Bonding

I'm hanging out in bed reading blogs on my laptop and listening to Paige and Jeff.

They're hanging out in his room playing Call of Duty. Yes, they are playing a violent game trying to kill people, but they are bonding.

They are laughing at each other getting ambushed and killed.
They are warning each other about possible attacks.
They are congratulating each other on successful missions.

I don't like these violent games.  I wish they didn't like them so much.  But I will take this for I know they will remember hanging out and having fun.  I don't feel these games turn kids into killers, though if a child had those types of tendencies them maybe they encourage and feed those dispositions.  Not too worried about my guys.

Having a boy and girl can be rough sometimes.  They played well together as little kids but as they grow and mature they drifted apart.  Now they are entering (have entered) the teenage years.  I want them to be close and be there for each other.  We try to teach them this, but sometimes talking to them is like asking a tree to move.  I think they are getting it even if they don't say it outright.  For the past few weeks they have really been hanging out a lot and it couldn't make me and my husband happier.

It would be better if they weren't killing and pillaging, but hey, it's a start and I will take what I can get!

Happy Birthday Baby!

Today is my husband's 41st birthday.  Unfortunately, he's away at an indoor track meet at Edinboro University.  He left at 7:30am and just texted me at 5:40 pm that they were loading on the bus.  So he should be home around 7:30 pm.  Nice!

This March will mark 25 yrs together (9 dating and 16 married).  I feel like it's always been just him and me.  I wouldn't want it any other way.  Ours is a crazy loving deep relationship.  And it works for us. 

 

 

I love you Jeff! Thanks for staying by my side despite all the crazy things I put you through.  Ohh...we are still going to Lowes right?

Photo Button Display

My kids are very active in sports.  We love it!  Though it does make for a very busy life especially since my husband is also a high school cross country and track coach. 

With each new season comes team pictures.  I buy the smallest package which includes a 5x7 individual photo, a 5x7 team photo, and an individual button.  While it's easy to display the photos, the buttons most often get set aside.  I use to wear them when the kids were little, but lately I haven't. 

I had thrown them in a pile in my office (aka the most unorganized room in my home!).  Each time I looked at them I thought what a shame because they are so cute. 

I had tried to display them on my filing basket.

But they never stayed on good and I could only get a few on at a time. 

I really wanted to display them in a cute way, but for the life of me I couldn't come up with any good solutions.

Then one day I happened to remember the cork board tiles that I bought with the plans to make a copy of a Pottery Barn Teen bulletin board.  But finding matching tiles of cork, magnetic, etc was proving difficult.  So I just opted for the large cork board frame I found at Home Goods. (Hoping to finish by posts on Paige's room soon. Can't believe I started her room last August!)

The tiles have been sitting in my office for over 2 years and I figured that they would be perfect to display the buttons.  It's not completely finished (see above paragraph as to how long projects have been taking lately!), but I am really liking it so far.



This wall is directly outside of Paige's room.  To the right is her bedroom door and to the left is the bathroom. Yes, I have also added repaint the trim to the list of things to do.



The top board holds all of her softball pictures from T-ball to Junior High. The bottom tile has her cheer leading buttons (and one lone soccer and volleyball one).  Not all of her cheer buttons are on as I can't find 3 years worth.

I haven't decided what to do with the window decals yet.  I'm not crazy about putting them on our cars and they were too cute to throw away.  I was going to put them on the wall above and below the tiles.  Or put them on the tiles and rearrange the buttons around them.  Jeff and I are also debating on framing the tiles in. 

I also put a cork tile outside of my son's room.  I am guessing that the rest of  his baseball buttons are with Paige's cheer buttons because we are missing a few years worth. 

Hanging the buttons on the cork was so easy.  I just used the old fashioned flat thumb tacks and the fastener on the back of the button as the hook.  I can move them around as needed and it really looks cute (despite my horrible photos).  Plus I can add more tiles as needed which I probably will with my son as he is now getting into more sports!

It's cute to see how much they've changed and it reminds us of some wonderful times shared together!  



Playing Catch up

Seems like that is my new mantra....playing catch up!  I thought things would get much easier around my home once I started working in town.  For the most part it is, but for some reason I also seem to be spinning my wheels.  We are a busy family but no busier than before when I worked out of town.  Perhaps I got lazy about keeping on track with my home and blogging.  Those are the two areas where I have really let go.  Especially blogging and cooking. 

