Give him wings and he will fly...

We got back from Texas (and apparently brought the cold with us!!)and MB did GREAT flying. In fact, whenever we drive he throws up. I now declare that whenever we travel over 3 hours away, we must fly (bwahahahahahaaa ....sure).

On his first flight from Nashville to Austin, the flight attendant found out it was his first flight, scooped him up, introduced him to the pilot who let him sit in the cockpit, showed him all the bells and whistles, and let MB wear the captain's hat. *insert whistle here* I thought for sure after 9/11 nobody did that anymore. MB ate it up.

They gave him wings and a certificate for flying. Man, I love Southwest!

We flew then from Austin to Midland and then a 2 hour night-time, full of "deer in the headlights,literally" fear to Middle-o-nowhere, Robert Lee, Texas to visit Grandma and Grandpa.

We drove over bumpy roads. We drove over winding roads. We drove over bumpy, windy narrow roads. Did I mention I get car sick really really easily too?? I spent most of the drive with my eyes closed and head back so I didn't yap in the car, especially when my dad drove. No offense dad, but you drive kinda fast. Good to see I come by it naturally.

So, we visited and we left.

On the flight back from Midland to Houston, we were on a 737 with only like 45 people on the flight. We could have sat one person on a row and still had room on the plane. So DH, MB and I sit in a row, DH on the outside, me in the middle and MB on the window seat.

SOMEBODY COMES AND SITS IN FRONT OF MB. Assigned seats? Nope, we fly Southwest. No assigned seats. All the seats full. NOPE....plenty of seats on the plane. Only window seat left? Nope.

But guess what she does the WHOLE flight????

Give me dirty looks when MB talks, kicks her seat (but I don't think he really ever did other than moving around bumps) and when he asks for my coffee.

Lady, there are about 100 other seats on the plane. You don't want to sit next to the whopping 2 children on the flight.....PICK ANOTHER SEAT.

Seriously people. MB was great on the flight. We argued a little about getting his homework done, but he did not kick, scream, etc. He just told me what he did and did not want to do and I told him there is a bathroom on the plane I can adjust his attitude in. *heheehehe*

Somebody tell me why skunk eye lady chose to sit in front of a 5 year old??

"Sounds like somebody has a case of the Mondays"

If you know the movie that comes from....you are familiar with my life today. Office Space will go down in the annals of Classic Movies that get you right where you live.

So, today, as you know, is Monday.
My "case of the Mondays" actually started on Sunday evening.....a great thing happened and therefore the cosmos must play a nasty one on ya. Nope, not blaming God. He's just giggle at all of this today. Testing. Watching. Waiting.

The BEARS won the game and, for the first time in 21+ years the Bears are going to the Superbowl. Does God really care about the Superbowl? Probably not. Though He cares about the guys playing. That's beside the point here...I'm being a little more shallow than that.

So my team wins, good thing. We get some really nice dressers for my sister off of Freecycle, good stuff again, we got rid of the old bunk beds on Freecycle to a really neat couple (the husband of which wants to be a FIREMAN...how noble is that!). Another good thing.

All is at peace.

Then the counter balance.

Suddenly, it seems young master MB has a fever. Not just a little fever, but his usual 102. This, coupled with a nasty cough, Doctor Mom diagnosis it as his first real nasty cold with fever, body aches and cough. The works. Nothing Dr. Mom can't handle. Right. Right, except Dr. Mom has a job she has to go to. What to do. We planned on being wrong and taking him to school and making them send him home. But I could not bring myself to do it. I would not want a mom to do that to me (though plenty do), so I kept fever boy home. Now, what to do with a 5-year-old while mom goes to work. Ponder with me.

pondering?

I IM my supervisor when he gets in, let him know what is going on and ask for permission to bring him to work with me until my sister gets off her job to come take him. Problem #1 solved. The gracious employer wants me in the cubicle, so away we go. We pack MB, a bag of stuff including thermometer and Tylenol, Leapster and books, and away we go.

As we go up the nasty hill to get off of our street MB says, "Mommy, why does the car sound funny and is so bumpy?" Mommy figures we got some dirt in the tires (after all we have a nasty gravel drive and it has been raining) so I wait for the sound to stop. Then I feel the "bumpy". Yup.......

flat tire.

So I get to the top of the hill and find level ground on which to jack up the van and change the tire in the cold rain. brrr. Did I mention I never wear my coat because what am I outside in a given day for, about 2 minutes?? Sooooooo in my nice light tan pants I'm trying to figure out how to use this jack I have never seen before, how to get the spare out from under the van and....where is the thingie you turn the lug nuts with??? The neighbor lady comes out and offers to help....but she only helped me to realize I don't have all the equipment to change a tire in my van (better to find this out 1 block from home rather than middle of night middle of nowhere!). So, I de-jack (yes, I know that is not a real word) the van and hobble down the hill in the van, praying not to ruin the rims, back to the house. MB and I get up to the house and he's mad because he can not go to work with me. I'm petrified because I can't get to work!!

