my new schedule

Today is errand day. Here is the picture of Parker on the day he got his very own library card. Boy, was he happy. I told him he had to be able to write his name all by himself to get one. As we were going in the library, he was telling everyone, "I am getting my library card today because I can write P-A-R-K-E-R by myself" (he was spelling). So cute!

I am a list maker, schedule keeper, things-to-do kind of gal so keeping myself on task is pretty important to me. I rarely get bored. In fact, I can't remember the last time I was bored, actually looking for something to do. I can always find something. And to make me even weirder, I like to clean things (and organize them) so in a household with five people and several animals, I have lots to keep me busy. My mom should be so proud of me all that nagging in my teenage years must have worked!

After the holidays and January birthdays I found myself very overwhelmed with trying to keep up with house chores and the daily stuff that must get done after the whirlwhind. Compound that with sleep depravity (see yesterday' post) and I was becoming quite a mess. So I turned to what has worked for me in the past, I started writing things down. I wrote down a big list of things I really want to do. Big things like, paint rooms, totally purge some kitchen cabinets (about 6 of them to be exact), tackle the last pile of stuff in the basement that needs to be dealt with, and endless spring cleaning things. Whew, that was pretty overwhelming but I felt better to get it written down, it freed my mind to think of more stuff to do, ha ha. We are still trying to sell our home so we can move closer to Paul's new school therefore the house has to be relatively "show ready" at most times. Now I can assure you it is not like that all the time, but I do strive for it to be clean but, I am always left scrambling at the last minute when the realtor calls to show the house.

I am totally rambling now...

So after I wrote my big goals, I decided to focus on daily tasks. I really like having them written down because I swear having a third kid stripped about half my short term memory from my brain. I chose to do one "bigish" task a day with the hopes that I don't have to have a massive cleaning day once a week. Here it is (after all that blah blah blah!)

Monday: clean the laundry room (this is our primary entrance for our home- it is teeny tiny and it gets totally messy after the weekend) sort all shoes and coats left there from the weekend and Swiffer/mop the downstairs, we have lots of tumbleweeds from the dog and bird

Tuesday: Vacuum up and down stairs (sometimes I flip this with Monday, if it needs to be vacuumed before mopping)

Wednesday: bathrooms (my most hated job, I dread this job more than any other!)

Thursday: grocery shop/clean kitchen

Friday: Dust, finish up anything that I might have missed earlier in the week, also, errand day (library, dry cleaners, post office, yadda yadda)

Saturday: restock day (toilet paper, paper towels, toilet wipes, soap dispensers, baby wipes, the list goes on) kind of an easy day because we usually have a ton of other stuff to do

Sunday: change bedding

See, I like to keep busy. I don't have any rhyme or reason as to why I picked certain things to do on certain days, basically I planned it around the kids' activities. Days I have to run around a lot, I picked easier chores, stay home days have the bigger things.

Also, the laundry monster is always lurking around my house and unless we have the stomach flu and I get behind by about two weeks (oops I said I wouldn't talk about that again!) I do 2-3 loads a day. I am also the laundry-puter-awayer, because you know no one else can do it "right" (I am so anal.) I used to do a massive laundry day but screw that, with five people I would need three washing machines just to keep up.

The kids also have a daily chore list I'll share later, when you are done being mad at me for boring you to death!

outing my baby boy

I love this little guy sooooooooooooooo much, (do you feel the "but" coming?) but why oh why won't he sleep all night without me?! I am so desperate for sleep. It is the first thing I think about when I wake up. I am so tired I am finding it next to impossible to exercise and get my daily chores done. I am a moody mess. I have no energy, I don't even know how much caffeine I am drinking to cope, I don't want to know. I hate letting my kids cry it out and I especially feel bad because he has been sick so I don't like to ignore his crying. I am hoping that publicly outing him will shame him into sleeping all night. What do you think?

P.S. My grandma hates these kind of close up shots of my kids, she says it looks like their heads are too big. Is she funny or what?!

watchin' my weight Wednesday

pink pancakes for Valentine's day (I also used the cookie cutter to make everyone a heart shaped one- I know, Martha would be so proud of me) just add food coloring to your batter, your family will think you are a genius

If I don't have an increase on the scale for this month, it will be a miracle. I have been sustaining myself on toast for about three weeks. In fact, I think I have eaten more bread in the last three weeks, than I have eaten in the last year. Seriously, who can eat food when you have the stomach flu and your entire family is passing it around to each other and you have to clean it up? OK, I promise that is the last time I am going to complain about our recent ailments (although trust me it was baaaaaaad!).

