Saturday June 21^st

So, the vacation is going well except for the usual temper tantrums, ugly weather and screw ups. My biggest screw up? I lost my iPod.  I had it in my camera bag and when a picture moment happened, I flung open my bag and never noticed the iPod disappeared. Well, actually I did notice but when I looked around and didn't see it I figured I probably forgot that I had taken it out of the bag. Well, 2 thunderstorms and 1 hail storm later, I found my iPod sitting in the grass all wet and ruined. It's officially broke and so is my heart. Now, I'm stuck here with an 18 hour trip looming in front of me and no music...except for Country and Polka. I'm DYING. The girls are being mean and refusing to allow me the use of theirs so I'm stuck listening to this crap day after day. It's so totally killing me.

We took a trip down to Delaware yesterday. It's a 4 ½ hour drive down so we got up at 7 and headed out at 8 for the long trip. We stopped and picked up some real subs and headed out to a park to eat our lunch, then headed into New Castle to see where I grew up. My old neighbors were home and it was wonderful to see them again. I took the girls on a walk around our block pointing out where our friends used to live and where we used to hang out. It was great but sad because I miss the old days. Jill (my neighbor) informed me that our old house was on the market last year and a guy just bought it a few months ago. She said had she known we were looking to buy a new house, she would have called me. That would have been awesome to live in my old house. It's still beautiful and the neighborhood still feels like home.

We stopped and visited my Uncle John (dad's oldest brother) and that was heartbreaking. I'm glad I visited but I also wish I hadn't because seeing him as a broken old man just kills me. He's got Alzheimer's and dementia and he doesn't speak except in broken sentences that you can't understand. I remember him as a crazy Uncle who would always welcome us with, "How ya makin' out?" and now he doesn't even know we're in the room. It's so sad. My Aunt Alice is doing well, she's getting old and has a few issues but other than that she was glad to see us and had fun reminiscing about the old days. Julia says she likes my relatives, they seem pretty nice. Yeah, they are. They are pretty cool.

We got home at midnight and we all just crashed. The drive was exhausting. I'm working on getting the girls up now and getting them moving. Today we're helping put up a side of the barn. The girls are going to get REALLY stinky today. And of course, there's a shopping trip in the future AGAIN as tomorrow is Liz's birthday and she won't let us forget it.

We went to Altoona the other day and the girls were able to pick up the much needed book supplies they were looking for. Liz got 4 books to complete a series; Julia got 3 books and Becca 2. The plan was to go to Outback for dinner but since we had to return home by 6 and it's a 2 hour drive, Outback doesn't open until 4..... we ended up at TGIFridays and my belly was NOT happy afterwards. Oh well.... I'm craving sushi BIG TIME and can't wait to get home to get it. The house that night was so nice and quiet as we all curled up in our corners and read our books. I wish every day was like that....

Becca and Julia had their first fight the other night. They were out in the bedroom and I was in the living room. I heard the screaming and just continued to sit there and watch television. Liz came out a couple of times to let me know they were fighting and I just ignored her. She was getting pretty nervous so I made her sit out with me. We just sat their waiting for the time I needed to come out and referee. Becca sleeps in the bed with me at night, Liz has a twin size bed and Julia has the big comfy couch. Well, our bed is at one end of the room and the couch and twin bed at the other. Our side of the room is freezing and the other side a lot warmer. Becca likes hanging with the other girls during the day so for the past few days she either sat on the floor or sat on the couch(Julia's bed) with Julia. She had been sitting on the couch for a few hours while they played side by side on their computers. Becca got up to go to the bathroom and Julia decided to stretch out on the couch. When Becca came back, Julia refused to move her feet; so Becca being a descendant of Chris.....sat on her feet. Whether it was PMS, bull headedness or just plain BRAT... she sat down right on her feet and refused to move. Julia is screaming, "get off my feet, Becca get off my feet" over and over and over, louder and louder and louder and Becca is just sitting there playing on the computer. Julia never tried to move her feet, just continued to scream over and over. She tried getting Becca to move by slamming her hands over the keyboard and then slamming the lid to the computer down so Becca couldn't use it. (I think she forgot that the computer Becca was using was.... MINE)  They never called my name to interfere and so I waited and waited. I'd already told them I'm not getting in their fights; they need to handle it on their own. They are big girls and unless it comes to blows, I'm not getting involved. So Liz is getting more and more nervous and the screaming is getting louder and louder. I put the TV on mute and screamed, "ONE!". Oh it was hilarious. Absolute silence; I could hear the dogs breathing in the other room.  About 5 minutes later they were laughing and playing together again; like nothing ever happened.  Later that night when Julia and I were alone she wanted to tell me about the argument, not realizing I heard the whole thing. I told her, I heard it and did she really want to tell me her side of the story? They were both wrong... and it's over so lets drop it... then Becca got me alone and tried the same thing. I told her unless she was willing to sit down next to J and let me tell them both why they were both wrong, then she best shut up and let it go. They let it go and we've had peace in the valley ever since. I think they were happy I allowed them to handle it on their own. No adult intervention. WOW!

