My Future Jayhawkers

Attic Remodel (part 1)

2011-12-30T16:47:00.003-06:00

Stairs to Attic - looking up

Top of stairs to Attic - our front door

It took us a week, but we did it. We painted - 3 coats of white - the walls, trim and windows. Pulled up the old white carpet (that had food stains, marker stains, and yes vomit stains). We were going to replace the carpet, but when hauling out the old carpet we ripped the padding - and there were hardwood floors underneath. So we pulled up the padding as well. K removed all the carpet tack strips, and S and R and I pulled up all the staples holding the padding in place. We did the same to the stairs that were also carpeted since those too were hardwood floors.

Here are the pictures of the finished product. Did forget to mention we mopped the floor twice w/Murphy Oil Soap. If you look closely you'll see the lavendar walls we painted over in the closet. (We are not repainting the closet - boys don't care and K and I are exhausted/sore from all of this hard work.) We still need to remove their old dressers and bring up the better ones we have in the basement - but that is a job for tomorrow.

The last 3 pics are of the other half of the attic we need to finish. First we need to hire an Electritian to come out and put in another outlet or two (there's only one) and an overhead light. Once that is done we need to put in a sub-floor, and then the carpet and padding. Lastly the trim.

This will probably be the 1/2 the boys sleep in and their dressers, and the half that's finished will end up being a place for the TV, a couple of desks, and a futon.

It really is the simple things . .

2011-10-09T22:45:00.001-05:00

. . . that can make a day memorable. Today we took the all the monkees to the KC Pumpkin Patch (http://www.kcpumpkinpatch.com/). They have a ton of stuff to do, and it can get a little crowded so we went on a Sunday. Wanted to make sure that T wouldn't have any anxiety about the large number of people.

Anyhoo they have a zip-line for the kids to do. They adjust it so the most a kid is off the ground is a few inches. T wanted to do this, and we never turn him down when he wants to try something new. Not only did he do it, but he got off beaming saying "I did it, and I wasn't even scared!!!".

My mom told us later she wasn't sure who was more proud me and K or T. :)

Now most are wondering why this is the moment that made the day memorable. For a family with a "normal" child it's no big deal. But for us, it's a big deal. You never know how T is going to react to something. Most people we tell that he's Autistic don't really believe us - until they've been around him a bit and they pick up on the little things: holding things in his hand, lack of personal space/property, tantrums over simple tasks, etc.

I love the look of pure joy on his face (not fear or terror that we were expecting). That's K in the back ground - parents weren't really allowed back there, but this is the only time we break the rules.

The little things that remind me of my kids

2011-07-26T15:15:00.000-05:00

Even though I have a great pic of all 4 kids as my wallpaper on my work computer it always amazes me the weird and little things that remind me of my kids:

1. Recently had to resupply my personal stash of sticky notes - they had purple, blue and green along w/the traditional yellow. I opted for the purple (Baby A's favorite color), blue (T's favorite color) and green (R & S's favorte colors). Now which one do I use first?

2. Any of the little kids waiting with their mom/dad at the bus stops by the Bank.

3. When listening to Pandora.com - if a song w/a good beat comes on I immediately picture Baby A dancing away.

4. Cottage cheese - T asks for it ALL the time, and everytime I see it on the salad bar in the deli here at work his little voice pops in my head asking for some.

5. Crap in the vending machines - it's all the bad stuff the kids love that I rarely let them have.

6. My re-usable water bottle/cup at work - if I ever do bring it home I'm bombarded by T and Baby A for a drink.

7. Toilet paper - yes, toilet paper. Baby A either doesn't use any or uses way to much. (Can you tell I've dug a few handfuls of toilet paper out of the toilet when she's used to much.)

8. Highlighters - any time K brings the kids to my office for a visit Baby A wants to color and uses my highlighters. I have some great highlighter art hanging in my cube at work

Homemade Yogurt

2011-07-25T13:07:00.000-05:00

Using my new fancy crockpot http://www.walmart.com/ip/GE-6-Quart-Digital-Slow-Cooker/12442589 I made a batch of homemade yogurt. If I can figure out how to attach a word document I'll post the recipe.

So far so good - it's straining right now. First attempt didn't turn out so good. Baby A I think was playing with the buttons and turned up the heat to high. So by the time I added the "starter" (aka yogurt w/live active cultures) it was too hot and it killed 'em. This time I learned my lesson and put the crockpot further back on the counter and she left it alone.

Since I doubled the recipe I had two batches to strain. The first batch didn't take long, and turned out nice and creamy. The 2nd batch got left a little longer (about 1/3 of the results) and was nice, thick, and creamy like Greek Yogurt. I got a little over 2 cups from the first batch that I strained, and 1 cup from the 2nd batch. T & Baby A got small bowls from the first batch sweetened w/ a little splenda, vanilla flavoring and sugar-free chocolate syrup. Both inhaled it....so it must be good!! ;)

Now I didn't have a wire mesh strainer - just a plastic one - two actually. I set-up my largest collander with the cheese cloth, and the smaller one with a coffee filter. Both worked equally well - did have to "stir" both to get ensure all the whey was removed.

All in all - fun project and will do again with skim or 2%. However, did spend more time removing the finished product from the coffee filter/cheese cloth than I had making it. On to try Cottage Cheese per T.

15mos w/o Cable TV

2011-07-15T13:51:00.000-05:00

April 2010 we turned off our cable (aka Dish network). Since then we've been using a basic attena on our old tube TV, and watching Netflix through our Wii.

Christmas 2010 we got a deal on a HDTV and were able to get HD channels w/our attena as well as still watch Netflix through our Wii.

Around that same time my parents gots us a nice Sony Blue-Ray player what was WiFi ready. Now we can watch Netflix in our bedroom.

We don't watch many TV shows/series so this works for us. Our kids still get to watch movies and cartoons either through the local channels or Netflix.

The best is that our $100+/mo cable bill is now only $10 for our Netflix subscription. Which is a good thing as all that money we saved is now going towards our grocery bill. :(

Yes, we did spend some $$ upfront to get the two antennas (less than $100 total) - we don't count the new TV as we were buying that regardless of having cable or not. It was our Christmas present to ourselves. :)

Diary vs Diarrhea

2011-07-14T16:22:00.000-05:00

Conversation between me, R, and S one Saturday afternoon:

While getting all 4 kids situated in the mini-van and checking that R & S had their DS with them and plugged in I noticed S was hiding something. (His DS close to his chest.)

Me: S what are you hiding?
(S says nothing, but R chimes in.)
R: It's a secret
Me: What?
R: A secret. You know his diarrhea.
Me: Diarrhea? You mean diary. I assuming they were using the chat/text function on their DS
R: NO - Diarrhea. His secret writtings.
S: Yay - it's my Diarrhea
Me: No R, you mean Diary. Diarrhea is runny poop.
R & S: Really?
Me: Yes, Diary is a journal, secret writings, etc. Diarrhea is runny poop that you can get sometimes with a tummy ache.
R & S: Oh (as comprehension dawns)

Mind you I did this all without luaghing, but K was in the front seat laughing hysterically to himself.

Some of our bad parent moments . . . .

2011-07-13T12:51:00.000-05:00

1. During the summer we hardly bathe the kids - as they're usually outside playing in the blow-up pool, water guns or slip 'n slide. Plus they all excema and frequent bathing will irritate it.

2. Baby A is my only child that'll wear PJ's to bed....the boys all insist on boxer briefs and sometimes a t-shirt

3. Give T & S their ADHD meds even on the weekends even though we've been told we don't have to

4. Been known to send the kids to bed w/o brushing their teeth

5. Only way to get Baby A to goto bed is to bribe her w/laying in Mommy/Daddy's bed and watching "Blues Clues"

6. Been known to make PBJ for b-fast, lunch and dinner all in one day. Hey - they asked for it so why not?!?!

7. Half the time the kids go outside we forget sunscreen or bug repellent spray or both

8. Baby A loves to fold towels - and I gladly let her. And yes, I don't re-do them - just take what she folded and put 'em in the linen closet.

9. Been known to lock myself in the bathroom for a lot longer than it takes to go pee.

10. Can't do this w/ the boys 'cause they're getting too big or T just moves too much, but when Baby A is the first awake on a weekend day we have her come sleep w/us as 99% of the time she'll go back to sleep and so do we.

I sometimes wonder . . .

2011-07-11T16:54:00.000-05:00

. . . . if my darling daughter knows she's not meant to be on this Earth long. No, she's not ill or anything. But she's so stuborn and onery - more so than all 3 boys combined - I occasionally have the flash of thought that she's not long for this world and this is her way to ensure she's remembered. It's almost like she's trying to cram as much "living" into the time she does have.

Morbid horrible thought? Yes it is . . . which is why it's here. I don't dare say anything to K 'cause he'll think I'm out of my mind, etc.

FWIW - I've only had this thought about her, and it saddens me every time I have it. Which thankfully isn't all that often (maybe 3x in the last 2 years).

How long does it take a 4yo to destroy Grandma's basement . . .

2011-06-27T16:44:00.000-05:00

. . . .I'm assuming 5 minutes, but she was at Grandma's for at least 6hrs last Friday. This was the result:

Have they taken gender neutral too far??

2011-06-27T16:39:00.000-05:00

http://beta.news.yahoo.com/no-him-her-preschool-fights-gender-bias-122541829.html

IMO - Yes and No.

Yes - not using "him" or "her" doesn't teach the child that there is a difference between being female or male. Those differences should be embraced...not hidden as of something to be ashamed of. I think gender equality could be attainded more by what the children are exposed to rather than ignoring the difference between the girlie girl and the manly man.

No - I think they have a good idea, but their approach is a little off. None of my boys ever wanted to play dress up. Even after Halloween when they all had their costumes. However, now that my daughter is 4yo and wants to play dress up the boys have gotten into it and will help her dress up and they'll participate by dressing up in old Halloween costumes. Yes, my sweet husband just rolls his eyes, but neither he nor I stop them. It's all fun, and for once all 4 are playing well together. Once again it's what they're exposed to - if everything they're exposed to is treated equally then doesn't that help to eliminate the differences in gender?

Along the lines of thought in my comment under the "No" section - my boys have always loved helping me cook, bake, etc. I encourage it as some day they will be adults and will need to fend for themselves - even if it is just making Mac 'n Cheese or Ramen Noodles. Then there's my daughter that loves to get the same toy as the boys in a Happy Meal. She's right there with them taking sticks and making a gun out of them, or playing some other game. She's defnitely a girlie-girl with a big dash of tomboy thrown in for good measure. (Picture a 3yo in her Cinderella costume in the sandbox making sand angels with the biggest grin.)

Maybe I'm off base....then again I am the mother that paints her sons' tonenails right along with her daugher's . :D

great pic of the kids

2011-06-13T14:45:00.001-05:00

Mind you my mother probably took this about 9mos ago - but still it's a great picture: everyone is smiling and looking at the camera. Top: S and A, bottom R and T (L to R)

F R E E - from the annoyance of diapers!

2011-06-06T15:02:00.000-05:00

Yes, you read that correctly. No more diapers or pull-ups here, we're all big kids and go on the toilet in our house!!!!!

Okay - I'll admit T & A still wear night time pull-ups occasionally, but for the most part: NO MORE DIAPERS!!!!

Now all the money we save on diapers/pull-ups is paying for groceries. . . . . {sigh}

Medication Roulette

2011-06-06T15:00:00.000-05:00

T's medication roulette since his Aug 2010 diagnosis of PDD-NOS/ADHD:

* The first medication T was on for his ADHD, Metadate 20mg, worked - but it just didn't last throughout the day as it was intended. (He was on this for 2-3 mos)

* Next there was Vyvanse 20mg - worked, and lasted as long as was intended, but something just wasn't quiet right. (He was on this at least 6mos)

* 3rd bet was on Concerta 27mg. OMG the boy was just out of it. Called the Dr office and they prescribed 18mg. Seemed to work, but everytime we tried it w/in 48hrs he had an awful cough, runny nose and fever. (He was on this for a month.)

