Jen's Herd

I'm Going To Be A Hermit

2010-10-12T18:34:00.000-04:00

Disclaimer - I may be willing to admit that I am in fact cranky today. It may or may not have something to do with "women's issues". We'll let the jury decide on that one.

I have decided that I'm going to move to the middle of nowhere (soooo, about 30 minutes away from here) and become a hermit. No human interaction at all. People are driving me nuts. And I don't mean my own kids, although they certainly aren't helping the situation. Just people being people are making me crazy today. People are inconsiderate, they lie, cheat and steal, and seem to think they are perfectly entitled to do this. No one has done this to me lately - well one person lied to me, or lied by omission, or something like that anyway - but I'm just being cranky and cynical at the moment.

So on a brighter note, I told the kids that if they can keep the house clean (a problem we have here in the Herd) until January that we could get a cat. I love cats. They are so cute and cuddly when they aren't being evil. And they really don't care what anyone or anything does, thinks or says, as long as they get food and head scritches. Yup, we need a cat. To become a hermit with me. Ooooohhhh, I could be the crazy cat lady! Then no one would come near me. And my plan is now evolving.

Why am I dreaming about being a crazy cat lady? I have 3 sick kids, and 2 cranky ones. Go me!! I also have a headache which really isn't helping with anything in this situation. Although I just remembered that I haven't eaten yet today. Maybe that's why I have a headache. Yeah, probably. Did I mention that I seem to have broken my brain?? Yup, it's kaput. Just not working anymore. It is still debatable about whether or not it worked in the first place. Maybe one day it will work again. Such dreams I have.

And now, I need a nap. Or to bury myself in the covers on my bed until morning. Either works. It has to be bedtime somewhere right?

No More Staples

2010-09-29T10:53:00.000-04:00

I went yesterday to get the staples out. All 16 of them. The Doctor laughed at me when I told him how many there were. I guess people don't normally count them. But I'm not normal. I was worried it would hurt, but only one did. And that was only because it was stuck to a scab. Ouch. It still hurt less than when I had sneezed while reaching for something the evening before though.

I get to go back in 3 months because of what they found in my appendix. Awesome. At least he said that it wouldn't be for another 3 years after that. I don't really want to go see a surgeon regularly.

Right now I'm waiting for my new washing machine. That's just how exciting my life is. They tried to drop it off yesterday but I wasn't home. I had an appointment, you know, to get staples pulled out of my abdomen. I didn't even realize they were dropping it off then. I had made the appointment for last Wednesday, but seeing as I was in the hospital, my mom had to reschedule. I just want my washing machine. I paid enough for it. And anything is better than what I have now.

The Boy has Scouts tonight (he's a Beaver, whatever that means). He was very disappointed that he didn't get to go last week. It was just too overwhelming for my mom. So he'll go this week. Bug was supposed to go to Sparks (5-6 year old girl guides) yesterday but she decided she doesn't want to go anymore. Or in the first place. So I registered her for no reason. At least it's cheaper this way. I just have to pay for 2 kids to go.

So now I'm off to marinate chicken so it will be ready for supper. I really wish my supper would make itself, but that doesn't seem to be happening.

I Am Frankenstein's Monster

2010-09-26T23:45:00.000-04:00

Well the last week has been interesting. Last Tuesday, I went back to the ER because I was having pain down my right side and it made me sick to my stomach. It was pretty bad and I know I scared my kids. Poor Vi had to help me get the kids ready for school until my mom could get here from work because I was pretty much useless.

So on to my lovely Emergency Room stay...I got to stay in the waiting room for over 2 hours. In pain, and it was packed. They did bring me in to get my blood taken, but that took about 5 minutes. And only that long because I was dehydrated. I still have the bruise from that one. Fun fun.

After I got into the Emergency Room and wasn't stuck in the waiting room anymore, things went pretty quick. First I had to go have a CT scan done, just to make sure I had appendicitis. I did. Then I had a consult with the surgeon. Well, his med student came and did the consult. It worked for me. She pointed out my herniated umbilicus (I had more of an outie than an innie. The joys of having lots of kids) which I hadn't thought anything about. I figured that meant they might do something about it.

She explained that because they were trying to make sure that the snot bag that they found on Friday didn't break, I didn't get to have the laser surgery that makes just a small hole. Of course not. They were going to make the incision as small as possible, but I was still going to have a bigger hole than normal, which meant that my recovery was going to take longer. Yay me!

Then everything went insane. They had to take more blood just in case the surgeon needed some during the surgery. Then I got to sign my life away, basically saying I understand what is going on and what the risks are (like death), I got to talk with the ER doc again, the nurses had to make sure that I had everything that I needed to go up to the Operating Room. It was like a whirlwind of people coming and going out of my little curtained off area.

Then I got brought up to the OR. In my stretcher from the ER. I met the nurses that would be with me in the OR. Met the anesthesiologist, then met the surgeon. Then I got wheeled into the OR and got to try to get myself onto the table. That was different. I think they tied down my arms, but my memory starts getting fuzzy around then. I do remember the anesthesiologist saying that she was giving me something that would go straight to my head, then I laid there for a minute or so thinking that I didn't feel anything. Then the lights started moving, and I said so, I guess, at least it would make sense if I did since she then told me that that was to be expected. That's the last I remember until I was in the recovery room.

The recovery room is a bit fuzzy too, but that's not surprising. I remember asking where I was. I remember telling the nurses I was in pain and they gave me something. I remember moaning because it still hurt, and I remember one of the nurses telling me that they couldn't make all of the pain go away. I must have said something, but I don't remember. I remember hearing one of the nurses telling the nurses where I was going what all I had surgery for (appendectomy, removal of part of the cecum, and fixing my herniated umbilicus which resulted in 16 staples down the middle of my stomach, which is why I am Frankenstein's monster). Then I got wheeled to my room.

My room was in the pediatric ward. Because I really am a kid at heart. Or the hospital is pretty much full and it was the last place they could find for me. Either one. I didn't even realize that I was in Peds for about 8 hours until a kid started crying and she sounded just like Bug. It woke me up and the nurse told me that it wasn't her, but I was in Peds. On the plus side, I got to watch the movies they have there. I passed on Dora and the Wonder Pets, but I did watch Narnia. Mostly I read a book that my mom brought me.

I ended up being able to leave Thursday morning. Which is incredibly quick. And was also the day that my brother and sister in law came into town for our cousin's wedding. My mom had to take the week off work to take care of the kids, so I had a lot of help. Everyone is back to work tomorrow so I'm a little worried.

My brother actually ended up getting to my place within half an hour of me getting home. I'm pretty sure I spent most of their visit on the couch, but that's okay. They did make us a wonderful meal on Friday evening. My sister in law is from Thailand and she made us some authentic Thai food, only not as spicy as normal. I did just have abdominal surgery. I still have leftovers, mmmmmmmmmmm.

I went to my cousin's wedding on Saturday with Vi, my brother and sister in law. Well, the actual ceremony was a bit scary with the wooden pews so we didn't go to that. We went to the reception. It was beautiful and you could see how much my cousin and her new husband love each other. I had a great time with my other cousin's too. I'm a bit sore today, but it was worth it. I'm sure I will be better tomorrow, unless Booger walks up and head butts me in my staples again, or pokes me again. Toddlers are so much fun.

And now I should probably go to bed. I'm a bit tired and still recovering. I get my staples out Tuesday so I have to take it easy until at least then. But at least I have a good reason for not posting for a week ;)

Snot Bag

2010-09-19T12:20:00.000-04:00

Yeah, it's been more than 2 days. Oh well, you'll see why in a minute.

Friday morning I took Bean to PFLC at the kids school and I started getting a pain on my right side. I tried sitting down, standing up, leaning on things, drinking, eating, etc. and it just would not go away. At 12:30 Bean went to daycare, so I went to the ER because it was pretty bad by that point. I'm fine, kind of, but the ER is certainly an adventure.

When I got there, I had to wait for the triage nurse to be free and ready to help me, while I got to observe all the insanity that is the ER in our hospital. Just before I got there, apparently some guy had walked in with a cup of something (whether it was coffee, tea, juice or urine, I don't know, and don't really want to), looked at the volunteers at the information desk and poured whatever was in the cup onto the floor. They were not impressed.

Shortly after I got there, a young man, maybe late teens or early twenties, came in with his mother. His mother was complaining about how long it was taking, how the nurses are really slow, basically everyone not dropping everything and catering to her and her son. It was annoying, especially since they were right beside me. She complained louder when a woman came in that couldn't breathe and had already passed out once on the way to the hospital. That woman got in to see the nurse first. I wasn't surprised, I may have been in pain, but at least I could breathe.

Then the fashion show started. We had the people with too small overalls (never a good look), with flannel shirts over it, and no shirt under, or the woman who wore pajama pants that were threadbare and too tight, with a shirt that definitely didn't even begin to cover her protruding belly and the housecoat. I felt very overdressed in my jeans and t-shirt. I never thought that would happen.

While sitting with the triage nurse, some guy came in with his wife with a stool sample and didn't know where to bring it. Then he started arguing with the nurses about it. One of them told me that she was going home and having 10 drinks, not just one, two or three, 10. She doesn't want to have to deal with poop, literally. Another told me that she still had 4 hours left of her shift and she was ready to be done. I guess it had been like that the entire day.

After seeing the triage nurse, I got in a room pretty quick. They were afraid that I had appendicitis. The only room left was the one that they put the violent patients in. How do I know this? There was no window, the door was able to be locked with a keypad on the outside, and there were huge gouges in the wall, door, heater, and floor. Most of them looked like footprints, but some of them looked like something with wheels had gone through the wall. I even had a door with a little window on it, kind of like a jail cell, I guess so people could see if I was done being crazy??

I got to see the doctor, I got my blood taken by crazy vampires, and still have the bruise to prove it, and then I got to go have an abdominal ultrasound. In case you were wondering, it hurts when they do an ultrasound through your ribs. I'm still tender, and it's 2 days later. I found out that I'm not pregnant, an IUD will do that to you, everything is normal but my appendix, which has a bag of snot in it. And a stone that is rolling around and occasionally causes a blockage. My appendix apparently looks weird too, it took the ultrasound tech and the radiologist to figure out if what they were looking at was really my appendix. That's comforting.

So now I get to wait and see if the snot bag that is my appendix is going to become a problem. Which is nice. I could have waited a few more hours for a CT scan, but I had already been there 5 or 6 hours and just wanted to go home. For some reason the hospital makes me want to go to sleep and I spent most of the time there trying not to. The ER doctor also told me what to look for, and that I didn't really have any of the signs of appendicitis so she felt safe sending me home.

And now I get to try to sneak some of the pancakes that I spent way too long making. I'm pretty sure my kids don't breathe when they eat.

Less Procrastinating On Posts

2010-09-16T12:44:00.003-04:00

....more procrastinating on cleaning my house. It's only been a couple days instead of a couple months since I posted. Let's see if I can keep this up.

I'm bored. Oh so bored. The three older kids are in school, full days. Even my baby Bug who is only 4 until November. That's not right. The two younger kids are in daycare all day except Booger on Monday morning and Bean on Friday morning. That way I get to spend time with just them instead of in chaos like normal. I don't like them being in daycare, but hey, it's just for the time being.

Tonight is Vi's first night of Girl Guides. I love Girl Guides. They get to do a ton of stuff and I only have to pay one price. And dues. Dues for everyone. I have 3 kids that need dues every week. I am NOT looking forward to that. It will be so much more fun when I have 5 kids that need dues every week.

