Happy Anniversary!

Today is our anniversary. It's been 8 years already! It really doesn't seem that long, until you start thinking of all the things that have happened in the last 8 years.

I received 6 red roses from my husband - they are very pretty. And we had a nice dinner tonight - country style ribs, grilled potatoes and salad. And itty, bitty ice cream cones for dessert. Last time I was shopping, I looked at ice cream cones and thought they looked good. So I picked up a box. Well, I didn't really read the label, b/c they are tiny! I opened the box and pulled them out and I laughed! They are kids' cones. I laughed the whole time I was fixing cones for the kids. They just cracked me up. I think you have to use a melon baller to scoop the ice cream! On the positive side, our container of ice cream is going to last FOREVER! LOL

Baby fell down some of the concrete steps in front of our house this evening. I was outside about to start the grill and I looked at her and Little Boy to check on them. As soon as I turned my back, she tumbled. She was ok, but I was pretty upset.

At dinner tonight, Baby started crying that she wasn't at our wedding. I told her maybe one of these years we would renew our vows and she could be there. I got a strange look from my DH. Apparently, that's not really on his list of important events in our life. Sigh. Oh well. I got him the first time, didn't I?

Funny faces

Italian Ice!

That funny face, again!

Little Boy's invention - too bad the umbrella broke.

TV Gluttons

I don't know why, but my kids LOVE Maggie and the Ferocious Beast. It's really the only show that mesmerizes them like this:

Baby's Hand

Just thought I'd share how well her hand has healed!

Indiana Trip 2008

Little Mermaid Undies

So, we've started potty training with Baby finally. She turns 3 in a couple weeks and I thought we'd give it a shot. So yesterday, I picked out 3 packages of cute cartoon character undies. She's had them on for about an hour and a half and we're already on pair #2. And I had to clean up the drippy trail through the hallway. And the puddle half on the rug - half on the hardwood floor. And the little girl.

Unfortunately, she didn't seem too upset by the whole thing. I told her if she gets a second pair wet, we're back to didies - at least for today.

Grandpa Lowell, I need you!

Those were Baby's words to Grandpa Lowell while we were on vacation. I was sitting near the window, and I knew what she had done, so I was already laughing.

"Grandpa Lowell, I neeeeeed you! I pooped outside!"

We were all laughing, except for Grandpa Lowell!

*Just a note - she usually doesn't poop anywhere but in her crib in private.

Too much excitement

Well, when we were in Indiana, Baby decided to check if the iron was on. And she has 2nd degree burns on her palm and fingers. We took her to see the doctor to be sure we were doing things correctly. She is doing very well, and we were told to remove the dead skin when the blister finally broke. "Just use a tweezers or your fingers and just peel it off; it's already dead." Yeah. Right.

I had to pin her hand down and keep her head facing away by using my head. That meant my head was close to Baby's hand. It also meant that before DH was done, I was in the bedroom lying down to avoid passing out. He had to use small nail scissors to cut away the thick, dead skin. Her poor little hand was beef red underneath - that is what the doctor told us it would look like, and she was right!

Now we just have to keep putting prescription cream on it for a couple days and then follow that up with some over the counter stuff followed up by vitamin E to avoid scarring.

I think we've had enough excitement for a while!

The Mystery of Fire Island

I just realized I posted before VBS and after and there's no info about the in-between.





So. The hundreds of hours of prep were well worth the time. 6 children made a profession of faith. Here is our VBS in review:

All our stories integrated fire.


Monday - Our character trait was courage. The Bible story was the Three Hebrew Children, and the application part of the lesson for the younger children was about Lions, and the older children learned about George Washington.

Tuesday - Our character trait was teamwork. The Bible story was about Gideon. The application part of the lesson for the younger children was about Honey Bees, and the older children learned about Thomas Jefferson.

Wednesday - Our character trait was Discovery. The Bible story was Moses and the Burning Bush. The application part of the lesson for the younger children was about Monkeys, and for the older children was George Washington Carver.

Thursday - Our character trait was Following. The Bible story was Moses and the Pillar of Fire. The app. part for the younger kids was about elephants, and for the older kids was about Fanny Crosby.

Friday - Our character trait was Deliverance. The Bible story was Elijah and the Chariot of Fire. The app. part for the younger kids was about dolphins, and for the older kids was about Rick Husband.

The Mystery of Fire Island - This is the basic idea of the skits used in the opening assembly time. Our youth pastor wanted a take on Gilligan's Island. So he took these basic ideas and ran with them. He was the first mate - Come-Again (Gilligan).

Day one – Courage

Boat passengers straggle in “wet,” gasping, afraid, confused, concerned.

Captain gets them all organized and calmed down. Then there is a flash of fire in the distance and they are all scared.

They finally get calmed down again and Captain talks to them about courage. He talks about what they need to do to camp out for the night and they go off together. Come-Again is panicking.

Teenager - Mary Belle - rolls her eyes and drags her feet.

As they go out the door, there is another flash and a man peeks out and follows them.

Day two – Teamwork

The passengers get organized. They discuss where to sleep, find water and food, gather stuff from the boat washed up on the shore. Come-Again finds a box of food – pulls out rubber chicken, lobsters, etc.

Captain directs the group to do certain chores. Mary Belle pouts b/c she doesn’t like her assignment. While they go off to find firewood, branches to make shelter and find food and water, there is another flash of fire. The mystery man brings some food and water and rope. He leaves the stuff at the campsite and leaves. There’s another flash.

Day three – Discover

Group comes back and finds the supplies. In the bag of food, Captain finds a map. Come-Again wants to hold the map and be the leader. Everyone starts grabbing for the map. Captain finally gets order and gives directions and they all follow. MB has a bad attitude. Flash. Man follows them out.

Day four – Follow

Group continues to follow Captain and has to keep getting MB back on the path – she keeps following butterflies and birds, etc. They come around the corner and find the man and the fire. He’s been waiting for them. They are asking about the fire, when there is a flash. They run away. Man shakes his head and goes after them.

Day five – Delivered

Man brings the group back to the fire and explains that the fire is going to supply the way for them to be delivered. He pulls a patch for their boat out of the fire. Explains that the fire made the metal stronger. Shares plan of Salvation. MB gets saved. The Captain wants to bring the man along, but he stays to keep the fire for anyone else who needs the salvation message.

I think I survived

I’m sitting here trying to block out the pounding pain in my feet, ankles, hips, back… VBS week is over. I have one tiny, I mean – major – project left. I’m going to go through the hundreds of pictures my husband took this week and put together a slide show for Sunday night. Between now and then I need to sleep. And clean up a huge mess at church. And sleep. And write up evaluation forms. And sleep!

The carnival tonight about did me in. I had about 14 games set up and like, 3 people who were helping. The teachers had to go around with the kids and help the kids play the games. I guess that was ok. But my son came home with no prizes and no candy. That isn’t actually feasible, since each kid was given a piece of candy for playing the games and a small prize for partially winning and a large prize for completing the task. I had put together some prize bags for the youngest kids to ensure that didn’t happen to anyone, so I’ll have to get one for him.

The worst part of the whole thing? Bringing home all the things I loaned to the church. I have no idea where to put it all.

I’m off to bed.

