In the quiet round these here parts…

I continue to become larger and larger. Speaking of my expanding abdomen, Brian says, "It's like an Imperial Star Destroyer, you can't ignore it..."

Everything is perfect! Perfect I tell you! I kick my mommy ruthlessly, following in the footsteps of my big sister! Oh yeah, did I mention I'm a girl? And my name is Alice Elizabeth?

Note to self, girl’s got attitude. Also? Must find scanner, to scan in decent pictures of Alice’s cuteness. Also? Must buy new camera. Must.  Cell phone camera not cutting it.

We were wondering where poor Alice was going to find room to snuggle... I'm guessing Boo is going to be finding a new snuggle spot...

God, I REALLY need a new camera... This is a normal evening activity at our house. Emma will balance Alice on her, and then our circus act will be complete. It's nice to know we'll always have employment.

Just desserts

If you follow me on Twitter, today you might have read this:

I asked my husband if he would bring me a cupcake.

He asked me if I would not love him anymore if he didn’t.

I’d had a shitty day- I tangled with a difficult client (no fun!) so I told him it might keep me from killing someone.

When I got home, this was waiting for me!

Brian for the WIN!

He is all kinds of awesome, everyday.

If I could clone him I’d make a fortune.

Buster the Chug (Ribbed for his pleasure)

(Sorry, couldn’t help myself) It is! LOOK!

All right, maybe not "ribbed", perhaps "nubbed?"

Either way, HE LIKES IT, and he’s not ashamed!

If you want me to bite it mom, I will. Nom Nom Nom.

Buster is FUN!  He can be a pill, like the other morning when a huge wind came through in the night, knocked the wheelbarrow over which broke the fence, resulting in a two slat opening, JUST wide enough for him to squeeze through.  Which I didn’t know when I let him out to go potty before I left for work.  So when I let him in 10 minutes later and he didn’t come in… There was much terror. And ten minutes of us driving through our neighborhood looking for him.  Emma was crying that someone was going to steal her dog.  We found him…and Brian fixed the fence when he came home.

Emma adores him:

Love:)

They sing, they dance!

Kisses! Kisses!

Sometimes he just tolerates her exuberant affection, but he loves her lots!

All we need is love!

This dog is SPOILED.  I cannot go shopping without buying him something.  And he’s a chewer, so most thing go quickly.  Here is his assorted loot in one room.

One room's worth, although he does tend to carry his favorites around with him

He got a new baby tonight, see?.

I'm such a good daddy! Or wait....

I'm very small and alone and helpless and cute!

Oh, I have fear!

And having owned hedgehog for exactly two hours the squeaker is already gone!

Gator has seen better days- but is his most favorite of toys. I found him in Winco and will be looking for a replacement next timeI go.

And OMG, do you see his cute little wrinkles?  Around his nose? I just want to bite them, they are so cute!  He is SUCH a cute dog!

Big Bone! Big Bone! This is his nylabone, which he love very much too. DAMN but them's expensive!

Just so you don't think my life is *so* easy, I'll have all of you know she made me SIT for this milkbone and then lay down and THEN? SHE TRIED TO PUT IT ON MY NOSE! My mommy is HEARTLESS, I tell you. My life? One huge tragedy.

He will never be a Chuck, I’m afraid…

Don't look at me like that, I live a life of TORTURE! TORTURE!

O.M.G! LOOK at his face, his cute little face and TELL me how you can not love him? I mean seriously, LOOK AT THIS FACE!

He has an appointment to get his balls chopped off next month- since it’s tax season I need a Saturday appointment.  He spends his spare time looking at girls on the internet- He thinks Ella is QUITE fetching and Pearl has LOVELY eyes and a stunning coat!  He’s quite the ladies man, he just doesn’t know it’s about to come to an end!

