DOH!!!

This won't come as any surprise to you, but I'm a major TOOL!!!! Yesterday, I neglected to mention that it was my super fantabulous Uncle John's birthday. Yes, my Uncle John... aka Uncle Monster... aka Monster John... the dude after whom I named my kid. I LOVE YOU JOHN!!!!! I hope you had a splendiferous day!!! You will be happy to know that Rory talks about you all the time... he wants to know whan you're coming back... he keeps saying. "I wanna play MONSTER!!!" So cute. 


We all had a fab time at the St. Paddy's Dance last night. The kids were SO cute and had a blast shakin' their bon bons and running wild with their friends. We had Jayden stay with grandma so we could focus on the first graders. GREAT idea, as he would have been totally overwhelmed. And my Finn was such a good sport... he was more than happy to don a green sequined bow tie and a glittery shamrock headband. :0) The weather was spectacular... we even ran up to Andy's and grabbed a pizza on the patio before heading to the dance. Slept with all of the windows open again last night... dang, I just LOVE those froggies! Not sure what's on the books for today... the weather is perfect again, so I'm guessing we'l run around with the kids outside most of the day. I'll have to go grab Rei in Purcellville at some point. He'll be stinking of mulch, so methinks I'll insist on a shower immediately. Here are a couple of pics from last night... the rest are up on Shutterfly already. Take a peek!

 Cutest leprechauns at the dance!

 The 'Tastics

Mommy's precious pumpkin. :0)

Happy Saturday peeps... make it a good one!

xoxo

S

***Count a different blessing everyday.***

***Remember all of the sweet things in your life.***

***Believe that hearts mend.***

-Instant Karma

Happy Friday...

Yo shnoodles... ahhhhhh, Friday. :0) GORGEOUS weather yesterday. Once Finn & Jayden got home, we all took a walk over to the neighbor's pond. The little kids had never been there before, so they had fun exploring. It was quite a challenge to keep Jayden from diving head first into that thing!!! That kid is ALLLLL boy!!! They all played outside for hours... such fun. It's pretty clear that we HAVE to get the damn playset put back together ASAP. 

 Checking out the pond...

 Noodleheads

It was so sweet, and so sad at the same time... Rory pointed to the sky and said, "Mommy!!! I see Daddy in the clouds! He's fishing! Hiiiii Dadddddy!!!!" 

See? Their loss is ever-present. Fuck.

Forgot to mention my latest crazy expenditures... picked up my tummy meds this week for a mere $265.00. I've cut my dose in half so that I don't have to pay that every month... it's just outrageous. I have to get some cuckoo pills tomorrow... those will be about $250 as well. Nice. 

My poor Sully has been ill of late. I started recognizing some signs that he showed when he had a urinary tract blockage a while back. That time, he ended up in the hospital for 8 days. NOT good! I called Tom, my vet of 13 years, told him what was going on and asked if he could help me head off the problem. Bless his heart, he didn't make me come in. Sully is just beginning to show symptoms, so I know he's not as sick as he was before. He prescribed some meds and special food... which he gave me at his cost... and left everything on the porch at his office so I could pick it up after hours. The Sully-man seems to be doing better already. Thank God. Even more than the cost of a hospital stay, I was worried about the impact on Rory. Sully is HIS cat and he's VERY attached to him. I don't think his tender little heart could take another lengthy separation from his buddy. Sullivan has always been the most sensitive of all of the cats. He tends to the others and is basically just a big sweetie. These infections & blockages are brought on by stress, and I think this time, he's been greatly impacted by the losses of Max and Shyla so close together. It might sound stupid, but he always 'took care' of them and I think he really misses them. Tom totally agrees, and thinks the poor cat might even need to be on Prozac. Holy fuckballs!!!! My cat is as crazy as ME!!! AAAGGGHHHH!!!

Tonight is the big St. Patrick's Day Dance at Waterford Elementary. It's the biggest school event of the year and is always lots of fun. We will be getting crazy with the green hairspray for the occasion. I'm SO happy that I'll have my Finn with me this time.... at least he'll talk to me! The other good news is that Reilly is going home after practice with his friend and teammate Patrick, to spend the night. I couldn't be happier, as they have to BE at school at 7 a.m. tomorrow morning for their big spring fundraiser mulch sale. Eew. 

