It's Official!!!

Yep! We're officially home owners!! We can hardly believe it ourselves!! We're very excited!! We haven't moved yet but we're getting the carpets cleaned today then we'll start the moving process.........because it is a process...LOL. I've been packing slowly but surely and I catch myself walking around like a chicken with it's head cut off wondering what to pack or take care of next. Moving is very overwhelming for me, and as you can guess it's my least favorite thing to do. Thankfully we won't be doing it again for a long, long time!

My friend Sandi and I went to Ikea in California last weekend. We picked up some new bookshelves for the playroom because our boys have a TON of books and the old bookshelf wouldn't survive another move. We also found some shelves for our den, I've always wanted a wall of shelves and now I'll have them! We're finally getting a new couch because my precious deceased cats (not to mention the boys) really did a number on the old one, that one will be in the playroom for a while. It's funny, I'm way more excited about getting and setting up new furniture than I am about packing up all the crap I already have! LOL. The new house has LOTS of windows so I won't have to worry about covering up wall space.......those of you who know me and have seen my house know how I can't handle a naked wall! I'm like my Mom in that way, I have to use up all space that's available.

Ok, on to other things! I'm still doing well in school. I regretfully didn't make the Dean's List this past semester (missed it by 1%!!! GRRRRR!!!) but I did make the honor roll. We've now moved on to Administration and Anatomy of the mouth and I'm doing great. It's very interesting and I like it but I'm worried about being in the "real world" of dentistry. There is sooooo much to remember and be responsible for and I've been out of the working world for so long I just hope I can hack it. Thankfully as a dental assistant there are many avenues I can take, I won't be limited to an office, I can do insurance or work in a lab making teeth. I'm really hoping to work in a lab because you can use your artistic skills more. We shall see, this semester finishes just before Christmas and then we move on to tools and learn chair-siding (assisting the dentist during procedures).

Halloween was fun but kind of uneventful. I was very happy that Calvin wasn't in to the stupid plastic store bought costumes this year. He decided he was "old enough to be something scary" so he chose Dracula. I was very happy to oblige and do a little face painting. Poor Zach the hand me down king wore Calvin's cowboy costume from a few years back. He didn't mind though, he was actually in to Halloween this year. We didn't have to fight him to keep his costume on and he walked the whole neighborhood with us in his clunking cowboy boots and didn't complain once. I think the fact that he got to play with a toy gun and get candy did the trick. I've since packed the gun away and he keeps asking for it. There's no doubt I'd be the worst mom on the block if I let him carry around an orange toy pistol!! Normally I wouldn't be so politically correct but he would "kill" all the kids in the neighborhood and I would catch hell for it. He has a weird violent streak that we're really trying to nip in the bud. I can handle being the Meanest Mom on the Block but not the Worst Mom on the Block, that's a crown I refuse to wear!

We had a rough week a few weeks ago. Poor little Zachary was in the hospital!! I took him in because he had a cold and the night prior we were noticing he was breathing rapidly. When I brought him in the doctor immediately checked his oxygen levels and they were in the high 80s. They gave him 2 breathing treatments and it only brought it up to the very low 90s and it's suppose to be near or at 100. The doctor admitted him to the hospital and he was there from Friday to Monday morning. It was a VERY LONG weekend for all of us. Dwayne and I took shifts staying with him in the hospital while our friend's Sandi and Eddie watched Calvin for us. Sweet Calvin missed his pesky little brother so much he cried, I guess they do love each other after all. Zach was hooked up to oxygen the whole time and it drove him CRAZY!! They had him on steroids and gave him breathing treatments every 4 to 6 hours.....he was not a happy camper at all. I joke and say he had "roid rage" cuz man was he a handful. Then when we finally got the ok to go home he didn't want to!!! He even refused to get out of the car when we got home!!! The tiny little prince in the big bed enjoyed having us waiting on him hand and foot while he barked orders at us!! Talk about a power trip!! I have to admit he looked so sweet and innocent in that big hospital bed, I wish I could get the pictures off my phone so I could post them. Now he's back to his feisty little self bothering his brother and sassing his parents, the little darling!

Well, I thinks that's it for now!! I guess I better really get my rear in gear and get back to packing!! We hope this finds you all healthy and happy. As soon as we're settled I will take pictures and post them on here. Happy Turkey Day and love to all of you!!

Holy Crap!!!

I haven't updated our blog in a while because I wanted to wait until we had some good news to share with everyone. For those of you who are on facebook you already know our good news. I tend to be on there a lot.........too much really! LOL

I will start with my own personal good news. I finished my first 7 weeks of school. We have four 7 week courses that we have to pass. The first one was called "core" and it involved study skills, computer skills, anatomy/terminology, and math. Well, I was aiming for the Honor Roll but I'm proud to report I out did myself and I made the Director's List (Dean's List)!!! As our instructor was calling out the names of people on the Honor Roll I was eagerly awaiting my name to be called and when it wasn't and others whom I know didn't do as well as I did name's were being called I was crushed and devastated! Then when he read the Director's List and my name was the first one he called I literally almost fell out of my chair I was so shocked and excited!!! I couldn't believe it!!

I have since moved on to the Dental Assisting courses. Our first course is in Xrays and let me tell you, it isn't easy at all! My Xray skills aren't the greatest but I'm working on them. I have about 3 more weeks of Xray and then we move on to the Administration part of it, I'm looking forward to that part because I know I will be great at it. My instructor is a very funny and interesting woman who makes learning fun. She's the new agey type who only likes to lecture or what have you for so long then encourages us to take a break.

