The Stanalands

So I am having a pretty good (and REALLY LONG) day yesterday full of activities that involved hanging out with my children and niece. My son finished his football practice and was telling my daughter that the high school football coach had come to the school to let them know that the game would be broadcast on the country station, 92.5 The Bear at 7:30. “Am or pm”, she asked. My son simply looked at her. “Am or pm”, she asked again. “Oh no”, he says to her shaking his head, “I’m pretty sure its FM.”
It took all I had to not laugh out loud. I didn’t want to embarrass him, but I thought that was Hilarious.

So later in the afternoon, my friend Victoria and I were riding down the road with my three and a half year old niece. Keep in mind that I had been running hard and solid ALL DAY LONG. I was feeling pretty ragged at this point and my mouth was starting to taste pretty unclean and I had that ‘not so fresh feeling’. I turned to my friend Victoria and said “My mouth tastes like I have been eating dog poop.” to which my darling little niece swiftly replied, “I didn’t even know you had a dog!” I almost got tears in my eyes. SO funny and so cute.

There was more, but then I would become one of those people…

I went to the neurologist this morning. She suggested that I do a sleep study. She things that my headaches are a combination of migraines, stress, and sleep apnea. We shall see as things progress.

How much is that kitty in the bag??

Batman likes to get in small spaces. He crawls in boxes, in shoes, under desks. Here he’s in a bag.

Check out this adorable video!!

Sarah saying the pledge.

Friday

We decided to take a break and head to Washington DC for the weekend. Adventure here we come! The first adventure we experienced was leaving my blood pressure medication behind. Of course my feet swelled up like Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade floats, and the shoes that I was wearing were NOT comfortable with swollen feet. Thankfully, I can think on my feet, swollen or not. I called my local Kroger pharmacist to see about transferring my prescription to DC. The person that I spoke to (the person that handles my medication, mind you) actually asked me what state Washington DC was in. huh? Really? Yes. It gets better! When we arrived in DC we called the local CVS pharmacy. When giving my information to the person that would be handling my medication there she asked what state I was from. She then says “Atlanta, right?” huh? Really? Yes.

We took a walk to the pharmacy and couldn’t help but notice that there were quite a few “palaces”. As a matter of fact, there were two kabob palaces on either side of a schezhuan palace. One of the kabob palaces also happened to be a hookah bar. We took pictures.

We opted to return to the hotel for the night since it was almost 9. We grabbed some sandwiches (to-go) from the hotel bar and headed back up to our room to watch Battlestar Gallactica. Yes, even on vacation we don’t want to miss our sci-fi Fridays. We watched our shows and headed off to sleep for the night.

We booked our hotel through hotels.com, thinking it would be easier. Ha! No, our booking got lost in cyberspace.

***NOTICE***Hotels.com is still charging our credit card and now so is the hotel we stayed in. it will take up to 30 day to get our hotels.com refund, and we will have to pay the hotel itself. Bummer.

Sleep number beds

Our hotel was very nice. Every room had sleep number beds. Since Brian and I both wanting/needing a new mattress, we thought this would be a perfect opportunity to test the sleep number beds and see if they were worth the cost. Our verdict after the first night was absolutely not. It was like sleeping on a thick air mattress. You could feel the bladder as you inflated and deflated it. We awoke to back aches both mornings. We will not be getting a sleep number bed!

Saturday

We slept in a few extra minutes on Saturday morning because of our sci-fi Friday addiction. We left the hotel at 10am with the intention of finding breakfast. The breakfast bar at the hotel was $13 and neither of us were THAT hungry. So we walked. Then, we walked some more. After that, you guessed it, we walked some MORE. We finally wound up at the mall. DC has the most amazing layout! You can travel by foot for miles, get to so many places, and never see the sun because of all the underground walkways. The trains are amazing, clean, efficient and easy to get to from anywhere. I digress. We were in the underground shopping mall and stopped at the Dunkin Donuts for breakfast/lunch. From there, we walked back over to the train and headed for the Smithsonian (after a brief and picture-less trip to the pentagon) to see the amazing artifacts collected through the years. As we exited the subway station, the skies looked threatening. We were able to enter and exit the first Smithsonian bldg (the castle, which holds Smithson’s remains) before getting rained on. When we entered the second bldg, the bottom fell out of the sky. We walked around looking at the fossils of dinosaurs and other various and sundry creatures. We even saw a bull that had been mummified. Amazingly, the bull was neater to see than the mummified man was.

This would be a great time in my life to start a list of all the things I don’t care about. I won’t start the list here and now because it would get excessively long.

So the rain subsided long enough to buy 2 umbrellas and 2 carousel tickets. Just as we stepped off the carousel, the rain started once again. At this point our umbrellas were keeping our heads and torsos dry, but our shoes, socks and feet were getting soaked. I highly advise never walking any great distance in this manner. My feet are going to be uglier than your grandpa’s after this weekend.

We finally make it to the air & space museum and I was in awe of the sights. My feet were absolutely killing me and we were getting hungry. At some point, my feet lost consciousness and I had to sit and rest. We left the National Air and Space museum and started to make a go at the Washington monument. We walked for a while and didn’t seem to be making any progress. I was so hungry at this point, and my feet hurt so badly I was starting to feel like a dying member of the Dahmer party.  I suggested that we head back toward the metro and have dinner at the hotel. (they had these pecan crusted pork chops that I had been thinking about for at least an hour at this point) by the time we returned to our hotel room and were able to release our poor tired feet from their wet encasements, we had been on our feet for at least 7 long hours. My spa tub has never looked so good. Dinner was awesome, and filling. We ate and were back in our room by 7:15, by 7:38 the lights were off and we were snuggled in for the night. I have no memory of anything past 8. 

