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!

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!)!!

Scary House

Halloween wasn't all about dressing up in scary costumes in our house.

Nope...we deciding having a scary house would be cool as well.



This is how my house started at the beginning of October.  I know, there are so many things wrong with this picture. 

And this is how we ended October right in time for Halloween.



There were no trick or treaters coming to our house on Halloween.  Not unless they could wield a hammer and nails.

I don't know what we were thinking when we decided to replace our roof and siding. Apparently we weren't.  So much went wrong with the roof.  First they found we had 2 layers of shingles instead of one.  The last roofer was sneaky and cut off all the shingles on the edges so it would look like only one layer.  Then our porch roof was so damaged that most of it was torn off and replaced.  Which also caused us to have to replace the old knob and tube wiring for the porch light.  That was actually nice cause I am having them install extra outlets for when we hang Xmas lights.

Then this happened-

That's the end of my driveway after the contractor put the pieces back.  His truck was hauling away the roof material and the hitch destroyed my blacktop.  It split in half like the Red Sea and was dragged out into the street.  He is replacing it in the spring, but I just couldn't take one more thing going wrong with this job.

So here is what our house looks like now.




Took this in the morning when there was frost on the roof.  It actually looks really nice.



The gutters, soffet and fascia are going up before Christmas- I think.  And the siding will be going up in spring.  I need a break from construction right now. 

Here are what my guys went as for Halloween-

My very own Pittsburgh Penguin hockey player, Sidney Crosby and his friend the nerd.

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!!

Paige's Room - Part 2

We just got back on Tuesday from our Tour de Pittsburgh.  We hit a lot of places in Pittsburgh in too short of time.  In three days we visited The Strip District, The Rivers Casino, Kennywood, Sand Castle and went to a Pirates game.  You'd never know we only live an hour north!!

But I wanted to get back on track with Paige's room.  I figured some before photos would be helpful and since she's in the shower, I ran and took some shots of her bedroom.  Sorry that they aren't the best.  I stuck my camera on auto and shot away before she got done.  She would not be thrilled to know her room was on my blog.  Anyone with a moody 12.5 year old going on 40 will know what I'm talking about.

Currently her room is purple and green.  Purple was always her favorite color and since I had received my mom's spare bedroom furniture when she moved to Florida in 2004, it just worked great to keep green as an accent color.

Paige's room is the first room you see when you come to the top of my second floor.  Normally her door is shut so it's never a problem when it's a disaster.  And normally it's a disaster!  But I had her clean it before we left and her friend's are coming over in a few hours to go to the Lawrence County Fair and she ridded it up a bit.  If you look closely on top of her dresser you will see some dishes.  DRIVES.ME.NUTS.

Yes the one curtain rod is falling down.  The existing nail hole is just too worn out and I've never taken the time to fill it with putty.  I promise it will get fixed when we do her curtains.

This is the view to the left of her door way.  Her closet door does not close all the way.  Very common problem in old houses, but we're good at fixing that.  Just never gotten to it...like the curtain rod.




Yes- that is her gerbil.  The same one from Easter years ago!!!

 

This is the view looking into the hallway.  Her walls are pretty banged up.  When I removed the wallpaper, I really didn't do a good job of sanding any rough areas.  Plus Paige used to have tons of posters on her walls and so they are chipped from tape.  She wouldn't use poster putty.  Also if you look real close between the two doors, below the light switch is a hole in her plaster.  We're guessing it's from all the door slamming she's done in the 8 years we've lived here.  It just fell off a few weeks ago and so we have to rip out the plaster and fix it with drywall.  Again you can see MORE DISHES!!!!

This is the only wall that will accommodate her bed.  We've had it in front of the two front windows, but it makes me nervous.   The green armoire doesn't hold anything except stuffed animals.  It does have two drawers with shirts and shorts, but we are not replacing it.  I think we will either put in a closet organizer or use under bed storage as her dressers really don't hold much clothes.  To me they just take up a lot of space to store items that can be put somewhere else.