Blogging has taken a hit because I was able to do some blogging from my other job.  There was so much down time and I could write up a rough draft and then add photos/edit at home.  My new job does not allow that freedom, which is ok.  My other boss didn't care what we did on the internet- except once when the one girl accidentally typed in wrong word and got porno!  We all laughed but were much more careful.  I wouldn't dare work on my blog at my new job.  It's a weird office situation where everyone is looking for everyone else to do something wrong so they can tell.  Lot of these people have been in their positions for DECADES..like 30+ years...and there is a lot of animosity among them.  I think they should just retire and let new people run the office like it should and could be.  I'm just saying.  I love my job and it could really be a great working office and hopefully one day it will. 

My home has really taken back seat to life as well.  I have not been cooking very much this summer.  Mainly because I have been trying to run daily with my husband and the cross country kids at practices.  Because they practice in the evening, it is hard to cook, eat, and then go run.  But if we waited till after practice it is late, we're tired, and grabbing food to go is just so easy.  I know all excuses, but their mine and I'm sticking with them!!

So lately I've been reading my favorite blogs again and missing everyone.  I thought I would love to make money blogging full time and staying home..blah blah blah...but realized that it's probably not for me.  I don't like writing.  I don't use flowery words and I jump from thought to thought (quotes from college English professors).  But that's the scientist in me.  Lab write ups are to be direct, factual, and don't require full sentences.  None of my professors liked those excuses. (Again their mine and I won't let go!!)  I sometimes fight myself on how to say things. I know what I want to say but it never comes out right.  Then I read someone else's blog and they eloquently say exactly what I was trying!  And I don't seem to have a large vocabulary either.  Despite how much I read, which I heard increases ones vocabulary and ability to write.  My daughter writes stories beautifully.  She has the gift.  I'm amazed at how she can easily express herself. At least I helped create that.  Yah. See one who cannot gives it to one who can.  Take that Hallmark!


(On a side note, why doesn't Hallmark have a dysfunctional family greeting card section? I find it so hard to pick out cards for my family cause they don't tend to fall in the "you've always been there for me and guided me" category.  I need a "for the bipolar, manic depressive locked yourself in your room for years" card.  I'm just saying again.  Think it could be a gold mine.)

Here's where we are a few months since I last posted- a real post that is!

1.  Our house-  Roof done! Siding done! Gutters done!  But we still need to finish some little things like fixing the dining room window that got broke during the removal of the old siding, fixing the blacktop in our drive way that was parted like the Red Sea when said roof was being hauled away, wires need to be re-attached to house and most importantly the front porch needs painted.  Here's quick before and now shot of house:

I couldn't find pictures of the house before the roof was taken off.  I will try later when I have time (insert hysterical laughing!)

And here we are today...

As you can see from the front photo, the columns, large picture window, and porch floor (and under floor) need painted.  Because of the shape/features of the columns and window, I choose to leave them unsided and will paint.  The color of the siding is called Hearthstone and actually has a green undertone to it.  I hate the way it looks in the bright sunlight from 1-3pm.  Then it really shows the green.  I've been told that I am the only one that sees it and the photos were shot in morning light when it does keep the brown color.  I do love it when I wear my sunglasses so that's what I do- look at it wearing my shades!!

Along with the siding, we also have to rip out bushes, shrubs, and redo the landscaping. That will probably happen in Spring 2013.

2.  Paige's room is still the same.  Although right before school started, I gave (bribed) her with money to clean out her closet and drawers before we went school shopping. BEST.IDEA.EVER.  Girl will do anything for money.  (Ummm..maybe that's not a good thing.  Will need to work on that SOON).  She not only cleaned out her clothe closets and drawers, but every single drawer and cupboard and chests in her room.  Best $38 I have spent in a long time.  Except she piled all her cast offs in my room for me to deal with, but I've been there before. (Will add link to when we had Ebay sale and she dumped all her stuff on my bed- again more hysterical laughing).

3. We went to Nags Head for vacation and it was great.  So many funny things happened of course.  Come on it's me we're talking about.  Nothing normal happens in my life!  Here are some pictures...

