It's Go Time. We are headed to Nashville to meet with the fancy schmancy doctors who will help me figure out how to feed Layton from this point on.
Monday, September 27, 2010
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Saturday, September 25, 2010
The View From the Other Side...
My view of life is tainted. It has been narrowed by my position in life. I often forget to put myself in others' shoes. I don't always take the time to consider what a particular encounter with me must seem like to someone else.
I am going to make a big effort to remember that whatever window I am looking out of, someone else is looking in from the other side.
Friday, September 24, 2010
Because I Don't Like it When Mommy Works...
I've mentioned that the children come with me to work a good bit. Layton likes to entertain himself by taking pictures of himself. This is what he thinks of working on a Friday.
Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T
Thursday, September 23, 2010
My Sweet Girl...
Ella spent the night at my sister's house recently. Lacy has been making the most adorable tutus, and she made some for my sister's girls. Ella couldn't resist trying it on!
I can't wait to do a post about Ella's tutu. It is Halloween themed. I got her some cute leggings and had a shirt monogrammed to go with it!! I am past ready for October!
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Sandra and Sondra...The Redneck Cleaning Crew...
I like having a clean house. No, I love having a clean house.
BUT
I cannot keep up with the cleaning and laundry by myself. Work and taking care of the children are far more important to me.
SO
Over the years, I have had a few different people come clean house for me to help out. Today, I am going to share my adventures in attempting to have a maid.
The first was a woman named Sherry. She was really good at helping clean, but she was too much drama. Her 15 year old daughter was hooked on meth and pregnant, and she went on and on and on about the "baby daddy" and what he did to annoy her. Frankly, if my 15 year old daughter were to discover she was pregnant by a man in his 20s, I'd probably have him thrown in jail instead of allowing them to get married and live under my trailer roof...if I lived in a trailer. Finally, I just had to let her go. I just couldn't take the chain smoking in my garage and long stories about meth addicted teenagers. So, I fired her. She was upset. I think I was more upset.
Then, I hired Merry Maids. What a mistake!!???!! The woman who owned the franchise was so disorganized. They wound up filing bankruptcy. They were never reliable either. Some days two women would come. Other days, a woman I'd never met would come. Other times, the employee wouldn't show up until three days after the cleaning was scheduled. It just wasn't for me. When the company filed bankruptcy, they sent me an invoice for additional cleanings that had never happened. I had to call and be really ugly about it. I wasn't paying for visits that never took place.
After that two of the women who worked for someone else I knew started cleaning for me. Their names were Sondra and Sandra. They were sisters. No, I'm not joking. They even lived in trailers across from each other. They weren't very reliable either, so I canned them. It just didn't sit well with me that I would schedule a cleaning, and they wouldn't show up. One time they did it to me on a day when we were having a dinner party. I had called them the day before to make sure they knew that it was of the utmost importance that they show up the next day during the day. So all day I was expecting to come home and not have to worry about mopping the floors before our guests arrived. I got home only to discover that no one had come to clean. I had to frantically pull things together. The women showed up about 20 minutes after our company did. I politely told them I didn't want them scrubbing the toilets while I entertained friends.
About a year ago a friend of mine recommended a young woman to me. She is absolutely wonderful. She is a college student who only cleans enough to pay the rent on her apartment. I love her. She is my new best friend. Ok. That may be a little extreme, but she makes me super happy!! I pay her between 60 and 100 every time she comes depending on how nasty the house is and if I need her to do extra things. She mops all floors including the bathrooms, vacuums, polishes furniture, washes windows, cleans the bathrooms, wipes down all the kitchen counter tops, and anything else I ask her to do. One time she even stripped all the sheets off all the beds, washed and dried the sheets, and stayed at my house until they were done so she could re-make all the beds.
If I had to make a suggestion about finding someone to help with housework, it would be to find someone that your friends know and use too. I didn't get her name out of the paper or off Craig's list. She is an actual human being that came with positive reviews on the front side.
And no, I will not give you her name and number unless you pay me. She is too good to share. :)
BUT
I cannot keep up with the cleaning and laundry by myself. Work and taking care of the children are far more important to me.
SO
Over the years, I have had a few different people come clean house for me to help out. Today, I am going to share my adventures in attempting to have a maid.
