jank: nothin' but love Archives

November 30, 2008

thankful

Man, this holiday season has come up on us like a tornado. I knew it was coming because the people on tv said it was, but here it is and I'm finding myself in disbelief.

We did the normal Thanksgiving dinner thing at mom and dad's house. This year I didn't bring anyone with me, just the seven of us. haha. I guess that's enough. The food was great, the company and wine were awesome as well. I love that no matter how disfunctional we are, we have holiday traditions that remain steadfast.

Now don't go thinking I've gotten soft because I'm feeling mushy and grateful. I'm still me. But now let me tell you about Jake turning 18. He's now old enough to vote, get a tattoo, buy cigarettes and lottery tickets, drop out of school, and pay his own car insurance. (riiight). He was rewarded for staying alive by having his car break down. We managed to get it going and back home and we let him take our car out, but it'll have to be dealt with this week I guess. I just hope it's not too expensive. He and his friends celebrated in style by going to Hooters, where he had to spell hooters w/ his butt while they sung to him. I know he's got a lot of living to do and probably many many assholeish episodes for us to live through, but I'm proud of him and pleased with the man he's becoming.

***

We're down to 10 days before we close on our house. The packing is not done. Dan packed a box of books yesterday, went through a few things in the closet and then went to take a nap. I think he's waiting for the moving fairies to show up and do all of this work, but it's not happening. I'm not a very patient person and it's frustrating to me that things aren't more packed up here, but it'll get done. It has to, right?

***

Max turns 1 right in the middle of our move. I'm still not sure when or how we'll celebrate but I think we'll get it fit in there somewhere. I don't want him to grow up thinking we didn't work in some celebration time when he turned 1.

***

Speaking of celebrations. We're going to have New Years Eve at our house. I'm really looking forward to it. Mom's going to watch my babies. I'll probably let Jake and maybe Trevor stay home for the party, but the rest are not coming. It's a good occasion for a babysitter.

***

Posted by krystal at 9:01 AM | Comments (0)

November 8, 2008

5am is the new sleeping in

Ever since the time changed last week I've been getting up before 5. I can't stop wiggling around and trying to readjust and get comfortable. This could have something to do with falling asleep by 8, but even on Friday I woke up earlyish after staying up til TEN to watch grey's anatomy. I think I'm broken. I think I know why, too. I can't stand clutter. I can easily live with the messes of this house tucked sloppily into closets with the door closed quickly to prevent the crap from falling out. I can't live with everything, just ...everywhere.

The upstairs of our house is covered in boxes. Not just any boxes either, these are ABC store boxes. Those people are saints. They loaded up my car 3 times the other day and begged me to come back for more. I will, too! Jake came home the other night to find his room completely filled with empty booze boxes and told Dan that he thought maybe we didn't get the house so we spent all our money on alcohol. haha.

This is the first and last free weekend that we have in a long time so I'm planning on using it wisely. I'm going to force my trifling family to help sort out some crap and get rid of things. They are the collectors of junk, I'm sick of it. I want their stuff GONE. By Sunday you'll hear their cries of agony from miles away. If this fails I'll take a day off and throw their shit away while they're not home. Either way, I will win. Order will be restored.

We got our home inspection done the other day. Things look good. There are a few repairs that need to be made by the bank before we can get it FHA approved, but otherwise there's nothing major wrong with the house. The inspector said that he's never seen so much house for the price and that we're very lucky. I hope he's right...I won't believe it til it happens for real, but for now, we have the key to that sucker, so if any of y'all wanna see the house, we can break in and show you!!

Posted by krystal at 5:20 AM | Comments (3)

October 30, 2008

I wake up...get outta bed.

I can't sleep. We've decided to buy a house and we've accepted their counter offer. That means we're buying a house unless something gets hosed during the loan finalization or the home inspection. Oh.my.god. I woke up in a tizzy about it. The house is beyond my wildest dreams so if we end up not getting it I won't be shocked, but if we DO....oh.my.god. I'll giggle right up til the time when that first payment is due. It has a pool. oh.my.god. Send good vibes and paypal donations pls.

***

Work has been great. I'm busy but happy. Here's a funny email that came yesterday:

Is there a way to find out who typed "i'm rick james bitch" as the login for MTP or would I have to login to each machine to see which one has that listed as a login? UGH!!!

***

Halloween has been fun so far. We went to gayle and wil's party and had a great time dancing in the living room. I don't like this holiday but their party and our new tradition of playing movies on the roof on Halloween night has made it better. Tess is either a kangaroo, dinosaur or dragon this year and my mom called yesterday to say she's gotten Max a monkey costume. Kendall's a hippy. Maddy, Doug, Gayle, Will, and all of their kids and my folks will all be coming over to trick-or-treat so it should be a good time. I'm so glad it's on a Friday this year!

***

Pampered Chef selling has been going pretty well. I've had some parties and made back all of the money I spent buying the starting up kit PLUS I earned $200 in free stuff which I promptly spent. I only have one more party lined up though, that's Gayle's on the 16th. I need to book more shows or I need to take some time off to get myself ready for moving. eek.

***

ALSO: I've made a bold step in trying to prepare for being house-poor. I'm going to find a cheap beer that I can live with. We all have to make sacrifices and this is a biggie for me. Suggestions other than miller light are welcome. I'm finding that yeuengingalingaling in the can is more tolerable than the bottle.

Posted by krystal at 5:15 AM | Comments (6)

September 23, 2008

Dan and other good stuff

Yesterday Dan helped me change ups batteries at school and he helped me repair a printer sensor that involved taking the entire gd thing apart. When I say helped, I mean he did it for me. It's an oddity that when I'm at work I can do stuff but when I have my husband there I suddenly can't figure these things out. It's wonderful though because I do learn a lot by watching him do my job ;)

****

Saturday's first pc party went pretty good. I only forgot to do like 10 or 15 things but I was among friends and Amy gave me some helpful ideas on how to stay on track next time. (an outline...who knew?? ha). The next party is at Suzie's house and by then I plan to be more organized and by the time I get to Chrissy's party a week later it'll be smooove sailing. Grammy OB, I mailed you a package yesterday so I'll call you sometime and go over anything you needta know.

***

This is a big birthday week so I'm trying to wrap my head around everything that needs to be done for Tessie's party tomorrow and Becky's on Saturday. It's gonna be fun or I'll kill myself making it so.

Posted by krystal at 6:40 AM | Comments (0)

September 14, 2008

Giving in to addiction

After a few years of spending Dan's hard earned money on Pampered Chef, I've decided to go ahead and sell it. I really love this stuff and it's turned me into someone who has ingredients in the house instead of just having food. Peggy used to always tease me because everything I cooked came straight from the freezer and went to the microwave but now I can actually cook a thing or two and it doesn't taste bad! So if anyone reading this is interested in hosting a party or coming to one or just wants to talk to me about it, please email me at krystalc@gmail.com. I don't have a pampered chef website yet because I have to earn it. I hope to do that by the end of my first month. In fact, I hope to earn more money than I spend. Oh also, my California peeps...you can have a book party long distance and earn lots of nifty free stuff too!

HA. You guys read the subject of this post and thought it was about beer, didn't ya?

Posted by krystal at 7:28 AM | Comments (3)

July 27, 2008

a chat while I wait for Tess to poop...

Terri: it's not too early for wine, is it?
i'll be asleep before big brother
Krystal: hahaha
i started w/ a nice little pina colada 2 hours ago
Terri: haha
of course you did. that's like becky telling us she got new shoes

Posted by krystal at 4:40 PM | Comments (1)

July 6, 2008

What I did on my summer vacation.

I know it's just the beginning of July but I haven't had 5 minutes to blog in a while so I'll jot while the jotting is good.

Dan, Trevor, Kendall and Tess just went to see Wall-e. Dan reports that he didn't get to see much because Tess had to poop. Anyone who knows this kid knows that her bowels can ruin just about any special occasion. I see therapy in her future.

This morning on the way to church I got a ticket for running a stop sign. Same fucking ticket and same fucking sign as my last ticket, almost 4 years ago. It was during this stop that the police officer informed me that my tags are dead. D'oh!

I've been off for (what seems like) several billions of days so I've gotten pictures developed, Max's baby book updated, scrapbooking done, posters framed, and I got a kick ass new camera. I got the Nikon D80 so now Dan and I can exchange lenses. We also got a really nice flash too. I can't wait to go somewhere so I can take pictures of something other than the kids, but right now Tess and Max have such snotty noses and coughs that I just don't feel like dealing with them much in public. I've also devoted a good amount of time this weekend to watching Food Network which is ALMOST as good as actually cooking. Baby steps, I say.

Last weekend was a whirlwind. We left Friday for Alexandria where we spent the day with Stacy and her family and stayed at a fancy schmancy hotel. On Saturday we went to the Crime and Punishment museum in DC. It's just across the road from the Spy Museum. Thankfully Sarah kept the babies for us so we could actually enjoy the museum. After we spent 3 hours there we went to a pub for lunch then said goodbye to the Fernandez family, got our brood and headed south. I really had such a good time with Stacy. Each visit with them was remaniscent of older days where we had tons of fun doing the simplist stuff. Some things don't change. I guess I've gotten mushier in my old age though because I got teary-eyed-emotional several times just because I was so happy to be with my friend again. Who knows, maybe they'll get a visit from us next time.

I'm sure there's much more going on but I'm alone in this house with nobody except Max, who is sleeping. I think I'll grab a glass of wine and watch more cooking on tv. I'm going to be starting to study for my MCSE this week, so I'll have to restrict my fun. So for today, I embrace mind numbing laziness.

Posted by krystal at 2:21 PM | Comments (1)

May 12, 2008

Rainy days and mondays blahblahblah

knock knock?

who's there?

smell mop.

***

I just needed to write that joke down before I forgot it.
***

Mothers day recap: it happened. As I've said 100 times before I'm not a huge fan of the day. I got some beautiful flowers from Dan's folks in a really awesome vase. Dan got up w/ the kids and made breakfast and we did not go to church. Later in the day we went to mom's house where we had steaks on the grill in honor of dad's birthday and mother's day. We hadn't seen Ellis, Megan and the girls since Christmas so that was nice. If we'd had this dinner a week before there would have been PMS involved and feelings might have been hurt during the visit, other than mine. Instead I left feeling a bit funky, but everyone else was fine. Before dinner my little niece, Anna, came up to me and in her little jokey-smurf sounding voice said "aunt krys, you're WEIRD. you have FIVE kids". I responded to her by saying "you're weird...you have no teeth!" But of course, I started thinking about how little babies don't just randomly think that a family with lots of kids is "weird". I've said before that my brother is perfect and I guess that's a good thing to be. I'll stick with "weird". It sort of makes me ok with not seeing my family except on holidays. I feel stung, but not shocked.

***

It's a mess out. Stay dry.

Posted by krystal at 7:53 AM | Comments (2)

May 5, 2008

puff puff pass

I'm done. Since I last wrote I've taken the final 2 MCSA tests and I'm done. I'll now sit back and have faith that my big big boss was serious when he said he'd give me a network analyst 2 position if I got this certification. I've decided that certifications are much like tattoos. I get such a rush from passing them that I feel like I should get more. I either want to get my MCITP (which is the latest version of microsoft crap) or my CCNA which is a Cisco certification (for those of you who don't give a shit). I'm sure that given a few weeks off from studying I'll decide that the certification I have now is just plenty. I pray that I am not blogging about how I didn't get a raise in a few weeks. I have utter faith in my supervisor and I know he'll be true to his word.
Now I'll just breathe.

