Easter

Happy Easter everyone. Today turned out to be a pretty great day. The girls woke up and found their baskets and were thrilled about the dry erase boards and decorative foam stickers for those.  They had fun hunting for the plastic easter eggs that I hid filled with m&ms and then we kind of just hunt out for awhile. Got a text or two from my brothers and headed to lunch at dad's house (he and his girlfriend, whom I love, prepared everything). Pork chops were delicious. DELICIOUS. And steamed veggies were excellent, I started smelling broccoli and my mouth watered..so good. And then PIE that my brother brought. It was really fun, visiting, and the kids played with their cousin and we hung out, and some of us napped and we watched the Masters which turned out to be a bit more interesting than we thought it might be. The girls really really had fun running outside with my brother and brother in law and playing hide and seek. And it turns out that the 4yo is much more cunning and crafty than her 8 and 9yo cousin and sister :) She's a wily one, that's for sure.

My original hope for today was to go to church. Honestly, that's my hope for every Sunday, but it just doesn't seem to work or happen for us. We like to sleep in and catch up on sleep from the work week and getting up for church prevents that. Also, the 4yo in particular hasn't been a fan of Sunday school (nor is the husband really), so I've ended up taking the 9yo to Sunday school and the husband brings the 4yo later for big church, and both girls sit in there with us for that. It's an ok arrangement, but I do wish the 4yo would agree to Sunday school and the nursery so I could focus a little better during the sermon. I also really really do not want to be easter, christmas attendees, where we only show up for holidays when we think God is watching. I'm not that person. I believe EVERY day, not just holidays.

Honestly, I haven't been a huge fan of the Sunday school classes I've attended either. I think what I'm looking for may not exist. And I'm a little hesitant to find a new church or anything, because we like this church, we believe what they believe and we were married there, same pastor even. In fact, his daughter is whose shower I'll be attending next weekend...small world. I guess what I'd like from my Sunday school, and I'm probably not being fair here..is to come out of it with clues about how to get through the week. How do I respond to X and do I have to forgive X and what about forgetting X and I guess...real life situations that I struggle with every day. And maybe I just haven't attended enough, or the right class to find that. They do seem to offer more focused classes at Sunday evenings. Maybe I'll keep an eye out for something that fits me in that time slot. Look at that, sorta solved things a little myself.

My future fears about not attending church are for my girls. Not only their spiritual futures, but also for their personal futures. Will they meet the right man for themselves if they aren't regularly involved in a place filled with men that believe what they believe? I met my husband at church...so it's a match I'd sort of like for them to make as well.

Ok enough of that...I exhaust myself sometimes.

I woke up at 6 with a charlie horse in my calf as well. Holy mother of all that is holy...OW. I've sort of changed my running technique lately, to run more on the balls of my feet, it was feeling like less work and less impact than the heel toe stomp. Maybe my calves just aren't ready for that, but I am going to keep trying it. I really need to start doing longer runs so I can make sure I'm ready for my 5k in July.

You know what else is funny...or interesting. At the same that I hope people read my blog, and like what and how I write it, I also hope no one reads it, because its a great way to just blurt and ramble and get what I'm feeling out of me. Huh.

Random thoughts

So far blogging every day hasn't been so bad. Other than the day a migraine tried to thwart me, it's going pretty well. I'm not even using all the pre-started posts I've got yet. Today is nothing special so my plan is to ramble until I'm done rambling.

Random thing I love: our pop can box from the Can Shed. We used to save up all our empty pop cans and take them to the store to return and get our deposit when we could no longer get past the boxes of cans in the garage. Typically about $12 worth. Over spring break this year the husband decided we should just get this box from the can shed. It's like the ones you see at the grocery store, fill it up, return it for $$ and get a new empty one. Genius. I'm not kidding, it's genius, we love tossing our cans in it so much we may be drinking more just so we can. It's so much better than hoarding all those 12-packs and hauling them back.

My headache: I'm headache free at the moment,I've taken 9 ibuprofen a day the last couple days. Today, none so far. I'm staying away from video games for a little bit, a week or so, and I'm trying hard not to stay up so late that I don't get a decent amount of sleep. I had trouble this morning sleeping past 8 after going to sleep at 11:30. But I did get up and get my running time in before anyone was up, which was really nice, since I take Sunday off from running, I'm done for the weekend.

