Lost, Found and the Reality of Idiots.

I am sorry I havent written in a while. I have just been running so far behind that I am about to pass myself.

LEts see. Wednesday I cleaned house. I busted my ass. My mom came over to help. Bow is so spoiled that he cant be put down. He will play for a while on the floor, but in all honesty, you just cant get up and wash dishes. 1/2 way through he starts throwing a wall-eyed fit. I stayed up extra late trying to glue rhinestones on those shoes. You wouldnt think this was hard. IT IS. the dang things would stick to me and I would have hell getting them off. Then my hands were so sticky I couldnt even type. heck, I couldnt even drink. and you cant wash the glue OFF your hands! I was able to get 2 pair done and had to quit. I was starting to resemble a really bad nudy suit. I had rhinestones stuck all over me.

Thursday was much of the same. And then of course we had baseball. It was raining all day, but they decided to play. I cleaned house that morning and then we had to go to baseball at 7pm. We got there and low and behold there was no umps. They had pulled folks out of the stands ( apparently for Bretts leauge we HAVE to have an official ump) This made the first game start late, and then of course that threw us running an hour behind. Yep, thats right, 22 3rd, 4th and 5th graders were starting a game at 8pm. On a Thursday night. And lots of folks are like me, with more than one kid out there. Plus, My kids bedtime is 8:30. We got home and in the bed by 10:40. I still had 2 pair of shoes to glam up and wasnt looking forward to it, but I did. I am starting to HATE rhinestones. OH and I found some cute ones to match the new green and pink dress of Rayleys that my mom made. so I put them on a pair of plain pink tennis shoes and wound contrastin ribbon in the shoes as laces. The dress is lime green with pink polka dots, and the buttons are hot pink 2 inch flowers. The shoes have 2 inch green flowers and hot pink ribbon with green polka dots. VERY cute.

The kids were just pitiful when I woke them up at 5:25 the next morning, to the point that you thought someone had killed their kitty. (on a side note, anyone want a half simease, half manx? she is a sweetheart, but NOT good for the dynamics of this house. and I dont need the added stress. Ever had an unhappy cat?? BELIEVE me, its NOT a good thing..)

Anyway, I sent them back to bed. My dad was coming in later this evening and I didnt need 2 sick kids. And belive me, they were headed to being sick. I dont know that its all the late nights, I think its a combination of them, the extra 30 minutes in the morning and the feeling that if its still light outside you shouldnt be asleep.

The day before, they fell asleep before we even made it out of the driveway to go to town. So I kept them home. I fiqured also that in light of Bretts antics at school lately (did I tell you that his teacher actually BROUGHT him to me while I was doing a PTA meeting? cause he was being the north end of a south bound mule?....) he shouldnt go in when he is so tired that having to get up and brush his teeth sends him into a crying jag. He usually only does this when he is getting sick.

My dad came in that evening, and we had to go to town and buy birthday presents. Matts birthday is on Sunday, but his party will be on Saturday.

We got to walmart and they were having a HUGE clearence sale. I had been instructed by my great aunt to pick up some new tennis shoes for Brett for the birthday party. I found some on clearence for 5.00. Since this kid will wear out a pair of shoes in a week this is a great deal. They had 2 pair. both black, and one was a 4 1/2-- talk about LUCK! We also got Ms Priss 7 differt colors of tights for a buck a peice, and I found her some glitter hair gel to put in with her new shoes.

Saturday we were supposed to go to the ballpark, but my sister in law had called and needed a garden busted up. Its a little late to be bustin up anything. You cant even burn off the grass this late. Its green. BR went over there and did it anyway. But first he was going to go by my uncles and borrow his disk. Its on the way to his moms house where the garden was being busted up. I still had my uncles trailer from where my grandfather had borrowed it and needed BR to weld something and then for me to take it back, so I decided it was a good day to take it back, plus my dad wanted to see him.

