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.

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.

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.

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.

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?

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.

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.

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.

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 3^rd 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)

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.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
I hope everyone has at least one thing to be thankful for this year. For the Princess it's Scrapbooking. For me it's my family & our health. You know you're getting old when you are thankful for your family & health. Not exactly sure when THAT happened. I used to be thankful for fun stuff. Like a new sweater or some other article of clothing that I managed to snag on sale. But now that I'm old, I mean now that I'm a Mom I'm thankful for every healthy day we have & the fact that we are all together & safe.

This Thanksgiving I hope you are all able to eat til you can't move. I know I'm gonna do that. And we get to eat a really large meal twice!

I'm off to get all my flyers together & plan my Black Friday strategy.

Oh yea, & this year I'm gonna be thankful for scrapbooking too. :0)

Bad weather vs shopping

We have snow coming. It's the first snow of the season & it is all over the news. You would think this kind of thing never happens from all the publicity it's getting. Because Pookie plows snow & is on call all winter we pay a lot of attention to the weather channel around here. If it's gonna snow we know he won't be home. When it's really bad we don't see him for days. Then when he does come home all he does is sleep. Plowing snow for hours at a time is hard work & you can't sleep while you are doing it. That's what he tells me anyway.

I have to go to WalMart today. Because the snow is coming I'm sure WalMart will be packed. People will be trying to get all their shopping done before the snow comes. I know that' s what I'm gonna do. I hate the cold sloppy weather that winter brings. Nothing is more fun then trying to push a full shopping cart through a sloppy nasty parking lot. I really should move someplace warm but then I would have to deal with more bugs. I don't do bugs. Especially big bugs. So I either stay here & freeze or move & be warm but deal with big bugs. What to do, what to do.

This nasty weather is gonna mess up travel plans for a lot of people. Lucky for us we don't have to travel very far on Thanksgiving. Only about 20 miles. At lest we don't have to fly anywhere. The airports are a mess with all kinds of delays. That really brings out the thankfulness in you doesn't it? Glad I'm not going to be stuck in an airport for Thanksgiving. No one plans on that but you know it will happen.

I just hope all the nasty weather doesn't mess up my plans for Black Friday. As much as I hate cold & snow, I love Black Friday more.


Neither rain nor snow nor black of night will keep me from shopping on Black Friday!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

I'm thankful for......

It's almost thanksgiving. I remember when we used to go around the table & say what we were thankful for. It was always health or family. Not real original, but so true.

When Spike was in preschool they always asked each child what they were thankful for & then they put it all the answers next to the kids name on really cute(suitable for hanging)paper. Like adults most of their answers were family related.

I'm thankful for my Mom/Dad/Grandma/grandpa, ect. One answer stood out. I can't remember the little girls name but I do remember what she was thankful for. Pretty shoes. She was thankful for pretty shoes. It was the best answer on the whole page. And the most memorable too. I still remember her answer 14 years later. Spike & Queenie got the same things but I can't remember any of the answers on their papers.

Today I asked the Princess what she was thankful for & she said Scrapbooking. You know what? I'm thankful for scrapbooking too. I went to a crop the other night & I had a blast. I'm grateful that I can do that.

This Thursday please be thankful for your health & family but don't be afraid to be thankful for pretty shoes & scrapbooking too.

shopping alone

Black Friday is coming! Black Friday is coming! Oops I meant to say, Thanksgiving is coming. Aren't you excited? To me Thanksgiving means spending time with family. All the women get together & pour over the Black Friday ads. We spend quality time together deciding who is gonna get up at what time to get the best deal. I love getting up at before the crack of dawn to shop. Any other day of the week I would only get up at that time because I had to pee. I don't care if I get any good deals that day. I get to go shopping ALONE! Without kids! I tried taking Queenie 2 years ago. She didn't have as much fun as I did. She doesn't do morning well. Especially that time of morning. When I asked her if she wanted to go this year she said no. Oh well I'll just have to suck it up & go alone. **grin**

I usually meet up with one of my Sister-in-laws for a snack at some point. We go over our lists to see if either of us got a great deal. Last year the best deal I got was for me. I went to Michaels (because I was alone) & I looked in their clearance isle. I had been looking at the Crop in Style P3 rolling tote. It was retailing for around $130.00




I found it on clearance! And with the turkey bucks they had going (because I was there at an obscene time of the morning) I got it for around $60.00. That was my best deal. I love it when I get all the good stuff!

Pookie just doesn't understand why I will get up at the crack of dawn to shop. Especially when I don't come home with EVERYONE on the list done. No matter how many times I explain it he just doesn't get it.

I GET TO GO ALONE! That's why I do it. :0)

It's official. It's Winter

It's cold. Now I remember why I hate Winter. Carseats. Yep, that's why. Yesterday the Princess wore her winter coat to school. I got her in the carseat & started to buckle her up.

Princess: Mom, I can't breathe!
Mom: Hang on, it's not far to school.


Did I really say that out loud? I really gotta work on thinking before I talk. What if DCFS was just around the corner & heard me? I gotta be careful. This could get ugly. (If they showed up right now they would see the Princess running through the house naked wearing a Princess cape & carrying a feather duster & a magic wand. She is hunting for a skunk. Well..... what do you wear when you go skunk hunting?)

Seriously I was having a hard time trying to buckle her into her seat. She is bigger this year & with a poofy winter coat on it is almost impossible to get her in the seat so she can still breathe. Breathing is overrated isn't it?
I am going to have to take the darn seat out of The Tank(I HATE doing that) & see if there is any way I can lengthen the straps. If I can't find any way to do that I'm going to have to switch her to a booster seat. She is old enough & weighs enough but I wasn't going to do it until she out grew this seat. That time is coming. What a good time too. With Christmas coming I have that never ending supply of money. Ha, I wish. I should of planted a money tree when I was little. It would be really big by now.

I did the only thing I could to get my kid to school still breathing. I took off her coat & buckled her into the seat. After all The Tank is in the garage so it's sorta warm. I put a blanket over her & drove to school. I just put her coat on before getting out of The Tank. I'm gonna have to work on this problem though. I don't think it's going to go away. I think she is gonna get bigger. Although it's not a guarantee, but my other kids grew. In fact Smitty is about 6 feet. So it's probably a given that she will grow.

I'm going out to The Tank to wrestle with that darn carseat. If I don't post in the next few days, it was nice knowing ya. The carseat won.

I'm not the "Cool Aunt" any more

While at my niece's baby shower this weekend it was brought to my attention by a sister-in-law(close to my age) that we are no longer the "Cool Aunts". We used to be the ones making the cute counted cross stitch wall hangings for all the babies & weddings. The torch has been passed. Now we are now shopping at WalMart along with everyone else. We don't have the time or energy to make the counted cross stitch any more. We used to never travel anywhere with out a project. All enclosed in it's cute little quilted zippered case of course. Back when we were all first married most of our friends & family played on the church softball teams. Most of them played on 2 teams which meant ball twice a week. No one had any kids yet but we all cross stitched. The husbands played ball & the wives all sat & watched them while we cross stitched. That's when we were the "Cool Aunts". We had the time to make all kinds of stuff.

