Tag - I'm IT!

Meredith tagged me to divulge some sordid details from my past...and when i began to think of "little known facts" about me, i realized that i talk too much to too many people for there to be much that is unknown. regardless, here we go:

1. around 4th grade i decided that my name should have been laren annedrea barns, rather than anne as my middle name. so i started writing it on my school papers, etc. even told people that was the name my mother wanted me to have but my father messed it up on the birth certificate.

2. in 3rd grade i experienced my first intervention...my best friends, jamie and courtney (twins), told me i had to quit cussing to remain friends with them. it was hard...especially the jitters and when i snubbed my toe on the end of the bed and stuff. but i got through it. thanks girls. (unfortunately, it didn't stick. i still cuss like a well-educated sailor in my head.)

3. i was the first Agri-Business Reporter for KCBD, Newschannel 11 while in college at Texas Tech University. i had a 2-minute package every sunday dealing with the ag news around the high plains area. 2-minutes is a big deal in TV time. i was also a producer for the 5/6/10 o'clock news and filled in on a few live shots while i worked at the station. KCBD is where i met one of the best women i know, Ashley Stacy Rodriquez.

4. if given the choice of any work, i would be a ranch hand...or owner. i spent summers working for my father and it was the most exhilarating, exhausting job i've ever had other than motherhood. i've built miles of 5-strand barbed wire fence, driven big John Deere tractors, worked cattle horseback and through a chute since i was 4. i've helped pull calves during calving season. dehorn, castrate, vaccinate, palpate, you name it. now, my family will tell you that i'm not a good hand, i'm only good for stories...like when the truck rolled into me while i was opening a gate and i was trapped between the farm truck and a 12-inch pipe that made up the brace for the gate. my dad says, "i'm just glad it was you and not your brother. you're mean enough to push the truck off of you and get out of the mess." true. however, my brother is smart enough to use the emergency brake and not get himself into the mess in the first place. i did push the truck off of me and escape to tell the tale. that same day i ran out of gas 10 miles from anywhere. it was snowing. it sucked.

5. my friend alison and i were once the victims of an attempted carjacking. long story short we were duped by some jerks in dallas while we were lost. one of the guys tried to get into the car while he helped us with 'directions'. the doors were locked and he was unsuccessful. meanwhile another guy pulled a sawed-off shotgun on us and demanded all our money. yeah, right. we were college kids on spring break...we didn't have any money. i sped away and the gunshot landed right in the doorpost between the front and back seat. had it been a few inches forward, it would have hit me. a few inches behind and it would have hit alison. they chased us but we got away due to my many years of watching the Duke Brothers execute some nice chase moves. anyone scared of getting on a freeway at the exit ramp and heading the wrong way?

6. i'm the world's worst at keeping up with friends. it isn't intentional. i promise to get better.

so, there...6 things you didn't know about me. and now, i tag - Lori, Caneel, and Trace

consequences of your words

one of my goals this year is to blog more.

why would i continue to drag you through the mundane rut that is my life with more incessant babble, you ask? now, that's your issue. i just write it. it's there. read it if you want to.

for me, writing is a release. i need to write more.

but tonight, my post is later than anticipated because we are packing up our 3-year-old's room. all toys, items used for play and all but 3 books are being removed from the little angel's room...because she is learning to suffer the consequences of her words.

i might be overreacting a bit...here's how it went down...

-crash-from the bathroom

drew, "cyd, what did you throw away?"
cyd, "i don't want my shovel anymore." (toy shovel that came with extensively decorated 3-story doll house that we gave her for Christmas)
drew, "no ma'am. get it out of the trash. and please go play in your room until dinner is ready."
cyd, "yes sir."

-sullen girl grabs shovel and throws it into her dollhouse. she then begins to dismantle the beds and other furniture. enter mom.

me, "excuse me? what are you doing? tearing up your dollhouse?"
cyd, "i don't like it. i only like Barbie dollhouses."

