Maybe it's the weather. Maybe part of it has to do with the fact that with the car suddenly not acting right, Honey has been using the van which has, for the past three weeks, left me in the house bound for basically 488 hours out of a possible 504 hours that occurs in a three week period. Yes, I am now starting to count the frickin' hours. Maybe part of it has to do with the fact that I want to just turn up the music sooo loud that it would make the windows vibrate and yet I can't because living so close to others (namely Mom C and Papa, although at this point if I turned it up as loud as I wish, our nearest neighbors could probably enjoy it as well!) would intrude on their boundaries, which is making my insides tremble with frustration.

Obviously, I'm not in the best of moods. For whatever reason, I feel very materialistic, snotty and pushy today. Today, not even a ranting tirade is worth it because I know it will change nothing. But somehow just knowing that I have that option at least do so makes me feel better .

Actually, maybe I'll go dye my hair that chocolate cherry color that has been sitting in my closet for quite awhile. That will be a bit of a change. And there could possibly be the problem... I need a bit of a change from normal today....

With that in mind, I still leave you a ....

because you'll all very sweet to put up with me!!!

Cheers! ~MacKenzie

I can't tell you how much, sometimes, motherhood drives me insane! Obviously, that's not to say I don't absolutely adore my children. They are great girls, if I do say so myself. I may not always like what they do, but they have carved their initials upon my heart like no other. So maybe it would be better to say that it's the Responsibility of motherhood that makes me want to jump off a cliff. And sometimes, the kids just don't make it any easier, either.

Last night, Pumpkin came to me and asked why on earth I hadn't called her best friend's mom to finalize the slumber party this weekend. ummmm..... er.... "WHAT slumber party?" Apparently the slumber party that she and her friends at school had arranged. And not only for Friday night, but Saturday night as well!!! Only they left out a few key ingredients..... first of all, our permission. The other two girls have asked their parents, and apparently they were given a tentative Yes. They were waiting for me to call with the details. (gulp...)

I think what may have happened is that Pumpkin heard her father and I talking about various possibilities on how to make her birthday at the end of the month a little special. A slumber party with the girls in her class was one of them. Bowling and pizza was another, but sure... she didn't focus in on THAT one....

I can't tell you how bad I felt. To watch her go through the range of emotions, knowing that if only I had just said Yes, she would have been happy. And if it was just her best friend, who we had here off and on over the summer, I would have agreed to Friday night, no problem. But then her other classmate would have felt left out and I KNOW that feeling. I know what it's like to be on the sidelines looking in; I just couldn't do it to this other little girl.

Pumpkin and Brit (Think B-F-F type of deal with these two) get along wonderfully! They have a lot in common and their personalities bounce off each other in a positive manner. This other little girl, Anne, ummm... how do I say it? Well, she's always gotten her way. She has a temper, she doesn't like to compromise and her way is the only way. More than once Pumpkin has come home upset because Anne yelled at her, told her she didn't like her and wasn't going to be her friend anymore only, the next day to pretend like nothing every happened. Pumpkin is a lot like me.... we just want clear, concise words, feelings, emotions... This is how it is or isn't, no running around wishy washy, no mind games. And ABSOLUTELY no changing the "contract" mid-stream without our knowing. Once we figure out there's a change, there's sure to be problems following....

Mom C had Brit and Anne over for a craft day with Pumpkin a few times and her observations, too seem to run more with my feeling that although Anne is a good kid, Brit and Pumpkin.... just click.

"But you can't say no, you CAN'T! They will be mad at me!"

As a mom, my heart goes out to her, truly. At the same time, I KNOW I can't deal with a slumber party this weekend. Honey has to work this Saturday and me, alone dealing with 5 girls running around the house??? Sometime I have a hard enough time dealing with the three I have, let alone adding to the number.

This morning I sat down and personally wrote a note to each of the girls, hoping that they would see me as the bad guy. I told them both that perhaps one can come over this Saturday and the next Saturday the other one can. I hope that works. If it does, then maybe one night during February break we might do the whole slumber party thing. At least then we'll have time to do it up right.

Meanwhile, my other two are constantly presenting challenges that baffle and perplex my simple mind. It's rare that I feel a step ahead of them. Fortunately, as much as they drive me crazy, they also make me laugh soooo hard. Their antics are just absolutely unbelievable...... How WILL I be able to deal with the quietness when they got to school in September?



