Blueberry and Pie

Thought I would share a little Christmas story with you all tonight. About 6 years ago, Haden (7 years old I think) really wanted a hamster for Christmas. Well, boy did Santa come through! Santa went to a very reputable pet store (because elves can't "build" a rodent) and purchased a blueberry hamster. She looked pretty close to the ones pictured above. Santa had to hide the hamster in my closet for about a week before Christmas (yes, he delivered early because it's too cold to have a hamster on the sleigh all night). So, I took care of the little hamster all week and on Christmas Eve, I gently laid the cage under the lights of the tree. I was worried the cat might let her curiosity get the better of her, so I slept on the sofa, keeping guard. I woke in the middle of the night and looked over at the cage to see the wood chips moving around, like something was wiggling underneath. After a close inspection, I discovered 9 tiny pink babies! Mama had 9 babies Christmas Eve!!! Are you kidding me??? We now have TEN blueberry hamsters??? Thanks alot SANTA! Oh boy...

It gets worse. A day or so later, we count the babies... 1,2,3...7? And the next day, 1,2,3...4? I called the vet and said, "I know this is going to sound really dumb, but I think Mama hamster is eating her babies". The vet says they do that when they are stressed and they think they are protecting their young. So we left Mama alone and she finally swallowed 7 babies in all, leaving two for us to figure out what the heck to do with! 

Haden named her Blueberry by the way... fitting to her specific species I thought... and kinda cute!

A good friend (Rebecca Bailey) decided that one of the babies would be perfect for her kids, so we adopted that one to her. We kept the other and purchased a cage and everything necessary for caring for another hamster and gave it to Dallas. He named it Pie! 

Thus ends the tale of Blueberry and Pie!

Merry Christmas to all! (I'm so glad Santa didn't bring a puppy!)

Best Birthday EVER!

It's September, which is full of birthdays in our family. Chance's is the 10th, mine is the 27th, and Dallas' is the 30th. We also have Uncle Will (my little brother) on the 18th and my Grandpa K in there somewhere too! With all these birthdays come parties, and as John and I sat this evening trying to think of something interesting and different to do for Dallas and Chance (both turning 12), the memory of "the best birthday ever" popped in my head.

The year was 2009 and Dallas was turning 10. We had his party at the Parkhurst Pumpkin Patch, which if you have not visited, I highly recommend! Dallas invited 10 or so friends and we all met there. We got to enjoy everything the Pumpkin Patch had to offer. The first event was the corn maze... the boys started at the entrance and had a race to see who could make it through the fastest. They were breaking off corn stalks along the way to use as walking sticks, or swords...don't quite remember because I spent a majority of the maze time in the first aid station. 

Dallas sliced open his finger breaking off a corn stalk. It was bleeding and would not stop. Well, for those who don't know, Dallas doesn't do well when it comes to blood...especially his own blood...lol. So he finds me and he is as pale as a ghost and we start heading to first aid. Every time he looks at his finger, he starts to crumble to the ground and I am telling him the whole time, "quit looking at it! I can't carry you there!" hahaha...he finally made it and we were in there for quite a while. He threw up in the trash can while the lady was getting me the first aid kit. While we were in the first aid station, the rest of party continued on and didn't miss a beat! Dallas missed the petting zoo.
 

2011-The Year of the Spider... and other Creepy Crawlers!!!

This blog is not intended for children under the age of 9. Children under 9 should be accompanied by a parent when reading this blog. Also, this blog might cause you to throw your head back and yell, "ahhhh", nausea, vomiting, and possible heebie jeebies. It is not intended to cause stroke or heart attack, however, so if that occurs, I find it necessary to say... read at your own risk! I am not responsible for carpet cleaning or medical bills!

 I must preface this blog by telling those of you who don't know me very well or visit my house, that I have a touch of OCD when it comes to having a clean house (work friends... I keep house like I keep my office if that helps give you a better idea of how clean my house usually is).

That being said, this year has been the year of spiders for me. Along with the spiders, we have had other creepy crawly things pop up! I may get some things out of order, but I will do my best to recall these events as they happened.

