I am impatient

The furniture guys are supposed to call today and give me a delivery window for Wednesday. It's 4:23 PM and they HAVE. NOT. CALLED. They better call in the next 35 minutes. I guess I'll try to be patient and give them a chance to call tomorrow, but if the delivery is scheduled ... OMG THEY JUST CALLED! Hahahaha. I guess I should work on my patience. My furniture will be here between 745 and 945 Wednesday morning. Super happy birthday to me! Apparently it was supposed to be delivered July 11th, but I never knew that until they called to change it. So I thought it was pretty cool it was going to be delivered instead on my birthday. It is a birthday (and mother's day and anniversay) gift after all.

Now I'm super excited. Tomorrow night we'll prep the room, clear the space and sleep on the mattress on the floor (good luck to us trying to keep the dogs off) and then we'll prop it against the wall Wed. morning before the husband goes to work. And then the room will turn AWESOME once it's delivered. I am ridiculously excited. Having the furniture means I can figure out what sort of artwork I want in the room and I'm going to buy some sock drawer organizer thingies to help really organize my drawers. We're sharing a dresser so we'll have less space so we need to use it wisely. I get my own matching nightstand though, so I am beyond thrilled about that. Holy Moly I cannot wait!

Tonight I'm going to work out. Before dinner. I have a new total gym workout dvd (we have a Weider knockoff but the dvd works) And then swim maybe after dinner..or just for a short while beforehand. Then I'll get back to work tomorrow and try to focus knowing that the furniture it coming the next day!

Honestly. I am so easily pleased. I cannot wait to see it and use it and be a grown up with real bedroom furniture!

Crushed by Responsibility

I am responsible.

I am responsible for dishes, and laundry, and general house cleanliness (I fail a bit..ok a lot... here). I am responsible for getting the children up and feeding most meals. I am responsible for keeping the kids clean and school registration. I am responsible for doctor appointments and dental appointments. I am responsible for waking them up and getting them ready for school or preschool or whatever day it might be. I am responsible for the dogs; training them, feeding them, scheduling groomings and vet care. I am responsible for my own health and the health of my family. I don't cook...very well. I am responsible to blame for my youngest's lack of taste (in food). I am responsible to keep myself as fit as I can, while keeping up all the other things.

I am responsible for the bills. I manage Quicken and make the decisions about when we pay what bills, when I get overwhelmed, the husband helps me out. I feel responsible to NOT spend anything extra when we own anyone anything for any amount of time. I feel responsible when the dogs chew something. I feel responsible when the kids get too annoying and we can't take it anymore and our voices get loud and then there's crying and hurt feelings. I feel responsible when I just can't read another book at bedtime because I'm aching to just sit and be.

I'm crushed by responsibility. I'd like to just relax and not worry about any of it. But I can't do that. It's not within me to NOT know when the bills are being paid or what our disposable cash flow will be at any moment. It's not within me to leave all of these things to someone else. Partially because I don't know who that person would be and partially because I don't think I trust anyone else to do it right.

(Lest anyone point out that I didn't mention these things...I am not responsible for the pool/spa, house appliance maintenance, the yard or the car maintenance. Thank heavens for that.)

I'd like to be just a little bit irresponsible someday. Maybe when all these responsibilities pay off we can be a little irresponsible. Being responsible is tiring.

In the bedroom

Oh stop it. This is about a bedroom remodel of sorts. We're waiting for the arrival of a new bedroom set, from HomeMakers furniture, made by Daniel's Amish. A new dresser that we'll share, taller than standard and two new nightstands. I'm sure I've mentioned it, but I am SO EXCITED to have my own REAL nightstand. I can hardly stand the waiting.  It's set to be delivered on my birthday (July 25th).

Right now, our room looks like we just moved in and have no more money to buy furniture. I didn't want to wait too long to put our old stuff up on craigslist because I wasn't sure how long it would take to sell.  Now that I've sold it, I'm thinking I could have asked for more or waited a week. If you recall, we had two large chests and one nightstand. I took photos and posted them on craigslist on Friday morning and then the husband and I moved out our clothes and moved it all down to the garage. I sold a chest and nightstand by 5pm. I had also previously posted our wrought iron headboard and footboard and that sold on Friday also at 6pm. So I had just one chest to go. And Monday a lovely woman came and took it. No haggling from anyone, just sold it all straight up, it was awesome.  Ok, that's a partial lie - I did come down $10 on the headboard/footboard..but it was 15 years old, still in great shape and I felt like I got my money's worth out of it and I was really really tired of seeing it sitting in my hallway.

So now we have this.

My side, boxes of nightstand gear awaiting a new home.

Husband's side, tv tray for a nightstand since we sold his. ha.

No clothing storage. I bought two bins for now and I intend to reuse them for school supplies and crafts or maybe extra lightbulbs. It's weird how many extra lightbulbs we have, balancing precariously on a storage shelf.

Anyway. I cannot wait. And then I get to figure out what sort of artwork or photography adorns the walls. I'm still not hugely in love with the brown and cream theme, but I love the wallcolor and the blackout curtains are really nice..so hopefully I can find artwork to complement and prettify it.

The Kiss

A couple people have posted today about a Nivea free lip care giveaway thingy. Apparently it's only on Facebook (click here) so I can't enter. Facebook is lame and I quit after a few months. But the giveaway involves posting a kissing picture of yourself (or someone else I guess). So I went and found the picture I would post and was all ready to participate...and then it turns out its only Facebook. Boo.

This is the picture I would have posted.

We are something like 18 and 19 at the time. He came to see me at college for the day and we went shopping and hung out all day. The only bad thing about his visits was that he had to leave and I had to stay behind. I quit after a year. That place was a hole. Anyway..this is clearly a photo booth photo and we're so young. I know exactly what I'm wearing though, and if you could see the other picture you'd see I'm wearing a giant bow in my hair and my bangs are gigantic and nearly plastic as well. Oh the good old days of 1994.

Feel free to poke fun in the comments.

The Screaming

I took Tuesday off. I had scheduled the girls' physicals for that afternoon so I went ahead and scheduled the dogs vet/shot visit as well. I was pretty proud of myself, both for remembering to schedule all of it, as well as for remembering to do it in advance enough that I wasn't stuck with a walk in clinic or rush job. So..here's a run down of the day. Don't worry, we'll get to The Screaming.

8am Wake up the girls, get everyone rolling

9am drop the 9yo off at Vacation Bible School

10am take the dogs (4yo with me) to the vet, exam, shots, lucy has a yeast infection in her ear.

11am $350 later- GAH! - leave the vet and head over to pickup the 9yo

Home for lunch and a short visit with the hubs who is also home for lunch

1pm head out to Target to pick up new bedside lamp for 9yo, she's still using the lamp from her nursery. Too short and too dim. and Filthy, Jeeeez do I clean ever. (no).

1:30 head to ToysRUs for a hula hoop detour

2:00 head to Hancock Fabrics for some beading to embellish the lamp, it's a plain white lamp because the most important thing is that she be able to SEE and READ by this lamp, not that its soooo cute and sooo soft and oooo look at the beads. No. $18 later, beads aquired..I really need to check the prices of things more closely before I'm at the pay line.

2:30 head downtown to the doctor office for the physicals

So the girls look at the fish while I check us in. The nurse comes out, ready to test their vision, get height, weight, etc. The girls do great, but the 9yo is starting to get weepy. She knows the appointment has begun and she's been anxious about the potential for a shot since I mentioned the appointment - a month ago. So we go to the exam room, 4yo starts first, temp and blood pressure with the nurse..then 9yo. Then the doctor (ARNP) comes in and we talk about each kid, takes at least 25 minutes to get all the questions answered and discover that 9yo gets one HepA shot and 4yo is due for 4 shots. Ok..doctor is going to send in it the super fast nurse. Great.