Jake's going to his prom in a few weeks. He'd decided to go but had not committed to anything regarding a date until this weekend. Luckily for him, we won't have to pay a rush order on the uh, white tux with black pin stripes. Good thing fashion sense eludes me, right? He also informs me that he won't be going with his girlfriend, Marina, the Bulgarian. He'll be taking Brooke, the girl he hated most of last year. Great.

Saturday we went out to Loriella Park with the mean mommies. We got there first and there were 3 teenagers up in the treehouse thing that links to the slide and the bridge. They were blocking the way for the little kids and cussing and um, spitting and throwing bananas. Their primal behavior was amazing to me. Amazingly assholish is what I mean. I told Dan we should probably leave since both of us had our "i'm gonna kill them" faces on even though we were across the park from each other. We stayed though, in hopes that Maddy would show up and give 'em what for. She didn't come but the cops did. I swear I really suck at biting my tongue, even if it means I could get my jaw jacked.

Let's see. Oh, coming up is mothers day. We're broke. Possibly this is caused by the fact that I took 2 tests that cost $125 each in a 1 week period and I had to pay for the training materials too and now a tux and prom tickets and flowers for a girl that my son hated until a month ago. So mothers day might just be cards for moms and my dad's birthday present might just be a cake. My mom promises me that real moms don't get all pissy about mothers day not involving really great gifts because they're used to being martyrs. (wahwah) but as a mom, I know that this is not true. We work our fingers to the bone and one day a year we should get some mf'ing presents. If we don't, well, our kids suck. Oh, and not only the kids, but the men who are not our kids who also benefit from our tireless work...they suck too. So let me just say that next year I promise not to suck at being a daughter. This year though, I have no choice.

Tess is completely obsessed with caterpillars and lady bugs. She talks about them nonstop. Trevor's friend was over with his sister. The sister has 1.5 arms. I figured it wouldn't be long before Tess noticed and today was that day. Here's how it went down. Tess; where's the rest of your arm? Megan: well, I was just born this way. Tess: my nannies house has lady bugs and they're so cute and they are PETS!!! end of conversation.

Well, it's cinco de mayo and since we're irish and not mexican, I'm drinking a corona light and pouting about the fact that we didn't have enough money for me to go out to dinner w/ sarah and terri even though I got my certs. But on the bright side, my mexican maid came back today and she's fabulous. So HAPPY CINCO DE MAYO!

Posted by krystal at 6:14 PM | Comments (4)

April 25, 2008

Till a caiman comes along and eats me.

Today I took my sons to lunch, minus Max. He's not fond of Fosters anyway. While we were there Trevor was drawing pictures on his napkin of his new band logo. Yea...he has a band that has never practiced and knows no songs, but has a logo. Anyway..he wrote "Till November" on some banner looking thing. I said "uh, it's 'til" He said "GOD JAKE. YOU MESSED ME UP AGAIN!!'. Jake defended his choice of spelling and I told him that, duh, it's part of the word "until" and he is just a dummy.

3 hours later Jake called me from work. "Mom, I have a college professor here who says that T-I-L-L is correct." I laughed and said "what's she teach? algebra?" He said "no, wanna talk to her? and I also have a high school English teacher here who also says that T-I-L-L is correct. so ha!". I could honestly feel my chest expand with pride about my kid being interested enough in words to correct me. I'm not really all that smart but I think I know a word or two. I thought that 'til was part of the word "until". So I told Jake that I'd google it and then decide what I believe. Well...sure enough, "till" is fine. In fact, "till" has been around longer than "until". whoopsie! I swallowed a huge chunk of pride and called Jake back to tell him that he wins. Man, that hurt and felt great all at the same time.

Now lets jump ahead 2 hours. Tess is being a jerk. She just needs to go to bed but it's not dark yet. She demands "MAMA. COME READ THE DIEGO BOOK". I just want the kid to sleep so I get excited about her reading a book rather than destroying the house for a change. I said "ooh, you want me to read to you about the alligator?" She gets all indignant and teary eyed and says "NO. IT'S A CAIMAN!!!!!". ugh. I give up. I've got to expand my vocabulary, stat. How will I ever manage by the time Max can talk?

Posted by krystal at 7:32 PM | Comments (0)

April 20, 2008

I may as well call this blog "sunday"

I only sit down and write out my boring thoughts on Sundays it seems. I swear I have boring thoughts on every other day of the week as well so you guys are missing out. Some of you are not missing out because like, Becky and Terri come over every Wednesday and I share my midweek boringness with them. I'd blog those thoughts but it has become tradition to be too tipsy to remember Wednesdays anymore. I'm a loser. When I say too drunk to remember, what I mean is that I just go to sleep...and those thoughts go away. somewhere.

So anyway.

Things are boogying right along around here. Jake is getting a car. It's a cute little honda that's way too old and has way too many miles on it. But it's a honda, that's how they're sposta be. I'm seriously happy that he'll not be risking wrecking our cars anymore. It's also had him being a much nicer kid for at least the past month. I think the awakening came after he tried to lift a pair of shoes from wal*mart and they told him that he hadta pay for em. I went ahead and told them that next time they should just throw him in jail and he's been a humble bumble ever since.

***
Max has been growing insanely fast. He likes to stand up, with help. In fact, all the child wants to do is stand and it's really annoying because he's not OLD ENOUGH yet. ugh. He also likes to eat my hands while i hold him up and that's always really gross because he slobbers more than a hound dog and it's so creepy to feel baby gums on your hand so then you start to squirm and he falls and that's a whole nother bucket of apples right there. My favorite part about Max is that I can hold him up to my face and smoosh his face against mine and he smiles and I can feel his face break into a smile and it makes me smile too and then I laugh and he laughs too. And when he's laughing he's not eating my hands. He also rolls over...then bitches about it.

***

Tess is potty training and destroying shit as usual. She fell down this week and skinned her knees. Dan bandaged her up w/ gauze and tape and honest to god, the child lost the ability to walk for just about 24 hours. It's not that her legs didn't work. I'm sure if she had stood up she'd have walked but she would not. She wimpered for the first 5 hours in the fetal position and then after that Kendall put her in the umbrella stroller and pushed her around for the rest of the evening. She didn't even get up when Jake drove the stroller back to her room and left her there alone, unable to walk. I found the whole thing amusing but Kendall and Jake were highly aggitated by her and just wanted her to stop it. The next day she was still a cripple but once the bandages came off later that day she was a new woman. There's something very dramatic about this girl and I'm sure it does not come from me. *cough* dan *cough*.

***

Trevor got good grades. Because he got good grades he wants to turn into Jake and go visit friends all the time rather than do school work. Not so fast there bucko. I feel like I'm constantly complaining to him these days and he's constantly scowling. Welcome to teenager part 2. He's argumentative and lazy and smelly. Ahhhh yes. I remember this, I think I can live through it because he's worth it. If not, I'll beat him.

***

Kendall..I wonder if I'll ever get tired of brrrraaggging about her. Let me think. no.
She's got zits though, and she's bored easily. There. I said something not braggy about her. I'd say more but she's in the kitchen making cookies and that, is what makes her perfect today.

***

Dan's the bees knees still. He brought home some white boards and we nailed one to the wall in the kitchen so that we can write mean stuff about each other and alla that. I know that we don't have room in this house for anything else but we now have 3 more bookshelves (which we do really seriously need) and the white boards and a little table for Tess. We DID get rid of Edwardo this week though. He's off living with Becky and crew and she reports that he's very happy. This is good because when he lived here he was a cricket eating, do nothing, piece of shit who only turned black and puffed up when I sang to him while I did laundry. I'm glad he's found peace with those who understand bearded dragons. This brings me back to Wednesdays and things I don't remember. I woke up Thursday wondering where the stupid lizard went haha.

***

Today I marinaded some ribs and chops in my what I recollect as my dad's kickin' bbq sauce recipe which includes vinegar, lime juice (cuz i didnt have lemon) , hot sauce, peppers, onions, garlic, worchestershire sauce, and some other things I found in the cabinet. (I just realized that I never say cupboard...and I still won't since it's a cabinet). Anyway, they've been cooking in the oven for a little while on low and soon I'm gonna take them outside and cook 'em on the grill because everything's better on the grill, especially when it's raining outside and you're not expecting that wonderful aroma.

I also made homemade guacamole yesterday. It was fab if I must say. Dan loved it so I think we'll do that again. Oh also we've been eating some fresh artichokes too. I read that they're very healthy and brain smart and ALSO only 25 calories EACH. This does not, of course, count the butter I dipped mine in. ha.

***
Diet? Yeah, I'm on it. I did good 2 weeks in a row but I feel as though I've gained weight this week. Couldn't be the eating frenzy I've been on since Thursday. Oh what the hell, since last Sunday.

Oh, max is awake.
ciao.

Posted by krystal at 5:11 PM | Comments (2)

April 11, 2008

A love letter from Bill Gates

Congratulations on your exam success!

Congratulations on passing Microsoft® Certification Exam 270 - Installing, Configuring, and Administering Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional. Your exam results have been received by Microsoft and your records are currently being updated to reflect this information. This exam will be associated with Microsoft Certification ID 6156422. To ensure you receive credit for all your exams, please use this ID number when you register and take future exams.

If this is the first exam you have taken, you will also receive an E-mail containing instructions for accessing the Microsoft Certified Professional Web site using your Microsoft Certification ID.

Before you take your next exam, you may want to take advantage of the Second Shot offer, which provides a free retake on any Microsoft IT Professional, Developer, or Microsoft Dynamics certification exam. Simply sign up for Second Shot before you take your next exam, provide your exam voucher number when you register for your exam, and you will have the benefit of a free retake if you do not pass. This offer is available from September 15, 2007 through June 30, 2008, and signing up is free. Remember, you must sign up before taking your exam to qualify for the free retake on the same exam. For more information, and to sign up, visit the Second Shot offer Web page.

See the right side of this email for links to targeted exam preparation resources, certification information sources and MCP community information.

Again, congratulations on passing your recent Microsoft Certification exam. You'll enjoy the greater confidence that this widely-recognized validation of your skills on Microsoft technology will help to inspire in you, your employer and your colleagues.

The Microsoft Certification Program Team

Posted by krystal at 6:59 PM | Comments (3)

March 30, 2008

suckapants

Tess has been having a hard time getting to sleep in her own bed lately and I'm dead set against her sleeping in our bed. She pleads with me that monkeys are in her bed and monsters etc. I'm pretty hard nosed about it and sometimes Dan will go in her room with her for a while but not me. I let her crash with me Thursday night because Dan worked late but her toes ended up in my ribcage and I'm just not tolerant. I like my sleep and my space.

Tonight I put her in bed determined to make her stay in her own room no matter what. I told Dan that even though it sounds like she's dying in there, she depends on us to set boundaries for her and that we must remain strong against her wishes to destroy our sleep. We must leave her in her room. She's safe, she's just being a little asshole and we need to prevail. I think I had him sold on this too. What happened next was funny.

Jake got suckered in. We giggled as we heard them in her room talking. Then after a few minutes Jake knocked on our door.

Jake: mom? Tess is sad and she won't go to sleep.
me: ha. sucker. that's why we were letting her scream.
Jake: but...
Dan: but nothing. you figure out a way to deal with her. HA!
Jake: yea but...there's a bug named fluff on her wall and it's about to crawl on her mirror.
me: she doesn't have a mirror.

Dan got up and went to read her a story.

I'm the one who loses in this situation though because I don't sleep well until he's here so I have to wait for her to sleep first anyway. Oh well...at least the blog got updated.

sweet dreams!