I have decided that I'm going to lose weight. Not a lot, maybe 20-30lbs or so. I haven't quite figured out how to do that yet, but I will do it. Step 1 - put away the apple turnovers sitting on the desk in front of me. Step 2 - not sure yet. I guess I need to research that at some point. Or maybe just get off my bum and go do something. That works too.

On the subject of exercise, I went for a bike ride with Bug and The Boy yesterday. Bug was in the trailer behind my bike, and boy did that work out my thighs. Maybe I should do that more often. I would go ride my bike right now, but it's raining and I might melt. Or spawn evil gremlins or something. Preferably one that sings lounge music. That would be entertaining.

I guess I should get off my keister and finish cleaning my house. My kids aren't even here so I don't have much of an excuse. Ugh. I hate cleaning. I need a maid. Right after I find my sugar daddy.

2010-09-14T22:14:00.002-04:00

Well, the last year and a half or so of my life has sucked. Bad. A lot has gone on, and not much of it good. I am not the cause of most of the dysfunction that has gone on in our lives, although I am being blamed for pretty much everything and I didn't put an effective stop to it. Either way, it's over now and the kids and I can begin rebuilding (yes, I realize a certain someone was left out of that sentence and I'm sure you can figure out why. You're smart, right?).

So, now that life has slowed down, kind of, with the kids being in school and daycare, I suppose I won't neglect everything else. Oh, who am I kidding? That's probably not going to make all that much of a difference. I get distracted by.....oooh shiny!

So now I'm on to my new quest, I am going to find myself a sugar daddy. Or an Irish Firefighter. I'm not sure which, or how, but it will be done. I have goals and dreams here and I will not let reality crush them.

And now I need to sign my life away to the kids school and to Girl Guides so that my kids get to have fun with other kids, and hopefully not maim themselves. In other words, I have to fill out forms to protect other people in case my kids inherited my coordination. Woohoo!

Disclaimer - I love Girl Guides, I was in Girl Guides for years (too many for me to remember right now, my brain is broken) This post was meant in good fun and was self-deprecating. Now on with what's left of our day!

Aaaaiiiieeeeeeehhhhh!!!!!

2010-06-28T22:04:00.002-04:00

My dryer is squealing at me. It's protesting my clean clothes. Whenever I put a load of laundry into it, all I hear is

Aaaaiiiieeeeeeehhhhh!!!!!

Which is pretty much the noise that I make whenever I have to clean too (yes, I know it doesn't actually clean anything, but that doesn't go with my theme here). In fact, I have to clean my living room for the 47th time today and all I want to say is

Aaaaiiiieeeeeeehhhhh!!!!!

I won't. At least not out loud. I'll save it for writing it out here. I'm so generous. And I just have to fold clothes anyway. It's not like it's a huge mess. Yet.

On a completely unrelated subject, the kids and I are going camping this weekend with my mom. There will be 6 of us in a tent, and my mom will have a tent to herself. I'm not quite sure how that's fair, but whatever. I made a comment about the kids going into her tent, and she said that wouldn't happen. They are sneaky little ones. There is no way she can keep them out. I'm going to have to take pictures of them trying to get into her tent. That will be my entertainment for the weekend.

And Joe got a totally awesome job! He's been trying to get a welding job for a while and finally got an apprenticeship. We're going camping about an hour from where he's working for now, I think. Then he can come and sleep on the ground with us. Okay, we have air mattresses. A really nice one too. That might make it a little bit more attractive to him. I know it is to me.

And my dryer is squealing again. Aaaaiiiieeeeeeehhhhh!!!!!

I'm off to try to figure out what is going on with that thing. Or I might start squealing too.

Woohoo!

2010-05-07T13:27:00.002-04:00

It's only been a couple weeks since I posted! I'm getting better. I still have work to do, but hey, one baby step at a time here.

I'm tired. I haven't been sleeping well lately. As such, I thought I would share my bath time conversation from a couple of days ago. Bug and Bean are silly in the bath, so it's always an adventure. Anyway, here we go....

Bug: Look Mommy! I pulled the horsey's head off!
Me: Umm, that's nice honey. Please stop decapitating the ponies
Bean: Look Mommy! The ducky is drinking from the horsey's neck!
Me: That's really disturbing. Please stop.
Bean: Now the ducky is the horsey's head. She's pretty.
Me: I guess that's better than drinking from a decapitated horse's vacant neck.
Bug: I want to eat in the tub.
Me: No, you are not allowed to eat in the tub.
Bug: Yes I am.
Me: No you are not. I make the rules, not you.
Bug: Yes I do. I make all the rules.
Me: No. This is a dictatorship, not a democracy, and I'm the dictator.

Just another normal day in the Herd! We're a special family.

Yay Sunny Weather!

2010-04-20T18:11:00.002-04:00

Today is gorgeous outside! I mean absolutely beautiful. Of course it didn't really start off that way. This morning I had to scrape ice off my van. Now, I am thinking about putting on shorts. Welcome to Canada!

I was just on Jabbering Jessi entering a giveaway for a $100 gift card at Men's Wearhouse (I think I would look hot in a tux. Okay I would give it to Joe, but that's beside the point), and to enter you have to write your favorite prom memory.

I was 9 months pregnant at my prom. As in, prom was Monday, I graduated high school Tuesday, and had Vi full-term on Friday. That's how pregnant I was. I didn't walk, I waddled. I was huge. Well, not as huge as I was with my subsequent children, but I sure felt huge.

Of course, proms here aren't quite the same thing as most places. They are semi-formal here and more relaxed. We had a queen/king, but it was more fun than anything. Which is pretty much why I showed up 9 months pregnant. Of course it could just be that I'm really weird. That's probably closer to the truth.

Wow

2010-04-19T15:51:00.002-04:00

I know I said last time that I would need to post more. Obviously that hasn't happened. Sorry.

A lot has happened lately. Joe and I are finding it very difficult to live apart. We live close to each other, but it's not the same. We did find out that we may be able to expedite my paperwork to get back over to him, so hopefully we can get the ball rolling on that soon. Like tomorrow lol Maybe Wednesday. I'm not kidding when I say soon.

Anyway, I swear I will actually post more (and I mean it this time :O) I'm thinking about moving my blog, but I have to post more to make it worth it. So that's my motivation. Of course I'm notoriously scatterbrained, so who knows if I will remember to be motivated.

On a rather cool note, Jabbering Jessi is having a giveaway for a Pirate table and chairs set from Guidecraft. I am completely jealous. I actually got to take a look at them this weekend and they are remarkably well made. And the pirate theme is so adorable. We were, however, commenting on how the chairs are so heavy they would work better than metal chairs for wrestling moves. I really hope my children never figure that out. And for all the table/chairs are adorable, I want to win it, so enter sparingly ;)

I'm a Slacker

2010-01-12T17:26:00.002-05:00

It's been over a month since I updated. I really need to stop doing that. Of course the last month has been crazy. The 19th was my birthday and The Man's birthday was the 21st. I am actually 2 days older than him. I'm robbing the cradle ;) The Man (who I'm now going to call Joe, cause that's his name) was supposed to come up the night before and we were going to spend a nice romantic night together to celebrate our birthdays. 2 days before Joe was supposed to come up, he ended up having something extremely important come up that he could not miss, so he had to cancel on me. Talk about horrible timing.

So I was all prepared to spend the night we were supposed to go out all alone, well with the 5 kids, but that's not the same, when I ended up getting a call from my mom (who lives in an apartment below me), saying that she fell and hurt herself. So I run downstairs and she has a bruise starting under her eye, a cut on her nose, a dislocated shoulder, and I had to call 911 for her. All a week before Christmas. She had a black eye, the cut on her nose wasn't too bad, but she's still in a sling for her arm.

The next day, my brother and his wife came from Ottawa. They are great, we had a wonderful time with them. Bug really took a liking to my sister in law. And they helped my mom with everything she needed, since she was the one armed woman. That was definitely something I had worried about.

On Christmas Eve, at 3am, I got up with Booger, because he is mean and still wakes up in the night at 14 months old, went to get him a bottle because I forgot before bed, and fell down the stairs. I hurt my wrist and ankle a little, but they were fine by the time I woke up for the day a few hours later. Booger was scared, since I was carrying him when I fell, but otherwise fine. Later in the day, my chest started hurting. It hurt bad. So off I went to the hospital after the kiddos went to bed. It turns out my little trip down the stairs collapsed part of my lung. I got home at about 2am Christmas morning and had to set up for the kids. At least it didn't take me long, I just had to grab the presents from down the stairs.

Christmas was fun. My kids are spoiled. Yadda yadda yadda

I bought a van the end of November. In order for a vehicle to be registered in my lovely province, they need to pass a safety inspection. I ended up spending almost as much on the repairs to pass the safety as I did on the van in the first place. That was fun. Jessi's husband did most of the repairs, although he ended up breaking his foot and couldn't do the last bit. It went to the garage on Friday, I picked it up yesterday and now I have a vehicle. Yeah!! I tried it out last night by going to McDonald's with Joe and the 4 youngest kids, then bringing Vi to Girl Guides. So I know it works.

So to recap the activities of the klutz fairy last month, my mom fell smashing her face on a bed frame resulting in a cut nose, black eye, and a dislocated shoulder. I fell down the stairs collapsing part of my lung. Jessi's husband rode the dog down their basement stairs and broke his toe and foot, and Joe slipped on some ice tearing cartilage in his knee and bruising it all over the place. I'm pretty sure co-ordination problems aren't contagious, but we're not exactly proving that point right now.

S is for Penguin

2009-12-02T20:58:00.002-05:00

The Boy and Bug are learning to read. They are actually in the same class, kind of. The Boy is in Senior Kindergarten all day, Bug is in Junior Kindergarten in the afternoon and for about an hour and a half they are in the same class. Anyway, they are learning their letter sounds, and The Boy can read a bit.

They learned a new song for the letter S. Something about a snake slithering on the ground and making a soft hissing sound. Sssssssss. Then Bug started going around naming things that start with S. Kind of like "sssssssssspaghetti, ssssssssssstory, ssssssssnake, sssssssssupper, sssssssssspenguin" Now there are a few problems with that last one. 1-we don't have any penguins in our house; 2-ssssssspenguin?; 3-penguin doesn't start with s, at least not the last time I checked; 4-sssssssspenguin? I still haven't quite figured that one out. She has been 4 for less than a week so I guess I should cut her some slack on this one. Maybe. Not next time though. Oh no, not next time bwahahahaha.

In other news, I was diagnosed with severe clinical depression today. Basically, that means I'm Eeyore. Woohoo for me. Only I haven't lost my tail. I do manage to lose my keys pretty much daily. I wonder if that counts. I'd rather lose my tail. I don't need a tail to be able to get the stroller out of the shed, or start the car. Although maybe I'm just missing out on the joys of a bum appendage. I guess I'll never know.

Blah

2009-11-18T08:40:00.002-05:00

I've been really down lately. I'm dealing with a lot of personal issues right now that don't really leave me much time for anything else. I'm not really okay with that, but that's how it is right now. Hopefully it will be better after I get to my doctor the beginning of December. Holy cow! December kind of snuck up on me this year. Ack!

