Well, it's Monday morning, and there are HUGE snowflakes falling in our area.

The school did not call and cancel so Hubby took the boys on his way to work. I'm actually sort of surprised they didn't cancel school today, but then again I understand why they didn't. Usually, the district is very good about not taking chances with so many children riding the bus and cars on the road everywhere, not to mention all the kids that walk.

But they've already missed 4 days of school because of the last winter storm, and I think as long as the roads were considered somewhat passable, the administrators didn't want to take the chance of more days they have to make up at the end of the year.

So I will be waiting for a call that school is letting out early, or just being prepared to get them after school at the regular time. Either way, I'm guaranteed to be driving in a snowy mess.

Not my idea of a good time.

I like to imagine myself pretty confident and able to handle most things thrown my way, but here's my big confession . . . I suck at driving in winter weather. (And I'm probably nowhere near as cool under pressure as I like to think I am.)

The few times I've done it, I've fishtailed all over the road - several times - and it scares the ba-jeebies out of me.

When I have kids in the car, all my concentration is on going slow and keeping them safe, but I always get distracted by other drivers who think they're NASCAR qualifiers, and then I have a little slip myself, and it rattles me for the rest of the drive.

Hopefully today will be a slow, uneventful drive.

Have a great week and keep warm.

Later.

Good Morning, all.

Burn Notice ROCKED!!!

Okay, got that out of the way. Sorry, I can't help myself. I just love the show.

And the sad thing is that watching Burn Notice is pretty much the highlight of my week. The twins are at school (YAY!!!), and they were so excited because today is Pajama Day. For a dollar, all the kids get to wear their jammies to school. And as far as fundraisers go, its a fairly clever one.

The Princess is ruling her kingdom with an iron fist this morning, bossing her put-upon servants (mommy & daddy) around and demanding we give her all that her heart desires the moment she wants it.

She's been a very frustrated girl because Mommy's not playing that game.

I still have three areas I'm focusing my time and energy on; the house, my writing, and other writing related issues. And I'll be working on them for the rest of the weekend.

Hope your weekend goes great. Have fun and stay safe.

Later.

Hallelujah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The twins are back in school!!!!!!!!!!!

I honestly didn't know if I was going to make it. Not that I don't love spending time with my kids, but 6 days of nonstop running, screaming, jumping, fighting, whining, and insanity have me a little on edge.

In fact, yesterday when the Princess finally took her first nap in those 6 days, I sat down on the couch and cried tears of joy and thanksgiving.

I was really beginning to think I had done something terribly, horribly wrong to anger God: spit in a church, commit an act of terrorism, kick an injured puppy . . . something to incur the wrath of the Almighty.

The children simply would not calm down and rest. And I desperately needed the reprieve.

But now I am happy to say that the boys are in school, and the Princess is happily playing with her toys and watching cartoons.

YAY!!!!!!!

So I will be trying to catch up on just about everything I've gotten behind on: laundry, picking up, sweeping, mopping, book revisions, critiquing a friend's manuscript, and duties I've neglected as the new VP of our OKC writer's group.

Lots to do, so I'm off. Hope the rest of your week goes well.

Later.

Good morning.

Well, I wish it was good.

The boys are home from school again today, and as much as I appreciate the school's commitment to keeping our children safe and not risking travel on still-icy roads, I'm ready to risk life and limb to get them out of this house!

This is the 5th day trapped with the kiddos.

And yes, I used the word TRAPPED!!!

I'm ready to tunnel my way through the snow and let the little critters fend for themselves.

Hubby went to work for a few hours yesterday, and he went in again today.

Lucky dog.

The children are literally climbing anything they can . . . dressers, cabinets, the entertainment center, tables, the walls (not a figure of speech, they are climbing up the walls in the hallway), on door frames, everything!!!

Rooms that were once clean are now filthy, and no amount of Mommy trailing behind them with a vacuum, or picking up in their wake, has made a difference.

Quiet activities like coloring, watching movies, or playing video games have become full-on death-cage matches.

I need some peace. I need to be able to hear myself think. I need to not hear the sounds of disaster when I leave them alone for longer than a minute to use the bathroom.

No more pulling all the clothes out of the drawers and closets.

No more emptying their toy boxes and having to pick up every teeny-tiny toy they've ever received.

No more grabbing a package of crackers from the kitchen, taking off with it, and I find it 10 minutes later crushed into the carpet.

Okay. *deep breath*

I think I'm done with my little rant. I just want the boys back in school, and only one child in the house so I can attempt to clean-up the destruction of this long snow-bound experience.

I hope everyone has a good week and stays warm.

Later.

Hello, all.

Well, I'm going to try to keep Friday's from becoming "all about Burn Notice" posts, so I'll only say, I really loved this episode.

Moving on . . .

We are fortunate to still have power, but after only a day of being couped up, the kids are getting a little antsy. My completely clean living room now looks like a tornado hit it. I can hear them in their bedroom climbing the walls.

We've already had one bloody nose, and a bloody lip. I'm hoping we make it through the rest of the weekend with no broken bones or other reasons to head for the ER.

I'll be working on repairing the damage to the house and finding quiet, calm games to keep them out of trouble.

Hubby's been very helpful, but for as patient as he can be, yelling/screaming kids bring out his angry side. Imagine that. He's had a few "I'm so frustrated with these little monsters I need to go stand out in the freezing cold for a couple of minutes to cool down" moments, but overall he's handled it well.

So now I am off to get some work done.

Have a great weekend.

Later.

Well, Hubby and I have been getting ready for the "Big Winter Storm" headed our way.

We went to Lowe's yesterday and got the gas logs we've been meaning to buy for 2 years (thank you, Mom). We also picked up a few groceries since our cupboards were getting pretty bare, and we aren't sure if we'll be snowed in or not.

Someone will be coming this afternoon to do a proper install, and I've been doing the usual 'take all our junk that's scattered in the living room, and throw it into a closet/spare bedroom to hide it'.

I'm also making some progress on the laundry, which is kind of nice.

If we're snowed in for a couple of days, I'm going to have everyone on a major cleaning spree. Hubby said he was willing to help. The kids . . . not so much.

Their reaction was to throw their heads back and wail at the top of their lungs, "But WHY?!!! We don't want to clean!!!! Wahhhh!!!"

So their job may be more along the lines of not making a mess after we've cleaned an area up.

Of course, if the storm isn't nearly as bad as everyone thinks, then we'll just have to worry about our normal routine, which usually involves disaster of one kind or another. So, no big deal.

Hope everyone stays warm and safe the rest of the week.

Later.

Hello.

We are coming off a busy weekend where we were supposed to be cleaning the house, but in reality, I don't think we got all that much accomplished.

Some things got picked up, swept, mopped, etc. But it seemed like the more we put away, the more the kids pulled out.

Cleaned the floors only to have milk dumped all over them again.

Worked on the laundry, but had running kids who knocked the stacks of folded clothes onto the floor.

Just the usual stuff that amounted to a lot of energy expended with little payoff.

I have to admit, I'm getting a little testy about the cleaning Hubby and I are doing, and the destruction the kids are doing. We could be more on top of the problem, literally standing over them and threatening them with spankings, grounding, etc. to get them to help pick up, but then I'd never do anything else all day except bully my children around.

And who wants to do that?

Not me or my husband.

I just don't want them messing up what I've already cleaned.

But this will be the battle until they leave for college, so I might as well figure out a way to make it work. I know there's a balance there somewhere, I just have to find it.

Hope you all have a great week.

Later.