Emma starts with M

Ack. Sorry for the lack of posting yesterday but I was BUSY!! Kimberly had an appointment with her psychiatrist in the morning. She's gained 10 pounds in the last 6 months, so a little tweak to her medicine was in order. She has been doing very well lately, hopefully this adjustment will help with the issues she is still struggling with. We are also starting therapy next week. She's really excited. She gets to see the doctor who evaluated her for learning disabilities. In 4 weeks she fell in love with him. She liked him so much that she wanted him to be her step-dad. When my mom explained to her that would mean mommy would have to divorce daddy, she decided that maybe that wasn't the best idea after all. Then she decided that he should marry her 3rd grade teacher, her favorite of all time. 3rd grade teacher's husband might not approve of that either, but I can see the connection she is making. These two people understand her. They took the time to get to know her, to help her, and to make her feel good about herself. Obviously they should be together, Right? So next week we start therapy to work on a couple things that she's struggling with. Mainly very rigid thinking. If she gets an idea in her head, it's stuck there like cement. And there is no convincing her otherwise, because that would make her wrong, and she doesn't like to be wrong. As an example, in preschool she told me that her classmate Emma's name started with "M". I said no it starts with "E". She said "No mom, it starts with M, and then pronounced the sylables very sharply 'EM UH', see mom, it starts with M". I'm not kidding you when I tell you I argued this point with her daily for about 3 months. Then finally, realizing the futility of arguing with a 4 year old said "You're right, Emma starts with M" and that was the end of it. Except for the fact that she's not 4 anymore and she is still just as rigid in her thinking. The other day she was convinced that 9x7 was 62, and when her teacher tried (repeatedly) to convince her that it was in fact 63, said something to the effect of "you need to get it through your head.....". That earned her a detention. It's time to work on our rigid thinking.

After all that, I did laundry, it was Washing Machine Wednesday after all, and I need clothes for my trip this weekend. So now I'm off. For me today is Travel Sized Thursday. I need to go buy little shampoos and conditioners for my trip.

Toilet Tuesday

I did so good on Sunday that I gave myself Monday off too. Since the mopping was done and all. Did you remember to mop yesterday? Instead of house cleaning chores yesterday I went shopping. Got some new clothes for my trip this weekend, and new shoes. Oh how I desperately needed new shoes. Yay.

Today is Tuesday and today we are supposed to clean our toilets people. I'll do mine as soon as I get back from work. Which should be in like an hour. Does it count as work if you only do it a couple hours a week? If your last paycheck was $26? Part of me would like a new job, with more hours, more responsibility, and of course, more pay. The other part of me wonders when I would have the time to do that, and doesn't want to get tied down to a rigid work schedule. I kinda like the fact that I can ask for 4 days off and get them without question so I can fly off on a whim to see my hubby. That part of my job rocks.

The first part of me feels like a failure for not finishing my degree and for not having a "career" by this point in my life. The problem with that is I've never been able to decide what I want to do. I've dabbled in a lot of fields, and although there are things I have liked about all of them, there are also things I've hated enough to know that I don't want to spend the rest of my life doing them. Sometimes I'm so jealous of my husband who found a career that he loves and can do every day with happiness. I'm also so very thankful that his career makes enough money for me to continue to be indecisive.

So I'm off to work for a few hours and then I'm cleaning the potties.

Have a great day!!

I'm giving myself the rest of the day off

I managed to find some energy and mopped. Even though mopping is for Mondays, a Gatorade spill made it impossible for me to wait another day. That doesn't get any of the rest of you off the hook. If you haven't mopped in over a week, tomorrow is mopping day. I also vacuumed (why does that word have two u's in it?) the living room and my room, and washed my bedspread and all the rugs. I think that's enough for today. I get the rest of the day off.

I also made an appointment at the vet for my kitty who has decided the rugs make a much better potty than the cat box. That might be a sign of something bad, so he gets to go to the vet to get checked out. If it turns out that there is nothing wrong with him and he just likes the rugs better then maybe the trip to the vet will disuade him from wanting to keep using the rugs. Not that he is going to understand that's why he went or anything. A girl can hope right?

