Question of the day

Is six too young for playdates?

I wonder, because D has them quite frequently but so often the kids end up mooning around saying "what can we do?" and asking for snacks. Which is what I'd expect my kids to do if they were alone, but not if there was a friend over to play. (Case in point: there is a little girl here right now who has actually been watching the clock since she got here because "3:00 is [her] snack time." )

So either six is too young, or I'm too old, because really? I have some interest in playing games and doing art projects with my own kids, but virtually no interest in doing those things with someone else's kid(s). It's also weird because D's been having playdates since she was about two and of course at that age you stick close by and everything is closely supervised so maybe the kids have gotten used to that set up because now if you're not in there setting up games and making suggestions and freakin' playing with play-doh everyone just ends up wandering around the house making a huge mess.

Or maybe I just expect too much and imagine that if someone is over here to play -- an actual real live friend -- everyone should actually PLAY. I know we did when I was young. Of course, we also spent major amounts of time (at least as I remember it -- my mom may disagree) outside either playing in the yards, riding bikes or swimming. So maybe the kids are playing, or doing what passes for playing these days, but I just don't recognize it. Maybe because instead of playing too, I'm in here blogging.

Tomorrow's burning question... how come we have a lot of playdates at our house, but those same people rarely invite D over to play?

Drama-mama

So A's little family birthday was a bit rocky. He had some little presents and homemade cupcakes and a balloon, but the major drama there was D's hysterics because he was getting all the attention. She ended up getting sent to her room during dinner, sobbing and crying and carrying on, and then she didn't want to come down and have cake and ice cream. It was definitely an Oscar-worthy performance. When we finally ordered her to participate, of course she wouldn't sing Happy Birthday and in all the pictures she's pouting. Nice, huh? I would NEVER have expected that kind of behaviour from her. Ah, sibling rivalry.

Look who's two!

Happy Birthday my sweet boy. We love you so much!



More pictures later of present opening, cupcake eating and his birthday dinner request... Jelly. By which I hope he meant a savory guava jelly-red pepper glaze on baked chicken breasts accompanied by buttermilk mashed potatoes and green peas.

Picking my battles

Last night a friend and I were discussing the daily battle to dress our six-year-old daughters. I was amused to hear that she had the same conflict that I do over letting D go out in an obviously clashing or otherwise crazy outfit. These are two little girls that, until they could dress themselves, were dressed consistently in Hanna Andersson, Lands End, LLBean, and other designer-ish kid togs. They always looked cute and as pulled together as pre-schoolers could be. Until they could dress themselves. Some of the ensembles make me dizzy - kilts (in summer!) with tie-dye; floral skirts with striped shirts, pink t-shirt with everything, or her favorite outfit this summer: pink shorts and teal t-shirt which gives me major Miami Vice flashbacks. I keep expecting to see Crockett & Tubbs hiding in her closet. But, we both agreed, it is better to see your child express herself, no matter how bizarrely, than to squash their nascent sense of self with criticism. (And frankly, I'm not one to point fingers as I can be relied upon to wear the same black t-shirt, ratty khaki shorts and flip-flops almost every day. Hey, they're comfortable! Don't judge.) I do draw the line for church - she has to wear a "church dress" -- and since we don't buy logo tees or anything branded with cartoon characters or Hanna Montana or anyone like that, I don't worry about her being inappropriate, just clashy. As for her other funny dressing habit, tucking in her shirts so snugly she looks like she's wearing a onesie, I assume she'll grow out of it.

I've learned to relax a lot with two kids. D had such a rigid early childhood, but I have to say things have loosened up a bit and everyone seems to be surviving. We'll eat McDonald's for dinner or buy sugary breakfast cereals or let the kids have some candy while they're with the babysitter. As long as they understand such things are treats and not the norm, I'm fine with it. And so far, so good. The one strange thing is the gradual extension of D's bedtime. (A still goes to bed at 6:30 and is happy to do it. I'm not rocking that boat!) But D's bedtime has gradually crept up to 8:00 - and we let her read for an additional 30 minutes in bed if she wants to. That's a huge change from the strict 7:00 I managed to keep all last year - more for M & I than her I think. Sometimes we'll let her stay up with us and watch Animal Planet or the Discovery Channel, sometimes we'll watch a family movie, sometimes we play games. But sometimes it feels odd suddenly having a talkative little person still hanging around, chatting our ears off, during the time that up until now was still all ours. I'm still trying to get used to it and wondering what will happen when she discovers what a sitcom is, or American Idol, or that there are shows on TV all night long! Will she stay up and watch? What will we do? What did my parents think when they looked around the living room at 8:00 and there were still five kids draped over the furniture watching "their" shows? I guess we'll deal with it when it happens.

Look what the cat dragged in

(The metaphorical cat, that is. Not one of the pack of nasty, yowling, homeless, flea-bitten feline scroungers that hang around our corner, puke on our porch and use our yard for a litter box because those are unwelcome to drag anything into our house. Vermin. We talked to our Cat Lady neighbor (an otherwise nice person with a huge blind spot for homeless cats) and she claims that they "don't leave her yard." Um whatever. We've got pictures. And "evidence" all over the yard. Anyway, lady, you're on fair notice now, so we're going to start capturing and waterboarding them.

This is a more than welcome sight/site on a quiet Saturday morning! Too bad I won't have time to get reacquainted with my obsessions before the kiddos wake up, but now that I know you're back.... I'll see you tonight!

Rain, rain

It has rained every day this week, last week, the whole of time as I can remember it. Not that I'm complaining what with all the talk of droughts and wildfires and dead landscaping and golf courses and whatnot, but whatever, those things don't affect me (yet) and not being able to get the kids outside to run around everyday DOES affect me, most often if the form of massive meltdowns right as I start to saute the veggies or cut up the chicken or whatever. The kind of meltdown that makes one think of volcanos and TNT and loss of life. Shooting flames, piercing shrieks, choking sobs, the whole bit, you'd think they were being tortured. But they're just torturing each other because I refuse to get involved unless it involves protracted violence or bloodshed. Anyway, it's all easier to deal with when they've had some time outside to play, but the rainy season is here which means it's either raining or about to rain, too bloody hot and humid to be outdoors (for me anyway) or too wet on the playgrounds. Fun times.

Have a great weekend. I've got to run and explain to A why he can have pretzels OR chocolate milk, but not both, this close to dinner time. Or should I just cave, let him have both, ruin his appetite and so what who cares, he can eat a good dinner tomorrow? Do I stick to my guns and suffer through a tantrum? Either way, it's not going to be good and it is pouring outside so there's not much else to do.

Life is filled with tiny dilemmas.

Home ech!

Oh if only I had paid attention in Home Ec all those years ago I might know how to make this. Sigh. Instead, I was too busy flirting with boys, passing notes (quite often to this person) and writing stories to pay attention. Still, it's never too late to learn. My SIL, an excellent sewer, has given it the project the "not too hard" seal of approval. We'll see if I get around to it or no.

Meanwhile, the nice insulation people were here this morning, spent an hour blowing recycled newspaper insulation (we're so green!) into our attic, collected their money and left with the dire warning that we "should have had a duct check first." In other words, we'll probably see them again in a few months. The upside is that the whole house smells like one of my favorite smells - newsprint. Mmmmmm. Better than - ok, ok, as good as - brownies.

This and that

I've only got about 2.5 seconds before all hell breaks loose in the living room but I just had to drop a line about my most relaxing day. A good friend and I have arranged a kid swap this week - today she got my buggers for a few hours and on Friday I'll have her kiddos. So, my morning was spent doing what any sensible mommy with a few hours of free time will -- Solo Grocery Shopping! Wheee! Oddly, my cart ended up with more BOGO bags of chips and crackers and cookies than it would have had the kids been with me. I guess it's easier to say NO! to them than to myself.

The kids were mysteriously well behaved, didn't fight or pick on each other, and (reportedly) ate all their lunch. I got big doting cow eyes from A when I arrived to resume my role as mother/slave pick them up. I never notice how cute and charming they are unless I've been away for a few hours.

Soooo -- tomato sauce is bubbling away, ravioli for dinner tonight and then I'm off for a few hours this evening for a Junior League meeting. I love adult time almost as much as alone time.

Last night D wanted to say grace all by herself because, you know, she's a big six year old now and everything. Here's her take:

Bless us O Lord
And these thy gifts
Which we are about to receive
By your BROWNIE
Through Christ our Lord, Amen.

Apparently she's got her mama's sweet tooth.

We had a wonderful weekend staying indoors avoiding heatstroke. M did make a break for it early Saturday morning to mow the yard, and D and I made it to church yesterday morning, but other than that we stayed inside to play. Heck, if you're spending $500 a month to cool your house you might as well enjoy it, right?

We have to have a new roof put on this week (yay crappy leaking roof!) and we're going to get the attic insulated too so maybe our electric bills will come down into the low 300s or -- dare to dream -- maybe high 200s. We were pleasantly surprised that the insulation is going to be under $1000. We were steeling ourselves for another money-pit expense in the thousands, but apparently blowing a bunch of recycled paper and stuff into your attic is relatively cheap. Compared to say, fixing the roof and repairing the ancient a/c. Even so, in the seven months we've been here, we've yet to have a month go by without an unexpected outlay of $2-3,000. Thank goodness we've been blessed with our Lord's "brownies."

