Archives for January 2008

Thursday Ten, Volume 3

1. Pumpkin just asked me for “Peanut butter toast. With peanut butter on it.” Thanks dear. You want toast with peanut butter, with peanut butter? I’ll let her off the hook because she’s two and a half, but that is straight from the College of Redundancy School.

2. We are supposed to get hit with a big bunch of snow tonight. Ack! Fortunately, The Princess wasn’t supposed to have school tomorrow anyway, so it’s not going to affect us tremendously either way – though I do hate feeling trapped at home. I’d rather not venture out on the roads with my kids when the roads are bad. People drive like idiots when the roads are icy.

3. Like he does every Wednesday evening, Stepson spent the night. Like he does every time he spends the night, he adjusted the setting on my toaster this morning. He turns it way down, and never turns it back when he’s done. Consequently, the next person to make toast essentially gets soggy warm bread. No toast. Aggggggh!

4. My latest random iTunes downloads (I’ve been on a downloading frenzy):
“The More Things Change” Mary Chapin Carpenter
“Yeah!” Usher
“Stay or Leave” Dave Matthews
“You Had Time” Ani DiFranco
“My Immortal” and “Bring Me to Life” Evanescence

5. Kick ass thing about the weather sucking? I didn’t have to go to a “Purse Party” last night. My mom was hounding me to go to a “designer” purse party thrown my her ex-husband’s current wife (got that?). Seeing as how I really DO NOT like her ex husband, I really DID NOT want to go to his house. Yaaaaaaaay for icy roads.

6. I really wonder if Pumpkin is ever going to be ready for potty training! (Niki, I have to get her trained before she turns three or your mom will definitely give me grief about it – and RIGHTLY so!). She likes to sit around in soggy drawers. Today, we bought her some PullUps that turn super cold when they are wet. It sounds vaguely cruel to me but, apparently, sitting around in a warm squashy pee-soaked diaper is a fun thing. So, maybe turning down the warmth will help!

7. I’ve been on a “Love the Planet” kick and stopped using most cleaning products aside from baking soda and vinegar for things. Well, I caved and bought some Mister Clean today. Vinegar is great for my counter tops (I have it mixed with water in a spray bottle). Baking soda is great too. But my floors? They just get way cleaner with the chemicals.

8. I hate the writers’ strike. I hate reruns.

9. For as much as I love working out, I have procrastinated my bicep/tricep workout for nearly two days now. I have to do it. I just HATE. IT. SO. MUCH.

10. Ordering from Sephora is fun. Free samples are fun. Free samples of Philosphy’s Amazing Grace are fun AND smell yummy.

Why I Am Terminally Uncool…

A few weeks ago, our local newspaper had an article in the Entertainment section about the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame releasing the Definitive 200, a list of 200 ranked albums that every music lover should own.

I love music, so I’m thinking that I should have quite a few of these, right?

Um. No. I don’t. Of the 200, I have 42… and that includes only three of the top ten (Which three? I have:
Led Zeppelin “Led Zeppelin IV”
U2 “Joshua Tree”
Nirvana “Nevermind”

(I should also count Pink Floyd’s “Dark Side of the Moon” because I had it, but lost it, and it was awesome, but I only downloaded a few songs from iTunes for my iPod, and…)

I’m actually surprised at some of the albums listed. The Eagles, I get. Miles Davis, makes sense. Led Zep, you bet. Michael Jackson, circa the Thriller years? Oh yeah. That there is more than one Tupac album on the list – really? I like rap, I do… but I can’t even think of more than one Tupac song. There’s also several Dixie Chicks albums listed – huh!? Enya? Seriously.

Folks – check the list out. Then come back and tell me – how many of these are in your music library?

What a Day

Subtitled: How to Have a Kick-Ass Sunday

Sundays are the one day in our house where Hubby doesn’t have to get up and go to work at oh-dark-thirty. Sundays are the days when the girls get sugar cereal or cinnamon toast for breakfast. Sundays are the mellowest days in our house, because most other days are crazier than all get-out, and do not resemble “mellow” in the slightest.

Last night, Hubby and I struck a deal that he would get up with the kids this morning. Rock on! Of course, that meant that they slept in until about 6:45 (they never do that on MY day to get up with them… isn’t that always the way). I hung out in bed, relishing the fact that I was going to get to stay in bed. PAST SEVEN! After I finally rolled out of bed, brushed my teeth, and washed my face I decided to join the world of the living and see my peeps. Hubby worked out in the living room and me and the girls made chocolate chip/M&M cookies (aw yeah, eating cookie dough before 9 a.m. – THAT is a Sunday treat).

