Tuesday, July 28, 2009
My van
So now here's the bad news. My van is dying. My brother came to look at it yesterday and it is not looking good. My nephew has loaned me his truck for a few days (Thanks Evan). The girls are with their Dad this week (camping in Minnesota, ugh) so that helps a little. My brother is having a friend of his over to the apartment tomorrow to take a look and see if he can fix it. If he can't I may need another van. The problem is that my credit sucks with the foreclosure on it. And I'm not going to get anything for the van. So I need to find a place that is willing to lend me the money to purchase a van with nothing down and less than $200 a month. I'm not sure that place exists. I don't know what the hell to do. I was already looking at getting a part-time job on the weekends that Patrick has the girls to help make ends meet. Now I will definitely need to do that just to help pay for another vehicle. Notice that I did not say "new". No way I can afford new. I need something in the $8000 range. Crap. Crap. and more crap.
Bonjour
Caroline's new foods of choice are fruit, cheese, and bread. I told her last week that she could live in France with those choices. She was so taken with the idea that she was "French" that we had a special dinner last Thursday night. We went to Kroger and bought Brie, fruit, French bread, and sparkling grape juice. The girls loved that they could just break a piece of bread off the loaf. Megan is now addicted to Brie. And we all had sparking grape juice (wine) out of my crystal wine glasses. They enjoyed the evening so much that we will be "French" again another evening. Bon Appetit!!
More pics
Meeting the Saddle Club girls.
Megan, Abigail, Brigid, and Caroline watching Bluejeans perform.
Megan and Caroline meeting Bluejeans-Hannah Montana's horse in the movie.Breyerfest Pictures
Changing tack on the model horse.
Brigid, Abigail, and Caroline in front of Triple Select bedding. Triple the Triplets!!
Caroline says "giddyup!"
Megan living her dream moment back in the saddle again.
The Breyerfest. Need I say more!Thursday, July 23, 2009
iParenting.com
So the article that I was interviewed for awhile back has been written and is up on the website. The site address is www.pregnancytoday.com/articles/multiples/does-having-multiples-lead-to-divorce-6673/
It is pretty accurate. Of course, not everything we discussed was written about, which is often the case with any interview. The only thing I wish was written slightly differently is that my ex didn't lift a finger to help. I guess I think it sounds more negative than I would have preferred. I try not to bash the ex in anything written or to the girls. Sometimes it is hard though.
So take a look and let me know what you think.
It's been interesting watching Jon and Kate's marriage on TV. I've always been a big fan and really a big fan of Jon's until he started dating the daughter of Kate's plastic surgeon. They are family friends and I think he may have stepped over the line. Interesting again is the fact that he appears to have had no problems finding women to date when he has 8 kids. But the press keeps making fun of Kate and how undesirable she is BECAUSE she has 8 kids. Why is that? Personally I think we women should be more appealing because we are the ones who are strong enough to raise the kids basically on our own. We do it all and I don't see the press (or anyone else for that matter) applauding all the hard work we do everyday. I would think men would find us more desirable simply because we can handle everything without walking away from our responsibilities. IMHO.
It is pretty accurate. Of course, not everything we discussed was written about, which is often the case with any interview. The only thing I wish was written slightly differently is that my ex didn't lift a finger to help. I guess I think it sounds more negative than I would have preferred. I try not to bash the ex in anything written or to the girls. Sometimes it is hard though.
So take a look and let me know what you think.
It's been interesting watching Jon and Kate's marriage on TV. I've always been a big fan and really a big fan of Jon's until he started dating the daughter of Kate's plastic surgeon. They are family friends and I think he may have stepped over the line. Interesting again is the fact that he appears to have had no problems finding women to date when he has 8 kids. But the press keeps making fun of Kate and how undesirable she is BECAUSE she has 8 kids. Why is that? Personally I think we women should be more appealing because we are the ones who are strong enough to raise the kids basically on our own. We do it all and I don't see the press (or anyone else for that matter) applauding all the hard work we do everyday. I would think men would find us more desirable simply because we can handle everything without walking away from our responsibilities. IMHO.
Monday, July 20, 2009
Breyerfest
So we finally went to Breyerfest this weekend. The ultimate weekend as far as the girls were concerned. An entire day full of horses (real and model), hay, dirt, middle-aged women, and girls. I'm not sure I saw any boys the whole weekend. The girls got to ride ponies. They met the girls from the Saddle Club and got their autographs. We watched the Saddle Club girls perform and met Lizzy Traband who is a one-armed girl who does amazing horse tricks.
The absolute highlight of the weekend was that the girls got to meet Blue Man Steel aka "Bluejeans" from the Hannah Montana movie. I took a gazillion pictures. Megan practically glowed while she was talking with the owner of the horse. The girls got to pet him and hang out with the horse and the owner for awhile. Megan even got pics with Bluejeans, his owner, and her model Bluejeans horse. Heaven.
We then finished out the day by staying the night in a hotel in Lexington. I had to skip paying a bill to cover it and the girls used their birthday money and savings. But it was well worth it. On Sunday morning we got up around 8:30 and went to the hotel pool to swim. We had the entire pool to ourselves for an hour. It was wonderful. The girls' Dad has been teaching them to swim so it really was a lot of fun.
