If I ran a network

How would I run things differently if I had my own network full of hit shows like Lost and Heroes and - what does CBS have? CSI? Anyway, how would I run things at JBC (that's the Jana Broadcasting Company)?

First, no breaks in the season. All shows would run all new episodes every week for a minimum of 18 weeks. We would have two seasons, one beginning in the fall (September, not October), and one in January. Really popular shows would rerun until their new season started. All DVD sets of those shows would also be available for purchase within two weeks of the series' finales. Then a few months later, the "special edition" DVDs would come out, with commentaries, sneak peeks at the new season and stuff like that. All of this translates to less frustration for the viewer, and more chance that they will continue to watch. Has no one learned the lessons of Moonlighting?

Second, on all dramas where it would reasonably fit into the story, a main character would die every season. Why? Well, it would keep the actors from wielding too much power if it's in their contract that they could be killed off. In real life, in high risk situations, people die. I love that on 24, there is always a question as to whether Jack is going to be around tomorrow, and that Lost isn't afraid to kill off cast members. We could even have a viewer poll to see who they want to see die.

Third, I would institute a fairer voting system. I'm tired of seeing people get kicked off of AI who really deserve to win, and don't even get me started on last season's Dancing With the Stars. There has to be a better way.

Finally, I would bring back the family show. My network would never show anything rated TV14 at 8 p.m. It would be TVG every night until 9. I am not exaggerating to say that right now, there are no fictional shows my kids would be allowed to watch. We let them watch game shows (Deal or No Deal, etc) and competition shows (Amazing Race, etc) if they want, but that's it. Whatever happened to the A-Team, where there was lots of action but no one actually got killed? My boys would love stuff like that.

So, what do you think? What would you add to my imaginary network? I'm hiring imaginary executives right now.

Now NBC is into torture

Come on!! Did you see Heroes last night? What an amazing episode. And then, "When Heroes returns on April 23..." APRIL 23??? Why must tv networks torture us? First there was the Lost fall season finale, and now this. Will I even remember what happened by the time April 23 gets here?

I need to just wait until the end of the season and watch the rest of the episodes online. It's free, I wouldn't have to wait as long as if I were to buy the DVDs, and the only cliffhanger would be the season finale. I could even wait until the week before the new season next fall. Then I wouldn't have to wait all summer to see what happens.

Only one problem: I want to know what happens NOW!

And now I'm off to watch the Spider-man 3 footage on NBC.com. That's another story for which I've been waiting forever!

All boy

We have a nighttime tooth brushing routine around here that seems to work pretty well. First, the boys get Agent Cool Blue rinse, then they brush and floss, and then they get fluoride rinse. The oldest likes mint fluoride, while the seven year old prefers bubble gum. For a while, the four year old used the bubble gum. Then he decided he didn't like it, and switched to mint. I thought nothing of it until I found out the reason.

Apparently, as I was told last night, he stopped liking the bubble gum because it's pink. And pink is for girls. And he is not a girl.

SPF - Left over

This week's SPF theme is "left over." Now, as you may remember, I'm trying to lose weight. But where, exactly, did all this weight come from? Most of it is LEFT OVER from having babies. Four of them. Someone once told me that every pound you gain over thirty is yours to keep, and I did the numbers. She wasn't far off. I ended up weighing about 60 pounds more than I did before kids. That's a lot of leftovers.

However, I am happy to report that I just hit the thirty pounds lost mark earlier this week. That puts my goal weight only 20 pounds away! And to illustrate this, a picture of me wearing my rings, which I had not worn since before baby #3. Hopefully I can get rid of the rest of my leftovers soon!

Did you play?

Prizes! And ick.

Who doesn't like prizes? If you've noticed the Ultimate Blog Party banner in my sidebar, and wondered what it's all about, just click it! They explain the whole thing. But it starts tomorrow, so if you want a chance at those prizes, click now!

So... Hubby now has the ick and was blowing chunks all night. The toddler is still sick. He only throws up at night, all over his bed, at 3 a.m. During the day it comes out the other end. Oh, what a fun morning I've had!

But on the positive side, only one of us hasn't had it yet. And schoolwork is getting done. My novel is coming along. Oh, but my laptop has a trojan, which my software blocked but can't seem to delete. So I guess I still come out even.

Have a great day! Blog party tomorrow!

If you're here for the party, be sure to click through to my home page and read today's entry, whatever day it is!

WBW - Somebody cue the stripper music

For this week's WBW, TKW wants us to show some skin. Only one picture came to mind when I saw the theme.

My dad was a wedding photographer for many years, so naturally he did some photos at our wedding. This was one of his standard ones, where the groom pretends to take off the bride's dress with a lecherous look on his face. I think Hubby managed a slightly embarrassed lecherous look, but then, so would you if your father-in-law were standing there watching. And wow, look at the red mark on my shoulder blade and arm! I had forgotten how much that dress cut into me. Oh, and that face I'm making? I'm supposed to be winking.

So, did you play?

Here we go again

I had the three older boys all ready to go to co-op this morning. I sent the four year old to wake up the two year old. He opened the door, yelled, "Ew! Yuck!" and ran away. I knew then what was coming. The toddler now has the stomach thing. It was everywhere. So, I quickly called to let them know I wouldn't be at co-op, and then started cleaning.

The four year old started crying when he heard we weren't going, so I tried to explain that I didn't want to take his brother when it was likely he'd throw up some more, probably more than once, and I might have to clean it up. But then my seven year old had to present me with different scenarios.

"What if he threw up on the way to the building, in the parking lot? What if he threw up in the car? What if his teacher didn't tell you he threw up?"

"It doesn't matter, because we're not going, but obviously I'd rather he didn't throw up anywhere."

Luckily, Hubby was willing to come take the boys to co-op and pick them up at noon, so they weren't disappointed. Now if only I could find someone else to clean up after the toddler.

And how was your weekend?

I now officially feel better. I spent all day Saturday in bed, and all day Sunday cleaning the basement. I was actually amazed at how clean it was compared to what it's been in the past. I had planned to scrub the floor on Thursday night, but instead I was in bed trying not to throw up. So they did a really good job of keeping the house relatively clean. I have to give Hubby props here, because I know how hard it is to get the boys to keep things neat.

The boys were so sweet. On Friday, they made me lunch: tuna with mayo, mustard, relish, croutons made from toast, carrots, two kinds of salad dressing, and frozen strawberries. The oldest did a really good job of keeping the younger ones from climbing all over me, too. Not an easy task.

And finally, we got about four inches of new snow! It's so pretty and white outside. I love it. I feel happy and rested. It's going to be a good week.

I've been sick

In case you were wondering where I was yesterday, and I'd like to think somebody was, Thursday night I was stuck by a nasty bug which landed me in bed all day Friday and most of today. I had severe nausea (though no vomiting, thankfully), a fever, chills and body aches. It was great fun.

But I am feeling much better tonight, and will resume my regularly scheduled blogging on Monday.

