Going, going, gone

This is how I have been feeling.

Yesterday I was so tired after not sleeping on Tuesday night. I am typically optimistic, funny, talkative and happy. But yesterday? I was grouchy, down right grouchy. So this morning I was delighted when I awoke and didn't know what day it was. As this meant I had had a deliciously, restorative, deep sleep, it was heaven sent. I love sleep. I can deal when I don't get it but I really prefer to get it, as most of us. I even got up earlier than normal and therefore was ahead of the kids, etc.

SIDEBAR = I know that many of working moms are super duper organized and lay out clothes for themselves and the kids. They plan meals and breakfast prepared before they go to bed, etc. But me? I don't operate that way. I am much better in the morning than I am at night, so I would rather clean dishes in the morning or pick out clothes, etc. I know. I am crazy. I know some people could never ever go to bed with a sink full of dishes. Now I am not saying that I do the dishes every morning, I am just saying that is when I would rather do them. End of SIDEBAR

They had their cocoa and bottle, respectively. I put my make up on, laid out their clothes and prepared a second cup of cocoa for Oldest. They were not pestering Kitty too much. I was looking for clothes for myself when I heard Baby's voice. It sounded muffled. I moved quickly to uncover what sinister act was being perpetrated upon him by his siblings, when I discovered, that he had closed the door to the bathroom and was in the bathroom. On the stool. In front of the door. "Get off the stool, Baby." I began to push the door. To my surprise he did, he got down off the stool and I was able to get him out. Then suddenly I was surrounded by them. All of them. "Ugh, I just need to finish me and then I can deal with you, I thought." I put on Wizard of Oz. Thank God they are t.v. heads. I finished getting ready.

Now it was time to get them dressed. Another SIDEBAR = I know that I should not be getting them dressed, but it is habit. Certainly Oldest, who will be 5 in March, does not need help getting dressed, but it gets done when I do it. Middle, by the way, gets dressed himself. End of SIDEBAR Baby was dressed with little struggle. Middle wanted to do it himself. You should have seen it. He is SO funny. I got Oldest dressed.

Now it was time for breakfast. "Today we are having a smorgasbord for breakfast," I said proudly. "What's a smorusbd," asked oldest. "Well it is a bunch of different kinds of food." "Oh like breakfast to go?" "Not really." So I dole out the cereal bars. Middle freaks out. He doesn't want a cereal bar...WHINE all the way. UGH! I then dole out handfuls of Cheerios, followed by raisins. Middle is still not interested. Baby and Oldest are now onto the Cherrios and raisins. I bring out the "treat", a few goldfish. NOW Middle wants to eat. Of course. What do you think I am new here???

Then it is time to get shoes on. Oldest has to go to the bathroom. Middle thinks she is brushing her teeth because she is at the sink, when she is actually washing her hands. Middle screams at her and pushes her, while she is standing on the stool. "Um, OH MY GOD! I thought I was having a good morning. Take a deep breath and deal."

Now it is time to get coats on. I have put their coats on the floor with Middle's hat and mittens. I get Baby's coat on. Middle starts screaming that he doesn't want to wear that coat, but his rain coat. I am thinking, "Are you FREAKING kidding me right now?" I bring Baby out to the car. I come back and his obsession with the rain coat is raging. I get the stupid coat off the top hook and he puts it on.

Now it is time to get buckled in your seats. I buckle Oldest. I start toward Middle when he begins to scream, uh, I mean whine, "I want my girl spot puppy." "No, you gathered everything that you were bringing with you and girl spot puppy was not in your stuff." "But I want it!" "OH MY GOD I CAN'T FRIGGIN' WAIT TO GET TO WORK, this is RIDICULOUS!" Another SIDEBAR = I put Kitty out when we leave for the morning, Kitty would rather stay in the house. Going back in to get this stupid girl spot puppy is going to cause more problems than I care to deal with. End of SIDEBAR I successfully procure said girl spot puppy, collect Kitty and redeposit outside and get into the car.

Gone

Conference Call

I am currently on a conference call with a run away train. It cannot be stopped and it isn't pretty. This project is a nightmare.