Count Down

I am counting down the hours until VBS ends. LOL. Actually, when I think of the few hours I have until Monday 6 PM, I panic.

Fourth of July Flare-up

DH ended up only having to work one shift for the 4th. We were actually a bit disappointed, but these things happen.

I decided to be "brave" (stupid) and took the kids to the lake to see G & G. That's not the stupid part. I decided to take them up in the morning and let them nap there. HA HA HA HA

Little Boy crawled into G&G's bed and was off to sleep quite quickly. Baby on the other hand... She was in and out of the toddler bed, and got swatted repeatedly. Then I put her in the "big" bed with me and she hit, kicked, slapped, scratched, pinched...it was like trying to sleep with a squirrel. Only I've never heard a squirrel yell, "LEEEEEET MEEEEEE GOOOOOO!" I finally told her that if she didn't settle down and nap, I was taking her home. She sat up and said, "I wanna go home." So, little sassy pants got her wish.

Grandma kept saying she wished we wouldn't go. I kept explaining that empty threats are worse than useless. Little Boy got to spend the night at the lake; Baby went home. It's about a 40 minute drive and she stayed awake until we turned onto our street. Of course. She was still a pill about napping, but eventually she slept for about 40 minutes. She was not nice all night, but when it was time for bed, she very obediently got her jammies on and she climbed into her crib, gave me kisses and said good-night.

Little Boy got to see fireworks off the front porch. I watched a couple minutes from Boston on TV. Hopefully Baby had sweet dreams.

Bab-y-bonics

Have to share what Baby said tonight. Little Boy and I were both laughing!


Yesterday, she got an owie on her foot when Daddy accidentally closed the front door on her. She was being silly and pointed to it and said, "I have a boo-boo there." Only in her baby language and silliness, she said, "I have a boo-bah dare from the ding-dong-door." And from there she went into pretending to be a puppy.


Thankfully, when she starts into that, she is much easier to corral into her crib if I just keep playing along.


So, now it's 9:10 and DH is at work til 11 so I have the house to myself! It's nice and quiet. I should get some stuff done, but I'll probably do some stupid surfing and watch a little TV.

Our latest rainbow

This is looking up our road - if you look closely, you can see the second rainbow above the bright one. Baby is the one who spotted it first. It was just beautiful!

Earlier this summer, our neighbor across the street passed away. Baby still asks where "Melie" is. Her passing made us all very sad; she would have loved to see this.

Playhouse Update

DH started building this on Friday, June 20th. This is how the supplies arrived. When I saw the truck, I kept thinking, "Wow! DH sure ordered a LOT of stuff!" (Ours was not the only delivery he was making - duh.) Here are a couple pics.

I have to pick a paint color and he needs to put in the floor in the loft, the front door and do the trimwork. I'm so proud of him. He has done a great job.

We kept money aside last Christmas and we're taking money out of this coming Christmas to cover the cost. We really wanted a playhouse the kids could play in for years to come. The kids LOVE it.

Little Boy had to get in on the hilarity, too

For some reason, this is funny.

Dinner and a Show

Tonight Baby was in rare form.

"Cooooooome Baaaaaaaack!"

That's what we've been listening to for the last several minutes. Little Boy is sitting in the naughty chair for completely ignoring Daddy and Mommy when we asked him to quit stomping. So a five minute sentence has turned into about 20 minutes of drama. He finally quit fussing and is doing his time.

Baby is sitting in her chair at the table asking for another helping of scrambled eggs. It's one of the few things she really likes to eat. She woke up so sweet this morning. Good thing Daddy's home. I'm of the opinion that a big bowl of Cheerios is quite adequate for breakfast. Daddy likes to make homemade waffles, bacon and eggs for himself and the kids.

I went to church last night to decorate for VBS. The pastor's wife came. She called her daughter and the daughter called her husband. He ended up doing most of the work. I think it looks ok, but I'm glad I have two more packs of green paper to cut some more leaves. It looks a little sparse as it is.

It looks like a gloomy day here. It's cloudy and cool. Good day to go to the grocery store, I think.

The Past Four Days

So Saturday we had Little Boy's birthday party. He is getting so big. I keep telling him he needs to start shrinking so I can hold him and rock him again. He still likes to be held and snuggle, so I'm enjoying it while I can.

He wanted an army birthday party. So we did everything camo and put little army guys on all the cupcakes and DH scattered little army guys and vehicles around the dining room table. I'll have to post some pictures when I can locate the cable for the camera. But that would require getting up, so I'll wait on that. (I'm so tired and lazy) You will notice I added pictures.

So backing up a bit.

Thursday I ran to the printer with my stuff and had to bring it home and make some revisions. That evening was a meeting for VBS - everyone did their homework except Pastor. :0{ I don't know if that's typical of all pastors, but our pastor needs "encouragement" in this area. And I felt out of sorts since I peeled out of our driveway and honked the horn (somewhat angrily) at my husband. He was standing in the driveway talking to his dad and his dad's friend. I couldn't think of a way I could have told him more clearly that I needed to leave than "Supper is on the table and I need to leave for my meeting." I know he was trying to make his way into the house, but I HAD to leave and I only had 7 minutes to drive 15 minutes to church for a meeting I was supposed to help run. AND I was not happy about leaving my 5 and 2 3/4 year old kids in the house alone watching Tom and Jerry. I vented on the way in the direction of the rear-view mirror, and by the time I got there I was feeling much better. A little reminder from the Lord helped too. A song on one of the CDs in my changer - "Whatever I say, whatever I do, may it all be pleasing to You."

Friday I had to make a second trip to the printer's place, run some errands, and swing back to the printer. He was so kind to put a rush order on my stuff so I wouldn't have to make yet another trip. Everything looks really good.

Friday evening, after giving the kids showers and getting them into bed, I started cleaning. And I baked cupcakes. And I did 3 loads of laundry. And I found our dining room table. Who knew it was so big!? I had to box up my sewing mess and figure out what to do with the junk that just multiplies and accumulates around here. All so DHs family would have somewhere to set the huge pile of gifts they brought and so we could all sit down for dinner together. Somewhere around 2 am I started thinking we should have the party next door at his parents' empty house. But I'm stubborn and determined. And not always so bright. Saturday I got up, sent DH to get balloons filled at Walmart, set the table, decorated the dining room, made frosting for the cupcakes with the tiny bit of vanilla I could get out of the little bottle. Then I made a fruit salad (it was sooo good), cut up a cantaloupe, and changed my clothes. DH came back from his grueling trip (Sarcasm!) and found a reason to go hide.

So my kitchen still looked like a bomb went off, but I decided not to worry about it. I cannot kill myself to impress others. My arthritis has been acting up and it is very difficult to stand for long. Even just sitting, my feet are throbbing. I hate to give in and take the meds, but feeling this way isn't good.

The party was very nice. Dinner was a bit late, but I couldn't start stuff until I was sure people were close to being here. Little Boy picked out the menu - I was so proud of him. He chose baked chicken, broccoli, green beans, and parmesan pasta. I added the fruit stuff and made my "famous" cheater lemonade (or as Baby calls it "emmowade"). I slice a lemon, lime and orange and drop it into a pitcher of Crystal Light. (If you try this, do not use the lime without an orange - it gets bitter.) I KNOW. Little Boy was in a strange mood for his party. He was quiet and unenthusiastic about the mountain of presents. He cheered up when he saw the cupcakes, but was so down he didn't really want to go outside.

