V-I-C-T-O-R-Y

well I just wanted to update everyone on my on going battle with the local DMV. 

i went today, stood in line for an hour and then finally walked up to the desk. I had all of my paper work out and ready to go. I had rehearsed what I was going to say over and over again in my head about how we had contacted the bank, and how they had said we had all they same paperwork that they did. I was ready. I knew I was not leaving that DMV without those license plates. So I am standing first in line. I hear "NEXT". I look. It is the same girl I dealt with the last time. So I am even more ready now. GAME ON!

I walk up to the counter and say "Hi, I have all my paperwork, as I have been here a couple times." She takes the paper work and before I can even start my whole speech I had rehearsed about how this was the same paper work from last time and how the bank said they would just have to use that she flips through the stack of papers and says "Looks Good"! 

WHAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I stood there in disbelief. 

WHAT??

 Looks Good????

 This is the same thing I brought last time, when I stood in line for an hour, with a sticker on my butt!

I tried not to look like I was about to go crazy, but I could feel a small twitch coming on. So I just took my license plates and left. 

Thank Goodness I do not have to do that again for a long time!!!

DMV...Dun.Dun. Dun!

Ok, so today I went to the DMV, yet again to get my driver's license. (no kidding, this is like the 10th time I have tried, but they are never open or there is always some dumb reason it does not work) So I get there, feeling rather good that they are actually open. Usually they are closed when they are supposed to be open. So I take my trusty number..275! When I sit down, there is a room full of people. They are only on number 260. I figure, that is ok, it should move pretty quickly. It does not move as quickly as I would like, but I wait for roughly 45 minutes. I am still not to upset. At least I am finally in this DMV and they are actually open and I am finally going to get this accomplished. Finally......finally they call MY number. 275! I jump up and walk to the counter. I have a smile on my face and say, "I moved here from Iowa and need a new license....Please". The lady says ok. Then she proceeds to tell me that she needs my social security card, birth certificate, current drivers license, and proof of residency. Still smiling I hand her all the above. She looks at the stack and then smiles and hands it back. For my proof of residency they said I just need to bring a piece of mail. They did not specify which kind of mail, just a piece. So I say, "What's the problem", as I gently slide the stack back her way. She says, 

"This is the wrong kind of mail honey".

 WRONG KIND OF MAIL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

are you kidding me. really. it does not specify that I need a medical bill on the paper, it says MAIL!!!!

so i thank her for her time, ask what time they open in the morning and say "See you then!"

This DMV will not get the better of me and will not beat me. My quest to get a license from this sly and tricky DMV will happen. I plan on being their tomorrow when the doors open to get my license and plates for the van. They said they will be open....Ya, we will just wait and see.
oh and ps. as I am leaving this lady stops me and says, "Hun, you have a sticker on your rear." What I think. Ya I have this big long strip sticker from the groceries we bought on my butt. I had it there the whole time. While I was standing in front of the whole DMV. AWESOME

financial aid.

here i am, forgive me because I am going to rant for a minute. 

i hate financial aid. I mean i am grateful that we get it, but i hate dealing with the schools every time. the way that they do things makes no sense to me at all. really. ok here is my grip. every semester school starts but financial aid is not disbursed until 2-3 weeks after the start of school. REALLY PEOPLE! i know not everyone is in our situation, but how is Garran supposed to get stuff for school when the money we use to get it does not come for 2-3 weeks after school starts. I am sure there is a reason that they do this, however it is really infuriating!!!

our day

here is our day and its only 12:30!

woke up at 7:00, got in the shower.

came downstairs did my injections.

got kids breakfast and printed out directions to the school for preschool screening.

got cullan and kael dressed.

8:45 got briea's clothes and a new diaper. 

8:50 layed b on the floor to change her diaper and while doing so, hear a crack.

8:52 cullan falls forward, cracks his head on the side of the entertainment center...blood gushing...cullan laying on floor crying.

9:00 in the car on our way to the ER

9:07 walking in ER. cullan  has towel over his head. he is holding my hand so that i can kind of guide him. I thought that he could see. he could not. so as we walk in, he hits his head on the door, to which the entire staff at the desk gasp. i grab cullan to make sure he is ok, then look at them and say "well there goes my mother of the year award!" the response "crickets chirping!!".

