I am working at home today trying to get caught up on mounds of paper work. I cannot see my desk or floor in my home office. It appears that a trash compactor threw up in here!

Our oldest nephew (who’s living with us) who is 16 has apparently wasted no time in making new "lady" friends since moving to Dallas. The boy is quite a looker, and I can understand why the girls are all "giddy" over him, but MY GAWD do they have to ring our phone 8 million times a day?

This is new to me. I have no experience with teenagers. He's certainly teaching me what I have to look forward to in the future. And let's be real...I AM AFRAID!

He asked R and I if he could borrow the car on Saturday night so that he can take one of the girls in his "hoochie posse" to dinner and a movie.

R asked him a few questions about the girl, and where they wanted to go etc. I sat watching and listening to the two studs talking about dating and girls. It was amusing to see how the cave men perceive the whole dating process. I was waiting for R to give him the high five. I am certain he would have had I not been in the room and smacked his head.

R said he would think about it, but I already know R will let him. I told him I thought he was old enough to go on a date as long as he was home on time and as long as he took R's car and not mine!

When I was talking to the oldest this morning about the girl he wanted to take out he informed me it wasn't serious. He told me he was too "young" to get tied down and it was a “casual” thing.

Someone please tell me what it means when a 16 year old, walking hormone says it's a "casual" thing? Should I be scared? Cuz for some reason...due to the amount of lady callers he has...I have a bad, bad feeling about his dating adventures. I dare say I may have a little player in my midst!

R says I am reading too much into it. Perhaps I am. Yet, I grew up with brothers and a lot of close guy friends. They all went through their "dog" years. Something tells me I have no idea what is in store having a teenager in my house. Maybe I should just lock him in his room until graduation??

Life is full of new experiences as of late. Learning and "growing" as I go here. Maybe I should chaperone his date Saturday night? That wouldn't be asking too much would it? I am certain it would in no way affect his "cool" status with the girls! He may never speak to me again...but at least nothing would get too "casual" on his night out!

Lord have mercy! I better get back to this pile of work. It's only a matter of hours before the kids are home and the golden silence is replaced with chaos.

Take care out there!


AM

This morning was quite entertaining in our house.

I got up early and was ready before I even had to wake the kids. I was feeling mighty proud of myself.

After I awoke the living dead (a.k.a. the kiddos) I sat them around the breakfast table. I made pancakes and bacon and even made fresh juice. I was on a roll!

DB on the other hand woke up on the wrong side of the bed. She was in no way shape or form ready to make the morning easy on any of us.

When she came down for breakfast I told her to sit down and eat. She was in a panic mode. She was huffing and puffing like an old man trying to climb the stairs.

AM: Honey, what's wrong?

DB: WHERE'S MY HOMEWORK? WHO TOUCHED MY HOMEWORK?

Her voice is shrill and pissy. She is scanning the kids at the breakfast table like they are all on the Most Wanted list. There is silence.

DB: My homework is gone! Someone took my homework!!

AM: Did you look in your back pack?

She rolls her eyes at me and gives me the "Duh" look without muttering a word. I hate when she does that...she has perfected that look like an art form.

DB: It's not in my back pack. Don't you think I would know if it was in my back pack? Where is it?

She is running room to room crying and complaining. She comes back into the kitchen all kinds of mad.

DB: Ya'll better help me find my homework!

She's speaking like a little dictator and it is starting to make me mad.

AM: DB, I told you last night a million times to put that homework in your back pack. You informed me a million times that you had already done it and that you were not and I quote, "Stupid". Now you cannot find your homework. Do you think that is my fault or any of the people at the tables fault?

She is quiet for a minute. I can practically see the steam blowing from her ears. I can see her mind churning for a good response. It's quiet. I await either a smart ass retort, or complete silent treatment.

And I was wrong on both guesses. DB went into full melt down mode. I am certain she deserves an Oscar or an Emmy.

AM: It’s not my fault I cannot find my homework! It's not my job to make sure I have everything in place. That's your job! Moms are supposed to make sure their kids have their stuff! I have lots of homework now. Do you know how hard 4th grade is Momma??

I bite my tongue. I stand in awe looking at her. Her hair is flying about as she screams and her eyes are overflowing with complete and utter anger.

