Cookies For Lunch

Lots of projects

2008-03-24T22:50:00.003-05:00

After finally having moderate success with that blasted recycled dress from the summer 2007 Ottobre, I'm fairly certain I can do it again perfectly. I am determined to get this dress right! i'm not sure if it's perseverance or stupidity.

I decided to cut in to that great pink skull fabric. I cut out a Rose dress from the spring 2008 ottobre for Kari and a romper for Lizzy.

I also had just enough fabric left over to create a purse for myself! yeah! it's not often I indulge my craftiness for myself. . . unless I'm scrapbooking. but i haven't scrapped in ages. In fact, I'm going to be purging my scrap closet this week in order to make room for sewing supplies! I'm not completely giving up scrapping...just going minimalist.

Hoppy Easter

2008-03-22T17:44:00.002-05:00

The Easter Bunny snuck in during the night and hid all our eggs! Hard cooked inside the house and dozens of candy filled eggs in the yard!

Ben woke up at the butt crack of dawn and scared off the Bunny. I yelled at him to go back to bed and not come out til at least 7 a.m. And, in a haze, I went to check on the bunny's work. In the dark I had no idea if the bunny was tossing eggs in fire ant mounds or not.

Around 7:01 a.m. Ben was heard running up and down the hall getting everyone else up. Alex refused to budge. Smart kid. Stay in bed. Sleep. zzzzz

I managed to get up and the kids ate the breakfast foods the Easter Bunny left in their baskets on the table before tackling the rather lamely hidden eggs in the living room. They made quick work of it. Tho I still managed to miscount and several hours later we came across two more eggs.

Next, the two littlest girls went out in the back to find eggs. By now, Lizzy figured out putting things in her bag was fun. Even more so when she discovered how to open the plastic eggs and found chocolate!

Once those two were done, the older ones had the run of the yard.

Meanwhile, Lizzy was dumping chocolate out on to the ground.

We headed back inside and I realized it wasn't even 8 a.m. and the kids already had a sugar high. *sigh*

The rest of the morning was spent cutting out patterns and cleaning. I actually made it to the grocery store today and after reading Cookie Madness for the day decided to follow Anna's lead and do the cola ham for dinner tomorrow. I only have cherry coke. hopefully it tastes good!

A friend from church popped over and offered to mow the lawn! This was a great blessing as we were going to ask for help with it tomorrow at church. With D still not able to bear weight on his foot, he's not in a position to mow the lawn or chase after the Lizzy while I do it. I'm just glad we got the whole egg hunt out of the way before the forest was cut down. A freshly mowed lawn is counter productive to hiding the eggs really well.

And, in case anyone is wondering why on earth the bunny came on Saturday...

Church is at 9 a.m. My children are squirmy enough in church without adding in sugar. And they are impatient enough there's no way I'd want to sit through church listening to them whine about going home for the egg hunt. Plus, with my kids being the only ones not on a sugar high, it's like the only Sunday of the whole year when my kids aren't the most disruptive hahaha

Of course, there's the whole spiritual side of things. What exactly does the bunny have to do with Jesus? It makes a lot more sense to draw the line between the secular Easter and the Spiritual Easter by having them on two separate days.

To do list

2008-03-21T15:34:00.002-05:00

Well, I have a few things left to do today

1. Whip children in to doing chores.
2. Make breakfast for dinner because I am lazy
3. Hard cook 24 eggs
4. Color eggs with kids
5. Put kids to bed
6. Sew 5 easter bags tote bags because I'm totally sick of buying easter baskets year after year
7. Make three tutus and pray I have enough fabric because according to all the tutorials I've read I don't have nearly enough! Maybe I'll just draft my own (ok stop laughing now! I MEAN IT!)
8. Sew a pair of PJ bottoms for Ben
9. Fill 48 plastic eggs with chocolate.
10. Set the alarm for 6 a.m.
11. Fall down in complete exhaustion.

Any guesses on how many of these things I'll actually get done before midnight ROFL

Sad thing is today I've already
1. Fielded several phone calls
2. Missed a call from the NIH about a genetic study we're doing
3. Went to LLL
4. Found out the bank won't cash a check made out to my 11 yo because his name only is on it.
5. Got an order from a customer for a high chair cover and a baby swing cover
6. Picked up scout stuff for Alex at the council office
7. bought more fabric for customer
8. picked up kids from school
9. rubbernecked on a house fire
10. helped with homework
11. blogged

All in all a pretty productive day :)

AND I even managed to do hair and makeup! yay me :D

it's like crack

2008-03-20T16:20:00.002-05:00

The fabric store that is. I seriously should not go in to that place...even for thread. Or zippers. That's what I went in for today. Two zippers, some ribbon and elastic thread.

I came out with one zipper, two cones of maxi-lock, several yards of ribbon, the elastic thread, buttons, and three yards of fabric. I suppose it could have been a lot worse.

But this fabric was just too cute to pass up!

Report card day!

2008-03-20T16:08:00.002-05:00

I am so proud of my kids I could practically burst!

Ben made the A/B honor roll. He got a B in reading, which I am going to talk to his teacher about. He is an excellent reader, so i'd like to know what's going on. Ben said it was because he was missing too much reading by going to speech. If this is the case, there's a big problem! Ben has been reading the first Harry Potter book outloud each night. A first grader who's doing that should probably have a solid A in reading.

Leelee had As, Bs and one C in math! This is a huge accomplishment for her. She has really struggled with math since moving to the advanced placement school. A C for her is like an A for any other student.

Most of the students had ample time to catch up on the grade they skipped. When students are admitted in the spring, they are given the curriculum for the year they are skipping so they won't "miss" anything and are expected to study during the summer. But Leelee was admitted in the fall, two weeks in to the school year, in fact, so she completely missed the entire third grade.

The biggest news of all is that Alex made A/B honor roll! This means the ADHD treatment is working! Last quarter he had Cs and Ds. He has made a complete turn around academically and behaviorally in school.

We took the kids to Sonic to celebrate. Happy Hour...half priced drinks. Cinnamon bites and ice cream. Mmmm mmmm good.

Too smart for her own good

2008-03-19T08:27:00.002-05:00

I believe Lizzy is too smart for her own good. She figures things out. I can see her brain working the problem.

So far my little destructo girl can:

Open childproof lids on medicines and cleaners
Dump things out
If we move something higher, pulls a chair over to reach it
Climbs
Raids the pantry
Opens the dishwasher and climbs in to get to the counter
Pulls all the pots and pans out
Helps load/unload the dishwasher
Takes out the trash! (if the mood strikes her, she'll pull the bag out and bring it to the door)
Loves getting dirty.

She ran to the bathroom this morning saying "bath bath!" I was not ready to give her a bath quite yet. So...she reused to let me help feed her yogurt. Usually she'll take 2-3 bites on her own and then wants help. This morning, help completely refused. She was covered in it.

"Did you get all dirty so you can take a bath?"

She looked me square in the eye and smiled, nodded and said "yeah"

Ohhhh what am I gonna do with this girl???

New Easter Project

2008-03-18T08:46:00.002-05:00

IT's only a few days before Easter and I'm terribly unprepared. I don't have baskets purchased or made. I'm not even sure I want to have another round of plastic baskets taking up space only to get trashed. It seems terribly wasteful.

I do, however, have two yards of bunny fabric. I'm considering making reusable easter bags. The bigger question is with everything else I have to do this week, is this another project I really need to be taking on?

Or even better, do I need to do this project and make basically reusable easter eggs for treats? As cute as they are, where am I going to put them when we're not using them? Are plastic eggs one more year going to kill me (the kids hate throwing them away for some reason)? Which will be cheaper,... which is my bigger concern!

I am trying really hard not to spend even more money on sewing projects. I am actually finishing my projects...but the sheer volume of fabric I have is a bit scary!

Sibling Rivalry at it's finest

2008-03-17T16:05:00.002-05:00

We were playing school this afternoon. Kari was writing her name and doing her "math" and Lizzy was being a bit too curious for Kari's liking. Kari got mad, so I decided to redirect by proclaiming it was story time.

Kari brought me a book and so did Lizzy. We read and off they went to get other books.

Kari ran back out in to the living room and I expected Lizzy to be toddling along after her any minute. Instead, Kari says "I don't want to play with Lizzy so I shut her in the bedroom."

I sigh and roll my eyes and go off to rescue my little one. I quickly noted that the only doors shut were the bathroom and my room. "Kari, what room did you put Lizzy in?"

"I locked her in your room!"

At no point did I actually think she actually locked her in the room...until I turned the handle.

I immediately turned to my trusty coat hanger that has opened many bathroom doors. It failed me. I tried a knife. Nope. I worked on it a good TEN MINUTES before I finally called my husband.

"This better be an emergency" he said, since he was still teacher.

Yes this qualified as an emergency. He gave me some tips on how to pop the lock...none of them worked.

The doorbell rang. It was my visiting teachers! They were late, but that's ok. It was now just about time to get the older kids from school!

Off went one of the ladies and a few minutes later, D arrived home to save the day.

He used a stinking credit card to pop the lock! He could have at least suggested that to me :P

Lizzy was probably trapped alone in my bedroom for 30 minutes. She didn't really panic or cry. She did dump out all the bags of things I'd set aside for the goodwill. I'm sure she had a grand old time trying on all the clothes and throwing things out of the trash in my room.

Kari is not sorry. She only appologized because she thought she'd be able to get dessert back. And for Kari, losing dessert is like the end of the world.

I'm sure I'll be laughing at this later and it will a hilarious story to share with the girls when they are older!

Sewing again

2008-03-17T09:18:00.002-05:00

D is on a cleaning and organizing kick for some reason. We have several bags of things to take to the goodwill. For my part, I'm going to tackle my stash of fabric...so I'm going to be sewing like crazy. I really need to get clothes for the girls done.

I'm going to sew up another of the recycled dresses from Ottobre. I have a bunch of scrap fabrics that it will look cute with. Next, I'm going to make a pair of knickers for Leelee. There was a cute pair in the last Ottobre that would be perfect for school. I have some khaki homespun I'm going to use to practice on. It's going to heat up enough around here the homespun might actually be the right weight for school!

It's supposed to be around 80 for the next two days then drops again on Wednesday. Hopefully no one gets sick with all the roller coaster temps.

D also starts physical therapy for his ankle this week, so it will definitely be busy!

Oh and our things breaking streak continued...the microwave went out. I am hoping to pick one up on freecycle. If we end up moving, a microwave is one thing that we can get new when we get wherever we go.

Dinner and a movie

2008-03-14T20:11:00.003-05:00

Every Friday night, the family sits down for dinner and a movie. Tonight's menu was Rachael Ray's Mega Meatball Pizza. I changed it up just a bit and served it on pita bread. It's a lot healthier and cheaper than serving on store bought pizza dough. We use pita bread for pizza on most homemade pizza nights.