Recipe for disaster

Monday night I went to a Taste of Home cooking school. I went to one two years ago and really enjoyed it, except for the fact that I had a two month old baby with me. Have you ever tried to carry two grocery bags, half a dozen carnations, a diaper bag, a baby carrier/carseat, and a box with a ceramic pie plate in it, three blocks to where you parked? Somehow I made it home with all of that intact. But I was looking forward to this year, when I could watch the show and not have to breastfeed in the middle of it.

Now, my seven year old enjoys cooking. He's been known to watch cooking shows on television and get upset when I changed the channel. So I decided to invite him along, even though they told me over the phone that he would be $10, same as me. Naturally, the lady at the door took one look at his cute little face and didn't charge me for him. So we went and explored the vendors before the show started, taking advantage of all the freebies (food samples, bottled water, and one place gave him a couple of toy trucks and a balloon). Then it was time for the show.

Even though he has watched cooking shows before, he has never sat and watched a two and a half hour cooking show. He was fascinated at first ("What is she doing with that egg?" "Separating it." "Why?"). As the demonstration went on, I tried to find interesting things to point out, but he became much more interested in the theatre-type seats, which he could sit on the edge of and then flop down loudly and much to the annoyance of at least one other attendee (that would be me). At intermission, we went and got him some more free potato chips. We stayed until the very end of the show (10 p.m.!) only because he was sure we would win a door prize. We didn't. I told him he could have the ceramic pie plate I won two years ago.

Hopefully I haven't completely killed his interest in cooking by taking him to this thing. He says he enjoyed it. I still harbor my fantasy of a child who will cook dinner for me a few years from now.

What??

What does my scanner want from me? Blood?

I have been trying to participate in WBW for an hour now. An hour. And my brand new HP Photosmart 3200 all-in-one printer/scanner/copier won't scan. And do you know why? Guess. You'll never guess.

It says there's a paper jam.

I can truly say I did not see that one coming. How can there be a paper jam when I'm trying to scan? I did not tell it to scan and print. I told it to scan. But, no, it says there's a paper jam.

So I checked the printer. No jam. I even printed something just to make sure. I came back to the computer. It still won't scan. Same reason.

So I updated my software. I got all of HPs little widgets and patches and installed them and restarted my computer twice. It gives me the same error. So I officially give up. There will be no WBW from me this week.

Why does technology hate me?

Snow pics

Here are some more pictures of the boys sledding. We had co-op this morning and I am wiped out.

I won't win any mothering awards

Here's my oldest son sledding:


I'm sorry, it was funny!

Late on a Friday

I know it's Friday. But it's almost 3:30 and this is the first time I've sat down at the computer today. So no SPF for me today. My SIL was here helping me with the kids while Hubby was out of town. I always greatly appreciate that. And yes, she was able to fix the sweater!

The boys just came in from playing in the snow. Actually, playing ON the snow would be a more accurate description. There is a thick layer of ice almost everywhere, so thick I don't fall through it. It's perfect for sledding. I sent the two year old down the hill and he loved it. I even tried it a few times. My oldest couldn't get enough, eventually coming in only because he was so cold. And the best thing about it being ice and not snow is that everybody came inside completely dry.

So, have a great weekend everybody. I'm going to get some cleaning done and work on my novel a while.

A sweet day

Since it was Valentine's Day yesterday, the boys and I decided to learn about chocolate. We went to a website that shows how chocolate is made and explored that, and then we made some chocolates of our own. The only mold I had was little alligators, which don't really go with Valentine's, but whatever. I had some extra chocolate, so I made little bars in an ice cube tray.

Oh, typical. I had a picture of them to post, but Blogger won't let me. Maybe I'll come back later. :(

UPDATE: Okay, I got it to work!

Tagged by Cheeky

The lovely Cheeky has tagged me!

First the rules:

The game: Each player of this game starts off with ten weird things or habits or little known facts about themselves. People who get tagged must write in a blog of their own ten weird things or habits or little known facts as well as state this rule clearly. At the end you must choose six people to be tagged and list their names. No tag backs!

I think I've done something similar before, but here goes!

1. I can say the alphabet backwards in less than six seconds.
2. I can sing the alphabet backwards.
3. I stopped listening to the radio in 1985, so I really don't know many popular songs from the last 22 years.
4. I'm a bit of a "star collector;" I own autographs from lots of different people, including all of Rockapella and two of the Monkees.
5. I love acting, but I never got chosen for any school plays.
6. I once rode twelve hours (with Hubby) to go to a Rockapella concert, attended both performances that Sunday afternoon and evening, then rode twelve hours home and went straight to work.
7. I've never been west of the Rockies.
8. I wrote, self-published, and sold 100 copies of a Star Trek/Battlestar Galactica crossover novel when I was 16.
9. I have been online for about 20 years, in one way or another.
10. I once wrote parody lyrics to "Like a Virgin" and called it "Like a Surgeon." A few months later, Weird Al came out with his "Like a Surgeon" and the lyrics were almost identical. Scary.

So. who to tag? I'll tag the first six people on my blogroll. Go!

Messies Anonymous

When I was younger, I was very organized. I kept my room neat and clean, I alphabetized all my books and tapes (this was before CDs, people), and I knew where all my stuff was.

All of this was before children.

Now, it doesn't matter how much time I spend cleaning, they will mess it up. A few months ago, I had all but given up, tired of cleaning the same floor six times in a day (and oh, how I wish I were exaggerating). Toys could be found on every flat surface of the house, cleaning was done in a haphazard fashion, and I grew more and more discouraged. The house grew less and less clean.

Then I met The Organizer Lady. Hubby found a book in the church library called The Messies Manual. And in it, Sandra Felton lays out her plan to go from disaster area to comfortably clean. Now, I won't say I follow her plan 100%, because she recommends some sort of flip chart with 3x5 cards to keep track of things that need to be done. I just programmed it into my PDA. And I don't have the problem of disorganization. I have always kept all my papers filed and separated and I can find virtually any piece of paper, given the right search parameters. But as far as keeping the house clean, she has wonderful ideas and give her the lions share of the credit.

So now, while my house is still "in transition" between messy and clean, I am so much happier with how everything looks. As long as I stick to the schedule, things stay pretty clean. And of course, getting the boys to do their chores helps too. I'm now reading her book "Organizing Your Home and Family, which is great, too.

If you are cleaning challenged like I am, perhaps it's time to join Messies Anonymous. There's a lot of info on the website, and there are Yahoo groups as well for daily encouragement. I could actually have people over for coffee now.

Snow day!

Today we are finally getting the snow for which I have been waiting all winter! We've had little flurries here and there, and even as much as half an inch total, but now we're getting a full-fledged winter storm!

I don't know why I love snow so much. Maybe it's the way it makes everything white and pretty. The world looks new and clean and fresh. Maybe it's the anticipation of taking the boys outside, packing down the snow on the hill, and sledding. Or trying out those second-hand skis we picked up. Maybe it's memories of when I was little and the snow drifts were taller than I was, and my dad thought it was funny to throw the cat into them (and it was). Maybe it's the silence, that all that water can fall from the sky and not make a sound.

