Smellyann Strikes Again

The First Weekend In June

I keep feeling like I had this unproductive weekend, because I didn't accomplish my singular goal at all, so here is a run-through of what I actually did do, to make myself feel better. And to share with you, because I know you hang on the edge of your seat, waiting for me to post these scintillating things I talk about, right?

First, like I mentioned, there was desire to paint in the wee hours of Saturday morning. Now. So I painted the pantry door. And the little bitty corner of wall next to it, which of course meant that more painting in the kitchen would need to happen, or else that little green section of wall would like mighty curious, all by itself.

Well, the real first first was making the pizza cake, from Friday night into the wee hours of Saturday morning. 

And the second thing, immediately after finishing the cake, was scooping up the leftover cake and frosting and constructing these cake pops. These are long since gone, sold right away, but like I (think I) posted yesterday, more can be made if you need parting gifts for Teacher, or a special graduate, or Dad, or, well, anybody, because I really don't care whom you give them to, as long as you buy some. Heh.

So the third thing, then, was painting the door.

I went back and forth all day Saturday after that, moving kitchen furniture (that would be the full baker's rack, the deep freezer, and the table and chairs), scrubbing sections of wall piece by piece, paint first, second, and the exasperatingly always-necessary third coat... and coming back here to play on Facebook and run my stupid Farmville. (I call it "stupid," but I really like it. It gives me a quick opportunity to take frequent breaks from whatever I'm doing, and I've always been a girl who likes taking frequent breaks. Maybe I do have ADHD, but that's how I manage it. Whatever. Moving on.)

As part of this parenting course we're doing right now (more on that later), Rob and I are each supposed to spend 10 minutes of true quality time with each of the kids, twice per day. So Sophia and I spent one of our ten-minute sessions painting the back of the kitchen wall. I did all the cutting in around the edges, and she painted in the middle. I guided her with the correct way to hold the brush and move it back and forth, back and forth, and then she went and did it her own way. Which is fine. You can lead a horse to water...

Chloë wanted a painting turn after that, too, so I spent another segment of quality time showing her the same things I'd shown Sophia. She did it more exactly like I showed her, because that is her way. She, being a Virgo like me, is quite a bit of a perfectionist. I am doing my best, now, seeing this, and knowing how difficult it is to be that way, to guide her away from that tendency. It's not easy. Anyway, so they helped me paint the walls.

Jack wanted to paint, too, but he was never available when I was ready for him, because he spent a great deal of the weekend outside with the neighbor kids, riding his bike, driving his Cadillac Escalade Power Wheels, using the girls' scooter, and generally getting dirty and having a ball. So I didn't force the 10 minutes on him, although I do think it's especially important that he and I connect for those 20 min per day. I'll work on it, getting it in.

So eventually, the bottom half of the kitchen got painted, as far as I could go without moving the refrigerator. Luckily, I have plenty of paint left, for whenever Rob gets around to helping me with that. (I tried, but I'm a weenie.)

In the eight-plus years we've lived here, the kitchen has always been at the top of my "gotta change this" list, but for some reason, it has escaped my ministrations thus far. I even have the paint for the top half. Well, now that we've had to keep the windows open all the time (no AC), the cats have scratched out half the screens in the house, and they've all but shredded the café curtains covering the kitchen windows. I hate it. And I hate the country-cottage-y wallpaper on the top half of the kitchen walls, too. That's fine and good, but I am just not a country-cottage-y type of person. I like bold, striking colors that pop. 

So I got up on the chairs and started to RRRRRRRRRIP the wallpaper off the walls, tossing big strips of it onto to floor, to the kids' shock and dismay. "Mom! What are you DOING?!" they demanded.

I just laughed and let their father explain. That's often the way things go around here. I laugh, and he's left to explain why.

I pulled off all the copper molds from around the top of the walls, too. I'm going to sell them. I collected them years ago, when we lived in Panama City, FL. And while I still absolutely adore copper - it's my favorite precious metal - it's just not the look I'm going for anymore. So they have to go. I don't have them listed anywhere yet, but I do have some interest. Let me know if you, too, want to stake a claim. I'm willing to break up the lot.

Because we didn't get Rob's Navy paycheck the first of the month and things are uncomfortably tight right now, and also because I'm trying to walk more and drive less in the interest of Saving The Planet, Chloë and I walked to the grocery store late Saturday evening. The kids were begging, crying, for milk, so I decided to break down and spend some of our very little money on a gallon. I mean, it's milk, and they're kids. Not exactly a luxury. 

Chloë and I had the best talk on our way to and from the store. We discussed physical beauty and why that might not be the most important thing about a person, and what things might be more important. She decided that being healthy was the most important thing, and being safe, so we talked about ways she could be healthy and safe. She came up with lots of fantastic answers, like eating junk foods in moderation, always wearing her helmet when she rides her bike or scooter, and getting the proper amount of sleep. I was impressed.

At the store, she "helped" me shop, and by that, I mean she pushed the little cart around and mostly observed as I made decisions about what to buy and what to leave at the store. We talked about the importance of shopping the perimeter - she remembered what "perimeter" meant from her studies in math - and, like eating junk food, using the processed foods in the center aisles in moderation. I had decided to make a Key Lime Pie for dessert, to use up the Key Limes I'd picked up at a roadside citrus stand in Florida a few weeks ago, so we bought the condensed milk and graham crackers I needed for that, comparing prices-per-unit and all that we always try to do.

And since I have a partially-made batch of hummus in the freezer, I decided that I should get a lemon or two (of which there were none, so I'm going to try Key Lime hummus instead!) and the tahini I need to finish it. We spent about six years looking for the damn tahini, which used to be much easier to find, back when they had a separate section for "health foods." (Now it's next to the mayonnaise and other condiments, in case you're wondering.)

Having "gone green" by walking to the store instead of driving, I'd have felt pretty crappy about getting one of those God-awful plastic grocery bags in which to lug our loot home, so I bought yet another 99¢ canvas bag, too. I just can't stand those plastic bags. They, among other things like inconsiderate smokers, people who drink copious amounts of bottled water and don't even recycle the bottles, and folks who take nine hours to make the right turn in front of me, are the absolute bane of my existence.

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So we walked home, me lugging the bag full of milk-and-schtuff, and continued our nice, Mom-to-Daughter talk. Somehow it morphed into what life will be like as she eases into her teenage years, and how it's natural for girls to butt heads with their mothers frequently in those times. That really upset her. I made her promise to remember one thing: that no matter what she said or did, and no matter what I said or did, I would always love her more than she could understand until she was a mother herself. That eased her mind a bit.

Then that translated into a conversation about the pressures of being a teen and experimenting with things like drugs, alcohol, smoking, and sex. I told her my hopes and expectations, and she asked good questions. Overall, it was a very productive conversation, and I'm so delighted we had the chance to have it.

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So we got home, and I made the pie, and oh, my word, it was freaking delicious. Beyond expectations. I still have plenty of Key Limes, so I plan to bring another pie to our Gardening club this Thursday. Assuming I still have the gas to get there. Jack didn't like the pie, but everyone else devoured it with gusto. I had way more than I had any business having, but after cheesecake, Key Lime Pie has to be my fav... well, no, there's Dutch Apple Cream Pie, and Chocolate Chip Cookies, and... Uh. I just love sweets. I'm in the right business, I think. (And I'm glad I've discovered the power of prunes to help me take off any extra weight I might gain from sampling my own wares! Phooo, do those work well. Golly. *ahem*)

So that was Saturday.

Sunday, we didn't make it to church either, which was sad, especially since I'd visited their food pantry on Thursday after Girl Scouts, and they serviced us quite nicely. (That's something I've never done before in my life, and it's quite humbling. Thank you, to any and all of you who donate to the Food Bank. We haven't needed it before, but with this paycheck snafu, I'm certainly glad it's there for us in this time of need. Now if only there were a Gas Pantry, eh?)

I napped a lot on Sunday. Rob napped a lot, and Sophia did, too. The other two mostly watched Nova shows on the Wii, from Netflix. Jack is especially fond of the Nova programs, and particularly the ones that feed his transportation and mechanically-oriented brain. He'll watch the same ones about plane crashes or rockets taking off over and over, always going upstairs to get a toy that goes along with the program, and making-believe he's part of the action. It's pretty cool. Rob gets a huge kick out of his doing that.

For my evening 10-minute session with Sophia, she just wanted to play with the discarded boxes I'm trying to get rid of on Freecycle. She's decided she needs them for her tiny toys instead, like finger puppets and the Squinkies a friend gave her at her birthday party in April. Here she is admiring the bunk bed she made for her bunny finger puppet.

This is her favorite box, though, because "it's the biggest, and it has a window, so I can see what they're doing in there." She asked me to punch holes in the window with my knitting needle, so her bunny could breathe. And so I did, until she told me, "enough."

While Sophia had been napping earlier, I got started training Jack and Chloë on the way we do laundry, from beginning to end. They collected all the laundry in the house, sorted it into the proper piles, learned how to run the washer and the dryer, and then I showed them how to fold their own clothes. For now, I'll leave it at that, until I feel they're ready to start folding Mom & Dad's, and the towels and sheets. I've just always done the laundry myself and only had them run and put away their things. But with the parenting course, I see the error of my ways. I don't know why I didn't, but I guess I figured they would just pick it up eventually. Foolish. So now I'll be working on their "training," and we don't call them "chores" but rather "contributions." It's working out well. They feel important and significant, and Jack even commented that doing the laundry was "fun." (Not to me, but to his big sister. No way he'd let me hear such a thing on purpose!)

After dinner, when I wanted some knitting time on my sparkle! dress, and Chloë wanted a break from folding laundry, I asked her to spend a little quality time herself with Sophia. The two of them have been fighting a lot again lately, so I asked Chloë read Sophia some stories. She grumped and grumbled about it at first, but in the end, she read three stories to Soap without me asking her to go past the first one. And I made lots of progress on my dress:

Pretty soon, I'll be at the placket, which is my new favorite word to say. I can't wait to finish the front.

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Jack went to bed first tonight, so again, I didn't really get to spend my QT with him. I'll give him extra tomorrow. After story time between the girls, Chloë wanted her ten minutes with me. Sophia and Dad spent those ten minutes together, too, playing and Soph telling cute, six-year-old stories to her Daddy. Chloë and I went for a moonlit walk around the smaller lake.

I took the Nikon along, just in case I found anything cool to take a picture of, but most of my pictures didn't turn out. I liked the way these branches stuck out far into the light of the street lamp, so I snapped it.

Halfway 'round the lake, I spotted a "frog" hopping off the path, toward the water. I managed to catch it for Chloë, who immediately squealed when she felt it and dropped him. So I caught him again, and then, of course, I could see it was really a toad and not a frog at all. We agreed to bring him home to show Daddy and Sophia. We took turns holding him and talking about what we learned months ago when we covered Amphibians, about the differences between frogs and toads. Chloë surprised me by remembering quite a lot of them without my prompting her, and I felt a lot of pride inside me.

There were a lot of ducks and drakes pairing up along our walk, but those photos didn't come out. I'm glad this one of Mama and her four ducklings did, though - how cute are they?! I just adore baby aminals of all flavors and varieties. I'm definitely a Woman in that regard. Baby people, baby ducks, baby anything, and my heart melts.

Chloë could barely wait to burst in the front door and show them the toad. We had to shh-shh-shh her, because the windows are open, and our neighbors sleep early. Of course, they gave her all the attention she was due, and there was even more fun when Sophia, holding the poor toad, dropped him in the house. I was in the powder room when that happened, but the sounds of them all gadding about, trying to catch it, were amusing to hear.

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Chloë went to bed shortly after that - no, she had her ten minutes of Dad time first, and they looked through an American Baby magazine together, of all things - and Sophia and I shared some more time while I knit. She drew pictures of different things, like Chloë and I taking a walk, and of an "alien monster mouth" coming out of the sky and eating our entire unsuspecting family. I'm not really worried about that one, since she was giggling while she told me what it was. Sophia loves to color and draw, and she has become quite good at it, actually. I'll have to show you some of her drawings next time.

For now, though, I'm going to wrap up my weekend by trying to knit at least to the placket and making my To-Do list for the coming week.  I hope yours is a good one.

Fin.

To-Do List

Often, I make to-do lists, which I love. One of my favorite things in this existence is crossing a thick line through an item on these lists. Sometimes, when I forget to make a list before I start "doing," I make "done today" lists. Is that lame? I like to write stuff down, so I know I was productive. Obviously, I don't do this on the days that I wasn't, because that would be lame.

Anyway.

Here's my "done today" list for this past Thursday, just in case you might care:

• Zipped out at 12:10 AM for dishwasher detergent, because we were out and the dishwasher had already been loaded when I realized it. (Dammit.) Ran that.
• Slept from about 12:50 AM to 3:00 AM, at which point I ran out of Teh Tired
• Got up and started doing the first of 8 loads of laundry (I was way behind again, what else is new?)
• Emptied the dishwasher and washed the extra dishes, pots, and pans that hadn't fit
• Cleaned and reorganized the pantry and freezer (still need to do fridge); proof:

• Freecycled all those freezer packs in the plastic bags up there, since we had about a dozen more than we needed (from shipment of Jack's meds)
• Set up beef and mushroom stew in the crockpot for the kids' dinner; proof:

• Got my Daisies' make-a-plates and patches ready for their party in the afternoon; proof:

• Baked a cherry pie for the kids' dessert; proof:

• Swept the kitchen floor about 3x over the course of the day
• Made the kids breakfast (oatmeal) and lunch (PB sandwiches), in quick succession
• Measured Sophia after two nights in a row sleeping 18 and 14 hours, respectively; proof:

(She woke up around 1 PM and came down to sleep some more on the office floor, comforter and all!)

(I thought she had grown another inch since last measured on New Year's Day, but I found out later that she had been on her tippy-toes! Stinker!) 

• Ran the holiday gift exchange party for our combined two Girl Scout troops; proof:

 

(I was absolutely mortified by Sophia's horrible reaction - she even cried and threw it - to her present, upon seeing it was MORE Tinkerbell goodies. I guess she'd had enough of Tinkerbell after a stocking full of her, but I let her know in no uncertain terms that her behavior was UNacceptable!!!)

• Ran the cookie training for the parents of our troop girls, for 2011 cookie sale
• Helped clean up the huge post-party mess
• Ran to get babysitter, G, to watch the kids and feed them their already-made (phew!) dinner
• Dropped off kids and G, and left to spend approximately 1 hour on the parking lot that was 264-W during rush hour
• Visited Rob at the hospital for a couple of hours, sans children. That was nice.
• Rushed home, dropped G off at her house, returned to hurriedly put children to bed, and CRASHED!

Fin.

Turning Things Around

I thought today was going to be a waste of a day.

I woke up on time, but then I hit my snooze button and went back to sleep. Only I didn't really hit it after all and woke up 45 minutes later, with just 5 minutes to get the girls up, dressed, fed, lunches made, and out the door. We missed a few of those steps, but I did get their lunches made while they dressed. At least we made the bus, and at least they can get breakfast at school...

Back at home, the plan was to spend the day doing laundry. Only, I wanted to wait until Jack woke up, because I knew if I went upstairs to start laundry, it would wake him up, and he'd be a grumpy bear. Not only that, but if I had to come down to prepare his breakfast, then I would probably be too lazy to go back upstairs and finish. I'm like that.

So I farted around online until he woke up.

At noon.

Noon!

Someone is lazy like his mama. I couldn't be more proud.

Anyway, five minute before he woke up, I had decided I would take a little nap until he came down. And then he came down a minute later, but it was too late: I had already gotten myself into that nap frame of mind. You know the one? Your mind starts to shut down, you start yawning, and all productivity - both internal and external - has fled the scene. It's too late. You need that nap.

So I got him fed and set up with a DVD next to me on the couch, and I snoozed.

It was supposed to be for an hour.

Apparently I was tired today, because it stretched into almost THREE hours, and I didn't stir until my "here comes the bus" alarm went off on my iPhone. (That's my safety line, y'know?)  Jack had gotten up and switched from Toy Story to Toy Story 2 while I slept. And there he still sat.

What a waste. An entire school day with nothing to show for it.

But then...

I did get up. And I got those girlies of mine. And I saw that it was a beautiful, nay, gorgeous day. We've been battling 95º heat, but today was in the low 70s. I find that far more bearable.

The kids had a snack, and then we all went upstairs to get some work done. I turned off the non-functioning AC (hey, I'm an optimist) and threw open all the windows, started a load of laundry, set the kids to the task of cleaning their perpetually-messy rooms, and took myself a chilly shower.

When I emerged, I felt Truly Ready to conquer the omnipresent mountain of laundry. This time, it had taken  over our bed, three - no, four - baskets around our room, and half the upstairs hallway. I swear, I do not know how this happens, since it seems like we are forever doing laundry. Three kids are NOT that many, are they?! They produce SO much work for me, though!