-here, mother refrains from screaming - barbie's a slut and slamming the door in a swift exit.

me, "barbie is for older girls. this dollhouse is perfect for you & you have played with it for hours every day since Christmas."

cyd, "i don't want it."

me, "fine. tonight, i'm removing all toys and books from your room. you will keep one stuffed animal and three books-"
cyd,"i want--"
me, "absolutely not. i will decide what stays and what goes!"

we discussed why she won't have her toys. we discussed how words can be used in a mean way and hurt feelings.

and i'm sure we failed to discuss many things that will someday make a therapist LOADS of money!

any thoughts, comments, advice, similar situations to share???

stink eye

this a.m. we woke with the mission of capturing some cheerful holiday photos before we took the lovely Christmas tree down.

no such luck.

kids were gripe-a-licious - wait, you say, holiday photos?? it's freaking January 12th! normal people head to the studio around the beginning of November to get their professional pics done for the holidays...

yeah, well, look - i'm a photographer and i have no professional photos of my own kids...the cobblers child has no shoes...

and this seemed to be the day.

so, drew and i got up early*while on vacation* fought through the "i don't wanna take photos. i'm cold. not in front of the tree..." - whine, whine, whine.

meanwhile, Stroman wouldn't even think about acting like his normal, happy self. jerk.

so, after 3 spankings for cyd and 1 v. stern look for stroman, this is what i got.

the stink eye. see how they have both perfected the teenage angst/who the hell are you? look...

fyi, 8-ft. pre-lit Christmas tree is for give-away. we are moving. i'm not taking it with us. any takers?

and, comments about the evil of spanking are NOT welcome here, unless you are in agreement w/ discipline and have found other methods. let me say, if it works, it works. and spanking works for us. so for the haters, back off.

new year. new plans.

I was often bewildered by the task of motherhood, that precarious balance between total surrender and totalitarianism.
(J. Nozipo Maraire)

Remember my boycott for Thanksgiving? I think we all saw that as the first step toward the inevitable…and now, the time has come to acknowledge that next Christmas Eve & Christmas Day, we, the Drew Bridges family, will be gathered casually around our own tree in our own home.

This Christmas we did the normal “run around the state like crazy to try to keep everyone happy” thing. Let’s see…Christmas Eve night Stroman screamed for 2 ½ hours straight while one side of the family was together to try to celebrate (Drew & I were able to catch up with … no one! b/c we were trying to help soothe Stroman), I got a sinus infection, Stroman has suffered through an ear infection during the whole thing, I think Drew and I managed to work 2 pretty serious arguments into the mix and I was angry almost the entire time…

Prior to leaving Alpine we were in the pharmacy to get Rx’s filled for the 3 weeks on the road and saw a friend whose daughter is a former school-mate of Cyd’s. She asked if we were going or staying & then said that she had put her foot down and they were staying home. She said she was tired of spending the holidays pissed off. Well, me too!

I allow myself to get totally worked up over comments people make (like the insensitive crap my sister-in-law, Linda, says…I can hardly stand to talk to her, much less handle her commentary on my child-rearing) see – worked up, just typing about it my heart-rate increases. I get tired of living out of a suitcase and having the kids off-schedule and having people expect me to be “on” 24/7. I have work to do and keep up with. I have a schedule for the kids that flies out the window and when I try to enforce it, I hear “oh, just let them play.”

Do I continue to be the bitch and say, no, I’m the mother and I say, bed –now? Or should I cave so that…so, what? So that someone might like me? They won’t like me b/c I let Cyd stay up 20 more minutes. They definitely don’t respect me for swatting Stroman’s hand for touching something he shouldn’t. But does the world not realize that good kids are made, not born? Wanna know why Brit Spears & her sassy little sister are a mess? She wasn’t disciplined. Ever. Not gonna happen on my watch. These kids might end up being big-ass messes, but not because I was an absent parent.

I digress.

Next Christmas, if it makes your year to watch the kids open gifts and rummage through stockings, you are welcome to get a hotel room in Alpine or wherever we happen to be living and come over around 9 on Christmas morning. I’ll have coffee ready. Probably won’t cook breakfast. If you hang around for dinner, we’ll have whatever I make and I don’t want any help. I love to cook. It’s not a hassle, it is fun. However, you are welcome to do the dishes. RSVP by December 1, 2008.

P.S. I am not an activity coordinator. If you want to find things to do in Alpine, look around and pick something. I’m sure it will be thrilling.

again, we end with pics. stroman, cyd & aunt alex, dad shows stroman the fine art of ripping open packages, cyd & cousin jacee enjoy the dollhouse, stroman & momma

seriously? SERIOUSLY!!

i have to admit. i wished for so long that this time wouldn't come. that my darling boy could stay little and cuddle and need me...

but this week, Stroman started pulling up on furniture (not new), letting go (new) and walking where he thinks he needs to be.

