Random politics

I just read that John Edwards is probably going to pull out of the presidential race. I am so bummed. I was really hoping he would get the democratic nomination. I definitely think he was the top candidate. On a related note, I read a few days ago that George W. made over 950 false statements about the weapons of mass destruction after the 9/11 attack! Someone actually counted them, I swear it was on Yahoo news! Anyway, I never thought they existed in Iraq but they do in my house....

Here is Zoe and her weapons of mass destruction: her total cuteness and awesome fashion sense. Look out boys (in about 10 years) you'll be wrapped around her little, pink manicured finger.
And here is Parker with his weapons of choice: pretty much anything long and cylindrical (is that the right spelling?) in shape. He prefers plastic baseball bats and saws. I'm trying to teach him to only hit balls but sometimes he misses and we get whacked in the head or our walls get more scratches.

So George W. the weapons do exist, you were just looking in the wrong place! Please don't send any troops, I got this situation under control.

Woe is me

Being a mommy is such a thankless job. I have been up since 4AM with Zoe and a nasty bout of the stomach flu. The one saving grace is that she is old enough to make it to the toilet except at 4AM when she is roused from her sleep because she is sick. I was woken up by screams of "MOMMY HELP" and then when I saw her looking like a gooey zombie from "Night of the Living Dead" I wanted to scream too. So today I have been laundering all the linens from all our beds, (she somehow managed to get all of them), disinfecting all the bathrooms, mopping the floor, digging Popsicles from the bottom of the freezer, and watching Sesame Street. So here's a tip for today: call your mom and tell her "thanks" for taking care of you. She deserves it!

Monday morning

Yeah, look at my clean desk! Ready for the next project to begin...

I am an optimist. I see the glass as half-full. I see the good in people. I find the good things in the people that others gossip about. I love to start a new project. I love the first day of school, not the last day, as most teachers do! And, I love Mondays. Ahh, the start of a new week. Everything fresh, ready to begin again. I usually go crazy and try to do all my laundry, clean the whole house and attempt to create all the crafts I saw on Martha Stewart the previous week. Inevitably, I fail to accomplish all I hope to, but that doesn't stop me from getting excited every Monday morning. Today was just like all the others, I finished up my laundry, all 9 loads, boxed up some clothes too small for Parker, made some cute Valentine hearts with the kids to hang up (complete with glitter!), cleaned some random things (our kitchen clock, glass cabinets, dusted pictures), mailed out some cards and pictures to some friends, cleared off my scrapbook desk, and the best task of all was cleaning under the couch. Why might you ask was that the best? Well, it was the one thing today that made me laugh. Under our couch was a treasure trove of objects that weren't necessarily missed or sought after but nonetheless very interesting.

Objects found under the couch today- Jan. 28

1. 1/2 fluorescent pink crayon- the pointy end so we could still color with it

2. a piece of a Bionicle toy from McDonald's that Parker likes to play with but can't do on his own so he throws a fit when he can't do it, wish I hadn't found that one

3. a plastic lemon from the toy kitchen

4. 2 pieces of old popcorn, Max ate these

5. a Polly Pocket shoe, pink, tiny and cute

6. a granola bar wrapper

7. a dried up chunk of a cookie

8. dust- load of it

9. lots of dog hair

10. a bird feather

There it is, our life in a three inch space under the couch: toys, snacks, dirt, and pets. I wonder what will turn up the next time I get a wild hair to clean under there?!

Let's go Daddy!

The kids and I went to see Daddy play in the staff vs. students basketball game last night which was benefiting a school in Uganda. It was fun for the kids to see their Daddy shooting and running on the big gym floor, just like he did back in day-yay. Being the big silly he is, he made his team do some warm ups, slides and high steps! Parker got a turn to shoot too. But mostly the kiddos just wanna play on the bleachers and hang out with Daddy. Oh and snacks, gotta have those too. The staff won but there was some serious questionable playing going on! (too many players on the court and 4 point shots!) Being that it was only 7 degrees outside it was a great way to spend the evening.

Laughter all around

There is nothing better than the sound of children's laughter. We just finished a very spirited game of hide and seek and Parker was cracking up, making it so easy to find him. Zoe on the other hand didn't laugh until we screamed, "we found you!" Nonetheless, laughter is the best medicine. Live, love, laugh!

