What could it be? - February 28, 2006 -
A package arrived via UPS this morning. Can you guess what is inside?
No, it isn’t the disgustingly expensive dress for Princess Mia of Quite Alot. I am still tapping my foot about that one. By the time it gets here, Mia might be old enough to make her own.
Here is the box….look for a hint on the outside:
Now see the curious, little girl child peeking into the mysterious box:
The strange contents of said box are revealed….Mia promptly turned to me and had a WTF? face on:
Aren’t they….ah…pretty??
Here are the grubby looking creatures, after their release into their new habitat….I can imagine that they were thinking; “Crap, another box…this one with windows”.
Cory came into some money, via a grandparent, and he chose to spend it buying 2 Tiger salamanders and a terrarium for them.
They eat earthworms.
Yes….I allowed this.
I am insane.
A herp’ing we will go - February 27, 2006 -
Sunday the sun came out. The REAL sun. The one that makes everything all bright and toasty warm. Including the amphibians.
It was not a day to be spent indoors, so the 2 oldest boys and I took off for the creek to go herp’ing (looking for amphibians and reptiles). The “I” in this trio was hoping that we would not find any legless reptiles, as the ones we would most likely encounter at the creek would be the kind with fangs. I was hoping for amphibians. Creatures such as frogs, newts and salamanders.
This creek is not the tame one that flows through the city park. It is a real creek, that one must climb through tall reeds and coodie invested brush to access. For this feat, I am swiping Chris’ Mother of The Year Award.
As creepy as the access is, once you shake off the heebie jeebies (which includes cobwebs, the spiders that make them, and their dessicated, disgusting breakfast) and get to the creek, it is so beautiful. It is on private property, but many children have been fishing and exploring its winding path for years and years, so it appears that the owners are not too worried about the trespassers. Neither are the Longhorn cattle that graze along the creeks banks. LONGASS Horned steer. Like, impaling, Longass Horned steer. They are tame-ish, but one cannot be too sure when dealing with a cow that has a 6 foot rack on its head. Bad karma. Baaaad karma. They kept their distance, thankyouverymuch.
We spent several hours exploring the creek. We dug through leaves along its shores, looking for salamanders. We turned over many a rock, and sifted through lots of bright green moss in the creek. Nary a salamander to be found. Frogs yes. Loads of them. See the cricket eating frog? His scientific name is Acris crepitans, we think:
An Anole (Anolis carolinensis) tried to hide from us. See him upside down on the wood:
What is a day trip to the creek without making a dam?
More frogs:
And the lillies they are known to catch a few rays on:
After our return, we loaded up Mia and Quinn and took off to another place to hunt for herps. We never did find anymore cold blooded creatures, but on the drive home we encountered this well known Texas critter:
All in all, a great day.
Today? I am feeling old and sore. Could it be that climbing barbed wire fences and leaping across 5 foot river expanses repeatedly is too much for an old, decrepid chics body? Say it isn’t so, because with spring just around the bend, I see this as a regularly occurring Sunday ritual. Much fun had by all…even the decrepid mom person.
Parting shot….promises of spring:
***Psst….if you didn’t know, you can click on the pictures to enlarge them.
They’re heeeere! - February 23, 2006 -
Girl Scout cookies. I won’t tell you how many boxes. I will just say 2….little…..words……
I am sending the hateful little Scout a Damn Dollie for doing this to me. Maybe Bianca…she looks like she has Thin Mints stuck between her teeth.
I don’t know how, but I almost ate an entire roll of them. OMG! It says there are 9 serving per container. Whooooops.
I’m warning you….they are coming your way. DO NOT OPEN THE DOOR to strange little girls in green.
Mmmmm….Thin Mints.
The real McCoy - February 23, 2006 -
Yum! This sounds so wonderfully yummy..Trinidadian Rum Punch. It is the real deal, not Hawaiin Punch with a splash of rum. Thanks for a hint of the tropics Karen!
I am totally making it. Will try and use some Jarabe in place of making the sugar water. I know, cheater, and for shame……but try boiling water and adding a pound of sugar to it while 4 kids try and “help”. Not. Bill will love having a gallon of this in the fridge over the weekend, as he is a total rum addict. We will also need to invite a few people over to help get drunk on consume a gallon of this tropical, rum nectar of the God’s.
