It's a simple life

I follow several blogs and frequently they post about really important issues suchas, attachment disorders in our adopted children, the on-going crisis in Haiti, the daily struggles of raising a child with Down's Syndrome, etc. I however, seem to post nothing but drivel. Pure, unadulterated, drivel.....mind numbing who-ha, blah, blah, blah!

I have come to realize that my world, my entire life actually, does in fact revolve around my children. 99.5% of the time I am fine with that. BUT, there are times I would love to have grown-up things to chat about with other people. Seems these days that if whomever I am speaking with does not have kids about my kids' age then I have a total inability to relate to their daily world. My entire repretoire of conversations usually involves discussions about homework, snotty attitudes, bed-wetting, pee everywhere BUT in the toilet, appropriate language, foot-stomping, door slamming teenager, blah, blah, blah!

What if I have the chance to speak to someone who lives 'out there...in the real world' with grown-ups? What if I find I have the inability to form a coherent thought that doesn't require me to yell at somebody to 'knock it off'? It came as quite a shock to me when I realized that I have not had outside employment for 20 years. Would I be able to hack it in the real world?

Don't get me wrong. I actually believe that my days are WAY harder than a lot of people's days who spend them with grown ups, in an office, but I wonder if I am capable of still be taken seriously by non-SUV driving mom's. I feel in my element amongst my motherly peers. I feel comfortable with hearing friends yell at their kids to "Put that shovel down and stop chasing your brother." I feel comfortable knowing that other mom's get the frustration of my day when I have 4 sick kids, a crap hole of a house, and no clue what to make for dinner. I like my comrades in the trenches who understand my pain of having 4 kids all pissed off at me when I change plans because I have a migraine. The list is endless, but I like my friends who are in the trenches with me dealing day in and day out with kids who don't care what headaches they cause us, as long as we have the ability to drive them around and have a functioning credit card.

Life is scary out there among them grown-ups! I prefer to hang with my 'mom' friends who get me and don't run away just because my kids are screaming and I'm a stuttering fool. I like my simple pleasures of running into friends at Walmart and talking for an hour while our kids make total nuisances of themselves. It really is the small things in life that make me smile and appreciate the simple pleasures. Who would have thunk it, that chatting with friends at the store....Walmart no less....could make me smile and count my blessings.

Thankfully it wasn't my kid this time

I keep forgetting to post this since life has been a blur the last week or so, but now I have the time and motivation to sit and blog.

On Mother's Day, we gathered our bickering clan and headed to church as usual. As is typical, Pastor Paul calls all the kids forward to sit on the steps of the altar while he gives the kids' sermon. However on Mother's Day, he shook it up a bit and decided to let the kids come up with words that exemplified their beloved mothers, all the while spelling out M.O.T.H.E.R. All 3 of my boys were up on the altar along with about 15 other kids when Pastor Paul ask the kids to give him word that starts with an 'M' that has some meaning about their own mom. The first kid says, "Mopping" which I guess means that poor woman spends a great deal of time cleaning. People hadn't even stopped laughing when the next kid blurts out, "MASSIVE". I damn near broke my neck trying to see which kid yelled that out and much to my relief it was not one of mine. That poor sad, soon to be beaten boy that said it, looked kind of puzzled at the raucous laughter and Pastor Paul, must have been caught off guard because he kept saying it over and over, Massive?...Massive?.

All I know is I am SO THANKFUL it wasn't one of my boys, or I am telling you, they would have had a LONG, LONELY walk home from church!!

The Rainbow Bridge

Last Thursday was a very sad day here in our home. We lost our sweet Pebbles to cancer and gently released her to be free of her pain and run and play just over the Rainbow Bridge. She was diagnosed with Lymphoma in August of 2009 and had we not chosen chemo, she would have been dead in about 30 days. With Chemo, she lived an outstanding 9 months of good, happy days.

Chemo is an odd beast in dogs. It rarely causes adverse reactions like humans experience; no hair loss, loss of appetite, lethargy...nada. Everyday, with the exception of the last 2 were all good, normal days for her. The day before we put her to sleep, she didn't want to get up and go the barn with me, not play and chase her toys. She looked tired and sad. On Thursday morning the entire family brought her to the vet clinic where her regular vet was there waiting for us. Pebbles slowly walked to Shawna, the vet, lifted her hand with her head and waited for her lovin'. She curled up on the floor as we all sat around her stroking her and as the needle slowly dispensed the cursed pink liquid thru her vein, her head slumped forward between her front feet and she simply stopped breathing. The kids were all VERY upset as were Marc and I, but we knew it was the final act of kindness.

Pebbles has been cremated and will rest next to the other dogs we have loved and lost before. Quite honestly, that shelf is getting rather full. The vets sent a lovely condolence card and quite to our suprise a lovely paw print of Pebbles massive feet. That will be treasured and placed in our china cabinet so we can always see it and remember how fortunate we were to have a dog that everyone loved and to forever have her massive paw prints embedded in our hearts.

RIP my dear Pebbles. You remain loved and lost every moment of every day!

What's one more????

Cochon, the guinea pig

Animals that is! I have completely lost my marbles, I accept that! Two days ago I took the kids to Petsmart to get some doggie supplies and Richnightder spied with his little eye, the damn guinea pigs. He looked at them, talked about how cute they were and then dropped the bomb. "Mom, I want one" is what he said to me. I promptly told him no that they were just too darn expensive. OK, I know I lied about that, but desperate times call for desperate measures.

Being the smart little kid he is, he bent down, carefully studied the price tag and when he stood back up, looked me straight in the eye and informed me he had more than enough money to buy one himself. $29.99 does seem to be a lot for a rodent, but seeing as he had saved his birthday money, how could I refuse the kid. Besides, he waters the horses everyday and cleans up all the dog poop in the yard. He does those tasks without me having to nag, so I really couldn't come up with viable reason to deny him. Besides, guinea pigs are cute!

In some ways I feel this is Karma coming back to bite me in the butt. Years ago I bought each of my nephews, Michael and Ryan guinea pigs that seemed to live FOREVER, much to my sisters dismay. This time I have no one to blame but myself. I'm a softy and an animal lover so when Richnightder goes to bed tonight, I will sneak into his room, open Cochon's (Creole for pig....cute name, huh) door on his cage and play with him awhile.

Welcome home Cochon. You are now the only guinea pig in our household and you join the animal ranks of 9 horses, 5 dogs, 4 cats, 2 bunnies and last, but not least....one guinea pig.