Speech Class

One of my required classes for my degree is a speech class. I think most people panic at the thought of that, but I loved speech in high school, and even joined the speech team, and earned a couple of awards. So while I still get the jitters before a speech, I still love the class. Recently we were asked to give a narrative speech. We had to tell a story, and share what we learned from it. This was the story I shared with my class.

I’m sure that you have all felt the frustration of setting an object down and finding that it is nowhere to be found when you return for it, it’s happened to all of us. Most of the time, though in this situation more than a minute or so has passed before you return for the item.

The story I plan to share with you today isn’t about a lost set of keys, a wallet, or even a cell phone. The object I lost was a person.

As some of you know, I have six year old triplets at home. Life with them has never been dull, in fact, every day has been a chance to learn something new.

On one typical day when my triplets, Eric, Josh, and Hannah were around 7 or 8 months old, I left them playing on the living room floor while I went to the restroom, and to get something to drink. I was alone in the house at the time, other than the triplets.

We had spent months perfecting the baby proofing of my living room. Every single area of escape was covered by a baby gate, because every time we thought we had it perfect, they outsmarted us, and escaped. There were even occasions where they worked as a team to escape. We were pretty confident with the latest configuration though, because we hadn’t had an escape attempt in a month.

So when I left the room that fateful day, I was positive that nothing major would happen while I was out of the room.

I was of course, wrong about that.

When I returned to the living room, I did the head count that is just second nature to me now, Josh, Hannah, and… um. Where was Eric? My first instinct was to check the front door. It was still locked up tight. I checked to make sure all the gates were up, and they were all secure. I stood in the middle of the room just looking around.

I even tried calling his name, and asking the other two, but no one answered, since they hadn’t learned to talk yet. I ran to their bedroom, wondering if I had forgotten to get him up that day, or maybe just forgot that I had put him down to nap (I was still pretty sleep deprived at that point in time). The bedroom was empty too.

I rushed back to the living room, thinking that maybe he would have reappeared by then, and he hadn’t. I checked their toy basket, all the corners of the room and even under the couch. I even pulled out the cushions, as though there was some chance he had fallen through the cracks like the remote does. I searched every inch of that room twice. Understandably I was becoming quite frantic at this point.

Finally, I looked over at Hannah, who was sitting by my entertainment center patting one of the closed drawers and giggling. I stared at her for a moment, and then it occurred to me that she probably had a reason to be giggling at the drawer. I should explain that this drawer at one time was home to part of our DVD collection, but they had figured out the baby lock almost instantly and torn apart several DVDs, so we emptied the drawer. It was usually stuck partly open because of the baby lock but in my frenzied search, I had failed to notice that it was closed tightly.

I pulled open the drawer, momentarily slowed down by the baby lock since they had figured it out before I even had the chance, and looked inside to find Eric, sleeping soundly. I picked Eric up, and just as soon as I moved him out of the way, Hannah slammed the drawer closed and giggled like mad. I assume this is what happened to poor Eric. Eric, is a very calm boy, even to this day, and hardly ever gets mad at his sister (even when she throws up on him, like she did Saturday night). So rather than cry in the drawer, like any other child might, he just accepted his fate, and took a nap.

So what I learned from this experience is thatwhen you lose something perhaps it wasn’t lost, maybe someone just hid it from you, and as a bonus lesson, I offer to you this advice “never trust your sister”.

I got an A+ on this speech, but beyond that, I got to share an adorable memory of my crazy triplets.

I'm telling!

I am so very tired of the tattling. It's not needed tattling. There's no point to it. Each of the six kids tattle at least 40 times a day. According to my math, thats approximately... a hell of a lot of tattles. Here's how it works:

"Mom (or Kelli depending on the tattler), Emma's standing in the middle of the bedroom looking at my toy."

"Mom, Braydon said we have to go to bed later."

"Mom, Hannah won't look at me when I talk to her."

"Moooom, Josh touched my toy when I left it on the floor for ten minutes."

"Mooooooooooom! Eric said that my shirt is red and it's orange, so he's LYING!"

"Mom. Morgan is making faces at me!"

We've tried everything. Earlier in the year we tried sending every child in the house to time out when someone tattles. That was lots of fun when we had friends over. But their parents didn't mind since we got the idea from them. Boy were those boys pissed when they realized that was the rule here too. :) But we had to abandon that when they started tattling just so the sibling they were mad at had to go to time out. They were willing to stand there too just to screw with the others.

