Friday, January 3, 2014
Mr.P the Smoooooth Operator
Here is a picture of what Mr.P and I juiced last night in preparation for today. When we were done, he asked if he could make a smoothie in our personal blender. He dumped a container of blueberry yogurt in, peeled a banana and put that in too. I suggested to him that he add a little milk to thin it and voila! I thought he wanted to drink it right away, but he wanted to put it in a jar and set it next to our juices for the morning. How cute is that?!
Battle of the Bulge
Can I just say that the screeching halt of a holiday food binge brought about by the new year diet is pure TORTURE. I decided to dip back in to juicing to help cleanse myself after the holiday eating. There was a time in my life that I was really into juicing. Jeremy and I had watched a great documentary called Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead (highly recommended, btw) and pretty much got up from the couch when it was over and went to buy a juicer. I went on a cleanse of pure juice for a very short while, I honestly can't remember now if it was 1 week or 2...I'm thinking 2. Then, went back to normal healthy eating and having juice now and then. Those who know me well, know that I'm more often than not, trying to eat healthy or drag myself to the gym. It's a constant battle, as it is with most people, sometimes food wins and sometimes I win. I actually did pretty good with the eating part until just a week or two before Christmas. I then gave in to the breads, the dips, the cheeses, the desserts, the rich foods, etc. It's time to pay the price.
Mr.P and I spent a while last night making a couple of juices for Jeremy, one for breakfast and one for lunch. I used to juice spinach and kale right in with the rest of the fruits and veggies that I was drinking, but this time I decided to do it different. We juiced all of the kale, alone, and then all of the spinach. I poured them into their own little 2oz containers and Mr.P wrote either a K or an S on the lid. Vegetable juice isn't the most lovely tasting thing in the world and the spinach and kale just made it worse, for me. I'd rather take it as a shot, kind of like wheat grass.
This is no fun, but I have two goals on my mind. I don't want to look like a rolly polly going down aisle at my sisters wedding on 2/16 (that's 44 days from today!) and my 40th birthday is coming up in April. I don't want a full face and a muffin top when I'm 40. lol Mmmm...muffin.
I'm normally pretty gung ho when I start out but this time seems so much harder! Maybe I need to watch that documentary again to get my mind on board.
Today, I've drank:
6 carrots
1 cucumber
2 celery stalks
2 Granny Smith apples
1 grapefruit
1/2 of a bunch of kale
and 1/3 of a bunch of spinach
I didn't wake up until 11, so I guess it's not that bad. I'm looking forward to having chicken for dinner! Good luck with your most difficult resolutions, dear reader. I hope they make you stronger.
Mr.P and I spent a while last night making a couple of juices for Jeremy, one for breakfast and one for lunch. I used to juice spinach and kale right in with the rest of the fruits and veggies that I was drinking, but this time I decided to do it different. We juiced all of the kale, alone, and then all of the spinach. I poured them into their own little 2oz containers and Mr.P wrote either a K or an S on the lid. Vegetable juice isn't the most lovely tasting thing in the world and the spinach and kale just made it worse, for me. I'd rather take it as a shot, kind of like wheat grass.
This is no fun, but I have two goals on my mind. I don't want to look like a rolly polly going down aisle at my sisters wedding on 2/16 (that's 44 days from today!) and my 40th birthday is coming up in April. I don't want a full face and a muffin top when I'm 40. lol Mmmm...muffin.
I'm normally pretty gung ho when I start out but this time seems so much harder! Maybe I need to watch that documentary again to get my mind on board.
Today, I've drank:
6 carrots
1 cucumber
2 celery stalks
2 Granny Smith apples
1 grapefruit
1/2 of a bunch of kale
and 1/3 of a bunch of spinach
I didn't wake up until 11, so I guess it's not that bad. I'm looking forward to having chicken for dinner! Good luck with your most difficult resolutions, dear reader. I hope they make you stronger.
Thursday, January 2, 2014
Ortho- Schmortho, They'll Never Notice
Wrong. We noticed.
Mr.P had an orthodontist appointment today. There are a few points that I want to cover about this appointment with the first one being that I was early. Not a huge deal, as I'm very rarely late to appointments at offices, but I thought it was newsworthy all the same. After all, it IS the first time I got to try out my On Time resolution, so, yay me. Now...let's move on to something more interesting.
This appointment was set for 11:00. We showed up and signed in at 10:55. Guess what time he was called back. 11:38!!! Whaaaat? They had sent an email the day before letting us know that things would most likely be running late at the office with the regular appointments and especially if there were any emergency bracket problems, but almost a 40 minute wait? That's crazy. I was telling Jeremy that if I had shown up that late for an appointment that they scheduled, I would be immediately REscheduled and a 20.00 no-show fee would be tacked on to my bill. Lucky for them, everyone still seemed to be floating on a holiday high, myself included, and no one seemed to be too bothered. I bet if we collected the phones and took a peek into all of our social media outlets, they would be plastered with grumbling posts on the lateness of the office and negative hashtags. lol #earlyforappointmentlateforwork #orthoslomo #waitinggame
So he finally makes it in and I sit in the waiting room, playing with my phone and wondering if the appointment will be a short or long one. It seems like 10 or so minutes go by and Mr.P pops in and tells me that 'she' needs me. The doc is a man, so I assume he's referring to one of the techs. I follow him and it takes him a second to find the lady that was working on him. We're kind of weaving in and out of the few hallways in the building and popping our heads in here and there. Finally, he sees her. You will never guess what the problem was. His wires were missing on both of his top and bottom teeth. What? Seriously? Let me look in there. Yes, no wires. Just brackets on each tooth with no wires connecting anything. To make matters worse, Mr.P tells me, in front of the tech, "I told you that they came out." At this point, my mouth kind of drops and I reply with an adamant, "No you didn't!" Don't you hate when kids do that to you? Little ones can be very honest, most of the time....well, when they aren't going to get in trouble for being dishonest by not just admitting that the wire came out and they didn't bother to tell anyone because, hey, who the heck is going to notice. Anyway, they can be quite honest, so at this point it was his word against mine, and of course, I'm babbling like an idiot about reasons why I didn't know, such as, why would we pay all of this money for you to have braces and not make a call to have a wire replaced? Otherwise, having brackets cemented on each tooth isn't doing a bit of good. Lucky for me, the little rat tried to take his dad down too, which gave me a little more leverage on my side of the story because listen to this. "I told Daddy and he just gave me a magnet to put on the floor and try to find it." Uh....yeeeeeaaaahhh. I actually do remember Jeremy giving him a magnet to find something on the floor once, but I doubt he knew it was a wire out of Mr.P's mouth. lol At this point, with all of the explaining and story tripping he was doing, he started to get tears in his eyes. The tech was very sweet to him and gently, but firmly, told him of the importance of letting us know when things aren't quite right with his braces. She got him all fixed up and he was feeling much better when we left. On the ride home, I asked enough questions to estimate that it was around Thanksgiving when the wire problems happened. Awesome. That's a lot of time lost. He doesn't realize that it's so much better to go through the annoying braces now than to deal with jacked up teeth later. I'm glad I went through it!
Mr.P had an orthodontist appointment today. There are a few points that I want to cover about this appointment with the first one being that I was early. Not a huge deal, as I'm very rarely late to appointments at offices, but I thought it was newsworthy all the same. After all, it IS the first time I got to try out my On Time resolution, so, yay me. Now...let's move on to something more interesting.