Playin' in the Ariel makeup

It was such a nice morning, until my kids got up... I was showered, dressed, and ready to go before they got up. I even had time to make a simple scrapbook layout, yeah me! Then they woke from their slumbers... I had to tell Parker about 300 times "we don't say poo poo unless we are going potty." Zoe spilled pink nail polish on her carpet last night which I didn't clean up then so she wouldn't have to sleep in a fumed room. On my way to her room armed with Goof Off, I find her using her Barbie hair curler pretending to curl her hair. It is stuck in her hair and she needs help untangling it, lo and behold, I find nail polish in her hair! Oh my goodness, I was so mad, but good for me I held it together, I didn't even yell at her. I half think she was trying to put it in her hair, like a rock and roller, she said she didn't but mommies always know when their daughters are fibbing! So after putting nail polish remover on her hair and then washing it, I think we got most of it out. Did I mention the heating/air conditioning guy was here during this whole time? This is not normally a big deal but we have to put Max in his cage (our overly friendly pug) and he screams/barks the whole time, he just wants to say hi too! It is extra annoying when he does this. Then Parker was sneaking around with his scissors trying to give us "cut cuts", he must have heard me say we might have to cut Zoe's hair. So he starts throwing a fit because I took the scissors away. What did you say heating man, "oh our pipe is not glued? Sure fix it, just ignore my very own episode of Supernanny." Just another morning around our house, nothing special.

Game time

I took the kids to see a basketball game where my husband is a principal, supportin' the team, you know? I was quickly reminded why I stay home and do home stuff while he is at all the events that take place at the high school. Within about 10 minutes both of them were climbing up and down the stairs and Parker was trying to scale the wall a' la Spiderman. OK, so I tried to set some boundaries, "you can climb here, but not here." Didn't work. The whole time I am thinking two things: 1. Parker better not get hurt requiring more stitches (it's the new year and so deductibles haven't been met yet!) 2. All these people are watching the Principal's kids be really wild saying, "uh huh, the boss's kids are always the worst." So by the time the varsity game started, I was beginning to sweat. We made it through two fast quarters (lots of running and not much fouling- thanks guys) and I was out of there. Of course, Zoe was crying because I didn't get her a treat and Parker was crying because he wanted "mo ba-ball" (more basketball). So I got them each some fries from McDonald's and enjoyed my ride home, they were quietly noshing their grub. So I just reaffirmed to myself that I will be staying home and Paul can go support the team.

A new room for Zoe

Zoe and I "redecorated" her room today. She told me she wanted a Hannah Montana room instead of her princesses (only I had to keep all the princess stuff in case she wants to switch back- her words). I'll admit I was a little sad, kind of an end to an era, the whole princess thing. Dressing up, wands, magic, etc. being replaced with sequins, rock n roll, and blonde wigs, kind of made me feel blue, my little girl is growing up. Since her room is already pink and I was not buying any new furniture she had to be creative. She made a list (I swear! Her idea, not mine!) She wanted some posters, a pillow, a lamp (we had seen one at Walmart), and a door mirror to check her rock star outfits of course. I told her we had to wait until after her birthday, it was just too overwhelming with Christmas and birthday so close together for me to even think of tackling her crazy room. So today we headed off to Walmart with her Christmas gift cards and money. We stuck to her list despite the fact that Walmart has turned into Hannah Headquarters, no joke, she's everywhere! While she was at preschool today, I transformed her room into Hannah/Miley/Ashley Tisdale (I couldn't talk her into High School Musical, she wanted Ashley only) heaven. It does look cute. I kept the princess stuff, just in case... and daddy came home and helped to hang a gauzy pink canopy over her bed. She is loving her new room so much so that I don't think she'll sleep tonight, I think she'll be staying up late posing in front of her new silver door mirror. I'll be losing sleep knowing my little girl is growing up. Sniff sniff, sigh, hmmm.

Too many infomercials

Feeling very sleepy today for some reason, I am hoping to revive myself with a little crafting. I have to get my husband's birthday gift together. He keeps telling me he wants a fishing boat, ha, not any time soon sweetie. Then he says he wants that Power 90 exercise dvd, hmm maybe. Speaking of that, what is it about those infomercials that make me just want to buy whatever it is they are selling? I swear Billy Mays (is that his name?) could sell me a used tissue. That man makes me want to buy Kaboom, mighty putty, and the whole line of Oxyclean every time I see him. I don't know if it's his voice, all excited and energetic, or the fact that he talks so darn fast, but I have to put the phone down every time I see him out of fear I just might buy it all! Those ladies showing the new Firminator are good too, I definitely could use a little firming in the fanny. I have bought a couple other exercise dvds in the past and have been happy with them. It does get boring after a while to do the same dvd over and over so I'll just stick to my treadmill. Hey, maybe that's why I am so tired, restarting my exercising might just be the reason why I can hardly keep my eyes open. I thought it was supposed to energize me! Well, present putting-together is calling me...

