Totally Tuesday Blog Hop

Today's Blog Hop!  Come and join us!

Follow the hostesses and me too, of course, then find some others you like and follow them too.

You Meet Some Of The Nicest People Online

Today, with the kids gone, I have been catching up on blogs that I follow.  I love reading about what people are doing, things they've tried, and what they are thinking.  It made me realize how much things have changed in the last 20 years.

I remember when most of us had no internet or what we did have was extremely slow.  I'm not sure how we got anything accomplished back then.  Okay, to be honest, sometimes I don't get as much accomplished now that I get "stuck" online.  Seriously, how did we live without being able to run to our computers to find out if we can just cut the moldy patch off that expensive block of cheese or if we have to toss it.

Who would have thought back then that we would be able to meet people from all over the world, without ever leaving home?  Those that haven't done it don't understand that some of the friendships you make online are just as valid as those you make elsewhere.

My daughter got married last year to a wonderful young man who lives in Canada.  He's had an extended visit here in the States and I've gotten to know him pretty well.  They met online playing games nearly 7 years ago.  She loves him very much and he adores her and treats her very well.   I'm lucky to have him for a son-in-law.

It's not just the younger people who are doing things like this.  Outside of my family, the four people that mean the most to me in this world, I met online.  They are all men, go figure.  One lives in Belgium.  He makes me think, stretches my mind and encourages me to get out and learn and try new things. 

 Another lives in Texas.  He's my music mentor as well as being a great friend.  He is a college professor by day and a struggling musician by night.  His band, Telling Stories, released their second CD last year and they are working on their next one.

My dearest friend lives in Northern California.  He leads a busy life there and we don't get to connect as often as I would like but we keep in touch when we can.  He makes me laugh and we can spend hours just talking.  He never forgets my birthday and that alone means the world to me.  Almost nothing perks me up more than getting an email or an IM from him.  

Last but not least, there is The Greek.

The Greek and I have been living together for almost 2 years.  I moved from California to Wisconsin to be with him. We met online a few years ago.  He actually met my alter ego first when he heard her singing somewhere, then hired her for a weekly show.  We started talking and spending more and more time together.  The ex was moving the kids out of state and The Greek's boys were all moving out.  He asked me to come live with him.  After Colorado, I had a promised myself that I'd never live where it snowed again.  Here I am.  Sometimes love makes you do stupid things. 

I have quite a few other friends that I met online that I'm close to.  They are all over the world.  The US, Canada, Philippines, Australia, Brazil, Germany, New Zealand, Japan, Spain, Scotland, UK, Ireland, Africa...the list goes on and on.  Some help me for specific things like fixing my sound when I've messed up my mixer or another who I go to when I need more insight about myself.  Most are just good people and I am happy when we can spend some time together.

How about you?  Have any of you met anyone online that you can't imagine not being in your life today?

Empty Arms

It's a sad day for me.  Spring break is over and I had to put my boys back on a plane to their father.  Horse cried last night.  Rabbit was plotting how to miss the plane so they could stay.  They will be back in about 6 weeks for summer vacation but as Horse told his father,

"Even ONE day is too long!!!!"

They should not be with their father.  He's not a bad guy but he has issues.  Mental health issues being the biggest.

Our divorce/child custody was a comedy of errors, except it wasn't funny.  People would tell me that there was no way that the courts could rule against me, yet they did time and time again.  Those who were asked to make the determinations twisted words, told half truths (I have people who will swear that what is in the reports was not what they said) and  didn't bother asking for clarification on important details.  A big deal was made that I didn't sit and eat dinner with the kids.  If they had bothered to ask me about it, they would have found out that I was working during the evening hours.  Running back and forth to the kitchen to cook and serve while doing my work.

Others, when asked to make a second determination, shirked their responsibilities by ignoring us for months then telling the court that since they didn't have enough time to do anything, they would just go with the first report (this happened twice!).

I was even thwarted by the court itself.  When I asked to speak, I was literally told that I could but anything I said wouldn't make any difference to them.

Bottom line though, it came down to the being able to afford legal counsel.  He hired an expensive high powered attorney.  I scraped and hired a lawyer, who then took my retainer and disappeared. Not even the court has been able to find him and it's been almost 4 years.  I did hire another lawyer but my retainer didn't even  cover long enough for her to play catch up, although she tried.  Money was gone, so when I walked into the court for the final divorce and the year long custody battle after that, I did it alone.

There were no "free" lawyers available, not for family law cases.  I called all over.

