tonight's forecast

It's not looking good bud. I can tell you that right now. Though I sit in a peacefully quiet house, I know all too soon the chaos is coming. And quickly. It may even happen before I end this post. Sad.

I don't even much care that this is the last night of 2007. I don't care to watch the ball drop. I don't care to watch thousands partying around the world. What might please me most at this moment, would be continued peace and quiet. And to crawl into bed, unbothered. And sleep. Unbothered still

However that's not highly likely. Lacka is sleeping in her lilac lamb covered fleece footed jammies. Ah, what peace it is to have her life. Not a care in the world. And so much love.....

She's such a sweet baby.

I made two graphics to help celebrate the holiday. There is a bottle of champagne laying abandoned in the floorboard of my car. Sad.

How strong I am.

Tonight was a bundle of joy. And if you bought that, I am in the market to sell my home. So just shoot me an email and I will get in touch with you. My stress level has been tested.

But on a happy note, I did get a new pair of Jam-Jam bottoms, and the kids each got something cute and or on sale. Weee. Got to love that. Well, I do. I'm ready to surgically remove my larynx. My throat hurts. And I was trying to blame it on mom's super spicy cooking. (sorry mom) But it's official, I have caught yet just one more fun and exciting virus. It's 8:35 and my daughter is sitting in my lap. Does anyone know what's wrong with that?

Anyone? Anyone? Bueller??

Ok, so yeah. It's past her bedtime. Of course dh can't get her to go to bed. He never puts her to bed. And stinker that she is.... she knows it. So it's just all wrong for her. Alyssa (my step-daughter) has confirmed that they actually did try to get her to go to sleep. And she cried, and cried. Hence, why she is sitting in my lap while I blog. She's sleepy though, and about to knock off. Which will make my blog posting go alot smoother momentarily.

Anyway, my step-kids are here. They are very large. Tall. Devon weighs about 108, so said my bathroom scale. And according to my eye scale in my head, standing next to me, I would say that he is about 5'4" tall. He's gaining on me. And his 14 year old feet are 10.5. Whoa! Same size as dh! Those boy feet are no longer. He's been pretty respectful this trip. Of course it's still early. They've really only been here 3 days. There's still time for them to muck it all up.

My dh did call to tell them to bring jackets with them. I shouldn't at all be surprised that their moron of a mother forgot to pack her daughter's. And it's been in the 30's here in the mornings. Really cold!!! So she's been wearing a tiny jacket in a smaller size, plus my sweater to layer up. Poor thing. I do feel sorry for her. Her mother has since had two new children with an adulterous man and doesn't have time to take care of Alyssa. At least that is my take on it. When she comes here with her hair looking like a bird's nest, I can't help but wonder if her mother ever spends time with her showing her how to comb her hair. It reminds me of the old days when she would do the same. Pity.

Anyway, all I can say is so far so good. I haven't had to strangle either one of them. Or wanted to really. Now Eddie on the other hand...... he refused to take a nap today. And he cried so hard that he made himself throw up. That was heavenly bliss for me. Dh worked today. Lovely.

Lie.

And then this evening we went to In n' Out Burger. I'm pretty sure that I will never go there again. Unless of course all the other food sources in the world dried up, closed down, and this were the last place there was to eat on earth. But just maybe. Because the place was seriously standing room only. And we were a party of 9. Looking to get some tables together. And it wasn't like you were going to go stand in line to order your food, only to stand around and not have a table to sit. Those people that were standing around were circling the other tables like vultures. When anyone would get up, the patrons would make a mad dash for the table. Even if they were just going to get a refill on their drinks. Amazingly, we got 3 tables together. I'm not even going to tell you how long it took us to do that. Meanwhile, I had two seriously hungry toddlers. So we had to get their food first. I got a little worried when they told me that I was number 25 and they were only on number 12. Yeah. It was kind of concerning. While we were among the sitters, we had people eyeballing our drinks, our sandwiches and the levels on our fries. They were scoping us out to see how soon we might be leaving. It was kind of scary. So honestly, this is not someplace I am going to willingly walk into again. With kids. And not just my two kids, my step-kids as well. Especially on a day like I had already had. Watching my son throw up just because he can doesn't make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. In fact it makes me kind of mad. Mad that he is so stubborn that he won't listen to me and just take a nap like a normal toddler.

*sigh* Oh and on another happy note I love my new camera. I have taken some more pics. So here are just a couple more. Let's hope tomorrow goes better for me, 'eh???

Here is a picture of Devon and Alexa. I like this one because he makes her look so small!

This is how Alexa fell asleep today. aww!!

And here is a picture of Miss Alyssa.

The calm before the storm.

So to speak. As calm as it can be while Eddie and Alexa keep running up and down the hall. They alternate rooms to run into. First they run into Eddie's room. Then they head into the bathroom and turn on the faucets and play. Next they run into the laundry room. And I never like them in there since the litter is kept there. Lord knows only what they can find to play with in there. I hear screams in nearly every room they enter. I wonder if it is just for fun, or if Eddie is tormenting his little sister. Today I thought that just maybe I had closed the cat in the dryer. Can you even imagine how hideous that is? I didn't. But I'm trying to rationalize my dryer door throwing itself open with such force it banged into the wall really loud. Pretty loudly. How does that happen? I'm open to all theories. I was home alone, and in another room.

My step-kids have officially landed at Sky Harbor International. Oh the joys. If having two under one roof wasn't enough fun. And we no longer have a car large enough for 2 car seats, one teenager and one pre-teen. (Is nine a pre-teen?) Well, if we decide to all go somewhere as a family, it is going to involve 2 cars. *sigh* Eddie just ran in here and climbed into the crib with Alexa. Because he can. Because he is two. (and a half) And because why on earth would he want to sit in the other room watching Shrek 3 when he could be in here keeping her awake?

