So sorry...

...I've been MIA lately. By now, you all know how crazy things around here can get. I'm sorry I've been out of touch. I'm especially sorry to my BBF, KBL, who actually sent me a message today, checking up on me, since I've been out of touch lately. I also owe her a homework assignment, so I'm going to take care of that right now. (I also owe Karen one, but I'm not using my own computer right now, so I have to come back to it. Sorry, Karen!)

MeMe


What are your current obsessions?

• Counting down to the last day of school! (Sorry, just tryin' to keep it real!)
• Dancing with the Stars (I just watched the first night of the finale. Go Gilles!!)
  

Which items from your wardrobe do you wear most often?

• At the sad state that I'm in these days, whatever I can squeeze my fat ass into! :(
• I tend to wear my black sweats a LOT (I change into them as soon as I get home from school.)
• An old pair of Stud Muffin's slide-on sandal-y things. They are the ONLY thing that helps relieve the mind-numbing pain of my plantar fasciitis.
  

Last thing you bought?

• Burrito Bowls all around at Chipotle
• Rainbow Cones all around at the ORIGINAL Rainbow Cone (only my ChiTown friends will understand this one. To the rest of you I say, "SOOO sorry you aren't lucky enough to live here!!!")

I picked Stud and his best friend up after school (like I do everyday) and The Girl was given permission to hang out with us for the afternoon. As you can see, we went on a Gastronomic Adventure :)

What are you listening to these days?

• I have EVERY radio I own tuned to WLIT. I guess I'm kinda a loser that way.
  
• In the shower, I listen to these great mix CDs that my brother made me.
  

Favorite kid's film

• Hands down - #1 Lion King
• So many others, I can't even list them. ANYTHING Disney, for sure
  

Favorite Holiday Spots

• OK, I know this is lame, but my hammock in my backyard
• Saugatuck, MI (where I take Stud and his best friends every year)
• I know I should probably say my parents' villa, but eh, I don't know. It's beautiful and all, but I seriously can NOT take the heat. Especially since air conditioning is almost non-existent there!! :( (KBL, you and BelovED should seriously spend some time there. My mother would LOVE to have you, and it's in a part of Italy you haven't visited yet!)
  

What are you reading right now?

• My usual pile of magazine subscriptions
• I've started buying my summer books, so I can't wait to dive in to them. I hope I actually get to read them this summer, since sadly, the pile I bought LAST summer went unread. I got to spend my summer vacation bustin' my ass at the bar!!! Well, not THIS summer, God willing!
  

Four words to describe you:

• mom
• teacher
  
• tired
• obese (hmmm....think these last two are related?!)
  

Guilty pleasure?

• ANYTHING chocolate!! Currently it's the Dove ice cream bars in my freezer and the chocolate peanut butter cups from WalMart. They are AMAZING!! (Gee, remind me again why I'm obese these days.....)
  

Who or what can make you laugh until you are weak?

• Stud Muffin (he has such a quick wit, he kills me!)
• My babies at school
• My family, in general, is hysterical. When we get together, we all laugh until we can't breath. My sides are usually sore the next day, seriously.
  

First Spring thing?

• Definitely my lilac bush blooming. I wait all year for it!
  

Planning to travel next?

• I have no idea, since I can't even fathom having any free time. I've been working 7 days a week for so long now, I wouldn't even know what to do with a day off.
• Stud has already been bugging me about Michigan, since he wants to bring The Girl this time, so that'll probably be our first trip.

After this?

• My best friend just sent me an interesting email over the weekend about some killer deals to Ireland. I've never had one iota of interest in going to Ireland, but the deal is seriously killer, and hey, it's not HERE!

Best thing you ate and drank recently?

• Ate-go up to #3!
• Drank-I've been a bit obsessed with Mike's Hard Lemonade lately
  

When did you last get tipsy?