TGIF

Wheeee - weekend is (almost) here! I might get to sleep in until 7:00 tomorrow - at least, I hope so. I'm seriously tired from trying to restore order here. I can't believe how quickly the laundry has piled up on us, especially since we washed everything before we left NC. But all the hampers are full and there are towels everywhere, mocking me. At least the spiders webs are gone.

No matter. It's the weekend!

Tonight (or tomorrow if it's too crazy here this afternoon) I'm grilling chicken, making creamy corn-off-the-cob and roasted peach ice cream. Speaking of corn, waaayyy back in time when I was pregnant with D, almost 7 years ago actually, I lost my taste for a few things: red wine, garlic, onions and, oddly, corn. The garlic and onion love came back mid-way through my pregnancy with A, but the red wine and corn aversion has held up. Until this spring, when the early Florida corn was sooo good that even I had to like it. It seems that was all I needed to get me over my hate because now I'm fine with it again -- at least when it comes to fresh corn. Frozen corn still tastes funny to me (waxy? too sweet? can't put my finger on it. ) and I only like the canned stuff when it's cooked into something else like spoonbread or corn pudding. But sweet, freshly grilled corn? Mmmmmgood.

Red wine though? Bleh*.


*My sister Jenn, who is quite the oenophile, has enticed me to sip various Super Tuscans, GSMs, Barolos over the years. While the initial taste is yummy, the aftertaste still leaves me feeling hot & queasy. Like I said, bleh. Give me a cold Sam Adams anyday.

The high price of cockiness

FAIR WARNING: This is a bathroom-related story. If you are squeamish, go read someone else's blog.

Last night during dinner, A suddenly announces "Poopy. Potty." "Really?" I asked. He repeated it so I took him to the bathroom, stripped him down and lo and behold! A big poopy. In the potty. At only 23 months. What a prodigy, right? I was so happy. He was so proud. We wiped, we flushed, we waved bye-bye to the poopy. We washed our hands thoroughly. He was smiling like a crazy-man and even D got into the celebration. Could it be the end of diapers? In my enthusiasm, I bunged a diaper on him, not really being careful about where the leg holes were or if the velcro was secure. We returned to the kitchen, I helped him back into his booster seat and we started to finish dinner.

Fifteen minutes later he made this weird little face, grunted once and then had the biggest diapee blowout of his life. I haven't seen this much crap all in one place since the last time Paris Hilton was on the news. There was poop everywhere - all over him, his outfit, his booster, the chair. Apparently my cocky failure to properly secure his diaper resulted in even more leakage than if I hadn't put one on at all. The elastics and velcros and whatnot acted as a geyser or funnel mechanism. Anyway, I had to haul him back to the bathroom -- no more happy, no more proud, no more smiling -- chuck him in the tub for a quick scrub, take off the disgusting outfit (thank goodness it was a really old onesie and yes, I simply wrapped it up and threw it away.) and then, since no one wanted to finish dinner in the Poop Kitchen, I let them watch a bonus TV show while I dealt with the booster seat -- outside. No mere paper towel and lysol job - I needed the heavy duty scrubber, half-a-bottle of Dawn and an equal amount of Clorox. You know how the straps on boosters and high chairs are sortof ribbed? Imagine all those little ribs filled with.... well, get the picture?

I asked him later, before bed, if he wanted to try to use the potty. He just looked at me sorrowfully and said, "No. Poopy chair. Sad." My sentiments exactly.

One more thing

So while the kids were otherwise occupied, I updated my blog template and added this cool (well, cool to me) playlist thingy over on the sidebar. I've forgotten how to code or I'd fix it. I hope it works.

Same old

Yesterday was D's sixth birthday and, per our family's tradition, she got to pick the dinner menu and the dessert of her choice. We all enjoyed the macaroni and cheese, although I just couldn't pull it together to make homemade as she initially requested. For dessert, she picked out a chocolate cake w/ chocolate fudge frosting. And Birthday Cake ice cream. I was a little leery at first but I'm happy to report that both were surprisingly delicious and not too noxiously sweet at all! I also discovered that the appliance bay in the kitchen makes a very excellent place to stash a small piece of cake to nibble on surreptitiously. What's that? Why am I hiding food? If you have to ask, you probably don't have kids. Don't judge.

Other than that, after being home for one day, we're slowly getting back in our groove. The kids alternate between crying because they love each other so very much that they can't stand to be apart for one second, or screaming and slapping each other because someone just stepped into someone's space. I've been mediating the usual arguments about who gets to play with the balloon, penguins, beads, or ________ (fill-in the toy of your choice) next. A has learned to say "sorry" very well, although maybe not so sincerely.

We've also started discovering all the little ways the house fell apart in our absence. There's the roof leak (which we knew about), the odd musty odor, the mysterious gaps in the floorboard, the clanking a/c which runs constantly but never cools anything, and worst, the gajillion spiders which took up residence and built webs between every solid surface. It's very strange. The staircase looks like an Indiana Jones set. I can't imagine how it stayed web-free in the year it sat empty before some sucker we bought it. I have this mental image of the realtor -- a very dignified older gentleman -- frantically running around with a Swiffer before every showing. D takes a little whisk broom everywhere, and every hour there's at least one urgent call of "Mommy!! I found a bug!" Such is life in Florida in the summer in our beautiful old house.

We're baaaack

A day later than planned, but still, here. With the attendant bajillion errands to attend to, the 2 weeks of cleaning and unpacking and sorting to take care of, the mountain of mail - bills, thank yous from the umpteen parties D attended at the end of school, the catalogues reminding us ever so un-subtly that summer will end sooner or later (but back-to-school catalogues in early July? Really?)

We had a fabulously awesome time in NC. All of us. On the way home, in between DVDs, I asked everyone what they learned during the last two weeks:

Me: That you can go on vacation with two kids and no other first-aid supplies except a Benadryl stick and a half-empty bottle of infant Tylenol and no one will die.

M: To love big family gatherings.

D: All about kiwis (thanks cousin Jacob!)

A: How to play like a big boy and that I shouldn't run around too much right after I eat. Also, that I can eat almost a whole box of Ritz crackers all by myself over two weeks.

Mostly now we're trying to reacclimate to 90-degree temperatures and triple-digit humidity. A hard row to hoe indeed considering last Tuesday morning we woke up to a bracing 49 degrees. Heaven.

I made it through almost a whole morning of preliminary mail sorting before I turned on the TV for the kids though.

Pre-vacation countdown

Two days to go until the kids & I leave for a few weeks in NC - hurrah!!!

Three's Company will be on hiatus until July as it's hard to post with company here, and cleaning and packing to do, and kids to play with (or turn TV on for.)

So stay tuned for pictures and more.....

Happy Summer Days!

What did he say?!

When D was learning to talk, her word for elephant sounded a bit like she was saying "f**kint" and going to the zoo was an exercise in avoiding other people around the Wild Africa display for fear that the general public would hear her exclaiming in delight "f**kint!!" when she saw the majestic beasts. After a few months of extreme embarrassment, including one incident in the Library's kids' section, she grew out of it and it's become an amusing family (adults only!) anecdote and we're all over our elephant-avoidance phobias. Until this weekend. When we found out that A's words for both Fruit and Fork sound exactly like "f**k." How exciting! I can't wait until the next time we're in the produce aisle. It was easier to avoid elephants.

*sob*

Look I what I found this morning when I sat down with my coffee, clicked onto tastespotting.com as I do every morning and got ready to peruse yummy treats from fellow foodies all over the world:








Why? WHY? WHY????? Lawyer M says it was probably a piracy thing, internet sharing of copyrighted materials, blah blah blah. Whatever. I can think of two cookbooks that I would never have bought - or even heard of - if it weren't for the delicious reviews I found on tastespotting. Doesn't that make up for the occasional posting of a photo? And sure, I can understand if people were posting tons of recipes right out of a book, but the vast majority of posts were either home cooks dabbling with their OWN recipes or people who made tweaks to book recipes and then posted the results.

Now I have to go and try to find all my favorite food bloggers on my own.

I am so sad.

Summer school

This week we started our REAL summertime routine - swim lessons, camp, vacation and SCHOOL! Lucky kid to have a mom soooo concerned that she will lose all the skills she learned in Kindergarten that I am making her practice them over the summer. Lucky kid? Or crazy-ass, uptight mom? Hmmm. We read a lot anyway, so I'm not including that in the routine, but I've decided that for one hour every day we're going to practice the other two Rs. Even A is getting in on the action by learning colors, shapes and numbers. He astonished my mom over the weekend by counting to 5, but I think that's just because it's my "mom count" as in "you have FIVE SECONDS, mister, to get over here." They hear that a lot too.

What else do we do for an hour each day? Play at the park (PE), make/eat lunch, do a craft or art project, sit in the car while Mommy goes to Starbucks, and they get to watch one hour of commercial-free TV or a video each afternoon, preferably while I make dinner. What I wouldn't give for an older, teenage-style child that could reliably watch the kids while I make dinner. I'd invite one of the neighbor girls to come over, but I really don't want to pay a babysitter, I just want someone to pry the kid off my leg so I can saute some chicken. I realize that was sortof the role I played in my family growing up and I sincerely hope ('cause I don't remember the details) that I was a help to my mom and that when she asked me to watch the kids I didn't gripe too much.

To all my East Coast friends -- stay cool!!

Am I a bummer?

We've almost completed summer vacation week 1. So far so good, and this was technically our week "off" when we had nothing scheduled or planned -- for the kids at least. I'm still waiting on the results of all the testing I had done earlier this week.

