Married Life

{See explanation in the first Married Life post.}

Sober Celebrities

With all the negative publicity around celebrities and alcohol/drug addiction, I thought it would be nice to focus on some celebrities who are living proof that recovery is possible.

Ben Affleck - Sober going on ten years (August 2001)

Samuel L Jackson - Clean for 20 years

Paula Poundstone - Sober nearly 10 years.

Robert Downey, Jr. - Clean & sober for 6 years. "It's like I have a loaded gun in my mouth and my fingers on the trigger, and I like the taste of the gunmetal."

(pic from http://celebs.icanhascheezburger.com)

Rob Lowe - Sober for 21 years

Robin Williams

Russell Brand - Sober since 2003. On pre-sobriety life: "When that's your daily life, it's miserable"

Steve O - Sober 3 years.  (friend and co-star of recently deceased Ryan Dunn, whose blood alcohol was twice the legal limit when he crashed his car)

Married Life

{See explanation in the first Married Life post.}

Linen Closet

Here is the evidence of how organized I am capable of being when I put my mind to it. I may never conquer the kitchen counter, but I won the battle on this linen closet.

Each shelf is labeled with the size of sheets kept there, so they don't get mixed up. I figured out how to fold fitted sheets a few years ago so they lay pretty flat. I don't know how to explain it very well, but I tuck the elastic corners into each other. (There are a ton of videos on this on YouTube.) Once the fitted & flat sheets are folded, I put them inside the matching pillowcase, and fold the case over so I have one big flat rectangle. That's what you're seeing in this picture: bed sheet bundles that have everything in one package. (Along with a towel shelf and blanket shelf.) Saves me a lot of time, and it was also a good excuse to get rid of all of the random single bedsheets that my mother has given me over the years. (I have no explanation for this.)

New Old Table

A few years ago we were given this gorgeous table. We didn't have a place for it then, but I couldn't say no. It came from my great-Uncle Ord's house, and I'm hoping to find out soon if he just owned it, or made it himself. (I have some other furniture he made.) We finally got it out of the attic recently and put it in the breakfast room. It's old and worn and uneven and creaky and I LOVE it. We had a bench made for one side for the kids to sit on. I go and sit at this table every chance I have. There is something so country about it; it makes me feel like I'm back at my Uncle's farm. (Click the first picture to really get a feel for the magic of this table in full size.)

ADHD

My friend Theresa has a great post up about ADHD, and her family's struggle to educate her daughter's teachers about this disorder. Lots of great insight into what our families go through.

ADD/ADHD Information

This & That

New Sunscreen Rules: The FDA has new rules for sunscreen that will go into effect by next summer. Please remember to use sunscreen! Protect your health AND your looks! I don't want to look like a leather handbag when I'm 70. ;)  The new continuous spray bottles work so well, covering & drying quickly. We use them for pool time with the kids because it dries quickly, preventing the wet seal effect once they're in the water.  (Click the pic if you want a coupon.)(No they're not paying me to post this, lol, I just feel strongly about protecting our skin!)






Remember rotary phones?

Smart Mama

{I don't do many email forward type messages, but this one is too good not to share.}

Mrs. Deluca comes to visit her son, Anthony, for dinner. He lives with a female roommate, Maria. During the course of the meal, his mother couldn't help but notice how pretty Anthony's roommate is. Over the course of the evening, while watching the two interact, she started to wonder if there was more between Anthony and his roommate than met the eye.

Reading his mom's thoughts, Anthony volunteered, "I know what you must be thinking, but I assure you, Maria and I are just roommates.''

About a week later, Maria came to Anthony saying, "Ever since your mother came to dinner, I've been unable to find the silver sugar bowl. You don't suppose she took it, do you?"  "Well, I doubt it, but I'll email her, just to be sure." So he sat down and wrote an email:

Dear Mama,

I'm not saying that you "did" take the sugar bowl from my house; I'm not saying that you "did not" take it. But the fact remains that it has been missing ever since you were here for dinner.

Love, Anthony

Several days later, Anthony received a response email from his Mama which read:

Dear son,

I'm not saying that you "do" sleep with Maria, and I'm not saying that you "do not" sleep with her. But the fact remains that if she was sleeping in her OWN bed, she would have found the sugar bowl by now.

Love, Mama

Crap at my Parent's House

I may have to create a label category just for this, but once again there is something on Crap at my Parent's House that my own parents actually own.