The movie was Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium. The kids who watched really enjoyed it. I found it to be a cute and not at all obnoxious kids movie. The 11 yo wasn't all that interested in it and the baby was asleep. It was the biggest hit between the 6 yo and 4 yo. Kari kept dancing around saying "It's magic! It's magic!" Ben asked to add it to our rather extensive DVD collection. I'll see if I can pick it up on a previously viewed. It's not like we actually need any more movies! I know at last count we had more than 100 DVDs. I really do need to sit down and make a master list one of these days...

Some good news

2008-03-14T10:20:00.002-05:00

DH went for a second opinion on his ankle today. The doctor confirmed that it was *just* a severe sprain. And, the good news, saw that DH's range of motion wasn't that great and put in an order for physical therapy. The other doctor once he realized it wasn't broken, just seemed to write DH off as a big baby and didn't give much further advice.

And, the van is still in the shop. So far we're only up to $300 in damage. But if DH can get back to work by the end of next month, I'm not all that worried about dipping more in to our rainy day money. I'm just looking forward to building that back up so we can start our debt snowball!

Next on the agenda...getting DH's car sold. We had two people ask about it yesterday but no takers. We're not even trying to make money on it. We just want it paid off so we can free up that money to pay off other things! It really doesn't make much sense for us to have two cars anyway. DH only works 2 miles from home AND I pass by his work at the time he's getting off when I pick up Leelee from school.

Happy birthing day!

2008-03-13T15:50:00.002-05:00

Eleven years ago today, I met my baby boy for the first time. He came seven weeks early and weighed 4 lbs 3 oz. Now, he's nearly as big as I am!

I can't believe how fast the time has gone.

He's asked for spinach quiche for dinner and a devil's food cake for dessert.

He's bugging me about opening presents. :)

Sew much fun!

2008-03-11T18:13:00.003-05:00

I've been waiting rather impatiently for two white envelopes arriving from Finland. In those were my first issues of Ottobre, a fantastic sewing publication.

I was more than a bit intimidated when I opened the magazine and saw a veritable maze of crisscrossing lines in various colors that turned out to be the patterns! I'd never used this type of pattern before, but I usually do trace my patterns on to paper because I use multiple sizes.

I chose a very simple dress for my first go and it was one of the easiest dresses I've ever done. Almost as easy as an A-line. The instructions were much better than the "big 4" pattern companies. Ottobre assumes you know how to sew. It's a matter of put these two pieces together and sew the seams. I can't wait to try more of the patterns!

Bored games or Board games?

2008-03-10T20:33:00.002-05:00

We are a game family. Love to play them, even the little ones. I'm excited the kids are finally getting older so we can play more complex games together.

Tonight being Family Home Evening, we had the missionaries over and played a game after they left.

It was a very exciting game of Chutes and Ladders. I rescued the kitten from the tree and on the next spin, got a three, so down the slide I went. The girls and I had a very fun time.

I have such great memories going over to my great-grandma's house and playing Hi Ho Cherry-o. I'm not sure what it was about this game that captivated me. I still love the idea of playing it with my kids, but the mom in me wins out and I can't bring myself to buy it because of all the little pieces. Same thing goes for hungry hungry hippos. I just know those marbles are going to be all over the house. We did really well with perfection until we had friends over and their kids got out the game and we never did find all the pieces.

The older kids have discovered one of our favorite games... Crack the Case. In this game, you're given a short scenario and are able to ask yes and no questions to figure out who-dunnit. One of my favorites is a missing person's case involving a woman who has gone missing. The only clues are a pile of clothes and a puddle of water.

We've also had a blast playing Dominoes, our favorite is the chicken foot version.

Hands down, however, our favorite game to play is The Great Dalmuti. Back when we were newlyweds, we found a small group of friends who also enjoyed games. Every Friday and Saturday night, we'd go to one of our homes and play cards, usually Tripoli or Sets and Runs. We played another game and for the life of me I can't remember what it was called, other than Oh Sh**. And a quick google search of Oh Sh** + card games reveals that's what the game is called hahaha.

Anyway, where was I...Oh yeah, I got distracted by looking up all those links. We'd always find something to argue about during the games and someone gave us The Great Dalmuti in the hopes that it was finally a game we couldn't argue about. Well, it didn't work. We still found ways to disagree. But it is an awfully fun game anyway. Highly recommend the game if you can find it.

The ER loves us

2008-03-08T19:31:00.002-06:00

Someone suggested I total the number of times we've been to the ER. Well, I decided to list for the last 12 months.

In the last 12 months we have been:

Kari-cut her foot open--super glue
Leelee-burn
Alex-stitches in his hand
Kari-cut head open -- super glue
Me-ruptured ovarian cyst
DH-bowel obstruction
Lizzy-cut back of head -- super glue
DH-foot

The first time D hurt his foot, we took him to the urgent care.

So 8 times in 12 months. LOL

Sadly, this isn't even close to our record. Lest anyone think we are negligent parents or something, I do have one child that has only been to the ER twice in his nearly 7 years of life.

The vast majority of the kids' injuries have come when they were supposed to be in bed and decided to do something stupid. Like when the almost 7 yo decided to stick a piece of a toy in his mouth a little too far and cut his uvula. . . blood gushed from his mouth and nose...real fun. Or Kari's head injury when she and Leelee decided to have a late night sword fight and she took a toy right to the forhead and split it open.

I think when you do have a family with five children, the chances for disaster increase dramatically!

Can I get a redo on today?

2008-03-08T16:17:00.001-06:00

It's ok, I know you all are going to laugh at this. I know I laughed. If I didn't laugh, I probably would cry.

Leelee went outside this morning because she left her coat in the backyard. She came barreling through the door and knocked Lizzy right over. I picked my crying baby up and noticed she had pulled off her diaper. Took her over and put a diaper back on her and went back in the kitchen to get a recipe. Leelee comes running in saying Lizzy's bleeding.

OMG yes she's bleeding EVERYWHERE.

Experienced mom takes over and remembers head wounds bleed profusely from itty bitty cuts. I get her cleaned up and she has a 3/4 inch cut on the back of her head!

D says we need to take her to the ER because she'll need stitches. He's worried the swelling from the goose egg is just going to tear it open more. I disagree, but whatever, I've been wrong about injuries before, so I go into the bedroom to get Lizzy some clothes.

D walks down the hallway and proclaims, "All right, No more Injur..." THUD ... and then i hear him scream. :eek:

He's lying down in the hallway in tears. His crutch slipped and he came down hard on his ankle...you know the one that he injured on the trampoline.

Now, there's no doubt we're heading to the ER.

I called my good friend and she met us at the ER and took the older four kids. On the way to the ER Alex starts hyperventilating he's so upset about both Lizzy and D

Anyway, as I'm checking everyone in at the ER (thank goodness it was empty!), the phone rings and it's D's mom! she says "I just had this feeling I needed to call" I swear, when I grow up, I want my mom radar to be that good LOL

They end up putting us in different rooms.

Nurse comes in to give me periodic updates on D. At one point he passes out because of the pain. His orthopedic dr just happens to be at hte hospital doing rounds so he comes down.

Somehow, they still say they can't find the break. The dr says he knows it's broken but the swelling is so bad they can't tell where. They give D morphine for the pain and some phenegrin for the nausea. Of course the phenegrin makes his veins burn and he starts to itch. Lovely...

Meanwhile back in the room with Lizzy, Dr is concerned that Lizzy *really* whacked her head hard and wants a CT scan. At this point, I'm in autopilot. I just want to get over to D. I didn't really think Lizzy needed treatment, but if the drs saw her bloodied up head, they are sort of obligated to treat kind of thing. Lizzy is a trooper for the CT and no cracked skull. But every time she puts her head down, she breaks open her cut. So they superglued her back together.

We get the ok to leave finally and the nurse wheels D to the front while I go get the car. I drive back and the security guard comes out and says they took D back again because he started vomiting and passed out.

It's like 130 and I haven't eaten anything all day, so I go get some BBQ. I knew there was absolutely nothing I could do and Lizzy would be easier to manage with a full stomach. She kept signing "eat" LOL

Get back to D, and they've done a full blood workup and an EKG only to determine he's probably dehydrated and stressed and not reacting well to the morphine (gee ya think??)

So we're home now, thank goodness.

I'm really ready for life to ya know, become normal and disaster free for awhile!

SNOW???

2008-03-07T13:37:00.002-06:00

It's freaking MARCH. I live in the SOUTH. I'm supposed to be on my blog complaining that I have to turn the A/C on, not that we have a snow advisory. This is wrong on so many levels.

Odds are it probably won't snow at all, but the fact that it's even being considered is just wrong on so many levels.

Global warming my a$$. LOL

Life seems to happen

2008-03-07T10:05:00.003-06:00

Have you ever noticed that things always happen just at the worst possible moment?

Like this morning, five minutes before we are supposed to be walking out the door for school, Alex comes running to me saying he needs jeans. Now, I made sure he had jeans last night, so I knew he didn't need jeans. Well, he did need jeans. He decided to float waffles in his syrup (a whole other issue) and flipped the plate up and down on to the floor. This leaves me frantically looking in the dryer for another pair of jeans. Fridays are the only days they are allowed to wear jeans, so jeans are very important today.

I come out of the laundry room unsuccessful in my search to find Lizzy carrying a plate dripping syrup all over the floor. I grab her and in awesome mom style, tell Alex to find a pair of not so dirty jeans out of his laundry basket. Wash Lizzy's hands and discover that Alex's waffle mess is still on the floor.

Now, I've got to somehow keep Lizzy out of the syrup in the hallway and in the kitchen and get this mess cleaned up!

Thank goodness for disinfecting wipes and big sisters and baby gates.

I was absolutely shocked to make it to the school on time for Leelee to catch the bus to her school.

Now, I have to finish getting ready for the day and I'm missing my good bra...you know the one that actually has enough support so the girls don't hang down to my navel and my one pair of jeans that don't fall off my rear are in the dryer still. This is the big drawback to losing weight...none of my clothes fit!

TGIF

2008-03-07T07:59:00.002-06:00

Well, it's finally Friday!So much to do today. Aside from my daily routine, I need to run to the store and get a few things. I really wonder why I can't seem to get everything I need in one trip. I would save a lot of money if I could just remember everything! I even go with a list and something always gets left off the list.

I'm also going to lunch today with my friend Mavis. We're going to Martha's Place. Supposedly it's fabulous. The owner, Martha Hawkins, spoke at my boys' school recently. She is living proof that people can turn their lives around with hard work and determination.

Today is also the last day of school before Spring Break! That means we have just nine weeks left of school. The year has just flown by.

Alex's birthday is next week and he requested a treat for his class. I ran out of time last night and didn't get to the store before dark. I'm not a fan of running to our grocery store at night by myself. He said it would be even better if I made his class cupcakes. I'm glad he goes to a school where homemade treats are still ok! Even better than cupcakes, he said, were my applesauce muffins. He is so sweet, but I'm afraid his classmates may not take as kindly to my healthy applesauce muffins...especially if Alex rats me out that I use the recipe from Deceptively Delicious. I made the applesauce muffins anyway. What kid doesn't need an extra serving of veggies?

