Out of the mouths of babes

We were over at my mom's yesterday.  My grandma lives with my mom and has an old dog.  For the record.. my mom is referred to as Nana and great-grandma is just grandma.  At some point E crawled under the table with the dog, Brandy, and had a little chat with him oblivious to the fact that we were listening in.  It went something like this: 

E looking at the dogs underbelly  "hey, you don't have any fur on your tummy. Look at yourself, you're all wrinkly and don't have any fur there.  You're getting old.... like grandma."  

My mom just about spit out her coffee, laughing.  My grandmother who is hard of hearing missed all this. My mother took almost fiendish delight in relaying it to her.  

Kids can just be a little too honest.  

Wouldn't you just know it!

Friday we had a call from our realtor, they wanted to show our house Monday. Great, we had the whole weekend to clean. Sunday was to be THE DAY. So we get up Sunday spent the morning sorting and tidying up when we get the call... they had to cancel the showing, some one's sick. Great, we don't have to spend the rest of the day cleaning.

We proceed to give up on the rest of the housework, like cleaning bathrooms etc and head out to run errands and spend some time at my folks etc. Well, we're finally sitting down to watch a movie Sunday evening when we get the call at 9:00 p.m. They want to show our house on Monday again. CRAP.

I just knew it. I had even said to K, wouldn't it be funny if they called and said oh we can make it now? Of course, it's not funny in reality. Reality is that with the kids in bed and three movies to watch for work, there was no way we were going to start cleaning at 9:00 p.m. Reality is that hubby has to work today which means I have to clean the whole house BY MYSELF. Okay, normally I'm the one to do most of it but not all in one morning.

So I've been rushing around like crazy trying to get things tidied up. The hard part will be keeping the kids from messing up all the toys etc until it's time to leave for the showing. Cross your fingers and say a little prayer that this will be it.

On a side note.. do you remember how I have these commitment issues and how that can relate to watching movies? Well last night we watched Seven Pounds. I wasn't sure I wanted to watch this movie but hubby really did and after all we need to watch movies for our job. So not really knowing much about it we put it in and watched it.

What a horrible movie. Wait. No back that up. It's an excellent film! It's horrible in the sense that it made me cry and cry and cry and cry and cry. I literally had to stop several times and get my emotions under control afterwards. It was the kind of movie that just makes you want to lay your head down and sob your heart out. Why do some people enjoy this? Perhaps you or someone you know has said "I like a good cry." I don't get it. It makes me feel like crap and depressed. I had to make myself a cup of tea and couldn't even think about going to bed until I had gotten that movie out of my head. (We decided to discuss our finances instead. Sheesh that's a good way of getting your mind off of it).

As it was when O woke me up at 6:30 this morning and after I had gotten him resettled and crawled back into bed it was the first thing on my mind without me even realizing it and it had me tearing up AGAIN.

So if you like a good cry.. watch this movie. If not, I would recommend skipping it. If you've seen it, let me know what you thought. There are so many avenues of discussing this film but I don't want to spoil it for any one who hasn't seen it and wants to.

Well gals, let's have a wonderful day and may all of your homes be blessed with the cleaning fairy.

And we're back

Actually we were back yesterday evening but what with greeting the kids and unpacking we had to do there wasn't much time to go online. Besides now that we are back I can actually take the time and put down a more coherent post about what we did over our days away. My previous posts having been jotted down here and there taking advantage of the fact that hubby was in the loo etc.

Things did seem to be going wrong for our start on Tuesday. My husband heard some bad news about one of his employees on Monday evening. When he had come home from work it was with the news that he suspected she had been stealing from him. Well by Monday night it was confirmed by many, many of his customers. They had all come in verifying that yes they had rented such and such a movie and yes they had paid CASH. Of course, those movies never showed as being rented. K thinks this may have been going on the entire 3 weeks she's worked for him and could account why his sales are so much lower this month than last year. He was originally thinking it was the whole recession thing.

So that was problem #1. Our getaway was almost cancelled except his number 1 employee volunteered to work her shifts while we were gone so we could still go. Very gracious and generous of her. Don't worry we always reward her for her efforts!

Problem #2, out babysitter's car had a flat tire and she lives an hour away. Fortunately she got a ride and it all worked out.

We arrived at the B&B around 5:30 and were graciously greeted by our hosts. We had never been to a B&B before so were not sure what to expect. This couple was absolutely lovely. About 15 years older than us at the very least. They invited us in to sit down in their dining room, the common area for guests, chatted with us about our plans and getting hints I think to figure out how to best accommodate us.

Mr. Host hen showed us to our room and it was exactly like the pictures. The B&B was a Victorian heritage style home and our suite was on the 2nd floor. There were glass door knobs on every door and lovely little built in shelves. We had a gas fireplace in the bedroom, lovely decor and a high def, flat panel t.v. in the sitting room. There was even a desk to sit our laptop on and complimentary WIFI service. To top it off we had a lovely jacuzzi jetted tub in the bathroom. Course, we didn't have much time for tubbing but I did manage to squeeze one tub in. I think I posted already about my bubble incident. *l*

(I didn't actually take a picture of our breakfast. This was on their webpage. It did look exactly like this, except the food was a little different)

We went out to the pub the first night, had a lovely time. Managed to see the Canucks score their 5 goal in the last 30 seconds and enjoyed bourbon wings with blue cheese sauce. Now, I have never had blue cheese before. Just the name of it generally makes me green. Besides in my waitress days, blue cheese dressing always stunk to high heaven and those little blue bits in it, don't get me started. However, I dipped my wing into this sauce having forgotten what it was and was, I have to admit, pleasantly surprised. It tasted like creamy butter. Now adding butter to chicken.... how much better can you get than that? Umm of course, we ate very sensibly.

I believe I've already covered day two... spending the day at the beach, shopping etc.

When we got back to our suite, we found that our hosts had left us the sweetest little bottle of champagne with champagne glasses and chocolates for our "pre-anniversary". Have I mentioned what a lovely couple they are?