This weekend, The Man wants to go hang out at a hotel for a night, just the 2 of us. It will be like a second Honeymoon! Really, our "honeymoon" was our wedding night in a hotel room. So it really will be like a second one. Hopefully this one will have a better pool for me to swim in. Now I just have to find a babysitter, or 2, willing to watch the kids this Saturday night for us. 3 days notice is enough for that right? Okay, I'm not really holding my breath on that one, but I'm going to try. We really need to have some time to just the 2 of us.

Oooh, maybe we can go shopping for the kids this weekend too. I still have to figure something out for Bug for her birthday and all the kids for Christmas. I should probably co-ordinate with the in-laws, they spoil the kids. Last year we had a few duplicates and we (as in The Man and I) only gave the kids 2 gifts each. Great minds think alike, and all that. I think there was actually duplicates for each kid. We're good like that.

This afternoon I have to go observe Bug and The Boy's class. I'm observing Bug today and The Boy next week. Hopefully I can con some sucker into watching the kids for me. Umm, I mean find someone to watch them for me. Yeah, that's it. That's what I meant.

And now I'm off to wrestle some little gnomes into clothes. That should be an Olympic sport. Hopefully I can convince Booger to put the brush down before he beats me in the head with it again. What I life I lead.

Giveaway Winner!

2009-11-11T22:11:00.003-05:00

The winner of the Old El Paso and MyBlogSpark El Tacodor giveaway is

dddiva! An email is being sent shortly. You will have 48 hours to respond. Congrats!

2009-11-11T18:59:00.001-05:00

Hurry up and enter for your chance to win with Old El Paso and MyBlogSpark! Only 3 hours left.

Booger

2009-11-10T09:09:00.002-05:00

Today is Booger's first birthday. He's growing up. He needs to stop that.

We're not doing anything special for his birthday. He got cake for breakfast and my mom is coming over tonight, but that's about the extent of our celebrations. I haven't even picked up a gift yet. I'll have to do that this afternoon. The kids keep saying that we need to have tacos for his birthday so I have to pick up toppings too. If I'm home from the store in time, I might actually try making my own tortillas too. Tonight might not be the night for it.

This weekend, I get a weekend with just Vi and The Boy. I'm excited. I'll actually get to sleep in. At least on Saturday I will. Sunday, probably not. Vi is going on a sleepover and The Boy likes to get up at the crack of dawn. They are going to a birthday party on Sunday so I'll get to nap then. I'm excited to catch up on sleep. Yes, my life is that exciting.

Anyway, don't forget to enter for your chance to win the El Tacodor giveaway! I will be drawing it tomorrow night. Good luck everyone!

2009-11-04T17:36:00.002-05:00

It's November, so in my house that means that it's time to start gearing up for Christmas. This year I'm am really behind. I haven't even started Christmas shopping yet. Or birthday shopping. Booger turns one next week and Bug turns 4 at the end of the month. I think I need to start looking for stuff.

Next week on the weekend, The Man is taking the 3 little kids down to his mom's place for the weekend so I'm going to start my cookie baking. Mmmm. Cookies. And maybe some other goodies too. I'll have to see how much room I have in the freezer. Although I'm sure if I used up the 432,698 bagels that are in there I could fit more stuff. Good thing I like them bagels.

If anyone has any good ideas for yummy holiday treats, let me know! I'm always willing to try new recipes. My kids are willing to try eating them too.

Old El Paso El Tacodor Review/Giveaway

2009-11-01T19:00:00.010-05:00

We love tacos here. Not just love, looooooovvvvveeee. If I could leave The Man for a food, tacos would be it, and maybe lasagna. Okay, maybe that's taking it a bit far, but you get my point.

Thanks to MyBlogSpark and Old El Paso, we got the chance to review Old El Paso's new game El Tacodor and have a wonderful Family Taco Night.

Here's what the El Tacodor website has to say:
For a fun and easy way to keep the family at the table, play El Tacodor, the world's only Family Taco Night Game. Challenge family members to quickfire trivia, wordplay and pantomime, and share a laughter-filled night at home. Best of all, it's FREE! Just click, print and you're ready to play.

We received 2 coupons for free packages of Old El Paso products that we used to buy soft tacos (oh so yummy), a $10 gift card for the remaining taco fixings, the El Tacodor game rules, laminated game questions and 2 score cards. We didn't use the score cards because we were too busy shoveling food in our mouths. So we still have them for next time! I think we will invite more people over next time. I think it would be a blast with a bunch of people.

This is what I came to the table to see. The kids were a little excited about tacos and dove in before I had a chance to bring everything to the table. They apparently weren't worried about the meat. Oh well, more for me. Once I got settled (and cleaned up the overflow from the bowls of toppings), we started on our game. The first question was The Boy's, since he was the youngest of the kiddos playing. He got to figure out foods that start with W. He got to have his partner, Vi's, help, but it didn't go so well. I think we got Watermelon, Walnuts, and Watercress. They were a little short of 5, but I couldn't help them either.

I have to say, my absolute favorite one was making up a poem about your taco. I thought Vi was going to pee herself laughing at me. Of course then she made it into a song to prolong my suffering. I taught her well. So now, let me share my wonderful(ly horrible) poem.
"My taco has tomatoes, don't make me wait-o, for that wonderful meat, that packs some heat, The lettuce is great, Good enough for a date, Give me that salsa, My taco ain't fals-a"
Yup, I'm an artist. I know everyone is now jealous of the way I can paint beautiful imagery with my velvety words.

There was much more fun to be had with the El Tacodor game. It's definitely a game that we will keep playing over and over again. Mostly because it has to do with tacos. Yummy yummy tacos.

On top of the game, you can also enter the Old El Paso El Tacodor Sweepstakes for a chance to win $5,000 just for having fun with your family. Other prizes include monthly giveaways of $300 cash cards, and weekly giveaways of gift certificates for Old El Paso products for the next five months. When you visit El Tacodor you will also find a link to coupons, a calendar to schedule your next taco night, topping choice chart and more!

Yay Tacos!

*~GET IT~*
To play El Tacodor all you have to do is click on the link and download the starter pack which includes the instructions, score card and challenge sheet. Then you can have an El Tacodor taco night tonight!

*~WIN IT~*
MyBlogSpark and Old El Paso want to give one of my reader's the El Tacodor package which includes 2 coupons (US only, sorry guys) for free packages of any Old El Paso Product, a $10 gift card for the rest of your taco needs, the El Tacodor game rules, game questions and score card. Open to US residents only.

*~TO ENTER~*
Tell me what your favorite part of taco night with your family is. Simple right?

*~BONUS ENTRIES~*
1. Follow my blog publicly with Google Friend(1 entry)
2. Follow me on twitter and tweet this giveaway (1 entry)
3. Blog about my giveaway and link it to El Tacodor and me (5 entries)
4. Grab my button of to the left hand side (1 entry)

I will draw for the prize on November 11th at 10pm EST. Get in your entries before then!

Thank you to MyBlogSpark and Old El Paso for the chance to review this game and to share the laughter and fun with one of my readers.

This giveaway is now closed

Halloween Fun

2009-10-31T09:26:00.003-04:00

It's Halloween on this cold, dark, stormy um......day. Actually it's pretty nasty out. It's not raining at the moment, but it sure is threatening to. I'm trying to finish up Bean's ladybug costume. Actually, I might just leave it as is. I am lazy after all.

Tonight we're going trick or treating, even if it's raining, with Jessi and her kids. Booger's not going, but the rest of the kids are. If they start listening and finish their chores. Booger gets to stay downstairs with grandma (we live in an apartment above her, I'm sure it's super awesome fun for her to have 5 kids living above her) and help her give out candy. I'm sure he'll enjoy that.

So our awesome costumes this year are a devil by Vi, a bee by The Boy, a cat by Bug and a ladybug by Bean. Or Bug and Bean will switch. I'm not really too worried about who will wear what. I need to head out to some store so I can pick up red and black yarn to make a hat to go with the ladybug costume. I don't think a Lightening McQueen hat would match well. In preschooler land it might, actually.

I'm going as a snot-covered, yelling, anxiety-ridden monster. Oh wait, I'm just going as myself. I also get to hold the pillowcase for the kids to dump their candy bags into. Then I'll sort through all the candy tonight while watching The Rocky Horror Picture Show. It's the only thing stopping me from throwing the tv out the window right now. Maybe tomorrow.

Tomorrow I'll be doing a review for My Blog Spark and Old El Paso tacos and their game El Tacodor. Probably a giveaway too, I'm just procrastinating on deciding today.

Shoes, Wonderful Shoes

2009-10-29T22:56:00.002-04:00

I'm on a mission to find some cute holiday outfits for the kiddos. The problem with my kids, is they are all pretty pale. Gotta love those genetics. They are darker than I am (except Vi, who blends in with snow), but still pretty pale. So darker outfits don't really work for us. And most places have either dark or white. White washes out my kids too. It's a no win for us. On the plus side, pastel Easter colours work awesome. Too bad it's not Easter.

I think I'm going to go with shades of green this year. Vi's hair is a pretty shade of red so it works well with green. Bug and Bean are probably going to wear black/black plaid since the rest of the kids will be wearing green and it won't be too bad. Just expensive. I need to win the lottery. Right after I start playing.

So now onto shoes. I love shoes. I don't really have a lot, but I love them anyway. Right now, I'm on a boot kick (hehe). I want a pair of black knee highs, and I've found a pair that I love, but those pesky bills keep getting in the way. What's up with that? Fortunately they are at a place where you buy 12 pairs of shoes and get the 13th pair free. I've bought 9 pairs so far, need to pick up a pair of winter boots and a pair of shoes for Booger since he started walking, then I need a pair of runners since I walked through mine, so I can get the boots for free, or at least a whole lot less than what they are now. Yeah, that's my super sneaky plan to get my boots lol

And now I need some sleep. I have to get up early so I can decorate little kids faces before we head off to school. I really hope they cooperate. I don't know what to do with Booger yet, but we'll figure it out. As long as he doesn't eat the face paint, we should be good. I don't want to have to change that diaper.

Queen of Hearts and Alice Costumes Giveaway!

2009-10-21T15:30:00.003-04:00

How absolutely adorable are these costumes? I think Bug and Bean would look awesome in them! I wonder if they would look good with snowsuits under them? Hmmm

The Lesson Of The Day

2009-10-21T15:11:00.003-04:00

How to effectively freak me out of my wits (whatever wits I have left anyway). Now that the self-depreciation is over, on to the lesson.

Step 1 - Drive a big dark truck

Step 2 - Drive your big dark truck in a dark parking lot at night

Step 3 - With all your lights off

Step 4 - Decide to drive in between 2 cars in your big dark truck with the lights off

Step 5 - When I am directly in front of you, turn on your lights so your moving vehicle now has the headlights shining in my driver's window

*Bonus points if I am drinking a pop at the time and spill it down the front of me.

*Extra super special bonus points if I freak out and yell, spilling more of my pop down the front of me. Make sure to laugh at the scene going on in my car.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how to scare the living daylights out of me. I'm pretty sure it wouldn't only be me that was freaked out, but it happened to be me that was freaked out last night. Yay for me!

Mint Cookies Mmmmmm

2009-10-19T21:29:00.002-04:00

Vi started Girl Guides today (think Canadian Girl Scouts). Not only did she start today, but she has 2 outings this week, they gave us a pumpkin for her to decorate before the Halloween party next Monday and she has 3 cases of chocolate mint cookies that are also to be sold by next Monday. I really think they are overestimating our ability to sell these things.

