I had the Monkey with me all weekend since it is the last weekend before I move to Alabama. It was a great weekend with him, spent giggling, playing and doing the things that we have fun doing. All with the under current that we both didn’t want to say out loud – it was the last time we were going to see each other for a while. While the Terrorist and I LOOK just a like, I think the Monkey and I are more a like in our temperaments, sense of humor, etc.

Friday night we grabbed some take out and came home to watch all the shows that had piled up on my TiVO this week. It was a nice, quiet, lovely evening together.

Saturday I had to work all day (haet!) but then we got dressed and headed out to dinner with the BDITU, his fiance and their friend at Dave & Buster’s for dinner. That was 6 hours of pure, unadulterated fun and stupid belly laughs. OMG, I had such a good time with him. We had a blast. I didn’t want it to end.

Today, I got him up and after breakfast, we headed to Best Buy to let him shop for his birthday present. He picked a Star Wars game for the Wii and a cool controller add on that turns the Wii-mote in to a light saber (which is very cool). We picked up his birthday cake, came home, picked up the Terrorist and headed to my mom and dads house. We ate dinner (omg spaghetti – yum) and had cake, then it was time to leave.

It broke my heart. I hugged on him several times, kissed all over him and said good bye 100 times. I held it together though until I left the folks house. Once in the car, I sobbed on the Terrorists shoulder. And she let me. She was actually a good kid today, fun to be around, no attitude. I was so grateful to her for that. And I told her so. Her response? “I know Mom, you are going to miss him. I will too.” That just made me sob harder. Ugh.

So, the sad is obvious. The good is that the Terrorist was not a twit today. And now? I’m going to go watch the show Firefly on DVD since I bought it today while I was at Best Buy.

Today I have been profoundly bored at work.  SO many people are off today to get an extra day on their 3 day weekend.  To be honest, I would be too if I hadn’t just whipped through all my vacation time to go on vacay with Miss Monique.  So, to combat the boredom, I was flipping through some online photo albums from some work sponsored events from when I lived in Houston.  I was part of an organization that planned our formal/black tie holiday party each year along with several other events.  One of them was called Breakfast With Santa (because we worked with a dude that looked JUST like Santa!) and the entrance fee for this shindig was a bag of cat or dog food that was donated to the various pet shelters each year.  Nice event for the kids and nice to feel good about helping the pet shelters out with food since so many of them operate on such a shoe string budget.

ANYWAY, as I was flipping through the pictures, I came across this picture.

OMG!  LOOOOK at my Terrorist!  Of course, this was way before she was the Terrorist.  She was still sweet and still thought I was the greatest thing EVAR.  This was taken in December 2002.  She was 8 years old.  Oh, and my fingernails?  I know they were long.  WAY too long.  But our formal/black tie party had just occured and I wanted them long for that – I believe, if I remember correctly that immediately following this little shindig I went and had them cut way down.

Of course, here she is today, at 14 (almost 15) years old.

My big girl.  A young lady, not a little girl.  Of course, that does not stop her from walking by my chair while I’m sitting in it and crop dusting me with some of the nastiest farts ever in recorded history.  I was just so stunned when I saw that old picture of us, and I can’t believe it was only SIX years ago.  They grow and change SO fast. 

When I was pregnant with the Terrorist, my first born, I was 25 and full of wonder at the living thing growing in my belly.  She kicked, she got the hiccups (which were funny) and toward the end, she’d stretch and I could actually count her fingers and toes as they pressed against my belly and stuck out.  I had a wonderful pregnancy.  No morning sickness and very little uncomfortable swelling.  The only real “bad” side effect I had was raging heartburn.  I swear, I should own whatever company makes TUMS because I went through a positively obscene amount of that stuff.