It would actually be fantastic in the fridge of the “little house”, but the damn weather is not cooperating with us. For all of you up north who are losing electricity and having to dig tunnels through the snow to get to your cars, and whom the temps are being registered in the negative, I will apologize up front for my little, Texas weather rant.
I confess today that I am a Barbie when it comes to nasty weather. I like sun, sand and sea. I need me some sun or I become a cave dwelling, bellowing blob of negativity. It has been cold and rainy here for over a week. Cold, wet, and when the cold gives way to warm, then we get humid, foggy misery. In addition, sickness has been running through my house now, in spite of sterilizing everything, including the children.
So, we are trapped inside with sick children and worst of all, a sick Bill. (Gasp) He has a bad chest cold and is down for the count. This man is rarely sick, I guess because he is exposed to everything and has the immunity of a bottle of 10% bleach. When he gets sick and you know it (he rarely will tell you he feels bad), he is really sick. Still, he heads out the door for work, which is so gross…I mean, would you want your physician listening to your lungs, while you can audibly hear his gurgling and wheezing? I didn’t think so. He goes in anyway, and comes home feeling like hell, and no one can go outdoors to escape his misery.
Until today……….the sun. That golden globe of warmth and happiness? It climbed high into the sky today, amid a sea of blue.
The temperature is 70 degrees right now. I feel frisky!!!! I want to run outside naked. I want a tan! I want to air out the little house and prepare it for a weekend at the beach.
Well, you say??? What am I waiting for? …………This weather today…it is a tease. It is supposed to cloud up and rain again Friday and Saturday and forever into the future according to the paper. I feel like I am in Seattle or something. Alas! No, I am in Texas……..where the weather is schizophrenic and the people of my house are getting all pasty and white….with bags and dark circles under our eyes. Like little vampires….with runny noses.
At least you northern people have fluffy white snow to play in…all we have is mud.
D#*ned Dollies! - February 21, 2006 -
Okay, so, I am thinking Mia won’t be getting any of these.
Would these be inspired by……Satan, maybe?
They come with their own display stand and traveling box……which, looks remarkably like a wee little coffin. I want Mia carrying THAT around! How precious.
Scroll on down the dolls….I am thinking “Stella” might deserve her own spot in Hell, you know?
Samantha, it’s all yours…..
The Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies - February 21, 2006 -
…..live…..in my kitchen…..twirling girlies in their pretty nighties.
I watched a friends 3yo little girl the other night, and she and Mia had a blast together. After baths, I put one of Mia’s bigger nightgowns on her, and she and Mia twirled and danced in the kitchen like “Derella” (Cinderella). The cuteness was unbelieveable.
Enchanting just about sums it up.
Angst - February 20, 2006 -
On the one hand, a girl can never have enough clothes.
On the other, it is expensive and indulgent.
She would have it on for, like, 3 minutes and the tulle would be ripped.
But it is so adorable…..and her second birthday is a month away. Photographic opportunities to the left and right.
What’s an adorable-baby-girl-clothes obsessed mom to do????????????????
**SOLD!!! and shipped today. Mia is thrilled…..really, she is! Do they have tulle repair kits?
This month…. - February 18, 2006 -
marks that it has been 4 years since my first miscarriage. The miscarriage that threw me unwillingly into the land of loss. The beginning of 18 months of sorrow, pain and spirtitual growth. The journey that culminated in the joy of Mia’s birth.
I would miscarry 4 times in 9 months…..and again 2 months ago, before Christmas (a loss I am not at all ready to face or discuss much).
To always remember the losses that we suffered, I planted 4 rose bushes. They are blooming now, and the petals fall silently to the ground when the flowers wilt.
That picture really depicts for me the silent suffering. The bright mark each one leaves, and the feeling of barrenness you associate with your womb, as it fails you again and again and again and again……..and more recently, again.
It also reminds me that even sorrow has a bright side, and that even the most bleak backdrop can be a canvas for something extraordinarily beautiful.
Today - February 18, 2006 -
…I am making this. Scrool down to Feb 3rd, “Boiled bread”.
I hope mine turns out as pretty.