Luckily, The Man loves these cookies (which is good because I can't stand them, my title isn't really accurate for me), so I'm going to buy a couple of boxes and freeze them for him. They are his special treat that nobody is allowed to touch. He doesn't have to worry about me. My mom is bringing a case to work and Jessi's dh is bringing a case to his work. This is crazy. I can't wait until the chocolate and vanilla ones come out. Those I can guarantee to sell quickly.

Today was a busy day for us. We were gone all morning to the school for the Parent and Family Literacy Centre (otherwise known as "baby class" to the kids, where we go and play all morning), then we dropped off Bug at school down the hallway from PFLC, came home and pulled up the carpet and 5 layers of vinyl flooring that were covering our nice, original hardwood floors.

My favourite layer, by far, had to be the vinyl flooring that looks like hardwood floors, on top of the actual hardwood floors. That was priceless. I still have a little bit to go, mostly along the edges, then pull up all the nails and staples, then it will be ready to sand and stain. The weird burnt orange paint on the hardwood has got to go. And the light pink by the door. That's just weird.

I did find a newspaper from December 9, 1929 in between the bottom 2 layers of vinyl flooring. That was pretty neat. Part of the newspaper was in Finnish or something. It certainly wasn't English, and since we have a Finnish population here, that's what language I figure it was. I'm probably completely wrong. I really have no idea. I wasn't born for 51 years (almost exactly) after the date on the newspaper so I am not sure what they did then. It's still interesting.

And now I'm off to figure out what to do with 35 boxes of mint cookies. Should be fun. If I was willing to buy them all, I would just leave them out and let the kids devour them. Unfortunately I don't have $140 to spend on cookies. Now for the vanilla and chocolate ones I might.

Yay!

2009-10-16T08:36:00.002-04:00

Today is The Man and my 5 year anniversary. I think I deserve a medal for putting up with him for this long. We're doing a whole lot of nothing this year, and our anniversary dinner will consist of grilled cheese and tomato soup. Elegant. I don't really care what we do, as long as we're together.

In another 5 years, we plan on renewing our vows. Our first wedding wasn't exactly what we wanted and a lot of people from The Man's side weren't able to be there. He had a total of 3 guests plus the best man and ring bearer. I didn't have all that many either (we had a small ceremony) but it looked rather bare on his side.

I think we're going to renew our vows on Halloween in New Orleans in 2014. There probably won't be too many people there again, but it will be fun anyway. It will probably be warmer than when we were married. It snowed as we left the dinner after. That's right, snowed mid-October. And I was wearing a strapless gown. It was cold. Although the bar we went to was pretty warm. Yes, we went dancing at a bar instead of having a reception. I wouldn't change it. It was a blast.

I'm sure in another 5 years I will change my mind on how we renew our vows. It's just fun to imagine right now. The Man had wanted to get married on Halloween the first time, but I wanted to be able to take Vi out. Halloween is really big in our house and I didn't want her to miss it.

As for Halloween this year, I have no idea what to do for the kids. Bug is going to be a princess (which is fitting considering the way she has been acting lately), Bean is going to be a cat, in a costume she can fit her snowsuit under of course, Vi is probably going to be a devil, The Boy wants to be either Killer Croc or Batman for the 4th or 5th year in a row, and I have no idea what to do for Booger. I think maybe a pumpkin, just because I can. It will be warm. Yeah, a pumpkin. I had a cute glow-in-the-dark skeleton costume, but I lent it to a friend and she no longer has it. Maybe we'll find something else cute.

As for me, I'm going to be a clown. We have the outfit so why not. I think we have another adult costume, but I'll have to look tomorrow. Then we just need face paint. I'll have to take pictures of me as a dorky clown. I might need a wig. I wonder if a Hooters hat would work in it's place. That would be classy.

And now I'm off to venture off into the cold of this October morning. We shouldn't be at a point in the year where we have to scrape frost off the car, but we are. It's cold. Brrrr

Chocolate Rain

2009-10-06T13:52:00.002-04:00

I was running late today. I forgot to wash my pants last night, so I didn't have any clean pants this morning. By the time I washed my pants, we missed Bug's school bus and had to walk her to school. It's only a block away so it's not a big deal. Normally.

Today it was raining. And cold. And cold and raining. I bundled everyone up, strapped the 2 littlest in the tandem stroller from hell and off we went. Bug is very observant and pointed out the "2 red lights and 2 green lights" at the intersection. She was naming things like the colours of cars, the pool, how she could see the school, then she came out with this gem: "The rain tastes like chocolate".

Ummm, okay. Yeah. Chocolate. I guess that's better than purple rain, or raining men (which sounds like it would hurt). And I kind of wish it was really raining chocolate. I certainly wouldn't have had a problem walking her to school then. I'm pretty sure there would have been a standstill in the traffic at that point. And a lot of people outside drinking rain.

Now I want it to rain chocolate, as long as it's not hot. Yeah, I'm picky like that.

Yay! Argh! Boo! Woohoo!

2009-10-04T23:19:00.006-04:00

Yes, I'm confused. It's kind of a constant state of being with me. One day my brain will start working, eh? (What can I say, I'm Canadian. Sometimes the "eh" just slips out)

So we were supposed to spend the weekend with The Man, spend aaaallllll dddaaaaayyy with him today and come home this evening. That didn't happen. We ended up coming home Saturday (last night). Why you ask? It's not some big dramatic reason like we got into a fight or anything. I know, dissapointing. They want to promote him at work so they are training him for the next 6 weeks. YAY!!

Unfortunately, they didn't tell him until his shift was almost over on Saturday. On top of that, they wanted him to be there at 3am Sunday morning. Since our 5 kids aren't exactly known for their stealth like ninja movements, we came home early so he could sleep.

It's probably a good thing we did. The Man worked 3am-1pm today and then had to go back for 10pm. I wouldn't have seen him other than him being the lump on the couch that snores a lot. No thanks. I mean, I was tempted to try to keep the herd of elephants quiet while listening to the ear piercing chainsaw imitation, but decided in the end that we should leave.

Next weekend is Canadian Thanksgiving. Mmmmmm. Turkey. And pumpkin pie. No wonder I don't lose any weight lol. I still have no clue what we're doing for Thanksgiving. All I know is it better include pie. And lots of it. I think we're spoiled. We celebrate both Canadian and American Thanksgiving. With Halloween in between. Then Christmas! Of course there are also 4 birthdays in our family in that time too (Booger, Bug, me then The Man, with Bean in January). It's always an exciting, if not panic attack inducing, time of year.

So now I get to deal with the lovely thrush Booger has and shared with me. And paint it purple with gentian violet. Let me tell ya, it gives a whole new meaning to "purple nurple". And I so used to love that shade of dark purple.

Woohoo!

2009-10-02T10:16:00.002-04:00

I went to a twitter party (hosted by A Giveaway Everyday and The Bragging Mommy) and won not one, but two prizes! And then I went to bed :) Other people were complaining about someone else who won multiple prizes so as soon as I won the second prize, I left. I figured if I was gone, everyone else got a better chance.

So anyway, on to the awesome prizes I won! The first prize was a diaper bag and wipes case from Baby Star. They are very pretty. I didn't put down what I wanted, so it's going to be a surprise. I'll use anything, I'm not picky. My second prize was a Fashionista Mom Package from The Spunky Monkey. I did request blue or green for that one. It's still going to be a surprise. Altogether, my prizes are worth $210! I don't have extra money to spend so this is awesome!

I can't wait for them to come in. I don't usually win things, so this was certainly a big surprise.

November 4th through 11th there will also be A Brag Worthy Christmas. Just click on the button on my sidebar.

Another Day In The Life

2009-09-30T09:49:00.002-04:00

Right now, I'm ignoring the mess, while Bug and Bean run around in circles yelling something about "Superheroes! Come to save the day!!" Bean just told me she has a "liedsader" otherwise known as a lightsaber, although she is holding a piece of cardboard. I guess a Jedi is a super hero. They fight against the Sith, so yeah. Why not?

I get to mop the floors because there is some unknown substance on them. I know, everyone is sooooo jealous. You all wish you could be me. Then I get to vacuum the carpets. Woohoo. It's almost too much excitement to handle.

Of course this morning has been littered with odd questions and statements, like normal. You know, the usual. Like "Booger, your sister's shoe is not meant to cover your bits" or "Bean, did you put toilet water in my cup?", or Bean telling me "I take The Boy's packpack for-eber" right as he's trying to leave for school. I think my favourite one so far is from The Boy "You'll have to come to school and put a rotten egg in my bag". Yup, I'll have to do that. Why not? Of course, he means fried egg, because he's odd and has always called them rotten eggs. It's fun to see the looks that gets me when he's talking about eating rotten eggs out in public I tell ya.

And now, I'm off to clean floors. Yay for me.

That's All Folks

2009-09-30T09:13:00.003-04:00

Jabbering Jessi's Back 2 Blogging Bash is now at a close. She has 53 giveaways that she's drawing for October 9th at 11:59pm Most of the giveaways are for children's items like a baby/toddler/child/teen halloween costume of choice from Anytime Costumes, and a 3 pack of christmas pacifiers from Mypacifier.ca, but there are some for adults/families like TWO Yoplait Core gift sets (yoga mat with carry bag, an autographed copy of Nancy O'dells book "Full of Life" (Mom-to-Mom Tips) and a coupon for a yogurt (not valid ouside US or in ID, LA, ND, NJ, NV and TN). The book might be for moms but the rest isn't.

So go checkout the giveaways while there is still time to enter!

AAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!

2009-09-29T21:17:00.003-04:00

Ok, I think I'm going crazy! Or I'm already there. Whatever. The kids fight me on bedtime every.single.night. It's tons of fun, I tell ya. Tonight, it was more fun then usual. Let me run down the sequence of events for you.

4:15 - Vi brings Bug home from their afterschool program because she has "red eyes" (we had her checked out, it turns out she has allergies, just like I've been telling people), then Vi returns to the afterschool program while Bug whines at me
5:30 - Vi and The Boy come home, for the final time. They are told to clean the living room, but it didn't go so well (I'm cleaning it right now)
6:30 - I make pancakes for supper mmmmmmmmmm
6:45 - I go to the bathroom and come out to find syrup on the carpet. Yay for me. At least it's not ranch dressing or ketchup in a cup with the little girls drinking it again
7:15 - I send everyone to bed because they are driving me nuts
7:20-9:00 - Bean and The Boy get up 9839574839 times
8:44 - I call up The Man and yell at him cause if I'm miserable, he should be too. He's eating supper a friend bought for him. Jerk
9:22 - The Boy gets up AGAIN and whines at me when I tell him to go back to bed. By the way, he's sleeping on the couch so he had to walk 3 feet.
9:26 - my brain leaks out of my ears

So that's about how my evenings go most days. Although sometimes, Bean stays awake until 11 or 11:30 instead of 9:00 Yeah that's fun. The Man keeps telling me to take a bath, but I'm pretty sure my kids have a weird sixth sense that tells them to wake up when I'm relaxing. Baths are most definitely out. Someone would wake up and destroy the place as soon as I wasn't paying attention. So destressing is not for me.

I also have to make Booger a new hat because the one I made him yesterday is a little too short and the bottoms of his ears stick out. So Jessi's littlest, Holden, will be getting a really cute hat. As soon as I get off my butt and make the new one. It may be done by when the snow flies. Although it is supposed to be 2C (36F) tomorrow. Maybe it won't be done in time.

I'm guessing this year will be like the majority of years around here and the kids will have to wear snowsuits under their Halloween costumes. I guess I better start shopping for roomy costumes. And winter coats. And boots. That's it! I'm just going to wrap them up in quilts and duct tape them on. That'll keep the kids warm.

