Where the Driveway Ends

I've Moved

2008-12-02T13:23:00.002-05:00

I have moved this blog to a new address.

wherethedrivewayends.blogspot.com

Please follow me there.

Thanks

Why

2008-09-02T08:03:00.002-05:00

Why is it that the child who hasn't been able to stop coughing since late yesterday afternoon (I mean really couldn't stop, neither of us slept), who I kept home from school so that her coughing would not be a distraction, now hasn't coughed for over an hour.

And the child that woke up this morning with a cough but I sent to school because she wasn't nearly as bad off as the other, is probably coughing non-stop and her teacher is probably wondering why I let her go to school.

And I've made dr's appts for both and I called in sick to work so I could take them to the doctor, but now I'm second guessing whether or not the one really needs the doctor, but if I don't take her the coughing will start again this afternoon, but if I do the doctor will look at me like I'm crazy.

I just cannot win.

Tired

2008-08-25T12:23:00.003-05:00

This morning before we began our errands, P told me she was really tired.

She fell asleep in the car between stops 4 and 5.

She remained asleep when I got her out of the car and woke up to tell me she wanted to ride in a cart. She promptly put her head down on the cart handle and continued to snooze.

P stayed asleep until I put her back in the car. I told her we were going home and she could go back to sleep. She looked awake when she insisted she was not going to sleep, but she was out before I finished loading the groceries.

When I laid her on the couch she opened her eyes long enough to request Max and Ruby, but not long enough to see that I complied.

Now more than 2 hours after she first fell asleep in the car, she is still out cold.

P is REALLY tired.

Seperation Anxiety

2008-06-13T16:21:00.001-05:00

Wendesday evening we had a huge storm that took out the power and had P wandering the house saying "What is happening, what is happening?"

The storm took out our less than a week old DSL modem, which the service provider assured us they would replace and would even send it overnight and we would have it Friday latest.

Turns out "Friday latest" really meant "Monday earliest."

When I thought I would only have to live without my connection for two days max, I was a bit jittery, but perfectly capable of surviving.

When I learned that I would have to make it through an additional THREE days without my connection I went over the edge. Must check blogs right now! Who cares if I don't have a connection. I am wireless. The neighbors are wireless, but have not secured their wireless. I'm sure they won't mind if I borrow it for just a minute.

Ahhhh. Much better now.

The Downside of Swimming Lessons

2008-06-04T17:44:00.003-05:00

I now have a 3 year old who believes she can swim like her older brother and 2 older sisters and better than her 1 older but not bigger brother, but can't touch the bottom of the pool or really tread water for very long, loves to jump in or swim to me without informing me of her plans and has no fear.

Shouldn't There Be A Celebration?

2008-05-26T07:57:00.003-05:00

This is my 100th post.

I feel like there should be a big hoopla.

However, I began blogging way back in Julyish of 2005 (has it really been that long?)

100 posts in 3 years -- really nothing to celebrate, so let's move on, shall we?

How about books?
Began and finished Sundays at Tiffany's by James Patterson yesterday. Fabulous!

Trenton Lee Stewart has a sequel to The Mysterious Benedict Society which I have not started yet. The Husband is reading it to E and M.

Read Odd Hours, the fourth book in the Odd series by Dean Koontz. Great book, but really seemed like less of it's own story than a lead-up to what I can only assume will be the fifth book in the Odd series. Why do I always want a dog after reading a Koontz book?

Harbinger of Doom

2008-05-25T15:28:00.003-05:00

First, is that how you spell that - harbinger - okay, spell check says it's good.

Now maybe you have to be the mother of a child (or five in my case) who has had chronic ear infections who also refuses to take any medicine orally - really she throws it all up - unless it is mixed in her milk or juice in such a way that although she may taste it, the medicine does not completely overwhelm the desired milk/juice flavor . . .

. . . but this morning while trying to get P to open her mouth so I could see if she had any strep like symptoms (since E did and P has not been feeling tip-top this weekend) I got a look in her ear with flashlight and what to my horror did I see but a small blue tube! If I can see it without a otoscope, it is no longer doing it's job!

The last time her tubes fell out, we had 3 back to back ear infections, including one that began the night before she was scheduled to have the tubes replaced and we only managed to get them back in because I cried and begged and the doctors agreed she'd only get worse without the tubes.

And to make it worse, P is currently dealing with a whopper of a case of allergies. Time is running out.

À La Carte

2008-05-24T20:58:00.002-05:00

There are two things, I've decided that should be sold À La Carte -

Cable channels and cold/allergy medicines.

After speniding 10 minutes looking for a medicine that would cover my recent cold/allergy symptoms without over medicating, I became frustrated. I could cover a couple of symtoms but miss a crucial one, cover only one, cover a few extras but still miss the biggie or take 6 different pills and hope I wasn't accidentally over dosing on something.

It would be so much easier if you could order it like fast food -- I need an order of cough with sinus pressure, hold the fever, but give me a helping of chest congestion and make it non-drowsy.

And as for cable -- well I'm just tired of looking at all the junk on the channel guide and surfing through channels to get to the few channels I ever watch. I don't need VH1, MTV, any of the shopping channels, Lifetime, WE, and so many others are taking up space. But the one channel I do want - nope can't get that one without adding another 30 channels I'll never watch.

A Better Way

2008-05-22T15:12:00.003-05:00

Tomorrow is the last day of school, therefore I have only one more chance to send in teacher gifts, unless I want to surprise the teachers on Tuesday - no wait I have to work on Tuesday - on Wednesday, their last after-school's-out work-day, with a visit from my kids and even if we are bringing cookies, I think they'd like a longer break before seeing them again, you know, to miss them some, so I decide we will make No Bake cookies, but wait, we are out of cocoa, okay, chocolate chip it is, even though the thought of turning on the oven in this heat (heat, this is hardly bad, just wait till July when even the over night low is in the 80's, okay maybe not really, but close) makes me ill, which is why I had opted for No BAKE cookies plus they only take 10 minutes rather than the 45 it will take me to bake 4 dozen cookies (no I can't put two trays in the oven at once then the tray on the bottom doesn't cook properly and even if I'm not going to be the one eating them they must conform to my rigid standards, and yes I am a cookie snob), but chocolate chip it is, at least C can make those with very little assistance, but wait, we only have one egg, we need two and while I could borrow from the neighbor, I just borrowed a couple of cups of milk from them and even though I am still on the plus side of the neighbor-borrowing scale I hate to look like I'm so scatter-brained that I can't even manage to keep the basics in the house, although the neighbor does love No Bakes and would gladly trade a bit of cocoa for a few cookies or I can call The Husband with a request for eggs and cocoa and put off the baking of cookies for teacher gifts until later, but who knows what might happen later and I have a small window of opportunity left to get this done . . .

Really there must be a better way.

Letting Go

2008-04-11T11:32:00.001-05:00

I use to be a mystery shopper. Technically I still am. I get emails and phone calls from schedulers, I'm still signed up with many companies. But I haven't completed a shop this year. I don't really plan on "shopping" again, but I just can't seem to take my name off the lists.

It is possible to be a full time shopper and make decent money doing it. I've met people who do. But when the thought of completing even one more shop at the store you've been to a dozen times in a month looking for things you have no intention of buying or hearing the sales pitch and asking questions about a product you probably know more about than the sales person brings you to tears, it's time to take a break.

And with gas prices as high as they are and shop fees not increasing, the distance you are willing to drive for a job decreases which means to keep working you have to keep shopping the same stores over and over and you begin to fear that the store has you picture hanging in the break room with the caption "known mystery shopper" like the wanted posters of the Old West.

I don't want to be a mystery shopper anymore, not really. Sometimes it's tempting, but the work/pay ratio just doesn't make the effort worth it. But it was a lot of work to get signed up and it'll take just as much effort to remove my name from the lists. And what if I change my mind and decide to be a shopper again?

Kitchen Experiments (or I Am the Coolest Mom Ever)

2008-03-21T15:15:00.003-05:00

Last week J started pulling things from the baking cabinet - flour, sugar, Crisco, salt, baking soda, oil etc.) and declared that he was going to make something. When I inquired as to what he was making he explained that he did not know, but would just put things and see what it made. (This is where I had a mini panic attack). I managed to convince him that we should make brownies from a mix and he could add chocolate chips.

But yesterday he began the same process again and would not be shaken on his quest see what he could make. I gave him a measuring cup and let him go, with only a few hints (the smaller the container, the smaller amount he'd want to use - good advice for the way things are contained in my kitchen - so the 1/4 cup of baking soda he was holding over the bowl probably wasn't a good idea.) When his recipe was complete, he declared them to be brownies and we baked them as such. J's brownies were deemed a success by C and are nearly gone.

Today when he arrived home, J declared he was making cookies and once again began pulling things from the cabinets. Again I allowed it and the cookies are cooling, waiting to be tasted, but if the dough is any hint, they aren't too bad. I'd have used more sugar and more cocoa, less olive oil, but at least he had the sense to not include the rock salt in today's recipe.

Maybe I can get him to whip up dinner tonight, too.

OOOOOHHHHH

2008-03-06T17:40:00.002-05:00

I have . . .
in my house . . .
at this very moment . . .
a . . .

MacBook Air!!!

(insert angels singing here)

Unfortunately it must return to work with the Hubby in the morning.

Bliss

2008-01-26T16:43:00.001-05:00

As I type the, first of 5 rooms is getting it's second coat of reddish (okay, really dark pink, but don't tell P, she wants red) paint. And all I have to do is write the check.

The very thought of painting was making me cry and the thought of painting 4 rooms in some shade of red, which seems to be an insanely difficult color with which to get good coverage, was making me think it would be easier to move rather than paint, but moving would probably require painting and, well that leads back to tears.

So I called a friend of my brother's to get a quote, knowing that I probably really couldn't afford to have someone else paint, but I could dream and then her quote was so extrordinarly reasonable that I asked how soon she could start and here we are getting the first room done and I don't have to to anything.

I may never paint again - yup, her prices are that good.

The Great Move

2008-01-14T07:37:00.001-05:00

Saturday was The Great Move. 6 people live in the 4 upstairs bedrooms of my house and not one of them went to bed in the same room in which they woke up that morning. 3 bags of trash and 2 bags for donation later, the boys are in the lime green room, using the pink bathroom and the girls are in the blue rooms using the blue bathroom and eveyone (except my mother who is quite happy to be back in the purple room she moved out of less than a year ago) is begging for paint. Strangely enough 4 of the 5 children would like red walls) but that's another weekend or two or three or four.

Maybe It's the Hair

2008-01-11T16:58:00.001-05:00

Today I took P to the doctor, although he was booked so we actually saw the nurse practitioner, whom we rarely see (maybe only once before) so I'll give her a little lee way for not being familiar with my family, who asked as she walked into the room, "Are you the child's grandmother (slight pause as she took in the horror in my expression) or mother?"

Now I do live in the Deep South and I will admit that my appearance was more pre-Stacy-and-Clinton-makeover than post, but I am only 34! (Ack, maybe I really to be on "Ten Years Younger!")

Now had I had my first child when I was 16 (rather than 23), and that child had chosen to procreate at the same age, it is possible that I could be a grandmother to a 2 year old (but P is 3 and my youngest).

Either way I am mortified.

Why I Had to Go To Work

2007-10-29T17:35:00.001-05:00

(Okay not the only reason and certainly not the biggest, but a factor none the less.)

Checks I Have Written to the School in the Last Month

School Photos

$10 (for the smallest package) x 4 kids =$40 (not sure why I buy the school photos since I am a photographer and do portraits of my kids every year, but there is something about a school pic that says so much about the kids - perhaps because I know it won't be the only portrait during the year so I let them have more say in their wardrobe for the day.)

Magnets made from pictures drawn by my kids (an annual fundraiser for the school)

$5.50 X 4 kids = $22 (this is one of those things that seemed harmless when I only had one kid in school, but now that there's 4 of them and the magnet thing is a tradition - the oldest kid has 6 magnets - and the youngest school age kid was so excited that he'd get a magnet this year, well . . . )

Fall Festival

$54 for "admission" armbands and 2 food ticket per family member (again a tradition that seemed harmless when only one kid was in school, but has gotten a bit painful. This is on top of donating candy/prizes/cookies in the name of EACH child, as well as something for EACH child's class basket (ie family night basket full of games, movies, treats, etc.) that is auctioned off. I'm sure I spent $100 or more this year)

Field Trip

$10 for ticket to The Cay play (this one I don't mind because it falls in the realm of "educational," but still it's more money.)

Lunch Money

$20 - 50 depending on which kid, totalling around $100 for Oct (I vowed the kids would only eat the occasional school lunch and would take a juice box rather than buy milk, but the kids quickly got tired of that and mutinied. So with the exception of M who is really picky, they occasionally take a home made lunch, and M would rather buy a milk. So at $1.75 per lunch and $0.50 for milk this quickly adds up.)

