I'm 73 today

According to our new Wii. I've found a new fitness routine and the Wii says I can boogie like I'm 73. My goal is to at least get that thing down to my REAL age of 30! Geesh!

I've decided it's my new morning routine.

Our Christmas was just an onslaught of wrapping paper and shiny new objects. My children have so many new toys they still have things they haven't opened. I think I could probably wrap some of the stuff up for next year and they'd probably only have slight deja vu when they opened them up again.

It all started on the 22nd. The Man's cousin has three kids as well and is divorced from their father who got to have the kids this Christmas. So we had a kid Christmas on the 22nd for her kids and our kids. We all piled up and went to The Man's aunt's house with our sacks of goodies and had lasagne and watched the kids tear into brightly colored packages for the first time of the season.

Just this one escapade filled the back of our minivan. And it was only the beginning!

On the 23rd I went to my mom's house to help her prepare for what would be our family Christmas dinner as my poor mother had to be admitted into the hospital in Miami on Christmas Eve for brain surgery!

Side note: my mom has Parkinson's disease and has had a Deep Brain Stimulation surgery in the past which was successful. Unfortunately the sensor in her head had malfunctioned and it needed to be replaced. So it was scheduled for Christmas Eve morning at 6 AM.

After making the killer potatoes that we only dare to eat once a year (boiled in Heavy Cream and garlic - OMGosh) so they'd be ready to put in the oven on Christmas, setting the table, polishing silver, and making sure the presents were under the tree just so, I went home to bake Christmas cookies for Santa.

I wish I had taken a picture of the decorated cookies. They were.... ahem.... um.... beautiful.

I went to bed around 1 AM and woke up at 4 AM and The Man drove me over to my sister's so we could head down to Miami. After much emotional break down in the hospital on my sister's part, my mother was admitted, operated on, and out with flying colors. When the surgeon came down to tell us she was great I lit up with joy and my sister burst into tears. Ah, emotional stress coupled with the holidays.

Sis and I drove back to her house where I drank a glass of Merlot and promptly fell asleep while waiting for The Man and the munchkins to pick me up on their way to The Man's dad's house for our Christmas Eve festivities.

I'm not sure how I made it through that evening. I was like a zombie the whole night. The kids tore into more presents... Bratz dolls, Legos, Hot Wheels... it was the theme of Christmas this year.

I got a very cool pink ceramic knife from The Man's brother. More information about it can be found here. Proceeds from it's sale is donated to the Susan G Komen foundation. He was actually looking to buy a ceramic knife for The Man but since it was pink it went to me. ;)

He describes the conversation with the sales girl like this:

Bro: Do you have any ceramic knives?
SG: We have this one, the proceed benefit the Susan G Komen Breast Cancer Foundation
Bro: But it's pink... he's a guy.
SG: But wouldn't he want to help cure Breast Cancer?
Bro: Well.... he does like breasts....

And so it came to be that I would possess the knife. It is super sharp and very pretty.

That night Santa came and delivered the motherload to our tree. And I really didn't think my kids were all THAT good this year. Sheesh!

I fell asleep as though knocked bluntly over the head around midnight.

At FIVE AM we heard them. Trying deseperately to be quiet, bless their little hearts. So up we got and the violent unwrapping of presents ensued. Bratz dolls, Legos, Hot Wheels, OH MY!

The Man gave me many lovely gifts but shockingly my favorite is probably the 12 Cube World stick figures I received. They're so darned cute!

At 6:30 I fell BACK asleep while the kids played with their loot. At 2:00 we were off to The Man's aunts house again for the official Christmas celebration where the kids again tore into gifts with reckless abandon.

The back of the van was loaded heavy with toys as we ventured to my parents house. My mother sat tiredly at the couch, my neice squeeled with delight upon seeing the munchkins, my dad handed out glasses of Crown Royal. (Which, btw, is just plain heavenly in Diet Coke.)

