Buy something, will you?

I have this problem, I'm sure most moms can relate. Husband, kids & me go shopping, we go home with something for everyone... except me. It's my fault though, I'd rather spend money on him & them than on me.

So while we are at the mall last week we went to a jewelry store to see if we could find my wedding ring. I've been looking for it for over 10 years... long story, but I want the style back that we were married with, not this ugly anniversary band that I was forced to have. We found the ring... as close as we could anyway. Jason was ready to throw down the Discover card and get me a whole new solitaire and wedding band, but we can exchange the current band, so why not? Need the receipt, though. Went home, found the receipt. When we went to the mall Saturday - guess who forgot the receipt? Dumb me.

So we go in there anyway, because I made the comment that Jason got a new hat, the girls got stuff and I had nothing. Not whining at all, just stating a fact. (if you know me, you know this is true... I don't get bent out of shape if I don't get things for myself) Jason always says, it's my fault I don't get anything because I don't get myself anything. He doesn't say no to me, never has.

So, Jason insisted I was getting something. Again... he was ready to get me my wedding ring. Nope, I wanted the exchange deal.

He wouldn't let me leave empty handed. Isn't he just the best?

So this is what I got......

Not huge, not expensive, because thats not who I am. It's simple, pretty and just right.

While picking out a new solitaire/wedding band that I didn't get, the salesperson AND Jason were trying to get me to upgrade my 1/4 carat solitaire to 1/2 or even 3/4.... no. It's huge, its too big... let me keep my 1/4 carat dammit!!!! Why do people think the most expensive makes the most happiness?

My mom, picture obsessions, noses & cheerios

When I was 7 years old, my mom died. No, I don't remember a lot about her and the memories I do have of her are no longer in motion picture view, they are in snapshot view. Meaning, the memories have faded enough that I only see "stills" of memories. I don't know if that makes any sense.

My mom was 46 when she died (young, yes, and a heavy smoker - she died of a heart attack, which is one of the reasons I NEEDED to quit smoking). One memory I have of her is her sitting in a lawn chair waiting for me as I got off the bus. I was in Kindergarten or 1st grade maybe? Maybe it was 2nd grade... she died the December I was in 2nd grade. I can see her sitting there in that lawn chair and I can see myself running across the front yard towards her, but the woman in the lawn chair isn't a 45 or 46 year old... she is a woman in her late teens/early 20s. And she's black & white. Why is that? Simple, yet complicated.

There are very few pictures that I have seen of my mom, the mom that I knew. Two or three maybe? I know what she looked like... dark brown short hair, a little heavy in the face... but can I picture it in my head? No. All of the pictures I have seen are when she was younger, and in black and white, so the mother in my memories has changed appearances. It strange, I know.

There are also only a handful of pictures of me growing up. There is one where I am about 6 months old, then another when I'm about a year, the next one I think I'm 4 or 5. My family wasn't a camera-happy family, I guess.

This is why, I believe, that I am obsessed with pictures. I take pictures of anything and everything. Maybe because I'm afraid I will forget things, I don't know. Maybe because I'm afraid that if I die, my girls will have a still picture memory of me and I want it to be a current still, not one from years ago.

My living room is filled with pictures... pictures of the girls in different stages of their lives, pictures of my nieces, nephews, friends, my pets... anything I can frame.

So because of this obsession the husband went out and bought me a Canon Rebel Digital camera a few years ago. This is way more camera that I will ever need, but I was thrilled to own one!

So every now & then I will take some off the wall picture... just because I can.

Everything is a potential picture... and every picture has beauty in it to someone.

Cheerios? Pretty boring, huh? But my daughter had Cheerios for breakfast this morning before school... not a scrapbook type memory, but it's still a memory. It's a memory of me being there to wake them up in the morning, get them ready for school, help them find the Tamagotchi that they lost the night before and promise them that if I find it during the day I will pause it so it won't die. (because this mom can't figure out how to feed it or clean it's poop up.) It's a memory of me being at the window as they walk down the sidewalk to the bus. Something simple as Cheerios can say a lot.

How Saki flosses her teeth

With the kitty scratching post!!
The cats have actually done all the damage to it, Saki just happened to find it today.

Oh.My.God.

Yes, I can say that.

This is going to be a big fat whiny all about me, feel sorry for me post. Just today, feel sorry for me, please.

I have the worst fricken cramps EVER! They are shooting down into my thighs they are so bad. I can't stand up straight and it's giving me a headache from hell. I've never stuck a pig with anything that would make it bleed, but there is a saying "bleeding like a stuck pig", which supposedly pigs bleed a whole bunch when you stick them with something. Well, call me a stuck pig.

TMI, I know.

This does, however, explain why I was in such a fricken bass ass mood 2 days ago and why I developed a monstrous pimple on my face the past week.

I'm done having demons so why won't they rip my woman insides out???!!!?!?!?!?!!!!?!?!?!?!!

The Backwards Story

When Demon #2 was in 2nd grade we were sitting at the kitchen table working on homework.

