Rats and Birthday Cake

I have very mixed feelings about Chuckie Cheese.

Strictly as an entrepreneur and business woman, I think it's great. There's always money in entertaining kids. Especially when it's mixed with giving parents a little break.

As a mom? That's where my mixed feelings come in. I don't really mind going to Chuckie Cheese during the week. In the afternoon. When other parents are at their regular jobs, and it's nice and slow. It's not a bad place when the weather is crappy and you have a bit of cabin fever. When it's slow. Every game is only 1 token. That's cool. And there are things that the kids can actually do on their own. Cool.

We had a bad experience with germs at Chuckie Cheese. A couple of years ago, everybody we know (including us) got sick after going to Chuckie Cheese. EVERYBODY. I blame it on the tube/slide. We all got a horrible stomach flu. Becca was 3. Chloe? 18 months. Becca got it first, and it plowed through the family. It was utterly and completely terrible. Becca was in the slide the day before she got sick. It was a Saturday. I have since found out that they clean that slide on Saturday nights (Well, at least at our Chuckie Cheese). We go early in the week now.

We also bring a VERY LARGE bottle of hand sanitizer. I am constantly putting it on their hands. When we get there (so we don't spread any germs we might already have). Before we eat. After we eat. When we're done playing. Again in the car. We haven't gotten sick since that one time. But I am VERY afraid to go there in the winter - the middle of sick season.

What motivated me to write this post? Well, let me tell ya. We went to a birthday party on Sunday at 'The Cheese.' It was at noon. The place was completely insane. We had to wait in line to even get in. It was the longest two hours of my life. There were screaming children everywhere. When we gathered for the 'birthday' part, we were jammed into a corner. We ate some cardboard pizza. The kids didn't want to sit. They wanted to play some more. It was loud. Very loud. It was a birthday party for a neighbor kid (who is very sweet, and a cutie!). But being in the middle of 8 different birthday parties all happening at the same time was just too much for me.

Sorry, kids. You're not having your party there.

I got home, popped two Advil and considered having an adult beverage. Some days, this motherhood gig just doesn't pay enough.

I was rejuvenated later in the evening, when Tony took the girls outside to play. Did I relax and give myself some 'me' time? Nah. I popped the MP3 player on, cleaned up the house and put away laundry (singing at the top of my lungs). All better. That's all I need. Just a half an hour of escape every day or two.

I'm ready to get back in the groove

Well, we've (almost) made it through the long holiday weekend! Our Thanksgiving was fantastic. Baby brother and family came over for breakfast and, if a may say so myself, I made the most kick-ass bacon I've ever tasted. Whenever I cook ANYTHING right, it's a big deal. And it's not that I cook things and screw them up, necessarily. It's that I just don't cook things. Theory is that the more great successes I have, the more I may want to cook. So far, that hasn't really happened.

Anyway, Thanksgiving at the restaurant was great. It was fantastic to have everybody there (except for my BIL Dave, who is recovering from DOUBLE knee surgery) and the gigantic table in the middle of the table was overwhelming. There we were, all sitting at the one table (pretty much). That's the first time that ever happened. And I think it's the first time we all ate Thanksgiving Dinner from actual plates instead of disposable.

Right now I'm in the middle of kids birthday party mayhem. One yesterday at Giggles And Smiles at the mall. The Saturday after Thanksgiving. At the Mall. And one there today, too. The mall wasn't too bad yesterday when I got there, and I actually got a little bit of shopping done. But an hour later it had gotten crazy. So I grabbed the laptop and sat in the food court (Yeah! for free wi-fi) and got some work done. Today the party is at 4:00, which is the same time as the Steeler Game. So, I'm hoping it's not as crazy in there today.

So, enjoy your Sunday! Kids have one more day off school tomorrow, but I'll be working. Hopefully we get the Christmas decorations up today/tomorrow. We're starting to look like slackers. I promise to try for a more meaningful post tomorrow. Really. It will be thought-provoking and possible introspective. I think.

Wow...37 ?!?!?

Well, I have to say that "Heather Fest 2007" was a success. I slept in until 8:30 (yes, it's sad to say that I consider that 'sleeping in'), didn't change one diaper and showered in peace. Then I went off (in my hubby's Jeep Commander - no car seats) and went shopping. Bought some stuff at Target. Wanna see? Here's what I got: Just some boring old stuff...shoes (only 1 pair), notebooks (they were 10 for $1...couldn't pass them up), some CD's (see below), make up...and that's it.

Then I headed to Barnes and Noble. Got some coffee (my favorite...Iced Caramel Macchiato) and started to browse. By this time I was really totally immersed in the fact that it was so QUIET. And I didn't have to tell anybody to stop touching things, or use their inside voices. Nice. So, I bought some books. One really cool one that's a photo history of Carnegie. (bought that for the hubby). Stopped and bought an MP3 player for myself (which I did not have yet). Here's the one that I got:

SanDisk 1GB Sansa Express MP3 Player The 1 GB Sansa Express MP3 Player from SanDisk provides high-quality digital music playback. With its microSDTM slot, you can expand its storage capacity. The player offers 15 hours of continuous playback with its rechargeable lithium polymer battery. In addition, the Sansa Express player features a FM tuner with many preset stations and a built-in microphone to record your voice. The bright, 4-line OLED display and simple to use controls adds to your visual experience and offers easy navigation through the menus. The MP3 player supports MP3, WMA, Protected WMA, WAV and Audible formats and provides USB 2.0 interface for easy transfer of files. Speak your style with Sansa Express MP3 Player the fusion of music, FM radio and voice recorder into one compact player!

I really like it. Now, of course, I'm wishing that I would have gotten 2 Gigs, but oh well. I'm having a ton of fun on Rhapsody filling it up with music. I have very scattered musical tastes. It's nice to have them all in one place. And Rhapsody seems to have pretty much all the stuff that I'm looking for. There were a few songs that I couldn't find (or had to pay extra for), but I pretty much got what I wanted. And I liked that when I got to 1 artist, there were similar artists listed on the side, so I could just bop right along. Anyway, if you want to try it, you can go here:



So, anyway, back to my day...I went to lunch and had a beer at the bar, then I decided to take the plunge. I went to the pet store and bought the kids their first pet. His name is Mackie and he is a beta fish. Baby steps. After I got home we had birthday cookie-cake and Tony made me dinner. I got to lay on the couch and read while he took the girls for a walk and gave them a bath. Sure was nice. I'm still a little in the 'relax' mode, though. Haven't paid too much attention to any sort of actual work that I'm supposed to be doing. But I have been cleaning the house :)

OK, all for now. Have a great weekend. And don't forget to go to the Shirts-N-At blog tomorrow to see the shirt of the week.