Our homeschool co-op is canceled today because local schools are closed. And it's just as well because my oldest has been sick and I wasn't going to go. So now the kids won't miss anything. I'll have to check our policy - I think we have one snow day, so we extend the semester one week. Anyway, it's a good day to teach the boys about snow and seasons and things like that. And if it's deep enough, we can even make snow cream! Yummy!

Two years!

Yesterday marked two years since I started this little blog o' mine. It's gone through a lot of changes as I learned HTML and switched templates. I like this one, though. I think I'll stick with it a while. I've added things to my sidebar, and taken other things away. I've written about sad things and happy things and totally silly things. I've written 645 posts.

But more than that, I have "met" some wonderful people. There's an amazing community in blogging that non-bloggers don't see or understand. I love that. Some of my favorite bloggers and commenters have quit and I still miss them. But I truly appreciate all of you who come by here every day to see what I'm up to, even though you don't always comment (hint hint). Seeing the numbers go up in my little comments spaces makes my day.

So what do you get on the second blogiversary?

SPF - Something red

Kristine's assignment this week is to photograph something red. Okay, let's see what I find around the house.

This is a sweater my SIL knitted for my two year old. She does beautiful work, huh? Unfortunately, he must have caught his sleeve on something, so it started to unravel. C, if you're reading this, bring your needles next time you come!

And what is this oddly-familiar-looking red yarn the cat's attacking? When I tried to put the sweater back where I had it, this is what happened! Um, C, you might want to bring extra yarn, too.

So, did you play?

The most important words

My toddler has now learned the important words there are for him to survive in this house with three big brothers.

Yesterday, I asked who had done something-or-other. The older three boys all chimed in with, "Not me!" And then I heard the toddler's sweet little voice.

"Not me!"

This kid's no dummy!

A good dentist is harder to be found than silver, yea, than much silver filling

I just got back from the dentist. I'm not someone who is afraid of the dentist or anything like that. But I have learned that there are good ones, and there are not-so-good ones. We just switched from one dentist we were less than happy with, to one who had been recommended by someone Hubby works with. I had been happy with him up until my last appointment.

See, we were sitting around eating dinner one night and I bit down on something and a horrible stabbing pain shot through my mouth. So I told the dentist a week or so later during my normal checkup. He did an x-ray, said he didn't see anything, and that was it. Today, they had a new dentist in the office, a younger guy who we found out was from New York City. I tell him the problem, which has still been bothering me, and instantly he says, "Sounds like a fracture."

So now I need to go back for a filling. Which I would have been more than happy to do six months ago if only the dentist would have actually looked at my teeth! It seems fractures don't show up in x-rays. This new dentist figured out what it was by listening to what I said. What a concept!

Taking the "co" out of co-op

Today is the first Tuesday of ten Tuesdays of homeschool co-op. I am on the committee, so I have to be there early. Yippee. I don't do early. So I am sitting here guzzling my coffee, waiting for the caffeine to kick in so I can at least look awake as I sit and watch other people teach. Nobody signed up for my class. Not even one. So I will be assisting with Karate and with Beginning Recorder.

I also realized at ten last night that I was supposed to bring cookies. I have no cookies. And I certainly don't have the energy to bake any. In fact, I haven't even been to the store for a week and a half, except a run to WalMart when we were at my grandmother's house Saturday, but I certainly wasn't thinking about co-op then. I wonder how mad they'll be that I show up with no cookies.

Oh, well, off to wake the boys and get this fun-fest started!

Hurt

My college roommate and I were very close. I kind of thought of her as the sister I never had. We lived together all four years, we toured England together, and she was the maid of honor in my wedding. We kept in touch for quite a while after that, but she was always busy with school, first an MA, then a PhD, and I was busy, first with work, then with kids. Eventually, I didn't hear from her anymore and I lost track of her.

So I open up my college alumnae magazine on Friday and what do I see? Not only has she gotten married, she had a baby last May! And maybe I shouldn't, but I feel hurt. I mean, she was my maid of honor, and I don't even rate an invitation to her wedding? And even if they eloped, I'm sure they sent out baby announcements. But I never got one. I know we've moved a lot, but I also know that I've put my email address in the alumnae magazine on more than one occasion. Not to mention the college maintains a website with all the alumnae's current addresses in it. She could have found me.

You know, I sent her announcements for every one of my kids.

I don't know if I should just continue the way I have, or if I should email her. Or maybe I should go to our 15 year reunion in June and see if she's there. She lives right in the same town, so she probably will be. I don't know. What would you do?

SPF - Buttons

Kristine's assignment this week was buttons. Any kind of buttons.
See? He's got buttons on his coat.

And before you ask, yes, I drew this. I used charcoal. Yes, I did it freehand, using a picture on a McDonald's Arch Card as reference. No, it's not perfect, but I could spend way too much time trying to make it perfect, so I already sprayed it with sealant and called it done. It probably took about two hours, but I'm not entirely sure because I didn't do it all at once; I did it in the moments of time between when I would call one of the boys to come into the schoolroom (I homeschool for those who don't know) and when they actually came. I did this to demonstrate to them that they do not, in fact, come right away when I call them. I think I made my point.

So, did you play?

Attention AI rejects!

You know all those annoying people who insist they can sing during the AI auditions? The ones who say, "You'll hear from me again!" and tell the judges they don't know what they're talking about? I think I found them a job.

My youngest has the Vtech Learn and Discover Driver toy, a little steering wheel with different buttons and lights. He just loves to play with it. It's kind of loud and annoying, but that's not the worst part. It has songs. And those songs are sung, um, badly. They are off-key, they don't stay with the beat, and they are just overall hard to listen to.

So perhaps all the rejects should line up for auditions outside Vtech's headquarters instead. Apparently their judges aren't nearly as tough.

Conversation just last night

Hubby: (holding a piece of lumber) I love two-by-anything lumber because it's big and cheap.

Me: Wow, that's what I love about you, too! (totally cracking myself up)

He's so cute when he's pretending to be insulted. But he knows that we would never be able to afford this house and live like we do if he weren't cheap, so it's a compliment. Really.

In other news, my two year old, who still won't say simple words like "no" (who ever heard of a two year old who doesn't say no?) said "puppy" last night. Too cute.

If you haven't read my chapter yet, go down to yesterday's post. I'll be waiting for those comments!

Chapter One

Thanks for the comments yesterday. I know I'm a long way from being finished, but I like to get as much feedback as possible along the way. If you'd like to read the first chapter of my new novel, A Cappella, head on over to this link:

Visit My Portfolio @ Writing.Com

Then just click on A Cappella Chapter One. When you're done, I'd love some comments, either here or over there. And don't worry, I have a very thick skin. You don't have to be nice just because I'll be rich and famous one day

How do I know when I'm done?

I was up until midnight working on my novel. I'm getting pretty tired of the first three chapters, but I need to get them perfect. There's a lot of stuff that happens later on in the story that needs to be introduced in the beginning, but because I was writing it during NaNoWriMo, I didn't get it in there before. Now I have to go back and add it.

