Sad Weekend

Its been a tough go of things this weekend...Sadly, my brood has been decreased by one. David turned 18 in September and had been struggling with rules and school. He decided to try to make a go of life on his own...



Well, um, actually, we had to kick him out. When he moved in here, I gave him 3 rules, pretty simple rules, rules that pretty much sum up most of the core values we are trying to instill in our children.



1- Nothing illegal



2 - No lying



3 - No physical anger (hitting, throwing things, slamming doors, etc)



I started to write that it was the hardest thing I have ever had to do, tough love, yada, yada, yada, but actually... it was just the opposite, it was the easiest, most obvious answer. I wont bore you with the gory details, but to sum it up, we discovered that he broke rule number 1 and 2 again, with flagrant disregard to the safety, welfare and freedom of everybody else living in this house. (e-mail me if you're really curious about the details).



Throwing him out was easy, anger fueled me, protecting my young fueled me, I had no problem saying (very loudly, very firmly) "I'm done! You have put everything I care about, including yourself, at risk. We have given you chance after chance to do the right thing, I want you out by the weekend!". Later that evening, I made sure he had the number of our pastor if he needed a counselor and assured him of Pastor Jack's sensitivity and strict confidentiality.



The hard part came Friday evening. I came home from work and he was there, finishing up some of his laundry, he had packed a bag, he had asked to leave most of his stuff at our house until he could figure something out. (For now, he's staying at a friends house). My anger had cooled (but not my resolve), we asked him to Thanksgiving dinner, told him we cared about him, gave him a hug and said good-bye...it was the hardest thing I had to do. I cried after he left. Had I done the right thing? was I insuring, for him, the path his parents chose? Upon reflection, I'm still resolved and confident in my decision and JJ reassures me that my choice was the right one( and it was my overwhelming, vehement decision to do it). But still I find myself wishing he understood the rare chance to be a kid for a little while longer that he was given by us, the world is a cold, hard, scary place.

I desperately need to jump on this bandwagon. I hope it hasn't left without me!
I spent all week looking for the download cord for my camera 'cause the card reader on my el-cheapo laptop decided, suddenly, that it wouldn't read my card without formatting it first...uh, I think that would defeat the purpose of putting the card in there in the first place. I gave myself one last chance to get in on the contest, thinking for sure, it still wouldn't work (yea! I can put off the inevitable a little longer) ...sigh... alas, no. The card reader happily read my card, even finding pictures on it that I thought I had marked "delete after downloading". I believe the technological fates are conspiring against me...
Now, with excuses beaten down and a generous competition afoot, may I present my shame...

The picture at the top is the "public" view of my kitchen. This picture is the shame that hides behind the cluttered counter top...merely the tip of the iceberg...this is the stuff that has over flowed from the garage.

More to come later...my pantry, linen closet, and kitchen cupboards are next. I'm officially reclaiming my kitchen

Busy Weekend

It was a whirlwind, crazy weekend. Blake and I had a BLAST in Gainesville on Friday. We got there early enough to be one of the first 500 fans and get a free sub for dinner(although I did have to pay $4 for a bottle of water) and didn't get home too late either.

I was up at 7 on Saturday morning to make my Chili. At the cook off, I got scammed, swindled, cheated out of second place. 6 chili's, each had a different color ticket, the citizens visiting the fair, go down the row sampling each chili, taking a ticket from each. At the end of the row, common sense would reason, you put the ticket of your favorite in a jar, but noooo, you put your top 3 choices in either a 1st place jar, a 2nd place jar, or 3rd place jar. There was lots of smack talk happening because my red tickets and Jimmy's pink tickets looked pretty even in the first place jar, with a few green and blue. The second place jar had mostly blue and purple, where 3rd had mostly green. One poor guy had a chili soooo hot it took the skin off the roof of my mouth, I don't think I saw any orange tickets in any jar, and his family was there! So I didn't even place in the cook-off, but I did have tons of fun and got lots of recipe requests!

I went straight from the cook-off to the soccer field where we lost, but Blake made a spectacular goal!

Freshman/Sophomore homecoming was canceled at the last minute due to lack of ticket sales, they're gonna go back to just one homecoming for the whole school next weekend.

Sunday was spent being lazy in the morning, grocery shopping in the afternoon and helping the kids with the final assembly of all their "spirit week" costumes.

