Glad I Got That One Marked Off My To-Do List

Unfortunately, it really is an every second of every day goal frequent item on my to do list. 

It just rarely happens.

And, yes, I need to write it down to even hope to make it happen.

Because I am cool like that. 

Fess Up-Late Entry

Because I need some shame to motivate me (or encouraging words), I am posting a pic of two quilts that I am 97% done with, but just can't seem to finish the binding.  I have no idea why. 

I've done the hard parts.  This is the supposed easy part.

The one on the left?  Yeah, I started that before I was even pregnant with Lil Miss.  (Hanging my head in shame.)  The one on the right is only from July. 

So, here's to motivation by humiliation.

Fess Up Friday

Be sure to check out Kira's blog.  It sounds like she may be taking a temporary blogging hiatus, but there is still fessin' up to do.  (Kira, I am with you on the 8000 time outs and potty training insanity making little to no margin in life.  Also?  Happy went from a solid daily 3 hour nap to a solid daily fight/struggle to nap.  I'm worn out.)

The first fess up of the day is courtesy of our neighbors.  I feigned taking a picture of Lil Miss to get a pic of what was in their front yard.

 
Just a recliner with no seat cushion.
Everyday, it is entertaining to see what is in their yard.  Most recently I have spotted a vacuum cleaner, a basketball goal (like mangled and crushed-like....not usuable),  and an antique plow.  Fortunately, most stuff gets moved.  Eventually.

They are nice folks.  Just not particularly tidy. 
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We went out to eat recently.  I packed Lil Miss's baby food, but forgot the baby spoon.  We were at a mexican restaurant (one of those build your own burrito places) and they didn't have any spoons.  And Lil Miss was h.u.n.g.r.y. 

So, naturally, I fed Lil Miss with the handle of a plastic knife.

She was ok with it.

On a similar note, Lil Miss is starting to show some sass and personality.  And agenda, as Hubs put it.  Here she is earlier today grabbing Happy's feet and trying to put them in her mouth.  I cannot confirm or deny whether any feet went into her mouth.  Except they did.  Happy just let her do it while he happily watched a show about "err-pwanes".

On said "err-pwane" show, there is a segment about rockets (?? because they are clearly airplanes ??).  Anywho, maybe it is the potty training stuff, but I felt compelled to google how exactly it is that astranauts pee in space.  It seemed like it would be a messy endeavor without that handy gravity thing working for you.  Doesn't sound easy.  It definitely gave me the willies.  Something about suction cups.  I stopped reading.  I just wanted to make sure they didn't have to use catheters.  I couldn't handle much more info than the basics. 

Hubs said now google will forever have me recorded as having searched for such things.  And that's ok with me.  Because I cleary needed to know.

Happy Friday!

Cruciferous Love

I am hungry.

I have brussels sprouts roasting in the oven. (Good news!  They had brussels sprouts at Costco!  I ask you, can it get much better than bulk brussels sprouts roasting in your oven? I think not.)

I bought 2 bags, which is 4 pounds.  I wanted more, but I had to exhibit some measure of self control.

(Why are they brussels sprouts? In the plural?)

I can hardly wait for their tasty goodness to finish roasting, so I am blogging to distract myself.

So hold onto your hats for some utter randomness.

- - - - - - -

My gauge for how I am handling life's stresses is storage containers.  If I feel compelled to buy them and buy many of them, I know that I'm feeling overwhelmed.

Lately, I have had to fight the urge lately to buy containers. 

But, I had victory!

There is nary a new storage container in this house.

At least this week.

Don't ask about last.

- - - - - - -

Look at these cuties, aren't they precious? 

We are waiting for our requisite free kiddie cookie.

I bit the bullet a few weeks ago and got this beast, the racing car shopping cart.  I needed to get more items than usual, so I was hoping it would hold more.  Can you believe it actually held less?  I didn't realize it until they were loaded in, but it was lacking the bascart thingy.  You know, the thing under the cart.  That is where I put most things.  It was too late to go back and get a regular cart because Happy was LOVING the car aspect.

It was quite difficult to steer.  I ran into several things.

Just a few end caps.  No biggie.

By the end of the trip, Lil Miss was positively buried under all the groceries.

- - - - - - - 

(For the readers without kids, Potty Training Alert!)

We've had some great pooping in the potty success with Happy lately.  Bribery works, my friends.

Anywho, Happy has been getting up in the morning and going to the potty, then coming to knock on our door.  Hubs is already up at that point, doing work (He's in IT, so he has to check network viability each morning.  Do I sound like I know what I am talking about?  Not a clue.).  He listens out for Happy, but some mornings Happy is extra quiet and Hubs doesn't realize that Happy is up.

