Smellyann Strikes Again

You've Already Won Me Over

Great. Now I have this song in my head. And I'm warning you right now, this is going to be one of my signature super-long posts.

So, Monday and Tuesday were pretty busy. Recap, anyone? Yes, good. I was going to anyway.

Oh, since I've been asked, I thought I'd update on the whole almost-at-goal-weight thing: My 18-month anniversary was Monday, and I did NOT hit goal (150 lbs) yet! I haven't gained anything, but I haven't lost that last 2½ lbs, either. I'm not worried. I haven't been eating properly. No excuses. I'll get back on track, probably starting today.

Monday

I pulled an all-nighter, because... ??? Just because I seem to do it once or thrice a week anymore. I really need to stop doing it, but the body wants what it wants, right now, and arguing doesn't help. So I worked on coupons (I have a TON, as you're probably aware, and accidentally dumped my entire box upside-down on the floor, so it took me forever to reorganize them) and finished this:

 

I think it's gorgeous, if I do say so myself! It's the "Ishbel" shawlette, designed by Ysolda Teague, that I started 2½ weeks ago and have been plugging away at off and on, ever since. Knit in the emerald-hued Yarn Love that I won, with zero modifications. It's not perfect, but it's VERY close; I actually went back and fixed my mistakes for once! (I normally hate to 'frog' and will avoid it at all costs.) I plan on wearing it with the black dress I'm wearing up there in my profile pic, when a little covering-up becomes necessary. Should be nice. The only disappointment I have in it is that I had a lot more yardage left over than I should have, and I could have made the larger size. Eh, well; probably, if I had attempted that from the beginning, I would have run out of yarn and had to rip the entire thing. So it's just as well.

A little close-up of the lace

Anyway, after the kids woke up, we had a long breakfast session, during which everyone wanted something different: blueberry waffle for Jack, oatmeal for Sophie, scrambled eggs for Chloë. Everything organic, natch. I didn't mind. It made me feel like a proper mother.

Afterward, I decided to finally, at long last, take the children to the beach for the first time this summer. Only, money is always an issue, and it costs to park at the oceanfront. (Yes, only 5-7 bucks, but if the kids don't want to stay, I'm not down with shelling out precious dollars for a half-hour jaunt, you know what I'm sayin'?) So after getting directions from Stephanie, we headed to a much more exclusive, non-touristy, beach somewhere else in town. I'd only been there once, and I think it was before Sophia was a gleam in my eye, so I couldn't remember exactly how to get there. But it's free to park, and the waves are calmer, so I hoped the kids would be less intimidated and actually enjoy themselves.

After a quick stop at McD's for the free caramel frappé for which I had a coupon (and I'm glad that was free, because I barfed it all up as soon as we got to the beach), and the bank to deposit a check, we were on our way.

You've already seen all the pictures on the previous WW post (and on Facebook, if you're my pal there), so I'll only show a few. They're not great, anyway; I'd forgotten my camera, so all these beach pics are from the iPhone. This picture keeps drawing my eye because Chloë's physique looks amazing in it, does it not? I keep marveling, lately, at the fact that she will soon turn nine. I can still vividly remember her first days, when it was just Baby and Mama - and Daddy, during the off-hours, of course - day in and day out. And now she is a tween. SHOOM! Those years just flew.

Yes, that IS Master Jack running TO the water, and not AWAY from it! I know!!! Amazing! He had an absolute blast and spent almost the entire six hours we were beachbound playing in the surf. I had the time of my life watching him, I truly did. (True to his nature, though, he complained on the way home that it was NOT fun and he did not enjoy himself or want to go back! I've learned to just chuckle to myself and ignore this from him, though, and sure enough, the next day he was asking to go back.)

 
Sophia spent plenty of time in the water, to be sure, but to my surprise, she spent more time than any of the kids on the sand. Rob had retrieved all our beach stuff from the attic, and she visited each sand toy in turn, making and remaking castles and immediately destroying them. I couldn't seem to convince her of where to find the "perfect" sand to shape the castles just right; she just didn't seem to care. True to self there, too.

Halfway through our stay, Rob rode in like a White Knight (only, in yellow) to stand watch over the kiddos while I drove off to a very necessary appointment with my psychiatrist. He and the kids crossed the street for sandwiches, while I sat with Dr. P. and told him of my latest troubles. I've been on the same bipolar meds for a while now, so it's disheartening that lately they have seemed to have lost their efficacy. My mood changes have been been quicker (sorry, honey), my temper has been flashing more (sorry, kids), I've felt myself slipping lower into a funk, and I've had a few "thoughts" (none of which I'd act on, these days). It hasn't been fun for me, and I'm sure it hasn't been terrific for my family. Dr. P. quickly agreed that a change was in order and wrote the scripts.

I headed back to the beach, or at least I thought I did, but my car had a mind of its own and took me home. Whoops! I grabbed the mail and then drove back to relieve Rob who, suckily enough, had to return to work for several more hours. He's changing commands for the second time in two weeks and has lots to do.

The kids wanted to stay until dark - actually, they wanted to sleep on the beach - but we ended up leaving around 1830 when bellies grew hungry. It was quite a fun day: they swam, made castles, found new temporary friends, played with abandoned crab shells, and generally had a superb time. I was extremely content watching them; my heart was swollen with adoration. It brought my back to my own many childhood days spent at the shore. I can't wait to go back. Maybe today?

Even though I'm saving the MO tax refund we just got for my abdominoplasty, I decided a dinner out was in order. No one felt like cooking, the kitchen was a mess, and food was in short supply. I had a couple Restaurant.com certificates and made Rob choose one. He picked Guadalajara in the Va Beach Town Center.

To put it plainly, dinner was a disaster. It was terrible. We will NEVER go back. We complained to the manager, who volunteered to cover our tab. Good thing: The food was almost entirely awful, the service was worse, and I observed that we weren't the only ones complaining to him. My recommendation? Don't go there.

Everyone was pretty much exhausted when we arrived home, and we all conked out pretty quickly.

Tuesday

At my request, Rob had temporarily jailed the cat in the dog's kennel, so that she wouldn't walk all over Ishbel, which was busily being blocked on the floor near the litter box. I had nowhere else to put it, really... well, sorry Tinkerbell, but we forgot to let her out! She peed and pooped in the kennel, and now the house reeked ferociously. Before I entirely woke up, Sophia let her out, and she immediately went and walked on Ishbel, pulling a few stitches. Argh!! But that is beside the point, and totally my fault.

Anyway, so the stench in the house was overpowering and giving me a huge headache. I couldn't take it! I asked the kids where they wanted to go. Anywhere, I was game. Anywhere.

To my chagrin, they asked to go to McDonalds. Bah! But I'd promised. Why couldn't they have said, I don't know, Tahiti?!

So we went to the new McDonald's on Holland. I figured since it was big and new, there would be a PlayPlace. I'd planned to spend a long time there, letting them play while I read a magazine. So I was annoyed when we got there and there was no such place of play. Wha?! I could have sworn... but whatevs. I broke down and got them each a Happy Meal (normally I'd get a 20-piece McNugget and split it), because, you know, I felt like spoiling them a little. I even went back up to the counter to switch out Sophia's Littlest Pet Shop toy for the one she really wanted. They probably hate people like me, but rest assured, normally I don't do that. Normally, in such a case, we all repeat to the injured party, "You get what you get and you don't throw a fit!"

We stayed a while, long enough for the kids to each eat half their lunches and play with their toys, and for me to throw up no fewer than three times. I don't know why I even ate there; I knew it wouldn't agree with Oscar. What a waste. Oh, well.

 

I still didn't want to go home to the cat pee stench, so I decided to take the kids to the big playground at Mt. Trashmore park. It's huge, and I didn't follow the kids around with my camera (which I didn't have with me anyway), so you just get this iPhone pic of the sign. We stayed a few hours, and the kids ran around, smiled, had fun, made new friends... oh, and so did I!

Her name is Ali. She's 21, cute as a stinkin' button, and now on our babysitter roster. She was there with two of her charges, including another Chloe. So that was a little confusing, but in a good way. Ali is GREAT!! The kids love her and can't wait for her to babysit them. I'd tell you more, but she probably doesn't want her whole life story on my blog, so suffice it to say that she's super-qualified and I'm thrilled to have met her.

Rob had come to the park about halfway through our time there (I sense a trend), to get my prescriptions from Dr. P and my military ID, so he could fill my Rxs. After he left, my phone died, so I stayed for what seemed a sufficient amount of time and then a lot more, before deciding he must certainly be home by now.

He wasn't. My phone charged up a wee bit in the car on the way home, so I called and found out he was still on base. Apparently, my script was higher than the max dosage, and they didn't want to give it to him. Awesome, what's that say about me? But they got it straightened out with Dr. P., so now I'm a highly medicated freakazoid once again.

I still didn't want to go home, so I asked the kids where to go next. Jack wanted to drive his truck around the lake in our neighborhood, and the girls agreed, so we went home and fetched the trucks and the Big Wheel. No pics of that either, sorreh! I tried to grab a few off the iPhone, but it died again just as I was about to catch a super one of Jack with a huge, joyous grin on his face as he drove his flashy wheels. He does love that thing! It's great for picking up chicks, too.

When they finally tired of the lake, we crossed the street back to our house just as Rob was getting home with my pharmaceutical sanity. I begged him to clean up the pee. I had cleaned it up off the floor where it had spilled out from the kennel, but there was no way I was touching the kennel. Seriously, ick. His 'solution' was to throw the kennel outside, NOT clean it yet, and spray Oust throughout the entire house. Let me just say right now, it didn't work. It still stinks in here. So whatever.

Now for some fun (for ME) stuff:

I'd purchased this cart online a few days ago, and it arrived while we were out. Yay! Another step in getting ready for homeschooling, I'd planned to use it to hold our art and music and crafting supplies. The kids all sat outside on the stoop with me while I put it together. Jack was thrilled when I gave him the little wrenches that came with it; he pretended to take apart and put together his truck and Rob's motorcycle while I put the finishing touches on the cart.

It turned out to be strong, sturdy, just the right size, and exactly what I was expecting, so for $19 including free shipping, you just can't beat it. Score!

Wanna see what goes in it? Yeah? 'Kay. This past Saturday, TAPS (the Teachers and Parents Store) was having a 20%-off-everything birthday sale, so I planned on going to get our music stuff. And that I did:

Hardwood block, "Flutophone," sand blocks, and crow sounder

My "Teaching Music to Children' manual, a kiddy castanet (we have real ones from "Spain" in Epcot... but darned if I know where they are at the moment), and finger cymbals

Tambourine (yay, fun!), harmonica, and a little baby ratchety-ratch thingy I thought would make another great percussive.

Later, the kids went and fetched the singular maraca they could find (there are at least two more somewhere), and my recorder. Those went into the top drawer, too. The only thing we won't put in there is Daddy's set of bongos!

Drawer full of muzak schtuff

Here's s'more stuff I bought at the 20% sale:

Three 200-pc Melissa & Doug puzzles, which I bought for the children to work on when it's their night to stay up late with us. I plan on getting a bunch more for cheap at thrift stores, too. If you have puzzles you no longer want, we'd be happy to be their new home, too! ;D

 

A thing of Silly Putty for each of them, because... every kid should have some? Chloë has played with some at her therapist's office and LOVES it, so I bought it with that in mind. I always liked it, too.

For Chloë. I got it on clearance, not for the price marked :)

More stuff for those later nights, one for each kid

I don't think I ever showed you this stuff? Maybe I did, but I don't think so? This is the art curriculum I bought for the kids at the HEAV homeschooling conference last month.

 
  

All our goodies for the art drawer. Looking at everything coming in, and all the set-up I've been doing, the kids are DYING to start homeschooling!! I am loving their enthusiasm, and it's infectious! I was going to start on 2 August, but I've bumped that back to mid-August, because Chloë is going to camp the 2nd week of the month, and I don't want to interrupt our schooling that early in the game. That will give me more time to prepare, too, which is great since I haven't done anything with it this whole month, really. 

The only things missing from these pictures of what I picked up at TAPS on Saturday are a few posters I bought and our "classroom" calendar. I'll show you that stuff when I get it hung on the walls.