Anyway.

Rob and the kids went out to McDonalds. Not to eat, of course, but to return the two cadmium-laced Shrek Forever After cups we received in our House Party pack. I told Rob he could pocket the money if he felt like doing that, since I had no desire to step into a McD's myself. They were successful. Then he stopped at a 7-11 to pick us each up a giant Coke (Diet for me, natch), which totally defeats the purpose of eating organically, but you know what?

THAT SHIT WAS GOOD.

Heh.

So for the next six hours, I worked on laundry. I lost count of how many loads, which is fine, since not a one of you really gives a damn anyway. I washed, dried, folded, put away, hung and ...no, I won't lie. I didn't iron anything.

And it's ALL DONE. Finished. Finí.

Until tomorrow.

Then we begin again. But hey, I call that being productive on a day that started out quite the opposite. Right?

But that's not all. Oh, no. With me, it almost never is.

While I was waiting for that last load to dry, and my iPhone was downstairs charging its dead battery or else I'd have been on it playing Scrabble and obsessively checking my email, I painted my nails.

Oh, wait, that's not the exciting part. My bad.

(By the way, who is stupid enough to paint their nails when they're about to fold laundry? Hello, wreck waiting to happen. But it didn't! I used the L'Oréal polish that I'd picked up a few months back on one of my deal runs, and wow! That stuff dries fast. I even painted two coats and didn't get a single smudge. Gosh, that's fascinating, Melanie, you're saying. I know. I write the most intriguing stuff.)

The exciting part was that, after painting my nails "Mango-Get-Em" orange, I decided to go through a long-neglected corner of my bedroom to see if there was anything I could get rid of on Freecycle. I'm trying to declutter like a madwoman right now, and no place in this house is safe. Except Rob's closet. I'm afraid if I go in there to sort things out, I will never return. Seriously. It is scary in there.

I found a bunch of things to Freecycle, yes. But better than that, I found some things I had been looking for forever!

Like what, you ask?

Well, like my mom's orange wallet, which my dad gave to me after she died. I was only little then, seven, but I recognized the importance of keeping that wallet and have never parted with it. I cherish it, even if it is old and ugly and is missing a snap.  Maybe someone could fix it for me and make it serviceable and I could use it, or maybe when I die, one of my little girls will want it and will cherish it like I do. I dunno.

Also, I found my set of soft-tip darts. My much-older friends and I used to go to the bowling alley down in the same strip as our grocery store after work and hang out in the bar, playing darts. This was in my senior year of high school. They would actually take me to one of their houses after work but before the bowling alley, give me a shot or two of Goldschlager (good friends, I had) to get me nice and toasty, and then we'd go sit and play darts. Central New York is a happening place, what can I say? I actually got pretty good at the darts - even though everyone made fun of me, because my stance was lefty even though I shot righty - so my friend Kirstin took me to the dart store (yes! They have those!) to buy me my own set. I couldn't decide on the flights I wanted, so she let me get all three: turquoise, silver, and white with Miami Dolphins on them. I knew I was headed for Miami the following year, but they didn't have anything with the 'Canes on them, so the Dolphins were the next best thing.

That was in 1994. I haven't played since, so I offered them on Freecycle. I'm kind of thinking I should go play darts one last time before letting them go, though. What do you think?

And, I found my old Biology dissection kit. I can't remember whether I bought it in high school or college. I guess one of the kids - that naughty Sophia, I'm sure - was digging around in there, because two instruments are missing, one of the spare scalpel blade packages was open, and the rest of the packages were dumped all over the place. The idea of what could have happened there makes me shudder... but fortunately, no booboos came of that little exploration. I have since moved the dissection kit!

I found my three watches, too. One is my Guess? watch, which my first fiancé (of several) (I know) (but I only married the last one, so the others don't count) gave me as a high school graduation present. I wore it through college until the little post that holds the band onto the face got lost, and it's been sitting in its box ever since. With a drained battery. The other two are from my dad's beloved Aunt Amy; Dad gave them to me when she died about 18 years ago. They never worked, and the band is broken the same way on the Timex. Or is the Bill Blass? Maybe the latter. Anyway, I told Rob on the phone later that if he wanted to make me happy for pennies for this coming birthday/Christmas/October 12th, he could get the watches fixed for me. I would love that.  I haven't worn a watch since that Guess? band broke in college!

But the happiest discovery? My jewelry!! I had been keeping it all in the original jewelry boxes in my sock drawer (hint, thieves: don't bother looking there now. You won't find them), but they went missing ages ago. AGES. And apparently the same little imp who tried to slice herself open with my scalpel decided that this new place would be a great hiding spot for all my jewels, because that is where I found them. I have been SO sad all this time about losing them (which isn't really fair to say, since they were taken from me, and I didn't actively lose them at all); I can't even convey to you how much. They were important to me because they were my birthstone, sapphires, and because my husband gave them to me. Not all the pieces were found, but enough to make me truly overjoyed. I found one of my earrings, two of my rings, and a bracelet. The earrings and rings were an anniversary present; we'd purchased the loose stones for super-cheap on eBay, and he took them to a jeweler and had them mounted. I absolutely adored them and was heartbroken when they went missing. And here they are again!

That's one of the rings. Isn't it lovely? I adore it. And look, you can see how crappy a job I did, painting my right-hand nails with my left hand. And you can see how old my hands look now that they have lost so much weight; it's the loose skin that is everywhere on my body. Doesn't escape the hands. Do they do hand lifts?

So I've rambled long enough. It's been a happy night for me. I hope it was for you, too.

Cheers!

Fin. 

 

 

Farmer's Market Day

So Saturday was pretty awesome.

Rob had to work, so I was expecting him to be gone all day. The kids woke me up around, oh, 10 AM, maybe? We had breakfast, and then we were relaxing for a little while before I planned to get started on laundry while they "cleaned" their rooms. But lo and behold, in walked Rob around 1030, finished for the day. Yay!

His annual uniform allowance came in last night, so he had to go back to base to buy all his uniform stuff. It sucks because he has a seabag inspection coming up, but never in the next three years will he use half the things he's required to have in his seabag. We could have used that money for other stuff, if it weren't for the inspection. He does plan to return a lot of the stuff afterward, though, so that might help.

And he surprised me by taking ALL three of the kids with him to base for his shopping trip, without complaining. He must have been in a jolly good mood for getting off earlier than planned, I suppose. Yay for me! I puttered, showered without having to scream around the shower curtain 30 bazillion times, "KNOCK IT OFF!!", and worked on laundry while they were gone. Just the quietude was pure luxury.

When they finally arrived home, some three hours later, we were off to the Farmer's Market to do our grocery shopping. What a fun trip, compared to the grocery store. Unfortunately there's no long receipt, at the end of which is a statement of mega coupon savings, but the knowledge that we're eating fresh, local and organic more than makes up for it. Our first stop was to see Uncle Chuck, the fishmonger. He is one cool dude; on that, Rob and I wholly agree. I try not to go on a weekend day, but that's when payday hit, so that's when we went - and he was insanely busy! We pulled his "menu" - a sheet with all his offerings and prices - outside to look over, and keep the kids out of his small shack, until there was a lull in business. When it was our turn, Sophia wanted to know what everything was, touch it, see it, smell it - and Uncle Chuck was entirely patient with her. Here he is showing her some large shrimp that the previous customer was coming back for after finishing their shopping.

I asked him if I could take pictures, and he was like, "Uh, sure, why?" I said, "Um, for my blog!" and he was all, "Oh. Okay, whatever!" and pulled all the kids in for a photo op. Very cool dude, right??

From his shack, we bought a package of crab cakes (note to Stephanie: If you didnt get my text, I asked Uncle Chuck about his preparation, and he'll be happy to custom-make them for you without the offending ingredients, so shoot me an email!), a huge bag of large shrimp, a gigantic haddock fillet, a couple dozen littleneck clams for Rob, and some ocean scallops for moi. Fortunately, we'd brought our coolers along, so there was no worry about leaving them in the car while we continued our shopping.  

I didn't get to take a picture of Michele or her lovely daughter, Erika, from Virginia Garden - the organic food mart at the Farmer's Market, but maybe next time. I think there are pictures of them somewhere on her site, if you care.  I knew I was going to way-overspend our grocery budget there, and I did, but I was able to get a LOT of stuff and use the 10% off coupon from their website this time. While I shopped, Rob took the kids out back to run around the field, and I think that was a big relief to Michele! I know it was for me... I had apologized to Uncle Chuck for my kids, and he was effusively nonplussed, if there can be such a thing, hugging me and telling me not to worry, "it's the only way kids learn how to behave!" He's right, of course, but I always feel like they are overwhelming for other people.

After we arrived home and brought everything in, I was left to sort it all out while Rob took Jack back to the base again, for a much-needed haircut. He was getting quite shaggy, and since I trimmed his bangs the other day, he looked like a major dork. Anyway, you'll see that later. Here's our beautiful bowl of some of the organic produce I bought: avocados, oranges, pears, kiwi, tomatoes, lemons... mmm. Rob remarked that if we had the money, he could eat that entire bowl of fruit every single day of his life. It did look quite good, but when he says stuff like that, I always feel bad that we can never quite satisfy his voracious appetite!

Sophia, who hadn't gotten to try a kiwi the other day when we stopped by Virginia Garden, opted to sample one now. Here's her first reaction. What do you think, does she like it?

I don't think so!! I think it was a bit more tart and tangy than she was expecting. Of course, it didn't help that she first bit right into it, peel and all!

But she soldiered on, and bravely went back for another piece.

I think now that she knew what to expect, the kiwi was much more Squish-friendly. Oh, "Squish" is my new nickname for her. I'm not sure she likes it; it might not stick.

In the end, she was quick to hand over more than half of her remaining kiwi to Chloë, who positively loves it, and steal some sips from my organic root beer, which I needn't really be drinking anyway.

Curls was happy to oblige. I think she would have eaten another five kiwi if I'd have let her!

The boys came home shortly thereafter, and Jack insisted on having a kiwi, too. See how he has the whole handful of it, rather than leaving it on his plate? He always eats like that. Maybe he's afraid someone (like Soapy) is going to come along and swipe his food? It's a definite possibility, anyway...

The kids went out to play in the leftover ice from the coolers, while I continued putting away food and tried to get some sort of dinner together. I tried snapping a picture of them splashing around inside the cooler, but they stopped as soon as I held up my camera. Rascals!

I didn't really have a well-thought-out plan for dinner, so I kind of just put things on as I thought of them. Of course, there were Rob's littlenecks, which can't be frozen without losing their texture, so they had to be eaten right away. And since he's left his grill at work for at least three months now, if not way more (!!!), I had to cook them in the house. I just put a little water and a smidge of butter in a frying pan and heated them up until they popped. This always fascinates the kids and, I admit, I like it, too.

While they cooked, I threw together a nice, organic salad. Curls insisted I photograph this beautiful tomato. She simply adores tomatoes, along with her father and, to a lesser extent, Squishy Soapy Sophia.

Pop! The clams were ready. I called The Bob inside, from where he was tinkering on his truck and motorcycle. The man could tinker out there 'til the cows came home, I swear.

Yup. It's a salad. I don't eat 'shrooms or tomatoes, so I nibbled a little at the lettuce (which was a bit bitter) and carrots (which were delightful). This salad was purely for Rob and Chloë. They had requested I add some sunflower seeds, but I forgot. Sorry, guys.

Chloë surprised us by deciding to try one of her daddy's clams. Her reaction was hysterical!

Hee hee hee. It's okay, Honey. I don't like 'em, either!

Jack refused to touch any salad, but Sophia asked for some! She didn't like the lettuce so much, and I can't say I blame her. It really had a weird taste. She managed just fine on everything else, though.

After that, I was in a mood to whip up some OG (organic) hummus. I'd picked up OG chickpeas, olive oil, lemons and garlic at the market, and I already had the tahini. The kids wanted to know why I was putting peanut butter in the hummus, even though they've seen me make it tons of times before. Then they all wanted to help crush the garlic. None was strong enough to do it alone, though!

Rob - who is more muscular than this picture implies - had to step in and help. Jack was fussing about that, but he wasn't getting anywhere on his own!

Chloë gave it the ol' college try, but she, too, needed assistance.

The kids all wanted to use the hand-mixer to blend the hummus, but I did it myself this time. I don't know why; I guess I just wanted to hurry up and eat it! It was WAY too strong on garlic, since I'd let them all try to crush it in and put double the amount I normally would have, so I had to add another half a lemon's worth of juice. Ahh, that's better. 

Then we broke out the OG cheese and OG crackers, and I insisted the kids try some hummus before letting them have some without. None of them was impressed with it. Fine, more for me!

 
  
We had devoured so much cheese, crackers & hummus, that no one wanted any of the chicken I made, by the time it came out of the oven. Rats and damn. I wanted it, but Oscar the Pouch can only hold so much, and I didn't want to barf. Again. So, we'll have it tomorrow, I shippose.

I'd completely run out of flour during the past week of marathon bread-making, so I was glad to buy some OG bread flour today. Unfortunately, it needs to be refrigerated so it doesn't go (get?) rancid, so that's taking up too much space in the fridge right now, but it's worth it to have such fresh, wholesome bread. Chloë had requested some more sunflower seed bread, so that went into the baker first, with some OG honey and hemp hearts. I REALLY want to have some, but after way over-doing it on bread this past week, I'm abstaining. God, I love fresh bread, though. It's hard. I don't have very strong willpower, either, but the desire to see that scale move back down is going to have to be stronger.

After our non-dinner, Jack insisted we watch a family movie, so we all settled down in the living room to wath Fly Me to the Moon on Netflix streaming. Chloë and I had seen it before at the theater, but she totally didn't remember it. It's cute, but I fell asleep about halfway through and didn't wake up 'til after midnight. Of course, everyone else was upstairs and sleeping by then, and now here I am, alone and wide awake. Kind of sucks; I was hoping to sleep through the night. Ah well, what else is new?

Oh yeah, the picture. The sunflower seed bread was done when I woke up, so I pulled that out and started another loaf. This time, banana bread. I normally make that in the mixer and throw it in the oven, but I saw that my new bread machine has a quickbread setting (and maybe they all do, who knows? Not I), so I thought I'd give it a whirl. I did beat up the bananas and eggs in my trusty KitchenAid first, though. Love that beast!

I had picked up a couple packages of Spiru-tein protein shake mixes at Virginia Garden, since they weren't all that expensive and hey, I need the protein. Oh, my. Do not buy this, ever. WORST protein shake I've ever had, which is saying a lot! Maybe I made it wrong, since it said to add all sorts of honey and fresh fruit and stuff, but it is just nasty. I've managed to choke down about 4/5 of this, and I just don't think I can handle any more. Even after adding a kiwi and six packages of Splenda, it is The Nast. Blech. Ich. Yuck. PUKE.

So that's it for Saturday. I can't wait to see what Sunday brings!

Fin. 

 

You Know You Want Summa Dis

So, excuse any weird caps in my typing. I shaved off another nail yesterday! This time it's my pinky, and I REALLY hacked it off but good this time. I cried and wailed aND sobbed; it hurt a ton. And it's messing up my typing.

Friday was an interesting day. Jack slept late, and Rob came home from work late, so I didn't get to go out and do all our organic food shopping until after 10 am. I went to the Farmer's Market first, to get our seafood from Uncle Chuck, but he wasn't open until after 1400. And I never went back, so no luck there until 1 June.

I stopped at the Market's creamery after that, to see what I could find for local/organic dairy. They had some GREAT semi-local milk products (from a Maryland dairy farm), but they don't actually practice organic. They call themselves 'better than organic' since they don't use preservatives, which apparently organic still does. I don't know. It looked great, and I was going to go back, but I didn't.

Instead, I went to the organic market there, and I spent our entire $200 food budget and then some on not too much stuff. I mean, I got six big canvas bags full, plus a huge glass bottle of the most crazy-delicious organic apple juice (I guess I don't have to keep saying 'organic' about the stuff I bought there, since it all was/is) - but normally, I can fill 15-20 bags for that much money. So this 100% organic business is going to be a REAL challenge, financially, but we are committed.

To do it, we're going to keep burning through our stockpile of non-organic foods until it's all gone, while I stock up on organic whenever I can get a good deal, to supplement it. We're cutting out junk food entirely - sorry, kids - and won't be buying anymore Coke or anything like that. Of course, we'll have the proceeds from our garden - our seeds have already been shipped! - so the kids are going to have to learn to eat, and love eating, lots of fresh veggies at every meal. I'm going to do without meat as much as I can and drink more protein shakes, since the organic meat is crazy expensive. And I'm going to make my own laundry detergent when our supply runs out. Some people have reported spending about $15 a YEAR on it when they make their own!!

