Tuesday, November 23, 2010
It's Killing Me
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Now If Only She Could Read A Map!
Today A & D were in the van with me (A in front of course) and we were discussing the finer points of automatic windows. Particularly, why the driver's seat window opens and closes by itself. I explained that of course it's just safer for the driver to not have to hold the button down so the driver can concentrate on the driving of it all. D thought that made good sense. Then he was like, "Wait a minute, what if A has to Mapigate? It might be easier for her window to open and close on it's own because she'll have to be your Mapigator."
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Grown Ups Don't Do That
Vader loves his bike. Sorry, I mean, LOVES his bike. So this week, he goes on a bike ride with his biking buddy and doesn't show up back home again until after 11:00pm. Whaaat? Do I get a phone call...nope. Did he wonder if I had other plans and he'd need to be with the kids....nope. Do I even get a forewarning? One guess. Did I make supper...yup. Did I wonder if he was dead...yup. Mind you, this is not a week unlike any other. This has certainly happened before. He doesn't always stay out until midnight (10 is more common), but many a time supper has gotten cold waiting for him. Just to find out that he ate with his friends. Please, don't ask how happy that makes me. Because I just couldn't tell you even if I used all the varied and graphic curse words of my forefathers before me. It wouldn't be enough.
Now, this week, I've chosen not to speak to him, I'm a little too angry for that and there are children present. He doesn't notice, but I do it anyway. So, I decide to go ahead and speak to him then yesterday. His reply to me had to do with what he ate for dinner at his friends house. Oh Bleaders, oh how I itched to kick his ass...still do. Instead I just snapped at him that he wasn't to speak of it. I do believe it's time for Vader to take a Big Girl pill and get his ass home for supper if he wants to keep his bike, or his ass for that matter. Either that or learn how to use his flippin' phone. If you happen to see him bruised and beaten...don't ask...no good can come of this behavior.
Monday, July 26, 2010
Don't Judge
We had a great day at the Ludington State Beach this summer. We drove into town and it was swamped, way busier than it should've been. We couldn't even get to the regular in town beach, there were detours and it was a complete mess. Finally I noticed that they were having a Gus Macker tournament and told everyone that's what the deal was. We decided to go the beach up a little further by the campgrounds. It was nice and quiet there, very few people. As we're driving, A says, "Um, what's a Smacker anyway?"
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Abandoned
Monday, February 15, 2010
My Swiffering Is Suffering
Thursday, February 4, 2010
New Series ~ Quick Confessions ~ #1
Most of the times when I tell the kids I'll make them Chocolate Chip cookies, it's only because I crave the dough. I obsess about it. I just love it so much. Then I have to sneak it because they think eating dough is really bad for you, in fact, I just don't want to share. I mean, the cookies are good, but the dough is effing fabulous.
Friday, January 15, 2010
Smothering No Longer Necessary
Basking In The Glow Of My KitchenAid
Sunday, January 3, 2010
Annual Belated Holiday Letter
What can I say, it's been a crazy year. The house is up for sale, we had to get a new car for Vader, the kids can nearly look me in the eye, I expanded my horizons and did a few more shows, and my hoarding of all things Fisher Price Little People and Barbie is at an all time low due to having to keep my office clean.
Right around Labor Day we put our house up for sale for the epic move to Arizona. Already my good friend, the One Woman Mob, has made her pilgrimage, my sister & her family have been there for a year and a half, and my parents are spending a nice super long vacation in their Arizona house this winter. Between all of them, we get daily updates on the weather. It's pretty much the same every day though:So we give them daily updates on our weather, also pretty much the same:
So we've had interest in the house, but no offers yet. We've found a house in Arizona that we're ready to put an offer on. It's beautiful, around the corner from my parents, and a short sale so that means we have plenty of time to try and sell our house before the bank would ever even look at an offer on a short sale home. Clearly, the sooner we sell the house and can move to AZ the better as the snow is about to suffocate me.
So, let's start with everyone's favorite subject, Vader. Vader got a new car right before Christmas, turns out that quarter million miles he put on the old one pretty much wore it out. Who knew? He got a sporty Honda Coupe with all the trimmings. He thinks he's the shit. Whatever, Vader. Other than the new car, he's been up to the same old, same old. He's been biking a lot, with my dad and various other biking friends. He got a new bike this year, again, thinks he's the shit. He still loves his job and has been spending a lot of time doing outdoor activities like bike riding and sledding with the kids this year.
On to A. Oh A, she's 5' 3" now, and only 11. Can you stand it? She and I are still doing the home-schooling. She really likes it and it's giving her the time on each subject to really learn. We've been able to incorporate fun things like a trip to Mackinaw City & the fort up there, as well as Mackinaw Island into her schooling. A made it to a blue belt in karate this year, both kids are taking some time off from karate right now due to the imminent move to AZ, but she plans to restart when we move. I've been taking her with me to help out with my shows too. She's great at setting up my tables, helping customers, she's even learning to make & count back change. She, like me, is definitely a collector, a passionate collector. She's still collecting Bratz dolls, way over 200 by now. She also is enjoying adding to a 1950's poodle collection, she collects Asian dolls and figurines, vintage Dream Pets, comic books, Smurfs, and most recently, the Flintstones Pebbles. So eclectic!