Sorry for the pity party.  I miss my boys already and I'm already counting the days until they return home.

I had dog tags made for them a year ago.  On one side is our picture.  On the other side a quote from  J.R.R. Tolkien...

"Not All Those Who Wander Are Lost"

Out of the Mouths of Babes

I've got enough for two posts on my food blog and nothing really for here today.  It's 4 am and I don't want to put this off until when I wake up because it is the boys' last day here with us.  I guess it's time to pull out the funny kid sayings.  

Horse was looking for The Greek's van in the parking lot earlier this week.  He happily announced that he had spotted the Dooj.  The Greek's DODGE Caravan will forever been known as the Dooj.  We were even talking about getting a new license plate with that name on it.

The boys and I all use the Kindle for PC.  I buy them books and have it sent to their computers and I can read them too so I know what they are reading.  It's been great and the boys love knowing that a call  to me means they can have a new book in just a few minutes.  Last week was my birthday and I was trying to decide what to buy with the presents my family had sent me.  I've been picturing myself sitting by my pool (Can you tell how much I want a pool?)  and reading my books.  I finally said, "I think I'm going to buy a Kindle!"  


Horse pipes up, "Why a Kindle?  Why don't you get something fun?" 


I told him that I thought a Kindle would be fun but what other suggestions did he have?  


"Toys!"  


"Why would I want toys?"  


"So you can play and share them with us!"

I NEVER!  I Swear!

When I shop, even at the grocery store, I like to go up and down every single aisle.  Jogs my memory about what I need and we get to see what new products are on the shelves.  My daughter and I were doing that one day.  She was about 3 years old and was sitting in the shopping cart.  We turned down an aisle that had all the pet food on one side of it.  In a really loud voice I hear her say, "Mommy!  You aren't going to feed me dog food AGAIN are you?"  I whipped around and she had the devil's grin on.

One final story...Sometimes when I'm busy working, I'll ask the kids to do small jobs for me.  One day when he was about 7,  I asked Rabbit to get me some water. He did and went back to playing. A little while later I asked him to refill my glass and he said "Ok Momma!  And this time I'll get you fresh water from the fridge!" ????   I didn't even want to ask!

Well Heeled

They are like old friends.  Worn down but comfortable.  They were so cute when I bought them nearly five years ago and looked good, especially with the painted flowers on my toenails.  They were made by Skecher and I would almost kill to have another pair.  I've looked and looked for a couple of years with no luck.  They go by many names...sandals, slippers, zoris, flipflops.  They were my go-to footwear of choice in the warmer months.  Easy on, easy off and so comfortable to wear and walk in. I can't believe the little bows and fake gems are still on them today.

One of the great things I've found about some of these blogs is they tell me about freebies and great deals.  I don't have to go looking for them myself.  Today the Divvy Up Diva posted a link to a coupon for Famous Footwear (click on her link to get to it.  It's good through May 1st both in stores and online) for 30% off your ENTIRE purchase.  I've been thinking about getting a new pair of sandals for a couple of weeks.  So I printed mine out and had The Greek drive me over to Famous Footwear.

Nearly everything in the store was on sale and then I had the coupon on top of that.  There were so many cute styles and I found five or six to try on.  Rabbit and Horse were great.  First they just sat next to me and raided the candy I had in my purse. With their sweet tooth satisfied, I was able to send them out to return boxes and get other sizes when I needed them.  They helped to critique them and so we decided on three pairs.

My sons' favorites.  They like me being a girly girl.  They love when I wear floral shirts and dresses and bathe in floral scented bath gel.  The black blossoms on these were right up their alley.

These were a comfortable take on the classic fisherman sandal.

My boys live in crocs.  They go through 2 or 3 pairs a year.  They were excited when I found a pair I liked.  I loved them.  They were very comfortable and like all crocs they are made of that plastic material.  These also have those special bottoms that are supposed to make your legs more toned.  I could picture myself walking around the pool area in our new house in AZ, in these shoes.  Ok so we haven't found a new house...yet.  We don't know if we'll have a pool or not...yet.  One can dream ...and hope.

I should be set now for the next couple of years.  So I guess I can retire the old blue striped ones...Maybe.

Eaten by the _____ monster!

The way kids lose things never ceases to amaze me.  Sometimes it happens in a matter of minutes.

"Rabbit, please put this grocery list on my desk."  He takes it and leaves.  Two minutes later I call him back, "Bring that list back I forgot to add a few things."

