Summer Teaser

Well, it was a fantastic weekend for weather here in Pittsburgh! It started on Friday, and it looks like it's going to last through today. The kids really enjoyed it. But here's how it went down:

Friday after school, Becca started. "Can you put up the pool?!?!" (I've promised that we'll put up the easy-set pool that has been sitting in the garage for two years this summer). I told her that I can't put that pool up until their birthdays (end of May).
Then she wanted a smaller pool. Well, it was 4:00 on a Friday. I wasn't ready to tackle any kind of pool. So we compromised on the sprinkler. They were happy. Saturday, I caved. I put up one of those hard shell plastic pools for them. We later found that there must be a hole in it. But they had a great afternoon, bouncing between my yard and my friend's yard. Carefree, almost summer.

Sunday we had a couple of events to head to. There was a christening for our friend's twins down the street, then a communion party for other neighbors at our restaurant. We headed down to the christening. Now, our friends there put in an in ground pool last year. They got it late in the summer, and the kids were in it once. I didn't think that the pool would be open yet for the season. But we got there, and the pool was open. (On a side note, I'm totally jealous of their pool and the set up. It looks like something out of a magazine. They should rent it out for parties.) So, I ran back to the house, got their suits, and they swam for a couple of hours.

Hello...it's April in Pittsburgh.

It was a great time, and the first time that, as a parent, I didn't have to get in the pool. They were fine just swimming on their own. Nice.

The communion party was held on Downey's House's deck. Because it's not normally this warm in APRIL, we had to sort of scramble to get the deck semi-ready. The chairs still don't match. We don't have any coolers out there yet. We need to do some landscaping. But it went well, all things considered.

So, it looks like our little visit to summer ends tomorrow. Which is OK with me. But I'm glad that summer IS right around the corner!

But if you talk to me in August, I might have something to complain about :)

First Taste of Business

Well, it was a fantastically beautiful day yesterday in Pittsburgh. Dare I say, the weather was perfect. I was in a pretty good mood, I didn't have to make my normal Saturday run to the restaurant, and the house was pretty clean. So, I finally gave in to the request that Chloe has been making since January.

The Lemonade Stand.

Chloe has been asking me at least once a week since JANUARY if she could have a lemonade stand outside. When I explained that people don't really want to buy lemonade when it is snowing outside, she offered up the idea of a hot chocolate stand. Well, although that would have worked a bit better, I held her off. There was a weekly lemonade stand inside my kitchen. She would get her small folding chair, and set up the cups and kool-aid on one of the stools for our island. She had three very regular customers...me, Tony and Becca.

They had some very grand hopes for the outside lemonade stand. As I cleaned up, I had them draw some pictures for the lemonade stand. We ran a couple of errands, and then came home to make the lemonade (instant, of course!). The plan was to set up their 'Cafe' tent:

We figured that we would cover up 'Espresso' with 'Lemonade.' Easy enough. I head out to the driveway and start setting up the cafe. The frame went up just fine. After a couple of tries (and Becca holding down part of the tent), I got the cover on. Then, it was just like one huge box kite. Since I didn't necessarily want the children flying through the sky through our plan, I nixed the cafe. After taking it down and putting it away, we set up our small plastic table and chairs from Ikea. That worked just fine. They had the ice, the lemonade and the cups. They even put out their gumball machine. Price? Two coins. Yeah, any coins. Although Becca is now realizing that different coins are worth different amounts, Chloe hasn't quite reached that level. So, I asked Becca to just 'go with it.' She also thought that she was going to make $1,000.

They sat there for about five minutes with me being the only customer. I told them that nobody knew they were there...they needed to let everybody know that they were having a lemonade stand. They did great! First, Becca walked down to the stop sign (just past our neighbor's house) and stood on the corner holding up a sign that said 'Lemonade' and had our address on it. Then, she used her loud mouth skills. Every car, every person that she saw definitely knew about the lemonade stand.

They got some customers, and then Chloe headed out for her turn at the marketing. It was very cute. The whole ordeal only lasted about an hour and a half, but they had fun. And they realized that just because you open shop, that doesn't mean you will have a ton of business. I told them what I do for the restaurant, and part of it is making sure people know what's going on, and where we are. Now, they sort of get it.

As a side note, I just started book 7 of 8 from the Sookie Stackhouse novels. I'm loving this series more and more! It is cutting into my snooze time a little, but it's worth it! I'll report on the entire series as soon as I'm done :)

Attitude Changes Everything

Sorry I haven't posted in a few days. I went through a little bit of re-discovery. Tuesday I was happy to get back to normal, but the next day I did absolutely NOTHING. (Although I managed to beat my high score on Scramble over at facebook.) I had a big ol' case of the 'blahs.' There was no particular reason I had these feelings. There's the possibility that it was the crappy Pittsburgh weather. But I woke up on Thursday morning, and my attitude changed.

The sun was shining, and I had a new peace. As I was drinking a cup of coffee that morning in my kid-less house (they were at school), my brain started thinking what my life would be like if I had all the money I ever needed. I imagined my bank account just overflowing with cash. You want to know what I figured out? My life really wouldn't be much different.

