Out of My Mind

Last weekend, as we were driving over all the ice and snow that had accumulated in our parking lot because our apartment complex never bothers to plow (yes, I have issues with them), I made the comment that I had had just about enough of Michigan and it’s crappy weather.  Lo and behold, this week the hubby has been applying to jobs out in Oregon.  Now, don’t get me wrong, I am still game for moving out west.  Someday.  I just don’t think right now is the greatest time for us to up and move all the way across country.  But apparently, all’s it takes is one innocent comment from me to get the ball rolling for the hubby again.  Not that I think anything will come out of it, but still.

Another $450 down the drain.  The malfunction indicator light came on on Tuesday afternoon.  I took the truck in yesterday morning.  The O2 sensor was broken, which is covered by our warranty.  Unfortunately, they also needed to clean the fuel system (not covered) and there was some kind of update needed (also not covered).  It ended up costing $412.71.  Mother scratcher.  We just shelled out $185 two weeks ago because there was a weird vibration and $500 two weeks before that because we needed new tires.  $1100 on this stupid truck in about a month.  Grrrr.  It is so not worth it.  And we have 2 years left on the stinking lease and only about 17,000 miles left on our warranty.  I can only imagine what else is going to go wrong with it between now and then.

Mother scratcher.

I gotta say, it was so nice not having to wake up at 5:15 this morning.  Sebastian was up at about 6:45, even though he didn’t really need to get up until 7:30, but that’s Sebastian for you.  He told me that he looked in the mirror and noticed that he looked different.  When I asked him what he meant, he said he didn’t have those dark purple marks under his eyes.  He’s such a goober.  And just slightly overdramatic.

I’m wondering just how long I can stretch out this whole not working thing because I really enjoy it.  Plus, my classes start in two and a half months and that will be a big change for me.  And what will we do in the summer when Seb’s out of school? Hmmmmm.

Yesterday, Sebastian, the hubby and I went to the Tangers Outlet center in Howell.  We were on a quest for new shoes for myself and if the hubby could find something he liked, well, he could get some too.  I am partial to Nikes and since there is a Nike outlet there, I figured I could surely find something there that I wanted.  Sadly, that was not the case, but I will continue on in my quest for the perfect, and not too expensive pair of Nikes at a later date.  We did get some other stuff, (There is a Harry & David store there.  Oh. My. God.) though, so the day was not a total bust.

Afterwards, we hit Arby’s for lunch.  I wasn’t able to eat everything I had ordered and made the comment that my eyes must be bigger than my stomach.  Sebastian just looked at me for a moment and said, "Really, Mom.  You think so?  ‘Cause your stomach is pretty darn big."  I thought the hubby was going to wet himself right there in the middle of the restaurant.  And I laughed too, because, well, it’s true.  But still.  Seb seems to have inherited his father’s lack of tact.  Lord help us all.

Today is my last day of working latchkey.  When I told the kids this morning, I got a lot of stunned and sad faces.  Lots of them gave me hugs as they were leaving.  Apparently, I’m not quite the mean old hag that I perceive myself to be while at work.  Or else, those kids are really forgiving.

Last night when the hubby came to pick up Sebastian, he finally got a glimpse of Seb in one of his "moods."  He had been fine all day, but when it was time to go, he didn’t want to help the girls he was playing with pick stuff up.  He dug in his heels, went into stubborn mode and that was it.  He wouldn’t listen and laid down on the floor and started spinning around.  It looked like the beginnings of one of his full scale flip-out episodes.  And his dad was finally there to see it.  Now this did not even begin to compare to his previous two total flip-outs, but the hubby finally got to see that I wasn’t exaggerating about his kid’s behavior.  ‘Cause I’m pretty sure he just assumed I was blowing things way out of proportion.  Ha, I say!  You can now see exactly what I was talking about.  How he can go from perfectly fine to demon child in the blink of an eye, over absolutely nothing.  I must say, I feel somewhat vindicated.

