only once

i don't really like to vent on my blog. ya know, just wanna keep things light. however. i just wanna say. never, never, never EVER go into business with a friend. without a lawyer. without a signed something. anything. it would be a far better thing to just cut off both your hands with a very dull knife. the sad reality is that going into a business with a friend basically means you will no longer be friends. you suddenly are running something together and it becomes more of a marriage. sadly, when everything goes south and you've been beaten up, cheated on and are generally in a very sucky situation there's nothing to do but get a divorce. THAT, my friends, is ugly. then you have the custody battle over the beloved child i.e. the business. who will be better for it? who will take care of it? who will nurture it into something? who will MAINTAIN consistency? that, really, is what must be decided. HOWEVER, you have the emotions that go along with it. "but, it was MY idea", "no, it was MINE". "you don't like me anymore" , "you don't stand up for me", "you're disrespectful" and blah, blah, blah, blah. are you kidding me?? so then you have the business and it's faithful customers stuck right smack in the middle wondering what will happen to them. if one person takes over there's a chance of survival. if the other? questionable. child services will have to be phoned in a few months because of severe neglect and something that was beautiful will be damaged forever. SO, if you say to me you're going into business with a friend. i will say RUN! NO! you'll have a much better chance with a complete stranger off of the street. got it?

here i am again

it's easy to post when your 5 kids are out of the house. they're out of the house!

i'm painting. lots of rooms. like almost every room in my house. cool colors. when i say cool, i really MEAN cool. as in blues and greens. calm, gentle colors. AND for the first time EVER i'm picking all the colors off of the same card. ya know, the palette things. the colors that THEY already have matched up for you. no more going from room to room in my house without flow. at least on the first floor. bedrooms and such can be whatever the occupant wants. but from now on the first floor, the floor where we are all of the time has got to be calm!

next i need to get rid of all that stuff that accumulates in closets, basements and garages. do we really NEED 20 scooters? is that crib, carseat, highchair and 3 boxes of baby clothes neccessary? if i save it will i really have a grandkid (or daughter-in-law) that WANTS old stuff??? doubt it. somehow i just can't part with those things just yet. my heart starts to ache thinking about it.

today, aidan was listening to "don't stop believin" in the car and i was almost brought to gut-wrenching sobs. journey? making me cry? i was just transported back to 1981/82, my bedroom, my first album (journey "escape"), my record player and all of my teen angst. OH, did i mention the round brush that was my microphone? my rainbow comforter, yellow walls and rainbow wallpaper that were my stage? me rockin' it out in my best steve perry imitation? oh yeah. my eldest would laugh his head off at the sight and never listen to the song again! i'm thankful for my life. i'm thankful for the people in it and mostly i'm thankful that i have a really great teenager. not that there aren't days...ya know. nail biting days. but overall, he's a good kid. how'd that happen???

i'm not guaranteeing that i'll remain here in blog world, but i AM hopeful.....

dortito casserole

so, the homemade corn tortillas did not happen. i didn't have that special "masa harina" corn flour. i looked again in the pantry and saw that there was 1/2 a bag of doritos (from the trip), a can of enchilada sauce and in the fridge was shredded cooked chicken and shredded cheddar. i googled my ingredients and came up with something i would not normally make BUT when it's all that's in the cabinet...it works! you just place crushed doritos in a casserole dish, toss chicken with sauce, place over chips add more chips and cheese....bake for 35 minutes. it was not the healthiest meal, but it was actually kind of good!! my older kids really liked it and aidan now wants to buy the "hot wing" flavored doritos and make a "chicken hot wing" casserole. see, you never know where creativity lurks.

what dinners have you made from NOT going to the store?

now that

basketball craziness is over...maybe there will be time to blog! i am so, so happy with my eldest. he had a great tournament week and played really well. the best part is that he kept his head up even though they lost three games out of five. at the end of the week there is an award ceremony. each team (356) is recognized and individual awards are given by the coaches. aidan received the christian character award. in one sense, i hate awards. especially for a team sport. the WHOLE team should be honored and recognized. to point out one person, to me, allows them to think better of themselves. on the other hand, aidan had a hard year last year with a coach who sat him on the bench whenever he made a mistake and who did not care for him too much. this year is different. at the beginning of the year, aidan's coach emailed me to let me know he was making him team captain. he said he admired his stable nature and ability to calmly be a leader. *sniff*. basketball is probably a high school thing. i'm not sure if aidan will pursue a college basketball career. for him to receive a recognition of character says way more to me than a "physical ability" award. having great character will take him onward into his adult life.

now we're back. we have no extra money and i am cooking dinner out of whatever is in my cabinets. tonight i'm trying to figure out if i can make corn tortillas without the special corn flour. i have stuff for enchiladas and no tortillas. ahhh the joys of trying to get out of debt!

rainy has been the weather today and i'm happy with it. i don't feel guilty for not doing much.

a plea.

go here. read. say big fat prayers for my friend. be inspired. be blessed. send blessings their way. that's all i have to say.

old blog

so i tried to import my old blog onto my new blog. can't. figure. it. out. so if you have any interest in the old me you can head over there!

i'm back. i think.

i know, i know, i know. i am SO lame at the blog game. hey! a rhyme. i've been listening to my 6 year old read and it is mostly words like...cat, fat, hat, sat. you get it. since i've been on facebook i cannot find the time to blog. then there's the whole thing of digging out old journals, albums and general memorabhilia. i miss my old blogs. they're on the web somewhere. you could find them and read about my life from 6 years ago. i was probably way more interesting then. i was much more random and blogged about beer. and homebirth. and sunsets. and dreams. i'm more jaded now. hee. hee. i'm done having kids. i haven't gotten in the car just to watch a sunset in a few years. and dreams? maybe this is what they call midlife crisis. i'm happy, i just keep wondering what defines me. maybe i need to get outside of ME to figure that out.