It dawned on us that my reciver hitch had never been put back in my truck. My sister in law had borrowed it the last time she borrowed my low boy and when my mother in law brought it back she just brought it in the house. Didnt stop by the end of the truck and stick it in there.

THe hitch was easy to find. its a foot long, weighs 8 pounds and has been sitting in my living room floor for 2 months. The pin and the keeper were not in it though. Now most normal folks, when they take off a reciver hitch will stick the pin back in, and then push in the keeper. cause aint none of the peices workable wiht out the other two. well the keeper, that you can improvise on. but thats IT.

Come to find out, when I moved around the living room I hadnt picked up the pin. The keeper was on the window sill right above where the hitch had been for 2 months. But I never even looked at the hitch. I just told Brett to set it on the porch. Since it hadnt been put on the truck yet I fiqured at least this way it would be 4 feet closer. And I hadnt even looked at the durn thing the whole time it was here in the house. Since I would have put the 3 peices together upon taking it out of another truck ( to avoid loosin the smaller peices) I never thought someone else wouldnt.

The pin, which BR swore was on the floor beside it was missing and the keeper was right there. So we started a search. Now I have 2 other trucks sitting in my driveway with hitches. Both of them use a pin and a keeper. BUT, this was never a thought in BR's mind. He was just mad cause I had lost a 3 inch peice of bent metal. Bite a nail in two mad.

He is lucky I am able to keep up with 4 kids, 2 dogs, a cat ( damn, why cant I loose this cat?), most of the bills, supper occasionally, and 90% of the laundry. Not to mention, dishes, vacumming, groceries, checking the mail and the kids. (did I mention them already?, I try to count them at least 8 times a day, they are quick and you never know... ) Plus get the occasional bath.

BR started asking why I had never picked it up and put it back in the truck, on one of the MANY trips to town I make. Before I left one day I should have went out and put the hitch back in. And maybe I should have. BUT the awnser to why I didnt is simple. I NEVER walk out of the house without something in my hands. A baby, a toddler, bat bags, uniforms, diaper bags. I just dont worry about the hitch. And to be honest, I am GLAD its not on there. I HATE the damn thing. It sticks out a good 8 inches. And its RIGHT at shin level. well upper shin, lower knee. And when you are walking behind a truck, totin a kid, the last thing you want to do is knock the hell out of yourself while tripping over a piece of square tubing with a huge metal knot on the end. Its painful, and unattractive. plus if you do it in public its illegal to scream and cuss and threaten to burn the truck to the ground.

Brett swears that I picked it up the night of the 'big move around' and sat it on the TV stand when I was cleaning. And I might have but I dont think so. Then he says I picked it up and took it towards the bank of junk drawers in the kitchen. This I swear I didnt do. I would have recognized it for what it was, wondered what idiot didnt put it BACK in the hitch to start with and stuck it in there. The drawers were all pilfered through, dumped, and deemed worthless and empty of the prize. ( did I also mention I had just spent 3 days cleaning the house??). Then BR goes back outside. A few minutes later my dad comes in, I asked him if BR had just broken down and removed the hitch from his truck. "he left about 5 minutes ago"
"HUH?"
"yep, jumped on the tractor and left"
GGGGGGGGGGGRRRRRRRRRRRRR

Alright, I KNOW why he didnt try to get the hitch out of my black truck. It took him 30 minutes with a 8 pound sledge hammer to get it in there 8 years ago. There is no need for a pin, keeper or anything else. It wont come out. We have tried. and I didnt even need the hitch. I had mine. I just couldnt make it STAY in. I just needed the pin. BUT since the hitch was pounded in, it went in a little too far and the pin was pounded in too.

I just couldnt understand why he wouldnt take the pin and keeper out of his truck for 5 minutes while I pulled the trailer to my uncles house. BUT I knew how. I got the hammer and the screwdriver and went to work. My dad decided to do it for me. It was rusted in there. we had to beat the pin out. and tore UP the keeper. This hitch has NOT been used in YEARS. I think its only been used once. He drives an older Toyota 4x4. from back before they had names like Tacoma and Tundra. It cant pull crap. Not enough get up and go. so we dont use it. thats why I have the truck I have. And this thing was rusted in, and caked with years of mud and dirt. BUT it did come out.