I'm a big dork

2008-03-06T23:04:00.002-06:00

I rechecked my numbers for our road trip by using this calculator. I did it before and came up with a number. When gas prices rose, I doubled the cost in my head. Silly me didn't remember that I entered in the round trip miles rather than one way. Here I am thinking it's going to cost $1200 each way, when that's going to be the total cost! So, it looks like this road trip may still happen!

It will be our best case scenario if D gets this job and we can leave from Seattle instead of having to come back here.

I am trying really hard to stay calm while we're in the waiting period before interviews begin. It's working ok most of the time.

The other news from tonight is that after using crutches all day, D's foot is twice as swollen as it was before. I told him he needs to call the doctor tomorrow and maybe they can get him in for the bone scan sooner. The swelling should not be increasing by staying off of it!

ups and downs

2008-03-06T12:18:00.002-06:00

This has been a week of ups and downs.

Thankfully, Roto Rooter came to our rescue. And, it wasn't hugely expensive.

DH had another appointment with the orthopedic surgeon. After another examination, the doctor is now convinced DH's ankle is definitely broken. He is still in a tremendous amount of pain and it's not getting better. The swelling is still apparent. The doctor suspects that the swelling is pushing on the bone and hiding the break. He has the soonest appointment available for a bone scan which is a week from Friday! Meanwhile, he's now on prescription pain pills and relented to supporting himself with a crutch. He's so stubborn that he was refusing to use the crutch. Well, hopefully his foot not improving will help him swallow his pride.

The other bit of down news is gas prices. Like everyone else, we're feeling the pinch. Gas prices have risen enough that unless there is a major drop in price, we won't be able to go on our big vacation this summer. This is incredibly discouraging. I really wanted to see my parents. I know they are planning a trip to see us for next summer, but I still miss everyone.

We do however, have a Plan B for vacation. If DH is back on his feet again by the end of May, we're thinking of spending three or four days at Disney World! We're close enough that it's a day's drive. Since we haven't been camping in ages, we plan on camping it at Ft. Wilderness. The other benefit to that is we don't have to get two rooms. With five kids we usually exceed the occupancy limit on hotel rooms. Disney is in a position to actually enforce this, too.

The other good news is I am down another pound! This puts me at 3 lbs from my weight loss goal. Heck at this rate, I may have to adjust it again and see if I can lose another 10 lbs by the end of the year. I may just be living in a fantasy land if I tried to lose 10 more lbs, but I thought it was a fantasy to get to where I am, now, too!

anyhow, here's a little picture progress...

Not much getting done today

2008-03-03T11:23:00.003-06:00

When it rains it pours!

Last week, hubby injured his foot in what he is referring to as a "freak trampoline accident." More like daddy showing off for the kids. He is in a boot and in quite a bit of pain. The ortho said there's nothing broken, but he's not getting better. Hopefully, we will get some positive news soon on that front. If he needs surgery he needs it this week because he has all of next week off.

Oldest daughter has a double ear infection.

The check engine light came on in my van.

With all the doctor appointments, I blew through an entire tank of gas in a week! That's as much driving as I usually do in a month. At $3.05 a gallon...ouch. Hopefully the half tank I have now will last me awhile.

To make everything even more peachy, the dishwasher, garbage disposal and washing machine are backing up in to my tub. Major ick. I'm waiting for roto rooter. Hopefully they will get here soon!

I am desperately trying not to stress out about how much this is all costing us. Thankfully, we have savings, but that savings was supposed to go partly to our trip this summer. It feels like things are conspiring against us to keep us from the trip. Maybe, this means hubby will get the job he's trying for and we will be moving and won't be able to go on the trip because of a move. That's best case scenario.

We are also trying to sell hubby's car. It is silly to be spending all this money on a second car when he only works 2 miles from the house...and I drive by his work on the way picking kids up from school at the same time he's leaving work! There really is no need for us to have two cars. Dave Ramsey would be proud of this step.

It only took 3.5 years

2008-02-29T09:50:00.004-06:00

But I finally found the perfect fabric for curtains for our living room! There was exactly enough on the remnant table, and at $6/yd I couldn't pass it up. Imagine my surprise when it rang up at an additional 50 percent off! Wooohoo! I was able to whip up the curtains in about 30 minutes this morning. I do have to adjust them a bit more for length but they are just perfect.

I'm thinking about heading back over to the fabric store to see if there are more fabric options for the other rooms in the house.

With the possibility of a move in our future, I am trying to get the house spruced up to sell. I'm really nervous about this but that's another post for another day.

MIA

2008-02-28T22:26:00.002-06:00

Uh yeah, I've been missing for I guess about 7 months now.

As you can see this blog has taken on many many incarnations. Now, I'm sewing a lot, so maybe this will be a sewing and cooking and all of that blog. Yeah, that's the ticket.

Please check out my pattern reviews. Check out my recipes. I might even add a few pictures now and again. Hopefully as my life becomes more organized so will this blog hahaha With five kids, I somehow don't think that's going to actually happen.

POTD...little graduate!

2007-05-17T11:48:00.001-05:00

little graduate!,
originally uploaded by h2ohmama.

You can't get more sentimental than this.

I started getting weepy when i saw all the kindergarteners lined up in front of the church where graduation was held. Even though he's my third child, he's the first one to go to a school where a Kindergarten graduation was held.

My 8 yo didn't go to school today at the request of her teacher. They had a sub and my dd needs to carry an epipen and it's just easier to keep her home since they aren't doing anything in class anyway. She has been having a complete snit because her brother got to graduate from kindie and she didn't. *roll eyes*

I explained to no avail that she and biggest brother get to do everything first. This is the first time B has gotten to do ANYTHING first and we ought to celebrate it! this is B's time in the spotlight.

I am so proud of him. He has made so much progress this school year. He was my first child to enter kindie not knowing how to read. He now reads better than the other two upon leaving kindie. He started the year with a severe articulation delay. It was so difficult to understand him. Now, we can understand most of what he says! This is a huge milestone for him. He has worked so hard and it really really shows!

We have been truly blessed with a wonderful kindie teacher this year. She will forever be in our hearts! and, we've decided if we're still in this school zone when the 3 yo goes to kindie, we want her to have the same teacher!

POTD...the sound of music

2007-05-16T19:35:00.001-05:00

the sound of music,
originally uploaded by h2ohmama.

any pictures of my kids is sentimental. But i really liked this one i took today. My 5 yo had an end of the year party at a local park and we tagged along. I snapped this one and then WHAM! my camera didn't behave and i thought I lost about 40 pictures. Thankfully, I was pointed towards some photo recovery software. Tomorrow, it will be a very weepy day as we are having kindie graduation!

POTD...my little reader

2007-05-15T19:17:00.001-05:00

my little reader,
originally uploaded by h2ohmama.

My little 5 yo is about to graduate from kindergarten. I am so proud of him. Reading has clicked and now he wants to read everything he can get his hands on! I am so impressed with how much he has learned this school year.

POTD...girlie time

2007-05-14T19:35:00.001-05:00

girlie time,
originally uploaded by h2ohmama.

any help on how to take this to the next level with my point n shoot would be great! The theme for this week is sentimental pictures. Yesterday was the most sentimental picture. Today, the picture is about building those special memories with my girls. We all did our nails today :D

baby in mommy's old dress

2007-05-13T17:50:00.001-05:00

baby in mommy's old dress,
originally uploaded by h2ohmama.

for mother's day, i decided to put the baby in my old dress. i have a picture of me in this dress at about 6 months old. i was much more compliant as a baby and actually sat still for the photographer

jump

2007-05-12T21:21:00.001-05:00

jump,
originally uploaded by h2ohmama.

I'm trying out this photography thing. Like most things I've been trying, it's close to being great but just a smidge off.

oh well... guess i'll be like Dori from Nemo "keep on swimming"

Flickr

2007-05-12T21:20:00.001-05:00

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

The meanest mommy in the world

2006-06-09T12:35:00.000-05:00

It's official. I am now the meanest mommy in the whole world and I have my digital cable to thank for it.

The three youngest have been inside virtually all day. This means it's a house full of bickering and whining. They haven't done their chores and the oldest girl is bossing everyone else around.

And, the mean mommy part?

I used the digital cable to block off the TV so they can't watch a darn thing.

Choices now? Go to their rooms and clean; stay in the living room and clean; go outside to play in the sprinklers.

She's complaining that it's too hot. It's in the mid 80s. Compared to the mid90s we had yesterday, when they were outside the entire day, it's downright comfy!

I haven't even had a chance to shower yet today because of all the bickering. I can't turn my back for a moment. *sigh*

big surprise!

2005-12-02T21:00:00.000-06:00

all they know is we're going to do something fun and it will be great.

what they don't know is they're going to be stuck in a car for FIVE hours driving to a little town on the Georgia/Florida border.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the country, my MIL and SIL are boarding a plane bound for Jacksonville, FLA. they are going on a cruise, leaving out of tampa. BUT my other SIL who lives in the above mentioned little town is going with them. AND MIL and SIL are going to be there tomorrow afternoon and all day Sunday.

MIL and SIL don't know we're coming.

The kids don't know they are going to see grandma and their favorite aunt.

:D

I wish we had a video camera for the reaction!

I also know if i told the kids where we were off to, we'd NEVEr hear the end of it LOL

Oh Christmas tree

2005-11-29T08:13:00.000-06:00

being from the northwest, we've ALWAYS had a really big bushy fir tree for the holidays. the Saturday closest to DH's birthday, we'd all head off to the tree farm and chop down our very own tree.

Then, we moved here. Real trees are very expensive. Then with dd's asthma diagnosis I just don't feel comfortable having a known allergen in the house for a month, yk?

Anyhoo, last year SIL gave us their old tree since they had two. We had no idea what it looked like or anything.

Set it up last night and it's a 4 1/2 footer, that's more a Charlie Brown style than the big bushy trees we're used to.

The bright spot in this is it's totally NOT in the way LOL

We're trying to make the little tree a part of our holiday family and get in the spirit. I mean it's TOTALLY better than the 24 inch silver tree we had up last year LOL

stress

2005-11-04T12:09:00.000-06:00

is it justifiable to serve halloween candy to the kids for lunch and just have scrambled eggs and pancakes for dinner because i can't handle one more thing today?

more on the school thing

2005-11-03T12:32:00.000-06:00

anyway, the AP agreed with my assessment of teh situation, that all the incidents taken together, and knowing my child...were a problem.

The best news is they should be having a permanent teacher starting MONDAY! woohoo she's just waiting to get released out of her contract in another district.

She is also going to look into what happened with the posessive plural test to see if it was the whole class that bombed it or just alex. either way, they are going to have the reading coach go in and help either the whole class or just alex grasp the topic. Given that Alex is actually an EXCELLENT student, him scoring that low on a test is a big red flag.