I don't know. But like I said before, the kids have arrived. The once chaotic household I knew is about to take on new life. And the fridge is still dirty. I refuse to throw out the stuff that needs to be thrown out. I am seriously going to let it sit there until it grows arms and legs and starts eating the other things in there. It's dh's turn. Because honestly it's always my turn and I just don't feel like doing it right now. He can do it. And if he wants a Coke, he is going to have to move the moldy 2 week old chicken in order to get to it. Or if he wants orange juice or eggs he might have to push past the hairy pot roast that my mother made us last month.

Oh fun times. Anyway. I better let Alexa get some sleep. I think my typing is making her want to play. And Eddie is getting restless in the other room. Oh yeah... his bed is now in our room again. Since we only have a 3 bedroom house, we have taken Eddie out of his room to give our teenage son the privacy. Wow. That seems weird. I still remember washing his hair in the bathtub.

Ok, time to go. I think I need to call and see where they are at. It's all about to break loose here shortly. But here's a pic or two for your perusal. Thanks for stopping by!

Christmas Eve at Nana's.

I love Nana's tree. I also can't wait to see the kids tear into their presents. A few days ago, I was able to officially open my Christmas present. It is a Nikon D40. I'm so loving it. Tonight's pictures are a few of my first with my new camera. I can't wait to take even more.

This is Eddie in his Christmas sweater that I totally forgot all about this whole season. Can we say, "DOH!"I wish I hadn't, but I think I can let him wear it through out the coming months as well. There isn't a Christmas tree on it, it just has a little bear and some snow flakes. But it's really cute.

Here is Eddie being silly. Plain and simple. This kid rules the world. I'm trying my darndest not to let that be so, honestly. Not all kids listen. This is the prime example.

Miss fussy pants. She wouldn't smile. I'm guessing it's due to her current state of teething. She's not been the happiest little camper in the woods lately. I'm hoping that a small boat load of toys will cheer her up tomorrow!

And just in case you didn't believe me. She really was fussy. Is. Teething is not fun.

And one last picture for the road. Here she is in a little bit more playful mood. She opened one present tonight. And it was a very soft pink fleece blanket with a little animal attached. (a cougar??) Anyway, she loves it! Thanks nana!!Merry Christmas and happy present openings to everyone!!! More pics later!!!

I bake. Therefor I am.

Ok, I don't really mean that. But I do enjoy baking. Here and there. And mostly, the stuff I attempt to bake turns out quite yummy.

So, I guess what happened to me just goes right along with how my month has been going. At least one person in my family and usually two at the same time have been sick for the entire month of December. Now, there are still approximately 8 days left of 2007 (and of December) so it's entirely possible that we may be well by then. But I'm not a betting woman, so I'm going to say that it's not going to be a safe one to put your money on. At least I'm hoping we will get well soon. I'm not going to go into the specifics, because it kind of makes me ill just to think about how hard it has been to be sick, Christmas shop, and then take care of sick kids also. It's not good times.

Anyway, since all is nearly said and done, I thought I would bake a little. I tried fudge. That nearly went to the crapper. It was overly soft. And my apologies go out to those who were recipients of my mushy fudge. It usually firms up better than that. I tried cookies. Big mistake. HUGE. I've never in my life encountered an incident such as the one that had occurred to me on the other night. I think I should have just stopped when I realized that I did not have any "fresh" baking soda.

I did however have a box from the fridge. Normally, I would not have taken it out and used it. But I was thinking to myself, how bad can it be? I had just purchased that box a couple weeks ago. Ok, maybe about a month ago. But it wasn't old, honest. I mean, the only thing wrong (if you could say wrong) was that it came out of the fridge. Besides, the fridge keeps things fresher, right?

Apparently not. You are apparently not supposed to use cold baking soda. Cold baking soda that had been sitting in my fridge for a month, it should not be used to bake chocolate chip cookies. Well, the dough came out nicely. It looked and smelled nice. I plopped the little cookie blobs on my non-cookie sheets. You see, even though I love to bake, I do not have the correct bake ware necessary. Anyway, I used an 8 x 8 pan and two cake pans. That should have worked. Except for my fatal error in using that baking soda.

I placed the cookies into the oven to bake for about 11 minutes at 375 degrees. Seems pretty simple, 'eh? Well, when I went back to check on the status of my cookies, I found a scary sight. It appeared that they were melting, and burning all at the same time. The dough completely ran together in the pans, the centers of the cookies looked like blobs of raw dough and the edges looked as if they were on the verge of burning. There were holes in the center of the cookies where no holes should be. They were all flat and looked just plain wrong. My eyes filled up with tears as I broke in to hysterical laughter. I summoned my two year old from his bed with my shenanigans. He came to the kitchen and looked at me with his puzzled two year old intense face. He said, "What you doing Mommy?" I cried, "Laughing baby. Mommy's laughing." He wanted to eat the cookies, but I couldn't explain to him that mommy had killed the batter. I went on to laugh for a good 10 minutes. And when I called my sister, I went on laughing some more. I have never in my life seen a more pathetic batch of cookies.

So, what did I do? I photographed them of course. Before I pitched them down the sink, I had to snap a few shots to share with the masses. Or just you few who read my blog. So here are my cookies, which drove me to buy refrigerated cookie dough just a few days ago. Don't laugh, this really happened!

Oh yes, and the squares in the middle look a little scary. But what's scarier is the fact that the chocolate chunks (which is what they were) failed to melt in the oven at 375 degrees for 11 minutes. Seriously! I really do know how to make chocolate chip cookies. And someday, not in the near future, I will attempt to make them again!

My son is broken.

