ALOHA!!

Yeah. Aloha. It's raining here in beautiful. Hawaii. In fact, it's rained every day. Yep. Every damn day. We haven't seen the sun since we've been here.

Not sure how I feel about that. But hey, it could be worse. I could be in three feet of snow and six whopping degrees!

Here's a picture I got of a Manta Ray peeking at me:

Not to sound negative, but how much you wanna bet the sun will come out the day after we leave??

Aloha.

I DID IT!!!

I am packed. Finito! Now I get to run around doing last minute things, but when I'm done I can relax, because I'm PACKED. Hooray! Go me!! Granted, I have nine (yes, NINE) suitcases sitting in the living room, but you know, they're packed!!!!

Yipeeee!

I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday and Happy New Year! Mele Kalikimaka!!

Lara

EEEEEEEK!!!!!

Status: Only two more days! I'm frantic!

I do NOT want a repeat of what happened the night before we left for Thanksgiving for ten days. Seriously. I put off packing until the day before, and Hubby and I were packing (and arguing) until 2am, we collapsed into bed at 3am, and woke up at 4am to get everyone else up to get on the plane. Can you say NO SLEEP, AGITATION and ZOMBIFIED? Things always get a little "tense" before we leave. I don't want that this time.

Hence, I am running around like a head with my chicken cut off today, so tomorrow can be...relaxed. At midnight tonight I intend for all the luggage to be PACKED, and ready to load into the car Thursday night. So far I have my suitcase for Hawaii packed, my suitcase for Idaho packed, and the baby's suitcase. Today I'm getting the rest of the kids packed, and Hubby can pack himself tonight. And we'll be DONE. Then we can spend a relaxing evening, hanging out, and get to bed at a decent time.

Ahhhh. That sounds lovely. But until then, there aren't enough hours in a day! Eeek!

Happy Post

Status: I have a teething seven-month old. I'll let you guess. ;-)

I am realizing that my posts are pretty negative as of late. You know, I don't want anyone to think that the life of a stay-home mom is dreary in any way. It actually can have its moments of joy and happiness and warm fuzzies. I guess during the Holidays those moments don't happen as often. And frankly, having four kids can get...well...a bit hairy.

Not to mention the fact that I am NOT the World's Best Morning Person and when do I blog? In the morning. Hmmmm. That explains a lot.

So Thing One didn't have Pinkeye. Thank the Stars. Seriously, I was getting ready for the equivalent of PINKEYE ARMAGEDDON in my house, because even when my kids are sick, they can't seem to stay away from each other, unless I threaten them with their lives and barricade them in their rooms.
Apparently she has a sinus infection and both ears are infected, and it was affecting her eyes. Which made more sense because her eyes were red, but not itchy. And I've had Pinkeye. It itches like a Mother. You want to literally rip out your eyeballs and run them across sandpaper, to stop the itching.

So, she's on the Cadillac of Antibiotics (again--haven't we done this recently?) and she's in school. And she's a cranky toerag, to boot.

So, I guess I started out with the intention of having this be a "happy" post. So I'll give it my best shot:

What do I love about the Holidays? I love how cozy and festive my house is, with all the lights and decorations up. I love Christmas music and candy canes and Pine trees and shiny wrapped presents. I love that 75% of my kids still believe in Santa Claus. And I love the whole "good will" feeling people have towards each other, unless they're at the Mall. Yes, avoid the Mall and anything that has a "super" preceeding it's name (Super WalMart, Super Target, etc) the two weeks before Christmas because, honey, your Christmas Cheer will go right down the toilet.

*ahem* But there are so many good things about the Holidays. I guess we need to focus on those, to keep us sane through the "hairier" times.

Well, off I go to do a zillion things!

I Hate My Life.

That's my ten-year old daughter's new favorite thing to say. Well, today, she probably really does. Since she has an ear infection, a sore throat, a stuffed up head and pinkeye in both eyes.

Yup, we're going to the dr. first thing this morning.

I don't hate my life, but I am very tired. Thing Four was up screaming at 3am with teething issues (don't worry, he has TWO coming in and we get to fly on a plane for four hours in a few days---eeek) and he screamed and screamed while I frantically searched for the Infant Tylenol.

Murphy's Law: The louder and shriller a baby screams in pain, the less chance you have of finding pain relieving medicine quickly.

I searched for about five agonizing minutes until I realized we hadn't unpacked it from the last trip and it was still in the travel diaper bag.
Of course after I finally found it and dosed him, he decided he was going to scream with hunger until I fed him. I don't think I've made a bottle faster in my life. I have it down to under a minute, I kid you not.

Poor Hubby. He had to hold him while I searched for medicine/made a bottle. He's just as zombified as I am. He said this week is going to be the Week From Hell at work because he is leaving for two weeks vacation. Lots of things he has to do before he goes. Thus the Hell. My week will be from Hell too because of all the packing and errands and STUFF I have to do before we go, and having sick kids and Pinkeye in my house only makes for more work.

I hate my life too! But only this week. Then it will all magically come together and we're going to ENJOY ourselves on our vacation, dammit! If I have to hog-tie everyone and paint a smile on their faces with a Sharpie Marker.

:-)

Stage Fright.

Status: Relatively calm, considering the list of crap I have to do before we go on vacation!

So I medicined up Thing One and she went last night. And she did AWESOME! You could tell she was a little stuffed up but that was it. She hit all her notes. I had the principal of the school lean in at one point and tell me that Thing One had the best voice and the most power in her voice in the entire program. Which of course made me very proud of her. :-)

I grew up in musical theater. I loved being in plays, and I do remember whenever I'd get sick, I always felt gosh awful but the SECOND I set a toe on stage, it was like I was perfectly healthy. I did my performance, and did it well, and then, after it was over, I fell apart and felt like crap again. This happened to me more than once. Mind over matter? Who knows. Perhaps that's what happened to Thing One last night. She overcame her Stage Fright. I never actually got stage fright (just normal jitters--you know, the kind that make your singing voice sound like a goat's at first) but when I got sick, and I performed, it was like magic, I felt great! I figured since it had happened to me, it would happen to her. I am glad I was right!

She actually feels a little better today (go figure) and I think nerves made her sick. But she does have a cold, so I'll give her some TLC.

Well, I've lost 14 pounds. I would like to lose about five more before Hawaii, so I'm going to overload on the cardio. I love how I feel much stronger. Yeah, go me!

Have a great weekend, everyone! Only TEN shopping days until Christmas!

The Humpty Dumpty Dance...and a Dilemma...

Status: Anxious. I have a dilemma!

So Thing Four loves, while lying on his back, to brace his feet against whatever hard surface he's laying on and lift his pelvis up and down. My other kids did it, and I called it "The Butt Scoots" because eventually they start scooting around when they do it. My personal trainer calls that particular move a "Pelvic bridge" and she makes me hold it for like, 83743 seconds. Really gets those glutes working.

But I digress. Thing four (who is officially seven months old!) and yes, GINORMOUS, this pic was taken a few days ago--let's just say he's 22 pounds and 30 inches long now. HUGE.

He loves to do this little "dance" a lot. Especially when I'm trying to diaper him, which isn't very funny. The WORST, of course, is when he has a poopie diaper and I open it up to wipe him off and he starts "doing the dance." Poop everywhere. And he thinks it's hilarious of course. My kids have dubbed it the "Humpty Dumpty Dance" which is probably not the best title but it's stuck and Thing Four is offically the Humpty Dumpty Dance King.

Nice, huh? Now, on to my dilemma:

Last year, Thing One was part of the chorus in the school 3rd and 4th grade Christmas play. On the day of the performance, she was running a high fever. So, I let her make the decision whether to go or not, and she felt so awful she decided not to go.
Cue to today, the night of the Christmas play, only Thing One is one of the MAIN CHARACTERS, and guess what? Stuffy nose, sore throat, high fever. And she has to dance and sing a solo in the play.

So, do I do the "Stage Mom" thing and knacker her up good with a heavy arsenal of medicine and get her through it, or do I have her stay home and let the understudy do it? She feels awful, and says she's got a horrible headache, going to "throw up" if she moves, the light hurts her eyes, and she is whining like a mule, basically. I told her to stop being such a drama queen, she just had stage fright, but then I felt her head. Burning up. And I am suspecting a migraine.

I think I have pretty much made up my mind to give her medicine and let her go. I mean, she's been working hard at rehearsals and she's been wanting to do this her whole life. (It's her first play!) AND Hubby actually is leaving work, like TEN hours early at 5pm and he's coming to the play. That doesn't happen often.

What should I do? Am I a bad mother if I let her go? (There's the whole spreading germs thing too--but aren't schools cesspools of germs anyway???)

UGH.

Back to Normal.

Status: Feeling hurried. I have exactly 18 minutes before Thing Four starts screaming for his breakfast...must....type....faster...

So the kids went back to school. I know. Thrillsville. They played in the snow yesterday, and got completely covered, and I had to throw the whole lot of snow pants, gloves, coats and hats in the dryer so they could wear them to school today. We got DUMPED on, about 8 inches here, and add that to the six inches we already had, and you can guess the amount of snow we have.

Poor Hubby, he came home steaming mad, and I asked him why, and he said "Don't you realize that I've been trying to drive up our driveway for the last 20 minutes????"

Um, no, sorry. I didn't get the Clairvoyant Gene. And maybe next time you won't shun four-wheel drive for a sedan. Yep, he's a Sedan Man. Not an SUV Man. Sedan is how he rolls. Yeah. Rolls downhill backwards apparently... *snort!*

Of course right after he got in, the snow plowers came and did the driveway. It was pretty bad. We didn't even get our mail.

Ooops! Thing Four is starting to say "Num Num!!!!" I'd better get up there.

Oh, and I'm doing Yoga today. My trainer said "Why wait until the New Year? Start it now!" So she's planned out a schedule for me, and today, I do 30 minutes of cardio, and Yoga.

Go me.

Ice Day.

Status: Feeling pretty dang awesome!

