Hee! Hee!

Every afternoon and most nights I get the pleasure of putting my Claire down for a rest. We start out with one to three stories of Claire's choosing. Right now she loves 'Ten in a Bed" and anything 'Curious George'. After reading I sing several songs to her. Mostly, I sing primary songs. She has taken lately to grabbing my face with her little paws and saying the name of the song and then says, {Anticipating the glorious tones that are about to come forth{not}"Okay 1,2,3, GO! Then I am supposed to sing. With a smile, she stops me,"No,no,no funny!"She likes me to change the words so that they are nonsensical songs. To this she laughs with glee, not very calming, but oh so precious. It takes a while sometimes to get her to calm down. I am determined to enjoy every last laugh.

I lived in heaven along time ago, lived with Blue.

Lived there and loved there with people I knew with a clue.

Then Heavenly Father created a beautiful Man,

All about earth and the need that we have for a tan.

HEE! HEE !HA !HA! Giggle Giggle! Do it again Mom Do it again!

I know I am hilarious! At least my two year old thinks so.

Tagged By Darcy!

I have been "TAGGED", Darcy, http://sassyquilts.squarespace.com/blog/2008/10/4/tagged.html which my husband refers to as some sort of modern day chain letter. I think it is kind of fun! For those of you that don't know me you get hear some weird, crazy facts about me. {just what you have been hoping for I know, especially since I am so weird}

1. I smell everything, laundry, towels, kids hair, their breath, forks, all flatware, carpets, this computer keyboard, pillows{ a given} and everything and anything I think may smell bad. I am on a mission to bleach it, wash it, spray it, scrub it and make it smell good!

2.Speaking of Scrubbing, I am a big fan of "Scrubbing myself down" I mean scrubbing the cellulite away. Every time I get a shower I use a luffa with a body scrub or liquid soap and apply as much pressure as I can{ not enough to bruise yourself} and scrub my upper legs and and upper arms in small circles,with pressure to stimulate the blood flow to my skin and thus getting more oxygen to the upper layers of the skin. It takes about 3 min extra, but it is well worth the effort. Other added bonuses to this are, the building up of muscle in the upper arms as you apply the pressure and you are burning calories with this small work out. Tip- If you stand on one leg and lift the other while you scrub you can strengthen those core muscles a little. Did you realize a shower could be so much more!

3.LOTION! I LOVE IT! While it is true that I wash my hands a hundred times a day, because I don't like anything that smalls bad or anything dirty on them. I love lotion and I lotion everything down every day. MY WHOLE BODY! not an inch gets ignored. {to much info? Sorry just a little beauty tip.} My children get it to. Do they love it? Claire certainly does, who wouldn't? The boys , OK, they tolerate it. Skip thinks it is crazy. They will all thank me later when their skin is in great condition as they age.

4. I shoot baskets five times a week for twenty minutes. I practice my fake outs and my MOVES. Oh yea, I got moves. I also practice my free throws, because dang it! they are free and this shot should have a high percentage. You know what I mean.... YOU NEVER KNOW WHEN YOU MIGHT GET INTO A GAME! I am waiting , but prepared.

5.Is this weird? I scrub the dishes till they are completely clean and then load them in to the dish washer from the back to the front.

6.Listen, I do so many weird things; Checking the doors twelve times to make sure they are locked, Vacuuming two to three times a day, checking on my kids several time a night to make sure they are Okay, straighting like a crazy woman, there are so many things I can't list them all.

7. Number #6 leads me to "SELF TALK". My favorite thing. I have a whole host of issues { I am sure everyone does} I just have to talk to myself in my head { this goes on all day} If I do this talk and tell myself I don't need to do such and such or I can leave it for later or it doesn't matter, I can get on without checking the door but once or twice. I can get through so much more. It takes time and some times I really have to concentrate, but I have been able to over come many things with this therapy. It does make for some interesting conversations with myself though. It relives some stress.

