Last Day

My kids are all still asleep. They stayed up late last night watching a movie, and it was 10:30 before it was over. Usually Hubby wakes them up before he leaves for work, but he's in Las Vegas, so it's quiet and calm.

I love it! Except I woke up with a headache, and that is the WORST. You know, the kind of headache where you slept wrong on your neck, and your whole head is in pain because of it. UGH.

I stayed up pretty late, too. I was planning on getting in a few episodes of Gossip Girl, but the pull to edit my story won over. So, I did. Which was probably dumb, because I can really only watch GG when Hubby travels, because he'd NEVER watch it with me, and his trip is short this time--he'll be back Tuesday. But I have next weekend, too, because he's flying to Texas to watch the BYU game with his brothers. (I gave him permission to go, because he's a rabid BYU fan) So, I'll have time to watch then.

The Kiddos start school tomorrow, and today, we are going to tidy up the house, and go somewhere fun. They are so excited for school, and frankly, I am too. Although tomorrow will be a tough day for Thing Three. He'll have school, THEN soccer practice, THEN cub scouts at the church. He won't even be able to breathe. That's how his Tuesdays are going to be, from now on.

I need to cut this post short, my head is killing me. Time for some Excedrin.

Okay, It's Cold.

I'm getting nervous. It's COLD outside! It's usually 80 degrees well into the end of September around here, and yesterday? FREEZING. 50 degrees in the evening.

We went to the Open House, and with Hubby there, it was a breeze. He pushed the stroller and took charge of the 2-year old, and we went late so we missed the huge rush and got to talk with the teachers, and FIND a parking spot close by (hooray!) and then we went to Culvers for dinner (yum!) and shoe shopping at Kohl's. Only because Boston Store doesn't sell Kids shoes. :-)

Hubby was exhausted, I could tell, but he was a trooper. Even when we discovered our darling ELEVEN year old daughter has a size nine foot--and a TEN in one brand. WTHECK??? Her feet were size seven a few months ago! Now they're a NINE???

She's got "my side of the family" feet. 'Nuff said.

I can't believe how she's grown. I'm going to pull out all her nice shoes she's barely worn, and her clothes (at this point half her closet) and pack them all off to Once Upon A Child. I was going to take them to Goodwill, but frankly, getting money for them is more appealing, even if it isn't much, it still will be SOMETHING. Does that make me bad? They're hardly worn, and they're "brands," so I am going to do it.

Thing Two is taller and his feet are bigger, but Thing Three is pretty much the same. Which is fine with me. He gets all his brother's hand-me-downs anyway. And they're in pretty good condition because Thing Two is a "clean" boy. He doesn't like to get dirty, unlike Thing Three, who can only wear things once. :-) So, it all works out.

It's only supposed to be 50 degrees today, and this weekend is cold, too. Hubby is going to Vegas on business so at least he'll be someplace warm. We'll be shivering in sweaters indoors, because I REFUSE to turn on the heat. Not in AUGUST, thank you very much!

This weekend should be good. I'm finishing up my friend's manuscript, which I am enjoying very much, and I'm going to start watching Season 2 of GG. I know, I know. But I have to have some guilty vices! Watching Ed Westwick is certainly one of them. :-)

Have a happy weekend, all!

The Dreaded Open House

It has a lot of names: "Open House," "Meet And Greet," "Teacher Night," etc.. Every year, we've gone to the school open house. Every year, my kids have lugged their huge bags of school supplies to their classrooms, complaining the whole way because all their stuff is "heavy."

Then we meet each teacher (for about 3.5 seconds, because they're usually deluged with other children) and then every year my kids always beg me to stick around so they can have this teeny icecream cup in the gym and say hello to all their friends. But I usually make them get their icecream and we LEAVE, because the last two years the baby has HAD IT with being in the stroller, and I have had it with him. :-)

But all this is nothing compared to the greater problem: PARKING. Or, rather, LACK of parking. We are a K-8 school, and we only have half the parking we need. I have seriously parked three blocks away, before. And when I do this, it's always POURING RAIN outside. And guess what? It's raining and cold right now. Today promises to be just like every year. Figures.

Hubby has promised to get off work early, so he can go with us. It will be the first time. I am relieved, because at least we can tag team the two-year old, while we run around the school. So, maybe this year it will be different.

But we'll still have to park a mile away. Grrrrr....