9:10 at ER. call Garran at work, asked him to come meet me. all three kids in ER with one bleeding. NOT HAPPINESS!

10:15 ER doc comes in says cullan needs stitches and to take the other kids out. 

11:30 cullan is done, puffy eyed from crying. i left with the kids. garran said it was miserable. they tied him down to a papoose board, did an injection in the cut, and stitched him up.

11:45 at the elementary school where we were supposed to be at 10:00 for the boys screening. of course we have missed our slot. there are no makeups. so we have missed even the slightest chance at preschool.

11:47 walking out of school upset. i knew there was a chance they might not get in, but to not have any make up times. ARGG it is not like we over slept. 

11:48 me...realizing it is going to be a long year.

on the other side of things i am so grateful that cullan is ok and that it was not more serious. it is always horrible to see your babies hurt and crying. he is a trooper though. once we left the hospital he was just fine. we have to leave the stitches in for 5 days. taking them out is not on my list of things i am looking forward too.

head above water

i am having a day. the kind where it feels like no matter what you just can't keep your head above water. every time i turn around i seem to be getting bad news or something is just not working out right. i hate days like this. to quote a book that my kids have.

i am having a terrible, horrible no good, very bad day!!!

on a better note. look what is starting to bloom right outside my kitchen window. it is left over from the people that used to live here. but it makes me happy because i love sunflowers!!

good mom vs. evil mom

so here is my dilemma. our house backs right up to the path that leads to the park. so we have a pretty heavy flow of traffic of kids. the boys have made two little friends, one is a boy and one is a girl. this kid has told the boys that his name is Master. not really his name. i will not say his name on here, but that is not his name. anyways, here is my dilemma. if it is a hot day and i give my kids a Popsicle, do i mind letting their friends have one to, absolutely not. i think that is fine, and I have seen our neighbors do the same for our boys. where i have the issue is when the following scenario happens, as it did today.

kael comes up to the back door.

kael:master needs a Popsicle!

me:well tell master he better go home and get one.

i don't know if this really irritated me today more than other days, because i saw "master" take something from kael that he had been eating and finish it or what. i don't know. maybe i am just in a mood. i just don't feel like my back door is a drive up window. am i over reacting?

rain

rain, again. BLAH. another day inside.. we need some sunshine...and soon!!

somedays

do you ever feel like this some days?
because some days I do!!

waiting..ya not so fun

what is wrong with me? I am really struggling. I hate waiting to hear from the other schools. even though Tennessee was one of Garrans top picks, now that we know from one, i just want to know from all of them. Like I said, I like to plan. So having to wait to know where we are going to live and how to plan is HORRIBLE!! I need to work on the virtue of patience!!

i have decided!

I have decided that I HATE WINTER. i know snow is beautiful and wonderful but it lasts FOREVER here.
i have been thinking all day and here is why i have decided to give up on being positive about all this white stuff!

1. bundling. bundling my children constantly. it takes almost 20 minutes to get everyone ready to get out the door. then of course they are hot in the car so they shed a few things and then we have to re-dress when we get there.
2. the wind.
   
3. scrapping my car constantly. not just once in the morning, but when I come out of the store etc.
   
4. MY VAN DOORS FREEZING SHUT CONSTANTLY!! this is super annoying! i am trying to get kids to mom school, preschool, appointments, or just run errands and my van doors freeze shut. i saw another mom struggling with this same problem and she looked like she was about to go crazy. i went over and said "i feel your pain", and helped her tug on her door till it opened.
5. being stuck inside. when it barely gets above freezing it is not exactly playing outside weather. plus the above mentioned bundling!

