Smellyann Strikes Again

Neon Tiki Tribe Party!

Disclosure: In exchange for this review, I was provided with a party kit including the materials shown herein, by MommyParties and Neon Tiki Tribe. No monetary exchange took place. As always, all opinions are my own.

I'll explain that in a minute. But first, what's a party without some snacks? We started off with pizza bites:

Yes, the glasses were part of our kit. Everyone had fun wearing them!

We selected from purple, green, and gold glasses. It was like Mardi Gras in here!

Rob and I wore the t-shirts, since they were adult-sized, and it was just us for the party as everyone else called out with the latest bug to go 'round. We look adorable, I know. ;)

Now for the Neon Tiki Tribe, whose members include, from Left to Right: Mowah, the strongest; Tia, the smartest; Zeke, the leader; and, Dar, the fastest. Each of the four of us (Sophia was also out sick!) picked a character to be for the remainder of the party.

So. What IS the Neon Tiki Tribe? Tiki stands for Thoughtful, Intelligent, Kind Individual. It's a series of children's stories about issues relevant to kids with a moral involved in each story. Right now, there are three books available, and we received one for everybody, along with character posters:

The good guys, Neon Tiki Tribe members, battle the Evil Ku Tiki Tribe in each of the stories, so in addition to having a moral issue to discuss at the end of the story, good triumphs over bad each time. We received posters showing the bad guys, too:

 

 

First, we read Tiki Beach Battle! to introduce ourselves to the characters and the special powers each one gains when they put on their sunglasses. What's also cool about the books is that they use a Dyslexic-friendly font as well, since Dyslexia affects 1 in 10 kids. Pretty thoughtful!

We stopped to discuss the moral of the story over our shrimp cocktail. Hey, it went along with the beach theme of the story, so why not?

The kids clamoured for more, so we read Dog Rescue Mission! second, again taking turns. After that, I interviewed Rob and the kids about the characters, their powers, and the themes of the stories. We had fun seeing who could come up with the right answers the fastest!

Lastly, Chloë - our bookworm - read Bullies: Playground Push-Around to the rest of us by herself, while we followed along in our own books. We discussed the stories some more and related them to our own lives. After that, we called it a day!

If this sounds like something you could use in your own lives, schools, or other kid-related groups, head on over here to the Neon Tiki Tribe Store to see what books merchandise are available.

Enter Promo Code: Tiki300 to get 25% off your order!

Thanks to Neon Tiki Tribe and MommyParties for this fun and educational party experience for us. And yeah, I'm totally going to wear my glasses when I go out to the store tomorrow. Hee!

Fin.

Scenes From A Thursday Morning At Home

An awful picture of me, having stayed up all night once again, yet feeling oddly refreshed. Could I have a worse expression on my face?!

A newly-shorn Chloë, still dreaming...

Jack's still zonked, too, after a wild night of chasing kittens.

Sophia, also newly-shorn and sucking thumb, perusing a good book...

Cupcake, posing nicely for her mama...

Barbies, posed by Sophia outside the bathroom; was there a line in the doll stall?

Heading outside: Rob's kayak taking up space on the front porch...

Oops, there's mah shadow, interrupting the snap of our stairway...

There's a fungus among us.

The crappy "driveway" that is the current bane of my existence...

The inexplicable cement surround for one of our trees... but I like it!

Green. Lots of green = love.

Weeds + beer caps mean I have some work to do outside.

And last but not least, a pop of color I almost smushed walking around.

What do you see in the mornings?

Fin.

Friday Fragments

Link up with here with Mrs. 4444 if you've got bits and pieces floating through your brain today!

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Right off the bat, I have to say I'm excited that tomorrow is the day I'm spending ~8 hours getting my iron transfusion! It's my first one, and it's not unusual for gastric bypass patients to need them. I'll probably be getting my first of many Vitamin B12 shots, as well. My hemoglobin levels are abyssmally low, which means it's a struggle and a chore just for me to make it through the day, every day, let alone cover everything that's on my plate. I've been dropping a lot of balls lately, admittedly, and I'm hoping this will make a huge difference for me - and my family, who have to put up with me. Hopefully, too, I'll be able to stop consuming the massive daily amounts of caffeine that I do to stay functioning and focused. So, yay!

The only downside is I won't be able to knit during the procedure... but I have about eleventy-billion magazines to catch up on, so I'm covered there. And I can always nap. What I'm wondering about now is, when do I pee? And eat? (I'll let you know. Hee.)

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In awesome news, my kids have been focusing on their reading in our homeschooling so far this new year, and they have progressed dramatically. My oldest, a fifth grader, had to write her first book report, after much gnashing of teeth over it, and she did a splendid job. I had to make just a few corrections - all mechanics - but the content was fantastic. I was so pleased!

As for the two Littles, my son is in 3rd grade and came out of 1st grade public school hardly literate at all. So I remediated him from the Kinder level with our K-2 Hooked on Phonics program, and he just "graduated" from the program! It only took him a year and a half to do all three years' worth, so that's pretty great. Yes, I'm proud of him, but even more incredible is how visibly proud of himself he is! I love it!

The youngest, a first grader who was a late bloomer with regard to reading (she's the most active, physical of the lot), has suddenly pushed through the block and is now almost to the 2nd grade level of the program. So go, kids!! Starting next week, we'll slow down on so much all-reading, all-the-time, and focus more on math, with which all three of them also need remediation. No child left behind, my butt! But the buck stops here. :)

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We were supposed to go on a field trip to the Food Bank with our two respective Girl Scout troops today, but I found out two hours before the trip that they had to reschedule it. ARGH! I had no choice but to cancel our regular meeting, since I have it planned to have a guest speaker come in, and there was no way to get her on such short notice. It was pretty stinko (my word of the month), and I was bummed, since we're behind where I wanted to be in my Daisy troop at this point. But with the iron deficiency, I have to say, I wasn't too terribly disappointed to get a reprieve! Just sayin'.

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We've had Sophia to the Emergency Department 3-4 times this past week, as her breathing struggles have suddenly kicked back into high gear. It's not the weather, since it's barely cold here, and it started in the summertime anyway (in 2010!). We've seen 8 or 9 different doctors and gotten just as many "suggestions" about what it could be, with no real answers. It's frustrating for me, as her mom, to watch her go through this, so I can only imagine how much of an annoyance it is for her. My husband thinks it's entirely stress-induced, but I disagree. That may be a component, certainly, but since it frequently comes on when she's just sitting around, doing nothing remotely upsetting, how can that be?? I just wish I could help her.

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A local-but-online-only friend of mine is a potter, and she fashions these awesome, funkadelic business card holders that I've been coveting for a long time. Last week, she made this red one, and I KNEW it was the one I had to have. It arrived today. Do you love it?! I do! So cool. Check out Lisa's Etsy shop for more awesome clay-mations!

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We drove up the Eastern Shore of Virginia on Sunday (here's my view out the windshield of the Chesapeake Bay), for a high-paying mystery shop. Great, except I kind of screwed it up a little, and now I don't know if I am going to get paid for it. Argh. Well, if that happens, at least we had a fun trip and enjoyed lots of interesting scenery, right?

This is the kids in the back during the trip, watching Judy Moody and the Not-So-Bummer Summer, which they've been waiting for me to rent from the Blockbuster kiosk for ages. I waited until it dropped to $1, so I could get it for free (lots of codes out there, folks!), because I'm cheap like that!

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Speaking of mystery shops, Rob and I finally went out for a nice dinner - with the kids, so it was only semi-romantic! - to celebrate the 11th wedding anniversary we shared on the 2nd of this month. Here's my Appletini. The kids love cherries and all clamored for mine, but um, no. Not the ones all soaked in Smirnoff, kiddos! It was really strong, and I got drunk very quickly. I drink maybe once a month, if that, and wow. I'm such a lightweight since my surgery!

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And here's me, that night (tipsy), showing you my hair in its awkward growing-out phase. I can't stand my hair right now. I want it to be long NOW. I'm half-tempted to just chop it again, but it grows soooo slowly, I may never have another ponytail. Is 35 too old for ponytails, anyway? Not around the house, or in the summer at least, right? ;)

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Last week (which I can tell ya, because I skipped FF then, sorry), we totally kept the kids up and took them to the 12:01 AM first showing of the newly re-released Beauty and the Beast in 3D. It was AWESOME. I think I had as good a time as the kids did. It cost a small fortune; I had sticker shock, but it was worth it for the "cool mom points" I earned, I think. At least Rob managed to stay awake during the whole thing - he'd had a nap first to make sure! Have you seen it? It was great.

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Lastly, speaking of Etsy, I have to share this story. I bought this gorgeous yarn on clearance from Summer of Perfectly Handmade, and the whole situation quickly turned into a comedy of errors: First, she accidentally sent me the wrong yarn, and then she sent me the correct yarn after I mailed it back (and she was GREAT through this whole process, and I totally recommend her, so don't think I'm speaking too badly of her). Well, it was badly skeined, and when I wound it into center-pull "cakes" with my swift and ball winder, it took about two hours vs. the 10-15 minutes it should have, because it was such a mess. I finally got it, though, and managed to knit ONE hexipuff for the Beekeeper's Quilt I'm making before going to bed for the night. Well, I stupidly left that troublesome-but-lovely yarn out overnigh, and our two kittens decided to make it their plaything overnight. When I woke up early, before the kids, I went to go knit another puff with it... and it was GONE. So I instantly knew "the twins," as they are, were the culprits and headed upstairs to look for it. I found two 8mo kittens, each with a shred of the yarn hanging out of their mouths and looking at me guiltily. They immediately dropped it and went to go hide under my son's bed! Then I searched around and found the yarn strewn all over my older daughter's room, some of it chewed it into short strands, some of it just a gnarled, knotty mess, but all entirely wrecked. GAH!!  However, I kept plugging away at it, and look! Up there! I managed to eke out 13 or 14 hexipuffs out of the yarn, which I eventually sorted out, and they'll look great in the quilt. But what a pain!!

P.S. Summer sent me some more yarn as a gift, for all my troubles. So if you're a "yarnie" like I am, don't hesitate to check her out!

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I'll leave you on that note. No, this one: "All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance and should be undertaken with painstaking excellence." - Martin Luther King, Jr.

RIP, Dr. King.

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Fin.

Chloë Raine Turns The Big 1-0!

All right, so check it out: on Wednesday, my oldest baby in all the world, the one and only, Curls, aka Clorox, aka Chlo-Bo, aka Chloë Raine, turned TEN years old! This is her in the morning before we headed out to our Christian Military Homeschooling Co-op's "Not Back To School" Breakfast Pajama Party. Yes, even I wore my PJs, which were about eight sizes too big, but it was either that or the skimpy stuff, and well, you know, it wasn't that kind of party. (And no, I have never been to that kind of party.) Anyway. She was, as you can see, entirely too excited about turning ten years old. Well, "too" isn't the word. Omit that. Just plain excited is more like it. And who wouldn't be? Ten is HUGE, right??

There were myriad snafus at the party; it was just one big comedy of errors, all of which led to one giant omission: I didn't take a single picture of the occasion, even though I promised the absent-but-present-in-spirit leaders of said co-op that I would do exactly that. And we sang to Chloë and another birthday girl present at the party, and did cupcakes and the whole bit for it, and everything. Not one dang picture. Gah! But let's not dwell on that, because I took 94 pictures of the rest of her big day, and we shall focus on that. Not that I'm going to show you all 94 pictures, or this page would never load.

After the shindig ended around noon-thirty, we cleaned up our mess and headed right down to the Oceanfront to play miniature golf. My pal Ashley, for whom I have yet to assign a nickername (and I don't think she'd appreciate "Trashley,") had given me a Groupon for 4 people to play, plus two funnel cakes. What an awesome gift to start off our "Poor Man's Birthday Party," as I call our birthdays-full-of-freebies! Neither of the girls had ever played any kind of golf before, and I'm not sure if Jack has with the Cubs, but they all pretty much stunk. Know what, though? I stink at it, too. So, the four of us were fairly evenly matched, except that I had to teach them the rules of the game. The miniature game, that is. Don't ask me about the rules of an actual fairway, 'cause I haven't got a clue.

I did find it interesting that Sophia, a Southpaw, stood the same way as the rest of us Righties to hit the ball. I tried telling her she might want to try the other direction, but she wasn't interested. It's all good.

I couldn't convince Jack to (a) hold the club properly, (b) hit the ball gently when he was a foot away from the hole, (c) not stop the ball when it kept moving past where he thought it ought to be, or (d) not pick up the ball and put it back where he did think it should be. He kept saying, "oops, sorry!" every time I reminded him of any of those things, which was, like, every other five seconds. Since I was in Birthday Mood, I just laughed it off, or else the competitive spirit in me might have gotten fired up about it! Although I admit I might have said "freakin'" once or twice, as in, "Stop touching the freakin' ball, Jack!"

On this particular hole, my ball was the first (and second) to go into "the drink," as my gran'pappy would have called it - although I could have lied and said that never happened, as there is no photographic evidence of such events. But that wouldn't be "Honest and Fair," which is the part of the Girl Scout Law my Daisies and I are working on this week, so I'm telling y'all the truth. Chloë was second to have to fish her ball out of the drink. (Speaking of balls, I never tired of saying, "Stay off the green, and don't touch your balls!" whenever it was my turn to give my bright orange ball a whack and I couldn't watch the youngsters. "Don't touch your balls!" I'm so mature.) Chloë also had to fish her all out of the drink two times. Team Odette rocks at putt-putt, y'all.