Today I was supposed to be getting ready for the Relay for Life kick off party, JJ had 3 sleepless, manic (happy manic, this time, not testy like usual) days and now is down with day 2 of a migraine and (I'm crying as I write this) I felt it was in the Relays best interest to send this e-mail to the Event Chair this morning...



I'm so sorry to spring this on you at the last minute. I really, until just last night, planned to be the Survivor chair and throw myself into it. I cant do it. Things, at home, are not well and I have to focus on my family now. We are working on getting JJ better, but there are good days and bad. Problem is, I have no idea when or how bad, the bad days are gonna be. When Billie asked me to chair the Survivor committee, we were in a phase of many more good days than bad, now the phase has swung around. It breaks my heart to quit, but I cant be relied on and I don't want to do a half-ass job of it. RFL is a cause that speaks to my heart, I really feel like my time and effort makes a difference to the people that the Relay benefits. I hope that maybe things will be better next year and I can give freely of my time. Again, I'm sorry to leave the committee in a lurch. Suzanne



I have been "relaying" for 6 years now, some years I'm more involved than others, but this year, I was so honored to be asked to chair the survivor committee. I have chaired the luminaria committee several times and have seen the heartbreak of those who lost loved ones, multiplied over and over, I was looking forward to celebrating on the fighting and sometimes winning side of the all pervasive deadly disease that is cancer. I'll still be there, I'll still help,and fight and hope, but I cant be counted on in a leadership position, as I never know when I'll have to tend my own family and that really where my heart needs to concentrate.

Chili Cook-Off

As if I didn't have enough going on, with the soccer season starting this weekend, freshman/sophomore homecoming dance, surprising my baby with a road trip on Friday to see his all-time favorite college team, Relay for Life kick off party on Monday( I'm the Survivor chairperson this year). I went and signed up for the firehouse chili cook-off on Saturday morning! What was I thinking? Actually, when I signed up for the cook-off, two or three months ago, nothing was going on this weekend! There wasn't anything on the calendar...I swear.


I have five slowly maturing palates in my house, some like spicy, some don't. My tomato and beef chili is nothing to write home about, its just like my spaghetti sauce except I swap out the oregano and obscene amounts of garlic and throw in chili powder and kidney beans, then set out 3 different Tabasco sauces(classic, green and sweet) for everybody to adjust the spiciness to their liking. My Fiesta Chili, is another story, ooh baby...seriously yummy. I'm hoping to be the dark horse, slipping my chicken chili in between everybody else's "classic" chili, and maybe "wow" the judges with it...I'll let ya know.

Fiesta Chili - Not just yummy, pretty too!

2 pounds chicken - cooked and shredded

1 sweet onion - chopped

1 red bell pepper - chopped

1 yellow bell pepper - chopped

8 Jalapenos - chopped (really tiny)

2 cloves garlic - minced

1/2 tsp ground ginger

1/2 tsp white pepper

1/2 tsp sage

2 tsp cumin

3 Tbsp butter

1/4 cup flour

2 cups chicken broth

2 - 15 oz cans great northern beans, undrained

I do my chicken this way, and i usually just chunk up the veggies and give em a whirl in the food processor.

In a big pan that everything will eventually fit in, saute all the veggies until tender, throw in the spices (adjusting to suit your spice tolerance)(same goes for the amount of jalapenos you use). Mix in the chicken. In a separate pot, melt the butter, whisk in the flour, cooking it for a minute, then stir in the chicken broth. Now, dump both cans of beans and the broth mixture into the veggie/chickie mixture stir it all up and let it bubble gently on the stove for about 20 minutes.


This gets very thick, you could rinse the beans and add a little more broth to loosen it up a bit. We like to put shredded pepper jack cheese on top, maybe a dollop of sour cream and some green onions. I don't know if this is the winner, but I think it'll be enjoyed at least!