* Back to Vyvanse 20mg to finish out the school year - 4 weeks left, cross your fingers he has more good days than bad.

* Now we're trying Synaptol. It might be a whole bunch of bulshit...but it's cheaper than the ADHD meds and figured we owed it to T to at least try. http://www.synaptol.com/

Then there's his anxiety issues, the stuttering, lack of appetite, and chronic runny nose. We have no idea if any of these are the result of the medication or if they were exacerbated by the medication.

P A R T Y ! ! ! ! !

2010-11-22T13:25:00.000-06:00

It's been 3 weeks with only 2 small pee accidents, but I'm calling the boy Potty Trained. Heck T even slept in big boy underware last night and woke up dry. So not is he day trained, but on the right track to being night trained.

K and I have been excited every afternoon when he gets home from school to see how he did.....so much so that K will text me if he was dry all day or not.

Now K is looking for a blue r/c car for the boy. 'Cause a promise is a promise.

{sigh} If only little miss stuborn would follow suit.....we could finally be done with diapers/pull-ups!!!!

The price I get to pay to Potty Train the T-Man

2010-10-27T14:10:00.000-05:00

Yes, the boy is 5yo. Yes, he still wets himself. Worse yet, he still poops himself. We have done everything to convince him to stop doing both.

I think we finally found his currency - Radio Controled Car. No, not a cheapy from Radio Shack, but the kind daddy races.

Lessoned learned by K - stop teaching the boy to read on the potty - specifically your R/C Car magazines.

Last year for x-mas the big boys, S & R, each got a pretty nice R/C car. So we're getting the same thing for the T-Man if he can continue to relieve himself in the toilet rather than his pants.

The best thing a mother could hear. . .

2010-10-14T09:49:00.000-05:00

. . . . . I went to the boy's school on Monday to have lunch with them both (T & S). While sitting with T and helping him and the other Kindergartener's a little boy, J, told me T was his friend. Then a little girl next to us, I, stated she likes T and likes to help him.

Why can't they stay this naive, sweet and understanding forever? He's accepted now, but I know that will change as they get older.

However, I'm choosing to live for the moment and relish the fact my autism spectrum/ADHD child has friends.

Bullying and Food Allergies

2010-09-28T12:28:00.000-05:00

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39389689/?Gt1=43001

My oldest is allergic to Walnuts and Pecans - aka Tree Nuts. To be safe we avoid all foods with any trace of a Tree Nut (including almonds, hazelnuts, etc). I make sure his school knows, and there's even a sign outside his classroom declaring it a Tree Nut free zone.

I would be furious if someone did this to my child, and I find this article distrubing. However, what's even more distrubing were the comments. Many stated the child needed to stand up for themselves, how ridiculous to call a PBJ a deadly weapon, so on and so on.

What these ignorant individuals don't understand is that not everyone reacts the same - what will not cause an allergic reaction in one person may throw the other into full anaphlactic shock.

It is my belief that if the child in the story did go into anaphlactic shock from having peanut butter smeared on his forehead then the Bully should have been charged with attempted murder. It's no different then that child pointing a gun at someone and pulling the trigger to see what happens - it could have grazed the targeted individual or it could kill.

Bored. . . .

2010-09-27T14:02:00.000-05:00

. . . here I sit at work waiting on the network to get it's head out of it's arse and process my file.

I could get a top of the line PC at work and I'd still be sitting here with my thumb up my own arse with nothing to do.

I can't even open up MS Excel or Interent Explorer as that will interfere with the operation of MS Access I have running. Hell I had force MS Outlook to close.

So here I sit unable to do anything else.

3rd Grade Reading. . . . .

2010-09-10T12:54:00.000-05:00

. . . . .in K and 1st S would read when asked w/o any problems. In 2nd he'd read, but reluctantly. Now by 3rd it's like pulling teeth to get him to read anything longer than a Dr. Seuss book.

So, when the first book order came home I was reluctant to purchase anything. However, the boy begged for the "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" series. He hadn't finished book one last Spring before it had to be returned to the school library. No problem - $24 for 4 books didn't seem too bad considering R wants to read them as well. Of course I'll be reading them too.

S also wanted "39 Clues" and the Percy Jackson series. Luckily Grandma had purchased the Percy Jackson books and let us have them. I've read the first and it was pretty good. Now to just get the boy interested.

As for "39 Clues" I found Book One at the KC Library and checked it out. He seemed excited at first, but still can't get him to read it. Glad I didn't spend the $69 to get the 10 book package from Scholastic.

I guess I just need to take the boy to the local library and have him check out some chapter books he's interested in and will actually read.

Little saddened by the thought that S doesn't enjoy reading. I remember my mom and I both reading books and talking about them when I was this age.....I was just hoping we could do the same. However, it looks like T will be my reader just gotta give it a few years.

Family Photo - FINALLY!!

2010-09-07T08:59:00.003-05:00

L-R: R, T, me, K, A, and S

S, T, R and Baby A

I always thought I was . . .

2010-09-01T13:32:00.000-05:00

. . . technically savey. I mean I got our Wii hooked up to our ATT router/modem and we're now watching Netflix via that.

However, a couple of weeks ago my mother bought us a BluRay player. This damn thing has all the bells and wistles....and yes, it's WiFi ready and is pre-programed to stream Hulu, NetFlix and others.

Trying to get it hooked up to our WiFi was interesting. I'd tried various things - but nothing seemed to work. Remind you I was doing this in the evenings after the kids had gone to bed.

Took K calling ATT getting some info, registering the product at Sony, registering the product w/Netflix, and inputting the code from Netflix on the BluRay player when prompted to get everything up and running. Once again, advantages to having K home w/the kiddo(s).

Anyhoo - I'm in love. I can now fold laundry in our bedroom and watch old episodes of Stargate SG-1, or catch-up on missed episodes of Bones. At this point our bedroom is the cleanest place in the whole house....not sure if I should be proud or embarassed. ;)

First packet of paper work. . . .

2010-08-30T08:49:00.000-05:00

. . . . arrived on Friday - from the St of Mo. So we took Baby A to the park to play and K and I filled it out. Really I filled it out - K just signed here and there and gave me his SSN when needed. It's going out in the mail today. I have a feeling we make to much to get any free services - which is going to suck because we can't afford to pay for his treatment. Well we can - be we'd have to go into some serious debt. Which we'll do if we have to, but we're "this close" to being debt free. By Jan 2012 we would've had K's grandparents paid off, and the 2 remaining 401(k) loans. I know we can take out a hardship w/drawal from my 401(k) but there's hardly anything in there now.

I just keep telling myself - get him services, then we'll worry about how to pay for them.

It's going to be a looooong journey

2010-08-26T12:19:00.000-05:00

T was diagnosed a week ago with PDD-NOS and ADHD. We saw his regular Ped on Tues and got a prescription for the lowest dose of Metadate (10mg). We also requested he be tested for Lead, and Doc recommend a thyroid test as well.

We're on day 2 of the meds - not sure if it's made a difference in his behavior since he's been at school all day, but hopefully by the weekend we'll be able to see a difference. Do have to note that when I was talking to K on my way home last night from work T was in the background and was talking up a storm. He always talks, but he seemed to talk with more ease - like he didn't have to search a scattered brain for the right word(s).

We're going in early Friday to have his blood test for the Lead and Thyroid. Also having Baby A tested for Lead as well since she still puts anything and everything in her mouth. Should be fun morning - getting all the kids to Children's Mercy at 7am when the outpatient lab opens to have blood drawn. S is having blood drawn to do Tree Nut sensitivity test.

Feel good about the ADHD and such - but still feel overwhelmed with all the info out there on PDD-NOS and autism in general. I've been totally scattered brained at work since last Thursday so today and tomorrow I have the day off to organize all the info, and basically organize our life. Hopefully 4 days is enough to get us enough organized so I don't feel too stressed and can re-focus on work when I'm at work.

Am I the only one???

2010-08-24T14:30:00.000-05:00

Maybe I'm reading too much into things, but the more I read about PDD-NOS the more I believe I have it.

K and I have been reading the "100 Day Kit" from Autism Speaks. http://www.autismspeaks.org/community/family_services/100_day_kit.php

Within this document there's a page (Page 16 of the .pdf) that states the strengths. Scarily all but one I have (the artistic ability). Then there's the "Social Symptoms" (pg 13 of the .pdf) - OMG, that's me again.

I know there's a genetic link, and I wonder if my parents ever noticed? Maybe because I was blessed with a strong will and independence I was able to compensate for my short-comings?

How many others are out there that are undiagnoised, but are functioning members of society?

Maybe we are the norm, and those that were the norm are now the abnormality?

Our new journey into Autism

2010-08-23T13:06:00.000-05:00

Last Thursday T was diagnoised as ADHD and Pervasive Development Disorder - Not Otherwise Specified (aka PDD-NOS). The ADHD we kinda suspected and we can deal with that - have been dealing with it for the last 5yrs with S.

However, PDD-NOS (a condition on the autism spectrum) was not what we were expecting.
http://www.autismspeaks.org/navigating/pdd_nos.php

Searching the internet doesn't help either - soooo much information it makes one feel overwhelmed and that there's no hope.

However, I have a wonderful husband and father who is researching and calling everyone he can to get T the services he needs. K was hoping to re-join the work force this Fall, but due to T's diagnoises he's going to wait until next Fall - we assume by then everything should be under control.

I must confess that I cry a little each day - wondering how such a sweet, adorable and loving boy could have this. Why him? I'm also mourning the loss of what I dreamed he would be like when he grew-up. I'm not saying it still isn't possible - but it's a long road filled with obstacles that he may or may not over come.

Two down....one more to go

2010-08-16T22:12:00.000-05:00

Today was not only the first day of school, it was the first day of Kindergarten for T.

I was nervous and anxious the whole day when S started Kindergarten, but with T I actually cried.

All day I've been trying to figure this out, and I've come to the following conclusion:

S has ADHD, and I think I was more worried how he would do in a new school, etc than anything. With T though - he's so far behind and immature for his age (he's one of the youngest) compared to his peers I just wanted today to be a happy day.

So far so good. Both boys had a good day. Only time will tell

He's as Asshole. . .

2010-08-09T08:06:00.000-05:00

. . . an inconsiderate moronic asshole. No, not my sweet attentive husband....my ex-H, aka DSSD (dip-shit sperm donor).

This weekend was his weekend with S. However, MO was having their tax-free weekend and I wanted to take S back-to-school shopping on Friday night I requested we exchange Saturday morning. He agreed.

No mind you he lives in Lawrence, KS and we live in Raytown, MO - about 50 miles. There's no good "meet in the middle" spot so on Friday we usually do the one closer to him (DeSoto), and on Sunday we usually do the one closer to me (Woodland Rd). Well Saturday he drive 3/4 of the way to meet K with S & R at the Hobby Store.

SO - trying to be fair and nice I text him (the only way he'll communicate with me) 7pm at DeSoto on Sunday? He agrees. Well it was pretty hot and the a/c in the car only works so-so, plus construction detour, etc so I texted him Sunday mid-morning asking if we could change it to 7:30pm still at DeSoto. He agrees.

As I'm leaving the house at 7pm to meet him at 7:30pm I get a text stating "we're here". I of course respond - well, since we were meeting at 7:30 I'm just leaving the house. Fine whatever - they can wait on me for once. Plus there's McD's there so if need be they can get the boy something to eat.