I also let the AP know that we had dealt with Alex's behavior at home and he received appropriate punishment, so she knew I wasn't dumping this all on the school. I also told her that, honestly, if there was anyway to be in there teaching that class, I would have done it myself LOL I'm very glad the admin at this school is so open to parents. Of course, I don't know how much it has to do with us grilling the AP before we enrolled the kids about how things were handled at the school. She knows we are active and involved parents and since D is also a teacher, we won't be coming in with gripes at every turn...ya know, most of our complaints/concerns will be valid and have gone through the proper channels first.

last straw

2005-11-02T18:41:00.000-06:00

i'm soooo NOT looking forward to this.

I think I mentioned that Alex's teacher's husband took a job transfer to Atlanta and he's been without a teacher for the past 5 or 6 weeks. they've been having week-long subs. The school still is looking for a 6th grade teacher they've needed since school started, so the prospects are rather slim for getting a third grade teacher in there any time soon.

A couple weeks ago, I picked Alex up from school and he sheepishly showed me he had cut a very LARGE hole into his pants! I asked him why. Naturally he said he was bored.

I had to wonder what the heck the teacher was doing that she didn't notice alex intently cutting away at the thigh of his pants and why I wasn't called to bring him a new pair of pants since holes in the pants are a dress code violation.

Then, Alex tells me that one of the subs is taking their shoes away as punishment for doing things at the "wrong" time...like she only allows the kids to sharpen pencils once a day, before the bell rings...but that was put to a stop when they had a fire drill and their class was still in the building get shoes on.

Since the subbing started, Alex is frequently missing the gifted bus on thursdays AND on the days he has missed, the teacher is giving him HOMEWORK to make up the classwork he missed ... which is against the rules.

Last week, my child who's flippin GIFTED and despite being a bad speller has a knack for memorizing obscure grammer rules and other useless info, tells me he got a 32% on a language test. Obviously, if my really smart child didn't get it, what the heck did the rest of the class get???

This week, I pick Alex up yesterday and immediately notice a chunk of hair missing.

Today, he freaking SHAVED part of his eyebrows off with a pair of scissors.

At first, Dh thought I was making a mountain out of a molehill, but NOW he finally believes me that there's a significant problem. First, Alex can't handle or thrive in such a chaotic classroom environment. He needs structure. He's not getting it. SEcond, the subs aren't consistent enough in teaching academics to reteach something after the test. If they test Friday and the Friday sub grades, the Monday sub may or may not even look to see if something needs reteaching, yk? Third, WHAT THE HELL is going on in that classroom where a child can vandalize his clothing and CUT himself with scissors. I can understand the pants under the desk, but c'mon...he shaved his eyebrow.

So...after bringing this to the school's attention, I'm going to request Alex be moved to a classroom with a permanent teacher.

My friend is going in tomorrow and talking to them about teaching there, but she wants the 6th grade job. She really doesn't want to teach Alex's class as she also teaches his Sunday School class...and we live across the street from each other and she's like Alex's second mother. We're not entirely convinced this would be the best academic match up, iykwim. Meanwhile, Jill is trying to convince DH to dump his current district and try to snag the 6th grade job if she takes the 3rd grade. DH has a lot more reason to leave his current district than she does.

I hate going in there and having to be a b****h about things. Please send me strength in how to do this without backing down and giving it some more time.

am i invisible?

2005-10-21T21:38:00.000-05:00

After an incident at the school today, I was left wondering if I really am invisible. See, my super powers...i can vanish and overhear you talking about me and you never will know I'm there!

Reality check...not for me, for the lunchlady who, for whatever reason, felt it necessary to badmouth me to her coworker when I was standing 3 feet away! And, being the mature person that I am, I restrained myself and left a note for the principal of the school to call me. Yup, I tattled.

First of all, whatever issues I have for the wicked lunchlady/evil crosswalk dictator are between the two of us. Yes, I realize that it isn't HER problem that I had four children under 4 and couldn't park a half block from the school, get out all the children, walk through the parking lot, cross the street all to get my kids from school. What I asked her was where I could go where I didn't have to get everyone out...if I had any options. All I got from her was "It's not my problem" UGH Forgive me for expecting the person telling me where I *COULDN'T* park could tell me some place where I COULD park! I have since found out I CAN park in the main parking lot despite the 3 foot pot hole and city sewer warning baricade. It would have been nice if the administration at the school would have notified the parents ahead of time that there would be changes in where parents could park for pickup.

Second, it was highly unprofessional and downright inappropriate for her to start blabbering to her coworker while I was standing RIGHT THERE about it. I heard her say "she's the one who said she had four kids in the car and i *told* her that it's not my problem" yadda yadda yadda

If she's going to say things like that in front of the parent she's TALKING about in a room cafeteria full of students and other parents, what else is she saying?

I understand that people gossip and talk about "those people" they encounter at work. I'm not upset about that. Heck, that's what I'm doing here :P What I'm upset about is the FORUM in which she did it...like IN FRONT OF ME, in front of students, in front of other parents.

Anyway, now I'm waitinf for the principal to call me back. If I don't hear from her on Monday, I'll be giving her another call.

Of course if crosswalk dictator flips me the bird or some other dirty look, I'll know the principal said something hahaha

Oh and if this makes ANY difference in this, this particular crossing guard is the ONLY ONE that doesn't wave or smile at the parents as they drive by. All the other ones do. She NEVER smiles. Always has a scowl on her face.

Freecycle Rocks

2005-10-20T16:48:00.000-05:00

I think those that are familiar with freecycle know what an awesome thing it is. For those that don't know what freecycle is, WHAT? ARe you living in a cave?

We've been able to get rid of so much stuff. It's great.

But tomorrow, I'm going to pick up a toddler sized bike for my 4 yo! I'm so excited. Now, just to figure out where to hide it until Christmas :P

And, yeah...I know some of you are going "ew used Christmas presents" but when you have four kids who are really hard on their toys, you realize that getting things "broken in" is really the best way to go. I don't want to invest a lot of my hard earned money in toys that accidently get left outside and ruined. THere's no emotional attachment to the toys (and my money). I have no qualms about letting the natural consequences happen. If I spend money on a toy, I get really weird about throwing it away, even if it breaks. It's weird, I know...but doing it this way, we really cut down on the clutter :D

good news!

2005-10-19T12:03:00.000-05:00

the derm wanted to see me asap. i went in this morning. he said there's a 95% chance its benign! woohoo but we'll get the biospy results next week.

he removed it and the needle for the local hurt worse than the procedure. I didn't realize I'd have to be grounded for them to do it ...that was a bit "shocking" hahaha

anyway, the site is starting to hurt a bit now, so i'll probably take a tylenol for the pain.

oh i also had him look at a couple other spots and he said while it's very unusual to have what i have in the particular shape it is, that it's nothing to worry about. I can't remember what it's called, but basically my stretch mark tore and teh capillaries or whatever healed super close to the skin and you can see it. i wish i could describe it better. it's weird.

too freaked to sleep

2005-10-18T00:32:00.000-05:00

Why do I do this to myself? Really? Why?

I know I've been ignoring the growth on my back. It didn't fit any of the warning signs to be worried about it. But tonight when we were swimming, DH finally noticed and commented about the growth. *sigh*

Now, I feel this wriggling in the back of my mind getting louder...the wriggling I've been TRYING, quite successfully until now, to ignore. The little voice in teh back of my mind says this is more than I think it is. I hate that voice because that voice is ALWAYS right.

Before I got pregnant with my first baby, that little voice said there would be complications and he'd be born early.

When I was pregnant with my fourth baby, the voice said 'you're going to have problems with the heart rate decellerating and will transfer to the hospital, prepare for it' and that's what happened.

Now I don't believe for one minute that any of that is self fulfilling prophesy. I mean, any woman can attest that you can't WILL a baby to come early just because you think it will. Nor can you control the baby's heart rate during the labor.

The wriggling voice has also brought me immediately to my knees in prayer for the safety of my husband. That time, at the very moment of my prayer, the truck he was driving was about to go off a steep embankment on a snowy mountain. For some reason, the truck skidded the other direction ... ya know UP HILL...and he was safe.

And deep in my heart, I feel that one reason I haven't been able to get pregnant is because God wants me to get this taken care of first. But, getting it taken care of is terrifying, too. I mean, you have to admit something is wrong! And, let's face it...even if it is *just* skin cancer...the word cancer is absolutely frightening. No one really wants to face it. Yeah, they can cut it out and it's no big deal, but that big bad ugly word is there...taunting you.

So, by putting this all on "paper" I'm hoping to write out my anxiety over this and be able to sleep. hopefully, I'll be able to post in a couple days that it is all just my overactive imagination and a bad google search.

the body shaping continues

2005-10-15T21:37:00.000-05:00

I finally got up the courage to measure myself. I'd been putting it off. I was so horrified when I started with my measurements...afraid that i wasn't going to see results. Then the pants started getting loose, so I knew it was really happening.

Anway...drumroll please...

I've lost THREE inches off my waist
TWO inches off my hips!

Ok so my waist is the size my hips were before I had kids, but, and I have to keep reminding myself of this, I was a size zero before having kids. I was a Calista Flockheart with hips. I've always had hips. When DH and I met, he could almost wrap his hands entirely around my waist. My waist size was in the TEENS. Not exactly healthy.

ANyway, my goal now is to get my waist out of the 30s and into the 20s and the hips from the 40s into the 30s. Two more inches all around should do it.

oh and my abs...i have them. and my post baby tummy pooch...it's like HALF the size it used to be.

One of these days I'll get brave and post before and after pics

not much happening

2005-10-12T22:41:00.000-05:00

hahahaha

sorry. that was a joke. we have been so busy lately that i hardly have a chance to blog.

i promise i will come back to this later...when i have a chance for a sanity break and to organize my thoughts better.

a big milestone

2005-10-04T21:46:00.000-05:00

My sweet little one, who turned 2 at the end of August, has been requesting to sleep in her big sister's room. So, we pulled out the pack n play (we havne't gotten a railing yet for the bottom bunk) and Kari's been sleeping ALL NIGHT in it.

I put her down for bed about 9 pm and she wakes happily around 630 or 7. She doesn't wake to nurse or anything. heck, even when she was cosleeping she hardly nursed at night.

still, i'm sad that she's jumped out of the family bed so soon.

yeah, i'm following HER lead, but dang it *I* am not ready yet.

things i refuse to do as a wife

2005-10-03T19:53:00.000-05:00

I love my husband dearly, but there are some things I wife should never be asked to do for her husband. THankfully, the list is small. In fact, until tonight there was only one thing on the list.

First and foremost, a wife really shouldn't have to give her husband a suppository...for ANY reason. I love him but not THAT much ;)

Second, a wife shouldn't have to climb up in to the attic to get a dead animal out. That's one of the reasons I got married...I needed someone to kill things for me and then deal with the bodies.

Are there any others I haven't discovered yet after 11 years of marriage?

ups and downs

2005-10-02T00:06:00.000-05:00

THe bad news: DH found two squirrels in our attic. We'll have to go to home depot on Monday and pick up traps. The good news: We have to return some things there so hopefully we'll break even.

The good news: I've lost almost 10 lbs since I started going to the gym more regularly. The bad news: I feel guilty about toasting marshmallows on my stove.

