A Child's Pain for Puppy

So, my last post was about how anal I was getting over dog hair. I guess I have half of that to worry about now. The same dog I wrote about and posted the pic of, was struck by a truck last night. My 9 year old is crushed. What do you tell a child to make him better? He is already the middle child, the one who feels like he gets the short end of the stick for everything. (Although he is as spoiled as the rest of the them.) He tried to protect this dog so hard. Ubu was a runner, if you so much as just cracked open the door, he was through it and gone. And if you ran after him, it turned into a game - and he ran further.

He was on his way back home, my oldest son was trying to coax him across the street before more vehicles came. On one side of the street, the cars were stopping for him, and Ubu actually looked like he was trying to watch for cars coming the other way. Lo and behold, the next vehicle to come from the oposite direction, clearly had to see him...and clearly made every attempt to NOT stop. So sad. I didn't see him make contact with the vehicle - I just heard the crunch. After that it was a long night of consoling two 7 year old boys and one very broken hearted 9 year old boy.
It breaks my heart to see the kids so upset, and I'm not cold hearted, but all I can think is "Thank God that wasn't the outcome for Alek". Alek is my 7 year old deaf son who was struck by a semi the day after mother's day this year. In the same road. He's fine..he had a gash on his head, 3 small skull fractures, and a very pissed off attitude that he was being held down on the ground afterwards. He is our superman, but Ubu didn't get so lucky.

I hate this road in front of our house. It's a 35 zone, with deaf child signs posted, but people still do 55-65 coming from out of town. I sit out there on the front porch now, visions of Alek bouncing off the front of the semi (yes I seen that one happen)...and hearing the crunch of bones from Ubu, now they are getting mixed in my head - and I cry. I think before we finally move away from this cursed place, I will end up in therapy. Or one of the kids will.

Bad Hair Day

What is it about dog hair that I simply cannot stand? It's bad enough that I live with 5 guys and I have to deal with 5 guy gross stuff, but I am also outnumbered 2 to 1 by male dogs.



Lately, our medium sized mutt named UBU (yes just like the commercial at the end of tv shows - "sit UBU sit, good dog") - Has been shedding like crazy! What is it? His diet? he leaves black hair EVERYWHERE! and to top it off, he has gotten on this kick of wanting to jump on my bed, GROSS!! I do not...I reapeat DO NOT like laying my head on my pillow to breathe in a mouthful of dog hair! And why can't the other males in the house just tell him to get down when they see him on the furniture? What do they say? "Oh, I didn't see him there." (As the dog cuddles up on the couch right beside them.) I can't take the grossness anymore. (Is that a word?)





I just vacuumed the carpet, but I know all the wrestling around with UBU has caused boatloads of hair to fall off of him. So what does my 9 year old do? He gets off the couch, and drags the blanket all the way across the living room. Well we all know what is on that blanket now don't we?



I must not be a dog person. I wish I could shave them bald. I also may be exaggerating - afterall, there are billions of people with dogs in their house, and when you go into thier houses, the dog hair is not the first thing you notice. I have been told that my house doesn't smell like I have animals. (WHEW! I'm an odor freak, so this is good to hear.) Now I just have to stop being so anal about the dog hair...It'll come under control, the kids (and hubby) will be happy that I'm not screaming about it anymore; until I become anal about something else.



I'm finding it extremely hard being picky about too much at once, I have to pick and choose. Who knows what it will be next week ;)

Well what did I expect?

Ok, so maybe I may not be the smartest mom in the world *sigh.
I have armed my child with a weapon, and no matter how high I put it, or how 'good' I think I hid it, he still finds it. What is it? A flyswatter. I just bought it yesterday, but I'm telling you I'm ready to throw it away! Problem is, as much as they run in and out of the house; I need it.

My new list of things NOT to give a 7 year old boy:
1. Flyswatter

I have been smacked in the face, my pinky is permanently bruised, my other children are on the floor crying. LOL, ok, so I'm exaggerating, but REALLY! Those things hurt!

So I'm running through the house after him, trying to get this thing back and he turns around and swings. If there was ever a time I wanted to swing back, it was NOW. But I keep my cool, I am after all; bigger than him and that flyswatter put together. He laughs and runs out the door.