Sure, I would buy more stuff, and possibly go more places. But my daily life would be pretty much the same. I would still be getting up in the morning. I would still be getting the kids to school. There would still be toys to clean up, laundry to do, birthday gifts to buy and dinner to make. I would still live in this house, drive my car and drink the same coffee. Yes, if I had a crapload of cash, we may not own the restaurant anymore, but I'm not so sure about that. I mean, it's like our child right now. Most likely, I would still have that hour or so in the morning to catch up on restaurant work. Yeah, I could hire somebody to do the grunt work. So I might get a couple more hours to myself each day. But what would I do with that time? I'm sure for a month or so, I would just enjoy the fact that I HAD some time. But I would start some project and get involved in something.

And I'd be back to the same place.

So, I've reached another plateau of happiness. Acceptance is good. I'm really not a worrier. So, if we're low on cash one month, I actually handle it pretty well.

That's not to say that I wouldn't take some cash if it came along.

Mama doesn't NEED a new pair of shoes, but I sure wouldn't mind a few. And hardwood floors. Ooooh, and a maid to do the scrubbing. (Yeah, I don't scrub all that much. So again, money wouldn't really change my life, but it might make my house more clean!). I think my kids have felt this new calmness. They've been great the past couple of days. We've had fun, and we haven't really done anything special.

Yup, it's all about the attitude :)

Ahhhh....Back To My Controlled Craziness

I feel like this is my first day back to my so-called normal life. It feels good. We got through spring break. The Easter Bunny came. The taxes are done (and getting mailed today). Today is a day of sweeping, mopping and catching up on laundry.

I don't know why the holiday threw me for such a loop. We had three solid days of coloring Easter eggs. The weather wasn't awful, but it wasn't nice enough for the kids to play outside all day, either. Everything just took a little bit longer with two kids around. Becca headed back to school today (with tears, of course).

I did federal, state and local tax returns for three different people. This is the first year I dealt with TONS of business write offs, K-1's and what not. Because of that, I had a couple extra glasses of wine at Easter dinner. I felt it a little the next day.

So, here I am, back to normal. Back to homework tonight. Getting Downey's House ready for summer and (hopefully) the surge in business with the deck getting ready to open. Quite honestly, I don't really have a topic for today's post. Just wanted to share the fact that I'm feeling pretty peaceful. Even though my normal life consists of running around, I've gotten used to a certain level of craziness. Which makes me think...

What will I do when the kids have flown the nest? Yes, my house will be a little more clean. I'll enjoy a little more reading. But I already have the feeling that I'll be a little bored.

Well, and much more rested.

So, for the next few days (or weeks...or until a child pushes me over the edge) I'm going to enjoy the hell out of them. I enjoy their ages. I enjoy their humor. And then there's the cuddles and the kisses.

Yup...peaceful.

Weekend Re-Cap

We had a fun weekend. Well, on the surface, anyway. It's hard to balance all the balls I have up in the air. Restaurant, kids, t-shirts, affiliate marketing, making the house look like it's not a pig sty. This weekend, we did a lot of stuff with the kids.

Saturday we went to breakfast with the Easter Bunny and an egg hunt. The girls had a great time. They had pancakes (their favorite), got to see their two cousins, and completely made out at the egg hunt. They each found three tickets, which entitled them to prizes. Chloe got a big and two small prizes, and Becca got 2 mediums and a small. The prizes were stuffed animals. My kids LOVE stuffed animals. There is a strange addiction there that I have yet to break. They were also very nice to their cousins. When I suggested that they each give one stuffed animal to their cousins (because they didn't get any tickets) they didn't even flinch. I was a proud mama. They were truly happy to make their cousins happy.

Then it happened.

We left the egg hunt and headed to the restaurant. We sat in a ton of traffic because of the inbound Parkway West closure this weekend. Becca started. "I'm jealous because Chloe got a bigger bunny than me!" Blah, blah, blah. Seems that every time we do something fun, the crabbies come out right after. We made it home, she complained some more, and eventually ended up on time out (I think it was for hitting her sister).

So, we wake up on Sunday and it's our day to go to the circus. The girls were excited. We all get ready and head down to the arena. They had fun watching Tony squirm as he saw the clowns outside mingling with the crowd. As we walked in and started going up the ramp to our seats, there was a vendor selling light up toys. Tony and I gave each other the "should we get these" look, and we bought one for each kid. The vendor says "twenty four." Twenty four? Dollars!?! I clutched my heart as Tony dished out the cash. We went in, found our seats, and walked around on the floor for a bit. They were offering elephant rides, pony rides and a big bouncy-slide thing. I entertained the thought of buying them tickets. I walked over to the ticket table and found it was SEVEN DOLLARS A TICKET! Pony ride for seven bucks? I don't think so. Big bouncy slide (the same one they have at many local festivals for $1 per ride)? No. I may have parted with fourteen bucks for the elephant ride, but the line was enormous. We bought a 'family pack' of tickets, which included a drink and hot dog for each person. We went and got our food (and those tickets were worth it, BTW), stopped by the cotton candy booth, plunked down 8 bucks for cotton candy, and headed to our seats.

The girls enjoyed the show. It seemed to drag a bit, but I'm glad we went. We bought more food. Pretzel, pop corn, peanuts and fries. As I emptied my wallet of cash, I was at least happy that we were all together, having fun. The girls were most excited about seeing Spider Man. He came out during the second half of the circus and did a little acrobatic ditty. They were happy, so I was, too. Spider Man made a second appearance with the clowns, but he was sort of like Elvis. Trim, muscular and svelte the first time you saw him. notsomuch the second time :)

Of course, as soon as we got in the car, Becca was complaining that she didn't get to go on the bouncy slide. Ugh. I about freaked out. I told her that I may not EVER take her to do anything fun ever again, because she just complains when it's over.