I'm also wanting to learn to make our own things like cheese, yogurt and such. I really want to move into a house further out somewhere, where we can keep some chickens and maybe a couple of goats. Rob would like a cow, but I don't know about that. If we end up giving the boat thing up for the time being, that is.

I don't know whether we'll still be able to feed our family of 5 organically on $400 a month, but we're so determined to try, and you know what they say, "where there's a will..."

So what did I get?

Well, here's that big, giant (as SophiA SAys) bottle of apple juice. OMG, hands-down the BEST juice I have EVER tasted. I'm absolutely in love with it AND will buy a bottle every time I shop. It costs ten bucks, though!

You can see some of the produce I picked up in the background, there: a few apples, some pears, a lemon, garlic, green onions, some oranges, and ginger. I don't know yet what I'll do with the ginger, but it's cheap, and I'm sure I'll find lots of tasty recipes. We used to make a salmon dish, new-style sashimi, with fresh ginger, when I was pregnant with Chloë. Until I started barfing it up, which is why we stopped. I got the recipe from Chef Nobu when he was on Martha's show. Muy excelente; I'll have to find it again.

These cashews were also the tastiest I've ever hAD. Seriously, so good. Really, organic food is not only healthy and wonderful for you, but it is delicious!! I picked up a bag of sunflower seeds, too. I've been enjoying them immensely, but I'm the only one, since they're not salted. 

Rounding out my order, I picked up some organic Nutella-like stuff, peanut butter, two jellies, 6 packages of spaghetti, milk, butter, lots of cheeses, 2 cartons of eggs (over five bucks a pop!!), and for Rob and the kiddies, a package of bacon. The owner of the shop, Michele, was very nice and has been running it for over 25 years. She was very helpful in deciding what to buy, and she even gave me a discount on the items I had coupons for, though they don't accept coupons. I told her I'd probably be in twice a month, on paydays, and she seemed thrilled about that. She even teaches a class on 'going organic,' which I might attend if it's free or nearly so.

So I had a great time, and I can't wait to shop again. June 1st can't come soon enough!

********

While I was shopping, Dr. A called about Jack. Have I mentioned here that he hasn't been hearing me at home? I had made an appointment with Audiology, but it wasn't until mid-June. Since I was having to shout at him more and more in order to be heard, I was growing increasingly alarmed and imagining myself having to learn (and teach him) sign language. I called Doc A when I decided mid-June was just too far away to be playing around with his hearing like that, so he called in an walk-in appointment for me.

No one at audiology seemed to be aware of this walk-in set-up, so we waited over an hour before being seen. Finally, the audiologist took us back and gave him a battery of tests. It was stupefying. He has significant hearing loss in both his ears!! (I feel like calling up his teacher/the school and saying, "Hey, he wasn't 'not paying attention,' he coulding flipping HEAR you!!!") There were no 'waves' on his ear drum test. When air is blown into the ears, there are supposed to be mountains on the chart indicating movement of the drum; instead, the line was absolutely flat, indicating lots of fluid behing them. I was pretty devastated when I saw that. 

The rests of the tests were the kinds you might remember from grade school, where you raised your hand when you heard the noise? Except he didn't hear the noise at normal decibels, 20 db and below. He couldn't hear until at least 40-45 and sometimes not until 60 db! So no wonder he would be completely 'ignoring' the teacher when she was talking in a normal speaking voice; he couldn' heAR A DAMn thing she was saying to him. That makes me so sad for him.

What do you think; should I tell her? I would be nice...

Anyway, the plan now is to go back to Doc A on Thursday and see what the course of action will be, whether it's antibiotics, decongestants, wait-and-see (not my favorite choice, since his hearing is worsening daily, I think), or something else. 

My poor little guy. He has already been through so much.

********

Saturday marked the second day of Rob's motorcycle class (take three). He was gone almost the whole day. I was exhausted, so the cleaning I planned didn't happen; instead, we watched movies and rested on the couch for most of it. Oh, well. 

In the evening, Steph came over so Rob and I could have a date. We saw the movie Date Night, which was pretty funny. We laughed a lot, although i probably could have waited to see it on DVD.  But one of our tickets was free, from ShopAtHome.com (I'm not sure why, but hey, I'll take it), so it was a cheap date.

Late at night, Jack, who had taken a long, late nap, stayed up past the kids' bedtime to help me bake some bread. I want to start baking all of our breads, sandwich and otherwise, to save even more money. We chose sunflower bread, since I've bought and loved it from the store. I found a great recipe on AllRecipes.com, and he did all of the measuring and mixing. I'd forgotten I have a dough hook for my powerful new mixer, or I'd have been baking bread every day since I got it. And boy, did it knead that dough quickly. I ♥ my KitchenAid! I wish I could get the pasta attachments for it, but they're too pricey for now. I showed them to Jack, online, and he really, really wants them, too. he is a pasta fiend!

Baking is great for many lessons. This time, the lesson was all about the properties of yeast. Jack was amazed at how much our bread dough rose in the bowl, and he liked punching it down for the second rising. Doesn't it look like nutty mashed potatoes, here?

 
  
 Our two loves came out perfectly. and oh, they were scrumptious!! Especially when paired with the organic cream cheese I'd picked up. Mm, so good. I've eaten way more than I should have. Don'tcha want a wee slice?

********

Sunday, I woke up early, around 0600, after onlyl about 4 hours of sleep. I couldn't get back, so I rose for another slice of sunflower bread. I'd added some of the hemp hearts that Michele - from the organic food market - gave me as a saMPLE. LOts of protein and omega fatty acids in those! It was just as good the following morning, too. Yum.

Rob went off to his final day of bike class, and the kids finally rose for breakfast. They couldn't agree on any one thing, so I had to play short order cook. Chloë pigged out on organic eggs and bacon and sunflower breAD WITH CREAM CHEESE. Jack had pancakes and bacon. Sophia had breAD, PANCakes and bacon. They all had the organic apple juice. They ate well, and I know it did their little bodies good. Probably cost $25 for the meal, too!! Heh.

I took a nap after that while they watched some PBS Kids-via-Netflix, until Daddy came home. 

HE PASSED!!!!!

Rob is now a licensed motorcyclist. Hallelujah!!!! Now, watch out, drivers. My baby daddy is on the road!

After i got over the excitement, the kids and I HEADED upstairs to clean. I did umpteen million loads of laUNDRY (AND AM still only half done; so much for keeping on top of that) while the kids supposedly cleaned their rooms. EVery time I turned around, Sophia had run downstairs to watch TV, Jack was lying down, and Chloë was reading. I can't blame them, reALLY; I hate cleaNING, TOO. But it has to be done, and they have to learn.

********

In the afternoon, we drove out to a new-to-us park for Tabitha's baby Lily's first birthday party. She was sassy in her little tutu and bow, eh? I love her blue, blue eyes.

None of us were prepared for how cold it was going to be. It had been hot and sweaty back at our house, but it was cold under the shelter. All the poor kids froze, as did most of us parents!

Tab had an owl piñata there for the bigger kids, so i already broke our new rule of 'no more candy or junk'. but how was I supposed to say 'no' after it was handed to them? As Jack explained to his complaining father, "It was a PARTY! You're supposed to eat candy at a PARTY!" 

I did not, however, let them eat the burgers or hot dogs. Nope, not gonna do it. Too much risk involved there.

they were pretty happy with their goodie bags, declaring it 'the best party ever.' Even though we didn't stick around for cake and the present-opening, because they were cold and hungry, they were happy!

Steph and Luke were there, too. He looked so cute in his little sun hat!

 
  
The birthday girl got her grub on; she has a GReAT APPEtite!!

After we left and arrived home, I went back to my laundry, the littles went back to 'cleaning,' and Chloë started some practice tests for the SOLs coming up this week at school. on the one hand, I really don't care about them, but on the other, I want her to do the best she can so we can establish a baseline for her skills. So we're preparing as much aS WE CAN, given the limited amount of time she has. (I'd have had her practice all day SaturdaY, BUT I plum forgot about them!)  When she needed a breAK, she came upstairs to visit and ended up having a good time being 'airplaned' by Mom & Dad. Don't her curls look AWESOme??

Of course, Sophia had to come running for a TURN! Jack was sound asleep by then (and still is), so he was a no-show for the fun.

Girls being silly

This is the face I usuALLY get when Sophia waNTS TO Have her picture taken!

Anyway, that's about it for this weekend. I think I'll go throw some more bread in the KitchenAid!

Fin. 
  

PS Sorry again for the crazy caps!
  
  

 

Coffee-Fueled Day

I've been posting here and there on the homeschool blog, including just a moment ago, if you're interested in keeping up with us there. :)

I stayed up again all night last night, but that's because I slept half of Mother's Day away. Why I'm still up the following night at 0100 is beyond me, but it probably has to do with the two cups of coffee I consumed earlier in the day! For sure my eyes are burning, though.

I got a LOT done in that time, though. I had tons and tons of coupons to cut and list on the database, and those are all done. Not filed in my coupon box, mind you, but I'll get there. Maybe tonight, if I, um, have a 3rd cuppa joe... but I probably oughtn't.

And my desk was a black hole of paperwork. I mean, it was literally buried under copy paper and school papers and newspapers and magazines and... well, you get the picture. As of just a little while ago, I have a desk again! Now all those papers are either outside in the recycling bin, or all over the backyard after having been blown OUT of that bin, or on the floor next to me, waiting to be carried out to the bin. I saved as much as I could for printing on the backside, though. Do you do that? Y'should, y'all.

Wow. This is NOT an interesting post so far, is it? I'll try to pick up the pace.

So then I had to get the girls up, and shortly after that, Jack awoke. But you can read about that on SPA. (Hey, I just realized that Sweet Pea Academy can be shortened to "SPA"! Kewl.)

So I showered late last night, and I put on leggings and a tank top. And, well, undies, but no brassiere, because that's all the clean clothes I happened to have. I am SO behind on laundry once again. But you know what? I look pretty damn hot. I kept running to the bathroom mirror to check myself out, even. And when Rob came home from work, well... let's just say I kept Jack busy with some computer games for a good little bit while Daddy and Mommy ran upstairs ... *ahem*

Where was I? Besides reminiscing about that and wishing Rob were home right now? Um...

Right. yes.

Jack and I watched Food, Inc. for a third time - at his request, because I think he likes seeing the cows hacked up - and then I let him watch a little PBS Kids through Netflix streaming on the Wii. (Pretty cool system that I'm so glad Stephanie told me about, now that we don't have 'real' TV. If you'd like a free month of Netflix, let me know, as I have four free codes.) Or maybe a lot. I don't know. It's all a blur at this point.

I went to go get the girls, and as I was leaving the house, my little laddie shot out of the door behind me and hopped into his truck (his Power Wheels Escalade) to go along with me. Only, he pushed it into high gear and sped down the road faster than I knew his truck was able to go! He was obviously pretty proud of himself, too, especially when all the little girls pouring out of the bus a few minutes later, crowded around and lavished him with attention. Yeah. My 7-year-old son is picking up chicks with his wheels. Awesome.

I gave each of the kids a dish of strawberry sherbet with homemade whipped cream for an after-school snack, but only Chloë relished it properly. The other two left theirs to melt. Horrors! That shit was good, too. You wouldn't let it go to waste, would you??

After work, Daddy had gone to get his base sticker for his motorcycle, so he worked on making a plate for it to allow him to actually ride it on base. No, he doesn't technically have his motorcycle endorsement yet. His class is this coming weekend.  But what the hell, that didn't stop him from planning to drive it to work this evening! (And he did. And he didn't crash. Phew.) Wait, should I be saying all this publicly? Probably not. Strike that from the record. Anyway, I sat on the thing, and I actually liked the feel of it. After this shot, I climbed on the back behind Rob and wrapped my arms around my man.

I won't actually ride with him until he has two solid years of uneventful, legal driving under his belt, though. It would be too much like the VP riding with the Prez on Air Force One, y'know what I mean?

Meanwhile, Jack was napping, and the girls were frolicking outside with us. Sophia climbed right up on top of Daddy's truck without help! Chloë, upon seeing this, wanted to do the same thing, but as usual, she couldn't get up there on her own power. And when she was put up there, she was too freaked out to stay there. Such different girls, I have.

In the evening, Jack and Rob went to the Cub Scout meeting, and I set Sophia to work building a cave in the living room while I helped Chlo with her homework. She had a breakdown about math, and then, another breakdown about how much she was going to miss her school next year. We had a long, long, long talk about school, home-schooling, life in general, and all sorts of things. Over dinner, when the boys returned, we all got into the discussion. It was a great talk. I think Chloë learned a lot and and had a lot of her fears relieved. 

Nothing is permanent. If she decides to go to school next year, she can always change her mind and come home. And vice-versa. She doesn't have to stay somewhere if she doesn't want to be there. But I told her all about the many plans I have for home-schooling - which I hadn't really done with her yet - and the tears dried up in a big hurry. She became really excited about it again (this from the girl who initially BEGGED me to let her homeschool, too), and I'm glad. Because I think it will be really good for her, and for us as a family. No, great. 

I did write an email to her favorite teacher since Day One at that school, the PE teacher. They have a special relationship, always have. I asked him to keep in touch with her after she leaves the school and maybe, once in a while, take her out for a movie or a picnic or something. I think he'll respond favorably to the idea. Or is that too weird?

I was all of a sudden itching to knit this afternoon, so I went through my stash and suddenly remembered the sweaters I'd planned to make for both the girls. Unfortunately, the yardage is significantly less than what I thought I had, so I had to change patterns from a really cool cable-knit pullover to a sort of short-sleeved cardigan that's drastically different. It's going well, though (I'm about twice as far along now as I was in the picture above), and I'm enjoying the quick knit. The girls are delighted I'm finally knitting for them, too! Now to find something cute for Jack...

So I guess that's about it for Monday. Hope you're having a swell week.

Fin. 

 

 

Back To Basics

Tuesday morning, I turned off my alarm instead of hitting the snooze button, so I overslept by an hour. Whoops! I could seriously kick my own butt when I do that; makes me so mad at myself and is NOT a great way to start the day. Luckily, Sophia wasn't late at all, as it was kindergarten registration day. We got to the school right at 0900, and the older two children picked up their "tardy" slips and headed off to class.

I took Sophia to her classroom ahead of time, letting them know that I would not, in fact, be registering her for kindy that morning, because I'm going to homeschool her next year. They were curious about that, whether it was going to be just her or all three kids, etc., but they were positive and supportive about it. I definitely feel like I need lots of encouragement right now, so that was good.

Back in the big school, after letting go of Jack and Chloë, I walked down to the cafeteria where the registration was taking place, to talk to Mrs. P. about it. I let her know, too, that I wouldn't be registering Sophia that morning, or any morning, and why. She got a sad, "We'll miss you guys" look on her face and wished me luck.

I kind of wish we could start tomorrow! I'm certainly not ready, materials- and curriculum-wise, but I am ready to pull them out of school and begin the next chapter. And, of course, stop the medicating with Adderall that I'm only giving them so they can get along in the "sit down and shut up" world of public schooling. That really bites. Fortunately, later this afternoon is their appointment with Dr. P., my prescribing shrink, to have further and more comprehensive evaluations for ADHD.

I went home, to find that Rob was still not back from work. Poor guy. I piddled on the computer for an hour, as I almost always do to start my day, and he arrived home during that time. I was hoping he'd finish cleaning up the kitchen so I could make my banana breads, but he was exhausted and pretty much knocked out immediately. The laundry monster was once again taking over our upstairs, so I resigned myself to a day of washing, drying, folding, and putting away.

And that I did.

I colored my hair in the beginning - I'm a little crunchy, but not so granola that I won't use chemicals to hide my roots, man - set my iPod to my latest obsession (the soundtrack from The Princess and the Frog), and got to work. First, I had to finish putting together all the girls' Spring/Summer outfits and hanging them in their closets (school clothes in Sophia's and non-school clothes, ie., dresses and short shorts with tank tops, in Chloë's, since they're both wearing a size 5T). Then it was time to tackle the rest of the wash. I had about four or five loads to launder, and about that many loads of clean ones to fold and put away. I showered, rinsed out my hair, dressed and straighened my 'do, but otherwise I worked on laundry straight up until the bus came at 1530. And I'm STILL NOT DONE. Oy-to-the-vey.

The laundry, it drives me to the crazy place.

 

As usual, once the kids came home, we were on the move. I had to wake up Rob then - but by that point, he'd gotten more sleep than I had, at least 7 or 8 hours, so I didn't feel awful about it - to take charge of The Littles, so they wouldn't have to accompany Chloë and me to Ballet class. She and I left late, because she took forever to change into her leotard, and arrived a few minutes after the start time. I know that irks her teachers, but I do the best I can.

