Archives for May 2008

1. All I want is something sweet and there is NOTHING here. I kind of intentionally did that to myself in an attempt to get rid of the few pounds my thyroid thought it would give me, but man I might knock over one of my kids to get a cookie today.

2. Music of the week, “I’m Not Over” by Carolina Liar. I read a review of this group in People magazine and decided to love it.

3. I got so wrapped in hockey last night, that I completely forgot to watch “Top Chef”. I could totally kick myself.

4. I went to Field Day at The Princess’s school this afternoon. When you get hundreds of kindergarteners and first graders all in one place, it gets pretty loud. Painfully so. I stayed about an hour before gracefully making my getaway. I took a bazillion pictures though, and it was fun to see The Princess hanging with her friends.

5. I have plans to see “Sex and the City” tomorrow night. Am I excited? YES. Can’t wait!! I’ll let you know how the movie is, and I’m hoping that the show translates well onto the big screen, because I’ve been looking forward to it for so long, I really don’t want to be disappointed.

6. Potty Training Progress: Pumpkin is doing fantastically, though she still won’t go #2 on the potty. In due time – we’ll get there when we get there. Rome wasn’t built in a day (how long did it take to build Rome, anyway?).

7. Ah! Sugar problem solved. I remembered my hidden bag of Tootsie Pops. Life is good again (though now my tongue is blue).

8. Tonight is The Princess’s last soccer game. Hopefully the last one FOREVER. I don’t love soccer and she hasn’t seemed to be loving it this spring, either. Fortunately, Hubby found a sub for his softball game tonight so he can come to the game too. It’s hard to watch The Princess AND keep an eye on Pumpkin at the same time. It’s definitely a two person endeavor.

9. My grandmother is getting The Princess an Easy Bake Oven for her birthday. Here’s hoping I don’t have to eat a bunch of really tiny cakes.

10. I need to pick a new hair color. I have dark brown hair. I’m thinking highlights but can’t decide what color to go with. I need a change and summer seems as good a time as any. Any suggestions?

Dear Princess,

Hey chickadee – today is your birthday, and you are six years old. You’ve been counting down to this day for the past month, and as the number of days got smaller the grin on your face would get bigger. You are very excited to be six.

I can’t believe you are turning six. It makes me feel kind of old (I’ll save this and when you turn sixteen, I’ll read this and think back on how young I really am right now).

You have had a big year. You started kindergarten this year, which was huge. You’ve done well in kindergarten – your teacher never has anything but good stuff to say about you. You’ve made a lot of friends. You are, as your teacher says, “More than ready for first grade!”

You learned to read this year. You started out sounding the words out, and it seemed like practically overnight, you were reading everything. The past few days, you’ve been carrying this huge book around – and you’re actually reading it. I love reading, so I’m so excited to see you enjoying yourself and starting to learn the feeling of getting lost in a book. I hope you carry a love of reading for your whole life, because it will serve you well.

You learned to tie your shoes this year. It was just one of many steps you have taken that make you more independent. Somehow, you just “got” it.

Off went the training wheels and you were flying by on your two-wheeler this year. One afternoon with grandma and grandpa and all of the sudden you are able to do what months of wobbling with dad holding the bike of your bike couldn’t accomplish. It’s just another reminder that when you’re on your OWN timetable, you seem to be able to do just about anything you want to do. And you do it well.

Six years ago, I admit, I had no idea what I was getting into. Sleepless nights, projectile pooping, all of that… I had no clue. We’ve kind of grown up together, you and me. Somedays you make me crazy, but mostly, you make me proud. I love watching the way you are with people – you have this way of getting to people, seems like everyone adores you. Sometimes your sister will ask for something and I have to tell her no – and then she goes right to you and wraps her arms around you and you wrap yours around her. I love how you love her, and how she loves you. Some day, you guys are probably going to gang up on me since you outnumber me, but for now, I’m blissing on your sisterly bond.

You are a cool kid, Poodle. I love you more and more with each passing day – and you never stop amazing me.

