Crisis Management...

Last night...a terrible thing occured here at our house.
I discovered, after the kids were in bed and hubby was out of town...that we were totally out of diet coke.

OMG: what type of household am I running?
I"m going to have to turn my Martha card in if I keep up with this nonsense!

Wordless Wednesday: Worth reading

And then there was one

day left before we all return to reality.
Yes, my children have been off of school since before Christmas.
Yes, that does add up to 5 weeks off. Remember, it is year round school so they won't get a traditionally long summer vacation. Just a sort of long winter break, with a sort of long summer break and two mid-year breaks. In the end, it all adds up to the same amount of time off, it just seems like they are out of school more often than traditional kids.

I think we're ready. They say they are ready. I've got an assortment of projects that have gotten set aside because of the "thing factor" (mostly paperwork that I'll take any excuse to procrastinate on doing). I need them to be gone so I can get to these projects.

But I know that I'll miss them. When they are in school, we tend to see only their less positive attributes. Thing One has really matured lately. Will I still notice this when he's tired, cranky and probably more anxious? Thing Two is much less dramatic (was that really my same child who asked calmly for help removing a splinter?). Will I still recognize him when he's put into situations where he feels less confident?

I shall force myself to remember how delightful my kids really can be when reality comes crashing in tomorrow morning at 0800. But for now...I hope that today really drags along slowly...so I can either savor it all...or be so totally annoyed with their antics that I'll be ready to send them packin'!

Sunday Funnies

This writers strike means there is more channel surfing going on than usual at our house on a Sunday evening. Somehow, Hubby just paused the remote on a Dancing with the Stars episode (rerun I think since it had Lisa Rinna in the clip?).

Immediately, Thing One chimes in with a very excited and enthusiastic "Oh, I've heard of this show". To which he quickly followed up with that pre-teen sneer of "It sucks!" As parents we start to do a silent high five as we can think of nothing more distressing than to have our oldest, slightly quirky kid become fascinated with ballroom dancing.

No sooner have we recovered from his remarks does the younger Thing join in with his "Eeewww....you can see her...wait she doesn't have a dilly dink does she?" He goes on to do some bizarre school boy dance move that makes me realize we should consider dance lessons before prom rolls around. Remember Elaine and her dancing on Seinfeld? Well suffice to say, she has nothing on Thing Two's ability to bust a move! Lord help us all!

JUNO

Go.See.It!

You won't be disappointed, I promise.



And yes, I am an uber-geek, as I got in the car, drove myself to the movie and watched it...without anyone else.



OK, yeah, I did have my fingers crossed that nobody would recognize me as I sat there all alone. But sometimes you just feel like going to the movie and not waiting for everyone else's schedules to line up just so that we could all go together.

You know it is going to be a good day when...

Your morning pot of coffee turns out perfect!
I mean just right...not too strong, not too weak...just right!
Not much out there beats that, now does it?

Wordless Wednesday: WWJD?

Hey, nobody said it had to be a picture I take. And this is just plain funny!

Toy ESP

Have you ever noticed how just when you think it is safe to purge some forgotten toy, the children re-discover the pleasure of playing with it?



Grrr...I was re-arranging the toy area this past week (I'm trying to reform my FlyLady failures) and thought "pretty soon, I can get rid of these last few giant pieces of plastic".



I swear those Things read my mind because guess what they've been playing with non stop today? Yep! This!

House Arrest

It seems quite a bit can be accomplished when your main mode of transportation isn't available and you find yourself under House Arrest!

Enjoy!

When did I get old?

Earlier this week, I was visiting with friends and we were talking about shoes. Not like the girls from Sex in the City and chatting up fancy shoes. Nope, we were talking about comfortable, sensible shoes and which brands help tired aching feet the best. The lone 20-s0mething at the table looked perplexed as I teased that her days of buying based on looks alone will come to a screeching halt soon enough.

At that point, I wondered when did I get old?

Tonight I'm faced with another truth that comes with getting older. The reality that some of us will be called Home way before we are ready. Tonight, a childhood friend of mine is saying her final goodbye to her twin brother . He leaves behind a loving family, and really didn't have time to get old (even if he had discovered the benefits of sensible shoes)

May God Bless Cathy and her family.

Wordless Wednesday: Title: Fly Lady Drop Out

ISO:

Domestic inspiration and motivation. If you happen to have an extra ounce to share, would you please send it my way. If you are in need of laziness, give me a ring as I've got several extra cups to share this morning!

12 on the 12th

I'm trying something new this year. It is an idea I got from another blogger and it looks like a fun way to take a snapshot view of the year, just one day a month. We'll see how far I get. Here is my first attempt at 12 on the twelfth.