After that we moved on to the I don't care response. But I don't care is pretty harsh so we went another way. When child A tattled on child B, the punishment was that child A had to go give child B a hug and a kiss. Of course that didn't work. They giggled at that, and then used it as a way to make their sibling hug them when they weren't in the mood.

So I'm not sure what the next attempt will be.

Maybe the tattles will stop when they find me in the fetal position in the corner mumbling and ripping my hair out.

I doubt it though, they'd probably just go tattle on me to Alex.

Thanks for reading! Feel free to share your ideas!

~Kel

Blanket forts, they rock...

This week the kids have been obsessed with forts. A few comforters and the bunk beds become hours of entertainment. They have had a pirate ship, a club house, and a stage among other things, and they haven't been fighting very much at all, which is just fabulous.

At some point in the last few days one of them took a package of, well they are called chenille twists now, but in my childhood they were pipe cleaners. I've been ignoring this because they have been having tons of fun with them, and being really creative. I've seen a headband with a bunch of hearts for antennas, necklaces, bracelets, and Josh brought me a handful of blue ones that he turned into hearts for me.

We have a lot of stuff planned in the next week. We are going to the zoo, and probably lots of swimming, since it's right in the back yard, and the city fireworks on Saturday, and a 4th of July party at my house on Sunday. I'm really excited about it, Alex's mom got us lots of fireworks to set off, and I love hanging out with my friends!

I think that's all I have to say today. Thanks for reading!

~Kel

A general update

I realize it has been a while since I've blogged. I'd like to say I have a good reason, but I just don't.

Lots of things have happened since I last updated which I believe was in March. I think the quickest way to get through the updates is with a list! So here we go:

(not necessarily in chronological order)

1. I was in a play, and I loved it. LOVED it. I did some plays in high school, but I had forgotten how much they meant to me, and I'm so glad I found that again. I also seem to have infected others with my excitement, because Alex and Adam both plan to try out for plays later this year.

2. Morgan, Hannah, Josh, and Eric were also in a play (well, musical). They also seemed to love it, and came away with some great friends.

3. I turned 33. I try not to dwell on age, or focus too much on that, but somehow 33 seems a lot older than it should. I feel like time is running out to do the things I want, so this has led to some decisions in my life, to hopefully move things along.

4. I transfered to a college that I can actually attend classes at, and it is much much cheaper than the other college I was going to, and it gives me a chance to transfer to a traditional school for my final degree. This will look so much better when I get out of school and start looking for a career.

5. The triplets are keeping the tooth fairy in business. They have all lost two. Though technically Josh lost three. Since he was a baby and his teeth came through, two of the ones on the bottom came through and were like fused together. Earlier this week he had to have that one pulled out, because one of the fused teeth had an adult tooth coming through, and they weren't loose at all. At our house, when you have to go to the dentist to get a tooth taken out, the Tooth Fairy brings a toy instead of money. Hannah had some pulled a few months ago, and got a set of pandas, and this week Josh got a stuffed koala. It hasn't replaced his well loved koala or anything (from the last post), but he loves it.

6. The kids did a million cute things! I can't remember them all. I try to write myself notes, so that later, when I feel like writing I have stuff to use. Sometimes this works. Sometimes I find myself staring at a sticky note that says "If there's a booger in your bed, it belongs to you!" and saying to myself, "What the hell does this even mean?!"

I can't think of anything else major that has happened to share with you all. Now that we are all done performing onstage for a while it's time to relax and enjoy summer. Which I think to my kids means fight and tattle as much as possible.

I think I'll end this now. Thank you for reading, and I promise that I'll try REALLY hard to not go so long without updating.

Kelli

Meet "Koala"

Koala was an impulse buy along with a turtle named "Buffalo" and a bear one day at Goodwill to keep the kids happy while I shopped. Since then, Koala has become Josh's best friend.

Koala used to have a flocked fuzzy nose. Josh rubbed all that off by rubbing his nose against his face as he fell asleep. Josh still does this. If Koala happens to wander off, Josh is a wreck until he turns up again. Asking everyone every five minutes until he is back in his hands. Since Koala came home with us, Josh has acquired several other Koalas, but none of them are as important to Josh as his first Koala.

