When did I get trapped in a movie?

I am living with Marley.

I'm not kidding. Shamrock is nuts. I feel like its never going to get better. She's been horrible this winter. I think she is suffering from the same cabin fever the kids get. Since she has no one to argue and fight with, she wreaks havoc upon my home.

Here's her latest:

That is my bedroom carpet. I've been wanting new, but I kinda figured I'd be able to pick WHEN I got it!

Next....

What's this you ask?

That would be the line that runs underground from my sump pump to the drain.

Why is it uncovered?

I betcha you can guess. . . That's right, Shamrock. After she pulled the hose out of the house we had to make a temporary fix. This is it:

Pretty, huh? Since the water dumps in the same place, it created a small hole which Shamrock has made increasingly larger. Now it is her personal, muddy watering hole.

This is what she looks like after she's been playing in the mess:

Still not convinced I'm living with Marley? Well, here's my couch:

She has been suffering from an undiagnosed bladder infection. Before the medication, she was up at least once during the night for a potty break. She could go 4 hours tops...at 10 months old. Since November, I have cleaned up more pee than when Caden was potty training! Thankfully after a few days of the medication, that's starting to get better. My bedroom hasn't been her personal toilet in about 3 days! Progress!!!

I've lost:

• curtains,
• pillows (bed and throw),
• a comforter,
• 2 blankets (including the one a college friend quilted for my wedding),
• endless rolls of toilet paper and kleenex,
• the kids homework (imagine writing that note to the teacher!),
• stuffed animals,
• barbies,
• shoes,
• webkinz (and those suckers are expensive),
• brushes
• my hardwood is warped in about 5 spots due to pee not caught quickly enough
• my (brand new) glass have bite marks and scratches
• my DEBIT CARD for God's sake! The little credit card slider thing at Target won't even accept it because of the bite mark!

(Notice how all this is plural??)

I've had enough!!! Even Guiness, the devil dog, was never this bad! The problem is she's so damn cute and snuggly. She knows when she's pushed you to the brink and then she turns her pretty golden eyes up at you and then the melting occurs.

Someday she's going to be a great dog...someday.

Someday can't come soon enough!!

Hope

I guess that is the one word that personifies how I feel today. Other people I know have been able to phrase all of this much more eloquently than I am able. I guess it feels to mushy for me, but today, I feel hopeful.

There is a new family in the White House. They are young and in touch with real people. They are not career politicians. They have a family and young children. I hope that they will be able to address the concerns that I have since they are in a similar position. (except for the mansion, the millions, the security....you get the idea! (= ) They worry about good schools, getting their girls into college, juggling a crazy life!

I have hope that other nations will no longer look at this country I love like the goo on the bottom of their shoes. I have hope that we will once again be admired around the world for our sense of justice and doing the right thing. I have confidence this country voted to do the right thing.

I do not have a sense of hope in the opposition. I know they will relentlessly attack, as they have already shown. I do not have hope that they will allow Obama to do the job he was elected to do. I fear they will strike him down at every opportunity, just because. I do not have hope that those that judge him by the color of his skin. I fear they will continue to do just that and use it as a weapon to try and tear him down.

I have hope that we as a country won't allow it to happen.

Good luck President Obama. I place my trust in you.

Just testing my new background.

Boy, Did I screw up!

So we've gone and done something I thought I would never do. (No Eileen, I'm no pregnant again!)

B and I have stepped in at school and our asking Meg to be transfered to another classroom for the rest of the year.

Oh Lord I hope I have done the right thing.

My heart is telling me I am, but my head is saying maybe we should have stuck it out a little longer.

The problem is that it isn't ME sticking it out. It's her. It's her that cries when it's time to go to school. It's her that is feeling beat down and unliked. It's her that is losing ground so fast that I'm afraid that there isn't enough time left in the school year to make it up.

It's all on her and her little 7 year old shoulders.

So it was time for mom and dad to step in. We put it off hoping things would get better. Hoping her real teacher would come back quickly. But circumstances this week have shown us that it doesn't matter if her teacher comes back in a week. The damage is done and we no longer have any confidence in that room...regardless of who is standing in front of it. Too much time wasted. Too many bad things and memories.

It is time for her to get a fresh start with someone who understands her and can help.

I feel so guilty. My Meg can be a bit of a drama queen. We thought a lot of this was an act or embellished but when the proof is looking you in the face, you have to believe. Could I, should I have done something sooner. We thought we were teaching her a life lesson about getting a long with different personalities, coping with difficult situations and making the best of it. But in the end, have we managed to really fuck her up?

I seriously wonder if she will be allowed to 3rd grade at this point. Is that my fault?

I guess I can only do the best I can with what I know now but it really doesn't feel like enough. I feel like I failed my little girl and my heart is breaking.

What kind of mother am I?

I'm embarassed

It's an embarassing day to be from Illinois, let alone Chicago. I like my city to be in the spotlight for good things like the White Sox winning the World Series, or the pending 2016 olympics.

Not for yet another corrupt freaking politician!

I voted for this jackass.

I defended him feeling that Mike Madigan was being unfair and running a game against Blagojevich as a favor to Blago's father in law (who detests him! That's gotta be saying something). But no. Instead, we have the biggest idiot ever running our state and making us a complete laughing stock of the rest of the country. (Though I imagine there are some states out there breathing a sigh of relief that it isn't them!)

I am afraid that this reflects poorly on Obama. I am praying he was in no way involved in this and is actually going to do what he says he will!

I fear that the IOC is thinking "Why in the hell would we give the olympics to a state that can't even control their own govenor!".

This sucks.

I want an apology and I want it now, not that it is going to make things any better.

But the sad thing is that there isn't one forthcoming. Blago is so full of himself he seems to have deluded himself into thinking he did nothing wrong. He said as much the day before his arrest. And he's showing it by the fact that he has said he will not resign.

Jerk.

It's embarassing to be from Illinois. . . from Chicago. . . and to be a democrat.

Jerk.

I'm not gloating or anything...

These are up all over downtown. Love it and couldn't resist taking a picture. This one is up on Randolph and Division, I think. Not so great with the streets downtown.

You better watch out...

Little B and I were standing by the front window waiting for the kids to come home from school. He turns and looks at me with his adorable little 4 year old face and says:

B - Is Santa watching me right now?

Me - Santa is watching you all the time. Why? Did you do something you don't want Santa to see?

B - *Shrug* (Will no longer look me in the eye)

Hmmm....

(Sorry about the sideways pic. Taken with an actual, honest to God film camera so it won't let me turn it! But I'm assuming you get the idea...)