Woulda, Shoulda, Coulda

Ok, guess what I should be doing now? Yep-Laundry! What am I doing? Not Laundry!

I'm back in my groove. I've checked Facebook, updating the blog, uploading pix to my computer, and Wal-Mary simultaneously...fun stuff! Not boring old laundry. There will be plenty of time for that. : )

I get my hair done tomorrow, so excited! That always makes a new me. Feels fresh and fun! So, woohoo, Me! : )

Ok, airplane toilets are not made for two people. Namely, a small child and an adult. Less so for a small person who the big person forgot took off their shoes. Ick. Big Time. Note to commercial airplane designers: make at least one combo bathroom. I know you want me to spend as little time as possible in there, and believe me, I will get out asap (except see below). It's just so hard to manage! The postitive in the tiny compact space. He could stand on the toilet and reach the sink-it was just the right height! : ) Small Thankfulness.

Ps-Don't take more luggage than you can carry. Even with all hands on board, i.e. everyone's hands maxed out. Adds to stress. And NO junk/boxes/stuffed animals to be carried on. More stress. Ps: and stuffed animals do NOT get their own seats and snacks (like today). It was a Special Occasion (Low Occupancy Plane and Patient Flight Attendants).

Vacations Add Weight. Yes, baggage. But body too. I always come home with more than I left with (baggage and body).

Edit your camera pix on the plane to take out the blurred ones and icky ones. Saves time all the way around.

Don't take more vacations (or vacations pix) than you can "Scrapbook". This trip, I'm printing the pictures, slapping them into a premade photo album, adding some comments, and I'm done. Really. This scrapbook thing is out of my reach at the current moment. And the video was a great idea, but I'm still not done with the Disney one, so nix that idea too. Maybe when they're older I'll scrapbook all these vacations. Yeah, I don't think so either.

Sides of the road are not meant to be bathrooms. And you should go when one (that is, a clean, flushable restroom with running water, soap, and a door) is offered to you (and commanded). No names, but listen up. Ps: helps if you have shoes on too. If you decide to totally take undies/shorts off, it sucks to have icky sharp, dried grassy bits stuck to the bottom of your feet, then transfer into your undies on redressing. Little Itchy. Just FYI.

Your extra admission from this mom today: I went to the bathroom on every flight. If only to sit there and look at myself (yes, spending too much time), just to have a break and 10 cubic feet of emptiness around me. Well, empty except for a tiny sink, mirrored walls, paper products, and a call button in case I panic. What exactly would I call her for? Hmm..thought on that one for a while in there. Ok, what's yours? Coolest (real) admission wins a 2009 JDRF Mary Claire's Friends Who Care (about diabetes, but your funk too) Team T-shirt. : ) How's that for prizes?

Ok, that's just about all the excitement I can share legally. Very thankful to be home (although I still feel like I'm moving after the 100 mile-an-hour headwinds we flew into and all the turbulence). Thank you for safe travel prayers. My family thanks you.

Ps-wanna pray for Ches? He hasn't ridden his bike in a week, and he's freaking out. He rode off into the *dark* about 40 minutes ago. An absolute no-no, but he's losing it. Please, God, help him find it . : )

Did stock in velcro go up? It should!

I'm currently working on printing pictures of our Daisy Girl Scout Investiture-it's hard since not all of our girls were there at the time. We've gained a couple of new girls, and so I'm having to hunt for pictures! I can't find pictures of one girl! : ( I'll have to make her collage differently, and it makes me feel bad. We are planning to scrapbook tomorrow, so I have to get busy!

It's now about 8 hours later, and I've really made progress! I have the books ready to put together (I picked out their paper, got the pix ready, and made journaling spots and titles for them. Should be pretty easy. I'm missing a couple of scrapbooks, but I put all their pictures/papers in order from front to back, so they're ready!

I took Clay to a birthday party this afternoon, at a girl's house. He was one of two boys there, and I wondered about taking him, but his good friend was there, and they are both very sweet kids (and I warned him within an inch of his life about behaving at a sweet girl's party!). The little girl is just absolutely precious, and I've gotten the opportunity to get to know her at the school when I've helped her with her writing, and making rice krispy treats! She is so mature and very intelligent. I actually asked her to keep an eye on Clay for me! I told her if he gets hyper or crazy to rein him in (and didn't mention this to Clay)! She actually did one day, he came home and complained about her telling him what to do, and I had to tell him I'd told her to keep an eye on him! He was embarrassed. I think he'll be in better control at school!