9yo is going first to get it over with. She comes in, we're prepped and she asks "arm or leg?" The 9yo's panic is so great, she can't decide, because her answer would be NOWHERE. So I said leg and just do it. The 9yo then SCREAMS. Glass shattering scream. Twice. Directly into my ear and the nurse's ear. The 4yo is now also freaked out because what the wha why did she scream. I did not anticipate that level of panic and screaming. So I sort of got the giggles after that, because I have tried to distract her, to promise her that it's ok that I wouldn't let anything bad happen to her, that these shots keep her healthy. She is unconvinced and her anxiety is so high, she cannot fathom what's about to happen. She admits now that the shot wasn't quite that bad.

Next up I put the 4yo on the table, she's due for 4 shots, so while the nurse is really really fast, it's a lot. I watch her face as I'm sort of holding her down, so I see the shock and pain cross her face with each poke. She is not at all please, but she does not scream. She yells a little and cries but I can still hear. She limps around all afternoon because her legs are "injured" she says. I agree, she's probably in some pain. Wed. morning we wake up, take the 9yo to Vacation Bible School again, come home to get lunch. 4yo has Cocoa Puffs and orange juice..and then pukes all over the table and floor. Apparently a side effect of DTaP vaccine is fussiness (check!), tiredness (check!), and vomiting (check!). She is limping seriously now also, and I have to carry her to the couch to rest and watch tv.

So, that day sort of started out well, but took a nasty dive. Things are  much better today, although the 9yo thought she was going to puke today, the 4yo is much better and hopefully I'll be even smarter next time and NOT tell them when I've scheduled the appointment and maybe also NOT schedule them at the same time/day. (Updated: Also stagger the dog appointments so they don't take ALL my money every time we go there, and perhaps we don't need a $44 exam AND $23 poop test - that's PER DOG - every year).

Lamp turned out really cute though, huh.

A sensitive girl

I am raising a very sensitive and anxious girl. I didn't quite realize it until recently.  I was so proud of myself this year, for scheduling a physical for both girls. Typically it takes some sort of miracle to get into the pediatrician for a physical appointment. They take those specially, you can't just sneak it into a regular visit, and if you don't call as soon as possible, you won't get in. It's super stupid. But this year, before school was out, I called and scheduled them both for a physical. The 4yo needs one for preschool. The 9yo just hasn't had a physical in awhile, so if we're going, they might as well both go.

So I told them about the appointments a month ago. I told them it was in June.  At first it was no big deal, but when school let out, the 9yo started having trouble sleeping. She would go to bed, and read her book for awhile, and then she'd call me in to tell me her stomach was 'jumping' and her legs hurt (growing pains sort of). This went on for a week. Somewhere in there I think she'd talked herself into thinking she was going to throw up. I asked her once what was going on and she said she might be nervous about the doctor appointment coming up. I was surprised to hear that, told her it'll be fine, not to worry about it. The real point though, is that awhile before that she asked if she was going to have to get a shot. I don't like to lie to them outright (except for their own good of course, Santa, Easter Bunny, Tooth Fairy...whatever). So I said I didn't know - because I don't. I think she IS due for a booster of some sort, but I don't know for sure. But I said it'd be no problem, quick and easy, no worries.  So a few nights ago she was at it again. My tummy is getting jumpy, she says.  So I massaged her legs and said you have to tell me what's going on. Right now. Tell me.

I'm really nervous about the doctor appointment you said was coming up later in June. Oy. I talked her down, talked her through it, asked her what happens if you get a shot...its over..and then what...nothing. It's no problem. Also, she's been asking about getting her ears pierced, and a shot is a good way to get a feel for that. She's not convinced still, but she has stopped letting the anxiety get the better of her.

Whew. I'm going to have to watch out for that. Both for what I say about things that make her nervous and about reassuring her when the anxiety is unavoidable. This isn't a trait she gets from me, but I think I can help her manage it. And hopefully she'll grow more confident and less anxious as time goes by and life goes on. She is my sweet, sensitive, anxious almost TEN year old first baby girl.

The Master: BEFORE

I'm getting antsy about the bedroom furniture. For several reasons. Is it going to come in the right finish? The catalog where the salesman got the codes had a photo that did NOT look like the furniture finish I expect. The wood sample in the store is what I want. That better be what shows up. Anyway, it's time to show you what the BEFORE room looks like. I've started taking down art, clearing out side tables and prepping things to photograph and try to craigslist. I sure hope these giant chests sell.

Here is a fancy drawing I've done of the current room layout. Hopefully this makes the photos to follow a bit more clear. So, you walk into the room, to the right the closet sort of sticks out, making a little corner there - we put the dog water bowl there. The left wall is blank until you get to the bathroom door, the far wall has a large window, and the right wall is blank.  The purple shapes are my homemade nightstand, which is purple (to match old decor) but has just a shelf and isn't very useful and a round 5-drawer stand I was putting polish into. I'm selling that on craigslist and I'll re-use the other shelf in the basement or something for storage of some sort I'm sure. Maybe :)

The wall paint color is called Pralines & Cream but I can't remember the maker right now. I do still have the swatch though. We started out with a cream and purple theme, but the purple comforter ripped and I haven't found anything I love enough or that I'm confident enough matching with curtains to stay in that theme. We remodeled the master bathroom, and I feel that the color schemes need to match in the two rooms. So since we went with a cream and brown theme..that's where we're headed with the bedroom. The comforter and curtains are taken care of. The rest of what you see..goes away.

view from the doorway

view from the se corner, looking to the doorway, bathroom door on right

view from window on far wall, to the door and closet wall

view from se corner toward master bath.

So, I've removed a lot since these photos. The photo above the laundry basket found a new home in the living room, I removed the candle sconces and the curvy ones above the bed. I LOVE the art, but I'm going to swap it for something that matches. The in-laws are moving to town and they have some of the same art, so if they have room in their new house for it, they can use these as well. Otherwise, I'll keep them and find new homes for it. I'm hoping to find some nice art that can go above the bed at least, the other walls I'm not sure of. The art in the first photo to the right of the window is only there because I wanted to use it and didn't have any other walls. We've also removed the 2nd shelf from the TV holder thing. So there is now more room between the jewelry armoire and the tv shelf. That's an XBOX on the shelf - we use it with Windows Media Center and an extender to watch TV in the bedroom.  I also LOVE my lamps, they're clear lucite(?) balls and I think I'll just update the shades when the room is done to something more creamy and maybe I'll add my own brown accent embellishment perhaps. If the candle sconces don't sell on CraigsList I may keep them and paint them brown and hand them on each side of the new dresser mirror if that looks good.

Now, here is a fancy drawing of the room layout AFTER the new furniture arrives.I'll have a matching nightstand and we'll be sharing a sort of oversized dresser. It's being built by Daniel's Amish out of Ohio and we purchased it at Homemakers in Des Moines, IA which is a subsidiary of Nebraska Furniture Mart. It was customizable so we could make it taller/shorter, more drawers, less.. here is a photo of the store display.

store display

We're getting a more brown finish, I don't like the red/cherry tones with my brown/cream theme. So it should be a whiteacre finish on brown maple. We are not buying a chest of drawers, just headboard/footboard, 2 nightstands and dresser. The dresser you see has a top row of a small drawer, long drawer, small drawer. We're changing that so there will be 2 long drawers on top. That way we don't have to share the middle one, we'll each have our own set of 4 drawers.

