Just call me Ms. Stress this week

So, the Diva and Hotdog came back from Grandma's house this weekend and things went pretty smoothly for a few days (which is rare - whenever they come home, they need a day or two to unwind and settle down into their routines again). I spoke too soon though -- last night (Tuesday night) it broke loose. I picked them up from childcare and they started physically fighting in the parking lot. After getting them into the car (finally), I suggested they were displaying behaviors of a visit from The SuperNanny (not our friend, rather, the one on TV). Didn't work. I had to stop to pick up Girl Scout Cookies on the way home and figured they would settle down in the car. Wrong. They continued fighting until the younger one stuck a DVD into the DVD player in the ceiling and it got stuck. It started making this horrible sound of a stuck DVD trying to eject (you know the one I mean). So the 8 year old comes out to tattle and then the 6 year old really went nuts. More fighting, this time in the driveway of the cookie mom. I finally get them (and the cookies) home and start to work on sorting cookies into orders. In short order, I had to send both kids to their rooms (still fighting). As hotdog got into his room he shouted from the other side "Don't you dare open my &%#@ door". Not being prepared to accept that, I decided it was time for him to learn what soap tasted like (a first for him). I didn't get any in his mouth (by design), just on his cheek and his lips. Nevertheless, he started sputtering and choking and screaming that he was dying. Then he took his clothes off and rolled around the floor - crying that he was choking and the soap was caught in his throat! Mind you, this is my good child - the one that usually settles down easily and cooperates! So, I finally had him settled down and then he wanted to help sort Girl Scout Cookies (naked). I let him, and in between managed to get dinner on the table and the garbage wrapped (it was garbage night). Near the end of the cookie sorting (and bagging/labeling) we found we were 4 boxes short (and miraculously, 4 extra of different kinds). You know what that means? Yep, we put some wrong cookies in some orders. So, we had to start at the beginning and recheck every order (115 boxes of orders). At this point I decided to take a break and see if I could stop the DVD from trying to eject, figuring it might wear down my battery and then I couldn't get to work in the morning. No such luck. So, I went back to the cookies and some more fighting (this time with me though - not the 8 year old sister). Now, the 6 year old wanted something else and started throwing a fit when I said no. Having enough of his unusual behavior I asked him "haven't you done enough damage tonight"? He kind of ignored me and settled down for a while. I had to call The Queen to see what cookies we delivered - she noted the stress in my voice and decided to come down to help. By the time she got there - the Diva and I had found the errors (in the last orders we checked) and had them packaged up. The Queen helped me load them into the car and then work on the DVD. We spent some time at it and got close, but no cigar.
Sigh.
Soon The Queen had to leave, but I felt calmer and ready to deal with the rest of the night. Out went the garbage. Then I unloaded the dishwasher and washed the dinner dishes. Then I got the 6 year old in the bath (which went smoothly for a change). Then we started in on the homework. Finally, it was time for bed and when I asked him to go to bed, the 6 year old said "OK, I'll go, I guess I've done enough damage tonight".
When they finally got into bed, The Queen sent the Cabana Boy down to see if he could help with the DVD player. He futzed with it a while - and then we decided just to take our chances. I finally went to sleep - exhausted and a little stressed.
The good news? When I got up - the car started and I was able to go to work. I think that's the good news - kind of hard to say - this was the last day for several thousand at my Company - so that had it's own stress associated with it. But, that's a different entry for sometime soon. Gotta go pick up the kids from church right now.

In preparation for the upcoming Blog Meeting Down South

Last year, I took The Diva and Hotdog down South to visit Mr. Right and June (and The SuperNanny, Bullet, Thumper, and The Babe) over Easter.


This is Mr. Right with The Babe - sitting out on the lanai after a hard day's work (ok, at least a partial day's work and then some easy babysitting). At first I wondered (when I heard it) how he had the energy to babysit so often - and then I saw how much energy he really had to put into it. If she squeaked, all he had to do was pick her up and sit with her and she would be happy for hours. Wish The Diva had been that easy!


To the right we have me (Miss Perfect, regardless of whatever The Queen says) with Thumper. We had all gone out to dinner downtown and then to the SkyBar to celebrate. Mr. Right started drunk dialing then - calling everyone from the old neighborhood (his old, my current). I don't think anyone picked up, could be that they were on to us.