I've got another story to share about someone who SERIOUSLY pissed me off... Rory's principal... but it'll have to wait. Gotta run. By the way... had to skip the club today... I'm in such pain after yesterday's workout that I decided I'd better take the day off. If I don't see some results soon, I'm gonna LOSE IT!!!! 

Have a happy day. :0)

S

***Got to sleep with the windows open last night... SO many frogs singing... I LOVE it!!!

***Check out Shutterfly for Reilly's game pics & a new St. Patrick's Day album. 

Yeah... I'm Irish... and I shamROCK!!!

Happy Happy St. Patrick's Day peeps! Here is some love from a couple of my lil leprechauns...

Yep... cutie patooties, for sure!!!

So last night was the big one... Reilly's first game as a Wolverine!!! I was able to gather a few of his best friends... all girls of course... and Chris showed up too. He played okay, not great... but obviously, I told him he was great. He was so unhappy with his own performance though,  that he took the initiative to go  in and talk to his coach. I certainly gave him big kudos for that too. It was a bit of a slaughter... a 9-1 loss to Briar Woods... but our guys have only been playing as a team for TWO WEEKS!!! For a brand new program, I thought they played pretty well together. I dolled up my car for the occasion...

I've never written on the windows before, but I wanted to show Rei some serious support. He acted a little embarrassed, but later told me he thought it was cool. :0) Rory LOVES it... duh... and methinks I'll be doing some more window decorating once soccer games start! He was SO proud of Rei and had a blast cheering at the game. That kid can be so damn cute.... sometimes he just kills me. I mean, come on... look at THIS...

Seriously.... Mr. McCute E. Pants

Here's a couple of Rei... the rest will be on Shutterfly soon. Having trouble uploading them this morning... Grrr!

 #10... Making a move...

Reilly in the crease...

After the game, I piled his cheering section in the car and we went out for a bite to eat. No, not a big, fancy celebration, but it was fun and he really appreciated it. 

Reilly flanked by his 2 BEST friends, Dani & Julia, & another friend, Kendall. Rory too!

That's it for now... gots shiz to do. FYI... been KILLIN' it at da club lately. :0) Oohh... one more thing.... 2 players left the game last night via ambulance.... so glad Rei wasn't one of 'em! FIRST GAME! Yikes!!!

Love & shamrocks to ya...

S

Oh yeah... my license plate shamROCKS!!!!!

Howdeeeee...

Hey nubbins.... yes, they actually donated. And you're right, 200 bucks is almost laughable coming from them. Don't get me wrong... anyone else donates even 5 bucks & I'll shout it from the rooftops. But, since they're not helping us in any way, I would have been nice for them to cough up a little more. I'm quite pleased that they gave anything though... 'giving... thoughtful... selfless'... these are not words that could EVER be used to describe them. I sent the troll the info 3 weeks ago. I told my mom that it probably took the bitch that long to research Comfort Zone & make sure that none of the money would be coming anywhere near me. I'm serious. They truly believe I am a conniving, money-grubbing snake. Oops! I think they got me confused with the skank!!! Bwahahahahahaaaaa!!!


Reilly's first lacrosse game as a Wolverine is tomorrow at 6 pm. He is really excited, but he's also having a lot of sadness about the fact that his dad won't be there. These are the things that will never get easier... there will always be firsts... milestones... important events... when he'll be longing for his dad. And you know what? That just sucks giant donkey balls. :(


I'd better skedaddle. Rory built his leprechaun trap that's due tomorrow, but now he has to write the 'operating instructions'! More later...


S

SHOCKER!!!!

Holy fuckballs, Batman!!! Are you sitting down??? The troll & cactus actually donated $100 to each of the boys' fundraising sites!!! Could have knocked me over with a feather. I'm positive that it had everything to do with Christopher... I asked him yesterday if his mom had changed her e-mail address. When he asked why, I told him I was  not surprised that she hadn't responded to me, but I was disappointed that she hadn't donated. A couple hours later, the bitch coughs it up. Interesting. Whatever... we'll take it! We're now only $1345.00 from our ultimate team goal of $5000.00.... yeeeehawwwww!!! 


