New Community

Last night Morgan and I went to visit church on a Wednesday for a little something they call New Community. The event was fun and a lighter crowd than on a Sunday morning. I had no idea what to expect but I heard that New Community featured free dessert so I was all IN! I thought Morgan would enjoy the featured service with reference to KungFu Panda so I brought her along instead of leaving her in the nursery where she loves to play, but this is my time with her and I wanted to cuddle and sing along to songs, blah, blah, blah. I knew going in that a late service at 7:30 pm would be pushing bedtime til about 9pm. Somewhere at around 8:20pm Morgan would start getting squirrly and wanted nothing to do with singing and dancing this time at church. We stuck it out until the end of service and had the ice cream dessert that church had promised and went home.
Something happened at the beginning of the service that reminded me that kind spirits are all around us. As we entered the auditorium to find a seat I noticed an older woman a few rows in front of us, her name is Barb. I met Barb just that Sunday before while sitting by myself in church. When we sat down she was chatting with the younger lady next to her and they both turned around and were scanning the crowd for someone. I tried to make eye contact with her to say Hello but she was looking over me. After a few minutes I got up and walked down to greet her and she was so pleased to see me like she was waiting for me to get there. Barb smiled and said "there you are I was looking for you" in that moment I thought how sweet she remembered I mentioned coming tonight and she was looking for me. She politely asked if she could sit with us and of course I obliged.
Through out the service she helped me entertain Morgan with a pen and paper, a package of Reese pieces, and her pocket lipstick mirror, all from her bag of goodies. How kind of this woman of whom I have only met but a few hours suddenly was my friend. It was nice to have Barb sitting next to me admiring my daughter and my company. Although she could have picked anyone in the crowd to sit next to she made me feel special for just that one moment.
Which brings me to the message of the service a message I am sure Barb had no idea the impact she had brought to my life last night. The service was a reminder of our weaknesses that could prove to be our greatest assets, just like KungFu Panda. We all hold special qualities and some are as simple as acknowledging people for who they are without judgement. For everyone has something to give to someone. And like Barb I want to meet people by a simple hello and spend if only an hour with that person to make them feel important for a moment, to hear their story. Can't wait to meet you.

Monday Meandering #9

Let me just say so far today my hair looks GREAT! In fact I have not used my curling iron in two weeks because after my last hair cut (the cut that put short as too short when she used the razor on my neck) has forced me to use my round brush to style my hair. The round brush is a technique that is hard to pick up on if you don't have good wrist action and mind mirror control, the first time I tried it I was all sweaty and had to re-apply my eye make-up because I thought for sure I was going to get my hair wrapped around the brush and have to cut it out then I would have to go for a shorter cut to make up for the bald spot I just self-inflicted onto myself. But I'm good and the cut is looking better everyday.
Friday I went to see The Dark Knight! where I made a comment to the young gentleman selling me the ticket to which I was paying only$4.50 for "not only am I cheap but I am probably the only person in this town that has not seen this movie?" he replied "yes I think you are" and I am not sure if he meant the cheap part or the only one who has not poured 155 million more into this movie last weekend! I kindly chuckled but after the movie I thought about calling the Joker and putting a hit on his azz! If you have not seen the movie and you do not want to be sucked into another pathetic love story with a happy ending, then this is your movie don't say I didn't warn you though the tissue you would have brought to dry your eyes for the love story, you may need to keep to dry your seat cause a couple times you might need it.
Saturday I am more than happy to say I DID NOT DRIVE.ANYWHERE! I woke up at 6am and had to kick myself because I did not have a child who would be demanding breakfast or milk, although I do love waking up to Morgan on the weekends and snuggle in bed and in no hurry to get out the door. But my morning was more relaxed so I rolled back over to sleep and was surprised that I did not actually roll out of bed till almost 9am! SD had Morgan delivered home around 11am, which was perfect timing so I could do a little cleaning and have hot coffee before her arrival. Later in the afternoon, My sweet BFF&A along with her significant other(who will remain without an acronym until I come up with something witty) and happy child came to my house. Not only did Morgan and I enjoy the company but they brought food and beer, it was everything I dreamed a weekend day at home would be less the boyfriend I need to tuck me in at night(wink.wink) where are you my prince??
Sunday after church we figured we would travel to the ends of earth since we didn't drive on Saturday, we went to a place they call Turtle Cove(which is 65+ miles from home). My nephew Luke had been wanting to see Morgan and I could not resist saying no to him on the phone. So we drove for over an hour to soak in a pool with 4,000 other sweaty patrons which was fun for the kids until someone pooped in the pool. Yes I said POOPED in the pool! Of course they sent in the heavy hairy guy to scoop out the mess with a skimmer the only thing missing from a perfect picture taking opportunity was the camera, so thank God for that! We went to visit family I hardly ever see anymore while we were on that side of the world and invited ourselves to dinner where we dined on steak, hamburgers, sausage, and noodle roni, oh the cucumbers were good too.