Yeah...that's my stellar mom moment of the weekend.

Tony could tell that I was just over this behavior. When we got home, he took the girls up the street for THREE HOURS!!! I had three hours to myself, and I was totally awake. I cleaned. Yeah, not the most exciting or relaxing thing to do, but it made me feel better, and I enjoyed it. I think Tony feels bad that it's going to be just me and the chicks for Easter vacation...and it looks like it's going to be too cold for them to play outside.

So, I had a full 'mommy' weekend. The restaurant was slower than usual because of the traffic situation. I have a clean-ish house (there was no scrubbing involved). I worked a little bit on my new affiliate site. It still has a long way to go, but I'll get there. And I had a request for a t-shirt design. I set up a store a while back, with all intentions of putting a bunch of designs in it. But then we, you know, bought a restaurant. So, I haven't worked on it much, but I have done a few special requests. Here's the one I did this weekend:

Peace, Love & Baseball Organic Toddler T-Shirt

I still haven't gotten it up on Zazzle, but maybe I'll do that now. OK...I think I've babbled enough for now. Next post? I think I'll touch on the fact that Becca is crying every morning because she doesn't want to go to school. Yeah. Fun.

I Want a Grown Up House

I've told you how I actually DO like my house. Now that the kids are (sort of) growing up, my mind has started to drift towards my fantasy of living in a clean, nicely decorated home. At this EXACT moment in time, I'd settle for clean. But I do have visions. Visions of beautiful hardwood floors. Of coordinating drapery and pillows. Someday (yes, someday...I keep telling myself) the girls will be old enough to appreciate the fact that this is MY house. And I would like to keep things finger print, marker, crayon and kool-aid stain free.

So, sometimes when I need to escape, I look at the nice things I would like. I found this website that's full of fabric shades, valances and curtains. After fantasizing a bit on this website, my heart yearned to be in a grown up place!!! I really do spend a lot of my time at home. And how cool is that site? Pick the fabric, make it perfect. I'm gonna have to start making some more money in order to afford my fantasy. But that's OK, I'll work on that. Right now all the curtains I have in my house are from Target. And they're not looking too swift. What is it with kids and curtains? They wipe their hands on them, twirl around in them. They've even tried to use them like Tarzan to swing on.

Maybe I've figured something out here. ::insert lightbulb:: If I get ALL valances, the kids couldn't destroy them. Well, I guess it's not that they COULDN'T, but it would be much more difficult. So, maybe I can start on my fantasy. Just gotta make some more cash. I got this far. I turned dreams of having a family, moving into a bit house in a nice neighborhood and owning a restaurant into reality.

I think I can handle curtains.

Signs of a Broken Heart

First, let me say that I had a great weekend! The weather is starting to cooperate, we had great business at Downey's House, and I made it through a party at Chuckie Cheese yesterday. I'll complain more about Chuckie Cheese soon. But for now, I have this for you:

I'll bet you thought that title meant I was going to talk about love.

Wrong.

I received this email over the weekend. It talks about how a woman might feel if she were having a heart attack. I'm 38. There are people my age who have had heart attacks. So, I tucked this information into the filing cabinet in my brain. I hope you do, too. Here's the email:

FEMALE HEART ATTACKS


I was aware that female heart attacks are different, but this is the best
description I've ever read..

Women and heart attacks (Myocardial infarction). Did you know that women
rarely have the same dramatic symptoms that men have when experiencing heart
attack .. you know, the sudden stabbing pain in the chest, the cold sweat,
grabbing the chest & dropping to the floor that we see in the movies. Here
is the story of one woman's experience with a heart attack

'I had a heart attack at about 10 :3 0 PM with NO prior exertion, NO prior
emotional trauma that one would suspect might have brought it on. I was
sitting all snugly & warm on a cold evening, with my purring cat in my lap,
reading an interesting story my friend had sent me, and actually thinking, 'A-A-h, this is the life, all cozy and warm in my soft, cushy Lazy Boy with
my feet propped up.

A moment later, I felt that awful sensation of indigestion, when you've been
in a hurry and grabbed a bite of sandwich and washed it down with a dash of water, and that hurried bite seems to feel like you've swallowed a golf ball
going down the esophagus in slow motion and it is most uncomfortable. You realize you shouldn't have gulped it down so fast and needed to chew it more thoroughly and this time drink a glass of water to hasten its progress down to the stomach. This was my initial sensation---the only trouble was that I hadn't taken a bite of anything since about 5:00 p.m.
After it seemed to subside, the next sensation was like little squeezing
motions that seemed to be racing up my SPINE (hind-sight, it was probably my
aorta spasms), gaining speed as they continued racing up and under my
sternum (breast bone, where one presses rhythmically when administering
CPR).
This fascinating process continued on into my throat and branched out into both jaws. 'AHA!! NOW I stopped puzzling ab out what was happening -- we all have read and/or heard about pain in the jaws being one of the signals of an MI happening, haven't we? I said aloud to myself and the cat, Dear God, I
think I'm having a heart attack!

I lowered the foot rest dumping the cat from my lap, started to take a step and fell on the floor instead. I thought to myself, If this is a heart
attack, I shouldn't be walking into the next room where the phone is or
anywhere else ... but, on the other hand, if I don't, nobody will know that
I need help, and if I wait any longer I may not be able to get up in a
moment.

