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. :)

100th Post Giveway!

I am fasting approaching my 100th post (this is post 97 btw).  If you look to the left of this page, you will see the prize that I've decided to give away.  The picture does not quite do it justice.. those are pretty pink glass beads with flecks of gold and amber through it.   And... it was made by moi!

Again, the only conditions to enter are to leave me a comment.  You may leave multiple comments if you so wish, but each new comment must be original and hopefully attached to a different post of mine that you hadn't read before.   If you'd like, let others know about my giveway. 

I imagine that it will take me until next week to post my 100th post.  We're in for a busy weekend here at our house (hopefully not like last weekend) and I think I'll take a break from blogging, give you ladies a chance to enter the contest. 

Good luck!

Warning.. Warning, this message may selfdestruct

Just to let you all know... I've just come from a site that had their AD's pulled because of suspicious activity and from what I read between the lines at Mama Talk... it sounds like she's gotten a warning about it.



So the little clickfest needs to end. Click on ads if you are truly interested, spend some time on the page and look things up, buy if you want. Don't keep going back to the same blogs, clicking on the same ads... if you know what I mean.



While it was fun while it lasted, I personally don't have time to constantly visit every body's page clicking on ads. Apparently I have this other job... you know the one where I'm the Mom. Some body's got to do the laundry after all. Do you know how much laundry a family of 5 generates? I can't imagine how larger families get through it. Must be non stop wash, wash, wash. Thank God we don't have to beat it against a rock anymore.





Anyways.. I digress. Let's practice some caution ladies or we will all be in the suds and I don't know about you but I am looking forward to eventually getting a check from "you know who". I'm trying to be all subtle like because apparently "you know who" has web crawlers that go crawl the WWW and pick up key words etc. So...... mum's the word.

And now for something completely different:

I am approaching my 100th post and am contemplating a giveaway in celebration of it. So all commenters on all posts from this day on... will be in the running for my giveaway. Again, I don't know what I will be giving away yet but it will definitely be something "girly". Your only requirement... leave me a comment, make sure your email address is either included or in your profile info and I will also make a point of visiting your webpages. If you want multiple entries... just leave me a new comment. New comment must be original though.

So... the countdown has started.

Wow, it's a Double Award Day

Hey all, apparently I also received a Noblesse Oblige award courtesy of Jennifer at It's a Beauty Filled Life.  

One of the conditions of the award is that I have to write a short post about what my blog has achieved so far.  At first I thought this was a tough question.  After all, this is mostly a journal blog of my life.  I haven't so far managed to promote World Peace.  I avoid big political discussions, the environment and have not once mentioned crazy Britney Spears on this site. 

So then what has my blog actually achieved in this short time?  It's opened the doors to new friendships with women from all over the country that I normally would never have met.  It's shown me that there are other crazy ladies out there that share my views.  

Through my blog I have come to emphasize with the plight of many Americans in this recession. We are going through a recession here in Canada but it's no where near as harsh as what is currently happening in the US.  Reading these women's blogs who are afraid for their jobs or have already lost their jobs.. makes it that much more real.  

Through my blog I have relearned some HTML code that I had long forgotten. 

Through my blog, I have learned that volunteering at an elementary school is not for the feint of heart.   Check out Kathy B's post .

Through my blog I have discovered an outlet for some of my pent up frustrations of being a SAHM. 

Through my blog I have newly discovered a creative side. 

Just to name a few. 

I would like to pass this award on to

Kathy B at World According to Me

Amy at Amy's Magical Thinking

Court at Kaiya's Laughter Heals

All three of these ladies stand out because of their amazing sense of humour, constant encouragement and wickedly funny writing styles. 

This Award is presented to bloggers who display consistency in any one (or a combination) of these conditions:

1. The Blogger manifests exemplary attitude, respecting the nuances that pervades amongst different cultures and beliefs.

2. The blog contents inspire; strives to encourage and offers solutions.

3. There is a clear purpose to the blog; one that fosters a better understanding of Social, Political, Economic, the Arts, Culture and Sciences and Beliefs.

4. The Blog is refreshing and creative.

5. The Blogger promotes friendship and positive thinking.

The Blogger who receives this award will need to perform the following steps:

1. Create a Post with a mention and link to the person who presented the Noblesse Oblige Award.

2. The Blogger must display the Award in any location on their blog.

3. The Award conditions must be displayed in the post.

4. Write a short article about what their blog has thus far achieved – preferably citing one or more older posts to support.