I'm also quite pleased to tell you that Chris has definitely gotten the memo about my 'rules', and is following them to the letter... probably due to fear of death. Thursday night, Finn told me that Rory mentioned to him that Chris was going to take the boys to see Deb on Saturday. As you can imagine, I FLIPPED. It was 11 p.m., but I texted him immediately & asked if that was true. He called me right away and said it was absolutely NOT true, and that he would NEVER go against my wishes. He said that he really wants to continue to be active in the boys' lives, and he knows that if he goes behind my back on anything, he's out. Good. That was a huge relief. Fast forward to yesterday... it's a long story, but the short version is that Reilly claimed that he wanted to have some 'alone time' with Chris & go watch some girls lacrosse game. I was out at Costco & he was positively enraged that I wasn't home so they could leave. We had some choice words, blah blah blah... and he hung up on me. A few minutes later, Chris called & told me that Rei was so pissed because the skank whore's kid was playing in this particular game, and that's why he wanted to go. Not only was he mad at me, he was mad at Chris for refusing to take him. Once again, I thanked Chris for telling me the truth and for sticking to the rules. 


The evening was not fun. Rei came & asked if he could have his phone back... uh, no. Not if you're going to lie to me. I gave him ample opportunity to come clean & tell me truth about the game, but he just wouldn't do it. I finally had to tell him that I knew all of the details & that he was busted. That turned into yet another conversation about why it's completely inappropriate for him to have any sort of relationship with any of those people. He still doesn't see the problem, and I doubt he'll fully understand my point until long after he becomes an adult. Oh well... stickin' to my guns. 


Then things really went south, as Rei had a bit of a breakdown... lots of tears and lots of asking "why did he have to leave??? He said he'd never leave me..." Well shit. That was a fuckin' heartbreaker. It's always so hard to see your kid with their heart ripped out of their chest. He doesn't go the sadness route very often... he generally sticks with anger. The good news is that we had a very long, very soulful conversation about a million things related to the subject. One of the things that I told him, was that as much as it sucks that his dad died, that was only ONE day. Of course we miss him and of course we wish he was here, but let's not diminsh the 41 years that he lived, or the wonderful times that we had, by focusing on that one awful day. That seemed to make a lot of sense to him. He also seemed comforted to know that I still have very dark days. He told me that he thought I was just happy all the time, and he couldn't understand that because HE is so sad. I made sure he knew that I do have dark days... more often than he knows... but I've also been lucky enough to experience true love and pure joy, so I KNOW those things lie ahead for him. I told him that we both need to choose to be happy and to focus on the sunshine. No matter how shitty the storm, the sun always shines again. 


We had a good cry together, a couple of laughs, and some really long hugs. Damn, if it doesn't fuckin' kill me to see this 6 foot tall ape sobbing like a baby. 


One other really nice note about Chris... he made each of the boys a beautiful photo album of David. They both start with his first picture as a newborn, then progress through all of his school pictures, some shots of him in the Navy, and then one on one pics of them with their dad. There were many pictures in there that I'd never even seen. It was so thoughtful of him to do that, and both boys loved them... though Reilly had a hard time looking at his. Fuck... I had a hard time looking at them too. He also brought each of them a completed book of all of the collectible U.S. quarters. It was something David had started after he moved out. Chris found the books and finished them for the boys. Very sweet. I'm SO happy that he seems to be returning to his kind-hearted former self... he was displaying a few too many characteristics of his parents for a while. 


That's it for now... here's one more pic from Saturday. The others are up on Shutterfly now, so take a peek. 

Our fabulous time in Harpers Ferry.

Have a good one...
xoxo
S

Beautiful Sunday...

