Living with Addiction

You may have noticed it has been a full nine days since I last blogged and it has not been due to a lack of anything interesting to blog. I think it's time I need to just come out and say that my name is Elizabeth, and... I am a Garagebandaholic. I have been clean now for about five hours and fifteen minutes but it took me a full week just to get past the denial. (Well, and I've only had it for a week.) There had been other warning signs but the big tip off came the other day when I was at the stoplight waiting to take a left turn and mistook the sound of my own blinker for the Garageband metronome and just began belting out a random song after the first four counts while my fingers were grabbing frantically at the steering wheel searching for the sharps and flats to no avail. It really frightened the children and I knew then that I had a problem.

(A glimpse into the mind of the addict)

Then there were those classic changes in sleeping/eating habits, the loss of interest in other favorite activities (the noticable blogosphere withdrawal)...the chronic red eyes, sore throat, dry cough not due to allergies, fatigue, sore and squished earlobes (you know, from the headphones...), the stiff neck and shoulders, the late night singing binges...and the subsequent passing out with my head on the keys...

I just eventually buckled under the pressure of trying to pleasing my fans... This one's an enabler...
Oh no... I did read that addictions can be inherited...I looked on the internet and though they have plenty of help for the alchoholics, compulsive gamblers, shopoholics, and the like... they don't have any help yet for Garagebandaholism. But I think the key word there is yet. I did happen to read that shock therapy is getting very popular in Japan for treating all the internet and video game addictions. Let's hope it doesn't come to that. What next? And just when you're sure you've seen it all...

YOUR TWO YEAR OLD BRINGS YOU THIS:

And yes.
It is dead.
It is a dead gopher that my little boy is holding.

While I was a little preoccupied with um...something on the computer the other day, my two year old walks up beside me and softly says "Bunny Momma. Bunny." I turned to see the fuzzy horror and screamed "Drop it, drop it!!!" I initially thought it was a rat but our more rodent savvy friend has seen the picture and now informed us that it was indeed a gopher.

So... I guess the question begs to be asked. How did I then get this gripping photo for my blog? Well...since today is a day of admissions and confessions, I will tell you. After I screamed in expected mother fashion at my poor child to drop his deceased "bunny", I (then...like the lowest, and most shameless Brittney-stalking paparazzi out there, hurried to grab my camera and shouted

"Okay Owen...now can you just quickly pick it back up long enough for mommy to get a picture and then drop it again, honey?"

Unfortunately, I had forgotten how two years olds often struggle with two-step directions and Owen easily obeyed the first command and proceeded to then turned on his brother and sister with it. Don't worry though, after that one last photo I disinfected him. And remember people, it is a dead gopher, not a rat. I would never ask my child to pick up a dead rat. How disgusting.

And now...I don't mean to BRAG, but...

In keeping with the adorable theme of my niece Dahlia's nursery... the colors of gold, black & white with that splash of hot pink...

and the whimsical little mobile so lovingly painted by her adoring parents while they anxiously awaited her arrival...
~SHOWERS OF BLESSINGS~

...I was inspired to create this... For her very wonderful baby shower that I was unable to upload earlier due to my disease...
First Babies require special preparations as well as precautions:

Hot pink Dahlias on the top...
And delicious... Rosie's favorite... Chocolate Lovers Chocolate with French Butter Cream icing...

The guests of honor~
Rosie & Baby DahliaSo who the heck had the baby five days ago?!?! Kuh!

~Auntie Liz snags the Dolly Baby~
The lovely Rachel~ The brains behind the outfit... and the bringer of all things delicious... including the ever important vertical elements on the lovely table... :)
and sheer mischief. Always.

The lovely Grammas hamming it up for the camera
I'm guessing the below conversation went something like this:

Rachel: "Okay Mom, what do we do about Liz? I need some help in the kitchen and all she's doing is running around taking pictures of that CAKE and sneaking off with the baby!"Mom: "Weeeeell honey, I don't know what ta tell ya! I've had to deal with that sister of yours for years...it's like a tornado touching down! Now where is that champagne?"
DOH!

Oh good she's still busy with the gifts...

(sigh)

Gracious Grace...

Such loving and generous friends...The Littlest Guests...
And now I must be off to Baskin & Robin's 31 cents a scoop night! Yee haw!

Happy dEARTH DAY

Ohhh I know. I'm tarrrible. Tarrrible, tarrible environmental unfriendly me with all my kids filling the landfills with their stanky diapers... Well... no. Not quite. I love this beautiful planet second only to the Great Creator and the beloved children He placed on it. Maybe I'm still just a bit traumatized by our April snow and not fully recovered from the last couple days of suffering through what felt distinctly like a good ole Global cooling to me...

