Mom, What's For Dinner??

Somedays I swear Miss K just lives for asking what we're having for dinner; it must be that extra line on my nametag, On-Demand Personal Chef. And, as per usual kid-style, she always tends to ask at most impeccably inopportune moments. Like when I'm elbow deep in an explosive poop-diaper.

While I'm pretty sure I am not the only mom who just dreads this question, I don't remember it being a topic addressed in the Parenting 101 handbook. I seemed to have skipped the Mad-Dash Through Cupboards And Fridge to Haphazardly Throw Something Together section. Maybe I fell asleep before I got there?

To that end, I knew I had to come up with something that would make our evenings run smoother. Especially the evening were Daddy has school late and it's just me and the girls. I've heard mention in passing Meal Planning and took some time to look into what it entails.

Meal Planning is just what is sounds like (go figure, right?): planning meals. Ahead of time. See, that whole "ahead of time" part is the lifesaver. You'd think I would have figured that out before! You choose what period of time you want to create a menu for and then create a shopping list to go with your menu. Pre-planning ensures the ingredients are actually on hand when you need them. Such a novel and simple concept!

For the last two weeks, I created a weekly menu and each Sunday night I made sure the ingredients necessary were either in the cupboards or on Monday's shopping list. While it took extra time out of my omg-the-weekend-is-over veg session, sitting down and creating menus and shopping lists wasn't as dangerous to my mental health as I thought it might be. Score!

And voila, success! My life between 4pm and 6pm changed from a nightmare  of cranky, hungry children and adults to almost blissful dinners. I knew what was needed for dinner, when to start preparations, what to make and I could plan accordingly. Such a small change made a huge impact on our nights. And, not surprisingly, on our budget as well.

Now that I've made it through the first two weeks, I can do anything! Goals for November: Meal plan the whole month in one shot. Make two trips to the stores all month!

*Fingers crossed*

Kitty Tooth Fairy

Oh my goodness heebie-jeebie willies last night! My five-month-old kitten lost his first tooth. But before losing said tooth he had to give me the most awful heebie-jeebie willies. 

I am a mom. I can (and have) cleaned throw up out of bed sheets, car seats, carpets, bookshelves, hair, and clothing. I have rescued bloody noses, scraped knees, split open chins, and dog bites. I have cleaned up pee and poop from dogs, cats, ferrets, birds, and a whole menagerie of small animals. I have changed death defying diapers, poop out of the tub, and off walls (not my child might I add). The countless disgusting and icky things I've seen and dealt with cannot be completely valued except by another parent. Or a nurse. 

Yet none of these compare to the icky heebie-jeebies I get when it comes to loose teeth. 

I dread loose teeth. Hated them as a kid and am loathing when Miss K will start to lose her baby teeth in the next year. The gums are just icky ooey gooey blech and the teeth are stuck but not and ick ick ick. Cannot stand it. At all. I'm a wimp and proud! 

Ducati was play biting last night and I felt his canine tooth move. Not just a little bit, but the huge ooey gooey ick ick that it would fall out soon. Instantly I'm whining to husband to come help and rescue me. He, of course, has to have the all-mighty question of, "What do you want me to do about it?" I was not prepared for his genius...

Look! Can you see that! It's pointing forward! Heebie-jeebie oober doober willies time...

I kept checking every five or ten minutes waiting and praying it would fall out so I could go back to playing with Ducati. Finally it fell out once the kids were in bed. So now there is a canine tooth somewhere in my house... If I find it, we are leaving it for the Kitty Tooth Fairy. Courtesy of hubby's wonderful suggestion.

But he's got the cutest little canine tooth popping up. And the other side is loose now =/ I know it looks like he's dying but I swear, he's just really really annoyed with me looking at his teeth.

Now that I've survived this, I think I might possible maybe be able to deal with Miss K's first loose tooth. I'm not making any promises though!

Sand Footprints

Supposedly frolicking in Lake Washington this weekend when it was 65 degrees outside was crazy. Or as my husband so eloquently explains, "It's cute; you're crazy, but you're still cute." Regardless, I couldn't restrain myself from acting like a little kid as we wandered toward the city's lakeside waterfront. 

Quickly shucking riding jacket, boots, and socks, I raced to be the first to put my feet in the water and squish the sand between my toes. I won of course! Not that it's especially difficult to win when no one else had any intention of joining me in my play...

I had an overwhelmingly fun time walking in the water, kicking it to create rain, and racing around the shoreline bend trying to stay in front of the waves. My non-collaborators proceeded to walk down the dock and watch, shaking their heads at my play. Luckily, I have a very impressionable five-year-old so she chose to eventually join me.