Year Books

$20 x 2 = $40 (technically this will be next month, but why leave it out when I know it's coming. This year I will buy 2 yearbooks. 1 for the younger kids to share (that's a discussion for another day, but do the math and I think you'll agree) and 1 for C since he is a "graduating" 5th grader.)

And let's not forget the winter school clothes that I've had to purchase recently and the need to keep hair trimmed so as not to be turned in for neglect and the current condition of M & E's shoes will soon require replacing and teacher gifts for Christmas and . . .

And I thought diapers and formula were expensive!

Heaven Help the Teachers Today

2007-10-26T08:13:00.001-05:00

My kids' school decided to let the kids wear costumes to school today (why today and not on Halloween I don't know, unless it being Friday was a big deciding factor) as a fundraiser for a group of teachers who are participating in the Three Day Breast Cancer Walk. So each kid brings $2 and is allowed to wear his costume (no scary costumes, no masks or face paint).

I can only imagine the craziness at that school today.

In case you're wondering I sent an old man, an un-scary witch, a cowgirl and a transformer (minus the mask).

What Does It Mean When . . .

2007-10-22T08:01:00.001-05:00

You radically change your hair style (in a good way, it's just a perm, I'm not sporting purple hair with spikes) and no one at church says anything about it?

It could really just be that I stayed home with a sick child last week and the week before I was driving to Savannah so it's been three weeks since I've seen anyone and even then I'm in the nursery so if you don't have a toddler, I don't see you anyway, but come on didn't anyone notice my curls? Or are they just so hideous that everyone went with "if I can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all?"

Nothing like feeling like your invisible to make a girl's day.

And in other news, it's raining here in the Atlanta area. Here's hoping it lasts for a few days. The dire predictions for the complete lack of water come next summer if we don't get a lot of rain this winter are getting really depressing.

Your Welcome

2007-10-19T13:45:00.001-05:00

What for? you ask.

This nice little warm spell we've had after the couple days of waking up to temps in the 40s (at least in my neck of the woods)

What did I have to do with that? you ask.

Well, the house started getting cool at night, not really turn-on-the-heater-cold, just the-kids-should-wear-long-sleeves-and-pants-to-bed-especially-since-none-of-them-will-keep-covers-on-cool. Problem was we were severely lacking in the long sleeve jammies department, so I bought new jammies for all the kids (and a jacket and gloves for me for work, cause I nearly froze the week before) and that very night the temp only dropped to the mid 60's and has stayed there since.

I can't promise this will last very long, the universe can only laugh at me for so long, but let me know when the cold is just too much for you and I'll buy new winter coats and hats and mittens for the crew. That should get us a couple of days of moderate weather sometime this winter.

(And as more evidence that the universe loves to tease me, the day the kids woke up and is was too cold for shorts and I realized they'd have to wear shorts anyway because I hadn't updated there long pants wardrobes since last spring, I made trip to the stores to get new jeans for everyone and then we had another week or more of shorts weather. Really it's a scary power.)

A Letter to My Children

2007-10-03T13:41:00.001-05:00

Dear Kids

Please enjoy the cookies that your little sister and I baked while you were at school.

Should you think that the cookies are a bit off please do not think that I have lost my touch.

P is learning quickly how to bake cookies, I'm sure in a few short years she will be able to accomplish the task of dough mixing without any help from me -- she knows exactly which ingredients to pull from the cabinets and which measuring utensils are used for which ingredients. She has not, however, mastered the number of times to use said utensil with said ingredient.

I removed as much of the over used ingredient as possible, but the damage was not completely fixable.

Any, know the cookies were made with love and please don't mention the taste to P. She would be devastated if you didn't lover her cookies.

With much love,

Your Mother

Why I Love My Kids' Pediatrician

2007-09-27T06:42:00.001-05:00

But first . . .

Why is it that your throat starts to hurt the instant the nurse swabs your kids' throats looking for strep? Or does this only happen to me?

Now for the pediatrician. . .

Yesterday I took 2 of 5 to the doctor. We were seeing the nurse practitioner rather than the doctor. But the doctor saw us while we were walking back to the exam room. He smiled and waved. Nice, but not the reason I think he's fabulous.

As we were leaving, with a diagnosis of 1 strep and 1 probable strep, the doctor talking to another mother who was on her way out. He finished that conversation and then did a quick job to catch up with us. He went out of his way to ask, "Everyone okay?" I gave him our diagnosis and he reminded me to call if we needed anything or thought the others might have the same thing.

I know it seems like a small thing, but to a mom with sick kids, it means the world.

Crabby

2007-09-09T07:36:00.001-05:00

Overheard while P and Little Girl We Baby Sit (who is 3 and will be forever more known on this blog as G) were watching Diego:

Diego: Can you say "sea turtle?"

G: Sea turtle!!

P (who will usually happily play along with Diego): I DON'T WANT TO!!!

Sorry for My Absence

2007-09-08T20:51:00.001-05:00

But I've spent every spare minute of the past two weeks working on my real estate course, at least until Thursday when I started my one-day-a-week-job, which left me with a huge headache so all I wanted to do was relax when I got home, and I made the mistake of starting a new book on Wednesday while I was waiting for C to have 3 of 7 baby teeth pulled so that he can resume wearing his orthodontic positioner that will hopefully help the adult teeth that had already started coming in behind the baby teeth come in close to straight and maybe he can avoid a second round of braces, and the new book distracted me on Friday so I didn't do my real estate course then either and we also took the little girls to out for lunch and did the grocery shopping and then today I had a photo shoot scheduled with a graduating senior, but my light broke 30 minutes before she was supposed to arrive so I had to push that back so I could run out and buy new lights, and then 3 hours later when I was finished with the photo shoot and I had to go to a birthday party for the little girl we baby sit and the rest of the weekend, and probably Monday, will be spent editing the nearly 200 shots from the shoot because she has to have them submitted for the yearbook before the end of the month and I really must get back to working on my real estate course, so I can't promise I'll be back again any time soon, but I will certainly try because I have these great little tidbits I've really been wanting to share.

Question

2007-09-03T07:38:00.001-05:00

Why is it that the first child to get sick after the kids go back to school is the only child that doesn't GO to school?

M 2, Pants 0

2007-08-30T17:04:00.001-05:00

Okay, maybe the score isn't completely accurate. M has been in school for 19 days. One day she wore pajama bottoms (even I didn't realize it until she got home. Her defense is that she took them from her pants pile in the closet, so it was oviously my fault for putting her pajama bottoms in the wrong place. No big deal, they weren't see through, or covered in bunnies), 17 days (including the pajama day) she has returned with her pants covered in so much dirt and crud that you'd think she'd been playing rugby in the rain.

And on the other two days? you ask. Holes, big holes, okay half-dollar size holes in her knit pant/leggings. Holes, as in mulitple holes.

Can you guess what my first question is going to be at tonight's open house?

Define

2007-08-28T20:33:00.001-05:00

goggleators*

As in, "Do we have any goggleators so I can see the bird's nest in that tree better?"

*J's word

Why is it . . .

2007-08-24T19:31:00.001-05:00

. . . that the child who doesn't so much as flinch when she has blood drawn or gets a shot, screams when I brush her hair?

Wash, Dry, Fold . . . . Repeat

2007-08-24T12:48:00.001-05:00

Why is it that laundry multiplies faster than rabbits? In my house we* don't consider the laundry to be complete, unless we can get it all (usually 4 or 5 loads) folded before enough new laundry has accumulated to make a new load (what I call a college load - everything goes in regardless of color). If enough new laundry accumulates during the laundry process then the deadline resets and we try to finish before enough new laundry accumulates. Generally it takes a day to do all of the laundry and if we can get it done before the kids change into jammies for the night, we win. If not, we lose, because 5 kids changing into jammies creates enough dirty clothes to make a new load (and it is pretty much a given that whatever they take of is dirty - it's nearly 100 degrees here, if you walk out side for even a moment you get sweaty and gross, ergo your clothes are dirty.) And if we don't get done in one day and a load sits in the wash over night it will almost surely have to be rewashed (the Husband has a sensitive nose and will complain loudly if there is even a whiff of something not spring fresh). And then there is the white load - the most hated load in the house. All those socks to match and almost nothing that can go straight to hangers. Unless we are in dire need of socks the white load is always the last load we wash because we would rather let it sit in the dryer and pull clean clothes from there as needed until it's time to put a new load in the dryer rather than fold it.

So anyway, I've explained all this just to complain that we have been unable to "finish" the laundry for nearly a week. I keep finding clothes and starting a college load to try and get finished, but now it seems to have multiplied and there is enough to actually require sorting and officially starting the process over.

* this is not a royal we, nor does it include the Husband. This we is largely comprised of my mother who lives with me and, truth be told does a significant amount of the cleaning and laundry, as well as covering child-care duties when I'm running one kid or another to appointments and such.

You Know It's Going to be a Long Day When . . .

2007-08-21T06:58:00.001-05:00

you are offering the crabby two-year old who has been up since way too early chocolate for breakfast if she will just stop fussing long enough to eat it.

Oh, oh and I remembered what I was going to tell y'all yesterday.

J, who started Pre-K this year is so confused. He can't understand why he has to go to bed when it's morning (translated to mean still light outside) and get up when it's night (still dark). Poor kid. Doesn't make much sense to me either. But it won't be long before it's dark way before it's time for bed and still dark when it's time to get up.

And, did you know that "y'all" get's through my spell checker? Must be a Southerner.

Homework Might Kill Me

2007-08-20T15:45:00.001-05:00

M's homework specifically - or really M's reluctance to complete her homework without complaining and whining and dragging it out.

C is to the point he realizes it's just easier to do it and be done with it.

E might frown and wimper at the thought of it, but she will sit and just do it.

M on the other hand will only do her work if I sit over her and prod and threaten her.

I should not have to take an extra prozac just to get through homework!

Oh, oh, oh, oh . . .

2007-08-20T06:38:00.001-05:00

I was so going to tell y'all something, but now I forgot what it was, and it was really good, or at least it was cute, or maybe it was only funny in that you-had-to-be-there way, but I was really going to tell y'all something and now I can't remember what it was.

Promise I'll come back when, okay IF, I remember it.

Or come up with something better to tell you.

Really Good Chocolate

2007-08-19T19:30:00.001-05:00

On a recent trip to Target, as I was waiting my turn to check out, I noticed a small chocolate bar made by Scharffen Berger, hardly bigger than a Hershey Snack Size. I was tempted, as I always am with chocolate, to take it home with me.

And then I saw the price. $1.79 for a 1 oz chocolate bar.

I was shocked! And then I wondered what was so special about this tiny chocolate bar that someone would pay that much for it.

I looked a little closer - it was Artisan chocolate. Well, okay, but that really just sounds like putting a fancy name on something and charging big bucks for it.

It's made with organic milk. Okay, I'll pay a little more for organic milk, but almost 2.5 times more?

I tried to resist, but curiosity got the better of me.

Did I get my money's worth? I'm not sure. The chocolate is divine - creamy and rich, just a little darker than most American milk chocolates, with a slightly bitter aftertaste. But would I buy it again? Probably not. I through enough money away on my chocolate habit. I don't need to double the damage, but for an occasional treat, I might splurge.

And that itty-bitty chocolate bar is so cute, how can I not take it home with me?

Working - But Just a Bit

2007-08-17T16:24:00.001-05:00

So the Husband and I decided that we need more income and there were several ways to do that. The first being that he would get a second job. Not really our first choice since then I would have no backup and he'd never see the kids.

The next option would be that I continue do the small odd jobs I have been doing for most of the last year. Not a bad idea expect it's very little money for a good bit of work (not that I mind working, but when a job only pays $10 and it takes 3 hours to complete - you do the math.) So while I will probably continue to do those odd jobs, they won't really satisfy the income need.
Another option would have been to ramp up my photo business in hopes of making it more profitable. This is really my favorite option, but also the most costly (I really need some additional equipment, not to mention some kind of advertising, not that it has to be fancy, but something to get my name out there more, and that can be costly.) So again while I will continue to work on the portrait business (as well as the art fairs I started participating in this summer) it will not be my main focus, yet.

So all of this is the long way of saying that I have been seeking employment. I have applied several places (not fast food, I refuse to do fast food right now, we are not that desperate), even received one job offer (which would have really been a fab job in my field, but the hours were outrageous for someone who had hopes of still being able to put her kids on the bus and be there when they got home - and really is that too much to ask? I could totally be the person there before the high school kids got out, okay there might be a couple hours between when I'd need to leave and the high-schoolers could get there, but come on, there's bound to be some kid out of school early on work release - do they still do that?), but so far nothing has really fit the bill.
Until today, and while you might scoff, have you ever tried finding a job when the last entry on your resume is from over 10 years ago and the company has gone out of business, so there's no one to contact for a job reference, you can't remember your boss's name, much less how much you were being paid (and is that really relevant when it was 10 years ago anyway) or the exact dates of your employment? No? Not easy.