Posted by krystal at 10:03 PM | Comments (3)

March 20, 2008

Tres

So if you bet Dan and I wouldn't last three years, you lose. We made it and it seemed almost like a walk in the park. If you don't count the two babies being born in that time and the 17 year old causing more stress than ever and my constant battle of the bulge. I think the next hundred years should be cake too..just like these have been.

Today is the last day of school for over a week. They're stoked, I'm stoked. We're all stoked together. I just want to make it clear that I'm stoked because I will NOT be out of school. I will be working, far away from the destruction that is sure to happen in our house during the break. I have overcome some of my anxiety with regards to our house being trashed but not all of it. As a result, I'm switching to a cheaper house keeping service to show my non-care-itiveness. I'll let you all know how this batch of cleaners works.

***
Kendall's in the play Annie at school and after what seems like years of practice, they're doing it for just one more night...tonight. I saw the first to shows yesterday and man, they blew me away. I don't know why kids singing makes me so emotional but just the second the curtain went up I started blubbering and stopped as the curtain closed. What a la-hoooser. If you read this today and get over to Battlefield tonight, it's worth the $2.

Saturday my child groom turns 32. We're going out to dinner with my mom and dad on Friday to celebrate and other than that and the kick-ass gift that we got him, there's not really anything great going on in celebration of his birth. This is partially due to Easter and partially (majorly) due to the fact that we're poor til the end of the month, as usual. I'd really really really like to go to Melting Pot to celebrate our anniversary/his birthday but eh...whatever, we'll go another time when we have mo money and a sitter. (does this time ever exist? ha).

Have a happy Easter everyone, and a great first day of spring. woot.

Posted by krystal at 9:45 AM | Comments (3)

March 13, 2008

The Halls, on Lorraine.

It's probably been over a year since an elderly couple stopped me on the way to my car for work to ask me the name of our cat. I told them that her name is Kooky and that I hadn't picked the name, the kids had. They said that they were the Halls, on Lorraine and that they walk by everyday at 6:30am and visit our cat and that they'd often wondered what her name is. They love Kooky and a lot of times I'll see them up in our yard petting her while she rolls around in the dirt. The cat LOVES dirt. She comes in the house looking pretty and sassy but she's really a pig at heart. I think it's so cute when they visit her and she seems to like them too. Well, as I was leaving the house yesterday from doing a quick lunch-time check on the sickly and shut-in (Dan and Tess), a knock came at the door. It was Mrs. Hall. She reintroduced herself and told me that she was concerned about Kooky and wondered if we'd seen her. I told her that Kooky was inside more now that Leeroy is dead. She said that someone over on Chestnut had told her that they'd taken in a big fat fluffy nice long-haired stray and she was afraid they'd taken Kooky. Dan came out of our room with Kooky and all was well. Mrs. Hall was also kind enough to take our netflix movie out and put it in the mailbox.

I love this neighborhood.

Posted by krystal at 10:23 AM | Comments (1)

March 10, 2008

I hope you all don't mind profanity...

Man, did the weekend fly by. It seems like it was just Friday and I didn't really accomplish anything. Sickness has not left our house for months it seems. Kendall was sick last week and then Tess had a high fever and cough over the weekend and now Dan's been stricken. I'm still healthy, knock-on-wood. Terri and I are convinced that germs can't live where beer is living. *cheers* Is it wrong to want to flee this house with Max until they're all better?

I found out this weekend that I can be pleasantly surprised still. I always feel grateful for my friends. I feel unworthy most times. I used to get mad at people who lose track with me because I'm always here doing what I always do and if I can juggle life, so should they...if it matters. Nowadays though I feel like my friends are far more thoughtful than I am. I have given a lot of effort over the years to always send thank you notes but I know I fail at it sometimes. That's because my brain is mush. Since the birth of Max I'm afraid I've become what I used to hate. I love seeing my friends and as long as they remind me that it's time to hang out, I'm there. I just seem to have lost the ability to INITIATE. I *mean* to call. I *mean* to send thank you notes, I *mean* to come to scrapbooking, I really fucking mean to do a lot of things but it seems like by the end of the day I've accomplished the required parenting and work stuff and sometimes I cook dinner. I go to bed exhausted and guilty of not keeping track of my friends. I do have free time. I spend it with Dan and the kids and I watch tivo'd shows and I stare longingly at my MCSE book and promise in my head to open it in a day or so. That book does not initiate conversation...so there it sits. Now back to the point. Saturday after everyone left my house I found an envelope on my dining room table reminding me that girls need some "me" time. Sarah took time out of planning her wedding to make me feel really special. I swear I'm going to be more conscientious about being a friend from here on out. In fact, I might just move out of this house with all these sick people and go live with friends! hehe KIDDING. But Sarah, if you read this, Thank you so much for reminding me that people are good and even if my life-sucking family doesn't give me a break, my friends are there to listen to my bitching.

Now...Dan is screaming at the kids because he's currently sicker than anyone has EVER been in the entire history of the world so I'm going to save them.

Posted by krystal at 8:24 AM | Comments (3)

March 8, 2008

solitude

I'm up before everyone. The house is always full so this is most likely the closest I'll come to being alone for a while. It's weird though. I have Tessie's milk waiting here for when she wakes up. I'm going to let Dan sleep in at least til 8 because I'm going to Gayle's pampered chef party today and I need him to be in charge of Tess and Max while I'm gone. Or maybe just Tess. Max might go since he loves pampered chef.

The cats are insane this morning. Kasey has forgotten that she's 8 years old and is chasing Kooky around the entire house. They're knocking stuff off of tables and making all kinds of noise.

Dan and I played Rock Band last night after we got Tess to bed. We played until my throat hurt and eyes blurred. I think there is too much of a good thing.

Ok, I realize when I'm rambling pointlessly.

Happy weekend!

Posted by krystal at 6:32 AM | Comments (1)

March 6, 2008

R-u-n-n-o-f-t

I've had the busiest stressiest week in a long time. Things are good, just BUSY. I've been getting off work at 3pm just to get home at 6pm because of all of the kid running and picking up and dropping off in my life.

Tonight was going to be extra killer because Trev and Kendall had chorus stuff til 7 and Dan wouldn't home in time to help with the babies. I guess my exhaustion showed through because my mom and dad offered to come by and watch the little ones so I didn't have to drag them to the school filled with 600 middle school students and their parents.
It was also spirit night for the middle school so we went to Foster's grill for dinner first. These school-type-folk need to get their poop in a group because I was also encouraged to go to "8th graders parents night" at another school. When I explained that I couldn't make it the guidance secretary said to me in a condescending voice "Well it'd be nice if you could do this for Trevor". Yea. eat a dick,lady. I'm doing the best I can.

My brain is tired from work. I rarely let work things get to me but this week there was an instance where I thought I was letting down one of my coworkers. It turns out that I wasn't but for 12 hours I felt really bad. I've always had trouble letting people down and no matter how baddiebadassed I want to come across, I try to be the supreme pleaser and when I feel as though I'm falling back, I take it badly. I'm glad I was reading too much in to some extended eye-contact. I'm chill, man. Totally chill.

Posted by krystal at 5:54 PM | Comments (1)

February 5, 2008

showered

Saturday we went over to Terri's house for my post-baby shower. Gayle, Amy and Terri threw the best ever baby shower. We had food for the dieters and food for the not-dieters, good friends, rock band in the basement for the boys and kids and of course, BEER. As always with the mean mommy club the party started at around 2 and ended way later than that. As always, one of us zonked out early. This time it wasn't me. I LOVE YOU BECKYSUE! We got so much wonderful stuff for the baby and so much good stuff for us and many many diapers and wipes and who else walks away from a baby shower with 4 bottles of wine, some dvds and the juno soundtrack? Angel even got us a sex ed book so we know what causes all of this. Once again I'm reminded of the awesomeness of our friends. I'm all aflutter w/ love :)

Yesterday I started back at work and back on my diet, from which I'd taken 2 days off. I feel like a bad kid sent to the corner in regards to my weight but at work, I was welcomed back by the coworkers who are SO happy to get rid of taking care of my schools. I missed Max a lot. I missed The Young and The Restless too, but I'm watching it now on tivo. I have to say, it was wicked cool to be back at work fixing things and driving around and even the meeting I had to attend wasn't bad. I love my job.

Now...about the diet. I've done really well about sticking to it. I lost 7.4 lbs in January. I even made it through the pampered chef party. I did not do so well this weekend. The baby shower and superbowl food nachos were just too good to resist. I'm back on it though. That's the beauty of weight watchers I guess. It's forgiving. I just need to make time to record my food even though I'm working so I don't go overboard. We took a yoga class last week at the gym and that was fun. Maybe next time I'll work out on some machines if I get brave.

That's about it. Time to get moving!

Posted by krystal at 6:22 AM | Comments (1)

January 6, 2008

Goods

Nothing bad has happened in the past 4 days.

We got a very funny card from Dan's folks that sort of gave me a paradigm shift in regards to Jake. Maybe just a paradigm shake...I'm still standing firm on my resolve.

Had Terri and Kayla over on Thursday for our would-be-survivor night and then on Saturday the mean mommies got back together like old times. We watched movies and drank beer and Becks kicked our ass at Scene-it. It makes me think I might need an xbox 360...or at least to watch more movies so I can do better next time. In the midst of this we had Trevor and 11 of his closest friends playing loud music and making noise in the basement, The house was a mess and full and happy.

Eating right has been going ok...I'm going to do an official weigh-in tomorrow so I can start "officially" with the girls. I'll also start counting my points rather than just skipping a bunch of meals and eating what I want for dinner. I know how to do this right and I will.

Today I'm going to make my menu for the rest of the week's meals and drink some pomegranite martinis. Sunday does not have to suck. (even if there's not an episode of Law and Order in sight).

And in the forcast...Ed Beamurhead is coming to visit for the weekend and I'm so happy about that. I remember the first time he came and he was just a wee baby owl and now he's a dad and grown up. I told him he has to sleep on the couch and that the baby will wake him up and he reminded me that it's not the first time he'd been woken up by one of my kids. The first time he visited, Kendall was an infant. Time sure does fly.

Posted by krystal at 2:41 PM | Comments (1)

December 24, 2007

diet...bandicoot...our saturn...

Things with "crash" in them? Tha's RIGHT!
Yesterday Jake crashed our saturn vue into a mercedes. A parked mercedes. A parked mercedes on the other side of the road. He's fine, our car is broken and the mercedes guy is a peach for not choking the living daylights out of the kid. I guess in the end we just have to say "thankfully nobody was hurt". I've not really felt that way though, in all honesty. I want to hurt Jake. I'm grateful for Dan. He went to the wreck, dealt with insurance and saved Jake from dealing with me. I would have run over him with the other car.

Last night we went to Gayle and Wil's house for a small gathering. It was just what I needed, too. I've had my poop in a group for a while as far as Christmas goes, but hadn't gotten into the spirit. Last night was the visiting and drinks and cookies and music that made things festive. Tess ate so much that she barfed around midnight and I have a hangover the likes of which I haven't seen in over 9 months. All is merry and bright....aaah. Thanks Miss geeeyul and mr. weeeol.

Today we have the family reunion and Tree and Jason are visiting this morning. I love Christmas Eve. There's still anticipation and there's also food. (and beer!)

We need to go to the store for milk, batteries and some drinks for mama's house tomorrow.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Posted by krystal at 7:13 AM | Comments (0)

December 18, 2007

delovely...is it even a word?