It was the best vacation I've had in years.  We did nothing but hang out at the house, swim in the pool, and head to beach.  Total relaxation!

4. School started couple weeks ago and it's been great.  Love that they are on schedule and out of my house all day.  It does stay cleaner during the school year, though they can make huge mess from 3-4pm before I get home from work. 

They are getting so big and grown up.  Paige wouldn't let me take a picture of her first day.  If you look closely in the second picture, you may see her friend laughing in the front seat at me chasing her down the sidewalk.  She later apologized and said she was just so nervous and didn't sleep at all the night before.  I'm still waiting for the photo she promised we could retake!

5. Lastly, my husband has decided to jump on the Damn Ramsey bandwagon.  WTF!  I finally gave up and figured that I will pay off debt as I can and still spend money on things I wanted.  And now he wants to pay off debt and only buy with cash.  No credit cards or buy now pay later deals.  That's why Paige's room and the whole house is at a stand still.  Plus I started liking buying things that I never would before cause I was trying to pay off debt.  Men!  Drives me nuts that for years I wanted to do Damn Ramsey and now that I gave up, he wants to jump in! Ugghhh!


I have more to say, but this is quite the long post.  Plus I need to break down some of the above into posts of their own.   I will try to get back to posting.  This time I pinkie swear!!

Happy Be-lated Birthday!

This little heart-breaker turned 11 last week during our vacation in Nags Head, NC.  I apologize now to all the mom's whose little girls fall this guy!  Luckily he still thinks girls are gross, but I have a feeling that will change soon. 

Happy Birthday to my little man!  We love you so much (and yes your sister does really love you!)!!

Welcome Back

I am amazed at how long it's been since I've blogged.  I have been so busy trying to adjust to my new job, working full time and everyone's busy schedules.  Also we are still working on the house.  It's almost done and really looking nice.  I'm not happy about the color of the siding.  It has a green color to it and wasn't my favorite choice.  Jeff said he didn't see it and thinks I'm crazy, but in certain light it looks green to me. 

The weather has been amazing in Western Pa.  I thought my husband was crazy to have them side our house in January.  Because work is slow for contractors where we live this time of year, we were able to save some money.  Except this year we had little snow and above average temperatures.  Last week alone it was sunny and 70-80 degrees! 

So here is were we are with our house......


These are shots of the house before the roof and new siding.

Here is the new roof and the windows/siding going up.

And here we are today....

We still have the other side of the house to finish siding and also the gutters need to go up.  It looks really nice, but I think the dark color makes the house look smaller.

SO many things happened during this remodel, most of which are just totally ridiculous.  I will definitely have to take a moment to tell you about.  Right now it's time for dinner and then the Sunday night rituals!

I really missed everyone and hope that I am finally getting some kind of schedule together that will let me blog again!!!!

Happy 13th!

Happy Birthday Paige!  Today you turn 13 and I can't believe how fast time has gone. 

You are turning into such a beautiful young lady.  Daddy and I are amazed at how well you've adapted to Junior High School - even if you don't like daddy to say hi to you in the hallways!  As expected, you've become so involved in school activities and we really commend you on you ability to juggle everything.  Remember, don't try to do to much!  Have fun and enjoy school!

It's hard to believe you are now a teenager.  Things are changing so quickly for you and I just want you to know that we are here for you.  We love you and will do anything to help you- even if it's just to listen.  You are an amazing young girl and we look forward to you becoming an even more amazing young woman!

PS- Even your brother loves you!!

Weekend Getaway

Tomorrow we taking the kids on a little getaway to Kennywood, Sand Castle, The Pittsburgh Zoo, and a Pirates game. Yup, we're trying to squeeze all this in from Sunday to Tuesday. 

Yah, we're nuts.  Look out Pittsburgh here we come!  They may need to drop me off at Primanti's or the North Shore Deli for some sanity filling sangwhiches while I get my Pittsburgh on! 

Hope yinz have a fun filled weekend...  (my mother is probably yelling at me now...she dispised the word yinz!)

More Unexpected Organizing- School Papers

I am working on another unexpected organizing project- school papers.  It has nothing to do with school starting next month.  Or the fact that I totally procrastinated on making any sort of attempt at keeping the kids papers in order.  No it all has to do with a certain little boy who remains below the fifth percentile in height.  This cute little guy....





