Archives for 2006

I’m getting burned out – so please, tell me: What are y’all making for dinner? I make my menu for the coming week every Friday. So tomorrow is my menu day. We do a whole lot of the same ol’ same ol’, and I’m looking for some new ideas.

So – lay it on me. What’s for dinner?

I’m getting sick. It would go figure, since Pumpkin has been oozing snot out of her nose for the past several days. My nose is running. Hers is running. The Princess’s nose is running. And now – my throat hurts. Pumpkin is starting to get a cough.

Oh, and she’s teething.

She has two teeth so close to pushing through on the top, and two on the bottom. She still only has four teeth, and she’s has been working on these other four for about… a month now? Two months?

Last night, I felt so miserable, I went to bed early (despite only having four pages left to read of a 400-page novel, if that gives you any indication how wiped out I was). Good thing I turned in early – because Pumpkin gave me wake up calls at 2:30, 4, and was up for good at 5. Now, as it just approaches 8 a.m., she’s back in bed snoozing. And me? Now I am too wrapped up in all the things that need to get done around the house before we head out for an appointment later on.

I am tuckered out. I am miserable. Starbucks will be consumed on our outing this morning. Maybe with an extra shot.

Christmas 2006 will go down in history (family history, that is) as the year Pumpkin got her head stuck in a chair. In what was a terrifying two minutes that felt like two hours, Pumpkin slipped while standing on my grandparents’ archaic folding chairs, her body sliding out the back space trapping her head between the seat cushion and the chair back. Hubby had turned away for what could only have been ten to fifteen seconds, and I was helping The Princess unwrap gifts. All of the sudden, he screamed my name. Over the chaos of twenty family members talking and opening gifts, he had to yell to be heard. I stood up, saw what happened, and in one of those weird slow-mo kind of moments, climbed over the back of the couch to get to them.

It was awful. Pumpkin was screaming. Hubby, never great under pressure (flashbacks to The Princess’s febrile seizure came to mind), was shaken, and struggling to figure out how to get her unstuck. Not sure how Pumpkin got into the mess, I wasn’t sure how to get her out. My uncle (who is usually kind of a jerk, actually) stepped in, and literally bent the metal chair back to loosen it so we could easily slide her out. Afterwards, I held her in my arms for a minute before she begged for Hubby – and The Princess sat in my lap sobbing. She had been so afraid for her little sister.

In reality, there was nothing life threatening about the incident – she surely had room to move and breathe – it just didn’t feel that way at the time. The rest of the day was measured in terms of the incident, “Were you here when Pumpkin got stuck in the chair? Or did you get here after that?” Ho. Ho. Ho.

Other than that, today was a good day. Pumpkin was up well before the sun, and enjoyed opening the gifts in her stocking. She was particularly thrilled with a box of animal crackers, and was pretty upset that we didn’t let her eat the whole box for breakfast. The Princess was up not long after that, and was giddy that Santa remembered to bring her a Doodle Bear. She was admittedly irked that there was an outfit for Barbie in her stocking: “Uh, WHY did Santa leave me an outfit, but NO BARBIE?” (Um, because she got FOUR other Barbies from various people throughout the morning… Santa musta known that was going to happen).

Hubby, despite our agreement to not exchange gifts, bought me a cute little iPod Shuffle. I already have an MP3 player – but the arm band is breaking. These Shuffles are the cutest little clippy things. I think he partly figured if he got me a new one, he could have my current one… no worries. Little did he know – my grandparents got HIM an MP3. But I’m still peeved that he broke the agreement. Paybacks, and all. I’ll get him.

Plenty of monkey bread was consumed (It’s legendary – why have a regular ol’ cinnamon roll, when there’s monkey bread?). Giftcards aplenty litter my counter. Toys cover every inch of floor space. My over-sugared, under-rested children are finally snug in their beds where hopefully, they will sleep hard until at least 7 a.m.

Merry Christmas to all – many blessings to you and your families on this special day!

Today, we have been tracking Santa online (currently, he’s in Germany), baking confetti brownies for Santa, and preparing our traditional Christmas morning breakfast: Monkey bread. My house smells like a bakery, and I’m loving it, but right now, all I want is to tuck in the kiddos, finish wrapping gifts, and curl up with a book and get some down time before the madness tomorrow.