As i recall, the event that kicked it off was me getting bitten by a spider (probably a Brown Recluse). I woke up one morning to find a red spot on my stomach. It kind of hurt to touch and I thought it was an ingrown hair (which was strange as I DO NOT have a hairy belly!). I showered and left for work as usual. As the day went on, the spot grew. I waited too long to go to the Doctor, and as the days grew, so did the spot.It grew, and grew, and grew! It turned a greyish color in the middle and developed a welp the size of a baseball around it. It hurt so bad sometimes, I couldn't really move. In fact, it hurt all the way to my back. i finally sucked it up and went to the Doc. he said it looked like it started as a fiddleback bite but had progressed into a nice little staph infection. Great. So he wrote me some "super anti-biotic" and off I went. the medicine made me sick to my stomach and i was pretty miserable for a few days but then it got much better. This was about three weeks ago, i think? 

While recovering from the fiddleback attack (in my sleep, mind you. I slept with that thing!!!), I was in the garage smoking one night. The kids were all gone, and John was in the house. I kept hearing something moving and, being a bit on the freaked out side from the spider i shared a bed with, I put my feet up on a chair across from me. As i got up to go into the house, i took a quick look around and there she was... a BLACK WIDOW! She was hanging upside down in this really messy looking web that resembled a cobweb. OH GOD< HELP ME!!! I couldn't move... i yelled for John, but no response. So I went inside and called my Mommy! hahaha... i told John about it and instructed him (very sternly) to go get it! Kill it!!! He mistakenly believes that spiders are good for the Earth and was going to "wait until tomorrow". ARE YOU NUTS??? What, so she can be gone by morning and we will never know where the heck she went??? He was useless to me, so i got off the phone and went out to fight the little woman! i scrambled to find Raid and found it! I sprayed her and she ran all over the wall from me and then behind a cabinet. She was no match for me though! I got behind that barrier of plastic protection and dowsed her to death! DONE! whew... she didn't get me!

The next day, John was sent to the store for whatever heavy duty spray he could find for us to spray the house with. He returned and we read the instructions... "kills spiders (and listed about a million different kinds), EXCEPT BROWN RECLUSE AND BLACK WIDOWS! Seriously??? I am done for! By now, I am pretty sure there is some sort of set up going on in the spider community and they are out to get me!

We have also had the occasional house spider here and there and I have graciously allowed John to throw them outside (saving the Earth one arachnid at a time, right?). When John's not around, the little get flattened by what ever shoe is in reach!

OK... this next thing is really gross! One night at about 3:00am, Dallas comes to my bedside and tells me he found something in his room. I was too far into a sleep stooper to process and sent the poor boy back to bed I guess (I do not recollect the conversation...was told in the morning when we were all up). Later, when I had a cup of coffee in me, Dallas tells me that he had gotten up to pee in the middle of the night and stepped on... A SLUG! OMG! Are you kidding me?? I looked in the bedroom and behind his bed and Haden's bed, all along the walls there are slimy little slug trails. Oh... how in the world? What kind of filthy people get slugs in the house? I was so grossed out by this that I had to have a second cup of coffee and think. The carpet was dry as a bone, so I don't know why the things are attracted to MY HOUSE! Back to the store we go to find slug bait. Well, you can't use the dang bait with a dog in the yard because they are attracted to it and will eat it and it can be fatal. Of course! ugh... so i plan to use the bait tonight so we can take Eddie out on a leash every time his tiny bladder gets full. Sheesh...


Moving on... about two weeks ago, John and I were visiting on the back porch while smoking, and in the corner of the porch next to the house, was a dead baby snake. Some bug had eaten it's head off... yuck. The kids wanted to pick it up and I wouldn't let them... I am really wondering at this point if there is some sort of plague involving crawling things! 