I worked on knitting Luke's shorties during dance class. It was slow going; the yarn had gotten all messed up in my bag, somehow. Peas and carrots, that drives me nuts. I managed to get a couple inches knit up, anyhow, and soon enough I'll be needing to get some size 8 DPNs so that I can work the legs. Don't have 'em; it always surprises me to need a needle I don't have, since I have so many already! (Thanks to MIL for that, mostly.) :D

Immediately after we came home, we had to get ready for Chloë's Author Party. She and her classmates each wrote fables and published these Studentreasure books. I was going to show you the cover of her story, "The Cheetah and the Leopard," but my scanner is being a piece of dirty bathwater. It's cute, though.

Sadly, I don't have anything to show you from the party - during which the kids all read their books - because I couldn't go, and Rob had camnesia. Apparently Chloë did a really good job. However, I have the book, and without the author's permission, I am going to share her fable with you here:

 "The Cheetah and the Leopard"

A Fable by Chloë

Dedicated to My Mom and Dad

Once there was a cheetah and a leopard. They were very good friends,

but one day they had a really hard test.

During the test leopard and cheetah needed help, but they didn't ask for any.

They missed every question on the test. The next week they had some of the same questions.

This time they asked for help and got them all right.

Moral: If you need help ask!

"About the Author"

Hi! My name is Chloe Odette. I have a brother and his name is Jack. He is in first grade. I have a sister and her name is Sophia. She is in Early Discoveries. My dad works in the Navy. My mom is a substitute teacher. [snort] I am in third grade. I hope you like my book.

Cute, right?? Not the most fabulous story in the world, but maybe we can finesse that in homeschool next year.

Apparently there was cake and punch at the party, but Daddy didn't let them have any. I told him that he should have let them have a small piece, but he said nope! because they didn't have dinner yet.

Before the party, Rob and the kids had dropped me off at the Girl Scout Leader meeting down the road. I'm officially a Daisy leader now, for Sophia's troop! We even have our troop number assigned, and I have my approval letter. Exciting! I'm nervous about that, too, but somehow it'll all come together, I'm sure.

I had lots to take care of at the meeting. I needed to act as Treasurer and write the check for the Brownies (well, they'll be bridging to Juniors) to pre-register for next year, and submit the packet with all of their forms. I needed to get and fill out a pre-reg for Sophia and submit that along with Miss Nikki's youngest daughter's pre-reg, and pay for that. (I didn't have to pay for Chloë, because she earned it from selling cookies!) I had to take notes, since Nikki doesn't attend the Leader meetings, and I'll be acting as Leader of the Daisies and Co-Leader of the Juniors next year. And there was a lot more I needed to do, but I forget what now. I got a present, too! A little lanyard thing with a carabiner on it, for my keys. I got one for Nikki as well. A little gift for all the Leaders, from the Service Unit chairwoman. It says something about being a Girl Scout volunteer on it.

Anyway...

So I thought about homeschooling all day, while I was folding laundry.

First, I decided our little school should have a name, so it will be called Sweet Pea Academy, after the planned name of our boat. (That plan may be on hold for a while, but I can't spill the beans yet on just why right now. Hopefully soon!) Do you like the name? Well, I do.

(Oh, it was funny. I told Chloë about our new school name on the way home from Ballet. I jokingly told her I was going to print up t-shirts with the name and logo on them, for each of the kids to wear every day to school. Then she said, "Oh, and we can make up a poster and put it on the front door, so other kids can come to our school, too!" I told her that the school was just for the three of them, and she wanted to know why. I said, "Well, first of all, they'd have to PAY me to attend, and second of all, I'd want to at least practice on you guys for a year or so, so I can figure out if I even know what I'm doing!" She replied, "Of COURSE you know what you're doing - you have THREE books!!!!" I cracked up laughing and said, "You mean the ones from the library?" She rolled her eyes and said, "Yeah, they're HUGE!"

Too funny. Well, at least she has the confidence in me, so that was reassuring!)

Most of what I was thinking about, though, was curriculum. I already know what they want to work on, so I thought I'd expand it a bit. For Jack, we'll not just learn about cars and boats, but we'll work on Transportation in general. We can study so many things, and I know he will just love it. The library will be our best friend. In time, we'll learn about not just boats and cars, but planes, trains, and every other form of locomotion we can think of. We can take field trips to look at these things, I hope, and it will be just the funnest thing for him.  

Chloë wants to study animals, and Sophia wants to study birds. I have a thick binder or two filled with beginner information on all sorts of animals, so I thought we'd pick one each (day? week?) to discover and learn more about in detail. I want to get some sort of family membership, either to the zoo or the aquarium or the children's musuem or something, but I'm thinking the zoo will be good for this area of study. I'd love to have family memberships to all of them, but I just don't think we can afford it. But think of it, we could go to the zoo all the time! It will be great.

Chloë also stressed learning about art and music. I'm not sure yet what I'm going to do about music, but I'm going to talk to my friend Shana, who IS a music teacher, and see if she has any recommendations. But we are going to explore so many kinds of art. I'm going to teach them to knit and crochet! We have painting jobs that need doing in the house, so I'll do that with the kids and explore painting with them! There's a ceramics studio just down the road, so I thought I'd take them to that for one or more of our field trips. I'm also going to encourage them to keep a journal - not just for writing, but for drawing, too.

For physical education, and to boost our study of the natural world, we'll go on lots of nature walks and stuff. I'm also going to find out if the gym(s) on the Navy base(s) have anything for kids, so we can go and exercise for free. If not, I'm hoping we can find room in the budget for either a family membership to the YMCA or the local rec centers, which are pretty good. We used to be members, but we hardly ever used it; I'm determined to have them be physically active, though. Of course, the girls will stay in their dance classes, and I'm hoping to get Jack involved in something, too. Maybe karate?

For socialization, of course the Scouts (Daisies, Cubs and Juniors) and athletic pursuits will help fill that void. There are also a number of homeschooling groups in the Hampton Roads area, and I'm planning on contacting the ones that seem like a good fit soon, to find out how and when they meet up, what they do, etc. They'll get plenty of interaction with other people.

Of course, that all takes care of many things, but what about math? Reading and writing? Well, I'm still working on that. If you couldn't tell, I'm definitely not the unschooling type, I don't think.  I mean, some of what we'll be doing IS considered unschooling, but I have a concern about math and language. I need the children to learn those things. I can't have them NOT learn those things. It's important to me that they do, and so they will. I'll make it as fun as possible, without a billion worksheets and with a lot of hands-on manipulation, but they will learn. I'm going to go to the TAPS store and see what resources I can find there, I'm going to see what I can get from Mindware and elsewhere online... I want to make this whole experience as fun and painless as possible for them, but they WILL learn to read, write and do math. I insist upon it!

We're going to learn other things, too. As a family, we're going to tear up our backyard and make it more nature-friendly. Right now, it's a morass and only the dog is really able to use that. I want to change that. I want to rent a rototiller and tear up all the grass and then plant as much of our own local and natural and organic and sustainable food as we can.  And we are FINALLY going to have a compost pile. Or heap. Or whatever you call it. I've been throwing out our compostable food scraps behind the bushes in the front of the house for too long. It's time to change that and make it 'official.' Yay, I can't wait!

We're going to learn new recipes, and spend lots of time in the kitchen. They will become proficient at cooking and baking, and using what's local and at-hand to make a nutritious, wholesome meal. No more Red # 40 dye, no more high fructose corn syrup, no more genetically-modified whoosy-whatsit. We'll can our food and freeze it for later, when there are no crops.

We'll go camping. Fishing. If Rob wants to take them hunting, so be it, but if they want to become semi-vegetarians like their mama, I'll be pleased with that, too. We'll learn how to live a "greener" life. We're going to learn more about conservation and taking care of the planet.

And taking care of each other, too. We're going to learn how to be not only global citizens but community menbers. We'll visit the elderly, bring cookies to the firefighters and police, maybe work in a soup kitchen.

I'm terribly excited. I can't wait to start. Bring on the Sweet Pea Academy!!

Fin.

 

 

  

 

Friday Fragments

Link up with Mrs. 4444 if you're fragmenting today!

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I haven't been here in a while, because Friday keeps sneaking up on me! I know it's already late in the day (hell, I've already posted a Saturday meme), but I figured I might as well unload the week's "stuff" that I never got around to posting here! So off we go...

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On Sunday, we did our re-take of the trip up north, 4 hours to Chantilly, to play Laser Tag for a mystery shop. The things I will do for this job! We left around 1300 this time, so that we would arrive in plenty of time for our 2030 requirement. Once we got just outside of DC, I missed a turn and got all kinds of lost. I was looking up the directions on my iPhone (love it!) while Rob was looking them up on his handheld GPS (hate it!). We had differing routes, and we were sniping at each other. It was no fun. But finally we found the right track (thanks to my phone) and did a little celebration dance. We had three hours to kill, so we went to this Guatemalan restaurant for some grub. The kids had snacked all the way up in the van, so only Rob and I ate there. Good stuff!

Finally it was time to go play Laser Tag. Here we are in the Debriefing Room, awaiting our instructions. 

And this was after we played, as you can tell by Sophia's cheeks and my sweaty hair! Oh, my gosh, it was SO fun!!! If they weren't so far away, we'd go back there in a second. I had such a blast! Rob and Jack played a second game by themselves while the girls and I hung out in the lobby, and again, the little guy had a ton of fun. In the end, they all decided it was worth 8 hours in the car for an hour and a half of playtime!

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On Monday, Rob took Jack to his Cub Scout meeting. That night, the Webelos II bridged up to Boy Scouts. Jack didn't care about that part, he was just happy they had an ice cream party afterward! The rest of it totally escaped him. Typical!

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On Wednesday, I had a lady and her helper come clean our house. It had really gotten out of control, and it was beyond my powers (or desire) to whip it back into shape before Easter and my dad and his new (5th!) wife's visit next week. I had to pay a not-small fortune to get it done, but it's been SO worth it. And I've been after everyone like crazy to keep it that way. At least until Dad leaves, please!

Also, between Tuesday and that day, Weds., I must have done more than a dozen loads of laundry. Stacey (my sis), if you're reading this, you'll be so proud of me: I got everything folded AND put away, too. Except for Rob's stuff. He's on his own there. I mean, it's folded and put in neat piles, but at the moment I can't access his side of the room. But yay, otherwise!

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Thursday, I was supposed to go to Sophia's Spring Fling, a party at the preschool. Only, I got stuck with a bad, terribly painful gas attack and couldn't do anything but lie down! It sucked, I was in total agony all day long. I hadn't felt "right" all week, and this just compounded the problem. Seriously, I could barely walk, it hurt so bad. At night, I finally sent Rob out for some Gas-X, after confirming that I, as a gastric bypass patient, could take it. Ahhh, that's how you spell relief!

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Today, Friday, I was supposed to sub for kindergarteners for the second half of the day, but I got sick all over myself in the shower getting ready and felt completely awful once again. I didn't know if last week's stomach bug had returned, so I called in, not wanting to get the sweet little babies all sick. I pretty much slept it off for most of the day, until Rob came home around 1400. 

After school, we went out and did three lunch/dinner mystery shops in a row. Eventually, the kids all ate well, and then we came home and took a lovely walk around the park, with the dog.

 Click here to become my Facebook friend and see the rest of the pictures from that excursion! (Or let me know if you're able to see them without friending me, but I don't think it will let you. I tried that. sorry!)

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On our walk, we rounded a large part of the lake and then got back to more ground. Chloë, 8½, exclaimed, "We found land!" and Sophia, nearly 5, shouted out, "AHOY!!!!" 

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Sophia came home from a basket full of eggs and candy from her school party yesterday. She gave everything out to all the kids from the bus, and then she whined to me, "I only have one left!" I asked, "Well, why did you give them all away, then?" She replied sweetly, "I wanted them to be my best friends!"

Aww. ♥

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Jack, 7, brought me a Bic lighter - you know, the long ones for lighting candles? - and asked, "Is this an extra one?" because I already had another one out. I said, "No.. it's not an extra one, it's just another one." He seemed relieved and said, "Good!" "Why is that good, honey?" I questioned him. He answered, "Because! I don't want to run out of fire!"

No, we surely don't want that...

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In the car, Jack was hitting and kicking and otherwise being mean to Sophia. Sophia turned to him and said angrily, "Jack, your body is NOT being nice to me!"

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So that's it. Hopefully I'll catch FF a little earlier next week!

Fin.
  

TWIR: Thursday, Music & Art Night

Thursday, I wasn't able to sub, because I had to stay home with sick Jack.

Sick Jack was feeling much better, so we decided to run around a little bit, around late morning, after he'd watched a video or two on the couch.

The goal was to get both the Toy Story and Toy Story 2 Blu-Ray/DVD combo packs. And I had a VERY good deal to get them, too: Toys 'R Us had them on sale for $16.99 each when you bought both, plus I had a $10-off coupon for both from the Disney Movie Rewards website, plus each combo back was supposed to include a movie ticket for Toy Story 3, coming out later this year! An EXCELLENT deal.

Since I had been reading up on the Hip2Save website all morning while Jack rested, I knew that many of the TRU stores were out of these combos, unfortunately. However, I also knew who DID have them in stock and would price-match them to TRU.

So.

I called TRU, and the woman who answered said, "Oh, yeah, we have plenty of both, come on in."

So we came on in, only to find that they did not, in fact, have Toy Story 2. At all!

I was pissed! And I let the manager know it. He tried to tell me that the number I called wasn't his store, but I showed him my phone, pressed redial, and it rang right up to the front desk four feet away from us. So uh, yeah. Take that.

There was really nothing he could do, despite the fact that I had driven 15 minutes away ONLY because I'd called and been told they had them in stock, so he just said "I'm sorry" and sent me on my way. He could have done more than that, in my opinion, but it is what it is, so we left.

We stopped home to get the ad that I'd forgotten, and I called Best Buy to make sure they still had them in stock. They did. It was around the corner, so we rushed right over. Only, when I tried to use my coupons, for $10 off each, they balked. They called it "double-dipping" and said I couldn't use that AND the price-match. Really? That makes absolutely no damn sense. If I could go to TRU right now and get the same merchandise for that price AND use my coupons, then why should I go to Best Buy? Isn't the whole point to get me in the store with the best possible price? It makes NO sense! But they efused to let me use the coupons, so I took them and left.

Unfortunately, I forgot to take my ad with me. BUT, I get two newspapers, so I went home to get the second one. It was at this point that Jack's tummy troubles returned, and he barely had time to get to the bathroom before exploding. Poor kid! While he was in there, I called up Best Buy corporate to question them on their price matching and coupon policy, and they said it was up to store discretion to allow it. Stupid! But I already seriously hate Best Buy, for ten-hundred other reasons, so really it's not a shocker that they suck on this score, too.

I called Target to make sure THEY would allow both price-matching and coupons (they do), and to make sure they had both movies in stock (they did), so once Jack was squared away, we ran down there. I mean, I REALLY wanted this deal, y'all.  I also had 9 coupons for a free 20-oz Coke, from using My Coke Rewards points (if you drink Coke and don't use the points, why?? I mean, send me your points, please!), so I gathered up 9 bottles of soda, and the two movies.

We had to go to Customer Service (or Guest Services, whatev) to do the price-matching, which I'd never done before. I was kind of nervous. And the CSR was really quite grumpy, as they often seem to be at Target. Go figure??  But after they figured out how to ring it all up - which, apparently, they don't do very often either - I had my two movie combos and 9 Cokes for just $15 including tax - AND two free movie tickets to boot. Super sweet!!

Jack didn't know I had gotten the movies, since he wasn't really paying attention to the whole thing and was off in his own little world, so I kept that secret from him. Once home, we went upstairs so I could work on laundry and the kids' Easter baskets some more. I sent him to his room, since he was feeling better, to work on picking up all his books and laundry. He tried not to notice that I was working on Easter baskets right in front of him - after all, though I'd made it clear at Christmas time that there is not a Santa, I never spelled out the Easter Bunny for them - but eventually, he just stood there, grinning and asking questions about what I was doing. Hee. He didn't care! He just wants Easter to hury up and come so he can get his basket! 

I gave each of the girls a Toy Story DVD combo in their baskets, and I gave him a mini-monster truck Hot Wheels thing. They each received a Webkinz, a bunch of candy, a couple other small toys... and some more candy. I'm really going to have to monitor the candy intake this year. Sophia would eat all hers in one sitting if we let her, and with Jack's faceful of cavities,... oy, vey!

So.

After Jack fetched me the tape so I could get the cellophane wrapped around the baskets tightly, I was going to get started on folding some more laundry. Only... the boy came over to me and lay down on the bed next to me, and he was so irresistible, I had to lie down and snuggled up next to him... and we fell fast asleep. Sound, sound asleep. Good thing Daddy came home to get the girls from the bus, because neither of us really wanted to get p at that point!

