Wordless Wednesday

*Forever, For Always, and No Matter What*

Some People Collect Coins... I Collect Dogs

Ok, so technically I don't COLLECT them...
But I sure do love them. In my life time I've had my fair share of dogs. But just in the last 5 years we've had 5 dogs in our home (not at the same time).

Then there are the attempted adoption dogs... dogs I acquired but was unable to keep (dang landlord (Grandpa).

Then there are the hundreds of dogs I've attempted to rescue from the side of the road... or right in front of my office.

For the last 2 years we've had these two loves:

Brady

(excuse the horrible picture)

Frankie J

(aka: Franklin Joseph Jackson III)

Brady was purchased at my son's insistent need for a Chihuahua (thank the Beverly Hills Chihuahua movie for that.) Frankie was found out in front of my office by the mailbox and instantly stole my heart. He is my little love bug.... 

So after attempting to add hundreds of dogs to our "collection" over the years, the landlords finally caved and not only ALLOWED our newest addition, but my grandma actually picked him out and paid for him. 

Truth of the story is: Grandma and I were at the California Poppy Festival on Saturday and the local Humane Society was there with a bunch of dogs. My grandma saw this little cutie and fell in love. She knows there is no way my grandpa would let HER have another dog (they have 5)... so she settled for the next best thing: having him live next door at MY house. 

She calls him "Grandma's Baby"... Drew calls him "ROCKY"

So far Rocky fits in good with my other little boys. It's been an adjustment, but he really is a good dog.. and just so stinking cute.

But the story doesn't end there..... 

Today at work, a gentleman came into my office with a puppy. He said he found him out in the road and wanted to know if he belonged to any of us. I instantly took the puppy from him and and said "No, he wasn't mine, but he is NOW." .... 

Meet Presley:

There is no way in the world I can take another dog home... at least not so soon. So I'm on a mission to find him a home ASAP. Poor thing. He's been sleeping in my lap in the office all day. Bet you can imagine how much work I've gotten done today... 

Guess my collection will be put on hold for a little while.

A Selfish Mother's Day

The other day at a family get together, the subject of Mother's Day came up. My mom and her sisters always take my grandma somewhere for a few days (after Mother's Day)and we started talking about their plans.


Then my cousin asked me what I was doing for my mom for Mother's Day. I looked at my mom, who was sitting next to me, and said "I'm not really sure. What do you want for Mother's Day?" Before my mom could answer, my cousin says "wait, you mean you're not taking her somewhere?" 


My reply: "No, I'm not. I'll be at the beach that day... for MY Mother's Day, Drew is taking me to the beach."


Then the discussion became about me being selfish. My mom didn't say anything. She either just accepted it as "typical ME behavior"... or it bothers her and she didn't want to talk about it.


I'm just confused on how the fact that I, as a MOTHER, wanting to spend MY Mother's Day at the beach is selfish. I have every intention of acknowledging my Mother on that day... after all, she is MY Mom. But I am also someone's mom... 


I know my sister goes through this same dilemma every year too.. her family wants to do something for her, while she's already making plans to do something with our mom.


Is there some unwritten rule that I don't know about on how you're supposed to spend the day? 


My son wants to take me to the beach.
I want to do something for my mom.
My sister & her family want to do something for my mom.
My mom wants to do something with my grandma.


I'll see my mom (and the rest of our crazy family) the day before Mother's Day since we're all doing the Revlon Walk for Breast Cancer in Los Angeles. I intend to bring her a gift then for Mother's Day. Does this make me a bad or selfish daughter? Who knows... 


All I know is that for the last 7 years that I've been a Mom, we've always spent the day with my mom... and this year I want to have Mother's Day my way.


**Completely unrelated.. 
We acquired a new member of the family over the weekend... 

ROCKY

Story to follow in another post.. 

My Love.. My Life..

Life is hard enough with you . . .

I can't begin to imagine living it without you. . .

Loving you FOREVER,

Mom

Need to Vent

This morning Drew's school had their awards ceremony for the end of their academic session. Before the ceremony starts, all the parents and guests wait in this little room together. 