How was your weekend?

Make up my mind already

So it is Friday and I managed to get through another week of well motherhood, the job that is both fulfilling and exhausting at the same time. I have not had a "break" in a long time, and by that I mean an afternoon to myself without having to worry about when to shovel food into the mouth of an on the go toddler, making sure bath time cleans every crevice, and pulling off the ever so welcoming bedtime, just so I can put on a load of laundry without a red sock being tossed into the whites! SD decided he wanted to do some parenting today so he will be picking up Morgan from his mom and she will be spending the night at his house tonight, so far. After the chain of events that has happened in his life in the past six months that could all change, but saying it doesn't change. What should I do tonight??
It seems that all the friends I once ventured to dinner with or grabbed a drink with have all moved on to create these families and lives. No one jumps on a whim anymore everything needs to be carefully planned and significant others need to know when they will be home. So I am tinkering these ideas
a) going to dinner on my own and walking around an outdoor mall where I can glance at pretty things that I can't buy.
b) maybe a movie, not a love movie but perhaps Batman, maybe I can share my popcorn with the comic book geek who sits next to me.

c) talk a walk down to the river where speed boat novelist will be hootin and hollowin in their wife beater tank tops at the Riverfest.
d) stay home and open the bottle of Cabernet that has accumulated dust and dog hair from the wine rack and clean the sticky finger prints that have taken over the hallway.
e) suggest an alternative

If there is one thing you do today while you look busy at work consider making up my mind please. Ready GO!

Reward 1 M&M

"Warning"
This post is not for everyone especially those who don't like to talk about bodily functions. Some of you may not find it as amusing as I do but this is my blog and I can talk shit if I want too.
This just in as of 1:10pm

Morgan's daycare provider called and the conversation went a little something like this;

D/C : "Michelle, Morgan has something to tell you, hold on..."

Me : "ok"

Morgan : "I POOpt da Potty"

Me : welling up with tears & pride "GOOD GIRL honey, great job"

D/C : "Morgan said she was pooping during her lunch so I took her to the potty seat, and the rest is history!" "Morgan you get an M&M, great job"

My girl who will be 21 months on Saturday POOPED on the BIG GIRL potty!! This job might be easier than I thought......but don't quote me on that.

What's for Lunch?

Just finished lunch.....I went all out today and got Sweet & Sour Chicken from the local China King. As every good patron does after an overloaded calorie filled plate of mystery meat pieces of deep fried batter smothered in red tangy sauce I opened my fortune cookie.
If I didn't know better I think the damn cookie is mocking me;

"The only way to have a friend is to be one."

Let me tell ya, I try really hard, it is not easy being me!

Monday Meandering #8

Here we go another Monday!

My sister and I have been catching up on rental movies. Movies that we always said we wanted to go see at the theater but never had the chance too. Since re-runs have taken over on Oprah and I am burned out on watching CSI(there is like 32 saved episodes in the Tivo) I wanted to change up my TV down time on movies without fast forwarding through the commericals. So in the past week we have strategically placed toothpicks in our eyelids and spent 2 hours in the basement watching movies after the baby goes to bed. I know all of the following movies have been out for awhile so try and take a trip back and humor me on your takes on;

PS I Love You - a love story that had me wondering do people really love each other like that? love letters from the grave and spending hours held up in your apartment with stale pizza and crusty Chinese food, cute but not really a movie to watch while still mending a broken heart.

27 Dresses - uh-huh always a bridesmaid and oh look she is finally a bride, sorry to spoil the ending if you haven't already seen it, but I didn't tell you WHO she marries

Enchanted - I am going to try and whistle a happy song the next time I clean my house perhaps the spiders and wasps will get off their asses and vacuum up the cob-webs and leftover corpse shells of insects past. Then of course the princess gets the prince in the end.

Juno - I never thought a teen pregnancy movie could be so funny. Although creepy at times Juno has a cool sense of humor and handles things well beyond her maturity level, as she states with rolling eyes.

Narnia - the witch, the lion, and the wardrobe - so cool! I have not been scared by a movie in a long time, by that I mean the hollow of the wind and the intense music with the surround sound rumble of animals coming to life, really had me jumping out of my seat.