Daddy let the two of us sleep - I think he took a picture, but it's on his phone - a while longer, while he took care of the girls. There was no immediate after-school activity, no Brownies, no dance class, nothing, but we did have Chloë's little show to go to at school at 1800. And Rob knew I wanted to get there a bit early, so he woke us up at 1715 to go.

I looked like I had just rolled out of bed - and, well, I did, but I didn't really care. At that point, I was starting not to feel too well myself. It was all I could do just to get there. So even though Chloë was supposed to dress up like a movie star, she pretty much just put on a dress, and we called it good. Most of the other kids weren't really dressed like movie stars either, so it didn't matter a bit.

The kids arrived one by one for their show, for which they'd been rehearsing for at least a couple months. I guess since they came back from Christmas break, maybe. It was called, oh, I'm forgetting now, but something to do with Hollywood. "Lights, Camera, Action" maybe?

They sang "Lights, Camera, Action" at the opening and close of the show, along with the SpongeBob SquarePants theme song, Beyond the Sea, and a couple others I'm not remembering. And I lost my program. :( Which, by the way, was most impressive in that they actually got the "ë" right in her name! That's a first, they NEVER do it at her school.

After the Third Grade music show, we walked down to the library to see the Art Show. There were maybe a dozen art works on display from each grade, and Chloë was selected to have one of her pieces on display! It was the same one as was shown at the Norfolk Airport, which, sadly, we never made it down to see. But here was our chance, and I was so glad. First thing into the library, and Sophia crawled up on the bench with the stuffies. I guess she was tired. 

But that was until she saw the elaborate spread that had been laid out, down the center of the library. Holy cow, they really went all out! There were cookies, and pretzels, and chocolate-covered strawberries, and cheesy poofs, and all manner of goodies, all over the place. SO. MUCH. JUNK. FOOD. Oh, my. And we hadn't eaten dinner yet! The kids' eyes were as round as saucers, though, as they loaded up their plates with goodies. I tried to be good and ate some cheese, crackers and hummus, but I did manage to sneak in a cookie, too. I should NOT have eaten that... but the hummus was good, at least!

 

Finally, we made it past all that food, and found the Third Grade art on display. And there was Chloë's artwork, right in the middle. And behold, it was good. Very, very good! I couldn't believe it, nor could Rob - we were both so impressed. She did such a great job. I didn't know she had it in her, really, I didn't! Awesome job, Chloë Raine!! Mom and Dad are so proud of you!

You know, she is forever telling me that Music and Art are her favorite subjects, but I haven't really paid much attention or encouraged that too much, since it seems like reading is really her thing. But now, I have to sit up and take notice! I mean, don't y'all think her "Matisse Me" is quite good??? I especially love the background colors, and the placement she used. The orange and yellows seem to be in exactly the right spot... it's really "resolved" for me. I love it. I truly do.

So after that, I went upstairs to work on the laundry, but I was utterly exhausted by that point, and starting not to feel well. I restarted the dryer, because the clothes were still wet, and then I sat down to wait for it to run its course. That was at 1930, and I didn't wake up until 12 hours later, at 0730 on Friday morning!

Next up: Friday!

Fin.

  
  

 

 

The Week In Review

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

Tuesday

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

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

Wednesday

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Thursday

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Anyway...

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

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

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

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

Friday

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Have a great weekend, y'all.

Fin.

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

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?!

Should Not Be Here

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

Bullets for Tuesday:

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

Today, Wednesday:

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

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

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

Any different?? I can't tell.

Back tomorrow!

Fin. 

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

  

No Soup For You

Well, Monday wasn't the greatest day in the life of me. I had lots of plans to do lots of things around the house, and I did basically NONE of them.

First, I woke up and immediately smelled the pungent, unmistakeable smell of steaming dog shit.  I don't know what it is lately, but our dog and one of the cats have been having numerous accidents around the house. (More upsetting is the cat peeing outside of her box, because hello, have you smelled that stuff? You can not get rid of it!) So I jumped up, got the kids up for their first day back to school from Winter Break, and cleaned up multiple piles of pooch poop.

Then, it was time to head to the bus, and suddenly the kids are moving in slow-motion. We finally head to the bus stop, me practically pulling the younger girl down the street by her hand, and I look up to see the bus already at the stop with parents walking away, toward us. Aack! I did not feel like driving to school, so I started yelling and waving and running. You've read it here before, but there are only two times in my life when I run: if I'm being chased, and if I'm about to miss a bus. And so we ran. Of course, about eight cars are stopped on both sides of the bus, waiting for MY children to board, and I'm feeling quite conspicuous. And then, when my kids are seated on the bus, OTHER kids start coming out of the woodwork. Apparently, the bus driver arrived to the stop early, and NO one was there. What a relief for me not to be the only ones late. Now 16 angry drivers have someone else on whom to focus.

And on the way back home, I was thinking to myself, "Y'know, running didn't feel half bad. Maybe I'll take up running." Bahahaha. You know that ain't gonna happen.

I had planned to spend the whole day checking things off my big to-do list, but I was feeling very lazy and tired and unmotivated. So I started off on the computer instead, checking email and Facebook, harvesting crops on Farmville... you know, important stuff. And I could NOT stop yawning.

By 0900, I knew I was going to have to take a nap. And so I lay down, telling myself I would pop awake at noon - absolutely no later - and get to work.  I wanted to put dinner in the crockpot, do some power knitting, get the boxes cleaned out of the office, and so much more. Instead, it was after 1400 before I opened my eyes - and I'd slept a solid night's sleep the night before! Holy hell, I slept the entire school day. What a waste.

Instead of berating myself, however, I decided to get something to eat, check email again, and waste the rest of the time until the bus came. No point working for an hour and then having to stop, right? Yeah, it didn't sound any less lame when I told it to myself earlier, either.

I tell myself that this never-ending cold that Rob and I are having (seriously, it's been three weeks, what the heck) has me completely worn down and burnt out, and I deserve to have a day off. Maybe that's true, because I had absolutely zero energy even after that long nap.

And when the kids came home, and I gave them a snack of the lemon bars I baked last night for just this moment, all I wanted to do was lie down and go back to sleep. Chloë and Jack went upstairs to do I know not what, while Sophie sat on my lap and chatted away with me. I tried convincing her that she needed a nap, when really it was me. Another nap, after all those hours!

We lay on the couch, snuggled up close together, while she gave me her full array of complaints about having to take a nap. "I'm not tired." "I have to pee." "I'm hungry." "I'm cold." "I'm hot." "I want to play a game on your iPhone." And so on. (The kids are constantly playing with my iPhone - they love it more than I do, I swear! It has been added to the list of things they need to pay for with Dad Dollars.) No matter. I held her ever-warm, soft little body close to me, kissed her sweet cheek umpteen million times, and eeked my warm fuzzies out of her wide-awake self.

After an hour, it became extremely apparent that she was NOT going to go to sleep. Meanwhile, Jack had come back downstairs and thrown himself on the other couch for a nap. He was deep in slumber. Sophie and I went upstairs so I could finally take a shower, and there was Chloë, sound asleep on the floor of the hallway, mere feet from her bed. Weirdo. I tossed Sophia on the bed, gave her the iPhone and told her not to call China, before stepping into the hottest-hot shower. It's all hot all the time for me, now. I can never get warm anymore. We are having one big cold snap, and I hate it. I absolutely hate being cold. It makes me cranky - no, downright angry. I crave the warmth.

I had hoped that Sophie would fall asleep during my shower, under the warm covers on my bed, but no such luck. So she chattered away while I folded four loads of laundry, which took an ordinately long amount of time, since I was in such a slow-moving state. Chloë woke up and came in, cheerfully, so I set her to work carrying clothes into the kids' rooms to put in the closet. They were already on hangers; all she had to do was hang them up. So imagine my dismay when Rob came home and up the stairs to find all those clothes on the floor of the hallway, which was decidedly not clean! I was furious. Absolutely furious. We discussed. Loudly at times.

So when I gave her more clothes to hang up and then, on a hunch, went in to check that she had actually hung them up and found them on the floor of her room, well, I was beside myself.  Literally, I think there were two of me, both stomping their feet, waving arms around and shouting.  It wasn't our best Mother-Daughter moment.

Eventually, after some tears and lots more discussion about responsibility and trust, we went back into my room. I continued to fold laundry, Chloë worked on her homework, and Sophia sat with her pile of books that the preschool sent home for the week. Every so often, I would stop and read one of the books to her. Chloë, on the other side of the room, would interject with a question every now and then, when she was "supposed" to not be listening and doing her homework instead. I felt guilty for disrupting her on the one hand, but on the other, I was glad she was listening to our story time.

Rob had taken Jack to his Cub Scout meeting. In the Tiger Den tonight, the boys were given their pinewood derby cars to build. Jack wanted to go home and make his RIGHT NOW, as Rob texted me from the meeting. He's super excited about it. Rob still has his cars from his own time in the Scouts, and Jack is anxious for his father to get them out of the attic and show them off. I love that they now have this together. I didn't mind taking him to the meetings - dragging the girls along - when Rob was working nights, but I'm so glad now it's back to a Father-and-Son thing to do. Now if only I didn't have to drag the Littles along to Chloë's Brownies meetings!

When they came home, and I finished folding all the laundry that was dry, I looked up at the clock and realized it was already 2030. I hadn't made any dinner yet, and I'd told Rob the night before that if he made dinner that night, I would make it all the rest of the week. Shee-it! I was suddenly grateful for those 8 cans of Progresso chicken noodle soup that I'd gotten for super-cheap from Walgreens the day before, because that was going to be dinner! I can't eat soup anymore, since gastric bypass patients can't have liquids and solids at the same time, but I had some scallops in the fridge.

I ended up making THREE cans of soup for those four small people for dinner, which is pretty amazing for my crew. They actually loved it and kept thanking me for making it, which made me supremely happy. All four of them happily slurped their soup, and all four of them asked for seconds. Thirds, in some cases. Such a simple little meal to bring such big pleasures to all of us. And my scallops were pretty damn good, too.

They had lemon bars for dessert, and Jack fussed that he wasn't allowed to have ice cream instead. He wants ice cream every night! We have a lot in the freezer from stocking up during sales, and now I'm thinking I should have just let him have it. He needs the calories, after all. But we stood firm on the "this is what we're having tonight, take it or leave it" thing, and he left it. Ah, well.

The kids were readied for bed after that, but I still heard noises up there for quite some time afterward. Hopefully not from Sophia, who I know really did need that nap she didn't take earlier. By 2230, I was done with this dumb day. For someone who didn't accomplish much, I sure can type out a lot about it, can't I?!

I went to bed (well, couch) then and tried to sleep, but I forgot to turn off the TV, and it kept waking me up. But 0030, I was wide awake. And here I am. Trying to decide whether to take a sleeping pill to get more sleep, or watch some Martha Stewart on the DVR and do some of that afore-mentioned power knitting I never did in the daytime. Either way, tomorrow is going to suck, too. I think I better do the knitting. If I take the pill, I'll never hear my alarm for school.

So guess who will be taking a nap tomorrow?

Fin.

P.S. Jack just came down, sobbing to his father that his leg hurts. Since he hasn't had his growth hormone shots in a very long time (a fact I am soon going to remedy, with an appointment on the books for him), I can't think what the cause might be. Poor kiddo.

Saturday, What A Day

Not really.

But you know I'll still be able to find something to blog about!

It was a two-nap day for me yesterday. So that right there knocked out many precious hours of daylight, which will limit how much I can talk about. Breathe a big sigh of relief, folks!

Most of the rest of the time was spent doing laundry (me) or cleaning up (everyone else). The kids' "suite, as I think of the area of the back of the upstairs that includes their hallway, bathroom, and two bedrooms, is a disaster. It's always a disaster. They are forever having to clean it. Well, no more. After spending Friday and Saturday playing rather than cleaning, I am really getting on top of them today! I have my last load - of about 20!! - in the washer, so I will be back upstairs in a li'l ol' while to monitor their progress. We're taking it small chunks at a time, rather than try to eat the whole elephant at once. I know it's overwhelming for them.

After my first nap, I decided it was time to go take our Christmas picture for our cards. Vistaprint is running a 75% off special on all holiday items until Monday, making their 10-pack of photo cards only $1.99 - hello! I needed to jump on that.

I'd had my outfit picked out for weeks: red sweater, black pants, and I'd also long since decided that I wanted the girls each to wear one of the Christmas tutus still in my Etsy shop. So that made our wardrobe color options black, red, green, and white. It wasn't hard to find a sweater for Jack (I think the same one he wore last year; oh well) and black pants, and the girls found shirts to wear... but Rob had a dickens of a time coming up with something suitable. In the end, his shirt was burgundy, which made my eye twitch a little... but whatcha gonna do?

When everyone was dressed and we girls had our hair done, we headed down to the oceanfront with camera and tripod, to git 'er done.

I took a couple test shots to make sure the focus was right, the timer was working, etc. and then we only two took shots before we got one that we all liked! It was hard to tell on the small LCD screen, but when you see the final picture, you'll realize that Jack's goofy smile is back, like I did when we got home and I pulled it up on my computer. Eek! This picture, here, is just one I wanted to take for shits and giggles. So, giggle (or shit, but please, not on me).

It was FREEZING down there, so everyone was glad it only took a few minutes. Passers-by kept stopping and admiring our little family, smiling and pointing. That was kind of fun.

When we got home, I realized that I never put mascara on - my number one make-up "must." Oops. I asked Rob, jokingly, if we could go back and do it again... but I got The Look.

We went to church after that, and I'm really glad we did, because it was the start of a new series on analyzing Christmas carols. Last night, we - and I say "we" when really it was all Pastor Andy - talked about "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel." It's a song I really don't know all that well, but now I'll be listening for it and really paying attention to the words. The music team - not what they're really called, but I can't think of the word right now - sang a beautiful rendition of it, and it made me envious of their ability to perform on stage. I can sing okay, but I'm too shy to audition!

Oh! One more thing. I can't remember if I mentioned here that I lost my engagement ring several days ago, while I was doing the laundry. I knew for sure it was in there somewhere, but I hadn't discovered it yet, and I was getting really upset about it. Welp, last night while folding, it popped out of a child's shirt and done got found! Yippee!! Now, I either can't wear my rings or will have to wear my one-size-smaller anniversary ring over the wedding and engagement rings, so I won't lose them. Time to get them resized!

Fin.

One Fine Day

Friday turned out to be pretty darn fantastic.

{The only dark spot was that Rob had to work early morning to late night, and then told me he had to work Saturday & Sunday, too. And of course, the Navy doesn't pay overtime, so we just get to suck it up. In Rob's words, "Welll, at least the pay sucks!"}

I woke up and, after putting the kids on the bus, checked out our bank account balance. Things were pretty grim. I had to cancel a bunch of bills I had scheduled to be paid, and I thought I would have to cancel our reservations for Thanksgiving dinner. And there wasn't going to be money to buy dinner, so we'd have to make due with what we had. Cornish game hens, pretty much. And there wouldn't be much for Christmas, either. I was nearly in tears.

And so, I prayed, earnestly, for some relief in our financial situation and for a better outcome than I was expecting for the two big upcoming holidays.

Then I started balancing the checkbook against the online statement, and I found a whopping $186 bank error in our favor! After I finished doing that, I checked another account and found several more hundred dollars I forgot we had. And then I started getting all kinds of emails from Paypal about mystery shop payments that were coming in, which I had been expecting on the 15th!

Prayers answered. I can pay those bills now, and.... dun duh dah, I also found a coupon for 20% off their best rate at Great Wolf Lodge, in my coupon box! And it expired on the 20th! Hello, was this a sign? I don't believe in signs, per se, but I took it to be one, anyway. So I called my husband, told him the great news that we could now book one night at GWL - which means two full days at the waterpark - for Christmas after all! He was delighted, so I went ahead and booked us Christmas Eve at the lodge. We'll be there all day on the eve and on Christmas, which sound pretty fun and exciting for the little ones according to their website!

I can't tell you how happy I was, after already telling Chloë a few nights ago that there would be no Great Wolf Lodge, and that there wouldn't be much of anything else, either. She cried, and I wanted to. I damn near told her the truth about Santa Claus, but I couldn't bring myself to do it just yet. She didn't even ask, "What about Santa?" when I told her we didn't have the money for presents, so maybe she already knows but doesn't want it confirmed yet?

Anyway. I could hardly wait to go to school and tell her the good news! (And yes, I know that there are better things we could have spent that money on, but I had been hyping up Great Wolf Lodge for months and months, before things got so bad, and their hearts were all set on it. So there.)

