Put the fork down and put on your bathing suit.  Eat all meals in a bathing suit.

I admit I am totally a girl about weight.  I obsess over it, though in my defense, I have gained some weight.  Which in the end means I don’t obsess enough about it.

Sure, it’s annoying, and I try to keep it in check and not whine about my weight in front of most people, but I do have a few people I text regularly about my eating, workouts and weight.  The above was a response from one of those friends.  I think it’s pretty smart.  If I did that I would probably never eat again.  Another friend told me she took a picture of herself  and looks at it each time she wants to eat.

Now I’ve made myself and my friends sound like total freaks.

Lance went to New York for the draft a couple of weeks ago.  The travel was stressful.  For me, and I wasn’t even on the plane.  I was just stuck at home with five kids.

I dropped him off at the airport.  Early.

About 70 minutes later, I received a frantic call from him that he was missing his flight.  I couldn’t even comprehend.  He was there early, had already walked to the wrong gate and made it back to the correct gate with over an hour to spare.  How could he miss his flight?

He had gone to the restroom and when he came back all his stuff was missing.  By stuff, I mean his hanging clothes and computer.

Yes, he just left it sitting out there while he went to the bathroom.

All those warnings you hear every five minutes when you are at the airport~ they are true.  Don’t leave your shit alone.  Because if you do, somebody on a segway is going to take it.

I admit, I’ve always been tempted to leave my stuff for just a second, and being a rule breaker, I’m surprised I haven’t.  In the end, I figured, it wasn’t worth finding out.  I’ve never heard any stories about people leaving their stuff behind because in this day and age, WHO leaves their stuff alone anymore?

M husband.  That’s who.

He ran around the airport trying to find who took his stuff.  In the end, his belongings were in terminal A.

He missed his flight.

But you know what?  He got his stuff, managed to find a seat on another flight and even apologized to the gate attendants  for losing his temper.  Karma should have been on his side.

Once he landed, I got a call when he was in the cab.  He was relaxed and had caught a ride with Coach Sumlin into the city.  He figured missing his flight was okay since he was able to catch up with him.

An hour later I got a text.

He left his hanging clothes on the airplane.

The texts kept coming in: he didn’t know what he was going to do, what was wrong with him, the trip was ruined and so on.

I called and tried to get his flight number, but he was so distraught.  Finally, I lost it and asked, “what is wrong with you???”

I mean, WHAT THE HELL???

I sent him to dinner and spent most of my evening on the phone with United.  When someone didn’t answer my call the way I needed, I hung up and got another rep.  Someone finally told me the plane was grounded, called lost baggage and let me know his stuff wasn’t there, and that he needed to get to the airport that evening to locate his stuff.

When I let him know this, he was still confused…

In the end it worked out.  He got his bag around midnight.

So it’s all fine, right?

The following evening, he left his recording equipment at the hotel instead of taking it with him to Radio City.

I also found out he left his chargers on the flight he had taken just two days earlier.

Either he can’t travel alone, or I need to make a check list for him every single time he travels.

And me?  Oh, I was just finding out that the pipe for my kitchen sink was busted and would need to be repaired, a 3-4 day job that would consist of my concrete being busted and my yard torn up again.  Oh and don’t use your sink.

Anyone remember last time this happened??

Do you know what today is?

Anyone?

Helloooo…it’s the NFL Draft.

It may not mean much, well, it does, but probably not as much as it does to me.  For me, it means the end of a season I’ve been living in since college football ended.

After Saturday, my husband is mine.  All mine!

Until summer.

Believe me, I’ll take two full months.

Lance is actually in NYC for the draft.  Which is pretty freaking cool.  I’ve had to remind him of that more than once.  Because really, did he ever think he would be there?  To be in NYC for the draft is pretty freaking awesome.  I wish I were there.

But I’m not.

Instead…

I’m home with sick kids and a sink that is clogged because I tried to put cantaloupe rind down the disposal.  Years ago, my mom used to put watermelon rind down the disposal with no problems.  My BF reminded me that that was years ago.  Today, you can’t do that shit.

They just don’t make things the way they used to make them.

So here I sit alone with my bottle of bubbly.

It was good.

So what to blog about…

Let’s start with my favorite subject:

TEACHERS.

Did you know it’s National Teacher Appreciation Week?

No?  Then, clearly you don’t have kids in school.

My school actually celebrated this last week.  Which I must say is smart.  Who the fuck thought it was smart to have TAW immediately before Mother’s DAY??? You know, ONE DAY!!!!!  They get a week for a job they are PAID FOR.  I get one effing day.

YES, I chose my vocation.  JUST LIKE THEY DID.

When did you ever hear about a teacher being pressured into their position?  That’s right, never.