Wednesday June 18^th

Well we've been in Pennsylvania for just about 10 days and we're already dreading the thought of leaving in another 10 days. I thought being up here would maybe center me a little and relax me but I've become an emotional wreck and feel more like crying than relaxing....

We left for Pennsylvania Friday the 6^th around 8pm. It was an uneventful trip except we spent more time taking pee breaks than anything. Luna was the only one that didn't have a pee break. She's crazy, refusing to pee on a leash but anyway, the trip was uneventful and we made it up to dad's house by 12:30 Saturday afternoon. Chris was able to spend a few days with us until he had to head for home on Monday for work. I think after he left, all my shields broke down and I became another person. Living with 3 teen girls is SOOO not a vacation. If they aren't squealing like maniacs; running around like loons, they are complaining about being hungry or their hair being a mess. I definitely am out of my league here. Now I know I definitely wasn't a normal teen in my days. They've had their little spats and dad and I just ignore them and let them solve it themselves. So far, it's working. I've heard screaming and sarcastic comments but so far, no fists so I'm leaving them alone. The big problem is that there is only one bathroom, one mirror, 2 computers and 2 iPods. Figure all that in and you have 2 bitching because the other spends their time in the bathroom and 1 bitching because the other two are either using their iPod's or computer and she's left out. Today is the first day I've commandeered my computer so I could get some work done. Becca has been using mine because she's the one without a computer, Julia without the iPod and Liz WITH the attitude. Don't get me wrong, the are having a blast and getting along wonderfully but they have their moments, if you get my drift.

We found out that Julia gets a touch of car sickness. At first I thought it was all the tea and junk food she'd been eating but then realized she only felt sick to her stomach or dizzy while in the car. I should have known better, I can't sit in the back seat up here for the same reason. She's handling it well but every once in a while I worry she'll hurl. Oh well, she sits behind my dad and he'll be the one that gets hurled on.... The other two are teasing her like crazy, making dad go faster up and down and around the mountains and dad being dad, just goes faster and faster. I keep quiet... it's the only way to keep myself from hurling... or the teasing away from me...UGH

So far we've seen rabbits, deer, groundhogs, dead porcupines (darn it) chipmunks, one fox and a coyote. Our goal is to find a bear. But so far, no luck. I did see a hummingbird up close but wasn't near a camera for a beautiful picture.

We took Julia down to see the dam and she and Becca wanted to get their legs wet. Dad had a big grin on his face and told them to go for it. Becca knowing what to expect, walked slowly out into the water, up to her knees, up to her waist and stopped. Julia being a bit taller and ummm clueless, went a bit farther out. Dad and I had our cameras ready. One step more and click goes the pictures. Julia took one step too far and down she goes into the cold water as the bank ended and dropped off. Oh it was hilarious. She stood up cracking up and soaking wet. We just love newbies around here; they are so much fun to mess with. We stopped and got spring water and J looked a little leery about drinking water from out of a pipe in the ground but after the rest of us filled our bottles and drank, she was okay. One prank a day is enough, we got her with the dam, why mess with her with spring water too right? I got a ton of pictures of the girls climbing over and around the rocks at the dam, Julia was able to see what an actual old fashioned outhouse was and I don't think was too impressed with it.

