Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Dr. Phil moment


Ok, I am hearing Dr. Phil in my ear right now, "if you always do what you always did, you'll always get what you always got." He'd being saying in that drawl of his that I should not being making Rainbow Rocky Road brownies if I want to lose weight. "What are you thinkin'?" he'd be saying. Well I'm thinkin' they are too good and I need my daily dose of chocolate!

Monday, February 11, 2008

Time to exercise

Gonna go put these on my feet and get movin'..... cos I've been puttin' too many of these in my mouth!


Saturday, February 9, 2008

Angels among us


Friday is our grocery day. I take my list, snacks for the kids, drinks for the kids, $1 for the video cart, pennies for the pony rides afterwards, and my coupons. The only thing I consistently forget is a Valium or a stiff drink because going to the grocery with two kids is down right stressful for me. I try every week to tell myself, you will not be one of those moms yelling at her children, grabbing them by the arms, lecturing them about not wanting everything they see but at some point I have done all of these things. Not my proudest mommy moments by the way... this week the kids were actually very well behaved, we got through rather quickly and I wasn't even sweating by the time Virginia (my favorite cashier!) was bagging our stuff. Picture this: we're headed off to the ponies for a few well-earned rides. The kids have their pennies. I have my 5 foot long reciept and extra coupons. I'm saying, "don't get on the ponies yet, I'll help you!" (I'm always worried about stitches.) When what does my darling daughter say to me? "Mommy, I know you want me to tell you when we get here or when we are at the fishies (they are in the back of the store) but I forgot, I have to pee bad." I breathe really loudly, and say, "yes you are supposed to tell me before we pay for everything, let's go," I go to get Parker so we can go potty. Thankfully the restrooms are by the ponies. I'm watching Zoe bounce around and Parker is mad as all get out because he wants to ride the pony NOW(!) and another angel appeared to me (the 2nd time this week! read my post about good citizens). A lovely lady who works for Meijer grocery says, "I'll watch your cart honey, take her to potty." I thank her so much it is starting to get awkward. We go and do the whole potty thing and when I come out I tell nice grocery worker, "thank you so much, I always worry someone is going to run off with our cart of groceries. I know you have to go too, so I really appreciate it." She says "don't worry about it sweetie (love that!), I remember those days." Oh I could have kissed her. Get this, her name was "Cookie"! I love that too! I don't know what I have done to deserve this double dose of sweetness from older ladies as I am struggling with my children in public. I'm going to try not to question it too much and just enjoy it. I am going to tell myself it is my guardian angels looking out for me. Or else I look like one of those moms who is about to blow her top and they just feel sorry for me. Naw, I think I like the angel possibility.

Friday, February 8, 2008

23 Layouts so far

A recent scrapbook layout, simple, cute, done!


I have been a scrapping maniac lately. I have been stealing 5 minutes here and there and everywhere in an effort to try and get "caught up." While I know that I will never officially be caught up in my scrapbooking, I would like to have more things completed so I can do some other fun projects I have floating around in my brain. (Not that I don't think scrapbooking is fun, it is definitely in my top 3 favorite things to do!) I am about two years behind in my family album which makes me cringe! I never thought I'd be that behind. In my defense, when we moved here to this house, I did not have an area just for me to work as I did in our old house. At first it was hard to find a spot to keep all my stuff and work. A year ago, I purchased a used desk, painted it, and since then I have been trying to get organized and back on track. It definitely helps to have a little space to call my own, my little piece of heaven. I just love to scrapbook and it is a great feeling to be getting so many layouts done. I love being able to document my family's life. I will add that my recent layouts have been VERY basic, mostly paper, stickers, and journaling. The only thing I have bought to complete them is adhesive (lots and lots of adhesive!). Since January 1st, I have completed 23 layouts! Woo hoo me! I made a month by month goal sheet for myself of all the scrapbooking projects I want to complete in the next year. If all goes well, I'll be sort-of caught up and working on some of my "fun" projects. "The Loot" is a page I made for Zoe's album, the pictures are from 2 years ago (ugh) but I like the layout: just paper, stickers, and one piece of ribbon. I mostly like it because it's done (and I think it's cute). I hope to keep this momentum going...