The excitement is starting to get to The Princess – and Pumpkin has been intensely teething for the past several days. The result is they are both off-and-on sourpusses, and it’s wearing on Hubby and me. We were able to invite one of The Princess’s friends over to play this afternoon, which chewed up a good chunk of the day for all of us. This kid is adorable – he is totally hooked on my “Invisible Koolaid” (which rocks – if your kids love cherry koolaid, and you hate the stains, buy the invisible stuff – I prepare it with the Splenda that comes premeasured precisely for mixing with koolaid so as not to have sugar-buzzy kids around). My choice of the Invisible stuff proved a good one when The Princess tipped her cup accidentally and soaked everything on and near the dining room table. I managed to maintain good spirits and Princess’s friend said to me, “You’re FUNNY!” I laughed, and said to him, “Well, isn’t your mom funny?” He paused. “My dad is.”

Kids.

Tomorrow is going to be filled with laughter, joy, good food, family, and the occasional tantrum. I’m expecting it.

Merry Christmas.

…Hubby gave to me:

One pack of TicTacs.

A weird anti-climactic finish to the 12 Days, but… fun, nonetheless. This morning, as I was gearing up to brave the Christmas Eve shopping crowds (because Pumpkin thought it would be fun to wander off with my bite plate – and I clench my jaw when I sleep… badly… I had to go without it last night, and my mouth hurt so bad this morning, I decided I had to get a replaceemnt FAST – never mind that I had to buy a $20 over the counter version, versus my oh-so-fantabulous overpriced from-the-dentist version), I had yet to receive my “gift”. It’s the last day, I was antsy, so I hinted… Okay, I came right out and said, “So, it’s the first day of Christmas.”

Nothing.

Came back from the store.

Nothing.

Later, I said to Hubby, “I am just so excited, I can’t help it. I can’t wait to see what comes next.” Hubby went to get the gift and said, “Well, I guess I should have gotten something interesting, then.”

I don’t mind that it’s TicTacs – I love TicTacs. But my impatience drove Hubby bonkers, I think. He is already saying he’s not sure if he wants to do this again next year. Pout.

…Hubby gave to me:

Two Christmas socks

Yes, that’s one pair… but two socks total. They are actually pretty cute – but not cutesy. Festive, but not gaudy. And they’ll keep my feet warm on Christmas morning, so that’s a fun thing.

Last night at quarter to 11, our doorbell rang. We weren’t expecting anyone, so Hubby and I were pretty freaked. He dashed downstairs and opened the door to…

A county police officer.

Seems our crotchety, crabby, scroogey next door neighbor called the cops on us. Charming man.

You see, we’re still in the midst of construction. Yesterday, the electric company had to come move a power line. They used some fancy dancy equipment, and supposedly ran over Grinch’s lawn in the process. Later, Grinch stormed up my driveway and started yelling at some other workers who were here to install heating and cooling stuff. They referred him to the power company, and tuned him out. Our builder later went over to smooth things over with him – and nicely pointed out AGAIN, that the power company did it, and he should really talk to them about it.

So, anyway. HOURS after all that, we have the police at our door. Charming. They didn’t do anything, didn’t say much. It will probably be a non-issue. But it resulted in Hubby and I ordering our land survey today. We’re checking the property lines and staking them out – and come spring? We’re putting up a fence.

I have another neighbor who swears: “Good fences make good neighbors.” I hate to feel like we NEED to put up a fence. It’s something Hubby and I have talked about before, as we really would like to get a puppy next year – so a fenced yard would be a good thing… But to keep our neighbors away? We never thought we had to.

But, the Grinch? He apparently needs it spelled out for him. This is OUR yard. That is YOUR yard. You stay in your yard, and we’ll stay in ours.

It’s really kind of sad.

I hope he moves.

…my Hubby gave to me:

Four Sharpie markers…

Three packs of gum…

I know the Sharpie thing is weird if you don’t know me… But I love Sharpie markers. I use them for work stuff a lot, as I’m often writing on glossy catalog pages that regular pen just doesn’t write on. I use my Sharpies for other things too – like this year, I didn’t buy a SINGLE tag for a gift. Just solid color wrapping paper, with the names neatly written with a Sharpie. Such a practical, joyful thing.

It’s not even 9 a.m. yet, and I have done the happy dance around my house for the past hour.

Why?

Because this morning, Hubby and I wrote the last check for my student loans. As of today, my college education is PAID FOR.

Join me in a victory lap around the living room. Life is good.