So today is one of those days where I really wish I was single somewhere drinking Mai tais on a beach with a cute cabana boy refilling my drinks.

Erin called me this weekend sad about her upcoming surgery. She called me Saturday morning and said, "Mom, I cried last night about my surgery....I was really drunk though." I said, " oh that's nice honey." just kidding, I actually said, "umm Erin, last I checked you were 20 not 21." ah college life, what happens in Alabama stays in Alabama. Why can't you at east act like you are a rule abiding kid like Sam and Lauren used to do?


Shannon made the honor roll for the first time in her high school career. I'm not sure what happened there but I was very excited. Shannon hung up the honor roll list on the fridge as soon as it came. Seniors are listed on one side of the paper and sophomores on the other. Kelsey and Shannon battle every day on what side is showing on the fridge.
Shannon got accepted into Mo State she is happy. She is working on finding a room mate. Good luck with that. Psychotic red head searching for a room mate. I will have an empty bedroom for the first time in years.

I checked Maggie's grades today online. I'm not sure what she is doing at school once I drop,her off? From the looks of her grades it appears as if she walks in the school building and immediately walks out. This is not the first time we have had issues with her grades. The first thing to go was her Itouch and next was basketball and soccer. When I talked to her she was really upset. She is always my happy go lucky kid who rarely needs correcting. It broke my heart to have to come down so hard on her. When I was done with my lecture, she asked between sobs if she could take the gate down so the dog could come with her in her room so they could hug? I think I need a hug. I have a large case of working mothers guilt.

Kelsey turns 16 tomorrow. Dave and I went to a parking lot to give a quick lesson on parallel parking. Dave brought home cones from work. While he set up the cones I figured I would show Kelsey the proper way to parallel park. When I backed over the cone I told her to pretend that didn't happen. She actually did really well and mastered parallel parking with ease......it's the actual driving part that scares me. Murphy girls tend to flunk the driving test on the first go round so I wish her luck tomorrow. I have a mint chip ice cream cake ordered to celebrate her passing or to cheer her up for flunking.

I was looking for Kelsey's birth certificate to bring along to the DMV tomorrow. I came across the first letter Dave had ever written me. We had been dating for just two weeks. I remember it like it was yesterday. It was so sweet, In the letter he told me that after 2 weeks he already felt like I was his best friend and that it was so strange that it seemed impossible. He also said that he had a great feeling that if I stuck with him that great things would happen. The paper was old and tattered....not sure why because we are so young. It's funny looking back we had hopes and dreams and a vision of what we thought our future might look like. We never Invisioned seven kids. Thank God someone up above had great plans for us. I am so happy I met and fell in love with the Hanley Hills village idiot. All those crazy little quirks wouldn't be near as cute on someone else.

I think I really needed to find that letter tonight to realize just how lucky I am. Even though I have one kid with a pretty serious medical issue (and a drinking problem) and another kid giving absolutely no effort to fifth grade and my car insurance rates are on the verge of tripling....I am incredibly lucky. I love my husband so much more now than i did back then, I amido blessed to have him in my life, I can say that because I know he will never see this. He claims that he reads my blog on a regular basis but i know that he doesn't.

Erin flies home late Wednesday night and has surgery at 9:40 am on Thursday, the nurse asked me this morning if I had any questions.....unfortunately I do not. This is Erin's 10th reconstructive surgery. I think I am an expert. We are hoping and praying that this will be it. If you read this before Thursday the 26th...please say a little prayer for my little Kooks. Oh and stay off the roads for a while....another Murphy driver will soon be on the loose.

I haven't felt much like being funny lately. Erin has to have more surgery for a problem that stemmed from surgeries that she had when she was little. She has had 10 reconstuctive surgeries on her scalp to correct a birth defect and her body has generatd extra bone growth on her skull as a result of the trauma.

She had surgery to correct this in 2008 and almost immediately the bone started to grow back. The surgeon thought it would be best to just keep an eye on it. Unfortunately for Erin the bone came through her scalp on the last day of her Christmas break.

She came in my room late Friday night crying and woke me up. I was thinking OK, my 20 year old daughter is waking me up in the middle of the night to tell me something tragic....Oh God, I'm going to be a grandma. To my delight...horror...fear....terror....depression that was not the case. I tossed and turned the rest of the night with mothers guilt. I sure wish I could trade places with her. She went back to school as planned and I told her I would contact her surgeon first thing Monday morning.

She is a tough kid and I admire her so so much. Her doctor was on vacation this week so we took pictures of the hole in her scalp and emailed them to her doctor. He seems to think it will be a simple procedure just like last time. I checked out flights and the cheapest flight round trip was 1,000. After a few calls to the right people,Southwest airlines donated her flight. Thank You Southwest!!!

I am trying to keep a sense of normalcy in the house even though my mind is on my little Kooks AKA Erin. I spent last Saturday in the fetal position, I gave myself one day to have a pity party and then I had to pull it together, there are a lot more Murphy's that need a mom who isn't in bed with the covers over her head.