And if you haven’t, dive in and get hooked on Logcabinlog. Addicting. She and Travelogue have me obsessively clicking throughout the day, waiting for their next post. Go, read, and be an armchair traveler…..or maybe even get inspired to strike out on your own. Just do it, and you will.
The Witching Hour - February 17, 2006 -
I define that as the time between when the kids come home from school and 6pm. It is a bear.
If I were to tell you one time that I can feel the stress of having 4 kids, it would be the afternoon. I am not sure why it is like this, and I would be interested to hear comments from those who homeschool if they have this issue as well. All caca hits the fan and it is ballistic at my house. I believe that there is no difference when my kids are off from school, as we have the same issue during holidays and such.
I start dinner around 5:30-6:00, and this is the peak meltdown time. The baby is crying (she wedges herself between me and the stove and pushes me away from it) kids are picking on one another, the house is trashed, milk gets spilled (actually, everything gets spilled), the cat starts meowing at a ridiculously high pitch, the phone rings off the hook. It is chaos.
I have tried everything. Snacks, quiet time where they all go read a book….nothing works. Turning off the phone is an option I am considering tonight.
Is it just us? Or do others with large families (or small for that matter) have a rough time during the Witching Hour? What do you do that helps?
Tomorrow - February 16, 2006 -
That is when I will write a post about the “Witching Hour”. You know, that time between when the kids get home from school and dinner. It is an explosion of arms and legs everywhere, wide open screaming mouth. Crying. Whining……and that is just me.
House of the Rising SunNoise
There is a house, in south-central Texas
They caaaaaaaaall the Rising Noise!
And its been the ruin of many a voice
And God…I know…. mine’s one.
Slave labor - February 16, 2006 -
My children were born into bondage. They swear that noone else at school has to do the things they do. It sucks to be them, you know?
Todays large family topic is chores. I am so not organized, so I don’t have a chore chart or anything, but from a very early age, the kids are assigned tasks that they must compete each day. They are simple chores in the beginning…things like pouring bleach in the toilets, and spraying the shower down with X-14….not. Actually, they are very basic and designed to teach them that everyone in the family helps for the good of the whole. The baby must pick up her toys and place them in a basket I leave in the kitchen. That is about it for her. Her other job is to be totally adorable, and she excels at that.
The 5yo is in charge of taking dirty diapers to the laundry room and placing them in the big sink. If I am using disposables, as I do much of the time these days because she can not get them off as easliy, then Quinn takes the dirty diapies, bags them and tosses them in the outside trash cans. He also is in charge of picking up his toys, and helping Mia pick up the puzzles etc. We already know how he feels about this. Here he is in full protective gear, after a rough day of taking the diapers to the trash…
The 2 oldest empty and fill the dish washer, complaining all the way that we use too much silverware. (Memo to self to serve finger foods more often). They also sweep and mop the kitchen and bathroom floors as needed. They actually enjoy this as they get to use the Swiffer. The toilets are wiped down every morning.
Everyone over age 3 must make their beds. This involves placing their pillows at the head of the bed, and straightening out the blankets that I made for them for Christmas. I figured out long ago that sheets are over rated. I use a fitted one on their beds and that is it. Top sheets always ended up ripped off the bed and stuffed down the murky, dusty place between bed and wall…so, Voila!.. instant solution….no more sheets. I wash the fitted sheet each week along with their pillow case. Easy day.
Cory washes his own gym clothes every evening. He feeds and waters the dog.
Cody folds all the bath towels and kitchen cloths. He feeds the cat. There is a theory in our house that he should feed the frogs and newts, but that job seems to be mine as noone else wants to touch the crickets. Blek.
All 3 boys put their dirty clothes in the central hamper, and put away all clean clothes after I fold them.
At 5:45 pm every evening, we do what is called “Here comes Daddy” clean-up. I have learned after years of banging my head against wood, that it does no good to pick up the clutter on the floor of the entire house until the end of the day. If I try and do it a little all day long, I spend my entire day stooping and picking up toys and placing them in their proper place. “Here comes Daddy” workes well for us. Bill should arrive home at around 6pm, so the kids are to put everything away in the 15 minutes prior to his arrival. I empty the sink of all dirty dishes at this time, and clean off the counter tops. He arrives home to the illusion of cleanliness and me wiping my brow and saying “Whew, what a day” and the kids panting and collapsed on the floor. Smoke and mirrors, babe. ;*)
Doing a little each day, throughout the day, seems to work for us and the house stays pretty clean. Cleaning as a team teaches the kids about responsiblility and, I think, another aspect of the family unit working together as one.