So, today... I have done yardwork all day. I am hot, sweaty, dirty and disgusting! But I keep pressing on because there is so much work to be done! I was cleaning the back porch and all of it's items. The grill has been scrubbed, the patio furniture, scrubbed, the dog even got scrubbed! So all of the patio furniture was in the yard to dry in the sun, blocking the small entrance we have to get to the grass. (there is a short brick wall, about 18 inches tall around the edge of the patio). This is important later. There were some folding chairs leaned up against the house that need to be taken to the garage. Next to the chairs is the doghouse (where John sleeps when he is naughty!) I moved the chairs two at a time and leaned them against the dog house. When I got the last one, about 50 Daddy Long Leg spiders scrambled up my legs and onto my arms, neck, and head!!! I freaked out, ran a couple circles frantically trying to brush them off and finally drowned myself with the hose. I really have the heebie jeebies now! I haven't seen a Daddy Long Leg since my childhood days out in Logan County! Why here??? OH! Because it's the year of the dang spider! So, I calmed down from that experience and that is actually when I gave Edward Von Schnitzel a much needed bath. I then sprayed off the porch. After finishing, i thought, well the only place I missed was behind the dog house... so of course I moved it... but first I moved the deck box (positioned close to the dog house) behind the deck box, was another dead snake! This one was just like the first, only bigger. Guess they double their size in about two weeks, just in case anyone was wondering! I disposed of the body and moved on (I am not afraid of snakes like most girls, so this didn't creep me out as much as the other stuff...lol). i then moved the dog house. Wish I hadn't... behind the dog house is where mama snake had made her home. So when I moved it, Mama and 3 or 4 juvenile (delinquent as far as I am concerned) snakes scattered all over the porch! Of course I had just put the shovel away all the way across the yard in the shed. Why did I do that??? So, i had to pick them up and throw them somewhere! My gut reaction was to toss them over the fence, so i did. Mama and one little one made it to the safety of the yard next door, which belongs to an elderly lady we have never seen. She doesn't get out of the house, so I don't think she will ever know she has snakes living in her yard! lol Two or three others are somewhere in my yard, and i am done! My dog is running around barking and chasing these snakes and I don't even care. At this point, I am ready to shower and move to Alaska! Eddie found one snake as I was typing this blog, and he killed it. Poor baby snake... 

Don't let this story scare you from coming on over to enjoy an evening with the Meadows! Thanks for reading!

I do what I love and I love what I do!

"One hundred years from now, it will not matter what my bank account was, how big my house was, or what kind of car I drove. But the world may be a little better, because I was important in the life of a child."–Forest E. Witcraft

Let's go back in time. The year is 2000 (11 years ago) and I am finishing up my Bachelor's degree. For my very last class, one of my assignments was to come up with my "personal statement". This quote by Forest E. Witcraft is what I started my personal statement with 11 years ago and it still holds true for me today.

Of course, as a mother, I know how important I am in my children's lives. But today, they are not the focus of my blog. My clients are who I am writing about today. Just have a lot on my mind and wanted to get it out, so here's my blog! hahaha

11 years ago, I had to do a Practicum (internship) for my college degree. I chose to work with juvenile delinquents in Edmond and was able to do this at Edmond Family Counseling. The kids I worked with had committed such heinous crimes (haha) as "curfew violation", "public intoxication", and "possession of tobacco". I attended group counseling sessions and even got to go to a ropes course with them. The kids I worked with came from nice homes, with two parents, and never wanted for anything. So, when I was looking for a career 4 years ago, I remembered how much i loved that internship and applied at the Oklahoma County Juvenile Bureau as a Probation Officer. After all, I had done this before and knew what I was getting into, right? WRONG!!!

Since I work with juveniles, their names and cases are confidential, but I will try to give you a glimpse of the real world... some of you already know, and some will be shocked. 

When I first took this job, 4 years ago, boy was I naive! I had never been exposed to this side of life before and didn't have a clue about anything these youth were involved in! The worst thing I ever did as a teen was drive south of Memorial road after being told it was past my boundaries! (Mom, no need to correct me here...lol) Over the past 4 years, I have learned a lot! I have 31 kids on my caseload. These are kids on probation with Oklahoma County. Of those 31, 6 are sex offenders, 2 are prostitutes, 11 have felonies ranging from Burglary to Arson to Assault and Battery to drugs, 10 are heavily involved in gangs, and 2 are in the County jail (one for Murder 1 and one for Trafficking drugs). Almost all of them use drugs, and I am not talking just marijuana here... cocaine, PCP, heroine, meth, extacy, pills, etc. Many have mental health diagnoses, few attend school, and all are deprived to some degree. These are kids committing adult crimes.  It is my job to do what their parents have failed to do... supervise them and teach them to make good choices, hopefully turning them into positive members of the community. My goal is supposed to be to REhabilitate them, but what I have learned in most cases is that I am HABILITATING them because they never knew how to make good choices to begin with. Let me tell ya, it's not easy. I have had to do everything from enroll a kid in school to setting them up with a counselor and getting them the meds they need and never had, to substance abuse rehab, to gang intervention, to sex offender treatment services, and more. In most cases I am also having to try to teach the parents how to parent! My resources are limited and my job is challenging. Most days, I cannot wait to get home to my wonderful children and hug them and be thankful that they lead a normal life and that they will never know what it means to be in a gang or what life on the streets is like! 

