I've been away from my blog for some time now. I really don't have a reason. I think it all started with my impending 39th birthday. I have no idea why the nine at the end of the thirty bugs me. I guess it's kind of like the minus after a letter grade. Let's just chock it up to one of my neuroses.

Let's span the time between the last post and this one.

My father had an Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm
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If knowledge can create problems, it is not through ignorance that we can solve them.
Isaac Asimov
US science fiction novelist & scholar (1920 - 1992)

Hi All, I just found this link and thought I'd share it with all those mommies with kids who use the internet. It's very interesting. Jessie will hate it.

NetLingo.com Dictionary of Internet Terms: Online Definitions & Text Messaging - Top 20
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Deborah Copaken Kogan's debut novel </"&gt;Between Here and April has to be one of the best books I have read in a while. I was blessed with an Advanced Reader's copy and was pleasantly surprised at the seamless storytelling. The story centers around Elizabeth, once a professional journalist now a stay-at-home mom, and a quest, suggested by her therapist, to find out what happened to her childhood
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I know, it's been awhile. I've been suffering from light sensitivity thanks to the high pollen levels. Blah!!

So, here goes our story. We were all ready to leave for our two-day getaway at the Colonial House at Main when I got a phone call from my father who said that he couldn't let the dog out because he was going to be spending time at my grandmother's. This was fine since my daughter would
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Let's back up to two weeks ago...

My husband was sitting in front of the family computer when he called me over. "What do you think of this place?" He asks while quickly scrolling the page up and down on a page with images of what looked like a hotel room.

"What is it, quit scrolling it. I can't see what you're trying to show me."

Seeing that it was a Bed and Breakfast, I asked where it was.

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I always chuckle a bit when people tell me how my children are so well behaved. That little voice in the back of my mind whispers, "Come home with me, you'll see them in action!" I can't complain, they're not rude but they are boisterous. They are respectful of others, but they do tend to forget that the world does not ALWAYS revolve around them. When people call the house, they always ask if I'm
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I had forgotten how an uninterrupted movie truly was until last night. The kids went to grandma's for an overnight stay and we decided to go to the drive-in to see a double feature. We stopped off at Kmart to stock up on movie candy and popcorn and then caught a little dinner at Eat'n'Park. We were actually able to hold an entire conversation without stopping to say, "Sit down, quit interrupting,
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For every action there is an equal and opposite government program.
Bob Wells
I received a letter in the mail yesterday from the County's Family Division. I held my breath for a bit, you never know what that's going to contain. When I opened the letter it read in huge letters on the top, "Child Support $25 Annual Fee". Huh? It seems that the US Congress has passed a law that all child support
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I just couldn't resist this one, they are all good blogs!

{BEGIN COPY}

Rule: Copy the entire list and add your name at the bottom. And tag at least 5 friends. (But you can tag as many as you like). Note: Please link the blog where you posted the tag :) We appreciate you linking all your blogs but make sure you post the tag in the blogs too.

Mommy Talks | Aggie Shoots. Aggie Scraps | All
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Yesterday was Jake's seventh birthday. He was at Grandma's house for the weekend so I waited to call him in the morning. He's not an early riser so I waited until 10:00am. When he answered the phone I said "Happy Birthday!"

"Thanks mom, I lost another tooth." This makes a total of four teeth missing from his mouth.

"You're going to look like Pop-Pop at this rate!"