Granted, one of Hubby's New York Friends was over last night, and we talked until 1am, so I'm a little sleepy, but we got up this morning and while the kids were eating breakfast we realized that all the schools were closed.

We're under a major Ice storm warning. So Hubby waited a while to head off to work, and the kids and I have been playing. I am having fun with them home. We're all still in our jammies, and Thing One (she wants to be a chef, so I got her a little apron with her name on it) and I just finished making Oatmeal cookies, and we're all cozy in the house. Thing Four is entertaining us with his happy screams, and we're hanging out. Of course I have to run out and mail some things people won from me on Ebay, but the post office is literally a mile from my house, tops. So I'll just put the truck in 4-wheel drive and be fine.

I love cozy winter days home from school. Lots of hot cocoa and board games!

I just hope the power doesn't go out--that would sort of put a damper on things. But we have gas fireplaces, so at least we won't freeze!

GREEN IS NOT EASY.

Status: Tired, stressed, Holiday cheer-ish...

We are officially DONE with Christmas gifts. I do need to handmake cards for Hubby's work people, but that's about it. Now I have to send out a bunch of stuff and we're offically done. It's a great feeling.

Had a stressful weekend. Not as Craptastic as Friday (which was a really really really LAME day) but with the Christmas party and Church stuff and planning our "itinerary" for Hawaii there wasn't much time to breathe. My house looks like it was hit by a Level 4 Tornado inside. Mondays are always dumb that way. Cleaning up all the stuff I didn't do during the weekend. The kids are SO going to have chores upon chores when they get home from school. I bet they'll love that.

I'm attempting to be "Green" lately. I know, I'm a total bandwagonner, but I will say I've been recycling for YEARS. So I've been enviro-conscious for a while. Except for my truck. I have a big 'ole Ford Expedition, and it's a gas guzzler, and it's my only holdout. Besides, you can't fit a family of six in a Prius (two of them needing to be in car seats), you know? And since we're adding one more to our family in a year or two (and yes, we will be done after that) we will have seven. And frankly, I need a big car. But I will say the day they come out with a Hybrid Expedition or similar-sized car, I'll be on the list for one!

Anyway, my point to the green thing: I'm giving up one of my most convenient "vices:" DISPOSABLE TABLEWARE. I am the queen of disposable. I have put all my glasses and china in the UPPER cabinets, in the lower cabinets you will find plastic/paper cups, plates, bowls. In my silverware drawer I have tons of plastic disposable utensils. We go through about two packs a week.
NOT ANYMORE. I let us use up the disposable stuff, and we're using *GASP* real china bowls and real glass cups and etc. etc. etc. I will just wash a lot more dishes.

We're going to try it for a while. Plus, it will save $$. If the kids have a glass they use all day for water, instead of using up, say, 5-6 disposable cups a day, that all adds up after a while. So, we're going to TRY. I don't like having dishes in the sink. They're stinky and ugly and just YUCK. Dishes you throw away after eating are the BOMB. So this new order will be tricky. I've already fished a couple of stainless steel forks and spoons out of the garbage (and yelled at my kids at the top of my lungs) so it will take some time to remember we can't throw stuff away anymore.

How long do you think it will last? I don't dare say.

Eeek! Time to get the garbage set out! We woke up late this morning so the kids didn't have time to do it. And I didn't make them. That's what I get!

Crap.

WARNING: I'm having a "Crap" day.

You know, we all have those. I am in the middle of what could be the CRAPPIEST mood, in the CRAPPIEST weather, ever. My house is full of Crap. (Laundry piles everywhere, I'm sorting.) I just came home from Thing Three's First Grade Holiday Concert, and there were NO crapping parking spaces at that Crappy School. Even the tiny cookie I nibbled on afterwards tasted like Crap.

Thing Four is teething again, and he feels like Crap. I started writing last night, and stopped, because what I wrote was utter Crap. I have to get into my Crappy car (looks like it had a run-in with a Flocking machine again) and drive on the Crappy roads to get a present for a party because I'm a Crappy Procrastinator and I don't want to go. And my breakfast tasted like Crap, too, by the way.

So now, I feel like Crap. Oh, and Thing Four crapped all over the bed while I was changing him.

What a Craptastic Day.

Christmas On One Page.

Status: Anxious. Gearing up for the weekend! (School plays, birthday party, church Christmas party where I have to A) bring food and B) perform in the musical portion and C) while at the Christmas party, reassure Things Two and Three that no, "Santa Claus" doesn't really look EXACTLY like Brother So-and-So from the church ward with a fake beard...but they're not dumb. They KNOW. So I tell them that it's not really "Santa" but one of his helpers, since he can't be in millions of places at once. I guess it's up to them to extend their imaginations on that one...)

So, Thing Three's birthday "Legend of Zelda" cake was a hit. Here it is:I guess when Thing Three started screaming when I brought it out, it meant he really liked it. So, whether it was a weird idea or not, it worked for him, and that's what really matters. But it opened up a lot of new possibilities for me. Now I can do ANY cake I want to, as long as my kids don't mind cutouts on the cake. I just need Google Images, a printer, a laminator and a pair or scissors, and VOILA: The cake they want!

So, I decided to do something easy for the future--getting all the recipes for the Christmas confections we traditionally make, on ONE page for easy reference. Sure, I had to do nine-point font, but I got all six recipes on one page, and made it all cute. And I downloaded these cute Christmas fonts and gussied it up. So, I have the recipes for Christmas fudge, Hello Dollys, Candy-cane-shaped cookies, Brandy Balls, Sugar cookies and Gingerbread. All the good stuff. On the other side of the page I will have the candy that I make, too. I even have a great Christmas jello and egg nog recipe. (not together, they're separate recipes!) All on one page. Makes it easy--no hunting down recipes for me from now on! At least for the traditional stuff. I've started converting my messy recipe card box to laminated pages in a book anyway. It's a lot cleaner, and I don't have to worry about the cards not making it back to the box. (a common problem in our house!). They'll all be in one binder.

I am mad at Sprint. For some odd reason, their automated (and online) payment systems keep telling me my wonky Wisconsin address doesn't match my check card banking address. I have literally held the Sprint bill and the bank bill side-by-side, and they are an EXACT match, which really makes me stomping mad that I can't pay my bill online or over the phone. I have to physically DRIVE to a Sprint Store (none are close to my house) and pay the bill with a customer service person.

So, yesterday, I make the 20-minute drive to the nearest Sprint store and when I get there, they tell me they can't access my account because they're converting to the new system and no accounts are accessible. So, I have to come back another day to pay my bill.

AAARRRRRGGGGHHHH! I hate driving so far, in SNOW AND ICE up to my ears with a baby in the car and lugging him in to pay a stupid bill I should be able to PAY ONLINE!!!!!

Okay. I need to calm down and blog about something else. Better yet, got to have a cup of Swiss Miss fat-free cocoa. (The yummy kind that comes with marshmallows.) I need to have a cup of Happiness before I drive all the way out there again. This Momma ain't happy.

Happy Wednesday!!!

Today has started out great. It's Thing Three's Birthday, too. Happy Seventh Birthday, Thing Three!!!
Of course when I asked him what he wants for his birthday dinner, he wanted MACDONALD'S. Big surprise there. So that's what we'll get him. I'll have to pass, though. Hawaii is in three weeks!

Hubby leaves tomorrow for Minneapolis, but this morning he had a Dr's appointment, so we got to spend the first part of the day together, with just Thing Four. We had a good breakfast, worked out, and played with the baby. And by some sheer happenstance, his work server was down so he wasn't receiving calls or emails on his Blackberry every 30 seconds like he usually is.

It was calm and quiet bliss! :-)

But now he's gone and I have to run a million places. I bought Season One of "BONES" (it looks really good!) and I feel guilty so I'm taking it back. I guess I could rent it instead, because I have a card with tons of free rentals on it still. Gotta be frugal now!

And I'm baking a cake for tonight. Not buying one. Go me.

I had a small "emergency" with the cake, because Thing Three said he wanted a "Legend of Zelda" cake. This was YESTERDAY that he informed me. So I wracked my brain, searched the internet, and since "Link Cakes" aren't even orderable in twelve hours, I decided to improvise. I am making a plain yellow cake with chocolate frosting, and I printed out some Link figures and the Zelda logo, laminated them and cut them out. After I frost the cake, I'm just going to "set them on top" so it will be Zelda-themed. We'll just have to make sure to take the decorations off before we cut it.

So, am I being A) Desperate and weird or B) Crafty and Cool? You tell me.

I'm doing it anyway. I'll post pics later. Time to run some errands!

Done With Christmas Shopping.

Status: Just Here.

Well, I'm officially done with Christmas shopping. Not because I've finished, mind you, but I've been "cut off." It rarely happens, but every once in a while, Hubby decides to take a reallyclose look at the monthly Amex bill, and tells me I'm done buying stuff. So, I'm going to have to send out "cards" instead of gifts this year, and that really galls me. But that's what I get.

But hey! At least I don't have to worry about braving crowds anymore! And I've already bought the "big" presents for the kids. So we're done.

I found my Yoga stuff! I know, you're probably saying: "Wah?" I've been in this house for over a year now. But I unpacked a box of Christmas decorations that I didn't use last year, and the packers had shoved my Yoga blocks and strap and DVD inside. So I have them now! I am going to start Yoga as one of my New Year resolutions. Just to supplement my routine, a few times a week. Thing Four takes two-hour naps so I have plenty of opportunity.

Well, nothing new to report, and I have a list a mile long of phone calls to make and things to do. Better get on them!

UGH.

The Irony.

Status: Well rested. We got to bed at 9:30 last night. Thing Four didn't wake up to eat until 5:30 (he's teething and has been up all night the last three nights moaning and then he realizes he's hungry, and then...you can guess the rest.

Thank heaven for Tylenol. And Baby Orajel. And those teething toys you put in the fridge. I have a veritable arsenal for Teething Defense. Thing Four is getting his top teeth. He already has two cute little ones on the bottom, and now his top left one has poked through, and it will be any day the right one will follow.
I'm thankful he doesn't scream or cry, but he does moan. At night. That's about the time I start to curse the inventor of the Baby Monitor. But I figure: hey, I stay home, I can get a nap during the day if I need it. Life goes on.

