What happened to the paddle?

When I was a child I never got sent to the principles office, not once. I was scared to death to do anything that might put me there. See when I was a child there were consequence for your actions, and the bigger the action the worse the consequence. Well a few weeks ago Mr. Colton was being an awful child. He was smart mouthing his teachers sticking his tongue out and just being horrible. His teacher, who is also a friend of mine, sent him to the office. When I went to pick him up she came out and told me what went on, and Colton knew he was in for it when he got home.

I told her the next time he does that to call me and I will handle it right then and there. Now at 4 he has already learned that being sent to the office means you sit on the bench for awhile. That is the punishment you get, a time out so to speak. I am not a big fan of the time out. It has never worked with any of my boys. I can tell you that not one of them enjoy a swat on the butt, and they have all gotten them. Spanking a child is an art that most parents have mastered I am sure, and there is a wide gaping hole between a spanking and abuse. I have never abused my boys. I have left them with a stinging butt check, just enough to get their attention.

So what did my 4 year old learn from his office trip? You don't have to worry about getting into trouble until mom finds out. Now if they had taken him into the principles office and that big wooden paddle was hanging on the wall, and they had explained that the next time he was going to get a spanking with it the chances of a next time get pretty slim.

Now I know that some parents are going to say "I don't want anyone spanking my kids" and that is all good and fine when your kids get into trouble the school should be calling you and you can leave work and go to the school and take care of it yourself that minute. The lessons children learn follow them through life, and if they learn at an early age there are no consequence that is exactly how they are going to live their lives.

Ice Ice Ice

The wind was howling like a banshee, piling the freshly fallen snow into 5 foot high drifts. The thermostate quivered at -15 factor in the wind and it dropped to -39 degrees. Between the wind and the cold my first thought was curl back up in my nice warm bed and lazily drift back off to my pleasant dreamworld, the only place where the cold couldn't touch me. "Mom? Mom it's time for my game." The little voice breaks through the barried my mind has tried to create witht he real world. I jump up look at the clock and we are running late, we have an hour to get to the rink, and the drive takes 20 of those. I scramble to my feet, grab some cloths, rush around like an idiot. Tell David to get his gear on, and notice he is almost back asleep on the couch. Steve goes over to him and starts to get him ready.
"Jenn he's burning up."
"What?"
"He has a fever." Steve says to me again as I walk over to my oldest baby. Sure as shit he is about 104.
That was how our Monday started out. The boys had their last big tournament this weekend, and the D man was sick through it all. He played in all the games except for the one that morning because there wasn't enough time to get his fever down. He wanted to play with the fever, but mom said NO WAY and it was a big maybe if he could play the afternoon game. So I gave him some meds and sent him back to bed, or rather dragged him back to bed. It took all of 5 minutes and he was out like a light. Cam had to be at the rink by 9:30am so we still had a few hours that D could rest.
In the end it all worked out well. Cam's team took the gold metal and David's team took 4th out of 6 teams. They were all disappointed that they didn't win, but they played well and I was proud of them all. Cam's team was stoked they took first! David was just mad at himself because he didn't play well, and mad at me for not letting him play in the morning game. I told him he has many more games to play in his little life and that one tournment was not the biggest thing that was ever going to happen in his life.
The crud that is going around here is nasty. It seems to last about 2 or 3 weeks, and everyone is getting it. It runs through the whole gamma of symptoms from the throwing up to sore throats and coughs it is like the stomach flu, regular flu, strep, and a cold all rolled into one and one day you think "oh good I am better today" only to be knocked back into bed the next. Tonight Cam started that seal bark after hockey practice. I am debating weather to even take them to the dr. Most of the people I know who have been get treated and nothing comes from it. I think this stuff just has to run it's course.

I am not sure if I will contuine to try to keep this blog up. It isn't fun anymore. It is something that has become almost a burden to keep up with. I think that has a lot to do with the fact that I just don't have anything to say lately. They boys are still just as crazy as they always have been and they offer a wealth of storied to choose from. The things the dogs do could fell novels. My marriage, my extended family, my in laws, are all topics that I could spend months writing about, but I just don't seem to have the ability to put it all together and write it down. I think I am having one of those leave everything behind and move on moods. I have them sometimes, lets just hope I don't pack up and leave Steve, the boys, and the dogs with no forwarding address...