I am trying to get back into crafts. But with a 3 year old it's hard to find the time to do it when she isn't up. It doesn't seem to matter how quiet I am getting it out. She seems to smell it & come running. I did manage to sew 3 burp cloths for my niece's baby shower. It only took 1 nap time to do it. I also want to make a quilt & a few other things. I guess I will have to muddle through them 1 nap at a time.

The fact that I don't sew well could pose a problem but I do have about 42 naps before Christmas so I could actually pull it off.

44 days til Christmas

Christmas is coming!! Do your have your kids Christmas lists yet? I don't. I get a new toy catalog almost everyday in the mail. I save them all. They tend to keep the Princess busy when I need to get stuff done. And there is always stuff to be done around here. So far she wants EVERYTHING. Not really a problem for her. She thinks Santa is great & can bring her anything she wants. I am having a hard time getting Chirstmas ideas out of my kids now that they are older. The Princess is no problem. It's the older ones that I am having a problem with. Pookie actually gave me an idea yesterday so I went & got it right away. I NEVER get good ideas for him so I had to get it right away so I wouldn't forget it. Now if I can only remember that I have it when it's wrapping time..............

I had lunch at Olive Garden yesterday. I had never eaten there before. It was yummy. I love the bread sticks. I could of made a meal of just those. I have a good friend who is moving to another state far away from me. This was a goodbye lunch. We all had a good time chatting & eating. One thing women are good at is yacking up a blue streak. Lunch was at 12:30 so I wrote on the calendar that it was at noon. That meant I could leave the house earlier. **grin** It was about a 1/2 hour drive. I got there is plenty of time to hit the mall & get Pookie's gift. We didn't leave until around 3:15. I was in no hurry to get home. I was kidless! On the way home I decided that I would hit JoAnn Fabrics. After all I was alone. But I forgot about my sense of direction. Or lack of it. I don't have one at all. How hard could it be to find JoAnn's? So I drove. And drove And drove. I was thinking that I should be seeing it soon. Then I saw my turn off for home. I missed it. I guess I zigged when I should of zagged. How sad is that? I was really looking forward to a shopping trip ALONE. I don't get those very often.


One thing I love about Christmas is all the shopping that I HAVE to do. I am one of those people who LOVES to get up at the crack of dawn & go shopping on Black Friday. I think I like it so much because I go alone. I took Queenie with me 2 years ago & she said never again. She doesn't DO 4:00 am. I have a lot of people on my list & I like to get started as soon as I can. If it means I have to get up at 4:00 am so I can shop alone then that's what I do. I gotta get my alone time when ever I can.

This year I have gotten crafty. I am actually making a few gifts. I have a big project that I want to do. I want to make a quilt. We'll see how that goes. A lot of time I have great ideas(usually while in the shower) but they never pan out.

Tonight the Princess is going to bed early because she didn't get a nap. I might actually get some crafty stuff done tonight.

I'll miss you Celina.

My Vacation

My loving hubby has taken a few days off from work. I hate it when he does that! It really messed up my schedule. I mean how can I lay around on the couch in my robe all day eating Bon Bons? It just loses the effect when you have your darling hubby in full hover mode over the couch saying things like:

Are ya gonna do this all day? Duh, this is what I do all day

Can I have the clicker? No way. Touch it & die.

Aren't you going to feed the kids lunch? No, they can snack on what ever they can reach.

Can I have a Bon Bon? This question could get your arm taken off.

Seriously the kids have a few days off because of Conferences & don't go back until next Tuesday. Pookie goes on call very soon so we thought we would go to the Dells for 1 night & stay in a fun hotel with a water park. Sounds like a great plan right? We thought so too. It was decided that Thursday was the only day we could go. I have things going on over the weekend that I can't miss & I had all the conferences scheduled for Wednesday night. We were good to go. Then the kids messed it up. Gotta love 'em. Queenie joined an after school club. Their first Bowling meeting was last Wednesday. I thought nothing of it. She came home & told us they were meeting next Thursday. It still doesn't click. I may have lost a few brain cells over the years. Kids will do that to you. Then over the weekend I am sitting in front of the computer trying to pick a good hotel (within our budget that will still be fun), & that's when it hits me. CRAP! We can't go, Queenie has bowling that night. Now I know you are thinking why not have her miss it. Well we thought of that but since this was only the second meeting & they are just starting to get it going we didn't want her to miss it. Another fun thing ruined by one of my kids.

Someday & I know it's a huge possibility that I'll be old & gray, I'm going to go on vacation when I want to. It's getting old planning my vacations around the kids schedules.

I know, I know, I should of realized this BEFORE I had 4 kids. But no one told me they were gonna mess up my VACATION SCEDULE. I might of had 2nd thoughts then.

Last night was Halloween. The Princess went as herself. A Princess. Very original don't ya think? But having her go as herself in her royal gown meant I didn't have to buy anything for her to wear. We had it all. After all you never know when the occasion will arise & you need to meet your adoring public. It helps to have the appropriate Royal Wear on hand. We walked with friends around the block & then we were done. It was cold! She would of done more but her little hands were like ice cubes & her Mother(what was she thinking?) didn't give her any mittens. They didn't go with the outfit. She was content to answer the door with Spike. Between Bailey the Wonder Dog & the Princess we always knew way ahead of time when a Trick or Treater was coming up our walk. She would start to yell & then the dog would bark. The dog should have a sore throat from all the barking she did last night. It's important to bark EVERY TIME someone rings the doorbell. Even if there is only a few seconds between rings.

Queenie had to make a bumper sticker for school. Of course it was due the next day. Since I scrapbook we have all kinds of stuff to work with. Good thing too. I love it when they thrust a "due tomorrow project" in your face after dinner. I haven't scrapped in months. There just hasn't been time. Plus the Princess is not fun when I get all the stuff out. It's like Christmas for her. So much stuff to get into, so little time. We got out all my stuff after dinner was cleaned up & the Princess was busy playing in her room. We were very quiet getting everything out but I think she smelled it. She came out as soon as I got the first wheelie tote in the kitchen. After that she was a HUGE pain. Into EVERYTHING. Nothing was safe. I finally gave her some markers to play with. Really stupid move on my part. I was thinking that she would just color nicely while we worked on the bumper sticker. WRONG! She colored everywhere but on the paper. Her legs, arms, face, table & yes the kitchen floor. Well the floor was sort of an accident. While trying to pick up a bunch of markers she dropped on the floor, it got colored on.
Where was I during her little "artist moment" you ask? Well I was sitting right next to her trying to pick individual letters off a stack of letters. Those little suckers did not want to come off without ripping. My conversation with the Princess went something like this:

Me: (finally pealing off a "D" without it ripping.) Princess stop coloring on your arms. Only on the paper.
Princess: Ok Mommy.
Me: (Trying to find a red "U".) Please put all the lids back on the markers.
Princess: But Mom they are my finger nails.
Me: Wonderful but now your hands are all covered with marker. Please put the lids back on.
Princess: Can I color on the table?
Note: When they ask this it is already to late
Me: no you may not. Crap you already did it.
Princess: Crap Mommy?
Me: What I meant was , oh no.

