You know your getting old when . . . .

. . . . . . you spend the first 15 minutes at work (when nobody else is here yet) on the internet looking for a waffle iron that's non-stick, has removeable and possibly even exchanable plates. See this is what I'm buying myself for X-mas this year since I'm tired of spending money on frozen waffles. I figured one weekend a month I could just make up a huge batch of waffles, french toast, and yes even pancakes and freeze them. Then the boys would be set for the whole month for breakfast or lunch and even dinner. If you haven't guessed we eat a lot of waffles/pancakes/french toast in our house......my boys love their breakfast.

So far this is the best one I've seen:
http://www.cooking.com/products/shprodde.asp?SKU=210958

I just would really like one w/exchangeable plates to make quesadilla's or even grilled cheese on them. Oh well - I guess I have a few months to X-mas so I'll keep looking.

No use crying over spilt milk ? ! ?

Definitely a saying a man came up with.....probably after he saw his wife crying over wasted/spilt breast milk.

Men just don't get it do they? They don't understand the effort and time it takes to get a good supply going, then the foods you can no longer consume (caffine, chocolate, anything spicy, etc). Oh, and the constant worry of "do I have enough?" Then there's the sore nipples and breast engorgement, and breast milk leaking every where. As well as remembering to take our vitamins and avoiding medicines when we're sick.

So, yes when you (aka men) waste any drop of breastmilk we will cry and we will yell at you, but understand it's not just breast milk you're wasting but our hardwork and effort. Apparently which only our children understand and appreciate.

For those that care.....K just wasted a 5oz bag of breast milk the other day. I was so mad I told him if his daughter starves it's his fault. Never mind the twenty or so bags of frozen breast milk in the freezer.

"Turtles can't play with Hot Wheels Tyler"

This is the latest chant around our house. On the average we dig out 3-4 Hot Wheels a day from the fish/turtle tank. I think his obsession with doing this goes back to the toilet.....yes, we've retrieved many a Hot Wheel from the toilet as well.

Then there's the bread crumb incident. Mr Destruction got into the pantry, found the container of bread crumbs and proceeded to "feed" the fish/turtles bread crumbs. So after only having the fish/turtles in the new house for 10 days we've cleaned/changed water now 4 times.

Thinking we should introduce our selves to the Principal at the elementary school our children will attend......I have a feeling the first day of Kindergarten for T we'll be getting a call.

My new toothbrush

Yup - this is my new toothbrush. Isn't it trendy???

In all seriousness here - this is what I'm using until I can (a) find my toothbrush that Mr Destruction ran off with or (b) finish unpacking the bathroom and find the spare adult toothbrushes I know we have.

Let's just say that ALL bathroom doors are now closed - at least until we can deter Mr Destructions fascination with the bathroom. Okay it's more like an obsession - just last week we had to replace K's razor as Mr D got a hold of it and tossed it in the toilet, that and his body puff K uses in the shower.

Jayhawk Football 2007

Okay - now that school's back in session I can start to focus on what's really important: KU Sports!!

Yeah-yeah, I know. KU sucks at football.....but Coach Mark Mangino is slowly building us a great program. We've already won our first two games and this Saturday we're going for win number 3!!

Hopefully we'll continue to perform throughout the regularly scheduled Big 12 games. As always I look forward to the KU vs K-State Kansas showdown. Especially since we may actually be better than them - first time in a good 10 years.

Poop, Crap, Kaka, Doody, etc

Why is it no one tells you that at some point in your life after having children you will live and die by the bowel movement. Oh, not yours - but your kid's.

Whether or not my child has pooped can determine my whole mood for the day. See - I have 3 kids who all have had trouble going poo at one time or another, and when they don't go at least once a day they just get in a fowl mood. I'm not shittin'. Yup - pun intended.

To prove my point, K called me at work just to tell me the baby girl finally went dukie after 4 days of nothing. The rest of day at work was just great and I was just in a good mood. I think I felt as much relief as she had! Now the little stinker is back to not poopin' and I'm getting just a little worried.

Ironically if the older two go poopie more than once in a day for at least two days in a row they're on the verge of getting sick. No shit - by day two they've got a nasty cold and bad sinus drainage.

See - life does revolve around shit......at least in my house.

Fish can't live in Milk & Turtles don't eat Crayons

We moved over a month ago, but just this last weekend we finally moved the turtle/fish tank. We still don't have the stand, but we needed to get the "pets" out of our previous home so we could get it cleaned and ready to rent/sell.

Right now the tank is setting on the ledge in front of the fire place in the living/front room. Unfortunately this makes the top of the tank at just the right height for Mr. Destruction. Apparently the day before he dumped a whole box of crayons in the tank, and then yesterday he poured milk from his cup in the tank. Strawberry milk if you must know.

While I got the boys situated for dinner K emptied as much water as possible and cleaned-up the tank as best he could. Sadly our two bottom feeders (looked like baby cat fish) kicked the bucket, but we've still got four gold fish.