HE'S ONLY 10 1/2 MONTHS OLD!!!

Hopefully, I'll have photos for you soon. Husband is working on the video...we can't figure out why it won't upload correctly...

the love affair between little girls and horses...

"Mommy, tell me the princess pony story again."

-say please.-

"PLEAASSSEE"

-when i was about 8 years old, Butch, you know, Papa, asked me to get my boots on to go to the red barn with him. i grabbed my boots and asked 10 million questions about why we were going to the barn. but i already knew. i was getting my own horse.

"yeah," she said with a sly smile. she's heard this story so many times that she tells people the story like it happened to her.

-so, we went down to the barn and there was a man there with three horses for me to choose from. i rode them all down a little road in the pasture away from the barn. mom, my brother brian and butch were all waiting for me after each ride and asked how i liked the horse. one horse was what we call barn-crazy. i rode her away from the barn and before i knew it she spun around and raced back to the barn. i couldn't get her to stop or turn and she threw me off. I went right through a tree trunk that was shaped like a V and didn't really have any scratches. But that made my brother very mad at the man who brought the horses. Mom and Butch ran to me and I was okay, just a little shaken.

"yeah and my brother, Brian...I mean, Uncle Brian yelled at the horse guy didn't he, Mom."

-well, he wasn't happy with him, but i don't remember Brian yelling...anyway, that day i picked out a beautiful bay mare who didn't have any white markings on her, which is pretty rare. and i named my horse

"your princess pony..."

-i named my PRINCESS PONY cotton candy and we called her CC for short. i rode her everywhere. i used her to work cattle. i rode her for fun. my friends came to spend the night and we'd all ride. she took very good care of me.

"momma, can i ride cotton candy when we go see Papa & Nana?"

-well, baby, we don't have her anymore. (how do you tell a 3 year old that CC died several years ago when she has that look of awe on her face??) but i bet we can find a horse for you to ride.

"can i ride your horse momma?"

- you mean The Waitress? baby, we can't ride her right now. She's going to have a baby and we don't want her to be stressed. but there are lots of other horses to choose from...Blue, George, Tex...maybe even Pretty Boy

in the end, she rode George. however, in my darling daughter's ever present sass, she decided to rename him Lady George because that's what a princess pony should be named.

Merry Christmas!

Big Red Wins State

let's start by saying that the v. first night i met my lovely husband Drew, his friend Big Red talked me into having a shot of Sangria. I know what you are thinking...who in the WORLD shoots Sangria. Big Red. Red was Drew's roomie for years in various homes of disrepair around Alpine. Red was the best man in our wedding and Drew was in his wedding. Red married a lovely woman from Monahans & left Sul Ross to coach at Farmersville.

AND - TONIGHT, RED'S TEAM WON STATE!!! This is huge for him as a second-year coach at the high school and we are so proud of him. He's been through too much junk with this team - parents of HS students being pains - "little jimmy isn't getting enough playing time" etc. and the challenges of a new marriage.

i wish i had a pic of Red to share with you. he's a good ol' boy.

CONGRATS Red!

oh, and thanks for being part of why Drew and I are together.

the crib is comin' down

"but why," you ask. "he's only 10 months old?"

true & for the next couple of weeks *hopefully not much longer* he'll be napping and sleeping in the pack and play.

today, i am packing up and staging our house to sell. once sold, we will relocate across town in a home that we will be renting...which might sound like a step down, but actually it will almost double our square footage and the kids will no longer be sharing a room.

but if you ask cyd - the individual rooms are more of a punishment than a joy. who knows, i might make the 3rd bedroom my office & just happen to have a bunch of Stroman's stuff in there too.

this is transititon season for football coaches and we are simply trying to be ahead of the game if we do relocate outside of Alpine for professional reasons. if we stay (and we would like to stay) we need more room & the person we will be renting from needs to get out from under a payment. plus, plus!

but it is sad to be taking down his crib. because the next time he uses it, i'm expecting it will be in the toddler bed form.

they grow up too quickly.