Hurry up furniture!

I'm on a kick.

I'm on this organizing purging cleaning rearranging kick. I've suddenly become obsessive about throwing out things we never use, donating things we never wear or use and organizing the things we do use and need. I think part of the reason is the new bedroom furniture that we have coming in a couple months. I need my clothes to be sorted out so that I can fit them into the new smaller dresser (that I'll share with the husband) and I also need to be able to photograph and try to sell the current chests we use. I want to make the whole process easier and smooth for everyone. Well, mostly for me.

So. The chests of drawers we have are giant. 4 deep drawers and then 2 smaller drawers. They sort of take over the room with the way we've placed them. The new dresser will replace both of these, with a really nice mirror on top. The new dresser is taller than standard and longer, so we aren't losing that much space really and it really is time for us to pare down our clothes. The husband and his t-shirts...wow.

The CHESTS - the piles at the bottom are donation and trash piles.

I cannot wait to see how awesome the dresser will look there - without overpowering the entire room and seeming to block the walk way. It doesn't really, but it does feel like it. These chest were a good deal at K's Merchandise, when it still existed and it was a huge upgrade from the furniture that we'd been using. It was my dresser/chest from when I was a kid, I brought it with me when we got married. When we switched to this..it was time to switch and these were a great, affordable choice. But now. They gots to go.

So, I cleaned out the girls' drawers first, taking out and sniffling over the 2T and 3T stuff that no longer fits the 4yo. And moving the stuff that's too small for the 9yo into bins for the 4yo to wear later. Then I got out the bins of 4/5T stuff I'd saved from the 9yo and put them into the little one's drawers. She could not be more pleased about all the dresses I found. I am not pleased at all. It can't be possible that she's old enough to wear these dresses that were so adorable on my...hey, when did the 9yo outgrow all these things, she can't possibly be this old. Gah. They love it. I do not. But we're all clothed, so that's what matters. Here are the piles.

The donation pile.

 I made a list and photographed everything I intended to donate. I like to have photos because we take the donations as a deduction on taxes and this time the piles were huge. So I also made a list of sizes/types/brands. I filled the front and back of a lined piece of paper plus a list of kid clothes that I grouped by type instead of noting all the various brands etc. That is quite a list. I might actually have to use It's Deductible this year to figure that out.

The trash pile. Stained, missing buttons/zip, things no one should wear again ever.

The trash pile is smaller, but there were a lot of things I had been hanging onto for sentimental reasons. Sentiment is no reason to clog a closet or drawer. So my 1994 high school colorguard sweatshirt went, along with my 1994 poms sweatshirt and a pile of other t-shirts neither of us is ever going to wear. Don't fret - I kept a few shirts that I will wear in a pinch or to paint :)

Tupperware cabinet - BEFORE

Next up - the KITCHEN! My tupperware cabinet was bugging me. The 4yo likes to cook with those from time to time and she puts things back, but its so clogged in there, it was really starting to get on my nerves. I had these tiny 1" x 1" rubbermaid containers that couldn't hold anything more than dressing...so I decided it was time to purge. Success! Even the 4yo is pleased that she can more easily cook with what's left behind.

Tupperware cabinet - AFTER

It's a little difficult to tell that it's cleaner, but I moved the water bottles to the top right, where they'll never get used, threw out a pile of unused containers, put the lids on the container it belongs with, and laid it out in a way that I think will allow us to get to the most used items first.  Next up - utensil drawers!

Main cooking utensil drawer - BEFORE

Extra utensil drawer - BEFORE

I KNEW we had too many, but I could never find a minute or motivation to go through it. Apparently I found it. We had duplicates of so many things, and some pieces were cracked or chipping - definitely something I want near my food. So I sat down with a towel, sorted out both drawers and then lined them with that rubbery mat stuff so things wouldn't just fly around in the drawers.

Main utensils - AFTER

Extra utensils - AFTER

I'm sure we still have a few too many things in both drawers but it's all much more visible now and easier to see, grab and use. You should have heard the husband sometimes, trying to get a utensil  out of the main drawer. Grumbling because it was stuck on some other utensil or hung up on the drawer itself. Funny for me, cranky for him :) That shouldn't be as much of a problem now.

Now..I still have one problem cabinet. Well, I'm sure all my cabinets could use some attention, but for the most part, we're cleaned and organized. This last one..I just don't know what to do. I feel like I should extend the shelf in it somehow..but I'm not sure how..and I think maybe there's a better way to organize pots and pans (and a few bowls I should probably move) and I just haven't discovered it yet.

Pot and Pan madness

See, it's just a disorganized pile. I don't even bother trying anymore. Sometimes I throw a pot in after its clean and close the door really fast so I don't have to see it and so nothing falls out. Ha. What should I do with this cabinet?

And now I'm off, to shower and get dressed and get up the 4yo. I'm not working today because it's the 9yo's last day of third grade so I'm taking her to lunch wherever she'd like to go (within reason of course). And then their summer begins. Not a great day for it - it's raining and cold today. Oh well.

I promise

There is a post coming. I just keep running out of time to do it. I have taken a ton of pictures of some of the things I've been cleaning and organizing around the house. I'm sure it's much more exciting for me than it might be for you but I intend to post about it soon. I had hoped to post my progress on the list I'd made of things to do around the house...but I got distracted by all kinds of things. 

A sort of partial list of what I got through:
- clean out drawers, mine, husbands and both girls
- photograph stuff to be donated (half done)
- touch up ceiling paint in whole house
- look for large red vase for front yard ( no purchase yet, i hope soon)
- power wash house (husband did this)
- swim (we swam on Sunday, super hot outside, pool a nice 83 degrees)
- shop for new sandals for girls (done)
- hang out with my dad, his girlfriend with her kids for Memorial Day
- new swimsuits for the girls
- kitchen drawer and cabinet organization (about half done)

Things still to do:
- figure out solution for pots/pans cabinet
- pick/buy/plant big red vase for front yard (go to Earl May)
- paint exterior front door trim (white)
- make chore charts
- spray yard for bugs (husband)
- finish photos of donation and take to Goodwill
- order piggy bank for friends adopting
- clean master bedroom headboard/footboard, prep for sale
- get new cfl lightbulbs for girls fans
- balance 9yo ceiling fan (it shimmies so much, and makes so much noise, she refuses to use it)
- clean/organize under sink
- take down master bedroom art
- fill holes in master BR walls from art
- get new desk rubber mat (this plastic thing is crap and lasts all of 2 seconds)
- dust the house (this might never get done)
- research new bedroom sheers
- research blackout curtains for girls rooms (can ivory/white curtains really be blackout?)
- get gate kit for pool deck (husband)

GAH. That's a lot more TO DO than I got done. That's a little discouraging. Oh well, some of the things I got done were pretty satisfying, and going shopping with the 9yo, just she and I, was pretty great on Sunday. Anyway...more to come.

If you're bored, while waiting for my next awesome post, read my friends as they travel in S.Korea and pick up their son. It's been a long road and I am so very excited that it's finally coming to a point where they have him with them. Read about it here.

Blessed

So today is a great day. Other than the part where I'm working of course. No one wants to work, but I don't hate my work, so it's all good.