The next picture may help explain things a little more.  The boy to the left of Jeffrey is 2 days older than him.  His mother and I are good friends and grew up together.  We had the same oby and it was cool that the boys were in the nursery together!  The little boy to the right of Jeffrey is actually 6 weeks YOUNGER than Jeff. He doesn't turn 10 until mid August. He is really big for his age whereas the boy on the left is average.  So when I took Jeff for his annual check up, we decided to get a bone x-ray again to see what his bone age is compared to his age.  We've been doing this periodically since he was 5 and up till now it's just been a wait and see if he has a growth spurt since his bone age has been 3 yrs behind his true age.



We have been asked to have him be seen by an endocrinologist to make sure there is no other underlying reason for him being so small.  We never expected our children to be super tall as Jeff and are short ourselves, but we do want to make sure he will be a decent height.  And now the doctors feel it's time to move to the next phase of checking his hormones.

So what does this have to do with school papers?  

Well, the endocrinologist wants all his medical records, important baby milestones (when he talked, walked, potty trained) and school records of height and weight.  That requires report cards.  Which requires me to find his school papers.  Which requires me to search the dozen areas that I've been stashing their papers. 

Pre school and Kindergarten at the Christian school were easy to find because I dumped them in a drawer in the attic dresser.  Bad thing about it was that I thought it would be safe to keep a lot of the hand made items - you know pasta necklaces and cheerio art- since it was in the attic in a drawer.  Except that bugs found their way to said drawer and ate away at his masterpieces.  And there were some new family members that set up their home there in the cotton ball Santa crafts.  YUCK!  It was reminiscent of The Bearded Iris recent post on a delicious protein packed rice recipe.  YUM!  Except she took photos and I just carefully dumped them in the trash hoping my husband wouldn't see.

This made me realize that I need to go through all their papers and organize them better.  And since his doctor's appointment is on Wednesday, I will need to do this fast!   

I haven't decided how I want to store them.  Some bloggers put their kid's papers in hanging file boxes  and some keep them in lidded boxes.  I like both ideas.  Another thing is to make books of their artwork.  I did that with Paige's Kindergarten artwork when Oprah was giving away free photo books.  It turned out ok.  I didn't do a good job taking pictures of her items and some things got cropped funny on the pages.  So I may try that again.

Hopefully, at least I will gather everything into one area and weed out all the papers that really don't need to be saved.  So like my office desk, I am off to start working on organizing something that's long overdue but now I'm forced eager to tackle!  If anyone has any cool ideas for storing these wonderful papers that I'm sure I'll be the only one glad I saved, please leave comment and link to your site!

What have we been up too

Baseball and softball.

Jeff bunted a lot as a lefty hitter and fast runner

I still can't tell how Paige could see with her helmet

Both my kids love playing and we really enjoy going to the games.  Not much gets done from May to July in our house, but we spend so much time with friends it's all worth it.  We don't do travel ball although Paige is thinking of joining a fast pitch league that does some local travel- nothing that would require over night stays or anything like that.  Some of our friends do have kids on travel ball and financially we could never do it. 

Things have winded down now and we will have a break until fall ball starts. My son does not want to play football which is ok by us.  And this year Paige made the 7th grade cheerleading squad so her games are during the week and shouldn't interfere with their ball games.

So even though I've been working part time for the past 2 months, most of my days and nights have been hanging out with my family.  I miss blogging and my house is suffering the most, but it was time more than well spent.

And speaking of baseball-- what the heck call was that for the Pirates?  I've seen some bad calls at my kid's games, but seriously Blue.  The Pirates have finally come around after the past 18-19yrs of losing season's and bad management.  Too lose in 19 innings on a call that was clearly wrong is just a shame.  What a way to lose.

What's the Plan?

If you read my post yesterday, you would have heard the news that I am going from full time to part time at work.  Starting today! 

It's not a big deal.  I don't make much at this job and I have been sending resumes out this past month.  Financially, we've been seeing this coming at work.  Our office is slowing down, but the boss's spending hasn't!

