Thursday, May 1, 2008
Update
Just wanted to say that my breathing techniques worked, so Miss A got a much calmer mother than she would have earlier. Also, am reaching the zen point of having almost all of the laundry done and other stuff that normally is of huge concern. What I'm saying is that my sanity is returning...slowly, but surely. Hip-hip-hooray!
Company is coming, so you know what that means...
The month of May is here. Welcome to you, May.
This is a strange and bewildering time for me and my family, and here is why. I have different sets of company coming for visits on multiple weekends during this particular month AND I'm going out of town for my getaway with Superman J (who said I could just call him Super J on the blog because then I don't have to type as much...feel the love.) AND it's Miss E's birthday, which means we finally get to have the "astronaut" party she's been telling EVERYONE she's going to have for the last year or so. I'm already tired! I'm not 100% sure why everyone seems to have picked May for the time to visit the Zoo Peters' Casa, though I do know *I'm* not supposed to travel after July, but still.
What this means, Gentle Reader, is that I'm very excited to see my many friends; yet it also means that my O.C.D. (not to be confused with C.O.D. which I just typed) is going to require me that I keep my house spotless prior to each guests arrival. Either that, or I will finally learn that all important life lesson that it's okay to have an almost tidy house when company comes...but I am pretty sure it'll be the first.
For me, I have an unspoken (till now) inner mantra that says, "The first time someone comes into my home, they should be greeted with it clean and spotless, a wonder to behold, so that they know that I am capable of cleaning even in the midst of all my little children and other daily things of life." After that, tidied up will do for any other visits (because they will already know I can clean the dickens out of my house!). As Super J has pointed out to me on several occasions, this is not realistic (to say the least!), and as my pregnancy moves on, it's really just a great way to get tired by 12:39 in the afternoon. Let's check the time: 2:15 by my computers clock. I am very tired. BUT!!!! My upstairs looks great and I just need to fold some laundry and I'm almost ready for company.
I say almost because my friend is going to be delayed by a few hours and will be arriving later. I am both bummed and glad about it...bummed because I won't have as much time to visit with her, and glad because I still have the downstairs to polish up, so I actually have been able to slow down my frantic cleaning (hence, why my rear is planted in front of the computer) and I'm even thinking of a nap very shortly. Wahoo.
This still does not fix the "issue" of cleaning with the zeal of a fleet of Merry Maids. I'm not sure what will. Actually that is a lie...because any time I get a weird jab of pain, I sit my keister down. But still. That doesn't fix the inner need to impress people who I know already love me and could care less what my house looks like.
OOOOOHHHHHHHHMYHOLYCOW. ARGH!
***NEWS BULLETIN***Here is a huge subject change and you are here to witness it fresh and raw, Gentle Reader: Miss E stayed home from school (dratted fever) and has fallen asleep on the couch. It is 2:26. Things could be worse than having a kinda sick kid fall asleep in the afternoon when they usually don't nap. Miss A has finished playing a game and went over to pester her. I told her to get away from her and let her sleep. Did she? No. I tell her again. Does she? No. AGAIN, I tell her to leave her alone and let her sleep. Nope. Now my keister has left the computer chair and I have now sent Miss A to her room....ohhhhhhhhhhh I am MAD.
HELLO! I am SPEAKING to you, Eldest Daughter (actually, I'm not speaking to her now...I'm just typing what I was thinking). How can my children...my own fruit of my womb, ignore me like that, until I get my Devil Mom voice going. Then we all feel terrible. ARGH. I try to remember what it must have been like as a child, to have a mom who told you what to do oh-so-very often, but in the golden glow of personal memory, I was never a pesky child (except for rare occasions).
Alrighty. Thank you for letting me get that out. Good to vent that before going in and visiting with said Eldest Daughter madder than a fury. Breathing in...breathing out. In with the calm, nurturing Mother air...out with the crazed She-Devil who wants to spank. In with the calm, out with the crazed. In...Out. In. Out.
Okay, I'm better. Whoooooooo-ew.
It's during moments like these when I am sooooo ready for my little getaway. But first, gotta deal with Miss A and then get back to folding. I still have company coming.
Have a good first day of May, Gentle Reader!
