Saturday, December 31, 2011

Goodbye and good riddance, 2011!!!

The Lake Store Counter
Yes, its New Years Eve.  I spent the day with my in-laws, celebrating the last of Christmas.  We went to "The Lake House", which my mother in law inherited from her parents last year.  Recently, though, she bought out her brother's interest in the property, so it is 100% hers.  She's very happy about this and the fact that one day it will be Rob's and then Cassie's.  They keep telling me I am a welcome guest.  We will leave it at that.  The most interesting part of the day was the trip home.  You see, I had to pee moments after we left "The Lake Store" where we stopped because the locals wanted to meet their son, and I had a cup of coffee.   "The Lake Store" has rabbit pelts for sale, maple sugar candy, authentic Native American jewelry made in China, Adirondack clothing, books, & souvenirs, hunting & fishing supplies, and food stuffs.  They have good coffee and you can get breakfast & lunch sandwiches and Schwan's Pizza.  But what they DON'T have is a bathroom.  I found out this is very common in the Adirondacks.


Holland Patent Stewarts Shop
We had to travel 2 1/2 hours back from Indian Lake (which may or may NOT be made with water from China) on dark, lightly traveled roads where we saw some very interesting ways of living.  Mansions, many houses with "Potential", and even one trailer which had a roof built over it.  We saw lots of lakes, lots of cabins, and about 437 billion snowmobile route signs.  We saw towns named Morehead, Russia, Ohio, Speculator, and many others.  We saw churches, a couple bars, and a ton of "Manly Toy Stores".  You know what we didn't find during our trip through the Adirondacks?  They have NO cell phone service or BATHROOMS!!!!!  We were on the road for an hour an a half before we hit heaven... or Holland Patent, where there was a Stewarts.  Not just ANY Stewarts, but the Stewarts with the CLEANEST BATHROOM I've ever seen!!!  As Cassie ran into the store, knocking down a little old lady and 2 young guys with snowmobile suits buying beer, and straight into the bathroom, with me close behind, I looked at the cashier and said "Do you know there are no bathrooms or cell service in the Adirondacks?"  She informed me, with a nice country smile "Yes, I know.  Its part of the Adirondack Experience."  Suddenly I have come up with the only excuse I will ever need not to take many trips to "The Lake House".  I have experienced the Adirondacks, and I think mountain life may not be for me.

Stephen & Me
Well, I was going to take this evening to run you through my 2011.  I've decided not to, because then I'll start crying.  Needless to say, this past year sucked really, REALLY bad.  2011 was definitely a vacuum kind of year.  But, there is never a time in our life where all you have is bad.  There is always a silver lining, whether you want one or not.  I've had a few.  My marriage is stronger than ever.  That is a HUGE one!!!  But I think the best thing about 2011 is that my baby boy, Stephen Allen Richards, achieved one of his dreams, and really kicked ass in doing so!!!  I'm proud of all my kids for different reasons.  But I am super proud of the obstacles he had to overcome to get to where he is!!  So, I will end 2011 with one of my favorite pictures!!!

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Christmas songs still rotating in my mind....

They are no longer on the radio, but I have the lyrics of quite a few Christmas songs still running around my head.  "Good Kind Wenceslas looked out, on the Feast of Stephen, when the snow lay round about, deep and crisp and even!  Brightly shown the moon that night, though the frost was cruel.  When a poor man came in sight, gathering winter fu-oo-welllll!!!!"  My Steve always loved that song because they sing his name.  I didn't hear it once on the radio this year.  I guess they didn't have time because they had to play Justin Beiber so many times.