As I'm driving - delayed by the detour (stupid sink hole in the highway) - and almost to DeSoto I get another text telling me they're in the shade at Wendy's. Wendy's???? WTF - do not tell me they went to Woodland Rd. Text and ask - and lo and behold yes they are at Woodland Rd.

I don't even respond, take the next exit and turn around. DSSD then calls wondering when I'll be there. I polietly mention that since we were meeting at 7:30pm in DeSoto that that is where I was....but I have turned around and headed back to Woodland Rd (which is 6 miles from DeSoto).

So I got to spend an extra 15 minutes driving to get the boy last night 'cause that shit head can't remember WTF is going on. Once again proof from the Universe that us being divorced is a good thing.

I'm soooo burnt out on work. . . . .

2010-08-02T13:44:00.000-05:00

. . . .and my life. I haven't had more than a day off since the last 2wks in December 2009. Even then I probably shouldn't have taken those 2 weeks 'cause I worked my ass off all January (50-60/hr weeks).

Even when I do get home at a decent hour there's sooo much to do there that I don't have the mental capacity left after working all day to make a list and get it done. I shit you not we have over 4wks worth of clean laundry just in piles in the spare bedroom - it's embarassing.

What sucks is my lack of motivation is what is 'causing me now to work longer hours. I just can't focus on the task at hand. Even as I mark things off my list of things "to do" - there's still another list forming in my head. It's a vicious circle and I really wish it would form into a triangle or square or something so I knew there was a end in sight.

Could my lack of motivation be depression? Don't know and probably won't until the end of August when I can finally take some time off and get myself to the doctor.

Back to work now - and yes work, and not surfing the internet (well at least for a couple of hours).

Fast Food Gods must hate me. . . .

2010-07-30T08:00:00.001-05:00

. . . . or just love f-ing w/me.

Ever since we moved to the Big City almost 3 years ago about 80% of the time I go get Fast Food something goes wrong. It's not one particular place, time, order, etc.....it's just me. K can go and get stuff, and as long as I'm not there nothing ever goes wrong. Oddly we never ever have a problem with having Pizza delivered - go figure.

I seriously never had this problem in Larryville or Smallsville. Could it just be the Big City? Does their service suck that bad? There's a million ppl here and these places can't find decent help?!?!?

Now that I think about it I've had problems at regular resturants as well - slow service, out of shit, you name it. Once again all in the Big City.

At this point I'm taking this as a sign that we no longer need fast food in our lives, and we've cut back to once - maybe twice a week. I personally would love to take this as a sign that we need to move back to smallville - but that's not an option now.

Been doing pretty good and on the average we've been sticking to the 1-2 times per week. I'm just hoping our checking account balance reflects this change in habit soon.

UPDATE: My Coke Addition

2010-07-29T16:55:00.000-05:00

http://jhawker-fan.blogspot.com/2010/04/confession-im-addicted-to-coke.html

Well the last time I tried to quit I didn't do too good. Fell of the wagon and over-induldged myself. Didn't help that Wally World has a 6-pack of 24 oz bottles on sale for $3.00 - yes, $ .50 per bottle!!!

The end of June we decided it was time to get serious about no fast food, and I was to give up my beloved Coke. K gave up taking the kids to lunch at McD's, BK, etc during the week. I have not had a regular coke since then....4 whole weeks. Weeks 1, 2 and even 3 were no problem...however, this last weekend and continuing into this week I've been Jonesing for a Coke baaaaaaaadddddd.

So today I broke down, went to CVS, and bought myself a Diet Coke w/Lime. This is only the 3rd carbinated beverage I've had since going cold turkey. Needless to say I now have a headache, and am regretting my decision.

Then again it could just be sugar overload from the Little Debbie Oatmeal Creme Pie!! OMG those things are sooo good!! Definitely better than my yogurt sitting in the fridge at work.

I'm hoping if I can channel my stuborn side to stick to the "no coke" rule, maybe - just maybe, I'll be able to stick to my diet and no fast food rule.

Strong-willed Child . . . . .

2010-07-29T08:39:00.000-05:00

. . . . my ass.

My dear sweet daughter is the most stubborn intelligent independent child I have ever met. For those that know me yes, she's my daughter I know where she gets it - but still, my mother says I was never as awful as she.

Last night she threw a temper tantrum for 30 minutes. She broke the rules and she was pissed. She knows she needs to stay in bed - no talking, screaming, playing or jumping - or she loses her movie. She lost her movie.

Since she wouldn't stay in bed after her initial punishment for getting out of bed I removed a toy everytime she got out of bed. By the end of the night there were no toys left in her room and I had filled two laundry baskets. I told her if she was quiet and stayed in bed for 5 minutes she could earn one toy back - her bear, but the rest she would get tomorrow.

All of this started at 8:45pm last night. I think I finally got to give her her bear back around 9:20pm.

So this morning Daddy gets to be the hero and give her toys back......however, every time she throws a screaming crying fit he's to take a toy. It'll probably take a week before we start to see any improvement - just hope we can hold out that long.

Apparently the universe has a very sick sense of humor....the "mother's curse" - I hope you have a child that's as bad as you - didn't quiet work. My mother has told me more than once that I got the child that my brother should have. Also, I now understand why my mother always said "if I had your brother first there would be no more".....lucky for me he's the youngest.

Zucchini, zucchini and more zucchini

2010-07-28T14:11:00.000-05:00

For the past 3wks we've been getting zucchini from CSA. I'm not much of a squash fan, but we have grilled/broiled some and had it with spaghetti. However I can only each so much. So this lead me to the internet to start my quest for a zucchini bread recipe. Luckily I'm smart and I went straight to Food Network and Paula Deen. I was not disappointed - she did indeed have a Zucchini Bread Recipe.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/zucchini-bread-recipe/index.html

I've made this twice and both times it's turned out fantastic. Do need to point out some of the small modifications I made based upon the comments:
1. Did not add the water as I did not thoroughly dry the shredded zucchini
2. Reduced the total sugar to 2.5 cups with 1.5 cups being white sugar and 1 cup brown sugar
3. Thoroughly spray your pan w/PAM or other non-stick spray
4. I put in 3 cups of shredded zucchini
5. Added 1/2-1 teaspoon of Baking Powder (in addition to the baking soda)
6. Added 1/2-1 teaspoon of Ground Ginger
7. Added a tablespoon of vanilla extract

Did want to point out that this is a very dense bread, and it should be about the consistancy of chocolate chip cookie dough. If it's too runny add some flour. Also, I did end up baking mine at 335 for 90 minutes the 2nd time around. The first time I followed the recipe and the top did sink in a bit - not this last time.

I will say that before I even added the zucchini I kept thinking of all the things I could add instead - dried cranberries, dried apricots, etc. Heck it would be good w/o anything added. Definitely will keep this recipe around - especially since K actually ate some this last time and couldn't believe how good it was. We shared two slices - one w/butter and one w/cream cheese....it was a toss up which was better.

Bonus: this is what the kids had for breakfast this morning w/sausage and now one loaf is almost gone. :D

Aaaahhhh - 20yr HS Reunion

2010-07-24T19:28:00.000-05:00

The class of 1990 at EHS always seems to do low key reunions. Out of the 3 "events" schedule we only made it to one: the Picnic. Wasn't sure I wanted to go - I mean I haven't remaind in contact with anyone from HS. So why should I go?

Because if I didn't go then I wouldn't be abiding by my own new rule: be a better friend. I decided about a month ago that I've been a pretty shitty friend to what friends I do have and I'm striving to be a better friend. I may not physically get to see them, but I vowed I would send more e-mails and call more often.

Those that did make it to the Picnic it was great to see, chat, discuss laundry, our crazy kids, siblings, etc.

Did I rekindle any lasting friendships? I doubt it. But will I try to keep in touch more? Definitely.

Community Supported Agriculture (CSA)

2010-07-23T09:08:00.000-05:00

My employer partnered with Good Natured Family Farms for a Community Supported Agriculture (http://www.goodnatured.net/) to provide organic meats, fruits, veggies, dairy, grains, and eggs delivered to work weekly at $21/wk. (Payroll deduction of course.) They started this the first week of June and runs through the end of September.

We save 5-30% each week - plus it's delivered. I love the fact that everything is organic - even the meat. Bonus is we're getting produce we wouldn't purposefully buy at the store: yellow squash, zucchini, egg plant, swiss chard to name a few. The unexpected bonus is we've added new meals to our rotation - and K and I have started to enjoy cooking/prepping dinner together.

What's even more amazing is the kids know when it's Tuesday - 'cause I bring home food. If there's cheese we cut it up into cubes/sticks and start snacking. This last Tues. we got peaches....we ate 1/2 of them that night. I had forgotten how good fresh peaches are. K even got T hooked on slice tomatoes with a little salt on them.

Now this is not a regional nor midwest thing - but it's federally sponsored. Search Community Supported Agriculture and you'll get a ton of hits. I strongly urge you to recommend this great opportunity to your employer as it's a great way to give back to your community, and do something good for yourself!

Life with out Cable....and basic TV

2010-07-22T12:55:00.000-05:00

In an desperate attempt to find some extra $$ to support his R/C Car racing habit, K decided to turn off cable the end of April. We spent $40 to hook up the Wii to the internet, and now only pay $10/mo for Netflix rather than $100 for cable (aka Dish Network).

We did end up buying 2 cheap DVD players for the kids so they could at least watch DVD's in their rooms. (One for the boys since they share a room, and one for A.) And eventually we'll purchase a high-def TV so we can receive the local channels free.

Overall it really hasn't been much of an adjustment. Alot of the shows the kids want to watch are available via NetFlix instant que that they watch through the Wii. (You can do this with a Playstation as well.) K & I don't watch many TV shows regularly, but those that we do we've been getting the full season delivered to our door. So far we've gotten caught up on "House", and working our way through "Bones". Next on the list is "Eureka" and "Stargate SG-1". Also, got hooked on a BBC show "The Adventures of Merlin". If there's any current episode we want to watch we can goto http://www.hulo.com/ and they keep about 6 wks worth of episodes. Also, many of the networks put episodes out on the web.

As for movies we mainly watch those directly on our computer via Netflix. However, we occasionally toss one in the mix to be delivered to our door.

I must confess that I do miss watching junk on the boob-tube while folding laundry - which is probably why I have over a weeks worth of clean laundry to sort and fold. {sigh}

**Did want to mention that if you need help with all the techie stuff a friend's husband has started a blog with everything you ever wanted to know. :) Bonus is he's dumbed it down for idiots like myself!!
http://tech2090.blogspot.com/

B-I-N-G-O!!!

2010-07-21T08:29:00.000-05:00

Not the game, nor the song, but T's imaginary friend. Yes the name of his friend probably did come from the song since he and R had been singing it day's before. However, that is neither here nor there....what matters is that my son took the top of an acorn put it on his finger and made a friend - literally.

Bingo was born at the S & T's school playground from one of the many acorns around from the huge Oak tree on a lovely Saturday afternoon. Bingo survived T running around the playground and the grocery store. We even bought ice cream since Bingo wanted some. What kind of host would we have been had we not bought something our guest desired?!?!?

The original Bingo has disappeared.....but he has plenty of replacements in our front yard.

It's been 3wks since Bingo became my son's friend and he's around here and there....whenever T finds the top to an acorn.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!!

2010-07-20T08:44:00.000-05:00

Not that he reads this, but wanted to throw it out there. He's 66....a young 66.

Jokingly told him "Happy 21st birthday" on last Friday when were down....and he said 66 sucks since he can't switch the numbers around to make himself younger like with 65 (aka 56). My dad - a 66 yo smart ass.

My quest for the perfect meatloaf. . .

2010-07-20T08:39:00.000-05:00

. . . .for the last 1.5-2yrs I've been looking for a decent thick old fashioned traditional meatloaf.   I've been trying all sorts of concoctions - 90% losers, 10% winners. I'm not saying the losers are inedible, they're just not something I'd make again.

