This morning was really hecktic-- I got the kids out the door for the bus...finally!! I watched as Thing2 ran his little heart out to the bus, (cause he lost his homework and was frantically looking for it) all the while Thing1 was yelling "Hurry Thing2 Hurry!! The bus is coming!" She was yelling it out of concern for her little brother. It warmed my heart. Thing 3 was chasing them in the grass, and then promptly turned around yelling "Bwwrrr! Its too cold! I need shoes!" We came inside, got our toast, and settled in for a nice calm morning. Or so I thought!

I was sipping my equivalent of a morning "cup of joe"-- diet pepsi, thinking..."Hummm what am I going to blog this morning??" I thought I would pull a picture and post it and journal about that when my blog just came to me...


Do you know what an entire 18 pack of eggs looks like broken on the floor? I do. It's not a pretty sight! It is just an ooeeey, gooey mess of grossness!

My cute litte Thing3 came in and said, rather sheepishly, I might add: "Mama-- I made a big mess." I said "You did?" She nods her head and says "Yup! I made a big, big mess. Come see". Then she turns and promptly runs out. Oh boy!

Now, mind you, I had just, not 2 minutes earlier, noticed how quiet it was and checked on her. She was "playing" her brothers gameboy while hiding under a blanket. She has no idea how to play the thing... as I pulled the blanket off, she looks up and says "Mom (all whiney like) I'm playing the dameboy!" And covers her head back up. What is a person's train of thought from playing a gameboy to egg throwing?

As I got up to the kitchen, I just sortof stared all open mouthed. I had to breath really hard to not start yelling... as I kept breathing, I started laughing. She was standing next to her creation-- all Vannah White like-- as if to say "isn't this the coolest thing ever?" She was trying to look serious, but you could tell she thought that it was pretty dang awesome! I said "Oh my! Thing 3 what have you done?" And she says, "I made a big mess!" I said "what where were you doing?" And she looked at me like I was dumb, and then said "I was frowing da eggs!!" Oh, I see that.

Hombre has a theory. He says that if you are a "lunk head", then you have "easy" children to deal with. This is because, he says, God can't trust you to give the extra love, kindness,caring and attention that comes with a "challenging" child. I don't know if I believe that. I think he was telling me this to try and make me feel better... I don't think it worked. Thing 3 is my trial. I will be amazed if we survive her. One minute she can be so darling and sweet and kind, and the next minute I think she has become possesed by the devil himself. I honestly do not know how to handle her. She is extremely difficult. Everyone has all sorts of advice " You let her manipulate the system, thats why shes like that" or "she just needs more love and attention", or "you can't let her get away with that. She needs a firm hand." I just don't know what to think anymore. She is 2-- how do you reason with a 2 year old? How do you get them to understand that they can not yell at other children just because they look at you? How do you get them to understand what it means to be nice vs. mean? I think I am raising a mean child... I hope I can figure out how to help her. She wants to play with kids, but then when she gets around them she is just plain mean.

I had to go do my church visits today (Visiting Teaching). I thought it would be a good idea to take Thing 3 because she could play with my companions little girl. Boy-- was I sadly mistaken. I have never seen Thing 3 behave the way she did today. It was completely humiliating. I don't think that I can ever go back to the one lady's house. Thing 3 was the poster child for the evil child. I was flabergasted, and left speechless. I just finally gathered up my things and left. I wanted to just crawl into a whole and just stay there forever. Throw some food in once a day, cause I'm not coming out! I honestly do not know what happened. We had our little talk about what Mommy wanted, and how she should behave... It was so far from what happened, we could've been on another planet!

I don't know what to do. I am stumped. She is my trial. Which is ironic-- since the message that I left with everyone today was that when you are having trials, if you will read your sciptures, the Lord will make it possible to handle your trials. Sometimes fixing them for you, and sometimes just giving you the peace to deal with your trials. I know this is true-- but how do I apply this to raising Thing 3?

She is angry all the time... what can a 2 year old be angry about? She yells all the time and is just plain mean. It then makes me wonder-- is she mirroring what she sees from me? And if so, boy have I really screwed up. What to do, what to do!

So, anyway, Hombre's theory is supposed to make me feel better... better that I am not a "lunk head" I suppose. He says that lunk heads are the ones that you just want to slap up side the head with a 2x4 cause their kids are turning out great inspite of the parents. I wish it were that easy... but for me, I am feeling like the complete looser parent because my kid can't play nice, or be nice.

