Trimming the tree......

With The Rents and two of my brothers spending Christmas here at Chez' Owens I finally got around to decking some halls. We'd tried for a solid week to get the tree done but with two kids feeling all grown it was hard to find them all home at one time. Saturday I told everyone to be home or be square and that we were gonna trim the tree. Plus? My OCD was gonna kill someone if all the boxes of Christmas cheer weren't unloaded and put back in the Garage Of Shame where all boxes belong. heh. (True Story: I actually called my mom the next day...when the tree was done but nothing had been put away...I called her while hiding in my room because oh my gosh the boxes!! the mess!! where to start!?!?!?!!! Panic attack panic attack can't breath can't breath. My mom?? Totally rocks and calmed me down. Then I proceeded to unhide and clean. Oh, and I was able to breath again. I should totally do a Xanex commercial!)
Trimming the tree started off wonderfully...sarcasm sarcasm.....I may or may not have said "We are doing this as a family and we are having fun!! Now get up and start making memories dammit!!"

In the interest of full disclosure here is my dining room table. Chock full of stuff. Why do they need so much stuff Intnetz and why do they have to put it on my table???










This guy here was threatened with bodily harm if he didn't put an ornament on the tree. As you can see the dog is the only one who even pretended to listen to me. The son?? Got up and gave me bear hug and thought it all very funny when I gave him the death stare.







This guy?? This yummy bit of fabulessness?? Trimmed the tree like a pro. See those black cases to his right?? Those are just a small sampling of cd's he had to look through to find just the right music to decorate by. Tomorrow I will clean until everything is bright and shiny. Then I'll be ready for Christmas. :)

Have a good one everybody!!

SSCS!!!!!

Yesterday when I went to check the mail I was so excited to see my SSCS swap package!!!
The very talented Fiona sent the cutest ornament for our tree and some yummy chocolate. How did you know I love chocolate Fiona?? Oh yeah, I forgot, it's a quilters rule. All quilters must love chocolate. heeheehee
My other present is under the tree waiting for Christmas morning. Thank you so much for your thoughtfullness Fiona!!!! I love the ornament and today?? I also loved the chocolate! hahaha

SOS....

The other night my son took his sister...her boyfriend...and a friend out for dinner. 10 minutes after they leave we get a call from our daughter. The car won't start. My hubby gets in our car to go and see what's what. When he got home he tells me that even though there are two young men in the car, when he pulled up everyone was sitting all toasty warm INSIDE of the car waiting for him. The Calvary. Was the hood opened and any discussing going on you ask? No.

Dad had been called and dad was being waited for.

They get the car pushed back to our house and I take a look at my sons dejected face. I do what any mother would do in just such a situation....I call The Rents. (insert hero music here) I tell my mom what is what and she mentions to my father that The Son may be having a bit of car trouble. My dad knew he was a mechanic in the womb. He only needs to listen to an engine to know what needs to be done. Also? Besides being a whiz with all things mechanically he is a Grandpa. Grandpas go where Grandpas are needed. The Son talked to my dad to discuss what to do and even though he lives about 5 1/2 hours away...and STILL has a tracheotomy....my dad said he'd come and check it out. The next day my dad goes to work.......and then drives to our house....5 1/2 hours away.

I had strict instructions from my mom not to let him look at the car until he'd had a good nights sleep. The next morning....after fortifying him with coffee.....we went out to look at the car. After some discussion it is decided that it needs to go to the mechanical place also known as the car fixer place and have someone hook it up to some thingies and tell us what's wrong. At least that's how I understood it. Pistons may have been mentioned and something called a belt. It was here that all came to the conclusion that I was not going to be a whole lotta help. heh.

