friday, glorious friday....

last night i was enjoying my thursday night television and iced tea with lemoncello. it has become a lovely treat for me to enjoy in the evenings. i especially enjoyed it last night after an hour+ at the pediatrician's office with all three girls for their yearly exams. don't get me wrong...the appointments went very well and all are doing great. but the four of us in a tiny exam room for an hour can equal exhaustion even if they are all perfect angels! it did go quite well, though. only sophia got shots, so no drama there. i had to explain to her what meningitis is, and why i insist they all get vaccinated for it, since that is the evil disease that took our sweet ranie day 16 years ago. all those opposed to vaccines have obviously not lost a child to a preventable disease.

stepping down off my soap-box....

we got home from the appointment right at louisa and mia's bedtimes. there was a bit of protest, but they finally relented and were off to bed. soph and i watched a repeat of Big Bang Theory (love it!). while we were watching, i turned to my oldest daughter and did what all responsible parents eventually have to do...i had 'the talk.' why did i do this at that moment? because we were both relaxed and laughing. there was not drama or tragedy. i knew she was at ease and would be more willing to listen. i started by asking what she knew about sex, which she claimed was very little. i filled her in, using very broad terms and descriptions. after that, i asked about oral sex. she looked at me like i had two heads. she said, "i really don't want to know any of this!" which made me chuckle. it is all quite gross, from the perspective of an 11 year old!

after our conversation, i assured soph that she could talk to me about anything. she can come to me with questions and i promised to be honest, no matter what. she seemed grateful for that, as well as for the fact that this particular conversation was over. i am not sure how/when i will have this conversation with amelia. i don't know that she will ever quite grasp such a mature subject. i suppose i will simply play this by ear. as for louisa....when she is a bit older, i will repeat this same conversation, at a similarly relaxed time.

ok, back to my relaxing with iced tea and lemoncello. i suppose it was out of my gladness for having survived the doctor's appointment, or to give me strength for my conversation with sophia, but the ratio of iced tea to lemoncello was a bit off. my 'splash' was more like a 'glug.' i found myself quite drunk! at the time it was not an issue, but knew i would be paying for it today. little did i know, i paid for it quite early today! *sigh*

about 3am, i woke up with a splitting headache. ugh. i tried to go back to sleep, but it just would not stop screaming at my brain. i got up, took some excedrine and put on a movie. after about an hour, the screaming quieted to a dull roar. i finished the movie (27 dresses) and took a shower. at this point, it was almost 6am. i went back to sleep until louisa woke me at 7. i asked her to wake me in another 10 minutes, as i had already showered.

the headache is back. not quite a scream, but still quite angry. lesson learned? yup....keep the splashes small!!! lol

cleaning the house

once again, my house had become a giant cluttered mess. i can actually go for quite a while before it bothers me. well, i had reached the point where i could not take it any longer. yesterday, sophia and i cleaned the living room and re-arranged everything. since santa had brought the girls a wii, i wanted to give them a lot more room to move around. we managed to move only a few pieces of furniture and gained tons of room!

today, after sleeping in, i decided to tackle the dining room. i had let the girls play on the wii for a few hours first, so they were ready for a break. i told them they had to completely clean off the steps (the clutter-catcher) as well as the dining room. amelia disappeared for a few minutes. when she returned, she had fairy wings on and a renaissance princess crown..... guess she was in costume for cleaning! for the first time ever, she did not complain about the process. she was helpful and agreeable!!! perhaps, in the future, i should encourage her to get into costume before we clean!

now we are enjoying the peaceful environment that is a clean home. it really is amazing how clutter can be stressful. i am hoping the girls will help me to keep it clean. it also helped a lot to put the christmas decorations away. as much as that season is joyful, the ensuing clutter is enough to make anyone anti-christmas!!!

the generosity of those around me....

ok, so my girls take dance with miss maria at 10th street. it is a pto-organized program. in spite of my insane poverty, maria allows my girls to dance. she does not demand payment...but accepts what i can give. what a generous person.

wait, it gets better.... i got emails last week from various dance moms, prodding us to pay for the costumes. each email (the girls are in 5 classes between the 3 of them, so i got many emails) implored us to get with miss maria to get this money in!!! my repeated attempts to find out just what i owed were thwarted by replies of, "you will have to get with miss maria."

finally, last wednesday, i stopped in to ask. here was the conversation. imagine me walking up to her, at the end of dance class... little 8 year olds giggling and bounding around in their tutus and leotards. before i could even get out a word, maria grabbed my arm, "HOW ARE YOU???"

(i should mention i was in the hospital for a week before christmas and she has not seen me since then)

"i'm much better, thank you."

"we have been so worried about you! what happened??"

so i went on to explain that i had diverticulitis, brought on my a parasite. she was sooo sweet and supportive and caring. time to ask the question...

"so what do i owe for all of the girls' costumes"

her reply, "Oh, Kath. You know I will take a look at it and see. I'm not worried about it. You can pay what you can."

trying not to cry from relief, i thanked her and gathered up louisa.

yes, i am blessed....but that's not all....

so the next night, louisa had a basketball game. one of the mom's, kelly, had gotten hoodies for the girls and had asked for $10 for each person. so i ran into kelly and told her i had my checkbook, if i could go ahead and pay her. her reply? "oh, miss maria 'found' $10 to pay for mia's hoodie. don't worry about it."

ok.... i realize that we are all struggling and that this might irriate some people that i am being so very blessed. i hope they can see that this is the kind of thing that keeps me going. and the next time someone looks at me, the girls and my life and says, "Kath, I don't know how you do it!" i will reply, "the generosity of those around me" and think of miss maria!

it's a new year...

wow. ok. so all sorts of stuff has happened since my last post. and honestly, i don't want to talk or think about it. so it is time to face the new year with new blogs...okey dokey???