Yesterday was Sunday. That's about the best thing I can say about the day. So that's all I'll say.

DH is outside working on the playhouse. I am so proud of him. He has done such a great job of tolerating his father's "help" and temper. He has the roof 99% done and has 75% of the siding done; all in a week interrupted many times by rain and kids and birthday parties. I am so looking forward to moving toys out there and reclaiming some of our living room floor again.

So I'm glad to be starting a new week. Tonight we're starting to decorate for VBS. Should be fun. I'm at the point where things are a lot more fun. Writing curriculum was a good challenge, but toward the end I was definitely struggling to finish it up.

Baby is crying for me. Bye.

Where'd my baby go?

Little Boy turned 5 today. It just does not seem right. It was just a short time ago I was strapped to the table and the doctor pulled him out and he peed everywhere. I cried when she said we had a boy. The nurse sitting by me asked if I was ok and asked what we were naming him. I just remember being so happy that I had survived. I went to recovery and slept for a really long time. I think they were starting to worry a bit, b/c there were 3 nurses trying to wake me up and one of them was using smelling salts. Once I was awake, I was impatient. I wanted to go to my room and see my baby. So many sweet memories that were overridden today by SCREAMING AND FIGHTING. My kids need to get a summer job, or something. They are driving me nuts. And if you could see my house right now.... And we're having a party here tomorrow and I need to bake cupcakes, and . . .

BYE.

Oh, and one more Baby-ism

I was changing a horrid didie in the midst of her being sick. She asked, "Where did that icky stuff come from? My BUNS?!"

I couldn't help laughing, so it's ok if you laugh, too.

This is my daughter at supper the other day. She wore Daddy's shades all through dinner.

Baby's take

Baby has said some pretty funny things lately. The other day Little Boy was getting a shower - with Daddy helping - and Baby walked in. She started laughing out loud. I asked her what was so funny. She was still laughing when she told me about Little Boy's "squirter". I guess boys' anatomy IS funny.

We were at the lake and a hummingbird flew up to one of MIL's feeders. Baby asked her grandma what the "picker" was doing.

We were in the yard and I pointed out a mockingbird that was on the very top of the telephone pole. She put her little hand up like a visor and asked, "Where is the honkingbird?"

During the 2 1/2 weeks she was dealing with her bowel problems, we were at the store. I was wandering the aisles with her looking for something she would/could eat. At some point, very loudly, she asked me, "What's wrong with my butt!" She was also pretending to hit people as we walked past. Many men seemed to think that was funny. ? And while we were walking, suddenly she screamed and then laughed. She kept doing this - I guess she likes to hear her echo in the big store.

Right now she is begging me, "I wanna sit on your "wap", Mommy." Guess I better go.

A watched pot never boils...

and a watched child never poops! Well, it took her a long time. Finally, though, she did and I made the mad dash to the hospital lab - I made it to the lab with 12 minutes to spare! I was driving like a crazy person, screaming at people to get out of the way because I had poop in the car! Probably a good thing they couldn't hear me. And I was worried that I'd get pulled over and wouldn't get there in time! Can you imagine me telling the officer, "Sorry, sir, but I am on a poop run!" Let's hope they can figure out why she's sick.

Poop Run

Oh, the joys of being a mommy! I took Baby to the doctor again today. She's been sick for about 3 weeks now. It started as a cold with lots of drainage. Then 2 weeks ago she barfed all morning. Followed by icky didies. And more and more and more. So last week I took her in, and the dr. said that these things usually take care of themselves within the first 2 weeks, but that if she was feeling sick still in 7 days, to bring her back.

So, today we went back. And saw a different doctor. In the course of the exam, I told him she probably picked it up at church. He said preachers don't like him, b/c he says church is the worst about contagious stuff. He said kids get exposed on Sundays and are in to see a doctor on Wednesday. But that since fewer people are going to church, that phenomenon was dwindling. I told him that DH has said we should keep them home.

So, he wants stool cultures. We have one hour from the time she poops until the time I get it to the lab. We live about 45 minutes away from the hospital. You do the math. Scoop the poop, write the time on the containers and papers, and RUN to the car and DRIVE like crazy! DH is working last shift, so if she poops while he's sleeping, add another step - WAKE up, Dear! I'm leaving on a Poop Run!

I had to say it

Didn't I? My last post was about it supposing to be summer. Yesterday and today were well into the 90s. Blah. Not my kind of weather.

Isn't it supposed to be summer?

Or at least late spring? Here in our home, it's more like winter flu season. Baby barfed all morning. A couple times in the kitchen, a couple times in the bathroom, a couple times in the living room (on towels and sheets thankfully!) and a couple times outside on the porch. And she kept begging for something to drink. That was the hardest part, I think.

Just before the kids woke up, I was sitting in the LR and waves of nausea started hitting me. I turned on our (new) ceiling fan and tried to concentrate on not barfing. Of course, Little Boy woke up and wanted to race Mario Wii. Every time he ran into something, the sound about killed me. I kept turning the volume down when he wasn't watching. I was just dreading Baby waking up. She napped well and woke up starving. I tried to pace her.

She did well, and at some point, I felt much better. After she ate, we spent some time on the porch - if she was going to barf red jello, I wanted it to be outside!

They are both in bed and I have some quiet time to myself before DH gets home. He's on 2nd shift; I'm looking forward to sleeping in??? He is just coming off his long weekend - 4 days with him home. I never thought that I would be glad to see him go back. Last week he worked so much overtime, his check was more than doubled. Really good, because Monday I spent alot of $$$ at Sam's on Monday.

Monday, I took Baby to the eye doctor. We've started patching, and it seems to be going well. We alternate eyes for four weeks 2-4 hours a day, and off for 2 weeks. Then we go back to the specialist. She explained that patching is so effective that she expects to see results. If there is no change, she said we would talk about surgery. I have to keep myself from worrying. I just have to make sure I'm consistent.

Toes can talk

Did you know toes can talk? I was holding Baby tonight and she was playing with her toes. She was babbling away and I wasn't paying a whole lot of attention. But I figured out that she was holding her toes and making them talk.

Her big toe said, "I need food!" When I laughed, she gave me the funniest look, like, "What's so funny? Don't your toes ask for food?"

She is seriously one of the funniest kids I've ever known.

One happy child; one not so happy

Little Boy went to bed quite happy. He got to spend an hour and a half with Granddad and came into the house a filthy little squirrel. He got a quick bath and into bed.

In the meantime, Baby had two very yucky didies. Could be a long night if she keeps up.

Quite the outfit

Baby came up with a funny one. I made her put her shirt back on before the pic. Just note, under her pink polka dotted pants, she is wearing bright pink shorts. She liked the socks and she was dancing around. In the first picture she was trying to act like she didn't know I was taking a picture.

Little Boy's new bed

Last Monday, Little Boy's new bed arrived. We had to hurry last Saturday to get half his room painted before it came. I think he really likes it. He and Baby were pretending to be puppies.

I never thought I'd say . . .

To Baby: "Don't brush your toes with your toothbrush!"

Eww.

