TTops and I had a good day today. I zipped home after work, picked her up and we went to a chiropractor appointment where we both got massaged and cracked.

Then we headed over to the pharmacy and got my crazy reducers.

And a special Christmas present for hubs. It is more of a big hint than anything. Seeing that I am opposed to nosehair and wild eyebrow hairs, I got him a little something to combat those festering reminders of life’s unceasing aging process.

Then we got a bite of Chinese food and did some clothes shopping since that girl is growing like 6 feet a day.

TTops had a tough week this week. Maybe it is Thanksgiving, I’m not sure. She emailed her last foster family so I hope that helps. Plus, the chiro and having fun tonight put her in a better mood. Hubs is taking her shopping on Friday to get a gift for her first mom while I cook for our second Thanksgiving dinner. Maybe that will help, too.

This time of the year is so hard for our kids.

So I suck. I haven’t been commenting. I have been reading your blog posts and intending to comment but then I run out of time.

For Essie tho I won’t link back so hopefully you still read here: Favorite holiday: Christmas. LOVE IT. I just love the SPIRIT of Christmas. I am not into the religious part of the holiday (remember that I am a heathen?) but I love candy canes and red and green and decorated trees and carols and buying shit for people and and and COOKIES!!!! Ohmygod do I love cookies. And seeing everything lit up.

Worst holiday: Valentine’s Day. WTF. Totally fabricated to make people spend money on crap they don’t need.

Taking TTops to the chiro tomorrow. Her neck is all balled up and so it mine from getting used to a new workspace. We’ll get cracked together.

Here is what I wondered today. I saw an old dude walking down the street after picking up a one-seven-five from the liquor store. He was wearing that same hair-do that guys in the 19fifties wore. You know. All slicked back with bangs kind of poofed up and slicked back. The ol’ James Dean look (or is that the early 60s-I don’t know-you can google it as I am too lazy and would just prefer to generalize right now). Anyway, I wonder if people get stuck in that prime of their life. Now I know not everyone does…but a lot of people do. They wear clothes that resemble that time period. Their hair remains unchanged. That whole deal. Now, I wonder what my daughter’s generation will look like as old folks, with their mophead hathair and their bellybutton rings and eyebrow rings. Will that still be cool?

In addition to swimnastics and Tai Chi, I am going to throw in a yoga class. They are all staggered so my schedule won’t be crazy…but enough so that I can transform my teacherbutt into a yogabutt. Until then, I am going to pig out.

For Thanksgiving, I am making (from scratch unless otherwise noted): ham decorated with pineapple (no turkey here, ew), stuffing, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, cauliflower au gratin (I am actually taking that to my MIL’s spread), cranberry sauce (cracking open a can IS cooking so there), barbecue beans, fresh-baked rolls, pumpkin pie (from a box) and then I also set out cottage cheese and pickles. My sister is bringing fresh veggies. My mom is bringing a wild rice casserole. I feel like I have already written about this.

That’s all I got. Kapow.

Oh, and PS…all y’all that say you learn from me??!! What in the WORLD is it that you learn? I feel like I am just vomiting all over this keyboard.

Ahhh, enchiladas are the BOMB. Dear FBI, you are wasting your time by looking at my blog. I am merely talking about ENCHILADAS. Which were SO GOOD!! I used a sauce from Mexico this time and it was spicy and yummy and OH SO GOOD. Like eating spicy dessert.

Hubs is making chocolate chip cookies right now. Thank you, MIL, for teaching him how to bake.

My youngest is currently wearing spiderman jammy pants, no shirt, and a winter superman hat while running around and letting out the juiciest toots. I told him to go take a duker and he busts out in giggles and toots some more.

At work, we talked about the meaning behind Thanksgiving, or rather, Thankstaking, as one coworker said. I love the women that I work with. They challenge my thinking and I love that.  So many people mistakenly think that the “first” thanksgiving took place because of some freaking dinner between the white folks and the natives. WRONG. Check this out: http://www.history.com/content/thanksgiving/the-first-thanksgiving. Challenge yourself. For more in depth history, especially about what happened AFTER the “first” thanksgiving: http://www.2020tech.com/thanks/temp.html.

"A generation later, after the balance of power had indeed shifted, the Indian and White children of that Thanksgiving were striving to kill each other in the genocidal conflict known as King Philip's War."

I just had to erase a few paragraphs in which I vented about white U.S. history.

TTops neck is SO tight tonight. I just spent 10 minutes massaging her while it spasmed and tightened. Cerebral palsy is a PITA. Her hands are bright red and not from dryness, overwashing or anything like that.

