Smellyann Strikes Again

The Primrose Schools© Family Dance-Off Is Back!

Disclosure: I was entered for a chance to win a gift card in exchange for this post. No monetary exchange took place and all thoughts and opinions are my own.

Here is everything you need to know about the third annual Primrose Schools^© Family Dance-off:  It benefits Children's Miracle Network Hospitals^© and helps fight the childhood obesity epidemic by promoting physical activity, healthy lifestyle choices and quality family time...things all Moms and Dads can get behind!  And did you know? Primrose Schools^© is the leader in educational child care.

  

Here's how you and your family can enter the Primrose Schools© Family Dance-Off Competition:

1. Record a 30-second video of your family's best dance moves. Don't be afraid to let loose and be silly!
2. Visit www.familydanceoff.com and upload your best take between February 25th and March 23rd.
3. Share your video with your friends via email, Facebook, Twitter, etc.
4. View and vote daily (you can place one vote per day per device) for your favorite family dance video!

Of course, no contest is complete without amazing prizes. Primrose Schools^© is providing prizes that are great for your family and your community too, with $81,000 in donations to Children's Miracle Network Hospitals^©:

• 16 families will receive a $1,000 donation to their Children's Miracle Network Hospital^© and advance to the finalist round from March 26-30 to compete for the grand, second and third prizes.
• Grand Prize: $5,000 and Primrose Schools^© will make a $30,000 donation to their Children's Miracle Network Hospital^©
• 2nd Prize: $3,000 and Primrose Schools^© will make a $20,000 donation to their Children's Miracle Network Hospital^©
• 3rd Prize: $1,500 and Primrose Schools^© will make a $15,000 donation to their Children's Miracle Network Hospital^©

Childhood obesity is a critical issue for young children in America. Dance is a fun, easy way to incorporate physical activity into your family's routine while enjoying quality time together. The Family Dance-off supports Children's Miracle Network Hospitals^©, a non-profit organization that raises funds for more than 170 children's hospitals, which collectively treat 17 million children annually for every illness and injury imaginable.

 

So, let me know if you are going to participate - I can't wait to record our silly video and share the hilarity with y'all! Hey, it's for a good cause, so get moving!

 

Fin.

Wordless Wednesday: Chloë's Dance Show

 

(This was Monday's dress rehearsal.)

 

 

 

 

Happy Hump Day! Hope the rest of your week is great.

Link up here.

Fin.

Wordless Wednesday II: Chloë's Freakin' Adorable Costume

 

(Yeah. I know. CUTE.)

Link up here.

Fin.

VLOG: Chloë's Tap Open House

 

That's a quick one, plus here are a couple more that I don't think I ever showed you (did I?)...

 

and an impromptu song we made up one day recently:

 

Don't listen to that one over and over... it gets painful. Haha!

More later? We'll see...

Fin.

So That Was Cool

Earlier, we were running errands and stopped by Chloë's dance school to pay this month's tuition.

When I walked in, I noticed one of the teachers (Miss S) chatting with a parent I'm friendly with (K). I hadn't seen K in a couple of years, but her daughter and Chloë had danced together for several years back in earlier days. Her younger daughter is Jack's age or so, and we both had another baby after that... and so we would sit at dance class and chit-chat every week, getting to know each other. It was strange that I hadn't seen her in a while, but apparently her daughter stopped dancing.

Anyway, when I walked in and realized it was K, without thinking, I reached out and whacked her on the arm, in my excitement!

She turned to me, stared at me for a few moments, and then said, "Um... am I supposed to know who you are???"

I said, "Yeah! I'm Chloë's mom??"

At the same time I realized she hadn't seen me since before I dropped 200 lbs, she realized who she was talking to. Her jaw literally almost dropped to the floor, and she didn't pick it up for a whole minute.

I smiled broadly.

"MELANIE?!!" she squealed! "Is that YOU!? You look AMAZING!!!"

"You really didn't know it was me?" I squealed back.

She had no idea. NONE.

Miss S confirmed that I have lost "two whole people" my husband's size. She has complimented me on that every time she has seen me lately!

So that was my little excitement for tonight.  It was a boost to the ego, for sure!

Fin.

P.S. We just got back from a weekend in Tennessee. It wasn't a terrific trip. Maybe if you're good, I'll tell you about it...

Just Dance

Look at that posture! I'm so proud. ♥

On Monday, ten tiny ballerinas took the stage during the dress rehearsal for their big show the following day. Don't they look lovely? Chloë showed a tremendous improvement in Ballet over the previous year, and I was beaming watching her. I decided she will continue in Ballet II in the Fall, and she decided she will try Hip-Hop classes, too. No Tap or Jazz; I'd love to put her in all four, but the money for it just doesn't exist in the budget. Especially not if Sophia's to do gymnastics and Jack, karate.

While Miss Sally blocked the dancers in their routine onstage, the two blondie babies shenaniganized next to me. I didn't get any crocheting done; instead, I coaxed them into being quiet with ice-cream bribes for lunch. I did manage to start reading my Daisy Leader book. I'll probably read it four more times. I have lots to do for that, but this post isn't the place to go into it.

Act The Second: Jazz. After the wee ones and I went out to feed the meter and have a spot of lunch, we came back to find Chloë and her Jazz classmates on stage again. She's little, but in this number, she has big attitude. Big. And I loved watching it.

This time, Miss Darlene did the stage blocking, and Chloë was on the other end. We forgot to buy her black camisole, like the other girls have, so we had to run to Target that evening for it and some pink tights for Ballet (also forgotten - what kind of mother am I?). I couldn't find a black camisole anywhere on the racks, until I happened to spot some in just her size on a clearance rack, for $1.74. Score!

Attitude. They have it. Yes, they do.

Immediately after the girls exited the stage after the run-through, Jack, Sophia and I high-tailed it out of the balcony where we were nestled and ran to get Miss Chlo. She was full of admonishments for me about the missing camisole, the missing tights, the missing black socks (which we STILL forgot for Tuesday night, and which she had to borrow from another girl... whoops), the lack of bobby pins holding down her curls... I'm sorry, but she's the only girl in her classes with crazy curly hair, and do you KNOW how hard it is to tame those sproingy coils? They want them plastered straight down to her head, and I just can't manage it. Oh, maybe for five minutes... but then she gets hot, and sweaty, and the combination makes them bounce right back up again. Maybe in Hip-Hop, she'll be allowed to let her freak flag fly.

Fast-forward to Tuesday night, the night of the big show. Chloë was dropped off backstage at 1730, leaving the rest of us to fend for ourselves until showtime at 1900. We dropped Rob off at the florist to pick out some posies for his sweet girl, and then I drove 'round and 'round to find a parking spot that wouldn't cost me eleventeen dollars. I finally found one just across from the theater, just down from the florist, and parked. Badly, but I got in there. The Littles were sound asleep. I left them in the car - yes, I did, beat me with a wet noodle if you want - with the doors open to give them some air, while I ran into the adjacent restaurant for a couple dollars' worth of change for the meter. I had my eyes on the van the entire time. When I came out, I woke them, and they helped me feed the meter. It was only afterward that I noticed that parking was free after 1800 - a mere 25¢ would have done the trick. Sigh. I hate waste.

You just can't hide that Hurricane pride! Love it!!!

While Chloë was backstage getting dressed and doing whatever she does back there, with her little girly friends, we were busy having a little dinner and ice cream (none for me this time, thanks) at A Latté Cafe on Granby Street in Norfolk, right across from the theater. It was the same place I took the kids for lunch and ice cream the day before; it was good enough to warrant a repeat trip.

This little guy got lots of attention from my little guy and gal.

The cafe is cool and completely at home in the artsy section of Norfolk where we were. There is free wi-fi, and the walls are plastered with works from local artists. Some have price tags on them, and some have "sold" tags on them, which I loved to see. There are shelves full of books and tables full of magazines, games on the coffee tables and comfy, overstuffed couches and chairs. Neil and Melissa, the married owners, are warm and genuine people, and the food is good. If you're in town, stop in for a visit and a look around.

Finally, it was showtime, and we headed into the theater. Sophia and Jack behaved more or less okay; I have realized that Sophia absolutely can not - can NOT - is competely incapable of, holding still for two seconds back-to-back, so I just did my best to keep her from distracting the rest of the audience. No one glared or shushed us, so I guess we did okay. 

Chloë did great, and Sophia called out, "Yay, Chloë!!!" after both of her dances. We were in the balcony again, though, and she didn't hear us. She was off quite a bit during the Jazz number, but I realized after talking to her later that it was because her friend V from Ballet was now sitting in the front row, and she was paying too much attention to that. She didn't lose her Attitude-with-a-capital-A, though, and she still knocked my socks off.

So, another year has come to an end. School is out, dance is over, and the pool is open. Summer is here.

Fin.

On The Wrong Side Of The Food System

Whew.  It has been a busy coupla days. Let's recap:

Tuesday.

Couldn't sleep, wasn't tired, so I stayed up all night. I was productive, though: I did the bills, worked the budget, started a new PR blog on Blogger (more details about that to come in the next couple of days) and crocheted. I'm nearly finished with that blanket. When I am, I'll show ya. It'll be tomorrow.

Chloë is still in school this week, so she was bummed later when she found out that the rest of us - Daddy included - went to the zoo without her. Like, in tears, bummed. We kept having to reassure her that now that we're zoo members, we can go whenever we want - and we WILL.

The original plan was to get there at 1100 for the zoo's weekly story time, but when we arrived at a quarter 'til, we saw that it was also elephant-feeding time at 1100. Which would they rather do? "Elephants!!" came the enthusiastic reply. When we arrived back in "Africa" to see the heffalumps, we first caught sight of two of the ol' girls getting baths. The kids were fascinated. Even more so when I informed them that at Jack's age or so, I had actually ridden an elephant. Twice. They were astounded by that. Have you?

 

I am OBSESSED with Sophia's tush. I mean, it's just plain awesome. I could look at that juicy thang all day long. It's not creepy, right? I mean, I'm her MOM. I'm supposed to love every inch of her! (And you gotta admit, it's a pretty great butt, as butts go.)

After milling about for a few minutes, a zoo volunteer came out and told us where the elephant feeding would take place. We strode en masse to the bottom of a long and windy ramp and claimed our places for ideal viewing. A man with a big bucket full of fruits and veggies was down there, waiting for us. He tweeted four long tweets on his whistle, a signal for the ellies to come lumbering over. Only this one, a 36yo female (they're all females at our zoo), decided to dine. She wasn't thrilled about having to swim for her supper, though!

I love this one, when she was flaring her ears and digging around in the water for a wayward orange. She ate it, peel and all. Well, you didn't expect an elephant to peel an orange, did you?

 
Just like with the baths, the kids were completely engrossed in the proceedings.

Even the little guy, even though no wheeled objects were involved, even though he was hot and hungry. When the feeding session was over, they ran around the area while Rob and I asked a bajillion questions of the volunteer. She was too happy to answer them as much as she could. I'd love to do that, if I had the time...

We stopped off at the giraffe habitat for a little while, before heading to have some lunch in Africa's restaurant. There are three adults and a wee baby, there in the back. I wish I could have attended that birth!

 

We decided to get a pizza. Non-organic, of course, but the kids were hungry and not at all interested in the box of organic Fruit-e-O's that I'd smuggled in.  When we got into the dining room, though, Sophia spied the container of pickles on the condiment bar and decided that's what she wanted to have. She ate two platefuls! That girl is a pickle nut.

After lunch, the kids were pretty much through with animals for the day and just wanted to go play in the sprinklers. I gave Rob the camera to take pics, while I went hunting around in the nearby gift shop for a couple more Bunco prizes. I found exactly what I was looking for there, plus a few little goodies for the kids. Goodness knows they don't need them, but you know. I like to spoil a little.

Jack's favorite thing to do is sit on top of the spouts and let the water shoot up his bathing suit!

When I finished my shopping, I shucked off my jumper and joined the kids in the sprinkler! Rob didn't have his suit, or he'd have gone, too. I would have gone in my everyday clothes. Who cares? If it's hot, and there's a fun way to cool off, I'm in - suit or not! As it is, I had to go in there in my workout clothes, since I don't have a suit right now. 'Twas brillig!

This guy was just wandering around, so I followed him. He didn't like that. He sped up. I sped up. He turned left. I turned left. Wasn't his favorite thing. He squawked at me.

When he was through with the slow-speed chase, he leapt on top of the chairs and was out of sight in a flash. Pretty guy, though, right? I bet he's sired a slew of peababies.

Jack asked a jillion times if we could go on the zoo train, but since it wasn't free, I decided that we should wait until Chloë could join us if we were going to do that. When she was crying about us going to the zoo without her, later, learning that is what dried up her salty tears. 

I was also going to wait until the whole family was together to show them what I picked up for them in the gift shop, but, you know, I can never, ever wait to give a present. Never! So after about 20 minutes, I gave up trying and called everyone 'round. I gave Sophia an ostrich, which she didn't recognize as an ostrich, so we'll have to look at those more the next time we go to the zoo. (There were two in the giraffe habitat, but she must've missed them.) She's a bird girl, though, so she loved it just the same.

 
  
 For Jack, of course, I bought wheeled items: this time, two safari jeeps that he just loved. His mind was already jumping to the next zoo visit: "Did they have other animals besides zebras and giraffes? What else did they have? Can I have one of those next time?" Never satisfied, that kid!

I gave Chloë a little jungle-themed art kit and a zipper pull with her name on it, and Rob got a zoo sticker for his truck. Or the motorcycle; I'm not sure which. I gave myself a zoo magnet for Vanna. You'll just have to wait and see what the Bunco prizes are...

Later, while Chloë was at Ballet, the rest of us did some heavy-duty shopping in the garden and lumber sections of the nearby Home Depot. I budgeted $5-600 for the backyard garden project, and we spent every penny of that and a little bit more. Well, almost. We would have, but then the nice lady handling our order (because we couldn't fit it all in the van, and Rob had to go back for the rest of our bags of dirt. Dirtbags? Hee) asked if we were military and gave us a hefty discount for that. I usually ask for a milly discount everywhere we go, but I didn't think to ask at the Depot. So, yay, we came in under - except that we only got about half the dirt that we needed for our two raised beds. Guess we'll have to go back after those are built. Here's Rob getting the cedar planks off the roof of Vanna. 

We got lots of good stuff! A compost mixer, in the box on the bottom there, is causing me serious excitement. I can't wait to start filling 'er up! Lots of organic soil, and some organic topsoil, more cedar, some organic compost starter... and a few tomato cages. Hopefully Rob can start building the beds this weekend with the kids, for a Father's Day activity. Do you think that's what he had in mind??

As soon as we came home from that shopping trip, I crashed on the couch until my school alarm went off the following morning.

So.

Wednesday.

I was still tired. I slept a great deal. Sophia and Jack played down in the living room together, mostly very nicely, while I snoozed on and off. I weighed in: 155.9 lbs. I'm down over 185 lbs and looking forward to losing those last 5 lbs before I hit my doctor's goal. Maybe I can hit it before I see him again next month, which would be swell. Just swell.

After Chloë came in, I showered and got the Littles ready to go with me to take her to Jazz. And then I had a brainstorm: since it was Wednesday, parking for locals down at the beach would only be a buck. Why don't we go? Yes, let's go. I sent them to wake up their dad, who was game, and we all worked ourselves into a tizzy getting ready in the negative-five minutes we had before leaving to take Chlo to dance.

The kids were absolutely ravenous, and again, they had no interest in the Fruit-e-O's I'd brought along. So Rob and I briefly talked it over, and we decided to use some of the huge McDonald's gift card I'd gotten for the House Party, to feed them. It was a struggle; McD's is SO not what we want to be feeding them anymore, but the guilt burden was lifted slightly in knowing that it wasn't our money supporting the fast food industry. So we went back home to get the card, and then stopped for some victuals at the burger joint around the corner.

I only got a Coca Dieta, but everyone else had food and drink. Chicken nuggets for the kids, fries, and a free apple juice box. Holy cow, they devoured their food. They are not as completely sold on this organic thing as we are! It will take some time. Rob got a crispy chicken sandwich, but you know what? He really didn't care for it. It just didn't taste as good to him as he remembered. The organic food just tastes so much better, so much more... real. He's done. The fries, on the other hand, OMG. SO good. I had some. A bunch, actually. I think they were better than I remembered. Yum.  But still, not good enough for us to give up "the lifestyle," so after tomorrow, that will (hopefully) be our last time eating McDonald's in this lifetime!

 
 
 Look, Sophia's teeth grew back in!!  Doesn't she look great?!! Ha. As soon as we arrived down at the oceanfront after Jazz, we walked to the beach, which was being closed by the lifeguards and police. An electrical system had moved in; we couldn't swim. Or be on the sand. We started to look at the family bicycles instead, but then decided that wouldn't be safe either.  So, we decided to go find somewhere to sit and have a drink. Instead, we were walking on Atlantic Ave when the deluge hit, and we ran into the nearest store, a discount beach tienda.

I had forgotten that I'd already picked up my last two Bunco prizes, so I shopped around and picked up two more. Oops. Well, now I'm finished, and if there are extras, more for me! I told each of the kids they could pick a souvie under $2, and these hillbilly teeth were Sophie's choice. Nice, huh? Funny, though. Over margaritas and chips at Guadalajara's, we all passed them around:

Hillbilly Bob

Hillbilly Mel (taken by Sophia)

Hillbilly Chlo

 

Jack, the spoil-sport, decided not to participate. Instead, he gazed lovingly at his new little cement mixer.

