My McDonalds Story

I told this story to some of the girls last night at dance. I had forgotten about this... It's highly embarrassing but I've never been above sharing embarassing or shameful stories about myself.

Let's first preface this with... 1. I have a quick temper. Sometimes it will come out about a very insignificant issue. 2. I can be tender hearted, and the LAST thing I ever want to do is hurt someone's feelings.

In college, I ate a McDonald's often. By often I mean about once a week. I was going through the drive thru to get my usual (quarter pounder w/cheese and no onions, fries, and a dr. pepper) and realized I had a "to go" cup that had leaked out the bottom in my console. *Side note - if this has ever happened to you.... it is VERY annoying!* When I got up to the window to pay and get my food I asked the lady there if she could throw my cup away. She said no she couldn't and that they had a policy about throwing away things for customers. Well, this is where the shameful part comes in... I argued with her for a minute and got so upset that I said something along the lines of, "If you can't throw away my cup, I'm not interested in buying food from you" and proceeded to throw my cup down on the ground outside my car and drive off - without paying or getting my food.

I drove about two blocks and felt considerable remorse. In all honesty, I felt like a horrible person... all I could think was what if that girl had a bad day and was on edge anyway and something like this sent her over? So...

I turned my car around and went through the drive through again. At the drive through ordering spot, I told the girl I was sorry and I realized it wasn't her fault that she was unable to throw my cup away... even as I'm typing this I realize how ridculous I had been. I apologized and told her I there was no way it was appropriate for me to yell at her.

I think about that day every once in a while and regret being such a bitch. BUT... I have learned a very valuable lesson about keeping my temper in check and that I never want to work in retail because I'm sure I'm not the only person that has become unreasonable for no good reason.

BTW - Part 2 coming soon. :)

Lately

I'm not so hot at updating this blog with what we do on the weekends and for fun during the week so...

The weekend of January 14th, Jeremy and I drove to Little Rock, Arkansas to buy a fishing boat he had his eye on. We left our house Friday at 6:00 and got to Little Rock at 2:00 am with only one stop to get gas and a very romantic dinner at Sonic. We met the boat guy at 8:00 the next morning and were headed home at 9:00, with no boat. You heard correctly, no boat. It just didn't look as nice as the pictures and story the guy told Jeremy didn't match up with the condition that we thought it should be. So we are still looking... For my sanity and Jeremy's happiness - I hope he finds one soon!

The next weekend we got to go on a trip to the Ameristar Casino with Jeremy's work. They had a goal they needed to meet for 2011, and when they met that goal Lexinet promised to charter a bus to the casino. It was a fun night. Not only did they charter a bus to the casino, they provided beer on the bus, gave each employee and their spouse $100 when they got off the bus and bought drinks/dinner while there. Jeremy pocketed his $100 but I lost all but $25 on roulette. :(

Jeremy and I at the casino

Me and Maggie on the bus

I'm not sure if the boys are dancing or just trying to not get their picture taken...

This past weekend we just hung out around the house on Saturday and then went over to some friend's house for the Superbowl. I was SUPER cranky on Saturday and pouted around the house most of the day... but something good came from it and it made me e-mail Molly and Rachel to make a date. Hopefully we'll be able to get together in the next few weeks.

Sunday went to the Superbowl party at Maggie, Lucas, and Parker's. They just added on to a house they purchased in Council Grove and it looked SO NICE! We had a fun time letting the kids play and just enjoying each other's company. We got to see some friends we don't see often enough and I found a bottle of wine I enjoy.



It wasn't very expensive and it was really yummy!

 I've decided that I enjoy red wines that are a little dry more than the white sweet ones... so that's what I'm going with now - maybe I'll try to branch out again in a few months!

I also took some pictures of the boys on Saturday morning for our Valentine's Day cards... which are likely going to be late! Needless to say... none of these are "the one" and not making the card. Hopefully we can get a good picture this weekend.

Headlock #1

Dill sucking his toe... :)

Pretty sure Dave is pinching Dill's cheek... not punching him!



Headlock #2



We have big plans for this weekend of going to a boat show in Topeka... Woo hoo! My dad is having a knee replacement on Monday... keep him in your prayers!

