Another motherhood-ism! SO TRUE!

Why I love my Mom...

Mom and Dad were watching TV when Mom said,

"I'm tired, and it's getting late. I think I'll go to bed."

• She went to the kitchen to make sandwiches for the next day's lunches.
• Rinsed out the popcorn bowls,
• took meat out of the freezer for supper the following evening,
• checked the cereal box levels,
• filled the sugar container,
• put spoons and bowls on the table
• and started the coffee pot for brewing the next morning.

• She then put some wet clothes in the dryer,
• put a load of clothes into the washer,
• ironed a shirt
• and secured a loose button.
• She picked up the game pieces left on the table,
• put the phone back on the charger
• and put the telephone book into the drawer.
• She watered the plants,
• emptied a wastebasket
• and hung up a towel to dry.
• She yawned and stretched and headed for the bedroom.
• She stopped by the desk and wrote a note to the teacher,
• counted out some cash for the field trip,
• and pulled a text book out from hiding under the chair.
• She signed a birthday card for a friend,
• addressed and stamped the envelope
• and wrote a quick note for the grocery store.
• She put both near her purse.
• Mom then washed her face with 3 in 1 cleanser,
• put on her Night solution & age fighting moisturizer,
• brushed and flossed her teeth
• and filed her nails.

Dad called out, "I thought you were going to bed." "I'm on my way," she said.

• She put some water into the dog's dish
• and put the cat outside,
• then made sure the doors were locked
• and the patio light was on.
• She looked in on each of the kids
• and turned out their bedside lamps and TV's,
• hung up a shirt,
• threw some dirty socks into the hamper,
• and had a brief conversation with the one up still doing homework.
• In her own room,
• she set the alarm;
• laid out clothing for the next day,
• straightened up the shoe rack.
• She added three things to her 6 most important things to do list
• She said her prayers,
• and visualized the accomplishment of her goals.

About that time, Dad turned off the TV and announced to no one in particular. "I'm going to bed."

And he did...without another thought.

Anything extraordinary here? Wonder why women live longer...? CAUSE WE ARE MADE FOR THE LONG HAUL..... (and we can't die sooner, we still have things to do!!!!) Send this to five phenomenal women today...they'll love you for it! Then: GO TO BED!

motherhood

You've no doubt heard of Trivial Pursuit, the popular board game based on answering trivia questions.
I've often thought that mothering is similar to such a game. It seems we spend much of our time in a maze of trivia, fumbling through the daily minutiae of family living, never quite sure whether we're ahead of the game or not. With that in mind, I have devised my own trivia game for mothers.
The rules are simple - you'll start with 10 marbles, and collect or deduct marbles as you play the game.

Are you ready? Okay, let's go . . .

Square 1. You are awaiting the arrival of your firstborn child. If you look at your rapidly expanding waistline and say, "As soon as the baby is born I'll be a size 6 again," deduct 2 marbles - for wishful thinking.

Square 2. It is two years later and your second child is soon to be born. To avoid sibling rivalry you have prepared carefully for the event, spending "quality time" with your firstborn, giving him his own baby doll to feed, bathe and cuddle. When the new baby comes home, older brother is fine. But deduct 1 marble - it's the dog who's jealous.

Square 3. Your number one son has just announced at the supper table that he is to be an oak tree in the school play and needs a costume by tomorrow morning. If you stay up until 3 a.m. making an imaginative and innovative costume, deduct 3 marbles for setting an impossible example for the rest of us. On the other hand, if you stick him into a brown paper bag with a hole for head and arms and tape green leaves all over front and back, collect 5 marbles. You've just taken the rest of us off the hook.

Square 4. The kids now number three and are all in school. You have discovered that "mother" is synonymous with "taxi service." On a typical day you drop the youngest off at her music lesson, then go with the boys to their Little League practice. Then back to pick up daughter and drop accumulated Little Leaguers off at their assorted homes. It's dinner on the fly because somebody has to be at choir practice at 7 p.m. It's now bedtime and you discover you have an extra kid. But you don't panic . . . it's happened before and soon the phone will ring as another mother discovers she's missing one. Collect 5 marbles for endurance.

