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Thursday, April 30, 2009

Girls' Club

It's Thursday. That means we went to Bible Study Fellowship and then a trip to Chick Fila to meet some friends. This particular mom has twin boys who are 2 months older than my twins. We play often and our kids have a blast together. In fact, somewhere near the beginning of our mutual friendship her twin boy and my twin girl developed a special little boy/girl friendship (as 3 yr olds). He even asked his mom if he could take my daughter to Grand Cayman. Whoah...not so fast buddy. =)

So just recently my daughter has started this "girl club" phase. She's seeing that girls are girls, boys are boys and we're almost to the cooty stage, I think...though I dare not say it. Because we almost always play with boys (most of our friends have boy twins) GWT has begun to seek out random girls to play with, wherever we are.

Today she went into the Chick Fila playland and immediately found a few girls to play with. Apparently they formed a "all girls' club" because my friend's son came out of the playland and said to his mother, "I'm pretending to be a girl so that Girl Wondertwin will let me in her girls' club."

This little boy is very secure in his masculinity. I wonder how long he'll be willing to "pretend" he's a girl just to play with my daughter and you can bet my friend didn't tell her husband!

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Can I get a HOLLA!

Just got word that we are going to afternoon Kindergarten! I am the happiest girl on the block. Ah yea! No 6 AM alarm clocks and no 7:44AM bus. Of course this means I have to re-vamp all my plans for Little Dude. What the heck am I going to do with him? Time to scramble since I previously signed him up for an AM preschool. Looks like PM preschools are far and few between. There are limited choices but I'm gonna find one of them b/c I need to get to the grocery (sin kiddos) sometime next year. There's always a kink in the perfectly laid plans of mice and men!

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Get a Room!

Here comes another Facebook Vent. I have enough issues with Facebook. Many are guilt issues because I accept friendships with people I don't even remember. Who the heck is Eddy Parker anyway? Somehow he's one of my best 513 friends in the entire world. I keep getting friendship invites from someone named Matt Decker. I've never known a Matt Decker, says my post-baby mind.

There is a certain person who constantly posts status updates. He always gave me the creeps in high school. He once hit on me while dating a friend of mine. I thought he was grody. Anyway, we're BFF on FB. He posts constantly about his new wife who happens to be a decade younger than him. Today's post is something like, "I have the most beautiful wife in the world."

Okay, sweet, right? Well, maybe if it were her birthday or something. These are his posts EVERYDAY. He writes things like, "No other woman could fulfill me like you do" and junk that needs to be left in the bedroom if you ask me.

I'm not an emotional person so maybe I'm freaking over nothing but I'm ready to de-friend this dude. But then, the Facebook guilt sets in. I really don't need this is my life right now.

Monday, April 27, 2009

Daddy and the Kids

DADDY: Kids, do you know what fossils are?
Girl WonderTwin and Little Dude: I don't know.
Boy WonderTwin: Wait, aren't those tiny little broken dinosaurs?

Saturday, April 25, 2009

National Record Attendance

The WonderTwins

The whole family went to the game today. It was the Ohio State Spring Game. Scarlett vs. Gray. We had no idea what to expect when we got there. Arriving 15 minutes after the scheduled start time but before the official start of the game, we realize that we will be climbing to the tip top of Ohio Stadium to find seats. Turns out, there was a National Record Attendance (for a Spring Game) of 95,722. FOR A SPRING GAME. Completely nuts. Minus the 87 degree temperatures (and much hotter INSIDE the stadium) a good time was had by all! Better still, $1 of each ticket went to the Ronald McDonald House. Plus, tickets were only $5 per person. Beats the usual $65-$150 prices of regular season games.

Somewhat Comical

I was watching Suze Orman tonight. Yep, on a Saturday night. It's our idea of wild and crazy fun. Anyway, normally she has very helpful financial advice. That and I'm somewhat humored by some of the crazy guests that she has on there. It's amazing what people want to do with their money.

Tonight was a "green" night. Have you noticed EVERYONE and their brother is now going green? I have nothing against guarding our planet. God called us to take care of the earth in the first chapters of Genesis. I do have a problem when companies "go green" for PR purposes. It either saves them money or makes them look good when they aren't doing a thing for our earth.

But I digress. Suze (we're on a first name basis...I love her) had callers give suggestions on "how to go green". One caller says that she does laundry once every other week and hangs it out to dry.