After many months of complete FRUSTRATION and exhaustion we FINALLY have a house!!! We looked at soooooo many houses over the past 3 to 4 months, and put offers on 3 of them only to be out bid. It was so annoying, overwhelming, and crazy!!! I had literally almost given up, I was ready to just stop looking for houses. Dwayne convinced me to go look at a few more, so he took off of work early one day. I had wanted to look at one in particular that was close to Calvin's school, as we went to exit our neighborhood Dwayne went left instead of right like I thought he should. I asked him where we were going and he said we were only looking at one house that day. I grew quite irritated with him and he asked if I had remembered the Toll Brother's house we looked at that I loved, but we weren't sure what the status was on it. I said I remembered and he looked over at me and said "Well, I put an offer on it without telling you and they accepted it. It's ours." I about crapped my pants!!! For once his sneakiness and secrecy finally paid off!!

As you can see from the slide show above it's quite a big house! It's in the shape of an O because there's an atrium with a fireplace in the middle of it!!! There's french doors that open up to the atrium from the den, dinning room and family room! It has a large kitchen with lots of space, including a butler's hall! Downstairs there's a guest room with a full bathroom, as well as a half bath down the hall. Upstairs is the master bedroom and the boys' rooms and a giant playroom. The backyard is a very nice size........big enough for a pool one day! It has a back patio and it backs up to a quiet street. In all it's a 4 bedroom, 3.5 bath, with a loft and a 3 car tandem garage. It's in a nice quiet gated community between where we used to live and where we live now. Calvin will have to switch schools and I'm not very happy about that because the school he's in now is great, but he's a bright kid who will do well any where he goes.

I have to admit, I will be a bit sad to leave this neighborhood. We love living so close to our friend's Sandi and Eddie. The boys have made a few friends here and have a lot of open space to play baseball. Our new neighborhood is so quiet, you don't realize how much noise donkey's, peacocks, parrots and weddings make until you're away from them! (We currently live across from a bird sanctuary and outdoor party area.)It will be so nice to finally put down some permanent roots for our boys. I wish those roots were in Arizona but oh well. It's a beautiful house and I'm looking forward to making it our home. I'm most looking forward knowing for sure we won't have to move again for a LONG time!!!

The boys are doing fine. Calvin is still playing baseball and getting better at it every day. Zach is running around messing up the house all the time so I just stopped cleaning it...just kidding... he really is a tornado though.

So, I believe that's it for now! I'm not sure when I'll be able to update this again. we're suppose to close on the house November 13 so I'm going to be very busy with packing and purging for the next few weeks.....not to mention school!! I hope all is well for everyone! We love you all!

Shwoo! What a month!

I finally started school in late July and I LOVE it! I'm happy to announce that I'm doing great in it! So far I've got all A's! The first 7 weeks is called "core" and they say if you make it through that you should end up doing just fine. Core consists of Study Skills, Computer Skills, Anatomy, Math and CPR. So far we've just done the first 3. We move on to Math this week and honestly I'm very nervous about that. Math has never been my strongest subject. Thankfully I have Dwayne and his big brain to help me through it. Fingers crossed that I ace it as well. My goal is to be on the honor roll or dean's list as those are the students that have a better chance at being permanently hired when school is over. I REALLY need and want a job! That is the light at the end of the tunnel for me.

Calvin started school as well (finally!). He's in a new school this year. His teacher seems very nice and his class size is only 16 students so we're thrilled about that. He had a bit of an issue the first week but I'm sure it was due to not being used to being in class and that we had a house full of unexpected company all week.

My Gramma Marge passed away on August 20Th. She was my Mom's mother and lived here in Las Vegas. I would take the boys over to visit her when I could. We shared many laughs and she was always great with the boys. Lots of family came to town for her simple memorial service. We had a house FULL of family! My Mom and Dad, their Dog, my Aunt Kathi, Jess and Gilbert. Also in town was my Aunt Kim and Kathi's son Eli and his wife Kim. It was a packed house a couple of nights. They didn't all stay at our house but they all came over to visit, laugh and drink wine. Although it was hectic at times, it was so wonderful to have everyone over. It's too bad it takes a death for that to happen sometimes. My Gramma's service was held in her little home and it was short and sweet. Her hospice nurses had a story or two to share, she was quite a character that touched many lives. She will be missed but she's where she's wanted to be for a very long time and she's no longer in any pain. We're sad she's gone but at the same time we're happy for her.

Now our house is back to normal. I wouldn't say it's quiet but it's minus 5 people and one dog. Poor Archie was just beginning to bond with my Mom and Aunt Kathi when my Dad and Jess arrived with Louie. To my surprise though, Archie did pretty well with everyone here. He spent most of the time in our room but once everyone left he was downstairs and back to himself. Although he did give me an ear full for letting a dog in the house. He didn't shut up for days.

Calvin started fall baseball. This time he's on the Las Vegas Bears and it's real baseball where the kids pitch. Last year he was in the coach pitch division. They just had their first game yesterday and they won. Dwayne said he's one of the better pitchers on the team but he has no interest at all in pitching. He did play catcher for a few innings in the first game and he did very well. He even got an RBI that scored the first point. Go Calvin Go Calvin Go Calvin!

Zach is still his feisty self. He's officially potty trained and has been accident free for weeks (knock on wood). He would LOVE to play on a baseball team but he's still too young. He has to wait until he's 5 before he can play. Everyone tells us how coordinated he is, so once he's allowed to play he'll probably be very good at it. We tried a one day soccer clinic but he wasn't interested in that one bit.

