June Cleaver Nirvana

I know, I know! Everything is a bit to the left, but doesn't the header look amazing? So please bear with me as I figure this out!

We started the homeschool co-op a year and half ago. It is an educational playgroup that meets weekly and whoever is hosting creates the lesson or field trip based on what they excel at, are interested in or a whim! This week I subbed in for someone on short notice and was feeling very proud of myself for remembering that the library had pre-pakaged lessons (we found this out on a library tour through the co-op) and so I went and picked out the WINTER one. It had 5 books, some activities, a puzzle and some stuffed animals that went along with one of the books. I was feeling quite organized and proud until I went to get my email and received notice that another group (one WE started a few months ago) was "studying" snow on Friday and had rented a snow machine! Wow. So instead of sulking, we had our fun lesson on Wed. (see picture from Wednesday below) and then we all crashed their snow party today. What fun. The snow was actually big blobs of bubbles and the kids just went crazy. The moms took advantage of the huge photo op.

Speaking of snow, I learned on Wednesday that only 2/5 Texas SAHMs know how to cut out paper snowflakes! I spent a better part of my childhood doing this so I was quite shocked. I guess there is a link between growing up in a cold climate and the ability to cut tissue paper into works of white art.

I love that my third child is so self-sufficient that he puts himself into time-out. It is survival of the fittest around here and he is evolving toward being the fittest. If he is like this before his second birthday, what do I have to look forward to at age 3, 8, or when he is a teenager (shudder)?

Today I was planning on taking the boys to see the trains at Northpark Mall. Ryan was hounding me all morning to invite his friend, Lucy. After awhile I admitted to him I wasn't feeling to positive about handling 4 kids at the mall and without pause he said, "mom, it would be like you only had one kid." Intrigued, I asked, "how do you figure that?" and he replied, "Well, Lucy and I know the rules and we could make sure that Reid follows them so all you would have to worry about is the baby." If only it was that simple! Lucky for Ryan and the rest of us, when I called Lucy's mom she was within a minute of our house on her way to Northpark. So, a grand day of trains, food and shopping was had by all. I even got to try on a few party dresses at Neiman's which was fun with 5 kids--the eyerolls we received were priceless!

Northpark has the most interesting attraction for kids as seen on the right. It is a planter that is very slick and the kids use it as a slide. The kids absolutely love it and who are we to spoil the fun?

By the way, if you are looking for good mall Christmas decorations (as you know I am) Northpark would finish pretty high on the list.

Why does everything associated with Christmas that a family would use to decorate their home need a sign, "handle with care"? I think I have found the underlying cause for 90% of stress during the holiday season--everything is either fragile or flammable. And they say Christmas is for kids. And I am already over the whole snow globe thing, really!

The picture is of the boys glued to the "Nutcracker Suite" music box that was given our family last year by Mimi. They love that thing, but can only behave in front of it for 1.5 revolutions of the suite. So it starts with brotherly love and excitement and ends with mommy turning it off and shooing the boys upstairs with threats of coal in stockings.

I have a huge pet peeve around the holidays--ugly public decorations. I really believe (as demonstrated by the lack of outdoor decorations on my house) that no Christmas decorations are better than hideous ones. I will grant latitude for nostalgic kitsch and Griswold extravaganzas. I also extend slack to homeowners who are just trying to spread a little cheer. What drives me insane is really bad mall decorations. Yep, you know it when you see it and you probably have the sanity to just pass by, but not me! I just have to ponder what would posess someone/committee to say, "we have to buy this over-priced crap and display it for all to see"! Do they think if their decorations are festively tacky that it will make all the other junk in the mall look better by comparison? And you might say, "oh, they purchased that super tinsely crap years ago when that was the style and just keep putting it up year after year" and then I say to you (this is where I win our argument), "that doesn't explain the brand new mall that is near my house that has some of the worst decorations I have ever seen..."! Now, what do you say to that? You know I am right and next time I might have pictures...