The first thing I had to do was attend Sophia's preschool Fall Festival at 1030. I got there a few minutes early, having no idea what was planned. I was sad that Rob couldn't go with me, because it turned out to be so cute!

I was the first one there, so Mrs. P and Mrs S put me to work right away, manning one of their activity tables. There were four or five stations, and the one I picked was making trees on paper, using stickers, tissue and construction paper, and paint pens. It turned out to be the most involved, but all the kids had a good time with it.

After everyone arrived, the kids sang two songs. You may remember, I got in trouble for posting preschool pictures from the last little shindig, so cameras and camera phones are now banned from the preschool. Heh. Here's the first little song Sophia and her classmates sang to us parents:

You'll have to turn your volume all the way up, I think; I do. So cute, right? She sings it all the time now.

Then they sang the Muffin Man, and we all clapped. It was adorable. The kids stepped up one at a time to introduce their songs and each other. I loved it. I totally ate it up.

When Sophie came over to my table, with three buddies, to work on her tree, I told her the news about going to Great Wolf Lodge. She was so happy! I don't think I ever told her and Jack that we weren't going, though. The kids circulated among their stations, making an AB pattern at the next table, designing their own cookies, playing "toss the pumpkin," and then playing Hot Potato with another small pumpkin.

When everyone had made their trees, all the kids and all the parents got in a big circle in the middle of the room, to play a giant round of Hot Potato. Sophie was shy to play, so she sad on my lap and we did it together. When it was all said and done, she and one other little girl were the last two people in the game! Alas, on the last round, the pumpkin was dropped, and the little girl claimed Sophia had it (neither of them did), so she was out! But she still won a little sticker for a prize.

After that, it was time to serve the kiddies their lunches. The teachers did most of the work, but I handed out their silverware and napkins. Sophie was upset that it was almost time for me to go by that time, so she pushed her lunchbox away from herself and pouted, near tears. I consoled her by telling her I would come back to visit her in class on Monday - but I didn't mention that it would be to hold her down during her H1N1 vax! She is going to throw a major fit when she figures that out, oh Miss Hater of Shots.

When the kids were eating, the teachers announced it was time to pick names for door prizes. They picked the first name, and it was me! Everyone clapped, and I went up to get my prize: a bucket of colored plastic teddy bears for sorting, counting, and otherwise using as an edumacational tool. Fun! I watched a few of the other prizes be drawn - mostly reading and math work books - before I kissed my little baby and took my leave. I was late for lunch with Jack!

I'd have taken pictures of that, but the kids watch movies in the cafeteria on Friday, and I only had my iPhone with me, so it was too dark for that. He was dumbfounded to see me there; he just gaped at me! I also told him the good news about GWL, and he was filled with glee. (By the way, do you watch that? I haven't caught it yet, but I hear great things!) He cuddled with me the whole time, refused to eat his sandwich, and begged me not to leave when it was time for Chloë's class to come in. I stayed a little longer, but then it was her turn. Love my little buddy! ♥

I couldn't find Chloë at first, but finally I located my little Curls. She was sitting with her best friend Samantha. I thought Brett from Brownies was her BFF, but apparently they're not so tight anymore. I'd heard about Samantha over the past couple of years, but I didn't know it was such a close friendship. It's mutual; they sit next to each other every day for lunch.

The first thing I did was break the news about GWL to Chloë. As expected, she screamed, she cried, she jumped up and down, she gave me the biggest hugs!! I have pictures of her huge smile on my phone, but again, too dark to really see it here. To put it plainly, she was ecstatic, and I knew she would be. Her joy just made my entire day. That alone would have been enough for me. I am so happy to have been able to make her so happy. Love, love, loved it!

Throughout the remainder of her lunch time, I chatted with her and Samantha about school, books, and stuff.  This Samantha turns out to be a lovely little girl, exactly the kind of girl I would hope for a best friend for Chloë. Rarely do I like a kid who is not my own so much, but I really do. She's a positive influence on my kid, very kind, very smart, very generous, very sweet. And, come to find out, she lives in our neighborhood! If we get a chance tomorrow, I may let Chloë call her up and invite her over to play. We exchanged addresses and phone numbers, too.

Then Samantha told me about a certain book series she enjoyed, that were also AR books. I can't think of the name of them right now, something "kid." So I promised to get a couple for Chloë. After I said good-bye, I ran down to the school library to see if the Book Fair was still open and if they had any more of these books. They didn't, sold out. Rats! I'd have gotten two on the spot. I'll have to order them from Amazon or something, I guess. Wish I could think of the name!

And so I left, walking on air, to my car, after having made all three of my kids deliriously happy about Christmas. What a feeling!

Back at home, I was trying to find my digital book from our last Great Wolf Lodge trip, because my Creative Memories scrapbooking consultant wanted to see it. She hasn't gotten into the digital scrapping as much as I have and wanted to see how I'd done with my first book. And she has new products - which I can't buy, but I can window shop - to show me. Plus she just had open-heart surgery, and is sitting home recovering, bored and lonely. I had promised her a visit, with the book. But I could never find it! The kids love that book, so I think they have absconded with it. I emailed her to let her know I'd look for it all weekend and then come next week. I hope I find it...

I didn't want the productivity of the day to stop, despite how tired I was. I'd promised Rob a pumpkin pie if he cleaned up the kitchen, and I wanted to keep my word. Plus I was in a baking mood, seeing all the lovely baking supplies in my pantry.

We didn't have any frozen crusts, so I had to break down and make my own. I have no problem with doing it; I just usually use the frozen as a major time saver. I haven't made one in a long time, so I broke out our trusty Joy of Cooking for a good crust recipe. Mix, mix, mix!

(Note to MIL: The Joy of Cooking calls a rubber scraper a "rubber spatula," and a pancake turner a "metal spatula." Hehe, I felt vindicated when I read that! Rob and I have been arguing over it for nine years...)

I hda to open a new can of Crisco for the pie crust's shortening. I don't care how gross the substance is, I just love seeing a clean new top like that. Peanut butter, margarine, it's all good. Don't you like it, too?

And so I made the crust, patted it into two disks, and put it in the fridge to chill.

I still had 45 min to kill before the bus came, so I decided to bake cookies. Saturday (today) was our day to bring the after-game snacks for Sophia's soccer team, and I wanted to go the homemade cookie route. Of course, I can't really claim that, as I used two Betty Crocker mixes: oatmeal chocolate chip, and chocolate chip walnut - but they don't have to know that, do they? They looked good, besides.

The kids came off the bus, and I let them eat their fill of chocolate chip cookies for an after-school snack. That only meant one each, funnily enough. Most normal kids, if you give them a heaping plate of cookies and say, "have at it" would eat a lot more than that, wouldn't they? Not my skinny minnies!

We ran to the store to get a few necessities - bananas and juice boxes for the rest of the soccer snacks, skim milk for my protein shakes, kitty litter for the two hoochies upstairs, and a block of cheddar cheese because I freaking wanted it, okay?? - and then came home to get down to business.

And that we did!

I have long been unsatisfied with the state of our house. I love my husband dearly, but he is a sloppy, slobby boy, and the kids take after him. No sooner do I clean something, than it is messed up again already. So most of the time, I haven't even bothered. But not Friday! I was in a mood to clean like a crazy woman. Only, I needed their help.

They unanimously decided to start from the front of the house and work our way back, so we started in the foyer. We went through all the shoes, boxing up summer shoes (um, 80% of which were my flip-flops; guess I could stand to pare down), trying on the remaining shoes to see which don't fit, and putting those that don't in the big Freecycle box in the living room. We got rid of LOTS of shoes, and put the rest that are still wearable in the bins inside the bench seat that I have for storing shoes but somehow never seems to get used.

We hung up a dozen coats that had been flung everywhere, put away backpacks, picked up recycling papers that were strewn everywhere, and so on. We put away, threw away, recycled, swept, dusted, and washed, over and over and over, in the foyer, the hallway, the office, and the living room. When I gave Jack a Clorox wipe to clean up a yucky spot on the wood floor, he loved it and begged to clean the downstairs bathroom. Um, okay! Have at it! And he scoured the sink, the walls, and the toilet. Even when I lifted up the seat to show him the yucky parts, he didn't complain, and now it sparkles. I couldn't believe it! Now to get him to do the two upstairs bathrooms, too...

Sophie's specialty was sweeping up the gobs and gobs of dog hair and backyard dirt into the dust pan. Chloë mainly helped me tackle everything else. The four of us worked our tails off, from 4 - 8 pm when we finally broke for dinner. They were so motivated and intense, it was like I had different children!

We even worked out a cheer for Daddy whenever he finally came home, that we kept stopping to practice to get them pumped up:

"Two-Four-Six-Eight,

Who Do We Appreciate?

Daddy, Daddy, He's Our Man,

If He Can't Do It, No One Can!!"

The girls, in particular, had a good time with that and shouted it at him as soon as he walked in the door. I hope he enjoyed it as much as they did!

Then I got a text from Stephanie. Did we want some company? Sure, we did - they kids haven't met Luke yet, and I was anxious to see him again, too. So I fixed the kids some scrambled eggs - Jack's request - and waited. Oh, and put my pants back on so my arse wouldn't be hanging out when they arrived. I'd taken them off for cleaning the house.

After they got here and settled in, we let the kids take turns holding the baby. Chloë was first, and she was so sweet with him. She keeps telling me how adorable Luke is, and I know she loved him as much as I do.

Mister Cutie-Patootie Pants. Isn't he freaking cute?!?!

Sophie was up next. She was also quickly in love with Baby Luke and with holding him. Doesn't she look so big?!

After I held Luke some more, and got lots of warm fuzzies in - I love that boy, I love him almost as much as I love my own kids! - Steph took him to nurse him. I have pictures of that too, and even though she gave me permission to post them, I'm not gonna!  It was a beautiful sight, though. Ahhh, I love a breastfeeding babe, I do...

Time for a burping. Lucas looks bigger here than he does in real life, I think. He's still such a tiny peanut!

After she fed him and changed him, I made her keep his socks and pants off so I could see his bitty feet and legs. He didn't like my doing this so much - it was chilly! But aren't those the cutest little piggies?

Quietly alert after a good boob dinner. What big eyes you have!

Rob came home then, and it was his turn to hold the baby. He hadn't seen Luke before either, and he agreed that he was pretty damn cute. We tried to get Jack to hold the baby, but two seconds after sitting down with the pillow on his lap, he changed his mind. We realized he was afraid he might hurt Luke, so maybe we'll try again when Luke's a bit less fragile. He was really into the baby, though, and also keeps telling me what a cutie he is!

While we parents cooed over Luke, the four kids - including Steph's 2yo niece Carolynn - played with the teddy bears I'd won from the preschool party. They sorted, made patterns and counted, just like they were "supposed" to. Good deal!

Tim cuddled his baby before I took him back again for one last snuggle. I loved on the little guy, and then they went home, taking Sophie's SmartCycle with them. We don't really use it anymore, and I'm tired of looking at it!

After they left, the kids went to bed, and then I fell asleep. I never did get to make the pie last night.

Stay tuned to find out what we did on Saturday!

Fin. 

Life, Reactivated

You may have noticed the relative blog silence since Friday night. Well, that's because life has returned to Chez Odette with a vengeance.

This is the lake that was our street (making our neighborhood name, K. Lakes, extremely appropriate), right in front of our house, around 0600 Saturday morning. I never went to sleep that night (what the hell else is new?), so I waited until daylight to be able to hike my pants up past my knees, put on my Crocs, and wade out into the street to take this picture for you. Nice of me, huh? It was f-f-f-freezing, too!

Walking up the street the other way, which is the way to get OUT of our neighborhood, was another lake. And then another one up further that way, making it next to impossible for those with small cars to get out of the neighborhood at all.

But I had serious cabin fever, and I was determined to GO.

Eh, but not before making these terrible-looking blueberry pancakes for the children. Jack requested them as soon as he woke up at 0900, followed shortly by his sisters. The pancake mix was Aunt Jemima; the frozen blueberries were Schwan's.  I can't remember the last time I actually made pancakes - that's usually Rob's job. I added FAR, far too many thawed blueberries to the batter, I think, making them unable to really hold together. Plus the berries were huge, and the batter was too liquidy. And I had to use the crappy pancake turner, since I couldn't find the good metal one. And, well, I just suck!

Fortunately, they tasted great. I sampled. Heaven!

On the last set of three cooking pancakes, I finally got it together and was able to flip them all without ripping them all to bits. Chloë was so happy for me! It was funny. She high-fived me, cheered, and sang a little song about how proud she was of me for making decent pancakes - all in earnest.  I had to laugh...

After breakfast, the menfolk went out for the Tiger Cubs' visit to the fire station around the corner from our house.  Jack had a fantastic time, climbing into the truck, visiting the firefighters' sleeping quarters, and whatnot. He was full of stories when he got home. I had Rob take the camera, and there were more pictures, but, well, the combo of my crappy camera and Rob's photography is not a very good one. Oh, well.

Meantime, the girls and I went shopping. I had done my usual coupon blog reading, and found some really great deals at Target (where I almost never go, since it's a bit of a distance) and Wal-mart.  I got $28 off the Blu-Ray/DVD combo packs of the movies Up! and Monsters Inc., for instance, paying only about $19 for both! That was exciting, and I'm going to use those for their Christmas presents. I know we weren't going to DO presents this year, opting instead to go somewhere and make memories, but I don't think it's going to be able to happen that way this year. Instead, we'll have a sparse Christmas at home, I guess. Money just isn't there. Again, oh, well.

But something really nice happened at Tar-jay. I got a free $5 gift card with all the smelly-good Glade deals I was doing, but the cashier said I couldn't use it on that order. I was bummed, because like I said, I almost never go there and wouldn't be able to use it anytime soon. The lady behind me heard this and offered me five bucks in return for the card, so I could go ahead and use that money on my order. Random acts of kindness, people. I love them!

After Target, where I got the movies, we went to Wally World. We spent a couple hours there, finding deals, mostly on baking products. I got a crapload of stuff free there, too, as well as some boring stuff we really needed, like printer ink. The girls were excited seeing all the baking stuff going into the shopping cart, knowing Mama's going to be producing lots of yummy stuff in the kitchen soon!

I had just enough time to drop off the kids - and the food - before heading back out in the Great Lakes of Virginia Beach to get my hair cut. I'd made the appointment six weeks ago, after my last one. Only, this one didn't turn out as well as the first, and I was disappointed. I didn't cry or anything, but I very nearly went back to have them fix it. Rob didn't like it either, and kept telling me so. I know, I know, honey!  Last time, T. gave me an outstanding cut. This time, eh.

Before I went into the salon, I had about 10 minutes to spare and used them next door at the yarn shop, petting the pretty fibers. Ohhh, my, I do love me some soft fluff.It's pretty silly to be so in love with string, isn't it?

At night, we once again braved the floodwaters to go out and do a dinner mystery shop at everyone's favorite boobs-and-wings place. It was virtually empty, no surprise. The server was at our table almost constantly, giving attention to the kiddies and bringing them toys to play with and treats, so they had a good time.  

When we got home, I fixed Rob and the kids these mini brownies, with spray-on frosting, both of which I'd gotten for super cheap at Wal-mart.

The boy ate, like, three. Yum.

And that was Saturday.

Sunday was crazy! We did nothing but non-stop, back-to-back mystery shops all day.

Oh, and the sun was out, and the waters in the top pictures? All but gone.  It was amazing! So impressive, what a strong force the sun can be.

So first, we went out to Chesapeake, to another Boobs-and-Wings, for lunch. Another good time. Except they had us seated on stools instead of in a booth, and Sophie kept falling off hers. She was okay, but gosh, I was nervous!

After that, we went two seconds down the road for a well-needed car wash. Another mystery shop.

We went back home, so Rob and the kids could take my van out and do doughnuts in the mud while I looked up the location for the next car wash mystery shop. I offered him that car wash for his truck, but he didn't want it. Whatevs. When Vanna was sufficiently dirty, we took off and did that one. My van sure was sparkly!

We had just enough time to get home, shower, and get dressed up for our fancy dinner out. Another shop.  We dropped off the kids at Linda's house - always a thrill for them - and then headed to the restaurant. Dinner was fabulous. Except for the crappy pumpkin cheesecake for dessert, which was gummy and yucky. Just as well; I don't need to be sampling that anyway!

And after that, we had yet another dinner shop (hey, lunch for Rob the next day) at a Mexican food chain. Take-out, this time, so it was a quickie. Rob loves their food, so I jumped all over that, and it was just a hop, skip and jump away from the nice restaurant.