I think maybe this headache thing was a combination of late nights with video games ( looking at you gears of war 3 horde), an attempt from a migraine to eat my brain and trying to keep track of all the weddings, shows and school things coming up. So hopefully, this restful week will help and I can play my new Lego Harry Potter game soon.

 We've got four wedding invites this spring/summer. Two are on the same day so we have to choose and there are showers for all of them of course. I've squared away one gift, mailed it today because I can't make the shower. I wrapped up another gift for a shower next weekend and I'm throwing my sister in law a baby shower at the end of the month so I'm workin' on making sure all those details are worked out.

Sophie also has her school musical and school spring pictures next week as well as some MAP testing I need to make sure she gets enough rest for. I'm sure it'll super storm the night before. Today I finished grabbing a few things for Easter baskets, although I could kick myself for not picking up the new baskets I saw at the dollar store earlier this week. They're long gone today of course. Since grandma and grandpa already brought them a bunch of candy I went with dry erase boards for their bedroom doors, foam sticky things for them to decorate those with, two candy items only, dry erase markers, and little notebooks, and two pair of Easter socks for each of them. Next year I'll get new baskets...or maybe just one if the oldest figures out the sham this bunny laying egg hiding thing is. Please let her figure that out....

Update:  Sorry about no picture of the genius can box and the no paragraph breaks prior to now. Apparently posting from the iPad means no breaks.

Deal? Deal!

So a few nights ago, we tucked the girls in bed at regular time. I grabbed my workout stuff so I could head to the treadmill. We came down to the kitchen and found this on the fridge.

This is from the 9yo 3rd grader. She's getting up in years and has become smart, talkative, and resistant to trickery and tom-foolery. Usually each summer I make a chore chart, one for each kid. It contains things they should do on their own, but don't, and a few things they should do because I want them to and because they I want them to be responsible adults, right? Making your bed, brushing your own hair and teeth, it's not asking to much. It is not. Don't argue with me. I believe this is the 9yo's way of saying she disagrees.

READ THIS!
I made my own chore chart. If I do them all, I get two dollars. If I do some, I get one. If I don't do any, I get zero. So, Deal?

P.S. I'm starting the chores next week, cause it's in the midle of this week already. Deal? Deal!

Clearly she believes we've struck a deal. I couldn't even see the chores she'd selected for herself, they're so small on her chart. And her use of this notebook paper makes me feel like it's pretty unlikely she'll duplicate the process next week. Part of me is inclined to let her try this, or maybe I should have her help me make her chart in a more repeatable format. Of course, my printer doesn't work right now...so...she may be on to something.

The other part of this is how funny she is. She's not trying to be funny, she's serious most of the time if its not an obvious playtime activity. She knows chore chart time is coming (summer) and she's trying to head it off with easier chores like make bed, brush hair, brush teeth, nice to sis, kind to dogs, help family. I think it might be time to add in some slightly more difficult tasks. Empty and reload dishwasher, wash windows. I love that she's left off 'clean room'. She's hilarious and smart and beautiful and I wish she's stop growing up already. I'm not ready for ten...or twelve...or...or...teenager years.

Half assed

Sorry, I'm not feeling that well at the moment so this post is a litt half-assed. Today started out awesome. I took the day off so I could go to a tailor with a couple dresses. Took the kid to preschool first, so after the tailor I got stuff done at target and the dollar store. Picked up the kid and went to get a couple bridal shower gifts across town. Came home, had lunch, fixed a work thing....and got a headache. Tuesday I'm pretty sure a migraine tried to eat me, so I'm a little afraid its still trying. So my plans for laundry and organization went out the window and I took a nap, sort of. Someone kept asking me if she could get me anything, or play the computer, or go outside, or, or, shhhh mommy is resting. She was sweet though, I'm not complaining. I did manage to finish most of the laundry, and the rest will work out later. Tomorrow I promise a better post.

Working from Home

I started this post months ago, after I read a dooce.com post about her making a video about working from home. I hadn't watched it yet, and honestly, I can't remember if I ever did. Oh, hold on, let me go refresh my memory, so my opinions make sense.

