Does that seat have your name on it?

As I was getting my coffee this morning, I heard the makings of an issue between my son and daughter in the living room.

It seems that my 13 year old son had the absolute nerve to sit in the spot on the couch that my 15 year old daughter sits in every morning. OH MY! Although my daughters stuff (crap) was spread out over "two teenage butt's" worth of space on said couch, leaving only one clear spot to sit in... she had this entitled perception that the boy was in "her spot". As if the whole entire couch belonged to her.

We have other places to sit you know. You can sit in the recliner chair. You can sit on one of the bar stools at the counter that faces the living room. You can sit on the stool. Or ... you could even move your soccer equipment, yearbook, book bag, purse, blanket for the car-ride and whatever else is piled 4 feet deep on the couch to another location, thus freeing up two more spots on the couch.

And then she said it. "But that's MY seat!"

And then I asked it. "Does that Seat have YOUR name on it?"

With total conviction in her voice, it was declared that her brother was just sitting there (in her spot) to start trouble. Both kids have been known to occasionally "push the buttons" of each other, but frankly... it's 5:30am... and my son is simply too tired to think that hard this early in the morning to get one over on his sister. In fact, he's so tired that he plopped himself down in the first convenient, free from "stuff" spot, closest to the TV. Heck, I'd have sat there had he not beat me to it.

So I ranted for about 2 minutes about how none of the seats in the living room have "any body's" name on them and how she was being ridiculous and irrational and how this was a crappy way to start the day... and on and on.

Then I took my coffee into my bedroom, shut the door and didn't even say goodbye to the kids when they left for school with my husband.

So there!

Nostalgic Playing

My kids each had a friend spend the night on Friday. My 15 year old daughter and 13 year old son have a very close relationship with each other. They share many of the same friends and get along oddly well together as siblings and in their group of friends. In this day of video games, computers, myspace and online IM-ing, I was pleasantly surprised when my kids and their overnight guests grabbed baseball mitts and a couple of softballs out of the garage and walked to a nearby elementary school to play.

My kids are involved in sports about 3/4 of the year so I've never been real pushy about "making" them go outside to play. They swim almost every day in our pool during the summer. As a family we play volleyball, basketball and 4-square often together. But to see these kids get together to walk and play something, uninspired and uninvolved by us, is sadly a rare occasion.

I can remember gathering neighborhood children to fill the baseball diamond at the local elementary school with two FULL baseball teams. We played hide and seek, red rover and rode our bikes all the time. We'd be gone ALL day long, often skipping lunch because we were simply having too much fun to stop and eat...only returning home for a brief dinner... then back out again past daylight. The kids in our neighborhood just don't do a whole lot of that. Up until very recently, I wouldn't "let" my kids out of my sight to go and play. My husband and I would play with them or go with them to play together. We live in a safe neighborhood, but that means nothing these days. Folks just don't feel the same about letting their kids run the neighborhood all day long like we did as kids.

And so... on one hand it was nice to see the kids "go play". But, on the other hand ... even though my kids are 13 & 15... and even though they had their cell phones with them... and even though there was plenty of daylight left... and even though they weren't that far away... My husband and I got on our bikes "just to check" on them after they'd been gone about 1/2 hour. We rode up to school to find them playing catch together in the school yard. They were laughing and having a great time, rolling around in the grass after making tough catches, encouraging each other's fabulous athletic abilities.

My husband and I stayed with them until the kids decided they were done playing and we all went home. I can't tell you how good it felt to be "running" the neighborhood with our kids and their friends. It made me want to stay out past dark.

The IRS or a Root Canal?

A letter from the IRS or a Root Canal?

Hmmmmmm.... which one to choose?

Oh wait a minute!! I GOT BOTH!!!

Oh what fresh hell is this??

Part of my "crappy" last few months consists of both of these "events"!

So... which was worse?

Hands down, the root canal.