Okay, here's the irony. While getting onto the freeway the other day, I got TOTALLY run off the road by this crazy minivan. The woman was NOT going to let me in. Since it was kind of THE LAW to let me in (not to mention common courtesy) and she was having none of it, well, I got a bit mad. Okay really REALLY mad. As I was honking and shouting...some not nice words, I happened to see the bumper sticker on the back of said minivan.

"I'M TRYING TO BE LIKE JESUS"

Yeah, you jackass, I never would have guessed!!! If you were REALLY trying to be like the Man Himself, you would have LET ME THE HELL ONTO THE FREEWAY!!!

I had to laugh a little, though. It was a tad ironic. Getting run off the freeway by a driver who is Trying To Be Like Jesus.

I guess you had to be there.

Although I need to lay off the road rage. Thing Four's first word is going to be a four-letter one, at the rate I'm going. :-(

So the weekend was Okay for the most part. We had a big snowstorm. At least Hubby and I weren't the only ones running to Home Depot for Winter fertilizer and Driveway Stakes (to mark for the snowplowers) before the snow hit. Of course there was a tense moment when Hubby, while attempting to pound the stakes into the ground, realized that the ground was frozen and the stakes were NOT going in. Needless to say he was very unhappy about it--our weeny hammer wouldn't even work, so I went and got one of my big 'ole arm weights out of the workout room and we used that. Just as we got most of them placed, the snowflakes started to fall. Our neighbor was running all over his lawn with a fertilizer spreader. We all had to laugh. He finally gave up, since he has an acre lot and the snow was really coming down. Oh well. We'll get our lawn in the Spring.

Today I only have a few things to do. It's the end of the week that will get a little crazy. Right now I'm going to wake Thing Four up and have some play time. I can run around later. It's eight degrees outside anyway. Ya think?

SORE.

Status: Isn't it kinda obvious?

Awesome Personal Trainer kicked our butts last night. I am so sore in places I didn't know I COULD be sore. She's stepped it up since Hawaii is three and a half weeks away.

And I am cutting out sugar and cutting WAY DOWN on carbs until then. That should help. At this point, I am what I am, but after all these intense workouts I'm definitely not as jiggly in my swimsuit. I loathe the jiggle. The jiggle must END. But it will be a few months before I am down to where I want to be. But hey, I'm working on it! :-)

I am tired, too. All this working out makes me sleepy. Well, so does staying up until nearly midnight catching up on shows....*ahem*...

Time to go play with the baby! I didn't try any additional foods yesterday. Today I'm trying peas. Cross your fingers for me...

This weekend should be fun. We're supposed to get 3-6 inches of snow tomorrow, so I'm ready. All the kids have snowboots, snowpants, new gloves and hats and scarves, and down coats. We're making a gingerbread house (you know those ready-made kits) and I'm making a yummy Sunday dinner. Winter is here! I love this time of year!

I HAVE FIFTEEN SHOWS TO WATCH!!!

Status: Frustrated. We can only manage two a night, at best!

You gotta love the whole "DVR" concept. But when you go on a long vacation, and you're addicted to, say, EIGHT different shows, then they tend to add up while you're gone.

Hubby and I watch the gruesome shows, like Criminal Minds, NCIS, CSI, etc. So our only choice is to watch them after the kids go to bed. Which is 8:30. Since Hubby's average coming-home time from work is around 8pm, we have just enough time to get the kids in bed, do a 45-minute workout, and by that time it's already 9:15-ish and we can only squeeze in about two shows before we collapse in bed at 11:30. Which in my opinion is WAY too late. Sometimes we only do one show. We are up at 6am, you know.

So, the shows keep piling up, and we just don't have enough hours in the day to watch them. Hence the frustration. AAAAACCCKKK!!!

Okay, I have decided that Thing Four is weird. Not WEIRD weird, but DIFFERENT weird. My other three Things all loved to take medicine when they were little (they sucked it down and wanted more) and when I introduced them to fruits and veggies, they LOVED them and couldn't get enough of them.

Not Thing Four. He HATES taking medicine. I always have to give him one half more than his usual dose because he has mastered the talent of pushing most of it back out of his mouth with his tongue as soon as I shoot it into his mouth.

SO, I started him on fruits this week. Well, I thought I'd start with Carrots. He was very hungry, and I figured he'd love the sweet carrot taste, and when I stuck the spoonful in his mouth he got this look on his face. He squished the carrots around in his (mercifully closed) mouth for a moment, and gave a little shiver as he swallowed them. Thinking he would take more, I held the spoon up to his mouth again.

DENIED.

He had those lips pursed so tight I couldn't have gotten a power drill past them. He wanted NOTHING to do with the carrots. And no amount of coaxing (I really did TRY, for about five minutes) was going to change that.
So, I figured I'd start with Bananas. My other kids couldn't get enough of bananas! So I put the carrots in the fridge, cracked open the bananas and sat down beside his high chair. It took a lot of coaxing to get him to open up his mouth, but when he did I scooped in a bite of banana. Chew chew chew. And I swear the look he gave me was a look of "why are you doing this to me?" Shiver swallow. I tried to give him another bite of banana.

DENIED.

Starting to panic, I made him some rice cereal (which he's happily gulped down for two months) and put some banana in it.
After one bite, he wouldn't eat ANY. Not even one more little bite. I had to throw the whole batch away. I made a new batch of just plain old rice cereal, and after an eternity of coaxing him to open his mouth, I got some in and he realized I hadn't tainted it and he ate it very happily.

Yesterday morning I thought I'd try peaches. My kids LOVED peaches too.

You can guess what happened. Don't worry, he hates peaches too. HATES them.

Do I have a weird baby? Does he hate sweet stuff? It would all make sense. The medicine is sweet. Carrots, Bananas, Peaches, he hates them all. And they are sweet.

Today I'm trying the nasty Green Beans. Not sweet at all. We'll see what he does!

Lots to do today, and I'm finishing up a read for a friend. I'm getting caught up in it! I love it when I do a read and it doesn't feel like work! :-)

Vote For Pedro.

Status: Not feeling the Love. It's already shaping up to be one of those days...

My workout last night was lame. I just wasn't into it. Hawaii is four weeks away. So I guess I'd better get into it in a fierce way. I was so good over vacation. Except the last two days. I did absolutely nothing but eat really good (aka "bad") stuff. But when I got back home I had lost two more pounds. So at least I didn't gain!

Thing One is starting to really HATE school. I distinctly remember hating Fourth grade myself. The pace (and homework) really took off in that grade. And I had probably the Meanest Teacher On the Planet: Mrs. Turnbow. I truly believe she hated me. And I never did my homework. Both my parents were working so it wasn't like they could "get on me" about it either. Fourth grade was a big black hole to me.

So, in a way, I feel Thing One's pain. But mostly I am practically standing on top of her head to make sure she gets all her homework completed, and studies for her tests. She loathes it. But if she doesn't develop good homework habits now (as I didn't) she'll fail. Or be mediocre. I don't want that for her. She'll thank me later for the tough love. This morning she broke down a little and said it was "too much" and she hated school. Aw, the raw emotions of a ten-year old.

She's just mad at me because I told her until her Math grade improves, no more taking her Pokemon card collection to school. ;-)

So why "Vote for Pedro?" No particular reason. I coudn't think of a post title, and I have this little grocery list pad next to the computer that is from the movie Napoleon Dynamite. It says "Vote for Pedro" on it. Yes, I'm lame.

Sorry, folks. That's as good as it gets today. I have Writer's Block.

Don't You Just Love It...

...when you get back from a long vacation and you have 27 suitcases in the living room all needing to be unpacked and gone through? Oh, and WHAT JOY-- you have about nine loads of laundry to do now!!! WHOOPEE!!!!

...when while going through said suitcases you realize with dismay that your conditioner and the box of baby cereal you had carefully packed have both exploded all over everything in some sort of tar-and-feather parody?

...when you are all wonky on time because of a time zone difference you got used to while on vacation and your baby is all messed up and thinks it's time to be awake at 3am again?

...when you look at the shows that you DVR'd while gone and realize you now have to watch 15 shows in five days just to get caught up?

...when you don't have one egg in the house? Or bread. Or Orange Juice. Or Milk that isn't expired...

...when you had gotten used to sleeping in while on vacation and now getting up at 6:30 seems like torture, at best?

Yeah, you gotta love it.

Today should be fairly exciting. Pay the end-of-the-month bills. Dry Cleaners. Grocery store. Laundry. Cleaning. Attempting to pick #$%&**!! baby cereal out of my toiletries...

Hope everyone has a good day!

I'M BACK!!!!!!

Status: Kinda Crazy. Am I not supposed to be "rested" after a vacation? *wink*

This last week has been a real blast. A little here and there and everywhere, but what fun! All the kids magically were healthy (except Thing Four but he got better during the week) and SIL and I got to go to a spa and get MASSAGES and FACIALS and PEDICURES and it was wonderful. But of course, the highlight of the week: THE BYU/UTAH game! WOO!

Hubby's brother works for ISP, so he gets great seats to games. And we had AWESOME seats. We also got to spend the pre-game and Halftime in the Corporate Sponsors Tent, which was warmed and had flatscreen TV's and they were serving steak and shrimp. Yummy.

The game was a little slow the first three quarters, but can I just say: Fourth Down with 18 to go? (BYU fans will understand.) AMAZING! They really pulled it out, last minute. And the obnoxious Utah fans two rows behind us fell quite satisfactorally silent...which was pretty funny, too. We left the game with absolutely NO speaking ability (our voices were hashed) and it was the best game since...well... last year when we pulled it out at the last moment too. I haven't been in that stadium for about 12 years. It felt great to do the Cougar Fight Song and take in the atmosphere. But I did keep my dignity and I didn't rush the field with everyone else at the End. Guess I'm too old for that. ;-)

TWICE IN A ROW, UTES! CHEW ON THAT!!! HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!!!