Twice fishing for Jacky, too. Haha! We so suck at this game, but since all four of us sucked equally, it was fun for everyone. They had a total blast. I don't have pictures of Sophia's ball in the drink, which makes me think hers didn't go in - but She of the Amazing Strength kept whacking her ball so hard it would fly clear across three or four holes and into some other form of golf-related trouble. Once, we even had to replace it, because it was lost completely. She'd probably give Tiger Woods a run for his money!

I didn't let them win, but this is Chloë's reaction upon my adding up the scores and announcing that she won amongst the kidlets! Fair and square, the birthday girl did the best. This, even after discovering on the third or fourth hole that we were, in fact, aiming for the LOWEST score and not the highest. **Snort**

After our four balls (hee) plunked into the hole (hehe) at the end of Hole 18, the kids discovered a "pirate ship" playground, complete with a fireman's pole-type, uh, pole, which kept them occupied for about 72 days or 15 minutes or something. They really liked that thing. We'd probably still be there if it wasn't hotter'n blue blazes that day, and we were getting all sweaty. Oh, and if I hadn't conveniently remembered the matter of the free funnel cakes we still had coming to us. Heh heh. (Hey, I was bored. Maybe I shoulda gone down the fireman's pole, too.)

Here's Sophia oh-so-patiently awaiting the arrival of the funnel cakes. Not.

I discovered that the kids' hands and feet were all orange from the fireman's pole, so I sent them to wash up before the funnel cakes arrived. Jack came back first and dug right in. I admit, I didn't wait for Birthday Girl and had some before she returned, too. Mmm, mmm - good stuff!

But, it doesn't look like she minded much, does it? She got plenty and there was some to spare. Too bad Daddy wasn't with us or it would've all gotten eaten fo' sho'!

What kid doesn't love these things? I don't know, but mine go nuts for them. Nuts, I tell ye!

Love. They LOVE these fool things. (Btw, what is up with cornhole boards? Are they all the rage now or something? I seem them advertised everywhere. What's the deal?!)

I had a few extra quarters, so I let each of the kids get one of these piratey-themed bouncy balls, after confirming that's what they were and not, in fact, gum. Jack's the only one who can have gum (Sophia never throws hers away in the proper place, and Chloë can't have it with her dental appliance), so that wouldn't have been fair. In any case, all three are probably long lost by now!

Here's my eight-year-old boy saying goodbye - a few dozen times - to the super-cute girl behind the counter. Can you say "first crush"? Yeah. He's eight. Is it time for that stuff already?!

After we finally finished at the golf course, I called my homeschooling pal Jenny From the Block to have her and her kids - sickly though they were - meet us at the mall to ride the carousel. When you join their birthday club, you get to take 9 friends with you for free, not including parents, who are free anyway. Sweet deal, right? So Jenny FTB hopped in the shower, and we drove past the mall to pick up a Victoria's Secret gift card I'd snagged on Freecycle that morning while we waited for them to get ready. It was for ten bucks, and when we got to the mall, we found all kinds of perfumes on sale for - wait for it - ten bucks! So I let my tween birthday girl pick out her favorite scent (read: the bottle she found most appealing), and we didn't owe a dime. Sweet score! (And she made a point of telling me that - see those skimpy blue undies in the back? - that those wouldn't look good on me right now because of all my extra skin. Thanks, kid. LMAO)

I'd gotten a $5 birthday gift certificate in my email inbox for both Chloë and me, so I of course gave her mine, which made $10 in free money for her to spend at Build-a-Bear Workshop. We headed down the mall hall after Vicki's to spend it. She already knew she wanted a pair of rollerskates for her BAB kitty, and she kept praying out loud that they wouldn't be more than ten bucks. Lo and behold, they were only six bucks! She found these silky undies for her kitty - complete with a rose decoration that her hand is covering - for $3.50, so after tax, we owed mere pennies for these two otherwise free presents. Yep, that grin was genuine. She was having a grand day.

Team BB (Jenny from the Block and her two kids, G and M) texted me to let me know they'd arrived at the mall, so we scooted over to meet them at the carousel. There was no wait and no charge for the ride, so on we went. Sophia and Jack stayed on the lower level, while the rest of us headed to the upper tier. Here's my birthday girl on the horse she picked, looking cute as a button, no?

Whoops, I didn't realize M blinked during her photo op. Sorry, M!

My loverly friend, Jenny from the Block (who has nice teeth, I just noticed), and her adorable son, G

Sophia was already having a blast spinning her spinny thing downstairs, before the ride even started. Goofball.

As it turns out, so was Jack, in his. Goofball #2. The ride started immediately after this picture was taken, so I was stuck sitting nearby on a bench instead of on the horse next to my birthday kid like I'd planned. Ah, well. Can't win 'em all, right? No one showed up to ride - it was in the middle of a school day, after all - so I'm pretty sure they gave us an extra long turn on the ol' carousel for the birthday girl. Nice, right?

Another cool thing about the carousel birthday club thing is that each rider gets a free punching balloon - at least at our mall. Who doesn't love a punching balloon? That's like, high on my list of Favorite Things in the World. Punch, punch, punch. Chloë, notoriously immature for her age, suddenly acted the part of the growing-up tween in many ways, including this one: When M's balloon accidentally popped shortly after receiving it, almost immediately Chlo turned to her and said, "You can have mine!" and handed her the balloon. I was bursting with pride over that smooth move.

For my birthday, I got a BOGO Free coupon for Auntie Anne's pretzels, so the seven of us walked down there to get a couple cinnamon ones. Team BB shared theirs, while Chloë shared hers with her siblings. I neither got, nor wanted, nor should have had any, especially after eating the funnel cake earlier in the day. (Besides, I like the ones with crushed almonds, so there.)

When yummy snacks are involved, this oft-squabbling trio somehow manage to get along. Amazing.

I don't remember if M got any pretzel - I think she opted out - but G sure enjoyed his!

Oh, my Jenny FTB, you are so silly!

Speaking of my silly Jenny, she later texted me this image of her in the new shirt I gave her. See, I had a $10 birthday gift certificate to Torrid (because I'm a Diva), and these Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles t-shirts on clearance for $9.98 were pretty much all that appealed to me in the "get it for free" price range. The shirt didn't fit me, but I figured I could use it for a comfy nightgown around the house, y'know? So when I showed it to Jenny FTB during our pretzel-engorging time, she was all raggin' on me because it wasn't my size. Turns out it would be her size, however, so after mucho back-and-forth, I convinced her to take it as my thank-you for coming out and sharing some of Chloë's birthday fun with us, despite not feeling so hot. Doesn't it look super cute on her?! I think so, too.

These rides were right next to the pretzel hut, and I still had quite a few quarters on me, so what the heck? I treated Sophia and M to this ride, and...

...Chloë, Jack and G squeezed in together on this one. Jenny FTB tried to give me her sole quarter, but I made that big spender keep her cash. LOL!

Then we headed over to Charlotte Russe, where I'd gotten a $5 Gift Certificate for my birthday, too. Jenny FTB immediately found a wallet in that price range that she loved, and since she rilly, rilly needed a new wallet, I was all, "Here, take the $5 GC." And you know what? Giving feels really good. I felt pleased, and she was happy, and the new wallet works for her, and yay yay!

And then we went over to the JC Penney Portrait Studio to use my coupon for a free sitting fee and free 8x10, thinking the seven of us could take a silly picture or eleven together. But you know what? Unlike Sears' coupon, the JCP sitting fee apparently only covers ONE person, which is lame. So JFTB and I looked at each other, scowled, and then decided to just let Chloë get HER pictures taken. I mean, it was her birthday, right? It only made sense. I can't copy any of the pictures off the site or I totally would, but hopefully you can see them here. If Slide 1 is of a close-up of her face with the balloons around it, that's the one I ordered for my free 8x10. Which would you have chosen?

 

After that, we were pretty much mall-tired, so we all trucked down to our closely-parked vehicles and hugged each other good-day a hundred bunches of times. I'm so glad they were able to come out; it was a blast hanging out with them, and I know Chloë would agree! (And yes, I was making them say, "Happy Birthday, Chloëëëë!" for the picture, and yes, Jack was rolling his eyes about it. He was being a total punk that day!!)

We returned home, then, and woke up Daddy, so that he could come with us for the rest of Poor Man's Birthday Party. He changed out of his uniform lickety-split, and off we went again, for more fun!

First, we went to Sonic for our two free Wacky Pack kids' meals. I had a coupon for two, for my birthday and Chloë's. We let Sophia and Jack eat those. Happily, they both picked the apple slices as their sides, with no encouragement from the 'rents. Booya!

Then, we went to Ruby Tuesday for a free burger, fries and some other side (green beans?) that I got for my birthday but obviously wasn't going to eat, so that was Rob's dinner.

Silver Diner gave Chloë a free meal for her birthday, so she chose the mac-and-cheese entrée with a side of strawberries (again, no prompting!), and a strawberry shake. My kids LOVE eating at Silver Diner, but since only Chlo got a free meal, we took it to-go, like everyone else. Yep, I let them eat in car after just getting a car wash (for a mystery shop, natch). I'm a glutton for punishment. Guess I'll have to take another such shop soon!

Chick-Fil-A was right next to Silver Diner, and I happened to have a coupon for a free chicken sandwich from probably over a year ago, so I drove over and redeemed that without a hitch. I ate a third, and then Sophia ate a third, and I think the other third went into the round filing cabinet. I would've eaten it later, but whatev.

From there, we headed down to Chuck E. Cheese's to redeem Chloë's birthday coupon for 20 free tokens. Twenty isn't a lot, but they made it go pretty far and managed to spend about 40 minutes in the place, so it was worthwhile. I doled them out, giving six each to the Littles and eight to Chloë, with surprisingly no complaints. Now, looking at this picture, I'm wondering what was so fascinating on the side, there!

The three kids went off in three different directions, so I'm always thankful for their blacklight kid-numbering system when we go! Jack always heads for this shooty-thingy, so it wasn't too hard to track him down. In this picture, what I see, though, is how tiny he still is. (He still fits into some 6-month baby swim shorts, if that tells you much!)

Sophia was a little harder to track down, since she zipped right away from me and is good at finding hidey-holes. But find her I did, for once not riding the bike-helicopter ride that goes up and down. That's her favorite thing-a-ma-jig.

I pretty much followed Chloë around after that, waiting for good birthday photo ops. Found one!

Make that two! :) After this, I kicked her butt at air hockey. I play a mean game of air hockey, and by that, I mean, "against ten year old wimpy girls."

The kids all crowded around to watch Chloë play her last token, while Rob and I stood back and made jokes about honey pots.

One of the things the kids enjoy the most at CEC is feeding the ticket muncher machine. They fight over it! I'd get in the fray, too, if it wouldn't be juvenile, because that thing is F.U.N. With their 20 tokens - half spent on rides and not games - they managed to earn exactly 50 tickets. Not too shabby.

It's hard to divvy up 50 tickets amongst three children, so without my even asking, the ticket redemption counter guy said he would round it up to sixty, to make it even. Thank heaven for small favors. (Although, 50 doesn't really "round up" to 60, but I'm not complainin'!)

Sophia picked a 20-point pink rubber spider (hence the scary face). Chloë chose a sweet tarts a top, and Jack opted or sweet tarts and a sticker sheet. Hey. They were happy, and once again, you can't beat free!

We ran across the street after that, so I could redeem my birthday coupon for a free Homewrecker (well, that's what I chose, anyway) from Moe's. Welcome to Moe's! Love that place.  It took me three or four sittings to eat that thing, and I think I puked every time anyway. Le sigh.

 

The fun wasn't over yet. We stopped at AC Moore so I could run in and redeem my free birthday coupons there, and I managed to get these Crayola markers and glue sticks for practically nothing - both hot commodities around here, so woot!

Our last stop of the night was at Chili's, to get our free birthday brownie sundae. It was mine, by rights, but I gave it to Chloë, who shared it with the rest of Team Odette. Except me. No thanks, can't do it! Here she is, eagerly awaiting the treat.

I had to take this picture fast. The brownie sundae disappeared in a flash. Oh, hi, iPhone.

That was the end of our freebie tour for the day. Chloë wanted to go home and, indeed, so did I! There were mini cupcakes leftover from the PJ party that morning (and I got some ribbing for bringing store-bought cupcakes when I'm supposed to be the baker!), and I wanted to do candles and sing to her, so we did that. Only Jack and Sophia had a cupcake, though Sophia probably had three when I wasn't looking...

She's either praying or thinking of a wish. Or both.

I hope ALL your wishes come true, Baby Doll!

It wasn't really intended as a birthday present, but since I'd gotten the flute at the co-op party that morning (to be paid for later, in installments - and I got a good deal to boot) from another homeschooling mom, I presented it to her as such. She's been wanting flute lessons. I'm going to try to find a tutor from one of the local colleges, for cheap lessons, though the same mom gave me a lesson book from which to learn, too.

All you musicians out there are cringing at this picture, eh? We have lots to learn. Lots. Although I did teach her how to put her mouth and lips, because this was killing me!

All in all, it was a splendid day, and she proclaimed it, as she does every single year, "The Best Birthday EVER!" but, "And this time I mean it!"

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As for me, I spent my 35th birthday yesterday writhing in headache pain, lying down and letting the kids chill, until it was finally time for me to get up, shower, and prepare my plan for the Daisy meeting two hours later. Thankfully, Rob came home early, so Jack could stay home with him while we girls headed to Girl Scouts for the first meeting of the year. I thought it went really well, all things considered. I only have five girls (so far) this year, which is a much more manageable number than the eight and nine we had at various times last year! I do miss my "old" girls, but I love having my five familiar little ones back again, too.