At this moment he is swatting flies outside. An activity that I probably only understood as a child, but hey, it's keeping him busy, and keeping the flyswatter at bay; for now.

Holidays are for relaxing? I didn't know that!

As a mom, I'm not aloud to know what 'exhaustion' is, are you? This whole weekend I have been running, and doing laundry and grocery shopping and making side dishes for parties, filling baby pools, yelling at kids, yelling at other people's kids, trying to do the day to day cleaning, fixing food, laundry, etc that I am expected to do. In the meantime, I have friends who want me to have a drink and relax; even if my kids are there. I'm sorry I just can't do that. I'm not too uppity to have a drink when my kids are present, I can do it at home - "Sure I'll take a beer!" But just one. If I am away from home, there is NO way. My kids are so destructive that I'm afraid to drink at all for the fear of them tearing up other people's houses. And God forbid they do that, because then I am the bad mom and I don't discipline very well and blah blah blah.
Drinking means socializing; socializing means actually talking and having a conversation with the other adults at the party. Ever seen a mom trying to have a conversation when her kids are there? She isn't looking at the recieving end of the conversation, her eyes are on her children while she's talking. Ever seen a buzzed mom trying to talk and turn her eyes toward her children at the same time? It's a pretty funny sight. It kind of forces her to look crosseyed. I've seen it, I probably even done it a few times. But for the most part, I choose not too.

So Your husband has fit himself right in, playing cornhole (horseshoes with beanbags) and he's drinking and talking to people he's never met as if he's known them for years. Wish I could do that. OK, so I probably could, but I'm just not into it. Small talk sure, but long conversations? If it's about kids, I noticed most moms would rather talk about their own children and not let you get a word in edgewise. Your kids are running around you, interrupting you, poking at you, playing with your hair, trying to throw waterballoons at you, and yet there is still that one mom who acts like her children are better than yours, they are taller than yours, smarter than yours, cleaner than yours, but not there. Huh? Yeah you heard me. The one to talk about her children the most, decided not to bring her children at all. My thoughts on that...go get your kids and we'll compare! LOL, no I'm just kidding. After 15 minutes I see the other mom's mouth moving, but I don't hear anything coming out of it. My thoughts have drifted away, and so has my son; I have to go find him, thank goodness.

So it's the last night of the holiday weekend. We decide to invite a few friends over for a cookout. Sounds like fun. But first we have to run to the grocery store, put the groceries away, go get our 9 year old who spent the night at an uncles house 30 miles away, drive another 15 out of our way to pick up my husbands car from my sister's house. (we were suppose to be watching her house while they camped for the weekend - I didn't mention that did I? That was part of the "running" - parking our car there and feeding their dogs.) After all of that I didn't feel like having a cookout. It sounded good 3 hours ago, but not now. O-well, it's already planned. Lots of food and tons of kids, fighting on the trampoline, kids splashing the babies in the pool, and a whole lot of yelling. Come on, I was already mentally exhausted from the last two nights. I can't take it anymore! I smile and go on.
My hubby takes every opportunity he can to kiss me, hug me, come up behind me and wrap his arms around me and kiss my neck. "Stop it I'm hot and sweaty." He makes me laugh anyway, just for the shear fact that he doesn't care that I have beads of sweat rolling off of my neck. At the same time I happen to know that he's trying to gear me up for sex later on. What he doesn't know is that by the time my head hits the pillow, I'm out. Sorry hunny, not tonight. He kind of pouts and says that he thought he did all the right things today. Well you DID, but I am exhausted! There is no way I could get 'into it' right now. I know I've upset him, but I can't help it. Why don't men do all the 'right' things when we aren't so busy with our day? I have yet to see that happen.

The holiday is over, it's Monday morning. I have a backyard to clean of beer bottles, paper plates, kid's socks, toys, emptying the pool, more laundry...it's never ending. I better get on it so I can relax the rest of the day, and finally have MY holiday.

Do you have a story to tell about your holiday? I'd love to hear it!

Introducing...