Update - work was rough today. Seriously rough. My conference call was so unstructured, no focus and as a result no progress.

I didn't sleep at all last night, so I am grouchy. On a good note, the cleaning people were here today and my house looks wonderfully organized. In one day, er, hour it will be trashed.

Show and tell was supposed to be today. Although Oldest just informed me that "Oh momma, it was Johnathan's day today, you silly momma!" Um, yeah I thought the two of your did it on the same day. Darn, where is the scheudule! UGH!!

Chatter

Oldest = "Will you ask Daddy to build me a stage?"

Me = "You can ask Daddy to build you a stage."

Oldest = "Ok, I will, I will ask him today. The boys can build me a stage. We can paint it with pink polka dots and blue ones too. Where will he put the stage? I can get up and dance and sing for us, it will be great! Me and you can make curtains and the boys can build the stage. You can use it too! It is ok with me if grown ups use it too. It will be great. Can he build it today? I think green polka dots too. The boys can build the stage with daddy. They can help him. It will be great. I think I will like it alot when they build it."


All the while she is talking, I am thinking where could we put a stage? I am a sucker.

Disgusting Cat Chronicles

We still have the cat. This morning I noticed an unmistakable odor of cat. So I hunted around and found the offending pile of POOP. Gagging all the way through, I cleaned it up. Vowed to let the cat out and not ever let it back in. I'm a big talker! Typically we put the cat out when we go to work and at night, if it isn't too cold we put him in the barn, from whence he came. If it is too cold he stays in the breeze way. When we go to work, I put him out. But this morning, he fought me! UGH! The kids are in the car, the car is running I have to deal with this freakin' cat! So I filled a wash basin with baking soda, put it over in the area I had discovered the grossness, put out more food and closed him in the breeze way. Oh the place where I discovered the grossness? That would be the place between the wall and the dryer, a nice small space and in order to clean it I had to wedge myself in there, stepping in cat pee. I stepped in cat pee fully dressed, sans shoes in the only pair of brown socks I have. I was not a happy camper this morning!

I dropped the kids at the baby sitter's, went straight to Target and bought a Poop Cave, aka, litter box. The Poop Cave has been installed and we hope that the Kitty gets the idea. The kids introduced Kitty to the Poop Cave, in their typical smothering fashion.

After we rescued Kitty from the kids and ushered them away, King Daddy looked at me lovingly and said, "How did we get here?!!"

UPDATE: 8:47 pm - Good Kitty! He used the litter box! It worked, it worked!! YEAH!! Wait, who cleans the litter box?

We made it! We made it!!

Cinderella

Flora, Fauna and Meriwether

Me and my Auntie!

Beauty and the Beast

Amazed

Arriving!

If it's 2 o'clock...

...someone must be sick!

There goes the three tickets for today's Princesses on Ice show! ARGH! She will be devastated, again. And I feel bad. Poor little thing.

Keep your fingers crossed we don't get it as well! Deb over at Mom of 3 Girls had it and she was down and out for a whole day! Yikes!!!

Cat update - he, I am pretty sure it is a he, is still here. He sleeps in the breeze way and only is in the house when we are home/awake. He goes out when we leave for work, he is sort of like a dog. I am not all that into cats, but this one is a LOVE. And my allergies don't seem to be an issue. Bottom line? King Daddy is into him too so he is a keeper. Just what we need, another mouth to feed and a being who needs his own doctor. Oh well.

Job update - have I ever mentioned this one? I am a contractor. Contracting is fine, however in my position, if I don't work I don't get paid. If my kids are sick, no pay. Holidays? No pay. So although I am bringing in a pay check it isn't enough. The offer is coming...and coming...and still coming. No progress has been made. It was supposed to happen January 1. I enjoy what I am doing, the "offer" that was discussed is great and the office is ridiculously close to my house. So what will I do? Wait, I guess. What is a girl to do?

So it is now 2:10 Oldest is dozing on the couch watching Enchanted Tales, I have cleaned up the living room and loaded and run the dishwasher. My house is a complete mess. Piles of mail and laundry. What else would you do at 2 in the morning?

It's 2 o'clock in the morning...

...what are you doing?

