Soapbox part two

Actually, I'm not stepping up, I'm just updating.

Remember this, well, there's more. Lyric texted (is that a word??) me from school yesterday. K was really upset because her parents had gotten in a HUGE fight the night before and her dad left. Left! Walked out. The kids: J (17) , K (14) and A (8) went to their aunt's house for the night, and K was so afraid/scared/stressed. I just wanted to go to school and give her a hug, and I've never actually met this kid yet! K wasn't sure if the fight/dad's leaving had to do with the boyfriend situation. She tried to stay away and keep A away (A is her little brother and he's autistic) so he wouldn't get upset.

As of this morning, dad was back home, but everybody was still stressing.

I feel bad for them, but it really puts the craziness from the Random Thoughts House into perspective. We are together, not fighting (for the most part) and working through our little issues.

If you are inclinded, say a little prayer for K's family that it all works out. And if you feel like it, say a little prayer for us as well.

The Great American Birthday Cake Fiasco

Jazz is having a birthday soon. She's having a Twilight themed party. You may remember reading about it here . Last night we went to order the cake. She wanted a picture on her cake. The same picture that we put on her invites. Actually, this picture.

So we went to store #1 (names withheld to protect the innocent-ME!) and went through the whole this is what we want on our cake, yadda yadda yadda. then I handed her the paper. "We want this picture." "Oh, that's so cool," says the mean lady who would break Jazz's heart, "But we can't do that. it's copyrighted." "It's just a picture I printed from the internet." "Yeah, but it's the characters so we can't do it." Seriously?? It's not the cover of the book, it's not something I'm going to go make money off of. It's a stupid birthday cake!! Even the "I know somebody who just had a cake done at your XYZ store and they had a Twilight picture" card didn't work. So, Jazz designed a cake with an apple on it. The mean lady said she couldn't even write "Colors like Twilight" on the order form because it's copyrighted. Really?!? I was almost buying the photo thing, but you can't even use the word to describe something?!? Seriously??? What if I wanted it to say "Have a great Twilight party"? Would she have said no!?!?

So, we walk away. Jazz is upset. I say "We aren't done yet." We head over to the COOL store. First thing I do is show the nice lady the photo and ask "Can we get this on a cake?" "Sure" says the nice lady. "All the stuff is over here." So we go to the cute little ordering counter, Jazz picks out her cake, the filling, the border for the picture and the nice lady says "See you this weekend."

I don't know for sure what the rules are for photos on cakes, but my co worker had two cakes made at two different places and neither place (each was made at a different location of each of the two stores I went to) questioned her photo.

I wonder, if I wanted to put say, Peter Facinelli's face on my birthday cake if it would be denied?!? What about Rick Springfield?? Is he copyrighted?? What if it was a bunch of individual pix?? I don't know.

What I do know is Jazz is getting the cake she wants, her party is going to be a blast, and I'll have photos to share on Monday!

Vote for my Bag...post two for today

Kroger is having a go green/design your own bag contest.

Click here to see my entry and vote for it. The winner will get some grocery money! If you want, you can design your own bag as well. They are working with CafePress (which is a company I love!) and you can purchase my design, or yours, on fun stuff.

If you do design a bag, link back so I can check it out.

Let Me Step Onto My Soapbox

Okay, a teeny tiny disclaimer here for those that are new - I am perfect. I have no flaws. And I'm very opinionated. Second disclaimer- only the 3rd thing listed is actually true. Okay, so let me step up onto the soapbox and defend somebody else's kid today.

Let me back up just a teeny bit. Last night, Lyric is on the phone in her room. We have very little insulation (I think it's due to the pipes that carry our hot water heat, but I digress). I hear her crying and saying "You are worth it. You do deserve to live. Please don't hurt yourself." Okay, Protective Mommy wakes up and goes in to see what is going on. A friend of hers, we'll call K, is having a hard time.

K is Lyric's age (14-15) and had a long term boyfriend (like 3 years!). In January said boyfriend was injured in a car accident and ultimately died. He was 16. This is an of itself is bad enough. But, oh, yes, my friendly readers, it gets worse. The boyfriend was on his way to pick up K when the accident happened...so his parents blame her for him dying. Yup, that's right. Grown adults in their grief are blaming a teenage girl, who is now suicidal. Great, right?!?