AM: DB, yes, I know how hard 4th grade can be. I am certain I was once in 4th grade a long, long, long time ago...in a galaxy far far away!

I cannot help but laugh. I try to muffle it, but I can't. This makes her angrier. At this point R comes downstairs and asks what is going on. DB turns to him and says in her best puppy dog voice, "I can't find my homework, and nobody cares."

He looks at me knowing very well that's not the case. He tells her he will help her find it. She informs him that it's lost forever and ever and she's never going to find it because someone did something with it. She's positive we threw it away.

I want to tell her to stop being silly. Or say something like, "Yes, DB we worked with you on homework last night for 2 hours only because we secretly wanted to throw it out when you were sleeping!" However, I refrain.

Within minutes R and DB return to the kitchen....homework in hand. It's a miracle! The Trash Gods must have spit it back out! Hurry...someone call the Vatican...we have a true miracle in our house!

She sits down to eat her breakfast. She doesn't look up and she doesn't utter a word.

R: DB, do you have something to say?

AM: Not really.

He looks at her with a stern look. She rolls her eyes and drops her fork.

DB: Okay, I am sorry. I found my homework.

She returns to eating. I make a mental note that she and I will be having a long talk after school today. Her homework was found right where she had left it last night. On her desk. Yet, I am certain the 15 minute morning melt down was simply for my entertainment and for no other reason.

Gotta love these kinds of days! How dull would life be without them?

I wonder if I could get away with that at work??

Happy Tuesday Ya'll! Take care out there!

AM

It's Monday and it is raining here in Dallas! Can I get an Alleluia please??? Rain may seem like no big deal to many of you, but we are in the worst drought we have had in 50 years and this rain is very welcome!

Coloconnect (Author of the blog Second Chances) and I have been working on our rain dance and I dare say we have finally reached our goal! Amen! I think she and I must pretty damn good rain dancers!

This weekend seemed to be a bit more smooth. I think this might be in part because R and I approached the weekend with a game plan. What a difference that made in the zoo I currently call my house.

Saturday R took his 2 kids, and his nephews to spend the day with friends. This gave DB and I a chance to spend some much needed Mommy and Daughter time together. It's been long over due.

So...what did we do? We do what girls do best that's what! We hit the mall and shopped, had a wonderful lunch together, and then went and looked at things we will decorate her new room with when we move. It was great spending one on one time with her. I was in a great mood.

R looked a wee bit tired after his adventure with the 4 rug rats. Yet, all in all...everyone was in a good mood.

Sunday I had my own plan. The kids and I were going to plan and make a big dinner. Everyone was going to help out and have a "job".


I love cooking. The kitchen is by far my favorite room in the house. I own every kitchen gadget imaginable and I love cooking big meals for family and friends. I thought this would be a good "project" for the kiddos.

DB and the youngest two were in charge of the table. They spent hours making placemats, napkin rings, place cards, setting the table, and creating a master piece of a center piece! They were so creative and proud of themselves!

The two nephews were going to help me cook. They helped me plan our meal and then I took them to my favorite grocery store...Central Market to get what we would need for our meal. For those of you unfamiliar with Central Market...it is a top line grocery store...I could spend days in there! If you have one near you....you MUST pay it a visit!

Once home we started cooking our meal. Each of the boys had their jobs and seemed to really be enjoying themselves. It was amazing to see them doing something together without yelling at one another or beating the crap out of each other.

We had the music playing, and there was a very light hearted atmosphere rockin' in the kitchen. I had told R he could kick back and relax while we all worked on dinner, but he was drawn into the kitchen by the laughter. Pretty soon all 7 of us were in the kitchen together having a blast!


I have long believed food brings people together. I know that yesterday it brought us all together, and that it was one of the most peaceful happy days we have had in weeks!

The end result was an amazing meal. I'm not trying to brag, but I dare say we created a meal that would delight your taste buds! All of the kids were so proud of themselves. When we all sat down to eat there was a sense of accomplishment in the air. I loved seeing the smiles on their faces, and enjoyed even more the laughter that floated in the air!

They were all proud of the meal and table they made possible for all of us to share and enjoy. R and I were pleased that we found a way to bond the kids without chaos!

It was indeed a success! I have to pat myself on the back. Sorry...I just have to do it! The kids are already asking when we can do it again! I think there may be a new Sunday tradition in our home!


