it's a circus world

Long lines, uncomfortable seating, loud noises, strange animal smells, carnivores eyeing up my many small boys, six dollar cotton candy.  Yep, we went to the circus last night. 

We had a fabulous time.  We bypassed the long ticket lines by buying our tickets online.  With the coupons we had, the kids got in free.  Free admission but nothing else free inside. We could have easily spent another hundred dollars in there.  When I saw the cotton candy man walking our way I tried to distract the boys which the cotton candy man recognized.  He made sure each one of my googly eyed boys took note.  The ringmaster continuously announced every optional souvenir, ride and food the circus had.  Each time the boys would look my way and each time I would shake my head.  I brought bottled water and dinner, stuffed squash.  Who eats stuffed squash under the big top?  We do.

It has been quite a few years since I've been to a circus.  The last time I was at one, I can clearly remember daydreaming about leaving home and living the glamorous life.  I would be the trapeze girl with the beautiful costume with the spotlight on me.  This time I watched the trapeze girls with a knot in my stomach.  The nets weren't nearly large enough, there out fits wear far to revealing (as Tommy pointed out), and the risks they took were ridiculous.  I was a nervous wreck until they finally bounced down into the safety net.  Every thing I had once fantasized about the circus life now seemed like such a bad idea.  Risking your life just for a cheer from the crowd and traveling every day of the year.  I was amazed at the amount of children that helped and even participated in the show.  I wonder what kind of life that must be. 

When I wasn't covering my eyes, I could see Gavin and Tommy's light up with amazement at every act.  "If I were in the circus I would be that guy, no that guy, no I would do both."  The show was almost two hours long and even though our butts were numb, we were all sitting there with a smile on our faces. 

As we drove home, we recalled our favorite acts and decided what our circus jobs would be.  Tommy suggested I be a dancing girl with clothes on as opposed to the dancing girls that weren't wearing enough clothes.  Tommy decided he would be a clown and Gavin would be the scooter driver, not that there was a scooter driver, I guess he's just really stuck in this scooter phase.  As I tucked them in we all hoped for circus dreams. 

This morning I awoke to some loud noise in the living room.  As I snuck around the corner there was Gavin.  Holding a small circus in the living room.  He was trying his best to convince Elliott to sit on top of an over turned clothes basket.  Elliott was less than impressed but too lazy to walk away.  The day continued like this.  Tommy held an all day circus in my bedroom.  We have a four post bed in which he constructed a big top.  On more than one occasion I walked in to see Petey trapped under a clothes basket.  When I inquired I was instructed to stay back, Tigers are unpredictable animals.  At this, Petey snarled at me from behind the cage.  I did have to perform several circus rescues for poor Petey throughout the day.  The swing set was turned into a trapeze and high wire act.  Unfortunately Finn was forced to take part.  Like a child who had been sold to the circus, Gavin and Tommy loaded him into Petey's baby swing and swung him far higher than he was comfortable with. 

Late today, we're still talking about the circus.  The boys are still dreaming about joining a traveling show and I'm still fascinated with the circus life.  I think I'm going to look to see if there's a documentary about living in the circus, because that's the sort of thing I would like to watch and the boys are already on the Internet looking for the next circus coming to town.  Well worth the $24.00 in tickets and the grief I had to take when I refused to buy anything else, this has spurred their imaginations more than anything has recently.

Congrats Practical Nursing Program 2010

Last week we graduated from the nursing program.  Actually, they graduated, I just pressed play on the Ipod to start the graduation music and managed my crazy boys.  Due to the time I missed during my surgery I have to come back in January and make up the Pediatric Nursing section and then, very quietly at the receptionist's desk I will be handed my diploma.  No balloons, no cake, no celebrations, no inappropriate (but seriously funny) slide show.  Just me and the annoyed receptionist.  There will be a feeling of relief, but not really a feeling of celebration.  I'll probably celebrate by going to the thrift shop alone and buying stuff for the boys.  It's strange. 

So now I'm stuck, not graduated, but just waiting till January.  I'm taking some online classes but am bored to tears already and I'm only on chapter one.  Who cares who invented the light microscope or who decided how to classify microorganisms.  Not me, that's for sure.  I do better in the classroom.  Playing practical jokes on my classmates and competing for the top grades.  I can be so immature when it comes to joking around.  I was always the one annoying the really crabby mature students by turning off the lights or putting parts of the colon model in a particular classmate's backpack.  Why is that funny?  I don't know.  Just my sense of humor.  But I won't have that anymore.  Now I will be in a virtual classroom with one hundred of my closest anonymous classmates.