My parents have had this same set for as long as I can remember. I'm pretty sure my mother still uses them too!

Married Life

Tom works crazy hours that are not only long, but can change without notice. Because of this, sometimes we can go days without having a real conversation. He isn't able to spend much time on the phone, and I don't want him missing out on what goes on at home. So I leave him Facebook messages pretty often.

Overheard

Me: "You boys keep my life interesting."
TC:  "A doesn't. She listens to you."

I see TC walking past me with his toy sword and Nerf gun, and he says "I'm going to do ultimate battle with the cat."

E: ‎"Mom, we're learning about persuasive writing. So I'm writing about wanting a hamster."

Happy Founders Day

Dear 16 Year Old Me

Please please remember your sunblock!

Dear 16 Year Old Me

Crabbypants

This has not been my favorite week. Nothing terrible, just a slew of annoyances which I am not coping well with.  Tom sick all weekend with gout, first with the pain of it's symptoms, and then with the digestive problems that come with the medication. So I was looking forward to spending some time with him on Monday morning before his afternoon nap & then leaving for his shift. (awful sentence structure, don't care)  Unfortunately one of the bosses called him at 8:30am to tell him he was on modified second shift for the week, and he had to leave by 9am. I was less than pleased.

This schedule totally stinks, as he doesn't get home until about 9:30 at night, once kids are in bed, and I'm worn out and crabby. It also means he's working in the shop, which is hot and AC-less, so in this nearly 100° heat he's sweating to death in work pants and heavy boots.

On Tuesday I forgot my allergy shot appointment, so I called and they said I could still come in. On my way there, totally annoyed and distracted, I rolled through a stop sign and was promptly pulled over. A hundred and ten clams because I let my annoyance rule my driving. Argh. So I have traffic court to look forward to, unless I want to keep the three points that this violation comes with. Blerg.

Yesterday I vacuumed A's room, moved all her furniture, heated up water, and drug the rug shampooer upstairs. (I think it weighs about 912 pounds.) I plugged it in, and blew the circuit because it was also running two air conditioners and the tv. I went down, flipped the circuit breaker, went back up, plugged into another outlet, and started the job. I soon realized that although the motor was running, and suction was working, the sprayer was not, so none of the hot water and cleaning fluid was coming out. Complete fail.

I went downstairs to sulk and figure out my next step, other than having A sleep on the couch because I had leaned her mattress against the closet in order to move her bed, which I'm pretty sure the stupid cat has been urinating under. She is preparing to get in the shower, and goes upstairs. As she does, she trips, drops her glasses that she was carrying, and of course lands on them. You have got to be kidding me. I took them in today, and the part to fix them will take 10 days to come in. So she'll have them just in time for school to end.

I should back up and say that a few days before all of this drama, that I was feeling pitiful about something or other. I was in the kitchen, and leaned under the counter to stuff some cardboard on top of the paper recycling bin. I stood up into the corner of a cabinet. It hurt of course, but my pity party was what I remember more. I yelled at God, "Seriously?! Has this day not sucked enough?!"

Now I know, it's obviously not His fault that I forgot that we have had that cabinet in that same location for the entire time we have lived here. But it was really just about being tired of running a single mom style household, and feeling completely overwhelmed with life and ADHD and laundry and stink bugs.  I went on to lecture Him about all the crap that had been hitting the fan, and how I felt like a complete failure and how I really needed Him to give me some kind of break right then.

So fast forward to yesterday, with the broken rug shampooer, and you understand why I was ready to just burn my house to the ground. I can handle big events much better than I can the small ones, evidently. I prayed here and there, a long chat with God about all of this, apologizing for my crappy attitude and asking for some insight.

He showed me what I needed to do, which is spend time with Him. I have a hard time in the summer, as my bible study ends for the season, and we don't make it to church often because we're at the campground. I count on those things to keep me in the Word, and in prayer with Him. They are my crutch, because I have not made it a priority to spend that time with Him on my own. I have all my excuses, and it's not that they aren't true. I do have to run this house on my own 90% of the time. And I do have a son with some special needs. And it is hard to find quiet time with the kids home from school all day. But it's not impossible. And I need to quit living like it is. I love my God. I love Him with all my heart. But my actions don't show that when I put Him on the back burner and make my lame-o excuses.

Thanks, God. And I'm sorry for my crankfest.