When we painted Justine's room lime and aqua Corey almost died. Now it's the coolest room in the house!

I love Taylor Swift.

Is that teeny boppy of me?

I don't care. I love her.

I help my kids clean their rooms. I admit it. Most of the time I make them do it but very often I go in and clean also. I don't have any philosophy on if that is right or wrong. All I know is I can't stand the mess and I do it. Sometimes I make them help and sometimes I just do it while they are gone so I can trash stuff. Also sometimes the rooms just get so bad the kids can't get it done to my expectation so I do it and give them a fresh start. Then they maintain for a month and then I go in the trenches yet again..

I also help Justine because she is sharing with a little sister who helps make the mess but not the cleaning up part. Although sometimes when I get in there I realize Kate's mess is only a quarter of the mess and the rest of it is Justine's. She is just like I was as a kid.

So one day I was bored and pushed play on the CD player and listened to Taylor Swift's new CD. It was delightful. I fell in love with her right there.

Because I picture my sweet teenage girl locked in her room doing her own thing and listening to this sweet song about never growing up. This sweet little song about enjoying your child hood. About giving your mom a break and not making her park down the street when she drops you off somewhere. I just picture her in her room, which she has put so much love into, and I just bet she is happy in there listening to Taylor's beautiful song. I love her, I'm tellin' you. I love her for giving those good feelings to my girl.

Justine LOVES little knick knacks. It's cute.

Taylor also has this great song to Kanye west. If you are up in the Hollywood stuff you would know that he interrupted Taylor's winning speech to, instead, give Kudos to Beyonce who didn't win but he must have felt she should have. Kanye actually took Taylor's microphone and ruined her winning speech. Which I am sure was a huge deal to Taylor. Being young in the industry. (I sound like a producer! Heck ya)

So it was a shocking and scandalous moment and was all over the talk shows. But Taylor handled herself so sweetly. So wisely. So without guile.

Then she wrote this great little song. The critics say the song is just marginal but I think it is beautiful. It speaks of making mistakes. And who you've been is not still who you are. And Kanye's light is still bright to her. I don't know. I just like it.

That's all. Bye.

ADHD is a big fat poo poo head. Or is it pooh pooh? Ha ha. That looks funny. ADHD is a big fat pooh pooh head. bahaaaaa!

Remember I have been reading the book, "ADD, The Answer"? Well, I have found the answer....

Ready for it.....?

There is no COTTON PICKIN' ANSWER, Dang it!

I read the entire book. I ran all the ideas past Bo's doctor. He answered my questions with contradictory answers that he firmly believes.

The Dr. who wrote the book firmly believes his answers.

Bo's Dr. recommended four more books.


I have one another book already waiting for me on my night stand. That is actually due back at the library this very second! Ack!

The "ADD The Answer" book says that if you have ADD in your life you must read and become an expert on ADD. That is what I am aiming for.

But for now... I have no answer. It is an extremely confusing, millions of different opinions, topic. I don't know what to do.

Here is how Bo spent the majority of his jujitsu class....

Sitting on the side line , for poor behavior, waiting to be invited back in to train. But the poor behavior is honestly impossible for him to control. At one point Bo just started crying and said he wanted to go home. It made me think about the part in the book that says kids with ADD have a lot of negatives going on in their life. He is just being his normal little self and it is negative. And I am not blaming the jujitsu instructor. He is teaching. He can't have so much disruption. Plus he is trying to teach Bo. But why does it have to be so hard for my little guy?

And one thing I did think hard about is how I kept saying if Bo was going to be in so much trouble at school then I would just home school him so he wouldn't have failure all the time. But what about when he goes to church class. Or jujitsu, or to a birthday party. He has to be able to to control himself.

Bo's neurology Dr is an advocate of medicine. He says the front part of your brain is missing some chemicals or something that is controlled by medicine. So as much as Bo tries, he can't fix himself. And he disputes the other ideas in the book such as vitamins, fish oil, magnets, nutrition and such as a fix for ADD.

Which you all might be interested to know is now NEVER called ADD anymore. It is only called ADHD. Even if they don't have the hyperactive part. Still ADHD. Because the H means other things now too.

I know that because I am in ADHD training to become an ADHD Jedi master!

