Chasing the dream of sleep

Sleep has always been an interesting thing in our house, because it rarely happens. Joel is a chronic insomniac. He rarely ever gets a good night sleep. I can and always could fall asleep at the drop of a hat, anywhere and anytime. Both of my kids were horrible sleepers as babies - Maddie worse than Dylan. I don't honestly know how I survived on such little sleep. Dylan as a child has not had much trouble with sleeping, other than he likes to get up early, but I do too so I don't blame him. Maddie, as she has gotten older has become a much better sleeper - sleeping at times 11-12 hours a night.

Lately though she's caught a case of the insomnia from Joel (yes, I know it's not contagious, don't lecture me). Once she falls asleep, she's good for the rest of the night, it's just that 1.5-2 hours after she goes to bed that she just tosses and turns. Makes for fun times for everyone. She cries too, because she IS tired, she just can't seem to fall asleep. All the usual tricks aren't working for her. At first I blamed it on accidentally drinkiing some soda with caffeine, but that was DAYS ago. The effect of caffeine doesn't last THAT long, even I know that. Hopefully this will all go away in a day or two, because it's getting old super fast.

Rules

• Sleeping pills and laxatives are not a good combination.
• Don't worry about what people think, they don't do it very often.
• Artificial intelligence is no match for natural stupidity.
• The lesser of two evils is often the least fun.
• Not one shred of evidence supports the notion that life is serious.
• If you look like your passport picture, you probably need the trip.
• Bills travel faster than checks.
• Eat well, stay fit, die anyway.
• No man has ever been shot while doing the dishes.
• Opportunities always look bigger going than coming.
• Junk is something you keep for years until 3 weeks before you need it.
• There is always one more imbecile than you counted on.
• Experience is what enables you to recognize a mistake when you make it again.
• By the time you get to the point that you can make ends meet, the ends move.
• Thou shalt not weigh more than your refrigerator.
• The jeans do not make your butt look fat. The jeans are innocent.
• There is a fine line between hobby and mental illness.
• People who want to share their religious views with you almost never want to hear yours.
• Gossip is a more powerful tool than people realize.
• Does anyone truly understand Daylight Savings Time?
• The one thing that bad drivers and good drivers have in common is that they both think they're good drivers.

Just Breathe

Today was a great day. I went to visit my dad and he looked awesome. He was in his pajamas, not some crazy nightgown, and he wasn't hooked up to any pain pumps, or any IVs, or any tubes, or catheters, or anything. When I got there he was walking around the halls completely unassisted - no walker or anything. He was practically running. He said he felt great and was loving the walking. He was completely cleared to go home today. I'm so happy about that. I really enjoyed hanging out with my dad at the hospital, but I am so happy to see him go home. It's all easy breezy from here :)

Dad update

I should have done this days ago, but I've been pretty busy keeping the oil companies in business with my frequent trips to and from the hospital. Most everyone who is reading this probably already knows all this, so I'm pretty much being redundant, but what else do I have to do with my free time other than this? I couldn't even finish typing that without laughing. So many funny words, like free time.

Dad had his surgery Friday. It was a success with no complications. He has some inflammation around the heart after surgery, but it's not completely uncommon. He had a 4-vessel bypass. We expected a 2-vessel or a 3-vessel, but he needed 4. Once you're in there you might as well do as much as you can, right?

I got to see him right after surgery and he was awake, which I wasn't expecting. I was really happy to see that. He's recovering slowly but surely with only a few minor setbacks that one would expect. I've been spending all my time at the hospital, from the time I get up until Cheryll gets there. I'm trying to let my stepmom have as much time with him without me being there, and since she works during the day, it works out perfectly. It's been really nice spending all that time with him. He dozes off while I read my book. We watch TV together. We complain about the stupid physical therapist together. He hasn't been cranky at all other than when they forgot to plug in his pain pump and he was in serious pain. Amateurs.

I'm bringing the kids in to see him tomorrow. He wanted to wait until he was feeling a little better and we both felt tomorrow would be best. The kids are excited and he is really missing them. I had a talk with them tonight about what to expect. They saw their Papa in the hospital when he had his surgery, but this is a bit different. Grandpa is their superman. Heck, he's my superman. They're prepared for what they'll see tomorrow. I personally think he looks awesome, and they may think that too, but I wanted them prepared for something different. They're biggest concern was whether or not we will get to eat lunch in the hospital cafeteria. Sigh. I am so freaking sick of the hospital cafeteria food I could vomit.

Cinderdylan

What a beautiful thing this is. I've never done chores for my kids because they don't really care about money, usually whatever they want - Grandpa will buy for them. So, when I put chores in place it usually lasts about a week. HOWEVER - when it's punishment, it must get done - no arguments. It is day 2 and not only have I not got even one single argument, he seems almost happy to be doing it. Typically, during my day I do at least 2 loads of laundry, fold, and put them away. I usually do at least one load in the dishwasher and put it away. I'll straighten up the house too. Now, I do the laundry, but I don't fold it. I start the dishwasher, but i don't put them away. My slave gets home and does it.

Now, he gets to experience what WEEKEND chores are. Hehehe. He's in for a super treat tomorrow. He asked to go hang out with some friends at the mall. I told Cinderella he could, but only if his chores are done. He knew better than to call me anything with "wicked" in front of it, although I saw the thought cross his mind.

