Saturday, December 29, 2007

The Christmas Cough

The day after Christmas and all through the night all you can hear is the Princess trying for all she is worth to hack up her lungs. Every now & then she throws up trying to get the little suckers out. So far she is having no luck. She tried most of the night to get the lungs out but they're not budging. The next morning I call the Dr. I just want them to call in a prescription cough medicine. (The over the counter stuff just isn't touching this cough.) Doesn't sound too hard does it? Think again. Here is my day so far. The Princess was up all night long coughing up those lungs & barely slept an hour. My Nieces Thing 1 & Think 2 showed up at 8:00 to spend the day with me while their parents worked. They are 3 years old & 3 months. So today I have two 3 year olds & one 3 month old. I DO NOT want to have to leave the house. The nurse informs me that the Princess has to be seen(of course she does) & can I bring her at 1:30. Great. Now I have no choice. I HAVE to leave the house. Now there is no way I am bringing her at 1:30 & messing up 3 naps. I ask for an earlier appt & they give me an 11:00. That was at 10:00 & it took me a half hour to get everyone ready. It really shouldn't be hard to find shoes for 2 little girls but it was. Thing 1 took hers off at 8:00 & they immediately got lost. The Princess is always hiding, I mean moving her shoes to new places. It took awhile to find 4 shoes. For a little while I didn't even care if they matched. I just wanted 4 shoes that fit. But I finally found 2 matching pairs. I finally get shoes on both girls & then start the process of packing up Thing 2 into her carseat. Thank goodness she was sleeping. That made it easier.

At the Dr. it was really busy. After waiting in line for 10 minutes to check in we sat down just in time to watch the credits roll for "A Bugs Life". Then we got to watch the tv change from black to blue to snow. Big fun let me tell you. The girls were all really good & Thing 2 slept the whole time. (Thank you God) When they call us back the girls looked so cute. They were each carrying their own coat & holding hands. I had several people ask if they were twins. They don't even look alike, but they are the same height so I guess that makes them twins. I tell them no just as Thing 1 says,"Hurry up Mom." That didn't help the No they are not twins theory I was going for. She has always called me Mom. (Just so you know she also calls her Mother Mom too)

The Dr. comes in & checks her out. Then gives me an RX for a cough med & tells me that it has Codine in it & it might make her sleepy. Really? I was getting a little excited. I love cold meds that make your kids sleepy. There was a commercial on a few years ago for some cold medicine. The parents said that they just couldn't give little Timmy that purple cold medicine because it mad him so sleepy. What do ya mean? Isn't that the whole point? I pick out my cold meds for the Princess because they make her sleepy. Now just to clarify she gets the meds at nap & bedtime. The making her sleepy part is just an added bonus. It means less trips to her room for drinks, lotion, chapstick, fixing covers, finding her flashlight, looking for YaYa #2,tinkle break, scratch my back, I'm hot, lay with me for a little minute, find my Teletubbie book, turn my music back on......the list goes on.

Whoever put the "Stuff that makes your kids sleepy" in the cold meds must of had kids themselves. God bless them.

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Seeing Santa

We went to the Mall last night. Seeing Santa was one reason. Another reason was so Pookie could give me some ideas for Christmas. Well he could of stayed home. He didn't give me 1 idea. He was useless there. Although he did carry the Princess's coat. Other then that he didn't do a thing. He didn't even drive, Queenie did.

We tried to see Santa while we were there. I say tried because it didn't happen. I got in line but there was about a 3 hour wait. I just couldn't do that to her. We went shopping & ate. The highlight of the mall trip for her was when she had to make tinkles. I took her into the family bathroom.

Princess: Look Mom a potty just my size!
Me: How exciting.
Princess:Yea! Look Mom there's one for you too. We can make tinkles at the same time!(we did)
Me: How exciting!
Princess: And look Mom there is a sink just my size too! And one for you. Wow this place is great!