I turned off the air conditioning yesterday, and had the windows open. It didn't get above 70. In fact, my kids went outside to play after dinner, and they came running back in to change into jeans. They said it was cold. I stepped outside. It WAS cold. In fact, right now, it's probably in the 50's outside. WTHeck???

My good friend told me she's already thinking about Christmas shopping. To that, I have one response:


NOOOOOOOOOOooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!

Why I'm Glad Summer Is Almost Over

So, I was gabbing with a mom the other day when I dropped Thing Two off to play at the kid's house, and we were talking about how fast Summer had gone. I was like "Man, I can't wait for school to start, now. My kids whine about being bored, the house is in a constant state of chaos, they argue over the Wii, the basketball hoop, etc. etc. I need some peace and quiet!"

She, to my surprise, shook her head. "Oh, I don't feel that way at all. I've enjoyed every minute with my children. They are at such FUN ages (10 and 12) and we enjoy spending all our time together, and I am SAD school is starting up!

My first reaction was guilt. I'm an awful mother. Awful because I want some quiet, and I want it just to be the baby and me during the day so I can work all the bad habits out of him his brothers taught him (such as the ability to jump on a person and beat them senseless with a plastic sword) over the summer.

Then I was OVER IT. My next reaction?

What planet are YOU from, lady???

I'm sure there are moms out there who genuinely cherish their kids. I'm one of them, too. To a point. But at the end of the day, when I've mediated 473 arguments and told my children "not to tattletale" 2947 times and yelled at them 95736 times to clean up their messes and FLUSH THE DARN TOILET, and broken up 36 out-and-out fights...believe me, I'm not "cherishing" them so much.

I'm ready for them to be in school for 8 hours a day. Because then I will miss them. And it makes me love them even more. How's THAT for rationalizing???

Bring on the hate mail.

WHEW!

Yesterday was a very busy day--but I accomplished a lot. I mowed the lawn for two hours. UGH. Twelve large bags of grass, and I hauled them to the mulch dump. Go me.

We have mud wasps nesting in the side of our house, right behind the air conditioning units. At first I thought there was a dead animal in the flower beds, because it looked like a swarm of flies. Then I realized as I got closer, it was wasps--and they'd dug a hole in our stone, and made a nest!

Yeah, being a dork, I tried the bug spray. I waited until this morning (it said "early" morning, 6am seemed early) and sprayed. I plugged up the hole with dirt and rocks. Luckily they aren't aggressive stingers, but it made me nervous how there seemed to be HUNDREDS of them zooming around. And I'm sure they'll burrow their way out again, it's what they do. I think it's time to make a phone call--especially since they're in the side of my house, UNDER ground. Scary. I was laughing, I googled how to get rid of them, and one poster said to get a shop vac (which I have in my garage) and put the hose by the opening and suck them all up.

Tempting. Hubby says I shouldn't. But still...tempting.

Time to feed the kiddos! Well, the two-year old anyway. The others can feed themselves. Love it.

BTS Craziness.

Oh. My. Gosh. This week is going to be CRAZY!!!

I sat down last night, as I normally do, to plan out the week's menu and "to dos" for every day of the week, utilizing the calendar.

I hardly have time to breathe--IF I do everything I need to do. That's what I get for procrastinating everything until the week before school starts. Well, not everything, but some things.

So, I realized I should stab my own eyes out formulate an attack plan. Fun. And I have. Which means I won't have much time for anything extra this whole week. Except Friday. Friday will be...calmer. Where's the dang remote? I need to fast-forward my life about five days...

In happier news, our clothes shopping is done. In un-happier news, it felt a LOT like Fall yesterday. WTH??? I am NOT ready for Fall weather. Although I love it. But it means the year is starting to wind down, and I had lots of stuff I wanted to accomplish before it was over.

I know I keep lamenting this, but 2009 is just cruising way too fast!

Speaking of cruising...yeah...gotta run!

Commiseration.

I was at a friend's house yesterday, complaining about how my kids can't flush toilets or turn off lights. She has five kids, and complained of the same thing. Apparently, we ALL go around after the kids go to school and turn off lights in the house, flush toilets, turn off TVs, etc..

THAT is funny. In a sad sort of way. At least I'm not alone!