Ok. I'm back.

Considering she works with her husband (or did until the separation), has an actual assistant and I believe she also has child care at least part of the time...it's really more like she has an office in her house. Working from home means something different to me. Obviously she faces the same child/time management issues, at least part of the time, but working FOR someone FROM home is very different. I should make a video. But I'm not going to, because I'm NEVER ALONE.

So, I agree with several of her points and have a few of my own.

First, it's important to set a schedule and stick to it. My schedule starts with getting the oldest ready for school. While she eats breakfast, I take the stupid dogs out. They're cute, so I'm allowed to declare them stupid. Once she's on the bus, I'm at my laptop, working. The younger one gets up later unless its a preschool day (which won't matter next year because woohoo for afternoon preschool).

Second, I think its important to shower/cleanup and get dressed. In something other than yoga pants or pajamas. I typically shower before I get the second kid up, get her up, feed her breakfast and then back to work. I don't shower right now on preschool days. I just don't have the time to get one kid up, on the bus, shower, feed the second one (who is the slowest eater on the planet) and get her to preschool, not on time anyway. So those days...I shower after my nightly exercise instead. I don't love it, but it's what I have to do. Next year she's going to afternoon preschool, so it won't be a problem.

The video recommends a separate space..but that just isn't possible for me. I don't have child care for the preschooler and I can't leave her alone anywhere in the house, so I work at our family desk, and she plays. Both of my kids (nearly 5 years apart) have been great about mommy working during the day and they self entertain really really well. And yes, I turn on the TV sometimes, in the afternoon because she's so great at playing and she's ready for a rest so the TV is on, with something appropriate. LazyTown, Olivia, or Max & Ruby. Hmm I'm not sure how appropriate Max & Ruby is...where are the parents? Anyway...I would love my own space to focus and work, but once the preschooler starts Kindergarten, I'll have that, so for now, this works for us.

An assistant. I'm not even going to address this because I don't think I'll ever make enough to hire my own assistant, since I work for someone else right now. I also don't need one, a nanny or maid, yes, but an assistant for work, no. So I'm sure its necessary if you work for yourself at home and travel a lot and have a lot going on, but for me, not so much.

I also workout after the kids are in bed. I don't have the motivation to do it in the morning (except some rare saturdays when I want my weekend free) so I do it at 830 at night M,T,Th,F,Sat. It works for me.

The other part of working from home are the perks. There are plenty. The refrigerator is RIGHT THERE! It's too close, but also, yay, it's close. I don't spend anything on vending machine food or soda, I have my own. I'm here when the oldest gets home from school, and I'm able to get the youngest to and from preschool. My bosses have been great and the company is very flexible about schedules. I also feel a little bit more pressure to perform and complete work in a timely manner. I keep very close record of what I do and when so that I know I'm delivering what I need to be since no one is hovering over my shoulder. My biggest pet peeve is when people hear that I work from home and assume I eat candy and surf the web all day. I get paid to do actual work, and I work hard at it. Sure, my schedule is flexible, but I am WORKING.

I guess that's it. That was quite a ramble. Whew.

Marriage Advice

So I started out thinking I'd write about divorce since it seems to be going around a lot..not the discussion, just lots of people seem to be heading down that road. I kinda think everyone that gets a divorce should have to tell someone/everyone why they're divorcing. Irreconcilable differences doesn't do it for me. I imagine my parents would say something like... Mom: I drove my car to crazytown and stayed there (with some details about letting her journal run her life and convincing herself of many things that don't warrant bolting from her life). Dad: I didn't take steps to prevent her drive (not that I believe she would have done what he asked to fix her mental issues).  Totally possible I'm biased in this situation.

They're both at fault, perhaps in different ways, but they both have responsibility. Also, what do I know..I wasn't in their marriage. I was just a bystander, and collateral damage when it went kaboom. And I also haven't been through a divorce and I don't anticipate I will, so I'll never have first hand knowledge of what it's like.

So many bloggers I've noticed recently are splitting up. And I'm aware that its completely none of my business...but blogging about it sort of seems like you don't mind if it becomes your readers business. So give us the facts.