And then there's the question of how graphic do I want to be. There's a violent scene in chapter 3, but I'm considering editing it heavily to just get the general idea across. I mean, it becomes very obvious later exactly what happened, so do I really need to spell it out?

Being a romance, I'm also wondering how much description of the main characters should I go into? I want the reader to get a general idea of what they look like, but I don't want to get into ridiculous detail. It's important for me that the reader fall in love with the guy, too, but at the same time, he has ulterior motives for what he does that are going to surprise everyone.

Maybe I'm being too much of a perfectionist. I don't know. I think I'll post the first chapter tomorrow and get some non-biased opinions. The first chapter is the only one I feel is pretty much finished, so I could use some critiques. Watch this space!

SPF - My buddy

Kristine has pared down SPF to just one picture, which is nice because I don't have to think so hard. This week's assignment is My Buddy. And while there are a lot of things or people I could put here, this one just jumped to mind, and so here it is.

It's been a long time since I was excited to step on the scale, let me tell you. You might remember an SPF a long time ago (June, July?) where I said I was trying to lose weight. I am now down about 24 pounds. I'm actually excited to step on the scale every week because I know I'm going to see lower numbers. And yesterday, I put on a pair of real jeans. Real, as in no elastic in the waist. I'm wearing size L clothes and they're actually a little loose. Before, I wore XL and they were kind of tight. And even though my waist size hasn't gotten smaller (I blame the 4 kids), everything else has. So I'm feeling good.

Did you play? I'd love to come see your buddy, too!

Anyone know a robotic counselor?

I think my desktop computer has some sort of personality disorder.

For the longest time, I had a printer, a scanner, a microphone, speakers, and other peripherals hooked up to it and there were no problems. Suddenly, one day, the microphone stopped working. I'm not sure what the computer said to it, but it refused to continue the relationship. We tried another microphone, but apparently word had gotten around and it wouldn't work either.

Then it was the scanner. For years, I scanned pictures, documents, and other things I wanted to keep. Nary a problem. Then one day, a little error box popped up on my screen telling me there was no scanner connected. I checked all the cables. The light was on, but nobody was home. At least nobody who wanted to talk to the computer. I carried the scanner to another computer and it worked fine.

Next came the printer. This is an old HP Laser printer, a really nice one, and it connects to a serial port, one of those big, heavy cables you could choke a dog with. Anyway, we've had this printer a decade or more, and never had a problem. Suddenly, it won't take orders from the computer anymore. We ended up hooking the printer to our home network through a switch. Now it talks to the printer on the computer's behalf. Sort of like when people are fighting, the switch will say, "Hey, HP, the computer says to print this," and then HP says, "Well, you tell the computer I'll get to it when I get to it." And then it spits out the required pages. The only problem is that there are one too few cables to the network, so if I want to print, I have to take the internet cable from the computer, hook it to the printer, then take my son's internet cable and hook it to my computer. Otherwise, it doesn't work. I don't print much.

And now, it's the speakers. Whatever this computer said to them is obviously unforgiveable. We have no sound, except those little beeps that come from the CPU when an error pops up.

I wonder how long before the monitor realizes what a jerk that computer is and calls in sick.

WBW - Free therapy

This week, TKW has asked us to share pictures and stories about some traumatic event in our lives (like dropping an ice cream cone or getting our shoes thrown up on) that would later cause us to need many years of therapy. And since this is free, I think it's a good deal.
Okay, so on first glance you might say, "What's the problem here?" Is it that my brother is wearing a nightgown? No, it's a night shirt, thank you very much. It probably came with a matching nightcap. His head is bare here. But take a look at mine. That, my friends, is head gear. You see, my orthodontist gave me a choice between having some teeth pulled and wearing head gear every night. Guess which one I picked.

Now, thankfully, I didn't have to wear it to school, but I did wear it out in public on more than one occasion. I can remember oh-so-clearly the stares and the people talking in hushed voices about the freak in line behind them. I always had a snappy comeback - I'd say it was my antenna, or that I was an alien, or something equally as clever. But it never felt good.

And you thought this would be about those Dungeons & Dragons modules I'm holding there. Yeah, like I need any more visual proof that I was a geek! Well, just so you know, I mostly only played D&D with my brother. But when I played with other people, my character was named Kitiara and she kicked serious tail.


So, did you play?

Where's that burst of energy?

I have been working out for at least 30 minutes a day since last Monday. Now, I wasn't expecting a lot of changes in one week, but you always hear people saying how much better they feel once they start exercising. I've experienced that in the past. So where is it this time?

Not only do I not feel better, I'm more tired. It's all I can do to stay awake until the baby goes down for his nap, and then it takes every inch of my willpower to get on the treadmill instead of into bed. I'm exhausted. It would probably help if I could get to sleep before midnight, but that would involve getting the boys to sleep before midnight. We've been down that road before. And honestly, I'd probably be up late anyway. I'm definitely a night person.

And as long as I'm complaining, what's the deal with my waist? I certainly would have expected a smaller waist size after dropping twenty pounds. Every other area has gotten smaller. I can wear clothes now that I haven't worn in several years. And yet, I still have the exact same size waist. I know I've had four kids, but why can't I lose even a measly inch off my waist?

I want to believe that changes will come. I don't want to get discouraged.

So now what?

What happens when my teaching style becomes incompatible with my sons' learning styles?

Lately I've been having trouble with school because I have no plan. I've been using a unit study curriculum for everything except math and language arts. For those of you unfamiliar with unit studies, basically you take a topic and you explore it from every possible angle: history, art, geography, science, music, etc. Once you've worn a topic to death, you move on. I thought this would be a great approach because then both boys could learn together. A regular curriculum would have me teaching all subjects separately by grade level, and I just don't have the time for that.

The problem is that I sit down in the morning with no idea what to teach. I just have this vague list of things, and a few activities, but no set plan. It's not that the unit studies don't come with one, I just can't seem to get organized enough to follow it. It takes too much planning on my part. I liked the pre-planned curriculum that told me exactly what to do each day.

But the boys thrive on the freedom of the unit study. The structure of a boxed curriculum was too tiring for them. And after all, I'm doing this for them, not me. But it's driving me crazy. The worst part of it for me is that the curriculum recommends this whole list of books, and our library doesn't even have a third of them. How can I follow the curriculum with no books? It would take so much time and effort to get them sent from other libraries, and I just don't have that kind of time or energy.

I really want to go back to the boxed curriculum with set lessons for every day and all the information right there, instead of bi-weekly trips to the library that turn up nothing I can use anyway. But I don't want the boys to become completely antagonistic towards school either. I actually heard my 10 year old say "I hate school" the other day. Boy, that really makes me want to continue the daily battles around here.

I know there's an answer here, I just can't see the forest for the trees. Too much structure, enough that I'm happy, and the boys shut down. Too little structure, and I can't get organized enough on my own to effectively teach anything. There's got to be a solution.

My big fat story

As you may remember, I am losing weight. But Blest recently posted about her own weight loss journey, and it made me reflect on how I got to where I am. You see, as she indicated, there are two different types of people who need to lose weight: the ones who are genetically coded to be fat, and the ones who have let themselves become fat. Of course, there are combinations of the two as well. But I realized I have been blaming genetics for a while, and that's not right. I've been neglectful.