This is a strange and bewildering time for me and my family, and here is why. I have different sets of company coming for visits on multiple weekends during this particular month AND I'm going out of town for my getaway with Superman J (who said I could just call him Super J on the blog because then I don't have to type as much...feel the love.) AND it's Miss E's birthday, which means we finally get to have the "astronaut" party she's been telling EVERYONE she's going to have for the last year or so. I'm already tired! I'm not 100% sure why everyone seems to have picked May for the time to visit the Zoo Peters' Casa, though I do know *I'm* not supposed to travel after July, but still.
What this means, Gentle Reader, is that I'm very excited to see my many friends; yet it also means that my O.C.D. (not to be confused with C.O.D. which I just typed) is going to require me that I keep my house spotless prior to each guests arrival. Either that, or I will finally learn that all important life lesson that it's okay to have an almost tidy house when company comes...but I am pretty sure it'll be the first.
For me, I have an unspoken (till now) inner mantra that says, "The first time someone comes into my home, they should be greeted with it clean and spotless, a wonder to behold, so that they know that I am capable of cleaning even in the midst of all my little children and other daily things of life." After that, tidied up will do for any other visits (because they will already know I can clean the dickens out of my house!). As Super J has pointed out to me on several occasions, this is not realistic (to say the least!), and as my pregnancy moves on, it's really just a great way to get tired by 12:39 in the afternoon. Let's check the time: 2:15 by my computers clock. I am very tired. BUT!!!! My upstairs looks great and I just need to fold some laundry and I'm almost ready for company.
I say almost because my friend is going to be delayed by a few hours and will be arriving later. I am both bummed and glad about it...bummed because I won't have as much time to visit with her, and glad because I still have the downstairs to polish up, so I actually have been able to slow down my frantic cleaning (hence, why my rear is planted in front of the computer) and I'm even thinking of a nap very shortly. Wahoo.
This still does not fix the "issue" of cleaning with the zeal of a fleet of Merry Maids. I'm not sure what will. Actually that is a lie...because any time I get a weird jab of pain, I sit my keister down. But still. That doesn't fix the inner need to impress people who I know already love me and could care less what my house looks like.
OOOOOHHHHHHHHMYHOLYCOW. ARGH!
***NEWS BULLETIN***Here is a huge subject change and you are here to witness it fresh and raw, Gentle Reader: Miss E stayed home from school (dratted fever) and has fallen asleep on the couch. It is 2:26. Things could be worse than having a kinda sick kid fall asleep in the afternoon when they usually don't nap. Miss A has finished playing a game and went over to pester her. I told her to get away from her and let her sleep. Did she? No. I tell her again. Does she? No. AGAIN, I tell her to leave her alone and let her sleep. Nope. Now my keister has left the computer chair and I have now sent Miss A to her room....ohhhhhhhhhhh I am MAD.
HELLO! I am SPEAKING to you, Eldest Daughter (actually, I'm not speaking to her now...I'm just typing what I was thinking). How can my children...my own fruit of my womb, ignore me like that, until I get my Devil Mom voice going. Then we all feel terrible. ARGH. I try to remember what it must have been like as a child, to have a mom who told you what to do oh-so-very often, but in the golden glow of personal memory, I was never a pesky child (except for rare occasions).
Alrighty. Thank you for letting me get that out. Good to vent that before going in and visiting with said Eldest Daughter madder than a fury. Breathing in...breathing out. In with the calm, nurturing Mother air...out with the crazed She-Devil who wants to spank. In with the calm, out with the crazed. In...Out. In. Out.
Okay, I'm better. Whoooooooo-ew.
It's during moments like these when I am sooooo ready for my little getaway. But first, gotta deal with Miss A and then get back to folding. I still have company coming.
Have a good first day of May, Gentle Reader!
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
The Further Adventures of Miss O
The Setup: Another slow morning at the Zoo Peter's casa. Miss A spiked a fever yesterday, so we kept her home from school today. TMI: Miss O and I were visited by the "'rheas" last night, but they seem to have passed (HALLELUJAH!). Miss E and Superman J seemed to have avoided the latest viral whatever (at least, that is what we are hoping). But I was still movin' a-slowly this morning.