Somehow, I have the great foreboding that this whole parent thing will get a lot worse before it gets any better!!!! ( I mean, three emotional teen girls in the house... Yikes!!!) But for today.... I'm just not going to think about tomorrow.....



Cheers! ~MacKenzie

Actually, it's a Photobucket morning, but the sentiment's the same....










...for those of you who have little ones to wake up, that is...


errr.... well, maybe I'll skip the oatmeal and just have toast instead....




Okay, okay fine... you caught me. On a Monday morning, it's true... the feeling of my hand on Honey's hot soapy wet skin probably isn't going to happen.. but I can dream, darn it!!!


How silly, isn't it... Well, as my Mom and Nana are coming over later, jeans and a pull over it is!!!


Bye, Honey and Pumpkin! Have a great day!

ah... a few moments to myself and the ...COMPUTER, and some very special angels who always brighten my day!!!



And now, not only do I have a silly little Monkey to pick up after, but a Parrot, a Pumpkin and their should know better Daddie....

Cheers, my sweets! Happy Monday! ~MacKenzie

It's the Twelfth Day of Christmas--the end of the Christmas Season.... referred by some as Epiphany and in Ireland known as "...Nollaig na mBan (Women's Christmas), so called because of the tradition (still very strong in Cork, though only just surviving in the rest of the country) of Irish men taking on all the household duties on that day and giving their spouses a day off. Most women will either hold parties or go out to celebrate the day with their friends, sisters, mothers, aunts etc. Bars and restaurants have a near 100 percent female clientele on this night. Children often buy presents for their mothers and grandmothers, and it closely resembles Mother's Day. While originally a rural tradition, in recent years, Nollaig na mBan is enjoying something of a revival, both in urban areas in Ireland and Britain, as well as in emigrant communities in North America, Australia, and New Zealand." (quoted from Wikipedia...) How lucky are those Moms!!!

It also marks the end of the holiday season here in the MacKenzie household. Today we will carefully pack our ornaments and take down the tree. Down will come the swags over the windows. The Santas, the Christmas angels, the nativity will be dusted one final time before being carefully stored. It always makes me sad. The house always seems so BARE with it all gone.

Secretly, one ornament will purposely be left out and placed somewhere in sight for the rest of the year as a reminder that Christmas is truly never gone. I don't know if Honey realizes I do that every year. He's never said anything one way or the other. I just can't have it completely gone from sight. It's just my own secret little tradition that I carried on after my father's passing all those years ago. (He passed on December 1993.)

I remember going into the post office (that's where he worked my teen years and onward) as early as October and he'd be whistling a Christmas tune. "Dad! You CAN'T do that! People will think you're crazy!" "Well, let them think it then....." Hmmmm. I've never thought of it before, but maybe that's part of the reason I hate the closure of the season so much. I always feel so close to him over the holidays. It's one of those bitter sweet deals. I mean, I know he's with me the rest of the year, too, but at Christmas, some how it's different, that's all.

I was very, very blessed to have the sort of Dad I had. He knew how to deal with his ever wandering daughter and somehow always let her retain her pride and independence in the end. He took the opportunity to leave his military career when he did because he claimed he wanted to see at least one of his children grow up. He said I gave him more grey hair than he ever thought could be possible. (Little old me??? Never!!! )

I guess my post must abruptly come to an end. I certainly didn't intend for this to take the turn that it did and now most probably I will be lost in thought today. However, Honey just said he's about to start bring up the boxes from the basement. My stealth operation for Ornament 2008 will have to start very soon!!!

Cheers! ~MacKenzie

Song: Out of Sight



I admit, I haven't seen very many Hooverphonic videos, but those I have seen, the one above seems a little... tame. Hooverphonic is a Belgian rock group that formed in 1995.



Song: Mad About You



Actually, dear bloggers, it's been one of THOSE days. I don't mind saying that if the name of the song was Mad AT You, that would pretty much work for today. Fortunately, now that the kids have gone to bed, things are starting to quiet down. Honey and I, refusing to be the first to apologize to each other... , keep finding little things to talk about. "OH, look at that... (insert whatever here) on TV. What do you think of it?" "Can I get you something else to drink???" "Did you hear the joke about...???" Which means we both want to stop the backlashing at each other and go to bed happy and then after an hour or so fall asleep exhausted. How ridiculously predictable we are... No doubt about it, my husband is definitely my Grand Madness....

And with that, I exit stage right ----> before I get myself into trouble....

Cheers! ~MacKenzie