Oh my God - The anniversary party is in three days. I had to take off work Wednsday and Thursday and my house still isn't up to par. The porches are cluttered, the garden sucks, and I still have so much to cook. Oh crap!
I was so exhausted all week. Monday I was up cleaning til 11:30, Tues I was up til 1:30 in the morning, Wednesday I redid James' room (so cute by the way), Yesterday I got fitted for my uniform for nursing school, and tonight I have to paint. Tomorrow Christy is coming over and we're all teaming up to finish the house. I think I just might lay down on Sunday night and never wake up!
I'm so stressed I can barely feel - anything! Boy I hope this goes off w/o a hitch because if one person says anything about my house, I'm sending them to Jamie and saying "Talk to Big shot construction man over there. He can do a railing and make a new porch, and refinish a whole dining room. It'll be done in no time"
And what makes it worse is my mom-in-law thinks I'm crazy for doing this and really wants to say "Maybe you shouldn't have a picnic with your house like it is." But she has no idea I'm doing it for her and dad.
Anyway, I'll do another disaster post when I get back on Monday. Wish me luck :)

It's been a hectic past couple of weeks and has no signs of slowing. Last Thursday I went to a concert - Pearl Jam - who I loved when I was younger. I found out I was old. There were about a trillion teenagers there that were annoying me, I had four beers and got drunk, the music was to loud, I had to pee so badly I made Gina pull over to the side of the road, and woke up with the worst headache I've had in a long time. It turns out that if you relax for a little while and settle down with your family, having "fun" kind of sucks. I had an alright time but they didn't play enough good music for me to really get happy and I missed my kids.
Plus, I had to wake up the next morning, after driving around Camden until after 1 in the morning trying to get home, and leave for camping. I wasn't even packed! I was a wreck haha. I packed like I was leaving in a week. I would put a couple of things into the suitcase, then lay down. I would grab the toothbrushes, then lay down. It was aweful. Syd came in and was all -- "Are you OK?" I was all - "Oh yeah, just the music was to loud and I have a headache from that." I could feel my nose growing as I said it but I couldn't very well say, "Well Syd, I once drank rum for a whole week in a row in the Dominican Republic on my honeymoon and had not a slur but nowadays I can't have four beers without falling down the steps and splitting my head in two with my own two hands to get the heart that's beating in it, out." That wouldn't have worked quite so well as the music being to loud or set as good an example.
Well, what really snapped me out of it was the coffee J got me and the Motrin 800 I took before leaving. :)
I did get packed and out the door. We took the extended version of the trip as we always do when I am following my father. The trip should have been about an hour away - It was only twenty miles from Atlantic City - but my dad got us a little lost. So we drove - then drove - then drove again until we arrived at the state park two and a half hours after we left the house. Jamie came down Saturday and brought relief for Syd in the way of my niece Amanda because you know, camping is so boring and there's no ipod or tv. All in all we had a wonderful trip. It was relaxing when the kids weren't screaming or falling - side note James almost fell into the fire, he's OK but very scary stuff right there. It was calm and lots of food and lots of family. So good, almost to good. When you get home from something like that, it's disappointing. Back to the grind, back to the cleaning, back to planning an anniversary party at my home for Sunday. I guess it's like coming back to the loud music of home instead of the peacefulness of the forest. Although one day I will long for the loud music that I have right now. My children's screams and giggles and laughs. That's the music of my blessed life. I love camping and I can't wait for us to go again. :)

It has been so long since I last blogged, I don't even know where to start... I have two beautiful babies (well, they'll be two and three in a couple of months) and a wonderful stepdaughter. Harley is growing up so quickly - she's smart and funny and the perfect little helper. James is SUCH a boy :) He's rough and tumble, a go-getter, and extremely persistent. He is also the most adorable little boy I've ever laid eyes on! He is just getting into the sentence stage and can't quite annunciate the way Harley did, but all in all he understands everything that she did at that age. They play and get along great most of the time - and I mean MOST of the time being maybe 10% - the other 90% of the time they both want the same toy and are screaming at the top of their lungs. All you mothers out there with one baby or toddler - don't even complain or judge for that matter. Once the second one comes along - Boom! - A whole different ballgame. So when you see me at the store looking quite unwashed and far from the calm, perfect, patient mother you are (which I used to be too) keep it to yourself, please. Lest I will sic these children of mine on you :)
Seriously though, you moms of toddlers that are close together know what I'm saying. It's hard being everything to everyone. You have to spread yourself thin trying to make sure everyone is totally loved and mannerful and not biting the child next to them. It's a full time job in and of itself. Speaking of full time employment, I work for the Motor Vehicles in Jersey and I will be quitting in a couple of months to start school to become a nurse. Actually, Ive been going to school full time and working full time since James was first born. Talk about spreading yourself thin :) But I've come to the point where the classes are all during the day and i won't be able to work while I go to school. So this should be a big change, a nervous stressful oh my god what am i doing change. But we're doing it and stickin' it out. So I thought what better way to rid yourself of fear than writing it all out on the internet and get it off my chest. So I should be back here a lot.
In all my willy nilly free time I have taken up gardening. I planted a whole packet of tomato plant seeds and guess what, I've got a whole lot of tomato plants lol! I have 18 of them to be exact. I also planted radishes, corn, cucumbers, carrots, peas, green beans, and lima beans. I planted them all on the side of my house and the kids like going out and checking them every night. So, I've decided since I have to leave behind my steady paycheck just as food prices are going to soar from flooding and jignormous gas price hikes, I am going to make my own tomato sauce. Tomato sauce and maybe pasta, too. That way I can freeze it and save lotsa moolah of food. Hmm, there's probably going to be some good posts from that I can feel it. I figure I can freeze the peas, green beans, and limas. I can pickle the cucumbers. I'm not quite sure how the radishes and carrots are goingt to come out, though, so I'll keep updating.
In two weekends, we're having my entire in-law family to my house to have a 40th anniversary party for my in-law parents. We have so much work to do on the house it's really not funny. I have to paint and fix and organize. Hmm, I think there'll be some good stories from that too. Well - Gotta go back to the craziness and actually live the life I have :) Lots of Blessings