So, on a final thought this weekend got me to thinking. If you have any favorite recipes that you would share with me and the kids I would really appreciate it! I am sure you guys have some yummy dishes we could prepare. If you have one.....send it my way!

Gotta go. The Village Idiots are beckoning me. I think I should just go play out in the rain instead!

Take care out there!


AM

Well "R" and I had a fight last night. We don't argue and this argument could have easily been avoided had either one of us approached it with any "smarts"!

He started out a conversation that should have gone smoothly and without confrontation. Yet, my hormonal roller coaster allowed this "convo" to turn into a war of words.

First of all my mood resembled a cross between the Abominable Snowman, Lex Luther, Joan Collins, and Oscar the Grouch. Now isn't that a pretty picture?

Secondly, the kids were all in rare form yesterday. I almost dropped kicked the two nephews a million times yesterday for their constant sibling bickering. DB had a total melt down as she forgot her homework, and the youngest was still fighting his ear infection and was constantly attached to my leg.

To say the least between my "pregnancy mood swings" and the pleasantness of the kiddos my mood was already soured by the time R arrived home.

After dinner and the kids were in bed all I wanted to do was crawl into bed and watch some mindless TV. R had a lot on his mind apparently and was a brave soul in even entertaining the thought of having a grown-up conversation with me.

I told him several times that I was too tired to have a serious conversation, but he kept "gently" insisting we needed to talk about some of the choices we need to make regarding the current child status of our home. I tried to be nice. Hell, I even turned up the TV a little bit at a time in hopes he would get the fact that I was serious. My efforts were futile.

He kept up with the "talking" and finally our conversation turned into something like this. I premise this with the fact that I feel bad about it now, but at the time all I was thinking about was.....myself and ending the conversation. Selfish aren't I? Yes, I know.

AM: I said I didn't want to talk. I am tired.

R: I know Honey. But we really need to start talking about what we are going to do about my nephews. We really need to make some decisions.

AM: Do we have to make them at 11 PM at night??

R: Well, it just seems it's late by the time we can talk by ourselves.

AM: Could that be because we have 5 freakin' kids in the house and jobs?

R: Yes, I know that's why we need to make time to talk at night. Our lives are just super busy Honey.

AM: Super busy? Really Honey, I hadn't noticed! In-between our crazy mornings, my frequent bonding with the damn toilet, my job, the after-school fun, dinner and bed time battles...I hadn't noticed we were "Super Busy". I just assumed we were "Super Stupid".

My voice was slowly and gradually creeping into a higher octave. His however as usual remained calm. This just irritated me even more.

R: I know you are doing a lot right now. I know that we didn't know all of this would be happening right now and I appreciate you very much. I just want us to decide to do what's best for us and if we don't talk about it I can't know how you feel about it. It's our decision to make together.

AM: Have you looked at me lately dear? I FEEL tired. I FEEL queasy. I FEEL like I don't want to have a DAMN conversation about it.

R: It's too much for you isn't it?

He gave me that puppy dog look.

This statement angered me to no end! I sat up in bed and unleashed on the poor soul.

AM: Too much for me? Have I said it was too much for me? I am adjusting to it all. Do you understand the word A-D-J-U-S-T-I-N-G means? Our lives have taken on BIG FREAKING changes. I don't despise these changes or not want the changes!! I just need time to FREAKING think about them and adjust to them and figure out what the Hell we should do. I cannot do this R if you always want to have these "bonding" moments.

He sat there staring at me for several minutes. I should have apologized for raising my voice and being sarcastic, but in the words of DB, "I didn't wanna!”

R: We can send the boys to my sister for a while.

I almost threw my pillow at him.

AM: I didn't say to send the boys anywhere! They have been bounced around from person to person their whole lives which is part of the reason they are acting like such little shits. I told you earlier in the week we need some time with all of us to see if we can make it work. If we want to make it work. How hard is that to grasp "Honey"?

Again he was silent. He got up to get ready for bed. I could tell I had made him feel bad. I didn't want to, but Lord I was grumpy and tired. I was in no shape to have a serious talk with "R" or anyone for that matter.