Children grow. Fast. Too fast. Both our girls just went through growth spurts this last week and have shot up like weeds. Miss K is now taller than seven-year-old boys and has size 12 feet! At five years old! Eesh! One of my favorite parts of watching her grow is handprints and footprints. I'm sure this is a favorite for almost any parent so I've made myself the goal to find fun and creative ways to keep track of her growth. 

On our jaunt to the beach, we were excited to find fresh, untouched sand, ours for the decorating! After a couple (okay, like fifteen) attempts, we finally got a good shot of our feet. And even got some cool duck tracks to boot! Miss K is in such a hurry to grow up that she kept dragging her heel to make them the same size. Tricky little girl! I hope I remember to keep doing this whenever we can. She is growing way to quick for my liking and I want to be able to look back at the fun times we had.

I still say there is nothing wrong with playing in the water....

Is It Too Much To Ask To Be Warm AND Clean?

As much as I love the changing of the seasons, the gorgeous colors of yellow and red leaves, there is one aspect of colder weather that I loathe. It gets cold. Not only does it get cold outside, but it has the audacity to get cold inside as well. And when is the cold at it's worst? Why of course at the time you are most trying to stay warm: while showering or bathing!

One never fully begins to appreciate the simplest pampering effect of a hot shower or bath until one has a child. This is doubly true when the second child is born. (I'm presuming triply true for the third child but I can't confirm personally unless we add another mouth to this family). For those of you without children, just picture trying to shower at your desk at work, in the middle of the grocery store aisle, corner of the bar, etc. Never a quite moment and rarely ever an alone moment. This also holds true for trying to use the restroom, fyi, so enjoy it while it lasts! Those of you with children, you are probably already smirking and nodding your head. But I digress, back to the cold. 

Showers versus baths are lose-lose situations during the cold weather seasons. Two major points to be considered:  overall warmth provided and overall resulting cleanliness. 

As I'm standing in the shower this weekend once both kids are in bed (finally) and asleep (thank goodness!) I battled with an age-old major dilemma. I was tired, sore, and most of all cold. I wanted to be clean and warm, and of course I wanted now.

A nice long, hot shower was just what this momma desired. Right up until I stood under the shower head and realized that my front was nice and warm but my back was cold. Proceed to rotate... now my rear was nice and warm while my front was growing colder by the second. Queue light bulb: I could take a hot bath!

The problem with a bath though, is that one doesn't get as clean as with a shower. You can use a whole bottle of soap and another of shampoo, but nothing erases the simple fact that you are essentially soaking in what you're washing off. To me, that's not very clean. So I could draw myself a bath and chase away the chill, yet be left lacking in the squeaky clean department. 

What are you supposed to do?? Am I the only one who has this major dilemma every shower? Continue showering and never fully get warmed to the core versus warming up and never fully sparkling clean. Damn that audacious weather for blundering my much deserved pampering!

Ugh Cats!

I cannot stand cats. They are obnoxious, willful creatures who take over the whole house. Sleeping all day wherever they want to (ie your clean clothes) and chasing every stray string, thread, moving foot under cover. What's more, loathe litter boxes. Horrid things. Absolutely monstrous. For the last decade I have refused anything to do with cats, kittens, anything meow-related. Dogs are the way to be. They are loyal, fun-loving, outdoorsy, and protect the house. Shoot, my dog catches flies for me and licks spiders to death. What more could one ask for?

So what do I do after a decade of blissful cat-loathing? Buy a kitten! That's the most logical next step, of course! A lunch spend over at my sister's home rekindled the love-spark for cats. Whilst sitting on the floor in the nursery, one of her cats did the face-lunge-rub-flop thing. If you have ever owned a cat then you know exactly what that means. For those who haven't, the cat comes up and lunges at your hand (leg, arm, shoe, face) with it's face to rub itself against you and then flop itself down right where you are. They most especially love to do this when you are walking down the hall with something in your hands in an attempt to trip you.

Back to the love-spark. My sister would not let me bring her cat home so I did what any self-respecting person does, proceeding to ask her husband. Long story short, I went home with his blessings and her trump card, but no cat. About a month later, I felt head-over-heels in love with the most adorable black kitten at our small local pet shop. I probably could have made it out of the store without him if I had not given in to holding the little guy. 

Game. Set. Match. 

He came home with us half an hour later and was dubbed Ducati.

Motorcycle fanatic husband has always wanted a Ducati in our garage so I got him a black and white one =P

Car Seat "In Case of Emergency" Contact Sheet

While driving home in the hail last weekend (hailing in Washington in October, say what??), I was almost t-boned by  an impressive looking truck. The driver was obviously more concerned about the contents of the truck cab than ensuring stop signs were obeyed. After watching the truck go speeding through the intersection, narrowly missing me and Baby A, my mind went along the natural course of "what if?"