Okay, now you know a little bit more about the strange ways of Laurene. Your turn. I am not sure how to embed links. I am so computer illiterate. I will work this out soon. Give me a second.

Cristy- Sister

Tami-Friend

Michelle-Sister-in Law

Marissa- Friend

Suzi- Friend

KaLisi-Friend

Staci-Friend

My game Face!

Being a mom is so fun! We go from one drill to the next, hopefully with a smile on our face. I usually have a slight grimace. I am working on this , but it is just my game face. Today, as I cleaned my bathroom, yes, it was an all day effort. I find that when you clean the bathroom in stages the bleach doesn't go to your head as much and I am able to save some of my priceless brain cells that I might need at a later date. In one of my said stages I assigned Blake to clean the full length mirror attached to the door. I gave him some direction, paper towels, some vinegar and water. "Go to it." I said. Then Sam and I laid down on my bed to read. I figured Blake would be busy for a while.

I try to read with Sam in fifteen minute increments. As we read, Blake would peak his head out of the bathroom and give us updates on his progress, like "This vinegar and water stuff really works." " Mom did you know you have black marks on your mirror?"" Don't worry Mom I got it." This progress was taking quite a while. After Sam and I finished reading, Blake was still working away.So Sam decided to read from another book and Blake continued on his task. Finally Blake was done.

Blake came out of the bathroom with a big smile"You can really see yourself now, Mom!" As I glanced in the bathroom I noticed a huge pile of paper towels and an empty card board roll. {I gave him a brand new roll of paper towels to start off with and the mirror is not the size of the wall} "Blake, Thanks, it looks really good. Did you use the whole roll of paper towels?" I asked { It was rather obvious } "Yes, but look how great it looks and I needed all those paper towels it is a big mirror you know." said Blake with pride. Sam pipes in " I could easily clean that mirror with out using the whole roll. " SAM DON'T BRAG!"Blake says with disgust. "Sam." I say with a serious look{Grimace} on my face" Blake did a great job."

_________________________________________________________________

On another fun note,I have been killing little ants in my house all summer and even today I resolutely killed more ants, I do it every day!Something tells me they are out for pay back........ I was hooking up our trailer to the van this afternoon. A friend of ours needed it. He was standing right there talking to me as I was kneeling down in the gravel to get it all hooked up. When I stood up I felt something bite me on my wrist. I looked down and I saw about five to eight tiny little ants on my shirt crawling up my arm. { Have I ever mention I HATE ANTS!!!!!!!!} As I brushed them off, rather quickly, I looked down and noticed my jeans were curiously moving and not by me. I was covered with ants at least a hundred. UGH! Creepy, is not even close to what I felt. I immediately started brushing them off. {Of course, I was wearing jeans with holes in the knees so they were going up my legs and biting me.} Well, my friend was standing right there , a Man, so I couldn't rip off my pants . What to do? Stay calm and act like I'm cool with it, just another incident in the life of a Mom, as I am freaking out on the inside. I walk inside really fast and quickly check out my body to make sure I am ant free. WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF THESE ANTS! THEY ARE IN MY HOUSE AND IN MY PANTS! I AM SICK OF ANTS! I still have my Mom grimace on my face. I will have to work on that smile more.

Recipe Club

Last night we had our monthly Recipe Club. This month the theme was healthy foods. I decided to Wow the girls with my "Green Smoothie". I wish I had pictures. My demonstration skills leave allot to be desired. As I started out the spinach and kale wouldn't go down into the blender very well so I, in my great wisdom, stuck a knife into the blender to scoot the greens down towards the blades. Of course the blade caught the knife and Green Smoothie went all over. Sorry about the kitchen ceiling Suzi! I hear spinach is good for your hair and face.

