11/29/2005

The eagle has landed

Ladies and Gentlemen, project create a calendar has officially left the building. After 2 hours at the scrapbook store doing last minute things (and picking papers for next month’s class) I put the kits in my bin and walked away. (And all God’s people shout AMEN!) I even have a whole week to go before the class. Just enough time to forget what a headache that project was. For a treat I took myself to the library for some magazines and cds.
A few funnies:
Yesterday I hear “crinkle crinkle” from the girls room, so I go to investigate. All 3 of my children are sitting around munching on graham crackers! Turns out someone opened the pantry, snuck the crackers out, CLOSED THE PANTRY door, found a secure hiding spot, then proceeded to share the loot with the other two. Ok, so it’s not the first time my kids have stolen food from the pantry, but this is the first time they’ve made such an elaborate production out of their thievery.

Conversation with Louisa from this morning:
Louisa: Cookie?
Mommy: No silly! No cookies until after we eat lunch
Louisa closes pantry door. “Night night cookie”
Too danged cute.

11/28/2005

Busy busy

So I felt a little bad that it’s been so long since I updated this thing, but as I’m looking around at all my friends blogs, no one else is updating theirs either. So now I don’t feel quite as bad. It’s just a busy time of year for everyone. I won’t tell you how many things are on my calendar for the week, because I don’t even want to look at it. Let me just tell you “take out the winter sweaters” is still on it. Which will make you giggle if you know anything at all about the climate in Northern Ohio.
So it was a good weekend. I spent most of it cutting, printing, sorting, organizing, and labeling approximately 400 little pieces of paper for the page kits I made for the calendar class that’s coming up next week. We also managed to get the Christmas decorations up (well most of them). Jory and I decided not to do a tree this year. We really have no place to put one, we’re worried about trying to keep the kids out of it (and the presents underneath) and since Christmas is on a Sunday this year, we won’t really spend much time here on Christmas morning. So what’s the point? Jory nestled some ornaments in our garland over the fireplace, so I have a little bit of holiday cheer to make me smile.
Thanksgiving was grand. We all went out to the lake house to celebrate with my parents, and my sister and brother in law. The kids all had a good time, the weather cooperated, we ate too much, and I did absolutely nothing productive. It was a good day. I have pictures around here somewhere, but sadly sorting and organizing current photos isn’t on the calendar until tomorrow. So you’ll have to wait.

11/21/2005

Productive weekend

Friday: My mom came over to get Alex to play over night. It was really nice since I spent most of Friday freaking out about the 120 calendar pages that I had to print, and the fact that I was getting way too much “help” from my munchkins. So take one kid out of the mix, and all of a sudden, the need to compete for Mom’s attention is gone, which means my productivity goes through the roof. She came over after school to get him, and he spent the night at her house and had lots of fun. While I manage to finish my printing and get everything ready to take to be bound, fix dinner and read a little. (ahhhhhhh)
Saturday I ran errands, Louisa and I went to get Alex and Grandma, and we all went together. We went to the scrapbook store where I teach so I could put some finishing touches on my calendar sample, then we went to Office Depot to drop off the calendars to be bound, went to the craft store to kill time while the calendars were being bound, then had dinner. Rather productive. Except that I found these really cool ornaments that I wanted to make at the craft store, like I really need another project to work on.
Sunday I went to church, and did the Sunday school thing. Had lunch at Panera’s, went home and went to work. I helped Jory work on his scrapbook project, and cut more paper for my class.
So I have this calendar program on my computer that’s supposed to make life simpler because it helps you manage your to do lists and whatever. I haven’t ever used it because I’d just as soon make my to do lists on a scrap of paper and hang in on my bulletin board. Well I started using it this month and it’s really stressing me out! Yes I can plan my chores for each day of the week better, but I can also look and say there are 16 huge tasks on my agenda this week that don’t include take care of my children or tending to their basic needs in any way. So maybe I should just go back to doing one day at a time. We’ll see.
I really want to make some apple crisp.

11/18/2005

That’s just the way it is.

I’ve been quite busy these last few days. I’ve had my head down working hard on various projects. I thought I’d take a little break to update this thing.
Silly me thought it would be a good idea to have a huge project for my December class at the scrapbook store. My class is create your own calendar, the participants receive a prebound, preprinted 6 x 6 calendar, with a kit for decorating it. Sounds like fun right? Guess who’s responsibility it is to print, cut and bind 10 of these little buggers! Mine! That’s 130 sheets of cardstock to cut to size, and 120 pages to print. Oh and I forgot to mention, cutting the papers, punching out embellishments and all that for 10 kits. FUN. Yesterday all the kids took naps (which is a rare occasion in my house) and I really cranked on this project. The main calendar pages are all cut, now I’m working on printing them. At least I have a well stocked playlist to keep me company as I sit here on this computer hour after hour. Right now I’m jammin to a little Tim McGraw, life is good.
I had a few funny kid-isms to share, lets see if I can remember them.