Two days ago we got emails that our dear friends are finally flying to S. Korea to pickup their adopted son. It's been over a year in the process, and he'll be two in September. It is so exciting that they can finally finish this step of the process and focus on being parents (before they do it again of course). I need to order a piggy bank for him and next Friday we'll meet them at the airport to welcome them home and snap some photos so they can remember (the husband will be the photog, mine are always blurry). Then they'll have the summer (she's a teacher with the summer off) to get him used to living here and used to his new family. Pray for them, it's bound to be a difficult transition for all of them.

Last night we talked to the in-laws as well. They've been working on selling their house and finding a place in town near us. It's been a little slow going, but it seems like in the last week things fell into place. The people that made a not great offer on their house have brought their offer up and proven financials that they can buy their house. So that's considered a sale. They also wanted to move up the closing date to July1 so it moves everything along a bit faster. Luckily the in-laws have a 36 foot really nice RV that they spend most of their summer in anyway, so this all works out pretty well. They'll get their new house building shortly on a lot very near to us (and to a lot of other places here in town, which is excellent) and they'll head down to Georgia in July after they close on their house sale to see the sister-in-law and welcome the new baby. Father-in-law also applied for a bus driver job at Sophie's school campus and got a call less than an hour later to come interview. They're also interested in mother-in-law for a bus aide position. So they're both coming next week to interview. All of this is such excellent news. I'm so very very excited.

Also, it's Friday!

And a long weekend - yay for Memorial Day!

And payday for the husband!

And the pool is nearly clean enough to swim in! in time for the holiday weekend!

And Sophia is almost done with 3rd grade. 3RD GRADE! She'll be a 4th grader..and TEN years old this fall. GAH! Yay for how wonderful she is..but GAH stop growing already!

And I have this awesome list of things I plan to organize and clean and donate this weekend and woooohoo I love it!

God is good. No one else can take credit for all these good things happening in our lives. It's a good day.

I hope everyone's day is great as well!

Lucky Woman

Today is our sixteenth wedding anniversary. We've been married SIXTEEN years. And if you count the four years of dating through high school and a year of college, we've been together TWENTY years. That's kind of a lot of years. He asked me to 'go out' with him in early May of our Sophomore year in a field that doesn't exist anymore. It's covered in houses now. I said yes and that was it I guess. We were pretty much inseparable after that, and we still are.

In August of 1995 we went to a local park where he proposed and then we high tailed it out of there because there were some shady people hanging around. We got married in May, 1996 on the single sunny day that whole month. It was hot and sticky and my wedding dress covered my whole body. He wore a white tux. The bridesmaids and groomsmen were our siblings and friends, as young or younger than we were.  It was a great day and we left the next day for Orlando, FL for our honeymoon. Turns out its hard to rent a car at age 20, so we borrowed his parents, and we were lucky enough to be able to get a hotel room. We sat in the sun too long, swam, enjoyed Disney and had a great time. That's pretty much been our life since then. We make plans, we save up or take steps to make that plan happen, and we achieve what we shoot for. We've been to Aruba, Cancun (free trip that I won through work, woo), and Maui. I'd still like to get to Greece and France as well as Bora Bora. Someday, we will.

We enjoy each other. We believe the same things and we find the same things hilarious. We are, for lack of a better phrase, a match made in heaven. Even though we were matched at what some might consider too young, I believe God sent us to each other. Sixteen years later we have two wonderful daughters and we support each other in everything. We keep each other sane, balance the craziness of parenthood and careers with love and support that we each require to get through our lives together.

He sent me the flowers in the picture today. With a beautiful note that I'm keeping to myself. And I couldn't agree more, there is no one that would be a better husband to me or a better father to our children than him. Happy 16th anniversary and I'm certain there's many many more to come.

Gifts and Colds

So I took the husband and 4yo to the doctor this morning. He's started coughing and it's starting to sound unpleasant and she's had a cold for going on a month now. I think it's actually three colds in a row, but her little body just can't keep up with it. So he's got meds x 2 now, and she's got meds as well. She's got swollen tonsils and congestion and sniffles and it's a wonder really that she's as pleasant as she is. She hasn't complained much and she's been stuffed up and snoring for a month now. She's tough I guess.

For Mother's Day we headed to see the in-laws. I had an ulterior motive though, I got a flyer from a furniture store near the in-laws to come in, scan this barcode and win savings! 5%, 10% 40% off or a $25,000 shopping spree. Wow that would have been nice. I didn't win, but we did get 10% off. We've wanted new bedroom furniture for awhile now. Our headboard/footboard is from Montgomery Wards, we got it on clearance because it was discontinued. We got a great deal on it...15 years ago. The two chests of drawers we have are giant and while they do the job, they make the room feel like its full of furniture. The husband has a nightstand but I only have a home made (well made) wooden stand. It has a top and a shelf. It works, but not very well. He has the drawers with stuff, and I have an open shelf that doesn't hold much. Also, none of it really matches the direction we've gone with the room. The new bathroom took us in a brown/cream direction. The walls are cream and I've upgraded the comforter and curtains to brown (cream flowers on the bed as well) but the rest of the furniture and artwork just doesn't match any more. So...we bought new bedroom furniture on Saturday. It's my mother's day, anniversary, birthday gifts all rolled into one. I'll take it, it's beautiful stuff. Because of the solution we're going with, we have to clean out our drawers and unworn clothes etc to make this solution work. I am so very excited I cannot even explain.

We're swapping the two chests, which each have 4 decent sized drawers, plus 2 smaller drawers for a single dresser, 70" with 6 decent drawers plus 2 slightly smaller drawers. It also comes with a mirror. We're also  getting two matching nightstands. I. Cannot. Wait.

I have to wait ten weeks. TEN WEEKS. 10. Ten. Gah!

I 'm glad to have the cleanout and organizational things to do in the meantime. And it was a bit of a trick to get it all ordered correctly, so I hope it shows up with the correct number of drawers AND the right finish.

So..I'm going to turn this into a posting opportunity and blog about the changes I make in the room as I go. I'll take some before pictures soon and then post as I make progress removing the artwork from the walls and patching and hopefully selecting new artwork from somewhere. I'm excited about all of it. Yay for grown up furniture!

Mother's Day

I'm not a fan of this "holiday". For many reasons.

1 - flowers die, candy gets eaten and lives on my butt, jewelry either gets lost or I just can't wear that much all at once, and the kid gifts are nice, but...you know.

2 - my mother and I do not speak. We haven't spoken out loud for probably ten years. I haven't seen her since 1998. There's lots of story to that, but it's lame and exhausting and when I think or talk about it I work myself up into angry SMASHY moods so I try not to do that.

Mother's Day on the calendar makes it hard to ignore all of that. This year we're going to the in-laws for the weekend, to do some anniversary/mother's day furniture shopping. So that should be fun, plus we'll spend some time on Sunday with the husband's mom, which is nice for her and all of us.  I love them dearly and when my own mother bailed, mother-in-law stepped in as needed. We were newlyweds at the time and she's grown into really being my mother since then. Biology clearly isn't as important sometimes.

Anyway...I could do without the whole Mother's day stuff. It's really not any different than any other day. For those of us that do most of the mother-y things, we still have to because the littles aren't used to anyone else doing it. So while a 'day off' would be cool and nice, I'll take what I can get with the help of my in-laws and husband.  It'll be a nice weekend. If we can all get rid of these damn colds.