Dad is trying to get some work out of the girls while they are here. He's holding a shopping spree in the big city (Altoona) if they do a few chores. Simple chores, no hard labor but you'd think we were pulling teeth without numbing it first. Sheesh! Dad gave us all his pennies to sort in year order. Sounds easy right? Yeah right. It took us 7 days to get it done. The oldest penny we found was 1913 - pretty cool. We got them all in numerical order, separated in plastic baggies. WHEW all done. Now, Liz is in charge of cleaning out the horse stalls... the other two put their foot down on that one. NO WAY! So they are stuck cleaning off the front porch, which would take a normal person 20 minutes... Dad's been fighting them for 3 days. It doesn't really bother him... it saves him money. I reminded the girls today about the trip that he keeps putting off and they reluctantly got dressed and headed out to the porch. I just love teenage girls!

My job other than helping with pennies and doing the mountain of laundry that seems to keep reappearing has been to scan old pictures. Scanning pictures is pretty easy and actually really cool since I'm seeing pictures of all my ancestors and all. Dad just hands me a batch of pictures and I scan away. Unfortunately, my emotions caught up with me and I embarrassed myself totally in front of the girls. I was scanning some pictures of my dad when he was younger and then pictures of mom & dad's wedding. Beautiful... until I picked up a picture that had to have been taken maybe in the early 90's or late 80's of my mom and dad. As Chris would say, dad looked like Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof. But anyway, it was a picture (actually 2) of my mom and dad. They had their arms wrapped around each other in this big hug and they both looked like they were cracking up about something and I thought to my self, "They are so happy....and so in love." I lost it. It's so sad, so unfair that that happiness had to end. It breaks my heart seeing so much joy and happiness in their face knowing that it had to end. So since then, I've been moody, sad and totally emotional. Sucks! So, I am careful on what pictures I scan now. We spent the morning at my 2^nd cousin Cara's yesterday and I spent the time scanning some of her pictures. It's pretty cool to see my dad at the age of 6. He's just too cute. Anyway, it looks like today will be another day of rest and either tomorrow or Friday we'll head up or over to Altoona or Erie for the dreaded shopping spree. The girls are dying for some books to read. We've got to do something soon. Liz's birthday is in a few days and she's driving us crazy about getting presents. I told her my present was bringing Julia up, I wasn't buying her crap, but she seems to think that Becca now has to get her something and since Becca has no money, it looks like it falls on me. BRAT!

I was just about to close this until I forgot the most important part of the whole trip.... We got up here on Saturday with 90 degree weather. All weekend and most of the first week was intense heat - high 80's low 90's and living where there isn't an air conditioner sucks let me tell you. But anyway...Last week we had 90 degree weather... this week, well, let me tell you that today we're all in jeans and sweatshirts. I don't believe we've hit 60 yet. It's 1:15pm the wind is blowing, the sky is grey and the temps are in the high 50's. It's awesome! Dad actually put the heat on this morning in the main part of the house. The girls and I are in the L-room (basically a Florida room) we've got a few windows open with fans blowing. It's freaking cold in here and we're all snuggled down in our blankets and dogs. Last night was definitely a 2 dog night. WOO HOO! This is what I came up for...

So, we're having a wonderful time up here, it's relaxing and beautiful. I wish I could stay forever but know I must return to reality and head  back down to Florida next week. But we won't think about that now... right now, we're going to grab a jacket, a pair of shoes and a blanket and head out under the tree to read a book and enjoy the wind........it calls to me.........