So I get in the house and call my sister, talk her into coming to the house when she gets off and loaning me her car so I can go for at least half a day at work and not get put on "disciplinary action" (point system...we can discuss later). She agrees. I call my boss and let him know what happened. His reply "we'll see you when you get here". I'm not sure I like the tone...you know what I mean??

So, now I'm in a near panic, MB is asleep on the couch in minutes and I am trying to find a service that will come change my tire for me. (I should mention DH is at work already and can't leave either).

I think....I pray.... I remember. Remember what? I remember our Pastor is a car guy. Yeah. Maybe he can help. So, I call my pastor. And you know what. In this day of nobody caring or helping, he tells me.......
wait for it.


wait for it.......


He tells me it may be 40 minutes, but he is on his way. I love this man. What a heart!!! What a spirit. What a gentle man. Don't get me wrong, this guy is no sissy. He knows a woman in distress when he hears one.

While I wait, I IM a guy at work. Turns out HE is willing to come get me. So he comes and gets me and MB and drives us to work. THANK YOU BRIAN!!!! What a gentleman. He USED to be my supervisor, but moved to a different department, but is still willing to help. He understands where I'm at and volunteers to help. I call the pastor back and tell him never mind, but you know what he says.


in all seriousness......

I'm coming anyway and I'm gonna fix your tire for you. I'm gonna grab Robbie (another guy from church) and we are gonna fix it so you don't have to worry about it. Am I a blessed woman or what???

So I get to work. My sister comes gets MB and takes him home so he can rest. My sister IM's me later in the day to tell me the pastor went out and purchased a tire for me. SERIOUSLY!!!
He said there was a 3" slit in the tire (we think the plug we did last time finally gave out) and he didn't want me to have to use my spare tire, so he purchased a new one for me. When I called him to find out what it cost, he would not take the money. Told me to tithe it back to the church.

I tell you what...it started out a nasty old case of the Monday's and turned into a blessing. What the world considers evil, God uses for good..... Always!

So what if I forgot my house keys and car keys at work today.
So what if MB still is not fully well, he's a bit better tonight.

The world is a better place and God is still on his throne. I didn't even break down and cry or blame my DH for the trouble. Nope, it was all "chance" turned to Choice turned into an opportunity to give thanks to God for good, honest, upright, godly men.

To everybody who helped me today, thank you. To those who prayed for MB, thank you. To those who say there are no honest preachers in the world... I beg to differ. My preacher may not be eloquent, but he loves God, and shows it, and that's what it takes. And Brother Lane, for giving time on your day off. May God truly bless you.

THE BEARS ARE GOING TO THE BOWL!!!

It has been my mantra all season....I even have MB sininging it all over the house.

The song goes like this:
"The Bears are going to the bowl...
the Bears are going to the bow....
we don't know who they'll play yet,
but the BEARS are GOING TO THE BOWL!!!"

Monsters of the Midway, I salute you!

This year, I may actually host a super bowl par-tay!!!

Whoo Hoooooo (and a sound spanking to the Saints !! bwahahahahaha)

Family.

What a wrong dynamic in my universe.

The current situation:
Mom is dying of recurrent breast cancer in the lungs, bones and anywhere else it wanted to go. The docs are using nice words like "comfort measures" and "2 days, 2 weeks, 2 years....we just don't know". So, while she is still here, we are making an effort to get my MB down to Texas to visit grandma while she is still "healthy" (really the wrong word here. Better words, "not scary yet"). So we are going soon to see her. I tried to go by myself so nobody has to watch me melt down, but mom said I can not come without MB.

She is beyond the 2 day mark and we will see her post the 2 week mark as well. Mom is a fighter. She will hang on for us.

The DRAMA:

The Siblings:
Sibling #1: Recently moved out of our house into an apartment with her daughter. Sibling #1 is not happy that we are going, but she can not, because she can not afford a ticket nor the time off, and I can't afford to bring her along for the ride this time. She is happily watching the pets at our place for us while we are gone. Thank you sissy.

Sibling #2: Sibling #2 had mom living with him for a few weeks when the cancer first popped it's ugly head back up. Sibling #2's LOVELY wife kicked my mother out of their house while she was undergoing treatments. Dad had moved to the great state of Texas while mom was in the hospital because their house had been sold and they had to be out, so Sibling #2 said he would take mom in because Sibling #1 sold her house as well and had nowhere to go (hence moved to Tennessee) and Sibling #3 has a LOT of issues including a teenie tiny house and some other issues best not discussed here and Tennessee is too far from Indiana to come here when you ar sick and the daily treatment option was out of the question from here, the commute would have done us both in. So now Sibling #2 wants to run down to Texas to see mom before she passes, probably to assuage his guilt.