The headache lasted throughout the evening and into the night, but I was cheered considerably by the sight and sounds of Sophia reading to Chloë, with minimal help from Big Sis. And when Big Sis did help, she was pleasant and considerate, not bossy or critical. It was absolutely a wonderful sight to behold, and I loved every minute of watching and listening to them. Sophia's reading has improved by leaps and bounds in the past month, and I know she is so proud of herself, as she should be!

And that, my friends, is the end of the birthdays for 2011. Thanks for reading and commenting as a birthday present to me! Hehe - see what I did there? ;)

Fin.

 

 

Charleston, Revisited

A few weeks ago, we headed back down to South Carolina. When we were in Missouri in February (about which I still need to post!!!), we got an offer for a timeshare presentation in Charleston with incentives so great, we couldn't turn down the offer. So we accepted. Funnily enough, the location was for the place I had mystery shopped back in November, which made me feel a little odd, so I checked and got permission to go from the scheduler for the shop. Anyway, here's me driving and doing my gorilla face for The Bob.

 

First, we dropped Jack off at his grandpa's house (my dad) in Aiken, before heading over to Charleston for a couple of days. I don't have any pictures of Jack's time, but he had loads of fun. Dad took him to a train museum with a huge, cool exhibit; to see Cars 2; out to eat numerous times; and more. And since Dad has a pool, Jack spent every spare second swimming and was even given a set of snorkel gear after having a blast with his gran'pappy's. A bit spoiled, he was! 

Here's Chloë crashed out on the chair in our Charleston suite, shortly after we arrived. The girls took baths, and I think maybe Rob took them to the pool that night, but I can't quite remember, but that's about all we did after arriving. It was a long drive for me, but that didn't keep me from staying up late and banging away on some pouches for my Etsy shop, which you can see here. Perfect if you have a pet elf, leprechaun, or Smurf in need of a place to sleep...

Rob and I were supposed to, um, have some *adult* fun - always a joy in hotel rooms, no? - but he lay down with Sophia to get her to konk out, and he soon joined her in slumber. Was I surprised? No. Was I disappointed? No, because we still had another night, and I was having fun with my li'l ol' craftin' in the other room.

The next morning, we got up early and went to our timeshare presentation, which was actually kind of fun and low-pressure, and we got out of it quickly when I indicated that all of our travel was pretty much free and they couldn't save us any money on that! So we started roaming around downtown Charleston in search of a trolley stop - it's free to ride, if you visit! - when Sophia decided that this giant chain was just for her to sit upon. 

 

Once we got on the trolley, we had fun riding until we got to the Apple store, where Rob needed to trade his new iPhone 4 in for, like, the 2nd or 3rd time. Some element or another on the phones keeps not working, and he's been having a dickens of a time with it. The girls knew right where the kids' center was, and they raced over to it and started playing games. I see Apple computers in our future...

 

See the little girl in the picture at the back? I struck up a conversation with her parents, who literally own every Apple product ever made, about the ease-of-use factor for kids, since I do want to make the crossover to Macs from PCs when we can afford it (heh). Anyway, that led on to other parenting discussion, and it turns out that our kids have so much in common, and long story short, I was reassured once again that many of our kids' annoying habits, quirks, and behaviors are normal and common and stuff. Always good to know.

 

We wandered up the road and had lunch at the Pita Pit, which was awesome (our first time), and then wandered over to more window shopping before finding the large hotel in which the Godiva shop was located. (It also houses the store that sells household Britto goods, so I showed Rob some of their things, since we are fans and occasional collectors. I really wanted a Britto wallet, but since I didn't NEED it, I passed. For the time being.) Anyway, I went into the Godiva shop to get my free truffle for being a rewards member (sign up here), and of course, I had to buy some more chocolates for the gang. Chloë loved the macadamia nut truffle that she picked, but Sophia, as you can see, was not so fond of the strawberry creme one I chose for her. Eh, you can't win 'em all!

 

I was trying to take a picture of the Godiva bag for the blog, because for some reason I deemed it blog-worthy (hey, it's Godiva, and it's gold, I dunno), when a hotel employee walked by and offered to hold it up for me. She gets me, people. And she had cool nails.

Since Rob is a huge fan of black-, rasp-, and blueberries, of course I had to get him the rather large treat that featured all three. And I chose correctly. He was in chocolate heaven. My words, not his. He would never say nor admit to that.

 

After those shops, we walked down to the big open-air flea market for which Chucktown is famous. Our first stop was at this woven basket stand, where a woman was literally making the baskets for sale RIGHT THERE ON THE SPOT! I mean, kewl. Sophia was transfixed by this, and you should have seen her elation when the lady actually let her help make the basket by pulling the straw or whatever it is through its hole TWO TIMES. Oh, my word. She felt like she was really part of things, I could tell. (Neglected to get a picture; too busy actually watching.)

Then we stopped at this hat shop, because Rob's looking for a hat he can fish and kayak in without getting his head and ears burnt. The one he picked out looked atrocious on him, so I vetoed that. But the girls had fun trying on hats. Sophia loves to pretend to be a cowgirl!

And is this not the cutest hat on Chloë?! I wish we could have bought it, but it was too much money, not enough utils. Actually not true - plenty of utils, just not enough money in the budget for it. I did pick up a few things for the kids in other stands there: a box of snappers for 50¢ each for the kids, a Smencil for 99¢ for each of them, and also a half-dozen mini rubber tree frogs for our friend Ashley, who collects them. Haven't decided what to do with those yet, though. I also got a Christmas present for each of the girls: A kimono and matching pants set for the American Girl doll Chloë will get for her upcoming 10th (!) birthday, and a charming little tea set for Sophia, who talks about it every day and can't WAIT to get it.

 

My good chum Erin, newly engaged!!, from grade school, collects post cards (email me if you're distant and would like to send her one), so I was on the hunt for a locally-made one. I happened upon this shop, and since I'm very much about supporting local artists, I had to go in and check. No luck there; no luck anywhere. Sorry, Ernie. :( But it was still a cool shop, and if I'm back in The Chuck, I'll have to stop back in and pick up a couple little things I saw and desired. Assuming funds are available for that, natch.

Horse-drawn carriages are everywhere in Charleston, but we didn't partake on either visit, because they are pricey. Sophia insisted I take a picture of some horsies, though, so here you go, Toots!

 

This is Tim. Besides being very hawt, Tim was also very sweet and nice. Here's what happened: The girls were both getting blistered feet and couldn't bear to walk any further, let alone all the way back to our parking garage, so I approached his pedicab to inquire about the cost of getting us down there. It wasn't far, so instead of charging his regular $18 rate for four passengers, he agreed to take us there for $12. Well, when Rob came up from where he was browsing, I asked him about it, and he said, no, I don't think we have enough cash for that AND to pay at the parking garage. So I told Tim thanks, but no thanks.

Well, not to be outdone, he said he would take us there for nine bucks. I knew the garage wouldn't cost us more than $11 (all we had was a $20 in cash, and I didn't want to pay $3 to get out more money from the ATM), so I accepted his offer. We had a very fun ride down to the garage, during which the girls kept urging Tim to go "Faster! Faster!" - and he did, saying we were much lighter as a group than his average fare - and then paid him his $9. He agreed to pose for the picture, which makes him even more awesome, and then we bid him adieu.

After getting settled in the van, we got down to pay and were charged $8 for parking, leaving me with $3. Rob and I quickly decided we would hunt Tim down and give him the extra $3, because he really deserved it. Well, we drove up one street and down another, with no luck finding him... until, he just happened to cross in front of us with another passenger. I tootled him with vigor (Lisa, if you're reading this, please tell me you know the reference!), and he stopped by my window. I gave him the three dollars, thanking him again for being so great to us, and he thanked us in return and said it was really cool of us to track him down. I gave me such warm fuzzies, the whole thing, that I didn't stop smiling for at least an hour. So, cheers to Tim!

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We went back to our hotel after that - but not before losing Sue, my trusty TomTom GPS, who fell from her perch and cracked, rendering her useless. Sad times for me. At least I had my wonderful iPhone to get us back to the hotel, so I navigated thusly - and were just in time for the evening snack once again. The night before, we'd enjoyed sodas, crackers, pretzels, chips, and a huge abundance of the most delicious guacamole and salsa. I mean, I must've eaten ten peoples' shares of guacamole, it was so good. SO GOOD. I could die just thinking about it. We were hoping the fare would be the same the second night, but this time, it was hummus instead of guac. Everyone else was disappointed, but of course, I was completely ready to engorge myself once again. And I did. So yum!

That night, Rob AGAIN crashed out in the living room of our suite with the girls, while I AGAIN banged out more pouchies for my Etsy shop. I made eight of them in those two nights. I don't know why - they won't sell - but they're fun to make, and so I persisted. 

The next morning, we checked out and headed back over to Aiken to collect our boy.

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Here's "Mommy Dog," the stray dog who has pretty much taken up residence at my dad's house. She's had two litters of puppies so far, and he and the neighbors have taken care of them. He's adopted one of them for himself at the moment, having rehomed the rest. Anyway, Mommy Dog is the SWEETEST girl, and I wish we could provide a home for her, but four cats is enough for now.

 

Jack was so happy to see us, and us him. And the girls were excited to be at Grandpa's, too, especially when he gave them some pressies. Chloë received this bead weaving loom set, and a book, after I told Dad she loves reading and crafting.

 

 

Sophia, in turn, was given a book and a Barbie set, since Barbie is all the rage among the six-year-old set in our house. Jack was given a book, too, and something else beside the snorkle set, but I forget what. Eh, well.

 

After that, we all went for a swim in Dad's pool. I have a ton of pictures from that, but I'll spare you looking at all of those. I didn't get a good one of Jack with his snorkle gear on, and Rob always wears a mask when he swims, so no good pictures of him, either. And no, you don't get to see me in my bathing suit!

Taking a break from the pool, Grandpa and Chloë rested on the futon bed they have set up outside next to the pool, and she looked through her new book. She has a habit of being involved with three or four books at a time, and rotates them according to her mood. I am so not like that, but to each her own!  While Jack was with his grandpa, they slept out here on the futon both nights. Jack loved that!

 

Here's Cheyenne, the "keeper" pup of Mommy Dog, having a rest. She did a lot of that, as wee doggies do.

 

And here's Megan in her bed, being sweet and calm for once. Most times, she's very excitable and in-your-face! There are two more dogs in the household, but they are spoiled and pampered by Wife #5, and they didn't come out of their bedroom to be sociable. Feh.

 

One last pic of Cheyenne, with Sophia, before I let you go. That was it for our trip, besides a mystery shop dinner in town before leaving, and a mostly-uneventful drive home. It was fun, and short and sweet, just the way I wanted it to be. I'm glad we went.

Maybe I'll get busy and post about Missouri later, after I finish these shop reports for our dinners tonight!

Fin.

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.

Sneak-Up

(Click collage to embiggerate.)

Jack was reading to Sophia on the couch, so I grabbed my camera to surreptitiously catch a shot or two of the scene.  Finally, the flash went off on the last one, and they caught me. I love having literate kids!

Fin. 

Friday Fragments: Smelly Returns!

Wait. "Smelly Returns" could mean a lot of things, couldn't it? Well, don't sit and think about it too long! It means I'm going to try to get back into FF after a long absence, not... those other things. Just be forewarned that I'm listening to Bob FM online through my ear buds, very loudly, so if one of my fragments suddenly turns into song lyrics, well, that's why.

Another forewarning: This is going to be long. I have a lot of stuff to unload. Feel free to, you know, NOT read it!

 

Link yourselves up right here if you're fragmenting along with the awesome Mrs.4444 (who is not so awesome at Words With Friends - aka Scrabble - on the iPhone, it turns out. Heh heh heh)!

And away we go!

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The past two weeks have been insanely busy for me, so I'm pretty much going to post about the goings-on then. For starters, Rob (The Hubs) was in the hospital for 8 days, starting on Tuesday last week and ending on Tuesday this week. He's all right now and stuff, but he didn't plan that visit too well for me, timing-wise. I guess I'll forgive him, but our bank account may never recover from the amount of babysitting I had to pay for during his absence!

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For starters, it was crazy Girl Scout Cookie week last week. Tuesday morning, I had an hour and a half of mandatory Leader training for that (I'm my younger daughter Sophia's Daisy scout leader). In the evening, there was the monthly Leader meeting, which, uh, I missed, because... we'll get to that. Thursday afternoon was our regular scout meeting, and Friday night was the big Cookie Rally. My co-Leader and I had to keep track of all 13 of our scouts by ourselves (8 of whom are 5 or 6 years old), because no parents were allowed. (It was insane!) Saturday, the cookie sale started, but it's been too freakin' cold out for us to go around the neighborhood, so I've been spared that for the moment. Still, I'm a little Girl-Scouted out at the moment, know what'm sayin'??

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And yes, I will be happy to send you six cases of Thin Mints... if you pay for the shipping. ;)

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After the cookie training last Tuesday, my Cookie Chair took me to BJ's, where she has a membership. We had to bring fourteen #10 (the huge ones) cans of veggies and fruits to Friday's Cookie Rally - one for each of our girls - for donation to the Food Bank. Our local council is really pushing the Food Bank this year. Which is great and all, but those things are 'spensive! ANYway, not the point. I did get some groceries for our household while there, and I decided I'm going to get a membership on payday. The pantry has been slim pickin's around here lately. Every time the kids turned a corner and found more giant containers of delicious-looking food, they would yell, "JACKPOT!" It was funny and sad at the same time. They were really relieved (and excited)when I told them not all that food was going to the Food Bank, and some of it was coming home with us...