Square 5. The little darlings that you tucked lovingly into bed for so many years suddenly treat you as though you lost your brains in kindergarten. They are embarrassed to be seen with you. Guess what: You are the parent of teenagers, those strange creatures who think they are eight feet tall and bulletproof. If you survive this age with your senses intact, collect 8 marbles for heroism under fire. Until then, always remember that you hold the ultimate weapon - you have the car keys!

Square 6. You can tell your oldest child is home from college when you see the pile of dirty laundry in the front hall. If you take the clothes downstairs to sort, wash and press as in days of old . . . deduct 3 marbles and shame on you! If, instead, you take him by the hand and show him the room where the automatic washer and dryer have been housed since he was small, collect 5 marbles. Some of the most important things in life are not taught in college, you know.

Square 7. The children, by some miracle, have grown into responsible adults. By chance you overhear your now grown-up son telling the same bedtime stories to his firstborn that you so long ago told to him, and the tears fall silently down your cheeks. Don't despair - these are the pearls of parenting, and that is what the game is all about.


*****Congratulations. You have crossed the finish line and it's time to add up the score. The game you have just played is called "Motherhood" - and if you haven't lost all your marbles - you win!

Computers

This is hilarious! Read this to yourself aloud - it's great!

Why Computers Sometimes Crash!

by Dr. Seuss

If a packet hits a pocket on a socket on a port,

and the bus is interrupted at a very last resort,

and the access of the memory makes your floppy disk abort,

then the socket packet pocket has an error to report.

If your cursor finds a menu item followed by a dash,

and the double-clicking icon puts your window in the trash,

and your data is corrupted cause the index doesn't hash,

then your situation's hopeless and your system's gonna crash!

If the label on the cable on the table at your house,

says the network is connected to the button on your mouse,

but your packets want to tunnel to another protocol,

that's repeatedly rejected by the printer down the hall......

And your screen is all distorted by the side effects of gauss,

so your icons in the window are as wavy as a souse;

then you may as well reboot and go out with a bang,

'cuz sure as I'm a poet, the sucker's gonna hang.

When the copy on your floppy's getting sloppy in the disk,

and the macro code instructions is causing unnecessary risk,

then you'll have to flash the memory and you'll want to RAM your ROM,

and then quickly turn off the computer and be sure to tell your Mom!

Well, that certainly clears things up for me.

How about you?

Long Easter weekend

We had Friday and Monday off. It was nice to have such an extended time off! I slept a lot the first couple of days - about 11 hours the first two days then about 9 hours each day after but that's not counting the naps, puttered around the house sorting through closets. Monday we visited the grandkids. We got a lot of things done just puttering though. I cleaned out most of my scrapbooking stuff and gave it to Joleen, cleaned out my closet of clothes I can no longer wear - the spring/summer clothes selection is a bit thin, put away all my clothes in the laundry room - that is a first in ages and our laundry room can hold a closet full of clothes! Ken cleaned his desk and side of the bedroom, I found a ton of old pics from when the kids were little while cleaning house, Ken cleaned the garage, we shopped at Lowe's, Ken hung the towel rods in the bathrooms, went to Walmart and DIDN'T spend a fortune - I'm still not sure how THAT happened, and went through all my old yarns. I've put them all together and started an afghan for another Christmas present. When we visited with the g'kids, they wore G'pa out!! At 4 and 7 they have TONS of energy. He doesn't last long. When he's tired out he just wants to come home and sleep in the lazyboy chair. I admit that chair does a great job of sucking you into a nap! When Tinkerbell crawls on my lap too it's over! I fall asleep fast!

Yup, sounds just like our family

This is from the comic strip Rose is Rose. I don't know how many sock sorting parties we have had but when they match it can make my day! Especially if there are no stray socks at the end. I have too many comic strips cut out and posted different places that hit home about our family. Zits, Snoopy (Peanuts), Rose is Rose are among my favorites.

picky eaters

Mom used to make oyster stew during Thanksgiving and Christmas. I was Dad's favorite. I loved it too! Oh, how I miss eating that! It was creamy and rich and had just the right amount of oyster flavor. None of the rest of the family liked it. That just meant more for me and Dad!

