Crunchy

So I'm going green... or at least TRYING to anyway. And I don't just mean that I'm taking my own bags to the grocery store (although I AM doing that). Nope, I'm also recycling, trying to use less electricity (I've always been an electricity hog. You should see our power bill... yikes!), the boyfriend installed CFL's througout the house, and I've switched our cleaning and personal hygeine products to more environmentally friendly options. Also, they don't have as many of those nasty carcinogens, etc. that are supposed to be so bad for your body.

But the point of this blog is actually to tell you that I've decided to take things one step farther and actually try to MAKE some of this healthy stuff. (This coming from the girl who can barely cook a meal).

I started with lip balm. And, after a few tries, I actually figured out a recipe that works (although I'd love to add more ingredients and make it even better. I'm experimenting with coconut oil at the moment). Now I hardly ever use the store-bought stuff any more (and if I do, it's Burt's Bees all the way, baby).

My next adventure is soap. Now, I don't know if you guys are aware, but in order to make soap, you have to use this highly caustic (which I'm pretty sure means omg-so-dangerous-you-have-to-wear-gloves-and-goggles-and-a-face-mask) stuff called lye. I looked and looked for soap recipes that don't use lye, but unfortunately, I'm out of luck. So I've gone ahead and bought gloves, safety glasses, and one of those Michael Jackson masks, and now I'm just waiting for a weekend when the kiddos won't be here, because there's no WAY I'm letting them get anywhere near something that dangerous (until all the nasty alkilinity is out of it, that is). Until then, I'll be buying my soap at the Sunflower Natural Foods store (which is completely awesome, but the way).

I'll let you know how it goes... if I still have eyeballs and fingers.

P.S. The other night, we had linguini alfredo with meatballs and spinach for dinner. Gavin, being one of my two vegetable haters (Bill is the other), left his spinach sitting on the plate until the end of his meal. "Look, Mommy," he said. "I saved my spinach for last!" "That's great, bud," I told him. Then he said, "I'm gonna eat all of it." Now, this is big news, because Gavin NEVER eats all of his veggies. Never ever ever. So I said, "That would be awesome!" He looked up at me with those huge baby blues of his and said, "So you want to help me out with that?" Ohhh, he's slick. I didn't, of course, mostly because by then his spinach was ice cold, but believe me, I was tempted. That boy is a charmer, let me tell you.

Working with the public can be hazardous to my health

I have good news and bad news.

Bad news first:
I am so, so, SO tired of dealing with PEOPLE this week. Working in a public library, one is pretty much guaranteed with facing crazy people, angry people, and just plain annoying people on a daily basis. And today is my sixth day in a row of this. I'm at the point where if one more person comes to the desk and mumbles, "Computer," instead of the infinitely more polite, "May I use the computer, please?" I just might say something that will feel good in that moment, but that I'll eventually come to regret.

And now for the good news:
We are deep into the holiday season, and I am absolutely loving it this year. The kids have been a bit better behaved (after weeks of my 7 year old acting like she's 15, and my 5 year old forgetting that he knows how to hear, this is actually GREAT news), I've spent tons of time with my sisters, AND I'm almost done with my Christmas shopping. Plus, all that goodness is not even counting the fact that I have a boyfriend who listens to me complain and nag, and who still tells me that he loves me no matter what. Sometimes I'm not sure what I did to deserve this life.

So I'll suck it up and be nice to the library patrons for the rest of the day. Because I could be a whole heck of a lot worse off.

Ask and you shall receive

First of all, can I just say that it is 27 degrees outside right now? 27. Also, it's windy, so according to weather.com, it FEELS like it's 15 degrees. My parents are arriving from Florida tomorrow, and I have a feeling they're not going to be thrilled with the weather, but that's just a hunch.

Second, guess what?? Remember the other day, when I was lamenting the fact that I would need to wait at least 4 weeks to get my next Stephenie Meyer fix? Well, the very next day when I arrived at work, I discovered that our teen librarian had just gotten in THREE copies of "Eclipse." That totally made my day, let me tell you.

