Oops

I thought I had a hair appointment today. I get so excited when I realize that I get to spend a couple hours at the salon. It's so relaxing and I leave there looking...well, better than when I got there. So I arrive at 3:30pm, about 15 minutes early, all giddy. The receptionist recognizes me immediately (probably because I look like a kid in a candy store...every time) and asks, "Oh, are the girls not getting their hair cut today?" Crap. I forgot the girls. I knew this Monday was too good to be true. I breezed through the day, amazed at how alert I was for the first day after a long weekend. I was so thrilled about the thought of being pampered for a couple hours that I blew off the kids' haircuts. Crap. Crap, crap, crap! "Um, yeeeeeaaah, I'll be right back", I tell her as I practically fall down the steps trying to get to my vehicle. The kids' school is only about 5 minutes away, so I put the pedal to the metal and fly over to pick them up. It's funny because most of the time when I get there, Maci is like, "Didn't I tell you to pick me up early today???" And Aley plows kids over to get her things so she can get the heck out of Kids Club. Now that the girls are 8 1/2 and 11, they are SO over the whole having-to-be-babysat gig.

Today, however, I get there and they both just look at me as if to say, "what the HELL are you doing here??" I signed them out and watched impatiently as Aley tries to finish her snack (in a very unlady-like manner, I might add) and Maci stares back at me with her hands on her hips and the look of kill in her eyes. Excuse me for arriving early one day when they weren't expecting it. I hurried them along while explaining what an idiot I am. Maci, of course, half-whined, half-yelled all the way to the Durango because she's STARVING and now she has to get her stupid hair cut. Aley comes running behind us, also fake-crying because she needs food (and because she puts the Queen in drama queen).

I finally get them both in the vehicle and arrive back at the salon, just 5 minutes late for our appointment. Maci went first. Then Aley. By the time it was my turn, the moment I had been waiting for....Maci starts crying about how hungry she is, again. Oh brother, just forget it. I ended up rescheduling my hair appointment for next week. Then I realized I'm going to be in Phoenix next week, so I had to schedule it for the week after that. So much for my relaxing, 2 hours of pampering, appointment.

On a lighter note, the girls' hair looked great. Maci got an inch cut off her blonde lockes and Aley got a trim with some subtle bangs. It's amazing how much they are both starting to look like me. All of a sudden, I didn't even care that my hair still looked like it did when I arrived at the salon. I began to realize how fast my girls are growing up. (And how mouthy and demanding they've become.)

Migraines

I get migraines. I get migraines a lot. These aren't just bad headaches, these are debilitating, nauseating, excrutiating headaches. Whenever I get a little bit stressed, or I don't get a good night's sleep, I get this nagging pain behind my right eye. The worst part about it is that I do have a prescription medication I can take for my migraines, but since I'm one of the millions of Americans without health insurance, I can't afford to fill the prescription. I call my doctor's office every 3 weeks or so to try and get samples and sometimes they are able to oblige. However, if they don't have any samples to give me, I'm often forced to fill the 9-pill prescription which costs me $233 out-of-pocket. These nine pills will usually last me through 2 or 3 migraines, that's it. I can't imagine what families do, who don't have health insurance, and who have serious health conditions. I do know that I thank my lucky stars every day that my kids and I are in good health (except for the migraines). If you happen to be someone who has health insurance, make sure you take advantage of it. I only hope that someday soon, I will be able to read this and say, 'thank God I don't have to go through that anymore'.

Supernatural

Over Thanksgiving break this past year, I took my girls out to Kansas City to visit my sister Terri, and her family. We decided ahead of time that we were going to have a movie-marathon and pig-out on junk-food. (Don't TELL me you don't have weekends like this...) Terri had mentioned to me that she had 4 seasons of Supernatural on DVD, but I had never heard of it. It sounded interesting enough so we began our 2-day marathon, watching the full DVD set of the first 2 seasons. I was hooked! It's basically about these 2 brothers, Sam & Dean, who fight evil (ghosts, vampires, demons, to name a few) in their quest to save the world from succumbing to the Apocalypse. I'm a big fan of battles between good & evil, hence my movie choices of Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, etc. This show though, really takes the cake because it has action, humor, hot men, and an interesting take on some of the key players in God's army. If you've never seen it before, just watch it some Thursday night. I've downloaded some of season 5 to my iPod to watch on my extremely boring flights to Phoenix, so don't tell me what happens. I will leave you with a quote from one of the characters in the show, named Bobby. Supposedly evil spirits and demons are repelled by salt. Bobby had a demon in his house so he grabbed his shotgun and said, "get the hell off my property before I fill you so full of rock salt, you crap margaritas". It's that kind of humor that keeps me watching.

My day

What a great day. Did something amazing happen? Well..no..but it was just one of those days that you feel really good about. It started off on the right foot, I got a great night's sleep. I'm one of those people who has to have 7 or 8 hours of sleep a night to function like a human. Any less than 7 and I act like Sleeping Beauty from the Shrek movie, you know, the narcoleptic. Anywho, everything went just like it should for a Wednesday. At some point this afternoon I realized how lucky I am. I'm pretty healthy, my kids are great (except when they're smothering me), I have a great bunch of friends, my family hasn't disowned me yet and for the moment, I have a job. Can life get any better? Well sure, it could, but I'm pretty happy with what I've got. Just think how much different the world would be if we were all grateful for what we had. I have bad days too, but I try not to dwell on them. Afterall, what can you do about something that's already happened? I think tomorrow I'll keep this good feeling going. I'll make sure I pay it forward, whatever 'it' is...I'll think of something.

Pet-peeve of the week

Oh how I love my kids. I feel I needed to start with that so I can briefly break away and say how easily annoyed I am by them. Oh I know, I'm a terrible mom for saying that publicly but you know all you moms think it from time-to-time. I have my favorite spot on the couch, close to the arm, you know, where you can only fit ONE person. My eight-year-old sits right next to me, every time we are in the same room. When I say she sits right next to me, she literally leans into me so my right arm is basically sandwiched in between us. Sure, it was cute the first hundred times, but now it just makes me crave my 3 feet of personal space. Her sister, on the other hand, tries to sit by me but gets kicked to the floor or tackled like she's a quarterback who never saw that hit coming. Yeah, it's funny at times, but mostly just annoying. I want my spot back...the one that has at least enough room for my arm to move around. It's just not the same when I tell her to 'scoot over' and she moves an inch, only to ease back against my arm again. Kids. I love them, I really do, but scoot over!