The Timeline

7:00 p.m. - Took family to see movie

9:00 p.m. - Got home from the movie

9:30 p.m. - Kids in bed

10:30 p.m. - Me in bed

1:45 a.m. - Horrifying banging noise outside that gets me out of bed faster than the sound of a child puking (come on... you know that the noise of a gagging child causes your reflexes to kick in faster than anything in the world)

1:47 a.m. - Realize what the noise was, groan and crawl back into bed

2:00 a.m. - Jump because the house makes a creaking noise... repeat this action about every 30-45 minutes.

7:00 a.m. - Get up and start cleaning

9:15 a.m. - Finish cleaning and cursing the juvenile delinquents who made the mess in the first place...

It was probably about a dozen eggs. I guess we should be grateful that they don't have Costco memberships, eh? The worst part: stucco siding. The egg oozed into all the little cracks and crevices and we ended up having to use a tooth brush to get it all off... I'm trying to find the bright side to this situation... any ideas?

Do You Eat Your Veggies?
Have you ever seen VeggieTales? These fantastic vegetables have been part of our lives for many years now. The kids adore them and I love the little bits of humor that are put in just for the adults - never crude or nasty - just references that the kids don't get.
Tonight we took the kids to see the new movie.
My favorite part? The man...er... I mean vegetable eating cheese curls. "I laughed, I cried, it moved me, Bob"!
The thing that surprised me the most? The teenagers! There were more teens in that theater than families! And they laughed and joked and seemed to love the movie as much as the little kids! It was so great to see these guys enjoying a flick that was silly and clean all at the same time!
So, if you've got a Veggie lover in your home, head on out and see this movie! And if you aren't familiar with VeggieTales.... go grab a few and check them out!

Almost.... There....
We've almost made it. We've had 3 kids. Gone through 9 jobs (that I can remember) and moved 13 times in 7 different towns. We've laughed and cried and kept each other from falling off "The Cliffs of Insanity" (movie trivia anyone?). And in 5 more days we will celebrate our 10 year anniversary!
I decided that I wanted to make a new quilt for our bed... but, since we are looking at some fantastic dental work in the next while, I wanted to use as much fabric from my stash as I could. Shouldn't be hard, right? After all, I am a collector of fabrics! So I got out our folding table... the one that is six feet long... thinking that it would give me plenty of space to go through my mountains...Nope. 6 feet of table top and it's STILL not enough to hold all my stuff. See the green box in the first picture?? It's full of fabric... there is another container in my room that I didn't drag out because it's full of denim and I knew I didn't want denim on this quilt. And then I have ANOTHER set of drawers that is full of fabric that I didn't get out because it's mostly scraps. ACK!
So, I dug in... I sorted and stacked and divided. I color coordinated and slowly sifted through the things I might want and the ones I knew I didn't (like the BRIGHT orange in the first picture). And, I think I have my fabric narrowed down....

I need to go to JoAnn's and get some filler fabric and the back... I found the sheets at WalMart on clearance for $19 - I still hate WalMart, but I love the sheets :) Necessary evil... ANYWAY, now the REAL work begins... I will now go to THIS SITE (this link just shows patterns A-F) and find a pattern that I want to use... I've done a double Irish chain(not a link to the one I made... just an example so you can see what it looks like) before... and I loved it... but I'm not sure... if any of you have an awesome quilt pattern that you love more than anything in the whole wide world - let me know! I'm up for any suggestions!

Body Battles
It seems that different parts of my body are always at odds with each other. For example, last night my legs were screaming that they wanted to be done exercising while my brain and belly were saying "SUCK IT UP!!".
Another great example is when I'm reading a book late at night. My eyes desperately want to close but my brain wants to read "Just one more page..."
But, today my body is really duking it out. My stomach is yelling... no, SCREAMING for food. I'm hungry and I want to eat. The problem? My teeth are in pain. And so my brain and my mouth have ganged up on my poor tummy and have told them that they are not willing to fight through the pain to satisfy the hunger. Hopefully a trip to the dentist (and maybe a good psychiatrist) will fix this conundrum!