I pulled myself up with the arms of the chair, walked slowly into the next room and dialed the Paramedics ... I told her I thought I was having a heart
attack due to the pressure building under the sternum and radiating into my jaws. I didn't feel hysterical or afraid, just stating the facts.. She said
she was sending the Paramedics over immediately, asked if the front door was
near to me, and if so, to un-bolt the door and then lie down on the floor
where they could see me when they came in.

I unlocked the door and then laid down on the floor as instructed and lost
consciousness, as I don't remember the medics coming in, their examination,
lifting me onto a gurney or getting me into their ambulance, or hearing the
call they made to St. Jude ER on the way, but I did briefly awaken when we
arrived and saw that the radiologist was already there in his surgical blues
and cap, helping the medics pull my stretcher out of the ambulance. He was
bending over me asking questions (probably something like 'Have you taken
any medications?') but I couldn't make my mind interpret what he was saying,
or form an answer, and nodded off again, not waking up until the
Cardiologist and partner had already threaded the teeny angiogram balloon
up my femoral artery into the aorta and into my heart where they installed 2
side by side stints to hold open my right coronary artery.

I know it sounds like all my thinking and actions at home must have taken at
least 20-30 minutes before calling the paramedics, but actually it took
perhaps 4-5 minutes before the call, and both the fire station and St. Jude
are only minutes away from my home, and my Cardiologist was already to go to
the OR in his scrubs and get going on restarting my heart (which had stopped
somewhere between my arrival and the procedure) and installing the stints..

Why have I written all of this to you with so much detail? Because I want
all of you who are so important in my life to know what I learned first
hand.

1. Be aware that something very different is happening in your body, not the
usual men's symptoms but inexplicable things happening (until my sternum and
jaws got into the act). It is said that many more women than men die of
their first (and last) MI because they didn't know they were having one and
commonly mistake it as indigestion, take some Maalox or other anti-heartburn
preparation and go to bed, hoping they'll feel better in the morning when
they wake up ... which doesn't happen. My female friends, your symptoms might not
be exactly like mine, so I advise you to call the Paramedics if ANYTHING is
unpleasantly happening that you've not felt before. It is better to have a
'false alarm' visitation than to risk your life guessing what it might be!

2. Note that I said 'Call the Paramedics .' And if you can take an
aspirin. Ladies, TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE!

Do NOT try to drive yourself to the ER - you are a hazard to others on the
road.

Do NOT have your panicked husband who will be speeding and looking anxiously at what's happening with you instead of the road.

Do NOT call your doctor -- he doesn't know where you live and if it's at
night you won't reach him anyway, and if it's daytime, his assistants (or
answering ser vice) will tell you to call the Paramedics. He doesn't carry
the equipment in his car that you need to be saved! The Paramedics do,
principally OXYGEN that you need ASAP. Your Dr will be notified later.

3. Don't assume it couldn't be a heart attack because you have a normal
cholesterol count.. Research has discovered that a cholesterol elevated
reading is rarely the cause of an MI (unless it's unbelievably high and/or
accompanied by high blood pressure). MIs are usually caused by long-term
stress and inflammation in the body, which dumps all sorts of deadly hormonesinto your system to sludge things up in there.

Pain in the jaw can wake you from a sound sleep.

Let's be careful and be aware. The more we know the better chance we could
survive.

A cardiologist says if everyone who gets this mail sends it to 10 people,
you can be sure that we'll save at least one life.


**Please be a true friend and send this article to all your friends (male &
female) you care about!**

And just as I was typing this, Chloe woke up, came downstairs and started playing a game. I guess she learned a new word. As she was playing she said "Dammit! I almost got the blue one." Yeah, I've gotta go and deal with that.

One Child? You Have No Idea!

I had a conversation with my nephew this weekend. Mind you, my nephew is 30 years old. He is married with a two year old son. He and his wife are wondering when to have that second one. Personally, I enjoyed having mine so close together. But hey, I'm just saying what worked for me.

Then we started talking about how different it is having TWO kids. I can only imagine how difficult it is to have MORE than two, but I'm gonna stick with what I know. I'm hoping that I didn't scare them. I didn't mean to be negative at all!!! I was simply stating how MY life changed. But anyway, I told them that the transition going from 1 child to 2 children was much more difficult than going from zero kids to 1 kid. And my friends tend to agree, so I felt comfortable saying this.

When you're having your first child, the only time you're sacrificing is your own. When child number two rolls around, the juggling begins. My girls are exactly 2 years apart. Two year olds don't really understand the whole 'taking care of the baby' thing. Not for more than five minutes, anyway.

There's the emotional part of trying to be even with each child. When they get older there's the fighting.

Yup, lots of fighting.

My girls DO get along. But there's always the fighting, too. I'm constantly breaking up arguments. Reasoning with one or the other. Or trying, anyway. I don't think you're really knee deep in parenting unless you're breaking up fights.

Don't get me wrong, there are other challenges with just one child. Challenges that I don't really want, either. When you have only one child, YOU are the playmate. When I tell my kids to go play a game, they go play a game. I only need to give them some guidance. I don't have to be an actual player. Sometimes I do play games with them, but at least there's an option. Plus, I play by the rules, and that must not be cool with 3 and 5 year olds. They make up their own rules.

So, I say yes to nephew. Have that other child. I say have it soon. Because even though the work increases exponentially, so does the good stuff like kisses, hugs, and cuddles.