He sleeps with Brian and I and prefers to be IN THE MIDDLE.  When we are settling in for the night he tries to sneak in- it’s hilarious, the innocent look on his face.  He KNOWS he’s supposed to be at the bottom of the bed but he wants SO desperately to be in the middle!  A couple of nights ago I woke Brian up laughing because he’d wiggled up between us and was tummy up, snoring! ( He does snore, but not as much or as loud as a pug does.)  As it is, one of us is constantly moving him back down and to the side.  SOMEONE complains about it but when I said we COULD kennel him if we had to at night, someone wouldn’t hear about it. SOMEONE loves this dog just as much as I do.

We’d both prefer it if he wanted to sleep with Emma, but he’s very much oriented towards adults it seems.  And she likes it when he snuggles her, but since he’s a cuddler and she’s a sprawler they are both contented to sleep apart.  We just need a bigger bed.

Speaking of beds…I’m off to mine:)

Christmas Eve

Buster is staying.  My sister and I talked and she loves the hell out of this dog.

She loved him enough to admit:

• She can’t keep him safe from my sisters very aggressive and big dogs,
• She doesn’t have a job (not from lack of looking) so how can she pay for food and vet bills,
• She doesn’t know where she’s going to be living,
• She’s going to college *somewhere*

She’s a good girl, she really is.  She’s thinking of moving in with her boyfriend which I think is BAD BAD BAD, as she’s 18!  And he just turned 23.  Five years is an eternity when you are that age.  It’s not that I don’t like the BF (don’t know him) but she’s so young! She should be having fun and running away to exotic places on spring break!  I don’t want her to feel trapped.  I want her to go out and experience life.

But she’s 18 and invincible and has to make her own mistakes and I understand that- I got married at her age… Scary. She’s still a baby.

So Buster is staying with us.  I spent an hour last night checking the fence and now I know for sure he can’t get out.  It’s cold enough he’s happy to go out, do his business and come back in and snuggle.  We need a bigger bed, since he HAS to sleep with us.

Emma has been begging BEGGING for a dog so it’s an early Christmas present for her (and for us) and you should SEE how Brian adores him.  He claims to not like small dogs but there is definite adoration when he talks to Buster.

Emma is off for her Christmas Eve visit with her paternal side.  I’ll pick her up at 10 tonight.  I hope she’s having fun.  I’m at work for a couple of hours and then I’ll be off to shop for a couple more things, and wrap and bake.

I’m lonely for my baby- always.

But soon she’ll be home and guess what?

It FEELS like Christmas to me. It’s been a stressful couple of months for us- but things are better now and sometimes? A little struggle makes you appreciate what you have.  Brian keeps asking me what I want for Christmas and the answer is what I already have.   I have him, I have Emma, we have each other. What more do we need?

Grace in Small Things 42.365

• Friends
• Family
• A warm house
• A little snow on the ground!
• Leaving work early

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Counting my blessings

Brian and I are snuggling and chatting about $$ which is tight right now.  It might have been stressful but then he said “It’s not bad being poor when I have you!”  Which is how I feel too. Last year I got a diamond ring for Christmas.  This year we are not exchanging presents, but we are still so happy.  It’s easy to be happy when you’ve got “enough”.  It’s just sometimes you have to learn what “Enough” is.  It’s taken me some time to figure it out.  I still tend to internalize things, stew on them… You’d think after three years as a team I’d know to take my worries to Brian but I forget!  I spent so long doing it myself that I forget I don’t have to.  I always feel better after we talk.

We are good.

We are healthy.

We have food.

We can pay our mortgage.

We are together, a family.

It’s hard but we can do it, hell, I even have a gym membership!  (Although having the contract sucks…) We have so much more than we need, really.  I am grateful.

S.O.S or Save our Sanity

We have pulled Emma out of daycare for a few weeks to save some money.  It’s tight right now.  Really tight.  I love her, I love having her near me, but it’s tough having her at work with me. She wants to play with me and sit on my lap and I have to work, so it’s tough.  I feel conflicted. And of course I’d rather have her on my lap:)  So this might drive us both crazy. I think we’ll get used to the routine and get more comfortable at it. She’s good about coloring and playing by herself. She’s really so very marvelous and I’m really grateful that we HAVE this option. So this is not a vent or me complaining but just talking.