Today's the first day that Max and I will spend alone. We've bonded a lot over the past 2 nights since he decided we should stay up and watch Intervention rather than sleep. Til 4am. I try to be mad at him and tell him that he's doing it wrong, but this baby smiles at me. He's just a week old and he really does smile. I know you think it's gas but it's not. He's a smiler and that's his saving grace right now.

We've had a whirlwind week since he was born. The hospital stay seems like a blur and maybe it was a percocet induced blur, but it was just fast and company-filled. Thanks to everyone who came to see us in the hospital. It was so fun showing off the baby and seeing my friends all at the same time. Dan's mama and grandma were here too so Tess got to play with them and it was nice getting to meet more of Dan's family since we haven't yet gotten out to California. The distance didn't seem to matter a bit and by the 2nd day Tess and grammy were fast friends. I think she loved it. So far she's not a bit jealous of Max and she is excited everytime she sees him. In fact, when she walks in the door he's the first person she asks for. I am very surprised. I thought we'd have a case of baby blues like you've never seen before but it's not that way yet. (I know...YET).

Yesterday my mom came over and saved my life. I know that it's not important for the house to be clean when you have a new baby. I know that recovering and bonding are the main things you need and it's really nice to have a nap thrown in there. I also know that my mom understands my insanity in a way that nobody else does. I'm highly aggitated by dishes in the sink, laundry undone and crumbs on the floor. I don't even like shoes in the living room. She came over and put everything in its place, cleaned Jake's room, finished up the laundry I hadn't finished and brought dinner. In the mean time she played with Tess and took care of Max so I could take a 2 hour nap before exiting to get her hair done. I'm in a better frame of mind thanks to her.

Posted by krystal at 10:57 AM | Comments (3)

December 6, 2007

I love you. go away.

The kids woke up all sad this morning because school wasn't cancelled. Not even a delay. I got up early just to see the looks of disappointment on their little faces. Heavenly. It's not everyday that I want them gone, but today it's important that they go. I have 2 school days left before Max arrives and Tess and I have things to do. Not to mention, the cleaning lady comes today and I need the house as empty as possible so she can work her magic. I'm not sure if Dan's working from home or not, but I hope he stays home. I like it best when he's here; especially now that I'm so close to having the baby.

We bought our tree yesterday. This is the 2nd year in a row that we've gone to roxbury mills to get our tree. The kids and I prefer going to the tree farm to cut a tree down but last year got cancelled for some reason and this year we just don't have a good day to go so we found a beautiful tree for way too much money and it's now sitting here, lopsided, in our living room. It's just a little crooked and you can only notice it from 3/4 of the room...Dan and Jake tell me to shut up, that it's fine, but I am sure I'll obsess about it even though there's nothing I can do to fix it. Otherwise the tree is as perffect as the rest of this family. Tree hunting was as peaceful as ever. There was bickering and yelling and all of the other fun stuff that goes with taking 6 people to choose 1 tree. When we got home Dan and Jake got the tree into the stand while Kendall and I fixed dinner. The eruption really happened when Jake slapped Trevor in the back of the head for ignoring him and then Trevor threw a container of cheese at Jake at the dinner table and stormed off to his room...you get the picture. So anyway, we listened to carols, decorated the tree and retreated to our rooms to recover til time to go get some ice cream at Brusters. All in all it was a pleasant chaotic night and we all went to bed still loving, if not liking, each other. There's no way June Cleaver could survive in this atmosphere but we all seem to thrive on it.

Dan and I took Tess to the mall to see santa yesterday. She let us know right away that the man in red would get nowhere close to her. We spent some time with the SAHM's at buzzy's play place and then got some chicken teriyaki and came on home. I don't care about the santa picture. I recall not taking the other kids when they were little because I didn't want them getting germs and god knows what else from the the mall santa. The mall was fun and at the Stuffy Bear Company we scored 3 shrek babies for 10 bucks. Not bad, eh? If I were rich I could be a professional mall person except that freaky-weird-talk-to-themselves people approach me and I really get skeeved out by it. I guess I'll stick to amazon.

Posted by krystal at 7:08 AM | Comments (0)

December 3, 2007

date night

Dad and I are going shopping tonight for mom's Christmas gifts. It's the one night a year we go out without anyone else. It's fun, productive and usually there's a meal afterwards. We just went out for lunch yesterday though so I'm not sure if we'll eat this time. It's going to be interesting this year since mom refuses to give me a list. She said that she has everything she needs. COME ON. WE ALL NEED SOMETHING. WE ALL WANT SOMETHING. THROW ME A BONE HERE. She whined and whined til I sent her lists for all of my family and now she's doing this to me? I don't think so homey.

I have so much crap to do. I'm outtie. Just wanted to reflect on the happiness that is going shopping with my daddy.

Posted by krystal at 12:18 PM | Comments (2)

December 2, 2007

Better 40 than pregnant.

I believe I actually said that last year when I turned 40. Boy oh boy. I guess now that I'm 41 and pregnant I need to revisit those words.

I should have listed on my 10 things about me tag thing "I love to complain...I'm not unhappy when I complain, I'm doing what I love best". That's how the last 9 months has been for me. I have complained about being pregnant, the kids we have, dan, work. etc. But in reality, those are all things I love the most. I think I complain because there's humor in it. It's funnier to me when I say "I don't know when to stop having babies" than "I feel so blessed to have a 5th baby on the way". I say that I've done my Christmas shopping in case I die before Christmas rather than "I love this season and just can't control myself". It's just how I am. This should go without saying, but just in case...ya know?

Today we're going out to lunch for my birthday with my folks. I wish we were going without Tess but she's going because she's here...she's ours. We'll take PSP along with us so hopefully she won't run amuck in the restaurant. After we eat I plan on getting the rest of my Christmas stuff wrapped and stashed away.

This coming week is going to be a busy one. I have to shop for food for while I'm in the hospital, clean the house up so the cleaning ladies can clean it after me, get the river house ready for grammy O'Brien and grandma Mary's visit. Finish getting the nursery ready and dig up enough clothes for 4 days in the hospital. Tess stayed home with me the last 2 days of last week and uh, that wasn't very productive. She's bossier than I am. I know it's hard to believe, but she's quite a task master. I'm sending her to Ms. Gayle's this week so she can play with Bella and I can get my stuff done. I feel bad sending her but she's happier with routine and I'm happier when things are crossed off of my list.

Just in time for me to feel older, Jake turned 17 this week. He can now rent Rated R movies. As with most things in my life, I complain because I love. It's true that he makes me absolutely nuts a lot of times. He has caused me more sleep loss than any of the other kids. He pushes the boundaries of my patience and makes me cuss a LOT. In reality though, I think that Jake has grown to be a very nice person. He's funny and smart and easy to reason with. He still asks for permission rather than forgiveness and for that, I am grateful. I worry about him and his choices and I'm sure I always will...but I feel confident that he's going to be just fine.

Just in case you guys may not know...I can drink again in eight days.

peace.

Posted by krystal at 9:25 AM | Comments (5)

November 30, 2007

Tag...and not the deoderant spray

A Game Of Tag

Here's how you play:

Once you have been tagged, you have to write a blog w/ 10 weird, random things, facts, habits or goals about yourself. At the end choose 10 people to be tagged, listing their names and why you chose them. Don't forget to leave them a comment ("You're It") and to read your blog. You can't tag the person who tagged you. Since you can't tag me back, let me know when you've posted your blog so I can see your answers!

1. I never have a good hair day. I've only had a hairstyle that I like once and now I can't recreate it. Most likely because I'm too fat for the style. I'm ok with it though.

2 I'm a morning person. I wake up motivated and ready for the day. This ends by around 10am...sometimes noon.

3. I never really thought "gosh I hope I have 5 kids"...but I did always want a big family and I did always think I'd have a baby at 40.

4. I'm an ISTJ

5. I don't dislike people as much as I pretend, but I find that people do let me down more than not. I hold myself to the same expectations so I'm often mad at myself.

6. I forgive easily because it takes too much energy to hold grudges.

7. I love cheese.

8. I like doing crafts but don't really like having the crap I make lying around. That's why people get stuck with it as gifts. Same with baked goods. I love baking, but would prefer to eat something I bought at panera or starbucks.

9. I'll risk a toenail fungus to get a pedicure any day of the week.

10. I'd rather have no beer than crap beer. Sad but true.

I tag anyone who is linked on my blog.

Posted by krystal at 6:52 PM | Comments (3)

November 19, 2007

heartburn

Tess just walked out of the room with her socks on her hands to show jake and janine how she can talk with sock hands. She's left me here in the room watching WowWowWubzy with the remote clear across the room.
Jake just asked for ANOTHER favor. It's so gd annoying. He's the favor kid. He asks for shit ALL.THE.TIME. I just yelled at him "NO JAKE THAT'S FAVOR NUMBER 15. IM DONE DOING FAVORS TODAY. YOU MAY NOT USE MY CAR. YOU MAY NOT ASK FOR ANYTHING ELSE TODAY, YOU'VE REACHED THE FAVOR LIMIT. GO AWAY"

So he said "ok" and quickly exited the room. I'm not even kidding when I say how much he asks for. He even text-asks for shit when he's not here. He asks for shit in his sleep I bet...I just can't hear him.

I had a crap weekend with the exception of going to Terri's house for Kaylabug's birthday party. Whatever plans I had made in my head fell through due to sickness and nothing got done around here because Tess was my best bud all weekend while Dan was in bed. I'm determined to stop feeling sorry for myself when other people don't cooperate with things in my head. I will just move on and do shit anyway. I should be able to do that by this age.
On the bright side, we're VERY close to having a middle name for Max. I'm not going to jinx it yet by telling you the name. We'll give it a few more days and then revisit.

I've gotten most of my christmas gifts bought and a good portion wrapped. Being the anal retentive list maker that I am has its advantages...I just need more time alone and I'll get things done. Oh.yes.I.will. This way if I die giving birth, my kids will still have Christmas. Nothing morbid about that.

Posted by krystal at 4:41 PM | Comments (4)

October 23, 2007

say click. take a pic!

I do wonder sometimes if Rosie Perez saw herself as a talking camera on Diego in her future back when she was doing White Men Can't Jump. Oh well, who am I to talk about surprise lives.

Leeroy had his nut-ectomy yesterday and is now walking around with a lampshade on his head to keep him from licking parts he shouldn't. He's been a real trooper through the whole ordeal. We're all just happy that after 3 attempts he's finally less of a man than he was yesterday.

***
Yesterday I went to Subway to grab a seafood sub and the woman behind the counter said "are you having twins?" My first thought was "are you middle aged making my sub at Subway?". I'm learning that it's not ok to just blurt out the inhumane things that come to mind. Of course, I'm a slow learner.
***

I've had a hard week of watching my pretty Kendall learn that racism can, in fact, happen to her even though she's perfect. Being one of 2 white kids on the step team has opened her eyes a bit. She's sad that her teacher is racist, she's sad that her dear friend Teresa will talk to her at home but not at practice around her peers. She's not giving up though. She stomp/claps around the house all the time, determined to be good at these steps that just aren't exactly natural to her. I've told her that I have her back and I'll allow her to handle things on her own, but if she needs me I'll be the first one to get involved. I told her that if she sticks with it people will like her just because she's awesome. She believes me. I hope her fellow step-team people don't let me down. I hope her coach chills with the "white girl" comments before she sees just how angry a mom can get when her baby's self esteem is on the line.

***

Trevor has a new girlfriend. Let's rejoice or something. 13 year olds are so...greasy.