Well you get the idea. It wasn't a pretty picture. And is spite of all the "Helping" the Princess did I realized how much I miss scrap booking. I am actually going to a crop with a friend this month. I'm excited. I really liked getting out all the stuff & playing with it even if it was for a school project.
Some day I am going to have all my pictures in a scrapbook. And not the "awful, dangerous" magnetic one either. I am going to take all my pictures out of those horrible albums & put them in acid free ones.

And some day I'll be rich too.

It's offical, she is old(er)

It's over. We had Queenie's birthday party over the weekend. It's official. She is now 16. Scary really if you think about it. Now if I tell her she can't do something I'm sure to get,

"But Mom, I'm 16!"

I can hear it now. I can't wait til she gets her license, it will get worse I'm sure.

Just in case you were wondering what people give as a gift to a 16 year old, it's money. They don't want anything that is not cheap any more. They have moved up to the expensive gift phase. Unfortunately this phase never goes away. We got her a letter jacket. I was very impressed with myself. She mentioned that she wanted one AND I remembered. Then I went to order it without having her try it on. This was scary. What if I got the size wrong? I tried on 2 sizes & picked one hoping for the best. We are close to the same size so that helps. The jackets are in stock but they send them out to have the stuff sewn on. Like your school patch & any letters or numbers you might have. Queenie earned her numbers last year but of course I couldn't find them so I just had the school thingie sewn on. You can also have their name embroidered on. I didn't do that yet.
Getting a letter jacket is so different now. I got mine in the late 70's. I bought the jacket & the school patch & sewed them on myself. Now they send them out to do it. It does look much better though. They are A LOT more expensive too.

She loved the jacket, was very surprised AND it fit! Score 1 for Mom! I wasn't quite sure what I was going to do it it didn't fit. I have no idea if they exchange them or not. I already had stuff sewn on it too. But thankfully I didn't have to worry about it. This will also be her winter coat. So I killed 2 birds with 1 stone. Yea me. Hopefully she will be able to wear this for 3 years. Which means I don't have to worry about buying her a winter coat for 3 years. At least that is my plan. Hers might be different. But I hope not. For the amount that I spent on this jacket she should wear it the rest of her life! I took it back today to have it sent out AGAIN. This time they are going to put her name on it. I didn't do it before because it wasn't sure where she wanted her name to be. You can have it small on the front or big on the hood. She picked hood. Hopefully it won't get really cold & snow before I get it back.

I scored really big with the birthday gift. Now I have absolutely no idea what to get her for Christmas.

Mom I have to pee

The Princess went on her first field trip today. I don't know what part she was more excited about. The actual trip to the Pumpkin Patch or the ride on the school bus. I was just excited that she was going to be gone from 9:45 til noon. Is that a bad thing? I had an appointment to get my hair colored & I was very excited about that. I had the multi colored look going which really isn't a good look for me. Brown & gray( more gray then brown because I've waited so long) just isn't the look I was going for. Because I don't work OUTSIDE the house(I work my tail off INSIDE the house) I don't keep up my hair maintenance like I should. I think if I had a job where people actually cared what I looked like I would do it more often. My kids could care less what I look like, unless I am out in public with them. Most of the time they are just fine with my multi colored two tone hair. All they care about is do we have any food in the house. Not just any food but the "good stuff" like Ho Ho's, cookies, you know, good food. Did I wash their favorite pants & what's for dinner. One of my lovely children actually told their father that I didn't do anything all day but clean & do laundry. Good to know I'm appreciated isn't it?

My hair was done in plenty of time. I even had time to chat with a big person. All by myself too! That doesn't happen very often. Usually my conversation with a big person goes something like this:
Me: Hi, how are you?
Them: Great! It's been a long time since I've seen you.
The Princess: Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom
Me: shhh, Just a minute, Mommy's talking.
Them: Wow, she is getting big.
Me: Yes she is, she goes to school now.
the Princess: I'm a big girl.
Them: Yes you are
The Princess: Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom
Me: Shhh, Mommy's talking
The Princess:(spoken at the top of her lungs) But I have to make poop.
Me: Nice seeing you, gotta run!

Almost every big people conversation that I have gets killed because my kid has to poop or pee. That is a real conversation killer right there. It's also something that can't wait. By the time they announce that they have to go, it's almost to late. Then you have to make the mad dash to the potty which is always as far away from you as it can get.
When Smitty was potty training we were remodeling our house & were always in Wolahan's. Smitty loved that place because they gave you popcorn when you came in. I hated shopping there because EVERY TIME we went in there he had to go potty. But he had awesome timing. The bathrooms were in the middle of the store AND they were locked. Who locks bathrooms? He would wait until we were as far away from them as we could get then he would announce that he had to go. Then I had to make the mad dash to the front of the store to get the key(usually attached to a HUGE piece of wood) and pray that I could get the key, make it to the bathrooms, unlock them & get him to the potty before it was too late.

Whoever decided to lock the bathrooms in stores obviously didn't have kids.

Terrorists got nothin' on Mom's

I watched an episode of Law & Order SVU last night. At least I think it was last night. This week has kind of been a blur. Anyway it was about how they used torture to get info out of people. I got to thinkin' about that. The terrorists got nothin' on a Mom. Mom's perform & receive torture every day. We have all heard these lovely words come out of our kids mouth. "Your gonna make me do/eat/wear that? This is torture! Here are some forms of torture that have been known to work with kids. You new Mom's might want to print these out.

1. Make them eat ALL of their dinner. Even the 10 spoonfuls of cottage cheese THEY insisted they wanted AND put on their own plate.

2. Insist they take a shower/bath, even if they already took one this week.

3. No you are not wearing the dogs collar to school even if everyone else is doing it.

4. Make them walk to school. After all we had to do it & it was 5 miles & uphill both ways, remember?

5. Pick out your clothes AND make your lunch BEFORE going to bed, not 5 minutes before you have to leave for school.

6. Make them turn down the volume of the music so that only they can hear it. The entire neighborhood doesn't want to listen to that!

7. They should carry their dirty clothes all the way to hamper, which in our case is right outside her door. But apparently it's too far.

8. Make them go to bed a a decent hour. This is a goodie!

9. Wear a winter coat in the winter & shorts in the summer.

10. And lastly my favorite. Get up when your alarm goes off.

These 10 things are guaranteed to torture your child. AND the best part is that you can't get arrested for this type of torture. It sneaks in just under the law.

Here are some forms of torture that us Moms go though everyday.

1. Eating most meals cold.

2. Making sure the kids are dressed for the weather but forgetting to put on your own winter coat/boots/shoes. I have been known to go out in slippers because I was so busy dressing kids that I forgot to put my own shoes on.