We went out for dinner, had several drinks. Were a little disappointed that the seafood restaurant that we were at didn't serve very much in the way of shellfish like crab and lobster but we did enjoy a very delicious steak and some sweet and spicy mussels. We took a little walk along the seawall to walk off our drinks before we headed home. I did not think it would make a great ending to our date to have hubby pulled over and charged with DUI.

One particularly strange thing we saw was this humongous seagull trying to eat an eel. Hubby asks where did he get the eel (We could see it dangling and dancing out of the seagulls beak). I'm like looking at the ocean beside going.. hmm I wonder where he could possibly have gotten the eel. like DUH.

It was the grossest thing. K thought at first that maybe it was a snake and I'm like if there was a snake out there that big and that fat then I was out of there. I have this amazing fear of snakes and all things snake like. So, of course, he had to try and get closer but the smart bird kept his distance. After all, maybe this human wanted to a piece. Bleh.

Thursday, we said goodbye to our lovely hosts and made out way home stopping off at various shops along the way. Unfortunately, we could only really be browsers money not being too flush, but it was still fun.

We made it home and our children were ecstatic to see us, except E, of course. As soon as we walked in the door she said "awww. I was going to do something special with L". I knew it. I knew no matter how much she missed us if she was into a particular game at the moment she'd still be disappointed to see us. And apparently she'd been crabby all day asking for us and she's the oldest. J did fess up later that she spent some time on the couch crying because she missed us. O gave us the coldest reception of all, partly because Papa had popped downstairs and partly I think because he was mad at us for being away.

So although I think our kids did fairly well (L thought so too) without us for three days, I can see that that was really their limit and can only imagine how much harder it would have been for the babysitter had we gone and done what we had originally planned to do in the summer... be gone for an entire week.

So we came back rested and somewhat relaxed but I could feel the closer down the highway we came to being home the more the stress came back. I could tell that K was thinking about work and how much over time he's going to have to work to make up for the employee who stole from him. Of course, we were wondering how the offer went on the Duplex but we hadn't heard any more from the inlaws.

The rest didn't last long because although O slept through the night for L, he insisted on being up from 2:30 to 4:30 last night, soaked his bed, had a poop and required no less than 3 BABAS (bottles) to go back to sleep. I was hopping mad the last time so the little monster got a good swift swat on the butt (no I don't beat my kids, it was a light one). You see while he was up the last time, he turned on the t.v. all the lights in the girls bedroom, waking them up, he was in the fridge etc.... so he needed to get the message that it was not okay to keep getting up and do those things.

So I was never so tired than this morning. Plus my low back is out. The bed was really soft at the B&B and while I slept really well, I think I slept a little too well. My back is used to me having to get up at night so I'm always in a different position. Too long in one position always makes my back ache. So I'm really feeling it tonight every time I bend down to get a movie for a customer.

As for the duplex... it turns out someone else beat us to making an offer and that offer was so good that the sellers didn't want to look at anything else. So we're back to square one. We were a little disappointed especially as our realtor hadn't called to schedule a showing for these people he was "sure" would be interested in our home at the new lower price. But we did get a call today booking a showing for someone else on Monday. So all is not totally lost.

Anyways, I think I made this post way too long. I hope it was actually interesting enough to hang in there to the end. Thanks to all who posted me wishing us a good time away etc. Now it's time for me to try and get caught up on MY blog reading.

A few stolen moments

We're about to head out for dinner after I've just spent the last hour and a half pampering myself in the jacuzzi tub to come out steaming and pruny and hopefully more relaxed muscles.

Have you ever been in a jetted tub? Do you know what happens when you put in bubble bath in a jetted tub? Let's just say there are bubbles galore. My husband laughed for about 5 minutes straight. He, of course, had to help me clear out the tub before I could sit down and fill it again. THe longer the jets were on the more the bubbles built up. It just wouldn't stop.

We had a wonderfully relaxing day. We had a lovely gourmet breakfast with our hosts and spent at least an hour chatting with them. Then we headed to the beach where we probably spent about two hours picking up sea glass. Have you seen sea glass? I'll take a picture and post it. It's so addictive to find that we just couldn't stop ourselves. Then, wind swept and feeling refreshed we headed into town to do some antique shopping er browsing. They have an entire street that's called "Antique Row". How lovely is that?

We saw lots of lovely things but nothing that absolutely had to come home with us. Fortunately. We did manage to buy me some books, there was a lovely mystery novel second hand book store and get some warm buddies, pets with bean bags to warm up inside.

Ooops hubby's waiting. Ta ta for now.

We're HERE

Wow, we are at the B&B and it's fantastic. The pictures totally did it justice. The hosts are absolutely lovely people. We just spent over an hour chatting with them. Lovely people. Our room, I should say suite is at the top of the house has a separate sitting area and a bedroom with a jacuzzi tub. All I can say is WOW.

We definitely need our relaxation and now at the moment we are in the process of putting an offer in on a duplex. Now, of course, it's subject to sale of our home so it could all fall through plus the other realtor says they are being presented with an offer tonight sooooo we shall see.

But hey, I prayed last Friday that we were to get it the offer that was made on the house that day would fall through and Saturday night, sure enough we got the call, it fell through. So you just never know. Basically we figure this house is our best bet what with having to lower our house price. If we can't get it we're back to square one.

gotta go... we need to plan dinner. Ta TA

Not Me Monday?

Joining in on the Not me Monday would be kind of appropriate today as I haven't been feeling "myself" this last week.  You could probably tell by the distinct lack of posting when ordinarily I've an abundant of views, opinions and rants to share with the world. 

However, husband and I have been busy with family all weekend, viewing a house over the weekend, and supervising children and having a 40th b-day at our home.  No.. definitely NOT ME.  It was my BIL.  Today, they've gone home and I'm rushing around the house trying to get it ready for my friend to come and babysit the kids tomorrow.  