***

I changed a motherboard today with very little effort and it worked without a hitch. I know it's not much of an accomplishment, but sometimes those effers are difficult.

***

Gayle and Wil's halloween party is this weekend. I'm looking forward to it.

Posted by krystal at 5:16 PM | Comments (4)

October 18, 2007

Song For A Fifth Child

Mother, oh Mother, come shake out your cloth
empty the dustpan, poison the moth,
hang out the washing and butter the bread,
sew on a button and make up a bed.
Where is the mother whose house is so shocking?
She’s up in the nursery, blissfully rocking.

Oh, I’ve grown shiftless as Little Boy Blue
(lullaby, rockaby, lullaby loo).
Dishes are waiting and bills are past due
(pat-a-cake, darling, and peek, peekaboo).
The shopping’s not done and there’s nothing for stew
and out in the yard there’s a hullabaloo
but I’m playing Kanga and this is my Roo.
Look! Aren’t her eyes the most wonderful hue?
(lullaby, rockaby, lullaby loo).

The cleaning and scrubbing will wait till tomorrow,
for children grow up, as I’ve learned to my sorrow.
So quiet down, cobwebs. Dust go to sleep.
I’m rocking my baby and babies don’t keep.

Ruth Hulburt Hamilton

Kathy just posted this on Fredalk and I wanted to keep it.

Posted by krystal at 8:11 AM | Comments (3)

October 11, 2007

Everything's peachy

This afternoon I got the results of my EEG. I've got a brain. Hooray! This confirms what I'd thought all along. So I have drugs for my chest issues and I feel less sick in that arena and my head, while still splashing with lights occasionally, will survive. The doc says it's migraines with aura and that's just fine with me. I can live with something as long as it has a name.

Speaking of names, we still don't have one for the baby.

Speaking of baby, Dan's mama and grandma are coming to Va for the birth. I'm so glad about that. It's been over a year since we've seen then so I think we need to get Tess back reaquainted with her california grandparents before she outgrows her current cuteness. I just wish Amber was coming too. This'll be good though. I panic occasionally when I think of how the family can possibly survive with me in a hospital room for 4 whole days. (they'll rejoice, I already know this).

The heat finally broke along with my sickness and I now declare the next 2 months a bitch-free zone. I'm getting a new attitude that goes something like this "fuck it...we're fine". I think it's healthy.

Posted by krystal at 2:30 PM | Comments (1)

September 30, 2007

Great big bed

This morning at one point we had all 6 of us on the bed watching tv. We've got many many tivo'd shows to watch today. Life just doesn't get better than that. Oh and if it could, it'd be made better by the fact that I had Pauls Bakery cake for breakfast.

Yesterday we had a small birthday party for Tess. She still does not grasp the concept of opening gifts and pretty much latched onto Tree's gift of several beanie babies and mom's gift of the fishing game and hasn't acknowledged much else. In fact, I heard her in her room this morning playing the fishing game before even attempting to wake us up. I walked in to find her holding the tiny plastic fishing pole in one hand and 4 beanie babies clinched in her other arm. She said "hi mama wanna play fish POLE?" There's a long sad story to tell about the Diego cake that never quite came to life, but I'll spare you. We will just be happy that daddy knows when to throw in the towel and go to Paul's Bakery. Everything was perfect.

I see a neurologist tomorrow about my head issues. I feel very silly going since I haven't had any spots or dizzy spells since the moment the appointment was made. I guess if there's nothing to find then they won't find anything and we can just go on our merry way. I really would like it if I could get back to working a full week without 100 dr appts. This isn't how I roll.

Jake's been here this weekend along with all the chaos that comes with anything jake-related. He leaves the cabinet doors open on purpose to piss me off, makes a huge mess, eats nonstop, causes the other kids to fight and asks for stuff all.the.time. It's having him back for visits that makes me miss him even more. He was whining that he misses his friends and that he misses everyone...but I'm not sure letting him come back is a good idea right now. He's in a new school and hasn't given it time yet. I want him to understand that his actions have results and that while I will always love him and want him to live here, there is no revolving door. Parenting is so hard because even though you think you're doing it right, there's nobody around to tell you that you are. I imagine with 5 kids, Jake is not going to be the hardest one...that'd just be too simple.

Tess finally got out of the tub so I get my shower now. We can go to the mall later and then watch more tv and enjoy family time Stress can resume tomorrow.

Posted by krystal at 10:26 AM | Comments (0)

September 15, 2007

weekend overfloweth

Last weekend we did so little that I was in an angry funk that didn't end until we spent way too much money on new beds. This weekend is the opposite of that. The first addition to our boring equation is Jake. He brings chaos to our routine. Not in a bad way. Just...chaos. We went out to eat at "olden" corral last night and then had to take him to a football game. We were up bright and early to take him to work and now we're watching Diego before the rest of the chaos begins.

Today we have to mail some ebay sales, shuttle Trevor off to a birthday party by noon, pick up Jake from work at 2, take Tessie to mom's house before 3 when we pick Trev back up. Then we head to Amy's house for Terri's pampered chef party and then Amy and Tyler's tiki party. Oh, and in there somewhere I need to cook something for the party and some food for homecoming at church tomorrow. (church tomorrow? you say) yes. Church ...because the rents will have Tessie.

So tomorrow we need to go to church for homecoming and then sometime in the day, find time to get hungry again so we can go to supper club tomorrow at 6. *PHEWWWWWWW*

I'd feel exhausted from all of this activity, but I'm not busy saving a whale like poor ol' Diego. That's one busy kid.

Posted by krystal at 7:35 AM | Comments (1)

September 9, 2007

wired

Dan's reading Wired magazine to me. This is the only mag we get at our house and that means I've already read the article about the founders of Penny Arcade that he's reading to me. I don't mind much, I even told him that I've already read it, but it's funny that he gets aggitated with me for not listening. He says that if he and Diaz were not *total* nerds in school, those two guys would have been them. Good thing they were hot, otherwise they'd be millionaires "driving a fuckin' Mercedes".

Tess is in the tub telling me how whales (pronounced "wheels") can swim (sweeem). I just want her to get the top layer of dirt off so we can go shopping for a new mattress today. I love the mattress we already have but Dan can't sleep on it anymore and I'll do anything to get out of the house today so that is our big expedition. Besides, we need a daybed or futon for Jake and a bed for Tessie too. I've never bought real furniture before. Usually things have just been handed down or just end up here. This is sort of exciting.

I haven't been sleeping very well this weekend. I think part of it has to do with being 27 weeks pregnant. The baby keeps kicking right at 2am. I think he's practicing for a lifetime of torture. The mother-guilt in me won't allow me to just sleep and ignore his kicks because I feel like he asks for so little right now that it's the least I can do to just wake up and rub my belly while he kicks away. Another thing that bugs me is that we still have no name for this little guy and while we've had hundreds of helpful suggestions from friends and family, we just don't agree on anything yet. You know what this means, right? It means that I'll pick his name (do NOT tell Dan!) because I'm the one who will fill out the birth certificate. It's not that Dan has bad taste in names, but our little boy should not have to walk around with a name like "great white shark", his latest suggestion. In the end I'm sure we'll agree on a name and by then, it'll be too late for me to get sleep.

Last weekend when we were at the river Trevor was playing (at) his guitar and I told him about my guitar recital when I was 10 or 11. I learned to play just enough to play a John Denver song at my recital. Dad sang along while I plucked away nervously at my plastic coated strings. I'd refused real strings because they hurt my fingers. I'm glad dad was there to sing and drown my bad playing. Once that recital was over I put that guitar away and never tried again. Anyway, Dad started singing the song and I sang with him and mom tried (she's terrible with lyrics) and it was way fun. The song has been stuck in my head ever since. It was one of my favorites, right along with Luckebach Texas when I was a kid.

Theres a storm across the valley, clouds are rollin in
The afternoon is heavy on your shoulders
Theres a truck out on the four lane a mile or more away
The whinin of his wheels just makes it colder

Hes an hour away from ridin on your prayers up in the sky
And ten days on the road are barely gone
Theres a fire softly burnin, suppers on the stove
But its the light in your eyes that makes him warm

Hey its good to be back home again
Sometimes this old farm feels like a long-lost friend
Yes n hey, its good to be back home again

Theres all the news to tell him, howd you spend your time
Whats the latest thing the neighbors say
And your mother called last friday, sunshine made her cry
You felt the baby move just yesterday

Hey its good to be back home again - yes it is
Sometimes this old farm feels like a long-lost friend
Yes n hey, its good to be back home again

Oh the time that I can lay this tired old body down
Feel your fingers feather soft upon me
The kisses that I live for, the love that lights my way
The happiness that that livin with you brings me

Its the sweetest thing I know of, just spending time with you
Its the little things that make a house a home
Like a fire softly burnin supper on the stove
The light in your eyes that makes me warm

Hey its good to be back home again
Sometimes this old farm feels like a long-lost friend
Yes n hey, its good to be back home again

Hey its good to be back home again - you know it is
Sometimes this old farm feels like a long-lost friend
Hey, its good to be back home again
I said hey its good to be back home again

Ok, time to go be mean to my family!

-peas.

Posted by krystal at 9:31 AM | Comments (8)

September 5, 2007

The month before my favorite month.

We went to the river for the holiday weekend and spent 3 glorious days in the most beautiful weather ever. It was almost too chilly for swimming but the girls swam anyway. The only thing missing was Jake. He was supposed to be with us for the weekend but had to work. I was thrilled, though, to receive a picture message from him of his newly shaved head. Either my ex has pulled off the coup of the century or his insistance that jake NOT shave his head, but rather get a mullett just worked on accident. Either way...he's bald and I'm happy. Not happy enough to be "ok" about being dragged back into child support court, but happy nontheless. The long weekend was really what I needed. We played texas holdem for m&m's and saw the barge go down the river. We ate low country boil one night and steak on the grill the next. Everything was fantastic with the exception of Dan's allergies. I hate to think that the place I love so much causes him pain, but it does. In the future we'll take allgergy meds. It's very important that he love the river too.

Work has not really calmed down yet and my head is usually pounding by the end of the day. I have days when I get tons accomplished and days where I feel stupid. I just want one or two days where I don't rush around a lot. Days with lunch breaks are also a plus.

This month Tess turns 2. We're not having the big hoopla that we did last year for her birthday...just a few friends and our family. We're going to get her a toddler bed for her birthday. I hope nobody tells her that we got her furniture when she turned 2...it can be our secret. Besides, she has so many toys now that I can't figure out where to put them all.

I just heard Kendall yell at Tess "do you want a piece of me? I'm reporting you to mommy!!!" This house is a riot. I guess I'd better go investigate.

Posted by krystal at 6:51 PM | Comments (0)

August 14, 2007

whassat?

Happy Birthday Grandpa O'Brien. (that's in case your kid forgets to call, I nagged him all day about it).

In case I ever wonder why I didn't stop with one kid, now I know. For the past 2 days Trev and Kendall have been at my mom's house hanging with their cousins and Tess and I are left staring at each other. We're not used to being alone. Dan's working. Tess and I have little to talk about aside from wow wow wubzy and the occasional wonderpets. She is happy to discuss these topics over and over but I get bored easily. When we go outside the mosquitos eat Tess and when we're inside there's nothing fun to do...except eat, which is always a good plan. I want my other kids back, dammit.

Work's much nicer now that there are only 8 hours in my work day. Anything can be tolerated for 8 hours, right?

Terri, Amy and Sarahlynn are all on vacation this week. I think this is some huge conspiracy or something. There's not much on twitter, even less on Fredtalk and blogs sit, unupdated. what is wrong with you people...TYPE.