3. Going without a shower because there just isn't time for one today. Having this happen several days is in a row is a bad thing.

4. Knowing exactly what time Clifford/Dora/Blues Clues comes on but having no idea what time your favorite show starts.

5. Going without because one of your kids or the husband needs something.

6. Pushing a 5lb-10lb(or more) baby out of a hole the size of a pea. nuf' said.

7. Carrying 1 toddler, 7 bags of groceries & 2 gallons of milk into the house at one time because you only want to make 1 trip and you KNOW you aren't gonna get any help.

8. Showering with 1 or more kids. When was the last time your loving husband took a shower with a kid?

9. Never going to the bathroom alone. Or if you do manage to get in there alone you get a kid pounding on the door yelling,"Mom what are you doing in there?" "Can I come in"?

10. Having to hide in the laundry room with the door shut & the light off just so you can be alone for a few seconds before they find you.

11. Going through every kids name, the husband & the dog before you get to the right one you are yelling at.

The list goes on & on. These are just a few. Remember & enjoy.

I'm gonna go hide in the laundry room for a few minutes.

Queenie will be 16 in a few days. I'm not quite sure how it happened. One day I was giving her a bath in the tub with her brother & now she's turning 16 & driving. And she won't take a bath with her brother any more either. But that's a good thing! At least she showers regularly. For lots of kids showers are optional. So is changing clothes. I still have 1 kid who won't change clothes unless he is reminded. I won't mention any names, ok Spike? I wouldn't want to embarrass anyone. Hehehe! I don't have that problem with Queenie. She can change clothes several times a day. And when she takes them off she wads them up nicely & tosses them in a pile on the floor. This pile then gets walked on for about a week or until she runs out of clothes. Then she tosses EVERYTHING in the hamper Everything on the floor is dirty whether it has worn for 2 seconds or not. Face it, it has been walked on all week. It must to be dirty.

I just e-mailed the family about the party. I love it that I can contact almost everyone in the family by e-mail. The only ones I can't get are the parents. I don't think they are going to get a computer just so I can e-mail them. They like it when you call them anyway.

I always have a problem when planning birthday parties for my kids. If I have 1 party, it's a biggie. 44 people if everyone shows up. But then it's done & I only have to make the house "party clean" once. If I do 2 parties. One for my family & then one for the other side I have to have the house "party clean" twice. Having a clean house is not a bad thing at all. I actually like it when it's "party clean". That usually only lasts for a day or 2 around here. Sad really. Then I have to decide whether or not to feed everyone an actual meal or just cake. Do I have it in the afternoon or evening? If I have it too early in the afternoon then the Princess doesn't get a nap. Not a good thing. If I do it late in the afternoon then we end up eating cake for dinner. That's not always a bad thing. I love cake. But when you are 3 you shouldn't eat cake for dinner because that will be the time the teacher asks you to announce to the class what you had for dinner last night. Cake is not the appropriate answer.

This is way to stressful!

So what it boiled down to is we are having 1 family party & I am feeding them a meal. It will start around 3ish so the Princess will at least get a little nap. Now all I have left to do is let my cook know the menu that I have decided on & tell my maid that the house MUST be squeaky clean by Sunday. *sigh* I forgot. I had to downsize. I let them go. Guess it's up to me to do all the work. Why is it always me? Oh I remember.

I'm the Mom, that's why.

Bailey the Wonder Dog strikes again

The Princess was sick last week. guess who has it now? Yep, me. It's a doozy too. Snotty nose, sore throat, the works. Nothing like trying to function while sick. Cause all Mom's know we don't get to go to bed & get better. We have to suck it up & trudge on. Any other members of our family get to go to bed when they are sick. There is a unwritten rule somewhere that says that Mom's have to work while sick. I would really like to know who wrote that rule. I bet it was a guy.

Bailey the Wonder Dog has been at it again. This morning the Princess & I had a few errands to run. Since the dog was passed out on the couch downstairs I left her there. Big mistake. I walked up the stairs & the Princess says, "I hope Bail didn't eat anything." Can you tell it happens a lot? As I come up the stairs I notice a big brown spot on the carpet. Crap! I know she ate something but at this point I'm not exactly sure what. I did take a roast out of the freezer this morning & put it in the sink. I was praying that WAS NOT what she ate. As I move into the living room I notice another large brown spot on the carpet. This one has brown powder in it. What did she eat? And there is was....... the 10 lb family size can of Swiss Miss Hot Chocolate. Well maybe it wasn't 10 lbs, but it was the big one. She didn't eat the whole can either. She left me some. Wasn't that nice of her? The kids wouldn't notice if I put the dry stuff in another container & told them it was hot chocolate. **Insert evil laugh here**
I did the proper thing & threw it out, all of it. Now I have to try & figure out how to get brown stains out of "not brown" carpet.

The darn dog has been very busy lately. Thursday when I went to pick up the Princess from school she ate quite a few crayons. Yum. When I picked up all her "treasure" from the yard on Friday I noticed quite a few piles were sprinkled with pretty colors. On Saturday Pookie brought home a dozen long john donuts. We ate a few out of the box. A few hours later I noticed that the box wasn't all the way shut & went to close it. Nothing in it. She was very neat about eating them though. She left the box on the table so we didn't even think she did it. The box was licked clean. Not even my kids do that. Eating that many donuts gives the dog diarrhea, don't ask how I know. Ever try picking pudding up out of the yard?

I think whenever we leave the house the dog is going to have to be crated. She has proven that she can't be trusted. I'm starting to worry that she will eat the couch next.

Goodbye Optimus Prime

My beloved grand child Optimus Prime went back to school yesterday morning. I miss him terribly. I did get pictures though. If I could figure out how to post them here I could show you just how cute & plastic he looks. Ok I think I added a picture. Yea me!


OPTIMUS PRIME

Yesterday I tried to fix an ongoing problem that I have been having with my e-mail. I can e-mail anyone but my school district. For some reason they are not receiving any e-mail from me. It isn't just me either. It is other people with the sbcglobal.net e-mail. Our District's Tech Dept says that it is on my end. Because I NEED to be able to contact the teachers by e-mail(way easier then the phone) I decide to see what I can do to fix it. It's gonna be harder then I thought. First I try to go to the yahoo website & do a live chat. That guy was useless. He had no idea what I was talking about & kept asking me the same question over & over. Hung up on him.
Then I called the AT&T Internet Service number. This guy tells me that it on the District's end & that they have me blocked. Told him several times they didn't. I don't think he believed me. He passed me off to Yahoo Tech support. They told me it was AT&T's problem & promptly passed me back. Now I'm getting dizzy from all the flying around I'm doing.
The next guy says that he will try to get a 2nd level tech support guy to talk to me but he needs to get approval first. I am on hold for at least 10 minutes & he comes back & says 2nd level can't help. Apparently this is not a important enough problem for them. Then he tells me to see if I can receive e-mail from the school. I hang up & call my contact person at the school, get proof that I can receive but not send & call them back, praying that I will get someone that I can understand. I have a hard time understanding people who have thick accents. And lets face it, most of the people who answer phones anywhere I happen to call have thick accents. It's just my cross to bear. I get lucky & get a nice woman who understands what I am talking about AND I can understand her. She is very helpful & once again tries to get me 2nd level tech support. It worked this time. Tonya was very helpful. Although my problem did not get fixed she at least figured out where the problem was & it was not MY fault. It is with our districts provider.