---

Maybe because it's none of my business I should talk about marriage and/or weddings instead. I'm attending a bridal shower very soon for the daughter of the pastor that married us. She's a wonderful girl and I've known her since she was around 2yo. Part of the shower includes writing a recipe or a piece of advice for a soon to be married woman. They've not lived together and have only lived in dorms, so it's a true new beginning. I am also a horrible cook. What advice do i give?

Here are my thoughts. And I don't necessarily follow this advice myself, for many reasons, but I still think it's great advice.
1. Be honest. Always. Don't sugar coat anything and then let it grow to anger because you weren't honest.
2. Do not keep a journal unless you're a writer. A journal of grievances a horrible idea for a marriage.
3. Have your own time. You are still individuals and it's important to do the things you still love that don't involve each other.
4. Talk about everything. Everything, and yes, I know sometimes we glaze over and nod off..but do it anyway. Sometimes the only purpose of talking about everything is just so you get to say it, whatever it is.

What advice would you give?

Organize! Go!

I think I might be addicted to purging and organizing. I don't have a lot of time to do it right now, but I do love to sit and daydream about cleaning out closets and donating toys and throwing away all those mcdonalds toys. Pfft they're not toys, they're junk. And I just this second realized I could maybe use BASKETS in my linen closet to make it a less stupid place. Oh it's stupid. See.

Messy triangle shaped linen closet

Top of triangle closet

I saw some baskets when looking through OrgJunkie's 'spring into organization' week features. Delightful Order to be specific. My linen closet is triangular...TRIANGLE SHAPED! WHA?! I know, right? How does one fit large square/rectangle items into a triangular shelf. NOT WELL. Maybe baskets will help. I could roll up towels into the baskets, and use a lower basket on the bottom to hold the sheet sets. It doesn't have to be beautiful, but this makes me feel like I'm the worst housekeeper ever.

see. triangle shelf.

We moved into this house without choosing any of the finishes. We didn't build it ourselves, but it was brand new, so I probably shouldn't complain so much. But who wants weirdly shaped closets? The main floor coat closet is also triangular. It's not a big deal there, because it just holds coats and the vacuum. But still, little weird. I believe the missing corner is where a lot of venting occurs.

After that, I want to tackle the basement storage room. A lot of things in this room are things we need to keep, but it's probably close to 50% that we don't.

I'm trying to craigslist that comforter (Garden Nights King from BB&B) but we could really use a sort and purge in here. The freezer has to stay obviously, but the new bike for the 9yo can go in the garage, some of the toys can probably be donated also. We just don't need Littlest Pet Shop, Dollhouses, Polly Pockets, Barbies, Squinkies, ZhuZhu Pets...need I go on? Oy, so much junk. I need the husbands help to sort it all though, a large part of these things are his, from back when we ran our own servers and he regularly built and rebuilt computers. We don't do that so much anymore, so I'm betting that four drawer thing full of PC parts can just go directly in a dumpster. Shhhh I wouldn't do that without telling him.

Anyway, I'm hoping to make one of my spring goals this year "CLEAN OUT CRAP". It's been really easy to do it in other rooms, and I'm hoping my daily visits to orgjunkie and her organizationally spectacular friends will help inspire me and find new ways to organize and get the most out of our space.

We'll see how it goes :)

April Fools!

I used to think it would be funny to leave a fake positive pregnancy test for my husband on April Fool's day. Perhaps it was funny a few years ago, but since we've decided not to have any more kids and taken steps to prevent it, I don't think we'd find it as funny as much as terrifying. Our kids are getting to the ages that they're a little bit self sufficient, fun to talk to and have their own great little personalities. It's really difficult to imagine starting over. So...fake positive pregnancy test...not so funny anymore. I never actually did it of course, that'd take research and planning and ...work. Not such a fan of those either.

In other sort of related news, I'm super super excited that my sister in law is having a baby. A baby girl even! I'm so very excited about it, it's a little bit ridiculous. I can't wait to see her in about a month and see her little baby belly and throw her the baby shower she deserves. I am at the same time super pleased they decided to have kids (ok, one kid to start) and also super super excited that IT'S NOT ME! WOO! I always wondered if we'd regret not having more or not leaving the option open...but I. DO. NOT. The Hubs doesn't either.

