Because WE are the Griswolds!

Or at least, it felt like we were on Thursday.

School starts next week for our kids.  My friend and I were off on Thursday.  We decided to make a trip to Wild Adventures.  We had just been there two weeks ago on a Thursday.

Elayna and I made a dozen sandwiches.  We packed our swimsuits and towels and sunscreen.
We all loaded up in my friend's car, along with his daughter, and drove to Georgia.
94.7 miles.

And we arrived to a scene eerily reminiscent of this one.....

 

It seems Wild Adventures closes during the week once the school year starts in their area.

Which I have never heard of.  Living in Florida, the land of theme parks, this just doesn't happen.  Some of our parks change their hours during the fall, but mid-August?  Closing completely except for the weekends?
Who does that??!!

Wild Adventures in Valdosta, Georgia.  That's who.

But....we made the best of it.  Our plan was to spend the day at Wild Adventures, then take my friend's daughter to her Grandmother's house for the weekend.  We were to meet up in St Augustine.  So, we just went to St Augustine WAY earlier than planned, and spent the day there, hanging out and having fun.

The girls were great sports about it all.

Elayna on Ice Cream

Elayna and I - photo by B, 8 yrs old ;-)

Lately, my life seems to be all about making lemonade out of lemons.  I wouldn't mind if the lemons stopped being hurled at me!  But in the meantime, pass the sugar...........

We don't call this Putting the FUN in DysFUNctional for no reason!

DysFUNctional Moments 9.27.11

<center><a href="http://www.puttingthefunindysfunctional.com/"><img border="0" src="http://i530.photobucket.com/albums/dd344/dysfunctionalmom/dysfunctionalMOMents-1.jpg"/></a></center>

This post is a confession.

I have been neglecting my house work.

Neglecting my cooking, cleaning, laundry.

I've been neglecting my pets.

I've been neglecting this blog.

I've been neglecting my husband.

And I've even been neglecting my children.

What's causing me to do this, you might wonder?
Illness? An addiction? A sordid affair?

Not exactly. It's none of those (and yet, it's all of those).

It's this.

Scary Mommy Confessional

Be careful if you click - it is seriously addicting! I could read there all day. Utterly fascinating stuff!

So tell me - if you were going to confess....what would it be? I won't tell anyone - promise! ;-)

Link up below!!

DysFUNctional MOMents

I have so much going on right now, it's completely crazy!
BUT...they're all good things. So I'm not complaining!I am, however, late for my own meme. Again.



<center><a href="http://www.puttingthefunindysfunctional.com/"><img border="0" src="http://i530.photobucket.com/albums/dd344/dysfunctionalmom/dysfunctionalMOMents-1.jpg"/></a></center>

The other night Shelbie asked me to paint her fingernails. I reminded her that I'm really not very good at painting nails, but she whined and begged, so I finally agreed to shut her up because I am so sweet.

So, I painted her nails while she watched TV. And basically made a hot mess. When I was done, she looked at her nails, said "Oh.My.God." and promptly got out the nail polish remover.

I've never been very girly-girl myself. I'm pretty low-maintenance. I can't do hair. I can't do nails. And I have two daughters.

It's time to face facts; I suck at being a Girl Mom!

Link up if you wanna! Obviously it doesn't have to be today, since I can't even get to my own meme on time!

DysFUNctional MOMents - Emo Cheerleaders?

I so suck at life. Late to my own meme! Oh well, better late than never!



<center><a href="http://www.puttingthefunindysfunctional.com/"><img border="0" src="http://i530.photobucket.com/albums/dd344/dysfunctionalmom/dysfunctionalMOMents-1.jpg"/></a></center>

Elayna is my 10 year old daughter. She has many different interests. She has played several sports, and loves to sing and dance. These interests are subject to change at any time. So when she wanted to sign up for cheerleading for our rec center this year, I kind of shrugged it off and let the deadline slide by.

Money is tight, and I really wasn't sure if she was serious about cheerleading. This is my "emo" kid; highly dramatic and in fact, she looked at her smiling stuffed frog just yesterday and grumbled, "Why do you have to be so HAPPY all the time??"
She's quite the little ray of sunshine. just like her mama

So yeah, not exactly what you might imagine as the perfect candidate for cheerleading.

But the other day, I took the kids to the rec center to play, and the cheerleading squad was practicing. The very one she wanted to join. Two of her friends are on the team, and she talked with them and then hung out, watching practice. She copied their moves, and had a good time. When practice was over, the coaches & some of the parents stayed, discussing some cheer business. Elayna kept doing the cheer she had learned, and at one point, I saw one of the coaches watching her. Then she said something to the other coach, who then turned and watched her. I said, "Elayna. let's get outta here, I think they think you're stealing their cheers."