Third, last night, Bill told me he's already bought the kids (and us) a Christmas present, and it's pretty much the most exciting thing ever, because I've been wanting one for a long time, and was planning on spending part of my tax return on it. I won't tell you what it is just yet, but suffice it to say I have the coolest boyfriend ever.

Fourth, just as a small aside... Daisy girl scouts should NOT be made to feel bad that they didn't sell 8 million fundraiser items to their friends and family. I'm just saying... Grrr.

Before and after

(Photography courtesy of my totally awesome 2.0 megapixel cell phone.)

Before:


After:


I admit, it could have been better, but for a morning's work? Not too shabby.

Clean clean clean (I hope)

We got this book in the library the other day. It's a story about a little boy whose toys kind of take over the entire house, until his mother finally decides that it's time for him to give some of them away. Of course, the little boy doesn't want to get rid of a single one.

The story reminded me so much of my own children, that I decided to bring it home and read it to them before starting on our own purging project. That project begins now. (Can you tell I'm procrastinating a bit?)

I leave you with a before picture, and hopefully there will be an "after" which shows that some progress was actually made.

However, I'll be working with a 5 and 7 year old who would rather be doing just about anything else on their day off from school, so I guess we'll see.




P.S. Happy Veteran's Day. And thank you thank you thank you to all those who fight and who have fought for our freedom.

I'm gonna kick some Kindergarten BUTT

So when I picked Gavin up from daycare this afternoon, he had a big red mark on the side of his nose... right next to his eye. When I asked him what happened, he said he was playing volleyball (turns out it was actually dodgeball) in gym class, and that someone threw the ball and hit him in the face. I think it's probably illegal for me to go after the little snot who did that to him, but that doesn't mean I don't WANT to.

When I asked Gavin if he cried, he said, "Nope! I was a brave boy!" And of course that made ME want to bawl. How did my baby get to be such a big kid so quickly??

*Sigh*

I went to JoAnn Fabrics this morning to pick out some things that I can't tell you guys about because they have to do with Christmas presents for my sisters, and one of them reads my blog on occasion.

Anyway... when I was signing the receipt, the cashier looked at my signature, and said, "Wow, you write really small." I nodded and smiled, because I get that all. the. time. But then she added, "You know, the size of your signature is supposed to be an indication of your self worth. So you should start writing bigger."

On-sale craft supplies AND a free psychological evaluation all in one trip... Score!

In addition, Bill brought me roses today. I haven't gotten flowers in... well, in a REALLY long time, so this is totally news-worthy. He also brought me bacon. (Yes, bacon.) And it was delicious. =)

The end.

A little tongue

Emilee and I had this conversation as I was doing the dishes yesterday morning:

Emilee: Mommy, our closet door is dirty. Do we have any Clorox?
Me: Clorox? Why does it have to be Clorox?
Em: Because. Clorox cleans stains and sticky, baked-on messes.
Me: (after a burst of laughter) Where did you hear THAT?
Em: On tv.

It's possibly they watch too much Nickelodeon.

Later that day, I brought home the Katy Perry CD so I could play "I kissed a girl" for the kids, because they love it:

Me: I have a surprise for you guys.
Emilee: What is it?
Me: Hold on a second... I'll show you.
Emilee: Gavin, what do you hope it is?
Gavin: Cow tongue.
Me: WHAT?? Cow TONGUE?
Gav: Yeah, cow tongue. I love it.

Huh.

Oh. My. Word.

I took the little man for his Kindergarten screening this morning, and it hit me like a ton of bricks that, holy crap, I'm about to have TWO children in school. And yeah, I was young(ish) when they were born, but dang I feel old.