I was never overweight as a kid. I was thin all through high school. I don't remember my exact weight in college, but I do remember that on day one I made a pact with my roommate that we would not gain the freshman 15. She and I worked out together every day and had actually lost a couple of pounds by the end of the year, despite going to a college with amazing food served all-you-can-eat style. We continued our workouts right through graduation. I got married a month after grad, and my wedding dress was a size 8 (though we had to take it out a little, and my normal size at the time was 10).

Over the next four years, my weight stayed basically the same. I walked a lot, ate normally, and when I went for my first prenatal visit, I was at 139. With my first son, I didn't have a lot of nausea, but I was always hungry. I gained 40 pounds. But we joined a gym, I got myself back in shape, and eventually I was down to 155. Then we went on a cruise, I gained 5 pounds, and got pregnant again. This time, I carefully watched what I ate and only gained 25. But I still had extra weight I couldn't get rid of, and they always say not to diet while breastfeeding. So it wasn't very long after I weaned son #2 that I started losing weight again, down to 165, only to get pregnant with #3.

I gained 60 pounds with him. After he was born, I went back to the gym, and worked out periodically, but it just wasn't convenient anymore and I was tired. I let things slide. By the time I got pregnant with #4, I weighed around 188. I gained between 35 and 40 with him. And when I started this weight loss journey in May, I topped the scales at 212. So you can see how pregnancy after pregnancy, combined with breastfeeding for 18 months at a time, gave me really good excuses to be lazy. And that is what I did.

Now I've changed the way I think about food, and the way I eat. I used to go to buffet restaurants, eat two plates of regular food, and then four plates of dessert. I love food, what can I say? Now, I can go to that same place, eat a sensible entree of fish or chicken, veggies, and then carefully choose one dessert. It's not willpower. It's just changing the way I think. And I've noticed that foods with a high fat content or too much sugar just gross me out now. One bite and I have to stop. My body is getting back to normal.

So I just wanted to share this to let you know that it's never too late. If you're like me and have just neglected fitness for a long time and have been eating whatever you want, start making little changes. Even a small change is positive. I use Slim-Fast and count calories, but find whatever works for you and stick to it! You can do it!

Open letter to all American Idol wanna-bes

Dear people,

You cannot sing. Get over it. The judges don't know you. It's not personal. You just can't sing. No, we won't be seeing you again. No, Simon is not a jerk, idiot, or any of the other colorful names Fox so wisely bleeped out. I would think after five seasons you might realize that the judges are in fact pretty good at what they do. Suck it up. Get on with your life.

And to those of you who will be going to auditions in the future, here's some advice. You might want to watch these current auditions closely so you can understand a few things. For example, talking smack about Simon might get you on camera, but it will also make you look like a Fool - that's with a capital F. If the judges are all three laughing at you, it is not because they are so delighted to have found someone of your caliber; it's because you're really, collossally, bad. If you must move to the rhythm of your music, keep it subtle. Throwing yourself about like a marionette attached to a weed whacker will not get you to Hollywood.

For the ladies, please avoid singing Celine Dion, Christina Aguilera, Whitney Houston, or anyone of similar caliber unless you know you can nail it. For the men, for the love of all that is good and right in this world, don't sing Freddie Mercury or Unchained Melody. Please don't compare yourself to these people either.

And finally, if your co-workers talk you into going on this show, it's not, repeat NOT, because they think you're talented. They are looking forward to getting together on some night in the future with a six pack and some popcorn and laughing their heads off at you.

Sincerely,
The woman who couldn't stop laughing last night

WBW - Let it snow!

TKW wants to see all those old photos of us cavorting in the snow. I certainly hope we get some snow in the present day, but until then, it's fun to look back on the blizzards of the past.
This is not very way back, only four years ago, but it was a very big snow. That's not a pile my oldest son is standing in, that's how deep the snow really was! But even though this picture is not that old, it makes me nostalgic. What happened to all the snow?


I'm going to go look through some albums now and see if there are any old ones of me in the snow. Check back later!


UPDATE: Still looking, but don't hold your breath.

Enjoy your $20 sticker

I just got back from the pediatrician, who didn't have any appointments until today. I paid a $20 copay to find out that there's nothing wrong with the baby at all. But not to worry, the doctor was coughing and sneezing all over the place, so we're bound to actually be sick sometime soon.

At least the kids got stickers when we checked out.

Pardon our dust

I've been going through old posts to put labels on them and such, and then I noticed they were all popping up on my Bloglines account as new posts. So if you see 25 or 30 "new" posts from here, just check the publish date to see if it's new or not. Of course, if you weren't reading this blog back then, you might want to check out those old posts anyway!

Ow! Ow!

I was awakened this morning by the sound of my two year old crying and saying "Ow!" over and over. After carrying him around for a while, and trying to comfort him by playing Thomas the Tank Engine on our big screen tv, I agreed with Hubby's suggestion that maybe his ear or ears hurt. We forced some Tylenol down his throat, and I do mean some, since much of it went down his chin and a small blob somehow landed on the back of my arm.

Finally, after about twenty minutes, he curled up on my bed and fell asleep. Of course, now it's way too late for me to go back to sleep. And it seems we may have a trip to the pediatrician in our future. Did I mention there's a HUGE rainstorm headed our way. It should have been snow, being that it's January and all, but no, it's 58 degrees here and we're going to have rain, and lots of it. Ugh.

It's Monday, isn't it?

SPF - Hijacked!

TKW has hijacked SPF this week, which is just as well because Kristine has been having issues of late. Here we go:

A houseplant Those of you who actually have houseplants probably spotted right off that this is a fake. I don't have a green thumb. I don't even have a brown thumb. I have a rotting black thumb. No plant stands a chance in this house. So I have these lovely fake ones strategically scattered around to give the illusion that I am not, in fact, the Plant Angel of Death.

Something you complain about but secretly like I actually enjoy cleaning the bathroom. It's the only room in the house that doesn't get completely destroyed again within minutes. I mean, let's face it, the boys run in, pee, run out again. They don't hang around playing, spilling drinks, or drawing on the walls. Well, occasionally they do. But as a general rule, if I clean the bathroom, it looks nice for quite a while. However, I still make the boys do it. After all, I'm not the one who gets pee on the floor.

Something gross

The only thing grosser than a little girl who eats her toe jam (and if you haven't seen TKW's video, you really must) is a little boy who is so fascinated by it that he insists on watching it no less than 50 times.

So, that's SPF, the hijacked edition! Did you play?

The rest of the story

Somehow I got through yesterday. The co-op meeting took 2 1/2 hours, and then I had another half hour of work on top of that. While we were sitting in the upstairs kitchen working, my boys and one of the ladies' two boys were downstairs playing. And eating and drinking. At one point my oldest came running up.