What would happen to Baby A if our car had been hit and I was unconscious or dead? What if my cell phone was destroyed in the crash, how would the EMT's know who to contact? What would happen to her? I couldn't rely on my cell phone or wallet to be available but I knew Baby A would have her car seat at all times. I needed to make something that would attach to her car seat and something that would attach to Miss K's booster seat. Off I went to think of ideas...

During my thinking process, a close friend pinned this idea and I knew it wasn't just coincidence. I started to design an emergency contact info sticker for Baby A and Miss K. Once I started, my scrapbooking side reared it's overbearing head and I changed into the below contact sheets.

I printed the contact information on plain white paper, cut it out with fancy scissors and then glued the sheet down to colorful printed paper I had in my scrapbooking box. With the bright colors these should catch eyes quickly in an emergency situation.

Once they were assembled, I used clear contact paper to attach my colorful I.C.E sheets to the car seat and two booster seats. Voila!

Simple, easy, and one more worry I won't have when I escape a terrible accident! Although next time around I will make the sheets just a little bit smaller. They fit onto the booster seat but a 3" x 4" information portion would have been even better. Love them and so does Miss K.

Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary

Mary, Mary, quite contrary,

How does your garden grow?

With silver bells and cockle shells,

And pretty maids all in a row. 

Ready for a history lesson? I thought I would impart upon you the knowledge I gained whilst trying to remember this silly nursery rhyme lodged in my head after my morning epiphany (more on that to come).

Mary is believed to be Mary Tudor, Queen Mary, aka Bloody Mary, and her ardent Catholic beliefs were "quite contrary" to her father's Protestant beliefs. The last three lines have several interpretations, my favorite being the gardens are Mary's graveyards full of Protestant believers, silver bells and cockle shells are to torture devices, and pretty maids are the rows of Maidens, commonly known now as the guillotine.

Morbid yet fascinating.

Completely loathed history class in school, yet I find myself always enamored with history I stumble upon myself. I verified with several sites the possible origins of the nursery rhymes and found The Wizzley proved the most evocative source.

Mini history lesson adjourned, back to my epiphany.

Don't you just love epiphany moments? The stark realization as it crowns in your mind, painting a flawless picture of a situation. Especially those comprised of new-found awareness requiring an apology. Or several apologies. Specifically to your significant other whom you have been quite displeased at the last 24 hours for being contrary to everything you say.

The last 24-hour period has been riddled with moments of me bewildered by my husband's need to be contrary to every point I've made or statement I've uttered. It's as though he decided to be contradictory for the sake of being antagonistic! Eesh, he has been so dang annoying and I find myself bedeviled as a hedgehog.

Until this morning that is, as I realized it was not my husband being contrary. Oh no, it was I. Drats! In my state of hedgehog discomfort I have been layering our simple conversations with my angsty need to poke at something.

Poke poke poke. Poke poke poke.

Luckily, my husband seems to have learned that poking back is not the best method. In fact, he is out for coffee with his best friend, leaving my alone to realize that without him to poke at I'm poking at myself. Ergo, major epiphany moment.

Now to swallow pride, tuck tail, and attempt to apologize when he gets home.

Keep the angry hedgehog in the cage woman!

Daily Dose Of Cute

What is that??

Gasp!

It's our living room floor!

I had an inkling that it was still there underneath my stack of miscellaneous but haven't been inclined to find it lately. Don't get me wrong, I have definitely not been ramping up to be on Hoarders, but it has been a while since I have gotten the house under control and organized at one time.

I blame the children and husband.

I am an organizer by nature; I love to have everything in a specified labeled location. I enjoy my dvd's alphabetized, books arranged aesthetically by size on the shelf (big to little to big), and having a "spot" for each item. 

The complication lately has been that I spend a copious amount of time picking up and moving clutter from the kids and husband, therefore I don't get to go through my "organizing and cleaning" shindigs. I get them started well enough, spread things out all over the floor, get halfway through it and then dump everything back into the tubs or boxes. I might move things from tub to tub, room to room, attic to living room, etc. Which I still claim is progress; they just haven't been getting done all at the same time. 

With the purchase of a new shelving system and redecorating an old dresser into our new TV stand, I have finally gotten the place back into a semblance of order. Tonight I power-housed through and got the extra books boxed up and into the attic, pre-pregnancy clothes divorced, bookshelves reorganized (our kindergartner is starting to take over another shelf...) and the latest round of clothes the children have outgrown folded and packed into tubs. 

I have ONE last tub of random items to find homes for and then the last of hubby's miscellaneous clutter to distribute and the whole living room will be reclaimed. Luckily, I finally trained hubby and our eldest child that the kitchen is not a catch-all. Now to begin training that the living room is no longer a catch-all and that is what bedrooms are for.