Well, this last weekend K requested Shepard's Pie. So not only did I get out 3lbs of hamburger to thaw, but he got out 3lbs.   Great....6lbs of meat, what is a girl to do?!?!?

Made Shepard's Pie - my version of it. Browned 1lb w/onions to use later for taco/nacho meat. Took the last 2lbs and decided to make Meatloaf. Once again knowing the last throw together didn't go over well I looked to the internet to find the perfect meatloaf.

Lo' and behold I found Paul Deen's recipe: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/old-fashioned-meat-loaf-aka-basic-meatloaf-recipe/index.html

Trust me....oatmeal in a meatloaf recipe??? Are you serious??? Yes, she is. And yes it was awesome. This recipe is sooooo simple and it's a good basic meatloaf - one that you can easily add, enhance, whatever.

Of course I made this following the recipe to a T - just as my mother taught me. However, here are my notes/thoughts on the final product:
1. Note Paula's recipe is for only 1lb of hamburger - and only calls for a small can of diced tomatos. If you use a 14-16oz can w/1lb it'll be mushy.
2. I probably used a little too much green peper for my taste, and thinking I should toss in some red pepper next time.
3. Thinking next time I need to add a little more salt & pepper, and add garlic powder
4. 80/20 hamburger is preferred.....so if you use a leaner meat you might need to cut back on the oatmeal. Otherwise your meatloaf will be too dense.
5. Added a little (1 Tbsp) Worchestershire sauce to the topping and a little more mustard than required since my boys love mustard.   (FWIW - the topping is awesome!!!)
6. Definitely can submstitute a can of rotel for the regular diced tomatos
7. I cooked my meatloaf in a 9x9 cake pan and it took about 1hr 15min.
8. My kids actually liked this one - however, may have to make extra of the sauce/topping the next time.

So overall I was impressed and will be making this again.

I love him, but. . . . .

2010-04-07T08:45:00.001-05:00

. . . . he can be soooooo cheap sometimes, and unfortunately this reminds me of my husband. (Click on image to enlarge.)

Confession: I'm addicted to Coke

2010-04-01T14:10:00.000-05:00

. . . Coca-Cola, you idiots!

However, my addiction is serious, and I'm a snob about where my Coke comes from. Preference is a fountain - Cherry over Classic, and then a 20oz bottle.....a can only if I'm desperate. Dispise diet - well, maybe not Diet Vanilla - it's actually pretty good. However, it's still not as satisfying as the REAL thing.

I try to give it up....my last endevor lasted 5 days. Made sure I took plenty of Tylenol and Ibuprofen to ward of the caffine withdrawal headaches. Had a cup o' joe each morning to get my caffine fix, and drank plenty of water.

Unfortunately I caved yesterday afternoon and went to go get a coke. I swear I was purring after the first drink. It relaxes me more than alcohol, and makes me more giddy than pot. Had another today and the caffine and sugar overload has given me a massive headache. So I'm back on the wagon. . . . . . . again.

We caved Tues nite

2010-04-01T09:38:00.002-05:00

And ordered Pizza from Papa Johns. Right now we love their $10/pizza deal. Especially since the kids can go through a large cheese pizza in one sitting.

So, after getting 3 pizzas we spent $40 - at least it was dinner Tuesday night for all 5 of us (R was at his mom's), and it was lunch for K and T/A on Wednesday. So, 8 meals = $5/meal.

What really stinks about this is if our oven was working we could've just had the frozen pizzas just sitting in our freezer for about a 1/4 of the cost. (yes I got a good deal - $1/pizza)

Unfortunately this won't be the last time we eat out this week. The kids (T/S) have a dentist appt on Friday so I know there will be some fast food involved then, but at least we get to head to Gma's for free dinner. :)

Hopefully next week we can stick to our "eating out only one time per week" rule.

Day 4 - No Fast Food

2010-03-28T18:32:00.003-05:00

. . . . . . and so far so good. Still don't know what we're doing next week in regards to meals, but at least we're on the right track of "no more fast food".

So far we haven't done anything drastic in the way we eat.....except smaller portions and we bought a bunch of healthy items for snacks yesterday.

To quote "What about Bob" - baby steps, baby steps.....and we'll get there.

Belt tightening time. . .

2010-03-27T10:14:00.002-05:00

. . .for not only our wallets, but our waists as well. K and I are both overweight....yes I'll say it (the word I hate so much) - obese. To top it off our spending is out of control - mostly on fast food and grocery/household items. So here's our first step towards eating better and spending less:

1. Bye-bye satelite TV - yes, at the end of April we're cancelling our subscription to DISH Network. Paying $80/mo to lay around and get fat watching TV is not in our best interest budget and health wise. So, it's gone. We've decided instead to going a local gym that has free babysitting for $35/mo for the whole family. Even if we use another $20 to rent movies, TV shows or even Wii games we're still saving $15-20/mo.

2. Good bye one cell phone - we each currently have one at $40/mo each it's a luxary we can no longer aford. We've researched and talked to a few friends and we'll be getting the MagicJack to establish a home phone. The one cell phone we'll keep I will mostly use since I work outside of the home. However we may even get rid of it by year-end.

3. Good-bye Hy-Vee and hello Aldi - we've shopped there occasionally in the past, but we do the bulk of our shopping at Wal-Mart and Hy-Vee. This is mostly due to convenience - they're w/in 3 miles of our house. Aldi on the other hand is 10 miles away. However, if we go there once a month to stock up on basics: canned veggies/fruit, b-fast items, non-parishable snacks, condiments, etc we can save at least 20% on our current monthly grocery bill. (FWIW - these are items we buy generic or store brand already.)

4. www.AngelFoodMinistries.com - we've tried this for the last 2mos and have been pleased. Now I wouldn't make a complete meal out of everything we've bought, but their food is a good cheap addition to our meals. K, who is very picky when it comes to his steaks, etc, was very pleased with the steaks, porkchops, hamburgers, etc we've purchased and grilled. They do offer fresh fruit/veggies but I prefer to buy them when we need them.

We still need to work on a monthly meal plan that I figure we'll need to fine tune each week depending on my work schedule, custody, holidays, kid's soccer schedule, etc. Another goal is to start using my crockpot more. Then hopefully by May we can rein in our spending even more.

That's it...I'm officially old

2009-07-27T17:05:00.002-05:00

Last night T was in pain from some baaaad diaper rash and would sleep for about 30 minutes and then wake up crying from any where to 1-2 mins to 5-10.

The only reason he got any sleep was because mommy slept with him for 1/2 the night. Luckily there's twin bed in his room for the older boys as we cuddled on that.

However, somewhere around 3-4am he decided he needed the twin bed to himself and wanted me to sleep on his toddler bed. Fine - I didn't argue. I slept like crap, my whole body aches, and never mind only getting little snipettes of sleep all night.

Sooo - glad I only worked 1/2 a day.....off to home and early bedtime for everyone - especially me.

Took T to the doctor this morning - has a raggin' yeast infection. Got a prescription for some cream...hopefully it'll do the trick. If not we're back at the Dr. on Friday. (If you haven't guessed this is why I only worked 1/2 a day...didn't make it in until noon.)

Should we do it?

2009-07-23T16:20:00.005-05:00

And by "it" I don't mean the dirty deed...get your minds out of the gutter!!

By "it" I mean rent out the extra bedroom in our basement. We're not talking long term - but we've been looking at the ads on Craigslist.com and there's a lot of people wanting something short term for $200-$400/mo.

We could definitely use the income. We'd have a little expense up front as we'd need to change the lock and deadbolt to the outside door downstairs since it's the same as the rest of the house. We don't need to, but I'd feel better if we did.

I just keep thinking if we could find a college student who works and is pretty quiet we'd be set. Plus I have dreams of being able to charge less in rent if they'd babysit at least one night a month. OMG - I get all twitter patted thinking about actually having someone I trust other than my parents to watch the kids so K and I could go out on an actual date!!!

Some people just never learn

2009-07-21T08:34:00.002-05:00

And by that I'm referring to myself.

Once again went to the store and on my way out dropped my phone in a grocery bag. Get home, K helped me unload and put away. Not thinking I just gave him the two bags for the freezer. As I'm heading out the door this morning realize I don't have my cell phone. Call if first, then realize where it's at.

At least this time it only took me about 12hrs rather than 2 weeks to figure it out.

It still works - for now. Seriously gonna have to look into LG appliances if their cell phones can take this kinda beating and still work.

Oooooowwwwww!

2009-07-20T11:53:00.002-05:00

That's my body protesting after all the hard manual labor I did on Saturday. Ironically felt pretty good Sunday - wasn't too sore, etc. But this morning it was hell getting out of bed....and this was even after taking two ibuprofen and an aleve (with two bottles of Mike's Hard Lemonade) before going to bed last night.

I feel like a nap, more drugs, and maybe even a drink. If I can just make it until 7:30pm I'm good....and I might actually goto bed at the same time the kids do. Gawd I'm getting old, and it sucks - wish my body could stay as young as my mind thinks I am.

What's that wet spot?

2009-07-19T22:06:00.003-05:00

That was the question Friday night and most of the day Saturday.

We have (had) carpet in our kitchen. Some crappy blue stuff about the texture of office carpet. It has multiple stains and overall just looks like shit. Seriously what dumbass puts carpet in a kitchen??? Then again - what morons buy a house with carpet in the kitchen with 4 kids??? Anyhoo - making dinner Friday night notice a spot of wet carpet by the dishwasher. Put down a towel - step on it to soak it up and all looks good. Get up Saturday and the same damn spot is there and I swear its wetter than it was the night before. Get another towel and all seems good. Since Saturday was sooo friggin' beautiful we headed to the park. We get home after the park and lunch, and that damn spot is still wet and wetter than when we left.

Okay - that's it. Ask K to rip up the carpet to see what the hell is going on. Can't you tell where this is going??? Do that and the pad and floor underneath (shitty old 70's linoleum) is soaked. So we ripped up ALL the carpet, ALL the padding, ALL the tack strips, and the zillion staples. Pull out the fridge - no leakage. Look under the dishwasher - looks good. Under the sink - good, but just in case cut a hole to check it out. Still looks good, but there's been some recent water near the front.

SO - we run the dishwasher and sure enough the bastard is leaking. GRRRREEEEAAAATTTT - NOT!!!

Our dishwasher is having a good ol' time with the old carpet and padding out on our deck.

My hands and arm muscles still hurt from pulling up all those damn staples. Seriously someone got a little too happy playing with the staple gun. However, removing all that crap is what we wanted to do eventually just not now. We don't have $$ for the new flooring we want nor the new dishwasher we'll need. Oh well - maybe by X-mas Santa will be nice and help us out.

Why does he take it soooo personally?

2009-07-17T14:04:00.002-05:00

R, my step-son, was 12 days shy of the cut-off to start Kindergarten last fall. So K's ex-w decides to have him attend private K at his current daycare center for the '08-'09 school year. Basically the same price for daycare - so no real big difference. Accademically he does great and he does pretty well socially. Especially since there's only like 10 kids there.

Anyhoo - fast forward to this Spring. R's mom has him tested and he's been admitted into the public school system as a first grader for this fall. '09-'10 school year. Well the boy is smart, but he's very whinny and is really lacking maturity.

I inform K of this that maybe having R goto 1st is a big mistake and that he should really repeat Kindergarten. This way he's on par with his peers and rather than being the youngest he's one of the oldest.

Well K is taking it as a personal attack on him. Even after I've explained that I think most of R's childish and immature behavior is because his mom babies him and waits on him hand and food. Then again K won't really bring this up to her 'cause then she takes it personally and a fight ensues. With those two it takes just one little spark to set-off an arguement....which is probably why he doesn't like talking to her. I've even heard him ask as in regards to R's best interest and she still gets defensive, etc.