It's been raining every day. So much so, I haven't been able to mow the lawn. Our lawn is looking "shaggy." I can't stand it. AND we're getting weeds in our abundant flower beds (another bi-product of lots of rain) and it looks like I've got some serious yardwork cut out for me. It's overcast now, but I think I'm going to hop on the lawnmower and mow this morning. I hate mowing wet grass. The bagging unit always gets clogged and I have to stop every other row and unclog it. OR I have to just keep going, and mow the darn lawn twice. Either way, it's about three hours. A serious pain in the neck. Thank heaven I don't have allergies. Poor hubby has to knacker himself up with Claritin and Benadryl before he can even go outside. And poor Thing Three, being out on the soccer fields are wreaking havoc on his allergies, so I have to medicate him before each practice.

Thing Two is like me--zero allergies. He'll probably be the designated lawn mower when he's older. I'm fine with that. :-)

Tonight we're doing the last of our school shopping, and going out to dinner. It will be a nice night, as long as I bring lollipops and toys and assorted "bribery" items for the two-year old. Thing Four is good, but he gets bored very quickly. Case in point, I used to give him those little "dum dum" suckers to keep him occupied whenever he needed to be quiet (Libraries, school concerts, etc.) and now--he needs the Big Stuff: Tootsie Roll Pops. Those at least give me about 15 minutes of compliant silence. And I only break them out when I get really desperate.

Yeah, I'm a bad mom. But I make sure to brush his teeth really well every night! He loves his little "Diego" spin brush. And his Thomas The Train toothpaste. Kids are so fun. :-)

I'll post about my writing woes on the other blog (see sidebar) but for now, I'd better get going on the lawn before it rains again!

Have a happy weekend, everyone!

Insert Fabulous Title Here...

I'm late posting today, I've been battling a nasty headache all morning. I think the meds I took FINALLY have kicked it. I can't be less than 100% today. It's school registration (which at this point I may go to the Monday session) and soccer practice, and I'm going to help a friend move. Which basically means after the guys lug out all the boxes, we get to clean out stuff. Rubber gloves, anyone?

Oh well, I'm glad to do it. I certainly appreciated the help when I was young and first married and we had to move ourselves.

It's been raining all morning (started last night) but the sun has finally broken through. Which means it will be HOT and MUGGY/SLIT-YOUR-WRISTS HUMID. But Thing One and I are going for our walk when the baby goes down--we need it! (Well, I do!)

One week and two days. That's when school starts. Can you tell I'm sort of excited?

Time to get off my rear end. We need to buy shoes. Thrillsville.

My Kids Can't Flush the Toilet! Arrrggghhh!

...or turn of lights, apparently, either. Simple things, really. Flushing a toilet. Turning off lights. Closing cupboard doors.

AND MY FERSHLUGGING CHILDREN CAN'T DO ANY OF THEM!!!!!!

Yeah, I love that word, fershlugging. It's from Disney's "Hercules." ANYWAY, I am getting extremely tired of walking into a bathroom, and seeing unflushed turds in the toilet. Or walking down into the basement, and seeing EVERY single light turned on, including the running lights in the Theater Room. Why? Seriously?

Don't even get me started on the TV. I walked into the house once (we'd run out to the dry cleaners in a hurry moments before) and every TV on every floor of the house had been left on. I was livid. Lectured my kids at length about leaving TVs on.

In one ear, out the other, apparently.

School days are the best. After the kerfuffle of getting the kids fed, dressed and packed off onto the school bus, I have to walk around the house, turning off lights and flushing toilets. FUN.

I've posted embarrassingly large signs. (FLUSH THE TOILET!!! TURN OFF THE LIGHTS!!! OR ELSE!!!) I've yelled. I've screamed. I've calmly explained. I've begged. I've threatened. I was reduced to telling Thing Two that, the next time he left pee unflushed in the toilet I was going to get a straw and make him drink it as punishment (of course I never really did, or I'd be in JAIL) and has any of it worked? For a while, maybe. Then we're back to being lazy about toilets and lights.

I want to scream, tear my hair out, and lock them in their rooms. I have to remind myself they are KIDS, but even kids can be somewhat responsible.

Suggestions, anyone? It's not like I can "take away the toilet privilege" or something. And remember, I've tried pretty much everything.

Maybe I just need to chalk it up to being a parent. But I'll never stop getting angry when they do it. And Letting them know I'm angry. That's the key. I think.