Me? I am awake, with one puking child and two other children who are under the impression that it is time to get up.

Um, hello??!!

Tagged I'm it and now?

You're it!!!

I was tagged yesterday by Dawn and it is my first tag! I was tagged randomly and will go now and tag seven more from Blog 365.

Here are the rules:

Link to the person who tagged you. = done
Leave a comment on their blog so that their readers can visit yours. = done
Post the rules on your blog. = done
Share the seven (7) most famous or infamous people you have met. Or go with the original 7 weird things about yourself. = done, I went with the weird.
Tag 7 random people at the end of your post. Include links to their blogs. = finished, FINALLY!
Let each person know that they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog. = ditto!

More later! Perhaps much later as Oldest and I are going to Disney Princesses on Ice! So exciting!!
I need to go and get all of us ready for the day...they are currently getting into costumes and out of their pajamas!

Update number 1. Oldest threw up so we are not going to see Disney Princesses on Ice tonight, the poor little thing is devastated. So I did what every other mother who believes that they have money coming out of their butt would do. I bought another set of tickets for Saturday! Money Saving Mom would not be proud!!

Ok, it is much later, about 12 hours later, I have finally tagged everyone. Phew, that was an ordeal. I don't know 7 famous or infamous people so I will go with the seven weird things, I guess.

1. I am an Irish twin.
2. The toe next to my pinky toe is tucked under my middle toe.
3. I wear mismatched socks regularly.
4. I gained weight when I breast fed my children.
5. I pick my kids nose.
6. When dinning in a restaurant, I must be seated with my back against the wall.
7. I must go and return from any regularly attended destination via the same route.

I tag the following people:
Allie Bear
Lisaschaos
Shockingfish
It's my life...wanna come play?
Making a Person
My Little Drummer Boys
Crazy, Sexy Life!

1005 and 20

1005 visitors to my blog since November 1oth. I know the counter isn't all that accurate. But I have counted the number of comments(20+/-) and that ratio is dismal. So I am inviting, begging, ordering you even to make yourselves known and comment!!!

Horrified or mortified?

We headed to the Museum of Science yesterday. Always fun for the kids and certainly entertaining for us. If you aren't aware, Dear Reader, I have a propensity for opening my mouth without thinking. Luckily for me King Daddy finds this endearing, but the public at large, probably not so much.

We walk into the arena of the Museum of Science where there are cars, antique cars, electric cars, solar powered cars and race cars. There is a red race car surrounded by ropes on all four sides with signs posted. The signs read something to the effect of, "Please do not touch car." No need to spell it out as the ropes sort of gave it away. As soon as we walked in I knew that Middle would be beside himself with excitement. I was speechless when I spotted a kid climbing all over this car. Unfortunately the speechlessness didn't last. "Nice. Look at that kid climbing all over that car. It clearly says to keep off."

It happened in slow motion. I swear. Out of the corner of my eye, I see a father moving toward the car. He says, "Oh God," and then retrieves his kid. He grabs his kid, yells at his kid for being on the car. All the air came out of my lungs. My face was immediately purple with embarrassment. "I can't believe they were close enough to hear me say that. I am so embarrassed," I say to King Daddy. "Not as much as that guy, " he says. After he rolls his eyes at me knowing my lack of editing skills. I see the father with his family ascending the escalator, I can't bear to look at them, I know they are pointing in my direction. I am horrified and mortified.

Will I ever learn my lesson? Probably not.

This is what is happening in our house right now.

Middle is running around in circles, from the kitchen through the office into the living room and back to the kitchen. Over and over again.

The cat is hiding underneath the kitchen cabinets.

Oldest is crying because the cat is hiding underneath the kitchen cabinets.

Baby is yelling "Meow, meow, meow."

This is ridiculous. Oldest is obsessed with the cat and takes it personally if the cat doesn't sit with her. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?

King Daddy is not surprised at all with her behavior, I of course am stunned. And have no patience with this most unbecoming behavior.

We are watching sports highlights as the Patriots are onto the Super Bowl.

A Cat in the Barn

There was a cat on our porch last night. I open the door and as I do King Daddy says, "oh that is the cat that has been living in the barn for the last two weeks."