Wednesday, February 6, 2008

There are still some good citizens in the world

So here is one of my favorite places on earth, the Lane Library. I love it, I love it, I love it. Not only is it a beautiful building, inside and out, the staff is the most helpful, nice group of people I interact with on a regular basis. Seriously, they are so nice I am smiling just thinking about them. I take the kids every few weeks and we get so many books and DVDs our bags are busting by the time we leave. Today was no exception. On the way out, I have Zoe's pink princess backpack, loaded to the brim, my tote bag, loaded to the brim, and Parker's backpack, loaded, well, to the brim. AND I have our DVDs in my hand and Zoe has some books and CDs in her hand, we really like to read at our house! We're walking down the steps in the pouring rain (I sound like that story our Grandpas tell us... "walking to school in the snow with no boots, uphill all the way"....) and I say, "Zoe hold Parker's hand please." I think she did hold it for about a nanosecond, then KABLAMO! Down he goes, head-first, on the concrete steps. I swear in my mind, I thought, gosh darnit (well I might have thought something a little less PG) he's gonna need stitches again and that is really gonna make me mad! But luckily, he was ok, no cuts, although he was scared and crying. In the meantime, Zoe is crying not because she is hurt but because her hair is getting wet and she can't get her hood up. OK, whatever, I'm freezing and wet too! I throw all bags, DVDs, and keys on the ground because Parker is laying facedown with his head on the bottom step and his feet are still pointing to the top step. I pick him up, check him, he's ok. In the van he goes. I go get Zoe, she is really ticked, because she said, "I'm soaking wet Mom!" In the van she goes. My blood pressure is rising by the second, I want to swear profusely, and I am going to scream at any time. I am opening the door so I can literally throw all our books, etc, in the van when (here comes the good citizen part!) a nice, elderly lady picks up two of my bags and puts them in the car while I get the rest of our stuff. I thank her very much and I want to hug her too, but I refrained. She said, "I remember how hard it is to take little ones places." Oh, she is an angel, I just know it. I buckle up the kids, check them again for boo boos, give them some fruit snacks and head off to take Zoe to school. I swear if it weren't for that wonderful woman, I would have been in tears too. I didn't even care that I was soaked and my hair was a mess. God Bless that mysterious angel.

Tuesday, February 5, 2008

Here are our glitter Valentine crafts:Our little glittered hearts look so cute in our niche. The kids had so much fun making these, just glitter, glue, and cardstock hearts, who knew!? The "love" is from the dollar aisle at Target. The greenhouse has silk flowers in it, I put this thing everywhere, depending on my mood. I've had it forever and I change the stuff inside a lot, depending on the season, but I like these flowers a lot.

I tried to post yesterday but in my effort to get with the 21st century and upload some photos, I mistakenly unplugged some cords from the computer and needless to say, it was just messed up.

This is a list of all the things I did Sunday morning by 8:26 AM.

made the kids breakfast
emptied the dishwasher
refilled the dishwasher with the dirty dishes
made homemade rice krispie treats
ate about 3 treats
fed my dog
fed my bird
cleaned up the accident from my dog
washed/dryed Parker's sheets and blankets (he had a leaky diaper)
gave my dog his medicine
found and set the new digital watch in the box of cereal
helped the kids get dressed
brushed the kids' teeth and hair
cleaned up the kitchen
swiffered the downstairs
cleaned up the water my bird threw from his dish while taking a "bath"
colored two pages from Strawberry Shortcake coloring book
cut out 2 weeks worth of coupons from the Sunday paper
started washing our mound of laundry from the week

I don't want to hear anyone say stay at home moms don't work!

Friday, February 1, 2008

Brr...

I am officially sick of cold weather. I am usually sick of it before it even gets started but today's forecast for a "wintery mix" just put me in a bad mood. It's just cold, gray, and yicky. Enough already Mother Nature! I want some sun and I want it now! I really need one of those sun lamps for people with Seasonal Affective Disorder. By the way Happy February! I'll post our cute glitter hearts we made later...