About 9:30, my mom started calling to ask if I would bring the kids over to her house to hang out with her today. Why sure. Take my kids. Please. Hubby and I got their winter gear packed up (apparently, they are going to go sledding), put all the cookies we made in a ziplock to take with them (or I will eat them ALL), and Hubby dropped the girls off and took in about two months’ worth of recycling to the recycling center. Meanwhile, I stayed home (alone!) and did my hair, read Post Secret, put some makeup on and rocked out to my iPod (after downloading a weird assortment of music – none of it related to each other – from Phil Collins to Evanescence).

Once Hubby got back, I took off to go to the mall and Hubby took off to take Stepson bowling. At the mall, I found an awesome athletic shoe sale at Kohl’s. My walking shoes have 600+ miles on them – they needed to be retired. I happily found some rockin’ Nikes to take their place. Then onward to Macy’s to sniff some perfumes that Kim recommended – liked the Dolce & Gabbana Light Blue that she had suggested.

Then… onward to Hallmark (because I do care enough to send the very best). My mom’s sister-in-law is having open heart surgery on Tuesday, so I wanted to send her a card with get well wishes. I also got several cute cards for my friends, and an obnoxious “Survival Button” for Hubby to keep on his desk during tax season – it plays “I Will Survive” and I know it’s going to drive his coworkers NUTS.

Had a nice latte for lunch, and I meandered on home to hit the treadmill in my brand new sneaks. The boys are sleeping, my daughters are still at grandma and grandpa’s house. Right now, there is nobody who needs anything from me. It’s a good feeling.

Ropa Vieja – so so so yummy.

Find the recipe for Ropa Vieja here.

So delish.

Thursday Ten, Volume 2

1. Patience is a virtue. It is not one of MY virtues. I am not a particularly patient person. I’ve tried. I really really have. But… waiting? Whether it’s for people, things, whatever… I don’t wait well.

2. Right now, I have a gleaming kitchen floor. I just washed it on Tuesday, but it was ready to be washed again by Tuesday evening. No freakin’ way I was scrubbing the floor twice in one day. I just don’t do that. It’s pretty shiny now – but it will look like crap again by tomorrow morning at the latest – that’s pretty much a guaranteed fact.

3. I just scheduled an appointment to get the kids’ pictures taken on Saturday. For some reason, the school never notified us of Stepson’s pictures – so the most recent picture we have of him is from two (?) years ago. We’ll be getting Pumpkin’s 2-1/2 year pictures done at that time, and then even though The Princess had her pics done at school in October and will have them done again in March, we’ll get some pics of the girls together, and then all three kids together. I am crossing my fingers, toes, legs, whatever. Taking the kids to get their pictures done is never a smooth sailing experience.

4. Yesterday, I decided to teach the girls a lesson in life: If you want flowers, buy ’em yourself. Hubby is too busy to even think of it, and the grey days call for a little bit of color to brighten things up. I told him Tuesday night that the girls and I were going to pick up flowers. He apparently wasn’t listening. He came home yesterday, “WHO are the flowers from?!” Honestly, they were carnations, for god’s sake. If I was going to have a man other than my Hubby buy me flowers, they better NOT be carnations. The girls and I laughed about it though, and The Princess was quite happy to tell her daddy about how we picked them out and all the colors they had and so on. Another nifty little note – you wouldn’t think so, but Costco has VERY pretty flowers. Huh.

5. As I type this, Pumpkin has taken a brand new box of crayons, broken most of the crayons in half and is peeling the paper off of them. She is so intent. I don’t dare stop her. I know The Princess is going to be mad when she gets home from school and sees the broken crayons with no paper – but it’s good clean fun, and I’m gonna let her do it. [I was going to have to clean the dining room anyway].

6. Tonight, I’m supposed to go to the movies with my mom. She wants to go see PS I Love You. I’m totally not feeling it. I don’t feel like sitting in a movie, let alone some tear jerker. The thought of bailing out on plans with my mom makes me feel like a bit of a jerk!

7. I have had a serious hankering for Chinese food the past few days. Hubby hates it, which is why I almost never have it – but it sounds so so good. Maybe tomorrow night I’ll order some takeout and he can eat leftovers from the fridge.

8. I have missed the last two episodes of Grey’s Anatomy. I’ve downloaded them from iTunes and still haven’t watched them. Maybe tonight while I’m not at the movies with my mother.

9. The people in my house surprised me last week. I made ropa vieja, and I was sure that I would be the only one who liked it (It’s a Cuban sort of beef stew- that’s the best way I can describe it). First of all, I am a way better cook than I give myself credit for – because it was incredible. Second – EVERYONE liked it. I was very surprised. Even The Princess liked it, and she hates spicy food.