We also went to a few beaches while we were down there. This one was a favorite. The Diva seemed to think she was a real diva as she sat under the umbrella with her juice box, hat and sunglasses!


We went to visit the 'kids' in their new house (where we brought the food, the plates, the drinks, the dish soap, the . . . ). Here June is chatting it up with HotDog while The Diva gets ready to feed the Babe. It was actually a decent dinner (Miss Perfect made Deviled Eggs too - albeit Brie Hodges has NOTHING to worry about!).

We got a tour of the house and I learned a lot about living down south (some pretty big spiders and other critters when you live near a wooded area down there!). Below we have The Bullet and Mr. Right taking a break from cooking on the grill - yep, really hard work there guys! Seriously, you should slow down (LOL).





This year we are holding our Bloggers Meeting down there - bringing The Queen, Cabana Boy and the family with us too. Sure hope you all start blogging before we get there. That would be kind of a drag - to have to teach you how to blog at the Bloggers meeting!

Can't wait to see you all (The SuperNanny is below!). I know you've added a few more members to the clan down there - should be a rockin meeting!

Downtown Construction

In 2004, to keep us all occupied on the anniversary of the death of our beloved Cubbie (father of The Diva and HotDog, pictured above with Huggles), The Queen's family and my family went to the zoo for a day of togetherness. Below is The Queen with her Cabana Boy for a rare smile together (LOL).

Above is the LittleJihada carrying HotDog on her shoulders through the acquariam. It was kind of kool. So anyway, the zoo was an hour away and we were all quite tired when we got back. The Queen and I decided to go downtown to get us all something to eat (it had been a long day and we were all very hungry). We had to park and walk around to find some place that was still open and we finally found a Panera bread. We got our food (or did we? I might be making that up - I can't remember if we ever got food or ended up having to go somewhere else). Anyway, on the way back to the car, we were talking (and dragging cuz we were so tired) and all of a sudden I saw stars and started stumbling back a bit. Turns out I had walked into a construction sign (on poles big enough for me to walk through and under, kind of). The sign warned of construction - but the diamond corner caught me right in the head and stopped all forward progress. The crowds, sitting at the outdoor seating of the local restaurants all got real quiet for a moment (aside from the whispered "oooh, that had to hurt) and then The Queen burst out into laughter so hard I thought she was going to pee her pants.( CORRECTION Posted by the Queen : She DID pee her pants. Remember, I was concerned about sitting in your car afterwards.) Nice sympathy. So for the rest of the walk to the car (a few blocks), all of those walking near us had to share their stories of similar stupid moves and the mortification that went with them (like simply walking into the sign wasn't bad enough). I have to admit, my head was a bit numb, and I was just thankful I didn't get caught between the poles and have to be carried off on a flatbed, stuck in the sign. Nice place for a sign by the way. Oh well, I've had worse (stay tuned).

Troll Hunters

Hi folks this my very first post as a blogger. I want to share a cool concept that Hazy discovered while bowhunting last fall over the bridge and through the woods with Mr. Right and Hazy. This is Hazy sitting in the perfect blind for those ball baby newphews that go hunting but need assistance going to the toilet. So don't worry Dad those ball babies won't have to call you no more on the two way untill it's time to wipe their ass. You can get a few extra crucial minutes into your hunt while the pampered youth sits in this very comfortable out-house.

Mr. Right and Hazy enjoying a nice October hunt and the last bottles of Labatts beer to be found in the county.

Me and Mr. Right posing in the back of the house of his friends who were kind enough to let us hunt on their property. That deserves a high five for kindness.

Raising the Bar

I really have to give some credit to Cabana Boy. He has gone from a man afraid to move an electric outlet to one who puts in new circuits just for the fun of it. He has been working his tail off here at The Palace. I don't think that he will rest until the Palace basement surpasses that of Mr Right's former basement. The Stewarts live there now and I have only been down there once. I think the bar Mr. Right built doesn't have anything stronger than Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream these days. It definitely is a whole different place than when Mr Right and June lived there with Thumper and Bullet and all the comings and goings of The Nanny and Ped, The Family Man, Gabby Junior, Peanut. My gosh my head is spinning thinking back on all the comings and goings and door slammings going on over there. Oh I think that a lot of posts may get dedicated to trying to recall some of the many happenings in that basement. Aaanywho, I digress, I was sharing what a hard working man the Cabana Boy is. Take a look at his latest :

Before

After

Mr Right may have had a big screen and a bar but did he have a fine, built in stone fireplace?