This appointment was set for 11:00. We showed up and signed in at 10:55. Guess what time he was called back. 11:38!!! Whaaaat? They had sent an email the day before letting us know that things would most likely be running late at the office with the regular appointments and especially if there were any emergency bracket problems, but almost a 40 minute wait? That's crazy. I was telling Jeremy that if I had shown up that late for an appointment that they scheduled, I would be immediately REscheduled and a 20.00 no-show fee would be tacked on to my bill. Lucky for them, everyone still seemed to be floating on a holiday high, myself included, and no one seemed to be too bothered. I bet if we collected the phones and took a peek into all of our social media outlets, they would be plastered with grumbling posts on the lateness of the office and negative hashtags. lol #earlyforappointmentlateforwork #orthoslomo #waitinggame
So he finally makes it in and I sit in the waiting room, playing with my phone and wondering if the appointment will be a short or long one. It seems like 10 or so minutes go by and Mr.P pops in and tells me that 'she' needs me. The doc is a man, so I assume he's referring to one of the techs. I follow him and it takes him a second to find the lady that was working on him. We're kind of weaving in and out of the few hallways in the building and popping our heads in here and there. Finally, he sees her. You will never guess what the problem was. His wires were missing on both of his top and bottom teeth. What? Seriously? Let me look in there. Yes, no wires. Just brackets on each tooth with no wires connecting anything. To make matters worse, Mr.P tells me, in front of the tech, "I told you that they came out." At this point, my mouth kind of drops and I reply with an adamant, "No you didn't!" Don't you hate when kids do that to you? Little ones can be very honest, most of the time....well, when they aren't going to get in trouble for being dishonest by not just admitting that the wire came out and they didn't bother to tell anyone because, hey, who the heck is going to notice. Anyway, they can be quite honest, so at this point it was his word against mine, and of course, I'm babbling like an idiot about reasons why I didn't know, such as, why would we pay all of this money for you to have braces and not make a call to have a wire replaced? Otherwise, having brackets cemented on each tooth isn't doing a bit of good. Lucky for me, the little rat tried to take his dad down too, which gave me a little more leverage on my side of the story because listen to this. "I told Daddy and he just gave me a magnet to put on the floor and try to find it." Uh....yeeeeeaaaahhh. I actually do remember Jeremy giving him a magnet to find something on the floor once, but I doubt he knew it was a wire out of Mr.P's mouth. lol At this point, with all of the explaining and story tripping he was doing, he started to get tears in his eyes. The tech was very sweet to him and gently, but firmly, told him of the importance of letting us know when things aren't quite right with his braces. She got him all fixed up and he was feeling much better when we left. On the ride home, I asked enough questions to estimate that it was around Thanksgiving when the wire problems happened. Awesome. That's a lot of time lost. He doesn't realize that it's so much better to go through the annoying braces now than to deal with jacked up teeth later. I'm glad I went through it!
Wednesday, January 1, 2014
Revival...again.
Ahhhh, the New Year Blog Revival. I can't tell you how often this has taunted me, but I'm telling you one year it will stick! When I hear of people who are just starting a blog, I always cheer them on but I also warn them that it is easier said than done. It takes much discipline to drop everything and write, even once a week. I envy those who are able to do it. Even writing a few excerpts can be rewarding, though. It's such a sense of accomplishment, especially when months, even years, pass and you are able to reread events and thoughts from long ago. I look back on those pictures of Mr.P and Sabrina drinking milk from coconut shells (one of my very early posts) and smile because I captured a moment in time that was our everyday life, not necessarily a big holiday that would normally be caught in pictures and social media posts. So here I am again, hoping to be more diligent than I have been in the past few years. This time, I've told myself that there is no need for a long, drawn out story...short and sweet will do just fine, so we'll see if that changes the game for me at all.
New Years was a good time, as usual. It wasn't a huge bash but just the right amount of people to make it laid back and fun. I spent midnight surrounded by my sweet, the kids (except for Social Sabrina, of course, who spent the night at a friends house) and very good friends. To be fair (because I know Vanessa will read this and complain), she and one of her friends came home early from a party that they were invited to because it turned out to be...lame. lol My parents popped in around 12:30, just for half an hour or so. They had went to a New Years party at their church that they joined. More on their move and settling in another blog on another day.
Jeremy and I are all partied out. Most of you realize how much work is involved with all of the preplanning and cleaning before a party. It's enough to wear you out before the actual party even happens! After the kids' class parties (yes, I'm room mommy for both Sabrina and Mr.P), hosting Thanksgiving, throwing my sister's bridal shower, our Christmas party, planning Christmas itself and our New Years party, we are exhausted with parties. We spent today, New Years, being lazy ALL DAY. I was surprised and relieved when Jeremy made breakfast and dinner, in his jammies, but hey, he did it and that was more energy than I had. lol It was actually really nice to do nothing for a whole day and have my husband do nothing as well. If you know him at all, you know that he normally can't spend the entire day doing nothing, and when I write 'can't', I mean it. He gets this itch that can't be relieved unless he does something like cleans the garage or works in the yard or some other labor that does nothing more for me than leave me feeling guilty until I get up and do something too. But today? Laziness won and I'm all smiles.
I've been thinking about resolutions for the past week or so. I make them more out of fun because so many times I just can't stick to them or I've set my goals too high. Here are some that I've come up with.
New Years was a good time, as usual. It wasn't a huge bash but just the right amount of people to make it laid back and fun. I spent midnight surrounded by my sweet, the kids (except for Social Sabrina, of course, who spent the night at a friends house) and very good friends. To be fair (because I know Vanessa will read this and complain), she and one of her friends came home early from a party that they were invited to because it turned out to be...lame. lol My parents popped in around 12:30, just for half an hour or so. They had went to a New Years party at their church that they joined. More on their move and settling in another blog on another day.
Jeremy and I are all partied out. Most of you realize how much work is involved with all of the preplanning and cleaning before a party. It's enough to wear you out before the actual party even happens! After the kids' class parties (yes, I'm room mommy for both Sabrina and Mr.P), hosting Thanksgiving, throwing my sister's bridal shower, our Christmas party, planning Christmas itself and our New Years party, we are exhausted with parties. We spent today, New Years, being lazy ALL DAY. I was surprised and relieved when Jeremy made breakfast and dinner, in his jammies, but hey, he did it and that was more energy than I had. lol It was actually really nice to do nothing for a whole day and have my husband do nothing as well. If you know him at all, you know that he normally can't spend the entire day doing nothing, and when I write 'can't', I mean it. He gets this itch that can't be relieved unless he does something like cleans the garage or works in the yard or some other labor that does nothing more for me than leave me feeling guilty until I get up and do something too. But today? Laziness won and I'm all smiles.
I've been thinking about resolutions for the past week or so. I make them more out of fun because so many times I just can't stick to them or I've set my goals too high. Here are some that I've come up with.
- TRY to learn a little bit of spanish. Spanish is hard!
- Make steps towards a life change. This has to do with me being ready for a change from the SAHM role that I've been blessed to lead. My kids are quite independent and self sufficient. Again, another blog for another day.
- Work on my spiritual growth...make it stronger. We all have peaks and valleys in our faith and I want to have an even stronger relationship with God than I do now. I'm going for a peakier peak :)
- Take more pictures! Boy did I get lazy with my SLR camera and I blame my cell phone. I'm going to try to be way better at using my SLR, learning about it, and maybe even taking a class on it. I've been told I have a knack a time or two. Maybe I do!
- Go greener! This one is driving Jeremy into the ground. lol I drive him crazy with my tree-hugging ways, BUT, unfortunately for him, I watched a documentary on plastic usage and its effect on our earth (I knew it wasn't looking good, but wow. You'd be shocked.), so back to things like bar soap we go! I have lots of changes in this area that we'll be implementing ;)
- Learn to make soap. You shouldn't be surprised after reading the above post. My friend, Jana, is going to help me make this happen. I'm excited!
- Learn to can. My sweet friend, Julie, is going to help me on this. She doesn't realize it yet.....unless she's reading this post.
- And yes, here it is, the ever-present body challenge. I'm not really that big into losing weight but I'm WAY into wanting a firmer self...beginning with tummy, booty and thighs, please. Did I just sing the song of every female who comes across this post?
- And one that I'm doing for my husband -- Being on time!! You have no idea how hard this one will be for me, but I'm going to really try. I know it probably drives Jeremy to constipation when I'm flying around at the last minute and we're late to our destination or even when I have something planned and I'm making adjustments at the last minute. I'm really going to try to work on this, for my husband.