Thanksgiving was busy, but wonderful. Now we're back home and I get to run out and do about 586 things. And I want to get at least one more tree up. But today I have to buy stuff to do Thing One's Girl Scout meeting after school. I am teaching the girls how to stamp Christmas cards. One of my favorite things to do!

Only 28 DAYS UNTIL CHRISTMAS!!!!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!! AND...

I'M GOING TO THE BYU/UTAH GAME THIS SATURDAY!

WOO HOO! GO COUGS!!!

Yes, I am going to freeze my butt off, but I am going!

Five Things I am Thankful for:

1) My Family
2) Freedom
3) My Friends
4) My Religion
5) The Internet

*Not necessarily in that order!

I'm tagging Mik, Brenda, Laura, and Karen!

What are YOU thankful for?

Lost My Cookies...

I GOT SOME SLEEP!!! HURRAH!!

Well, only about five hours, but I'll take it. :-)

So I lost my cookies...but not in the way it might sound. I hate it when you download an update onto your computer and after its installed and you restart only to discover that suddenly all your cookies are gone. Lots of work to get things back. ANNOYING!

Thing Four is still not good. I stopped giving him medicine to see if his fever was gone, and when the thermometor read "103.5" I about freaked and gave him more Motrin. We actually had him sleep in his bouncy chair last night, so his head would be elevated. Hey, whatever works!

We are on a plane to Utah at 6am tomorrow, so I get to spend today packing. I got a little overzealous with Christmas decor yesterday (okay so it took FOUR hours to set up the tree--I guess I was wrong, Devon!) and I even decorated the main stair bannisters with garland and lights and strategically-placed burgundy bows. It looks awesome. I HAD to do it. It was therapeutic and fun for me. And for those of you who think I'm crazy to set up in November--we're going to be gone for a little while and I won't have to do it when we get back. ;-) I always put the tree up right after Thanksgiving anyway. It's a win-win.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving--it doesn't look like I'll be posting for a while. Unless something crazy happens. Hopefully not. I always like a lack of drama in my life...

Take care, all! Be good! GO NANOERS!!!

EXHAUSTION.

Status: ohmygosh if I don't get some decent sleep soon I am going to FREAK OUT!!!!!!!

Was up most of the night with the baby. Who has a chest cold/cough/congestion. Top that off with a flu, DTAP and tetanus shot (his six month checkup) and he's had nearly 103 degree fever since Monday night. I called the nurse and she told me "Well, with this combination of shots we'd see fevers as high as 104. If he gets above 104 go ahead and call us."

ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME? You actually think I'm going to LET my infant's fever actually GET THAT HIGH???

Yeah, sure. I'd love for his brain to fry in his own head like an egg. Sure. NOT.

So I've been piggybacking Tylenol and Motrin and keeping him as comfortable as possible. He was a mess yesterday--if I left his line of sight he'd start crying. And he wanted to be "cuddled" all day. Which I was happy to oblige, but the whole "I will scream if you put me down" thing got a little old after a while. THEN I made the colossal mistake of sleeping in his room again last night--every time he moaned, choked on his own phlegm or coughed, I was WIDE AWAKE. I think I put his pacifier in about 7345 times. I also had to set my phone alarm for every three hours to dose him, to keep the raging fever down.

Hence, I'm a "little" tired. As soon as I got Hubby off to work and the kids off to school, I set the alarm for 8:30 (one hour of sleep) and went right back to bed. Thankfully, the baby was so dog-tired from being up all night he actually stayed asleep for me.

I just fed him, and he coughed up most of his cereal. I feel so helpless. We are on a plane at 6am Friday morning, and I hope these antibiotics kick in ASAP. Otherwise the three-hour flight will be miserable, because he'll be miserable.

And I had planned to put the Christmas tree up today. We're going to be gone for a week and a half, and when we get back, I'd love to come home to a tree. So I just might bust my butt and get it up. I've perfected my technique over the years. It's the same tree and the same ornaments that Hubby and I have had since our second Christmas together. And if I light it correctly, it takes from start to finish about three hours to put together and trim. I could so totally do that.

The rest of the house will have to wait. I have to pack and do some major laundry! This week is closing in on me...

Attack of the Neanderthals...

Status: Typing with one eye open. Was up all night with Thing Four (who is now sick) and had to drive Brother-in-Law #1 to the airport at 4am. In desperate need of a nap...

So the Packers beat the Vikings. Spanked them, is more like. Hubby and his brothers were at the game, and I watched it on television. Don't get me wrong, going to sporting events is fun, but when you're on your comfortable sofa, watching a big screen, it just seems better. ;-)

I've lost ten pounds! I am way excited. Of course when Hubby's brothers were here they were trying to sabotage me, I swear. They had icecream sundaes every night, and popcorn, and Krispy Kreme doughnuts. I did have ONE doughnut (how could I not, have you ever tasted Krispy Kreme? If you have, you'd understand) otherwise I was very good.

And I don't get how when men get together they suddenly turn into Neanderthals. I mean, cussing, gross poop jokes, etc. etc. Thing One (my very impressionable ten-year old daughter) came to me on several occasions all disgusted because of various things they were doing. (Mom, Uncle So-and-so is burping really loud!) I told her to just ignore them and do something else. About 100 times.

So now that they have all gone back home, and I have the house to myself, we can settle back into relative normalcy. Thank heaven. Having guys in the house is equal to having more kids. They leave their towels on the bathroom floor, never make their beds, etc. etc. It's because their WIVES do it all for them.

Thank heaven my hubby is conscientious about that stuff. He is very neat and clean (more so than me I would admit) and whenever we stay at someone's house he always picks up and makes the bed. It's just...polite, you know?

Well, enough about that. We actually got some use out of our pool table and dart board, and had a lot of fun. Now I have to go back to my usual running around.

I'll disinfect the guest room later. ;-)

OUCH.

Status: Sore. Super Awesome Personal Trainer has recommended I take up Yoga in addition to my weight/cardio routine, to help stretch out the soreness and limber me up. I am a big fan of Yoga, I did it for a couple of months while in Denver, but the whole "peaceful environment/time to do it" thing has evaded me since. She's going to find a good program for me. Now if I can get Thing Four to nap for more than 15 minutes at a time...

Lots to do today. Oh, and in case any of you are wondering, I've been tearing up the edits on my story, I just haven't adjusted my Zokotu meter because of a very simple reason: laziness. You have to re-insert the html code into the blog template every time you make progress. Frankly, I think I'll update it every Monday. Every day just isn't going to happen.

Thing One is being a downright RAG lately. It's like, as soon as she turned Ten, she turned from a happy, bouncing silly girl, into a moody, grumpy sassy-pants. I want the old Thing One back! :-( Today she's mad at me because I told her she couldn't go to her Pokemon Card Collecting Party/Sleepover at her friend's house unless her room was PRISTINE. She's dragging her heels. Hubby and I decided this morning that if she didn't finish her room before tonight (the party) I am seriously calling up the mother and cancelling. It won't be fun, but it's the only way we can get through to her, if she doesn't do what we ask.

She's a bit spoiled, I will admit. She's our only girl. But she has a lot of responsibilities and chores and she works around the house. I just wish the whole "cranky" thing was not a factor. But then I look at what *I* was like growing up, and I had the capability of being a Class A Beotch, when I was in a bad mood. Heh heh, not that you'd know it now. ;-) Just ask my Hubby!

Have a happy weekend, all! Time to feed the baby and mop some floors! Cheerfully I go...

YEE HAW!!!

Here we go again! I'm off to the Dr. because now that Thing Two is all better (and returning to school today) Thing THREE has decided to take his place. Coughing, wheezing, etc. etc.

LOTS of fun.

Yes, sarcasm. Sorry. Oh, and thanks for all the helpful suggestions on my Guest Room Situation, I followed Lynn's advice. I LOVE putting stuff in garbage bags and dealing with it later. So, after I've forgotten all about them and a year later I go through them again, it's like...Christmas. :-)

I am starving. Going to make breakfast first. But only a teeny one. The Personal Trainer is coming tonight and she'll kick my butt if I am bad!

Cheers everyone!

The NON-Guest Guest Room.

Status: Feeling OK. So far I have managed to escape the yuckiness that is going around in the family. The baby hasn't gotten sick either. (Of course now that I have typed this you know we'll be getting it in the next five minutes.)

Hubby scored some great Packers tickets to this Sunday's game. They're the kind of tickets that are so good, you HAVE to go, even if the game IS on Sunday. The only babysitters we know (and trust, which matters most) are the ones who wouldn't babysit on a Sunday, because they go to our church. So the babysitting thing isn't happening. I suggested to Hubby to go ahead and invite his brothers, so they could all go. So far one brother is definitely coming. The other two are looking into it.

Guess I need to stop dumping stuff in the Guest room and make it actually inhabitable for...well...GUESTS!

One thing Hubby and I have gone around and around about since we owned our first home--he has insisted that we have a "guest room." A room in the house with a bathroom either IN it or really close to it, so that when family comes, they will have their own space. Every house we have ever bought or built, has had to have certain factors, and the all-important factor: a Guest Room.

I think it's kind of lame, personally. A room that sits untouched and unused 97% of the time? Oh, heck no. It MUST be used. Hubby likes to joke about my lax cleaning style: "If there's a shelf, Lara will pile something on it. And if there isn't a shelf, Lara will make a non-shelf into a shelf (like a chair or something) and pile stuff on it."

Nice, I know. We just have so much STUFF. I give to Goodwill and various other charities, I give away furniture and clothes and toys and THROW AWAY enought junk to make the equivalent of a contruction-sized dumpster, and we STILL have too much crap. But I digress...

So, lately, I've resorted to using the Guest Room as a Catch-all. I like to call it a "Multi-Purpose room." Sort of a Video Gaming/Clothes Folding/box storing/shopping spoils hiding/dumping off room, where I can just shut the door on it and Voila! it goes away, because NO ONE EVER USES IT.

