It is Sunday afternoon. All is quiet. The temps went from frigid to in the 50's. It is drippy outside. Not that it's raining...the snow has all melted very quickly. I'm moving slow. And for some reason my coffee just doesn't taste good. That hardly EVER happens.

Friday night the hubby was out of town. My daughter said she HAD thot of asking Katie to stay overnight since Dad wasn't here. I looked at her and told her that it isn't just her dad that Katie bothers. I can take A LOT but the girl is made of rubber...super ball rubber. And she has one of those loud buzzer things inside...like those little round pillow things that when you throw it against something a loud noise of some kind emits from it. So, imagine a superball with THAT in it bouncing from wall to floor to wall to floor...never stopping and you have Katie. No sir...this is a Katie free zone. I made the mistake of letting Bethany invite Katie to go to the movies...not once...but twice. And I drove them there and back. I was almost rendered deaf!

My daughter said SHE decided not to ask her becuz she didn't feel good. Yet, she sat in front of the puter almost all day yesterday. Today she is in bed...my bed...with pretzels and pop...watching my TV and my John Cusack movies. Every once in a while she comes out of my room just to look at me and moan. I gave her theraflu and told her to enjoy her day today...school tomorrow.

The doorbell rang about 7 p.m. Friday night. It was Steven...my son's friend. He usually calls before he shows up. He didn't this time. He came literally dragging in. I asked him what was going on. "My dad got laid off today. And my grandma is going to stay with us for another month. Great new year." So, I told him he was welcome to stay as long as he wanted. It is Sunday afternoon...he is still here. I guess as long as he is here, he doesn't have to deal with reality. It's okay. I paid him to do ME a favor...and it was a big favor. Steven is QUITE good sized. He hauled my Christmas decoration boxes up into the overhead storage for me. No one else would do it and I really was not looking forward to the struggle. It was bad enuff when I got them OUT of storage.

I am going to go find some place to lay MY head down...since my bed has an occupant...that won't leave. Just as long as she doesn't leave me any pretzels or let the hamsters crawl around in there.

There are certain things I will never understand. Never. No, it isn't math...and given enuff instruction I'll bet I could even get chemistry. Nope. There are other things that perplex me.

#1) Why is it that my daughter will come home from school and have nothing to say to me all night...but the next morning as I'm trying to rush her out the door to school so she isn't late, she has a million things to tell me...but none of it is anything I NEED to know...like to remind me she has newspaper after school. THAT stuff I have to look up for myself on the school site.

#2) How is it that my son can be sitting on the computer loading and editing videos AND blabbering on the phone to two friends at once YET he can't process what his mother is telling him when he walks up the stairs? AND how is it he can't remember to take his meds in the morning...even tho he's been doing it for over two years now?

#3) Why is it the daddy can conference call with 3-4 ppl and switch back and forth on his other line WHILE downloading and researching specs and such YET, he can look right at me and respond to questions when the TV is on...and have no clue that we had a 'conversation' a few minutes later?

Do you see the one common thread here? Me. I'm just not important enuff for them to pay attention to or give any serious attention to. Is it that MOM disease I've heard so much about?

***************
Frigid. Not ME! The temperature outside. I spent a lot of time under my electric throw yesterday...by the lamp with a good book. Not usual for me to bum a whole day like that. But I'm still trying to find my sleep at night. I slept rather well last night...just not long enuff. I have a feeling it is going to be hell on earth trying to clean those 3 bathrooms. I need a blaster for the kids' bathrooms. Ick. But, if I don't do something soon, I'm afraid the health department will close us down.

Got my daughter off to school this frigid morning. She was all enthusiastic to wear her new duds and use that new hair straightener. I told her over vacation about how when her Aunt Dawn (my oldest sister) was in high school the girls used to lay their long hair on the ironing board and iron it. She looked at me like I was pulling her leg then she said, WHY? "Well, dear...they didn't make such things as hair straighteners back then..you know...the unenlightened ages." She shook her head in disbelief. It does sound kinda funny...ironing the hair! They didn't care so much when I reached highschool. I had my own thing, though. Each day I wore my hair a different style. I had this really great hair cut and my hair was just the right length...and I had a lot of girls tell me that they would look for me each day just to see what I had done to my hair. They wanted to be able to do different things but they didn't know how/were afraid to. I didn't care. I did it for me...cuz I used to get bored easily.

During and after college I went thru this period of changing my hair color. It was dark brown, light brown, red head, auburn, and, yes, blond. I didn't care for being blond...it didn't really suit me for one and secondly...I found that guys for the most part get really weird about blondes. It made me very uncomfortable so I dyed my hair so dark it was almost black. Black isn't a very good color for me either.

My son even went through his phases of changing hair color. We did the 'highlights' in his hair...then he wanted to bleach it...then he tried to talk me into dying it black. The most I would agree to is dark brown. And that is where it has stayed. It got lightened this last summer being out in the sun so much, but then it darkened again.

I just recently colored my daughter's hair for her. Nothing drastic...she had blonde ends on her hair and wanted to be rid of them. So, I agreed on a light auburn color for her hair. She likes the reddishness that glints in the light. She said she would have been happier if it had been a little darker...but she really is too young, I think, to be messing with her hair so much.

I was doing the laundry yesterday (for the past 2 days, really...can't get caught up!) and was noticing just how much of a clothes horse my daughter has become...and she's only 12. Mind you she is in 7th grade...in a school with older kids...but still. I guess I should be glad that this is where her attention lies.

And today, I begin the application process for my son to begin his cyber schooling again. sigh. But this is how it is for him/us at this point in his life. YOu have to accept what you have and learn to roll with it.

I'm off like a dirty shirt! Have a good day everyone!

***!!!! Late breaking good news...my son's Ohio Graduation Test scores just came in...he passed EVERYTHING with flying colors! Woohoo!!!*****

Taylor (Healing Creek) says to count our blessings. Today I am. Especially. We had LOTS of snow yesterday and over night. I was just contemplating having to get out with the shovel and do this thing...but guess what? Snowblower Guy just showed up! YAY! I could just give him a really big hug! But...a nice thank you will have to do.

So, that was #1. #2...every morning I look out and there is Scrawny sitting on the porch rail with her front paws in a 'prayer like' position...watching the window in the back door...waiting. When she sees a face, she hops down and waits at the door for food. Someone opens the door ever so carefully and tosses her a nut...which she grabs and dives under the bush to eat while we leave her a pile near the edge of the porch. We have an understanding...don't touch!

And...while I have 'weighty problems' that I have resolved to take care of...#3...I'm glad I made some rice krispie treats along with all the cookies. The Krispie treats make a good breakfast substitute!

My parents gave us one of those digital (or as my mother-in-law calls it...diginal) thermometers that has an indoor monitor and outdoor sensor. So now I can know exactly how freakin cold it is outside at all times. It is a whole 8.1F...and that doesn't include the windchill. When did the north pole get moved?

So, after that last paragraph...I am rethinking the reward that I should give Snowblower Guy.