The other thing that I absolutely thrilled me was that everyone loved my shoes.{ I know this sounds vain, but like Claire says" I am a Girl."} They are very cute. Maryann supplied me with many shoes while I was in UT and they are all fun and adorable. Thank you, Thank You, Maryann! { don't look at my pedicure}

I have to give kudos to my Mom, She is quite awesome. She makes amazing bread. While my Mom wasn't there last night her bread was via;Beth via; Jeremy. You rock Beth. I hope you have that baby soooooon! I have given out my Mom's recipe to many people in my ward and they love it. Here is the recipe. I Cut it in half all the time and it works out really well.

WHOLE WHEAT BREAD

4 cp warm water (hot water will kill the yeast)

1t. sugar

2 packets rapid rise or any kind of yeast or 2 T yeast

2 T salt

2/3 cp olive or any kind of oil

2/3 cp honey or sugar

4 T gluten

abt 8 or 9 cp flour

Put warm water, sugar and yeast into mixer bowl and let yeast proof. Add salt, oil and honey. (If you measure oil first and use the same cup, the honey will slide out of the cup easier.) Add gluten, then 6 or 7 cups of flour and mix until smooth. Add more flour and mix until the dough is holding together and pulling away from the sides of the bowl. Check to see if the dough is sticky. If it sticks to your fingers, add flour a little bit at a time, until the dough is tacky but not sticky. When you get the right consistency, let it knead for 10 minutes. The dough should start to follow the dough hook after about 6 minutes. At this time, you can add a little more flour or a drop or two of water, depending on how the dough feels.

Divide dough and put into 4 1lb greased loaf pans (you can use cooking spray) and place in a warm place to rise. Let dough rise until it is well above the sides of the pan. Place dough in oven and turn on oven to 350°and dough will rise a bit more as it bakes for about 25-30 minutes, depending on the oven. Bread should be medium golden brown color when done and have a hollow sound when you tap the top of the loaf.

·

FLOUR: I have been buying “Wheat Montana, Prairie Gold”, 100% Whole Wheat Flour, at WalMart and it works well. It is made from Hi Protein, Hard White Spring Wheat, but this is the same recipe that I have used for years with Hard Red Winter Wheat.

· Using the gluten seems to help with the rising and make the bread more moist and holds it together.

If the bread cracks on the sides you have either used too much flour or not allowed the dough to rise enough before baking.

· My daughter and I have used applesauce to replace all or part of the oil in the recipe. It works well.

Snakes

I left the house this morning to go for a swim. As I got into the car and checked to see if my phone was on I noticed that it was dead. I thought," That is no big deal I will be back in an hour." I came home and started up the walk and there on the front stoop was a big black snake{ I think it was a black snake I am not a ophiologist and the snake looked like his head was pointed, that means viper, maybe? I always think the worst in these situations}

Well, I am outside and the snake is blocking my way. He is sitting right in front of the door. If I get the kids to come to the door{ throwing rocks at the window, which I would surely break. Especially since I have warned them over and over to shoot their sling shots away from the house and not at each other}... they will for sure open it. Even if I do some sort of hand signal to not open the door they will probably open the door and say, "What, I don't know what you mean?" As the snake slithers between their feet into my house. I cannot get in. I thought I will call on the phone...opps no phone. What would my mother do.

{KILL IT AND KILL IT AND KILL IT} Sorry no hoe available. Locked in the garage and of course the garage door opener is in the house because the kids left it their after their last ...whatever.

I resort to throwing rocks at the snake and yelling at it to get off my porch. Really, who does he think he is sunning himself right in my path. The snake finally gets the message and slithers off the porch down the side of the house. I call the boys to come and see. We watch the snake slither parallel to the side of the house for a while and then Jack pokes at it with a branch. The snake slithers under my house. Perfect! ... You know this house is a little worse for wear {not my fault} Some of the air conditioning vents have holes in them. These holes happen to be under the house. Great!..

If I have to write a post about a snake in my house I will FREAK OUT.