Love you with my whole heart,

Mom

Ever since my thyroid decided to go haywire on me and cause my jeans to get snug and my mood to get crabby, I have really been making an effort to help the thyroid meds out and maybe speed up the process of getting my clothes to fit more comfortably again (versus buying all new clothes, because I am seriously not down with that). So, that means I’m trying to ignore my sweet tooth and I’m stepping up the exercise.

This sucks because for the most part, I have a pretty healthful diet. I mean, shoot – I even deprive at Starbucks with my nonfat and my sugar-free and my making that my snack for pete’s sake and not just another substitute for the water I’m avoiding drinking. Watching my diet even further is a miserable experience. Having PMS right now is NOT helping.

Then, I’ve upped the exercise. I was already in the process of increasing cardio from 30 to 45 minutes each time. Now, it’s defintely at least 45 minutes, and I’ve upped the speed, including (gasp) running. I have run three days this week and while it sucks a little less each time, I still don’t like it. I keep telling myself that it’s good for me, and the eventual results will make me happy, even if the achey knees and sweat pouring down my face aren’t so fun. I have to go buy running shoes, because my walking shoes aren’t gonna cut it (and my physical therapist would be so pissed at me if he knew I was “running” in them!). Buying shoes, that should be fun, yes?

Part of what has made the running even remotely tolerable is that I’ve been watching episodes of “Sex and the City” on DVD while on the treadmill. Forty-five minutes on the treadmill translates into about an episode and a half of Carrie and crew, and so I’ve been loving it. I just wrapped up Season Three this morning, and think that perhaps I need to go pick up Season Four at Target tonight while shopping for The Princess’s birthday presents (Her birthday is Wednesday and you better believe she’s been counting down). The back eps of SATC are getting me even more excited for the movie coming out on Friday (I’m suuuuch a nerd).

By the way, I just took a quiz and apparently I’m Miranda. This surprises me and half annoys me – but according to the quiz, they are “Barely” certain. Huh. I would have figured I was kind of a Carrie/Charlotte fusion. I knew I wasn’t Samantha. But Miranda? The description, however says:

Your personality: Pragmatic, with a quick wit and a take-no-prisoners attitude, you’re the realist of your social set. Some view your sharp sense of humor and intense scrutiny as emotional armor, which isn’t far from the truth. Beneath your steely exterior, however, you just want to be loved like anyone else. Of course, it would be love on your own terms, wouldn’t it, you little control freak.

In reading that, I guess I get it. That sounds kinda like me.

1. My mom called and emailed me an hour ago. Seems that there was a gas leak at The Princess’s school. Did the school call the parents? No. My mom only found out because she happens to be subscribed to the local news channels alerts. Obviously, I’ll have to do the same, because otherwise, I’d have never known to go get my kid. She’s finally winding down – they were in such a rush to evacuate the kids (they were relocated to the local high school) that they weren’t able to bring anything with them – no backpacks, no nothing.

2. As I pulled into the parking lot, I was behind my Stepson’s mom (who has that lovely “I’m not with stupid anymore” bumper sticker). I ended up getting a better parking spot (hee hee) and getting in before her. Stepson said hey to me and gave The Princess a big hug – but I managed to avoid eye contact with The Ex. I coulda gone without having that awkward bit today.

3. In an attempt to counteract my cranky thyroid issues, I’ve started (gasp) adding running to my workout routine. Granted, I’m not a runner. So, I walk 1/4 of a mile, then run/jog a quarter of a mile. Hubby says I can’t really call it running since I’m not going very fast, but to me, it’s running, and I’m doing quite well thank you very much.

4. David Cook, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways I hope the American Idol machine doesn’t make you put out some crappy, sucky album.

5. Like most of the rest of the planet, I was watching the AI finale last night (except for the people who don’t give a rat’s ass – of which there were many on Twitter last night!). And they started singing the George Michael songs. And I started remembering how much I liked George Michael songs. This morning, I downloaded a few (not the new ones) – “Faith”, “Father Figure” and “One More Try”. Aw yeah, laugh it up.