It's Almost Over

2009-09-29T14:18:00.002-04:00

Tomorrow is the last day for Jabbering Jessi's Back 2 Blogging Bash. The drawing for everything in the Back 2 Blogging Bash is October 9, so you still have time to check it out. She'll also have a bunch of reviews and a few giveaways in the next few weeks. Good luck!

Here we go! In the last few days (ok, since Sunday), she has giveaways for an adorable duct tape headband from Victoria Elizabeth QOC, beautiful wall sayings from Sticky Words Vinyl Lettering, a notebook lap desk from Lap Works, a personal soda machine starter kit from Soda Stream, a contoured baby bowl and spoon from Baby Dipper, and a handsfree bluetooth headset from Parrot.

The Farm

2009-09-27T18:47:00.002-04:00

The kids and I went to my cousin's farm today with my dad. I guess it's a farm. They have 2 horses, 2 dogs, a pond with koi fish and a cat. We'll say that's a farm. To my kids, if it has a barn, it's a farm. They certainly qualify with that.

So we went to the farm and interrupted them decorating their yard for autumn. It was nice, what they had done before we got there. Of course they stopped to visit with us, and because my cousin's wife is due with their first child in a month. So we visited in the gazebo overlooking the koi fish pond and the river that runs next to their property. They have a real nice place, and lots of land. Perfect for wearing out my kids.

We took the kids to see the horses when we first got there. The horses are named Splash and Gibson. Beautiful horses. Anyway, Splash kept trying to eat Bug's hair. She thought it was hilarious so, of course, she didn't move. I was just waiting for the yells, but it didn't happen. She needs a bath, her head is covered with horse spit. Yum.

Booger just stared at the horses and the dogs. Didn't make a noise but his eyes were the size of dinner plates. Gibson nudged his arm and Booger just slowly turned his head like he thought he was going to see a chainsaw weilding maniac, but once he saw it was a horse (whose back was as high as I am, but that's beside the point) he was fine.

Then it started raining. About 30 seconds later, it started pouring. Then the lightning and thunder started. It was crazy how quick the thunderstorm came on us. One minute we were enjoying the sunshine and warmth, then we were getting drenched. We hid in the gazebo, but the kids kept trying to escape. They all got drenched, except Vi, but I figure she's gotten past that phase at 10.

After the rain died down, my dad took the kids to feed the horses (once they had been let out of the barn, you know, once the threat of being hit by lightening was gone). He had to teach them to put the hay on the ground, the kids hands are too little, the horses would have inhaled them. At least Splash was done trying to eat Bug's hair by that point.

After that, we went to my aunt and uncle's house that they are just finishing building (the parents of my cousin with the farm). Their cat just had kittens 11 days ago so the kids got to pet newborn kittens. Then off to my grandparent's house with The Boy wearing no pants since his had gotten wet and dirty and kept falling off. We're klassy like that. We picked some plums off the tree in the backyard. They are yummy. I'm thinking of making some plum crisp in a couple days. Some of them are hard and need to ripen up a bit. Mmmmmmmmm. I can't wait.

Then we came home, after spending all day outside, and my mom had gifts my brother sent from his trip to Thailand (where his wife is from). Gorgeous outfits for the 4 youngest, a cute bag/purse for Vi, a peasant skirt for me, a shirt for The Man and a rattle for Booger, that he is beating things with at the moment. I'm going to have to send a thank you note for that. Maybe the girls and I will make some artwork for them to go with it.

After bathtime, since the kids are dirty from playing outside all day, I really hope they go to bed quickly for me. We sure had an exciting afternoon. Now I get to make Booger a hat tonight since he has no hair and it's getting a little chilly. I guess a hat for Bug and Bean are next on the list after that. Yay me!

Yay!

2009-09-26T14:31:00.002-04:00

I'm a dork! I'm not sure I'm surprising anyone with this news. I'm certainly not surprising myself. Anyway, here we go again.

Go check out the Back 2 Blogging Bash on Jabbering Jessi. She has some great stuff, some of which I actually helped her choose, cause I'm awesome like that. Right now, she has a giveaway up for 6 hairbows from The Baby's Bundle (who have Clips for the Cure, 100% of proceeds from these go to cancer research), 100 personalized single flavor OR 100 assorted fortune cookies from Fancy Fortune Cookies (if you read the comments for the giveaway, I am totally making them personalized with "Fortune cookies yummy, nom nom nom"), either win a Safe Starter 9 oz or a Safe Sporter in your choice of color from Kid Basix, and a case (12 packs) of Funky Monkey Snacks.

I'm telling you, I had better win something. I know she draws fairly, but I don't want her to *pout*

That's Right, I'm Doing It Again

2009-09-24T12:49:00.002-04:00

It's no secret that my friend, Jabbering Jessi, is doing a month full of giveaways. I've already made a few posts about it. But really, she's up to 40 giveaways right now and they just keep coming.

In addition to the ones I already posted about, she is giving away a minky blanket and set of burp cloths from The Spunky Monkey, a teething gift set from Smart Mom, a Sonic Sweetheart alarm clock from Sonic Alert, a plate and spoon set from Baby Bjorn, a wipes case of choice from Baby Step Designs, and an ECH2O filtering stainless steel water bottle from Ecousable.

Keep going to Jabbering Jessi for more giveaways this month and beyond.

Really??!!??!?!?

2009-09-24T09:42:00.003-04:00

We have interesting rules in our house. Like: Don't lick the floor. Or: Don't drink vinegar. And: The dishwasher is not for you to stand on (although that is one of the more "normal" rules we have). And finally: Don't lick the hot frying pan.

All of these rules are because one or more of my kids have attempted these feats. I keep saying that I'm going to write a book about the many exploits of our clan, but that would probably require me to concentrate and we can't have that.

Yesterday Bean added another rule to the Herd's list: Don't eat a block of cream cheese in mom's bed. Yes, really. Why would she eat cream cheese in my bed you ask? "It's yummy!" Yeah, that really didn't answer anyone's question. As far as I can figure out, she didn't want to get caught so she went into my room, and hid in the covers of my bed to eat her stolen cream cheese. It's 2 year old logic, and I don't really specialize in that area, so that's my theory and I'm sticking to it.

Of course now she tried to steal the cream cheese again (after stealing the sugar and dumping it out all over the couches before I could get to her this morning), tried to go upstairs and got her head stuck under the gate. I would be mad if it wasn't so funny. So I put the cream cheese away before she managed to get herself unstuck. In other words, my 2 year old was covered in cream cheese and sugar with her head stuck between the stairs and the gate. Oh how I wish I had a video camera.

On a completely unrelated note, I'm totally firing the magical cleaning elves. They've been slacking off and I have to clean up after them. How dare they?? Jerks.

How Many Things Can One Person Giveaway??

2009-09-22T14:54:00.004-04:00

Jabbering Jessi is still going strong with her Back 2 Blogging Bash. She has so many giveaways that she's been putting up 2 a day. Along with the ones I've already posted about, she has a custom embroidered blanket from Minky Baby Blankets, a custom unique nursing cover called the Feeder Frock, cute hair bows from Pink & Pigtails, an organic baby carrier from Sleepy Wrap, Cute baby shoes from WeeSqueak's Beibei line, a tutu from Simply FaBOWlous, a water gift set from WAT-AAH, a pair of gorgeous women's shoes from Must Have Shoes, a toy keeper for a stroller called the Dropper Stopper (I saw it in action, and it certainly keeps kids from throwing things from the stroller. It's not even available for consumers yet), a kid's pizza gift set from Curious Chef and a Delight Your Day gift basket from My Blogspark & Yoplait.

She will be having more giveaways for the rest of the month, and beyond. The ones this month all end October 9. Good luck! And I hope I win something, or lots of somethings.

ACK!!! (cough, cough)

2009-09-21T15:54:00.002-04:00

The Man gave me his cold. That was so nice of him. Not only did he share his cold with me, he shared it with Bug and Booger too. Bean has a little bit of a cold, but not as bad as the rest of us. He likes to be hands on in teaching the kids how to share.

So I was supposed to go look for a job today. Only, today was cold, raining and I had snot either plugging my nose, running down my face or both. Needless to say, I didn't go anywhere. I did look online though. Right now, I can work at a call centre or A&W. Everywhere else applicants need their own vehicle and Canadian customs has told me that I am not allowed to have my van because it has American plates. So I'm stuck. I'm sure I'll find something, it may just take a while.

In order for me to go to my fictional job search today, The Man kept Bug, Bean and Booger for the night and up until this afternoon. Booger would not eat for The Man during the night. Booger was hungry, but he's so used to me nursing him that all attempts to feed him from something that wasn't voluminous squishy boobage failed. He eventually fell asleep, at about 5:30am, and then woke up at 8:00am, at which time he ate a bottle.

That's my boy! Keep daddy awake all night instead of me for once!

Of course it didn't help that the only way he would sleep on Saturday night was on The Man's chest. At 10 months old. And squirmy. And drooling. I giggled about it, but I don't think The Man was too happy with me about it. So The Man got about 5 hours of sleep between Saturday and Sunday nights. Hehehehehe.

I'm not evil, really. Sometimes it just seems like it.

Talk Like a Pirate Day

2009-09-19T09:41:00.003-04:00

It's International Talk Like a Pirate Day! I'm running off about 4.5 years of sleep deprivation so I'm more of a zombie than a pirate at the moment, but Pirates are still awesome. Ninjas too.

Today we're celebrating Talk Like a Pirate Day by teaching the kids how to talk like pirates. Every kid needs to learn that valuable lesson. We just found out that Little Bear's song about "Blow the man down" actually means to kill someone. That's awesome. I may actually be able to stand the show now. Once I stop giggling uncontrollably, anyway.

We're also watching Pirates of the Carribean. They are the only pirate movies we have, but that's ok. We're certainly not celebrating like my mom. Grandma E and her boyfriend Hans are gone to the wedding reception for Hans' son. It's pirate themed. I'm jealous. We didn't have a wedding reception when we were married, but if we did, I would totally want it pirate themed. With one ninja.

Now I'm off to see what other kids shows are corrupt by learning how to talk like a pirate better.

Giveaways, Giveaways and More Giveaways

2009-09-17T15:34:00.003-04:00

Jabbering Jessi is still going strong with her Back 2 Blogging Bash this month. She's up to 25 giveaways now, and it's only the 17th! She has at least 15 more to do. I'm pretty sure there will be even more by the end of the month.

Some of the giveaways she has are from Bamboo Clothes.ca for a cranberry bamboo shirt, Mystic Wonders for a laundry set, Makc Creations for reusable lunch bags, Dee's DeeZigns for a $20 gift certificate, Cupcake Cuddles for a Flipper, Miche Bag for an adorable purse with 2 stylish shells, Masterlock for a lock that even I won't forget the combination of, and Safety Tat for a temporary tattoo that you can put your phone number on in case you lose your kids.

There are many more giveaways there that everyone should check out.

My Lessons of the Day

2009-09-17T13:09:00.002-04:00

Having 5 kids teaches me a lot of things. They aren't always things I ever thought I needed to know, but that's beside the point. For instance, when The Boy was 3, we learned not to lick the frying pan. It's hot. Now where would I be without that important piece of information?

This week, like always, I've learned many important lessons. I learned how to get a plastic bead out of a nose. Twice. I needed that second time for practice apparently. I also learned not to jump off the couch and try to hang on the curtains. It doesn't work. There goes my Friday night.