Next week we start swim lessons, then we have a week of Vacation Bible School and then the kids & I will head to NC for a couple of weeks in the mountains with my in-laws. Ahhhh..... two weeks off enjoying the beautiful Smoky Mtns. and the cool nights and cool mornings and Uno on the porch and it's just my favorite thing to do in the summer. And it will be even better this year because my brother in law (Colonel Mike) and his family are going to be coming out for the July 4th weekend too. Hurray! If there is one thing I love it's big crazy family gatherings. It will be the first time that we're all together at my MIL & FIL's house since they moved there and I'm really looking forward to it. I'm sure the kids will explore every inch of the mountain -- I'll just have to convince D that she can't do it in a skirt.

Have a great summery weekend!

Summer vacation - day 4

So today is our first real day of summer vacation not consumed with heat, a/c repairmen, appointments, meetings or radioactive isotope thyroid scans. Wheee!

Of course, M is out of town. He had to drive to the Other Coast of Florida for a deposition (taking one, not giving) and he has to go back again of Friday. Which means two days this week of essentially being alone with the kids. Which means... BAKING! I'm making Fruited No-Knead Bread by combining two or three recipes I found on the internet. Yum. Of course the long rise means that I probably won't be baking it off until Friday, but no matter we'll have it for the weekend.

I'll use the next few days to recognize opportunities to be a patient mom and try to stay engaged with the kids. This is the hardest part of parenting for me. I can always think up other stuff I should or could be doing. I've been toying with the idea of turning the computer off during the day to reduce the temptation to send some "quick" emails, or surf my fave bloggers for just a "few minutes" or play a "quick" game of Scrabulous. But the notion leaves me feeling seriously disconnected and then I'd be wanting to do all the above in the evening when I should be spending time with M. And it's not like I have an internet addiction (OK, maybe a wee bit with Scrabulous - but I know that's a passing fancy and I'll get bored trying to break 700 every game.) but it is a convenient way to grab some quick quiet time.

Oh well. Time to go play!

Oh summer

Nothing like a little hardship to put life in perspective.

Our a/c (upstairs this time) quit on us yesterday. Nothing like no a/c on a hot summer Florida day. It was about 90 in the bedrooms last night - there was no breeze so I didn't see the point in opening windows. The fans were going full blast, I had about an inch of baby powder on me trying to keep cool and dry. M wimped out needed a good night sleep, so he went downstairs to sleep on the couch.

Stupid summer.

Of course, the warranty company, ever helpful, said they'd have someone out on Monday. So we're looking forward to one more night in the sweatbox. We're hoping -- in vain? -- that if we wait them out eventually they'll figure out that they have to replace the a/c units and we won't have to shell out the $15-20K it will probably cost to replace them and fix the ductwork, etc. But in the meantime, the units appear to break down at least once a month. Not a big deal when it cools off at night, but I don't think it got much below 80 last night.

AND, of course, tonight we won't be suffering alone since my parents are coming up tonight to help watch the kids while I have the testing done on the growths they found on my thyroid. The good times never stop.

Where?

The answer to yesterday's photo quiz is.... (drumroll).... Thessaloniki, Greece! Ah... good times. Look for more reminiscing over the next few months.

Today is the last day of school. Talk about bittersweet. One on hand, I no longer have to get up at 5:30 every morning -- although, truth be told, I probably will because I like to get a headstart on my day and it's practically the only alone time I can get. On the other, I'm going to have to employ all my Creative Mama tricks to keep my lot happy during the day. What age is it when the kids can entertain themselves?

Three years ago...

we were here. Can you guess where?

Terrible twos

Hello, welcome to the part of the show where I gripe (once again) about the kids! What? You say that's all I do? Well, buckle up because I figure on complaining about them for at least the next four years.

Of course, there's lots of endearing stuff in there too. Like on Sunday when we were enjoying some delish grilled fennel (from this week's produce share) and D was simply loving it. She looks up and says enthusiastically, "I'm in town with this!" It took us a sec before we realized she must have heard the "went to town" phrase somewhere. Note to self: watch what we say these days. Also what we spell, since she's more than able to sound out words. And? If you see her silently mouthing consonants to herself? That's EXACTLY what she's doing. So no use spelling "I-C-E-C-R-E-A-M" any more. But you can try "G-E-L-A-T-O" since she doesn't know what that is yet.

ON THE OTHER HAND...there is the wacky crank-monster we know as A. Firmly and precociously entering The Terrible Twos, his favorites words are Mama and No. Often spoken together, at the top of his lungs, in a screech that can be heard three counties over. We are now the family that other parents look at and then exchange the wordless glance that means "whew, glad it's not my kid." I know, because we used to be the family that exchanged that glance -- back when D was our only baby, the most gloriously unfussy, uncomplaining, agreeable, reasonable baby that EVER LIVED. As for A, not so much. On the other hand, he's a snuggle bunny, cheerful (when he's happy), whip-smart and fearless. But sweet Lord, you can only take so much screeching per day. I'm usually tapped out by 9:00 a.m.

So, where do I turn for solace? Prayers & chocolate.

Have a great (short) week. Three days til summer vacation!!

All things Kindergarten

Jeezlouise. For the amount of hoop-da-lah, fanfare, etc. going on at school this week you'd think they were graduating magna cum laude from Yale with their doctorates. It's just Kindergarten. Get a grip.

We've got teacher appreciation stuff -- which I thought that was LAST week, but I guess that's teachers in general. This week it's D's teacher in particular -- Assessment Reviews, "graduation day," a Kindergarten play, a picnic lunch, and then we break for Memorial Day weekend only to have to come back for two-and-a-half more days next week. Unproductive days (after all, they've already graduated!) because what exactly are they going to have them do? I'd rather have them out of school for good on Friday so that we can get on with our summer.

Anyway. Exciting times. I will be a mom to a first-grader. A first grader who just lost her first tooth. Here she is, sorta being shy.








It's funny how one tooth out can change the way a kid looks. If I look at her pictures from a last summer she still looks so young to me. Now? Not so much. I can definitely see the young lady she is becoming.

I warned him

I told M that if he persisted in this activity that I would HAVE to blog about it. There are so many headings I could use: "How Not to Complete a Home Improvement Project" or "Other People Would Have Put Him Down First" or "Things Mothers Should Not See" or perhaps "Why I Can't Sleep At Night."










Luckily, they were both fine. This time. At least it wasn't the big ladder. He wouldn't have taken A up there. Right?

So much for all that

Well, so much for Going Green. It's back to typical Florida weather - in the high 80s/low 90s and about 354% humidity this morning. Needless to say we put the air back on. And of course one of our ancient, Jurassic-era a/c units failed to come on. The downstairs one this time. At least the warranty company had someone out here within two hours to fix it. So we're nice and cool again and my electricity bill will go back to being scary.

And speaking of scary, I just got a call from my doctor's office and hey ho! guess what? After 41-1/2 years of absolutely uneventful check-ups, including having two kids at an "advanced maternal age," they found something weird with my thyroid! I have nodules. As A would say, "Wha' dat?" I will have to wait in suspense to find out next week because they want me to go for some more testing, if I can coordinate it with finding someone to watch A, swim lessons, D's kindergarten graduation, her last Daisy meeting of the year and my chair meeting with the Jr. League president. Did I mention that A has croup and has been up practically all night for the last two nights? And so have I? Good times people, good times.

Going green

For mid-May in Florida, we've been having some really nice weather. After our big Mother's Day weekend, it cooled off considerably and we've actually had our a/c off all week. The windows aren't painted shut in this house so we've been able to open up and air out. It's a bit stuffy upstairs from about 5 - 10pm, but we just keep the ceiling fans going and not even the kids are complaining. We/I love having all this fresh air in the house, I don't even mind the heat right now, and it's something we were never able to do at the old house. I'm enjoying it -- and saving on our electric bill -- while we can.

Actually, we have the potential to be very green here. We already have solar power for the water heater, which is way more efficient than either gas or electric, so we may consider installing a converter box for the whole house. There was a large rebate for solar power available in Florida last year, but it just expired in December so we'll wait to see if they revive it. We can also tap into reclaimed water to water our yard, but we'd have to do a lot of prep work and I'm not sure if it's better than reviving our well.

And our final Big Green Moment of the week... we restart our membership in the organic produce co-op tomorrow! Hurray! The co-op actually opened a St. Pete satellite location to service all their members up here without us having to drive to Sarasota each week. I can't wait to see what's in my first basket.

OK.. gotta boogie. BigMan A is off at Mom's Morning Out today and I have 3 hours of chores to cram into the 45 minutes before I have to get him. Wish me luck!

Naps

The Kid and I went to the beach yesterday. It's getting hot so our beach days are limited and we might as well enjoy them while we still can. We had a great time, just the two of us. We ran upandown, upandown. We juhjumped in the (big) waves. We splashed our toes and fee. We threw shells into the wawa. We ate french fries for lunch (I had 1 1/2 grilled cheeses with pickles too) and we played in the beach shower afterwards. It was great and so relaxing. Then, because we weren't tired at ALL when we got home, we played animal hospital and then took D to swim lessons (more running upandown) and then Daddy/M came home early so we had an early dinner and then played outside until almost 7 and then took a nice bubble bath and then finally collapsed into bed at 7:30. And we only woke up once all night to get a drink! Wow!