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So after I finally got home, schlepped all the groceries up to my door and got the kids out of the van, it was with an unimaginable amount of dismay that I discovered the water shut-off notice on the front door. Yep. Went in and checked: no water. None. I literally went berserk. I had forgotten to pay the bill last cycle, yes, but as soon as Rob got the notice on the door one single day before, I sent the payment. Online. Which takes a couple days. I didn't know they only gave you one day of notice to pay before shutting it off. Gulp. I sent the kids upstairs to play in their rooms so they wouldn't hear me fall apart on the phone with the water people. I was in tears and threatening to do things that would put me back in the Psych Ward I visited in December. You just can't have three kids at home with no water. Can't cook, can't wash dishes or yourselves - can't FLUSH. And have you seen what three little kids put out? You must have The Flush. Needless to say, I got them to come turn the water back on within hours, after swearing on a virtual stack of Bibles that I had, indeed, paid that %^&*( bill.

That was definitely not the highlight of my week.

☼

I just don't get to say "schlepped" often enough. It's a fun word.

☼

Moving right along...

Wednesday, I saw my shrink for the second time since I got out of the Looney Bin. It was a good thing. My bipolarity has me swinging off the chandeliers one moment and contemplating slicing up my wrists the next (not kidding). It's been pretty hellish inside my brain lately. He changed one med, increased another, and refilled the third. Fingers crossed that this is the combo that works.

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Jack was supposed to go to his Urologist on Thursday morning for a follow-up after his surgery on September 1st, but uh, it took me so long to get him scheduled that his referral expired. Stupid, sucky Mommy. (He had a bilateral orchiopexy.) Yet another thing lately on which I have dropped the ball. Hopefully by next week's Fragments, I'll have scheduled the appointment to get a new referral...

☼

Thursday afternoon was, at long last, our Girl Scout Christmas party. The girls each exchanged gifts. Sophia completely and totally embarrassed me when she opened her present (from my Cookie Chair's daughter, no less), saw what it was, threw it, looked like this:

 

for a few minutes, and then burst into tears. Why?? Because it was Tinkerbell/Fairy goodies, and she thought *I* had given her MORE Tinkerbell stuff. She had all Tinkerbell things in her stocking this year, and Chloë got Disney Princesses stuff, and she wanted Princesses, and here was more Tinkerbell, and ...ugh! It was mortifying. I had to take her out of the room, lecture her once again on the proper way to receive a gift, and then put her in the corner when she was STILL being bratty. And then go apologize for her behavior. I'm still embarrassed!

☼

The Cookie Rally on Friday night went really well, and I didn't lose a single Daisy. (The chemist in me thinks of my troop of Daisies as a whole lot of excited valence electrons, if that's any explanation!) Sophia was probably griping here about not getting more cookies... See her red shirt? One of the troop parents had the bright idea to put all our girls in the same color, and we chose red. Worked like a dream.

☼

Saturday and Sunday, the kids and I spent pretty much all day at the hospital with Daddy. Thankfully, they provided crayons and paper to keep the little ones busy. It helped. Mommy and Daddy got into the drawing and coloring for a while there, too. It was pretty therapeutic. I smuggled in some chocolate for the patient, even though no outside food was allowed. It was most appreciated. I smuggled in my new iPhone 4 for him to "ooh" and "ahh" over, too. Daddy likey.

☼

So far this school year, I've been working a ton with Sophia on letter sounds. She kept getting them mixed up, and she found the whole process rather boring, so we didn't really graduate beyond that - until December, when things suddenly clicked for her, and she began to read! Still, I didn't go back to the Hooked on Phonics program we'd been using, because we did so much traveling last month, and because I wanted her reading skills to develop more informally in that period. We went back to HoP on Monday, and she did a beautiful job with the program, even reading her first three stories to me, unassisted. So she finally got to put her first sticker on her reading chart, which has been up on the wall since September. It was a momentous occasion, so we all did the Happy Dance! Yay, Sophie!

☼

Monday night was dance class for Chloë and Cub Scouts for Jack, so we didn't get to visit Daddy at the hospital. That sucked, and we all missed him like crazy. I may have cried a little.

☼

Tuesday was nuts. I had to go to the mall to get an eye exam (yes, for a mystery shop, but I really needed it). My vision has jumped another big step, for the worse. Awesome. Not that you care. After that, I stopped in at The Children's Place to check the clearance racks. Score! I got over two dozen pairs of good, quality pants for less than six bucks each - half for the girls, half for the boy - since they've all been in high-waters lately. Imagine that, my kids actually grew! Now to take the 3Ts and 5Ts to the kids' consignment shop...

☼

In the afternoon, I still hadn't heard when Hubs was getting out of the hospital, and I was starting to panic. I had to take Jack and Sophia to gymnastics (the boy joined his sister in class last week, too, and he's über-enthusiastic about it) in the afternoon, and then spend four hours at the Girl Scout council doing my CPR certification class, and I really didn't want to get another sitter for that... plus I wanted him HOME, of course! I called the head nurse, his command, his chief (because he had to be released to the command, not his wife, argh), and finally found out they were discharging him in the next 20 minutes. Really? You couldn't keep me in the loop?? I dropped The Littles off at the gym and then raced my tush over to the Naval hospital to scoop him up, before rushing us back to the gym to pick up the little gymnasts. In rush-hour traffic, both ways. Normally, that should have taken me about 2½ hours, but I did it in an hour and 15 minutes. Go me.

☼

Tuesday night, I spent four hours learning CPR, for the first time. I meant to do it after I had my first kid, and then the next two, and then the last one, and then... I never did. Now that I'm a scout leader, it's time. It was an adrenaline rush, for sure. I've been on the lookout for an unconscious victim ever since. Next month, I'm going to take the next step and take the course to be a Red Cross CPR instructor. I'm doing it for free through the Girl Scouts, in exchange for teaching a couple classes a year after that. I'm nervous and excited!

☼

Wednesday night was our monthly Bunco night. I almost forgot to make my cupcakes! 1700 rolled around, and I finally got started... or at least I did, after I sent Hubs out to pick me up some eggs. Well, I wanted to make some really cute cuppies, only all the Wilton food color gels I wanted to use had dried out. So I had to use blue. I tasted some of the blue frosting... can you tell??

Then, I put the tinted frosting in the fridge so it wouldn't be soft and melty like it was in the tub, while I showered and got ready. Only, I left it in there so long, it got TOO hard, and I couldn't use the swirly tip I wanted to use. So I ended up doing these slapdash basketweave cupcakes, in blue, and getting exactly nothing like I wanted. Apparently they were good, though, and I was asked to bring cupcakes every single time.

☼

This morning, I had my two-year check-up with my gastric bypass surgeon. Hard to believe two whole years have gone by since I weighed *gulp* 341.3 pounds. I've lost about 205 of those lbs along the way, dropping from a BMI of 62.xx to somewhere in the mid-20s (hard to tell with all the extra floppy skin I'm still lugging around). I'm happy, but I'm not finished yet. I look okay in clothes, but when I take them off, it looks like I'm 92 years old. No lie! So Plastics is in my future, and I'm okay with that. Just don't touch my face, because I'm pretty adorable. Ha!

☼

Tonight, I went for the follow-up to my CPR class, which was the First Aid portion. I aced my test. Well, I did get one wrong on the child first aid portion, because I read the question as a CPR one instead of a choking/abdominal thrusts one, der. That'll teach me to rush to be the first one done! (That's a lifelong habit I've had, so dumb.) It was a good class, and I'm seriously glad I've had it. My only complaint - and a major one - is that there was waaaaaaay too much joking around and talking during the instruction and videos. A little laughter is fine. The entire six hours? Not so much. Not when some of us aren't taking it for the 7th time and actually want to learn this stuff! Now I need to stock a first aid kit to bring with me everywhere I go!!

☼

Well, I could bore you to tears for another hour, and THEN share some cute-and-funnies from the kids, but I shan't. This has gotten long enough, and I know you agree. Have a fantastic weekend, and send me any extra gauze and band-aids you have in the house. ;)

Fin.

P.S. Scroll down and read my Poop Story, if you missed it. I'm told it was a good story, anyway.

Ketchup And Mustard, I'm Behind!

Phew. Another busy week.

Besides the usual (school, 3 dance classes on Tuesday & Wednesday, Brownies AND Cub Scouts - the latter of which we ended up missing AGAIN because the boy-child could not stay awake past 1800 and the meetings aren't until 1900 - on Thursday), etc., we've had lots going on.

I had a fun time collecting the money from all the other Brownies and finishing up the troop paperwork to finish the cookie sale this week. I finally made all the deposits and turned in everything yesterday, so I'm hoping I did it all right. We'll see. Last year I messed up the patches, and I'm not entirely sure I did things correctly this time! So now it's finally, finally over... well, except for the last few boxes our Leader still has, to sell. But we received enough in donations to cover those in the meantime.

Also on Thursday, we went to the Scholastic Book Fair at the kids' school. I volunteered there on Monday (think I told you that already) and was looking forward to picking out our favorites last night. I was going to buy ONE book per child, but I ended up buying 9 total!

Here's our list:

Hot Wheels: Stunt Show - (which I can't even find on the Scholastic website; weird) a level 1 Reader for Jack to read to ME. He keeps saying he can't read, but he can. He's just soooo stubborn.

Ouch! How your body makes it through a very bad day - which is NOT the same cover as the ones pictured on all the links I Swagbucks-searched for, but they must be related somehow, eh?  Jack is totally digging this book; he's very "into" what goes on inside the body and what all the parts look like and everything. I picked out this book for him at the volunteer session on Monday.

 

There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed a Chick! - which Jack and Sophia both picked out, independently.  

 

Skippyjon Jones and the Big Bones - Had to get this; these books are so funny, and I opted to get The Pout-Pout Fish last time instead. I'm still wishing I'd just gotten both! 

Duck at the Door - Rob picked this book for the kiddos. I haven't read it yet.

 

Barbie in A Mermaid Tale: A Storybook - most obviously picked out by Sophia, who is having a love affair with Barbie right now, and also with stickers, which it contains. She's always loved stickers, though, and she sits and goes through my sticker box whenever she thinks she can get away with it!

 

Fluffy and Baron, another book Sophia picked out, which I also haven't read yet. Apparently it's based on a true story.

 

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days - Chloë's BFF, Sammy, told me about these books at the Fall Book Fair, and I missed out, running to the library after the books had all been packed up. I really wanted the school to get credit for the purchase, so I held out until this Spring Book Fair. Sammy really likes the books and thought Chloë would enjoy them, too. I told her she could pick out two of them, since they have AR tests associated with them, and although she always has her nose in a book, she infrequently takes the AR tests at school. I'm always pushing her to do so, but it seems she couldn't care less! 

 
Allie Finkle's Rules for Girls: Stage Fright  - Instead of a second Wimpy Kid book, Chloë begged for this one. Since there was an AR test attached, I relented and let her put back one of the others. She's been reading BOTH books ever since, even though technically I only gave each of them one of their books, planning to save the other for their Easter baskets! So, I stole it back tonight and am making her read Wimpy. :P

In all, the nine books cost us an average of $5.10, after my $5 credit for volunteering on Monday. I guess that's a pretty good deal. Hopefully Sophie won't take her Barbie book into the tub with her and rip it to shreds, like she did the last time!!

Speaking of Chloë and BFFs... she came off the bus completely sobbing yesterday because another BFF, "K," had written about her that she was annoying, in her diary, and Chloë saw it. The way she describes it, it almost seems like K had meant for her to see it, which I thought was a little too "mean girl" for 3rd grade! I don't know, but we really didn't handle it at all. She came running into my arms when Rob brought her back from the bus stop (he's on days since Wednesday), and I just held her while she cried her heart out. Rob and I just looked over our shoulder at each other, while I mouthed, "I don't know what to do!" and rubbed her tiny back. She eventually ran out of steam and has seemed to forget about it, so I don't even know whether I should bring it up again. Thoughts?

Let's see, what else...

Oh! I subbed Friday afternoon, 1200-1500, for the first time. A pack of wild fifth graders, about 80% of whom were bigger than I am, or at least as big. How does that happen? I'm used to little ones. I daresay I was far less intimidated than I was a decade ago when I subbed in Tampa, freshly out of college and not yet a frequently-yelling mother, but still, it was hard to keep this class quiet. At first, they were shouting at each other, using all kinds of filthy language, and threatening to throw chairs and stuff. I even got hit hard by one kid, but it was accidental, so I didn't really do anything about it.

But all it took was starting to write names on the board - and threatening to skip lunch! - to get them back under control. By the end of the day, several of the kids proclaimed that I was the "best" and "most fun" sub ever, because I actually did things with them instead of just yelling and throwing more busy work at them. Indeed, when we got our work done early, I let them go outside and run for 20 minutes. I could tell they really needed it. And another time, when work was finished early, I let them go in front of the class and read a poem they'd written, or do a silly dance, or whatever. The whole class was cracking up, even me. So, it was an okay day. But I definitely earned my keep!

Linda and I went out on a lunch shop together on Wednesday, and the family and I did another shop for dinner that night. Both were really good; I'm trying to keep my hand in that, even with everything else we've got going on these days.

Sophia had a field trip to - of all places - Krispy Kreme on St. Patrick's Day, and they had a "green day" party. I was supposed to send in a green snack, but all I could find were Del Monte jello and fruit bowls in the snack stockpile. I'd forgotten until it was too late to go out. Apparently no one ate them, and the teachers stuck them in the fridge; I kinda wish they would send them back home, so I could feed them to MY kids!!