• I can't even remember. Despite spending most of my free time in a bar, I'm not much of a drinker. I know I JUST said I've been obsessed with Mike's lately, but I'm talking about 1 every two weeks or so. I'm very much a light-weight in the drinking department.

Favorite ever film?

• Comedy - Coming to America (I wore out 2 VHS tapes before I bought it on DVD!)
• Musical - Singing in the Rain
• Kid's Movie - The Lion King
• There are way too many others to finish this list!!
  

Care to share some wisdom?

• I love the quote at the top of my page - "All children are gifted. Some just open their presents later than others."
• The greatest gift you can give your children, after your love, is discipline. A spoiled child is hard-pressed to be a productive, responsible adult later in life. Teach your child that there are limits and boundaries in life. Teach him to work hard and take pride in his work. Teach him to be responsible and accept the consequences of his actions. Teach him to make smart choices. Teach him to respect himself and his body. Teach him to be a kind, caring, compassionate person, and to treat all people with respect.
• OK, I'm going to have to stop there, cuz I'm making even myself sick!
  

What is one special talent that you have? (Replacement question)

• Since opening the bar, I have become one hell of an awesome martini-maker! I suppose that sounds a bit conceited, but I have customers tell me ALL the time that they prefer my martinis to my brother's, (which TOTALLY pisses him off, by the way!!) and that makes me think I might know a thing or two about mixology.

What are the TV shows you absolutely CAN NOT miss these days? (Added question)

• Desperate Housewives
• Brothers & Sisters
• Dancing with the Stars
• LOST
• Ugly Betty
• Grey's Anatomy (Thankfully, all of these are ABC shows, so I can watch them online when I have the time. Usually that's how I spend my Sunday afternoons. I know, I'm a loser!)
  

Rules of the MeMe above: Respond and rework. Answer questions on your own blog. Replace one question. Add one question. Tag 8 people. And hell yeah I'm gonna tag!!! I tag:

• That Girl - her blogs cracks my ass up!! Especially since she's joined TMI Thursday!
• The Girl Next Door - I don't know how she does it. Living next door to her ex, that is!
• C - I don't even know what to say about her, other than we have a very serious blog-mance going!!
• Tiffany - I discovered her blog fairly recently, and I love it. You should check out the awesome journey she's been on, as well as the one that lies ahead...
• Smiley Girl - I love her like a sister, and hey, KBL didn't tag her first, so she's all mine!
• JLo - We were destined to be friends since we both married men with the same last name...
• Jason - I LOVE THIS MAN! I actually found JLo through his blog. He's a fellow teacher, and never ceases to crack me up!
• Dana - She and her beloved are planning their upcoming nuptials (they have a separate blog all about it!) She has a renewed love of ChiTown ever since we met up a few months ago. Right, Girlfriend?! :)
  

2007-2008 Day Two

Well, my summer vacation officially ended yesterday. It was back to the Hell-Hole. Imagine my delight! I'm going to try to refrain from bitching about it today. I will say, though, that my back is killing, and I basically feel like I've been run over by a truck, from all the physical work I've done these past two days. I have been a furniture-moving-fool! After nearly two weeks of near-perfect weather in the 70s, the weather the past two days has naturally been nearly in the 90s because I had to go back to the un-airconditioned Hell-Hole!! The only time I want to be this sweaty has nothing to do with being at work, let me tell you!

After a long, tiring first day back, I then had just enough time to rush home (my sister picked up my son for me and brought him home) jump in the shower, get dressed and race to the bar, so that I could open by 5. We had a Dinner, Dancing and Drinks event last night, so it was a busy night. After we closed and cleaned up a bit, my brother decided it would be a great time to finally drop my car off at his buddy's garage to have the laundry list of things done that it needs. Then, he drove me to my parents' to get my dad's car. By the time I got home it was about 3:30, I was in bed by 4, then up again at 7 to start all over. Like I mentioned earlier, I had Parents' Night tonight at my son's high school (thoroughly enjoyed it, by the way!) but I did manage to get a 30 minute nap in first. Thank God tomorrow is Friday!!