 

I

 I don't think I ever told ya, I managed to get this whole boxed set of Hooked on Phonics for truly a STEAL from a homeschooling message group I'm on. I was SO excited when it was posted; I pounced on it!! That's what I wanted for Jack and Soph from the beginning, and I have it for pennies on the dollar compared to what I would have spent originally. w00t!!

Also, while I'm on the subject, here's the rest of our homeschooling stuff! The bottom shelf (and what little you can see in the pile of white stuff to the left) is our Math-U-See stuff for the next however many years it takes us to go through it. On the top, to the right, are various workbooks and things we've collected over the years. The yellow books - and the bookshelf itself - were picked up from a Freecycler (the same one, two separate times). The books are a vintage set of children's encyclopedias, which I plan to use for ripping the pages out and using in the lapbooks we make. Don't cringe! This is done by many lapbookers. Okay, you can cringe a little; I am, and so maybe we don't do that. But that's the plan.

Since I'm showing you pictures of stuff, here's the food dehydrator I got for $3 on Amazon, after cashing in my Swagbucks for Amazon gift cards. It just came yesterday! I'm so excited to start drying all kinds of things (fruit leathers, turkey jerky, socks...), but I still haven't cleaned up the kitchen, so it's still in the box. I'll do that today, fo' sho'!

And finally, to wrap up this supah-long post, we decided to try our luck again after the fiasco at Guadalajara with another Restaurant.com certificate for Tines Restaurant down the road.  Our experience was like night and day, compared to Guad. At first, I didn't think it was going to be any good, because we waited an age at the podium with no staff in sight. I finally stepped to the back and called "Hellooo?" and someone, who turned out to be our server, came out. She apologized and I asked, "Are you still open?" She said yes, so I rather bitchily responded, "Good. I wasn't sure, because we've been waiting a really long time already." But she completely won us over. She was beyond excellent with the children, and she bent over backward to make sure we were happy, too. The food was great, and they even turned the TV to a kids' station just to keep our kids happy. Not that I'm looking for my kids to watch TV when we go out for a nice dinner, but it was a nice touch. We left a good tip. My recommendation? Go there!

And now, after all that, I have to go back to work.You may now leave an abundance of delightful comments. Ha!

Fin.

P.S. I forgot some things we did after the beach on Monday! Oh, well, I'll spare ya. ;)

Friday Fragments

Friday Fragments are brought to you by Mrs. 4444s; link up if you're fragmenting today!

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I just love melon-balling. (Not to be confused with "balling melons." This isn't American Pie, here.) I love the digging in, the wrist-turning action, and the pulling out of a nice, round hunk of fruit. I could do it for hours on end. It's very satisfying to me. Weird?

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Our first tomato, from the plants given to us by the Keeneys, finally ripened and was ready to eat! I'm not a raw tomato girl, but still, it's our very first fresh produce, and I'm excited about it! There's another little one coming along behind it... now if only the hubs would get those raised beds built so I could plant the rest of our garden. *ahem*

 

Chloë, nearly 9, a serious raw tomato fanatic, dug into it within minutes after I plucked it from its vine. She declared it "delicious!"

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Speaking of Chloë, today she had an achievement at the pool. She and Jack, 7, are both HUGE chicken-sh*ts, so while brave Sophia, 5, is completely comfortable with taking a running leap into the pool, the older two are more comfortable going slowly down the steps. Hubs and I have been trying to get Chlo to jump from the side, too. Today, I offered her 20 "dad dollars" (our rewards system) and the chance to stay up as late as she wanted if she would just give it a try. After several false starts, she finally did it! And of coure, as we knew she would, she loved it and did it about eleventy-nine times after that. Way to overcome your fear, Curls!

(By the way, it is 0225, and that little girl is STILL up. A promise is a promise!)

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While the girls were busy jumping in and out of the pool, Jack and I sat most of our time out, underneath an umbrella. Why? We are the fairest of the bunch, and even the SPF 8000 I had was not enough to keep us from feeling the oncoming sunburns. So while I knitted, the boy played games on my iPhone. When it's just the two of us, he's very companionable and sweet. When the girls join us, he totally tuns into Mr. CrankyPants.

Note to self: Schedule in lots more one-on-one time with the boy-child.

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Speaking of knitting, wow. I love this yarn, which I won in an online giveaway. It has Teh Awesome, as my friend J would say. (I'm knitting Ysolda's Ishbel, if you're of the fibery sort.)

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Today, a friendly lady on Freecycle gave us a case of Oberweis chocolate milks. When the kids and I arrived to pick it up, she asked, "How many kids do you have, again?" I told her "three," and she told me to wait a minute, disappearing back into her house. She returned with an Oberweis ice cream bar for each of the kids, just as a special treat. What a sweet surprise! I was touched... and Chloë was so thoroughly pleased by the gesture herself (and the ice cream, natch), she asked to write the woman a thank-you note! I'm bursting with pride about that!

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The other day, Rob informed me that when he dies, he wants a green funeral. "You mean eco-friendly?" I confirmed. "No," he retorted. "I want everybody to dress like leprechauns."

Har, har, honeybunch. (He makes me giggle.)

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And now, finally, I am in the mood to post some recent Cute Kid Quotes. Here we go:

Sophia came up to me out of the blue and said, "Mommy, when you're old, and you die, I'll drive you to the stones, and I'll bury you."

Aw. ♥

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With all the talk in our household lately about eating organic foods, this conversation that we overheard between The Littles really cracked us up:

Jack: "... and we're going to tear all the buildings down and build organic buildings..."

Sophia: "Yeah! And it'll be Organic Town!"

Hey, I kinda like the idea.

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Sophia asked me, "Can we go to other planets, and live on other planets?" Thinking she meant "we the species" and not "we the family," I said, "Well, right now we really can't..." and she replied, "Yeah, because we don't have a rocket!" I informed her, "Well, no, we do have rockets..." and she interrupted excitedly, "Where?! In the attic??"

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Something made Sophie laugh, and imitating her older sister, she exclaimed, "Oh, that's definitely going in my diarrhea!"

Chloë, rolling her eyes, explained matter-of-factly, "DiarY. Diarrhea is a kind of poop."

That was over a month ago, and it still makes me giggle.

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So, wanna win a hundred-dollar dog collar? Mrs. 4444s does! That's one of our giveaways over on my review blog, Fishing and Wishing, so check it - and all the others - out if you wanna win! Some have really low entries, so your chances are outstanding!

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Have a great weekend, y'all!

Fin. 

Friday Fragments

Be sure and link up with Mrs. 4444 if you're fragmentin' today!

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All three of my kids have now lost their new glasses. I think they got them about a month ago. So... awesome! Especially for Chloë, who is blind as a bat without them and has been having her SOL (standardized tests) at school for the past two weeks. Their favorite line, when we tell them to go look for them, is, "I don't know where they are!!!" Hello, that's what "LOOK FOR IT" means!

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We continue with our pledge to buy locally, eat organically, and make our own for everything possible. I scored a new breadmaker off Freecycle, with the warning that the giver wasn't sure if it works. It does! (I also asked for a juicer and an ice cream maker; Hubs was quick to point out the irony, since we gave our bread maker and juicer away years ago when we first joined Freecycle...)

The kids and I have made at least half a dozen loaves since we got the machine, including regular white bread for sandwiches (they didn't have wheat flour the last time I picked some up), cinnamon raisin bread, and buttermilk cheese bread. All SOOO good - even the one I messed up on and forgot to start the machine until the next morning. Whoops!

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Wednesday, our first weekly delivery from South Mountain Creamery arrived. They are an "almost local" dairy farm in southern Maryland (where's northern Maryland, 5 minutes from that??) and are the closest working dairy farm to our area, so that works. Virginia law requires sold milk to be pasteurized, so the only way we could get raw milk is by buying shares in a cow, which our budget prohibits at the moment. So this works for us. OMG, the milk is crazy delicious. I bought a bottle of skim for me, chocolate for a dinner treat, and five bottles of whole milk for my chugging kids. They're already well into their second bottle, so I fear I'll need to increase the weekly delivery!

I loved putting out the cooler full of ice on Tuesday night and peeking out my window all day Wednesday to see if the milkman was coming. It all felt so old-fashioned, in a good way. I love knowing my kids are getting healthy, fresh milk, with no preservatives and which comes from happy, grass-fed cows. When we get a chance, I plan to take a road trip up to South Mountain Farm, because I want the kids to be able to know exactly where their food comes from - something you can't exactly do with milk from the supermarket!

The delivery also included fresh-squeezed juice from Florida (not local, but really, how could it be?) and a half-pound each of SMC's salmon cream cheese (ick, for Rob) and apple-raisin cream cheese (for the kids and me). The latter is extraordinary, and paired with the cinnamon raisin bread we made, ho-leee cow! Chloë and I have been indulging in that snack far too much!

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Bye-bye, Britto! Remember the Britto? If not, it was the artwork that Rob and I purchased during our European cruise almost 2 years ago, an original by Romero Britto, whom we now adore. If we had the money, we'd definitely have a nice little collection of his works, but the Deep Night Romance that we DO own speaks to us personally. 

Anyway, it's a giclée painting, and it's three-dimensional. Two of the 3D pieces fell from grace their original positions during transit, and the corner of the frame was damaged as well. It's taken us more than a year to break down and pull it off the wall (or I should say, have Steph's husband Tim pull it down for us), but Thursday, it was finally picked up by Park West to be repaired. There's a big, blank spot of wall over my desk right now, and I miss my little big ol' Britto dearly! Come back, giclée!

(BTW, if you go to Britto's site, linked above, check out that car he painted. Hello, I want it!)

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I'm steadfastly refusing to frog the mis-knit sweater, even though both Steph and Gloria said I should. Why? Because I'm a stubborn ass like that. I don't like to work hard on something and then just undo it; I prefer to do as Tim Gunn famously says: "Make it work!" So that's what I'm doing. The button bands are on (the ripply one will be fixed with blocking) and close together when I'm wearing it. Next the collar, and lastly, the sleeves, which I'll make as long as possible with whatever yarn I have left. If I can't wear this sweater - which was originally intended for my 5yo Sophia, but now fits me, hehe - because it's kinda short, then I'll sell it or give it away to a particularly, um, chubby little girl. SOMEONE will fit this (&^%$^$ sweater!!

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Check this out - I got this $37 Scotch laminator for FREE, with $13 worth of additional stuff, from Kmart! We've finished 3 weeks of mostly deschooling Jack, so I'm not exactly sure yet WHY I will need a laminator for home-schooling, but everyone says that I will. I had $50 in free gift cards (regular readers might remember the Hershey's Pieces candy promotion from Kmart a few months ago, which turned out to be a huge moneymaker for me) for Kmart, so the girls stopped by there Wednesday after dance classes, to see if they had one. They told me they didn't on the phone, but go figure, I found two on the shelf. SWEET. 

I also picked up two packages of legal-size file folders for our lapbooking projects and a dry erase marker and eraser set. Slowly but surely, our classroom-to-be is taking shape. Now if the Missouri Department of Revenue would get its act together and send us our tax refund, I could really get started!

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I guess that's about it for me this week. Have a great weekend, everybody!

Fin.
 
 
  
  

Britto 'N' Burpee Love

Or should I say "Burpee 'n' Britto"?

Anyway, here's what I'm talkin' 'bout:

I happened across this luggage collection at Heys USA via OK! Magazine. (Why I get that magazine, I don't know, but it was free, so hey. And it seems to be the only one I make time for lately, out of all my subscriptions - free and otherwise - so... okay!)

Thee luggage ist drool-worthy, no? I am coveting it.

For those who don't know, Rob and I bought one of Romero Britto's works of art on our European cruise two years ago, so this was quite cool to see. If I could afford a $300 piece of loogage, I would definitely snatch one or four pieces right up!

(My birthday's in September, if you're reading this, Mr. Trump.)

As for the Burpee love...

our seedy seedies arrived today! Pretty colorful, huh? Compared the Britto, these packages kind of put me to sleep.

But that's okay, because the goodness contained within will brighten up our backyard this summer, with the bright red tomatoes, purple peppers, yellow squash, orange carrots and... so much more.

I can't wait!

(Mr. Trump, I need some money for the wood for our raised beds, the soil, some tools, a compost bin... all in the name of education, you know.)

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Not a particularly exciting day in Casa de Odette, I'm afraid. But that won't keep me from sharing all the details that I know you love so much. Both of you.