Before we left, we spent a whole going over the letters of the alphabet (he got about 20 of them right) and the numbers 1-10 (ALL of them... woot woot), and when we got to the school, I had a little taste of what sending on the school bus in the fall might be like; the screener led my little guy away and he didn't even look back once. The school secretary (who doesn't seem to have aged a day since *I* was in elementary school) looked at me and said, "You can't have two kids in school!" And I told her, truthfully, "I'm SO not ready for this." *Sigh*

When the testing was over, the little man came up to me, full of chatter about the questions he'd been asked. He said, "I got every single one right! They only asked me the easy letters!"

I love him.

And come late August/early September, when he steps out of pre-school-hood, and into big-boy-in-school-ville, I'm totally going to be bawling my eyes out.

Smoking is bad for you

Apparently, my daughter has appointed herself Cigarette Police, and I'm not exactly sure why this is. No one in my family smokes, so she knows very little about cigarettes in general, but starting from the time she was approximately three years old, whenever we walked by someone who was smoking, Em would start up with this hacking (and believe me, completely fake) cough. It's actually hilarious, but probably not so much if you're the person it's directed at. And I tend not to laugh as hard when that person is a big burly motorcycle dude or something. Lately, she's taken up actually TELLING them that smoking is bad for them. And while that is completely and inarguably true, I don't think smokers appreciate hearing that.

Anyway, this weekend, as we were driving to Krutchy's softball game, I said to both of the kids, "Ok, guys, listen. A lot of people at the game are going to be swearing. You're not allowed to repeat any of those words. Got it? Also, a lot of people will be smoking. Please don't tell them it's bad for them. They KNOW it's bad for them, and even though I know you're just thinking about their health and that's very sweet, they really don't want to hear that from you. Ok?" And they did me proud. I didn't hear a single swear or guilt trip out of either one of them.

So today I was recounting all of this to Brian, and he told me something that made me laugh for about three minutes. His 6 year-old son (who is one of the funniest kids I have ever met) recently walked up to someone who was sucking on a cigarette, and whispered in that person's ear, "I think smoking smells good."

Kids... they so crack me up.

We're gonna sleep gooooood tonight

Things I managed to fit into just one day:

1. The little man's birthday party. Which, in case you were wondering, consisted mostly of girl guests. Turns out my little dude is quite the ladies' man. We decided on a venue of McDonalds this year, mainly because having it there meant that I didn't have to do any of the work. And they were awesome about everything, so it made me feel a little less guilty about feeding my own children (and several others) completely unhealthy food.

2. A trip to the town beach. Brian called almost immediately after the party, and asked if I wanted to take the kids to the lake. Now, I'm not exactly sure what Brian was thinking, since he had been at the birthday party with his son, and was as exhausted as I was, but I gladly went because, hey, how many gorgeous 85-degree days do we get in New Hampshire? Answer: not many. Guess what, though? Lake water in early June is fricking FREEZING. We haven't had enough sunny hot days to warm it up properly, so while the kids thought it was great, Brian and I nearly froze to death.

3. Laundry. One of my least favorite chores, but if I do it on Saturday, then I get Sunday to relax. So this is the one area where I try my hardest not to procrastinate.

4. Grocery shopping. Another chore/errand that I'm not particularly fond of. Add that to the fact that my children were having an extremely hard time listening (probably due to the overabundance of sugar/sun they got today), and it made for a slightly nightmarish shopping trip.

But now all of that is done, which means that I can actually enjoy my Sunday. And just so you know, this particular Sunday it's supposed to reach temperatures of 95 degrees or so. The kids and I have plans to spend the majority of the day outside at Krutchy's softball game, and I've already started a mental list of all the things that I need. At the top: sunscreen, sunscreen and more sunscreen. Because after last week's burn (which is just now, very attractively I might add, starting to peel off like crazy), I'm smartening up.

And now, I think I'll go crash in my bed for about 10 hours.

Burp

Want to know what my absolute favorite thing about my children is?

Their senses of humor.