Now we wait.

I am on a "Mission from God" to get this fixed. It got personal after the 3rd person I talked to couldn't figure it out. It only took 7 people to figure it out AND I spend most of my day on the phone. Of course I had nothing else to do. House is squeaky clean, no laundry pile taking on a life of it's own, no dishwasher to load. None of that stuff. HA! While I just sat on my rear in front of the computer playing solitaire the house just fell apart around me.

I hate it when that happens.

I'm a Grandma!

Yesterday Spike made me a Grandma to a 10lb plastic computer baby. My "Grandchild" will be a guest in our home til Friday. The baby is designed to help stop teen pregnancy. All my kids have had one. And so far none of them are parents so it must be working. We did have a VERY hard time convincing the Princess that it wasn't her baby. She just was not buying the fact that it was Spike's. When you get the baby it comes with a car seat & a diaper bag. You must change clothes & keep a record of when you do it. Good thing I didn't have to write down every time I changed one of the babies clothes. Sometimes I just got a clean outfit on & I had to change them again. There just wasn't time to write anything down. This baby is an older model. They have new ones but I have been informed that the girls got those. The new ones come with a bottle(with a computer chip in it) & 2 diapers that are chipped too. So they KNOW if you change the diapers. I thought the new babies sounded like more fun. The old babies have keys that they attach to your wrist with a hospital like bracelet. When Smitty did it he was not in a sport at the time so he could not remove the key from his wrist so someone else could babysit. Spike is in a sport so his bracelet slips off so someone else can watch it. When the baby cries you have to put the key in its back & hold it there(literally) until it laughs. Then you can take it out. You never know how long it will take either. Smitty had to do all the baby care on his own because he couldn't take the key off. This meant showering with the baby sitting on the toilet. And yes it did cry while he was in there. So he had to get out dripping wet & put in the key. He was not happy when he finally got to finish his shower. I told him,

"Welcome to my world"

I have showered many times with a baby or 2 in the bathroom. I also have showered with up to 2 kids in the shower with me. Big fun.


I forgot the most important thing. He named him "OPTIMUS PRIME"
I'm so proud.

FACT:

Did you know that a National Guardsman actually changed his name to Optimus Prime? I found that out when I googled it this morning to find out how to spell it. He legally changed his name on his 30th birthday & now it's on everything. His driver's license, his military ID & & his uniform. Wouldn't you love to be his kids? You could say, without lying, that your Dad is Optimus Prime!

Mommy, I'm sick

The Princess is sick. Not exactly sure what she has but she has something. On Friday she puked a few times. Once all over herself, me & several blankets & the second time in her car seat. Two really good places to puke. She hates to puke. It scares her. It scares me too. I don't know anyone who actually likes to do that. Enough about puke. Moving on. On Saturday she was just fine. You would never know she was sick the day before. That's a kid for you. They can bounce back like a super ball. Remember those?

On Saturday because she wasn't sick I had to go, sorry I GOT to go watch Spike's football playoffs. We drove 1 hour away so we could play against the other team from our town. That made sense didn't it? With all the parents/fans that went we probably spent about $1000.00 in gas getting there so we could watch our hometown teams battle it out for 3rd & 4th place. We took 4th. Granted it was at a nice field with a concession stand & everything, but I didn't need to drive all that way for popcorn.

Saturday night the Princess started to cough. Not a good cough either. It was the barking kind. That kind is never good. I had a bad feeling about that cough. Sunday she was not doing good, but took a good nap. Sunday night she spent most of the night in my bed not sleeping. On the plus side she woke up with a dry pull up. At least there was 1 good thing about last night. This morning I decide to call the Dr. I have to wait until 9:00 to do it because I never have good luck leaving a message with the answering service. I call at 9:00 & get the voice mail at the Pediatricians office. Ya gotta love it. They make it so hard to talk to a real person any more. I left a message & then decided to harass them(I mean call) every half hour if I haven't heard from them by 9:30. While I am on hold with the appointment desk(for the first time) my talking call waiting informs me that the Dr's office is calling. Love call waiting. Talking call waiting is even better cause I can decide if I want to answer the phone or not. I chose to answer this one. She got an appointment for 11:00 today. The Dr. informs me that what she has is viral. What that translates to is there is no good drugs for it. We just have to tough it out & if she is not better in a few days call her. Great. And for the record today sucked. All she did was cry & make me lay by her on the couch. I felt awful. She didn't nap either. Poor thing. I hope she has a good night. I don't know if you caught the part about how she spent last night in my bed NOT sleeping. That means I didn't sleep either.

This not sleeping thing is just one of the perks of being a Mom.

My Things

The Princess goes to Preschool 2 times a week. Just like any other kid starting school we needed to get a few school supplies. Lucky for me I had everything she needed. When shopping for school supplies I always buy a lot of everything. The same notebook that is .10 in July(when they start all the school supply sales) will be $2.99 in December. I always buy in bulk. Now the Preschool list is much shorter then a regular supply list. We needed:

1 box of crayons
1 pair of blunt scissors
1 paint shirt
1 box of Kleenix

Of course EVERYTHING had to have her name on it. Yep that meant all the crayons too. Since I have done this 3 other times I knew just how to do it. I use return address labels. I have a lot of them because I am always getting them free in the mail from some organization or another. I don't seem to use them that much any more either. I do most things on the computer now.

When we get to school on her first day I take her supplies & put them in her cubby. When I pick her up I notice all her supplies are back in her bag. I told her she could leave them at school & her answer was "No I can't. These are my things."

Thursday I drop her off & put her "things" away again. When picking her up there they are back in her bag again. This time I go back in & put them away. Then I get to listen to her cry all the way home because she misses her things. Especially her scissors.
She is now sobbing,"I need my my my scissors!"

Trying to explain to her that her things need to stay at school is like talking to a wall. Or like talking to one of my other kids. She is learning early. I thought I actually had a shot with this one too. Tuesday when I drop her off I put away her things yet again. Pick up time rolls around & this time she only has the crayons in her bag. Yea! We might be getting somewhere. Fast forward to Thursday pick up time & there they are again. All her things are back in her bag. She is having a really hard time leaving "Her things" there! Separation anxiety? Who knows.
I tried having the other kids explain that they keep their things at school but she isn't buying it.

So On Tuesday we will once again try to leave her "very special things" at school. She just now informed me that she can't leave them at school because "They are very special to me Mom."

Wonderful. I have a kid with a school supply fetish. I suppose it could be worse. She likes school & is very happy to have me leave her there. I have seen other Mom's peel their kids off their legs telling them they will have so much fun they won't even miss Mom. Yea right. At least she is not like that!