Someone on Freecycle posted 7 boxes of Annie's organic mac & cheese, so you know I snatched those babies right up! Even better, she lived right around the corner from us. Rob made some for the kids for dinner tonight. The girls LOVED it and Jack, who rarely loves any food that doesn't have sugar as its frst four ingredients, said he prefered the 'dark orange stuff instead.' Two out of three ain't bad.

Speaking of organic (because I never do that), Jack and I went on a leetle shopping spree at Harris Teeter today. The sales start on Wednesdays, so I took a look-see to figure out what they might have on sale that's actually organic. I think there were TWO things in the whole ad, which was sucktastic. But we were out of milk (because some unknown elf left out an ENTIRE half-gallon of organic leche, which made me want to weep), and Jack doesn't like his oatmeal prepared with water. Oatmeal snob! I had a bunch of coupons from Organc Valley's website, and a few others for organic stuff, so I figured we might as well go see what was to be had.

I bought about $72 worth of stuff for $50 with my coupons, which isn't too bad for organic. We picked up something like four half-gallons of milk, some cheese, yogurt, the above pizzas (I had some of the Spinach Feta for dinner, and it was okay, but weirdly spicy), and some chocolate ice cream. That shit was good!! I had about four small bites, and while I wanted more, I didn't really feel like summoning the Dumping Syndrome fairies, so I let it be.

I'm still enjoying this organic mess, though. It's expensive, but that'll be another challenge for me to overcome: finding room in our budget to eat all local, all organic, all the time. With Burpee's help, we should do just fine.

Or we'll starve to death.

You'll see.

I got all of this knitting done tonight, between dance class and sitting with my two "we're not sleepy" imps who fell asleep within minutes after I started playing the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tales on Audiobook for them, courtesy of my iPhone. Well, except for the first two rows, which I did during dance class last night. (Would have been more, but I messed up the count and had to frog and restart.)

I'm not sure I'm loving this project. I don't even think I have enough yarn to finish it, but that actually adds to the excitement for me. Will she or won't she? Only one way to find out. (Okay, there's more than one way to find out, but I prefer to fly by the seat of my pants on these things.) Just in case, I'm keeping every last inch of my snippings, in case I need them!

***

See those pants I'm wearing? They're jammies, and I think it embarrasses the hell out of Chloë that I wore them to the bus stop. But that's beside the point. The point is, I bought them around Halloween '09 (hence the skulls), and I could not get them up past my thighs at that point. Now, they not only fit, but they are loose-ish and very comfy!

AND

with them, I'm wearing one of Rob's size M Harley t-shirts, just because I can. I think he likes it. I know he likes it, actually, when his girl wears his shirts, so I'm excited that for the first time ever, I can!

AND

just for kicks, I put on a pair of his zip-and-button-up shorts - no elastic in the waist - while I was doing laundry today, and I could button them!!! I had to shove my saggy belly all down in there to do it, but hello! Have you seen my husband? He is a very thin man!

AND

While wearing this ensemble, I went out to get the mail, and a neighbor across the street called out, "Are you on a diet? You've gotten so skinny!"

SKINNY!!!!!!

So yeah, I'm all full of my SKINNY self at the moment, thankyouverymuch.

And on that note, I have shop reports to do.

Fin. 

P.S. Oh yeah. Rob took Jack to see the doc at the ADHD therapy clinic, you know, where Chloë goes? To see about the pediatrician's diagnoses of ADHD and ODD. The doc pretty much observed him for the hour and questioned Rob, and then summed it up with, "So why are you here?" In other words, he has neither, in that doc's opinion. We're going to go with that one. Joy!

P.P.S. The girls and I went to the library tonight after dinner. Sophia got her own library card and picked the first three books off the shelf to borrow. Chloë picked three more chapter books (she finished two in a week, so I figured she could handle a third this time), and I picked three more books related to teaching and homeschooling. Never mind that I still haven't read the last three. Never mind, I said!

 

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!

A Few Things I Neglected To Tell You This Week

... along with my usual rambling shit. No "deals" or coupons will be mentioned in this post. I promise! ;)

(All BEP pictures taken by yours truly)

If you're friends with me on Facebook, then you already know all about the fact that last Friday, I won tickets from our newspaper to go see the Black Eyed Peas!!!  The concert was on Monday, so I quickly posted on Facebook to find a "date," since Rob works nights and couldn't go. So sad, so sad. A friend, Linda (not the one who sometimes babysits the kids) whom we met through Chloë's acting & modeling stuff, jumped right up and asked to go, so I thought, why not? Steph surely wasn't going to leave the baby to go with me, anyone else who I would seriously want to go with either has a baby, couldn't have gone, or lives a jillion miles away. And so it was.

The funny thing was, on Saturday, Linda (pictured above at the concert with me, looking terrible in this pic) called to tell me her daughter had just won tickets to the same concert! So Linda, Laura, her guy friend, and I headed up to Hampton on Monday to watch LMFAO, Ludacris (what an awesome opening act!!) and the Peas. Tabitha's 14yo daughter, Gia, watched the kids. I kind of felt bad leaving them for so long (ended up being 7 hours!) on a school night, especially since Jack wasn't feeling well... but it was the BLACK EYED PEAS, for Pete's sake! I couldn't pass up the chance. I ♥ them!

LMFAO, the opener, was, um, interesting. I'd never heard of them before this concert, and that's just fine with me. I didn't hate them - they were pretty funny, actually - but I didn't love them, either. They entertained, but when their set was over, I was ready for it.

Between each act, Linda and I moved up closer and closer to the stage. Oh, did I mention our tickets were on the FLOOR, and we were maybe 5-8 people from the stage at any given time?! We were so close to them. It was awesome. Her daughter wasn't so lucky, but their seats weren't terrible, either. Ludacris (above, on the right) was pretty awesome. That was a good time. 

The crowd went crazy when the Peas finally came onstage. Taboo (left) and Apl.de.ap (right) were looking as hot as I've ever seen them. I was feelin' it!

When Will.i.am did his freestyle rap, oh, man... HOT.

Fergie... what's there to say? It was incredible being in the same room with this phenomenal (IMO) talent. Loved it, loved every minute of the whole concert!! I really had a ball and, a week later, am still way amped about going. What a great night!!

I didn't get home until nearly 0100, and poor Gia was exhausted. She'd slept, but not much. Just as we were pulling in, she texted me that Chloë woke up with an earache.

 

So, sick kid #2 for the week. On Tuesday, Jack stayed home, but Chloë felt better after a dose of meds. By Thursday, Sophia was sick, too! She came home early on Thursday and stayed home all day Friday. Poor kiddos had a rough week. I came down with Sophie's upset tummy on Friday, which wasn't too bad and hey, it probably helped me lose a little weight. I didn't really mind it...!

Friday, Sophia felt a lot better, but they wouldn't let her go back to school until she'd been 24 hours without the poopies. She went along and did all my running for the day. We went to the Navy base and got my TB test read (all clear), and then we went out and turned in all my sub documentation so that I could finally get fingerprinted. At last, I've only been waiting since September! Now I'm just waiting to get my official letter in the mail and then I can start. Can't wait!

Jack's very $$$ growth hormone meds had been delivered the week before, so we just started up giving him his nightly shots again. Unfortunately, I gave him one of the shots upstairs one night, and then I asked him to bring the box - which contained not only that night's meds but ALL seven vials of HGH - back down to the refrigerator. The meds MUST be refrigerated. I never went back downstairs that night, so imagine my dismay the following night when I found the box on an oft-neglected counter instead of in the refrigerator!!  Augh!! I called up the manufacturer and discussed the problem with them at length on Friday; we finally concluded that the medicine was not longer effective nor guaranteed safe, and it would have to be discarded. Holy cow.

So then I called up the military mail-order pharmacy that ships it to us, to see about getting a replacement. I explained what happened, and the guy on the phone told me, "Well, I can send an early refill, but you'll have to pay for it." With much trepidation and a lump in my throat, I asked, "How much will that be?" I expected the answer to be in the thousands of dollars, so I was overjoyed when he told me, "It wasn't our fault, so you'll have to pay the nine-dollar co-pay again." Hell yeah, I'll pay nine bucks!! Phew phew phew!!!

Guarantee you I won't be keeping all seven vials in one place like that ever again!

On Friday night after the kids were in bed, I had a little manic streak and found myself busy in the kitchen. I was looking for something under the kitchen sink, which was a scary scene with all the cheap cleaning products I've been stocking up on lately. I pulled everything out, clean the disgusting shelf, and reorganized everything by current usage requirements, type, size, shape, color and alphabet. Okay, maybe not those last few things, but it looks good! I give it maybe five days before Rob messes it all up again, though.

After that, I decided to give the Hoover FloorMate I'd picked up a few months ago from a fellow Freecycler a try. Our floor is nastay right now, so it really needed a good scrubbing.  Well, I took a "before" picture of the floor, but the damn thing didn't work. I had my water and baking soda solution all over the floor, but no suction. That sucked. I dried it up, but not before Lily (the dog) came in with her muddy footprints all over everything. That was fun.

Then, I spied the brown bananas on top of the fridge and finally decided to give my new mixer a spin! I know, I know, it's not the first thing I was supposed to make with it, which was the first thing Rob told me when he came home from work that night. Hmph. At least I finally used it! And believe-you-me, it was quite the thrill! That machine is a Godsend. I love it, love it, love it and will be using it much more frequently after this! So powerful and fast! My banana bread was mixed up in seconds. It even mashed the bananas for me, effortlessly!

And as good as that chocolate chip banana bread looked, it tasted even better. Yeah, I had some. More than a little. SO FREAKING GOOD! We have more bananas, so I may be making another loaf before I get to Rob's lemon poppy seed bread. I think this was the best banana bread I ever made. Seriously. And I thank the KitchenAid.

I stayed up all night that night, with the help of the caffeine-full Diet Coke I'd gotten earlier that day and the Black Eyed Peas on my iPod. Chloë and I had an 0800-1000 booth sale at one of the Food Lion stores in town, and I was in a really hyped mood, so there was no point in going to sleep for just a couple hours and possibly missing the booth. The time passed really quickly, although I can't say I got a lot accomplished after the kitchen stuff. I started packing up the van around 0630, but it was so extremely cold out (for here) that I was shivering uncontrollably and in tears when I finally woke Rob up to help me finish packing the cookies. Could. Not. Get. Warm.

That booth sale SUCKED. The girls were freezing and miserable, and we barely had any customers. No cookies were sold at all for the first 50 minutes, and in the end, we only sold 18 boxes. It was awful!

However, I had a good conversation with Nikki, our Leader who was there with her daughter, and we/I decided that I'm going to lead Sophia and her daughter next year - along with whomever else I take on - in their Daisy troop!! I'd been toying with the idea (I mentioned it here recently) for a while, but I finally decided to go for it. I don't know how to let them know, but I'll find out soon. I'm excited!! Technically, Nikki and I are both going to Co-Lead Chloë's Juniors troop (they'll bridge to Juniors at the end of this year) and Sophie's Daisy troop, but she'll mainly take over the duties for the older girls, and I'll have the younger ones. We'll help each other out as needed. She doesn't like to go to all the meetings, whereas I like that stuff. But I don't want to drag all the kids with me, so I'll go do that if she keeps my kids. She's got four of her own, so it'll be, uh, fun in her house during the meetings! It sounds like a really good plan to me. I can't wait to get started, now.

I napped (I think? I can't remember) after that, and then it was time to get ready to go to the evening booth sale at Farm Fresh. Rob and Jack were off to Hampton (the same place where the BEP concert was on Monday) to watch the car races with the Cub Scout pack. They couldn't get an extra ticket, and I couldn't find a babysitter, so Sophia had to come with me to the booth sale. I put her in Chloë's old Daisy uniform (which will be hers next year) and made her an honorary Daisy for the night. How cute does she look?! (The one pigtail was blowing in the wind; they really did match, I swear!)

Sophia was beyond excited to help sell cookies! She couldn't wait. I had to talk to her repeatedly about behaving like a big girl, but for the first hour, she really did great. She asked the customers if they would like to buy cookies and relished saying, "...to support our troop!" Her favorite part was leading them over to the cookie table, where I was, and helping them select their varieties. She would hold a box of cookies up that she wanted them to buy with one hand, with her other thumb in her mouth, and just look cute. It worked so well, we ran out of the three slow-selling kinds of cookies that I kept telling her to "push"!