I take my kid to the Mall & that is what she gets the biggest kick out of. The bathroom. I think we need to get out more.

This morning I went back to the Mall. I am really using up the gas driving back & forth for this Santa thing. I was determined to get a picture of my kid sitting with THIS Santa. Not sure why. Must be the Christmas Season thing. On the way to the Mall again, we talked about how she was going to sit on his lap.

Princess: Oh I'm not sitting on his lap Mom.
Me: Why not.
Princess: I don't want to.
Me: Don't you want tot tell him all the toys that you want?
Princess: You tell him.
Me: Nope I'm not telling him, you have to do it.

Here I am driving to the Mall for the 3rd time to get this picture & she announces that she is not going to sit on his lap. With some bribing on my part she did do it. I told her if she stood next to Santa so Mom could get a picture then she could throw money in the fountain. AND she could ride the rides there. (They have cars/firetrucks & helicopters that you put .50 in & they ride for like 30 seconds. ) It worked. I have a picture of her SITTING on his lap . I told her I was very proud of her for being so brave.

Then she says to me: Can you buy me a toy cause I was so brave?

Nope. Not a chance.

I just sucked the fun right out of that trip.

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Christmas shopping

I'm almost done with my Christmas shopping are you? Only 7 days left. It's really sneaking up fast. I have to re buy a 4 lb box of Twizzlers(see post below) & shop for Pookie. He is the hardest one to get for. Every year I ask him for ideas & every year he will tell me he wants a new truck. Never fails. It's not funny any more either. It was funny the first year, maybe the second year, but now it's just annoying. I know he wants a new truck & IF I could actually afford to get him a new one you just know I would get the wrong one. I would get the one that the Waternater always goes bad, or the one that has the smallest blinker fluid tank ever. I just know I would get it wrong. So it's probably a good thing that I can't afford to get him a new one.

I have 2 small things for him but I would like to get him something else. He is a guy & when ever he needs something he just buys it. This makes it very hard to get him anything good because he has already gotten it for himself. We have been married for a long time & he has been doing that for as long as I have known him. It must be a guy thing. I have friends who complain about their guys doing the same thing. He is gonna end up with a pair of football shaped fuzzy slippers if he doesn't give me an idea soon.

Tonight we are going to the Mall to take the Princess to see Santa. I hope she doesn't hate him on site like last year. This year she has a better idea of who he is. She KNOWS that he brings presents. I figure we have a 50/50 chance of her actually getting near him this year. Better odds then last year.

I wonder which store will have the best price on football shaped fuzzy slippers.

Monday, December 17, 2007

That &%$#@ Dog!

Bailey the Wonder Dog struck again. The Princess & I had 2 places to go this morning. We were going to be gone less then an hour. Smitty was home, sleeping, but he was home. I decided NOT to crate the dog when I left. Bad move on my part. There was nothing out that she could eat. No food was on the counter. The bread drawer had all the plastic tucked inside & there were no bowls of half eaten stuff laying around. Should be good right? WRONG! I ran my errands & Smitty was still in bed when I got back. I went around the house picking up stuff & putting it away & because it is Monday I went to take the sheets off my bed. I have a lot of bags of presents of the floor of my room. See where I am going with this? All gifts that don't stay here, all bagged up, wrapped & ready to go. As I walked into my room I noticed an open tub(think Ginormus) of Twizzlers laying on the floor among the many bags of gifts. I also noticed that most of it was gone. Crap! Damn dog! She really had to dig for that too. It was on the bottom of one of the bags of gifts. She must of been able to smell it through the hermetically sealed plastic & wrapping paper. In her defense she was really very neat about the whole process. She only tore the corner of the paper on one of the gifts. I don't even have to re wrap it. She did manage to do a good job of eating the plastic tub & lid though. She is gonna have the shits for days with the amount of Licorice that she ate. Something must be wrong with her though because she didn't eat the entire tub. Usually she finishes what she starts.