So...I'm pregnant. April Fools!

After I typed that..I felt wrong..somehow like I'm just ASKING for some miraculous conception to spite me and my happiness with my growing children. So here's a little more..to distract the universe from my mockery.

This also starts my commitment to  NaBloPoMo for April 2012..I'm really going to do this, even if I have to schedule posts ahead of time or write something at 11:59pm some nights. I WILL DO THIS. I have a few conceptual posts already saved and waiting for some fleshing. out. So...here we go!

Good planning

So, over the last few days I've found myself trying to think of blog topics. Things I can talk about in April, when I promised to post every day.  I've been starting drafts with notes so I can remember WTH I meant to do with it. I also found a few old drafts that might make sense to use also. I figure if I can plan ahead a little bit, I won't feel like such a failure when I miss a day.

Is that cheating? I'm going to call it GOOD PLANNING.

Seriously? Lame blogging.

I just signed up for NaBloPoMo April. That's National Blog Posting Month..April. It means I'm committed to posting something every day in April. It looks like the prompts will be poem related, so I'll likely ignore that, but I WILL try to post at least something every day. I can do that right. It's only been a month since my last post. Sheesh, I have got to get it in gear.

New Shower Door

The new shower door was just installed. It MAKES the bathroom. It looks so great, with clear views into and out of the shower, no obstructed view because of the stupid curtain. I love it. Have to wait to use it until the morning, but it looks FANTASTIC.

Thanks to Allied Glass for the door and install, great job, very friendly, highly recommended.

A to Z

I copied this from @insidedog because it's a cute idea and an easy way to get a post up. I still want everyone to read and adore my super awesome master bathroom remodel, but we must all move on I suppose.

A to Z

A. Age: 35

B. Bed size: KING and I just got notice that my new comforter shipped. Yay Overstock.

C. Chore that you hate: Grocery shopping and laundry. Both are never ending.

D. Dogs: Two puppies, Molly and Lucy, shih tzus. They're ok.

E. Essential start to your day: My alarm. Without it, the day is crap at 730am.

F. Favorite color: Green.

G. Gold or silver: Both. Depends on the piece, but I like both.

H. Height: 5'6.5".

I. Instruments that you play: I used to play the piano, I suppose I probably still could a little bit if I tried.

J. Job title:Web Developer (ya ya, my title is also Mom)

K. Kids: Sophia age 9, Alexis, age 4.

L. Live: Iowa

M. Mother's name: Karen (but we aren't speaking...) mother-in-law Judy

N. Nicknames: Missy 

O. Overnight hospital stays: Two babies, 2002 and 2007. Tonsilectomy when I was 10. 2010 when Lexi had to be admitted for dehydration, worst thing ever.

P. Pet peeves: When the idiot puppies don't just go do their business and come back. I have a lot of these, I'll look petty if I list them all. So let's pretend I have none.

Q. Quote from a movie: "You done smoked yourself retarded!" Half Baked 

No I am not a pothead, and I think pot is awful. But that line sent me rolling.

R. Right or left handed: Right

S: Siblings: Two brothers 31 and 27, and a sister 30.

T: Travel favorite: Aruba and Maui, very nice, child free vacations.

U. Underwear: Thong. You asked.

V. Vegetable(s) you hate: Squash. I don't love peas.

W. What makes you run late: Toddlers that have to poop the moment we need to leave.

X. X-rays you've had: just dental x-rays. No broken bones for me.

Y. Yummy food that you make: Well, generally I don't cook, which is best for everyone, but I think I can make a pretty decent spaghetti if necessary. And I can make nearly anything out of a box .

Z. Zoo animal: Meh, zoos kind of smell and I don't love herding my kids through all those other kids and don't get lost and don't touch that it might be poo and get your face off the glass and gah, let's go home. Tigers.

Master Bathroom: The Reveal

Over the past month-ish we've been working on the master bathroom. From now on, when I say "we" I mean the husband. I did help grout and stain some woodwork, but 99% of the work was done by him. He deserves the credit. The end result is a masterpiece.