But I did find something and my work history or qualifications didn't even enter into the conversation. I think I was hired solely on the recommendation of a friend that works there and the company's recent loss of all the college kids that worked there over the summer. And I do know the general manager, but that did not come up either, but based on the person that recommended me for the position, they know I know the GM.

It's really pretty perfect, just enough to get my feet wet, a gentle transition from SAHM to WOHM, even if the WOHM is only one day a week.

And P will stay home with Nan on the day I work, leaving me with just the teeniest bit of mommy guilt. So yippee for me.

Bait and Switch

2007-08-16T20:08:00.001-05:00

So way back in January, the adults in the house started on South Beach. We only made it about 3 weeks before gradually dropping back into old habits. The one habit that stuck was using Splenda instead of sugar to make Kool-Aid. This was especially easy because Splenda had introduced these new Quick Packs that are equal to a cup of sugar - perfect for Kool-Aid. (In an effort for full disclosure I must admit that I use three Quick Packs to two Kool-Aid packs).

So I was doing great until I ran out of Quick Packs and couldn't find them at the local store. At first I believed they were just out and in a few days (on the next milk run), I'd be able to pick some up.

No.
I tried another store, again no luck. I checked the Kool-Aid aisle instead of the sugar aisle. Nope.
During this time, I've been using the little packets to make Kool-Aid. I just couldn’t go back to using real sugar.
Today I ran out of little packets and had to use . . . Sugar. So I did the only thing left to me.
I ordered it online.
What a world.

The Honeymoon is Over

2007-08-10T21:10:00.001-05:00

On Monday the kids started school. They were each up well before the appointed time, bouncy and already dressed.
On Tuesday they were again up before I came to wake them. They were not quite as bouncy, but J was thrilled to be riding the bus to school.

On Wednesday, they were awake, but still in bed when I came upstairs to assist with the morning rituals.
Thursday, they were not awake, but the quickly got out of bed when I turned on lights.
This morning was more like the scene in Freaky Friday (okay, not that bad, but it took some definite prodding to get the kids to give up their covers.)

And then when J got home from school, he said, "Today was my last day of school." I hated to burst his little bubble, but I couldn't let him think he was done. I gently informed him that he only had two days off and then would go back to school on Monday. "Okay," was all he said.

One week down. Now I remember why weekends are so good.

Day 2, Day 5 (or is it 6)

2007-08-07T09:30:00.001-05:00

Today is my kids' second day of school. Yes, I know we start early, but we also get out before the end of May. J loved his first day of Pre-K, although he was mosted excited about getting to ride the bus. He didn't blink when I left, but it was all I could do not to shed a few tears. He's so big, but still my baby, although I'm not allowed to call him that anymore.

M & E are enjoying the second grade and I am pleased with their teachers. The first struggle of the year is transitioning to "real paper" from the stuff with the red/blue lines and the dotted center line (you know the stuff). They used it all through first grade, so the change is a bit of a struggle.

C is in 5th grade - so far so good, but the home work hasn't started yet. This is the last year that C will be in the same school as M & E until he's a senior and they are freshmen (and even then the high school here has a seperate ninth grade campus).

As for P -- she is on day 5 or 6 of living without a pacifier. She was down to one last pacifier, and we explained that we weren't buying any new ones. One day last week she couldn't find it when she woke up, so we knew it had to be in her room, but we didn't search very hard. She has gone from only taking the thing out of her mouth to eat to not having one at with very little trauma. She occasionally asks for it, but it hasn't even been a problem at night. I found this missing paci last night, and rather than throwing it away, I put it in my nightstand drawer -- the last paci, a final reminder of the time when my kids were babies.

Potty Time

2007-06-20T16:59:00.001-05:00

I am not a pushy mom when it comes to potty training. I’d really rather not deal with accidents and I just can’t get behind reminding the kid every 30 minutes – if they can’t take the responsibility to at least tell me when they have to go, then they just aren’t ready.

So my oldest was just over 3 when he trained. The twins were 3.5 (and finally took the plunge because I told them Santa would not be bringing toys to 3.5 year olds who were not potty trained).

So when J, my fourth, turned 3 I started making noise about it being time to put away the diapers, but he wasn’t really interested. So I let it go. 6 months later he still had no interest even though we promised him a great truck and a new bike. Somewhere along the way he’d transitioned to pull-ups rather than diapers, without the desired results.

But a few weeks ago while we were traveling I sensed an opportunity. Regular potty breaks, complete control of the liquid intake, etc. So I bribed him with a car at the end of the day if he was dry. And for 3 days he did great and I thought we had this beat.

Then we got home and he was back to his old ways. And then I ran out of pull-ups and decided we just go for underwear. After a day of accidents I popped his little toosh in a real diaper and called him a baby. (Not the best mothering, but the child was a month away from being 4.)

He cried and said he wasn’t a baby and he wanted his big boy underwear back. I gave him one more chance.

Four down, one more to go, but she’s only 2.5, so I’m not worried . . . yet.

Things that bother me about Caillou (other than the whining)

2007-05-02T12:09:00.001-05:00

Somehow P, now well past 2 and speaking in full sentences with attitude, fell in love with Caillou. I blame it on the little girl my mother baby-sits.

Although not nearly as bad as Barney or the Teletubbies in my book, most mothers would probably agree that Caillou is a whiney little boy and we’d rather not be forced to listen to him. But the tantrum that will be thrown by the 2 year old in love with Caillou is more unpleasant and easily avoidable, so Caillou it is.

Aside from the seemingly constant whining, there are several other things I have noticed that bother me about Caillou.

Why is Caillou bald? I mean really. He’s 4. Shouldn’t he have hair? And if his parents are shaving his head on a regular basis to maintain this look, I think that ought to be explored in a future episode.
Why does Caillou wear shorts and a short-sleeve t-shirt when all the adults in his world are wearing long sleeves? Yes occasionally he wears a snow suit or a jacket, but generally he looks a little under-dressed compared to the rest his world.
What do Caillou’s mommy and daddy do to put food on the table? We’ve seen his mommy in the office a couple of times and a few times Caillou’s daddy has been wearing office clothes, but mostly it would seem they are at home. Or maybe the show is just about what happens on the weekends, because if it’s not, Caillou’s parents have a lot of time off.

Anyone have any answers for me? I’m not going to go crazy thinking about it, but I sure would like to know. Especially that hair thing.

Emailing It In

2007-04-30T16:12:00.001-05:00

So did you miss me? No? Well that’s okay.

I’ve figured out how to email a post in, so maybe I’ll post more often.

But first let’s just test this new method.

Promise I’ll be back.

Happy Valentines Day!

2007-01-06T15:44:00.000-05:00

Hadn't you noticed?

A few days before Christmas I was wondering a store (okay Target) looking for that one gift that I should have picked up when I saw it the first time, but didn't and now couldn't find, and what to by wondering eye did appear but clothing that looked remarkably springy and pink and covered in hearts and was I imagining it but was that all the winter stuff on clearance?

No!! We hadn't even finished Christmas and they were clearancing it and putting out Valentine's Day and even a little St Pat's green!

And then I was out at the same store earlier this week and I saw SWIMSUITS in the toddler section.

I'm not sure what's worse -- the fact that swimsuits are already in stores, or the fact that I bought TWO!

The Loosing of Teeth

2006-12-22T08:47:00.000-05:00

Loose teeth freak me out.

When they were my loose teeth I wasn't bothered. But when C started wiggling his first loose tooth, I got all grossed out. I survived the initial spate of teeth falling out (4 years ago) and have peace in the wiggly tooth arena.

Until . . .

M came home from school on Monday thrilled that she finally had a loose tooth. And now, Friday, she has THREE of them.

And E could get a wiggly tooth any day now.

The mere thought of all those possible loose teeth sends shivers through my body.

What strange thing grosses you out?

Christmas Tan

2006-12-16T20:50:00.000-05:00

There is something wrong with getting a tan while hanging the Christmas lights.

I know there is only a week left before Christmas, but the kids have been begging me to decorate the house and when I started the project there was almost two weeks left until Christmas, and I have been looking for the suction cups I needed to hang the wreaths on the windows even though I could only reach 4 of the 10 windows that should get wreaths and any way we now have a 5 of wreaths, 3 strands of rope lights along the porch - and just so you know the clips that hold those ropes lights on are not coming off - and 3 small lighted trees. Hopefully the kids are happy with it, cause we don't have a ladder tall enough to reach the rest of the windows and it just might be too much work to borrow one from the neighbor and I just don't think I'm up for hanging the icicle lights - but again I'd need the ladder. But now back to the point of the story.

It was 70 degrees yesterday while I was hanging Christmas lights. I had to change into a short sleeve shirt. I worked up a little bit of a sweat. It's just wrong.

Now don't get me wrong. I don't want New England winters. I am morally opposed to jackets (you do the jacket thing for 5 kids and see how fond of jackets you are). The putting on to walk to the car, the complaining because they are too hot with their jackets on while in the car, the taking them off and keeping up with them while in the store/church/where ever. I'd just rather not.

But 70 degrees a week before Christmas? I don't need to freeze but a little chill would certainly help me feel like it was Christmas.

Spell Check . . .

2006-10-30T08:13:00.000-05:00

So I ran the spell checkon my previous post prior to posting it and oddly enough only two words showed up as errors . . . .

blog and blogging . . . .

You'd think a blogging site would have those added to it's spell check dictionary.

The rumors of my demise . . . and all that . . .

2006-10-30T08:08:00.000-05:00

Okay, so there weren't really any rumors, but you have to admit you thought I'd fallen of the face of the earth. But I am still here. Just without inspiration. And with a new sort of job that I can't tell you about but that is really fun and I can usually work around the kids. And my photo biz has been busy lately which means lots of computer time, but not much blogging time.

So I am back, with a renewed energy for this little blog.

Now if I can just remember what it is that I wanted to tell you. . . .

The End is Near . . .

2006-09-11T14:33:00.001-05:00

I saw a commercial once where a Kindie kid had a cell phone on his desk. Forget the other reasons why this would never happen (what teacher is going to let a kid have the phone on his desk), it would never happen for MY kids because they would have to be in high school before I'd let them have their own cell phone.

This is where I eat crow. . .

However, over the weekend (and again today) C has asked to see if he could play with a new friend, one we do not have a phone number for (but we have met, so don't completely freak out). To ease the nerves of this freaking-out mother, the Husband handed C his cell phone that he doesn't use anymore, but we keep a few minutes on so we can keep the phone number because it's a good match for the other cell phone numbers in the house.

Yes, that's right. We gave him a cell phone and he is NOT in high school -- he's not even in middle school.

It's not his own personal phone that he can do whatever he wants with, nor does he get to take it with him every where, but right now he has it.

I want to encourage him to have friends and be outside away from the computer and video games, but letting him do that is a whole 'nother matter if I don't have a way to contact him. So this works.

And then I saw this and well, it's green and small, and I will resist the temptation to run right out and get one for each of the Big Three (what we call C, M & E).

How did my mother ever stand it? We kids used to walk (without an adult or anyone over the age of 12) more than a mile one way, crossing several major roads to go to the 7-11 and I wasn't even as old as C.

Best Friend

2006-07-27T08:16:00.000-05:00

When my twins were little I stumbled into a conversation with someone I kind of knew but wasn't really friends with who had a son a few months younger than my girls. We were both really stressed and decided to get together that week because 2 against 3 is always better than going it alone. It was so fabulous we made it a habit. Once a week, without fail, we got together for lunch or shopping or just to let the kids play at the park.

Before long we were calling each other nearly everyday, meeting up two or three times a week. She was my emergency babysitter, and I was hers. We new where the cups and plates where in each others homes and what each others kids would and would not eat. We even started calling each other just to run errands so one of us could sit in the car with the kids while the other ran into the post office/bank/whatever that only ever takes you a minute, but is so daunting to do if you have to load and unload all your kids that you put it off forever.

About 18 months ago she moved to the north side of town to be closer to her husbands job. We weren't sure if we'd manage to still get together once a week, but knew we were going to make and effort to keep this going. Despite the rising gas prices, the addition of children to our families (2 each since we started getting together), her oldest going to school and the distance we still get together as often as possible.

We are each other's sanity. The place we turn when we just can't believe what one child or another did today, or when we aren't sure we can handle anymore of life's junk.

We started with 4 kids between us and our total child count has doubled since the early days of our friendship. Now we are our own playgroup. Our kids have grown up together. Our husbands get along great.

She's the sister I never had, the best friend I always needed. Found on a day I really needed someone to understand my life and having her has made all the difference.

Fashion for Everyone (unless you're not an acceptable size)

2006-07-25T21:25:00.000-05:00

I had planned to post a comment to Mom-O-Matic's original post, but life (aka 5 kids) got the better of me and I didn't get back to it.