As promised... Part 1

In November, I posted many of the things/people/etc that I am thankful for. One of those posts was about Leilani/Mike/Miranda/Laken. I promised that I would share my story about being adopted and finding (and having a relationship with) my birth parents. It's a long story and I'll do my best to break it up so it doesn't get TOO long.

As a child, I always knew I was adopted. My parents told me for as long as I could remember. They read me this book growing up.

It's a funny cartoon book that shows parents getting kids out of a pop machine and explains that they adopted you (the child reading the book) because they couldn't have their own.

They also had a beautiful saying on the wall of our hallway.

Not flesh of my flesh

Nor bone of my bone

But still miraculously

My own

Never forget

For a single minute

You didn't grow under my heart

But in it.

I always knew my parents loved me and that they were my true parents. They always told me that my birth parents loved me so much, that they gave me to them. And its true.

As I started to get older, my mom started telling me the little things she knew about my birth parents. My mom told me most of the details she knew, mostly because I guess that's the kind of conversation I had with her and not my dad back then. It just never came up with my dad. But I'm fairly certain that my dad always knew what my mom had shared with me - in case I came asking...

I remember clearly being in the car when I was in middle school. I think I was in 6th grade. My mom started sharing some details of my adoption with me. She told me the lawyer that handled my adoption case from my parents side was from Council Grove. The lawyer that handled my birth parents side was from Kansas City but the brother of one of my dad's friends. Apparently, that's how the connection was even made. Side note, my mom sent a gift (flowers, card, or something) to both lawyers every year near my birthday to thank them for helping my parents get me. Is that not the sweetest? Back to the car ride... I can't remember exactly the details that came out but I do remember finding out that my parents had met my birth father before they left the hospital. He had been reluctant to go through with the adoption and wanted to meet my parents before he gave the final "okay." My parents used fake names when meeting him for safety's sake. My parents also had transferred vehicles several times after they left the hospital as the lawyer wanted to take extra precautions that they were not being followed. How funny is that!

A strange coincidence, I had this doll growing up that I loved. She was like my security blanket. Her name was "Cold Baby" because she was plastic and would get cold in the middle of the night. I still have her, and other than my children, husband & dog, would be the first thing I would grab if we had a fire and I wanted to save something. The strangeness of Cold Baby was that my birth mom's mother, Carol, had sent her, along with another stuffed animal, through our lawyers to me for my first birthday. I didn't know that until I was in middle or high school... but it always made her more special to me.

My parents had always told me that I could try to find out who my birth parents were when I graduated from high school. Legally, you can search for your biological parents at the age of 18, but I turned 18 at the beginning of my senior year, and they didn't want me to spend my senior year searching, and possibly disappointed with what I found.

The only other things I can remember talking about when I was little was just my parents reminding me over and over that I was their daughter and they think of me as much "theirs" as my brother, Troy, who's their biological child. They told me my birth parents wanted me but wanted to give me to a family that could give me what they couldn't. My mom did tell me when I was in high school that she thought my birth father's name was Devin and that both he and my birth mother were from the Kansas City area. I can remember looking into faces of people we'd see when we were shopping in Kansas City and wondering if they could be my birth parents. Little did I know, how close to them we actually were.

Part two to come soon! 

Channeling Michelle Tanner

Friday night we met some friends at the Bamalam (bar/restaurant in AV) for dinner. The boys were very well behaved most of the night. Right after dinner, Dave wanted out of his high chair. I let him out and he ran straight to the men's bathroom. I followed him and took him into the women's restroom to try to go potty.

Let me first say that the bathrooms are BAR bathrooms... not the cleanest. Not so dirty you can't use them but definitely not ideal for potty training. Dave sat right down and tinkled in the potty. I was so excited. That was the first time I've been able to get him to go to the bathroom in the toilet. Of course, when we came out I had to announce to everyone that Dave had pottied in the toilet! In a small town, this is no big deal because everyone knows Dave and he had lots of high fives and "good jobs!"

Now for my post title... All I wanted to do was sing "Pee Pee in the Pot-tee... Pee Pee in the Pot-tee!" just like Uncle Jesse, Danny and Joey sing for Michelle when she goes potty for the first time. How sad is it that my potty training experience is so dismal that I can only think of Full House?

In other news... we moved Dave to a toddler bed (well his crib converts to one) tonight to try to make that transition before we really start potty training... Wish us luck. That boy desperately needs containment.