The first was a woman named Sherry. She was really good at helping clean, but she was too much drama. Her 15 year old daughter was hooked on meth and pregnant, and she went on and on and on about the "baby daddy" and what he did to annoy her. Frankly, if my 15 year old daughter were to discover she was pregnant by a man in his 20s, I'd probably have him thrown in jail instead of allowing them to get married and live under my trailer roof...if I lived in a trailer. Finally, I just had to let her go. I just couldn't take the chain smoking in my garage and long stories about meth addicted teenagers. So, I fired her. She was upset. I think I was more upset.
Then, I hired Merry Maids. What a mistake!!???!! The woman who owned the franchise was so disorganized. They wound up filing bankruptcy. They were never reliable either. Some days two women would come. Other days, a woman I'd never met would come. Other times, the employee wouldn't show up until three days after the cleaning was scheduled. It just wasn't for me. When the company filed bankruptcy, they sent me an invoice for additional cleanings that had never happened. I had to call and be really ugly about it. I wasn't paying for visits that never took place.
After that two of the women who worked for someone else I knew started cleaning for me. Their names were Sondra and Sandra. They were sisters. No, I'm not joking. They even lived in trailers across from each other. They weren't very reliable either, so I canned them. It just didn't sit well with me that I would schedule a cleaning, and they wouldn't show up. One time they did it to me on a day when we were having a dinner party. I had called them the day before to make sure they knew that it was of the utmost importance that they show up the next day during the day. So all day I was expecting to come home and not have to worry about mopping the floors before our guests arrived. I got home only to discover that no one had come to clean. I had to frantically pull things together. The women showed up about 20 minutes after our company did. I politely told them I didn't want them scrubbing the toilets while I entertained friends.
About a year ago a friend of mine recommended a young woman to me. She is absolutely wonderful. She is a college student who only cleans enough to pay the rent on her apartment. I love her. She is my new best friend. Ok. That may be a little extreme, but she makes me super happy!! I pay her between 60 and 100 every time she comes depending on how nasty the house is and if I need her to do extra things. She mops all floors including the bathrooms, vacuums, polishes furniture, washes windows, cleans the bathrooms, wipes down all the kitchen counter tops, and anything else I ask her to do. One time she even stripped all the sheets off all the beds, washed and dried the sheets, and stayed at my house until they were done so she could re-make all the beds.
If I had to make a suggestion about finding someone to help with housework, it would be to find someone that your friends know and use too. I didn't get her name out of the paper or off Craig's list. She is an actual human being that came with positive reviews on the front side.
And no, I will not give you her name and number unless you pay me. She is too good to share. :)
Monday, September 20, 2010
The IRS...DUN DUN DUN...
This morning is the start of a huge audit. This is by far the most stressed I have ever been about my job. I have been doing this for almost 11 years, and I have seen three audits in the last six months. I hadn't seen that many audits (total) in the 11 years before that though. When I throw a tax return, I like for it to stick.
With the economy being slow, the government isn't collecting as much tax revenue. As a result (not one that they would openly admit to), examinations have been very aggressive in the last year.
I am really nervous about defending this tax return. Not because I did a bad job on it, but because I have never had to defend a return of this size. The last two audits before this were for returns with AGI of <400K and <1.2M respectively. This return is for a little over 12M.
If I fail to blog much this week, it's because I'm digging my heels in and fighting the IRS.
With the economy being slow, the government isn't collecting as much tax revenue. As a result (not one that they would openly admit to), examinations have been very aggressive in the last year.
I am really nervous about defending this tax return. Not because I did a bad job on it, but because I have never had to defend a return of this size. The last two audits before this were for returns with AGI of <400K and <1.2M respectively. This return is for a little over 12M.
If I fail to blog much this week, it's because I'm digging my heels in and fighting the IRS.
Friday, September 17, 2010
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Total Copy and Paste...Thanks Colleen...
One of my favorite blogs is Mommie Daze. Party because the author is sarcastic and fun and partly because I just know we would be great, good friends in real life. HA!
Anyway...I am about to paste in a post Colleen wrote earlier this week that really struck home for me.
The Vacuum Cleaner Killed the Homemaker
September 14, 2010 · 5 comments
There is a slow and quiet movement of women out of the workforce, and back into the home.
I know many, many woman who made this choice after going to college and being in the workforce. Woman younger than me seem to be continuing the trend. This despite the fact that when we were children it was difficult to find one of our moms who didn’t work.