Demon #2 is left handed.

If you are left handed you will understand this story, if you are right handed... pay attention to a left handed person writing something.

I am right handed. I have learned to appreciate left handed people.

If I remember correctly it was Spelling that we were working on... it was something in sentence format anyway. The Demon was getting upset because everything she wrote smeared as her hand would rub across what she had just wrote.

Thats when she decided that we shouldn't write from the left to the right, we should write from the right to the left.

So she tried it and realized that she had difficulty... it just didn't make sense that way. So she figured she would just write backwards. I didn't think much of it, but let her attempt it. I mean seriously, who can write backwards?

She can.

About 1/2 hour later she came up to me and handed me this piece of paper. To read it you either have to hold it up to the light or hold it up to a mirror. This wasn't tracing from the back - she wrote the entire story like this in 1/2 hour.

I think there are 2 or 3 mistakes in the whole thing, not counting the spelling errors.

It's amazing what a parent's proud moments are of their children; this is one of ours. The paper is in our kitchen and has been shown to everyone who will look at it. Eventually it will be framed.

Remember.... this was a 2nd grader that did this. She was 7 years old at the time.

Hippity Hop...

So I went a little Easter nuts the past couple days. Wow, I cannot believe how many hours I've put in since Tuesday morning on my shops. But I got a lot accomplished, so it's all worth it. Not sure why I went with Easter or where the idea came from, but there it was - in my head and I went with it. It's funny how things happen like that with me, once I get something in my head I have to fly with it - but the only downfall of it is I can't make designs that aren't in my head. Sounds obvious, but what I mean is, like today - I'm on an Easter kick, chicks, bunnies & such - I couldn't do a snowmobile design for SledderWear right now if my life depended on it.

Ok, well if my life depended on it....

Anyway. Here's a little preview of what I did the past couple days:




There's more in the shop, if you are interested. I think I did enough Easter for now. Hopefully tomorrow will be something different.

A Kittilicious Did You Know: Did you know that Demon #1 is almost an A student? I say almost because she got a C+ in Tech Ed last quarter, otherwise everything else was A-, A or A+, but she still made the Honor Roll - 3 quarters in a row!

What my girls did today

They went to school. Not really sure what that all consisted of because I wasn't there. Demon #1 got home at 3:20 and irritated me for about a hour with saying nothing but "moo", but I couldn't help but bust out laughing everytime she did it. She helped me make supper and then while she set the table at 4:55, I ran to pick up Demon #2 from swimming. When she got in the car I was greeted with; "Mommy, you better have supper ready because I'm hungry!". Which I then used the ride home to make her come up with better greetings to greet her mother with. I also threatened her with the fact that we only live 6 blocks from school and I should make her walk instead of being a nice mommy and driving to pick her up. We got home, woke dear old dad up who was sleeping on the couch, had supper and then I cleaned up the supper mess, the girls played a game and the husband went back to his nap.

I spent the entire day on the computer today..... 95% of it was creating an Easter line in my store.

It's been 39 days since I quit smoking but I almost had one today.

I'm sorry, those last 2 comments were about me. This is supposed to be about the demons.

I think this is the most boring blog post I've written yet.

A Kittilicious Did You Know: Did you know that if you mess with a mama bear's cubs she will not think twice about killing you?

SHE CAGES HER CHILDREN!!!

Maybe I post too many pictures of Saki and not enough of the kids. Well, did you know that I keep the kids in a kennel, too? We had to buy a bigger one just to fit them all!



















We dress her up, too....

Why are the Demons called demons?

Some of you are maybe wondering why I call my children "Demon #1" and "Demon #2". It has absolutely nothing to do with their behavior, looks or anything of the sort. It started way back in 1994 when I was pregnant with Demon #1. She was an active baby and at times it looked like I was going to birth an alien out of my belly button. Not knowing if this little baby was female or male, I started calling it "the demon spawn seeded from the devil himself"... because she was a difficult pregnancy and - jokingly - I'd blame the husband - her father - the devil - for doing this to me.

When I became pregnant the 2nd time, it was just natural to call that one a demon, too. Although she was the easiest pregnancy a woman could ask for... and the BEST baby!!! Far from a demon, thats for sure, but the names stuck.

So anyone out there who thinks I call my children demons because I don't like them or can't control them or they are these awful children... it's far from the truth. Sometimes assumptions do only one thing... makes an ass out of people and it's usually the person doing the assuming.

Demon #1's other nickname is Monster - for the same pregnancy reasons. Demon #2's nickname is Bear because it sounds cute with "Krissy". Are those bad nicknames for kids? You be the judge.

Bad comments and bad parenting

If you have ever left a negative comment here you will notice it doesn't stay long. I hate negativity. With anyone.

Someone decided to tell me I was a bad parent because I don't post about my kids much. My life revolves around my animals and my quitting smoking and not enough on my children.

This is a blog that any random person can read and it's about me and I have control over what I want to put into it. If I want to talk about puppies and cigarettes I will.