So, we went home and thought nothing else of it. Until I got an email from the mom of one of the friends on the squad. She's also the Team Mom and a friend of mine. And the email said, quote:

"Hey Cyndy! Just wanted to let you know that K's cheer coach saw Elayna doing the girls' cheer (after the girls left and we were having our meeting) and she said Elayna was really good and was amazed she caught on so quickly to what they were doing. She was quite impressed. :) She needs to get in cheer next year! ;)"

Sigh. Yet another Mom Fail.

And yes, I read the email to Elayna, who beamed with pride. She literally turned red. My little Emo Cheerleader.

PS- Today is Andrew's 12th Birthday! I'm sure that will make for some DysFUNctional MOMents as well. ;-)

Link up already!!

DysFUNctional MOMents

<center><a href="http://www.puttingthefunindysfunctional.com/"><img border="0" src="http://i530.photobucket.com/albums/dd344/dysfunctionalmom/dysfunctionalMOMents-1.jpg"/></a></center>

Andrew's birthday is coming up next week, and we're having his party at a nearby park.

It's going to be great because he can run around, act crazy, and have a good time.

The weather is still great here in Florida, so we don't have to worry about that.

So, why, you may be asking, is this a DysFUNctional MOMent?
Because I picked this location for one reason, and one reason only.

So that I don't have to clean up after everybody.

No pre-party clean up. No post-party cleanup.

That is called winning.

Link up to your DysFUNctional MOMent post, and please, leave a comment!

DysFUNctional MOMents II - One Child Left Behind

<center> <a href="http://www.puttingthefunindysfunctional.com/"><img border="0" src="http://i530.photobucket.com/albums/dd344/dysfunctionalmom/dysfunctionalMOMents-1.jpg"/></a></center>

It's Tuesday and time to confess this week's #momfail moments!
And of course, I have one ready and waiting.

Sunday was a busy day for us. At least, that's the defense I'm using. The girls went to a church picnic with my sister, niece, & niece's husband. Tim was at a friend's house, & Andrew was at MIL's house. John & I had errands to run, and that's also the day we adopted our new kitty.

Once we got the cat, we took her straight home, arriving just after my sister & her family brought the girls home. Tim was home also, along with two of his friends. We came inside and showed the cat to everyone, and chatted with my sister & family, Tim, and his friends. We were laughing and having a good ol' time.

And then the phone rang. It was John's mom. The infamous MIL.

What could she possibly want?

Oh, she was wondering where we were. Because it was 6:35pm. And we were supposed to meet her at 6pm to pick up Andrew.

We totally forgot about our kid.

Um....oops?

Now it's your turn! Link up a DysFUNctional MOMent, so I don't feel like such a douche.

Please link directly to your DysFUNctional MOMents post,

and leave a comment after linking up!

Fraggin' from the End of my Rope

~ It's been a rough week, emotionally draining, and today was the worst! I'm at the end of my rope, for sure.

~ Among other stresses, today John went to the end of our dirt road, as usual, to pick up the Littles off of the bus. Andrew got off...but not Elayna. It took us 30 minutes to figure out where my child was! She missed the first-run bus, so the school dean put her on a second-run bus. She didn't tell anyone, so nobody knew where she was. The secretary finally learned, via the bus driver, what had happened and that she had been dropped off, so we had to rush back to the bus stop. Meanwhile she had already walked all the way home. She was scared, we were scared, it was just a very scary time!

~ Thanks for voting in the bedtime poll. My MIL decided I put Andrew to bed too early. They go to bed at 9pm at the earliest; on nights where they have soccer or other activities it's even later. And they get up at 6am! John works nights so it's just me and the kids Monday - Friday. I just love how she wants to tell ME what to do in my home! Grrr.


~ Speaking of MIL, Andrew, & stress...getting Andrew back after an entire summer at MIL's, where there are basically no rules, is challenging, to put it mildly.

~ Okay, I have to confess to a bloggy pet peeve. When the name you use for comments has nothing to do with your blog, and/or is a very common name, I never know who is commenting unless I click the name and visit the profile. I have several people with the same name who comment frequently, and sometimes I assume they are all the same person and don't realize I have a new commenter who I should be visiting. It would be SO awesome if you could use (for example) the name "Mary @ Totally Awesome Blog" or "Totally Awesome Blogger" for comments!
*WHEW* I feel better now.



~ Thanks for participating in/commenting on my new meme, DysFUNctional MOMents! I think it will be fun and I really hope it catches on and takes off.



