Warning- I Have My Mom Hat On!!

Tomorrow I will be the mother of a 1st grader.

Tomorrow I will be the mother of a 1st grader who doesn't want his mom to take him to his first day of school... he wants Daddy to take him. Ultimately, I think this is what is best, considering that last year he cried every morning and sometimes had to be physically taken to the classroom which broke my heart every single day. If he goes with Daddy, he will give him a "See ya", and be off.

Please don't think I'm a horrible mother who is sending her son off into the great unknown of the 1st grade. I did get to go to visit the classroom, meet the teacher, and sit through school wide, mandatory 40 Minutes of Torture "K-12 orientation". The classroom is really cute, his teacher seems super nice- she even greeted him by name when we walked in the classroom!!, and he already has friends in the class. The reality of it is he is 2 doors down from his class last year, and this feels like old-hat to him.

Why am I even spending time on this? I think because it's going to be way more dramatic for me than it is for the Boy. Shoot, it already has been!

It Could Happen

I've had a day. Yes, it's only 1:56pm, but it's still been "a day".

I've considered posting an ad on Craigslist.

Wanted: Caregiver for 2 children who may or may not listen and obey as they will not listen to their mother or to one another. Some dog supervision will also be required for the prevention of lying on blankets that have been pulled into the middle of the floor followed by ingestion of coasters, old Leapsters, books, wall decor, and cardboard boxes. Duration of employment has yet to be determined as it is dependent upon how long it takes aforementioned mother to recover from nervous breakdown. Position available immediately.

Think I'll get any takers?

Hello?

Yep, I'm still around.

We've had several sets of visitors, yard sale-ing (as previously mentioned), new schedules, and school starting. At this point, I'm just trying to make it through the rest of the week! As we get settled into our new routine, things will move much more smoothly, and I will be able to function a bit better. I have now had to retype about 15 words... apparently something else that has changed is my ability to spell.

More updates after I re-learn how to spell or have the common sense to use the spellcheck function, which I really didn't even think about until just now.

I Really Have Lost My Mind

What was I thinking?

Son's birthday was yesterday. Happy Birthday, 5 year old!! How did we celebrate? First I made a cake for him to take to school with him (he's doing Parent's Day Out over the Summer, and LOVES it!!). Spider Man was the choice for the school cake. Then he needed a different one for his family "home" birthday cake. Batman was the preferred superhero for that cake. Mix in presents, Husband and I spending the morning filming a segment to show at church, building a backyard obstacle course, 200 water balloons, and a trip to fetch pizza for dinner in a crazy storm, and you've got a pretty full day.

Today is Son's birthday party day. We started by being at the pediatrician by 8:00am for his check-up and immunizations. A rude way to start the day, I must say. Follow that with a flurry of quick trips in and out of a couple stores, home to set up the previously mentioned obstacle course, and cleaning-up the backyard and you will approach lunch. I now have just over 2 hours before a dozen 5-ish year old will descend upon my house, rapidly followed by a trip to Montgomery to fetch my parents who will be here for 10 days. I am still needing to fold laundry, dust, clean the bathrooms, steam the floors, and clean the kitchen. Yesterday is sounding pretty good right about now.

Now, I need to go finish the Transformers cake for the party. First I think I'll have a break-down. Excuse me.

It's That Time of Year...

Every year around this time, I feel the overwhelming need for change. And not just wear-a-new-color-of-eyeshadow kind of change. I mean change.
I think it's the Army wife in me. When we move, every 2-3 years, it happens about this time of year. When I have had both of my children, it has been about this time of year. Well... this year we are not moving, and I am not having any children.
Last year when I was in this same situation, I pierced my nose. This year, I have decided that we need to have all the carpet in the house replaced, the back porch screened, and the furniture in the family room rearranged. Guess what?! That's a whole heck of a lot of change to pay for! I decided that moving the furniture is easily done, and free. That was accomplished last week. The porch will be done in the next couple of weeks, so that will be fantastic! We will be able to go out and sit in the back without being attacked by bugs! Yay!! I priced out having the carpet done... I decided that I would go with having it cleaned for a small fraction of the price of replacement. Maybe it will just look like new.
We'll see if this will satisfy my need for change. If not... how do you think my eyebrow would look pierced?