5. The Blogger must present the Noblesse Oblige Award in concurrence with the Award conditions.

So congratulations ladies. :)

An Award Day

Thanks to Sandy Jenney at Organize with Sandy for the Gemspot Award.  I appreciate her encouragement.  If you need any organization tips and/or a review of an organization product, head over to her page.  She has lots of great ideas. 

Oh where oh where has my Sanity gone...

oh where oh where could it be? 

My husband is laughing at me.  You see, he came home to me taking pictures of our dinner.  Yeah, that's right, of our dinner.  I had a new recipe, thought I'd take pics and post the recipe if it turned out to be a hit (it did by the way).  

Now normally I am happy to amuse my man, that is part of why he fell in love with me after all:  my sharp wit and outrageous, some times twisted, sense of humour.   This time; however, it made me realize just how crazy I am getting with this whole blogging thing. Seventy percent of my conversation is about blogging, either what I've posted or what others have posted.  "Come read this" is a constant phrase heard in our home.  Blogging has lately replaced reading novels for me.  I have two, TWO, novels sitting on my night table, one of which I have only read 5 pages in. Anyone who knows me knows that this is bizarre behaviour.  

"Who are you and what have you done with my wife?" 

I would usually devour these books in two days.  I just can't fit blogging, child care and reading in.   Something has to go and it can't be the kids can it?  No. No. Of course not.  I love them. Really, I do.  

So enthusiastic was I, that I even posted pictures of my MESSY house.  WTH?  Not exactly good for the ego.  Now I have to say thinking it over today, I am a little embarrassed about that post.  (I'm tempted to go back and delete them) I do have After pictures but I don't know if I am going to bother posting them.  Really, who cares?  I do, of course.  I love seeing my house looking all lovely and clean.   Record time for it staying that clean... 6.7 seconds. :)  Like Kathy B said, it's just going to get messy again.  

Lately I have been reading so many blogs thanks to SITS that I have gotten tons of new ideas of what I could be doing with my blog.  Don't worry, I'm not out to steal any body's niche.  I have no plans to start up a craft page or recipe page but see no harm in posting what I'm working on. 

Maybe it's a good thing that while I was cooking tonight's dinner I had about 3 different conversations going on in my head about things to post.  (Most of which I will forget by the time I sit down to type)  At least my creative juices are flowing.  Maybe this is good practice for when I finally get down to writing my novel. (I know there's one inside my head somewhere)

Still, am I all over the map with this?  Should I just stick with just household anecdotes about my kids and husband, with the odd paid post thrown in for good measure?  Or is eclectic a good thing?  

How about a poll:    Should a blog stick to just one thing? 

I wanna know. :)

Your mission should you choose to accept is....

to transform this wreck of a house into an organized, peaceful oasis of a home. 

We've been busy this weekend.  Too busy, in fact, and like any normal home it does not clean itself.   We haven't been home that much and add to the fact that hubby and I were clearing some stuff out of our back storage room and taking some of the bigger items out of the kids rooms to make more room and make it easier to show the house.   For some strange reason, when K and I try to organize, the house gets messier.  

Maybe part of it is that the kids run rampant through all of this.  It's the only way or we can't get it done at all. 

After we load up the moving van, we head to the "other" storage locker.  The one we pay for.  Turns out we've spent $1700.00 this last year on storage.  Our friends are kindly letting us store some of our stuff in their basement.  Here's where we fall down on the parenting awards of the year.  In order to do this, we need to leave the children in our mini van while I help hubby load up the moving van.  Kids don't like to wait.  So we bring my husband's laptop to play a movie.  Now my theory is that his battery works while mine is dying so it only makes sense to bring his.  I said "in theory".  Reality is.. suddenly his computer wasn't working (turns out it was a registry error.. thanks KC for fixing it) and we couldn't play the movie.  After fiddle farting with the darn thing for 10 minutes we gave up and proceeded to load up the moving van... in the rain I might add.  The kids... they sat in their car seats and cried and I mean cried.  We tried talking, we tried cajoling, bribing with babas and food but we ended up leaving them to cry it out.  They eventually fell asleep while the oldest took refuge from the noise into the cab of the moving truck.  (I should point out the vehicles were side by side within hearing/reaching distance of us I never leave my children unattended in a car). 

After we were done, we drove the hour drive to our friend's house where we unloaded out stuff their.  LC thankfully made us dinner.  Still we didn't get home until 9:00 p.m. last night.  So beyond loading some dishes into the dishwasher we didn't do much except fall into bed.  

So this morning I wake up to this......

BEFORE

how does it get so bad?

The disaster of a playroom.  Why do they have to dump every toy they have out?

One messy kitchen....

