Liam's first 5k!

On Feb. 3 Liam participated in his first 5k with Joe.

He came in 18th for his age group (males 10 and under).

Here is a video of him crossing the finish line.

GO LIAM!

My big boy

So Liam has a field trip coming up in March.  It's to St. Augustine, FL.  It's about a 5 hr school bus ride, each way.  They'll be leaving at 5:30 am and returning around 11 pm the same day.  And he's going ALL ALONE!  Well, without Joe or I, I mean.  Wow, his very first trip without either one of us.  I'm very nervous about it.  At first, I didn't want him to go unless Joe or I were able to chaperone.  But we couldn't.  And I don't want Liam to miss this opportunity because of my issues.  It sounds like a really awesome trip!  So, for the first time, Liam will be venturing out into the world without the guidance of family or friends.  It only gets worse from here, right?

Mayonnaise

Some of you will find this post completely ridiculous or petty.  And, in some ways, I agree.  I mean, it's just freaking mayonnaise.  But something happened two weeks ago that bothered me so much that I actually woke up LAST night still bothered by it!

Let me start off by saying that Joe is a fairly picky eater.  He has A LOT of dietary "restrictions".  When you live with, and especially cook for a picky eater, you basically become a slave to that person's "rules".  Can't make chicken wings because HE doesn't eat meat off bones.  Can't make pork of any variety because HE doesn't eat pork.  GOD FORBID the slightest speck of mayonnaise ever touch any of his food because HE doesn't like it.  The list can go on and on... anyway, back to the point.  I think back to all the times I made roasted potatoes or some kind of mayo-less pasta salad or couscous salad to please HIM.  Could I have bought store bought potato salad or coleslaw or made pork chops for dinner, yes, of course.  And he would've just been SOL.  But that's not how I was (am).  So onto the actual point of this post...

The other weekend Joe and I and the kids go out for lunch.  We went to this sandwich shop that I don't eat at very often (but Joe takes them there all the time) so I asked Joe "what do you usually eat here?", he said "just the turkey sandwich".  So I look at the description for the sandwich and it lists "mayo, lettuce, tomato" as the toppings.  So I think to myself (still!) "oh, he probably orders no mayo".  So when the time came to order, he was busy doing something with the kids so I just ordered 3 turkey sandwiches.  Didn't bother to specifiy "no mayo".  So we sit down to eat and Joe just digs right in.  I said, "so you eat mayo now?"  He responds, "oh, why, did I used to not eat mayo?  I just eat it how it comes."  ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME?!  I literally, almost lost my appetite.  "oh, why, did I used to not eat mayo?"  ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME?!  I bent over backwards to make sure mayo never made it's way into your life for over 10 years because you HATE IT SO BAD!  I seriously wanted to tell him to fuck off.  But the kids were there.

It just makes me think, is this some kind passive aggressive behavior to used to control me all those years?  What other kind of tactics did he use to keep me in line?  It pisses me off so bad.  I know guys, I know.  It's just freaking mayonnaise!  It's stupid and petty and completely meaningless in the grand scheme of life.  It reminds me of the time (years ago when we still lived together) he took the kids out for burgers with Uncle Jim one day.  And Liam came running in the house screaming "Mama, daddy brought a shake home for you!"  Aww, how sweet right?  It was chocolate.  Anyone that has known me for longer than 5 min knows I DON'T LIKE CHOCOLATE!  Except my own husband.  So I had to stand there and say in front of everyone "I don't like chocolate" and look like a completely ungrateful asshole.  I, literally, almost cried.  It seriously hurt my feelings so bad.  Passive aggressive much?

Oh, hi there!

I've been a terrible, terrible blogger.  Sorry.  I'm still here.  And there's still lots going on.  I just haven't been writing about it.  As far as Joe and I, we're still getting divorced.  Sort of.  That would actually require Joe to fill out the divorce paperwork.  Which he has had for well over a month.  And hasn't even looked at it.  I took all my time to fill out 90% of it.  It requires an hour of his attention to fill out his financial information which I cannot fill out for him.  He says he's been "too busy" to do it.  But he says he's not stalling.  OK.

Liam made Gold honor roll!  That means all A's and B's.  OMG you guys, this is a BIG deal for him!  I know I said that last time too when he made Silver honor roll.  But I am just so proud of him!  He's been working so hard in 4th grade.  Football season is gearing up for him as well.  He had his first official Valentine this year.  I know, OH EMM GEE!  Fun fun.  He's cool and very sensitive and hates kisses from his mama but I just adore him.

Jill is just Jill.  She doesn't do sports.  Or dance.  Or karate.  But she texts me (from my iTouch) just about every night when she is not home with me to tell me how much she misses and loves me.  She gets all 1's and 2's on her report cards.  I have a feeling she is going to be more of the "mathlete" type when she gets older.  She's girly and squishy and quite possibly the most unreasonable person on the planet.  And she is just my favorite little girl in the whole entire world.

I'm already thinking about summer vaca.  I have so many options this year but have decided on Maine.  I haven't been in almost 3 yrs already and, outside of airfare, it's a fairly cheap trip for me.  Remember, my house is always open if anyone wants to come visit for a week (or more).  We would love the company!

Sometimes it's scary living alone

The other night I was awoken at 4 am to the sound of very loud whistling/hissing.  I had no idea what it was but it sounded like it was coming from the bathroom.  So I go into my bathroom and it sounds like it's coming from the toilet.  I'm thinking either the toilet hose is about to burst or there was some kind of water line burst.  I check all the water in the house and it's all working.  But I can STILL hear the noise.  Then, all of a sudden it occurs to me that the sound is coming from outside.  So I open the garage door and walk half way around the house to where my bedroom window is and the water spigot was turned on and water is just pouring out!  I turn it off,  loudly mutter some obscenities and walk back towards the garage.

I then have the realization that I left the garage door open and someone could have snuck in my house and is now waiting inside to murder/rape me.  I surveyed the house in the dark and nothing was out of the ordinary but as I laid down to go back to sleep I couldn't shake the feeling that someone could be hiding in the house!  I call Joe at 4:20 and tell him the whole story and ask him to come over with the kids.  He says, "we're on our way!"  As I'm sitting on my bed waiting for him to show up, my neighbors motion sensor light (again, right outside my bedroom window) turns on!  Now I'm in full panic mode.  I don't hear or see anything outside but I'm absolutely terrified.  It took Joe about 10 min to get to the house but it felt like an hour.  The kids snuck into bed with me and we went to sleep.

Last night I was so scared to be in the house alone I didn't even want to sleep in my bedroom and I didn't want to turn off the TV because I was so scared of the silence.  So I laid on the couch half the night.  Notice how I said "laid" on the couch, not "slept" on the couch?  Because there was no sleeping going on.  Finally, around 3:30 I couldn't take it anymore and went to my bed.  I was so exhausted but still jumped at every tiny noise the house made.  Thank God nothing out of the ordinary happened.

I really need to get some sleep tonight...