Last night as I was getting the girls ready for bed, I was trying to teach them to say “I love you” Annie (my little parrot) did pretty well. Louisa on the other hand is quite the stinker. Here’s how the conversation went:
Mommy: say love…lll-ooooo-vvvvvvvvv
Louisa: dee dee dee
Mommy: no no no. lllllllll-ooooooo-vvvvvv
Louisa (giggles): dee dee dee
Mommy: You’re just being ornery!
Louisa giggles.

Annie has been wearing this blue hooded sweatshirt around for the past few days. (she refuses to let me put on a clean one) She must have the hood up, or she’ll throw a fit. So I have a cute little hoodlum running around here.

The girls have been in to monkeys the last few days. We have 3 beanie monkeys (including General Mayhem if any of my family remembers him) and they’ve been up to mischief around here. Jumping on the girls heads, flying through the air, riding around in the dump truck and getting lots of hugs.

Alright, enough goofing around, back to work.

11/15/2005

Normal everyday chatter

I added a bunch of songs to my playlist on the computer. I found a bunch of CD’s from high school and my freshman year of college, so right now I’m rocking to Match Box 20, Pearl Jam, The W’s (one of the groups we listened to when I lived in VA beach) and Billy Joel. Man do they take me back. Technology is so cool.
I’ve been reading a book about Reagan and his Cold War policy during the 80’s. Why you ask? (that’s a very good question). My last “for fun” book was set during the Cold War and they were throwing around a bunch of lingo that I was unfamiliar with. Basically I was pretty clueless as to what was happening in certain parts of the book, which I didn’t like. Since we all know that history textbooks end with Vietnam, I have a 20 year gap in my knowledge of what happened in our country. So basically I’m playing catch up on all the stuff that I should have learned in History class, but never did. (It’s all Mrs. King’s fault – lol!)
Funnies from the kids:
For the last few mornings, Louisa and Annie have started cheering madly when I serve them their breakfast. Crack me up. I’d like to think it’s they’re cheering for me, because I make such wonderful oatmeal, and I’m the best mommy ever. But I know better.
Alex keeps trying to steal the girls blankets. He never really attached to any of the blankets/toys that I gave him as a baby and I think he’s a little jealous of the relationship the girls have with theirs. The other day I gave him back some of the baby blankets that I tried to give him when he was little, but it’s too late for those blankies. I can’t win can I?

11/14/2005

Busy weekend

What a weekend! Saturday was a whirl wind of activity. We were up and out the door by 9 am, which I think is some sort of record. The kids went to play at Grandma’s house while Jory and I ran errands. First to the library to restock. We got some books, magazines and cd’s. So we should be stocked for the week… After the library we were supposed to have an appointment with a lady at the bank about the girls bank accounts, but she didn’t show up, so we went shopping instead. Ha! Actually I had to go to my scrapbook store to pick up my payment for the class I taught this week. Jory picked up a few things for one of his Christmas projects and I talked to my store owner about a little matter that had been bothering me. Then after the store we had lunch at Bob Evans. YUM. Jory and I rarely get to do things with out the kids, so it was nice to have a morning out to ourselves.
Then Jory dropped me off at my mom’s and picked up the girls to take them home for a nap. My mom, Cathy, Alex and I went to see Sesame Street Live. This was the first event of this type that we’d taken Alex to. He sat there like a little sponge absorbing everything. Very cute. He didn’t get all that excited about the show (probably because he doesn’t really watch Sesame street), but he watched in rapt attention. For the record, Jory says the whole concept of Sesame Street Live is ridiculous. (Which is why I went with Mom and Cathy instead of Jory). After the show Mom took us all out to dinner at the Spaghetti Warehouse downtown
Sunday morning was church and Sunday school as usual. After lunch we came home and crashed. All 5 of us had a good nap. ahhhhhhh

11/11/2005

Whatcha got cookin?

My friend Susan is always posting yummy recipes in her blog, so I thought that I”d post a recent favorite in mine just for fun.

Raspberry bar cookies
½ cup packed light brown sugar
1 cup flour
¼ tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp salt
1 cup rolled oats
½ cup butter softened
¾ cup raspberry jam (the homemade kind is best! If you live near me, stop by I have a freezer full)

1. Preheat oven to 350. Grease an 8 in. pan
2. Combine brown sugar, flour, baking soda, salt, and oats. Rub in butter using hands to form a crumbly mixture.
3. Press 2 cups of the mixture into the bottom of the pan, spread the jam to within ¼ in. of the edge.
4. Sprinkle remaining crumb mixture over the top and lightly press down into the jam.
5. Bake for 35-40 min until lightly browned, allow to cool before cutting.

Jory’s rating: 5 stars, better than cobbler. (which is a pretty big compliment in his book)
My rating: put the pan away before I eat the whole thing.

