The Knucklehead reigns supreme once more

Last Saturday (May 30) we had our block party. Fun. A blast.

Turns out that my Neighbor Across The Street (NATS) only showed up for a short time. That Friday, the day before the extravaganza, we found out that NATS had been dealing with the stomach flu. Okay. Fine. But NATS wife said that due to his illness that she'd been having to do triple duty at home. She had to take care of the kids once she got home from her 50-hour a week job. Then she had to take of NATS Mom, who is convalescing at their house with her broken leg.

About 3 weeks ago NATS flew out to California to bring his Mom to the house. She lived alone and all the kids lived far away. With a broken leg and her advanced age she needed assistance. And NATS volunteered his home. What's crucial here? Is that she is advanced in her years and tends to need to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night. Yes she does. So during the workweek NATS had been waking and helping his Mom to the bathroom.

But with the stomach flu? He was just TOO weak to wake up and help his Mom. Who did that leave? NATS wife. The wife who already worked a 50-hour job with a 1.5 hour commute. So last week she had to get up and help her MIL to the bathroom in the middle of the night. This may be the reason I saw NATS wife drink at least 3 HUGE glasses of white wine at the block party. She needed to blow off some steam.

I guess taking care of her MIL and her husband and her kids were taking a toll. She did tell me that one night after her kids were in bed that she had to go to the grocery store because there was nothing at the house. That NATS was too weak to go to the store. Goodness!

Is it just me or is NATS a wimpy guy? Fine. You have the stomach flu. I had the stomach flu a couple months ago. The one that lasted about a week? Yes. It was horrible I felt nauseous every single day. I was lucky to be able to have one meal a day. But I still continued taking care of the house and the kids. Like who else was going to do it? The Hubs? He works outside our house. He didn't need to deal with a whole host of issues when he'd come home each day. A couple nights he did prepare dinner but that's it. I'd just fix something and then not eat. Simple.

On Saturday (June 6), my neighbor J who had been deployed for several months finally came home. When I was chatting with J and P I found out that NATS had another incident. Another one? Yes. I guess P got a harried call from NATS on Friday.

NATS: Hi P. Are you busy right now?
P: No. What's up?
NATS: I was hoping you could drive me over to Urgent Care.**
P: Sure. I'll be over in a minute.

Turns out that NATS dropped a brick on his foot. A brick? Yes. He's having a pool put into his backyard and there's tile and all that being laid this coming week. I guess he was cleaning up the area in the backyard and dropped a brick on his foot. P said it left a big gash and broke NATS big toe. Yes. He broke his big toe. I know what you're thinking. Knucklehead. And you'd be right. He IS a knucklehead.

And now? I'm sure that NATS wife is again pulling triple duty. As I'm sure he's hobbling around with his injured foot. AHHH!!!! I can't wait to see how NATS wife is doing this next weekend. I wonder how much wine she'll consume?



**The Urgent Care is less than half a mile from our house. So it's not a big deal to have to get over there.

The Boys are Back in Town

We had an early dinner last night. It happens on Saturdays. So we decided to take a walk through the neighborhood.

Our walk? It was MUCH shorter than expected as the kids took their scooters. And the Bear? He isn't the best at it. I ended up having to ride his scooter back up the street. The Princess was tickled pink that I was riding the Bear's scooter. That just influenced her to "beat" me by whizzing quickly on the sidewalk. It always seems to be a race with her. But I enjoyed it and so did she.

Since our walk ended early, we stayed out in the front of the house. The Hubs trimmed a couple of the bushes. The Bear threw rocks in the ditch beside our house. The Princess and I took seedling pods off our trees -- these eventually fall off and make a huge mess under the tree.

As we work in the front yard, we look up as each car drives by. We smile and wave to the folks we know. We just do a quick wave to those we don't know personally. It's the courteous thing to do in our neighborhood. Well...last night I glanced and saw one of our neighbors that I do know drive up the street. I stopped what I was doing and turned to wave and saw my gal-pal P neighbor and HIM!

Saw who? I saw the man-of-the-house. My gal-pal's husband - J!!!!

