ownership and is now the Crapbook page. Luckily for me and 75, I found a new store, Scrapbook and More, here in Lavalette which is really good too. The previous owner of the Scrapbook page even makes and sells really great kits there so I get the best of both places! Since I do the bills, I can slip my large monthly purchases in under DC (Debit Card) and it just looks like a typical grocery trip at Walmart. I got caught up when we visited Archivers, a great scrapbook store in Akron. We met my brother and his wife up there and I fell in love with Archivers. It was the size of a large warehouse, all filled with yummy scrapbook supplies. Of course I went overboard and got one of everything. I was checking out and everybody was staring at me in shock b/c of the huge load in my cart. Rt. 75 walked in right as she announced the total and about shit. Yes, it was about 450 to 500 dollars. I can't remember the exact dollar but I bet he does. The ride home was very unpleasant! Anyway, my point of this whole saga is, now I make decent money off of my hobby b/c in my spare time, I make and sell premade pages on ebay. Some weeks I do great and other weeks are shitty. It is weird what sells in a given week. So, if anybody scrapbooks or wants to get into scrapbooking but doesn't have time or know how, check out my link to my ebay store below!

Check out my Ebay Store!

Yay! I got the tickets! Rt. 75 will probably kill me when he finds out, but I talked the guy down a little. He originally wanted $300 for 4 tickets and $12 shipping. I asked him to come down to 250 and we met in the middle. He agreed on $275 for the tickets and $6 shipping instead of 12! Pretty expensive for an hour and a half but well worth it if the kids have as good a time as I'm anticipating. I may be able to sell the other ticket to my friend and take her kid with us if she trusts us enough. She's 5 or 6 now and surely can't be that hard to manage! Otherwise, it'll just be us! All I know is the Hot Potato Section better be damn well worth it. I posted a bunch of new scrapbook listings on ebay in hopes of selling enough pages to make up the money for the tickets. Who knows, sometimes it goes well othertimes pretty shitty! I have a scrapbooking partner in Canada that I work with on ebay. She makes these really cute tear bears and I arrange and design the layout. We split the money 50/50. She sent me two new ones last week but I haven't had a chance to work on it yet, so hopefully today! I have a free pass off of work from yesterday and today due to strep throat. Today was going to be a horrible day! 8 hours for a very contraversial IEP. Since I'm contagious until I've been on my antibiotic for 24 hours (5pm today) I can't go unless everybody wants to risk getting sick. Now that I'm starting to feel a slight bit better, maybe I can have a nice, easy day of relaxation and sleep for myself for a change! If you see this anytime soon, have fun working today 75!

OK....How much are the Wiggles really worth? I mean, I started out really hating these guys but now that my kids watch them all the time, I find myself hearing their songs in my head at work and actually liking them. Anyway, Rt. 75 and I were online first thing during the Wiggles presale. We were planning on getting at least 4th row tickets since it was a pre-sale and we were on their before they went on sale, waiting! The best offer we got was row K in a section that wasn't center floor. We took the tickets, unhappily b/c it was better than nothing and paid $124 for three tickets. I found better tickets the next day when they went on sale to the general public (go figure). We unloaded our tickets on the film geek, nicely charging him only what we paid (because I'm so nice) and got center floor tickets for row N (14 rows back). They are good, decent seats but I'm still not happy because I wanted my kids to have great seats in the hot potato section. Anyway, I found these great seats in an advertisement. 4 real front row tickets, though I only need three. There are apparently two small sections in front of even the main floor sections called floor right and floor left. These are the hot potato seats, which means the kids get to play some special game. Anyway, the tickets are 300 dollars. I am trying to talk the guy down to $250, which is still an absolutely ridiculous price. However, when your kids love something this much, it seems like the right thing to do. Rt. 75 has no idea of my plans and probably won't be very happy about them. But, he'll have to live or just stay home that night because my mind is now made up! We will have to find some lucky person to unload our old tickets on if the person I have in mind now doesn't work out. Well, Rt. 75, you said you wanted me to blog so here you go. Now lets see how long it takes you or anybody else to actually read this since I don't have such a great following of my blog!