I think I'm all smart and ha ha ha and everything and then Hubby decides to go and invite family, who will be descending in TWO days. So guess what I get to run around cleaning? THE GUEST ROOM. So I have to find a place for everything I've shoved in it and frankly that means shoving it somewhere else. Lovely.
I swear, all the junk I have makes babies or something, because I can't seem to get out from under all the STUFF!

Okay, I guess I'm ranting a little. It's hard to "simplify" your life when you have four kids (one of them being a baby) and a husband who is a workaholic.

Time to end the rant and get cleaning!

I'M DOOMED.

DOOMED, I tell you!

Status: Doomed. Other than that, just OK. Thing Two was diagnosed with Pneumonia so we've got him on the Super-Duper-Wipe-The-Germs-Out-3-Day antibiotics. He's actually already better after one dose. We're out of the woods, thank heaven.

So you may be asking, why am I doomed? I'll tell you. The Holidays are here. I am really big on the Holidays. And Holiday Food. And Cold Weather Comfort Food. I go crazy baking cakes and pies and warm cookies and lots of Holiday treats, in fact my specialty? Delectable Fudge. And nothing is better than Applets and Cotlets. Oh, and don't forget Egg Nog. And those white chocolate covered pretzels with green sprinkles...

I think you can guess where I'm going with this. I just had a baby, folks. I am not genetically blessed like my friends Aimee and Jenni, who walk out of the hospital after having babies wearing the same jeans they wore in College. Nope, not me. And this last pregnancy I was on bed rest, which wreaked havoc on my waistline. And I wasn't exactly Gisele Bundchen before I got pregnant either, so let's just say, I have some weight to lose.

And don't worry, we're going to Hawaii over Christmas. Six Weeks away.

This is why I'm Doomed. I barely survived Halloween Candy. Now that the Christmas stuff is pouring into the stores, and Hubby gets tins of cookies and baskets of goodies and boxes of chocolates from his people (which I might have to be bad and "redistribute") I am telling you, TEMPTATION GALORE.

I have been very good as of late--I've lost six pounds already. But I have to make some drastic changes this Holiday season.

1) No baking unless it's for OTHER people.
2) No trips to Target's Christmas Goodie Aisle (a sure failure if I even go within ten feet)
3) When Hubby comes home with candy/baskets/anything high fat, our neighbors will be "Christmas Ding-Dong-Ditched" with said Christmas Goodies. Anonymously of course, so they'll have to take it.

I think it's for the best. I would like to lie on the beach and not have news crews swarm around me and people mourning for me to be put back out at sea before I suffocate. When I snorkel, I don't want to be NERVOUS that there are whaling ships close by, you know?

Maybe I'm exaggerating a little, but I want to be trim again. My wedding dress was a size SIX, dammit! (Okay, so I was a little "thin" for my wedding) But, the Holidays are going to test me. The odds, frankly aren't in my favor. But I will be vigilant.

CONSTANT VIGILANCE! (Okay, for some reason I don't think I spelled that right. It looks weird. But you get my point.)

Expired Gravy Mix Debacle...

Status: Okay, actually. Beginning to wonder if I'll ever get a good night's sleep again, since I've been up most of the night tending sick kids! Apparently most of the kids in my town are sick, because I couldn't get Thing Three in to see the Doctor until noon. So, we wait.

So the Patriots won. Thank Heaven. For a while there, I thought they weren't going to pull it out. At the end, my kids kept asking me to stop yelling at the TV. I was texting Hubby (who was stuck in NYC at a business dinner) and giving him play-by-play results in the last 3 minutes. It was a good game. Well, in the last quarter, anyway! :-)

So, some of you asked how I get my pie crust not to burn? I have a little trick I do. I put it in the oven, and set the timer for 20 minutes. Then I take tin foil, and tear it into strips about a foot long and three inches wide. After the 20 minutes are up, I open the oven door and mold the strips of foil around the edges of the pie only (this is tricky, because you don't want to burn your forearms, I recommend pulling the rack out slightly) and then I put the pie back in and set the timer for the remaining time. Voila! It works every time. Perfectly brown crust.

I still am baffled over how the pie crust did that. Weird. Sometimes I use ready-crusts. Sometimes I make one from scratch. I've NEVER had one do that. (See previous post if you're wondering what the heck I'm talking about.)

So, Sunday Dinner is a big deal for me. Even if it's in the middle of a Football game. I always cook a nice meal. Last night was Turkey, mashed potatoes, green beans and rolls. (Hey, it's November. I'm into Turkey!) My kids love gravy on their meat and potatoes, and I didn't have enough from the turkey to make gravy, so I went downstairs to the food storage and found some poultry gravy mix. I couldn't remember when I'd bought it, so I looked at the expiration date, and it said "Best Before Jan 2008"
I made the gravy, and pre-poured it on the potatoes and meat on each plate.

I called the kids to the table (I had the Patriots game on pause downstairs) and we all sat down to eat. Prayed. Started eating. I, of course, ate my vegetables first, and my kids dug into their potatoes.
Suddenly Thing Two makes a disgusted noise and puts his fork down. He tells me the potatoes are gross. I tell him it's because he's sick, everything probably tastes gross. (my mashed potatoes are NOT gross, thank you very much!) but then Thing Three, who is usually very diplomatic, puts his fork down and starts chugging his milk. Thing One, my ten-year old daughter (who is NOT diplomatic) makes a gagging noise.

"Mom, these potatoes are disgusting!"

I look at her, mortally offended, and take a bite of potatoes.

Have you ever broken an aspirin open and tasted it? That bitter, nasty taste? Well, mix that with a little meat gravy and you had the gosh-awful taste I was experiencing. I almost spit it back out on the plate. It was HIDEOUS! I told everyone to take their plates to the kitchen counter. I ran and checked the date on the gravy again.

Here's where I felt horrible: it was very fuzzy, and upon closer inspection, to my horror, I realized it actually read "Best Before Jan. 2006"
#$^&*!*!! 2006!!!!! I had probably just poisoned my children, and myself! ARRGH!!!

The kids thought it was very funny. They drank their milk, and had their rolls, and I made mini-pizzas. Probably more fitting for a Football game anyway, right?

R.I.P Poultry Gravy...and our Sunday dinner...

It's Been One Of Those Weekends...

So, this is what my apple pie did in the oven. I've never seen a pie DO that. I guess it was an omen, because this has been the WORST weekend so far. All my kids are sick, fevers, coughs, stuffy noses, and Thing Three has chest wheezes. He'll be going to the Dr. first thing tomorrow morning. Poor Things. And Hubby is in New York.

At this point-- the ONLY thing that would cheer me up, is a certain football game that I will be watching this afternoon...

GO PATRIOTS!!!

All I can say is, they'd better win. But the way my weekend is going...

Crazy Morning

Status: Calm again. Well, now that the kids are in school, Hubby is at work and Thing Four is asleep--I'm having "me" time at the computer. And it's cold so I'm wearing my awesome pink Pashmina. LOVE.

So this morning was insane. It started out as any usual morning:

1) Drag myself out of my warm bed 2) March upstairs and attempt to wake the Living Dead 3) tell them to come downstairs for cereal 4) threaten to pour ice water on their heads after telling them FIVE times to come downstairs for cereal 5) Finally succeed in getting them up by pulling the covers off, turning on the bright lights and yelling the BYU Cougar Fight Song while clapping as loud as I can, etc. etc.

...but as soon as everyone got downstairs, things got a little...well...crazy.

Suddenly everyone wanted my attention, and they all wanted it at once. Hubby needed me to look something up on the computer for him because he was running late--Thing Two wanted to tell me about his Lit Circle story he was reading, Thing One wanted me to listen to descriptions of her favorite Pokemon cards, and Thing Three kept telling me how cold he was, and wasn't I listening?

Thing Four was happy screaming in his high chair, which only added to the chaos.

Finally I raised my hands and said "TIME OUT EVERYONE!" and tried to address every one in order. Which made them all put out.

So, WHY IS IT, that they want my attention RIGHT NOW and RIGHT AWAY, but I have to tell them at least seven times to pick up their shoes? Am I not as important as them? Children are such little IDs. I want it now, it's all about me, me me ME.

So I was very cranky this morning and my ten-year old daughter (since she's worn her hair in a ponytail every day this week and I refused to do it and made her wear it down) told me that she was going to "tell all her friends how mean I was" as she ran off to the bus stop. Which made me even crankier. And Thing Two couldn't find his hat. Which makes THREE hats he's gone through so far, and we haven't even had our first snow. So I told him to just "freeze" and kicked him outside.

Okay, no, I didn't really do that, I found him an embarrassing old hat and told him he had to wear it and if he wanted a cool hat to find the other three at school. DUH.

I've just discovered that I'm rambling. Well, isn't that what I'm supposed to do? Sometimes you just have to get your frustrations out, and this morning, was just...icky.

Time for a pot of Postum with creamer and splenda, and some editing time. And here's a shout out to all you NaNoers: GOOD LUCK! You know who you are!

Have a good and NON crazy weekend, everyone!

Lara

The NUTRITION MAN

Status: Calm. Somehow I am feeling this is the "calm before the storm." What does that mean?

So, we have Halloween Candy coming out our ears--I finally had the kids dump their buckets into one big bowl, (which I keep up high) and they can pick ONE piece a day out of it. Usually after dinner. Yes, I am a control freak with the candy. But I remember when I was a kid, I was allowed to take it to my room and eat it at my leisure, and frankly, that wasn't very healthy. Probably because I usually ate more than half of it in one day.

It's a miracle I still have all my teeth.

My parents played a cruel trick on me when I was much younger--I remember being very excited about all the candy, and then, usually a day or two after Halloween, it would all suddenly "disappear." I was distraught, of course, but my mom would tell me that "Nutrition Man" had come in the night and spirited away all the candy.

I HATED Nutrition Man. He ruined all my fun. He was downright MEAN to take all my candy. Of course, now that I'm all grown up and I know that Nutrition Man was actually my parents, and THEY took my candy, well, it's one of those things you just can't forgive your parents for.