I just don't know when to give up

Tonight I decided to start working on the bag from the pattern I ordered. It is the strangest pattern I have ever used. It's a booklet with hand-drawn illustrations. And it lists the measurements for 3 sizes. I was going to find a highlighter to mark the measurements I needed, but then decided I didn't need to. So I got the main pieces cut and then cut the smaller pieces. I used the wrong measurements for the smaller pieces. I have attempted to piece some things together and it should work. So I started cutting the interfacing. With my rotary cutter. I made a cut, bottom to top to be safe. When I brought the cutter back to the bottom for the next cut, I knicked my left hand. Thankfully, it's not deep, and I missed that little greenish blue line just under it. So. I'm done for tonight. I need all my fingers.

Of course, if I were hurt more seriously, I could call and reschedule or cancel my dentist's appt. for tomorrow! hmmm. I don't think my injury is that serious. :0P

Can you say, "EWWWWW!"

Ok. For those of you who live in Northern Wisconsin, you've probably never encountered the ugliest "bug" I've ever seen. But this is what I found in my tub yesterday morning.
















Every time I see one of these, I completely freak out. I sprayed the one in the tub with Tilex many times. When it finally quit trying to climb the sides of the tub, I used half a roll of TP to pick it up and in record time flush it down the toilet.

I get the heebie jeebies just thinking about it.

What's worse than finding one in the tub? Seeing one crawling on the ceiling. Yea. Blahhhh.

Just thought I'd share. I'm sure my nephew EJC will think it's cool. Baby thinks it's "Scusting!"

First Swim Lesson

Wow. Where has time gone? It was like 5 weeks ago that we signed up. DH was off work today (crazy swing shift!) so we both took Little Boy to his first lesson. I was really afraid that he was not going to get into the water.


He fooled us. He was a bit apprehensive, but he was very willing to try what the teacher wanted him to do. He even jumped off the side of the pool into the water twice (holding the teacher's hands)! He was upset with us at the end; we were so mean! We wouldn't let him stay and play in the water! Sigh.


We also ordered his big boy bed today. I had found one I liked online, and stopped at the furniture store to see if they carry it. The have to order it, but it ended up being about $350 cheaper than if I had bought it online. So in a couple weeks, we'll be graduating to a new bed. This picture is of a full-size bed; he is getting a twin size. I can't wait to have storage in his room!


It was 75 degrees outside today. So beautiful. I'd get excited, but I heard there's a frost warning tomorrow night.


Gas is $3.40. Crazy.

Abadabba, Abadabba, Poof!

That is what my Baby told me while I was changing her diaper. It was accompanied by waving arms and an imaginary wand, I think. I was thinking, "Please!!!!"

My disaster in the kitchen has moved to the hallway. I am about 90-95% done with sorting clothes. I will be so happy to get it done and moved downstairs. Somewhere.

I need to work on VBS stuff so this will be short; I didn't want to forget Baby's words.

The other day Little Boy started talking about birthdays. He said that G & G don't have very many birthdays left, that Daddy and Mommy don't have as many birthdays left and that he and Baby have lots of birthdays left. He got very quiet and I looked at his little face and he was so sad. I asked what was wrong; he wanted to know what would happen to him and Baby if Mommy and Daddy die. OH MY WORD. Where on earth did that come from?

I held him and told him that I couldn't promise that Mommy and Daddy wouldn't die, because Jesus decides when we go to heaven. I told him that Jesus loves him, G&G love him, his aunts and uncles love him, Grandma Judy & Grandpa Lowell love him, etc. That there would always be someone to take care of him. He said, "I guess we'll have to live with G&G." (He did say it sadly; that was a small consolation.) I told him that if something happens to Mommy and Daddy, he was going to live with Uncle Luke and Aunt Anna and Ethan and Alex, and they would take good care of him and Baby. He started getting upset. I thought he was going to say how much he would miss G&G. His concern was, "How are we going to get there?" I tried to comfort him that these were all things he didn't really need to worry about; that the big people would help make everything happen and that Mommy and Daddy were going to be here as long as he needs us.

So deep. Daddy was upset that he was even thinking about it and wondered where he got it. I have a pretty good idea. The whole "not many birthdays left" thing sounds like G & G.

Ah, the joys of living next door.

Cleaning Baby's Room

Well, today I started cleaning out Baby's room. I had all the baby clothes from both kids in boxes stacked in her room, and just all kinds of infant stuff in her room. I'm trying to purge the kids' stuff, but I spent half the time crying. It's tough. I know I don't want more babies, but I miss having a little baby. While I was looking at a picture of me holding Little Boy when he was about a month old, I started crying. He was so sweet. In the meantime, realtime Little Boy was in his room, sitting in the naughty chair throwing a fit. Brought me back to reality.

My goal is to get things arranged for a rummage sale. I need to find some tips on getting things set up efficiently.

It's a beautiful spring day here. High 60s. Flowers up, shrubs getting green. Buds on trees. Both kids are napping. I really need to run to the store for groceries. Sigh.

What is going on?

DH came in this morning to say good-bye before leaving for work. About the time I heard the basement door close, Baby started crying. I got up to check on her and she wanted to rock. I changed her and put her in bed with me. What was I thinking? She gave me about 50 smooches, patted my arm, patted my hands, poked my eyes, kicked me, pulled the sheet, sat up to make faces at herself in the dresser mirror, bounced around. Meanwhile, I lay there hoping she would settle down so I could get just a little more rest. HA HA HA HA HA. What a joke.

So, finally I got her and took her into her room to rock. As I passed through the hall, I noticed Little Boy's light was on. Sigh. About a minute after we sat in the rocker, he came out. He was looking into my room to see if I was still in bed and Baby called his name. He about jumped out of his socks.

I give up. It's a dreary day and all I really want to do is climb back into bed. Mornings stink.

I finished crocheting the hat!

It is so cute. It turned out really nice. Ask Baby. It fits her little head. :0( So, I'm crocheting another one that will hopefully fit me. Oh well.

Sticky, Pokey Butterflies

My son is running around the living room sing-songing, "Sticky, pokey butterflies" in a high-pitched screechy voice. I feel like my brain has melted and is about to run out my ear. How can I possibly think with that kind of nonsensical noise filling the room? I finally told him he HAD to stop. He just looked at me with that innocent "WHY?" look. It could be a long day.

I am currently feeling like my nephew who wanted to try to juggle hop balls. How on earth am I going to pull off everything I have in the air? And I keep adding to the list. Yesterday I bought yarn to crochet a hat that I won't need for many months, but I just have to make. And I bought fabric to make Baby some clothes and more fabric and trims to make a bag. I found some cute fabric at Wal-Mart that was inexpensive and am looking forward to trying to sew something that is not clothing and not as huge a project as a quilt. Maybe I can bring myself to actually finish it.

So for quite awhile now, our dryer has been not working that great. I've been telling DH that we really need to replace it; that I do NOT trust it. I've pulled clothes out that were too hot to touch, so we hang all the kids clothes that are cotton to keep them from becoming doll clothes. And then it started screeching. Loudly. It was this loud, rhythmic, intermittent screech. I had quit letting it run if I was leaving the house and I wasn't letting it run if I was going to bed. I think he thought I was being a bit paranoid.