Then Mary Claire and I went to the girl scout office to buy patches, certificates, etc. and they were closed! There were lots of cars there, but the doors were locked! It looked dark in the gift shop, but I was not happy they weren't open! They were supposed to be having sales today! Well, I'm not sure we qualified for any, but still!

Then to Wal-Mart to pick up all the pictures I'd ordered, and look for another birthday gift. That took us wayyy too long! We found lots of neat stuff, but we had trouble deciding. The time just got away from us! We finally left (and I decided to shop alone next week!). Then to Hobby Lobby to get even more zippers and velcro for more pump pouches. Get this. Velcro prices have tripled! Why on Earth do you suppose? Is there oil in there? Or bacteria-resistant plastic-y fabric? Or gold sewn in the seams? Ugh. I make all these pump pouches and give them away, but now maybe I'll request some velcro and zippers in return! It's frustrating! I mean, how can it have gone up? Ok, next time you see "notions" on sale at Hobby Lobby, please let me know! (BTW-they had PiNK velcro at Hobby Lobby! MC was so excited!)

I made two more pump pouches on Friday-so cute! I took a couple of pictures, I'll have to post them! Tomorrow we have a JDRF Walk 2009 Family Team Kickoff Event! We're all meeting and going to a Naturals game. I've made a pump pouch for one of the little girls we met last spring, and we'll meet tomorrow to get it to her. I also got a request for one for a girl over at another elementary in Springdale. I'll work on it. I'm also making one for Little Emily! She is so sweet, and appreciates them! : ) I just love to help people. It's a shame I don't have more time to make a pump pouch bank to ship them out (especially to the sweet kids just transitioning to a pump!) I soooo remember Mary Claire just being diagnosed, and not getting good help. And then not having a clue what to do with that stupid pump when we got it! Mary Claire had a belt clip, and for a couple months, I'd totally transitioned her to pants and skirts, thinking we had to have something to clip it to! I had no idea there were other ways of wearing it! Imagine being new at wearing a pump, figuring it out, dealing with your child's transition, and then trying to make it :cool: and stylish, and somehow fit it under your clothes so the tubing doesn't get caught on something! I really do understand. I have compassion for these new families. It's so hard (and that is the Understatement of the Year).

Ok, so then church alone (Ches wasn't feeling well, and Ethan was sound asleep-and slept till we got back with dinner!). We played games and read and Weckled (Ethan's word for wrestled-so cute!) and made ooey, gooey cookies for snack. Sometimes, I like a quiet cold, rainy evening at home! : ) Just sweet.

Oh, and can I just say, Clay was an ANGEL in church tonight??? I mean, perfect? I had to tell him about fifty times because I was sooo impressed! He gets a little Jesus in him, and presto, he's really a Child of God! Woo-hoo! He made his second communion tonight, and he was wonderful, and was so happy and respectful. He prayed with me when he came back, and I am just overjoyed for him. He is exactly what I would have prayed for in a child-I never asked for a perfect child, or an angel, or an intelligent kid, or a sweetheart who adores his brother... But, I knew God would give me what I needed. He knows so much better than I do! Anyway, we prayed on the way home, and I was praising God for my :beautiful: children, and he was back to himself! He protested that beautiful was for girls (I Still object), and I explained and he snapped out of perfection. But it was nice for that good hour and a half. A taste of Heaven. : )

Are you ever surprised at what your kids know? I mean, I think they are (dare I say it?) Learning something at school! : ) We were asking questions from the Brain Quest cards-so fun!-and sometimes Mary Claire was answering faster than Clay! Ha. Even about spheres and name the two words in this sentence that end in -x (Six cats sat on top of a box of socks). And you are reading out loud-and they can't see the words!! Very Cool. And she got it right!

Ok, my house is quiet, and I've now finished my work on the scrapbooks. 12 hours later. They'll never even know. : )

And I got a message requesting a pump pouch for a new pumper tonight. So, put another shrimp on the barbie! (and get me some more velcro!)

Five Phones adds up to a lot of talking

You know, when I start writing I just never know where I'm going to go. I can't write a title until I'm done! I'm a freestyle writer. Not working my way to a point... : )

Hmm. At the end of the day I had four cordless phones and my cell phone on my desk. I spent most of the day on one of them. Every time one would ring, I'd grab it and somehow meander back to my desk (my clean and happy place now!).
Phone Calls:
Mom: 5 (not counting my calls to her), Calwell Landscaping, School, Newly Diagnosed diabetes child's mom, Stephanie (so sweet!), WIC Call (my number is very close to theirs), Ches, Colliers, A&A Electric: 2, Pruden Construction, maybe that's it?
Mom is helping out our construction/repair effort. I am too busy and hate to receive bidders while alone in the house. She's planning to come Friday and Monday mornings to be here/receive paint, appliance, carpet, sheetrock people. She's made appointments with 3 painters, and people to do the other jobs! Go, Mom! I always needed one more person/assistant to make me look more efficient! and to cover more territory in less time. My fence-sharing neighbor said he wanted to repair the fence and he has time this week, so I mailed him the insurance money for that. Hopefully, he get that taken care of easily. One down, eighteen to go!