Also on Wednesday, I took Chloë and Jack to the dentist. Jack had two of the eight cavities filled and seemed to do well. I haven't heard him say a single word about it, so I guess it didn't hurt too much or anything. Chloë had her orthodontic records started - molds of her teeth taken, pictures, etc., - because she has a crossbite that we need to get fixed. Then, she had a frenectomy, to cut the extra thick upper frenulum she has/had (the tissue connecting the gums to the lips), which was causing her teeth to grow in funny. We had to shell out beaucoup bucks for that visit, and we're only just getting started! So I'm kind of nervous about that...

The only other thing I can thing to mention is that I'm now down 170 pounds!! I've lost about half my old self, now.  I need to get down to at least 164 before I can schedule the abdominoplasty, but I plan to lose 10 more before I even go in to try, to account for clothing and eating /drinking that morning. Hopefully another month or so will do it!

And that is the week that was. Tomorrow's another busy day!

Fin.

Switch!

We learned this song in music class in elementary school: "I am slowly going crazy, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 - Switch!" Did you?

So both the crazy part and the switch part fit, in that this was another crazy evening, and I have switched something pretty insignificant but nonetheless mentioned here several times: My shower! Y'all might remember that I ♥ taking cold showers? Well, no longer! I have switched over to taking steaming hot showers. I don't know if it's because the weather changed, and I'll go back in the late Spring, or if it's because I get cold so easily now, but yeah. Hot showers for me!

Anyway, who cares? I only mentioned it because I needed a blog title. Hee.

I slept all day again today. Well, almost, it was after 1 when I woke up. I hadn't meant to do that, but it doesn't really matter, because I had nothing but more cleaning on my plate today. I think I'll do some later this evening... And I only woke up when I did because the Schwan's guy rang the doorbell. I was annoyed and foggy-headed, so I didn't even answer the door. I didn't want anything anyway, and he always tries to talk me into something. Can't stand that.

So, I promised bootie pictures:

I had planned on using clothespins to take a cute picture of the socks hanging from a tree branch, but I dug through all my yarn bins, where I know I put them, and couldn't find them. Okay, so I only pawed through the top three bins, and it's probably in one of the bottom three. So here they are on our front porch. Or stoop. Whatever it is.

So here they are! Aren't they cute? I messed up and made the cuff 5 cm instead of the prescribed 4 cm, but I figure that'll just help them stay up on widdle Baby Luke's legs better. Can you believe he's already a month old?!

Other than the cuff, I made no modifications to the pattern, other than to screw up the toe decreases on the second sock. It's minor, though, and I don't think baby boy - or his mother - will notice. (But if you do, tell me!)

And so they went. Hopefully I'll cast on for the pants before the weekend, knock them out before he grows out of them, and be on to something else. I'm ready for a new project!

While I was taking pictures of the socks, my reward package from the Nielsen Homescan program arrived, and I figured, what the hell? I'll throw pics of those on the ol' blahg, too. This here is a little something I redeemed my Homescan points for baby Luke. I'm calling it his Christmas present, although I'll give it to Steph as soon as I see her next, so he can start playing with it right away.

And this was a little somethin'-somethin' I picked up for Tiger Lily: a chew/pull toy by Coleman. Jack wanted to throw it around for her this afternoon, so I let him give it to her early instead of for Christmas. She seemed to like it. It held her interest, but only as a throw toy. When he stopped, she ignored it. But she's never been huge on toys, at least since she was a puppy. Seems pretty durable, though. If you want to become a Nielsen Homescan panelist, let me know and I'll hook you up with some linkage. They have decent rewards, and the points accrue quickly.

As I mentioned earlier, this afternoon & evening were crazy. Here was the schedule:

3:00 - 4:15 Math tutoring after school for Chloë

4:00 - 5:00 Brownies meeting for Chloë

4:30 - 5:30 Soccer practice, for Chloë!

5:00 - 8:00 Book Fair Family Night at school

6:00 - 8:00 Soccer party for Sophia

7:00 - 9:00 Cub Scout meeting for Jack

Well, we didn't make all of that, obviously. Some thing(s) had to go. At first, the only thing I crossed off was Chloë's soccer practice, since that's twice a week, PLUS a game on Saturdays, and other stuff is less frequent.

And so at 1600, the Littles and I went off to school to pick up Curls from tutoring and take her to Brownies. We didn't get there until 1630, so she missed half the meeting. I can't wait until this soccer bullshit business is over, and we can get back to our regularly scheduled lives! Not that it hasn't been fun. It has. It's just very take-overy, time-wise!

At the meeting, the girls spent time planning their holiday party. They're going to cook for us and entertain us, just like last year, so it should be fun. I let the Littles play outside while I talked to the parents about the soon-to-end Fall Product sale, and then I chit-chatted. I completely and totally forgot that I had two small children playing outside, in the near dark!!! OMG, as soon as I remembered, I raced outside to check on them. They were playing exactly where I told them to, calmly and mostly quietly, and were just fine. But dang, did I give myself a heart attack! Stupid, stupid, me.

One of the moms, who also had weight loss surgery before I did, gave me a bag of her grown-out clothes. I can't wait to try them on! I gave away my clothes to a different, pre-surgery? Brownies mom, so what goes around, comes around, I guess!

From Brownies, we raced over to the school to get in some Book Fair time before the soccer party. My plan was to let each of the kids pick out a special book, and then I was going to choose a book for each of them for Christmas, from their wish lists. And that's what we did. Sophie chose a Barbie book with stickers, Jack chose a Cars book about Mater, and Chloë picked something about Bad Kitty. I forget what it's called, but it's a chapter book. Then I sent them away to look at other stuff while I picked their Christmas gifts. And I got a few 99¢ stocking stuffers at the counter. Chloë saw me picking them out, the little stinker.

While we waited a few minutes for the door prize drawing - which we have won in the past but not this time - the kids harrassed Midnight the Panther, their school mascot. Sophie has historically been afraid of him, but not anymore! She was all over the poor blue beast.

We rushed clear to hell and gone for the soccer party at Chuck E Cheese, arriving only a few minutes late thanks to traffic. The kids played for 20 minutes or so before Coach corralled them to the table to eat their cake and get their trophies and certificates. None of the parents would move out of the freaking way so I could take a decent picture, so here's what you get - the side of Sophie's head and another parent's sleeve.

Yay, Sophie gets a trophy too!! She was so excited about it - much more so than soccer itself - and kept canoodling with it during the party.

The soccer cake - and is that Sophie eating her own cake, or a bite out of the main cake? Gosh, I hope it was the former, but knowing her...!

Soap pausing for a picture with her coach. Isn't he a cutie?

Sophie's soccer trophy, yay!

Our pizza took forever to come (yeah, they had cake first. Not my idea. Silliness), so I launched each of the kids into the play zone with their own cup of tokens. I only gave them five or ten at a time, so they wouldn't go crazy. It's a good thing, because once, I saw Sophie handing hers out to some other, random kids, and another time, I saw a little girl come along and dip into Chloë's cup. Um, no. My tokens!!

Sophie being Sophie

And a typical Chloë pose

Jack had a lot of fun tonight, and he scored the most tickets by far. One time, he came up holding a five foot long stretch of tickets from one token! I couldn't believe it.

This little teammate shares the same name as my kiddo, so they often buddied up together on and off the field.

No clue who this kid was. Jack just totally usurped his ride. He kept doing it to other kids, too. Every time I turned around, there he'd be, on this "ride"with some strange kid!

Jack was pretty pissed when I made them stop and come eat some pizza. "I don't WANT any pizza!" But when I told him he had to eat or I wouldn't give him any more tokens, well, boy howdy, he gobbled that whole piece down pretty quickly!

And then my camera died, so no more pictures. Really, how many do you need from CEC?

Oh, and both Jack and Sophie decided they wanted their next birthdays there (oh, yay), so I guess I'll try and throw them a joint one at the beginning of April or something. Of all the places...

By the time we got out of there, and would have made it to Cub Scouts, there would only have been about a ½-hour left, so we decided to skip it. Plus it was late, and Chloë still had a ton of homework! What the hell, she is eight, not sixteen!

We did Jack's homework, while I baked cookies for tomorrow's lunch snack, and sent the Littles upstairs for a shower before bed. Then Chloë, who had already done her language and spelling homework, sat with me to do her science work. We breezed through that pretty quickly, but only because I stayed right on top of her. Otherwise, she would have fooled around for an extra hour or two. That kid!

And so ends our busy Thursday night. I'm going to go clean up. And then maybe cast on for Luke's trousers. And then...

Slowly going crazy am I, 6 - 5 - 4 - 3 - 2 - 1, Switch!

Fin.

P.S. According to Chloë, she only missed three on her math test! yay!

P.P.S. Unbeknownst to me, she also had a science test today. We didn't study for that, but she says she thinks she got those all right. We shall see, Mom can dream, right?

A Return To Freedom

So now that I have Vanna back, of course we need to take advantage of it and not sit at home, right? Right. Plus, the air conditioning repair guys arrived at 0900 to take out our old, crappish air handler and replace it with a sleek new version (I really have no idea if it was sleek or not - I didn't see it - but that sounded like a good word), so I wanted to get the kids right out of the house and out of their way.

Our first stop was to the library down the street. Chloë has been begging me to take her, so we could do their summer reading program. No sooner did we jump out of the van than some carpenter-types hollered over to us that the libe was closed until sometime in September. Well, shoot.

So we ran over to the adjoining playground (Tabblo above) to let the kids burn off some steam. I mostly sat on a bench in the shade and took pictures; it was too dang hot to do much else. They didn't seem to mind and pushed each other on the swings for once. It was a good time. When they started complaining of the heat, we left.

Next, we drove to Central Library on the Boulevard. I've been past it dozens - if not hundreds - of times but have never actually gone in. Woo, it's nice. And big! I spoke to the kids repeatedly about proper library behavior, but somehow they still managed at times to be loud and to run. Argh. No one else seemed to mind but me, though.

Inside, I renewed my card and then, to his utmost joy, got one for Jack. "I'm old enough to have a card now?!" he squeaked. Of course, he doesn't own a wallet, so the card currently lives in Chloë's purse... We went upstairs to the children's section, and they had a blast picking out all sorts of books they wanted to read. I capped them at three apiece, reminding them that we would be back next week. I hope to make this a regular Monday thing, or so.

Then I got my own books. I picked A Thousand Splendid Suns and The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini. I'm thinking KR will be first, since it was written first, but I have yet to crack open either. After some knitting (I haven't been knitting in days, since I didn't want to sweat all over the lovely yarn), that is.

(I italicized those book titles instead of underlining, by the way, because otherwise TypePoop was underlining the entire paragraph, and I couldn't fix it.)

Then we headed to a certain ghetto mall in Norfolk to do a certain pretzel store mystery shop. The kids were again running and yelling, and making me look like the most ineffective mother ever. I tried not to mind, but I did. Anyway, we got to the pretzel place, and there was a no-credit-cards sign on the counter. Guess what? All I had were my CCs. So that shop didn't happen and we wasted that time and gas. Dismay all around.

I'd gotten my monthly text message from Redbox with the free Monday code, so I promised the kids if they behaved at the post office, then we could rent a couple movies. I had two thick envelopes to mail to overseas Navy bases with expired coupons, and they did behave.

When we were finished and about to go to the Redbox, Steph called or I called her, I forget - and we decided the kids and I would drive out to see her and her nieces in Chesapeake instead. I put it to a vote, and they unanimously chose to go see "Auntie Stevie." One of them, I forget whom, asked, "Can you come with us, too?" No, kid, I was going to hand over the keys and wave you off...

We stopped home so I could get my knitting, and the AC guys were standing in our driveway with their shirts off, drinking Gatorade. Apparently it was 1,000º in our attic, poor guys. I'd thought they were almost finished when we'd left three hours earlier, but not quite.  Anyway, I got my stuff, and we headed to East You-Know-Where.

This cutie is Steph's 2yo niece, Carolynn (sorry if I spelled that wrong, S). She was napping when we arrived but woke up shortly after for some lunch. She's so adorable and playful; I just ♥ her!

The kids all got along well and played for a couple hours while Steph and I chatted and discussed about a certain knitted abomination she'd received. I still say she should accidentally knock over a candle onto it...

When my kids kept begging Steph for some food, I knew it was time to head home to feed them! No sooner did I put the kid music on for them than Sophie and Jack knocked out. Chloë spent the long ride reading her library books to herself. I stopped at Redbox before home and rented them three movies, and I was chagrined to find Rob still not home from work at 1800. That's a long day for him, and I missed him.

The AC was blowing hard when we came in - but the guys didn't shut the kitchen windows, so it was a huge waste!! Argh. I got those closed, made the kids some quick (yes, Trader Joe's) mac & cheese for dinner, and settled in myself with some yummy TJ hummus. Rob finally arrived, and quickly konked out. As I type, he's dead to the world on the floor behind me...

Oh, and I got a call today about doing some daycare for three kids starting later this month: a 3yo, 5yo and 9yo. They happen to live right across the street, so the mom came over to hash out hours, prices and other terms with me. She's really nice; Chloë and I sold her cookies earlier this year, so she knew me as "the Girl Scout mom."  I lowballed myself on the weekly fee, but it's really not that many hours, and every little bit will help. She's a single mother, so I quoted her a price lower than I normally would have. I start on the 24th!

And that's our Monday. Hope your week is off to a good start!

Fin.

Memorial Day Weekend

We've had a busy few days, filled with lots of mystery shops. I think I'm done with those for the rest of the month, so I'll have a good little break before they start up again in June. Here's a bit of what we've been up to:

Friday

Rob had the day off! Yay, that always makes me so happy. He still had to go in the morning, but only for a dentist appointment.  I primped, coloring my hair, while he was gone, and I like the results. Nothing worth showing, though - I stuck with my usual auburn, just a different brand.