It is all just so much! And I don't know as though I have been given any huge inspirations on the subject. I am just trying to sort it all out.

BIG FAT "OH WELL"!!!!!

So....because I cannot stand how cute Bo is in his Gi, here are some more glorious pictures of him when he was not in time out.

Totally love his instructor.

Learning all the moves...

Corey and I went and saw this great movie called Warriors. It had some actors that were up and coming. And one of my fav....Nick Nolte. I like his goofy self! But the movie was about mixed martial arts and it was super cool. And it had a interesting story line. I may or may not agree with the ending. I need someone to discuss the ending with. (It does have a few bad word in it though)

Playing partner tag...

Love it!

After a while of Bo's poor behavior and several time outs the instructor finally just cradled him and demonstrated the moves on him. Bo really loved that. I think it somehow centers him. I know in his old kindergarten he would sit still during circle time when he had a heavy large bean bag on him. Interesting, huh? The weight or the constriction helps somehow.

After it was over he told the instructor "I want a hug." And the sweetie instructor said "I want a hug too." I thought that was so gentle and loving. And then Bo gave him a kiss as well.

I don't want him suffering so much. I don't want him in trouble all the time. I want him to be able to be the good little boy he is. I don't want him set up for this CONSTANT failure.

If you just knew him you would be able to see he is actually one of the most loving and sweet boys around.

ADHD can go where the sun don't shine. Opps. I didn't mean to say that out loud.

Except then I think about how ADHD is part of my kids. It is part of them. And then I have to love it a bit. Because I love them. And all that makes them...them. Dear ADHD, Can we be friends? Can you be more gentle on us and I will be more gentle on you when I am condemning you on my blog. Deal?

My mother had a great deal of trouble with me, but I think she enjoyed it. -Mark Twain-

Rhett turned 10!

Rhett is full of character. Not the kind of moral good standing, but the kind of lots of personality.

Sometimes it is super annoying. He is the kid who punches me with slug bugs super hard in the car, super hard. His constant whistling almost makes me scream in his face to shut his little whistley pie hole. If he decides he wants a little attention he can give me a friendly little side bump hello that will almost knock me off my feet with his strength. I can barely stand it when he is the sick child home from school because he does noting but agitate his younger siblings. I have to constantly remind him that I can take him to his knees with one smoosh of his bent pinky finger if I need to. And sometimes I have to. Just to remind him. And. he. loves. every. minute. of. it.

He never ends a phone conversation without saying "I love you". I love this kid! He is great annoying fun.

Today he came up to me with a blob of... left on the floor, black, Halloween, play doh.

And he tried to trick me (of course), "look, a piece of burned wood".

Being the party pooper I was I told him exactly what it was.

He said, "How do you know?"

"Because, I'm not stupid Rhett."

....and I turned to the microwave where I had been cooking Kate's lunch. And. I. removed. an. empty. bowl.....

*crickets* *chirp, chirp*

Empty. As in.... I cooked a bowl of Kate's lunch but never put the food in the bowl. That kind of empty. Cause I am super smart that way. Pffttt!

Actually there are many a day where I think I am TOTALLY losing it!!!

Speaking of Rhett.....His reading his improving!!!!!!!! It is still far from where it should be but he is making progress. Yay. Spelling? Not so much.

The one thing I hear over and over again about Rhett is what a hard worker he is. That will take him a long way.

Rhett LOVES it when it is time to go help dad chop and prepare the fire wood. He asks to mow the neighbors lawn for fun. He just loves work. I love that.

Speaking of firewood....

Here is Corey's haul for this year....

The little kids help dad....

I think it is totally amazing. The amount of work it takes to get that much wood? And chop it? Amazing. Thanks Corey. For keeping our family warm.

P.S. I have been trying to lose weight. Again. And the "Litehouse" brand, ranch, made out of yogurt is pretty dang good for "light" dressing. Just letting you know.

Who knew gluing rocks was going to be so much fun?!!!

Justine and I have been having tons of fun gluing rocks together.

In our neighborhood lives a wonderful kind lady named Gwen. For years and years and years Gwen has opened her home to children to come learn many things such as crafts, rockets building, gingerbread houses, cooking classes, sewing classes, junk art, sand art, mosaics, ceramics, everything you can think of I bet she had taught. (Including the one my daughter keeps trying to talk her into but she refuses to try ever again. I don't know it's name but you basically dip a furry cute stuffed animal in wax an then it hardens into a waxy, stuffed sculpture. I have no idea it's purpose but Gwen refuses to try it again.)