After we got home and the kids went to bed, it became really obvious that I wasn't going to make it to Tuesday, when my side-Effexor refill would be ready. I had run out on Thursday night and suffered more and more every hour since then with the withdrawal symptoms. It's really a terrible thing for me to be without. By Sunday night, after a great evening out, I was suddenly and inexplicably sobbing uncontrollably. I just couldn't stop. Rob rushed out to the hospital to get me an emergency supply to hold me over. I took two when he got back, the pain and agony were so bad. Oh, what a relief. Within an hour, I felt "normal" again.

And that was Sunday.

Monday, Rob got the kids off to school - after five long days away, phew - while I got ready to go to school myself. I had signed up to volunteer for the Book Fair for five hours, helping the preschoolers, kinders and 1st graders write down their wish lists for books. The first class in was Sophia's! I got to help her, and another little girl, with their lists. That was so fun. I love my little girl; she's so funny and cute, and it was fun seeing her with her class. (Holy cow, she actually behaves!)

Later, Jack's class came in, and I got to help him, too. He was cute, but the whole time, he kept coming to me and whining that (a) he was hungry and (b) he doesn't want to go to school anymore. Typical Jack! Rob asked me later why I don't pull him out and homeschool him now, to get ready for boat life, but the truth is, I'm just not ready! I want to do lots more preparation and research before I jump into it, and I haven't taken the chance to do that yet.

Everyone broke for lunch in the library's back room; I just stood around and drank a diet soda instead. Principal T came in, and it's the first time he's really seen me since my surgery. He complimented me on how good I looked, and said he liked my haircut. Hee. I forgot to mention, when I did it myself for Sunday night, it looked a lot better than when T. did it at the salon. So it's okay; I'm keeping it.

Anyway, for working with all those cute kiddies at the library - and it was really fun; I'm going to do it again in the Spring - my reward was a free $5 book. I chose an adorable one called The Pout-Pout Fish, which I read to the kids tonight after homework. They loved it, too. I really had a hard time choosing which one to take home; I wanted half of them!  But in the end, of course, I had to go with the fish. Right?

We didn't do much that evening, and that was fine with me. Well, we didn't leave the house, that is. After dinner and homework, the kids and I spent 2½ hours folding and putting away a massive mountain of laundry that I had been avoiding. They were out of underwear and socks, though, so I had no choice!

And that was Monday.

Tuesday was pretty nuts, too. Except that I got some much-needed sleep until noon, thanks to Rob getting up with the kids again. But then it was go-go-go!

First, I showered. Yay. Then I read all my shop reports. I was supposed to do five today, but I ended up having to cancel three. The first was because I was supposed to pay with cash when I thought I'd read credit was okay, and I didn't have time (or the inclination) to run to the bank first. The second was because my computer was being an asshole, and the third was because the mystery shopping company was being an asshole. Assholes all around.

But I did have two for lunch. I went to the Chinese restaurant first and did that shop. Pretty quick, pretty easy. Pretty yummy!

Only, I didn't realize until I was on my way to the drive-in fast food mystery shop, next, that I had eaten slightly too much. And needed to puke. And had nowhere to do so. So I had to hold in that puke all the way through the second shop, the drive to the post office to ship out the giveaway tutu, the line at the PO, and the drive home, before I could let it out. I was kind of surprised it didn't make its way down my pouch by that time, so it tells me there was probably a blockage from not chewing enough.Sometimes that happens. It hurts like hell, too!

I had just enough time to catch my breath before picking up Jack and Sophie from the bus.

They had a quick snack and relaxed for a few before it was already time to pick up Chloë from school. Tuesdays and Thursdays are math tutoring. And soccer practice, to which we rushed from the school, while she put on her cleats and shin guards. Soccer practices are early and short these days, because it gets chilly and dark in the evenings. We weren't there long, which is a shame, because it's not nearby at all.

From there, we raced home to get the kids a little something to eat - not much at all - before heading back to the school. It was Parent Math Night tonight, and I'd responded that we would all be there, so I could get a deeper understanding of what the kids are doing in math class these days.

It was cool, because the Assistant Principal, Mrs. P., and the guidance counselor, Mrs. H., watched all of the kids in the cafeteria while I went to Jack's class first, and then Chloë's math class, to learn more. The presentations were really fun and informative, and I learned a lot to help the kids along. Both of them struggle with math, so I plan to be a lot more proactive - when there's time, which unfortunately isn't often - in getting them to play math games and stuff. There are a lot of online resources, so I'm hoping I'll find lots of great things to use both now and when we homeschool on the boat in a few years. 

By the time that ended, it was about 8:00. Late! And we hadn't even cracked the books yet. I gave the kids another small snacky dinner and then we dove in. Jack really impressed me with his work tonight. I was ecstatic, actually. His printing was so neat and organized - usually it's a disaster - and he worked really hard to get things right on the first try. Normally, he's pretty careless. Way to go, Buddy!

Chloë's homework was to study for her math test tomorrow, with a big review paper. That took HOURS. By the time she finished that and started on her Language Arts homework, it was midnight. Freaking midnight, are you kidding me?? And she still had spelling and science homework to do! Forget that, I wasn't letting her stay up another minute. She's 8, FPS. So I wrote notes to her teachers and sent her off to bed.

And that was Tuesday.

Fin.

Mommology

Wasn't in the blogging mood yesterday, but there were some mentionable things there, so let's recap:

In the morning, I had my first-ever appointment with a chiropractor. I went in not knowing what to expect and became more skeptical as the visit wore on. But since my back spasms (from nerve damage in my lower spine, thanks to anesthesiologist error before my last c-section) have been plaguing me lately, I decided to check it out.

The "doctor," which term amuses me for this field - and I'm sorry if you're a chiropractor or married to one, but... yeah, let's leave it at that - was nice, and thoroughly checked all my reflexes and bones and range of movement. The idea that after studying how to press on someone's back in the "right" way means someone should be called a doctor, well, I don't think so. If that's the case, I have a degree in Mommology after some 8+ years of study, no?

(So now you know what my Facebook status was about yesterday, if you saw that!)

I'm a skeptic anyway when it comes to all forms of healing. Prayer, I know it works, but after growing up as a Christian Scientist whose religion failed my dying mother, I also know that it doesn't always work.  Medicine, of course, has crossed leaps and bounds through the years, but it still has many limitations. So does surgery. But perhaps the thing I'm most skeptical about is holistic healing methods, whether they be vitamins and supplements, massage, acupuncture/pressure, and... chiropractic.

Maybe it's just because it's not something I'm familiar with, or maybe it's because it's not as well understood in general, but holistics often seem kooky to me. I've even tried acupuncture, in my depression counseling after Robby died. I don't know where I'm going with this whole topic, really, except to say that if it heals my back and brings about the end of these awful, awful spasms, I will be quite surprised.

So we shall see. After the exam, they took several x-rays (and hey, I fit in the "large" shorts with no "X" in front of them, to take the pictures) and sent me on my way. I have to go back in tomorrow (Weds) morning to discuss them. Should be interesting.

I got home and immediately called the city people about signing up for the next substitute teacher training and orientation meeting, which is mandatory, obviously, before starting to sub. Imagine how disheartened I was when I found out that the next meeting isn't until January 21st!!! Guess I should have called sooner. Bah.

I spent much of the rest of the day after that making - and mailing - tutus for the shop and a couple custom orders, including the one 2nd down from the top. That was requested on Facebook for a blogger friend of mine in the UK, and I just loved her color combination of pinks, red and burgundy so much, I had to make a second for the shop! It's my new favorite. Or favourite, as she would say. ;)

In the evening, I gathered up the children to get to Chloë's 1730 dentist appointment. It was already dark and raining when we got there, so we had to dash into the building. And I am not a dasher. I even ran up the stairs instead of taking the elevator. I was kind of proud of that. You know, we skinnies who way under 200 lbs have to keep up our figures somehow. ☺

I had called the dentist for the appointment because - did I already mention this? - all of her teeth, especially the incoming adult teeth, were turning brown! It was disgusting, looked like she'd eaten poop. Of course, I wasn't going to sit idly by and let her teeth turn brown, and all the power brushing I'd made her do didn't make a dent in it. I thought it was either some kind of dietary deficiency or something in the water, but that didn't really make sense to me, since it wasn't happening to the other kids' teeth.

After what seemed like forever (and dodging the other waiting parents' dirty looks whenever Sophie or Jack coughed their nasty post-flu coughs), Dr. C. called me in. Turns out that some teeth, especially new ones, are more porous than others, and they stain very easily. He said brushing wouldn't take care of it, but that he was able to get it all off using his instruments. I checked; her smile is brilliant now! (Well, except for the four missing teeth.) If it happens again, I can either bring her back for another scraping, or do it myself with... now what did he say? Oh yeah, a toothpick. I don't really see a toothpick doing the job, though.

I was craving Boston Market like a madwoman, and I'd seen the signs for "Kids Eat Free" the other day, so I thought I'd stop there for dinner. The four of us can easily get by on one combo meal, especially the way the kids haven't been eating at all lately. We went in and waited in line - the first time I'd ever been in there - and looked over the menu. We got the 3-piece dark combo, with two sides and a mini loaf of cornbread, for I think $6.99. Perfect! However, it turned out to be twice as much after adding four drinks, so that would really only be cost-effective if we took it home and used our own drinks.

Chloë requested the mac-n-cheese for one of the sides, and I got mashed potatoes for the other. I was literally in shock when I set the tray down on the table, handed each of them a fork (because I'd forgotten to ask for exra plates), and watched Chloë lean over the plate and inhale every last molecule of macaroni and cheese. I about passed out, I was so excited to see her finally eating!! And then she asked for more! We finished up what we could eat, which wasn't much as I got full quickly and the other two still weren't up to it and then waited in line to get her another big bowl of the stuff. $5 for that! Crazy. So in the end, the meal didn't turn out to be the best value for us, but man oh man, was I delighted to see Chloë devour that food.

At the end of the night, after the kids went to bed, I sat and started knitting on Luke's booties while watching TV. Monday nights on CBS are my favorite right now... but anyway, I'd show you a picture of the knitting progress, except it looks exactly like the mittens so far! I'm only a little way into the first cuff. Then I got so tired, (and yet not sleepy), I took a whole sleeping pill (normally half if any) and went to bed.

********

Today, the children didn't have school. I don't know if it was for Election Day or what, but there were parent-teacher conferences scheduled. Some how, I didn't get notified about having any, so I didn't do that.

I slept way late, after that sleeping pill. Waaay late. The kids had helped themselves to cereal, banana bread, and yogurt, so they were calmly playing next to me in the living room when I finally came to.

It took me a minute to wake up, and then I surveyed the damage: minimal. Except in the kitchen, but I decided to close the imaginary doors to that room and pretend it didn't exist!

Then I surveyed myself: Hair still looked okay, makeup was coming off and rubbed under my eyes, and clothes looked good. Yep, I washed my face and went out in yesterday's clothes! I don't do that often, but I needed to get that UK box packaged up and shipped out, which we went and did, and then go vote.

The gubernatorial election was today, and it was really the only one I cared about. My guy lost. Oh, well. I don't really feel attached to this state, like I did to Florida, so I'm not broken up about it the way I was when Jeb Bush became Governor down there. I am SO not a fan of the Bush family!

Then I talked to my dad for a long time, after we went home to get Chloë ready for soccer practice. She missed all last week and was excited to get back. My dad was good... he's planning to get married for the 5th (??) time (wait, I have to count) (yes, 5th) in February and is planning to go on a honeymoon cruise. We are not invited to the wedding, but nobody is except one local couple they're friends with, to stand up for them. The cruise jogged my memory to ask him, since he is a cruise travel agent, about Rob and I maybe going on a short cruise to Bermuda for our 10th anniversary next (2011) January.  Seems there are no cruises to Bermuda until May, so we'll have to come up with another idea or delay the trip 'til after our anniversary.

And, I said, I didn't know about taking the kids with us or going alone, since our regular babysitter (Steph) has gone and had a baby, and I didn't know if she'd be up to watching ours for a few days with a 1½-year-old of her own. Well, he volunteered himself and Kathy to do the job. I've never met her, and I don't trust him on his own with them, so I definitely had to reserve my answer until after I've gotten to know her a little better! He seemed tremendously excited about the prospect of keeping the grandkids for a while, though, so maybe I'll have to loosen the reins a little bit, now that they're a little older, and let him try.

Eek, though! Eek!

But I digress.

We got to soccer, and I was wearing what I wore yesterday brown pants and a silky brown short-sleeved mock-turtleneck, with my brown Crocs. It was definitely a brown day. I looked good, but the weather had turned since we were out earlier, and it was COLD! The kids didn't have their coats, either, but at least they were running around the whole time and keeping warm. I shivered and held my nips in, since they were sticking out halfway to China. COLD! (And by cold, I mean it was like 60º, hehe.)

Coach cut soccer short, so it was only a half-hour long, and then we were dismissed to meet a half-hour later at the pizza place for the end-of-season soccer party. There are still 2 weeks left in the season, but apparently some people are going to miss it (as we were), so they held it early. We had to kick in $20 each for pizza and sodas, trophies, Coach gifts, and what-not. I thought that was a little steep, and then I had to pay for my food and the Littles' separately, too!

Well, just when I was getting ready to order for us three, Coach leaned over and told me and the other mom who was sitting at the same table with him (we were at about six separate tables) that we could just share with the team pizza, and not to worry about it. Which was a relief, since I didn't relish buying a huge pizza and none of the three of us eating much.

Only, Jack and Sophie ate! They ate and ate and ate, in fact. Jack ate two slices, and Sophia ate FOUR. FOUR!! That's more than she normally eats. I ate one, and a bite here and there of theirs. There was plenty of pizza for the team, too, so I didn't feel so bad.

Party time at the Y Not Pizza on Providence Road - their pizza is GOOD! I'd never had it before, but we'll have to go there again sometime.

Each of the kids was given a ball of dough to play with while they waited for the pizza to come out. Sophie was quite creative with hers.

This was supposed to be a cute picture of Sophia with her buddy, Coach Matt, but...

Chloë receiving her trophy. She was given the "Lionhearted Award," for always going back out there and trying her hardest. She got a certificate, her soccer pictures, and a goody bag filled with soccer-themed trinkets. Fun stuff!

The first trophy earned by one of our kids! I've never gotten a trophy either, so even though all the girls got one, I'm still excited by it. The even spelled her name right!

Coach Matt and his busy wife, Tina

A nice picture of Chloë and Coach - I think they are pretty fond of each other. He's a really nice man; I like him, too.

After that, we went home. The kids did their homework, and it actually got done quite quickly for once. Amazingly so, actually, now that I think about it.

Then they took a bath, while I took a break and farmed my crops on Facebook. :P

And then we folded and put away about six loads of laundry, plus a garbage bag full of clothes from Aunt Stacey that I'd brought home and forgotten about in August.

And then they went to bed. Yee-haw!!

Remember how I Swiffered and mop-Swiffered the floor the other day, and behold, it was good? Yeah, that was long since a thing of the past, and the place was covered in dog hair and muddy paw prints once again. So, I cleaned anew and got the place looking shiny and sparkly again. It feels so much nicer in here. Guess I better invest in a mop, since it looks like it's going to be a muddy winter.

And then do you want to know what nasty thing I did next? Do ya?

Remember when we went to Jack's Halloween party for Cub Scouts, and we had to take the carved pumpkins along with us? Well... I never actually took them back OUT of the van. Hee! I remembered them the other day and asked Rob to take them out, but he didn't, so I decided to go 'head and get that taken care of.  And this was the icky sight that greeted me: two rotten and moldy jack o' lanterns, grimacing up at me from the trunkeral portion of the van.

Eww, it left this behind when I removed it (to the street behind me, because I wasn't carrying that nasty thing any further than that)!

And the big guy, who was completely mushy through-and-through

The mold looked like snow inside! Delicious!

So I took those out, and then ran back inside for some heavy-duty cleaning supplies. I managed to get the stain completely out from the big pumpkin, but the dark marks were still left behind from the small one, above. Shoot. I'll have to try again tomorrow. Nasty, right?

And oh, I ran to the store too, for milk and OJ and, well, sushi, and these:

Tinkerbell decided to come up and nuzzle the matches just as I was taking the picture. Who can guess what I'm going to do with 24 boxes of matches? (No, I'm not an arsonist.)

So it's 0100 now, and still no sign of Rob home from work. Hmph. Guess I won't be seeing him tonight. Cheerio, then!

Fin.

Rampage

I wish I had all kinds of fun pictures to share with you from today or yesterday, but (a) my camera is still AFU and (b) we haven't really done anything photo-worthy anyway.

Yesterday, my daycare kids never showed up! My sister, I think, is more pissed about this development than I am. She asked me, "Did you call the mother up and chew her out?" I said, "Nah. What would I even say?" She replied, " For starters, that you changed the whole week of your vacation in New York so that you would be home in time to start watching her kids, missing the whole State Fair thing that you wanted to do. You drove home for twelve hours and arrived at ten o'clock at night so that you would be able to get up in time for her to arrive at 7:00 am in the summertime, and she never showed up!!"

