wiggle wiggle wiggle….looking around..hmmmm this place looks so much bigger….wow so this is where all the cool kids are?
wiggle wiggle wiggle. boy this seat is comfortable.
Wow was is that..you can see how many people have viewed your site? cool! wow there are so many new buttons! I cannot wait to try them all out!
well i am glad you found me!
peace out friends!
So i was talking with a friend about babies. She was saying how she is addicted to watching a baby story. I remember when i was married, trying to get pregnant and that would come on. It was hard getting pregnant. I had been a foster parent for almost two years and it was tough to see all these children being neglected.
Well, i have to say that being a foster parent was and is great! Children would come and go. So many people would ask me if it was hard to let them go. Yes some children it was hard to let go but others it was okay. I was never in foster care to adopt. I really wanted to be the “pit crew”. They come from so many situations, and they came into my home which was loving and uncondtional.
I mostly took drug babies. Yes they cried a lot. One baby came to me and she was only 2 weeks old. She was beautiful. Her mother was caught in a drug raid and there were no family members at the time the state felt could care for her. She stayed about month.
I was on the hotline for a while. Now what does that mean….well if something happened in the middle of the night. Like the one time there was a house full of children. Parents had gone out on a drug run, one child fell out of the window. If i remember correctly there were about 6 kids. The youngest was only 3 months old. He came to my house, in the middle of the night. When he came he was so dirty. He was so dirty, that I actually cried for him that day.
Well i have not had any foster child since i kicked my ex husband out. I miss it. I know i have children that i love tremendously. But i have to say as my boys have gotten older i have loved ever stage they have gone through. Someday i know when my boys get older and i am that “empty nester” i will foster care again. If i can help one person, if i can make the difference in one childs life i feel i have done something.
I have already seen twenty kids come and go. I even adopted one. I will again, i am sure of it.
Peace
Okay you remember back when you had your first crush. AHHHH Dreamy…..
When I was younger, I sailed everyday during the summer. Now i went to the yacht club everyday to take lessons. Now I am not sure if it really was lessons or if it was more of keeping me out of trouble. I grew up in a summer town. I was a “townie” and then the summer folks would come in. So I grew up with these kids every summer. We ran in a pack of about six, girls and boys. We would have sleep overs. We would go to races together. We did a lot together. We stole burgees together. Went to jump the waves of the block island ferry….you get the picture.
Well one summer, I started to notice this boy, lets call him, Carter.(not his real name) Well he came back to Watch Hill one summer, and he grew to over six feet tall. He had dark hair, did i say he was tall? He talked to me, he taught me to windsurf, he was a sailor, and a good one! He was my first crush!
Well i never told him but i am sure i alluded to the fact that i liked him. You know how well those awkward teens do….need i say more…. a couple years go by. We all hang out together. Nothing ever happens….I just watch from afar.
Well as I got older I got a job, I left for the summers because who wanted to hang out in Watch Hill with all those people! I came back after Labor Day when everyone went back to school. The beach was mine again. So imagine I never really hung out with those guys other than sailing. So I lost track…moved on to other crushes…
Now fast forward about twenty years to last night. I was at a lobster bake at the cabanas. And there he was! Could it be? is it? YES!!! My first crush!!!! 
BUT WAIT????
WHAT is this!!???
He had aged! Oh my GOD! He was not cute. He looked like an old guy. He seemed so uptight, and snotty.
I was horrified!
Okay Okay calm down, lets see he was still tall, but where did all that beautiful hair go? Why was he wearing long tan pants with a nautical themed belt and a button down PINK shirt to the beach? What he has LOAFERS??? Who wears that to the beach?
Oh my….so my first crush. I am going to try and remember him teaching me to windsurf, how perfect he was in my mind.
So he can keep his perfect looking trophy wife, with her hair oh so perfect and that perfect little lobster pink and green dress. I am happy with life. I am glad i am not that uptight….and i am proud to wear my sandals… I just hope he is happy…….