I don't know how many times I've heard from random strangers that my kids are extremely happy... but every single time it makes me smile. The little man, especially, is hardly ever without a grin on his face. Have you ever tried being sad or angry with two little rays of sunshine constantly in your general vicinity? It's nearly impossible.

So last night at the restaurant, the little man was doing his thing, working the room. He adores being the center of attention, and apparently decided that burping was the way to do that. So (like an idiot), I encouraged him, asking, "Can you burp the alphabet?" He assured me he could, and went on to attempt to prove it:

"Urp: that was an A. Urp: that was a B. Urp: that was a C."

And then... of course...

"Urp: that was a fart."

I'll admit it, my son has no class. But he IS pretty darn hilarious, and personally I think that's far more important.

Biker dude

The little man turned 5 a week and a half ago.

Today, he learned to ride a two-wheeler. He just looked at me and said, "Mommy, can you take the training wheels off my bike?" So I did, figuring that I'd be putting them back on within a couple of minutes. Only, he totally proved me wrong. I gave him a couple of little pushes and that little guy was off and riding.

My kids are growing up way, way, way too fast.

Young at heart

Fact: I'm turning 28 in less than two weeks.

Fact: Emilee decided she needed to take a sick day today, so I went to her school to pick her up right after lunchtime.

Fact: There was a woman in the office who I've never met before, and we had this conversation:

Her: Can I help you?
Me: I'm here to pick up my daughter.
Her: Whose class is she in?
Me: (insert teacher's name here).
Her: You're probably gonna laugh, but at first I thought you were the high school girl who volunteers here.

Fact: That woman totally made my rainy Tuesday.

O Christmas tree, O Christamas tree...

Yes, yes, I missed another day. I'm actually really glad this NaBloPoMo business is almost over with. Sheesh.

Anyway, the reason I missed yet another day of blogging was this: I was way too busy having a real life. =P

-Took the kids to church in the morning, so they could spend a little more time with my parents before they (my parents, not my children) headed back to Florida.
-Did two loads of laundry, while simultaneously serving lunch and visiting a little more with the parentals.
-Went to a Christmas tree farm to pick out our Christmas tree. Shaws Guy came too, and a loooovely time was had by all.
-SG took us out for dinner at a local diner. I love the diner atmosphere, and I'm so glad we still have one here. The little man had pancakes. For dinner! Needless to say, he was thrilled. The princess ate probably 6 bites of her dinner. She was apparently much too busy playing tic-tac-toe and hangman (which she kept calling "hangerman") with SG to be bothered with eating.
-SG, Brian, Brian's son, my kids and I decorated the Christmas tree/drank hot chocolate and egg nog, and just generally had a good time.
-Slept like the dead. All of us.

And now I'm back. And tired. But extremely happy.

Tables are for lounging

So. Because I don't think I've officially introduced her yet... THIS is Ayla, our beautiful (and totally illegal) kitty.

She's on the kitchen table because, well, she's a cat, and cats do pretty much whatever the heck they want to do. She also meows at me every morning until I turn on the bathroom faucet so she can drink from it. And you know what? I totally do it. Every. Single. Morning. Yes, cats are independent and aloft, but I think that's part of the reason I love them so much. Maybe I envy that attitude juuuuuust a little.

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Last night, the princess and I had the following conversation as we were driving home from my sister's house.

PrincessPants: Mommy, do you ever wish you had a boy?

Me: What?

PP: You know, like Auntie Shea is married to Uncle Paul, and Auntie Jenni is married to Uncle Tim. Do you ever wish you had a boy like they do?

That child is just way too perceptive sometimes, I'm telling you.

Centauromachia

Yep, you guessed it. THAT was the word we messed up on. The word that lost the spelling bee for us. (Although, for the record, I had it spelled correctly on my little piece of paper, but told my boss to go with our other teammate's word because when it comes to spelling, I have low self-esteem, and assumed I couldn't possibly have it right.)