I write today because I need to get some things out of my head that are preoccupying my thoughts. I pour my heart into helping these kids and it seems that lately , my job is more and more focused on keeping them alive. I am sure many of you have seen stories on the news lately of dead bodies found in cars, police shootings, drive-by shootings, and let's not forget the pharmacy trial. Crime is really on the rise and these kids are in the thick middle of it! I have a few clients who are in detention right now just for the sake of keeping them safe from the life they have chosen which has led to possible death. But I can't keep them locked up forever... I am not alone in this battle though. Thank goodness for all of the counselors and mentors who pour their hearts into the lives of these kids as well! Without them, many of these kids don't stand a chance out there! I work closely with a couple of mentors who spend their days and nights with these kids just to try to keep them off the streets. They are wonderful, giving, selfless people and I thank them for what they do (you know who you are).

A few of the battles I am currently fighting are:

A girl who started prostituting to help support her alcoholic mother finacially. Turns out, she got herself mixed up in a Human Sex Trafficking ring and her pimp is currently in jail but we don't know for how long so she is scared to death because she wants out of that mess but he threatens her and she feels trapped.


A boy who is trying to get out of the gang he is deeply involved in. It is harder than one might think to get out. His mother's house was shot up when he wouldn't go with them and his little sister was in bed. The bullet holes were inches from her head but luckily no one was hurt.


A boy fighting for his life in the hospital after being shot.


A girl who doesn't want to be released from detention because her drug dealer boyfriend was killed last week and word on the street is that she is next.


Now, I understand that these kids have "made their beds" but I still can't help but try to fight for them and help them achieve the best possible outcome for their lives. Sometimes, "the best" isn't what you would consider good, but every little baby step toward a better life is a mark of success to me.


Please understand that this blog is not an attempt to toot my own horn or get any kudos. The point is simply to spread awareness as to what is going on in our world and to ask that you please pray for me as I continue to try to help these kiddos. Some are good kids who will make it out of this and be normal adults and some will end up in the adult system no matter how hard I try. Some are lost and some are not. I know I can't save them all, but if I can save just one, then my job was worth it. I work with other Officers who put just as much into their job as I do and I commend them for the work they do. As i said, I am not alone. We are on the frontline fighting a war in society. We stand for justice and peace for the community and we serve and protect. But at the end of the day, we are moms and dads and daughters and sons, friends, and citizens. Thanks for reading and thanks for your support.

The Annual Meadows Burnin' Down the House Cookout saga cont...

We have had this cookout every Spring for three years now. We invite a few wonderful friends that I work with (and my mom) and everyone brings their own meat while we supply some sides. Every year, we end up with a story to tell!

2009:
we spent several days cleaning up the yard for our first cookout with friends. John and I worked so hard that we hoped to have energy left for big event, so I guess I got a little lazy toward the end of cleaning. Back then, we had this dog named Chip and he liked to chew on the line to the propane tank on the grill, so my Dad had put this short fence around the grill made of chain link to prevent the dog from putting holes in the line. Well, I cleaned the whole porch EXCEPT the area inside this fence. Jump ahead. Everyone is here enjoying themselves and John is Grill Master. He is flipping and turning everyone's steaks and burgers to absolute perfection. He carefully placed each perfected patty and succulent steak onto a plate to deliver inside for plating. as he picked up the plate, he lost his grip and everyone's dinner fell to whatever Mother Nature was keeping inside the fence around the grill!!! After we all gasped all of the air out from the surroundings, all I could do was laugh. John was mortified! But our friends were so great! "Take it inside, rinse it off and throw it back on the grill... we'll be fine!" So we did, and all was good!