Don't Slow Down...
WHEW! Sometimes autism really kicks my butt!! I spent the evening bursting into spontaneous tears. It was a fun night for all. Luckily I have an amazing Hubby who didn't tell me that I was being silly. He just wrapped his arms around me and let me soak his shirt with my tears. Then he read my blog post and laughed at me because I had accidentally called Little Bug - "Little But". His comment was "He's not that bad, is he?" He's wonderful, that man of mine!!
And a super thank you to all of you that commented on the last post. I appreciate the hugs and the prayers on my behalf. It's so nice to know that when I throw a pity party for myself, you guys will be there to help lift me out of it.
And now, without further ado, I'm gonna kick my own butt. Let me explain - if I let myself, I will wallow. OH HOW I WALLOW! I'm really good at it! I guess you could call it a hidden talent. I can sit in my chair and weep for weeks. I'm telling ya... I'm good at it. And what will come from it? What would be my end result? Nothing. Nada. NOT A DARN THING.
Little Bug is happy. He's healthy. He's a little sneak! He ate the frosting off of some of the birthday cupcakes whilst I was brooding ... little turkey! The point here is - yes there are struggles. Yes, sometimes is sucks. And yeah, sometimes I breakdown and cry until my head throbs and I have to fix it by taking Advil and a chocolate cupcake chaser. But really, my life is good.
I love this song... if you get a second, turn the music player in the sidebar off and watch the video. Sometimes we have to go through hell, but there's no point in staying there... and so, we move onward. And now, I've cried my tears, I've shaken my fists at the heavens, and I've exhausted myself with all of the "might have been" situations I could possibly conceive. It's time to refocus and work hard to make 2008 an amazing year, rather than a year of regrets... and now, I'm off to dance with my kids and maybe start a tickle fight!

Picture Perfect?
Have you ever had a picture in your mind of "this is how my life will be"? And then... well, then reality sets in. And reality is nothing like the picture you have...
Little Bug will turn 8 this year. This is the age that most LDS children are baptized. It's the age Red was when he was baptized last year. Family flew in. Friends came by. Members of our church came to support our family and our son in his commitment.
But, Little Bug has autism. He can't talk, so we aren't sure what he does and doesn't understand. Therefore, he can't make covenants, which means, there won't be a baptism. And my heart is breaking. I knew this was coming up, but the other day we got an invitation to an orientation meeting for all the kids getting baptized this year. It was like someone slapped me.
There will be no special day. No white clothes. No family and friends gathered to celebrate. There will be a meeting with the Bishop where we will ask for Little Bug to be listed as "unaccountable". It's gut wrenching to think about. He won't start Cub Scouts this year. He won't be in the 2nd grade this fall. And, he won't be baptized.
I beg your forgiveness in advance. This will not be an easy year for me. I know that maybe, someday, he might be baptized. But this is a milestone that we should reach this year and instead it will be passed by.
It's just not what I had pictured...

Untouched

I remember reading that all good photos have been touched up using some kind of photo editing software. I have a couple of different programs on my computer that I use to play around with my photos, but sometimes you just get some good photos that don't really need to be messed with!
We've had some storms come through in the last few weeks and it has created some pretty amazing sunsets. I took a few pictures... some with the flash, some without. And then, I played with them. Changed colors, messed with the "artistic brushes" and decided that I liked the photos just the way they were. Unedited. I put them all back to their original state and I just love them! I'm actually thinking of turning one of them into a Valentines Day card to send to family (since we didn't get Christmas cards out... ahem...)!

So, tell me, do you touch up your photos? Or do you prefer them as is??

Seeing Red
I just lost my temper with Red. Sigh... he was playing a game with another kid in the neighborhood. He threw a plastic light saber at this kid's feet (as part of the game) and it bounced off the ground and hit the kid in the head - splitting his head open and giving him a HUGE goose egg... BIG SIGH. I went and talked to the kid's mom and he won't need stitches or anything, but he's a little dazed and kind of dizzy... grrr... I know it was an accident, but HELLO! When has it EVER been okay to HURL toys at another kid?! Except maybe a football... He knows better... sigh...
And now... onto more .... um.... entertaining things. I decided to wash all of our red clothing together because I thought that two of our new items might bleed a little bit. What do you think? Was I right OR WHAT?!?

P-A-R-T-Y!

We had such a great time (balloon popping aside). We had an obstacle course... the hall was filled with balloons, purple balloons hung from the ceiling with glow in the dark alien faces on them,then we had glow in the dark stars and black lights - no pictures of that... I forgot... then they had to go through the moon caves, take a lunar leap onto the bean bag and find their way through the laser maze. Finally they went through the star gate into the party room...I decorated the dining room with white lights, foam stars and planets made out of styrofoam balls covered in colored saran warp. Then we had a silver table cloth with blue star glitter stars and alien head balloons for the centerpiece.

