Today's phone conversations...

Conversation #1:
:::phone rings:::

Dad: Hello?
Me: Hey, what are you doing?
Dad: Are you out runnin' around?
Me: No, I was on the phone earlier, and I don't have call waiting.
Dad: Mom said something about you coming over to spend the night tonight since Michael's going to Knoxville?
Me: No, that's next weekend. I talked to Mom last weekend and told her weekend after next.
Dad: Oh...
Me: I guess she misunderstood me or something.
Dad: Oh, okay. Well we were heading out pretty early in the morning, so I was going to see what you planned on doing.
Me: Oh, where are you going?
Dad: Ripley, for the big flea market they have down there the 1st Saturday of every month.
Me: Ohhhh, okay, cool. Yeah, it's next weekend I wanted to come spend the night.
Dad: Well, alright then. Do you want to go with us?
Me: Yeah, I'd love to go! Michael's working, and that'd be fun. I could bring the stroller for Jacob.
Dad: You think they can handle it okay, being gone all day?
Me: Oh yeah, the kids do great on road trips, and they will probably sleep in the car.
Dad: Okay, well we're heading out early. Can you be here at 7 in the morning?
Me: Yeah, no problem!
Dad: Alright, then, I will call you again later this evening to confirm everything, make sure we're all singing off the same sheet of music.
Me: Oh, Okay! Bye!
Dad: Bye-Bye


Conversation #2
:::phone rings:::
Me: Hello?
Dad: Candy?
Me: Yeah?
Dad: Looks like we're going to have to cancel tomorrow.
Me: Oh, why?
Dad: Mom came home not feeling good today, she had a bad day.
Me: Oh, what's wrong?
Dad: Just school.
Me: Oh?
Dad: Maybe you can go another time when the boys can stay with Michael.
Me: What do you mean?
Dad: Well if they get whiney or something, I don't think she'll be able to handle it.
Me: Well Michael works on Saturdays, so there won't ever be a time I can go without the boys.
Dad: Every Saturday?
Me: Well, he almost always ends up working the 1st Saturday of the month (which is when they have the flea market each month).
Dad: Well...
Me: I was really looking forward to going, plus Michael even gave me some money so I could go. I mean, my kids are really good kids...they are boys, but they aren't that rowdy and rambunctious, and they do great on trips, and I take them shopping and everywhere else. They're good kids!
Dad: But we're going to be gone all day.
Me: How long is all day?
Dad: Well we'll be at the thing [shopping] for 3 or 4 hours...can they handle that?
Me: Oh yeah!
Dad: We're going to be at Norman's cooking out afterwards. [this was new information to me], do you think the boys could handle that?
[At this point I was ready to say "just F-it" and hang up]
Me: Oh yeah, definitely!
Dad: Well, okay, since you've already made plans to go and all, we'll just go with or without your mother.
Me: Well good grief, if it's that much of a problem, then just forget it.
Dad: No, no, be here at 7 and we'll go.
Me: Okay then.
Dad: See you in the morning at 7.
Me: Okay, bye.


I called Michael, told him what all was said. He called his Mom, told her what was said, and you know what she had to say? "You just tell her to send the kids up here [car lot] tomorrow." She has a freaking business to run, but is still willing and able to take care of the kids, in spite of her own health issues, being really busy, etc., etc. What the FREAK is my Mom's problem?!?!?!?! My Mom wouldn't even have to take care of the kids. They're my kids, and they're my responsibility...I would bring plenty of snacks, cups, toys, etc. to keep them busy on the trip. They are very calm, well-mannered, sweet-natured kids. (I'm not just saying that because they're my kids...I have received SO MANY compliments on how well-behaved my children are!) My Mom makes time for her parents, her sister, my sister's kids, her teacher friends, the list goes on and on. But she NEVER has time for me and my kids. How much more of this should I put up with? It breaks my heart.

What would you do if you were in my shoes?

There are some people in life, that no matter what great things you yourself may accomplish, there will ALWAYS be that one person that will out-do you...and by a longshot. Just when I start realizing how very blessed I am in life, someone comes along and reminds me that I'm on the low end of the totem pole. The real kicker is that time after time, it's the same person. I don't have a jealousy problem, honestly, but I hate being reminded of all the "what if's" that I tossed in the trash a couple years ago.

In other news, my dreams are WEIRD! (That's news?) The first dream was about this guy that we know (I'm pretty good friends with his wife), came to our house to drop off a sack of baby clothes they were loaning to us, and he also wanted to borrow something from us (I can't remember what it was). While he was here, he snuck into Travis' room and took one of his most favorite stuffed animals along with a baseball and a soccer ball. I immediately stopped him in his tracks and asked him what he was doing, taking my kid's stuff like that? He really didn't have an explanation, and we made our way into the living room, shouting and arguing with each other, and then he dared to put his hands on me and push me. About that time, Michael showed up at the door (somehow from work, he had sensed there was something wrong at home), and he caught the guy in the act of trying to physically harm me. The first words out of Michael's mouth were "What do you think you're doing to my wife? Talking to her like that?" Then right in front of me, they decided to duke it out, and Michael punched him in the eye, the guy missed Michael altogether, and the guy said "That didn't even hurt, ha ha ha!" but then he went down on the couch, holding his eye, crying like a baby. It was quite funny...I woke up laughing from that dream.