And yet the stations of mother and home keeper are still looked down upon.
It wasn’t always this way.
Once motherhood and so-called “woman’s work” was esteemed, held in the highest honor.
There was a time a family’s very survival hinged on the woman-of -the-house raising a bountiful garden, and properly preserving the harvest for the winter months. Homeschooling wasn’t a choice, it was a necessity because there was no school to attend. Well-behaved children were a testament to the greatness of the woman behind them.
Manufactures knew of the high place woman held in society. So in the beginning of the industrial age they began to develop products designed to make her life easier, and to line their pockets. Suddenly woman at home had free time. Eventually they came to fill that free time with full-time, out-of-the-home jobs.
I am glad that I don’t have to scrub my laundry on a rock, or butcher the chicken that I roast for dinner. But I wonder if these modern conveniences that free our hands of hard-earned callouses, aren’t the very things that contribute, in part, to our devaluation?
It doesn’t matter if you make the best tasting pickles in the county, because anyone can go to the store and buy a jar of Vlasic. Socks are so inexpensive, why spend hours in the evening darning them? A perfectly starched collar means nothing with today’s wrinkle-free fabrics and relaxed dress codes.
If video killed the radio star, perhaps the vacuum cleaner killed the pie baking champion.
The skills, the knowledge handed down woman to woman, generation after generation were made obsolete, replaced by consumer goods. What was left to say that woman was worthy besides competing with man in his world?
I’m not suggesting that you toss your washing machine out, and purchase a washboard. I’m not saying that you shouldn’t work outside the home. But how do we recover the social dignity of child rearing and home keeping? By extolling what we do best.
While it is true that the most difficult house-hold chores were replaced by machine and automation, the most important contributions of women in the home remain the same as they were for over 5,000.
We possess a nurturing a spirit; a soft-touch that can ease the most broken of hearts; an instinct that knows when our offspring in the other room are in danger; a strength of spirit to remain vigilant at the hospital bedside of a sick child night after night.
These God-given abilities can not, and will not ever be replaced by man-made invention.
Anyway...I am about to paste in a post Colleen wrote earlier this week that really struck home for me.
The Vacuum Cleaner Killed the Homemaker
September 14, 2010 · 5 comments
There is a slow and quiet movement of women out of the workforce, and back into the home.
I know many, many woman who made this choice after going to college and being in the workforce. Woman younger than me seem to be continuing the trend. This despite the fact that when we were children it was difficult to find one of our moms who didn’t work.
And yet the stations of mother and home keeper are still looked down upon.
It wasn’t always this way.
Once motherhood and so-called “woman’s work” was esteemed, held in the highest honor.
There was a time a family’s very survival hinged on the woman-of -the-house raising a bountiful garden, and properly preserving the harvest for the winter months. Homeschooling wasn’t a choice, it was a necessity because there was no school to attend. Well-behaved children were a testament to the greatness of the woman behind them.
Manufactures knew of the high place woman held in society. So in the beginning of the industrial age they began to develop products designed to make her life easier, and to line their pockets. Suddenly woman at home had free time. Eventually they came to fill that free time with full-time, out-of-the-home jobs.
I am glad that I don’t have to scrub my laundry on a rock, or butcher the chicken that I roast for dinner. But I wonder if these modern conveniences that free our hands of hard-earned callouses, aren’t the very things that contribute, in part, to our devaluation?
It doesn’t matter if you make the best tasting pickles in the county, because anyone can go to the store and buy a jar of Vlasic. Socks are so inexpensive, why spend hours in the evening darning them? A perfectly starched collar means nothing with today’s wrinkle-free fabrics and relaxed dress codes.
If video killed the radio star, perhaps the vacuum cleaner killed the pie baking champion.
The skills, the knowledge handed down woman to woman, generation after generation were made obsolete, replaced by consumer goods. What was left to say that woman was worthy besides competing with man in his world?
I’m not suggesting that you toss your washing machine out, and purchase a washboard. I’m not saying that you shouldn’t work outside the home. But how do we recover the social dignity of child rearing and home keeping? By extolling what we do best.
While it is true that the most difficult house-hold chores were replaced by machine and automation, the most important contributions of women in the home remain the same as they were for over 5,000.