This is a view from the door way of the other wall.  That long dresser has 3 drawers that hold her underwear, socks, pajamas, and sweat shirts.  I'm thinking of getting 2 side tables for her bed to store undies and pajamas and again use closet organizer or under bed storage for sweat suits.

 Paige loves the color green now.  At Christmas time, I found this quilt at Homegoods and it's the inspiration for her new room.  Luckily, she loves it too.  She had said she wanted to redo her room in blue and green and I thought this was perfect.  I want her room to have a grown up feel. 

She picked out furniture that she saw in the PB Teen catalog.  She only wants a vanity and a new desk.  I can't afford PB Teen and I think I should be able to find what she wants cheaper at other stores.  I just purchased her desk 2 years ago and I am probably just going to paint it white as that's the color she wants her new furniture.  Once we pick out colors for her walls, I can get started.  I would like to be done within the next few weeks (furniture and new bed not included).  And she's real excited too!!

Paige's Bedroom Remodel- Part 1

Can you spot the 10lb Chihuahua?

This is not Paige's room.  This is my room with some of the things that she wants to get rid of.  Poor Peanut is barely visible!

We've been talking about re-doing Paige's room for some time.  She has hand me down furniture that is just not functional and her poor mattress was a quick buy for less than $100 at Big Lots.  I've been secretly going in her room and cleaning out some things but it was so hard not to just go through everything.  She would have been so upset if I did that and it would not have been fair to her either.

So I gave her an ultimatum.  Clean out your closet and drawers and then we can re-do your room.  I told her that Thursday night.  By Sunday, she finally got to work.  And she worked really hard.  She took some breaks here and there, but cleaned out most of her clothes drawers and her closet.  She just has her desk drawers and a couple cupboards to go through and she will be done. The best part is that she really cleaned out all of her toys!! And she cleared out a lot of books.  I know some other little girl is going to be blessed with all of this.

I have no before or during shots because we technically are not allowed in her room.  She wants to surprise us when she's all done and show us each drawer and cupboard.  I have been sneaking in and checking things out though!!

We've picked out furniture.  Well, she chose furniture she liked from PB Teen, but I can't afford that so I am going to be on the look out for furniture similar to what she wants.  Mainly, she wants a vanity.  And a new desk but we just bought hers a couple years ago and if I paint it white, it'll match what she wants.  Her color palette is teal and green from a quilt I bought her for Christmas.  I think it's going to look so pretty, but most importantly is the fact that she's getting rid of a lot of things that should have gone years ago.

Now to get things listed on eBay and/or tagged for a yard sale! 

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!

Fourth of July Gift

Friday was my son's 10th Birthday. I didn't get to post a birthday wish as I was backing up pictures on my slow computer.  I hadn't checked my back up in a while and for some reason Carbonite wasn't automatically backing up.  Only bad thing was that it took hours to back up all the pictures that I had been downloading lately.  And I really needed to get this done since we bought a new computer!

While we were out buying my son an ipod touch for his birthday, we picked up a new computer tower and new telephones too!  Both were badly needed and greatly appreciated.  I am hoping that tonight we get the computer hooked up so I can move pictures off my camera.  It's completely full from baseball and birthday parties.  Plus I have so much to update on this blog.  I have been posting these quick updates from work just so my few readers don't think I've completely abandoned them!  I just can't add photos from anywhere but the main computer and I like to have pictures with each post to make it more interesting.

But I need to get back to work.  Happy Belated Birthday Post Jeffrey!  Can't believe you are ten.  I hope you had fun this week with all the parties and baseball games.  Mommy and Daddy (and even Paige) love you sooooo much!!

TGIF

It has been crazy busy this week with both kids starting ball.  Wednesday was super busy as it was the last day of CCD and I had to get gifts for the teachers, buy some groceries and get to a baseball game.  Luckily it was my half day and the organizational God's must have been smiling down on me. 