6. Other song of the week: “Supersonic” by JJ Fadd. That song is just straight up 6th grade for me.

7. I am counting down to the “Sex and the City” movie. Next Friday, baby!

8. Potty training is going very well lately.

9. Two day old microwave popcorn? Ewww.

10. Let me just put this out there publicly – I found a gray hair this week. The first. I hope it has no friends. I am not the type who wants to age gracefully. I will be dyeing this. I will NOT be going gray. No way, not me, not now.

The Princess has a friend over right now. She’s been here for about four hours in a playdate agreed upon to help out the mom (who is super nice) and to entertain The Princess. The friend is a sweet little kid – a young kindergartner though. The Princess is nearly a whole head taller than this kiddo, so inevitably when playing house, The Princess is the mom, and the girl is the baby (in fact, I had to call outside to them an hour ago to get the friend OUT of the stroller, she’s not THAT little).

They’ve been playing all day and as they sat down at the table for snacks, The Princess took out the book that her teacher had sent home for her yesterday. The teacher sent home a different book for each student – and from looking at this book versus the other books she’s brought home, I think the teacher picked one of the more difficult books for The Princess. The note says that she tailored her pick for each child – for them to practice and bring back to school when they were comfortable reading it. This book has words like “antennae” and “soldier” — this is kindergarten, mind you. But my girl? She breezed through it. I heard her reading this book, and every other book she owns to her friend. No bumps, no stumbles. She’s good – and she KNOWS it.

She has this confidence that I am not sure I’ve ever had – even at her age, I can’t remember walking around with this air of self-assurance. God knows, I don’t now. But she seems to know what she is good at, and she flaunts it and she doesn’t let anyone try to sell her short or talk her down. Nobody puts my baby in a corner.

As a parent, it’s one of those things I really hope she hangs on to as the years go by.

Good news:
Pumpkin is definitely mastering this Potty thing. I only had to change two diapers today. One when she was with Hubby at Stepson’s baseball game (sidenote: Hubby was there, our daughters were there – was Stepson there? Nope) – I guess she forgot to tell him she had to go pee. The second was this morning when she had to make a stink – she hasn’t quite gotten the hang of pooping in the potty yet… But I’m not forcing it – in due time she’ll get it. In the past few days, she’s definitely made leaps and bounds in the potty-training, so I’m not sweating it. She’ll get it.

Bad news:
Pumpkin has pinkeye. This means that even though I’m paying for her to go to daycare this week, she probably won’t go unless her eyes can stop oozing pus before Thursday. This means that my day of planned work for tomorrow is essentially a no-go (except Hubby’s angling to get home at noon to relieve me so I can get some stuff done).

That’s where I’ve been this week. Spending a lot of time hanging out in the bathroom with Pumpkin waiting to hear the telltale drops of pee hitting the water. Spending the remainder of my time holding her down to put drops in her eyes. Oh! And watching hockey. Like right now – and the RedWings are up 4 – 0 over Dallas. Whoooooo.

I found a link today to a website called MixWit – over to the right, you’ll see a mix that I made – you should be able to just click play and have it play music. Aesthetically, I don’t like the way it looks there, so I may remove it (bonus – you can hear my mix on FaceBook, I think).

Anyway, it’s tons of fun, and if you make a mix, let me know so I can come check out your tunes.

Edited: I have it all the way at the bottom now – in the sidebar, you could only see half of it. So, scroll down.

1. Pumpkin has gone on the potty SEVEN times today – three times at daycare, four at home. That’s a whole lotta pee, folks. I don’t even care that I am going through marshmallows left and right, or that I already am in debt to her for a treat (currently, for every five times she goes, she gets a treat, as she starts going more consistently on the potty, we’ll stretch it out to every ten times). [Oooh, she just called me to take her to the bathroom… That’s EIGHT times today]

2. Two weeks on this thyroid medication and no change yet. [Insert expletives here].

3. Hubby has started his summer hours at work – this means he only works one Friday a month. Does that mean I get more help around the house? Nope. Tomorrow is his first Friday off. He “has” to play in a golf tournament for work. [Insert expletives here]. Apparently, he found out that he “had” to play golf in this tournament today, less than 24 hours notice – AFTER I scheduled a meeting with a vendor for work. This means that daycare had to be procured for Pumpkin (thank goodness The Princess has school). Of course, his golf will be done in time for HIS meeting. Same as last year – this Friday schedule is a waste for me. I might as well pretend he’s at work.