So time will only tell if I plan to share my thoughts and stories here in the future or not.

email from my sister

This may solve many of my problems. I may have to get a bottle. This made me laugh so hard I had to share it!





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Support?

I've been following the comments over here. There was a comment alluring to the fact that if someone doesn't support our troops that doesn't mean they think we should be spitting on them when they return. Figuritly that is exactly what these people are doing. Everytime one of our soliders hears negitive thoughts from these people it is no different than spitting on them. I had the honor of being in the checkout line behind a young man and his father at Christmas. I was buying camo pants for the boys, and the father said to the son, "I bet you never want to have to wear those again." and the young man smiled and said "not for awhile". I of course asked if he had just returned from Iraq and he nodded and said "yes ma'am". The guy behind them made some rude comment about the war. The young man lowered his eyes to the floor and hung his head in shame. I hugged his neck and I told him "thank you". The father smiled at me, he was proud of his son, and hurt by the words of the asshole behind them. We talked while my purchases were rung up, he was getting his mama a Christmas present that day. I told him I was very glad he made it home for Christmas and I left, but I left with tears in my eyes, because some idiot with his stupid anti war comment had made that kid feel ashamed. So anyone who thinks they are not spitting on these kids with their words is just plain wrong. I believe that old saying if you don't have anything nice to say don't say anything at all!

You're giving me a headache!

We got up and went to hockey practice yesterday, then we went straight from there to walmart. We did our shopping and standing in the checkout line the lady in front of us decided she would pay with her income tax refund. Well they will only let you do that if you spend so much of the return. The lady didn't even come close to spending enough. Then she gets all shitty with the poor checker like it's her fault, and she says "I just paid this way last week with a refund check." I looked at the checker and she looked at me. We both found that very suspious, but the manager came over and let her do it beings she had 2 baskets full of crap she didn't need, half of which she paid for with food stamps. This all took about 30 minutes, but my stuff was on the counter already so I was stuck waiting. Well Colton was getting board and he started to whine and I told him to knock it off. He looks at me and says "Quit talking to me you're giving me a headache!" The man behind us and the checker started laughing. I don't have a clue where he gets this stuff from, I would never tell my kids to be quiet because all that noise is giving me a headache!

Conversation with my mom this morning:

"I talked to your aunt, and she told me she talked to Colton for awhile this weekend."
"Yeah David and him were downstairs with my cell phone and they called her. I didn't even get to talk."
"She said David got on the phone talked for a few minutes and then he told her he had to go get his brother out of that box and hung up."

I have no clue what box he was in. I thought they were down there playing air hockey.

The Visit

I was sitting here with the kids monday and I got a phone call from my uncle. He was in town. I don't see him much because we live on different sides of the state, so it was really good to get to spend some time with him. The boys think he is great, probably because he reminds them of their grandpa, which is funny because he is my mom's brother, not my dads. We did what all the Olree's do when they get together eat! It's a family tradition. We had a good visit, and I am so glad he called.

The boys are still playing hockey. Cam got 4 goals in his game the other day, only 3 counted in the game, but 4 counted for him! David still loves it that is all he thinks about really. After the season is done he wants to play 3 on 3, and he asked if he could be on the travel team next year. I may let him try out, but I don't know if we can afford all the out of town trips that gets a little spendy always having to stay in motels.

I watched Million Dollar Baby the other night. That is a really good movie. At first I thought "oh a woman boxer movie that is going to suck" but it isn't what I expected at all. If you have not seen it you should.

Words of advice.

We are driving along the road coming home from hockey the other day, and as we come along side this car parked on the side of the road the driver all of a sudden decides that he is going to pull out in front of us. Steve veered over into the other lane, and thankfully there was nothing coming. The car didn't stop, didn't slow down, in fact I don't think they ever even saw us. I look at the plates Texas. Well I don't know how you people do it there, but here the car in the road has the right of way, and the car that is parked must stay parked until the lane is clear. Ok I didn't really give much thought to the fact they where from Texas until this morning.

I am taking the boys to school and it snowed last night so the roads are covered with ice and snow. I just dropped the boys and turn down the side street to head back to the house. Coming right down the middle of the road is a truck, yep from Texas. He doesn't slow down, he doesn't move over, in fact I don't think he even saw me coming straight at him down the little road. I have driven past many cars and trucks on that very same road. I know there is room from 2 vehicles to pass each other. I see he is not going to go for that. I pull the van as close as I can get to the parked cars along the right side of the road. I watch hoping that I am over far enough he doesn't side swipe me, oh and did I mention the fact that there isn't one car parked on his side of the road so he has miles of room to move that damn truck over. As he drives past the mirror of his truck actually hit the mirror on my van.