We're still searching for a house to buy. We did get some great news about this house we're in though. The bank DIDN'T approve the short sale!! YIPEE!!!!! I no longer feel we have to settle for a house because the pressure is on. Now we're in the best possible position we could be in. We found a beautiful single story but it's a bit further away from here than I would like. We're going to walk through it again and also another house that is closer. The market here is so messed up! We still haven't heard anything about the one house we put the offer on. We also lost out on another home because we weren't pre-approved through Wells Fargo.....even though we were pre-approved through the credit union for 30,000 more that the offer we were going to put on the house!! Grrr! Now all our ducks are in a row though, we have commitment letters from both our credit union and Wells Fargo, so all we have to do is find the perfect house.

Well, that's about it for us at the moment. We hope this finds all of you healthy and happy. We love you all.

Wow! This month flew bye!

First and fore most....Zach turned 3 in the end of June. It was a small uneventful party as we were leaving town the next day. Besides that, he doesn't seem to be a fan of the birthday song; he screams every time we sing it to him. We had the Ferency's and my Vegas family over and had pizza and cake and ice cream. The next day we were off to scenic Seattle to visit Dwayne's family.

We were in Seattle for 5 1/2 days and as you can see from the slide show above we packed a lot in to those 5 days! The 4th of July festivities, parent's night out, the zoo, the Ballard Locks, Seattle Science Center, Lori and Denton's new digs, and a Mariners game.

One of my favorites was the 4th of July festivities in the quaint little town of Edmonds where Dwayne's mom and sister Leah live. The boys got to be in a kiddie parade that went right through town, followed by the main parade. Zach got a huge kick out of the fire trucks and cars in the main parade. Later that evening we went to Leah and Darryl's for a BBQ and then it was off to see the fireworks. It was a fun filled family day, much like the Independence Days I had growing up. I'm hoping we make it an annual tradition as it was a lot more fun than anything here and you really can't beat the Northwest summer weather!

My other favorite part of the trip was visiting the Ballard Locks. A lock is like a canal that raises and lowers to connect water crafts to different levels of bodies of water. The Hiram M. Chittenden Locks located in Ballard provide a link for boats between the saltwater of the Puget Sound and the fresh water of the Ship Canal connecting to Lake Union and Lake Washington. It was very interesting to watch the water drain down and the giant gates open to let the boats out. It's amazing to me that these have been operating since 1917.

I LOVE Seattle! It has sooo much to offer as far as culture and history. They have amazing museums and educational experiences for kids. We went in to the butterfly atrium at the Seattle Science Center, it was full of butterflies, fluttering about and landing on your head. The scenery is so beautiful too, so green and lush, a very different environment compared to what I've lived in my whole life. It's a simpler way of life there. Everything seems smaller....houses, cars, carbon footprints. I only saw 1 hummer while we were there! You see those EVERYWHERE here in the southwest! Here it's all about bigger and better, and that just doesn't seem the case up there. I wish that we could live there, but Dwayne hates the weather so I just don't ever see that happening. Oh well, at least we always have a beautiful place to visit!

Speaking of a living some where.........this house had an offer put on it while we were out of town. It says that their tentative closing date is August 30th! I'm sure that's a giant crock of shit though. The house we put an offer on has a tentative closing date of October 10th and we put our offer in a month or more before the folks did on this house. By the way , we still haven't heard anything more about the house we have an offer on. Last word was that the bank who holds the 2nd mortgage on it approved the short sale and now we're waiting for the original bank to hand it off to a negotiator. Who knows how long that will take! In the mean time Dwayne has been searching daily for a foreclosure that we like, unfortunately none of them have held a candle to the one we have an offer on. More and more pop up each day so we keep looking. It's a very frustrating time to be buying a house.

We have a feeling that it's going to be a very long process and that means we'll be in this house for a while and that's ok with me. I like this house a lot and will be sad to move out of it. We have such a great location and it's pretty quiet except for the occasional birds screaming at the bird sanctuary, or the occasional wedding or prom at the Groves. There's a lot of open space around us and that's the way we like it. The house down the street finally sold and the family is moving in as I write this. I guess they have a boy about Calvin's age. Let's hope I like this one! I'm still not a fan of a lot of the kids in our neighborhood and I think they know it. When they see me coming (with my big Meanest Mom on the Block crown gleaming in the sun) looking for Calvin they hurry up and get him for me. I'm sure they feel sorry for him, hell, I even feel sorry for him.........I truly can be crazy at times!

Which is precisely why I'm going back to school!! I NEED a change! I have NO IDEA how some women spend their whole lives staying home taking care of their kids!!! I don't get it! I can't take it any more, really. For my sanity and my family's happiness I am now officially on the road to higher learning. I had my orientation a few days ago. I must admit, I'm a bit intimidated and worried. I will have sooooo much to memorize and my memory has turned to mush over the past 4 years. I know I can do it though, it's just going to take a bit of getting used to that's all. I see the light at the end of the tunnel and that light is a job and more financial freedom for our family. This being broke and grumpy SUCKS!!

Well, I believe that's it for now. As you can see in the slide show above I added some pictures of Calvin with my Pa and Brother at a Diamondbacks game when he was down there last month. Jess just sent those to me. Also at the end of the show is some pictures of Zach and I at the Wiggles show. Sandi and I took our boys to see them and they both LOVED it! Below I've also posted a few videos from our trip to Seattle and such. We hope all is well with everyone. Hopefully I'll be able to keep this blog up while I'm busy with school, I promise I will do my best. Love to all of you!!

Oh wait! Another happy note to add is that Zach is officially potty trained! YAY!! Now I only have to wipe his butt for the next 6 months or so then I'm free from other's poop and pee!! Yay me!!

My Oh My What a Month!!