Curls picked herself up a pack of Silly Bands (emphasis on "silly") to share and trade with her friends at school tomorrow, the penultimate day. She gave me one; I'm wearing it now. So far as we could tell, it's an ostrich. Another ostrich! No telling whether this one's a girl or a boy, though. ;)

And I got a nose ring or two. My hole's been empty (on my nose, pervs!) since, like, October, so it was time to fill it. Can you see the little blue stone?

And, Rob picked me out a toe ring. Well, at my request. I have ugly feet, I know. I've been told a time or two. (Also, time for a pedicure, eh, Melanie?)

Our gigantical margaritas were SO good! I had to ask Rob, though: what's the point of salting the rim if you're using a straw, hmmm? 

When it finally stopped raining, we tried to go down to the now-reopened beach again, but a policeman said it was still unsafe and he wouldn't do it. The kids were disappointed, and one or two of them cried, but we reminded them that we live here and can come back anytime we want. So they found a nearby fountain and begged pennies off me for wishing, instead. Rob and I made wishes, too. Aren't wishes the best?

On our walk back to the car, the kids found several puddles left by the storm. Never mind that they were full of mud; that's half the fun, isn't it? And so they jumped, and jumped some more.

When Sophia found another puddle and was there by herself, I told her to jump after I counted to three. Here's the result. Girl can jump, huh??

When we finally arrived home, there was a big ol' box from Drugstore.com waiting on the front porch. Woot! I just ordered it two days ago, so I was thrilled. We were completely out of TP (how did I let that happen?), so I found a BOGO deal for Seventh Generation and bought that. To get to $25 - the level needed for free shipping - I did a search for "organic" and found these snacks by Newman's Own on sale, too. Oh, and the organic multi-vitamins for the kids, too, which is good, since they cost about 4x as much at the organic shop where we get our food. The kids LOVE taking their multis...

Yeah. Rob took that pic. He said Iooked hot like that... maybe from another angel!! Haha.

Time to go get some zzzzzs, as Thursday is another busy day.

Fin. 
  

In The Still Of The Night

I should probably go to bed soon, but I'm wide awake. I hope that changes soon. I have to go up to Richmond - and back - tomorrow for Day One of the homeschoolers' convention. Tomorrow is just preliminary stuff, like learning how to homeschool, but for me, that's the crux of the matter, so I intend to be there. I planned to get a hotel room, and I still might for Friday, but we couldn't afford it for both nights. Friday and Saturday will be long days, starting early and ending late, so it kind of sucks that I have to drive home tomorrow night. But, such is life.

Anyway.

This afteroon, we all gathered up and went to Sophia's dance recital for her Creative Movement class.

Look, she is the tallest one in her class! Kind of funny, isn't it, since the other two are always the smallest in theirs? Rob whispered to me, "She gets that from her father... who isn't me." He can claim that all he wants, because there isn't a thing on her that she gets from him... except her blood type. And, well, her DNA. The rest is ALL Simmons (my maiden name, btw).

The recital, as always, was pretty cute. Here is a video of Sophie and the class singing "Where is Thumbkin?":

 

(Let me know if that works or if I need to change the way it's embedded. It looks weird on my screen.)

They do lots of fun things in that class, always with children's music that you probably know. Sophia has a blast. She is a bit of an attention whore right now, too. See where she's looking? Back at herself in the mirror. Chloë was exactly the same way at that age!

Here, they were doing a train song, and toot-tooting the horn. Sorry for the red eyes; these pix are unedited.

Jack was not heavily invested in the proceedings. He kept whining to me, "When is it over? When can we go out to the car? I'm hungry. I'm tired. I'm thirsty. Etc." At this point, he refused to watch any longer. Brothers!

 
They do a lot of "animal action" in this class, and this is Sophia pretending to be an elephant. She had a silly noise to go along with it!

I think she was a snake here. (No shoes, because she just outgrew them a couple of weeks ago, and I wasn't about to drop more cash for new shoes at the very end of the year!)

A frog. Sorry about the dirty wall; not my fault.

Here, all the girls kids are waiting for their end-of-class stickers. What I love about this is that for the last song & dance, all the siblings kind of spontaneously joined in, although Jack had to be urged at the last moment. It was great fun! 

After the recital was over, it was picture time. Sophia took that to mean she should do a couple of sweet poses for Mommy's camera.

Sophia with her teacher, Miss Jessica. What a ham she is, look at that hand on her hip! Do you think she knows she's cute? It's kind of sad for me, because she plans to do gymnastics next year instead of continuing on with ballet, but she has such a natural affinity for dance that I won't be disappointed if she runs from the gym again, like she did two years ago. I think she'll be great at anything she does, though - she's just got a great physicality that I totally envy. Too bad she was unmotivated on the soccer field, because I think she could have been great at that, too!

We totally failed on getting her a mini bouquet of flowers, which is a post-recital tradition, so I was so pleased when another little girl gave Sophie one of hers! How sweet.  And someone else gave her a Silly Bandz, which she also loved. I think those things are, well, dumb (and ugly!), but whatever. They're harmless.

Then she started gathering props and posing for Mama. Silly girl! There are a ton more pictures from the recital on my Facebook page, if you're interested. If we're not friends there, and you want to see, add me! I keep pix for friends only on there.

After that, Jack and Soap played on the ground next to the van while Chloë was in her Jazz class. Rob napped - sorta - and when he was awake and playing on his iPhone, I was busy peeling his back. He got a wicked sunburn the other day, which is horrible, but also a big gift to me, a born peeler. It's kind of like my crack cocaine. Poor Sophia's fingernails peel like crazy, and I am always attacking them! Anyway, what?

Oh.

Tonight was also Bunco night, so after we came home, I rushed through a shower and then mixed up some brownies to take with me. I always pick a dessert, but next time, I have a side and have no clue what to make.  Hummus? Maybe. We'll see.

Tabitha, our everymonth host, now lives right down the road from me. I would have walked, but I was already a half-hour late, because the Brownies wouldn't cook through. And I had to carry five chairs, and my prize, and my Brownie pan, back home again. So Rob dropped me off and picked me up again when the night was over. Kind of wasteful, but necessary.

Bunco was a lot of fun this time. It usually is, but occasionally, it's kind of not. I had a bunch of caffeine onboard, though, so I was really into it. We had a lot of laughs, and I really enjoyed myself. Good times.

When I came home, I'd won a butter dish, so I decided to whip up some butter. We were out. I'd never made it before, but Rob had informed me that all I had to do was whip the crap out of some heavy cream, and it would turn into butter. I took his word for it and didn't bother looking up directions. I now know that I should have, but it's okay. Half-decent, anyway. Edible.

Here's the beginning, with the cream just dumped into the KitchenAid. How I love that thing. On top speed, it only took about 4 minutes from cream to whipped cream to butter to whatever I ended up with last.

You can see I overwhipped, and it started to get kind of curdy. And also, I tasted it at the stage after whipped cream but before butter, and it was quite bland, so I added two pinches of salt. Now I know I should have stopped at one pinch. Salty!

Sorry for the flash; it looked greyish without. That's my new butter dish, sans top. I like it! I also baked bread in the machine while I was at Bunco, and it finished at the same time as the butter, so of course I had to have a little of both together. I had improvised a bread recipe, just kind of throwing in some stuff willy-nilly, and it turned out great. I like it. It's a small loaf, though, so I'll have to make more this weekend.

And lastly, remember this sweater from a little while back, for CARE Package? I'm putting sets together now, so I decided to whip up a hat. It's the Puff Stitch Baby Hat, which I was glad to find on Ravelry, since the sweater also has puff stitches. Does it need a pompon? I can't decide. Next, of course, I'll improvise some puff stitch booties, and then a wee blanket. I think after that I'll move onto that pink kimono I made a while back and didn't love...

Okay. Off to get ready for the convention. Have a great Thursday!

Fin. 
  
  
  
  
 
 
  

 

 
 

Merrily We Roll Along

On Thursday afternoon, I took Jack back to see Dr. A (whose name you can plainly see there on his uniform) to have his ears checked again. And yes, Doc is approximately 14 years old. I called him Doogie once or twice before, to his amusement.

Doc could still see bubbles of fluid in both of Jack's ears, which is why I'm surprised and happy to tell you that as of that very morning, Jack could hear clearly again! He didn't tell me this himself; I 'tested' him as I do/did every morning, and when I whispered his name from out of sight, he answered me! It was a joyous discovery. When I questioned him about his hearing, he seemed delighted to report that everything sounded normal again. Phew! And without a milligram of medication!

Jack didn't particularly like the exam... poor babe!

At that point, Jack commandeered my camera, so the next couple of shots are from him. 

This was probably the last time we will meet with Dr. A., because he and his family (wife and two kids) are moving to Italy. Such is life when you go to a military clinic: you get attached to your provider, develop a rapport over a year or three, and then either they or you move on to the next station, and you have to start all over again.

It's the second time since we've been here that I'm really sad to say good-bye to a great doctor. The first time was the doc we had when Jack was first born. Both were 'great' in that they took their time with the patients AND the parents, listened to what we had to say, and included our input in the treatment plans. Neither made me feel "lesser-than," because I don't happen to possess a medical degree. I appreciate that immensely.

I often make this face when one of the kids takes my picture. I don't know why; it's just a habit. And I hate having my picture taken from down below. My friend E taught me long ago that it's better to have your photo taken from slightly above; the result is more flattering. So when I don't like the angle, I make a face!

I look skinny though, huh?! Hee. This is Rob's Harley shirt that I'm wearing! And look, it's not supah-dupah tight, either! (My husband is a VERY thin man, so it's exciting to be able to wear his clothes!)

 
  

Jack is always curious about the things in the doctor's office, so it was no surprise when he pulled out the stirrups. After he lay down like this, I asked Doc to perform his Pap Smear. Doc snorted and says he avoids doing those at all costs!

********

Somewhere between the doctor visit and the following morning, my new camera got jacked up. Just the lens cover. Half of it won't open, and the other half won't shut! Awesome. I think I need to add a fund for repairing my old camera to the budget, somewhere, somehow. This new one is just a piece of crap; I hate it so.

Anyway, here's Jack eating a batch of scrambled eggs that HE made from start to finish, next to the plate of oatmeal chocolate chip cookies (from another mix that he found in the stockpile bin) that HE mixed, and near to the bowl of being-prepared pie crust that HE helped to measure and mix. He was a very busy boy in the kitchen on Friday, and I do declare that cooking and baking are now one of his favorite things to do. I can tell he takes pride in the results, too!

Of course, he had to help roll out the pie crust. That's always the kids' favorite job to do, isn't it? I showed him how to carefully wrap the dough around the rollilng pin and lay it out in the pie pan, to avoid breaking it. He did a perfect job!

Then he fluted the ege of the crust, after I showed him how to do it. He did the whole rest of the crust without help.

He did a nice job, don't you think?

 
  
I showed him how to pierce the crust with a fork to keep it from bubbling up, and he had a good time with that. See how he concentrates? I love his devotion to doing the job right.

He insisted he wanted a cup of coffee after that! The boy does like coffee... so I slipped him the decaf and brewed him up a cup, with sugar and cream. He drank two sips and decided he didn't like it. I'd have drunk it, but I can't have sugar, so it went to waste. *le sigh*

After a while, it was time to get the girls off the bus. We had to rush Jack right out to Chesapeake for a Cub Scout friend's birthday party after that, at a popular bouncy house place. I'd lined up some errands to run so that the girls wouldn't have to sit there and watch him having fun, because I didn't have a spare $16 to let them play, too. Sophia was really disappointed, so I promised her I'd take her sometime this summer.

After dropping Jacky off, we stopped at the FedEx shop so I could ship a package. It didn't cost me anything; it was for a mystery shopping project I'd done the week before. Chloë waited in the car and read her book; Sophia came inside with me so she could use the potty. I've been pricing papers, just to know what things cost in case I need them for home-schooling, so I was surprised when they told me that theirs cost $10 a ream! Uh, no.

Then we stopped over at Babies 'R' Us, because I knew they carried the Snikiddy brand of snacks, for which I had three "Free Product" coupons. Snikiddy is all-natural but not organic; I decided that in this case, it was close enough for me. "Natural" doesn't really mean anything, so I did my research on the company and decided it was okay to consume. But while we were at BRU, I was thrilled to find a wonderful array of organic foods and drinks at reasonable prices. I'd love to buy all our organic goods at the shop at the Farmer's Market, but she's very expensive, so I'm having to find deals where I can. The emphasis is still going to be on buying local, though.

Our last stop was at the TAPS near BRU, to see if they had the Daisy Leader book. Our local store didn't have it, so I was chagrined to find they were out of it at this one, too. Tha hell?! How am I supposed to know what to do if I don't have a book? I NEED my book. We spent another few minutes looking around at all the cool stuff, but again, I didn't want to spend any money that I didn't have, so we bought nothing. My creative juices really get flowing in a store like that, though!

Unfortunately, all these errands only took an hour, so we still had to go back and sit for another hour at the birthday party site. They had some toys in the waiting area, so that kept the girls busy for 20 minutes while I was able to do some knitting. I spent a quarter on a bouncy ball for them to roll around to each other, when they tired of the toys and limited books available. After that, it was all go-go-go, because every time I looked away for a second, Sophia had shucked her shoes and was in one of the bouncy structures!! Illegally. Inwardly, I was laughing, but of course I couldn't show that I was amused by her antics, or she'd take that as acceptance. So I kept the stern look on my face as I dragged her out and back to the waiting room, hating all the while that I didn't have that spare $16.

One time, Jack had climbed halfway up the highest structure and would neither go up nor down, so all the boys came rushing over to get me. An older boy, the birthday kid's older brother, had tried to rescue him, but he wanted Mama only. I tore over there and shoved his butt up to the top, and then we slid down together. I completely understand his reluctance; I am the same way. When we slid down the steep slide, I got that sick feeling in my stomach that thrills some people (Sophia-types like my sister, Stacey) but which I don't enjoy at all.

And of course, when I returned, Sophia was nowhere to be found... until I looked in a corner of the big warehouse, where she was happily bouncing away with a new friend. She is such a stinker!

After the bouncy party was over, we went back to the Farmer's Market for some supplies for dinner. I had promised a celebratory dinner for Rob, for getting his motorcycle license, but we still hadn't done that yet. I found one restaurant in the area that was reported to be "organic," Crocs at the beach, but when I called them, it turned out they only had "some produce" that was actually organic - not their whole menu. Suck. (Attention, entrepreneurs! I see a niche needing to be filled...) Jack had wanted to make pizza, so we decided to make that for Daddy's dinner, instead.

The stop at the organic market was meant just for some organic sauce for the pizza(s), but the kids talked me into some fresh fruit, including Chloë and Jack's kiwis, above. I tried a slice; it was definitely the most delicious kiwi I'd ever tasted! I also got some organic bananas from Ecuador, which just smell amazing, for more smoothies. Or something, I don't know. Oh, and a package of goat cheese for one of the pizzas, since we don't particularly care for Organic Valley's mozzarella cheese. (It tastes very dry, like cheddar. Which is fine, if you're expecting cheddar, but not if you're expecting traditional mozz. I'll just have to learn to make my own!)

We also stopped at the Creamery I'd mentioned in a previous post, to get some ice cream and that fresh cream top milk. Anything to fatten up my skinnies!  The milk is already gone; it was SO good. The ice cream was excellent, too, but we really didn't care for the mint chips in that flavor, so we'll probably not buy that flavor again. The strawberry, though... mmmmmm! It all tasted so good, and since this working Maryland dairy farm is the apparently the closest such one to this area, they consider themselves to be "local." In fact, earlier this morning, I signed up for their weekly delivery service, for milk, cheese, and such. Not their eggs; though; I'll continue to get those from Polyface Farms at the organic store. 

(Have I mentioned Polyface? If not, look it up - it's Joel Salatin's family farm. He's the guy Rob and I love from Food, Inc., and he's going to be giving two talks at the Homeschool Convention in a couple of weeks. I'm going to meet him!!!!)

By the time we got home and got the kitchen cleaned up so I could start dinner, it was past 8 o'clock, and Jack had no interest in helping me make the pizza. So I made it myself: organic dough, sauce and goat cheese - doesn't it look SO good? And it was. Especially after I re-cooked it; the dough was raw when I first served it. Oops. Jack and Sophie didn't care for the goat cheese, so Chloë ate theirs. I adore goat cheese, though. Yum!

For dessert, I pulled out the pie Jack and I had made earlier in the day. It's got a mostly-organic crust, with the fresh-picked strawberries on top. The cream filling is made of organic eggs, yogurt, and cream cheese, plus sugar and a little bit of Cool Whip. I had a little taste, and it was SO yummy. I wish I could have dove in, but I'd really have made myself sick.

Our neighbors to the right came home when I ran out to the car for something, so I mentioned that Jack had made a special strawberry pie, and would they like to try it? Of course they would, so I served some up for thme and brought it over. I made her promise to tell me what she thought of it, even if it wasn't good, because I can't eat it and don't want to make it again if it's yucky!

 
  
In the mail yesterday, I'd gotten a new game for the Wii, "Just Dance," along with a cursive writing workbook for Chloë. I paid $1.33 for both, after using my Swagbucks money for the rest! The Wii game turned out to be SO much fun - and a great workout! The kids and I took turns doing dances, and I danced along behind them when it wasn't my turn. I was sweating up a storm and feeling great.