Let's start with the before. The bathroom is approximately 5 x 8..not a bad size, but not gigantic. The vanity and toilet were fine and usable, but the shower...the shower was not more than 3x3 (if that!) and one person could barely fit in there comfortably. It was also HELL to clean. I mostly gave up truly cleaning it the last few years. It just wasn't possible. Even though we're the first owners of this house, we didn't build this house, or choose the finishes, so we have to assume the builder went with the cheapest selections. The shower was awful, after Christmas we decided to remodel - which is good, because I was ready to stop showering it in, remodel or not.  The builder also decided to build a cabinet to the left of the shower. Super deep, super not useful (other than to hold a crapload of towels) and otherwise wasted space. We are going to take back that space.

Before: Shower and cabinet

Before: Cabinet and sink

Before: Vanity and light

The floor was linoleum, not bad, but not interesting. After ten (plus) years in this house, we decided to make the bathroom over. First...rip out the shower and cabinet. Then rebuild the area with niches between studs for shampoos and soaps.

Goodbye shower

Hello larger shower with fancy niches

  

Next - durock (cement board) the whole thing.

Durock/ Cement board

And then, because we are doing this thing RIGHT. Waterproofing. Vapor barrier is in place here behind the durock. We also used a TileRedi shower base which was really excellent for us. Tiled right on top of that no pouring cement or leveling, TileRedi is awesome.

Hello dark green waterproofer

And now...time to tile! also, see that cute little light he put in the shower too, so awesome.  He started with the floor, and then did the ceiling (which was NOT his favorite part) and the walls and niches. It all took quite a while, but he pushed and pushed and got it done. It looks awesome.

 

Tiled shower with a bit of a grout haze

 Then it was time for the rest of the bathroom. Fixtures, and a new toilet and new base cabinet and vanity top. I stained the medicine cabinet because the options to match the base were not optimal for what we need to store, and it looks good. I'm also working on staining the window in the bathroom and its casing. We took down the mini blind and frosted the bottom half of the window, which brings in light and doesn't leave a blind that just gets caked with dust and shower steam.

Hello Eljer Titan 4 Tall Round toilet

Beautiful Chelsea cabinet by Magickwood

Dark walnut stained medicine cabinet and new light fixture

I turned the light fixture upside down. I didn't want the light shining down on top of the cabinet so pointing it up seemed to work. there is plenty of light in the bathroom, especially with the extra shower light. And the shower light is connected to the fan in the bathroom, so it makes it easy to keep the steam down and therefore the mold potential.

The view from the master bedroom

We just went out to Allied Glass today to look at their doors so we shouldn't have to deal with the lame curtain and rod for much longer. I'll post another picture when the new door is in place. My shower this morning was awesome, I didn't want to get out.

UPDATE: The shower door was installed this morning (Feb 27) and it looks FANTASTIC.

Darn. They grow up.

Remember when you were in school, and time dragged on and on. And then in high school, and you thought you'd never be done and never escape the rules and study. It seemed to take forever for me, and I didn't mind school. I wasn't in any hurry for it to be over really. But it dragged on.

Why is it that the time with my children isn't dragging on as well? How did I get to already have a third grader? She's halfway through the year, we're almost into fourth grade...and then middle school..and wtf slow down! And the little one..preschool this year and next and then she's into it also. Why is it going so fast when I'm not the one in school.

Damn. They grow up. And so fast is not even accurate..they grow up at the speed of a blink. In the blink of an eye. Before you know it. Right in front of you. All the clichés.

Out back

Last weekend we were trying to decide where to take the girls for dinner. We'd like to go to restaurants, but unless there's a kid menu and/or chicken in kid form, it's not a very safe bet. The husband mentioned he'd like to go to Outback and the 4yo heard him. Daddy, you can't eat out back!

Oh the things the children say.

In other good news, the master shower looks fantastic. I have pictures to show and such but I want to wait until the whole room is complete before I write it up with pictures. The shower was the biggest part, he tore out the old one and put in a new pan, new plumbing and tiled it up beautifully. There are niches for our shampoos and two showerheads. TWO showerheads. And enough room to turn around, do a dance AND shave my legs. I can't wait to use it. First we need to rip out the vanity, toilet, paint the walls, tile the floor, and install the new vanity and cabinet and pick out a toilet. THEN I'll have the whole story to tell. It's going to be awesome, though, I just know it.