Oldest is in love with this cat. I am allergic to cats.

More later.

I notice things

Like for instance... ear wax. I notice every one's ear wax, in particular, Baby. He makes so much ear wax it is ridiculous.

How Middle takes only a select pieces of the tags from his blankie to rub against his nose.

How Oldest rubs the satiny side of her lamby between her fingers.

How kids like to play with tampons.

How kids eat pizza upside down.

How Middle had a pretty good case of bed head this morning.

How Oldest likes to wear bells and be with her mother.

How much I hate having to deal with grown up things.

How little the kids have been listening to me and King Daddy.

How much Oldest likes to have her back scratched.

How sad I am that our friend lost her long awaited baby.

How much I love my husband.

And finally, I notice a cat meowing on my porch and I don't have a cat.

SSSS dos

I had anticipated something could go awry with my travels, so I did some serious research into the identification requirements for gaining access in the secure area of the airport, other wise known as the gate where I need to be in order to get on the plane to go to my business meeting. In Florida.

SSSS means Secondary Security Selection Screening. It is typically placed in code on your boarding pass so you are randomly selected to under go extensive screening. Or you can be flagged for this special screening while standing in the security line.

My license expired, in December. Shortly after this I was told by a Man in Blue that I would not be able to drive my car as the registration had expired. In September. So I was/am a bit of an outlaw. I tried to renew my license online, but evidently you can only renew it online once every other time you nee to renew. Oh. That is stupid. I have yet to make the time to go over to the place that I have to go to renew this license. But the signs that I need to renew this thing have been coming fast and furious.

On Sunday, after our date? Yeah, we got pulled over. We got pulled over because a different Man in Blue ran the plates on my car and it came up as expired registration and license. King Daddy was driving. I pulled out the renewed registration and he gave us the thumbs up on that and then inquired as to whom the car was registered. "Me," I said.
"What is your name?" I responded with my birth name.
"Your license is expired."
"Oh. That must have happened, last month on my birthday."
He responds with, "Good thing you aren't driving. Have a good night."
King Daddy looks at me and says, "Just don't talk. Why did you even say anything?" And then we started laughing. I have a tendency to talk when I should just zip it. It is bad and funny and so we laughed.

So back to the story at hand. The requirements for an ID to get on your plane state, "A government issued identification." I read that in several places. "Ok, I am good," I think to myself. NO where does it say that it needs to be a valid government issued identification. I am no lawyer, but I am sure that cases have been lost on less! So I get to the airport, mildly nervous about my predicament. I breeze right through without incident.

On the way back, however, it is not so easy. I obtained my boarding pass sans incidence. Now the security line. My colleague and I are standing in the security line, chatting away about kids, work, blah blah. He presents his ID an boarding pass and sails right through. The TSA ID checker looks at my ID. Then asks me if I have any other ID with me. Uh oh.
"Is this all you are travelling with for ID?" She inquires.
"I know where you are going with this," I think to myself.
The next thought is, "I am the biggest talker in the world and I would never ever say anything about the fact that the requirements make no reference to the validity of said government issued identification."
"Why?" "What's up?" Sly like a fox, I am not.
"Momma your ID has expired."
"Uh, my ID has expired?" An actress I am not.
"Do you have anything else with you? Birth Certificate? Social Security Card?" She asks.
"Um," I begin to rummage through my wallet. Ah ha! I come up with my Social Security Card, granted it has my maiden name on it.
"I have my SS card, but it has my maiden name, but it is the same social on my license and my SS card." I say.
"You will have to stand over here while I get my supervisor," she says.
She reached for her pen and my boarding pass. She began to scribble on my boarding pass. What is she writing? And then I saw it. And there it is in black ink all over my boarding pass. S S S S.

S S S S. I have to go to be specially screened.

