American Idol comments

I have to admit - - tonight was the first time I have sat down to see American Idol this season.

That being said...

Is cutesy Miss Pickler's brain pickled? She's giving us plenty to "Talk about"

My best friend says she's adorable. "She was raised on a farm... her grandpa raised her cause her mom died and daddy's in jail." I have 4 words for that...

EVERYONE HAS AN ANGLE.

Especially on that show! Don't believe it all America! There is a reason they have such high ratings!


I say - - whatever... it's totally an angle she's working. Yeah, she may have grew up out in the middle of nowhere, but unless she's amish, I guarantee that she still grew up going to the mall every weekend with her buddies, singing Mmmm-bop and wanting to be Brittney Spears. For someone so "sheltered and naive" she sure looks an aweful lot like a California Barbie doll. Trust me, I saw plenty of them this last week. She's better really show up in the next few weeks. The thing that ticks me off is that shes so cutesy-cutesy that she will stick around for a while. At least cutesy Carrie Underoo's could wail... and she took the show. No, I really am a Underwood fan - - even if I liked Bo more consistantly.

Who has the most talent of all the women??
MANDISA. She was awesome - - even if her song was kind of strange for her.

Who's faking till she makes it?
Paris. Now she's cute... but geez, could you pick a more boring song? She needs help - - she could be awesome!

side note - -
Monty laughs at me because I totally agree with Simon Cowell. I say it and then he says it - - sometimes verbatim. I just lack the accent.


Just dont forget guys... ultimately, it's Simon who picks the winner. Don't let them fool ya.

Sheeeeeeeeee's Baaaaack!

I typed out a new blog, highlighting a few parts of our trip, hit publish and LOST THE WHOLE FRIGGIN' THING!

Can I cry now?

Our first day we drove down to Laguna Beach, my FAVE Southern Cali beach. The weather was perfect... There is so much to tell...

I will have to do more tomorrow. I am SOOOO tired and SOOOO pissed about the blogloss that took place... LOL


Here is a few pics from Laguna Beach. It was such a pretty day, and the beach was almost empty. It was a perfect "first beach" experience for the girls. I think they are hooked.







Favorite souvenir that I had to drag home?

The Wal-mart sack FULL of seashells that Sara Bear lovingly sought out on the beach. They all look the same... but not to her. She was hilarious.

It's a world of laughter, a world of tears...

So Joy, you've gotten into an incredible fight with your husband today, made up, lost your keys - never to be found, and did not pack until 10:30 tonight...

WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO NEXT??

"I'M GOING TO DISNEYLAND!"
_______________________________________

Off we go to Disneyland! See you on Monday!

Oh, and dont try to come over and raid the fridge... my Dad is house sitting for us while we are gone! :)

SNOW DAY BLOWS!

***UPDATE***
THE HOUSE IS SPOTLESS, THE BAGS ARE PACKED AND DINNER IS COOKING. MOMMA IS PRAYING FOR SCHOOL TO BE BACK IN TOMORROW THOUGH...

Do you remember the night before a snow day when we were kids? We would get to stay up until the 10 pm news and watch the little ticker at the bottom of the screen to see if our mean ole Principle closed school.

No do you remember how excited we were when your school was on the list of closings?

I remember jumping around and doing a little happy dance. I remember my Mom, on the other hand, groaning and rolling her eyes.

Forward to today, I stumble out of my bedroom - - head straight to the microwave where Monty has put my tea, and turn around to see my cheeky little newbie teenager staring at me. My eyes proceed to pop out of my head. My mind was reeling - - I was thinking "oooh she missed the bus, her Dad'll kill her now!" She saw the eye popping action and proceeds to quickly tell me that school is closed today because of the ice before I go to screaming... No school - - snow day. Parents, take a moment to let the full meaning of this statement sink in. No school - - snow day.

WHAT? WHAT? WHAT? It's not bad outside! Freaking Wussies at the school! Why - - when I was in school it had to be terrible - - no electricity and no heat bad, for the school to close down. Don't believe me? Ask Ali at http://www.alisblog1.blogspot.com or Tracy at http://tracyfreeman.blogspot.com . We all went to school together. They can comiserate with me. Things were different back then. (Does this sound familier? Do you remember your parents sayign hte SAME things?)

Okay, okay, enough grinching about snow day.

Here is the great part. I assume that my children think that since they did not have to go to school today that they will get to sit around and do nothing but make a mess of the house...