He used to not be broken. But now he is. There was a time when I could take him to his room and lay him down and he would stay there and sleep. I can't tell you how long it's been since he's actually laid down in his bed when I told him to. I can't tell you how many nights now in a row that I have waken to his little body twisted in some strange configuration in our bed. He's just there. I don't hear him get in. He just slithers in like a little snake. He's quiet and I don't hear or feel a thing. I just see him in the morning.

He knows better than to wake me. It means that he has to sleep in his own bed. I started to think last night that there is something wrong with his room. Something that he doesn't like. I can't for the life of me figure this out. I think that Supernanny couldn't even help me. I've tried her methods of walking him back to his room a thousand times. It doesn't stick. What on earth are we going to do? Wait it out? And maybe when he's 12 he'll sleep better? Well what about my sleep? I don't think I can wait 9 and a half years for him to get it right. I think I might just check myself into the loony bin before that day comes. I mean, it's not that he's a bad sleeper either, because he does sleep. He just won't go to sleep at bedtime. And he won't stay in his room. He gets up at night and comes into our room.

He just walks right out of the room. Over and over and over again. No matter how many times I put him back. No matter if I'm nice or if I yell. No matter if I loose my temper and give him a nice firm swat to the behind. He just keeps coming back out. It's especially hard right at bed time. I try at 7:30 and he isn't sleeping until 9:10. That was last night.

Did I forget to mention that I feel like death warmed over? Yep. That just about sums it up. I feel like the sludge left over on the side of a freshly shoveled snowy road. The dirty snow that gets tossed to the side. That's me. You see, I started to come down with a little cold last week sometime. Right before the weekend. I laid around a little, but I eventually started to feel better. Until about 2 days ago. My little cold took a U-turn. My slight cold turned into some crazy heavily congested, superfluous mucous making, energy draining, throat scratching, life sucking, tissue hogging kind of force that has taken over my body. I don't have a fever. I don't have fluid in my lungs. So I'm clear of pneumonia. It's all in my head. Which by the way, feels like it weighs about 15 lbs. I can't breathe and I even started taking drugs, which I don't enjoy doing. When I talk my voice sounds like a sick person. A very congested sick person that you want to take a few steps back from, if they were standing in or near your vicinity. Simply by doing so, it would lessen your chances of catching my deathly nasty Rhinovirus.

You know what's just sick about this whole thing? I haven't stopped for one moment. These poor kids are in my personal space and are in my care. They are trying really hard to catch this. And I'm trying really hard not to give it to them. Of course they don't know any better. They don't know what germs are. And they don't know that I'm harboring a nasty virus within my very cells that can make them feel just awful. They are too young to know about this kind of thing. I guess, in a way, that sort of ignorance truly is bliss. They just know that I'm mommy. Even stuffy head, unable to breathe or articulate words without sounding like a sick buffoon. I'm still mommy who rules their little world. Alexa does have some lesser version of this. I even stole the humidifier out of her room last night to try and help myself. I did it because she is feeling better. At least she acts like she is feeling better. She is coughing less and has virtually no runny nose. Virtually meaning almost none. Eddie doesn't seem to be showing any signs of illness at all. I give him a week. But I secretly pray that he doesn't catch this at all. Or maybe he has had this strain before??? Who knows.

I just know that I feel awful. I can't breathe, and well should there be more? Oh yeah. Right you are then. Eddie. He is broken and won't go to sleep when I tell him to. So, any suggestions, tips or offers to keep him at your place for the night, are all welcomed here! Thanks for reading!

Blah, and more blah.

This is me.

Today. Yesterday. And really, the day before that too. Unfortunately, life dictates to me that I am not really allowed to actually get any rest at all. So the feeling bad part is mostly done standing up. I haven't felt my normal self in days. I do blame dh as he was hacking pretty good the week and half previous. And Miss Alexa is now working on a nasty cough of her own. I have her sleeping with the humidifier right now. And pretty soon, I'm sure it will be Eddie's turn. The two of them can't stop sharing drinks and he constantly steals her binky and thinks it's ok to suck on it here and there. Ugh! So, like I said, he's next.

We got our Christmas tree. Yay! I was going to take pictures last night, but it fell over. And when I woke up, the decorations were all over the floor! I do think it looked prettier yesterday. Eddie helped to decorate it. Which really meant that he carried around a few ornaments and he would put them on a branch and then take them back off and put them somewhere else. He did that the whole time. Although I will say that he enjoyed that very much.

Today dh went outside and grabbed some strangers off the street who were browsing at the vacant house across the street, and brought them through our very mess house. I was pretty steamed about that. I mean, if they were thinking about buying one, my dirty house certainly had to have turned them off. In fact, I think they might even be moving to another state altogether. Hmmm. I mean. Who does that? Who pulls people into their house off the street in hopes that they will love it and make an offer??? Really??? Did he show them the red craft paint stain? Or the crooked blinds in the dining room? Oh man, I couldn't even bear to be in the house at the same time. I came outside and sat until they left.

My throat is still itchy and I have like this nothing cough. It's itchy and I need to cough, but there is nothing there. It's like a phantom cough. Almost like I'm not really sick. I feel awful and completely drained. I just want to feel better so I can make fudge. And cookies. I am still not finished Christmas shopping yet.

Oh and dh's birthday is 4 days before Christmas. So he's going to get a Merry Birthday gift, like he gets every year. And then maybe we will go out to dinner. Because that's what I want to do. I think I need to line up some babysitters for that night. Oh yeah, he works swings. I forget. OH well, maybe I can go out to dinner. Nah. I better take him.

Well, Mario Lopez is in a Christmas movie and I NEED to go see him. I mean, that movie. Gotta run! Ciao~

Monday.