I am…..
Well I know you have been on edge waiting for me to come back. hehehe
I ended up driving to North Conway, the twins and I shopped, (much needed shopping therapy. the twins need to learn how to shop better but that will come with time) Hung out at the condo, which i might add is bigger than my house!!! Watch TV, napped and hung out with the twins!
Then on Friday the twins and I packed all our gear and meet some friends to hike and then camp. It was an adventure. We went across a suspension bridge, saw a gordge, a land slide, and the most beatiful sunrise i have ever seen!
So, I got lost on the way to North Conway, a 5 hour drive took 8 hours. Yeah there is more to this story perhaps another day. Almost ran out of gas at midnight. Got lost looking for the trail head. It was a challenge. the lesson in this part of the story is I need a navigation system!!!!
It was nice to be away. Although I am a bit nervous as there is a new chapter in life about to start. New job and all! phew! change is tough!
Found out when I got home there was a court date I missed. Got the results from the family relations division. It all went to my favor. I think my ex was a bit shocked at what they came up with as he is the one taking me to court trying to get more. In the end looks like he is going to get a lot less. AND I MEAN A LOT LESS! Yeah! I almost jumped out of my skin with enjoyment! Stayed tuned as I am sure this is going to be good. I almost can see the light at the end of the tunnel. I almost feel like a have a chance of having something normal in life! yeah!
Well i am back now. I have a house that looks like an explosion of camping gear and clothes all over it. I have a cold. sniff sniff. But all in all it was a great time. I had fun driving with the twins and friend. Learned a few more games to play in the car. Now have to shake the cold, get the laundry done, get ready to start the kids back to school! Then work! Back to the grind! Love it!
Okay so camp is over finally! I have to say that I loved the staff this summer!! it was a nice mix of personalities. I would have done a couple of more weeks with them if that is what we had to! I am totally going to miss them! I have to say it was one of the best summers yet!! Thank you!!!
Last week was a tough week. It is over and looking forward to getting away. I was telling my dad how i was taking the boys to NH and he thought that was a great idea. He then called me later in the day to tell me “wouldn’t it be even better if all a the whole family go to NH?”
it was one of those “am i on candid camera” moments!
What? really?
I think he was a bit disappointed when i said i was okay to go alone. I am looking forward to some shopping therapy!
Now why is my title “fire hose”? okay here goes….
You all know by now i am the single mother of three boys. I have been single since the twins were 18 months and jordan not yet four. This potty training thing went well with jordan, not much to it. I thought I got one down and it would be easy with two more boys and at the same time!!!! All the same parts.
The boys trained well. I have not thought much about it until lately…..
I go into the bathroom and there is pee on the seat.
What how can this be?
point and shoot.
Well i guess it does not come naturally to boys or at least mine…I had to tell the twins that it was like a fire hose. You have to take control and point and shoot!
So now it is a little joke in the house, “dont forget it is like a fire hose!”
They all giggle!
There is more to come I am sure of it but what?
have you ever:
felt as though the day was stolen by other people?
felt as though you tend to put out fires along the way and think OMG it’s 3pm I need some lunch?
you ask everyone how they are doing and no one asks you?
you get yelled at by dumb people and you sit there and smile saying “I’m sorry you feel this way” thinking “what an ass, what will it take for you to get off the phone?”
walk out of the house dragging three kids half asleep, realizing I did not brush my hair!
walked into the house and thought “I need a maid”
Okay it has been a couple of stressful days! But there is a light at the end of the tunnel! Today seemed to fall apart and you get an unexpected and pleasant call from a friend. Think how wonderful it is to talk with them! Then to come home to find your first roommate has emailed you and think of when life was easy! Think how life changes as it goes! Life is good!
Camp is over on Friday! About 45 hours to go! but who is counting? Taking my boys to New Hampshire for a well deserved break! And if we sleep in all day and lounge around or go hiking or even have a little shopping therapy! It all sounds great to me!