The good news: Dd's first sleep over last night went really well. The bad news: The girls stayed up pretty late, almost 1030 (hey my dd's bedtime is 7:30) and they woke up early...around 630. Dh let me sleep in, so I guess that's good news, too!

second chances

2005-09-29T12:45:00.000-05:00

On the advice of a friend on a messageboard, I deciced to give pilates another chance. I found a different gym location with a different teacher. And, I'm happy to report it was a very different workout! I sweated! I stretched! I felt fantastic!

I'm really looking forward to her classes now.

The gym is starting up pilates in the evenings two days a week and three days a week during the day. During all of those times, they have child watch. I think I might also be able to squeeze in a water aerobics class during those times, as well.

I feel the best I've felt in years!

OK so I'm still moody as all get out, but physically I feel great!

Work it, baby!

2005-09-26T13:39:00.000-05:00

So my new year's resolution was to get in shape. I actually got a membership to the YMCA, figuring if I actually had to spend money on it, I'd use it. Surprise, surprise, but I AM using it!

It doesn't hurt that I can drop the kids off for two hours of absolute ME time. Selfish, I know ;)

I've been taking classes for about 4 months now.

Today, was my first day of pilates. I'm wholly unimpressed. I am not sure if it was just the teacher, but it wasn't enough of a workout for me. I want to be sweating and feeling my muscles ache. I want to feel like I'm actually doing something other than fancy stretching. Sure, it was difficult not to move my torso or hips or backs during certain poses, but it wasn't something that I could see getting any short term immediate gratification type results. At least with spinning, my tush hurts so bad that I know I got a good workout.

Also this morning I did water aerobics. Instead of being the warm up type workout for me, it ended up being a great workout! New teacher this time and she had us wear weights on our ankles. I can't believe what a difference it made! I'm absolutely sold on it!

So maybe I'll go back to doing spinning and water aerobics a couple days a week and change it out with some other good cardio stuff. The weights still scare me.

Prayers

2005-09-22T17:29:00.000-05:00

Like so many others across this country, my thoughts and prayers are with those who are in the path of Rita.

This weekend my husband was supposed to go to Slidell, La., to help with the cleanup effort. however, that trip has been postponed by a week or more. hopefully those families who were spared Katrina's wrath will also come unscathed from Rita. Those who have already lost everything cannot lose any more, sadly.

Part of me also wonders that maybe Katrina was some sort of blessing in disguise. How many people evacuating now would have chose to ride out Rita, had Katrina not hit, but because of Katrina being so fresh in memory are choosing to leave?

People have said "why would God have two horrible hurricanes so close together?" I am choosing to believe that if Katrina had not hit and a thousand (I'm not sure on the current death toll) people died, that when Rita hit, many many more would die. Then, maybe we wouldn't feel as if those who died as a result of Katrina didn't die in vain, but as a warning to others to be wary of these powerful storms.

Yes, my trying to find any glimmer of hope from horrible situations is rather annoying, but it is the best coping method I have.

Two Peas Message Board

2005-09-19T22:02:00.000-05:00

Shift Key and the Great Board war

I know, real mature of me to bring this to my blog, but since i already blogged about it I feel fairly justified. I know there are some really super people who aren't involved and have tried to be honest and helpful and I in no way shape or form blame you or find you in any way responsible...

But c'mon...If it were one person, that's an oversight. It's been many people and many emails and many many excuses.

The sad part is, all we (or at least I) want now is an admittance that there was a huge screw up and feelings were hurt. Accept the responsibility. It's not the fault of email, operating systems or anything else. You messed up and many really neat women had their feelings hurt. Of course, none of us would ever post at your website or probably even shop there if you ever went commercial.

And, because of the way this was handled, there will ALWAYS be a stigma attached. Your group will always been thought of as cliquish and exclusionary. Whenever the place is mentioned on another board, it's always going to create problems.

I just wish I felt better about getting this all off my chest. :(

But at least I'm not posting to the monster thread which I'm sure is helpful.

the last to know

2005-09-17T19:30:00.000-05:00

I always feel like the last person to discover certain things...like Rachel Ray's 30 minute meals on food network.

I've set my DVR for the shows.

although I really can't stand her voice and how much she uses her hands to talk, the recipes are actually very easy and practical. I am hoping I can see past her hands to get some good dinner ideas.

And, it's also good bonding with my oldest daughter. She has always loved to watch cooking shows. Tonight, she begged me to make the meal we watched today. Thankfully, we had the majority of the ingredients at home...just had to run to the store for fresh herbs.

fall...NOT

2005-09-15T16:03:00.000-05:00

one thing i don't think i will be able to get used to living in the south is the weather in the fall. September, in my mind, is a time when the weather cools down. It isn't too hot and it isn't too cool. It's just right...

well, not here!

it's 4 p.m. and currently a toasty 94 degrees!

Last year on Halloween, it was in the low 80s. It cools down to the mid60s come winter and will sometimes dip below that, but by March and April, it's back up into the low 80s.

THe seasons here should be renamed: Hot, Windy, Hotter, Oh I'm buring in the fires of Hell, Hurricane, Hot, Who knew humidity made the cold this biting...

learning curve

2005-09-14T15:44:00.000-05:00

Nothing quite breaks your heart like hearing your almost seven year old sobbing about school. "Mommy, will I get to learn knew things in second grade?" she asked between tears.

As her big brother went off to kindergarten, Leelee was completely jealous. She kept telling people about how excited she was to go to kindergarten and learn. As the first day of kindie approached last year, she was so excited. Her teacher was "beautiful and so nice" just like kindergarten teachers are supposed to be.

Her excitement, however, began to wane as the year progressed. "Mommy, we're learning our letters still" she'd complain. Then, she'd complain they were learning their numbers, shapes and colors. The majority of things that were benchmarks here for kindergarden were prerequisites to enter kindie in our old state. Children there generally went to preschool, so letter, number, color and shape recognition were review and not the majority of the curriculum. I asked her teacher that year when the children would begin to bring home stories to read. She informed me that it's the exception and not the rule, that children here leave kindie reading. Again, quite different from our previous kindie experience.

I had taken the time to prepare my child based on guidelines for another district and, as a result, she had mastered all the benchmarks for kindergarten before she even started! Of course, the fact that she is nearly a full year older than most of her classmates thanks to a Sept. 1 cutoff, and that she was doing her brothers kindie homework with him while she was FOUR, hasn't help matters.

Still, she loved school for the social aspects and made friends. She was happy.

First grade, it was decided, would be the year she'd learn something new.

Yet here we are halfway through the first grading period and my child is in tears because she still isn't learning anything new. She already knows how to read. She writes stories for fun and loves to illustrate them. She admits the math is a bit new, but again, it's things she's watched her brother do for the past two years so it is very familiar and comes easily to her.

I've approached her teacher to get a feel for how she planned to handle students who were working above benchmarks. She said she'd give her extra work if Leelee started to get bored. Great, busy work is really going to help. *sigh* This is a child who is eager and thirsty to learn. She reads at home and enjoys it, but expects to LEARN in school...not be kept busy with worksheets and coloring projects.

The only good part of this, I suppose, is that she's not a behavior problem. That honor goes to our oldest ... who incidently was also bored in school. Turns out he is gifted and this year is starting in the gifted program.

los ninos estan muy loco

2005-09-12T18:18:00.000-05:00

please excuse my spanish, but it is relevant to this entry. You see, my crazy children are playing hide and go seek...all four of them. It's very cute. What makes it crazy is that the "rule" is you have to count to ten in spanish. Even my little 2 year old is covering her eyes and counting: "uno, dos, tres, quatro, cinco, sies, siete, ocho, nueve, ocho, diez"

edited to fix my spanish...thanks jess!

while dh was out...

2005-09-11T23:06:00.000-05:00

I am so tired! I managed to get the faux finish done and my friend put together the shelving for me. i rearranged furniture and ended up disappointed. our bed is just *this much * too big to go anywhere than where it is now...unless i get a different dresser.

DH was so tired and sunburned after a hard day cleaning up debris that I really don't think he cared or noticed the room. He said he appreciated all my hard work, but just wanted to sit down. poor guy. he managed to lose his voice, too!

He also got home about 2 hours earlier than I expected, so I wasn't able to get the room in *perfect* shape. He wanted to go to sleep early; I ended up having to take everything that was staged on the bed and put it in a big pile on the floor.

One of the kids I watch is sick, so I'll have tomorrow to get things in order.

Oh and one cool thing, we have this decorative wall hanging from his mission to Okinawa, Japan. It's really dark colors but along the bottom is this green grass border...DH really wanted that piece in the bedroom...and i'm quite happy to report, it really pops against the paint that i used :D it will look so awesome with the other black accent items i'll be picking out later.

toolbelt diva

2005-09-11T00:14:00.000-05:00

So DH is down in Hattiesburg, MS, this weekend working on hurricane cleanup. I figured this was the perfect time to play "while you were out" and redo our bedroom.

heeheee

We had named our bedroom the "blue sea prison of death." My SIL, when they owned this house, had sponge painted different colors of blue stripes down the walls. It felt like you were in an underwater jail, what with the blue carpet :vomit:

This morning I started with the primer then headed to home depot to get supplies for the makeover. I picked up the base coat of paint. Planning on doing a double drag faux finish. have lots of faux finishing supplies already.

picked up a couple new ceiling fans (pretty ones), some closet organization supplies, new door pulls for my kitchen cabinets, more under bed storage...phew...i actually only spent an hour in home depot. has to be some sort of record LOL

My best friend was in on this so she watched the kids for me. :D

After home depot, headed off to target to spend my gift card. Cute stuff in the dollar spot. But my real bargain...the ottomans I'd been wanting were on clearance...BUT the four left were all damaged in some way. Two had the tops shoved in so they were only good as foot rests and you couldn't use the storage. One had a rip in the fabric and one had the hinges pulled off. AFter making sure all the screws were there, i popped the latter two ottomans in my cart and asked a sales associate if she'd mark them down even further... and she did WOOHOO.

Once at home, I got on the base coat of paint.

Fixed dinner for the kids and then my best friend came over.

We then spent the next 2 1/2 hours ripping out the hideous 10 year old carpet. My friend had never pulled carpet before so I did most of the work. I'm so pooped!

I couldn't move our king sized bed or one of the dressers, so i had to cut the carpet around the dresser, pull the tack strip then move the dresser. Did the same thing wtih the bed. We had to do a couple lift the bed and yank the carpets, but we managed to get it all out!

woohooo

tomorrow, I'll be doing the actually faux finish and my friend will be back since she's never done one before. I have to teach her :D And, since I'm pretty inexperienced about putting together bookshelves and closet organizer stuff, she'll be teaching me all that!

the only thing we won't get done before DH is back are the ceiling fans. Neither of us do electric. And the current ceiling fan in our room is wired incorrectly. You can't just have the fan on without the light on...you have to unscrew the lightbulb. So, Dh will be fixing that ASAP.

