Wordless Wednesday: It's five o'clock, and now you know where to find me...

From boohoo to yahoo...

Thing Two is going on a field trip Wednesday. While I volunteered to chaperone, I learned they already had enough parents asking to go, and not enough space on the bus for all of us willing and able parents.

Initially I was rather sad. I know, I'm a freak but I rather enjoy these adventures with my kids. I get to see a side of them that I don't often get to be a part of.

My sadness turned to happiness today when I heard the weather forecast. It ain't pretty!
Ha! That will teach them to turn away the Volunteer of the Year for 2007!
(insert evil snicker, sneer!)

Saturday Funny

Thanks Dad for the morning laugh ( somethings are just funny no matter which team you prefer)

Little Things

Happiness sometimes comes from the little things in life. And while none of these events warrant a shout it from the roof tops, they have still put a smile on my face. Today, I"m smiling for several reasons...here's just a couple happy things from this week

• After 7 years of OT on his IEP, Thing One graduated from services
• The cold I thought I was catching from Thing Two seems to be either a mild variation or allergies. Either way makes me happy because I'm tired of the germs and grateful to finally be feeling like the worst has passed us by
• That adorable nephew of mine, Baby E is going to be a big brother come August. Yeah, a new little baby to love on!
• The days seems longer, the cold stretches seem shorter and I really feel Spring is on its' way!

So, what has put that smile on YOUR face? Remember...family blog ladies...keep it G-rated!

Wordless Wednesday: Opening Soon

Anyone want to join me at the movies this weekend?

Sleeping Through the night

Those night time wake ups were my least favorite mommy task when they were little. And when they are sick, the thing I dread the most are those middle of the night shout outs for help. You never know what you'll discover when you answer the little things cry at 0200.

But, the past two nights have been restful for most of us. Thing Two continues to cough on and off throughout the night but I am hopeful that the worst is now behind us.

And if that isn't cause for celebration than perhaps this is: apparently spell checker is back in working order. Factor in a relatively clean house, mostly caught up on laundry and a forecast for some practically Spring like weather and well...we're all smiles around here!

Wordless Wednesday: What a difference a week makes

This is SO not what he looks like this week. Suffice to say, we're still knee deep in tissues and we've added another member to the "Cougha-palooza 08" tour. I'd say Calgon take me away...but who has had time to disinfect the darn tub?

In the middle of the night..

Billy Joel might go walking in that river of dreams...but for us, well Thing Two awoke in the middle of the night with a fever, the stuffy nose and a very hungry tummy (he was too tired last night to eat his favorite dinner: steak!). Being the sweet child that he is, he said "I'm sorry mommy but I"m just so very hungry". I got up, fed him, drugged him (Advil and cold medicine) and sent him back to bed. He's still feverish this morning. Poor fella! He looks just pitiful.

And then there is Thing One. He too appears to have a cold which suits him just fine. He gets to watch more t.v. this way. I asked him "Do you have a fever, son?" for which in classic Thing One fashion he answers with a "Yes, but don't worry, I can hold it in!". Yeah...I bet you'd like to hold onto that fever through CSAP season! Busted, he found himself taking some medicine this morning as well!

So I find myself not feeling all that inspired to do much of anything except snuggle with my fellas. They are getting too grown up to want to huddle and cuddle on the couch anytime except when they are down and out with a fever. So, this momma has to catch her snuggles when she can.

For now you'd best avoid our house as we seem to have fallen prey to the countless germs out there in that big old world of ours...Stay healthy or at least keep your cabinets stocked for those middle of the night wake up calls!

Something's missing..

Yep, I got enough of my domestic duties completed that I"m treating myself to some time in the craft shack. These pictures are from the summer of 06 (lest you think I"m all caught up...hardly). But something is indeed missing...what could it be?

Ah yes, Danielle, you should move here...doesn't it look almost as good as your beaches?

Gettin' Lucky...

I find myself chuckling over the idea that as we get older, and we move into different chapters of our lives, the phrase "getting lucky" takes on a new or different meaning.

Today, I got lucky.
Yep, with the Things at school and the Hubby at work, right in the middle of the day I found myself getting lucky.

You see...there was nobody in line at Super Walmart! How's that for getting lucky, eh?

So, tell me...how did you get lucky today? (but please note, those silly Things like to read over my shoulder on the blog so try to keep it kid friendly...mind you these Things routinely watch the Simpsons and hear their momma call bad drivers all sorts of naughty names, so you do have a little extra leeway compared to what some kids are exposed to).

Swiper

Hey, who stole my "get up and go?"
I had a very productive day yesterday and if the momentum kept up through today, I'd be organized enough and the house would be clean enough that I could possibly justify some time in the craft room or on the couch with a good book this weekend.

