How Stupid!!!

My husband has two employees who are being deported this month. One to Japan and one to Canada, both for the sole reason that their work visas have expired, after 3 years, and the knowledge they possess is not seen as valuable enough to keep them here. This just pisses me right off. Here are two people who came to the US through LEGAL channels, work hard, contribute to our economy, etc. and they are being sent back. But all the freakin' illegals standing on the street corners get to stay. Because apparently landscaping knowledge is valuable. Hmph!

Mind Your Own Business!

So, Bubba had an eye appointment this morning (that's a whole other post about having to pull kids out of school to go to the doctor since very few have late evening or Saturday hours!ugh!). I drove over with my two day care charges and he drove separately since we had no idea how long the appointment would go and I needed to pick up the Princess from school. The girls and I were in a hurry to leave the house and I failed to grab the jacket of the eldest girl. We go from the house to the garage, so it wasn't cold in there. We get to the eye doctor and walk the 30 feet to the door. It is chilly, but not so cold that walking that short distance gave her frostbite or anything.

The waiting room was packed. Mostly with older people. Two women in their late 60's or early 70's were sitting all the way across the waiting room from us. They were not together. The following is their conversation. Loudly enough that I can hear it across the room.

Lady 1: I can't believe the situation.

Lady 2: What situation?

Lady 1: That little girl without a coat over there. It's so sad.

Lady 2: Yep. (sighs and shakes her head)

Lady 1: I see that situation more and more these days.

WTF???

So, I, being me, and already a little tense about having two little ones in such a packed waiting room, spoke up.

Me: You two are so funny!

Bubba: What are you talking about?

Me: (loudly enough to be heard across the room) Those two ladies over there who are talking about G not having a coat, like I can't hear every word they are saying. Nosy Busybodies!

They hid behind their books for a while after that and then one of them started flirting across the room with V.

There are times to get involved in a situation. When a child is obviously being abused or neglected. But G is a happy, sweet, clean girl. In another climate, the 50 degree temp would have been shorts weather. I was just so appalled.

Bubba says old people have earned the right to be mean. I disagree. And I hope I never make anyone feel the way they made me feel today.

Male Sportsman of the Month

That's the award Bubba won this morning at his high school. I may just cry. I'm very proud.

Thirteen Years

My Darling Social Butterfly,

Happy Birthday my wonderful girl! It's so hard for me to believe that it's been 13 years since you were born. The years have gone by in a flash, as I'm sure the next 13 will.
Your daddy and I are so very proud of you. Not for the things you do, although we are proud of your accomplishments as well, but just because you are. You have been a blessing to us from the moment of your conception. And being your parents is a great privilege. Watching you grow into the amazing girl you are now has been an extraordinary experience and we're so thankful. You are a treasure, a blessing, a sweetheart, daddy's sweet pea.
I am so excited to see what the future holds for you. I'm certain that God has great things in store and I'm so happy I get to be your mama through it all.

I love you, adore you, and am honored to call you my daughter. Happy Birthday my Blessing.

Love,
Mama

Does This seem fair to you?

Bubba has A's in all of his classes except one. This one? He has an F. Why? Because when they took a test, he was on a school excused absence for wrestling. So he missed the test. The day he missed it, the teacher gave him an automatic zero on the test. So, even though he had A's on every other assignment in the class, the weight of that test being a zero still gave him an F. Fine, whatever, but the deal is, if you miss a test, you have to take it three times as make-up unless you get an A on it the first or second time. So, even though he has taken the test twice now and scored a respectable score, the teacher will not change the grade in the computer until after the third time! Even though he only had to score a 26% to be passing the class. And even though it makes him ineligible to wrestle this weekend. (although, from what I've heard, the coach is letting him wrestle anyway, but I'm not 100% sure about that) Doesn't that seem stupid to you??? And he can only retake the test on Wednesday mornings when they have late start. So he has to now wait until Wednesday to try for the third time!

Movie Night and the birthday!

Tonight is SB's birthday party for her friends. We're expecting 7 girls. She invited 3 more, but it's a bad weekend for parties I think.

It's a movie night theme. We're heading to Blockbuster to rent some movies, having pizza, and I'm working on a cake decorated to look like a clapboard. I've got mini bags of popcorn and boxes of movie candy. The girls are spending the night, which always makes for a very late, but fun, night.

Sunday is SB's actual birthday. Her 13th. For Bubba, when he turned 13, we took him out for the entire day, just the three of us, so we're doing the same for SB. She wants a movie and shopping date, so that's what we'll do! 13...where do the years go??

He Makes Me Laugh

Bubba and Sb and I were just hanging out talking last night as the two little ones were in bed and Mark was at a meeting. We were chatting about myriad things from a really hard math test Bubba has today (he loves math, but this calculus class seems to be kicking his butt) to marriage and children.

Me(to SB): Oh, Bubba will get married and have babies. I know it.

Bubba: I'd like to have a kid, but I don't want to get married. Girls are stupid.

Me: Not all girls are stupid. and you can't have a baby without getting married.

Bubba: I know...But if I do get married, I only want a boy baby!

Me: I hope you have 5 girls!

Bubba: No, two girls on a row and I'd be done!

Me: Why? Wouldn't you want to try for a boy?

Bubba: No, because every girl I have increases my chances of going to prison more than they already are for killing boys who hurt the Princess or SB.

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Bubba: I could just live here forever. Forever. Foreeeeevvvvveeeerrrrr.

SB: What about mom and dad?

Bubba: They can stay too...until I kick them out.