The pregnancy was so good and so easy, I should have known the birth wouldn’t be.  I had trouble from the beginning, was put on the most evil labor drug ever invented (pitocin) to hurry things along, ran a massive fever (which was actually kind of nice because they made me drink a ton of water – none of this ice chips or sucking on a wet rag bullshit) and in the end, she went into massive distress.  I was put on oxygen and told to breath deeply and hold my breath because she wasn’t getting any oxygen.  The cord was around her neck.  She was finally born and there was no breathing.  The doctor called a code blue on my very blue baby girl.  They intubated her, shocked her tiny heart because it had stopped.  It was awful.  She had aspirated some meconium from my amniotic fluid because her head was so damn big that once my water broke, most of it stayed inside.  She spent 5 days in the NICU where for a few days we thought we were going to lose her.

I eventually took home a healthy 9lb 3oz, 22 1/2 inch long baby girl.  The light of my life.  I fell in love with her instantly.  I couldn’t stop staring at her.  I’d watch her sleep.

Now she is 14.  And I alternately want to kill her and hug her like every 5 minutes.  I KNOW most of it is because she is a hormonal teenage girl, and believe me when I say I was NO picnic to live with at that age myself.  But things are so different than when I was a teenager.  The culture has changed so much.

My biggest fight with her is about her damn cell phone.  When I was a kid, we had a regular old landline phone.  In fact, my mother refused to order call waiting (and still does) because she thinks it’s rude.  There was a STRICT rule in my house.  No phone calls after 9pm.  Any time the phone would ring after 9pm, I’d cringe.  My mom would answer and give whoever was unfortunate enough to call the business about it being too late.

I don’t have that problem now though, because we all have cell phones, and no one ever calls my land line.  The problem I do have however is that she views her cell phone as a means to talk to all her friends until all hours of the night.  Last night in fact, I was headed to bed at around 11:30 and as I walked past her door I could hear her talking on the phone.  At 11:30!  On a school night!  I flung her door open, told her to get off the phone and give it to me.

Weekends are one thing.  As long as she is quiet, I really don’t mind, but on weeknights when she has to get up at 6:00am for school, I don’t want her up that late.  Why?  Because she is a miserable snot head to be around when I go to wake her in the morning.  Then she starts in with the whining about wanting to stay home, and she’s just so tired, blah blah blah.  Well kiddo, if you weren’t up on the phone until nearly midnight and went to bed at a decent hour, you wouldn’t be so damn tired.  It’s so frustrating.

There was much drama in my house this morning.  There were tears and a little yelling and nasty attitude from her.  Which of course, causes me to get upset with her.  She was “sick” this morning and wanted to stay home.  I wasn’t born yesterday for fucks sake.  She was tired because she was up too damn late last night.  When I mentioned that to her, she BURST into tears, yelling at me that if she had cut her foot off I would make her go to school because I am a mean, horrible mother.  Yep, mean and horrible because I want you to get an education.  Whatever.

I made her get dressed and go.  As she was walking out the door to the bus stop, I stopped her and hugged her.  She just stood there with her arms down at her sides and her head turned.  I kissed her on the cheek and told her I loved her.  I got a mumbled “Love you too” out of her, out of pure obligation on her part, I am sure.  I told her to have a good day.  Her response?  “I won’t.”

Maybe this would be a little easier if she wasn’t so incredibly like me.  But she is.  A carbon copy of me.  Looks just like me, acts just like me and is a little mean and nasty….just like me.

At about 2:15 I got a call from my sons school, which was odd because school was already out for the day.  The principal greeted me and then said, “It’s not as bad as it seems.”

Oh, holy Jesus.

It seems during his recess he managed to get himself tangled up in a jump rope and it got wrapped around his neck.  The other end of the rope got snagged on something and then he fell.  I was asked to come get him from school because they know we aren’t home when he gets home and they didn’t want him here alone.

This is fresh.  It is already beginning to bruise up pretty good.  He’s laying on the couch with some ice on the bruise watching What About Bob with me.

Now, how it happened?  I don’t know.  HE says the kids ganged up on him and intentionally put it around his neck.  The teachers say it was an accident.  However there were some kids at school that were disciplined (not mine) for “inappropriate use of equipment” because the principal said they were horsing around with it.

sigh

Poor baby.