My brother Troy was a picky eater. I think he got that trait - I don't think it was a habit - from Great-G'pa Henretty. Great Grandpa Henretty was Grandma Heilman's dad. He liked every item of supper on a separate plate. Mom wouldn't let Troy get that bad but he did like eat food in it's own pile. Brannon got that picky eater gene too.

Now as an adult he doesn't have it as bad but when he was little Brannon would quietly dig out the offending food and after the meal there would be a little pile of onions or other things he didn't like to eat. I used to puree the onions so he couldn't tell or at least couldn't find them. He's say I taste onions. I'd tell him that if he could find them he could pick them out. He never did find them when they were pureed.

newest pics of Jayme

Just look at that smile!

Jayme and Mommy

Shhhhhh! Jayme's asleep in Mommy's lap!

Jayme doesn't like his new wrap but Mommy sure

does!

Let's see YOU do that!

3-2008 Jordyn doing her splits!

Od course, Kaylee had to get into the act as well!

I think I can do this one much easier.

G'pa in Kaylee's Halloween wig

3-2008

Next they played dress up!
So THAT'S what he's look like in long hair.
The color's just about right don't you think?

Gang up on g'pa

When the girls were tired of playing beauty shop - ok when g'pa had enough - then they played gang up on g'pa time! Wrestlemania here they come!

G-pa at the salon

While visiting the grandkids, Jordyn and Kaylee played beauty shop with G-pa. I'm glad he came along! I got to spend some time with Jayme while G'pa entertained the troops!

G'pa and Jayme

3-2008

G'pa feeding Jayme.

Buster - the snow dog

Buster loves the snow just about as much as he loves the water!

V-day 2008

My dh really surprised me on Valentine's Day this year. That is a hard thing to do! He was on night shift and suggested eating at Bad Bob's BBQ in Oak Harbor. I thought - "Cool I don't have to cook tonight!" Was I surprised when I saw the beautiful roses sitting on the table! All for me! I am blessed!

Kaylee - I dress all by myself

2/2008

I dressed all by myself for pre-school!

Jayme's latest photo op

Ok, so mommy did this but it is soooooo cute!

Precious Jayme's birth

Mommy and Daddy anxiously waiting for you, Jayme!

You were just born!


Mommy's checking you out!

Daddy's cutting the cord.

Daddy can't get enough of holding and looking at you.

Adored one!

Jo in labor with Juan at her side

Mom, do you HAVE to take my picture? If I had the energy I'd flip you off!

Pumpkin and Tink sharing

This is the beginning of their truce. Once Tink was declawed she was on even footing with all the other animals. It took a little bit of water persuation - when she growled I squirted her with water, a lot of lovings, many hours of petting her and grooming, and the declawing. She now is loveable, funny, and definately determined!

My lap kitty

Thank you Jo, Juan, Jordyn, Kaylee, Lance for Tinkerbell. I've never had a lap kitty. She's onery but loveable!

Buster playing in the pool

Ok, as long as he doesn't throw the ball I'll be ok. Darn! He threw the ball!

Do I go in? I guess I'll just bark at it for a little bit. Then maybe I'll go in.

Alyssa

She looks too old to be 10!

Hitting the wall and other outage stuff

Working outage hours are long, hard work where all you do is eat, sleep, drag your very tired butt to work and then work your ass off (while trying to be safe and meet all the company milestones), go home, try to eat, say good night to the spouse and kids (either two or four legged), drop dead tired into bed, get jarred awake by the alarm (if you are lucky and can sleep that long or at all) then do it all over again for how ever many days in a row you have to to keep the good paying job. The job has to be good paying because no one else would put up with that kinds of shit for small pay. After a few weeks even then you start to wonder if the pay is enough to put up with all you do!