This group is one of the highlights of our week. It is our homeschool co-op for 4 and 5 y/os. We have been meeting for 1 1/2 years and took this picture today for fun. Reid, of course, is the one with the blanket. For a more comprehensive report and tons more pictures, please refer to http://www.reesesviewoftheworld.blogspot.com/. OK, that is the first time I have used the link button and will try and learn the fancy link behind just a word or two--give me a break here...baby steps!

I don't live on the edge of dirt. I don't live in the vicinity of dirt. I live right, smack in the middle of dirt. I have 3 boys. Boys love dirt. When boys clean themselves up it results in an exponential amount of additional dirt. I have learned to take deep, cleansing breaths and look to manage dirt. Dirt cannot be controlled. Dirt has a mind of its own. Don't mess with dirt! But with the proper planning and tools, dirt can be encouraged in the right direction. My advice for anyone fighting dirt is STOP. Dirt will win. Wave the white (fully bleached) flag and go get some spray and wash.

Please note morning shower written today and then read on for part II...

dark water rising
soap bubbles swirl and grab me
drain is clogged again

Craaaaap. What would June do? Yes, she would call Ward at work who would then arrange a friendly plumber to come to the house in the evening when he is home. WWHD? I, on the other hand will probably get the plumbing snake out of the garage and try to handle this like a real woman.

Excuse me while I go place 3 boys in time-out for playing with the remaining snow globes....arghhhhh!

stay tuned...

Greg, who is now calling himself my blog-Stedman, purchased a plug in vaporizor thing to help with stuffy noses. When he plugged it in last night we found that it also had a blue nightlight which cannot be turned off independently. This is where I go all high-maintenance...a bedroom should be completely dark. No nightlight. No light from electronic devicesssss. No light from security system key pads. No light from the moon coming in through the blackout shades. No light whatsoever! So the vaporizer cast a blue light throughout the room causing dreams that I was sleeping on aisle 3 of K-Mart.

Please note the slide show at the bottom of my blog. It was quite the learning experience for me and quite a lofty achievement from my non-tech brain. I am finding that in order to keep up with my creative side in 2007, I must continue in tech training. People who call my cell phone just realize that they will be likely hung up on at some point in time. I have accepted that I can't run my fancy phone (even with Kelby & White's 219 page "The iPhone Book" which I have carefully studied and I should have posted on my reading list). It is my opinion that this whole computer thing has gotten out of control. I think that originally things were done a certain way because of primitive computers and now that things COULD be easier they are now more complicated because they have to do it the way people are used to doing it PLUS adding a bunch of new features with new ways to control them and together it all doesn't make sense. Give me a break--start from scratch and then give me a call (and I will try not to hang up on you).

I am calling for a class action law suit against the inventor of the snow globe. I have now cleaned up the remains of TWO broken snow globes in the last 15 minutes (yes, you read that correctly). The whole idea is flawed. Who thought it would be a good idea to place water and glitter inside a very flimsy and slick piece of spherical glass, put the musicbox winder under the base and then encourage shaking? Kids cannot keep their hands off these things and obviously mine don't have the coordination to handle it. You will be able to see the residual glitter stuck permanently into my distressed wood floors for years to come. The good news is that there are only 2 more snow globes to go...

I want to publicly announce that my yoga teacher is trying to kill me--just in case anything happens...I started yoga about 4 years ago for the childcare at the gym. I chose yoga because I don't like to sweat (OK, that is 2 of my high-maintenance tendencies in one blog which seems a bit much for one morning...). I continued it because I always feel better when I leave then when I came in. I like the fun and chatty yoga classes, not the militant zen ones. Unfortunately for me, the further you get into yoga the harder it becomes. And the whole sweating thing...I am now going to hot yoga (not the crazy Bikram kind) but it is hot and well you can fill in the rest.

Last night was good TV night. We watched The Amazing Race--my team is still in it, but last at this point and blog-Stedman's was eliminated last night which was awesome for me, but undeserved for them. I then had this week's Project Runway on RePlay and watched that as well. I still don't have a favorite on that show, but would wear the top two designs last night in a minute (WHOA...high-maintenance tendency #3...I better just stop here).