10. I’m a Project Runway addict. I was kinda happy to see Victorya get “auf’d” last night. She bugged me.

Hard Not To Feel Grateful

This morning, I struggled to get the kids ready to go on our journey to Costco (yes, I realize I am the most boring person on earth). I meant to go yesterday – but the roads kept me home-bound for much of the day. We had a few things we needed to get, and I wanted to get there shortly after they opened so as not to hit that mid-morning point that makes Pumpkin tend to fall asleep in the car and totally screw with naptime.

But getting out the door with two kids is never easy.

They wanted to take drinks with them. So I had to pour some chocolate milk for one, and Invisible Koolaid for another. Can we take toys too? Sure, two each. Off to find the Webkinz and a book, and a My Little Pony and a unicorn. But I want my stuff in a bag!!! Off to find a bag to put the stuff in. One forgot to brush her hair. Find the brush, toss it in my purse for in-car grooming. Socks? Check. Shoes? Shoes? Go get your shoes. Coats? One has a coat on, one doesn’t. I don’t wanna wear my coat?! Too bad. It’s cold. Coat on? Check.

Oh yeah.

So, I left a little later than planned. We were driving down the road, listening to Radio Disney. About five to ten miles away from home, the driver of a pickup truck flashed its lights at me. Soon after that, I happened on a three car accident that had taken place just minutes before. Emergency personnel were just in the process of arriving. One of the cars was TOTALLY SMUSHED. The police had not even blocked the road off yet. We ended up turning around and doing a twenty minute backroads detour to get to Costco.

We did a hurried shop at Costco and returned to the car to a panicked voice mail from my mom, “I need you to call me so I know you’re okay.” She had heard about the accident, knew I had plans to leave. The driver of the northbound car was pinned in the car. I reassured her, drove home, and checked online to see if I could find the story.

I found it. One of the people had died. I was driving northbound. A couple minutes earlier, it could have been us. If it had not been for the drinks, the coats, the shoes, the hairbrush, the toys, the.. the… the… It could have easily been us.

It’s easy to get annoyed at the time it takes to get out of the house when you have little people, but things most certainly happen for a reason. We’re home safe and sound, and we’ll be here the rest of the day.

A Much Needed GNO

Saturday was chaotic, busy, involved several wardrobe changes (two events plus one bumming around the house outfit) and a lot of rushing around, but oh my goodness, I had such a great time that even a day and a half later, I’m still glad I went out.

See, I wasn’t going to go. The first part of the day was a bridal shower for Hubby’s cousin. She’s just an awesome person, and one of my favorite people in his family. The bridal shower was an absolute – no matter what, I was going. I also received an invite for the Bachelorette Fiesta to be held several hours after the shower. I knew I didn’t really know the Bride’s friends, but also figured that unless they were going to a male-strip club (SO not my thing), I wanted to go out, have fun, and help give her the send-off into married life!

The shower was pretty typical – the best part of it being that my mother-in-law didn’t show up (Yahoo!). That had been my fear as I had been getting ready, that my MIL would be there. We’re not super close, you know (Read: The woman hates me and the feeling is mutual). I have managed to get through the past several months without seeing her – quite possibly, I haven’t seen her since July, now that I think about it. The thought of sitting near her breathing in the second hand smoke fumes from her clothes was not an appealing thought for me. But – she was a no show.

After the shower, I went home and did my hair, changed my clothes and did a few other little things before heading out for the Bachelorette Fiesta. I (of course) managed to stop at Starbucks for a Gingebread Latte before heading to the bar we were meeting at for dinner and drinks. We were going downtown to a bar with a Dueling pianos dealy – I had never been there, but had always wanted to go, so I was looking forward to it.

At this point, I’ll remind y’all again that I’m some what quiet – I’m not super extroverted, and I did kind of worry about how the night would be, me not knowing anyone at all. We sat down for dinner, the drinks started coming, the music started, and… once the mother of the bride and mother of the groom took their leave, the laughs hit…Hard. I got to know several of the ladies at our table and we had a blast – from getting picked on by the pianists, to laughter at the guy at the table next to us who snuck into almost every single one of our pictures (Seriously, we’re gonna have to PhotoShop the dude out). The Bride was feeling no pain and when I left, I seriously didn’t really WANT to go just yet. It was THAT fun.

I’ve already talked to the Bride and two of the other ladies from Saturday night – I can’t wait for the reception (The wedding is a quiet deal in Vegas in March). I am definitely going to have to make Girls Night Out a regular practice in my life again. I definitely need it.

Thursday Ten

This is something new I’m implementing to give myself a day to post but to give myself a break from having to come up with cohesive thoughts to form a themed post. Just random dealy-bobs about me. How thrilled are YOU!?