I'm back. Did ya miss me? We had a wonderful time camping. Usually, I mean sometimes, nope what I really mean is ALWAYS when we go camping on Columbus Day Weekend it is cold. I have never had to use the air conditioner. Furnace yes, air no. It was around 90° the whole weekend. Which was great really. But we always bring a lot of wood for camp fires. We can't camp with out a HUGE fire. It's just wrong. We had 6 pickup trucks full of wood & our rule is to never bring any wood home. If we brought it we have to burn it. Someone always brings something to sacrifice to the fire God. This year it was me. I brought 2 old kitchen chairs & a really old saw horse. Usually we need the big fires for warmth but this year we just needed them for the ambiance. We seem to get bigger every year. This year there were 7 trailers & 32 people. Our circle around the fire was huge this time for 2 reasons.

Reason #1. There were 32 people, duh!
Reason #2. It was too hot & we couldn't stand to be near it, but had to have a fire because we brought all that wood!

We have certain things that we do every year while camping. First we make a Jack-o-bob. He is an old uniform stuffed with leaves. His name is jack-o-bob because the uniform has Bob's name on it & he has a pumpkin for a head. He is a guest around the fire all weekend. This year the Princess & a few other little ones got to make him. Apparently the older kids are too big for this now. They must of really grown up because they made him last year!

We also have a book exchange. The women who go camping love to read. We all bring our books that we have already read & put them out on a picnic table. This year we had 2 picnic tables. We all go through & pick out what we want. Then we tell everyone else in the campground to come & look. One of us takes the leftovers home & gives them to the library or something.

Then there is the potluck dinner we have. It is usually on Sat night but this year we had 2. Saturday & Sunday. It was yummy. There is always so much food too. You never go hungry when camping. I think I spent around $6000.00 on food this year at Aldi. The loved me in there! Didn't want to run out of food. What would happen if we had to stay an extra day or something awful like that? I can't have us starving out in the middle of no where(actually no where is about 10 minutes from town). What if we couldn't get to WalMart? We could starve. That's why I had to spend all that money at Aldi. It was for my families safety. I wonder if I could convince Pookie that's why I spent all that money at the scrapbook store. You think he would buy it when I tell him it's for my families safety? Probably not. Might be worth a try though.

We did have a lot of fun. Then we had to come home. That's the bad part. Packing up to leave. We camp about 1 hour from home & I drove the Tank pulling the trailer so Pookie could let Queenie drive home. Better him then me. Give me the trailer any day. Once home the unpacking of the trailer starts. I hate that part. It always takes we weeks to get all the stuff out of there. And I never seem to get it all. I always seem to forget something food related in there.

Some important things to remember:

Spaghetti O's don't freeze well. Well they actually freeze just fine, but you can't eat them after that.

Cans of Pepsi explode when frozen.

Fruit snacks that have been frozen never taste quite the same.

These are things that the normal person would not do more then once. Especially the frozen Pepsi. I have left Pepsi in the camper over the winter several times. Not one of my better moments. But I'm sure that will be the one I am remembered for.

Out of office

Tomorrow I am going camping. The whole family goes camping on Columbus Day weekend. It's a tradition. It's everyone's favorite trip, but it's also the last one of the season. After this the campers get put away for the winter. Kind of sad really. So because I am leaving tomorrow I have been running around like a mad women trying to get ready. It's not like I didn't know this trip was coming. It comes at the same time every year. But I also do this every year too.

A few weeks ago the fridge in my trailer broke. I ordered parts but of course it still doesn't work. So I have to use coolers this year. I haven't had to use a cooler while camping in years. I think I forgot how. Tomorrow while the Princess is in school I have to buy ice. Lots of ice. Pookie is coming over on Saturday morning with Spike & Queenie. There is too much going on on Friday night for them to come then. Queenie has driving lessons & Spike has football practice. My kids are really messing with my social life, such as it is. Good thing the campground is only an hour away. If I forget anything I can call him & he can bring it, IF he remembers.

Because I am leaving Thursday with the Princess the other kids will have to get themselves up & to school all by their little selves. I am a little worried about this because I have to wake them up every morning because they either sleep through their alarms or shut them off. Pookie is gonna have to call them in the morning just to make sure they are up.

I am going to enjoy 2 nights without most of my family. I am really looking forward to it! AND I don't feel bad at all! What I am really going to enjoy is sitting by the fire while Pookie has to do all the chasing around to pick up kids. I usually do all the picking up . I leave extra early(without the Princess) & bring a book to read. It's pretty much the only alone time I get anymore. Now that the Princess has to shower with me EVERY morning I don't even get the shower to myself.

I just figured out how many campers we will have this year. There will be 7 trailers & about 27 people. I am really looking forward to it. The weather is supposed to be in the 80°'s. I plan on spending a lot of time in my lawn chair. So until Monday I will be out of the office, so to speak.
Hopefully I will have some good stories for you.

Enjoy your weekend!

Walking alone

Today I finally got some alone time. The Princess started preschool today. She was gone from 10:15 to 11:50. I decided that while she was gone I would walk at our park. I did a Alzheimer's walk a few weekends ago. I walked 3 miles & I liked it. So today while the Princess was at preschool I walked 2 miles. I am very proud of myself. I hope I can do this 2 times a week. That's my plan anyway, but I have a feeling that it won't always work. It will be too cold(I hate being cold), we will need groceries, I will need a nap, you know, important stuff like that. I put on my IPOD & a cute little necklace thingie that holds a bottle of water & off I went. I learned a few things today. The first being I am not in good shape. I do need to lose a few pounds so maybe this will help. The second is I don't do hills very well at all. I have never walked the path at our park so I had no idea there were that many hills on it! I was really huffing & puffing by the time I got to the top of the first one. I was hoping there would be oxygen stations at the top of each hill, but there wasn't any. I guess it wasn't in the budget. I'm gonna have to go to the next town meeting & suggest that. There are quite a few hills on that trail. Hopefully I will get better at this. AND keep it up. That 's the problem right there. I always have these great ideas but my follow through sucks. What I should do is take Bailey the Wonder Dog with me. Lord knows she could use the exercise too. Might actually stop her from eating everything in sight. Maybe she would be so tired from all that walking that she would sleep the rest of the day. Hmmm, this could work!

I'm off to fold laundry. Apparently no one in this house knows how to fold. We can all however live out of a laundry basket. Some day that just might come in handy.

Multi tasking

This morning as I was brushing my teeth( after showering with the Princess yet again) I noticed that I never just brushed my teeth. I was always doing something else too. While brushing my teeth I was picking up wet wash cloth's, piling up all the wet clothes, putting away all the combs & brushes & swishing out the sink. I know for a fact that no one else in my family does this. I think I am the only one who can multi task. It must be a Mom thing. I know it's not a Dad thing. Kids can listen to music & do homework at the same time. So they say. But when it comes to cleaning no one in my house can multi task. I have proven it, many times over. For example I will tell one on my kids to "please fold these socks" while they are just sitting there.