My husband has now labeled me "haikurific". Plese note new blidget to the right which is available at widgetbox today!

An updated "haikuPROlific" was added by Greg as well. See, I keep telling him he needs a blog! He thinks I am doing enough for both of us and encourages me to blog by proxy for him.

Remember the drive-in TV Greg bought a week or so ago? Well, as he was leaving Costco, he was handed a coupon for the EXACT TV he was buying for $500 off. The lady at the door said, "Oh, just bring back the coupon and receipt during the coupon dates and we will refund the money". Today was the first date on the coupon so I headed to Costco for my $500. Let's just say that the lady at the door was very ill-informed. They do regularly refund coupons, but NOT for the weekend after Thanksgiving. So, I spent 1 hour of my afternoon today being the sweetest, most understanding, firm person at Costco. I talked to 1 employee and 2 supervisors. I played the "help me because I am sooo sweet" card, the "my minivan is full of kids" card, the "It takes two people to take that huge TV off the wall, put it in the box and lift it into my minivan which then can't hold ANY kids" card, "What would you do if you were me?" card, the "can I just return the empty box and rebuy it" card, the "What should I do?" card and any other card in the deck I create on the spot. In the end it was all worth it and I got my refund which was super fantastic because Greg has informed me that whatever refund I obtained would go toward a better anniversary gift--yeah for Costco and now yeah for Tiffany's!

One of the most anticipted event of the year is the annual "Ryan and Mommy get up in the middle of the night and go shopping" on black Friday. This year was no different (except this year the rest of the world joined us) and we were off at 4:30 am. Because Kohl's opened at 4 this morning, we missed our usual first stop because as a seasoned Kohl's black Friday shopper, I knew that 4:30 was WAY too late. We went to Belk's and stood in line for about 7 minutes to be one of the first 250 people in to get a gift card (ours was $5! There was at least one in TX that was $5000) and the shopping began. Ryan and I go for the entertainment so we don't take any shopping too seriously and if the line is too long, we leave. We got a few things at Belk's and then headed for the mall. Macy's opened at 6 and we were one of the first ones in. I did really well on several of their early bird specials. It wasn't too crowded or difficult to negotiate the aisles. We then went into the mall which was 80% open--yeah! This is the first year that mobs of people who want to spend money weren't just roaming aimlessly throughout the mall. So we hit the Disney store, Gymboree, Hallmark and a few other stops. When we got tired we went to IHOP for breakfast and were home by 7:30. Naps ensued and we were feeling much perkier at noon and went and got the other boys who had been rescued from black Friday by Mimi and Bampa. We had a great morning and look forward to next year. Greg and I had gotten online last night and picked up some of the early bird specials at Wal-Mart for Rhett's birthday which is coming up quickly. The online thing saved me from the hell that is Wal-Mart on black Friday. Other places I would never get within a parking lot's distance are Target, Toys R Us and Best Buy...remember, we are in this for the entertainment!

We wish you a happy birthday, we wish you a happy birthday, we wish you a happy birthday and hope you eat CAKE!

An unmarked box from Fossil is coming your way from us...

We love you!

Today I noticed that the following sentence came out of my mouth (and I might have been yelling it):

Take the baby's shoes out of the Fridge!

After numerous loads of laundry, I am revising the earlier haiku that I now believe was a bit too perky:

Piles of dirty clothes
Lay lifeless, stealing freshness
from my laundry soul

like leaves in a pile
the colors swirl around me
it is laundry day

We tried an experiment today: four boys (ages 4,4,5 and 6) with a yoga teacher for one hour--sounds impossible? It was fabulous! I have never seen such quiet, well-behaved, attentive, downright zen kids and I am happy to report that 2 of them were mine--yeah! She started out with breathing training and then they played like they were all kinds of animals. You can see their spiderman pose to the right. One funny thing is that the kids took really naturally to child's pose--hmmmm. Ryan was really good at following directions and really showed great concentration. Reid (who is not very coordinated in karate) looked like he had been doing yoga for years. He caught on very quickly to the poses and was making up his own poses by the end.

