the house of nuts

     I don't know how people with small kids do it.  I know I did it when my kids were little and I had 5 of them then.  I can't do it now.  Maybe it's that I'm more OCD now than I used to be.  Maybe it's that I'm out of practice.  Maybe it's just that I'm getting slower in my old age.  But trying to keep up with the house with all these kids in and out, seems to be a losing battle.  Hurricane almost has enough for the down payment on his house.  He should have the down payment by next week and be starting the move.  That will help some immensely.  Seriously, he leaves more of a trail behind him than the baby does.  And Elmer doesn't cop an attitude when I ask him to pick up his toys.  Here's the thing, I honestly enjoy spending time with my kids.  And I enjoy my kids differently.  I love to take slow cruises on H's bike.  I love to just talk to him.  I love the fact that he's down here.  What I can't stand is the incessant mess that he leaves behind him.  He's like a little cartoon character leaving a trail.  I'm looking forward to him having something permanent.  Settling down - putting down roots - making a home of his own.  And having it be close to where I am.  I want all my kids close.  I want my grandkids to grow up together.  To know each other like my kids didn't get a chance to know most of their cousins.


     Anyhow, the point to all that is that I have discovered that I am not doing well at blogging when all 4 boys are here and the baby.  Even though they're working and going out with friends and, in B's case, going to school - I'm not that talented.  And you would think that with them being mostly all adults that they'd clean up behind themselves?  HA!  No.  They're worse now than they were as children.  That actually amuses me somewhat.  I think because if you were to ask the kids (especially Tara), she always said that they had soooooo many chores.  Of course, if you had ever asked Tara - she thought that having to pick up her dirty clothes was child abuse.  That child was so messy that you could never see her floor thru the clothes.  Reminds me of a funny.  Well, it's funny now.  Tara started smoking when she was young.  My ex gave her her first cigarette when she was like 8.  Now, before y'all go off on me- I worked back then.  I didn't know he was giving her smokes and letting her smoke.  I didn't catch her for the first time till she was about 13 or 14.  Anyhow, I tried everything to get her to quit- broke her smokes and threw them away, searched her room, took away privileges, everything.  (nothing worked btw).  So, to get back on track - I came home one time and she was apparently hiding in her bedroom trying to sneak a smoke.  Mama doesn't smoke.  You know how fast a non-smoker can smell cigarette smoke in a non-smoking house?  Quick!  I went storming down the hallway and Tara, in her infinite wisdom, threw the lit cigarette in her garbage can.  Which of course was plastic and full of papers.  Anyone wanna guess what happened next?  FIRE!  Nope that wasn't noticeable at all.  I tossed the garbage can in the tub and turned the shower on.  I wasn't mad at all.  Nope!  Not me.  I mean don't you expect a 17 year old to break the rules and almost burn the house down?  It's funny now.  Sort of like catching the boys trying to commit suicide slide down a ramp as tall as my shed on a plastic alligator teeter-totter was funny.  Or Hurricane playing "roller coaster" with B and that trip to the ER for 4 staples in his head was funny.  Roller Coaster- put one small brother in a plastic laundry basket and swing it around in circles while making it go up and down to give younger brother a ride.  This only becomes a problem when said plastic laundry basket breaks and the younger brother goes sailing head first across the kitchen.  So there was my funny for the night.


     Anywho, I just can't seem to find time for me with them all here this last week.  With Hurricane in the middle of relocating and the baby here - I have been feeling very overwhelmed.  For those of you that have small children- my hat is off to you.  I know I did it when mine were little - but I don't for the life of me remember how.  My life was down to peace and quiet.  Just me and B here (well and Toni) for the most part.  I have no peace and quiet anymore.  It seems like there's always someone here.  Not just my kids but their friends too.  As fast as I clean, they mess up.  As fast as I replace a roll of toilet paper (because don't you know no one else knows how to put the roll on the roller), it's empty again.  If I mop, they track.  I load the dishes, turn around, and there's a sink full again.  And did I mention - I have no me time.  None.  Zip.  Zero.  Zilch.  Well, unless you count sleeping - which I do not.  And even sleep is not sacred.  I get woken up more often than I get to sleep a night thru.  Wish me luck to survive this for the next few months.  Hurricane should be in his place within the next few weeks but then my mom comes and we'll have Elmer that week and then it's hunting season and time for Vix and Cal's trip down for Cal to go hunting.  And then it's the holidays and I'll have them all in and out here for the holidays.  So, it's going to be crazy till after the first of the year.  Just keep me and my sanity (or what may become a lack thereof) in your thoughts, prayers, well-wishes, etc please.  I have a feeling that I'm going to need all the help I can get.