11/09/2005

In the last 24 hours…

My son is no longer a puppy. He now wants to be referred to as Alex the bird. At first he thought he was a penguin, until he found out that penguins don’t fly. Next he thought he was a goose. But then he realized that geese say “honk” instead of “chirp”, and that was no good. So I think he’s finally decided that he’s a robin.
Last night I taught at my bottle cap class at the scrapbook store. I had a few ladies come out to the class, more than I’ve had for any other class, which is encouraging. One lady was so cute. She just couldn’t stop saying “oh what a cool idea! I have so many ideas now!” she even used my card design for a swap she was in – but only after I helped her pick out some papers that match – ha! Don’t tell my boss, but I’d do this for free if I kept getting people like her in my class.
I’m starting to feel slightly overwhelmed by life. My house is way messier than I like to keep it, there are piles of laundry/dishes/toys everywhere. But there are Christmas projects to work on (yes I still have six weeks I know!) projects for the store to work on, Alex’s school… the list continues. If only I didn’t need to sleep…

11/08/2005

Kiddo update

It’s been a while since I wrote an entry about what my kids are up to, so it’s about time I think.
Alex hasn’t touched a diaper in about 2 weeks. He has accidents from time to time, but nothing major.
He loves his stuffed animals. He loves to cuddle them and cheer them up when they are sad. Sounds a lot like my job, except I get kiddos. I’ll take kids over stuffed animals any day.
The girls are still attempting to communicate. Last night I swear Louisa said “need more cookie” I was on the phone with Vangie, she can verify. Annie’s new word that she is very proud of is diaper. The other day she and I had a conversation that consisted of “diaper? Yeah.” for about 2 minutes this went on. It was really funny.
Annie’s other new thing is that she loves to give hugs. So sweet.
Louisa has the worst luck with her breakfast. I think she’s a slow eater like me, because the other two are always finished before she is. They then proceed to steal as much of her breakfast as they can. Since I don’t usually sit with them while they eat (like I do at the other meals) I’m always running into the kitchen to see what she’s screaming about. I’ve tried making the others get down from the table and giving them other snacks, but it doesn’t seem to help. I can’t decide whether to get mad at Alex and Annie for stealing, or just tell Louisa “sorry, you should have eaten faster”

11/07/2005

Weekend report

It was a pretty good one as far as weekends are concerned. Saturday night my mom, Cathy and I took the kids out on the town. We had dinner at a local pizza place (Charlie’s) then went in to the scrapbook store where I teach so I could get some supplies together for my December class.
Saturday I went to a scrapbook event hosted by my mom’s neighbor to benefit the Boy scouts. I got a lot finished on my little calendar that I’m making for my December class, but it’s still not finished. I have a class coming up on Tuesday, and the store owner wants my December project finished (or close to it) in time to take it to the November class so I can advertise it. I’ve pretty much decided that it will not be finished in time for tomorrow’s class, because I want to use some of the supplies at the store when I go in to teach. So all that freaking out last week about this deadline that I wasn’t going to meet was for nothing. Oh well.
Sunday was church, normal as always. We had 4 new kids in my Sunday school class, which is HUGE. They all seemed to have a good time, which is cool. I worked on my calendar a little more… did a little cleaning… nothing terribly exciting.

11/06/2005

History lesson

Well since my last post I’ve received several lovely comments about this historical importance of daylight savings time. Thank you all for the history lesson. In case you were wondering daylight savings time was started by Ben Franklin so that farmers could work longer or something like that.
With that background knowledge in place, I can once again climb on my soapbox about this yearly tradition. First off, when Franklin was alive, I’m sure our national economy was very much driven by agriculture. 300 years later, it is not. Farmers are now in the minority, so why do we still bend over backwards to accommodate them as if our economy revolves around them.

** disclaimer ** I love farms! My inlaws run a rather large spread (the size of a small city) out in New Mexico with farming and ranching. Love ya George! You’re doing a great job ;)

Anyway, back to my soapbox. Since the 1700’s when this tradition was started, there have been considerable technological advances in the farming industry. It is no longer critical for farmers to work from sun up to sun down. I’m fairly certain my father – in - law doesn’t work those types of hours. And if he really did need to work that way, we have this great invention called the light bulb. It’s great when you want to work after nightfall. They can be used in your workshop, in your tractors headlights, and in floodlights to light the entire area you want to work!
Come on America, isn’t it time to let go of this tradition?

11/01/2005

Thoughts

Who’s idea was daylight savings? I mean really. What a dumb concept. It really screws my kids routine up. I’d love to just pitch all the clocks and live with out time. Hmph.
I hear that next year they’re changing the dates that daylight savings occurs. Supposedly pushing it back will save energy. Um lets think about this one. Changing when we change our little clocks does not change when the sun comes up and goes down. It does not change the amount of hours we have natural light. It’s NOT GOING TO SAVE ENERGY. Just make us all a little nuttier. I bet I paid some politician a lot of money to come up with this “theory”.
Ah well. A new month is here, there are a lot of chores around here that happen on the first of the month. Lots of cleaning and reorganizing.
Happy November everyone!

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