This month didn't start out that great. We were informed that the house we just moved into in November was being put on the market. Yep.......same shit, different house! I couldn't believe it. I was devastated. We breathed such a huge sigh of relief when we moved in here! We were so happy to get out from under the mess of our old house being on the market then going in to foreclosure. We were also under the impression that our landlord fully intended to hold on to this house until he could make his money back. He seemed relieved when I told him we hate moving and planned on staying here for as long as possible.

We met with the agent assigned to this house and now I wish I never had. She scared the crap out of us saying she would be able to sell this house in about a week or 2 and that we should probably be ready to move out by the end of July beginning of August. WHAT?????? We'd been through the "short sale" process before and it's a VERY LONG one! Not only that this guy isn't even behind on his mortgage! We were panic stricken! I frantically called my friend May whose husband is a realtor in Arizona and he calmly talked me off the ledge I was ready to throw myself off of. As it turns out the agent is just a blowhard fast talking BITCH.....who later called to scream at me because I wouldn't let someone in without an appointment. WHATEVER!!!!!

The first few days there were a lot of inquiries, but so far I've shown the house maybe 8 times. I make sure to tell everyone who comes through, my sad story of how this is the 2ND rental that's been put on the market while we lived in it and that we JUST moved in. It seems to have worked as there still isn't any offers on the house so far.

During all of this turbulation we came to the conclusion that we should finally bite the bullet and buy a house. The market is low and we really need to put down roots for the boys. Now is the time to buy, our mortgage could be the same or less than our rent. Besides that, the chances of us moving into the same situation up here in "foreclosure land" are VERY high. I seriously don't think I'd be able to handle this situation yet again!

So, we went out with our agent and found a house we LOVE! It's a few miles from here, which makes us sad because we'll be away from our dear friends the Ferency's. But it has a pool, a beautiful large kitchen, 3 bedrooms and a large loft. It's all painted very nicely and well taken care of. It literally has everything that we want minus the location. We put in our offer and the buyer accepted. It's a short sale, so now it's a waiting game......wait for the bank to approve the sale....this could take forever! It's fallen out of escrow 2 times since January due to buyers pulling out because the bank took too long to approve it. We're lucky though, we have the time to wait so that's what we plan on doing. In the mean time we will be looking at foreclosures as they come on the market and if we find something we like better we will put an offer on it.

Father's Day weekend was great! My Pa came up to see us finally.....he hadn't been here since Christmas of 2007! I'm glad he came up because I miss him so much. Sandi and I had a great time visit with him over a few bottles of wine the first night he was here. He got to spend quality time with the boys playing ball and such and he even got to go golfing with Dwayne and Eddie. Then on Father's Day I prepared a big feast of turkey, corn on the cob, salad and mashed potatoes. The next morning he packed up his stuff and Calvin and they took off down to Arizona so Calvin could have some alone time with he and my mom and get a break from Zach and the neighborhood kids.

Speaking of the neighborhood kids they are REALLY getting on my nerves these days!!! The other day I woke up to the ringing of the doorbell at 7:30 AM!!! It was that little boy from around the corner AGAIN! Needless to say, I was none too please with him! I came racing down the stairs to see Calvin standing in the doorway talking to him and I told him to go home and not to EVER come over before 9 am again because this was the 2ND time he had woke us all up!! Who lets their 5 year old run around the neighborhood at 7:30 in morning knocking on doors to see if someone can play???? Well, it's the same mother who lets her kid run around the neighborhood at 8:30 at night ringing doorbells to see if someone can play!!! Apparently they have no clocks in their house!! Or baseball equipment, because the same kid's big brother comes over to ask if he can use Calvin's baseball stuff even though Calvin isn't home!! He's done this TWICE!!!! I recently found out that he doesn't like me.......oh darn!!! Here's a thought shithead, go to Walmart and get your own damn equipment and while you're there, pick up a clock and teach your little brother how to tell time!!! As you can see I am proudly wearing my "Meanest Mom on the Block" crown every day!!!

I got a real treat this month! I got to go to Arizona to pick up Calvin....alone! It was fun for me to have a solo road trip! Calvin spent 4 days alone at my parents. I'm sure he was thrilled to be someone's center of attention....and that he was. My Pa taught him how to swim so he was in the pool everyday! He even got to go to a Arizona Diamondbacks baseball game and sit in the sky box....he had a great time until the D-backs lost, he was VERY upset about that! At the game my Pa bought him a T-shirt and a souvenir baseball bat. When they got home he showed my Mom his goodies. After looking at the bat for a bit he declared it was probably a bad idea to get it. Why, asked my Mom. His answer?......Are you ready for this one? And I quote...."Because my Mom will beat me with it." WHAT!!!!????? My mom told him surely his Mom wouldn't EVER do that. His response....and I quote again......"Oh Gramma, you have no idea." WTF?????!!!!!! Oh. My. God!!!! As if!!! WHATEVER!!!! This kid and his tall tales are getting out of hand!!! Thankfully my parents knew better.........if I beat him with that it would SOOOOO be warranted!!! JUST KIDDING!!!!

Any way, I had a fabulous visit in Arizona with my parents and a few of my close and not so close friends! I got to see a few of my gal pals from high school one night......a few of which I hadn't seen in over 20 years! It was so great to see all of them and catch up on everyone. I think it should be a regular thing for sure!

Then I got to see the old standards......my dear friend May and my fabulous friends My Tom and his Don. (LOVE, LOVE, LOVE you guys!!!!!) I even snuck in a hair cut from my old roommate and sista from another Motha' Miss Branden! (Thanks Girl!!). There were a few folks I didn't get to hook up with, my dear friend Mike Kelly whom I just reconnected with, and my wonderful friend Kristen who has been declared CANCER FREE!! Woooo Hoooo!! And last but certainly not least my old friend Jayne......so sad we couldn't hook up, come see me when you can please!