We have finally decided on a B&B in a nearby picturesque City and plan to leave tomorrow afternoon.  However, it seems that there's more work just to go away than to take the kids with us.  Laundry to be done, meals to be prepared and house to be cleaned.  Especially since I can't just throw it all in my bedroom.  They are afterall going to have to sleep somewhere. 

Anyways, it's a major deal for my friend to come and do this for us.  I am very lucky to have such a unselfish friend who is so willing to come and look after my kids for 3 days so we can get away. I am so going to owe her a trip to the spa after this.  She is the next best person to grandparents to leave with my kids.  

It's pretty tough to ask people to do such big favours but she just jumps up and volunteers.  She's the kind of person that's always the first to drop by a meal when you've had a baby or offers to come and clean your house or help you pack while you're moving.   If she can swing it, she will do it.  Amazing.  Unfortunately I don't feel that I've been able to be as supportive as she is to me.  Usually, I'm limited to what I can do for her because of the children.  I don't have that same flexibility that she has.  

So we're off tomorrow afternoon.  I may or may not blog while we're away.  I'll have to see.  WE're not planning on doing a lot of walking because my feet are so bad right now so we may stay in a lot.  I will definitely try and post pictures when we get back though. 

Have a great week all!

Bad News re our House

So we had a nice little chat with the realtor.  We went over charts and pages of listings that have sold, listings that have not sold and have been sitting around forever and a day (like our house) to finally come to the conclusion suggested by our realtor that we need to drop our house price by $50,000.   Yikes!

It should all be relative, right?  Our house goes down in price, so do any prospective homes we want to buy, right?  Wrong.  Unfortunately, for us, the area we want to relocated to, an hour up the highway, is still booming apparently.  While house prices may  have a dropped a little bit, it's not enough to make things at all comparatives for us.  The other thing is because we borrowed against our equity to buy a business, with the drop in market value, we'd end up $30,000 in the whole which would have to come out of his parents pocket (we all bought house together) until we pay them back.  Reducing them probably into a mobile.  

Unless either of two things happen. 

1.  We are able to actually get a small business loan to cover the deficit and give us a down payment again. 

2.   We move into the exact same scenario that we are in now with the inlaws etc for a couple more years.  CRAP!   That way we can transfer the debt.  

Option #1, I can handle.  It means less of a house but it would be OUR house.  Option #2, I might just go banana heads but my FIL makes me feel like a whiny baby because after all his mother lived with 14 children in a 3 bedroom home yada yada yada.   (Would you believe she had 19 children?     I have to admit when I look at photos of them, I look at the dad and think "horny old bugger." )  When he threw this out at us last night I asked him "but was she happy?"  

He was kerflummoxed.  Of course, she was happy, what does that matter etc.  Of course, he was just a kid.  He doesn't remember.  My MIL piped up that no she probably wasn't happy she just did what she had to do.  

Hubby put in too, that just because she had to do it etc didn't make it right.  Same as they're always telling us they never got a break etc when they had kids and my husband said, that doesn't make it right.  My MIL agreed and also agreed that there has to be balance. 

Bottom line, I will do what I have to do but I want to find a way to do it so that I and my family can live with the compromises.   It's easy to make sacrifices at the start but living in it, day to day can get grating and it's hard to remember why you're doing it when you get bogged down with all the day to day inconveniences.  I expect that when you've never known any different it's easier because you don't know what you could have.  Kind of like my FIL's mother.  I suspect she didn't know about birth control.  :)~   *tongue in cheek*  

* Please note*  This isn't a slam against large families.  Many of these children were born before or during the war in a small 3 bedroom row house and they fled the country to come and live here in even more poverty and continued to have several more children.  The children were put to work as soon as they could earn a wage to help support the family.  Some how I think it was more of a religious decision (church against birth control) than from a great desire to have a large family like the Duggars. 

We had a rotten night.

O, is still fighting his cold but seemed much better yesterday so hubby decided he didn't need any meds at night.  So he was up every couple of hours or so to gag.  The doc thinks he's starting to get allergies because the snot is just running down the back of his throat (pleasant picture I know).  So what happens is when he's lying down, the snot pools in the back of his throat and it causes him to wake up and gag.  This, of course, is disturbing to him as he almost throws up and sometimes does throw up (he did this a.m., fortunately most of it landed in the EMPTY, thank goodness, laundry basket)   Since we've switched him to lactose free milk, this problem has been getting better,  he no longer upchucks entire bottles of milk all over the floor, bed and crib rails but he has one of those nasty mucousy colds. 

Anyways, that means that I did not get a very good sleep.  Why is there an unspoken rule that the mother ALWAYS has to be the one to get up?  When I did sleep I was dreaming about hotel rooms and wallpaper.  *L*  We'd been up late (of course you're always up late when the kids sleep bad, murphy's law) looking at hotels etc to see where we would like to get away for a few days next week. 

I was so groggy when I did get up this morning that I barely helped hubby clean up O's puke, sat down on the couch and went to sleep sitting up while hub had a shower.  Of course, my little darlings don't let me sleep but that's okay O gets in too much trouble for me to be anything less than vigilant.  Cause in point.. I just caught him standing on the armchair trying to pull down a rather large family photo frame off the wall.  One eye on the keyboard, one eye on the kid. Amazing how mommys turn into the most amazing multitaskers. 

So I'm thinking great, this is going to be a crappy day like yesterday.  It was even way below the level of crappiness.  I finally roll into the shower around 10:00, bribe my oldest to follow O around and make sure he stays out of trouble.  She's pretty good at it if I don't take too long and, of course, compensate her for her time.  How much is a 5 year old's time worth these days?  $.50.  All she knows it's money and it's shiny.  Heh heh.  However, today I come out to find my MIL here.  I have to quickly dry up and come out to see what she wants.  Thank goodness I took my housecoat in the bathroom and the kids had the presence of mind to actually close doors.  Normally I can't even pee behind a closed door without someone coming in, if I lock the door they just bang on it until I crack.   