I was reading the newspaper when I couldn't help but overhear a conversation across the room. One mother (who's child is in Drew's class) was talking with 2 other mothers. They were discussing how one little boy thinks a girl in his class is his girlfriend. The mom said, "The reason kids this young start thinking about these things is because of their SINGLE parents. How is a child supposed to know about a proper family and home life when Mom is always dating random boyfriends?" She went on to say that it wasn't fair to children raised in proper families to be exposed to these other children's behavior. 


I swear it took everything in me not to get up and approach her. I sat their in complete disbelief of her ignorance. Are you freaking kidding me?!?!? 


I understand that every family is different, and every parent (single or otherwise) raises their kids differently. I can only speak for myself when I say that my being a single parent does not in any way make me less of a parent. My son has my complete and undivided attention in our home.. ALWAYS... probably more so than children in 2 parent households since their is no spouse I have to share my time with either! 


And as for the "boyfriends"... never, not once have I had a relationship since the birth of my son. That's not my thing.. it's a personal choice, but no, my son is not exposed to dating or relationships of any kind by me. 


I think this mother should have stopped to take into account that our children go to a school that is K - 8th grade. There's a HUGE possibility that our 2nd graders are seeing relationships between the Jr. high kids. Oh and then there's TV, single family members, .... and the rest of the WORLD. 


There's a big chance that our kids will be in the same class for the next 6 years... it's going to be a very LONG 6 years having to interact with this woman. 

Things I Never Learned

Now I'm not sure who was supposed to teach me this stuff along the way... or if I was expected to educate myself of these subjects... but these are things I've never learned... 


1. Proper technique of washing my hair. What types of products to use and when to use them. 


    -I have long dark hair. I usually wash it every other day with the cheapest Suave shampoo & conditioner I can find. When I told the lady at the salon this last night she almost had a heart attack... offered to BUY me the right products for my hair... and spent an hour giving me instructions. It's just hair.. what's the big deal?


2. How to do laundry. 


    -Ok, so technically  I CAN do laundry...I do about 3 loads a week. However, everything I read online tells me I'm doing it wrong, and Drew's grandma was not happy when I said I just throw his clothes in with mine. Separating barely happens in my house. Towels & linens in one load, and our clothes in another. 


3. Cooking.


   -This is something I also do... but not even close to correctly. But we're both still alive and have never had food poisoning, so I can't be too bad at it. Plus, Drew's learning to do it, so why should I bother learning now? I am GREAT at ordering a pizza or throwing a frozen meal in the oven.. so at least we won't starve. 


4. Mattress Flipping.


   -This is something I read about recently and had never occurred to me. I have a Cal-King bed, and you want me to lift, flip and rotate that sucker?? Can't I just buy a NEW mattress? Oh wait, how often should you replace your mattress?....


So there you have it... I'm officially uneducated. I will be talking to my mom about all of this later today when I see her. I kind of have a feeling some of these things were her job to teach me. Oh wait.. does that mean it will be MY job to teach Drew these things?? We are officially doomed. 

I'm Not 7

Lately I've discovered a problem in our house. 


My kid bugs me.


Ok, so he doesn't bug me (all the time)... but his need for CONSTANT attention is exhausting.. and at times, frustrating. 


I totally understand that he's 7.... all he wants to do is play. All he wants is for every second of his day to be filled with fun. He's a kid.. that's just how they think. 


But the dilemma is that I, how ever young I may be, am not a kid. Not by a long shot. 


Playing video games, basketball, football, or chess online are not on my list of fun things to do. Nope. Not for me. 


This kid would play the Wii all day every day if I let him. I let him stay up Friday night as long as he wanted, and I woke up at midnight and he was still in the living room playing the Wii. I couldn't handle it.. I made him go to bed. The Wii at midnight?? Who does that?


As we speak, this is what he's doing:

Playing the Wii

I feel bad for the kid... I really do. He's an only child.. and will be forever. We don't live in a neighborhood where he can go out and play with other kids. He's pretty much stuck with his mom.