2010:
We try again. This time, we even cleaned under the grill! We placed the grill near the house by the chimney this year and fired it up! Again, John is Grill Master and most everyone brought burgers. We sat around visiting about the year before and laughing. When John finished, we all went inside and prepared our burgers just the way we liked them and took a seat around the den to eat. Well, we had run out of chairs, so I went outside to fetch a folding chair. That's when I saw the grill completely engulfed in flames!!! I am yelling "FIRE, FIRE!" and no one is moving... hahaha. Finally, everyone comes out to see why I am freaking out and we all stand in awe at the flaming grill. It is blackening the brick chimney and the flames is traveling down the propane line. Thank goodness someone showed up with the fire extinguisher from the kitchen and John Prince saved the day! I just knew that tank was going to explode and we were gonners! Whew!

2011:
Third time is a charm, right? We invite everyone, we clean, we move the grill way out away from house...lol. John, the Grill Master is calmly cooking away while we all visit and have a great time. The burgers come off, and then the steaks. Except Jim and Cindy's... their steaks were still "mooing" and Jim decided they needed a little longer on the grill. Then it happens... the propane runs out! That would be the one thing we forgot! Fill the propane tank after last year! So the rest of us enjoyed our dinner while poor Jim went inside and started a skillet on the stove to finish his steaks. Hahaha... we can't win! We will try again next year though and our friends will too, because they are gluttons for punishment I guess! Happy grilling everyone!

Proud Parents!

We are proud parents! Seriously... couldn't be busting at the seems any more or it would be a crime! Haden (for those who may not know) is a very talented artist. Never had a lesson in his life! He is taking Art as an elective for the first time and loves it. Well, long story, short... he has been recognized and an author of a juvenile delinquency program curriculum guide, has asked him to illustrate her book! 13 and he will be a published illustrator!!! He will be paid in the form of a trust fund for college. Well, he has shared his exciting news with his art teacher and tomorrow morning he is being honored at a school assembly for his outstanding accomplishment!

Also, Haden is playing tennis for the Cimarron Middle School Tennis team and had a big tournament in Tecumseh today. He won a match and Cimarron won the tourney!!!

Dallas is doing awesome in school and is so ready to be a middle schooler. He is in the Honor Choir and has a performance coming up at Barnes and Noble on April 16th (at 9:45 am if anyone would like to attend). He is learning to play the recorder at school and they are doing "recorder karate" where they can earn a "belt" for every song they play successfully. Dallas is currently a Purple belt and has four belts to go to get his black belt! Dallas will be starting drum lessons on April 16th and we are really excited! I know many of you think I am crazy for being happy about this, but I really am... love music and love having musicians in the house! How many other mom's do you know that get serenaded by their husband and sons? lol

Lindley recently found out she is "gifted". She was tested at school and (another) long story, short, she is very very intelligent. Knowing that she OBVIOUSLY get this from ME... I'm not in the least surprised! hahaha... She will get to start enrichment and there are other programs for her that the school will be offering that I don't know much about right now. Lindley had her 2nd grade program tonight and did a fabulous job! 

Alissa is about to be in High School. She has been working very hard at cheer leading with Twist and Shout and is trying out for the cheer leading squad at Santa Fe High School.

Chance brought home a report card that was almost straight A's! He also tested at a 12th grade level for math and a 9th grade level for reading! He is in the 5th grade for those who didn't know. Chance was also recently nominated for the National Young Leader's Association for his academic achievement, leadership skills, and good behavior!

Like I said, we are pretty much busting at the seams with how proud we are!

Locked Up!

The kids are all out of school for Spring Break this week and I have been off work so we can do fun things together. Today, we had planned to have a picnic at Hafer Park and fish in the pond. We were joining Ericka (my sis-in-law) and her two little ones (Mark, age 2 and Abby, age 7 months). Sounds fun, right? Well, we awoke this morning to winds that could blow the nose right off your face! So, we decided to fore-go the park. I envisioned picnic food flying all over the place and someone falling into the pond after a big gust of wind! So, instead, we were meeting at my house and picnicking in the backyard. That way, we could move the excitement indoors once the kids were finally convinced that it really IS too windy to eat outdoors! Ericka needed to run a quick errand, and I needed to take Dallas to feed Lance's dog (how do I get roped into these things?) and visit Noni in her new apartment, and then we were meeting up at my house!