I have this thing, this bad, bad, bad thing for dirty, tattooed rocker boys.  It’s an affliction and I wish there were a cure for it because they do nothing but cause trouble, but oh my god, do I love them.

Last night the Terrorist and I went to go see 4 bands at a local venue here.  Saving Able, Papa Roach, Buckcherry and Avenged Sevenfold.  I’ll give ya quick run down of them all.

Saving Able?  Who cares.  Got there halfway through their set and didn’t care.  I don’t really care for them.

Papa Roach.  I was never a big fan of Papa Roach.  I liked a few of their songs, but I wasn’t a huge fan.  I am now.  These guys are absolutely amazing in concert.  A-M-A-Z-I-N-G.  They rocked the place harder and better than both Buckcherry and Avenged Sevenfold.  Jacoby (the singer – *le sigh*) is a great front man.  Full of energy, got the crowd on its feet and kept it there for the duration of their 45 alloted minutes on stage.  At one point that crazy fucker actually walked out into the crowd.  The Terrorist and I were on the floor section and very envious that he was up in the seated area walking around.  But then he jumped down to the floor and passed by us so closely that she was able to stick her paw out and touch him.  She nearly passed out from the sheer *squeeee* of it all.  Oh, and he said the word ‘fuck’ more times in 45 minutes than I think I have said in my entire life.  Which is saying a lot.  LOL

Buckcherry.  We just saw BC in November in Illinois.  They are good in concert, but this show was better.  Maybe back in November Josh Todd (that YUMMY piece of man right over there) wasn’t feeling well or whatever, but in that show they came out, did their music and left.  Last night he was talkative and funny as hell.  He came out wearing his skin tight skinny black pants and a military style pea coat.  Halfway through the first song the coat was unbuttoned, and when it was over, it was off.  The one comment that the Terrorist had was “He sure plays a mean tamborine.  Why is he playing that stupid thing, you can’t even hear it!”  I had to remind her that he is a singer and he needed something to do with his other hand.  LOL  He also likes to take the microphone and put it to his crotch like it is his dick.  Um, dude?  Stop teasing.  I get that the microphone is a phallic symbol, but really?  Just show me  your wang, mmkay?

As he was talking to the crowd, setting up the last song, Crazy Bitch, he was ranting about how they get so much hate mail.  Then he stopped, looked at the crowd, grinned and pointed to his chest and kind of whispered “Because I’m so damn sexy”.  I can’t argue with him.  Holy crap that man is sex defined.

Avenged Sevenfold.  I have to say, I as a little disappointed in them last night.  They were SO good in November, but last night they were kind of blah.  After the first song I found out why.  M. Shadows, the (hot) singer, had not eaten a bite of food in 40 hours because he had been sick with food poisoning.  They had cancelled the show in Ft. Wayne, IN, on Monday night because of it, and it was clear that M. was still not feeling well.  So, the show was disappointing, but I understand why.  Poor (hot, tattoed) M. Shadows was still sick as a dog and it showed.

About 4 songs into their show, and at nearly 11pm, the Terrorist looked at me and asked if we could leave.  I was more than ready to go at that point, so we bailed.  Half the audience had gone at that point.  Oh well, can’t win them all A7X. 

Beside the music acts, there was so much entertainment just in people watching.  Several people tossed out by security, one dude TACKLED by security and a fan, resulting in handcuffs and arrest (still wonder what he did), more whores than you can shake a stick at (who in the hell wears 5 inch stilleto black and white mary jane pumps to a concert where you are going to be standing for 5 hours???), a dude with a 4 inch tall mohawk that got slammed to the ground and cracked his head open – bleeding everywhere and a 33 year old dude that kept trying to pick up on my daughter.  No matter HOW MANY times I told him to knock it off because she is 14 years old, he kept sniffing around.  Jesus.  I had to eventually tell him I was going to get security to boot him if he came back around one more time.  The Terrorist was standing behind me saying “Just hit him mom, he’s drunk, he’ll go down easy!”.  Heh.  That’s my girl.