Every year the last day of CCD catches me off guard.  The past few years was due to the kids receiving First Holy Communion.  Then Easter was the end of April and Communion was pushed back to this past Sunday.  With games and practices, I had to wait to Wednesday to get gifts and since I still had a gift card to a local florist's shop, I headed there first praying that they would have inexpensive plants/flowers for the teachers.  Yee haw!  I hit the jackpot as they had beautiful begonias for $4 each.  I purchased 3 of them and then stopped at Dollar General.  I was hoping to find cute cheery spring bags.  They had 3 green bags left and really nice tissue paper.  (Pictures to follow). 

I thought the bags were so cheery and fun.  With all the rainy weather we've had, I wanted to give out some nice fun bags.  My son thought I was nuts taking pictures of the plants and bags.  But they were just so spring like and fun, I couldn't resist.  I just wish I could figure out how to work my camera better.  The pictures just aren't bright enough even with the flash on and all the lights on.  Oh well. Just cause you own an expensive dsl doesn't make you take better pictures!!

Clothes Rotation

It seems to be that time of the year.  Our weather is still raining and cold, but yesterday it did warm up a bit and the kids wanted to wear shorts after school.  So it's time to pull out the spring/summer bins and play live out of them till the weather officially stays warm! 

Over my medical leave, I did purchase some extra bins as the kids clothes do not fit in one tote anymore.  Now we have four totes that I switch out our seasonal clothes.  It makes it easy for the kids to just go into their tote and grab whatever they need and not have to dig through the others stuff.

I left the totes on the landing leading up to the attic.  Not because it worked for us, but because my storage room is destroyed and there is no way I could get them in!!  However, right now with the weather being fickle, it is a good solution.  It does me no good to move all their clothes right now.  I like to wait till right before school is over so that I can sort through outgrown and worn out uniforms- (usually the last day of school so Paige doesn't see).  This way I am not storing any uniforms that I could give away or donate.  Plus it lets me see what they will need for the next school year.

This doesn't always work to my advantage tho.  I have already pulled some of Paige's shorts out for her to wear to softball practice and she must have had a growth spurt because they are 70's tight on her!  I need to pull them down and go through them.  I think there are some size 8's that got stored away by accident.  Most of what I bought her for the cruise were size 10/12's and had a little extra room in them.

Jeffrey Michael definitely outgrew a lot of his summer shorts.  They were actually getting rather small on him in the fall.  Luckily, I get some hand me downs from my girlfriend.  Hopefully some of the shorts he was given will fit him to get him through the end of school. 

The only problem that I do have with my system is getting a system together for storing the outgrown clothes till it's time to sell on ebay or send to the consignment store.  I'm ok if the outgrown clothes are in the current season as I can just sell on ebay or bring to the store.  I should get a separate tote for outgrown things. 

My husband and I don't switch out a lot of clothes.  Mostly we just switch shorts and jeans and have another tote for sweatshirts and sweaters.  For us it's a matter of going through our clothes to see what is just worn out or something we bought and just never liked.  Jeff does have a lot of t-shirts but he did go through those not that long ago.

Maybe Sunday will be a good day to clean out closets and go through the totes.  I think a spring shopping trip is in the future!!

Please don't drink the shampoo!

Thursday nights I head over to my girlfriends house to help roll grape leaves that she and her sisters sell to a local restaurant.  Their parents came from Lebanon in the 50's and 60's and brought along all their traditional food recipes.  Grape leaves being one of them and with the small Arabic community in our area, they are very popular. 

My son usually tags along to hang out with her son.  As we were leaving, she offered me a bottle of water.  This bottle to be specific-

My son saw me drinking it and was like "Mom, why are you drinking shampoo?"

At least I know one of my children will take care of me when I'm old and senile and trying to drink household products!!

Bubbers -down and out

Jeffrey Michael woke up yesterday complaining of a bad headache.  He had a slight fever but after some ibuprofen, he was running around as usual.  I just figured it was a random thing.