So, I took some pictures of my kids last night. And I'm even more convinced that I need that Nikon D40. My mom has a Canon digital rebel. I helped my dad pick it out last Christmas. I was salivating all over the box. Seriously. I'm jealous and I really want one of those too. But anyway, I get to take pictures with it when I go over there. And last night, I just picked it up and went crazy. I took pictures of everything. It was so much fun. I imagine if it had been daylight, the pictures would have turned out soooo much better. I had to delete a whole bunch because the lighting was bad. Also because the kids were running non stop and I got many of them in motion. Which that too makes for a cool picture. Anyway, I'm so in love the digital SLR cameras. And I don't yet know all the features and what they do. I just know that they are frikkin' awesome and I NEED one. Maybe I was a photographer in a past life? I don't know, but I just had so much fun last night taking pictures.. I think I would take even more pictures if my camera took pics like hers did! But here is the camera that I currently have my eye on. Nikon D40 I heard it from a source that this particular item is going on super SALE, on December 4th. Online with free shipping and no tax. (thanks to the military!). And I am ALL IN!!! These cameras start out being expensive. Shoot, I'd love to have the 10 MP one, but that one is just a wee out of my price range at this time. So, I'm going to stick with the 6.1. Still, I've read the reviews, and I've seen the pictures that it takes. I'm impressed, to say the least.

So, if I'm not mistaken, the sale starts tomorrow. {{{{clapping like a wild woman}}}} And this is going to be my Christmas present from dh. Only, he doesn't know it yet.

Here are a just a few of my favorites from last night. First I will start with a graphic I made on PSP. (paint shop pro 9)

Ok, I particularly like this picture. For two reasons: #1 It's cute, and my daughter is just too cute doing this. #2 It shows that she is imitating the behaviors that she sees. That being of me doing yoga. If you aren't at all versed in the techniques of Yoga, it's truly bizarre. They have you twisting and turning into insanely unnatural positions that are meant to push you right up to your breaking point. Or just until you fall over, and I do mean falling over. Literally. Because no matter how easy they look. They aren't. Trust me. So Alexa sees me assuming the "downward dog" position, and guess what, so can she! And ever since I started, she has loved this position. I honestly did not make this up. Here is an actual photo from the online Yoga Journal. This stuff is for real. It's supposed to help you with your balance. Or something like that. But this is way cuter......Alexa in downward dog:

And take a look at this smile. This is the reason she gets whatever she wants.

And one of my favorites of Eddie. Although the lighting is far from perfect, it truly captures his personality. If you know Eddie, then you know this is how he is most of the time. Cracking up, silly, laughing. He's a stinker!

And so it ends.

The month of daily blogging, that is. It is finally over. I would have to say that it didn't go too bad. I managed to keep on track and I never missed a post. Interesting thing to do. But hey, now we can get back to our regularly scheduled blog posting. Which might be a few times a week.

We'll see. Last night my Uncle came in from California. I haven't seen him in nearly 12 years, or so! He looks just like my father. And I guess this is a good thing that he came out. I mean, it's probably going to be the last time that I ever see him. His health isn't the best. My father even took him to the hospital today for kidney dialysis. That's pretty tough when you go on a trip to have to spend 4 hours in the hospital to filter your blood. It makes you really want to take better care of yourself. Or at least it makes me feel that way.

Well, we all had dinner at my mom's house. My sister came over too. And it has been ages since she's seen him. We had a lovely dinner and the kids weren't too crazy. Not like on our drive home today. Eddie somehow got his arm all twisted in the seatbelt and started to scream. I had to pull the car over. I got out in the rain, because of course it had to be raining today. When I got out, I stepped into a puddle of muddy water. But I had to do it. My kid was screaming that he was hurting. Of course there were no good places to pull over. Traffic was terrible and I just had to do the best I could. I freed his arm of the entangled seatbelt and we pressed on home.

Eddie was too funny too, he didn't want to get out of the car. He insisted that he would just stay there in the car until we were ready to go. I'm thinking, no. I have to put away our groceries that we just bought at the store, let's get out. Of course he started kicking and screaming b'c he didn't want me to take him out. Well, he got over it. As he often does.

Now it's bed time. And we are winding down. My favorite time of day. When everyone gets to sleep. Including me. Especially me. I just hope that what I'm feeling right now isn't me coming down with whatever funky germ has been making my dh sick. He's been hacking all over everything. Ugh. I just need my pillow. Ah.... but at least it's the weekend. That's nice.

Don't try to write and be mommy at the same time.

It's either one or the other. Period. I've been trying for 30 minutes to make a coherent sentence. But the only thing that comes to mind is, "Lord please make these kids stop fighting over who gets to repeatedly open and shut the door." No lie. They are screaming. And crying. Because Lacka wants to open and close the door. And Eddie wants her to stop, and then he wants to do it. ARGHH!!!! And then she is just crying. And then Eddie is just screaming and jumping around like a little lunatic. Oh and get this... He just jumped, yes basically jumped into my lap and said that (and I quote) " I want jump on your boo-tay!!" I'm like, "???" What did he just say??? And I asked him what he meant, and he said something to the fact that he has a boo-tay. I asked him where it was at. He said, "It's in my butt."

Oh geesh. These kids have me rolling and steaming at the same time. They can't get along to save my life, yet they are the best of buds in the next minute. Tonight my dh informed me that he is going to go on nights soon. As soon as next week. And let the good times roll! Because honestly, I can't think of anything better. I can't wait for my husband to go in to work at 10 or 11 in the morning, only to come home 10,11, or 12 hours later. Because at that time, all of the chaos of my life will have passed. He will come home to a peace and quiet house. And easily climb into bed, where I will no doubt be hiding an ice pick.

And I get to do all the work. Kind of like now, but he has an excuse. Work. It's legitimate right? Well, so is purchasing a Nikon D40. And anything else I please. Because it gets me through the day or night, or both. Now the little boogers are running around with diaper wipes in their mouth. Good, I hope it tires them out. And I'm not afraid of putting it on credit. Why? Because although racking up a tremendous bill is probably the wrong thing to do, it can, at times keep the peace. And peace needs to be kept.