But we got up early because D had a dentist appointment so we played before and after breakfast, we played at the dentist's office, we came home and played at the kitchen table -- he showed me how he can climb, heartstoppingly, upandown from the chairs! -- and then we played upstairs a little. And THAT is how you get a 21-month-old to nap. Two days of almost near-constant activity = 2 hours of naptime.

I should vacuum but I'm not up to dragging that thing upandown the stairs so I think I'll just take the baby monitor out to the porch and have a little siesta. And I wonder why I can't get it ALL done.

May is for movies!

Yay May! Two much-awaited events coming up soon... Prince Caspian and the new Indiana Jones movie. Squeal! Bringing together in one little month two of my favorite childhood things - Narnia and Indiana Jones. I must start plotting now to see them both in the theatre, no easy feat since it has probably been two years since M & I went to a movie together.

And if I were 15 years old? I'd have SUCH a crush on High King Peter.

Next weekend is the big Aunt Debbie's birthday/Mother's Day celebration. We are really looking forward to entertaining in our new house and having both my parents and my sister Jenn stay with us. Yay! O happy May!

What I'm doing

12 hours into my new Healthy Eating & Weight Loss lifestyle, I find out about this little site:

http://www.tastespotting.com/

OMG. Well, I guess there's nothing that says I have to make (and eat) any of this stuff.

An open letter to the nice lady at my doctor's office this morning

Dear ma'am, I'm sure you meant well when that nurse announced my weight in an very loud "outside" voice and it was a number I'm used to associating with the phrase "second trimester" and you saw the look of utter dismay on my face as I turned around and lurched off the scale. However, you saying consolingly "that's what I weigh too!" does me no good since you are at LEAST 7 inches taller than I am. You only served to emphasize that I am both larger and shorter than I'd like to be. But I know you meant well.

So. No more ifs, ands or buts (butts). I can't change my height but I am willing to work on the rest. My goal? To lose a lofty, hefty 30 lbs. by the end of the year. Really -- that's only 5 lbs. per month! I can do it! I will start by not eating the entire, delicious, low-fat banana coffee cake I just baked. I will give it away instead. Hey, it's a start.

Unplugged

Gotcha! Did you think for 4.5 nanoseconds that this was going to be a post about how allofasudden we were going to be one of those no-TV-no-computer families? Hah! I would die, literally, I think, if I couldn't plop the munchkins down in front of the TV while I got dinner ready, did laundry, cleaned up, etc. etc. ad infinitum ad nauseaum. And if I didn't die? For sure I might kill something. Especially on a real rat's ass difficult day like today where Boy Wonder (the artist formerly known as A, my 21-month-old son) refused to nap, refused to play, refused to act anything like human. We had a wonderful morning playing at the park with a friend, had an almost civilized lunch, and then WHAMO as soon as we got home he was clingy, needy, whiny, etc. in other words thoroughly 21 months old and I am, right now, taking a well-deserved, well-earned break by allowing them (yep, D too) to watch Hi-5 until dinner time. Now, lest you think the kiddos are just watching any old thing, I do have rules. They are only allowed to watch what I record for them on TiVo or on PBS or other commercial-free channels. I draw the line, as faint as it may be, at Disney, Nick and the Cartoon Network.

Oh did I mention how D is currently exhibiting behavior that, if she weren't only 5-1/2, I'd be tempted to call P.M.S.? Moody, oversensitive, crying, grumpy, it's all there folks, except for that fun bloated feeling. I know the signs. Unfortunately, she's not old enough to be offered any of my go-to home remedies: shopping trip, new shoes, chocolate, or a cold beer, not necessarily in that order. So I am trying to talk her through it. While cooking dinner. A dinner that will be almost wholly unappreciated by the kids, but that I will thoroughly enjoy much later with M.

Oh, yeah, ok, back to unplugged. So. Basically, I'm making ice-cream manually. Because while as much as I love my KitchenAid and also it's ice-cream accessory bowl, it's a bitch really difficult to use when your ice cream base is really chunky or thick, as was the case with my latest batch of coconut-cherry ice cream. So, I'm freezing it old-school with a bowl of ice, sea salt and lotsandlots of stirring. I may have to invest in a free-standing ice-cream maker (since I pretty much make all my own now) and save the KitchenAid for plain flavors or thinner custards. But in the meantime, I've got semi-frozen coconut-cherry ice-cream all over the kitchen because the darn dasher splattered it everywhere. Everywhere including into a bowl which I happen to be eating RIGHT NOW (yep, kids, it's a prerogative of mommy-hood. So sorry! Now go watch TV.). After which I'll get back to cleaning, and cooking dinner, consoling D and keeping half an ear on Boy Wonder as he watches his third episode of Hi-5. Just as soon as I finish this post. There.

Dinos for a day

April has been a busy month at school. The Kindergarten moms have been in charge of teacher treats all month and today is Paleontologist Day. The kids are beyond excited -- even my very, very girly girl who refused the offer of work shirts, desert boots and pith hats but was happy to wear a pink t-shirt and bright pink bandanna. She wanted to wear a skirt, but I was able to talk her out of it. They will get to measure dino "fossils," read a dino story, make a dino print and I'm in charge of the "hatching" station involving both papier mache eggs AND real hard-boiled ones that the kids will get to peel (and eat?!).

A is saying 2-3 new words a day now. I've actually started calling him "This" because it's the word he says the most. He's also started saying "no" -- to everything. This morning I had to take him to Mom's Morning Out (since I'm helping at school) and even though he hasn't been there since December, the second he saw the building he started to cry and say No NO NOOOOO. Do you hear faint screams? That's probably him. It broke my heart. For about 3 seconds. Then I rushed home to enjoy my hour of total quiet, uninterrupted alone time. Yay me!

I can't believe summer is right around the corner. I'm sorta dreading the days of "what do we do now?" but it is tempered by not having to get up at 5:30 a.m. and rush around every morning. Plus, this year D will be doing swim lessons and a bunch of camps so it's mostly just fun.

I'm off to Dino Day!

Must. Post. Soon.

After a frenzy of activity last week: baking up Chocolate Goodies for my Pay it Forward packages, helping with Teacher Treat's for D's school, and finally heading out of town for my Bro's 40th birthday party, it has occurred to me that I've not been posting as regularly, frequently or as lengthily as I'd like. (Although it probably suits you just fine.)

Things will probably get worse before they get better as it is a short week for D at school and I'm heading out of town again (I think) and I still have the normal range of household duties to perform/manage/ignore. Since Tuesdays are our busy day around here, I got dinner ready this morning instead of waiting until after school & swim lessons. This will, I hope, relieve some of the stress of getting dinner ready and on the table while the whippersnappers whine for snacks and I whine back that there are NO SNACKS before dinner and if you ask me one more time I will [insert empty threat]. Hopefully, having dinner PRE-pared will allow me to be the gracious and loving mom I want to be, offering up constructive ways for the kids to occupy themselves for 15 minutes while I boil pasta and not the royal bitch crabby and yelling mom I can be when I'm trying to whip up a healthy interesting dinner in the 15 minutes before everyone dies of hunger and that I highly suspect no one is going to eat anyway. Sigh. Is there an upside to having one of the world's pickiest eaters?

Cooking away

I've got half of the goodies for my Pay it Forward boxes ready! Woohoo! And it only took me four days to get to it! That would be two days of planning, two of shopping and now today -- cooking. If all goes according to schedule (both mine & A's) the goodie boxes will be on their way to the winners first thing in the morning. The two "easy" goodies are done -- I just have to bake cookies and get everything all packed up.

Have I mentioned that A is now only napping about every other day? And has decided to start "talking?" What a big boy!! Here are some of his favorite vocabulary words:

"meeeeees!" - please
"moh" - more
"cuk" - cookies
"Mah" - my beautiful, wonderful mommy

"meeeeees!" - please
"meeeee" - I (not to be confused with "meeeeees")
"juh" - would like some juice
"Dahhhh" - like my sister D
"gaaaahhhh" - although I won't drink it


"meeeee" - I
"gu" - am going
"dun" - downstairs
"aaaaaaahhhh" - NOW! With or without you!


"meeeee" - I
"bis" - am going peepee (we think he's actually trying to say penis. Whatever. At least he knows where it's coming from.)
"Dahhhh" - on D in the tub
"hahahahahaha" - isn't that funny?!


"play bead" - please let me play with the super-dangerous, major-choking-hazard, must-be-supervised-at-all-times bead set.

And the winner is....

Thank you to Texas Preppy and Cindy for entering my Pay it Forward contest!! I had A (my 21 month old assistant) "help" me draw names, and maybe it was the sight of just those two lonely entries sitting in the basket, but he steadfastly, repeatedly refused to draw just one. So... I declare you BOTH winners of my Pay it Forward (w/Chocolate!) giveaway! I'll be sending you an email shortly to get your shipping info.. or if you read this before I get around to it, please email me. And of course now you get to host your very own Pay it Forward!

Thanks for playing! Have a great weekend!

Pay it forward.... with Chocolate!

I'm still on Cloud 9 after winning the Grosgrain Garage pincushion Pay it Forward contest! And yes, I do sew... or actually embroider... once in a great while. I'm also campaigning for a sewing machine, so I can start making cool things myself -- although, as I don't really have the "eye" for pattern, color or design, my creations may be for My Eyes Only. We'll see.

ANYHOO.