The other morning, Hubs heard Happy up.  Hubs hurried to go check on him (to make sure no potty shenanigans were happening).

Right as Hubs opened the door, he sees Happy coming to our door with a filled potty seat in hand.  Right at that moment, Happy's kryptonite, a boo bus (school bus) drove by.  Happy was looking out the window at it in utter excitement as the contents of the potty spilled out on the floor.  Poor Hubs.

- - - - - - -  

I'll leave you on a less gross note, more sweet kiddie cuteness.

A boy and mud.  A wonderful thing.

My sweet owl.

Blessed beyond measure,
'licious.

oh.my.word. (oh, and also, CHOCOLATE!)

You know how the simplest things can take the longest?

Well, my mom's birthday is this week.  She is a big fan of both pictures and cards.  So, I wanted to make her a customized card with pics of the grandkids.  Similar to the one I did for my dad.

You know, the one where he was only interested in pictures of his cats, not pictures of the grandkids.

He's a total nut.

I won't go into the horribly boring details, but basically, the 3 minute card has taken over an hour and a half and is not done.

On a website that specializes in making this super quick and easy.

I have done online support chat two different times with this online card company. For a 3 minute card!  And it is still not resolved.

The gist of it was that I did not have the "proper" internet browser. So I downloaded that.  Then, believe it or not, the browser was too new of a version!? And you can't download an older version to install it.  Then, I did not have the most updated Flash player.  So I downloaded that.  And it still didn't work.

I tried another, older, slower computer.  It worked on that.  But, because it is slower, it has frozen on the preview part while I type this blog post on my computer that now has the "proper" internet browser and upgraded Flash.

I finally hit cancel just now to end all of our misery.

I am a graphic designer and Hubs is a IT Computer guy.  If anyone should be able to handle this project and any technical challenges it presents in a snap, it would be us.  This just shows how frustratingly difficult this website is. And somehow Dad's card was able to be done a few months ago on the same computer without batting an eyelash. (???)

I hope my mom appreciates her card if she ever gets it!

---

On an entirely different note, my sweet precious friend, who lives in southern Africa, commented about my chocolate insanity stash.  She has been in her current location for about 4 years or so (without a return to the states) and mentioned that the only chocolate item she recognizes were the toll house morsels.

You just never really think about how the oh so important chocolate landscape changes so quickly, do you?

(And just for the record?  I am not normally this obsessed with food.  Nursing a baby makes me hungry and all crazy like. For chocolate and brussels sprouts. And broccoli.)

(And I also didn't realize how much chocolate I got until I was heading to the cash register.)

(And it was too late to care.)

(I assumed if the check out person was a lady, she would understand.)

(Did I mention we are potty training?)

Moving on...
I just want to tell Katie what she may need to stock up on when she visits the states.

1. Pretzel M&M's. A staple. Just like rice. Or milk. But much more necessary.

2. Chocolate Cheerios.  For when you want chocolate for breakfast but want to feign eating a normal breakfast. Yes, they are heart healthy. In more ways than one.

3.  Nestle Tollhouse Milk Chocolate and Peanut Butter. See explanation in #2. Just add the precious morsels to oatmeal and a banana. But don't let the 2 year old see what you are up to.

4. Fiber One Peanut and Chocolate Brownie-ness. Word on the weight watching street that these are yummy. They are not the real thing, but they will do for less caloric intake.

5. Hershey Kisses Cookies and Cream.  Because it is sheer brilliance.

6. Hershey Kisses Dark Chocolate.  Because it is good for your heart, right?  Something about dark chocolate being good for you.  (I am sure someone just like me devised that study.)

7. Bliss Dark Chocolate.  Another word on the street item. Have yet to try them.

And, for the record, I only have opened 3 of the bags.  In less than 24 hours.

Hoarding Chocolate,
'licious

Mmm... Chocolate

Just got back from the store.  I seemed to have gotten a lot of chocolate.

I wish I had an adequate defense, but I do not.

Hot Tea and Plaid Blankets

Sweet Hubs and I went out tonight.   It was fun to have time just with him. I ordered hot tea with my dinner.  Which is caffeine overload for me. (Sonic sodas just don't pack the same caffeine punch.) I am still riding on that wave of caffeine many hours later. I fear I won't be falling asleep for hours and am not even sure Benadryl could knock me out at this point.  Even a double-dose.

