Prairie Dog Update

Goal- to check our money situation everyday.

Me & money....when it comes to money ignorance is bliss. I will just take care of things until my debit card is denied or I get that envelope in the mail that says we paid this & charged you this.

This is my first focus. To be more aware of finances and not spend above & beyond.

Snowball Fight Theater

So yesterday on the way home from school Goo & Dee-burger had a snowball fight. Nothing unusual, just a bunch of neighborhood kids walking home throwing snowballs. Happens every afternoon

So, they get home and start to tell me about it...this one got bloody. Apparently the little boy that lives two houses up the street threw a snowball and hit the little girl that lives around the corner and gave her a bloody nose. Goo is pretty good friends with this little girl, last summer she even wrote him an anonymous note to meet her at the corner if he wanted to be boyfriend & girlfriend ((how romantic!)). He ignored the note & her the rest of the summer but, they definitely have a thing for each other. little hussy!!

So, UpTheStreetKid hit IWannaBeYourGF girl and bloodied her nose. So, naturally, Goo thought that it was a free-for-all (yay hockey skills) and tackled UpTheStreetKid to the ground and knocked his glasses off while wrestling. Apparently, UpTheStreetKid is a wussyhound and cried weeweewee all the way home.
15 minutes later, who shows up at my door? You guessed it, UpTheStreetMom whoisblindasabat and her two daughters. (what? no seeing eye dog today? guess its optional when your really not blind/blind and only want the tax deduction)
 
So she starts off with 'i wondered if i could talk to you about what happened on the way home from school.'
I say sure and she tries to push her way into my house. (K-I've made the mistake before of letting her in & she is too weird and never leaves. maybe she cant find the door or something?)
I dont let her in, just stand there with the door open, smile on my face and try to look happy & engaged.
She finally begins with some hmmms & haaas .....'i know boys will be boys. do you know what happened on the way home from school?'
I say yeah, there was a snowball fight yer kid hit a girl with a snowball & bloodied her nose. My kid tackled yer kid, knocked his glasses off, i guess he felt guilty, so he got up gave him his specs, then they all headed home'
she says 'oh. i got a different story. i'm just trying to get to the bottom of it'
I smile and say 'oh wow, that's so hard. I'm sorry. Let me know if there's anything I can do to help sort it out' then tell her to have a good afternoon and close the door.

I just dont do drama.

So, last night we had cubscout pack meeting *gag* and guess who wasn't there? I should feel bad but, I really don't. She was right from the beginning, boys will be boys and if hers cant handle the ruff and tumble of my son then he needs away from him/us & my backyard.
I'm sure she has forgotten how often I pick her kid up & make sure he has what he needs for scouts/school. How often we have taken him with us to do things because her and her hubby dont do shit with their kids because she wont leave the house & he wont leave his World of WhateverCrap. I feel bad for this kid because  his I kinda think his mom & dad suck and I watch his older sisters pick on him all the time on their way too & from school. He wanders the streets looking for somewhere to hangout every night and weekend. His clothes hang off him, his glasses are balanced on the bulb of his little nose and he is usually wearing the coat/jeans that we gave him a year ago.
To be honest I was kinda impressed that she left her house to come talk to me. Maybe its the start of something new for this little guy. I can only hope for his sake that his mom & dad get a clue.

I miss good ole Parent Teacher Conference

Parent/Teacher Conference no longer exists. Sure, we make an appointment ONLINE (god forbid the teacher send home a note with the time & date .... too labor intensive) and we meet and discuss and write down goals and they tell me how my little boys have potential if they could just focus. I act interested they act concerned we all sign the form saying we are going to work on our goals and la la la fakey fakey fakey and out the door we go. BUT, it is not a parent/teacher conference. IT is an SEP, student education plan. Stupid Education Process is more like it. I miss the good old days before every boy was medicated for the success of the teacher. I loathe no child left behind and the way that kids are not taught shit anymore. They are merely taught to memorize information in order to pass the exam at the appropriate time. The fact that cursive writing is going away is proof teachers are only teaching for their own successes.
I should now back pedal and state that I do not, I repeat...I  DO NOT believe that all teachers are a waste of classroom space. I believe the majority of teachers are genuine in their desire to teach. We need more of these teachers and I wish that I had to answers at my finger tips to kick them to the front of the line and bury the bad ones in the rear room of the tax commission where all the mail is processed.

I loved school.  I loved 99% of my teachers and Holy Geez I wish I could give that to my kids.