After a weekend of wine and relaxation at Casa de Williams it was time to head back home. My Pa packed up Calvin's stuff and we were off on our road trip. It was a nice calm ride, Calvin is really a great traveler. All was going well until Hoover Dam, it took us over an hour to travel less than 10 miles. Needless to say I can't wait until that bypass is done, because I truly think the hold up was due to all the folks gawking at the magnificence of the new bridge.

We eventually made it home only to unpack, do wash and pack again. Now we are off to Seattle for a 4Th of July extravaganza! Although I'm looking forward to seeing all our Seattlites I'm not looking forward to the journey. BUT, on a lighter note, at least Mr Zachadoo is finally potty trained!! Wooooo Hooooo!! Yip yip yipeeee!!!!

So, until next month, when I talk about my journey as an old lady student and hopefully the joys of packing up our whole house again (fingers crossed everyone!) I will bid my farewell. We hope all is well with everyone! Love and good Karma to all!!

Here's Calvin the fish. Click on the button on the left to watch.

The Merry Month of May

Bad me! I forgot to mention Dwayne's birthday in our blog last month! On April 29Th he turned 41 years old. He wasn't in the best of moods, it seems now that he's getting on in years he's less and less enthusiastic about his birthdays. So, needless to say it was a pretty uneventful day for him.....per his request. I made a new recipe for him that didn't turn out as I expected but it was good none the less. We baked brownies instead of cake so we had hot, gooey brownies and ice cream for dessert. I think it's safe to say he had a Happy Birthday.

Calvin has been a giant brat this month. I'm not sure if it's the end of school "crazies" or if he's trying to test our limits, but it's getting old very fast. It seems he's made a friend in his class who is wise beyond his years due to having an older brother, and they tend to chat A LOT about inappropriate things during class and lunch (finally someone to blame besides me!). I've had a few talks with his teacher in the past 3 weeks or so and I've come to cringe every time I see her approaching me when I pick him up at the end of the day. We took everything away from him that we can think of and so far that's seemed to work. He's slowly earned some of his prized possessions and favorite privileges back. I'm hoping he keeps up the good work because I don't want to have to resort to riping off his arm and beating him with the bloody end. LOL. Just kidding!!

My old friend Tracy, from high school came to town this week. Dwayne and I met her and her fiance Jay down on the strip for some fun and we all had a blast (thank you tons for babysitting for us Cheri!! Love you!). We had dinner at Margaritaville, good food but way too much of it! The margaritas were good too! I had more than my share of drinks cuz I don't get to get my drink on too often...in other words I'm not always such an animated chatty Kathy, Tracy ☺! It was almost like time stood still, we just picked up where we left off over 20 years ago. Even our guys got along like they were old friends. It made me give a good consideration about going to our 20 year class reunion (when did we get this old?!). I'll go if you go Tracy! Cheers to you and Jay and to rekindling old friendships!!

Calvin gave us quite a scare last night. I made ravioli with pesto sauce and it had pine nuts in it. We knew he has a slight allergy to some nuts but I didn't know that meant ALL tree nuts. Well, his lips swelled to twice the size, he felt like he had something stuck in his throat and was having trouble breathing. I called his doctor and he said to give him benedryl and if he didn't improve in the next 45 minutes to take him to the ER. The swelling in his lips went down but he had a bad belly ache. He finally threw up an hour or so later. It was scary and a little confusing because he's SOOOOOO DRAMATIC about everything!! (I know my family is saying "Oh, I wonder where he gets that from Kelli?" Yah, yah, I know, he's a mini me, I see more of it everyday and it scares me!) After he got sick he was much better but of course he milked the situation for a long while after that. He should really take up acting and put all that drama to use.

Zach and I have been on the adventure of potty training lately. I DO NOT like this adventure and apparently neither does he. He only uses the potty if he's naked, and even then it's touch and go. One morning I found a naked Zach in one room and his poopy pull up in another, it was not pretty! I'm thinking maybe we should take a break from it for now and come back to it later. Eventually he'll get sick of the "not so fresh feeling" of a diaper right?

I have 2 bits of great and exciting news!!! First is that my dear friend Kristen who has been fighting Inflammatory Breast Cancer had a PET scan a few weeks ago and it came up clean......NO CANCER!! I truly feel that this is a miracle!! I am so excited and happy for her! It's about damn time! She's been fighting this horrible battle for almost 2 years now!

Second......it's official! I'm officially enrolled in school to become a Dental Assistant! I can't believe it! I can't believe I'm going back to school at 38!! Yikes! I'm very excited about it and am looking forward to the change and challenge! It will be so nice to actually have a career! I will keep you all posted on my progress and such as I venture on this scary yet exciting journey!

We finally joined the YMCA again! Yay! I worked out 3 times last week. I'm going to try to at least walk 2 miles every other day. I think I'm also going to take a yoga class on Fridays too. I've quit drinking Coke which I never thought was possible for me! I LOVE Coke! I stopped for about 3 days then drank one and it ate a hole in my belly. I figure I'm much better off without it. Now I'm addicted to iced tea from Fresh & Easy. LOVE, LOVE, LOVE that store!!! They finally opened the one down the street from us so I'm there all the time!! I'm happy to report I hardly ever go to Walmart now! I hated giving almost all of my money to those greedy bastards!

Well, I suppose that's about it for us this month. It was prettty uneventful. I'm sure next month will be full of drama since Calvin will be out of school as of June 4th. I'm hoping we can survive the summer without becoming sworn enemies. He's been showing real effort in being good and so have I. He really gets on me for cussing and now Zach has picked up on that too. It doesn't matter what word I say Zach tells me "Stop cssin Mama!" The older they get the more I have to mind my Ps and Qs and it getting harder and harder! Damn kids. Haha!