Our family received a Wii and the kids received numerous other gifts, big and small. Among them is a train set with probably 300 pieces, a HUGE Bratz party bus, and a Robo Quad. Yowza.

Yesterday was spent trying to find my house under all the stuff we got. I still haven't found it and I'm hoping the task can be done by next year. :)

Injustice

I was reading Julian's Care Page today and I'm having such a hard time with the injustice of the world. Why should a beautiful little boy like Julian have to endure so much suffering? What is the purpose? Is there a purpose? Is it to teach us a lesson? Is it because Julian himself has done something to deserve such suffering (surely that can't be the case)? Maybe those who love and are close to Julian have some lesson to learn?

But why should such a lesson be taught through an innocent little boy?

And why should I be so lucky to have three amazingly beautiful children who are healthy and active and have no problems at all? It's incredibly unfair... but then again, life isn't fair. Is it?

I don't read Julian's page every time it's updated because I can't control my tears. I can't keep myself together when I think about it. I wish there was something I could do... for Julian, for his family, for all the children suffering in the world. But I sit here feeling helpless. We don't have a ton of extra money to donate, we don't have a ton of extra time.

But my children do have a Christmas tree loaded with presents under it and they'll have a wonderful Christmas... just the sort of Christmas I want to provide for them... just the sort of Christmas I always had as a child. I can't shake the terrible guilt I feel for giving my children such a wonderful experience when there are so many children who are sick or living in poverty or living in abusive situations.

I feel helpless and I'm not sure what steps to take. And I wonder what good I could really do? And to what expense to my own children?

Bug made a difference this Christmas. He donates his Club Penguin coins to help sick children every day. I knew nothing about it but when he told me he was doing it last night I looked into it. I'm so proud of him for caring. I'm so proud that he is so willing to give.

Here's our Christmas picture this year. I'm so proud of my 3 little munchkins.



(To read about Julian, go to www.carepages.com and set up an account - you have to have one to view his page - and type in juliansworld in the search... and get a box of tissues.)

OMGosh! I finished working!

For once I've actually completed my work goal for the day! And I even did it by 5:00! Shocking. To celebrate, The Man and I are going to go see a movie tonight. Date night!

I'm going to see if I can get him to spring for dinner, too. ;)

So much has happened since I last posted. Where to start?

Early last month my beloved laptop started giving me problems. When I would pull something out of the USB port it would shut the computer down - and not let me restart it. We took it to Best Buy and the Geek (it's okay that I call them that, they call themselves that) behind the counter took the battery off and opened it up and did some stuff and it started up again. So I took it home and the problem happened again. The Man, a geek himself, repeated whatever the Geek Squad geek did and it started up again. We backed up all my info and took the laptop back to Best Buy for them to take it in to service it. After 3 weeks I got the call that it was repaired. YAY! I drove all the way back to the store (it's almost 20 miles away) and picked it up. It didn't boot up at the store but I was assured it was just because the battery was dead and when I got it home and plugged it in it would start right up. Trusting the geeks I took my baby home.

At home I plugged it in excited to be using it again and no dice... not even a light, a sound... NOTHING.

Back to Best Buy I went. The geek again tried to get it to start but it wouldn't happen. So he sent it back in for service. GRRR.... After another 3 weeks I got the call that it was ready again. I go into the store and they say they booted it up several times and all was well. So I asked Mr. Geek to boot it up. Didn't happen. Nothing, nada. Mr. Geek messes around with stuff for a while and poof it starts up! He give me some reason why this is all normal and I reluctantly take it home.

Now the thing barely runs. It's lagging, the USB port isn't even fixed and when it does boot up it takes about 15 minutes to start. I called Best Buy and they of course told me I need to bring it back in. *sigh*

So the other day The Man and I went and bought a new computer. I have to work while the Geek Squad figures out what is wrong and it's just been entirely too long. But I do have a pretty new computer now. :) I've never had a monitor this big... it's 20 inches! And so shiny!

