Yay! school starts Tuesday!

Happier words can't be uttered in my household lately.  The boys are driving me to the brink of insanity with the constant craziness, fighting and general sassiness.  The last couple of weeks I've gone into "Nazi Mamma" mode with a general crackdown on all electronics - code to the TV was changed as sneaky Sonny Boy had figured it out (no doubt by watching his grandma who never even bothers to cover the keypad) and after a session of playing Wii last week and not returning games and remotes to their proper places I went bonkers and completely unplugged the Wii from the TV and hid it in my bedroom closet under a pile of winter sweaters with the commandment it will not be unearthed for a week.  I have also gone beyond bonkers when smarted off to and the edict of "I don't want to hear it, go to your room" is uttered 10 times a day.

What really makes me sad is that kindergarten kids have a staggered start date (so they only have to deal with about 1/3 of clueless 5 year olds at a time) so Igor doesn't really start until Thursday, but after that it's game on.

Last few weeks have been more than a little busy.  After receiving news that Father-in-Law has lost 8 more lbs in about a three week span we decided a trip north was in order so we traveled up last weekend for a few days.  It was a nice little get away and Father-in-Law was able to snooze in the shade at the lake while the kids played and go along on an expedition to a wildlife preservation thing - I'll post more on that later.   Hubby is going to sneak up alone in a couple of weeks as it may coincide with a work trip. 

The family trips north will likely slow down a little with school starting and Sonny Boy playing football.  It's difficult to pull him from a game when the team only has a couple of extra kids, a couple of missing players and they'd have to forfeit which isn't fair for the other kids.  Of course if things are dire it won't matter and I've already spoken to Sonny Boy's coach about the situation and he's understanding of course.

I signed Mom and I up for the gym here in town.  After two trips I can tell this isn't going to work quite like I thought.  The first trip went fine, I walked her through how to use the machines, etiquette - wipe 'em down etc - and what she should be basically doing.  The second trip, I pushed her a little harder on the treadmill, showed her how to use some of the machines we had skipped over and she even upped the weights on her own.  The strange part is that she refuses to shower.  I kinda get she's not fond of the locker rooms, but frankly they are pretty nice.  The last trip on Saturday she said "I'll shower when I get home"  yeah right, she never did.  Today she didn't either.  So I know she hasn't showered or bathed since Friday.  REALLY?  The only excuse for not showering daily over the age of puberty is some sort of disability that makes bathing very difficult or dangerous to do on your own and she's not in that category.  Even is she were the showers at the gym are WAY easier to navigate than our old claw foot tub with the shower curtain ring around it.  Heck there is even a handicapped stall with a bench if she wants to use it.  I can't really decide if she's embarrassed to be nude in front of other women (which honestly she looks like a swimsuit model compared to most of them) or if there is some bizarre fear or laziness to actually bathing/showering and getting dressed daily like everyone else in the world.  I keep telling her when winter sets in she's not going to want to venture out in sweaty clothes and climb into a cold car, particularly when she hasn't an ounce of body fat for insulation.

I type this though in part as an example of the kind of stuff that drives me bats.  Some of it I realize is her depression, but honestly I think some of it is just plain old lazy.  Mom has another appointment with her doctor soon and I'll discuss another adjustment to her depression meds.  I don't know that Mom actually has an idea of what it feels like to live a normal life anymore and have an interest in anything.  The only thing she has expressed any interest for horseback riding which if I could afford it I would be doing myself.  Certainly she can come up with some sort of hobby that doesn't take a rich man's pocketbook to fund.  Cripes, scrap booking, knitting, crochet, sewing, cake decorating (even better on that one as I have much of the stuff) it seems she could find SOMETHING besides reading the freebie kindle downloads that are 99% drivel.  The only thing she seems interested in reading, which sure isn't bad, I read a lot too, but you gotta come up and enter the real world occasionally as well and I feel reading is her way to escape.

I plan on the new school year bringing lots of changes to the general running of the household.  How well it all pans out it yet to be seen.  The first few weeks I'm going to spend getting the house in order, closets cleaned out, some deep cleaning done, kids rooms thinned of junk - easier to do when they are not around- and that sort of thing.  I also have plans to curb the morning chaos by laying out the kids school outfits a week in advance and have a start on that project but I suspect Sonny Boy has specific plans for what he want to wear the first day of school, he's suddenly become fashion conscience on me.  Chore charts will have to the re-done as I don't see Sonny Boy having time to finish his more time consuming chores on days of football practice and scouts.  I'm debating making Mom a chore chart as well because frankly I'm tired of being the maid around here.  Honestly the boys do more chores than Mom does, and the ones Mom does do usually require a specific request and get done half assed even worse than the kids would have done them.

Gosh, just went back and read this and realized it's all a real bitch session.  Can you tell I'm in less than a good mood?  Ha!  Like Hubby's 92 year old Grandma told me the other day "Everybody's got problems, you just don't know what they are."  She's right, and sure some of my problems are beyond trivial, I get that and I get that this is just a crappy chapter in our lives we have to keep plugging away at.  This blog is my outlet, the place where I come to scream in words and thoughts, the place where I can unload the clutter of my mind so I can sleep without the crazy storm of worry that keeps me awake.  The place I can get stuff off of my chest and not burden Hubby with my craziness, because I figure with his father sick, a crazy mother-in-law living with him, and a job that requires smoothing over aggravated people and figuring out their problems he's stressed enough.

Well it's well after midnight, some thoughts are down, maybe I'll sleep.  Forgive the huge grammar mistakes or whatever.  I'll try to post some of the more interesting pictures of the last couple of weeks as soon as I can get them off of our phones - amazing never having a camera around anymore.