While visiting Noni (my "errand"), John receives a phone call from a somewhat frantic, yet wanting to laugh, Will (my brother... Ericka's husband), reporting that Mark, the 2 year old, has been locked in the car inside the garage. Mark was responsibly buckled into his carseat, which he knows very well how to get out of all by himself (this is important later). Ericka had to run to the neighbor's house to call Will for help as her phone was also in the car. So, we leave Noni's apartment and speed on over to the rescue! I wrangled a wire hanger into the car window and try to no avail to use that to push the automatic lock button. Will had already tried several locksmith's who all had better things to do apparently. John informs us that Edmond PD no longer carries lock-pick due to "liability". WHAT??? Don't they take an oath to SERVE AND PROTECT? I am pretty sure this falls under PROTECT... oh well... off my soapbox and on to plan B! I call Jim Smith at work. He drops his very important duties and helps us find a locksmith willing to show up! Thanks Jim! So we relax a bit and Dallas is talking to Mark through the window. He is telling Mark, "take your seatbelt off and open the door"... Mark says, "no, I want to go to Aunt Karly's house"! This is when i realized that the poor kid isn't crying because he's scared... it's because he can't figure out why in the WORLD these dummies are not getting in the car to go to Aunt Karly's house! Bahahahaha!!!! He even pointed to the keys and told his mommy, "there's your keys Mommy, get in and drive to Aunt Karly's house"! Of course he didn't want to get out of the car... my house is soooo much fun!

John finally remembers that a guy he knows has a lock-pick and calls him. Lucky for us, he was fast on his way! (Oh yeah... the locksmith called twenty minutes later and reported that his truck broke down and he was unable to make it... panic strikes again!) Dallas tells Mark that Superman is on his way to save the day! Mark cries, "Is he scary???" hahaha! Dallas tells him NO! He's cool! Superman appears in the driveway and in about 5 minutes, opens the door. Mark says, "Superman is NOT scary"! So, we give Mark a Popsicle and off we go to Aunt Karly's house! Whew! All of that only took about an hour and a half!

At about 6:00 this evening, I remembered to feed Lance's dog... oops! hahahaha! A day in the life! time for bed!

Grandpa's underwear

For those who know me... I mean REALLY know me, then you know what John means when he says, "Honey, you live half your life in a spiral notebook"! I am a list maker. Now, I know for a fact some of you reading this are too and you are just not ready to take the first step and admit it! hahaha! Well, tonight, I made a grocery list. We are going to have 5 kids for a WHOLE WEEK for Spring Break (advance prayers are accepted). Anyway, I am trying to plan a menu for a week of feeding a litter of growing boys, teenagers, and a 7 year old who is so picky, she never likes anything... even stuff she LIKES, she will say she doesn't just to be difficult! So, naturally, I made a list! I didn't even make it through "breakfast" when I realized that I am going to have to take this list to WALMART. Now... for those who know me, you also know how I feel about going to WALMART (you have to say it in a really nasty voice to get the full effect of the caps lock). So, I condensed the list! I hope the kids are ok with dog food, cat food, litter, laundry soap, fabric softener, toilet paper, and paper towels. Maybe I should get some toothpaste too... Now, I realize this means I will just have to go back this weekend, but for now... the condensed list is looking good!

So off to the store I go! Mental checklist for walking out the door: list (check!), purse (check!), keys (where are my dang keys??), money (check!), common sense and sanity (oh hell, just go to the store without it!). Let's go!

