I can't believe I didn't tell you about my boss. I came to work on Monday and everything was locked up. I made some phone calls and found out that My boss had an accident. He fell down some stairs at his house and dislocated his shoulder and had to get about thirty staples in his head. Yeah, I know, scary! So Tuesday, Wednesday and today I got in 8 hours a day. So the boss came in this morning looking tired but decent. Now he tells me that I am back to only five hours a day. Ugh! Does he not know that I have three kids to feed!

Maybe you have done this already, but its kinda cute. Go to Google (after you have finished reading my blog entry, of course) and type in "find chuck norris" then hit the "I'm feeling lucky" button. And for the record I do not, nor have I ever wanted to find chuck. Although I appreciate what he has done for the industry, I myself am not looking for him. Sorry.

I watched National Treasure last night. And even though it was a Disney movie, it was not a cartoon, for which I was thankful. Baby (I have got to think of a new name for him, he's three already) has taken over the tv recently and won't let anyone near it unless you are changing the dvd for him. He has been very indecisive lately too. He will ask to watch Thomas the Train and then as soon as it gets to the main menu and your about to hit play he will ask to watch Finding Nemo or Spongebob.
Don't worry he's not sitting on the couch eating potato chips and watching the boob tube all night. He actually hardly watches it at all. He playes with his train set or with Ferets micro machine collection. He will read books and play with his Shake and Go cars on the big track. He also plays with the Hot Wheels cars. I will peek in on him in the bedroom and see that he has a snake-like line of 25 or so cars from the foot of his bed to the dresser.

Oh, he is doing the cutest thing now too, I just rememberd. Last night after dinner, Scout asked him if he wanted a popscicle for desert. He said "Sure". Just like that -Sure. I mean really. So we were asking him other things that would require a yes answer and he always said "Sure". I'm sure this is not as big a deal as I'm making it but still.

I'm kinda all over the place today so I might as well throw this one in too. I called tohe scout shop to see if they had my uniform order ready and they tell me that they had not recieved it. ahhhh! I absolutly have to have it by next Thursday. Luckily though they do have all the items I need.

So today I feel Lucky! Sure!

Scout is working on the video thingy I told you about. We (meaning: he) has to change the way its on the dvd or something. He was working on it last night but it was taking a loooog time to load. He was also playing Runescape, checking his myspace, and listening to his tunes so I think he gave up. But I do know that we are going to (try) to put music with the Gumby part. By the way have you tried to look up "gumby" on you tube? I was not aware that Gumby and Pokey were smoking so much pot. They need an intervention.

The boys and I had a family meeting last night. We discussed all kinds of things. Ferret wants some new bedroom furniture, and he does not want Scout to spend too much money on the ps2 modifications. (I had no clue that you could put LED lights and plexiglas so you can see all the insides of it). Scout agrees that maybe the two wild cats that hiss at us was not such a good idea. (I believe that we all agreed on that one, I'm sorry to say).
We also all agreed that their Dad should not be welcome to the house anymore. He started to come over unannounced lately and it is to the benifit of noone. I had to take him home one day last week cause he was being an ass. And on Monday night he came over to do some laundry and the two boys got fed up with him and they took a walk down the road a bit. He got pissed tried to tell them it was my fault. Well, my boys know whats what and kinda told him off. Now he called my work wondering if he can come over tonight and I told him that he was voted out. He is playing the "we'll both go to jail" card right now. Next he'll move on to the "I'll see them in foster care" card. I know them all.
And I also know that your wondering what in the heck am I doing letting my ex over to the house, right? I don't know how it started. He just showed up one day. Scout may have accidently thought it would be no big deal if he knew what street we lived on. I do not blame him. He wants what any kid wants ..a normal mom and dad family. I wish I could give him that.

I think the Family Meeting #1 was a success. We wrote down all the important parts of the meeting and everyone signed it. I even talked to the boys about not doing drugs. (It was right after that Scout brings up the Gumby thing on you tube) I know the meeting had a happy ending (well, except for the kitties).