Regardless, they still complain about the shackles and chains.
“Our parents make us clean up after ourselves, and sometimes even after them! Please help us. We think we are exploited, whatever that means.”
Scenes from the love-in - February 15, 2006 -
Should I tell you that I am eating some of that cake for breakfast? Oh, yes.
Red hearts and all - February 14, 2006 -
We are in the process of devouring a Halipaska’s chocolate, heart shaped cake….with gobs of yummy flowers and such. It is HEAVEN, and I am not that fond of chocolate….might just have to change my mind about that! Mmmmmm
I am surrounded by love today. My husband, my 3 beautiful boys and my daughter.
My worlds on fire. How about yours?
Don’t these look to die for?
Credit for the picture goes to this blog. Lucky dogs!
Coodies - February 13, 2006 -
There is a certain degree of gross that is encountered when there are 4 males living under one roof. I am not talking about the sweaty boy smell, or that their room smells of dirty socks. I am talking about THE grossness factor. The measure by which one rates disgusting acts or conversations on a 1-10 scale.
-Farting outloud rates about a 2 in our house. Face it, everyone needs to fart, or “pass gas” as Mia calls it.
-Farting outloud in rapid succession to the tune of “Little Red Cabouse” earns a 4. I am not easily impressed. After all, I am married to Bill, the Crown Prince of “passing gas” aloud.
-At the dinner table tonight Quinn announced that he ate a tiny metal ball*….you know, like the ones in those little, plastic games where you try and get the ball in the hole (yes, I too am wondering what kind of mercury and other heavey metals are lurking in his little bowels). Then he went on to explain how, “it was back in the olden days when it happened, and you shouldn’t worry, because it slipped out of my butt ( I swear these are his exact words) when the poop came out”. LOA’sO we asked how he knew that, and he replied, “Because I saw something shiny poking out of the green diarrhea -like poop”.
And the judges give that a solid 7 all the way across the board because it was told while we were eating broccoli and burgers and as all the gross little boys laughed at the table hysterically, they each contributed their own “poop color” story.
-Now, you are moving WAY up the scales with this conversation…
Cody, coming into the room with pure loath and disgust on his face: “Mom, Quinn wiped a big humongous booger on my shirt. It was so big, it was just huge, and he wouldn’t take it off (hmmm…i wonder why) I am just so grossed out and feel sick.”
Quinn runs into the kitchen to defend himself: “It wasn’t that big.”
Bill: “Why did you do that?”
Quinn: “Well, it was really, really sticky and I couldn’t shake it off.”
Bill: “Oh man, Quinn, you just wasted a good eating booger on Cody’s shirt. Your loss.”
This rates a 6 Kazillion on the Grossness scale. I mean, excuse me while I vomit just a little.
Your turn. What is your grossness tolerance? Is it sitting on the toilet seat in the morning after all 4 men folk have already used it, and when you stand, you realize the seat was boobie trapped with boy pee.
Or is it opening up your 5 year olds sock drawer and discovering why he hasn’t had very many dirty socks in the laundry bin this week. Whew! Naaaasty.
I’m telling you, they have coodies.
* I have just been corrected in that it was not one of those tiny little balls, but one of those big metal balls on the Labyrinth game. Good Lord. I was wondering where that ball disappeared to!
1/2 day off - February 11, 2006 -
I love it that my husband has a 1/2 day off every other Friday. I anticipate it and get all giddy as noon approaches on those days. I see his truck drive up and I tell the kids “Daddy’s home!” and Quinn and Mia race outside to great him.
Yesterday, Cody and Cory also got out of school early. We picked them up, then took off to get the plates for the RV and a day of running errands in the city. It was pretty dull in general…..bought 3 dozen crickets, looked at all the animals, walked the mall looking at books etc.. We also ate at our favorite mexican/seafood restaurant. Our plates were piled high with shrimp, fish and pico de gallo. Bill and I drank a Tecate with lime and enjoyed watching the kids. It is a smallish place and the local mexicans are the usual customers. I like it because the food is superb and no one tells us “you have your hands full”, or “better you than me”. They say things like “Muy bonito” and they touch my children; ruffling their hair or placing a palm across a small, smooth face and talking gently to them.
