I came home last night to both boys sitting at the dining room table doing their homework. No TV. No fighting. No farting around. (probably, there was farting, just not farting around)

My heart swelled. The planets aligned. The heavens opened up and angels sang.

This morning, Rader was struggling to get out of bed. Since he’s not much of a morning person (like his momma) I decided to help him out so he would make the bus. I picked up his assignment book and homework and placed them in his backpack.

I realized his composition notebook was in the backpack. This was the first assignment he failed to do last week so I thought, just in case, I might want to double check that he didn’t have an assignment.

Guess what?

We’re still here working on his one paragraph assignment…

So, it seems we made some progress in the homework department, just not enough. He did not get a reintroduction to Woody because that would’ve worked against us this morning. He did, however, get reintroduced to The Wrath of Fishdog. Let me tell you, that ain’t pretty.

On a good note, Ian seems to be doing very well this year. I’m very proud of him. He has really matured some, although, he still acts like a 6 year old around his brother. But that’s okay. I discovered with the lads that boys don’t really seem to ever out grow that.

I heard from Simon last night. He’s supposed to send me pics this weekend of he and his mates out on the town. I can’t wait to see him in his element. I miss his cheeky smile.

Simon with my friendAudrey

And just because I really miss him, too, here’s a shout out to Grant:
Audrey, Grant, Me

Last night’s walk was sponsored by thunder, lightning, stuffed shorts, and a wooden spoon.

Fishdog took Ian to buy new running shoes. He’s going to start cross-country training this week, after we get his physical. That’ll be a great experience for him, I’m sure.

Rader tried to pull the old “I don’t have any homework” trick. I knew something was up when he took his backpack to his room. He NEVER takes his backpack to his room. Every day, I pick it up from the middle of the kitchen floor and yell, “Not where it belongs!” So, when Rader picked up his backpack voluntarily, took it to his room and put it in his closet, I knew something was up.

I marched back there and looked through it. He had 3 sheets of homework. The boy learned nothing last week.

I called him into the room, asked him about the homework calmly…no yelling at all…honestly, you should be proud. After he answered me, I said, “I’ll be right back.”

Walked into the kitchen, picked up Woody, (a wooden spoon) and went back to Rader’s room. He was waiting, wide-eyed and worried.

“Bend over the bed, please.”

He does without any argument. I’m thinking, this is good. He’s not fighting it. I’m handling this the right way. I am getting through! I am mother of the year!

Apparently, he anticipated that I might be getting Woody (which is funny, because he’s only been spanked by Woody one other time. I’m not a big spanker) Anyway, he had shoved several pairs of shorts into his shorts, hoping I wouldn’t notice the extra padding.

I noticed. I removed said padding and he got 4 licks. One for each page of homework he didn’t do and one for lying.

BTW, he did his homework in about fifteen minutes and it was all correct. Why do they insist on being so stupid sometimes? Not only did he get reaquainted with Woody last night, but now he’s grounded again from electronics except for the radio. Seriously, I heart boys, but sometimes I wonder how they manage to make it to 30 years old.

So, after the beating, I decided to walk for a while. It was nice outside. Not too hot and the wind was blowing. It was thundering in the distance. I decided to stay in the neighborhood because I didn’t want to get too far away and be struck by lightning.

I made 2 laps around our half-mile circle before the lightning had made it to our area. I had planned to walk for 3 laps. Since I didn’t get to do that, I came in and had a whisky instead.

I don’t know how people multi-task their lives. Seriously.

At work, I’m the multi-task queen. But in the real world? Eh. Not so much.

Especially now that soccer is shifting into full gear. Fishdog and both boys play. We are constantly at the fields–and it’s quite exhausting. And if you when you consider the fact that practice is usually from 5:30-7, that makes it even more of a challenge. Homework has to be done. Snacks have to be eaten. Dinner has to be planned. And kids have to be shuttled. Plus, we still try to get them in bed at a decent hour…for our sakes and theirs.

