Spring soccer has arrived so I have been running around like a chicken with my head cut off. What has been even better is that gas prices have went up and what used to cost around 65-70 dollars to fill my gas tank and last a week is now costing me around 80 and it lasts for about 3 to 4 days. YIPEE!!!! To top that off little Miss Erin has needed a check just about every day, "Mom I need $110 for prom tickets.", "Mom, I need $100 for soccer fees at school." "Mom I need $150 transferred in my account to fix the overdrawn fees." "Mom , I need $35 for our senior lock in." "Mom , I need lunch money." "Mom, my gas light just came on and I don't have any money in my account." I finally said, "Enough Erin, do you have any idea how much money I have given you in the last two weeks?" She said, "I know me and my friends were just talking about that, the end of senior year is really expensive." I guess I should take that as a consolation prize that she actually felt bad for half a second compared with the first 18 years of her life. She borrowed money from her two older sisters for the ridiculously expensive prom dress that she picked out. I think she finally realized this bank was closed for the year.


Ryan asked me this weekend what a trophy wife was. I explained it to him and then my darling husband chimed in with, "I sure wish I had a trophy wife." Ryan said, "It's OK dad, you have one, she's just not first place." Dave said, "yeah I think I just got a participant." They are both lucky I have a good sense of humor!!

Little Shannon did a Murphy first. She passed her driving test on the first try. Sam did it in three and Lauren and Erin did it in two. Of course she did it in total Shannon fashion by passing with a mere 76. Why would we bother trying to pass a test any other way than average to below average?? Dave called Sam and Lauren and told them they could call and congratulate her but mom took her phone away because she can't seem to get the fact that we expect something other than a C from our little under achiever. I got to make my dreaded call to the insurance company to add her on to our car insurance. They still haven't called me back with our new rate, I think they may be afraid to tell me. Shannon said the driving examination lady told her that she had a heavy foot on the gas. She should have said, "Oh yeah, you should see my idiot sister Erin, she has two accidents and a ticket doing 80, it's in the genes." I am really looking forward to the peace and quiet with the girls sharing a car this summer. I am so lucky that my girls resolve every conflict quietly and respectfully. Ha Ha, in my dreams maybe.

I made a pot of spaghetti last night and Ryan and Kelsey got home from practice just as dinner was almost ready. I was on the phone and glanced over to my dinner cooking and noticed my only son covered in mud wringing his hands above my dinner and I exclaimed, "sweetheart, whatever are you doing?" OK I think it went more like, "What in the hell are you doing?, Do you have a brain?" He responded with, "My hands are cold." Well by all means warm them up above our dinner, it would be dumb to wash the mud off with warm soapy water. The heat will most likely kill the germs. It is amazing that I don't take Prozac or beat my kids.

Dave and I got a small glimpse of what the summer of 2010 may be like and let me tell you, we are in for a real treat. I believe there is only room for one Queen Witch with a "B' this summer and Erin and Lauren are fighting it out. You see Lauren previously held the title until she moved in to her own apartment and Erin not only has filled her shoes, she has done so well she has overflown the shoes. Just ask Ryan!!

Lauren came home last night and immediately started listing all the things she noticed in the house that needed to change. Most importantly the smell of dog pee. I am with her on that one!!Of course that may actually require someone getting up from the couch and letting the dog out. Yeah, that is an impossible feet, I will just stock up on Febreeze. She then went on to lecture us how our kids needed discipline and they get away with murder, most especially Erin. Dave and I just ignored the mini conflicts brewing and went to bed.

This morning we awoke to the two Queen B's fighting, I think they both called each other witches with a "B" several times (hey when did they decide that type of language was acceptable?) and Lauren grabbed an alli when she pretended to be concerned about the way Erin treats her precious baby brother. Ryan fell for it and chose Queen B Lauren's side, that is until she turns on him and stings him with her heiness witchiness with a "B." Erin needed me to move the car so she could get out of the driveway, Dave asked me for the check card and Queen Lauren threw a fit because she thought Dave was going to fill up Erin's gas tank. Once he assured her he had no intention of filling her gas tank, he was just going to buy some milk so Maggie and Ryan could eat she was breathing a little easier.

Ryan has a new habit of drawing on himself, that
just made my already stressful morning a tad more chaotic. He drew some sort of tattoo on his hand and he wrote the word strong across one bicep and man across the other. If anyone knows my son, you can think of several adjectives to describe him and strong man wouldn't make the list. He has a tendency to make a skeleton look overweight. During all the Lauren/Erin fight I instructed him to find some soap and scrub the graffiti off his body.

