Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Our new blog site

We have moved and we want you to move with us :)
Join us, it should still be tons of fun.

Sunday, March 20, 2011

How I Spent My Weekend

For many of you experienced Internet users, the terms SQL, MySQL, DNS, LINUX, FTP, domains, webhosts, and many other strange and unusual acronyms make perfect sense. For all I know, I just wrote poetry to you. As for myself, I spent my weekend figuring out what the heck this all means so that I can make our dear little blog here into a real live grown-up website!

I waded through many websites. I googled acronyms. I read what I can only guess must have been English, but didnt' understand one bit of it...bandwidth, uplink, backup, POP, RDBMS, GUI...ok, I understood the 'and's' and a few other random verbs. And if there were numbers....

After many hours and much research learning this new and completely foreign language, I felt I was ready to make my move. The first thing that happened was a bit anti-climatic. I signed myself up, and now I have to wait for them to do something. Who knows what? I looked up the phrase they used, and about half way through found myself laughing like a maniac. My husband thought I was reading a funny blog, or watching a funny baby on YouTube...but no, I was in a technologically induced hysteria. I couldn't stop laughing. It all seemed so funny all of a sudden.

There I was standing on top of what I perceived to be 'Understanding'. What I was really standing on...somewhat precariously I might add, was the tip of a Very Big Iceberg.

I closed the computer. I decided to finish up later. When my head is ready for more of these new-fangled connections. I think I may have overheated my myelin...there may have been smoke.

I'm hoping to have us all moved into our new spot later this week. It'll be the same address, with some fun new pages, and crap. Crap. That's about as technical as I can get this minute:)

Friday, March 18, 2011

Deciding what's for dinner


Today I just could not decide what we should have for dinner. Sunday, I didn't have to make dinner, my brother-in-law brought over chili. Monday was easy--PI day meant chicken pot pie and cherry pie for dessert. Tuesday, I tried making porcupine meatballs, the family loved them. Wednesday we had tacos with homemade tortillas. Thursday was St. Patrick's day, easy again, boxty potatoes and Irish soda bread.
Now it's Friday. I take the sweet 16 to the store with me. She is full of helpful suggestions, spaghetti, tortellini, pancakes, sandwiches, cereal, hot dogs, fish sticks.....her list was endless. WE could go out to eat she suggests, or get take out.
The problem was me, I did not feel like any of those. Who knows why, I just didn't. We walked up and down the aisles hoping I would feel inspired. I could tell I was driving her nuts. But at 16, she is too cool to say so. Finally I say let's just get frozen pizza. She throws it in the cart and heads quickly for the checkout. Probably to avoid me changing my mind. So we are having pizza and salad tonight, not very original, but very easy. Unless of course I change my mind.

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Leprechaun Traps

Okay, I know I am risking the scorn of a certain sister who disdains almost all holidays but I have to share this.
Apparently, unbeknownst to me until yesterday, there is a growing trend among children. A trend to build leprechaun traps. Miss 6 came home from kindergarten with a partially built one. Miss 7 came home irate because her teacher had promised her they would take time to build one and they didn't. And how on earth was she going to catch a leprechaun the night before St. Patrick's Day if she didn't have a trap? *gasp*

hmmm...
I told both girls they could work on their traps after dinner. After assuring Miss 4 she could also build one, the cutting and taping began. They were so involved they cried when I mentioned bedtime and I had to give them an extension.
Here's what they came up with:



Notice the round golden balls.

After watching this flurry of activity my husband and I realized we needed to do something. We thought we could go pick up some gold coins to leave by the traps. Dear, sweet husband searched store after store, only to discover that you cannot actually buy gold coins anywhere the night before St. Patrick's Day, but luckily he is creative. He bought "gold nuggets."


We woke up this morning to three very happy girls, with hands full of "leprechaun gold," excitedly explaining to us what happened during the night. It was like Christmas!