They have to rummage through my luggage. (The luggage that has my clothes in it that I have worn. The gentleman is very kind. "Um, you have to go through all my cloth," he cuts me off. He can see the horror in my face. "We have seen it all, trust me," he says. Without getting to graphic, I will just say that every woman in the world knows the horror I was feeling. All of the clothes that I had worn over the past 2 days was in my luggage. Ok, there? Do you get it now?)
I have to go into some sort of "blower."
Then I have to take my shoes off.
Then I have to walk through a metal detector.
Then a very nice woman rummages through my luggage.
She says the exact same thing as the kind gentleman had told me earlier.
"We have seen it all. You have no idea."
I tell her that I will be blogging about this so keep on telling me everything!
My clogs have been identified by the ION detector to have a questionable substance so they must be run through the x-ray machine. As she finds an x-ray machine that is not in use she says over her shoulder, "At my last job, it was worse." "I could write a book," she says.
"You should start a blog," I wink.
"You are crazy," she says.
And with that I am discharged from my S S S S.

SSSS

Anyone have any ideas what this stands for????

Leave me a comment to help figure it out.

Here is a hint, I just returned home from Florida.

Orange juice anyone?

Well I am here, in Florida. There are palm trees everywhere and luckily for me the weather is overcast and cool, only 64 degrees. We had 8+ inches of snow so I decided last night that I would dress accordingly and change at the airport, in Florida, into appropriate clothes for one. my business meeting and two. the weather.

I promised Oldest that I would call and do prayers with her over the phone. Perhaps you forget, Dear Reader, that King Daddy is Jewish. Although we decided to raise our kids in the Christian tradition, it does not mean that King Daddy will have to recite the "Gentle Jesus, meek and mild..." prayer with the kids. So as luck would have it, I called just in time, even though I thought I had missed them. At the end of our prayer we say, "God Bless everyone we love, ESPECIALLY, [insert name(s) here]. Tonight Oldest said, "Don't forget about Middle, he is very very sick." "Um, what?" What is she talking about, he was doing better yesterday and he didn't come into my bed last night, he was asleep when I left this morning, WHAT IS SHE TALKING ABOUT? "I love you, can I talk to Daddy?" I was out to dinner with my colleagues and our client. So I was not totally focused on the kids and her claim that Middle was very sick came out of left field. "Let me get them to bed and I will call you back in a few minutes," King Daddy says. He called me right back. Our babysitter called and left a message for King Daddy at school, "Middle is having a very hard time and I think you need to bring him in to see the doctor." Evidently Middle cried through the entirety of his nap complaining that his ear hurt and that his mouth hurt. He was running a fever.

So they go to the doctor, all 4 of them. The doc looks in his throat, "not bad." The doc looks in his ear, "pretty bad." The nurse steps in and says, "he is positive for strep." Strep throat and an ear infection. Amoxycilin 2 teaspoons, three times a day for 10 days. I am 1,000 miles away from my sick boy. I would prefer to be there with him, comforting him, holding him, rubbing his head, getting him his pink medicine and snuggling. King Daddy is there and will do everything for him that I would. He will be fine, but still.

Sleep well Mhister Man, sleep well.

So many things to say

First, I rescheduled my flight to tomorrow morning. So I will make to the business meeting, albeit a little late. Bottom line is Florida is warm and it is cold and snow filled here.

Second, look what Baby did to the computer. I couldn't believe it. If you don't have your glasses on, let me tell you that these are keys from the laptop. HE is brutal!!

Third, our date was fantastic!! We never, ever go out so it was delightful! We split the crab cake appetizer, each had a caesar salad. I had a glass of Shiraz and he had a CC and ginger. I got the prime rib shepard's pie, out of this world! And he got the prime rib, hold the pie and shepard. It was GREAT to be out and to talk.

Fourth, King Daddy is by far the best father in the whole world!! He took Middle and Oldest out sledding! They had a blast!!! They are still out there throwing snow balls at each other.

Fifth, what good are Fritos if you don't have onion dip??

I have a date! I have a date!!!

I have a date with my husband tonight. To my favorite restaurant. Nothing could be better, the love of my life, my best friend, no kids and great food!!

Boys are both sick. Middle is far worse than Baby. Poor little thing!

Snow is coming, at least a foot. Looks like me and Florida will have to meet another time.

Jealous?