We parents and the Littles (Chloë was still at school) went to our appointment with Jack's teacher, occupational therapist, special services provider, and the Veep at the school at 1400. The meeting lasted about an hour, and covered his IEP goals met for this year and new plans for next. There was lots of good news. He has made great strides since the beginning of the year and especially since Spring Break, when we've really been working a lot harder at home, too. Everyone was just gushing over him. So he's dropping down to once a week - instead of two - with the OT, but keeping the ½-hr per day with Special Ed. He's getting an extra 15 minutes to complete assignments and tests, even for the gifted testing later next year.

What's that, you say? Gifted testing for someone in special ed? Yep, students can be twice exceptional, both gifted and disabled. Which brings us to Chloë. You may remember she's in the gifted program at school. She's an awesome little reader, has always been highly capable verbally. But as for math... she just doesn't get it. It isn't clicking. There have been lots of frustrating moments for all of us, lots of tears for her. So we discussed it at the meeting, and next year when she's 8, we're going to have her tested for a math learning disability. It won't surprise me at all if she is... twice exceptional, that is.

By the end of the meeting, school was letting out for the day, so we ran to the front of the building to intercept her before she got on the bus and came home to an empty house. We found her, phew. She was SO excited to see us there. It's always a little thrilling for me to see that much joy on one of my kids' faces.

Afterward, I ran to the bank to deposit a few mystery shopping paychecks and the donation to CARE Package from ASIS Pharmacy, to the grocery to return our free Redbox movie, and then dropped everyone off at home. I had to run to do a carwash mystery shop. I was pleased to get that one, because we have long needed to clean out the inside of the car - and that was included in the $14 reimbursement! So for free, I got someone else to do it. Joy.

When I finished, I picked everyone up at home to sprint to the airport for a dinner shop at a chain seafood restaurant. (I'm trying not to name names of the businesses I do anymore, in case they search and find my blog! But if you want to know, shoot me a comment and I'll share.) The timeframe was extremely limited, so we had to hurry and get up there. Well, the dinner absolutely sucked. It was by far the worst meal evaluation and report I have ever done, and that's out of hundreds. It wasn't the food but the service that was abyssmal.

We came home and, that night, I had to do my monthly online charity thing with my crochet buddies. I had to host the first two hours, which I never do. Usually I'm in the wee hours, so for once I had a roomful of guests instead of the sparse attendance to which I'm accustomed. It was lots of fun, and I stayed there until the wee hours anyway, hoping to win a chance at the big monthly prize. (I didn't win.) I maybe shouldn't have, because it has really thrown off my sleeping plans.

Saturday

I was supposed to get up bright and early for a breakfast shop at Sonic (so much for not naming names), but I had to reschedule. Way too tired to drive at that point. Back to sleep!

But not for long, because we had to take Tiger Lily to the vet for a mystery shop. It was an excellent visit; the vet was awesome with both the kids and the dog. And the white patches that she's had on her muzzle for about three years now, which the breeder told us was "Tidewater Itch," a fungus? (She's been to the vet in that time, but not for that...)The vet declared that her skin was absolutely fine, and that the change in color is due to aging! She's only 5½, so subtract three years from that, and we never would have guessed that. But he says he sees it in 2-year-old larger dogs all the time, and anyway, she never scratches or anything. What a relief!! I'm still overjoyed that that is the case, although I am sorry there's nothing we can do about the discoloring of her pretty face. Oh well, it's not like she was ever going to be a show dog!

When we got home, I needed a nap, and I slept for hours. Guess what Rob did with the kids in the meantime?

He took them FISHING! At the lake behind our house. Do you think he took the camera? Nope! For their first fishing expedition, I have not one single picture, nor did I get to experience it in person. Major bummer for me. But they had a fantastic time, and are still happily telling me that they caught 8 fish: two crappie and 6 catfish. None were keepers, so it was just for fun. Not for the fish...!

Sunday

That morning, after lots of sleeping on Saturday, I was able to get up and do that breakfast mystery shop. I went home and snoozed some more, because why not?

I had to get moving again in the afternoon, though, because I had four more shops to do.  I took everyone with me. We had another Sonic shop, so they shared that food. I'm not eating it. Well, maybe one tater tot... but that's it!

We drove out to MacArthur mall for the next two shops. There are lots of jobs located there, but I rarely go unless I'm going to be reimbursed for the parking fee. (Paying for parking at the mall drives me crazy.) I still wasn't, but since I was able to stack two jobs together for the same day and time, for two different companies, I decided to take them.

The first was at a kids' shoe store. I took Chloë this time, instead of Jack. They did a horrible job. The next was at a candle shop, where I'm using the required candle purchase for a Bunco prize. I picked all beach-themed scents, which is appropriate for our town, I think. Back to the shoe store for the return portion, and then we left before Gymboree called my name. I passed by several stores selling Webkinz, but I resisted. It's not hard when you don't have the money, anyway.

We had a dinner shop right after that. It was a last-minute assignment, but I took it because it's for fast pay, within the week, and because Rob loves that place. They did a great job, and our meal was excellent. And that was our entire day.

Monday

No shops on the agenda for today. I had originally scheduled one for Rob at McDonald's at the base where he works, and he was happy to go do it, but I canceled it. I didn't want him to have to "work" on his day off, and I really didn't want to be away from him.

I did have to go over to the Brownies troop leader's house to go over the year-end financial report. I spent an hour-and-a-half figuring and refiguring, and we are still off by a dollar! Which is fine, we won't get in trouble with the council for that or anything, but we do want to find it and fix it. Can't do anything about it until the bank opens tomorrow, because neither one of us ever got that month's statement. We signed Chloë and me up for next year, too. Her registration is free, because she earned the pass from cookie sales. Go, Chlo! And the troop is paying for mine, because Nikki "voluntold" me to be the Fall Product Chair, Cookie Chair, and Troop Treasurer again for next year. She likes my work. Even with the missing buck. Hee.

As soon as I got home, everyone donned their swimsuits, and we went off to the pool! They actually opened on Saturday, but we didn't have time to go and besides, today feels more like the day one should, right?

The water was c-c-c-cold, and Rob barely got in the water. The Littles wanted to stay in the baby pool, so he sat in that area with them, while I went in the big pool with Chloë. She's technically too old to be in the baby pool, even though she's smaller than the four-year-old who was in there. When they called adult swim, though, I relented, and we were all in the baby section. I hate the baby pool. I want to be covered, up to my neck, and feeling weightless - not sitting in a bunch of kid pee! Ew.

It started to rain, so we left much earlier than expected. All the kids were shivering anyway, so we'll just have to go on a hotter day.

At home, I went upstairs to work on the long-neglected laundry... and fell asleep. For hours. I woke up when Sophie crawled up on the bed with me and whispered in my ear, "Mom, we're going to bed, good-night!"

And now I'm here. Ready for my big 2-oz dinner.

Fin.

The Longest Day

Whew. I am bushed.

Our day started at 0530, which is crazy early for me. The last time I woke up that early (on purpose) was... okay, well, it was one month ago today for my surgery! I'm a month out! I didn't get to weigh in this morning, because we had to run, so I'll do it tomorrow.

Anyhoo, I first woke up Chloë, so I could get her in the shower with me in order to floof up her curls. Jack woke up in the process and dressed himself, thinking he was going to school. He was on autopilot. Teehee, it was cute.

We woke Sophia last; she's so adorable when she's just been awakened from a sound sleep.  Rumpled hair, squinty eyes... too cute.

After I showered and dressed and ascertained that all the children were dressed and ready to go, I ran downstairs to get them shod and coated. Then I made them each a bag of "breakfast blend": a mixture of Cap'n Crunch, Rice Chex, and Golden Grahams, along with a sprinkle of chocolate chips. No, I don't normally give them chocolate for breakfast, but I was feeling generous.

And off we went, for the two-hour drive north to Aylett, VA. I had to get gas first, and somehow managed to fill up for under $30. Sweet! I'd forgotten my debit card at home, though. Oopsie.

Nobody slept in the car, unforch. I had hoped they would, so no one would be a crankypants at the shoot, but no one was. I didn't know it at the time, but Chloë read 30-something pages of her Beezus and Ramona book on the drive up; I'd thought she was just being grumpy! I didn't realize it was because she was busy, Mooom.

****

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Rob was having the beginning of an absolutely miserable day. He was supposed to do his 2-day motorcycle course, starting this morning, on the Navy base... but the bike wouldn't start. Hindsight is 20/20 - we should've started it before I left, but he was able to start it last night with no problem and assumed it would be the same today. Nope. I was already on 1-64 West when he called, and I asked him what he wanted me to do. What to do, what to do? Turn around and give him a boost? And be late for our call time in Aylett? Or keep going and be on time for the shoot?

In the end, he told me to keep going. I've regretted it ever since. I should have turned around. I could have pretended I got lost or something.

So he never made it in. Oh, he got the bike started eventually, but he only drove down the road a short piece before it died again, and wouldn't restart at all. It was gone. Damn thing! So he walked back home, leaving the 'cycle where it was all day, and fretted. His work wasn't happy. He couldn't get in. I'm flabbergasted that no one could take off for the 20-minute drive to come and get him?? I could have picked him up on my return. He contemplated renting a car, but I vetoed that idea for financial reasons. So he spent the day at home.

I'd have bitched about the kitchen still being a disaster when I got home, but then, he could bitch about the same thing in every other area of the house, and there would go that argument! And so I didn't.

****

Back to the NOVEC shoot. Our call time was 0830, and we got there ten minutes early. The director, Eric, pulled up at the same time as us, and he opened the back door to find Sophia absolutely covered in chocolate on her hands and face. I was mortified! Haha! He said, "Oh, my, you have been eating something good, haven't you?!" He was amused when he found out her name, as it's the same as his own daughter's.

I apologized for having the Littles with me, saying I couldn't get a sitter, and then let Chloë out to meet him. She ran up and gave him a great, big hug, and he was smitten with her! She has always been a man's child. She loves men. And they love her. Yes, I'm worried about ten years from now - heck, seven!

I spit-shined Sophia's hands and face, and then we and the suitcase went inside to stand around and look stupid. The shoot was at a model home in a new development, and so I was on the Littles like white on rice to keep them from touching a single solitary thing. And there were lots of knick-knacks and decorations, so I was kind of antsy! Plus it was my first time on a real, professional shoot, so I was nervous about my own comportment. Eric eased the way, though; he had called me the other day to let me know what to expect and to assure me that they were a fun group. And they were.

We met Terri, who played Chloë's mom in two of the commercials (there were three; Chloë and Mom were in the first one, all three with Dad in the second, and Chloë and Dad in the third!). When Terri finished hair and make-up, Chloë went in. She looked gawjus, dahlink. Just adorable. I'm saying this from a completely objective, unbiased, non-bragging point of view: that is one good-looking kid! (Are we sure she's ours?)

Anyway. The crew was setting up for the shoot upstairs, so Eric offered us breakfast in the kitchen. The Littles were all over that, although they'd demolished their "breakfast blend" in the car. They ate bagels, muffins, and granola, and drank half the bottle of prop OJ from the stocked fridge for the third spot! He said it was okay for them to have anything from the fridge, as long as we didn't empty it. I didn't allow them anything else.

Gosh, I'm totally rambling. This is going to be one long post. Sorry. And I forgot my camera, so the few measly pictures I have are on my cell, and I don't feel like dealing with that at the moment. And none of the Supah Stah! Jeepers, Melanie.

Then the NOVEC Client appeared and introduced herself to us. She was fancy and business-like, but also nice and pleasant, and I liked her. At the same time, Terri asked if Jack and Sophie were twins, and I said no and told her their ages and all that. Then Sophie piped up for everyone who was downstairs at the time to hear, "And Robby is in heaven because he died!" Oy. I hate it when they bust that out in front of just anybody! Eric said, "Who?" And I gave a wry smile and said, "Our son, my son." He and the Client and I don't know who else gave me that look and said they were sorry. Sigh.

So finally it was time for the first shoot. The Littles and I were banished from the house, so their noise wouldn't carry upstairs into the filming. We played in the backyard for at least an hour and a half, and I was so mad at myself for forgetting to take our coats outside! Brr. It was nippy. They played so hard that it didn't really affect them, but mostly I sat in the lawn and watched them and was cold. There were a ton of leaves in the yard, and they had fun with that.

Oh, the yard. It was wonderful. They had a grand time playing out there. It was a good-sized yard, with surrounding woods, and a deck under which they could play in the leaves and dirt. Really, the Nons had a ball, and Jack kept asking if we could move there. He even said, "Daddy can come to visit us here!"  Hahaha. He wanted to know if we could move all their toys and things to the house, since nobody else lived there. And that was mostly because of the fun they had being outdoors all day in the spacious yard. Breathing fresh air. Playing in the dirt. Scuffling in the leaves. Even getting pricked by the thorny vine he kept calling a "cactus plant." It absolutely breaks my heart. (What little yard we have, and I mean it's minuscule, is the dog's potty. And we don't scoop back there, ever. So no romping.)

Whenever I get my van back - and I hope it's next week - I vow to take them to the park every day!!

And definitely, our next house will have a yard. It's a must.

Finally, Terri the Mom came out to get us and let us know we could come back in and get Chloë changed out of her PJs (by the way, remind me not to get things together at the last minute like that again; the pink jammies we brought had yellow paint all over them! Embarrassing! But we had a back-up set) and into summertime clothes for the next ad.