So, maybe it has nothing to do with the actual history of St. Patrick's Day, and maybe we've started something that could get out of control in years to come, but this was really fun. Especially watching Miss 6, who doesn't believe in Santa Claus, but is completely immersed in leprechauns and is absolutely dying with belief that she is actually going to catch one.



Happy St. Patrick's Day! (Don't forget to put on some green so no one pinches you.)

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Journey of a Chair

When we first moved into our house, in 2000, we didn't have enough furniture for there to be some in every room. Entire closets were completely empty...we just didn't have enough stuff to put in them. We had one couch, which was in our family room. We had beds. We had a kitchen table with chairs.

Quite a few neighbors came over to welcome us, and we had them sitting in our living room on kitchen chairs, a piano bench, and a lawn chair. I had determined that I was not going to fill that room until I had the means to do it right. I pictured a couch and two great chairs.

Our Bishop at the time had heard that we were furniture-less and offered us money to go buy a couch at the local thrift shop. No, thank you, we told him.

Fast forward to 2008....I now had a couch for the living room, and closets stuffed to capacity. What i didn't have was the 2 chairs I'd always dreamed would accompany my couch. we were broke, and so began perusing classifieds for 'previously owned' chairs. (Sounds so much more sophisticated than, 'old crap') We finally found two beautiful wing back chairs in a lovely yellow and green striped material (Picture to the right shows original chair material and sleeping daughter...hopefully she doesn't mind). We had seen similar chairs retail for over $800 a piece and here were these being given away at $150 for both! We called, jumped in the car (ok, it was a Previa, but I hated that thing and don't like to admit to it) and drove about 20 minutes to the home of the lady with the chairs.

Her taste in furniture was....interesting. Her home was....well, expensively done is one way of nicely saying she had no taste and spent a LOT of money proving it...:)  She thought the chairs were old and grandmotherly. We bought them. Blair packed them into the Blue Bean and we carted them home. They looked great!

In 2009, in the early hours of a Sunday morning, our son Timothy cut his lip and climbed onto a chair. We were still in bed, but could hear him happily playing in the living room. When we got up and went into the living room, it looked like a crime scene! The chairs, more one than the other, were COVERED in blood. A little blood and a lot of saliva go a very LONG way. (We did not take pictures)
Most of the blood came out, but the chairs were not designed to stand up to that sort of disaster and the material had now sustained water damage that no amount of cleaning would fix.

I decided to reupholster the chairs. Turns out, I loved it! New hobby I am crazy about! I only had time to do the worst chair quickly and the other one had to wait about 6 months. They look great and have a fringe around the bottom. Which the cat hates....or loves...either way, he has eaten/shredded/mutilated quite a bit of it and I just spent my morning replacing it. Of course, now the couch, it being 11 years later, is done. I'm dying to reupholster it, put it downstairs to replace the flood couch and buy a new couch for the living room.   Of course, by the time I get all this done, something else will have happened to the chairs...and then there's the piano which has had most of the varnish chewed off of one side....

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Pretty Food

Yesterday in honor of pi day (yes, we know it was pi and not pie) two of us decided to follow the recommendation of a friend of ours and make a delicious dessert called Clafouti. We found it on her blog (http://fivetdsisters.blogspot.com/2011/03/liberal-arts-majors-imperfect-tribute.html?spref=fb).

We loved, loved, loved it so now we must pass on the recommendation to everyone we know.

I made mine with marionberries.


Admittedly, my picture doesn't do it justice. I baked this and then turned off the oven to go for a walk. When I got back, the berries were a tiny bit dark, so my dear husband tried to help it look better for the picture by adding a little whipped cream, but seriously it tasted really wonderful.

My sis made hers with peaches. When I doubled checked with her, before posting this, to ask if she liked it, she was very clear that she loved it.

Now that looks appetizing, doesn't it?


Yummy!


Trust us, Clafouti is worth trying.

And it's fun to say too. (kla-foo-TEE).

So, click the link, get the recipe, do a little baking, and enjoy. In the words of my little Miss 1, this is "pretty food."