Oh, yeah. That.

But no, I wasn't too upset about it. I was relieved. Now I don't feel bad about not wanting to watch her kids, if she's going to be a flake. I'm free to do as I please, getting a sub job or whatever. It's all good. And though I did get up at 0700, I went right back to sleep until after 10 when the kids finally rolled out of their beds!

So except for a couple of "revealed" fast food mystery shops (which meant I had to get off my arse and actually take a shower and be presentable so I could talk to the managers) in the afternoon, I mostly took the day off from all the running we did in Upstate NY last week. I was barely productive. I didn't read. I didn't knit. I didn't even catch up on blogs. I vegetated, and so did the kids.

Today, Tuesday, I was determined to get more done. And I did, a bit, though I had an upset tum for much of the time.  The kids again let me sleep 'til about 10, which was fan-flipping-tastic. Then I balanced the checkbook, folded two baskets of laundry, sorted and tried on and refolded and re-sorted the absolutely ginormous bag of girls' clothes that my sister bestowed upon my daughters from her own kids' smaller days, cleaned the downstairs bathroom, cleaned the kitchen, swept the hair and crap off the office floor, and unwound all my good yarn from the office chair that Sophie had wrapped around it before we left.

I was on a total rampage.

So it was with some major annoyance that I surveyed the living room, which is still half-packed, half-carpeted, and completely wood floor-less. The office floor was put down on July 9th, people!!

I implored my husband to please help me get this floor finished and our house put back together by the time the kids go to school in two weeks. Now that I think about it, that's a total joke. But wouldn't it be nice for them to go back to school - and homework - in a relatively normal, peaceful, put-together home??

He doesn't seem to mind. It's driving me effing ca-razy!!

This evening, in between bouts of playing Farmville on Facebook (totally addicting!), I managed to viciously slash through 75% of the 1,000 blogs that were stacked up in my Google Reader during my weeklong absence. A thousand! Y'all were prolific last week!

As for the other 250 posts, I'll try and slog through them while I get some knitting done tonight. I did not manage to do any work on the sleeve while we were in Syracuse (Erin, Lisa, y'all exhausted the Mel), so it's back to work I go if I have ANY chance of getting the outfit done before the shower.

Oh! And I finished reading the last third of my library book today, Khaled Hosseini's A Thousand Splendid Suns. Oh, my gosh, y'all. You must read this wrenching, moving, heartbreaking tale. (Again I can't underline without underlining the whole paragraph, so sorry for the punctuation sticklers out there!) I don't want to give anything away, so suffice it to say that after I finished reading, it had such an impact on me that I couldn't do anything but sob into my bewildered husband's lap.

I am going to put off getting another book until the knitting is done, because it seems that I can't do both at the same time, and reading always trumps all other activities, if it's a good story.

And with that, I go pick up the needles.

Fin.

Oops, I Did It Again

...Forgot to blog, that is. No reason, really, other than maybe I wasn't entirely in the mood and Tuesday and Wednesday were not exciting days at all.  There was a lot of rain, we didn't really leave the house except to do a few mystery shops, and that's about it.  I completely forgot about Friday Fragments & Aloha Friday, so I'll just have to push those posts ahead to next week.

And Google Reader (not sure about Bloglines??) isn't updating my blog posts, no clue why. But it's irritating the boogers right out of my nose.

Friday was much more exciting. For starters, I lost five pounds in about as many days!! I'm now down 114.2 pounds since the beginning of the year, a fact which my father says is "commendable" (I can count on one hand the number of times he has told me he's proud of me) and which Rob says is entirely lost from my boobies. Not true, though, I can tell a major difference in every part of my body, from my face to my feet and everywhere in between, and I'm loving it! I'm thoroughly thrilled and looking forward to being in "ONE-derland" by or before my one-year surgiversary (two weight loss surgery board terms for you, there). Twenty-seven pounds to go before I reach that milestone! Yee-haw!

Oh, before I forget, Steph complained that I haven't shown a progress picture on her baby's sweater in a while. The reason for that is mainly because I've been severely slacking on the knitting, even since the AC got repaired. Gotta kick up the mojo, she's hit her third trimester! Here is what I've got done so far:

Front view - the right front of which, as you can see, is incomplete after the split from the back. Hoping to finish that this weekend.

 

Back view, which shows the serious need of some blocking! Also, you can see that the red fuzzy bits are blending into the off-white fuzzy bits, which is causing a bit of a pink problem, to Stephanie's and my dismay. The yarn is too thin to shave it, so I don't know what to do about it other than live with it! Thoughts?
This morning, I jumped right up at 0900 when the kids woke me, only to find that they'd already been up and wreaked some havoc in the kitchen. I don't know if I mentioned that Rob added hasps and locks to the pantry, fridge and freezers to keep the kids from getting and leaving food out all over the house? It's been a huge problem this summer, and it has been stopped since the locks were installed, until today when Sophie found Rob's left-out key and opened a tub of frosting. She got it all over the kitchen. What a sight! I left it for Rob to clean up with not the least bit of a guilty conscience, thank-you-very-much.

 

Further mischief ensued Thursday, when both Sophie and Jack got ahold of a pair of Rob's scissors up in our room, when they were supposed to be cleaning their room. They both chopped their hair for the second time each! Argh. I was not amused. We're leaving in one week to visit my hairdresser sister in upstate New York, and she was going to cut their hair. She still is, but now there is much less room for interpretation!

But anyway, back to Friday. In the above two pictures, they are eating the fast-food breakfast I'd purchased for them as part of a mystery shop at you-know-where-I-go-all-too-often! We drove to Chesapeake City Park to meet up with Stephanie, her niece and two daycare charges for a full day of play!

 

Steph and I mostly sat around undernearth one of the covered areas for shade while the kids played, chatting the day away, but I managed to get a few pictures of the kids before they arrived. Here's Chloë peeking at me from one of the climbing structures.

 

Jack running from one area to the next

 

Rapunzel in her tower

 

Poor Jack! These bars were really low to the ground, compared to most playgrounds, but he still was much too short. He jumped and reeeeaaached up high, but no luck. I lifted him, but he could only hang for a second before dropping. (And he's wearing the Great Wolf Lodge shirt he coloured in the kiddie craft zone, and the crappy shorts I sewed for him last summer!)

I love this picture of Sophie leaping from tire to tire, especially because I remember doing it so fondly myself as a youngster!

Oh, what a picture she is. This was after she, um, ate some sand (what is she, one year old?) - that, coupled with the choppy 'do, makes for a great look!

The girls - Chloë, Ashley and Ember - found something of interest in a far corner of the playground. They're all about the same age, so it was really nice that they kept themselves busy for about 3-4 hours while Steph and I hung out and had ourselves a few giggles. It was a great day, Steph, thanks for inviting us!

We finally decided to go home around 1500, over all six of the kids' vociferous complaints, in order to feed them some kind of lunch. We separated ways and arrived home to a still heavily-frosted kitchen. Uck. I gave the kids some cereal for lunch - it's all they wanted and was fine with me! - and then we got down to business. We haven't really cleaned up the downstairs in a while, due to being in flux for the past, oh, let's see, month (ahem, Robert), and it was just nasty beyond belief. In my view, anyway. I can not stand living in a hovel. I can not stand a slobby, sloppy house. I don't want to live like that. It's embarrassing, and it's gross. The rest of my family may be content with it, but I am most definitely not, and it was driving me mad. I can't be a happy, loving wife and mother when I am constantly stressed about the state of our house and, oh gee, looks like I've gone off on a bit of a rant. Sorry!

So, we cleaned. The kids cleaned up the living room while I folded three loads of laundry. They helped me carry it upstairs and put it all away, and then I dusted and mopped the "wood" floor. I still need to clean the downstairs bathroom, and Rob needs to finish up the kitchen, but at least it looks much more presentable for when Steph (and Tim?) come over to babysit on Sunday. I won't rest, though, until Rob has packed up the living room and ripped up the carpet so we can get that floor installed, too! Enough already!

 

Hee. While cleaning up, Chloë came up to me and asked if I liked how she looked. I loved it! Nice babushka, darling...

Rob was home by that point, so we got into more fun with the scarf. He took it off Curls and blindfolded Sophie with it. He spun her 'round and 'round until I was dizzy from watching, and then let her loose in the office. She stumbled this way and that before bumping into Jack, knocking both of them tail-over-teakettle into a basket full of folded laundry. It was hysterical; I was guffawing like a madwoman.

Then we repeated the thing on Jack, and I cackled a whole bunch more. Thirdly, I videotaped him doing it to Chloë, but she much more astutely attuned to the ambient sounds and was able to orient herself accordingly, so it wasn't as funny as the previous two. We did it to Rob, and then he did it to me down in the living room - I ended up falling on my arse with Sophie on top of me! Then everyone else fell on us, for fun, and a big family hug ensued. The five of us ended up shouting repeatedly at the top of our lungs, on the count of three, "I LOVE MY FAMILY!!!!"

It was a simple but glorious evening of family fun.

 

Then I got some yarn in the mail, making it an even better day! I got this 100% wool at a heavily discounted rate, after Chloë saw the pinky-yellow mix on the right and declared the she would like a sweater made from it. I agreed and then asked Sophia to pick a color for her sweater, and she chose the rainbow colourway on the left. I don't have a pattern in mind yet, but it's more than enough for a sweater and maybe a hat, too! This is some really feltable yarn, so we'll have to be extra careful with the washing if we don't want that to happen!

 

I even got a free skein of this Sockotta sock yarn (cotton/wool/nylond blend) from Plymouth for my order, along with a sock pattern! I might even make myself the socks, just for shits and giggles. You know, because I don't want to catch a cold from my bare feet this winter! ;)

I must say, the "wood" floor provides a nice background for the photos, doesn't it?

My two little girls wanted to get in on the yarn modeling act, and I think they look so sweet together. Push up those glasses, Curls!

(Steph, speaking of glasses, we found Jack's today after two days missing. I think he looks so much cuter in them than without!) (Not that he's not adorable without, IMHO.)

 

Sophie gook these heinous pictures of me, next. I shrunk them way down so you couldn't see me too well. Don't expect that chinniness to go away anytime soon; I'd have that even if I were a 99-lb waif, because I inherited my dad's lack of a chin. It's my absolutely most hated feature - right up there with the saggy baby belly - and I'd get a chin implant in a heartbeat if it didn't cost me a thing!

After a dinner of Trader Joe's margherita pizza for the fam and a strawberry protein shake or two for me, Chloë and I headed out at 2200 for a late-night convenience store mystery shop. On second thought, maybe taking her along wasn't such a great idea, but I knew this to be a safe place and anyway, there was a police officer in the store the whole time we were there. She fell asleep before we left the neighborhood and again on the way home, so she trudged right upstairs to join her brother in bed. Sophie's zonked out on the couch, and Rob has disappeared somewhere for slumber, leaving me to blahg away in peace.

Stay tuned for the Saturday meme posts! Have a stellar weekend. Both of you.

Fin.

Giddy

All in all, Monday was a good day, despite Sophie's best efforts to derail it!

The kids slept 'til 10 AM, which was great for me! I woke up and fed them breakfast before getting right into my work for the day. I'm working on a mystery shopping project over the phone and internet that will take a few days and will get back into it after I finish this. That kept me pretty busy for a few hours, while the kids watched Superman Returns again. I think Jack has a new obsession that doesn't include wheels, for once. He loves Superman!  The first time he watched it, when Lex Luthor was hurting Superman, he ran to his daddy and sobbed. Aw.

In the early afternoon, the floor guy arrived again. The kids know him as "the floor guy" and ask him, "Are you the floor guy?" whenever he comes. The check from insurance is in the mail, so we signed the paperwork and should start installing it early next week! Now we need to line up help moving all the furniture out and get the carpet and nails pulled up. I can't wait to see the finished results. My fingers are crossed that it will be done in time for me to host Bunco next Wednesday!

When he left, and the kids had lunch, we headed upstairs to attack the long-neglected laundry monster. I mean, it was a serious situation. Chloë had been out of jammies for days, and these kids have a lot of jammies! It took us four or five hours, but we did everything we could do in one afternoon. My bed is piled high with Rob's clothes. His side of the room is such a mess, but we won't go there.

While Jack and Chloë helped me put away the laundry, I sent Sophie to her room to clean it up. She never helps clean; we really have to stay on her. She's got the lazy gene, like her mama, unfortunately. And she just does not listen. She doesn't do what she's told. She's so naughty! Good thing she's so cute and funny, so we'll keep her, but man! She drives us crazy. 

One time, one of many times the older kids told us she was out of her room and not cleaning, they informed me she was covered in chocolate. I called her into the room with me and, lo and behold, her face and shirt were completely brown. What the?! Turns out, she had snuck downstairs, undetected, opened a box of brownie mix, and eaten half the box of powder. Oh, that stinker. I sent her right into the tub. She is a cute little monkey when she's soaking wet and wrapped in a hoodie towel.

Anyway.

The mail came while we were still upstairs, so I sent Chloë out to fetch it. That's one of her daily chores. The mail brought some interesting things.

 

The first was this awesome handmade card from my friend Nicole, congratulating me on my 100-lb weight loss. She is so sweet! Nicole and I have never met in real life, but one day, I hope to make it her way and get to do just that. She's an awesome friend, and I love her. Thanks, Nicole!!

There was also a much-needed mystery shopping paycheck (love those!) and again, another odd-amount check for CARE Package from Asis Pharmacy. I'm bewildered by these semi-anonymous donations but SO grateful for them! Thank you, Asis! I'm trying not to let the fundage burn a whole in my pocket and go yarn-shopping just yet, since I have plenty, but it sure is fun to window shop!

Lastly, among the junk, was a flyer for a special Red Cross blood drive for the 4th of July (can't believe that's almost here).  You get free Red Cross flip-flops when you donate blood. Now, I don't care about the shoes, but I decided it was time to get back on the horse and try again to donate, now that I've been taking iron regularly again. I called them up and made an appointment for the afternoon on Independence Day. I'm hoping they can use my juice!

I had my Palm T|X with me upstairs, so I could periodically check my email while we worked on laundry. (Can you say "addicted"??) And I was absolutely giddy when I got the news that I won this fabulous prize:

 

Is that not some gorgeous yarn?!! I won it, and it's shipping out today!!! I won it for making a small donation to Claudia's annual fundraiser, Knitters Against Multiple Sclerosis. Last year, I donated much more and didn't win anything, so I was ecstatic to have won such an awesome prize this year. If you go to that link and scroll down through the many, many prizes, you'll see mine about 4/5 of the way to the bottom. I think it's the best one! I literally screamed - about a dozen times - when I read the email. Jack joined in, screamng with me like a little girl, jumping up and down. I may have cried, but that probably has more to do with my Effexor refill not being ready when it was supposed to be, instead of my extreme excitement... So now I'm dreaming of what I can make when I get my hot little hands on that yarn. Something for me, mayhaps?? But what?

Well. I'm still so excited about it. I could scream right now, but at 10:00, both girls are still asleep. (yay)

So Rob came home, and I finally jumped in the shower so we could go out and do my fast-food mystery shop. I've been wearing clothes I've never worn before, or haven't worn in a long time, and the trend continued. I've been wearing some cute undies again, which I love, instead of those ginormous granny pannies I hate so much! Teehee. And some jean shorts a size smaller than the pair I wore the other day, though I had to lie down to zip them up and they gave me a huge muffin top. I didn't care; I got them on, and I wasn't planning on getting out of my car. I threw on an old t-shirt, forgetting it had a huge hole in the back until Rob pointed it out later.

After the shop, I decided to stop at Taco Bell to get some beany goodness, since I hadn't eaten all day and had a sudden craving. I picked up a bean burrito for me and a small feast for Rob, and then we headed to Mt. Trashmore. It was about 8 PM by then, but it was still plenty light out, so we figured we'd eat and let the kids play on the playground. So much for not getting out of the car! I didn't have my camera, but here are a few phone pictures (there are more, but they won't download from email for some reason):

Chloë balancing on the edge of the playground

 

Jack climbing on the big orange "spider"

So that was a lot of fun. The girls rode the swings for the longest time, while Jack ran around making buddies. When it was time to go, Sophie dropped to the ground and started making dirt angels! It was hilarious. So much for taking that bath earlier.

The kids all took necessary showers when we got home, and then it was time for bed. I had to do my shop report, but Rob slipped me my sleeping pill, and I wasn't paying attention and took it. Argh, stupid me. I pretty much passed out immediately and didn't get it done 'til this morning. Oh, well.

Now, if you'll excuse me while I admire that yarn some more...

Fin.