"No mom! My big ones are
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I read a post on TwinsHappiness titled We Are Right Handed but Sean is Left handed today and just had to comment. It's something that I hadn't thought of in a very long time. I am a lefty. It really wasn't a big deal for my family. My mother is an artist and felt that this was a sign of true artistic ability (not too sure about that one). It was when I started school that it became a real issue.
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With rising grocery and retail prices we all need a little break. I myself have picked up the ritual of Sunday morning coupon clipping. It's amazing how much we can save with a little work. This habit began when I saw a little snippet on the local news about Teri Gault who had created a site named The Grocery Game. Every Sunday Teri posts a color-coded list for her members with sales and items
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She is trying to kill me!! My teen daughter that is. She asked me if she could go white-water rafting with her boyfriend and some friends. She hesitantly handed over the legal paperwork with a shaking hand about two weeks ago. It sat on top of the TV for the entire two weeks while she continued planning her death-defying trip. Yesterday, I finally picked up the paperwork and read the whole thing
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Yet another commercial break interrupted my rerun of "House" when this song triggered one of those "what is that song from" moments. It was from "Ferris Bueller's Day Off". Instant classic of course. Which then led to this...we grew up with the greatest teenage movies ever. What happened to that?

Now, I was born in 1969, and grew up in what my daughter once called "the groovy times". You know,
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I have an answering machine in my car. It says, I'm home now. But leave a message and I'll call when I'm out.
Steven Wright
I'm going to be honest here, I hate cell phones. I have one, but I really never use it. I only have it in case of emergency. It is the only way I can leave home and let my teenage daughter watch the other three without worrying that they can't get in touch with me. My
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Jake spent his whole school year terrified that he may lose teeth. He didn't want to look "stupid with all those gaps". So, he spent about half the school year with loose teeth that miraculously wouldn't fall out. This only confirms my suspicions that the kid will be able to acheive anything he puts his mind to. The last day of school, he came home and said, "Alright mom, pull it out." So Jake "
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I am loving how the garden is turning out this year. The snowpeas have been producing daily along with the green beans which never really fail.

I am getting flowers on the cucumbers.

And for the first time in three years, grapes!

I also planted calendula in the bed around the clematis and they have to be my second favorite.

My first being these particular daylilies that just bloomed in the
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WHY PARENTS DRINK
A Mother passing by her son's bedroom was astonished to see that his bed was nicely made and everything was picked up.

Then she saw an envelope, propped up prominently on the pillow that was addressed to "Mom" With the worst premonition she opened the envelope with trembling hands and read the letter.

Dear Mom,:

It is with great regret and sorrow that I'm writing you. I had
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Exactly how you ask? My three youngest all have summer birthdays. They take place in June, July and August. We do celebrate their birthdays on the day of each of their birthdays wth just us, but I have their big bash in one fell swoop. It's just easier to do it that way for both us and the guests. I feel bad asking the same people to come back month after month. Of course the boys have gotten to
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While drifting through the blogs a couple of weeks ago, I ran into payperpost. Out of pure curiosity, I decided to sign up and check it out. It is a large community of bloggers that add a few paid posts in their blogs about products and services that they find interesting and they get paid for it! They get paid to do what they already do, blog. So, I decided, why not? I submitted my blog for
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We finally did it. Katie made it through a complete overnight at grandma's! This is very exciting. I love my kids, but every once in awhile, they really really need to get away. This was the first time in almost two years where I didn't hear arguing, crying, screaming, and so on. It was quiet, all day and night. It couldn't have come at a better time since I had been partially blinded for the
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Anyone ever get what my husband calls "welder's flash"? I did, from fireworks. That's right, my poor abused eyes have been itchy, swollen and extremely sensitive to light ever since the night of the 4th. I have a true appreciation for the blind. I could not imagine living without my eyesight, I wouldn't know what to do with myself. Everything I enjoy depends on being able to see. Here's what
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Besides the noble art of getting things done, there is a nobler art of leaving things undone. The wisdom of life consists in the elimination of nonessentials.
Lin Yutang

So, it all started last Thursday, when I sent the boys off to grandma's. They had to at least stay the weekend for Jessica to have her "half-birthday" party. (Her birthday is in the winter so she wanted a half birthday party so
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Extensive traveling induces a feeling of encapsulation, and travel, so broadening at first, contracts the mind.
Paul Theroux
US novelist (1941 - )
Today we went to visit with my grandmother. I had the day all planned out. Step one, load kids in the car and take them to the Church's day camp. Step two, return home and pack diaper bag with essentials. Step three, pick kids up, return home to let
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