"J was drinking coffee and the cat-"
"Hang on," I said. "Why was he drinking coffee?" Nice thing for other moms to hear, right?
"You know, that coffee stuff you add to milk?"
"Oh, right, the syrup. Okay, so?"
"Well, the cat jumped up on the table and tried to drink it and it got spilled all over the tablecloth."
Knowing full well that my boys know how to clean up a little spilled milk, albeit milk with coffee-flavored syrup in it, I said, "So what's the problem?"

And then I got the rest of the story. "So now they're playing in it."

You know that old Cosby routine about brain damage? Yeah. So they got it cleaned up, put the tablecloth in the washing machine, and that was that. Except for the sticky mess all over the floor and everything on the floor. Honestly, I think I need to just put down a dropcloth and forget it.

Where's the co- in co-op??

I know it's Wednesday, but I just don't have the energy for a WBW post. I haven't even looked at my photo albums. I was up until midnight trying to figure out which classes to put which parents in as helpers, for our homeschool co-op starting next month. I don't know all the moms personally, so it's anybody's guess whether I'm on the right track or not. The rest of the committee is showing up here at two to help me finish. At that point, I'm supposed to have everything else done and ready to print. Hopefully I will. They had better not hand me the stack of envelopes and tell me to mail them.

But before then, I have to take the four year old for a follow-up appointment to the dentist. The dentist's office is about an hour from here. So, it's 9:30 now. That gives me an hour and a half before we have to leave. And if we're lucky, a half hour when we get home. And I still need to shower. And the boys need to eat. So what I am I doing on here?? See ya later!

Six degrees of Johnny Depp

As you probably remember, I have a bit of an obsession with Pirates of the Caribbean. So naturally, I got the 2 disc special edition of the second movie. As Hubby and I were watching the extras, he began to notice something that, quite frankly, he seems to notice wherever we go. Large equipment, made by the company he works for, was featured prominently in much of the footage. The company's name is clearly visible many times, so much so that he wondered if they paid some kind of sponsorship fee!

So this got me thinking. You know that old game of six degrees? Could I actually be only six degrees away from my beloved pirates? Okay, let's find out:

1. From me, to hubby
2. From hubby, to the CEO of the company
3. From CEO, to salesperson
4. From salesperson, to rental company person
5. From rental company person, to person working on the movie
6. From person working on the movie, to Johnny Depp!

I am so much better connected than I thought I was!

My two million dollar family

I'm sure you have all seen the "cost to raise a child" estimates before - you know, the ones where they figure up how much you'll spend on food, shelter, clothing, etc. before the child turns 18. Those people with children at home after 18 are on their own. Anyway, I used this calculator at BabyCenter and I came up with a figure of $488,000 to raise my seven year old, $546,000 for my four year old, and $588,000 for my two year old (it only does children born in 1999 or later). Add in my oldest, and we're at $2 million, give or take.

Now, looking at their categories and estimates, I think they're way off. First off, when I add the numbers myself and then multiply by 18 years, I get 1.2 million, not $588,000. But beyond that, they've totally left off the category of 'Damages'. You know what I mean.

"Don't touch that DVD!" CRACK! And there's twenty dollars down the drain.
"Stop jumping on the bed!" BANG! New bed frame - only $100.
CRASH! "What was that?" "Nothing!!" Cost of nothing - about $20.
And so it goes, on and on. Things get broken around here on an almost daily basis, and the only reason it's not daily is that sometimes my parents are here and they go break stuff in their motor coach instead.

There are just all kinds of things they don' t tell you when you set out to start a family.

Carnival of the Blogging Chicks

Check out this week's Carnival. It's all about looking forward to the coming year or looking back to the last one. I submitted a post, and there are lots of other great bloggers represented, so go take a look!

"Lyrics Included"

I've been putting some of my old cassette tapes onto the computer since I got my MP3 player, and the other day I came across some of my Steve Taylor tapes.

It's funny what can lead you to a new singer or group that ends up inspiring you. In the case of Steve Taylor, a friend of mine went into a Christian book store looking for a birthday present for me. She saw his tape "On The Fritz," and though she'd never heard of him, the big "Lyrics Enclosed" label across the bottom caught her attention. So she bought it. We both fell in love with his music the first time we heard it, and proceeded to collect his other albums. The year was 1985. Two years later, he came out with what I consider his best album, "I Predict 1990."

Now, as I pulled this tape out of its case the other day, I thought, "Surely these songs are really dated." I played the tape, and couldn't help but be amazed at how relevant his songs still are, twenty years later! Take these lyrics, from the song "Since I Gave Up Hope I Feel A Lot Better" about modern universities:

Took a class/ Big fun/ Modern ethics 101/ First day/ learn why/ Ethics really
don't
apply/ Prof says, "One trait/ Takes us to a higher state/ Drug free,
pure bliss/ Get
your pencils, copy this:
"Life unwinds like a cheap
sweater/ But since I gave
up hope I feel a lot better/ And the truth gets
blurred like a wet letter/ But since
I gave up hope I feel a lot better"

Now, Taylor was known for writing controversial songs, but they're also thinking songs, meaning you come away really thinking about what he wrote. I like that. He also has a great sense of humor. Like in the song "I Blew Up the Clinic Real Good" (Yes, you read that correctly). It's pointing out the hypocrisy of people who claim to be pro-life yet they blow up clinics and kill people. In the song, a psychotic ice cream man blows up a clinic, then confronts a preacher in the bridge of the song:

Preacher on the corner, calling it a crime/ Says the end don't justify the
means anytime.

I stood up on my van, I yelled "Excuse me, sir! Ain't nothing wrong in
this country that a few plastic explosives won't cure!"

And that line was, of course, yelled. It still makes me laugh.

So, I've rambled on enough. I'm just having great fun re-discovering some of my old favorites. See the article I linked to above if you'd like to find out more about Steve Taylor. I understand his songs are on iTunes also, if you're interested.

What's an artist or album you haven't listened to in a while that you'd like to revisit?

You've heard of the Biggest Loser?

If there were a prize for the slowest loser, um, yeah, that'd be me. Checking my archives, I see that I started to lose weight in May. It's now January of the next year and I have just hit the 20 lbs lost mark.

Now, don't get me wrong, I'm thrilled to have lost 20 lbs. I've stuck to my diet even when I was on a cruise. I have truly changed my eating habits and the way I think about food, and I try to make good choices about what I put in my mouth. All of these are good things.

The one thing I haven't done is exercise regularly. I just can't seem to find a good time during the day. Hubby wants me to get up at 6 with him to work out, but honestly, 6 a.m.? I just can't see a couple of nightowls like us making that kind of commitment and sticking to it. And I also need to point out that this is just a suggestion on his part. He does not actually get up at 6 on a regular basis.

For a while, I thought I could work out while the baby napped, but now it seems like we're never done with school by then. We used to have a YMCA membership, but the ordeal of getting the whole family out the door was too much. I just need to find some way to fit that 20-30 minutes of exercise I desperately need into my day. Over at One Weigh Or Another (weight loss blog I belong to), the group's founder has lost about two pounds a week since July, and she is looking fantastic. She exercises.