Should Be Sunday

Today is Sunday. There are lots of things I should be doing. The house has backslid into chaos the last few days, laundry is piling up again, and I need to prepare for the trip I'm taking to Michigan on Friday. Instead, I'm sitting here on the computer. I'm wondering where all my blog friends are, since nobody seems to be updating their blogs either. Maybe they are all busy doing the things they should be doing instead of blogging. Maybe I should take the hint.

I'm rationalizing my procrastination by telling myself that it's really early and I shouldn't even be awake right now. Tiff woke me up early, upset that the tooth fairy didn't come (again). The tooth fairy is a forgettful chick. Sometimes days go by before she shows up. Part of the problem is the fact that she only has a $5 bill in her wallet right now, but mainly she just keeps forgetting. She could scrounge up 4 quarters if she remembered. She has terrible short term memory though.

So for now I'm going to sit here, cruise the internet a little while longer, drink some coffee and try to wake up. Then I will try to do something productive. The painter is supposed to come back today to do some touch ups and if he's done early enough and the house is cleaned up enough, maybe I can treat myself to something fun. I need to get a haircut and a pedicure before my trip on Friday.

That's how we roll

What should you do while waiting for your food in a restaurant?

Take silly pictures with a stuffed duck of course!!

duck next to drink

duck is too short to drink

grandma photobombs duck
duck gets a boost
Kimberly and duck enjoy drinks together
Kimberly so excited to see duck

duck on shoulder
duck must have farted
silly duck

Random Pictures

These are my children wearing their new "feetsie" pajamas. They HAD to have them. Forget the fact that it only gets down to 75 degrees here in Hell Arizona. It's funny because Tiffany insisted that she loved these kinds of pajamas as a child and I distinctly remember her rolling around on the floor screaming, tearing at the feet any time I tried to put them on her. She rubs her belly button when she is sleepy and these jammies didn't allow access to the belly button. The only jammies I could get her to wear as a child were two piece long john type.

These are the cupcakes I made for Kimberly's beach themed birthday party. I finally figured out how to get them out of the new camera, so sorry they are about 3 weeks late. Cute huh?

And finally these are pictures that Jay took out in Michigan. He got himself a camera and went on a little nature walk.

Purchasing Sanity

Getting someone else to do stuff you need to do is a wonderful thing. Even if you have to pay them to do it. As you know I've been working hard trying to get my house cleaned up in such a way that I can keep it clean so people who might want to buy it and make me move can come look at it. I've done a pretty good job, but I'm exhausted and want to cry. There is still much to do. One thing is to finish painting the hallway and repaint a wall in my daughter's room which kinda got painted purple without the landlords permission. I know how to paint. I have all the painting supplies. Do I have the will and the energy to do it? No. So I hired someone. Ha! Usually I hate to hire anyone to do something that I know how to do. Why should I pay someone if I can do it myself for free? This time though, my sanity is worth the money. Soooo worth it. He will be here in a couple hours. I'm absolutely giddy.

What I am doing today is laundry. None got done over the weekend and I was running out of undies. The kids might need clothes to wear to school too. My dear friend Beth grounded herself the other day because of her terrible housekeeping skills so in her honor I declare it to be Washing Machine Wednesday and order all of you to do a load of laundry, or two. I'll try to figure out other catchy names for the other days of the week too, like how about Mopping Monday? Except my floor really needs mopped, I don't think I can wait until next Monday. Oooh, Toilet Tuesdays! Ok, that's all I've got for now.