But still, I manage that aspect of my life pretty well. It’s the other stuff that I seem to lose sight of. Like writing. And exercising. And sleeping.

I’ve worked the exercising in at lunch, and even though it’s working out great, it’s not enough. I’m not getting in enough cardio to continue to push the weight loss. So, that means I either have to get up at 5:30 am (which is like asking me to swallow glass) or walk at 8:00 pmwhen it doesn’t feel like a broiler outside. The problem with walking at night is, I’m too damn tired to do it! Most nights I think, Screw it. I’ll have a whisky instead. (yeah, that really doesn’t help the weight loss thing either…)

Then there’s the writing. I do most of my writing on the weekends. But because the past two weekends we’ve had guests (and I wouldn’t have changed that for the world) I didn’t get to write. Now, I could have, I’m sure. But, I was focused on the guests. Cooking, entertaining, enjoying myself. I should’ve taken out an hour and sat down with the laptop and at least tried.

So, why is it that I can multi-task when it comes to the world of motherhood and work, but when it comes to ME, I seem to only find enough focus for one thing at a time? And sometimes, it’s only half-assed focus…

I don’t know how people multi-task their lives. Seriously.

At work, I’m the multi-task queen. But in the real world? Eh. Not so much.

Especially now that soccer is shifting into full gear. Fishdog and both boys play. We are constantly at the fields–and it’s quite exhausting. And if you when you consider the fact that practice is usually from 5:30-7, that makes it even more of a challenge. Homework has to be done. Snacks have to be eaten. Dinner has to be planned. And kids have to be shuttled. Plus, we still try to get them in bed at a decent hour…for our sakes and theirs.

But still, I manage that aspect of my life pretty well. It’s the other stuff that I seem to lose sight of. Like writing. And exercising. And sleeping.

I’ve worked the exercising in at lunch, and even though it’s working out great, it’s not enough. I’m not getting in enough cardio to continue to push the weight loss. So, that means I either have to get up at 5:30 am (which is like asking me to swallow glass) or walk at 8:00 pmwhen it doesn’t feel like a broiler outside. The problem with walking at night is, I’m too damn tired to do it! Most nights I think, Screw it. I’ll have a whisky instead. (yeah, that really doesn’t help the weight loss thing either…)

Then there’s the writing. I do most of my writing on the weekends. But because the past two weekends we’ve had guests (and I wouldn’t have changed that for the world) I didn’t get to write. Now, I could have, I’m sure. But, I was focused on the guests. Cooking, entertaining, enjoying myself. I should’ve taken out an hour and sat down with the laptop and at least tried.

So, why is it that I can multi-task when it comes to the world of motherhood and work, but when it comes to ME, I seem to only find enough focus for one thing at a time? And sometimes, it’s only half-assed focus…

Well, Simon is officially gone. He should’ve landed sometime around 7:00 this morning his time, which would’ve been 1:00 am our time. He stayed awake all night Saturday, hoping to sleep on the long trip home and be fairly awake by the time he arrived in Birmingham.

I believe the first two things he had on his to do list were: Eat a Mars bar and find a hot dog vendor and get a proper English hot dog.

Hope he was able to do both.

Now that Si has flown the coop, it’s time for me to get back into the groove of writing. I did manage to write some over the weekend, but not enough to feel like I’m back on track. I have a lot of ground to make up for the last two weeks if I’m still gonna try to push thru a rough draft in two months. I can still do it, I just have to force my butt in the chair and write.

It’ll take me a week or so to adjust to my “empty nest”. With Si here, if the boys started fighting, he would just ask, “Can I go beat them up?” and I would say, “sure.” and then before you know it, they were too busy fighting off Simon to worry about each other. And that was always fun to watch. LOL Ian had a hard time adjusting from being big brother to middle brother. Rader didn’t care one way or another. It was just someone else for him to beat up on and tease.

We all miss you, Si.