Monday, March 14, 2011

Costco and Books

So, I was at Costco on Saturday, and there was this guy promoting his book. Normally, I would try to avoid eye contact in this situation, but I had a feeling I should meet this person. If you know me, you know I'm about following my instincts. I'm hardly ever wrong when I get a 'feeling' or 'prompting' about something.
So, I met him. His name is Jared Southwick, (a link to his website) and he wrote a book called 'Marysville'. Yesterday, I read it (I read very fast) and I LOVED that book! It was exciting, fast paced, and had a fun sense of humor. If you are in my bookclub and reading this...(HI Charlene!:) I choose this one, instead of my other pick. Go buy it at Costco. Seriously.

My other thought today is, Why Are There So Many Days Off Of School? I like my kids a lot, and I enjoy holidays, weekends, weeknights, summer breaks, spring breaks, and fall breaks. Are you seeing a pattern here? In addition to these days, we have Teacher Comp days, half days, partial days (not the same thing, I've been assured) early out days (again, not the same thing) and now we have the 'Snow Day'. Are you kidding me? Snow Day?  In the history of my living in this fine state, I have never seen these people cancel school for weather. Ever. But here we are, home again, using up an unused 'Snow Day'. And I am here, with um, let me count...one...two...three, four, five...six..and the two in the play room..some downstairs..oh wait, there's the door.....ok three more plus the one asleep...and the baby....(me counting silently)  for a grand total of.....SIXTEEN KIDS AT MY HOUSE!

I better go, I just heard a crash...

Saturday, March 12, 2011

My DI (destination imagination) team

The DI (destination imagination) competition was today. For those who don't know, DI is a creative problem solving program for kids. I have had the (sometimes dubious) honor to be a team manager for my sons team for a couple of years now. The team manager is not allowed to solve the problems or make the props, costumes, or backdrops. The kids do all of that with no adult help. I get to provide my house, my food, my patience, encouragement and love.
As the competition gets closer my life gets crazier. The kids meet more often and longer. This year there was balsa wood, foil and glitter everywhere in my house. There was glitter even in the fridge! Last year is was newspaper and glue. My boys love DI and not to brag, but they are pretty good at it. They have won 1st place a couple of times and 2nd once. They have also won awards for extreme creativity.
Well today the boys and their team performed. The skit was amazing, the best they had performed it yet. It was funny and cute. You could actually hear them speaking! The downside, their challenge was a structure challenge. They labored over this structure for weeks! It had to be made of aluminum foil, wood and glue. They had a great structure, they tested it, it held over a hundred pounds and weighed only eleven grams.
Today when they were putting the very first weight on, it slipped out of the boy's hand. So instead of being gently and slowly placed on the structure to be sure it held, it crashed down and instantly caused the structure to break.
As my heart was breaking for them, I was so impressed with them. They didn't even stop or break stride with the skit. They just kept going! And after their skit, they hugged each other and complimented each other. No one blamed anyone or got mad. They thanked the judges and their parents.
Tonight we will go to the awards, and we may (most likely) will not win. And although that will be hard for them, I know they will handle it with poise. For our team this year at DI was a success. The growth and maturity in them has been amazing. And I remember why I help the kids with this program. And why, crazy or not, we will be back next year doing it all again.
P.S. They got 6th which was amazing considering they only got 12 points out of 140 for the weight held by the structure. Still very proud and as we were leaving they asked can we do this again next year, and win?

Her Other Life

Sister number 3 is busy busy busy! She didn't have time to post yesterday because she is the coach of ther children's Destination Imagination Team (you can click on this link for more information) Their Competition is today and depending on how well they do, they will go to Regionals and *gasp* maybe even World! Last year they did go to Regionals and it sounded to me like a pretty freaking big deal.

The funny thing is how crazy our sister gets over this stuff. She is not a half-way kind of gal, generally. If you've managed to get her on your train, you can expect to go full-tilt, full throttle, full speed. She does it ALL, or not at all. She's a good person to have in your corner.