So the son put his key in the starter thingy and low and behold the car turned on!!!! No doubt it was scared into submission by my father "Super Grandpaw" I gave my son the death stare aka MY FATHER JUST DROVE FOR A HUNDREDELEVENTY HOURS AND THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH YOUR CAR???!?!!!! and then my dad says not to worry cars do that when the battery is bad and for me to go get dressed (yes, I was outside in my pajamas with bed head. Do not judge me.) he wanted me to go with them and that he'd be buying his baby girl a Starbucks. I know I know....he is swoon worthy.
When we get to the car fixer place they let us know that the battery is bad. Super Grandpaw looked at my son and said "I'll be paying for this" and he whipped out his Discover card faster then you can say I Want Me Some Fabric!! Then he took us out to lunch at Panera......and then he got into his car and drove 7 hours to visit my brother. Content in the knowledge he had done a good job. I think his car may have glowed with all of the goodness pouring out of that man.
We get in the house and my son looks at me. He says. "Wow. Grandpa drove all this way to help me with my car...and then he payed for a new battery." He shook his head and says "He's a really great guy, huh mom."
Yeah son. Yeah he is.

Thanks for coming to the rescue my daddy. I love you more then ice cream!!!

For the past two weeks someone has been home with me. Either I've had a sick kiddo or someone has been on vacation. We have been in and out. To the store and back. I've cooked and done laundry. My house has not been tidy no matter how hard I tried to keep up. We even took a trip to Columbus and my daughters besty came for a week long visit.

Have I mentioned that someone has been home with me every day for the past two weeks??

Yesterday I cleaned. I shined up my home. I cooked a big pot of chicken soup and the house smelled wonderful. Laundry was started. Then I sort of forgot about it. Then my husband reminded me. Laundry was started anew. Then I sighed a big loooooooong sigh.

Today there is just me......and the dog....and the cat. The way God intended for Mondays to be. My men are at work. My daughters are at school. I have a big ole pot of coffee and a new creamer called mint chocolate aka balm for a mothers soul. There is nothing before me but a day of quiet. I need to get laundry done but that is neither here nor there. I have an applique project ready and blogs to get caught up on.
I love having a quiet day to myself after so much busyness. It makes me feel all pink puffy hearted inside.

I hope everyone out there is having just such a Monday...full of peace. :)

Thanksgiving.....

Happy Thanksgiving Ya'll!!! Hope your turkey day was as wonderful as our was. :)
We spent the day in Columbus with our friends. Ate a lot of turkey.
A
Lot
We also ate some ham....and green bean casserole.....and rolls...and corn pudding....and cranberry sauce.....and then some more turkey.....and stuffing.....and pie!

Groan.....

I am still stuffed this morning. After dinner I went upstairs to the 4th floor (seriously you all need to see this house!) and took a nap in what I like to call the movie room. It is set up just like a theater with wonderful overstuffed leather chairs that lean back when you press buttons. There were blankets passed out and naps taken while we watched the parade. The grownups stayed downstairs and since I didn't want to leave the kiddos alone I took a nap with them. All comfy cozy with my oh so lovely mink blanket. Martha Stewart would have called yesterday a good thing. :)

Hope everyone out there hugged their family tight and thought of things they were thankful for. Today is shopping. No, not at o dark thirty. We are headed to the mall after lunch to hang out and just be. I'll make sure to take some pics so I can share tomorrow.

Have a wonderful day after Thanksgiving day!!!
hugs!!!

The Grocery Store Debacle....

The other day I took my son to the grocery store. The cupboards were bare at Chez' Owens so we were gonna hit it and hit it hard.

When we walked into the store it was packed. All of the retirees had come to shop. No problem since retirees like to talk and if there is something I like to do it's talk to strangers in the grocery store! :)

So there we were. I had a cart. The Son had a cart. Everything was going good. We laughed. We talked. We moved out of the way of the lady with the blue hair who was taking no prisoners. It was shopping at it's finest. Isle 8 is where the cranberry juice is. I loves me some cranberry juice. Goes great with a leeetle bit of that wondrous thing called Cranberry Vodka.



