Well Monday was our 14th Anniversary.......

Wow, 14 years.....what a ride. Mark is my 3rd husband, most people don't know/realize this LOL. I was married to Carl's dad in 1980, I had dated him from the time I was 16 and he was 18. We were married almost 5 years, he had this problem see, he was allergic to work, taking care of our son so I could work 2 jobs. So I sat down one day and made a list of pros/cons and guess how that turned out....so then about a year after our divorce I meet a very handsome guy who's 7 years older then me. He's middle age and going to college full time, living at home with mom etc...working that summer in a local factory....never been married...no kids....wants a career change....he's done all sorts of things I never have, exciting......I never lied to Dean about having a child from the get go, but when I look back now, I don't think he ever got used to the idea I had a kid. I really think he was just playing the waiting till he grows up and is gone game. Hell Carl was 3 years old when I met him and 10 when I left him. We dated for a couple years and lived in our own homes. We moved in with each other about 1987, he was still in school and it was cheaper for sure for both of us. You see Dean had a drinking problem, not bad at first, but as time went on it got worse-fast forward to 1992. I had bought a nice house on my own, and we were living together, being a somewhat normal family-except for the bouts with excessive drinking. And one day we got to talking about marriage, he had always said int he past, not kids, no marriage and I was ok with that at that time. Anyway he just up and said you want to get married??
I'm like huh??? This was in Jan 1992, so we plan a nice backyard wedding, very casual and we get married June 20th, 1992. By the fall of 1992, I knew I had made the worst mistake of my life, he was drinking every day, now mind you he had a white collar job and was able to go to work every day, he had everyone at work fooled. He started being really nasty to Carl, then he turned on me. It was right after Thanksgiving I told him I was sooo done with this and I wanted him out. Well he reacted like I thought he would and beat the crap out of me.... I'm just glad Carl was at my mom's when it happened, and of course the bastard took off, but the cops found him and arrested him.....fast forward again.....right before Christmas I was ask to fill in on a local bowling team, I hadn't bowled on a team in years (Dean hated the whole idea), well I thought this will help me get out of the house and make some new friends. Our local bowling alley-Arrowhead, at that time had a lounge/bar inside. So after bowling, the girls and I would go into the lounge/bar and have some cokes and listen to the DJ spins some tunes. Back then, line dancing was all the rage here in our home town. I had never seen it before, and thought that looks like so much fun. Well Mark's cousin was the DJ and he would come every week and help him set it up and stick around and visit with his cousin. He was very shy, but would get up and dance the line dancing. I notice he never danced with any women, just by himself. He was soo cute and I thought sooo young too. Well one night they were doing a couples dance I said would you teach me how to do that and he said he would and the rest is history.....he was/still is young, 5 years younger then me. He has been the best thing to ever happen to me and my son. It was hard for Carl by the time Mark came along, so his teen-age years were hard on all of us. But as the years have gone by, I see him being more comfortable around Mark. He has been a wonderful father to our kids. All the years we tried to have kids, he was there for me for all the testing and surgeries. He has been a good provider, same job he got one month after we married. He is my best friend, I know that sounds corny, but he is. We are just opposite enough to make things interesting. But on certain subjects we are alike. So the last 14 years of my life have been the best and I want to say I love you honey and thanks for the last 14 years and I'm looking forward to the next 30........

Well the boys Robert and Trevor that is started summer school yesterday. It runs from 8:15-11:15. As I was driving the boys to school, around the corner from my house was a mom and 2 kids waiting like for a bus, and I thought to myself, well we never got a letter about transportation so I assumed there would not be any provided. And I thought bull, I'm calling someone. The boys are not going to their home school for summer school and this school is to far for them to walk. Well come to find out, they are supposed to ride the bus, but for some reason we never got the letter. So I'm sooo glad, because Hayden goes into major meltdown when we only go a short distance in the car then come back home. This is common for AS kids, because they get used to a certain routine and god forbid you don't stick to it LOL.

Have not heard anything from ICWF, but I suppose we will when the trip gets closer, I know Julie said she would let me know the minute our tickets are booked.....

I tried my hand at some digital scrapping again yesterday and came up with this for my desktop. The actual layout was a quickpage I p/u free. What do you think?....




Well gotta run, Hayden just knocked over a shelf in Madison's room, btw, did I mention he knocked her princess tv/dvd player off the dresser this morning, never a dull moment.......