And I can only play so much... I just don't have it in me to PLAY for hours on end. I know, I suck... I'm horrible at this aspect of motherhood... What am I supposed to do??

Not to mention that there are dishes to be done, groceries to put away, a house to clean, a yard to care for, dogs to look after... on and on and on... these things can all wait awhile so we can play a game or two.. but they can't wait another 11 years (though I sure wish they would).

My son is also the only kid I know who flat out REFUSES to entertain himself... unless it's with the Wii or computer. He will not play with his toys alone.. won't go in the backyard to play alone... nothing. This kid won't go into another room if I'm in the sitting or lying position. He literally thinks that if I have time to sit still, I have time to play. 

HELP!!!

What is a mother to do with an only child? 

Beat By The Bunny... Twice

A couple weeks ago while at a new bakery in town, I came across a bunny. 


But not just any bunny.... 


A bunny made of BREAD... I just so happen to be a lover of all things carb... 

Isn't he adorable?!?!?

So after seeing Mr. Adorable... I did what I always do when I see something cute that comes with a ridiculously high price tag.... I googled the recipe to make my own.

I came across this little gem online and figured I'd give it a try.

Attempt #1:

Saturday morning I started bright and early since I knew this sucker would need to rise for awhile. The first problem I ran into was my lack of honey... I didn't read the recipe thoroughly because I failed to buy honey at the store. So I just left it out... figured it wouldn't make too much of a difference anyway. And this was just going to be the practice bunny. I had plans to make more for Easter. Second problem came about an hour after my dough had been left to rise. It was flat... didn't rise AT ALL. This one had me stumped for a bit... till I read the back of the yeast package. Apparently yeast that expires in August 2010 won't work in April 2011.... Ewwww... yuck! Can't believe I even still had that yeast.. let alone used it.

Attempt #2:

That night I tried again... and I even had the honey.. and some brand new good-until-2013 yeast. Mixed every thing accordingly... and then stuck it in the oven to rise. See it was cold at our house and we were going in and out from playing outside so I didn't want to turn the heater on. I decided to just warm up the oven, turn it off, then stick the dough in there to rise. About a half an hour into the rising process, I turned the oven on again, very low, just to make sure it stayed warm in there so my bread would rise. Well, apparently I didn't turn it off soon enough.. or it was just on too high period... or letting your dough rise in the oven is just a bad idea.. Because after the hour of waiting, my dough had slightly risen... but had also started cooking in the metal bowl it was in. 

I am not a YEAST girl. Not one bit. 

I fully admit that every bread I make is yeast-less. 

This was a bread & bunny failure... and my poor little Drew was so disappointed. But he cheered right up when I promised to take him back to the bakery and order an over-priced bunny just for him.

Yeast - 2     Me -0

What's Up

Seems as though I've given my camera a little break... I used to take pictures like crazy, but lately... nothing. But I'm happy to report that I am living in the moment and while I may not be taking pictures, I sure am making memories. 


This morning I let Little Man put my blush on for me. He thought it was the neatest thing... and he actually did a decent job.


Drew planted tomato and onion seeds about 2 weeks ago. I am SOOO not the garden type... but I do love watching how excited he is about his little plants. And more than anything, I love watching my son grow... 


Last night Drew wanted to have a dance off. He danced to an Nsync song which cracked me up!! He said he had no idea who these guys were but the song had a nice beat. Love that kid.


Then he recorded me dancing to "The Thong Song".... it was hilarious!! He asked if that's how I used to dance when I was little.  *Note to self: destroy that video immediately!!


A man at work turned 82 on Wednesday.... 82!!!! and he isn't just doing some nonsense office job. This man is out in a shop with heavy machinery! It kills me to see someone his age, and in his physical state working so hard. 


I painted a sign for our house this last weekend... it took over 3 hours and by the time I was done my hand was killing me. I have no clue how people can paint professionally on a regular basis. 


This weekend we're going to the flee market at the Rose Bowl... and hoping to not buy too many things that we don't need. Wish me luck. 


I love that certain things remind me of people. Yellow daisies, cigars, pancakes, chocolate chip cookies, my nails.... I love how random things can flood me with memories.