My son, Randy. I'm not sure that I want to post a whole lot about him, he is sort of a private child. Doesn't like his 'business' gotten into. But that's ok, I can respect that. Randy is 17, and has been drawing since he's been a very small child. I call him my life-saver. He keeps me sane, and that is NO lie! When I'm having a stressful day, he is the first to give me a hug, and the last to give me a hard time about anything. He has on many occasions, told me to go to my room. (Seems funny huh?) It's ok, he knows when mom is about to explode. I have tried (and still trying) to teach my kids that when things get rough or you're ready to blow steam, walk away before you let loose on someone you love; you may say things you regret. Randy reminds me all the time to calm down. I'm going to miss him like hell when he moves out!

He is the 'tough' kid on the block; grew up very street smart because of the neighborhood he grew up in. When he was old enough to be 'eyed in' (they wanted him to do things to join) into a gang, he refused (thank God!) and we moved a week later. He still has that tough boy attitude, but I know the real Randy. His family means everything to him, and he's not afraid to show it.

Randy received a tattoo kit for his birthday, has lately been tattooing on his dad, and other people who are willing to be his guinea pig. Not me though! I want him to do it for awhile before I hand my skin over to him! LOL

Here are a couple tattoos he's done: both on his dad :)

I am very proud of him, he may not have many accomplishments yet in life, but he is a very respectable kid, knows how important family is, and has passion for the things he likes to do.

When one of my twins was left in the hospital at birth, Randy took classes for CPR, and how to work the heart monitor and oxygen for the other twin that I had to leave at home; while I visited and fed the other twin in the hospital. Randy was only 10 at the time.

So this is Randy, the one who keeps me sane in my day to day life. Of course he doesn't know how much I appreciate him and love him; but do any of our children?

What a wonderful day!

I'm not sure if anyone agrees, at least the ones who live near me. It's sort of drizzling and chilly outside; but I think it feels wonderful!
I am hoping to get some hits and buyers on my ACEO artwork today. I almost feel like giving up. I love to draw, paint, and just whatever, but I have a feeling that I will never be sharing my art with anyone else. I consider myself a realist when it comes to artwork, but at the same time I think it works against me. I suppose if you wanted something real you would just take a photograph right? I am struggling with things in my head right now, can ya tell?

I updated my website, added a few things, took out a few things. I need to add my ACEOs to it now. I also only have about half of my Digital backdrops on there. (My website)

Oh, I wanted to introduce you to my son Randy...I'll make a post just for him. (a little later on)

For now, I wanted to say good morning to everyone!
Pass on my blog if you can, and have a wonderful day!

So I'm sitting here...

So I'm sitting here drinking coffee, watching my kids wake up. Thinking that I probably should have cleaned the house before they all woke up at once. *sigh.

I got busy twittering. (@nescreation is my twitter handle). trying to sell an ACEO card on ebay. No luck, but o-well, Ebay has been slow lately.



For those of you wondering, this is what I do...

I create and sell ACEO and digital backdrops on Ebay and Etsy. (nescreationdesigns)



I go to school at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh. (Getting my Bachelor's degree in Graphic Design) - My overall goal is to become an art teacher.



I am raising 4 boys. Ages are 17 - 9 - 7 - 7 (Yes twins!) Picture of all of us. I'll introduce you soon.





Trying deperately to learn sign language to communicate with my youngest twin. (He was born deaf.)



I watch The Young and the Restless on a daily basis.
I'm boring I know...it should get more interesting.

I'll tell you more later, now I have breakfast to make.

I decided to jump in!

Does anyone really know how blogging works when they decide to jump in and start? I doubt it. I mean, I've read a few blogs, subscribed to a couple, but just never really got it. I want to get it, so here I am-blogging for myself. I don't know what I'll be blogging about. I have a zillion things going through my mind, but I think I am only interesting to myself. I have stories...oh boy do I have some stories to tell! Whether I actually let you that far into my head, will remain to be seen.
Before anyone freaks out with what they see within my posts, I will tell you up front and honest. I may post affiliate links now and then. Hey, a girl needs a little spending money now and then -right? HA! I have to laugh at that one. I go to the store to get myself shoes, and come back with shoes for my kids. Doesn't that make me the typical mom? More about my children later.
Anyway, if you don't want to click on the affiliates-then don't, just ignore them. They should have no impact on what I am actually blogging about.
Go ahead and subscribe to my blog. I may not focus on just one subject, but I do promise to make it as interesting as possible!