The problem at Target is really the almost complete lack of a plus size department. Literally there are 3 or 4 racks of clothes compared to the 30 or more racks of clothes for the "regular" sizes. (Admittedly this might be a quirk of my particular Target, but the 2 in my area have the same meager plus department, and given the fact that most of these national place have detailed plans for layouts and where and how to hang certain things, I'd bet all Targets are pretty similar.)

Forget fit and fabric. You can't find what isn't there.

What is there is stretch jeans (yuck) and t-shirts with zero shape and clothes that bring to mind fat hookers.

I am not a fashionista. I am mostly a t-shirt and jeans gal (although I'm trying to dress it up a bit more - Stacy and Clinton would be proud), but even I at my most lazy cannot bear to wear Target clothes.

So get a clue, Target. We are here. We may not be completely satisfied with our current body shape or size but we would like to look good. Give us a little help.

It's Broken - Really - Well Sort Of

2006-07-25T14:47:00.000-05:00

M broke her elbow. Two and a half weeks ago on J's birthday (thankfully after the party). Her cast comes off on Thursday. I forgot to tell you? She fell off her scooter. No she wasn't wearing a helmet, but she didn't hit her head (this time, I know already) so get off my back. Yes we own elbow pads, no she wasn't wearing them. She can't put them on by herself and we don't require it, so no pads. Not sure they would have helped anyway.

So again the ER doc says definitely broken. So we head to the orthopedic office. He says he'd be hard pressed to show me where it's broken. What the ER doc said was a break, that looks a lot like a break to me, was really a normal looking growth plate and that the "break" wasn't really visible, but certain things on the x-ray that look like nothing to me, coupled with the pain, swelling (we're talking baseball on her elbow) and her extreme refusal to move it, indicate a break and so she is in a cast (red) for just under 3 weeks, at which point the cast comes off so she can start moving it (otherwise it gets too stiff) and we go home with a removable splint and a "no running no jumping order" for about 3 weeks meaning she will miss the first couple of weeks of PE and recess.

She has been a real trooper. No complaining or crying even though she missed out on swim lessons (which we will hopefully be able to make up during August). We went to Six Flags with the cast on (because the Ortho said definitely not after it came off for at least 3 weeks and by then the ticket she had earned from school would have expired and there is no way we can afford to take 3 kids and 2 adults to Six Flags without 3 free kids tickets and a buy one get one free for the adult tickets ($53 versus $200)) and even road the Mind bender with 3 loops and the Wheelie. Way to go M!

Way too soon for me . . . .

2006-07-11T10:17:00.000-05:00

In the beginning there was a tiny 6 lb 13.6 oz baby girl with cheeks that practically touched under her chin. She had enough attitude invitro how she'd be positioned from one appointment to the next. At the time of delivery she jack-knifed, feet to face, and tried to come out two feet and a hand first, forcing and emergency c-section.

I thought that I had 12 years or so before that stubborn attitude turned into a tween that talked on the phone for hours with her friends.

She has been on the phone for 45 minutes.

She is 6 years old.

I am in so much trouble.

Four Things I Miss Now That I Can't Find Them

2006-07-07T15:02:00.000-05:00

1. Mini Taco Shells -- perfect for kid-size hands and just so darn cute. Of course now they have ones with flat bottoms so they stand up while your trying to fill them. Also a great idea, but I still miss the minis.

2. Crustless Bread -- perfect for my non-crust-eating kids, and they miss it more than I do. It was so nice for them to eat and entire sandwich, now we are back to leaving the "rind" and complaining.

3. Huggies convertible Diapers -- I can still find these, but only at Babies R Us and that just isn't one of my usual stores. And to make it even worse, the diapers are at the very back of the store, forcing me to walk by all the cute clothes and such, at the very top of the very tall shelves, forcing me to either look for an associate to assist me (yeah, right) or climb the shelves, especially if I want two packs since I know I won't be back soon.

4. Licorice Altoids -- They took a little getting used to, but they were great. P loved them too. I've checked into buying them online, but I always hesitate when I see how much they want for shipping. P likes the cinnamon altoids as wells, but she eats them by the handful, I visions of her poor little tummy developing an ulcer -- unlikely I know, but worrying is what we mother's do.

Before You Know It . . .

2006-07-06T13:03:00.000-05:00

My children go back to school in 31 days -- not that I'm bragging -- which, of course will bring “back-to-school shopping.” As much as I’m for starting school the second week of August (it’s too hot for them to play outside in August so they might as well be in school), it brings with it a problem. You’d like your kids to look good for school, which means shopping, and basically buying a new “summer” wardrobe, because it won’t be cool enough for long pants, let alone long sleeves and jackets for at least the first 2 months of school, and the kids have run all of their current summer clothes through the red clay at least once (rendering them completely unacceptable as good clothes anymore). However, the local stores are clearancing their summer stuff and have put out the back-to-school (long pants, etc) clothes despite the known weather conditions, making it extremely difficult to re-outfit the kids for warm weather (and don’t tell me I should have shopped earlier, if I knew the summer stuff was going to be gone because 1) if it’s in the house they’ll find it and wear it (exhibit a – M and E still wearing sweats to bed even though I keep trying to hide them), and 2) we all like the thrill of back-to-school shopping (don’t deny it, you love it) but it’s no fun it you do it the week after school gets out, or earlier, seeing as how short’s weather starts here in April, and 3) growth spurts, hello, there’s not much worse than having a closet full of clothes that your kids can’t wear because the universe has laughed at your fervent hope that just this once they won’t grow 2 inches over the summer) especially as you add up the price tags and realize that in about 2 months you’ll be doing it all over again as the weather gets freaky (below 32 at 7:00 am when the kids get on the bus, and nearly 80 at 3:00 pm when they get off) and then just cold, and you pack away the warm weather school clothes hoping again that the kids don’t grow during the winter so you don’t have to shop again in the spring . . . and the circle of shopping continues . . .

But my kids go back to school in 31 days.

Weekend Recap

2006-06-26T06:53:00.000-05:00

I'll start with Thursday when we watched the rain we desperately needed to soak the 17 pallets of new sod in our back yard slide by our house in a riotous display of wind and lightening without leaving even a drop.

Friday we again watched that rain pass us by again, although it did tease us with a few drops and even more wind.

Early Saturday morning we began the last minute preparations for M an E's 6th birthday party. $18 for a cake I could have made for a lot less, but in the end it was probably worth it -- Publix makes a great cake. Great fun was had by all. We experimented with Floam and found it lacking and altogether too sticky. We continued the rain watch well into the night hoping against the Weather Channel that said the rain was past us, even if the lightening wasn't.

We awoke Sunday to find we had received just enough rain to give the sod a fighting chance.
Somehow it rained again Sunday afternoon and here we are at Monday morning and there is even more rain (although without the fancy wind and light show).

disclaimer - no we are not complete idiots, we have been watering the sod, but a good rain gives much better coverage and it's free.

I Love

2006-06-24T13:49:00.000-05:00

I love that M thinks I'm comfortable.

I love that C is a great big brother - that P and J adore him.

I love how E rolls her eyes at me - eventually this will drive me crazy, but for now I think it's hilarious.

I love that J wants me to play with him and watch him ride his bike. I love how he sucks his thumb and holds his blanket, very much like Linus of the Peanuts.

I love P's curls and her giggle and how her eyes light up when she sees anyone of her family. I love her determination. I love that she knows where we keep her pacifiers.

One Done, One to Go

2006-06-24T12:46:00.000-05:00

What a week. Tuesday we had sod delivered for the backyard. Finally the Septic Saga is complete. We have grass in the backyard. It took The Husband and I almost 2 hours to lay a little over one pallet of sod. It took the 13 volunteers (9 from church, my 3 brothers and a friend) just under two hours to lay 16 pallets of of sod.

Today was E and M's birthday party. We are very old-fashioned and have home parties. We don't rent bouncers or water slides. We do a pinata (next year I really need to buy a bat to whack the pinata with), cake and ice cream, some sort of game and open presents. We had small turnout - only 3 of the 10 invited. But at least it was one mutal friend and one girl from each of E and M's classes.

Now on to planning J's party. Thankfully we only have kid birthdays in 2 months so I only have to deal with this stress twice a year.

I promise I will work harder to blog more regularly and have more interesting topics.

For now I'm going to spend some quiet time reading. I'm nearly finished with The Husband by Dean Koontz. I'll give you a review soon.

What are you reading now? I'm always on the hunt for good books.

Feminist I'm Not

2006-06-09T12:54:00.000-05:00

I'm considering changing doctors for what boils down to one reason - my doctor, a woman with 2 children would like to "have it all" (and by the way her husband is a surgeon which I suppose it both good and bad). She works 3 days a week, and it seems like those days are only mornings or at least not full days. Which means that if I am sick and can't make my appointment 2 weeks in advance I cannot get into see her because she will either be completely booked (why don't they leave a few holes in the schedule for sickies, the ped's office does, or maybe they do, but they get booked up fast too) or not in the office at all. Which leaves me with a slight chance that I could get in with her PA, but often find that she's also booked up. And the the offer of seeing another doctor in the group has never been made (again this is standard practice at the ped's office).

So I am leaving her for another doctor - another woman doctor, who has one child and will be in the office 4 full days a week. Hopefully this works out better. If not I just might have to go back to seeing the male doctor I use to see. Even if I do have to wait forever, at least I can always get an appointment.

Cleaning Up Is Hard to Do . . .

2006-05-28T19:35:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, M and E provided this little tidbit of entertainment . . .

E: We cleaned up P's room AGAIN.
M: Yeah. We cleaned it up before and they just messed it up again.
E: So we put the Legos up high where they can't reach them.
M: They can only play with them if they ask us first.

(side not from Me -- I have put most of M & E's toys on a shelf above their reach, so they have to ask for them. This is to help them learn to put one thing back before playing with the next. Otherwise their room turns into a disaster.)

E: We want her room to stay clean.

This is where I left the room, praising their effort and trying to stiffle my giggles.

Breaking Up is Hard to Do

2006-05-18T07:34:00.000-05:00

It's been coming for a while now. I was less than excited about each week's meeting, but kept our weekly appointment out of loyalty and a strange desire see how things would work out.

I approached each meeting with the slightest bit of dread. Just enough to delay but not cancel our relationship, unsure if I really wanted things to end or if I was just tired.

But it seems fate has stepped in. Just hours before what was to be our final meeting I learned from a third party that this really would be the final episode in our story. Regardless of this evening's outcome there would be no new episodes.

I feel a small sense of loss, but am relieved that the decision was removed from my control. But I am also left with so many questions. We weren't allowed to properly end our relationship. There is no closure. I just would have liked answers to a few small questions . . .

What happens to Larkin now that Tom took her to the water? What about her baby? Is Zura really dead? What about all those pushed into the water? What about the pregnant women -- do they survive the delivery? What do the "babies" look like? Where did the lights in the water come from? Are they aliens?

It's Broken - or Maybe Not

2006-05-01T14:06:00.000-05:00

Isabelle got stepped on yesterday at church. It was an accident, but she cried long enough (not usual for her) that we headed to the emergency room. We waited 3 hours before even being seen.

After spitting up her first dose of Tylenol with Codeine, which got her the cute hospital gown, Isabelle managed to keep down the second dose. She was quickly taken for x-rays. A combination of codeine and, I'm sure, angels helped keep her still for the x-rays. She was a real trooper.

The ER pediatrician announced definitively that it was broken, had her food splinted and then sent us home with instructions to follow up with her regular pediatrician in the morning for casting.

Her regular pediatrician concurred with the diagnosis and sent us on to an orthopedic, where Isabelle threw a gold-medal-winning tantrum. She calmed down the instant they began taking off the splint. The orthopedic decided that he didn't see anything on the x-ray that need to be casted. When Isabelle didn't flinch while he examined her foot and was able to walk without signs of pain, he decided to send her home. He said if she isn't running around like nothing happened by next Monday to bring her back. He does not expect to see us again.

Isabelle fell asleep as soon as the doctor left the room. She is still asleep now. We'll see how she feels and walks when she wakes up.

But isn't this an adorable picture?