Called to Serve

As I sat, on the back row, in the back corner of Relief Society today, I felt a bit guilty. I was the one that was telling all the women move towards the middle so the teacher has it easier. I wanted to sit by a friend and that is how it worked out...Big deal ... not really. I am kind of a middle row person though. What does that mean? I almost always sit in the middle. Comfort? Safety? There must be some latent meaning.

Anyway, I was thinking about my previous calling, Counselor over Enrichment in the Relief Society Pres. I had three different people ask me questions about being released from that calling.{ we are a unique church in so many ways, but being called to serve in different capacities often dumbfounds my non-member friends. They find it odd, unfair that you don't choose what you want to do, and very time consuming.} The questions were these: Did you cry when they released you? Were you expecting it? and Did the whole presidency get released?

Did I cry? The answer is defiantly not. I am usually happy to move on to something else. Yes, I will miss all that I served with, but the responsibility I am happy to hand over to someone else. This person was shocked. He had served in several bishoprics and from what I understood he had encountered this problem quite frequently. Maybe I am just not emotionally enough tied to the people and I don't cry that much. I don't know. I just found this observation very interesting. I never thought about what the Bishopric had to go through emotionally when they released people. They must have to gear up for whatever emotional response that might come their way.

Was I expecting it? No, not really. In fact, I was thinking on the way to church that morning; things are going pretty good. I will probably be in this calling for a while. Which was fine with me.

Did everyone get released? The answer is no. Should I feel bad. No. I served happily and loved doing it. This was the fourth time I have been in this calling and every time I have been released on my own. The only thing I felt was that maybe I didn't learn all that I could have. I think we are given callings for our own growth. The Lord has given us opportunities to serve and what we do with those opportunities is our choice. Being released is not being fired from a job because of bad performance. {I know that some feel this on a certain level.} You are released so that others may serve and everyone needs the opportunity to use and broaden their talents. Plus, for me as I serve in different callings I feel like my testimony is strengthened and the capacity to love others and see them with gods eyes is exponentially expanded.

I do feel that I didn't do all that I could do in the way of prayer and study in this calling. That makes me sad. I did push some things off to the back burner because life happens. I missed some opportunities for growth. I know I will be given others and hopefully I will be able to take these and learn all that I need to. I hope that I can grow closer to the Lord as I move on through this never ending service that is the Church. I hope I can pray and study to apply myself and learn all that the Lord has intended for me to learn. ... I have eternity Right!

Here I am in all my morning glory; zit cream Ala' Laurene. {Jack took these picture and he said, "Are you want your face in these pics?" I wondered what he meant by that. Now I know. My beauty secret is out.}

Well, I am making some delicious pancakes. My friend Cindy gave me this great recipe. I love that it uses the wheat freshly ground, that is when you get the best nutrients. Notice the nutritious smoothie in my hand. {what you don't see is the left over chocolate cake that I will be washing my breakfast down with. I need all those antioxidant fighters to keep me feeling GOOOOOOD!}

Whole Wheat Blender Pancakes

-1 cup whole wheat kernels

-1 cup milk

put in blender and blend for 3 minute

-1/2 cup milk {blend for 1 more minute}

Add and Blend

-1 egg

-1/4 cup oil{or applesauce}

-1 TBL sugar {honey}

-1 tsp salt

-1 tsp cinnamon

Optional

-2 tsp baking soda

-1 TBL lemon juice

These turned out great. They were fast to make and light and fluffy.

It's not a Race

Hello, I am Laurene and I am a speed demon. I need a twelve step program to over come an addiction to speed { Speeding: Going over the lawful speed limit in the vehicle of your choice, or not... I drive a mini van.} No, I have not received a ticket. I have been trying desperately to go the speed limit. One may wonder,how hard can this be? Just go the correct speed that is posted. {This is harder than it seems when there is a group of people in your head that must be first. I don't know their names, but they all seem pretty nice. Except for maybe one, will call her Norwanda, you wouldn't like her when she is mad or even a little irritated....Believe me or ask my kids about her.}

I realize that many people do not have this problem. I on the other hand struggle every time I get into the car. It is like I am in a race and I need to get to point B from point A as fast as I can. This sounds so crazy, especially since most of the time I have my children with me. I don't drive 100 miles per hour, but pretty consistently about 60-65 in all straight a ways and on the free way I go about 75-80. I do this naturally. I mean my foot just assumes the position that it feels comfortable with. I don't even know I am speeding unless I look down. When I change my speed to the appropriate speed I think, okay I doing good, then I look down and I am speeding again. It could be that I like to sing at the top of my lungs when I drive or that my mind is racing over all that I need to do.