Oh wait... one more thing... These kids do not know the concept of money unless it's theirs. Dad took them grocery shopping; let them pick out anything they wanted. We got fresh lunchmeat and cheese, vegetables, potatoes, junk food, sodas, etc. The house is full of crap but everyday they insist on going out somewhere and get pissy when we say no. Then they bitched and moaned because all there was to eat was lunchmeat and cheese. So we went out again and bought more crap, more of a variety for lunch. They still weren't happy. Yesterday we were coming home from Cara's house and they kept complaining they were hungry so dad says, well, we've got lunch meat at home we can have that and a salad. EWWW, YUCK... So, what do you want??? You won't freaking believe it.... SUBWAY, fucking Subway. I don't know what came over me but I flew into a silent rage, I was pissed. I never said a word to them, never voiced my opinion but UGH!!!  These girls wanted Subway - a fucking sub, when we had the makings of a sub including the rolls at the house... Well, dad stopped at Subway....and made me get out with the girls to get it. I was very quiet as I walked up with the girls because I was so furious. What could I do? Dad stopped so I guess it didn't really bother him, but me, with very little money on me and feeling guilty as hell allowing him to buy everything just blew me away. Julia and Liz were smart - they got a sandwich with makings that weren't at the house... Becca, sweet Becca, no clue... got a freaking turkey sandwich with cheese and mayonnaise. EXACTLY what we had at the house! And something she's eaten EVERYDAY LAST WEEK! Yesterday was so not a good day for me. I love teenagers... I just love them.....

Wednesday June 4^th

So, Becca comes home from school yesterday and tells me her journalism teacher has been banned from 4^th period (her class). After Monday's class five of her friends went down to the principal's office to speak with the assistant principal. They complained about the class. Becca says the principal told them he'd take care of it and yesterday the teacher missed their 4^th period class with the rumor that he was not allowed to be there.

I got a clearer description of what this man is telling these 11 year old children. The computer is evil because if you add numbers to each letter of the alphabet, spell out the word computer and add the numbers it comes up to 111. Multiply that by 6 and you have the devil's number of 666. Computers are evil. If you look at a barcode and it has the number 6 in it with 2 straight lines over it, then you will notice two other sets of 2 straight lines meaning there are always 2 additional 6's meaning - each barcode says 666. Barcodes are evil.

And on to the topper; this teacher informed the class that if Obama wins the race for presidency, the world will end in 2012 for the bible says that if an evil man rules the world for 42 months, the world will end. Obama is evil, the world is going to end if he wins the presidency. Becca also told me that 12 of her friends in his 1^st period class received a gift from him yesterday morning. They got their own mini bible from him. Gee, isn't that nice? This man is freaking crazy and needs to be removed from this school. I told Becca that if he's still there next year and she has a class of his, she'd be removed. She then informs me that he's a 7^th grade PE coach. Lovely, well, if she has him, she'll be pulled from the class or even the school. I think the next step is going to the school board to report him. He shouldn't be teaching in a public school. Heck, I don't think he should be teaching in a religious school. He's CRAZY!

Tuesday June 3^rd

I've started writing a blog about 10 times in the past few weeks but there just doesn't seem to be anything interesting to say. I've become a hermit in my new house. I'm not in the mood to talk, socialize, smile or anything. The house is great but sadly still very empty. We've had two great hits on the old house but unfortunately both fell through and money is seriously tight and we are still stuck with two houses. We can't hold on much longer. I'm seriously thinking of just throwing up my hands, packing up and moving back to the old house and let the government and this terrible market take my dream house away. There goes the credit but what can you do? Two great offers and because of crooked loan officers and mortgage brokers we're screwed! SUCKS. My realtor says we're the only house in Arlington that's getting calls on daily; we're the 2^nd lowest in price. So, what is the freaking problem? We've had to drop the house down to bare minimum. If we sell it at the price right now, the mortgage will be paid off and so will my dad. We'll come out at zero, but right now, I'm seriously okay with that. I just want to pay off those two loans. I'll be starting my home day care in a few weeks so new furniture will come when I start getting paid. PLEASE SOMEONE BUY THIS DARN HOUSE! It's a freaking steal right now!

We're heading to my dad's in a few days. Yeah, I know, complain about money and then take a trip up to PA. Stupid but if I stay here much longer, I'm going to explode. I've got the money for gas and as long as we don't eat, we'll be fine for the trip! We'll starve but at least we'll be in PA for a few weeks.