Now I don't have anything against Texas. I have a lot of family from there, and I love my blogger friends who reside there. You have a beautiful state, with wonderful people, but it's apparent to me that you people have different traffic laws there than we have in the rest of this great nation. So please for the love of all that is good stay in Texas we will all be safer!

You say it's your birthday...

Because someone I know had a birthday yesterday, and as usual I forgot I wanted to say HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY! I hope you guys found a crab dinner last night! I love you girlie!

and speaking of birthdays today Elvis would have turned 71.

Cam's birthday is at the end of this month, and I have no idea what I am going to get him for his birthday. Not to meantion the fact that it depresses me beyond belief that he will be 6 in a few short weeks. He should still be a tiny baby!

Knowing is the hardest part!

I lead a dull life. I never really understood how dull my life was until I started blogging and in less than a year I had already told all my stories. I couldn't write a good post if my life depended upon it, and thankfully it doesn't! So another jumbled posts of thoughts and ideas is what you few people who actually read this are going to get.

My grandfather died in the sunshine silver mine in Idaho in the early 70's. My dad relived it watching those poor miners who were killed in the exploision in West Virginia this week. My thoughts go out to those families.

Why would anyone in their right mind live in Oaklahoma? It's hot, it's humid, and it's way to close to death by fire or tornado. I think if you live there you should just sell everything and move home! (I'm only kidding, but that was a little scary when mom told me how close the fire was to your house!)

I really want the new Martine Mcbride CD Timeless. She has remade a bunch of old classics like satin sheet, til I can make it on my own, and you ain't woman enough, and I never promised you a rose garden. She has a beautiful voice and I love those old country songs. I had hoped I would get it for christmas, but we all know how disappointing that was!


I am dieting again. It sucks. I have cut sugar, chocolate and anything good out of my diet. Now I just have to build up the whole excersize thing in my head!

our oldest lab had to have surgery on his eye monday. He had this awful looking tumor growing on his eyelid it was gross, but he is home and everything is well with him now.

and now I leave you with a picture of our silly none lab dog.
Buddy the baby

Showing my age

Well I am up on this cloudy New Years day, and I have been up for quite some time now. When I was younger I would have just been falling into bed about the time I got up this morning. It's funny how time and age can change a person so much. I use to celebrate the new year, and love to watch it come in, usually the party didn't stop until the sun was rising. The older I get the less exciting the prospect of a new year gets. The New year means the boys will be another year older, and that much closer to growing up, I will be another year older and that much closer to death, and everything stays pretty much the same. This year I have no resolutions. I refuse to set myself up for anymore failures. Life is to short and already has enough pitfalls without putting more in my way.

What not to get your wife for Christmas!

Worst gift this year: Ionic Pro air filter from my husband.
Best gift this year: AVS sweatshrit from my mommy!
Over all Christmas was a big disappointment. I never did get in the Christmas mood, and my tree is already put away, the lights are off the house and you can't even tell we had Christmas here.

The boys on the other hand had a great Christmas. Colton got a drum kit that he really likes. He sits down at the little chair, beats the sticks together and counts off 1,2 1,2,3,4 and begins to beat the drums for about 5 minutes then he stands up, throws his arms above his head and yells "Thank you, thank you my fans."
David got the Star Wars light saber game that plugs into their new TV, and that game is freaking work. He is a little sweatball after he plays it. Cam got the paintball game and he is a better shot than his dad. Overall they had a great Christmas which made mine a lot less disappointing. They all got a lightsaber and Steve and I have had more fun with them than the boys have. Those damn things are fun, and I am quickly on my way to becoming a master Jedi with as much as I play with them!

Hope everyone else had a great Christmas and don't forget we have a new story contest going on at Fizzle and Pop forum. Come on over and play!

IT"S ON!

Stole this from Tricia girl!

Round 22 is on!!!
Are we going to do this again???
Hell, we've had a year to sit and think.
We should be able to come up with something!

I'm ready!
Jenn's ready!

Let's roll!

The words for Round 22 are as follows...

n no particular order...

Smell
Velvet
Midnight
Candles
Message
Angry

Put on your thinking caps folks.