Uff da. I actually got to sit down today. But that was because I had a splitting headache, even after three extra strength tylenols.

I did my usual cooking marathon…though I cooked a lot less than normal because of Thanksgiving…we have two of them…one  for each side of the family. I made cheeseburger pie, Mexican lasagna, and enchiladas.

Today’s recipe that I will share is another easy one:

Cheeseburger Pie

Two pkgs of refrigerated crescent roll tubes

Pound of hamburger

Chopped up purple onion

1/3 cup ketchup

2 tbl mustard

salt & pepper, garlic powder

pkg shredded cheddar

2 eggs

Brown hamburger with onion. While that is cooking, spray a pie tin and line it with one tube of the crescent roll like  a pie crust (you can also make your own pie crust, I do this sometimes). When the meat is browned, add the ketchup, mustard, salt, pepper, and garlic powder (to taste). Heat til warm. Then dump in your pie crust and spread around til even. Add your shredded cheese. I added a whole package. That was a bit much. You could get by with half. Then add two uncooked scrambled eggs. Then add the other package of crescent rolls as the top crust. Bake for 45 minutes at 350 degrees F.

Everyone loves it in my family.

Other than that, we had a friend of Lil Guy’s over for a few hours. That cemented my feelings that we will NEVER EVER have three kids the same age. Double uff da. That didn’t help my headache at all. Three boys, all 7, are freakin LOUD. Yuck. No thank you. But I got a nap afterwards so all is good.

That’s all I got. Kapow.

We nailed a deer with the Momehicle last night. For the record, it is not a minivan, but a Mercury Mountaineer…but because we can cram 7 people in it, 5 of whom resemble children, I call it the Momehicle. Anyway, we live in the middle of nowhere and were heading off to a dinner out, which we rarely do anymore, cruising along a country road at 60 mph when there it was. I shouted, “DEER!” and a split second later it darted in front of our car and we hit it. Poor baby didn’t stand a chance. The Momehicle was more like a tank. The front bumper cover and a headlight was taken out but that was it.

The kids were freaked. TTops especially. This was HUGE. When we first got her, she chatted constantly about deer hunting and about how we should do it. Until I asked her what she knew about it. Which was a fairy tale version. So I explained about life and death and how you get the meat off the deer and she decided it was okay that we didn’t hunt. Yet was unphased by death. She continued on unphased by death for many years…until this year. NOW, when she hears about people or animals passing, she gets that they are GONE and not coming back. When we hit the deer, she started sobbing about how we took its life. THAT, my friends, is huge progress. I felt awful for her but proud at the same time because she is truly caring about other people and animals. She understands and FEELS the loss.

TTops has been extra helpful lately. She went through a nasty phase and was getting pretty pissy with everyone…and even a little punchy…so we grounded her and chatted about respect and love and family and blah blah blah, same old shit but she seemed it hear it cause she has been a lot better these last few days. SO MUCH BETTER. It is nice. Really really really nice.

That’s all I got. Kapow.

I pulled a book off the shelf today that I hadn’t touched in a while. Turns out, it has been a long while.

Inside, was a bus ticket. It was the ticket that got me to intake processing for Basic Training.

The book was On the Road by Jack Kerouac. It is what got me through the first two weeks of processing before I actually got to boot camp. I barely even remember it except that it had some great quotes. There was one written on the bus ticket:

What is that feeling when you’re driving away from people and they recede on the plain til you see their specks dispersing–it’s the too-huge world vaulting us, and it’s goodbye. But we lean forward to the next crazy venture beneath the skies.

Sometimes I feel just so full of love for my family I could nearly explode. Cool down mama, cool enough.

I am listening to my middle child sing along to U2 right now. He just ran up to my husband and threw his arms around him. So sweet.

The boys are playing army dudes/legos right now on my bakers rack. The viney plants on the thing are the jungle that they are fighting in. Kind of like a kiddie Vietnam war, only without the drugs and degradation. They have been doing this for an HOUR. WITHOUT FIGHTING. Shhhhh….let’s not bother them.

TTops has been awesome this week. We are talking about also doing water aerobics together. I am going to call the community ed lady tomorrow and see if they’ll let teens do it, too. TTops gets along better with old people anyway and I can really use the exercise. Of course, this would mean that I would have to shave my legs in the wintertime. Ugh. Not sure if it is worth it. But getting rid of the teacherbutt would be.