Then we pay our bill and load into the van and I pass out Ghirardelli chocolate bars filled with carmel. Bill and I share one and visit quietly in the front seat on the drive home in the dark.
It is so amazing to be together as a family. Even doing the simplest things.
A perfectly boring, wonderful 1/2 day off.
Nite, nite - February 8, 2006 -
Sleep is todays Wednesday large families topic!
All of my friends here in town whose kids go to bed at a certain time, and sleep straight through the night without a wimper, all think we are crazy at the Jody2ms house.
We do have a routine….and the school age kids have a bedtime. This much is a given Monday through Thursday. Everyone gets a bath or shower after dinner at around 7:30. They get in their jammies and have some ice cream or some other snack. We either watch a movie, read, or play a game. Then they brush their teeth for 3 seconds, all huddled around the pink 1950’s sink in our only bathroom, and like Chris, I have to send them back in to brush them right a few times. Bedtime is anywhere between 8:30 and 9:00. On weekends in goes as late as 10.
After the bigger kids go to bed (it is really an illusion), the baby and I climb into bed around 9pm and I nurse her and read a book. She is usually asleep within 15 minutes. I then either read, or Bill comes in for some quiet visiting before bed, which is usually around 10-10:30.
The kids are usually jack-in-the-boxes for the first 30 minutes or so after they head to bed. Going potty, leg aches “I’m scared” or other various excuses. Cory usually stays put, reading or secretly playing his Gameboy.
Mia does not sleep though the night. She wakes several times in the night for a “boobie”, usually also asking for “the other side” when she is done with one. She co-sleeps with us still, so this is not much of an issue.
Quinn ends up in our bed several times each week. Usually it is in the early morning, so it is fine too.
So, all in all, with the exception of illness, projectile vomiting, leg aches or Mia nursing, we get some pretty consistent sleep. It is nothing that we have done. Trust me on this. We co-sleep with all of our kids (Cody did not like co-sleeping, so at around 4 months he went to a bedside crib and never looked back), nurse them through the night, and somehow they all manage to figure out a sleep routine.
So, my advice would have to be, don’t sweat it. Nurse on demand, co-sleep if you choose, and DO NOT let anyone make you feel like a freak for these things. Kids will find their own sleep nitch as they age.
Oh, and you will find with enough practice that 3 hours of sleep while raising a baby or toddler feels normal to you. Just drink lots of espresso like we do.
morphing into a fruit fly and other musings - February 8, 2006 -
If you were a wingless fruitfly, that somehow managed to escape the jaws of death, and climbed out of the newts aquarium, then up the wall (because you can’t fly, being wingless and all) here are some of the things you would have heard this week at or house. I live with a whole slew of smarty pants boys:
Me: How long do you think I should worry about Mia’s head? The books all say 48 hours, but I thought I would ask you.
Bill: At least a year or more………
—–
Bill in the bathroom brushing cranky Quinn’s hair.
Quinn: Dad, I hate it when you put water in my hair.
Bill, brushing Quinns hair: Okay, your hair is done, now lets do your moustache
——
Cody: Friday is show and tell. If I don’t figure out what I am going to bring soon, I won’t have anything to take on Friday.
Cory: Don’t worry, there’s always Saturday.
Cody: Huh?
Cory: Saturday…..It’s International Show and Tell Day.
Cody: For real?
Wahine Jody - February 7, 2006 -
This is me, I think in 1996, when Cory was around 18 mo. It is the only picture I have of myself surfing. It was such a fun day and the waves were so perfect…about waist high, or a tad bit higher. I was getting some great bottom turns and having a blast. There was a guy in the water taking pictures, and when I got out of the water he asked for my address so he could send the picture to me…..and he actually did it:
Here I am as a little girl, 5 and 6 years of age. I think Cody looks just like me:
The remains of our meal..Cozumel, 2002:
Halloween 1992. Bill is dressed as a nerd, and I am a Motocross racer. Look at that blond hair!!:
Christmas party, 1990. I look 2 sheets to the wind:
Don’t leave! That is the end….for now! I promise!