So there you have it. That's quite a list! I'm sure I'll fall flat on my face with some but maybe I'll skyrocket with others and it will just become part of me. It never hurts to try!
Friday, May 17, 2013
Gluten Free Treat
Recently, one of my daughter's was diagnosed with having Morphia. It's a disease that can pop up here and there and it affects your skin. There's no cause behind it, but just to be on the safe and healthy side, and also because we just think it's a better way of eating, we decided to make her diet gluten free. This is just something we're trying to see if it will help. There's no documented evidence that it will, but I personally think that gluten is a root of many things that we don't realize yet.
I'm really not a fan of spending the extra money on gluten free boxed mixes, although I have been known to do that. It's all just so expensive! So just to add another card in your gluten free recipe rolodex, I came up with this.
Serving rice crispy treats in the nontraditional way is perfect for gluten free kids who would like to bring something comparable to cupcakes to a party without having to either, a) make gluten free cupcakes for all of the kids or b) bringing their own special cupcake while supplying the other kids with the regular kind.
All you need to do is make your favorite rice crispy treat recipe, put it in the refrigerator for 5-10 minutes so that they can be molded without melting down into a lump, butter those hands up, form balls that are big enough to fill the cupcake papers that you bought, and pop them in the papers. Voila! I think they're super cute and we get compliments on them every time we show up with them in hand. I mean, what nutso doesn't like rice crispy treats?! lol
I'm really not a fan of spending the extra money on gluten free boxed mixes, although I have been known to do that. It's all just so expensive! So just to add another card in your gluten free recipe rolodex, I came up with this.
Serving rice crispy treats in the nontraditional way is perfect for gluten free kids who would like to bring something comparable to cupcakes to a party without having to either, a) make gluten free cupcakes for all of the kids or b) bringing their own special cupcake while supplying the other kids with the regular kind.
All you need to do is make your favorite rice crispy treat recipe, put it in the refrigerator for 5-10 minutes so that they can be molded without melting down into a lump, butter those hands up, form balls that are big enough to fill the cupcake papers that you bought, and pop them in the papers. Voila! I think they're super cute and we get compliments on them every time we show up with them in hand. I mean, what nutso doesn't like rice crispy treats?! lol
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
Black Bean Burger
So I scoured the internet for a good vegan black bean burger recipe & couldn't find one. I decided to experiment in the kitchen a little & this is what I came up with.
Half of a small yellow onion
3 garlic cloves
2 cans of black beans
1/2 cup bread crumbs
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp pepper
Finely FINELY chop the onion & garlic. Put all ingredients into a bowl & squish it all together until you can form a patty. My best tools for this are my hands. Heat a good amount of oil in a pan on medium high heat. Cook the burger on each side until a nice crisp forms, NOT BURNT....crisp. Okay, slide that sucker onto some bread. I like Nature's Own Sandwich Rounds, but whatever works for you is good. Now hook it up with toppings! Voila!!
Monday, September 10, 2012
The Picky Vegan
My husband and I have almost always been well aware of our health and like most people, have struggled with good vs. evil when it comes to nutrition. I write "almost always" because there were those blissful years, before those thirties came along, when we could eat anything we wanted and not much stuck. Aaahh...those were the days. Unfortunately, those days are long gone and my metabolism is fading as well. Because of this, I'm always up for a challenge when it comes to diet or exercise. One of my favorites was last year's two week juice cleanse. I had nothing but juice from fruit and mostly vegetables for two weeks. TWO WEEKS!!! I felt great and my energy level was through the roof. Since then, I still juice a couple of times a week, not nearly as much as I'd like to, but I'm on to the next! lol
I actually went vegan in July. I have a friend who was looking for some people to go vegan with him for the month of July and I decided to do it. (By the way, if you're ever looking for a partner in anything that's not life threatening or illegal and most people think you're too crazy for even trying it, I'm your girl!) There are certain months that are probably not the best months to try something like this out...or maybe they are, depending on if your a half full or half empty kind of a person. I guess if you can make it through November or December being vegan, then you're pretty much set, right? So I consider July one of those months. First of all, the 4th of July brings picnics with grilled meats and all kinds of yummy side dishes full of creamy butters and cheeses, not to mention the platter of deviled eggs that always gets set out and desserts sure to have whipped cream or chocolate in them. Also, July is the month that I ALWAYS visit the town that I grew up in. That visit is chalk full of family and friends who almost always wind up sitting around a table with me at breakfast, lunch, or dinner. So, yes, July was a difficult month to try this out in, but I made it!
I liked being vegan. I liked the way I felt and I liked my thoughts of how my body just had to be running smoother on cleaner fuel. Whether that's true or not, I have no idea, but it made me feel good. So here I am, two and a half months later and I'm still at it. No, I haven't lost weight. That's usually one of the first things people ask when it comes to the benefits. lol BUT, I notice different things about myself like my skin is smoother, I sleep better, I have more energy, etc. So we'll see where this takes me. Maybe I'll do it forever and maybe I'll get bored with it or as with other things, hear one day that it's bad for your health and then it's on to the next!
I named this post The Picky Vegan because a friend of mine told me that they were watching The Simpsons the other day and they panned a shot of the food court at the mall. He said he saw a restaurant named The Picky Vegan and he thought of me. This made me giggle. I just love my friends.
I actually went vegan in July. I have a friend who was looking for some people to go vegan with him for the month of July and I decided to do it. (By the way, if you're ever looking for a partner in anything that's not life threatening or illegal and most people think you're too crazy for even trying it, I'm your girl!) There are certain months that are probably not the best months to try something like this out...or maybe they are, depending on if your a half full or half empty kind of a person. I guess if you can make it through November or December being vegan, then you're pretty much set, right? So I consider July one of those months. First of all, the 4th of July brings picnics with grilled meats and all kinds of yummy side dishes full of creamy butters and cheeses, not to mention the platter of deviled eggs that always gets set out and desserts sure to have whipped cream or chocolate in them. Also, July is the month that I ALWAYS visit the town that I grew up in. That visit is chalk full of family and friends who almost always wind up sitting around a table with me at breakfast, lunch, or dinner. So, yes, July was a difficult month to try this out in, but I made it!
I liked being vegan. I liked the way I felt and I liked my thoughts of how my body just had to be running smoother on cleaner fuel. Whether that's true or not, I have no idea, but it made me feel good. So here I am, two and a half months later and I'm still at it. No, I haven't lost weight. That's usually one of the first things people ask when it comes to the benefits. lol BUT, I notice different things about myself like my skin is smoother, I sleep better, I have more energy, etc. So we'll see where this takes me. Maybe I'll do it forever and maybe I'll get bored with it or as with other things, hear one day that it's bad for your health and then it's on to the next!
I named this post The Picky Vegan because a friend of mine told me that they were watching The Simpsons the other day and they panned a shot of the food court at the mall. He said he saw a restaurant named The Picky Vegan and he thought of me. This made me giggle. I just love my friends.
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
Summer 2012
Summer 2012 has begun. Yesssss!!! It's 9pm and I did not spend one minute of the last hour chasing the kids around making sure that homework was finished and packed away for tomorrow morning or shooing anyone into the shower and smelling heads afterwards to make sure it was a good one. I did not look at the clock every two to five minutes making sure that bedtimes were made. I didn't have to send any emails regarding collections of any kind, whether for a teacher's gift or supplies for any class parties. No lunchbox searching, no frantic searches for jammies or matching socks in the laundry room, no looking around for a pair of glasses that haven't been seen since the night before. I did not have to explain about why bedtimes are set or argue over "one more minute." Instead, this is how I spent the last hour. I catnapped on our couch and ate a creamy bowl of sherbet. That's it. Summer 2012 has begun. Yesssss!!!