I will definitely post pictures and dh's reaction on Monday :D

I told him I was doing some stuff to the bedroom and i could just hear the eyeroll through the phone hahahaha

this'll show him :D

oh the only thing i haven't budgeted for the room is new bedding and window treatments so right now the bed and the windows will remain mismatched.

Weatherman Claims Japanese Mafia Behind Hurricane Katrina

2005-09-09T20:34:00.000-05:00

Weatherman Claims Japanese Mafia Behind Hurricane Katrina

Weatherman Claims Japanese Mafia Behind Hurricane Katrina
POCATELLO, Idaho (Wireless Flash) – Here’s a theory that’s sure to cause a storm of controversy: A meteorologist in Pocatello, Idaho, claims Japanese gangsters known as the Yakuza caused Hurricane Katrina.

Scott Stevens says after looking at NASA satellite photos of the hurricane, he’s is convinced it was caused by electromagnetic generators from ground-based microwave transmitters.

The generators emit a soundwave between three and 30 megahertz and Stevens claims the Russians invented the storm-creating technology back in 1976 and sold it to others in the late 1980s.

Stevens says the clouds formed by the generators are different than normal clouds and are able to appear out of nowhere and says Katrina had many rotation points that are unusual for hurricanes.

At least ten nations and organizations possess the technology but Stevens suspects the Japanese Yakuza created Katrina in order to make a fortune in the futures market and to get even with the U.S. for the 1945 bombing of Hiroshima.

Stevens will discuss the storm creation theory tomorrow night (Sep. 9) on an internet radio show at www.thesciencedetective.com

*************

ummmm i'm not even sure what to say about this but...you gotta be kiddin' me LOL

i'm kicking my husband out of the house!

2005-09-08T11:27:00.000-05:00

He doesn't know it yet. bwahahaha

Actually, it's not really that bad. I told someone from church that hubby would be more than happy to head down to Biloxi this weekend and volunteered our 10 person tent. DH has been desperate to go camping and now he can...and chop down trees and clean up debris.

Am I being horrible if I ask him to take pictures of everyone helping? It seems almost voyeuristic. But on the other hand, years from now when our children ask what we did after this disaster, we'll have the pictures to show how despite the massive mess-up that happened in New Orleans, people did come together to help each other.

I just wish I could go down as well. Well, my sister-in-law emailed that she was hoping to go down the last weekend of the month so perhaps I can go down then, too.

she finally did it

2005-09-07T23:36:00.000-05:00

my darling almost 7 year old daughter finally got her wish...she has short hair.

I told her the only way i'd allow her to cut her locks is if she donated her hair. her first response was "why don't those kids just get wigs?" which made me laugh. I explained that they still needed hair to make the wigs. She thought about it for a bit then finally agreed.

So today was the day. We drove down to the cheap-o hair cutter next to the wallyworld. Leelee's hair was pulled back into a pony tail and then CHOP. aaaaahhhh

I think it was more traumatic for me than it was for her!

she looks positively darling in her new haircut. Dh said he hardly recognized her she looks so different minus the ELEVEN INCHES of hair that used to cascade down her back.

it was for a good cause, tho

as an aside, while we were getting her hair done, a mother and daughter were also getting hair cuts. they were evacuees from New Orleans. The mother was upset because she needed to register her daughter for school but there was so much paperwork and she didn't know how to read well enough to fill everything out :( This just broke my heart. The hairdresser was so kind and gave the woman her phone number and told her to call her and she'd sit down and help :D I know the Red Cross in our area is looking for tutors to help in these situations. I just hope that families who were falling through the cracks before will get a chance to get the help and resources they need and get the chance to start new lives.

i'm forever the optimist. the only way i can cope with such a massive disaster is by trying to find any glimmer of hope.

amazing!

2005-09-07T12:00:00.000-05:00

Amazing mother/child reunion

wow. i couldn't let the day go by without blogging this. The internet is truly a wonderous invention. Who knew a scrapbooking messageboard could bring such joy as to help reunite a mother and child separated by the hurricane and flooding. This is so freaking awesome!

consignment vs ebay

2005-09-06T13:45:00.000-05:00

there's a big consignment sale in town. i'm supposed to be dropping my stuff off there in about 15 minutes but i'm not.

a couple issues that are hindering me from going. the first being this is a colossal pain in the butt!

when i signed up to do this, in the mail i received a piece of paper explaining i needed to print my tags on a certain weight paper, fill in the info and attach the items.

what i didn't receive were instructions on WHERE to drop the items off. i headed to the website to see where they were located. The location? At the old "some store" building. Well, that's just grand! I have no idea WHERE the old store even WAS. I called the number. It's the owner's home phone and she's not answering.

As i scrolled through the website looking for possibly more helpful information, I stumbled across more information about how to attach the items...specifically with little safety pins, hangers going a specific direction, shoes must be ziptied together and all items need to have your specific seller number located on masking tape on the inside as well.

What i want to know is WHY this information wasn't sent in the original packet? Wouldn't this be helpful to know?

Honestly I was planning on stapling things on to the tag. I don't even have masking tape in my house and hadn't even considered doing anything to the shoes besides tying the laces together.

This is way too much effort on my part.

seriously, at this point, I'm going get out my digital camera and list everything on ebay. I'll probably get more money out of it, too. and, i won't have to waste my precious gas driving all over town trying to find this place!

i'm bummed tho because i could REALLY use the money. ah well.

ooo i'm cool

2005-09-05T23:11:00.000-05:00

i'm soo cool that i've attracted spammers to my blog.

too bad i know how to check the delete button and delete the friggin spam from the comments area!!!!

bwahahhahhahaa

i have the POWER OF DELETE

gas

2005-09-05T21:58:00.000-05:00

ok someone posted this on 2peas
and i hope i don't get in troubel for borrowing it for my blog. I didn't steal bandwidth, either.

Doesn't really need any additional comments from me other than...it's soooo flippin true!

We were excited to pay $2.89 today for regular! I never thought I'd see the day...

I remember ONCE about 7 years ago, we were driving up to my mom's house and stopped in Vancouver, Washington, for gas and paid 97 cents/gallon. We were so stinkin' excited because it was a whopping $1.10 in Portland, which at the time, seemed like highway robbery. *sigh*

word association

2005-09-05T20:37:00.000-05:00

I stole this from Dawn...

Julie:: for some reason i think of SNL
Emotional:: rollercoaster
Head of household:: taxes
Diva:: diva cup
Devastation:: sadness
Business or pleasure:: cruise
Crown:: of thorns
Eastern:: far away
Buzzed:: hair cut
Officer: and a gentleman

sleep

2005-09-05T12:52:00.000-05:00

I am so tired. I feel as if all the energy has just been sucked out of me. I could go to bed at 8 p.m. and sleep solidly til 8 a.m. and still be tired. I am walking in a haze of fatique all day.

It doesn't at all help that my TMJ is acting up. I'm grinding my teeth at night again, so my jaw just aches.

We're sort of weaning Kari from the family bed. Her idea. She wants to sleep in big sister's room. She thinks it's cool. So she's sleeping most of the night in the pack n play we have set up for the baby I watch. She sleeps most of the night there. When she wakes around 5 a.m., I bring her to my bed and she sleeps til waking time. I can't believe she's ready for this step already. Actually, I shouldn't be surprised because this is the age when the other kids moved on. I guess I'm the one who's not quite ready for this milestone.

Why do they have to grow up?

is this like comparing apples to oranges?

2005-09-03T21:56:00.000-05:00

It's well known among our family and close friends that Kari is a squirt. She always has been and probably always will be. It's genetic. Her great-grandma is only 4 foot 10. With mama a towering 5 foot 2, Kari really doesn't stand a chance...unless some freak genetic material from her great-great grandma (a staggering 5 foot 11) somehow manifests itself.

Kari, thankfully, is proportional. For a toddler her size, bringing up the bottom 1%, she is also in the bottom 1% for weight.

At the gym, my poor dear little one pitches a two-year-old EMMY award winning tantrum if she can't go to the "adventure room." The adventure room houses several giant climbers and slides that are much bigger and better than any McD's playland. It is also reserved for children two and up. It has happened more than once that I've checked Kari into the adventure room and return to find her in the nursery SCREAMING at the awful offense of being grouped with the babies and the baby toys. The workers always remind me that the adventure room is for ages two and up, and I remind them that Kari IS in fact, two.

She may still wear size two diapers (ya know, if she wore diapers) and can wear 3/6 month clotes from the Gap and Carters and size 12 month clothes are baggy and saggy, but she is TWO. She will even tell you that she's two, if you ask. Of course, she will also tell you her name is Benny, so maybe they suspect the age is off ;)

Ben, on the other hand, at age 2 was this massive child. When asked his name, he told people he was Harry Potter and he was 5 years old. He is such a dreamer!

Anyway, I know it's bad form to compare children. there has to be children below the third percent to make way for the kids in the fiftieth percent and those above the nintieth percent.

Still, it did catch me off guard when my friend called me while she was babysitting Kari wanting to know how much she weighed. "Um, around 20 pounds, I guess. We haven't weighed her in awhile. Why?"

"Oh we're just trying to figure out who weighs more, Kari or Charlie."

Charlie. Her CAT. Her MALE cat that looks like he's about to have a litter.

Nice.

pondering potter

2005-09-03T20:31:00.000-05:00

We're rereading Harry Potter with the kids. We have to read 20 minutes a day for each child, so we figured we ought to read something everyone can enjoy.

I know it was questioned on other blogs, but I am wondering, after reading book 1, is Dumbledore really dead?

Snape, on the first day of potions, talks about the sleeping death potion...so strong that it mimics death. Dumbledore's portrait is sleeping. We all know JKR loves to drop hints and pull things from the past that we barely realize are important. So, now, I'm hoping that our favorite headmaster is still alive.

If he is dead, I have to agree with those who are theorizing that in the moments of silence before Snape did the avarde curse that dumbledore asked him to do it. it does make sense.

and honestly, i know that dumbledore is dead...i jsut don't want him to be!

not so quiet riot

2005-09-02T23:34:00.000-05:00

We spent a couple hours in our ER this afternoon. hubby was trying to help break up a 20+ student "riot" at the middle school where he teaches. A "he said/she said" gone bad. DH injured his elbow.

After nearly three weeks of school, DH is seriously reconsidering teaching the middle school/junior high age group. These kids are loud, obnoxious and many do not respect authority. Plus, at five foot ten, DH isnt' exactly towering over these kids. Many of them are already bigger than he is! This has been a concern of mine all along, so I'm pleased he's considering moving to the lower grades for next year. Heck, I'm really hoping he applies at our neighborhood school so he can walk to work!

pooh

2005-09-01T10:17:00.000-05:00

as much as i love Pooh, this Heffalump movie is driving me BONKERS. My four year old has decided it is the most wonderful movie in the world and whenever he gets movie time, this is what he wants to watch. ARG And it doesn't help that there's this ONE song that is so catchy and I just love to listen to it, but then it gets stuck in my head.