Well, Saturday, he finally decided to pull the top of the dryer and take a quick look. He found lots of lint inside. That didn't surprise me. He found metal shavings around the main axle that the drum turns on - thus the screeching. He also found, oh, about 4 burned wires! 2 or 3 of the wires were burned where they plugged into the board and the board was scorched and a bit melted. Hmmm. OH MY WORD. I never said, "I told you so," but he KNEW I was thinking it.

So now what do we do? We were going to dinner at Baby's SS teacher's house at 5. He was not happy we were going in the first place, and was being a bit passive agressive. I told him to call his mom and see if she'd watch the kids that night, and we could run to Sears after we got home from dinner. He said we wouldn't have enough time. I had to look up the store hours and show it to him - they were open until 9:30. It would NOT take us that long to find a dryer and come home. I really think he was hoping I'd call and say we couldn't come. Like I would do that to another woman. He just has no idea what we women put ourselves through for company. So we gave the kids their baths before their naps so we wouldn't have to worry about it when we got home.

Well, we ate dinner, visited, and the kids tormented their poor kitty. Baby got nipped at least twice. We left a bit after 7 and dropped the kids and got FIL's truck. We were home at 9:05, and we quickly got the kids home and in bed. It was later than usual, but they did ok.

So, now we have a new dryer. I guess that means I need to wash the pile of Little Boy's undies in the hall. I have GOT to clean his room. Maybe when I finish my hat. Ha.

Tag-team

Little Boy and Baby have decided to tag team me this week. Each morning, they have woken up wet. Jammies, sheets, blankets. Sigh. And this morning they were both up -wet- at 8:15 am. Double Sigh. I am going to have to restrict their water intake at night. I guess it would help to serve dinner earlier than 7:30. And it is even worse when they wake up from their naps wet, too. Sigh, sigh, sigh.

I've resorted to TV sitting today. I keep changing from the regularly programed shows to find something they don't usually watch to keep their attention. How sad. But it's that or scream myself out of a voice. I do not understand why Little Boy cannot just leave her alone. Ever. He just constantly pesters her and she hates it and I end up yelling. I'm so glad it's Friday. That means tomorrow morning, I get to sleep in.

So, I think I've done more laundry this week than I have in a long time. I am going to buy a 3rd set of sheets and matress covers this week for each of them. I need to have a back up so I'm not so stressed.

Last night was the ladies' fellowship meeting at church. It really irks me that our meetings take at least 3 hours. These ladies act like they don't have anything better to do than sit around and yack for a half hour, meander through prayer requests and devotions, blather on about things coming up, etc. My stomach was rolling through the whole thing. By the time I left early, they were just sitting down to eat and had not begun to crochet. I left my papers there and rushed home to use my own bathroom. I was really afraid I wasn't going to make it. But before I left, I asked the pastor's wife - again - if she could locate the VBS information from last summer. I need to get some idea of how many kids to plan for for crafts. I've asked for the cards since the last day of VBS last summer. She keeps saying she'll look for them. I pressed for them last night and she reluctantly looked for them and found them. I entered the information into a spread sheet this morning in about an hour.

I need to fix lunch for the little monsters. They are driving me this.

He won!

All the new people running for union positions won. How's that for a coup?

He heard the guy running against the president won by 26 votes. Good thing DH was telling people to vote for him, too. I think that probably helped since few people knew who he was.

That means the former president has to go back to his old job in the warehouse. Ouch.

TTYS.

Oh, I forgot to tell you. . .

Last night DH handed me a receipt from something online. I was hesitant to look at what new gadget we now own. It took me a minute, but finally the words on the page made sense. It was a receipt for a sewing machine. DH knew that the sale was ending Friday and that there were chances we weren't going to get there in time to save $20. I am excited; now beautiful clothes will just flow from the machine. Yeah. I know. The operator has a lot to do with it, unfortunately.

Today is the election for the Union at DHs work. He's running for 2nd Vice President. I think it's exciting. DH says he isn't so sure he wants it, but I think he really does. No one really cares for the guy who is currently in that position, and everyone keeps stopping DH to tell him that they are voting for DH. A guy from our former church is running against a "lady" (DH says that word is a huge stretch), and it's pretty certain he will win, too.

The biggest IF is the president's spot. A guy who works in DHs department is running against this guy who's been in there for a long time, hasn't done much, and is planning to retire next year. He's running on the campaign line that since there's a union contract negotiation this year people should keep him in. Well, DH, of course, says that is baloney. First off, the national reps do the negotiating. The local people are just there basically for show and reference. Secondly, when the new members are voted into the union, they are sent off for training. The negotiations are going to be held in Las Vegas this year. I told DH that I would go with him for a couple days, but I don't think that will pan out. He said that since the guy from our former church will be there and the two of them could hang out. I'm ok with that.

Tonight I get to play teacher, again. The ladies in our ladies' fellowship want to learn to crochet. I'm not an expert, by any stretch of the imagination, but I think I can share some basics.

Little Boy just walked in with a pen. He wanted permission to write his name on something. I laughed and told him to put the pen on the table and to leave it there. Oh boy.

Dead Batteries

Yesterday, a graffiti phantom wrote his name in several places in our house. Large, scrawley capital letters. The same four-letter name. Hmmm. At least when I questioned Little Boy, he admitted it was him. Good choice.

So, I wanted to take pictures of the name art, but our digital camera beeped rudely at me and said the battery was empty. I found a spare battery on DHs dresser. I put it in, walked over to take the picture and "BEEEEEEEP" again. By this time, DH walked in and found the third battery and it was good.

So, I went back into Little Boy's room and the flash kept washing out the picture. DH walked in with the new digital camera and snapped some pics. I thought I'd post some pictures here for you all to see, so I took the new camera, walked into the living room, hooked the cable to it and to my computer. I tried to open up the file, but guess what? The battery on the camera was dead. I give up.

I guess that's why I keep my laptop plugged in.

Who's pounding on the door?

Oh. Is that actually my head pounding? That's how I woke up this morning. I think it's sinus related, but am not 100% sure. Can you catch that kind of thing over the phone? Luke? I knew I should have sprayed the phone with Lysol and used half a bottle of Purell! Ha ha.

Little Boy went with Granddad today to dump yard waste at the dump, and Baby spent the morning with Grandma. Mommy spent the morning in bed with an ice pack on her face and a heating pad on her head.

I ended up calling the pharmacist to find out what pain reliever I could take with my new arthritis meds. Since the Indomethacin and Tylenol both are dispensed from the liver, I have to be careful. I didn't have any Extra Strength Tylenol, so I had to take the generic, cherry-flavored kids acetaminophen - yumm. >:-P I woke up and looked at the clock. "Why did it say 2:00?" I guess I got a little rest. My head felt weird when I woke up. Like there was just the slightest remnant of a headache way deep inside my head. It has started to come back and it doesn't help that Little Boy keeps asking every 2 seconds if he can go outside.

Living in VBS world

I'm really trying to finish stuff up. Today I designed doorknob hangers to advertise for VBS. I have a long list of things to finish - I wrote the list last night in church. Oops - did I just admit I wasn't listening? I mean, I wrote the list yesterday!