We're having a big 40th party for my BIL this weekend and she wanted to see if we had fridge space in the backroom (course she already checked before I came out) and that reminded me I desperately needed to clean out the fridge.  It's theirs and we just use it to store overflow like milk etc.  but it's gotten dirty and dusty from potatoes etc.  Then there was the time my hubby accidentally left the freezer door open (we thought the freezer had died) and melted all our food.  To top it off one of our freezies had broken open and spilt inside.  Did hubby clean the said freezie mess when the fridge was thawing?  No, he ignores it and plugs the thing back in, turns it up full force to see if the fridge will freeze again.  It did.  Along with the freezie juice spread all over the bottom.  So let's see, it's been sitting there a frozen red blob for 7, 8, 9 months or so.  

I, of course, am stubborn.  Have you figured that out yet?  Why the hell should I clean it up when he could have done it right then and there.   I am embarrassed every time I look at it because I know the inlaws snoop and are always down popping things like leftovers for us in the freezer.  This fridge belongs to THEM.  Is the red dye going to stain the freezer?  So I'm always trying to make sure the red stain is covered up by something or other.  

Today, however, was the day it had to be cleaned.  My MIL will be using the fridge for food overflow for the party this weekend so I cleaned out the main part, all it needed was a quick wipe, and broke down and cleaned up the freezer.  The red dye did not stain.  Thank goodness.  

Does your husband do this?  Leave a job only half done?  Kind of like leaving his underwear on the bathroom floor when the laundry basket is a foot away.  Why should I have to pick it up?  Can't I just leave it for when HIS mother comes along?  No, cause GOOD wives don't do that.  Good wifey poos pick up their man's laundry.   

Before we were married my husband told me he was a clean freak.  At the time I had to admit I thought he was too.  When I visited his apartment, he was always vacuuming and cleaning etc. When we got married, I thought crap what had I gotten in to, I am a messy molly myself.  When I was single, dishes got done when I'd run out of pots to cook in or dishes to eat on  OR when company was coming.  My living room was always tidy, my bedroom.  Bombsville.  Now I was married to someone with higher standards. 

Something weird happened,  I get married and suddenly I am miss Suzy homemaker.  I hate mess. I absolutely love a neat and organized house. Beds get made everyday.  Before, my theory was I'm just going to mess it up tonight, what was the point.   Now, I'm still too lazy to keep it at that Martha Stewart level but a messy house does drive me bonkers.  My mother had thought me a lost cause after all the nagging she had done over messy bedrooms etc while I was growing up.  She couldn't figure it out because she always had our house very tidy. 

Now after having lived with the man for 9 and 1/2 years, whenever he throws out that he's a clean freak comment, I have to laugh.  I'm sorry honey but a clean freak is someone who feels compelled to keep things neat all the time.  Not just when they have the time.  He likes to be neat but he's always saying he doesn't have the time to be organized.  I once totally cleaned up his office at work, rearranged, organized it, you name it.  Exactly one week later I visit, it was a complete shambles.  I asked him why was it so messy. Everything is right here all nice and simple in the drawer. His response.. he was too busy to file it away.  I never organized him again. Waste of my time.  

OMgoodness I have totally wandered from where I was going with this.  Bottom line, I felt crappy this a.m.  Tired and fighting a cold.  Then I got moving and cleaned out the fridge and I am absolutely amazed at how much better I feel.  Mood wise.  There is just such a good feeling at having accomplished something. Especially something that had been nagging at the back of my mind to get on to doing.   Totally changed my perspective today. 

Luckily for my children.    Hope you all have a great day, what's left of it. :) 

And then reality sets in...

So after my high of Saturday, Sunday could only be a big let down.  I had let hubby sleep in on Saturday so I felt I was entitled to sleep in on Sunday.  Well, I did amid frequent angry outbursts and yelling of the children and at the children.  Unfortunately, our bedroom is right by the living room.  Then someone stood on daddy's computer and managed to muck up whatever it was he was doing.  

Daddy had started to go a little ballistic because O had pooped in the tub and he had to clean it and the bath toys.  He had left his computer on the couch only to come out and find someone (I hadn't figured out who) stepping on the keyboard.  (while daddy lost what he was working on, the computer did make it)

Hearing all this I stumbled out of bed to help.  Course, having asked hubby to CALM down, he didn't appreciate my patient reminder that it was, after all, him who left the keyboard on the couch, which he then goes into a lengthy rant about how he had to clean up poop out of the tub etc. 

Now I get it.   It's annoying.  I probably would have been highly annoyed myself but the question is... why are you working on your computer and bathing kids at the same time?  They need you, they are going to call for you frequently so why do you suddenly decide this is a good time to look up work stuff?  Does that really make sense?  The second question is, could it not have waited until I had gotten up?

I have learned that it does not pay to get totally absorbed into things while the kids up be it a tv show or a book or the computer because you get really annoyed when you're interrupted.  I've learned this. Why can't he? 

So I'm thinking great, we're back to impatient dad mode and it hit me how much I missed my husband.  My non stressed out husband.  I had forgotten what it was like.  You get so used to living in the stress that you think life is always like that.  You forget that there was a time when you weren't grumpy at everything.  You  don't realize how much of a personality change you can go through when you are stressed. 

So how do we fix it?  I really don't know.  We need to get our house sold.  If we don't sell the house, we need to rearrange things so we're more comfortable in this space.  We need to find out once and for all whether we're moving our store (waiting on lease approval). 

Our 10th anniversary is coming up this summer and I've been thinking maybe rather than waiting until July, we'd take a couple of days now to get away.  Because right now we have a friend willing to look after the kids for a couple of days, in July she might have a job and why put it off for 4 months when we need to get away now.  So much for the whole going on a big trip but a) we really can't afford it and b) it's a big favour to ask people to look after your  kids for a whole week.  

Anyways, we still had the pizza and it turned out great.  The kids did enjoy rolling out the dough and pounding it, saucing and cheesing it.  Course we turn around to find them eating more of the cheese than we actually see them putting it on their pizza but that's the whole fun of it right?  K, it turns out still have the knack for tossing and forming the dough.  I forgot to take pictures though, can you believe it.  K's parent's, of course, raved about how wonderful the pizza was.  