Sibling #3 is the youngest of us 4 children. Sibling #3 is a big P.I.T.A. Sibling #3 has called my father, who has quite enough on his plate being as he is not entirely healthy himself, and pretty much tells him that he needs to buy her tickets for her, her ignorant jerk of a husband and her two teenage sons who do nothing but play computer games all day. Dad called me yesterday and asked me if I had the same parents as her. LOL.....um, dad, that would be more of a question for you and mom...not me. So we talk about it, leading me to tell him how much it is costing us to come see mom. Got a good rate, but it's still expensive. Traveling at crazy hours and days to get there as inexpensively as possible, then there is the car rental and food so mom and dad don't have to feed us. So dad got a ballpark figure. He calls Sibling #3 back and tells her, pretty much, to stuff it. If she can't manage to get her husband off his rump to pay for it, it's not gonna happen. Then he spells out how much airfare would be, plus a rental car (to which she replies that HE should drive the 100 plus miles to pick her and her brood up and pay for the gas to do it) and then he adds the food thing in (now she is irate that they are not willing to feed her). All in all, it would cost her about $2000 for the trip. So now the brilliant Sibling #3 is mad at me because I'm going. Yeah. Like I asked mom or dad for anything.

What have I asked my parents for? I asked that I see their lawyer friend while I am there (so I can help make real arrangements for when mom, and subsequently dad, do pass). I asked if I can go grocery shopping for them and cook some meals and freeze them so when mom can't cook all dad has to do is thaw and warm a dish I made for them.

Talking to dad tonight he flat out asks me "What are you going to do if you mom does not die? You are all going to be mad at me for getting you all to come down here aren't you?". Um......
no. "Dad, if mom does not die right after I come down it means I still have my mom!" Hellooooooo where does he get this crap from??? I then explained to him that I have a 5-year-old monkey who does not need to see death. If mom is "healthy" (see above) then my son remembers grandma "not scary" and has a good memory. You see, it's not just about mom, dad, sibling #1, #2 or #3, not about me, not about death and dying. It's about trying to let my son see his grandma one last time and have a good memory of it, not a scary tube filled, coma thing. This whole thing is hard enough. I don't need trauma on top of it.

Is that wrong?

Prayers going out to my favorite peripherial muser today.

You and your family have been in my thoughts and prayers all day PM.....

Please have your Copper update us when he can.

God bless and protect you!

Christmas is over.

I understand that a lot of people get depressed after Christmas. The celebrations are over. No more parties. No "fun" stuff. Family all leaves (more of a relief for some, sadness for others). There is nothing to do. The weather is frightful in a lot of places (sorry Colorado).

But here, it means the decorations have to come down. The only thing that depresses me about that is that I have created more work for myself.

I took the tree down last night and realized a few things about myself.

First, I did not get the kids their ornaments this year. This has become a tradition in our home that we individualize an ornament for the kids every year and mark it with their name and year. When they get their own places, they will have a bag full or "special" ornaments that are uniquely them. That's the plan anyway. I'm a slacker mom after all. Ebay, here I come.

Secondly, I think I will let DH get a real tree next year. Of course, I will probably make him get one in a bag so we can PLANT it, not trash it, when we are done celebrating. We'll see how that goes.

Finally, to anybody who has ever done a craft project with children that involves their face and the year (and possibly Santa), I need to thank you.

Thank you for preserving what I have never had the understanding of the significance of. I found MB's picture from pre-school when he was 2-1/2 with Santa and the one his Kindergarten teacher took this year next to the class Christmas tree. I sat there and cried like a baby. I admit it. I am a total sap when it comes to MB. I have never realized how awesome these little snapshots are. They are taken around the same time of year so you see a full year of change in a face. In this instance, a 3 year difference. I was so touched at the changes in my baby that I just sat there crying. Good thing DH was outside working in his shed or he would have freaked at the odd display of emotions from a woman who, 2 hours earlier, was talking about MB driving her absolutely crazy by talking non-stop.

So to all of the Sunday School teachers, Day-Care workers, grandmas, teachers, moms etc. who have taken the time to do a picture project at Christmas with a child......

THANK YOU.

You touch mom's hearts when we think the celebration is over.

Next year, I'm not putting the ornaments with MB on the tree. NOPE. I am creating a "MB Christmas tree" in my room, for my enjoyment, of my sweet boy and the celebration of all the sweet people who have thought enough about children to realize "this is special" and worked the project with them or for them.

So next year, if you are in the neighborhood, stop over and say hi, have some coffee, and visit our Christmas trees, one which celebrates the Tree to come that my saviour hung upon and one that celebrates my boy, my gift from God.