This is going to be a very stressful week for me. Keaton is leaving to go to Washington D.C. All by himself. Well him and about 100 of his closest friends and a few teachers. You know how I am when the kids are traveling without me.

At our school the 8th graders have the opportunity to go on a class trip to Washington D.C. You may remember when Justis went and how calm I was then (yeah right). Well now it’s Keaton’s turn.

Keaton has actually traveled quite a bit. He’s been to Orlando, Chicago, New York and London with me. He’s been to Colorado and Tennessee with church. Remember how well I handled his trip to Colorado. Yeah, that well.

This morning it really hit me he’s leaving in just three days. THREE DAYS! I’m not prepared yet. I can’t concentrate on work. Instead I’m sitting here making a list of everything we need to do before he leaves. Laundry, get him some money, find out what time he’s supposed to be at school, etc.

I’m also trying to figure out how to give him money. He has an ATM card, but for some reason he can’t get it to work. [Although Lee tried it and didn't have a problem so obviously Keaton's problem is user error.] So I’m not sure we can go that route. It won’t do him any good to have money in his savings account if he can’t access it because he can’t figure out his ATM card.

But do I just want to hand over a load of cash to a kid who isn’t all that responsible with money. Last summer he went to an amusement park with friends. I gave him $80. He didn’t have any pockets so he kept it his shoe. He lost all his money within an hour of stepping foot in the park. So I’m worried he’ll drop all his money on the first day and have to starve for the rest of the trip. (Although most meals are covered in the cost of the trip so he won’t actually starve.)

Aarrgghh.

So that will be the theme this week. My neurotic paranoia about my thirteen-year-old going to Washington D.C. I’m just warning you.

I feel Swistle’s pain. I often hear people say, “I don’t know how you do it” in reference to my five kids. But too me it’s more difficult to have just one or two. I don’t know what to do with myself when I have all that free time.

I’m with Matthew. A blogger has every right to delete offensive comments at your discretion. You need to make that your comments policy on your site. Great post!

I was starting to worry about Kerflop. She actually enjoys cleaning. But then she realized it wasn’t the cleaning, it is the great cleaning product she uses.

Chirky moved in to her new house. And she’s a tiny bit excited about it.

Scribbit is have a contest where she is giving away some adorable outfits from Refined Sugar. You have until tomorrow to get your name in.

Do you have a bunch of crayon bits you don’t know what to do with? Recycle them.

Cynical Dad was engaged before. Go read the first part of this already sad story.

Are you one of the stops on Bossy’s Road Trip. Are you following along as she travels? If not, you should be. She’s having entirely too much fun.

Sarcastic Mom started off the Birth Story Carnival with Braden’s birth story. I’m such a sucker for a good birth story.

Amalah translated from toddlerese for us.

Metro Dad did some country living last weekend. I’m loving that one car drive-in.

“Because I’m not drinking rice that lactates”. Too funny!

Rude Cactus got a makeover from his daughter. Warning: Do not read this post while drinking any sort of liquid unless you want said liquid all over your monitor.

An Oregon man is pregnant Huh? It’s all very complicated.

Melissa’s daughter is being bullied. How scary and sad that there are girls our there like this.

Greeblemonkey gives us the real facts about fake tanning. And it’s a bit scary. Thankfully I have never fake baked. I’m a red head. Tanning is just not a possibility for me and I’ve finally come to accept that.

If you know me at all you know I’m a huge History nerd. I especially love all this U.S. President related. So you can imagine my disappointment that we don’t have HBO after I discovered there’s some great show called John Adams. Does somebody want to Tivo that and then send it to me on DVD?

Does a child’s toy really say the “F” word? MomLogic tested it to find out. This literally had me laughing out loud. Too too funny.

When it comes to sewing are you a complete noob [word taken from the teenage language] like me? Well Blissfully domestic has our backs.

Yummy! Oatmeal Waffles.

Double Yummy! Cotton Candy Cupcakes.

Blissfully Domestic has their weekly meal plan up. Yum!

Last night, after all the kids were in bed, Lee and I gave two of our cats a bath. The two cats that keep running outside the second we open the door (now that it’s finally nice outside…in the 50s). Then we went to bed.

About an hour later Spencer came in to our room holding his pillow and one of the blankets from his bed. He said, “The cats are all wet and they got my bed all wet. This is the only blanket that’s still dry.”

We tried not to laugh, but it was kind of funny. Even though we know the cats love to sleep on Spencer’s bed, it never even occurred to us that their wet bodies would soak his bed. We’re so mean. First we get the cat’s soaking wet and it wakes up Spencer in the middle of the night. And then we laugh about it. I know. We are horrible people.

We told him to go sleep on the couch. “I can’t. They’ll just get me wet again. And this is the only blanket I have left.”

We can’t shut his bedroom door because the cats have to go through his room to get to the storage room under the stairs were their litter box is. But we do have a door leading to our family room/my office. So he ended up on the family room couch with the door shut.

This is what’s great about family. They always keep you in good spirits.

[Love Thursday]

When I found out I was pregnant with Keaton I was working third shift as a Certified Nurses Aide in a nursing home specializing in Alzheimer’s patients. Much of the night was spent checking on residents and helping them to the bathroom if needed. But in the morning we had to help them up, get them dressed and out to the dining hall for breakfast. There was a lot of lifting involved. Many people can probably continue to do that work throughout their pregnancy, but I wasn’t up for it. Before I was pregnant I could come home and sleep a few hours and be good. But when I got pregnant I was exhausted all the time and couldn’t handle third shift anymore. So I quit.

I decided I wanted to work a nice day job, maybe answering phones or something. I was only nineteen and my only education up to that point was a high school diploma and my CNA certification. So my options were pretty limited.

I signed up with a temp agency to find me a job. They sent me on several short-term jobs that were fine, but I was also looking for a full-time job with benefits. I had health insurance, but I was paying out of pocket for it so something cheaper would have been nice. Every day I scoured the classifieds and sent out tons of resumes.

Finally I got a bite. I set up an interview for a receptionist job at a chiropractic office. It wasn’t glamorous, but it sounded good to me. I wasn’t being choosy. It was full-time with benefits and the hours were during the day…my only three requirements.

By that point I was around seven months pregnant and had quite a little baby bump going on. I was well in to the stage requiring maternity clothes. So I put on a pair of nice khaki pants and a pretty flowery maternity shirt and made my way to the interview.

I interviewed with an older lady with silvery white hair. The second I stepped in the door and saw the look on her face I knew I would not be offered the job. She was looking right at my pregnant belly and she was obviously shocked. I’m pretty sure she was hoping I would just turn around and leave, but we continued with the interview anyway.

During the interview she told me the hours would be from 10am to 7pm with an hour lunch break. She asked me if I was that was ok with me. That sounded good to me since I’m not really a morning person anyway. Then she asked me if my husband would be fine with that. I said, “I’m not married.” That cinched it. No job for me. Not only was I pregnant, but I wasn’t married. Obviously I was the devil incarnate…according to her.

We quickly wrapped up the interview and I was on my way. I never heard back from them. And I was not at all surprised.