Only a few downers. For one, ten minutes near hay and I can't breathe. Thank God for Benedryl and even then I could hardly breath the whole time we were at the Kentucky Horse Park (site of the Breyerfest). Two, I didn't have money to buy any Breyer horses. That was a hard pill for Megan to swallow and a lot of the weekend was me saying "no" to her many requests to buy one. Did you know that they have Breyer horses that cost upwards of $1000 and more? Yikes. Megan did get one with the admission ticket we bought. Abby, Brigid, and Caroline were free and they all three got a stuffed Breyer horse.
At the hotel, Megan was sitting in the hot tub with a couple of women in their 60s. They struck up a conversation about horses. The one woman was selling all sorts of Breyer horses. She asked Megan for her room number (which really pissed me off, the woman should have known better). She convinced Megan she was going to give her a free one. After talking with Megan, the woman came over to me and said that Megan REALLY wanted a Breyer horse. I told the woman I could not afford one and Megan knew this before we even came Lexington. The rest of the time at the hotel everytime there was a noise outside our room, Megan would run to the door. And, no surprise here, the woman never showed up with a free horse for Megan. I was livid. The only thing the woman was trying to do was make a sale by making me feel bad and getting Megan's hopes up. Just awful. The amazing thing for me was watching Megan sitting in the hot tub talking to everyone in there. After that awful woman left, I watched Megan talk to 4 other ladies about everything under the sun. I am always in awe of Megan's ease in talking to other people.
On a lighter note, Brigid got her face painted on Sat. to look like a tiger. Very cute. Abby had a huge butterfly painted on her face. And Caroline asked for a horse. They were so excited. All day Caroline kept asking if we were really still in Kentucky. Brigid was so excited to be in Lexington you would think it was Paris. And Abby just seemed to enjoy every minute of everything.
The girls declared it the "best day ever!"
The absolute highlight of the weekend was that the girls got to meet Blue Man Steel aka "Bluejeans" from the Hannah Montana movie. I took a gazillion pictures. Megan practically glowed while she was talking with the owner of the horse. The girls got to pet him and hang out with the horse and the owner for awhile. Megan even got pics with Bluejeans, his owner, and her model Bluejeans horse. Heaven.
We then finished out the day by staying the night in a hotel in Lexington. I had to skip paying a bill to cover it and the girls used their birthday money and savings. But it was well worth it. On Sunday morning we got up around 8:30 and went to the hotel pool to swim. We had the entire pool to ourselves for an hour. It was wonderful. The girls' Dad has been teaching them to swim so it really was a lot of fun.
Only a few downers. For one, ten minutes near hay and I can't breathe. Thank God for Benedryl and even then I could hardly breath the whole time we were at the Kentucky Horse Park (site of the Breyerfest). Two, I didn't have money to buy any Breyer horses. That was a hard pill for Megan to swallow and a lot of the weekend was me saying "no" to her many requests to buy one. Did you know that they have Breyer horses that cost upwards of $1000 and more? Yikes. Megan did get one with the admission ticket we bought. Abby, Brigid, and Caroline were free and they all three got a stuffed Breyer horse.
At the hotel, Megan was sitting in the hot tub with a couple of women in their 60s. They struck up a conversation about horses. The one woman was selling all sorts of Breyer horses. She asked Megan for her room number (which really pissed me off, the woman should have known better). She convinced Megan she was going to give her a free one. After talking with Megan, the woman came over to me and said that Megan REALLY wanted a Breyer horse. I told the woman I could not afford one and Megan knew this before we even came Lexington. The rest of the time at the hotel everytime there was a noise outside our room, Megan would run to the door. And, no surprise here, the woman never showed up with a free horse for Megan. I was livid. The only thing the woman was trying to do was make a sale by making me feel bad and getting Megan's hopes up. Just awful. The amazing thing for me was watching Megan sitting in the hot tub talking to everyone in there. After that awful woman left, I watched Megan talk to 4 other ladies about everything under the sun. I am always in awe of Megan's ease in talking to other people.
On a lighter note, Brigid got her face painted on Sat. to look like a tiger. Very cute. Abby had a huge butterfly painted on her face. And Caroline asked for a horse. They were so excited. All day Caroline kept asking if we were really still in Kentucky. Brigid was so excited to be in Lexington you would think it was Paris. And Abby just seemed to enjoy every minute of everything.
The girls declared it the "best day ever!"
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Baggage
Last night I took the girls to dinner at Fazoli's. Tuesday is kid's night and dinner for each child with a drink is 99 cents. So for all 5 of us to go out to dinner it costs me about $10. Not bad. Plus they do a kid craft in the party room. I agreed to meet Ali and her boys there for a night of fun. An unexpected guest showed up to have dinner as well. I was happy to see this extra guest but it sort of put me off. And here's why. I never feel like I am good enough. I realize that this is baggage left over from high school where my parents just did not have enough money to buy the things I thought I needed to fit in. So I usually just hung back in the shadows and did my best to not stick out in the crowd. This person at dinner last night is usually very pleasant and was last night too. But I felt uncomfortable. And it totally was me. I can't afford a month in Florida on vacation. I can't afford a new van. I can't afford to dress my girls in Polo or any other designer for that matter. Did I get treated like less than a person last night? No. Did I feel it in my mind? Yes. How do I get past the baggage of the past? I took what could have been a very pleasant evening and simply ruined it by feeling uncomfortable. And that happens often when I am in group settings. I am not where I expected to be at 41. I suspect most of us aren't. But I would love to get past those awful feelings of never feeling good enough. So to Ali and the guest last night. I apologize for being in a stinky mood. I'll do better next time.
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