My Love/Hate Relationship with Fitty

Well, I finally got back into my exercise routine on the Wii. When I turned it on and saw Fitty, he not-so-politely reminded me. "Did you know it's been 10 days since you last checked in?" Um, yeah. I know. Bite me.

I was about 10 minutes in (did some yoga and strength), and the telephone rang. Needless to say, I got a little distracted and didn't quite finish. But I don't feel completely bad. I've found that there are some really cheap Nintendo Wii games out there. I bought one with some family games...and I can't remember the name of it off hand. But it has lawn darts, bocci ball, basketball and some other games. It was only about twenty bucks, and the games are easy enough for the little ones to play around with.

Unsupervised.

Which is fantastic. I think it was the best twenty bucks I've spent in a while. I can't believe that I'm going to say type this, but I'm really glad we bought the system (and the board). I get double alone time. Well, sort of. I'm sort of alone when I'm using the Wii Fit. And when the kids are playing (again, unsupervised), I get some more time. I'll just have to be nice to my spending cash and pace myself on picking up some new games.

As as for Fitty? I'll see you tomorrow, ya bastard.

Not a Typical Day (Hopefully)

Let me tell you about yesterday. There's lots to tell. This is becoming a typical day, but I'm hoping that warmer weather will make it better.

I'll start at the beginning. Thursday. We all wake up and get ready. Chloe doesn't want to go to preschool. That happens about half the time. I bribe her with a promise to stop at Starbucks and get her some vanilla milk. Fine. OK - we all have everything (although I didn't eat breakfast - normal). I get Becca to school, get to the Starbucks drive thru, and get 2 vanilla milks (I promised Becca that she could have one when she got home) and a big honkin' iced caramel macchiato (sp?) for myself . Yum. Chloe was just sort of blah. But the sun was shining, it was getting warmer, and all was good. As I take Chloe to school, I see that her eyes are watering and she's sniffling a bit. No fever, though. I warn her teacher and tell her to call if she gets any worse.

So, off to the bar. Payroll day. I do my office work there, get payroll done, and have no major happenings at the restaurant. I have just enough time to get the birthday presents for this weekend and next weekend, plus stop at the dollar store for some gift wrap and bags (BTW - this is the best place for gift bags). All is good. Sun still shining. I pick Chloe up from school, and she has a fever. But she's a trooper. She's not a whiner. She informs me when she feels bad, takes her medicine, and that's about it.

***Let me interject a little ditty about how we've been feeling lately. We're all a little bit on edge. I think we ALL have a big case of cabin fever. There haven't been many chances to play outside for the kids. I'm completely DONE with winter. I need it to be 70 degrees. And sunny. Now. This has been going on for about a week, and we (meaning me and the girls) are driving each other crazy. Little things will set Becca off. Chloe just wants to watch television. I feel like a drill sergeant - except for the fact that my 'troops' aren't doing a very good job of obeying orders. Plus, I haven't exercised all week...and I've fallen back into my bad sleeping habit, which consists of me falling asleep with the kids and then waking up at 1:00 in the morning. Then I don't make it back to bed until about 3:00. OK, interjection over**********

At this point of the day, I'm in a fine mood. I clean up the house a bit, eat a little lunch and get ready for my debut at Kindergarten. Today is the first day I am helping Becca's teacher with their computer class. Off I go, driving in the sunshine. When I get to class, Becca is happy to see me, and the other children were very curious - but nice. I chat a bit with her teacher and we head off to the computer lab. Each child has their own computer. Becca's teacher shows them what to do on a projection screen (they're typing a sentence that they wrote earlier, using Word. They'll also add a piece of clip art, but the adults will do that). It was a great experience! It was a bit crazy...18 5 and 6 year olds, each at their own computer, and each needing some help. I couldn't imagine Becca's teacher controlling that class on her own. I could never, ever teach kindergarten. But it was good, and I get to do it for 2 more weeks. I sneak Becca out of school about 15 minutes early, and we head home.

Then it starts.

It happens every day after school. Becca comes home, says hello, and then the evil is released. My theory is that she holds in all of this bad behavior while she's at school. And she's not a bad kid. But 8 hours of holding in ANY bad behavior can be tough. So she lets it all out. I usually give her at least a half an hour to just 'de-stress.' But during that half an hour she fights with her sister, whines about stuff, and is just crabby. Earlier that morning we had devised a plan for the evening. I told them that if Becca did her homework right after school, we would have an early dinner and bath, and then play a new game I bought for the Wii. After 20 minutes of bickering with Becca to start her homework, I had to turn into 'Mean Mom.' First, I threatened no Wii. Didn't matter. I yelled. She cried. I hugged her and explained that she wouldn't want to go to school the next day without her homework done. She cried some more. Ugh. We finally get the homework done - but it took twice as long. While Becca was doing her homework, Chloe fell asleep on the couch. It was quiet...on to dinner.

We had all agreed upon spaghetti (shock!! We agreed!). I cook, Becca chats with me. I'm dishing the spaghetti into bowls, and I ask Becca whether or not she wants sauce. She's just recently started eating pasta with sauce, but still sometimes likes just butter. She wants to taste a little, so I slide my bowl of spaghetti with sauce over to her. I get her a small fork full, and she tastes it. And then proceeds to spit it back in the bowl. And then spit some more. More like drool. Lots of drool. Right into my bowl. I take a nutty. 'Why would you do that!?!? What makes you think that it's OK to spit a bunch of spit into my dinner?!?!?' She cries. I throw my dinner in the trash.