Still, this is not how I pictured the post going today. I really had better hopes for it.   Added to that now I am the one fighting the cold.  My daughter has assured me that she is going to take care of me but so far I've had to get her breakfast, two snacks and a drink so we shall see how that goes. 

The Secret to De-stressing my Husband is....

Okay, I told my SIL that I figured out the trick for getting my husband to de-stress.  She said, "Honey, I figured out that trick long ago."  Pause... No, besides THAT I said.   I meant get my husband to cook.  Specifically, pizza.  

He used to manage a pizza chain and even attempted to buy one at one point so he knows all about making pizza from the dough up.  It started with a dinner invitation and tossing around the idea that the next time we get together maybe we'd do pizza.  Two weeks later we have a date booked and my husband is now up to his elbows in dough.  Cause he's gotta do it right, you know.  It has to be 3 day dough.  Do you know what 3 day dough is?   Dough that was made three days ago.  It's been sitting all this time slowly rising in the fridge.  There's a whole bunch of scientific explanations etc that go along with it but right now it's just taking up precious space. 

He even went grocery shopping while I was at work last night.  I had thought I was going to be doomed doing the mad Saturday grocery shop dash. I hate shopping most days but Saturdays are the worst.  Why is it that all the old people decide they need food on Saturday?  They have 6 other days a week to get their groceries while us poor schmoes are working.  But no, they save it for Saturday and then ram you with their carts.  Bad cart drivers! Bad!

Anyways.. so I didn't have to do the shopping.  He bought a lot of stuff we didn't really need or shouldn't have ( like extra cookies) but hey, he did the SHOPPING. 

Today he announced he was even going to make his own pizza sauce.  No sauce out of a jar/can for him.  Sounds great, I said.  I run my errands, come back to him happily tossing herbs around in the kitchen.  Of course he has to minutely describe the ingredients of his sauce and his method of processing the said sauce but hey, he's COOKING.  

Who are you and what have you done with my husband?  

"Honey, are you in there?   Just come towards my voice.  STAY away from the light."

Seriously, I've been getting a little peeved lately because while hubby is a "helper hubby" it seems that all meals etc are strictly planned and executed by moi.  Not only do I have to do it all week long with the children but the weekend comes along and the mister has no comments when it comes to "what should we eat".  Any mother knows that getting up supper, not to mention breakfasts and lunches 7 days a week gets to be a drag and turns into this weird supper creative void.  A black hole if you will.  (can you hear the echo, echo, echo)

So this is a welcome break.  He pretty much planned out supper tonight and it's not even the PIZZA night yet (that's Sunday).  I may have had to help with the final execution of it all but I did what women generally tend to do, jump in and help because we feel guilty if we don't.  

The biggest thing though is how much more relaxed he seems to be.  No getting impatient with the kids.  He didn't even get uptight about small things like when he grabbed the bag of broccoli by the wrong end and a bunch of broccoli bits fell all over the floor.  Normally this would have driven him crazy.  He has been so stressed lately that he's even developed some sort of allergy, he's been itchy all over and it's been driving him bonkers.  Not one single word out of him this weekend about being itchy.  Thank you, Lord. 

Some times there is just too much on my man's shoulders and it's pretty difficult for me to lessen any of that stress for him.  I'd like to but it's not within my power.  

Course our friends just cancelled. Darn flu bugs!  But we're still going to go ahead. We may just have a little too much dough left over.  Fortunately he had already promised his parents some special made for them pizza (like any doting parents, they are convinced he's got the magic touch) so they'll help us consume it.

He's been so enthusiastic about this pizza thing that he's even talking about making every Sunday night a pizza night.  Sounds great to me.  Only maybe I can convince him to throw in some other kind of fancy recipe in there now and then.  As long as it takes days to prep and prepare, he may just be up for the challenge.  

In the meantime, I can't wait for tomorrow night's create your own pizza night.  Two days ago, I would have said we were heading for disaster because dough, sauce, shredded cheese and 3 kids, well those are the ingredients for one big mess and one uptight dad.  Now, I foresee a fun family night for the memory books.  The kids will just love punching and forming the dough for their own little pizzas and, of course, they'll love the cheese. 

I'll let you know how it went and hopefully, I'll have some pics too.  

and the winner is....

April from over at CD 1 again.  Congratulations April and thanks to all those that took the time to visit my site and enter the contest. 

Thanks to random.org for helping me generate the winning commentator.  I can't believe last time I actually wrote everyone's name down and put them in a bowl and had my daughter draw the winner.   Luckily I only had like 10 or so entries.  :)

Have a great weekend!

Embarrassing Mommy Moment

I just posted Aloha Friday and realized.. I do have something to share today.  My embarrassing mommy moment.  Fortunately, I don't do things like this everyday and many of you may think it's not that big of a deal but if you really knew me.. you'd know how much this bugs me and is gonna bug me until I can apologize to the other mom.  

My oldest, E, had been invited to an afternoon birthday party today.  I took her and dropped her off and had a nice peaceful afternoon with J cause O has a nap still.  I go to pick her up promptly at 4:00 p.m. and am surprised that I'm the only parent to arrive.  Birthday mom opened the door and informed me that there were only 2 kids left.  I was surprised and said as much that I thought I must have been the first to arrive because there was no one else out there.  I go upstairs to ask E to come and see some adults sitting around.  I sort of smile and say hello and get complete blank looks back.  I'm thinking okay, not a friendly bunch.  E finally comes and asks me why I didn't come when the other mommy's came.  I was a little confused thinking why did they come and pick up the kids so early.  I have to do the usual coercion to get E's shoes on and get out the door without showing me everything in her bag.   

We go home and go over again in the van why didn't I come to get her.  I'm thinking what is the big deal, I came like I said I would.  While it's while we're all having dinner that I'm go over the stranger behaviour with K that I lean back and look at the invitation on the Fridge.  There it is, legible even across the room..  1:00 to 3:00.   CRAP.  I picked her up an hour late.  No wonder there were no other parents there.  