I was trying not to take pictures with a flash because I didn't want to disturb such serenity. Next time I need a video camera! The boys were dressed to go to karate afterward, but they had so much fun and were totally worn-out afterward so we will do our karate another day. The picture to the left is of 4 boys perfectly posed.

We are trying to find a time to do a weekly class because I think the breathing control, flexibility and balance training and moments of quiet are pretty big things to little boys.

I am on your catalog list because I found your website and ordered something over the internet. I can get online, I can search, I can find, I can purchase. You can stop sending me the catalogs TODAY. Save your time, save the paper! Because of you I need to use my kid's wagon to bring in the mail. STOP SENDING ME YOUR CATALOG! I found you once, I can find you again when I need you. Thanks for listening since the "Do not send" list takes months to activate!

I have found now that I have 3 children, going out on errands is a bit of a challenge. But, take any combination of 2 kids and it is easy. Take only 1 (your choice) and it is a vacation. If only I could have reached that kind of comfort with one BEFORE I had the other two. I remember taking my first and only at the time to the grocery store and feeling like there was nothing more difficult then shopping with a child. So, my question is, (and I ask because I am NOT doing this research myself) does this continue--if you have 4, is 3 easy? What about 5? 6? etc.? Where does the madness stop? Is there a mathmatical equation that estimates what mommy's breaking point in leaving the house is erased?

Let me clarify to the world that when my children are holding child-size Starbucks cups they are NOT drinking coffee! Starbucks is one of the few establishments in the world that serves soymilk for Rhett and will give child size regular milk for Reid. I, on the other hand, am drinking something yummy--Venti, soy chai tea latte to be exact! On our way out of Target this morning, Starbucks cups in hand, a lady stopped me to ask what the baby was drinking (and probably what was I thinking????). Oh my!

I do math all day in my head as a mom. Not just easy math, but serious equation math that would boggle the mind of a non-mommy. It all comes down to algebra and the many variables of momminess. Note illustration-1 to the right. Now I will explain the equation in detail so that you can follow along at home.

Legend: a=mommy needs 6 minutes to clean the kitchen, b=daddy is at Target with Ryan (c) and Reid (d) leaving Rhett (e) at home.

a=(b+c+d) - e/destruction in the pantry - hazard of 21 month old on relocated stool + peace and quiet resulting from destruction and hazard - time mommy will need to reorganize pantry - unknown $$ to replace broken pantry items


Many times the equation is more of a <> vs. a = since nothing seems exactly equal in motherhood so this is how that would go:

Legend: a=mommy, b=friend on phone, c,d,e= above stated boys 1-3

a+b for 12 minutes on the phone=sanity for a > c,d,e running a $2.49 roll of scotch tape throughout the house - 9 minutes it takes to scrape scotch tape off the end table, wood floor and back french door + creative learning experience for 3 boys - the trip to Target now needed to replace the $2.49 roll of tape

I do this every time I take a moment of peace, 2 minutes to change the disgusting hand towel in the kid's bathroom, 3 minutes to start a load of laundry, or as my husband just stated, "you've got exactly 2 minutes to finish that blog".

Greg worked all day yesterday to install a new tv in our bedroom. Luckily, his dad was available to help lift it up to hang it on the wall. IT IS HUGE! I totally OK'd it and know I will eventually love it....but right now I feel like we are sleeping in a drive-in theater (on the front row, just behind the play equipment!) Please insert your own bigger is better joke here...