Timeline of a Monday

2006-04-24T13:31:00.000-05:00

12:39 am - crawl out of J's bed where I have been for about an hour because he woke up screaming
12:41 am - crawl back into my bed (no the house isn't that big, I stopped for a class of water)
1:12 am - retrieve J from his bed because he his crying and I'd rather sleep than force the "sleep in your own bed: issue)
1:13 am - deposit J in my bed after pushing The Husband's pillows back onto his side of the bed.
1:14 am - sleep
3:18 am - kick The Husband out of bed to go give P a new paci. Really I should let her figure it out herself, but again I'd rather sleep than force the "sleep through the night" issue.
4:15 am - push J back to the middle of the bed before I fall out of the bed.
5:17 am - repeat
6:15 am - snooze alarm
6:24 am - snooze alarm and then try to convince myself that it would be easier to get out of bed now than to try to get 3 kids out the door in less than 20 minutes.
6:30 am - get out of bed
6:31 am - wake C, realize he has no clean clothes in his closet, continue down hall to wake M and E and find that they don't have any clean clothes either
6:32 am - put away kids clean clothes while kids get dressed
6:35 am - do M & E's hair while they brush teeth
6:48 am - arrive in kitchen to feed M & E. Check C's teeth and send him back upstairs to try again (those darn braces).
6:50 am - start making lunches
6:55 am - recheck C's teeth and take matters into my own hands
6:58 am - kids put on shoes and chose #'s between 1 and 10 to see who gets on the bus first.
7:00 am - close door behinds kids and sit down to check email and blogs.
7:05 am - hear bedroom door open, J is awake. He wants koolaid for breakfast but it's gone so we settle on caffeine free Mountain Dew
7:07 am - continue checking blogs and email
7:25 am - kiss husband good bye and hear P waking up.
7:30 am - get P out of bed
7:32 am - J and P decide they want Oreos for breakfast, I give in because the crying and whining has already been too much this morning.
7:47 am - realize if I go to the gym an hour earlier than usual, I won't have to take the kids
7:48 am - okay this with my Mom (aka Nan) and head downstairs to get dressed
7:49 am - change P's diaper and take of her already dirty pj's (darn those Oreos)
7:50 am - change into workout clothes
7:51 am - pretend to try to fix my hair, realize it's hopeless without at least a shower and possibly a hair cut and give up.
7:52 am - tell Nan I'm leaving
7:53 am - spend 5 minutes trying to convince J that he didn't want to go play at the gym, that's why I'm going early. doesn't work, distract him by having Nan make koolaid
8:15 am - check in at gym and head for treadmills
9:00 am - leave gym (I know it was a short workout, but it was all there was time for)
9:15 am - arrive home in time for Nan to leave for her meeting
9:20 am - get in shower
9:25 am - turn of shower and dry off, realize I forgot to wash my hair and get back in shower
9:27 am - get back out of shower, hear J screaming, run through house naked to let him back in the house (don't lecture me, I don't know how he got out)
9:30 am - get dressed, try to do something with my hair
9:40 am - dress P and J
9:47 am - try to convince J that he does want to go out.
9:52 am - I win, if only because I have the power to carry him to the car.
10:00 am - get hair cut, ahhh I get to sit still for a few minutes. J and P are remarkably good considering the amount of crying and whining we've had this morning.
10:25 am - leave hair-cutting place (hey I have short hair, it doesn't take that long to cut)
10: 45 am - arrive at destination 2 - Home Depot, explain to J that it doesn't matter if he doesn't want to go to Home Depot, we are going. Again I win because I have the power to put him in a cart.
11:15 - load back up and head to restaurant for lunch with the girls. I'm first.
12:58 pm - Lunch was good, conversation was great. Leave restaurant covered in salsa.
1:05 pm - J and I arrive at Walmart (P went home with Nan whom we met at the restaurant)
2:00 pm - leave restaurant with another car for J, the laundry detergant we forgot on Sat and several other things we just couldn't live without including the Frogger plug-and-play game that I wanted for Christmas, but couldn't find.
2:20 pm - home. start this entry
2:52 pm - kids get off the bus
2:55 pm - start C painting his puppet for his book report that is due on Wed
3:11 pm - make hot chocolateloate for M -- still writing this entry.
3:18 pm - have to stop now because C needs to do research for a paper and I want him to be up here when I can be sure he's working.

Are you tired yet. I still have to take M & E to a doctor's appt, attend a Homeowner's Association board meeting, get the kids in bed and watch Prison Break and 24.

A Little Bit of This and a Little Bit of That

2006-04-20T14:48:00.000-05:00

In February I photographed the contestants of for a local High School scholarship pageant. A few days after mailing off a re-order, I received a call from the contestants mother. She very nicely stated that she was not happy with the pictures and could I replace them. Of course (and when I looked at them again, she was right they were too dark). Anyway, she sent them all back (now that I think about it I should have told her to just trash them) and now I have them. Pictures I don't need. I can't get a refund from the processing company because it was my fault - I gave them a bad picture and they state right on their page that they don't adjust, they just print what you send them (part of the reason I use them). I know I should just shred them (I'll probably hang on to the 8x10 for my portfolio - it's not really bad, just not as good as it should be) but I just can't do it. But I will.

Conversation with a nearly 6 year old --
M (as she's watching me try to use hem tape on a project) -- What's that?

Me -- what's what? The fabric?

M -- no the thing your using?

Me -- an iron

(No I don't iron much. Truthfully, do you?)

Conversation with a client's mother before a Senior pictures session

Mother - Do you have an ironing board I could use? I need to knock a few wrinkles out of her blouse.

Me - I don't own an ironing board.

(my mother would be mortified. Oh wait, my mother sends her ironing out so she has no room to judge.)

I have been to the gym two days in a row (thanks for asking, April). J and P go to the child care center while I'm working out. Yesterday, P cried when I picked her up after my work out. Today she whined/cried the whole time I was working out. She sat with her back to the door and refused to be consoled by anything. I cut my workout a few minutes short to put her out of her misery. Hopefully she gets the hang of this soon. J, on the other hand, had a grand time.

You Know It's HOT When . . .

2006-04-17T17:12:00.000-05:00

1. the air conditioning must run continually to keep the house at a tolerable (but not really comfortable) 78 degrees.

2. the chocolate in the cupboard is soft, semi-melted.

3. the kids are camped out over the air vents.

4. you're tempted to drive aimlessly (yes, even at these gas prices) just to feel cold for a few minutes.

And it's only April.

Come y'all give me your best.

Of Bottles and Gyms

2006-04-13T12:58:00.000-05:00

We have run out of bottle liners for P's bottles. Oh the dilemma. Do we take this opportunity to ditch the bottle forever? Do we buy more liners knowing full well that the bottle is really a crutch the parental units in the house and that P, right now, could probably take it or leave it, but in a few months may be more vocal about her need for a bottle. My brain says get rid of the bottle and celebrate. My hearts says keep the bottle rather than be forced to accept the undeniable fact that my last baby is growing up way too fast. I suppose we meet in the middle somewhere -- mourning the loss of my last baby and celebrating the arrival of my last toddler.

Excuse me while I break for a brief moment of silence and a short cry. . . .

Okay, I'm back.

As for the gym, I have joined one! I have gone over to the dark side. But how do you turn down a "free" 3 year membership? (Yes there is a small maintenance fee that amounts to less than $10 a month, but is anything really free anymore?).

So I will now be attending the gym 4 mornings a week. My goal is to get back to my wedding weight.

Feel free to check up on me. I'll keep you posted on my progress.

Spring Break, Day 4

2006-04-06T15:04:00.000-05:00

We made it to day 4 (not counting weekends) of Spring Break. Only one day left (not counting weekends) before the my sweet little angels thankfully go back to school.

Because of the Septic Saga, we could not afford to actually go away for Spring Break (although I really prefer not to go anywhere during Spring Break because it seems like half the world is on Spring Break too. I would rather go somewhere - usually the beach - during our school's winter break in February, but again the Septic Saga prevented that as well. I promise one day I'll tell you about the Septic Saga.) so I chose do take the kids on a couple of day trips instead. Monday was the Mayfield Dairy and shoe shopping at the Mall of Georgia (I know you're thinking "shoe shopping again!?!?", but with 5 kids there is always someone needing new shoes).

Today we went to the Fernbank Museum, which we will probably not do again. The kids had a good time (we left P home with Nan) and it was very interesting, but once you've seen it, there's just not much to pull you back. Maybe we'd go to the IMAX again if they were showing something really good. After paying $56 for one adult and 3 kids (J is still free) to get into the museum and see the IMAX movie, we spent some time with the dinosaurs and then checked out the Chocolate Exhibit, which was not terribly child friendly nor overly exciting, despite the fact that chocolate is my most favorite thing (I even gave a speech on chocolate in my HS freshman speech class). We did however leave with a bit of chocolate, not for free but for $8. Very smart of the museum people to force visitors through a chocolate gift shop before leaving the exhibit. And no it wasn't even great chocolate, merely okay. But $8 is worth avoiding a tantrum times 4 (yes, my 9 year old still has tantrums on occasion, although they aren't the kicking and screaming variety anymore and M & E can cry on command, so better to just pay the money and avoid the spectacle.)

We moved next to the museum's permanent exhibit - Georgia in Time (or something like that) which started with the Big Bang and worked it's way up to I suppose the present, but we turned back at the Giant Sloth because it was getting close to our IMAX movie time and the exhibit seemed to have worked itself into a cul-de-sac (but now that I think about it, perhaps the corridor that looked like it only went into another viewing room for a short film was really the way to the rest of the exhibit) so we worked our way back to the Big Bang and a definite exit.

After stopping for a short chocolate break, we saw Wild Safari at the IMAX, which was really good, but not very wild.

Next was Lunch, with a capital L because it cost us $30. Why didn't I pack lunches, you ask. Why didn't I take them to a less expensive place outside the museum? First, I hate packing lunches and it didn't really occur to me this morning. Second it's way more fun if you get to eat out. Third, there's no way I was going to walk four kids back through the whole museum, load them in the car, go crazy trying to get them to agree on one place to eat, while driving around the city that I'm only marginally familiar with and seems to be strangely devoid of fast food. So pizza and hot dogs at the museum dining room it was.

Perhaps the best part of the museum was the Nature of Senses room. The room was full of activities for the kids, mostly involving optical illusions and the like, complete with explanations of why they worked and what was happening. Great for the 9 year old who can read. Not so great for the 5 year olds who really can't read and the nearly 3 year old who had to be boosted up to everything. And really not so great for the mommy who was pulled in 3 different directions trying to help them all. But despite that it was great fun -- especially the bubble tub. I really need to get a BIG bubble maker.

Overall it was a great day, but I don't think we need to go back anytime soon. Next time we'll go to the Fernbank Science Center and visit the Planetarium.

Who Knew

2006-04-04T07:14:00.000-05:00

Windex Multi-Surface cleaner with Vinegar kills little blacks ants nearly as fast at Raid (and I'm not nearly has worried about the kids accidentally stepping in it). I think I've found my new ant-killer, although if the bug guy that's coming today is as good as my friend who recommended him promises, I shouldn't need an ant-killing spray anymore, but it's always good to have a backup plan.

What's for Dinner?

2006-03-31T16:21:00.000-05:00

Like Noelle Robbins, I don't enjoy cooking. When I was first married, I tried to cook most evenings and The Husband often tried is hand at cooking dinner. (Truth be told, he enjoys cooking more than I do and is better at it, too.) But my repertoire was limited and I wasn't a very adventurous cook. It didn't take very long for The Husband to announce is that he had never really liked spaghetti, was tired of chicken and Rice-A-Roni, and didn't like the way I flavored the pepper steak.

This was the beginning of the end of dinner in our house. The final nail - or nails- came in the form of our 5 children - 2 picky eaters, 1 who will try most things and 2 who will eat almost anything.

Now trying to decide what to make for dinner requires evaluating the pros and cons of each meal in relation to every member of the household. (Let's just skip the lecture about making them eat whatever I serve - I just can't do it. Being a picky eater as a child I am too familiar with the child's side of that philosophy. More on that in a later post). If I make something that the majority of the kids will eat, The Husband will most likely turn up his nose. If I make something that The Husband would enjoy, chances are only 2 of the children will eat any of it. Either scenario will probably lead to the making of an alternative dinner or allowing someone to have cereal for dinner, thus creating dinner envy amongst those who ate the original meal, but would have preferred the cereal.

Really it's too much stress for me. About once a week I attempt to make something that the majority of the household will eat. About once a week The Husband makes something that he would like and about half of the family will try it. The rest of the week, well let's just say, we eat a lot of cereal and spaghetti.

While I do not enjoy cooking, I love to bake. Cookies mostly, but I also like to try brownies, fudge, pies (but only those that are made with a graham cracker crust), and cakes (yellow with chocolates frosting mostly). I make the best chocolate chip cookies (ask my friends, they'll back up my claim). For me baking is therapeutic (unless I have more than one little helper, then it's not quite as relaxing). It is also how I can show my love to my family. I have been known to make 3 different cookies in the same day just to appease varied tastes of my children (of course they can't all like the same cookie, that would be too easy). I will gladly whip up a batch of cookies whenever one of my brothers visits (or needs to bring something to a work function). I rarely visit a friend without also bringing a plate of goodies, and my annual Christmas Plates are eagerly awaited by the lucky recipients.

I believe in the grand scheme, my cookies compensate for my lack of gourmet dinners joyously prepared and served. At least that's my story.