I'm Losing My Edge.

You should have seen me in 2002. I was completely ADDICTED to Ebay. Seriously.

On any given day, I'd spend one to two hours browsing, looking for all sorts of stuff (mainly retired Stampin' Up! wood stamp sets). And I had bids on at least five different things, all the time. Packages arrived at our house every other day. I even had my "end of auction song" which was a remix of Rednex's "Cotton Eye Joe." I'd sit there and tap my foot, while the adrenaline raced through me and I refreshed and refreshed and refreshed the screen...because I was NOT going to be outbid!

And I was a sniper, too. I wouldn't place a bid until the last ten seconds, and it was something outrageously high, so I'd get the item. This practice only bit me in the butt one time, and I ended up paying $100 for a single stamp set. (ouch!)

Ebay was wonderful. Moratorium-ed movies? I could get 'em. Childhood toys and books I had fond memories of? Got 'em. Tea sets by the dozens? (I was going through a hopeless Anglophile phase). Check.

Now, fast forward to 2009. What do I buy on Ebay???

Nothing. Although I did buy two Gameboy platinum controllers the other day, because they are discontinued and my boys are rough on theirs.
In fact, I'm starting to SELL stuff on Ebay. And what am I selling? The very stuff I bought on Ebay, years ago! I'm cleaning house! Getting rid of the clutter! I am no longer a master Ebayer!

Sign of the times, I guess. People aren't bidding extravagantly on stuff, anymore. I've noticed. Those stamp sets I bid an average of $70 on are going now for around $30. People are desperate and unloading stuff. Saturation equals lower prices.

I'm losing my edge! Rather, I've overcome my addiction. I get addicted to things online very easily. Ebay, writing forums, gossip blogs (Popsugar, anyone?) you name it. But now that the kids are older and in school, and I have to drive them everywhere, things have changed.

I actually have to have a LIFE!!!

So, busy day today. Cub scouts, Thing One has an "Extreme Camping" experience she's looking forward to (good I say, I don't want her to be a priss) and SOCCER PRACTICE starts up!

For now, breakfast.

Soccer Square One.

Interesting Question of the Day: (As seen in headlines)
What if John Edwards had won, and THEN the scandal came out? What then?

I try not to be too political on the blog, but I have very strong feelings about politics, and sometimes, that can seep over here. So, in case any of you don't think I'm into Politics, I VERY much am. I just like to keep things "light" on here. I mean, who wants me rambling ad nauseum about how our new president is bankrupting our country and ramming his far-left agendas down our throats?

Certainly not me. So, I keep things "light."

;-)

ANYWAY, Thing Three's new soccer coach called me last night, to make sure we'd been getting his emails. Um, no. I'm glad he called. He had one letter wrong in our email address.
I had to tell him a little about Thing Three's abilities, because, sadly, this man has never heard of my son, and doesn't know him. Thing Three has played with the same group of boys for the last three years, but now that they're expanding the playing field, they've combined the two teams and the new coach doesn't know what the other boys can do.
So, I told him about MY son. Yeah, I'm biased, but he's pretty good! I didn't get into details, just told him about his experience and how pumped he is to start the season. Vaguely specific stuff.

Hopefully his skills will speak for themselves at the practices this week.

I have a full plate today (Mondays always seem that way) so I'd better get going. We have nothing (and I mean absolutely NOTHING) scheduled the next two weeks before school starts, so I'm going to let the kids enjoy the rest of their summer days. They are fleeting, after all!

Happy Monday, everyone!

I'm a Murderer. Of Toads.

Let me explain my blog title before I get PETA all over my @&*:

So, mowing the lawn yesterday was...an experience. It had rained for a few days, and there were TOADS everywhere. And after I mowed??

TOAD GUTS EVERYWHERE. It was highly disgusting. It's not like I ran them down on purpose, I was just mowing my straight lines on the riding lawnmower, and suddenly I'd see a toad hop up (they match the darn grass!) and then...well...ickiness ensued.

And I killed two baby moles. They're weren't chopped up (thank heaven!) but just...dead...with their little feet up in the air. I must have scared them to death or something with the lawnmower.

I'm getting the heebies just remembering it. YUCK.

We're grilling tonight, and I've got to go to Sendik's (they have the best meat) and make the kids clean the basement, while I make the house presentable. Heh. I had the lady at the home depot the other day (she is always the one who checks me out for some reason) casually mention "Man, you must love to clean your house."

