Stamp of Approval

For the first time in my life, I honestly believe that i have a great circle of friends... E may tend to disagree about the worthiness of some of my friends, but i love them (all of them), nonetheless.

I have had the same best friend for almost 30 years, and at some point in my life, i stopped thinking of her as a friend and more of a sister. We were each others maid of honors, and when i was told that my dad wasn't going to make it, she made it a point to come out here and be here for me - knowing i would do the same for her - no questions asked. E has even accepted her and her husband as family because that's what they are to me, and he has accepted the fact that if something happened to the both of us, she will get my two boys because she will raise them the way i would want them to be raised and tell them stories about me so my kids will know what i was like as a kid. She will always be my friend and i know that no matter what, i can always count on her for absolutely anything.

Besides my great friend, i have accumulated a circle of fabulous friends here... Each one of them has their own little "niche" in my life, and although each one is different, i love each of them equally. Each of my friends is totally unique - not one of them is like the other, and although none of them are "friends" with each other, they all know about each other because of me...

E and i were discussing my friends the other night, and besides J, i have a small handful of friends that E really likes - the rest he thinks are a waste of space and a waste of my time as a friend. I have one friend that the minute i ask if i can hang out with her, he smiles and tells me i'm allowed to do anything with her. E likes her and her husband and her son and thinks it's great that Z and her son love to play together...

K has taught me that friends definitely come from the most unlikely situations... I met her through a class that Z went to and even though i hung out with some of the other moms and did stuff with all of them, K and i somehow branched off from the other moms and became friends. Our sons are 2 days apart in age, and besides our sons, we actually do have other things in common... and in the grand scheme of things, the fact that E likes her as much as he does, makes her seem more important as a friend to me... E has even given in about having people over and has enjoyed having her over, and he even wants to have social outings with her and her husband... That must mean that i must cherish this friendship because my husband's seal of approval of a friend of mine is a rare occurrence, and that seal of approval means the world to me. So, cheers to you, K, cuz E luvs you as a person and a friend to me, so whether you want to be or not, you're stuck with me as a friend... I hope you're ok with that!!! :)

Thanks for the cold!

I hate colds!! I hate being sick in any sort of manner, for that matter, but i really dislike colds! Tommy came over with a cold last week and i did everything in my power to get rid of it - short of making him sleep outside. I gave him kids cold care tea and pedia care cold and cough - you name it - i did it because I didn't want his cold... It seemed like it had worked - when he left for his mom's house on Saturday he seemed much better...

Now, as a mom, i feel that it is my responsibility to take care of my kids and insure that they don't spread their colds to other kids or their siblings or parents... The she devil and i apparently don't see eye to eye on this because she didn't do anything about the cold. I figured that he would be fine when he came back to our house on Tuesday and would be cold free. Hmmph! Not so! He returned with the evil cold and it seemed worse!

Wash your hands, cover your mouth when you cough, cover your mouth when you sneeze, and again WASH YOUR HANDS!!! i feel like a broken record some times, but whatever - it didn't work this time... Z started coughing yesterday - oops! Take this medicine, drink this tea, cover your mouth when you cough! Z can't catch a cold - he has to come with me to watch my dad! I felt like i had nipped it in the bud! Hurrah! Tommy - take this medicine, drink this tea, COVER YOUR MOUTH, WASH YOUR HANDS!!! As i left the house last night, i figured E would continue on my goal to keep us and the kids from getting sick, so i figured he would give them medicine before they went to bed...

What was i thinking?! He's a man - they don't think that way!!!

As i was leaving Town Square, i stopped at Whole Foods for cold tea for E cuz he too was whining about feeling like he was catching a cold... Grr - this cold is taking over the house!!! Keep the cold away from me! Here, E drink this tea and don't breathe on me!! I'm not catching this stoopid cold - i have to take care of my dad and he can't get sicker than he already is...

Fast forward to this morning... Z is coughing non-stop and snot is running out of his nose... Grrr! He has a full-blown cold! Here Z, take this medicine, let me wipe your nose, drink this tea... I hate this!!!

