Wednesday, November 28, 2007

The good, the bad, and the headless......

Ahhh. The day is just about over. I was to be at Becky's for 10am for a haircut and perm (well, more like a trim). I got the boys on the bus and then did some cleaning up and Dennis was in bed. He went in late to work today because he didn't feel like he could drive to work being so tired. He's not sleeping well because his acid reflux is getting bad again. (He stayed home from work yesterday.)


Just as I was getting myself dressed and ready to go, Trevor called. He'd need a ride home from school at 9:15am. I'm pretty sure that I rolled my eyes as I told him I'd be there to pick him up. Just what I like, add some more to my "to do" list and give me something else to worry about. I never know what time to leave the house to get to Becky's because she is a bit of a distance from here. I don't like being late.


I picked him up and dropped him off at home and I was on my way. I was about 1 1/2 miles from the house when the little light on my gas guage lit up. The van is almost always on "E". Ugh. I only have enough money to pay to get my hair done and I thought about cancelling my appointment, but instead, I kept going. The way things have been going lately, I don't think running out of gas would've mattered.


I made it to Becky's, got my hair done, and got back into the van. Started her up, and sure enough, the light was still lit. (Guess I was hoping the van could run on the perm fumes from my hair?) I called Dennis to see if he was awake and ready to go to work, told him of my fuel situation and of course, his memory of the fuel guage was much different. He told me to call him if I ran out of gas. (That way he could run his gas out coming to get me and lose some more time from work.) I assured him of my faith in my van and my thoughts about a faulty guage and that I'd find a way home. No worries.


As I turned onto our road, I thanked God for getting me home.


I did some more cleaning up (it messes itself in here), had some lunch (left-overs) and then watched a bit of tv. Actually, I think I dozed off a bit. Then, my cell phone rang. It was Dennis. He called to make sure I made it home and to tell me that we will have health insurance as of Dec. 1st!! YAY!! A little better still, he was also given 2 personal days. He'll use one for yesterday and he'll use the other next month for us to do our Christmas shopping.


I started supper a bit early because Brad had scouts tonight. I was repulsed by the chicken legs, but I made them anyway. (Really, they are just disgusting!!!)


Soon after that, Corey and Collin came home from school. That's when my day really gets nuts. They get their folders out of their backpacks and then there are papers scattered from one end of the living room to the other. They then go to the kitchen and want to eat everything in sight, ignoring the smell of supper in the oven that's just about done.


We ate our supper and I started on the dishes right away. As I'm doing that, just like any other night, there is constant chaos. I have to settle some arguments and keep them from getting into things they're not supposed to be in. As I cleared the plates into the garbage can, I noticed "Blitzen" was in there and he was headless! (Mom gave me "shelf sitters" of the eight reindeer.) I did some investigating (Ok, Corey tattled on Collin) and found out that Collin broke him and didn't want to tell me, so he just threw him away. UGH! I asked where his head was (the reindeer's.... but now I'm wondering if I should've asked Collin the same about his head?) and he told me he threw that away too. It looked to me like a little glue and "Blitzen" would be alright. As disgusting as it was, I dug through the garbage and as I suspected, it was a nice clean, repairable break. How exciting it was for them to watch me dig and retrieve. So exciting, in fact, that they felt the need to inspect "Blitzen" some more. I told them not to touch it. I didn't need them to chip a piece off making it impossible to fix.


Do you think they listened to me? If you guessed, "YES", you couldn't be more wrong. I had my back to the kitchen table as I washed the dishes when I heard it hit the floor. A bit scared to turn around, I did, only to find that "Blitzen's" head was now missing an ear! UGH!! Just lovely. Now what? When Dennis got home, he didn't think it was as big a deal as I did. He just couldn't understand that there are 8 reindeer, not 7. Could you sing "The Twelve Days of Christmas" and skip a day??? I don't think so!