Just yesterday, Ezra Klein retweeted something about how lawyers make 70k more than teachers.

First, let’s shake our heads….is this news?  I think we all know teachers don’t make a ton of money.

But really…

Ezra, I love you, really I do.  I admit it, but, come on, just STFU.

Do I need to point out that most lawyers have more debt than teachers?  Go to school longer than teachers?  Work way more hours than teachers?  Don’t have summer and major holidays off?

Oh, and both teachers and lawyers chose their profession?

No?

I didn’t think so.

Yes, yes, teachers are great.  But let’s be clear.  They aren’t doing their job for nothing.  

And while people can argue they should be paid more, nobody forced them into their profession.  If we’re talking about people who deserve more money, let me step right up.   ME!  SAHM, the ladies taking care of my aunt, or my granny, or people working in group homes, any non-profit, a librarian, the ladies who make my decaf at Starbucks…the list could go on.

So you know, enjoy your week teachers.  Me, I will enjoy my ONE SINGLE DAY where hopefully, my husband will do something since I can’t depend on you guys to do shit to make sure my kids even make a card for me.  You guys?  Well, I sent three emails last week to make sure all the kids made a card for you.  All for a teacher who picks on my own son.  Why?  Because I’m room mom and I don’t let my battles become everyone else’s battles.  But hey, it’s no biggie.  Enjoy your day at the spa.

I won’t be completely negative.  Here’s where I’ll talk about how much I LOVE the 4th grade teachers.  I say this even though my Sunday, you know Mother’s Day, will be fucked because my 4th grader has a major test on Monday and a major project due on Tuesday.

I just don’t understand a full week and “poor teachers” talk.  It will literally drive me batty.

Funniest thing ever..my friend’s school has every child bring in something each day of the week.  Like cookies…because what teacher needs a bag of cookies from each of her students?  But the best was when every student was told to bring flip flops.  Every. Single. Child. brought flip flops to their teacher!  I know we live in Texas, but who needs 24 pairs of flip flops???

Okay, rant over….

I am officially off the TAW committee.  I think that committee was supposed to teach me humility.

Didn’t work.

Happy Week teachers!

Me?  Happy Draft Day!

Happy Easter~ the season lasts 50 days.  Make sure and enjoy each day.

Today found us in our favorite place.  The Grotto at Our Lady of Lourdes Parish.  I can’t remember how we found this place, but we’re hooked.  Usually, we pray in the chapel and head there for the feast of St. Bernadette or the Immaculate Conception.

But during Lent, we are called here for the beautiful outdoor Stations.  This place is so special.  We generally go a couple of other times, but always on Good Friday.  It’s different because it’s always crowded on Good Friday, and the kids can’t run from station to station.  It’s amazing, this place has taught my kids all of the stations.

We prayed, we went to church where two of my boys served, (proud mom moment, especially last night when Squirt carried the cross and Goose did the book and the priest gave him a pat on the head during mass) and then home for my dinner and to make pretzels.  It’s funny about traditions…I sometimes think it’s just me that cares about them.  But really, the kids do too.  They remember the pretzels on Good Friday.  They are still mad because I never bought beans for our sacrifice jar.  It shows that all these things I’m doing with them make an impression.

And so tomorrow, we prepare.  It’s a quiet day in our hose.  I bring down the decorations and get everything ready for Sunday.  A long day, that ends in going to Easter Vigil with my mom.  And then maybe a quick stop on the way home to pick up what I’ve been missing all Lent.

Today was such a beautiful day.  Spent with my favorite people, celebrating what is truly the most amazing days of the year.

So today I ran a 1/2 marathon.  It was pretty awesome.  I’m not a runner, but I really want to run the Houston 1/2 next year and raise money for Duchenne MD.

I DID IT!  IN UNDER TWO HOURS.

Barely.

1:59:42.

That’s a technicality, my heart rate monitor says 21 seconds.  Small details.

I hate to act like it’s a full marathon, because it was only 13 miles, but I’m pretty happy with today.

Best part, my family and dad were there to see me finish.   Lance was super proud and posting all over the place.

United Airlines~ Here’s the deal, before you and Continental merged, you sucked.  Everyone knew it.  Continental was good.  Now you have ruined what we once had.

I had a trip planned to KC over Thanksgiving.  My favorite uncle was extremely sick and we stayed home to be with our family.  He ended up dying the day we were scheduled to leave.  Clearly, the cancelled trip was least of our concerns.  But now, we’ve flown to Denver and booked two flights to Chicago in April.  We have a wedding over Labor Day in Virginia and then there’s a summer vacation for 7 people to purchase.

We need the flight credit.

