That is how many times I have wished my kids were back in school. I love them dearly, but they are driving me insane. I am drained. Tuckered out. Pooped. Done. Tonight, if I can stay awake, we will be with some neighbors relaxing with a few drinks. Yea, delusional I know. A few... ha! Relaxing... ha! I can dream, can't I?
Tomorrow is my favorite day... Happy New Year! We are having our annual open house. (Barring any illnesses I better see Toni and her wonderful family here) The only thing that bums me out is expecting some people to show and they don't. One or two people that I haven't seen in a LONG time, but still hold out hope that they will put some effort into showing up. I should let it go... but I can dream, can't I? Unfortunately I sometimes have a hard time seeing what I have and I focus on what I don't... I'll deal with that next year. Shit, I have to deal with putting stuff off that I have to deal with- maybe I am already insane!
Happy 2005 everyone! I hope all your dreams come true!

Ok, I am a huge fan of Reality TV. My favorites are Survivor, Amazing Race and Extreme Home Makeover... plus most of the TLC programs. I am not a big fan of the "dating" ones like Bachelor(ette), Temptation Island etc... Not too much into Trump saying "You're fired" or all the spouse swapping, but sometimes they are entertaining and I can understand the popularity.

Now there is Who's your Daddy. I am sorry, but give me a fuckin' break. An adopted (big chested blond) woman spends time with a bunch of men one of whom is her biological father. Who came up with that one? Is the spin-off going to be she marries the runner-up? Probably.

Yup! 

My son Nick (12) is a Lego Maniac.. I should have taken a before picture of his room. I am sure in a few days the million or so Legos we (mostly I) cleaned up today will reappear and I will get a shot of it then. Those millions of legos are mostly Dragons, ships, swords etc. He may blow shit up when he is an adult.
I decided today, since we are having an open house on New Years, that it would be nice if people could actually see his floor. It was covered with those millions of Legos. He has wood flooring and hiding in the corners, under the bed, behind the shelves and all around those Legos were tons and tons of bunnies. They say bunnies multiply, well so do dust bunnies! These kinds of bunnies are not so cute and not so easy to catch. They fly in the air, catch on the corners of the furniture and are pretty gross looking.
I think I got them all... unless some escaped and are now multiplying in another room!
Here are the after shots...

My kids have eaten 10 packages (2 per pack) in one week! BBQue is the favorite, Pep Pizza comes in at a close second.

It is funny that the Neverending Laundry War came up today on the Mommy Matters blog. I have surrendered... held up the flag... bowed down to the machine and said, "you win- in this room, you are god". I simply cannot catch up.
My husband (Jerry) wears layers and layers of clothes. He never knows if he will be working inside or out. He takes them off in one full sweep, so that all layers are still together laying in a pile (inside out of course). Socks (two pairs), thermals, underwear, jeans... all needing to be separated- glued together by hard working sweat!
My kids seem to think I don't have enough laundry because I frequently find folded clothes (sometimes with tags) in the dirty laundry. And socks- forget it. I find socks I am about to wash that have holes in them bigger than my fist. Am I really expected to wash these? THROW THEM AWAY!
My machine is never... NEVER... empty. Jerry will come home and want to throw something in from work- "Is the washer empty?" My reply, "Are you new?"
I do keep going back to fight the war. I feel I have to for all the moms out there. Let's divide and conquer- one day we will all be able to say- "I am done"... then 5 minutes later we will have to start all over again.

Twas the day after Christmas and mom is wondering who the hell is going to clean this mess- Wrapping paper, torn boxes, bad plastic twist things... where is Santa now?

On the way TO Christmas Eve dinner 

These are bad.... very, very bad. 

hol·i·day
A day free from work that one may spend at leisure, especially a day on which custom or the law dictates a halting of general business activity to commemorate or celebrate a particular event.
A religious feast day; a holy day.
Chiefly British. A vacation. Often used in the phrase on holiday.

THREE NAMES YOU GO BY: Lonna, Lon, MOOOOOOOOM (MOM stretched)

THREE THINGS YOU LIKE ABOUT YOURSELF: I am a good friend, My teeth (had to put that in), My sense on humor

THREE THINGS YOU DISLIKE ABOUT YOURSELF: I have no rhythm, My stomach, I am getting age spots

THREE PARTS OF YOUR HERITAGE: Jewish (We still can't figure out if that is a religion, heritage, nationality etc), Polish, German

THREE THINGS THAT SCARE YOU: Walking across grates in the sidewalk (you could fall in!), Open staircases (you could fall through!), My children becoming adults

THREE THINGS YOU ARE WEARING RIGHT NOW: Underwear, Bra, Socks

THREE OF YOUR FAVORITE BANDS (or artists(at the moment)): Heart, Melissa Etheridge, Bon Jovi

THREE OF YOUR FAVORITE SONGS AT PRESENT: I can't pick just 3... Most Rock Ballads, 1985, This one's for the Girls, With arms wide open, You're my best friend, It's my life...

THREE NEW THINGS YOU WANT TO TRY IN THE NEXT 12 MONTHS: Getting my childbirth ed. certification, going on vacation with my husband, getting pregnant (just seeing if you are paying attention!)