School is just about out and Becca's journalism teacher is getting way out of control. Their final exam was last week and they had an extra credit question that would not hurt their grade but would hurt their future if they got it wrong. Wanna know what it was? You guessed it! The answer was Jesus! Becca answered "The Lord" and though she was incorrect, he said she was on the right path so she would not be punished. WHAT A JERK! The next day they had a visitor come into the class to talk to them about journalism. He talked to them about writing only facts, that if you don't witness it, it is not a fact. You could get in trouble for writing "heresay" or things that you didn't actually witness. He then went on and started talking about the bible and how it is all FACT; that God said this, God said that. Becca leaned over to her friend and whispered - "How does he know its fact? He didn't witness it." The kid cracked up and they just smiled at each other and ignored the speaker for the rest of the presentation. And then yesterday, she came home and informed me that computers were evil, that bar codes were evil and if you add up certain numbers of things they were the devils numbers. 666 were the devil's numbers and if you look at barcodes, all barcodes have the numbers 666. She said so much more but my mind was just UGH RAGING! What is it with this guy? I told her I wanted her journal and that on Thursday I would pick her up from school because I wanted to speak to the Vice Principal. This is ridiculous and this man should not be allowed to teach journalism next year. It's bull crap and I'm so done with this guy.

So as you can see, I'm in a foul mood and it's just getting worse. Nothing seems to be going right, right now and I'm going crazy. I've completed all my training, got re-certified for CPR, Child CPR and First aid, I've filled out my application and called to see what other information I needed to get my day care license. The woman I first spoke with said, "You got a computer?" Yes. "Well, the information is right there." Okay, well, now that I have the information (bitch) please tell me who I need to speak with or send it to so that I can get my license. The computer does not tell me that. "HOLD ON" (BITCH) So, I finally speak to someone with intelligence and understands my questions. She informs me I need to do a background check on myself and Chris (I knew that) and that she would mail me all the pertinent information I'd need. Step by step instructions on how to get my license.  See? That wasn't so hard. Why couldn't the first lady tell me that?  

Oh, I forgot some funnies that have gone on in the past few weeks. Back in May we took our Girl Scout troop down to Nickelodeon Hotel for the weekend as our end of the year trip. It started out nasty because one of the moms is a real thorn in my side. She does everything in her power to make my life miserable. Anyway, after getting all the girls checked in, we headed out to the pool to enjoy 29 hours of fun. Yes, I counted the hours! I took over 300 pictures that weekend and had a blast with my girls. They were a little upset that I refused to get in the water but, if you'd seen the water, even you would probably have refused. The water was crystal clear when we got there at 10am and by 3pm the water looked like the soda "SQUIRT". EWW is all I can say. The pool was a giant pot of people soup. I've never seen so many people in one pool. YUCK! The girls spent the entire weekend in the pool and had a blast. "The mom" gave me a hard time at each corner but I survived...and so did she. (BARELY)

Once we got home, I began the process of cleaning up my Girl Scout photo file to make copies of all the pictures I'd taken over the year. I take pictures at every event, copy them to disc and give them to the girls as a gift at the end of each school year. The kids love it and so do the parents. So, I get home, down load my newest pictures and start cleaning up. I had my 20 CDR-s with me and I was good to go. I asked Chris how much space 1 CDR held and he told me it was about 700mb. Not too bad, I never had a problem with making my copies so I was set. Until Chris checked out my file and found out my GS picture file was over 2.2G! OOPS! I had well over 1300 pictures all in good quality. There was no way I could delete that many pictures to drop it down to 700 so Chris graciously ran to the store, picked up the DVD-R's and began the process of copying them for me. He was up until 3am and then woke at 630am to finish the final few so that he could leave by 10 to get down to Miami for a night job. YIKES! Boy was I in trouble. But it was funny and my parents got a kick out of my story.

So, in conclusion - nothing much has happened over the past few weeks. We've got 2 houses, no bites on the old house, money is running VERY low and we're out of options. Prayers, positive energy, interested buyers are all welcome here!!!!

Oh yeah, we've decided to go ahead and throw an OPEN HOUSE Party. Since we still have no furniture and no money it will be an OPEN HOUSE with BYOB oh and BYOC (bring your own chair).

I'll be posting an invite shortly as I've got to get a confirmation on the date. So, if anyone is interested in checking out the wonderful new EMPTY house with the beautiful back yard and view, you are more than welcome to come by and visit!!!