So, I was chatting with my friend, JK's mom, on the phone and we were also debating if we could get ourselves and the kiddos ready for playgroup in any reasonable amount of time when, what should I hear????? That would be Miss O getting herself some water out of the dispenser on the fridge's door. Yes, this means that I forgot to lock it (CURSES!!!!!!!!) and that she has gotten A.LOT of water from the dispenser. So much so that it has filled the entire faux "take-up" tray and has seeped wherever it does so it drips from the bottom of the door. (once again: CURSES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!). Naturally, the floor is covered and a long trail is running "downhill" (???) towards our bathroom.
As you may ascertain, I have certain spots of my kitchen floor that remain S.P.O.T.L.E.S.S. thanks to my child and her daily pilgrimage to Any Water Source she can find.
I get the floor cleaned up and find one side of Miss O is quite...wet. "You will dry," I tell her. I am, sadly, a little miffed with this whole thing.
About 40 minutes later (I kid you not!), I'm working on getting Miss E dressed (though I have to say that I am now ready, so maybe it's not that bad, but still...movin' a-slowly) and I hear Miss O. She is kind of crying, but it sounds much like her "Mom! I've locked myself in a closet and no one will get me out" kind of cry, so I figure she is okay, just locked in a closet and I'm very close to getting Miss E finished.
Once she is dressed, I follow the whimpering and discover that Miss O is NOT locked in a closet...no. She has taken herself into her sisters' bathroom and opened the lid, climbed upon the toilet withOUT the smaller toilet ring and sat. And leaned back. And fell, then kinda folded in half, like you'd close a book (are you getting this mental picture). Straight into the cold toilet water, so that her bum is in the water, her diaper is absorbing who knows how much of it, and her legs are sticking out of the bowl. Her arms are on the toilet seat and she's looking at me like, "What the heck????? Get me OUT of here!"
And, Gentle Reader. I. LAUGH. SO. HARD. Yes! I'll admit it. Even if it makes me a terrible mom, and I'll now probably be sent straight to the Unholy Hot Place, but this was the funniest thing I'd seen and maybe there was a teensy part of me that was kinda, "Serves You Right!" (but only because she wasn't hurt, mind you. I'm not that evil). Soooooo funny.
In the meantime, she'd taken on so much water that I definitely had to change her from top to bottom. But I laughed the entire time I was doing it.
And then we went to playgroup. lololololololol. It's still making me smile.
So, I was chatting with my friend, JK's mom, on the phone and we were also debating if we could get ourselves and the kiddos ready for playgroup in any reasonable amount of time when, what should I hear????? That would be Miss O getting herself some water out of the dispenser on the fridge's door. Yes, this means that I forgot to lock it (CURSES!!!!!!!!) and that she has gotten A.LOT of water from the dispenser. So much so that it has filled the entire faux "take-up" tray and has seeped wherever it does so it drips from the bottom of the door. (once again: CURSES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!). Naturally, the floor is covered and a long trail is running "downhill" (???) towards our bathroom.
As you may ascertain, I have certain spots of my kitchen floor that remain S.P.O.T.L.E.S.S. thanks to my child and her daily pilgrimage to Any Water Source she can find.
I get the floor cleaned up and find one side of Miss O is quite...wet. "You will dry," I tell her. I am, sadly, a little miffed with this whole thing.
About 40 minutes later (I kid you not!), I'm working on getting Miss E dressed (though I have to say that I am now ready, so maybe it's not that bad, but still...movin' a-slowly) and I hear Miss O. She is kind of crying, but it sounds much like her "Mom! I've locked myself in a closet and no one will get me out" kind of cry, so I figure she is okay, just locked in a closet and I'm very close to getting Miss E finished.
Once she is dressed, I follow the whimpering and discover that Miss O is NOT locked in a closet...no. She has taken herself into her sisters' bathroom and opened the lid, climbed upon the toilet withOUT the smaller toilet ring and sat. And leaned back. And fell, then kinda folded in half, like you'd close a book (are you getting this mental picture). Straight into the cold toilet water, so that her bum is in the water, her diaper is absorbing who knows how much of it, and her legs are sticking out of the bowl. Her arms are on the toilet seat and she's looking at me like, "What the heck????? Get me OUT of here!"