That is a fight for another night though. I plan on enjoying the simplicity of my empty floor and ignoring that there is two more loads of laundry to wash and fold. I mean, there's always laundry to do so what's the rush? 

First Amazon Sale

If you've never sold something on Amazon before then you and I are on the same page. Or at least we were until earlier this week. I've had a stack of textbooks and books just begging to be relocated out of my attic so I buckled down and created a seller's account. It was really easy! Enter some information, press about twenty buttons, and ta-da I was an Amazon seller. Pretty nifty and relatively painless. No selling off your first-born child to be welcomed into the world of online resale. 

I should have known that it was too easy, but I was on a to-do task completion high. I was entering books left and right, cool descriptions and online they went. I'm not trying to make a bunch of money off these books, some would be nice, so I just put the lowest number (relatively) on the listings. At the end of my box of books I was so excited I almost ripped into my bookshelf for some more fun. Luckily, I managed to contain my excitement and chose to remove myself from the escalating seller's-high situation. Not before posting one last item though, a brand new, unopened Spiderman 2 DVD. 

The lowest priced dvd was listed for $1.17 so I thought I'd be marketing savvy and list mine for $0.99. Pretty smart, huh? It's cheaper than a dollar, it'll sell easy. And quickly too, as evidence by the email I received not twenty minutes later. I sold something, my first real sale! I was ecstatic, then nerves clicked in. Now I had to ship it... badump...

Long story short, I shipped the DVD out this morning through USPS ($2.46, less than the Amazon quote of $2.89) and ran home to complete my seller duties of notifying my customer (MY customer) that the item was shipped. I then decided to take a look at my earnings, I knew it wouldn't be much but I still had my first sale. Couldn't knock me off this high! How wrong I was, I basically just paid Amazon to sell my item! Here's the breakdown:

In case you missed that, I just spend $2.46 to mail the item that will only reimburse me $2.03. Oops, I'm going to go ahead and chalk this one up to a learning curve and be more aware next time. Items under $5 just aren't worth the time for me. Unless someone else knows how to cut these corners, because I surely looked the fool in this situation. I still have the books up though. They are all over $7 so I should get something out of them. Besides, maybe someday I'll actually open that bookstore I've dreamed about and this practice will come in good stead. I'll keep telling myself this so I don't go smack my head into a wall...

Happy Thursday!

To-Do List Addiction?

Me? Never! How could someone possibly get that idea? I am not an addict, I am just an expert user...At least that is what I try tell myself as I compile, compress, and compose in bed as my husband falls asleep.

In all practicality, I am a horrible to-do list addict. I don't just enjoy doing them, I need them. They are like sun and air, something I cannot conceivably exist without. Ok, maybe not so much the sun because I obviously can live without that residing in Washington, but you get the idea.

My love affair with checking things off my to-do list began in middle school when I discovered the rush of completing a task and marking it off. Such an overwhelming joy as the pen drags across the page, scratching out one more tedious mission of the day. That was back in the "old" days though, when lists had to be handwritten and rewritten (and rewritten and rewritten ) as tasks were removed. Or perhaps that was just me? I don't think I ever finished everything on a list before I started a new, fresh, clean list; compiling the old remainders and adding a new batch of musts. Nowadays, to-do lists are much more fun and exciting. I live off of my Google Tasks lists! Not only do I have access to the list through my Gmail,  where I can print and organize the tasks onto the calendar, I also have them linked directly to my smartphone. *Swoon* What more could I ask for than at-my-fingers access to my endless list of lists??

My favorite part of a to-do list is crossing off the Completed's, makes me feel exceedingly productive when I wasn't overly so. And I'm not confessing, but I have possibly been known to write "Update to-do lists" as a task just so I could mark something off the list at the end of the day. Today was one of those fateful days where I'm fairly certain more things were added onto my to-do list than were removed from it. Not a fan of these days, but at least I know I was productive. Look, I get to mark "Write daily blog post" off my list before I go on to "Do the dishes" and "Fold the laundry." Oh the glamorous life of a housewife and stay-at-home-mom.

It's Here!! It's Here!! It's Here!!

Call the papers! Ring the newsroom! It's finally here!! 

Seriously, this took me forever to do. Who knew that coming up with a name would be one of the most difficult parts of starting a blog? After weeks of ho-humming and mentally agonizing whilst procrastinating (ie it crossed my mind daily and then flitted off somewhere back into the recesses of my to-do-someday-maybe list), I made myself sit down today and come up with the name for my blog.

Pretty catchy, huh? Good, because it's supposed to be. Now that I've got a little bit of the tinkering done with, looks like I can add "Learn HTML editing" to my to-do-soon-maybe-sorta list.

*Phew* Three things off the list! Now to go find my un-fun to do list....

P.S. If you can't tell, I'm really excited to have started this new project!