TWO TRUTHS AND A LIE: I love babies, I have a double-jointed toe, I am an awesome dancer

THREE PHYSICAL THINGS ABOUT THE OPPOSITE SEX THAT APPEAL TO YOU: Good teeth, nice calves, dimples (my husband has 2 of the 3)

THREE THINGS YOU JUST CAN'T DO: Blow (haha) a rasberry, make everyone happy, bring my grandmother back

THREE OF YOUR FAVORITE HOBBIES: Taking pictures, watching TV, driving people nuts by sending these out

THREE THINGS YOU WANT TO DO REALLY BADLY RIGHT NOW: finish this (it is a long one), sleep, brush my teeth

THREE PLACES YOU WANT TO GO ON VACATION: Swimming with the dolphins somewhere, New York, Disney

THREE KID'S NAMES: Not fair, I have 4... Justin, Nick Dillon and Ben

THREE THINGS YOU WANT TO DO BEFORE YOU DIE: Go on Amazing Race, Catch up on my laundry, Have a grandchild

My sister (the new States Attorney of Champain County) was just elected. Since the election it has been very similar to Jan saying, "Marcia, Marcia, Marcia"
My other sister and I (the nothing too exciting is going on at the moment children) are very proud or our sister (the new States Attorney of Champain County) but all we hear is, "JULIA, JULIA, JULIA" I am going to sneak into her room and hide all of her rewards.

Answer: "Yes please"
For some reason my mother and sister(the new States Attorney of Champain County) do not put a gift receipt with gifts. My sister (the new States Attorney for Champain County) got me a very nice sweater from Ann Taylor. Very nice, but not me... Gap, Old Navy yes... Ann Taylor, not so much. So no receipt you get store credit. That does not do me much good. I wound up getting these leather photo brag books that were on sale. I figure I could keep them for last minute gifts. Put in pictures of my kids... instant relative gift. I still have $8.03 to use.

My mother got Dillon a Leap something. Have you seen how many different "Leap" products there are? Leap Pad, Leapster, Quantum Leap... Shrimp Gumbo, Fried Shrimp, Shrimp Scampi. Anyway, I go to Target. They were very nice- most stores won't even consider taking something back without a reciept or proof of purchase. After they entered my DL# into the computer to show I was not a regular returner without receipter she told me I had to pick something out in the same department. Not a problem, right? Have you ever noticed that when you have money or a credit to spend YOU CAN'T FIND A SINGLE THING?!? I was at Target for 2 hours! Usually that would thrill me to no end, but with the hundreds of people who are just now starting their Christmas shopping, it's not so fun. Finally found something, brought it back to customer service and it was the wrong department! Come on. "The computer won't let me". Give me a break! Don't send me back there with the hundreds of people who are just now starting their Christmas shopping. So, I say that I will just bring it back another day... you know after the hundreds of people... are done. "Well, if you do that your DL# will be entered again and you will not EVER be able to return anything without a receipt EVER again. FUCK! Don't put me on that list... my mother and sister (the new States Attorney for Champain County) will buy more presents without putting gift receipts in. So I went back to be with the hundreds of .... yadda yadda. Found something- all are happy- Merry Christmas.

It is amazing to me that we can become so wrapped up in someone else's life. It is a bit like a soap opera except that we know these people are real, they are not reading from a script that someone else wrote. I was almost *(I know, I know) to tears this morning when I read Getupgrrl's post. I had been checking and checking for some word, some sign of hope that everything was OK. Along with hundreds of other people. As of this morning 250 comments were made on that post alone. Amazing. I guess it is part of the "reality" craze. I hope it will last at least another 9 months so we can hear the announcement of her twins!



*tears do not come easily to me. Friends have been known to try and try to get my eyes to tear up before they fall out of their sockets from the twitch of the pressure building up behind them.

Them: "mom I'm hungry and there's nothing to eat"

Me: "Look in the fridge"
Them: "I still can't find anything"

shake your bootay

This is what happens when you are 1/2 Jewish and try to play Rudolph! 

We went to Zanies Comedy Club last night. I laughed so hard... well lets just say Kegals are important! John Pinette was performing- if you ever get a chance to see him, go! I have not been to a comedy club in a long time and I am not sure if it is the same with all of them, but the place is pretty much a dump. It is in a strip type mall, you wait outside until they open the doors and the tables and chairs wobble. Its all about the laugh. I know you are saying "duh! its a comedy club" - but so many places are about the fixtures and the "bling bling", then you go in and the performance sucks. It was a good night.

Blue eyed girl. 

Every year I become more of a scrooge. December is so much work. Hanukkah, Christmas, New Years... oh my! I have a handful of people that I HAVE to buy for. You know those people. Don't get me wrong, anyone who knows me knows I love buying things for others. I just don't want to HAVE to.
My favorite day is New Years. We have an open house and just chill. I love having people over. Kids running around, seeing friends I don't see very often, babies I saw come into this world who grow up so fast. And the food... everyone brings something and there is so much food!
This is my last day being alone- the next two weeks will be filled with kids, presents and relatives... OH MY!

Trying to survive 

I have been thinking about doing this for a long time... lurking about, sitting back silently thinking, reading in awe of those writers and photographers. I am neither- but I would like to be. I am a mom- I try to write, I love taking photos. So here I am, here I go.