Cupcakes were kind of swirly frosting... to look like planets and then a glow in the dark alien on each one - except one... someone walked off with one of the aliens while I was decorating... AHEM!Then we made "alien slime"
And shot off balloon rockets at the park.All in all it was an awesome party! The headache was worth it since Red is still talking about how much fun it was. AND, just so y'all don't think I've got the most amazing lungs in the world... this little guy was my best friend for this party!
Oh, how I love him!

Party Pooper
I'll do a party post tomorrow... I just wanted to share one quick lesson with y'all in case you ever decide to have a bunch of 8-10 year old boys in your home.
DO NOT HAVE BALLOONS. They will want to pop them. All of them. They will not be satisfied till all 132 (give or take a few) balloons are destroyed. And you? Well, YOU will be left with a huge mess and a headache to end all headaches. So, I truly believe that it is in the best interest for everyone involved if you just forget the balloons. Give them cotton balls instead. Nice, quiet, soft cotton balls.
That is all for now. I will be back tomorrow to impart more Birthday wisdom upon you, unless the pounding in my brain refuses to subside... then, you'll just have to wait. Now, I'm off to find a dark corner.

Poor Kid
I hate getting phone calls from people asking me if I'd like to try out their credit protection programs or buy into some kind of crazy travel plan that will give me $.001 for every $1,000 I spend. But, if I get a phone call for a survey, 9 times out of 10 I'll do it.
When I was in college I had room mates that worked for a survey place. They got money based on how many people participated in the survey. And sometimes they didn't have enough complete surveys to get the money they needed to make ends meet... so, when the survey people call I like to think that it's some poor college kid that could use a little help. And as long as it's not going to take half the day, I'm game.
I got a survey call today from a young man who asked if there was a female in the house between the ages of 16-48. I said that would be me. He then informed me that they weren't selling anything and just needed to ask a few simple questions about some products that I may or may not buy. I said sure. He reminded me that the answers to these questions would be kept confidential. Okay. Then, with a deep breath and a fast voice he asked me about the brand of sanitary napkins that I buy and use most often. I tried so hard not to laugh, but I could hear his face turning red over the phone! I answered his rapid fire questions and he told me to have a good day... I, of course, immediately ran to the computer... because, as always, one man's pain makes wonderful blog fodder!

Just One More Reason to Get in Shape
Hubby had Tuesday and Wednesday off this week. We decided to lay low on Tuesday. After all, we had to recover from the neighbor's parties, right? And I was sick. Anyway, I really wanted to get out of the house and do something on Wednesday if I was feeling up to it. I got up that morning and felt a lot better. So we headed to Balboa Park in San Diego. I'd never been there before, except to visit the zoo. We had a great time! The architecture everywhere was just stunning! We visited the San Diego Model Train Museum where they had a special exhibit set up that was built entirely out of Legos!They had all kinds of fun things hidden in each train display. But the kids got a real kick out of all the Star Wars guys hidden in the Lego display. Red especially loved this Battle Droid and Storm Trooper heading to the office....The next stop was a big ol fountain in one of the court yards. The kids played and I watched people sleep on the edge of the fountain. And then I did something dumb. We found this neat tree that was bent over so that it touched the ground. I decided that I could climb it. No problem! I got a good start... But, my shoes have slick soles on them and the tree was well worn from everyone else in the world climbing it. I slid a little and I froze. I wasn't that high up, but I couldn't move. So, Hubby did what any good Hubby would do. He took pictures. Yeah, HI! Can you help me down please? Then he laughed and said, "Why didn't you just walk across?" Fine Mr. Smarty Pants! Let's see YOU do it.
And so he did.
Showoff. The kids played hide and seek and I just loved this photo of Baby Girl counting....Then we found another tree that almost touched the ground... we put the kids on and I sat on one end and bounced by jumping up and down.
May I tell you about the incredible pain I have had in my thighs since that moment? I tried to climb a tree and then I bounced my kids using muscles that I DON'T HAVE. I could barely walk yesterday and today is almost as bad.

So kids, what is the lesson learned from this extremely long blog post? Don't play with your kids unless you have muscles. I know that's the lesson I learned.

ABOOOOOOOUT, FACE!!
Thanks for all the comments... you have given me a new perspective: this party is about Red. I sat down with him, we talked some things over and now this party has gone from pretty cool to being insanely cool because we're doing the things he wants to do! In my excitement to try and uncover some new friendships I totally skipped over the most basic and important aspect of this party: to celebrate one utterly amazing kid! So, no candy bars (which, I wouldn't have done anyway ;)) and I'll try to relax a tad. And if he makes some friends a long the way, that will be a great bonus, but that is not why we are partying!
I'll post pictures of this crazy part on Saturday or Sunday. I know you're just DYING to see...

