Overcoming...

There has been so many things that have transpired over the course of the past few weeks, so much stress and just plain overload, that I don't even know where to begin.

I may or may not have told you about the arrangements that I had made for my kids, while I was to go on my boat trip. It wasn't easy to coordinate at all, (a big thank you goes out to the ex for that), but I thought that I had everything covered.

I was to leave on a Wednesday and they were gonna be staying with my sister until that Friday. On Friday, they were going to my brother's house and staying there until Sunday. Unfortunately, my brother went into the hospital on Friday night, so my sister got them back after only 1 day. They stayed with my sister until that following Thursday night, and then went to stay with two of their friends from school until Sunday morning, when we got back into town.

For some reason, which I can only conclude is since I didn't threaten them with their lives, they thought it would be okay to destroy everything in their paths. They tore off a cupboard door in my sister's kitchen, they ripped off her railing leading down her basement stairs, they de-magnetized my nieces tv, my oldest busted his brother's lip, got chocolate pudding on her carpet, had a food fight with cheez-its, and also managed to break down the center panel of my brother's couch.

After being gone about 4 days, I had my sister calling me just furious. She was telling me that I needed to call and talk to them and try and put a stop to all of it. She's also telling me that my bro's in the hospital and that he looks very frail and hadn't been able to eat anything in 4 days and that they might be doing surgery to drain an abcess and that he will have to have a colostomy soon, once his diverticulitis heals up some.

I can't even tell you how frustrating it is to look forward to a trip for a year...have to scramble to find someone to watch your kids for that long of a time, only to have it turn out the way that it did and then to learn that you are hundreds of miles away and your brother is really ill. There was nothing that I could really do about any of it and it just sucked.

I did talk to my brother, when I could. Phone calls weren't even an easy task because where we docked the boat, of course we didn't have service. What I had to do every time I wanted to use the phone, was to jump on my jet ski and head out of the cove we were in, to the middle of the lake. That wouldn't be a big deal, if it wasn't raining the past 4 days we were there. So there I sit, in the middle of the lake on a waverunner, in the rain...only to hear news that just kept getting worse!!! Not to mention, hearing that the dog was peeing all over Tina's house....RIGHT IN FRONT OF HER!

There were a few days of total rest and relaxation, and I did try and make the best of the time that I had...but let me tell you, I've certainly had better vacations!

Since coming home, the boys have been doing tons of chores daily in exchange for cash....cash that will be handed right over to my sister, for all the crap that they pulled, I have lit up both their butts (talk about making them feel humiliated), and we have "discussed" at length about how they WILL start behaving! So far, their tails are still tucked between their legs and they are walking on eggshells! I see this lasting about another week or so...