So, I tried to talk with Lyric about the whole situation, and talked about both sides. How it's hard to deal with something like that. How people, when they are upset say things they don't really mean (God, I hope they don't mean it) and how sometimes it hard to recover once things are said. She feels bad, and I feel bad for her. She's the "more mature" of all her friends and everybody comes to her with their issues. And then she takes on their stress.

Seriously, people, how can you truly blame a 14 year old, who was sitting at her house waiting, for an accident? i don't get it. Maybe I'm completely off base, but it seems to me that the parents of the boyfriend need a bit o' counseling so they can deal. Unfortunately, sometimes there is no good place for the blame. I don't know the details of the accident, so there could be another care involved, etc. I hope that K and her family can get through this trying time.

And again I say "Boys are icky" and there is plenty of time for relationships later!

P.S. I asked Lyric last night, in a seperate conversation, how long she thought a "long term" relationship was. Her answer: 9-12 months. Hahahahahahaha. Her dad and I have been together for 19 years...LOL

On Again Off Again

You may remember this or how we w'ere sure if we were actually going. Yeah, all that has come back around. i just got word that 4 people have dropped out of our New York Trip. We need at least 2 to "keep our pricing" but 4 would be good. The planning for this trip has been all over. Just when I was finally getting ready to make my lists/shop/ etc, now we are in a holding pattern again. Yikes! I can hardly stand it.

I'll let you know when I know.

PPPP- Spring cleaning

A couple of weeks ago, Fisher and the girls and I went to his mom's to clean up the leaves and get rid of some bushes and such. I wish I would have done before and after photos because, let me tell you, there is a big different. Both of Fisher's brothers were there, and our SIL and nephew. Here's a few photos of the process.

This is actually Jazz and The Cousin...they bagged up all the leaves like champs!

Lyric and Bear, he looks scary, right??


The Fisher Brothers...everybody had a different idea about how to pull out the roots

This is me. I raked for nearly an hour straight. Then I had to rest my poor,aching, arthritic back. Lyric took this photo. :-)

St Louis

Blog disclaimer- I had to repost this because somebody left a bunch of crap comments. Sorry!

Lyric is on her way to St Louis for the 2009 Band Trip/Competition. She's very excited about this trip. (Well, actually, any trip) and I'm nervous. Last year I wasn't as bad. I know that she will be fine and she'll be taken care of, but maybe it's because she's about to be a high schooler and I know that she's growing up and I'll have less and less control over what she does. yikes!I'm looking at our New York Itinerary again. Man, are we going to be busy! But so many cool things to see. click here to see some of the places we will go. But we also get to see things like: the Dakota Building, Columbia University, Grant's Tomb, shopping at the Time Warner Center!, and the Strawberry Fields Memorial.
Busy, Busy, Busy! Our family vacation is going to be all about relaxing: except for the little fishing competition that we have going on. I always say that I'm going to catch the biggest fish, but don't usually fish. This year, I think we'll have one day that everybody fishes, and then there will be prized for *most fish, *biggest fish, *smallest fish, etc.
With all these wonderful photo ops, I might need to get a bigger memory card for my camera.

Fishful Thinking

I got home last night at 8pm after running all over the place, and found a package from Mr. Youth. There were no other clues, so I was a little nervous about opening it. I didn't need to be. It was a super cool package from The Fishful Thinking People! There was a nice canvas bag that Lyric promptly "borrow", a couple of pens, a note pad, a few mini brochures to hand out to other people, a folder with the fish on it and some goldfish samples. It also included information on the program, activities to do, and how to help promote the program.

Super cool! My favorite thing was the pens. The girls laughed at me when I said "Look, I got PENS!" Come on, a writer can never have enough pens. It's just the way the world is.

I did talk to the girls a bit about what the program was, the activites that we could do, and why it was important. I'm not sure they totally got it, but at least it's a start.

Don't forget, you can click on the fish to the right ----> and see what all the "thinking" is about!

