Ah, it wouldn't be Christmas without drama

So, my kids went to go visit their dad for Xmas. Now, it was a bit shady from the getgo and I will explain that in just a moment.

I get a text from my son a week ago saying that he is going with his aunts to visit their dad and Alex is going too. I say oh, okay. I want them to go see him as he will leaving to Afghanistan on Feb. 14th, so any time they can spend is good. Alex then tells me about it as well.

But, here's the thing. I never get a call from the aunts about it. Not that I need them to ask permission, but common courtesy, you know? Especially since it's for a week and during Xmas. They left on the 20th and were supposed to come back on the 26th.

Notice I said supposed to? Uh-huh. It's not gonna be that way. First off, I found out that they figured that since Alex is 18, they shouldn't have to say anything to me about anything. Okay then, I let that one slide. Even though Alex does live with me...

Then there was a row about Alex standing up for Keith as the aunts were yelling at him about something. It got misconstrued and the assumption was that they (the aunts) were not welcome. They left the kids with their dad and went to a hotel.

So, all right...apparently other things were said and it was going to be that the aunts would come back on Xmas Day to open presents, but then pick up the kids on Sat. at 6am to drive them back. Well, from the earlier actions and words that had occurred, the kids' dad said that he would take them home himself.

But he would not be able to bring them home until Jan. 3rd. See, his worry was that since they had already played the non communication button with me and judging how they were treating Alex, then what was to stop them from stranding her somewhere with limited phone service. She's 18, find your own way home kind of deal.

Now I said I really don't think that would happen, but then again...

So he texts his sister to let her know he would take them home and to not worry about it. She, in a shocking moment, says, "Then guess we no longer have a brother, niece or nephew. You are all dead to us. Have a nice life and we are going home tomorrow."

Now me of course, said that maybe she's just angry and will get past it, even though that's a horrible thing to say. But he is convinced that they are serious, given their past history with the family anyway.

-sigh- I told him there is one good thing about it and that's thankfully it happened now rather than them sitting there and hearing the nonsense the 13 hour drive back. He did apologize to me about it. I said it was fine, I am just glad they are safe.

So I already asked for the 5th and 6th off, that's when the kids and I will have our Christmas.

-shakes her head- Family, gotta love them.

I'm excited!

I'm off for 4th of July! It's weird as I won't be able to shoot off fireworks since the kids dad doesn't live in the house where fireworks are legal anymore.

Besides, it will just be Jack, Keith and I as Alex will spending it with her boyfriend and his family. Which I am glad they are together. I don't know what the future will bring for them, but for now they are happy and taking it slow.

So I really have no clue just what I am doing that day. We have been invited to Jack's uncle's. I was kind of thinking of going to Huntington Beach like before with my boys but I haven't heard anything from either one of them.

I have a hankering to make my potato salad regardless as it is summer and Jack loves it. Hmmm, maybe I will make it anyhow.

I am beyond rational thinking at this point.

Let me explain...

I am at work until 11pm. Jack said he would pick up the kids after work, which was originally supposed to be after 9pm. Now Keith's group home has a curfew, which is 9pm, so I asked Lisa( the kids' stepmom) yesterday if she would mind picking up Keith around 6pm today and take him to their house.

That way, Jack could make one stop and we wouldn't miss Keith. She said to me no problem and I thought everything was settled.

Oh no, I call a frantic voice mail from Keith at about 5pm. I go in the back office and Keith is almost crying saying that he got a call from Lisa and she told him she wouldn't be there until 9pm. Uh, what? I call him and he tells me that Lisa had called him to tell him this and he's freaking out, thinking that he won't be able to see me or his grandma or anyone and is pretty upset.

Well thankfully, Jack was called in earlier and is supposed to be off at 7pm. I tell him it's okay, that Jack will get him from the group home and not to worry. He keeps asking me "Are you sure, Mom? He'll be here?"

I'm standing there wanting to strangle that woman for causing my baby such stress.But I compose myself and tell him yes, Jack will be there. Don't worry and I will see you soon. He seems to calm down and we say love you as we hang up. I leave a message for Jack on his voice mail as well as a text summarizing the situation.

