My glass is half empty

Yes, I am a pessimistic person.

My husband and I booked a reservation at a bed and breakfast which shall remain nameless. I actually received a gift certificate from him for Christmas last year (mostly because he was in trouble) for a bed and breakfast that is a member of the B&B Association of Arkansas. So after a lot of careful consideration (or so I thought), I narrowed it down to one that sounded nice. After a long week of anticipating the idea that for two nights and three days I would be child-free (remember I have 3), I got rid of the kids Friday morning, packed everything up, and set out to meet hubby to leave.

About 3:15 or so we get in the truck, set the GPS, and head out. According to Google maps, should take us about 2 hours or so to get there. We wandered along, stopping at the Mark Martin museum because I have never been and really wanted to go, and quite a bit later at a grocery store to get a few snacks. The B&B advertised a continental breakfast, so we just got a little junk food for late night. We brought some movies with us that we had rented. Just wanted to veg out for a couple of nights and enjoy each other's company.

Four hours and several wayward excursions through creepy (think horror-movie) woods, we finally arrived, tired, hungry, and, for me, kind of cranky. When we finally found the correct road to turn down, and then the next, a one-lane dirt road through the woods, we were so thrilled to finally be there! I don't know about anyone else, but trying to maneuver an SUV in the dark with a LOT of trees around is not exactly a fun thing. Our paper said we were in cabin #1 to the far left. So, I turn left...not it. This is the owner's house/lodge. No one home. So we call the owners. They couldn't really explain on the phone, so I said we would find it. They wouldn't be back for about a half hour. Finally, backed out and turned around, and two wrong cabins later (there were only a total of four cabins), we finally got to ours. We drag our bags out and head in. We open the doors, and just looked at each other...

no tv, no heater, nothing except a couch, a tiny dining room table, a bed and dresser, a microwave, coffeepot, and small refrigerator.

Talk about disappointment! The "continental breakfast" consisted of a half gallon of milk, a container of orange juice, and some majorly out-of-date boxes of cereal...(like as in expired in February and march of this year). Since we left from hubby's work, he needed to take a shower. He went in and...no water. So we call the owner's again. Still not back, but they will check on it when they get back. In the meantime, I've had to go to the bathroom for quite a while. So I have to wait another 30 minutes before they get there and get the water fixed.

I know that being in the outdoors you are going to encounter various creepy crawly critters. But the cabin was not clean! Cobwebs everywhere, enough bugs in the light fixtures to actually dim the lighting, bugs all in the toilet...talk about grossing me out! Finally, after unpacking and getting showered, off to bed we went.

Even though we are totally not country-decor, no tv/dvd/vcr type people, it all turned out good. In the end, hubby bought a portable dvd player and watched movies while I slept.

What would we do without the kids?

I have 3 kids---10 years old, 3 years old, and an almost 5 month old. Needless to say, it gets a bit chaotic around our house at times. I work part time outside of the house and also have 2 home-based businesses, and I love being able to stay home with my girls. I didn't have that luxury when I had my son. Luckily I have a great job that allows me to be able to stay home. Having said that, there are the days when I think I am going to lose my sanity! My son is a typical pre-adolescent (which seems to be happening earlier and earlier in kids...) complete with rolling eyes and attitude. My 3 year old thinks the world revolves around her....which, sometimes, yes it does....and of course my almost-5-month-old is just a happy-go-lucky baby who smiles and laughs and gets a kick out of her older brother and sister. When I'm having a "bad" day, there's nothing like the smile and laugh of a baby to just completely turn your day around. And the things that comes out of the kids mouths...I could write a great humor book! My 3 year old cracks me up every day!

And so even though they drive me crazy on a regular basis, I can't imagine what it would be like without them here! And so some fine examples from the mouths of my kids that just made my day:

1. My son, watching our dog Gracie running across the front yard:
"Look! Gracie's running like a dog!"....?? Really? I said...

2. My daughter when I told her that no, I didn't run over her new bike (new, because I ran over the old one)..."Ahh, you're such a good mama!"

3. My son explaining about the school fundraiser:
"Anyone who sells 15 items gets put in a drawing and the winner gets to ride in a limbo to McDonalds....a big long black limbo"

4. Driving home and smelling a skunk, my 3 year old says "eww...mama, I smell a stunk! Where's the stunk at? That stunk stinks.." And then she wanted to know what was so funny.