Ok, so this weekend I was determined to label all the dvd's and sort all the games for the PS2. While I was doing that I came across an old home movie that my mom put on dvd circa 1992. I popped that baby in and resumed my labeling. Within five minutes I was laughing my ass off and Scout had his hand in my face saying "Look mom!" Now I probably noted this before but showing me your hand will always make me laugh. Just the thought of it makes me chuckle.
There was some other things on the dvd too. Apparently I was in some sort of singing, and look as clueless as possible class in school. Picture the auditorium of your high school. sparingly sprinkled with parents and siblings and movie cameras. Now picture the singers dressed in 50's pooddle skirts and slicked back greaser hair. Ok, now picture singers with really bad timing. Really funny for a look back in time. I'm sure our chior teacher (Mrs. Ross) is rolling in her grave (although I'm not certain she is dead yet but you have to think that teachers are older that dirt when you are in school so I assume that she has passed on but I think she may be only in her 50s now). There was also the one part where we are singing "yellow poka-dot Bikini" and a black kid (read that- boy)comes out wearing a towel and a bikini under it. Really cute. Also on there is a skateboarding gumby and a dinosaur named mange talking about butt pads.
I asked Scout if he could put them on the computer (like you tube or just my blog) for me but he hasn't gotten around to it yet. I'm sure y'all are die'in to see them, right?
I did label all the dvd's but I forgot that the baby can't read yet and by Sunday afternoon they were all in the wrong cases, ahh, oh well!

Brilliant idea?!!

Back in December, when we decided to move, the boys and I had made a decision to get two kittens. We were waiting to find them in the free ads in the paper. Low and behold there came the ad on Sunday the 6th of January. "Cats and kittens many colors to choose from". Perfect! We jot down the number and call them up. "Oh, sure come on over." I was told. So I loaded up the kids to go get us some kittys.

Scout and I went in 'cause on the way there Baby had fallen asleep. The man explained that they were in the process of moving and apologised for the mess. Whatever, dude, just show us the kitties. He disapears into a bedroom and comes out a moment later with a calico about six months old. He shoves the cat at me and disapears again. The calico was terrified. It clawed at me even though I was atempting to calm him. The man appears again with a black and white long hair who did not want to be held at all. It clawed its way down the mans leg and back to the door from whence it came.

Scout shot me a glance that said "Whoa?!" and I agreed with a small smile. All the while the man is talking about the colors he has and every question we had was answered with a "I wish she was here to answer that." "She" turned out to be a roomate of his. The girl that rented the room, I assume. Finally after he got tired of getting all scratched up by the six or so cats he brought out he grabbed his phone and called her. I asked some questions and she thought it would be better if I came back the next day to talk to her in person.

It seemed to be that this girl had sixteen cats and kittens in that bedroom. None of the ones we got ahold of were tame. The smell of urine could burn your nose hairs right off. Although all the kitties looked to be in good health. The next night we hightailed it after work to finally make our decision on which ones we would save from that bedroom. We decided on a tourtise shell one and a simple orange one.

We get to the house and the girl is there and she simply asked which ones. Scout tells her he wants to see the two we picked and she brings out two totally different cats. Same colors that we wanted but not the ones we saw last night. She disapears and comes out with the right ones a few minutes later. I tell her that we would just hold them on the way home and she insisted on putting them in boxes. We said our good lucks and headed for home. Oh, did I tell you that the two kitties are mother / daughter? The orange one is the daughter and about 7 months old. (born June 4th). And her mother is the tourtise shell about a year old. The boys and I dropped the babies off at home and headed for the pet store.

For a whole week after we got them they managed to avoid us. I kept telling the boys "Oh, they are just getting used to their surroundings." and "It just takes time." But , I was the one who was awoken at 3 am in the morning to bells running around the house, hearing things get knocked over and kitties trying to creep into every room. See the boys thought it would be cute to buy collars with bells on them. Cute, yeah right. Finally I went online and determined that these cats are feral. No doubt about that. So I did a little reading and finally decided that I need to barter the big dog cage from my Mom and Dad. They abliged.

Kitties are all kinda settled in their new home. With the toys and two story cat condo they seem to be coming along just nicely. Well at least Butterscotch (the orange one) is. Babyluv is still not buying the whole "Oh, she brings me food so I should trust her." bit like Butterscotch. I have yet to get close enough to her without her hissing at me. And I think we found out at least one of the reasons.

