Sister Love

My sister and I are very close. We live about a half hour away from each other. We talk to each other on the phone almost every day, calling each other anywhere from 1 to 10 times. We discuss things. We chat. We vent. We share and we laugh.

One time she called about something and during the course of the conversation, she mentioned milk was on sale at a local grocery store. I was talking about it and my husband overheard. He was dumbfounded. "She called you to tell you milk is on sale?" My response? "Umm yeah...that's what we do. We call each other...like 6 times a day." He just shook his head and walked away. My sister overheard the whole thing and we both started laughing at the fact that men just don't get it.

It's Sistah Love!!

This is What I Heard ALL DAY TODAY!!!

I kept track...these are the actual words I heard from my children throughout the day. Obviously I need to have another training session about how we need to treat each other. Either that or I need a week away from home, BY MYSELF!!!

• You like baby shows.
• So you like idiot shows.
• Change the channel, I am NOT watching this again!
• Quit chewing with your mouth open.
• Shut up!
• We don't say that in this house, REMEMBER? (At least someone remembers!)
• Leave me Alone!
• Quit Touching Me!
• Get your feet out of my face.
• I'm going to kill you if you do that again.
• I'm telling!
• Get out!
• You are such a jerk!
• Who peed on the toilet? You're s'posed to wipe it off. Come wipe it off!
• That was my glass! You drank out of my glass!
• Gross! You just spit on me!
• I am sick of watching your show. It's always YOUR show!
• I asked first! I asked first!
• It's my turn now, you've been playing forever.
• You always cheat.
• Quit farting, it stinks in here.
• I don't care what you want to do, this is MY game!
• You ALWAYS cheat!
• I'm telling mom that you are being a jerk.
• Give me back my stuff. I said give it back!
• You are such a moron!
• I don't wanna play with you.
• You never let me play the game I wanna play.
• That's cause your games are stupid.
• No they aren't.
• Yes they are.
• OWWWWW! Why did you hit me?
• Cause you said my games are stupid. Why are you so mean to me?
• Why do you keep hitting me?
• Stop it!
• If you hit me one more time I will hit you back.
• I'm gonna throw the cat on you and make him scratch your face.
• What's your problem?
• You're a weiner head,
• No, you are.
• No, you are.
• AAUUGGHH!! Quit calling me that!
• Little man keeps beating the crud out of me.
• No I'm not. I'm hitting him because he's making me mad.
• Big Brother will not shut his mouth. He just keeps going Blah blah blah blah. He just keeps talking! It's making me so mad!
• He ate my cookie! That was MY cookie!
• You smell like a butt.
• How do you know what butts smell like?
  (Hysterical laughter - Finally some laughing from both of them!)
• Can we sleep in your bed?
• That's my pillow, yours is the stinky one cause your head sweats.
• Gimme that blanket. Gimme the blanket! I said give it to me! Fine, I'll rip your lion's tail off then.
• MOM!!
  
  That's my cue, folks. Wish me luck. This could get ugly.
  
  

Wait! He picked Who? What?!?

Sarah Palin? Where did THAT come from!?!?!? Am I supposed to be happy because he nominated a woman? I know NOTHING about this person! I am shocked. Honestly, I have no love for either presidential candidate this election. I may have to start a write-in campaign now.

I don't usually talk about politics on my blog, 'cause I save that for the grocery store or the school parking lot. Makes shopping more interesting when you are being chased around the store by a little old man on a scooter who remembers when FDR was in office and thinks that the only criteria for electability shoud be lower prescription drug prices. I feel his pain, but I have to tell you folks...there is more at stake this year than lower drug prices...

Things like

• who's gonna help Jennifer Aniston find someone to settle down with (did anyone really think the John Mayer thing would go anywhere? He's kinda weird!)
• putting a moratorium on Brad and Angelina's child bearing (Brangelina is a real threat here, folks...when are you all gonna wake up?! We need someone who is willing to take them on and put a stop to their evil plan to populate the world with overly beautiful people.)
• finding out who is responsible for bringing back 90210 and publicly flogging them

Serious issues here, Bloggies!!!