Once the whole DI thing is over, she'll be on to the next thing, which, is always fun to watch.:) Good luck, sister, let us know how it goes!:)

Thursday, March 10, 2011

Shopping with four children

I am never afraid to grab all my girls and head to the store. I am fearless in this one thing. They are reasonably well behaved little kids, they don't run in the parking lot, or throw tantrums for candy in the check out, and everything usually goes just fine.
Yesterday I ended up going to the store twice. The first time, I was plagued by the feeling that I was forgetting something, but could not figure out what it could be.
Hence, the second time.
I was planning fajitas for dinner and discovered I had no onions. In my defense, we planted an overabundance of onions in the garden last summer, so I am out of the habit of buying them. Anyway, we headed to the store.
As soon as we got to the store, I realized I was in some kind of fog. (Probably pregnancy induced, but that is a topic for another day.) My brain was scattered and I felt like the girls were hopping around me like popcorn. We only needed onions, and I grabbed some apples for Miss 7's lunch, too, but even in that brief time I felt like we blocked every aisle we went down and the girls were everywhere.
When I went to check out, helpful store employees kept ushering me toward shorter lines. (Maybe the girls looked like popcorn to them, too.)
I got shuffled from the "family friendly" line, to the express line, and then finally, a checker walked over and offered to help me check out my produce in the do-it-yourself line. I don't know why I kept following these people, probably because I was in the weird brain fog. But follow I obediently did and finally got myself rung up.
While I was paying, the girls continued hopping and circling around me and I thought I lost two of them but luckily, they were just right behind me dancing. I managed to located them all, and started heading out of the store.
On the way out, Miss 4 started crying that her shoe was falling off, so I was pushing the cart and half dragging her to the side so we wouldn't block the other people coming in and out of the store, when I realized I heard yelling behind me.
Another helpful store employee came chasing me out of the store, and yelling in a middle eastern accent, "Mother of four, mother of four! You forgot your apples!"
ha ha ha ha
I am so glad he caught me- I would've had to make a third trip and I seriously don't think we would have survived it.

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

No Problem, I've Got Just The Thing

So, Monday got a little crazy. The afternoon especially. After dinner, which with 7 kids at the table, got a little wild, Blair got up and said he was going to the store. "You wanna go?" he asks. "You look like you might need to get out of here for a bit."

I know exactly what that looks like...eyebrows frozen in the 'up' position, clothes spotted and askew, one sock on (the other one wiped up a spill in the kitchen accidently. I meant to go get another pair, but it was so busy!) hair standing up, mascara under eyes...you get the picture. You have probably even *been* the picture.

So, I brushed my hair, changed my shirt, wiped the mascara off from under and applied some to my actual eyelashes. And we left. We went to the grocery and bought milk. When we were back in the Jeep (the Jeep is Blair's actual sweetheart, someday I'll tell you a story about it) he said, "We should do something else, that didn't take very long and you sounded done back there."

We determined we would go to the furniture store.  I love the furniture store. Really love it. Not that it's such a nice store, or cheap store or anything like that. It's so Clean. And New.  In this store are miles and miles of nice furniture. It's all clean, the cushions are all right where they are supposed to be and there are no boogers on anything. The coffee tables, called 'occasional tables' where I live, all have things on them that do not include the book Green Eggs and Ham, half eaten crackers, or chocolate milk dots. The truth is, I couldn't actually *identify* half the crap on those tables...dried, fuzzy, pointy, multicolored crap-ola. There was a book, but it was fake.