So, I will be going through some fun times in the very near future. And there is the distinct possibility that our house may not sell. But I'm not really wanting to think about that at this time. So, I will just share a few pics I took this evening. After the kids had their pre-dinner meltdown, they were kind of cute. But not at all before hand. They act like starving rats right before they eat. They try like mad to get into anything that resembles cookies or cakes and anything in the pantry that has a yummy looking picture on the front of the can or box. They just act like they've never been fed, and dinner couldn't possibly be in 20 more minutes. That's like a lifetime away. And lord help me now, they are screaming again. Both of them. For what? I couldn't honestly say. Maybe they don't like the lack of overhead lighting in this room. Maybe they are tired and are otherwise unable to articulate this. Maybe they want to make my head spin around in circles, like on rare occasions it does. I don't know.

Calgon, take me away!

ok so here they are: Alexa eating yogurt, yes it is all over her face!

And Eddie riding a firetruck (so he says). His hair is crazy messy b'c he put yogurt in it! And the shirt has dinner on it. I don't normally let him run around that dirty, but hey... we are at home!

blog post

How about that for original? Well, I've been spending my blog time, not thinking about blogging. So therefore it leaves my blog without content.

I've had an unusually rough night with Eddie. But then again, I'm sure those of you who know me, have heard this before. I mean, just when I think I'm getting into my groove, the kid goes and has a hissy fit about oranges. Actually he rummaged through the fridge and helped himself to a big fat naval orange. And he left the door wide open too. I saw him acting a little peculiar and quiet. Too quiet. I saw him with something. I asked what he was doing. He said, "I just getting some oranges." And then I saw him with it. I went to retrieve it, but this is where he fell apart.

I mean, it's really not enough that I am cooking dinner. And soon, we can all sit down as a family (minus dh, since he is at work) and eat. Eat food that will be good. No, he needed an orange. So of course I gave it to him. And to me, and some to Alexa. Because it was so good. Seriously. It was worth the stinging in my fingers from the citric acid getting into my paper cut. Surely.

I forgot to mention that dh left the carton of empty orange juice on the counter. Once again, dh is coming down with something, so he is drinking this stuff up in hopes that he can clobber the mystery germ with vitamin C. So anyway, why does this matter, you wonder? Well of course after having a tasty juicy naval orange, Eddie sees the carton and begins wailing about orange juice. I told him that he was going to have water. But Noooooooooooooo!!!!!! That was not acceptable to his ears. He threw himself to the floor and began to scream. This is the point where we as mothers can take a stand. We can put our foot down and show the little brats who's boss. Or we can just realize that if we just get the orange juice, then we can go about our merry way and finish fixing dinner. After all, I'm starved, Alexa is getting hungry and I really just wanted him to be quiet.

Thankfully, one fat naval orange, one cup of orange juice and twenty minutes later our dinner was done. We ate, without complications, and we all had baths. Well, I kind of just got splashed at. Alot. So, I'm really tired. I don't know what I'm supposed to blog about, but you got a little tid-bit from my evening. My head hurts too.

I'm going to bed. Good night tree friends! So yeah. I gave in. I got the boy some orange juice to wash down his orange.

coming down to the wire

So we only officially have a few days left in November. And since I was spending some time on some yahoo site this evening, I am way too tired to form actual real thoughts into sentences and make intelligent paragraphs. I cannot for the life of me fold now. I've come too far. I must blog, I must complete this task.

Oh yes, and I was thinking about my fudge today. I need to get the stuff to make it. Hence, more shopping. So, I'll just put that on the to do list. Along with the cooking and cleaning.

I'll get right on all of that. And taking pics with the kids. My mom is on me about that, she wants to see some new pics. And really, so do I. I'm getting their Christmas pictures taken soon. Their outfits are absolutely stinking cute. I can't wait. They better smile.

Ok, I have to run now. I'm tired. As usual. And dh is sick. Oh the joy of a sick man baby. Don't tell him I said that.

late night.

Let's see...late night for dh to come home. Which means, late night for the kids to get to bed. No matter how hard I try, it's just difficult to maintain the schedule when he's not here. Eddie does not like to be alone in the other room. Even when I do put on Charlotte's Web. And then in order to put Alexa to sleep, I come in here and sit with her while she drinks her milk and gets a little sleepy. She usually falls asleep on her own. But the real problem arises when Eddie keeps running in here and laughing and trying to play with her while she is getting settled. So I walk him back out there, try to reassure him that I will be out in just a few minutes and then come back here. It seems like an endless cycle. Eventually she gets tired and falls asleep. Despite the noise level. But it's hard, and it takes some time. Needless to say, we are already starting off at least 30 minutes behind schedule. Maybe Eddie will listen this time and stay put for at least 15 minutes. I'm hoping. Oh yeah. And a glass of Zinfandel also makes this process go a little more smoothly. (This is not recommended if you are nursing, pregnant, or think you may become pregnant or are taking MAOI's.)

Oh and of course I forgot to mention my little crib jumper. She can climb out. Which is why I try to leave her in a semi-drowsy state. She can actually throw her little leg over the side rail and lower herself to the floor. Or maybe drop onto the floor. I haven't actually seen it done, I just see the end product. Which is her walking down the hallway. Most nights, she is perfectly fine to sleep all night long in there. I also don't want to have her fall down and get hurt. So I stay here until she looks a little sleepy, and then I leave. She does well with that method. And she doesn't wake up at night. Unless of course she is teething.