For Shelley and Pam - February 7, 2006 -
When I see this picture Shelley, I want to cry and laugh at the same time. I can still remember what her voice sounded like, you know. Isn’t this a great picture (where were we going?):
I want to grab these girls and tell them “Your lives are going to be so amazing, but ditch the dresses. And Jody, your hair gets better…really, I swear it does”:
Proof that Bill had hair once - February 7, 2006 -
See! Lots and lots of blond curly hair!
I love this picture. He just looks so young!!
Is it Cory, or Bill?
Gentleness, sobriety
are rare in this society
An inner candle’s
brighter than the sun.
Sting
I Love you Bill!
Tech question - February 7, 2006 -
For those who have more brain cells than I do, I have a question.
I want to add a photo button link to my sidebar, and for the life of me, can’t figure out how??????
It has to be some really easy thing, and I am just trying to make it complicated, but I have tried everything except the thing that would work…..could someone clue in this technically challenged, old wahine.
My dream house - February 7, 2006 -
Karen posted about her dream house. It sounds so lovely. It got me thinking about my dream house, and what it would be.
Well, it would have to be this:
But that is another story. Ahem.
Moving right along…if we could buy a piece of land, we would build something like this:
It would have a small, second story, and a huge greatroom with a stone fireplace. One giant living area. The kitchen would be just that. Only a kitchen, and it would be off to the side or back of the greatroom. The greatroom would have a huge, long farm table, and there would be a couple of cozy chairs next to the fireplace. Our bedroom would be on the other side of the dogtrot. The kids room would be in the upstairs.
I love the simplicity of it. The nostalgia. Going back to a time where material possessions were not important. Just being together with a roof over your head to keep you safe and dry.
It will happen one day. Probably sooner than later. But, other things will happen first, and then we will build this.
Oh, and there will be a wonderful porch for visitors to sit on and sip a latte and watch the kids play.
And yes, you are invited!
Aerobic activity - February 6, 2006 -
I have it on the highest authority that repeated clicking on Google Ads uses up approximately 10 calories per click. Same as a Lifesaver. With this formula, 39 clicks will burn that Nestle Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookie you ate for breakfast lunch.
Be sure and inhale through your nose and exhale through your mouth. Breathe through the clicks. Oh, and don’t forget to stretch.
Talent show fun - February 6, 2006 -
Wow. Last Thursday was the Chicken Noodle Soup Supper and annual Talent Show at the Catholic School. In hindsight, I can now tell this story without getting a headache and feel the need to throw up……..no, the talent show wasn’t that bad. But the happenings made me glad that God invented wine. I present it to you with some humor, because if I didn’t, I would have to curl up in the fetal position and chant “Find a happy place, find a happy place” over and over again.
After a fun filled week with RSV, we bundled everyone into the car for an evening of noodle soup and watching the kids do their class skits. Totally adorable.
Quinn’s class did Jamba Lord in their jammies:
Cody did….I can’t remember the name because I am 41 now and have very few good years left ;*), but it was cute too:
Cory’s class did “Funky Town”. Here he is pretending to play the sax:
Mia wasn’t in the talent show, but she helped me put on our own rendition of “Super Freak” when she was slammed into the gym floor by another child and hit her head…….hard. I picked her up and patted her back (after all, I have done this hundreds of times over the years), then she surprised me by rolling her eyes into the back of her head and going limp.
I looked at her, lost my mind, and in the middle of the echo inducing gym, and the presence of over 200 DEVOUT Catholics, yelled in my most panic filled, shrill, I-am-a-freak, voice: “JESUS CHRIST, BILL!!” and ran to my husband. Talk about a show stopper. I think the only thing that might have been worse would have been “HOLY MARY, MOTHER OF GOD”.
I am sure there were a few “There goes that jody2ms woman again”.
We flew outside, where Bill examined her and deemed her to be fine. After the bells stopped ringing in her head, she cried again and told us her head hurt. I was, by this time, reduced to a blubbering idiot. Bring on the valium, baby. Several people came outside to see if she was okay, and by that time, she was fine. One friend told Bill “All I can say is that when Jody pulled her back from her shoulder, the baby just looked….weird.” I added “Like she had brain damage”. Yes, that was it. She looked like she had brain damage. It was horrifying.