I was giving my mom a hard time about it a few days ago, and I told her "YOU GUYS ATE MY CANDY!" She protested that it wasn't their intention to eat my candy, just to get it away from me. (which makes sense, I was a bit "hyper" when I was little, it would be like giving Crack to a Monkey.)
So Mom said it was just a natural circumstance that they ended up consuming it.

Yeah, yeah, whatever. Lucky for you, I'm a parent and I get it. ;-)

Well, I'm off to change a diaper! Then it's time for some editing. And a sweater. It's COLD today! Brrrrrr!

Happy Halloween, Y'all!!!

Status: EXHAUSTED. Thing Four, who has learned to turn over onto his tummy (but not back onto his back) decided to turn onto his tummy in his crib...all night long. Starting at 2:30 am I had to run up and "rescue him" until he finally fell asleep at 5:30. UGH.

I think it was truly the first time I've gotten really irritated at him. I know, he's five months, doesn't know any better, etc. etc. But he's a smarty pants. He KNOWS if he cries I'll come to him. He figured that out long ago. I am so screwed. :-)

So, Happy Halloween everyone! We already did the "Trick or Treat" thing on Saturday (that's when our town is assigned to do it) and I have to say, Thing Two's LINK COSTUME turned out quite fabulous. Hubby said he looked like an Elf, and I had to slap him across the head. Link is a Warrior, thank you very much:

He's in the Mud Room (by the garage door) admiring his reflection in the mirror.

Here's a front view--I made those boots and gloves myself. Okay, you have to promise not to laugh: I couldn't find white thermal underwear anywhere, and I couldn't find white fleece pants either, so finally, in the girl's department at WalMart I found these white fleece pants he's wearing. But I told him to be careful and not bend over because on the butt of the pants, in big blue girly letters (with silver glitter) it says "SUPERSTAR."

Yeah, he told me he would NOT wear those pants, but when I told him there wasn't anything else, he conceded. Anything for the Authentic Link Look. Actually, it IS kind of funny! The Hylian Shield I made turned out pretty good too:Thing One was Princess Leia, Thing Three was Boba Fett, and Thing Four was my little Pumpkin. Of course now that Trick-or-Treating is over, they are all living in their costumes, but that is fine with me. However I draw the line at going to the store in them. At least I will once November hits!

Time to go get the oil changed. Yes, my life is EXCITING!!!

Running...

...to get a flu shot. I'll post later! I LOVE flu shots. They're right up there with...say...rectal exams...definitely in the top five.

BLECH.

Adieu, Soccer.

Status: Preparing to run around like a head with my chicken cut off.
Yeah, it’s that crazy…

So, Saturday was the last of the Soccer games for my kids. Until Spring, anyway. It was freezing cold, the field was a minefield of goose poop (okay I had no idea they pooped like dogs--ew) and yes, I will be scraping goose poop out of Thing Three’s soccer cleats until the Millenium. But he scored the opening goal for the game, and his team won, 5-1. That makes them UNDEFEATED for the whole series! Go Team! WOO HOO!

So no more six practices a week/three games every Saturday for a while! Excuse me while I shed a tear…

NOT!

Okay, that was immature. But hey, I am entitled. I can toss the Soccer Mom Hat into the closet for a while. Now if I could only get the damn Constant Chauffer Hat to wedge off my head, but I’m afraid it’s been super-glued there. For at least 18 more years. Niice.

We went trick-or-treating Saturday too. The kids looked great, (I'll post pics when I have more time) and we had wayyy too much candy for the piddly amount of kids who came by so by the end I was giving it away by the handfuls. Extremely LARGE handfuls. Lara does NOT need death by Snickers Minis. I can’t just eat one of those things. They will all go in the Garbage. I was thinking of sending all the leftover candy to my Mom, but she’d kill. Me. My sister? She’d kill me. So, into the garbage it will all go. Such a waste…Tsk tsk. *Update* I sent it all with Hubby to work. His people will LOVE him. Heh heh.

Okay, this post must end. Time for just another Manic Monday! Lots to do—and I need to find a service or something because our riding lawn mower got a flat tire. I had to ask myself: how in the heck does a lawnmower get a flat tire??? It runs on grass. So I need to call the Cub Cadet guys... I think. Dang I’m useless.
But hey, I finally learned how to overcome my morbid fear of riding on the riding lawn mower! Now I just think it’s kinda fun.

But that’s another story, for another day. Cheers Everyone!

WE SURVIVED!

Hilarious Bumper Sticker of the Day:

I saw this one on a truck yesterday and for some reason it struck me VERY funny:

NATIONAL GUARD
(One weekend a month my Ass!)


Status: Equal parts elated and crabby. Girls just went home, I'm elated it was a success, yet crabby because I'll be vacuuming up chips and cookie crumbs out of the theater room for the next decade...

The party went surprisingly well! The girls all arrived at 6pm, and Hubby and I chauffered them all to the pizza party place, where for the next 2 1/2 hours they rode rides, played games, and fairly stuffed themselves with pizza, iceream, etc. etc. etc.

They all stayed pretty much together, which I thought wouldn't happen because all of them are very strong personalities and I was afraid of the "Too Many Chiefs Syndrome. But they had fun, and then we drove home, blasting Hannah Montana in the car (my eardrums, my eardrums :-(
and it was funny because they wanted all the windows rolled down and the music blasting but it was so dang cold after about five seconds they were screaming "ROLL THE WINDOWS BACK UP PLEASE!! ROLL THEM UP!!!"

And of course, just like my dad used to do, I was swerving the car when we got into our subdivision and they LOVED it. They even told me I was the "most fun mom" of all the moms. I'd by lying if I said that didn't give me some warm fuzzies inside...

Then they were all too full to have cake, so we forewent the dessert and did presents, and Thing One SCORED a ton of Webkins. Okay, I'm behind the times, because I had no idea what they were until last night. But she seemed really excited to get them. Then they prank-called their parents (I drew the line at boys) until 10pm, and then they all wanted to watch "The Mummy" in the Theater room, so I put it on for them.

Honestly, I thought they'd all pass out around 1am, but at 2am there was a "tense moment" when two of the girls wanted to go to sleep, and the rest of them wanted to stay up, so I intervened and we compromised--the girls who wanted to sleep stayed in the theater room, and the other girls went out on the sofas in the Family Room and watched movies on the big screen.

Cut to 4am. I am awakened by a "boom boom" noise and I go downstairs, and they are all asleep in front of the TV, and "Legally Blonde" is playing. So I turned it off and saw Thing One (and ironically one of the girls who had wanted to go to bed earlier) on the computer, on the Webkins website.

I told them to go to bed, and that was that. They all woke up around 8am, and we had pancakes and waffles and bacon and fruit (dang, I thought my BOYS could eat!) and then the moms started arriving to pick up the girls at 10.

I'll be cleaning into tomorrow, but Thing One said it went very well, and all the girls (except for the one tense moment) got along fine, and although we're all very sleep deprived (I am forcing Thing One to take a nap today or she's going to be a cranky toerag for her "family party" tonight) I'm glad it's over and it went well.

Hooray!

But yeah, I'm not jumping up and down to do it again anytime soon...

Party Day!

Status: Nervous--everyone is telling me I'm crazy to have a sleepover birthday party for my daughter--is it really THAT bad???? Now I am wanting to just get it over with.

Lots to do today, birthday cake to bake, basement to vacuum out, and of course the kids are home from school. I went and got them breakfast at MacDonald's (something that happens only a few times a YEAR) and they will be my slaves the rest of the day, cleaning whatever I want them to clean, heh heh heh heh!!!

But first I have to run to Boston Store this morning and exchange all the clothes Hubby got Thing One for her party tonight--he went a size up from what I told him she was, and guess what? It was all too big! Dang, I love being right. But I'm not one to gloat, oh, no, never. ;-)

So, wish me luck!

Oh, and here's that recipe, Karen. Every time I make these cookies, people beg me for the recipe. So I figure they can't be that bad!
-----------------------------------------
Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookies: (I usually double this recipe--and I make it in my Bosch Mixer--turns out perfect every time!)

INGREDIENTS: ¾ Cup Butter-flavor Crisco, 1 ¼ Cups light brown sugar (packed), 2 T. milk, 1 T. real vanilla, 1 egg, 1 ¾ Cups flour, 1 t. salt, ¾ t. baking soda, 1 ½ Cups semi-sweet chocolate chips.
Optional ingredients: 2/3 Cup chopped nuts. (We prefer almonds, but walnuts will work too) When I make these for other people I omit the nuts, because not everyone likes nuts in their cookies.

Combine Crisco, sugar, milk & vanilla. Beat until well blended. Beat egg into creamed mixture. Combine flour, salt & soda in separate bowl, stir. Add to mixture and mix until well blended. Stir in chips (and nuts if you choose).

Bake in a 375 oven for 11 minutes. Yummy!

*For Higher Altitude, use 2 Cups flour

My Kids are Wimps.

Status: In full PARTY mode---tomorrow night is it!

Okay, yesterday was a little hairy. As in too much going on. (No more hairs in the food--don't worry!)
Had to get up early and shoot the kids to the Dr's office for their flu shots. Well, since Thing Three is allergic and Things One and Two are DEATHLY afraid of getting shots, they get the "two-squirts-in-the-nose" kind of flu shots. We did have a panic moment when the nurse walked into the room with a tray of hypodermic needles. Apparently she hadn't gotten the memo that we took our vaccinations in the nose. Thing Two went into immediate Hyperventilation Mode, and Thing One looked at me as if she was about to stand in front of the Firing Squad.

Thing Three, my brave little daredevil, actually WANTED the shot, which I would normally oblige if his shoulder didn't swell up like the Incredible Hulk for three days afterwards...

So we got it all straightened out and they had their Flu Nose Squirts. Then it was off to school.
THEN it was off to Target to return the White Nintedo DS Lite I got for Thing Three for Christmas, because I discovered they have RED ones and they are way cooler. So I exchanged, and then ran to the grocery store to get cookies and milk for the Cub Scout outing at the Pumpkin Farm. Nope. No time to bake cookies from scratch. After the Philadelphia Ready-Cream cheesecake filling Debacle, you think I would have learned. But I am on a tight schedule, people!