Lately, Josh has been giving me his Koala every morning before he leaves for school. I take this as a big complement. Josh is trusting me with his most prized possession every single day. I love him for it. He does this without hesitation, and with complete trust that he will get his Koala back when he comes home from school.

It's a big job. I hope I never let him down.

Thanks for reading!

~Kelli

Birthday madness!

During the two week period that makes up the end of February and the beginning of March we have 4 birthdays in my house. To be fair, three of those birthdays belong to the triplets, so while it's three birthdays, it's a little easier to deal with than four separate birthdays. Of course once they get older, they might end up wanting to celebrate separately. But we will deal with that when it comes.

The first of the THREE parties occurred this last weekend. That would be the triplet's family party. We are doing a family party for each birthday, as close as possible to the birthday, and then a friends party at Chuck E. Cheese in the middle of the two birthdays for everyone. Hannah, Josh, and Eric got lots of good stuff for their birthdays, and seemed to have lots of fun at the party. As usual, I stressed myself out trying to get everything perfect for them. Even though I know they wouldn't care if it wasn't perfect.

I lucked out a few weeks ago and found cake toppers in the clearance section of Wal-Mart, and immediately picked out five that were vaguely something that each kid would want. There wasn't a lot of options, but I feel like I got something each kid would want, and so far I've been right. Three down, two to go. (Emma's birthday is in May, two days after mine!)

So there are the cakes, they all begged me for the "Big top cupcake" that is all over TV, and I found a good deal on one, so I gave them what they wanted.

Thanks for reading! I'll update with more cakes as they happen!

~Kel

Boring stuff, and laptop issues!

Someone kindly sent me a message today letting me know that I hadn't blogged in a month. I guess it's a good thing when my fan demands more. LOL

I've actually been fairly busy lately. Alex got a job, so now I have to make sure everything is calm and quiet during the day when he sleeps. Have you ever attempted to keep six children quiet at the same time for 8 or more hours? I would compare it to trying to plug the holes in a dam made out of swiss cheese. When you get one to be quiet and stop jumping around, the other five start yelling.

So my laptop stopped being reliable about two or three months ago. The screen quit working, so I started using one of Alex's old ones until I could go get it fixed. I finally dropped it off with the Geek Squad about two weeks ago, and have been checking it's status online every few days since then. I saw where they tested it, ordered parts, repaired it, and then sent it back to Best Buy. I went to pick it up yesterday.

So I'm at the counter talking to one of the Geeks, and he tells me they replaced the mother board, and power cord. Well, I had dropped it off because the screen quit working. Before I had taken it to them, a quick Google search revealed that this was a common problem with that model, along with the mouse troubles I had been having the first time I took it to the Geeks. So I was a bit surprised that they replaced the motherboard, rather than the screen, so I decided that I should make sure it worked before I left with it, and asked the guy to turn it on for me.

He tried. He tried tried different ways, and could not get it to power on. So, I still don't have my laptop. I left it with the Geeks. I was fairly angry, but no where near as angry as I would have been if I didn't have another laptop to use.

To be honest though, as much of a pain in the ass as it is to drive the 45 minutes to the nearest Best Buy to pick it up and drop it off, I like this MUCH better than dealing with some incompetent asshole on the phone who thinks I'm too dumb to know anything about computers. Which is why I made the decision to only buy laptops from them after getting my last one there.

There are other blog entries on here detailing my past history with tech support. You've probably read them if you've known me for a long time, if not, get busy! LOL

Thanks for reading, sorry if it was boring today, I'll try harder next time.

~K

Welfare and druggies, my take!

This blog might be setting me up a little. But I feel like I have to share my opinion, whether or not it changes anyone's opinion is irrelevant, because really, what is a blog for if not to tell the world exactly what you think, so they can judge you and tell you that you are wrong?

So there is a group on Facebook titled "Make drug tests mandatory to get welfare."

Now. Don't get me wrong, it's not entirely a bad idea. Most people are of the opinion that they have to take drug tests to get jobs, so welfare recipients should be required to test too.

My problem lies in the generalizations, and judgmental opinions about those who do receive welfare, medicaid, food stamps, and other assistance. Some of the people in this group say some pretty nasty things about people who receive assistance.

We are not all drug addicts, living off the system to pay for our drugs. We are not all lazy assholes who don't want to work for a living. We are not all baby factories biding our time to have another so we can get more government money. We aren't all fat people who need the food stamps to pay for their ding dongs and twinkies.