This round will self-destruct on January 16th!!!
(On account a' I intend to get smashed on New Year's weekend)

PS. You may need to get a new activation code, but your old password will let you in.

Fizzle and Pop

Just remember the rules people.
There are no rules.
Just use the words in a story then come back to read and vote for your favorite!

We wish you a Merry Christmas

Argentine: Feliz Navidad

Bulgarian: Tchestita Koleda; Tchestito Rojdestvo Hristovo

Chinese: (Cantonese) Gun Tso Sun Tan'Gung Haw Sun
Chinese: (Mandarin) Kung His Hsin Nien bing Chu Shen Tan
(Catonese) Gun Tso Sun Tan'Gung Haw Sunk

Danish: Glædelig Jul

Dutch: Vrolijk Kerstfeest en een Gelukkig Nieuwjaar! or Zalig Kerstfeast

English: Merry Christmas

French: Joyeux Noel

Greek: Kala Christouyenna!

Hawaiian: Mele Kalikimaka

Irish: Nollaig Shona Dhuit, or Nodlaig mhaith chugnat

Italian: Buone Feste Natalizie

Japanese: Shinnen omedeto. Kurisumasu Omedeto

Korean: Sung Tan Chuk Ha

Latin: Natale hilare et Annum Faustum!

Norwegian: God Jul, or Gledelig Jul

Polish: Wesolych Swiat Bozego Narodzenia or Boze Narodzenie

Russian: Pozdrevlyayu s prazdnikom Rozhdestva is Novim Godom
amoan: La Maunia Le Kilisimasi Ma Le Tausaga Fou

Spanish: Feliz Navidad

Swedish: God Jul and (Och) Ett Gott Nytt År

How every you say it I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas. My Christmas wish this year is for each of you that read this. May all your christmas wishes come true this year, and may the year to come bring you joy and happiness. I wish for your dreams to come to and your health to be good, and most of all I wish you love and happiness! Merry Christmas everyone. See you in the new year!

Oh the thoughts you can think... I think Dr. Susse said that.

I sure hope that sex is like riding a bike you know that old saying that once you learn you never forget how. Steve has been gone so much lately we just see each other in passing.

I wonder whatever happened to that one guy who had a thing for me... What the hell was his name he played drums in a band I remember that and we got drunk on CLC together once and ended up spending the night talking about things 17 year old kids never talk about. You know the meaning of life and all of that crap that is meaningless in the end. I wonder why I never dated him?

Did I get all the boys the same amount of stuff for Christmas? I better check before Christmas morning...

What the hell is up with my tree it is leaning forward and no matter what I try I can't get it to stand straight.

Rob Thomas is hot...and he writes his own songs that is just sexy as hell.

Memoirs of a Geisha is an excellent read. I am always a day behind the times it seems though, because I just saw it advertised on TV that they made it into a movie.

I will be glad when Christmas is over. I love doing the Christmas morning thing with the boys and playing with their new toys with them, but all the family crap I hate! Steve's family does a Christmas eve thing and a Christmas dinner thing. I hate staying out until midnight and trying to get the boys to sleep after they have opened all their presents it is always 3am before Santa can even come to my house, and 5 by the time I get to sleep and half an hour later the boys are awake. Then by noon we are all tired and cranky. This year I think I am just sending them without me and my Christmas gift will be going back to bed and sleeping the rest of the day.

I am tired and I think I am going to find a place to sleep now.

Oh the Joy.

I have done as little as possible for the last 2 days. I cleaned up the basement and put the air hockey table together and beat all the boys in a game. I have chated on the phone and the computer. I have played with the dogs. I have read most of the new book I got in my stocking. Now I am going a little crazy. I think I may have to go shopping or ice skating or something! To be on the go all day and half the night and then just stop is a little to much. I need to find a middle ground somewhere.

We had a good visit with my sister. It was way to short, but it was nice to see her. When we were at the airport Colton said to her "Aunt Jo can't you just find a good home here?" It was sad they didn't want her to go. I am glad that they love her so much and she loves them. I wish she lived closer. We had a big scare with my granny. She has pnemonia and ended up going to the hospital. She got to go home yesterday with a breathing treatment machine and a bottle of oxygen. I am so thankful she is feeling better.

Now I am going to try to get caught up on blog reading. I have missed everyone these last few weeks.

