Under the Sea

"Under the sea, under the sea..."

 

Yes, as I get towards the end of the challenge, I am having a hard time coming up with topics. Some letters are just so difficult. I guess I could write about unicorns but that wouldn't give me the opportunity to tell you about my Disney addiction.

I may have mentioned it before, but I really love Disney, Thankfully, I'm not alone in my obsession; my husband, kids, sister, in-laws, etc. all share in this crazy fixation.

We eagerly wait for the next animated movie to come out, YouTube the soundtrack as soon as we get home, and memorize every song and trailer before the DVD is released.

We are the people who order the vacation planning video every year and start the countdown to the next vacation two days after we leave the parks. And most of us agree that if we ever win the lottery, our first purchase will be a massive Disney trip for our entire family (it would take a pretty big jackpot to pay for it, believe me we’ve got the figures down). If this isn’t bad enough for you, just wait; it gets worse.

We speak in movie quotes and burst out into song at the strangest moments. Like today, while riding home from a ball game we all started talking about how hungry we were. This leads to everyone listing what little they’ve eaten today. I said I had a sandwich for lunch, which prompted my oldest daughter to start singing a song from the movie “Frozen.” Instead of rolling my eyes at the goofy kid, I start singing with her and we’re soon joined by the others.

And this is totally normal behavior for us….

Be afraid, be very afraid…

Time Out!

Mommy needs a time out right about now.

 

It's kinda funny. I am a super competitive person. I played sports in high school and at one time, had planned to become a high school coach. Family obligations may have changed the dream a little, but I still have a deep love of sports and I love to watch my children play. But, I want games to be fair.

 

I'm the fan in the stands that will yell at officials for missing calls—on both sides of the ball—especially when a no-call can end up getting someone hurt. People tend to move away from me, not wanting to be associated with the banshee that is determined to tick off the officials. You see, I am very OCD about the rules and even though I understand that umpires and referees are human, I want the calls to be right every time.

 

When I told my family that I was going to be coaching this year, my father-in-law jokingly said he'd be watching the news to see when I made headlines for doing something to get kicked out of a game. At the time, I called him an ass. But, tonight... well... I almost proved him right. The problem was that we had an umpire that was a little more human than most (at least in my opinion) and several poor calls put us in a bad situation.

 

Bad news is that we couldn’t overcome the score deficit and we lost our game. Good news is that I managed to keep my cool and stay in the game (and off the police blotter). I think I deserve a cookie for that one...

Stupidity

If I had to pick one pet peeve, it would be stupidity. The sad thing is that it seems to be running more rampant than in years past.

 

I had a 'you've got to be kidding me' moment earlier today when I learned that the school provides snacks for the kids who have to stay for detention. Seriously? You know, when I was in school, detention meant having to scrape gum off the bleachers in the gym or raking pine straw in front of the school. It was enough of a drag that it discouraged kids from getting into trouble again. Now, they just sit in an air-conditioned room and eat junk food. Am I the only one who sees the problem here? You know there is a reason that this discipline system isn't working.

 

I fear the lasting effects from this ineffective form of discipline. In fact, the book I am currently working on has such a character. Everything that this character has ever done wrong has always been laid at someone else's feet... Let's just say that the character in question is bat-shit crazy and manages to commit some of the most horrible crimes imaginable.

 

It makes me wonder, what will be the outcome if we continue on this road?

Right Now

Right now, I am finally relaxing after a seriously stressful day. 

It is the last day of our Easter break and I was determined to get something done around the house. Well, at least make the kids do something. Considering the fact that they are the ones that made the mess, it is only fair that they should clean it up. Getting them to actually do the work is like convincing a cat to take a bath. I started off by giving them a time limit and a reward for finishing the job on time—homemade milkshakes.

Apparently, that is not enough motivation to get the job done. Seven and a half hours after the initial deadline, there is still assorted flotsam strewn about the floor and the couches have been pushed together in the center of the room. I have tried everything. I have bargained, pleaded, and given them constant reminders. I have yelled, begged, and threatened to take away all privileges until they turn forty. Nothing worked. The oldest did managed to make some progress in her room so I guess that’s something. The others only managed to get my blood pressure up and make me seriously think that I need to research military school.

At least my ice cream is safe for a while longer.

 

Queen Adelyn

Yesterday, I get a phone call from my aunt asking about getting the kids together to dye Easter eggs. It made me smile because that was how we always did things when I was growing up. We would pile as many cousins as we could around a table outside at my grandmothers and we would dye eggs together.

 

First off, I think that it is awesome that we are continuing the tradition. My cousins and I were always close and I love that the next generation is growing up together like we did. Secondly, the call made me think of all the things we used to do as kids.

 

I could tell dozens of stories about the crazy things that we came up with when we were growing up; we were definitely an interesting bunch. The thing is that, as the oldest, I always was the one in charge. I was the queen of our little band. I was the one who bossed the younger ones around and taught them how to play by my rules.

 

Some days, I wish I could go back to that. I wish that I could sit back on my throne and order the peons around. Maybe the Easter Bunny can hook me up...

Pass the Tony's

The great thing about living in Louisiana is the food.

 

I know there are plenty of places that you can get 'authentic Cajun food.' But let me tell you, nothing compares to food cooked by a real Louisianan. Gumbo, étouffée, shrimp creole, you can't get the real stuff anywhere else.

 

I have a big family and we like to cook. Tonight's menu was typical fare for a Good Friday. Boiled crawfish with deer sausage, corn and potatoes, fried catfish, fries, hushpuppies and fried onions... and of course beer. A girl could seriously make herself sick on all of that.

 

I’ll be honest, I ate more than my share. There was just so much there and I couldn't let it all go to waste (I guess it'll have to go to my waist instead). Now, I am thinking I might have over done it. I don't think I will have to eat again until Sunday, and then I will probably binge on Reese’s Peanut Butter Eggs. But let’s get back to the crawfish boil.

The thing is, I like my crawfish to have a little bit of a bite so not only do I want them cooked with a double dose of crab boil, I like to have a pile of Tony Chachere's to dip my crawfish tails in. It works out for us because not everyone likes 'em as spicy as I do. Tonight's crawfish were good; they weren't superhot—they didn't burn the skin off of my fingers or set my lips on fire or anything—but with a little Tony's they were definitely tasty.

Wonder if there’s still some left… Can someone go get the Tony’s?

OMG!

Nothing kills a buzz like realizing you just did something truly stupid.

 

I just had one of those moments... I was sitting here just chilling; reading party posts on a group page (seriously steamy stuff) and sipping on some bubbly (okay drinking straight from the bottle). When I find out that one of the authors that is hosting this party is having a giveaway. So, I dutifully go to the page and click on the link to enter in the drawing. I'm clicking on links, liking Facebook pages and following Twitter links all willy-nilly when I realize that my Twitter isn't logged in. It was my fifteen-year-old daughter's account.

 

This is not good. I think about all the things that these authors have been posting tonight and realize I’m in big trouble. I’m not a prude and I’m pretty open to discussions about sex but, there are some things that I would prefer she not know about—ever. So I send her a text apologizing for being a lush and an idiot and I tell her to go unfollow all the stuff I just clicked on because honestly, she's still too young to reads those kinds of books.

 

I think it is safe to assume I lost my bid for mother of the year tonight...