She chooses butter.

I eat the left overs.

I'm just crabby at this point. But, I tell them to just give me five minutes to get happy. Bath time goes much more smoothly. We start playing with the Wii, and everybody's happy. They're doing well. They're actually enjoying playing lawn darts, and getting pretty good. Then it happens. Chloe gets a little too close to the table (of course, I kept telling them to stay in one place-away from the table) and smacks her hand off the table. Tears. I console. In the middle of all this, Becca keeps on playing. She accidentally hits the power button on the remote. Well, not really accidentally. She just feels the need to press all of the buttons. After I told her which buttons to press. I announce that we're done with the Wii for the night. Becca cries. Chloe is still crying. Well, while you're already crying and miserable - we may as well have you take your medicine. Because that makes you whiney and miserable, too. (Becca has started taking Zantac - in the liquid form. I'll admit, it's gross)

FINALLY, it's time for bed. We all love each other again. We cuddle. I smell their sweet hair. Chloe does a good job of letting me out of the room before she falls asleep, so I go and cuddle with Becca as Chloe drifts off. We talk about how much we really do love each other. And that's OK if we get mad with each other sometimes. We talk about our upcoming trip to Florida. We'll swim. It will be warm. Becca drifts off to sleep....and I do, too.

At 12:30 I wake up, decide to watch The Office and 30 Rock from the DVR, clean up a bit, and head back to bed.

What a day.

I wonder what life will be like when I have two teenagers. Then I decide it's best not to think about that now. We'll cross that bridge when we come to it. I'm wondering if I'LL be the one who needs medication when we get to that bridge.

Best Thing I Heard

This is a conversation that Chloe and I had in the car after preschool today:

"Mom, there's a statue of Hamilton (read: Abraham) Lincoln."
"Yeah? Did you learn about it today?"
"Yeah. And he's in a chair. He got a statue because he got dead. Really dead. It's by the White House."

Ha!

The Best Thing I Heard

If you follow me on twitter, or if you're my friend on facebook, you've already heard this one. I think I'm going to start tagging things like this as 'Best Thing I Heard.' I forgot to post it yesterday.

As we were in the car going to the museum on Sunday, here's what Chloe had to say:

"Mom, some dinosaurs eat trees. Other dinosaurs eat ham."

Damn, she's cute!

The Medicine Nazi

Well, if you haven't heard already, both of the girls have strep throat. Becca has made it through, but Chloe is still in the middle of everything. After two days straight of going to the pediatrician, I'm dishing out little cups of medicine like a drill sergeant. And it ain't easy. My kids don't enjoy taking ANY kind of medicine. It's definitely a bout of psychological warfare that I will not lose. The Motrin isn't really very difficult to get down their little throats. Seems that it has the least medicine-y flavor, and a small amount of coercion is needed.

Now, Becca had strep so bad that she had a rash all over her body. So, she needed Benedryl. That was a bit more difficult to keep up with. With the first dose, I talked up the flavor. Mmmmm, bubblegum. Yeah, that only works for the first dose.

How about the amoxicillin (sp?). That is definitely more difficult. The kids recognize that pink bottle in the fridge. They've been there, done that. They know it tases awful, and I have to agree with them. Today we even got some watermelon flavoring added. Yeah, that didn't really help. That's when I pull the threats out. No, you can't watch anything on tv until you take your medicine. Chocolate? Sorry. Eat this Hershey Kiss AFTER you take the medicine, to get the taste out of your mouth. I really hate being mean about it, but they always lose. They have to.

This is our first dance with strep throat. It wasn't pretty. I caught it earlier with Chloe, so it wasn't quite as bad with her. And now, as the lay sleeping and I sit in a clean (well, clean-ish) house, I wonder....am I next? Taking care of sick kids is one thing. Yes, it's tiring. But it just feels so motherly. The love just pours out of me, and I want to cuddle with them constantly. Taking care of kids when YOU'RE the one who's sick. Awful. Terrible. Ugh.

So, I'm determined to stay healthy. I'm keeping that thought in my head. Keep your fingers crossed for me!

The Tooth Fairy Cometh

Well, Becca has been playing with her 'wiggly' tooth for a couple of weeks now. Yesterday, it REALLY was wiggly. I asked if she wanted my help, and she said that she did. I held the tooth and told her to move her head as much as she wanted to. She moved her head a bit, felt the pain, tasted the blood, and decided that it was better for nature to just take its course. Today, however, after pushing it around with her tongue all day, she got brave. She went right into the powder room, and after a few minutes of hesitation just ripped the darn thing right out. She was very surprised at how small it was.

So, I got to be the tooth fairy tonight. I wasn't quite sure what the going rate for the first tooth was, so i figured five bucks would be OK. She'd better not expect five bucks every time, though. So, here's Becca (and her trusty side kick Chloe) talking about her tooth.

In other news, I have been a total slacker parent over this Christmas Vacation. I haven't made Becca keep up on her extra reading work very much. And I haven't been writing my good ol' trusty to-do lists. So, I end up dong whatever I feel like doing, and not being very productive. I've decided that I get to slack for one more day (Sunday), and then it's back with the nose to the grindstone. Speaking of that, I better quit blabbering here. Gotta go finish getting my designs up over at Zazzle. Have a great night!

Happy New Year to All!