Conversation with a nearly 3 year old . . .

2006-03-29T13:46:00.000-05:00

One of J's favorite TV shows is Scooby Doo (in all incarnations). Today, while getting him dressed we were singing the Scooby theme song (note to mom -- look up the words to this song). The following conversation ensued.

Mom: Do you like Scooby?

J: No.

Mom: No?

J: I like Daphne?

Mom: Daphne? Why do you like Daphne?

J: 'Cause her cute.

Shoe Shppping . . . again

2006-03-26T07:07:00.000-05:00

Size 7.5 wide blue sandal to replace the size 7 wide blue sandal - $3.21

3 gallons of gas to drive the 60 mile roundtrip to a Payless outside my normal shopping zone - $7.50

Finding the last pair of last years sandal that happens to be the ONLY shoe my stubborn nearly-3-year-old will wear - PRICELESS

Conversation with a nearly 6 year old . . . take 2

2006-03-24T19:10:00.000-05:00

M: He's the one we love (said while watching the septic* man put things back in his truck).

E: Yeh, we love the skinny one.

M: Yeh, he's the one we love.

Well at least he's gainfully employed (even has his own business, okay he and his brother), he's very polite (but all good Southern boys are), and even a little bit cute. But he's got to be nearly 30. Sorry girls, you'll have to love only from afar.

I'm in soooo much trouble with these two.

* maybe someday I'll post the Septic Saga, but for now just know that the septic guys have spent some quality time at our house lately.

Conversation with a nearly 6 year old . . .

2006-03-24T10:27:00.000-05:00

M: Mom, do you know who is my boyfriend?

Mom: No. Who is your boyfriend?

M: Justin J.

Mom: Really. What makes him your boyfriend?

M: He has a really pretty [nap] towel.

And so it begins. Does this mean she'll be dating the boy with the best car?

Accessories Make the Baby

2006-03-20T08:37:00.000-05:00

I have noticed lately that I have a uncontrollable urge to coordinate P's paci with her outfit. Blue pajamas, blue paci. Put her in purple clothes in the morning, swap the blue paci for purple. She ends up in a new outfit after lunch and I again swap pacis.

I know your wondering about several things now. First, blue pajamas. Despite after two older sisters P has very few handmedown's, particularly of the pj kind, since M & E were summer babies and P is a winter baby, the sizes just don't match with the seasons. So she is wearing J's sleepers from last winter. Poor girl only has one pink sleeper.

Yes I do really have pacis in all those colors, plus red and yellow. You know how it goes -- all the paci's disappear, so you buy more and then one day every paci you've every purchased finds it's way home and you have about a dozen of them. So now I have pacis in nearly every color -- I'm missing pink and orange and trying very hard to resist the urge to buy them. P is, after all 15 months old and really should not be sucking a paci all that much longer. (I hear you laughing. It's denial I know, but let me pretend, okay?)

Now, if you'll excuse me, P is currently wearing purple (although 2 very different shades) and sucking a blue paci . . .

Oh Happy Day!!

2006-03-19T15:48:00.000-05:00

Enough said!

Shoe Shopping

2006-03-15T14:12:00.000-05:00

After a fabulous trip to the park with all the kids, we ran into Walmart to look for light-weight pjs for P and J (ha) now that the weather has taken a warmer turn. When the pj search did not yield the results we had hoped for we moved onto shoes since J's toes are beginning to hang over the edge of his beloved sandals.

While I was searching for a pair of 7 1/2 wide by sandals, J was pointing to all the pretty pink shoes that he liked (should I be worried about that, or is just because the girls shoes are always on the lower racks and therefore the only things he can see?) E announces that she also needs a new pair because (and I kid you not this is a direct quote) she is "bored with her shoes" and doesn't want to wear them anymore. (Insert mom banging head on wall here).

Oh the joys of shopping with children.

Someone's Sleeping in My Bed

2006-03-15T07:03:00.000-05:00

At Thanksgiving we bought a big boy bed for J and moved him upstairs with M & E. It took a few tries, but he was sleeping through the night in his own bed. Things were going great. J was in his own bed and going to sleep at a decent hour and P was finally sleeping through the night.

But in the last couple of weeks a new pattern has emerged. J returns in the middle of the night to sleep with mom and dad. The "good parent" would promptly return him to his own bed, despite any screaming or fusing that might occur regardless of whom it might wake up.

The sleep deprived parent (aka me) allows him to crawl in bed with her, just for tonight rather than risk the possibility of screaming that might wake the baby and therefore trigger further screaming.

So for about a week J has ended up in our bed. A couple times he has called from his bed until we retrieved him. A couple times he has arrived under his own steam, but has made sure we knew he was there. Once he even arrived with an escort in the form of Nan (whose room is upstairs).

But this morning I awoke thinking we'd had a good night. Everyone remained in their own beds and there was no breakthrough screaming or crying.

But there was something curled up at my back, stealing my covers and my space. J has developed a new technique -- stealth. How is a parent supposed to combat that?

Brain Dump

2006-03-14T12:22:00.000-05:00

I am currently fixated on making the perfect brownie. Now before you think I'm going all Martha Stewart on ya, I'm using a box mix -- Betty Crocker, I think. And I'm not adding anything extra. I just would like to be able to figure out how to bake them without the edges going all crispy, but having the center still cooked. I think I have mastered this, but a brownie really needs to be completely cooled before you can really tell if it's perfect, but my kids like to eat their brownies warm so I can't keep a pan around long enough to be sure.

Survivor. All I can think is that the lack of food is really affecting their thinking. Last week Terry voted for Dan even though they promised they never would. Now I'm not debating the move to vote Dan off. Without the option of voting the lone girl out, Dan was the next most logically choice. But Terry did not have to vote for him to achieve that end. They were so worried about a 2 vs. 2 tie vote that they didn't see that if Terry voted for one of the young guys, Dan voted for the other young guy and the young guys voted for Terry, every would get what they wanted -- Dan out without Terry having to vote for him.

And for all the hype about Exile Island, it really hasn't lived up to the billing. They just don't show us enough of what the poor person has to go through by themselves. Well and Terry had to go and find the immunity idol so early.

Cirie has turned out to be my favorite player so far. She's just watching that tribe disintegrate and gently nudging things along as needed. I hope she manages to stay around a while longer.

School Pictures. Seeing as I take my own pictures of the kids on a regular basis, I don't need the school pic to be great. But is it really too much to ask of a professional photographer to attempt to get a smile out of these kids? Of my three kids I have three unsmiling photos. If this was the only time I had my kids pics taken I'd be devastated. Thankfully for me I'm a talented photographer in my own right.

3 out of 5 of my children do not like Girl Scout Thin Mints. I am shocked and appalled. Unfortunately this disappointing mutation does come from my side of the family. My older brother is also not a Thin Mint lover. Oh well more for me.

Guess that's all for now.

World's Cutest Child

2006-03-07T19:41:00.000-05:00

Beth, of So the Fish Said, whom I enjoy reading immensely, claims to have the World's Cutest Child. While Mia is truly a doll, Beth is, understandably, biased.

I submit for your viewing pleasure, P, the World's Cutest Child. I, too, am biased, but I believe you'll agree that P would give Mia a run for the crown (and probably win, but that's a mother talking).

So am I right? She's definitely the World's Cutest Child.

The latest Craziness from My Twins

2006-03-07T08:39:00.000-05:00

It started on Sunday during church. E, who is quite the little mother, folded J's blanket into a pillow so he could lay down on her lap. This was seen a unfair by M, she wanted J to lay down on her lap, and brought on a round of tears.

At home the same day M and E asked J, who is not even 3 and can't really be expected to understand the full ramifications of his answers or even that 10 is more than 8, how much he loved them on a scale of one to ten, followed by complaining and crying that he loved one more than the other.

But like the weather, just wait a few minutes and it will change, because J just doesn't have a complete grasp of what numbers beyond two represent yet.

If it's this bad when they are fighting over the affections of their little brother, I'm really not looking forward to the teen years and fighting over boyfriends.

Save Me!

Um. . . .

2006-03-06T07:46:00.000-05:00

In a world that revolves on a dozen why do They sell hangers in a pack of 13? Don't They know this is going to bother me? Or maybe They do know and it's just Their way of messing with my already befuddled head.

I know there's such a thing as a bakers dozen (is that so there's one left for taste-testing?) but hangers are hard plastic - not at all food-like.

And the number 13 has such a bad reputation. It only ever seems to be associated with bad things, so buying 13 hangers (even though I'm not really a superstitious person) just seems wrong.

I know I'm crazy, but I'm sure you have your oddities too. So fess up. What bugs you?

It's the Little Things

2006-02-28T17:37:00.000-05:00

1. It's definitely genetic. Today I caught M sucking on the ends of her hair. Her hair is a couple of inches shorter than E's so it's just making it to the length that she can do this. So when do I say enough and chop off the hair?

2. The kids have been bringing home these pencils that are driving me crazy. They are cool -- they have glitter on them. But to keep that glitter on them the manufacturers have put a plastic cover over the pencil that is not sharpener friendly. The plastic cover bunches up, gets stuck in the sharpener, etc. I'm starting to toss them in the trash as soon as I can. I like my pencils yellow with red eraser that actually works. I'm a simple girl at heart.

3. P cannot walk by the fridge without begging for something to eat. This girl is going to eat me out of house and home. At least she likes good stuff -- strawberries, watermelon, bananas, yogurt. Although she also has also discovered hot dogs (of which she has had 3 of just today - no flames, I know about the nitrates etc.)

4. 58 degrees in the house is not really great for sleeping. Thank heavens the house is only 8 months old and everything is still under warranty. Well nearly everything, but I won't go into the biggest headache I'm dealing with lately.

5. I love the internet. I'm trying to plan my scout activity for tomorrow. I know what I should do, but wasn't certain I could come up with anything before tomorrow afternoon. Then I googled my topic and bam -- everything I need. Now I just have to spend some quality time with my printer.

6. I hate homework. This is a new aversion for me. When I was in school I just did it. I was a good student (National Merit Scholar - oh I've mentioned that before.) and homework was just part of what I knew I had to do to get the scholarships I needed to go to college. (Geek, Nerd, Brainy, call me what you will I've heard it all.) But now that I'm trying to get my kids, who haven't yet developed the understanding that homework will always be, to do homework, I HATE it. No matter how hard I try to get them to do things before the night before it's due, we still end up doing it at the last minute. This time it was a presidential report - we had Teddy Roosevelt (did you know he didn't like being called Teddy) and we didn't even mention the teddy bear. Next it's a book report. 2 weeks until that's do.

7. The Bachelor. Come on I know you watched it. Finally I think the guy picked the right girl. Although I was unsure down to the wire that he would. Can't wait to here how they are doing.

8. How did we ever live without TIVO? I've only been without it for 2 days and I've decided I want my TIVO back even if it mean sitting in the basement with no carpet and a huge whole in the wall (goes back to the big headache mentioned above). And in a similar vein, how do you central time zone people do it? Sure you're done by 10, but can you really start at 7?

9. The last 5 minutes before the kids gets home seems to fly by, but 5 minutes on the exercise machine seems to last forever. Maybe I should do my 5 minutes of exercise (don't laugh it's all I can manage right now) in the last 5 minutes before the kids get home. Either the exercise would fly by or the last 5 minutes of peace would seem like forever.

10. Spell check is the greatest!

Okay I'm done for today.

What A Difference A Week Makes

2006-02-27T10:44:00.000-05:00

My kids have been out of school for a week (they went back this morning. Yipee). This is called mid-winter break. I have yet to figure why we need this break seeing as it's only been 6 weeks since Christmas break, but it does make for a nice time to trek to the beach without all the crowds and intense heat. Yes, it's still a little chilly, even at the beach, but it's more than made up for by the heated pool and no crowds.

But I digress.

Before mid-winter break it was nearly dark outside when I put the kids on the bus at ten after seven. But this morning, there was light, a lot of light (even if it was only 24 degress). The sun still had a little rising to do, but it was so much better than feeling like I was sending my babies out in the middle of the night.

Could it be that spring is nearly here? The cherry trees are blooming and the pears are following suit. The dogwoods will be next and I've already seen a few daffodils.

Not that I'm eager for it to be summer. But spring would be nice, very nice indeed.

Gold Donuts

2006-02-26T10:18:00.000-05:00

Are the gold donuts in honor of the donut-shaped gold medal or the 4, count-em 4, donut spins Arakawa did in the long program?

Just wondering.

When the Crib Breaks

2006-02-26T09:59:00.000-05:00

The crib that P sleeps in is the same crib that C slept in (although I'm sure P has already spent more time in it than C ever did). It is also the same crib that either M or E slept in (you don't really expect me to know which twin slept in this crib do you?). And yes even J slept in this crib.