Walking into WALMART, I dig for the list. I can't find it anywhere! I begin to sweat and feel a mild panic attack coming on. I can do this though... not very hard to remember dog food, cat food, litter, etc... so we hit the groceries first (bananas and applesauce). Then we make our way to the other end, stopping here and there as we please, to browse different, exciting things... OH! Just remembered! The boys need socks and boxers... Did you know that boxers are like ten bucks for a stinkin' 3 pack??? sheesh! I select the appropriate sizes and move on... and then I see it... BOXERS ON SALE FOR $3.50 FOR 4 PAIR!!! I am super mom! Just to be sure the size is right, I sneak a pair out of the package, being careful not to be spotted by secret security and... Oh. My. Gosh. They are all white and DO NOT have a "flush back", meaning they balloon in the rear end like something your grandpa would wear! Thank God I opened the package! Can you see the looks on their faces when the boys grab grandpa's underwear from the drawer? I showed John, hoping to get a good laugh from him, and he says I should buy them. I said I was gonna buy HIM some and he made a very valid argument that if he was to have to strip down to his skivvies and jump into a river to rescue a drowning old lady, people would be shocked when he came up out of the water with see through undies... hahaha! Ok, let's find the socks... then we move on to office supplies and then to the dog food, cat food, etc. We might have dropped a few other toiletry items into the cart along the way! After leaving the dog food aisle, we passed the fish. Yep, you guessed it! We bought one... and a bowl, rocks, a plant, and fish food! So, we went in after a few items and left the proud owners of a fish! A FISH!!! WHAT WAS I THINKING!!! Oh yeah... left the common sense and sanity at home... last time i do that! So now, we have to set up house for a dang betta and then try to find the time in our busy lives not to forget to feed it daily... ugh. AND... I forgot the freaking laundry soap and fabric softener! So... a dang lotta good that list was!

It doesn't end there... i wish it did... We get to the checkout and get lucky enough (at WALMART, let me remind you... the home of 4 open checkout stands), to get a lane that has one lady ahead of us! Why are all these other idiots waiting in lines? hahaha... we sure got them! Well, i think they were probably IN this lane at one point, maybe even hours ago, and moved when they figured out that every other checker in the store can get 10 people through to this lady's one! I can't win when it comes to WALMART! We finally get to the car, load our things and carefully situate the fish (again... what was I thinking?) and I sit down to start the car. Upon placing my left leg into the van, i procede to have the world's biggest, baddest, foot cramp that left me completely crippled and lasted FOREVER!!! After about five minutes of howling that sounded somewhat similar to giving birth, I traded John seats and he had to drive me home with my toes in full rigor mortis, and whining all the way. Must need potassium... good thing we have bananas!

We stop by my brother's house and dump the applesauce and bananas on the front porch, run, drive away, and then call to announce it's delivery. (They all have the vomiting/diarrhea stomach thing and the last thing I need is to have to hobble to the bathroom on my cramped foot with toes pointing north, east, and west). Forgot to keep a banana dangit! Now my foot will never straighten up! Should have put that on my list... "keep one banana for muscular wellness in left foot". Oh well... I'm home, warm in my snuggie, and I'll just fluff some dirty clothes in the dryer, bachelor style (since I have no laundry soap).

Moral of this story... buy the white grandpa undies. It will save you money.

Meet the Meadows!

We are a crazy busy family, but we somehow manage to keep it all together! Well, at least we think we do! John and Karly were married on July 4th 2008 and blended 5 kids into one family. We are crammed into a modest home which provides little room for privacy and plenty of room for chaos! John's daughter, Alissa is 14 and in band (flute), competitive cheer, and track. Karly's son, Haden is 13 and loves piano, violin, drawing, tennis, and writing. John's son, Chance is 11 and plays football and basketball, and was recently nominated for Junior National Young Leaders of America. Karly's son, Dallas is also 11 and plays tackle football, basketball, soccer, and loves to sing. Karly's daughter,  Lindley is 7 and likes soccer and basketball, and also loves to sing (we often say that she lives her life in a musical). John is "the radio man" for the City of Edmond and Karly is a Juvenile Probation Officer for Oklahoma County. So you see, we are possibly the most over-scheduled mom and dad you know (we have to do a lot of tag-team parenting!), but we wouldn't have it any other way! We have it all, from funny moments that will make you split a gut, to tough times that teach life lessons; but we do it together, because we're the MEADOWS! So, we have decided to share some of our favorites with you and hope you enjoy this journey and find some entertainment and maybe even a little comfort in knowing that, although we have a crazy life, it's not much different than yours!