Once again, I failed to buy tickets in time to see the Old 97’s for tonight. I made plans to meet a friend and her husband since the show doesn’t start until late. They have their tickets, I have nothing. And they are SOLD OUT. SO…now I am faced with buying their album at Cactus Records in hopes of getting a wristband so I can leave Super Saints to drive back into town by 5:15 WITH THE BOYS so I can see the Old 97’s. WHY, WHY, WHY do I do this every. freaking. time???? Taking a bunch of little kids is one way to get them to notice me, right?

Don’t you wish you had the attitude that the miners trapped in Chili have? Don’t you just feel like the biggest LOSER when you think of how hard your life is when these men are trapped for days on end with the best attitude ever? I know things are relative, and we all have it hard in different ways. My rough times are not lessened because they aren’t catastrophic in nature, but the reality is that so many people have it so much harder than we do here in the United States. How I wish we, myself at the top of the list, could stop the whining and just praise God for the gifts we have. Be thankful for our life instead of finding something to bitch about on a daily basis. I don’t know how these men kept their spirits up, but they did and hopefully, we can all learn something from them. I want to sing praises to God for the gift these men have shown us, because truly they are a gift of hope to us all. I pray they are all returned safely to their families as soon as possible. Last check, half were up!

For the first time today, I had a second to myself. A second to browse through some blogs and the thing that interested me the most was some lady talking about her holiday planner. I am the biggest geek. Of course, I already have a holiday binder that I keep yearly. It covers who I buy gifts for, what was purchased and the cost of purchases. I also have recipes for holiday treats and menus from Christmas’s past. Her planner was decorated. I may have to do the same. Maybe give the Baby Hulk a cutting exercise so we can decorate the cover.

Thinking about a holiday planner makes me realize that I have done almost nothing for the holidays this year. Most years I have purchased everything by the end of October, with the exception of a couple of difficult people on the list. This year, as with most people, I am scaling down on gifts. It might mean gifts just for the kids, only one big gift, I’m just not sure. I do know that I want meaningful gifts and not just a bunch of crap. I am not busting my ass getting rid of toys right now just to add more to the house. I hate to sound like the Grinch, but I just want things to be meaningful. I want them to see the wonder of having a new baby in time for Christmas. Besides gifts, the day in general will just be more low key. I’ll have a new baby and that means our only outing will be Mass that day. We’re not having a big dinner, and Lance has already said that Trulucks probably won’t happen on Christmas Eve. It’s such a pain to work around a gimpy wife who has to pump every few hours. (Things would be so much easier if I actually just breastfed the baby. But since I’m about what I want to do on that front, I can live without Trulucks or big functions this year.)

I am psyched about getting my lists going for this year. If there is one thing I love it’s a good list. Right now, I have three people crossed off my list. I don’t expect to be finished shopping anytime soon, but I hope to have a meaningful list by the end of the week.

Is it bad when the priest offers prayers for you after you leave Mass a couple of minutes early with a screaming child?

I used to go to daily Mass Monday through Friday. Then the Baby Hulk came and let me know that this wasn’t going to work with his schedule. He just wasn’t quiet ever. I figured he’d grow out of it. He hasn’t really. Instead of crying during Mass, he falls to the floor when the priest he likes isn’t there. “I don’t like this priest!” I told a friend about that, and he said he sometimes feels the same way. And I suppose I do as well. No David is the worst of all. For me to attend Mass at all, I almost have to go into the cry room because he is so loud in general then starts shouting NO if you take a church missal away from him. I try to start in the main chapel, then move to the cry room if the boys get noisy. (And because the Baby Hulk is so vocal about his dislike for daily Mass and certain priests, I have cut my week to just two Masses. That isn’t asking a lot considering the grace all of us gain. Like maybe a mom who doesn’t scream all day when she has the chance to start her day like that.)

Yesterday was a Mass day. And it was so bad. No David screamed from the start. It was so loud that I had to cover his mouth while getting to the cry room and the priest noticeably started talking louder. Usually he will stop crying in the cry room and start wandering around, something that drives me crazy about cry rooms, but not yesterday. He cried the ENTIRE time we were in there so that I heard nothing at all. The Baby Hulk sat in his pew like an angel waiting for us to get a blessing. No David stopped crying long enough for his blessing, but then as soon as we returned to the pew for what I thought would be three more minutes of Mass, he started screaming again. I just left. I had had it with him and couldn’t even wait for the final blessing. I was so flipping mad. Mass is supposed to help not make my day worse. I was so angry at my kid, I couldn’t even look at him.

This morning at the gym, I ran into a lady who told me she saw me yesterday at Mass. She then told me how Father had everyone pray for mothers, esp mothers who have four boys and are pregnant that try to go to daily Mass.

It would appear that the more children I have the less I care about dogs. In fact, at this point in my life, I would be so happy without a dog. There, I said it. I feel horrible about it. I used to fly home with my Casey from law school. She was my carry-on bag and sat under the seat in front of me. Of course, she had to stay with whoever I was staying with during my visit.

What was I thinking? First, anyone who plans to come see me: NEVER bring your dog to my house. While I realize that people put up with me and my dog, I promise, I won’t put up with your dog. And if you come with a dog, plan on it staying outside. It doesn’t matter how big, small, trained or perfect your dog is, it’s NOT coming in my house. Here is my belated “I’M SORRY” to everyone who I forced my sweet, perfect Casey on. (Although really, she was such a sweetie and she was oh so perfect.)

I would like to think that Casey dying had such an effect on me that I can never really love another dog like that again, but that would be a lie. The reality is that I have four kids and a husband who all need a lot of attention and I don’t have any leftover attention for pets anymore. Maybe that’s bad, I call it honest.

I try to play with Lola (and this weather has made it much easier to do so) and won’t get rid of her for two reasons: I don’t give pets away and I can’t stand kids that are p****** around dogs. If I have a dog, I figure my kids won’t be the annoying ones. I do love that No David seems to love Lola as does the Baby Hulk.

In honor of St. Francis, I have made a vet appointment for Lola. I hope she appreciates this. Does this make me a better pet owner?

Goose- “I’m just going to call the Sooners losers.” and this one-“I think the Sooners are close to the devil.”

And my personal favorite from the Baby Hulk…”OU Sucks.”

Yes, me dear son, they do indeed suck. They won, and I swear, my phone rang within five minutes of the game ending. Why, I ask, why? If there is any good from today, it is the fact that my kids sat through most of the game and hate OU as much as I do. And while Lance gets all weird about them saying OU sucks, I couldn’t be more proud of them. The other day, the Baby Hulk wanted to know who we would cheer for if OU were playing Alabama. While it kills me to say it, obviously, we would root for Bama. I don’t think the boys quite understand that yet, but I am sure they will one day.

It’s 8:21 pm and OU still sucks.

Why do they do this to me? I have such a love/hate relationship with Amazon. This offer arrived in my email this morning. This book has three Tomie stories, two of which I already own, and the third which I can only find used for 40 bucks. $16.86 seems like a deal to me for a book we will love through the Christmas season. Right? I wonder if Lance will think so.

As if I didn’t already know this…Congratulations to my talented, amazing husband. You are most definitely the best! I love you. Wish I could give you something besides a congrats and a gaggle of kids. Would a nice date work?

Goose came running from the playroom with a couple of books, telling me that he was going to his Magic Tree House. He was going to “imagine an adventure” with his brother. I think they just read, but how sweet and cute they are!