Thanks to my step-mother, I learned never to give Bean a lollipop, a chocolate caramel sundae and some jelly beans. She climbs the wall, literally. I had to stop her from climbing the side of the staircase. My step-mother is soooooo lucky her kid is 16 instead of young enough for me to corrupt.

I also learned the proper way to tie up the fridge and pantry so that the kids can't steal all the food. Of course The Boy figured it out a few times so we're down to 3 peaches out of a basket and no cookies out of 3 packages that I bought 2 days ago. Wonderful.

So, all in all, it's been a productive week. Yay for me!

Don't forget: Saturday is Talk Like a Pirate Day! Aaaaarrrrr

The Fair

2009-09-05T08:41:00.003-04:00

Today I'm at The Man's house with The Boy, Bug and Booger. We came last night, leaving Vi and Bean at my mom's, so we could go to the county fair that's in town this week. Well, when we got here, The Boy decided that he would rather visit the xbox than go anywhere and Booger was tired. There goes our plans.

A friend picked up Bug and took her to the fair. She got to go on an adventure climbing thing, stopping to pose for pictures whenever the camera came out of course, then they shopped the little tents they had before coming back. This friend of ours then watched the kids, who were sleeping now, it was after 9, so that The Man and I could go walk around the fair. The plan was to go on rides, but I'm cheap, they were expensive, so that didn't happen.

We walked around a bit, I got to watch some people spinning yarn, which was cool cause I'm a dork, we had a funnel cake that I'm pretty sure cost us half our paychecks, and met some people we know. I learned a very valuable lesson yesterday: never stand under The Zipper. We were talking to some friends, and change went flying by one girls head and landed right in front of my foot. Another piece of change hit the man's shoe and bounced off. More change was flying everywhere. I was happy when they started going the other way. My escape route was blocked by flying change. Although we did find about a dollar. I don't know who it belonged to, we asked but nobody claimed it. I think they were scared of The Man.

Right now I'm entering free giveaways on Jabbering Jessi . She has a bunch of cool stuff. Right now I'm entering See Kai Run where she's giving away a pair of adorable shoes, a Pop A Tot (which Booger tried out and is a really cool product), Ouchies, which are bandaids I would use, and a $20 gift certificate to M.A.H Creations. She has more, but I need to go home, and bring my mom's car back before she yells at me ;)

Jabbering Jessi

2009-08-28T09:59:00.002-04:00

My friend over at Jabbering Jessi (can you guess her name ;P ) is having a Back 2 Blogging Bash. She plans to have giveaways at least every 2 days for the month of September. I know what some of her giveaways are and they are awesome. Great for kids! Some really cute stuff too. Hopefully I actually win something.

Time Flies

2009-08-28T09:42:00.002-04:00

Holy cow it's been a long time since I blogged. 5 months. I guess that's what I get for having a crazy life. We ended up leaving town for Spring Break a couple days after the last time I blogged, then things went insane.

Our landlord decided that we weren't coming back, even though we told him where we were going and how long we would be there. So he had our electricity shut off. Being as it was the first week of April, in Michigan, it was cooooooooolllllllldddd and we couldn't have the kids live like that. So we ended up making the decision to stay up north.

The Man found a job, first at McDonald's, now at Walmart. That's alright. It's a job. He likes it, which I'm pretty sure means he's a freak. He lives in Michigan, I live in Canada. Hopefully that will change soon. We're having issues with different people telling us different things so we're working with a lawyer to have everything straightened out.

On the time flies front, Bug starts school next week. She's still a baby. She's only 3. She's in Junior Kindergarten. The school is so small that she's in the same class as the Senior Kindergarten kids, including The Boy. That should be fun. The poor teacher. And the school is bussing her. I can see the school from my livingroom window. I walked the boy last year for the month that he went there. I'm going to send her on the bus just because that means I don't have to wake Booger up from naps, but it is still silly to me. The bus picks her up 5 minutes before school and drops her off 3 minutes after school. Yeah, we're a block away, maybe.

There is also a room in the school for us to go an play. They have story hour and an infant corner, which I'm sure will not contain Booger at all, gym time and snack time. I plan to go there a few mornings a week, then we will go home for lunch before the bus will pick up Bug. I'm excited except for the part where we can only spend weekends with The Man. Let me rephrase that, Vi and I can only spend weekends with The Man. The rest of the kids can stay with him, but since he has a job and I don't, it doesn't make sense.

And now that we're mostly caught up, I'm off to make some yummy Oatmeal Bread. Mmmmmmm.

Arrrggghhh

2009-03-26T15:42:00.002-04:00

The Man is outside right now scraping paint off our house with our landlord. This morning he was raking leaves. It will eventually look nice, but it's not my house so I'm not really sure I care. He's working off our rent though, so that's good.

Because the landlord is basically requiring that The Man spend this time with the landlord doing stuff that most renters don't have to do, The Man has decided that he wants to move. NOW!! We're supposed to move in a month, but I guess that's not quick enough. So he's called up his uncle to see if he can stay there and look for a job. In New Jersey. They also don't have enough room for 5 kids and me, so it would just be him. Yeah, I've done that before, I'm not really excited about doing that again.

So now, I'm going to make myself some tea and indulge in a handful of chocolate chips. Woohoo.

Chunky Monkey and Shoes

2009-03-18T19:20:00.003-04:00

I took Booger to the dr on Monday. He's a chunkey little monster. The dr also told me that his head circumference percentile (50%, as opposed to 75% for height and 80% for weight) was not a good representation for him. As the dr said "He has more of a Bert head than an Ernie head". Great! Now I picture Sesame Street whenever I look at my 4 month old.

Jessi has another giveaway going for the cutest shoes. Jack and Lily has adorable shoes. I love love love the Black/Skulls ones. But I'm a dork like that. When The Man and I have a steady income again, I am totally buying some.

So now you all know my addiction. Shoes. Do they have a support group for that?

Blah

2009-03-13T15:02:00.003-04:00

This month has been crazy here. The Man and I have decided that we are going to move back to Canada - YAY!!!, to my hometown - NOT yay. There is nothing here. The unemployment rate is insane, so there are literally hundreds of people applying for a dozen jobs. So we're going "home". I want to move back to Canada anyway. The Boy will be able to go to school 5 half days a week, for FREE!, and the school is across the street from where we'll probably end up. Yay laziness!

So our month has consisted of me making the trip up there Wed-Fri, The Man's 2 friends coming Sat, the 3 of them going to pick up the 4th stooge Sun, the 3 "guests" staying until Wed, The Man driving them back home and coming back Thurs, a friend of mine making a surprise visit Fri-Sun, then The Man leaving Thurs (yesterday) again. He won't be home until tomorrow. He probably has to go up there again next week for an interview and we all might go up. Lots of money spent on gas there. And very little time spent as a family.

On the plus side, my mom is renting a duplex for us to rent half of. We lived with her just over a year ago and it was a nightmare, but if we have our own seperate units it should be ok. I won't have to see her everyday lol

So now we're packing, otherwise known as supplying Goodwill with a LOT of crap. They should be happy. We sent 3 big garbage bags full of clothes for donation, and packed a small box. Woohoo, progress. We're planning on bringing a laundry basket of clothes for each of us (except Booger, who seems to have very few clothes, unless we start putting pink clothes on him), our washer/dryer, the tv and game consoles and beds. Well, we pretty much just have mattresses. We're going to have a very sparsely furnished place for a while.

And now Booger has decided to leave me a present in his diaper. Yay me!

Happy Multiple Personality Day!!!

2009-03-05T14:09:00.002-05:00

I read a couple of places that it's Multiple Personality Day. I think this is the best reason for celebration...well, ever. The only problem, I now have to figure out how many times to wish people a Happy Multiple Personality Day.

Tomorrow is national frozen food day. Really! Who comes up with these things? They are awesome. I know my birthday is the anniversary of the "I've fallen and I can't get up" commercials first aired. That's freakin cool. Or maybe I'm just insane.

One of my personalities is anyway.

Yay!

2009-03-04T09:28:00.004-05:00

So my friend Jessi is having a giveaway for a Fiber One spa gift basket. I need a spa. I'd even let Vi come with me, as long as she promises not to freak out at all. She's a bit of a drama queen. Maybe more than a bit

Munchkin of Doom and Shoot A Star

2009-03-02T16:44:00.002-05:00

I got back home on Friday, then we had guests (2 brothers) come visit us on Saturday. On Sunday, they went with The Man to pick up the third brother. So right now, we have 4 men, 5 kids and me. I think I might be outnumbered.

Earlier today, Bug said something about shooting a star. The middle brother said he wouldn't mind if she shot a certain fitness guru celebrity. So then she said she was going to shoot fitness guru. When asked if she meant "shooting star" rather than "shoot a star", she said "No. I'm going to shoot fitness guru. Two times. And hang him on the wall". Great. I have the only 3 year old psychotic killer. It's every paren't dream.

Now, the kids are having a nerf gun fight with the youngest brother. So far, I've had to tell the kids no pistol whipping, no throwing shoes and no throwing potatoes. I managed to get hit right in the glasses, even though I'm not involved. I've also gotten hit in the clevage and the butt. I'm a big old target. Yay me!

Bean has been helping the youngest brother guest by going to find the nerf darts after he shoots them. This wouldn't be so bad, except she also decided that she needed no clothes. So he has a naked slave child. We like to make our guests as uncomfortable as possible in this house. Because she's helping, she has now earned the nickname Munchkin of Doom. Of course, right after being called this, she walked over to the coffee table and proceeded to lick all of the chocolate chip cookies (5 or 6 of them, most of them not hers). She surely is earning her name.

Now I must go save my children from offering each other up for execution with the nerf gun, and stop them from throwing pop cans at each other. No rest for the crazies. Maybe bean will keep clothes on for longer than 5 minutes. I had to duct tape her diaper on, but she's almost got it all off. I guess we need to find something else. I never realized that parenting was such a test of improvisation skills before.

Come Join My Pity Party

2009-02-25T09:44:00.003-05:00

I'm going up to Canada either today or tomorrow. By myself. Overnight. I don't want to leave the kids and The Man behind. All 6 of them drive me crazy, but I know I'll miss them. Not to mention I actually have to get dressed properly.

I have a few things I need to do while there and I'm not looking forward to it. I'd rather stay here. Yeah, I'm weird. I've got an opportunity to go away without my 5 kids, 4 of which are under the age of 5, and I don't want to. I think something's wrong with me. Or I like torture. Either one works.

Big Boys and Their Little Toys

2009-02-24T13:53:00.002-05:00

The Man has been going on a bunch of interviews lately. That's great, it hasn't even been 2 weeks since he lost his job and he's been to at least 5 interviews so far. The latest one was at Toys 'R Us. He is the most excited about that one. Of course he is. The fact that it's for a manager position in the electronics department makes it that much more appealing.

I guess he was walking around the electronics department waiting for the store manager to come talk to him. He must have been the happiest person there. The manager asked The Man about game systems and The Man admitted (confessed?) that we have them all. We have a Wii, Xbox 360, PS3, Nintendo DS, PSP (or did until earlier today when he traded it in for a couple Xbox and Wii games). We even have a Gamecube and will probably have a PS2 shortly after he gets a new job. We might have an original Nintendo somewhere too. I'm actually not sure what we have. Sadly enough, the manager was impressed. Especially when The Man was able to sell him on the features of each system. I guess being a dork really does help sometimes.