Oh well - apparently R was just being a butt this morning and K has realized he does need to talk to her about his behavior as it's getting out of hand.

Somedays I'd just love to call her and lay it on the line for her because she needs a big reality check when it comes to K and R. Really do wish they made a "clue-by-4" as she needs a good smack with one.

Toddler Dictionary

2009-07-16T10:54:00.002-05:00

Over the years whenever my kids couldn't say something properly they'd make up their own word. So I don't forget here are the ones I remember and/or my favorites

kop-key = coffee (S)
kay-kay = pancakes (S)
butter = peanut butter and jelly sandwhich (T)
coffee = anything K or I drink that's in a can or coffee mug (T)
ma-dee = T's combination of mommy and daddy (and yes, we both answer)
la-la-loon = balloon (S)
zoom-zoom = car (S)
cake = anything that is cake or resembles cake (T)
down = up or down (A)
bay-kee = blankie (A)

The price you pay for eating dirt/mud. . .

2009-07-15T08:48:00.002-05:00

. . . is a raging fever for 5 days, extremly stinky and runny poo, oh and a severly bad case of diaper rash.

Yup - T's at it again. At least alternating the Tylenol and Motrin is controlling his fever - but it's done nothing for his whinniness.

We had him tested for a few bugs - but nothing positive. I personally think it's a virus....probably one of those that the Health Dept would call us on if they knew.

Oh well - at least the fever seems to have broken and the diarreha has stopped......just need to get the diaper rash to clear up.

Did you know that clouds can cry?

2009-07-15T08:44:00.002-05:00

Last Sunday we awoke around 8am to a pretty intense (if short lived) thunderstorm. T promptly tells me that "The clouds are crying". Ahhhhhhh - isn't that so cute and sweet. Well, it was until he informed me that they were crying because "You made the clouds mad mommy".

I seriously have no idea where the boy gets this stuff. Later after the storm had passed and the sun had come out he tells me "good morning mommy - it's daytime now". You see it was pretty dark - even at 8am - with all the cloud cover.

I love the boy to pieces....now if I could just get him to stop pissing himself.

When all else fails - check the deep freeze

2009-04-20T21:07:00.003-05:00

. . . . . that is if you're looking for a lost cell phone.

I'm assuming I've now piqued your interest...let me elaborate: approximately 4 weeks ago goto the bread store, buy lots of bread, when leaving store shove phone in bag, when get home K takes bag to freezer and shoves whole thing in, next day can't find phone, call all weekend, assume it's lost and have it shut off, don't order new phone as we now have land line, 4 weeks later go to get loaf of bread from freezer and empty bag K put in earlier....and find phone.

Amazingly not only did it still work it actually had battery life left. Been using it for a week w/no problems. LG phones get a gold star in my book.

Can the Potty Train please stop at our house???

2009-03-26T21:02:00.002-05:00

Hopefully it will this weekend. We've been slowly encouraging the boy after he went pee in the potty on his own last Sunday....not only once, but 3 times!!! He's even showing interest in preschool. So this Saturday I've decided that's it....to the bathroom we go every 30 minutes. Good thing it's supposed to rain/snow all day that day.

I've got the pull-ups out, big boy underware washed and ready, and plenty of towels ready. However, I think we may have to let Baby A try as well......especially after she insisted on sitting on the potty tonight.

Don't mind actually......I'm getting kinda giddy over the money we'll save on diapers!

On to child #2 with an IEP

2009-03-26T20:52:00.002-05:00

IEP = Individual Education Plan

It really sucks that Biddy Boy (T) needs speech therapy as well as S. However, it really wasn't a surprise. Yes, his speech had improved since starting preshool, but we still can't always understand him and he'll be 4 here in 3mos. So he'll be getting 20 minutes of speech therpay M-R when at preschool to work on his pronunciation.

I am amazed that T has basically the same problem as S - even with completely different personalities. But why did they both have to inherit this from me? Yes, I too needed speech therpay....as well as my brother. Seriously here....why couldn't he inherited my cute butt....rather than his father's? (BTW - his father has no butt.)

Chant to self: focus on the positives, focus on the positives

Ahhh....another birthday has come and gone

2009-03-12T20:50:00.002-05:00

My 37th to be specific. The closer I get to 40 the more I start reflecting on my life so far - especially if you believe the stats I've lived half my life already.

So, I've decided to pick one goal that I'd like to accomplish by the time I'm 40. The problem is I'm no sure what it should be. I know I'd love to lose some weight, start working out....but to be honest I know that won't happen I'm a born again couch potato. Then there's paying off debt...well our big debt will be paid off by then anyway so that's kinda cheating. I've got my professional career to think about. Maybe some training?? I just don't know.

Maybe by my 40th birthday I'll have figured it out?

Curious Georgette strikes again!!

2008-11-12T09:12:00.002-06:00

Yes, I did have to get her out. Didn't stop her from getting in there 3 more times that night. At least the cake pans were safe for a night.

Gender Differences ? ?

2008-11-10T17:40:00.002-06:00

T and Baby A are exactly 2 yrs appart (okay 1yr 355 days to be exact). Noticed lately that T's really into playing/caring for one of the 4 baby dolls we have around the house. T wants to feed them, bathe them, and even change them....but when it comes to carrying them any old way will do. Baby A on the other hand will always wrap her arm around the baby doll's belly (you know, just under the arms), but has no desire for the feeding, bathing and changing.

I've been really wondering if this is a girl vs boy thing or just their personality since Baby A is very observant while T - not so much. Especially since T and A treat the cat the same way. T just picks poor Squeakers up any old way, but Baby A picks him up the same way she does her baby doll.

BTW - did I mention we have a cat? Orange Tom cat named Squeakers - soon to be an it. For now he's an indoor cat.

Sometimes the boy just amazes me

2008-11-10T17:35:00.002-06:00

We have this old crappy computer that the older two boys use to play games. (Lately it's Lego StarWars.) Anyhoo - T or Baby A some how removed a few keys from the keyboard and whoever put them back didn't put them back in the correct spaces.

K was all ready to ground the boys from the computer when he saw S taking off the keys and putting them back on. Come to find out he was fixing it. The boy is 7 - and already knows the placing of the keys on the key board. I did a quick check of course and he put them back in the correct spots. Needless to say I was amazed at this ability....and of course he was happy to not get in trouble.

FWIW - I would like to point out that I did have R confirm S's story.....per R "He was fixin' the keyboard".

Update of Sorts

2008-10-19T22:41:00.002-05:00

Isn't it funny how life seems to get in the way of your life? Anyhoo - here are a few updates.

1. Baby A is 16.5mos old....where the hell did the time go?! She's doing soo much more at this age than any of the boys I sometimes forget how young she really is. She's still on the petite side - but trust me you wouldn't know it the way she wrestles w/the boys. (At some point I'm going to have to stop referring to her as Baby.)

2. T - is a monkey as always. He's going to preschool 4 days a week for 3hrs a day. It's done wonders for his speech and behavior at home and he's only been going a month. Good thing is that he'll be automatically enrolled next year. The year after is still up in the air...not sure he'll be starting K the Fall of 2010 or if we'll wait until Fall 2011. Really depends on if the evals from preschool and our gut feelings tell us if he's ready or not.

3. R - started K at a private school this fall. Due to his birthday and the cut-offs for public he wouldn't be able to attend until next Fall (2009). I definitely think he has the smarts and knowledge to be in K, but his maturity level is severly behind. Luckily the state requires him to go through 1st in private as well before testing for placement in public.

4. S - in 1st grade and will be the big 7 tomorrow. We had a harry start to school - hitting, trouble keeping his hands to himself - but we changed his meds and all seems better now. However, his anal retentiveness about rule following is about to drive us batty - he thinks it's his job to correct everyone rather than just tell on them. Oh well - Parent-Teacher Conferences are this week so we'll find out how he's really doing.

5. K - he's doing good. Still doing the SAHD gig for now. He's hoping this Spring to get a job a couple nights a week. Then again that's if my work schedule will allow for it. Either way he's looking forward to the Fall of 2010 when Baby A is eligible for preschool.

6. Me - well, work has been nuts. Back in March 2008 got a new boss and things aren't going as planned. Apparently regardless of my performance in the past I'm starting over and must prove myself. I'm going to have to start working from home at night after the kids are in bed, and possibly even some weekends. This just totally bites. What I hate the most is that I love what I do, but apparently I haven't earned the trust of the new boss so every move I make is being scrutinized.

Hmmm....that's it - will try and take a picture tomorrow of the birthday boy. Can't believe how big he is...before I know it I'll have a teenager on my hands.

Oreo Moment

2008-09-01T15:33:00.002-05:00

Last night in honor of Labor Day weekend we went all out and grilled up some steaks and hot dogs. (Steaks for us, hot dogs for the kids.) While at the store picking up the fixin's for dinner I grabed two things of Oreo's per R's request. I get home and the first thing the kids want are Oreos and milk. I gave them each an Oreo with the understanding that they could have more after dinner.

If you haven't seen a package of Oreos lately they're having this "Oreo Moment" contest where you record your Oreo moment and submit it on youtube.com. Anyhoo - working on dinner, etc I notice the cookie remains of an Oreo cookie on the floor. Come to find out, T - who just turned 3 and hasn't had many Oreo type cookies - just ate the filling. To confirm this I gave all the kids another cookie and low 'n behold T just ate the filling and ignored the cookie part. Asked him to eat it and I repeatedly got told "No, yucky! Trash!". So off to the trash they went.

Thinking T's pretty smart I tell K only to come to the realization that the boy watches way to much TV. (Damn commercials!!)

So which minority will win?

2008-08-30T08:41:00.002-05:00

Even if you don't keep up with politics (and personally I really don't), you'd have to live under a rock in the middle of nowhere to no know that regardless of which side wins - Republicans or Democrats - a minority will win as well.

So - will this come down to a race of do we want a woman VP or a black President? It shall be interesting - especially on how the media will handle this. Just maybe once they will remember what journalism is all about and just report the truth and exercise some common sense before they hand in that piece of shit they call a story to their editor.

Being an Independent I was prepared to vote for Obama. I can't believe all the mistakes McCain has made in his speeches are due to his staff - something just doesn't seem right. And his choice of a "young" candidate for VP seems to prove my point. Banking on the young VP to handle anything should something happen to McCain.

Regardless of who wins I'm just proud of America for having made it this far - not that we still don't have a long way to go - but at least my kids will grow-up in a time where at least one minority made it into the White House.

Toddler's Guide.... (cont.)

2008-07-23T12:23:00.004-05:00

Chapter 3: Start Small

Driving your parents insane should be approached very carefully. You should also know that these first few years will set the tone for the relationship you'll have with your parents for the rest of your life. You must go slow otherwise you will not get the desired results. In otherwords start smal. Literally do not take on any task bigger than yourself.

The following are good places to start, espeically for those 0-12mos.

1. Missing milestones. If you're the oldest missing milestones will frustrate and annoy your parents to no end. If you're the 2nd, etc definitely do not follow the same timeline as your older siblings - we gotta keep the 'rents on their toes. Just when they think they have us figured out we need to change the game. A very good example is my family. S (the oldest) started crawling at 10mos, and walked at 11mos. I came along (T) and decided to crawl around 11mos and not walk until 13mos. Then there's Baby A. (She took this to a whole new level.) Crawled at 6-7mos, and was walking at 12mos. So, even though you know you can roll over....hold out. The look on the 'rents face when you finally do is all worth it. Better yet, just forget about crawling and go straight to walking - that'll throw the 'rents for a real loop!!