The drawback to this store is the salesmen. They are determined little people. Impossible to unload. So I usually make them work. Today's guy is named Mark. He asks what we are looking for. I am truthful, "Well, Mark, we're not ready to buy today, but we are starting the search for the perfect couch." (What Mark doesn't know is that it took Blair and I two years to find the last couch we could agree on and we've stuck by that couch for the last 12 years.) Mark asks, "What kind of couch?" I answer, truthfully, "The kind that doesn't care that it's been barfed on, and then doesn't tell everyone afterwards." He laughs. Good for him. He asks how many kids we have, and I explain that we have a few kids and some daycare and he starts in with the whole, 'I-could-never-do-that-but-you-must-be-a-saint' speech. I get that a lot. I also understand that lots of people aren't cut out for daycare, but I can tell you, not many of us are cut out for sales....or teaching....or sitting at a desk searching for dead people (hi Debbie!)....or doing a lot of what we each do. I mean, seriously, except for the money, who wants to sit around staring a guts all day? (surgeons) or sick and naked people (more doctors) or arguing and dealing with paper and crap all day ( lawyers) I do my job because I like it, and it may be the only thing besides talking and writing I can stand to do for any length of time:)

You see, this is why it takes me so long to say anything, I get sidetracked...

Mark the sales-guy starts taking us around the store showing us great couches. He really was a good couch salesman in that he knew what he was talking about (I have seen a lot of couches and had a few of them apart and I know about couches, too) and he was actually showing us stuff we could afford. That was where Mark won me over as a salesperson. Usually, I am let to the most expensive stuff, or the stuff they are trying to unload or if it's the end of the month, the exact couch who's commission will just meet the sales goal. This is how to tell: The sales guy shows you a thing and you act interested. Look around and pick something just $100 dollars less. If he's still good, go down again. Pretty soon, he will start leading you back up, and when he does, the piece he takes you to is the one:) If you are planning to buy, be nice and get this one, or one better:) I like to help them out, when I can.

I cannot help Mark today. I am not ready for a new couch in my house and while I am thinking about it, I am very picky about the couch and it is a lot of money and I don't want to have to stare at an $800 thing I can't stand in my very own living room. Mark give us his card, and we say goodnight. I am ready to go home.

By the way, the best time to visit the furniture store if you want a salesman is Monday night. That store was deserted. The best time to visit if you don't is Saturday afternoon, they are too busy to care about you:)

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Find something you love and do it!

What do you do when you find yourself frustrated and mad and just can't quite get out of your rut?
Yesterday and possibly for a few days before that, I was feeling very crabby.
Frustrated. Slightly Mean.
I tried the usual methods. Seriously. If I caught myself thinking that it was a bad day, I tried to replace it with a positive thought. I admit I am not a pro at this, but I definitely tried. Yesterday I really, really tried. I woke up and read my scriptures. I usually do this, but yesterday, I even stayed in my room an extra few minutes, reading more because I could tell I was still feeling grouchy. I thought I would be better because I had a great Sunday the day before at church, but no. I realized I was tired, so I laid around a bit. Then later, I walked on my treadmill for exercise, because that is a good way to get out a bad mood. Usually.
Nothing worked.
Until this morning. Now, I am not usually one to buy into the "take time for me" philosophy. Sure, you need a little time, but that line of thinking can really get out of control and lead to a lot of selfishness. But this morning I accidentally stumbled onto just what I needed.
Tonight I am supposed to be participating in a church talent show. Sometimes I like to write music, so my wonderful husband suggested I should have someone else sing one of the songs I've written and I could accompany them on the piano. I am a little nervous about this, so this morning after breakfast, I sat down to go over the song. It turned out to be exactly what I needed! For just a few minutes, the little girls played in their rooms and I was able to concentrate just on the music and the song and really, really enjoy playing. Plus, I was able to work out a few parts of the accompaniment I was having trouble with.
I really think it was the cure for my frustrated mood.
And so I suggest to you, today, to find something that you love doing. One of those types of things that when you do it, you lose track of time and don't even know where you are. We all have something like that, that totally engrosses us. For just a little while, we don't have to worry about the chores or the children or anything else. Trust me, it will make you feel good.

Monday, March 7, 2011

A Long Boring Weekend With No Dogs.

I don't even know what to say. I know that particular situation is unusual for me, but nothing zany, embarrassing, or eyebrow-raising happened to me this weekend. No dogs, no floods, no taco trucks, no bad words. I had a nice quiet weekend.