Muaaaa aaahh ahhh ahhhha ahhhh... (evil laugh)

We are going to have a shiny house today!!!

Let the cleaning BEGIN!!!

CALGON TAKE ME AWAY!

ARRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHH!

We are leaving for vacation in T minus 3 days and guess what...

MY CHILDREN ARE DRIVING ME C-R-A-Z-Y!

Do you love me? Do ya? Do ya?
Then say a prayer for me. I am about to embark on a trip to Disneyland with very hyper and excited girls. Geez, I am about Disney Princessed out and yet I am about to go have a dining experience with a whole slew of them. I'll be puking chiffon and satin.

(Those of you who know me know that I can't wait and that I totally dig Disney, but the kiddos are driving me berzerk)


LOL, you know what else is funny? My kids don't even know what the phrase "Calgon take me away" means. I guess it goes up on the commercial slogan shelf with "Wheres the beef?" and "HELP! I've fallen and I can't get up".

I've gotta go paint my toes - -

ATTENTION! AMBER AUDREY KETCH IS A TEENAGER!

As of today, my Meemer Sue is a big, bad teenager ladies and gentlemen...

More to come on that topic tomorrow...

Valentine's Blather

Okay, okay!
I've had three people email me asking about Valentine's!
Geez oh, Pete. I was even accused by a dear friend whom I shall not name (Tracy) that I am part of one of the sappiest married couples she know. Wow... I guess so!
LOL
I would much rather be the sappiest than the unhappiest...

Some of you can remember when that was a reality in my life.

Soooo, VD.

I didn't get roses, or any flowers for that matter. My husband didn't take me to dinner.
We had Goulash for dinner at home... with the kids... that I had to cook.

-----

So are you wondering where i buried my husband??? How did I manage to get the blood stains off my shirt?

YA DON"T HAVE TO WONDER!

I got diamonds. Lots of them.
You see, I have a theory.
A man cannot go wrong with diamonds. He just can't!
It certainly was not a very expensive gift. We are not talking solitares and lots of carats. But neverless a nice ring.
One that reminds me of a family heirloom that got stolen several years back. Not gawdy... just perfect.

Well, you judge for yourself.


This guy is the best. He know me better than anyone. And he knows just what to do to make me smile...

Gimpy Jin

Today as we were walking out of church our youngest daughter Jin fell and scraped her knee. A total drama-fest began at that moment. It was... oh, I dunno - 40 below outside and there were, like... 125 mph straight line winds (I dont know where she gets this flair for the dramatic.) Anyway, her shoe fell off at which point she had only 1 useable foot so over she fell!

The wind was so bad and it was so cold that I scooped her up and ran (in boots with 2 1/2 inch heels)to the van. I grab the baby wipes that were in the car only to find that they were FROZEN. I warm it up in my hand and clean off the dirt and blood while my husbands cell phone is ringing, the girls are arguing, Sara is asking me 10 questions and Jin is screaming bloody murder. Both sliding doors are open, making the van a virtual wind tunnel and I scream at everyone to sit down and shut up. This is ALL in the church parking lot...

I remembered that I had some antibiotic ointment in the diaperbag that I keep in the van for emergencies. So I go digging while Jin is accessing the deepest recesses of her vocal ability and people are staring at me in the lot. I guess they thought I was a baby beater. I find the ointment and guess what??? FROZEN. It took 2 minutes to thaw it enough to use it on her knee.

The screaming ensues...

She cried all the way to the hospital to see Monty's dad, freaked out when we got there because she thought we took her there for her knee and cried all the way through the freaking visit with Tom. We left the hospital early due to Princess Moodiness and her pity party and went to eat. She perked up and was happy for a while but when we got home, this 3 year old got on the couch and stayed there for about 2 more hours. Now, she is limping around the house like she broke it. This picture looks funny, but trust me, it's not broke people. It's hilarious. It is barely scraped and only a very little blood came out. While we were at the hospital I put some bandages on it. Poor little gimp.

It's very offical looking.

I am so glad I have girls. They really are the best. Drama and all...

I THINK WE ARE ALMOST THERE!

It was awefully quiet all of a sudden this morning. I could not find my Jinny Jin so I began to look for her. I walked into my bathroom to find her sitting on the potty. She did not say a thing - - just went! Stupidly, I asked "whatcha doin'?", Like it was not obvious... She said , "uh, Mommy, me poopy potty". Its getting better each day.

PRAISE THE POTTY GODS! I THINK WE ARE FINALLY TRAINED!