Busy, Busy, Busy

It has been so hectic around here I have not had time to write anything. The boys had their hockey jamboree last weekend. I was at the rink by 8 every morning and didn't leave until well after 10! All the kids had a great time and got their trophies. Monday I tried to get caught up on laundry and did some christmas shopping. Tuesday both the boys had hockey games, and wednesday my sister got here. Thursday we spent shopping and today I think I finished up most of it. I still have a few more things to get, but mostly I am done. The boys all had their Christmas parties at school today, and thankfully there are 2 whole weeks of not getting up early, well except Christmas morning. Tomorrow we are going to my mom's for an early christmas dinner and to visit a little while. Then Sunday is our last hockey practice until after the new year. I am so looking forward to some sit down and do nothing time.

Next week I may have something entertaining to say, but right now I am to tired to think!

64 Years Ago

64 Years Ago

The sound of silence was deafening as we stood there and gazed over the rail into the oily water below.  For several long moments our tourist group stood there and no one spoke.  It was almost as if time had stopped for those brief few seconds.  When people finally did begin speaking again it was in hushed whispers.  I am not one who believes in Ghosts or the supernatural, but standing on the deck on the USS Arizona Memorial you can feel something beyond this world.  

If you listen hard enough you can hear the bombs exploding around these young men, who gave their all serving their country.  You can hear the people running to their positions aboard their vessels, as their confusion turned to realization.   I was very humbled and honored to be able to visit Pearl Harbor on my trip to Hawaii.  It is one of those places that every American needs to see at least once in their lifetime.  The tour of the memorial starts at the museum; they have pictures and artifacts from the day Pearl Harbor was attacked.  We spent quite some time looking through the pictures and reading the stories, some of survivors and others that perished that tragic December day.

They called our group number and we made our way to a theater and took our seats.  They show a really great film, and it makes it much better because you are right there you have looked out into the harbor and you have seen Diamond Head, and if you were crazy like us actually climbed to the top with a broken ankle.  You have all these land marks to make references to while you are getting the history.   After the film, they loaded us on the boat and carted us across the water.  There are huge Navy ships in port and you can see their crews doing their thing, much like it must have been December 7, 1941.  The trip out to the actual Memorial site only takes a few minutes.  I think the thing that I remember feeling the most as our craft pulled along side the USS Arizona was sadness.  There is an overwhelming sadness that surrounds the memorial, and even thought it happened long before my time I was still very upset by the whole thing. 

I hope one day that I can take my boys on the journey Hawaii has a great amount of American history that is worth seeing.  If you get the chance don't pass it up, it will be a trip you won't soon forget.  I have added some links below feel free to click them!









USS Arizona Memorial

National Geographic Articles

Great links for more history

The halls are decked

Woooohooo who rules. Who is better than dad. Yep that is right me! I got all the outside decorations up today. Cam was home sick so I didn't have to go to school with him and I put up the lights and snowman outside. Last year it took Steve about 3 hours to get them all up. Me it took an hour and a half, because yes I am just that good! Me and the boys put the tree up last Saturday and the stocking are all hung by the chimney with care, well not really by the chimney, but with care. Now as soon as I start my Christmas shopping all things will be good. Lets hope I soon find time to brave the hordes of mass consumers who have totally made Christmas a commercial holiday.

The things we have going on:
David played a hockey game last night scored a hat trick, his first this year!

We have hockey practice tomorrow from 5:30 until 8:00.

Cam and David play in the jamboree this coming weekend and I am running one of the fund raiser booths selling tee-shirts and what not.

My sister gets here next wednesday.

and inbetween I am trying to get the house cleaned up for christmas and get rid of toys the boys don't play with anymore.

I won't know what to do with myself over the week of Christmas because there will be no school, no hockey, and absoultly nothing going on!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

I am getting the best Christmas present every and I am getting it early! My baby sister is coming home the 14th! I am so excited. We see each other about once a year and that sucks. We talk on the phone at least 4 times a week, and we email each other everyday, but it isn't the same as actually having her home! The boys are more excited about Aunt Jo coming than they are for Christmas to get her. The down side is she has to go back way to soon. She will have to leave the 19th. We will have an early Christmas dinner at mom and dad's and she will get to see Cam play a hockey game and we will do some shopping together and have a great time! The last time she was home I hardly got anytime with her, because the boys hovered over her all the time. They love her and she loves them and that makes me so happy!

I still have not put up my tree so I am getting ready to do that today, and tonight the boys can decorate it and hang their stockings!