Posted by krystal at 6:12 PM | Comments (2)

July 2, 2007

amnioticness

Everything went fine today. We got to see all of the limbs on our new baby but no girl or boy parts. It was cool to see it kicking around since I still haven't felt anything. In fact, I still don't feel pregnant. We'll have results on Thursday. The doc today said that I'm a week farther along than I thought. That's cool...maybe we can have the baby on my birthday or the day after.

The rest of the day was spent sleeping. I hate when I waste a day off without doing anything.

Posted by krystal at 6:29 PM | Comments (4)

June 30, 2007

blurbs

This week at work we converted one of my schools from a novell server to a windows one. It was a LOT of work and made my brain hurt, but it's done and I'm happy. Each day I came home, plopped my butt down and just did not function. I realize it's not ditch digging or brain surgery, but it did the trick on me.

**
Dan's folks sent us flowers mid-week which was a huge pick-me-up, especially since they came with Godiva chocolates. Thanks so much for that! The flowers are holding up really well, way better than the chocolates.

**
Jake is off to Fredcamp, Kendall and Trevor are at Westview this week. Things seem to be settling in w/ Jake gone. We miss him, but we don't miss the fighting, sneaking and messes. Maybe this is a good thing.

**
Please know that no matter how angry I get at anyone on the road, I will never, ever sling a Blizzard at another car. Those things are way too expensive.

**
Leeroy was unable to get neutered this week, as he has one testical up in his abdomin still. I wonder if that's where hitlers was hiding too?

**
Thanks to you guys, I have about TONS of pampered chef stuff heading my way. Now, really...really really, I need to start cooking. If you want lots of stuff too, contact Amy. She makes it all so easy and fun.

**
The reason I'm off Monday is because Ive got my amnio. I can't wait to have this over with. I was doing some work in a special ed classroom the other day and seeing kids in helmets made me very apprehensive. I mean, once you stop laughing, that shit's just not funny. We're not sure what we'll name it but we're leaning towards Lily if it's a girl...even though I do love the name Delilah. It could just be that Plain White T's song. I love it...as Jake says "it's timeless". We'll see. No boy names have popped into my head yet.

**
Tess wants some donuts from Paul's bakery. I guess I should give in. How'd I know this? She sent it to me telepathically. Really.

DAN GOT A NEW JOB. DAN GOT A NEW JOB DAN GOT A NEW FUCKIN JOB. TYVM.

um, tess just came in holding her diaper, which means somewhere in this house there's a puddle. ciao.

Posted by krystal at 7:01 AM | Comments (7)

June 28, 2007

Pulling the last 10.

I have 10 hours to go before a 4 day weekend. hooray.

Posted by krystal at 7:51 AM | Comments (4)

June 3, 2007

at a loss...

Dan's at work. Jake, Trevor and Kendall are at their dad's house. Tess is at my parents' house. The dog is even in the back yard. I am alone in this house for the first time in a long long time.
I'm not sure what to do with myself. Tivo is empty with the exception of Starter Wife and a bunch of episodes of Wow Wow Wubzy. I'm sure Starter Wife will do just fine. In a few hours I have to go to church but Terri's going along so it'll be ok. Solitude is a gift and a curse. I'm sitting here knowing I could do anything I want, but doing nothing. I rarely love doing nothing, but right now it feels just right.

Last night was supper club. It was appetizer night. There was so much food, as always. It rocked...Liz came for the first time and so did Amy and Tyler. The coolest part for me was sitting out on the back porch afterwards. Terri's porch is screened in so we got to enjoy the beautiful night without bugs, and there was a fantastic yard sale going on next door.

Friday night Tessie and I went to a birthday party at my friend Traci's house. She and I have been friends since middle school. Her family is as familar to me as my own. As soon as we arrived they teased me about my huge family, my bad driving, how clumsy I am, scatterbrained etc. The whole night was a blast. Everytime I'm back around them I feel 14 again. We're the same girls; Traci, her sister Terri and me. Our kids chase each other and pick on each other and now, take turns watching Tessie. The kinships we form in our younger years might drift a bit as time goes on, but in the end, it's still family and there's still so much love.

Posted by krystal at 7:00 AM | Comments (1)

May 20, 2007

We interrupt this peaceful morning

I slept in til 6 something this morning. It's not even really sleeping in since now that I work in town, every day is "sleeping in". I am still thankful every single day that I don't commute anymore. But I digress.

The house was quiet except for Dan's shower and I thought "hey, what a great day...I woke up before Tessie, before the dog whined to go out, before the kitties need food". Great morning. As Dan was leaving, Tess woke up in a perfect mood. She was talking about her milk and kitties and all of those other things that get mingled into baby conversations. The dog woke up and went outside and I made my coffee and emptied the dishwasher. What a GREAT MORNING. I felt inspired to get all of my laundry done, plan some dinners for the week and maybe use some of the Pampered Chef stuff that I have but rarely use.

I let the dog back in and Tess was talking to the fish, who was swimming around in his newly cleaned fishbowl. I even cleaned the fish bowl...Dan won't believe it. Usually he's harassing me about the fact that you can't see the fish through the muck. It's here that things start to get muddled a bit. I walked into our bedroom with a basket of clean laundry and there stands Tess beside her diaper. She runs into the living room and points at a puddle in the floor. How sweet...she peed on the floor. ugh. Good thing she didn't mess up that diaper! I noticed as I walked to the kitchen for paper towels that Leeroy was sitting in the dining room facing the windows. Odd, I thought, how he'd hide out there so as not to take the blame for the puddle of pee. Maybe he's smarter than I'd given him credit for.

Right.

I walked back through with a wet rag to finish cleaning up the floor just in time to see Tess slip and fall in some more pee. GROOVY. I clean that up and tell the whimpering Tess that it serves her right for peeing on the floor. Just then I notice that Leeroy is still in the dining room facing the window. I look closer and there's his pile of vomit. Right in the middle of it is a huge mass of barbie hair. Poor Barbie. So I clean up that mess, all the while, Tess is bitching at me about "baaaaaffff baaaaffff" because I'd told her she'd get a bath since she's covered in pee.

At this point I'm on the verge of being a raving lunatic. Leeroy goes outside (runs for his life actually) and Tess is in the tub telling me all about bibbits and meows. I'm feeling calmness return....watching Law and Order on Tivo. Considering going out to buy some socks for Dan and some shorts for the kids. Maybe I'll start making lists for our vacation in 3 weeks.

Ah, Sunday. The day of rest.

Posted by krystal at 7:46 AM | Comments (1)

We interrupt this peaceful morning

Right.

Ah, Sunday. The day of rest.

Posted by krystal at 7:46 AM | Comments (1)

May 13, 2007

Mother's Day

Tessie woke up sans diaper. She loves being nekkid and I can't say I blame her. I just wish she'd pee in the diaper before taking it off instead of peeing in the floor.

Dad's party yesterday was a good one. I saw people I hadn't seen since my tortured childhood. I can't say I'd missed them all that much, but it was nice to see that I'm not the only one getting older. Dad got lots of gifts (read: booze) and entertained everyone with stories and jokes as he opened them. I think he was appropriately honored on his birthday and we were appropriately stuffed full of pork bbq. Good people, good food, good day.

Today Terri's coming over to watch Dream Girls with me since Dan's working today and she has to leave again before the Survivor finale. I hope the kids will all simmer down and let us watch it in peace.

Happy Mother's day to all you mamas out there.

Posted by krystal at 7:43 AM | Comments (3)

April 10, 2007

twitterpatted

Sheep introduced me to twitter.com and now I'm in heaven. Since I'm prone to think in short blurbs of VERY IMPORTANT INFORMATION, it's easier for me to use twitter than my blog. That doesn't mean I hate my blog because nono. That's not true. I just love twitter in a new toy kind of way.

Easter weekend was pretty fun. The mean mommys gathered on saturday night at Terri's house. Dan couldn't go because he had a very long work weekend and had to get rest, but Aaron took up the male-slack by forcing us to watch golf. Becky's ass is worse than a years worth of dog farts. Good times, as always.
Sunday Terri and Kayla went to church and then to my folk's house with us. The kids did egg hunting and the adults had wine. I enjoyed getting reaquainted w/ some cousins we'd lost to God a few years back. It was good to have 'em back to normal.

Yesterday was pretty great at the beginning. Dan and I were proving that it is very possible to stay in bed and watch tv and read books all day. The kids were busy destroying the house and then Tess woke up from her nap and cried. And cried. And cried. And cried. Til finally around 3 we took her to the dr. She has croup (AGAIN!) and an ear infection. Once we got her all doped up she seems a lot better, but she's still a sicko.

I promised Kendall that we'll go to the gym today, so as soon as the dryer repair guy shows up we'll go.
Tomorrow I get to go back to work. I'm looking forward to it. The clutter around here is exhausting.

Posted by krystal at 7:55 AM | Comments (4)

March 21, 2007

2 years

Yesterday was our anniversary. When things like this happen on a tuesday while the husband is working night shift and the wife is working day shift and the wife has a shit day at work and the husband can't catch up on sleep...it's mostly just another day only this time it has roses arriving at the door. I love Dan more than I did 2 years ago. I thought it'd be impossible, but it's true. We work well together and our house is filled with love and laughter and a healthy dose of crazy. I can't imagine my life any other way.

Posted by krystal at 5:04 AM | Comments (6)

March 10, 2007

finding out how much handy manny you can watch in one day...

Today's a day of rest that I've dreamed of for weeks. We don't have anywhere to go. The big kids are at their dad's house and dan's working midnights this weekend. Tessie and I have all day to watch cartoons, read books and eat reeces peanutbutter eggs.

Last night Liz came over for her pampered chef and we had wine and goldfish for supper. It didn't occur to me while we were drinking wine that I should have probably cooked some dinner or even just a frozen pizza for us. This morning I woke up STARVING. Liz, I promise next time you come over, I'll feed you something.

I have to get busy reading Suite Francaise for book club. It's a big book and I seem to be lacking a lot of personal time. It seems very good so far, but I'm only about 12 pages into the book.

Posted by krystal at 10:41 AM | Comments (2)

February 28, 2007

why should I play w/ my kids?

here's why...

terri: okay, let me go play with my child
krystal: ok
terri: before she grows up and hires her retarded boyfriend to kill me

Posted by krystal at 5:33 PM | Comments (1)

February 23, 2007

From manda's blog

Several people have asked if we have designated a charity, and we have. In lieu of flowers, please donate to the Ronald McDonald House of Northern Virginia. We lived in their house for over 3 months. They gave us the unique opportunity to be able to parent Aleah, to be with her daily. In the end, she was in the hospital longer than at home. We want to get a plaque and plant a tree in her memory.

The contact information is as follows:
Ronald McDonald House Charities of NoVA
In Memoriam of Aleah Colburn
Attn: Sally Krahn
3312 Gallows Road
Falls Church, VA 22042

703-698-7080

Please do. The RMH is wonderful...they even let parents stay in the Richmond RMH when thier deaf child wants to come to summer school with us. They truly are wonderful.

Posted by krystal at 7:27 PM | Comments (1)

Aleah

Manda,
I don't know how you lose a child and continue breathing. I just know that it's wrong...we should never have to bury our children. You're a strong woman and a wonderful mom...but you know that. Please just know that you are not mourning alone, you are not crying alone.

My prayers are with you and Jason and Ada.

love,
Krystal

Posted by krystal at 7:26 AM | Comments (0)

February 22, 2007

burn bridges not tables, kids.