Friday was nice and quiet. I went to my Girl's Friday Chat Fest and ate 2 donuts. I cared lovingly for small children during the day.  My husband and I went to dinner with a very nice couple that evening. We were planning to see a movie, but all the movies at the dollar theatre where we hang out were sold out so we went home early.

Got up on Saturday and cleaned the bedroom for the mattress to be delivered, oh, yeah, and I got my haircut!

That's interesting only because I am always changing my hair, and this time, I went from pretty long to sort of short.

The mattress was finally delivered around noon, we took Rachel shopping for running shoes, and window shopped alone for a new swingset. (p.s. this is one of those instances when it is extremely difficult to get Blair to spend any money. We will probably spend the next several months 'comparing' swingsets while he works up the nerve to spend that much money...which pretty much includes any purchase over about $20) We went grocery shopping and picked up new bed pillows for the daycare babies to nap with.

We went to see the movie we were planning to see Friday on Saturday (The Tourist, with Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie, very nice) then picked up a pizza and went home.

Finished the grocery shopping after that, and went to bed after that. (The new bed is very comfortable!)

Sunday wasn't any more exciting...went to church, came home. Read a book.

You see, I can live a quiet life. I can spend time doing regular, non-embarrassing, non-interesting things like shopping for food, and seeing a discount movie.

Even my hair is very normal looking, cute, even. I attribute this to my excellent judgement, and the fear of having 'Billy Idol' hair again. (long story, ended with me, very bleached, very short hair...1 1/2 inches short, and a LOT of hats) But that was a long time ago and I am a retired nut.

Ok, maybe not retired, just took the weekend off.:)

Come back next time, I'm sure to have had something horrifying and at the same time hysterically funny happen to me....it's really only a matter of time.

Friday, March 4, 2011

My love affair....with cleaning products

I love cleaning products, especially new ones. I love to try new products to see if they work better than the old ones. I almost look forward to running out of cleaning products just because I enjoy finding new ones. Some I love and recommend to my family and friends while others are a total waste of money. But I love the adventure of trying them to find out.

I have some favorites that I rarely detour from. The only laundry soap to use is Tide. I have tried different varieties of tide including the stain release, but regular Tide is the best. Downy is the best fabric softener. Bounce is okay if you can't get Downy. Oxi-clean is good for a lot things, but Tide is still my go to for laundry needs even stains. I have tried every stain remover, a little Tide goes a long way. I love spray starch and I own bluing (to make white shirts pop!)

I love bleach pens even though they are expensive. The Mr. Clean magic eraser is just awesome. Store brands don't match up, the original is the best. 409 is the only cleaner I have found that gets rid of kool-aid, jell0, food coloring, etc off kitchen counters. Dawn is the best liquid dish soap. Cascade is the only dishwasher soap I ever buy. I tried the rest and would say don't bother, Cascade is it.

Window cleaner doesn't seem to matter, they are all pretty close. Microfiber cleaning clothes are wonderful. Feather dusters are lame, no matter who makes them. Pledge is good.


Spot shot is a good carpet spot cleaner but Folex instant carpet spot remover is better. I like Oust for deodorizing smells, but Febreze for couches and chairs. I use Bona wood cleaner on my hardwood floors and Mr. Clean on the tile. I use Clorox brand products in the bathroom.

I own a different mop for the hardwood and the tile. I own a bag less vacuum but I do still covet the Dyson. I have a Dustbuster a rug shampooer, and a shop vac. I do not like the Swiffer but am dying to try the Shark. How cool does that look! The price has been my only slow down. It is a lot easier to buy new toilet bowl cleaner to try for 2.99 than $100 electric mop. But one of these days, I will own a Shark and hopefully a Dyson.

So now my secret is out there, I love cleaning products. Buying them more than using them. Probably because I am secretly hoping someday a magic fairy will hop out of that spray bottle and do all the work for me! Now that would be FANSTASTIC!