Balloon mania

Who is the big dummy who invented balloons? And who is their friend who said you should have them at parties? Saturday morning I got 3 pink, 3 purple, 1 blue (for Parker), and 1 Barbie princess mylar balloon for Zoe's party. By the time the party rolled around we had 2 pink, 2 purple, and the Barbie one left, PLUS a red one and a blue one I found in my stash and blew up with my own air after the helium ones popped. So whoever you are balloon inventor and friend who said, "oh let's use these for festivities," I am really not liking you! I could not believe that they were popping before the party even began. And Zoe would not hear of a party without balloons for goodness sake! For me, the person who thrives on everything having a place and everything in its place, old balloons bouncing all over the house drive me crazy! My kids on the other hand love them and play all kinds of fun games with them like bonk each other on the head, volleyballoon over the kitchen counter, balloon golf, and chase each other screaming like mad men with the only balloon left floating (Barbie mylar). So for now, I am going to go and retreat to the upstairs where there are no balloons, no streamers, no mess, and no noise. Ahhh, sanctuary!

Finding a gem at the library

I took the kids to the library today. I luuuuuuuv the library. I love books, magazines, movies, and the people who work at our library are super friendly so I love them too. Most of all, it's free so I love it even more. Hey, I love a good bargain almost as much as a good book. My kids are experts. They know where to go to return the books, get new ones, make copies, go potty, find DVDs, and play puzzles and puppets. They even know where "mommy's section" is, that would be the craft/decorating books, where I find lots of gems to peruse. We go pretty often and we get a lot of books. We decided at the last minute to go before Zoe had school and it was an ok trip, despite the 10 minute delay from waiting for a passing train (it was fun for about 2 minutes, after that, just plain annoying) and not being able to go on the big elevator at the library (why do kids love pushing those buttons?) because they are currently undergoing a big renovation. All in all we had a good time finding books, playing with a giant dragon puppet and getting multiple drinks from the water fountain that just so happens to have a step stool in front of it, Parker was loving this! But the best part of all was when we were leaving we had to go a different route (like I said the elevator was not an option) through the adult section. When what do my wandering eyes did appear but several books on sewing and making slip covers for furniture. Usually I would have just kept going but not today. You see I got a nice gift card for Kohl's from my in-laws (thanks Forrest and Marilyn) and I had just purchased a lovely sage green slip cover for the couch in our sitting room/my scrapping space. I don't know how those things ever look good because the ones I have seen look like a sheet sloppily placed over a piece of furniture a la college apartment days or in my case a giant green panty hose stretched over the couch bulging at every seam. Well, I took the slip cover back today after checking out three books on slip covers/do it yourself upholstery. We'll see how this goes... in the mean time, I bought myself some new running shoes at Kohl's, only $29.99, told ya I like a good bargain, I know those will go to good use.

Yeah me

Success, victory, happiness, bliss, yahoo! Whatever you want to call it, I feel it today. Zoe told me her birthday was an awesome day! "Yeah me" ( I am imitating London on "Zach and Cody"). She loved her presents, her birthday sign, and her birthday dinner. She is counting the days until her celebration where she'll have the Barbie cake she has been wanting for about a year now and presents and pizza with our family. I need to go practice my icing techniques. Zoe has said her Barbie better have a pretty dress. I am going to go and enjoy the feeling of being a good mommy for a while.

I'm back

Well Christmas is over, whew did that go fast or what? After a bout with stomach flu, parties, four Christmas celebrations (complete with presents), traveling to the in-laws, and all the running around that Christmas preparation brings I am ready for a day off. Unfortunately, no can do, my daughter is five (!) today and my husband's birthday is in 10 days. So more parties are to be had and more house guests are on the way. There is no rest for the weary. My only saving grace is that I have officially put all the Christmas decorations away. Thank you to Target and Wal-mart for having all the glorious plastic totes on sale and right in the center aisles where I can find them. No matter how well I sort and purge the Christmas stuff each year, I always have to get a tote or two. It does help me feel more organized to at least have everything put away, the rest of the house, well we just won't go there. I tried to label all my totes this year, I'll have to see if that helps me next year to unpack them all. As much as I'd love to share more tales, I think I'd better go make a banner for Zoe's birthday. Still can't believe she's five! Just a note, I woke up this morning at 4:30, right on her "birthday time". I had joked to her that I was going to wake her up then, I must have jinxed myself!