On your day off - if you are lucky enough to get one - you eat, sleep, do laundry (or take it to the local laundromat - and yes the laundromat or kids do it when we are in outage, I don't have time to do laundry, and try not to bite any one's head off. If you don't get a day off, you still must fit in the laundry even if it means driving to the laundromat to pick it up.

We've found sleep to be a precious commodity. The closer we can stay to work the few extra hours of sleep we can get. After the first outage I found out it doesn't pay to be he-man or she-ra - give me the closest hotel! It is worth every penny spent! Most hotels give a long term rate that is much cheaper. Ken go his for $50 a day for the next Beaver Valley outage. I don't have to clean, cook, or do laundry! The maids are very accommodating about cleaning the room for a $20 or $30 tip per week - money very well spent. And sleep can be had by all - unless Ken snores. :) And we are much safer off the road than driving exhausted.

Anyway, I digress. Hitting the wall. I never understood the wall until my first outage and the last month of it on night shift. The wall is sheer exhaustion. You can not do another thing without sleep. Tears run down your face you can't even think of eating without wanting to puke, I wear my vampire sunglasses even at night because all the lights are too bright, every fiber in your being is screaming at you pain, pain, PAIN. You can do nothing after you hit the wall but sleep. You will do it one way or another - if you do somehow manage to make it to work, you will not be able to function. I've been standing up straight with my eyes open and I have been asleep. The body can only take so much before it WILL find ways to sleep. Ken has had more time at this and recognized the signs of the wall that first outage and tried to have me take off the next night which was the last night of our outage. All I saw were dollar signs. I didn't listen. I should have. I hit the wall and ended up calling off anyway. I slept 36 hours. I'd sleep, get up and eat a bowl of cereal, then sleep some more.

There are signs before you hit the wall. I'm getting better at recognizing them but I am not perfect yet. I do know enough now to say I've had it - I am not fit for duty, I need to go home and sleep. The signs are confusion - you check yourself two, three, four or more times wondering if you are doing that task correctly when you know your job and know how to do that task with ease normally. You babble not making any sense. I get weepy - I am not normally a crying person at all. Every little thing upsets me emotionally when in my normal frame of mind whatever the thing was would not even faze me. You fall asleep anywhere you can and don't even realize you've been asleep - a blackout type of thing. You just nod off and don't even know it. And I do mean anytime - I've even done it on the road driving and my guardian angels have rescued me. I get hyperactive - so much energy I think I am superwoman and can go forever - that is a very bad sign - it isn't long and my body just quits and I hit the wall. One sign is bad but any more than one and within a few hours I will hit the wall. When this happened at Beaver Valley the last time, Ken pointed it out and when I thought about it I agreed. I left two hours early and then slept for 16 hours straight.

After outages are no picnic either. I never understood why Ken would sleep for 36 hours. I do now. It is all your body can do - sleep, get up eat, then sleep some more.

Outage hours are cumulative. They take a physical and emotional tole on you. It is even more evident when working night shift. Not only are you dealing with long hours, then add on top of that trying to switch back to days. I have a much harder time coming back to day shift. It takes me almost a month before I don't get up in the middle of the night to eat or just be up because I'm used to being awake. It also takes me months after to sleep soundly again. Emotionally, you are still so exhausted for so long after the outage - much longer than you think you should be - all the little things in life that normally would just slide by irritate you and make you angry. Family life suffers. During the two year outage so many family's suffered. When we finally restarted - I heard so many comments about how they didn't know their sons, daughters, and wives or husbands because two years had been robbed from their lives. At the time we all didn't know from one day to the next if we even would have a job the next day let alone the next week or month. We couldn't even see to the next year. Family holidays were non-existent, special occasions went by without the DB employee there. More than one marriage ended in divorce because of it.

I never understood until I became a DB employee what outages really are like and the tole they take on your health, family and sleep. I couldn't understand. I can see both sides now. The family at home has issues to deal with too. We call it the Davis-Besse widow's syndrome. It applies to all outage families.

Irish Blessings

http://www.e-water.net/viewflash.php?flash=irishblessing_en

This is beautiful!