I am going to save  $100 right off the bat from gas.  I work 30 minutes away and the drive is very hilly so I use a tank of gas a week in my sunfire.  It's been costing me almost $45 -50 to fill up this small 13 gallon tank (depending on gas prices).  Now if I am only going in to work 2 days a week, my tank should last almost 2 weeks.  And I will save on lunch - though minimally since I try not to eat out much any way.  But even if just $5- 10 a week that's $40 a month.  That's a small bill payment!


Personal finances will be tough for a little while. Jeff and I have been working on eliminating our debt and this will definitely slow us down.  But I am eligible for partial unemployment and though it is very small, it will help.  I am responsible for paying the utility bills and with summer coming, I won't have a huge gas bill.  The electric bill will go up some, but I will be home more to control that thermostat!

The kids are thrilled to have me home more.  They understand that we will be eating home again more.  This past month we have been really bad about eating out since I don't get home until right before we have to leave for baseball or softball games.  Not anymore.  I would rather eat at home anyway and save eating out for special occasions.  The kids like eating fast food and so this will be tougher on them.  But it's not up for negotiation.

The best part of this for me is that I will be home with my family.  I really liked being home after my surgery.  And working just two days a week will be a good break.  Plus I will be able to do so much more than after my surgery.

My son already asked me what the plan was for today.  I told him that I had to work but that tomorrow I would clean his room as his 3rd grade graduation gift.  He was very pleased!

Its a good day to run!

The weather was unbelievably warm yesterday, although very windy.  Jeff and the kids were off from school but I couldn't take a vacation day.  Boo!  I did cut out an hour early and met my girlfriend to go walking.  By then the temps had dropped and the wind made it even worse.  Still, it wasn't too bad.  We even jogged part of the time and I really got my heart rate up. 

We decided with my girlfriend's family to head over to the Japanese restaurant where Jeff and I had gone a few weeks ago.  My son had never been to one and I think he really enjoyed it.  Then a quick stop at Mcdonalds for ice cream (I passed on that) and home to bed.

I'm still lying in bed at 11 am.  I know, it's terrible, but I am just feeling worn out.  The house is a wreck and I am going to work out this afternoon.  Eventually I am gonna get out of bed, but it's so cozy with Peanut!  Plus the temp dropped down to the 30's again and the wind is howling.  Just a nice lazy day to snuggle with the chihuahua.  I love these days!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Hoping everyone has a great Valentine's Day with loved ones!  We don't have anything planned and I actually had to stop this morning on my way to work to grab cards and some little items for the kids.  After this weekend, I wasn't sure if my kids were going to make it to Monday.  Either it was me just being irritable or them being overly goofy, but I literally had to remove myself from them several times to prevent any bodily harm to them!!

I did get some little things done around the house.  I organized the bookshelf from my office, I put some things on eBay and listed some old textbooks on half.com.  I also wasted a lot of time watching Flylady videos.  I used to follow her when my son was little, but then got away from her.  It was cool to see all the videos she's put on YouTube.

I also worked out Saturday.  I did more than I had on Tues and Wed.  I lifted some weights and really did some good cardio on the bike.  I think I will be working out on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays.  The sad part was that Paige did weights before me and I had to use less than her!!  But it's better than nothing.

Date Night

Jeff and I went out together last night. Yah- a real date night just the two of us.  Though I almost backed out since the kids got their report cards and we usually take them out to eat to celebrate.  Jeff thought I was nuts!  But I really missed them since Thursday night I spent all evening at a friend's house rolling grape leaves. I felt bad leaving them again. 

Despite my mother's guilt, we dropped them off at Jeff's mom's house and headed out of town to go to a Japanese restaurant.  It's located in the mall, so I returned some things from Christmas.  We browsed some stores since we never go to the mall.  Jeff fell in love with Kirklands! 

After waiting what seemed like forever, we did get seated at the grill.  There was a group of families with their kids waiting too and their kids were so loud and rowdy.  I really didn't want to get seated with them.  Neither did Jeff especially after he sat next to them and got kicked and pushed the whole time! 

Luckily their group was so large that they had to wait and we were seated with other couples.  The couple to our left were really fun.  They were from Canfield OH (we were in Boardman, OH) and were big Steelers, Penguins, and Pirate fans.  You have to be alright to love those teams!