I REALLY NEED SUMMER TO GET HERE, I HAVE GIVEN UP ON SPRING!

feeling anxious.

with everything going on recently, I guess I have not mentioned how anxious I have been feeling. we are waiting to hear back from four different grad schools that we have applied to. I HATE WAITING!! I love to plan things out and know exactly what we are doing and when we are doing it when it comes to long term stuff. day to day I can be a little wild, ;0) but for long term, I am a planner! this waiting is so hard. especially with garran being an art major. he is super talented. I am not just saying that because I am his wife either. He has done some amazing things. Where my anxiety lies is that art schools are very subjective. Yes they look for talent, but they also look for different styles. If your style is not what they are looking for, well regardless of your talent, they might pass. I have felt strongly that we are going to get in somewhere, but where is yet to be determined. Have i mentioned I am not good at WAITING!!

where i live

where i live has great people.
where i live has some beautiful scenery.
where i live has really started to feel like home...
but it will not be...for the following reasons..
WHERE I LIVE THE WEATHER IS AWFUL.
the nice days are nice but the bad days seem to really stink.
where i live it feels like it is winter 9 out of the 12 months.
I NEED SUNSHINE PEOPLE AND WARM WEATHER.
i grew up with heat and beaches, not corn and snow.
where i live is nice and the people are great but on days like today, this dragging kids in and out of the van in freezing rain, meeting some unfortunately rude people who have either never had children or have forgot what it is like to cart them around in yucky rain....it is enough to make me nuts.
sorry i just needed to vent. I am the only one over 5 in my house since 8:30 and until 7:00 so my blog gets to be my place to rant! ;0)
thanks friends.

control~

i needed a change.
hence the new background.
i needed to change something because i don't seem to have control of anything else.
why can't i have what i want when it comes to Internet, phone and cable.
why do i have to bundle?!?!?
and if i don't bundle, why do you think you have the right to charge me double the price for the same service.
if i was not addicted to my blog, i think i would just say goodbye to it all!!!

wal-mart will be the end of me!

ok so usually i don't consider myself a very high drama person.

i consider myself to be rather mellow in fact.

however after briea, i have had some issues with being a little hormonal that i have never suffered from before with the boys!

keep that in mind as i rant about these crazy people at wal-mart and how i almost lost my cool!

situation one:

i was waiting for a parking spot. the lady was backing up. i would have been turning left to get into the spot. while i was waiting this lady came and she would have been turning right (which put her closer to the spot) but really had no relevance since i had been sitting there with my blinker on. as the lady backed up out of the spot, the other lady zoomed in and shook her finger at me as if scolding me. I about lost it. i was so angry. garran was giggling which did not help at the moment. i could not believe it. i think she might have seen the anger in my eyes because unfortunately for her the spot right next to her opened up. so i went ahead and pulled in. she waited to get out of her car until we were almost up by the doors. now i was not threatening her or yelling at her. in my mind i like to think that she waited in her car as almost an omission of guilt for her rudeness. i had all three of my kids with me lady!!! seriously what am i going to do.

situation two:

similar to situation one. i was driving through the parking lot looking for a spot. i had come around and started going up and isle. this crazy lady cut through one of the lanes and speeds up behind me. i see a spot open ahead of me. (im sure she had seen it too and this is why she was zooming around cutting the lanes trying to get to the spot) but i took it. i was first in line when it opened up. so i took it. i don't think that i was wrong. that is how the parking lot world works, right? so as im getting out of my van i hear "that f***ing woman needs to learn how to drive. ok not only is that trashy it was made worse by the fact that she had her three small children in the car. the youngest being cullans age. then i went in and started my shopping. all of a sudden from the other end of the isle that im standing on, i hear someone speaking just loud enough for me to hear but not speaking directly to me. "some people don't know how to drive. some @!*!@#* need to watch what their !@*?@*% doing." by this point i had had enough. i told garran that the only thing that stopped me from seriously saying something to this woman who was making a real scene was that we had BBQ to go to that night and i had to bring a dessert!

situation three:

this one is short but sweet. if im still standing at the register paying for my things.

PLEASE DO NOT RAM ME WITH YOUR CART!!!!!
be patient. everyone will get a turn!!

situation four:

last but not least. a few days ago, i had all three kids at the store with me alone. we have a rule that in the parking lot cullan and kael hold hands to keep from getting hit or running ahead. anyways we are coming out of the store and cars obviously pass in front of the entrance. however this lady passes by and we begin to walk across the way to get to the parking lot to get to our car. all of a sudden with no warning she starts backing up. i was not even a full arms length away from the back of her van.

i threw my hand out in almost a reflex that hit her back window and yelled "HEY". if my kids would have been on that side of the cart she would have hit them and not even seen them. i was so hot when she had the nerve to start yelling at me.

in conclusion ....

i think im swearing off wal-mart!