Anyhow, we used the pin, my keeper and put the hitch on my truck. It took 4 minutes to back up, hook up, and leave- 5 to drive over and we were home in less than a half hour. I immediatly took out the hitch, put his pin back and used my keeper to hold it in there.

Then we just sat around and waited on the time for the party. Since my mom had Rayley I had to take her Rayleys dress for the party. When we started over we drove past her house and I realized I had forgotten the dress. We had to go back to the house. Its only 1/8 of a mile, but its a PITA. I took it to her and then we went on to the party.

I had "happy birthday Hoover" put on the cake, and when I got there I remembered I had forgotten the candles. I had to drive back to the house and get the damn candles. I had actually forgotten to buy any. But I did find 9 in the drawer from a previous party. I only needed 8. The rest of the party went well. No major mishaps and everyone got nice things. My mom got them bug houses. I had picked them up at walmart and the kids went out and immediatly loaded them up with lizards. I was sending the kids home with my mother in law so we could go on to town. There was a slight fight about the lizards havin to ride in the back of the truck. She is scared to death of the things. And although the kids swore the boxes locked she didnt trust them not to let them loose in the truck. And for good reason. I know my kids. They will. Rayley especially.

Oh and speaking of the wench, when Rayley opened her shoes she was NOT impressed. She said "they are NOT Lelli Kelly's."
"how does she know?" BR mouthed to me.
"I dont know.." I mouthed back, but I was so disapointed. I had worked really hard, and she really wanted those shoes. I thought I had done pretty good. She will NEVER get the real thing, but these are cute. Everyone else LOVED them. And the boys even thought they looked good. They were impressed. They thought I was so talented.

Then after all the presents were opened and Rayley wasnt playing with her hair gel it dawned on me. I asked her if she had found the glitter gel in her new shoes.
"no" she pouted
"well look again"
So my mother in law found the shoes again ( all the presents had been packed up) and dug out the boxes. She opened them and found the hair glitter gel.
"OH WOW!! it IS real LELLI KELLY'S!!, OH THANK YOU MOM!! I LOVE THEM!!"
and she proceeded to try on each and every pair and parade around in them. She showed them to everyone. She was like a preening peacock. Naming off the colors of her 'diamonds', and telling everyone that they were soooooo beautiful.

In all honesty, the ones I found on the net didnt even mention having the glitter hair gel crap included in the 73.00 CLEARENCE price tag. But it was the one thing that really stuck in her head from the commercials. And they did push it in the commercials. "get mom and dad to buy you these over priced, cheaply made shoes and we will throw in a .25 cent thing of lip gloss and glitter hair paint shaped like an icecream cone"

Once the party was over we took BR's grandmother home and had to run to walmart. I had forgotten bread and milk. And My dad wanted to look for a lilly they had seen at My Aunts house. Since we had gotten such a great deal on the tights and shoes yesterday we decided to check out the sidewalk sale again. This time they had some wal-mart brand under armour. for 3 bucks! I got 4 of them. And a few T shirts. I got the boys one that said "I should have my own reality show" (I guess they kinda do, huh?).

They also had some push brooms for 4 bucks. I wanted one, But BR said that we didnt have anything to sweep, since we dont have a carport or porch. I told him that we would one day. He said I would loose the broom before then. I hate to pass up a good deal, but he did have a point. My dad bought one though. And BR told me that if I bought one I would have to sweep the driveway. SInce its sand I wasnt going to see if he was kidding or not.

And they had about 8 100.00 black and decker compound miter saws. for 50.00. My dad got him a buggy. quick. BR put him one in the buggy too. We have a $200 table saw that we bought about 7 years ago. we have used it once. I am betting this one stays in the box for at least 4 years.