Motivation

I can fully understand why bloggers I follow and really like (felt weird to say love here) don't always post every day. It takes a lot of work and coordination and brain power to post something that anyone wants to read every day. So, I will no longer mutter and complain if a blogger doesn't delight me with literary magic every single day. I certainly can't do it and I am no wordsmith, so it's rude and ridiculous of me to expect it of others. I am going to try to post as regularly as I can. It won't be daily, but maybe I can commit to weekly, without making any promises. I'm just going to try to remember the things I find important and write something about those things when I can.

I need motivation. Motivation to exercise, motivation to NOT eat the things I know I shouldn't. I did Nutrisystem a couple times in the past. Both times after I had a baby and couldn't drop the last few..ok 15 pounds. It worked really really well, but it's just too expensive to keep doing. I was able to do it, lose some weight, and then track my calories myself and keep up with it. But I lost interest at some point, I think running my last 5k last fall somehow gave me permission to give up all of it. I've still been using the treadmill over the winter, five days a week if I am able, but I know I'm overeating again. I don't know how to stop it. I intend to run the 5k on the Fourth of July again, the same race I started with last year. I would LOVE to trim my time, but last year my times got worse as I went on, so I don't know how to do that. I need to finish up the C25K program I restarted (at week 4) so that I'm ready, and I plan to start running outside in June to prepare. I am going to get back to that again tonight, as well as running outside to get used to that again. I wish I had the motivation and means to just fix all of this for myself.

Here's what I kind of need to figure out...
- what to eat the day before
- music to listen to as I run, it gets old fast, got suggestions?
- motivation to just keep going, it's not that far, I can do this
- motivation to STOP eating ALL THE THINGS!

What I really need is a personal trainer, and a personal chef. Some celebrity should gift those to me for a year or something.. Tori Spelling maybe...although I don't know that she can afford it..maybe J. Lo. She looks amazing after twins, I have to assume she had help getting back to that. I want whoever helped her do that. I don't want her body - I know that's unreasonable...but I could do better with what God's given me.

Happy Monday everyone.

May flowers

Did you see that? How I posted every day except 2 in April, like I said I would for NaBloPoMo? And then May 1 comes and BAM, I'm over it. It turns out, it's alot harder to regularly post than anyone thinks. Stuff gets in the way, work gets in the way, kid puke gets in the way. LIFE gets in the way. I missed two days, one because I completely spaced it off, and the second because I was in tiny town IL and unable to get a good enough signal to post anything.

Besides completing NaBloPoMo April 2012, I also survived Puke-a-palooza, threw a wonderful baby shower for my super sister-in-law and broke the R key on this laptop. I have ordered a new keyboard - THANK GOD for I CANNOT TYPE WITHOUT R! The husband also has golfed a ton already this year making his golf pass for the city courses super duper worth it this year.

We'll also be celebrating our 16th wedding anniversary this year. I don't know what 16 is..paper? plastic? I have no idea and I'm too lazy right now to look it up. We're going shopping for bedroom furniture I think. We might even buy some :) Those of you that know me, know that it'll take me a year to choose and decide and pull the trigger to actually buy something. What can I say, I'm frugal, practical and I like not owing anyone anything (besides car/house, I don't count those).

I don't know what else May has in store, but school ends May 31, and preschool ends May 24th and then we're into summer and chores and hopefully tons of swimming.

A New Week. Without Naps.

As much as I hate Mondays, I'm glad for a new week. The 9yo has conquered the pukes and the 4yo seems to just be fighting off the remains of a cold. The last couple of days she's fallen asleep around 3-4pm and slept for an hour or so. Bedtime the last two nights has not gone well. Something like this maybe...

Moooooommmmm.

What.

I can't sleep.

Just rest your eyes and try.

Ok. (mom goes downstairs, settles into couch for blogging...)

Moooooommmmmm.

What.

I need my back rubbed.

Grrr. Ok (rub her back, pat pat, ok go to sleep)

3:30 am. Clunk. Sliiiidddee (imagine a sliding closet door, open....clunk. closed.)

(husband) What's she doing? (me) oh, just getting a new stuffed toy probably. at 3:30am.

Then I hear rustling very near our door. Ugh. I get up, and say 'go get back in bed'. I pick up the stuffed toys she's crafted into a bed. Head in to tuck her in again, at 3:30 am. Did I mention the time? She's wide eyed. Like I CANNOT POSSIBLY SLEEP WOMAN! Thankfully, she goes back to sleep.

NO MORE NAPS. Seriously, no more naps.

In other news, I can't wait to see Oh Dawn's new house. I hope there are loads of pictures. I may be moving vicariously through her move to a new house. 

The Hunger Games

Today I took myself to the movies. First I cleaned the basement tornado my children are incapable of NOT making. Seriously, how difficult is it to just put away your toy when you switch to another. Legos, EVERYWHERE, kitchen food and playthings, EVERYWHERE. Gah. But, it's clean now. I also finished filling the dishwasher, ran it, repeat...we had a lot of dishes. Then I took myself to the movies, to the 1:00 pm showing of The Hunger Games.

I read all three books, in very quick succession. I loved the books, although the last one is definitely NOT my favorite. For YA fiction, I expected a slightly more upbeat ending. But I still loved them all. So I was anxious to see the movie, but I couldn't really fit it in until now, and I went today because I was afraid if I waited any longer, it'd be out of the theaters and I'd have to wait for DirecTV to run it. The movie did not disappoint. I did notice the spots that were changed for time, like the mockingjay pin and the goodbyes. But otherwise I really loved how it was all portrayed. I'm not sure if I liked who they cast for Gale, but I thought everyone else was spot on. I loved Cinna and Haymitch the best I think, great casting there. I thought Peeta was pretty good too, and Katniss...now that I've seen it, she fits really well too. Stanley Tucci was excellent also and Sutherland is fine, I don't much care about those spots, they're side characters. I was in the theater with about twelve other people, only a couple talked a little too often for my liking, but it was ok. So I'm mostly glad I waited so long.

So, I'd say probably 4 out of 5 stars for a rating, only because I don't love story deviations. I really liked it though.

Also, I think I'm going to need a new laptop soon. This one is losing letters. See.

Lazy Liar

I lied. That was totally the only post for yesterday. Ha. When I checked my blog last night I remembered that I had posted that video..and said it wasn't my real post. And immediately decided it WAS indeed my post for the day. I'm lazy, and apparently, a liar. This week has just been a little too ridiculous with the sickness and other things. I just didn't want to post anything else, I had no new stories.

Today isn't much different. I went to Target. Alone. Blissfully alone. And tomorrow I'm hoping to go see The Hunger Games before it's out of theaters. The girls are doing better and I'd say they're at about 90%. The 4yo is coughing a bit, I think it's still drainage from the cold. I hope, she has until Monday to improve before I consult a pro.

So...until tomorrow peeps.

Filmmaker

I'm not considering this my real post for today, but I had to share. Adorable 4yo in adorable GAP sweatshirt singing Lazy Town song. Also, this was recorded on her vtech camera, so not the best quality but still super cute.

Everyone sleeps

Last night we turned a corner. The 4yo slept, no puke, just a little snoring...all night long. The 9yo thew up at 1130, but not again, and slept...all night long. I held her hair at 1130..and then I slept...all night long. Last night was borderline blissful. After getting through the newborn and sleep training years of small children, illnesses are the only time I lose out on sleep. My girls are such good sleepers, we can do pretty much whatever we want after their in bed. Now, to be honest, the 4yo does stall at bedtime and sometimes she makes me go up there to answer inane questions before she agrees to shut it and sleep. But overall they are the best sleepers ever. And, now that I think we'e in the clear for vomit, I get to sleep again as well.

So it seems we'll be all better for the weekend.