After the next mom-Brownie pair arrived to relieve Nikki and her daughter, Sophie and I quickly ran home to grab the rest of our cookie stock. In the five minutes we were there, Sophie had time time go potty, grab a drink, and get a booboo. The booboo part deflated her, and she wanted no part of selling cookies when we got back. She sat by me or near/under a table behind me for a while, until her mood improved, and then she got back out on the floor again. It was by far our best booth sale this year, and we had a lot of fun!

The boys were still out at their races when we got home, and Rob texted me picture after picture of Jack having the time of his life. It was a thrill-a-minute for him, I heard. He loved the crashes! I'll have to get those pictures off my phone and share them another time.

 

The girls and I watched Little Women, and Chloë was sobbing big, happy tears during the whole thing. My little emotional baby girl. It would not surprise me at all if it turned out she's bipolar, too. She loved the movie, though, and watched it again on Sunday. Sophia and I fell asleep snuggled up on the couch together, and I didn't wake up until Chloë was kissing me good-night. And then again when Rob and Jack came home, and he lifted Sophie off me so I could be comfortable. She's getting so big and heavy!

I did not wake up until noon the next day, thanks to someone coming to buy some cookies from us after seeing the soap-writing I'd done on Vanna's windows about the sale. Thank goodness she did, because I was supposed to pick up more cookies at 1100 for the booth sale at 1300! I raced out, picked up the cookies, and then dropped them off at M's house for the booth. Chloë and I didn't have to do this one, thankfully.

While that was going on, Rob and the Littles were outside in the sunshine. He was painting the house trim, while the kids and Neighbor Kid were driving the Power Wheels all over the driveway. Chloë and I went out delivering and selling more cookies. We didn't sell a whole lot - less than 10 boxes - but every little bit counts. She was just starting to fuss about being cold and hungry when M. called to say she was on her way back from the booth sale with the cookies. Saved by the bell!

M. and I chatted in the driveway for an hour after taking inventory of the cookies and money. Her daughter got in the toy cars and drove around, having lots of fun. It was a good visit; we plan to do it again soon. After they left, Chloë and I delivered more cookies until dark. It was a full cookie weekend! Two more weeks, and then it's OVER. Yay.

And now that it's 0300, I should either go crash... or make some banana bread. I'll let you know tomorrow what I decided!

Fin.

 
 
  

Where The Hell Is Summer?

I'm freaking FREEZING. It's about 28º out right now, and I can't get warm. I have no adipose fat, the brown fat that keeps us insulated against the cold. I think I've complained about this before, maybe more than once. Well, it doesn't get any easier. I haven't acclimated. I'm cold, I'm miserable, I'm cranky, and I want to cry.

I stayed up until about 0530-0600 this morning, watching the Diane Keaton-Queen Latifah-Katie Holmes vehicle Mad Money on Netflix streaming, and knitting that kimono. I finished at the same time the movie ended. Being so preoccupied with movie and yarn kept me unaware of how cold I was, but as soon as it all finished, I became acutely aware of my nonstop shivering.

(The movie, by the way, was entertaining and amusing. It wasn't a bad choice; if you've got nothing else to do, it's worth seeing.)

So I was so cold, I went straight upstairs, with a magazine tucked under my arm, to the kids' bathroom to take a bath. I rarely take baths. I hate taking baths. But sometimes, it's the only way to be warm and comfortable.

I walked right back out. Oh, my God. Let me just say that my children are disgusting, and that every visible surface of that bathroom was COVERED in toothpaste, except for the tub. I was pissed!

So, I went back to my own bathroom and took a hot shower instead. A very long, very hot shower. When I was all done washing up, I started shaving everything there was to shave - except my head, natch - just so I could stay in the water longer!

I had been wide awake up until that point. That warmth knocked me out, though, and I was yawning furiously by the time I got out. I am a creature of strict bathing routines, and I always, always, always brush my teeth as soon as I get out and towel-dry my hair, then do my various facial creams and what-not, before applying body lotion, combing out my hair, and blah blah blah. Last night - nay, this morning - I didn't do any of that. I was just so tired. I went straight from the shower to the bed, without even drying off, and fell fast asleep immediately!

Needless to say, my hair looked quite... interesting when I woke up. Rob did the ol' point-and-laugh routine at me.

Thankfully, he gets the kids off to school nowadays, so I didn't have to worry about that. I was aware at some point that he crawled under the covers and snuggled me, but I didn't really wake up until 1400. And then I freaked, because my phone was downstairs, and my alarm clock was flashing numbers much later than that. I thought I'd missed getting the kids! It turned out to be okay, and Rob was still home, and he came up to cuddle me some more before we both had to get moving. He normally leaves between 12-1300 for work, but he didn't have to be in until 1600 today because of the Super Bowl. Really? That's a reason to... oh, whatever.

We left the house at the same time, he for work and me for the bus stop. The kids were late, and I stood out there, freezing. Bah, no fun. They came home, finally, and had a snack, and then I started them right to work on their homework. Sometimes I let them chill a while first, but we had too much to do tonight for that.

Jack finished his up quickly, but Sophia was bothering Chloë too much, so it took her a long time. I had to scold the girls every couple of minutes, so she could get her work done. I got tired of nagging, so that's when I took the kimono upstairs to press it and block it out on our bed. When I came down, she was somehow miraculously finished. Maybe I should just leave the room more often!

We hopped in the van to pick up a Freecycle after that. I was supposed to get it two weeks ago, but then it snowed, then yesterday, but I forgot...  The lady was very nice and patient, though, and she had a bunch of things for CARE Package as well as the stationery I was there to pick up! Nothing photo-worthy, just some used gift bags for packaging up the layettes, but a LOT of them.

Back at home, I gave the kids their marching orders. I let into them about the toothpaste-covered bathroom upstairs, and then I handed each of them a wash cloth and sent them away to clean it up. I haven't even checked it yet, but Chloë said it was all clean except for the vanity drawer. I have a hard time believing that, but if it's true, I will be amazed and impressed!

I made dinner while they cleaned. I use that term loosely, though, because tonight's dinner was - guess? Guess? Give up? - yet another stupid DiGiorno pizza. I shouldn't say it like that; I'm grateful for many nights of free, easy dinners, but it's getting to be a little too repetitive! When I have some freezer space back - because we definitely need to make up those pizzas and free up some room in there - I'll be able to stock more foods. And really, like I've said before, with Rob working nights, it sucks to cook meals that the kids just aren't going to eat anyway. At least with the pizzas, they are eating well.

After dinner, it was time to head out to Cub Scouts. Chloë brought a pencil and some paper so she could do some writing (she ended up making lists of names, for whatever reason); Sophia brought her "Raising a Reader" bag of books from the preschool. At the beginning of the meeting, the boys colored pictures of Boy Scouts setting up camp, while they waited for all the kids to arrive. We had seven tonight.

When everyone was there, Den Leader Beth told the boys that tonight's activity would be to make balloon decorations out of their Tiger manuals, for the Blue and Gold ceremony/party commemorating today's 100th Boy Scout birthday, next Friday. They had to decorate empty soup cans with birthday wrapping paper scraps, pompoms, feathers, stickers, and whatever else Beth had brought, for the centerpieces. They tore into it and made such a mess! I was mostly busy keeping the girls, so another dad helped Jack out a great deal, and I appreciated it.

Jack mostly used pompoms and stickers. He had a blast gluing things on!

While they worked, we parents talked with Beth about all the requirements for rising to Wolves next year, as well as making sure the ones who wanted to were signed up for the Arena racing (Rob's taking Jack), the Blue and Gold (I'm taking Jack and the girls), and summer camp. We signed Jack up for the 4-night Cubs camp in July, and I talked to Beth at length about it. She's going to be there, looking over him, which relieves me greatly. I let her know that he still wets the bed sometimes (privately, of course), so we talked all about that and making sure he's fine. He may not be my youngest, but he's definitely the one I tend to worry myself about the most!  But after seeing his big sister go to sleep-away camp for the past two years, he is beyond thrilled to be going himself!  My big boy ♥

After the den meeting, we headed to the Girl Scout Cookie Chair's house, nearby, to pick up a new cookie packet for me. Rob accidentally recycled my entire cookie sales stuff last week, a fact that had me in a major panic Sunday morning! She rescued me and calmed me down, though, reassuring me that she could replace everything I needed. Whew.

After a quick stop at the bank to deposit a mystery shopping check, it was time to get home and work on the laundry. Rob's been washing up a storm, so I had about eight loads in need of folding up in my room. The kids all had more pizza first, and then we got down to business. Actually, now that I think about it, I sent the Littles into their bathroom the scrub it some more, and then they went right to bed. Chloë stayed up for more than another hour, helping me put away laundry. When she started saying, "Am I done yet, Mommy? I'm so tired," of course, she was excused! 

I only got about halfway done with it before my back was in agony from the way I was sitting on the bed, so I gave up for the night. Unfortunately, there are piles of folded clothes all over my bed now, and it's too cold to sleep downstairs on the couch! Guess I'll have to... thankfully, Rob brought me down some long underwear when he came home, because I was in tears from the chills. He's a good man, that one. I love him.

I finished up the kimono, and now I think I'll crochet a few quick dishcloths. I threw away our last sponge today, because it was gross even after washing it in the dishwasher AND zapping it in the microwave, so I need to have something to wash with before I can buy some more this weekend. Fortunately, I have the know-how and plenty of kitchen cotton yarn for it in my stash.

Welp, that be it. Hope the start to your week was just dandy.

Fin. 

P.S. Call me crazy, but all this scouting stuff has me in a tizzy lately, and I am seriously considering being Sophia's Daisy Troop Leader next year! Am I out of my mind?!

Hello, Cupcake!

Catching up...

Tuesday

Honestly, I did plenty of stuff on this day, I just can't remember what now! But I did get this in the mail:

Ten skeins of Peruvian 100% wool, for $50 for CARE Package! That's a really good deal; I got it from Discontinued Name Brand Yarn. I've purchased from them several times before and have always been happy. They offer steep discounts on great yarns. I like this green, but it's not extremely soft. It's not too scratchy, I think, but now that it's not so soft I'm not sure exactly what I'm going to do with it. Perhaps a felting project that I design myself? Eek, nervous about that. We'll see!

Wednesday

As usual, I spent my first hour after the kids got on the bus screwing around online, doing my Facebook games. That is a given, and I don't apologize for it. I'm not a morning person and it helps wake me up. Plus it's hard for me to move and do things when I'm so cold. But after that I got busy!

I spend a lot of time now looking at couponing and deal blogs. Money is so very, very tight right now that I'm pretty obsessed with saving money and getting the best deals. On Wednesdays, the grocery ads come out for Farm Fresh and Harris Teeter (my favorites, although I need to branch out more because those are also the two most expensive stores);  Farm Fresh doubles coupons up to $1.00 on Wednesdays. Both double up to 99cents every other day, so I look at those blogs to see what I can get for free after sales and coupons. I'm going to start stockpiling, too. I just have to figure out how to get massive amounts of the coupons I need to do so, without spending too much to make it a worthwhile cause. I'm already stockpiling the toiletries from CVS and Walgreens, and now I'm going to start doing it with food, too.

Rob says to me after I tell him this, "What are you, Mormon?"

Well, no, but it would be much better to get a ton of stuff for the pantry for FREE and then shop from the pantry, planning our meals around what we have on hand, then having to run out and buy stuff at full-price! Right?! So that's the plan.

(Also the current plan, because of super-tight finances, is to scrap spending the summer in L.A. and use the money I will hopefully earn from subbing to, you know, live off and stuff. It sucks, and Chloe was bawling when I told her, but we gotta do what we gotta do to stay afloat.)

So anyway. The deals I got Friday were thus:

This 8x10" photo collage from Walgreens was completely free! I paid nothing out of pocket for it! And it turned out really nice, too. I don't know what I'm going to do with it yet, but I like it.

 
(Sorry for the crappidity of this picture. I hate my camera!!)