Thing that make me smile

http://www.picturesforsadchildren.com/

My sister in law’s www.babysites.com page.  I’m going to be an auntie in March again!

Tomorrow is Friday.  I am giving blood.

This is our weekend with Emma.  This makes us happy!

Corn maizes!

We are going for a train ride!  Emma will get to pick out her very own pumpkin from the pumpkin patch!  How awesome is that?

In other news…

The foreclosed meth house that the police officers told me had to be torn down (because of the meth lab underneath the house) now has squatters!  OH!  The JOY!   What kind of idiots want to live in a house like that and what can we do about it?  The bank so far is not doing anything with it, because it’s only worth the land it’s on.  Low on their priority list.

I’m joining the Idaho Athletic Club and it shall be great and glorious.  But I’m not doing it this week because I’m slightly not feeling good.

A first grader called my almost six year old daughter “HOT”.   Brian has threatened to murder him. She has also asked about “sex”, especially after her other dad let her watch inappropriate things last time she was with him.  I have taken proactive steps and ordered the books “Everything you never wanted your kids to know about sex, but were afraid they’d ask : the secret to surviving your child’s sexual development from birth to the teens” and “What’s the big secret? : talking about sex with girls and boys”.  So now I have to practice saying “The penis goes in the vagina”.  I told Brian that and he asked if we really had to tell her about “all that”.  I said, “Yes, if she’s old enough to be told lies then she needs the truth.”

I’ve officially started my life list.

I swear, by all that is holy, that I am going to hang ONE DAMN PICTURE this week, if it kills me.

I am taking a parenting class on Wednesdays (cause I wanted Jeff to take it and he only agreed to it if I’d take it too, except he still hasn’t taken it and he’s going to be pissed when he gets in trouble with the judge for not taking it) and I’m the only parent there who hasn’t A: lost custody of my child and B: Done Meth.  I’m the only one there by choice and while I have lots of things I’d rather do with my Wednesday, I’m actually enjoying what I’m learning, even if I’m not learning as much as the other people in the class.  The other people in the class are all really nice, and really trying and that makes me happy.

We chopped down a bunch shit and dug up a bunch of shit in our yard. It’s looking better. Our grass is coming back. I love my house!

We are all well, for the most part and healthy and happy, life is good!

My husband and I just had a Ménage à trois with a spider.

No. Not on purpose.

Yes. The spider is now dead.

Brian had to defend my honor.

You are welcome.

In which Brian learns a valuable lesson

A couple of weeks ago the boys were playing Axis and Allies until three in the morning.  Not a problem.  Except they were drinking.  Again, not a problem.  Except Brian said he’s be home by ONE and it was THREE when I woke up and his phone was dead and I didn’t know where he was.

He came home and didn’t quite understand why I was pissed. (Cause I was worried!?)  But he was suitably repentant and life moved on!

Last night we watched Amélie, a subtitled french film. ADORABLE.  If you like subtitles, which I do. Call me crazy.

Anyway, there comes a point in the movie where she’s supposed to meet up with her male interest and he’s late, and her brain goes a little crazy.

“-Nino’s late. For Amelie, there’s only two possible explanations

. He didn’t find the picture.

. He didn’t have time to piece it together

because repeat offenders took him hostage.

Chased by the police,

they managed to escape.

But he caused an accident.

When he recovered, he couldn’t remember anything.

A trucker gave him a ride

and believing that he is a fugitive, put him in a container to Istanbul.

There, he came across Afghan adventurers,

who took him with them to steal soviet missiles.

But their lorry exploded on a landmine in Tajikistan.

The only survivor, mountaineers helped him out,

and he became a mujaheddin fighter.”

“THIS IS WHAT MY BRAIN DOES!”  I exclaim to Brian!  “This is what I think when you are late!  My brain automatically takes something tiny and explodes it into something big.”

And now Brian knows how crazy I can truly be.  And he still loves me anyway! SO really the lesson learned is that I have a French brain or something.

I loved the movie! You should watch it!