Love you all, mean it!

Spring is over and now I'm HOT!

As you can see from the slide show we spent Easter with the Ferencys. We spend a lot of time with them now that we live so close to them, so much so this is like their family blog too. LOL.

Any way, Easter was fun. We went to their house in the late morning to hunt for eggs filled with candy. Calvin wasn't too pleased about having to give the little guys a 3 minute head start. In the end though they all collected about the same amount. Zach really got a kick out of it. After nap time we went back over to their house for a dinner of prime rib, potatoes, salad, broccoli, and cake. The food was great and so was the company.

My Mama came up to see us. It was rather unexpected but I'm so glad she came. We had lots of laughs and wine as usual. She did very well climbing all the stairs in our house. I was so proud of her, though I'm sure she was sore for days after she got home. Hopefully my Pa will come to see us soon and take Calvin back with him for a few days. Then Zach and I will cruise on down to AZ to stay a few days and pick Calvin up. So let that be a shout out to all my gals down there........I'm coming to town so let's get together for some fun!

Calvin rides his bike all over the place now. We also got the tiny bike fixed for Zach, and got him a helmet, or should I say......."Awesome helmet" as he would. He's still a bit scared of the bike but he tools around on his tricycle all over the place. We finally got the gator pickup running for him to drive around too. He doesn't quite get the steering stuff yet but he's trying. I'm glad it's up and running and Zach can use it, because poor Calvin hardly got to at all, once we moved to Vegas there was no where for him to ride it.

Our house has become the neighborhood hang out these days. Calvin and Zach have found quite a few friends. We love being at the end of a dead end street but I"m not too sure how I feel about being the local hangout for the kids. They tend to help themselves to the boys' toys and bikes and such. Yesterday we woke up to the door bell ringing 3 or 4 times and it was the boy from around the corner. We were ALL still asleep! I don't like dealing with my own kids that early in the morning let alone ones that I don't know! Hell, I don't really like kids in general except my own and my friends'..........and even that's not all the time! (I sound so "nurturing" don't I! wink wink!) Just kidding! I hope for my kid's sake I don't earn "the Meanest Mom on the Block" title. Although, according to Calvin I already have!

Besides all the kids playing in my driveway our street has grown rather quiet. We're the only ones left on our side of the street. The folks next to us moved back to Utah because the husband retired, and the house on the corner went in to foreclosure. It's all rather sad. I just hope we get some great people with some kids moving in so I can shoo all the kids to the other houses. Let the other moms scold kids for sitting on top of the 10 foot block wall! Let the other mom's ears bleed from listening to Calvin's constant whistling! I'll be happy to pass on my Meanest Mom crown, or at least share it!

Hopefully we'll join the YMCA this summer so we can spend some time there. It's too damn hot now to do much outside besides swim and we don't have a pool =(. Besides, this jiggling jelly belly I've been complaining about for months isn't going away on it's own damn it! I've never had a weight problem before now and I'm not handling it very well. I get bored and I eat, so I need to get out of the house and do something physical pronto! I'd go for walks but I'm afraid I'll melt! Every summer I become less tolerant of the heat!

I do have some exciting news to report though! It looks like I will for certain be going to school to become a Dental Assistant provided we qualify for financial aid! I'm very excited about it! We should find out for sure very soon! The program is 8 months and costs almost 10 grand. I will learn how to polish teeth, take xrays, make impressions, deal with insurance and all sorts of other stuff. It also includes a 6 week externship. The pay is in the low 30s but that's more than what I was making punching numbers and scanning groceries. Once I get some experience I can move on to a specialized field and the pay will be higher. I can't believe I'm going back to school at 38 years old! I'm looking forward to it and hoping the newness and excitement will help me lose some of this excess weight. If not I'll have to get my Meanest Mom on the Block crown resized and that probably won't go over too well!

Love you all! Miss you too!!!

PS....Observe Calvin's baseball picture over on the right!

Lots going on

Hello Everyone! Sorry it's been so long! Let's see where should I start this time? As you can see from the slide show above Dwayne took Calvin and Zach to the NASCAR race while it was here in February. Zach really liked all the cars, because that's his thing. If it has wheels he's in love!

We found out that Calvin is on the Dodgers this season. It seems to be a great team with lots of Dads involved. He had his first game on my birthday and did pretty good. He improves so much every year.

He's our superstar for March. He was Student of the Month! He was recognized for his academic accomplishments. His big brain sort of got us in trouble this month though. I never moved him to his new school after we moved and they sent the letter announcing his achievement to our old address and it was sent back to them saying we moved. Oops! They wanted him moved to his new school by the following week. Thankfully his teacher loves him, so she went to the principle to see if he would make an exception for him to finish out the year. He said of course, so we filled out the paper work and he gets to stay! Then, last week, he left his lunch pail on the bus and I called the transportation department to see if I could get it back and they found out he still rode the bus home (I picked him up at his old stop) and they kicked him off the bus for good! Grrrr! Oh well.

Both boys were very sick last month. Calvin had walking pneumonia and was sent home from school twice in one week. He had the OK from the doctor to go back but his cough was so bad he was tearing up and disrupting class. Zach had a bad ear infection that spread to his sinuses and down to his chest. When we went to pick up all their drugs after the doctor visit it looked like we robbed the pharmacy, we had so many bags! It was a VERY long week for us.....especially me! LOL

Zach is growing by leaps and bounds. He's talking so much and he's still so funny. He is definitely ALL BOY! Loves cars, balls and playing in the dirt. He's also a bit of a bully, we're working on that, the brat! We will start potty training him soon. I'm not looking forward to that because I don't think he'll be as easy as Calvin was. I'm crossing my fingers though.