So when the kids came home at 4pm we had to jump into warm clothes. Well, I TOLD them to, but I was greeted with whining all around: "It's too hot, Mommy! The sun is out! We'll sweat to death!"
I told them very calmly that the sun would go down while we were there, and they would be very cold. More Whining. So I lost it. I DON'T CARE IF YOU THINK YOU'LL BE HOT I AM YOUR MOTHER AND YOU WILL MIND ME THIS INSTANT AND GO GET YOUR SWEATSHIRTS ON!!!!!

So we bundled into the Expedition at 4:30 and drove 1/2 an hour to the Pumpkin Farm. This is the kind of farm that is actually a dairy farm, but they sell pumpkins too, and give hay rides, tours of the dairy, etc. Very cool.

When we drove in, my kids were having attacks over the VERY pungent barn smell, and I said "HELLO...COWS!!" I mean, give me a break! Cows are stinky. My kids were sort of in awe though because there were cows everywhere, and they've never been up close before.

We waited for the rest of the Cub Scout group (Ha ha I was the only one on time) and Thing One (who had complained about not wanting to go) immediately perked up when one of the boys at church arrived, who she is crushing on. (He's a year younger than her but the cutest little kid ever, and he likes her too, so it's entertaining to watch.)

So, first order of business was a tour of the dairy. They have this 100+ year old barn that is built in the old style: two levels, dairy on the bottom and feed/hay stored in the top level. I about passed out from the smell (I had little Thing Four bundled up in his stroller like a burrito so I don't think he could smell it) and there were about 50 cats and dogs in the barn. It was neat to see. We all got to stand at the gate while the cows walked in, were milked, and walked out. They explained the process in minute detail, and we were about five feet from the cows the whole time.

I learned a lot about cows. A) They stink to high heaven B) They need to be milked twice a day (all the moms with me who have nursed cringed when they saw those bulging udders) and C) they are Filthy. I mean deee-sgustingly dirty. And halfway through the milking viewing one cow (who's butt was literally right next to the pen gate) lifted up the tail and WHOOOOSH--pee everywhere. The kids all screamed and ran for cover. The urine stench was so strong I had to breathe through my mouth. I mean, I could have reached out and TOUCHED THE COW'S BUTT, I was that close. EWUGH.

You KNOW that's the only thing the kids are going to remember about the outing. In fact, when Hubby came home later that night and asked how the Farm visit went, the kids immediately told him about the Pee Incident. Niice.

ANYWAY, after that, we went and saw the calves, and the feed, and the goats, and by that time my kids were all whining about how COLD it was. I reminded them that they had fought me on wearing coats and all they had were sweatshirts. They didn't say another peep after that. Dang I love being right!

Then it was a hayride to the pumpkin field to get a pumpkin, and back to the car where we wolfed down the cookies and milk because it was so dang cold. On the way home, I fielded about 69345 questions about cows, and Thing One wouldn't shut up about how two of the boys were fighting over who got to sit next to her on the hay ride. Yeah, she obviously was paying attention to the tour. SMIRK.

I concluded that my kids are wimps. They can't even handle a dairy farm smell. They wouldn't last a week caring for all those cows. Maybe there's a farm somewhere I can ship them to where they'd learn to work hard and deal with unpleasantness? But anyway it was good to get a different perspective for them. They need to see stuff like this, so they can realize that their protected little bubble isn't "all there is" in this world. It's an odd balancing act--you want your kids to be "in the protective bubble" but also to experience some of the world. At least we try.

So we got home and I started boiling spaghetti (the fastest thing I couldn think of) and checked email and lamented with a friend over the status of Dumbledore's Gayness, (we both agree it was an unnecessary outing!) and then it was feed the kids, and get them into bed, and Hubby and I collapsed on the sofa to watch some of our shows.

I'm worn out this morning. Luckily it's a quiet day of cleaning, before the Dreaded Birthday Sleepover tomorrow night.

*Sigh*

World's Longest Tag, EVER, I Think...

Karen over at The Wet Donkey tagged me so here I go:

1. Three biggest fears? Someone kidnapping my children, Dark water, Crunchy bugs

2. When was the last time you danced? This morning. Thing Four (my five month old) and I did “The Tango.”

3. Do you creep on stranger's blogs? I used to. Haven’t in a while.

4. If you could go back to be any age for a day, what age would you be and why? Well that’s just lame—only for a DAY?? Well, I guess 17 then because I didn’t have crows feet and my hair was a LOT thicker…

5. Are you a good liar? Nope. My husband can tell in a nanosecond.

6. Do you judge someone when you can tell they've had elective cosmetic surgery? Only if they do something ridiculous, like get Pamela Anderson boobs or Hemorrhoid lips or something… but I’m not against some tastefully done “streamlining.”

7. If you have children, what's one thing that you always told yourself you'd never do when you had kids? If you don't have children, what's one thing you tell yourself you'll never do. (Psst! You. Yah, you. The one without kids. Guess what? You'll probably do it.) Spank them with something other than my hand.

8. What's something that totally grosses you out? Body fluids. Snot, spit, etc. EW.

9. Do you ever delete forwards without reading them? Only the ones from my mother and mother-in-law. The cheese factor alone should make them illegal…

10. Do you ever lie to get out of obligations? I’m pleading the Fifth on that one…

11. Consider your body weight and your yearly income at their present states. Would you rather be 200 pounds heavier and $200,000 richer or stay at your present states? Are you kidding? Seriously, are you kidding??? I’d stay the same.

12. When was the last time you bought a pair of shoes and what were they? I just bought some today. At Target. Kiddie Size 4. They were knock-offs.

13. The Olympics. Take them or leave them? Take them. Embrace them. Watch NBC for 16 straight days, emerging only for food. (Sorry, had to steal Karen’s answer for this one!)

14. What's your favorite accent? Australian, Mate.

15. What's your favorite scent? Dreft.

16. Gum or breath mints? Gum, and only cinnamon flavor. Mints eventually give you Carpet Tongue

17. If you could look like any celebrity, who would it be? Julianne Moore. She is gorgeous.

18. If you had the chance of looking like said celebrity in exchange for your thumbs would you do it? Um, NO. I need opposable thumbs to write, change diapers, text on my Treo, hold a can of Diet Coke. MUST HAVE THUMBS!!

19. Do you religiously wear sun screen? Religiously. Otherwise I get Freckles for days…

20. Do you generally trust people/their motives or doubt people/their motives? Trust. I am extremely gullible. Almost to the point of retardation…

21. Would you describe yourself as a complicated person or is what you see what you get? Complicated. It’s more fun watching my husband try to figure me out.

22. Do you watch what you eat? Yep. And then I eat it.

23. Do you watch what other people eat? Only if it looks reeeaalllly good.

24. Do you judge how other people raise their kids? No. Unless I see them beat them in public. That’s just wrong.

25. Do you judge people who dress poorly? No. But I judge them when they dress SKANKY.

26. Do you judge people who are homely? No.

27. Do you judge people who are overweight? Sometimes--the ones who can’t move because they’re so big. Gluttony isn't cool.

28. Your interest in politics: High, Medium-High, Medium, Medium-Low, Low, Obsolete? High. An election year is like, continuous adrenaline for 365 days!

29. Favorite song of all time? You are going to laugh for days at this, but I’ve always loved Alphaville’s “Forever Young.” It was actually sort of neat until it was in Napoleon Dynamite (Bleah). Now it’s just a joke song. But dang, I love it.

30. Acoustic or electric? Acoustic. I’ve mellowed considerably.

31. If you were a hermit, would you shave? Nope. My leg hairs are blonde. Lucky me.

32. If you could shave your head without your significant other throwing a complete hissy, would you? Why the hell would I want to??

33. What was your least favorite age? 13 wasn’t that great a year for me.

34. How many times a day do you check your email? Um, about twenty?

35. Are you in a tiff with anyone right now? No. I'm friends with everybody! :-)

People I'm tagging: CASSIE and CHRIS!

Hairy Cheesecake...

Status: Slightly annoyed and cursing Guglielmo Marconi as I type--isn't he the one who invented the technology of the Baby Monitor? WELL, Mr. Marconi--radio is a TERRIFIC thing, but when it's 3am and your baby decides he's awake and wants to "happy scream" for an hour solid, it can get a bit irritating...

Hubby was hot last night so he opened all the windows--I told him it was going to get cold overnight and of course he said "no it wasn't" and at about 4am he jumped up and (shiveringly) grabbed the duvet and put it over us. We probably would have been asleep and not realized how chilly we were but for Thing Four's happy screaming for an hour. Then I had to pop out of bed and feed him at 5am, and Thing One's alarm went off at 6:30 (she has this MAJOR annoying alarm that is the sound of a dog barking--I have banned it until Thing Four is older) and Thing Four woke right up again and started happy screaming. He is currently happy screaming in his high chair with about 87 toys.

Hey, at least he's happy.

So, I decided to cut some time out of making cheesecake for Sunday Dessert (busy mom and all) and I saw this new Philly Ready-to-eat Cheesecake filling at the store. So I dumped it into a graham crust, and topped it with blueberries. The whole process took about three minutes. Considerably shorter time than making it from scratch!
Feeling smug, I served a Sunday dinner of pot roast, homemade mashed potatoes, Rhode's rolls and vegetables. Go me.

Then it was time for dessert. I cut the cheesecake, and we all started eating, until Hubby made a disgusted noise. We all looked at him and he was pulling a hair...a very LONG CURLY BLONDE hair out of his cheesecake!

I have straight brunette hair. So you can imagine how disgusted we all were. It looked synthetic, like it came from a cheesy wig or something. I guess it was a Cheese-CAKEY wig. (*snort*--what is UP with my lame puns lately??)
Anyway, we all got so grossed out we couldn't eat anymore. The lady who packed our instant cheesecake obviously couldn't keep her synthetic blonde wig hairs to herself.

Say it with me: EAUHUGG!!!!!!