And, Gentle Reader. I. LAUGH. SO. HARD. Yes! I'll admit it. Even if it makes me a terrible mom, and I'll now probably be sent straight to the Unholy Hot Place, but this was the funniest thing I'd seen and maybe there was a teensy part of me that was kinda, "Serves You Right!" (but only because she wasn't hurt, mind you. I'm not that evil). Soooooo funny.
In the meantime, she'd taken on so much water that I definitely had to change her from top to bottom. But I laughed the entire time I was doing it.
And then we went to playgroup. lololololololol. It's still making me smile.
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Last Nights Dinner for Us Could Be A Dinner Idea for You
True confessions, Gentle Reader. Sometimes, depending on when I ate lunch or even if I've had a large drink of water, I'm just not hungry for dinner when most people are eating. This is NOT me dieting, because trust me: I will be eating at some point. I just don't want to eat anything at dinnertime. You can only imagine what this does to my poor family because my sense of hunger is directly linked to my creativity in the kitchen.
Last night, I was not hungry, but I was determined to feed my family something edible for their meal. One blog that I like to visit is Food, Friends and Fun (this should appear as a link, but it's not...unless you scroll over it. Sorry). Thanks to them, my family (and later myself) had a really nice, white sauce Chicken Enchilada. It was totally easy to make, especially considering that I used two cans of Costco Canned Chicken from the good ol' year supply! I didn't have green chili's, but I did have some cilantro that I put on top of the chicken mixture before I rolled the flour tortillas, and I threw in a few seasonings so it didn't' seem quite so tame, but was still relatively mild. HUGE hit with the kids and Superman J. Yay!
And here it is for you!
Chicken Enchilada's (this is the direct link to this recipe and some nice pictures of how they turn out)
INGREDIENTS
1 tablespoon butter
1/2 cup chopped green onions
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 (4 ounce) can diced green chilies
1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of mushroom soup
1/2 cup sour cream
1 1/2 cups shredded cooked chicken breast meat
1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese, divided
6 (12 inch) flour tortillas
1/4 cup milk
DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
Lightly grease a large baking dish.
In a medium saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter and saute the green onion until tender (about 3 to 4 minutes). Add the garlic powder, then stir in the green chilies, cream of mushroom soup and sour cream. Mix well. Reserve 3/4 of this sauce and set aside.
To the remaining 1/4 of the sauce in the saucepan, add the chicken and 1/2 cup of shredded Cheddar cheese. Stir together.Fill each flour tortilla with the chicken mixture and roll up. Place seam side down in the prepared baking dish.
In a small bowl (or the saucepan you just emptied) combine the reserved 3/4 of the sauce with the milk. Spoon this mixture over the rolled tortillas and top with the remaining 1/2 cup of shredded Cheddar cheese.
Bake in the preheated oven for 30 to 35 minutes, or until cheese is bubbly.
* I only cooked them for 25 minutes. (and so did I, and they turned out just great)
Enjoy!
Last night, I was not hungry, but I was determined to feed my family something edible for their meal. One blog that I like to visit is Food, Friends and Fun (this should appear as a link, but it's not...unless you scroll over it. Sorry). Thanks to them, my family (and later myself) had a really nice, white sauce Chicken Enchilada. It was totally easy to make, especially considering that I used two cans of Costco Canned Chicken from the good ol' year supply! I didn't have green chili's, but I did have some cilantro that I put on top of the chicken mixture before I rolled the flour tortillas, and I threw in a few seasonings so it didn't' seem quite so tame, but was still relatively mild. HUGE hit with the kids and Superman J. Yay!
And here it is for you!
Chicken Enchilada's (this is the direct link to this recipe and some nice pictures of how they turn out)
INGREDIENTS
1 tablespoon butter
1/2 cup chopped green onions
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 (4 ounce) can diced green chilies
1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of mushroom soup
1/2 cup sour cream
1 1/2 cups shredded cooked chicken breast meat
1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese, divided
6 (12 inch) flour tortillas
1/4 cup milk
DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
Lightly grease a large baking dish.
In a medium saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter and saute the green onion until tender (about 3 to 4 minutes). Add the garlic powder, then stir in the green chilies, cream of mushroom soup and sour cream. Mix well. Reserve 3/4 of this sauce and set aside.