I coudn't whittle down all the cute choices of Gymboree tanks and shorts, so I brought a whole mess o' summer clothes. They had a hard time picking, too! We finally settled on something, and then selected her winter outfit and outerwear for her quick change operation, for the second half of the shoot. She went back into hair and make-up to have her locks recoiffed, and then we were banished again.

By the by, we brought ten stuffed animals, a framed photo, and my cell, iPod and Palm for the first shoot. They didn't need any of them. Eric said, "I couldn't remember whether I'd asked you to bring them." Urgh. Uh, yeah, you did. But that's okay, I'd rather have it and not need it than the reverse.

This time, I took the Tots out to the van, because they were shooting downstairs now, and I wasn't sure if they'd hear us out in the yard. I was constantly having to remind the kids not to shout or stomp the first time, and I didn't want to get yelled at! So I let them loose in the back of the car while I knitted in the front seat.  They got back into their cereal and rice cakes, and now I have smashed Crunch all over my vehicle. Glorious.

I made it all the way up to the last 20 or so minutes, when I started stockinette-stitching myself into a coma. So I made the kids buckle into their seats, lest they get out and get hurt, and I put my seat back down. Jack fell asleep before I did! I don't know if Sophia ever slept, but by the time I dozed, it was only a few minutes before Eric was knocking on the window. When he woke me up, my right hand was tucked into my pants! Heehee. Again, embarrassing! He gestured and said, "Uh, sorry about that!" and I don't know if he meant waking me up or catching me that way!

It was lunchtime at last. We trooped into the house, where Chloë was already dining on chips, cheese, and cherry tomatoes. She goes for the alliterative meals, I guess.  I tried getting veggies and dip for the Bitties. Nope, not having it. Sandwich? Nope. What, then? Jack wanted some prop yogurt, but I put my foot down. In the end, Sophie agreed to some cheese, and Jack wanted some ham (ew). I made a turkey and cheese sandwich to share with Sophie, and pulled some extra ham on the plate for Jack.

We joined most of the crew out, and the grown-up actors, out on the deck for lunch. Sophie refused her sandwich and immediately, to my chagrin, started going up to each person and pointing to their plates, saying, "Can I have that? Can I have a bite?"  She's such a little piggy! I was so mortified, and kept calling her name to chastise her, but they were all enamored of her and shared their food! Aagh! Don't encourage her, people! She scored some celery and dip, some chips, some carrots, and Lord knows what else.  She did attempt to share some of the food she'd scored with other folks, which made them laugh.

And I made a mistake: I took two bites of the sandwich, bread and all. Oh, it was a yummy-looking (and tasting) onion roll, and I just couldn't resist. Well, two bites was all it took. I thought I was going to start puking right there on the deck, in front of all those people! I learned my lesson on that, for sure. I waited a few moments and then continued eating the cheese and turkey and was fine. But I will mourn bread.

After being given a chocolate chip cookie each, I washed the kids up and then it was time to get ready for some more filming. I sent the little ones out to the backyard to play (I watched them from the back door the whole time, and there was absolutely NO traffic except for our own group anyway) while I stayed in and watched the goings-on. First, they filmed Chloë's hand up close for the second ad, changing the thermostat. Amazing how long that little bit of acting took! How many shots, how much set-up and adjusting and discussion. Very interesting.

Then she went back into wardrobe and hair and make-up for the final ad. Terri the Mom left, as she was finished, and the extremely nice NOVEC Client took her leave as well, thanking me for Chloë. Eric had told me previously that she'd beaten out a lot of other kids for the commercial and had had to get the approval of a lot of people before being chosen. Proud Mama!

I was able to watch half the filming of the second ad, through two of Chloë's three wardrob and hair changes. At one point, she was supposed to pick up the jar of pickles and express her disgust. Well, she's such a ham; between takes, she kept going on about how she hated pickles, they were disgusting, etc. They told her, that's okay, you don't really need to eat them. She replied, "Oh, no, I really do like pickles. I was just acting!" OMG. They roared, and I was rolling. Hilarious!!!!

The Littles insisted on coming in at that point, so I let them stay for exactly ten seconds before Eric gave the "I need quiet on the set!" and I rushed them back out to the yard. I'd been assured that they couldn't hear us playing out there, so we stayed. By then it was beautiful out, so no need for coats.

We ran around, playing, and I lay on the ground and let them bury me in leaves. I got several in my mouth, blech. We were still rolling around on the lawn when Eric came out and said they were finished with her. He told me what a great job Chloë had done, that she's gotten a little tired at the end but did fantastic for such a long day of shooting. (She'd been up since 0530, and it was 1530 by then!) Most kids would have had a meltdown by then, in his experience.

I asked him about the commercials, since it's for a non-local-to-us power company. They're going to edit them tomorrow and email them to me sometime next week! And I can share with you and anyone I want, as long as I don't charge for the privilege. (Rats!) He and the hair lady helped me with our bags and stuff, and she fetched a string cheese and cookies for each of the kids.

And finally, at last, we were on our way home again. Rah.

We were maybe, possibly, a mile down the road before I looked in my rearview and saw three floppy heads in the backseat. Sound, sound asleep. As soon as I heard "I Kissed a Girl" come on the radio, though, I knew I had a problem. Sure enough, Sophie popped out of her deep sleep and said, "MOMMY! Is that Katy Perry?" She has a bit of an obsession with her. Heh. She didn't go back to sleep for the rest of the trip!

Jack and Chloë snored for quite a while, and then finally Curly woke up and started reading B&R again. She always loves to tell me what page she's on, what chapter, and what the action is. I love that she is so thrilled with books. "Mommy! In Chapter Four, Beatrice turns TEN! That means she was NINE for the first three chapters!"

We got to around Williamsburg with no problems, and then the late-afternoon sunlight striping the road started to affect my eyeballs. It makes me sleepy, and I had touch-and-goes all the way home from there. We ran into several accidents that delayed our arrival by at least 20 minutes - not bad, but I was dying to be home and crash. And not crash, myself. But we made it.

The rest of the night was pretty standard, with a little play, a little Noggin, dinner, baths, etc. Nothing exciting.

So if you made it all the way through this novella, bravo to you! It was a fun, fun day, and I'm so glad she enjoyed it and did so well. Next up: her movie shoot on Sunday!

Fin.

On The Real

I'm going to try and make this a quickie, because Shana wants to go to bed, so I need to get out of her hair.

Our visit is going well. I'm glad she came, though it's so short: she'll be leaving tomorrow afternoon already. Sophia (well, all of them) keeps forgetting her name, so she calls her "The Lady." Which cracks my ass up!!  "The Lady said I could have more goldfish crackers." "I want The Lady to feed me my dessert," etc. Too funny.

Shana gave them some Tic-Tacs yesterday, and Chloë asked us to let her breathe in our faces afterward. "I want to freshen your nose!" So we keep saying that.

Also, she renamed Shana "Cicada Pomegranate"!

Jack just likes it when Shana performs the "Tickletastic" on him. The boy loves a good tickle!

When we were driving today, Sophia said, "Jackie, Jesus!" Shana said, "Sophia! That's not a nice thing to say," or something to that effect. Sophie returned, "But I LOVE Chuck E. Cheese's!" We totally misheard her. It was hilarious.

At Toys 'R Us, Sophia and I happened upon a man sword-fighting with a little girl, using a giant plastic crayon bank. Sophie stopped, hands on hips, and demanded to know what they were doing. The man replied, "Sword fighting! Haven't you ever done that before? Grab a crayon!" She said "okay" and started sword fighting with the man! It was hysterical; I so wish I'd had my camera with me. Then she insisted I get a crayon, too, so we were all sword fighting together. It was so fun!

While Chloë and I were at dance class, Shana cleaned the kitchen and made dinner (she's a keeper!). There was pasta, sauce, and mixed veggies. Oh, and mandarin oranges. But she called it "worm stew." The kids kept laughing and talking about eating worm stew all through dinner. Jack ate all his worms!

*********

So, like I said, our visit is going well. I'd tossed and turned all night, so I was still very sleepy after all the kids got up, and the Bigs went off to school.  Shana took Sophia and the dog out for a walk and let me sleep for a couple more hours. Nice. I needed that.

Then we both showered (not together, you pervs!) and hung out 'til Jack came home. Shana fixed the kids some lunch, and then we ran errands.

Our first stop was the pet store, to get a new water dish for Lily. We went to the big fun pet store with all the critters in it (where we got Bounce last year), and the kids ran amok visiting the rays, fishies, rodents, reptiles and birds. They could spend the day in there, I swear. But we had more to do, so I purchased my bowl, and off we went.

Next was the bookstore. Before we even got all the way in the door, I found two books to go with two others MIL had already given the kids, and had to have them. (Mom - the ladybug and monkeys books with the bumpy animals? I found fish and chicks ones!) Shana was off to find the next book in her series, and I was in search of more Junie B. Jones for Chloë. I let the Littles play with the train set while I looked, until we heard a crash. "Uh-oh." That had to be one of mine. Nothing major happened, but I kept them next to me after that! No Junie B., so I got her Beverley Cleary's Beezus and Ramona instead; both Shana and I read that at her age. And I chose a Go, Diego Go! beginning reader for Jack.

Lastly, we went to Toys 'R Us, just to play. I didn't even bring my purse in with me, so the Nonnies knew they weren't getting anything. Shana bounced some balls around with them, and then we found some giant koosh-like balls that were really fun to squeeze and throw around. But Jack had a mission: He wanted to see whether they had the same black Cadillac as his at home. After our sword fight, we made it back there to find they had not one but TWO identical Caddies on display. He was in shock! The kiddos tried out all the trucks, and then it was time to get home for Chloë.

We started cleaning up the kitchen, and Shana really got into it, cleaning out the grunge and gross stuff from all the nooks and crannies. I stopped to read the new books to the kids and get Chloë ready for dance. Rob came home, and Chlo and I slipped out.

Dance was boring and uninteresting - at least for me, since I'd forgotten to bring anything to read or knit. I went down to Taco Bell for some pintos and cheese, and that's pretty much all the calories and protein I've had for today. (I've taken in less than 300 calories both today and yesterday; not good!)  I went back and ate it, and then I went inside to let Miss Sally know that Chloë'd be missing from ballet tomorrow. While there, I talked to miss Darlene and told her all about the acting/modeling work Chloë's been getting, since she sponsored her iPOP trip last January. She was excited to hear!

Oh! I forgot, Chloë landed another gig! It's a commercial for the Northern Virginia electric company. We recorded her doing her monologue over the weekend and submitted it through her agent, who called today to say they loved her. Yay, Chlo!

At home, dinner was ready, and I made pudding for dessert. All the kids ate a great dinner; they put away way more than I expected! Must have been that awesome worm stew. I wouldn't know; I just sipped my water and looked longingly at the pasta... *sigh*

Jack didn't have homework, and Shana helped Chloë with hers tonight, so Sophia and I went out to rent a Redbox movie with our free Monday code. We chose Madagascar 2: Escape to Africa. Rob loaded it up when we came home, and the six of us sat and watched it. It was really cute, I enjoyed it. They'll probably want to watch it again tomorrow before I return it.

I did my 20 minutes on the treadmill both last night and tonight, but I had to break it up twice tonight because of my back. Nooooo! Say it ain't so! Hopefully things will be better tomorrow.

So I think I had more, but I've already lied about this being a quickie, and I must go.

TTFN!

Fin.

Moving Right Along

Today was Bunco day, so the kids helped me make cupcakes during the day.  I had camnesia, so no pictures, but they turned out pretty. We made spice cakelets with orange buttercream frosting. As usual, they clamored over who was going to lick the beaters and who would get the bowl (strange - the bowl has a lot more, but no one wants it).  Since they'd each eaten a good PB&J or PB&Nutella lunch, I let them have a frosted cupcake for a snack. Oh, boy. What delight they get from such a simple pleasure!

Shortly afterward, the girls dressed for their respective dance classes, and away we went. Chloë brought in her cookies order form, and each of the three teachers bought a box from her. She was thrilled that they did. Sophia kept insisting, as she always does, that Miss Jessica is her teacher and Chloë can't have her (even though she's Chloë's tap teacher on Mondays), so of course she protested her selling to Miss Jessica. I know the Miss Darlene is a healthnut, so I was surprised she deigned to buy a package, but she's nice like that.

Jack and Sophie played and giggled in the back of the van during Chlo's jazz class, so I was able to read my book most of the time. New Moon is getting better. I don't want to spoil it for anyone, but I reached the sad part in chapter three and was crying my eyes out when Stephanie called. "Ooh, where are you in the book? Tell me exactly what's happening," she wanted to know. So we did our little Twilight chitty-chat. I'm getting into it more. It was the same with the first book; I couldn't get into it at first, but once it picked up, I was hooked.

Back at home, I had little time to do anything but shower and dress for Bunco, so I was glad I had already frosted the cupcakes.  I've been to that house, oh, four times, but was still confused when I got there. I stood on the porch and called the hostess from outside to make sure I was at the right place! How silly.

Soon after the games began, I received a phone call from Chloë's agent in L.A. They wanted her out there tomorrow for a national (SAG) Volkswagen commercial. Sigh. And then, he asked me, "What are we going to do about Miss Chloë?" I asked what  he meant, and he told me that apparently she is getting all kinds of attention, that people are constantly asking for her, and he doesn't let me know because we're so far away. What can we do? Right now, with this surgery, my hands are tied.  It really sucks, after we worked so hard to get her out there and get started, not to be able to actually go now when she is in demand. If there was anything I could do about it, we'd go. But, it is nice to know that the work would be there, if we were!

Somehow, some way...