Apparently my son was not very well-behaved during children's church last night. And from the sounds of it, the other 4 or 5 kids there weren't any better. And they gave Baby a chocolate cupcake. Little Boy said he had a vanilla one, but from his behavior, I have my doubts. I'm just grateful that she didn't have a meltdown like he has had.

Today my goal is to clean the living room. It has become unbelievably messy. It would be much easier if my head didn't feel like it would explode every time I bend over. Sinus headache, I guess. And the weather is supposed to get even more lovely (sarcasm!) in the next day or so. Just glad we're not expecting SNOW.

DH starts school this week. Tomorrow he has to work over for a shut-down. I have a teacher's meeting at church so kids get to see G&G. Thursday night is our ladies' meeting. I'm supposed to teach some beginners crochet. Great. Just add finding some really large instruction pages to my list of things to do.

All that will have to wait, though. Baby is awake and I should let her out of her cage. I mean, crib with the tent on it.

Easter 2008

I felt a little snobby

MIL offered one of her sewing machines to me tonight. I ended up telling her I still want to get the new one at Sears. Both machines she offered were older than the one I have and have fewer stitches, etc. Oh well. Here's a picture of the blouse I made for Valentine's Day.

It rained pretty much all day yesterday and today. I felt a bit stiff - I think it was b/c of the rain. The Indomethacin is really working - I haven't felt this good since before Little Boy. I can climb steps without cringing. I still have some pain - but nothing like I've been dealing with.

I'm posting some pictures. Baby was so beautiful at Easter and Little Boy looked like a little man. They are growing up so quickly!

A Cute, Homely Bunny

Just another thought. I was doing some stupid surfing today - was looking for a cute picture of maybe a baby in a bunny suit with chocolate on its face (I know - how weird) - and here is a picure I found.


I followed the path to the blog, and I think this lady's stuff is cute. Like the "so homely it's cute" cute.

I went back to the beginning of her blog and started to read and she's quite interesting - in a good way.

Just thought I'd share. :0)

Easter Sunday

It's Sunday afternoon and it's getting closer to the time I should think about getting dinner and thinking about church. But I have this tickle in my throat that is telling me that maybe I should stay home and rest. I was able to make it through the Sandy Patti song I sang in church this morning - barely. I didn't have very much volume and had to let the mic do the work. (I sang "They Could Not" in case anyone cares - and yes, I sang it in the same key she does.) Everyone seemed to like it. Towards the end, as it got higher and I was feeling like I had less voice, I started to shake a little. But a good stab of my thumb nail into my first finger seemed to solve that and I finished well.

OH. Baby looked like a little fairy princess today and Little Boy was the handsomest punkinberry boy I've ever seen (my silly little name for him). I wore the same outfit I wore last year, but this year it was actually a little too big - woo hoo. What a great problem to have! Mike wore his navy suit with a new tie that Little Boy picked out at TJMaxx - a light blue tie with squares on it of varigated tan/cream/yellow? It's a Michael Kors tie. I'm glad Little Boy has such great taste. (I wouldn't know who that is sans Project Runway - he's a fancy pants designer.)

We had the kids find their baskets this morning before church. Baby was so sloooow. Little Boy was soooo excited. She got a disney princess dress in her basket. He got some tiny German tanks, some soldiers and a punching bop bag. I found one with a picture of Spiderman. He's never watched it, but knows his name. And Spidey is a lot less scary than some of the other characters they had. What happened to clowns and Mighty Mouse?

So we ate donuts and cinnamon rolls for breakfast and McDonald's for lunch. MIL decided to not do anything for dinner - at least that's what she told us. We got out of church, got our lunch, came home, changed the kids out of their fancy clothes, ate lunch and then put the fancy clothes back on so that G&G could see the kids and so the kids could get their Easter loot. When we walked in, there was KFC for 4. G&G and Cathy & Jim. I don't know what Mike thought. I know what I thought, and it was not nice in the least. WHATEVER.

The kids and I worked on making little paper baskets last week and I filled one with some candy, a couple eggs the kids colored, and a little bag of vanilla shortbread cookies (storebought) and the kids gave it to G&G. I gave Cathy a bag of sweetart chicks and bunnies. They are so sour/sweet and if I kept them here, I'd eat them all. I know she likes them too, so now she can get fat. Ha.

So, the kids found their baskets and tore through them. This year, she bought them already filled baskets which means, they don't get to eat all the candy b/c of the "no chocolate" thing. She also had a Wal-mart bag full of stuff for them besides the baskets. Little Boy got more military stuff. His basket had a big vehicle in it. Baby got a basket full of princess stuff. She loves everything she got. I'm just really glad she's too young to see the discrepancy in the size/price. Then they opened the big gift - they both were eager to get the trampoline out of the box, but we convinced them it would be better to wait and open it here.

We got home and put them straight to bed, but that was not the end - to be sure. Little Boy got caught sneaking his Easter bucket from church into his room. And Baby played for quite a long time and received a couple stern warnings before she finally gave up and went to sleep.

Mike put together one of the trampolines. I guess I forgot to mention that we bought the kids a second one b/c one causes fights. I had to help a bit, but he did the work. It's really cute and I know the kids will love it. We agreed that we'll have to store them in the kids' playhouse - after we build it, of course.

There are just so many things on my to do list. When am I going to find the time?

Well, I think I'm off to find the Benadryl. Tonight I take my first Indomethacin - pray there is no problem transitioning off the Prednisone. I found a couple sites/forums for people with arthritis and psoriatic arthritis and I feel very blessed that my pain/problems are mild at this point. But apparently it's pretty common to feel like you'd rather chop off your feet than deal with the pain, so I guess I'm in good company.

What we did Friday

Hi,

I didn't post this the other day, but we had an interesting Friday (for us). We got up, the kids ate and we leisurely got dressed and into the car. We drove to Cumberland and visited the YMCA to check out their pool and sign up Little Boy for swim lessons. When I told him where we were going, he was very concerned. I assured him we would not be getting into the water and he was very relieved.

I just have to say, it was so nice to go somewhere without hurrying to get there on time. We took our time and went in and looked at the pool. We talked about why it was so stinky in there, and looked at the changing room. He seemed pretty calm standing on the side pointing to stuff, and was very disappointed that we were leaving. Baby cried. I think she wanted to swim. Sigh.

We stopped at a couple stores and then ate a later-than-usual lunch at DQ and made our way home. They took short naps and woke up horrible, but it was nice to do something so basic and so relaxing.

I signed him up for lessons. He starts next month. I am hoping he doesn't freak out when it comes time to start. He really is terrified of the water. I think it's important that he feels more comfortable and knows some safety stuff. I'll feel better about going to the lake, too.

Time to go. TTYL.

See my belly

Some recent pictures

Little Boy Drumming

Baby Singing

Therapy

So I've been seeing my counselor for about a year now. I feel like I have been validated on many issues, but I don't see if I'm making any progress. I cried a lot in yesterday's session. So I came home with a headache from not letting loose and boo-hoo-ing.

She says that I am emotionally stuck internally back somewhere in childhood when I started being aware of the chaos in my life and was stunted. I told her one of the things that made me feel the worst growing up was the first time I had a friend over for a sleep-over. My mom treated us like we were princesses. She went out of her way to make sure we had a good time, but the minute my friend left, she told me that "the party was over," and went back to being her horrible self. So I clearly understood that I was not the reason she was being nice. I can understand someone having one kid and realizing they weren't cut out to be a mother, but then why on earth would the same person go on to have 4 more kids? Did she think it would get easier or what?