We possess a nurturing a spirit; a soft-touch that can ease the most broken of hearts; an instinct that knows when our offspring in the other room are in danger; a strength of spirit to remain vigilant at the hospital bedside of a sick child night after night.
These God-given abilities can not, and will not ever be replaced by man-made invention.
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
There Are No Words Left...
Hi folks. I am totally out of things to say. Yes, I am wordless. I have no clever anecdotes, not that I ever do, but I am out of stories all together. I have no interesting pictures. I haven't even taken many photos of the children lately. I have bloggers block. I will try to pull it together at some point in time.
Monday, September 13, 2010
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Thos Damn, Dirty Apes...
Children are nasty. This is not a hypothesis. It was until I put the steps of the scientific method to use and observed the test results.
Step 1: Consider the problem. I consistently have a sink full of dirty dishes and an empty dishwasher. Hmmm. It seems I am solely responsible for putting those dishes in the dishwasher even if I did not dirty the dishes.
Step 2: Formulate a hypothesis. Children are not self sufficient; they are in fact filth mongers.
Step 3: Create a prediction. The children will not put any of their dirty dishes, water bottles, pots and pans they played with on the floor in the empty dishwasher. It will be left for me.
Step 4: Test the hypothesis. I will leave the dishwasher empty and see if the children make use of it.
Results: The children indeed left all their dirty dishes for me. There you have it folks. I have proven that children will not put their dishes in the dishwasher unless you force them to. Thank you Aristotle.
Step 1: Consider the problem. I consistently have a sink full of dirty dishes and an empty dishwasher. Hmmm. It seems I am solely responsible for putting those dishes in the dishwasher even if I did not dirty the dishes.
Step 2: Formulate a hypothesis. Children are not self sufficient; they are in fact filth mongers.
Step 3: Create a prediction. The children will not put any of their dirty dishes, water bottles, pots and pans they played with on the floor in the empty dishwasher. It will be left for me.
Step 4: Test the hypothesis. I will leave the dishwasher empty and see if the children make use of it.
Results: The children indeed left all their dirty dishes for me. There you have it folks. I have proven that children will not put their dishes in the dishwasher unless you force them to. Thank you Aristotle.
Saturday, September 11, 2010
Progess...
The canvas that Art on the Square brought to the homecoming event is starting to look more filled in! I bet it will be finished this weekend!!
Just Another Manic Monday...
Last Monday, we had to take a little trip with Layton. He was super good the whole time and played on his DS the entire drive!
I particularly liked this face:
I particularly liked this face:
And this one:
And this one:
He is so funny playing his games like a big boy! I always think of him as my baby, and he's not a baby anymore. He is days away from being 5 years old. He really is a big boy, but he'll always be my baby.
Friday, September 10, 2010
Thursday, September 09, 2010
Wednesday, September 08, 2010
Kick It Outta The Park...And Kick Cancer's A$$...
Will Haney lives in our community and has a rare form of cancer. I know I mentioned his struggle last summer after attending a benefit concert for his family. This summer was just as hard for them...they found out that his cancer is not gone and more chemotherapy will have to take place. Because he has a rare form of cancer normally only found in children (he's 34), he is going to MDA in Texas. I believe he has had 19 rounds of chemo so far. It is very expensive for them to travel back and forth.
Will was such an athlete in high school! What am I talking about?! His whole family is crazy athletic!! If there was a ball involved in a sport, one of the Haney kids was number one on the team!!! His friends had a "Tournament of Champions" to raise money for Will and his wife Emily. There was kickball, corn hole, volleyball, and great food! The event lasted all day long!!
Check out these cutie pies getting in one of the kiddie pools! These adorable girls are fraternal twins and are just absolutely precious!
Will was such an athlete in high school! What am I talking about?! His whole family is crazy athletic!! If there was a ball involved in a sport, one of the Haney kids was number one on the team!!! His friends had a "Tournament of Champions" to raise money for Will and his wife Emily. There was kickball, corn hole, volleyball, and great food! The event lasted all day long!!
Check out these cutie pies getting in one of the kiddie pools! These adorable girls are fraternal twins and are just absolutely precious!
I played on a kickball team. We called ourselves the "New Kicks on the Block." Cute, huh? I am not ashamed to admit that I didn't even know the rules for kickball before the event took place. Jay filled me in a little bit, and my team did a great job telling me what to do the next day.