Some of you will be happy to know that, despite the tremendous guilt I'm feeling for leaving my brother alone on a Saturday night, I'll be taking my son and his two best friends to Michigan tomorrow night for a looonnngg weekend. (My uncle, the police captain, has a home in Saugatuck that we try to go to a few times a year.) I'm still too tired to get that excited just yet, but I think it's going to be wonderful! It won't quite make up for the summer vacation I gave up by working nearly every single night at the bar, but it's better than nothing, right? I'm really just excited about having all three of my boys for the weekend. They always have such a great time when we go to Michigan, so I'm looking forward to it. I decided to do it when my brother mentioned that maybe we should just be closed Sunday and Monday for the holiday. I was surprised that he wanted to close on Sunday, since I thought it could potentially be a busy night, since everyone is off the next day. But, he reminded me that most people will either be out of town, or at barbecues/picnics with their families. I thought back to the weekend of July 4th, and remembered that we were dead, so I had to agree with him. I'm not really comfortable leaving him alone Saturday night, though, even though he keeps assuring me it'll be fine. He thinks it'll be slow because of people being out of town. I hope for his sake it's not too much to handle. But, I don't want it to be dead, either, since we need the business.

I guess I'll be rushing home tomorrow to do laundry and pack, huh? That's fine with me. It's going to be so nice to be away for 3 days. I plan to bring the pile of books I thought I was going to be able to read this summer. Luckily, the boys are just happy to be together, so I don't need to do a whole lot of planning for them. We'll hit the beach, maybe go into town, definitely hit Kilwin's Ice Cream Shoppe, maybe sit around the firepit at night roasting hot dogs and s'mores for dinner, finish off the nights with a movie on the big screen...ahh, sound heavenly, doesn't it? OK, now I'm getting excited!

I hope you all have a wonderful Memorial Day weekend. Please take a moment to remember those who sacrifice everyday to fight for our freedom.

Just wondering...

...does slicing up a banana into the bowl each time justify my having ice cream for lunch and dinner today?

Look what's new...

You know how they say, "never shop when you're hungry?" Well, this is what I came home with this afternoon...

I just finished a delightful bowl of the Fried Ice Cream flavor and all I can say is...mouthgasm!!! Perhaps I'll have a bowl of the Waffle Cone for dinner....

*Update*

The Waffle Cone was good, but not as good as the Fried Ice Cream. I think it's made with light ice cream, as it has a not-so-smooth texture. But the caramel and pieces of waffle cone get a big thumbs up!

I'm back...

...sheesh, what happened to the last 5 days?! I never finished my birthday post, and I didn't post yesterday. Shame on me!!

Let's see, where did I leave off? I showed you my car. When I got to school, my good friend across the hall, Mrs. M., brought me flowers in a pretty vase.

My Dori brought me a whole bag of bath goodies. Sadly, I haven't had a chance to use any of them just yet, but believe me, it's coming soon! She gave me some great body wash, in-shower moisturizer, an exfoliating cloth, some lavender-scented hand soap, and a gel mask that can be used hot or cold. Believe it or not, I don't have one of those, so I'm really excited. I'm really anticipating the relief it'll provide when I get my next migraine!

Dori and Mrs. M. took me out for lunch at our favorite hotspot - Subway! We decided to get our lunch to-go, and we ate in Dori's room. As I was standing up to go get my babies from art, I looked up at Dori's window, and there was my brother's handsome face!! I just shouted, "My brother's here!!" I went running to the door to let him in, and imagine my surprise when I opened the door and saw my mommy, too! I can NOT believe my mother came to Englewood for my birthday. Now that's love! My mom and brother brought me flowers and brownies, and some candy for the babies.

All my pretty birthday flowers!

Speaking of birthday flowers, here are the ones I told you my wonderful mother-in-law planted for me last week.

They're really gonna look awesome when they start to grow and fill out their containers.