You have no idea how relieved I am about this. This child of mine was the most stubborn booger-face about potty training. Seriously, you have no idea! i know we may have a few accidents here and there, but we are over the hump.

Yeaaaah! Happy Friday!

Whatcha been doing Joy?

Oh, thanks for asking!

I've been sitting at the hospital.

For days.

Here's the story.

You see, my father-in-law Tom got a combo pacemaker/defibulator put in (his 2nd) before Christmas. He went back out of California for work and noticed that his skin was red and puffy around the incision. Withouth being totally gross I will skip to the part where he had to get an emergency flight home and go straight tot he hospital for them to remove the pacemaker/defib.

They went in through the original incision to remove it - - no problem, right? WRONG.
As they were removing the leads from his heart, one of them would not budge. And they did not want to tug obviously, because what would be worse would be to tear the heart.

Cue the open heart surgeon.

For one little lead, he had to completly crack him open... Awful.
The one little lead was infected. Badly. Thank God they decided to open him up.

My teenage daughters have been a flutter of tears. Especially Rikki, who is so sensitive and worrisome. She was so scared for her Pappy. Monty had to take her up there at 8 am the day of the surgery for Pappy to reassure her that he was going to be okay.
He is recovering nicely now in the hospital.
Thank God.

The funny thing is, he and I have always been "civil" with each other but thats it. He didnt like me for years 2-4 of my marriage to his son, and I really didnt like him for not liking me. He wanted Monty to date (and hopefully marry) a girl he went to highschool with named Lisa. He even called me Lisa from time to time. Are you wondering why I didnt like him? Wondering why I didn't smack him?
But he has mellowed over the years. He's more laid back and I think he realizes that I am here to stay after 11 years with his son. Well, I don't know if it's because I provided 4 of his grandchildren, or what but he has changed toward me. He actually is sweet to me and compliments me. He will even introduce me to people as his daughter-in-law... huge change. He even told me the other day that he thought I was the best of all of Monty's old girlfriends to choose from... uh, thanks... I think.

He finally realizes how much I take care of his wife while he is gone and how much I love his rotten son.

So that's it... that's what we have been up to. Oh, I am inserting a pic of Tom, Kathy and the girls from Christmas.

Oh, BTW, he is doing much better now. Going home this weekend.

WHITE TRASH WITH A RECORDING CONTRACT

Dearest Ms. Spears. WHAT WERE YOU THINKING? This girl is truly driving me batty. I think she is "trying" to piss the world off - - I swear.

Her latest debacle happened today when she was "fleeing from the paparazzi". This was her statement.

"Today I had a horrifying, frightful encounter with the paparazzi while I was with my baby. Because of a recent incident when I was trapped in my car without my baby by a throng of paparazzi, I was terrified that this time the physically aggressive paparazzi would put both me and my baby in danger. I instinctively took measures to get my baby and me out of harm's way, but the paparazzi continued to stalk us, and took photos of us which were sold to the media. I love my child and would do anything to protect him."

So do you believe her? EVEN if that should be the case and she had this horrifying experience, what is more harmful here? Just a MINOR fender bender would seriously harm and quite possibly kill that precious little boy. The airbag could deploy and he's gone. His little neck could be snapped. Don't make me go on...

And from what was said, there was a male bodyguard with her in the car. What was he doing?? Picking his nose? So they are making a quick get-away... why didnt she hand the keys to HIM and get in the back seat with her son and proceed to buckle him into the car seat that probably cost her $350.00. Has her bleach soaked into her rattling little brain?

You can take the girl out of the back woods, put her on the Disney Channel, "slut"ify her as a young adult, airbrush the heck out of her, give her a bunch of crappy pap to sing, give her bajillions of $$$ and you know what? You just can't take the back woods out of that hillbilly, white trash, nasty Ms. Spears.

Whoooooh.

Okay, Im going to climb off my soap box now.
Have a nice evening all... I am going to go watch the American Idol rejects.

Gender Dictionary

DICTIONARY OF WOMEN'S ENGLISH:
1. Yes = No
2. No = Yes
3. Maybe = No
4. We need = I want
5. I am sorry = you'll be sorry
6. We need to talk = You're in trouble
7. Sure, go ahead = You better not
8. Do what you want = You will pay for this later
9. I am not upset = Of course I am upset, you moron!
10. You're certainly attentive tonight = Is sex all you ever think about?