[doing the happy dance]

J has been in the Middle East since February. He's in the National Guard. This was his 3rd deployment in the 3 years that we've lived in our neighborhood. THIRD. DEPLOYMENT. He's been deploying pretty regularly since all the hub-bub in the Middle East. He's a helicopter pilot and his services are greatly needed. This deployment is his last. He is now taking on a non-deployable instructor position.

J and P are the nicest people. They were actually the FIRST neighbors we officially met. We were checking on the house as it was being built and THEY were doing the same thing. We all happened to converge in the sales office at the same time with questions. That was when we met and found that we'd be neighbors. They live in the cul-de-sac that we had originally wanted to live in. The cul-de-sac that only has homes on one side of it. And they? Live at the end of the Q-tip portion it. Anyway, we have the same basic floorplan so we chatted about what options we selected. It was nice. After we spoke with the sales office we went to our homes to check on the status. What was funny is P knocked on the door of our place to see inside. She saw our cabinets and our stair railings and then....our fireplace. She noticed that the gas shut-off was no in the front.

P: Wait. Where is your gas shut-off valve?
Me: Oh. We asked them to put it on the side instead of the front. We didn't want it sticking out through the tiles in the front.
P: And they moved it?
Me: Yes.
P: Okay. We didn't know we could do that...I'm going to have to send J in here.
Me: Okay. Cool.

Well, J came in and saw the valve was sticking out of the side rather than the front of the fireplace. He was all up in arms. He couldn't believe that this wasn't an option that the salespeople provided. Needless to say, they had the builder move THEIR fireplace valve to the side. I mean, they have FOUR boys. The possibility of that valve getting bumped if it was sticking out the front? Quite high. Bumping it while it's on the side? MUCH slimmer possibility.

So that was our first interaction with J and P. It was actually P who got the block party organized last week. She's the one who got the jump castle and the water balloons.

Yesterday, I saw that J was in the van with the rest of his family. I walked into the cul-de-sac because I HAD to say hi. The kids rode their scooters over. Another one of the cul-de-sac neighbors was out with her 1.5 year old. So we all gathered to welcome J home.

J was scheduled to be home on Thursday. On Thursday morning, I saw P and she said he was delayed and would be home on Friday. So when I welcomed him home he told me that he'd only been home for four hours. WTF? So his homecoming was delayed yet another day. But he was home! YEAH! All four boys were all smiles telling me about seeing the big plane that held the helos.

We're all so happy that J is home. He's made it through all of his deployments. He's safely home. Now P can take a breather. She's held it together through all the deployments. With four boys there are a LOT of activities. LOTS!

For those of you wondering why we didn't schedule the block party for J's return? Three weeks ago, we had no inkling that J would be coming home. We wanted the boys to have something to look forward to. I know about delayed returns as the Hubs was in the Navy. We wanted the boys to have something FUN to do. And it was good fun. I thought it was important that J and P to have their own welcome home party as a family. After being gone, I wanted them to have their family time. You know?

We can now have another summer party as a welcome home. Another party? Who's up for that?

Another friendly tiff

My daughter had a playdate this afternoon. It's one of our neighborhood girls. The girl who had her late birthday party last week.

The girls played nicely together. There was a bit of destruction. My daughter's closet door is off the bottom track. Apparently, my son pushed the girl and she landed on the closet door. My son does not normally push his sister, so this was an unusual event. The girl left our refrigerator door open after she grabbed a yogurt for a snack. It was WIDE open. Then there was the going home. Neither girl seemed happy. The Princess didn't want to want her friend back to her house, which I thought was odd. So...I KNEW that something had happened.When I got back home I found the answer to the tension. Apparently, this girl said "Your house is boring!"

My daughter started crying softly into my chest. She felt horrible. She didn't know what to say or do. She was all befuddled with mixed up emotions. All the Princess wanted to do was spend time with her friend and have fun. How hard is that?

I just couldn't believe that girl was so rude. That she would say that to my daughter's face. That she would be so insensitive. She's played at our house more than a dozen times. But it's the age I guess. When girls test their words and see how hurtful they can be. This incident? BREAKS the bonds between the girls pretty severely.

My daughter and I agree that this girl is NOT going to be invited to our house for a LONG time. Nope. I'm not going to have her over. No way. No how. She can invite the Prin over to her house. She made my daughter feel bad. And she was rude. And destructive.