I will now take a second for us all to shout " Hail to the cranberry vodka!"


Carrying on.....as I reached for the cranberry juice my stomach all of the sudden said "Heeeeeeeelllllllllllllllloooooo" and I thought I was going to be ill. Violently. The never can I show my face again in this here town kind of ill. I dug in the cart and opened up the box of Gas-X. Oh yes I did. And can I just say that nothing embarrasses a kid more then when you jump in a grocery cart, root around, find the Gas-X, hold it up and shout "HALLELUJAH!!"
We waited a couple of minutes to see if the pill was gonna work its magic. My stomach said to me "I SAID HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLOOOOOOOOO!!!"

I told my son to stay with the carts and ran to the bathroom. Nothing. I looked in the mirror and noticed I was kind of pale. I walked back to The Son and told him all was right once again and for us to carry on. Then people we get to the dairy isle. I turned around to reach for the coffee creamer.....you know the kind....the kind in the large bottle that says yummy/scrumptious things like "toffee" or "caramel".... as I reach for the creamer I felt dizzy all of the sudden and had to swallow like a ma-zillion times cause it was gonna happen!!! I looked at the poor man standing next to me whose wife had sent him to get the coffee creamer as well and he was looking at me like this.....



horrified.





I heard my son take a deep breath as he readied himself for the horror that was about to happen. I just stood there in shock staring at the man and thinking to myself "Self, what you got yourself here is probably that there Pigeon Flu and you need to fortify your loins cause this chain't gone-be pretty." Seems that when I am about to get sick in the dairy isle my inner hillbilly comes out.

Thankfully, after a couple of deep breaths, I got myself together and crisis number 2 passed. But let me tell you, we finished the rest of our shopping in a blur. I threw whatever was in front of me in the cart.....got to the checkout line and held on to the counter while my son loaded everything up....and kept asking me if I was okay. Then he ran to get the car while I stood outside with our bagger. We made it home with no further incidents.
I've been fine ever since. Crazy!!!
I am now scared to leave my home and will be staying indoors indefinitely.
heeheehee

2012....and the bully update...

So yesterday the movie 2012 came out and man oh man was I excited to see it! I've had that baby marked on my calendar for months now. I like a good movie people and one about the world ending in a fiery explosion of mayhem is one of my favorites! The hubby took the day off so he could go with me and we also made The Son get up outta bed so he could go too. Now the movie is long...2 hours and 20 minutes. We needed to be home by 3pm and were gonna be cutting it close. I asked the hubby if he could be the Keeper of The Time and let me know when it was 5 minutes to 3. I was pretty sure we would get to see the whole movie.
I had a jumbo popcorn and a gigantic-a soda. My hubby was on one side of me and my son on the other.
I.
Was.
A.
Happy.
Camper.

Until..........

Just as the movie was getting good....things were sliding into the ocean....people were hanging off of the side of buildings.....my hubby leans over in a panic and says "Hey! It's 3 o'clock! We gotta go so we can get Middle Daughter to work on time!" I stand up and say "Already???!! Wow! That went fast!!" Then we raced for the car. I kept thinking that 2 hours and 20 minutes had gone by so fast and what was up with the rest of the movie...did the previews go on that long at the beginning??? Cause I knew....just knew that more explosions were gonna happen that I was gonna miss.

You wanna know what happened as I turned the corner to hop on the highway to home?? I looked at the car clock. heh. My husband forgot to change his watch for Daylight Savings. It was only 2. My son and I just stared at him like how could you????? DID HE NOT KNOW HOW LONG I WAITED FOR THIS MOVIE TO COME OUT???????!!! I was thinking that I may have to leave him. I may have to pack up the kids and move. Where? I do not know but it would be a place where everyone gets the time right.