Anyway, Gwen usually just teaches kids through 4-H but this time she opened up a class to the adults also and Justine and I are taking it with a few other friends from the 4-H club.

We are making these.....




(These are Gwen's set)

Cute huh!

So Justine and I have been very busy gluing rocks and creating. It feel good to do something creative! I have been really proud of Justine because she just went for it. Gluing and creating with confidence. Not worrying if she made a mistake. It took me a little longer to get going because I want them to be PERFECT.

Then I couldn't stop having fun making a whole orchestra.


Too much fun!!! And sort of a waste of time. But doing something fun is okay, right? I think so. We are almost done with the gluing and will begin the painting. I hope that is fun also!

Mature people truths

Justine told me she thinks she knows lots of diseases from watching Dr. Quinn.

"I knew what Cholera was!" She told me all happy with herself referring to a discussion they had in science class.

Lol. She Loves Dr. Quinn. Just like me.



My friend Kelly had this on her blog. (She has a cool blog, check it out, she is basically too cool for me, but oh well.)I thought it was funny. Number 12 is stinking funny! I edited one bad word in case anyone cares. And I don't like the beer one. I'm prude that way. Oh.... and the mother in me disapproves of number 10 even though it is a bit true. And 21 cracks me up because there are so many movies my mom let me watch (can we all say dirty dancing? I know this applies to you too!) and now that I'm a mom I wonder what my mom was thinking! And just because we talked about dirty dancing it reminded me to say how much I always loved Patrick Swayze and that I miss seeing his face around. And at the bottom of this post I put a really just beautiful picture of him and his wife. Case you care. Sorry, is it too risque?



Also Kate keeps breaking my heart when ever she gets in trouble. She tells me "mom! You can't be mad at little people" and she gets all broken hearted. Tonight I yelled (yes, it's true :( ) for her to go to bed. "But mom! You're our mom!" Or she'll say "I like you" or even "I love you" She has got all these really great guilt laden one liners down.



32 Truths for Mature People

1. I think part of a best friend's job should be to immediately clear your computer history if you die.

2. Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realize you're wrong.

3. I totally take back all those times I didn't want to nap when I was younger.

4. There is great need for a sarcasm font.

5. How the heck are you supposed to fold a fitted sheet?

6. Was learning cursive really necessary?

7. Map Quest really needs to start their directions on # 5. I'm pretty sure I know how to get out of my neighborhood.

8. Obituaries would be a lot more interesting if they told you how the person died.

9. I can't remember the last time I wasn't at least kind of tired.

10. Bad decisions make good stories.

11. You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at work when you know that you just aren't going to do anything productive for the rest of the day.

12. Can we all just agree to ignore whatever comes after Blue Ray? I don't want to have to restart my collection...again.

13. I'm always slightly terrified when I exit out of Word and it asks me if I want to save any changes to my ten-page technical report that I swear I did not make any changes to.

14. "Do not machine wash or tumble dry" means I will never wash this - ever.

15. I hate when I just miss a call by the last ring (Hello? Hello? Damn it!), but when I immediately call back, it rings nine times and goes to voice mail. What did you do after I didn't answer? Drop the phone and run away?

16. I hate leaving my house confident and looking good and then not seeing anyone of importance the entire day. What a waste.

17. I keep some people's phone numbers in my phone just so I know not to answer when they call.

18. I think the freezer deserves a light as well.

19. I disagree with Kay Jewelers. I would bet on any given Friday or Saturday night more kisses begin with Miller Lite than Kay.

20. I wish Google Maps had an "Avoid Ghetto" routing option.

21. Sometimes, I'll watch a movie that I watched when I was younger and suddenly realize I had no idea what the heck was going on when I first saw it.

22. I would rather try to carry 10 over-loaded plastic bags in each hand than take 2 trips to bring my groceries in.

23. The only time I look forward to a red light is when I'm trying to finish a text.

24. I have a hard time deciphering the fine line between boredom and hunger.

25. How many times is it appropriate to say "What?" before you just nod and smile because you still didn't hear or understand a word they said?