It has been put together and taken down at least 5 times, lived in 4 different rooms in 3 different houses. It has green paint splattered on it and teeth marks on the rails. It has never been climbed out of (knock on wood - lots of it).

This crib is over 9 years old and was only a $99 crib to begin with. So it really isn't surprising that this crib finally popped a joint last week and is now being held together with Gorilla glue and cable ties.

Dear crib,
I know you have seen much in your 9 years. You watched over my sleeping babies and and the screaming ones too. You've done more than we ever expected you too. Please, dear crib, give me one more year, just one. I'd really prefer to not have to replace you, but P is just to little for a real bed yet. And this mommy needs her last baby to stay a baby just a little bit longer.

The Down Side of Sleep Training

2006-02-22T07:15:00.000-05:00

Two weeks ago P was a perfect sleeper. Down at 7pm, up at 7am. She took two naps and went down for it all with a smile and a coo.

Then the day before she was scheduled to get tubes, she started working on an ear infection. The tubes went in but the ear infection didn't go away right away so it was 3 days before she was up for sleeping in her bed, which is long enough for a 1 year old to become accostomed to sleeping on a warm pillow called Mommy.

Now that she is better, she no longer goes to bed without a peep. Bedtime can be accompanied by screaming. We know from experience that in a few days she will get over this and again be the great sleeper she was a month ago.

Which is why we let her cry last night after we put her to bed. It was by no means her longest crying stint or her worst. And once she's out, she's good for the whole night.

Which is why she slept in vomit (thankfully most of it was on her blanket and not her).

This mommy feels about this big.

My Very Own MeMe

2006-02-20T07:44:00.000-05:00

Five Strange/Different/Interesting Things From Your Childhood

1. At the tender age of 2ish I rode my first bull (on a friends farm, in the winter, wearing a pink coat, it was probably a cow not a bull and I don't have a real memory of this, but there is a photo)

2. I kissed my first boy in Kindergarten (it was only a peck on the cheek and he was my on and off again boyfriend through the 5th grade)

3. In the 5th grade I played kissing tag during almost every recess (again the kisses were pecks, this time on the lips. Strange game - kissing tag. We had 3 or 4 "couples" playing and we only ever chased our own)

4. One summer my best friend and I wrote a neighborhood newpaper. We weren't more than 10. We put in jokes and interviewed each other and other things we were interested in. It was only one page folded in half. And then we delivered it. Not to the other kids in our cul-de-sac, but to the adults. I still have a copy of one of the issues. It's a hoot. Oh and we typed each one.

5. Another time the same friend and I made cakes in an easy bake oven and sold them to the neighbors. But we put too much baking soda in and they tasted terrible. Sold them anyway.

6. Once my brothers and I had a "water stand." It's like a lemonade stand, but we didn't have any lemonade so we sold glasses of water for a nickel. It wasn't even ice water. And we didn't have paper cups so our customers had to stand there and drink their water and then we'd take the cups inside and wash them. What were we thinking?

Multiple Choice

2006-02-19T12:05:00.000-05:00

Your 9 year old, honor student son brings home a certificate for a "free" month of karate lessons, including uniform, do you . . .

a) throw certificate in the trash as a mere marketing ploy - you couldn't afford to keep it up after the free month anyway.
b) sign said son up immediately, even though it is a marketing ploy and you can't afford to keep him in it after the free month, but it will reward him for the good grades (again) and give him the opportunity to try something he's always wanted to try, explaining to said son that it is only going to be for the free month, feeling no guilt whatsoever.
c) sign said son up immediately, even though it is a marketing ploy and you can't afford to keep him in it after the free month, but it will reward him for the good grades (again) and give him the opportunity to try something he's always wanted to try, explaining to said son that it is only going to be for the free month, while feeling guilty 1)that you've bilked the karate studio for a free month (even though it was their idea) 2)that said son will be pulled from something he loves even though he understood from the beginning that it was only for one month.

This is where someone with a loyal readership would say discuss, give your comments. But my readership is spotty at best (thanks though to Sarah, Ali, Tracey and any other twin moms that pop by), I'll just tell you . . .

I choose c. But the really sad thing is that he's pretty good at this. But alas, finances do not currently allow for outside recreation of this magnitude.

So is it truly better to have karated and lost than to never have karated at all?

Discuss.

Emerging From the Fever Fog

2006-02-16T08:50:00.000-05:00

After two days of crabbies and two nights of sleeping on the couch with P, which means she gets to sleep and I try to sleep while worrying that her fever isn't coming down, hoping she'll be well enough to get the tubes put in her ears so that this can be our last horrendous ear infection, praying I'll be able to stay awake enough to get through the next day, hoping The Husband remembers to give the big kids their medicine in the morning because there is no way I'll be able to get them off to school, we have emeged from the fever fog.

P slept in her bed and I slept in mine (I'd almost forgotten how good that feels). Unfortunately, this has taught me that just because the kids have tubes in doesn't mean we can't get ear infections. Exhibit A - the bottle of pink stuff in my fridge for J, who had tubes put in 3 weeks ago, and developed a fever the day after P, quickly followed by green stuff seeping from his ears. This is what the drops the ENT gave us are for, but even though M and E had tubes put in 2 years ago, I have never seen this much stuff seep out of ears. M and E never had an infection after tubes.

I suppose I was niave. Now I know better.

So Says the Man

2006-02-10T07:09:00.000-05:00

I promise this will not turn into a Survivor or Reality Show blog. But last nights Survivor really has me steamed.

The women completely rolled over last night. "Younger man" tells the tribe "one of you two are going, even though detoxing Shane begged to be voted off" and the women took it like gospel.

Hello women -- you had the numbers, you could have voted off anyone you wanted to. You didn't need to make a permanent alliance - just get together for one vote to let the men know you weren't going to be pushed around.

If you couldn't at least figure that much out, then you don't deserve to be there.

Enough said.

Miracle at the DMV

2006-02-08T19:54:00.000-05:00

Although our DMV is now called the DDS (isn't that a dentist?) which apparently stands for Department of Driver Services and they wear sunny yellow polo's and khakis rather than the dreadful blue not-quite-police-uniform I remember from my last visit, which was about 5 years ago, since they now have an online renewal and address change system, which works great if your address is in the postal database, but if it's not then the DDS can't verify it as a real address and you have to go in anyway, which didn't really matter at this point since my license is lost somewhere in this house (as is my bank card, don't tell The Husband) so I had to go in anyway, after finding the required two forms of ID and a bill with my new address on it (the very reason I put the water bill in my name), of which they only asked for one form of ID and then took my word for the new address (so why didn't the online system work), but I did get a new picture since the old one was 10 years old and I updated my weight so it's only 40 lbs off (don't go there) and this time they wanted my fingerprint (not sure how I feel about that) and I decided again not to be an organ donor (I know, I know, selfish me) and re-registered to vote with the new address and I don't have to renew it for 10 years (here's hoping I don't loose it again, I have a terrible time keeping track of it, which I suppose wouldn't be a problem if I'd just leave it in my wallet and get over trying to get by without a purse)!

Oh and the miracle -- the whole thing took less than 10 minutes.

Humuhumunukunukuapuaa

2006-02-07T13:31:00.000-05:00

And if you know what that is, you're probably Hawaiian.

Anyhow--

Stumbled across this article a couple weeks ago (http://msnbc.msn.com/id/11069864/) about Hawaii's state fish (or lack thereof) and I actually remember the original vote that happened in 1985ish. No, I didn't live in Hawaii, but my boyfriend (yes, I had a boyfriend in the 5th grade, more on that another time), who was born in Hawaii brought the fish vote for a kind of "show and tell". Our class voted, (for the record we liked the Humuhumunukunukuapuaa) and Matt (the boyfriend) sent a letter to a Hawaiian paper including our results. Cool, yeah?

But who knew the Humuhumunukunukuapuaa had been ousted from it's throne as state fish? Apparently no one. The Humuhumunukunukuapuaa is still my pick, if only because it's an incredibly fun word to say. Kind of like 555,555 in German.

Gotta Have Shoes

2006-02-02T15:59:00.000-05:00

Today is an historic day for our family, particularly for P. Today I purchased P's first pair of real shoes. Yes, she managed to make it to 13 months without owning shoes. I've have purchased shoes for her before, but never with the real intent of putting them on her. What's the point if her perfect baby feet aren't going to touch the nasty ground? It's just a hassle, one more thing for me to remember. But now that she's walking (okay she's been walking for 4 months, so I'm a little behind), and trying to wear everyone else's shoes and whining and screaming whenever we walk by shoes in the store, I figured it was time to get serious and buy the girl a pair of shoes suitable for walking in stores and out of doors.

The problem with shoes for P has been that she curls her toes up whenever you try to put shoes on her, making it very hard to determine if we had a good fit. Today, however, she uncurled her toes and then ran all over the store breaking in her new shoes (and shopping while she was at it. The girl can pull clothes off a rack faster than any baby I've seen.)

I know you wondering how I could have not purchased shoes for her for 13 months. All I can say is that J was 18 months plus before he wore shoes. But that was because I refused to spend $40 for an extra wide shoe and he didn't want to walk anyway. He still prefers to be carried.

Save Me From Stuff

2006-02-01T14:43:00.000-05:00

This last weekend something happened that I had really lost hope would ever happen. The Husband helped me clean out the garage! Not only did he help, but it was his idea in the first place.

Because of the size of our garage and the shape of the driveway it is nearly impossible to park the van in the garage. I can easily get in at an angle but that precludes ever parking a second car in there. In October we spent most of a Saturday bringing everything over from our storage unit. But we didn't go through any of the stuff; we just stacked it haphazardly in the garage with a narrow walkway down the center. And there it sat for months. Occasionally E would see something out there and beg to bring it in the house (E doesn't forget about anything) but that was the extent of it.

Until I mentioned that I still couldn't find a book of negatives and it was keeping me from completing a reprint order for a very patient mother-of-the-groom. That spurred The Husband to action and we did find the negatives.

But we also found a lot of stuff. Box after box labeled "Japanese Things" from The Husband's mission there 14ish years ago. He has more stuff from those two years of his life than either of us has from our entire childhoods and he has a very difficult time letting go of any of it.

I, on the other hand, have been very good about letting go of meaningless pieces of my past. Painted wooden hearts from church camp, buttons from junior high, party favors from elementary school class parties -- all gone. Plaques from junior high and high school proclaiming that I took 3rd place in a math competition or was an alternate for Governor's Honor two years in a row or that I was a Master Scriptorian have found their way to the trash (after having been photographed of course) to free up space in my garage as well as my life.

The most important lesson I've learned from this weekend of purging - don't go through this stuff while the kids are around (especially E). They kept taking stuff out of the throw-away pile and begging to keep it. I think they get that from their dad.

Save Me From Frivolous Lawsuits

2006-01-30T07:54:00.000-05:00

I'm sure you heard about this lawsuit last week. A mother is suing Kellogg and Nickelodeon for using kids TV characters for advertising. Basically these companies are aiming advertising at children - young children.

While I'm not exactly for turning our children into monsters that want everything they see on TV, I really can't get behind this lawsuit either. Kellogg and Nickelodeon are really just doing what they do. It seems to be the parent, in this case, that's falling down on the job.

What happened to the word NO? No, you can't have that, No, you don't need that. No, you can't watch TV all day, every day.

We are the parents. We chose what to let our kids watch on TV. We chose what to buy at the store. Our job might be a little harder because our kids see their favorite TV character on everything from food to toys, but it doesn't change the fact that it is our job to teach them self-control, good food choices and money management.

The article points out that "the lawsuit assumes that parents can't turn off televisions, have no control over the food they buy and can't make their kids go outside to play."

Enough said.

Rain Rain Go Away . . .

2006-01-23T07:12:00.000-05:00

Rain is the bane of every mother trying to get her kids on the bus in the morning. The Big Three (what I call my three that go to school, the younger two I call the Itty Bits) had to run through the rain to catch the bus. In my defense it wasn't raining nearly has hard two minutes before. It's a judgement call, and when there's two little ones to have to schlep into the mix, the call usually end ups on the side of what's easiest.

Option One:
Give the kids umbrellas. Sounds easy and at one point they did each have their own umbrella. However they played with them and broke them. Now the only umbrellas we have are in the cars, negating the simplicity of the whole umbrella thing. In addition I don't have one big enough for all of us, so there would be fighting over who got to hold the other umbrella, someone would complain that their arm was getting wet, and I'd be yelling before 7:30 am. Never a good way to start the day.

Option Two:
Load everyone in the van and drive them to the top of the driveway to wait for the bus. In theory this is also sounds like a simple solution and I've done it a time or two. It does have a couple of drawbacks. The van is not parked in the garage, therefore the kids get wet fighting over who gets in the car first and waiting for the others to get in. And then getting out of the van means they get wet again. And what do I do with the Itty Bits? You get the picture.