The kids' dancing was so funny! I'm sure mine was as well, but of course I have no pictures of that. And I wouldn't show you if I did!

Poor Jack. He has inherited his father's dance skill - or lack thereof - but he sure tried!

Rob sat there like a bump on a log the whole time, refusing to play with us. He wouldn't even dance once! Butthead. :P

No, she's not drinking a beer - it's an organic root beer! Delicious. (I am loving this organic stuff; can you tell?!) But look at her feet! This kid is so bendy and flexible. She amazes me! I think it will be a good fit when she tries gymnastics again later this year. 

We danced well into the night, past 2300, and then I tried to go for a run around our lake. I got about a third of the way along when I just collapsed, unable to breathe. (It was embarrassing, because a man was fishing right there!) I tried to catch my breath so I could start running again, but I just couldn't... and I ended up throwing up violently. It was very upsetting. I'll have to take it more slowly... but I'm ready to fly like the wind!

On a positive ending note, I've lost 4 lbs since Thursday! I'm now well into my fabulous 50s - as in, I'm at 157.3 lbs! Yay!! Less than 7½ lbs until I reach my doctor's goal!!

Fin. 
  
  
  

The Week In Review

So it's been another busy week, and I haven't had much time to post. I'm going to give you the abridged version here, since even though I have some time now, it's already almost 0200, and I have a trillion and one emails and blog posts to catch up on, too!

Tuesday

Okay, seriously, I don't remember what I did during the day, because I didn't put it in my calendar, but I know I was busy every day but today! Chloë had math tutoring after school, but like most days, I had to pick her up early for Ballet. (Once, she told me that her tutor said, "How are you supposed to learn anything?!" but really, no one asked me if Tuesdays and Thursdays worked for us - and they don't!)

I was going to bring my crocheting to Ballet, but I couldn't find the red I was using (thanks to the cat, I'm sure), so I just played Scrabble on my iPhone and read a magazine. Jack napped, Sophie played. After dinner and homework at home, we worked on laundry. Yay.

Wednesday

I had an 0900 appointment to pick up cookies from the cookie cupboard, which I did. I hate to pick up more cookies at the end of the sale like this - it's over on Sunday night - but we had orders to fill. Hopefully we can get rid of the remaining cases tomorrow, but I'm worried about it. We have a booth sale at Kroger, plus the church where we hold our meetings is going to recognize Girl Scouts that day and said we could sell cookies there, PLUS Steph is going to hold a booth sale with her troop and said she'd take some of our cookies to sell at that, too. So, fingers are crossed!

At home, Rob was just getting ready to leave to take the kids to school. Their tardiness has been an ongoing problem since he has been on that job. After that, I decided to take back the job and let him sleep. After all, he has been getting home around 0300-0500 most days. And while it's true that I usually stay up the entire time to wait for him, and it's also true that he can usually go right back to sleep after bringing them to the bus stop/school and I can't, I don't have to stay awake until he gets home. So from now on, I plan to go to bed when I'm tired and get the kids up for school - on time! Except when I don't, like today - but somehow he managed to get them up!

While he was gone, the contractor who we called to get an estimate on some home repairs we can't afford came. I had just gotten out of the shower, so I ran down in my towel and asked him to wait five minutes for Rob, which he did. The fecking homeowner's association, which I absolutely hate, is now fining us $10 a day until we get it fixed. Our only hope is to do the repairs and then appeal to the HA to waive the fines. Only, we still haven't gotten that estimate... guess we'll be going with someone else! As for why Rob doesn't do the work himself, he spent $40 to rent a super-tall ladder (since all the problems are on the second story; he's done the first-story work) from Home Depot, only to get it home and not be able to extend it himself or with my help. That thing was a bear! I was super-pissed about the 40 bucks thrown away, too. Argh.

After he mostly bullshat with the contractor about motorcycles, we went to my 1015 doctor appointment with the shrink who prescribes my meds. Rob usually doesn't come along for those, but since we rarely spend time together these days, what the hey. Everything's going well with my current drug cocktail, so we didn't change anything. Haven't for a long while, now. Hopefully things will stay good going forward, too. Lord knows I need some mental stability, even if it has to come in the form of a pill or three! Anyway, apparently one of the drugs throws off cholesterol and blood sugar, so I have to go in and get more labs drawn for that.

We drove down to Oceana (another Navy base in town) to do a mystery shop at a restaurant in the Food Court. Rob got a steak sandwich, and I had a tuna wrap. It was SO good, and huge, so I took most of mine home. Rob brought the leftovers in the house, which I assumed meant that he was going to put them in the refrigerator... so I was really mad that night when I found my bag of food on a kitchen chair, pushed under the table! Hello!! More money down the drain.

After that, he went to work, and I did whatever I did around the house. I actually think I took a necessary nap until the kids got off the bus. Then the girls went to dance class for two hours, and I still couldn't find that yarn, so I played more Scrabble and read magazines. And played with the kids. It was a really nice day - we've had weather in the 70s this week!! - and the kids wanted to go to the park. I should have taken them, but I was so tired. I remember now, I didn't read, I mostly lay back and snoozed while they played games on my iPhone and listnened to kids music on my iPod.

When we got home, I started making dinner (just mac & cheese and some green beans) for the kids, when Stephanie showed up to babysit. I didn't feel like bringing the kids to Bunco night this time - after all, it's supposed to be my "break time" from them, a night out for ME! Steph and I had negotiated; instead of paying her cash, we were going to swap babysitting for the six My Little Ponys and a Schick razor I'd gotten from my deals and steals shopping recently. Works for me, and for her!

So after we chit-chatted a little while, and I held the wee cute man, she reminded me that I needed to bring dessert to Bunco. Oops! I was going to bake chocolate chip cookies, but I'd forgotten and no longer had time. I sent her up to our very messy bedroom to get something for a snack out of the snack stockpile bin. She came down with two packages of Keebler cookies, and we called it good. (They were not a big hit; I'll have to stick with baking!) Tabitha teased me about bringing cookies that weren't of the Girl Scout variety... I didn't even think of that!

I carried the five chairs she (Tab) asked met to bring, and the cookies, out to the car, said goodbye to the chillens, and left for a couple hours of fun. At Bunco, I had two cups of full-caffeine Diet Coke, which I normally don't drink, so I was in rare form that night! Everyone was laughing at me - I was cracking jokes, dancing, and generally being silly and a bit obnoxious, too. But it was fun, lots of fun, as usual.

Steph and her boys (Tim had come to pick her up) left right away, so I gave Jack his shot and sent the kids to bed. I got more of his meds in the mail, so he's back on the nightly injections again and not liking it one little bit!

That night, I didn't go to sleep at all. The caffeine had me COMPLETELY wired, and I was hyper all night long. I hadn't had a chance to go deal-shopping, so I stayed up and worked the weekly deals for Target, CVS, Rite Aid and Walgreens. Several of you have asked me to keep doing those posts, so I will continue just for y'all! ;) (And hopefully I will get to your emails this weekend, too.) Look for a post on that following this one.

Thursday

Rob got home really late, like 0500, and I was still up, so I got the kids ready for school. Unforch, I couldn't find any more juice boxes for their lunches, so I had to wake him to get some out of the stockpile for me. I also had to write a quick letter to Sophie's teachers, so that the neighbor-lady can get her off the bus on the days that I substitute teach, now that I'm good to go.

After they left, I showered and got ready to go deal-shopping. The stores I go to are near Little Creek (the Navy base in town where I go to the doctor), so I was going to go get that lab work done, but then I remembered I was supposed to fast. I hadn't done that... it'll keep 'til next week, I suppose.

I hit Rite Aid and was pretty successful there, and then CVS across the street. Another good trip, although that store is always out of half the deals I go in for. The other CVS in town is too far away to go to on a regular basis, and I don't know if Wags and Rite Aid are nearby, so it's not really cost-efficient to do that. But, I saw recently that a new CVS is coming in just down the road, in the same shopping center where I used to work at Harris Teeter. Woohoo! I can't wait; am I silly for being excited about that? ;)

I did a super-fast Walgreens trip and missed out on half the deals there (go on Sunday, I'm telling you! I keep saying it but not doing it, gah), but still made out pretty well. When I got back in the car, where I'd left my phone, I saw that it was 1257 - and I was due at the school for a meeting at 1300! Eek! I quickly called up and said I'd gotten stuck but was on my way...

Everyone was waiting for me when I arrived. Oops. Couldn't really tell them I was out shopping, so I made another excuse. The meeting was for Jack's IEP eligibility meeting. I had hoped that Rob would be able to attend, since this was the first time he'd had the full scope of evaluations done since he was a two-year-old. After a synopsis was given of the results by his regular teacher, his special ed teacher, his occupational therapist, the social worker, the counselor (not sure of her actual title) who ran his IQ tests, and the vice principal, it was determined that Jack is no longer eligible for services, because he doesn't qualify as "disabled." This is a good thing - it means that the little tiny 31-week preemie who was so far behind at two years old is all caught up now, five years later!

His intelligence testing showed, suprisingly to me and his teachers, that he his completely average across the board, except for slightly above-average in spoken language. We were kind of expecting him to "pop" on the gifted testing, because he really shows an incredible depth of thought in the questions that he asks. To have him be "average", well... I admit, I was disappointed. Hard to say why, exactly, other than that his father and I are both quite intelligent, and it's natural, I suppose, for us to expect that our children would all be the same way. On the other hand, Jack is in no way your average boy, and he certainly has his own gifts. And shortcomings! As do we all.

The difficulty, now, lies in the fact that he is seriously underperforming to his abilities. He seems to possess, I believe, no intrinsic motivation for getting his work done and done well. Granted, he's not even 7 years old and will hopefully develop that over time, but there is no sign of it at this point. He has a terrible time attending to directions given and focusing on task. So, our next step is to get him in to his pediatrician, with the assessments his teacher and I have filled out, and see about a dx for ADD. I'm extremely loathe to medicate him - I really don't want him to be a zombie! - but we will take it one day at a time and see what's what. If he needs help, I'm damn sure going to get it for him, but it won't be without many reservations. Stay tuned...

Halfway through the meeting, I started getting weepy. Not outright sobs or anything, but my eyes kept tearing up like crazy, and I couldn't get them under control. I just feel thoroughly responsible for any of the issues and problems Jack faces, like it's 100% my fault he is the way he is. I don't know whether that's completely irrational, but it's just the way I feel. I don't think Rob has any such ideation, so maybe that's just the "Mom Guilt" that all of us mothers have. It was completely embarrassing to be crying in front of a room full of professionals, though. I hate that! I am so emotional, and I can't stand it. I felt like saying, "I can't help it, I'm bipolar - just ignore me!" but of course I didn't. Everyone was really reassuring, too, telling me they'd be more concerned if I was unemotional about it and didn't care. And when I said that it seems Jack butts heads with me more than anyone else, and it's the hardest for me to get him to "do" things, like his work and reading and stuff, they all reminded me that this means he is most assured of his mother's love. I'll always be there for him, no matter what - and they won't. That helped.

Anyway...

In tears, I left and called my father back. He has long been telling me that he and his soon-to-be-fifth-wife, Kathy, would come up for Jack's 7th birthday this month. First, it was going to be the weekend right before his birthday. Then, they planned to get married that weekend and would come the following week. So I finally booked his party for the following week, only for Dad to call and tell me that they'd come the first week after all. What! I asked him to make up his damn mind (not in so many words) so I could get the invitations out... only to talk to him today and find out they're not going to come up until April now. Watch they don't even come at all. Whatever. I've long since learned not to tell the kids when he plans to come...

I didn't have much time until Jack and Sophie got off the bus - another tutoring session for Chloë - so I puttered until then. After the arrived home, I whisked them off for more deal-shopping! We went to the Walgreens down by Target to see if I could hit some of the deals that I couldn't get earlier, but I only got one thing. Oh, well, that's the way it goes, especially when things are on clearance. We ran to Target after that, where I had quite a long list as you will see. I managed to get all but two "deals" off that list in about an hour's time. Chloë had nothing after school, so I'd told her to stay the whole time and come home on the late bus. Normally, it takes an hour for her to get home on that bus, after dismissal, so I was counting on that. We raced home afterward, but she still beat me by a few minutes.

Luckily, I'd left the door unlocked just in case that happened, but I really need to go out and make her her own key. At 8½, we feel she's more than ready to be home by herself for very short periods of time, and she was completely fine when we arrived home. She bounced out of the house to help carry in the bags, smiling and talking all about her field trip that day do the Chrysler Museum in downtown Norfolk. She'd enjoyed it immensely!

Since I'd stayed up all night, I was tremendously exhausted by that point. I'd had Rob make me some coffee in the morning, which I haven't drunk in over a decade, and wowee!! That sure did the trick for long into the day, but it wore off. I fixed the kids a quick dinner out of some food from the Target trip, and then sat down on the couch to watch a movie with them. I forgot all about doing Jack's homework, and I fell sound asleep during the movie. Next thing I knew, the kids were heading upstairs for their bath and bed, kissing me goodnight. Such good kinders. (Not really; they can be so naughty! But they were good that night, at least...)

Friday

Rob got up with the kids, since I was dead to the world. I'd fallen asleep around 2000 Thursday night, and I didn't rouse until just before noon Friday. I had no idea what time it was, because my phone was dead, so I was worried I'd missed the kids' bus! I stayed awake for an hour after that, but I could barely keep my eyes open the whole time, so I went right back to sleep until bus time.

It was actually a big disappointment for me, since I'd planned to take my first subbing job Friday. I remember being called three times during the morning call-out period, but I just couldn't wake myself up enough to take a job.  Hopefully I won't pull any more all-nighters anytime soon. If it means taking my sleeping pill, I guess, so be it, because I just can't do that anymore. Not a spring chicken, y'know!

After the kids came home and had a snack, we went upstairs and worked on our rooms from 1600 'til 2200. Jack napped most of that time, but the girls helped me with the laundry and putting away all the stuff for our toiletry and toy stockpiles. I didn't even stop to cook dinner! I just sent them down to eat some of the huge yogurt stash we have going on... the girls were willing, but Jack fussed about it. He wanted mac & cheese, dammit! But no, nope, and nuh-uh, so yogurt it was. I even ate it myself, plus some salad. The Littles went to bed around 2100, but Chloë stayed up a little later to help me with the laundry until she was practically falling asleep sitting up! She wanted to keep helping, but I steered her toward her bed, poor sweet thing!

I kept working until Rob texted me at 2200 to say he was on his way home. Woohoo! I was supposed to host the 2300 hour in my monthly crochet-a-thon thing online, but I begged for someone else to do it so I could spend some QT with my guy. They happily took over, so I fixed him a quick dinner of salad, dirty rice and turkey sausage, which was a surprise when he came home. Usually he's left to fend for himself and has a bowl of cereal or a can of soup. We smooched a whole bunch, too - I'm so happy he's here!

Of course, the reason he came home is he is to go right back in to work all day Saturday (today), so not too thrilled about that. But the good news is, he's qualified to be promoted to Chief on the boards he took in January, which is GREAT news. He didn't think he did well on the test at all! Hopefully the rest of the qualifying stuff will go well, and he'll actually get promoted this time as he should. Fingers are tightly crossed and prayers are being said!

Also, he may be getting his LPO job back and switching back to days in a few weeks. More great news!! I seriously can't wait... the kids miss their daddy, and I miss him - and the normalcy, too.

With that, I'm heading off to bed. I was going to post the deals, but I'm tired now. Even though we've got no Saturday plans for once (woohoo), I still want to get up at a decent hour and be productive all day. So look for that post tomorrow, if it interests you!

Have a great weekend, y'all.

Fin.

P.S. Can you believe this was originally intended to be a "bullets" post! Pshaw.

Five Days O' Scouting

Oy vey, it has been a busy ... well, it's been busy for weeks! I have a trillion and one things to do, and I feel like I'm way behind on everything. Rob told me to take a break from blogging, but you know what? I really don't want to miss the show-and-tell about some of the fun and important things we've done as a family lately, so the answer to that is a big, fat NO!

On Thursday, we had Chloë's regular Brownies meeting. Nikki, their Troop Leader, had them making "people" out of different toy foods, as part of their learning that day about nutrition and the different food groups. They probably had the most fun doing this out of any activity I've seen them do all year! They were so lively and engaged; it was a lot of fun for them.

Chloë and Meighan's "food person"

She had a lot of fun with this activity!

I think everyone appreciated the portable DVD player that day! Jack and Sophia, who normally run around like hooligans during the Brownies meetings, sat there and watched Ponyo, quietly on the sidelines, for the entire time. It was such a relief! But now, it won't play... we'll definitely have to get that fixed before the next meeting!

On Friday night, we were supposed to have a cookie booth sale at Kroger. However, it was Bingo Night at the kids' school, and I'd asked for and received permission from the administration and the PTA to have a cookie table there, instead!  I asked for permission from the booth coordinator to do this, and she made lots of excuses and it was this whole big ordeal, but in the end, we were able to go and have our table at the Bingo Night. The Littles were babysat by Nikki's two older children, while she and G. were at the cookie sale with Chloë and me.

At first, I didn't think we were going to sell much at all, but in the end, the girls managed to unload 32 boxes, which is almost 3 cases. It's not fabulous, but like Nikki said, it's probably about what we would have done at Kroger, plus we were INSIDE and WARM. And we were so grateful to the school for letting us be there!

Saturday was a nutso day.