Not really. heeheehee He felt so bad and kept apologizing and I thought he was so cute that I forgave him. It's just a movie after all. The son on the other hand is packing. He is moving to that land I just wrote about.
So guess who's gonna go see 2012 this week??? Yeah. That would be me. :)

The Bully Update:
The Vice Principal of my daughters school is a dream. He got right on it and stopped everything before it could get out of hand. He talked to our daughter (and I will be eternally grateful that we taught our kids to say Ma'am and Sir!! Boy does it sound good!) and then he talked to the other girl. My daughter said she laughed at the girl when she came to school with yellow hair and the girl said she wanted to punch her face off for it. The Principal explained to my daughter that she shouldn't tease and he explained to the girl that she shouldn't want to punch the faces off of people. They are each in their respective corners and we don't think anything else will happen.

You know, it's hard to know when to step in as a parent. We like our kids to figure thing out for themselves with us helping as needed. We don't want to fight all their battles because then how will they learn to stand up on their own when they get older. We do draw the line when there is talk about "jumping" our 12 year old. It's just a no all the way around. Kids mean it these days. It's not an idle threat. Also? We act fast and furiously when we feel that our own kids have gone to far. I've told the three of them that I was bullied when younger and how I felt about it.
So the Boo-Bear is back to being her fire-cracker self. She had a friend spend the night and seems to feel pretty good about the whole thing. Thank you to everyone who thought about our girl!!! You guys rock!!

Bullies....

Yesterday my hubby had the day off. He's been gone doing Air Force type things so a day off was just what the doctor ordered. We went out for breakfast....went to Lowe's....stopped by Avenue so I could drool over a coat I have my eye on.....walked around Sams Club so the Major could drool over a TV he has his eye on and we went back to the yucky meat store to get a whole chicken. My man wanted to cook Beer Butt chicken so Beer and Chicken were got. The only crazy thing that happened is when I was walking out of the store (he had gone to get the van) an older man burped right by my ear.
Why?
Why did he do that Int-nets?? And was it just as crazy for me to think "Hurray!! I'm so gonna blog about this!!" hahahahahaha

When we got home The Boo-Bear was walking from her bus. She looked at me and I thought "Uh-Oh. Somethings wrong." She said she had to talk to me and got a little teary. I grabbed tissue and we scooted for her room. Seems she was bullied. By a girl who's name I know well. Last year this same girl bullied The Boo-Bears friend mercilessly. For a year people. She confronted her outside of class...on the playground...in the hallway...at lunch. The Boo-Bear got into it with her a couple of times over it and her friends mom even came over to our house to see if her daughter had done anything to warrant the attacks. Ummm no. The mom was supposed to go to the school and have a conference with the principal over it but never did.
I guess yesterday she figured my daughter needed a little attention. She confronted her at her locker. Words were said and a threat made that she was going to get some people to jump her. My baby said she wasn't scared of her and for her to go away.....then our Boo-Bear said she flicked her fingers in the air so the hateful one would realize she meant it when she said to go away. Then? Then she cried while she looked at me. She said her fingers were shaking when she tried to open her locker. She said she didn't want to get into trouble at school. I was all WHA??? Why would you get into trouble? She is worried that the Principal will call them into her office to discuss what happened and that they will both get into trouble. Yeahno. The hubby is taking some time off this afternoon to make a visit to the school. He is going to talk to the principal about what happened. We went through this once when our son was younger. He had been bullied. We went through the proper channels...talked to the counselor.....got it documented....all the things you do. When the kid hit him for the first time my son hit back. They got hauled into the office and the principal called me to let me know they were both being suspended. She said she knew of the problem but with the whole no tolerance policy they were both out for three days. My son thought he'd get in trouble at home. Um no. We took the three day suspension and the bully never bothered him again.

So today will be a long day. My Boo-Bear had an upset stomach this morning but felt pretty good that her friends all called her last night to offer support, like only 7th grade girls can, and that her father is going to her school to see what's what. I'll sit here today and wait for her to come home.

sigh.

It's gonna be a looooooong wait til she gets home. 3 o'clock never seemed so far away.