The other thing is I really dislike, people to pass me. Why?... I don't know why. I am a little competitive, but really IT'S NOT A RACE! Somewhere back in the recesses of my mind I do know this. It could be a primal thing. I just know I don't like it. I am doing a lot of self talk for this particular problem.

I am glad I have been working on this. Just last night I drove through the same speed trap that I received my ticket in and I was driving too fast, but only about 5 miles over. I slowed right down when I saw the cop sitting there in the dark. The thing is, just a minute before this I checked my speed and I was doing well within the range of the correct speed.

Several people have given me suggestions; use cruise control to control yourself { which works if I remember} The problem, however is in my head.

1.Car

2.Being able to drive

3.Free country

PS. Now Jack has read this post and told Sam{the deputy Sheriff} and they are monitoring my every push of the pedal. Great ,now I drive with the Gestapo!

Relax

Today was better. I guess it is true "Tomorrow is another day". I started off with a massage at the massage school and then to lunch with my friends. I came home and took the kids swimming at our new gym. We had a nice relaxing day. Dinner was at 7:30pm ,but hey at least we ate. Claire feel asleep in the car on the way home from the pool and the woke up promptly at 8:00pm ready for her dinner. Now all are in bed and Skip is asleep on Claire's bed. I think I will read a little then off to La La land. Good night!

Ants

While I was gone my biggest fear was not that the house would burn down or that someone would rob the house or that there would be some natural disaster like; forest fire, hurricane , or flood. I was worried about ants. I really do not like ants.

Well, they waited for me to return to do battle. I have the bug guys coming tomorrow, but for right now It is me and the boys against them, THE ANTS! You scoff, but this is a battle of wits, because these are carpenter ants, the worst. They are in the house some where and all I can do is run around the house and strategically spray bleach and vinegar where I think they may show up and everywhere they show themselves.

I cleaned pretty good before I left for are trip. The ants found a place that I didn't get to. Claire had, at one time, in the near past{does that make sense} hid in a cubby and ate a sucker, then left a sticky mess just perfect for ants. They found it. These ants are on it.

I will prevail. Beware ants . I am crazy with vinegar just ask my kids.

Sink Or Swim

For the past three weeks I have been trying to attend a swimming aerobics class with my mom. I think I was able to attend about seven classes. The Class was at 6:oo AM {way to early for me. but I wanted to work out with my Mom. What are you gonna do? When in Rome...Go at 6:oo AM} We are he ones in the back with our weights raised high. The work out was pretty good. I wish I could go all the time. Here we are taking a Jacuzzi after a tough work out. Then to top it off today we went for a hour long massage. NICE!!! I could get used to this.

8:00 and all is well

Skip took my camera to the Father and Sons Outing . I hope he gets some good pics. Claire is down for the next few hours. I should probably go to sleep too. There is to much to do. I got the dishes done and the dining room cleaned up; groceries, lunch plates, school books, and about 8 wire hangers. I told Sam to go and get hangers for smores and he got exactly twelve. Why? I have no idea. I am sure he counted each one out before he came down the stairs. There are only four people going, he said," Just for just in case". I said, "Four would be just fine." Did he go put them back in the closet? No, on to the table with a million other things. I put them in the trash feeling some guilt for not recycling them or taking them back to the cleaners. Oh well, hopefully someone else will save the world from the impending doom.