Friday, April 1, 2011
Odds and Ends
I hung the bird feeders out yesterday. I LOVE the new one! It looks so lovely.....BUT (did you see that one coming?) I filled it yesterday and this morning, as I'm looking out the window right this minute, the bottom level is more than half empty. Normally, I would be all smiles about this, but yesterday afternoon I happened to step outside and saw a squirrel having a feast, handful by dirty little handful. I'm not happy about this. I gave it a stern look and said, rather loudly, "Hey you! Get out of there!! I didn't put that out for you!" It looked up at me with its beady little eyes, still thieving and testing my patience. I clapped at it and it scampered away....with its cheeks full of my money, for sure. The bird feeder is hanging from a branch and somewhat close to the trunk. I'm thinking of moving it further out, but I have a feeling that it will do nothing to deter a determined little varmint from stealing an easy meal. I'll have to think on this one...
In other news, earlier this week, Mr.P began reading his first chapter book, Junie B. Jones and the Stupid Smelly Bus. We don't use that word in our house so the titled has been altered to ....the Silly Smelly Bus. It's fun to sit and read with him because I'm able to read ahead a little so I know what's coming up. He'll move along slowly, sounding out the more difficult words and needing my help on the even harder ones, but when he realizes what he just read out loud, I can see it coming together by his facial expressions. My favorite times are the parts that make him laugh. Here's an example from yesterday. Junie B. is scared of the bus, but her parents are making her ride it anyway and she notices the door for the first time.
"It wasn't a regular kind of door, though. It folded in half. And when it closed, it made a whishy sound. I don't like that kind of door. If it closes on you by accident, it will cut you in half, and you will make a squishy sound."
He read this and giggled. Then, as it formed a picture in his mind and it made more sense, he laughed a little more. Seeing him made me laugh and we kind of fed off of eachother for a minute to the point where the book fell on the floor and his head was buried in my arm. lol
I know I'm all over the place with this post, but Camri and her boyfriend planted the strawberries yesterday. We did the Topsy Turvy, which is somewhat of a big red eyesore right now. Hopefully the leaves start forming soon because right now it just looks like a big red barrel-shaped canvas. I'll probably end up hanging it from the playhouse that Jeremy built for the kids. Not sure if it will get enough sun, under the trees like that, but that thing is kinda fugly. lol
Oh, I saw a pretty red cardinal perched in one of trees out front this morning just before I was leaving to take Camri to school. Maybe I should hang another feeder out there. I'll put that on my birthday list ; )
In other news, earlier this week, Mr.P began reading his first chapter book, Junie B. Jones and the Stupid Smelly Bus. We don't use that word in our house so the titled has been altered to ....the Silly Smelly Bus. It's fun to sit and read with him because I'm able to read ahead a little so I know what's coming up. He'll move along slowly, sounding out the more difficult words and needing my help on the even harder ones, but when he realizes what he just read out loud, I can see it coming together by his facial expressions. My favorite times are the parts that make him laugh. Here's an example from yesterday. Junie B. is scared of the bus, but her parents are making her ride it anyway and she notices the door for the first time.
"It wasn't a regular kind of door, though. It folded in half. And when it closed, it made a whishy sound. I don't like that kind of door. If it closes on you by accident, it will cut you in half, and you will make a squishy sound."
He read this and giggled. Then, as it formed a picture in his mind and it made more sense, he laughed a little more. Seeing him made me laugh and we kind of fed off of eachother for a minute to the point where the book fell on the floor and his head was buried in my arm. lol
I know I'm all over the place with this post, but Camri and her boyfriend planted the strawberries yesterday. We did the Topsy Turvy, which is somewhat of a big red eyesore right now. Hopefully the leaves start forming soon because right now it just looks like a big red barrel-shaped canvas. I'll probably end up hanging it from the playhouse that Jeremy built for the kids. Not sure if it will get enough sun, under the trees like that, but that thing is kinda fugly. lol
Oh, I saw a pretty red cardinal perched in one of trees out front this morning just before I was leaving to take Camri to school. Maybe I should hang another feeder out there. I'll put that on my birthday list ; )
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Planting
I got the garden planted today and now I can't keep my eyes open. I went right to work on it as soon as I got home from dropping Camri off at school and finished just in time to make it 10 minutes late to my spanish class. Jeremy and I have talked about extending the garden by wrapping it around the side of the house but I'm not counting on that happening anytime soon, so I went ahead and filled the space that our garden usually takes up. The soil is so soft in that area from so much use that it was no trouble at all digging into it with the shovel to turn it over. I planted as much as I could in the space that I had. Now it's filled with tomato plants, pepper plants, cucumber, and lots of different herbs. Hopefully we'll get a truckload of dirt this weekend and we'll be all set to extend. Then we can get the squash, zucchini, and the extra tomato and pepper plants put in. Here is my only problem. I ran into some grubs as I was turning the dirt over. I didn't think much about them. I even picked one up, cleaned the dirt off and studied it, with gloves on, of course. Those little suckers are UGLY! lol I just left them in the soil because I assumed they were natural little aeraters just like worms. Wrong. As Jeremy and I were talking about the garden over dinner, he asked if I came across any grubs. Apparently, the little buggers chomp away at plant roots! Why I oughtta.....!!! I didn't realize this or I would have contained them and brought them to the pond on one of these gorgeous spring days. I'm sure one of the ducks would have loved to gobble them up or one of the fishermen could have used them for bait. The slimeballs got away for now, but I hope they don't expect the same courtesy next year.
Oh, I also called my daddy about the mysterious package. Seeds! Some of them are Morning Glories and others are some type of gourds. Morning Glories are pretty vines that offer big fat green leaves and the prettiest trumpets of flowers in purples and blues. I looked up pictures online and can't wait to get those in the ground. He said that they attract hummingbirds, so maybe they'll come back to me after all! He also said that the gourds from the seeds that he sent are perfect for making little birdhouses with. Tune in this fall for a special birdhouse post, if all grows well. Get it? If all "grows" well. (knee slapper)
Off the subject, but I thought this was worth mentioning. I took Sabrina to the doctor yesterday for her 8 year old well check. Each time the kids have their yearly well checks, I like to compare their weights and heights to see where everyone is/was at a certain age. Normally, they are within a couple inches of eachother, but this time I noticed something kind of cool. All three of the girls measured 51 1/4 inches at age 8. Ha! Vanessa, like her mommy, has embraced her shorter size, but Camri who teeters around 5'1 continues to vow if Sabrina is any taller than her, she will be very upset. lol Bets on the table, please!
Oh, I also called my daddy about the mysterious package. Seeds! Some of them are Morning Glories and others are some type of gourds. Morning Glories are pretty vines that offer big fat green leaves and the prettiest trumpets of flowers in purples and blues. I looked up pictures online and can't wait to get those in the ground. He said that they attract hummingbirds, so maybe they'll come back to me after all! He also said that the gourds from the seeds that he sent are perfect for making little birdhouses with. Tune in this fall for a special birdhouse post, if all grows well. Get it? If all "grows" well. (knee slapper)
Off the subject, but I thought this was worth mentioning. I took Sabrina to the doctor yesterday for her 8 year old well check. Each time the kids have their yearly well checks, I like to compare their weights and heights to see where everyone is/was at a certain age. Normally, they are within a couple inches of eachother, but this time I noticed something kind of cool. All three of the girls measured 51 1/4 inches at age 8. Ha! Vanessa, like her mommy, has embraced her shorter size, but Camri who teeters around 5'1 continues to vow if Sabrina is any taller than her, she will be very upset. lol Bets on the table, please!
Monday, March 28, 2011
Spring Has Sprung
Spring has definitely sprung in Texas and I have the fever, for sure. I know some of you don't care for the time change that comes with spring, but I don't mind it a bit! We've been enjoying the extra light in our evenings. For some reason, it makes the evenings feel longer and I definitely need that. Mr.P and Sabrina are back to wearing one of Daddy's t-shirts when they can't locate any jammies, or if they're just too lazy to go find some, and that always means summer is on the way. I've always loved seeing the kids run around in a cool, cotton t-shirt with their little legs and feet sticking out of the bottoms. It's a sure sign of warmer weather, in this house. With spring comes our garden. I CAN'T WAIT to dig my hands in the dirt and plant. We do the usual -- tomato, peppers, zucchini, squash, cucumbers, lots of different herbs and this year we are trying our hand at.......strawberries! I've read that they spread, so to keep them under control, we plan on putting them in a planter. I hope they thrive. It will be nice to bite into a plump, juicy homegrown strawberry in a few months.