To the remaining 1/4 of the sauce in the saucepan, add the chicken and 1/2 cup of shredded Cheddar cheese. Stir together.Fill each flour tortilla with the chicken mixture and roll up. Place seam side down in the prepared baking dish.
In a small bowl (or the saucepan you just emptied) combine the reserved 3/4 of the sauce with the milk. Spoon this mixture over the rolled tortillas and top with the remaining 1/2 cup of shredded Cheddar cheese.
Bake in the preheated oven for 30 to 35 minutes, or until cheese is bubbly.
* I only cooked them for 25 minutes. (and so did I, and they turned out just great)
Enjoy!
Dora the Computer Games
So, the girls have been playing two different Dora the Explorer computer games this afternoon...one was done in 2004, the other 2007. The one in 2007 has a GREAT and EASY exit feature. The other, a mere 3 years earlier, will let you exit the game, but then rolls credits before it will actually EXIT and get off your computer screen. You can guess which one I like best.
The reason I bring any of this up...the girls played for at least an hour before I got them off the computer and Miss E (who was using the GREAT and EASY exit game) was playing happily and without complaint for the most part (at one point she came and got me and said, "This is boring!" before going back and playing. Go figure). She doesn't know how to exit yet from the game so I was doing it for her and thought...geez! What loud music this thing has.
Turns out that once I had it closed down, I realized I had not shut down the programs I had been using and so one of the blogs that I read was still up, and this particular blog plays its playlist continuously from the time you open it up to when you leave the page.
I'm just laughing at what a surreal experience this particular Dora game must have been for Miss E. Now I just need to make sure all the music on the playlist was appropriate for an almost 4 year old....
The reason I bring any of this up...the girls played for at least an hour before I got them off the computer and Miss E (who was using the GREAT and EASY exit game) was playing happily and without complaint for the most part (at one point she came and got me and said, "This is boring!" before going back and playing. Go figure). She doesn't know how to exit yet from the game so I was doing it for her and thought...geez! What loud music this thing has.
Turns out that once I had it closed down, I realized I had not shut down the programs I had been using and so one of the blogs that I read was still up, and this particular blog plays its playlist continuously from the time you open it up to when you leave the page.
I'm just laughing at what a surreal experience this particular Dora game must have been for Miss E. Now I just need to make sure all the music on the playlist was appropriate for an almost 4 year old....
Miss O and the Step Stool
The Set-up: When Miss E was learning to potty train (heck, I think we even did this with Miss A), we invested in step stools for each of the bathrooms so they could reach the adult size toilets easier and little toilet rings sized just right for their little bottoms.Miss E still likes using both and she'll position the step stool just so, every time, though she's getting to the point where she's tall enough that she doesn't really need it. In any case, they have remained in the bathrooms.
And yesterday, Miss O discovered that she, too, loves the step stool.
What kinds of things can you do with a step stool? Well. It makes you a good four inches taller than you normally are (true of any of us, but especially true if you are almost 22 months) and can thus REACH things that were normally beyond your scope. Like the bottle of hand soap in the bathroom. Like the hot water spigot in the bathroom. Like the paper towel holder in the bathroom (we use this in addition to guest towels for those who prefer it...like myself).
Did you know that you can go into the bathroom by yourself, holding an empty cup, turn on the hot water and fill your cup over and over before emerging with a full cup that you can then dump out onto the kitchen floor? Did you know that your downstairs bathroom takes forever for the hot water to become hot so you can experiment for an abnormally long period of time without any hint of discomfort (and, thankfully, not burning yourself to kingdom come)? Did you know you can do this secretly, when your mom is on the phone and she is somewhat less aware of where you are and what you are doing? Did you know that watering the floor is, obviously, great fun and should be done as quickly and as often as you can manage? Did you know that you can rub your feet into the spilled water and get it all over the floor before rolling in it and getting your clothes wet? Did you know your mom could say those kinds of words as she is discovering you and shrieking and putting you into time-out?
It is amazing what you can learn when you have a stool!!!!!
Monday, April 28, 2008
Ahhhh, the cursed widgets
You may or may not be able to tell this about me, but I LOVE to be able to change the template on my blog to reflect other animal/creatures you may see in a zoo. It's nutty, but it's soothing to my soul.