"I can't, I'm watching tv." Is the answer I get. Hello?? I can't remember the last time I just got to watch tv & not be doing something else. I am usually folding clothes. That's a never ending battle around here. I have also been known to look over football, basketball or track paperwork while watching tv. And I know if I had a laptop I could surf the net while watching tv. Although I bet a kid could do that one.

So how come I am the only one in the house who can do 2 things at once? There is only 1 answer to that question.

I'm the Mom, that's why.

Queenie the great

Last night Pookie & I went to Spikes football game. In a town an hour away of course. Football games are never close. The bleachers are really hard too. I'm just sayin'. Anyway while we were gone Queenie turned into the best thing since sliced bread. Queenie got the job of babysitting the Princess. I DO NOT EVER take the Princess to a football game unless I can possibly avoid it. There are a few advantages to having older kids. I get built in babysitters. Queenie was wonderful with her last night. First the Princess let Queenie remove a sliver that I couldn't get near. It had been in there for a few days because she screamed every time I talked about it. I was hoping it would fall out on it's own. Queenie got it out without any trouble at all. Way to go Queenie! Then she got the Princess to take a shower with her. Last time I tried that it turned into a screaming fest. And it wasn't a real shower. I just used to removable shower head to rinse her hair. Here is what happened:

This was about a year ago & the Princess was in the tub with every toy we own. Her hair was already washed but there was creme rinse in it. I went into the kitchen to put away the bread from dinner. Didn't want Bailey the Wonder Dog to eat it.
I hear a scream coming from the bathroom. I run in only to discover that the Princess has pooped in the tub. Not a good poop either. Know what I'm sayin? She was scared to death. It was not a tiny poop & of course it got all over every toy we own. She still has creme rinse in her hair too. I scooped out all the toys & put them into the sink & let the water out. Now I have to use the removable shower head to rinse the creme rinse out of her hair. It didn't go well. Lots of screaming,"You're getting me wet!" Duh. What did she think was gonna happen? I managed to rinse her hair without the neighbors calling DCFS. The Princess can really scream & it was warm out so the windows were open.

I was really please that Queenie was able to give her a shower without any problems. It was such a fun time in there that she insisted on showering with me this morning.

Great, showering was my only shot at any alone time. I lost the "going to the bathroom alone" a long time ago. But I could still shower by myself. Now that's gone too. **sigh**

Bandaids & bribery

Yesterday the Princess walked outside on the deck in her bare feet. I always have a hard time keeping shoes & socks on her. Even in the Winter she is barefoot. Makes me cold just lookin' at her. She was out there for all of 2 seconds when she came back in crying, "I have a sliver!" I hate those words out of her. It is not an easy thing removing a sliver from a 3 year old who is flailing around like an Octopus. She is also screaming at the top of her lungs. AND I haven't touched her yet. I finally get out of her that yes she would like me to take it out. I go into the bathroom to get my surgical instruments. Saying it that way sounds so much better then saying I went to get the rusty old tweezers. I'm sticking with Surgical Instruments. After I find all the Surgical Instruments I hunt down my reading glasses. Now that I am old I can't see close up without them. I have all the stuff I need including the bandaids. They are the most important part of the whole procedure. They can also be used as a bribe. A good Mom always knows what she can use to bribe her kids. With the Princess it's bandaids. Not just any bandaids, special Princess bandaids. Is there any other kind?

Now for the fun part. I grab a foot as it flies past my face hoping that I have the right one. I might only get one shot at this. Great I have the right foot, now I just have to try to focus my old eyes on the sliver. I locate it just under the big toe. It's on a bendy part of the toe too. This is gonna be tough. She of course is screaming her head off & I haven't actually touched it yet. Getting her to hold still is not easy. With all the flailing going on I hope I don't lose an eye. As I get her foot close to my face so I can see it, she kicks me in the nose. This is so much fun. I try again. I finally manage to get the sliver out. Not sure how I did it though. The kick to my nose almost put me in a coma. I have no memory of removing it.
After all the fun we get to pick out a special princess bandaid. We get one for the actual owie & 2 more just for being so brave. I'm so glad she was brave about it. This could of gotten really ugly if she chose to fight me. **sigh**

So to recap, I have successfully removed a sliver, almost lost an eye & barely escaped a coma. But on the plus side I did get a bandaid for being so brave. It's an Ariel one & I get to wear it proudly on my arm where it will remove all the hair when it gets ripped off.

$50.00 later

Why is it that when ever I go into Walmart I feel the need to spend $50.00? We just got a new HUGE Walmart a few months ago & it's great. We always had to go to the next town to go to Walmart before. We were all thinking how great it was going to be having one right in our own town! That is until we all started to shop there. Don't get me wrong. I really like having a Walmart in town. Until it showed up we were not able to buy a spool of thread or any craft type items that your kid needed for school(the next day of course)in town. We had to travel at least 20 minutes to do it. Now 20 minutes does not sound like a long time to those of you without kids. 20 minutes is not long at all. But when your child announces at 8:00 at night that he needs to take a wooden embroidery hoop to school tomorrow for art, 20 minutes is a long time. At least now it is only 5 minutes away AND it's open 24 hours. A real bonus for those extra special times when your kid gets out of bed at 10:00 to tell you about the Fuzzy Pipe Cleaners & Poster Board that he HAS to take tomorrow.

Today I went to Walmart for Pepsi & soap. $53.43 later I left the store. There is a force in that store that makes you buy stuff that you had no intention of buying. First I went to get the soap. On the way I noticed toothbrushes on sale. Grabbed a few of those. Then I remembered I just put the last bottle of shampoo in the shower. Got shampoo. And so it goes. By the time I actually get to the Pepsi isle the bottom of my cart is full. The Princess spotted the Lunchables so I get her one. It's not bad if you only have to buy 1 Lunchable. It's when you have to buy 4 or 5 at a time that they get pricey! As I work my way to the checkout more things seem to jump in my cart. I hate it when that happens. It's like shopping with Pookie. When I shop with him I find all kinds of stuff when unloading the cart. It's usually something sweet. Dots or something equally nutritious. And he has no idea how any of it got into the cart either.

With all the money that I have spent in Walmart I think they should name a wing after me.