I have to tell you, I cried.  I was that embarrassed.  Now to be honest it doesn't take much to make me cry, I'm a crier and I absolutely hate it.  I tried to phone the mom right away to apologize but they'd gone out.  I think if I could have gotten the apology off my chest right away with the added reassurances that it was okay from the other mom, I'd have been fine.  But when I sat back down, my throat was so choked up I couldn't eat another bite.  

Now I know it's not the end of the world.  I'll call and apologize and explain tomorrow but the thing of it is, that the last thing I want to do is get the reputation of being that parent who always drops their kid off and comes back whenever they feel like it.  You know, the ones that give you the impression that they are ecstatic to be rid of their kid for the afternoon and treat you like your some kind of unpaid babysitter.   Then suddenly no one invites your kid over for birthdays anymore etc.  

I'm being overly dramatic.  My child's entire social success is not now hampered by this one mere faux pas and I am probably dredging up the old familiar feelings of rejection from childhood (see my post, I hope I only screw them up a little).  

So I'll do what one always does or should do.. tell myself it's not a big deal and get over it and next time... I'll be 10 minutes early. 

Aloha Friday #2 (for me)

I just love participating in this.  It's my second Friday, I've had a busy day.  I'm at work and so this is nice and simple.  

"In Hawaii, Aloha Friday is the day that we take it easy and look forward to the weekend. So I thought that on Fridays I would take it easy on posting, too. Therefore, I’ll ask a simple question for you to answer. Nothing that requires a lengthy response."

If you’d like to participate, just post your own question on your blog and leave your link at Islandlife808.com (click on the picture). 

Today's question: (drumroll please)  How did you tell your husband that you were pregnant? 

A Wiggle When You Walk

O, my youngest, my baby boy will be 2 in April.  Some of you may have read my Not Me Monday post recently.  This can and does go on in my house daily.  He's a little ball of terror at the moment.   Today it was the tissues, yesterday it was the baby wipes.  

Yet at the same time he is entering a whole other "cute" phase.  Have you noticed that your children have these different cute phases.  These phases are distinct and separate from their general all around cuteness.  In between they are still cute but then it suddenly jumps out at you at just how particularly "cute" they are right now. 

At first they just start out as these little baby lumps.  If he/she is particularly underweight they can be downright ugly little monkeys.  Sorry but it's true.  Then they start to gain weight and fill out and there is always that special day when they smile at you.  Gas shmas, it's a smile darn it.  They snuggle into you, fall asleep on your shoulder or at your breast, hold you finger in their tiny little hands.  Just warms the cockles of your heart.  That's cute phase #1. 

Then they grow a little, get more active, more observant.  They clap their hands, crinkle their eyes when they smile at you, sit up, roll over.. cute little diapered bottoms.  Adorable.  Cute phase #2. 

Then they walk.  Oh how cute they are when you turn around to see them standing there all by themselves, eyes wide, beaming with pride at the neat trick they just learned.  Then they take their first steps and soon are wobbling all over the house.  Precious.  Cute phase #3. 

You see where I am going with this?  Then there are the first words cute phase, learning new things cute phase.  Calling his blankie baby phase.  (E called hers a dik for the longest time so I'm thankful for him calling his a baby. Can you just picture us going around asking where her dik is cause no matter how much you say you're going to use proper words for things you end up using their baby word. )

O's current phase though is his facial expressions.  It's like he suddenly discovered he can move and shape his face into weird looks.  We've started having these staring contests at the dinner table where he scrunches up his face and grins (slightly maniacal actually) at you until you do it back at him and he cracks up.  He can do it over and over.  The girls, not to be outdone by his cuteness, of course, has to get in on the action and before we know it we're all screwing up our faces, scrunching our noses and baring our teeth at one another.  Not a lot of eating gets done.  

What makes this a particularly interesting phase is just how much joi de vivre toddlers actually have for life.  We went to the park this morning, the sun had actually graced us with its presence, and O just ran and ran his heart out.  Despite the fact that he's got a nasty cough you could just not dampen his enthusiasm for the sunny day and opportunity to run free after his sisters.  What particularly struck me as cute (and actually prompted this post today) was that even though my big boy is soon to be 2, he still has that little wiggle when he runs.  How precious is that?  

And as I type this I am aware that it will all be over far too soon! 

Trouble with Commitment?

Time for another confession.  I seem to do that a lot.  Confess, that is.  Or is it fess up?  Anyways, they say confession is good for the soul. 

It's true.  I have an issue with commitment.  Now I know that sounds strange coming from a woman who's been married nearly ten years to the same man and has three lovely children all whom of which I am tied to indefinitely.  After all, what bigger commitment can you get than having babies.  They may move out when they are 18 but you still have to always be there for them. Crap.  I knew I should have read the fine print better, you know of that parenting manual that comes with every baby you have.  

As for hubby, well I guess I'm not tied to him indefinitely but geez who wants to go through all the bother of splitting our stuff up now.  Just kidding sweetie. *L*  On a side note though, would you believe that we still refer to some stuff as to it being mine because I had it since before the marriage, like our bedroom suite.  His stuff from before is, of course, long gone. Except for that stupid hockey poster which is buried in the backroom somewhere and the ugly wood burl clock.. but he made it with his dad so I can't really turf it.  MWAHHA 

No, my commitment issues actually involves some of the really big things in life like do I really want to commit to watching that movie or reading that book. I know, it sounds strange but it's true.  

You see I am the type of person that gets really involved in books I read or movies I watch.  I mean really involved.  If the movie has a tragic ending,like a child dying,  it can bring me down for days.  The fate of the poor child will literally be in my thoughts for quite some time.  I can actually get depressed by it. 