I will admit, though, that Heffalump movie is vastly preferrable to Thomas the Tank Engine. Alex only recently has softened his obsession with the number one engine. It has been probably a year since I had to suffer through one of the obnoxious videos or even buy a train. A year of complete bliss!

i really do not understand why they must make children's movies that drive the parents insane. it truly seems as if how much the children love the movies is directly proportional to how crazy it makes the parents.

Props have to be given to the creators of Veggie Tales. I can actually WATCH veggies tales and sing the songs without feeling like I need to gouge my eyes out with a screwdriver.

The producers of Backyardigans need to be taken into the street and shot. While the children do love this program, the music gets stuck in my head and I am absolutely unable to sleep. The music is far too catchy and I find myself singing along...and then I can't STOP singing!

Hubby said one of his most embarassing moments in front of his students was when he was caught singing one of the songs from mothergoose rocks. There is nothing like singing "little miss muffet" to the tune of a popular rock song.

We take too much for granted

2005-08-31T20:25:00.000-05:00

This catastrophe should be a huge wake up call for us as Americans. Life is precarious. Things we have today may not be here tomorrow.

I feel so badly for the women who joke they want their epidurals in their 8th month because they don't want to feel the pain of childbirth. What's going to happen if there's a natural disaster in YOUR area and the epidural isn't available? How do you plan on dealing with that?

What about the babies who's mothers aren't breastfeeding? The formula isn't available now. What are you going to do? THe best thing these women can do at the moment is pray the baby can remember how to latch on. Pray that they are able to relactate because that's the best bet for baby.

Diapers. Where are they going to come from?

simply put, many of the crutches we lean on as mothers, our 'back up' plans are gone if there is a disaster.

homebirthers are usually mocked and tsks because "what are you going to do in an emergency?" but let me ask YOU, what are YOU going to do in an emergency if the hospital isn't there? if that bottle of formula isn't available?

It is vitally important for women to be taught what to do in an emergency other than "call 911" because 911 might not be there either.

and it wouldn't hurt to learn how to tie your baby or child to you either.

GoldandBlack.com - Behind the Scenes: Katrina aftermath hits LSU hard

2005-08-31T19:57:00.000-05:00

This just breaks my heart. I cannot fathom what is happening. But at the same time I almost envy those who are actually able to be there to DO something. I hate just being a few hundred miles away and not able to get there to help.

GoldandBlack.com - Behind the Scenes: Katrina aftermath hits LSU hard

Editor's note: The following is a firsthand account from Bill Martin, a student assistant in the sports information office at LSU, of the devastation from Hurricane Katrina being felt in Baton Rouge and the horrors he witnessed on Tuesday night and into Wednesday.

Little did I know what I would be doing following Hurricane Katrina's aftermath, but as I type right now, there won't be a more gratifying or more surreal experience than I went through tonight.

Associated Press
Flooding in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina has been catastrophic throughout Louisiana.
We went up to the office today and held a press conference regarding the postponement of the [North Texas] game and it was the right decision. As the Pete Maravich Assembly Center and Field House are being used as shelters, we decided as an office to do everything we could to help the situation.

At first, we were just supposed to make copies of this disaster relief form for all of the people. The copiers will never print a document more important than that.

It's weird. Nearly 12 hours ago we were running off copies of game notes for a football game that is now meaningless. We printed the copies and carried them over to the Field House at 6:30 p.m. I wouldn't leave the area for another eight hours.

On the way back to the PMAC in a cart, it looked like the scene in the movie Outbreak. FEMA officials, U.S. Marshalls, National Guard, and of course the survivors.

Black Hawks were carrying in victims who were stranded on roofs. Buses rolled in from New Orleans with other survivors. As Michael and I rode back to the PMAC, a lady fell out of her wheelchair and we scrambled to help her up.

We met Coach [Les] Miles and Coach [Tommy] Moffitt in the PMAC to see all the survivors and it was the view of a hospital. Stretchers rolled in constantly, and for the first time in my life, I saw someone die right in front of me.

A man rolled in from New Orleans and was badly injured on his head. Five minutes later he was dead. And that was the scene all night.

What did we do? We started hauling in supplies, and thousands of boxes of supplies. The CDC from Atlanta arrived directing us what to do.

One of the U.S. Marshalls was on hand so the supplies could not become loot. I asked him what his primary job was. He serves on the committee of counter terrorism, but once he saw of the disaster, he donated his forces to come help. He said the death toll could be nearing 10,000. It was sickening to hear that.

After unloading supplies, I started putting together baby cribs and then IV poles. Several of our football players and Big Baby (Glen Davis) and Tasmin Mitchell helped us.

At the same time, families and people strolled in. Mothers were giving birth in the locker rooms. The auxiliary gym "Dungeon" was being used as a morgue. I couldn't take myself down there to see it.

I worked from 8 p.m., until 2:45 a.m. Before I left, three more buses rolled in and they were almost out of room. People were standing outside. The smells, the sights were hard to take.

A man lying down on a cot asked me to come see him.

He said, "I just need someone to talk to, to tell my story because I have nobody and nothing left."

He turned out to be a retired military veteran. His story was what everybody was saying. He thought he survived the worst, woke up this morning and the levees broke. Within minutes water rushed into his house.

He climbed to the attic, smashed his way through the roof and sat there for hours. He was completely sunburned and exhausted. Nearly 12 hours later a chopper rescued him and here he was.

We finished the night hauling boxes of body bags and more were on the way. As we left, a man was strolled in on a stretcher and scarily enough he suffered gunshots. The paramedic said he was shot several times because a looter or a convict needed his boat and he wouldn't give it to him.

Another man with him said it was "an uncivilized society no better than Iraq down there right now." A few minutes later, he was unconscious and later pronounced dead. I then left as they were strolling a 3-year old kid in on a stretcher. I couldn't take it anymore.

That was the scene at the PMAC and it gives me a new perspective on things. For those of you who I haven't been able to get in touch with because of phone service, I pray you are safe. Send me an email to let me know. God bless.

Rivals.com encourages donations to the American Red Cross. You can specify your donation go toward "2005 Hurricane Relief." To make donations, please click here.

This was reprinted with the permission of Mr. Martin. The death toll estimate that he was given should be considered speculative at best.

from my 2 yo,...

2005-08-30T23:53:00.000-05:00

Kari turned two last week, to give you an idea how "two" she is.

We've been working with my 4 yo to learn letter sounds and of course, Kari is involved. Working on the B sound, I asked "what goes "buh buh buh?" and Kari piped in "a sheep!"

hahahaha

my sister!

2005-08-30T13:19:00.000-05:00

she lives in carol county georgia. just saw on CNN that it was hit by a tornado. we haven't heard from her (even before this...there are some issues) but i am no so worried about her!

devastation

2005-08-30T12:32:00.000-05:00

Words truly cannot express how my heart aches for the millions of people who's lives are going to be forever altered because of this hurricane. I do not believe there are adequate words to describe even what has happened.

What can you do to help?

Well, for us, the first place we are turning to is our Church as they are very good about organizing efforts to assist those in need. Just five weeks ago, following Hurricane Dennis, my husband went to the Mobile area to help clean up. I suspect we will be going down again...though, we're not sure whether it will be to Mobile or Western Alabama.

Next, contact the Red Cross. They will probably be deluged with calls, though. Donate blood! Even though there may not be an imminent need for blood in the area, it is always needed.

Following Hurricane Ivan, we were asked to donate clothes, especially for children. I had planned on donating our outgrown clothes to a local thrift store, but now they will be heading south.

Other items that will probably be needed include sanitary supplies, diapers, formula, the things you just don't really think about needing because they are *always* available.

I am particularly worried about the diseases that will become rampant in the area that we haven't seen in many years...diseases that are caused by unsanitary conditions. These people don't have clean water, sanitation systems...*shudder*

I also worry about the pregnant women and children. I can't imagine abandoning my home while hugely pregnant and then losing everything. It is horrible.

Prayers go out to those who have been touched by this storm that they may have the strength to endure the challenges and the wisdom to see the miracles and blessings that surely the Lord has in store for them. It is times like this, I remember that the Lord does not give us more than we can bear.

a compliment...i think

2005-08-28T22:07:00.000-05:00

during the stage when children don't want their food to touch, is also the perfect time for them not to want their siblings to touch them either. this means in order to have sanity at the dinner table, you have to buy those spiffy divided plates. And, in order to have sanity in public, the children have to be divided up with parents in between. If you have too many children to do this, well...I suppose you just have to put up with the stares and dirty looks for bad behavior. ;) I am fully justified in saying this as a mother of four! I know those dirty looks all too well...

a friend called to see how we were preparing for the storm. in the coversation she says "your kids did really well in church today! i didn't hear them at all!"

aaahhhhh

and yes, we WERE there and we decided to sit in the front. It went child_mom with child on lap_ child_dad_child.

watching the storm

2005-08-28T21:09:00.000-05:00

Like so many others across the country, we are glued to coverage of Katrina. Winds are 160 mph with gusts up to 200 mph. Having been through hurricane Ivan, albeit 180 miles inland, I just can't wrap my brain around winds that strong. It is simply unimaginable.

I am also so worried about the people seeking shelter in the SuperDome. If, worst case scenario, the city is under 20 feet of water and it will take a month or more to drain it, what will these people do? How will they eat? The sanitation system in the city will be shot so naturally the superdome will not be able to sustain 70,000 people with no working sewers. The disease potential is just awful.

It makes our concerns about whether or not we'll have school tomorrow seem so...miniscule. Hubby teaches at a school just at the border of where the national weather service has issued a hurricane warning. We're "safely" inside an area of tropical storm warning.

So many people will be effected by this storm.

Gas prices will top $70/barrel; produces prices will increase; clothing costs will increase. The cost will be felt by everyone. Even with the damage Ivan did last year, we were paying $5/lb for tomatoes! they are anticipating the cotton crop in Mississippi will be wiped out.

Prayers aren't just needed for those in the area, but for everyone to be able to afford the economic fallout from this storm.

confessions of a bargain hunter

2005-08-28T00:18:00.000-05:00

I consider myself frugal. I am not cheap, however. I don't separate 2-ply toilet paper; I don't rinse out baggies so I can reuse them; I don't wash out my tinfoil to get extra uses. I do clip coupons, watch the sales, stockpile items and, heaven forbid, follow up if something doesn't live up to the warranty.

Today, I got to throw the clerks at Sears for a loop. They have a program called KidVantage. When you purchase $100 in children's clothing, you earn a $15 rebate or something like that. Another wonderful perk of the program is that items are guaranteed. That is to say, if your child wears out the clothing before they grow out of it, it will be replaced.

Most people probably forget where they buy the clothes or figure it's not worth it to drive down to the store to replace. Not me. I've got other kids waiting to wear those pants...so it may be several years down the road before it happens, but there's a line. (OK, confession time...as much as I am frugal, I have had to break myself of the habit of holding on to clothing. It must be in excellent condition to warrant taking up my precious space. Most things get donated.)