Monday Stuff

Lots seemed to happen this past weekend...
I took Friday off to get ready for the volleyball party...which was great! We had so much fun! JJ set the gas grill on fire, unfortunately, I missed that part. I won the coin toss to take John and his girlfriend to the movie, while JJ got to stay at the party and entertain the "personality deficient" coach (she's a nice lady, just kinda lacking in personality). He got to talking and suddenly the coach says..."um, I think you ought to check the grill." Flames were shooting out of the vents and licking the screens of the pool cage. JJ moved the grill a little farther away from the screen and nonchalantly just kept re-filling his water bottle from the pool and pouring it on the grill hood, as a retired fire fighter he knew better than to actually open the grill. He said the looks on the coaches faces, at his lackadaisical attitude toward the whole thing was priceless!
I almost over slept on Saturday morning, 6:10 JJ wakes me up and asks if I was going to work...OMG, YES!!! I showered and got out of the house in 20 minutes ( I may have skipped the drying off part)...apparently, I've got some latent hurrying skills I didn't know I had. I even got my lunch ready too! After 12 hours at work I was blessed to have my house and husband all to myself Saturday night. Every. Single. Kid. Was somewhere else for the night, with no advance planning, the stars aligned all on their own. Then it was a lovely surprise to get home and discover my slightly manic (but happy) husband had cleaned the whole house so no remnant of the late party remained. He also had done all the laundry...even folded and put away! Normally, over sleeping is a bad omen...
Then last night I get home from work expecting the Sunday night "oops, I forgot I have homework, so I couldn't do my chores" routine, but nope, all homework done, everybody watching the Ray's game (woo-hoo, we're going to the World Series!!!) and I got to go to bed early.
Now its Monday and I'm looking forward to a day off tomorrow, the weather has blissfully started to change around here, the humidity has dropped and the evening air is cool and sweet. I love my Tuesdays off, I work four 12 hour shifts, have Tuesday off and then work two more 12 hour shifts, so I plan nothing on my Tuesday off but re-charging. Of course there's always laundry and making dinner, taxi-ing kids hither and yon, and thanks to manic hubby, I think I can skip the laundry tomorrow !

Teenage Girls

I've got two teenage girls, fourteen months apart in age, but light years apart in every aspect of themselves.


One brunette/olive skinned, One blond /golden skinned.


One slim build, One curvy.


One athletic, One studious.


One adventurous, One cautious.


One hip-hop, One alternative.


One argumentative and bull headed, One over-agreeable and eager to please.


One who lives in the minute, One who lives for the future.


One who makes life spicy, One who makes life sweet.


One boy-crazy, One not.


One procrastinator, One planner.


Both are extremely creative girls who have learned to decorate their lives to perfectly suit themselves. Both have archaeological digs scheduled for their closet floors. Both are part of close knit groups of 3 best-friends, with countless acquaintances. Both have amazing faults and blessings that make them the spectacular young women that they are. These traits will serve them well in adulthood as they learn to be themselves. They compliment each other perfectly and may learn from each other, but for now, neither understands or "gets" the other, but still, sisters they are.

As they grow up, (as an "only girl", growing up, my sisters in law have assured me) they will learn to like each other, to learn to live with their differences and appreciate each other. Looking at my sisters in law's personalities, and their relationships with each other ( BTW, there are 4 of them) I have always thought it might actually be possible, but my heart, feared it would never happen (how can two girls who fight so much and are sooooo different actually get along?). They won't suddenly wake up one morning and be best friends, it'll happen gradually over time as maturity and acceptance sets in. I don't have a specific example of this happening, but lately, their manner with each other seems to be easier, I've seen more smiles between them than I have negotiated arguments, I have heard them consult each other on Homecoming dresses and accessories...is it really possible that a huge source of grief in my life is ending? I know it's not totally gone, but the beginning is here!

Learning to Blog

This weekend I learned something important...I need a notebook.
Saturday morning at soccer practice, I had the pleasure to sit next to the most awful, miserable human being I have met in a long time. She was telling me a story of her life from grade school and was telling it with such passion, you'd have thought it happened to one of her kids yesterday. I kept thinking...gah, get a life, get over it, but wait, this will make good blog fodder. I sat down Saturday night to write it, and most of it was gone, I shoulda written it as soon as I got away from her.
On Sunday, as I was going about my business, I composed in my head, a lovely little bit about what a nice day I was having, the kids acting human, not over cooking the roast(again), welcoming 2 friends to our dinner table and having enough to go around, so on and so forth...I sat down last night to write about it...poof, it was gone.
I could probably try to bring back the feelings I wanted to convey to you, but, it just wouldn't be the same. I gotta remember how fast life moves around here and get my thoughts down the first time 'cause otherwise they get lost. and the initial thought of "wow, this'll make a good story" gets fouled up in either my insecurity or just plain lost.
I'll try to do better by you, sorry I lost those two...they sounded really great in my head.