Okay, so, twenty pounds down, only forty to go. Or fifty. Maybe I'll be happy with thirty more. Check back next...year!

WBW - Bad habits

This week, TKW has asked us to showcase our bad habits. As I looked through my old photos this morning, I found that I managed to avoid being photographed in the middle of most of my bad habits. But one did find its way in front of a camera. I was 13 in this picture. Twenty-three years later, I've still got the same bad habit.

There I am, sitting in front of the computer. This is probably a couple of years before we had an online service (remember Compuserve?), so I'm just typing in lines of Basic to make a little game or something. There really was no hope for me socially in high school, was there?

So, did you play?

The whole tooth and nothing but the tooth

I'm taking my four year old to get some dental work done today. Apparently, at least two of my children have inherited my cavity-prone teeth. My seven year old had his two front teeth pulled about five years ago, and several others since then. Now the four year old has to have so many cavities filled that the dentist is doing it at the hospital, under anesthesia.

I have to be at the hospital two hours before the procedure, and then wait for about two hours after he's done to be discharged. So basically I'll be sitting in a hospital all day. I should have asked if I could bring my laptop. At least my SIL is here to watch the other kids so I don't have to be chasing them all over the hospital telling them to be quiet, sit still, don't touch those buttons.

And thankfully, our insurance will cover a good chunk of the cost. We're still paying off the seven year old's dental bills. Did you know that the cruise we just took cost less than half of what we still owe on his teeth? Oh, how I wish I were kidding.

SPF - Happy New Year!

This week's SPF has to do with the new year coming - 2007!

Something that won't be in your house in 2007:

Our upstairs kitchen faucet seems to be leaking under the sink. We don't appreciate anything that leaves puddles in our house, as we keep telling both my dog and my four year old. So out it goes.

Something random and odd:

Meet Happy Hank. He was originally much smaller. You're supposed to soak him in water, at which time he will expand up to 600 times his original size. And while this is a large jar, I still don't think Hank has reached his advertised potential. Maybe we need to feed him more bananas.

Seven:

This is my seven year old. He's supposed to grow to many times his original size also. I'd say he's a lot more on track than Hank.

So, did you play?

So what did I get, you ask?

Mostly what I got for Christmas was cash. Which is what I needed. I needed it to pay for the computer screen I'm looking at right now. And I have some left over, which means Amazon, here I come!

I also got something my dad's been wanting me to get for a few years now: an MP3 player. It's a little 5 GB RCA one, and I totally love it. I've got it about 40% full, but I'm only up to the Cs in my CD collection (they're in alphabetical order, of course). Well, except for Rockapella. I put all their albums in first. So I'm going to have to pick and choose which songs I want on there eventually. But what a cool thing! I'm still coming from a generation who thought CDs were way cool, and now I have this little tiny thing that holds hundreds of CDs worth of music. Why did I wait so long to get one of these? I don't know.

So what was your favorite present this year?

Merry belated Christmas!

We spent Sunday evening through yesterday morning at my grandmother's house, on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. I always enjoy visiting her, but especially at Christmas, because I know I'm going to get to see my cousins. (The only downside is that she has no internet!)

I have eight cousins, and I got to see all of them this year. I'm not sure when that last happened! We had a lot of fun visiting and joking with each other. I got to play my Lord of the Rings Trivial Pursuit game with my cousin Amy, the only person I felt relatively sure would beat me. She did. We laughed a lot. I was also thrilled to see that Amy has lost about 100 pounds so far after her gastric bypass. She is looking great.

So now it's back to the old grind. I've got to get the kids' breakfast and then start school. We took two weeks at Thanksgiving - well, really three because I was sick for a week - so there's no Christmas break in this homeschool!

SPF - Holiday edition

It's Friday again, and here's Random & Odd's SPF assignment!

1. One decoration. I went to an ornament exchange with my mom's club once, about eight years ago. I got this one, and held on to it tightly lest someone snatch it away from me. Christmas and coffee - how perfect is that?

2. One gift. Pretty, isn't it? This was wrapped by my seven year old, for my four year old. He used about six pieces of paper and some rather long strips of packing tape. What's in it? Coal. Isn't that sweet?

3. Something stuffed in a stocking. I tried several things with no success, so I'm skipping this one. I'll come look at yours, though, if you played!

You're a mean one...

Click here to hear the most awesome version of the Grinch song ever recorded. (This is for you, Cheeky!) Oh how I wish I could see them in concert this Christmas.

WBW - I'm so tired

The lovely TKW is wishing she could sleep through the madness of the holidays, so we're doing pictures of sleeping today. This is the first one I could find, and so here it is.
This is me on a tour bus somewhere in the Spanish countryside. I traveled there with my grandmother after I graduated high school. For some reason, she thought it would be fun to take a picture of me sleeping. Notice the Walkman. This was 1988 and I was cool. That big white thing in the foreground is my purse. What? I had to have somewhere to put all my cassette tapes!

If you'd like to read a fictional story about a girl touring Spain in 1988, click on Spanish Summer chapter one over in my sidebar. It's not about me. Really.

And finally, I'd like to wish a very happy birthday to my hubby! Happy birthday, hon!

Did you play?

Can you comment?

I had the worst time commenting on other people's blogs yesterday. Plus I only got one comment here. Any time I only get one comment on a picture of my boys, I know something must be wrong. So I'm blaming this on Blogger. If you ever want to comment and the Blogger comments aren't working for you, just click next to Trackback down there, where it says either Say something or if somone already has, it says (x) along for the ride. That's Haloscan. That will work for you.

So, I was writing my annual Christmas letter last night (or really bi-annual at this point because I never did it last year), and I realized that in order to remember what we did this past year, I had to use my blog archives. Good thing I wrote it all down, huh? I actually really enjoyed reading a bunch of my past posts. I think I might go read the archives of some other people later and see what they did this year.

I also realized that up until May we didn't do much of anything. And I remember feeling really stressed and bummed out the first part of the year. So my New Year's resolution for this coming year is to go do more stuff. And of course, blog about it, because apparently this blog has become my memory. Scary, isn't it?

When you take 30 pictures...

...you're bound to get one good one. Here are my cuties!

SPF

Kristine's SPF assignment this week is as follows:

1. Your Roof This is the roof over the new room we've been building since before this picture was taken. I love the weather vane. Except it squeaked rather loudly, but Hubby climbed up there and lubricated it. So now I don't keep saying, "What is that weird noise?" Well, I do, but now it's usually the kids or something and not the weather vane.

2. Your ‘hood (you can do sweatshirt, your neighborhood, your car…) My 'hood looks much like this. This is my neighbor's yard, but it could be just about any yard on our street. Everyone has a couple acres, and most houses have a barn and a horse or two. We don't have a horse, but we do have a barn, so if you know any homeless horses, send them over.


3. Something you would not want to run into that is in your house.

The dreaded chocolate cake hands! Sometimes I feel like I spend all day dodging sticky fingers and dirty faces. Repeat after me: Mommy is not a giant walking napkin!

So, did you play?

We didn't really need two bathrooms, did we?