Anniversaries

Today I have been married for 13 years. Yeppers, 13 years ago today the hubby and I drove to Vegas and got hitched. Reverend Gutierrez (complete with prison tats) married us at the Little White Chapel. You know, the one with the drive through. The one where Brittney Spears got married and then unmarried in a weekend. A bunch of other famous people got married there too, but we didn't really know that when we picked it. The chapel was decked out in pink velvet and fake brass. Fancy. The limo they sent to pick us up had a non working radio and windows. Yup, high class. As I walked down the aisle they played that song that Charter Hospital used to use for their commercials. I know it's also used for weddings, but all I can think of when I hear it is rehab, because that's what Charter Hospital was. I don't think Charter Hospital is around anymore, and I'm certain they haven't played those commercials since the early 80's, but whenever I hear that song "If you or a loved one is struggling with addiction, Charter Hospital can help" goes along with it in my head.

So in spite of the rather comical beginnings of our marriage, the hubby and I have stuck it out for 13 years. That's a really long time. I look back at the pictures of our wedding and we look like kids playing dress up. Me with braces still on my teeth holding the little bouquet that came in our package deal. We were kids. We have grown and changed and in a lot of ways become very different people than we were 13 years ago. Luckily we have grown together and become better people in those years. My hubby has grown into the most amazing man, husband, and father.

Last night he called me. It was 11:30 pm here, but it was already the 16th where he is 3 hours ahead. He had been out with his coworkers and had enjoyed a few alcoholic beverages. He proceeded to tell me how much he loved me, and wished me a happy anniversary, repeatedly. His words were a little slurred, but it was the most beautiful thing ever.

Weekly Summary

Until I get my life back it looks like this is going to be a weekly blog. You still love me right?

The sickening pace continues. Last week amongst all the daily swim practice, twice a week (yup you heard me twice) soccer practice, girl scout meetings, and PTSA meeting I got quite a bit of other stuff done too. I managed to drive to timbuktu to get a bed frame for my oldest child's bed, exchange a birthday gift for a different size, and stop at the fabric store on the way home on Monday. Tuesday I had coffee with Alisha in the morning, went to the bookstore, and then I went to the girl scout store and had lunch with my friend Jenn. Wednesday I cleaned up Kimberly's room and cleaned her carpets. Thursday I cleaned more carpets. Friday I worked and got to take Tiff to a soccer practice. She rewarded me by sitting there and refusing to do anything. I just about lost my freaking mind.

Here I must mention that on Thursday I decided it was a great day to quit smoking and Friday I discovered that I'm not going to be in my right mind for the next 5 days or so if you know what I mean. Yeah great timing, I know. So Tiff is just sitting there and refuses to practice and I'm wondering why I do this to myself. I run myself ragged taking the kids to all these activities THEY want to do, and they show their grattitude by sitting on their soccer balls refusing to participate. Oh this is just not right. So we leave practice early. We come home and I try to keep my head from exploding.

Saturday I'm up at the crack of dawn (well maybe not the crack of dawn, but 7:30 is early for me) and off to a parent meeting for my daughters swim team. It's all about what our responsibilities are as parents, fundraising, volunteering to help run meets, etc. There's a big push for people to volunteer to be stroke and turn judges and board members and guess what??? I didn't sign up for anything. Ha. I know, that's a first for me. The thing is, I will have to do something. All the parents are required to participate. Unlike all the other things I volunteer for that I'm not required to.

After the swim meeting I came home, packed up Tiff's room, cleaned her carpet and the carpet in the living room. Aimee worked on her room and can actually put shoes in her closet now. Amazing isn't it? So that's about it. I'm starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. With all the bedrooms pretty much emptied out of anything that is mess creating, carpets cleaned and things tidied, I think I'm ready to have people come look at the house.

Bad Bad Blogger

I know, it's been almost a week. Where is the witty commentary on life with three precocious children? I've been busy.

The landlord informed me that she is going ahead with trying to short sell the house. That means I have to get myself out of the little dream that I've been living that everything would work out fine and I wouldn't have to move. Beyond that I need to make the house presentable for people to come look at it. Not that I live in filth and squalor, but I have kids, and a short attention span. Short of my manic moments, things aren't always sparkling clean. So this week has been about cleaning and purging, making everything all pretty and tidy. Not to mention packing up at least 50% of our stuff because if the kids don't have it, they can't drag it out. The new rule in this house is you have 5 minutes to clean your room, anything left out gets put in a box and you can see it again when we move. Maybe we shouldn't have so much stuff. Does a 7 year old really need 50 stuffed animals?