She's pregnant.

I am such a 'tard. I should have known to check her out more carefully. That thought never crossed my mind. (Except for the day we brought them home and the kitties were in the closed up box, we all joked that she probly put five cats in there and we would never know it.) So not only do I have: two cats in the cage (and a silver spoon, a little boy blue, and a man on the moon.) Just had to, sorry. I also have some buns in the oven.
Oi Vey!

Just a couple of things...

Rach, I love, love, love you. Don't beat yourself up at all about my situation though. I'm sure you've seen the movie Good Will Hunting, right. Well at the end when Will is not home and his best buds leave his house smiling cause they know he got "out". Yeah, it's like that. I am so proud of all that you are and have acomplished. And I am greatful that I had the time that I did with you. Anyway, (before I start tearing, again) I know that you are there if I need you and I hope you know the same.

Ok, I did the whole flea market thing on Saturday. What a disaster! I woke up at 4:15 AM to get ready and leave the house at 5:30. Scout and his friend came with me. We get up to Ft. Myers and pay the forty dollar booth fee and set up by 7am. Not one sale till 9:30. And its not that I had bad stuff either. There was noone there to buy anything.
The boys ended up sleeping in the back of my station wagon till 11:30. By then we had sold $17 dollars worth of stuff. And from then till 2pm I sold nothing. It actually cost me 23 dollars to go up there.
I did get a good chunk of reading done (currently reading Lisey's Story by Stephen King).
I did talk with lots of interesting people. Well I tried to talk to them, most spoke only spanish. But I think they understood what I was saying.
I like to watch what people are looking at in the booths. They like to touch everything. I thought it was very strange when a black man came over and right away offered to buy the entire box of sheets and blankets without even looking through the box. I told him ten for the whole thing and he said "seven?" I stuck with ten and he paid it. I then realized that he just took it over to his booth and sold them there. Oh well. I was happy to be rid of the box.

Scout had gotten some program to make beats and music on and last night him and his friend were up late makeing a sort of remix of that song soulja boy. Man, they did a good job. I am hoping they will finish it up today. They did a song a while ago called "intro" and I loved it but Scout didn't like it. He forbid me to even listen to it. But this one seems to be differnet. I can't believe all the stuff they can do on this program. Last night it was kinda funny. In my little dining room there were three boys with a mic taped to the cieling and two computers going. They were watching a guy/girl named Chris Crocker on one and doing the song on the other. Baby and I were watching Shrek 3 and all I kept hearing was the boys laughing and saying "If I was his Dad I would..." (about Chris Crocker)

Well thats about it for now. The boys have scouts tonight but other than that not much is going on.

I have sent in my form.

So it is kinda official.

I will be attending Wood Badge.

For those of you who don't know what wood badge is...it's the top training course for Scouters. You have to be invited to take it and it cost $200. Thankfully the church who sponsors the troop is paying. I will be going with DeeAnn from our troop and maybe Robert from the Pack. I am really excited to spend two whole weekends over the next two months away from the kids...no just kidding I really, really love all the leadership training that the Boy Scouts offer. It gives me an extra umph of confidence that I need. I know a lot about scouting and it's something that I can do right.

I am going to try to bring some stuff up to the flea market tomorrow. I priced almost everything but now I have 18 boxes of stuff. I went through all the boys toys that were in storage and sorted through the babys stuff too.

I did not get around to doing the train table yet. I thought I had the supplies but I was missing a few things so it will have to wait. Till then he is playing on the floor. Problem with that is he steps on the tracks and they come apart, then he puts them together wrong and gets upset. I want to be able to glue the track down. Ah, just thinking about it makes me happy...see I'm smiling! I can't wait to build it. My only fear is that I will want to paint a scene on the table top. Like streams and roads. I suck at painting. Just thinking about that makes me want to slap down $80 buck for the one at target. Naw! I really want to pick out the wood and design it myself. Something to look forward to, I guess.

Ok so it's been a couple of days since I last checked in, Oh now your going to say its been two weeks...Blame my wonderful fun-loving boss, please.