But the one lyric that is sticking in my mind more than all the others today is the one that goes "And Mom and Dad can't wait for school to start again!"  Isn't it the truth?  See, I really enjoy my "me" time.  That is the time of day when I'm alone except for sleeping people.  When people are sleeping, it forces me to do nothing.  When Cassie goes to school and Rob goes to work, I must then DO something.  I usually putter a lot.  That's when I start doing something, get distracted by something shiny and start something else, but I'm busy and by the end of the day I can indignantly rattle off a ton of things I did to anyone who asks to prove I'm worth my Stay at Home Mom salary.  On weekdays, that time is usually between 7 and 7:30.  After Rob leaves for work and before I have to pull Cassie out of bed, kicking and screaming, because only an unfit mother such as myself would make their daughter go to school.  I say usually, because for some reason she has been up at 6am.  This is bad because Rob really enjoys our "Us" time between 6 & 7 and when he sees/hears Cassie first thing in the morning it puts him into "Grumpy Gus" persona. 

What does she do all day that she's in such a hurry for?  Well, today she had a party.  At first it was supposed to start at 9, but then they changed it to 8:30.  She put on the princess dress I made her, popped a bag of popcorn, got some cookies and orange soda and was ready in time to greet her (imaginary) guests at the door, complete with air kisses to both cheeks.   I know, 8:30am, but it was a party after all, AND we already have been over the fact I'm not winning Mother of the Year.  Hell, I didn't care what she had, I was still working on getting my dose of coffee!!  When I realized it was 10:30, I was completely appalled.  Why?  Not because I wasted some good "Me" time by cleaning my kitchen and doing laundry, but because the party was STILL going on, and I just realized I wasn't even invited!!!!  Then after her friends left, she informed me she was getting married.  So, she got married, had a kid, and then the arguments started.  Not only between her and her husband, but also between my 2 dogs, Roscoe and Marley.  I'm not sure who was worse, but I let her work our her marriage problems on her own, just like any good mother should, and I concentrated on the puppies.  It seemed that Roscoe stole Marley's toy and wouldn't play nice.  So I took the toy away from them both.  At that moment, Marley was either ticked or was thinking I wanted to play too and jumped at the sock I took, landing on Roscoe's back.  Roscoe doesn't like this, so he immediately put Marley on the ground.  At which point Mommy lost all control, scaring both puppies and causing them to cuddle with each other on the couch.  At this time, I declared it nap time.  It was obvious that SOMEBODY was grumpy and needed a nap.  The puppies can always use one too, so I got in a short one and I'm glad I did.

Remember how I said we need to find a place to move?  Well, its not going well.  I'm taking my Mom & Dad to see a place on Friday.  I had hoped to have a few places lined up, but it doesn't look good.  I really hope Fran approves of this place, and I hope the owner approves of our offer!!  Until then, I'm stressed to my limit.  Put with that Cassie and her 2,439 imaginary friends, the puppies, and Rob, and I no longer wonder I'm having problems sleeping!!!  Its the "Revenge of the Frazzled Mom" coming to a theater near you... as soon as I run the screenplay.  I hope they get Julia Roberts to play me, but I guess Rosanne Barr is probably a better candidate for the part....

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Another Oops!!

I forgot to blog again last night.  I was tired, exhausted if you will.  But that is no excuse, and I apologize to my fans.  I know how much my people demand of me, but I missed both yesterday's nap and my blogging.

So, yesterday my Mom, Dad, baby sister Hope, and her husband Kevin came over to visit.  We ate sandwiches.  I made my mother macaroni salad, and Fran made me his macaroni and cheese and potato salad.  Wait, its possible for you to read that as macaroni, cheese, & potato salad, but it was two separate dishes.  And both were very nummy!!!  My mommy finally brought me biscotti.  I think its an even trade for the macaroni salad.  If she gave me biscotti more often, I'd make her macaroni salad more often, too.  Actually, since it IS morning now, and I have a cup of coffee, I think I'll grab myself a piece before I continue on with my blog.

mmmm... nom nom nom.....  crunch crunch.......mmmmm.... chocolately goodness....nom nom nom CRUNCH mmmmmmmmmmm........

