Feeling warm and fuzzy

Honeymoon trip (2004)


Wedding Day (1992)



Since today was Valentine's Day, I'm feeling warm and fuzzy. And I think I'll share something. Lately, Rich has been trying to tell me his feelings, which isn't very easy for him so he will start to tell me something, or go around trying to tell me something and without him actually getting all the words out, I know what he's trying to say. I realize that even after 15 years and me being a pain in the ass, that the man still loves me. I mean really loves me. And it makes me feel good. One of our songs is When A Man Loves A Woman. Rich will tell you he likes Percy Sledge's version over Michael Bolton's. Of course, Rich is NOT a Michael Bolton fan, LOL!

Whenever I hear the song, I drop everything I'm doing and just sit and listen to it. The more I hear it, the more I think that song pretty much sums up our relationship. No matter how badly I treat Rich, he would still do just about anything I need him to. He would and has given up things for me. Mainly, when I wanted to stay home with our children, Rich was trying to go to grad school. He gave that up, so I could stay home. He did eventually get his masters degree, but only after he had gotten hurt working at a job he hated, where he got hurt, threaten, crap and piss thrown on him, listened to criminals say shit about his family and himself. He did that for me and our family. No one asked him to, he just did it, to make me happy.

I guess you can say, I'm realizing how lucky I truly am. And I think I should stop being selfish and foolish. And realize that I have what some girls only dream about. Here's the lyrics to the song, in case you were wondering, or didn't know what I was talking about.

When a man loves a woman
Can't keep his mind on nothing else
He'll trade the world
For the good thing he's found
If she's bad he can't see it
She can do no wrong
Turn his back on his best friend
If he put her down

When a man loves a woman
Spend his very last dime
Tryin' to hold on to what he needs
He'd give up all his comfort
Sleep out in the rain
If she said that's the way it ought to be

Well, this man loves a woman
I gave you everything I had
Tryin' to hold on to your precious love
Baby, please don't treat me bad

When a man loves a woman
Down deep in his soul
She can bring him such misery
If she plays him for a fool
He's the last one to know
Lovin' eyes can't ever see

When a man loves a woman
He can do no wrong
He can never own some other girl
Yes when a man loves a woman
I know exactly how he feels
'Cause baby, baby, baby, you're my world

When a man loves a woman.....

When we had planned on getting married, it was clear that my mother wasn't going to pay for much of anything (she didn't pay for my sister's either - my dad made the money, but my mother controlled it). So Rich had told me, that he wouldn't be able to pay for everything, he just didn't have the money. He gave me a choice and whatever I decided he would pay for and go along with. I could have an engagement ring, a honeymoon (wedding at the courthouse) or a wedding (a nice one in a church). I picked the church wedding. I wanted the memory of a wedding with pictures and everything. So that is what we did. About five years later, he bought me a diamond ring as an engagement ring. About twelve years later, we went on a trip, just the two of us. And that was our honeymoon. He might not have been able to give it to me all at once. But he has been making up for it ever since.

Yeah, I think I'm lucky. Very, very lucky!

Hot or Cold

Man, this sick thing is getting to me! I mean really I think I'm going to lose my mind! So, tonight, I'm sitting in the kitchen making Sarah's valentine box when I get so cold. I mean FREEZING! I grab my coat, which was on the back of the chair and I put it on. How wierd is it to wear your coat in the house? Do you know how hard it is to make a valentine box with a winter coat on? After about an hour of freezing my ass off, I start to get so hot. I felt like I died and went to hell. So I rip the coat off as fast as I can. Debate whether to strip some clothing and just sit with sweat dripping of me.

Then I get cold again! Even the coat isn't keeping me warm. By the way, if I mis-type anything, it's only because I'm wearing my gloves while doing this. Seriously! I know all this is from this stupid cold that I have. I was like this all day yesterday too. I damn near wanted to pee my pants in the middle of the night, because I didn't want to have to uncover myself and get out of bed. I know too much information. Well too damn bad, this is my blog!

I don't know what option I'd rather contend with - hot or cold. Hot or Cold. If you're hot you can take some clothes off, if you're cold you can put some on. I know Rich and the kids think I've lost my mind running around the house with a winter coat and gloves with the hood up on my coat. I think I lost my mind too. Please take pity on me, God and help me get over this damn cold!

Sick, sick, sick

I hate being sick! I hate it with a passion. I knew it was only a matter of time, until I got sick, since everyone else was sick. Now to mention the fact that I'm this close (were talking inches) away from people's faces when I'm at work. And they sneeze and cough on you, so gross! Some of them actually think it's funny, others feel bad. And at home, sick babies want to crawl in my lap and be cuddled. And it's winter and there are germs everywhere. So I'm sick and taking antibiotics and hoping that I get better fast, because I hate being sick!