Finally, I calmed down some and decided I'd use a broom on the kitchen floor and then sift through the dirt pile and hope to find the ear. By this time, too, there was now a pile of "reindeer ear brown" colored cat food spilled on the floor. (Give you one...ok, TWO guesses who did it....)


I went to the laundry room (next to the kitchen) for the broom, and low and behold, there it was! "Blitzen's" ear! (I admit, I was surprised that the broom was there too. They like to play with that too.)


I did a little more cleaning up, and got library books loaded into the backpacks, discovered a roll of Windex-soaked paper towels, and zipped the vaccuum through the living room real quick because of the Rice Krispies explosion that must have happened while I was searching for a reindeer ear.


Now, here I am. It's a little after 11pm. I'm tired and have to go to bed. Tomorrow morning I have another appointment, but this time there is gas in the van. I'm hoping that makes the difference for tomorrow.


*Sigh*




Monday, November 19, 2007

Two Hour Delay

The boys started school 2 hours later than usual today due to the snow. I didn't even have to wake Corey and Collin this morning, they woke on their own, earlier than a "normal" school day. lol Trevor and Brad were anxiously watching the school delays and closings scrolling across the tv screen, in hopes of the school closing.


Sunday, November 18, 2007

It's snowing!



Corey and Collin were beyond excited this morning when they woke up to see it snowing outside. Collin couldn't wait to wake us up and asked immediately if he could get his sled out.

It's been snowing all day, and we could get 5-7 inches of the white stuff, till all is said and done. It should end by 10am tomorrow morning. The bigger two are already placing bets as to if there will be a delay tomorrow. lol


If there's enough out there tomorrow after school, I might let them get their sleds out. For toinight, though, Corey and Collin were satisfied with just a little "taste".


Saturday, November 17, 2007

Theft in a small town

Trevor called me yesterday around 4:45pm from a friend's cell phone to tell me that someone stole his cell phone. I wasn't sure how that could happen because he normally has it in his pocket? He was upset and near tears as he was telling me how it happened. He gave me the names of the 4 boys involved and all I could do was roll my eyes. GRRR!! Through "association", I could get in touch with 3 of the 4 culprits. It's a small town, afterall. I was a bit confused and told him that I'd have to get his brothers ready and we'd pick him up and we'd go to the police station to report it stolen.

As I was finally ready to head out the door, I received a phone call from the police. As Trevor was waiting for me, a policeman drove by and Trevor flagged him down and told him what happened. The policeman took him to the station to get a statement. Just then, Dennis came in the door and I told him what happened and he headed for the station.

In the meantime, I made a few phone calls of my own. I was going to find out what happened to the phone. As I was doing this, Dennis would call me on my cell phone to tell me what was going on at the station. The police had 2 of the boys at the station and they were obviously lying and gave their (false) statements. They knew who had the phone, but they weren't giving that information. GRRRR!!! The police spent a lot of time with one of the boys, and in the end, I think he (Officer Solt) put a pretty big scare into the boy.

Around 7:30pm, Dennis and Trevor came home. Luckily, we are "pack rats" and save everything. Trevor gave Dennis the box that his phone came in and Dennis called the police with the numbers on the box. Dennis then went to go to AT&T (cingular?) to have the phone disabled, disconnected, or whatever the word is.

In the meantime, Trevor and I still did some investigating of our own. Through a few phone calls, and thanks to the scare the police put into one of the boys, we found out just who had the phone. We called the police with the new information that we had, and we were told that the police were aware of what was going on. Two of the boys went into the station to change their statements, and they were on their way to a 3rd boys house to get the phone.

Around 8:15pm, the policeman called me back. He had the phone in his custody, but the battery is missing. The thief took it out of the phone just to be a jerk. He said he threw it in his back yard. The thief is supposed to go to the station today to give his statement. (I'm not sure that he'll even show up. He has a warrant out for his arrest to begin with.)

As it turns out, too, the thief really is no stranger. His mom was married to my uncle, years ago. The thief is no stranger to the police, either, and had he told the truth from the start, it could've made things a lot easier.

We will be pressing charges.