The Good, The Bad, The New

I usually try to keep things light(er) and fun around here, and I still want to do that, but I want to say, if I'm not around for a few days, it's just because things at my house are a little crazy. Here's a quick rundown (and then I'll get to the good stuff). Stubborn, independant, a teeny bit selfish teenage girl. super sensitive,emotional, started her "monthly" too early, pre teen. Middle aged, doesn't always know how to deal with girls dad. Super organized, and a little high maintance mom. Sufice it to say, we've got some stress. Add in that Lyric is getting ready for high school and thinks she knows everything. Jazz is the baby, and always will be. I'm trying to figure out how to pay for school, and keep working to hold onto health insurance and tuition reimbursement. And Fisher is just overwhelmed with the whole thing. Anyway, if you could just send a prayer or two up for us, I would appreciate it. I'm sure things will even out, but I don't know when. we've got a couple of things in the works to help us all get on the same page.

Good news- Fisher won some money in a school fundraiser/raffle this weekend. It's enough to pay for my part of the New York Trip, plus Lyric's last payment, plus our spending money for the trip. We were super excited about that! BONUS!

Bad news- We're not going to be able to see Rick while we are in NYC. The concert is actually (from what I can find) the night that we are heading back. (Remember the driving through the night story??)

New- see begininng of post. The girls are also going to be responsible for more help around the house. They aren't really happy, but it's a necessity with school coming for me. And it's a good thing for them to learn. Not only will they have specific chores, they will have a timeline and consequences- all mapped out. So, everybody will be on the same page, etc.

I'm looking forward to some positive changes around our house, for everybody's mental health. Again, pray for us!

Oh, and one more thing. I signed up today to be a product tester. it's a specific item, but I don't want to say what yet, because if I get picked, I want to SURPRISE you with my fantastic review. I hope I get picked, I hope I get picked. "P" people, if you are reading this- I'm so in!

Twilight-aholic

I just made that up...but at my house it's pretty fitting. Lyric and Jazz both love the movie. And Jazz is having a birthday soon, which necessitates the "birthday party". This year's theme? Twilight. Now, how does one go about making a Twilight party?? Well, creatively of course.

The invitations are "written" by Edward. There's a super cool website: www.bellaandedward.com that has fonts that you can download. Initially the invite said "Jasper and Alice invite you to Jazz's party", but if people don't follow Twilight, they'd be thinking "Who the heck is that??" So, I added "And the whole Cullen family" and after the date/time, I put "With a Twilight theme". it seemed a little weird yet necessary. At the top is a super cool photo of the Cullen Clan and on the bottom there are apples.

I'm going to do all red and black decorations. A chocolate cake with red frosting. Forks all over. An apple centerpiece. There will be a sign on the door that says "Welcome to Forks, WA". Quotes on the walls. Twilight bingo. Sunglasses in the goody bags (like Edward wears) And I don't know what else. it should be a fun time.

If you have any other suggestions, please let me know.

PPPP...Cutest Baby Ever

getting ready for the egg hunt

Sidewalk chalk - a family Easter tradition

It's PHRIDAY! Here's a few pix I took last weekend of the "cutest baby ever". Okay, he's not a baby anymore and he can cuss like a sailor. But he's still my favorite (only) nephew!

Favorite things swap

Last time I debated and missed out, so this time, I'm playing along.
mamarazzi is having a swap. I already have a few things in mind for what will go in my basket. I have a few friends who played last time and they got really cool stuff! I can't wait.

Great American Bake Sale

Have you ever been hungry? I mean really hungry?? Well, everyday lots of kids are hungry, especially during the summer. This year I'm participating in the Great American Bake Sale (GABS) and I'm hoping you can help. I don't have a date set, but I'm going to enlist the help of my girl scouts. We are going to try to raise $300. We are doing a bake sale- bake sale and a no bake - bake sale. The no bake is monetary donations.

Click Here if you can donate $. Or, if you would like to do your own GABS, click Here .

I'm late, I'm late, for a very important date...or school

This morning, like every other school morning, Lyric could barely open her eyes. She always struggles to get up, as do the rest of us. One day, not too long ago, I actually came to work, but had to turn right around and go back home. Fisher was out and about but not close to home and she wasn't answering the phone. I raced in, and found her sleeping. I pounded on her bedroom door. She woke up. I said "School starts in 30 minutes, don't be late." and then left. She wasn't late.