And K is off to work leaving me to stare at this mess all day.  Of course, I can't stand it so I'm off to clean, clean clean, enlisting the help of E who has discovered the value of money and now offers to do "extra" chores for money.  Thank goodness she doesn't know the different between a quarter or a loonie yet.  10 dines just looks like a lot. 

Stay tuned.........

Pics of My Stinkin Good Deal

So these are the beds I bought on Saturday.  We're going to have to do some re-arranging of the rooms so they fit better.  Hubby was anxious to get them set up for bed right away.  They are not pushed together there is at least a foot in between them.  Since J was in a toddler bed before, we put up a railing on the one side just to make sure she doesn't fall down the crack so to speak. 

The girls love their beds.  E's on the far side and as you can see she lost no time in putting stuff into her headboard.  She even categorized her books.. nice ones go here, the ratty ones go here.  *L*

Of course, we get them home and I realize also that we have no twin size sheets.  So we had to use the bigger ones and tuck, tuck, tuck.  E's comforter fits just fine but I'll have to buy J a new one for her bed.  

All in all we are pretty pleased with our purchase. 

Somebody stop me, take away my wallet..please.

Okay, so we've all covered how I like deals and how I like to share said deals. 

Well, we hit the whopper of a good deal today.  Today was the local used toy and clothing sale where parents (let's face it, usually moms) rent a table for $15.00 and can then flog all their kid crap that's been taking up way too much space in their house.  Sounds like a good idea, right?  Of course it is.  I'm just too lazy to organize myself and haul my cr.. er stuff down the street. Cause we like literally live 5 blocks away from this thing. 

So my husband cuts me loose around 9:00 a.m.  He has been known in the past to conveniently let me over sleep these sale days.  They're held 2x a year.  

So I arrive at the community hall, toss in my loonie entrance fee and start to prowl around the deals.  What hit me the most was suddenly how many women I knew there.  In the past, I'd be lucky to run into maybe one familiar face.  Mainly because I've been somewhat antisocial in the past, neglecting to join those "mommy groups".  Since E is in kindergarten though, suddenly I know tons of other mommies.  

Anyways....  I hit this last table and see an instruction booklet for a bed with $60.00 posted on it. Now... let's make it perfectly clear that I was not looking for a bed.  E has a double bed my mom gave us and J is in a toddler bed and O is in a crib and not going to be sprung from said crib for as long as humanly possible.  

But still... $60.00.  It was a captain's bed.  A bed with three large drawers underneath and a headboard with shelves for books etc.  We had originally tried to get E one of these but then the bed came from my mom's house. 

So I deke out of the hall and discreetly call hubby.  He's like $60.00.  Wow, good deal.  Better buy it.  Hooyah.  So I go back in hand the lady $60.00 when she asks me.. "which one do you want?"  Huh?   "Oh, well there's two beds.  The headboards are a little different so which one do you want?"  I pick one, pay for it and go back into the hallway, discreetly call hubby again and tell him there are two beds.  He says buy the other one too.  So I go back and buy the 2nd bed, much to the astonished lady's delight.  They sold both their beds within a 1/2 hour of setting up. 

I got two captain's bed for the girls for $120.00.  When we were last pricing these out, we could not find one under $350.00.   $350.00 for one.   So I got a pretty good deal wouldn't you say.

So I tell these people we'll be back later to pick it up and head off shopping where I managed to pick up some more goodies.  I finally had to say get me out of here before I spend all my money. I head off to the grocery store (we still hadn't bought milk as mentioned in yesterday's post) when it struck me.... we had no mattresses for these beds.  How stupid are we? 

I call hubby again, should I check out the local mattress shop. Yeah.  I head to the mattress shop, which apparently is having a no tax sale because sales are so slow for February.  Still, I'm looking at the price of these mattresses... $299.00 on sale.  Ouch.  I had to buy 2.  They only had one in stock but would sell me the floor model.  I ask how much even though I already read the tag.  He says "$169.00 each including taxes."    I tell him I'll get back to him.. I go outside call Hubby, he quickly searches mattresses at Sears and finds one for $20.00 cheaper but that's before taxes so with my deal it works out the same.  Plus I'm supporting a local business.  So I went back in.  SOLD. 

I head home.  I have to drive the kids and hubby to the truck rental place (we're shifting our storage locker tomorrow) and then race back to the toy sale to pick up our beds.  Then we race back home because the moving van has no lock and hubby's afraid our new beds will get stolen while he's working the concession (I volunteered him to help run the concession stand as a fundraiser for J's preschool).  The he and E go back while I look after the little ones. O goes for a nap. 