Have YOU not allowed one of your children's friends over? Why? What happened?

Marketing myself [ugh]

I hate interviews. I seriously do. I hate talking about myself. Talking about what I can do. I'm very uncomfortable with the entire process.

What's funny is that I was a recruiter for a small period of time. I enjoyed it. I REALLY enjoyed talking to the people who sent in resumes. I think that due to my being uncomfortable with the process from my own personal perspective allowed me conscious about how I came across to folks. I felt it was my duty to help them feel at ease. And they did. We'd chat and chat. I really got to know them. Because they were relaxed, I was able to ask questions and they'd answer without being guarded. It was great.

But now? It's my turn to have to talk about myself. It's the ONLY way I can get a new job though. I can't just blink my eyes and have a new position. I'm no genie. I have to work for it. I have to get myself OUT there. I have to get people to want me. Uh? Do YOU want me? Ha!

I can do this.
I can do that.
My accomplishments at this job were....

So I'm going out next week to the city I grew up. I spent a couple hours today sending out my resume to places and stating in my cover letter that I'd be in-town next Thursday and Friday. IF anyone was interested in speaking with me. I said right on my cover letter that I'm looking for a job PRIOR to my official move into the area. That means I ain't moving until I've been signed up for a job.

AND since the Hubs has to work his current office job, I have to take the kids with me. I'm going to drive almost 400 miles with the kids (it'll be an 800 mile round-trip). A drive I've never done before. The Hubs ALWAYS does the drive. I'm a bit nervous about it. I have to do a mountain climb. I'm thoroughly dreading the entire experience, but I have to do it. I have to because I want a new job in the city I grew up in.

It seems that companies aren't even considering people who aren't local. I'm not asking these companies to pay for my relocation either. The Hubs and I will pay for the move. We just need new jobs. [sigh]

But can you believe that I'll be going through two experiences that I dread? Interviewing and driving over 100 miles in one sitting.

Good times with my little guy

I surprised my little boy with another outing to the movies. Yes! Another movie date with Mommy!

He didn't know we were going to the movies and kind of law-le-gaggled when I told him we were going out on errands. But he perked up BIG time when we rolled into the theater parking lot.

Our local theater has free movies at 10am every weekday this summer. Yes. FREE. Every weekday. Monday. Tuesday. Wednesday. Thursday. Friday!!!! Each week has a different movie. Woohoo! Actually, the movie is free for the kids. It costs $1.00 for each adult. Pretty good deal, eh?

This week's movie is 101 Dalmatians - the one with Glenn Close. I'd never seen it. The Bear hadn't either. When the Princess was little we rented the video and she didn't like it. Glenn Close scared her. So the Princess never finished watching the movie. She'll be seeing the movie tomorrow though. The Y Campers will be bussed over to the theater to watch the movie.

And since the Princess was scheduled to watch the movie tomorrow? I decided to bring the Bear today. This way they'll BOTH have seen it.

The Bear and I shared a lemonade and some popcorn. It was fun.

The only issue? The adults who can't seem to figure out WHEN they need to REMOVE their children from the theater. There was a lady who kept her crying child (about 3 years old) in the movie. The kid cried for at least 15 minutes. And the lady was in the row in front of us...but to the right about 5 seat away. But the kid was LOUD.

Bear: That baby is not being quiet Mom.
Me: I know Buddy.
Bear: Why is the Mommy not helping it?
Me: I don't know.

He was concerned about the kid. I just wanted that lady to carry the kid out so the rest of us could watch the movie! [sigh] But I didn't complain because it didn't cost us much to watch it.

Parenting in Synch [updated]

You all have been there. When one parent says one thing and the other parent says another to a child. When a kid tries to play one parent against the other.

Oh the HEADACHE!

This morning, the Princess was tired. T-I-R-E-D!

Hubs: Princess. Princess, if you don't get ready then you won't go to Y camp!

The Princess got up. The Princess got ready. I thought all was fine. But she had some issues with tying her shoelaces. It just wasn't going well. She couldn't get it tight.

A MELTDOWN occurred.

She got out of the car. I ended up giving her a little "love" tap on her behind.