So anyway, we are off schedule. We are getting a late start to bed time. She is not sleeping. And Eddie won't stay put in the other room. That's just not making me feel any better. It's nearly 8 p.m. Ok, like I said...Zinfandel.
Eddie is standing there and talking and playing with toys. Argh! I need to finish my post! Did I mention that Nablopomo is almost over? lol~

Oh yes, and we are creeping into December. Oh the joys. The baking, the eating, the eating. I also have some family coming into town on Thursday. Did I mention the eating? Yeah? Okay. Well, I like that part. And I have to dig out my fudge recipes. It's fudge time of year. So friends, get ready. You too Lynne! {{wink, wink}}I have to run, she's looking a little sleepy, and Eddie needs some mommy time!

Can't give up now....

As we are nearing the end of the month, so ends the month of Nablopomo (once again, that's national blog posting month). For those of you not paying attention, I'm participating in the whole blog post a day for a month. That month being November, Bingo! So, on a short note. I'm tired. My back hurts, and Alexa was cranky tonight. So I'm thinking.... more teeth? I don't even feel like contemplating that one. She could just be acting like a baby, which is what she is. And then she's perfectly entitled. So there.

I am super psyched about today. Had a great day. Don't feel like writing it all out. I want to go and do something else. Which by the way is also my prerogative. So sue me. I'm falling short in my blogging today. But as the holidays are fast underway, there are many many things to do. One of which is still to sell this house. Which reminds me, (NO. It's not the laundry again.) I have to shoot an email off to my realtor. I keep forgetting.

Ummm..... I'll try to think of something spectacular to say next time. Or maybe I will just post some pics of the kids. And then that will make up for it. Have to run~ Duty calls!

Long weekend.

Seriously, I feel like it has lasted about 7 days. The kids are tearing everything out of the closets. They are breaking things. And are still refusing to poop on the potty. Though we attempt it every day. And even about an hour ago, Miss Alexa was sitting on the potty. I am just willing to bet that she could get potty trained first. The idea of stock piling large quantities of Pampers and taking them to Iquique with us sounds totally unappealing. In my sometimes distorted sense of reality, I was thinking that I might have them both trained by the time we left. That would be my ideal situation. I just really don't want to buy diapers anymore. I'm ready to start spending that money on myself again. If that ever happens. I mean, I don't buy too much for me these days, except for that vanilla shampoo. I'm still contemplating whether or not I should wrap that as a Christmas present. I think I may. Or maybe I won't. I'm a little flaky.

But let's see, tomorrow we are heading out to shop again. Mostly this is for mom. They are having another sale at the BX. You get to take an additional 20% off of the Dooney & Bourke purses. That's a pretty good deal, since the prices are cheaper on base than in another store. Not to mention, she has a $20 dollar coupon that was attached to the catalog that they mailed to her house. I have one too. But I'm not going to be buying a purse, when I really have my eye on that Nikon.

I almost bought it the other day. On Thanksgiving when I logged onto their website it was an additional 20% off one day only. Which brought the price down substantially. Only the phone operator told me that the price was going to go down even further in December. So I decided to wait and see when it would, and then use my $20 off coupon then. Dh doesn't know he's getting me that for Christmas. Unless of course he found my blog and is reading it. I can't say that he knows, one way or the other. But I'm getting it. I'm worth it. And that's that.

So, we are not getting up quite as early as the other day. But still early just the same. I am taking my mother and my niece as well as my sister. Oh yeah, that reminds me. Laundry, and when aren't I doing laundry? And the fact that we took the car seats out so that I could de-grunge the covers and wash them. Lord help me, I think I need a PhD to re-assemble all of the parts on both the car seats. Oh yeah, and I have to go into the garage and clean the car's back seat where Eddie's seat was. Apparently the car seat itself, with my child strapped to it was not enough to contain the spill of my Strawberry smoothie yogurt that Eddie decided to confiscate and then half drink. And the other half, I'm guessing is the reason that my dh came into the house with a disgusted look on his face and asked me what I have been giving Eddie to drink in the car. Gee, sorry. Why yes dear, yes I am trying to tear the car apart, bitt by bit. That's my plan. I'm terribly sorry I'm not a good parker. I didn't know I was going to drive into the curb and scratch the rim. I'm sorry I didn't see the stone table you put there in the garage and drove into it. I'm sorry. And I really made a deal with Eddie and told him to pour the drink on his lap. I told him that if he did, I would buy him a pony. So yeah. It's my life's mission to destroy my new car. I think not. I actually like it. And no, it isn't the newfound attention that I am getting from drive through adolescent boys. That part is kind of funny. But it feels sporty. And I like that. All the things that have happened were quite the accident. Especially the yogurt part. I really wanted to drink that one on my own. Note to self: Drink yogurt smoothie before you put Eddie in the car.

Ok, so like I said, shopping in the am, snack in a moment (I didn't say that did I?) clean the back seat, put away the laundry, and reassemble the car seats. Oh that sounds like way too much. Thank goodness I'm so freaking awesome and the dishes are already done. This calls for a Coke. I need some caffeine, stat!

Black Friday

I had a little bit of trouble sleeping last night. I'm not sure if it was because child #2 kept waking up whimpering during the night, or it was because I was getting ready to brave the crowds during an early morning fight for parking, a spot in line or some free coffee that was to be given away during our 35 minute wait in line.

We went to the BX to see if we could by chance be one of the lucky ones to get a free gift card for $20 bucks. Not so lucky. The people at the front of the line were there since the previous day. I mean, come on! Do these people not have a life to tend to? Do they not have anything on earth better to be doing than standing in line waiting for $20?? So according to my calculations, (or that of my HP computer calculator) those people were in line since 5pm yesterday. And the store did not open until 5 am this morning. Well for standing in that line, they earned about $1 dollar and .66 cents per every hour that they stood there. Was that really worth it?? No. Not to me. And even though my sister and I were like #200 in line, or so I would guess, we casually made our way through the maze that they had created for us. We were corralled in like cows, it was kind of fun. We made our way, walked right in, walked over to the "section" of the store that held the oh so coveted item, and we purchased it. Simple. But then again, we weren't there for the mega deal on the LCD TV. They sold out before they ever got to our place in line.