Tonight we watch Despicable Me for Friday Night Movie Night. The kids have seen it, but we have not. Netflix doesn't have it until next week and of course it's going to be on "long wait", so it would probably be another week before we saw it, at least. I decided to just buy it. I already know the kids love it, and Maddie will probably watch it over and over and over again. It's time to return Beezus and Ramona to Netflix anyway, so she needs a new movie for her continuous rotation.

Joel's going to the Seahawk game tomorrow. He's pretty excited about it. I don't know how he's gonna sleep tonight. Dylan was disappointed he didn't get to go too, but the ticket was given by a friend and he only had one extra. Besides, Cinderella has some floors to wash.

Slavery reinstated? Maybe....

My son is smart. Scary smart. Yet, sometimes he lacks the good old fashioned common sense.

He has a cell phone with unlimited texting, which he takes full advantage of, as most 13 year olds with cell phones do. Yet, that wasn't enough. Getting on the internet on his phone was something he couldn't stay away from. I'd warned him on multiple occasions, but it never got out of hand so I never turned it off or anything.

Then, came $170 worth of data charges on his cell phone. My.Head.Exploded. He's honestly really lucky he was at school when I found out. Like, REALLY lucky. It gave me a few hours to go from wanting to strangle him, to wanting to take his phone away permanently, to wanting to ground him for life, to wanting to scream until my voice gives out and he loses his hearing. I had a lot of time to think about what I was going to do and say. I never lost my cool (haha, seriously). I came up with what to do. First, his Internet on his phone is disabled. That was a no-brainer. Second, obviously, he was going to have to pay for this, there was no way around that. So, first thing I did was take away what he had left of his Christmas money, which wasn't much. Then....I declared him my slave. Whatever I need done, he's to do it - dishes, mopping, vacuming, folding laundry, dusting, even picking up his sister's toys for her. DONE. Whatever makes MY LIFE easier, he's going to do it. I figure about 3 weeks of this and he will have physically re-paid this debt to me and probably have seriously regretted the whole thing.

Now, the real question is, what to do with all this free time??

What are you waiting for?

Our family has varying taste in music. Listening to music in the car is always interesting.

Joel likes old school country mostly - Hank Williams, Johnny Cash, etc. He also listens to 107.7 and all the nonsense that comes with that.

Dylan likes "rappy" stuff like Eminem and Usher and Bruno Mars. Things that make my ears bleed. Except Eminem - I have a soft spot for him.

My music rocks of course. Duh.

Maddie likes things like Lady Gaga, Kesha, and Katy Perry. I can't really fault her for that, though, because she got it from me :)

So, one of my favorite songs is Animal from Neon Trees. Maddie, who of course only listens to music when I do, loves it. I found out recently that Dylan loves it, which shocked me because there aren't any misspelled words in the title.

The other day Joel was taking Maddie to get her hair cut. When he got back he said "in the car I was listening to the radio and one of my favorite songs came on and Maddie was singing it and knew every word!!!" When I asked what song it was, he started singing "oh oh, I want some more..."

I said "YOU LIKE THAT SONG TOO?????"

Now Maddie calls it our "Family Song" because for the first time I think ever, we have a song that the whole family enjoys.

For your listening pleasure.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qY--Yu4kzz0

2011 can bite me

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I absolutely cannot think of a worse way to start a new year than with the flu. Since the start of this craptastical year, I have had fevers, body aches, chills, diarrhea, nausea, and just overall exhaustion. It wasn't until about mid-day today that I have actually started to feel like a semi-human again. I still wouldn't say I'm 100% - maybe 50%.

Maddie was really worried about me. Today she said that she was worried that I was going to die. Poor girl :( Last night before bed, instead of me reading to her in her bed, she read a book to me in my bed. How sweet is she? Dylan offered to stay home today and take care of me, but his offer was less sweet and more of a ploy to try to get out of school. Put it back son, cause I ain't buying it.

My Ramona

Maddie and I have read almost all of the Ramona Quimby books by Beverly Cleary. We LOVE them. I've always thought Ramona reminded me so much of Maddie in her personality, but the one time I mentioned it I thought she was going to lose her mind in anger. Kind of like the above picture.

We finally watched the live action movie, Ramona and Beezus last night. It totally cemented my thought that Maddie and Ramona were personality twins. Even Maddie could not deny it so much anymore, although she still did. If you haven't seen the movie, do it. Then you can see what it's like to live with My Ramona.

Sneezing in the New Year

Our Annual New Years Eve Party at the Snelsons is over. It was so much fun, as usual. I got no sleep at all. Maybe an hour TOTAL. That means a minute or two here, a minute or two there. Part of the problem was the sleeping at someone else's house thing. I have a difficult time sleeping anywhere other than my own home. The other problem is that I am apparently catching a cold. Way to bring in the New Year, eh? Sometime around 9:30 or 10:00 last night I could feel it coming on. BARNACLES. Since I was only two drinks into the night anyway, I figured I would just stop and hope to feel at least partly human in the morning. Although I'm sure it "helped" for me to not feel like total garbage today, I still feel like someone is in my head pounding with hammers. Unfortunately, it's not because I had too much fun, it's because I'm freaking SICK. I know I'm going to someday regret saying this, but I think I'd rather be hungover. At least I know I would probably be 100% by the end of the day or at least tomorrow. I already hate 2011.

The girls took some pictures last night, but they're mostly of people's butts and chins and eyeballs up close. Awesome.