Sarah seems nice enough on the surface. She obviously had enough going for her to get elected Governor of Alaska. She has 5 kids, one with Down's Syndrome...running Alaska and raising kids can't be easy. Living in Alaska at all, with or without kids, doesn't seem easy to me. She sounds like a normal mom who just happened to get involved in politics one day. She's been married 20 years to a dude who has lived in Alaska forever. He's very manly. She hunts and fishes (which could make her manly?). Her oldest kid is in the military. She sounds like someone who may be a little more in touch with the common man. Or maybe just the common Alaskan. Apparently she is a major butt-kicker and has wreaked havoc among the rank and file as Governor. Still, she has very little high level political experience and I have to think that there are a lot of people who will be worried about her stepping in if McCain kicks it during his presidency. Maybe a lack of political experience is to her benefit...we keep griping about career politicians being out of touch. I don't know what to think...I'm still reeling. I just know I SO DO NOT GET his logic with this pick.

Does she have a blog? That might give me a better feel for who she is. If I could read about how she handles a teenager with a crappy attitude or a spouse who is never home or how she balances work and home issues (does she sometimes feed her kids chicken nuggets and mac and cheese because it's late and that's all there is?) I might be able to make a better decision. If she follows Sue at Happy Meals and Happy Hour and knows who BG is, then I am SURE I could get behind her.

Can't think today, people...this really messed me up. I have to go ponder the potential new leaders of the greatest country in the free world...this is not a responsibility I take lightly. I need to consult with Bathtub Gansta. I'm sure he'll help me put things in perspective. He may not look it, but he's hip to the whole political scene. I can hear him now...BG says: "Bein' a playah don't make you a politician hatah, yo! Not voting is whack ya'll, for realz!"

Wordless Wednesday - New Boots

Sorry for the cruddy pic, it's a cell phone pic. No photo manipulating programs on this laptop and for some reason was having problems with Photobucket. Anywhoo...

He got new boots.

He wouldn't take them off all day.

We got lots of looks from people.

He didn't care.

Little Man LOVES him some new boots!

The State of my Home

BandanaMom wants to play a game where we all post photos of our homes for decorating ideas and suggestions. I laughed out loud at the thought of taking pictures of my home because I am domestically challenged. Mostly because I am housecleaning challenged. If I could ever keep the house clean for longer than half a day, I might be able to progress to decorating. I am 44 and have yet to master the art of homemaking when it comes to keeping a clean and orderly home. I do well to keep a home where you can walk from the front door to the family room without killing yourself.

So BandanaMom's challenge kind of irritated me. Her challenge kind of stuck in my mind as I walked around my house that day. It made me get out my carpet cleaner and actually shampoo my family room carpets. Now the rest of my house looks like crap next to the clean carpet, so guess what? I have to do more!

So I cleaned off the table, which my mom said I would never be able to do. I took a picture as proof.

Then I vacuumed under the sofas and mopped the kitchen floor and did 2 loads of dishes and wiped down the entire kitchen. All because Bandana Mom wants to play a "Post your Pics for Comments" game! Dang, girl! See what you did? Quit makin' me care about my dang house! You are so fired right now, Lezlee! This is seriously cutting in to my blog reading time.

P.S. - here are some pics of my family room with possible color choices. Whatchya think?

Small Miracles

We recently had an issue with our local utility company, which you can read about here in a previous blog post. The issue was them being unreasonable. Their issue with me was that I didn't want to pay them more money that I currently don't have.

Tuesday of this week, I called APS to see if they would at least break up the deposit into monthly payments. I begged, I pleaded, I got nowhere.

Then I got mad and called the corporation commission, who regulates the utility companies in our state. I was able to talk to a nice guy named Al, who explained the regulations and the fact that the utility company does have the right to charge the deposit. He then went a step further and offered to talk with someone at APS on my behalf, making sure to note that he wasn't promising anything. Go AL!!

I received a call today from Melissa at APS, who reviewed my payment history and recognized that this is a short term event in our lives. She also recognized that the utility company was not at risk of losing money because of our few late payments. Melissa waived the deposit, thereby freeing up what little money I have, so I can pay next month's utility bill instead of paying a deposit that would leave me unable to pay my bill! Finally! Someone (actually 2 people) with brains!!

I needed that blessing this week. Thanks to Al and Melissa for being human.

Wordless Wednesday

Little Man likes to stay busy...

It's a Boy Thing

(That looks like it hurts!)