Both boys have made a new friend in the neighborhood, the boy across the street named Connor. He's a little older but he seems to be a good kid and both the boys really like him. We live very close to Sandi and Eddie and Zach has befriended a few boys on her street as well. It is sooooo much better to live here in this neighborhood. We love living on a dead end street, it's so refreshing to let the boys go outside and not worry about them being hit by a car.

I've been seriously considering going back to school. First I thought about going to be a dental assistant. Then Lynn came to town to visit and suggested being a mammogram technician. That sounded much better to me. I've looked in to it and it's not cheap at all. They only offer a program at one school here, it's a 2 year program and it's 30,000!!!! That's a boat load of money!!! We are scheduled to go to the open house in a few weeks, so we'll see what happens.

Dwayne's mom Lynn came to visit for a few days. As usual it was a great visit full of many laughs and lots of wine! She babysat so we could go out for a night out on the town. We went to see Penn & Teller, and I had a few too many drinks! Come on now, it was my birthday! Yes, that's right, I'm another year older. Yuck! I went to bed wishing for the body I had when I was 22 and woke up in the same old droopy body that had 2 kids! Grrr! What good are birthday wishes if they don't come true!!!!????

Below is a video I made of the boys dancing. We had a dance party one night and this is made of 8 short clips strung together. It has a soundtrack to it but it may not work. I've tried posting it on different websites but as of the first of the year artists are really cracking down on copy writes. I know I emailed it to some of you it's worth another look see. I laugh everytime I play it. I hope the sound works. Click on the pause button on the music player to the right of this post to stop the music that normally plays on this page. I hope the music plays cuz it's a lot funnier to that. Watch it while it's still here cuz I'm sure google will pull it. Enjoy!

Happy February

My Mama and brother and his boyfriend Gilbert came to see us in late January! I was so excited and happy to see my Mama! She hadn't been here since Christmas of 07! She did so well climbing up my stairs. She was such a trooper, I was so proud of her. She spent a day with her Mom and they had an awesome visit. My Mom and I drank wine and laughed A LOT! She had Sandi and I in stitches she's so damn funny. I miss you so much Mama!!!

This month started out with the Superbowl. Sandi and I and our boys watched the Superbowl at our house this year. Her husband Eddie is a hard core, die hard Steelers fan and he didn't like that I suddenly jumped on the Cardinals bandwagon.......never mind that I'm FROM Arizona! Any way, Sandi and I decided to let the big boys watch the game by themselves so they didn't have to deal with the little boys bugging them or have to listen to me rooting for the Cardinals (God forbid!).

It was a good night. All the kids got a long great and I made a yummy dinner and Sandi and I drank our wine. When the game really started to heat up we were all on the edge of our seats rooting our teams on. The little guys really got into it. And for Sandi "hating football" sure knows a lot about the game! In the end our Cardinals lost and I was very bummed. At least they put up a good fight and the Steelers didn't clobber them.

I've been actively looking for a job. The prospects here are slim. We have a 9% unemployment rate here in Vegas. No one likes the fact that I haven't been working for the past 3 1/2 years either......like staying home and taking care of my family isn't a job?! Grrrr! Everything is done online so there's no way to make a personal impression. It's extremely frustrating! I am SO ready to get a job! Even just a piddly part time one, just to get me out of the house and put a few extra bucks in my pocket. There's a Fresh & Easy going in right around the corner from our house and when it opens I'm going to march in there with my resume and beg them for a job.

Calvin starts baseball next month. He's very excited about that. Dwayne wants to coach again so all of that may put a damper on my getting a job too. We don't know what team he's on yet but once we find out I will post it here. He's very much into Dr. Suess these days, every weekend we go to the new library and he grabs every book by him that he can. He says he's going to be the next Dr. Suess, but he will call himself Dr. Calvin. He's even already written a few books and says it's up to me to find him a publisher because he gets his love and talent for writing from me. OK, whatever!

Valentine's Day was a big deal for Calvin this year. He woke up at 7 am like it was Christmas Day. He's so goofy. In school they did a lot of writing about it. He wrote some pretty silly things.......about me. He's made it sound like I'm a big pig sitting around eating bon bons all day! His teacher probably thinks I'm the worst Mom on the planet. The turd! I'll post them below so you can see for yourself.
For V-day we had Sandi and Christopher over for dinner since Eddie was sick. I made my new favorite meal.......tilapia fish with lemon, garlic, dill and butter. YUMMY! The boys got me a plant and some chocolates.

I've recently joined facebook. That's been interesting to say the least. At first it depressed me because I never went to college and spent so many years at that tiny grocery store and never went any where I couldn't bring my precious kitties. Then after posting a picture of the painting I did for our wedding invitation I got so many compliments on it and everyone told me they remembered how talented I was. They inspired me to bust out my paints and start again.....God knows I have the time cuz I don't have a job!! My first project will be a family portrait. I'll keep you posted on how it's coming.

OK, that's it for now. Check out a few of Calvin's works below, it's pretty amusing even though it makes me look like a big loser! Love you all!



"Love is......
When I clean the house.
Change the new month on the calendar.
Putting my little brother down for a nap.
Making my Mom breakfast."


Notice the picture of me laughing
at him since I took his toy?
I'm so evil!


His thought bubble says
"No Christmas for 365 days!"


I think he's biting his nails in
this picture!


Notice the shopping cart?
His thought bubble says
"Yeah! Toys!"


Like this NEVER happens?!