Parking in Auto City during the big countdown

The kids are up north for the week, so I decided to go out with a few friends from work (Henry's Horselss Carraige Company) to say good-bye to one of our good friends. The city was hopping, all kinds of people walking around and going to going-away parties as many prepare to leave (mostly voluntarily at this point). So, parking was a bit of a challenge. I chose to park a few blocks away, leaving myself plenty of room and not minding the walk. I pulled up in front of the meter and fed it enough coins to last a few hours, just in case. After chatting for awhile, I came out to go home and work on our new blog. Police cars were crawling all over the parking lots and streets. It was kind of interesting. Anway, I walked up to the car and noticed a piece of paper on my windshield. Sure enough, it was a ticket. Couldn't figure it out until I noticed I was parked right in front of both meters, yes, that would be centered right on the yellow line. Lined up perfectly, right over it. And look, now I have a prize for it - a $40 ticket! I could have sworn it was the other guy's fault though, I am sure I parked right next to another car. . . (OK, I might be making that one up - but it is making me feel better about being so clueless).
So anyway, I think the next week or two or going to be more of the same. All kinds of people walking around, some happy about moving on to their next work adventure or retirement, some a little apprehensive, and some just downright in a daze. I'll keep you posted about the goings on in AutoCity over the next few weeks, maybe.

What we remember

OK, so here's the plan. We're going to share memories with our friends and neighbors that have now moved away (you'll understand why they moved when we are done). This is a way to keep them from completely escaping us though - I know they can't resist links. This way, by the way, there will be a factual record of what happened, not those crazy made up stories Mr. Right comes up with.

Some of the memories we'll dredge back up from the archives of our minds will include the Going Away party for Mr. & Mrs. Nice Guy and the Welcome party for The Queen and The Cabana Boy (OK, that last one might be blank - I guess we either forgot to welcome them, or we just tried to ignore the whole situation, sigh); we'll remember the Chinese Take-Out incident, Taking a walk around the downtown near us (construction was aggressive); we'll talk about the Graduation Party (oh sure the cops on the bikes just happened to be riding by at 1:00am!); we'll talk about the old times with Cubby and his escapades in child care (God rest his soul); we'll share the highlights and the lowlights and then just share the latest happenings. You know, life here on Mad Street didn't just return to normal when you all left. HHmm, wonder if the problem could be us?? And of course, we sure can't leave out the neighborhood pranks. What would a blog be without some good pranks in it. We'll even share pictures - like the 'good-bye' picture shown here. Mr. Right, can you recognize yourself?

The Guilty

I wonder how many of these people you will be able to recognize by their alias.

The Queen (aka BBB- Bee-och)
Cabana Boy (aka Capn')
Princess Jihada
Huggles
Miss Perfect (aka Mrs Mean)
Cubby
Diva
Hot Dog
Mr Right
June
Mama and Papa Right
The Family Man
Gabby
Junior
Peanut
Super Nanny
The Babe
Puppy
Bullet
Ped
Stew
The Kid
Thumper
Mr. Suds
Coyote (The Lost Boy or The Wanderer)
Martha Stewart
Mr. Stewart
Napoleon
The Coed
Captain Underpants
Mrs Clean
Sprout
Mommie Dearest
Gramps
Mr Nice Guy
Mrs Nice Guy
Gordie Howe
Tommy Dearest
Mr Wrong. Very Very Wrong
The Rebel Lesbian
The Saint
Mama Saint
Flatlanded Loser
Hazy
Raizie Kay
Ooh Rah
Cowgirl
Mr Big

I think that that is just about everyone that we might expect to meet in the classic stories. If we have forgotten anyone, rest assured that we WILL come up with a name for you before we post about you.

At Long Last

Miss Perfect and I finally put our heads together and decided to create this blog. Now we can all easily keep in touch as well as recall all those stories that have been created over the years. In the end we are going to publish it into that book that we always talked about. Then we will all get filthy rich and retire to Easy Street where we will begin the making of "The Mad Street Chronicles Continue". Don't worry, we have changed all y'all's names in our stories in order to protect the guilty.