We watched her for 48 hours very closely, and she is perfectly Mia. No problems at all. Thank God, and I truly mean that.
These kids. All the worry. They are going to kill me.
Another argument for naps - February 6, 2006 -
A Lecture screamed to me tearfully by 5yo Quinn this afternoon after a fun filled, exhausting time at the park:
“Why do you make me do EVERYTHING around here. I mean, you make me shut the door on my side of the car when I get out. ”
” You make me close the gate so Mimi can’t get hit by a car. You make me pick up my toys and you make me put away Mia’s puzzles. It is not fair. I have to do EVERYTHING around here.”
Then he knocked back a shot of bourbon milk and passed out on the couch.
Can you hear the silence?
Update on Mama Mia - February 2, 2006 -
Last night was a better night. This morning was rough, with albuterol and Tylenol needed. I think we hit the peak of the RSV, though, because this afternoon it seems she has made it ’round the bend:
Thatagirl! Nice to see you playing again, honey!!
Organize is not in my vocabulary - February 2, 2006 -
This weeks topic on larger family living at Chris’s and Carmen’s blogs is “Organization”. I must steal the line “Oranized Chaos” from Jodi. That just about describes how organized things are at Chez Jody2ms. We are incredible clean people, and everything is neatly tucked away. But, “organized” belongs to someone else. I forget everything. I have no calender. We are lucky if I remember my MIL’s birthday (SIL had to remind me). I write myself notes and leave them by the phone. They get thrown away or lost. I do not grocery shop with a list. I just get what we need, and mentally plan meals on the go. House cleaning is done on a daily basis, with no task assigned to a day of the week. It just gets done as it needs it.
If I need to remember something to bring with me, I leave it by the back door. Like Lisa, I keep diapers and other supplies in the car, and I stock it as needed.
I have a plot of dead cabinet space where everything that doesn’t have a home, finds a home:
I do have a bin in each bedroom where toys are stored. But they never stay in the bins:
The bathroom is as organized as can be expected. We have one bathroom in this house (we have a toilet in the laundry room that is used when the main one is occupied), which makes cleaning a breeze. Towels hang on every hangable surface in there:
Bill being a PA we get lots of med samples, so I try to keep the stuff in plastic bins, but during the winter, it looks like this (note to any lurking drug addicts who think we might be a good break-in candidate…WE DO NOT HAVE NARCOTICS IN THIS HOUSE. Only Tylenol, cold medicine and antibiotics):
One thing we do keep on hand and organized nicely is the vino:
So, as far as organized goes with a larger than average family, it just happens, somehow. I can’t say or pin point any one thing Bill or I do to make it easier. It just is.
I will use Cory’s old saying “Just do it, and you will”
**edited to add that I am anal retentive about my photos. I print them each month, copy each month to a CD, and then store them by month in boxes labeled with the year:
At present, I have 10 boxes filled, and still need to print Nov, Dec, of 2005 and Jan ‘06.
RSV - February 1, 2006 -
Or the flu. That is the verdict. She is still wheezing and retracting, so the doc put her on Albuterol elixir. A jittery 22 month old…That should be fun. But, thank God for albuterol. Now she can breath better.
Hopefully it will run its course and we will not have to head to the hospital.
Hep! - February 1, 2006 -
Have you ever seen someone lose their mind? Well, if not, and you are curious, come on over to our house.
Mia is sick. Like really sick. Like wheezing, retracting, breathing treatments and fever.
I am a kook when it comes to my daughter being sick. Add to that that I am an RN with a photographic memory of pathologies, and you have an over protective mother with tendency to go all diagnostic at the first sign of acute illness. I have rattled off phrases such as septicemia, RSV, pneumonia, retractions and a whole host of other rare and fatal illnesses to my PA husband….who, by the way, would remain calm even if Satan himself showed up at our front door to ask for a glass of ice water.
RSV seems to be in the lead in the “Jack with Mia’s lungs” category. We are off to the doc again this morning. Virus’ and bacteria……..damnthemalltohell.