Same goes for a book.  If it is particular well written and dramatic it sucks me in to the point that I don't want to put it down but then I don't want to get to the ending either because well it might just not turn out happy.  That's my other fault... I like happy endings.  I want the boy to get the girl, the miracle cure, the sudden inheritance, the rainbow.  

Because of my work I am forced to watch movies all the time now and I've become jaded.  I don't want to have to watch everything that comes down the pike.  I look at the summaries and my heart sinks.  Why is it that all the most popular movies are dreary and dramatic and tragic?  

Did I really want to watch Love in the Time of Cholera?  Come on people. There is no way that was going to end happily.  Man loves girl, girls love man, man is deemed unworthy by girl's family, girl married another man...happily for 50 years.  While man goes off on to various sexual exploits over the years, finds out girl is widowed... dreary dreary dreary DREARY!

While I love books and enjoy movies, I need them for a quiet escape.  I don't need to get sucked into how dark and evil this world is.  I know it's dark and evil.  I know that there are many, many heinous crimes going on all over the world.  I just don't need to be inundated with it.  Life is tough enough without being dragged down even further.   When you are caring for children you need to be up, up, up.  Not down down down. 

I actually started read this book called the Outlander by Diana Gabaldon.  Fantastic book.  Normally, I'm an insatiable reader.  Normally, I'd have that book read in 2 or 3 days.  I'm more than half way through but I haven't touched it in over a week.  It was very well written and it sucked me in something fierce... I'm just worried about how it's all going to turn out.  Plus there is the fact that this is part of a series so I know it won't end with the book.  

So what did I do?  I went to the library and picked up a couple of light hearted murder mysterious.  How can murder be lighthearted?  Well, it is when the amateur detective is named Agatha Raisin and blunders around a lot.  Or then there's the chocolate murder series. Involving lots of chocolate and chocolate trivia.  Love it.   

Those are the books I can put down and pick up again around my day and my children's lives without too much emotional trauma.  

I've tried explaining this to my family and friends.  They really don't understand it.  Many women I know, love movies that make them cry.  I don't because for some reason I can't just cry and then shrug it all off it just stays with me. 

I find myself more and more thinking, do I really want to invest my time and my emotions into this book or film and find that more and more.. I don't.  

Spring Fling Giveaway

The wonderful and delightful ladies over at The Secret is in the Sauce they are having a spring fling giveaways.  Hundreds of ladies around the country are giving something away just for the fun of it.   I thought I'd join in too, albeit a little late but better late than never they say. 

If you look to the left you will see the giveaway.  Please post your comments to enter.  Extra entries.. follow me and comment to let me you do or already do and/or blog about my giveaway on your blog.  Please separate comments for each entry and also make sure if your profile doesn't show your email address to include it in your entry.  Thanks. 

OH and I should probably tell you when it's going to end... how about Saturday, March 14th at 9:00 a.m. pacific. :)

Happy Spring Fling. 

How to Torture your Husband part Deux

Well not much has happened this weekend, I have got two sick children on my hands and we woke to snow this morning so I think I will continue on with Friday's theme.   Part one is here

Trick #3:  When your husband is talking, you randomly throw in 

                  "so what you're saying is ... you think I'm fat?"

Trick #4:  Replace their shaving cream with something fruity and girly smelly telling them the regular stuff was all out at the store.   Do the same with the shampoo. 

Trick #5:  ask them "I hope you don't mind I used your razor to shave my legs." 

Trick #6:  blot your lipstick on their collar and then confront them with the "evidence".  

Trick #7:  take their car out and don't gas up.  

Trick #8:  talk him into painting his nails along with the girl and suddenly "discover" that you are all out of nail polish remover. 

Trick #9:  get into the bedroom before him at night, turn lights off crawl into bed and lie very flat so it looks like you're not in bed.  When he comes in and goes towards the bed, jump out.  

It should be noted that I have not played all of these tricks on my poor unsuspecting husband. 

One time I do remember though... we had this closet you walked through into the bathroom and one time while he was in the bathroom doing his thing... I hid in the closet behind some luggage so when he came back through to go into our room I jumped out and scared the heck out of him.  I just about howled for 10 minutes on that one.   Course we didn't have children then.   I am, of course, much more mature now.  Ahem ;)

How to Torture your Husband

The perfect time to do this is when you're in bed with the lights out and are casually chatting about the day.  

Trick#1

We'd been talking about a friend who had just had a baby after struggling for years with infertility and it reminded us with our own infertility struggle. 

Hubby: "look at us now though."

Me:   "yes, married 10 years, 3 kids and... one on the way" *held breath*

Hubby: head pops up "WHAT!" 

okay.. I laughed hysterically for like 15 minutes.  He did not think it was so amusing.  It still makes me giggle to think of it. 

Trick #2

Prior to the above, between #2 and #3 baby, I had got him by setting out one of my positive pregnancy tests from J or E (I took like 50 just to make sure it was positive *L*) on the bathroom counter and wait for him to find it.  

Then, of course, the joke was on me because I really did end up getting pregnant with baby #3, it went something like this....

@#!$!##!#$#@@#$!@#$##!!   "omgoodness.. I'm pregnant." WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH... can you freaking believe it... wWAAAAAAAAh.  Hubby thought it was a joke.  

Poor O, I was upset because J was only 8 mths old and was still getting me up something like 5 x a night.  Turns out I didn't have enough milk for her.  Shortly after I found out she started sleeping through the night so I was getting more sleep.   Turns out that my previous inability to get pregnant without hormonal support was no longer a problem. I hadn't even gotten a period yet and I got pregnant. So ladies be warned.  :)

Course I wouldn't give O up for anything in the world now.  

Aloha Friday - Yes I'm in

Okay, it's Aloha Friday.  Apparently, in Hawaii, Aloha Friday is the day that we're supposed to take easy and look forward to the weekend. (We had that too in the office.. we had cocktail hour an hour or so before we knocked off the day)  

I decided to participate this week because although I am usually wordy and have no problem filling out a post, my oldest is sick and J looks like she's on the way.  So far nothing serious but a fever.  although for some reason E's feet ache ?  