And Hubs broke out the much-hated plaid blanket.  Because it is only mid 90s with like 85% humidity. So, you know, frigid. And ever-so necessary.

On another note, we are finally getting our privacy fence installed tomorrow!

How do you know when you are old?  When you are excited about a fence, my friends.

More what I am excited about it keeping the weird behavior of neighborhood kids (and adults) out of our yard.  I have seen many disturbing things in our yard over the years.

Recently, I have come across barbie's leg, barbie's shaved head, spiderman's leg, and garfield's head. We have had clogged gutters with (toy) car parts.  I have witnessed a young man running shirtless through our yard as if he was running from something (like the law!).

It's time to keep the crazy out, people.

Or at least the crazy that doesn't live here. And for that, I am ecstatic.

'Fess Up Friday

Well.

It is going to be an interesting day.

I have an unrelenting migraine.  And I am due to go to one of those local kids indoor jumping/play places with the kids and some friends.  I think today is the last weekday before all the local kids go back to school, so I can only assume it will be extra insane with parents and kids wanting one last fun outing.

Because of said migraine and the trip to the local crazy house jumping/play place, I took my magic elixir.

Yes, the same one that made me fall asleep in church.  2 benadryl and 2 tylenol.  I am not sure who I am more concerned for-the kids or myself.

Speaking of my magical elixir, let me tell you something that was happening to me when Happy was about 9 months old.

I was having a season of migraines (they typically appear when the weather is changing or extra wacky or lots of atmospheric pressure changes) and I was just totally worn out from them.  I was nursing Happy at the time, so again, I was limited in what pain medicines I could take.

Because I was in such unrelenting pain for about a week or two, I was taking the benadryl and tylenol combo at times.

(For those who err on the side of worry-I only take both of those when absolute necessary.  It's not just a willy nilly thing.)

Now that we have that cleared up, let's move on, shall we? Ok.

So, I was super tired from the migraine but I was also just insanely exhausted.  Like I could hardly walk.

Yes.

And, I had made sure I wasn't pregnant (you know me and my love for pregnancy tests!  I'll jump on any excuse to take one).

I wasn't sure what was wrong, but I just pushed through it.  What else could I do, really?

A week or so later, I was at Target buying some more pain medicine and then it all became crystal clear.

It appears that previously, I had accidentally bought generic Tylenol PM.  So, when I was taking both my tylenol and benadryl, I was double dosing myself on benadryl!

Can you imagine what a double dose of benadryl is like?

I can.

It's not pretty. Trust me.

Read the label carefully, my friends.  Very Carefully.

Our Very Own Pavlov's Dog

You guys are familiar with Pavlov's Dog, right?  The whole conditioned response thing?

My husband was unfamiliar with the term, but once I referenced an Office episode which illustrated the concept, he realized he knew of it.

Speak their language, my friends.  Speak their language.


The Office - Pavlov's dog from Rauno Villberg on Vimeo.

Please watch the embedded video for reference and for your viewing pleasure.  It is delightful.

Anyways, a couple of months ago, on a Saturday morning when Hubs and I were particularly tired, and the kids were up and ready to party eat breakfast, Hubs decided to just bring Happy into our bedroom, plop him on our bed, turn on a video and give Happy some cheerios.

At the time, that seemed like a brilliant thing to do, given how tired we were.

On that particular day, Hubs just grabbed the closest DVD, which happened to be a Cookie Monster one.  It was wonderful.  Hubs and I could try wake up while still giving Happy some semblance of breakfast.

We liked the system so much that we did it the following few Saturdays.

Well, now any time Happy goes into our bedroom, he says, "coooooo-key" and turns the TV on, hands me the DVD remote to play the video, climbs onto our bed and requests cheerios.  In that order.

Every. Single. Time.

Multiple. Times. A. Day.

No video substitutions are allowed, nor are any snack substitutions.

It has to be Cookie Monster and it has to be Cheerios.

Exhibit A

Please note the green cover.  NO PLAID BLANKET that day!

And usually I am trying to get ready or put laundry away or something, so I oblige him.  The video is less than 20 minutes.

I have teased him saying that he is Pavlov's dog.

(Like he knows what I am talking about.)

(Or maybe he does.)

(He has taught himself the alphabet letters and their sounds. He knows how to work our tv better than I do. I am afraid I have taught him he has already taught himself everything I know.)

Exhibit B

Just today, we walked into our bedroom and before I even realized what happened, I had the cheerios in hand to give him.

I guess I am really the one who is Pavlov's dog, huh?