We had to get the kids up early, so we get Jack checked in for the Pinewood Derby District races by 0830. The Tigers raced starting at 0900. Unfortunately, Jack didn't feel well that morning, and he was over-tired and hungry, so he was quite the miserable little chap. He kept saying he didn't want to be there, poor thing. Can you find my little guy in the middle of the back row?

There he is!!

The boys had to hold their cars and listen for an extended period of time as the long-winded announcer explained everything to the crowd and tried to hype us up. The parents all cringed as the boys played with, fought with, dropped, and otherwise molested their somewhat delicate little cars! Rob commented that in his day, the boys weren't allowed to touch them at all, lest something happened to them. At the pack races last month, they didn't handle them. Shoulda kept it the same at Districts!

Finally, Jack's car was up. I think each car had to race twice in six or eight different heats. Something like that. It was a long morning, therefore! That's Jack's car up in the middle.

The girls, Rob and I whooped and hollered for Jack and his car, but he was so not enthused. Here he is, whining that he wanted to come sit with us. Poor guy. And yes, he's missing his neckerchief slide; we've since found it, but now I can't find the shirt!

Poor Jack zoned out between his car's races. He went home later and had a good, long nap.

Oh, so how did Jack's car do? Well, it just wasn't the same fast car after its accident at the pack races. It came in last for most of its heats, although it did come in first on this one and one other, I think.

In the end, Jack came in 9th out of all the Tigers at Districts. (I'm not sure how many there were, since there were a lot of ties.) I was actually kind of glad he didn't continue on, because we had so much else to do that day! And he didn't seem disappointed any, either.

At the end, he shook the announcer - Mike's - hand, as well as the Boy Scout who helped with the races, and we left. It was fun and exciting, but he didn't place in the top three. There's always next year!

A few hours later, we were scheduled for another cookie booth sale at the store Torrid, in a local mall. No one else signed up with us, and Nikki had tried to convince me to cancel it because she knew I was burned out... and I almost did. But then, I was picking up my cookie order from the cookie cupboard on Friday, and I heard that Torrid was a goldmine from another lady who was also there to get cookies. My ears perked up, and I decided to go after all, no matter what.

Well, that lady had been right!! I brought Sophia along again, as an honorary Daisy, but she was intimidated by all the mall shoppers and hid under the table the entire time. Rob and Jack helped us load all the cookies from the van, into our wagon, through the mall, and at the store. We only brought half the stash because of our Walk-About event on Sunday. However, on her own, Chloë was quite the little saleswoman, and she brought so many customers to our table! We had beenn warned that she could not go past the Torrid sales line or else mall security would come and yell at us, but they walked past three times, looked at her, and didn't say a darn thing. Hehe.

Halfway through, I had to page Rob to bring us the rest of our stash, because we were selling out of everything! Chloë started to peter out after the first hour, telling me she was hungry. So to boost her back up again, I said I would buy her a box of whatever kind of cookies she wanted, if she sold at least 75 boxes. That brought a huge smile to her face, a burst of energy to her step, and back out she went. In the end, she managed to sell 98 boxes of cookies in two hours! I wish I'd known she'd do so well there; I'd have booked two or three more Torried booths. Next year, I'll know...

In the evening, Chloë and I took a break from scouting activities to go to the Music in Motion Dance Company show in downtown Norfolk. I try to take her every year, so she can see what the talented older dancers are doing. Before this, she has been so young, but I think this year she really got into it. She has been dancing ever since, and she was so excited throughout the show, telling me how "cool" and "awesome" all the dances were. We had a great time on our Girls' Night Out, as she likes to call any outing with Mom. She'd already eaten dinner, or I'd have taken her for a bite to eat, too; however, it was late, and I still had a lot of work to do at home to get ready for Sunday.

Rob had been helping to clean up at home while Chloë and I were at the dance show, because I didn't have time to do it. He fell asleep as soon as we came home, leaving me alone to get everything else done. I baked three dozen cupcakes long into the night, from scratch. Vanilla and chocolate, with yummy Wilton candies on top. The girls really liked them when they received them the next day. Chloë even said they were the best cupcakes ever!

On Sunday, Chloë helped me get all the prizes separated into each girl's gift bags. Between the cupcakes and all the loot in their prize bags, I figured each girl would be happy after doing a great job at the sale. Chlo sure was excited to receive hers, in spite of - or because of? - knowing what was inside.

Later, we ran to the Dollar Tree to pick up balloons and things for decorating her cookie wagon for the Walk-About. She chose four balloons, a pinwheel, two huge green bows, and pink and purple leis. She thought she was going to get to ride in the wagon, so she was a tad bit disappointed when I told her it was for carting the cookies around!

Nikki showed up early with L. and G. to decorate their team's wagon. 

When (almost) everyone got there, we all posed with M's grandmother, who was our contact for the Samaritan House, our Gift of Caring organization this year. We were able to give them 24 boxes of donated cookies! Way to go, girls! (The dad who took this picture took a second one, and Sophia snuck her little self right in there. It was funny... wanna see? Okay.)

Can you find her? She ALWAYS does this!! Funny girl. :P

I wish I could say that our first Walk-About went off without a hitch, but there were a few snags along the way. I had planned everything carefully, down to the letter, for the past several weeks, but people started complaining about everything as soon as I explained how it was going to go. I was so frustrated and almost started yelling, but I held back, thankfully! Once everyone got going, they were happy and had fun for the most part, I think. I asked for feedback, but no one's been brave enough to give me any - yet. In the end, the girls sold a total of 115 boxes in just over an hour, and they raked in the moolah! We just have one weekend left to sell the rest of our boxes, so I hope we're able to do just that. I'll be so thankful when it's all over for another year!

On Mondays, we have Jack's Tiger den meeting. He came home from school in a terribly cranky mood, so I sent him to his room until he could come down and be more pleasant. It was no surprise, though, when he ended up falling asleep. He came down a half-hour before Cub Scouts in an unusually fantastic mood, so I was glad for that!

At the meeting, the little sister of one of the other Tigers had a game with her that Sophia and Chloë were interested in. Chloë had also brought her gift bag from the Walk-About to keep them busy, so she played with that while Sophia made fast friends with little J. They were so cute together!

Their activity tonight was making fish snacks. Leader Beth gave each of the boys - and the sisters - a graham cracker with blue vanilla frosting on top. They all received a bunch of S'mores goldfish crackers and flower sprinkles to decorate their "tanks." Everyone had a lot of fun making and eating their crafts tonight. And as always, they were careful to "leave no trace."

The boy-child with his, uh, rather busy masterpiece!

The girls were so thrilled to be included in this activity! Sometimes they don't get to participate - which is fine, it's not for them - but when they do, yay!

Back to J's game after their snack...

 

At the end of tonight's blessedly short meeting, Jack earned six more beads for his shirty-beady thing! Just three more to earn and then he gets what? His Tiger award? Or his yellow beads? I don't know; I'm confused, a little. But yay for more beads!  I'll take a decent picture as soon as we find the darned shirt.

********

And now back to work for me. I'm excited to report that I've received my official "you're a Va Beach substitute" letter in the mail, so I can begin getting assignments! The first day I have available if Friday, so I'm hoping to get something for then. I plan on taking every Wednesday off so I can get the little girl to her dance class on time and maybe help out in the kids' classrooms more than I have... or just to relax. I'm excited to get started!

Fin.  
  
  

 
  
 
  
  
  
  
  
 
  

 
 
  
  
  

 
  
  

 
 
  

Moving To The Beat

That title doesn't mean anything. It's just the song that's on my iPod right now. Yes, it's the Black Eyed Peas. I'm still listening to their The E.N.D. album constantly. It's catchy, y'all!

I haven't been productive this week. I've been sleepy. Today was no different; I slept until 1300 after being up 'til 0500 or so. I can't do that tomorrow, because Rob is on days just for the day for a Safety Stand-down, so I think I'm going to be staying up all night. It's the only way. I haven't been hearing my alarm at ALL. The lunches are already packed and ready go, so I just have to get the chillens up, fed and dressed.

Anyway.

After I got up, I sat at the computer to try and work out the weekly deals for Target, CVS, Rite Aid, Walgreens, Farm Fresh and Kroger! Dude. It's like a full-time job keeping up with everything! I don't know how I'm going to be able to do it when I'm subbing every day, seeing as how it's already Wednesday (well, Thursday now) and I haven't even gone to get the stuff that started on Sunday.

I already decided that I'm going to take off every Wednesday, though, because there's no way I can finish a sub job, get home, pick up the kids from the after-school house where they'll be, and get Sophie to her dance class on time. We'd be lucky to get there by the time it ended! So I won't work Wednesdays, and that will allow me to shop the weekly deals, too.

I didn't get much done on the deals, just because it really is a time-consuming task, before 1500. I had barely just enough time to shower, get dressed and run a comb through my hair, grab a magazine and the dance bag, and drive down to the bus stop to pick up the kids. We flew to class and got Sophie there five minutes late. Now that school ends 20 minutes later every day, it's going to have to be like that.

The plan, as usual, was to have Jack and Chloë work on their homework while Sophia danced, but neither of them had a pencil or anything with them, and I forgot to bring the "homework box." So none of it was finished in the whole two hours we sat there, between both girls' classes. Suckage. Jack covered his head with his coat and fell asleep for most of it, and Chloë read her library book. I read my magazine and alternately played Scrabble on my iPhone. I think have 22 games going at once right now!

Oh, did I mention (I know I didn't, so why am I asking?) that Sophia cut her hair again last night? Yeah. A third time. I sent the kids to bed, waited about 3½ seconds, and then went to lie down myself. I wasn't really tired, but I was super cold, so the only thing I could do was get under some blankets. Before I knew it, I was fast asleep. I woke up a couple hours later and found that the kids (Jack and Sophia, I later determined) had come down and eaten up almost all of those Ghirardelli chocolate bars I'd saved in the freezer for Rob! Then I went to the bathroom and found locks of little blond girl hair all over the floor. ARGHHHHH. And Sophie drew all over our yellow sheets with purple marker, too. That's where Rob found her when he came home - asleep in our bed, on top of her "artwork."

This is what she looked like after her last haircut, when all three of the kids went to get their hair fixed just a week  and a half ago:

 And this is what she looked like after dance class, outside the hair salon where I brought her for a fix-up tonight:

 

Ohhh, Sophie, Sophie, Sophie! You really did a number on yourself. Here's after the newest fix:

I have to admit, except for the extra-short piece where her bangs are screwy, it's actually pretty cute on her. But don't tell her that, please!!

Our box from The Children's Place was waiting for us on the porch when we came home after the haircut. I'd gotten 18 shirts (sizes 4 & 5 for Jack and size 7/8 for Chloë, for the future if they ever grow that big...) on clearance for $2.54 each! If you know TCP, then you know that's an excellent price. People mock those of us who like to dress our children in TCP and Gymboree, and the like, but if you shop the deals and clearances, you can pay less than what you'd spend on less cute and, often, lower quality clothes at Target and Wal-mart! I showed the kids all their new clothes - none for Sophie, since she mostly gets Chlo's hand-me-downs - and they were very excited about everything. Coupla clothes horses I've got here!

Chloë had decided to cash in 105 of her 108 Dad Dollars to treat herself and her siblings to kids' meals at Wendy's, so we had hit the drive-thru on the way home. I'm glad she did that, because she's had so many in her envelope, she wouldn't do anything for me, saying, "I don't need any more Dad Dollars." Of course, I haven't been making them spend them as much lately, letting them just watch DVDs and play games on my iPhone without "paying" me for them, so it's my own fault. Time to crack the whip again!

After the kids ate dinner, I helped with homework while working on the Double-Dollar Wednesday Farm Fresh deals. There were a LOT of excellent deals this week! It was after 8 by the time we got in the car to go get 'em, but I really couldn't pass up the goods. I'll spare you all the details (just this time, 'kay?), but I'll say I spent a grand total of $37.59 on all of the above! I saved a veritable crapload of money! And let me just tell you, those ZonePerfect bars, which I got for 19¢ each, are NASTY. I took one bite of one and, after gagging a little (not really), left the rest for Rob. His opinion was the same, but he ate it anyway! If you want the breakdown on what I got, I'll tell you, but it won't do you any good since (a) you probably don't live where there's a Farm Fresh and (b) it's no longer Wednesday, anyway! 

{If you DO live here in Hampton Roads and want to get the Double-Dollar Wednesday deals each week, be sure and subscribe to The Coupon Consultant in your blog reader! That's pretty much all she's good for, but it's worth it not to have to work it all out myself.}

After Farm Fresh, we actually tried to go to two other FF stores, because although I managed to get the four packs of yogurt above for free (two Dan-o-nino and two Activia), I could have also gotten four more (two DanActive and two Danimals Crush Cups - Jack's FAVORITE) for free. Every store in the area was sold out! So 2100 is definitely not the time to go out and shop the deals. First thing is the best thing. Oh, well - win some, lose some.

{I'm finding it seriously hard to type this up and listen/sing to the Peas at the same time, so if it's all crazy, forgive me!}

We went back home, and the kids helped me carry in the food. They always get so excited to see what I bought, even when they were there with me! It's so funny. I kind of feel the same way, though. Before my surgery, I'd get so excited about all the fun new food, I'd eat way too much of it that first night. They were all hungry again, so I let them each have a yogurt before getting ready for bed.

I was cleaning up the kitchen when Rob came home not long after that. He got off early tonight; I think he was home before 10, whereas he normally strolls in sometime between 0100 and 0400. That was nice, even though I was sorta cranky with him! I don't care how mad I am at him, I still love it when he comes home and is near me. And he knows it, the punk.

Okay, back to my deals for tomorrow. And my tunes.

Fin.

PS I spoke to the person in charge of new leaders over at the Girl Scout council today. I'm getting the ball rolling already on being Sophie's Daisy leader. I'm so excited to begin my training!

PPS When Rob got home, I set him to work fixing the Hoover FloorMate I got from Freecycle, because the dog has pretty much painted the ENTIRE downstairs flooring with her muddy footprints, and I do not relish the idea of cleaning the entire thing on my hands and knees. Welp, it's beyond repair. Man, I was really excited about the idea of a simple clean every single night, too. Maybe I'll get one off Amazon, since I just cashed in my Swagbucks for my fourth $5 Amazon gift certificate! Between SB and Deal Seeking Mom's Coupon Database, I have $45 in free money already, since mid-January or so. Woot!

Like It's Going Out Of Style

{Forewarning, this is gonna be a super-long post. Grag a drink and put your feet up.}

Spending money, that is... We got our big ol' tax refund Friday, and I've been paying bills and doing some (very necessary) shopping. I'm going to rub the magnetic strip right off my debit card soon!

The kids worked on addressing their valentines Thursday night, as they all had Valentine's Day parties in their respective classes on Friday. Did I ever show you their cards? Let me know if I didn't and you want to see them. I got a set of 25 free V-day photo cards (4x8") for each of them, from SeeHere, and they turned out really well, except that the words weren't printed on Chloë's cards for some reason, and she had to write them in. Jack complained about addressing his envelopes at first, because I made him read the names to me intstead of just copying them down. He's a very lazy reader. Who knows how much he can actually read? He pretends he can't, when really it's "don't wanna try." Today he asked me, "What does 'Sprint' mean?" after seeing it written, when no one had told him what it said, so I know he he can read words longer than 3-letters! He acts like he can't, though.

Sophia only wrote about four of her envelopes out, before she got bored and started drawing pictures instead, and then she gave up entirely after two of those. She's a mirror-image left-handed writer, so I always have to guide her to go from left to right instead of the reverse, and then face her letters the correct way. She still couldn't do it, so I wrote it out for her and told her to copy. We're hoping that she'll figure it out during her kindergarten year. I still think it's really cool, though. I'm ambidextrous, and when I write left-handed, I write mirror-image, too. Otherwise, it's not nearly as neat. Like Leonardo da Vinci!

I just practiced. Actually, it's just as neat going both ways. But I haven't done it in a long time; I used to try to write lefty a lot more often and could do much better. But who cares?

I didn't get a picture of Chloë writing hers, because it was too dark where she was sitting, but she gave me this Valentine on Wednesday. I absolutely freaking love it!! If you can't read it, it says "Dear Mom, I sure love you. You rule. You're my girl. Mom, u r mine. You're my true love. You have a ♥ of gold. Ask me something. Tell dad I love him. Email me. Got love? Love, Chloë" Is that cute, or what??!  Sadly, the kids picked off and ate all the glued-on candy hearts shortly after I took the picture, but at least I have this!

So I never went to bed that night, because I was too amped up about finally paying some bills when the refund came in at midnight - together with Rob's mid-month pay. All that $$ was so exciting to me, and I couldn't wait to pay the bills! Everything is paid for, and we're still well in the black. I made several phone calls and managed to get many late and over-limit fees removed if I paid in full, and stuff like that, so it was kind of fun seeing how I could whittle down the amounts.

And then, around 0600 or so, I went to pay our car insurance premium. It renews this month, so I was looking over the documents. The amount actually went way down, so I was trying to figure out why, when I came across the driver history section. There, I found two incidents listed under my name for 2009, for speeding - and I hadn't gotten any tickets!! I was incensed, I tell ya. I immediately called up Progressive, who told me that they had just pulled up that information from the state to get our new rate, and that it was coming directly from them.