Ryan found some hedge trimmers in the flower bed today and started falling everything in sight. He wanted to find a "full size tree" to cut down. I said "no". And explained that mommy and daddy were happy with the amount of trees currently surrounding our house and didn't want to decrease that for his momentary fun. He continued to beg (very persistent child) and I kept saying "no". Finally he asked what it would take to let him cut down a tree and I said that he could buy his own land and cut down whatever trees he wanted (as long as they weren't protected by local government--more on that later). To which he replied, "that won't work, I don't have enough money". True! So he ended up going to town on one of the stumps left in the wake of the beavers (more on that later).

Bampa and Mimi came over today and Bampa made Reid's month by fixing his blue digger. He then played so hard that he was literally falling over in exhaustion. Thanks Bampa who has been called the "fixit man". According to Ryan a few years ago, anything could be fixed by Bampa--if your toast crumbled he would say "we should take it to Bampa to be fixed". Some things never change--yeah! Thanks Bampa!

Greg suffered a poker party injury. Let me back up just a bit. We had a chili-bar hosted by friends that included jalepenos from their garden. They had warned us that the late-year peppers are very strong, but Greg loves hot things and was very excited. They were hot, but yummy and everyone enjoyed them. An hour later, Greg must have rubbed his eyes because his eyes were burning very badly--even after washing them out. Jack, who is very well-read gave him milk to put into his eyes. We were all skeptical, but it worked immediately--REALLY! So the game went on....thankfully, since I then went on to win all Greg's money.

There are two things I do not understand about recent changes in programming for the cradle roll programs at church which seem to be in several of the churches we have visited, not just our local church. One is that snacks are always served and usually with some sort of red, sugary drink in a dixie cup (and for many this age this is the first time/only time they are not drinking out of a sippy cup). Why you would want to fill up children with sugar and send them in to sit quietly in their red drink stained best clothes is beyond me. Also, the addition of crafts--messy ones including markers, glue, glitter, etc. Here is Rhett's reaction: 1. Doesn't care about craft 2. Does care about making a huge mess all over the room, table and his dress clothes 3. Mommy ends up doing craft so we have something to take up the 15 minute allotted time with Rhett on her glitter strewn lap. I never buy dress clothes that aren't washable and the boys usually end up wearing them all day so I don't think I qualify as a super freaky clean mother. What is wrong with singing and stories?? Why can't we wait on the messy snacks and crafts until the kids can wash their own hands??

Rhett is a binky boy. I was so excited when he actually took a pacifier--yeah! After two boys who suck their thumbs it was so refreshing to see the pacifier taken and look to the future when it could be removed (unlike the thumb). Rhett is a multiple binky boy. He wants one in his mouth and at least one other to hold--in a perfect world he would be holding about 5 additional binkies when going to bed. So, when the time comes (no rush as of now) I have to take away not just one binky, but six....hmmmmmm....thumbs only come in pairs.

The new babysitter arrived in a civic that has seen over 100,000 miles by my estimation which is a positive sign...the jury is still out.

Yesterday I was snapping pictures and Ryan declared, "I am too grumpy to have my picture taken". Which was a true picture of what was happening at the moment, but I kept snapping along with a bit of a tickle and 80 digital pictures in--I got this one! Yeah, persistance pays off.

In the interest of being fair and balanced, the rest of this blog is comprised of things I normally leave off others. Insert boys screaming here. Insert boys fighting here. Insert boys coming to mommy crying, "R_______ (insert one of 3 R names) hurt me by doing _____________", Insert boys fussing about picking up toys, changing gears, eating, eating, eating, not eating, not eating, not eating, bedtime, bathtime, wanting to go outside, not wanting to go outside, being bored, being overstimulated (OK, they don't complain, but mommy does) and generally about life. Insert some more screaming here. Insert some more screaming here. Insert some more screaming here...

This is Reid coming off the slide at swimming lessons yesterday. His favorite slide is the purple one. On a similar note, today he stated to me "I feel purple" and I asked what that meant and he had a big smile on his face and said, "Oh I just like being here and holding this digger" referring to the toy in his hand. I asked, "Does purple feel happy?" and he said "Yes!" as in "duh, mom!" Obviously, I missed the color/mood class in parenting school...