I forgot to mention that I got to see my dear friends Tom and Don while they were here. I love it when they come up I miss them so much! Love you guys!

We also had a disco dance party last weekend and here's a clip from it.

Happy New Year!

As you may notice from the picture above and the change in the title of our blog, we are now a one cat household. Sadly, I had to put our "Sweet Potada" Ada to sleep just before Calvin's birthday. She had been in kidney failure since February and she was just dwindling away to nothing but skin and bones. She was barely eating and really beginning to smell because her kidneys were no longer working properly. It was an extremely sad day for me. I didn't think I was going to cry so hard because I wasn't as attached to her as I was my Smoochi, but I cried HARD! Great big giant tears and heaving sobs. The vet assured me I was doing the right thing. I don't want to go through that again for a very long time.

So now we just have our silly Archie.....the skitty kitty. He's had a pretty rough couple of weeks due to us having company and our entire plumbing system being redone. More on all of that later.

Calvin's birthday was pretty uneventful. We made him steak, sausage and potatoes (a manly meal!), then had some cake. He got a new bike for his birthday but was much more excited about the $65 he got in the mail than he was about the bike. The brat! He still hasn't really learned how to ride it. He and Dwayne practice every weekend. He's slowly getting braver and better. We may have his birthday party here in a week or so.........secretly I'm hoping he forgets. Birthday parties are such a pain in the butt! No one RSVPs so we end up paying for more than we should. And I want to know who came up with the stupid idea that we have to give the kids who come to the party gifts? Uhhhggg, don't get me started.

We went to my step mom's sister's house for Christmas Eve. This is a CRAZY house! Her sister is married to an neurosurgeon and he is VERY eccentric! He owns 3 houses in a row and he loves Las Vegas. Every time a casino goes out of business he buys up part of it's landmarks and puts them in or on his house. He has the roller coaster from the top of the Stratosphere on one of his roofs. SERIOUSLY!! I'm not kidding! He has Liberace's staircase in one of his houses, the giant pot of gold from the old Hilton sign is above his bed. You name it he probably has it. It all sounds cool but it's kinda all thrown together....... he needs a museum curator on staff. Let's just say that HOAs were probably invented because of Lonnie Hammergrin! Any way, it was a lot of fun. Santa came and gave the kids some presents when they sat on his lap. Before he left Calvin asked him for a time machine next year, Santa got a chuckle out of that one. After lots of good food and too many cookies we headed home to open one present each then it was off to bed so Santa could come by.

Christmas morning Calvin woke up at 5:30am! I heard him open our door and thought "really, please don't make us get up now." To our surprise he looked at the clock and went back to bed! I couldn't believe it! What 7 year old does that? He didn't even go back to sleep or check to see if Santa came! He just went back and laid in his bed! It was such a treat! He finally came in at 7:30 and made us get up. Bless his heart! Zach really wasn't too in to opening presents, I opened most of them for him. Calvin on the other hand had his all opened in what seemed like a minute. Zach got some Thomas the Train stuff and Calvin got some Transformers. They also got lots of clothes and books since I let everyone know they needed no more toys. It was a good Christmas.

Our great friends the Waddells came up to see us for New Year's Eve. They're the Arizona family we went to Mexico with. It was wonderful to have them, once again they were the first to visit us in our new house, just like when we first moved to Vegas. We had Sandi and her family over and we all had burgers and hot dogs and donned our party hats. We put all the tiny tykes down about 8:30 and the bigger kids played in the play room while the parents drank cosmos and vodka and redbull and played games. At 5 till midnight we bundled up the big kids, put on our party gear, grabbed our noise makers and headed outside to ring in the new year right. It was so much fun. I couldn't think better people to bring in 2009 with. We all had a wonderful time. Although, I wasn't feeling too hot the next morning (wink wink).

On Jan 2ND Sandi and I headed down to Arizona for the weekend without any kids. That was great! We relaxed at my Mom and Dad's cozy house, drinking wine and soaking in the jacuzzi. Sandi got to see her sister and her new baby while I went to see my dear friend Kristen who is sick with Breast Cancer. I was great to see her, it had been too long, almost a year. She's hanging in there even though it's spread to her spine. She is one of the most amazing women I have ever met. There isn't a whole lot they can do for her but she still has the greatest attitude and still thinks of others before herself. I miss her so very much and it breaks my heart that I'm not there to help her in this battle for her life. I beg everyone to please think of her and say a prayer or whatever it is you do. I love you Kristen.

Now I'm home and dealing with plumbers and drywall guys tearing up my house. The builder had a problem with the pipes so they're replacing all of them. It's not fun. The guys are nice but I hate being put out of my home, there aren't a lot of options here in Vegas. Zach and I invaded Sandi's house one day and we may be back on Monday while they texture and paint the dry wall. Uhhhhggg!

Poor Archie! He's had a rough couple of weeks. First it was May and family, then I was gone for 3 days, and now our house is full of strangers with hammers and drills! I'm the only one that he'll come to because he's afraid of everyone else. The poor guy, I'm surprised he still has any fur left! At least they got the dry wall hung without sealing him in the wall. That really happened a few streets over! The poor cat was in the wall for 2 days before they realized what happened!

I think I may be getting Archie a playmate soon. He's going to need it because I'm actively searching for a job. I need to get out in the real world again. I need constant adult conversation and Zach needs to be around more kids. Sandi put Christopher in daycare and he's doing great. It's time for me to bring home some bacon!

Well, that's it for now. We sure hope everyone had a great Holiday Season and that 2009 is a terrific year for all of you! I'm so looking forward to seeing what our new president has in store for us! I believe if anyone can help us, it's him. Take care until next time.......Love ya, mean it!