Cast Members of My Life Story~

S: Ok, well, I'm 39 years old. I have 5 children, 2 ex-husbands and a 100 year old (possibly haunted) house. I work, take care of my kids, write and try to maintain some order around here. In my spare time Hahahahahahaha
There isn't any...

M: First ex-husband 40 years old. Ex-cowboy, ex-decent human being. Full time welder. Part time dog trainer. Remarried to a woman who is also named Shannnon which I find weird and somewhat amusing. Oh, he also has a prosthetic leg.

K: Oldest daughter 17 years old. She moved back home last October after living with M, her dad, for about three years. Whew, she's a real handful.

JD: Oldest son 15 years old. He looks just like M. He would play video games full time if I let him. However, I make him go to school where he earns decent grades and is involved with ROTC. He would like to join the military when he graduates. For now we are just concentrating on him learning to remember to remove his socks before taking a shower.

H: The middle child. 13 year old little red head. She can be sweet one moment and ripping your head off the next. Kinda a mamas girl.

E: Second ex-husband 41 years old. Works in grocery management. Lives two blocks away and takes care of the kids after school until I get home from work. We try to get along and take care of our children. Sometimes we still have arguments that are real doozies, but for the most part get along. (Example: We always go to school conferences together and Carleys teacher "never knew we weren't married." Hmm...I'll take that as a compliment and proof that we CAN act like adults when we want to!)

R: Youngest son 11 years old. "Boy Wonder" He wonders about any and everything in the world. He's so smart his teachers wanted to put him in the gifted program, but he's so lazy he won't do his work on time or sometimes not at all so they can't.

C: Youngest daughter and the baby of the family. 9 years old and a very loving and comical child, but what we refer to as "a high maintenance babe."

J: My bf. 61 years old. He's a mailman. He is my honey. A sweet, beautiful soul who infuriates me regularly, but not enough to keep me from being crazy about him.

D: One of my Sisters in Christ. Has the ability to make me laugh until I cry! One of my favorite past times.

I will be adding to this list.

Hmm...coincidence? I don't think so.

It's after midnight on Saturday which means it's tomorrow and now Sunday. Today I am going to church for the first time in about three years. I have a bad habit of getting upset with what's going on at a church and just never going back. I want to go to church for peace not strife. I don't think that's too much to ask. I've been thinking and praying about this for a couple of months. Carley doesn't even remember much of when we went to church. One day we were driving down the road and she said, "Mommy what are the buildings with the big tees on top of them?" That hit me pretty hard. We talk about God and faith at home, sure, but it's not enough. So, I've been coming to this decision that I need to get back in to church and not be so worried about what people are doing or thinking, but instead just worry about being obedient to God. It's pretty simple- He wants me to go to church. So I gotta. I was wondering which church I would visit when out of the blue (and I've never mentioned what's been going on in my head to him) Jay tells me one of the guys he works with is a pastor and invited him to church. "Maybe you'd like to go with me?" I was shocked because he is like me and doesn't like the drama that goes along with people at church. I was really happy though and I just don't think it's a coincidence that it worked out like that. I'm very hopeful about what tomorrow, well okay, today might bring.

Spring Break

Well, this week is Spring Break and everyone is home and fully occupying our little house. We have lived in this tiny, 100+ year old house for two and half years now. Katlyn was living with her dad when we moved here and has since moved back home. So, what started out as cramped quarters has become even smaller. Oh, and we've added a dog to the mix too! It can be a real mad house sometimes. As in, everybodys mad because the bathroom needs a revolving door. At least we can say we have togetherness.... Sunday when Cody came home from his dads he brought an unwelcome guest with him- a stomach virus. It has hit Riley and now Hannah. Our family doesn't get sick often but when we do we all get it. I had some projects planned for around the house that probably won't get done because of it. Oh, well. I wanted to go through all the bedrooms and get rid of a bunch of stuff and hopefully free up what little space we do have. We got a few things done today that I've had on the to do list for a while. When we moved here one of the walls in the living room was slightly bowed. The living and dining rooms have paneling (yuck.) Turns out the plaster behind the paneling was crumbling. It kept crumbling and the paneling was coming apart. It is the first thing you see when you walk in the door and it sort of had that funhouse look to it. We got that fixed today along with the light fixture in the dining room that one of the kids broke (of course nobody knows who could have done that.) Even though they were minor repairs and the house is still kind of a dump I feel better. We're not going to be moving anytime soon so we might as well be taking care of the place. The kids that aren't sick have gone to a couple of movies. We've gone to the park. It's been really nice to just relax and not have to go to work or school or games for a few days. Carley got the bright idea tonight to have each of the kids write a short note to grandpa on an index card and she would put them all in the envelope and address it and mail it. Their letters were really cute so I'm going to invade their privacy and post them here:

