recovering from a siblings brain tumor

"No Smoking" 8x10" watercolor

Grades just came out for last quarter. I was so happy! My 16 year olds GPA is 3.75, which is remarkable because he is taking some very difficult classes; half of the classes he is taking he is getting college credit for, and my 14 year old got a perfect 4.0! I knew they were capable of getting good grades but they have been struggling. The last few years my 14 year old was just barely passing his classes. He would easily get "A"s on all the tests but, he was not doing any of the classwork or homework, it was like he was not even trying. My 16 year old went through that same thing but he got his act together last year. Their grades became a problem 3 years ago when Jimmy, their little brother , got diagnosed with a brain tumor. That year my boys went from near perfect grades to barely passing grades. My 16 year old told me at the time he felt like his school work did not matter, good grades were not going to make Jimmy better, nothing he could do would make Jimmy better. So, on top of the fact that my kids are getting good grades *yippee!* I am also celebrating another sign that my children are recovering from their brothers brain tumor.

We are in trouble...

This was sent to me by a friend


We are in trouble...
The population of this country is 300 million, 160 million are retired. That leaves 140 million to do the work.
There are 85 million in school. Which leaves 55 million to do the work.
Of this there are 35 million employed by the federal government. Leaving 15 million to do the work.
2.8 million are in the armed forces preoccupied with killing Osama Bin-Laden. Which leaves 12.2 million to do the work.
Take from that total the 10.8 million people who work for state and city Governments. And that leaves 1.4 million to do the work.
At any given time there are 188,000 people in hospitals. Leaving 1,212,000 to do the work. Now, there are 1,211,998 people in prisons.

That leaves just two people to do the work.
You and me.
And there you are,
Sitting on your butt,
At your computer,
reading jokes.

Nice. Real nice.

My husband in jail?

Crabby ACEO 2.5x3.5" mini watercolor

The other morning as I was making a shopping list and my hubby was in the bathroom getting ready for the day, he noticed that he was out of hair gel, so he hollered to me "I'm out of gel"

"OK" I said making a note of it

My seven year old ran into the room with a very concerned look on his face asking "What did Dad do? How come he was in Jail?"

First job

My oldest boy just got his first job. He wanted to do tech support for Geek Squad or Fire Dog. He lives for computers, he is a computer genius, When he was 2 he would sneak out of bed at nap time and go turn his dad's PC so he could play, He wanted a modem for Christmas when he was 5, he wrote his first computer program when he was 7and he built his first PC when he was 10. However, he has no prior job history and 1.5 more years of high school left to do, so he could not get those jobs. He settled for working at Circuit City in sales. He hopes to work his way into Fire Dog. He was very excited when they called and told him his first day of work would be Saturday. The next morning on the news they announced they will be closing a number of Circuit City stores. He may get to experience his fist job and his first layoff.

Stitches again

We had to take our 11 year old son get stitches Sunday night. He is a very creative thinker and my little inventor. Apparently he decided to make combination exercise equipment and Halloween candy storage gadget made from 2 large eye bolts screwed into the wall and a rope strung back and forth across the room. The eye bolts were screwed into the wall studs or so he thought. As he was doing "chin-ups" from the rope the eye bolt came out of the wall and hit him just above his right eyebrow. This is the second time he has had stitches, the last time it was in the other eyebrow. He had to get 6 stitches amongst much protest of "I'm fine", "it doesn't even hurt" and "I DO NOT need to go to the emergency room"

Halloween Costumes

For Halloween Jimmy (age 7) wanted to be a soldier, this is no surprise considering he is constantly pretending to be a soldier and fighting bad guys. (blog entry 2/25/08) He insists upon wearing camouflage everyday. I knew he would wear a soldier costume very often. I looked for a sturdy costume that could take a lot of wear and tear, be affordable and it had to be authentic looking, Jimmy is very detail oriented. I could not find one anywhere. So I made one: I found sturdy camouflage fabric at Wal-Mart for only $3 a yard and looked up photos of soldiers online and made this costume, I even made the hat! It took forever, I didn't use a pattern, I never have been good at following directions, If I had used a pattern it probably would have been easier and faster. It turned out cute and Jimmy loved it! Very good considering I haven't really ever made clothes before.



My 11 year old wanted to the Tooth fairy only with his own personal twist, He wore a tutu and wings and and carried a wand that was duct taped together. he had torn, dirty jeans and wore a stained pillow stuffed T- shirt that read "I'm the tooth fairy -'ya got a problem with that? this costume was all his idea, he enjoys being funny. It was easy, all I had to make was the tutu.


My 14 year old was a monk, He wore the robe I made for a "death" costume a few years ago with a big silver crucifix, a rope around his waist and sandals. He looked good.


My 16 year old went as a hippie: he had a long wig, a tie dye shirt, peace sign necklaces, and a fringed leather jacket.


My 14 year old decided he still wanted to do some trick-or-treating, but he did not think he should eat the candy, so he gave all the candy to his older brother who was at a party all night, I was proud of him, he has been dieting and this was all his idea to give the candy away.