If you look at my blog labels you will see what I talk about most often.

I talk about what I feel like talking about at any given time. I really fricken love chocolate, but do I clutter this blog with it? No. I love to read, do you see book recommendations all over? No. I love sex with my husband, do you see details about it? No.

And one thing - if you don't like what someone is writing about... stop reading it.

Stupid comments made by strangers explain why I don't dive into the very personal life of myself or my children on a public blog.

Not much going on

It's day 36. Yea me!

Husband is on his way to buy a motor for the puppy-trade-off sled, then after that we are going to his dads to help him with some stuff. Have to bring the puppy along because we can't leave her in the crate all day and I just don't trust the eat & chew-everything-in-sight dog alone in the garage that long either. She'd probably eat one of the sleds.

I guess I shouldn't say there isn't much going on - there's actually quite a bit. It involves Demon #2 but honestly I really don't want to get into it right now.

Don't you hate that when people do that? Give you a tease of whats going on? I can't stand it.

******taken out just because*******

Anyway. Just wanted to throw a little update in here. We've got friends from Pennsylvania coming to see us tomorrow... it's one of those "internet things" that old people freak out about. Ok Dad, yep, you're right, I haven't actually met Jill, but I've known her for 9 years. Cue the eye roll from Dad. If you've never met her, how can you know her?
It's funny how the older generations can't grasp the concept of internet friendships. My dad just gets pissed off, too, when you talk about people online. I mean really pissed off because the though is so alien to him. My friend Kimber is one of my best friends and I've never laid eyes on her... but we've talked each other through panic attacks, cried on the phone to each other, laughed, screamed... you name it, we've done it. But nope, I've never seen her in person. It's something that is strange when you try to explain it to someone who still thinks a mouse is a rodent.

He still can't figure out how I made over $7,000 in one month selling t-shirts online. That one went right over his head and I didn't even attempt to explain it.

Jill and her hubby, Sean, are coming to Minnesota for a visit to Mayo in Rochester. Not a planned visit, but it's a good excuse for us to finally meet. The husband has met Sean before, years ago, on a trip out east... but Jill & I? It's a meeting that we've waited a long time for.

Happy weekend everyone....

Ring-a-ding-dong-dog

Well, this weekend was bell-weekend.

So I get a bell and tie it up near the door (it's not ON the door, so it doesn't ring when the door opens/closes or is accidentally hit by passerby humans or critters). Every time I let the critters out I'd either ring the bell myself or put their noses (or in Chico's case, his paw - he's supposed to jump for it) up to it. I started this around .... um.... noon? Now, these dogs go out a lot. I think half the time Saki just wants to play. She loves snow. Anyway, by 4 or 5 I'd stand by the bell and say "Saki, you need to go outside and go potty?"... she'd nudge the bell with her nose. HOURS! She doesn't ring it before she comes & tells me she needs to go out, but hey.. I'm impressed either way.

Except every now & then she'll ring it on her way in the house...

The jury is still out on the intelligence of Saki. Gimme 1/2 hour with her and I can teach her a trick. A couple days, she's a pro at it. At 8:00pm she's barking at me... nope, doesn't need to go potty... she wants to go to bed. So I have to walk her into my room so she can walk herself in her kennel & I can shut the door on her.

But try to teach the dog to poop outside and she's as stupid as a bucket of rocks.

Potty? 99% down. The 1% is nobody paying attention to her or she's just gotta go!

But poop? I don't get it. She will HOLD it to go in the house and do it. I'm not making this up. She won't potty in the garage, but she'll poop in there. I've taken her "accidents" and thrown them outside so she can smell it and think "hmm this is where this stuff goes"... but nooooooo. She can make a grown man proud of her farts, so when I smell them I take her outside - if she poops I make a huge deal about it... I call the neighbors, plan a party, the whole works. But next time? She'll poop in the house.

So she's learning tricks... sit, down, stay, crawl, sit up, fetch, drop it (next it's putting her toys away - seriously, I'm going to teach this dog to clean up after herself.).... she's doing the potty thing pretty good, she's ringing a friggin' bell on her way outside, knows her bedtime and knows how it's done, but she can't figure out the concept of poppin' outside?

So then I took her out this morning, like I usually do. Let her back in and went to fill up my coffee cup. I glance over into the living room and she's in the poop stance! NOOOO SAKI NOOOOO!!! She ran from me, but I just said "lets go outside" like it was normal... I did see she she pooped a little out there, so I let her come in.

I was upstairs on the computer for about 10-15 minutes and was reading forums when.... heard the bell ring..... ran downstairs and Saki wanted to go out! This is the FIRST time she's done it on her own like this!

It gets better.....

She went outside and POOPED!!!!!!!!

.... so I guess she wasn't done poopin' afterall.

Lets hope this isn't a fluke and she keeps this up.

Now if I could just get her to stop chasing her tail all the time.

(Psst.... it's day #31 today!!!!)