I DO NOT love to clean my house. I'd rather stab my own eye out some days. Especially on Bathroom-cleaning day. But if I don't clean it, it will get very scary, very soon. You know that documentary on the Discovery Channel or whatever called "Life After People?" That would be my house, in a matter of weeks, if I didn't keep up with it.

Maybe THAT'S why I'm so dang tired all the time! I'm fighting Nature!

Today I get to specifically fight Nature in my laundry room. Of the Swamp Monster Variety...

I'm an "Old Lady."

I got so excited yesterday, because I got a "Clinique Bonus Time" flyer in the mail for Boston Store. I was telling Hubby about it, and you know what he SAID????

"Well, you shouldn't be wearing Clinique anymore. It's for teens and Twenty-somethings. You should be using Estee Lauder or Lancome."

Pardon me? Yeah, I'm 37, and I may be "getting up there" in years, but I don't resemble the Cryptkeeper just yet, can't I still use the same makeup I've used since I was 25? I know exactly the colors I like, I am intimately acquainted with their powders, and yes, I do have to migrate over to Prescriptives once in a while for foundation because Clinique doesn't make a foundation that matches my fair skin tone, but other than that, I've remained relatively faithful!

But no. Now that I'm an "old lady" I need Lancome.

A)We'd have to remortgage our house if I wanted to start wearing Lancome, and B)I thought it was for "high maintenance" ladies? and C) Just for extra measure, Lancome costs an arm and a leg...and a foot...and possibly a kneecap!!

Maybe I'm a little spoiled. I bought a Cover Girl face powder for my daughter at the store yesterday, and about threw up when I smelled it. It smells like Noxema on steroids. And my daughter, who has been using my Clinique powder, thought so, too. UGH.

This old lady is sticking with her Clinique makeup...for a while! I'm not ready to age gracefully, yet!

Random, I know. But that's how I post. Whatever pops into my head. Today should be fun. I need to clean the guest room, mop the floors, deep clean toilets, mow the lawn, and get ready for a Relief Society "Training" dinner. Across town.

Typical.

Soccer, School, FALL... Oh My!!!

I still maintain that 2009 will be the "year that got away." Seriously. It's already August, my kids will start school in less than three weeks, and after THAT...you know what happens. The weather cools down and we need to start thinking about Halloween, and then the SNOW comes and voila--2009 will be over!

The Lost Year. It's speeding out of control fast away from me, and I had lots of stuff I wanted to do this year! It's more than half over! Sheesh.

Soccer starts up again on the 18th, and I only have one kid in soccer this season. Thing One has opted out--she's officially done. But I still have Thing Three, rearing to go, and frankly, he's a soccer freak. That's good for me. Otherwise this blog would be "Ramblings of a Non-Soccer Mom" or something sad like that. (There's probably a blog out there titled this exact thing, my apologies to you.)

Baked banana bread yesterday. We had bananas that were practically black, and I hate to waste them. For some reason I didn't get them into the freezer on time--I save them for smoothies. I love the freezer. You can put almost anything in the freezer, and use it later. For instance, my kids love to make breakfast sandwiches with english muffins, but the muffins usually get moldy before they get used up. So, I get a freezer bag and freeze them as soon as we get them, and my kids just take one out at a time when they want to make a breakfast sandwich. 20 seconds in the microwave and they've got an english muffin, ready to toast!

Freezers are wonderful. I slice up cake and put it in single-serve portions in the freezer. I cook big meals and freeze them so I don't have to cook a big meal on Sundays--just thaw and bake. LOVE freezers!

Well, my computer just finished updating and is threatening to restart on me. Time to get going!

ALL DONE!

We officially have all our school supplies! The lady at the store yesterday was chuckling a little as she rang up our stuff, including the 946274 WIDE-lined spiral notebooks and 2435 pocket folders. I find it interesting that now Thing One is in 6th grade, she will be taking Spanish. And it's not an option. All students at our school are required to take Spanish, grades 6-8.

Highly interesting. I mean, just being devil's Advocate, here, but what if she wanted to take French? Or German? Or Russian? On the other hand, I think it's cool she'll have three years of Spanish under her belt before she even enters high school, and Hubby (who lived in Argentina for two years) thinks it's AWESOME she's taking Spanish, I guess I'm just surprised the school makes it mandatory. It's a Blue Ribbon school, so I'm trusting they know what they're doing.