DICTIONARY OF MEN'S ENGLISH:
1. I am hungry = I am hungry
2. I am sleepy = I am sleepy
3. I am tired = I am tired
4. Nice dress = Nice cleavage!
5. I love you = Let's have sex now
6. I am bored = Do you want to have sex?
7. May I have this dance? = I'd like to have sex with you
8. Can I call you sometime? = I'd like to have sex with you
9. Do you want to go to a movie? = I'd like to have sex with you
10. Can I take you out to dinner? = I'd like to have sex with you
11. I don't think those shoes go with that outfit = I'm gay

Poor little Penguin

Quite possibly the most digusting and yet addictive game I have ever played.

My highest score? 1147

http://www.elek.bydg.pl/flash/pingwin1/pingwin1.swf

Lying Teenager

My best friend said the other day that I never talk about my daughter Amber.

WHOOO, I can talk about her tonight!

She is driving me crazy... she thinks she can lie to me about anything. And the funny thing is that she thinks she is good at it. She actually thinks that we won't catch her.

For example, I have told her countless times that she is to NEVER use someone elses makeup. Period. Not even her sisters makeup! Monty took her purse away from her (story to come in a second) and it had all her makeup in it. Amazingly enough, she had makeup on when she got home from school! When she was asking about her purse, I said "Why are you so uptight about your purse?" She replied "Because it has all my makeup in it!" So I "innocently" said "Well, what make-up did you use today?" and knowing that she would get in trouble for using someone elses makeup she said "Oh this eyeliner was left over from last night. I didnt clean my face well enough. Guys, she had SO much freaking eyeliner on. HEAVY eyeliner... Kelly Clarkson heavy.

I did the obligatory Greek Mom raised eyebrow and saw the color drain from her face. (I love having this power) I said two words. "Try again".

"Um... (in a mousy, meek voice) it's Fayes eyeliner?" Like it was a question.

Geez oh Pete... this kid gave me another freaking wrinkle on my forhead tonight.

SO... the purse debacle.

My sister-in-law Maggie bought each of the girls those sequin purses that everybody is carrying for Christmas. Amber, wanting to be original like everyone else, begged for a silver sequin purse. That being said, Maggie was the belle of Christmas - at least in my daughters eyes.
Anyhoo, whats the rule Mom set forth 2 freaking years ago?

RULE #13
YOU ARE NOT TO LET ANYONE BORROW YOUR STUFF. STUFF ENCOMPASSES MANY THINGS. MAKEUP, JEWELRY, CLOTHING, SHOES, UNDERGARMENTS (yes, I actually had to say this) PURSES (wow, I did say this) HAIR ACCESSORIES, ETC.

I swear I need a law degree just to make sure that all things are included.

So Amber comes in the other day from school and heads straight to her room. We're talkin bee-line, no talking, no dropping her crap at the front door. That is code for parents for "Something's up" .

I walk in to her room when she is not there, look around and notice a gold purse but nothing clicks in my head as wrong so I walk out.

As I am driving Rikki to Tae Kwan Do later that night, I say "Rik, I thought Aunt Maggie got you a copper sequin purse" She replied "She did Mom." So who's is the golden purse in question?? Rikki continued, "Amber traded purses with her friend at school until Friday. I told her she'd get in trouble for breaking the rules but she told me to shut up". Rikki, dear Rikki. THANK YOU for being such the tattletale.
I adore that about her. LOL

Monty came home, snuck into her room and stole her purse and hid it. She was freaking out - - With her "Ohmigawd, I like, just like, had my like purse like 2 hours ago. Like, I totally had it, I can't imagine like where it would like be."
We totally acted like we have no clue what she was talking about or why she was having an anneurism over her purse.

We let her sweat it out all day and evening today and finally gave it back to her - sans the stuff inside. She's grounded from it. Why you ask? Well, she's being a big fat liar right now for one. But the other reason? Because after having money stolen out of her purse on several occasions, her Daddy told her that she doesnt need to take her purse to school. It's not like she has a checkbook, car keys and an ID she needs to store. We're talking different colored pens, makeup and 27 different flavors of lip gloss. Teenage girls... God help me.

Okay, so for those of you that remember me when I was a teen and frequent my blog.
YES, I remeber doing the exact same kind of things when I was her age. I am not saying I am better or more righteous that my daughter. I am trying to raise her to be better that I was, leading to her being a better, smarter adult that I have been.

I guess I am failing miserably... pray for me. Better yet, pray for HER.

Geez.