Hey there nimbobs... before I go any further... Miss Bonnie, what a PIG that guy is!!! First of all, it makes me CRAZY when people are that stupid and intolerant, but then to discover that 'Mr. Jesus' was a rapist before he 'found God'???? SO disgusting. Please let me know if that asshat ever shows his face. I'll be on the next plane out to give him a severe ass beating!!! Having said that... LOVE YOU!!!! :0)


So yesterday was Finn's birthday surprise day. :0) Unfortunately, we had to start out with an unplanned dash to the Apple Store because of my shattered phone. Let me say again that I LOVE APPLE!!!! I had another new phone... free of charge... in about 10 minutes. As far as customer service goes, they are right up there with Disney. Two of the VERY few companies that still believe in taking care of their customers. Yahoooooo!


Then it was off to our first birthday surprise.... a massage at Massage Envy. Finn had NEVER had one before, and I thought it was time! Since I still had some pre-paids on their books, I got one too... happy Finn's birthday to ME! He loved it... duh... how could he not? After that, we walked across the street to Wegmans. My plan was to have him pick out whatever yumminess he wanted for lunch, and then take it and have a picnic. The weather was sunny and pretty, but a bit colder than I had hoped for, so we ate lunch right there. No biggie... we still had fun. (Even though I saw yet another Waterford mom that I've known for almost 9 years... came face to face with her TWICE & she pretended I was invisible. Idiot.) I had ordered a cake for my sweetie, so we grabbed it on the way out. It was SO pretty, but the first thing he said to me was, "didn't you go to pastry school?" Ha ha... very funny... yes I did! But the Wegmans cake filled with fresh strawberries is SOOOOO good.... I just had to get one. And I really detest bakery cakes, but from Wegmans???? Yummylicious! 

It's a good thing I took this picture before we left Wegmans... had to jam on the brakes at some point & the cake got mangled! :(

After lunch, we hopped in the car and headed to Harpers Ferry, West Virginia. It's only about 15 minutes from our house. It's such a beautiful little historic town, and that's where I had planned to have our picnic. We decided to have a cake picnic! We've had tons of rain lately, so the rivers are all really high. We put our blanket down right on the banks of the Shenandoah, and just enjoyed the water, the geese and snuggling in the chilly sunshine. And of course, I brought candles and sang to my sweet pea. That cake may have been mangled, but it still ROCKED!

Self-pic of the snugglin' sweeties. :0)

The mangled, yet still deeeelish cake. 

Once the sun started to dip, it got cold pretty quickly. We meandered through town on our way back to the car. It really is a beautiful place. I've been there many times, but not in quite a while. I need to take Rory there. Not only do the coal trains come right through town, but there's a really cool bridge you can walk on, and when you're in the middle of it, you are actually in Maryland, Virginia & West Virginia, all at the same time. :0)

We headed home for a while to do the doggie shuffle & warm up a bit, then decided we HAD to have our favorite hot crab dip at Clyde's. So we headed back down to Ashburn and devoured our tasty treat while listening to live music and geting in some good people watching. :0) Super bonus? We ran into my sweet friends Jan & Heather. I haven't seen them in AGES, though Heather & I have always kept in touch. They have a brand new baby, Isabella, and I even got to lay my eyes on that precious princess. I told Heather that I am, in fact, a fabulous baby whisperer, and would be happy to come and snuggle the little monkey anytime. She has 4 kids... I said I'd even come over just so she could have a nap!!! She said I can come by anytime & I definitely plan to take her up on that! 

All in all, it was a fabulous day. The very best part was just being on our own, since that happens so rarely. 

I'm not sure... can you tell that I luvvvvves him? Oh yeah... he luvvvves me too! :0)

Our Finntastic fun day is definitely over... he's already on the road heading up to get the kids. My monkeys are still with Chris, but should be home any minute. I can't wait to hear all about the dinner cruise. I hope Paige's mom took pictures! I know the kid was lookin' dang sharp... black suit, black shirt & a black tie with hot pink & light pink stripes.... nice! I'm also happy to report that I got NO calls from Chris last night, which tells me that Rory did great. Yahooo!

Gots to go for now... Costco bound. More great pics to come on Shutterfly soooooon. 

xoxo

S