Or maybe I just agree that Earth Day is a Holiday for Liars and is About Politics, not Climate. So in the case that you've maybe been watching a little too much Oprah, and being a little too duped by the Green Masters of Propaganda, and feeling that growing anxiety that tends to result, I thought I'd pass along some helpful articles from the National Anxiety Center kindly sent to me by my friend Liam who will be celebrating today by "smoking one big cigar by his big tree" in his yard (with I'm guessing, very little anxiety).

uh Heh... uh heh heh heh heh.

I'm not saying there isn't a place for the Greens. I really do love my greens... topped with a few other veggies and slathered with blue cheese...

In a Rut

rut- 1. a track worn by a wheel or by habitual passage of anything; a groove in which anything runs. 2. A routine method of action or procedure from which one is not easily stirred.

Yes. I would say I'm in a bit of a rut productively speaking. It's funny how quick that can happen. We've been off of our regular school & cleaning schedule for more than a few weeks for various reasons. I'm crashing down from my "baby high", (not to mention the chocolate lovers cake high) that I indulged in at last night's baby shower. ooh-eeh! The past several weeks have been a blur of visitors, business trips, surgeries, parties, anniversaries, Easter celebrations, sewing lessons, music lessons, teething toddlers, new babies, ear, eye and everything doctor and dental appointments... and add to that a really good excuse to put off the formal schooling--a broken copier. Since I tend to plan school by the week, when Monday and/or Tuesday goes awry I'm tempted to start over next Monday instead of re-writing the whole plan and make the best of Wednesday. Anyway, there's my list of excuses.

It's amazing how quickly habits can become formed--even when they were not meant to be formed. A couple trips off the beaten path soon...makes a path? A rut. The unscheduled nature of things around here has suddenly become the "track" on which the ole cart is now running and given the momentum of the cart, I'm gonna need a little (probably a lot) of extra muscle to lift it out. I feel...too lazy and unmotivated to do it. bluh. No...there is no inspiring motivational message to this post ladies and gentlement. Just "bluh"...I'm in a rut. Thought you should know.

For some reason my recent pictures won't upload so I can't illustrate the baby shower (or the train wreck of a day we had today) and... yes, I'm realizing I'm sitting here putting off the inevitable. I guess lifting the heavy proverbial cart out of the rut means first lifting my heavy non-proverbial butt out of this chair to tackle some good old fashion housekeeping.

(sigh)

She's really HERE!!!

Friday night Dahlia Mae surprised everyone by coming a month early and with new record breaking speeds and adorableness. 7lbs. 8 oz. and as beautiful as can be. Matt and Rosie were having dinner at our house to (Haaa!!!) write out a BIRTH PLAN when birth (like it tends to around here...) just decided to PLAN ITSELF!!! In a nutshell...

Wham

Bam...

Thank you

Ma'am.

I will never forgive myself for that five minute stop for gas on the way to the hospital behind them. I was about five minutes too late for a labor that amounted to 2 hours from first contraction to baby. I'm thinking it was some sort of revenge? ;)

New Daddy brushing out the labor tangles...

Dahlia, you get to have such a funny Momma and Daddy! I love this picture...

Gramma in all her glory...Hannah Weeps for Joy...

There was not a dry eye in the room when Hannah first held her cousin and the floodgates of happy tears opened. I cry every time I look at this picture. Born into a world of happy tears and love...
joy and smiles...and of course...many answered prayers.
I'm so proud of you Rosie.

And you Matt, you rocked it of course. I knew you would.

And to the Giver of Life, we are all so humbly grateful...

Where would this World be without Big Brothers?

Shiny new (yet forgotten) tricycles belonging to fifth children may never get assembled...

Or found in the messy storage closets where their mother's lost them to begin with...
(Turtle joining happily in the brotherish activities while soaking up some vitamin D.)

"Thank goo-ness for my big bwuthers!!!"

"And thanks again Gramma Teweeee!!!"

Confusing...in more than one way

First we heard the shooting coming from the stairway... then we looked and saw the uniform. Parenting never fails to throw something new at you. We didn't know whether to be worried about the tough looking girl with the machine gun...
Or the very sweet little boy in the dress....Or perhaps to feel confident in the girl in the dress and the boy with the gun? Yeah. We'll go with that. Poor Daddy just hugged his creative little monkeys and ran quickly out the door for work.

General(s) Grievous~

I wouldn't mess with either one of his sets of arms. I'm guessing they're both pretty tough.

Precious Moments~ I brought our old baby swing up from the basement to loan to a friend and discovered our 1 year old still likes it! She managed to climb in for some fun swinging... only to have her big brother sing her to sleep! She couldn't resist the Si guy- Lullaby.