Last weekend we took our annual family vacation. My side of the family takes a vacation together every year and this year we went to Atlantis Paradise Island. You'd think a vacation to the Bahamas would be relaxing, right?

We got to the airport early Friday morning and had fun taking our shoes off and stripping for the security people. When she snapped on a rubber glove I got a little nervous but we all escaped cavity checks thank goodness. Our plane sat 19 people. I knew this going in but I still wasn't prepared for the teensy tinyness of this little plane. My family took up 11 of the 19 seats and I sort of felt sorry for the other passengers. :) My family is very vibrant.

The kids ~loved~ the flight. Faces plastered to the window the whole time. I was the only person on the whole flight who didn't get a window seat. I covered my fear pretty well and didn't have a nervous break down in front of my children even though the landing in a little plane like that isn't at all the same as I'm used to. Quite an experience. The little plane was going right and left and we could look straight through to the cockpit window and see the runway coming up. I've never been so glad to have wheels touch pavement in my life. My whole family cheered and clapped. I was only slightly embarrassed. :)

After an adventurous ride from the airport to the hotel (on the left side of the road) we arrived at what can only be described as a beautiful oasis. We stayed at The Cove and it was truly just as beautiful as any picture you might find of it. Gorgeous. In the lobby where we checked in there was this beautiful wall that had water flowing down it into a little decorative pool you could sit next to. Our four year old FELL IN IT. Yes, the vacation had begun. Luckily, the nice people who work there didn't even act shocked. I quickly took him outside while The Man checked us in.

We got up to our room and it was absolutely gorgeous. The view was phenomenal! I've lived in South Florida all my life and been to the beach hundreds of times... but the waters of the Bahamas are so incredibly beautiful. Flying over them is amazing but viewing them from the balcony of your 5 star hotel room is just breathtaking.

After changing we went down to a buffet lunch and after receiving our check I was a victim of sticker shock. $130 for a buffet lunch for two adults and three kids. A little pricey. It must have been that Bacardi and Coke I ordered.

We laughed it off and went on to have fun. :) Atlantis is filled with water adventures like you wouldn't believe! I went down a slide that propelled me 14 feet down in total darkness and I screamed like a girl! So much fun. :)

The rest of the weekend was filled with much of the same... I only regret I didn't spend more time relaxing and drinking Rum Runners. I won $15 in the Casino and tried on an $81,000 diamond necklace (oh pretty pretty) and picked up a couple beautiful bracelets at the straw market in Nassau for the bargain price of $15 each.

It was over too fast. :)

Looking forward to our movie tonight... The Man's mom is watching the kids... I love her.

Introduction & Random Thoughts

I'm always going about my life with all these random thoughts popping into my head. Like today at the gym... I'm pumping away on the elliptical machine, level 4, aerobics mode, about 10 minutes into my 1/2 hour morning session and I'm sweating. Not just a light glisten... nope, sweating for real. As I grab my baby blue hand towel to wipe my forehead I notice that no one else is sweating. Not the girl on the treadmill in front of me, not the woman on the elliptical next to me, not the guy lifting weights in the distance (at least he didn't look like he was from far away). How is it that these people can get through a workout without breaking a sweat? I wonder, is it a faux pas to actually sweat at the gym? As I finish up my workout and walk the long walk to the door I feel like everyone is staring at me sweating and I walk faster to get out of the place. I'll do it all over again tomorrow and I'll wonder if there will ever be a day that I can get through 1/2 hour on the elliptical machine without sweating.

It's not like I'm a gym rat or anything. In fact, I've had this membership for over a year now and I'm really just starting to go regularly. Yep, I went to the gym 3 times last week and this week I've already been twice and it's only Tuesday. I managed to get The Man to join last week and he's been twice now so I'm hoping that will motivate me to keep going.