The letter from the IRS turned out to be a "fixable" mistake that we made on our 2006 tax return. This has been taken care of... whew! But I have to say... when I saw the FAT white envelope and started to open it... my heart was literally beating loud enough to hear it and I had to hold the letter far enough away from my face, as I feared I would vomit on it, and then not know what kind of trouble I was in!

The root canal? NOT FUN!! I'm pretty sure I've made it quite clear on the other site that I absolutely HATE going to the dentist... but I do go... every 6 months... So when my jaw started hurting just 4 months after my last check up, I was just sure I had oral cancer. When my dentist pulled up the ex-ray and said, "Terri... you have to have a root canal"... well... I just started crying. Really crying ... real tears... streaming down my face.

My dentist was just so sweet. He's got to be in his late 20's... cute as can be, empathetic, concerned, sympathetic... I either want to marry him or adopt him. He asked me what I was so upset about? I could tell he was just beside himself because I was crying... like unexplainable crying.

It wasn't JUST about the root canal at that point... I just cried cuz I had JUST had it. Enough with the bad news. Enough already... what in the world could I have possibly done to deserve this?

My motto is "what comes around goes around". I say it all the time for both the bad and good in this world. But what has been coming around to me lately nearly took me down. Was I an axe murderer in another life? It's the only thing that explains my sudden, compacted, "give it to me all at once" run of bad karma.

I've been a grateful person up till now. I've been a tolerant, giving, forgiving person up till now. I've let go of anger. I've let go of animosity. I've just let go. I'm not in control here. And the minute I stopped questioning "it"... the minute I just "let go".... things started getting better. I started getting better.

Life happens. I have to learn to accept it as it happens. I'm not in control of it. I'm only in control of how I deal with it... good or bad.

Date Night

Well... it's Wednesday.

That means it's date night with my husband. I love the fact that we go out every Wednesday. It's a great way for us to stay connected. We both look forward to Wednesday nights for all kinds of reasons.

I don't know where we going tonight and I don't know what we're doing... doesn't matter. I'll be with my best friend. It's always good!

Does it really need to become a law?

It looks like a local nearby city is going to pass a law against texting while driving. HUH? Do people really text while their driving? Who does that? A law needs to be passed to punish and ticket people who get caught doing this?? UNREAL!

As if driving didn't require my full attention to the road while I am forced to "watch out" for (stupid) drivers yacking on their cell phones. It's inconceivable that I am also on the road with an even more ignorant breed of people who are actually trying to type in letters on a little key pad while stepping on the gas of a 2000 pound vehicle.

At some time or another... my children, husband, granddaughter and/or parents are in my car with me. There is nothing that I need to "type/say" more important than protecting the people that I love most in this world. It is absolutely ARROGANT AND IGNORANT that someone honestly believes that they are capable of driving safely while texting.

UNBELIEVABLE!

Great Weekend

My birthday is tomorrow.

Wow... I'll be 44. Where did the time go?

My husband took me downtown to a casino and out to eat to celebrate. We had sooooooo much fun together. We walked out of the casino $300.00 richer than when we walked in. Then we went to a great restaurant with fabulous greek food. We had saganaki, lemon rice soup and gyro's. Yum! Then we came home and settled in for the night with a couple of good movies. I'm sure I've mentioned before how much I love and adore my husband. We'll celebrate 9 years of marriage together this year and my love for him grows stronger every day. He is a perfect match to me and so satisfying to be in the company of.

Yesterday was spent reading the paper, listening to music and just relaxing together. My husband and I did not want the weekend to end nor did we want to get out of bed this morning. But it's Monday. We both have work to do and it's back to the routine of the week.

I'm off to make dinner for my wonderful husband. I get butterflies still... knowing he'll be walking in the door soon....

So it's been forever

So it's been forever since I've blogged. Life has been so nice, peaceful... full of satisfaction and content. I think I just didn't want to jinx it. Everyone is doing great. We are happy. Nothing to complain about. Nothing real exciting to talk about.

We are patiently waiting for winter to end as spring leads into all kinds of new beginnings.