We've been a vomitose mess here this week. Tess had a bug, which she kindly gave to Jake. While she was at it, she passed it along to Gayle too. Dan's got flames shooting out of his ass and I'm just sittin' around thinking "If I were them, i coulda possibly lost 2 or 3 pounds by now".
I hope we've seen the last of this bug but there are 3 more people in this family and we all know that if one gets it, they all do. I'm just hoping if it happens, it'll happen on Friday when James takes the kids.

***

Jake and his friend decided that they should put a high powered lamp face down on the desk at school. Because of the giant hole they burned in the table, he's at home this week. The principal swears Jake's a good kid and it was just "horseplay" but now he gets to horseplay his ass to a job and pay for a table, as well as paying for his own drivers ed. A lesson in responsibility never hurt anyone. I've also spent the past few days trying to find some crappy jobs for him to do. If anyone needs horse shit shoveled or something, please get in touch.

***

This weekend is my pampered chef partaay. I'm looking forward to it. I got my ingredients so I can make the stuff I have to make. I'm just counting on Amy to show me what to do. I ALSO got my house cleaned this week. It'd been a long time since it had a deep cleaning but maaan it looks so nice. I don't want the kids to touch a THING.

***

Tonight we go to puppy bootcamp and visit Leeeeeroy Jenkins. We're all excited about that. I'm also excited because tonight's Survivor and Grey's Anatomy. Terri's coming over to watch survivor with us...we have a new tradition. survivor night!! woot.

Posted by krystal at 5:33 AM | Comments (3)

February 16, 2007

dog gone

Yesterday I dropped poor Leeeeeroy Jennnnkins off at doggie boot camp. He is the most adorable puppy ever but he's been doing that stuff that puppies do. ie: destroying my gd house. He also bites and barks and basically has the potential to become a major pain in the ass. A coworker told me about the success he'd had with taking his dog to boot camp and Dan and I decided that if we're going to keep our baby dog, we'd better get him on the straight and narrow fast before one of us kills him. Today we went for our orientation and it was a little hard to swallow. The trainer knows dogs. He explained the dog brain to us in terms that aren't easy to dispute because his success rate is uh, 100%, but when someone says "a dog doesn't have FEELINGS, he doesn't love you, he doesn't hate you, he doesn't do things to get back at you"....those are things I'm not sure I believe. It was kind of cool that he explained to us that a dog's brain has binary thoughts. I wonder if he just said that because he figured Dan and I would believe it easier if he put it in words we'd understand? It's still too early to say what I believe about our training so far, but I want my dog to sit obediently at my feet and stop running when I say stop. I want him to stop chewing up dolls and stop peeing on the floor. I want him to be a content part of our family and if this guy can get us there, I'll beliieve that the moon is made of swiss cheese. I miss my puppy already. This is going to be a long 30 days.

Posted by krystal at 6:47 PM | Comments (3)

February 6, 2007

inside out

Please wear your pjs inside out tonight. They're calling for snow and I want enough to stay home.

xoxo

Posted by krystal at 12:07 PM | Comments (1)

January 9, 2007

Good
Dan started his new job w/ Trent's company and appears to be ecstatic about working for a real company. I am ecstatic for him.

Raclette grill has been shipped and I've ordered that cheese so the raclette party will happen very soon.

Two words: Madam Speaker. Hell yea!

My new salary kicks major effing butt. It's even more than we'd planned on.

I've finished the book club book, Lucky In The Corner, way before time for book club. (for a change).

My diet is going well. I've stuck to my points for 3 days. It hasn't been easy but it's the way things will be.

My baby points to her nose and says "beepbeepbeepbeep". She also says "ow" as she stabs people and dogs and cats with her little knife. It's so stinkin cute.

Grand Master Flash being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Don't push me cuz I'm close to the.....edge.

Finally got to watch True Romance (thanks Terri!). That movie kicks bootay.

Bad

Motion denied in child support after 3 excrutiating hours in the waiting room w/ the ex and his mullet wearing c-word of a wife glaring at me. This isn't so bad since I don't need their money anyway anddddd it gave me a chance to finish that book, but I do hate losing at anything.

Dan's commute for orientation lasted almost 3 hours yesterday causing him to experience road rage. I reminded him that this too will pass and he came home all happy so it seems ok.

Trevor has hit puberty with running start and is rarely a joy to be around these days.

Two words: puppy poop.

Posted by krystal at 8:19 AM | Comments (1)

January 3, 2007

Newness

I got a new job today. I'll still be working for the school system, but as a computer engineer vs a sys admin. I can't put into words how much this rocks for us.

Moscati D'Asti rocks btw. The light bubbles and sweet flavor are just what I needed after a day of slimfast and salad.

Posted by krystal at 7:17 PM | Comments (8)

December 18, 2006

whwhawhaat?

I'm so stoked about life right now. First of all, I have completed my shopping except for anything small I might feel I should pick up while I'm out and about. I have to wrap it all, but that's ok, I'm done working at the school after tomorrow at 3pm. I will have 2 glorious school free weeks. Of course, I'll still be slinging wine, but that's secondary.

I also have an interview for a position that'd double my pay. The interview is next Wednesday so please keep your fingers, toes and eyes crossed for me on that day. If I get it, I can quit the wine slinging and just focus on becoming thin. That's something that's staring me right in the face every time I have to look in a mirror. For now, until Jan 2, I'm going to just live with the fattitude and then I'll bandwagon and lose weight. I have too many cookies to eat until then.

Tlee, I know you'll read this sometime this week...we need to get together and do Christmas at some point, I also need to get fambily pics from you if you got a chance to mess with em. Are you working Friday? I have to work 12-5 but I could drive up early that morning or we could do something that night. I'm also free during the day on Wednesday and Thursday, but not at night on Wednesday. (HI TREE!!)

Posted by krystal at 8:25 AM | Comments (3)

December 13, 2006

Return of the Estes clan

My grandfather Richard had two brothers, Charlie and Joe. Their parents owned a grocery store on Caroline Street for eons and when Charlie got older he ran it. The store was basically a tackle shop with a bar in the back informally called "the batroom". It wasn't exactly publicized that you could go back there and drink. I remember spending a lot of time hanging around the store as a tiny girl, as did my mom when she was young. Uncle Joe ran another grocery store. My granddad was the only one who didn't. The brothers were no strangers to good times and all three enjoyed a nice healthy drinking habit. *cheers*.
Now, even though the family is all basically in the area, we do tend to have issues with keeping in touch. In fact, the last any of us saw each other was probably at the funeral for Uncle Joe at least 10 years ago.

I did see one cousin over the summer for a graduation party but otherwise, we all keep to ourselves.

Last night Trevor was dropped off after chorus practice by the grandparents of his friend (her name is pronounced kah-lair-ah but i call her colera because it's funny). Anyway, they showed up and all bailed out of the car babbling wildly about "WE'RE RELATED! WE'RE COUSINS!!"

I stood there sort of baffled and said "no, we're not". The grandparents said excitedly "YES WE ARE!! THIS IS YOUR COUSIN RICKY!"

I stared at him and there wasn't even a flicker of recognition. So I said again "nope...no relation, you must be mistaken". He says "I'm your uncle Joe's son". I said "no, he had little Joe, Sandra, Dicky and Ricky...oh...wow, we are related!" Apparently they live in my hood, 2 streets away. We caught up on old times, talked about the relatives we'd seen and those we hadn't...things that people do who have no intention of really keeping in touch. Roots can ground you or choke you...I'm glad to see my old family members but I'm not sure I need them living 2 streets away. I fear the choke.

Posted by krystal at 9:09 AM | Comments (0)

December 5, 2006

Why I love him...

Dan: Let's go hang out with connie if she wants us to come over

me: hahah she's having a church thing
church meaning, she needs me to get her some wine really cheap

Dan: it's not really a church

me: jeebus would love that too

Dan: yeah

Dan: I heard from Ken that Jesus had a drinking problem. but VVV (they didn't have the letter A back then) helped him recover

me: HAHAHAHAHAHA
dan, did you make that up?

Dan: yes

Posted by krystal at 9:58 AM | Comments (1)

December 4, 2006

wonder

Turning 40 was to be a non-event for me. I started saying "I'm almost 40" just as soon as I turned 39, so it hasn't seemed scary or bad or anything like that. Dan offered to take me out to dinner anywhere I want to go and I chose Melting Pot.

I worked during the day so when I came home I took a long bath while the baby napped and Dan crashed out in front of the TV. I thought that he should show a bit more entusiasm about taking me to a nice restaurant w/ my parents for dinner but he was cranky and tired and I was aggitated. I sent a quick AIM message to Gayle that we'd be bringing the baby as soon as we could wake her and that Dan was crabby so I wasn't looking forward to my dinner. Then I told him that I'd appreciate it if he could at LEAST fake being happy about going out with me, but he was just so tired. I was in a snit by the time we walked into Wil and Gayle's house, but determined to just suck it up and have fun regardless of my crabby husband.

When we got there I was remarking about how beautiful Gayle's house is. She's going out of town for the holidays and her house looks 100 times better than ours does. It was a wonderland. Lights, winter decorations and snowflakes hanging from the ceiling. I was trying to take it all in when everyone yelled SURPRISE!!! First I saw my Dad and couldn't register exactly why he was at Gayle's house. Then I saw Jake...then more and more friends and family. I swear, I'm sharp, but I was baffled for more than a second.

From what I hear, this party had been in the works since just after Halloween and I had no idea. Dan, who is notorious for letting no secret stay kept, never once let on that he, Gayle, Tree and my mom were plotting big things for this day. I am so honored and impressed by my family and friends. Not only did they have a room full of friends and family and happiness, but every one of my favorite foods was there...including fondue. Dan had asked that there be no teasing and over the hill stuff...just classy nice wintery beauty and that's what they had. I got the best of everything and I still can't believe I deserve a bit of it. Thank you to everyone who came. You're way better than Melting Pot.

Also a huge thanks to Dan's folks for the beautiful flowers that came Saturday. They're so pretty that I wish I could preserve them forever.

Posted by krystal at 9:44 AM | Comments (6)

September 11, 2006

Sweet adieu

I guess if you're gonna get memorialized, Sept 11's a good day to do it. Janie, my softball coach, oranist at my church and very dear family friend, died last week and today's her memorial service.

I have so many memories of Janie. Her sugar cookie recipe is the only one I've used since I was 12 years old. Around that same time she used to say "Kryssy, you run like you're pulling a cart girl, get the lead out". Once she realized I wasn't a real jock, she taught me to hit the ball really hard so I could haul my butt to first base.

There were many times when Jane would just be the voice of reason in a highly emotional time. She was just like that, reasonable, calm and kind.

Posted by krystal at 6:14 AM | Comments (1)

August 31, 2006

old school

Ed beamurhead came to visit us last night. You know you're all jealous.

***

I've completed my cd exchange cd and it does not suck. I just need to work on my cover now.

***

Geeks on call wants to hire me. That kind of makes me laugh because they'd be letting me drive their car. I can fix the puters, but my driving record is less than stellar. Besides, I like my jobbie job.

***

Posted by krystal at 8:32 AM | Comments (1)

August 17, 2006

I has a job

It pays slightly more than min. wage, but it's a job. rarr!

Posted by krystal at 9:05 PM | Comments (5)

July 14, 2006

"did you say kishh?"

I got a new cell phone that allows me to say "Call Dan" or "call kids" and it'll dial them. It's very nifty except my phone seems to have a speach impediment. "Call Dan" is repeated to me as "did you say, Dahhhhn?". "Call kids" is repeated as "did you say KISH?" I just reply "yesh", and the call is made.