So, other than being put off of Philadelphia Ready-Made Cheesecake Filling for Life, I am OK, but resolved to just make my own stuff from now on.

Lots to do today. Thing Four is over 20 pounds now so I need to get him a new carseat. Lots of Monday errands as well. Time to run around--after ME time. :-)

The Usual Epiphany...

Status: Annoyed. I sprained my hand, I think. How did I do it, you ask? Well, I wish I could say it was doing something cool, like bungee jumping or Saving The World from Imminent Doom. Alas, no, it was sprained while mopping. Yes, Mopping. Nothing more exciting than that. So, now (other than thinking I'm an intense Mopper) you are probably realizing how completely lame my daily life is...

So I had yet ANOTHER "realization" last night. I realized that I need to take some risks. Especially with my writing. I had reconciled myself (Devon, stop reading for a minute and plug your ears) to the fact that Trying To Be A Writer just had to be put on hold for now, because I am NOT good at juggling "Being a Writer" AND "Being a Mom to Four young Kids." I've never been good at it.

My agent and I parted ways because I wasn't "dedicated" enough. I was dragging my feet, to put it kindly. And it was all my darn fault.

I'm tired of being content doing very little. (Okay, Devon, you can continue reading now)
I want to do MORE. I want to MAKE the time. I want to TRY. So, I have the Status Bars back on my blog. One for editing, and one for writing. I am going to try. That is the best I can do right now, but I will try my best to do SOMETHING. And once I get into the swing of things, I'll start querying agents again.

One day at a time, one hour at a time. You get the drift. Now I know what I'll be doing during "ME" time!

Hubby comes home tonight. Well, actually, his flight gets in at 12:37 pm, so I guess you could say he gets in tomorrow morning. Talk about the Walking Dead. Saturday should be interesting.

I stayed up until 1:30 last night, editing, which was dumb because now I'm exhausted, but I feel like I accomplished something. And it felt great. Good for me!

Now I need a nap. Have a good weekend, everyone!

I Wish I Was Bionic...

...because THEN it would take me only a short while to clean my whole dang house, as opposed to ALL DAY LONG. Actually, if I do it right, it takes about two and a half days.
I was very bad yesterday, I just did writing research and played with the baby. No cleaning, no laundry, no maintenance, just played on the computer and played with Thing Four. I have a bouncy chair in my office and I just plunk him in it (he's only 5 months so he's not mobile yet, thank heaven!) with toys and Ta Da--writing time!

But yesterday I mostly did research. I need to know what the most up-and-coming archaeological tools are out there. Because my characters are on a dig in South America, and they have a reluctant guest, who needs everything explained to him, because he's NOT an archaeologist. (You know that writing trick: interject a character who doesn't know jack so it gets explained to him, when the REAL purpose is to explain to the reader, so the reader knows what's going on...)
But I need to know what the heck I'm talking about, before I can make THEM sound like they know.

I am beginning to like the search engine "Dogpile" a lot better than Google these days. Thanks, Dad, for the tip! Dogpile does Google, Ask.com, Yahoo, etc. etc. It pulls from all of them. Pretty handy for research!

So, my goal today (after ME time, yes, I'm keeping it!) is to clean the house from top to bottom. Surface cleaning only. When I start organizing drawers, etc. it goes MUCH slower. So I'm just going to clean it all, mop, dust, vacuum, spray down, etc. and make it look good. And I have about 6 loads of laundry.

Okay, what a THRILLING life I lead! Seriously, a stay-home mom has so much fun, I know. We live in our cars, and clean 80% of the time and live in chaos. That's more exciting than, say...being a superspy, or hangliding. Being a full-time mom is REALLY stimulating and invigorating! Whew! Excuse me for a minute while I pause...ADRENALINE HEADRUSH!!!

Okay, yes, so I'm a smartass. Gotta go. I have a date with a vacuum cleaner.

DUH.

Status: Grumpy. Lack of sleep does not wear well on me...

OK. Watched my dvr'd CSI Miami last night. Was rolling my eyes an awful lot, and frankly, I think the writers are beginning to insult their viewers' intelligence. It was the WORST show I've seen in a while. CSI Miami is fast becoming a big dud, in my opinion.
A show that is fast becoming my favorite is "NCIS." The writing is witty, clever and funny as hell. The characters are all well-defined and fun to watch. Lots of clever banter. My favorite line of all time? (From Zeva, who still is getting a grasp on English language-isms):

"You look like you've seen a goat."

Of course she meant ghost, and I think I nearly fell out of my chair laughing at that one. And the energy between the actors is very fun. It's a great show.

Thing One's Tenth birthday is next week. So we are inviting her closest friends to a sleepover/birthday party. The only hitch is, she couldn't decide about the NUMBER of invitees. If I'd left it to Thing One, we'd probably have about 20 girls invited. There's her BEST friends, a group of girls she has all her playdates with, and they happen to also be on her soccer team, then there are her "school class" friends, who are in her immediate classroom, and then there are her "great friends" from her third grade class last year. Then there are her Girl Scout Troop friends. Then Church friends.

I drew the line at 8 girls. Do you know how LOUD 8 ten-year olds can be when they get together? Thing One is freaking out, though, because there is one "new friend" who apparently controls who is "liked and not liked" in her class and since Thing One is currently in "liked" status, she would like to please this Queen Bee and invite her, just to STAY on the "liked" list.

UGH. I folded and let her invite one more girl yesterday, I think one more beyond that would just be overkill. I made her a deal. If anyone RSVP's and says they CAN'T come, then we'll invite Queen Bee Of The Classroom. Until then, she stays uninvited. I do need to retain some sanity during the party!

And apparently everything is hush hush/covert because my daughter is like Kevin Bacon. She knows EVERYONE somehow and lots of girls would get their feelings hurt if they haven't been invited and they HEAR about the party. According to her.

I am beginning to hate the whole party idea. Unfortunately it's too late now. Save me!

Drawing A Blank...

Status: Reeeallly tired. My five-month old has decided he doesn't like to sleep when he has a cold. He wants to wake up every hour or so and fuss and whine, and turn over onto his tummy, at which point he starts to panic and I have to run up two flights of stairs and rescue him...

The power went out last night during the rain storm. It's weird, because I do remember hearing a collective "beeping" noise throughout the house (the sound of all our electrical appliances, etc. losing power) but I thought I was dreaming. And of course the clocks reset themselves. And of course I haven't put a backup battery IN said clocks. And OF COURSE Hubby had really important meetings today and wanted to wake up at 5:30.

We ended up snapping awake at 6:20. Ooops. Hubby was a barely discernible flash of color as he hurriedly got ready for work. I wish I could get ready that fast.

Luckily we got to sleep at a decent time. We only watched two DVR'd shows last night--Shark and Chuck.
Okay, I am SO loving "Chuck." Zachary Levi is completely adorable and the characters are stereotypical sitcom characters, but they are FUNNY. Hubby says the show won't last. I beg to differ. At least I have hope!
I'm sure the "Chuck-tags-along-with-the-pros-and-saves-the-day-with-his-"flashes"-and-does-something-cute-when-it-all-gets-intense" storyline will get a bit tired, but I am enjoying it immensely.

So, about the blog title--I am drawing a COMPLETE blank on this one, and it's not like me:

We are big fans of the "Karate Kid" movies at our house, and yesterday at WalMart I saw this DVD with all three movies on it, Karate Kid I, II and III. The problem is, I KNOW I saw the third movie, but I can't remember it to save my life. Was it that forgettable? Does anyone remember the plot? Hubby was stumped too. We both agreed that we MUST have seen it, but why can't we both remember it? I know the Karate Kid IV was the one with Hilary Swank as the "girl" Kid, but why don't I remember Three?
So my kids want to have a Karate Kid-a Thon in the theater room, and I'll let them this weekend, but I might sit in on the third movie, because I can't remember anything about it. Not one thing. Weird. That is so not like me. I remember mostly every movie I've ever seen.

Am I getting senile already? :-(

BLEAH.

Status: Suprisingly perky--considering I stayed up until ONE a.m. making ten hand-stamped cards for tonight's card swap since I PROCRASTINATED in typical Lara fashion until yesterday after church. And yes, I've known about the card swap for three weeks. *sigh*

Weekends wear me out. We do too much, or something. Only two more weeks of Saturdays being completely taken up by Soccer, and then we're done until Spring. I'll actually be sad, because the games are a great social atmosphere for the parents, and can actually get intense sometimes. Except for Thing Three's games. His team is supposed to be Co-ed but ended up being all boys (no girls were interested) and his team has won every match by EIGHT goals on average. It's just a given that they'll win. Saturday Thing Three scored two of those goals himself. Soccer is definitely going to be his sport. Until he gets too tall to be fast. And he will. So we'll have to have a backup sport.

Thing Four still has the Leftover Head Cold Crud, and so I'm just trying to make him as comfortable as possible. He's a little trooper. And he is officially five months old now! Time is FLYING!!!!

I'm going to use ME time this morning to A) have a pot of Postum and B) flesh out the details of my synopsis. It's been drumming through my head all weekend and I haven't had a minute to get it down on paper. ANNOYING!!!

Well, Mondays are always crazy for me, so I'd better get a move on.

Postum Weather

Mmmm, I'm enjoying a big steaming pot of postum right now...it's FREEZING outside! High thirties or low forties it feels like. My kids had to break out the down coats this morning, and luckily I had saved all the hats and gloves in a plastic tub in the closet this Spring-- we just had to fish out the matching ones.

Is it me, or is this year FLYING by? I've already begun the Christmas presents list, and bought a few things. We are truly in the "holiday" season.

Finished "New Moon" (second Stephenie Meyer book) yesterday and I will finish up "Eclipse" sometime this morning, during ME time. I totally adore Edward Cullen. His complete and utter devotion to the heroine reminds me a lot of Jamie Fraser, from the Diana Gabaldon books. *SIGH*

Thing Four is happy screaming in his swing, I guess I'd better play with him while he's awake.

Have a good weekend, everyone...STAY WARM!!