Nice agent just called... she has sitting in front of her my MVR. She said that dumb and dumber never even tried to get the thing pulled. WHAT???!! For what ever reason they (dumb and dumber) have decided that A: they want everyone else to do their jobs, or B: they are the self proclaimed DL police! (meaning they want to make sure everyone has the instate DL...whatever! )
What a bunch of weirdos. Nice agent DID do her job, and with a couple of clicks of the mouse, our problem is solved.

How nice it is when everyone does their OWN jobs!

I have this pet peeve... I hate having to do other people's jobs for them! Especially if I am paying them. If you can take my money, then you can figure out how to do your own freaking job!!

I have lived here now for almost 6 months. For 6 months I have been trying to get myself insured to drive my car. The insurance moron keeps telling me they can't find me with my DL# ... it is invalid. WHAT???!!! How can that be? I re-newed the thing right before we moved. I call (here is where I start to their job) the Secretary of State... sure enough they can find me. I am valid, they don't know what her problem is. So, I give her the number to call, and they will give her a verbal, and fax, yes fax her a copy of my MVR so that I can be properly insured... "Ok" she says, "I'll take care of it." Then along comes this "lovely" nasty gram saying that I am going to be canceled (both cars and house) on this day because we don't meet the companies guide lines. WHAT??!?? Not wanting to have to deal with dumb and dumber, I call a different office of the same insurance company. They tell me "Hey! No problem! We'll take care of this!" I assume it's all taken care of. Ooooohhhhhhh Noooooooo! The saga continues...

Hombre is getting ready to take the bar exam, and he needs a copy of his MVR to turn in with his bar application. Why you ask? Because it makes everyones life difficult, that's why!
I figure, since they had to pull these things already with the insurance, can't we just use the ones they got from the DMV?? Sounds logical to me! I call the nice insurance lady, and she says that makes sense to her, and she will get it right ready for me... she just has to get it from "dumb and dumber". No biggie, right?? WRONG!!! Nice lady calls back and says they never got my MVR, they are still waiting for it, and Hombres was just from their computer. (oh, ok! whatever that means!) Then dumb and dumber calls..." Ummm, Anonymous lady, we still can't pull your MVR. If you want to be insured ever, then YOU need to call the DMV and see if they will give YOU a MVR report and then YOU can bring it in to us." I am shocked into silence, (my nasty side is starting to rear her ugly little head). "Why can YOU not do that, and why are we still having these problems?" I ask. She says " Its cause you have an out of state DL#. "Oh... well, you can pull Hombres just fine" I say, "what is the real problem?" I don't know she says... YOU are going to have to take care of this yourself. she tells me. WHAT??!!?? Isn't that why I pay my insurance every freaking month for? Do your own job. If I wanted to have a job I would get my own job!

Now... I wish I had been quick enough to say that to her...but, I wasn't! I just told her I would deal with the nice agent and hung up on her...only after she told me that the nice agent couldn't do her job for me either. Hummm...

I called the nice agent, and of course, she freaked. She yelled into the phone, at me, "That lady is lying to you. I gave them everything they needed to have to get this thing freaking taken care of!" I felt guilty for only a split second, and then the nice agent said "thats it! no more mrs nice guy!" OH BOY!!! I think I have started an inter agency war here!!

Well...Thats what you get for wanting ME to do YOUR job!

The sun sets in a sea of magic,

swirling colors and light kiss it away.

Such a glamorous loss seems almost tragic,

but all I can do is bask in the spray.

Library day! We found the county library today! I love books! I love to look at them, hold them and smell them. I get all giddy inside when I see all the books for me to look at and hold! On my night stand right now, I have 9 books begging me to read them... and yet I still check out more. I think it's a sickness, really. I love books! I can't get enough of them. Thing 1 said it best when she told me once that she would like to be buried in the Library. Then she could read books for all of eternity! What a grand idea. The thing that is soo incredible about books is that when it seems that everything is going against you-- you can pick up a book and instantly you have a friend and place to escape too. I love a book that transports me there and I really feel like I am there. Harry Potter does this for me. Hombre said when he finished one of them that it made him sad to finish, cause he felt like he had lost his best friend. THAT, my friends, is the sign of a great book. There are soo many others that do that for me. It is so hard for me to say exactly what my favorite book is, cause it changes weekly to whatever the newest book I am reading. (Although, I will say, it's not the latest one!That's a story for another time!) I find such pleasure in using my imagination. I feel like there is another friend just begging me to find them and explore their world with them. Oh how I love books! If I could have my wildest dream it would be to have a bookstore. Then I really could just sit and savor every book that there ever was... and die with all my friends. Isn't that a morbid thought?!? There are soo many to discover and so many places to visit! I am so grateful that Thing 1 loves to read as much as I do. It is fun to sit and read with her. And now Thing 3 is following suite. I just hope that I can convince Thing 2 that it really is his thing! :0) (he told me that he just wasn't into reading cause it just wasn't his thing)! This last week our church held a "No T.V. week" How glorious is that? It was awesome to sit and read with my children and my husband. We read so many books that week--Heaven! I am glad that Hombre is as passionate about Literature as I am. I think that Henry Kissinger said it best: "An intelligent Man (or woman) will read a book a week." That seemed like a lot at first. So, I alterd the goal to be 1 a month... but the more I read, the faster I get and I can say that there are some months that I do read a book a week. As long as you read, I think that is all that matters. Knowledge is power! Oh how I love books!