I WAS all done with my shopping. Now I have to go out again & see if I can replace it. I bought it on Black Friday. It was an awesome deal, that's why I got it. IF I manage to find it again I know I will end up paying double. I hate it when that happens.

Some days I just hate that dog.

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Snow Day

Yesterday my kids had a Snow Day. Actually it was an Ice Day. We had an ice storm & the roads were a mess. I remember snow days as a kid. We didn't get them often but when we did it was because we had a TON of snow. We had a blizzard in 1979 & we had so much snow that a snow plow got stuck in the HUGE drift on the road in front of our house. The drift went from our front door across the street to the neighbors front door. It had to be at least 20 feet tall. It was great. We had so much company that day. I remember one neighbor came to visit on ski's. There was really no other way to get to our house. There was lots of playing outside & we drank hot chocolate by the gallons.

Wanna know what my kids did on their snow day? Sure is different these days. I found out about 6:30 that there was no school. With Pookie being a plow guy we always know when bad weather is coming. I checked our districts web page & it said no school so I went back to bed. I didn't bother to shut off anyone's alarms because I knew they wouldn't get up on their own. I got up at 8:00 & Spike was already up playing Warcraft online with a friend. They have mics & talk back & forth, loudly. I woke Queenie up at 10:00 by telling her she was gonna be late for school if she didn't hurry up. She wandered into the bathroom, looked at the clock & realized it was 10:00. She had a friend come over after lunch & they spent the day in her room playing Sims & listening to music. Spike spent the day playing WarCraft & when he got tired of that he switched to Play Station 2. He had a busy day. Mine wasn't much better. I took a nap in the afternoon when the Princess did because for some reason I didn't sleep well the night before. I hate it when that happens.

Snow days today are a lot different from when I was a kid. What were your snow days like as a kid?

Monday, December 10, 2007

Smitty is sick. He has the flu. Not the good kind either. The puking kind. Yuck. I hate the flu. Mainly because I know if one of my kids gets it, I'm next. The kids do so much better with the flu then I do. It wipes me out for a week or more. I think it's because everyone else in the house gets to go to bed & sleep to get better, but I don't. The Mom never gets to go to bed & sleep it off. We have to suffer through making dinner, cleaning house & doing laundry. Then after we get the little ones to bed we tell the husband that we are going to bed. And they have the nerve to say, "What your going now? You're not going to sit with me & watch tv?"
(translation-you're not going to sit & watch me change channels at lightening speed?)
When you tell them no they give that huge sigh. Some women (not as tough as me) might give in, but I have had 4 kids & I have no patience for a husband who whines because he doesn't want to watch tv alone.

I love to watch tv alone. It means that I can watch a whole tv show. The whole thing too, not bits & pieces. Nothing is more frustrating to me then to have the channel changed right when I was just getting into it. I think all guys have the ability to just know whenever their wife is starting to get interested in the show. They quickly change the channel pretending they didn't know that you were watching from the doorway.

You have to love your husband.

Can't live with them & you can't legally kill them & get away with it.

14 Days til Christmas!!!!

Birthday's & guns

My house is birthday party clean. The party was yesterday. Spike is now 14. I remember when he was born & now he is 14. Not sure how that happened. Time sure flies. One of the things he wanted for his birthday was a new Air Soft Gun. His was broke. I know nothing about Air Soft Guns. Only that they shoot these pretty colored BB's. There were about 10 different types of guns in the store. I had no idea what one to get & neither did Pookie. After spending at least 45 minutes in the isle we picked one out. Then we went to WalMart. They of course had different ones then the last store. At least in this isle we found an expert. He had to be at least 10 years old. He was actually very helpful. We still stuck with our original gun. And before you ask, no I did not feel the slightest bit guilty or bad for buying my kid a gun. I grew up around guns & can even shoot although it's been years. My kids can all shoot thanks to my Dad & Pookie. Spike & his friends all have air soft guns & have battles in the yard. My yard actually looks like a battle field when they are done. All the Princess's toys are used as shields & are spread out all over the yard.