As part of my winning, I've agreed to host my very own Pay it Forward. So if you win mine, you agree to host your own. And so on and so on. It's the gift that keeps on giving! As I mentioned yesterday, I'm a decent baker/cook so I've decided to give away a Chocoholic Basket o' Treats! Items may include:

Homemade dark chocolate pudding mix (just add milk),
Dark chocolate bark, and
Decadent double-chocolate cookies

So, please leave me a comment before noon tomorrow (Thurs. 4/10) and I'll announce the winner on Friday! I'd do it earlier, but I'm committed to making a pile of wrap sandwiches for the teachers at D's school for tomorrow so, between grocery shopping, making sandwiches, taking sandwiches and all the other stuff I have to do I know I won't get to it before then.

Good luck!

Pins(cushions) and needles!

YIPPPPEEEEEEE!!! The most un-winningest person in the Western Hemisphere has WON something. I'm the Lucky winner of the Pay it Forward contest over at Grosgrain Garage! Thanks to the unbelievably talented and stylish Lisagh, I'll be receiving this very, very soon...








(Sorry Cindy!)

So! Check back later today... or maybe first thing in the morning.... for the details on my own Pay it Forward giveaway. I sure don't have Lisagh's talent with needle and thread, but I'm a pretty decent baker/cook! So I'm thinking of something along the lines of a custom care package.

Stay tuned! And thanks a million Lisagh!

TGIF

Yay Friday! A whole long family weekend ahead! Hurrah! In a perfect world, the kids would sleep until 7:30 tomorrow, wake up in a great mood, we'd get to my favorite Italian market by 9 and they'd have a whole tray of freshly-baked cannoli muffins (think jumbo muffin with ricotta, almond, cinnamon and a chocolate streusel swirl --or just take my word that they are the best muffins in the world), then we'd get some cappuccinos, some juice and head to the beach for a picnic breakfast and kite-flying session.

I'm feelin' my oats this morning, the happy happy result of three consecutive nights of unbroken sleep! (I hope I didn't just jinx it.) Kids, dogs, everyone. Yay!

This morning I actually took the time to put on an outfit, fix my hair and slap on a bit of makeup. Some may view it as a spring cleaning effort, or a celebration of our glorious, brief Florida spring weather, but really I think it's because at the Library on Tuesday night the librarian called me "sir." By mistake. Cause I really am female. Now, I have really short hair, but I've never thought of myself as "manly" looking. Really! M (sweetly) pointed out that it was at the end of a long tiring day, with my getting little sleep for the preceding couple of nights, I had on no makeup, hair was a disheveled mess, and I was dressed in one of my ratty t-shirts with a pair of old khaki shorts and flip-flops. I don't even think I was carrying a cute purse or bag or tote or anything. D and I just rushed off to the library to do the research for her April Fool book report. So. Rather than have my children exposed to anymore guessing games regarding Mommy's sexuality, I've decided to clean up my act and dress like the lady I am. So there, Library Lady!

Plus, you can't help but look cute and girly in seersucker and a little lip gloss, which is exactly what I've got on today.

Have a great weekend!

Indecisivity

I'm not an indecisive person by nature and I can be short with people who are. EXCEPT when it comes to decorating our new casa. Maybe it's the fact that we know, God willing, that we'll be here for a very long time so there's no rush to getting things done. Maybe it's that with more than double the sq ft of our old house I can't think of how to fill it up. I do know that part of the problem is that I haven't really found furniture that I love. The formal dining room and living room are all courtesy of Ethan Allen. I found an awesome solid wood kitchen table and chair set at Target (or all places) that are perfect for the breakfast area. But other that, and especially with our new master bedroom, we might as well be living on futons and milk crates. Perhaps I need professional help. But again, there doesn't seem to be any rush.

That said, I have been setting up the kids bedrooms and playrooms slowly but surely. They had all their old furniture (D needs a dresser - still looking for that, this week I want an antique, next week it will be Danish Modern or something) and I found some great stuff at Land of Nod for the playrooms. And just today I was finally able to decide on floor rugs for the playrooms! Whew -- the last hurdle (besides figuring out what to do with the lighting.) Now we'll have comfy, cozy spaces for both of the kids to play in - and for D to use for overnights or whatever in the next few years. M wants to install a chalkboard door between the playrooms - cute idea, great for leaving messages, but we have to wait until A 1) no longer eats chalk and 2) can be depended upon not to color on the walls. Although we'll let him and then I won't have to worry about artwork.

Managed to read this far? Sorry for such a boring post -- sometimes I just need to work things out by writing them down. Also helps me when the packages start arriving to remember what I was thinking when I ordered stuff. Cause honestly, sometimes I just don't remember!

Hump day

It's totally Wednesday around here. M had to be up at 4:00 (yes, AM) today to fly to Miami for a couple of days. Being a morning person anyway, I rarely go back to sleep on those early days and today was no exception.

We're still recovering from a few of the illnesses that graced our March Malady Month. A is down to about 1/2 a box of tissue a day, I'm down to one Benadryl a day and A has only gagged-up once today! Hooray! Of course, Fize the Wonder Dog was up at 5:30 barfing in the kitchen, but hey that's what you get when you eat every piece of rubbish you come across.

To add to the challenging fun of getting a five-year-old ready for school by 7:30 each day, D has requested NO SANDWICHES for her school lunch. NO PROBLEM, I reply, but you're going to have to eat something besides fruit. So our new lunch schedule for the remainder of the school year is:

Monday - pasta day
Tuesday - stir-fry day
Wednesday - burrito day (this may not stick since she hates beans and I feel like she should have something besides cheese)
Thursday - chicken day
Friday - pizza day (this is the only day I let her buy school lunch)

For the record, I wanted a seafood day - D loves shrimp and almost all fish - but M nixed it as being too smelly and raised some important food-safety issues, i.e., how to keep shrimp hot/cold until lunchtime using only a Thermos container or ice packs.

For tomorrow's chicken, I'm roasting some mini-drumettes with a plum-hoisin-oyster sauce. I'm going to start sending her with tiny cups of salad in addition to these goodies. Or maybe broccoli or asparagus spears, both of which she loves. Because she needs her fruits and veggies.

And because I rarely practice what I preach and I'm also not a big fan of sandwiches, for my lunch I'm having a delicious dish of Talenti Caribbean Coconut gelato. Low fat! All natural! Yummy! With just enough coconut to make you feel like you're on vacation. It's a little hard to find, but I got mine at the local natural grocery just up the street.

Such a geek

So on D's homework sheet tonight one of the assignments was to do a research report on chicks, due Friday, 3-5 pages with illustrations and a bibliography.

So after swim lessons and dinner, I rushed A into bed so that we could get to the Library before it closed and get some good reference books. I spent a solid hour with her there, teaching her about call numbers, the Encyclopedia and - God help me - how to cite. (Not for nothing is she the daughter of an English Lit major and a lawyer - we cite everything around here.)

On the way home, it occurred to me that this might be a bit advanced for a Kindergarten class. I re-read the homework sheet when we got back and there it was in teeny, tiny print at the bottom: "April Fools!"

I've been HAD.

What's more geeky... that I fell for it or that I was pretty excited about the project? Perhaps I need a hobby....

Down time

When I need half an hour to regroup during the day, I have the kids do this:








A is slooowwwly recovering from the vile Flu bug. (Thankfully, no one else got it!) He goes through a box of tissue a day though and is up at least once a night to spit up. Poor runny baby! I feel like I haven't had a minute of downtime in weeks. Our water bill is going to SUCK since I've had to do at least one load of laundry a day. But enough about the Flu. He's getting better and that's all that matters. I think he's well enough to do a short trip to the beach to play tomorrow morning. I loved going to the beach with D when she was little. We'd play in the surf and sand and then have a picnic lunch. She got all tired out; I got an amazing tan. We'll see what happens when A & I go. As with most things with him, it could be amazing, fun and relaxing or a utter screaming hassle. No doubt about it -- and it's not just a boy-girl thing -- he's a different type of kid altogether.

One week ago:

A was not sick

I was not tired

We all got a normal night's sleep

We were getting ready for Easter

We were doing this:

Problem-solving with math

A has the flu. It was sorta inevitable given how sick we/my mom/everyone we know has been, but I still hate to see my kids sick. Especially when it come on at around 10:00 at night. Especially when it involves having to get them out of bed at 10:00 at night to prop up their mattresses and put spit-up cloths under them. And especially when they get sick right when M will be gone overnight on a business trip. Yay! More all-night fun for mom.

So, here's how we are solving today's problems, using Visa Commercial Math:

One sick toddler + sick toddler waking up every hour + sick toddler hacking up a lung (- a few hours rocking sick toddler) = exhausted mama

Sick toddler + exhausted mama = D's Unlimited Video Watching Day

Sick toddler + exhausted mama + husband out of town = Chocolate pudding for dinner

Exhausted mama + chocolate pudding = Self-indulgent pity party

Exhausted mama + pity party + two kids at home (- Videos) = Grandiose craft ideas

What kind of grandiose craft idea? Well, in my exhaustion, I'm trying to work out how I can make floor cushions for the kids. I'm actually surprised I'm not just hoofing it over to PetSmart to buy dog beds for them to use, because at about 4:00 a.m., when the idea first occurred to me, that was my first instinct. After all, Fize the Dog with Nine Lives has had several wonderful dog beds from there and they are the perfect size and come in cute patterns.... but then again is it weird to have the kids lounging on the floor on dog beds? Plus, maybe Fize would be confused? Shouldn't she have something that is hers and hers alone?