I then call Alex to see if Lisa is there at the house. She says no, what's wrong Mom? I tell her what happened and she about loses it. I tell her it's okay and we have it taken care of. I tell her to not say anything to Lisa as it's not worth it and I will deal with it at a later time.

She says okay and I hang up with her. I then call Lisa and of course it goes to voice mail. Swallowing my anger, I leave a message simply stating that Jack is off earlier than anticipated and that he will be picking up Keith, so she doesn't have to.

Oh the words that were stuck in my throat. I absolutely loathe that woman. I do. I have tried so hard to make the effort, but she seems hellbent on making sure the kids despise their father. It's horrible, really. I have done everything in my power to NEVER say anything bad against the two of them in their earshot.

But in almost 2 years time, she has effectively destroyed the relationships the kids had with him. Keith tells me he is happy his dad is gone, which makes me sad. And Alex, well, she has finally reached a point that she cannot take the nonsense anymore. It hurts to know that. I'm not saying it's entirely Lisa's fault, but Daryl didn't stand up and protest very hard either.

But....I am NOT going to let that ruin my happy family time. Nope, I won't. When I see my kids smiling faces, all that pain and disgustedness will go away. It will be replaced by love, happiness and hugs. And that's what is really important.

Success!

I went back to Target for the third time and yay, I now have a camera that works. I said to heck with Kodak. I picked up a Polaroid one instead and that baby, while more simplistic in design, works amazing.

So now I am happy. Turns out when we spoke to the guy in Electronics, he let us in on a secret that he believes the reason why the cameras were on sale is because "someone" knew it was a bad batch. But that's between us and my little blog, right?

I am so excited about tomorrow and so are the kids. I haven't seen my Mom or Molly in such a long time. Oh boy, Jack needs to wrap those presents ASAP! I'll remind him.

Ooh, I cannot wait!!!!

We also went out last night with my friend Amanda to go visit her new "friend". They are just beginning to date and she is concerned since the last person she was dating didn't treat her right and we told her so later than we should. We were trying to be polite and not bust in to other people's business.

This person was crass and rude, but thought that he was the funniest guy in the world. We discovered she values our opinion and said that she was glad we pointed out what we saw, rather than just keeping it in. So last night she asked the both of us to observe and give our true thoughts.

This new one Jason, is very nice, a good guy. Not too cerebral, but someone that will be strong and gentle at the same time. And that is just what she needs right now. I was flattered that she asked us what we thought, because I've never dealt with that before. I mean yes, I have expressed my opinions, but not really.

You get afraid to hurt someone feelings because they are your friend. But she gave us carte blanche and we won't hold back anymore. I know that's a weird segue but I really wanted to write about that since I felt that it was something to be proud of. I helped someone to not make a mistake.

That's all for now. I have to stop writing and get ready for work. Jack is already at work so I am taking the bus. Yay, more exercise for me!

Bye, bye.

Ah, it's Christmas Eve.

Well, today is a good day. I have my kids and we are just relaxing and enjoying each other's company. Jack is at work until 5:30 today, but that just makes it all the nicer as he will come home to his family.

I have been blessed with 2 of the most awesome kids ever. They looked so cute asleep that I had to take a picture. Which I will have to post later, it seems.

Now they are playing Lego Batman and they are getting along so well which is the best Christmas present!

I can't wait until Jack comes home so then the kids can open a present! I will definitely take pictures of that to show off to all.

Love to everybody today! I will post tomorrow too, but today is MY special day with my kids.

Hmm, big family? What are your thoughts?

I was reading all about the Duggars today as it is apparently a HUGE story on Yahoo's front page and how they have just welcomed their 18th child.

Here's their Wikipedia page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duggars

Now I did read some of the comments on the Yahoo page. They ranged from very positive to downright nasty.

Look, here's my thing. My Mom's friend Judy had 9 kids and they all turned out great. But she didn't make that her one and only claim to her self worth. Judy is an amazing woman. I wish more mothers were like her and teach their kids independence and responsibility.