So, this morning the alarm rang WAY too early for me and I feel shredded.  I said on Twitter that I was getting too old for this shit, to which my HSBFF immediately responded “Sorry, you are not getting to old”.  Thanks for that.  I needed it.

So, after a hideous week, my Friday was pretty okay.  I’m busy at work and that is a good thing.  Keeps my head down and makes the day go by faster.  And with the IPC out of the office all week, it was actually kind of nice.  Plus, I got a chance to steal his ass kissing thunder by volunteering for a project for the boss today.  If he had been in the office he would have volunteered before the boss even finished thinking that he needed a volunteer.  Because he’s a douchey fucking ass hole like that.  LOL  So, we’ll see how this goes.  I hope it doesn’t suck.  Ya know.

But then?  THEN?

See this?

That is M. Shadows.  The BEYOND hawt singer for Avenged Sevenfold.  This picture was taken in November when my Terrorist and I went to go see them in Illinois.

Okay.

See this??

This is Josh Todd, the BEYOND hot singer for Buckcherry.  Also taken at the show that the Terrorist and I went to see in Illinois in November.

AND I GET TO DO IT AGAIN IN A FEW WEEKS!!!!!!!!!!!  **faints**

Our local “hard rock” station is having a birthday party/concert on February 17 and the line up is Avenged Sevenfold, Buckcherry, Papa Roach and Saving Able.  I snatched up a pair of tickets for the Terrorist and I – floor seats.  OMG.  I am so excited right now I could pee.  That means, I get some more of THIS:

Wooooo FREAKING hooooooooooo!

We woke up nice and early yesterday and got to the Magic Kingdom by the time it opened.  This turned out to be a good thing because by about 10:00am they had shut the gates – the park was already at capacity.  How insane is that?  2 hours open and it was already full.

Actually, nothing to remarkable happened yesterday.  In line for the Autopia (driving the cars), a man in the passing line pointed at Kate then pointed at his son and said “He likes you” to Kate.  She was giggly for 2 hours after that.  Ah, to be a teenage girl again.  We got our fast pass for Space Mountain, then wandered around until we could get our next Fast Pass.  Rode lots of the little things that weren’t too crowded up.  Once on Space Mountain Kate insisted on riding in the front seat.  She HAD to be right up front.  We take off and she screamed NON STOP through the whole ride.  When we got off the ride, she was crying.  My big bad, mean as a snake Terrorist was brought to TEARS by a roller coaster.  I’m sorry, but I laughed.  And laughed and laughed and laughed.  If you don’t know, it is a roller coaster in the dark.  She does not like the dark.  LOL

Around 3:30 the park workers began walking around the park handing out plastic top hats and noisemakers.  I think I would like to KILL whoever had this bright idea.  Can you imagine?  A million people all blowing those goddamn noise honkers all at once?  Jesus, I was ready to kill people.  We did dig the hats though. 

I think all in all, we had a great day.  We actually had a great 4 days.  There was very little bickering between the kids and we had fun despite the ridiculous crowds.  Although, by about 4pm yesterday at the Magic Kingdom I had lost my ability to be polite.  You cut in front of me in line?  I said something (and oh boy did I piss one woman off – “I’m going up there to meet my son!” “Lady, you are a BAD mother if you put your FIVE year old in a line by himself!” she didn’t appreciate my input to her parenting ability).  You banged into me with your stroller?  I said something.  Cut right in front of me while I’m walking without saying “excuse me”?  I said something.  The place was a complete madhouse by the time we left.  And the ones that seem to be the worst?  The foreign tourists.  They don’t seem to understand the concept of “excuse me” “please” or “thank you”.  Word to the wise, if you are from a foreign country, LEARN TO BE FUCKING POLITE BEFORE YOU GO TO DISNEYWORLD.  Thank you. 