Now he's on his way home from the city (that has about 100,000 people in it compared to our 6,000 - I know that's not really big, but comparatively, it's huge) and I'm watching my favorite movie - Transformers. I guess we're both dorks.

He's a bigger dork though. That's what he gets for being freakishly tall.

Feeling Lazy

2009-02-23T19:17:00.002-05:00

I made this cute little amigurumi Easter egg cozy bunny today. Super cute, and easy. I was all proud of myself for accomplishing something for once. Then I talked to my friend. She's 33 (or 37, who knows) weeks pregnant and she's sewing her baby's entire bedding set. Yeah, right. I couldn't get my belly close enough to the sewing machine to accomplish anything. Or maybe it was that I didn't have a sewing machine until after Booger was born. Yeah, that could have been it.

So now I'm on a mission to find something cute to make. I think I'm actually going to make recycled stationary tonight. A friend of mine is going through a rough time and really likes unique stationary, so why not make some? It's cheap, since I'm using a torn up phone book that the kids have used for teething purposes, and I have a bunch of scrapbooking stuff that I might as well use to make it look pretty instead of leaving it in the basement forever. Of course I have to wait for the kidlets to go to bed so I have a free moment to myself.

Maybe I'll just play Wii Fit instead. That thing is addictive. The fact that I lost 5 pounds on it in the last week might have something to do with that. I guess I really am lazy. Kind of. I'm not sure playing Wii Fit is lazy. Unproductive, yes. Lazy, no.

So there, I'm having an unproductive day. And now I need to have a drink. Too bad it's not alcohol.

The Story of Princess Twitch

2009-02-22T10:23:00.002-05:00

Once upon a time, there was a lovel 3 year old Princess. Unfortunately, Princess had a bad cold. She wasn't sleeping very well at all. Her mother, the queen, had risen from her bed in the black of night to find one wing of the castle as bright as day and the milk on the floor in doorway to Princess's room, so she knew that Princess would probably climb into bed with the Queen and King sometime before morning.

Sure enough, within the hour, Princess climbed into bed with the King and Queen and promptly fell asleep. All was well and good in the castle again, until Princess began to twitch in her sleep.

Now, the Queen was not in a good mood. She was suffering from PMS (or rather everyone in the castle was suffering from her PMS), and being kept awake by a twitching Princess did not bode well for her mood at all. She was tired and extremely cranky. Quite frankly, she made the dragon guarding the castle look about as scary as a box full of kittens.

The Queen could have gone to sleep in the sitting room, this is true. However, in order to do that, she would have had to venture down into the dark, damp, cold dungeon. This did not seem appealing to the Queen as she was laying nice and warm in her own, overcrowded bed. She could have gone to sleep in the Princess' bed. Trying to cram herself into a pink Dora toddler bed did not seem appealing either. She decided to stay in her own bed. Maybe not the best idea, but she would try to tough it out.

The next day, the King left in the early hours of the morning to go on a crusade. Or maybe it was to help his sister, Princess Snowflake, move (otherwise known as doing all the work) because she is incapable of doing anything for herself. Take your pick. So Princess Twitch and her brothers and sisters were left at the mercy of the fire breathing Queen for the day.

The tales of what the Queen put the poor Princes and Princesses through are legendary in this land. She made them clean! Oh the horror! Everyone knows that Princes and Princesses should never have to lift a finger to help themselves. Look at Aunt Princess Snowflake. She learned that lesson well. What cruel and unusual punishment the Queen has bestowed on those poor children.

One day they will be rescued from this dire situation. Hopefully the Queen hasn't broken their spirit by making them do chores before that happens. Then they can live happily ever after.

Daily PSA

2009-02-20T10:23:00.002-05:00

If you have a friend that has lost his/her job, don't ask him/her to give you something of theirs for free. Especially not if it's brand new. If you do, because we all know people sometimes have brain freezes, do not tell them that you are broke when they ask why you can't buy one yourself. That will inevitably lead to a rant about how someone with a job should have more money than the person without one. Especially if the person without the job is my loud, opinionated, mouthy husband.

The Joys of Parenting

2009-02-18T21:38:00.002-05:00

Just before dinner this evening, The Man was playing with the 4 older kids. Playing, means wrestling and generally stuff they don't get to do with mom. Bean isn't feeling the greatest so she started crying because everyone was picking on daddy. So The Man held her on his lap while the other kids continued attacking him. That's not really an unusual situation here. What happened next was.

All of a sudden I noticed Vi and The Boy collide out of the corner of my eye and they both started whining. The conversation I heard next between The Man and The Boy was something I've never heard before, and I'm pretty sure I don't want to hear again. So here it is, for your reading pleasure.

The Man - Did that hurt buddy?
The Boy - Yeah
The Man - Then maybe you shouldn't try to dropkick your sister
The Boy - I was trying to dropkick you and she got in my way
The Man - How about you don't try to dropkick anyone anymore? Ok, buddy?
The Boy - OK (said in the most depressed way possible)

So my son tried to dropkick my husband and ended up getting his sister, an innocent bystander, instead before they both tumbled to the ground. What a lovely story to remember for his wedding.

So the dropkick conversation got me to thinking about all the weird things I've said to my kids through the years. I've decided to make a list. The Man is on the Wii Fit and I'm trying to keep myself from eating an ice cream sandwich, so why the heck not? Here's my list.

Playdoh is not a snack
Please stop licking your sister
Don't kiss my butt. Really.
Don't lick me in public.
The plunger is not a toy.
Your brother is not a seat for you.
Thank you for the sandwich. Peanut butter and ketchup looks really yummy together.
No, you can't go to Transformers school. I don't think it exists.
Canada does not have a Transformers school.
You are not allowed to pee outside the back door.
We only pee in the potty.
I don't want to eat your snot.
No, we can't have a platypus for a pet.
I don't think we can fit a cheetah in the diaper bag.
You have to ask daddy if you can put butter on his head. Yes, I'm sure it will make his head taste good.
Yes, you have to get dressed before you go to school. I don't think your religious school appreciates nude students.
No, grandma isn't the devil. I don't care what daddy said.
My underwear are not a mask. Please take them off your head. Same with my bra.

And last but not least,

If you are going to climb on the counter, at least put your diaper back on.

Oh, how I'm sure there are more. They're probably just so normal for us that I don't even notice anymore. I used to have friends come over just to laugh at all the weird things we would say. Then they had a kid of their own, and understood. Kids are fun.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go reclaim my ski jump record from The Man. Who does he think he is?

Strained Eyeballs and Stress

2009-02-17T10:47:00.003-05:00

We've had an eventful week. That's not a good thing around here. The Man lost his job last Wednesday and has spent the time since then applying for every job under the sun. He also took some tests for mechanic certification. I don't know what kind of certification, mostly because I start to tune out when it comes to car parts. By the end, I probably look like my brain has leaked out of various facial orifices. He has a job lined up (actually he did within hours of losing his job, hence the certification stuff), but I think he may just work there until the end of the school year then we are off to Pennsylvania or something. We're definitely not staying in Michigan, anyway.

The good things that happened, The Man and I got new glasses last Tuesday. Yes, we spent waaaaayyy too much money on glasses the day before he lost his job. Good thing we did it then, since our insurance isn't good anymore. Yay for us. He also bought me a nice camera for Valentine's Day, although he has a problem with impatience and gave it to me last Monday instead. So now I can take pictures of how poor we are. Actually, we aren't that bad off, it's more of a waiting game now and we have savings.

Yesterday I went for a walk by myself (sweet, sweet bliss) because I had spent a week with too many people and needed a quiet moment. On my walk, some guys told me I have a nice butt. Only not quite as politely. I'm pretty sure they were just being idiots since I can hide a bus with my butt. Not just a regular bus, a double decker one. However, The Man tells me almost everyday that I'm not allowed to lose weight because he likes my butt, so who knows. They also offered me $5 for something I'm really glad I didn't hear. I think I strained my eyes from rolling them so hard. Since we have no insurance this week (it kicks in in a couple weeks for us, but the kids have it now) I can't even go and find out. So I'll just say I pulled an eye muscle since it sounds good to me.

On my walk, I browsed the stores downtown. It's only about 4 or 5 blocks from here. It's only about 4 or 5 blocks from anywhere in town. Anyway, I realized that I'm cheap. Sure we have no income right at the moment, but I was cheap to begin with. There is a shop closing (surprise, surprise) and everything was 50% off and I still wouldn't buy anything. Of course the only things I ended up looking at were for the kids. Mostly for Vi since it was her favorite store. I don't know how to shop for myself anymore. I'm a dork. Do they have shopping interventions for parents? I think I need one. That would be an interesting A&E show.

I think I found my soon to be new favorite show. I saw a commercial for a new ABC show that's starting the end of March (really? Hello! I'm impatient!) called In The Motherhood. From what I saw, I think they may have put hidden cameras in my house for inspiration. Only I don't drink wine. Normally I don't watch tv, but I will for this. It will probably make me feel normal for once.

Now please excuse me as I stop Booger from screaming and Bean from licking The Man's laptop.

Craaaaazzzzzyyyy Kids

2009-02-09T20:31:00.002-05:00

Since I just spent an hour and a half getting the 4 older kids to bed, I thought I might recap my day. Maybe the weekend too. I'm feeling slightly ambitious today.

The weekend was gorgeous. At least gorgeous for February in the midwest. It was about 50F on Saturday and 35F on Sunday. We spent Saturday morning at Walmart (woohoo, yay for us), then the afternoon was spent breaking up ice in the skating rink otherwise known as our driveway. It was a foot thick in some places. The kids were shooting each other, us and random inanimate objects with nerf guns so they were happy. Good thing there was no wild life. I'm sure The Boy would have tried for that, although he has horrible aim so the wild life would have been safe. His sisters on the other hand, not so much.

Sunday we went for a walk to the store and played outside a little bit. The Man and I were slightly sore from fighting with hundred pound ice chunks while dodging nerf darts the day before. Who would have guessed?

Today it was back to the normal stressed out craziness that is our lives. The Boy had preschool this morning. Oh joy. I woke up late because I thought The Man had gotten up with the kids. No dice. He was gone to the bank so I had to get 4 kids changed and ready to go. Bug didn't want to change her pants. She wanted to play with her doll. Bean didn't want to get dressed until I bribed her with Dora pyjamas. Yes, my daughter wore pj's all day today. She was happy and not naked so I didn't care.

Then bug and bean ran outside. No coats, although they did have boots so that's a step in the right direction. I had to chase them around on the ice to put coats on them. Then they cried the whole way to The Boy's school because they were cold. Really? Running around in February on ice is cold? Who would have thunk it? So that was a joyful start to my day.

We went to The Man's work after we dropped off The Boy to meet him and pick up some stuff from his car...only he wasn't there. He had blown a tire on the way to work. And my cell phone was at home charging because the battery was dead, so I had no way to know that. We ended up going back a little later to get what we needed, and by then it was pretty much time to pick The Boy up again. I need a nap just remembering all this stuff.

Bug helped me realize that I'm in really bad shape. How nice of her. She took off running while I was getting the other 3 kids into the van at The Boy's school. She had about 3/4 of a block head start and those little legs can go fast. I ran full tilt until I caught up with her about 1/4 of a block later. I managed to get her back to the van and everyone buckled in properly and I was still panting. And we still had to go to the store. When will it ever end? Luckily the kids were pretty well behaved except for when Bean started screaming at the top of her lungs because Bug dared to touch the package of my razors. I'm sure everyone in the pharmacy of Kmart loved us. The razors went back and we left. I can deal with hairy legs. It adds another layer of insulation.

