I DID NOT FALL OFF THE FACE OF THE EARTH.....

... although some days I wish I had. No, not really. So, I have been getting complaints from people about the lack of posts and so I thought, even though I do not feel like rehashing the last month or so, I will give some brief rundowns to give you a little insight into what has been going on around here as of late...

so here we go...


* After the chicken pox out break- after the last poor little lamb made it back to school- and I mean right after ( They were all back to school ONE day) Pickle came down with a stomach virus so bad I almost took her to hospital- she puked for days and the pains she had in her tummy were almost too much for her to bare. And of course.. the boys followed suit a few days later- end result- 3 kids home for a full week of misery, crying pain and puking... oh happy days.....

* Once that was all over with, which brought us right into the month of December- it was time to get under way with the birthday celebrations- since their birthday is just a few days before Christmas, I have been having their party early in December just to get it done with, and out of respect for those coming- there are so many Christmas parties etc going on, I just think the earlier the better. Anyway Little Man was obsessed with having their party at home (uggg) this year with party games and the whole thing. So while the kids were off sick I sent out invitations to the kids asking to give us a quick reply as I let each child invite only 2 people and those 2 people would buy a present for them and them only. I mean after all you cannot invite a kid to a party and expect for them to buy a gift for each one right- so anyway I explained it in detail within the invitations stating that if they could not make it to let us know immediately so that the child in question could have the opportunity to invite someone else. Anyway people are stupid, rude or whatever because I only got one answer. the day before the party, and after I had already invited a whole new group of kids cause no one had replied, plus all the backups we had (relatives to fill in the gaps you know cousins etc) don't cha know everyone started replying out of no where and next thing you know I have 14 kids at the party which meant going out the day before to buy a whole new batch of stuff for loot bags and ordering a bigger cake, accommodating for more people for all the games planned etc. I have to say in the long run, it went over quite well, the kids seemed to all enjoy and it wasn't as bad as I thought but of course it was stressful as hell preparing it all and hosting- but anyway its done. My baby's are 6 now and I could just cry thinking about it.

* So then there was Christmas. Now keep in mind I had very very little time to prepare for Christmas this year because I had the kids home for about a month and a week give or take and then the birthday party so I had about 2 weeks to prepare and shop for Christmas.. can you say POWER SHOP???? The kids got more than enough as usual, had my sister and brother over- went to my mother's (ugggg) and survived the 2 week Christmas vacation INCLUDING CC. So there you go. Not too shabby. It was actually ok, it really was.. there are some things that have happened or that have come to light which I will write about later- but over all a good Christmas holidays.

* My FIL is very sick and no one knows why. He has been sick since like April and it just keeps getting worse and worse. He now officially weighs less than I do which is absolutely frightening. He has taken every test imaginable and they cannot figure out what is wrong. It breaks my heart and scares me to death all at the same time....

* Speaking of fathers- mine decided not to be with us at Christmas this year and instead went to my uncles. I have not spoken to him in months and frankly I don't know what to think about it all. He never ever calls me- he had sent a few emails to me at the beginning of the year about stupid trivial shit- but other than that nothing. I am not chasing him- not anymore. when he first came back I tried my best to do anything I could to help him out we helped him move into an apartment and furnish it and I took him a lot of places then he got real sick and I went to the hospital as much as I could and then it all just stopped once he was better- even last Christmas when he was here I just felt like he didn't want to be here. My sister lives 5 minutes from him and he never calls her either- I don't understand it all and there is so much more to it- but I don't feel like discussing it right now, I really truly don't.

* My dog, Nikki is on her last legs. I have had her since CC and I first moved into our apartment in 1992. She was my baby and went everywhere with me and I dressed her up, treated her like a child - almost to the point of ridiculousness. Truthfully, I think she was my baby to fill the void of a baby because once the kids were born (other than the fact that I was so busy I didn't have time to sleep let alone play dress up with a dog) I didn't really pay much attention to her- so kinda faded into the background. I know that is awful and sad, but so true- and she has been going downhill very drastically. Granted, she is almost 16 which is insanely old in dog years but still, in the summer she was still running around here and there and now she has trouble getting up and down stairs, her legs give out sometimes, she's deaf for sure and always has her tail between her legs. Unfortunately I am of the mentality that I don't want to know. I don't want to bring her to a vet because I am scared of what they will say although I know she will have to be put down. When she has a good day I convince myself she is fine now and makes me feel badly about even thinking to put her down... never again, no more animals... I can't deal.. anyway I am calling tomorrow- it has to be done... poor little Nikki.....



Ok now I have depressed myself. HAPPY NOW?? Ha! kidding.. that is all for now... got to take a breather....