All of this, which is 1 bottle of Gatorade G2, 2 single-serve bowls of Kashi cereal, 8 bottles of DanActive, 8 Activia yogurts, and a Tony's cheese pizza, were free after deals at Target (the Kashi) and Farm Fresh (everything else)!  Only the Kashi and some of the Activia still remain in existence; everything else was quickly consumed. My kids are BIG fans of yogurt shakes and smoothies, so when I can get these free, I act quickly. Might have to take subbing off on Wednesdays so I can be sure to have time to get the freebies! ;) I kid... sort of.

My total out of pocket for the above was five whole cents for tax, at Target. Would've been 13 cents at FF, but I had a $5 gift card that I'd JUST gotten in the produce department for signing up for a second Sunday newspaper delivery. I'm getting it for the coupons for $1.47 extra a week, and I KNOW I will recover that in savings each week, so it's worth it. Too bad I can't just get the extra coupons and not waste the whole rest of the paper, but I'll definitely Freecycle that.

And I got a free lunch, too! I can't eat very  much, so just a few bites satisfies me. I got a cracker with smoked salmon spread from the seafood department, a slice of bread and a bite of donut (not the best, but one little bite won't kill me) from the bakery, and a hunk of cheese for my bread from the deli department. All free samples, and it filled me up. Hey, I have no shame.

I made myself laugh going out and doing that shopping, too. I don't have pictures of it on this computer, but I knitted Jack a hat with cars on it a few years ago. He wears it now, and it's still big on him. It turned out HUGE, because I didn't really pay attention to gauge back then. Anyway, I hadn't showered yet but really wanted to go out and get my deals before they were sold out. My hair was a mess, so I went out wearing Jack's car hat! It's blue and yellow and orange and green... and oh, so not grown-up. Every time someone would glance at my hat and then look away, I'd chuckle to myself.

When I got back home, I realized I still hadn't made anything for Bunco that night. I was supposed to bring a dessert, but I had no mixes of any kind in the pantry, and absolutely no money to buy something. So from-scratch it had to be!

I couldn't find any recipes I liked on AllRecipes.com, so I used the one for vanilla cupcakes in the back of my beloved Hello, Cupcake! cookbook. I got it from the kids' school Book Fair last year, but I've seen it around everywhere.  The recipe was supposed to make 24 cuppies, but since I way overfilled the cups, mine only made 16. That was enough for the 12 for Bunco and one each for the family, so it worked out fine.

They turned out beautifully! It has been harder for me lately to resist sweets, but fortunately I'm not a big cake lover, so I had no temptation to try these. Still, they looked pretty good!

I just dipped them in that chocolate Betty Crocker frosting I got from Walgreens the other day and then used the pearls from Williams-Sonoma to decorate them like the colorful petit-fours I made one other time. The kids remembered those, too, and kept saying so. 

Dontcha want a bite?

While they were baking, I was talking to my dad on the phone as he drove from his home down to Florida to pick up his fiance girlfriend.  Their wedding, which was to be his fifth, is off, but they rented out her condo, so they're still moving in together! Eek. I'm worried for him. It is kinda funny, though...

Also, while I was on the phone with Dad, my doorbell rang. It was a fellow Freecycler dropping off yet another awesome package of stamps for my grandfather! Grandpa has been collecting stamps for over 60 years now, and he's got dozens and dozens of albums full of them. He loves all kinds - used and new, foreign and domestic, whatever I send him - so I always ask on Freecycle for people to save the stamps from their holiday mail. Several people responded and sent me stamps for him, which was great, but then I hit the jackpot with Ken! Ken brought a huge pack last week and another one Wednesday, filled with thousands of stamps (old AND foreign) I'm sure Grandpa doesn't have. I'm so excited; he's going to be thrilled!

I also got another freebie in the mail Wednesday: My e.l.f. cosmetics! Remember I'd bought that e.l.f. mascara on Target so I could get a free $5 off $5 code for their website? I just bought five random things that I really didn't look at, on a whim, just to see what I ended up with. It came yesterday; I haven't tried anything yet, but it looks fun! And if I don't end up using it, it would make a great gift (or Bunco prize?)

(By the way, if you want me to stop posting my deals and steals, I'm not gonna, because they excite me so. But let me know if you hate them and maybe I'll do it some other way. If you love them, let me know if you want to know how I save money, and maybe I'll get it together to write a post on that. I'm still learning how to do it big-time, though!)

After dance class that night, I had Bunco. I had to remind Rob to come home so I could go, because he completely forgot and was going to work several more hours. Poor Rob is having a tough time these past couple of weeks. He's got a new chief whose mission it is, apparently, to make his life a living hell. He's coming home more disenchanted with the Navy than ever, wishing I would win the lottery and get him out. (Too bad we don't play.) It sucks, and I feel bad for him, but there's nothing I can do. 

Also, speaking of Rob, he's going back to nights starting next week. Bah. I hate that. HATE IT. But it might solve the problem of how I'm going to get the kids on and off the bus once i start subbing, now that our nice Japanese neighbor-lady has moved to Texas!

And further Rob news: He may be going to Haiti with 48 hrs notice, for up to three months. I am not worried about it and am not complaining, but I will miss him terribly if he goes. If they need him there, though, so bet it. I'll let you know when I do.

Back to... Bunco. I quickly decorated the cupcakes and got my stuff together to leave, as soon as he arrived home. Fortunately, T was hosting it at her house just down the road from mine, so I wasn't late. I drove so carefully so my poor cupcakes wouldn't roll around in the cake case! Bonus: because her wee baby girl goes to bed at 7:30 every night now, she's going to host it every month now so the baby can go to bed on time. Yay for me; I hate hosting at my house!

Bunco was a lot of fun. We had a new face there, and she turned out to be really nice. And Steph was there, which took me by surprise; I had no idea she was coming since she quit back in April and didn't tell me she was subbing this month! That was a thrill, and of course I got to love on Baby Luke some, too. The cupcakes mostly got eaten, except for three for the kids to take to lunch today, so that worked out fine. And I was really hyper and silly and in a great mood. I kept cracking myself up, and I think maybe I made a few other people laugh, too. ;) Hopefully I wasn't too annoying. I didn't have caffeine, so I don't know what was up with that...

When I got home, we watched our Netflix movie: Bruno, with Sacha Baron Cohen. Oh. My. God. Do not see this movie if you have weak sensibilities! Rob thought it was stupid as hell, but I laughed my ass off! He is SO wrong. I mean, don't get me wrong, I thought it was stupid too, but there were many hilarious parts that just had me laughing because I couldn't believe he actually did that! On film! For the whole world to see! What a riot. Have you seen it?

Friday

I've been sleeping upstairs in the bed still, with my heating pad on and snuggled up to Rob. Keeps me nice and toasty, but man, I miss my couch. My eyes are always in bad shape from the way I sleep in the bed. All puffy and crusty and gross. Nice, right? Plus I can't stay asleep; I toss and turn and adjust all night. It's not the best sleep. When it warms up, I'm back to my couch, thank you very much.

At ten, I picked up Jack from school, so we could go to our respective doctor's appointments. I had my one-year (!!) post-surgery check-up first, in Newport News, and then his appointment was two hours later in Portsmouth. He was happy to be out with Mama and NOT at school - so long as he didn't have to get any shots. He didn't.

I had been praying all morning about being blessed with abundance, because those places are NOT close together, and would require a lot of gas. I only had an eighth of a tank left, and like I said, not one penny in the bank account. I was hoping for a loaves-and-fishes type miracle. Well, that didn't happen, and my gas went down almost to 'E' by the time we arrived in Newport News. Then I remembered there was still a little money in the CARE Package account. Now, normally I am very carefully about not touching CP money except for CP needs, with no intermingling, even though I use OUR money for CP needs all the time. But I had no choice; I had my son in the car and couldn't afford to just run out of gas in Newport News, so far from home. So, I put $20 worth of gas in the van - which I will pay back tonight  since it's payday now, phew - and considered that the blessing I was asking for!

We arrived at 10:30, a half-hour early for my 1100 appointment. So when I was sitting in the waiting area at 11:45 with a very antsy six-year-old boy, I was pretty annoyed. Especially after the receptionist called me up to tell me that my referral had expired on the sixth, and I could either reschedule or try to get a new one, backdated for today's appointment. Or pay out of pocket. Um, no. So now I need to get a backdated referral, which they refused to do last time, because no one in that whole stinking office can figure out how to set up a system for contacting patients to let them know their referral is running out?!?! What the hell? Every other place I go handles that themselves. Or at least lets me know - well in advance - that it's time to get a new one. I made that appointment THREE months ago, which is plenty of time for them to have noticed that I would need to get new insurance paperwork. Shame on them.

I found a suggestion box in the bathroom - which I always use before weighing in, hehe - but nothing to write with. I should have just said something at the desk about it. Very annoying!

Anyway. My appointment went really well. Doc was extremely pleased with my more-than-150-lb loss in the last year (it's actually not my anniversary for 12 more days, so I'll post more pictures then) and congratulated me thoroughly. They only guarantee - and not even really that - a 75-lb loss, so I've done well with his help!

My protein is still on the low side of normal, so as usual I was admonished about that. I've been eating a ton of eggs since my labs were drawn, though, so I'm betting it has come up since then. My iron is still quite low, even though I've been taking the ferrous sulfate, so he prescribed chelated iron, which will be more readily absorbed. And that should help me stay warmer, too. My vitamin D came up nicely, though, at least!

He answered all my questions (and a couple of Jack's), and when I was getting up to leave, I was overcome with gratitude and instead of shaking his hand, I grabbed him for a big hug! He was a bit taken aback by that and kept saying, "Oh! Okay!" and laughing. I thanked him for myself and for Rob, and told him how happy I am now. And I am. It's been great, this past year. I love my RNY (roux-en-y gastric bypass surgery)!

It was late by the time we got out of there, probably about 1225, and Jack's appointment was at 1300, more than half an hour away! I still had to get the gas, so I stopped and did that, and then I stopped next door at the Burger King to get him the free lunch I'd already promised him all the way up there. He was so excited - not by the food, but by the watch in his Kids Meal! He kept telling me the time, which was actually the date and never changed. Funny!

Then I drove like a bat out of hell to make it to the hospital on time. It's pretty sad when I'll drive more carefully with cupcakes in the car than with my kids, so I'm resolving now to do the opposite. I'll just have to consider them my little cupcakes, instead of my little ducklings. We got there late, not getting to the peds office until 1313; they consider you late if you're not there 15 minutes early, so I was worried they wouldn't see us. But they did, so yay!

He needs a new referral to the endocrinologist who prescribes his growth hormone shots, and also he needed his physical form filled out for the school testing he's getting for special services. We spent until 1400 with young Dr. A., a little cutie who I really like (not in THAT way, just as a doctor). He's very patient and attentive, and he really cares about the kids. I kind of sprung the physical form on them without notice, but he was more than willing to get that done for me, so I appreciated that.

Jack will be seven in just over two months. Hard to believe... He weighs 32.4 lbs and is 39.5 inches tall. I said to Dr. A., "Well, he's stil the size of your average two-year-old, huh?" He said, "Yes... but think of it this way, he's the size of a small three-year-old, and a really small four-year-old - isn't that better?"

Um, sure.

He failed his vision test again, so I need to take him back to the eye doctor to see if his prescription needs to be adjusted. It's been less than a year since he got his glasses, so I was kind of surprised to see how bad he did! Maybe he just wasn't concentrating enough on the chart?

Otherwise, everything went well, and he's healthy and happy. He was bouncing around, having fun, and cuddling with me at times. A couple of years ago, I didn't even think he liked me at all. I was very sad about that. Things have done a 180, and now we're quite close. It's fantastic!

I was worried about being late for the bus to get the girls, and my phone was dead, so I couldn't call anyone to go get them. So, again, I drove too fast. Just around the corner from our house, a policeman pulled me over for doing 40 in a 25. Eh, oops. I looked right at him as I was passing his unmarked car, and knew he was going to pull me over. Sure enough. I was cringing at the thought of yet another bill to pay the whole time, so I was beyond grateful when he told me that because I have "plus points," he was going to let me off with just a warning. And warn me to slow down, he did. Twice. He also saw Jack in the back seat and examined his carseat to make sure he was buckled properly. Hopefully he didn't notice what a mess the van is right now, but at least the boy was safely harnessed.