Although I have warned Shannon before she goes out on the weekends, "God help you if I get a call from the police tonight and find you in a leopard print dress. I am not my normal cheery self....don't do anything stupid until AFTER your sister has surgery." Then go ahead and be an idiot teenager all you want.

Dave and I are taking Shannon to go look at Mo State for a campus tour in the morning. It is good timing actually because the jeep is having engine trouble so we can have the car worked on tomorrow while we are in Springfield. I'm so excited that we can use the money we saved on the plane ticket to fix the car. See how my glass is half full!!!

We still haven't repaired the damage from Shannon's little fender bender she had in December. Kelsey turns 16 in 9 days....maybe we should wait on repairing the front bumper for at least 6 months?

When I called my insurance company to report Shannon's accident I asked my agent to send me the Steer Clear packet for Kelsey to fill out so we can get the discount on our auto insurance. Kelsey went over the booklet and said "Mom, I need to find 12 different licensed drivers to ride along with me." I thought, "That can't be right. I feel like I need a blindfold and a stiff drink every time I ride with her how will I find 12 people dumb enough to get in a car with her?"
I read the section that she was referring to and it clearly stated; If you already have your license, log at least 12 trips with a licensed driver in the car with you. Not 12 different licensed drivers. Details!!


Lauren is doing great in New York, she seems to be having the time of her life. Now that she is a New Yorker she walks everywhere. She called me yesterday and told me that she tried on new clothes and the size 2's were falling off of her. Yeah well good for her....I never really liked her much anyway!!

My morning started a little crazy. Dave has decided to get up and go to mass every morning as his New Years Resolution. I am pretty sure it won't last past Jan. 11th but who am I to judge? This morning my alarm went off at 6:40 as usual. I hit dismiss on my phone instead of snooze. I woke up at 7:20 frantic, the whole house was still asleep....except for the little choir boy, he was at church praying for our lost souls.

Shannon and Kelsey already have detention this week due to the many tardies last quarter. Needless to say this was not a happy household this morning. Maggie has Dare graduation tonight and needed her Dare shirt to wear to school today. She left it on the couch. Shannon and Kelsey cleaned up the living room on Tuesday night, so no telling where that T shirt could be. If Kelsey put it away it could be in some crazy off the wall location like the freezer or microwave. She tends to just stick things anywhere and deal with finding them later. We never did find the shirt and their ride came. So much for being prepared. Shannon and Kelsey headed out and I was left with a quiet house. The bright spot was that I had absolutely no time to scream at anyone this morning.


I decided to log on to Maggie and Ryan's school website and check their grades. Not sure what made me do this but I wish I could rewind my day back to the time where I would think of my little darlings and my heart would melt.....After checking in our their second quarter grades I am thinking about tieing them up when I get home and leaving them that way until bed time. Maggie got an F in religion....yes I said an F. How in the hell do you flunk religion? I mean come on...your father attends mass every morning...OK he has went 4 times but still?? Ryan's last couple grades in science were less than stellar, he did manage to pull off a C-. Maybe I will tie Maggie up with rosaries...yeah that's a good idea.

Dave has a work meeting and can't make it to Maggie's Dare graduation. Always the supportive spouse I laid into him and explained that when our baby girl is living in a cardboard box under a bridge smoking crack that he may want to remember this day. Oh well I guess the family is big enough we can bring enough people to make up for dad missing.

They had to write essays at the completion of the program. She of course in Maggie fashion waited until the last minute to tell me it was due. I told her to write a rough draft and I would go over it for her. I looked at her paper and decided if I was going to get any sleep I should just take over. I wrote a beautiful essay. Imagine my surprise when Evan won in her class?? Come on Evan, we all know that my essay was fabulous!

I always try and find the bright side in my day. I guess the best part of the day is that Maggie will be easy to spot at graduation. She will be the one without a shirt....perfect training to support her crack habit for later in life. Maybe she should go ahead and stand next to a pole!

One of my New Years Resolutions was to update my blog more often. Already the 3rd of Jan, so much for resolutions. I guess it will be ok if I eat a row of Ryan's birthday cake later as well. If we are breaking resolutions here I may as well be an overachiever.

2011 like every other year had it's ups and downs. I received a promotion.....very good. I spent 4 days in the hospital...very bad. My van cost me $900 in repair bills....very bad. After spending $900 they couldn't fix it....even worse. I got a new car......very awesome. Shannon wrecked the jeep......very bad. Shannon was ok.....very good. My car insurance is going up....very bad. Some crazed pot smoking lunatics followed Lauren home and she had to call the police and out run them.....very bad. The police caught them and they went to jail...ha ha very good. I ran a half marathon....very good....it took me almost 3 hours...not good. I didn't pee or poop in my pants during the race....awesome. Erin went back to school in Alabama...very bad....very good...not really sure on that one? Sam's job is still going well...very good. Lauren moved to New York...very bad for me...fun for her. She has a blog 4000 times more exciting than mine.....fantabulous

Check out the adventure at www.Lifeofthelucys.blogspot.com

Here's to 2012. Bring it on!