Wait, maybe a little background is needed. Jazz gets on the bus at 7:25. I have to be to work by 8am. Fisher's days vary, but usually he's gone about the same time as me. Lyric doesn't start school until 8:50 and we live 2 blocks away from the school. So, typically, I make her get up before we all leave and she's on her own as far as getting dressed, eating, etc. Most days,a friend of hers comes over and they walk to school together.

Apparently today, no friend. So, Fisher calls me at 8:30 to see if I've talked with her. Nope. Haven't. So, I start calling the house over and over. After about 5 times, she answers the phone. She just got up. Yup, she's gonna be late because at this point, school starts in 10 mintues. She's good, not that good. She was actually out the door in 15, so she only ended up being about 10 minutes late. I was the good mom and called the school to let them know.

I don't think she'll do it again, but you never know. But now she will understand why I make her get out of bed before I leave.

Terrific Tuesday

Good morning, my fellow readers. I don't have any wonderfully insightful thoughts today. Sorry! But I do have a lot going on. Lyric has her Mulan performance this week, followed by a visit to Dairy Queen for the "after party" on Friday. This is her last performance in middle school. Yes, that's right. Lyric will be in High School in the fall. I'm trying not to completely lose my mommy mind, but it just doesn't seem right somehow. Most days I still feel like I'm too young to have a teenager. Let alone a high schooler.

We got word over the weekend that Jazz did not get into the Fine Arts Program for next year. She is on a waiting list, which is how she got into Academics. I don't know what her chances are of somebody leaving, but for now, she's staying at her school. She said she's okay with it. I'm not so sure, but way to be a trooper, Jazz!

I'm crusing right along in my quest for nursing school. I've been looking up scholarships, applying for financial aid and collecting tons of information in general. I need to get through Chemsitry this fall. Seriously, any suggestions?? Anyway, that's where my focus is right now. Getting through the next 5 classes.

Have a terrific Tuesday! I'll see you on Wonderful Wednesday.

New digs

I'm so totally irritated right now. I wanted to update the template...found a really cute one...it deleted everything. And Blogger has some crazy update/change your blog/my my life miserable thing going on today. I'll try to keep working on it, but it's not as easy as I thought.

Phriday Photo Phinish Phiesta...and more

Hello, to all! I'd like to first say thank you for sticking with me this week while my blog is a work in progress. I'm be working on a new template over the weekend, and if all goes well, the blog will have a snazzy spring makeover. *fingers crossed*

Tonight, Fisher is taking Jazz and one of her friends to see the Hannah Montana movie. That's right, I said Fisher is taking them. Not me. Nope. I'll be doing something else. Not sure what. Well, I know that I will be picking up Lyric from play practice, but other than that....it's open for discussion.

Tomorrow I'm supposed to take part in a fun walk to help raise organ donor awareness. Except for the fact that it's so dang early in the morning, it should be fun. Here's the link. Red Shoe Run The beautiful Carrie Jane Smith is my boss' daughter.

And one last thing, today is PPPP. Here's my photo. This is Lyric and E after his first communion. This is the only little brother my girls will ever get. I have to thank Kelley for giving birth to him!

Where scrapbooking and self publishing meet

In my every constant searching of the internet and adding to my following list (via a group I'm in at Mom Bloggers Club), I found out about Cherish Bound. What a great idea. Basically (and this is not a technical description at all) it's scrapbooking meets self publishing.

My friend, Kari is an new consultant. Click on her name to go to her blog. She's even hinting at a give away. Tell her I sent you if you stop by.

Otherwise, you can go to www.cherishbound.com for more information. My favorite thing about this is the versatility. You can do more pictures, less words or vs versa. you can also get multiply copies of your book and they are permanently archived, so you can get a copy down the road. Very cool concept.

New Blogs

I just realized that I never linked to my new blogs. You should be able to see it over there to the right. My templates are all pretty basic right now, but I'll be doing some redocorating soon. If anybody knows where I can get a three column template for this blog, let me know. I want to be able to put my "awards" along one side, but keep the information that is currently on the right.