If I were a gambling woman...

So remember yesterday? when I said...

"Tonight is going to be a repeat of last night, I'd bet cash on it."

Well, I was right, but with a twist. Last night the 9yo spent most of her night in the bathroom, hugging the toilet. The 4yo did throw up to start, but I'm pretty sure that was snot/cold related. This one, is probably a stomach bug. So...it was a repeat..just with a different kid. And honestly, I much prefer when the 9yo has to puke vs the 4yo. The 9yo can run to the bathroom and make it (most of the time) into the toilet. No sheets to wash, no towels or precious blankets to wash. Just run, puke, rinse, sleep, repeat as necessary. She threw up around 7 times last night I think, each time with less results. She finally fully emptied her stomach at around 6:30 this morning. So that's something like 11:30 puke, 12:30 puke, 1:30 puke, 3:30 puke, 5:30 puke, 6:30 puke... and it's possible I've missed one in my recollection. The night was kind of a blur. I'm still working today though, because I have a particular project I want to get done, and the alternative is watching TV on the couch with the sickies..catching the sick.

So, I started this post this morning and I'm finishing it tonight. The 9yo threw up at least 4-5 more times today and rocked a fever of 101. It was down tonight but she's clearly not feeling well. Poor kid. We've worked hard the last 2-3 days on her very last Awana (church group) memorization. 32 verses, all said in a row. We were through 20 verses at least..and then she got sick and we couldn't finish and she didn't get to go. I'm so very proud of her, even without completing it. She was working so hard at it, and she's really good at memorizing. I don't think I could have done it. So she didn't eat at all today, and she drank some gatorade, but a bunch of that came back up.  Her stomach is just not happy with her right now and it sounds like there's a bug going around as well. So I tried to keep the 4yo separated from her, on the same couch..it's a very long couch..today, while they watched TV and rested. It went ok. The 4yo clearly feels better, she was playing and doing things and up and about more today. So my hope and prayer is that the 4yo finishes her cold, and doesn't catch the stomach bug the 9yo has. Ideally, the 9yo gets over hers after tomorrow also, AND the husband and I don't catch it. I'm not gonna hold my breath on either of those. We'll see how it goes.

So wish me luck, that Thursday is better than Wednesday..and Friday, oh sweet Friday, please be better than both of these last two days. Sorry, the only thing I have to talk about right now is not sleeping and catching puke. Sorry.

Ah motherhood

Parenting brings a lot of unexpected...happenings? consequences? ...STUFF.

I spent last night on the couch, catching the toddler's vomit every few hours. I have decided she's lactose intolerant. Maybe not 100% intolerant, but she definitely has a threshold. The nachos for dinner was not a good idea, the last time she had nachos, she also threw up, but I blamed a cold instead. She does have a cold now as well but I still think there's a lactose issue. So, no nachos and we'll lay off the dairy and milk products as much as possible. What do you feed a kid that only eats chicken nuggets and spaghetti and shredded cheddar cheese, when you have to cut out the cheese?

The strangest part about last night was that I could hear her start to throw up almost a half second before she realized that's what was happening. So I would FLY out of my spot, over to her end, pull her up and over the towel I set up to catch each episode. She doesn't do toilet or bucket puke yet, in time, in time. It's almost like the body has its own kid emergency receptors and I just flew into action almost involuntarily. I flew, its really the fastest I can move I think, if I could run a 5k as fast as I run to catch puke...well, I'd be winning some things.

Tonight is going to be a repeat of last night, I'd bet cash on it. While I was on the teadmill tonight she threw up her spaghetti dinner. I knew she would, her head is all congested and she can't breathe very well. Poor punkin. If I could just take it from her, I would. But the best I can do is cuddle her and let her sleep on the couch with me, so I can more easily catch the puke..and then let her rest and watch tv tomorrow while she recovers. Preschool has been one stupid cold after the other. I feel very very blessed not to have had to take her to the doctor much because of it. Last year we ended up in the hospital with dehydration..and preschool wasn't even involved. So..she's building an immunity. Right? RIGHT?!

Baby girls and laptop glare

Well, today was a little interesting. It's rare lately that I have work that keeps my interest so solidly. Ok, that's not that interesting. You're right. So...

I threw a baby shower this weekend for my sister-in-law. It was in Illinois at the great-grandparents house. She was coming into Chicago to take her Boards (Board Certification orals) and visiting the great-grandparents at the same time. So we took advantage and got as many family together as we could and planned her a baby shower. They live so far away that it's hard to see them very often and this new baby needed a shower. It was really great. It was great to see her and her little 7month basketball belly and it was great to see everyone that made the trip to see her for the shower.  She got a lot of really nice and super adorable gifts in addition to some that were sent directly to her from her amazon list and the cake was adorable and it all worked out really well. It made for a bit of a long weekend, but it was worth it and wonderful.

The cake

The spread

The cake and oreo cookie dessert with pacifier favors

It made today sort of difficult, since we did so much traveling and partying, having to get up for work the next day was a little bit ... torturous. It was really nice to be back in our own beds, but it would have been nice to have one more day to decompress. Oh well, and so it goes. There's not much else going on with us, we've made it through most of the wedding showers and baby showers and friends visiting and plans we've had and we're mostly in the clear for awhile. The weddings begin in May, then July, then September and hopefully we can do a whole lot of swimming in there as well.

Speaking of swimming, does anyone have a laptop screen glare thingy they'd recommend? I want to sit outside this summer while the girls swim and I need to be up on the deck with them in case I'm needed for rescuing or toy retrieval...and to tan myself of course. So I need to work outside, in the sun, which is very glarey. So I want to get something like this but I want one that will work at least well enough for me to get work done. The last couple summers I've been putting a beach towel over my head, which works..but it gets really really hot in there and I can't see the girls...so it's sort of...stupid. So..recs?

I gots nothing.

The hotspot was too spotty yesterday to post. And tonight I am just too tired to try. We went to Illinois to throw a baby shower for my sister-in-law, which was wonderful. But I'm tired, so tomorrow I'll come up with something wittier to post about. So later peeps.

So...hey.

Um. I don't have much tonight I guess. A few things happened today I suppose.

Today was Science Day at the 9yo's school. I had planned to drop over there around 1:30..and right when I was ready to go, I got an email that the school was on lockdown because of a shooting. Not as alarming as it sounds, they're very cautious and super protective of the kids, which I love. The shooting was at some local college apartments, where things tend to happen from time to time. Lockdown was less than an hour and I was able to get to Science Day after all. If I weren't so lazy, I'd put a picture here. She was re-exhibiting her Earthquakes research from an earlier earth sciences project. She didn't want to do a new experiment or project..because it was just 'too big' to do. Heh, I hear that.

We're prepping to entertain some family this weekend, so I may be unable to post tomorrow night, depending on how things go and where we are exactly. But I will try. I'm throwing a baby shower for my sister-in-law. Tonight we went around town picking up some last minute things. I found the most adorable Hawkeye dress at Target tonight. We went all the way across town to Von Maur to look for something, but they had nothing, not a single hawkeye thing. Target..came through. It's so adorable, I kind of want to buy it in a bunch of sizes so I can just send them periodically for the baby to wear all the time. I'll have to take a picture of it next time I'm there...I've already bagged it up for her so...yes, I'm lazy. Anyway, I'm excited for her baby, and her shower, and for the people that are driving quite a ways to come to it. It's fun, and exciting and I hope it goes well.