Oh, and someone asked about my 5 yr marriage contract. Yep, we are on a 5yr lease plan. Mostly so we don’t take things for granted. We reassess every 5 yrs and renew the contract if we all good. We are halfway through round two now. It is funny, because we joke about not renewing any time the other one gets irritating. Since we both agree that being away from the other one is like cutting out a hunk of our hearts, I’d say that renewal will happen again.

That’s all I got. Kapow.

Thanks for all the great funding ideas for the girls’ computers! I am also going to hit up some businesses and check out the Gates Foundation.

I found two foundations that fund grants that could be used for the girls’ computers. Our development director writes grants constantly so she is going to help me. This is so fun! I told the program coordinator about my idea. She is excited. I am too!

I spent the day preparing payroll, which is one of the un-fun parts of my job. But hey, it is job security cause everyone needs money, honey.

Tonight we have peace. TTops is at her grandma’s. I am vegging on the recliner. There is a pizza loaf baking in the oven (smells FABULOUS) and a dog scratching at the back door. I may or may not let her in. All she does is kick and growl at me (in a silly, oh I am such a funny little shit, sort of way).

Okay, we just ate. It was delicious. And not annoying at all. Just like a regular family meal.

TTops missed the bus this morning. I know I am not supposed to compare myself to her, but DAMN. She is almost 15 years old (yeah, and cognitively delayed, blah blah blah). When I was in 2nd grade and onward, my sister and I got ourselves up in the morning and caught the bus COMPLETELY ON OUR OWN. I think throughout the years we only missed the bus once or twice because the electricity went out. My mom worked nights and my dad left for work early in the morning. Yeah, I know she is disabled but this is pure defiance. She has timers and the EXACT same routine every morning,verbal prompts and encouragement from others (don’t worry we’ve changed it up over the years and have tried everything under the sun so I don’t need any advice in this area as we have Perfected the morning routine as much as it is ever going to be) but this morning she decided she was going to refuse to take her planner and bag and jacket to school because we “made” her brush her hair. Her hair is 1 inch long. For a reason. Cause every morning it is a freaking fight to get her to put a comb through it. That and drinking a liquid. Don’t get me started. Anyway, The Husband wouldn’t allow her to get on the bus without her stuff and waved the bus driver on. He could have had the driver wait…but if he did, then TTops would have made the bus wait every single day…we know this from experience. The bus driver, Moe, is great. Moe has three kids with RAD and FASD so she doesn’t take any shit from TTops and keeps her in line. Moe is the only reason TTops gets to ride a big yellow. Oh, I just ran out of steam.

That’s all I got. Kapow.

I had big visions for setting up the computer lab for the girls afterschool leadership program…and then I got there.

Six machines.

Six computers that are 10 years old.

10 computer years = 100 in people years.

ANTIQUES.

I was able to cobble together two working machines that I will network tomorrow. But damn. Two 10 year old computers for a bunch of girls that are already living in poverty is shit. Seriously. So my next goal is to get them some real machines. Then I will teach a workshop on computer basics: internet, email, typing, you get the idea. These kids are pretty awesome and they deserve it. If anyone has a lead on a grant that could go for computers for these girls, let me know. I will also work with our development director and see what she can dig up. She is pretty good. I am thinking $1000-$1500 would get three decent machines.

Anyways, I LOVE my new job. I feel like I am actually doing something. It is awesome.

Plus, I get to spend 1.5 more hours each day with my kids. That adds up. I love it. Now that I cook all of our meals on Sundays, I have a ton more time with the kids. Before, everything felt rushed and haggard each evening. Now? We are luxuriously watching a movie, all the kids are ready for bed and life is so much easier.

Recipe: Hashbrown Casserole. AKA Party Potatoes

Very common recipe. I split the recipe, eat half, freeze half, after it is prepared (but not baked). I serve with sides of veggies, rolls, fruit, etc. 1/2 Recipe serves 5 of us perfectly.

Bag of frozen hash browns o’brien, can of cream of potato soup, small container of sour cream, bag of shredded cheese.

Mix all together and bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.

My kids love it. It is easy and tasty cause the top gets all crispy. You can also crush up cornflakes and mix them with melted butter for a yummy crust (bake for an additional 10-15 minutes after dumping these on top). But I don’t always have cornflakes. We are more of a honey bunches of oats family.

TTops is utterly obsessed with my pain level. She means well and actually cares about how I feel…but the questions every two minutes is getting old, “How do feel now, mom? Are you still having pain? Are you better yet? How about now? Do you think you will have to have surgery? How about now, does it still hurt?” and on and on and on.

That’s all I got. Kapow.