I told the kids we would make recycled paper, and that didn't happen. I told them I would do dishes so we could make cookies. That didn't happen. By noon, I was ready for bed. Now I'm pretty sure the only thing that can keep my eyes open is tape. Maybe some staples. Booger is busy inspecting the back of the couch instead of sleeping so I doubt that will happen. Teenagers sleep lots right? I can deal with the mood swings and attitude problems if I get some sleep. I deal with mood swings and attitude problems now. They're from me, or I can't understand what they say. I'm pretty sure Bean swears at me, but it doesn't really sound like words so I don't know. She's going to be a fun one when she gets older.

Now I need to feed my addiction. Hot chocolate here I come!

Boredom and Craziness

2009-02-06T20:29:00.003-05:00

Someone sent me the link for the Today Show interview with the crazy single mother of octuplets and 6 more under the age of 8. I'm not even getting into that because I'll get mad, and didn't actually read much because it angers me so. Instead, I started reading about crazy baby names.

I am fascinated by the ridiculous names people call their kids. Chanda Lear and Candy Kahne are silly, but names like Harry Pitts are just insane. Why would you do that to your kid? I once read about a kid named Isaac Cox. Say it outloud. That's funny. The parents didn't realize what his name sounded like together until he was a couple weeks old, but still. Hilarious. Or maybe that's my warped sense of humor.

When we were picking out names for our kids, The Man and I couldn't agree. He kept coming up with crazy names like Zebra or Chesterfield. Sometimes I wonder if people actually do name their kids weird names like that. I know there's the urban legend (? yeah I could look it up on Snopes, but I'm lazy) about Lemonjello and Orangello. But do people really go around their homes labelling things like a kindergarten classroom to think up names? The thought kind of makes me giggle. "Hey honey? There's a window, how do you like that for a name? How about Entertainment Center? No? What about Microwave?" Now I'm going to have to ask The Man about names like that. He'd probably agree to something like Xbox though. Not that we're having more kids. I'm just saying.

One thing that bothers me about names is crazy spellings. Some don't bother me (I have friends with a kid named Maddisyn and another with a kid named Konner and those don't bother me), just the really weird ones do. Like Phrynceska. Umm... what? Wouldn't it be easier for everyone involved to spell it Francesca? I mean really. It's like some parents spin a wheel of fortune with random letters on it to pick how to spell their kids name. Want to name your kid Gypsy but don't like the negative connotation? Name her Jippcie instead. Because we all know if you spell it different, but pronounce it the same noone will know it's practically the same word. Do you like the name King but need something a little different? How about Cyyng. Make sure it is impossible to pronounce when reading the name. Bonus points if you add in an unnecessary consonant.

Of course I spell my kids names with the classic/traditional spellings and people still don't know how to spell them. The Boy gets called Michael all the time. His name starts with an M but that's about the only similarity. I'm pretty sure people only read the first letter then assume what the rest is. Not everyone. Just the whackjobs.

Now on to my craziness of this morning. This time, it didn't even involve the kids. I was telling The Man about a weird dream I had that involved him playing video games while lounging on a daybed (Gee, I wonder what he spends a lot of his time doing when home? We don't have a day bed though) and he got on some weird kick about "can I double click your mouse"? What does that have to do with a dream about YOU playing video games? Crackhead. So then I had to find a shirt about double clicking your mouse. It's pretty awesome if I do say so myself. I plan to order it this weekend. Just because I can. I also found a shirt for Booger that says "I think I want to go back in". Appropriate this week. I could look at funny shirts all day.

Yes, I realize I spend entirely too much time thinking of ridiculous things that make me giggle. What can I say? I'm easily amused.

In between my giggling, I managed to knit a pair of mittens for The Boy that match his fish and happy face hat. Next, I'm tackling a hat for Vi with a celtic knot around the bottom. Should be fun and full of a lot of cursing. One day I'll post pics. Maybe.

Pirates and the Naked Plumber

2009-02-05T17:44:00.003-05:00

Some days I feel like my life is a bad sitcom. Today was one of those days. Actually, this week is one of those weeks.

Today Vi is at a dress rehearsal for the school talent show tomorrow. She was home exactly 30 minutes in between tutoring and having to leave. Just enough time to do her homework. While she was here I decided to have a shower with Booger. Bean has to be in the bathroom when I'm in the shower or she screams at the door, so we had a full bathroom. Just before I was going to get in the shower Bug decided she needed to use the toilet and clogged it. The next 10 minutes of my time was spent trying to unclog the toilet while I was completely naked waiting to get in the shower.

Bug also got mad at me, threw a fit and ran out of the bathroom crying. The reason she did this? I told her to stop squishing my butt cheeks together while I was bending over plunging the toilet. Apparently I should just love having a 3 year old fondling my butt while I'm playing naked plumber with a plunger and a prayer. I must have missed the memo on that one. It certainly wasn't in the 3 year old's Owner's Manual.

I finally got my shower in with Booger. We're both clean now and smell nice. Bean managed to not flush the toilet on us while playing in the bathroom during our shower, which is an improvement over most days. And we're all dressed spiffy.

While strapping my clan into the van, the kidlets decided they were pirates and were coming up with their pirate names. Bean is Captain Stinkypants. Fitting for her most days. The Boy is Captain Booger Head. They thought of Captain Blue Eyes first, but Booger Head is just so much more poetic. Bug is Captain Dora. Anyone want to take a wild guess why? Personally, I think she should be Captain Drama Queen, or First Mate Mouthy Child. Those didn't stick. I'm not sure what name Vi came up with. Maybe she should be Captain Drama Queen. The Boy thinks she should be Captain Homework. She likes doing homework so it's not quite as funny. We have to think of Booger's Pirate name still. Maybe we'll do that when I stop dreaming of Captain Jack Sparrow and Will Turner.

And now I have to deal with cranky kids and lasagna. Yay me!!

Dish Water and Wet Feet

2009-02-03T12:15:00.002-05:00

Today is shaping up to be a good one. Kind of. I started off the morning having to clean the oven after a fun smoke filled dinner last night. I didn't cook, so it wasn't me! So now I've decided that I'm going to make some peanut butter brownies. MMMMMMM

I knitted an ear flap hat for myself yesterday and The Man and I took the 4 little kids to the yarn store to pick up some yarn for hats for Vi and The Boy. That was interesting. I decided that I have to deal with the kids by myself most of the time so I was going to look around the store leisurely while he dealt with 4 kids under 5. I'm not sure the cashier liked it very much, but too bad. So he got to deal with Bug and Bean trying to pull buttons from everyplace they saw them. The Boy was trying to pull yarn off the shelves because he thought they would be perfect for me, and Bug kept sitting on any free shelf. Booger just looked around everywhere. He was the only one I was willing to claim at that moment.

We managed to leave without leaving any damage in our wake (a miracle if you ask me) and now I'm making a "Fish and happy face, yellow and black hat" for The Boy. I'm not sure how it's going to look since I'm still on the ribbing at the bottom. Booger has decided to yell at me all day. He's lucky he's cute. Eventually I will finish the hat. I think. Although then I have to knit Vi a pink and purple ear flap hat with hearts. Evil fair isle hats, that's what they are. Not allowing me to be lazy, who do they think they are.

So in the middle of making the fishy happy face hat, the kids decided they were hungry. WTF??? I already fed them this week. To stop the whining, from me, I made some french toast casserole for lunch. While it was in the freshly cleaned oven, I did the dishes that The Man promised me he would do last night. While scrubbing chicken parmesan off a pan, Bean came up and started "helping". She was standing on a chair, leaning on the counter and peed on my foot!!!! So I got to clean my foot, the floor, the chair she was standing on, and Bean. Fun times.

The fun story of the day happened while I was scrubbing syrup off the floor under the edge of the cupboard (why does the horribly sticky stuff always end up there). I had to clean the floor anyway, might as well do the whole thing after Bean peed on it. Anyway, I was on my hands and knees scrubbing the floor, the kids decided that I looked like a kitty so they should be kitties too. They started crawling around on the floor making a high pitched meowing noise that probably broke some windows in the next county. It's annoying when they do that in another room, let alone 3 feet from my head. Luckily, as the mother of 5 kids, I am skilled at ignoring whatever I don't want to hear. After a while my ears stopped working quite so well and I barely noticed anything around me anymore. All of a sudden, someone slapped my butt and said "Good game". The Man had been doing that to me all day yesterday and someone (Bug?? The Boy??) had apparently noticed and decided to do the same thing. Awesome. My butt is now a target for the slaps of preschoolers. It's every mother's dream.

Those brownies are going to be soooo good. Now where's my cabana boy???

Is It Bedtime Yet??????

2009-02-01T18:10:00.002-05:00

Chaos. That is one word that pretty much sums up existence in this house. Kids fight, the house gets messed up and mommy generally wonders why she decided to nurse, as it just means there is no alcohol to be had. Not that I drink much anyway, but it's always nice to fantasize.

My other fantasies include sitting by a pool with the cabana boy serving me never ending margaritas and brownies while I never weigh more than 120, but that's not really the point of this post.

Today is no less chaotic. So far, Vi is grounded for injuring The Boy with a pencil (can't wait for the CPS call on that one; picture a huge scratch from ear lobe to chin with the requisite pencil lead for decoration), Booger has been whining/crying pretty much all day, and I just chased Bug and Bean out of the bathroom where they were playing with the toilet, toilet paper and the plunger. Fun times, fun times.

At the moment, The Boy is fighting with Bean on my feet over barettes with lots of yelling which caused Booger to start crying again. I know you're all jealous.

Did I mention this all happened in the last 10 minutes?

Oh how I'm glad I'm able to see the humor in these situations. One day, it will be my grandkids driving my kids insane. And I will be sitting on the sidelines with my brownies and margaritas saying "They are just like you! How cute. Do you remember when you climbed on the roof to try to get the possessed Learning Puppy? Just wait. They will too." You know, kind of like The Man's parents do to him.

That's right, the kids aren't really like me. Ok, aside from the understanding and use of sarcasm at an impossibly young age, they aren't like me. I married and spawned evil, or something close to it. Good thing The Man is bringing me and The Boy ice cream when he gets home from work, or I might be tempted to perform some sort of ritual to destroy the evil that originates in his DNA. I can do that kind of stuff you know. I think it involves adorable bunnies, peanut butter, a tutu and a tiara. For him. All 6'4" of him would look mighty purty.

So for anyone reading this, have a margarita, some brownies and a cabana boy for me!

Procrastination Is My Friend

2009-02-01T16:27:00.002-05:00

I have a million little projects that are half done. And yet what am I doing? Playing on my blog. Woohoo! Yay productivity!!!! I guess it could be worse. I could be doing housework :D

So here I sit with one sock on, listening to the sultry sounds of Vi playing webkinz on the other computer, while a half finished button shirt to toddler dress (tutorial found here http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=170402.0%3C/a) sits on my freezer, a reversible bag that's not quite reversible yet sits in my room, a knit hat with just the band at the bottom sits on my coffee table, and fabric that is just begging me to make something cute with it is sitting beside Booger's crib. Maybe my problem isn't procrastination or ADHD, but organization. Nah.

One day everything will be finished. Maybe when Booger is out of the house. By then I'm sure I'll have a whole lot more projects that need to be finished.