Sad to say it's not.  Yesterday afternoon he called from his friend's house to say his headache was back.  Jeff A picked him up and he was still warm.  More ibuprofen and a bubble bath later, he crawled into bed with me.  He was fast asleep by 8 pm.  My husband and his brother went to Beer Fest and I knew they wouldn't be home till the wee hours of the morning.  More on that story later!

Poor Jeffrey M was up every couple hours just so uncomfortable.  This morning he woke with a fever of 102.6.  I don't think I've ever seen either of my kids with a fever that high.  I gave him some ibuprofen and will do the acetaminophen/ibuprofen route if needed.  He is afraid that he is going to have a stomach sickness like Paige had last weekend, but I assured him his sickness was not the same.  Right now he is in his bedroom playing his DS game so I'm thinking the medicine is working.  I don't want to panic and take him to the ER but I also don't want to be too lacks about his fever.

He just came in to find a stylus for his DS and his little cheeks are so red.  He sure isn't acting like he has a high fever.  Fingers crossed he'll be ok by end of today!!

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!!

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!

Well at least I didn't lock myself out today!

But I did try to get some extra things done this morning despite saying I wouldn't do that anymore.  The morning was going along so nice and I thought I had extra time to quickly sort through the pile on my nightstand.  Which then led me to gather the magazines and some clothes for my girlfriend.  Then I remembered the office needed extra quarters and pennies so I went to gather those from our stash.  And guess what?  I was rushing at the last moment to get out the door.  Totally forgot the bag of items for my friend and almost forgot my lunch.  WHY!!!!!  I just can't stop trying to squeeze in one more thing.  Again, I  think I'm making things easier for myself.  Probably just too hard-headed!!

In less stressful news, tomorrow Jeff and I are heading to the outlet mall to get an birthday present for his niece.  Normally he does not come with me when I head up there but......they just opened a Primanti's Bros restaurant nearby and we are going there afterwards!  The closest Primanti's is in Cranberry which is 45 mins south.  This new restaurant is only 15 mins - yes!!  I may be shopping at the outlets a lot more now. So last night we revised our menu plan to fit in Primanti's. 

Tomorrow Paige leaves for Gettysburg for a class field trip.  I was expecting my husband to chaperone but he isn't and I'm trying not to obsess about it.  They are leaving early tomorrow and will be staying over night and coming back late Friday night.  Would it be crazy to text her every 30 mins?  There are 9 chaperone's for 19 kids so a great adult to child ratio.   I won't be able to send her to college.  Nope.  She doing it online!

Efficiency Sucks

What a whirlwind it was this morning.  I thought I was doing a great job at getting everyone out the door until I locked us out of the house and out of the nice warm running car.  Oh the foul language that could be heard all over the neighborhood. Of course the spare key was not in it's location and none of my neighbors were home for me to use their phone.  So Jeffrey Michael and I walked to my one friends house down the street and she took him to school and let me use her cell.

This happened because I was trying to do too many things in addition to my normal routine.  I thought I was being efficient and getting a few extra chores done to make my day easier.  Turns out it made more work and I lost time!! 

The best part of the morning was when my girlfriend said to my son - " boy sounds like you had quite an eventful morning." And he replied " yes- it was a train wreck!"  Luckily he left out the part about the train wreck having a trucker's mouth!! 

So despite renewing my husband's vehicle registration, sorting a load of clothes to be ready for washing, and loading my car up with items for Goodwill, I will refrain from any future attempts at making my morning a little more efficient.  Not unless there are 5 spare keys hiding around my house!!

Rambling about nothing

Trick or treat was last night from 5 to 7.  I took Paige to my old neighborhood and walked around with my girlfriend.  It was nice to see all the old neighbors.  It was also nice how many remembered me by name.  Unfortunately I couldn't remember a couple names but did remember faces!  We practically ran the whole time trying to keep up with the kids.  Then I brought Paige to meet up with my husband and his family to finish in his old neighborhood.  I was so cold and tired that I dropped her off and went home.  Good thing since I am not feeling good today - feverish and have an annoying cough.