HUH?
SERIOUSLY?
IS THIS POSSIBLE?

Maybe I'm the number one offender when it comes to our earth but if I did laundry every other week I'd be offending more than just the earth. Surely this caller doesn't have kids but still! I can just see me hanging my laundry out in below zero temperatures to save the earth.

I'm doing my best to limit one load of laundry per day...usually I can't even make that goal most days...especially when the kids were potty training!

I guess I'll have to find other ways to save our earth.

I drive a mini-van instead of an SUV. Does that count?

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Going a Little Blog Crazy

I know I'm posting like a mad woman but I HAVE to post this. While J and I have been tiling the entry, our kids had the run of the house. We paused to put them to bed but you know how that goes. They need 85 hugs, 22 drinks of milk, 102 stories and 49 bathroom trips. Well, apparently Little Dude had some help from his big sister this evening.

I came upstairs to check on the state of disarray. After picking up a zillion things and putting them in their proper place, I bravely entered the kids' bathroom. It was in decent shape but curiously, I found a pull-up on the ground. Odd...it was dry and it had been worn. Wanting to solve this mystery, I went to the usual suspect. He's in his bed, covered up. Uncovering him, I find this! Yes, he's wearing pink panties...no pull-up. Where the heck did he find pink panties? His big sister of course. Someone remind me NOT to rely on the "big kids" to raise Little Dude. Daddy was none to happy to see this picture.

What I'm doing right now...

Okay, here's a Ventalicious version of a status update...or a twitter or whatev.

This is the entry to our home. The double doors are wood and used to be an ugg yellowish wood color. We sanded them down last Fall (a HUGE task, mind you) and hung them back up, ignoring them all Winter.
As soon as things warmed up, I stained them.


In the entry some genius put PINNNNNNK MARBLE down over a beautiful slate. We took up the marble, hoping we could get the slate clean. Unfortunately, this ended up being impossible and the mastic won the battle.

This is the tile we chose. It isn't that sweet slate but it will do. You can see what it looks like underneath. We didn't even try to get the adhesive off of that spot so you can't see my slate. Someday someone will take up my tile and say, "Who the heck would cover up that beautiful slate?"

Another one to make Blog History...

So we're walking out of the atheletic club this morning. Some genius put the kids' child care in the VERY BACK of the BUILDING. I'm sure that's for safety purposes but you know that person was NOT a mom. It's always the bane of my existance to bring those 3 in and out of ANYWHERE but especially the athletic club. It's one of those 2 story, gargantuan places that has a salon, cafe, indoor/outdoor pool, saunas etc. You get the picture.

I pick up my 3 and I won't even go into how long it takes me to get them out of there. Most often they are on the computers playing Mario Brothers but sometimes I have to crawl up into the maze to get them. I hate that! Fortunately I'm not the only mom I've seen do that. So we finally leave that place (and only because I had already hit my 2 hour limit...I milk that child care for all it's worth!) We're walking down 2 VERY LONG hallways and I notice that Little Dude has his Crocs on the wrong feet. Dumb me, I mention that to him. He plants himself in the middle of this long and very wide (crowded) hallway and takes off his shoes, throwing them down the hallway. He starts SCREAMING, "Me VARE GOCKON's ooooose, Me VARE Gocken's oooooosse." Gocken is his older brother, Boy Wondertwin (BWT). BWT responds by screaming yelling, "No, your shoes don't fit me. I'm not giving you my shoes." Girl Wondertwin has made her way into the cafe where they sell all their trinkets at kids' eye level. She's begging (loudly) for goggles for her swimming class.

I try to hush Little Dude but as any mom knows, it only makes it worse. I'm to that point after more screaming where I just want to wrap my hand around his mouth (trying not to cut off air supply of course) and run him out of there like a running back. He's still wailing and people are starting to shut office doors while others are coming out to see if 911 should be called. I notice the scene that we are making (used to it by now of course) and stick his shoes in my bag. He's then SCREAMING "mong ooose, mong ooose" (my shoes). I realize that this situation will not resolve itself, no matter the amount of hushing on my part. I grab Little Dude, put him under my arm like Beanie Wells tucks in a football and I run like a banschee out of the building.

The twins are rushing behind me, trying to keep up while they pick up the things I drop behind me. Let's just say I hope there were no security cameras in the parking lot once I got to my car. Little Dude got quite the spanking and lost his Crocs for the day. Someone tell me why they call it the terrible twos? As I found out with the twins, it's certainly the hellish threes...by comparison, twos are a piece of cake!