When we got home, I was surprised to find Rob in the driveway! He usually doesn't get home until at least 1800, but it was before 1500. Jack was excited to see Daddy, too. He bounded out of the van and ran into the house; I followed, sure that either Rob was sick or there was trouble at work. It was neither (although there WAS trouble at work); he just got off early today! What a nice surprise.

We all walked down, with Lily on her leash, to get the girls from the bus. Jack wanted to drive his Caddy down there, but it doesn't move fast enough. He was so bummed. When all the kids came off the bus, they surrounded the dog and gave her loads of attention. She's so shy, though, I'm not sure she enjoyed that!

Rob and the kids played outside, working on Jack's Pinewood Derby car and driving the trucks around, while I took a nap. I'd planned on an hour-long snooze, but it turned into three hours! Which meant we missed the Parent Reading Night at school. I'm so bummed about that, because the Math Night was so fun and informative. Darn it. I really, really wanted to go.

And now I have to pay the bills before I get back to sleep. Happy Friday, everyone!

Fin.

 

The Opposite Of Congress

Though I didn't do anything yesterday because of the migraine, we did accomplish some things on Sunday and today. Rob wanted to go spend his Walmart gift card from his father on Sunday, so I convinced him to wait for me and we'd go run errands together. First, we ran to CVS to get the latest deals. See the above? Missing from the picture are the two Watchamacallit bars that the kids and Rob ate immediately after we got out into the car. Guess how much I paid?? $1.46 out of pocket in taxes, but then they gave me BACK $8 in Extra Care Bucks, so I made about $6.50 on this order! Sweet, huh? That's, like, 60-80 dollars worth of stuff at full retail price. I love it.

We went to Target after that, to get the Monsters, Inc. Blu-Ray/DVD combo out of their plastic security case. The cashier never did, and we couldn't get it out. I banged and hammered and did all kinds of things to it! But there was no problem, they took it right out and gave it back to us, even though we didn't have the receipt. We just had to give them the say CC I used to buy it with.

On to Walmart after that. We split up, the boys vs. the girls. I had no doubt Rob would be finished first, but he agreed to wait on the meet-up bench we designated instead of roaming the store looking for me. He spent his fifty bucks on a motorcycle cover for his BMW, which ended up not fitting at all. He took it back and got dogfood for our starving pooch with it.

As for me, I bought two size 12-14 shirt that I hoped might fit, two brassieres (that's what took me so long to shop - I think I need a 36DD, but the smallest Wal-mart carries in a DD is a 38, so I had to go with two of those, and they're okay), two Christmas storage totes, and a box of kitty litter for our stinky catpoopers. You didn't think I could spend an entire fifty bucks on myself, did you?

Anyway, the only reason I'm talking about all that is to show the CVS picture I took on Sunday. Hee!

On to today, Tuesday.

The kids and I played, watched TV, and goofed around until about noon or so, and then we got to work. We went upstairs and worked on laundry and cleaning up my and their rooms until maybe 1600. The Littles (which I can hardly say anymore, now that Sophia is almost bigger than her big sister) ended up falling asleep and taking a long nap, so Chloë and I were quite a team, getting things done. She can be such a pain in my butt sometimes, with her moodiness and attitude, but when she feels like helping out and getting along, she's a tremendous help!

While I was hanging up my clothes, I found a bag of clothes from Old Navy, for Jack! All things that fit now. I have no idea when I bought them, but there were a bunch of socks, underwear and shirts in there that I don't remember buying. Really weird. Glad I found them before he grew out of them! Oh, wait, we are talking about Bitty Jack here...

I worked on a secret project I can't show until this weekend for a couple hours, so . . . yeah.

I cleaned up the kitchen partway, before I got disgusted and literally threw in the towel. When Rob came home, I told him I'd make dinner if he cleaned up the rest of the kitchen, which he did. So I did. It wasn't anything exciting, some chicken tenders, tater tots and corn, all from Schwan's. But everyone ate a great meal - Jack even asked for seconds on the chicken! - so I decided we would make a special dessert together.

Rob's mom had recently sent the kids some children's cookbooks, and they wanted to make everything in them! The first thing that caught my eye was the apple crisp, because I love it and because we happened to have all the ingredients on hand. The kids have never had it! So we made it together, and I even got to work on some fractions with Chloë while we did it. She did a great job, too.

 

The Fiestaware lying in wait for the crisp

The kids wanted black raspberry ice cream on their apple crisp, so, okay, I went with it. I even had a smidge myself, and it was great! (This was not my plate!)

 

After dessert, Rob got the kids upstairs for a shower, and I went out to pick up some Freecycles. I got this lamp, which is nice, but which Rob thinks will get broken within 24 hours. We'll see. There's never enough light in this house, so I'm glad I got it.

 

And I got this Hoover FloorMate, for our always-nasty kitchen floor. I can't wait to try it out, hopefully tomorrow. Seriously, our kitchen floor is always gross. I can't stand it. And the second Swiffer I bought is on the fritz now, so I really needed something. Hope it works!

So how's your last week of 2009 going?

Fin. 

 
 
  

 

Migraines Suck.

So I've had this migraine all day, which may or may not really be a migraine, combined with a seriously awful sinus headache. This cold is just not going away for me, and I do believe my sinuses are infected. So all around, this day has sucked for me.

I've been on the couch for most of it, sleeping on and off. All our new DVDs have played babysitter to the kids today. I've barely fed them, instead opting to "suggest" things they can go get for themselves, like an apple or orange, or a cup of yogurt. It's sufficed; they haven't starved to death.

Good thing we had no plans today, because I/we didn't accomplish one damn thing. Well, I can't say that, really: I managed to get Chloë on her hands and knees, scrubbing all the muddy doggy footprints off the living room and office floors! Don't worry, I paid her a substantial amount of Dad Dollars for that, and she felt sufficiently compensated. And I discovered something else: My overly high-strung little 8-year-old, who has been screaming and shouting at her younger siblings and visited her room for it an inordinately high number of times today, is calmed by scrubbing the floor. I may have to make this a regular routine for her! Too bad cleaning doesn't de-stress me; I'll have to stick to my knitting for that.

I had Rob pick up a Freecycle for me: saved stamps for my gran'pappy. He collects stamps, new and used, foreign and domestic, fancy and plain. So if you want to save stamps to make an 83-year-old man extraordinairily happy, I'd love you for it.

The headache remains, but I'm going to go and try to knit. I'm working on a kimono; have I mentioned that? I like the handspun yarn a great deal. It's very squishy, one of my favorite characteristics in a yarn. So, cheers.

Fin.

It's The End Of The World As We Know It

Not to worry. I'm not going all Nostradamus on you or anything. That song just popped into my head while I was trying to think of a blog title for this end-of-soccer post. So I went with it.

By the by, I'm way behind on answering your comments, and some may not get answered at all, because my entire Yahoo email inbox disappeared on me the other day! Like, vamoose! I don't know what the hell happened to it, but it doesn't appear to be coming back. Color me perplexed.

And on another thought, I seriously doubt I'll make my goal of being at 175 by my one-year mark, because I'm almost at the 10-month point and not only have I not really lost any weight this past month, but I gained two pounds since my last weigh-in. What the hell? ("What the hell" is my phrase of the week, apparently.) I'm hoping it's just because I need to take a giant you-know-what (hee), but in any case, I am kicking up the protein intake. I'm trying not to eat ANYthing but protein-rich foods until my next weigh-in, so hopefully that'll make the scale budge in the other direction. I'm not getting stuck at 199, damn it!

Anyway. Saturday. Getting ready for soccer was a bit crazy, partly because I'd meant to get up a half-hour earlier than I did, partly because I still had to package up the soccer snacks and take a shower, partly because the kids were slow-moving, and partly because Rob had to leave for work at the same time. We both got pissy at each other, so that wasn't fun.

As for the snacks, I put a Juicy Juice box, a banana, and three wrapped "homemade" cookies in each white paper bag, which I had left over from some other project. Then I made tags that matched the color of the girls' game shirts, punched a star with a Creative Memories punch in each one, wrote their names in glitter pen, and added flower and brad embellishments. I hot-glued those onto the bags, packed them all in a big canvas bag, and called it good. I'd meant to do more, more treats, more fancy, but I just didn't end up having the time.

We got to the field first after Coach, and he was worried that no one was going to show up. But eventually, all 10 girls arrived, and the game was started. Oddly enough, the other team only had four girls, so four of our girls played them, and then the other six donned those green shirts to play against their own teammates on the back field. That's my Sophie in the green overshirt, pink socks and piggy tails.

Sophie was on the back field, not with Coach, but with another daddy (also a cutie!) who volunteered to help the back field girls. There's always a parent volunteer, because there are always two simultaneous games. Did I ever step up? Hell no. I don't know a thing about soccer! But Rob did, once.

Here's a video of Sophie in her game. That's how she is. She plays some, but mostly stands around and does nothing. It's actually kind of the way she helps clean the house, too!

Aaaand, then she decided to sit it out. She PROMISED she would play, so I was disappointed that she didn't. I guess the bottom of her shoe was more interesting than kicking the ball around.

Oh, but what's this? Back on the field? She snuck over to Coach's side and followed him around, trying to get on his team. Defector!

But no, Coach refused her, and told her to go back to her team. Instead, she went and sat down on the blanket between fields with K, who was hurt and cold. (We froze our arses off at soccer. Brrr!!!)

I guess she got bored of that, too, because soon she was back on her field and running around again! Yay for rallying!

I guess I forgot to take any more pictures, but in the second half, she DID manage to worm her way onto Coach's team, and as usual, she insisted on holding his hand while she ran around after the ball. He told me he was flattered that she liked him so much and wanted to be with him, and I apologized for her difficult behavior this season. He was nonplussed and just hoped that she enjoyed going back to her dance class. I know she will. She truly enjoys it, and she's actually good at it, too!

We made the parent tunnel for the girls to run through, and then I handed out their snacks. I was the only one who ever packaged them up like that, and put their names on it, so the girls were a bit confused at first. The parents complimented me on the idea, though, and several girls thanked me, saying they liked their pretty name tags. And the cookies were a huge hit! So although I didn't get to do as much as I wanted to with them, I'm happy they were so well received.

After that, we had about 15 minutes to kill before Chloë's warm-ups. Jack and Curls were both in tears from being so cold, so I hustled everyone back to the van to kick on the heat. Everyone was hungry, too, so I drove around looking for somewhere cheap to eat. I found a shopping center with lots of cool stores in it, and I felt a twinge of, I don't know, disappointment and frustration, I guess, that I didn't have any money to shop for the kids. But we found a Firehouse Subs shop, and I ran in to get a sandwich. By that time, it was
time to get Chloë back to her field, so we hurried back to the Sportsplex.

Chloë warming up with the team - she always has her hands in her ponytail during soccer!

Chloë in the air, making a goal kick

Coach C, the assistant coach, telling Chloë where to send the ball for her second goal kick

She actually made a pretty fantastic kick, and I was really impressed with her playing yesterday. She managed to get the ball a few times and took it down the field; normally she is very shy and intimidated by the other girls, so she doesn't really try to get in there and take the ball away from the other team. I was cheering like mad!

Meanwhile, Sophie made a buddy, the 4yo sister of another player on Chloë's team. They were so cute and giggly together. A's mom and I laughed at them frequently. They had a good time rummaging through my purse and finding fun things to use, like wipes, hand sanitizer and lotion. I wasn't loving that so much!

Come on, Curls, get in there and get that ball!

Finally, the game was called, and that was the end of our soccer career, I think. We made the parent tunnel for the players again, and Chloë and her teammates got their snacks. We said lots of good-byes to the girls and coaches. Coach told me to try and get her to come back in the Spring, instead of going back to ballet, but I think her mind is made up. If she really wanted to go back, she probably would have cried a little that it was over - but there were no tears. Only relief and joy.

When we got home, I noticed Sophie's crepe myrtle had turned colors. Pretty stuff, huh.

And on the porch, there was a package from my Canadian blogger friend, Darci, for CARE Package, Inc. She knitted a cotton ripple blanket for the charity. So pretty, so soft. I love it, Darci, thank you!!!

Darci also sent some Partylite candles, which I think I won in a contest she had on her blog a long time ago. Apple scented, my favorite! I'd never smelled PL candles before, I don't think, but they're fantastic!

I quickly lit some and put them in the downstairs hallway, where I could smell them the entire time they were burning. Mmmm, yummy.