Anonymous Stalker

A few things get me kinda weird when writing in this blog. Perhaps you may feel the same or not depending on how you air out your dirty laundry on your own blog.
I would like to express my true feelings sometimes by using a few cuss words here and there. Then I get taken back and wonder if I offend anyone when doing so, I should not feel that way, this place is my freedom of speech, but I feel perplexed. If people get offended by my comments they really don't need to keep reading right?
Then there is the fact that I can't remember who I gave my blog info to and who might be reading it, so I have to repress talking about certain people or events that happen, for the sake of their own embarrassment. Being a good Christian I really shouldn't be talking about people anyway right?
Then there is the people that I don't even know who may stumble across this blog and stalk me. Why anyone would get that notion to stalk an old broad with who doesn't shave everyday is beyond me. Every once in awhile I get an anonymous comment in regards to my post on the day of my divorce. At first I thought it was just someone joking around with me so I just blew it off. But after the second time I was like huh, is this anonymous really serious?? Then the third time oh boy?? To clear the air Mr. Anonymous from somewhere not in America.....YES 13 is definitely to young and uh 14 does not make you older, and the reason you do not have back hair is because you are 14. Our love will not prevail under any circumstance, not even if I was one of those school teachers who date their students. I am sorry I will only be dating men in their 30's or 40's who have a little more experience in the relationship department, a drivers license, credit, a pot to piss in, and who live a little closer to my home. I do hope you understand where I am coming from, with your 14 years of wisdom I am sure you will move on. This is not the first heart break you will endure in your young life, perhaps you will have better luck finding a girl on myspace, facebook, or try the next high school dance. This just isn't the right time for you and I, farewell young lad. My patient heart waits for someone much older and maybe I should reconsider the extra hair?

Monday Meandering #7

Hey so now that I hold myself accountable for a Monday Meandering I don't make it the rest the week what the??!!!
I really do need to consider getting the internet at home again it would make my posting around here so much easier. I have been extremely busy here at work or when I am not I am reading other blogs in blog world. Kinda like saying hey check out my scrapbook I am really good at it but OH see her scrapbook is so much nicer than mine I'll just spend time with the other scrapbook and get some ideas. Which brings me to the point so many other people out there are better than me at this thing.
Morgan and I had another great weekend together filled with plenty of play and little naptime, and in toddler world will cause mental break down and short fusing by 6pm on Sunday night.
Friday came with drama in the form of SD wanting to spend quality parenting time, so he picked up the baby from his Mom's Friday afternoon. So I made plans to get a haircut and do a little shopping, the plan was simple pick her up feed her dinner, go to park, go home and by that time I should be home, but he called four times during my haircut. One time to see if he should feed Morgan dinner or something because she said her tummy hurt around 6pm(I'm thinking yeha she ate lunch at noon). UGH! I try really hard to give him the benefit of the doubt but by next month Morgan will be illustrating a flow chart to properly take care of her. Seeing that SD has once again moved out of his place with his home wrecker friend he was not going to keep Morgan overnight. Instead he used my shower and said he had a long week and needed some down time in the form of getting wasted at boat night and sleeping at the rest area overnight. Some how he seems to think he overstayed his welcome under my roof and in alot of ways he is right.
Saturday my BFFA put together a great BBQ with lots of food and drink! Our friend from My Zoo came to Michigan for a visit. The rain held off so we could enjoy each others company outside and the kids could splash in the pool. Thanks BFFA and hubby for the hospitality, we enjoyed ourselves.
Sunday was the anniversary of my Papa's death 12 years ago. For the past 11 years I have taken my Gramma to church and the cemetery to put flowers on his grave. My Gramma has always ordered flowers for the alter and have Papa's name put in the Sunday flyer at church in his memory. This year was a little different Morgan and I went to church at KCC in the morning because Gramma did not want to attend church but opted just to get flowers and go to the cemetery. This worked out good because I was really starting to worry how Morgan would do in a traditional church where there is only a cry room or sit in the pew thrashing her tiny body around yelling "all DONE?". I didn't want to sit through the service and communion just to remove the flowers from the alter and go to visit Papa. When we got to the cemetery I realized it was the first time I had taken Morgan there. As we walked through other grave plots to get to Papa I swear I smelled his after shave and velamint candy just like yesterday. Morgan helped me arrange the flowers in the canister above Papa's grave and bent over to smell not only his arrangement but several others around us. I couldn't help but think how much Papa would have enjoyed her and called her stinky just like he used to me. Not to far away from Papa's grave is his parents so Gramma took Morgan by the hand and walked her over to show Morgan her great great grandparents. I had my Gramma's old 35mm camera and took the cutest photo of them walking hand and hand Morgan telling Gramma to hop, hop!
After our Gramma time we went to visit my nephew Luke and his parents. My sister in-law was having a garage sale so I kept her company and loaded my car up with childrens books I didn't pay for. Morgan was able to enjoy more pool time with her cousin where she bossed him around when he tried to play with his toys that she was not playing with. I really do need advice on the teaching a toddler how to share, because I don't think she gets it when she hoards all the toys and yells at everyone else to share! We enjoyed dinner then went home because the melt down of toddlerhood was riding the thin line of me holding my head under water or breaking open a bottle of wine but I choose to drive home and play the music really loud to drown out the yelling! Just kidding she was fast asleep in 5 minutes and stayed asleep until I woke her this morning.