You see, I want to throw parties.  I've always dreamed of having a house full of people laughing and having fun.  But I'm afraid of having a bunch of people over that I need to entertain.  How do you make people have fun?  So I tend to be a bit stressed out before everyone comes over.  Yesterday, I saw my mom had signed out of Yahoo Chat and they were on their way.  Panic set in.  "Oh CRAP!!!  They are on their way!!!  EVERYONE GET UP AND DO SOMETHING!!!!"  Cassie laughed about that all day.  She thought it was a riot.  But it went well.  I had the wondrous opportunity to watch everyone laugh until they peed their pants.   How, you ask?  Well, it came out that Kevin did not know who Jeff Dunham was, so Rob had the honor of taking Kevin's "Jeff Dunham Virginity".  I don't think he'll ever be the same again.  And I know I've never seen my Dad laugh so much, or so hard!!!  It was a priceless day.

So yesterday morning, I received a picture from my beautiful Dani (Steve's girl).  I love it when they send me pictures.  But this was the BEST!!!!  It was a Christmas Eve Jammy Picture!!!!  They look so cute and so happy!!!  I love these two kids!!  A Mom couldn't ask for a better couple! 

So, I'm taking Cassie to a therapist today.  Its been a while, and I think she needs to discuss some of her issues.  I'm certain that eventhough we are doing the library and "a Paul appointment" I'll have plenty to blog about later.  If, however, you can't go 8 hours without hearing about my day, you can always catch my constant Facebook Status Updates throughout the day!!!!  I know what my people demand, and I do try to keep them happy.  Thats me.  I'm a people pleaser.

Sunday, December 25, 2011

Merry Christmas!

Well, most of us have made it through the Holiday Season... but in all honesty, there is still another week ago.  We call it the Christmas Season, but it starts with Thanksgiving (or after Halloween, who are we kidding) and continues through New Years Day.  For instance, I am hosting Christmas with my mother and Sister tomorrow, and I'm scheduled to do Christmas with my in-laws on New Years Eve.

This year was the first one that my hubby and I didn't argue and I wasn't miserable.  I owe this all to his Autism diagnosis, the fact that there really are things he doesn't know or understand, and that we can actually talk about them and figure things out.  Our therapist, Cynthia, has helped us out tremendously in this area.  She says she loves us, loves watching us together working at this, and loves that we are working so hard.  Well, it seems like everyone around me is breaking up, and I really dont want that to happen to Pitman and I.  We've been through so much, and I truly believe the Lord wants us together until death do us part.  I wont like, sometimes I feel like speeding that deadline up a bit, but all in all, its a lot of fun.

Not fighting is not the only change in us this year.  See, if you remember, we just moved here, 4 hours away from where we were living, and so many traditions are having to be tweaked.  Today, for instance, instead of opening our presents and rushing out to Rob's Aunt Thelma's house, we stayed home and relaxed.  I even got in a Christmas Nap!!!  But Cassie wasn't so happy.  She missed the holiday atmosphere with extended family that she got with Aunt Thelma.  So, I guess next year I will need to have a larger Christmas Dinner and troll around the streets of Syracuse to find people to spend it with us.  We just wont warn the poor souls of my lack of cooking ability before we toss the burlap bags over their heads and shove them in the back of the truck....

But, as gifts are an important part of the day, I would like to tell you about the best gifts I got.  Rob got me a new winter coat!!!!   I wouldn't buy one, because I dont like spending that kind of money on myself.  BUT, I did need one.  Did I mention I'm living in Syracuse, New York, now?  Yes.  Cold + snow equals the need for a winter coat.  And its PERFECT!!!  Warm & not bulky!!!!  Its a "Nordic Track" and that even SOUNDS like it would be good in the snow!!!  I also got a wonderfully tacky light up Christmas Flamingo that I've had my eye on for a few years now!!!  She's beautiful!!!  And she was a gift from my beautiful daughter, LeeAnne, who knows her mommy so well!!!!  So I will continue to blog through the remainder of my Holiday Season, because now we also get to add in keeping my Cassie occupied during her winter break!!  Oh, THAT will be fun, especially since Santa Clause brought her a "Cats Cradle" string, and you need 2 people to play that!!!