What the heck will I write about when Little Dude turns four? Too bad I wasn't blogging when the twins were 3. I might have won a pullitzer for that year!

Monday, April 20, 2009

Mr. Schumer, you make me CRAZY!

I try not to get political on this blog but there are days when I just can't help myself. I'm steaming over this one. It's Chuck Schumer on the Rachel Maddow show on MSNBC. I can't handle that show for 5 minutes without steaming but his clip really makes me crazy. You gotta see it for yourself. Oh, the irony.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=8JQpKeyN39c

Deals folks!


I was talking to a college friend by phone the other day and explaining to her how we have afforded all the crazy renovations. I told her I ALWAYS turn to Craigslist before I head to the store! Just a few months ago I scored this vanity with a granite top for just $250. The granite top itself would have been over $500 at my "cheap" granite place. Gotta love Craigslist.

If I can't find what I'm looking for on Craigslist, I pout. After a sufficient amount of pouting and praying, I turn to my list of less than reliable sources. I go to Bargain Outlet and Harbor Freight as well as the local Habitat for Humanity store. They take donations of sinks, vanities, doors, windows...really anything you can think of. Then they sell it to the community to raise money for their housing projects. The money goes to a great thing AND you just might score yourself a deal.

Sometimes I check out local stores such as my granite and cabinet place that ships from China. In fact, rarely to you find a fluent English speaker working there but we got a sweet deal on a new kitchen from them.

Finally, when all else fails, I head to Lowe's and then the Home Depot. Since I'm in there often enough, I'm able to watch for deals. We found a travertine stone tile for $2 a square foot one day. It's now in our kitchen. That's a crazy good deal for travertine which usually runs for over $5 a square foot.

There's my 2 cents on home remodeling. The only thing I might add is try to do it yourself. Tasks seem overwhelming but most things can be done yourself. When we lived in Dallas, we needed to do some tiling. There was CARPET in our BATHROOM...who the heck does that? A builder.

We were way too chicken to try tiling then and finally after a long while, we were able to sell that house with carpet in the bathroom. After getting tutored by a friend, we now tile all over creation. We've currently tiled 3 entry ways, 1 bathroom, a kitchen, and a laundry room. It's not my fave way to spend the weekend but we're saving MONEY!!!

If you've made it to the bottom of this post, you are rewarded with a great deal. Ben & Jerry's (store locations) is giving away free ice cream cones tomorrow, April 21st. Oh, how I wish I could partake. Unfortunately or fortunately, this town is swamped with the likes of Graeter's, Jeni's and Handel's. Not a lot of room in the market for Ben & Jerry's but oh, how I'd love a free ice cream cone tomorrow. Check their site for locations! Happy Monday!

Saturday, April 18, 2009

BFF

I'm amazed on a weekly basis how easy it is for little people to make friends. Take today for example. We were watching Girl WonderTwin's (GWT) soccer game today. It's a team full of 4 and 5 year old girls and boys. There are no goalies in this league and everyone celebrates if the kids are kicking the ball toward the correct goal...that's how laid back this thing is.

Anyway, I glance over to see my daughter and another little girl holding hands (ON THE SOCCER FIELD) while the game is in progress. I try to redirect GWT. At this point she lets go of the girls hands and runs over to me. She says, "Mom, do we have a phone number?" It turns out that these 2 little girls were making plans for a playdate! Ha! They had known each other a total of 30 minutes and they are Best Friends...they are holding hands, singing and asking for phone numbers. All while the soccer game is going on, mind you!

It made me think how nice it would be if adulthood was like this! What if we met people, immediately knew we could trust them, and skipped off into the sunset, holding hands.

It's so much harder to make good friends these days. Every phase of life is different, I guess. Right now my relationships are revolving around other moms who have kids in the 3-5 year old range. That's fine. My closest Columbus friends are part of my twin club and all have twins like me. You should see other moms' faces when we all show up to a public place for playgroup . They've never seen 10 sets of twins in one room in their lives.

Thankfully I've made many new friends since moving to Columbus in 2004 but I don't know if any of my newer relationships are as easy as the one that GWT built today. They were fast friends in a matter of minutes and a playdate is already in the works. I'm going to try to follow my daughter's example. I wonder how much easier my relationships would be.