Well, 2008 was pretty good to us. I mean, life got extra crazy and there was a huge amount of uncertainty (there still is!), but it was a huge adrenaline rush. It was life changing. It was emotional. Although I love these huge events and thrive on change, I'm hoping that we can just continue to adjust to these changes in 2009. We're sort of on a schedule where we have some life changing event about every 5 years. I think that's about all we can handle. It went something like this: First house and our wedding in 1999. Second house and life with kids started in 2003. Restaurant in 2008. Let's just coast through until about 2011 or 2012.

The daily happenings of my life continue to amaze me. I never in a million years could have imagined how my life would be. Here's how my day has gone so far. We all woke up on the couch, because we fell asleep waiting for the whole ball drop thing. There was coffee, breakfast (for the kids - still none for me yet) and I did the paperwork from the restaurant last night. (It was a great night at Downey's House, btw. The wedding was great and we were super busy). Then started more motherly duties. Chloe wanted to play with her 'Cupcake Maker' that she got for Christmas. There's a story behind this thing. She had been saying that she wanted it for Christmas since October. When I went to buy it, it was located next to the Easy Bake Ovens. I would have much rather bought an Easy Bake Oven over this thing. I knew it would be a bust, but it was the ONE THING that she was consistently asking for. So, I plunked down my 25 bucks, and here's what I got:

So, I pull out this crazy thing, mix up the mix, nuke the cupcake (yeah, you're supposed to), shove the icing in the tube, and they put the machine into motion. I cut it in half for them to share (Yes, you can only make one at a time), and they each took a bite. Then they said 'Ewwwww,' and I threw the rest in the garbage and cleaned up the mess.

Then they moved onto the next project. The 'Le Cafe' that they got last year.

They got this last year from my parents (on my recommendation), and they do enjoy it. I don't really mind it so much, either. It's quite large when you assemble it, but it does break down pretty easily, and I can store it under the couch. It is, however, much easier to assemble with TWO adults. I can do it on my own, but thank God there's no hidden camera in my house (that I know of, anyway). The whole process of getting the 'covering' over the sticks of the structure involves me being inside of this floppy thing with the roof resting on my head as I try to stretch it over the frame. I come out with crooked glasses (no contacts in yet) and a big ol' static head.

So, I've told them that they got their two projects done, and now it's time for Mom to work on hers. A day in the life.....and we've only been awake for about four hours. Heading over to the SIL's today for traditional pork and sour kraut. DH is working at the restaurant tonight, and I see the return of 'normal life' on the horizon. Have a great, great New Years!!!

Wow, how times have changed

I may have mentioned that I've gotten sucked into the vortex of facebook lately.  It's all good.  I started an account there a year or so ago, mostly to promote my t-shirts and to connect with other people who do the t-shirt thing.  But recently I've re-connected with many grade school and high school friends, among others.  And today I realized just how much I have changed.  It hit me like a ton of bricks today when I said this to Becca:

You'd better stop playing on those steps, or YOU'LL be the one with the broken leg!

Now,  she had just finished telling me about a girl at the birthday party this afternoon who had a broken leg.  So, it hits me.  I can't believe that kind of stuff is coming out of my mouth!  There are other things I thought I'd never be saying (BTW, all these things were said today):

• Close that fridge before all the food goes bad
• Let me help you.  Your underwear is on backwards.
• Didn't I tell you NOT to jump in the puddle?
• Because I said so. (my favorite)
• No, I don't know why ladybugs have black spots.  Just because they do.
• Didn't I tell you to close the fridge?
• Go to bed or I'm calling Santa

If you had asked me 20 years ago (yes, I graduated in 1988) whether or not I'd be saying these things on a regular basis, I'd say no way.  Back then I knew that I always wanted to have kids.  But back then I believed that everything would go my way.  I'd be rolling in cash, my kids would never misbehave, and I'd still be wearing the same size jeans.  Well, notsomuch.

Not that I'm complaining at all.  I'm happy.  I have a nice house and stuff inside of it.  My kids ARE well behaved, but I can't control them like little robots.  And that's when all the fun stuff happens, anyway.  When they decide for the 10th time that they're having a Halloween Birthday party for their bear FiFi and we need to go to the dollar store NOW for treat bags.  (Chloe, by the way).  

I'm glad I didn't have a crystal ball back then.  I might have been too afraid of the reality of it all.  I needed 10 or 15 years to warm up to the idea that my life isn't all mine.  Now it belongs to my kids.  And I'm fine with that.  Now, the couch belonging to the kids?  Not so fine with that, but I'm working on it :)

Just like Seinfeld, I'm even.

Don't know if you read yesterday's post, but Chloe was a breeze yesterday. Cheerful and cooperative. Today, however, was another story. I woke up to a very cantankerous three year old. She wasn't going to school. She wasn't taking her medicine. She wasn't getting her outfit on. She didn't give a rat's ass about the naughty list. As I looked down at her disheveled pajamas and her completely matted hair, I threatened to take her to school completely naked. She complained the entire way there. As we were getting Becca to school, Chloe started singing 'Jingle Bells' (well, sort of.). Becca chimed in and Chloe screamed "I'm singin' that song!" So Becca started singing a different song. At the top of her lungs. And Chloe continued on singing 'Jingle Bells.' At the top of HER lungs. Times like this makes me wonder why it's not an option in a family vehicle for one of those limo partition thingies. Just press the button, and up goes a sound proof glass partition. It just makes sense.