Last year, Jeremy drove us to a cotton field that he passes every day on the way to work. At that time, the cotton was perfectly fluffy and ready to be picked. I'd never seen a cotton field before and the kids and I were just bubbling over with excitement. He was just planning on driving us by the field, but I just couldn't help myself. I "politely" ordered him to pull to the side of the road so the kids and I could get a closer look. I couldn't get out of the car fast enough. It was just so cool to see a whole field of cotton puffs. It was in the afternoon, but Jeremy said in the morning when the sun is shining on the field, it's very pretty. I hopped out of the car and as I was studying this plant, I just couldn't help myself and plucked a fluff of raw cotton right off. Jeremy, still in the driver's seat and already paranoid about being stopped in the middle of the road, was horrified at what I'd done. lol And if that weren't enough, I told the kids that each of them could also pull off one fluff and then we had to go. Jeremy, wild-eyed, was expecting Farmer Brown to pull up any minute in his cotton picking station wagon and haul us in to the local police station....or that's how he looked anyway. His eyes kept darting around, looking for any sign of the fuzz, while he kept instructing (more like pleading with) us to hurry up. lol I kept giggling and telling him to calm down...it was only 5 cotton balls and one plant makes around 4. Each ball of cotton that we picked had seeds enbedded in it. I carefully picked out each of the seeds and I think we'll plant them in the garden as well. It would be cool if they produce even a mini cotton ball for us!
This year we got smart and instead of spending lots of money on plants, we spent a little money on seeds. We planted them at the end of January and now they're ready to go into the ground. My friend's dad, Popo, also gave us some nice hearty tomato plants that he grew from seeds. His are much stronger and prettier than ours, so hopefully some, if not all, of our plants will take off.
I'm also looking forward to filling my hummingbird feeder and putting it out. Last year, I saw no hummingbirds : ( The year before, I loved watching them, but for some reason, they didn't make a visit last year. My daddy had the same thing happen, so maybe there was something going on. Whatever it was, hopefully it won't keep them from making an appearance this year. I also received a new finch feeder for Christmas! I've had one on my birthday and Christmas lists for a couple of years now and I was finally good enough to receive one! I can't wait to hang that one up also. Maybe I'll get to work on that tomorrow...
Lastly, I received a package in the mail yesterday from my daddy. It had these strange little woodchips inside and a note from him telling me to call when I received the package and he'd explain what they were. I'm just sure it has something to do with spring!
Longer evenings, lighter clothing, birdies chirping, mowers buzzing, gardens to plant.....yes, spring has definitely sprung.
Last year, Jeremy drove us to a cotton field that he passes every day on the way to work. At that time, the cotton was perfectly fluffy and ready to be picked. I'd never seen a cotton field before and the kids and I were just bubbling over with excitement. He was just planning on driving us by the field, but I just couldn't help myself. I "politely" ordered him to pull to the side of the road so the kids and I could get a closer look. I couldn't get out of the car fast enough. It was just so cool to see a whole field of cotton puffs. It was in the afternoon, but Jeremy said in the morning when the sun is shining on the field, it's very pretty. I hopped out of the car and as I was studying this plant, I just couldn't help myself and plucked a fluff of raw cotton right off. Jeremy, still in the driver's seat and already paranoid about being stopped in the middle of the road, was horrified at what I'd done. lol And if that weren't enough, I told the kids that each of them could also pull off one fluff and then we had to go. Jeremy, wild-eyed, was expecting Farmer Brown to pull up any minute in his cotton picking station wagon and haul us in to the local police station....or that's how he looked anyway. His eyes kept darting around, looking for any sign of the fuzz, while he kept instructing (more like pleading with) us to hurry up. lol I kept giggling and telling him to calm down...it was only 5 cotton balls and one plant makes around 4. Each ball of cotton that we picked had seeds enbedded in it. I carefully picked out each of the seeds and I think we'll plant them in the garden as well. It would be cool if they produce even a mini cotton ball for us!
This year we got smart and instead of spending lots of money on plants, we spent a little money on seeds. We planted them at the end of January and now they're ready to go into the ground. My friend's dad, Popo, also gave us some nice hearty tomato plants that he grew from seeds. His are much stronger and prettier than ours, so hopefully some, if not all, of our plants will take off.
I'm also looking forward to filling my hummingbird feeder and putting it out. Last year, I saw no hummingbirds : ( The year before, I loved watching them, but for some reason, they didn't make a visit last year. My daddy had the same thing happen, so maybe there was something going on. Whatever it was, hopefully it won't keep them from making an appearance this year. I also received a new finch feeder for Christmas! I've had one on my birthday and Christmas lists for a couple of years now and I was finally good enough to receive one! I can't wait to hang that one up also. Maybe I'll get to work on that tomorrow...
Lastly, I received a package in the mail yesterday from my daddy. It had these strange little woodchips inside and a note from him telling me to call when I received the package and he'd explain what they were. I'm just sure it has something to do with spring!
Longer evenings, lighter clothing, birdies chirping, mowers buzzing, gardens to plant.....yes, spring has definitely sprung.
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Cookies Are My Life
Hello, dear reader. I've been hiding. Do you know where? Under 195 boxes of Girl Scout cookies. That's where! And those are only Sabrina's. Whew!!! Waaay back in August, Sabrina's Brownie troop leader so innocently asked if I would head the cookie sales for the troop when the time came. Of course! Far be it from me to say no to anyone in need, for any reason. It's something I need to work on, but that's another blog for another time. Little did I know what I was signing up for. Scheduling booths for 11 girls and their moms to work at, keeping track of how many boxes of cookies each girl is selling (along with the extras that she orders), collecting money, making deposits, keeping watch of the troop cookies (not to be confused with each girls' cookies), being the supervisor over boxes being traded between girls and between ours with other troops, chasing down parents to advise me where they are with their sales, and I could go on and on and on and on. This cookie business is a full time job! This, coupled with my normal life, including but not limited to - spanish class, being room mommies for Mr.P and Sabrina's classes, Sabrina's birthday, volunteering at all 3 schools when I can fit it in, teaching religious ed., homework with the kids, housework and just doing mommy stuff like working on Valentines projects and keeping track of who needs to be where at what time has left my blogging days far far behind. I think of you often, dear reader. I think of how I need to update you on my life. Yes it is a need, maybe not for you, but definitely for me. This is not just another thing that I put on my list of to-do's. It's therapeutic. It allows me to stop everything and take note of where I am in my life. And I like it. I love it.
As for these cookies, I'm ready for this to be over. It's consumed so much of my time that Jeremy every now and then refers to me as "Bob Cratchit." lol Now that's not the sugary term of endearment I had in mind for Valentine's Day.....
As for these cookies, I'm ready for this to be over. It's consumed so much of my time that Jeremy every now and then refers to me as "Bob Cratchit." lol Now that's not the sugary term of endearment I had in mind for Valentine's Day.....
Friday, January 14, 2011
Blessings
As I was doing my nightly routing, just before going to bed...turning out lights, checking that doors are locked, putting Bentley out, etc...I was remembering, once again, that one day I won't be stepping over toys or books or little shoes anymore. That's always a sad thought. I made my way upstairs, peeked into bedrooms, turned out nightlights, gave kisses to my dreamers who were oblivious to my presence and thanked God, once again, for blessing me so immensely.
Monday, January 10, 2011
Sick.