They were also out by themselves and it was a fun time!  Jeff thinks that they wanted to hang out more after dinner was over and we should have asked them if they wanted to go have a drink.  But we didn't. 

We headed back home to a local bar for a couple drinks.  The kids texted us and called us a few times, but it wasn't too bad.  In fact we were home by 10:30.  We had wanted to see a movie, but dinner took too long and we missed all the late show times.  Plus I would have fallen asleep!

So even though we didn't have any crazy adventures like the movie, it was nice to have time alone with Jeff.  He's going to Beer Fest tonight which might be why he took me out.  Hang over or not, he's still not off the hook tomorrow!!

Sick kid and Walmart

Its a little after 9 pm and I just crawled in bed.  Today was my half day at work.  I had totally forgot since I haven't been to work that long.  But it was a great surprise to get to leave.  It was also a God send.

Paige woke up Monday at 5 am.  SICK.  The kind of sick that I cannot be around.  Yah- it included to the toilet.  Luckily she didn't have any accidents and my husband was able to wake up to help her.  But poor thing got up again around 8 am for another round.  Jeff had called off at the school and we had a 2 hr delay again.  She was ok all day but late evening had one more trip to the bathroom.  Jeff took a half day Tuesday and I stayed home in the morning with her.  By afternoon she was much better and by evening she was eating and complaining.  Back to normal!

With my half day, I came home and cleaned her room.  I stripped her bed and sprayed her mattress with Lysol.  I also scrubbed her carpet (she didn't get anything on the floor , it just had dirt marks) since I was cleaning anyway.  I finally took down her Christmas tree as well.   All her blankets got washed and I threw Jeffrey Michael's in the wash too.  The bathroom was scoured and a couple loads of regular clothes were done too.

While it was great to have the extra time off from work, I am a little disappointed that I ran out of time.  I had wanted to read this evening, but instead had to run to Walmart for extremely necessary items such as toilet paper. 

I really don't like Walmart that much.  It just seems that all the wackos are there.  In my way.  It's not like you can't hear me walking down the aisle in my 3 inch spikey boots.  Yet you refuse to straighten out your buggy and move to the side to let me pass.  Seriously people.  There is etiquette to follow.  Keep to the right like driving a car.  If you must leave your buggy to get something on the left of the aisle, make sure you know what you are getting before you just stand there forever blocking the aisle for those of us trying to pass your buggy.  And when you are at the check out- don't go over the 20 item limit.  Or better, don't wait until the cashier has rung up your entire order to fumble around in you pocket book looking for your gift card/debit card/welfare card.  Have it ready!!

I better get off this computer and read the Bible.  I need help with my attitude!!

We'll Miss you Noonie

Jeffrey just called to say that his grandmother - whom we've affectionately called Noonie- passed away this morning. She was 94 years old and has been in a nursing home for the past several years.  She had advanced Alzheimer's disease and though she no longer remembered any of us, she was still a spitfire. 

Before her disease, she was an active member of my husband's church where she served as a Eucharistic Minister and was active in the ladies clubs.  She made the best home made ice tea (we think the secret ingredient was the cigarette ash that dangled for several inches before dropping) and salads that no one in the family can reproduce. 

We love you and will miss you terribly Noonie!

Happy Birthday Babe!

Today is my husband's 39th birthday.  As usual, the kids want to go to our local restaurant for dinner.  Then we are going to rent a movie on Netflix (acutally I think a dvd came today that we ordered but weren't expecting it to come till the end of the week - fun suprise).  A nice quiet evening at home!

Happy Birthday Babe- after 23 yrs together you still amaze me.  I will love you always and forever- just may not like you when you leave the bathroom a wreck - right Paige!!

What's the plan,Stan?

One of the things that I am really going to miss since going back to work is my accountability partner.  A few weeks ago, my son was hanging out with me as I was writing a post.  I must have been writing about getting things done around the house, as the next morning he asked me what the plan was.  I had no idea what he was talking about and asked him to explain.

He proceeded to ask me what my plan was for the day as far as cleaning.  I hadn't really thought about it, but told him I was going to do some laundry and clean the bathroom (I think).  As soon as he walked in the door after school, he wanted to know if I accomplished my plan.   I'm guessing he did as he was satisfied and went off to play. 

