I feel like I lost my right arm.

My computer monitor at home is having some serious issues, it doesn't come on. I hate being home and not having access to all my stuff. I need to feed my email addiction and new facebook addiction. So until we can get our act together and get a new monitor, I'm limited to work access. BLAH !!

And now I'm cellphone-less until later today. So I'm limited to a land line until my new super duper blackberry comes in. I feel like I'm back in the 90's. It is really hard and I'm totally struggling with it. This Monday is not starting off too good.

Mom left yesterday much to my children's dismay. Rachael always starts crying the night before and recovers usually the night after she leaves. It isn't easy for Rachael, she is an emotional chic! Every time someone rings the doorbell, Trevor yells "Nanny Home"!

Rachael's team played a less than great game this weekend. Rather disappointing, it was their game to lose and boy did they do that. Erin starts practice this week, he is so excited to be playing soccer again. This year I'm not coaching his team. He is so competitive and he didn't like when I sub'd him out. He does much better with another coach, and I'm ok with that.

And it is cold outside!! Super cold outside! I'm wearing boots today! How exciting is that? Well, it's exciting for me ...........

Today is one of those Monday's. Problems the second I opened my inbox. The upper's or the owners in non-Joanne terms, are complete lunatics. I just want to slap them and tell them, yes times are bad, but we still do 9 million dollars a year across all our fashion lines. On the bright side I filled my Quest up with gas yesterday for $28. That is about the only bright spot I can find right now.

I have some pictures, but completely forgot my card reader. So I'll post them tomorrow.

nature took its course :(

I am 99% sure that the last cockatiel egg is not going to hatch. Apparently, my poor ass momma bird, is a little smarter than I thought. She probably knew it was not going to hatch and that is why she abandoned it. The only other thought is that she is a poor ass momma bird. I think the first one is better.

Rachael took it better than I thought. The good news is that they will have more in the spring. The bad news is that they will have more in the spring.

I quickly changed the tone in the house with one simple sentence, "Hey, Super Mommy bought pre-sale arm bands for Nativity Novemberfest!" and everyone was really happy, really fast.

I'm taking tomorrow off of work. Rachael is finally getting the all coveted Safety Patrol Badge and this Mommy was told he HAS to be there. I need to use all my vacation time, my stellar company has a use or lose policy, yup it's stellar.

i love new phones.

I have a few addictions. I love Starbucks, I love my e-mail, I love my children clean and sparkly, and I love new phones.

Erin and his new-super-duper-cushie hours job comes with a cell phone plan that cannot be beat. And Erin and his new super duper benefits just ordered me a blackberry! I am so excited. I can email and be at Starbucks at the same time. E-mail in real-time makes my heart race. I'm so happy right now. And I get a new phone every year. That is superbulous !!

This is clearly my week, I have a new lovey purse too! My "peeps" here is sunny Florida are slacking and an awesome friend in Massachusetts happened to be attending a purse party social event and found this scrumptious bag for me! I love it! Thank you Joanne W. !!

The Cockatiel update. Samie completely abandoned her eggs. She is poor ass momma bird. She left her last egg for dead! However, Dr. Doolittle Erin and his little helper Rachael are incubating this egg. And it is working. I'm so not excited about this. Those birds are little and require being fed every 2 hours. Look people, I've done my fair share of 2 hours feedings and this mommy is done!! So what happens if this little birdie actually hatches. There are two things we can be sure of.

1. Daddy Erin won't do the feedings

2. If this baby bird doesn't make it, I'll be wiping away some serious tears.

I opted for the "let nature takes it course" and Rachael pitched a hissy and I caved. Last night, it still was moving around in the egg.

I found that super soccer standing website this week, USA Rank. I am sure soccer mom extraordinaire Beth already knows about this website. But check it out. Rachael's team is #3 in the state!! Holy soccer batman ... that's Rachie #21 power for ya!!

My Mom is still visiting and I'm loving all the time with her. When I tell Trevor that I love him, he answers back, I wuv me Nanny. There is some serious bonding going on there !!

what's up.

Sorry for the lack of posting this week. My life took me away again. I hate when that happens.

My bio-clock is screwed up!! I crash out at like 9pm and wake up at 4:45am-ish every damn day!! When turning the clocks back starts to mess up your inside crap, does that mean that I'm old?? Because only my grandmother talks about her sleep getting messed up. Well, my boss does too, but she's a whack job.

Big E started his new job this week. He likes it, he has been home by 5:30 all week. But he now knows why I drink. My kids come home from school and daycare in all sort of crazy, whacked out, hyped up ways. My only remark was ... Honey, welcome to our life. And then I laughed.

Nanny is here and has the kids at the park. My house is so quiet, except for the damn birds who are still trying to procreate. We still have one egg. Not sure if it is going to hatch. I honestly think Samie is bored with the whole sitting on an egg thing. In fact she hasn't been on the egg all morning. So not sure where we stand on the whole baby bird thing.

I'm using Nanny's laptop cuz my computer is having some monitor issues. I knew she has tons of pictures of my kids so I checked them out... I found the best pictures of my kids. It is like a looking into the past. They are a whole lot of cuteness .... But is makes me realize how fast the times goes.