Prairie Dogs Are Adorable

Hi, I'm Kathy Jo and I am a prairie dog.

I am an inner & and outter and I aint speakin' bout belly buttons!

I suck. I suck at most everything I do. I'm a never completer. I'm in one day & out
the next. But, I am in recovery I hope. Yes. I am, I know it . I can feel it.

Up until the last 5, 6, 7 years or so I was good. I was a completer and I was focused. 
Not a slacker at all. I was organized, I exercised, cleaned and accomplished.
My house was adorable. ((miss you good ole clean, cute house. see you again REAL soon))


Take hockey for instance. Goo & Deeburger are playing this year and they love
it. I love that they love it and I am the team manager for Deemonsters team. Oops 
on their part. But, I thought it was my time to pull out of my funk and get back to the
old me and that having something like that would be just the ticket. Holsyhit was I
wrong. Tomorrow's game treat assignment will be us again because I didn't pull it
out of my ass long enough to send out a dam email. **sigh**


I have excuses. Plenty of them.
Currently, my mom is in huge amounts of pain. I am trying to manage her house/health and stupid
stinky dog as well as my own stuff. Prior to that it was pneumonia that I was dealing with.
Before that, Christmas was kicking my ass.  Back in November, the weather was
shit & I was freezing to death and trying to throw together Thanksgiving dinner,TOM's
birthday party. October had me knee deep in homework, Fireman Bill's birthday, cub
scout drama (*smooches* Miss Piper, wont miss ya a bit)
I could go on and on. I wont because in my heart, body & soul I know that these
are all excuses and excuses only sound good to the person making them.

It it my New Years resolution (see...I'm even a few weeks late on that) to try and pull
my head out of my fatess assis and get back where I was physically, mentally & organizationally.

My moms health has literally scared me skinny. I have been doing really well on that
account. Now, I just need to apply what I have been doing to get back on track health
wise with getting back on track life wise. 
 
I just wanna be the old me again only better with more understanding of people that
act the way I do now. There are several seasons of life and I think I am about to enjoy
another spring. An awakening and a new me is about to sprout and come alive.


Prairie dogs are cute but, I am tired of living underground!

What A Weird Winter Its Been

                                      


   I checked the calendar twice this morning and it says January 20th. My oldest baby had his birthday yesterday and never, ever, ever, have can I remember seeing anyone wearing shorts on his birthday. Parka's, Gloves and Snow hats, and ski passes, but, never shorts.

  So, in honor of the big guy who started all this Mommy Madness, I had to break out of my normal mode of absolute reserve & perfection and do something unheard of. 

Happy Birthday biggest Brother!

     Now, we love you, we are proud of you. You are a smart, hardworking, respectful man and we are honored to call you our boy. But....PLEASE,  get your ass back into school and move forward with whatever it is you want to do with your crazy life. THEN...get your damn Ford outta the eff OUTTA HERE!!
   
   Snuggles & Snuffles, 
                                                   
   Ma & Pa

I hate fog.

    So there we were driving to Vernal for Garrett's hockey game, just TOM, Me, AJ & Goo. I was already nervous about leaving DeeBurger, the high mileage/dependability of my car (luv you Sherman ole boy)the possibility of slick roads, etc etc etc. As we approached Strawberry Reservoir we were greeted with fog. FOG? I HATE FOG!!! Why? I dont know. I know it's really unreasonable to fear fog. Its just a cloud and clouds are nice, I like clouds. I am not afraid of tight spaces but something about the fog makes me feel claustrophobic. While its no secret that I am a paranoid mother in a constant battle with myself to reign in my neurosis & let my kids live a full life, I was really beginning to struggle with THIS whole scenario.

  It was late, -4 and getting colder. The windows in the back of the car had iced over. The only other people on the road were fully loaded crude trucks coming towards us from The Basin headed to Salt Lake to the refineries. I was fighting back tears trying to hold myself together, because well, you know, if I showed my fear it would distract the driver and we would surely be hit by a tractor/trailer right there in the middle of no where AND DIE. eh hem...anyway...

  J's pillow was frozen to the window securely and he and Ay were sleeping snuggly and soundly while Goo was playing his video games, it was all very quiet & peaceful. Then Goo looked up from his game to see where we were & take in the 'view'.

  Calmly and quietly he said it. He said the words that will forever be burned in my brain forever more on all dark & stormy nights
                                   "hmmm....this is the kinda weather people die in"

Thanks GooBerry. You. Are. My. FAVORITE
xxoo, mama