"What list?"

"The one I told you to put on my desk two minutes ago."

"You did?"

"Yes! Go get it.  I need to add a couple more items."

He goes and comes back.  "It's not there."

WTH?  Sometimes I'm lucky and find it later on the bathroom sink, or my nightstand.  Other times the list monster must have eaten it.

Tonight we decided dessert was going to be Peep S'mores.  If you have never had a Peep S'more you need to try one.  Put a square of chocolate and a Peep (you know the marshmallow things you can get on the holidays) on a graham cracker square and microwave for about 15 seconds.  Watch them, they blow up like a Macy's Thanksgiving Parade Balloon.  Take them out and top with another graham cracker.  Be careful for a few minutes they are hot, but eat them warm. If you don't they can get a little hard.

Anyway I told the boys to bring out the Peeps that were in their eggs from Easter.  After about 15 minutes, they come out and tell me they can't find them.  Fourteen of the 26 eggs are missing.  I tell them to clean up their room and maybe they will find them.  After another 15 min, still no luck.

The boys leave their shoes near the front door.  When they are here, I drag out the box with their game systems in it and put it in the living room to reattach to the TV.  Everything else they have goes in their room.  It's about 10x10.  So how does something just disappear out of there?

I go sit on the bed and help direct them.  They clean out under the beds.  Nothing.   We open the closet and go through every single bin in there (I thought we'd have sold the house by now and be in AZ so I had packed all their stuff up in 18 gallon bins.) Not a single egg.  We checked inside every backpack and suitcase.  Nada.  Cleaned off and straightened up all the beds.  Absolutely no luck,

I'm baffled.  Rabbit said maybe the Easter bunny came and took them back.  I was almost inclined to agree with him.  I get up to go pull out the Peeps that were unopened.  I stop and turn around to give further instructions.  Then I see it...a white plastic grocery bag on the floor at the end of the far bed.

"What's in that bag?'  Rabbit pulls it out and before he can even open it I can hear the sound of plastic hitting plastic.  I guess the Easter bunny didn't want them after all.

Upside to this was that the boys have a clean room again.  For all of...15 minutes...maybe.  Oh!  We did get our S'mores too!

I Bow To All You Mommy Bloggers!

In the last 4 days, I've gained a new respect for mommy bloggers.  Especially those with young children.  I am amazed by those that post every day.  I am trying to do that and with my boys here, it's been a challenge.  Yes, I have more things to write about since we're actually doing things, but who can remember them this late at night?  


When they are not here with me, I cook a good dinner maybe 3 times a week.  The rest of the time we pretty much forage for ourselves.  Other than that my time is my own to do what I want with.  


It might be because they are not with me all the time.  I have to make sure I cook all their favorite meals in the short time they are here.  I also try to spend as much time as I can with them, so I don't sit at my desk and write bits and pieces of my blog all day.


I had a light bulb go off in my head today.  What if I make blogging a family affair?  It was an idea I had been tossing around anyway, but maybe this would give me a chance everyday to put some work into mine while creating a little family "moment".  Moment was the right word I guess.


My boys are avid readers but don't like to write.  I think it's mostly because neither one is good at penmanship.  I want them to learn to express themselves well.  For years, I never put anything creative on paper.  Everything was done on the computer and so I thought I'd urge my kids to start writing that way.


They each started a blog today.  The blogs are not open to the public.  We are hoping that some of the other relatives start following along.  I will post excerpts here when I see something worth sharing.  


I was hoping this would give me time to write in at least one of my blogs.  Fat chance.  Horse's first attempt was about 8 words long.  So I set a minimum of 5 sentences, for now.

This is Rabbit's first blog post...


My new diet has 40 points a day.  We can't snack.  It's sad.

Also mama couldn't load LOTRO. 

I also ate crepes at easter brunch.  They were filled with peaches.


(In my defense, they get 2-3 snacks a day, if they choose wisely.  This was in response to me making him decide on S'mores OR mousse OR a serving of baked chips for that snack time)

Horse got into the spirit after I told him to write more...


On Easter I went to a Easter brunch and I did a Easter egg hunt.  Horse  and I both got 4 special Easter eggs. In the special eggs there was money.


For Easter brunch I went to Bakers street. My favorite thing was the ribs. They were really tasty.Most of the meat fell off the bones .


Not too bad for first posts.  I can't wait to see how much better they get at doing this.  Do any of your younger kids blog?  I'd like to know how you encourage them and if they are enjoying it.