Friday, April 17, 2009

No Words Necessary

Today is...

sunny and beautiful...almost 70. I know that means nothing to those of you South of the Mason-Dixon but I'll take it! Wow, is it nice here! Therefore, I have nothing to post. I'm getting back out there and washing the car...or mowing the lawn...or readying the flowerbeds...ANYTHING outside. It's gorgeous!

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

April Showers...

It rained like a banschee today. Every time it rains my husband freaks. Not because he doesn't like green grass but because we have a basement. 2 to be exact. We own a rental property that has a small leak in the finished part of the basement. We also own our current home that came with all kinds of water issues. Fortunately, the basement dampness in our home was solved by a lot of grading (aka digging up the entire backyard, sloping and planting new grass) as well as this amazing invention called drylock. It's a paint that locks out water...theoretically.

The rental house is another story. It isn't as simple as digging up the entire yard to re-grade. After getting several estimates, 2 basement professionals recommended digging up the flower beds in the front of the house, placing a plastic underlayment 2 feet down and filling in with dirt.

We followed the professionals' instructions to the letter. So far we have gone 4 weeks and there is no water in the basement of the rental house. My husband is still not breathing easy though...he's just sure we will have issues. Coming from Texas, basements are new to him. He used to be so intrigued by them and now he hates them. I guess if you are from the land of basements you are accostomed to a little water in your home from time to time.

Anyway, I'll keep you posted on any further basement developments. Exciting post today, I know.

Monday, April 13, 2009

The Duggars...

are expecting again. There are now 18 kids. 18 kids. I have 3. I'm losing my mind. 18 kids. Seriously? It's their grandchild this time, being born to the newly married Josh and Anna.
When asked how many the expecting parents plan to have, they answered as many as God would give them. Anyone anticipate a spin-off?

Sunday, April 12, 2009

Reason #87

...for me not to have a 4th baby. At Wendy's the drink carrier technically holds 4 cups but you can squeeze a 5th in the middle if you're creative. With a family of 6 who would carry the 6th drink?

Speaking of babies though, I'm starting to see why people have another one after their oldest children are in school. Today my daughter showed me that her bottom tooth is loose. She is 5 years and 2 months old. Seriously, she's not even in Kindergarten yet AND I remember distinctly that she was over a year old when she got that tooth. It's not time to lose it yet. With 2 top teeth that are loose (from falling off a scooter onto a hard GYM floor) and one bottom tooth that is naturally loose, I'm realizing that my babies are growing up. I'm not ready for this and I'm starting to see why those really obnoxious people in the grocery line tell me, "They grow up so fast." I HATE it when people say that to me. Don't they remember the days of poop in the Hulk underwear and chocolate syrup fingerpainted all over the dining room table and smeared down the hallway walls to the bathroom?

I'm here to tell you that no matter what anyone says, the first 5 years do NOT NOT NOT go fast...at least when you have twins. But today, for the very first time, she showed me that loose tooth and I wanted to get my superglue out. It hit me that my babies won't be babies forever. Yep, it's taken me 5 years and 2 months to get it. Somehow I'm supposed to gobble up time and go into a holding pattern, enjoying this stage right here where we are. I'm trying but I want them to grow up. I want them to spread their wings and be independent people who live life to the fullest...which leads me to starting all over again with another tiny little life.

Okay, I'm off to search for more reasons not to have a 4th child. Wish me luck.

Saturday, April 11, 2009

Timing

Funny that I just posted about my experience with God. Technically I guess I would call it a testimony. Just today I ran into someone who fits into that story.

J and I took our daughter to her soccer game and decided to spend an hour or two at the zoo. It isn't far from our home and with our pass, everything is free. We parked, entered the park and high tailed it to the back of the park where there was a special show today. Jack Hanna was appearing for a special live performance. The name may sound familiar to you. He is on David Letterman and other shows from time to time. He also has a show on Saturday/Sunday mornings made especially for kids. It's called Jungle Jack Hanna's Animal Adventures.

The performance today was a take off of the old folk tale, The Tortoise and the Hare. After an educational lecture on each animal, the crowd was invited outside to watch the two race. We got front row seats for this part. The tortoise won, in case you were wondering! =) Slow and steady wins the race.