Better, But Not
First off, thanks for all the well wishes! You guys are the best! Second, it's great that you still love me even when I'm cranky. In fact, I think some of you enjoyed that cranky sarcastic post more than my normal fare. I told Hubby that I was going to have to be cranky more often so that I could supply better blog fodder. He is not excited.
Physically, I'm feeling quite a bit better. HURRAH! Mentally, I'm in overload. We've invited 11 kids to the house this weekend for Red's birthday party and I want it to be awesome. He hasn't had a party for several years... we started out saying that you can only do parties on the even numbered birthdays. So, he had one for his sixth birthday. Then nothing for the seventh and then we moved. So, his 8th birthday rolled around and he didn't know anyone here very well. I asked him to make a list of kids, but he just couldn't. There were a few, but really, he wasn't excited about inviting them. So, I told him we'd try again this year... and I may have gone a teeny bit overboard trying to make this an awesome party.
You see, Red still only has a few friends. No one he really gets a long with as well as we'd like. There's one kid that goes from being his best friend to being a tease and a bit of a bully in the blink of an eye. So, we've invited a bunch of kids from our church that he doesn't know very well because they all go to another school. A school that we are considering transferring him to next year to get away from the craziness of friends(??) at this place.
And so, in my crazy insanity, I'm trying to impress these other kids with a really cool party! I want them to have so much fun here that they will think that Red is just the coolest kid on the planet (which he is, by the way) and they'll want to be friends. Am I being unrealistic here? I probably am. But a mom can hope, right?
Would it be too much to follow the kids around and say "Will you be Red's friend? I'll give you a candy bar!" Yeah, that may be a bit much...

Oh the Noise!
I'm still not feeling real great... but I'm awake. Why am I awake? Well because of the parties, of course! My neighbors right next door have been carrying on a VERY loud conversation for the last while. Anyone interested in a transcript? I could provide a word for word run down if you'd like.
And then we have the battle of the bands going on somewhere else in the neighborhood. Someone has a live band in their backyard for the festivities. Someone else has a pretty amazing sound system with a stack of loud obnoxious music for their party. When one song gets a little louder than the other, then they CRANK up the volume on the other song so that it's louder than the first. It goes back and forth and back and forth like this... I fully expect the windows in my home to shatter at any moment. I can hear them vibrating.
Also, we are unplugging our phones. Why, you ask? Well, let me tell you. We live in a gated community. If you don't have a little clicker thing (think garage door opener) to open the gate you have to stop at a kiosk sort of thing and enter a code. If you don't have a code you have to call a home in the community through the little kiosk thing and ask them to ring you in. Somehow we have the great misfortune of being at the top of the list on the kiosk. So, on EVERY major holiday and most weekends we get phone calls in the middle of the night from drunk people who can't remember their codes and so they call the first number they find: ours. If I answer, I won't open it. Hubby will. He's kind to those in need - even if those needs are self inflicted. I, on the other hand, hope that they puke on themselves waiting for someone to open the gate. But not tonight... I'm unplugging the phone and that's will be the end of that. So, if you need to contact me between 12:30 and about 7:30 AM (Pacific time), you're out of luck. Please hang up and dial again!
I hope your New Years Celebrations were wonderful and that you don't have neighbors like mine.... unless, you are the neighbors that are partying it up. Then, all I have to say to you is: SHUT UP AND GO TO BED! IF YOU WAKE MY KIDS UP AGAIN I'M GONNA START THROWING THINGS AT YOU*! HEAVY THINGS**, FOLLOWED BY SHARP THINGS***, FOLLOWED BY HEAVY SHARP THINGS****!!!
Just call me the New Year's Grinch. Now, I'm going to try and sleep. I'm going to set up fans in my kids rooms to create some "white noise" and hopefully they will get back to sleep through all the commotion. Then I'll try to sleep myself. If my attempts at sleep fail then I'll start making an account of all heavy, sharp objects in my home*****.
Happy New Year!
* I throw like a girl... thus, any object that I tried to throw would never hit the mark
** I am weak. I can barely lift heavy things, let alone throw them.
*** I am clumsy. I wouldn't throw sharp things for fear of hurting myself.
**** Please see the last two statements on this subject.
***** No neighbors were harmed in the making of this post. Oh, and by the way, if you don't understand the sarcasm of a tired, sick, annoyed momma, please find another blog to read. Again, Happy New Year!