Accidents happen, and are of course an inevitable part of life. How we deal with them tends to reveal quite a bit about our character under stress. So, let's say you're four years old, and you have a bathroom accident. The messy kind. What do you do?

A. Clean it up as best I can and then get help
B. Realize that it's too much for me to clean and get help right away
C. Begin to clean it up and then leave the rest for later
D. Begin to clean it up, and then decide it would be easier to lock the room and never use it again

Would you like to guess what my four year old did? We were on our way out the door for church, and I went into the downstairs bathroom to put on my makeup. The door had been locked, but wasn't pulled shut, so I pushed it open and stepped into the room. And into something messy. It was everywhere. Apparently he tried to clean it up with one of my good towels. Then he decided to just clean himself and leave the floor. Finally, he locked the door and shut it.

When questioned, it seems he honestly thought, in his four-year-old logic, that if he just locked the door, no one would ever use that room again. Hubby spent forty-five minutes helping him clean it up. Then he hosed down my towel, and we threw that and the bathroom rugs in the washer. Needless to say, we never made it to church last night. But I'd say the boys still learned a valuable lesson in the right and wrong thing to do when they have an accident of any type. And I learned to always look before stepping into a locked bathroom.

WBW - Toothless

Hey, everybody! This is my 600th post! Man, I talk a lot. Anyway...





Today's WBW, courtesy of the lovely TKW, is all about those cute toothless grins we've sported in the past. I don't know when this photo was taken, but I know I was six, so I'm guessing sometime in the spring of '77.
Too cute. This was not at Christmas time, but apparently I did ask the Easter Bunny for new front teeth. And if TKW ever asks for buck-tooth before-braces shots, you'll see exactly what I mean.

So, did you play?

Ode to my Hoover Floormate

The kitchen tiles lay silent
and dark, all in a row,
the beauty of their whiteness
hidden far below.
Only two days past
I cleaned this floor,
but I don't hesitate.
The time has surely come for
My trusted Hoover Floormate.

With four boys in my house,
and sometimes the neighbor's daughter,
it seems I have to clean this floor
more often than I oughter.
But birthday cake crumbs
and muddy footprints
cannot remain on my tile
without me feeling sick inside,
my stomach filled with bile.

And so I get my lean machine,
filling it up with soap.
The sleek lines and feel of the handle
always fill me with such hope.
I switch it on to "dry pickup"
and suck the crumbs away,
much faster than a broom would be,
not one crumb gets away.

Then flipping the switch to "scrub,"
I watch as each and every tile
is lovingly polished and cleaned for me.
My face breaks into a smile.
Now one last step remains for me,
I must be quick in doing it,
for boys don't like clean tile floors,
and will do their best to ruin it.

I flip the switch to "wet pick up"
and squeegee my tile floor dry,
leaving nothing but a shine.
A tear comes to my eye,
Not because my floor is clean,
Though in front of me that is true,
But because while I worked, behind me,
Four boys came running through.
And much like a field of fresh white snow,
must be walked upon when seen,
Four sets of muddy footprints
prove there's no such thing as clean.

My baby is two!

My baby is officially two years old! We celebrated his birthday over the weekend with gifts and cake. He thoroughly enjoyed all the attention, especially the singing of Happy Birthday, which he encouraged us to sing over and over again while he grinned at us with his chocolate-cake-covered face! He goes for his checkup today, so I'll update with his stats and stuff later.

I also considered it a very good sign that I was able to hold our assistant pastor's newborn and not feel the slightest twinge of baby fever. She's very sweet, but I just found myself very glad not to be the one to have to nurse her, dress her in four layers because it's cold outside, wake up with her at 2 a.m., change her entire outfit every time she poops, and all that other fun stuff that comes with having a newborn. No thanks. I will, however, happily babysit her if they want.

You must watch this!

I just found this Rockapella video on YouTube. Watch it now!



Aren't they the best? And here's one for the holidays (amateur video - not quite as good).

The problem with vacation

The biggest problem with vacation is that you have to come back to reality. It doesn't help that I've been sick since we got home. Add in a two-day migraine, and really, all I've been doing is lounging around in bed, and getting up periodically to feed the kids. I know we have to get back into our school routine, but when I feel so lousy, I just don't see any point in fighting them over math or reading.

One of my favorite things on the cruise was the karaoke bar. There were actually people who brought their own music! Those were the good ones. Then there were the American Idol rejects, who thought they were great and were really frighteningly bad. And then there was everyone else, not great, but not horrible. That was me. I'm not used to singing without a monitor - I couldn't hear myself at all. So I know I sounded not-so-great. But it was fun!! And the final night, I even got Hubby to get up and sing "Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer" with me. Now that I'm home, I find myself looking at my watch around ten p.m. and thinking, "If we were on the ship, we could go to karaoke now."

I actually have a karaoke microphone that plugs directly into the television. Maybe I'll institute karaoke night here at home.

Macarena cool

We recently saw the movie RV (which I highly recommend - hilarious!) In one scene, the father is showing the family the slide-out. He pushes a button and one section of the room slides out to make the interior of the RV larger. He says, "Isn't that cool?" And his teenage daughter says, very sarcastically, "Macarena cool."

On our fouth cruise night, the waiters in the dining room all gathered around to lead everyone (or at least everyone who wanted to participate) in dancing the Macarena. How cool is that? Yeah. Macarena cool.

Food, food, and more food

Lest any of you doubt the temptations that beset me as I enjoyed my five day cruise in the sun of the Caribbean (POTC: Dead Man's Chest out today on DVD!!), let me show you some of the culinary delights offered up to us:

A ship made of fruit. Honestly, I don't think anyone touched this to actually eat, but isn't it pretty to look at?

Some sort of weird tower of melon balls. I'm not sure what they were stuck into. They were yummy, though. More beautiful food art. That white flower in the center of the picture? Food. Everything here except the basket is some type of bread. Ah, the dessert table. Hey, stop drooling on your keyboard. That piece of cake she's cutting is for me. No, I didn't eat the whole thing. The sign said "Chocolate Mint Cake" but it was just plain chocolate, and a little dry at that. Not to mention it was a huge slice! Check out the chocolate art surrounding the cake on the left!

And just for Tracy, here's another towel animal.

Yippee

I now have the traditional just-got-back-from-vacation cold. I suppose it's better than getting a cold while on vacation, but still.

Cruise part one - lots o' pics

We had such an amazing time on our cruise! I wish it could have gone on for another week, but alas, we had to get off the ship and come back to reality. So, since I'm still feeling all relaxed, I'll just show off some pics today, and I'll tell some stories next week.

This is the top of the ship's atrium going under the bridge as we left Tampa Bay.

Here's our ship, the Inspiration, anchored outside Grand Cayman. The holes in the side are where we got on the little tender boats to go ashore.
This is part of the waterfront of Georgetown, Grand Cayman.
Lots of fishies swimming in the clear blue water.One of the towel animals our cabin steward left on our bed every night. I'm thinking it's a rabbit, but I'm not totally sure.

So, I'll share more pictures next week when I get a little more organized. Have a great weekend!