Princess: I'm telling!
Me: Okay. Go ahead. Who you going to tell?
Princess: I'm telling DADDY!
Me: Oh, you are?
Princess: YES!
Me: Okay. You go ahead and do that tonight when Daddy comes home.
Princess: BUT...Daddy said that if I don't get ready then I won't go to Y camp!
Me: Well, you look ready to me.
Princess: I'm NOT! I don't want to go! I want to stay home!

Oh yeah. It was a pretty scene this morning. It's now 12:50pm and the Princess is not home. She's at Y camp. She was pouty and had red eyes from her crying outburst. But she went. Reluctantly.

I'm sure once I was gone that she cheered up. I've seen these outbursts before. She's just tired. I know her too well. She always has fun once I'm out of the picture. She does. She got to ride a horse yesterday. On Monday, they did the rock-climbing wall. It's a good time up at the camp.

And she is NOT staying home with me all summer. She's going to Y camp every other week. She's been home enough with me full time for me to know her limits. She can go just a couple days before she's houdning me every hour.

Princess: MOM? WHAT can I DO NOW? I'm BORED!

Yes. That's exactly what she says to me. She's got art stuff. She's got books. She's got workbooks. But she's bored. Yeah....she is NOT staying home ALL summer. Nope. Not happening.

So once I got home from dropping her off? I called the Hubs and relayed the incident to him. I told him what NOT to say. This way we're both working together on the same path to get the day going. We need to work together...not apart. [sigh]



*********updated*****************

It's now 4:30pm. I've got lasagna in the oven for dinner. Rolls are ready for warming once the Hubs gets home.

The kids? They are upstairs playing.

The Princess? She was fine and dandy when we picked her up at the Y an hour ago. She ran up to me when she saw me near the pool. She ran up and gave me a BIG hug. Once she released me, she gave me a big smile and started to tell me about her day.

Once we were in the car on the way home, she apologized for her behavior earlier today.

She's a good girl. She is. My Princess.

Another health issue to face

Here's an email that MIL sent to the Hubs yesterday:

Daughter already knows but Aunt C has breast cancer, it was confirmed today.

Please pray really hard for she and Grandpa as they were referred to the oncologist for surgery and radiation and chemotherapy I think.

Here's an update that the Hubs received at lunch today:

She saw the oncologist (female doctor) and the doctor believes it’s a Stage II Insitu carcinoma which is confined to the nodules/lobes where it started. The surgeon (male doctor) is the same one who did the biopsy. The doctor advised that after the surgery they will do a review and decide the next step, probably chemotherapy (hair loss) but the news is encouraging for now.

So the Hubs aunt has cancer and will have surgery scheduled ASAP to remove the effected nodes. Thankfully, the cancer hasn't spread beyond the nodes so the surgery should be able to take care of a lot. Then the chemo will get anything else.

This is one of the Hub's aunts that I adore. She's the one that takes care of the Hub's grandpa. She also took care of his grandma before she passed two years ago. Now she's sick. Makes me sad.

Keeping busy

The kids had a fun time up with my ILs.

We have had a bunch of activities since they've been home.

Saturday, we had a neighborhood block party. We had a great turn-out. Everyone had a fun time. The kids loved the jumpcastle, the basketball hoop game, the water balloons, and the hula hoops. All of us adults got acquainted. We hung out until dark. I mean DARK. I could barely see the kids. I must have been out there about 5 hours -- including setup time. Whew!

Sunday was spent at a neighbor's birthday party. The young lady turned 8 years old. It was a swim party with all girls! The Princess and I spent all afternoon there. This was the neighbor who had her 3rd child about a month ago. The baby was born on her oldest daughter's birthday. Yes. Two of her kids are now sharing a birthday. So this young gal was having her party a month late. But she didn't care. She had a party! A SWIM PARTY!

I'm still tuckered out. I've been busy with work -- yesterday and today. I've also been trying to balance my time with the Bear. [sigh] And the Princess has been busy at the Y Day Camp.

On the job-front there's nothing going on. I did get a call yesterday but it was from a recruiter who wanted me to get back into the recruiting field. [ugh] What I didn't like about recruiting is that it was mainly commission-based AND I spent a lot of time on it. I need a steady income. I don't want to have a job that'll pull me away on weekends and nights. I know. I'm picky. But I'm still sending my info out. I'm trying!