Feelin' Hot, Hot, Hot

It's hot. That's about all I can wrap my head around right now. It's hot. I went to get something out of the bug and I almost melted onto the driveway. It' hot. I now need to go out and get the mail. It's hot.

By the way, did I mention that's it's hot?

Shhhhhhh...

It's Thursday morning and all is quiet in my house.

Son and Daughter are at school, Husband is at work, and I am home alone. There are only the dog and her snoring to keep me company.

This hasn't happened in quite a while. I love it. I think I might take a little nap.

Updates and $22.48

Surgery went well for Husband. He is quite the trooper and is recovering very well. Surgery was on Friday, and Sunday morning he was sitting in church. Yay! He now has 30 days off for recovery. It's too bad (for me) that he is one-armed right now, because I can think of a million things that he could help me with if he had 2 functioning arms over the next month. Oh well. I will just enjoy his company while I do the stuff myself.

My mom is coming in from CA tomorrow and will spend 10 days with us. Her timing could not have been more perfect! Husband will still be recuperating and the kiddos will be on Spring break the whole time she is here. I however, have school, so it will be nice from Hubby to have a second set of hands to help out.

I went to Target this morning to grab some eye-cream (I am currently fixated on finding one that works well and doesn't cost so much that I will have to dip into the kids' college funds [but hey, at least they wouldn't have a wrinkly old hag of a mom!!] just the right one) and I wandered back to the garden department. I was looking at a wood bench for our back patio and I found one that I liked... priced for $22.48. It is made of ash, looks frighteningly like my dining room chairs, and was crazy cheap. After making sure that the numbers on the tag actually matched the numbers on the bench, I called a guy over to ask if that was really the right price suspecting that it wasn't. He said that if it was marked that way then that was the price I should get, and even wrote the price and his name on the tag. Of course when we got to the register it rang-up as $99.99, but they still gave me the $22.48 price!! I am so excited about what a good deal it was! I almost asked them to check the back for any more, but I thought that might be pushing my luck. Whatever, though! A $100 bench for $22.48! Awesome!! What makes it super awesome is the fact that it is just right for the back porch. Yay!!

Thanks, Jesus, for the gift of a good surgeon, my mom's pending visit at just the right time, and an awesome bench that we so didn't need but is just what we wanted! :)

The "Grass" is Always Greener...

I was looking out my kitchen window at lunch today and I noticed that things are looking decidedly greener than they were a couple of days ago. Marvelous! As I was washing dishes I told Husband how excited I was that Spring was finally "in the air".

His response? "You do realize that those are weeds, right?"

Cleanse and Purge...

I have 3 things I need to confess.

1- I am blogging right now because I do not want to face the disaster that is my house.
There is not a single kid book on the book shelf, there are dishes to be done, and clutter to be de-cluttered. I don't want to do any of it right now, so I am doing this instead.

2- I was doing fairly well with "Wow! That's Wonderful Wednesdays", but now I'm not.
I wasn't very (not that I am now) consistent with blogging for a while there and I fell off the WTWW bandwagon. I am considering getting back on. What do you think?

3- I am in a funk.
My biology class is beating me down. I am pretty far above the class average, but I think the class average is WAY too low to be considered. I am only taking the class one night a week, for a 5-hour stretch (who thought that was a good idea??!) and I am finding that it is difficult to keep up with the amount of info that the instructor bombards us with on Tuesday nights. I leave feeling like my brain has become isotonic with it's biological surroundings and that for every piece of new information that goes in, an old one goes out. A nice method for your underwear drawer, not so much for your education. Oh well, this too shall pass. The true question is will I?

OK- Now that I have shared my funk, I am off to shovel out the house, scrub my face, get in my jammies, and settle in to see who makes it to the next round of American Idol (while having a glass of wine and some Girl Scout cookies). That should make for a nice end to a very long day!

Hello, Honda!

We now own a mini-van.

I think I now qualify as an "average American Mom"- I live in the 'burbs (albeit the suburb of a small southern Alabama town and not a big city), I have a house with a picket fence, I have a great husband, 2 kids and a dog, and I drive a mini-van.

I have to say, I love my life! :)

A One Track Mind

I discovered something about myself today.

I simply cannot be Mommy and a rock star on Guitar Hero World Tour at the same time. Every time one of the kiddos' names is even said, I miss a note- and forget it if one of them is drumming on the others' head talking to me. Apparently the "Mommy brain" works more efficiently and effectively than the "Rocker Chick brain".