D is my crazy one. He's definitely a drama-driven entertainer at heart. He wants to dance and sing and make people (or at least his family) notice him. What's taking him so long in the bathroom you ask, why he's only just begun his repertoire of faces and dance moves in the mirror, you'll have to just wait your turn. He's in 2nd grade now, still going to school. He's doing great in math particularly. Reading has been a little more of a struggle for him, but it's finally coming around now that his speech is in good shape. He might be released from the speech program in the next couple of months, he's come a long way in a very short time. He's already over 4'5" at 8 years old and is the tallest boy in his class. He also made it to blue belt this year in karate. I think both he and A enjoyed swimming more than anything this year though, we even took them to Great Wolf Lodge for a couple of days so they could get more swimming in. D has also caught my collecting bug, he collects vintage Star Wars figures/ships, Galactic Heroes Star Wars, Transformers, Cars cars, Playmobil, and Legos. He's always on the lookout for anything to add to his collections.
As for me, my gathering of things is limited by what I can easily put into my office and still keep it clean. No more filling up the family room with my overflow. No more stacking of bags and boxes and risk having them fall onto me, trapping me forever in my office. That just won't do for an open house. I did try a couple of new shows this year, one of which was the big week long show in New York! It was super fun and we did pretty well. We only brought home half of what we came with! Right after the show, I ended up with a bad back, really bad, like it didn't go away and I couldn't walk. Any of you who are blog followers of mine might have read some of that nonsense. Turns out I have Degenerative Disc Disorder and the discs in my back are slowly disintegrating. Awesome. I'm glad I know about it now though because I have been able to learn what I should and shouldn't do so that I don't ever have problems like I did this fall. I feel pretty much back to normal now and I plan to keep it that way. Right now, I'm just trying to keep everything in order and pack a few things when I think of it so that I'm ready to move to AZ at the slightest notice. I can't wait, it's going to be great, just what I need right now, a new adventure! I have some great ideas for businesses that I plan to start up when I get out there. It's all very exciting.
So, that's our year in a nutshell. Busy, fun, crazy, and happy. Very.
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
That's Right...No Christmas Cards Again This Year
Perhaps I just don't like sending out the Christmas cards because I've done it for so long that I'm over it. When I was in elementary school, once I had learned to write in cursive, my dad came to the table with a stack of cards and a pen. He declared that I had such pretty writing, I should do the Christmas cards. Well, always a sucker for a compliment, I agreed to do whatever he needed me to do. Uh huh. It became, forevermore, my job. After writing out cards to my dad's 280 brothers and sisters as well as various other fringe family members for years and years, I'm suffering Christmas card writer's block. I just can't force myself to get out the address book and address all those envelopes and write all those "merrys" and "happys". So I won't and I don't. And I'm perfectly at peace with it.
The Vader Family Christmas Party
I'm Now Prepared To Freeze My Ass Off
Saturday, December 5, 2009
Off To A Great Start!
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Just Happy To Be "D"
Me: You're 1/4 Dutch...
D doing a fist pump: Yesssss!
Me: You're 1/8 Finnish....
D doing a fist pump: Wait, what's a Finnish?
Me: You're 1/2 African....
D doing a fist pump: AFRICAN! Yesssss!
D: That's from dad. Right mom, right? Don't they live in Africa? Are Africans from Africa?
Perhaps he can't remember because the excitement of it all is causing so much blood to rush to his brain that it's giving him little mini strokes, it's like excitement amnesia. Either that or he forgets purposely so that he can get all excited about it again, he's addicted to the excitement of ancestry. .......Well, who wouldn't be?
Winter Survival Must Haves - Stand Mixer - CHECK!
The New Salvation Army-Covering It's Own Ass-Screw Everyone Else
So in the last couple of months I've noticed a real lack of toys. I mean, I used to pick up doll houses, gorgeous stuffed animals by the armfuls, Bratz dolls, fantastic board games, just all around great stuff. Now, there is nothing, zippo. A small bin of stuffed animals and a couple bikes, it's just horrible. I decided to ask an employee what the heck is going on. She informed me that they aren't putting toys out anymore. I asked why and she said that they are afraid of lawsuits because of all the toy recalls concerning lead. I of course told her that most people are well aware of which toys to avoid....I'm looking at YOU Mattel....and that they could easily avoid putting out the toys in question....Mattel.....and put out all the ones that are good. I said that there has never been a problem with MGA/Bratz dolls, Little Tikes, I don't recall any board games or puzzles that were recalled. I certainly don't remember any recalls on stuffed animals. Some Barbies had problems, but it was just the accessories, not the actual doll. I mean, this is easy stuff, I told her. It's sad, I said, that they would just throw away perfectly good items, and in effect throw away money, especially when they have a responsibility to the community to provide low cost goods as well as to the foundation that they serve. Well, she quickly informed me they don't throw any of it away, surely she didn't want me to think that. I asked what they did with it then. Oh, they box all the toys up and send them to South America. WHAT? They are so concerned and wouldn't want to poison the precious little children of the United States, but it's okay if they poison the children of South America? I mean, this must just sound like a great solution to them. They get a write off, they don't fill up the land fills in our great country, and no one in South America that will receive these goods has any money to sue them. It's a win-win for The Salvation Army.
For me, I'm completely done with Salvation Army, done donating, done giving money to the red kettle, and done shopping until they get their priorities in order. If you're worried about poisoning one kid, you better worry about poisoning them all, not just the ones who can sue you. If you're not going to be knowledgeable about sorting your donations, let people know at the door that their toy donations won't be resold to people that can use them here in the States. Spread the word, Bleaders, your donations don't count at the Salvation Army.