Anyway, here's the math:

Two floor cushions from Amazon + shipping and handling = $160 (approx.)

Two foam inserts + materials + sewing machine + learning to sew (- putting off all my other chores) + hypothetical issue of whether I'd ever sew anything again = $200 (approx.)

Hmmm... what to do....

Easter: Not just eggs

We had a wonderful Easter weekend with my brother and his family in Naples. Despite my mom still not feeling quiet up to par, we managed to fill our hearts (and baskets) with love, play and wonderful food. My SIL put together a fab spread for Easter morning lunch/brunch and even though we did not make it to Mass this year, it was wonderful to be with our extended family.

After lunch/brunch, we hid almost 200 eggs in my brother's huge yard for the kids. For the first time ever, all of them were old enough to participate in the egg hunt. It was so much fun to see the older ones (ages 3-11) running as fast they could to find as many as the could. A took it slower - he was very methodical in his egg-seeking: you look on the bench, under the bench, carefully between each bench slat and finally do a careful survey of the bench and its environs, just to be sure. And all with an ultra-serious look on his face as if he had finally figured out that the finding and collecting of eggs was his main mission in life. So cute. This being Florida, we don't even fill the eggs. We used to, back when there was just my nephew and we would hide about a dozen eggs, but we quickly found that almost any candy (even jelly beans!) will melt, mush or otherwise disintegrate in the punishing Florida heat. And we had a problem too with any undiscovered eggs later attracting ants, roaches and other vermin to the scene. So, because there are so many kids in the family now, and they all get baskets with candy and treats anyway, we skip that part of the ritual.

This week is D's Easter Vacation from school. I'm trying to strike a balance between planning fun activities and giving her lots of downtime, but either way it means that I'm twice as busy during the day as usual. And? A has finally given up his nap. Sigh. He's gone from my baby to a toddler in a blink of an eye. And wouldn't you know it? I've got that weird longing to hold a baby, cuddle a baby, to be pregnant again. I mean I know at almost 42 years old it isn't the most practical thing to want, but the yearning is there sometimes. I think M feels it too. Since 2002 our main focus has been on having kids -- now we're moving on to raising them.

What?!

Yesterday (on a scale of 1-10):

Weather - 2. It was super windy. I really don't like wind. It bothers me and makes me edgy.

Children - 7. A is getting his last four teeth and is drooling, crying and has an upset tummy. D is on Easter Vacation and is already missing her school friends, the chicks her class hatched out as part of their "farm unit" and her routine. She was weepy and needy at bedtime last night and as I gave her a final kiss she, in a choky sad voice, blurted out "Am I going to die in my sleep?" Oh my. For one panicked, selfish moment (it was 8:15 - 45 mins. past her regular bedtime, so she was tired and I knew it and I was tired too) I wanted to say something quick and meaningless ("Of course NOT honey!") and get back downstairs to American Idol and M and some girl scout cookies. But then... I just couldn't. So I curled up on her bed and rubbed her back and asked her why she thought about that right before bed. We ended up having a very beautiful conversation about God and Heaven and some of the things we Believe and why we Believe them... with a nice bit of biology thrown in there as well. Going to parochial school (especially at Easter!) they get a lot of information about the Spirit, but sometimes she wonders about the mechanics of it all as well. A nicely balanced kid we've got there.

Baking efforts - 5. As the weather continues to warm up here my baking suffers apace. Hot, humid (windy!) conditions are just not conducive to the creaming of butter, or whipping of egg whites or heating up the oven - and thus the kitchen and the house. I think our a/c labored until almost 9 last night to cool down the house. Plus, whatever manages to bake and brown will be totally un-crisped and soggy unless eaten or frozen almost immediately. So, bring on the days of BBQ, salads, stove-top meals and frozen desserts! I make an amazing toasted coconut ice cream -- no oven required!

American Idol - 1. Hello, America? Kristy Lee Cook DOES NOT look like she wants to be in this competition!! She's had no performances worth mentioning, she looks visibly uncomfortable on stage, she has no charisma or star presence (although she's probably a very nice person) and now she has to tour with the rest of the Top 10?! I think those were tears of terror she was crying last night! Please, please stop voting for her just because she's pretty and has shiny blonde hair. Let her go. Have mercy. I'm no Amanda Overmeyer fan, but at least she knows how to entertain!

Have a wonderful Thursday. It's laundry day here @ Three's Company!

Breathe

Thank you to everyone who emailed or commented with sanity-saving wisdom! Sometimes what you need most is to know that other people do have the same problems/issues/concerns/fears that you do. After I mustered my emotions and scaled down from royally pissed to ticked off to irritated, M & I had some discussion about what occurred last weekend and after things like "obtuse" (my word) and "martyr" (his) were said, we were able to clear the air a bit. I can't say he'll actually do any better (thank you Stacey for your example!) but at least I have an inkling of where he is coming from now.

Things have been a lot calmer this week, not the least because most everyone is healthy again. A's pink-eye seems to have cleared up WITHOUT infecting anyone else (and I don't have to give him eyedrops 3x/day anymore, which was getting physically impossible anyway), and Easter weekend is nigh. Easter is my favorite time of the year, because of everything it signifies and promises about renewal.

As part of our family Easter celebration, we usually host my entire family and at least part of M's here for Easter Sunday brunch, but this year with my mom just recovering, we decided to go to Naples. My wonderful sis-in-law, who is a professionally-trained chef, is hosting dinner both Saturday and for Easter Sunday. Go Nicole!! She is a stupendous cook and she & my brother are excellent hosts. Plus their house is totally kid-friendly. So it looks like I'll be both relaxed and well-fed this weekend, which are two of my favorite states of being.

I need to rant for a second

I try not to make this blog too too negative or rant-y or soapboxy, because all in all I have a very blessed and wonderful life and family and I am truly, deeply grateful for it and everyone in my life.

BUT.

Remember over the past few weeks, when maybe I've blogged a few times about all the various maladies striking my family, and then striking me? I may have glossed over (to spare you the gory details) of just how sick I was, but suffice it to say I couldn't be far from a bathroom for about 3 days. And yes, M did step up to the plate and help me the ONE night that I was so sick that I literally couldn't get out of bed. But. Even that night, I seem to dimly recall staggering downstairs around 10:00 to clean up the kitchen, make school lunches and set the coffee. The rest of the time? By which I mean all day and usually at least 2 times a night? I was on call for the kids, trying to maintain a semblance of normal routine, cooking meals, grocery shopping, cleaning to keep the germs at bay, laundry, playing, homework, reading and comforting children as needed. In between those activities, I took my meds, ran for the bathroom as needed, cursed my luck and I might have cried once or twice because I really did feel horrible and I was so so worried about my mom.

M has had a similar bug for a day now and (here's the griping part) is he pitching in to help with the kids? cleaning the bathrooms to help keep HIS germs at bay? picking up the laundry strewn around our bedroom? reading a story between trips to the bathroom? No. He is upstairs, wrapped in cozy blankets, reading and resting on the couch in our sunroom. I love him dearly, really, but COME ON. Give me a break. I managed. I can't even imagine copping out like that. And I hate to sound ugly, but I can't help but think of it as a cop out. I have managed to somehow paint myself into a role in the household where not only does he not feel like he needs to pitch in, but when I do he acts like I'm imposing on him. Indicative of this dilemma is his referring to watching the kids as him "babysitting" -- I don't believe that when I ask him to watch the kids it's babysitting. Most would call that parenting. And God forbid he actually take the two of them somewhere - he won't. Can't handle it, doesn't know how to prepare for it, and would never offer to, let alone actually do it. He will actually complain that we "never" get to have a date night, but then fully expect me to coordinate a (real) babysitter, make plans, take care of feeding/bathing the kids before we go out, etc. Then I get to rush around, get dressed and go out for a few hours. We have had many, many conversations about it all of which revolve around the fact that he has to do his job (supporting the family) and I have to do mine. I have tried to remind him that he works set hours, Monday-Friday but my job happens to be 24/7 with no time off, lunch breaks or even a smoke break (if I smoked). But he calls that "trumping" him and then I'm left feeling ungrateful and whiny. His other advice is "you don't need to do that" which can apply to activities as varied as grocery shopping to laundry to cleaning to getting the kids to clean up their messes. But if I don't do it, who will?! Should I let the house fester on unattended to? Should we run out of milk? Toilet paper? Will that spur him on?

Am I bitter because we were supposed to be on vacation this week so it hits me doubly hard that it's just business as usual around here? Probably yes. I probably just need some time to myself, which I fully, selfishly expect to get in 17 months or so when A will start pre-school. But for now, the occasional vent will have to suffice. Anyone have any perspective on the situation for me? Am I just a whiner? Any good advice on how to get your mate to pitch in? Or am I fighting a losing battle?

Road trip

I'm too stressed to clean my own house, so I'm packin' up the kids and heading to my parents for an overnight. I think they'll need a little help cleaning, maybe do some grocery shopping, make them a nice pot of chili or something. My mom is feeling a lot better, but is still pretty weak and I don't want her to overdo and get tired and relapse.

Have a wonderful weekend!!

Fallen idols?

Guess I'm not the only one having a bad week. I've been following the fallout of Gov. Elliot Spitzer's scandal fairly closely because before I was a SAHM I worked for an excellent, reputable, wonderful company that he ruined with his lies and innuendo. He cost my former employer their stellar reputation (no charges were ever filed), cost many people their careers and absolutely destroyed the stock price. I lost a ton of money, as did many of my co-workers, as we were all invested in the company stock plan. His self-righteousness, blatant political aspirations and sanctimony are now coming back to him in spades. I hope his wife leaves him and he goes to jail.