Afterward Director Emeritus of the Columbus Zoo, Jack Hanna, signed autographs for all the fans in the audience. Each of my kids got a signed picture of him with a bearcat on his shoulder. I'll post it soon. It's a cute pic. As he was at the end of the autograph session, I happened to mention that his son-in-law was my Young Life leader in high school. Mr. Hanna drops everything and starts yelling across the Zoo, Billy...Billy, does anyone know where Billy is? He then asks one of his handlers to help me find Billy. At this point, I'm wandering all over this section of the Zoo with a random Zoo guy in order to find my Young Life leader who I haven't seen since a wedding of a mutual friend over 9 years ago. Hanna continues to call his son in law's name until he found his granddaughter. He then asks her to call Billy on his cell.

I finally see Billy about 100 yards away. At this point I'm standing with Jack Hanna who is still yelling BILLY while signing autographs. There are many on-lookers watching this whole ordeal, I might add. Good thing I don't embarrass easily! Jack then says, "Don't say anything. Let's see if he recognizes you." About 30 feet away Billy starts yelling, "KP, how are you? It's been forever."

I was finally reunited with Billy and his dear wife Suzanne. Our kids played with their 4 kids and what do you know. They have twins too! Doesn't everyone have at least one set of twins these days?

Anyway, Billy was part of a team that brought Young Life back into my high school when I was a sophomore. If I hadn't met those Young Life leaders and gone to camp that summer, I'm not sure where I would be in my life right now. Thankfully God is omnipotent and sovereign in all things but I am grateful to Billy and the other team members who cared enough to make God known at my high school.

Finding the Good in Good Friday




For much of my life I didn't understand why the Friday before Easter was called Good Friday. After all, wasn't that the day that Jesus Christ was whipped and mocked and spat upon, only to be hung on a cross, crucified for blasphemy? What's so good about that?

Growing up my mom dragged my sister and me to church most weeks. It was a tiny little church full of old people and I was lucky if I had one other girl in my Sunday school class. Many Sundays it was me and a 60 some year old man as my teacher. You can imagine that church attendance became a burden for me after a while. I finally put my foot down and stopped going when I was about 12. It wasn't that I wasn't interested in God, I just didn't want to learn about Him that way any longer. My mom stopped attending soon after.

About 4 years passed where I didn't attend church and I really don't think I missed church, or God for that matter. It was toward the end of those 4 years that I started pursing some things that could have caused me some major problems in the future. My friends and I were only freshmen but with many junior and senior (boy)friends we were finding some creative ways to spend our weekends. I was having fun.

During this time I met a girl named Davonne. She invited me to go to a summer camp with about 20 kids from my school. I remember thinking there was no way my mom would let me go but somehow it all worked out. It was there at that camp in Colorado that I heard the Good News of Good Friday.

I remember sitting on a rock, on a foothill of a mountain, thinking about the fact that God allowed His Son, and somehow Himself, to hang on a cross. A cross. Could there be a worse way to die? After having received 40 lashes, nails were drilled into his hands and feet. A crown of thorns was placed on His head and He was mocked by many around Him. He had the power to get down off the cross...to incincerate His mockers but instead He remained silent. He did not move, He did not speak. The sky went dark and He endured humility and anguish for us, shouting "It is Finished."

At that point, almost 20 years ago, my life changed. I gave up much of the "fun" I was having, realizing that it wasn't always fun, nor was it always the best choices that I could be making for my life. I started to read my Bible and understand more of what God had in store for me, how He wanted me to live my life.

Every year Good Friday means more to me. I get the Good now. Without His death on the cross we could not know God. He has reconciled us to Himself. He has taken care of our sin, making us right with Him. Indeed, it is Good Friday.

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

So sad.

I just read the saddest post over at Diagnosis Urine. Go over to her blog to read it but it reminded me of the need to financially and prayerfully support the March of Dimes. It is a non-profit that promotes the health and well being of premature babies everywhere.

I was just 8 weeks along when I found out I was having twins. Thankfully they were my first and I knew almost nothing about pregnancy in general so I had nothing to fear. I just assumed that pregnancy was pregnancy. Goats have twins all the time, right? As I soon found out, 2 babies equals 10X the amount of doctors, check-ups and sonograms. I saw every doctor in the entire Dallas/FT. Worth Metroplex and had hours upon hours of sonograms. It was discovered at 16 weeks that I was having boy/girl twins and also a condition known as placenta previa. Thankfully I had no idea the severity of this condition and was told that there was an 80% chance of it rectifying itself before birth. I didn't worry. 80&? That's practically 100%, right? Nothing to fear.