No biggie. They even gave us free coffee. I know my dh would have loved that. My preferences were not to have taken that little swig in the first place. It was WAY too strong. I wanted to take off my shoe and suck on my socks to get the taste out. But I got over it. And we proceeded to the next store, and then the next. Every where we went there were a lot of people. They had bags and bags of stuff. I wondered to myself how much they spent, were they done? How early did they get up this morning?

Mostly all of the sales people we encountered were friendly. We ate breakfast out and continued on our merry shopping way. We found a few good deals and were pretty satisfied overall with this Black Friday experience. I even got to take a nap when I got home. For two whole hours! It was desperately needed, as I may have been close to biting someone. Dh probably.

After spending the rest of the day at home, cooking dinner, cleaning up kids messes and changing too many diapers to count, we ventured back out. I even bought 3 more Christmas presents! Got to love that!

So now here I am. I've watched the news and did see the other crazies in the city heading out to get their deals on. I heard about the so called parents who took their kids to Best Buy with them and then got cited for contributing to the delinquency of minors. Well I'm glad they got on to them. That's just wrong to take little kids out there for one. Let them sleep! And if you can't figure out a way to make that happen, then you shouldn't be out there in the first place. The news said that they had 1000 people in line at that store this morning. Wow. The first guy in line was interviewed on the news. He ate his Thanksgiving meal on the sidewalk in front of that store. Again. It's not worth it. In my very humble opinion.

And he bought 4 computers. One for himself, and the others to go directly on Ebay. I also think this is unfair. For the people who would love to get a deal, they can't. Because this Joe Schmoe is buying up the stock so he can make a quick buck. I wish they would limit the sales on these items. But that's just me.

Ok, off my high horse now. I'm tired. Or hungry. Maybe even both. But I'm psyched, I have had a great day. Even if Lacka turned her kitchen on it's side and broke it. Yes. She did. Which, now, as an experienced mother who has purchased a wood kitchen for a 1 and 2 year old, I would highly recommend you go with p-l-a-s-t-i-c!!!! There is a reason they make them out of plastic. In one word. Durability. Well, to be honest, it's not unusable. But I think I need to just sell it before they really destroy it, and get a plastic one. I can take the part off that broke and it would just be missing the top piece. Otherwise it's really cute and totally functional. I think wood kitchens are better suited for a little bit older kids. Like say maybe 4 year olds. I think they would do better with that.

Ok. I have to run off and do something motherly. Like check on Eddie, or make sure he hasn't gotten hurt again. Today he was scratched by his sister, he scraped both knees as he fell when running down the driveway. He also fell backwards off of his blue riding puppy and hit his head on the tile, which he let out pretty blood curdling screams for. Poor thing, he's had a rough day. I also can't wait for him to go to sleep. He's been a little motor mouth today and he won't quit talking. I need a little more peace and quiet!

Too cute not to share.

Here are the kids this morning in Lacka's crib. Yes they like to get in there and play together. Or jump. But they still like to be in there. I don't know why the video cut off before I was ready. Maybe there wasn't enough room on the memory disk. Oh well. Here are my kiddos today. Happy Thanksgiving!

src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Aazn5LmyQqs&rel=" width="425" height="355" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent">

A video to set the mood.

I found this video on You Tube and I like it. I feel I can relate to it well. After baking 8 pumpkin pies, I think I'm just about ready to burst a little. I'm also ready for my main course. And then of course, the PIE!!

(OK, sorry the link no longer works.)

Oh yes, and since today is Thanksgiving, I must take this time to say that I'm thankful. Mostly I'm just happy to have my family around me right now. And I'm also thankful that there is pie. I hope they turned out ok. Otherwise, they are going to stop letting me bake the pies.

Leslie Stewart?

I think not. No matter how hard I try. I just cannot do it. I am not going to go outside and gather a bunch of rocks and twigs for a centerpiece. They probably have spiders underneath of them or spores attached to them. Somehow. Spores being those nasty things that you don't want to inhale because you might get Valley Fever. I can't make a centerpiece out of the things that lay just outside of my front door. For one, I have a dying cactus. And thankfully we've removed the long since dead tree plant that was given to me as a "happy birthing" gift by my BIL. (for yall who don't get my code, that's brother-in-law, Kay?)

And since I feel the need to bake, I attempt it. Every year. Many times a year actually. I have no idea why the best things I can make involve alcohol. Hmmm.....??? I made a Kahlua bundt cake, that I had to promptly remove from the house by taking it to my sister's house. Simply for fear that I would eat the whole thing. Now drinking the whole bottle of Kahlua myself, another story. I certainly wouldn't share that. Did I tell you that this very bundt cake won an award for me? Best dessert maker in the whole city of Plantation, Florida! Ok, Ok, I'm totally lying, but it did win me some money in a contest!

I continue to feel the urge to bake stuff and decorate stuff. I am not at all talented in that respect. I get frustrated at times and send half decorated doll cakes off to work with my dh. That was pretty hilarious. I don't know how 'real' cake decorators do it. I mean, I love the work. I just wish I were better at it. Sometimes my inner self is confused and she thinks that she is a cake decorator. And she clearly is not. Just baking cakes and pies are more my thing. Without the decorating. Oh and fudge too. And cookies. I like all that stuff. A little too much sometimes.

I think also that I am crafty. I like to paint stuff. Not like Picasso type of painting, just crafty easy 1-2-3 painting. It's fun. I bought letters for Eddie's room before he was born and I painted those. It was soothing and I enjoyed it. Now on the lazy hand, I waited until Alexa was 14 months old before I painted her letters. But they still came out cute, and they were worth the wait.