In addition to the readying the house for sale project I spent 10 hours taking my oldest to and from swim practice. She's decided she's going to the Olympics in 4 years. It's my job to make sure she has the training to get her there. Not that I don't love the fact that she is better than me at the only sport I could ever do without injuring myself. I would have loved to go to the Olympics, but I was too lazy to try that hard for anything. My daughter on the other hand is your typical oldest child over achiever. She's gung ho about this Olympic thing even if it means all that practice and no time for friends, the mall, and dating. She actually told one of her friends that she didn't have time for a boyfriend, she was going to the Olympics. Something that makes an (almost) teen age girl swear off boys... sign me up!!

Oh and this week my ADD'er decided she wanted to try being on a glueten free/casein free diet to see if it would help her ADD. I told her it would mean no cookies, cake, or ice cream and she said if it would help her she wanted to try it. Okey dokey. She started the morning with some scrambled eggs and headed off to school happy as could be. I ran to the store and spent $30 bucks on special bread, special snacks, special non-milk milk. I packed her a lunch and took it to her at school. Inside her lunch I included a note telling her how proud I was of her. That being willing to give up some of her favorite foods to try and help her ADD was very mature. I said a bunch of other good mom, lovey stuff too, but I won't bore you with all that here. For dinner that night we stopped at Dairy Queen, probably not the best choice. She wanted a burger and had it without the bun. I let her get a slushy since her sisters were going to get ice cream with their meal for dessert. At this point she decided that this might be harder than she thought. I encouraged her to stick with it for a few weeks to give it enough time to see if it worked. Then she could make an educated decision about whether or not it was worth it to stay on the diet. The thing I've noticed is she seems to be eating double or even triple. The next day she had eggs again for breakfast. For lunch I made her PB&J on her special bread. Then she wanted some of the pulled pork we had for dinner the other night. She ate two bowls. For dinner she ate two burgers. I know, burgers two nights in a row, bad mommy. I promise tonight she will have some chicken, ok?

Add to that about 8 hours of doing PTA stuff for the school and another few hours working, you can see why I didn't have much time to blog. I think I can blog from my crackberry, but I haven't figured it out yet. Maybe I'll try to do that this week and then I can blog from swim practice.

I survived hell weekend

It's a special hell, but hell all the same. My youngest two daughters have birthdays one day apart. I have my little one to blame for that, being all impatient as she is, showing up a full three weeks early, being born the day before her sister's birthday. I remember stopping at the store on the way home from the hospital, my husband going inside to buy Kimberly a cake. We had taken her to Magic Mountian the weekend before in lieu of a birthday party, but even then we still thought the impending birth was a week away. I was scheduled to be induced a week later. I had labored only 6 hours with Kimberly and we lived 45 minutes away from the hospital, I was deathly afraid of giving birth to Tiff on the side of the freeway somewhere, so my doctor had agreed to induce me at 38 weeks. Well ya, Tiff has her own way of doing things, and 37 weeks it was.

So this past weekend I had a party for Tiff on Saturday and a party for Kimberly on Sunday. Two sets of invitations to send out. Two pinatas. Two cakes. Cleaning the house twice. I have to say it all went pretty well. A storm decided to show up in the middle of Tiff's party and I had to get all the kids out of the pool a little earlier than planned. Since we couldn't do the pinata outside, I ended up shaking all the candy out on my living room floor. All the kids were happy though, and that's all that matters. Tiff wanted a dog themed party, and a bone shaped cake. Since I'm not ready to play amatuer pastry chef, I made cupcakes and formed a bone shape out of them. Kimberly wanted a beach theme and I made the cutest cupcakes with brown sugar sand and beach themed buttons on top. I'll post some pictures soon, but I haven't uploaded them to the computer yet. I wanted to get on here and write because it's been days since I last posted, but I've been a little busy. Now you know why.