The other dream (now don't laugh...please)...I was Demi Moore (okay, I'm laughing, you can go ahead and laugh, too), and I had just moved to New York and was living in this unfinished apartment building. The dream started out as if it were actually a movie, and I'm was in a darkened room, looking in the mirror (I had the "Ghosts" haircut), talking to myself, and my maid came up behind me, asking me if something was wrong or if I was ill, and then the maid forced me to check myself into the hospital. But I didn't actually go, because I knew there wasn't anything wrong with me, and so I walked back to my apartment building, and I met this guy on the sidewalk...it was none other than...Patrick Swayze!!! (It's getting hot in here!) He followed me into the building, onto the elevator (which was nothing more than one of those elevator cage looking things the construction workers use), and then down the hall. What was interesting was that parts of the floor were not finished...there was literally missing pieces of floor, so that you could see down into the floor below. He then followed me into my apartment, and before you know it, we were reinacting "that scene" from Ghosts, except minus the pottery wheel and all the clay everywhere, lol. Then we fell asleep, and when I woke up, he was gone, and I noticed the rest of the floor had been finished. Very, very weird. Are you still laughing?

I guess I should get going and help Travis with his schoolwork! Later, Gator!

We couldn't have asked for better Trick-or-Treat weather. The kids had a blast...Jacob had so much fun, he didn't want to come in, which he didn't without throwing a fit.They looked so cute in their costumes, er, cool in their costumes. (Boys don't like to be called cute, I've noticed. According to Travis, boys must be referred to as "cool", lol.) We just went up and down our street (the houses that appeared to be participating in dishing out candy), and the boys collected more candy than our household will probably ever eat. After we came back home, I figured we would have avoided the rush of trick-or-treaters coming to our door, but I was wrong! We had more kids show up than any of the years past COMBINED. We started out with a huge overflowing bowl of candy, and ended up having to turn kids away because we ran out. Rachel, Abigail and Ben came over, and we had ordered a Chick-Fil-A nugget tray (those things are da bomb!), we had chips & dip, Halloween cookies, I made brownies, and little smokies in BBQ sauce. Baby Abby didn't even know she was here, I don't think, because she never woke up. She stayed strapped in her little infant carrier the whole time. I promise she doesn't even look real! Her skin is so pretty and pink, and she's sooo tiny!

Happy Halloween, if you celebrate Halloween, that is. We decided to let the kids dress up this year and the plan is to just take them up our street, and then come home and eat treats and pass out candy. Rachel & her new baby and her fiance are supposedly coming by for a bit, too. Travis is going as Darth Vader...he has the COOLEST costume...even came with a red light saber, and Jacob is going to be a cute Tiger. I finished carving my punkins last night, and they turned out cute. I carved a traditional jack-o-lantern face, and then I had a smaller pumpkin which I carved into a cat. I used the remaining triangle cutouts from the jack-o-lantern and pinned them onto the cat pumpkin to make cat ears. :-)

The latest school news is that we pulled Travis out of school. We had to get out while the getting was good. Not only was it a major financial burden with all the gas we were having to pump, but the whole strain between people that were supposed to be church family just became too much to deal with. It just wasn't working out having a school/work/business-type relationship with church folks. Besides that, there was a whole host of other smaller issues. It was just not working on many different levels. We were able to get all of Travis' books, so I'm going to work with Travis for the remainder of the school year, and then next year he'll go to "big school" for Kindergarten. Honestly, I grew up in public school, and in some ways I hated it, but I also got an excellent education. In recent years I have felt obligated to shun public schools by people that have never been in public school or do not know what kind of schools we have in our county (we have some of the BEST in the STATE right here). But after seeing what goes on in a Christian school (the ones I've seen), I had to step back and ask myself if I want to sacrifice my child's education (not to mention an array of other opportunities) for him to be able to have a Bible in school and learn a memory verse. I know, that must sound really off-key coming from a Christian who wants to do RIGHT for her family. But is it REALLY the school's responsibility to teach the Bible, Christian principals, etc.? No...it should come from HOME. Besides, last time I checked, there is no law against a child bringing a Bible to school in his backpack. He can read it in the lunch room, or in study hall. There is no law against it. He can pray when he sits down to his lunch to thank God for his food. He can pray any time he wants to. There IS no law against that. Public schools are just not allowed to lead an open prayer in school or teach their personal religious beliefs. Okay, so what about evolution? Evolution was introduced in my science classes, but did I ever believe in it? No. I know the creation story...that God made everything...because...THAT'S WHAT I WAS TAUGHT AT HOME and CHURCH! My science teachers did not sway me to believe in evolution. If a teacher CAN do that to a child, then it's a problem in the home. Look at public schools this way...it's a good thing in a way (I know, again I'm sounding like a backwards liberal), that religion is left out of school because just think about how many different views and beliefs there are in Christianity alone. (I am not even bringing any other religions into this. It's not even about religious freedom or about having respect/disrespect for other religions.) I am just talking about Christianity. Think about it. Some believe you can lose your salvation, others believe you can't lose it. Some believe in Baptism for salvation, some don't. Some believe in sprinkling babies. Others don't. Some believe in high moral standars, some don't. In a nutshell, those beliefs and standars should be taught at HOME, and it's the parents' ultimate responsibility to lead their children spiritually and take them to church! Perhaps private schools work better for you, especially if you live in a really bad school district where drug trafficking is worse than on the U.S./Mexico border. Or if your child has SERIOUS problems in a larger school setting. Don't get me wrong...there are some VERY prestigious private schools, which are great if you live in a 6,000 sq. ft. mansion in Germantown. But for those of us who live on a tight budget and do great to pay the mortgage on time, the private schools that ARE somewhat affordable lack on the academics (and extracurricular) and public schools have much more to offer. If you don't believe me, ask my husband...he went to a private school all his life, and he agrees with me.