O wakes up, Daddy comes home, we set up beds.  We're missing two locking bolt thingies.  I know they have a technical name, I just don't know what it is.  We're scouring the floor, the driveway, even driving to the hall parking lot to look.  We call the people, fortunately she gave us their number.  They call back, they found one.  Great.  It surprised me because this lady was so organized and had everything in little baggies itemized etc.  What happened, I think, is that dear old Hubby (as in her husband) didn't bother taking those bolt thingies out, you have to bang em out and so they just fell out somewhere along the way. 

So we have only one bed up.  Of course, the girls are absolutely dying to try out their new beds. I raced to the hardware store (stopped at the bank too), found out they don't carry those kind of bolt thingies, its a specialized part and picked up pizza for dinner.  By time I got home, gobbled down two slices, I had to leave for work.  I was glad to go to work... I could stop racing around. 

So when I left, hubby was going to try and jimmy something up and worse case scenario is we will have to contact Ikea and get a part replacement.  Because bolt or no bolt, it was still worth $60.00.  They look great and are in great condition.  

I will post photos up of the beds tomorrow.  Phew that was rather long winded. 

Raging Momma

As of this particular moment life sucks.  From the moment I got out of bed this morning I have been a raging momma.  Patience is at an all time low.  Every little thing is setting me off and gets an instant raised voice reaction.   I just don't know how to stop it.  

I do try.  I realize that I'm being crazy and tell myself that I am going to respond to the next kid crisis without yelling but it doesn't turn out that way. 

What makes me crazy like this?  It's not good for my ego either.  I have not been this bad in a long time.  It started yesterday and has gotten worse today so that almost every word out of my mouth sounds like a shrieking shrew. Is it PMS?  Cause it's that time of the month, or it's supposed to be.  Nothing has been normal since I went on the progesterone only pill.  Or is it the sleep interruption?  The night before last, I was up in the middle of the night.  E keeps coming in our room telling us that one of the kids are crying but I don't hear them so I have take her back to bed and then O does wake up so I have to feed him.  Last night was the same thing only when I went back to bed, I was feeling sick so I ended up being up for two hours till it passed and I could go back to sleep.  Plus I've been waking up with what I call sleep headaches.  Sometimes they are so bad I wake up in them middle of the night aware of my aching head.  It usually dies down by the morning but some times it lingers. 

So these are a lot of little things that can add up to my grouchiness.  Sleep is a big thing for me. The less I get, the moodier I get.   Fortunately, I managed to get the kids outside to play for a little bit because I am at the point of sitting on the floor with my head in my hands cause this is not the kind of mom I want to be.  

How do you get them to not take the broom and swing it around the house while you're folding laundry narrowly missing the expensive flat screen t.v.?

How do you get them to remember to pick up their makeshift beds on the floor when they are done playing with them? 

How do you get them to not pull the chairs up to the stove and fridge, take all your pictures and magnets off the fridge, pull all the recycling piled up on the side of the counter onto the floor, pull all the DVD's out of the cupboard onto the floor... all while you take a 10 minute shower.  All under the nose of the 5 year old.  Not that E is responsible for them, I try not to put that kind of pressure on her but couldn't she at least have said no to them at one point?   These are things they don't normally do all at once.  Usually  I can manage to get a shower without major chaos, I had them all set up playing in their room.   

How do you get them to stop yelling at each other?  (especially when mommy's doing a lot of yelling herself)

How do you get them to bring me back their sippy cups and snack bowls so I don't find rotting cups of juice and/or milk under my couch six months later? 

How do you get your 22 month old not to keep taking his boots off and walking in the one muddy spot we have in the entire yard then opening the back door again and walking across my kitchen floor with his muddy socks/boots on at least 5x a day? 

How do you get them to eat with their plates under them and not half way across the table so all their food that misses their mouth lands on their plates and not the table? 

How do you get your 5 year old to stop trying to get rid of her baby brother by telling him to go get a baba from Mommy, especially when mommy is trying to get the baby out of bottles and especially since the mommy has very little milk left at the moment and needs to get to the store?

OH and the list could go on and on... I can't even remember all of the more hair pulling incidents that have gone on this morning.  

Why is it that we so quickly lose sight of why we are doing this and how much this is actually where we want to be.  Why can't we remember in the moment all those wonderful things about parenting.  Why do I feel like I'm going to be stuck in bad mommy moments forever? 

Does anyone know of any natural mood enhancers (and I'm not talking romantically either.. no oyster recommendations please) *wink*

Okay, life can't be that bad... I just made a joke and a wink all at the same time.  Maybe I just need lunch.