26. I love the sense of camaraderie when an entire line of cars team up to prevent a jerk from cutting in at the front. Stay strong, brothers and sisters!

27. Shirts get dirty. Underwear gets dirty. Pants? Pants never get dirty, and you can wear them forever.

28. Is it just me or do high school kids get dumber & dumber every year?

29. There's no worse feeling than that millisecond you're sure you are going to die after leaning your chair back a little too far.

30. As a driver I hate pedestrians, and as a pedestrian I hate drivers, but no matter what the mode of transportation, I always hate bicyclists.

31. Sometimes I'll look down at my watch 3 consecutive times and still not know what time it is.

32. Even under ideal conditions people have trouble locating their car keys in a pocket, finding their cell phone, and Pinning the Tail on the Donkey - but I'd bet my ass everyone can find and push the snooze button from 3 feet away, in about 1.7 seconds, eyes closed, first time, every time! From Daily HaHa

I miss my blogging!!! But I have been busy with rocks. I PROMISE to blog about that tommorow.

Something bad about me

I have a really bad quality.

You might have it also. But I have had it for a very long time. I have learned that it is a great tool of Satan's and that it quickly leads me down a path of depression like nothing else can. In fact it leads me down more than a path of depression. It leads me down a path of envy and sometimes mean feelings towards those I am envious of.

It is that of comparing myself to others. And it is almost always me comparing my worst to their best.

Or comparing their wonderful qualities of discipline, decorating skills, and musical ability to my.... lack of them. Not remembering my own wonderful qualities that they may not possess.

We just can't be everything. We are some of some things and less of other things. And I have learned that aside from sin and yelling at my children(which likely falls under the sin category), comparing is one of the things that me the most unhappy. And it is something I do. I wish I wouldn't.

I am thinking about this because I have been very depressed today. And aside from staying up until 2 am watching a GREAT MOVIE (go see!!!!) and talking and laughing with friends which has made me super tired and grumpy today, all this comparing has made me sad.

I need to switch it around. And remember the key to happiness. Gratitude.

Corey and I have a fairly new dishwasher. And about 3 months ago it began leaving debris in all of the dishes that would be on the top rack. It was driving me crazy because I for sure do two loads of dishes a day. And I need all my appliances to behave themselves...(*hint hint* washer machine!)...because I have a hard enough time keeping up with everything as it is. I can't be slowed down by faulty equipment! (*hint hint* left side of the toaster!)

I took the whole dishwasher apart and cleaned every inch of all the crud built up in it. It took hours. And I was super disappointed when that did not solve the problem.

So when the repair guy came to attempt to fix our wonderful 17 year old washing machine (It is dead by the way...boo! I love it because we bought it in preparation of Kassidy's birth) I mentioned the dish washer problem to him.

He sold me a bottle of this....

for five bucks.

And then after he sold it to me he told me I could buy it cheaper at Wal-Mart.

Ha Ha. That cracked me up!

Anyway....my dad being the scientific man that he is, took home some debris and declared to me that it was glass and minerals.

The repair man gave me a handout about how dishwasher detergent no longer has phosphate in it which leaves dishes, that are washed in hard water, with minerals and other stuff still stuck to them.

SO...I PROMISED you yesterday I was going to do you a huge favor. And this is it! Go buy Lemi Shine. It works like nobodies business! And now my dishes are super shiny and super clean!!!!!!!

Can I get a Wahoo!!!!!!!

Seriously! Wahoo!!!!!!!!

And here is a recipe I want to try....

make your own soap here!

Today my dad asked me why I was into making all these home made things.... laundry detergent , butter (that was just for fun),...I almost yelled...I DON'T WANT TO!!!!! But life is just so expensive right now! Dads are so cute.

Bo has a playdate!!!!!!

I bet the sweet mom who sent this note home in Bo's back pack doesn't really know how very much it means to us!

Bo is going over after school and he took his stuffed wolf so he wont be scared (that's a new one for him..he's not normally scared) and two apples from Uncle Frank's tree.

I think the clue to this mom that Bo and E wanted to play was when she found them both in the back seat of her car when she went to pick up her son from school.

Happy day for Bo!

Tomorrow I am going to do many of you a HUGE favor! Just wait and see! Unless you have soft water. Then you won't care...