The turtles are fine......as they've just had a nice meal of fish. Yup - they ate the two that died. BTW - the remaining gold fish don't look so good either, but only time will tell.

Tonight R comes to stay so I'm thinking a trip to the pet store will be in order to get some more feeder gold fish (aka turtle food), snails, and two more cat fish. Now if we could just get the stand from K's dad we can foil the rest of Mr Destructions dasterdly plans. At least the ones invovling the fish/turtle tank.

Peter Pan Peanut Butter

Ahhhh......I've never been soooo happy to see a product back on the shelf!! Now if I can only find the no sugar added I'll be in heaven!

Yup - I'm old.......these are the things that turn me on lately!

Moving SUCKS!!

Plain and simple.

So not only do we have to keep up with the daily crap around our new house, but we're still unpacking. And little Miss High Maintance doesn't help. And neither does this stupid cold that T got last weekend that he's now passed along to everyone else in the house in one form or another.

Oooooo - and then there's trying to find the crap that you have unpacked. Like last night trying to find my hand-held mixer....found the beaters, but not the mixer. Where it's at is a mystery to me. Hopefully I can find it before I make mash taters again - then again I like lumpy mash taters.

What is it with boys and their penis

I know it's because I'm female and I don't have one is the reason for my lack of understanding, but seriously folks what's the fascination?

I ask because this is what I've dealt with at my house within the last week:
* R - just turned 4 and is constantly grabing himself. Finally told him it's okay to play with it in the bathroom or your bedroom, but NOT out in public.
* S - will be 6 in October, and recently informed me he likes playing with his penis. Fine, once again in your bedroom or in the bathroom, not in public.
* T - biddy boy just turned 2 in June. I swear the boy gets a woody the second you start to change his diaper he's that eager to grab/play with it. Oh - then there's the bathtub and the cups....you guessed it, the cups go over the penis.

Oye - how am I to survive the pre-teen and teenage years if they're already this fascinated with their favorite appendage? Maybe this is why I finally had a girl - but then again that's a whole different can of worms.

The Pirate Movie

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0084504/


If you've never seen it - go get your drunk on and watch!!! Seriously this is right up there with "The Princess Bride". Now off to find the soundtrack!

Short, but sweet

The gravesite service yesterday for my grandmother was short, but sweet and not overly religious. I hate to admit this, but I honestly thought it would just family and one or two close friends. Was I wrong. Besides family (only 9 of us including the great-grandkids) there were at least 25 other people in attendance. Many people spoke up about what a wonderful woman, friend, person she was.

Made me realize I didn't really know my grandmother at all. Yes, I should've taken the time, but as a child she was always stand-offish - unaproachable almost. Unfortunately that feeling carried with me into adulthood. All of this has also made me very thankful for my own mother - as she's a wonderful grandmother.

Here's her obituary in the Lawrence Journal World:
http://www2.ljworld.com/obits/2007/sep/01/gertrude_coon/

Breakfast short-cuts

Okay - the boys love their waffles/pancakes/french toast and sausage links. It dawned on me the other day that the groves in our Geo. Foreman knock-off is just the right size for sausage links. You can cook about 14 at a time and you don't need to really worry about turning them, etc. Just set the timer and go. I can cook-up two packages of sausage links w/o the hassle and the boys get their sausage for their breakfast. Now I just gotta try bacon!



Second thing I just figured out......corn starch mixes great with milk and works wonders at thickening gravy for biscuts and gravy. This way you don't get that over powering flour taste. Made the best gravy this morning. Even K said it was my best effort yet.

Well - she's off to a better place

My grandmother's (father's mother) health has slowly been declining these last 10 months or more. She would've been 89 in November.

Unexpectedly, her death has made me sadder than I thought I would be. I don't know if it's because she was my last grandparent or if it's emphathy for my dad. You see my dad's father passed away 14 years ago, and his only sibling almost 7 years ago. He's not close to his extended family so his immediate family was all he really had. In my communication with him last night and today he's been very mater of fact, which I know is his way in dealing with his grief. But I'm at a loss for what to do for him. A big batch of chocolate chip cookies just doesn't seem like enough.

For those that care I wasn't very close with my any of my grandparents except my maternal grandfather. I've always felt a little cheated in the grandparent department 'cause none of my grandparents were the ideal grandparent - except my Grandpa Clary.

So, the service will be Saturday at 2pm. Just a small grave site, and family only. That's what she wanted.

School lunches sure are better.....

....than when I was kid. Seriously here....no joke.

This week is my last week to drive myself to work so I thought I'd take the opportunity to go have lunch with S at school. (He's in all day kindergaten.) Plus they were having pizza - the boy's favorite.

Oh, if you care I start taking the bus next Tuesday. Figured out I could save approximately $300/mo if I rode the bus vs driving myself.