So, now back to my baking. Today I made 6 little mini pumpkin pies. I followed the directions to a capital T. Now, why on earth do I have so much pie filling left? I read the box. My shells are too short I think. I'm such a dork. If it isn't one thing I mess up, it's another. But they smell good. And short or not, I bet they taste pretty good. And if you nearly kill it with Cool Whip, you surely have a winner. What's sad is, I'm not going to eat a single one of these. I made them for the daycare teachers. Awwwww!!!! But you see, they help give me my sanity. I go to work, they take care of my kids. Or at least that's the idea anyway.

So I made little pies. I hope they like pies. It's all very Martha Stewart of me huh? That woman gives us all a bad name. Who on earth does she think she is? Us regular folks can't measure up. And we spend time in our kitchens creating disasters. Or is that just me?

How is there time to create fantabulous center pieces and cook tarts and bake "Nothing water" on your stove just so that your house smells good for the guests. Who does that? I mean, if you are busy doing all of that, who is going to vacuum up the Ritz crackers that Eddie and Alexa have ground into the carpet after you've just finished vacuuming. Who is going to pick up all the books that your sweet little girl has dragged out for the fiftieth time???? What about the diaper that Eddie keeps taking off because he wants to wear "big boy" undies? And heaven forbid that he actually make a poopy while wearing big boy undies and not tell you, because a poopy might fall out and you don't see it. Who's going to pick up that kitty kibble on the couch before guests arrive? And if you at all realize it's even there, will it be you or your guests that figure out it isn't really a kitty kibble, but the missing poopy from Eddie's big boy undies. Who is going to make sure that the bathroom is presentable and doesn't have an entire roll of toilet paper sitting inside the bowl. These are the things that regular moms take care of. Which doesn't leave much time for baking, prepping and decorating. It's a neat idea. If you don't have anything else in your life to do, but it's not practical. And that's why I don't bake or frost cakes more often. Frosting cakes takes time. The time I don't have. I need to be hands on with these little people who are stone by stone, taking down the house.

So, like I said. I baked this morning. Something easy. Or so it might seem. Because I have left over pumpkin stuff, and I'm quite sure I shouldn't have that much left. I have to laugh now, because that's just typical of my baking. Every time it goes this way. But I'm sure they are good. And I removed the hair that was trying to get in the mix of dough. (Nah, I'm kidding.........) Or was I? But like I said, good. Have to go and run errands. As always. Here's a picture or two for your perusal.

My mini pies cooking, the box of what they should look like, and my cat Corona. Since I don't talk about him nearly enough. He used to be my baby. And then he got booted into second place. And then quickly into third. And now he just gets the scraps of what's left of me. Which isn't all that much. Enjoy the pics!

I got nothin'

Except for the fact that I am extremely disturbed. Disturbed that my dh had to come in here and ask me if the milk that I just placed into the cup on the counter for Eddie, was actually for Eddie. Because after all I just told him 15 minutes ago. And since I just finished saying it, I knew he might forget. So I shouldn't be disturbed at all should I? Hmmm.

Oh yeah. And this shopping bit is driving me a little crazy. I'm in full swing now and I'm eyeballing all of the sales and planning my next few days. Well in doing some shopping already, I have found a few things on sale at one store and on an even better sale at another store. Well, to save $20 bucks I am going to have to take a few things back to store #1. Not really fun, but it's all about saving money here. And then I come across things that I really want to get, but hesitate. Should I? Do they have too much? Should I not? Dh would vote for a no. But that's just him. He's not going to be home all day long with them.

Anyway. I'm planning to head out for Black Friday. And I'm not sure where I'm going. There are a few electronics gadgets that we could use. Like a 22 inch flat screen monitor. Super nice! Well..... I hate to blog and run, but I know dh wants to talk with me about our move. It's seeming more and more real. After our initial letdown, it looks like things are progressing in the "exit" mode for us. We'll see. Post more tomorrow. I think.

Just ouch.

Tonight Eddie jumped on me. And I guess I was in a weird position and it really hurt. So I'm in a funky my back really hurts kind of mood. And it's my lower back too, which is never good. I mean, you need your back to do everything, like breathe and sit and stare and sleep and walk. Ohhhh it's such a pain when it hurts! No pun there. I'm too worn out for puns. I'm also way too tired to be sitting here, tapping away at these keys. But like some deep dark secret I'm keeping, I must come in here and blog. It's my new addiction. I think I'm even too tired to try and make sense. Both Eddie and Alexa were uncooperative last night. Eddie got out of his bed about 20 times. I think he finally fell asleep at 11. Maybe, I don't remember. And then Alexa woke up at 12:48 a.m. That was very nice of her. And she finally fell asleep nearly two hours later. So I'm tired. Beat. Worn down to the nubs.

And we had guests this evening which was very nice. Everyone played nicely together. The only problem was that they left me most of my Kahlua bundt cake. Well, maybe that's not that big of a problem. As a matter of fact, I'm going to go and address the issue when I get off the computer. I'm going to address it with a fork. Dh finally managed to get home. That's nice too, b'c at least he takes Mr. Rambunctious off of my hands so I can blog put Alexa to bed.

Interesting thing he did manage to share with me was that he spoke to the guy who has the assignment we are getting. You know.... the guy who is currently living in Iquique. He said (and I'm quoting dh now) " Yeah we felt the quake. It was much stronger than all the others we've felt since we've been here." Oh joy. In 2 years that they have lived there, there have been multiple quakes.

Well, seriously I don't like the sound of that. But I think it might just be better than a rattlesnake on my breakfast table. And just as long as the seismic activities aren't enough to disturb those volcanoes. I'm going to have to look into their locations once again. But like I said, right now...just way too tired. Isn't going to happen. I think I'm just about ready for night-night. But of course I had to get in my daily blog!