We took the girls for a SURPRISE tonight after all our shopping and dinner. Took them to Orange Leaf for the first time. They liked it, but they weren't as excited as maybe I thought they'd be. The 9yo had a pain in her leg, so I think that was really distracting her, and the 4yo..is particular about things. She really just wanted the toppings, which was fine, but they were touching the yogurt she didn't love, so I helped her eat some of that. The pineapple froyo is so good, I could eat a whole bowl, and the toppings bar is really a test of my willpower. So..many..good...things.

I should be able to post again on Sunday, if I can't tomorrow. I will try though of course.

I am Random. Weak. Tired.

I've wondered this morning if mommybloggers have friends. Are they real people that can get along with other people? Do they have a 'type' of friend like the rest of us? I'm just curious. Mostly because I think I'd really love to be friends with Linda (www.sundrymourning.com) and Amy (www.amalah.com). Of course, they live on east and west coasts and I'm smack in the middle, so it'll never ever happen. But. I'm curious. Mostly I wonder if a real friendship with them comes with all the same snark in their writing. Because that would be a requirement for me, I require the snark.

I am Weak. Every morning, after the kid or kids are in school I make hot cider. And..even though I've already had breakfast...I have donuts with the hot cider. Too many donuts. It is NOT a surprise I cannot drop ten pounds. Even though I run most week nights on the treadmill, I eat whatever I run off earlier in the day. It's sad and weak. I need a personal trainer and chef and nutritionist and to win the lottery to pay all those people.

I am Tired. Last night I played Horde mode on GoW3 for the first time in probably three weeks. Man I missed it. Both of my brothers came to play and another friend as well, it's great with at least 4. We quit at 11:15 or so, so we wouldn't be losing too much sleep. It was great fun and I hope to do it again next wednesday night. Usually I'd play on the weekend, but this weekend we'll be busy with baby showers and whatnot. Anyway. I'm still kinda tired today. I wasn't up any later than any other night, but I think the excitement and frenzy of the game makes me wired. I had a slight headache today too, but that might be unrelated. I'll have to retest next week when the additional factors are gone. I think part of me is also tired from worrying about the 4yo and whether she really was fighting a cold and won the fight, or if she was maybe catching something else and what does she mean when she says her throat hurts (it looks fine and she only does it seemingly when I'm asking her to do something she'd rather not). She's super playful again and no more puke for a couple days now. I think we're in the clear, but I still worry. Which keeps me awake..and makes me tired.

Things I Love, or Like

See, I'm not just a negative nelly. I like stuff...look at all this stuff I like.

• The word DYSFUNCTIONAL. Sure, you don't want to hear it when someone talks about you, or your family, or your job, but it's a neat word. So anti-...so complex and yet not. And so fun to say. 
• Green Mountain Hot Apple Cider K-Cups. Seriously, help me, I'm addicted.
• Gears of War 3: Horde mode. I'm playing tonight.
• Diet Dr. Pepper
• Berry Pomegranate Mio (water flavoring)
• Babies...that are not mine that I can cuddle and hand back when they get loud.
• Cheesecake
• The stories the 4yo makes up, sometimes just to trick or rile her sister. Last night she convinced her that we were going to Target for pretzels. We were so not, but the 9yo was fully suckered. She's a pistol, that preschooler.
• Baby showers and wedding showers. I just went to the nicest shower for a friend and it was so lovely and touching. Can't wait to go to that wedding.
• Weddings. I love the celebration of love, and the dressing up, and the party afterwards.
• Aruba
• Maui
• The Mall of America in Bloomington, MN. I love it because I love to shop and now also because my girls love going there on spring break to shop a little and play a lot.
• Words with Friends
• I LOVE that the 9yo loves to read and write and that she does both really well. She writes stories all the time and she's discovering all kinds of great books at the school library and our local city library. I rediscovered the library with both girls and it's been really great. We go nearly every Saturday and swap out books. 
• Troubleshooting. A lot of what I do at work involves troubleshooting. Digging into the code to see what's happening where and why X is happening and why isn't Y happening and fixing whatever needs to be fixed. I love it. I think it's because I can start, research, poke, fix and accomplish something with each task. It's nice. 
• LISTS! I LOVE LISTS! 

Stuff I don't like.

Or maybe Stuff That Bugs Me would be a better title. I dunno. I want to make a list, so I am.

• Not knowing what's wrong when a kid gets sick
• inconsistent weather (I know, I know..move to [insert somewhere always hot here])
• really bad kid shows like Barney, Tuff Puppy, I just cannot sit through that crap
• not showering. I don't shower Tues/Thurs mornings because I can't fit it in with all the school junk, I shower after my evening workout. But when I also don't shower on Monday...wow. I don't like it.
• when I accidentally change the channel and end up overwriting something I was recording. Oops, hope I can catch the rest of you later Candace Tells All
• The judges decisions on The Voice right now
• when the iPad crashes, which is ALL THE TIME
• when my brain knows what to do but my hands can't figure out how
• feeling like I'm never going to catch up on sleep
• not playing GoW3: Horde for two weeks, I'm having withdrawal symptoms
• my inability to NOT EAT JUNK
• my inability to motivate myself to work out more
• running. I do it and I like it some of the time, but it's soooo dull.
• my inability to cook
• my inability (and I really don't want to do this) to get up early to accomplish more during the day, it seems like it'd be awesome but I love my sleep
• my dogs snorting and wrestling at 7am
• dog #1 eating her poop
• dog #2 eating everything else
• The fact that everyone everywhere isn't listening and doing what I say. I guess the fact that I'm not the boss of everyone.

For the record, there are many many more things I don't like, but I'm not going to be that honest here. Ha.

Tomorrow..perhaps a list of things I love :) I've run out of pre-thunk ideas, so I'm making things up as I go now.

So. Tired.

Wow. So I took a sick day today because I knew I couldn't function on the little sleep I got. So the kid and I hung out on the couch today. I tried to nap, but every time I would doze off she'd start talking to me.

Can I have more juice?

What's on tv next?

She went to bed fine, but around 9pm we heard odd coughing and then whining. That was the puke. So cleanup, cuddling on the couch and then we all headed to bed at 11ish. Then she whined off and on every hour or so until 3am. So I'm asleep, listening...then whine, check on her, back to bed...wait, whine, repeat. Oy. So at 3am I brought her down to the couch. Set up sleeping spots on the couch and slept until 430 when she threw up again. This little tummy of hers cannot handle any amount of snot. None. Vomit every time. Slept off and on until 645 when the husband headed to work, and the napped until 730 when I got the other one up for school. Somehow the toddler slept through all the school prep and we went to sleep until 1030. The rest of the day was fine, and I just put her to bed....and heard the dreaded coughing again. Ugh, so we'll see how tonight goes.

Update: She threw up again last night at 9:30ish..but then slept all the way through, so I think we're on the way out. She went to preschool today and I'm working again.

Aw crap

Toddler vomit thwarted my plans for posting last night. So I've screwed up my attempt at NaBloPoMo. I will keep at it with a post today. Sorry.

What is wrong with...

Ok. So the 9yo came down after her shower tonight and asked me if there's really a boy that goes around on Friday the 13th killing people. I was...surprised. I said no, it's just a movie, don't worry about it, it's not real. She says a girl in her class saw the movie and told her about it. She's pretty concerned about it, but I think I convinced her to go to sleep and think about other things. I can only hope she won't wake up freaked out about what her classmate said.

