The Angels Among Us

You know people say that there are angels walking among us and I finally have proof that they really are.  What I am about to tell you still makes me a little misty eyed thinking about it so if you are a sensitive soul get out your tissues. 

 

My parents have proven beyond a shadow of a doubt they are extraordinary, kind, selfless, beautiful people that I am so honored to know.  This year my parents decided that they were going to donate part of my dad’s bonus check to the food bank or pick a kid off of the angel tree to help out for Christmas.  After some serious discussion they came up with a better plan for the money.  They called me on my cell phone and asked me if my friend I hang out with all the time (she is really cute like a little doll, that is what I will call her Dolly) had received any presents or money from her ex in the mail for her daughter.  Her daughter is Tooter’s best friend and they are only a week a part with the exact same tastes in life.  They even have deadbeat dad’s that do not take their responsibilities serious.  I told my mom I was almost to her house I would just stop in. 

 

I got to her house and she pulled me into her bedroom and asked me again if Tooter’s Best Friend (TBF) had presents under the tree and if her dad had sent her anything.  I told her that he did not send anything and with money being really tight Dolly had presents under the tree but not a lot.  That sealed it we got Dolly on the phone and asked her what TBF needs or wants for Christmas.  She did not know what to say on the spot like that so we told her that we would give her a few minutes while my parents got ready to go to the store and they would call her back. 

 

The whole time my mom was telling me what her plan was I kept thinking in the back of my mind, “Do not cry, do not cry!!!”  I did not want to be tear stained in front of Tooters and have to try and come up with an excuse.  So we tossed around a few ideas and came up with getting her some snow boots since she is wearing tennis shoes in the ten tons of snow we have received and a snow shovel like Tooter’s since she has such a blast with it.  We called Dolly back and let her know they were off to the store and if she thought of anything else no matter what it is to call them back on the cell.  I stayed behind with Tooter’s and my brother who had come into town for a couple of days. 

 

After a little while my mom calls me from the store to ask if TBF has a bike.  I told her that she does but it is to small for her.  Well that settled it TBF was getting a brand new big girl bike for Christmas that will last her for the next couple of years at least.  My mom told me to get Tooters to another part of the house when they pulled up so that they could go out and cover the bike up with a blanket until they could get it over to Dolly’s house.  We decided that after Santa left the house that night (I had it arranged for him to come to the house and even bought some cheap dolls with a couple of outfits for the girls to open up with him.) and the girls are playing with the new toys Dolly and my dad would sneak out of the house and stash the bike and other stuff at her house for the next morning.  Bless my beautiful parents they even bought a gift certificate to Kohl’s for Dolly so she would have something from Santa to.

 

Well while my mom and I were taking a look at the presents and talking about them I noticed that the snow boots looked funny.  I picked them up and they were super light with no tread on the bottom.  Then I noticed the size it was 13-1, shoes are not sized that way just slippers.  I pointed this out to my mom so we left Tooter’s with my dad and brother so we could go look for real snow boots.  We checked three stores before going back to the store she originally got them at, they were told that was all they had.  Something told us that we needed to check again.  We hit the shoe isle and there on a low shelf in a box that had not even been opened was a pair of purple and black very cute snow boots in TBF’s size.  OMG they were meant to be hers so we scooped them up and exchanged the slippers for the boots. 

 

We talked to Dolly and TBF the next day, they said it was a wonderful Christmas.  TBF could not wait to show Tooter’s her presents from Santa and invited her to come and play the next day.  Dolly got a little sniffly on phone when I asked her if she got the little bag with the gift certificate in it.  She still cannot believe what my parents did for her.  I told her just enjoy it and buy something nice for herself with the gift card or save it and we could go shopping together.  I can still hear the gratitude in her voice and it makes me feeling wonderful knowing someone in my family did that for her.

 

This whole thing made my heart swell up with pride for having the parents that I do.  This whole act of kindness still makes me misty sitting her writing about it.  I just hope and pray that someday when I am more financially sound so that I can have an amazing opportunity to pay it forward.  Someday many many years from now I will sit down and tell Tooter’s the story of a Christmas made perfect just by giving and hope she will continue to have the generous nature she has now and help out some else out like her grandparents. 

 

I hope every one had an incredible Christmas like I did!!  Happy New Years everyone and remember to be safe.

There’s A Wad Of Gum On My Wall?!?!

I am going to list five things that no mother ever wants to hear from their child.  Then after that I will let you know which one I heard the other night.  But keep in mind I have heard all of these at one time or another.

 

1.     If you feed a whole can of beef stew to the dog will she explode?

2.     What would happen if you tie Barbie to the ceiling fan and turn it on high?

3.     Do we have a stepladder I cannot reach the gum on the wall?

4.     How many flushes does it take to flush Ken?

5.     How permanent are my markers?

 

I really have heard these things from Tooters, so can you guess which one I got hit with the other night?  If you guessed number 3 then you are correct.  Yes Tooters managed to get her gum she was chewing stuck to the wall near the ceiling.

 

The other night I was cleaning on the house a little bit while dinner was cooking when I caught Tooters with her hand in the candy bucket from Halloween.  I told her to get out of it so she did not spoil her dinner.  Tooters said ok and went to the playroom to play while she waited to eat.  I went into the laundry room at that point and started to hang up the wet shirts and put everything else in the dryer. 