4. Song(s) of the week… Oh, so many. The kids gave me an iTunes gift card as part of my Mother’s Day gift, which means I’ve been randomly downloading stuff here and there… including “Same Mistake” by James Blunt, “Come On Get Higher” by Matt Nathanson, and the entire “Twenty-Three” album by Tristan Prettyman.

5. I’m in a bit of a cranky mood this week. I know it, I hate it.

6. I’m sitting next to the paper shredder. I realize that rather than actually shred the stuff that needs to be shredded, Hubby is just throwing it all on the floor next to the shredder. Either it’s a man thing, or it’s a lazy thing (or both) but it’s ridiculous.

7. I’m in the process of planning The Princess’s sixth birthday party. The theme? Why, Hannah Montana, of course!

8. I have to bake cupcakes for her class – there’s a kid allergic to marshmallows and anything with gelatin in it. Does anyone know offhand – am I safe with regular cupcakes and frosting. Have you ever heard of a GELATIN allergy?

9. I bought some Kashi cheese crackers today. They are not as good as a Cheez-It, but they don’t have the artificial crap in it so I don’t feel as bad about giving them to my kids.

10. I want a really big bagel with a hot cup of coffee. Maybe a Panera stop for breakfast pre-meeting is in order tomorrow. That sounds yummy.

Sometimes, I catch “Jon & Kate Plus 8” on TLC and I am filled with a tremendous sense of gratitude that I only have two. I am so worn out at the end of my day with just my two girls – if I were to add six more to the mix (and sextuplets at that – I think of having six Pumpkins – *shudder*), and I think I would surely be on the fast track to the funny farm. I don’t have that kind of patience.

But on a pleasant note – my Pumpkin told me at the restaurant at lunch today that she had to go potty… I took her in… AND SHE WENT!!!

Having to potty train six kids at once? I can’t even handle one.

I woke up this morning thinking that today would be an alright day. The sun was shining, the Red Wings won last night, and I had nothing really pressing on my agenda that might throw my day into a hellish spiral of muck.

So I thought.

The girls and I tinkered around the house for a bit, then went to the store to pick up a few necessities so that we would have all the ingredients for lunch and dinner. When we arrived home, there was a message for The Princess on the machine from one of her buddies inviting her over. Awesome. It was 11:30 and her friends hadn’t eaten lunch but for some reason, The Princess was hell-bent on eating lunch first. This was bad because while I knew that she could eat her lunch in a pretty timely manner, Pumpkin could not, which meant that I had to hold off on Pumpkin’s lunch until The Princess ate and was dropped off. I was feeling iffy about that.

To hold Pumpkin over, I gave her a carton of blueberry yogurt. In true two-year-old fashion, somehow, the carton ended up bouncing off my chair and onto the carpet. Niiiiiice. In the midst of making chicken noodle soup (from a can, mind you) and trying to keep Pumpkin calm, I was trying to blot out the dark blue damage to my light blue carpet (Spray and Wash – my hero).

It all worked out, despite my craziness, because at that point, my mood was somewhere between Godzilla and Cranky-Godzilla. It was just all the little stuff (and my hormonal crabbiness) making it all into a mountain to me. We got buckled into the car where I told the girls, “Mom is just having a cranky day. Mom is sorry for being Miss Cranky Pants.” Pumpkin thought that was hilarious and so all was well.

We dropped off the big kid, and I came home and got the little one fed and off to her nap. I was able to get some work done and refresh a bit this afternoon. The afternoon went so much better than the morning did. Thank goodness.

Hubby got home and took the girls for a long walk (did it tire them out? No!) while I went for my long walk, and now everyone seems to be happy.