The Princess & the hottie

It is class ring time & Queenie wants one. Smitty was never interested in getting one so I got a reprieve until now. They had a Class Ring Fair at the high school. What this consisted of is a lot of waiting in line. (Note to self: DO NOT EVER take the Princess to this again.) We had gotten the catalog in the mail of all the styles of rings. No prices of course. That would make it too easy. While waiting in line Queenie picked out a ring that she liked. I told her that we would have to wait & see how much it was because I was not dropping $500.00 on a ring for her. I know she will lose it. Her room is a total pit most of the time & stuff is always getting lost in there.
When you wait in line that long you start to chat with everyone around you. I was chatting with a Mom behind me who had a son Queenie's age. The Princess was getting REALLY bored after waiting this long. By this time we had been in line over an hour & it was not looking good. Queenie was wonderful with her. Taking her over to a counter so she could color, taking her for a million drinks out of the drinking fountain & to the bathroom several times. I couldn't do those things with her. I couldn't lose my place in line you know. **wink wink**
Now I am holding the Princess & she is throwing her body backwards trying to do a back flip out of my arms. I am trying to hang on because I know if she lands on her head I will have to take her to the ER & I will lose my place in line. Any one who has waited in line forever with a little one knows exactly what I am thinking here. If I stay in line with a broken & bleeding kid it just looks bad. I'm just sayin'.
All of a sudden she stops her back flip attempts, sits up looks at the guy behind me & says in her most quietest inside voice(haha the Princess only has 1 volume, loud)

MOM, HE'S A HOTTIE

Of course just when she said that it got really quiet in there & everyone with ears heard her.
I look at the poor guy & he is turning several shades of red. Queenie & her friend are laughing & so is everyone who heard her. It was impossible not to hear her. The boys Mom is laughing too. I was trying not to laugh too much. I felt bad for the poor kid. I know he was embarrassed. At this age you like to blend in, not be singled out as a hottie by a 3 year old in front of tons of people. I told him that he has just been declared a hottie by a 3 year old. That's a honor. I'm sure he was wondering what planet I came from & when was I going back.
After waiting in line for an hour & a half it was finally our turn. Turns out that the ring she wants STARTS at $379.00. That is before you add all the cool stuff like your year, name & whatever sport you play. We picked another one & spent just under $100.00. That I can live with.

I managed to walk all 3 miles at the Alzheimer's Memory Walk & I got a snazzy purple t-shirt because I did it. Over $45.000 was raised. Not just by me, I'm not that good! Thank you to everyone who donated. It's for a wonderful cause.

Alzheimer's Disease

This Sunday I am walking in a very important event. It is the 2007 Alzheimer's Memory Walk. My family has a Loved One with Alzheimer's so this walk is very important to us. There are walks held all over the states but this one is being held at Lippold Park in Crystal Lake, IL. It is a 3 mile course. I hope I make it. I can't remember the last time I actually walked 3 miles all at the same time. But it is for a good cause so I will drag myself over the finish line if I have to. Did you hear that family? Actually you will be the ones dragging me. Please eat your Wheaties that day.

I am going to shamelessly ask for donations. There I said it. I wasn't going to but I did. If you want more information about the walk you can go to http://tinyurl.com/2ke5to

If you would like to donate to my team leave a comment with your e-mail address & I can get you the information. It is very easy to do. It is all done online.

Alzheimer's is a horrible disease. For family & friends all we want is for it to be over. But then if it is over our Loved One is gone & we don't want that either. We are between a rock & a hard place.

Ok I have stepped off my soapbox. Thanks for listening.

I promise to write something funny tomorrow. :0)

Tinkles & FlutterPonies

I love to listen to the Princess talk. Sometimes we have the best conversations. Once in awhile I forget that I am talking to a 3 year old.

A few weeks ago I asked her if she wanted juice. She looked at me & said,"No Mom, I'm good."

I keep forgetting that she is really a 15 yr old little girl in a 3yr old body. She can sing the words to several songs that Queenie listens to. Most of then I have never heard of, but that's ok. I'm a Mom & I don't get out much. Queenie & the Princess have a little game going on. Whenever Queenie says "Sweet", the Princess will answer "totally". It's pretty cute to listen too.

My favorite conversation so far happened two nights ago. I was in the bathroom with her drying her off after her bath. Here is how it went.

Princess: "Mom do Tinkles come out of my butt?"
Me: "Yes they do."
Princess: "Do PooPoo's come out of my butt?"
Me: "Yes they do."
Princess: "Do FlutterPonies come out of my butt?"
Me: "Um, no they don't."
Princess: "Can I have a pop tart?"

I was trying so hard not to laugh. The FlutterPony thing came out of no where. I didn't expect her to ask that. But then again I don't expect her to say a lot of the stuff that she says.

I hope one day I can remember this conversation so I can tell her about it.

Mom, we're out of soap!

This morning I step into the shower only to discover there is a dime size piece of soap in there. I of course am already wet at this point. I step out of the shower to grab another bar. I can't find any. It sure would of been nice if my family would of shared the fact that they were putting the last bar of soap in the shower. I could of avoided this whole dripping all over the floor thing. I step back in the shower & the Mom in me thinks that I can do this. After all I am "Super Mom"! Of course I can shower with a tiny piece of soap. As I pick it up it slides out of my fingers & I watch as it goes down the drain. Crap! What can I use now? There is no soap. Oooh there is shampoo, I can use that. So I shower AND wash myself with shampoo. I thought only guys did that. All day long I felt bouncy & shiny. I wonder if anyone noticed?

I love Monday's

Yesterday I changed all the sheets on all the beds. It's a Monday thing. I washed everything from The Princess's bed. Including her My Little Pony comforter & blanket. I figured if I couldn't remember when I had washed them last, it was time. I meant the comforter & blanket here not the sheets. I'm just sayin'. Just before nap I put her bed back together. It always takes a while to get hers put back together. She has so much stuff on the floor in her room that I almost always come out of there injured by a stray lego that has embedded itself in my knee or a stab wound from a My Little Pony Unicorn horn. Her room is a war zone. After I put her bed together & get the required amount of injures while doing it, I have to put back all the animals & crap(I meant that in a good way)that she sleeps with. There are several things that HAVE to be on the bed or we can't sleep. Who knew?

Nemo has to be on her pillow, Calliou goes next to her. Cup sits between the pillow & bed rail. Plastic Pringles from her kitchen live under her pillow just in case the Tooth Fairy comes while she is sleeping. (I have no idea why the Tooth Fairy is collecting chips now.) A microphone in case we want to sing before we go to sleep, Mickey goes on her other side. There are also various kitchen utensils from her kitchen. Just in case she feels the need to cook I guess. Then on top of everything goes her yellow blanket. Yellow blanket is really a Baby Bop green & pink blanket that Queenie made for her. Because it is the same colors as Baby Bop, it became Yellow Blanket. Makes perfect sense to me.

The last & most important thing is her YaYa. It is really a Taggie from taggie.com

I have no idea why she calls it a YaYa. She has always called it that.

Rule #1 You must NEVER go to sleep with out your YaYa. If you do all Hell will break loose.

Rule #2 NEVER lose the Yaya.

Easier said then done let me tell you. She loves to hide it inside of things. I have gone on a search & destroy mission more then once at night looking for the darn thing. Nothing like playing Hide & seek at 9:30 at night. It's big fun.

The Princess takes a great nap on her nice & clean bed, on top of everything this time.
"Not under Mom, on top".

When she gets up she informs me that she needs new pants because hers are wet. I go into her room only to discover that the bed I painstakingly made a few hours ago is soaked & I get to wash it again.
Lucky me.

I love Mondays.