Nothing to show for it

It has been a long time since I've posted and the funny thing is that I have nothing new to post about.  I've been busy.  This last week I went down to my mom's spur of the moment to help my sister completely makeover their house.  She had painted everything and I came down to do what I do best-cleaning it.  We were up until 2 or 3 each night then getting up again to continue working and also being parents to our kids who were pretty good despite me giving them no attention whatsoever.  I always have mixed feelings about cleaning my mom's house.  I enjoy it because I love taking a room apart, going through everything, and then putting it all back together in a cuter, cleaner way.  I love seeing the bags and bags of stuff that we are just getting rid of because it is never used or not needed.  I love seeing the closet which was packed to begin with to then be organized, and for the most part be completely empty.  It's amazing how much they accumulate without even realizing they have it.  There were so many things that we either got rid of, or found, that they did not even know about.  So I love going down and doing that.  It's fun for me.  What I don't like though is the part where I have to be mean and say 'this is not going back in your house', 'you don't have to keep everything that is given to you', 'this is ugly' or, what I repeat constantly while I am there, "that is not decoration".  When I go I have to be blunt, bossy, and even rude to get all the work done and get it done quickly.  So while the week of cleaning and organizing gives me a feeling of accomplishment it also leaves me completely tense, grouchy and thanks to the late nights, exhausted, both emotionally and physically.  And in the end I come home to my own house and find that I have piles of laundry to do, grocery shopping and dinner to fix, and then I feel the need to spend lots of time with my kids to make up for the previous week of neglect.  So sorry to my mom for being mean about her house but it's good to know that she will take the bossy part of me along with good part of me.

The best part of the trip was going to Erica's house.  They live about 6 hours away from us so it is a long drive but I love when the cousins all get together.  They will play together all day without a single problem.  And that isn't even an exaggeration.  There is seriously no problems.  The only time anyone was upset was when it came time for sleeping and Kaylee, who always feels second best to Heidi, felt like none of the cousins likes her because they all wanted to sleep with Heidi.  I get how she feels but once the sleeping arrangements were made she was content.  Then later on Penny, the dog, came and slept by Kaylee all night long.  On the way home when asked what was their favorite part of the trip Kaylee said it was sleeping with Penny.  Thank you to Penny who made her feel so special for sleeping with her.  So the cousins are the best.  They get along so well and we adults get to just enjoy being together.  I also have to say that we Hancocks are so lucky to have Erica in the family.  She just goes along with whatever is happening and loves it.  She doesn't bat an eye at having three adults and seven extra kids come to her house when her husband isn't home to help out.  In fact I think she would have been mad if we hadn't come.  She is so welcoming and honestly believes the more the merrier.  And for those of you who don't know Erica, or didn't attend Las Plumas High School, you probably don't know that my freshman year we were in the same math class.  She was a year ahead of me so I already felt in the inferiority of a freshman compared to a sophomore.  I knew how popular and cool she was and I knew how lame I was.  All year she there was something about her where I knew she was way too cool and pretty much out of my league of friends.  And then one night I had a basketball game against the rival school, Oroville High.  We played the game and I had scored two 3 pointers (that was a slight miracle in itself since I  suck at basketball and said a prayer each time I threw the ball towards the hoop).  After the game Erica was in the stands and called out 'Good game Shauna' or something like that as I walked by.  I mumbled some response but all I thought in my head was 'Erica Pace knows my NAME!?!?!'  It was a pretty big night for me.  And now 15 years later she is a speed dial on my phone, an aunt to my kids, and a very close friend.  Crazy how life works out.  I don't know if this all means I'm in the cool club now or she has just really let her friendship standards slip but either way she has really blessed my life and the whole Hancock family.