The hell you say! So then I had to wait three more hours (well, I took Rob's say-so that they didn't open 'til 0900, when really I found out later they'd opened at 0800. Buggers), all antsy and irritated, before the DMV opened. Imagine my surprise when they told me that not only do I NOT have three points on my license, but I had three PLUS points for my good driving record, soon-to-be four plus points when the 2009 record hits! I made her reiterate it three times before I took her word for it and hung up.

Back to Progressive. The lady (and I use that term loosely) I spoke to gave me the brush-off, telling me that their information was from the state, and that's all there was to it, buh-bye.

Back to DMV. I talked to someone new, who told me the same thing as the first person, and that sometimes the insurance companies get their information from other sources than DMV, but that they were the actual-true-real-deal authority, and I definitely didn't have any points on my license. (I knew for a fact that I didn't get those tickets, because for the first one, I had JUST had major surgery and was still heavily drugged, and the second one happened in North Carolina, and I definitely was not there in June, but still! It was very ... bewildering, this whole thing.)

Progressive again. I asked straight-away to speak to a manager, and that person came on the phone immediately, as sweet as could be. I gave her my story, and a few minutes later we discovered that they had my license number wrong for the record inquiry! What a huge relief that was, ... we were thinking my identity had been stolen, although fat luck to that person trying to use my credit! Heh. The manager pretty much bent over backward apologizing for the mistake and the rude person I'd talked to prior to that, and then she went over everything with a fine-toothed comb to make sure we were getting all the discounts we should be getting. We weren't, because we hadn't gone paperless yet, so of course I immediately agreed to that. After that and the error fixing, the premium went down another hundred bucks or so. Sweet! (It initially went down because a lot of Rob's accidents finally fell of their three-year record. Yes, he's had a lot of ... driving issues. ::snort::)

So. That out of the way, and Rob was just back from getting the card for taking his motorcycle safety class, way back months ago. He lost the card, and he couldn't go take his road test without it. Why he waited all these months to get a new one is beyond me, but let's not go there. We've had words.

I wanted to go out shopping after that, so he went with me. He'll go get his road test on Tuesday, hopefully.

Our first stop was at Walgreens, to pick up the developed pictures from the kids' disposable cameras. I haven't looked at them yet; Rob ran in to get them. Apparently a lot of them were cruddy, and he got credit back for those (do you know you don't have to pay for bad pictures? Just give them the ones you don't want, and ask for credit). They're from our two trips to Great Wolf Lodge last year. Then there was this photo collage - no clue why it won't scan properly - that I got free for Valentine's Day. Did you get one? Sign up for emails from Walgreens Photo! Or read those deal blogs; the code was on there, too. Anyway, this one is, of course, all the pix from Jack's Derby, and it's just in time, too, as we really need to start his family scrapbook for Tiger Cubs. This will be his first entry!

We went to Target after that and got lots and lots of great deals! I took smaller photos of individual deals, to break it down for you, but I never got around to posting about that last night. If you're interested in knowing, I can still do that.

It was funny, because I overheard someone saying, "She's doing the same thing we're doing," in one of the aisles. So I looked up, smiling, and asked her if she was a couponer. She was, so I asked her if she read the coupon blogs. She did, so I asked her if she reads "Hip 2 Save" (look it up on Swagbucks!) - and she does!  We, um, high-fived each other in the aisle. Rob just shook his head and called me a dork. It's true. I totally am.

We spent way too long shopping the deals at Target - I'd somehow wanted to go there, Walgreens, CVS, and out to lunch for a mystery shop before he had to go to work, ha! - and he was checking his watch every five seconds at the end. I ended up getting him home about 15 minutes late, oops. 

I still had about three hours before the kids were due home, but I knew that wasn't enough time to go out and do the mega-grocery shopping trip I wanted to do at Walmart. I've been printing out loads of internet coupons, and they were all set to expire Saturday. I didn't want them to go to waste. But there wasn't time.

And then I remembered Chloë's Valentine's Day dance as school! I only just found out about it on Thursday night, when she was in tears about not going. Huh??? I told her I would go to the school and buy her a ticket, and I'm so glad I remembered at 1400, because they were not sold at the door. 

At the school, they told me all about the dance, because I knew no details. It was from 1900-2100 (rather late for 3rd-5th graders, don't you think?), and parents were absolutely NOT invited, along with younger or older siblings. Humph. Some kids would dress up like debutantes, some would dress way down, and everywhere in between. Chloë wanted to wear her pink gown from iPOP, so we were just hopeful it would still fit. (It's a 4T, and although she is eight, she mostly wears a 5T. As does her 4yo sister!)

First things, first, though.

Hello, what's this??

I'm gonna get you, sucka!

Is that not the most gorgeous mixer you have ever seen?! When Williams-Sonoma emailed me and said this special-edition KitchenAid mixer was on sale for this weekend, oooh, I wanted it baaad. Rob was out somewhere at the time, I think at Wal-Mart getting stuff like a new headlight for my van, when I got the email. He had asked me if I wanted anything for Valentine's Day, but we agreed that, well, he's buying me yet ANOTHER surgery, and I'm getting him five pairs of (cute and sexy, we hope) jeans, and that would just be swell. But then, hey, wait a minute, this mixer that I've been eyeballing for the last, oh, 70,000 years is on SALE, and hello, it's RED!!! I ♥ red. 

So, we texted back and forth, and I batted my lashes electronically as hard as I could, and he kept saying, "we'll see." We'll see, we'll see. Aaaghhhh! 

Well, he tried to buy me the mixer right there at Wal-mart, but they didn't have it. Aw, so sweet.

The entire time he was gone, I sat at my computer and gazed at the pretty picture. And, well, I shopped around for it at Amazon and the Navy Exchange site, too, but only Williams-Sonoma had THAT one and THAT price. I coudn't put it out of my mind.

And then, I had this dinner mystery shop to do Friday night, before Chloë's dance. I swear I didn't plan that it that way, because I'd had the shop for two weeks, but it just so happened to be right down the road from the Williams-Sonoma actual physical STORE, people!! So, all innocent and just checking, I called up the store to see if they carried that mixer, the one on sale, you know the RED one - and they did. But they only had two left, and they were flying out the door, so I better hurry if I wanted one. 

I wanted one.

I called Rob and told him. He said, "Okay, get it." Wooooot!!!!!!!! I love that guy. All we've talked about is paying off this and paying off that and making lists of the things the kids need and he needs ... but he let me have this one splurge that I really, really don't deserve.

Except that I do. Because I use my mixer a lot, and it has recently gone to mixer heaven, and I've been bereft without it. I mean, I've been mixing by HAND people, and I have early arthritis! Poor, poor me, I know. It's not that bad. But it does hurt.

So, we stopped at WS, and I ran in and asked for the mixer, and they just looked at me like I was nuts. Which I am, but that's beside the point. Turns out, they only had the one on display left, and the couldn't find the box for it. So I had to wait and wait, all the while anxiously watching the time, because we were going to be late for the dance.

While I waited, I looked around, and of course my eyes lit upon the lemon poppy seed quickbread mix that Rob absolutely adores. Aha! The first thing I will make in my mixer, a little thank-you present for Hubs. And then I wandered over to the Wüsthof knives, to see what Rob was missing from his Wüsthof collection that I've been amassing for him over the years. He loves those knives, man. 

Well, he really wants a cleaver, I think, but I just don't see a lot of meat chopping happening in our kitchen. And, we're still using the same crappy set of steak knives that I got when I moved into my first apartment a dozen years ago, a Kmart special, so I have been wanting to get those for him. Only, have you ever priced a set of Wüsthof steak knives? I have. Not so cheap.

But... I found the Gourmet set of four, which is still a nice knife, but not as hefty or, well, good, as the rest of their knives, at a workable price point. I decided to get a set of four for him now, and then another set of four down the road, and then we could always upgrade further in the future. Right? Only, they didn't have any in stock, except for the two that were on display. Big bummer, I really wanted to surprise him with those.

I was still excited, though. The salesman carried out my new mixer to the car, and the kids haven't stopped talking about it. They're just as excited about it as I am (well, probably not)! It really is a beautiful sight to behold. Thank you, my love!!!

Then we went to dinner. I'd told the salesman to call me if they found the other two knives, as I would be just down the road, but they never called. Still haven't. Ah, well. Dinner was fun. The kids ate really well, even Jack, which surprised me since it was Tex-Mex. The girls always like a quesadilla, but you never know what - or if - Jack will eat. Besides chips. He's always good for chips.

So he asked for an all-chicken burrito. No cheese, no tomatoes, no lettuce, NOTHING but chicken. When they served our food and he bit into his burrito, he instantly started sobbing because everything was on it. Argh. I brought it back and reiterated, JUST CHICKEN (dammit)!

When it came back out, I thought he might eat two bites and then be done, but no! He scarfed the entire, adult-sized burrito down in five minutes flat. Boy was hungry. Mom was thrilled. 

Back at home, we got Chloë dressed as quickly as possible. I'd already made her take a shower, so her hair would be clean and curly, but she decided she wanted an updo for her "ball," as she called it. (A ball! At eight! How cute.)  She wanted a bun, plus one of the headbands I'd made. Sho' thing, sweetness. When she asked for a little make-up, I was hesitant, as that's something we reserve for dance recitals only. But then I figured, oh, why not? What would it hurt? 

I always love putting mascara on her. She's got her father's amazing lashes, and BOING, they just pop right out with mascara.  Can you see?

While my lovely little lady searched for her tights, I had to do some spot-cleaning on her dress. There were brown streaks and dots all over it. It's been hanging in my closet since iPOP two years ago, so who knows what happened to it?? Probably Sophia, she likes to hang out in there. Fortunately, everything came right out with just a little water, and it didn't leave water stains. Doesn't she look like a little princess? She said she felt like one, too.

At the dance, after she walked in, I could hear people murmuring everywhere, "Look at Chloë! Look at Chloë!" and she glided around, obviously feeling like the belle of the ball. She felt very special, I just know she did. I grabbed this quick photo with her two teachers (she's team-taught), who were busy running the concessions (oops, forgot to give Chloë any money for snacks), and then she was off. I barely got a chance to kiss her good-bye, tell her to have fun, or remind her to call me if she needed me! She was just off, into the dance, without a wave.

My big girl.

Meanwhile, I drove the Littles home. Sophia was crying because she just wanted to stay and watch, and the more I explained that neither one of us were allowed there, the harder she sobbed. Which was all it took, because on the drive home, I got more than a little teary-eyed myself. My oldest daughter's first real dance...!!! In ten years, she'll be in college. Make it stop, make it slow down!!

Back at home, the Littles and I had at ton of work to do. The house, as usual, was a disaster, and I wanted it cleaned up for two reasons: I had to pick up cookies the next day and needed the space, and Linda would be coming to babysit them while I did so. I hate having people over to a messy house!

After taking the new mixer out of the box and admiring it while they had some dessert (just candy from their school parties), and then admiring it for a few minutes longer, we got down to business. I swept the floors while they cleaned up toys, and we got everything cleared out, put away, and cleaned up. Except the kitchen and bathroom, which I never did get to last night. Oh, well, c'est la vie.

Finally, it was time to pick up Chloë. Actually, who am I kidding, the time flew by in a blink. Two hours really isn't that long when you have two other kids to keep you busy! Still, I was excited to go see the girl-child and hear all about the dance.

I couldn't find a parking spot, so we parked in the middle of the (what I call a) "go-way" and dashed in to get her. Lots of people were leaving, so I had to hurry. I couldn't find her, and then I ran into the cafeteria ballroom and saw her with a group of people dancing, mid-twirl. Great! Only, then she stopped and started chewing on her shawl thingy. I can't think of what it's called... Wrap, duh. Her wrap.

And then I got closer, and I could see the tears. She was crying!! Oh, no!! I ran in, grabbed her by the shoulders and rushed her out, away from the crowd, to a far corner. The whole time I was telling her, "Don't cry, don't cry, don't cry in front of everyone, it's okay, it's okay, it's okay," because I thought she was just having an I-need-my-mommy moment, and maybe she would rather be a big girl in public, but my baby in private, you know?

Plus I didn't want her mascara all over her face in front of everyone. 

Except what I didn't know was, she was hurt! Someone had accidentally just hit her in the throat while they were dancing, but I didn't see that. She was clutching her neck and trying to keep from sobbing, poor thing. I calmed her down, we shook it off, and turned to face the teachers who were coming over to check on her. All was well, I assured them, and then we dashed back out to the car before someone keyed it. I was parked BAD. Not badly. Just BAD.

Otherwise, the dance was great, and she really enjoyed herself! She had asked me if she could have a date if a boy asked her, but I had told her no, she was too young for that. So on the way to the dance, she told me she was hoping that a certain boy would be there. I asked if she liked him. Yes... Did she like him like him? Yes!! Oh, my gosh, my daughter likes a boy!  I have to see this kid. Oh! I just realized, I could check him out in last year's yearbook. Oh, please let him be cute. ;)  I told her that it was all right if she danced with a boy, but absolutely no kissing!

So I found out after, this particular boy was not at the dance, and she was disappointed, but she did dance with two other boys. She even held hands with one - and he's a fourth grader!! I was beside myself. This growing up stuff is crazy. One minute they're saying, "ew, boys are gross," and the next, they're holding hands and dancing. Oh, I could cry just thinking about it. Too late, I am!!

Man. What a big night.

Everyone, especially Mommy, was exhausted when we got home, so the kids went right to bed. And then I did, too. Zzzzzzz

********

I know this is really long, and I haven't even done Saturday yet. I thought about breaking it up into two separate posts, but hey, I'm on a roll here. If I stop, I'll probably go take a break and then never come back. So this here is your intermission. You go take a break; I'll be here when you get back. Ready? Go!

********

Saturday.

Thank God the kids were up late and were really tired, because I hadn't slept the night before, and I was exhausted. I was barely aware of Rob coming home from work that night, and leaving for work again the next morning. Poor guy. I slept like the dead, for twelve straight hours. Thankfully, the kids slept in, too, so no harm done.

At ten, they woke me up, all excited because Miss Linda was coming. They had seen her on Bunco night, but then they were too involved with Tabitha's puppy and the toys to really pay much attention to her after that. They didn't want breakfast, they didn't want to get dressed - they just wanted Linda!

I was still tired and moving really slowly, so I hadn't gotten any further cleaning done by the time she showed up three hours later. I really didn't care, though. Hope she didn't!

I had an appointment way out in EBF Chesapeake to get to, for picking up the cookies for our troop, so I didn't really chat with her much. I expected to be gone two, maybe three hours, judging from how it went last year.

I was so wrong!! This year's team was super-organized and efficient. I was back home within an hour, and the drive itself took more than 20 minutes. Maybe 25! They asked my troop number, told me where to back up to, and loaded my van. I signed my papers and that was it. I was off!

Linda offered to help me unload the cookies from the van, and so of course I wasn't about to turn her down. I hope she wasn't just being polite! I carried the boxes from the van to the house, and she and the kids carried them into the office and organized them by type. Last year, they were all jumbled, and it was crazy trying to fill orders. And this isn't even half of them - the rest are on the other side. I ordered 79 cases, so hopefully they'll do well at booth sales. Our first one is this coming Friday night.

Then she asked me if I wanted this bookshelf that she had in her truck, that a friend was selling. Did I want it? The price was really good, and it's exactly what I have been wanting for their books for ages now! I paid maybe 30% of the cost, and it's in excellent condition. The kids absolutely love it and set right to work filling it with their books. I'm just so excited to have the books out of the cramped cabinet and actually on display for them to see what they have!

Then I shooed Linda away, because the kids and I had a lot of things to go do. Our first stop was to get gas, because both my "change oil" light and "get gas" light were on in the van. Glug, glug, glug, that was a quick pit stop. We drove 'round the corner to the place where I like to get Vanna's oil changed, but they were packed solid. He told me it would be a long wait, so I said, sayonara bitches! Not really, I just said I'd come back Monday morning. No time to waste!

We went back to Target after that, because I hadn't gotten one of my canvas bags, containing a bunch of TP wipes and the catfood my girlies were starving for. Also, the cashier had charged me double for the light bulbs. We took care of that, and then of course all three of the kids needed to use the bathroom. At least it was all taken care of at once this time!

On to Wal-Mart. I did a shopping trip like I've never done before. I brought my entire coupon box, instead of just the ones I needed, because Wal-mart doesn't really run a regular grocery ad (that I know of, anyway), so I had no clue what deals I would find. And I wanted to use up as many of those internet printables as I could. So, we went section by section through my coupon box - except for toiletries and cleaning supplies, which I'm stocking up well on at the drug stores - and spent literally EIGHT HOURS at the store, grocery shopping. We filled FIVE carts, averaging about $200 per cart (before coupons)! 

I only did this for two reasons: our food supply was super-low, and we actually had the money for once to do it. So, it was time to get that stockpile really going. 

The first thing we did was go to the eyecare place. Jack's glasses are all kinds of crooked, and I wanted them to fix 'em. But they were really busy, and I figured we could go back later. I thought we'd be in the store maybe three hours - definitely not eight! Oh, my word.

Then we hit the deli. Jack has been asking for turkey sandwiches for his school lunches, because he has been sick to death of PB&J and refusing to eat them. We haven't had the money for deli meat, so I kept having to tell him, "next time, buddy," when I went shopping. At the deli, we ordered a ton of food. Turkey pastrami for me (four pounds, for freezing, because it's so cheap and I love it so much!), and they let us eat a piece to taste. Chloë loved it, so I'm glad I got the four pounds, because Rob loves it, too. Then I saw the bologna. The kids have never in their lives tried it before, so I had no clue whether they would like it. They tried it; Chloë thought it was disgusting (uh-huh), but Jack and Sophia absolutely loved it. So a pound of that, then ham for Rob, and then some mozzarella (girls' choice) and meunster (mine) to top things off. Yum!