We had Clay's play tonight. So cute. All the fairy tale characters. And Clay had to be Jack (Jack and Jill) with no real costume. He did well, and remembered his lines. The ones I got to see. Ethan was having none of that sit-down-and-watch stuff. He had seen water fountains! and had to taste them. You know taller ones taste different than the lower ones. and the ones in the first hallway taste different than the second set. And there were science experiments and backboards to look at. (He liked the one with moldy bread, the banana one, and the bubble gum one.) They were very interesting! I liked the ones the kids had done themselves-and you could tell who'd had help! One was color coordinated with scrapbook paper and chipboard letters, all fancy. Yep, she had help. I learned that Alka-Seltzer dissolves almost twice as fast in hot water than room temp. water. I learned that bakery bread molds faster than packaged bread, bananas in zipocs mold faster than those not in bags, more sugar made yeast bread rise higher, and there were two egg experiments that had too many pictures, tiny writing, and it was hard to distiguish/find the conclusion. Ethan and I left early. I was seeing too many experiments, and not enough of my actor. Ethan would yell when we'd go back to the dark cafeteria. He laid on the floor once. Yeah, cool. We came home, and Ches came with the kids shortly after. He'd met us there at 6:45, so he was hungry. He asked what we'd had for dinner (laugh, laugh!), and there was nothing left. (Tyson Dino Nuggets, broccoli with cheese, and muffins from last night.) If there's not another adult here, we have whatever's fastest and easiest. No gourmet for 3 small kids! And I'd eat soup or cereal (yum!) if left alone.
So the kids are tucked away, and I'm making my list for tomorrow. Our scrapbooking group is meeting, but I don't know if I can go. I'm tallying up my list. I would LOVE to (especially since I have another trip to do: Houston!), but it's the errands eating at me. Mary Claire has a formal daddy/daughter Valentine's dance on Saturday afternoon, so I really need to get her a nice dress to wear and maybe some shoes if the dress isn't pink. She's ruined the toes of almost all her shoes (except the crocs and the pink Barbie sparkly ones). She crawls around on the concrete and ground, and grinds off the leather-they just look gross now. I would only let her play in them. In fact, I find that when I'm picking out her clothes to wear the next day, my decision rests on which shoes she should wear. I can't wait till summer and sandal and flip-flop days!
And I need to get my paint sample, my pansies, go to WM (my second home..), Gymboree (sale coupon, dress there?), Yankee Candle (to replace my bathroom candle), LIghting Emporium for a kitchen rug and maybe laundry room. I just keep putting off everything. It all gets to me. Nothing is life or death (except WM and the dress for Mary Claire). Well, not really life and death, just A priority. All others are B's.

Oh, and Ethan decided not to nap till around 2:45! It was yuck. He screamed the first time because his "didi" (pacifier) wasn't clipped to his shirt, then screamed because he pottied, then played for a while since I was on the phone (surprise!) with the sweet mom that has just had a child diagnosed. Ugh, do I remember that well. I cried for a year. It's so emotional, and you wonder why me? and fight it, and try to learn, and don't have time for other things in your life, and have guilt, and stay up late and get up early to check them, it just sucks. You finally decide this thing you didn't invite in is staying over, and you have to play nice with it. Anyway, he finally went down, then the kids came in: bang, slam, yell, slam, clank, noisy Wii, slam door, crunchy snack wrappers, slam, yell, lots of shushing, and he slept thru it all. Amazing. Then I woke him up making (faux!) dinner.

I got lunches made, Mary Claire's (carb count) note for school, filled her meter case/purse with supplies, but I haven't finished checking the kids' Monday folders. There are so many things to look at, sign, talk to the kids about, etc. They did well overall last week. One of Mary Claire's pieces of art will be on Artsonia.com, her teacher thought it was good. They made E's on their spelling tests, and Clay didn't do so well on his "book report". (Remember the one we did late on Thursday?) He didn't write the beginning, middle, and end (it's a book full of comic strips!), he wrote his favorite part (she didn't want to know), and he wrote he felt he was a good reader (but he wasn't specific enough). I just think if you have to write about your reading all the time, it makes the reading work and not just for enjoyment. I mean he loves to read, and hates to write. I don't want him to start picking books that are short and easy to write about. He is reading fifth grade books-it takes him more than a week to finish one. I just think he's Written Out.