Those flights cost $1000 because it was Thanksgiving weekend.  Guess what United wants to charge me to use my already purchased credit????????  $200 per person.  Here’s the best part- if I hand over a certified copy of my uncle’s death certificate (which are not free!) they will  only charge me $50 to use the credit that I ALREADY FUCKING PURCHASED!!!!!!!  Yes, they want to charge me to use my own money.  Oh and also…that flight back in November??  It was overbooked, so guess what?  My seat was not empty.  I hate United Airlines and the fact that one of my BF’s husband works there doesn’t change a thing.  The fact that they’re a hub in Houston makes it extremely difficult to show my hatred since I basically have to fly their shitty airline that has no customer service at all.

For today:: April 11, 2014

Outside my window:: the sun is shining, it’s a great day and the damn dog is barking.

I’m praying for:: several souls, a friend who was recently diagnosed with breast cancer, my brother who needs surgery and some personal family intentions.

Grateful:: for a mom who not only took care of my kids while we were gone, but managed to get them to all their games this weekend.  My dad came and helped, but she had some solo games.  And she took them to church and even endured a jackass who refused to shake my children’s hands during peace.

I’m currently listening to:: Wilco.  A friend sent me a text mentioning he had listened to Wilco all day.  It sounded like a pretty good idea.

Trying to organize:: the rest of this year.  I can’t believe we have six weeks of school left.  But THANK YOU GOD!  That said, there is so much to finish before the end of the school year.

One of my favorite things:: old friends.  Friends that remember your uncle from college and listen to details about his death.  Friends that you stay up late talking with about ridiculous things.  Friends who don’t disappoint.   That said, I have some pretty amazing new friends who hold me up in the day to day.

Trying to plan:: our summer vacation.  I’m pretty sure of the destination.  My dad told me to list my top three with pros and cons, but I think most people are leaning towards a specific city, unfortunately, it’s not Chicago.  But that’s okay, one day my kids will go there.  The city that is everyone’s top choice is great, and I love it,  but I think of it as an adult city.  Let’s see how I do with kids.

On the menu:: Planned a menu and stuck to it.  And it was actually pretty damn good.  Tomorrow is the last fish fry of the season.  I have no interest, but BH loves fish fry.  Might take him to the last one as a surprise.

Around the house:: the list is growing long.   In desperate need of a handyman.  Thought I had found one until my friend said the guys had to come back for faulty work.  I really want my walls painted.

I am reading:: Consoling the Heart of Jesus.  It’s slow going, but it’s really good and helpful.  Getting ready to start Devil in the White City.

Loving the moments:: when five out of seven in this family go to Confession. What a great night we had at the church.  Though I would have loved to have been on the listening end!  🙂  Seriously, how amazing is it that we all went and nobody complained and Sunshine and Snax wanted to know when they could go.

A few plans for the week:: well, the weeks almost over, but it’s been good.  We’ve had swim lessons, went to Discovery Green with friends, storytime with Miss Natalie, had a First Communion interview for BH, lunch with the boys and today we have a play date with a friend we haven’t seen in forever.  The weekend consists of nonstop baseball and my run.  Sounds pretty good to me.

Living the liturgy:: Lent is almost done.  It’s been ok.  Which overall means not great.  Lent shouldn’t be okay, it should take us to new levels.  Turns out my personal sacrifice hasn’t been so difficult.  The spiritual reading?  A bit harder to do on a consistent basis.   But we’ve prayed together a lot, fasted and grown a little.  We’ve been to confession twice so far, me more, and plan to go on Good Friday.  I’m so excited for Holy Week~the best week in the church.  Time for long masses full of meaning and outdoor stations.  Then the celebration for 50 days.

Towards fitness and health:: I think if I can run 10 miles after drinking pretty much nonstop from 9:15 until 2:15, I’m okay this Sunday.  Now my time?  Not sure, I have personal goals, but no clue if I will reach them.  Next week, back to spinning twice a week and no more runs over 8 for a while.  And that’s just fine with me.  Until the next 1/2.

A photo to share::

Loving the moments…

Last weekend, Lance and I went to Chicago to see Paul and Brian.  Specifically, we went for Paul’s junior recital.  Have I mentioned that Paul went back to undergrad to get a Bachelors in piano performance?  The lesson to be learned in that is, (I think), to let your kids follow their dreams early on before they incur major school debt.  I tend to be practical about things so I assume I’d be pointing my children towards more practical majors.  Now, nobody stopped Paul from following his dreams all those years ago.  He was really smart, so why not be a doctor?  Except he was really, really good at piano.  Finally, after years and the purchase of a grand piano, he decided to return to school.  He lightened his load at work and is now a junior.

I had such pride listening to him play.  I’ve listened to him worry these past few months about how he’d do.  There was no need because he was awesome!  Recently, he won a competition so we’ll be back soon to hear him play with a symphony!!!

After the recital, we had a huge get together at his house.