We did awesome with the gun. It was just the one he wanted. I'm not sure how we got so lucky on that one. It took FOREVER to pick it out.

For Christmas he says he wants an Air Soft rifle. I wonder how long it will take to pick that out. Maybe I should leave now.

Thursday, December 6, 2007

Wired for sound

Someone put a quarter in the Princess. She has gotten her 2nd wind & she is wired for sound. It is almost bedtime so now is the perfect time to get all wound up. Spike isn't helping either. He is chasing her around the kitchen. I am just waiting for her to get hurt.

Well she did it. She got hurt. She wiped out taking the corner in the kitchen. I think she zigged when she should of zagged. Spike of course was fine. After 20 minutes of bawling she was fine. It didn't help that she took a crappy nap & woke up from that crying. As an added bonus for me she climbed into my lap while crying & promptly peed all over me. Not quite sure what brought that on. She has been potty trained for months. I had to change ALL my clothes because she soaked almost everything I had on. She got a new set of clothes too. Now the hamper stinks. I really wish I hadn't downsized & let my maid go. She is probably in the tropics somewhere with a Cabana Boy waiting on her. She'll never work for me again. That'll teach her.

It's snowing. I love the way it looks. It makes everything so white & pretty. Really cleans everything up. Then the plow guys come out. They throw dirty snow on top of all the clean pretty stuff. Pookie is a plow guy so I really shouldn't put them down too much. They do make it so you can drive down the street without ending up in the ditch. But they do have the annoying habit of waiting around the corner watching as you shovel your driveway. As soon as you are done they whip around the corner & plow the end of your driveway shut. They all do it. I think they learn it in plow guy school. Pookie's not talking. It must be a top secret thing.

Wednesday, December 5, 2007

All about me

Here is a questioner that I got in my e-mail last night. It's kind of fun to see how much you know about your friends. I sent it to 2 of my friends. One I have known forever & the other one I have known since I had kids(about 18 years). Both of them got everything right. I was impressed. I did very well answering my best friends questions too. We have to stay friends because we know too much about each other! I have to pick my battles with her. Can't have important information leaking out!

I do have to say my favorite answer so far is from my friend that I have known forever. Her answer to #14 What is your favorite memory of me was this:

New Years eve, many years ago, throwing you in your car, because you all ready passed out well before 10pm and later finding out that you opened the door to "hurl" and then fell back asleep.

Great memory huh? I do have to clarify that I was 18 or 19 at the time. At that time it was legal to drink in Wisconsin when you were 18 so over the border we went. I grew up near the border so it was a short drive. I'm glad my car knew the way home. More times then I care to remember(or so I've been told) I should not have driven. I don't drink anymore. I got it all out of my system then. Plus I'm a sleepy drunk. Give me alcohol & I fall asleep or pass out. I'm great at parties. :0)

Have fun with the questioner. How much do you know about your friends?




1. Where did we meet:

2. Take a stab at my middle name:

3. How long have you known me:

4. Do I smoke:

5. What was your first impression of me upon meeting:

6. Color of my eyes:

7. Do I have any siblings:

8. What's one of my favorite things to do:

9. Do you remember one of the first things I said to you:

10. What's my favorite type of music:

11. What is the best feature about me:

12. Am I shy or outgoing:

13. Am I a rebel or do I follow the rules:

14. What's your favorite memory of me:

15. Any special talents:

16. Would you consider me a friend:

17. How many children do I have:

18. If there was one good nickname for me, what would it be:

19. If you and I were stranded on a desert island, what is one thing
that I would bring:

It's snowing!