2. Being different. Yeah, yeah - I know were all different. What I'm referring to is make sure you do just enough stuff like your siblings or so-and-so's kids to keep the 'rents happy, but you still gotta make your own path. I, S and R are not climbers.....but Baby A sure is. In other ways she similiar, but with her being a climber she's not. Remember it's all about keeping your parents on their toes. BTW - Baby A has really out done herself and I would even say has surpassed me in this department.

3. One thing. Pick that one thing that annoys the 'rents more than anything and continuously do it. You like to take your diaper off and run around naked - do it. No matter how many times you're told "no" - do it. Undressing in public your thing - go for it. Screaming because you can - make it loud. Throwing food - do it with meaning. (Okay, must point out don't do this until you've had your full.) What ever it is (and you know what it is) do it repeatedly and give it 110%. Plus you get the added bonus of doing something you've been told not to do!! Come on - be a rebel - you know you wanna!

4. Something unexpected, yet expected. By this I mean do something they wouldn't expect, but when they look back on the 'rents should've known you'd try or do it. Take this example from my own personal accomplishments: take the turtle out of the tank and set it free. Don't say anything, just let the 'rents or siblings discover the disappearance. In this instance the 'rents are repeatedly putting me in time out for playing in the tank, so you'd think they'd realize that eventually I'm going to get brave enough to actually take out a turtle and play with it. Apparently not. You see - 'rents like to give you the benefit of the doubt and think we're smarter than we really are. 'Rents haven't figured out that we probably won't get any common sense until we're well into our twenties....but God love 'em they are optimists which make us opportunists!

Toddler's Guide to Driving Your Parents Insane

2008-07-22T16:14:00.002-05:00

Chapter 1: Introduction

Hi, my name is T, and I just turned 3 on June 10th. I have two older 1/2 brothers, S (6.5yo) and R (almost 5yo) and one younger sister, Baby A ( 1yo). My Daddy stays home and watches me and my sister. He does a pretty good job, and this book is written in part because I did have this time at home with dear ol' dad to hone and perfect my techniques. Enjoy the reading and if I've helped one future toddler out there this was all worth it. (And no my sister doesn't count!)

Chapter 2: The Basics

Before one starts to drive the 'rents insane you must learn these few techinques I've picked up for getting out of trouble or at least lessening the punishment.
1. Cry everytime you're told no, spanked, sent to time out, or hand is slapped, etc. Really play this up as it makes the 'rents feel extremly guilty. Sometimes you can get the added bonus of entertaining them which in return they get so happy the forget why they were mad at you in the first place. WARNING: Do not turn this into a temper tantrum or it will back fire and you'll be in more trouble than when you started. Whinning, etc is also not tolerated well by the 'rents.

2. Play up your natural cuteness. Got those gorgeous blue eyes - work 'em baby. Beautiful curly locks - don't let them cut your hair. Heart melting smile - melt away baby! You get the idea - work with what you got 'cause this cuteness only lasts so long. Trust me on this one....I'm on the downside of cute....once you hit 4 it's all over.

3. The big bottom lip. This one is crucial. The more you stick it out the better results you'll get. Seriously here. I thought I had this mastered, but my sister has taken this to new lengths. I now get in trouble for taking back a toy that she originally took from me when that lip comes out. The 'rents get sooo distracted by that thing they forget who did what to whom so it's automatically assumed I was being the bully.

4. Hugs & Kisses. Really do I need to elaborate. The 'rents live for these. Oh, and toss in an "I love you" and you're golden. Oh, and not only do this to the 'rents, but grandparents, aunts/uncles, cousins, and especially siblings!

cont.

Next installment coming soon!

Random Thoughts

2008-07-16T12:27:00.002-05:00

*T has decided that his answer to everything is "no" or "nope". Better yet, we got "I'm gonna kick your butt" the other day. Where does this child come up with this stuff?

*Sibling bickering - it's already started between Baby A and T. I thought I had a few more years, but nope Baby A has decided that whatever someone else has it is hers and she must take it. And she's strong in body and will. Right now the biggest battles are over sippy cups and blankies.

*How to keep your kids outside: tell them that if they come in they'll have to clean. :D Yup, told this to S, R, and T on Sunday when it was a georgeous 80 degrees out. Guess what - they chose to be outside rather than pick-up their toys. Go figure.

*The dog. She's great with the kids, but the chewing has got to STOP! She's ruined approximately $200 in toys, etc around the house. What's worse is that she's now taken to grabing dirty laundry to chew on. K is looking into training for her.

*2 1/2 weeks!!! How much time left of S's summer vacation w/DSSD. Can not wait. However, not looking forward to undoing all the bad habits he acquired there. Good thing is that I've got two weeks before school starts to undo them all.

Summer Sucks

2008-07-07T07:39:00.002-05:00

I only say that as S is at DSSD's until the 3rd of August. I do have a week of vacation with him, but choose to take it the week before I get him back hoping that would be enough time (2 weeks before school starts) to undo the bad habits from Daddy's.

Anyhoo - the low point hit last night when T woke up crying and wondering around the house at 3am yelling S's name. I finally got him calmed down and asked him if he misses S - "Yeeass" was the response. At that point I started to cry a little too, but successfully got him back into bed.

Can't believe I have at least 11 more summers of this shit. :(

You think you live in the big city until . . .

2008-07-02T07:36:00.002-05:00

. . .your dog goes out in your backyard at 5am and beats the crap out of a raccoon. Luckily Lady only has a few scratches, but there's blood all over our back porch and the poor critter is in a corner in our back yard on it's last leg. K is to call Animal Control this morning at 8am. Hopefully they'll be able to come out and do something.

Why can't he just listen to me?

2008-07-02T07:26:00.002-05:00

I'll admit I'm not the most technically savey person out there, but I know just enough to be dangerous and get by. Anyhoo - Monday (June 30th) we got in our replacement router for the computer. (The old one had died and Linksys, aka Cisco, replaced it for free. There's a good reason to register your electronics!!) Took me about 30 minutes to hook-up both computers. Played a couple of on-line games and all was well.

Then yesterday K, aka DumbAss, was having problems with the program he uses to talk to other players in one of the games he plays on-line. Rather than listening to me, I told him not to do anything and let me fix something first, he just goes ahead and changes what some guy told him. You guessed it - he disabled the router. Right as I was in the middle of chat with someone at Linksys get answers on fixing our router connection.

Luckily for him after all the problems we had with the last router I knew how to reset it, etc. Did that, unistalled everything on both computers related to the router, and took another 30 minutes to re-hook-up everything. Guess what - the little program that wasn't working properly before works fine now.

Little extra $$

2008-06-27T16:38:00.002-05:00

I have a generic e-mail account that was set-up so long ago it's on practically everyone's spam lists. Some of those spam e-mails have been for on-line surveys. I did these a long time ago and got to try out many new products, but once I had S I stopped. Well, I'm back at it again. Most places just give you points that you can redeem for $10-$15 gift cards. Figured what the heck - might get some good products to test and we can always use gift cards.

Actually I've been signing up K to do these while he's at home. I told him he needs to dedicate at least 30 minutes each day completing as many surveys as he can. He's got the free time when the kids are napping so why not.

I'm hoping this weekend to compile a list of all of the websites I've registered at in case anyone is interested.

Why can't he just keep a job?

2008-06-27T16:27:00.002-05:00

When DSSD and I divorced I insisted on being the one to carry the health insurance, ect for S. The Judge not only asked me once, but twice if I was sure. See, it's standard for the father to carry the insurance as it will lower the cost of child support. Well considereing DSSD had 4 jobs while we were together to my one you bet I wasn't going to have him carry the insurance. Since the divorce he's had 5 jobs. With the most recent change taking place a couple of weeks ago.

What ticks me off this time is that he didn't even have the balls to tell me he was changing jobs. I get a letter from the courts stating that they'd received noticed he was no longer employed and that he need to contact the them. I get copies of all correspondence from the courts in regards to child support. I call him and he e-mails me his new info which of course I pass along to the courts.

The man is 38 yo - will he ever grow up?

Birthday Party Pics

2008-06-15T21:20:00.004-05:00

Well, we survived a double Birthday party on Saturday. Here are a few pics:

T's cake....hopefully you can tell it's a moneky.

Baby A's cake....supposed to be a monkey, but still looks like a bear.

Yup I made 'em, and damn proud of myself.

Here's Baby A getting her cake. She sure wasn't excited about it. That's me handing the cake to her then S and then my niece, H.

Even after mommy ripped the head off, all she wanted was the chocolate icing.....screw the cake part.

And after....need a I say more. However her skin was baby butt soft from all of that butter cream icing!!

Oh, why take a bath when the dog can lick you clean. That's the new mutt. She did amazingly well with all the people considering we've just had her for a week.

After all of this I some how managed not to get a picture of T. I'm really trying to avoid the middle child syndrome, but so far we're sucking at it.

Check-up Stats

2008-06-11T17:55:00.002-05:00

This morning both T and Baby A had their yrly check-ups.

T's in the 80% for height, and the 55% for weight. Besides being an embarassingly horrible patient all is good. Just need to get on the Potty Training train.....which we keep procrastinating about.

Baby A's in the 65% for height, and the 25% for weight. She's such a little peanut. All the boys were well over 20lbs by their 1st birthday, but nope not her. She just had to be different. We're close, but she still has to face backwards until she's over 20lbs. She's 19lbs 8.5oz...little under 1/2 a pound to go. Only bad thing was she got 3 shots and she's got an ear infection. Kinda wondered yesterday if she might have one now that her cold seems to be getting better, but her walking is a little off.

WTF - Where'd the last year go?!?!?

2008-06-09T22:20:00.004-05:00

Seriously here....what happened to the last 12mos!?!?!

Baby A - well, is no longer a baby. She's 1yo and walking every where, including right into Toddlerhood. Tired of baby food and ready for the big girl food. Ironically she's only got 6 teeth - 4 on top, 2 on bottom. She's still a petite little thing....but with 3 older brother's she's learning to hold her own.

T - well, he's 3 tomorrow. Definant as ever - especially when it comes to potty training. Yes, the boy is 3 and we've yet to start. His curls are starting to grow back after his disasturous haircut back in Jan/Feb. And the imagination that boy has is going to get him sent to the Principal's office more than I care to admit. Seriously, he made a tower of bricks and called it a his chicken. FOR 3 DAYS!!!

2 more months until R is 5, 2 more after that and S is 7. Then it's the holidays. And the birthday rounds start all over again in March with mine.

As soon as I figure out how to speed up time at work and slow it down at home I'll pass the secret along. Until then I think I'll stop complaining about the occasional sleepless night and just cuddle with my babies before they're "too old".

Oh where oh where has my little dog gone?

2008-06-06T08:10:00.002-05:00

Well, she's coming to our house. K's dad found a stray and took her in, but he already has 2 dogs and his place isn't big enough for another dog. So, he took her to the local animal shelter. They don't have the room to keep her so after 2 weeks of not being adopted they were going to put her down. FIL had the foresight to tell them to call him should it come to that and he'd foster her until she could be adopted - and we're the suckers.

We're going tonight to pick-up a few things at PetCo, and then head down early Saturday to go pick her up. Luckily we only have Baby A and T this weekend so we can gradually get her accustomed to all of the kids. Still nervous about how she'll do next Saturday at Baby A's and T's birthday party. I'm thinking if all else fails we can crate her for a while in the garage. I hate to do this, but until we really know her temperment I think it's best.

I'll make sure to take our camera....but when you all will see photo's who knows? I so suck at remembering to download photos!

Public Transportation Etiquette

2008-06-05T13:12:00.003-05:00

Since moving to the burbs of the big city I started riding the bus to work. It's nice. The park 'n ride is a mile from my house, and the bus only takes about 5-7 minutes longer than had I drove the commute myself.