What was also weird is that they basically have the kids serve themselves. No longer does the lunch lady populate your tray with the various menu items for the day, but you get to choose!! They have 3 choices of the main entree (today it was salad, pizza, or sandwhich) and then you choose your three sides (carrot sticks, cooked veggies, and/or applesauce). Plus you get not only chocolate and plain milk, but strawberry....AND you can choose a juice drink as well.

Also, it was nice to see that my little monster is one of the tamest of the bunch. No joke - there were a few kids there that I thought could benefit from a few doses of S's ADHD meds. However, it was nice to see my kid is normal....even if his parents are not.

I think I'll pull my hair out!!

Wait a minute I don't need to.....it's all falling out on it's own!!! Seriously - is this mother natures sick joke....once all hormone levels are back to normal after pregnancy a woman gets to lose her hair?? It's not like I had a lot to begin with......I guess I should look on the bright side: the grey hairs are falling out like all the rest!!

Curious George watch out!!

T will give you a run for your money. We've been our new house for little over two weeks. As you can imagine most things are still in boxes, and only recently have we been able to get the boy's room somewhat unpacked and organized. Until then this is what T has found to entertain himself.

1. Inflatable ring for the pool - he loves to step into this and pull it up to his waist and bump into things as well as put it around his ankles and shuffle around the floor.
2. Toothbrush - he's going to have the cleanest teeth
3. Sippy cups - they're great to stack and unstack
4. Boxes - of course empty ones are every where
5. Floor tile - we're tearing up the laminent floor in the basement and T's been helping.

He's also been getting into everything, and taking his clothes off. (He's the poster child for the toddler nudest colony.) Unfortunately we can only keep him clean for about an hour at best.

However, he's cute, he's entertained, isn't causing much more of a mess than what was already there - so why not let the boy have some fun.

Why now does he want to be a father to the boy ? ?

Is it because he'll be 6 in October? Is it because he can just sit the boy in front of the TV, computer, or video game all day? Why? I seriously want to know.

Even though he couldn't take care of him for the 2 years he was unemployed, and had me put him in daycare. As well as, made me use all of my sick/vaction/paid-time-off to care for him when he was sick for 3 years. He thinks he can now be a father?? Or does he just want to be "fun daddy"?

I unfortunately gave him the door with which to open up the issue of custody. The last 2 times I've moved and the last 3 times he's moved neither has required the 30-day written notice be sent via registered and certified mail. However, I move out-of-state (40 miles away) and all hell breaks loose.

Not only did he file a motion to get immediate full custody of Stephen while we wait on a custody evaluation, but he got the judge to sign a restraining order against me from removing the child from the state of KS. All of this the Friday we moved and a week before S was to start school - more specifically Kindergarten.

Luckily my parents were kind enough to keep Stephen from Friday August 10th through Monday August 20th as we'd already moved 75% of our junk by the time I was served with the restraining order. The 20th of course being the first day of school. Our lawyers were able to meet with the Judge on the 20th and got things temporarily straightened out. Basically I get S throughout the week so that he can attend school, but he gets to spend all of his weekends with "fun daddy" until our Dec 13th court date.

My lawyer told me I was being punished by the Judge for not filing the 30-dy notice as required by KS law, and I was being made to be the authoritarian figure. Well, shit.....I'm that already....no big punishment there.....except I do miss out on the quality time of every other weekend.

So after everything's said and done I got the boy back the night of the 20th and he started school on the 21st. Now I just sit back and wait for ex-H to do something stupid and for the custody evaluation to start.

Dec 13th can't come soon enough.

Good News

Baby A still fights it, but she'll take the bottle!!!!! Weird thing is she prefers one bottle with Daddy and another with Mom.....each bottle has different shaped nipples. At this point we're not going to question it and just go with it.

As you can guess this has made my week at work a little easier.

Food Allergies & School

S has a Tree Nut allergy.......more specifically to Walnuts (Black and English) and Pecans. So, not only do we avoid food with Tree Nuts but Peanuts as well for the boy. We also spend $110 every fall for his EpiPens, Albuterol inhaler, and Zyrtec....enough for four seperate emergency packs. One for the school nurse, one for mom's house, one for dad's house and one for his back pack which goes with him everywhere.

Now for those who are wondering we didn't know he had an allergy. It took him eating a chocolate chip cookie with a few English Walnuts in them and vomitting immediately for us to figure it out. (BTW - it's the Black Walnuts he'll have the most severe reaction.) This was a year ago........and so far so good.

FYI - the reason for the EpiPens is because up until the allergy was discovered he was on meds for asthma (aka Reactive Airway Disease)....which he has out grown TG......and if he has Black Walnuts most likely it will be an anaphalactic reaction.

S does know to ask if a new food has nuts in it, and I, his grandparents, and dad all know to read the labels carefully. So before you complain about what you can and can't bring to school for your kid's parties.....just think it could be worse.....it could be your kid with the allergy.

FWIW - here's a great article on Food Allergies:
http://www.babble.com/content/articles/features/dispatches/Martini/foodForThought/