Last night Erin needed some help with her child psychology paper she was writing. She wanted to know what she was like as an infant and a toddler. I pulled out my old diary and we all had a good laugh. Unfortunately I only have a handful of entries. One of them described Erin as a baby, I think i wrote something like, "you are such a little piggy, you ate 6 donut holes and smashed a couple in your hair." Some things never change. Another entry explained how when she was a little over 2 and Shannon was a baby, every time Shannon would cry and I wasn't in the room Erin would yell, "She got hurt all by herself." She always made sure to cover all her bases. I also wrote how Erin used to love the show Rescue 911 and how she would put Shannon on the ground and preform CPR and Shannon would just lay there and let her. Oh how I miss the days of smashed donut holes and getting hurt "all by herself." Now I have smashed cars and cat fights!!

We had to take the Jeep back from Sam, Dave has a company car and can only use it for work related things and Erin not having a car was becoming a real issue. I feel horrible that she is back to using public transportation but I am sure Lauren is walking with a little more spring in her step. She saved up and bought a car last year and always had a problem with us letting Sam use our good car.

Erin got to drive the jeep to Columbia to watch her high school compete in the basketball final four. I had just received a phone call from our insurance company that she may be excluded from our auto policy if the underwriters decide that she is too much of a risk with her two accidents. Thank God they don't know about her ticket that she just had to complete driving school so it would stay off her record. She wasn't as concerned about her pending cancellation as I was, she has bigger problems. She found a $400 prom dress that she is in love with and her last paycheck was $18. Good luck with that!!


I gave her the lecture about driving the speed limit before she left. She said "don't wory, I will set the cruise control at 65." Um no Erin if the speed limit is 60 we don't set cruise control at 65!!!! She then went on to tell me that she learned a lot from her online driving course and she is a much more responsible driver. Does she think I am a complete idiot????

Dave and I woke up to the all too familiar sound of love in the air this morning. Ryan was screaming at Erin asking for a towel, Shannon was screaming at Erin and Erin was screaming at everyone. Erin was upset that Ryan had the audacity to take a shower without checking to see if he had any towels in his bathroom and she was upset with the fact that he has is own bathroom so hell would freeze over before she would bring him a towel. I found out later that he had to use his underwear to dry off until Maggie saved the day and brought him a towel. Erin forgets to check for clean towels all the time but according to her logic, it is different because she has long hair that makes her much colder than Ryan, and she deserves a towel more. Drying off with dirty boxers sounds perfectly logical to her.

The other little problem that we had was Shannon couldn't find any shoes. Erin was yelling at her to hurry up and was lecturing her that she should have got all of her stuff together last night. Shannon was upset because they had to wear their dress uniforms today and she couldn't find any dress shoes that fit her. I then got screamed at because I quote "we don't have any shoes for little feet." She then went on to yell, "you haven't bought me new shoes in like forever." I went and brought the crazy psychopath some "shoes for little feet." and finished getting ready for work. I can't wait until summer when they can fight all day long instead of just in the morning.

Erin/Sybil has been in rare form lately. Last weekend she was in the school play. She did an awesome job. I even got a little teary eyed watching her on stage. She decided the night before play auditions that she wanted to audition. She has never shown much interest in Drama other than the drama that she causes at home. She was in several dance numbers and did awesome. She has soooo much showmanship, I was extremely proud. The play ran Thurs, Fri and Sat. I wasn't able to go on Thursday night and was fast asleep by the time she got home. She woke me up around 1:00 AM to ask me where her ticket was, she had to complete her online driving school from the ticket she got in November. Friday she informed me that she needed a sports physicl before Monday in order to try out for soccer. Why does she wait until the last minute to do everything??

Shannon has been on house arrest until she gets her grades up. Instead of actually opening a book, she has chosen to use this time laying on the couch. She left her facebook page open and her status was I expletive hate my life. I gently, OK not so gently told her nice girls don't talk like that and she had about 2 seconds to delete that off her facebook. When I told Dave about it, his response was , "I'm afraid she is going to be really depressed, why don't we take her to the movies tonight." I said, "yeah lets buy her a pony too to celebrate her sub par grades. Nice try Dave, I'll take care of the parenting."

This week has been high school soccer try outs, Erin has been crabbier than usual, if that is possible? She picked up a few healthy things at the grocery store and wrote her name on them with a black sharpie.That is fine with me, I am not interested in her Special K bars, I just polished off 10 boxes of girl scout cookies. Sam ordered some cookies from my niece and told her Aunt not to give them to us because we would eat them before she had a chance to pick them up. I am insulted that she doesn't trust us. She always has been a smart girl!!