Monday Meandering #6

This Monday brought to you on a Tuesday because I took another day off work to sleep in and snuggle with my baby! I took one day off in the beginning and one in the end from work to have a longer weekend.
Where do I begin to tell you what a wonderful time I had on my mini-fiesta to celebrate my freedom as an American, which by the way is the reason I get to take a day off work and get paid, I hope you did too. I am not really into the rockets red glare as much as some people but like to watch from afar, and pray that I don't get dusted by the fall-out. Which sometimes makes me think I have past war regression from a past life, but I am crazy like that. I was going to take Morgan to see her first fireworks but decided her sleep and my sanity far out weighed the thrill she would get watching the glitter fall from the sky. So for Morgan there is always next year.
For me I had a chance to get away to see Diva at her parents house that isn't to far away from me. Friday night I took a drive to Capac, where there they really like the chance to blow things up in the form of fireworks, drink beer out of plastic glasses and use excuses like there was a mosquito on your face when you suddenly get bitch slapped! It was a fun time but much more relaxed from parties past with alot more children than I remember. The party also was on the heels of a somber morning Diva's Gramma who had always come to watch the fireworks had past away. I do recall the last bomb was followed by Diva's Mom yelling "that's for you MOM"! After the fireworks were over I finished my beer and managed to carry out a whole box of Crunch n'Munch for the drive home.
You probably are not going to believe me when I tell you Saturday I slept in until 8am! I never thought with having a child I would ever wake up on my own again, but it happened the first time in a long time. I laid there in bed listening to the humming of the box fan and cursing myself for not pulling the door shut before going to bed to block the sunlight from hitting my eyes. Then I heard Morgan wake, the cutest thing was when she was ready to get up I heard, "Mommie.........miss you, get up", what a great way to stumble out of bed. We spent most of our morning munching of cheerios, sippin juice, and watching Sesame Street. Later I invited myself to a 40th wedding anniversary for my friends parents, it was the most relaxed and organized party I have ever been to. You can see a picture of the happy couple here named Hon & Hon. I enjoyed hanging out chillin and being escorted by the finger of my daugther because she was nervous and didn't want to be left alone with so many strange kids at once. I guess it is a toddler faze one that reminds me every.single.second. that I have a miniature person relying on me to show her the way.
Sunday we started our day off at church, that was a refreshing reminder as well that the Lord still loves me even though I haven't been to see him in two weeks. I did manage to pick up the good book and read a few passages in Deuteronomy later that day to find a note for two little ladies who were getting baptised that afternoon. By going to church it prompted me to dust off my One Minute Bible while Morgan napped and wouldn't you know the page I left off last time was titled "Read the Good Book"! Sometimes things just come out to bite YA!
This is where I will leave you for now, I have to catch up on a thing called work. OH yeha I almost forgot................I DID NOT WIN THE Wii, my 5 in 42,232 odds did not pay off! So much for the shirtless man party unless there is one out there that wants to share his Wii!!

Win a Wii

I came across a special offer I wanted to share with all of you. The only stipulation is if you win you must share the winnings with me and abide by the rules of Dooce.com
So go over and visit Heather and enter to win a Wii with Wii Fit. There may be a party with shirtless men at my house, SOON! or at least that is what I am praying for. Good Luck and hurry the offer ends tomorrow July 2.

Hi Heather if you happen to come by for a visit. I enjoy reading your blog and peeking at your daily pictures. I wish I had more to offer on your visit, but I know that you gave up coffee and I already ate all the chocolate. I'll try and stock up on more tequila for the next time.