I feel purple after a big, yummy meal with friends at a local restaurant. We did a very "Nanny Diaries" thing by leaving Bianca with a house full of children so we could escape for the evening. All was well in her capable hands. Purple dreams to everyone...

I think I should inform moms of the world of a very simple, yet effective way to gauge whether your new babysitter will be returning on a regular basis. What does she drive? If the car is nicer then yours, just forget it. The job you have is too much hassle for the money which is most likely being supplemented by her parents. If her car looks like it is about to fall apart, then rejoice and welcome her into your family for years to come. A new sitter for us is coming on Friday--how will she get here??

All 3 boys were up at 5:15 yesterday morning. We had another talk last night with the older boys about staying in bed (EVEN if they were awake) until 6:30 quietly. We decided that they would go to bed earlier for every minute before 6:30 we see or hear them. The good news is they are going to bed 25 minutes early tonight...

Yesterday we did our "hiking" a little closer to home. Ever since our home school group--Deb did a lesson on spiders, the boys have been very attentive about finding spiders. They then repeat "Miss Deb said not to touch them". Thank you Miss Deb! We took a picture of the spider below hoping to see all his eyes, but we found out instead he is a bit injured and missing some of his legs. Poor spider!
Later in the day, Rhett (almost 2) was hanging out near the 4 trees in the circle drive. He kept running back and forth between them occasionally peeling bark of their trunks. Awhile later he lead me over to them and in his binky-impaired speech explained to me that two of the trees had bark that could be easily peeled and two of the trees had bark that couldn't be peeled, "No!" It is funny, because I had never notice the trees were diffent. From an adult distance they all appear the same.

"Once children come to understand that objects are permanent, they start to group those which are alike and those which are different, the beginnings of classification. Children will engage in this all importatn intellectual activity on thier own for long periods of time if given the materials and freedom to do so. The infant's mastery is organized and purposeful, even if it is not obvious to us." from page 107 of The Power of Play by David Elkind

Last week our local park had a delivery of mulch to be spread over the playground. To the boys delight the second part of this hadn't happened. They spent the majority of our visit running up and down the big mulch hill, hiding toys inside the mulch and "sliding" down to the play equipment. Who needs a playground when a big dirt mound is available?

About a year and 1/2 ago I took Ryan (then 5) with me to a TMAA event in Houston because his Mimi and Bampa were going to be there too and could help me watch him. We stayed at one of the large hotels downtown that connects to the convention center. It was Ryan's first airplane flight so we made a pretty big deal about the whole 2 day trip. We stayed the whole time in the hotel and convention center which seemed like it would be dull for a 5 year old, but I was not seeing the magic that Ryan saw. He got to spend the nights in Mimi and Bampa's suite on the conceirge floor, visit the all day food spread, go to the vendor fair in the convention center, pose for pictures after Mimi's speech, get mentioned in Bampa's speech, hang out with mommy without brothers, etc., etc. The most memorable item was the very large cookies in the conceirge floor cafe which he has mentioned at least weekly since the trip. In fact, the story of his trip to Houston gets bigger every time he tells it. On Friday, we were in the minivan heading home and the legend of Houston by Ryan started again, "Mommy, remember when we went to Houston?" (please insert the nodding and "uh-huhing" needed) "I have tried to tell you this, but you NEVER listen" (please insert "go ahead Ryan I am listening now") "When we were in Houston I saw the prettiest sunset, except it was in the morning" (please insert a lesson on what a sunrise is) "It was beautiful, it had so many colors, it was like a rainbow in the sky, Houston is so pretty, Reid, someday you will go to Houston with me someday...they have cookies the size of car tires..."(please insert, "Ryan, you may be exaggerating a little bit there") "OK, maybe the size of kid's bike tires." Let me clarify that the actual cookies were about 8 inches in diameter which brings me to the point if this boy ever does go back to Houston he may be a bit disappointed in the "tire size" cookies!