~ My guest post is up now over at Single Mom in the South! =)

~ The BFF & I sang this last Friday night at Karaoke. It's kind of our theme song! ;-)

Have a GREAT weekend!

Visit Mrs 4444 for more Friday Fragment fun!

DysFUNctional MOMents Tuesday!

<center><a href="http://www.puttingthefunindysfunctional.com/"><img border="0" src="http://i530.photobucket.com/albums/dd344/dysfunctionalmom/dysfunctionalMOMents-1.jpg"/></a></center>
I started this blog almost four years ago (in fact, next month is my blogiversary!). I named it "Putting the FUN in DysFUNctional", and became known as DysFUNctional Mom. So, it's no secret that I have my DysFUNctional MOMents, and I am pretty sure that YOU do too.

(yes, I'm looking at YOU!)

And now, the time has come for you to share them. Whether they're just funny, or a big oops, or even something that you really screwed up....we want to hear about them. And then, we want you to link up here! And it doesn't always have to be a parenting moment. We have dysfunctional moments of all types!

My favorite DysFUNctional MOMent of the past week is when I posted this as my Facebook status:

Cyndy: Is it too late to decide I dont want any children?

August 16 at 7:02pm via mobile · Privacy: · ·

• Sara, Alyssa, Nancy and 11 others like this.

My kids were driving me NUTS that day! And fortunately, most of my Facebook friends get my sense of humor. Especially since I posted this the next day:

Cyndy: "A real man is a woman's best friend. He will never let her down. He will comfort her after a bad day. He will inspire her to do things she never thought she could do. He will enable her to express her deepest emotions. He will enable her to be confident, sexy, seductive and invincible ...No, wait. Sorry. I'm thinking of wine. It's wine that does all that. Never mind." - April Pierce

See? I have "wife" DysFUNctional MOMents, too! (I totally couldn't resist that one.)

And in keeping with the Facebook post theme, I'm sharing yet another one. I've had a raging toothache all weekend, and went to the dentist today. I need a root canal & I'm on meds for now. So this exchange occurred tonight between my niece and I:

Heather: Piiizzzzza for dinnah... big surprise?! Ehh, not so much!

4 hours ago via mobile · ·

• You and 2 others like this.
• • 

    Cyndy send some over here. lol my kids are making their own ramen noodles while i sit here in a vicodin-induced fog. lol #momfail

OK, don't leave me hanging, I know I'm not the only one with DysFUNctional MOMents.

So, join in and link up.

Like all the other link-ups out there, please link directly to your "DysFUNctional MOMents" post, and please add my adorable "DysFUNctional MOMents" button to your post!

End-of-Summer Fragments

Friday is here - time for fraggin'!!

~ Today the little kids meet their new teachers. (Shelbie is in high school; she got her schedule in the mail.) Elayna is SO excited! Andrew is at his Grandma's, and not a big fan of school, so I doubt he is quite as thrilled. LOL

~ School starts Monday. I can't quite believe it. I'm not ready for the early mornings and early bedtimes; we have kept a very different, night-owl schedule all summer and I'm much more suited for that.

~ I have a pretty fun weekend ahead. Tonight I'm going out for karaoke with my BFF Danielle, and on Saturday they are having a huge birthday party for her grandmother, and John and I will be attending. And bringing my world-famous potato salad.

~ They are already selling candy corn and those yummy pumpkins at Walgreens. I love them, and I love fall, but wow....already??

~ I have decided to start a new meme/carnival/whateveryouwanttocallitthingy.

I'm going to call it "DysFUNctional MOMents", and I'm going to share the Dysfunctional Mom Moments that I've had during the past week, and invite y'all to join in! What do you think? I'm going to give it a test run on Tuesday, so if you already have a Dysfunctional MOMent to share (and you know you do!), get it ready! You can post it on your blog and link up, and I'll also have guest bloggers here sharing their DysFUNctional MOMents.

Like that time your daughter was crying that her thumb hurt but you thought she was just being a drama queen and then you took her to the ER the next day and it was actually broken.

Oh wait, that was me.

Okay, like that time you took your son's lizard outside so it could get some sun but you forgot about it all day and it sort of.....baked. To death.

Oh wait, that was me, too.

Okay, enough of my your DysFUNctional MOMents, let's save the rest for Tuesday!

I'm sure you have all heard about the tragedy that happened at the Sugarland Concert at the Indiana State Fair last week. I'm a huge Sugarland fan and wanted to share one of their songs today. It's hard to choose just one; I love almost every song they've ever recorded, but this is one of my favorites. My prayers are with all of those affected by the tragedy.