I'm sick. Did you know? Probably not. It's not normal for me to put a FB or Twitter blast out when I'm not feeling well. Thank goodness it's not that often. This sickness is brought to me courtesy of Mr.P. I knew when I shared a can of pop with him last week that I was playing with fire. He had stayed home one more day after the holiday break had ended to fully recover from a stomach bug which had claimed his last couple of days of vacation. It has now made its home in my warm belly and I am the ungrateful host. I guess it's my turn to be sick. It hasn't happened in a while, so I have that to be thankful for. Jeremy is being hit left and right by allergies, cedar, in particular, but he's been a trooper! He's been Mommy AND Daddy since Saturday evening....taking the kids to their cousin's skating party, making runs to the grocery store for things that he think may make me feel better (chicken soup, orange juice, ice cream, etc.), helping with homework, refereeing arguments that seem to break out on the hour (funny to listen to from the safety of my bedroom), trying to keep up with the housework, etc. What a man : ) Hopefully this will pass quickly. I could tell on Saturday that my tummy wasn't feeling quite right and by that evening I was popping ibuprofin to fight a fever. On the up side, it's just my stomach pain and a few body aches that have me down. No stuffy nose, sore throat or anything like that....thank goodness! I'm leaving you with a conversation that took place between Mr.P and I about 15 minutes ago. I'm upstairs in my bedroom and Jeremy had just left to pick Camri up from school. Mr.P was downstairs.
Mr.P: Daddy!! Daddy!!!
Me: He left!
Mr.P: Well, can I have a cookie?!
Me: Ask Daddy when he gets home!
Mr.P: Why?! You're the boss!!
Lol! I love that kid.
Mr.P: Daddy!! Daddy!!!
Me: He left!
Mr.P: Well, can I have a cookie?!
Me: Ask Daddy when he gets home!
Mr.P: Why?! You're the boss!!
Lol! I love that kid.
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Check Your Paint!
Oh, dear reader, today was a sad sad day for interior painting. I went from being so excited to finally finish my project to having my heart sink in minutes. Let's rewind a couple of months to better understand what happened.
One sunny Saturday morning we decided to go to Lowe's to pick up some paint for Vanessa's room. Since I had decided to paint the walls white and add silver swirls, it was a fairly easy task. While we were there and already buying paint, we decided to pick out and purchase colors for the dining and living rooms also. We went with a deep red for the dining room and a soft brown for the living room. We knew we wouldn't get around to painting right away, but we decided to go ahead and buy all of the paint at once anyway. We picked our color samples, picked our paint type and brought them all up the the counter to have them prepared. He mixed it up, dabbed the tops of the cans for us to inspect and tried to send us on our way. Wait. The color on one of the brown cans didn't look right. Jeremy and I talked about it for a second and decided it wasn't right. Back to the counter we went. This time there was a younger guy who tried telling me yes, it was the correct color. I think he may have been color blind, not sure. The man who mixed the paint came to see and agreed, the color was not right. He then checked the machine and proceeded to explain to us that there was no black paint in the spot where there should have been, therefore no black went into our brown and that's why it looked tan instead of brown. Okay, fix it please. We're getting hungry. He asked if it would be okay to fix the same can we already have. Fine with us. He added the black, shook it in, dabbed the top and sent us on our way. This time we made it out to the car with the paint. In the sun you could really tell that the color was still not right. This time I stayed outside while Jeremy walked back in and dealt with the problem. The man was very apologetic and mixed an entirely new can. FINALLY, we were satisfied and able to leave Lowe's.
Now, let's move along to present day. We're home from vacation, all 4 kids are around the house again, we're in the heart of summer vacation and I decide it's time to pop the top off of the can of paint for the dining room....Tabetian Red, beautiful. I started on Monday and was able to get everything taped and the trim all finished (with help from Vanessa). I let it dry overnight and on Tuesday, I did one coat on the walls and let it dry overnight. Today I did the second coat. I called Vanessa down to admire it with me and was so happy with it. It looked lighter red than I imagined, but I could deal with it. Hmmm, the more I looked at it and watched it dry, the lighter it looked. Ok, don't freak, Jeremy will be home in a bit and he'll tell me it's the exact color we picked out. You know the color difference between a drop of blood and a pool of blood? That was the difference I was thinking it looked like. But it had been a couple of months since I saw the paint sample (the dab on the lid was picked off by one of the kids in the meantime) so maybe I wasn't remembering correctly. Jeremy walked in and gave me a verbal pat on the back by telling me what a good job I did, especially on the trim at the top. I didn't mention the color difference that I thought I was seeing. Then came the question.....................,"Isn't it a little light?" Shoot! He noticed too and that's not good because that means neither of us are completely satisfied with the color. The more we looked, the more we decided we just didn't pick the right color. We especially don't like the color of the room against the darker cherry wood of the dining room table and chairs. Well, what to do, what to do. We live with it. We know that eventually we'll paint it the color we want, but right now we'll just live with it.
The more I thought about it, the more I wanted assurance that the fault was ours for picking that color. So I dug around and finally found the card color sample from Lowe's. AHA!!!!! Let me just type this in the nicest way possible, although it is NOT what I was thinking or what came out of my mouth. THEY GAVE US THE WRONG FREAKING COLOR!!!!!!!!! My heart sank. I think I had every negative feeling you can think of wash over me. It has to be repainted. It just has to. If we don't repaint it, I'm going to notice it every time I'm in there or even walk past it and be disgusted. Everything, and I mean EVERYTHING, I just did in that room was for nothing. We don't know why we didn't see it yesterday with only one coat on. It honestly looked darker then, for some reason. Maybe it was because the Spiced Vinegar already painted on the walls was showing through a little, I don't know. All I know is that we didn't realize that this color was all wrong until everything was dry and two coats were on. Damn.
We then talked about it and remembered all of the problems that we had with the brown all that time ago. I'm sure it's what also went wrong with the red. We were thinking that we got so involved with trying to get the brown right that we didn't even notice the red. Our fault, Lowe's fault, whatever. Jeremy is planning on bringing our empty can in and talking to them tomorrow. And you already know what I'll be doing. Taping : (
One sunny Saturday morning we decided to go to Lowe's to pick up some paint for Vanessa's room. Since I had decided to paint the walls white and add silver swirls, it was a fairly easy task. While we were there and already buying paint, we decided to pick out and purchase colors for the dining and living rooms also. We went with a deep red for the dining room and a soft brown for the living room. We knew we wouldn't get around to painting right away, but we decided to go ahead and buy all of the paint at once anyway. We picked our color samples, picked our paint type and brought them all up the the counter to have them prepared. He mixed it up, dabbed the tops of the cans for us to inspect and tried to send us on our way. Wait. The color on one of the brown cans didn't look right. Jeremy and I talked about it for a second and decided it wasn't right. Back to the counter we went. This time there was a younger guy who tried telling me yes, it was the correct color. I think he may have been color blind, not sure. The man who mixed the paint came to see and agreed, the color was not right. He then checked the machine and proceeded to explain to us that there was no black paint in the spot where there should have been, therefore no black went into our brown and that's why it looked tan instead of brown. Okay, fix it please. We're getting hungry. He asked if it would be okay to fix the same can we already have. Fine with us. He added the black, shook it in, dabbed the top and sent us on our way. This time we made it out to the car with the paint. In the sun you could really tell that the color was still not right. This time I stayed outside while Jeremy walked back in and dealt with the problem. The man was very apologetic and mixed an entirely new can. FINALLY, we were satisfied and able to leave Lowe's.