Option Three:
Rain coats. Sounds very reasonable but honestly the expense (as small as it may be) times 4 (because the oldest Itty Bit would insist on having one also), multiplied by the few times they'd need them and the hassle of storing them when not in use, equals not going to happen. So I don't win mother of the year.

Option Three:
Stand on the porch until the bus stops at the stop sign right before our house, then run. By the time they get to the top of the driveway the bus is waiting for them. This is the option we usually use unless it's a deluge. Of course this only works because we know the bus driver will stop at our house even if the kids aren't out there. I turn the porch light on as a signal that they are coming (not that I've ever discussed this signal with the bus driver, but he seems to understand).

So this morning my kids ran through the rain that was heavier at the time of the running than at the time (2 minutes previous) that the decision to run was made. M & E's hair will not be in the pretty glossy state it was when I sent them out the door. They will arrive at school looking like partially drowned rats, but so will half the other kids, so I can't be the only mother that made her kids run through the rain.

Of Ear Infections, Shots, Genetics and Resolutions . . . And Maybe A Dash of Grammar

2006-01-17T16:25:00.000-05:00

Ear Infections and Shots
A week ago I took P into the doctor for what I was sure was an ear infection. 2 points for mom - P had a "raging" (to quote the doctor) double ear infection. Off we go to pick up another antibiotic (it just isn't the Save Me home without at least one antibiotic in the fridge). After 2 doses of the pink stuff P was showing signs of feeling better, or at least the fever was gone. After 3 doses all she wanted to do was sleep. After 6 doses she didn't want to sleep or eat and even threw up once. But I decided to write it off to the continuing snotty nose and the new tooth (#4 thank you very much). After 3 more nights without sleep (and a 5th tooth just to keep us on our toes) I had her back at the doctor. Both ears were still infected. I'm dreading the new antibiotic which would most likely be one of the white ones (which all mom's know taste twice as bad as the pink ones and are much harder on delicate bums) when the doctor utters the sweetest words I've ever heard -"I think we'll just give her a shot this time."

This is the point where I jump for joy. No fighting to get medicine down and then praying it stays down. But poor P, you say. No one likes shots. Ah, put P is actually very good at getting shots - she doesn't even flinch and there is very minimal crying. We do have to go back tomorrow to make sure she's getting better. If she not, it's another shot. I'll keep you posted (I'm sure you're dying to know).

Genetics
I have a confession to make. When I was young and my hair was longer, I used to chew/suck on the ends of my hair. Gross I know. Get over it.

My hair has been short for almost 20 years now except for a couple of occasions (my first 2 pregnancies) when I decided to let it grow out. On those couple of occasions I realized that this hair-chewing habit was not one I had broken, but was merely unable to do because of the length of my hair.

Last year E expressed in interest in growing her hair out. So we have been working to that end. However a few days ago I noticed E doing something eerily familiar -- you guessed it, she was sucking on the ends of her hair. She's very good about stopping when I call her on it, but when do I say enough and make her get it cut?

Resolutions
At the beginning of the year I had 5 resolutions. One of them being to blog everyday. So you may have noticed I'm not doing very well on that one. I do have a couple of very good excuses:
1. It is difficult to blog when ill.
2. It is even more difficult to blog when one's child is ill (see above).
As for the other resolutions, the previous excuses also apply.

Grammar
Back in my day we took the PSAT (do they even have that anymore?). Part of the PSAT was the TSWE (Test of Standard Written English for those who may not be as old as I am). My freshman and sophomore English class revolved around being prepared for the TSWE - after all if we wanted to be National Merit Scholars, we had to do well on the PSAT including the TSWE.

I don't recall my PSAT scores (although it was good enough to make me a Nation Merit Scholar) but I do know I earned a perfect score on the TSWE thanks entirely to the teaching of Mrs. Houghton. I only bring this up so that you know I do have a good working knowledge of the English language (even if it is not always evident).

During my freshman writing class in college the question of the proper use of parentheses and the dash and if there was a correct time to use one and not the other. The outcome of the discussion was that, other than parenthetical documentation which obviously uses parentheses, the parenthesis and the dash are pretty interchangeable, but that most writers preferred one over the other. At the time I was a committed dash-person, but as you can see I have morphed into a hybrid of a dash-person and a parenthesis-person.

Just thought you might want to know.

So I've Missed Two Days . . . .

2006-01-12T07:27:00.000-05:00

I'm not doing so great on the resolutions -- I've missed two days of blogging, and I haven't started exercising yet. But in my defense on both counts, the sickies didn't leave with the old year. So far I've had strep and P (the child formerly known on this blog as I) has a double ear infection . . . again. While the first left me laying on the couch moaning the second left we laying on the couch with a moaning 1 year old. Neither condition is conducive to blogging or exercising

Enough excuses. Today's topic . . .

I am eating chips and salsa for breakfast. I had it for lunch and dinner yesterday and at least twice the day before. Separately, I don't like anything that goes in salsa. But put it together and I can't get enough of it. My favorite at the moment is Tostitos Medium restaurant Style, although I do run it through the blender before eating - I don't like chunks in my salsa.

Next topic . . .

The breakup of M and E has been quite successful, although M has had a hard time sleeping through P's wakings. I did have to warn E that she would not have her own room for long. Since M took J's space in P's room, J would have to move into E's room when he was ready (okay when I was ready for him to move). Well E latched onto that and was adamant that J needed to move up NOW. So last Sunday my baby J (okay he's 2.5) moved upstairs out of my room.

This is a good thing and without E's pushing I might have put it off for months. All this room switching has had the added benefit of getting us out of the habit of laying down with M and E every night. It was easier to lay down with them then to tuck them back in 12 times each night. But now it's just not feasible.

Now I'm off to catch up on my shows. I love my TIVO.

'Til Death Do You Part . . . .

2006-01-09T17:23:00.000-05:00

My husband owned a house when I met him. He therefore already had appliances -- an ancient fridge, an even more ancient washer, a new dishwasher that was louder than most sporting events, and an oven that was very adequate for our needs, but nothing special.

During the first seven years of our marriage we had to replace the fridge, the washer and the dryer. The fridge died a slow death that allowed us to purchase a replacement and have it delivered without losing anything but the mayo. The dinosaur side-by-side fridge was replaced with a lower-end, but not rock-bottom, freezer-on-top model because I hated the side-by-side.

When it was the washers turn to go, it two was replaced with a good, but not fancy machine.

The move to our second home required replacing our gas dryer with an electric one. Again, we were modest in our spending, and it's been a good dryer. It's not it's fault that it doesn't match the washer that became our 7th anniversary present when the previous washer died an early untimely death at only 2 years old. This time I insisted on a front-loader, with out really realizing what that meant price-wise. But once decided I could not be swayed.

The move brought into our lives a oven and a dishwasher that, while they worked, were old and ugly. Unfortunately during our four years with them I could never find sufficient cause to replace them. They each tried once to die, but were easily revived with inexpensive parts.

Our third home is a new, semi-custom, job for which we picked out all new kitchen appliances. This time we splurged - but just a little. All black and shiny they are beautiful.

There's a side-by-side fridge with water and ice in the door. Apparently appliance purchases are a little like labor - time makes the pain seem less than it was. I had forgotten how much I truly disliked the side-by-side model, although the water/ice in the door was a big draw. We bought the fancy microwave with sensors and programs for all kinds of things. It makes a perfectly popped bag of popcorn every time - regular or snack size. Which is a good thing - that's about all we use it for.

The silence of the dishwasher is lovely. The location of the silverware basket - not my favorite. I thought having it in the door would be great, but really it's not. I have to think twice as hard about how I load the utensils to be sure they will all get clean. I just don't have the time for that kind of attention and planning now that I have to load faster than Little Miss Grabby Hands can unload.

But these are big ticket items. Not easily replaced. It's not like hating the way a sock fits, so you toss the pair and replace it a few bucks. Nope these are here for the duration. And we bought Whirlpool so we really are in for the long haul. 'Til death do us part.

C is for Cookie . . .

2006-01-07T19:15:00.000-05:00

And G is for girl scout and for the first time in a very long time a girl scout came to my door selling cookies. YIPPEE!! And thankfully we can pay her when the cookies arrive, which gives us almost two months to "save up" for our cookies.

Usually I don't even know it's cookies season until little gangs of girl scouts start hanging out in front of the Walmart and Kroger selling their addictive treats. I pounce on them before they can pounce on me. I am an eager cookie buyer, hoping they will have my favorite cookie - Dosie-Dos (as we called it when I was a girl scout), also known as the Peanut Butter Sandwich.

It seems to be a rare commodity. Either it's a big seller and they are always sold out before I find them, or they aren't a big seller and the few other devotees have found them before I have. Either way I sometimes don't get my fix. I then have to prowl the surrounding towns looking for girl scouts selling cookies, hoping that this will be the location that has my favorite cookie.

Aaahh, but this year, I was able to preorder as many boxes as I my little heart desired. There will be no cookie shortage at our house this year. I will have four beautiful boxes of Dosie-Dos.

Only 4?? What was I thinking? Get that girl scout back here. FOUR boxes won't last me two weeks. I have to have more than four . . .

Just a Random Thought

2006-01-06T21:15:00.000-05:00

Have you noticed that every cover of O magazine has Oprah on the cover?

I know at some point in the magazine's history there have been others, but always with Oprah, if my memory serves me (which is iffy, really, I do have 5 children). And lately, it's only been Oprah.

Does this strike anyone else as, I don't know, I hate to say vain, but . . . .?

It's her magazine and she can do as she pleases. It does, I suppose, lend a bit more "authority" to the publication. Reminds us it's hers (just in case the name doesn't do it).

Anyway. Just need to get that off my mind.

If Only I Had More Shelves . . .

2006-01-06T17:26:00.000-05:00

While reading WorkingMom's most recent post, I too realized that I'd love to live in a catalog -- I'm not overly picky about which one. Just somewhere where everything has a place. I could even be happy in a catalog form the Container Store.

I want to be organized, I can see in my head. But, alas, like the unpainted masterpieces, there is a missing connection between my head and reality.

I suspect, but can not prove, that the missing connection is money. Okay, I could prove it, if I had the money, but since it is unlikely that I will, in the near future have the money, my theory will have to remain just that.

I am quite good at creating space and finding space and using space. I have fully grasped the concept of using vertical space. I love shelves. I am completely happy with wire shelving (which you'd think is inexpensive - and relative to the more decorative options, it is - but even it adds up quickly) Cool a hyphen within a parenthesis, more on that in a later post, at least in the less public places of my house - laundry room, closets, garage. I just need more of them.

But I would probably also need a family as keen to be organized as I am. All the bedrooms have plenty of closet space - I designed them that way. I have even provided them with as much shelving as we could possibly fit in. And still there are toys all over the floors. I give them buckets for each type of toy (barbies in their own box, dinosaurs in another, ponies in yet another, you get the idea) and still there are toys on the floors.

The Husband went to considerable lengths to find the perfect bedside table when we moved into the new house so that he would be able to adequately house the things he must have within an arms reach of the bed - every CD he owns, a novel or two, a couple of puzzle books, things he will only need once a month, if that often, but would rather die than have to walk downstairs to find. (Love ya lots Husband, but you know how I feel about your corner). And then he has moved the hope chest to prevent I, the wee one with sticky fingers and more curiosity than George, from getting at his stuff (a move I agree with in theory because it keeps me from having to constantly pull her out of a newly found treasure of choking hazards), but which created what the Husband called a "box to put all things in!" Egads!

So I can understand his need to keep his things close (as much as it drives me batty) because the next most logically place for him to keep these things (if he were willing to let them be on acompletely different level of the house - which I'm not really sure he'd agree to) would be in the basement computer area which houses a lot of things, mostly in slightly organized piles that only I understand, which I'd gladly organize, but as of yet as not had the benefit of properly arranged vertical storage.

If Only I Had More Shelves!

Happy New Year . . . Not

2006-01-05T18:15:00.000-05:00

Five days into the new year and I'm sick. Strep. At least it's something I can take a pill for. But I have been in real trouble if my mother didn't live with us.

The husband go the kids off to school this morning with only minimal assistance and then my mom took over while I laid on the couch waiting to go to my doctors appointment.

I know how spoiled I am, how lucky I am. Life without her here would be markedly different. The clothes would get washed, but rarely folded. The floors would get swepted but not nearly as often. I'd be much more dependant on my Zoloft. I could go on, but needless to say I'm the luckiest girl in the world.

Here's hoping I feel better tomorrow.

We Need a Patch for That

2006-01-03T12:24:00.000-05:00

After reading this post by the Weirdgirl and having struggled with giving FIVE children their medicine I've come to the conclusion that we as parents need to be lobbying the pharmaceutical companies for an amoxicillin patch.

Really if they can put nicotine and birth control in a patch why not amoxicillin? There must not be any parents working there.