But she is an individual separate from her children. That is why I respect her for keeping that ability alive. It is so easy to just lose that if you're not careful.

The mother on this show is not. She is portrayed as a baby machine and she doesn't invest time with her children, the other siblings are each other's babysitters. That's not right.

The issue I have with this is that this family seems to only have one goal in mind and that is to overpopulate their area. I'm glad they can have children, but honestly if they didn't have this TV opportunity, I don't think they would have had kept going.

The father was quoted as saying, "We will have as many as God blesses us with." That's a heated statement. I mean, how fair is that to your wife and your other children? You are free to pursue your beliefs, but there has to come a time when health and common sense have to override that.

But maybe I don't know what I am talking about. Any thoughts on this?

Shopping on a budget is tough, but I did it!

So I went to Target today. It wasn't as busy as I thought it was going to be. It was just like any other Sat. I think because I knew exactly what I was getting and where it was, it wasn't a hassle.

I got a little scared when the camera I wanted still had a $89 price on it. I asked the guy and he said that oh yeah, it's on sale for $60, we just don't have a tag on it. Whew! Okay, but what is the point of that? Really?

I did find out that that camera's original price is $140, but I used my gift card at its sale price of $60 so I only paid $20 for it. Go me! I also got her a memory card and I bought Keith the Dark Knight 2 disc. Plus since she was going to open 3 things, (camera, batteries and memory card) I got Keith 3 things as well. (Dark Knight, a 5 pack of cars and a special 2008 Matchbox car)

YES! I wound up spending about $60 total, which was my goal that didn't sacrifice our eating this week. Tonight I am going to Walgreens to spend about $5 or so on a little bit of candies to put into their stockings. Great thing about them is that right close to Christmas, they have incredible sales where candy is four for $1.

The kiddos know that Santa only puts candy in there now, not toys. They like that. Yes, it is still Santa that fills that up, not me. I always deny it. :giggles:

I am just a little sad that I was not able to get anything for Jack right now, but he understands. Maybe I can get some candies to put in his stocking when he's not looking so he at least has that.

He already told me that our being together is all the presents he needs. I am so lucky to have him in my life, I really am.

I cannot wait to take pictures of my happy monkeys with my new camera. Whoohoo!

(By the way Mom, I am so amazed that my tree still is in great working condition. It has been what, 4 years now since you gave it to me? It had one little problem, but we replaced the bulb and it was good as new! Thank you so much for it. I don't know what I'd do without that perfect tree for our home.)

It will be a Merry Christmas after all

So tonight I called Alex and explained that I wouldn't be able to get her the Annual Pass. I let her know that was going to be about $260 and that there was no way I could do that right now. And my daughter, bless her, said, "Oh Mom, it costs that much? I'm sorry. I thought that it cost like $100 or something like that. I wouldn't have asked you if I knew it was that much."

So yay, she isn't a stingy brat! She does understand and wasn't trying to be a punk. I told her that I had something else in mind that I thought she would really like. She got all excited but said all she really wanted was to spend Christmas with me and Jack.

That made me happy again.

What I want to get her is a digital camera of her own. Nothing too fancy, of course but she has been using her stepmom's and her stepmom is giving her issues about it. I felt it would be a great gift for her as it is creative and fun to take pics. It is for me anyway!

So now I have my kids all set. I knew there would be a path out of this.

I now return you to our scheduled program already in progress.

I really want to make it work

So I talked to both my kids today and oh boy. I found out what they would like for Christmas.

Alex
A Disneyland Annual Pass

Keith
Bloodshot eyes goggles from Willy Wonka
Harry Potter Quidditch goggles
20 Questions-Harry Potter version
Captain Barbossa pendant
The Dark Knight on DVD

I want to get Keith the bloodshot eye goggles and the Dark Knight DVD. But I asked Alex if there was anything else and she said no, she just wants the AP. Man, a deluxe one (which covers the whole year, no blackouts) is about $389! The one just below that with a few blackouts is $269! The ones that Jack and I have that means you cannot go to Disneyland on Saturdays and most of summer is $174.

And you know she'll definitely want to go on weekends with her friends.