It is so quiet. Mmmmmm...., I like it. Just me and my music. By the By I am sorry if I offended anyone with that 'Beautiful' song. It did contain a questionable word, I deleted it.

OK, I am falling asleep. I thought I might be able to work on some stuff, but you know sometimes you just have to sleep. Good night!.....Just one piece of chocolate before I hit the pillow. I hear that in a recent study four out of five women say they sleep better if they eat Dark chocolate right before bed. JK:) I believe what ever I say. Ghiradelli here I come.I also have Dark Lindt, and Godiva. Maybe I will just have do a taste test and call it a night.

Wrong Side of the Bed

Does anybody else not want to face the world in the morning? We put Claire in her "big girl bed" like two months ago. I just have to say PORT-a-CRIB. She is about to return! It has slowly gone from OK to terrible, in just Eight short weeks. She goes down OK. After a myriad of stories and Songs. This can last for about....... However long she can get you to stay. Then she sleeps till about 1:00 am and gets up and comes into my side of the bed {of course} I am too tired most of the time { from NOT GETTING ANY SLEEP} to walk her back to her bed and fight with her. Then she proceeds to snuggle up to me, rub my face and chin, and push her knees into my side. So comfortable, I could sleep like this forever. ..... .I am tired. I ramble.

Just one more reason not to get up. I slammed my face into the closet door way. You think, right....... I was going to throw something away and came up too fast right into the door jam. OUCH! I did almost cry. It really hurt. I thought toughen up. Then I realized I was bleeding. I cut my lip open and my eyebrow. NICE! As you can see it is ever so attractive.

Red Door

For my birthday in Feb. received a gift certificate to the Red Door Spa for a pedicure. My good friend Marissa, who happens to be born on my birthday, received the same gift. We decided to finally go. It was a little early in the morning, and no there will be no before and after pictures. We were both happy to have someone else treat us to a massage and scrub.{not that we do this ourselves} We both would have fallen asleep, except for the fact that we talked the whole time. {there was a sign that indicated our spa experience would be better if we kept conversation to a minimum, Sorry we did not comply}

Marissa and I were nice and relaxed, after some well deserved pampering, Thank you Beth and Pam, you are awesome.

OK, this is an after picture. It's nice, right? There are no terrible scars from the weed whacker they used on my legs to get to the skin.

My Mothers Day

My Mothers Day was really on Saturday. We bought a new table and chairs for the kitchen on Ebay. Skip drove with Sam and Jack to pick it up. It was up past Charlottesville, about an hour away. It is used, but in great condition, except for the smell. I am the only one this bugs, but I spend the most time in the kitchen so I must get the smell out before it drives me from this house.{It's a smell of someone else, not smoke, kind of like air freshener or musty air freshener}I don't Know what it is. I just know the problem must be solved and soon. Any suggestions?

The next thing we did was to buy a matching desk and chairs to put our old computer on so the boys could do their school work at the same time. This is heaven sent. No more fighting. Well, now they will probably fight about who gets what computer. IT NEVER ENDS!

The next thing we did has more to do with Jack, Sam , and Blake. they really wanted this game called Mario Karts. I didn't want to just give it to them, they had to earn it. Jack had to do a certain amount of baby sitting. They all had to clean out the garage and clean out the cars. Blake helped me inside cleaning and watching Claire. Jack and Sam spent most of the day on Saturday cleaning. It took about six and a half hours to clean. They kept saying we're done and I would have to come back with, no your not, then I would find something that they needed to do better. They were getting very frustrated. That 's the way it goes. If your going to do something, do it right and do your best. {These words are being drilled into their heads, I am sure they are sick of it.} I just had to show them what their best was.

They were rewarded with time on the 'Wii'. They were very happy and had loads of fun.

I will post pics later when the wind and rain stop.

I Need!