So, earlier I mentioned the whole dread of "the change"--TIME CHANGE!!!! It is the most feared night (and following week) of the year. Exactly one week later my baby slept until the house rules required 6:30 am. The other boys were up but still in their room until 6:30. Which means this is the first day in a week that I have "slept in" (I can't type that with a straight face) until this most delightful part of the day. I call for repeal of the time change! I just heard that Hawaii doesn't subject its warm and toasty citizens to such torture...

If I am weeks behind on FlyLady duties and it is stressing me out, doesn't that seem really, really, really counterproductive?

I wouldn't feel like you had the whole picture of what life has been like lately if I didn't include this tidbit: I have been the mom of a blue power ranger since Oct. 31st. We didn't let the boys play with their costumes (because they were obscenely expensive and I didn't want to have to replace them) until Halloween. Since then, Reid has continued to live the dream. I have tried to be relaxed about it and practice my yoga breathing. Quite honestly, I am used to it now and forget that he is a bit overaccessorized for a boy age 4.

Greg went crazy with photoshop today much to the boy's delight. It is a bit symbolic since I feel like our house and yard are being taken over by toys...

Jessica Seinfeld went on Oprah and the next day I went to Costco to get one of the cookbooks. I searched high and low and there were no cookbooks to be found. I ran into a friend and while we were talking I noticed she had one in her cart (No, I didn't grab it and run) so I asked her where she found it and went to look again--but no luck. The hunt was on. I enlisted my mother who is able to run from store to store without 3 kids hanging on her. She ended up going to 4 stores and then she found it. THANKS MOM! The following Sunday I pureed spinach, broccoli, cauliflower, sweet potatoes and carrots and put them into 1/2 cup baggies with most going into the freezer. The first meal I tried the pizza, banana bread, and brownies. Everyone ate really well--and they had 2 exposures to spinach, one to cauliflower and one to carrots without even knowing it! Yeah. I have tried the beef stew (parents liked it, kids wouldn't touch it) and chicken nuggets (kids would eat fresh, but not left-overs) and applesauce muffins (yum from everyone except Reid). I have made the banana bread 5 times now and usually have it available for snacks and breakfast. I prefer it with carrots or sweet potato vs. the suggested cauliflower. The good thing is that now that I have the purees all ready, I just add them to whatever we are eating. It is easy to add to spaghetti sauce or soup, etc. Yeah for Jessica--wish I would have thought of it myself!

I just successfully posted my picture in my profile. I know that is supposed to be easy, but that was not my experience. The Beta Blogging for Dummies was not quite dummed-down enough for me. Just a suggestion to the Dummie people, highlight what the heck you are talking about in the examples! The cryptic suggestion to look closely at a full paragraph of jibberish didn't sink in for the first few hours of this quest. You really meant CLOSELY because there are only 4 character differences that seem to make a world of difference. Anyway, most who are reading this probably could have answered this question in their sleep...but for me a victory!

Greg and I went out on the town tonight for dinner. We considered all our favorites, but weren't hungry enough or in the right location so we went back to Brio. Last time we went we thought it was good, but nothing great. It is usually packed and we figured a Tuesday evening should allow us to be seated right away. We were right and as we were being seated the waiter asked us, "Have you eaten here before?". I know that might sound benign to most, but that is one of my biggest pet peeves (OK, maybe not a big one) because it is a silly question. It doesn't matter what my answer is because that will be the end of the conversation except in the insane instance that I say "no" and the waiter will proceed to explain to me how to eat in a restaurant. This may seem petty with no background, so let's go back in time....circa 2000...restaurant: Bahama Breeze...at Bahama Breeze they were ABOVE normal restaurants and didn't employ waitstaff, they employed "tour guides" who would take you on a magical tour of their main attraction--the 100 page menu. They would come to the table and ask if you had ever eaten there before. If you said "yes" you were saved the 20 minute presentation. If you said "no" then sit down my friend you are about to go on a very long journey down through the appetizers, up the mountain of salads, over the river of drinks, under the main courses and DON'T even ask about dessert. It was so condesending that you felt like they thought they had invented the concept of a restaurant and you would need a tour guide to make it through. It makes me wonder why all the Bahama Breeze locations near me are now closed...hmmmmmm. Anyway, if you really wanted to get on someone's bad side you would go with them and then say "no" because they had a policy that even if everyone else at the table had previously "traveled" with them, they were not going to leave anyone behind. This experience made me very sensitive to the issue so when we started to eat at SaltGrass several years later this sensitive issue again appeared. At SaltGrass they ask you if you have been there before and if you say "no" you have a lesson on cuts of meat. The amazing part of this lecture is that they actually have visual aides on the table showing the cow cut up in different ways (yum). Obviously, they invented meat and need to educate the world. As a prior Vegetarian I might suggest showing cut up cows on a display in the middle of the table might not be the best conversion factor. So back to Brio, I hesitated and then hurriedly said "yes, we eat here all the time" because I was not ready for whatever sermon this waiter was preaching and really, do you need to convert me if I am already sitting at your table?

