1. If you have two dogs, and two kids who often clog the toilet, you’re going to be dealing with a lot of poop.

2. I cried yesterday because a little boy was nice to my son. Never underestimate the power of teaching your child to be a good friend.

3. I like to wear my size 11, orange Crocs…mostly just to embarrass my daughter, who calls them my “clown shoes”.

4. Insomnia is slowly killing me.

5. The LOST season finale was Wednesday night and I am kind of freaking out about what I’m going to do when the series ends next year.

6. Freaking out about a TV show going off the air is pretty sad.

7. I am reading an advance copy of “Rage Against the Meshugenah”. A raw look at male depression by Danny Evans from Dad Gone Mad. A book which made me laugh AND cry in the prologue.

8. You should buy that book.

9. A puppy with a UTI is really hard to housetrain.

10. Dogs will take any pill as long as it’s wrapped in cheese.

11. I like beer.

12. My husband works really hard and very long hours.

13. I miss my husband.

14. I will be 38 in a couple of weeks and realized I have been telling people that I’m 38 for the last year.

15. I love my little blog.

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I often talk about how far my son has come and how tenacious he is. Sometimes I am blown away by how many things from which he has bounced back. But, he isn’t the only person I know who has managed to succeed when faced with insurmountable struggles. My cousin, Shrevie, has been through some very hard times.

When he was just a kid, Shrevie got kicked in the head by a mule. I don’t remember it, because Shrevie is quite a bit older than me, but I’ve heard the story a million times. For some reason, he was trying to braid the mule’s tail when it reared up and kicked him right in the forehead. Shrevie was knocked unconscious. He awoke two days later with crossed eyes and a lisp.

Because the kids teased him, Shrevie took to sports to prove himself. He started out as the team manager, fetching water and towels for the high school kids. When they finally gave him a chance, Shrevie gave it his all as a kicker. Despite his crossed eyes, he managed to punt the ball 20 yards!

Unfortunately, that wasn’t good enough for Ohio State, where he dreamed of going to college. But, as luck would have it, Texas was quite interested. Ironically, because so many children in Texas get kicked in the head by mules, Shrevie wasn’t the only one on the team who sometimes ran the wrong way down the field.

This is me and Shrevie back in the day…just before he left for school. Just look at how happy he was. Someone had just given him a Member’s Only jacket.

Shrevie is married with kids now. He unfortunately took another hit to his eye in what he refers to as Pea-Shootpalooza, but he is doing well. He left Texas years ago and is trying to find his way back to Ohio. No one has the heart to tell him that our fine state isn’t in the Mid-Atlantic, but we feel confident he’ll make it home someday.

Oh, and this post? Is nothing but a big, fat, cross-eyed joke on NukeDad. NukeDad, you’ve been blunked. Here, let me break that down for you…that’s blog punked. Even if you’re my hero, you are still due some paybacks. And apparently, I’m not the only one who thinks you needed this.

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Yesterday morning, I tested my level of parenting endurance when the school where I work said they needed me to leave my second grade class for the day and go on my son’s field trip. Thirty kindergartners, a city bus, a downtown transfer and an imminent rainstorm, all at the ripe hour of 8:00 AM.

First, we missed our bus. Then as we stood waiting for the next one to arrive, my son tugged on my arm to tell me he had to poop. Of course.

I did what any self-respecting mother would do and said, “I don’t know what to tell you. You’re going to have to just shove it back up in there.”

On the bus, we met lots of colorful characters. At one point, I mentioned to my son that our new puppy would likely pee in her cage because we would be gone so long, to which he replied, “I bet she will. I can kind of smell her pee right now.” No sweetie, that’s the guy standing next to me.

After the field trip, we waited an eternity for the bus to take us back downtown. We were in a lovely area of Columbus, affectionately referred to as “The Bottoms”. There was lots of trash for the kids to play with and some delightful graffiti for our emerging readers. Something about someone’s mom and a particular body part.

On the bus trip home, I can’t decide if it was more fun to stand for half the ride, or whether it was watching my son’s “buddy” touch the bottom of his shoes and then hold my son’s hand as we walked back to school in the rain. When we finally got back to our car, I just went ahead and had my boy drink some hand-sanitizer.

After arriving home, I spent over an hour on the phone (45 minutes of that on hold) trying to find a baker who can make a Mario cake for my son’s birthday party this weekend. Sorry kid, you’re getting Matchbox cars.

Then, I cleaned pee out of the puppy’s cage. Not from when we were gone for four hours in the morning, but from when I put her in there for 15 minutes so I could do some laundry. Which, makes perfect sense. Oh, and she learned how to climb the steps, so now I have two levels of house on which to chase her.

And, for the icing on the cake? I found my son had etched a self-portrait into our mahogany dining room table.

Some days, there just isn’t enough wine.

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After one sleepless night, one ruined laptop cord, wood floors which have sustained three pees, two poops and one vomit, and after our 11 year old dog, Blue, has done a lot of growling and huffing about because Daisy thinks her ears are a chew toy….it was especially nice to wake up today and see them being snuggle buddies.

Daisy is lucky that she’s so cute.

Note: In the time it took me to post this, I’ve cleaned up one more pee and a vomit. She’s really, really lucky that she’s so cute.

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