Last night it started to snow. As much as I hate winter I do love a good snow. It looks so pretty coming down & as long as I don't have to leave the house I love it. Pookie of course hates it when it snows because he has to work then. He was home about a hour & a half last night before they called him back in. I won't see him until after work tonight. Then he will just eat & sleep. I don't mind because then I get to be in charge of the TV. Not sure why he always seems to think that he gets to hold the clicker. It's not like it was in the wedding vows or anything. I promise to Love,honor & be whiny when I'm sick, now THAT was in the wedding vows. I definitely remember hearing him say that. But the clicker thing, was not in the vows.

Along with all this beautiful snow & having a husband that is NEVER home during that time comes the dreaded shoveling of the driveway. No one in this house wants to do it. I woke up this morning before 7 & checked the school closings list, just in case, & then started to wake up the boys so they could shovel. Spike didn't want to do it & Smitty said I'll just call someone to plow. So I said when are they coming? Of course he couldn't give me an answer so I kept up the "you have to shovel" mantra until they finally gave in & got up. After much whining they both went outside. Then they both came back in & said there was too much snow & they couldn't shovel. I was very supportive & said in my best "Mom voice"

"waaaaaaa, get back out there & shovel. It sucks to be you."

Very sympathetic don't ya think? I have kids for 2 reasons.

1. So I don't have to mow lawn
2. I don't have to shovel

Those are 2 pretty good reasons to have kids. Although the benefits do take a while to kick in.

When I went to take Queenie to school they were trying to dig out the snow blower. By the time I got back Smitty had half the driveway done. All that complaining & it probably took him 20 minutes to do the whole driveway & a sidewalk.

He is definitely a guy.

Tuesday, December 4, 2007

Black Friday

This was meant to post the week my internet went down.

I’m not exactly sure what happened. I was all caught up. With Thanksgiving & Black Friday shopping I didn’t do laundry for 2 days. Now every hamper we own is full to over flowing & I can hardly open the laundry room door. Every towel we own is dirty & the Princess is out of socks. Yesterday was change the sheets day too. I know what you are thinking. Let the sheets go until you get caught up. But I took a whiff of the boy’s sheets & said no way. So on top of all the other laundry I had to do sheets too. I have been playing catch up with the laundry for 3 days now. I hate it when that happens.

My internet has been down for 2 days. It was working fine yesterday morning & then after the kids went to school it quit. I tried everything I know how to do to get it back up. Nothing worked. So finally last night I call the internet people. That was fun. Why is it so hard to get a real live person when you call any where? It took me about 5 minutes or so to get through all the prompts. Then I was disconnected & had to start all over. It took 3 calls to get an actual live person. And by the 3rd call I was just pushing any button that I thought would get me to a person. I think I ended up in sales. It had nothing to do with my no internet problem but at least she was real. She also connected me to another live guy.

I know why places do the automated thing. It saves them money. But it is so frustrating to everyone who calls. By the time we get through all the prompts we have forgotten why we called in the first place.

I did manage to survive my Black Friday shopping. I started my day at 2:30AM. Yes I said AM! Kohls opened first so I started there. I waited in line to get in at Kohls, Toys R Us & Menards. After that everyone was open. I got everything on my list except for 1 thing & I was able to order that for the door buster price when I got home. I finally got home at 1:00. Did I get to nap? Nope. I started doing laundry & making dinner right away. We always go out to dinner on Fridays too. I was so tired that I forgot it was Friday & I didn’t have to cook. By the time I realized it was Friday I had my roast almost done. I wouldn’t have been much fun at dinner anyway. By then I was getting really tired. I made it until 8:30. Then I crashed.

It’s hard being everyone’s personal shopper. :0)

Sunday, December 2, 2007

I'm back

I have been without internet for a week. It went down on a Monday & when I called the phone company to have them fix it they figured out that my DSL modem was dead. I didn't get it back until late Friday night. I really missed it. You don't realize just how much you use it until it's not working. The computer sits in the kitchen so it was constantly taunting me. I usually have music playing from the internet & I couldn't even do that. Not sure how my ancestors lived without it. I'm not sure how I survived growing up without it. I use it for almost everything anymore.

I will be back to my regular posting schedule on Monday.