"Feeding the Neighborhood"

What is it about kids that they can't understand that we can't feed the entire neighborhood?

Every time my son's friends come over, he invited them in for drinks and snacks.

I then have to tell them that we can't afford to feed them all the time.

I've told my son over and over not to do this. He just doesn't get it.

Maybe it's because sometimes I cave in and actually let them have something.

In the last neighborhood we lived in, all the little kids loved to hang out at my house. I was the cool mom in the neighborhood. I gave them popsicles, let them have drinks (usually just water) and let them jump on our trampoline.

That was until they started taking advantage of me. It became a real problem. It was one of the big reasons why we moved.

We now live in a nice neighborhood where we really don't have to worry about other parents not watching their children and sending them to my house. It's wonderful!

Now I just have to worry about my own child telling them that they can have free reign of our kitchen.

I guess I'm paying for the past.

If this is the worst problem I have, I'm doing well, right?

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"Have I created a poker monster?"

I've done what I never thought I'd do. I caved and let my husband turn our front (extra) living-room into a poker room.

He's decking this room out, complete with a really nice poker table, new chairs, and a poker table topper for our dining room table. We're also looking at poker pictures for our walls.

What have I done? Have I created a monster? Do I really want a bunch of beer drinking, chip counting, smelly guys at my house all the time? No offense to the men that are reading this.

On the flip side, I can use the poker tables for my Bunko group. I'm sure my husband will love me putting out the pink plates and cups all over his poker setup. LOL! It makes me laugh.

I guess I can't complain. I got the biggest room to decorate myself; the den.

All I can hope and pray for is that I never, ever see a picture of dogs playing poker hanging on my walls.

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"Tears of a Mother"

Ok, what's wrong with me?

I've been crying constantly the last few months. These days it doesn't take much to make me cry.

I cried today during an Allstate Insurance commercial. It wasn't even sad. Do you remember that commercial from years ago that showed the mother and daughter walking along the beach talking about douche? I used to cry at that also.

I'm watching Extreme Makeover Home Edition right now. It just came on. You know the part where Ty stands outside the families house and says, "Good Morning, "......." family!"? That made me cry.

What in the world is wrong with me? Is this just part of being the mother of 4 boys? Is this just part of being a woman that's getting older (I'm 31)? Is it hormones?

Whatever it is, it's driving my poor husband crazy.

"A Night of Terror"

We've had a rough couple of nights. My 7 year old son has been having night terrors. He has them frequently when he was about 3-5 years old. Then, they kind of disappeared.

Friday night, my step-sons came into town. When all the boys are here, they want to stay up all night. We usually tell them that they can as long as they're quiet. They usually fall asleep anyway. We've found that if you tell them that they can't stay up, they never go to sleep. It's a reverse psychology of sorts.

Well, Friday night they stayed up the entire night. My husband had to get up twice during the night to get them out of the kitchen and off the computer.

They finally fell asleep at about 6:30 a.m. Saturday morning. At 7:00 a.m., we heard this blood-curdling scream coming towards us. I knew immediately that it was my 7 year old son.

He was screaming uncontrollably. He came into our bedroom and stood on my husband's side of the bed. When asked what was wrong, he said that his foot hurt. We figured that one of the older boys had hit him or something. His eyes were wide open and he was looking at us, responding. We asked him to show up where his foot hurt. Then, he pointed to his head.

He then started pointing in the corner of the room and screaming, "They're killing him. I need help!". He could not be consoled. He was running all over the house.

He described being abducted by aliens, chopped with an axe, seeing his little brother being killed, vomiting, and more.

It was pretty scary.

This went on until 9:15 in the morning; almost 2-1/2 hours total.

It wasn't until I called his father, in Texas, that he woke up. Something about his father's voice snapped him out of it.

I tried leading him back to his bed to go back to sleep. That wasn't happenening.

Then, on Saturday night, it happened again. This time, it only lasted about 30 minutes.

At about midnight Sunday morning, we called his father again. Again, his father's voice is what snapped him out of it.

Has anyone ever heard of this working? I wonder why him talking on the phone, to his father, is what worked?

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"My New Year's Resolution"

This new year has got me thinking. Should I make a New Year's Resolution? Is it even worth wasting my time and thoughts?

In the past, I have made resolutions. To this day, I have not kept one of them. Not one.

However, this year I feel more compelled to make and keep this one.

I am currently working 30 hours per week, taking 5 college courses, and raising 4 children. Not to mention that I'm having surgery this week.

So, what's my resolution for this year?

To survive all of this without going crazy maybe? To remain civil to my husband and children in spite of the stress I'll be under? You would think.

But, that's not it at all. My resolution is to stop procrastinating so much and start being more motivated when it comes to school.

This is my last semester. I'm due to graduate in May, assuming all goes well. This degree has been a lot of years in the making. I was very indecisive about what I wanted to be "when I grew up". I finally decided on Web Design.

How am I going to keep my resolution? I have no idea. I would appreciate any recommendations or suggestions.

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