broken, it's all broken

I swear, if it wasn't for all of the things that are broken in our house, we wouldn't have anything....that didn't sound right....it should be, if it wasn't for all the things that are broken in our house, I would have things that were fixed. There. More like it. I have a hot water knob in my shower that I have to turn on with pliers. The shower head has started leaking into the wall, the washing machine's agitator won't turn, both sets of blinds in the living room are broken, the doorbell doesn't work, the toilet in the hall bathroom runs constantly, and now the new dishwasher I bought a mere 6 months ago, isn't getting my dishes clean. Ahhh. Being broke is so much fun. Oh, and one more thing to add to that list of broken things.....my spirit.
Happy Holidays.

At least she's thinking of me....

I love my 3 year old. She's so fun. Sometimes I just want to squeeze her head off....

Tonight, I am getting her ready for bed. I pull off her clothes and as I'm getting ready to put her pullup on her, I pinch her cute little tush, and say...."just look at that cute butt!" She grins, turns her tail end to face me and says, "but don't smell it, cause it stinks."

God, I love my 3 year old.

Sisterbaby was giraffenapped.....

My daughter, Piper, is 3. She LOVES giraffes.....I mean LOVES them. Has since she was 10 months old and saw one at the zoo for the first time. Last year for Christmas, my sister bought her a stuffed giraffe. Piper named her Sisterbaby....for the longest time it was Sisserbaby, but now she can pronounce the T. Anyway, Sisterbaby is with Piper all of the time. She sleeps with her, takes her to school, church, the grocery store, Wal-Mart, the bathroom....everywhere. Sisterbaby is part of the family. A couple of weekends ago, Piper and her brother and sister went to spend the weekend with my mother in law. Of course, Sisterbaby went along. When my husband went to get them on Saturday night, he came home with 3 kids and no stuffed giraffe. It was pandamonium....we searched the vehicle from top to bottom...no giraffe. So apparently, Sisterbaby was left at Grangie's. No biggie....Daddy promised Piper that he'd go the next day to get her. Well, Sunday came and went and Daddy broke his promise. We went almost a week Sisterbaby-less. It was hell. Piper wouldn't go to bed at bedtime, she woke up screaming for Sisterbaby and tossed and turned all night. I was exhausted. On Thursday I finally decided to do what I should have done in the first place, and went to get Sisterbaby myself. We searched everywhere.....I even looked in my Mother in Law's dirty laundry....please don't ask. She was nowhere to be found. We even looked outside. I was beginning to panic and Piper was beginning to cry. I finally said that we would go to Hallmark and just get a new one to calm her down until we found the original. That worked until we got to the store and they didn't have one. I really was thinking that I would have to quit my job and make it my lifes work to find that giraffe. Finally after a long 4 hours of listening to Piper whine about Sisterbaby being gone forever and her sister, Grace, making it worse by saying Grangie had probably thrown her in the garbage, we got a call. It was my mother in law, and she was celebrating through the phone....SISTERBABY HAD BEEN FOUND!!!! Apparently on Saturday, the kids had been playing outside before going to their aunt's birthday party and Sisterbaby was watching from the porch. The neighbor's dog, Nike, had come to play with them and Grangie's dog, Holly. I guess when the kids had their backs turned, Nike absconded with Sisterbaby to his yard. They were in such a hurry to get to the party, they didn't notice Sisterbaby wasn't with them, so when Piper asked for her, they assured her she was at the house waiting for them. The neighbor found the giraffe, assumed it was one of Holly's toys that Nike had stolen, and took it into her house to keep safe until Grangie returned home. She forgot about it until Thursday night, and when she saw Holly outside, she remembered and brought it back to Grangie's yard and gave it to Holly. Holly took it and dropped it on the porch....she knew it wasn't hers. Nike came and stole it again, and burried it in his owner's flowerbed, where she was found a mere 4 hours after my search had ended. Grangie said she was in tact, but muddy so she washed her, and replaced her lost earring (yes, Sisterbaby got her ear pierced when Piper had her's done...but only one ear), and had her waiting for Piper. We went the next morning and got her. Piper was so excited, she squealed and hugged Sisterbaby for the longest time. Now Sisterbaby is safe at home where she belongs, and Piper won't let her leave the house except to go to school, and her teacher says she checks her backpack a million times a day to make sure she's still there. I'm so glad she's back, because I actually get to sleep all night without being woken from a dream of Tom Welling rubbing my feet, by the blood curling screams of "Sisterrrrrbabbbbby!" It's great to have her home....

What we teach (or don't teach) our kids.......

I've always prided myself on being colorblind.....about people. I don't judge anyone based on the color of their skin, and I've hoped that this is a trait I will pass on to my children. Today, I see that it's sticking to my 3 year old. She's in preschool. Today they were reading a book about how everyone is different. This book prompted a discussion about how some people have white Mommy's and daddy's and some have black mommy's and daddy's. Apparently the teachers let each child tell how their family was different. Soon, it was my sweet child's turn. She looked at her teachers and said, "I don't know what my Mommy is." The teacher replied, "Your mommy is white and your daddy is white too." My precious baby girl looked her right in the eye and said, "Well, actually, my daddy is black......and my mommy is purple." I'm so proud of her. She isn't changing that view either.....her 8 year old sister tried to educate her that our whole family is white, but it really doesn't matter what color you are because God loves you no matter what. My darling child said, "well, your mommy and daddy can be white, but my daddy is black and my mommy is purple." It really started me thinking about the things we teach our children without trying to teach it at all. Race has never been an issue at our house. We don't call people white or black. If I or my husband are describing someone, we usually say something to the effect of , "you know the guy with the brown eyes that wore that blue shirt today"...or something like that. I have a cousin who is married to an African-American man and they have bi-racial children, but I'm not sure my children have ever noticed. They've never said anything if they have. Maybe, without trying, I'm actually getting something that is important to me to stick to my children. Now if I could just teach them that yelling at each other is a bad idea, I'd really be doing something.

Here ya go.....

I'm blogging. To make a mark and prove I'm ok. I'm sane. Or as sane as I can be. I'm tired of the drama, but at the same time.....I need it to survive. I have my own way of doing things. The things in my head aren't always PC.....as a matter of a fact, they usually aren't. But they are mine to think, mine to tell, or mine to keep. That's the beauty of the human brain. No one else knows what you know unless you tell them. I can be serious, but I choose not to most of the time. Except here. Here I'll be as serious or as nutty as I wanna be. You'll get over it.