When I first started riding in Sept. 2007 all 3 bus times on my route always had enough seats so that everyone could sit down. However, with the soaring gas prices the number of riders has at least doubled. Not only the buses home, but the ones into work do we have people standing.

Were am I going with this you might ask?? Etiquette on the bus. Most mornings and afternoons you will always find a few gentlemen willing to give up their seat to the ladies. What I've noticed is that most of these gentlemen are over 35. Hardly ever does a younger man give up his seat. At first I thought this rude and disrespectful. Now I've settled on how sad it is that his mother nor father never took the time to teach him about respecting others. What makes this even sadder is that there's a whole generation of them.

I've always vowed to raise my son's to be good husbands, but now I realize my mission has changed: I want them to be good human beings.

Note: I've never seen anyone ask someone else to give up their seat....these men do it out of the kindness of their hearts and I always thank them profussly.

He's gone

2008-06-04T21:00:00.002-05:00

Just got home from the exchange of S to his dad. I won't see him again until next Friday, June 13th. This is the longest he's been away from me and so far so good. It was weird this morning not having that 3rd child to check on before I head out the door to work.

Honestly hope he's okay at DSSD's for the summer. I don't think S realizes how much he'll be away from me, and I'm not sure DSSD is up for the task of being a full-time father.

Only time will tell.

Just another Poopie Memorial Day

2008-05-28T07:24:00.003-05:00

Overall Memorial weekend was pretty good. Saturday meet DSSD around 10am to exchange S, and then K, T, A and I ran a few errands. After naps it was a pretty low key night.

Sunday was pretty busy - mowing the yard and putting up the fence. Nothing too exciting.

Then came Monday. Poopie Monday. T was up around 7:30am and after all the manual labor on Sunday K and I slept in a little while he played. Big mistake. Around 8:15 T comes in "I poopie" and boy was he! He'd tried to take off his poopie diaper, but ended up ripping it so the diaper part was hanging between his legs (poop exposed) and the top part still wrapped around his waist securely. Talk about an immeidate wake up call. K and I hop out of bed....I grab T and put him in the tub, while K wanders around looking for poop stains.

We spent most of the morning sanitizing things and general clean-up. Around 12:30-1pm we put Baby A down for her nap. By 1:45 she still wasn't asleep so I go into her room to get her. Lo-n-behold she'd gone poop and managed to rip her diaper completely off. She was covered in poop along with her crib and mattress. Once again - I bath the kid and K does clean up. Of course we had to then sanitize her room and crib.

I swear if they get some funky virus from "accidentially" eating poop I'm going to scream. I just now got caught up laundry from that damn virus a few weeks ago. Plus a call from the Health Dept is always fun - NOT!

Poor little naive white girl

2008-05-19T13:32:00.002-05:00

Yup, that's me. Even though I lived in a college town in the mid-west growing up I really didn't see much racism, etc. (Probably didn't help that the school I actually attended from K-12 was in a small town of 3,500 people.)

Moving to the 'burbs of Kansas City has been a definite eye opener. I absolutely only goto the closest Wal-Mart because there's so much racism on both sides of the fence from the employees and customers.

Then there's my new co-worker, H. Single mother of two, has a college degree, just bought her first house, and is catching onto her new job quiet quickly. She's been the one to really open my eyes about the stuff that goes on....especially here at work. You see, she's African American. And I use the term African American as that is what she prefers to be called. And yes, I did ask her.

Her youngest son just turned 2, and the party was this last Sunday. We were invited. I knew we were going to be the only "whites" there, and K even asked if I was sure I wanted to go knowing this. Yes, it was a little akward at first, but after the kids warmed up and started playing and we started chatting with everyone we fit right in. However, I'm dying to ask H what everyone thought. She took a vacation day today...rightfully so after all those people at her house yesterday afternoon.

Even though I am the Naive White girl....I think in the end it's going to be a good thing. I just might need a little more education from H, but yes in the end it will be a good thing.

Confessions of an "Evil" mother

2008-05-15T06:27:00.002-05:00

Before having children I thought parents that "tricked" their kids into doing/eating things were just wrong, mean and yes, EVIL. Aaaaah - little did I know that this is the most magic and secret of all weapons we as parents posses. Below are just a few of the things I've done:

* I've been telling S for over 2 years now that there is medicine in his water to help him sleep. Sorry dude - it's just water! Helps that I always have him brushing teeth or heading up to bed an I follow with his water bottle so he doesn't see me put in his "medicine".

* Playing up S's competitve nature I tell him he needs lots of sleep so he can have energy the next day so that when he's playing he can win. Hey - it gets him to stop the chatter and procrastination before bedtime.

* Got the kids to eat Sweet 'n Sour Chicken and Quesadilla's by telling them they were Chinese Chicken Nuggets with Chinese BBQ sauce and Mexican Grilled Cheese. :)

* CornDogs started out being called "Hot Dog on Stick"

* All my kids think Turkey is Chicken at the Holidays.

* S is under the belief that the earlier he goes to bed and the faster he falls asleep on nights the Tooth Fairy is to visit the more $$$ he'll get. Okay, I didn't come up with this - he did, but you bet your sweet ass I'm encouraging it.

* My kids think that the car can not go into Drive or Reverse unless they are all buckled up.

The sweetest smile

2008-05-14T06:17:00.000-05:00

When I got home from work Tuesday I entered the house to sounds of "mommy, mommy" from the boys and Baby A's high pitched squeals. After I get all of my hugs and kissies I notice S's smile. It's hard not to as big as he was grinning - so proud of himself. He had lost his 2nd top front tooth. Grand total lost s 4 now.

He'd lost the first one about a week to 2 weeks ago. He was so adament about pulling it out I stayed up with him and helped him. Knowing if I didn't he'd stay awake until he pulled it out and would then come get me to "call" the tooth fairy. Well, the same with tooth #2. Monday night I had to convince him to leave it alone and go to bed, but I would help him on Tuesday pull it out. The little stinker couldn't wait that long and played with it enough Tuesday morning at school that before lunch he'd pulled it out.

What surprised me is that when I look at him and when he smiles I see this child-like innocence / joy that wasn't there before. Or it's always been there and I've never noticed. Secondly, I was really surprised at how absolutely adorabaly cute he looks. I've never thought kids with both top teeth missing were all that "cute".

If I can get off my duff tonight I'll see if I can get the boy to pose for a few pictures.

Random Thoughts

2008-05-13T07:06:00.002-05:00

Things running through my head this morning in no particular order:

* A co-worker who recently lost her 6 wk old son is back at work today. I want to reach out, but not sure how.

* WTF - last week I puke my guts out and now AF shows up. Seriously - WTF! (She's a week early the bitch!!!!)

* Don't know why this annoys me, but why can't the man just tell me when we're out of stuff - why do I have to find out the hard way. We're out of Q-tips, which I use every morning to get the water out of my ears. I know it's something little, but he does this ALL the f-ing time!

* Holly Cow! Can gas prices go higher? Well, yes they can....but WOW. I was kinda mad we moved 3 years earlier than planned, but now it's beginning to look like a good thing. Especially with only driving on average 100 miles a week for work, etc rather than the 600-700 we were doing.

* Beginning to hate my job. I think it's because I feel I have no control. Hopefully will be able to meet with New Boss this week for a 1-on-1 and get a handle/feel for what the Hell is going on around here. I hate being kept out of the loop when it involves my job and duties.

* My husband is truly wonderful. He not only took care of two sick kids ALL last week, but he took care of me as well.

I'M FAT

2008-05-12T10:57:00.002-05:00

There I've said it. I can't believe I'm this fat. The last time I weighed this much I was 8 mos pregnant with Baby A. It's amazing how a store's dressing room mirrors can make you look so fat.

So, this week we're back on the diabetic diet. Helps that I've barely eaten anything the last few days. Unfortunately I haven't lost any weight. Starting with Memorial Weekend (yes, that Saturday) I'm going to get up early and go walking either outside or on the treadmill.

So - today here's my stat: 235lbs

Let's see how long it takes me to get to 175lbs. Would love to be around 150-155lbs, but we all gotta start somewhere.

Why won't it die?!?!?

2008-05-09T14:20:00.002-05:00

Seriously, what ever this virus is that hit Sunday night it can die a very fast death. Not only did I go home sick from work on Wednesday, but K got sick Wed night and then S. Great - we've all had it you can leave now!! The only one spared has been R - and I think that's 'cause he went back to Mommy's on Monday night.

But NOOOOOO - it wants to hang around and make T and Baby A's life hell. Not only do we get the occassionally puking, but we're getting the constant liquid poo. Yes - liquid poo.

We're washing everything with bleach, and have sprayed every possible item those two do and could touch with not only Lysol, but that new Clorox stuff as well. By the end of this weekend our house will be cleaner than a hospital and you'll be able to eat off the floors!!!!

Unfortunately we have a room full of laundry to put a way. Should be a fun Mother's day - everyone folding and putting away laundry.

I'm not old enough to be left alone

2008-05-07T06:53:00.002-05:00

No, this isn't about S, it's about me. You see, New Boss is paranoid about my job, etc and has absolutely no earthly idea what I do and how long it takes. She understands the basics, but the intimate details are lost to her. So, to put her mind at ease I sent her an e-mail last Friday telling her the game plan me and my new co-worker came up with. It did envolve us staying late 3 nights this week. And by late I mean to at least 7pm.

Anyhoo - Baby A was sick all night Sunday so I came in late Monday. Then T was sick all night Monday so I came in late Tuesday. BUT I did stay late with my co-worker.....and so did our boss. She has never stayed later than 5:30 since March 3rd......so why last night?

Yes, it could've been conincidence - but considering some people making comments like "ah, see you found your way here", etc it really makes me wonder. Plus it pisses me off - especially since I have always worked way more than 40 hours a week.

So can not wait for my 1-on-1 meeting with New Boss.......that's been rescheduled 3 times now.

Scapegoat

2008-05-05T21:37:00.002-05:00

I have a feeling that's what my new name will be around work. Never mind that I told my old boss when I was 10wks pregnant that I was pregnant, and would really like someone to train now and have them for at least 3 months when I got back from maternity leave (ML). Oh, and let's not forget all the crazy ass hours I worked before having Baby A, and all the long hours I put in now that I'm back to work.

No one, and I mean NO ONE understands exactly what I do. My old boss got a nice eye opening when I was on ML, and my new co-worker is starting to realize how much manual crap we do. Yet the fact remains - I'm still behind on my current plans that need to be paid, the 2 new ones I got recently, and the testing of the new system that is to be in place by June 13th.

There are only so many hours in the day and I have a family damnit. If anyone should be to blame it's management for not getting me help back in Nov 2006 when I said I needed it. NONE OF THIS WOULD HAVE HAPPENED!!! Seriuosly folks, I had to practically re-create all the work that was done while on ML as well as keep up the current work and take on 3 (now 4) new plans/projects.

Everyone is doing the finger pointing thing and it's all in my direction. Well, you know what? My finger points as well and I just might have to point out everything that's been wrong with this project from the beginning. I'm tired of trying to keep people out of trouble....especially the ones that are pointing the fingers at me.

Stupid people piss me off

2008-04-25T14:14:00.002-05:00

And I'm not talking run of the mill stupid people. I'm talking MIS / Computer Geek stupid people. Basically we have one system we log into to then log into another system. The Geeks in their infinite wisdome decided we only need to log in once. No problem, great idea and it works great......except - the Geeks decided they knew who used the system and would notify everyone rather than sending out a broadcast e-mail to all employees. You do see where I'm going with this don't you????

You guessed it - I and my new co-worker did not get notified. Oh, and then when I politely ask to be kept appraised of any future updates I got a snotty comment like 'you should ask to be included on one the of the in house distribution lists'. Ummm...no, I think not - don't need more e-mails I get to shit can.