Anyway, now, on to the clothes. I have one boy who grows like a weed, and another boy who grows like a cactus. As in, hardly at all. I imagine one of these days he'll take off and shoot upwards like his brother has, but he's been in the same size jeans for nearly three years! And then I have a daughter who is going to be taller than me very soon, she's already 5'5 with size 7 feet, and thank HEAVEN she wants to play volleyball and basketball, because after what I saw at her camps, she'll be perfect for both.

We'll go buy clothes next weekend. That should be fun. I don't even want to think about how much we'll spend on four kids. (Thing Four is only two but you know Hubby will insist we get him some "Fall" stuff while we're there.) Getting a headache just thinking about it...

I am sooo glad I have a printer, now! I was trying to get my computer to communicate with the printer wirelessly, and for some reason, my firewall vetoed that idea, so I got frustrated and just MOVED the darn thing into the office with me, and plugged it into my own computer. I was getting tired of emailing myself documents and running over to another room and printing them. NO MORE. I love it!

The kids were a bit miffed, but I pulled out my old HP PSC printer, and hooked it up, and they're happy as clams. They like to print up Nintendo papercrafts, so they need a printer.

Time to run! Happy Tuesday Toast Day!

Church was a hoot yesterday. We had a lady talk to us about the "Great Apostrophe." (Sorry, inside joke only LDS people will get!)

ANYWAY, busy busy weekend. But a good busy. And we are separating our two boys. They will no longer share a room. They're too close in age, and they are total (insert proper plural swear word here) when they are together. We are DONE with letting them share. So, this week we're moving Thing Three back into his original room, but he'll share with the toddler. He's ok with that. He wants his own "space" back anyway. He's very different from his older brother, and frankly, he needs to have his own space he can keep the way he wants. (and not have his older brother's slob-ish ways infringe on his stuff!) And frankly, the toddler really only sleeps in that room, all his toys are downstairs in the basement playroom. So, it will work.

Things Three and Two are usually so good---when they're apart. So, we're trying that. For now. WHEW.

I am the type of person who wants everything done yesterday, so you know I'll kill myself today getting his dresser and desk moved back in. And I'll have to change the walls. I have his name spelled out in picture frames, and he has a sport theme which, frankly, clashed with his brother's nautical theme.

Well, time to run the kids to their classes! And run to the store. And the bank. And the dry cleaners. And buy school supplies. And and and...

The Escapee.

Lately, I've been spending about 80% of my time chasing after my two-year old. Why? Because he likes to run. And run. And RUN. We don't have property fences here in good ol' Wisconsin (I'll never get used to that) and if I don't watch carefully, he'll be three yards over and heading for the woods in a matter of SECONDS.

At church, right after the Sacrament, he wants to "run" in the hallways. And unless I ply him with tempting snacks or toys or activities, we have to oblige. Whenever I get out of the car, I have to hold his hand, or he'll run away. And parking lots make me nervous. There are enough idiots driving around who forget they're in a parking lot and they speed through, without thinking they might actually have to stop for pedestrians. Since I would not like my son to be reduced to a crimson stain on the asphalt, I hold onto him very tightly.

I don't like parks. He'll play on the equipment for about 20 seconds, and he's off. He wants to run through the grass. And when he realizes I'm chasing him, he only runs faster. Stinker. I chase after him when I want to change a diaper. I chase after him after we get out of the bathtub. I chase after him to get him dressed. The kid is a runner.

Luckily I have three older kids to whom I can say "go get him" and they'll run after him and drag him back.

It's funny, though, he doesn't like to be far away from me. He's usually right where I am, wanting attention. Until we get outside. It must be an "outside" thing.

Funny.

I need to get my butt in gear and buy the kids' school supplies. Otherwise all that will be left will be unsharpened pencils and Hannah Montana folders.

Buying school supplies is actually kinda "fun" for me. But at the same time "not fun" because I'm not buying them for me. The "for me" part comes when they're all marked down 80% and I can get composition notebooks for 13 cents each.

That's when Lara gets to party!

Happy weekend, everyone!

Note to Self: Giving a two-year old a chocolate chip cookie right before bedtime is a BAD idea...