The people in this group are demanding not only drug tests, but mandatory birth control (some are even saying forced sterilization!), and forcing specific food on people because they don't agree with the food choices that people on food stamps make.

The people are bitching because people getting assistance have cell phones, or nice clothes, or nice cars. Because you know, the person can't possibly have owned those things BEFORE everything went to shit requiring them to need assistance. Those nice things can't be leftover from a life they had before they lost their income. The fact that they have those things and someone not getting assistance doesn't MUST mean they are abusing the system.

I'm not saying that no one abuses the system. I'm not saying there aren't drug addicts getting welfare. I'm saying this group is offensive because it is making judgments about everyone who gets assistance.

Some of you know that I don't have a job right now, so my house is relying primarily on this type of assistance to survive. Family members help out some with the monthly bills, but other than that, child support and assistance is how we are surviving. I have tried to find a job, but no one is calling, because the reason I lost my last job, on the surface looks really bad. But these false allegations are causing major issues for me, and with the lawyer appointments and hearings and whatnot, I'm not sure I could keep a job, because clearing this up, is the most important thing right now.

Now, lets look at the idea of drug tests. First, this will likely cost more money than would be saved by removing the drug users that get assistance. I'm not really clear on drugs and how long they stay in people's systems, so feel free to correct me if you know differently, but from what I understand one of the only drugs that will stay in your system long enough for a urinary or blood drug test to even be helpful is marijuana. As far as all the drugs in the world go, that is one of the least harmful and destructive. So what would be the point really? Hair follicle tests can go back further, but are VERY expensive, and would cost way more money to execute than could ever be saved.

I feel like everyone on this group needs to stop and consider, thats it's not just the trashy druggie people who are getting assistance. The economy is shit right now. There are lots of former professionals, who are well educated, that lost their jobs and cannot find another no matter how hard they try. Even if they are willing to take something below their former station, they cannot get those jobs as they are overqualified, and are surviving due to assistance alone. There are parents with disabled children who need to stay home and tend to the daily care of their children. There are families who would love to have a job that's just not there, and there are people who are bettering themselves through education while getting assistance so that it is not a lifelong thing.

In short, don't be so damned judgmental. You could end up there too someday.

Hollywood pisses me off...

I am a media junkie. I love books, tv, movies all of it. I'm not a big fan of tabloids, and celeb gossip though.

Lately I've been getting frustrated with the powers that be in Hollywood.

First, I want to address the NBC issue. I have been a HUGE fan of Conan O'Brian for years and years. His resume' reads like a list of some of my favorite tv shows. (Simpsons, and SNL for example) Jay Leno, on the other hand has always annoyed the shit out of me. From way back in the days of those stupid Doritos commercials. So I think it's not going to surprise you when I post this pic:



I was pissed off all the way back in September when they put Jay on at 10. It was a stupid idea to begin with, and in my opinion it was equal to deciding to get married an hour before your best friend on the day of her wedding.

Another thing that Hollywood has been doing to piss me off it the remakes. I'm tired of seeing perfectly good movies turned into shit. Now I've heard that they are focusing on some of my favorite 80s movies, like Breakfast Club, and Ferris Beuller. A month or so ago, I learned that they were remaking one of my all time favorite movies, The Crow. Leave my movies alone! Come up with some ideas of your own already!

Next they're going to end up remaking some classics, like Wizard of Oz.

Thanks for listening to me rant!

~Kel

Welcome!

I haven't blogged in a long time, so let me dust off the cobwebs from the creative part of my head for a minute.

*cough cough*

Ok, I'm back.

I used to blog on myspace, but no one uses that anymore, so I feel like I would be just talking to myself. Over the next few days as I learn more about this site and it's features and limitations, I plan to start transferring all of my old blogs to this site, so feel free to read them to get a sense of what this one will be all about.

So I guess I'll give a little update on my life at this moment. I'm not working right now, I recently lost a job I loved very much over a stupid reason. Nothing I specifically did or didn't do. Nothing I did wrong, basically just a crappy situation, and they had to let me go because of it. Unfortunately because of the situation, I've had a heck of a time finding something else.

My house is overrun with children, which is why I picked the name of the blog with thanks to Tammy for her help!

I will end this now, and hope that I haven't bored anyone to death! Comments are welcome!