Oh, and the kicker is that due to this combination of log-ins I can't access everything I need. Greeeaaat. NOT! Try explaining to 100+ officers why I can't process their incentive compensation.

What an ASS

2008-04-24T21:12:00.003-05:00

During our last custody hearing DSSD (Dip Shit Sperm Donor) and his lawyer kept harping on the distance between our houses, etc. (Approx 55 miles) Wanted to know if I'd be willing to bring Stephen to DSSD's house, etc for extracurricular activities that S may participate in over the summer. Of course I will - I will attend all his activities.

Even though my lawyer got DSSD to testify he'd do the same he hasn't held up his side of the bargin. The first weekend that DSSD didn't have S during soccer season he couldn't make it due to a prior commitment to his wife's work - bowling. Now this next weekend that he doesn't have him he can't make it again 'cause they're having a garage sale. WTF?!?!?

Then the kicker to all of this is that S had a little program on April 15th at 7pm. Plenty of time for DSSD to get here. Nope couldn't make it - work obligations. Never mind I gave him plenty of notice (4 weeks) for the program and he knew when I signed S up for Soccer that all the games where on Saturday mornings.

Seriously - if I pulled that crap he'd be hauling my ass back into court for neglect and asking for full custody. However, if I tried that I'd look like a vengeful bitch. In a way I'm happy he doesn't show up, but I absolutely hate to see the disappointment on S's face. I do get my revenge - I make DSSD tell S exactly why he can't make it rather than me being the bearer of bad news. I of course go back and pick up the pieces of S's broken heart.

My Little Nudist

2008-04-23T10:02:00.003-05:00

When T was just first entering the toddler stage he barely uttered a word, but damned if he couldn't take off all of his clothes. Well, except his diaper - but he did figure out that one eventually. Even now at almost 3 years old he prefers to be naked to clothed. If there was a nudist colony for toddlers he'd be their leader and inspiration.

Where am I going with this you may ask?? Just the latest in a long line of T moments. We recently bought all 3 boys bike helmets that came with knee and elbow pads. This is the first time T has had his own helmet, etc and is pretty adament about wearing all the parts most of the day. Monday night was no exception.....well, except that he was naked. No clothes, not even a sock nor a diaper on his body. All he had on was the elbow and knee pads and the helmet. Of course he thought he looked like hot shit, and to be honest I was dying to take a photo but being arrested for child pornography is not on my "to do" list before I die.

Yes, this cute little boy is going to cause us major headaches as he gets older, but at least there's never a dull moment when he's around.

"I HATE YOU!!!"

2008-04-22T14:12:00.002-05:00

We've all uttered those words at one time or another to our parents......most likely our mothers. I myself have been on the receiving end of that phrase more than once. Yet I'm not really bothered by it.

Seriously - I'm not. I've been trying to figure out why that is, then it hit me - there's something much worse that S can say to me than "I hate you". It's something along the lines of: "I want to go live with Daddy".

That's my ultimate fear - "Fun Daddy" winning. I know it's not a competition, but throughout this whole divorce/custody thing I feel like I'm being punished for being the responsible adult and parent in the whole ordeal.

As the end of school approaches the more I'm reminded that S will be spending all summer with "Fun Daddy". Yeah I'll get to see him every other weekend - but what happens when he's back with me full time in the Fall? What bad behavior are we going to have to un-do? How many times will I hear "I hate it here, I want to stay with Daddy"? And will my heart ever mend after he utters those words?

K would tell me I'm getting myself worked up over nothing and he's right. Why worry about it now when I can't do anything about it until it's all said and done? But I do worry because I'm a mother and it's what we do best besides unconditionally love our children.

My Ass hurts and I can't take it anymore!!!

2008-04-18T16:06:00.002-05:00

Okay, this is NOT a post about hemorrhoids. Rather its a post about my on going saga with my broken tailbone. Around March 2004 after many months of such severe pain I could barely stand after sitting I was told I had a broken tailbone. No, I had not had any trauma to this area........it was decided that it must have been broken during childbirth on October 20, 2001. And w/o proper treatment it just got worse.

I tried the physical therapy. I've had an MRI. Multiple x-rays. Did one or two pain shots. Which did help, but I never went back every 3-4 weeks like I was supposed to. But damn pregnancy kept getting in the way. Oh, and it didn't help that in November 2005 I reinjured it by falling down the stairs, Ass first.

Well I've finally had enough. I've had two pain shots in the last 3 weeks, and my first appointment with a chiropractor. I don't think one by itself will be the cure, but I'm hoping the combination will finally get me some relief from this chronic pain.

I don't think I'm asking too much. . . . . . . . . all I want is to be able to play with my kids without having to stop due to the pain.

Gardasil, HPV and Cervical Cancer

2008-04-17T16:50:00.002-05:00

First off let me say that I'm very thrilled Gardasil (http://www.gardasil.com/) is now available. Having gone through an abnormal Pap Smear myself and all the fun that followed it's comforting to know that when Baby A is around 10 she can get vaccinated.

However, here's my complaint. Why is this only being offered to girls/gals/woman/females?? Seriously here shouldn't we offer this vaccine to our sons, etc?? Seriously think about it.

I have HPV. Who did I get it from you might wonder. . . . . .

MY BOYFRIEND!

I doubt the HPV virus causes such severe problems in males like the cerviacal cancer it can in females, but wouldn't vaccinating everyone be the wisest choice? Not only help stop females from contracting this potentially harmful and fatal virus, but stop the damn thing from spreading.

Just my $ .02 for the day.

I'm 252 years old :)

2008-04-16T12:49:00.002-05:00

Playing around on Blogger I thought I'd check out my own profile. Low and behold I'm 252 years old!!

I think I look damn good for my age!!

Apparently I over-react

2008-04-15T12:28:00.002-05:00

Okay, what ever honey. Last night while K and S were off at soccer practice I stayed home with T and A. Get your mind outa the gutter!!!! While I'm working on dinner, feeding T and A, changin' poopie diapers I notice a can of food on the floor with barely a label. Pick it up and determine it's a can of Cream of Mushroom soup....Campbell's to be specific with at pop-top lid. Then it happened. I noticed the ring to pop the top was gone (and the can was partially open).

I searched as best I could while trying to get K on the phone. I tried to calmly ask him who was playing with the can and he told me "T was playing with it and I tried to remove as much as the label as I could should Sissy play with it". I then asked where the ring was for the pop-top. He didn't know it was missing. Then accused me of over-reacting and it was no big deal....blah, blah, blah.

So after listening to him yell at me how I over-react and that I should just load up the kids and rush them to the ER we finally found the ring. Luckily I had enough forsight to grab another can and ask T where the ring was - 'cause S spoke up and pointed towards the back door. T had shoved the ring under the screen door.

Let's just say after that I went to the bathroom and cried. All the horrible things running through my head and anger at K for doing something so stupid as to let a 2.5yo play with something like that with an infant crawling around I just had to let it all out. Somedays I really do think it would be cheaper to just put the kids back in daycare 'cause the stress that man causes is expensive.

"So, when will she get her penis?"

2008-04-11T11:49:00.003-05:00

Ah....yes, that was the question asked by S the other day while we discussing the differences between boys and girls - more specially the differences between him and Baby A. Apparently as many times as he's seen me walk around naked he either didn't notice I didn't have a penis or hadn't made the connection that Mommy is in deed a girl.

I am proud to say I kept a straight face while answering the boy's questions and got him straight on the difference between boys and girls. Boys have a penis and girls have a vagina.

I'm probably going to have this talk 2 more times with in the next couple of years for R and T's benefit. Hopefully they'll just catch on - if not I'm prepared.

However, when relaying the whole conversation to K we both were laughing pretty hard. Gotta love the naivety and innocence of the boy.

Product Review - Eucerin Redness Relief Kit

2008-04-10T14:36:00.002-05:00

During my last pregnancy my skin and hair just went to crap. I was hoping that once I weaned Baby A (around Nov-Dec 2007) that my skin would start to improve, etc. Nope - actually I think it got worse. It was horribly dry, but no amount of moisturizer seemed to help. I felt like I had greasy flaky skin. Especially on my forehead between my eye brows, on my nose and cheeks. Oh, and it was red! If you care I did occasionally use good ol' Noxema but to no avail.

Anyhoo - last week while wandering through CVS Pharmacy I ran across their clearance stuff and they had the Eucerin Redness Relief Kit for $3.75. Hmmm....picked it up and thought what the hell might as well give it a try.

I've been using it for a week and I can tell a difference in my skin already. The dry flaky patches are gone. Still red, but it says it takes up to 4 weeks. Oh, and the best part is that this little kit should last me about 2 weeks so of course I went back to CVS and bought the last one.

Needless to say I'm very impressed (as I always am with Eucerin products) and will definitely be buying the larger sizes once my kits have been depleted. Actually I'm trying to convice K he could benefit from the cleanser and moisturizer as well - but that's just not manly.

http://eucerinus.com/products/face_err_kit.html

WE WON!!! WE WON!!

2008-04-09T16:38:00.001-05:00

For those of you living in a cave or if you don't follow college hoops the University of Kansas men's basketball team won the 2008 NCAA National Championship Monday night (April 7th) against the Memphis Tigers.

Check out the following sites for more info:
www.ku.edu
www.ljworld.com

S O C C E R ! ! !

2008-04-04T10:23:00.006-05:00

Okay, S and R are playing soccer this spring. Since K got drafted to coach we had them put on the same team. (Unfortunately this will be the only year we can do this :( ) Anyhoo - here are some pictures one of the other mom's sent me. So far none of R, but plenty of S and K.

S is the little white boy in the blue shirt. Or to be politically correct: he's the third from the left in the blue shirt.

Here's the big man himself K with some of the other players on the team. They didn't have enough volunteer refs so he and the other coach referred as well as coached. Good think in the Kindergarten (actually the 4yo-K) they don't keep score!!

Think I need some professional help . . .

2008-04-03T09:29:00.002-05:00

. . .either that or that bitch Aunt Flo is headed to town. Ever since hearing about my co-worker losing her 6wk old son I can't seem to focus on my life - this includes work as well as personal. All I really want to do is go home and just play with my kids. It doesn't help that when I do talk to my kids and/or play with them I can't help but tear up....hell, every night since Monday I've cried as I rock Baby A to sleep.

What's bad is that I haven't worn make-up to work in 2 days and I honestly don't care. Then the lack of attention I've been giving K doesn't help either. Okay, I did make it up to him last night around 1am. hehehehe

I'm think I'm just waiting for the other shoe to drop. Things are going pretty good right now....but I know it won't last. Thinking I might need to take a mental health day in the near future and just go do something fun for me.

Put it all into perspective

2008-03-31T23:17:00.002-05:00

This last weekend as we ran around to soccer games, grocery store, doing laundry, visiting my parents, and all the regular chaos little did I know how much I take for granted about my life. Especially when you get into work this morning and are informed that a co-workers 6wk old son died this weekend. Don't know the cause or anything.

I can't put into words how much my heart aches for her.......and all of the other mothers who've lost a child. I can tell you though that I did cuddle with Baby A a little longer than needed when putting her to bed, read more books to S than I needed to, and gave into "more movie" from T. Never mind the outrageous amounts of hugs and kissies given and received.

Seriously here - with all of the problems we've faced they seem so petty and trivial compared to the loss of a child. So - when you think your life sucks and there's no way out, remember to count your blessings....especially those cute little babies asleep in their beds.

"The Train is Big" by S

2008-03-26T21:05:00.005-05:00

Before Christmas break S started to complain that he was bored in school. I thought nothing of it until after break was over and shortly after he was back in school started once again with the "I'm bored". Talked with his teacher and she agreed to give him some "special" projects to work on. This was his first. I'm very proud and I hope you enjoy S reading his book.

Hint: turn the volumn down....S is quiet loud when reading this.