Alas! My glorious links (aka: widgets in the blogging world) cannot be transferred by myself (I am, confessedly, a Luddite in this matter though I promise I am trying to learn!) at this time. So, I apologize if you were using my links to get to a different blog. I will work to restore them, but I am bound and determined NOT to have to retype in all the links! NO! I will figure out how to do it in the code. But for now...
ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
Thank you for letting me vent my frustrations at NOT being able to, after 2 hours of reading blasted code and trying to copy/paste and then having blogger give me nasty comments (well...maybe not nasty, but unwelcomed to say the least!), get those darn widgets to transfer.
Please...feel free to go about your day. I think I will go and watch Grey's Anatomy on my dvr and maybe grab a Fresca.
Alas! My glorious links (aka: widgets in the blogging world) cannot be transferred by myself (I am, confessedly, a Luddite in this matter though I promise I am trying to learn!) at this time. So, I apologize if you were using my links to get to a different blog. I will work to restore them, but I am bound and determined NOT to have to retype in all the links! NO! I will figure out how to do it in the code. But for now...
ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
Thank you for letting me vent my frustrations at NOT being able to, after 2 hours of reading blasted code and trying to copy/paste and then having blogger give me nasty comments (well...maybe not nasty, but unwelcomed to say the least!), get those darn widgets to transfer.
Please...feel free to go about your day. I think I will go and watch Grey's Anatomy on my dvr and maybe grab a Fresca.
The Weekend and Mystery Solved!
What a weekend. In the best sense, of course.
Friday began it all with a fabulous shin dig at our place (if I do say so myself). I love having friends over who have already seen my house at its most pristine, who have already seen my hair in it's most beatific coif, and who when arrive for said event don't care what it or I look like. These are those types of friends who are, simply put, the best of company and conversationalists.
So, we had this pasta buffet (which, while making you use all four burners to get all the pasta done at approximately the same time, is actually quite easy to put together) and while I was trying to avoid preparing enough to feed an army, we so still have leftovers. Oh well. There are worse things. :)
On the other hand, throughout the evening and cooking, whenever we'd open the door, J and I were plagued by this incredibly onion smell from our fridge. As this meant a thorough inspection of the vegetable rotter...er...the vegetable crisper bin, I figured I'd handle it on Saturday.
Saturday came and went! I got to go to my book club, which was great fun being around oodles and oodles of empathetic estrogen, more great conversationalists, and a killer brunch prepared by this month's hostess. Holy cow, it was yummmmmy (and talk about setting a high standard). Truly, I felt like a renewed woman when I dashed off to get home to put Miss O down for a nap whilst J took the older girls to a birthday party, empowered by consensus and knowledge that I was not alone in the world (and we actually discussed the book for about 10 minutes).
I was later joined by more good company and then later that afternoon...shock of shock...went and talked to several of our neighbors.
Anyone who knows me, especially in my current condition, knows that I am a HERMIT whilst carrying a bambino. Seriously. I need and love my existing circle of friends (see above comments about book club!), but have NO desire to enlarge it. So, poor J, who became our little neighborhood's H.O.A. President for the simple reason that he wanted to get to know these people is, alas, burdened right now with someone who...well...doesn't.
But, Miss A is all about riding her bike and Miss E enjoys trolling about on the tricycle and Miss O...for crying out loud, likes to take to the side walk at a streaking run before biffing it (inevitably) because her tiny legs get going so fast. It was such a nice day, we had neighbors out to meet and greet, and let's not forget the other little 5 year olds girls who were also outside. Suffice to say, Miss A was in HOG heaven. We eventually had two other neighborhood little friends over and Miss A promptly took them up to her bathroom and gave them a make-up make-over. And...well...
Yegads.
I hope their parents will still allow me to be part of the carpool this fall. The rouge was sooooo thick and applied in such a square-like unblended fashion, it really was a sight to behold. They were so proud of themselves, too! It reminded me of my first time using a curling iron, which I used backwards and ended up with an unnatural strange crimp in my hair. But I didn't care. I looked H.O.T. Oh uh-huh. Anyway, I was able to gently put a kabosh on dressing up in all of A's Sunday dresses so they could be princesses, because seriously, I'd have had to wash all of them because of the imprints from their newly adorned faces. Ohhhhh, to be five. Sigh. Oh well.