We didn't do a lot in the evening, other than run out and pick up some more Fall Product, and then a Freecycle pick-up. I could NOT find the woman's apartment in the dark, so I was kind of grumpy about that. But it was worth it, because I got all kinds of crafty books and magazines, which I can't wait to paw through and be inspired by. (Plus there were three hot football players in the next building over, and they were checking me out after I asked them where to find her building. I heard something about "that white girl" as I was walking away... If I weren't married, I'd have gone back!)

When Rob came home, after I fed the kids dinner, I revisited the pie crusts. They'd chilled long enough, I should think. They rolled out really well, and I only tore one a little bit when I was unrolling it into the pie pan. Which is too big, it's a 10" deep dish, so I didn't quite have enough filling for this big guy!

For Rob, happiness is a pumpkin pie, all for him.

Today was really quiet and pretty lazy for us. Well, four of us. Rob had to work, again, all day. :(

I baked the kids a couple dozen muffins for breakfast and lunch. And brunch. And snack. They have eaten all but four, so I guess they were good. I chatted with my sister, and I talked to my dad for nearly an hour and a half. We went out and delivered all of Chloë's Fall Product orders, went and picked up some more that another mom ordered from me today, and received yet another mom who was picking up her order from last week. I made dinner - pasta, garlic bread and veggies - for the kids. I cut out a ton of coupons and read the Sunday paper. And beyond that, I accomplished not much at all. I just had zero motivation today, and I'm not bothered by it!

Hope you all have a terrific Turkey Week!

Fin.

Two Hours Of My Life I Won't Get Back

So I slept past noon today, but it's okay because Rob had the day off. Don't ask me why, they just gave it to him. He was going to go take his motorcycle test in the morning, but he didn't want to leave the children with me sleeping, and he didn't want to wake me up. I appreciate that, because I obviously needed to catch up on some zzzz's, but he could've and should've. Oh, well.

Speaking of Rob, he doesn't think he's made chief, because they're only promoting 9 PR1s (his rate). He thinks his chances are bad. I prefer to think positive. He's earned it. He deserves it. We need this. Oh please, oh please, oh please...

Anyway, I finally woke up, checked a million trillion emails and went a little nuts when I realized I didn't have the prize package I needed to do a reveal shop at the movies this evening. Ahhh! After calls to my scheduler, visits with the neighbors and frantic searching, I finally found the package behind the shoe box where it fell when I signed for it and dropped it. All was right with the world again, for that moment anyway.

I showered, stuck in the contacts that I was supposed to have worn for at least two hours before my eye exam check-up (oops, had to lie), and went to that appointment just in time. I was in and out of there in about 29½ seconds with my script in hand. Contacts are good. Money is not, so I'll have to order them next week after payday. Glasses in the meantime, I guess!

Then I picked up a Freecycle I'd gotten for Stephanie: a bag full of maternity clothes in her size. Score! Hopefully they'll be cute and fit her. I haven't opened the bag...

At home, I started reading all my shops and preparing myself for the work ahead for the evening. I had to schedule them trickily, since they all fell in the same 4-hour time frame and were nowhere near each other. I started printing out my forms to fill out after the shops, when my black ink ran out. Suuuuck. Last thing I needed - and the rest of my printer functions won't work when an ink cartridge is out, which pisses me off to no end. I can't scan my receipts and other collateral for the reports, even. Dumb set-up, if you ask me.  Boo, Kodak!

Rob showered and dressed himself and the kids - who were still playing in their PJs 'til then - and we set off on our mission. Our first stop was a pretzel store in northern Norfolk. That went well, and I was in and out of there in a flash. One down, two to go.

Next, I had to do a movie ticket and concession assignment at a certain urban-flavored Norfolk mall. I could watch the movie afterward, but I didn't have time then. So I bought the ticket for much later (for My Sister's Keeper) and did the rest of the shop. Rob got some Coke and nachos out of the deal - and the kids were full on hot pretzels and a pretzel dog - and I got the movie ticket. Two down.

Our last stop was a new-to-us restaurant in Town Center, near our home. I hadn't worked for that new-to-me mystery shopping company before, so I really want(ed) to do a stellar job. I'm always nervous, because I take this job seriously and want to rank high and prove myself early. I sent Rob in to do the bar portion, which he's done for me before and which I can't do because I can't drink, and then we met him in the restaurant for meal. His food was good, but I didn't care for mine. I ate a third of my turkey burger anyway, because it was my first food of the day and I needed the protein, but none of the kids would partake. They basically ate French fries. Hey, ketchup is a fruit, right? Three down. But I still have to work tonight, because I couldn't do the reports without my scanner.

At home, I set the kids on their own mission while I cheered them on: Find the TV remote that's been missing for days. One for four TV remotes missing in our living room somewhere, I might add. Maybe we'll find the others when we take the place apart to put in the new floors? They never found it, but Rob did after they went to bed, so I'll give him the points they would've gotten later, if you know what I mean...

Soon, it was time to make like a baby and head out  - to my solo movie viewing.

It's hard to say what I hated the most about this cinema experience: the group of people to my left, whose phone kept ringing for the first quarter of the movie (but stopped two minutes before my own, which I didn't think I had with me, rang a noisy rendition of Salt 'n' Pepa's "Push It Good"), who had a baby and a toddler with them for a 10-to-midnight showing (nice), and who snored noisily through the second half of the flick (can't really say I blame her)... or the movie itself. It's a toss-up.

I hate to ruin it for any of you that might actually want to go see this movie, after reading the wonderful Jodi Picoult book that my MIL so awesomely bestowed upon me to read during our European cruise last summer, but damn. Do not go see this movie if you don't want to spend two hours pissed off, rolling your eyes, and clenching your jaw. The acting was terrible - especially Cameron Diaz and Alec Baldwin - but the directing was worse. There were parts of the movie where the action completely stopped while they played another sappy song. You know all those wonderful side stories Picoult created in the book, aside from the main case? They either skipped them entirely or I wished they had, because they only touched for seconds here and there and made their severely underdeveloped inclusion entirely pointless. I know time is a factor, so either focus on the main story and leave out the things you don't have time for, or leave out the sappy songs! But the worst insult was that the movie wasn't at all true to the parts of the book that matter, that make you think, make you feel, make you care, or make you cry. 

Hated it. Absolutely hated it. And I walked out of there so mad!  Definitely let me know if you watch it anyway, and if you agree or disagree with my analysis.

So.

After the movie, I drove to the closest Wal-Mart to get my printer cartridge. It was after midnight, but there were crowds of people sitting on their cars in the parking lot, listening to loudly playing Michael Jackson music. The place was pretty hoppin' for that time of night in the store, too. I got in and out quickly and then raced home to pee like a racehorse. I couldn't go at the store; I hate using any bathroom but my own comfy pot at home. You too?

On the way home, I was driving along, minding my bidness, when some jerk-off whips onto the on-ramp next to me and comes plowing into my lane! Thank God I had room to swerve sharply into the left lane, because both of us would have died in that crash, I bet.  I blasted my horn, twice, gave him the one-finger salute when I passed him, and dropped a torrent of four-letter words into the ears of no one but myself. What the heck was he thinking?!! Death wish, maybe?

Blah. I'm still annoyed about that movie. But I must move on now and work on those reports. Time's a-wastin'!

Fin.

 

Holy Saturday

 

Saturday morning, we all got up early and drove down the road to IHOP for breakfast. Another mystery shop. I didn't eat a thing, though, having been up all night getting sick after trying a tiny bowl of cereal. Cross another food 'attempt' off my list! Sophia insisted on wearing her birthday hat, and she got a lot of smiles for it.

I had posted all those free eggs I'd gotten free on Friday night on Freecycle before we left, o we had to get home to start doling them out. We certainly didn't need them all, and indeed we still have about 5 dozen eggs. I love and hate Freecycle; people are so rude on there, it drives me crazy. But I like getting rid of crap I don't need, and sometimes scoring something really awesome.

Anyway.

Rob took the kids to the van dealership to give me a break while I dealt with the Free-seekers and took care of some things. The inside of the driver's door was coming off, so he got the parts needed to fix that. He's so handy, and now it's all better. Good thing, I was going nuts with that. When they got home, I had just finished making the green icing for their Easter cookies (green because that's the only color they left me when they got into the food coloring, and I wasn't going to break into my Wilton colors for them!).

 

I'd picked up some cheapy Easter sprinkles at the store too, so each girl got two bottles of them. Jack didn't want to help. Rob was outside working on his truck, and he wanted to watch and "help." So I iced, the girls decorated, and Jack wanted to help eat.

 

Their finished work. Oh! While we made cookies on Friday, we talked all about Jesus, the crucifixion, the resurrection, and what Easter means to us as Christians. (They were especially impressed about Him being nailed to the cross and having thorns pressed into his head, and Sophia likes to solemnly tell me that part, over and over.) Well, when Daddy came home from work, they showed me that they actually, truly, really listened, and parroted back almost verbatim what I had told them. All three of them told the story. I was duly impressed.

 

Digging in

 

Jack, refusing to let me take his picture. What else is new?

So after that, I wanted to run out and do the three Food Lion shops I'd taken, and I was in  my car and just about to take off, when I remembered Jack's eye exam at 1230! Oops. So I stayed home instead and made a very sad CARE Package, for a little 18-month-old girl named Maddie. She died suddenly on the 7th, and her story has been all over the blogosphere ever since.  They wanted everything to be purple for Maddie, so I sent a giant, white baby blanket we'd been given for the charity (I think on Freecycle!), along with a dark purple sweater and soaker set I'd knitted a few months back, along with the usual supplements. I hope it helps them through this time, somehow. Very sad.

I drove to the Post Office and man, it was mobbed. I never thought I'd get out of there on time. But I got the package mailed at last, zipped home to pick up Jack, and fled to Wal-mart for his exam.

  

He did so well during all the parts of the exam! He followed directions, read all the letters that he could read, and just generally cooperated and actually had a good time with it. He seemed really excited about everything and was very curious about all the machines, but then he is quite mechanically inclined. He didn't like wearing the paper sunglasses after getting his eyes dilated, though!

So he definitely needs to wear glasses and is farsighted in both eyes, after all. Initially, the machines read him as far- in one eye and near- in the other, but she said they get a better picture with kids after the dilation because they lose the ability to focus. They aren't anywhere near as bad as Chloë's eyes, which are about as bad as her dad's. And the doc recommended Sophie get an exam too, but they don't do them there until the kids are six-years-old, and I really liked that doc. Plus the exam was free with our insurance!

 

We went next door to pick out some glasses while the dilation took full effect. There weren't a whole lot of options to fit his tiny face, but I knew this pair was The One as soon as I put it on him. This is a bad phone picture; he doesn't really look cross-eyed wearing them! So they'll be back in about a week, and he has talked about it constantly since then! He's really excited to "wear glasses like Chloë." I hope the novelty doesn't wear off too quickly and he does something to damage them!

 

When we got home, we decided to all go to the nursery to let Sophia pick out the tree she'd asked for, for her upcoming fourth birthday. I, of course, love that she asked for a tree. A tree! How wonderful! How cool, how unique, how utterly Earth-friendly. My girl!! Here she is, once again making nicey-nice with the statuary.

 

Although it was drizzling, everyone was in good spirits as they checked out all the sights at the garden center, a place where we haven't gone in a very long time. (I have no gardening skills whatsoever, and Rob isn't inclined right now...) Here they are playing with a bubbler, which one of them deemed a 'birdbath.' Whatever, enjoy yourselves, just don't break it! (Mom, as you can see from Sophie's hands, they received the Easter cards!)

 

We were helpfully referred to the tree and shrub guy on duty, and he asked us what we were looking for. We told them our 4yo wanted a tree for her birthday, and we needed something pink and low-maintenance.  He had what we needed. Sophie dutifully followed him over to the...

 

Crepe Myrtles! Sophia pointed out one after another and said, "I want that one!" She didn't seem to mind that they were mostly sticks with a few leaves at this point. I expected her to want some big ol' tree, already statuesque and thriving, but phew! She did not mind the littler ones in our budget.

 

"Mommy! I'm bigger than this one!"

 

The Tree and Shrub Man chose a tree in the Hopi variation, saying it would produce a nice, pink color and be in full flower already this summer. Perfect! That was the one.