I am the one in pants. Duh. I don't ever wear shorts. I have the world's ugliest legs and have been super self conscience about them since I was little. Not to mention the fact that the vampires in Twilight have more of a tan than I do. It's some scary whiteness!! HA! I didn't even realize how far away I was from the team until I looked at the picture later. Wow. That opened a whole other can of worms. Maybe I should do a post about not feeling like I fit in. I don't have any issues at all. HAHAHAH!!
Our team lost, but in our defense we were up against a really good team. They took home third place last year and only had two girls on their whole team. Obviously, we only had three men. It was for a great cause though and was a lot of fun!!
Tuesday, September 07, 2010
Monday, September 06, 2010
What I Was Thinking...
I had my annual exam with my OB-GYN last week. Totally humiliating. I'm being completely serious here. They call you back, put you on a scale, and then tell you to get naked. Come on. Really??!?! I don't like getting naked long enough to take a shower, and there I sat naked as a jaybird for 45 minutes waiting on a man to walk in and swab my most intimate bits. Jay always asks me what we talk about. This particular day, Dr. Ray and I discussed Montblanc ink pens. Yes, that's correct. I jabbered about my love of his beautiful ink pen while he was in up to his elbows feeling for my ovaries. Is there really anything more humiliating? What do you guys talk about with your gynecologists?
Ella on Skates...
Ella is not the most athletic person on the block. She gets it from me. She has been to a couple of birthday parties at the skating rink in town. Oh my, the skating rink is so gross!! It still has the same carpet and paint as it did when I was little. Yes!! Ewww!!
Anyway, she has yet to be able to roll on the skates successfully. She kind of walks on them.
Anyway, she has yet to be able to roll on the skates successfully. She kind of walks on them.
She sure does love it though!
Sunday, September 05, 2010
Four Out Of Five Ain't Bad...
The day that I was playing on the courthouse lawn with Chesley happened to be the first pep rally for our local high school football team. I had the five grandchildren (on my side of the family) all with me. Yes, people who don't know me were looking at me like I was nuts for having this many children. Ha! Anyway, I kept trying to get a good picture of all five together.
Four out of five ain't too shabby!
Saturday, September 04, 2010
Have You Ever??!!??!!!...
This is my precious niece Chesley. Pronounced like Chess-Leigh. She adores me. At least that's what I tell myself. I definitely adore her though.
I was playing with her on the courthouse lawn recently, and she requested that I take her picture. Then she came over to me to proof the shot! HA! She made me take it twice because the first one wasn't up to her standards. How cute is that??!!
Friday, September 03, 2010
A Car Full...
When I load up all the children in the back of my car, I can't squeeze them all into one camera shot anymore! They are all getting so big!
Thursday, September 02, 2010
Sparse Blogging...
I try to have a post everyday. Most of the time I schedule posts way out in the future. It's because I'm lazy you see. (Say that last part in your best Whoopi Goldberg voice; it's more effective that way.)
The unthinkable has happened though. I am officially out of posts to be published. So, let's all grin and bare it over the next few days while I try to get some more posts finished. Not that I actually think anyone cares if I blog or not. Plus, it's a three day weekend, so I'm going to try and do a good bit of nothing over the next few days!! Ha!
The unthinkable has happened though. I am officially out of posts to be published. So, let's all grin and bare it over the next few days while I try to get some more posts finished. Not that I actually think anyone cares if I blog or not. Plus, it's a three day weekend, so I'm going to try and do a good bit of nothing over the next few days!! Ha!
Wednesday, September 01, 2010
Art on the Square...
Art on the Square is a great local organization that strives to bring art to the masses. On September 11 this year, the annual festival will take place on the square in Athens. There is a lot of good stuff!! Including a bagpipe performance! I can't wait to go and take some pictures.
Art on the Square participated in the homecoming celebration a while back by having a canvas for the whole community to paint. You could pick one square or one circle or whatever and paint it your favorite color. I am hoping to get a picture of the completed project soon!!
Art on the Square participated in the homecoming celebration a while back by having a canvas for the whole community to paint. You could pick one square or one circle or whatever and paint it your favorite color. I am hoping to get a picture of the completed project soon!!
This is Lisa getting a circle started. She is great to work with! We are on the organization committee of the Spirit of Athens together, and she is also on the board for SOA.
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