I’ll ask a simple question for you to answer. Nothing that requires a lengthy response. If you’d like to participate, just post your own question on your blog and go back to An Island Life and fill out Mr. Linky.  Don't forget to check out the other participants.  A great way to discovery new blogs. 

What movie/character did your children absolutely love that drove you crazy? 

100TH POST

Congratulations to Kathy B who won my 100th post giveaway!   Thanks to J for picking the winning entry for me.  :)  It was a little dicey there for a moment as to whether she was going to pick a single winner or multiple but in the end she came up with just one name. 

Thanks to everyone else who entered by stopping by my blog and leaving me comments.   I bet some of you were wondering if I'd ever make it to my 100th post.  I have been out of sight these last two days because I had forgotten my laptop at work so I've been computer less and hubby dear insists he has to take his laptop to work every day.   I've  been going through some withdrawals.  On the up side, my house is cleaner than ever. 

So having said that I haven't had much time to put together anything to really post about so this is as good as it gets today. 

Congratulations again Kathy B. :)

Money Money Money....

must be funny.  In a rich man's world.  

Can you guess the theme of today's blog?  Could it possibly be about money?  You know things are tight when I'm prowling around the house trying to think of ideas of things I can easily make and sell.  Just when I think I've hit upon a great idea, I do a little search and bam someone else has not only already done it but done it much better than I ever could. 

Making money online is not an easy task.  First, there's the home life.  It's hard to even find uninterrupted time to get this ol blog typed out.  I'm the kind of person that doesn't like to be interrupted five times just to complete a sentence. Hence my book idea is not going so well.  That and the fact that I've become ridiculously addicted to blogging and read other people's blogs.  

Secondly, there's the idea.  Don't you just love those shows where they talk about the mom who came up with one simple idea and suddenly they are on Oprah.  Okay, maybe it wasn't an overnight success but they did work their way up to making the big bucks.  They had an amazing idea and took the risk to make it big.  I'm not the risk taker type.  I'm more of the type those things always happen to other people, not me type. 

Thirdly, there's promoting the idea and that costs more money, not only to make the  item but also to market it.  Blogs are great for promoting but I'm still working on readership.  

I even have tried one paid to post blog but had my article has been rejected twice now.  I'm crossing my fingers for the third submission.  While they assured me my post was well written etc... I did not meet their guidelines.  Can I just say their guidelines are not all that clear in the first place.   Then because I don't have a high enough google tack rating I'm not qualified for any of the better pay opportunities or even of anything I'd actually want to talk about.   While I'd like to make some money, I do have some integrity and really can only post about things I'm actually interested in.  The shoe post was easy because a) who doesn't love shoes and b) I had personal experience.  It doesn't get any easier than that.   But am I going to put up a plastic surgery link when I have no interest in it? No way. 

I could, of course, go back to working as a legal assistant full time and then really be raking in the money.  Of course, I'd probably have to pay about at least half of that to childcare and still struggle to spend time with the kids, clean the house etc, find time for me.  

Money is also always a big bone of contention in your relationships as well.  Every time I stop to look at the money situation.. it depresses me and makes me resentful for some of the choices hubby has made.  Again, it's also easy to blame hubby because I was around for those choices I was just too hesitant about actually putting up some opposition.   For full background see It's All About Me.   (money borrowed to buy business was taken against equity in home).  What if, after all, I was wrong? What? Me wrong?  NEVER!  Still when one of you feel that this is the course of action you need to take and the other is unsure... how do you resolve it?  You can't ever really fully resolve it unless you both suddenly come to the same agreement. 

But I digress.  What else is new, hmm?

I have come up with one kind of nifty idea.  My husband raves about it.  It's easy to make and it's cheap to make.  I can't mention the idea at the moment because hubby feels sure that I should patent it or something (I have my own doubts about that) cause it's not like it's a brand new invention.. just a different way of doing something.  I wanted to do it as my giveaway but hubby wants me to develop my idea more and  look into a name for it first. :) 

In whatever I do though, I want the things that I make to be affordable for regular people.  One idea I had was making felt food (it's so cute). That is one idea: however, that's all over the web, not only for patterns but to sell it.  Do you know it costs $4.00 for one (1) slice of bacon and $20.00 for a pizza set?

Okay, I know it takes time and money to make these things (and they are adorable and really well made)  but regular people like myself who are on a budget can't afford to pay $20.00 for one thing for felt food.  If I was going to get a whole set of felt food.. yeah I'd fork out $20.00.  So I'm gonna make my own which I suspect is what most regular people end up doing. 

Not Me Monday.. We are NOT so screwed!

We don't suddenly have a climber.  O cannot  now get out of his crib.  O still wants to stay in his crib... forever!  It's not an oh Crap situation.  We still can go to bed assured in the knowledge that the little monster is trapped for the night. 

Lately, O has NOT been getting more and more into things.  I don't have to be on top of him 24/7.  He has not been caught reaching into the cutlery drawer taking out the really big knives, (he did not see mommy grab a spoon to fish out the toys that roll under the stove), he has not been discovered juggling potatoes from our spare fridge in the back storage room, he has not been nabbed standing precariously on the edge of our arm chair trying to get to the fish on the fireplace. (only place poor thing can get away from the kidlets)  He does not like to sit on the entertainment stand... in front of the t.v. tormenting his sisters who are trying to watch a show He does not like to climb on the toilet so he can turn the faucet on and splash water all over the counters and mirrors.. on occasion throwing the toilet paper roll in there for good measure.  

He does not pull on the toilet paper holder so hard that the hanger thingy comes off and is no longer able to stay on.  He does not put on Daddy's boots (conveniently left by the door) and tromp mud all through momma's house. 

Oh and one for me... I did not use a dishtowel with fringe to pull a tray out of the oven.  The dishtowel fringe did not touch the bottom element and catch fire.  I did not have to put out the fire on my scorched dishtowel.  I do not turn my nose up at using oven mitts.. I always use oven mitts and never forget. :)