I'm not big on the whole "inner child" thing, but I do think she's right on some level. I have always felt like the kid in the crowd; even in a group of my peers or younger people. And when I am in a group of adults my age or older, I've felt like everyone else is more put-together and with it. Maybe that's why I get so nervous singing. ?

She also told me that I need to be more selfish when it comes to myself and my needs. I told her I'm already a selfish person. That's how I feel, because that's what I was told all the time when I was little. The majority of the time when I wanted attention from my parents - one-on-one time - I was put off because I wasn't the only kid in the family, you know. My mom's take was that Dad was the only one who deserved anything, and she enjoyed playing the martyr. I don't think she was saying I need to be selfish, so much as she was saying that I need to make taking care of myself a priority. I think I've done pretty well with that in the past year. I was telling her about writing the curriculum for VBS and that I 've been doing some sewing and about wanting a new sewing machine. She wrote out a prescription for me to give to Mike: "Tammy needs a new sewing machine." I think it's very funny. I reassured him that I told her that he doesn't have a problem buying me a new machine.

When I got home, Little Boy wanted to go outside, so I took him and Baby out to play in the sandbox. It was only 50 degrees and even sitting in the sun with a hooded jacket, I was freezing. Not long after we came in, Little Boy became completely congested. I've given him antihistamines, but he's still stuffy yet this morning. Poor little guy. I'll have to be sure to give him his medicine before we go out again. He must be super allergic to something - I'm guessing it's pollen from all the pine trees around our house.

I was up late last night stupid surfing and finally went to bed. On my way, I checked on the kids and covered them up. Baby woke up. I hurried out of her room, but before too long I heard her fussing and saying something about her blanket. I went in, changed her didie, rocked her and put her back in bed. She was so sweet and snuggly. I only lasted half the rest of the night in bed and ended up sleeping on the couch. Why are couches so much more comfy than bed when you fall asleep, but horribly uncomfortable when you wake up? It was so nice to crawl into the cool sheets and have the whole bed to myself. And Little Boy actually slept in this morning, too.

It's cold and windy here today. I had to run out and chase the garbage can again today. I think my face is still half frozen. So I came in and snuggled with my warm little babies. I love them so much.

Today

We went and got our hair cut today. And then we ate at DQ. By the time we got home, here is how I felt.

Absolute Fear

Today, Little Boy, Baby and I ran to get cat food. Remember my cat that requires gourmet, prescription cat food? He gets to eat venison and I don't. (And no, I'm not tempted by the cat food!) Well, DH is working a double shift today, so I wasn't worried about getting the kids down for their 1:30 nap. We stopped to see DH's sister at her work and then stopped at Burger King on the way out of town for lunch. I let the kids play on the playground.

Little Boy was terrified. He would climb up the two lowest tiers to the baby slide, but he refused to slide down it. Baby ran past him and dove in, head first. She was a little surprised, and didn't do that again, but went down the slide repeatedly. I climbed onto the first step and knelt down and told Little Boy I'd hold his hands. He about made a hole through the mesh and chain-link fence trying to get away from me. But he threw a fit when it was time to go. So did Baby. So I dragged two tired, crying kids out. Thankfully, it was almost 2 pm, so the lunch crowd was gone.

We got into the car and both started to fall asleep. I told them that if they fell asleep I was going to pull off the road and spank them. If they fell asleep on the way home, they would have been bears and wouldn't have taken a decent nap. They both stayed awake and took a pretty good nap.

Can't wait til tomorrow for haircuts. Ha.

PMS and Mediocrity

I woke up this morning from a bad dream and was sad. So that started the day on a gloomy foot. I know I'm PMSing a bit, and we got home late so I was late taking my meds.

I've been browsing the sewing guild site and getting a little more and more down. All these women sew like pros. I've always thought I sew nicely, but I just feel so mediocre. I was telling my friend that I feel like I'm good at many things, but not "great" at anything. Probably some more PMSing, but it's something that I struggle with. I hate not being accomplished. I just always thought as a kid that I would be really good at something. I really think my therapist is right that I have slight ADD, and I feel that this really has a lot to do with not being able to "land" on something that I can work on long enough to hone my skills.

It seems that the only time I can really consentrate long enough is when I am up against a deadline. That's why I've been really pushing to get my VBS stuff done a bit early. I just hate to be stressed by last minute stuff.

Anyway. Now that I've vented and rambled, I did get *something* done today. Actually, 2 somethings. 1 - I cleaned out the fridge. Something stinks in there, and I was searching. 2 - I downloaded 3 months of pictures from the digital camera. Now to get back on the desktop and work on getting them sized and cropped so that I can use them here. There are some really cute pics.

Hope I didn't bum anyone out too much. And I don't want everyone to say, "AWWWW!" I just wanted to put how I am feeling into words.

We're all CRAZY

Last night we were sitting at the table waiting for Baby to finish eating. (She's slow.) I pushed her sleeves up, and in her little baby talk, she started rambling.

She was referring to her sleeves - "On my arms." (Here she started flapping her arms.) "No, like a wings. Gonna fly up up in the air like a birdie. Like a owl. 'Hoooo Hoooo Hoooooooka, Chooooka, Chooooka!'"

I told her she's a nut, and she said, "No, a beast." (Can you tell we watched Maggie? I also called her a beast when she was bashing and crashing around in her toys.) Then she changed her mind. "No, I Assin." (How she says her name.)

Then Little Boy proceded to name the insects in his magnifier set. "Muka, Hooger, Dacker, Bob Billy (I don't know how this fits in), Nabber, Seeger, Sagger, and Hake."

I told him there were 12 bugs but only 8 names. So he started counting, "1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 16." I corrected him. "8, 9, 11, 12." (I think DH's going to need to teach math!)

Daddy walked in and started counting in German. Little Boy looked at him and said, "Speak Engilish! Talk NORMAL."

I think someone left the gas on here.

Fevers and snow

Well, today started out a bit rough. Little Boy woke up with a fever. Poor little guy. His little face looks gray. He laid around all morning on the couch and only ate a a couple bites of cheerios for breakfast and a small container of applesauce for lunch.

We're getting snow. It's a pretty, steady snowfall. It just looks so clean and fresh outside and we've gotten about 3 1/2 inches this morning. Little Boy only asked once if he could go out. I am sure that he isn't well.

Gotta go try to convince him to get back into bed.

We need a Swivel Sweeper

I am sitting here watching Fox & Friends and usually I pause it and fast forward through the commercials. However, I just caught up to "real time" and caught Little Boy watching an infomercial very intently. I laughed at him and he told me very seriously that we need a swivel sweeper. I laughed and he proceeded to tell me all the great features of the swivel sweeper and asked if he could have one for next Christmas. How sad is that? That he thinks cleaning is that fun? Yikes. He didn't get that gene from Mommy, that's for sure.

DH was home yesterday which was really nice. I postponed my Saturday shopping and went yesterday. I found a cute dress pattern for Baby that is supposed to be "easy".