I need a self cleaning refrigerator{ all the old moldy food could go out the back some where into a disposal and my dish would come out clean through a slot in the front}

I need a folding machine to fold all the laundry that my children produce{ I like empty laundry baskets. When there were two or three I could achieve this feat. That is only a dream now.}

I need one of those Romba vacuums programed to follow Claire around.{ She leaves a trail of destruction where ever she goes.}

I need an automated trash taker outer {not me}

I need a dust sucker, something that I could turn on in the middle of the room and it would just suck dust not anything else.

I need secretary to write all my thank yous, pay all my bills, and call all the people I need to call.

I need a personal shopper{this is where Maryann moves to Richmond}

I need a personal maid to clean my room and bathroom {just for me not anyone else in the family, I mean come on I've earned it. Plus, when do I have the time.}

I Love to See The Temple

We went to the Temple on Friday to start off our little trip. We went to the visitor center and enjoyed our tour with one of the sister missionaries. She talked of Christ and his love for us. Then she challenged us to have more charity towards each other. She then gave each child a picture of Christ to put in their room. It brought the right spirit to the day.

I love taking my children to the temple. We also saw a bride come out of the Temple and Claire just about flipped out. She said, as we walked past her,"Let's go talk to her, Mom." She would have too if I didn't grab her hand to lead her away. The rest of the day she asked where is Mary, I want to see Mary.

The Temple is a source of peace and hope for me. Skip and I were able to attend a late session. What a blessing to go with your husband to the Temple. Jack watched the kids in the hotel. We left strict instruction as to what should happen while we were gone and we were surprised to come back from the Temple to find them all asleep, MIRACLE!

One last thing, when you are the mom you pack everyones stuff. Then you pack your stuff. Sometimes, you make mistakes. Look at this Picture. There are two things wrong. What do you think they might be? I had to go to the Temple like this.

No Cell Phones

I decided to go to traffic court instead of mailing in the ticket and paying. I had never been to court before. The proceedings were filled with all sorts of people. Three of them were handcuffed and taken into custody charged with multiple felonies. The charges were varied from marijuana possession, assault and battery, driving with revoked license, and carrying stolen property. Some of the excuses these people had were hilarious and pathetic.

I thought I really needed to be on time. I didn't want the judge mad. I knew I was guilty and planned on pleading guilty, hoping that I would get a lesser charge or have it dropped because it was a first offense. {I admit I do drive fast, but since getting a warning and a ticket in Feb. I have decided to slow down, seriously I have.}

As I entered the court house, on time but just barely, the guards informed me that I would have to take my phone back to the car, as it was not allowed. Well being the crazy person I am I freaked out , in my mind. These are my thoughts;

I will be totally late if I go back to the car, the car was about five minuets away,10 minutes no time. I will be totally in trouble and the judge will be mad. What do I do, what do I do! I can't go back to the car. I know, I will bury my phone in the mulch in the flower bed outside the court house and then retrieve it after. Really smart right? So I look around, no one is looking and I bury it.

I go in feeling good and I am on time , which I was obsessing about. I get in to court, sit and start to listen. The proceedings were taking forever and I realised that it didn't matter if I was there right at 1:30. In fact the judge could careless. Then my mind began to wonder what if someone calls me. I forgot to turn off the ringer, no it is on vibrate , or is it?.... And what about that mulch, oh my, it will be all over my phone. I am going to freak out if I don't go get it right now. I have to move.

The officer that pulled me over is outside in the hall with three other people waiting to testify in yet another long case involving a lady that was doing something she shouldn't.{Assault, hit and run and driving under the influence} I got up and went out to talk to him. He said I had time to retrieve my phone.{I am sure he thought I was nuts, but he was nice to me anyway}I got outside and thought what if my phone is gone, then I searched and at first I couldn't find it. Then I did. WHEW!

I took it to the car, called Beth, apologized for being so late. Then went back into court. My case ended up being the second to last and I was there for an hour and a half. The judge was nice and so was the officer. Long story short, I get to go to traffic school, case dismissed.