I tried to explain that this would be the ONLY gift she would get and she said okay.

But I have no idea how the heck I can make that work. The only one I could try for would be the $269 one, but jeez even I don't have that status. I am stressing out here.

On a plus note, I told her about the shoes from Grandma and she was so excited! So there you go. At least one present will be a hit.

I just wish she had told me sooner. I would saved up for it.

:crosses fingers: Somehow I'll figure it out.

Wow, it's almost here.

I went to Walmart yesterday and they were nice enough to have this HUGE sign that said 11 days to Christmas. Thanks for reminding me how broke I am to not even be able to get stuff for my kids or my family.

Sorry, I'm a little humbuggy right now. Jack and I are trying so hard to make ends meet and I really want to give my kiddos a Merry Christmas.

Hopefully, I will find a way.

I do have faith, I do. It's just difficult to stay positive all the time.

Gah, what a cynical post.

It will work out, I know it.

As it is today, I am taking the bus to work since Jack had an early shift. It is raining and cold, but hey at least I have a job to go to. Unlike some unfortunate people that don't.

So I do have that.

My balcony does look rather nice with the Christmas stuffs and rain dripping down. That cheered me up.

Christmas is already at my work. Gah.

So I went into work today since I don't have an issue with working on Thanksgiving. I see that our maintenance guy is finishing putting up the tree. Geez, couldn't even wait until the day after?

Ah well. I at least got a pic of my kids in front of it.



Notice anything missing? Yeah, no topper. Maybe I'll be nice and buy one.

I'm here, I'm here. Stop the funeral. Oh wait..

It's been a rough couple of days. But we made it through. My Sims game was acting the most awesome but then started to be slow. So Jack went and re-installed everything. But with that, my downloads disappeared.

So I have to start all over. :tear: But that's okay. That's the fun of Sims is that you can create entire mini universes.

Then I get a message from the kids' stepmom about taking the kids on Thanksgiving since Daryl won't be home until Sat. She says she cannot afford 2 dinners and that the kids should be with family that day. Ok. First off, if she knew my kids, they don't care if Thanksgiving is on the 27th or Dec.5th.

Second, I have hardly had a holiday off since I started in the hotel business so the chance of my having that day off was going to be rare. Besides, my boss is so happy that I am working the holidays that I am getting a bonus. That's hush, hush.

So I called everyone and told them that Thanksgiving will be on that Friday. Both my kids are happy about it, so if she doesn't like it, too bad.

I will make sure that we see everyone around Christmas though, don't you worry. I have to go to court again for Keith next Tuesday to finalize my conservatorship of him. I am hoping that we finally get this all taken care of. As it is, Keith is still not happy about the situation.

Jack and I are going to see him tomorrow and let him know that even though I cannot take weekends off, I am doing my best to see him as much as possible. I am hoping that once everything is settled, I can find him a home closer to me. Since he goes to school in Buena Park, it's kind of silly for him to live in Bellflower when his dad is planning on moving anyway.

He is really not doing well. I mean, most of it is Keith being Keith, but I want to make his life as stressfree as I can. Not easy, stressfree. He is under the impression that his dad chose his wife over him, and I try to stay as neutral. But I admit it's hard for me to be that way.

Because I feel that way too. But I always re-assure Keith that his dad loves him and wants the best life for Keith. I don't think he believes me. It's difficult to watch my kids suffer. Yes, kids.

I see Alex's Myspace and journal and she is not happy at home. But she will struggle on only because she doesn't want to move away from her friends in this her last year of school. I understand that, I do. But it bothers me nevertheless. I only hope that she realizes I am here for her. I have told her many times my home is her home.

Her dad has offered to help me if she does come to live with me. Of course, as long she is doing something productive, like college. It hurts sometimes, I feel like I am not doing enough.

Wow, that's way too depressing...

:takes a deep breath:

Okay, focusing on positive. Jack, kids, family, home, Halloween, love, happiness.

I'm good! It will all work out, I know.

I need to go shopping and find some sparkly yarn for my mama's scarf. One problem, what the heck is her favorite color?