Wait! What's that?! My nose is running! It can't be! I can't catch this stoopid cold too!!! I bolt to the kitchen and make myself some cold care tea... It's not working fast enuff!!! As i rifle through all the stuff on my counter, i find some severe Tylenol Cold! Jackpot!!! Here E - take this - i can't handle all of us having this stoopid cold!

Tommy is wondering what all the commotion is so he asks and E says, "It's this damn cold that you brought home to us from school! Thanks a lot! Last week when you left here, you were better... What happened?!?" Do i have to answer that question for you, E? Really? It's your incompetent ex (aka the she devil) and her luvly parenting skills! Wait, does she possess any parenting skills? Survey says... NO!!!

So, off i go to make sure everyone is covering their mouth when they cough and sneeze on my crusade to make sure this evil cold goes away FOR GOOD this time!

Grumpy

Maybe i'm weird - actually, i'm sure that i am, but i wasn't in the mood for much today... It seems like my dad isn't getting better, my husband doesn't understand my position on certain issues, and my kids didn't want to listen... i get so frustrated cuz z is such a good kid when he's all by himself and no one is influencing him, but the minute my stepson gets a hold of him, he turns into an absolute brat! I hate it!!

So, i'm yelling at Z and the other one and neither one of them are listening to me and i just lost it! How dare these two small children not listen to me when their dad's asleep and i'm the one who's supposed to be taking care of them?! The only thing i could do was come in my room and sit on the floor and cry... This, of course, upsets E, who jumps out of bed and tells me to go for a drive to clear my head... A drive isn't going to clear my head - having kids who listen will clear my head! The other one causes so many problems cuz he lies and gets Z into trouble, and i couldn't deal with it anymore.

Vodka... Must have vodka... The only thing i could focus on... I give the little one his bottle and make my way to the kitchen where the vodka is after he finishes... I drown myself in 2 strong cocktails and hope to numb the grumpiness but it doesn't seem to go away... I'm still upset about the large set of TITANIUM balls the she devil has and how little E seems to think that the MIL is going to influence the other one when he spends the night there. i feel like we're going backwards, but that another story for another time.

Now that the littles are in bed and my strong cocktails have been finished, i think i might actually take advantage of the peace and quiet and go to bed and hopefully i won't be so grumpy when i wake up...i have to watch my dad tomorrow so i must be fully rested and refreshed to pay attention to my 2 littles and my dad, who needs more help than my 2 littles put together...

I have a new focus now... Cocktails tomorrow night with K. She is my savior and i can't wait to hang out with her... Note to self - must cheer up cuz she's fun and i can't be grumpy around her...

Another note to self... buy more Grey Goose in case i have another case of the grumpies soon!

For the luv of an ipod!

So, i get out of the shower this morning and E comes in and says, "Someone broke into your tahoe!" I must be really messed up in the head cuz all i said was, "My ipod!" He blankly looks at me and says, "If it was in your truck, it's gone now! I think that's the only thing they took!" REALLY?!? My ipod's gone?!? Why would anyone want MY ipod? I'm sure whatever thug broke into my truck doesn't like George Jones or Jack Johnson or Laura Berkner (Z's playlist)... I stood there in my bedroom wrapped in a towel with my phone pressed to my ear half listening to my mom talk about what's going on with my dad feeling completely violated. I somehow mumbled to my mom that i had to go and call the police, but the only thing on my mind was that some dickhead stole my ipod...

Now, i know i can easily replace my ipod - and i'll probably get an ipod touch this time around, but still... I have this weird thing about how i don't like people to take or touch MY stuff... It probably comes from being an only child, but it really bothers me when anyone touches my stuff. E doesn't even go through my phone or hardly ever touch it for that matter... I get touchy when he uses my laptop and he bought it for himself and i somehow took it over. I freak when my kids touch my stuff - be it my jewelery, my phone, my camera, etc... Don't touch my stuff!

So, with that being said, I feel very violated that someone broke out my window on MY side of the truck, went through the stuff in my console, and took my ipod... Why didn't he take my stoopid palm pilot phone that's sitting there with all kinds of personal info in it? He went through a lot of trouble for an ipod that he probably won't use anyway... I should go up the street to the pawn shop and see if it's there... hmmm... Dick!!!