OK, back to the birthday surprises. My mom brought me a few "little" present at school. Look at this!!!! I LOVE it!!!

Can you see what it is? Of course you can! It's penguins!!! From far away, it just looks like a funky, silver bracelet. But, it's really made up of the most adorable creatures on Earth!! (Hey, KBL, should I send your Belov-ED one?)

Apparently, my mother thought this was a laugh riot. I don't know if I posted the horror I experienced recently at having to break down and buy reading glasses (gasp!) but my mother is eating it up. She thought this would be useful!
I guess this book tickled her funny bone, as well. It actually does have a bunch of cute comics in it. As a matter of fact, I purchased a couple of them to have on hand to add to birthday gifts myself.

I forgot to show you what the front door looked like the morning of my birthday. My mom and sister originally had planned to cover my front lawn with balloons (table cloth to match) but they kept blowing away, which is why they stuffed my car instead. Oh, those silly girls!

Since I'm showing you all my pretty flowers, I wanted to show you my favorite thing in my backyard. My lilac bush!! It always opens it blossoms the week of my birthday. That's so nice of it, isn't it? My yard has smelled heavenly for the past week or so. I usually have my hammock on my deck right in front of the bush, and I literally just lie there and drink in the heavenly scent of lilac.I have a little more to share from the night of my birthday, but this post has worn me out. I've never posted this many pictures at one time, and it takes forever! I'll have to continue tomorrow, plus I have a few funny stories about the babies. Remember the babies, the actual point of this blog? Until we meet again....

Age does not diminish the extreme disappointment of having a scoop of ice cream fall from the cone. ~Jim Fiebig

Amen, Jim, amen!!

I can't believe...

...my painfully shy son, who normally has a hard time even speaking to people, has a HUGE SOLO tonight in the 8th grade show at the Ice Cream Social. I can't even believe it!! I'm so nervous and excited for him. I'm going to try and record it with my camera, and possibly post it here tomorrow, depending on how it goes. I'm really excited about this!! At home, he's always got music playing, just like his mama, and I listen to him singing from the other room all the time. I just can't believe he's willing to do it on stage, in front of the entire school, and their families. His father is actually going to come tonight, too (oh, joy!) so that he can videotape it for me.

I wasn't going to bitch about this, but since we all know that blogging serves as therapy half the time, let me just get this off my chest. This morning, during his usual morning phone call, my son's father told him about his plans to come tonight. You would have thought my son was told he was getting a million dollars. He yells out "Yay!" then after hanging up, excitedly tells me, "Dad's coming to the show tonight!" Well, laddy-freakin-da!! Why aren't you excited that I'M coming to the show? Your father hasn't come to a damn thing for the past 8 years that you've been in grammer school. Not a Christmas show, not an awards assembly, not a social event, not a single fuckin' thing!! I, on the other hand, haven't MISSED a single thing, I've taken days off work to come to things, and I've single-handedly planned and executed most of the social events at that damn school just so YOU would have a good time!! I know it sounds stupid, but it hurt my feelings that he had such a reaction to his father coming to something. Now, of course, the rational side of me realizes that this probably isn't that unusual of a reaction from a child, especially when it involves the non-custodial parent. Naturally, he's so excited BECAUSE his father never comes to anything. I get that. It still pisses me off, though, I'm sorry. I just hope that when he's an adult, he appreciates all I've done for him over the years. Jeez, I sound like Wendy Whiner, huh? OK, moving on....

I'll be heading straight over to my "other job" from the show, so I probably should go try and take a 20 minute nap before heading over to the school. Either that, or I should go finish washing the load of bar towels I brought home last night. Yeah, I guess the towels win. Oh well, good thing there's a Dunkin Donuts two doors down from Intimo!! Have a great weekend!

Stress is nothing more than a socially acceptable form of mental illness. ---Richard Carlson

What's that? I can STAY HOME?!