Me: Oh, SB, when you come over and can't find us, check for fresh dirt in the backyard.

Bubba: I said I'd kick you out, not kill you! Geesh!

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Bubba: What I'd really like is just to win the lottery and never have to work. And I'd never get married. I'd just hire a maid to clean...but she'd have to cook too because I don't know how, and I don't want to learn...but then I'd have to pay her...maybe I should just get married.

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I won't go on to tell you about his conversations involving how old SB and the Princess will be when he's old enough to purchase a gun. I just hope someday he lets THEM get married!

SO COOL!!!

I just got a phone call from Bubba at school. Apparently, two days before the Super Bowl, which is being played here, of course, the Varsity football team from his school gets to go scrimmage at the stadium so that the film crews can set up camera angles! He is soooo excited! Me too!!

Welcome Bear!

After two months worth of cajoling and begging, Bubba finally talked me into a trial run with a new puppy. His name is Bear and he is soooooo cute and sweet. Lilly seems to like him so far, once she figured out he wasn't lunch! Bear is 8 weeks old and my family is madly in love!

Maybe I'm Raising Future Surgeons!

Justification for my Wii!!

Soon it will be two...

In 10 days I will have two teen aged children. I'm pretty stunned by that realization, but looking forward to it as well. I have enjoyed much of the teenager's teen years. We've had some rocky roads as well, but, for the most part, he's a funny, sweet, good kid. And I've learned a lot with him. There are many things I would and will do differently the second time around, but I think that's a part of learning to be a parent. I don't know anyone who's ever done it all perfectly. But we hope we get better at it as the years go by.

Anyway, the actual point of my post was that since I'll soon have two teenagers, the name for The Teenager doesn't really work anymore. And, since everyone in this house, plus my mom and brother all call him a name that is not his given name, I thought we should jut use that here as well. So, from now on The Teenager will be referred to as Bubba. That's what I always want to write anyway!

39 and holding!

Today is my 39th birthday. The real thing, not the anniversary of...

It's been 4 days full of celebration. I still love my birthday, even though it's not usually too acceptable with adults. I think we're supposed to act like our birthdays don't matter or that celebrating is only for kids, but what fun is that? I LOVE my birthday! I love celebrating with family and friends!

Thursday was girl's night out with three of my good friends. We went for dinner and then to see The Pajama Game. The advertising for the play suggested going in your pajamas, but we had all agreed ahead of time that we thought that was insane. When they came to pick me up they all had on their bathrobes. They made me put mine on for a group picture. Too funny. After the show they gave me a really fun birthday basket. The contents of which I cannot reveal. But it made me blush. And will be put to good use. So there!

Friday Mark stayed home and I got the day off. I really just hung out at the kids' school for the morning and then went to lunch with some other friends , judged the spelling bee at school, took my kids to the library after school, went to dinner and then came home and played games and watched a movie.

Yesterday we hung out at home getting stuff done and then SB and I went to lunch and shopping, just the two of us. We had so much fun. Then Mark and I went out on a date, which included the movie "The Bucket List". AWESOME movie.

This morning I was serenaded with balloons and flowers and cards and cinnamon sugar bagels and Starbucks. Afterwards we played Dance Dance Revolution and watched football until it was time to meet Mark's family for a birthday dinner. It was a really fun time. Then home for a power nap and off to church where I was serenaded quite loudly. during rehearsal, SB got sick and we ended up having to leave before church even started. She seems better now, although quiet. Hopefully it was just a little thing and she'll be fine tomorrow.

Anyway, it's been a fun weekend. And the party isn't quite over. Next weekend, I get to have dinner with my mom and brother since we couldn't work it out this weekend. I feel happy and loved and content.

Come On Over!

I've joined Karin's Project 365 Posse. Visit me at Pixel Dust to see my Project 365!

And I've set a big goal for my 40th birthday! Join me over at my weight loss blog to see what I have up my sleeve!

The Weather Suits My Mood...

It's raining this morning as I get my family ready to head off into the big world once again. It always saddens me to send my kids back to school and Mark back to work, but I've tried to keep it in perspective this year. We really are so truly blessed in that Mark and I are both able to be off the entire break. we have jobs that allow us to do this and as my job is mostly supplemental, we are able to do without my income for the time we take off as well. I know how very lucky we are. And I'm thankful, but still a little sad that our cocooning time is over for a while.

Appliance Hell

So my refrigerator, only 6 1/2 years old, has decided that leaking water all over the inside is a fun project. This started about 9 months ago or so. Mark found the problem and fixed it. It was fine for a month or so, and then it started again. He fixed it again. And it came back again. Being 6 years old, the refrigerator is no longer under warranty, of course. So the question is, have someone else come and look at it, or look for a new one? We checked Consumer Reports, and their opinion is, after 6 years, it doesn't pay to repair the type of refrigerator we have. Fine with me as I have sort of been wanting a new one since we remodeled our kitchen over two years ago. But finding one? Oh.My.Gosh.

When we remodeled our kitchen, we put a bigger cabinet above the refrigerator than the one that was there previously. That might have been a mistake. The vast majority of refrigerators that are the right interior size are now several inches taller, but also several inches skinnier than when we bought ours.It has taken many days, loads of research and trips to appliance stores with my measuring tape to finally find a refrigerator that has a large enough interior capacity, but is not too tall. Lowe's was finally my hero! They has the shorter, fatter refrigerator I needed, with the features I wanted. But who knew it would be so difficult!

Guess Who

Got a super cute haircut today? and looks waaaaaaaayyyyy too old???