 

On the way out, the kids stopped to admire the very large, very cool, but very expensive chimes. I love chimes. I just wish I had a place to hang them, here. Oh, how I miss living in an actual house.

So that was that. We went home, and it was time to shower and get dressed for church. We don't go a whole lot ever since Sophia was born and completely through a wrench in our previously-very-organized scheduling, but we do manage to go on the big holidays. I know, I don't want to be that Christian, but we are working on it.  We keep trying.

 

 

Before we left, we did a quick Easter photo op. These are  few of the funnier outtakes! I'm waaay behind on actually getting them into Sears for birthday pics, oops...

 

At church, the kid's program was having a Scooby Doo dinner, because we all know what that has to do with Easter: nothing. I still don't get it. But Chloë squealed and was too thrilled to go up and do her thing when she saw him.

 

Eventually, they all got into the groove, but the 'Doo was on the move to other kids.

So, we checked them into their respective rooms and headed into the sanctuary ourselves.  Ever since Robby died, I get a little tearful at Easter, because I realize just how huge a sacrifice it was, given to us. I cried as usual, but no one saw me. The only thing I hated was not being able to sing along -  my favorite part of the service - since I am still voiceless. I mouthed along, Britney-style.

 

Afterward, we picked up our progeny, went home and handed out a few more eggs, and then went out to Silver Diner for a late birthday dinner. Sophie had her free meal and shake coming, and they love to go. I don't remember what they're all looking out the window at here...

 

The cherry on top is always quickly scarfed up!

 

Chow time!

We went home, and everyone crashed after our long, busy day. I'm going to go take a break, maybe make some egg salad or have a popsicle, and then we'll see about Sunday...

Fin.

Back To Reality

Well, the kids don't go back to school until the 20th, so we're not quite back to "normal" yet, if you want to call our lives that, but no more holidays, vacations, or days off for Rob.

Although, he is finally transferring out of his God-awful duty station on the 20th, so before starting all his checking-out process, he has been inundated with last-minute tasks. That's those a**holes for you, though.

Anyway, so I overslept waaay late today. Overslept for what, you may ask. Well, nothing in particular, but I should not have been sleeping as last as I did. I can't explain it, other than that I didn't get any kind of decent rest in OBX, and I really am in love with my CPAP lately and wanted to stay on it as long as I could? Whatever, I am well-rested now and shall not make that same mistake again tomorrow.

We didn't do a whole lot during the day, sadly. I've nothing fun to report about that. Unless you count the fact that I let Sophia adopt the Tiger Snake Webkinz, which she named "Bibble." She picks the best names! So now we have 55 adopted 'kinz, and 15 more in the closet waiting to be loved. A nice little collection, eh?

It was back to tap class for Chloë, so I showered, got everyone dressed (we lolled about in our PJs for most of the day) and out the door, and off we went. One good thing: I hadn't been able to fit in my seatbelt for a few days (Yes, I've gotten THAT fat!), and I could buckle it up today. So I shall keep up the Slim-Fast routine as long as necessary.

While she was dancing, I made numerous phone calls to doctors and insurance and what-not to straighten out the latest surgery mess. There is yet another annoying delay with getting the proper referral in the system, and if they don't get it soon, they're going to close me out and I'll have to start the process ALL OVER. I couldn't get an appointment until the end of the month and was freaking out! But I managed to coax them into squeezing me in for this Wednesday morning, thank God. Fingers crossed that this will be end of the nonsense and before long, I'll be under the knife having my organs rearranged.

After the phone mess, I spent the rest of the time reading the "January" chapter of Elizabeth Zimmermann's wonderful Knitter's Almanac, from which I just completed that February baby sweater. Oh, I have not shown you that, have I? It's all knitted up, but I have not yet sewn up the sleeves or added the buttons that Steph picked out. Perhaps tomorrow!

Back at home, I took the girls potty while we waited for Rob's imminent return from The Job. Jack broke the surfboard off his new VW Beetle that we gave him from NC and cried like I've never heard him cry before. Seriously, it was agonistic. But then we figured out that it was supposed to come on and off, and all was right with the world again. Whew.

When Rob drove up, we set off. First stop was to pick up these awesome stocking holders from a fellow Freecycler. Aren't they nice? Brand-spanking-new. They weigh about 5 lb each and will be for Rob's and mine next year. Now I just need to find 3-5 more (much smaller, simple) holders for the kids and pets, and we'll be all set. Sweet.

Then we went to the Redbox to get two free movies: Kitt Kettridge: An American Girl (ostensibly for the oldest child, but hopefully the other two will enjoy it as well), and Dark Knight. So far, we have watched neither. Have you seen them? What did you think?

We went into the grocery store together, as a family, so I could use four of those $5 in free groceries coupons. Unfortunately, the $@##$@%$ rules say you can only use one per order, which sucks my butt. So I put together five orders of just over $5 apiece, took two and gave two to Rob, and got in two separate lines. It was a bit of a hassle at the registers, but I don't care. I got my $20 in free food.

At home, after I scanned the groceries, Chloë and Sophie sat with me while I prepared our dinner. Rob doesn't like to have them in the kitchen when he cooks, but I prefer to have them near me and let them see what I'm doing. I'm certainly no wonderful cook, but the more they watch, the better off they'll be in the future, right? Especially if they help, too.

 

I bought the shrimp the other day, during our big shopping trip, and had the store steam them without seasoning at that time. They've been chilling ever since, so all we had to do was peel them and add the cocktail sauce for some nice shrimp cocktail! It was really good. The Littles didn't want any of it, so the rest of us dug in and enjoyed it. Recognize the dish? It's my, well, it's technically an ashtray, but I don't care, it'll never be used as such, from Pisa, Italy. Remember?

 

Then I cut up some cubes of Monterey Jack cheese and mixed up a nice Caesar salad. I spied and tried Briannas Asiago Caesar dressing at the grocery store, but I shouldn't have. It's okaaaay, but not anywhere near as good as my old standby, Cardini's. Now that's the stuff. My late friend Beth introduced me to it many years ago, and it's the best Caesar ever. Added in some Croutons, and voila! Salad. Oops, forgot the Parm cheese. Oh, well.

 

Lastly, I sliced up some fresh sunflower bread from the bakery. Someone was hungry and snagged that missing piece in the middle, and her name is me. Good stuff!

The Littles didn't get dessert, since they just ate bread and not much at that. But Chloë did, and she chose to have the Kozy Shack Cinnamon Raisin Rice Pudding that was on sale and for which I had a coupon. It was REALLY good. You must try it. She ate a bunch and filled her little belly.

 

Oh, I lied, Sophie did eat a bunch of Monterey Jack cheese during meal prep and declared it her FAVORITE, very histrionically. Of course, she's at that age where everything is her favorite. Please, Lord, don't let this child turn four in April. She's an amazing three!

And that's about it, folks.

Fin.

Short and Fat, er, Fast

This morning, Rob came home from work to keep Sophia and be there for Jack while I went back to the base clinic for my physical. I am so glad he was able to do that, and that I am really getting the ball rolling on this thing now. Tomorrow, I need to make a bunch of appointments, but everything checked out well today. My labs came back and were all good, heart and lungs are perfect, BP is fine, blah blah. My only worry is that psych eval; I've been putting off calling for the appointment, but now is the time. Prayers and good thoughts for that, please!

Before I went home, I stopped around the corner to pick up a crocheted blanket a Freecycler had received as a wedding present and didn't like. Figured I could use it for CARE Package. I was right; it's perfect!

At home, we decided to take the kids around the corner for lunch at Subway before Rob headed back to work. The guy - the owner, I'd guess - can't stand either of us. For some pesky reason, we think he should accept standard Subway coupons, but for some pesky reason, he thinks he shouldn't? So we have both argued with him about it. If it weren't five feet from our house, we'd definitely not go there anymore. Anyway, just to be a pain in his arse, we did separate orders and used winning tickets from the Subway Scrabble game, for our drinks and chips. And I refilled my Sprite twice, just to bait him. He didn't say a word.

Good story, I know. Fascinating.

So the Littles went down for naps when we got home, and I decided to take one, too. I was so tired. Chloë came home, bringing the UM & UM (U-Missouri and U-Miami) cups we'd ordered from their school fundraiser. 'Bout time they came in. We really needed the cups around here. Every time I host Bunco, we have to drink out of mugs!

So, today was Ballet night for Chloë. I had to wake Sophia from her nap in order to go, and she was NOT down with that. She was furious, really. Good thing I brought along snacks or she'd never have cheered up, I'm afraid.

It was so, so hot out when we were there. I just couldn't get comfortable in the car. I tried crocheting away the hour, but I don't like to just sit there and sweat. So I did something I never do: went for a drive. The kids were so concerned about leaving Chloë there, but she was in good hands. They don't let a kid leave until the teacher makes eye contact with the parent. So we drove, the long winded way around the Little Neck / Lynnhaven area of the city, where the big, gorgeous, palatial million-dollar homes are. I stopped every now and then to admire one and let the cars behind me pass. The kids had no clue what we were doing, but eventually they stopped "Mom! Mom! Mom!"ing me to death and chitchatted with each other, leaving me to my reverie.

I loved so many of those gorgeous houses. I don't exactly despise our house, but there are so many problems with it. It's too small. I prefer a ranch. The electrical system is messed up. It's a townhouse. There's no yard. There's no garage. And on and on. These houses had plenty of room to spread out, lots of nice yards... I was jealous, until we arrived at home again and then something just "clicked" for me. I felt appreciative of what I have. It was a good, warming feeling.

 

The new storage ottoman I ordered for the kids' dress-up clothes arrived from Target. It's beautimous; I ♥ it! It's just the right color red, spacious for their whole set, and very comfy on top for them to rest on when it's closed or even when the lid is on the floor.

 

It's sooo much better than the trunk we have been keeping their stuff in all this time. That was actually a college-era side-of-the-road find that has long stayed past its welcome! I'll be glad to get rid of it, hopefully tomorrow.

So Rob made dinner - all Schwan's; he is digging the convenience - while I finished scrapping the month of March. My book is getting very fat; I think 2008 will be split into three books, potentially! :O  I'm starting to get a little burned out on scrapping, partly because I am quickly using up all my pretty-pretties (flowers, ribbons, brads, etc.) and partly because I have made dozens upon dozens of pages since starting this. I'm itching to move on to something else for a while.

Oops, I forgot to take a picture of the cocoons. Well, I'll do it tomorrow, I'm getting tired and don't want to deal with the camera anymore tonight.

Guess that's it. Happy Hump Day (already?!)~!

Fin.

Free is Better Than Nothing

Woof. I am tired. And cold. Yesterday was warm, today is freezing. Making up your mind, Mother Nature! (Psst: And pick 'warm.')

Yesterday, yesterday, let's see, let's see... Well, other than taking Chloë to her ballet class, we really didn't have anywhere to go or anything much to do. We were supposed to go to Barnes & Noble for the Point O' View PTA night, but Rob's sick and didn't feel like going. So we didn't. And I didn't have to watch Jade, so it was a pretty low-key day.

Although I did manage to score this pupitre (student desk) off Freecycle. I've been wanting to get one just like it, so Chloë could sit next to me and work on her homework. It's perfect! We'll paint it sometime when the weather's a little warmer, at least on the top.  

The little ones were very interested in it, too. She was quite distracted last night while doing her work. Hopefully the novelty will wear off soon!

And then I made this. Well, I made the origami cups the night before last, but I put the ribbons on and assembled the whole thing last night, with Chloë's help. It's for Advent! Each cup has a fun activity and a candy for each of the kids . The fish and flower are just there to dress up the hanger. :p I couldn't think of what else I had to hang them on - a shower curtain rod was suggested from the kids' activity email I got the idea from, but where would I put that?! Not that I really want to go out and buy one...

Then I started coloring on one of the t-shirts we'd picked up from Michaels when they were on sale for really cheap, with the fabric markers we'd also gotten. We have two shirts for each of the kids, so we're doing a sort of team thing on one set. I did "S. ODETTE" and the number "2" on the back of Sophie's. It took a while, so I only did hers. It looks cute. I'll show them when all three are finished. Hopefully they won't bleed off in the wash!

That's about it. I'm off to scrounge for breakfast. Enjoy your day!

Fin.