Well, my doctors thought differently. I had a check-up every week along with seeing a peri-natologist as well. Every doctor in city 5 million saw my privates. I became as free as a showgirl with my parts because there was nothing left to hide.
My story is long and arduous. I might tell the rest at another time but to make it short, my twins were born at 33 weeks and about 5 days. They were 5 pounds 1 ounce and 5 pounds and 10 ounces. We were very blessed to have such BIG babies at such an early stage of pregnancy. After 9 days in the NICU we were released. Home with no CPAP or feeding tubes or anything. Healthy babies. It took them about 4 years to catch up in size but they both hover near the 50th percentile in height now.

We were so blessed that things turned out as they did. Not every family is as blessed as we were. That's why my husband and I support the March of Dimes. Without this organization, I don't know where my babies would be right now. God is so good to us and in His infinite wisdom, He gives us the power to change the world. Help change the world at March of Dimes.

Inefficiency...

makes me CRAZY! Take yesterday for example. We left Columbus at 11:15 to head to IKEA. My mom and I took my 3 kids to Cincinnati to meet up with my aunt for a day of shopping.

We arrive at IKEA approximately 2 hours later and head inside with my aunt. Excited to put my 3 little people in the child care, I get in line. A line? What? It's Monday at 1:30PM. There is a line for the IKEA child care? Dang it.

So I read a sign that says 10 minute wait. Okay, I can wait 10 minutes. 20 feet to the left is a tv that is playing the movie CARS. Thirty feet to the right is a child size kiosk with games on it. I begin to walk to where my 3 kids are when a 22 year old IKEA worker says, "Mam, you have to be IN LINE." Huh? What?

She begins to explain to me that the wait is no longer 10 minutes but 30 minutes since I have 3 kids. She also says that I have to be physically IN LINE in order to be the next one served. I can't be shopping in the store (with my 3 hellions in tow) but actually IN LINE. While I stand in line, waiting my 30 minutes, many other women come by, frustrated because they had read the same sign that I read saying the wait time was 10 or 30 minutes. They thought, as I did, that they could shop and put their kids in after 30 minutes had passed. Have they never heard of a beeper system?

What kind of moron comes up with this system? Call me overly Capitalist but hey, don't you want people IN YOUR STORE SHOPPING? You don't want them waiting in line until AFTER they have chosen the goods they want to purchase.

Seriously, I was so freaking frustrated b/c we had just spent 2 hours in the car and after waiting 30 minutes in line, we only had 1 hour to shop. In any other store an hour would be more than enough but people! This is IKEA! 2 hours is barely sufficient.

With 3 kids in childcare, we whipped through the store, having purchased a few organizational items for my kitchen, including a slide out trash can for my recyclables. I've always wanted one of those. After the whole ordeal I came back to a familiar thought. I am so thankful to live in America. Ikea is not an American company and so why would I expect efficiency or pragmatism? You rarely find these ideals anywhere but our fine country. Yes, we value these to a fault but I appreciate that we as Americans value each other's time and try hard to make life worth living. Again and again I say, God Bless America! Lee Greenwood, hit it!

Monday, April 6, 2009

IKEA Again...

So we made the 2 hour trek to IKEA today and I am soo soo soo tired. So frustrated with IKEA AND KROGER...will vent tomorrow...must sleep.

Sunday, April 5, 2009

Tide

I splurged. I bought Tide at Walmart for $18.47/powder/95 loads. It almost killed me. I usually buy Era and they were out. 2 weeks ago I bought Surf. It was $10 for 120 loads. There is a reason for that. It doesn't dissolve in HOT or COLD water, leaves white granules all over your clothes and the clothes are no cleaner than when you threw them in the laundry basket. Bitter.

I will be taking that one back with a verbal note to Walmart of my displeasure. Not wanting to go through that again, I decided to splurge and solve for myself, the age old question, why does Tide cost so much more than other detergents?

Well, after 2 loads, my clothes are clean and there are no white granules. I would love to tell you how they smell but this dang cold prevents such reports. Any referrals out there on a cost effective laundry detergent that can handle 3 messy kids under 5? Thanks!

Saturday, April 4, 2009

More Fun on HGTV

I used to be a big HGTV junkie. Not so much these days. After 16 months of home improvement (fixing up a former bank owned property) I've found that it's more fun to watch than to actually do myself. Take tonight for instance. It's Saturday night and I'm covered in mastic (that is the stuff that sticks the tile to the concrete) as we attempt to tile the laundry room in the lower lever. If it only involved mastic, we could handle it but a lot of it entails cutting tiles to fit in odd spaces.