So here I sit at the local college.  Not that I'm a student of this local college, just that they have a really nice quiet library.  I say quiet because it's only seven.  Far too early for real college students to wake up.  I'm supposed to be logging into my classroom with all the other online students.  But instead I am sitting here reading blogs and typing blogs and anything else to stall studying.  I'm tempted to look on Craigslist today for a tent.  Not that I have any camping plans coming up, but today I just feel the need to own a tent.  I'm also going to return a call to a man in North Carolina who is interested in selling me above ground raised be garden kits because I may or may not have recently emailed him claiming to be starting an organic garden building business.  I'm also supposed to be calling to make the vasectomy appointment today.  Although I still think I'd prefer talking to my microbiology class than the urologist.  I'm also going to type my Christmas letter today and need to find a recipe for something I keep seeing called Texas Caviar.  I hate all the ingredients but think it's something I should force myself to like.  It looks really healthy.   Seriously, can you say scatter brain.  It's a wonder I get anything done at all going in so many directions. 

Time to stop procrastinating I guess and get logged on. 

Have a great day.

Johnny Appleseed

Oh, the Lord is good to me

and so I thank the Lord...

for giving me...

the things I need...

the wind...

and the rain...

and the appleseed...

the Lord...

is good...

to me.

days like these

When your morning starts out like this it seems that the pace is set for the rest of the day.  An argument between boys lead one boy locking the other out and then locking himself out.  This boy shall remain unnamed in this post as he's already had one bad behavior post this week.  While waiting for Ed the locksmith to show up this morning, I made breakfast for the boys.  Lack of menu planning and lack of kitchen cleaning meant breakfast looked something like this...

That really looks sad.  I'm hoping that this happens to all of us once in awhile and I'm just the exception who takes pictures and blogs about it.  Who knew they would all like the Lipton Noodle Soup that I had on hand from my post surgery diet?  I didn't photograph the broccoli with cheese that they all ate in addition to the soup.  I do believe one child also had some rainbow sherber`t.  I should probably start planning my Mother the Year acceptance speech. 

As I pulled into the school parking lot, I acknowledged that fact that I had just blown their perfect attendance record by bringing them late.  I was more disappointed than them but it still added to the rotten morning I already had going.  When the going gets tough, the tough go shopping right?  After the office staff was done admiring all four little boys and asking all sorts of questions (this shouldn't ever get old but sometimes it does), they came up with a great idea.  I got the usual questions about the hand me downs.  Yep we really get our money's worth out of clothes.  My new favorite office girl suggested I go through the lost and found as it was about to gbe donated to Goodwill.  I was stoked.  Free clothes.  Sure.  I was escorted to the cafeteria where I scored a new lunch box and two Tony Hawk sweatshirts.  I thought for a brief moment that things must be looking up. 

A very brief moment and then my phone rang.  It was Scott calling in with my to do list for the day.  I was supposed to call the city to get a building permit for the fence we already put up five years ago, call code compliance to beg for mercy (we are supposed to be fined $1000 for every day we have our fence up without a permit, over a million dollars now), call the IRS about a letter we received, call our attorney and call our mortgage company to ask some questions and try to make an appointment for his vasectomy.  When I seemed shocked at my to do list of ugly alligator projects, I was reminded that it was me after all who had the day off.  

I have one child who is looking very suspicious across the room from me on the other computer, I will be checking that browsing history shortly, a small child with poop pants on sitting on my lap, one boy who is dripping wet telling me to come outside and see the sprinkler system he just installed and one boy who is gnawing on the entire block of cheddar cheese and leaving filthy little hand prints all over it.  If all days off are this much fun I'm going to seriously consider some overtime.

The only good news is that it's almost five pm and tomorrow is Saturday and I work but Scott has the day off.  So maybe I'll wait till about eight am and give his a little call with his to do list.  If you could just buy a new toilet and install it, fix the ceiling fan in our room, find our bath tub drain, fold all seven loads of laundry on our table and clean the van.  What do you mean you can't get anything done when you have the kids?  It's actually an advantage, you have four little helpers.  I'm sure you can get it all done and oh yeah, could you call and make all four boys appointments for physicals and dental cleanings and if you have any spare time, try to come up with $1,347,896.00 for the city, I got some letter about a problem with out fence.  Thanks so much, and try to think of something good for dinner. 

say cheese...

american...

and asiago...

and blue...

and cheddar...

and feta...

and swiss...

and goat...

and mozzarella...

say cheese

Tommy the Terrible

Some children are so easy to discipline.  Gavin usually requires no more than a stern look or a gentle reminder.  Finn usually responds by me physically getting up, coming over, getting down to his level and explaining why we need to do or stop doing as the case may be.  I have complete verbal control over Pete right now.  I can guide him from across the room.  Tommy however, is a completely different animal. 
Tommy has a hard time with the ride home from school.  He's hot (the ac in the van is and has been out for quite some time), he's hungry and thirsty, tired and super irritable.  I try to be consistent with snacks and cold drinks but we do live in FL and I'm in full time school myself and most honestly am a poor planner.  Usually we do OK, but there are days when I fail to plan and Tommy lacks self control.  This is a recipe for disaster.    On those days he does OK as long as he's the center of attention and I ignore everyone else, this of course I refuse to do.  The other boys deserve a turn to tell me about their days and ask me about mine.  I make sure to give Tommy his fair share of my attention but then explain that we are all going to take turns and this is usually when things turn for the worse. 