Now, let's move along to present day. We're home from vacation, all 4 kids are around the house again, we're in the heart of summer vacation and I decide it's time to pop the top off of the can of paint for the dining room....Tabetian Red, beautiful. I started on Monday and was able to get everything taped and the trim all finished (with help from Vanessa). I let it dry overnight and on Tuesday, I did one coat on the walls and let it dry overnight. Today I did the second coat. I called Vanessa down to admire it with me and was so happy with it. It looked lighter red than I imagined, but I could deal with it. Hmmm, the more I looked at it and watched it dry, the lighter it looked. Ok, don't freak, Jeremy will be home in a bit and he'll tell me it's the exact color we picked out. You know the color difference between a drop of blood and a pool of blood? That was the difference I was thinking it looked like. But it had been a couple of months since I saw the paint sample (the dab on the lid was picked off by one of the kids in the meantime) so maybe I wasn't remembering correctly. Jeremy walked in and gave me a verbal pat on the back by telling me what a good job I did, especially on the trim at the top. I didn't mention the color difference that I thought I was seeing. Then came the question.....................,"Isn't it a little light?" Shoot! He noticed too and that's not good because that means neither of us are completely satisfied with the color. The more we looked, the more we decided we just didn't pick the right color. We especially don't like the color of the room against the darker cherry wood of the dining room table and chairs. Well, what to do, what to do. We live with it. We know that eventually we'll paint it the color we want, but right now we'll just live with it.
The more I thought about it, the more I wanted assurance that the fault was ours for picking that color. So I dug around and finally found the card color sample from Lowe's. AHA!!!!! Let me just type this in the nicest way possible, although it is NOT what I was thinking or what came out of my mouth. THEY GAVE US THE WRONG FREAKING COLOR!!!!!!!!! My heart sank. I think I had every negative feeling you can think of wash over me. It has to be repainted. It just has to. If we don't repaint it, I'm going to notice it every time I'm in there or even walk past it and be disgusted. Everything, and I mean EVERYTHING, I just did in that room was for nothing. We don't know why we didn't see it yesterday with only one coat on. It honestly looked darker then, for some reason. Maybe it was because the Spiced Vinegar already painted on the walls was showing through a little, I don't know. All I know is that we didn't realize that this color was all wrong until everything was dry and two coats were on. Damn.
We then talked about it and remembered all of the problems that we had with the brown all that time ago. I'm sure it's what also went wrong with the red. We were thinking that we got so involved with trying to get the brown right that we didn't even notice the red. Our fault, Lowe's fault, whatever. Jeremy is planning on bringing our empty can in and talking to them tomorrow. And you already know what I'll be doing. Taping : (
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Poor Mr.P
While we were on vacation, there was one evening when Mr.P got attacked by a ton of chiggers. I don't know what we were thinking by not spraying him down before he played outside. It was a heavily wooded area and it was raining off and on, so it was pretty moist out. When we got back to my parents' house and he took his clothes off for his shower, I felt so bad! He had bites ALL OVER him, especially around the waist and groin area. I made sure to diligently apply Ivarest on them for the next several days.
A few days after we returned home, I went to the pool with a couple of friends. For whatever reason, we got on the subject of chiggers and I told them what had happened with Mr.P. My friend, Brandon, asked if we put clear fingernail polish on the bites. I gave him a blank look. He then explained to me that they inbed themselves and they either need to be suffocated or burned out. They do? We checked Mr.P's bites and they were still pretty red. When we walked in the house from the pool, I immediately got to work with the fingernail polish. By the next day and a half or so, the redness was gone in almost all of them and you couldn't even tell that there had been bites. Thank you, Brandon!!
Unfortunately, a few days later, Mr.P kept complaining that his stomach hurt on the outside whenever we would tickle him or even if someone brushed by. We checked it out and found one bite that was REALLY infected : ( There was a hard spot underneath and the area was very noticeably raised. Jeremy explained to him that he was going to have to take care of it. Within twenty minutes or so, Camri and I went racing up the stairs from watching tv in the media room because we could hear Mr.P screaming. I walked in the bathroom to find him biting down on a leather belt while Jeremy was pushing and squeezing the infected area. Mr.P has a pretty high pain tolerance and I've never heard him scream and cry like that. My poor baby boy!! All I could do is sit next to him and have him squeeze my hands while I tried to soothe him. Luckily, Daddy finished within a minute or two. (two very very long minutes for Mr.P, I'm sure) He cleaned it up, applied some ointment, and slapped on a band-aid. Poor Mr.P walked around sobbing for a long while after though. Not even a popsicle helped.
That was a couple of days ago. Today it looks pretty good. Jeremy said there was a ton of gunk built up in there that needed to come out, so even though it was agonizing, I'm glad he took care of it.
As for me, lessons learned: #1 - I can't forget to use the bug spray. I can't forget to use the bug spray. I can't forget to use the bug spray. #2 - Chiggers are not as polite as mosquitoes, who get their fill and move on. Chiggers try to set up shop and need to be rubbed out. Got it.
A few days after we returned home, I went to the pool with a couple of friends. For whatever reason, we got on the subject of chiggers and I told them what had happened with Mr.P. My friend, Brandon, asked if we put clear fingernail polish on the bites. I gave him a blank look. He then explained to me that they inbed themselves and they either need to be suffocated or burned out. They do? We checked Mr.P's bites and they were still pretty red. When we walked in the house from the pool, I immediately got to work with the fingernail polish. By the next day and a half or so, the redness was gone in almost all of them and you couldn't even tell that there had been bites. Thank you, Brandon!!
Unfortunately, a few days later, Mr.P kept complaining that his stomach hurt on the outside whenever we would tickle him or even if someone brushed by. We checked it out and found one bite that was REALLY infected : ( There was a hard spot underneath and the area was very noticeably raised. Jeremy explained to him that he was going to have to take care of it. Within twenty minutes or so, Camri and I went racing up the stairs from watching tv in the media room because we could hear Mr.P screaming. I walked in the bathroom to find him biting down on a leather belt while Jeremy was pushing and squeezing the infected area. Mr.P has a pretty high pain tolerance and I've never heard him scream and cry like that. My poor baby boy!! All I could do is sit next to him and have him squeeze my hands while I tried to soothe him. Luckily, Daddy finished within a minute or two. (two very very long minutes for Mr.P, I'm sure) He cleaned it up, applied some ointment, and slapped on a band-aid. Poor Mr.P walked around sobbing for a long while after though. Not even a popsicle helped.
That was a couple of days ago. Today it looks pretty good. Jeremy said there was a ton of gunk built up in there that needed to come out, so even though it was agonizing, I'm glad he took care of it.
As for me, lessons learned: #1 - I can't forget to use the bug spray. I can't forget to use the bug spray. I can't forget to use the bug spray. #2 - Chiggers are not as polite as mosquitoes, who get their fill and move on. Chiggers try to set up shop and need to be rubbed out. Got it.
Friday, July 16, 2010
Here's a picture of Vanessa helping me shake out the dirty laundry in the front yard before it went into the washer. We were laughing and so grossed out having to do this. Also, my new neighbor pulled up (whom we haven't met yet) and Vanessa joked about greeting them with a, "Oh hi! Nice to meet you! We're just hanging out in the front yard shaking the fly eggs out of our dirty laundry."
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Fly, fly AWAY!!!
If you're a bit squeamish, you may want to stop reading at this point. What you are about to read is a true story that happened to us within a few days of being back from vacation. If you're still reading, consider yourself warned. This is pretty disgusting!
Bursting through the door at the end of a 10 hour drive felt just as you'd imagine.....wonderful! The house felt cool and it was so nice to be home, back to our own house and sleeping in our own beds again. We returned home on Saturday and spent Sunday just being lazy. Jeremy was on his last day of vacation and so was I. This meant that no matter how filthy the kitchen got, no matter how much milk we needed for breakfast in the morning, no matter how many pairs of flip flops I had to step over to get from the media room to the kitchen, I was not cleaning, going to the store, or picking up anything around the house. This meant free reign for the kids. By Monday morning, our clean house definitely looked lived-in. Without my constant reminders (gentle and sometimes not so gentle) my kids, namely Vanessa, Sabrina, and Mr.P, can tear through this house with the relentless fury of an F5 tornado. There was definitely work to be done by the time I woke on Monday morning.
Luckily, I was still buzzing from my vacation high when I got to work on Monday morning. There was lots of laundry to be done because my sweet husband mixed the dirty clothes that we had acquired the last couple of days in Topeka with the clean clothes that my mom had generously laundered for us mid-trip. He knows I'm always looking for more laundry to do. Isn't he wonderful?! So giving. (That's called sarcasm. I offer it daily as a free service.) There were dishes to be done, lots of dishes. Why use one cup twice in the same day? That's my kids' philosophy. Anyway, you get the picture. It was clean up time and I was on it.