You know the one. That person in the grocery store…The one who brings their own grocery bags to pack all their groceries in. YUP! and I am proud! So i took the plastic bags and I used them for the kids, you know the dirty diapers, the extra clothes you send to daycare, or to line the trash cans around the house. But lately I find that they double bag these things, then I have about hundred and then what do you do with them. I tired going with the paper bags but then the kids could not carry anything. What do you do with all those paper bags….If you bring them back to the grocery store what do they really do with them? SO i broke down and bought the reusable bags! LOVE IT!
Okay so this morning went like any other morning. I really thought I was getting off to the right foot when I woke around 530am. I felt rested and ready to go….I got up, decieded it was early and i had fallen asleep before TOP CHEF. Figured kids were still sleeping and DVR is my new friend. I got up switched the laundry, as i have hundreds of towels to wash a week and settled in to watch TOP CHEF.
So alram goes off right before the show is over at 620am. Get up, think this is going to be a good day. The sun is out, the news is on, having very little to say except i hear about 95north being shut down due to a tractor trailer turnover. Dont think much about. (this will be important in a moment)
Get kids up, they are dressing, making lunches, showered dressed! I am early. Wow I am doing well this morning….. House phone rings! HMMMM…wonder who that is….its my mom. Okay, not bad. She is going on about Nathaniel and his lunch and so on. Tell all set! have a great day. (he has “reading camp” or summer school and she was taking him and had nothing for him. Sh e was making sure I was bringing his stuff.)
Not a problem. Everything was ready, I was so proud of myself, and I was early! YEAH!
Then my cell phone rings. Great who could that be?….Joe, the Galley guy. He tells me Rich is stuck in traffic and thinks he will be a few minutes late. It is now 730am. Hmmm, I tell Joe, there was a car accident on the highway and it is closed. he should get off the highway and take a back road. I think how bad can this be. I can feel the day is getting a bit bumpy.
Okay, I am ready to leave, i am early. I shove kids in car. Make sure everyone has shoes, lunch and towel. Drive off to drop off kids. Jordan is in the back of the car, whinning he does not like camp anymore. He wants to stay home. I think he is tired. Raymond is talking away about how he and Nathaniel went to STAPLES with Nana and about all the supplies he got to FILL his new backpack for school. Both boys agree they want to go back to school.
I pull into the YMCA’s parking lot, promise Jordan summer is almost over, weekend is almost here and he can go sailing on THRILLER this weekend in the race. (THRILLER is a J24 sail boat)
Phone rings again, it is Rich the galley kid, telling me he might not make it until 9am!
WHAT! HOLD ON I HAVE 50 PEOPLE THAT NEED TO BE FED.
Kiss kids goodbye, tell them I will see them in the afternoon.
Wondering now WHAT?
it is okay, I was up early this is not that bad…..
Okay we need a plan. So i call Joe, he is the galley manager. I ask him how hard it it to cook breakfast? He said I could, and even told me where all the keys were. He walked Josh and I through how to cook the bacon and eggs. I pour about 2gallons of egg mix into a pan, Josh is piling up the bacon. It is not 810am and we were putting it all in the oven….. breakfast should be ready for 815am. Great! No pressure….
You have to stop and look around and wonder….Am I on Candid camera? this has got to be a joke!
So there Josh and I were putting breakfast together wondering how hard is this to get done? We managed to cook about 300 pieces of bacon and about 10 lbs of eggs. Not so bad. I love a plan and love when a plan comes together.
Well scrambled eggs and bacon were made. Breakfast was served about 830am. Not bad! So the day not so bad. You have to chuckle a little. Hey you have ro roll with the punches and laugh a little. You have to roll with the punches….
Now I come to my office to find the printer and my computer are not talking….agghhh….its okay it gave me time to write this…. Okay if i can cook a meal for 50 people I can fix the stupid printer if not I am going sailing!
Peace out.
So i will never win “parent of the year” award.