Posted by krystal at 6:35 AM | Comments (2)

June 28, 2006

What I did on summer vacation ...part uno

So since I'm a haus frau and there are six of us to prepare/pack/pay for on vacation, we took advantage of our time share at mass-a-nuthin in the beautiful hills of Virginia. In other words, it was free.

We swam a lot, played cranium, ate all sorts of unhealthy junk food, went to a water park, fed mildly wild animals, skated, made clay beads and hemp jewelery, fought like families do when crammed together in one place for a week, read, shopped, rode go carts, took a ski lift ride and lots and lots of pictures. That was our funfilled week in a nutshell.

I really feel like we do so many interesting things these days that it's hard to put down our one week as a vacation. For example, Saturday was supper club at Wendy's house, Monday Jake went to see AFI with Becky, tonight we're going to see Spamalot with Tree and some other friends. Then we're going Thursday to watch Maddy be in the finals for this karaoke contest, Friday we're having some friends over to play games, Saturday we're going to Mean-Mommy-Play-Group over at Terri's. After that we're heading out to the river for 3 days. Life is a vacation. Did I mention that yesterday I got to cut Peggy's hair and drink wine in the middle of the day? We had a supah time talking about collecting big words and the good fortune we share in our final choices of mates. I'm not even bragging, just so you know. I'm still continually surprised at how good life is. I still stare at Dan and wonder how I landed that hottie and how come he stuck around (aside from my obvious knockedupness at the time) but you get the picture, right? It's frightening to feel like you're this fortunate and for what reason? and for how long? (see? I can bring anything back to a negative light when given enough time).

Summer vacation part one just rocked...let's see what we can do in the hottest month.

Posted by krystal at 6:18 AM | Comments (2)

June 6, 2006

Conversation

Dan: (yelling into the bedroom from his shower) Baby? Do we have an international space station?

Me: (thinking he's obviously taken some hits of crack rock) If we do, it's in the basement.

Dan: Tess, your MAMA is crazy!

(I'm crazy???)

Posted by krystal at 8:12 AM | Comments (2)

May 24, 2006

Throw up a prayer

...or some good vibes or rub some crystals for Manda's little baby, Aleah. She's just so tiny and she's going through some rough times.

Send some to Manda and Jason and Ada too while you're at it.

Please.

xoxo

Posted by krystal at 8:33 AM

May 18, 2006

what do you want to be when you grow up?

At the end of April I quit my job. I gave notice and all of that, but the commute was just so long that I wasn't coping well. It's been a roller coaster year with the arrival of Tess, several house guests and the doubling of my commute...it finally took its toll and something had to go. Byebye Verio.

I've never been jobless. Not since I was 12. I wish I was a go-with-the-flow kind of girl who could just enjoy the freedom and use the time wisely to find herself. That's not me. I have spent a lot of time over the past few weeks enjoying the hell out of being a full time mom, but at night, when I am sleeping, I'm agonizing about how we'll pay the rent and make ends meet. I remind myself all day long that things always work out, but sometimes at night my brain just won't stop and listen to reason. I am now in the position of deciding what I'd like to do for a career when in reality, all I want to do is raise my kids and cook dinner. I have considered many career paths and I've applied for pretty much any job out there. I even have an interview lined up next week. (thanks Jessica).

Tuesday night Kendall, Tess and I went to the mother/daughter banquet at church. The speaker was talking about self-fulfillment and all of that jazz. She had us write down what we loved to do as young girls, what we wanted to be when we grew up and what we would do if we knew without a doubt that we'd succeed. Those are tough questions. They're questions that are hard enough without trying to separate the "what I want to be" with "how I want to earn a living" and then "what kind of person do I want to be". It's enough to make your head spin.

Add to this whole big equation the fact that it was Mothers Day this past weekend. We didn't really do a whole lot. Church, leftover fondue for lunch and then a day of hanging out in pjs watching tv and scrapbooking. I've always loathed this holiday in the past. In my first marriage, mothers day was no more special than Tuesday. This year, however, I feel as though I was given a gift. I got to be around Manda while she was on bedrest. She might look back on this as the hardest time of her life, but I must thank her for reminding me just how sweet and precious a gift it is to be allowed to have children. She had her tiny little babies after such a struggle to keep them in and safe until they were strong enough to make it. I know that she'd have given anything to assure their well being. It's always a sacrifice to be a parent, but it's so worth it. You spend all of your time worrying about the adult they'll become and the lessons they have to learn, but really...the fact that they're alive is such a bonus. I think back on the years I spent with a frown on my face on Mothers Day because I wasn't honored in some glorious fashion, when in reality, I should have been celebrating my children. I should thank them each day for being in my life and letting me have the gift of motherhood.

Jake snuck to CVS last week. He's not allowed to do that. I only found out because Sunday morning he came bursting into my room at 7am with a bowl of cereal, a banana and a card he'd bought all on his own during his stealthy trip to the drug store. I couldn't be more proud, and even though the card said "happy birthday" with "birthday" scratched out and "mothers day" written in (because the card was just perfect for me other than that!!) it was one of the most special things he's ever done.

So while I have an interview next week and I'm always going to be a worrier and a bit uptight and I have no clue how I'll earn money. I know what I want to be. I want to be Dan's wife. Jake's mom. Trevor's mom. Kendall's mom. Tessie's mom. Diane and Bodie's daughter. I'd also like to be a cowgirl.

Posted by krystal at 9:02 PM | Comments (2)

May 12, 2006

Petals

Congrats to Manda and Jason on the birth of their little girls. They came out early and right on time. I can't wait to see 'em in person. Manda, you're in for the ride of your life. Happy Mother's Day!

***

Dan (and the kids) sent me a dozen roses and 2 balloons for mothers day. They're gorgeous. It's so cool to get stuff on mom's day now.

***

One of the things that I love the most about my hubby is that he makes me laugh all the time. I don't think he tries to make me laugh but the things he does just crack me up. For example, last week, he maximized his time taking a dump by also taking along his razor and his gameboy ds. He came out clean shaven, happy and 10 lbs lighter. I do love him so! *swoon*

***

Week 2 of unemployment hasn't sucked. I'm still in the honeymoon phase where I wake up with purpose and ambition. I applied for several jobs and studied some real estate stuff and only spent one day in my pj's. I fear that by the time I get back to work, Tessie won't be allowed at any daycare. She's getting a LITTLE BIT spoiled.

***

Jake's almost done with his life guarding classes. I'm surprised at how well he's been behaving lately. I know it's too soon to count chickens but it feels like the hard-line approach with him has paid off some and maybe one day we'll share mutual respect. I can dream...it's my blog.

Posted by krystal at 5:12 PM

March 20, 2006

anniversary

A year ago Dan and I got married. It's been the best and most insane year ever. I just keep thinking I'll wake up and none of this happened.

We're not going to be able to celebrate tonight because I have to go to my first class. I'm gonna try to learn stuff. If all goes well, I'll be smarter soon.

We had a kick ass birthday party for Dan on Saturday. I think we had like 52 people there. Good times!

Tess says "dada" and loves her feet. We're all doing well and the beginning of Spring just holds promise for the future.

Posted by krystal at 2:23 PM | Comments (4)

February 8, 2006

2 weird thoughts..

Yesterday I was driving home from work and Jake called me to tell me about his day. He said "We didn't do anything in sign language class today because we had a substitute". I thought, but didn't say "were all of the notes in sign language and she couldn't read them?"

Also I saw that the flags were at half mast yesterday and wondered if that was because lucky rat died.

My brain cells are shrinking. Heeeelp!

Posted by krystal at 6:37 AM | Comments (2)

January 30, 2006

in my space.

nate (8:15:38 AM): i heard youhad to get rid of your myspace
r333th4x0r (8:15:43 AM): hahaha
r333th4x0r (8:15:44 AM): i did
nate(8:16:17 AM): evil guys talking to you?
r333th4x0r (8:16:28 AM): no, i was throwing gang signs
nate (8:17:33 AM): lol

Posted by krystal at 8:33 AM

January 12, 2006

shave and a haircut...

r333th4x0r (8:22:00 AM): i cut my hair just now
Xenophod (8:22:00 AM): I'm booogie'n
Xenophod (8:22:04 AM): haha
r333th4x0r (8:22:04 AM): well just one hair
Xenophod (8:22:05 AM): did not
r333th4x0r (8:22:06 AM): but still
Xenophod (8:22:07 AM): hahaha
r333th4x0r (8:22:07 AM): heheh
Xenophod (8:22:10 AM): I LOVE YOU

Posted by krystal at 8:37 AM | Comments (4)

January 4, 2006

Resolve

The holidays came and went and everyone lived and was happy and overly fat. I got everything I wanted plus some and so did everyone else I know. We're all very fat spoiled people. The most thoughtful gift was the milk goat that Tree donated to some needy folks in my kids' names. I truly appreciate her not giving us the goat because we don't need anymore animals.

Trevor turned 12 last week. He's always such a trooper about having a birthday after everyone in the world is entirely too tired to party with him. He and his best friend got to go see Narnia and he raked in cash for his birthday since he'd already gotten so much for Christmas. Cash makes the world a brighter place I guess.

I had several resolutions this year because I am such an incredible mess.
First I'll drop 30 lbs by summer. I know it can be done and I've got exactly 1.5 days of dieting under my belt already. I feel like a new (yet strangely, still fat) woman.

Second, I'm going to try to stop saying "fuck" so much. I adore the word but I hear my negative outlook and sour disposition is leaving a black mark on my soul. Eliminating the F word might turn it to a lighter shade of ebony...I reserve the right to still scatter "shit, damn, asshole and son of a bitch" liberally through out my conversations. Baby steps.

Third, I have a few organizational issues that I want to work on. I think the 40 calendars I now own are going to help with that. I even have sharpies to make writing in the calendars more fun. If you want me to remember your birthday or address, now is a good time to jot an email to me.

Fourth, I want to spend more time making myself look put together. I'll accessorize and wear makeup (SOMETIMES) and even brush my hair. I'm a mom...I should look like I know how to dress myself even if I don't have time to look in the mirror at what I've done.

I have a few more personal ones that I don't want to write about here since they most likely won't work and I'll have to eat crow. (like the f word one and the diet one will work. who am I kidding?).

I'd also like to think I'll write more this year but I'm usually so busy blogging inmymind that I forget to type out the brilliance I've created...this explains why my real blog is so boring.

Posted by krystal at 12:37 PM | Comments (7)

December 29, 2005

wizzurd.

becky (9:49:08 AM): the albums dropping in June
r333th4x0r (9:49:15 AM): hahah i'll mark my calendar

Posted by krystal at 10:04 AM | Comments (1)

December 22, 2005

seriously

coworker (1:00:52 PM): i believe that a's butt cheeks are falling out of that skirt
r333th4x0r (1:00:58 PM): HAHAHA
coworker (1:01:06 PM): seriously
coworker(1:01:12 PM): it is almost obscene
r333th4x0r (1:01:30 PM): yeah, i think she lost half of it on the way to work
coworker (1:01:39 PM): lmao
coworker (1:01:40 PM): y
r333th4x0r (1:01:47 PM): "im freezing my butt off" takes on new meaning hehe
coworker (1:01:56 PM): seriously

Posted by krystal at 1:21 PM

December 20, 2005

I've never sent a newsletter with my Christmas cards. Adrianne is the only friend I have who is together enough to get that done. In fact, I can barely get my cards out before March. But last