Well, Simon is officially gone. He should’ve landed sometime around 7:00 this morning his time, which would’ve been 1:00 am our time. He stayed awake all night Saturday, hoping to sleep on the long trip home and be fairly awake by the time he arrived in Birmingham.

I believe the first two things he had on his to do list were: Eat a Mars bar and find a hot dog vendor and get a proper English hot dog.

Hope he was able to do both.

Now that Si has flown the coop, it’s time for me to get back into the groove of writing. I did manage to write some over the weekend, but not enough to feel like I’m back on track. I have a lot of ground to make up for the last two weeks if I’m still gonna try to push thru a rough draft in two months. I can still do it, I just have to force my butt in the chair and write.

It’ll take me a week or so to adjust to my “empty nest”. With Si here, if the boys started fighting, he would just ask, “Can I go beat them up?” and I would say, “sure.” and then before you know it, they were too busy fighting off Simon to worry about each other. And that was always fun to watch. LOL Ian had a hard time adjusting from being big brother to middle brother. Rader didn’t care one way or another. It was just someone else for him to beat up on and tease.

We all miss you, Si.

Farewell, Simon. We’ll miss you.

In seven weeks, I’ll get to spend some time with Grant, and then I’ll have to say my goodbyes to him as well.

Grant called late last night (actually, early this morning) with the intention of leaving me a phone message. I answered it because I was still up. He told me his parents are coming over his last week here and he’s very excited because we will get to meet. He said part of the reason they’re coming is because they want to meet us to thank us for taking such good care of him this summer. I can’t tell you how humbling that is and how much that fillls my heart.

As hokey as it sounds, these lads were dropped into our lives for a reason. A little piece of my heart breaks each tim they leave, and this time will be especially hard because they’ll be thousands of miles away. As much as it pains me to let them go (cuz face it, I’m a selfish bitch and want to keep them) (my apologies to their real mums) I am so glad we had our time together.

Next year can’t get here quick enough.

Love you, lads.

Farewell, Simon. We’ll miss you.

In seven weeks, I’ll get to spend some time with Grant, and then I’ll have to say my goodbyes to him as well.

Grant called late last night (actually, early this morning) with the intention of leaving me a phone message. I answered it because I was still up. He told me his parents are coming over his last week here and he’s very excited because we will get to meet. He said part of the reason they’re coming is because they want to meet us to thank us for taking such good care of him this summer. I can’t tell you how humbling that is and how much that fillls my heart.

As hokey as it sounds, these lads were dropped into our lives for a reason. A little piece of my heart breaks each tim they leave, and this time will be especially hard because they’ll be thousands of miles away. As much as it pains me to let them go (cuz face it, I’m a selfish bitch and want to keep them) (my apologies to their real mums) I am so glad we had our time together.

Next year can’t get here quick enough.

Love you, lads.

My week with Simon is almost over. It’s been a laid back time, no real late nights like before when he and Grant were here together. Which is good. As much as I wished both lads were here together, part of me is equally happy to get them one at a time. A: I couldn’t keep up with the two of them now that school is back B: It gives me some quality time with them alone. Good lads. Both of them.

15 things I learned from a Brummie:

1. There is no such thing as too much Mountain Dew.
2. SpagBol is short for spaghetti bolognese.
3. Strawberry Jam sandwiches are good any time of the day or night.
4. Snickers bars are no replacement for Mars Bars.
5. Birds are girls
6. Pulling a bird has nothing to do with turkey legs.
7. American women (even proper girls) will do almost anything for an English/Scottish accent. Even a Brummie accent.
8. Chips are fries. Crisps are chips.
9. Wet willies are the best torture device ever.
10. You can’t be a cock without being cocky. But you can be cocky without being a cock.
11. The weapons of mass destruction are located wherever he goes.
12. The best way to pull a bird is to make her laugh. (which I thought was a closely guarded secret by us birds, but he’s figured it out)
13. Y’all is the most terrible word ever. *rolling eyes*
14. Family is everything to him.
15. Even if “Brummie” is the worst accent in the world, I’ll always have a soft spot in my heart for it.