Thursday, March 3, 2011

Just so ya know, I was right this time and Miss 1 does have strep throat. Poor condolence for having a sick little babe but I'll take what I can get.

But this blog isn't about the doctor, believe it or not. It's about something much nicer.

Last night when I was helping Miss 7 with her spelling words, we came across the word idolize. So, I was explaining what it meant. I asked her, "isn't there someone you look up to and think is almost perfect and want to be like?"

She looked at me for a minute and said, "it's kind of embarrassing because you're standing right here."


*So sweet.*

I am writing it down so I can read it to myself every night through her teen years.

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Dogs

I am not a 'dog person'. I will definitely put up with other people's dogs, going so far as to pet the dog. I don't hate dogs. I just don't want any. Ever.

Yesterday, when the bus came to take Timothy to school, I opened the front door. That way the bus driver knows we know she's there and that we're going to school. As I led Timothy to the door, I smelled a 'smell'. He can't ride the bus if there's a 'smell' so I peeked into the back of his pants to confirm. He was resisting the check and tried to make a break for it.  Nicholas was standing in front of the kitchen door, and Tim and I had our backs to the front door, when Nicholas let out a blood-curdling shriek! He starting screaming in terror! I quickly looked him over and he's fine. No one is by him, he's standing there alone, obviously not hurt. I feel worried tho, and say, "Nick, what's wrong with you?" His arm raises and he points to a spot behind me. Ok, now i'm worried.

This happened very quickly, but I swear I thought, "What in the world could be BEHIND me?" So being the big brave girl that I am, I turned around to see what could possibly be the source of the abject terror of my 4 yr old.

It was a dog. A big, black hairy dog who's nose was suddenly in my crotch. Nick was screaming by now and I admit, I screamed too. It was a very Big Surprise to find a very Big Dog in my house with his nose pressed against me. I quickly recovered and grabbed the dog's collar (he had one, with tags, AND a telling length of rope he had evidently chewed through) and directed him out of the house. The dog did not want to be out of the house. He wanted to be in the house. He pretended to comply until we reached the end of the sidewalk when he bolted for the front door again. I dove for him (breaking a nail, I might add) but missed. I ran up the stairs to the door and grabbed the dog's trailing frayed rope just as he reached the tile entryway. Nick was still screaming his head off, Tim had taken this golden opportunity to eat cereal out the bag on the table and was making a huge mess, and the only daycare child in attendance thus far, a 12 month old little girl, was just standing there, open mouthed, not crying for the first time in 2 weeks.  I led the dog back out of the house and down the stairs. I gave him a stern talking to and a swat on the rear. He ran off up the road.

I jogged back into the house, changed Tim, and finally got him on the bus. The bus driver's mouth was open too....

About an hour later, my heart rate was back to normal.

Here's an interesting question: Where was Blair through all of this? Where was my Knight in Shining Armor while I was screaming, and Nick was screaming and a DOG was running through our house?

Asleep. In our bedroom. About 6 feet away. When the excitement had died down, he actually poked his head out of the door (not coming out because he wasn't dressed) and said, "Everything ok out here?"

Ummmm. Yeah.

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

to the doctor, part 3

Life seems to go in cycles, doesn't it. Awhile ago I posted that I couldn't get out of the kitchen- everytime I turned around there was a need for baked goods. Birthdays, bake sales, parties, you name it, I baked for it.
Well, now it seems is the doctor phase. If you recall, I took Miss 4 and Miss 7 to the doctor last week. Today I will be taking Miss 1.
Let's diagnose her. Her symptoms are throwing up every morning and a fever all day. Toss in family history: her big sis just had strep throat. I'm thinking she could have strep throat. Maybe, maybe not, but I have to check right? So off to the doctor I go.
And I was just thinking maybe next week will be Miss 6's turn, but then I realized. Next week I already get to go again because it will be time for Miss 1's check-up eye appointment. And the week after that is my monthly pregnancy checkup.
So, if you want me, I guess I'll be filling my van with gas on the way to the doctor. For the month.