0615: Coffee. I so missed my Bunn super fast coffee pot. Although the condo did supply us with good Starbucks it just wasn't as quick to brew as my pot.
0715: Must I really unpack? And yes, that is a Thing hiding. Apparently I took too many pictures while on vacation because they both shrieked when they saw me with my camera this morning. We got home around 7pm last night but we just dumped the suitcases in the middle of the family room and called it a night. Flying is not my favorite part of vacation.
0845: Load one done, ready to rotate.

0930: on the way home last night, the check engine light lit up. Joy Joy Joy. Luckily Hubby was able to figure out the problem and we think all I need to do is get the oil changed (on the to-do list for Monday).

1015: Yet another Uh Oh. Somehow Thing Two's glasses got misplaced while we were playing at the Beach. Need to stop by the doctor's office to pick up a copy of the prescription. But they are too expensive to buy a new pair there. We'll head over to that other place...

1230: Why yes, they were ready in pretty close to an hour. He does look rather Harry Potter -like doesn't he?

1245: Got Mail? Sadly, while it was a bucketful, most of it was junk

1245: except for a back ordered item for me. Yep, I'm keen on my new keens.

1430: With the Things busy playing the Wii and Hubby off bonding with Maria, I snuck downstairs to play a little on my own. Oh come on, do you really think that is a picture from last Sunday's trip to the beach? How big of a geek do you think I am? These are from last Spring. Sheesh...

1500 Who could resist buying from someone as cute as Little Miss Jess? And fear not, I've saved some of my ordering for some other scouts I know in the 'hood. You come a ringing, I'll be buying. .
1745: The Sigh heard round the world. Thing One, the last remaining Chang boy who doesn't eat rice...decided he'd try it and guess what? He liked it. Let the celebrating begin.

1815: Did someone say celebrate? I'm all set to kick back and catch up with my gossip addiction and sip a cold one. Anyone care to join me? It is indeed good to be back home where we belong!

Bazillions of Brazillans...

Tonight's title is brought to you by Thing Two. We returned to the park this afternoon (after spending the morning hanging out poolside with Grandpa) to discover that there were even more people at the park today than yesterday. And poor Thing Two, his favorite ride, Rip Saw Rapids (a super charged log ride, soaking type) had over an hour wait. He commented to me "how many Brazilians are there here? Like a Bazillion?" But he was a trooper and decided he really liked this ride so we'd give it a shot and wait. Luckily, the predictions were off by about 60% and we soon realized that while there were lots of people, the lines still moved quickly and we managed to do the things we wanted to.

We did find the original Things and the park people took a cute picture of the foursome...only they wanted to charge me way beyond even my comfort zone for that picture, so you are stuck with my rendition of the troublesome four. The background is white because of some trick photography that they do with blue screens and such.

We have winded up our adventures at the park. Sure, we can still go back if we felt so inclined. But, I'm too old for that much walking, and waiting that comes with taking your young uns to an amusement park. I'm ready to shift gears and soak in the sun and relax a bit. That's the part of vacation us old farts really enjoy!

Except for the Brazilians...

We would have had the park to ourselves...except for those Brazilians (and other assorted folks from lands far from here). And let me tell ya, there were lots of them. Way more than I expected. But all in all, we had a pretty good time at Universal Studios: Orlando.

The Things and I agree while it wasn't our all time favorite (that honor remains with the folks at Legoland), it was a pretty good day.

Again, am low on words...so here are a couple photos.

Tomorrow: we'll head back. Why not? When you buy one day's ticket you get to play all week... so even if I didn't have the best day ever, I'm way too frugal to let this opportunity pass me by. I just hope the Brazilians head elsewhere....

The Trouble with GPS...

For those that have any sort of GPS unit, you know that at times the voice can be a bit annoying. Apparently, even our usually tuned out child noticed this feature. As "Sarah" suggested we "prepare to turn left", Thing One shouted from the backseat, in practically the same annoying tone "Prepare to SHUT UP!"
So yep, we're having a grand time here in FL.

But, I'm running out of steam to go into the details. The past two nights I've gone to bed on Mountain time and woken up at East coast time. Do the math: I'm shorting myself of a couple hours of much needed sleep each night.

Instead: enjoy a picture or two...more to follow when I"m not so sleepy...

So Long Folks

While the Things seem to make the most of living here in the frozen tundra, we've decided to pack our bags and head out in search of sunshine that comes with warmth this time of year. Of course, according the weather reports I'm hearing, we've been warmer than FL these past couple of days. Oh well...we can't turn back now as we've made that fatal parenting error of already telling the kids. Can you imagine if we told them nope, you don't get to visit with Grandpa, play in the ocean and meet the REAL Thing One and Thing Two? Yeah, it wouldn't be a pretty sight that is for sure.

Fear not, I'll have the stuff to update the blog on the road...well, at least the necessary equipment. One never knows when the mood will strike. Sort of like scrapbooking. For which I"ll finish up this post by sharing the first layout of 2008! See, now doesn't this look like more fun than sledding, skating or making candles with kids? (wink wink, where was our invite chimes in the neglected sister wives?)