In other Idol (idle?) news, I loved last night's American Idol Top 12 round. I think we're beginning to separate the wheat from the chaff now and what the HELL are Kristy Lee Cook & David Hernandez still doing in the competition?! I think Danny/Danielle was better than both of them -- at least he was entertaining. I was also pleased to see that David A. had some missteps as well. He's always irritated me a bit. My faves? Brooke White (I'd buy her album RIGHT NOW if she had one!) and Chikizie! I also liked David C.'s rendition of Eleanor Rigby. We'll be tuning in to watch the results tonight for sure. It's funny because M & I have never watched the show or followed the contestants this closely before, but since the writer's strike sent all our fave programs into reruns, we really didn't have a choice. And now we're hooked.

Just Tuesday

Is it really just Tuesday?

In addition to my Mom still being so sick she can't get out of bed (alarming!), yesterday A was diagnosed with pink eye in both eyes resulting in 1) my spending $60 (!!!!) on eyedrops for him and 2) D banning him from her room, playroom and the artroom until he's cured. Then last night M's grandmother was sent to the hospital with a suspected heart attack, while at the same his Dad in NC was having foot surgery. M's Mom meanwhile will be seeing her opthamologist on Friday because she's getting odd flashes and pains in her eye.

Weren't we supposed to be having a fun and relaxing week?

Vacation update

Well. Looks like I spoke, er, posted too soon this morning. My mom has the flu and it does not look like she will recover in time for us to go on our vacation. It is v. disappointing, but not unexpected unfortunately. My mom originally got sick last week - so seriously she ended up in the hospital for a night, an event so frightening to me that I couldn't write about it. But she rallied and was home the next day, and she was doing much, much better until she relapsed last night. So obviously she'll be unable to help my dad watch the kids -- and so we're NOT going to Utah after all. Of course, I'm only concerned that my mom gets better. We'll go on vacation later.

So do you think this was a sign I would've broken my leg or something?

Just the two of us

M & I are going on vacation this week. Just. The. Two. Of. Us. We are dropping the kids at my parents and going because we really need to spend some time alone together (the 8 hour plane ride to Utah ought to help) and we haven't been away from A since he was born (19 months people!) and I've forgotten how to talk to him if the kids aren't around or about any subject other than the kids, house, plumbing, work.

This vacation will be vastly different though, because our previous vacations have almost always include a sun-drenched island, minimal clothing and lots of sunscreen. This year we're going to Park City to go skiing - me for the very first time ever! I hear we'll still need the sunscreen, but the clothing is far from minimal. We've got parkas, gloves and long underwear but will have to get ski pants and socks and hats when we get to Utah because such items are just not readily available in Florida. And, to be honest, I'm dead nervous about learning to ski. I spend a good deal of time worrying about what would happen around here if I were to get sick or break something, and here I am preparing to pack my body into insulated clothing and hurl myself down a snow-covered mountain (or hill, as the case may be). I am signed up for lessons (the Adult Never-Ever Class), of course. Because you want to be taught how to hurl yourself properly.

Of course, before I can get on that plane and relax, I've got the 48 Hours of Hell in front of me as I attempt to pack two weeks worth of errands, chores, laundry and packing into the next two days.

Florida's finest

We are in the middle of the Florida winter produce bonanza wherein we get to enjoy all the delicious treats that our northern friends won't get until summertime. The strawberries, tomatoes, oranges, peppers, and corn on the cob have never been better! And all locally grown! We had the sweetest, freshest corn on the cob last night - crisp and wonderful. You don't even need butter when the corn is this fresh. It was delicious and corn is not my favorite vegetable by a long shot. And for dessert? Homemade strawberry ice cream - out of this world. My freezer is full of bags of strawberries to get us through the long hot summer.

Of course we pay in spades for this brief bounty because come May we'll get little if any locally grown produce until next winter.

M & I are trying to decide if we should put in a small vegetable garden. He loves to garden and has a pretty good green thumb, but I just don't know - I'm mainly afraid of attracting rats and other vermin. But I'd love some homegrown tomatoes this summer and growing them yourself is the only way to get really good ones. Otherwise the ones that survive transport here are usually so mealy and tasteless.

Anyway, we'll be out and about enjoying the cool temps and sunshine predicted for this weekend. It's especially timely because this is our parish festival weekend and it's always more fun when it's cool out.

Have a great weekend!

Something to look forward to...

Have you seen the trailer for the new Indiana Jones movie? It looks great!!! I love all the Indiana Jones movies so I'm sure I won't be disappointed. It looks like one of those things you'd want to see in IMAX.

In other news, still feeling Awful. Dang loratadine is taking it's sweet time working itself out of my system. I know it's still kicking around in here because I'm allergy-free this morning and there is pollen everywhere -- all over the windows, porch, car. I am feeling sick enough to call the doctor, but they can't see me until May!! Hopefully my allergies and the medicinal side effects will have cleared up by then.

Weekend recap

What a roller coaster of a weekend! First, the weather was picture perfect - cool mornings, warm (but not hot or humid) days. We took the kids to a beach cafe for brunch and to play in the sand yesterday -- the water is too cold to swim just yet -- and it was absolutely super.

Not so wonderful were my allergies. With the exception of our trip to the beach, where there are no oak trees hence, no allergies, I spent the weekend alternately sneezing and medicating. So far this allergy season I've tried Benadryl, psuedophed, some Mucinex and finally the loratadine. But, to put it mildly, the OTC allergy medicine I was so psyched about last week viciously turned on me during the weekend. To sum up:

Allergies: cause moderate discomfort, congestion, scratchy throat, itchy eyes, sneezing
Relief: stay inside house or car, run a/c, keep dust at minimum, keep Kleenex handy, wash face often, drink lots of water

Allergy medicines: cause drowsiness, dizziness, dehydration, mild fever, muscle/joint pain and severe tummy "trouble"
Relief: don't take it!!!

I spent most of Friday night and Saturday completely out of it. By Sunday I had rallied, but by the time we got home from the beach, ran a couple of errands and had dinner I was done in again. I finally googled my symptoms and "loratadine" and was not amused to read that I should by calling my health care professional immediately for some of the side effects I was experiencing. I think I will just put up with the allergies! At least having to wash my face, drink water and keep a Kleenex in my pocket are relatively mild inconveniences and opposed to needing to lie down every 20 minutes and then having to run for a bathroom every time I eat or drink.

The beach was lovely though.

Better living through science

I'm not big on medications except for the occasional Aleve or two. I get every horrible side effect that a drug can produce, ones that usually outweigh the original symptom. But, every spring, I'm hit with horrible hay fever for the 30-or-so days that the Live Oaks pollinate. I don't even have to be outside. If I see a live oak with its huge clusters of yellowish pollen I'll immediately start sneezing, itching, tearing up, etc. Anyway. This year is the first time in the last three pollen seasons that I've not been prego or nursing so I decided to take a little Benadryl to help me through the day. Wrong! After three days of taking one measly Benadryl per day I was completely stricken for 24 hours yesterday. It wrecked my stomach, gave me a fever(!), palpitations, dizziness, extreme drowsiness (fun with two kids!) and joint aches and pains. We thought it might be the flu, but I stopped taking the Bendaryl and bam! all side effects gone. However, all the allergy symptoms have come back, so I consulted with my friendly neighborhood pharmacist and now I'm trying some OTC loratidine, aka Claritin. It doesn't work quite as quickly as Benadryl did, but I don't feel like I'm dying either. Yay OTC scientific breakthroughs!

And don't think for a minute I'm exaggerating about the dying. M took one look at me when he got home last night and VOLUNTARILY stepped in to handle bath & bed time for the kiddos. I have to be really bad off for that to happen. I only recall three other times, actually. And two of them were before A was born. So, I was able to sleep for two whole blessed hours and then rallied to catch American Idol and most of Lost. I still can't believe that during what was probably the most interesting, mind-blowing and revealing episode of Lost ever, I managed to fall asleep for the last 7 minutes. Thank goodness for TiVo.

Dear Mr. Winter

I love you! I love cold weather (hey, 43 is cold for Florida); I love my cozy sweaters; I love my new parka; I love hearing the radiators hissing away; I love actually needing my flannel pjs; I even love a little wind chill. BUT, do you think you could've waited until the weekend to make an appearance? When we all could have had a nice little sleep-in, then wake up lazily and have hot coffee/cocoa and pancakes in our pajamas?

Instead you choose TODAY, when:
1) I've been up since 3:00 a.m. with a weird little fever and undefined aches & pains - I've imagined I've had everything from meningitis to toxic shock syndrome - AND....
2) I had to get up at 5:00 since M was flying out early AND....
3) That means I have to walk the dog myself, in the cold, and the really strong winds, with poor little A bundled up in his measly assortment of winter gear AND...
4) I had planned to be outside this afternoon, since this month's Daisy meeting is an outdoor activity. Which means, between the cold and wind I am going to have a flare up of my winter exzcema.

Boo. Come back and play on Saturday!

A cookie is a sometime treat...

