Cabin Fever

It's The Great Blizzard of '08 outside right now, and I'm going stark raving mad.

My kids have had 2 snow days now, therefore, I have been at my wits end. Anyone who has kids like mine, especially boys like mine, knows exactly where I'm coming from. 10 minutes of uninterupted silence is absolutely unheard of! My days have been filled with arguing over toys, tattle telling on each other, and my constant necessity to break up their fights.

Did I mention I also have a 10 week old baby?

At this point in time, I'm feeling a little Jack Nicholson'ish.

Is it true? I can't believe my eyes..... A smile on Princess Hannah!

A hair did what?

Who could have known a seemingly safe little strand of hair could do so much damage!

I was horrified to find out first hand just what a 'hair' could do.

I was changing Hannah's diaper when I noticed her doing something weird with her hand. Normally she will swing her arms all around and grasp at everything in sight when I change her diaper, but today she just lay there, fingers clutched into a tiny little ball.

Immediately the Mom instinct kicks in and I pry her fingers apart to see what it is she has hidden away in there.

And that's when I notice it.

At some point a hair had wrapped itself around 3 of her chubby little fingers and begun cutting into her skin.

I almost died.

It had cut in so deeply I couldn't even see the hair anymore. My mind was racing trying to figure out how I was going to get this taken care of before her fingers shriveled up and fell off.

I ended up pulling out my old knife from work, which is basically just a triangular razor blade on the end of a handle. I had to carefully pull her fingers apart in order to find any exposed hair that could be cut.

Believe me, this was no easy task.

Nothing like a writhing crying child pulling away from you as you try, scalpel in hand, to cut a hair out from between her fingers.

I somehow managed to get this accomplished without even cutting the skin. (On her or me.)

So tired....

I was just informed by Zach that I look like I have 2 black eyes.

And, here I am, typing away in my blog while I'm in class. Not trying to toot my own horn, but, these classes are a breeze. I'll be a wreck when I do finally have a class that requires me to use my brain.

In other news, I received Zach's report card in the mail last night. I was impressed, I must say. He was able to pull both F's up to a D and 2 of his D's up to a C.

Looks like I'll have to do a little reward for him this weekend, he has worked hard.

Is he, or isn't he?

That is the question.

My cousin Jackie, whom I haven't heard from in more then 6 years, called me tonight to let me know my Grandpa may be dying.

I have no idea how I feel about this.

I haven't actually seen my Grandpa in over 8 years, and to be honest, the last time was saw each other it was not under good circumstances. The last time I saw my cousin Jackie it CERTAINLY wasn't under good circumstances either.

I hate that I come from a family that is as messed up as mine.

Today at the dentist......

Zachary threw up all over himself, the dentist, and the dentist chair.

You should have seen the look on Dr. Sherman's face when she came out into the lobby to let me know what had happened. Shock, amazement, embarrassment..... And then we started to laugh.

I know, imagine that, another person out there in the world who laughs at inappropriate situations out of nervousness.

Apparently Zach had suffered a reaction from the nitrous oxide. He had started to laugh, commented about the funny colors, and then vomited all over.

It was not a pleasant smell, either. By the end of his visit, the smell had permeated the lobby and was headed into the main hallway.

Funny Comment of the Day: On the way home we had passed a dead skunk on the road. In his still delusional and groggy state Zach had commented "Thank God, something that smells better then the puke."

How fascinating am I?

Apparently, fascinating enough to monopolize 45 minutes of my medical terminology class tonight.

The class began normal enough. Everyone was required to give a little info about themselves during role call, just enough to familiarize themselves with each other and the instructor.

My name was called, I raised my hand, and explained to the class that I had 3 kids, ages 13, 5, and 8 weeks. I heard gasps to my right and Glenda chuckle at the next table.

(Yes, I was thrilled to see a familiar face when I entered the class tonight. Glenda worked at Reptron with me!)

I then explained how I had been one of the displaced workers at Reptron and had decided to change my occupation after seeing what was happening in the manufacturing realm.

From there it all becomes a blur.......

It's amazing how disgruntled people become when it comes to plant closures and outsourcing. This stuff hasn't even happened to them and they are more angry then I am.

Interesting Fact of the Day: One of the first guys I ever dated was a guy named Jeff. He had been dating a girl named April when we first met, something I was not aware of until years after the fact. He had dumped April to go out with me, and I had dumped him because I really wasn't into him.

I'll bet you can guess where I'm going with this, can't you.......

April was in my class tonight. I had even sat 2 seats down from her without even realizing it was her. I'm certain she has no idea who I am, but it still made me feel uncomfortable. To top it off, when it was her turn to tell the class about herself, she began by telling everyone she was divorced and living back at home again with her kids hoping to get an education and make a better life for herself.

what in the heck?

Charlie's friend Greg stopped by the house tonight on his snowmobile.

Ok, here's the part that bothers me.

He KNOWS Charlie is working out of town, Charlie told him as much when we saw him at Wal Mart yesterday.

Yet, here he is, on my front porch, talking to Zachary about his snowmobile that he has apparently decided he wants to sell us.

I see something so very wrong with this whole scenario.......

He has either a) decided he wants to play the devils advocate and recruit my kid to bug the hell out of us until we finally relent and buy that snowmobile, or b) decided to stop in and make his move on me.

Charlie was NOT happy. He seems to think option b was his motive. Who knows, I didn't even talk to the guy.

In Other News: Today was my first day of classes. Yes, that is correct, Sherri Sanders has officially become a college student. I can see a limitless world of possibility for story lines for my blog.

For instance, Hive Boy, the barely adult guy sitting in the back of the class with what appeared to be the worst case of hives I've ever seen. I can't wait to see what he looks like on Wednesday.

This week at Wal Mart....

• I witnessed a very large man in a bright purple shirt shop lift 3 donuts from the bakery.
• The cashier who waited on my charged me for the same box of tampons twice.
• I neglected to collect all of my bags at check out and didn't notice until 2 hours later.
• The only reason I noticed was because I couldn't find my formula.
• Formula was the only reason why I went to Wal Mart in the first place, ironic how it ended up being amongst the items I left behind.
• When I went back to Wal Mart to collect my forgotten items the very large man in the purple shirt was still at Wal Mart on the bench in front of the nail salon.

The Glare

It appears to me I'm just going to have to get used to it, Hannah has a glare that could pierce your soul. It's so very hard to believe such a tiny little baby could have such an angry and menacing look about her!

Yet she does......

Secret Confession

The only time I get dressed anymore is when I need to leave the house.

I'm so pathetic.....

I really miss working. Not so much the work, but the people. I miss interacting with adults, conversations, and laughing. I miss that good feeling you get when you see someone and they are genuinely happy to see you.

I can see this is going to be a tough transition for me.

Even when my classes start I will only be out and about for a couple of hours a day 3 days a week. What if I don't even like those people....

ugh!

Happy New Year!

Thomas, Hannah, and Zachary - I have no idea what has prompted Thomas to create the 'fake smile', but he's been doing it in all his pictures now. It totally cracks me up.