Braggy McBraggerson

I've never thought I'd be one of "those" parents. You know... the kind that are constantly shouting out their children's accomplishments to anyone that will listen? I don't think I'm that parent. But I'm about to do it for just one minute. So just bear with me.

This brag post is about Monster 1 a.k.a. Dave. He's bright. How he got to be so bright, I'm not sure. His parents are not geniuses... just average everyday people. Anyway...

My child could identify all the letters of the alphabet before he was 2. More like around 21-22 months. The Easter Bunny brought him foam bath letters at Easter last year and after I dumped him in the bathtub he started picking them up and saying what letters they were! So I started asking him to find me the "D" and the "W" and all the other letters. He could identify them all! He clearly did not pick this up from Jeremy or I because we hadn't been working on letters with him. I called Judy, his babysitter, and asked her if she'd been working with him. She said no. Apparently he just picked it up from watching cartoons on Nick Jr.

Now, at 2 1/2 (I can't believe he's that old!), he can count and identify the numbers to 25. He can point out a diamond, star, triangle, circle, rectangle, square, oval, and heart. Jeremy was driving him to Council Grove in the morning the other day and he looked out the window and told Jeremy, "That's the moon... it's a cresent!"

I don't really know what's normal for kids his age... and I don't really push him learning. But he seems to just be interested in it!

Now - if we could only get him potty-trained. He's just too content to do his business in his diaper! That's the spring goal for the McDiffett household.

Just a few pictures of Monster #1.

Thanksgiving 2011

Both Monsters together

My Sweet Boy

Disgusted...

I'm taking a quick detour from my usual posts about family, friends and happiness. I am disgusted. With what you ask? The Bachelor.

I just watched my DVRed Bachelor from Monday night. That show is a guilty pleasure. It's kinda like Eminem for me. I don't love it... but something makes me keep watching/listening to it. I'm not a huge fan of Ben. He's okay - not my type of guy though. I usually just love watching those competeing for the Bachelor/Bachelorette's love. I remember loving Ali's season because the guys seemed to be such good friends. Monday night... not so much.

I always wonder how I would react to the different senarios they put the girls in. After the first night, I was telling Rachel that I would have likely been the one to try to get Monica and Jenna to "talk it out." Maybe that isn't how I would handle the situation but how I would HOPE I would handle it. I can tell you, there is NO WAY I would ever be climbing on a bridge for love. Uh huh... Love to me is Jeremy climbing up the ladder to paint because I can't get on the forth rung. Moving on...

Tonight I found myself thinking... could I have possibly anyone in the United States see me call a girl I don't even know a B? I am appalled. I realize there is editing that goes on that makes a situation look different than it is, but, those words have to come out of your mouth at some point in time! The producers do not make you say specific things about a particular person... and if they did - I'd be hightailing my cocktail dress wearing butt out of there. I mean... your parents, friends, family and potential significant other is going to see you acting like that. And I can't think of a bigger turnoff.

Rant over.

No laughing...

Just a quick story from our night last night.

The boys have been going to bed pretty good at night. Dillon has been sleeping well and either getting up once or sometimes even sleeping through the night. Last night, not so much. Dillon woke up for about 2 to 2 1/2 hours this morning. I gave him two bottles, tylenol (he had shots yesterday so I thought maybe that was bothering him), rocked, binkied, and changed a diaper. Nothing worked. He wasn't necessarily crying just fussing. Anyway, he woke Dave up. David is going through what is hopefully a short lived phase of wanting things in a particular way, therefore, I had to get him another cup of water. Then, when he realized he already had a cup of water, I had to take THAT one out of his crib. Then Jeremy tried to rock him but apparently wasn't doing it right so we made the decision to let the boys cry, shut the door and try to get some sleep ourselves.

We were laying in bed listening to Dave say, "Oh Momma! I need wrapped! Oh Daddy! I need rocked!" over and over in a screeching yell when we hear Dillon start laughing. Why he was laughing? I have no clue but David apparently didn't like it because he yelled to Dillon, "IT'S NOT FUNNY DILLON!" Needless to say, Jeremy and I were cracking up in bed. The boys were asleep within 5 minutes of that.

Wow... our house sometimes is a circus!

The starring members of our circus, in their K-State jammers during the Cotton Bowl game. David says, "I match Dillon!"

Happy Thursday!