The game of Life

For family game night we played Life. It was hilarious. Lauren, Jo and I played for hours where Lauren beat us with $1.9 million at retirement. She was a lawyer that lived in a condo and had 2 children. She chose to go to college and therefore had a better job with a nice salary ($90,000). I
came in 2nd with $900,000 at retirement. I was a police officer ($40,000) that lost my job, but got a new one as an entertainer ($50,000). I lived in a mobile home with an RV on the side. I only had one child, but apparently had some financial savvy. Jo came in 3rd with $800,000 at retirement. He also went to college and became a doctor ($100,000). He had twins and lived in
a mansion. Lauren was too funny. She was lecturing Jo about going into debt when he bought the mansion and that it was poor judgment to buy a house he couldn’t afford. “Jo, it’s just not the house you have to think about. You also have to pay for the electricity and the water!” However, if you listened really closely, you could hear Lauren manipulate Jo into buying the house. She knew
that if he bought the house, she would win because buying mansion would cut Jo’s earnings in half. She casually said stuff like, “I have so much $, I could buy a mansion.” You get the picture. It was interesting to say the least! Hmmm….maybe Lauren would make a great attorney after all… or financial advisor….

...hello, anyone home?

Hello?....hello? Anyone home? Almost 2 years from my last post. Sad really.

So I happened upon my blog this morning and among lots of other things I had written. And wow, I hardly even recognize the person writing those words or the little ones she's talking about. We've grown up in the last 2 years...alot~!

Let's see. I suppose this is alot like scrapbooking, and I just need to pick up where I am at the moment. Um...the basics, Hannah is 14 and will turn 15 in August. Lauren just turned 12. Joseph will be 9 in March. We still laugh alot, however I can't remember and thing to write about in this moment.

Um...this week we all laughed at me playing mortal combat on the X-Box. I really get into it, and the really exciting moves that I do are completely random as I have no idea what I'm doing. I just push buttons and lots of them.

Um....I currently have clothes all over my bed, the den chair, the dryer and still in the hamper. How on earth do we where so many clothes in such a short amount of time? And, how come we have all these clothes, yet socks are no where to be found?

Um...I have blonde/brown hair again, instead of red. It was fun, but I think it's out of my system now. Joshua is alot more gray...hahaha...wonder why?

Um....Hannah is still referred to "Grace" as in her aging, she stills doesn't have a graceful bone in her body. Just this week, she managed to knock my full coffee cup over as we were walking out the door one morning. The cup was plastic and when it hit the floor...explosion. I even looked up to see if some had gotten on the ceiling. That was a lovely mess to have to come home at 5 and clean up! Lauren is graceful and plays the piano beautifully. She is very witty and you have to listen closely to catch the humor. Joseph is ALL boy. He loves to fish, hunt, play video games....and did I say hunt? He is really funny...wait...that's not the right word...entertaining suits him better. I swear sometimes he's not from this planet...he's not the best at thinking things through.

Um...our dog Buck plays with the yard pheasants. I hope I can catch it on camera soon. It's quite the game of cat and mouse.

And, God...well, He is ever so near, ever so good, and ever so faithful. :)

Note to self

Oh...I should be ashamed...it's been too long, but hey - it's summer BREAK

Anyway...note to self: during a one-hour lunch break, do not enter a house that contains 8 kids ages 16,14,11,10,9,7,6 & 3, along with 3 other adults, all trying to get their things together to go swimming. Cheaper by the dozen my behind! That was insane. Will not try that again tomorrow....needless to say, my "lunch hour" lasted two!

The concept of time

When my children were younger, I remember thinking how I couldn’t wait until they understood the concept of time – the yesterday, today, tomorrow stuff or even could tell time – at least digital time anyway. …”when is so and so’s birthday?” “tomorrow” “did I miss it?” “no, it’s tomorrow” “is tomorrow today?” OR “so and so begins at 4:00 this afternoon” “is it 4 yet?”…ten minutes later “is it 4 yet?”… another ten minutes later “is it 4 yet?” and so it continues until 4 and you just wished you hadn’t told them anything until they were climbing in the car to go - you get the picture.

Well, low and behold, all my children now fully understand the time concept! Yay…or so I thought….well, guess what comes with it – the concept of deadlines!!!! And boy, Lauren is ruthless and has no mercy!!! Last night at 10:00 as I was basically in zombie mode, nodding at most conversation, but definitely not engaging, Lauren proceeds to tell me about all these things she needs money for at school and all the permission slips signed. Of course, this spurs on Hannah and Joseph time chime in as well…did I mention it was 10:00 pm! I dart my eyes from left to right, trying to spot my “partner in parenting” and of course, he is nowhere to be found. So I proclaim, in a whiny voice that was certainly not mine… “Enough! We will talk about it all tommmmooooorrroooowwww.” “But mama, we have to have this stuff turn in by…” And at this point, I kissed them all on the forehead and shut my bedroom door. I assume they got the point or either they turned on Joshua.

This afternoon will be full of signing permission slips and handing out money for this and that. I just truly hope that none of that stuff was due today…!