The first signs of fall are here-- the crisp air singing that the leaves are about to change! We are ever closer to snow! By conference time, the mountains will be almost done with their fall splendor! I love the fall! I love the crisp mornings, being able to have my windows open. I love the colors and the sweaters! I love pumpkins and all the fall festivals there are. I love September and October. Such a beautiful time of the year!

I have said it so many times before that it now sounds like a broken record: Garrison Keilor is the only person who can make the Mid-West sound romantic! He has such a way with words. When I listen to him talk about the Mid-West it makes me have an ache for "home". I loved the Mid-West. It has been a hard adjustment for me being back here, but I have decided that I need to just "buck up!". I am here and there is no going back! So, bloom where you are planted! I can miss all the great memories there, and make new ones here. I think the thing that I have been missing the most is my house (oh how I LOVED that house!) and my friends. I have such great friends back there--But, if I just sit around and pout it will never get better-- so bloom where you are planted! My children are thriving here-- its a good thing!
Thing 3 made it through Nursery without me today... whew! When I came back to get her she said "Mommy, I lost you." "But now I found you." She is soo cute. She is getting such a command of the english language. She is such a delight to have, and I am soo enjoying my time alone with her. She is constantly hugging and kissing on me! She still has her moments, but she is getting better. She came out of time-out for throwing a fit, and promptly told Thing 1 that she isn't suppose to "frow fits anymore!" Thats right, baby, thats right!
Thing 2 wanted to take me to show and tell last week at school. That made my day! He said he would tell everyone: "This is my mom. Her name is Mom. She lives with me!" He was all gun-hoe for that, until Thing 1 told him that was dumb! Then he started to re-think it and decided to take the dog. This week he took his Uncle. But, his Uncle lives in D.C. Sooo, Mom had to round up some pics of said Uncle , and the money he gave the kids from Iraq, and away to school Thing 2 and his "cool Uncle" went. Thing 2 thinks he is soo cool. It's ALWAYS fun when he comes to town! But, those are posts for another time! :0) It all makes me smile!
Thing 1 got her AR reading results back this week. They said that she is reading on a post-high school level! WHAT??! She is too smart! She told Hombre the other day that Thing 2 was bugging her both literally and figuratively. How does a 10 year old know this?! She has discoverd boys. She likes a boy in our ward, who is also in her school class, and his Dad is our home teacher. It makes me smile. There is also another boy that likes her--and he is a member too! See, thats why we moved here! It makes it a little bit easier for me to watch her push away...it would be more difficult if we weren't here--I would worry so much more! She is such a delight, and growing up soo fast. It makes me sad to realize that in another 10 years she will be gone from our home, and off to college! I will miss her so! Hombre has decided that the kids were not allowed to move away--- EVER!! I told him good luck on inforcing that one! :0)
If I were to put a song to my post today, it would be the song by the 10,000 Maniacs "These are the days". Not only just the song, and the sound of it fits, but also the words:

"These are the days you'll remember.
Never before and never since,
I promise,
the whole world will be as warm as this.
and as you feel it, you'll know its true
that you are blessed and lucky.
It's true that you are touched by something
that will grow and bloom in you.
These are the days you'll remember.
When May is rushing over you
with desire to be part of the miracles
you see in every hour.You'll know it's true
that you are blessed and lucky.
It's true that you are touched by something
that will grow and bloom in you.
These are days.
These are the days you might
fill with laughter until you break.
These days you might
feel a shaft of light make its way
across your face.
And when you do
you'll know how it was meant to be.
See the signs and know their meaning.
It's true, you'll know how it was meant to be.
Hear the signs and know
they're speaking to you, to you."

Thats the song for todays blog. I am blessed, and these are the days!