Have I told you that he cut my hours, and we are closed like one additional day a week. Yeah its that bad.

I finally got all my stuff out of storage and into my apartment. I must must must have a yard sale or take alot of stuff to the flea market. I had to go through everything. Good thing is that I found a lot of old memories. I can't remember what year it was but we were teenagers (Rachel and I) we had gone to the fair and had our picture put on a million doller bill. My son Scout found it and laughed. I also found tons of drawings of hands for some reason. I wish I wasn't neck deep in boxes (literally) so I could have spent more time looking through all the stuff I keep. I must have kept every single thing that the boys have brought home from school. Report cards, check. Clay pots, check. Paintings, check. Poem books, check. Referrals, check. The list goes on and on. I have four bins with just the kids school stuff. and its not separated yet either. And one whole 10 gallon bin for just photos. Overwhelmed, I think.

In other news, Baby has started to scream his head off when I pull onto the babysitters street. She assures me that he is fine after I leave. He playes very well with the kids and has no other problems for the rest of the day. But he is suffering from separation anxiety due to the fact that he has been home longer in the mornings and I get a little more play time with him then. The poor boy, misses his mommy!

We are closed on Thursday this week so I have plans to A. build a train table for Baby's train set. B. price the rest of the items for the yard / flea market sale. C. Go through the rest of the boys' toys. And then maybe I can relax for a minute or two. I wish I had a camera so I can show you some pics of the table progress. Oh, which reminds me, I need to get the sander from dads shed and...

My friend Beth called me on Wednesday of last week and said she was getting married on Saturday. Baby went to his Dads and I took the two other boys down to Marco just before 3pm. Hoping that everything would be set up and I could actually enjoy a party of sorts with out having to decorate. Didn't happen. She forgot to tell me that the wedding was pushed back till 4. Figures. I had to fill the punch fountain and tape up streamers. There were table clothes to be put on tables and no one brought any hairspray.
While I was at the store I stopped at the flower shop that my brother worked for and chatted with Jerry for a few minutes. He was my brothers boss and has been to many of our family gatherings over the years. He was telling us about a friend of his that passed away and he has a couple of scout related items that might interest us. Most likely a merit badge sash and more importantly his Eagle badge. Scout told Jerry how he just earned Life and now needs to work on his Eagle project. Jerry assured him that if he asked, he would gladdly help him out.
The wedding took place poolside. He wore a nice suit and she wore a pretty cream dress. The best men were Timmy and Mikey (Beth's two sons) and the Maid of honor was Kathleen (Beth's daughter) The flower girls were twins Ashley and Jordan (They live across the street from Beth). After the ceremony they took pictures and then the entire wedding party and a few guests went down to the beach for more pictures. By the time I had to leave at 6 they were still gone. The twins mom, Yvone invited me to their house for New Years.
I had off of work on the Monday and Tuesday. Not paid for Monday either, bummer! I went to Yvones party and had a great time. Baby was really a hit. All those drunk women just gushed over him. I wish I would have found a sitter though so I could have drunk. I left there about 11pm and Baby and I went home.
I talked to my Brother Brad twice this week. He leaves with in a week for afganistan. I love it when he "codes" things like the answers to really top secret important stuff that I wanted to know like, How many bags was he allowed to bring? and Do they have army issue underwear? I really will miss him but I know I can e-mail him. Just a matter of when he will get the message.
Yesterday, Gary comes to my desk and explains the the guys have had to take off alot and now its my turn. He has to cut down my hours to five a day. Thats 25 hours a week. He wants me to come in at 11:30. Starting Monday. Great! I thought my life was hard enough as it was. Now I will have to find a part time job. I mean I just moved into the new apartment and now I get hours cut. Crap, I'm so screwed! After Gary left for the day yesterday, and Tom was about to leave, I started tearing up. Tom said he would try to talk to him and see if we can work something out. Today, Tom just stated that this place sucked! Great does that mean he won't talk to Gary. Hopefully we will pick up some business pretty quick. Maybe in my spare time I can pass out business cards to everyone in town!
What is this, like roadblock number 12!!!!