I have a couple dresses I've culled from my closet with fabric I still like, but the pattern is dated. I thought I'd cut them down and make something new for Baby. Well the pattern was too full for the fabric, but I pulled a cute navy/white med. polkadot fabric and used bright pink ribbon for trim. Well, I whipped most of it up yesterday, but it was not what I would have called EASY. I want to use the serger on the seam joining the LINED bodice to the SUPPOSED TO BE LINED skirt and I still have to sew in the hidden side zipper and I am dreading it. For some crazy reason, the side seams didn't line up and that always irks me.

I'll have to post a pic when it's done. I think other than the sewing issues that I may be the only person to notice, it's a very cute dress. And I will not use the pattern again.

It's Friday, Again!

I am so glad it's Friday. Even though I don't have to get up and run out the door for work, Saturday's are sweet. DH gets up with the kids and still feels like he's sleeping in. And I get to really sleep in. I think my best sleep is between 6 and 9 am.

I woke up this morning with drainage and a scratchy throat. Of course. I'm supposed to sing Sunday. So I chugged a cup of benadryl and am hoping for the best.

Gotta get Baby out of bed. She's such a sleepy head. Wonder where she gets THAT?

Happy Valentine's Day

I sure miss chocolate.

Yesterday was long. I began to clean my room and closet. I have a long way to go still, but I started! I didn't get my card to DH written in and DH hasn't had a chance to get to the store - bad weather Tuesday, worked a double shift yesterday - so I told him we'd exchange cards when he got home. That would give him a chance to stop at the store and give me a chance to get the kids to write in his cards.



Well, he doesn't listen so well. He printed me a sweet card and left post-its everywhere with sweet love notes. Like the ones on the cereal box and the milk jug. Very sweet - and I am looking forward to getting flowers today.

Happy V Day!

The Danger Zone

I have taken a huge leap. I am cleaning out my closet. I have actually culled my hanging clothes down to about 12 items at this point. I am still wading through the piles. I have pulled out some of the nice things I want to keep but need to be dry cleaned. Including my wedding dress. Eeek.

I need to get some dust covers for all my hanging clothes - everything is caked with DUST. I have a small pile of things for ebay and rummage sales, a pile of stuff for goodwill and a box of GARBAGE!

I am hoping to get the majority of it done today. It would be nice to see the floor along the walls again.

Happy Valentine's Day, DH!

Attack of the Captusses

Little Boy has made me laugh this morning. We are sitting on the love seat. I am surfing the net; he is being quite silly. He put his feet on my legs and said, "Ow! Ow! Ow! Your legs are like 'captusses'.


I laughed out loud. "Do you mean 'cactuses'? He told me that was what he said. And he was going to get some tape and tape down the captusses.

I guess I should shave?

I'm tired of crying

Ok. Last night Little Boy came home and we had an "incident". When we asked him where he had picked up his behavior, he told us about a boy at church. Well, we've about had it. It seems like every couple weeks, he comes home telling us about getting picked on by the other kids. Last night I had tears just flowing (they are starting again) as I fell asleep. So we had the pastor over tonight to talk to him.

I guess we'll see what happens. I'm just tired of crying. As I tucked Little Boy in tonight I told him my and Daddy's job is to help him grow up loving Jesus, loving church and to protect him and that that is what we are doing. He gave me a big kiss and told me I was such a good mommy. Cry cry cry.

And I am sure I'll cry more tomorrow. I really miss my Dad.

Redeemed

Tonight I guess I made "good" food. We had Cornish hens and both kids ate very healthy portions. Baby ate her salad, Little Boy ate his green beans and we had left over cheese puff potatoes. And Little Boy *won*.

It rained hard here today. "It poured down the rain." That's how people here describe it.

Tomorrow's another day.

Pickles cleanse the palette

I think I'm a fairly good cook, and there are meals that I make that are complete homeruns. Usually that's the time Little Boy or Baby choose to declare that they don't like it. Not so tonight. I had bought some expensive chicken sweet Italian sausage because I had a good coupon and I thought it would be nice for a change. So today I got onto foodnetwork.com looking for an easy pasta dish to use it in. This was not it!


Pasta with pumpkin and sausage - thanks for nothing, Rachel Ray. Why wouldn't I realize that pumpkin and garlic don't really belong in the same bowl, much less the same meal? And then I added the spice that pushed it over the edge. 1/2 tsp. nutmeg. Can you just imagine? The smell about made me barf. But I put it on the table and asked DH to turn on the oven, b/c if the kids had the same reaction I was having, we were going to be eating pizza. DH and I never said a word, put a helping on each of the kids plates and prayed.

They ate it. Baby ate 4 servings. Granted neither of them liked the sausage. I ate 3 small servings. DH ate 2. Little Boy ate 1 1/2.

We talked about the fact that it was a Rachel Ray recipe. DH said a co-worker thought he would like to eat her cooking. I told DH he could take the leftovers to him, except I don't want anyone to think that is a representation of my cooking.

As we finished, Little Boy announced that he had *won* since in his mind he finished first (he didn't). We informed him that Baby had really *won*, Mommy came in second, Daddy came in third, and Little Boy came in fourth, which meant he was last. His reply was hilarious.

"Well, next time, if Mommy makes GOOD food, I'LL win!"

I pretended to cry. Daddy asked him if he realized that he was saying that Mommy didn't fix good food. He could only tilt his head to the side and say, "Well...."

We all followed up our dinner with a nice, crisp, crunchy dill pickle to cleanse our palettes.

So, now what to do with the huge bowl of leftovers. DH said we could give it to MIL & FIL, or feed a neighborhood dog. I didn't think that would be a good idea. What if the dog died? I said we could send it down to our former pastor.

That's the only person I dislike enough to warrant sharing.

Ice-bound

Freezing rain started here about 4 am and it rained well into the afternoon. DH got up at 5 and spread salt on the driveway. He said he could tell the tires were slipping, but he made it up the driveway fine. And he felt the anti-lock brakes kick in at the stops. It took him 9 minutes to get from the driveway to Main Street (usually about a 3 minute drive). Later this afternoon it finally started snowing. By the time DH came home, the road was somewhat clear.

Today the kids were pretty good. Baby slept late. Of course, it was probably b/c at 2 am when she woke up coughing and crying I got up and gave her medicine. This morning when I got up, I realized I had used the wrong syringe and actually gave her a double dose. I'll be sure that doesn't happen again!

It's supposed to be warmer tomorrow which means we'll be dealing with lots of slush. Yea.

I'm 18 again!

Ok, I'm not dilusional. I AM 18 - a size 18, that is. At least, I can fit some of my size 18 clothes. I just bought a pair of size 18 pants and they fit a little snug, but they are stretch cotton slacks, so after wearing them for a while, they fit well. Size 18 shirts are a little large, but that's a side effect of being shaped like this.

I just talked to a lady from church. She just quit cutting hair last year b/c of back and shoulder issues. She's going to try to straighten Baby's bangs. I've noticed that they weren't even, but this morning I noticed that there is a chunk of hair that is longer than the rest, right in the middle of her forehead. When I asked her, her first thought was that one of the kids got ahold of scissors. That is something I am super careful about. I really try to keep knives and scissors out of sight and reach.

I need to try to get the rest of my kitchen cleaned. I am trying to keep up with my clean house from Saturday, but it's harder than you'd think. Oh well.