Florida is calling my name. I am travelling for business on Monday, or should I say, supposedly travelling for business on Monday. We are expecting a serious snow storm here in the North East. So it remains to be seen if I will answer Florida's call. It could be worse, I could have to travel for business to South Dakota. In January.

FLORIDA. Here I come!

Barking like a seal

The dominos have begun to fall. Middle woke with a croupy cough. He seems fine, but the vaporizer is on as both boys have coughs. I expect tomorrow that Oldest will succumb as well. I, on the other hand, keep fighting off my severe sore throat. We shall see. But we will all rally for the Patriot's game tomorrow night. GO PATS!

Green boggers and throw up

Baby was far worse today than yesterday. Although when I just called to check in, King Daddy said, "He is just fine." Hmmmmm....that is suspect.

Hacking Cough

Baby is sick and I am home. He does not have pneumonia, which is what his doctor thought. Phew. Here is a picture of him when he was feeling much better!

Debt, debt and more debt

I have been inspired to attack our family finances head on. I am sick and tired of letting our finances control our lives instead of us have control over our finances. We have debt. No surprise most everyone does, but that is not the point. I was over at MoneySavingMom.com yesterday and she issued a challenge for 2008. To plan a budget and basically take more fiscal responsibility. I was feeling completely overwhelmed yesterday as she recommends coupons. They scare me. I am frightened by them. Truly. I am not making this up. I am afraid of them. They put so much pressure on me and then when they expire, oh that is when I am the most scared. But I decided to at least join the challenge. And then yesterday I remembered something that I had learned a long time ago.

When I was in college I found a book regarding getting out of debt. I don’t recall the name of the book, but that is ok, as I remember the plan to get out debt fast. It is called the Rapid Debt Reduction Plan. It goes something like this:

1. Put your debts in increasing order. I don’t care what the interest is. Put the lowest balance first and go to the highest.
2. Outline how much the minimum payment is for each bill.
3. Calculate how long it will take you to pay off the first bill, using the minimum payment.
4. Once the first bill is paid off add the amount you were paying to the first bill to the amount you have been paying to the second bill.
5. Once the second bill is paid off add the amount you were paying to the second bill (the amount from the first PLUS the amount from the second) to the amount you have been paying to the third bill.
6. And so on and so on until all of your debts are paid off.
7. Then save the same amount of money that you were paying towards your debt.

Or pay down your mortgage or car or whatever. So you can see the benefit in this sort of debt reduction plan. If I can ever find the book in which I read this I will surely give credit to its author.

I was just acosted by a bottle of seltzer water

To add insult to injury this incident occurred at my desk. You know that place where your computer and phone are? Yeah, so not only did my electronics get doused with sticky fruit flavored seltzer water, but so did I!

The injustice of it all!

Did the tail pipe fall off?

As previously discussed, King Daddy's tail pipe was dragging on the ground. It was just two weeks ago that I got as close to laying on the ground looking for said tail pipe as I could. I looked in the trunk and the back seat of the car, I couldn't see it.

"Did the tail pipe fall off?"
"No, I duct taped it up a few weeks ago."
"Oh. Did you tape it up so high that it couldn't be seen?"
"Ah, no."
"Um, it is gone then. But it clearly isn't the muffler. I'll call East Main."

And of course I didn't it was right before the holiday. And then during the holidays I had trouble starting the car. And then I had trouble starting it again the next day. And then when we both went back to work on January 2nd I received this email:

"Car DIED on the way to work. It's on the side of the road on Main St. in Grail between westend rd. and shrewsmon st. Can you call AAA and ask them to tow it to either the commuter rail tracks or east main? I'll get a ride home from B. She lives in Marlcliff near the hospital. AAAArrrrrggghhhhh!!!!! Love and thanks."

I just started laughing. I mean what else could I do? I called AAA and they told me that I would have to go and be with the car otherwise they couldn't tow it. So off I went. I had no idea where I was going so a coworker lent me her GPS so I could find the car. I found the car and thought I would give it a try. It started right up. A fact that made me laugh even harder. The tow truck came and I returned to work.