Ok, so I got great sleep last night, almost fell asleep several times today, so it wasn't enough. Early to bed again tonight. Maybe I'm still fighting this cold?

See, I couldn't have known what I'd write about. It's random thinking-well, my journal. You are just privileged enough to read it! heehee

Broken Glass. Again.

yeah, So I thought the broken glass era was over. Not yet. I was emptying my huge pretzel jar of crumbs (since they were always out on the counter, I thought I'd make them look pretty) to put in new pretzels -I went to WM again- and slam! the jar hit the counter and busted the bottom. Since no one likes to eat glass crumbs, I threw it out. I don't do it on purpose, and I don't even know how it happens. I remember having a horrible headache (sinus congestion? afternoon shopping with my littlest shopping protege? or should I say talking protege?) and then it happened. I even spent lots of time at Pier One, a little flea market, and Hobby Lobby looking for another glass urn/vase (to replace the one I broke on Saturday), and a pair of new candleholders/fat candle sticks for the dining room. I have a plan. I'll show you later if it works. It's just a candle ring try out of paper (that's why I went to the flea market-to get an old book to rip the pages out of). Sacrilegeous, I know (well, MC told me so!)
Anyway, we found lots of Christmas leftover bargains-now 75% off at Pier One and 80% off at Hobby Lobby! (Absolutely no sales at flea market-books were near original value, and some were higher!) If you need gift bags, ornaments, garland, cards for next year, more crap to store somewhere-they have it! : )
Well, my sweet, darling boy decided to impress me since I'm making over Lexi every time she makes on the paper. He started telling me "peepee", so I took down his pants, he pulled out his potty chair, and he made a poop-just like that. (I've heard the third child potty trains themselves, but wow.) Then we partied, showed daddy (asleep, and surely annoyed-but cheered), flushed, and went back to watching tv. Same thing again! Only this time, bigger poop-he was just testing me the first time! So, we got out the pull-ups I've got ready for days when he's ready, and about 30 minutes later, he peed in it, pulled it off, and we got another one, same thing. Then he ran around naked, we had lunch, and he peed in his booster seat. Yep, three strikes, you're out. He was back in a diaper, pants, and off to nap.
Some days he seems ready, some he's not. I'm not pushing him-I don't need another anal retentive person around me! : )
Tomorrow, we have our first scrapbook event! at our church! It's taken a true act of God to help us get to use a room at the church (granted, in the old church), but still. We will party like it's 1999, and get as much talking and some work done in the meantime! I've got to get my stuff ready to take. I think I'm only going to take my Disney pix from May since I'm still not done with them. I only have about 150 more pictures developed and waiting on me... I'll slap some pages together, and get back to scrapping the kids' births. Yeah, I'm working on that. I have random holidays done thru the years. It is mostly when I found cool paper and stickers or an idea-and I used both immediately. I have some Halloweens and Easters, and some baby pictures, a first day of school (Clay's first day to Mother's Day Out), and maybe some fall pictures. I just haven't had time. That's why the scrapbooking get together! I'll try to catch up. I've got to do less detailed pages so I can complete them faster. If I get a layout done (in 3 hours!), I'll post them! : )
I've found that drinking the stress reducing peppermint tea is helping my breathing. Sleep seems to help too. Imagine that! I should not let it get to this point. I just have too much I want to do, and not enough hours in the day! I went on to Daisy Girl Scouts last night (we had cookie training! and ironed on the girls' earned petals!) but I could ***Ches has just announced his new top Wii bowling score-lefthanded-is 235, and I am to let all know-especially my mom whose top score is 212!*** tell maybe I shouldn't have gone. I was blowing my nose -gross- and looking for tissues, and sounding all nasal-ly. But I went and had fun. We got to try the new Dulce de Leche cookie for this year, it was good! It tasted like caramel and coconut. We found out that we have a new baker this year, and they won't be as healthy (but they'll taste better, which makes for more repeat buyers-my words!). So, starting Saturday, January 10th, we'll be knocking on YOUR door!!! Or, you can email me to avoid the awful rude people out on your porch peeking in the window to see if you are really in there! heeheehee : ) They've dropped the price to $3.50, and I think the troop gets about 45 cents for every box. Which we've already spent on the aforementioned patches we already ironed on. Yeah, we gotta get busy selling! So, what kind do you want, and how many??