That started a new school morning habit, each and every day he would ask me before heading out the door, what my plan was.  And I'd tell him or make something up if I hadn't anticipated any cleaning.  Because I knew he was going to ask me or check to see if I finished my work, I actually made sure it or something was done for him to see.  Unfortunately, this also made him more aware of the cleanliness of our house as he then began observing his friend's houses and comparing them to ours.  He even came home from one of our friend's homes and cried saying ours was so filthy and everyone else's homes are spotless. 

At first we thought it was funny, but then we realized that he was becoming seriously upset about what he viewed in our home.  We asked him to explain, but all he could point out are the areas in our home that had things out of place- mail set down or shoes lined up by door - little things out of place.  We asked him to explain what he saw at his friend's house that was different from what he saw in our house and he really couldn't.  But we did realize that this was a serious issue to him.  We tried to explain to him that this time of the year with the holiday, people are spending more time cleaning their homes in anticipation of parties.  Many of the homes that he was referring to we know aren't always spotless (sorry friends but I've been to your houses too!). Not to say they are filthy or anything like that, but lived in with the usual clutter that a family brings. 

We've been sensitive to his feelings and been diligent about cleaning up after ourselves.  Saturday night, Jeffrey Michael even scheduled a meeting.  Of course we knew it was going to be about cleaning.  So we each decided upon a room that we would clean on Sunday.  We had all day until 7 pm to accomplish this task and promptly at 7 last night, Jeff called another meeting.  He reviewed our work and then requested a movie night.  Since my husband's birthday is Wednesday, this works out good.

While I want my children to be mindful of cleaning, I don't want them to be obsessive.  I do enough obsessing around her for all of us!  This morning, Jeff asked if I was going to work.  When I told him yes, he said, oh well then no plan for today.  No I said, not today.  I may have to come up with another plan for him to oversee. 

It really is good to have an accountability partner- even if it does lead to an obsessive 9 year old boy!

Hot Damn

Shortly after my last post on Thursday, I had a little kitchen accident.  You see, my son ended up staying home from school sick.  Totally messing up the whole day as I was suppose to go for my post op checkup. 

I rescheduled my appt and took to caring for him.  He wanted hot tea and so I put a pan of water on the stove and made him tea.  Problem is, I set the pan back on the burner and forgot to turn it off.  About 20 mins later I smelled something weird coming from downstairs.  I immediately realized it had to be the pan!

What little water leftover from tea making was completely gone and the bottom of the pan had black and grey marks. Great I thought, it's ruined and I'll have to throw it away.  Normally this wouldn't have bothered me.  I have even been looking around at buying extra pots to have for cooking since I usually seem to need more when I am making meals. 

It's just that the pots I have are from my childhood.  They were given to my mother at her wedding shower to my stepfather when I was 4.  And they are the only few things I have of hers since she's died.  She gave them to me years ago when I moved home from college.  They are wonderful, heavy duty stainless steel.  I did ruin (boiling away water again!) the tiny pot a year ago so to lose another really made me upset.

I had run hot water in the pot to try to cool it down so I could possibly stop the metal from becoming ruined even further.  Then I googled help on saving it.  There were a lot of tips and I tried them all!  Mostly I simmered baking soda and lemon juice (from concentrate) on medium high heat replacing the water every so often when it turned dark grey.  I did that for a couple hours and would scrub with a brillo pad every so often in between changes.  Almost all of the marks came off and then I remembered how my mom used white toothpaste to polish metals.  So I grabbed the paste from the bathroom and started wiping.  And that really helped!  For one, it took away the lingering smell from the pot and a lot of the remaining burn.  Now my pot looks presentable and usable.  The pot didn't warp and my husband didn't even notice anything when he used it later to make ice tea (I am too embarrassed to tell him haha).  The outside looks perfectly fine and while the inside may never sparkle and shine as before, I can save it and hopefully pass it down to Paige. 

Yay internet!!  Though now I am setting the kitchen timer when I boil water!

A really bad day...

It was a really bad day yesterday.  I am not looking forward to going back to work this week.  I totally screamed at my family last night and I can't shake this cold.  All in all, it was a horrible day yesterday and I feel so depressed today.  I hope I can get out of this terrible feeling today.