When Tommy starts talking back to me or his brothers, the most effective technique seems to be to get him out of the van.  I pull over, open the van door and tell him he needs to get out.  I shut all the doors and we wait.  After a minute or two, I roll down my window and ask if he's ready to apologize and start over.  He's usually sorry and ready to try again.  I explain the rules again and let him back in.  Some days, this can make for a long ride home.  We've been known to pull over 2 or 3 times on a rough day. 

The other day was one of these rough days.  I tolerated things until we turned onto our road when he decided to push me over the edge.  I pulled the van over, opened the automatic door and in barely a whisper explained that he needed to get out and could walk the rest of the way home.  When I pulled into the driveway I glanced back without being noticed.  There he was trudging along, head hanging.  Good, I'd made my point.  I unloaded the other boys while occasionally checking on Tommy. 

Once I had all the other boys in the house, I slipped out the backdoor and hid behind the fence to spy on the unruly one.  Now he was sitting on the side of the road taking his shoes off.  Hmmmmm... Interesting.  He started walking again.  He would occasionally stop and shuffle the load he was carrying now.  Walking barefoot I noted.  As he got close, I slipped back into the house to avoid being noticed.  Soon I heard the doorbell ring.  I opened the door to a smiling very apologetic Tommy.  After being forgiven and reminded why he had walked home, I allowed him to come inside.  Before coming in, he presented me with a gift.  He brought his hands out from behind his back to reveal his socks, stretched and bulging.  Inside were some very nice rocks, a yellow flower and one lemon. 

After that, he ate dinner, took a bath and went to bed (at 6:30).  I threw away his destroyed socks and tucked him in and made a nice tall glass of ice water with lemon.  Even though he's the most difficult to discipline, he is also by far the superior apologizer of all the boys.  Rocks, flowers and lemons, every mom's favorite right?

I Have a Secret

I have a secret.  As most of you know I'm not a very good secret keeper, especially if it's really juicy.  Certain secrets are the kind that would mean nothing to the general public, but must be kept at all costs from those close to you.  Today I share my secret with you...

I have the day off!!!  To those who don't know me, this may sound like no big deal, but those of you who know me, know that this just doesn't happen.  It's been weeks, if not months since I've broke the school work, seven days a week cycle.  I've carefully kept this secret all week. 

This morning I loaded up the boys as usual.  Big boys heading to the bus stop and Littles to Miss Tammie's.  If anyone was paying close attention, they would have noticed that I didn't have on any shoes and I didn't take my debit card.  But at 5:30 in the morning, no one's paying much attention to anything.  I waited at the bus stop with the Bigs, standing in the rain bare foot.  While we're on the bus stop topic, I must update you all on Chatty Kathy and her cat key chain.  She's become much more tolerable (or maybe I'm more patient) recently and has been waiting with her step dad who actually gets out of the car and chats with me.  The bus couldn't have come sooner today.  I was so anxious to send off my boys and get myself home for a little peace and quiet.  Next, I tiptoed into Miss Tammie's and put the Littles in their nests and left their diaper bag. 

I drove home in silence, actually no, I drove home listening to the morning talk show that I never get to hear the end of.  It was really nice.  Then I pulled into the driveway and the guilt set in.  I walked into my totally quiet house.  No screaming, no fighting,  no whining.  I did however have weeks of laundry and several days of dishes to keep me company.  Plans of a hot bath and a good book and maybe an episode or two of Housewives of Anywhere slowly slipped out of my mind as I confronted Finn's latest disaster.  Three days ago he decided to empty, completely empty my game closet.  Not just take out all the games, take out all the games and dump them out.  So I sat quietly sorting though Cranium, Things and Uno cards.  One thing lead to another and soon I had been cleaning for four hours straight.  Hmmmmm.... so much for my indulgent day off. 

A weight update:  I impatiently waiting around at minus 22 pounds.  I've been back to the doctor for my first fill.  The band is designed to receive fills or unfills of saline until you reach your desired amount of resistance.  It can take up to a year of filling and unfilling to get the adjustment just right.  I still have very little restriction so will be going back next week for another fill.  It is frustrating losing so much in the beginning and then watching the weight come off at a snail's pace.  However, I am taking this time to focus on all the things I am supposed to be doing like exercising and not drinking while I'm eating.  I have to remind myself that this is just a tool and I still need to put in the hard work like anyone else who wants to lose weight.  Sometimes I find myself thinking, I'll work really hard once I have good restriction even though I should be working really hard right now.  All in all, 22 pounds less, I'll take it. 

I must return now to my day off and see what I can do about the office.  It's in even worse shape than the game closet and I don't think I could rest without feeling like I'm wasting my day.  So off I go.  But just one more secret before I go...

I have tomorrow off too!!!