While we were at the deli, my kids made a friend with a little girl they'd never seen before. She was very friendly, and they were instant pals. They played a game of make-believe while their parents all ordered from the deli, and everyone around watched them with sweet smiles on their faces. It was really cute.

I started texting Rob when my cart was half-full, because he was supposed to have gotten off work already, and I knew I would need him to join us at the store. My cart was overflowing, and still no Rob. Hurry, hurry! He finally showed up, but I forgot to have him take Jack to get his glasses fixed, because Chloë really needed to go potty again. She was going to explode, I think! Naturally, all the kids had to go at the same time, again.

I shopped and shopped, coupon by coupon. When Rob first got there, we were in the dairy section. I was buying up all the yogurt in the place; my kids eat it like, well, like it's going out of style! And there were lots of great deals. Good prices, of course, are the only thing that bring me into Walmart. He kept telling me, there was no way I was going to fit it all in the fridge and freezer. We have a deep freezer too, but it's a smallish one. 

"Not going to get it all in."

"Oh, I'll get it in."

Then we went to do the freezer stuff. And the meat. And his cart started overflowing, too. 

"Not going to get it all in."

"Oh, I'll get it in!"

When his cart was full, I sent him and a now-sleeping Sophia to buy that stuff and keep it out in the car - it's cold enough - and then come back and keep shopping. A lady stopped me and said, "Hey, are you selling cookies this year?" I was all, "Huh? Who are you?" and then she explained she was a neighbor who had bought from us last year, and she'd recognized Chloë and then me. We hadn't gotten to her street yet, and she was waiting for us. That was cool. I gave her my number, so hopefully she'll call today and order a bunch!

We kept shopping, and shopping, until all the coupon categories were gone through, and we had four carts full (not including the stuff in the car from the fifth one)! It was quite a trip getting up to the cash register. I sent him to go get six huge bins for storing our stockpile, since all we have is one lousy little pantry that doesn't hold too much. While he was gone, a man in the next line was eyeballing my carts and watching me unload it all. He seemed relieved when I said something to the cashier about my husband bringing another cart, and he said, "Oh, good, I was worried you had done all that by yourself!"

Well, Rob came back after that man left, and then he had to go back and get something else we thought we'd forgotten (but hadn't, and then we bought it twice). The man returned and came up to me, saying, "I came back in to help you, because it's a lot of work..." I told him my husband would be right back, but thank you, that's very sweet!

Rob thought it was creepy. 

I didn't get creepy vibes from him at all, but I coudn't tell if he was hitting on me or just being nice. Was it weird??

Anyway. We spent a buttload of money, but we saved a good deal with all those coupons, too. I apologized to the two women behind us for taking so long, but they were really sweet and wished us a good night. Then began the ordeal of getting everything into the van, the second time it had been packed full that day. My back was absolutely aching, so Rob let me sit it out while he packed it up. When we set off, we started for home and then he remembered his truck! Oops, we hadn't driven over together, so I had to go back.

On the way home, I praised the children up and down for their absolutely wonderful behavior. I mean, eight hours at the grocery store is pretty darn outrageous, but they behaved like absolute angels!! They were so good, and I thanked them and told them I was so proud of them. I could tell they were pleased with themselves.

 
 
  
The kids, of course, were absolutely starving out of their minds, and they were freezing, too. Especially Jack. He was too cold to walk to the kitchen and had to be carried. Too cold to eat his soup and needed a straw. Poor guy was miserable. I could relate. They all ate a pretty good dinner and then went down to the couch to watch G-Force while we put away groceries. Sophia was wide awake, having napped at the store, but Jack and Chloë were out like a light in just a few minutes.

It took three hours, but I filled the six bins and reorganized the whole pantry, so now we have a real, working stockpile. From now on, I can just buy stuff that's free or almost free! Our bins are full, and they are labeled according to what's inside for easy access. I hope this all works out and isn't more trouble than it's worth.

After I put all the dry goods away, Rob finally brought in the cold stuff. My eyes went wide. I had definitely overbought! Definitely.

"You're never going to get it all in."

But guess what?

I got it in.

Fin.

P.S. Yes, I was proud of myself and did the happy dance. It was a lot of work! 
  
 
  

Shenaniganizing

I was a trouble-maker at the doctor's office today, but you know what? I don't care.

After I posted last night, I ended up soaking in a tub that Rob says was very hot but felt like lukewarm to me. It did the trick, though, and I was able to stop shivering. And crying.

When I got up to go to the doctor this morning, I put on layer after layer after layer to keep warm. It worked. I looked like the Michelin man, but I was warm, dammit!

So when the nurse or whatever called me back, and took me to the scale, I half-jokingly asked if it was really necessary to be weighed, since I had about ten layers on and was just there last month. She looked at me and said, "Well, you'll need to take them off..."

"Oh, no," I returned. "I'm not taking it off."

"You're not taking it off?!"

"I'm not taking it off."

"Okay, then. Let's go," she muttered, walking me to the exam room. Then, she told me I had to take all my clothes off so she could check my vitals. I took off my coat, but I told her I wasn't taking anything else off.

"You have to take it off!"

"No, I don't. My blood pressure is good, really good, like 110 over 60 the last time I was hear, and I promise it hasn't changed. I'm freezing, and I'm not going to get naked in here."

"Listen, you can't just come in here for a weight loss follow-up and not be weighed, not have your vitals checked..."

"I'm not in here for a weight loss follow-up!"

"Well, that's what your paper says!"

"Then the paper is wrong!"

"Listen, they don't just write down any old thing, they write down what you tell them!"

"I didn't write it down, they can write down whatever they want, but that doesn't make it so!"

And 'round and 'round we went, until she huffed out, muttering under her breath, and into the provider's office next door. Still bitching; I could hear her for several minutes. I didn't care. I was NOT going to take off all my clothes and ruin the good warmth I had goin' on, you hear me??  One layer, and that would have been the end of it. Chills and shivers all over again. No thanks.

The provider (he's not a doctor, but I'm not sure if he's an NP or a PA or just what) came in after a few minutes, shrugging his shoulders and telling me he's sorry it's cold, but it's standard procedure to take the vitals of every patient, for every visit.

I said, look, all I need is to get my referral to my surgeon updated, and maybe some chelated iron if you can prescribe that. You don't even have to look at me.

He agreed, wrote "refused" on my chart for the vitals, and told me that the next time I needed this same referral, to just call him up - I didn't even need to come in! So I could have saved myself the trouble of dealing with the angry nurse.

Who was probably in a fine mood until I came in wearing my ten layers, but whatever.

I stayed warm, people!

I relayed the above to Rob after I got out, and he called me a trouble-maker. Laughingly, of course. So the word "shenaniganizer," I think from Cloudy With... has been in my head all day because of it.

********

The Girl Scout cookies are coming in this Saturday, so to make room for dozens and dozens of cases in the office, here, I planned to finally get clean it up and clear it out. Well, that didn't happen. I was so tired after I got home from the doc, after being up all hours of the night taking a bath, that I just needed a nap. And so I did, for two hours, until the kids came home.

Chloë didn't come home, though, because she started back to the math tutoring today. Jack and Sophie played and snacked, until it was time to pick her up. I was going to let her come home on the activity bus - last time I picked her up each time - but between Ballet lessons every Tuesday and Brownies every other Thursday (the two days of tutoring), it's just not going to happen too often!

We picked up and intended to rush right over to dance class, but we sat in traffic for ages instead. So she was ten minutes late. Have I mentioned that I hate being late?? Hate it.

While she pranced, the Littles played in the back. I made their dentist appointments and my follow-up with the plastic surgeon (for this morning at 0830, which is why I'm still up instead of trying to get any sleep), and then I read a magazine. Pretty uneventful, which is why I'm telling you. I think you need to know every breath I take, don't you?

The rest of the evening went quickly and calmly. The kids wanted pizza (groan) for dinner, and they ate the entire thing. At least they're not sick of it, and it's somewhat healthy...

Homework was done - but not without Jack getting pizza grease all over his math paper, ugh - and everyone washed up. They took a shower, I worked on laundry, The End.

After they went to bed and the laundry was all folded, I finally got the motivation to do some work. I swept the floor and then got out the CARE Package bins containing donated items for the layettes (the vast majority of which came from Rob's mom).  There was a lot more going on in there than it may look like; my office was covered with knit, crocheted, sewn and quilted goodness!

I'm glad I went through the bins. I found this cowl that I knitted a while back and promptly forgot about. I wore it for over an hour, until I was so hot that I had to strip down a few layers to a single one! And I found the kids' tooth pillows that have been missing for over a year (did I really need to buy three? What's the likelihood of three kids losing a tooth on the same night? Probably nil), along with all those nice dishcloths and towels that I made to sell at the craft shows. But didn't. So, they're ours now, and now I don't have to make more! I never did do that last night...

I worked for hours assembling packages - stopping only to cook yet another pizza for Rob's return from work, and ew, don't eat the buffalo chicken one. Too spicy! - and printing out cards to put in them. Each package gets a sweater or gown or other body covering, a hat, a pair of booties or socks, and a blanket. They also get a card with information about our charity on one side and suggestions for what to do with their baby as they're saying good-bye on the other, our business card, and a "CARE" silicone bracelet.

I've long wanted to include disposable cameras, but of course we don't have the budget for that. I've been meaning to write to the various camera companies (Kodak, Fuji, etc.) and see if they'll donate some, but I haven't yet. Then I got the idea tonight to see if Ziploc would sponsor us, too, since I use a great deal of their bags for the packages!

I do have lots of gift bags from baby showers, but I haven't started using them yet. First, because that would only be a temporary solution as I don't plan to buy more when they're gone and don't get a lot donated, and second, because it doesn't work well with the way I like the packages to work. You can't really see what you're getting through a gift bag, and my stickers labeling size and sex might not be seen as well on the gift bags. So... I don't know. Maybe I'll just give them to the hospital and let them deal with them?

In the end, I was able to assemble exactly 30 complete packages for donation to the children's hospital, without having to lift a needle or hook myself to add something! This is exciting; usually I have to work for ages to make booties or hats to finish half the packages, but I had everything I needed and more. Thank you, to all of you out there who made this possible!

There were a surprising number of items in the packages that I did make, though, just not tonight. Beautiful sweaters out of Rowan yarn, and Malabrigo, and other fancy stuff. I love to squish and squeeze those soft, fine wools. Ohhh, how I do.

The hardest part of the night was assembling two or three toddler packages. I would just sit there with the items on my lap, pouting and frowning and trying hard not to think of the child who would need to receive them. So very sad. Of course, they're all sad... but the longer you have your child with you, I think the harder it is to say good-bye. Just my theory, anyway.

Remember this Baby Suprise jacket that I made? Probably not, it's been a LONG time. I never put buttons on it! Sorry, Steph, I had to take your job tonight, and these are the buttons I ended up with. Not too exciting, but they'll do. They'll do.

And that was the last item for the 30th package. Tomorrow, after I get home from plastics (and hopefully scheduling my abdominoplasty!!), I'll call up my contact at the Children's and see if I can arrange a drop-off. I haven't talked to her in over a year; that's how long it's been since CARE Package has made a substantial donation. We've mailed out packages to parents here and there, but this is the first one in a while, as I took 2009 off to mostly do what I felt like.

I'm ready now, though, to get back into working hard, full-time for our charity. I do have to make some longies - or shorties, now that Luke is almost 4 mos? - that I promised Steph, but otherwise, I am going to pick up hooks and needles for CARE Package again. I'm excited!!

Fin. 

P.S. I keep forgetting to add that I got a letter Monday, saying that Chloë had some artwork chosen to be put on display down at the airport! Her artwork will be exhibited throughout February. I can't wait to go and see it. She asked me not to, though, very modestly saying it was terrible and that she's "not creative." Whatever! She is SO crafty and clever. She thinks it's a clown, of which she doesn't seem to be very proud, but she's not sure. Will keep you posted.
 
 
  

Goodies From Grandma

Hey again, y'all. I'm yawning like crazy here, but I think I slept well enough that I really don't need a nap. And besides, I have stuff to do and the kids only have a half-day and it's 1100, so I really can't take one even if I did require a little more sleep!

Anyway.

Tuesday night into Wednesday, I didn't get a lick of sleep. I was just wired! For no reason that I could think of, other than maybe I'd slept so much during the day? Duh, yeah, that has to be it. Damn those naps.

I got super sick of eating all this DiGiorno pizza we've been having (and I don't think I've lost an ounce in two weeks because of it), so I decided to actually cook something real for dinner instead. Plus, I had three about-to-expire containers of sour cream to use up, chicken legs aplenty in the freezer, and a desire to send Rob to work with something more than a can of soup and a Coke.

So, after some serious SwagBucks searching for a recipe with chicken legs and sour cream, I decided to make this. It was 0500 and at least 12 hours from dinnertime, but who cares? No time like the present, I say. Okay, I really don't say, but I did say this ONE time.

{First, speaking of SwagBucks, I have two things to tell you: I just redeemed them for my first AND second Amazon.com $5 Gift Cards! I had 44 and did a number of searches with no luck to get that last one for the 45 needed to redeem, so I decided to complete a couple of free offers. Less than an hour later, Bam! $10 in free money. Sweet, right? My goal is to earn two $5 Amazon cards every month by Christmas, and I'm well on my way!

The second thing is that I did a LOT of searching for all kinds of weird things to earn that last buck, and I ended up getting hit with the "rules" page the last few times. I finally figured out why: when you do a lot of searching like that, it picks up on what you're doing and stops you in your tracks. Their FAQ tells you this. So... don't think you're going to be able to search all day and get loads of SwagBucks. I usually win twice per day, as do most folks. So, be aware!}

Back to the dinner. The first thing was to cook the chicken. I had just taken out six drumsticks from the freezer, but I was itching to start cooking, so I had to defrost them in the microwave. I hate defrosting meat that way, but I'm the impatient sort and, well, that's the way it goes sometimes. I think it's the "mania" part of being bipolar when I get in the mood to do something in the middle of the night and have to do it Right. This. Second! You know?

I probably should have taken out more meat than that, but after all, we are trying to stretch the buck these days. After thawing the meat, I had to boil it. Now, I'm a little embarrassed to tell you, but I have never in my life boiled chicken before. I didn't quite know what to do. So I put the thawed chicken in a big pot, added two cans of Campbell's chicken broth and filled the rest of the way with water, to cover the chicken. I added two bay leaves and a small chopped onion, some salt and pepper, and that was it. Brought the chicken to a boil and then, like the recipe said, let it boil for 20 minutes. I crossed my fingers the whole time that the chicken wouldn't be nast-ay!

It wasn't! Oh, my gosh, y'all. I boiled it skin-on, but I removed the skin after cooking (it's easier that way, don'tcha know). As I was taking the extremely moist and appealing meat off the bones, I started salivating for a taste. (So did Tiger Lily, at my feet, and she was not disappointed.) So I sampled once, twice, thrice... so good!! I will definitely be boiling chicken this way again soon, even if that's all I do with it instead of further recipying it up. Yummay!

So after feeding Lily all the bits that I deemed unacceptable (ie, toughened from being nuked) for my dinner casserole, I mixed up the rest: a whole pint of sour cream, and a can of cream of chicken instead of mushroom. Because mushrooms are gross, y'all. I don't like 'em. It seemed like a really low chicken-to-cream ratio there, and I was kind of worried it would be nast-ay, once again!

The topping was super simple. I used a box of generic stuffing, since it was older than the Stove Top I also had on hand, a melted stick of butter, and another can of chicken broth. Good thing I'd stockpiled broth recently! Patted that all on top of the creamy stuff, covered it with aluminum foil, and refrigerated that baby for later.

Fast-forward to dinnertime, after the kids had been begging me for pizza all day (apparently they didn't get the memo that I was sick of it), et voila:

The kids were complaining that they didn't LIKE chicken casserole as soon as I told them what we'd be having. Well, guess what folks, you've never had it and you ARE going to try it. Jack cried. Sobbed, even. He wanted pizza. The girls were equally dissatisfied, but at least they tried a bite. They all hated it. I told Jack if he was going to pitch such a fit, to go do it in his room. He left and wouldn't taste one bite. Hmph. 

So I was thinking dinner was going to be a big FAIL, but you know what? I don't care. I liked it just fine. There was plenty of chicken in it after all, and if I made it again, I'd still only use about six chicken legs. Rob ate two plates of it when he got home from work at midnight. We both liked it just fine. Did we love it, was it the best thing we ever ate? No, not at all. But we both agreed it was good enough to make a second time, and that works for me.

********

As for the rest of the day, let's see... I slept after premaking dinner, finally lying down at about 0751. The kids were on a two-hour delay from school WITH a half-day, so they were only going to be there 1030-1430. Rob got them up and off on the bus, and then he woke me to make sure I had an alarm set for 1430 to pick them up. I assured him I did (I really did).  

Well, guess what, folks. Either it didn't go off, or I slept right through it, and I popped awake at 1445!! Aaah! My bladder was completely overloaded, my hair was a mess and my mascara was running down my cheeks, but ther was no time to worry about any of that. I flew out the door with my coat open and my boots barely on and not zipped up, and ran, ran, ran to the bus. Which was already there, having barfed out all the kids from our stop except Sophia. They won't let preschoolers go without their parents there, which is a pretty damn good idea except this particular preschooler's parent is late half the time!