The cliff-hanging ending was resolved with a 3:30 doctors appt. for mom and 3 boys. First grader went to school, mom and other two spent a "restful" day and then we all went to the appt. The boys were fine. The doctor commented he had never seen such happy and active sick people. I, on the other hand, was not well--maybe I was just projecting my sickness onto them in search of sympathy!

All is better today and hopefully by tomorrow my head will be defrosted. Meanwhile, in the real world, we did get a cold front (by Texas standards) and are currently playing in the backyard at a "cold" 64 degrees (although still in shorts, but with mostly LONG sleeve T-shirts). I did just say no when the request for the hose and buckets of water were made--after all it is winter!

OK, OK, I know it is a TV show, but it is our favorite. Greg and I pick teams each season--it is my turn to pick first so here it is--TK and Rachel. We usually do pretty well with our picks so I hope this isn't the first year of my team being eliminated first. I am still bitter about the year that I chose Rob and Amber. OK, OK, I know! I need to get the kids to bed so we can watch it in peace...

I got a bill in the mail last week from an electrician that came out to fix two undercabinet lights in my kitchen and to see why the puck lights in my cabinet were burning out in a day or two. When I arranged for the appointment I got up under the cabinet to read off all the information on the light fixtures to the electrician so he knew what he was getting into. It took 3 weeks for someone to finally show up (no-showed twice and then showed up unannounced). When he got there he didn't have what he needed so he left and came back that same day. He ended up changing 5 lightbulbs, but didn't fix the undercabinet lights because he needed a part--he did change the lightbulbs there which is pretty useless since they don't work. He said he would be back with the part 3 weeks ago. I got the bill...$279.50! They charged me 3 units of labor for 2 men to change 5 lightbulbs. I, of course, called to question the bill and guess what?? No one has returned my calls! So, back to the age old question...how many electricians does it take to change a lightbulb?

Getting a picture of three boys is like herding cats. I try every few weeks hoping that someday we will get one that has good expressions on EACH boy's face. This, of course, is part of the fantasy world in which I live. I chose this one because they are all standing in the same vicinity, looking at the camera and the expressions are pretty characteristic of their unique personalities. I will someday learn to paste this URL into my profile, but for now....baby steps to the elevator...I am just thrilled that it shows up anywhere.

Might I mention that tonight is the scarriest night of the year? When you have 3 children that regularly wake up at 5:30 am and then toss in a time change that ADDS an hour it is a recipe for mommy getting up at do I dare say 4:30? I think I better get to bed. Halloween doesn't scare me, but daylight savings time is quite frightening.

It is done. It is good. I have officially created a blog. What I love is that now I can torture the entire universe with my opinions instead of the small circle of relatives and friends who have been subjected to them until now. Watch out world--I am tossing my crocheted beret into the air...

all episodes of holly's animated life

high maintenance holly

lightbulb moment

the laundry poetic, part one

the laundry poetic, part two

the shower poetic

worth repeating