7:00 Update: I was kinda kidding earlier about the MommyKarma thing, but really I may never leave the house again. I just spent the last hour and a half cleaning up A, his high chair, and the kids' bathroom after the worst case of exploding poo I've ever seen. Why do these things happen at dinnertime? Anyway, I'm down to 3 pb cups and one caramel roll. And M & I don't even want to think about our dinner. I may need a drink instead.
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3:30 Update: When I posted this morning I forgot to post WHY I've eaten most of my batches of pb cups and caramel rolls this morning. Basically, last night Sister Debbie took me out for a wonderful, belated birthday dinner. And this morning I had a hair appt. at 10:00. I guess I used up all my MommyKarma by scheduling two nice, relaxing kid-free events within 24 hours of each other because A was up at 3:30 this morning and now D is running a fever and is complaining of aches, pains and a sore throat. Oh, and don't forget the tree. Because I haven't. There are huge chunks of it lying everywhere. So that is why I've had 6 pb cups and almost a whole pan of caramel rolls today - it goes without saying that one of my weight problems is consolation eating.

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...but not peanut butter cups or homemade sticky caramel rolls. I made both this past week and both are almost gone. Happy, happy Saturday. On an unhappier note, we had another giant - like 30ft - tree limb come down last night. It's lying (laid? lain?) across our front walk until the tree guys can come chop it off. We're calling ourselves the "Near Misses" since it's the second humongous limb that's come down that's barely missed damaging the house. If our cycle holds true, something horrible will happen to the dog next. (Knock wood.)

Pass the nutmeg

You know how you have that one recipe that calls for some semi-obscure ingredient that you never remember you already own so you always buy more? Like ground cardamom or marjoram or whatever? Well my ingredient is ground nutmeg and I pretty much only use it in my pumpkin-cream cheese roll that I make for Thanksgiving. I always mean to remember I have some for next year, but of course I always forget so I have about 8 damn bottles of the stuff, all of which I couldn't throw out when we moved so I packed them up right next to the 7-year-old bottle of fennel seeds, the McCormick tin of whole cloves that my beloved grandmother gave me to me when she moved to a retirement community (they must be at least 15 years old, since she's been In Heaven with Jesus for 12 years - but there is no way I can toss them), and the jar of celery seed that isn't even open. Waste not, want not right? So every thing I've made recently has gotten a little dash of nutmeg on the way into the oven, pot, microwave. However, I learned the hard way (is there any other?) that you can't mix it with your kids' cinnamon-sugar and try to pass it off as "spice toast." It also doesn't blend well with the aggressively pre-packaged taste of Eggos, our go-to breakfast on the mornings that we are running behind and need something that can be consumed quickly.

If you have any good recipes calling for scads of ground nutmeg, please send 'em my way. And someone please remind me next Fall that I DO NOT NEED any more.

Feelin' groovy

I may be on the wrong path here, but I believe that indoctrinating introducing the children to classic rock n' roll, 80s hits, New Wave and even the occasional foray into folk, blues and clean punk music is much better for them than letting them "discover" rap, hip-hop or (gulp) Hannah Montana all on their own. So that is why my 5 year old can belt out Talking Heads, Squeeze (she looooves Cool for Cats) and Simon & Garfunkel songs. I can't think of any reason why she'd ever watch Hannah Montana, Lizzy McSuckFest or any the other dreck on Nick or Disney. I'm sure as she gets older and starts spending time at her friends' houses she'll encounter such things, but for now, she doesn't even know they exist. It's also why I'm such a fan of hosting playdates at our house. A bit of a mess to clean up is nothing compared to the peace of mind I have knowing what my kids are doing, saying, eating, watching. The more the merrier, actually, since having friends over means less time for me sitting on the floor playing MailBox or Garage or Bunny TeaParty. I'll take any excuse for down time to blog, clean or cook...

which leads me to my latest Naptime Foray into the Kitchen... Easy Peanut Butter Cups from the March issue of Everyday Food. I will have to hide these from myself or I'll end up eating the whole batch. Give them a try if you want an easy sweet treat.

Blast from the past

So maybe this weekend you saw some of the news coverage of Kosovo's historic vote for independence. Maybe you asked yourself why this was so important. Maybe you wondered what all the fuss was about. Maybe you've never heard of Kosovo before. Well, I hadn't heard much either before my bro-in-law was stationed there as part of the international peacekeeping force helping the area after the war. Then in February 2005, M was selected by his law firm to work in Kosovo as part of a joint UN-USAID-NCSC project to help develop and implement Rule of Law for their emerging country, in anticipation of one day declaring their independence. M spent several months there and then, because these things always take longer than expected, and I was tired of being stuck in Florida with a 2 year old and no husband, in the summer of 2005 D & I packed up our suitcases and went to live in Pristina, Kosovo for almost 2 months while M worked with the people at NCSC. It was an absolutely amazing experience, complete with homesickness, language barriers, visits to Albanian pediatricians and lots of Balkan-style exploring. I will never, ever forget living there. We are so happy for all the Kosovars and other internationals that we met, got to know and spent time with while we were there. I hope that things can remain peaceful for them throughout this transition.

Here's a picture of D on one of our first mornings in Pristina looking out of our back door to the fields and mountains behind our apartment building:








And here's another of the street leading away from our neighborhood, Sunny Hill (not-so-Sunny in this pic though):







Here's a picture from the medieval city of Prizren of the road leading to the city Center:







Besides Kosovo, we also visited Greece, Slovenia, Macedonia and Hungary. Here's a link way back to the beginning of my blog, which I started in honor of this journey. (Scroll down the page to get to the first posts, pre-trip.) If you have time, take a look!

Feeling the love

M surprised me for Valentine's Day yesterday by both remembering before I did (rare!) AND bringing home a beautiful present, complete with box of chocolates! He got me a pair of really lovely pajamas - I love them and can't wait until tonight when it will be a tad bit warmer and I can wear them.

Today the kids and I are joining some friends for our Third Annual Trip to the Florida State Fair. It's been a tradition since D was 3 and I'm so glad we can continue for at least one more year with the older kids (A might get a few more chances -- at least til he's in school full time). The fair is awesome, the rides, the 4-H exhibits and my favorite part - Strawberry Shortcakes made with Plant City Strawberries. Everyone thinks Florida is all about oranges, but our delicious winter strawberries are our secret weapon. They are so good they even have their own festival.

Have a great safe weekend! See you on the giant slide!

Clean sweep

Our cleaning lady comes today. Back in my working mom days, we had weekly service because it was a total stress reliever for me to have one less thing to worry about. It was one of the little luxuries that we gave up a while back though. But now with a much bigger home, and especially one that was left in the condition that this one was, M has agreed to let someone come in to help with the hard stuff (like mopping 3000 sq ft of hardwood floors) once a month. However, my house is never so clean as right before the cleaning lady comes. I'm a freak about picking up all the junk, cleaning the kitchen counters, etc. The first time Nadia came (last month) I even went so far as to clean the bathrooms the day before. To M's amusement. This time, I successfully avoided the compulsion to vacuum last night -- or scrub the toilets -- but you can bet the playrooms look neat as a pin.

Sister Debbie is coming over this afternoon to hang out and have dinner with us. It's especially nice because M's been out of town for two days and the lack of adult conversation is beginning to get to me. Anyway, I'm making french onion soup, salmon, roasted asparagus and orzo. Yummmmm. And did I mention the meringue with roasted pears for dessert? I'm attempting the recipe that Jamie Oliver used on his show this past Saturday. Without the chocolate sauce, since I am bitterly doing without gave it up for Lent. And by the way, if you're NOT watching his new show, Jamie's Kitchen, you really should because it is both entertaining and really "doable" for a cooking show. Plus his house and garden? AWESOME. I wish I had that kind of land. Oh wait, I do. I just hate gardening.

39 days to go

Woke up this morning with a splitting headache, upset stomach, vague feeling of anxiety. Classic withdrawal symptoms. I am now 24 whole hours into my Lenten sacrifice: No Chocolate. I shall be tried and tested. Or maybe just testy, given the little argument I managed to pick with M at 8:30 this morning. Anyway. I had my usual Diet Coke this afternoon and it felt mighty strange not to have a little piece of something sweet to go along with it. Now I'm not expecting a Religious Epiphany, Spiritual Clarity or any kind of Divine Enlightenment. And maybe my "sacrifice" will end up being a little self-serving if I end up losing weight. But I like the idea of a Lenten sacrifice anyway. And I sure don't mind a few weeks of meatless Fridays aka, Breakfast for Dinner.

And there's always Vanilla.

Cuppa joe

I did something yesterday afternoon that I've never done before -- had a cuppa coffee about 4:00 pm. I was desperate. D had the day off from school, I had a JL puppet show in the morning, A only took a 45 minute nap: it all conspired to drive me into the welcoming and loving arms of Caffeine while I was cooking dinner. Result? I was up until 1:00 a.m. watching DVR'd episodes of What Not to Wear. Now I'm paying cause I'm BEAT, but have a really busy day of busy work and busy-ness and busy stuff ahead of me. So I'll probably end up drinking some coffee again this afternoon and isn't that how cycles of addiction start?

In other news, tomorrow is Ash Wednesday and I'm trying to figure out how I can get to Mass with A. I'm also contemplating what my Lenten sacrifice should be and if it should be something that impacts the whole family or just an individual thing. I haven't done any food-related sacrifices for a few years now what with pregnancy and nursing and baby-related issues, but this might be a good year for it. In terms of both a meaningful sacrifice AND good for my waistline, which is totally nonexistent at the moment. We'll see.