Dear Grandpa I'm writing to
you because I haven't heard from you
for a wile. I wanted to tell you that
Im promoted to sargent in rotc. I'm
doing good in scool(crossed out)schooland
favrite classes are still metals and
rotc.I decided that I will go into the
military when I grow up.Hope to see you
soon. Dakota

Dear, Grampa
Hi Grampa! It's me Riley. I'm really good
at origami. I can make a lot of things. For
example-a crane,a scorpion,a penguin,a chicken,
a lily, etc. What are you really good at ma-
king? I can't wait to see you again.
Sincerely,
Riley
P.S. The crane's from me.

Hi Grandpa! I wanted to tell
you in girlscouts I'm working
on the healty eating badge
I have all ready earned three
more badges in girlscouts.
We went on fieldtrips.
and we selled a lot of
Girlscout cookies to people
at stores and we went
to there houses nad also
on my Birthday I got
a dog named peanut she
is a pomerenian and she
is pure bread and I will send
you a note every week
love, carley

Hi Grandpa! I love you..mwah...Hannah

Katlyn doesn't write letters. (Party pooper.)

I'm sure he will love these little notes. I know I did.

The Old Blue Coop

Most would say I'm a little off beat. Yeah, my url is www.lettingcrazyoutofthecage.blogspot.com, but I'm not actually crazy. I'm certain because I've been checked out. :-D My dad, a vietnam veteran is schizophrenic. I always feared I might end up that way. I managed to skate by with only a being a little different. A few years ago,I finally decided that's okay. I believe God made me this way and the wisdom I've gained along the way has helped and will continue to help myself and others. Yup, I'm thankful for the good and the bad.
Now, about "The Old Blue Coop" My parents divorced when I was pretty young and I spent most of my childhood with my grandparents. The Blue Coop sat in the back yard. It's once blue shingles and chickens long gone. I played there with my cousins and friends. It was a restaurant, a school, a house, a boat, a plane and whatever else we could dream up. I remember pretending my bicycle was a car and "pulling up" in the driveway of my pretend house (the blue coop) and going in and making dinner for my family. Usually something like steak and salad (mud with lines drawn across with a stick to make grill marks and grass.) My dreams started there in that ancient chicken coop imagining how my life would turn out. I always wanted a big family like my Grandma. So, I just followed along in her footsteps, (sorta.) My tracks aren't the same size as hers and they are a little off the beaten path. I got married when I was 20 years old and had my first three children- Katlyn, Cody and Hannah. I don't believe in divorce, but that's what happened. I got married again and had my two youngest children- Riley and Carley. Did I mention I don't believe in divorce? Well, it happened again. Now I believe it exists, but I still don't like it or think it's right. When I was making mud steaks and grass salads I never dreamed I wouldn't be married. Puhh, how hard could it be to make a marriage work anyway? I'm not going to go in to that right now...maybe later. I'm so thankful for my babies. I don't consider myself a single mother, by the way. The children spend a lot of time with both parents and I'm thankful for that too. What else? I work for the U.S. Postal Service. It's a really easy, really boring job. I'm thankful for it too because without it I couldn't take care of my kids. I do want to do something different and more fulfilling someday, though. I have a really good guy in my life. I refuse to call him my boyfriend because he's not a boy and I'm not a girl and I think it sounds ridiculous. Except what else can I call him? My companion? (ick) My soul mate? (lets leave my soul out of this) My sugary snookywoogums? (blech) I usually just call him Jay because that's his name. I'm not really comfortable talking about mushy stuff but he's a signifigant part of my life and I love him so, ya know, I had to at least mention him. I have really great friends. A few I've known so long they may even remember the blue coop! They've helped get me through some really tough times and I always try to be there for them too. If any of them are reading this I want them to know how much I love them. Okay, enough mush for now. That's about it. I have hobbies and interests and little idiosyncracies and on and on and on..and that is what this blog is for..to talk about that stuff!