As I glanced in the pantry, the full boxes on the floor reminded me that Tuesday is recycle day and I better get our recycled goods out to the curb. I picked up both boxes, one for paper and the other for cardboard, and noticed these small brown pellet-looking things on the floor. Hmmm....interesting. Someone maybe dropped some brown rice? No, these were too big for them to be rice. They actually looked like rolly pollies (sp) if rolly pollies didn't have legs so that they were completely round and just as long, except these were brown. They even had the little lines on them that rolly pollies have. (I posted a picture. If you'd like to see it bigger, just click on it.) Weird. Out comes the vaccuum, but first Jeremy is called upon to investigate. "Oh, there were some of those in the washer yesterday when I did a load of laundry. If you squeeze them they pop," he says nonchalantly as he's showing me with a paper towel. Sick! But okay, if you're not worried then I'm not worried either. Whoosh!! Up the vaccuum they go. As I'm vaccuuming all of the downstairs floors, I did notice a couple more here and there, but didn't think anything about them except that it was still kind of weird. By Monday night, the house was tidy and off to bed we went. If only we had known what was lurking in the dark.
Sometime on Tuesday morning Sabrina and Mr.P called me to the kitchen. I hadn't been downstairs yet and was dragging my feet a bit to get down there. "Hurry Mommy! You have to see this!!" So eventually I make it to the kitchen and find them pointing to Bentley's food dish. Buzzing all around the edge of the dish were what looked like 20 or 30 flies. What the heck?!! I know for a fact that no door had been left open. There hadn't been a beep all morning. Bentley wasn't even in the house yet. At this point I hadn't made the connection of those brown things from earlier. I grabbed a flyswatter and we began to count. By the time we got done with the flies on the dish, more were noticed around the windows in the living room. By the time we got done with the living room windows, more were noticed in the kitchen windows. By the time we got done with the kitchen windows, more were noticed in the dining room windows. When we thought we had killed them all, I called Jeremy to let him know. I needed someone to share my disgust. By the time we went to bed, there were maybe 1 or 2 that had escaped death, but I vowed I would get them in the morning. What a nightmare day that was, but alas, it wasn't over.
On Wednesday morning we all slept in. Mr.P woke me up just in time to receive a text from a friend who I had planned to meet at the pool. I had half an hour, so I jumped in the shower and then Mr.P and I shimmied into our bathing suits and took off for the pool. By the time I got home, the rest of the kids were awake and I was ready to clean up the fly mess from the previous day. I wanted to mop the floors because even though we couldn't see the stains left from a million fly carcasses, I knew they were there. Gross. First, I checked the windows. NOOOOO!!!! More flies!! This time I was pulling out the big guns. I called Jeremy to find out where the bug spray was. I oversprayed every window in the kitchen, family and dining rooms and watched while the flies dropped. Mr.P and Sabrina were a little more humane. They each swatted to their hearts content since the flies were now moving slow enough for them to get a good aim. I, on the other hand, was content to watch them writhe around and suffer in prolonged agony until they were relieved by the cold hand of death. Yeah, I'm still a little bitter.
By the end of this disgusting ordeal, just over 200 flies had met their maker in our lovely home, now tarnished by the memory of the Great Fly Invasion 2010. Since then, every nook and cranny of this house, every little thing that can hold still has been suctioned, washed, cleaned, and dusted off. And we still have no idea how it all got started.
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
It's Hot In Toe-Peek-Uh
Well, it is now, but it wasn't when we visited last week. The weather was beautiful for us. Well, what I consider beautiful, anyway. I had hoped for overcast skies and cool evenings, and that's just what I got. I'm a huge fan of warm weather, but I just needed a little break from this TX heat! And our little vacation to Topeka was just perfect.
As usual, there were so many people we wanted to visit and so many that wanted to visit with us that we ran out of time. It happens every year, but that's fine with us. It gives us more of a reason to visit again and again.
This year was a little different as far as visits go. My sister decided to make a quick trip to Kansas City over Memorial Day weekend and invited Camri and Vanessa to tag along. She dropped them off at my parents' house in Topeka on her way. By the time we saw Camri again, it was the first of July!! She was so excited to visit, she asked if she could stay until we drove there on our vacation. Of course, we were fine with that since she was staying with my parents. That's the longest we've ever been away from her! We even missed sharing her birthday with her in late June. She loved every minute of it, though. She really enjoyed staying with my parents. Who wouldn't?! Now Miss Vanessa had a different schedule. She came home at the end of Memorial Day weekend and brought a good friend along. The friend stayed with us for 2 weeks (2 FUN FILLED WEEKS!!) and then Jeremy met her parents halfway (somewhere in OK) to exchange the kids. Vanessa wound up going back with them, so she was also in Topeka for a couple of weeks before we got there. My independent little girls! By the time we got to Topeka, we were DEFINITELY missing our babies!!
Our time in Topeka was so much fun : ) We spent some much needed time visiting family, visited a Wizard of Oz museum (which I've never been to), visited the Cosmosphere (which was a ton of fun), visited friends and just visited until we were almost visited out. lol I'll tell you what though. Nothing we did (or will ever do) was as fun and relaxing as just sitting on my parents' deck taking everything in. I could sit and watch a pair of bluebirds bring food to their babies all day long. I LOVE watching big fat bumblebees bounce from flower to beautiful flower in my daddy's little piece of heaven that he's turned the backyard into. Watching the kids catch fireflies and place them in a jar just makes me smile. And getting to sit (face to face!) and chat about nothing with my parents is priceless. I love being somewhere the kids should be having the time of their lives at and hearing them say, "I want to go back to Grammi and Papa's house." They love it there and so do I. It's warm. It's happy. It's so full of love and I'm so blessed and thank God every day for 2 of the most wonderful parents ever.
As usual, there were so many people we wanted to visit and so many that wanted to visit with us that we ran out of time. It happens every year, but that's fine with us. It gives us more of a reason to visit again and again.
This year was a little different as far as visits go. My sister decided to make a quick trip to Kansas City over Memorial Day weekend and invited Camri and Vanessa to tag along. She dropped them off at my parents' house in Topeka on her way. By the time we saw Camri again, it was the first of July!! She was so excited to visit, she asked if she could stay until we drove there on our vacation. Of course, we were fine with that since she was staying with my parents. That's the longest we've ever been away from her! We even missed sharing her birthday with her in late June. She loved every minute of it, though. She really enjoyed staying with my parents. Who wouldn't?! Now Miss Vanessa had a different schedule. She came home at the end of Memorial Day weekend and brought a good friend along. The friend stayed with us for 2 weeks (2 FUN FILLED WEEKS!!) and then Jeremy met her parents halfway (somewhere in OK) to exchange the kids. Vanessa wound up going back with them, so she was also in Topeka for a couple of weeks before we got there. My independent little girls! By the time we got to Topeka, we were DEFINITELY missing our babies!!
Our time in Topeka was so much fun : ) We spent some much needed time visiting family, visited a Wizard of Oz museum (which I've never been to), visited the Cosmosphere (which was a ton of fun), visited friends and just visited until we were almost visited out. lol I'll tell you what though. Nothing we did (or will ever do) was as fun and relaxing as just sitting on my parents' deck taking everything in. I could sit and watch a pair of bluebirds bring food to their babies all day long. I LOVE watching big fat bumblebees bounce from flower to beautiful flower in my daddy's little piece of heaven that he's turned the backyard into. Watching the kids catch fireflies and place them in a jar just makes me smile. And getting to sit (face to face!) and chat about nothing with my parents is priceless. I love being somewhere the kids should be having the time of their lives at and hearing them say, "I want to go back to Grammi and Papa's house." They love it there and so do I. It's warm. It's happy. It's so full of love and I'm so blessed and thank God every day for 2 of the most wonderful parents ever.
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