 

Everything was right with the universe for a moment.  Tooters was playing with the dog and I was happy with the thought I would not have to go searching for clean socks in the morning.  After about ten minutes she was still giggling like mad when all of a sudden it got very very quiet.  This always scares me because I know she is up to something.  Then the dog went running out of the room when the thumping started.  All I can do is hang my head and hope that it is not as bad as it sounds.  Before I could finish what I was doing I heard the little innocent voice from the playroom.  She sounded very calm and collected like there was nothing strange about asking for a stepladder.  Here is how it really went:

 

T – “Mom do we have a stepladder?”

 

M – “Why do you need a ladder?”

 

T – “Oh just cause.  I need to reach something.”

 

M – “OMG what can you not reach, your toys are already on the floor?”

 

T – “I need the stepladder to get the gum off the wall.”

 

M – “Holy crap on a cracker!  What the hell is the gum doing on the wall?”

 

T – “Moommmmm I was playing with the dog and it got stuck duh.”

 

M – “Why do you even have gum I said no snacks before dinner!”

 

T – “It’s just gum you chew it you don’t swallow it so how can it ruin my dinner.”

With that I gave up the arguing between rooms, finished what I was doing and went to assess the damage.  I walked into the room and there stuck on the wall pretty far up was a wad of chewed up gum with a bubble in it and Tooters under it jumping up and down trying to reach it before I got into the room.  It looked like an alien laid a neon pink egg sack on my wall.  I whipped around and told Tooters she better start explaining and this is what I got.

 

“I was practicing how to blow bubbles and the Wonder Pup wanted to play, so I started tossing it up to see if she would catch it.  She was doing good, she even caught it once.  I blew another bubble to throw some more but it got stuck.” 

 

Ok here I am in the playroom with Tooters looking at me and waiting for me to retrieve her toy.  All I can think of is she put the gum in her mouth after the Wonder Pup touched it with her mouth and is it going to leave a pink circle on my wall. 

 

These are days that that explain the gray hairs I keep finding on my head.  Someday I will post the stories that go with the list at the top but for now I will let you picture the innocent child and the wad of gum in the playroom. 

Super Mom To The Rescue

Wow we had an exciting night here in my part of the world.  Everything was going fine last night, Tooters was in bed sleeping and I was having some mommy time watching Biggest Loser while I exercised.  You know for some reason when I watch that show I always have the extra huge urge to amp up my exercises, I just don’t know why lol.  At the end of the episode I sat my sweaty self down to cool off and enjoy another bottle of Master Cleanse, yummy its tonsil burning good ;-p.

 

Just as I was cooling off and thinking of the warm new flannel sheets I had just put on my bed the silence was shattered by a gazillion sirens.  OMG it sounded like the world was coming to an end they just would not stop.  Just when I thought I could go to bed another round would race up the road.  Curiosity finally got the best of me and I just had to go and take a look.  So across the street I went in my tinker bell pajama pants, purple fuzzy slippers, and a cozy fluffy green bathrobe.  Boy if I was going to attract a man this was not the night.

 

I finally found out through my contacts working the area it was a fire in the creek bottom and the sheriff’s officer told me to go pack stuff I want to take with me incase I needed to evacuate at a moments notice.  I mean the fire was blazing and the wind was gusting up to 50 mph right towards my house.  The fire was only about a block away.  I got back to the house and did what I had to do then sat down to wait. 

 

But wouldn’t you know it the sirens would not stop.  Now they were racing up and down the road like they were drag racing.  Of course this woke up Tooters.  She is not freaked out by emergency stuff because my mom works for the Sheriff’s office and I work for emergency fire and the forest fires.  Once she caught site of the fire up the road that did worry her a little bit.  So I called my mom and told her to go for a ride with me because there was a several hundred-acre fire going on on the other side of town.  I thought if I could show Tooters how far I had to drive to get to the fire it would make her feel better.  Plus I figured the car ride would either calm Tooters down to be away from the fire by our house or put her back to sleep.   

 

Well I ended up taking her back to my mom’s house for the night because I got called into work and I had to race over to a friend’s house to help her pack because she might be evacuated too. 

 

Just as I was dropping Tooters and my mom off Tooters got very serious and made me promise to do something for her.  All she wanted me to do was go back to my house for a couple of things for her.  She wanted her new Barbie with the dogs, the Barbie her uncle bought for her, and her favorite doll she has been carrying around since Christmas.  The darn thing is named Sarabell Lavinia Chandelier —–.  What a mouth full for a six year old. 

 

I asked her if she was worried about the Wonder Pup and she said, “You are a good mommy you would not let anything bad happen to her, I trust you will get her out too!”

 

I thought it was so cute that she picked those items that had been bought for her by very special people to save first.

 

 My mom snuck into another room from Tooters and called me this morning at dispatch to let me know that Tooters talked about those things all night in her sleep.  What she did not know is when I ran to the house to get her school clothes for today I snuck those items into her bag just so Tooters knows I really do listen to her.   Then my cell phone rang and it was Tooters telling me how much she loved me because I saved her babies.  Needless to say today I am on cloud nine knowing that my daughter thinks I am the hero of the Barbie’s and babies.  Just think I don’t even need to fly I just needed my Kia with the spare tire on it instead of a cape lol.