But this morning, I'm dragging. I'm just a big 'ole couch blob wishing for another delayed start (yesterday's was so sweet and probably how I got my day started on the right foot).

So, please if you borrowed the motivation I had yesterday, please return it...I NEED IT!

Wordless Wednesday

*is really hard when it falls right after 12 on the 12th

12 on the 12th: All in a day's work...

Ouch: over a week since I tried to rip my nail from the bed. Trust me, there is pain involved when someone says "I broke a finger nail!"

Wishful Thinking: them weather men lied to me...told me it might snow but oh no, not even a flurry . I so wanted at least a delayed start.

For some reason it feels much colder. Oh yeah, the wind. It's been so stinkin' windy this winter it reminds me of Wyoming. In fact, the wind blew out the pilot light last night. A shout out of thanks to my wonderful and handy husband who discovered the problem and I'm pretty sure has corrected the mechanics involved that allowed it to happen in the first place.
Past Due...what can I say, even us Martha's are late in returning our stuff

Pay Day: or at least make the deposit so we'll be ready for pay day.It ain't just our cars that need re-fueling!
Still earning my title as Volunteer of the Year!
If I must...off to work I go...

False Advertising: the package insert looked much prettier!

Sometimes you just got to know when to fold...and call for reinforcements in the kitchen department.

The BIG day is almost here and his box is ready (and yes, he did that all himself...I even, gasp, let him use my Cricut!)

What a perfect way to end a long day.....while I don't want to jinx anything, the reluctant reader seems a bit less reluctant these days...

My problem with larger class sizes...

It isn't that I worry about what type of quality teaching can occur with that many kids in the class. Nope, the real problem with my boys having 23 and 22 kids in their class is that we have found ourselves making 45 pixi pops!
Whine over, they did turn out cute didn't they? and oh so very easy...

If I must...a meme

I've been in a funk all week...and would really rather skip playing along with this most recent game of tag...but oh well, it isn't like I"m inspired to do much else.

Here are the rules:(1) Link to the person that tagged you.(2) List
the rules on your blog.(3) Share six non-important things/habits/quirks about
yourself.(4) Tag six random people at the end of your post by linking to their
blogs.(5) Let each random person know they have been tagged.

I was tagged by so many of you, that it just seems rude not to play along. Thanks to you, you and you for making me feel part of the fun. The rules are above. But, you've already read them if you are this far in my entry.

Six facts you say? Random?

So, things like

1. I didn't make my bed yesterday morning and had not an ounce of guilt for doing so. I also did something else rather naughty yesterday but I'm not going to tell you what it was. You'll have to guess. And again, little if any associated guilt for doing so.

2. Old bitties don't retire, they go to work at JCPennys at Southlands.

3. Just when you think your children are outgrowing something, they surprise and are more excited about the cheesy Chinese New Year dragon we take to school year in and year out than ever before. Go figure?

4. I leave the caps off of things and cupboards/doors open. Annoying as hell, I know, just ask my hubby but I just don't seem to notice these minor details. Of course, if I go to your house and see your top off the toothpaste I'll think all sorts of snarky things about you, but just don't look back at me, ok?

5. This is harder than I thought, especially since the rest of you have pointed out how spell check is all dorked up. Now you'll all know how bad I am at English and grammar. Oh, but my hubby could have told you that. He's been known to send me sweet emails pointing out an error on my blog. Isn't he special? Some gals get flowers, chocolate...but nope, I get "hey, you mispelled bolg". I"m the luckiest girl in the world because he's got my back!

6. It is a good thing indeed that my hubby doesn't have the gift of gab or a talent for being catty like I do...because if he started to talk, none of you would like me that much! See he does protect me from more than just my spelling mistakes. He's a good egg...and in fact, that adorable rodent on my last entry? He sent it to me...knowing how I don't care much for the species, he made sure to find a greeting with the cutest rat out there.

Whew...this is not my best work...but it is done. Oh but wait, I have to tag some others. You know, I'm not going to tag anyone. You see, another random truth about me is I like to modify whatever assignement I've been given. Must be that need for control...but regardless...this tagging and meme stuff stops here. :)

While not a fan of the rodent...

I'll have to make an exception for the year...today we begin the year of the Rat. May it be a prosperous and healthy one for you and your families!

Wordless Wednesday

Thanks for looking out for me, Colleen-O.

I'm here and being back to work...well, it is indeed a grind?

Oh wait, this was supposed to be a wordless entry...but it still counts if my words aren't worth reading, right?

More to follow...once I find something worth saying! :)

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?)