Sunday

Brian and I awoke extra early. (Or a little late depending on how you look at it) we were both awake by 5. We got out of the bed by 6:30, and had both had a shower and could have been out the door by 7 if we had so desired. We didn’t so desire. We left the room closer to 10ish. First destination…food, second destination Arlington national cemetery. I don’t generally care for cemeteries. There are dead people there. It was a great aerobic walk, and we were able to see the tomb of the Unknown Soldier, as well as the changing of the guard.

At 3pm on Sunday, after our visit to Arlington we returned to the metro. The plan was to continue on as to visit the national zoo. Our train was delayed because someone was struck by the train at the Smithsonian station. The initial announcement was that someone was struck, subsequent announcements stated medical situation. Our train arrived, we boarded and each stop was delayed and we spent at least 5 minutes at each stop. By the time we got to the transfer station it was way past the time we should have been at the airport. We decided to just head back to the hotel for our bags and hit the airport.  It’s strange, but we chose a flight in to DC that had been delayed because of instrument problems, and we are currently sitting in line (10th in line) waiting to take off. The 9 planes full of people in front of us aren’t going anywhere either…we are delayed due to bad weather. **NOTE** We actually took off after sitting in the plane in a parking space for over two hours…and then the flight itself was about two hours.

We finally made it home. We are tired. We want sleep…

We are constantly digging. Digging out of holes, digging into work, digging away at problems…

I get tired of digging. I want a life like I see on television. *the voice says* “Telvision isn’t real Valerie”. SO?? Why can’t it be like that? Why can’t all of the kids behave at one time? They are all fully capable of behaving for long periods of time, why can’t they just get it together, together.

Every day there is a new problem to be dealt with. (And not one that can be solved in 30 minutes to an hour with commercial breaks either!!) I remember that there were a few months in there where nothing happened, no one cried, and there were no major upsets that caused the entire house to be at odds. Where did those months come from? Where did those months go? Am I fooling myself?

Well, either way…my lunch has ended and I have to go back to filing extensions.

You know, I can’t believe that I haven’t blogged since Christmas!! Wow!

 Today was my birthday. A lot of people remembered, and called with well wishes. Some people forgot. Well, some forgot and one just acted like it was just another day, after sending a “Happy Birthday” text message. Seriously??? That’s all I get?

 Ingrate? Me? Maybe. But I try to make special days more special for the ones that I love and kind of thought that they would do the same for me. Apparantly N-O-T. Next year I am going to plan my own damned day and not invite anyone to join me. They are going to have to call 911 and see if I have been arrested, hit by a car, or kidnapped. I am going to get up on the morning of my birthday and not come back until the whole stupid day is over. It will be the one day of the year that I will not be reachable via cell phone. I am really sick of being let down. I think that I should be able to get my hopes up just ONCE and not have all the wind let out of my sails.

 I could go on and on, but why bother? Who really cares? Besides, I am going to publish this and take my behind to bed. *pllbblbbt*

Its that time of year again. The stockings are hung by the chimney with care…in hopes that that St. Nicholas will come and go and we get our house back together just in time to pack it up to move to the new house. YAY! A bigger house! (I will talk about that in another blog later on…I am here to talk about Christmas with the kids)

This year is a little different than the ones in the past. Instead of having all six kids throughout the Christmas holidays, we have only had two (Nathan and Taylor). Today we gained a third (Clinton). We will get two more back on Christmas Eve (Andrew and Brendon), and we get #6 back on New Year’s Eve (Charlotte).

Last year we had all six kids, plus both sides of our large families. On top of all the people, we had only been together as a family and in this house since September. (Three months is REALLY not enough time to put a house together, much less a tight, cohesive family bond) I think that this year is so much better. We did not overspend this year. We know what will make everyone happy, and we are not trying to compensate for the loss of one parent or another through divorce. We are not trying to compensate for all the changes that the kids have gone through, and we realize now that our kids just don’t need that much crap. What we give them will end up being used and not put into a pile in their closet.

I am also not cooking Christmas dinner this year. There is going to be a ham and a roast beef, along with a few types of breads and cheeses. Sandwiches anyone? Oh yes. We have broken everything in. Our family is broken in, our house is broken in, our hearts are broken in. (And just in time to move to the new house! *but alas* that is for another blog!)

Merry Christmas to everyone, and Happy New Year in case I don’t talk to you again before then.

“Don’t cut taxes unless you have a plan to pay for it.”

This is one of the things Hillary Clinton said during an interview on the Fox Business Channel this morning. That’s a scary thought. It defies all logic and reason. How does a person see the people of America if a tax cut requires payment. The taxes are a payment. She said later in the interview that she believes the top income earners can afford to pay more taxes so the middle class can have a break. I’m all for the middle class paying less taxes. But I also think everyone who pays taxes should have to pay less and the federal government needs to spend less.

We are getting married this coming Sunday at the Georgian Cinemas (yes, we are getting married in a movie theatre!).

 From I-85:

Exit HWY 34 (Bullsboro Dr.) If you are coming from the north, make a right off the exit.

Go to the third light and make a left. (You should be turning left between a Chick-fil-A and a Burger King) This is Newnan Crossings Bypass. (It is Millard Farmer on the right)

The theatre is on the right. Do not use Google maps, it will tell you WRONG!!

Call or email for directions! There is a link on the page to email Brian and I…click on our name.