Anyway, I don't even care that we lost, because we actually made it farther than we've ever managed to make it in the bee (three whole rounds!). And even if it was by default, because we were the last team in the line-up, we were the first runners up! Yay, us!

I've been feeling like a star all day long. Even if Krutchy DID feel the need to send me this horribly sarcastic text message:

"Do they make spelling bee cards of you heroes?"

I'm pretty sure he's just jealous. =P


In completely unrelated news, the ex and I met with Princess-pants' teacher today for a conference, and we got to hear all kinds of glowing comments, which totally made my day. I love hearing what a cool person my child is. (Not that I didn't already know). ;o)

Happy loooooooong weekend!

Here's to plucking

I have been feeling a little bit "eh" today. And for the record, "eh" = "kinda icky-ish." Yes, people, I know you're astounded by my librarian-y vocabulary. Sorry about that.

Anyway. I don't know if it's the fact that winter's about to descend upon us or what, but suddenly little things are starting to bother me more than they should. Case in point: my ex-husband just told me that he and his new wife put an offer in on a house. And am I happy for them? Heck no. I mean, of course I acted delighted, but really, in my head I was thinking, "How come this joker gets a spouse and a house (hey, that rhymes), and I'm a single mom living the apartment life. *Sigh*

Ok, moving on (and out of my self-pity)...

This morning, the little man was sitting at the table eating his breakfast, when out of the blue, he looked at his sister and said, "It would be even more romantic if you chewed with your mouth closed." I doubt that my 4 year-old son even knows what the word "romantic" means, and in fact, he apparently stole the line from Hannah Montana, but omigosh, I burst out laughing. <3 that boy.

Rain, rain, go away.

This morning in the car, Princess-pants informed me, "I put all my might into it... Unfortunately, I don't have a lot of might."

I totally love my 6 year-old.

She also told me that she would like a baby Michaela doll for Christmas, and that Michaela (which I'm probably spelling completely wrong) says over 80 different things. I've never even heard of this toy, but I already know that it is destined to annoy the crap out of me. Woot.

So it's raining. And cold. And dreary. And where'd I'd REALLY like to be right now is at home, in my pj's, watching the stack of movies piled up next to my tv that I NEVER have the time to watch when I'm actually at home. Or I could read one of the three books I've got going at the moment. I am SO not a fan of rain. Especially in November.

But I'm still wearing sandals.

Spoooooky

Trick-or-treating kicked my ass. Who knew you could be so tired after just walking around a neighborhood with a couple of kids for an hour? The children in question, though, had an awesome time. The princess insisted on wearing the shoes that came with her costume, and a half hour into trick-or-treating, she had given up on them and was walking around in her tights.

But it was the little man whose behavior indicated when it was time to go home. I realized he was getting punchy when he started yelling, "Thank you LORD!" at every single house we went to.

Oh, to be 4 years old again.

If I only had a sewing machine

What the little man said to me this morning:

"You're the best mommy in the whole whole whole whole whole whole whole whole whole whole whole whole world."

And the thing is? He was being completely sincere. My kid honestly thinks I'm the best mother he could possibly have. And that, my friends, is called success.

P.S. Halloween is coming. Which means I need to get some costumes together really soon. Gav is easy... he's already got all the components for his costume, because of course, he will once again be a firefighter for Halloween. (I don't know what would happen if I ever were to try to get him to dress up as something else... a mutiny, probably). And the princess has decided she wants to be Tinkerbell. I suppose I could buy a costume at Wal-Mart that every other 6 year old in our neighborhood will be wearing as well (and to be honest, that's probably what I WILL do, because I lack the creativity gene), but man I wish I could find (or better yet, MAKE) a cool fairy costume. Then again, that would require time. And artistic ability. Of whichI have NONE.

Ah well... Wal-Mart, here we come.

Wait. Did I just totally prove that I'm not actually the best mommy in the whole world? Oopsies.