Here is the story of the slow death of the car. King Daddy stopped at the store, he left the car running knowing that there had been issues. He continued on his way to work with no incident. Suddenly all of the lights were illuminated on the dash board. ALL of the lights, even those ones that you never ever see or if you do you have no idea what they are for and that it must be bad, those lights came on. Then they slowly started to dim. Meanwhile he began to here a horrific scraping sound. This is not good. He realized the situation had become dire and willed the car to go on so he could get off the main road. Which is where he coasted down a hill and came to a stop. He then got out and walked, to school, the high school were he teaches.

Now when he told me this story I was practically hysterical and if you don't see the humor in this story please call the doctor immediately and inquire about a funny bone transplant. Because it is all hilarious. Imagine your high school teacher walking along the side of the road as you ride by on the bus. PUHLEASE. It is hilarious!

The car has been fixed and it is just fine. Nothing too bad, a bolt broke off the alternator, shredding the belts and obviously was unable to work properly. The alternator was hanging off the car fortunately it didn't fall off. It is just the cost of doin' business, right?

They like me, they like me!!!

As many of you know it is good to be read, better to be commented on and GREAT to be referenced in another blogger's post. I recently found Deb's blog, Mom of 3 Girls, and love it. We are both mother's of three, we both work full time and we both blog. So it is with great honor that I accept her award "I Less-than-three your Blog".

Thanks Deb and right back at ya!

p.s. If you have no idea what this means, you are not alone. I didn't either so I did some research and here is the scoop. If you tilt your head, right or left, it doesn't make much matter, it makes a heart. Get it now?

$4.25 on what????!!!!

I just paid $4.25 for 8 oz. of liquid. WHO DOES THAT? I mean REALLY! Who do I think I am? But I must admit it was good. I had really wanted an Eggnog Latte but alas, those are gone for the non-holiday season, so I went with a Peppermint Mocha. Which as is it turns out, wasn’t all that bad. But then again, I am a mint and chocolate kind of girl. ‘Tis the season and all. Peppermint Stick ice cream and hot fudge e v e r y n i g h t until it is gone. Not good. But the good news is that I sticking to the no smoking thing. That IS good. Although since I only smoke about one cigarette a day it is hard to let go. But regardless, it isn’t good for me so I am working on it. Especially in light of my looming 40th day of birth. YIKES. Scares the crap out of me, but oh well. I do have a good marriage, a loving husband and three healthy kids, what more could I ask for? Probably a lot, but all in all I’d say that I am in a good space.

Now as a nod to my home town and to the title of this blog I thought it only appropriate to let all of my readers know that Talbots will be closing all of their kids and mens stores. In my opinion this is a good thing. They need to focus on their women’s clothing, which I think needs work. They got a little to colorful for my tastes and need to get back to basics. I am very much looking forward to see what they do with their revamp. And perhaps, with the increase in my income, I may even be able to return to my shopping habits. Just maybe.

Rushing a toddler = disaster

You know that you can’t rush a toddler, right?

Because if you do you will be 3 hours 13 minutes and 56 seconds late for whatever it is that you are trying to get to. It’s true. Try it. If you aren’t a parent borrow your niece or nephew or a neighbor kid, then wait until the last minute to get in the car or better yet put your coat on and then try to get the toddler to put his/her coat on.
Go ahead try it, I’ll wait…Do I hear screaming? Oh no is he on the floor? What, oh he wanted to do it himself? No, not that coat? Huh? What? Oh, so now YOU’RE yelling at him? That helps a lot. You should yell more. Because yelling really does diffuse the situation with a toddler, a toddler who, according to the brilliant Dr. Harvey Karp, is like a Cave Man. Seriously it is THAT bad. And yes, I have yelled at him on more than one occasion.

And it has taken me a long time, which is relative in toddler years, to get this fact. Approximately 2 years 5.5 months to be exact. Well that isn’t exactly true I did learn it when my first was born. I read all the books and applied an abundance of common sensical advice, and left a plethora of ridiculous information for someone else. One logical fact I learned was that transition is difficult for toddlers. This is a very important fact so I will capitalize for you so the emphasis isn’t lost on you.