Saturday I spent pretty much alone.  My husband took Jeff to his college homecoming game and Paige went to the Midget Football championship game with her friends.  It was great to get laundry done and my bedroom cleaned.  I have been wiping the floor everyday with a microfiber cloth to keep up with the chihuaha's hair.  It still amazes me how much he sheds.  He should be bald!!! There is only a pile of papers on my nightstand to rifle through and a tote of summer clothes to be transported to the attic.  Then it should just be a matter of maintenance.  Famous last words!

I also updated Jeff's billing system.  He was printing a monthly calendar to help him stay on track.  Except when I looked at it on Saturday it was from June.  Hmmm.. just a few months off.  May explain some of his frustration regarding bills.  That and his lack of budgeting.  We keep our bills separately and have since we started dating.  It just seems easier.  I like an organized budget and could work on it all day.  Jeff keeps his all in his head and checks his account once a week.  We talk about combining it but I'm the one who is nervous.  He doesn't keep receipts for the debit card so I would have to constantly hunt down his transactions and I would fear overdrafting on my payments.  Maybe someday.

I still haven't put my things on eBay.  That's just due to laziness.  I have been collecting boxes for shipping and just need to take pictures.  Hopefully this week I can get them done!

Cable Update

Last week our cable and bundle package got cancelled because I "accidentally" forgot to remind Jeff.  I was all excited to be rid of Comcast, but when Jeff brought the box back he found out that it was only saving him $5 dollars to turn in the box.  So he kept the box and the HDTV.  He negotiated a lower monthly rate to save about $30/month, but I would have preferred that we just cancel it altogether.  It is nice to have our phone again - haha!

I cleaned out a lot paper piles (in my search for a receipt for a Target return) last night. I need to return Jeffrey Michael's pants again.  He's growing slowly but often and is down to just 2 pairs of uniform pants.  Today I sent him in a pair that are slightly short on him.  Luckily the kids aren't wise to "high waters" and he hasn't been teased yet.  But I'm sure that will end in the next year or so.  I am going to try to sneak out tonight to return some things and look for pants. I hope Jeff doesn't have practice tonight.  That way I can go myself without the kids.  Wishful thinking!

Lazy days and job hunting

This morning my son woke up with a bad cough. Nothing unusual since he gets bronchitis every year around this time. Probably due to his allergies to every known species of trees and plants. We hadn't started him on his allergy med and I am definitely going to start tonight. Poor thing hasn't had a Halloween in years where he isn't hacking and sneezing. I wanted to keep him home so we could both lay in bed and cuddle but he really isn't that sick (no fever, etc) and hopefully the cough medicine took care of him. I told him to have the nurse call me at work if he did start feeling bad and so far no calls.

So I am here at work being lazy and actually looking at job postings. I've been here three years and really find no motivation here. My boss hasn't given the other staff members raises since he took over the office 10 years ago and all I get are excuses about why he's short on my bonuses and why no raises. His lack of interest in the office has trickled down to the other staff members as they do as little work as possible during the day. Which then makes me not want to put in any effort if no one else is. I only make $20k plus what little bonuses I get for selling policies. I work a 1/2 hour away which is better than when I worked an hour away. But for what little I make I could find a job in my city making the same amount with no commute. I would really like to just work part time and/or work for myself. Who knows......

I am trying to sell more things on eBay again. I have a bunch of household items that I was going to take to Goodwill, but I think I am going to try selling some of the smaller items and just donate the bigger things. Plus I have a ton of toys and clothes that I think will sell for Christmas. I told the kids to gather up unused items so we can have a yard sale on eBay. They aren't exactly on board with this but if I give them some of the proceeds then they will be more receptive! Time to start cleaning up that poor office. I dump everything in there which is not good. Once I post my items- you will have to stop by and check them out!!