May 26, 2008 | Mama Smith

at least it's not a plastic bag

The things I let Brighton do out of sheer exhaustion from saying “No” all day long…that would make Matthew flip out.

He has recently had an obsession with Nemo and for weeks, insisting that I refer to him only as Nemo and myself as Dori. “Not Brighton, Mama. I’m NEMO.” Once again, there is no mistaking this is my child. The same woman who, as scrawny 5 year old, insisted my own mother stop referring to me as “Amy” and instead call me “Mr. T” .

Part of being Nemo means that he is a fish. Therefore he was toting around his butterfly net and “catching” himself. Matthew quickly put a stop to this, while lazy, child-neglecting mom had just laughed it off and taken pictures.

Packing is coming along (morning and night) and we’re now down to the last week in our home. We are ready to get out of this mold-infested sick house and hopefully get into a place where our family is free from constant illness.

But to give the kiddos a break from all this neglect as Matthew and I have frantically been packing and sorting, I’m heading over to York, SC with them this morning to spend the day with my grandparents and hanging out with my family who is making their way down to Greenville from VA for the week before we all head to the BEACH (woo-hoo!!!) on Saturday. Well, first my dad is going to kill himself during his triathlon on Saturday, THEN hopefully we’ll all head to the beach if he survives.

This is the ideal way to move. Stress-out, pack til wee hours of the night and early in the morning, sell your home and move to the new one…then ditch town and head to a house on the beach in Litchfield, SC for a whole glorious week of good eating, free babysitting and lounging in the sun. After this hellacious year, I cannot wait.

So while Matthew works his rear off for our family today, me and the boys will abandon him and head to the farm for strawberry picking, horseback riding and a fabulous Memorial Day picnic with the family.

Sorry hun! Thanks for working so hard for our family, so I can spend all your hard-earned money on playing ;)