1. Sometimes instead of making real dinners for my family, we have YoYo night. This stands for Your’re On Your Own. Nearly anything in the house is fair game – want a bowl of Cheerios? Have at it. Grilled cheese? Suuuuuuuure. Leftovers? Go for it. As long as I’m not making a complete meal, it’s YoYo. Love it.

2. I painted my nails today. In the bottle it was this awesome purple-pink color. On my nails? It’s this disgusting cotton candy pink. I hate it. I also hate that I’m too lazy to change it right now and have too much stuff to do that even if I DO change it, it’ll smudge and look like hooey. Maybe tomorrow.

3. Today, Pumpkin got really mad at me for taking the dining chair out of the kitchen (she was climbing on it), so she bit my butt. I was stunned. And part of me was just plain amused – I mean, quite honestly, I’m pretty sure no one has ever bit my ass before.

4. Saturday I’m going to a bridal shower and bachelorette party for one of Hubby’s cousins. She’s really awesome, and I’m looking forward to it. Her dad and Hubby’s dad are brothers. Her family is way nicer to me that my mother-in-law and father-in-law. It’s really funny, most of Hubby’s family is fine, and I am looking forward to being around the nice ones.

5. I’m already re-hooked on American Idol again. I really love the beginning shows when the really sucky singers are shown. I’m so mean.

6. Speaking of AI, I just downloaded “Tattoo” by Jordin Sparks. She always just annoyed me on the show, and I didn’t want her to win, but darnit, this song is catchy.

7. The coolest thing ever if you have a cell phone with a data package is Mobile Blogging. I’m hooked. I can post pics of my kids from anywhere. My family is loving it – all day they can see the messes the girls are making.

8. Tonight I made chicken tortilla soup and inadvertantly tripled the amount of chili powder. Whoops. Actually, I still loved it – but neither of the kids would touch it.

9. Today, Hubby’s closet was driving me so nuts that I reorganized it. I told him on the phone that I did it, and he was pretty peeved. Now that he’s seen it, I don’t think he minds.

10. I’m sick of tax season already. I hate it. I hate waking up early.

She’s SO Two

The Princess was never the stereotypical two-year-old, so imagine my shock at having a completely to-the-book two-year-old. Tantrums? Check. Fierce independent streak? Check. Defiance? Check.

Holy moly.

I have realized that I need to find different ways to parent Pumpkin than I am used to from her older sister. With The Princess, if we even slightly raised our voices, she wigged out and did what was expected of her. We weren’t yelling, mind you. It was just the slight increase of volume was enough to set her on the right path. Pumpkin? Huh. No. You raise your voice, she’ll laugh at you.

Admittedly, having my child laugh in my face when I tell her not to climb up the shelves in the pantry isn’t exactly the response I desire, so I realized that something’s gotta change. (By the way, this kid climbs on EVERYTHING! Her training potty has been largely unused except in the capacity as a step stool – she drags it around everywhere and uses it to get an extra foot of height to reach the counter, grab the mail, run off with our mail, and…. sit in the corner and OPEN IT!

So, I’ve started counting at her. I hate counting at my kids. I really do. I count to five. I don’t know what the hell I’m gonna do when I get to five. I don’t believe in spanking (that’s fine if you do, but… it’s not for me). Today, she was climbing to get something off the counter, and I started counting. I got to three. She called to me, “I did it already!” It must be sinking in somewhat.

Today, I took the girls to a playgroup. She hasn’t been around so many other kids very frequently. I think it was a good thing for her to be around other kids. She did really well, and I was pleasantly surprised. I’m hoping to get through the Terrible Twos with a smile on my face.

Snow Days Suck

It could be that having woken up before 6 a.m. for the third day in a row is just starting to wear on me, but when I saw the little note scrolling on the bottom of the TV screen this morning saying that our school was CLOSED for the day, part of me was so overwhelmingly ticked off! The Princess doesn’t have school every day – just two days per week and every other Friday. Given the schedule, she only has one Friday school day in January… so, that’s eight days of school for the month. Make that seven, now.

Seven days of school… Really?

Admittedly, Tuesdays and Thursdays are my crunch days. I count on having that time to bond with Pumpkin, to get a lot of work done, to get more done around the house, and to take full advantage of nap time (not always feasible on non-schooldays, because The Princess doesn’t nap anymore). To add to that, the excitement of having big sister home often cuts that nap pretty short, IF Pumpkin is able to fall asleep at all. Seeing as how she’s been up since 5:15 this morning – a nap is REALLY crucial.

Fortunately, The Princess had a friend over this morning who in turn invited her over post-lunch. Pumpkin went down for a nap without a fuss. I sweated my butt off to a Cardio Jam workout DVD, on top of vacuuming, sweeping AND doing six loads of laundry!

Today could have been pretty ugly, but fortunately, it’s been alright. If I wasn’t so exhausted, it’d be even better.