I leave you with this shot of Cinderella’s Castle lit up at night for Christmas.  It is just breathtaking.  What you can’t tell by this is that it changes colors every few minutes.  It’s really an amazing sight and the picture does not do it justice.

(click to see the whole set of Florida pictures)

We are cleaning up and packing up to get back on the road toward home today.  Florida, thank you for hospitality and your glorious warm weather.  But its time to get home.  I miss my dog and my own bed. 

So, day 1 of our vacation didn’t go off exactly as I had planned.

• We left my house 3 hours later than I planned – make it 3.5 hours later than we wanted to be on the road by if you count the time spent taking Emma the Wundermutt to the kennel.
• FTW!  The kids hardly argued with each other at all during the trip (so far).  I attribute to the fact that both have MP3 players and the Monkey kept borrowing my PSP.  Damn Monkey.  LOL  Doesn’t he know that I have got THINGS to kill in God of War????  Srsly.  We travel well as a family because I love me some Dramamine.
• FTW on the Dramamine.  BEST. STUFF. EVER. INVENTED.
• Somewhere about 4 hours from my house, we stopped for gas and a potty break.  As I was getting back into the hateful car I completely ripped my pants.  Like totally ripped the ass out of my PJ pants.  Thank GAWD I wasn’t celebrating “Commando Friday” today, right?  And also?  If I NEVER hear the SpongeBob “Ripped My Pants” song again after today it will be WAY too soon.  I’m just sayin.
• We encountered nasty fog, off and on rain/drizzle and one nasty accident on our trip so far.  It was visibility disabling fog and enough rain to make us nuts through Illinois.  Then it was smooth sailing, until we got just outside of Chattanooga, TN.  That accident delayed us by just about an hour and a half.  It was much teh suxxor.
• After internally threatening to KILL my husband, with knives, guns, garrottes or whatever it would take, we finally pulled off the freeway and caught a hotel.
• And then I managed to get a fair amount of grief about how much it cost.  Ummmm, okay.  We’ve been together for a LOT of years.  WHEN are you going to understand that a $29 hotel is worth exactly THAT MUCH MONEY.  I don’t mind paying $60 to $70 a night to ensure that the room next door isn’t being rented out by the night – kthxbai.
• After nearly 11 solid hours on the road, we FINALLY fucking stopped.  617 miles in one day, driving, with 2 teenagers that seem to hate each other is ENOUGH.
• I wish I could at least post pretty pictures of the Smokey Mountains but by the time we got there it was pitch black dark.  Maybe going back home next week I can get some good photos.

Okay folks, I’m EX-HAUSTED.  It’s amazing to me how tiring just RIDING in the car can be.  I didn’t drive any of this trip so far – not even one second and I am so exhausted I could just about die.  And with that, I’m off to bed.  =)

This Christmas Day is going to be strange. The strangest I will have had in 14 years. This Christmas Day, 2 days from now, I will not be woken up with loud whispers of “He came, he came! Santa came!”, or in later years as they have gotten older, the loud whispers between the two kids “You go wake her up – NO, YOU go wake her up” at some obnoxious hour of the day.

This year, for the first time EVER, my babies will not be in my house on Christmas Eve or Christmas morning. They are going to spend the night at their dad’s house and wake up to Christmas morning at his house.

On one hand, I’m okay with it. They are 12 and 14 and I will have to get used to it eventually and at least they are not little. I mean, my kids have the 411 on the whole Santa situation, they don’t want us up before the ass crack of dawn because they still believe in the magic of Christmas. They want us up so they can get into their presents. LOL

On the other hand, it makes me a little sad.  Ya know?

I barely put a Christmas tree up this year. And I mean barely. We are leaving the day after Christmas for Florida and the kids won’t be here for Christmas morning so I struggled with exactly why I should put it up. This is why I put it up:

My little tree hugging Terrorist loves it.