Hi everyone!

It’s Mommy Monday!

Did anyone else have a “bah, humbug” holiday season???

I sure did… and it was BAAAAAAAD!  In fact, it was so bad, that I actually canceled our annual family Christmas get-together for the first time in over 25 years!

Even though I knew it wouldn’t be the same without having the extended family together in one place for Christmas, the boys were going through an extremely difficult “rough patch” and I just really needed a break… especially after the “kiddie-brawl” we had on Thanksgiving Day!

I am DETERMINED that THIS is going to finally be MY year… but, so far, 2016 hasn’t started out much better.  Other than being a new year, nothing’s really new… it’s just more of the same!

Since the beginning of the year (only 25 short days ago!), I’ve had…

… ELEVEN appointments for Jimmy & Jeff,

… TEN losing billion dollar Power Ball tickets,

… EIGHT days of waiting for the insurance company to decide whether or not Jimmy actually NEEDED the new medication his doctor prescribed… TWICE!

(I seriously entertained the thought of calling them and insisting that since they CLEARLY have more medical knowledge than his physician, perhaps he should be in THEIR care while they “ponder” that decision.  I GUARANTEE it wouldn’t take them 8 days to figure it out!),

… SEVEN trips to the store and STILL kept coming home without the one item I always manage to forget to put in my cart,

… SIX items stolen at a New Year’s Day auction,

… FIVE calls from the school (3 of which were FYI calls, and 2 “PLEASE COME PICK UP YOUR CHILD… NOW!” calls),

… TWO days of worrying and frantically searching for a missing teenager (who is thankfully now back at home with his mom… SAFE and SOUND!),

… ONE costly repair bill for a broken washing machine,

… ONE broken vacuum cleaner belt (naturally it broke immediately after I accidentally dumped the contents of the vacuum onto the carpet!),

and

… ONE huge hole in a closet door made by an angry child wielding a large roll of paper (yes, PAPER!!!).

Heck, all of that and I didn’t even get a partridge in a pear tree!

But, I DID get HALF of a rabbit carcass left right outside my back door (an obvious a trophy… courtesy of my golden retriever!).

Of course, this is in addition to all of the routine stuff around here that seems to quickly zap whatever energy I can muster on a daily basis… cleaning, cooking, shopping, laundry, arguing over whose week it is to clean the litter box and why homework needs to be done right AFTER school and NOT at bedtime, and the struggle of trying to squeeze in the time to concentrate on getting my semi-new business off the ground.

Oh…. and, let’s not forget about the never-ending “perks” of having a set of 12-year-old twin boys who are obviously going through some not-so-pleasant changes!  At this point, with all of their constant bickering, primping, arguing, and emotional outbursts… I can honestly say they are worse than raising GIRLS!

To top it all off… I once again made a resolution to quit the nasty and costly habit of smoking… especially since my insurance company is making it very hard for me NOT to try.

Not only would eliminating this habit put a crap-ton of money back into our checking account, but our weekly insurance premiums will be cut in HALF… just by going through the smoking cessation program.

It sure seems like a WIN/WIN situation!

They even assigned a cessation “coach” who will call me every few weeks to see how the “plan” is working and to help me develop some alternative “stress reliever” techniques.

Alternative stress reliever techniques… Hahahahaha!

I can’t wait to see what she comes up with.  Gum???  Exercise??? Meditation???  Busy work???

If I’m really lucky, maybe she’ll suggest medication… or a much-needed vacation… or even drinking!!!

Then again, I’d probably forget to put that in my shopping cart, too!

Enjoy!

Lynn