OMG The Funniest Thing Happened Today

So I'm trying to potty train Nathan, right? Oh my, I'm not sure he's ready yet. I think he grasps the concept and all that. He will even stay dry for long periods of time, But he will not poop in the potty. He ran into another room today and actually hid from me, just to poop, LOL! Then he did it again, only this time he took the pull-ups off and threw them away, and went to get another pair, hoping I wouldn't see him. That little bugger is sneaky! But that's not the funniest thing. I made him sit on the potty while I was making lunch today. I even put the potty chair in the living room so he could watch tv while he sat there. And what did he do? He fell asleep! Sitting on the potty, LMAO!! It was so freaking funny! I even took a picture of it! But alas, the picture came out blurry, so I can't share it, but oh was it ever funny!

one more day

I have to work today and then I have the next four days off, wooo hooo!! Can't wait! I have only had one or two days off in a row for a long time, and now I have a block of four off. I'm loving it!! I'm going to have the kids dig out the potty chair for tomorrow, while I'm at work tonight.

potty training

So I think the time is getting near for Nathan to be potty trained. I think I did a half decent job with Amanda and even Anthony, but the twins were so freaking hard to potty train. Rich ended up doing it with Zachary. In one day, no less! He just took him with him to the mall one day, and everytime he had to go, he made Zach go and viola, he was trained. Sarah was an absolute nightmare to train. The girl refused to do anything. Then I finally got her to pee in the potty, but she would never poop. I don't think she was trained until she was well over four years old. Nicholas was just as bad as Sarah. Rich did most of the work with him too. He bought little trinkets and wrapped them up and everytime Nick would do anything he would get a prize. Nicholas still has some bedwetting issues, that I honestly thought were related to his sleep apnea. But when his tonsils and adenoids were removed the apnea went away, and he still wets the bed some nights. Other than waking him up at various times through the night, I don't know how to fix it.

So now I think it's Nathan's turn. He is two and a half years old. It would be nice to get it done before he turns three. It would be so nice to not have our house smell like a public restroom. So I think in the next couple of days and weeks I'm going to test the water and try to see if he's ready. I surely hope so, because as I previously stated in another post, I am getting tired of changing diapers. I know that's kind of funny, since I do have to do that sort of thing at work, but at least I'm getting paid for that. I'm not getting paid to do it at home. And it's not easy having a two year old kick you in the mouth every time. Or flop all over the place, so that the diaper practically ends up backwards. And listening to him scream each time because he hates it is such a joy to hear. So I have a few weeks coming up, where I have some chunks of days in a row, with a few days here and there that I have to work, so I'm hoping, fingers crossed, to get the ball rolling on this potty training thing, again. One last time!

Have you ever noticed how weird ears look?

Lately, I've been trying to catch up on some of the shows I have dvr'ed. And I have been noticing how weird some people's ears look. Especially the men. Some have ears the stick out of their hair like foreign objects, or after thoughts. Some are really mis-shaped. And some are crooked or something on their heads. It's just weird looking. I don't know, but it's been giving me the willies lately, LOL! Not that I want anyone to go and cut their ears off or anything like Van Gogh. I just think lately I've been looking at them and thinking how odd they really are. I know, I know, I'm in a weird mood today! But seriously next time you think about it, look at people's ears and see how odd they really look.

I want be the "not me kid"

Seriously, the "not me kid" gets away with everything!! If you think about it, you can do all sorts of really bad stuff and get away with all of it, if you are invisible. The "not me kid" gets blamed for everything in our house, but since I can never seem to find them and catch him or her, they can get away with so many rotten things.

It seems that lately all the kids have been saying "not me" when asked if they have done something wrong. No one ever wants to fess up to anything. It's not like we are going to even punish them half the time, we just want to know who did it and why they did it. It used to be they would blame everything on who ever was the youngest. Nicholas would get the blame for drawing on the walls, opening all the soda cans and not drinking them, climbing up the shelves and throwing games on the floor, etc. Then it was Nathan. He was getting blamed for things he could not even physically do, like open pudding cups, or the door to the game closet, etc. He just doesn't have the capabilities to do those sort of things. Now this "not me kid" has showed up out of the blue. And he seems to do everything bad in our house.

I think I like it better when Sarah comes to us crying so badly she can't breathe, because she accidently broke a tree limb on a tree we were cutting down anyway. Or when she sobs about accidently kicking a ball and breaking a spotlight on our garage door. At least she doesn't blame it on anyone else. She will confess about anything and everything. And she barely ever gets in trouble for it, since she never lies about it. You would think the other kids would learn from her example and not lie and just tell us what happened, but instead they need to invent this "not me kid" and it's hard to tell who is telling the truth and who is lying half the time. So the "not me kid" gets the blame, until someone else confesses.

So yeah, I want to be the "not me kid" so I can get away with everything too!

Six more weeks of winter

Our beloved Pennsylvania groundhog saw his shadow this morning, so that means six more weeks of winter. Not that the groundhog actually predicts anything, the calendar says there will be six more weeks until spring arrives. But I guess the whole tradition just means it's going to be cold for another six weeks. Sometimes when it's cold outside, it makes me wish we had taken the plunge and moved to Florida when we had the chance.

Where does she get that from?

So today, I was bitching about Amanda being late for school - again. I mean, afterall they did have a two hour delay. She couldn't get ready in two hours?

I guess you could say like mother, like daughter. She acts like me most of the time, which is bad, considering all my bad habits. The worst of which is being ahem, late. Let's just say that I was late for my own wedding and leave it at that, shall we?

The next bad habit she has is waiting until the last minute to do things. Gee, I wonder where she gets that from?! Couldn't possibly be me, could it? She tells me today that she has papers and stuff do for the drama club and it's due tomorrow. I was shocked she waited so long. Why does she do that crap? You think maybe I need to take a look in the mirror? I mean afterall, Rich only asked me to mail the bills BEFORE we started getting late fees, again.

Now we are both supposed to be doing things to clean the house. And guess what each of us is doing at this very moment - yep, playing on the computers.

I think Amanda would probably be mortified if she knew all the things that she does, that I do as well. I guess my little apple didn't fall too far, huh?