The day went as usually. Putting out the small fires at work. Chasing people around making sure they are doing what they should be doing. Then trying to play referee to not only staff but to siblings at camp. It is interesting to see kids come and go through the program and see that they are a product of their environment. Sometimes i wonder what is their environment like?
So there i was sitting on the porch trying to talk this poor kid “out of a tree”. I was giving her the inner strength speech. You know the one….you need to find that inner strength to get through this. Telling her that everything was going to be alright. Knowing in the back of my mind it is 405pm and i needed to get this kid changed and on SABINO before 420pm as the boat was not waiting for us. The speech has got to work! Kid is whining. She’s tired. Come on find your inner strength. Tick Tock. Tick Tock
Cell phone rings….. saved by the bell.
It is the YMCA, Nathaniel has gotten hurt. Yikes! I have to say i am not the type of parent to freak out that my kid is hurt. Kids are kids. they play hard and they will get hurt. I get it. Plus my mom was a nurse, so we all had to be half dead before she would take us to the doctor.
(come on i broke both my ankles one night called my mom and said i am hurt. she said put some ice on it you will be fine. yeah two broken feet later and a call to dad.)
She goes on to tell me he was hit in the face by his eye. Not really sure what she was saying…. she did not sound like she had any panic in her voice and i was watching the clock…..SABINO was leaving in 10 min…
SO i asked the important questions…Is he upset? I could hear her ask him, he says no….then i ask is he bleeding…nope. I then asked if they were putting ice on it and could they wait 15min. She said sure, she just wanted me to know before i got there. I told her to ask him about what happened to Jordan when we went hiking and I will be there soon. (jordan was running down the trail, 3 miles on top of a mountain, did a face plant into the tree, HUGE black eye. It was AWFUL it took over 2 weeks for it to fade)
Tick Tock. Kid takes the inner strength speech…Kid changes, got her on the SABINO. Phew. Camp is tough for some kids and for some adults.
Now off to pick up the kids. Nathaniel is surrounded by about three or four female instructors. He had an ice pack on his forehead. Yup he got hit and he had an egg on his forehead. He seemed fine. he ditched the ice pack jumped into the car and off we went. We all talked about the day as I went to drop off twins at my dad’s office.
We pull in to the office he starts to cry. It hurts. It hurts.
WHAT? you were fine the whole way.
My dad takes one look, your fine. My dads secretary, who i might add was my babysitter when i was a kid was Shocked. should he go to the hospital? Is he okay?
What?
the kid got a bump on the head…. he is fine.
kids bounce.
He finds his way to the computer game and is fine.
I kiss the twins good bye. say “Peace out see you tomorrow”
Nathaniel says without skipping a beat…”keep it real Mommy”
Awwww….he’s seven. Love it.
Sometimes I wonder if I am to laid back. I wonder if i should be more concerned when they get hurt. I wonder where that damn manual is, you know the one i am talking about…. the one they are suppose to give you at the hospital. I am sure it would tell me what to do… what to say and how to raise these boys.this is a tough job…Until i find it i will do my best. and i will remember what Augusten Burroughs said, “I myself am made entirely of flaws, stitched together with good intentions.”
So there have been a few requests for Mrs. Palmer. She is a wonderful lady. She is a bit sassy and well a bit persnickety. I am not sure Mrs. Palmer is going to go out this christmas but i have to tell you she has had some fun through the last few years.
Mrs. Palmer may be a lady but get her outside swinging lanterns with Mr. Jennings, and you never know what might happen. Or what might be said!
I will never forget the time that Mrs. Palmer went to the tavern to dance for the hundredth time. there was a gentleman on the tour and he was obviously a bit drunk. as we all danced in two circles, ladies in the center and men on the outside this gentleman started goosing the the ladies! OMG! Shocking!
Or the time she went to the tavern and her skirt came undone!
I am tired of summer and tired in general. Mrs. Palmer has been apart of christmas for the last four years! Can she pull out another year?
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