Meanwhile, after all those festivities, I decided to examine the fride. The onion smell became even more intense, so I went through the Rot...er...Crisper and found some green onions that didn't look terrible but must have been giving off the offensive odor (right???) and chucked them. I also put in a new box of baking soda. Quite the Domestic Queen, eh?
Sunday brought about it's own little bit of craziness as we attended the first hour of our church services (it was Ward Conference and, of course, went over by AT LEAST 15 minutes. It was also a surprise to attend our ward because I thought we weren't but J was like, sure, we should go. Oh. Okay.), and then dashed off to the First Baptist Church where the girls attend preschool because they were singing at this service. Miss Rene, the girl's preschool director, told me that Pastor Dewayne starts PROMPTLY at 10:45 every Sunday, and she wasn't kidding. When I got there, luckily friends had saved us a seat (albeit the in the second row, which turned out to be great because of the view of the kiddos), and I was still standing, trying to skooch the girls over when this booming voice began to welcome us. STARTLING!
The girls sang their songs within the first 10 minutes and they were sooooo cute! I love watching little people sing. They sang this song called, "Oh What a Miracle Am I," and "Zaccheaus" (from Luke 19), and each of these songs had a bit of groove to them and you should have seen these 3-5 yr olds shaking and shimmying. SOOOOOOO FUNNY! In fact, Miss E called me on it and said she saw me laughing. I told her I wasn't laughing AT them, but my heart was so full of joy I couldn't contain it. And that was true. I also had tears coming out of my eyes, I was trying so hard NOT to laugh, but I was sooooo proud of them for being up there, singing and moving their little bodies as best they could. I had several good congregates tell me that my girls did a great job and had good rhythm.
We had a lovely lunch with some other preschool parents who go to church with Abigail and school with her, too, (well, they don't but their children do) and I got to have a fun visiting teaching visit (As a note: I'm so sorry Madelyn! I'm the worst V.T. companion right now!!!! Again and again, I'm so sorry!!!!!!), and then we took the kids down to J's sister's house to get Miss O acclimated for when J and I have our Great Adventure (a post for another time). It was a busy day.
But that's not all! After grabbing a quick nap on Sunday, when I emerged, Superman J asked me to smell the fridge. It smelled about 1000% better! He'd found a smallish bag of what had been cut onions. The culprits of the stinky stench, apprehended at last!! Now, our kitchen just stunk. So I put it the mess into another Ziploc bag and chucked it into the garbage. Alas, by this morning, though, I had to escort the whole thing OUT SIDE to the official garbage, it had gotten so strong. Whooowee! There is nothing like overwhelming onion to put you off of that particular food item for a while.
So you see, Gentle Reader. It was a happy weekend, overall. Hope yours was just a great. :)
Friday began it all with a fabulous shin dig at our place (if I do say so myself). I love having friends over who have already seen my house at its most pristine, who have already seen my hair in it's most beatific coif, and who when arrive for said event don't care what it or I look like. These are those types of friends who are, simply put, the best of company and conversationalists.
So, we had this pasta buffet (which, while making you use all four burners to get all the pasta done at approximately the same time, is actually quite easy to put together) and while I was trying to avoid preparing enough to feed an army, we so still have leftovers. Oh well. There are worse things. :)
On the other hand, throughout the evening and cooking, whenever we'd open the door, J and I were plagued by this incredibly onion smell from our fridge. As this meant a thorough inspection of the vegetable rotter...er...the vegetable crisper bin, I figured I'd handle it on Saturday.
Saturday came and went! I got to go to my book club, which was great fun being around oodles and oodles of empathetic estrogen, more great conversationalists, and a killer brunch prepared by this month's hostess. Holy cow, it was yummmmmy (and talk about setting a high standard). Truly, I felt like a renewed woman when I dashed off to get home to put Miss O down for a nap whilst J took the older girls to a birthday party, empowered by consensus and knowledge that I was not alone in the world (and we actually discussed the book for about 10 minutes).
I was later joined by more good company and then later that afternoon...shock of shock...went and talked to several of our neighbors.