Still haven’t figured out what to do about Seb’s birthday party.  I talked to my mom last night and found out that my older brother and his three kids won’t be there, which kind of pissed me off.  We always, always went to their parties, even if it meant we had to skimp on groceries or something else that week so that we could bring them a present.  But my brother’s going to a concert and so he’ll be dropping the kids back at their mom’s house pretty early that day.  Now we definitely can’t do the miniature golf thing, because we are three kids shy of the ten kid minimum.  I’m going to have to tie down the hubby tonight so that we can sit and have a conversation about this and what we are going to do.  My poor kid.  He just wants a party.

Sebastian’s birthday is 2 weeks from Sunday and I still don’t know what we are going to do about it.  Acutally, I somehow thought I had another week, so I am extra screwed.  Last year, we just invited my family because the hubby’s parents can’t do the three flights of stairs and he didn’t want them to feel excluded.  It ended up being just my parents and us, which kinda stunk since we always make it a point to go to my nieces and nephews birthdays, but whatever.  Seb was happy having his Grandma and Papa over, so that was fine.

This year, we’ve already mentioned it to the hubby’s side of the family, though, so we kind of can’t not invite them now.  Of course, this was back when we thought we were going to be able to use the clubhouse at our apartment, so it would be no big deal.  Unfortunately, they don’t do that anymore, which is where the screwed part comes in.

I’m not doing the whole ChuckECHeese thing again.  Sebastian doesn’t even eat pizza, they rush you like crazy and it is just a frickin zoo in there on the weekends.  We’re looking into this minaiture golf place, but it’s 12 bucks per kid/10 kid minimum, $5 for any adult that wants to play plus we’ll have to pay an extra $100 bucks to rent the party room for an extra hour and do all the food, cake, favors, soda, etc.  And get Bub his presents.  That is going to get uber expensive.

I don’t know what to do.  The hubby and I are going to have to sit down and figure it out tonight, though, because we are quickly running out of time.

My girl scout cookies arrived today!  In the half hour I’ve been home, I’ve already eaten a third of the package of samoas.  God, those things are good.  I’ve heard people complain that they aren’t as good since the trans fats have been removed, but I still think they’re great!  Maybe I’ll just eat all the samoas, throw the box in the dumpster and tell the hubby that I only ordered thin mints and peanut butter tagalongs!

Today is the second day in a row we’ve had no school due to icy road conditions.  What’s even nicer is that we were off all last week for mid-winter break.  This is my last week of work, too.  I can absolutely deal with a three day work week for my last week.  The roads aren’t actually that bad right by us, but our district is so big and I’m sure a lot of the roads in the northern part of the district are nasty.  There might even be some flooding and then freezing up near all the lakes.  I don’t really care.  I’m just glad for another day off!

It’s funny, I was worried how Sebastian and I would do together this week, when it was just him and I, 24/7.  In the past, that’s been the cause of many problems.  We would constantly butt heads.  But we’ve gotten along great!  On Wednesday, we spent nearly three hours at the car repair place and he did just fine.  On Thursday, we were at the laundrymat for more than 2 hours and he was fantastic!  I talked to my sister about it and she said all this time with my undivided attention was probably just what he needed.  I guess it helps me feel better about quitting my job.  My baby still needs his momma.  It gives me hope that things will get better with his behavior.

Baby Mackenzie arrived a month early at 1:56 am on February 15.  She weighs 5 lbs exactly and is 19 inches long.  She is beautiful!  When we went to see her, Sebastian made the comment that Crystal is the number one winner because baby Mackenzie is so adorable!  He’s so funny.

It’s so cute to see my little brother bonding with her.  Hopefully, this will be the kick in the butt he needs to get his act together.  My poor parents, though.  Now there are 8 people living in their house, two of them babies, plus my older brother’s three kids on the weekends.  I am waiting for the day my parents show up at my door, asking if they can live with us! 

Like hearing your son quote Pink Floyd lyrics.  Complete with an accent.  I love that kid.