I guess that's a good thing.

Extra Thick, Double Fudge

I have lots of brownie points coming my way. LOTS!!

My birthday is coming... I'll be 30.

There have been packages arriving by UPS and in the mail. I am the only adult home when these packages arrive. They are addressed to me. I know they are for me and I know they are meant for my birthday. Do I open them? No. I do not.

You see, we have a rule about gifts in our family. It is the rule in my house and it is the rule in the house I grew up in. It is as follows; If you find out what your gift is before the gift-giving event (in this case, my birthday) due to snooping or peeking, you do not get the gift, and it will not be replaced, therefore forfeiting your present. Harsh? Maybe a bit. But I will say this... it has proven to be very effective.

Here is where the brownie points work into the system. I could very easily open the packages and see what they are without anyone knowing. The packages come in the early afternoon- usually just as the kids are going down for quiet time- and Husband usually doesn't get home from work for several hours after they come, thereby giving me plenty of time to open, investigate, rewrap, and reseal the packages. Have I done any of this? No. I'll take my brownie points in the double-fudge flavor, please.

My Dad and I were discussing this on the phone yesterday and he asked me if I was trying to set a good example for my kids. I am not. I tried to convince him that it was my inherent goodness that kept me from peeking, but he just laughed at that.

Really? I think I haven't poked around because I am subconsciously blocking the fact that I will be 30. And do you know what's really rude? I was thinking that I had another week and a half before it was my birthday, but it's on Tuesday.

My how 30 sneaks up on you!

Did You Know?

It seems that no matter what it contains, how long it sits there, or who it belongs to, four loads a basket of laundry will not fold and put itself away.

Trust me.

Don't Forget to Tip Your Waitress!!

There has been lots of sickness and general unpleasantness (from potty training and sick, cranky kiddos) in my house lately. We have had a few good laughs, too!

Some funny things recently heard from those in my household:

*Son, after being handed some cotton candy at the fair; "Do I eat all this fur?"

*Daughter, after spilling milk at the dinner table; "Awww, Ma'm!" (That's my good southern girl!!)

*Son; "Do fish like being eaten by the seals?"

*Son, after being told "Use your fork. We can do that... it's why God gave us opposable thumbs"; "Thank you God, for thumbs."

A Glimpse

4 weeks
+ 2 sick children
+3 trips to the pediatrician
+2 rounds of antibiotics
+1 full bottle of children's Motrin (now empty)
----------------------------------------
Mommy who needs some social interaction

3 Words

Potty. Training. Yuck.

So, Husband is "out on the town" tonight. He is in town at a concert given by a guitar "finger-picking virtuoso"- I believe that is how the musician was described to me. Anyway, Husband sent a message with a little bit of the concert, and I have to say that it sounded great, even through the high-quality voice mail that we have!

My exciting evening? After getting the kiddos to bed and cleaning up around the house, I spent 15 minutes trying to figure out how to use the "rack dry, air-dry temp" setting on my dryer. Until tonight, I didn't know that there was a "rack dry, air-dry temp" setting on my dryer. We'll see how exciting this evening truly gets when the dryer beeps and I can see if my sweater is any dryer than it was when I put it in! :)

Wish me luck!

***UPDATE*** My sweater is not even this much dryer than it was when I put it in. Maybe next time it's 42 degrees out I should try using something other than the "air-dry temp".

Ahhhhh

It's quiet in my house this morning. The kiddos are both back in school this morning after fall break and being sick. Husband is at work. The dog is sleeping.

I'm tempted to just sit and veg all morning, but I think I will take the time I have and get some things done!

A Morning Spent With 4 Year Olds

Since I have Tuesday and Thursday mornings completely child-free, I thought I would volunteer to spend some of that time helping in Son's class. Today was my first day and I think it went well. I was able to help the teacher out a little bit since Tuesday mornings her aide is in classes and not there to help. I spent most of the time I was there prepping for projects to come, but got to help with the art project a little bit, too.

It was fun to be there as a "fly on the wall" and just sort-of observe how things went. I heard some very interesting things out of the moths of the kids. My favorite:

"We're so smart!! Are we smart?"

Huh! I'm an adult, and I still have times when I think the exact same thing!