In February, I bought my oldest a pair of pants that were slightly too big. He was in that awkward stage of too tall for size 8 but too short for 10s. We bought him a 10. He played hard in those pants, so hard that he wore a hole into the cuff. You betcha I marched those pants into Sears and wanted an exchange.

Now the problem I have, and I'm not sure what to do about it is this: The original pants had an adjustable waist. Dear son is too big around the middle for slims but regulars just about fall off of him and he hates wearing a belt. They were completely out of the pants we originally purchased. We had to replace them with a pair in the same size of equal or lesser value. They didn't have any wtih the adjustable waist. I'm very tempted to have DH take these pants back and exchange them for a 10 slim because those *Should* fit. But then I feel dishonest. thoughts?

Second thing I had fun with today was shopping at the new Publix. The supermarket is opening two new stores in our fair city, presumably to compete wtih the two super walmarts and the new super walmart being built. We have something like 5 superwalmarts within 20 miles. it's obnoxious.

Anyway, I was able to get sugar at a very good price, but other than that, this store was more expensive than the walmart. I really have no idea how they are going to compete. A large grocery chain in the area is going out of business because they can't compete. And the other large chain, eh...they aren't exactly the place of bargains either. I really expected this new store to cater to a market different than the other stores.

I wasn't really all that impressed with their prices, but I will probably end up shopping there for one or two items at a time, if I run out. In order for me to justify shopping at the super walmart, it needs to be a big trip. I use a gallon of gas to get to the walmart and back home. Right now, that's $2.50. In order to justify shopping at the neighborhood stores, I have to either a) save more than $2.50 over walmart prices, or b) spend less than $2.50 between gas and the cost difference between the stores. For example, soy milk is $2.18 for a half gallon at walmart. If I were to go to walmart I would actually be paying $4.68 for that soy milk if that were the only thing I needed. And let's be honest here, if I go into walmart I will spend A LOT more than what I intended. Now, let's pretend I go to Publix. The soy milk there is $2.60 but I only went 6 miles roundtrip, so the actual cost is $3.85...and I'm less likely to buy other junk I don't need because the publix is over priced on most other items.

Sometimes, I being frugal involves too much math.

speaking of big girl panties...

2005-08-26T15:54:00.000-05:00

My little girl turns 2 today. I can't believe the time has gone so quickly. Happily, for her birthday she gave mama a present. she wants to wear big girl panties! woohoo potty training made easy.

the only "down side" to all of this is that the makers of little girl panties don't make girlie style panties with dinosaurs or trains or cool superheros like batman or spiderman. If she didn't obsessively watch dora and carry around her babies and only want to drink out of the purple cup, I'd think I finally got my tom boy.

When it comes to panties, if she can't have dora, or "estrella" (stars), she wants dinosaurs "raarrrrr" and "chugachuga choochoo" panties.

Thankfully, her big brother has more than enough unders that kari can snag a few pairs of his and be blissful in her big girl...err boy...errr...big KID panties.

i do take requests

2005-08-26T15:42:00.000-05:00

for music that is. let me know what you think of my tunes. i have rather eclectic tastes so you never know what's going to show up.

Ok, I hear ya loud and clear

2005-08-26T12:30:00.000-05:00

This is a vent. Feel free to skip this if you don't like this sort of post.

The problem started about two or three weeks ago...or maybe it was in June, hard to tell. My computer died in June. During this time, I went "inactive" on a messageboard and all the inactive accounts were deleted. I can understand that. Well, I was reinstated...for about a week or so. Then, my account was deleted/disabled again, even though I was posting regularly. I emailed several people, including moderators and sent several emails and private messages to the one person who could reinstate me. I posted for help. Those posts went ignored.

OK y'all I get the hint now. I've somehow offended someone somewhere and I'm no longer welcome.

Oh and I'm posting on my blog because only about 10 people read it instead of the multitude of people I could gripe to elsewhere. I need to gripe because, well, my feelings *are* hurt. I've never intentionally hurt someone or posted offense (except maybe to well known trolls). So, I guess this is sort of taking the high road. I need to vent. I posted to my blog...not the other place. I'm also upset because how hard would it have been to email me and set this straight? If memberships were going to be limited or something, again an email would have cleared up all the confusion. Would my feelings be any less hurt? Probably! Now I feel absolutely snubbed...this is so freaking junior high...why oh why am I still playing these games?

anyway, I think I'm done venting now.

you know what i'd love

2005-08-26T00:40:00.000-05:00

cookies for lunch. heck i'd love to be able to keep anything down right now. darn kids. why'd they have to go and get me sick???

TTC

2005-08-25T10:47:00.000-05:00

For the first time in more than 9 years, we are TTC. Shocked? Especially since we have four children already?

People say "don't you know what causes it?" I answer "I know what causes it, it's the preventing it that's the problem!"

Of our four darlings, three were conceived while trying to prevent. I have lost pretty much all faith in human-designed ways to prevent pregnancy. I've come to the mind that if God decides that it's time for me to have a baby, no amount of preventing on my part is going to keep that from happening.

So with great excitement, we're are now TTC. We feel ready. We want another child. We feel another child is out there waiting for us.

Of course, it took us 18 months to conceive our first. Now that we're actually trying again, I'm half expecting it to take a long time again since we're now doing this because we want to and not necessarily because God has decided it's time. I mean, we're open to God's plan for our family, believe me...it's just we're saying, finally "OK, Lord we're ready!" and the cynic in me is thinking the Lord will answer, "Great, but it's not time yet."

Now, after I ovulated, I get to play the great waiting game. Watching my temps and waiting for any sign that we might have succeeded on our first try.

Wish us luck!

greetings from the trenches

2005-08-24T17:23:00.000-05:00

holding out here in puke central. my youngest started throwing up yesterday. if she were a grown up, she'd have been praying to the porcelain god with both ends. it was pretty awful.

today she was doing much better. no pukes and only once with the other nasty business. all was starting to look right with the world.

i decided to be domestic during her nap. i was lucky enough that the daycare kids i have also went down for a nap at the same time. Ben was happily playing on the computer. I made, are you ready for this??? Lasagna noodles FROM SCRATCH. I've never done such a thing before and it was surprisingly easy. During the nap, I managed to get my entire lasagna prepped and ready to pop in the oven.

it's times like these when i realize it wasn't a domestic diva moment. it was actually my mommy instinct quietly whispering in the background "you better get dinner ready now because you won't be able to get anything done by 5 pm"

I walked my daycare kids back across the street to their house and handed the reigns back to mom. Little boy turned around and hurled all over mom's shoes. Next, he let go in the bushes. I happily, ignorantly ran back home thinking "glad he's not coming over tomorrow since it's dad's day off!"

Once at home, i turn the oven on and dinner is going. Then, all you-know-what breaks loose. The older two kids scream "ewwwww! MOMMMMMYYYYYY!!!!!!!! ben just puked everywhere!"

Just peachy.

Dh gets home. Dinner is done in a few minutes and DH announces that the little one is naked again. He takes her to the potty then, much to my dismay, we hear that familiar gurgle in the hallway...Ben is letting loose again.

Ben now has a puke bucket chained around his neck. It'll be his new bedtime buddy.

I look over at my 6 yo at the dinner table. Lasagna is one of her favorite foods. She's picking at it. "Mommy, my tummy hurts."

I quickly slide the food away from her and get up from the table. I hand her a puke bucket and send her off to bed.

I have a feeling it's going to be a long long weekend. Surely by Friday the oldest will have it. It will make it's way through our family by Sunday.

At least with something like this, there's an end in sight...too bad it's still 5 days away.

i'm gonna dieeeeeeeee

2005-08-22T10:26:00.000-05:00

its 1030 am. it is 91 degrees. heat index is 102. real feel is 114.

just cause i enjoyed this so much

2005-08-21T00:16:00.000-05:00

if you scroll down on the left, there's a link to "napolean's sweet ads"

it's a must see for dynamite fans!

http://www.utah-state-fair.com/#

sleep is highly overrated

2005-08-18T08:54:00.000-05:00

That, at least, seems to be the view of my children. I have no idea how a child that has a complete meltdown if she doesn't get her nap by 1 p.m. (11 a.m. pacific), can have four hours of sleep and be playing happily while i'm walking around in a complete daze. It makes absolutely no sense.

I am just praying she goes down for a nice long nap in about an hour (taking her nap 3 hours early) so I can catch some zzzz. Thankfully, my older child will quietly watch The Heffalump movie while I doze. I'm also very glad it's not the loud obnoxious movie he used to like to watch. There's no way I could close my eyes for even a moment on the couch then!

Cookies sound so good today

2005-08-17T08:28:00.000-05:00

As I mentioned in yesterday's post, I went to a 45 minute spinning class followed by time on the elyptical then the treadmill. Now, I realize I need to clear up any possible misconception that i am some super exercising goddess (c'mon i know you were thinking it). That was the first time I've worked out in a good month or so. I used to be pretty good about going, but summer vacation hit. OK, more honesty...the good month is in dog months, you know, a month in human terms is 3 months in dog terms.

Anyway, back to spinning. My head is still spinning and I want to sit down, but I can't because my butt hurts too badly! More accurately the inner part of my legs that were in contact with the bike seat are killing me. I swear, I must have bruised them they hurt soooo deeply. I was going to go spinning again today, but I don't think I can muster it. I'll probably leave in about 30 minutes and hit a water aerboics class before I start my circuit training orientation. I am determined to lose this weight before we get pregnant!

my first post on my new blog....

2005-08-16T13:04:00.000-05:00

this post is really to explain how my blog got it's name and just a sample of some of what you will read here.

today is definitely one of those days...

it started out well enough. got the kids to school on time, came home and loaded the daycare kids up in my van then we all headed off to the ymca. i did 45 minutes of spinning class followed by some time in the treadmill and elyptical machines. i was beat!

once we got home is when things went wrong, terribly wrong. and, amazingly enough, kari wasn't the culprit this time!

i was unloading the kids from the van. got everyone settled inside. the baby was asleep in her carseat. kari wanted to nurse and ben wanted a cookie. i told ben to wait just a moment and i would help him. but, ben, being an independent 4 yo decided to help himself. normally this wouldn't be a problem, but this time, ben didn't know where i put the cookies.

he saw a bag on top of the fridge that in his mind, looked like it could hold the cookies. problem: it was a can of paint....a can of RED paint.

so i did what any exasperated mother would do...i shoved the kids into the backyard and tried to clean up the mess. there was so much paint! at first, i tried slopping it up but that just made it bigger. then it came to me...i hadn't finished painting this color in the hallway...so i got out my roller and painted the doors down the hallway! there was just enough paint on the floor to cover 3 1/2 doors.

by this time, the kids were done outside ... so i gave them the cookies and said "have at it!" i figured it would keep them quiet and out of my way while i moved the refrigerator (did i mention the paint spilled down the front of my freshly painted cabinets and my brand new refrigerator?)

meanwhile, the baby is waking up and screaming. she had to wait.

my hair is now covered in red paint, my gym clothes are covered in red paint, my cabinet is covered in red paint...but the floor and the refrigerator aren't. the kids are happy now...and i'm completely pooped!