Anyone who knows me, especially in my current condition, knows that I am a HERMIT whilst carrying a bambino. Seriously. I need and love my existing circle of friends (see above comments about book club!), but have NO desire to enlarge it. So, poor J, who became our little neighborhood's H.O.A. President for the simple reason that he wanted to get to know these people is, alas, burdened right now with someone who...well...doesn't.
But, Miss A is all about riding her bike and Miss E enjoys trolling about on the tricycle and Miss O...for crying out loud, likes to take to the side walk at a streaking run before biffing it (inevitably) because her tiny legs get going so fast. It was such a nice day, we had neighbors out to meet and greet, and let's not forget the other little 5 year olds girls who were also outside. Suffice to say, Miss A was in HOG heaven. We eventually had two other neighborhood little friends over and Miss A promptly took them up to her bathroom and gave them a make-up make-over. And...well...
Yegads.
I hope their parents will still allow me to be part of the carpool this fall. The rouge was sooooo thick and applied in such a square-like unblended fashion, it really was a sight to behold. They were so proud of themselves, too! It reminded me of my first time using a curling iron, which I used backwards and ended up with an unnatural strange crimp in my hair. But I didn't care. I looked H.O.T. Oh uh-huh. Anyway, I was able to gently put a kabosh on dressing up in all of A's Sunday dresses so they could be princesses, because seriously, I'd have had to wash all of them because of the imprints from their newly adorned faces. Ohhhhh, to be five. Sigh. Oh well.
Meanwhile, after all those festivities, I decided to examine the fride. The onion smell became even more intense, so I went through the Rot...er...Crisper and found some green onions that didn't look terrible but must have been giving off the offensive odor (right???) and chucked them. I also put in a new box of baking soda. Quite the Domestic Queen, eh?
Sunday brought about it's own little bit of craziness as we attended the first hour of our church services (it was Ward Conference and, of course, went over by AT LEAST 15 minutes. It was also a surprise to attend our ward because I thought we weren't but J was like, sure, we should go. Oh. Okay.), and then dashed off to the First Baptist Church where the girls attend preschool because they were singing at this service. Miss Rene, the girl's preschool director, told me that Pastor Dewayne starts PROMPTLY at 10:45 every Sunday, and she wasn't kidding. When I got there, luckily friends had saved us a seat (albeit the in the second row, which turned out to be great because of the view of the kiddos), and I was still standing, trying to skooch the girls over when this booming voice began to welcome us. STARTLING!
The girls sang their songs within the first 10 minutes and they were sooooo cute! I love watching little people sing. They sang this song called, "Oh What a Miracle Am I," and "Zaccheaus" (from Luke 19), and each of these songs had a bit of groove to them and you should have seen these 3-5 yr olds shaking and shimmying. SOOOOOOO FUNNY! In fact, Miss E called me on it and said she saw me laughing. I told her I wasn't laughing AT them, but my heart was so full of joy I couldn't contain it. And that was true. I also had tears coming out of my eyes, I was trying so hard NOT to laugh, but I was sooooo proud of them for being up there, singing and moving their little bodies as best they could. I had several good congregates tell me that my girls did a great job and had good rhythm.
We had a lovely lunch with some other preschool parents who go to church with Abigail and school with her, too, (well, they don't but their children do) and I got to have a fun visiting teaching visit (As a note: I'm so sorry Madelyn! I'm the worst V.T. companion right now!!!! Again and again, I'm so sorry!!!!!!), and then we took the kids down to J's sister's house to get Miss O acclimated for when J and I have our Great Adventure (a post for another time). It was a busy day.
But that's not all! After grabbing a quick nap on Sunday, when I emerged, Superman J asked me to smell the fridge. It smelled about 1000% better! He'd found a smallish bag of what had been cut onions. The culprits of the stinky stench, apprehended at last!! Now, our kitchen just stunk. So I put it the mess into another Ziploc bag and chucked it into the garbage. Alas, by this morning, though, I had to escort the whole thing OUT SIDE to the official garbage, it had gotten so strong. Whooowee! There is nothing like overwhelming onion to put you off of that particular food item for a while.
So you see, Gentle Reader. It was a happy weekend, overall. Hope yours was just a great. :)
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