Thank goodness she stopped and waited for me, knowing I'm always late for the bus. I always think she's going to be there at 1515, which she usually is, but sometimes she shows up at 1512. Luckily it's only a 30-second walk to the bus stop, but still, I bet she's tired of waiting for me! I think I'll make it a point now to get out there by 1510, even if i am freezing. Yeah, that's the ticket.

What now? I forget what I was talking about. Oh, yes, so I got the kids home and then burst through the door just in time to pee all over the floor. Not really, I made it to the bathroom, but I sure did not have any extra time to get there! Whew.

Aren't you glad you read this post today? Now I really DO tell you everything, including when I have to go pee. 

Enough of that.

None of the kids have homework this week, because it's such a short one, so we didn't have to worry about that. Yay! There wasn't a lot of playtime before it was time to leave for dance class. The only thing was, we were still late getting there, because I'd forgotten all the dance clothes were in the laundry! And Sophia couldn't find her ballet shoes. Agh, those things are always going missing, even though I'm constantly yapping at them to put them away IN the dance bag and zip it up. Fracking ballet shoes.

So, they danced in tights, t-shirts and shorts, with my apologies to their teachers who have strict rules about what to wear to dance class. Ah, well. It happens.

Jack, who had been extremely grumpy after school, fell asleep on the way there, to my utmost relief. He snored through Sophia's Creative Movement class. Chloë had brought a book with her, so I took that opportunity, once again, to take a nap! Only, I didn't sleep at all. I was tired but too cold.

When Sophia came out and Chloë went in for Jazz, I was hoping for more peace and quiet. The first thing she did, as is typical for her, was to bug her brother and wake him up! I'd warned her to leave him alone the second beforehand, too, so I was really annoyed when he woke up screeching and complaining. For an almost-7yo, he really does behave more like the 2yo he appears to be outwardly, at least when he is tired!

I tried to get him to settle back to sleep, and I brought Sophia up to lay on top of me and be quiet. I got my daily warm fuzzies from the feeling of the weight of her body on mine, and her little blond ponytail tickling my nose. I held her for most of the hour, with Jack grumbling in the back seat, until it was obvious neither of them were going to snooze at all. That was fine, because I really couldn't, either.  Whatever, I had enjoyed my time snuggling with The Little Girl, as I like to call her.

********

After dance, we ran to Farm Fresh, since it was Double Dollar Wednesday. I didn't have stockpile-worthy coupons and didn't take a picture, but I did manage to get my $23.20 order down to $5.61, a savings of 77%. For that little bit of cash, I got another box of Wheat Thins, two boxes of Crackerfuls, a can of Ro*Tel tomatoes, two packages of 7-ct Hebrew National hot dogs, a 4-pack of Yoplait YoPlus yogurt, and two gallons of milk for the kiddies. Not too shabby.

The hot dogs came in handy at dinnertime, when the girls scarfed five (!!) of them after refusing the chicken casserole. Whenever they refuse to eat dinner, I like to have something like this or a PB&J sandwich or something available. I will not let them starve, but I'm not going to make them a whole 'nother time-consuming supper, either.

Jack never came down to eat. Tsk, tsk. I would have gladly given him a hot dog or twelve if he'd returned, but he fell asleep. Guess he needed some sleep more than food last night.

********

When we got home from dance and the store, two packages were waiting in the rain, on the porch. I don't understand it. The row of mailboxes are right across the street from our house, and at the end of the row are two large boxes, presumably for packages. When I lived in apartment complexes, and there were packages to be had, the mailman always left a key to one of those large boxes in our regular mailbox, so we could fetch the package out of it. Not once in seven years here has the mailman utilized those big boxes for our packages, instead of leaving them on the porch to be stolen or rained upon. I wonder why??

I didn't get a chance to open the packages - both from my MIL -  until after the kids went to bed, so they haven't oohed and ahhed over everything with me yet. I'm sure they will in an hour, when they're home (another half-day).

The first box contained crocheted goodies for CARE Package. MIL has been our most ardent supporter from Day One, a fact that pleases me greatly. Who else can you count on, if not the grandma? No one, that's for sure. I get an email at least every other week, from someone saying they want to make things for the charity, but after I email them back with details, I almost never hear from them again! Guess that's the way it goes. Here's what Grandma made:

 

This little boy's set is so soft! Very squishy, and yes, I did give it a few love-squeezes before putting it away. So cute!

I always have the hardest time deciding whether color schemes like this one are appropriate for being unisex, or are just for girls. I usually decide on the side of unisex, but my Assistant Manager, whose job seems to entirely consist of helping me make these decisions - as well as underwriting a large portion of the cost of running this enterprise - always decides they are just for girls. So, you help me decide - could a boy wear this? And is that not the most perfect pompom you have ever seen?!

 

This is definitely a boy's outfit, right?! ;) I kid. How cute are those little teddy bear buttons? I love them.

Another supersoft outfit, and I just LOVE the buttons MIL chose for this outfit. I'm turning into a button-lover lately. Sweet set, and thanks so much for all your hard work, Mom!!

The second box contained goodies for the other kiddos in the family:

A Hallmark T-shirt, which I assume is for me because it would float on Rob... although I'm getting to the point where it'd be too big on me, too! After my abdominoplasty, I'm hoping to be in mediums for everything. Yay!

Three Valentine's puzzles for the kiddos, which will be great for the newly-growing game stash (did I tell you that the kids destroyed all the games and puzzles we have? They're no longer able to have free access to them. Shame).  A Valentine's craft, which they love doing, and two books from Rob's childhood! How cool! Finally, another recorded book with Grandma's voice. They went absolutely fargin' NUTS over the one she recorded for Christmas, especially The Boy, so I know this will be a hit, too!

Thanks for all the goodies, Mom!

********

Welp, I was going to go take a shower before the kids got home, but Rob just did and surely used up all the hot water, so it'll have to wait. Instead, I'm off to finally watch The Hangover (we've had it at least two weeks from Netflix) and work on the long-ignored kimono. Maybe I'll finish it by the weekend. Hope so.

Fin.
 
 

Should Not Be Here

Ugh, so much to do, so little time. There just aren't enough hours in the day, especially right now!

Bullets for Tuesday:

• Slept 'til noon after Rob got up with the kids and came back to bed to cuddle
• Did 3 mystery shops over the phone
• Did a billion things at my desk, paperwork stuff. (Have a billion things to do right now instead of this-here blog, but I hate updating four days at a time!)
• Showered & started on the laundry
• Got the kids from the bus, begrudgingly let Jack go play at new neighbor kid's house while the girls and I worked on more laundry
• Really begrudgingly let Jack STAY at new neighbor kids' house - after checking out his dad and making sure there are no guns in the house - while Sophie and I took Chloë to ballet
• Dropped Chloë off and all the way home (half-hour round-trip) after realizing I forgot my purse, wallet, phone, shop folder, everything
• Stopped at party store to do a mystery shop, added to the stockpile of "40" birthday decorations for Rob's big bash in 2.5 years (ya coming?!?)
• Nearly ran out of gas & stopped for that, too
• Got back to dance class 5 min late, found a worried Chloë waiting, and paid for Feb dance lessons
• Ran back home to collect Jack from his friends house, which put him in a pissy mood because he wanted to stay and play... forever??
• Took the kids to BK for free dinner because I never bothered to plan or make anything else
• Berated Jack for cutting holes in his pants with scissors at school and grounded him - my first time being the grounder and not the groundee! - from going to new neighbor kid's house for the rest of the week
• Home to continue working on laundry with Soapy's help while Jack and Chloë did homework next to me
• Sent kids for bath, worked on laundry, and welcomed Christine and David (Chrisvid? Davitine?) over to hang out for a few
• Sent kids to bed, had lots of laughs with Davitine (I like that one better) while we finished folding and matching up the kids' clothes
• Said good-bye to Davitine, welcomed Rob home from work, fell asleep early instead of doing all the crap I had to do

Today, Wednesday:

• Realized last-minute that I had a consult with the plastic surgeon this morning at 0900
• Forgot about Wordless Wednesday. Oh-freaking-well
• Let Rob get kids ready while I showered and got ready for appointment
• Took Rob with me to hospital, to kill 2 birds with one stone
• Met with plastic surgeon. THRILLED to learn I could get a panniculectomy (basically, in his words, an "amputation" of what I call my "fat skirt" aka "hangy belly" aka "saggy baby belly" aka you get the point) at NO COST to us!! Woohoo!! Listened as surgeon tried to explain I would rather have the cosmetic procedure abdominoplasty to make things look nice above-and-below the belly button, with minimal scarring, rather than the medically-necessary pannis removal, at who-knows-what-cost?-not-him! Burst into tears as explained we had spent all our money on my gastric bypass and had nothing left for this. Agreed to at least go down to Billing to find out cost. Left, still happy about free panni, certain that the abdominoplasty would be $$$$$
• Went with Rob to immunizations clinic, so he could get updated before trip to Haiti. Still not sure about his detachment's fate, especially now after the 2nd earthquake
• Ran down to Billing to find that the abdom. would only be $1660! What?! $1660!!! Shocked, ran back to tell Rob and shock him too. Quickly changed our minds to save for that one instead. Will there be a bikini in my future after all? Maybe... how much for the butt, back, boobs, thighs and arms, doc?? (I kid, I kid.)
• Finally left hospital for home, only decide to head out for lunch together instead. We never do this. Decided on sushi around the corner. Forgot coupon for restaurant. Sent Rob home for it after ordering. He couldn't find it & gave up. (I found it later, after looking for approximately ½-second). Enjoyed lunch date with husband. Threw up after 3-4 pieces of sushi. Oh, well. Leftovers!
• Home again, did report for party store mystery shop yesterday. Oops, forgot about it!
• Had Rob take 160-lb-loss pictures to post on Facebook for my sister, since I'd posted I looked "hot" today. Hee!
• Did lots more paperwork and stuff while Rob took nap. Glad to have him home for the day, even if he was sleeping instead of doing more pressing things... like his wife ;)
• Sent Rob to pick kids up from bus and take girls to dance lessons while Jack watched a movie and did homework with me
• Worked on today's double-dollar deals at Farm Fresh while Rob cooked dinner for the kids, also while helping Chloë with her homework. Gave her extra math work after she finished. Excited I actually taught her something new in math and she GOT it after just a few problems! (multiplying large numbers with lots of 00s easily, ex. 800 x 400)
• Made my own quick dinner and ran to Farm Fresh, leaving Rob to get kids ready for bed
• Bought about $95 worth of groceries for less than $40, which isn't stellar but notable, anyway
• Scanned groceries for Homescan, helped Rob put stuff away, sent kids to bed, and started blogging...

So here's how I looked at 150-lbs down:

And here's how I look at 160-lbs down:

Any different?? I can't tell.

Back tomorrow!

Fin. 

P.S. Rob ran to work tonight after all, to get a thing he needs to be able to take his annual Chief's test tomorrow. Please pray, if you do, or wish him luck, if you don't, that he makes Chief this time!!! He SO deserves it!!!! Thanks.

  

Nutella No-Go

Busy day.  I should be sleeping by now. I did take the sleeping pill last night and slept a full night, and I haven't been tired since then. I'm still wide awake, too much so to settle down and try to sleep, darn it. Sucks, because I have another full day tomorrow.

I did a lot, but it doesn't feel like I got a lot done, if that makes any sense. I cleaned up the kitchen, ran the dishwasher and emptied it later. I did take an hour after the kids got on the bus and play my various silly Facebook games. But then I didn't touch them again until night-time. I canceled the cable, although I did decide to keep the local channels for $10/month. We can always drop that later, too. I looked at all the coupon sites and made my deals for today, which is when the new grocery sales start in our area. I contacted the Brownies moms about coming to sign permission slips, and no one wanted to come... so they all told me to forge their signatures on them. Heh. I did, but then I realized - after turning it in - that I spelled one of the girls' names wrong! Oops... how do you explain that one?!

Anyway, so after I showered and got ready to go out, I ran to Target and got lots of great deals, including the new "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs" DVD for the kids. Chloë has been raving about it since she saw it at the theatre with her soccer friends, and I knew the kids would enjoy it. I got lots of other great stuff too, but I didn't have time to take a picture and figure it all out.

Then I went to Harris Teeter - MY old store - for the first time since I quit back in October. They are running super doubles week on coupons, so I had to suck it up and go in. I was so nervous! It turns out that was for naught, because everyone was so nice and welcoming. I got lots of hugs, and everyone was concerned about me because they'd heard about the breast cancer thing. I assured them that I'm fine and all is well, and they seemed happy about that. Lots of nice people. I really kind of miss working there. I do. But, the hours weren't enough, and apparently things have gotten lots worse regarding that. So it was the right thing to do, I guess. Oh yeah, and I spent about $61 but SAVED $84 in coupons! All stuff we need and will use, of course.

I got home just five minutes before the bus came, so I didn't even have time to unload the groceries (and speaking of which, please tell me why I bought the 2½-dozen egg carton when there is NO room in my fridge for it?!) before walking down to the bus stop. The kids came home, and they helped me carry in the bags. I quickly scanned the Target stuff and part of the HT stuff for Nielsen, and then we had to leave for both girls' dance classes. 
Sophie went first, and the Bigs did their homework while she was in there. I knitted on the kimono. Can't really say it was power knitting, since I had to stop every two seconds to help Jack with his work. Chloë went in second, and I kept knitting while the Littles climbed all over every inch of the van, pressing buttons and generally driving me mad. In a fun way, though. ;)

 

Oh, and the entire time all this day was going on, I was in a madcap rush to figure out if and how we were going to go to New York City - tomorrow! And back - in a day! Chloë's acting and modeling agent there called to say they had an audition for her to attend today or tomorrow (I said to them, "Today? You know we're in Virginia, right?") for a Nutella commercial. They really wanted her this time. Steph volunteered to drive up with us OR stay home and get the Littles to and from school, however we needed her. Isn't she awesome? We were going to have her and Luke come with us, and then her sister Mandy wanted to come along, too. It was just going to be a straight shot up there, audition, have lunch in Manhattan somewhere (the audition was right on Broadway), and then drive straight home. A seven-hour trip, or thereabouts. I was going to have to cancel all sorts of things for tomorrow. But in the end, we called to check and see if she could still go, seeing as she's missing four front teeth, and they said NOPE! No way, no how. Oh, well. It was fun while it lasted...

After the dance classes - during which time I talked to Ms. D, Chloë's Jazz teacher, and was told that she's focusing much better in class lately, to my surprise since I have not yet had her evaluated for ADD - we came home so I could prepare dinner. The yummy food from grocery shopping was still all over the kitchen table to be put away, and the kids were picking at this and picking at that, wanting to nibble, nibble, nibble. I had planned on making the grilled salmon from Schwan's, but in the end they had sandwiches and chips and assorted other things, and I never cooked at all. 'Tis fine. Salmon can wait 'til Friday, since we have a dinner shop tomorrow night.

After dinner, Rob and the kids watched "Cloudy With..." while I worked on Cookie Sale paperwork and drove the permission slips over to the person in charge. He got the kids ready for bed, and then we posed for all these silly pictures together. It was a little bit of fun, we enjoyed it. Jack keeps insisting he doesn't know how to smile, so in the ones where he IS actually smiling, it's because I was tickling him! And now, back to reading my Cookie Manual some more, before I train the girls and moms at tomorrow's meeting. Ciao!

Fin. 

And Now, A Look Back

This will probably be a very long post, so get a snack.

What is that mess?, you might wonder. Well, let's see...

That would be the five ornaments I made for the annual ornament swap organized by one of the crafting blogs that I read.  (Yes, I read a lot of blogs.) The category this year was "Fairy Tales," and it took me a couple weeks of thinking about that and not coming up with anything before I decided on these... things. And by "decided," I mean I dumped out the bag of supplies I bought for Chloë's canceled 7th sleepover Fairyland birthday party and started sticking things together in the hopes that they would look, well, fairy-ish. 

Steph said they looked okay. I kept asking her if they looked stupid. She kept saying no. If you disagree, please tell me. I won't care! They're kinda pretty anyway, whatever they are. (Whatever they are is 18-gauge wire wrapped in lace and porcelain flowers.) Fairy tutus? Halos? Skirts? I don't know. Use your imagination. Yeah, your imagination, that was the plan from the jump. *wink, wink*

Each participant is matched up with five others. Our exchanges started rolling in late last week, and this one was the first. A cool idea, it's made with, I think, old Christmas cards découpaged onto an empty ribbon spool. I don't know that it fits the theme so much, but then again, last year I completely forgot there was a theme, and who really cares, anyway? 
 
  
 The next one to come in was this huge guy, a painted wooden pegasus. I couldn't get Jack to smile and not blink at the same time, so never mind that. The girls loved this one!

I love this one, which arrived yesterday. It's Rapunzel!! In her tower! What a cute, clever idea. Very nifty. It wins the gold star for the exhange from me ... so far. Who knows what tomorrow will bring?

Two more to go!

********

This past Friday, we had Chloë's Brownie troop's feast. The kids never went to school that day, so we were the first to arrive at the church at the agreed-upon time of 0330. The night before, I had put together these bags for each of the Brownies, just as a sort of little party favor thing. Basically, I had 8 of everything from the Advent box left over, and since there are 8 girls in the troop, well, der. It was a no-brainer. (The gift bags in the back were for Jack at the feast, Sophie, and Chloë's to exchange.)