At least, that's what Thing One discovered last night. I was at a friend's house, helping her pack up her kitchen, and Thing One babysat. And made cookies. She told me when I got home she checked on the baby in his crib, and he was sleeping with his eyes open. Creepy. I told her, no, he was actually wide awake and staring, because he had copious amounts of sugar coursing through his body. She said she wondered why he smiled at her...

Laura, you're right about the Nonny (See previous post). There's really no harm in it, but he's asking for it all the time--and whining up a storm. I want it to stay in the crib, so he knows he has it when he sleeps, but not every minute of the day. At least, I hope that's how it will work. He's a pretty pragmatic toddler (takes after his dad) so it might be fine.

Washed nine loads of laundry yesterday. I am wondering, seeing as it's Summer, how all my boys' long-sleeved shirts are making their way into the regular laundry. I don't think they've worn long sleeves since late May, yet when I get the dirty clothes basket, there they are. And not just a few--a LOT of them.

We're throwing clean clothes into the laundry basket again. ARRGH! I guess it's time for another "put your CLEAN clothes away" talk with the boys.
I wish they didn't have to share a room. But since we only have three bedrooms upstairs, and we have one girl, and one baby, the dynamic dictates they have to share. Separately, they're well-behaved and fine. Together...well...an F5 tornado has nothing on these two. Little turkeys.

I can't believe it's Thursday already! When Hubby travels, I have too much fun. ;-) And no sleep. So he'll be coming home to a zombie. Niiice.

Say It Isn't So...

Paula Abdul leaving AI??? You've got to be kidding me! That Kara Diwhateverhernameis is highly annoying. Paula was PURE ENTERTAINMENT.

The show won't be the same. I may not even watch it any more. So sad.

Yeah, I need to get a life.

Yesterday was sort of...lame. It just was. And I need to start going to bed earlier. I'm one grumpy momma this morning.

So, Thing Four, who is two, is MEGA attached to his blanket. He's like, LINUS ON STERIOIDS. Seriously. He's always asking for his "Nonny" and he wants to "hold it" and "cuddle with it" and whenever he gets a boo boo or gets upset about anything, he needs to "hold his Nonny."

"Nonny" used to stay in his crib. He only had it at night. Granted, I'm lucky, he doesn't suck his thumb or chew his blanket anymore, but he has to have that blanket with him, all the time. And it's getting worse. He acts like a total milktoast now, and I need to nip that in the bud. It won't be fun, but I'm tired of the whining. He needs to toughen up, and lose the blanket.

Sorry Nonny, nothing personal...

Tuesday Toast Day

Overheard yesterday between two of my children:

Child One: "Wow, did Mommy mow the lawn?"

Child Two: "Yeah."

Child One: "She did a good job. The lines are so straight. Except right there. Why is that one line all curvy?"

Child Two: "That's where a bug flew in her mouth. She freaked."

Child One: "Oh."

Further proof, Ladies and Gents, why I DETEST grasshoppers. I'm sure it was just trying to get out of the path of the oncoming lawnmower. And I just happened to be sitting on the lawnmower, yawning...

ANYWAY, it's Tuesday Toast Day! Have toast for breakfast!

So, I just realized something that stinks. Hubby is in New York all week, and whenever he does that, I stay up late and write or watch movies, but I HAVE to get up at 6:30 am every morning this week, because I have to drive my kids to classes.

That just isn't right!

I stayed up until 12:30 last night, editing a story of mine, and THEN it started raining around 2am so I had to run around and close the windows in the house because the wind was bad, so my sleep was interrupted, and I had to get up at 6:30.

I'm sitting here, exhausted. So, it looks like the "usual" bedtime for me, this week. Dang it!

Had a research breakthrough last night, on one of the real people I'm writing a fiction story about--Mary Newman, Francis Drake's first wife. I tried a genealogical search, and I FOUND HER. It was a great feeling! And I found some contact information I hadn't had before, so I printed up the info and stuck it in my big research binder, and I'm planning on emailing this guy soon to see if he has any info on Mary. Yes, I'm still trying to get anything I can, on her!

Made homemade hamburgers and french fries last night for dinner, and I think they're still in my stomach. :-( My kids seem fine, though, so maybe it's just me.

Sorry, no wit today. Sleep deprivation makes me grumpy. Hope everyone has a good Monday. I have to go chauffer, now...