Anyway, we went in and started looking for more deals. We found some other stuff, nothing major. and nothing like those saws. They were a good deal, and when we were loading them BR saw that they were manufactered Nov, of 07. They cant even be last years models.

I did get a new pin and keeper. $2.27. I know we will find the other one soon. But the keeper did get screwed up and honestly, I wont find the other one if I dont buy this one. thats just murphys law.
Oh and BR bought a ball for his tractor. So he can haul a trailer with it.

Aunt Jean had mentioned that she had wanted an Ivy forever. She has hundreds of plants, beautiful flowers, shrubs, all kinds of stuff. But doesnt have an ivy and wants one. I told her I could hook her up with an Ivy. No problem. So we got her a pot and some soil and then my dad wanted to go to Lowes and see if he could find that lilly. we went, and there wasnt any, we looked and looked. THen BR saw them. About 20 of them. with enough blooms to choke a mule, they just wernt bloomin yet. Since his grandma had fallen in love with it too he wanted to get her one. They were 22.00 a peice. As we were leaving I saw some hens and chicks in a strawberry pot. they were marked down to 3.97. from 16.00. I got one of them too. I think they are so cute. And I havent killed anything in a long time. I also got an aloe vera. I have really missed the ones I used to have in the yard at my old place.


The kids came home and my dad gave Rayley about 8 barbies and some clothes he had picked up at home. She was in hog heaven. I enjoyed looking at the clothes. It was clothes from when I was a little girl. Definatly dated... Everything from polyester pants to punk rock. It was hillarious. The boys couldnt belive anyone would wear that. I didnt say a word.


This morning when we got up we did my Aunts Ivy. and got to looking at mine. They needed some TLC. my infrequent watering and lack of pruning has really made them look the worse for wear. you have to remember Bretts has been transplanted once. and its 9 years old. Matts once. and its 8. Rayley's never. So we started taking them down and were just going to prune and stir up the dirt.

Instead we decided to transplant Rayleys into a bigger pot and the others needed some heavy duty reworking, so off we went again. My dad also bought the boys some flowers and some window boxes to put on the sides of my little porch. They went nuts. Talk about a jumble of plants... but they are pretty. for now.

It took a few hours. and the 30 foot runners on the ivy's were all cut into smaller foot long peices to be put in the newly potted plants. All dead leaves were trimmed and more soil put in.

I remember now why I dont do this often. But we got it done. And even my corn plant got reworked. It really needed it. It was frozen down to nubs a few years ago when I had asked someone to take care of it while I was living in the travel trailer. I have it outside for the summer so we shall see if it will flourish.

I even fixed the rotten step on the steps. And put up a handrail. I also put BR's new ball on his dresser. It was just sitting on the counter. There are two things that can happen. He has already forgotten about it and it would sit there for weeks or months. in the way. OR he will get pissed cause I moved it. He wont put it on the tractor any time soon. I am betting we buy 2 more before he puts one on there. Simply cause I put this one up and loose it. I am sure first thing in the morning he will realize its gone and wake me up to find out why. Get mad cause I moved it. and then not put it on the tractor. I did it while I was cleaning the kitchen for the 3rd time today.


Once we came back inside I turned on the new Alvin and the Chipmunks. I was not impressed. I reckon it was cute. But not like the original cartoon. The kids love it though. Brett decided to put the CD in their CD player and brought me back one of mine. He started looking for my CD case. I have no idea where it is since I moved around the furniture and put everything up.

While he was looking he opened a door on the end table between the couch and chair. He says " I found your L shaped pin thingy!"
"where?"
"right here, where I put it the night we cleaned the living room up!"
"oh, thats what the big deal was, I put that on the TV stand that night" Matt said.
I looked back at Brett, "I thought you swore to your daddy that I had lost it!"
"well, I couldnt remember where it was, and didnt want him mad at me."

The little chicken.