"DMV'' aka "THE MAN"

Today I had the wonderful opportunity to got to the Richmond DMV. I received a speeding ticket a while back and needed, albeit late, to get a Virginia drivers license. You would think this would be easy{nothing ever is}. I had most of my Identification, birth certificate, passport and they needed some sort of address validation, of course all our bills are paperless {going green has it's down side} I don't get a pay check, no stub. I don't have a Virgina Identification card or drivers licence, duh! So I brought my insurance card which doesn't count, I need a bill from the insurance company, again paperless. What are you going to do? Beg them to take a insurance statement of withdrawal of funds, which I did . She had to leave and go get it approved and a signature which took ,forever. { I think there must be some munchies in the back} They consented.

Now to the hard part; last year when Skip registered our cars {yes, it has been a year and I still haven't gone to get a new license} he used some form of identification with an obscure spelling of my name. I was not aware of it till I went in today. They told me they could not use my legal name because it wasn't in their system. I argued and told them that doesn't make since. She left again to talk to a supervisor. { Forever again} I would also have to get a court order to change it in their system. WHAT! I mean the name is wrong I have proof to show them. As I found out you can not argue with the DMV they are "THE MAN"! So I said fine go ahead and issue the license that way, with the incorrect name, because I was running out of time{I needed to get to traffic court. That was another crazy experience} They DMV lady tried to do this. She stared at the screen for some time,

Then said,"This name does not match the social security data base for this social security number"

No kidding, it is not my legal name, I had made this statement already. She looked confused and I was running late.

I said, "What do we do now?"

She says, " You will have to get a court order so we can change it."

I don't think so, and then I said with a little impatience in my voice " Let me speak to your supervisor."

She leaves again. {Where is this lady going, outside to the Quick Stop next door to get an icy?}

She comes back and says," My supervisor is at lunch. "

You have got to be kidding me. I said," Look, I am on my way to court and they are going to want to know I at least made an effort here."

She says,"I will write you a note."

Wonderful, I am sure the judge is going to want to see my note from the DMV Lady.

Self Talk

I have some serious issues with all sorts of things. You could say I am a bit OCD. I have problems with germs and doors being locked. I have issue's with animals, with the way things are organized, sometimes I have to wash my hair several times or clean a counter or sink over and over. I used to vacuum four or five times a day.{ I had a great roommate that helped me get this down to one or two times a day} I have others that I won't mention. You think maybe I am a little crazy? Maybe. I can't concentrate very well when all around is to me, in chaos. I struggle just to get to the next thing. Having four kids has not helped my problem. I have to close doors and try and concentrate on the item at hand instead of all the things that my eye can see that need to be done in one room. If only you could get into my head you could hear a chorus of people screaming as to what needs to be done and how it is not done correctly and needs to be done over and over till I can relax. We all have our own demons. I have struggled with this since I was little.

This is where 'Self Talk' comes in. I can get worked up till I am depressed and feel quite hopeless, because I can't get all the things my mind is telling me done. I also feel overwhelmed that I can't keep up and I am failing. It is a vicious circle. My Mom called me one day about 10 years ago and told me about this Oprah Show that I should watch. I am not a big fan, but I said OK. It was all about this OCD thing. One of the techniques to help cope was talking to yourself inside your head. { When I say there are conversations going on , I am talking about some heated debates} It does help. I just have to rationalize things and try to talk myself into why it doesn't matter. It works most of the time. Since I started this I haven't had anytime where I was so distraught that I couldn't get out of bed and I can sit down now and watch a movie without getting up. {Skip is so glad for this}. I don't vacuum everyday, although the desire is still there, I just talk myself out of it. I have learned to only check the doors once or twice {sometimes I just end up at the door and I don't remember why} I am finding that the more complicated my life gets the harder it is to talk myself down from some things. I will continue to fight through, with this Self Talk. So if you see me not smiling and looking like I am in a fog, don't worry I am just in a deep conversation with the other people in my head!