I rolled over to go to sleep. He came to bed and put his arms around me and whispered that he was sorry. Then I felt bad. He really didn't have anything to apologize for. He was simply trying to talk about something we need to discuss...his timing and ability to "read" the mood was his only fault. The tone in my voice was crappy and mean.

Again I should have said I was sorry. Again I didn't. That's not like me at all. I am usually quick to admit fault. Yet, for some reason last night I couldn't or didn't want to. I just wanted to sleep so that I could start today without feeling like I'd been run over by a semi-truck.

Our morning was quiet. There were no words and when he kissed me good-bye I could feel that he was still upset by last night. He walked out the door and in moments I found myself rushing out the door to his car before he drove off.

AM: I know I upset you. I am sorry. I am just overwhelmed right now..and tired. Really tired. I know we need to talk. Let's do it this weekend when we are both rested and it's a little quieter. Ok? I love you.

He nodded in agreement and gave me a half smile. He told me to have a good day.

Now I am sitting here feeling bad. I am thinking about picking up the phone to call him, but I wonder if I should just let it alone for now. I hate these mood swings. I feel like the White Witch.

Truth is...I have no idea what we should do about the boys. And I don't think he does either.

Pass me back the Bitch of the Year Trophy. I get to claim it again for a little while.

Take care out there.


The Wicked Witch Of Texas

Is it bed time yet??

I am so tired today. R and I had a late night talking. There seem to be yet more changes floating around the air here in Dallas. Although you would never know it from the balmy 105 degree days we have been having down here. Someone send me a cold front ASAP! I am “summered” out!!!

Life is always changing, and there appears to be little time to absorb it at all. Some days I feel like I am living someone else's life as my life has truly changed greatly the past year. I am not complaining, but I am in a slight adjustment period.

I am working at home today. R's youngest has an ear infection and R has a huge meeting today. Little one's Mother was supposed to come pick him up, but it seems that she is still in need of more time to "find" herself. Don't even get me started. I believe finding herself means spending all of her time with her much younger boyfriend and partying 7 days a week.

As I watch Little One sleeping on the couch next to me I realize I have suddenly become a Mother to not one child but 5. R's kids will now be with us most of the time until she "finds" herself and decides it's time to be a Mommy again. She was supposed to call this morning and check on him...but funny thing... the phone isn't ringing. I am certain there is a problem with the phone company.

It also appears that the two nephews might very well be with us for a long time. It's too long of a story to write about now, let's just say it is unraveling like a bad episode of All My Children.

R and I have big choices to make and once we get all the details figured out I shall fill you guys in on it. Let's just say when I look into my crystal ball I see that once the baby comes we all might just end up being a dysfunctional version of the Brady Bunch.

I always wanted lots of kids. I guess sometimes God fills those wants and needs in ways we never imagined. I wonder if I should have prayed for a Puppy???

I know that R and I are strong enough to get through whatever life throws our way. I know we have amazing communication that will allow us to make the right choices. Yet, there is a part of me that feels a bit overwhelmed. Our days and nights seem to be so busy and crazy that I often wonder where the hours go?!?

Am I ready to be a Mommy to 5 kids and one more on the way? If I am I do know that I will have to make big changes in my own life. Perhaps even entertaining the idea makes me certifiably crazy? Or perhaps in some very weird way I thrive and grow in the chaos??

Though I enjoyed very much the quiet our date night offered this past weekend...I find myself missing the little Rug Rats when they are gone. Yes, there are times when the kids are getting rowdy and wild that I want to stand up on the kitchen table and scream, "NO MORE TALKING IN THIS HOUSE EVER!!!" but at the end of the day it's all good.

Little One has just crawled next to me. We are watching his favorite Barney movie...AGAIN! Someone shoot me! Will we parents ever be able to put this purple Dino from Hell on the extinction list???

As I look down at him I realize that being a parent means many things. Sometimes that gift comes to us in unexpected ways. And though he's not truly my "own" child (whatever that means) my heart couldn't love him more....I love him as my own.

Well, I better start answering some work emails and return some calls. I wonder if my clients will mind if they hear Barney singing, "I love you, you love me" in the background??

Life is changing here in Texas. Here's hoping that change comes to all of us here as smoothly and healthy as possible. Then again I may find that I need a good dose of valium after this baby comes....or maybe a straight jacket.

Take care out there! Happy Wednesday to all of you awesome Streamers!


AM