What parent lets their 8/9yo watch Friday the 13th!? I have never seen it, because I know what kind of movie it is and I don't want to see that. I'm not a fan of horror movies and I doubt my kids will be either. They frighten easily. But ok, it's not my business what you let your kids watch..but is it too much to ask that you counsel your child NOT to scare the other kids at school, maybe you say this was a special thing, watching this movie, and something we don't need to talk about with everyone else. I know that's asking a lot of a child, to keep something to themselves, but it can be done.

Am I wrong? Are 8/9 year olds watching these movies now? Am I delusional thinking parents can do better?  I don't believe in telling anyone how to parent, because we all have our own methods and our children are all different and respond in different ways to different things...but come on. Is it not a generally good idea not to let young children watch horror movies? Hmmph. I'm not pleased.

Video Games

How about a post about my video game obsession?  Do you know how often I get onto XBOX Live and start a game like Halo or Black Ops or Gears (of War 3) and hear...YOU'RE A GIRL? It's absurd. I'm a girl...woman to be exact..and I LOVE me some xbox FPS. I also really enjoy the lego games. All of them. I think the first batman was my favorite but I like playing all of them. Right now my obsession is Gears of War 3. Horde mode. I cannot get enough horde. I have stayed up until 2am trying to beat wave 50 and succeeded...and also stayed up until 2am trying and failing. I play with my youngest brother, which is part of why I love it. He lives far enough away I don't get to see or talk to him in person that often, so this is a really excellent way for us to catch up, make fun of other players, and have a great time.

As I've discovered, I also play video games to release some aggression. Well the FPS games anyway. Horde specifically. It's fun to chase the badguys around and shoot 'em up and it's a great way to ... get my feelings out... about things going on in my life that aren't as awesome as maybe they could be.  Anyway. It's fun. You should try it.

School stuff

Whew. Tonight was a bit of a marathon. Tonight was Sophie's school musical program. She's been working on it for awhile now and tonight was the night. We got to also check out the school's new Concert Hall which was really nice and had comfy chairs. In years past we've had to sit in the elementary school gym on bleachers...not so comfy. The musical was "A Kid's Life" and it was really cute. She had a great time and Lexi enjoyed watching it. Grandpa came too (the girlfriend is out of town or I'm sure she would have been there, too). The best part is that this school knows what it's doing. Everything about it is run smoothly including the musical programs. They're always on a Thursday night, so there's very little reason for any student not to be able to make it. And they're short. Thirty to forty-five minutes at most. It's pretty awesome. I'll have videos to post tomorrow, it's too late tonight to convert and wait..so, tomorrow.

Theme song: A Kid's Life


Let The Games Begin


Ghost Story

Jump Rope Rock

So we went to McDonald's immediately after the husband got home from work so we could eat and then off to the program and then we headed to DQ afterwards for some 'hey, good job' ice cream.

I didn't have any.

I'm back to tracking my calories. I clearly have no self control.

No Video Games

So because of the recent headaches I've stopped playing xbox. I'm trying to give my brain a break, if its the games/TV/late nights...I wanted to eliminate all those things to test my theory. It took a few days for the headache to really fully go away. It's gone now. I'm really hopeful that it was just a migraine trying to eat my brain and that it wasn't related to anything really. I miss my video games.

It's been a week. Thank GOD for Words With Friends and DrawSomething.

I don't have much news. Tonight was church night (Awana) for the 9yo, which she loves. So I don't have to run (yay) and I feel like the night is mine. Without video games..I'm at a loss. So it's been words with friends and I've started reading Bossypants by Tina Fey.  So far, so good, but I've been interrupted so much I hope I'm not missing anything hilarious. The 4yo came with me to take the other to church, cuz daddy was golfing. Then we came home to swing a bit before it got dark and cold outside. She loves to swing so much. I soooo much want her to learn to pump and swing herself soon. I love pushing her, but it's super boring. What?  I'm sorry, its boring just pushing a kid on a swing. I could be DOING things during that. Reading, WWF, writing this. Come on. Mama gots things to do.

Perhaps tomorrow something exciting will happen. Or I'll win my battle with eZPublish. Both highly unlikely.

Babysitters

I was having some trouble coming up with what to write about today. Yesterday evening wasn't that great and not much happened today, so...hmmm. This weekend we have friends coming to visit and we'll be headed out to dinner. My girls are really great, really well behaved, but I know that we're going to want to relax and take our time, and talk for awhile when we're out. And the girls will eventually get bored...and vocal about that boredom. So, we need a babysitter.

Awhile back I joined care.com ($35/month yikes) for a couple months, to find some local reputable babysitters. It turns out most of the sitters on there are college students or day care women. So we picked a couple and tried them out, and the girls loved them. Today I called the first one, and her phone is no longer her phone...so..I guess she's out. So I tried the second, and while luckily her phone is still her phone..she's unavailable for this weekend. So...I'll be calling grandpa later tonight, to see if he's available.

I'm always torn when I call my dad to babysit. I know he loves the girls and would do anything for them, but I also know he has his own life. And girlfriend. She's wonderful by the way, and awesome with the girls. But I feel like I'm using him when he babysits, I couldn't pay him, it'd take a wrestling match to get him to let anyone pay for dinner, let alone pay him to watch his precious grandchildren. And I feel like maybe they had better plans (that he wouldn't tell me about) that I'm preventing him from. Sigh. Anyway, I'll call, he'll say yes - even if he previously had other plans - and hopefully we'll be all set.

The other thing is that babysitters are EXPENSIVE. Most of them say anywhere from $7-$15 per hour. If I recall, I babysat A LOT in high school, and I made somewhere between $2 and $5 per hour, never more than that. And the $5/hour people..those were the "rich" people and you hoped they'd call you again. I'm not complaining really, well sort of...shouldn't I be glad to pay ANY amount for the care of my precious cherubs? Turns out not. So we limit the paid babysitter to a rare occasion and use the grandparents as much as possible otherwise. Another great reason for the in-laws to move to town..another grandparent set to rotate in :)

Perhaps tomorrow I'll have a better post idea. Or something dramatic will happen! Ooooo! Unlikely.

My five

(A really long time ago) @Chookooloonks tweeted this question: "5 best decisions of my adult life so far: go to law school, move to London, marry @marzjennings, adopt Alex, quit law. What are your 5 best?"

My five:

1. Getting married at 19 to my highschool sweetheart. Everyone always says it was young, but I don't see it that way. We were old enough legally, mature enough (mostly) and we had it planned out. So it worked for us, perhaps it wouldn't have for you, but it worked for us.

2. Having babies after being married for awhile (and stopping after two). Waiting to have kids until we'd been married at least 5 years was great. We were able to do a little traveling, have our own interests and time and do things on the fly, when we wanted, however we wanted. Kids throw a giant wrench into all that, which we knew, so we didn't want to jump into that too soon. I think we waited the perfect amount of time to have kids, and between our two kids (nearly 5 years).

3. Taking my current position which meant being able to work from home, doing work I really enjoy. It was a risk, what if it didn't work out, what if I was awful at working from home, what if my old job wouldn't take me back (they no longer exist)...so many what ifs. I'm glad I went for it, best career decision so far I think.

4. Savings. Saving in a 401k started early for both of us, saving with Edward Jones IRA accounts. Planning what we spend, and buy and do, so we can retire when we're ready and not when we can or have to.

5.  I don't know. I can't think of anything right now...I'm sure I will eventually. Right now though, all I can think of are all the things I'd like to do still, like the things on my life list and the organization things my house needs. some day.

I guess these would be my five SO FAR. I hope I make other great decisions in the future. Although, I think #1 and #2 will stay on whatever future lists I make.

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.