I think I may need to get a restraining order against my ex-husband. OK, not really, but he showed up unannounced/unexpectedly/unwelcome this morning at about 7:15. Then, a few minutes after I dismissed my class, he came strolling into my classroom. Ugh, WTF?! He was obviously looking for my son, who wasn't even with me because he was staying after school to rehearse for the show the 8th graders are putting on for the Ice Cream Social Friday night. He just came back from being out of town for almost a week, so he missed his weekend with my son, but guess what? Too bad, so sad!

I'm already on the express train to hell for so many other reasons, so I don't mind sharing that most of the time, I wish my son had a dead-beat dad. I know, I know, that's horrible, and I know there are millions of children out there who really do have pieces of crap like that for fathers, so no disrespect meant to them. But, for ME, personally, my life would be so much easier and less stressful if he would just drop off the face of the Earth. Would it be good for my son? Absolutely not. Although, most of the time, I don't really feel that way either. My biggest fear is that my son will turn out exactly like his father (a no-good, womanizing, lying, cheating bastard!) and if I could eliminate that influence on him, I would. But, alas, I cannot. His father is overly involved, as far as I'm concerned. He has him every weekend, usually from Friday afternoon until Monday morning, which is twice as much as most divorced dads get their kids.

Apparently, he really missed him while he was away, hence the surprise ambush, I mean visit, this morning, and then again after school. He ended up driving over to my son's school right behind me when I picked him up from practice, and then took him for the evening. He's going to bring him home at bedtime.

Right now, they're at the barber's, because my ex needs a haircut, and he's trying his damnedest to get my son's hair cut, as well. I haven't made my son get a haircut almost since the beginning of the school year. He has my "old" hair (before childbirth!) so it's really thick and curly and shiny. It's beautiful! But, it's also almost as long as mine right now, and it's driving his father nuts!! (Those of you who are moms of young girls have probably been subjected to High School Musical a gabillion times, right? I saw it for the first time last month when one of my students brought it to school. Anyway, the point is, my son's hair, according to my babies, looks just like the black boy who stars in the movie. Sorry, don't know his name.) Hmmm, could that be why I'm so resistant to cutting it? Nah! My son will be starting high school in a few short months, and he'll be attending a Catholic school, so no more long hair come August. I told him he could grow it as long as he wants until then. I don't care how ridiculous he looks, it's not my head! But, his father (who had hair down to his shoulders in 8th grade, by the way!) is pitching a fit!! Whatever! In all seriousness, I had planned to stop at my girlfriend's salon on the way home from the bar tonight so that she could trim his hair a bit, and give it some shape, but then his father insisted on taking him from me. In the windup, I didn't even go to the bar because I have a LOT to do there tomorrow, and my brother is feeling really bad about me coming there everyday straight from school. He realizes it's really wearing me down, so he suggested I just stay home tonight. Isn't he sweet? He knows I'm in for an all-nighter tomorrow, so I think he's trying to bank some 'good brother' points. Haha!

Well, no son, no bar, what ever shall I do with myself this evening? Take a long, hot bath, perhaps? Yeah, right!! I have about 52 loads of laundry calling my name, enough dog hair on the floors to weave a room-sized carpet, and dishes still in the sink from Monday night. Ick! By the way, when I picked Buster up last night, he didn't have a cute new bandanna on like I expected. I should still take his picture, though, cuz he looks so cute, all brushed out and clean. Thank God I warned the cute little girl who bathed him to put a muzzle on him if she planned to clean his ears. He didn't like it one bit I was told. I'm glad she did it, though, because I really suck at keeping up with it. I always feel like I'm hurting him, so I do a piss-poor job, which I'm sure is why he continues to suffer from ear infections!

OK, I'm off to that frightening place I like to call my laundry room! Wish me luck!

I believe you should live each day as if it is your last, which is why I don't have any clean laundry, because, come on, who wants to wash clothes on the last day of their life? ---unknown

This just in....

...my darling friend just sent me this in an email, so I thought I'd pass it on!