Here is Rachael, she is about 3 and Little Erin who looks about 10 months old !

Let's see .... this had to be 2005. Erin was 5 and Rachael was 7.

This was Rachael's 1st day of 1st grade. Erin was about 4. Did I really start straightening her hair in 1st grade. I can't believe it. She loves straight hair!! Her hair is curly, but it is beautiful curly. You always want what you don't have!

Here is Erin. He has to be about 3 years old. The cuteness factor is off the chain!


Rachael & Erin with Charley the Hamster.... Charley was fun ....

trevor-ism

Me: Trevor, pls give mommy your nu-nu (pacifier)

T: No, me momma

Me: Trevor, the nunu is for babies and you are a big boy now. Please give me the nunu.

T: No, me momma. I yuv me dadda.

Me: Daddy wants mommy to get your nunu because you are a big boy.

Here is the Trevor-ism

T: No, me momma. me nunu. not you nunu.

And then he ran ..... and locked himself in his bedroom. We used a metal hanger to break in. He was playing with the farm animals.

I'm seriously contemplating have Daddy Erin reverse the locks on all the doors. This is a new favorite thing for him to do and I am fairly certain if he pulls this on "The Nanners" next week, my mother will have a heart attack.

my vote counted..

I voted today. It's not the first time, but it is the first time that I have waited about 1 1/2 hours. Mostly because my last name starts with a "q". But I voted, and I have a sticker to prove it.

I'm not going to get all on my political high horse, I'll save you the drama. But if you are able to vote, please go vote. I am firm believer that everyone's vote counts. I will admit, that I knew NOTHING about the retaining the local judges. But I guess that if they are there, they were elected before by voters, so what the heck. I voted to keep them there.

Back to the 1 1/2 hour wait. Forgive me in advance, but the median age for poll workers in Florida is 72, give or take 5 years. My voting place is very deceiving, while you move at a steady pace outside, once inside if your name starts with L - R, you had another 45 minute wait. I watched in disbelief as many of my neighbors who were very far behind me high fived me as they passed! The nice lady doing L- R apparently had an issue with a contact lens and it took her twice as long to go through her name book. That is my luck, this stuff happens to me all the time. I was prepared though. I had my Starbucks and my cellphone. Both can keep me entertained, so I was okay. I text messaged, I facebooked, I emailed. I was okay.

Upon arrival, this is what I was greeted with:

After casting my super, ever so important vote, I found this .... are you kidding me??

But did you know with your "I voted" sticker you get a free tall Starbucks coffee and a free Chick-fil-A Sandwich ??? yummy ....

Trick or Treat ........

Honestly, it wouldn't be a holiday in my home without a little drama added to the mix. Rachael had this super cute Disco Diva costume, that I couldn't wait for her to wear, and she decided that she absolutely hated it 10 minutes before we were to hit the pavement. She decided last years costume worked a little better for her. So back to the Pirate Cutie of yester-year. I had nothing in me to fight her with. Trevor hated his costume and all things related to trick or treating. He was perfectly happy sitting on the front entry with Dad and Dad's boys putting back a few Corona's. Me and the mommy mafia, pulled the wagon full of adult beverages around the "hood".

To tell the truth, I really couldn't fight with Rachael, because I did something absolutely horrible and completely by mistake and a felt like a complete loser. We have 6 cockatiel eggs, only two of them are actually viable. You have to "candle" the eggs every 2 days to see if the air bubble tilted. Because if it is, you should have a baby bird in about 24 - 36 hours. Well, while candling it, the bird flew out of the cage, scaring the crap out of me, and I dropped it. I immediately started crying. I felt so horrible. Rachael was so upset, and rightfully so. I was heartbroken. It was completely by mistake and I felt a wave a nausea come over me at the exact moment it left my fingers. It put one heck of a damper in my Halloween mood. Now you understand why I wasn't arguing with Rachael over her costume....We now have one egg that may or may not hatch and I'm not touching it. I don't care ... I'm not. I too afraid of a repeat.

We also did some soccer-ing over the weekend. Both Kasey & Rachael's teams won. So that was a good start to the official season. I'm going to reserve the right to further blog about the games after next weekend. There was some drama there too, but I am going to give some people the time to redeem themselves, before a set forth on a mom rage. And we finished painting the living room and playroom. My body feels like it was hit by a mack truck. But we had to get it done because next Saturday my Mom (aka... The nanners) rolls in.

Erin started his new job today. Which I am sure I haven't told you about before. So some of you are like ....... What the ?? HUH ??? Sorry, it happened kinda fast and time tends to get away from me. My life is way bigger than me, and I spend a lot of time chasing it, if that makes sens to anyone. Erin got a job in the corporate world. He is out of the restaurant business. No more for him, he was tired of it and the hours were less than family friendly. So he is in training for a few weeks and then he will have a set schedule. phew ...... no lapse in paychecks, it was an easy transition.

So here are the pictures of the kids. Kasey is M.I.A, as she decided the Spooky Trail and Texas Chainsaw Massacre were more fun than us. I know, that's a complete shocker. We're pretty cool ...

My Little Pirate

My Pirate Cutie and My Little Pirate

My Spooky Scary Thingy !

Rachael and her friend (who was a soccer goblin)