I just used some of my scrapbooking supplies to make their little name tags, and I thought they looked okay, but Chloë loved them! It's good to get the seal of approval from your kid, right?

So, we dropped her off, and then the Littles and I ran to the party store to do a mystery shop. For my required $5 purchase, I got all of these pretty long-stemmed lollipops. Don't they look gorgeous? I was going to save them for gift-toppers and stocking stuffers (that first came out "stucking stoffers"), but the kids wanted one NOW, and I gave in. I mean, why not? But they are just so pretty, I like looking at them.

Oh, we ran to Target after that, too, because it was right next to that party store, and I had more coupons for $15 off a Blu-Ray/DVD combo (G-Force, this time), along with some other stuff. I forget what. Oh, rechargeable batteries, which is great now that we have a battery recharger (totally worth it), two disposable Kodak cameras that I got for free for the kids to take to Great Wolf Lodge, and a couple other small things. No pictures. Lucky you. We ran home to pick up Rob, before heading back to the church for the feast.

Sophie didn't feel well. Chloë didn't feel well. When we got there, she was sitting around, feeling miserable, trying not to cry. Not helping with the cooking and set-up, which was fine with me and the Leader, I guess, because she was visibly sick. Did she want to go home? No, she wanted to stay. Perhaps we should have left, though, because they kept coughing and not covering their mouths, despite the thousand reminders we kept giving them...

Jacky didn't feel too well either, but he was the best feeling of the bunch. I don't know why Rob was putting on the stiff upper lip here. Don't ask me.

 
The Little Guy kept asking if we were going to have turkey (yes). Sometimes he wanted it, other times he did NOT want it. He's so capricious. In the end, I think he ate a decent amount.

After we ate, the girls sang a few songs for us. If you can see the wet spot on Chloë's pants (far right), she didn't have an accident. Rob spilled his gravy on her, or his drink, or something. Poor thing!

 

Then the girls did their Flag Ceremony. You'll probably have to turn the sound way up; I can barely hear it at all. Can you?

Afterward, it was time to hand out all the patches, Try-Its and other rewards the girls have earned so far this year, their third in Brownies. They started out together in kindergarten as Daisies, and most of the girls have been together since the beginning. It's pretty cool.

Everything Chloë's earned so far this year. There was another Try-It that she earned, but since she's already gotten that one (a year or two ago, when I took her to the local Girl Scouts HQ in Chesapeake for activities apart from her troop), she doesn't get a second one.

 

   

Finally, it was time for the gift exchange! Jack was particularly eager to get his present, which turned out to be just another Hot Wheels car, along with a pencil sharpener/eraser combo from the Book Fair. Exciting to him, though; he just can't get enough of them! Sophie got more of the extra stuff from the Advent box and a multi-colored pen I had picked up from the Book Fair. She seemed to like everything okay.

After all the girls, and the siblings, had their gifts, everyone opened them and shared with each other what they'd gotten. I feel really bad, because we gave a Webkinz, and it turned out not to have a tag on it! I never noticed... but I should have looked, because Sophia has been known to take them off in the past. D'oh!! J., the girl who got it, was really understanding and non-plussed about it, but I still feel terrible. We are on the hunt!

Chloë ended up getting a couple of Littlest Pet Shop things, which she loves, but I didn't get a decent picture of that. 

 
And do you remember baby Vivian? She's now about to turn TWO!! I can't believe how big she's gotten. And all that hair! So cute. What an adorable little girl.

We packed up and left shortly after that, ostensibly to get the sickies home, but I also had to run and do another party store shop before they closed. I was going to get more lollies for the kids, but then I remembered that I am collecting all of their decorations for when Rob turns the big 4-0 in a few years. This time, I got the big banner to hang; last time, I got some candles. I thought I had bought a third thing, but now I can't find it...

********

Skipping around... On the 13th, last Sunday, we had a candle-lighting ceremony in our home for Robby and other children we know who have died. It was the Worldwide Candle Lighting, sponsored by the Compassionate Friends, but no one came even though we posted it - and invited everyone I know - on Facebook, and on the CF website.  That's okay, though, because it meant I didn't have to clean! Next year, I'm hoping I can get with the program well in advance of the event and ask our church to host the event for us. There isn't a chapter for Hampton Roads, which is pretty surprising, considering its size and importance in the state. Er, commonwealth.

So, each of the kids, and then Rob and I, lit a candle. The kids stood around while Rob and I hugged each other and cried a wee bit. It's been almost seven years...

********

The day before that, on Saturday, was the Santa breakfast at the kids' school. I tell you what, this Santa thing is so weird. The kids "know" that he's not real, but I don't think they quite believe it, because they're still just as excited about him as always. Weird, right?

Rob had to work, but then he didn't because his radiator sprung a leak, so he had to fix that whilst I took the kids to the Santa breakfast. The first thing we did was eat our reakfast. We really didn't eat much at all, and for the most part, all of that stuff you see on the table got stuffed into my purse for later!

Midnight the (blue) Panther made an appearance after we finished eating, and my kids, especially Chloë, never get tired of seeing him. I remember when she was in kindergarten or first grade, Midnight went "away" to visit the troops in the Middle East, and she was absolutely heartbroken about it the entire time!

While we were waiting in line for the kids to sit on Santa's lap, the girls wrote him letters about what they wanted for Christmas. Chloë didn't let me see hers, but all Sophia wrote was her name before dropping hers in the mailbox!

Finally, it was time to meet the Big Guy! The kids were all smiles as they posed for pictures and whispered to him what they might like. None of them would tell me what they told him. But, they know that their Christmas present this year is the trip to Great Wolf Lodge, so hopefully they'll understand that as far as big gifts go, that is IT! (And feel free to tell me how cute my babies are! ♥)

The each got a coloring book and another small present, but I'll be darned if I can remember what they were. They probably do... actually I think the girls each got a necklace and bracelet set, and a lipgloss keychain. Jack can't remember what he received. Oh, right, he got a little finger skateboard, and a hackey sack which was lost before we even left that morning.

 

We headed to the craft tables after that. The first one was for the six-and-under crowd, but at the very end of the event, they let Chloë do it, too. They decorated cookies with red and green frosting and all kinds of sprinkles. Sophie ate hers before I could take a picture. Not surprising. Everything goes right into the mouth.

 

The girls colored pictures to hang up in the cafeteria after that, while Jack played with his hackie sack. Rob showed up then, surprising us all! 

A little moment of joy, on the part of a small boy

Rob took the girls to make ornaments, but before we left, Rob had broken Chloë's silver ball, and Sophia had ripped the reindeer bits of her candy cane and eaten it. Such is life!

********

The day before that, Friday, was Sophia's Christmas breakfast at school. No cameras allowed, so I can't show you anything from that. It was really cute, though. The kids performed songs and poems, and they were just as adorable as could be. We all ate breakfast together, and it was a mighty feast. There were snacks and fruit and sandwiches and pies and cakes and all manner of things I can't eat. I had egg salad and tuna salad, and I was grateful it was there. 
  
********

Earlier that week, we went to Open House at the girls' dance classes. First was Sophia's Music in Motion class. She's SO silly. And she looks so big compared to the other girls, most of whom were three years old. She'll be five in April. Not that she cares about the size difference. She just adores Miss Jessica and going to dance class. It's a whole different world from going to soccer!

The next class was Chloë's Jazz I. When she focused, she was pretty good at it... but she wasn't good at focusing. It was very apparent that she is having a hard time paying attention, not just in school, but at dance class as well. So, I guess we need to get her some help with that, to develop some tools for being able to focus on what needs to be done.

Finally, we watched her Ballet I class, which is her favorite. She seemed to pay attention a lot better in there, even though it was only her 2nd or 3rd week back to that class after soccer ended. That's meaningful, I know.  I'll use that information when I'm teaching her on the boat!

All in all, I'm so proud of my lovely ladies and their accomplishments in dance. I love going to watch them perform and interact with their friends!

********

We baked a lot of cookies, the first Sunday in December. Not quite as many as I usually do, but still a lot. The girls helped bake; the boy helped eat.

And, I even broke from my strict "from scratch" only rules for the beginning of the baking, because we had mixes for gingerbread cookies and pumpkin spice cookies, and the children wanted them so. And, I usually give the vast majority of the cookies away, leaving my children wondering why they really couldn't have any, so I vowed not to do that to them this year. The mix cookies were just the thing. I didn't want to give those away, and the kids wanted them, so it all worked out just right. 

I still had some of that frosting in the spray can, and the kids wanted that on their cookies. You may say nasty (and I may agree), but the kids say Yum!

Chloë added some Christmas sprinkles to hers.

And then, I started the "real" baking. Unfortunately, I forgot to take pictures of all the cookies before I packaged them up and sent them away! Duh! But here are some strawberry linzer rounds. Don't they look delish?

More linzer rounds, some homemade Oreo-like cookies, rolled in crushed walnuts, and chocolate crackle cookies. Some of the cookies I made this year were from my old standby, the Crisco cookie cookbook that I've had for at least 15 years, but some were new, from the Martha Stewart cookie cookbook that Rob's sister gave me a year or two ago, for my birthday or Christmas. I love that book and want to make every variety in it! Someday, I will, too.

I gave the cookies away to three of our neighbors, each of the girls' three dance instructors, Steph (well, Tim, since Steph can't have any milk products thanks to Luke's allergies), and.. well, I guess that's it. Oh, and I took a bunch to Bunco. Usually I give some to the mailman and the fire department around the corner, too. At least. Guess I better get bakin'!

********

And now, you're pretty much caught up. Sure, there are things I've skipped over and pictures I've missed, but that's the big stuff. I have more pictures of Luke, but since they're old and I've shown more recent ones of him, I don't think I'll post those.

Oh, and one last thing: Please, please, PLEASE send me your address, so I can mail you our Christmas card. I have so many!!

Okay, I'm off to knit those three scarves and watch Slumdog Millionaire from Netflix. Toodles!

Fin.
  
  

Pause

I'm kind of having a touch week. My computer - we'll call her Della - completely crashed on Sunday. I'm bereft.

The next night, I had to tell my small children the truth about Santa Claus, during a rough parenting night. I don't really want to go into all the details, but let me say that they are not traumatized!

So I'm using Rob's laptop in the meantime, which sucks. I mean, as laptops go, I'm sure it's a fine specimen, and the speed is fast. I just hate laptops. Sitting on the couch watching TV while I surf the web and fool around on Facebook is fine, but I miss my desk, I miss my mouse, I miss my stuff... I  miss my Della.

I've had another computer - Della II  or maybe III by now - built, but it's not due to be delivered until the 8th. Ouch! That's a long time, people.

So I'm going to be taking a bloggy break until it comes. Hopefully I'll get a lot of knitting done. Luke's pants are due by the 15th, when he's wearing his lovely alpaca outfit, made by moi, for their family Christmas pictures. The rush is on!

In the meantime, the Advent season is upon us, and the kids are seriously enjoying opening their daily boxes. Scroll back a few pages if you want to see the Advent box thingy I made for them. It's wicked awesome! ;) Here's what they've had so far (each day includes some kind of activity and some kind of treat):

1st - Two small activity books and a snowman eraser, along with drinking hot chocolate in the evening

2nd - Snack size Butterfinger bars, along with singing Christmas carols in the evening ('twas so fun, we belted out our songs, sometimes in different keys... hell, sometimes different songs, but so what?!)

I've decided that in the future, I should probably keep a record on my computer (er, not that it would do me any good at the moment) of the daily Advent activities, so I can switch them around if things come up without having to open all 24 drawers!

Also, the girls' dance classes have resumed. Chloe was already taking Jazz this year, but she's gone back to Ballet on Tuesdays. She just loves it and is so thrilled, and Miss Sally seems very excited to have her back.

And Sophia, oh my,  she was overjoyed to go back to her Creative Movement class today! She ran in and pounced on Miss Jessica, and she was grinning from ear to ear. Quite a different reaction than she had from having to go play soccer! But, you live and you learn!

Rob is working until 0300-0500 this week, so we're like two ships passing in the night day right now, as I leave for my various things when he's getting up to get ready for work. It sucks. He was supposed to be back on days this week, but it'll probably be at least another week now, and maybe longer. I miss my man!!

Oh, and as for Jack, Stephanie has all but convinced me to start homeschooling him starting next year, instead of waiting until we move onto the boat in 3-4 years. She's a teacher, at least pre-Luke, and she's going to help me. I'm skeered! (Not about her help but about my abilities.) I just don't want to wreck my kids. Eek.

So, back to the nothing I was doing five minutes ago, which was basically eating cheese and crackers (I managed to eat four before I got stuffed, whoo), watching Jimmy Fallon, and reading through some of the 800 blog updates in my Google Reader. I'm a fun girl, what can I say? Maybe I'll go into the kitchen and grab my knitting, too. The excitement doesn't stop, I tell ya!

So please, drop me a line and tell me what's going on in your lives. I'll answer your emails and comments, even if I'm not blogging, I promise! ;)

See ya on the new machine.

Fin.

Zero. Nothing. Nada.

That's pretty much what I accomplished today. I'm not proud of it, but there it is.

I woke up at the buttcrack of noon (and probably only then because I was having a dream about my grandmother burning me with her cigarettes), fooled around a little online, and by 1:30, had completely worn myself out again. Don't know what the deal is; I've been back on the iron wagon since the weekend. I guess the last few days of running around have taken their toll on this old lady.

What the hell? I'm not old. Why am I getting so tired??

So I took a nap, an hour and a half after I got up. At NOON. And slept 'til it was time to go for the bus. Pretty ridonkulous, huh?

I got nothing worthy of a post done today. I didn't clean, not one little bit. I'd planned to, it was all over my to-do list, but I glanced in the dirt's direction and then snoozed soundly.

Whatever. It'll still be there tomorrow, if the yesterday-to-today dirtiness continuum is any indication.

Right after the kids got home and had a snack, it was time to get Curls ready for her Jazz class. All the way to class, I made good and sure that the girls both wanted to NOT do soccer again in the Spring (it wasn't even a question for Sophia; she is all ready to stop now) and go back to dance class.

Well, of course, Chloë is all ready in dance, but she's only been taking one class - the Jazz - this year instead of three (tap and ballet). She decided not to do Spring soccer, since she misses her ballet classes.

So when we got to dance, I talked to Miss D about starting up Sophie's Creative Movement and Chloë's Ballet I classes in December. She was excited to have them back, and told me how much the monthly tuition would be: $130 dollars! Eep! Much more than the $53 I've been paying thus far.

And not only that, but the balance for Chloë's costumes is due in December, another 88 bucks, for a total of $218.

What the hell? We don't have that kind of cashola lying around, you know. I guess I better sell my other ovary, but dang, soccer really was a whole lot cheaper.

Speaking of selling things I shouldn't, I might sell my CPAP machine. I don't use it. Ever. Really, EVER. I just sold our seldom-used camcorder on eBay for a measly $49, which sucks. I should have set the reserve at fifty bucks and gone from there! But it's not digital, so I'm not terribly surprised.

Anyway. I'm rambling.

After I talked to Miss D about that, Miss S (the ballet teacher) came over and gushed about how "amazing" I looked, how I've lost a whole person, yadda yadda. She kept using that word, "Amazing!" I blushed and smiled and thanked her. It's hard to be complimented, y'all. But it does make me happy. Really, really happy. Like, I can't even wait to get our pictures taken for Christmas cards, with me actually in it and not trying to hide. I'm proud of how far I've come this year. It is amazing.

I talked to my sis on the phone after that, and we shared our kids' Christmas present wishlists and then shared how neither of us has any money for Christmas, so good luck squeezing something out of each other.

But we'll try.

And then I talked to my gran'pappy, who had a procedure yesterday for his enlarged prostate. He was really worried about the catheter, and it turned out to be just as bad as he'd thought. Poor old guy. But he's doing better now, and I'm most grateful that he's going to be fine. Plus it's pretty funny hearing my grandfather tell me "they put it on my, you know, private" and "they went up the rear" and all that. We are a TMI family, apparently!!

Home again, jiggity jog. Time for dinner. I hadn't even thought about it, in my sleepy stupor today, so I just put in a couple of frozen pizzas. Well, really, I put in one frozen pizza, they quickly gobbled that up, and requested another. I was happy to oblige. When your kids are practically  midgets, seeing them scarf down food is akin to winning the lottery, I swear.

Homework after that. Jack (ew, the dog is behind me, farting, and she smells like a dead skunk) did great again today. He was in a really whiny, fussy mood, so it was hard to get him to actually do it, but once he did, he was great.

Chloë had half of yesterday's homework to make up, plus tonight's, so she was up again until 2300 doing her homework. :( Poor kid. I made her stop then, even though she still wasn't done with her spelling homework. Although don't feel too terribly sorry for her, because she fooled around and played and acted silly the whole time, so it could have been done in half the time or less. She drives me crazy! Focus, child!

Yesterday, for her math test review, I showed her a conversion thing I learned in high school, to see if maybe it would help her with inches and feet and yards. It didn't. She came home today and said, "I couldn't do that college thing you showed me. I'm a kid, and you're a MOM, so of course I don't understand it!" Ah, okay, because I'm a MOM!

Oh well, I tried.

Oh, tomorrow, I will have finished Luke booties to show you. I worked on them after talking to Grandpa, but I don't like taking flash pictures with that POS camera, if I can help it.

And now, I wait for Hubs. He should be home soon. And I shaved my legs, so, you know...

;)

Fin.