Kid Interview...Jazz

I did the interview questionnaire with Jazz over the weekend. Here's what she knows (or think she knows) about her mom. her answers are in italics. And there's a bit of comentary from me. :-)

* What is something your mom always says to you? Hurry Up
*What makes mom happy? sleeping in
*What makes mom sad? Not getting enough vacation
*How does your mom make you laugh? When she plays the Wii. (I have to say that I've only played the Wii with her once...she loved the way I did the boxing...and by loved I mean laughed so hard she almost peed her pants.)
*What was your mom like as a child? I don't know.
*How old is your mom? 38 or is it 39??
*How tall is your mom? 5'1" ( I do look short compared to Lyric, but I'm really 5'5")
*What is her favorite thing to do? read or write a story
*What does your mom do when you are not around? sleep in
*If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for?? A famous writer (from her mouth to God's ears!)
*What is your mom really good at?? helping
*what is your mom not very good at? math (math and chemistry apparently...LOL)
*What does your mom do for her job? secretary
*What's your mom's favorite food? I don't know
*What makes you proud of your mom? I don't know
*if your mom were a cartoon character, who would she be? Minnie Mouse (I have no idea why!)
*What do you and your mom do together? Watch DWTS or AI
*How are you and your mom the same? we both like writing stories
*How are you and your mom different? mom doesn't dance
*how do you know your mom loves you? She always hugs me
*Where is your mom's favorite place to go? In bed with a book (got that right!)

Don't Keep The Sandman Waiting....

Rick Springfield was out and about promoting the new CD this weekend. Here's a link for you to check out.

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=4919474n

And even better than that, I'm going to the meet and greet in Milwaukee again! That's right, me and Rick. Another year, another photo. And Lynn will be there with her super duper camerea to capture it all. I just hope that we can get a good one of her as well!

More Changes

Due to the whirlwindy, roller coaster my life has been on lately, I'm all swirly inside. I made my decision to focus on other things besides school, and signed up with 31 gifts. I was super excited about this opportunity, even though it was a plan B. Now that school has come through, 31 is going to the "parking lot". I'm going to opt out and focus on school for right now.

I've got my classes scheduled for the next two semesters, and I'm planning ahead for January. I know that time is going to be flying by. There are a couple of projects that I need to complete in my current job, as well as looking for a new job (by December) that will better work with school.

Oh, my! There's so much to think about and plan and gear up for. I can't do much right now besides think, so I'll still be around, but once school kicks in....well, we'll wait and see.

Thanks to all my regular and new readers. I plan to continue to entertain you on a regular basis.

Can You Believe It....

So, I totally bombed chem. I made some decisions based on "everything happens for a reason" and I obviously wasn't supposed to be a nurse. Even though I've wanted to be a nurse since I was 10 years old. I had come to terms with everything. I knew that I was okay. My family was okay. Hubby was supportive. I even decided to start a little side business just for fun (thirty one).

I was caught up in the frustration of trying to get into a nursing program and every program being a little bit different in what it required. I talked to a couple of the coordinators (at different schools) and finally just was done.

I had said that if I got a letter that they wanted me, I would take the opprotunity, of course. But as things were right now, it didn't look like that was going to happen.

Until today. Today when I got home there was a letter from St Anthony's College of Nursing. This is a BSN program here in town. The letter says "Dear Amy, CONGRATULATIONS! You have been awarded provisional acceptance into Saint Anthony College of Nursing for FALL 2009." This is a little bit of a WTF moment, because last I had talked with them, I wouldn't be ready for fall. I still have a few classes to take (that I wasn't going to take without some sort of guarantee that I would get in), so I can't start until Jan 2010. But an acceptance letter is an acceptance letter, damn it and I'm going to nursing school!

Can you even believe it?!? I'm totally in shock. There's a few things to consider. One is my job. I can't work this job while I'm in school. Another is how many hours can I work while in school. and finally, can I really push myself over the next 8 months to get done what I need to get done?!? I need a lot of support, from family and friends, and I need to believe in myself.

So, with that said, I'm super excited about this. I'm looking forward to it. I just need to get through chemistry...one more time. :-)

Thirty One Gifts...

Due to an unexpected, yet wonderful, turn of events...this post has been removed.