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!