I saw my roommate from my freshman year at Texas.  She is now a professor and lives two minute from Paul.  His mom and sister were there, and lots of friends I’ve met over the years.  It was a blast.  The night ended at 2:40.  Paul, Brian and I were the last ones up.  It was kind of like we were back in college.  Except we’re not, and boy, I can’t handle nights like that more than once every few years.  Plus, I had to run Saturday, which I did, 10 miles!  Glorious to run outside there!

Saturday night had us at dinner with Paul, Brian, Paul’s mom and sister.  During the meal, talk turned to high school and some of our shenanigans.  We brought up the time he  puked black stuff, and I was so freaked, I called the ER.  The lady was a real witch and just said, “well maybe next time your friend won’t drink so much.”  Because that’s the smart thing to say to someone who is worried her friend has alcohol poisoning.  I mean, WTF?  At the very least, make sure I come in so said friend gets in trouble for drinking.

Anyway…his mom commented that that must have been the worst experience we’d ever had.  To which I said, “No, that would have been when the man pointed a gun at us.”  And everyone just stopped.  Because unlike me, Paul had not shared that story with his mom or sister!  I mean, my brother knew from the get go.

To sum it up, years and years ago, 1987 to be exact, bored, Paul and I decided to borrow a baby Jesus from an outdoor nativity scene.  I know.  Me.  The collector of nativity scenes, the Catholic who hates people to leave the faith…yes, me.  I was young and stupid.

The second we grabbed Jesus, somebody shouted “STOP” and there was a gun and so we stopped.  The guy and his wife who was shouting, “we got them” over and over shuffled us into the house.  I have no clue why we actually listened to them.  The gun, I guess.  The lady started crying because as it turns out people had been stealing poor baby Jesus year after year.  They weren’t religious even, but enough was enough.  That night they were going to catch the hoodlums.  Once inside, they asked who they wanted us to call: the police or our parents.  In unison, we said, “the police.”  We weren’t stupid.  Honestly, all I could think of was that my curfew was coming up and I needed to get the hell out of there.

In the end, all was fine, the couple invited us back for drinks the following year, and I made it home for curfew.

I thought Paul’s mom might pass out.  Turns out Sunday morning while I was at mass, (the irony, I know,) she had a little chat about the incident.

And now as I type this all out, I wonder if I ever told my dad…

:: The countdown is on!  EIGHT WEEKS!  That’s it!  And when you take into account that the kids have Stanford, it’s kind of like there’s only seven weeks of school left.  Poor BH, he’s ready to be done.  I can’t say I blame him.

:: So I’ve been trying to hit confession for two weeks now and each time I go, there is a huge line and only one priest.  I wait and wait with several kids by my side and I leave without the sacrament.  I have to say, it pisses me off.  Here I am ready to confess and work on improvement and there’s only one priest.  Here’s hoping tomorrow I make it to the front of the line so I can start over.

:: I mentioned this story to someone who happened to be Catholic, unknown to me.  She wasn’t a fan of confession and doesn’t go to mass.  I have to admit I was little bit bummed.  (Maybe because Lance had just told me a story about someone leaving the church, becoming Lutheran for ten years only to be “done with that” and now Baptist.  I don’t get that.  I just never understand why someone doesn’t appreciate Catholicism.  Not being judgmental, it just makes me sad.)   Then today, I got an email from that person asking how I liked my church because she wanted to get back to the church!  So I bitch way more than anything and I’m not a “praise be the Lord” type person, I mean, I praise Him, just not like that.  And maybe that’s a problem I should be looking into, but anyway…God really does have a plan.  And sometimes we’re helping even when we don’t know it.  So yay!

:: Sweet quotes of the week…“Mom, we can’t go to bed, it’s Friday and we have to pray Stations”~ Snax.  “Mom, you’re the most specialist mom in the world”~ Sunshine.  “I’m proud of you”~ dear friend to me.

:: Baseball started tonight.  After practice this week, I was pretty sure this was going to be a long season.  It seems I was being a bit negative because  BH managed to make contact with the ball.  His first machine pitch game and he got a single.  During his first practice, he had at least 12 chances at bat and never made contact.  Snax is playing a hybrid of coach pitch ball, he also failed to make contact with the ball at his practice.  Then there’s Goose who hasn’t grown in the past year, and didn’t make contact either.  Would be nice for all my boys to do well tomorrow.  Especially since I have four games tomorrow.  That after running 12 miles at 645 in the morning.  On a Saturday.  Yes, I have to brag that I am running 12 miles tomorrow.

:: Oh and one more…I got favorited by one of my favorite online people the other day.  She doesn’t follow me on Twitter, but I responded to something she wrote.  She’s a star as far as I’m concerned, so now I’m kind of a star too, right?