So, Chloe did finally get off to school. And after I ran and worked at the restaurant for a couple of hours, I picked her up and we decided to go to the library. I really need to get back in the habit of going to the library. And not really for me, but for my kids. When I was younger, the library was only a block and a half away. I was there constantly. I would spend my summer evenings (and mornings) reading. Couldn't get enough. I hope that my girls embrace reading as much as I did when I was younger. So, Chloe picked out some books (Bernstain Bears, Scooby Doo and some others) and I grabbed some Junie B Jones books to read to Becca. We've read about ten so far, and she really likes them. I had been buying them from the Scholastic Book Club, but I'm publicly promising that I will get more books from the library. It just makes sense. I'd prefer to save cash wherever I can.

So now here we are, and I'm looking forward to the chickies going to sleep. I love them so, but can I have some alone time, please?

Sometimes they're easy

Well, today really turned out to be a pleasant surprise. I had made an appointment to get my hair colored and cut at 10:00 this morning. And I was taking Chloe with me. Now, I knew that Chloe would be OK with waiting through just a hair cut. She's pretty darn good. But I wasn't so sure how a three year old would do waiting for over two hours in a small salon.

Now, the place that I get my hair cut is right next to the restaurant (Downey's House, just in case you're new here). The salon is called Hot Heads, and Jessica, the owner, is fantastic. And Chloe has been there a couple of times before. So, I go prepared. Portable DVD player with some Scooby Doo movies? Check. New 'Hello Kitty' doll house that the kids still have an interest in? Check. A lunch that Chloe packed for herself? Check. I have to say, she did fantastic. She danced, she chatted, she ate pudding. It didn't hurt that I've been explaining the whole 'Naughty and Nice' thing to her. She double checked tonight before bed to see if she's still on the nice list. She is.

BTW, I love, love, love my new hair. Short in the back, longer in the front (I like to call it the anti-mullet). The color is great. Or maybe I should say colors. My previous color was brown with some bright orange highlights, and a large chunk of orange in the front. The new color is all that plus some blonde streaks. Very punky. I like it. Just enough (ok, maybe more than enough) to make me stand out in the sea of suburban moms that live in my little plan of homes. Blending in is so boring.

And have I mentioned that I've been sucked into the Facebook vortex lately? I've chatted with people I went to grade school with, went to high school with, and people who I worked with at TGI Fridays in the airport. Crazy. As I speed even closer to 40 years old, I look back and realize that I really have learned something from every single person that I've met. Which is probably why I'm so twisted now (just kidding!)

More later!

Useless Tip #2

OK, here's a quick useless tip. My kids hate the crust of the bread (surprise, surprise). Seeing that the only sandwiches they will eat are peanut butter sandwiches, this works out well. As I was making a peanut butter sandwich, the light bulb went off in my head. I use the big honkin' jar of peanut butter. The lid fits inside the crust perfectly. Make the sandwich, put the lid in the middle, press down and scoot it around a little bit, and you have a perfect of a peanut butter sandwich. It's like magic. Really.

I didn't fall asleep. Really.

Well, let's see.  Today is Saturday, and I said that I was going to write again on Thursday night, if I didn't fall asleep.  Well, the bad news is that I didn't write on Thursday (or, depending on whether or not you like to listen to my drivel - that might be the good news).  I did NOT, however, fall asleep with the girls.  I came downstairs and worked.  Yes, I worked and worked.  And not on restaurant stuff, either.  I worked on t shrits.  And it was fun.  I mada a couple of new designs, but this one is one of my not-so-famous quotes:

So, definitely not a wasted evening.  I stayed up until about 1:00 am.  The next night, however, is a different story.  Last night I didn't fall asleep in bed with Becca.  Came downstairs all ready to watch some grown up tv.  Ten minutes later...asleep.  Oh well.  

We went to the book fair at the primary school on Friday morning.  The girls really enjoyed picking out some books (of course they wanted more than the 3 each I let them get!).  As Chloe and I were in the car on the way there, we had an extreme 'Why?' moment.  If you are the parent of a three year old, I'm sure you know what this is.  Every. Single. Answer. Gets. A. Why.

Here's how the conversation basically went:

"Mom, can i feed Mackie (the fish) when we get home?"

"Sorry, Chlo.  I already fed Mackie today."

"Why?"

"Um, because he was hungry"

"Why?"

"Because everything needs to eat."

"Why?"

"Because if things don't eat, they'll die."

"Why?"

(deep calming breath) "I don't know Chlo.  Because."

Then it gets funny.  Really, Chloe just cracks me up.

'Mom, dead fish go in the potty."

"Right, Chlo"

"But not alive fish.  You can't put alive fish in the potty."

"No, Chloe.  You can't put alive fish in the potty."

"Yeah, because then they would get pee on them."

"Right, Chlo.  They would get pee on them."

Well that satisfied her.  We drive along, bee-bopping to the radio and enjoying the sunshine.  A few minutes later, I get this question.

"Mom, Do fish pee in the water?"

"Well, yeah, Chloe.  Fish pee in the water."

"AAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!"

So, there is some Chloe conversation for ya.

Since this post touched on sleep a little bit, I'm going to share this really interesting stuff about polyphasic sleep.  Polyphasic sleep basically is sleeping for 20 minutes every four hours.  And that's it.  This gentleman actually slept this way for five months.  It was really interesting to read through how it went.  

OK, gotta snack before I go to bed!