Note: One of the tile pictures has a piece of linoleum on it. That's the lovely stuff that was there before.





It's coming together but wow! It's exhausting. Just for fun I'm posting a pic of the shower that we just completed. The whole bathroom was a total overhaul due to major water damage. EVERYTHING in there is new except the toilet and the shower base. Included you'll see pictures of the bathroom before the renovation. It wasn't even usable due to the leaking and water issues.





It isn't completely finished but J took the first shower in it this afternoon and it works!

Friday, April 3, 2009

Chuck E. Hell

Today is Little Dude's 3rd Birthday. After weighing our options, we decided to take him to Chuck E. Cheese for his big day...well, the night before his big day. Have I mentioned how much I detest Chuck E. Cheese? Could there be a louder, more obnoxious place on this earth? I exit with a strong desire to cut my own head off everytime I leave that place.

Last night was no different. Little Dude had a blast though and we were treated to Graeter's cake after Chuck E. Cheese. Graeter's makes the best ice cream cake on the planet and it's our birthday tradition to splurge on a Graeter's cake for most birthdays.

A funny thing did happen last night though. I was looking for my 5 year old boy (the non-birthday boy) when I stumbled across him with a little girl who was celebrating her 6th birthday that day. I had to take a picture. It's his first car date!




I asked him who paid and he said, "She did. She had a lot of money." He's already making good choices. My little man! =)

Thursday, April 2, 2009

A few minutes at Panera

Last night was AWANA night. If you don't know what Awana is, I suggest you check it out. In our house it's better known as FREE date night! Well, the dinner part isn't free but the babysitting is b/c the kids are at AWANA.

My husband had to stay home to receive the plumber who was to put in our new shower enclosure in the lower level bathroom. I decided I would bring my computer with me to Panera to get some much needed work completed while the kids were at blessed (parents 1.5 hour of free time) Awana.

I dropped the kids off and bee-lined to the closest thing to heaven, Panera. I set up my computer and danced to the counter to order a Decaf mocha with extra whipped cream and fudge topping. I'm drooling just thinking about it. As I waited for my coffee I saw an old friend who was with a companion. We chatted briefly and she asked who I was with. I smiled and said, "I'm here with my computer." I said it with such satisfaction. As a single woman in her 40's, she must have thought I was crazy. Could it be that only another mom could understand what this 90 minutes of freedom meant to me? As much as I enjoyed seeing my friend, nothing could keep me from my mocha and my little booth.

My name was called and I picked up my mocha in time to find my computer booted up and ready to go. I worked for 60 straight, uninterrupted minutes. It was simply blissful. I was so anxious for my dessert, I mean my coffee, that I burned my tongue. Do you think I cared? Nothing could ruin my treasured minutes alone.

Oh, it's sad the things I treasure these days but I think God wants us to be thankful for the little things and BIG things in life. Parenthood brings out thankfulness in the little things as I'm slowly learning.

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Banned from the kids club???

We belong to an athletic club that has a sweet Childcare Center. My kids love that place. There is a computer lab, a tv lounge, a maze (like at chick fila) and a basketball court. Generally the kids spend an hour to 90 minutes in the kids' club while I do my workout classes.

Today, I went to Total Conditioning. This class is killer. I've done it for 5 weeks in a row now and I'm still CRAZY sore on Thursday mornings.
Anyway, apparently toward the end of my Core Conditioning class, Little Dude got in a fist fight with another little guy. Yep, he turns 3 on Friday and he is busting out his Rocky moves on another 3 year old. I was tempted to ask who won but the child care worker was in NO mood for jokes.

After fishing me out of my class, I run down to childcare to find out what happened. Turns out Little Dude was kicked out for the day and was written up in a report. At least the other little guy got the same punishment but I couldn't believe that I'm signing an incident report for my not even 3 year old who got in trouble for fighting. If it happens again, Little Dude will be suspended for 3 days. Seriously?

Like I need issues with Little Dude. I have 5 year old twins who keep me struggling to be the "good" mom who raises kids who don't cause problems. I just didn't see it coming. It's really already time for Little Dude to be an issue?

Oh, they are right. They do grow up too fast...especially the "baby".