IF YOU WANT TO SURVIVE TODDLERHOOD, YOU MUST GIVE THEM FAIR WARNING WHEN YOU TRANSITION TO THE NEXT TASK OR FINISH DINNER OR CHANGE THEIR DIAPER OR WASH THEIR FACE OR BRUSH THEIR TEETH, CLIP THEIR FINGER NAILS, TAKE OFF THEIR COAT, THEIR HAT OR PUT ON THEIR HAT OR COAT OR BOOTS.

Oh sorry about that, the list is exhausting, and often ridiculous, but you get the picture. In order to successfully traverse the toddler years you really do have to have patience and slow down.

From my experience 18 months and older is the time when you can no longer “run out to the store”, it is an ordeal and as such you must plan your life. You have to be constantly thinking about if you are running low on laundry detergent, milk, coffee, diapers, wipes, whatever. It is so tiring, to always be thinking and planning. But as we both know becoming a parent isn’t about you it is about that beautiful baby, the one you birthed or the one you adopted, it doesn’t matter how you got that way, a parent is a parent. The toughest job in the world and boy am I glad I filled out my application.

Dolls, submarines and the voice of God

Oldest: "I want a doll that looks just like K."
Me: "Why do you want a doll that looks like K?"
Oldest: "Because I like her."
Middle: "I want a doll that looks just like daddy."
Oldest: "I want a doll that looks just like you mommy."
Baby: "go go go."

later

Oldest: "Can we listen to Yellow Submarine?"
Me: "Sure."
After a few choruses of Yellow Submarine
Oldest: "Can I live in a yellow submarine?"
Me: "Uh, sure you can live in a yellow submarine."
Middle: "I want to live in a yellow submarine too."
Oldest: "Will you live with me momma?"
Me: "If you are there I will be there too."
Middle: "Daddy and Baby and Oldest and momma and me?"
Me: "You bet."

Later while Wonderful World was playing

Oldest: "Is this God singing?"
Me: "Hmmmm."
Oldest: "Because it sounds like God's voice."
Me: "We should listen to it again because it is such a beautiful song."
Oldest: "Yeah."

Word World episode 1

Blog 365 day two

I have prepared a schedule,if you will, of subjects for each day and today is Word World. Words have an impact unmatched in our culture. They can melt your heart or sting you to the depths of your soul. They also give clues to others about your education or experience. As a parent I try to expose my kids to words of all kinds, even the ones they have trouble pronouncing. Words are good.

adscititious (ad-si-TISH-uhs) adj. Derived from outside; external; additional.

Origin - From Latin adscitus, past participle of adsciscere (to admit or adopt),from ad- (toward) + sciscere (to seek to know), from scire (to know).Ultimately from the Indo-European root skei- (to cut or split) that also gave us schism, ski, and shin.

Usage - "He stands in the middle of the adscititious atmosphere and soaks in the effect."

Words courtesy of www.wordsmith.org

8th Day of Christmas

On the 8th day of Christmas my true love gave to me...
Eight Maids A-milking

The eight Beatitudes: 1) Blessed are the poor in spirit, 2) those who mourn, 3) the meek, 4) those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, 5) the merciful, 6) the pure in heart, 7) the peacemakers, 8) those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake. (Matthew 5:3-10)

Happy New Year

Today is the first day of Blog 365! It is an epic commitment, but as my mom said, "It just pours out of you." I do have a lot to say and I look forward to the challenge! As you will see I have outlined topics by day to help with this challenge. I anticipate sticking to this outline, but I reserve the right to alter this at any time. I hope you will follow along with me as we meander through the next 364 days! Happy New Year!!!


5:38 a.m.
Momma! Momma! Baby is yelling from his bed. It is still dark out and I am snuggled under the covers. King Daddy is snoozing away, unaware of the yells coming from the other room.

6:01 a.m.
The screams get louder and louder. I hear the unmistakable sound of our door knob. Middle is first into our room. He climbs right into bed, on my side. Oldest comes in, wearing her new purple robe that she went to sleep in, "I want to lay right there!" Oh my, Happy New Year.

I signed up for this but sometimes it is hard. Sometimes it would be nice to wake up peacefully, without all the yelling. Baby has managed to get out of his crib on several occasions and sometimes I wish that he would climb out in the morning and stop all that yelling.