But I've got to focus on the surgery, now just a week and a half away. I go up there Monday and Tuesday for all kinds of appointments and pre-labs and hospital registration, and then, bam! It'll be the 26th before we know it. I'm getting stoked. Jack is asking a lot of questions about it. He's very curious. Relax, though; he's matter-of-fact about it, not sad or worried or anything.

I think I'm going to go knit and catch up on some DVR'd TV. I finished the back of the roll-edge coat, but I do believe I will run out of yarn before I finish the rest. I thought I had more, but I only have five balls of it, and I'm on the third. Yikes. I hate to leave a project unfinished like that.

We watched the movie 21 last night. It was very good; I suggest you see it. It was fast-paced and kept my interest the whole time, and the ending was great. Good flick!

Chloë was given the book Heidi by my dad for Christmas. She's excited to be on Chapter 21 now! She loves the book and is always carrying it around the house, or having her nose buried in it in the car. I'm glad she's such a reader!

Ta for now.

Fin.

One Of the Classics

Today was a git 'er done type of day for us.

Chloë and Jack had absolutely decimated their bedroom, so they spent a good three hours up there cleaning it up.  They kept coming down and saying, "It's done!" And we'd ask, What about under the bed? What about your dressers? What about your closet?" And they'd run right back up to their room to clean some more. They did a good job! It's an ongoing process, though, as are all [our] housekeeping chores.

Rob went out to Home Depot with Sophia during that time, and they spent a good long time there looking at flooring and new shower options. I guess it'll be a few weeks before our new shower comes in, so we're stuck bathing in the kids' bathroom in the meantime. UGH.  I grumped and complained to myself as I trouped in there with all my shower stuff. Can I just move to a hotel?

I have a huge ton of stuff in the office right now. All my new (and old) crafting stuff, all the birthday party stuff, all the stuff from the hall closet to fix the leak, just tons of crap. I've decided we're going to sell the leopard-print fainting couch (recamier) and maybe a few other bits of office furniture to make room for a crafting table and/or some organizing bins! I can't wait. It'll be great.

I've also decided it's time to get rid of a LOT of toys so we can (a) see the bones of our living room again and (b) get new ones (ugh) for birthdays and Christmas. Chlo's birthday won't be too crazy - from us, she's getting a real working knitting machine thing that she picked out at Michael's, and a live butterfly kit. Don't know what they'll get for Christmas yet other than a ride-on Power Wheels toy for Jack, but we are going to sell al lthe Geotrax, all the Little People, and all the Peek-a-Blocks. So other than the blocks, we pulled out ALL of the other stuff and photographed it, and I just listed it on our local Craigslist. I already have a decent offer for the Little People! I'm trying not to be sad or sentimental about the toys, since I'm really trying to do away with all plastic crap from China right now.

There were a bunch of things they just don't ever play with, so I bagged everything up and listed it on Freecycle.

I can't wait until everything is gone! They kids aren't even upset about it, surprise. As long as I put it under the explanation that we need to make room for NEW toys for CHRISTMAS, they were cool with it.

So today's highlight was this:

 

Chloë is published in this book! We submitted her recipe:

 

months and months ago, and I'd completely forgotten about it until a free copy of the book came in the mail today! It's a really nice book, and all the entries are hilarious. I was told I could get a 25% discount off the $20 price when they put it in their new retail section on bobsyouruncle.com, so if you're interested, check it out! I have the name and phone number of the guy if you need it to get the discount...

Oh! I also made some more things for Etsy. A crocheted dish towel and washcloth set (Steph, and everyone, let me know if I should change the price on that, I got a range from $10 to $25 suggested, oy), some barrettes, and my serf booties and jester hat. Check 'em out (button is on the sidebar on right)!

Off to do more office cleaning.

Fin.

Out Slumming

Welp, because I was up all night being sick to my stomach, I was pretty much worthless during the day today. I wanted to do something crafty with Sophia, but I just felt weak and not up to it. I'm afraid we watched entirely too much Noggin today.

In the afternoon, the mailman rang the bell and dropped a box on my porch. It was for the CAT, the monthly charity crochet-a-thon that I do. This month, CARE Package is a co-sponsor, so we're getting some handmade donations. These are the first, from Linda G. in New York. She made two blanktets and three sweaters. They're beautiful, thanks Linda!

By the time Chloë came home from school, I was feeling more revived. I wanted to go out and do some things, but I didn't have the energy yet to go upstairs and take a shower. So I took my nasty-ass self out, with no bra on, no shower, no teeth or hair brushed, with the kids - Sophie still in PJs, no less - to the public library to sign them up for the summer reading program that started today. We've never done it before, but now that I have a reader, it's time! I didn't know reading to littler ones counted too, so I signed them all up. When they complete ten hours of reading time, they get prizes and incentives! It should be fun for them. Steph, will you keep up the reading for us whilst we're in Europe? Only two more weeks to go!

By the way, it was over 100 degrees out, and when I haven't showered, I sweat even more. So I know exactly how gross I was and that I should be embarrassed for my ghetto behavior. I was!

After the library, Rob called to say he was home. Perfect! I swung over to the house and picked him up, and then we five headed to the fabric store. MIL has created a monster; now I want to do more and more sewing and learn wth I'm doing. I'm not going to make all their clothes from now on, oh no, but it will be fun to make them some matchy-matchy stuff.

I bought six different kinds of patterns, each with multiple variations, and the fabric and 'notions' for four of them:

This little dress will be made with the blue flowers for Chloë and the pink flowers for Sophia. Otherwise, except for size, they'll be identical. What's cute about this fabric, which you can't see because it's folded inside-out, is that there are little sparkles all over it. The girls love it!

This will be a pretty little ruffly dress for both girls. I'm going to be working with lining and netting, so I'll probably say a lot of bad words over this one!

With this cute little froggy fabric, I'm going to make some adorable little scrubs-type jammies for all three of the kids. I can see using this pattern again and again!

With this cool green batik fabric, I'm going to make matching shorts for all three kids and the bandanna head covering for Jack. I'll probably just buy matching tank tops (or whatever) so I don't have to mess with stretchy knits.

How'd I do, Mom???

Rob surprised me by giving me these "made by Mom" labels to sew into the kids' clothes. I thought that was really sweet of him!

After we did all that damage in the fabric store, we headed to Michael's. A gentleman in the blogosphere has purchased a scarf, the kind I still have up on the fundraising page for CARE Package.  I sent Rob in there, with the 50%-off coupon, of course, while I ducked into Panera next door, with the kiddies, to order dinner to take home. It was already after 8 PM, after all. I was finished and back in the car before Rob got out of Michael's! Men.

Turns out they didn't have the colorway of yarn the man wanted for his little girl, so he had to buy the next closest thing. We'll see if it passes muster. In the meantime, between that, all my sewing goodies, and the little sundress I just started crocheting tonight for Steph's little niece, I have my hands full with projects!

Now I think it's time to take that shower...

Fin.

P.S. At the fabric store, I found shawls and wraps on sale for $2.50 each! So I bought three for the cruise, in pink, black and ivory. Sweet!

P.P.S. Confidential to MIL: There were NO Jodi Picoult books at my library! I'll have to wait awhile if I want to read My Sister's Keeper. Bummer.

Hot Damn!!!!!

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!

I am literally jumping up and down. Okay, I was, before I sat down here.

The most unexpected letter came in the mail today: Chloë is gifted!!!!! She is going to start receiving 'gifted' services at school!!!!!!!!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We've always known she was a smahty. I've just been so worried that that hasn't translated well at school. Hot damn!  I feel like we just won the lottery!

{Of course, there is something nagging at the bag of my head (LMAO, I'm keeping that typo in), asking me why this matters to me so much. I don't know whether it should, but it does, and I'm freaking excited, and I'm not going to defend that.}

Yayyyyyyyyyyy!!!!!

Fin.

Chloë B. Jones

That's what I like to see. My little six-year-old daughter, in her jammies, cuddled up reading her Junie B. Jones book from her grandma, on the couch. The thrill of her being able to read is unrivaled and, so far, undissipated by time.

Evidently Junie B. has some surprises for Chloë!

So yesterday, we were supposed to go to the Silver Diner for a breakfast mystery shop. We didn't. We overslept. Surprise! The Odettes oversleeping? Nah. Never happens. So we'll have to do that tomorrow morning instead.

Then I went to Michaels for a rare adventure: Black Friday shopping. I never go. Literally, never. But Rob just gave me that Cricut machine for an anniversary/Christmas present, and now the cartridges for it (and the machine itself, but let's not think about the $170 we could have saved if we'd waited just another week or if I could find the effing receipt!) were on sale. He let me get six cartridges! Lots of different fun fonts and shapes for scrapbooking. I'm so excited about it. Not Europe excited, but in the ballpark. So I went home and ordered a bunch of pictures (hey, I had 200 free ones coming my way, thanks to Coke rewards!), so I can use my new toy soon.

After that, we headed to the Ghent section of Norfolk for a Panera lunch shop. We heart Panera. Have you eaten there? You should. It's good stuff. I got a Tuna on Focaccia half-sandwich, broccoli cheddar soup, and a piece of French baguette for dipping into my soup. Rob got something with bacon and Gouda and turkey, and the same soup. The kids shared ours, since Rob had just stuffed them with pancakes while I was on my little shopping spree. I actually managed to get out of there without dropping any soup on my shirt, which seems to be an enduring challenge for me.

In the evening, we went out to Lynnhaven Lanes for some Xtreme bowling. Another mystery shop. Yep, I know. Broken record. Whenever we do the bowling shops, we follow pretty much the same routine: Sophie stays in the stroller, Rob bowls with Jack and I bowl with Chloë for the first game, then just Rob and I bowl against each other on the second game, and we get a small pizza combo. Last night was no different. Now, we are terrible bowlers, but it was a bit amusing last night when I bowled better with a six-year-old than on my own. I think I knocked down maybe 33 pins. Rob fared much better. He got into the 50s. We are quite a team. No wonder our minds are always in the gutter, eh, Stephanie? We can't get out of them!

Today, Rob had to stand watch. Ugh. My favorite words are, "I'm coming home early." Least favorite? "I have watch this weekend." Hate it! So he worked 0600-1400, and Jack woke me up at 7:30 to tell me Chloë was puking in the bed again. Again??! That's, like, the fourth or fifth time in a month. Rob's starting to wonder if her reflux is coming back. God, I hope not. I just think it's all the snot and goo and the coughing and coughing she's doing. I think I'm going to take my bottle of Clorox Sanitizing Spray and disinfect every surface in this house. It's been a bad month. I'm convinced I've moved on to pneumonia myself. Anyway, so I ran in and pulled her out of bed, sent her to my bathroom to finish puking, and assessed the scene. Not bad. I checked on my poor schweetie, heaving over the toilet, and then cleaned up the bedroom. Jack was pretty pissed when I sent him back to bed, but that's early for him.  Chloë crawled weakly into bed with me and fell sound asleep.

I didn't have the heart to wake her at 9:00 when the alarm went off for her auditions class at the acting school. I looked over, and she was snoring softly and completely knocked out. Nah. She's going to get her sleep.

Which is good, because we did make it to the acting school at 2:00 for her regular acting class - the last one, the "showcase," I thought, hardly anyone was there. They came from the back to tell me that there were no classes on Thanksgiving weekend. Oh! Really? I must have missed that. Well, good, because I hate sitting there for hours on my own, let alone with Sophie and Jack in tow, bored out of their gourds.

So we headed to Sears. I'd gotten a call that my glasses were ready and I could come pick them up. Yay! Clearer vision, here I come. I went from 20/200 to 20/400, if you must know how blind I am. :p When they say "read the sign on the wall," I say, "What sign?" So I read my report, since this was of course part of a mystery shop, and we picked up las gafas. (I'll be dropping some more Spanish on you between now and June, just so's ya know.)  Then we went around to housewares to see if I could find a new pre-lit fakety-fake Christmas tree, since the lights went out on our current one, and I don't want to deal with that BS this year. They had some, sure, but they were more than twice what I wanted to pay, and they ended up not having the one I chose in stock anyway. Rats.

And since Rob was asking me whether I wanted my cruise or Christmas lights put up - such is the amount he loves doing the lights - I thought I'd make it easier on him and find some battery operated Christmas thingies to put out in the yard. Cord, cord, cord, cord, cord. Nothing but corded stuff. We don't have any outlets outside, so I bagged the idea and left with just my glasses. And my babies.

Rob was home when we got home, so he gave the tots some food while I worked on my shop reports. Chloë wanted to make her own PB&J sandwich. It took  her ages upon ages, but the girl got it done. Whether she ate it or not is a different story.

After 6 pm, Stephanie and Tim came over to watch the kids while we went out to dinner at Phillips, at the Norfolk airport, for another shop. Only, when we got there, it was closed! Closed! During the time the shop said to be there. Odd, very odd. So we stared at each other, twiddled our thumbs, and decided to go to Moe's ("Welcome to Moe's!") instead.

We also heart Moe's. You get a huge, filling meal, and it's way not expensive.  We got our grub on, Rob fussed at the news for showing stuff about Kanye West's mother (who cares? he says. Who cares? I say!), and then we went to the movies. I had cashed in more Coke rewards points for two free AMC tickets, and I really wanted to see Dan in Real Life with Steve Carrell. It was a good flick! I blubbered for no reason for pretty much the entire movie, and we laughed. Worth what we paid for it, as Rob said. No, he liked it, too.

So that's about it. Oh, I forgot to tell y'all what Jack did/said at Thanksgiving dinner. He asked me if Christmas was after Thanksgiving. I confirmed that it was. So he pushed his plate away and said, "I'm done! It's Christmas time!"  Pretty fricking hilarious.

Fin.