One of the things I have learned on my weight loss journey is to indulge every so often or else I go crazy. Believe it or not, I have only had M&M's twice (!) since I started Weight Watchers almost a year ago. Shocking, I know. I used to have them almost every day! Now I try to find little touches of chocolate to satisfy my sweet tooth like Fiber One bars or I share a Reece's cup with my kids (I always give them the biggest piece.). I also have found substituting to be a great way to not feel deprived. Like our pancake Sundays have not ceased. We still have them but now I use Fiber One pancake mix or a homemade version that uses cottage cheese (do not tell my family, they will surely start puking again!). I can indulge in those yummy things without feeling guilty or worrying that I am eating the wrong thing. I couldn't continue on this journey if I felt like I always had to be "good" or never eat sweet yummy goodies.

With that in mind, wish me luck as I weigh in tomorrow...

keeping up with the Wallers

In between our stomach flu "incidents" we have been so busy. Now just so no one thinks I am being irresponsible and mindlessly spreading the stomach flu, on this day, no one had any symptoms and we thought we were all recovered. Flash forward 24 hours, and we had another one biting the dust, but on this day, there was no signs of sickness.

Our Saturday

Zoe had a dance competition: they got "silver" for both ballet and tap, a special "judges choice" award for ballet and overall 4th place in ballet.

Their song for ballet this year is Mary Poppins, that is Zoe in the middle with the huge grin (it's hard to tell when all the girls have their makeup and hair, they kind of look the same), she absolutely loves performing. I swear she is like a total different kid on stage, so graceful and poised, and I am not just saying that 'cos I'm her momma.
practicing her moves

Their tap song is the theme from Charlie Brown. The girls are all "Lucy" and Noah is "Charlie" so stinkin' cute. I love the choreograhpy for this song it is so perfect. Noah has been in our classes since Zoe started dance and the teachers do a great job picking songs that highlight having a boy in class while allowing the girls to be girly. I didn't get a good picture of this costume, hopefully next time.
Parker had a basketball game at 9:00 AM, you're killin' me YMCA! Can we start a little later, it is so hard to get everyone out the door that early...
He of course got a shot and thought he was the king of the court. Then he proceeded to lay on the mat while waiting for his next turn and wouldn't get up, ugh, 4 year olds!

(for some reason I can't rearrange my pictures, but you get the idea)

just in case this happens to you

If your child throws up in your car and your hubby volunteers to clean it up (don't assume he is being nice, he is just paying dues since you have been cleaning up all fowl human stuff for at least two weeks). Be sure to remind him to use some sort of cleaner on the "spot" so your car won't reek intensely when you have to drive with the windows down in thirty degree weather the next day as you drive baby poop samples to the hospital lab to be tested because your baby has been having diarrhea for about two weeks straight. Be sure to take your "sicky" bucket in the car since child-who-couldn't-make-it-home-to-throw-up has to stay home from school and must accompany you to hospital lab. You might want to physically hand hubby the paper towels and cleaner bottle, because he might assume that plain water and bath towels (that you have to wash later) will do the trick. Just in case this ever happens to you, now you will be prepared. You can thank me later, although I hope you don't have to.

me, me, me

Stomach flu Hell

Well, I think we are finally on the road to recovery. I have been dealing with a serious round of the stomach flu. It started with our dog, yes our dog, about 3 weeks ago. Then slowly but surely, we all got it. I have read that you cannot get sick from your dog but seriously where did we get it? I do not know anyone who has had this flu and if I find someone who had it and didn't tell me, I will force them to years of painful torture. None of us are totally recovered but for the most part, we're ok. I really hate dealing with stomach flu, for myself or when my kids or hubby gets it, I just want to scream and run away. I get really grumpy and irritable, more so than usual and I cannot wait for it to be over. I hate dealing with the laundry, the messes, the stink, the bland diet, the calls to the pediatrician, all of it. If someone told me I only had two weeks to live, I'd say please can my family have the stomach flu? Because that two weeks would seem like two years. I was emailing a friend of mine who graciously volunteered to pick up anything I needed at the store (I did not allow her to do this but I was very honored she would offer to help.) and these are some things we decided all moms need when their entire family of 5 + dog is sick pooping and puking:

• self changing beds
• laundry that does itself
• an endless supply of bananas, toast, and chicken noodle soup
• temporary mom replacements (so I don't have to deal with all that crap)
• bottomless tubs of wipes
• nannies on demand
• hotel maids that do house calls
• over the counter antidepressants
• harmless sleeping pills for children so they'll sleep through the sickness
• some kind of nose and ear plugs that will block the sights and smells of stomach flu
• instant vacations