It's only recently that The Man and I have been able to actually get out of the house together during the day since our youngest is now in Montessori school. I'll pause here to explain why I call The Man "The Man" and not "my husband" or "DH" or "my boyfriend" or any of those other conventional descriptions for the male counterpart of a heterosexual committed relationship. We are not married and probably won't be getting married any time soon. I have been married before and found that the formality of marriage does not equal commitment. Though I feel it would sometimes be easier to be able to call him my husband just for social purposes - we just don't feel that marriage is something we should enter into for terminology purposes.

We've been together for six years now and have three children aged four, six, and seven. How does that work?? Obviously, my older two children are not biologically The Man's children. However, he is the only dad they've ever known and that's good enough for us. We have entirely too much responsibility and history for me to call him my boyfriend and he's most definitely wearing the pants in the family so I've found it best to call him "The Man" since he is indeed The Man.

I made the mistake of giving my first two children my ex-husband's last name even though I never changed my own and our youngest has The Man's last name which makes for confusing forms filled out for schools and insurance purposes. The kids' teachers and doctors and coaches constantly call me by my ex's last name which is truly annoying but even more annoying to have to correct them all the time. I'm thinking of changing their last names to mine or The Man's but it's quite a dilemma since I sort of want all three of them to have the same last name but The Man's is sort of an unfortunate last name. I also need to wonder if The Man and I ever do get married will I have to change their names AGAIN. It's all a big conundrum.

But I digress...

I'm naming this blog "Slacker Mom" because I truly am the perfect example of a slacker mom. I'm insanely busy all the time but this is actually a direct result of my procrastination problem. In fact, I'm currently procrastinating by typing this blog instead of shipping out the billions of packages I need to get working on. I am a full time eBay seller of women's clothing and I love my job. It's great to get to make my own hours and work in my pajamas and I get to shop and all that... but it's not great to be a procrastinator and make your own paycheck. :) The Man and I run this business together and he constantly has to be on me to get my work done. If it weren't for him we'd be living in a cardboard box.

Our seven year old, who will from now on be known as "Bug" recently joined the Cub Scouts and we have our first meeting tonight. Which reminds me I need to drive him over to the Boy Scout store to buy his belt and I need to throw his Cub Scout tee shirt in the wash before his meeting. Always something to be done... another reason I shouldn't be typing this. Because we took the plunge and signed Bug up for Cub Scouts our six year old girl, Munchkin, decided she wanted to be a Brownie. So last night I drove her over to the school for the Girl Scout recruitment meeting.

Now, a couple of weeks ago at the Boy Scout recruitment meeting I was overwhelmed with the response... the school's cafeteria was FULL with parents and boys and siblings and leaders and it was just overwhelming! Last night the Girl Scout meeting had about six prospective girls there. It was sad. What was even sadder was that the head of the organization for our area was there and she explained that due to the lack of leaders they actually wouldn't have our girls placed in a troop until some more leaders sign up.

So I'm considering it. And let me just tell you that I am not the type of person to do this... but it really made me sad that they were so short handed and Munchkin wouldn't even have a real troop yet and I guess my own Girl Scout nostalgia started kicking in and I started imagining all the fun activities I could do with my Brownie troop and I really think I want to take the plunge.

But first I would seriously need to get my act together! We're really changing the way we work our business lately and I would need to make sure I had that all together first. I'd also need to get our house together! I mean, as a Girl Scout leader it's just inevitable that people would be stopping by for things. Seriously, I just can't let anyone actually see it in it's current condition. eBay has completely taken over - there are literally about 100 plastic bins full of inventory scattered throughout the house wherever we can mange to live around them. We plan to start storing them in the garage but first we'd have to clean it out and it's truly a nightmare in there. So bad that we can't actually get the lawnmower out so the lawn has suffered terribly. Luckily our house is set back enough that our neighbors can't actually SEE it... but it really needs to be cleaned up. Now that summer is over and our South Florida weather will start to cool off we really need to get in that garage and clean it out. I truly think it's the heart of our domestic problem. That and I keep procrastinating. :)

So for now it's time to stop procrastinating and start shipping. Angry customers are never a good thing.