And now more about me.... it's my birthday today. Woo hoo. My mom is going to take us out for mexican on Sunday (just what we all need after a ten day stint of stomach flu!) and I am so excited for that. Hubby gifted me with a beautiful charm bracelet. Zoe made me a dry erase board at ceramics class. Tanner has been giving me lots of poopy diapers (still not over the flu...) and Parker, well, he just said, "habby bird-day mom." A perfect day. I love to see other bloggers who list wonderful things on their birthdays, things they are thankful for, things they have learned, things they want to do, etc. usually one for each of their years. Wow, that is what I call organized. Since I call myself organized, I am giving myself the day off and writing some random stuff about myself. Just indulging on my birthday, not one for each year, I'm not that exciting, just some stuff...

Birthday Observations and Stuff about me:

• I love vegetables, I could easily live without meat, except for hot dogs
• I'd pick music over TV any day
• I love old stuff: antiques, movies, books, people, music, stuff with a story
• I want to learn to take really good photographs
• I wanted to be an astronaut when I was a little girl
• Ticking clocks are soothing to me
• My happy place is the library
• I wish I still had fake nails, the kind with airbrushed white tips, love those
• Dancing is one of my favorite things to do, even though I look like I am straight out of a Molly Ringwald movie doing it
• My favorite color is pink but I secretly love them all, don't tell pink, wouldn't want to hurt her feelings
• Pool drains and tornadoes are my biggest phobias. Period.
• I hate fluorescent light bulbs and my husband keeps buying them to torture me
• Nachos are my most favorite food, I especially love the kind you get at a ball game, the fake cheese and all
• Being by myself is nice sometimes
• Someday I want to live by a beach
• John Travolta is my biggest celebrity crush and has been since I was about five
• I don't miss teaching, so stop asking me people who find out I am a SAHM who used to be a teacher
• UK basketball is my favorite sport to watch on tv and going to a Cincinnati Reds game is just about one of my favorite things to do (even better if I get those nachos)
• My feet are really ticklish
• I have become one of those women who wears makeup every day and feels weird without it
• Being a mom is the best, hardest job in the world
• I cry a lot
• I sing in the car (and dance)
• I drive a mini van but in four years I will have my Corvette I have always dreamed of
• If I wasn't me, I'd be my friend

Can you believe it?

We have the stomach flu. Again.

watchin' my weight Wednesday- except it's Thursday

Maybe homemade cookies are the reason I am struggling with these annoying few pounds around my middle...

If you don't believe me, Tanner can attest to how yummy they were, see for yourself.

At least they had some oats in them.

Tea Party Birthday

If you have a girly girl diva like I do, I highly recommend a tea party birthday. You probably have most of the supplies on hand around your house so it can be relatively inexpensive. Zoe was set on having a tea party this year ever since she went to the American Girl store this past summer. We played games like "hot tea" (basically hot potato), tea party pictionary, toss the sugar cubes (one lump or two?) into a giant tea cup, and of course, crafts galore. We even danced the Hokey Pokey and Macarena. Zoe loved this party and I had fun getting all the girly stuff ready. I think I could have gone really crazy but we had an open house the very next day so I had to keep it kind of low-key.

Here is the table before I put everything on it, I love using curly ribbon on our chandeliers for parties, easy but pretty.
The Divalicious One herself
OK so the picture doesn't do this one justice, it is a giant tea cup made of a plastic popcorn bowl, a serving tray and some red duct tape. (I love colored duct tape! You can use it for lots of party things, oh the possibilities are endless!) I ducted taped the bowl to the tray so it wouldn't fall off, by the way. We used this to hold boas before passing them out, those things are messy! And it was used for tossing sugar cubes.
Chex Mix in cupcake holders makes them so much more yummy!
I made these cupcake picks myself using stamps and ribbon. I love them. I always use my Pampered Chef decorator for cupcakes, don't they look pretty? We also had tiny sandwiches and fruit kabobs using pretty toothpicks. The girls really seemed to like being all girly, they really got into the whole silliness of being "proper."

ugh

I promise, I am still here.

Where is my time going?

Oh, I know, my babies get up at 6:30 AM and I put them to bed at 8:00 PM, I exercise at 8:30, then do all my "work" until 11:00, when I promptly fall into bed. That is why I have no time to blog. :( Hoping to do some schedule rearranging so I can do a little more fun stuff for me.

Be back soon.

still alive

I'm here, just having "one of those weeks."

I promise to be back soon.