Is it bedtime yet?

This weekend has been a good one, but an annoying one. Does that make sense? Like, nothing horrible happened, but it was just filled minor annoyances and little things that make me feel pissy momentarily.

Friday was nice actually. I had a nice playgroup in the afternoon, and a mom's night out with the same group that evening. Everyone wore dresses. At first I was thinking "Oh man a dress? Seriously?" but like one of the ladies pointed out, as moms we sometimes have to make a reason to wear a dress. Luckily, when I was in Portland my friend Shell gave me a dress that was too big on her. It is really cute. I got a new necklace and small clutch purse and I stepped out in style. We had a really good time. We went to dinner at an italian resteraunt where I did NOT eat pasta. But, what I did eat was very good. I did have a piece of bread. We hung out at someones house until 12:30. It was so nice to get out and do something just for me.

Saturday morning Tony left for nine days. Aislinn also had a sleep over. That's where the little minor annoyances happened. The girls were up until 1, and I finally drifted off around 2. Jonny woke me up at 3, and our guest woke me up at 4 crying and wanting to call her mom. I honestly do NOT get that. My kids have never done that, and I've never done that as a kid. So finally at 4:30 I got to sleep, and then at 8 the MOM calls. I wanted to punch someone. I tried to go back to sleep, but the phone woke the kids up, who then started screaming and yelling. I got out of bed with a headache that I still have.

Then of course, Aislinn wanted every freaking kid within a 100 mile radius to come over in our backyard or in the house today. I really couldn't take anymore, and finally kinda flipped out, and the kids all left.

I did manage to clean out the fridge today. Like take everything out, shelves and all and wash it all down. I love the way a clean fridge looks, I just hate having to do the work to get it that way. Another reason to not have anymore babies, now that my kids are older, there isn't as much mess in my fridge. Not a lot of stuff knocked over and not cleaned up. Now I need to go grocery shopping, my fridge is BARE.

Snork and uuuggggh

I have a cold. Luvleee. I'm trying not to be like totally whiny about it, but it is pissing me off. I hate not being able to breathe.

Tony leaves tomorrow (maybe) for 12 days. There are supposed to be big waves so they may not leave tomorrow, but the next day, which really doesn't matter since he has duty. Ummm he hasn't packed. I brought it up while he dozed, but he said he's fine. I'm glad I don't have to be around him and his 12 day ball funk. Whatever. I'm just going to trust that he has enough stuff to get him through a TWELVE days, and try not to think about the 12 day ball funk too much.

The kids are already asking for things for Christmas. Aislinn is older and of course her wants are very expensive. I may have to rethink my budgets for Christmas. Jonathan, he wants big things as well. He told me he wanted me to give away our train table, and get a NEW one, becasue the NEW one mommy? The NEW one has a TURNING TABLE! I can TURN THE TRAINS MOMMY! Isn't that AWESOME, MOmmy? Mommy, I love you. Did you hear me Mommy? I LOVE YOU! You're pretty, mommy. Look at this train with the TURNING TABLE!

Tony brought me flowers yesterday. They are so pretty. But according to Jonny not as pretty as me. He REALLY wansts that turning train table.

Tony got a new video game, and it feels like the good ole days, when we used to stay home on a Saturday while he played Sega Genesis or Nintendo 64 all day while I read a book and watched. Now he has the kids to watch, and I just sit here on my laptop. He got the new Star Wars game, and it seems pretty cool. I may give it a go. I think it's cute that my kids don't even complain, they actually encourage Tony and I to play Wii so they can watch.

We had our appraisal today. And the lady just left without telling Tony. She did tell me, but Tony was like "Oh I need to ask her something" and I said "Ummm she's gone" He didn't believe me, and walked back in teh house saying "Son of bitch, she did leave". I don't know when we'll get the info on the appraisal. That was our last thing we needed to get done. From what we understand too, the owner is going to fix everything as well.

I have had the SAME window open on my class pretty much since 9 am. I just can't sit down and DO it. Of course, Tony has duty, so going to the library is out of the question. I could sit in my room, but then Jonny will just come up and ask me a zillion questions.

I really hate that he's not in school. Ok, well I don't HATE it, but I can't help but think of all the things I could be getting done. I was doing school before he got up, but now that Aislinn has gotten used to school, getting her up is hard. She's no longer excited to go, as it's become old hat, so I have to go in there and yell at her over and over to get her up, which in turn wakes up Jonny.

Oh well, I'll get it done. I know there are people who do it with less time, more kids, no help and with harder classes. I'm just whining a bit.

Aislinn is grounded until Monday for not coming home last night after I told her to. She just decided... NOT to come home. I told her to come home, she left, and went to play some more. So, she's in her room until Monday. Sucks to be her, but that's what she gets. It wasn't like she misunderstood me, or didn't hear me. She actually whined back to me that she didn't want to. When I became distracted she ran off. I was furious.

Today was a little warmer, but still cool enough to go without the AC. Tony fixed our screen last night, so now I can keep the one window down here open without flies coming in. I love that Tony is so handy. He fixed our toilet and screen last night, and it cost us $20. I mean sure we could have called the leasing company, but why bothers when they're all simple fixes and we don't have to wait.

I took Jonny to the park today. He was so excited. It's a rinky little park down the street, and there are never any kids there. We walked around, played pirates, played fast food resteraunt, and played tic tac toe on the jungle gym. He didn't get tic tac toe, but he tried. At the end I ended spining just one of the thingies and he would guess if it would land on blank, x or o. We even picked up the park a bit and poked around the trees and found acorns. When I told him it was time to go, he said ok and we left. He is such a sweet boy.

He has been wanting me to play Mario KArt with him, and I hate it because usually he wins. There is nothing more humbling than being beaten by your FOUR yr old on a driving game. He doesn't even know how to drive yet!

My boring life

Finally!! Finally, the heat is gone, the humidity is down to an acceptable level, and we've been able to fling open our windows, and let the fresh air in!! Last night we put our handy little window fan up and our bedroom was a cool and breezy 68 all night. It was heavenly!! It's been hard not to go up there and just lay in bed and snuggle in and doze the day away.



The most exciting thing to happen to me, other than the weather, has been my new coffee syrups. Yawn I know. Tony pointed out that I look like an alcoholic with my bottles of syrup on the fridge.

The pumpkin pie one I am excited about. Usually, I celebrate fall with pumpkin spice lattes from Starbucks. Unfortunately, SB does not offer a sugar free version of this seasonal treat. So, I had to order my own. I have it in my coffee that is next to me right now, and I haven't tried it yet. I'm worried that it will suck, as I don't care for the smell. I'm going to try it now......Meh. It's NOT the same :( It has a sort of licorice taste to it that is a little odd. I'll drink it, but it's not that great. I had such high hopes for it too. Oh well. That's life.

This past weekend and yesterday, I had to babysit a 1 year old. As fun as it has been having a toddler in the house, I forgot how TIRING it is to have a toddler in the house. How AGGRAVATING it is to have a toddler in the house. Right when you think you just can't take ONE MORE MINUTE the toddler goes and gets all cute and snurgly, holding their fat little arms up to you so you can hold them, and of course, you do, because they're so effing cute, and you smell their good smell, and kiss their sticky cheek and you do it all over again.

Emily was a real doll and I did enjoy her company, but I had to nip the babysitting thing in the bud. It was for a young couple who is from around our home town, who recruited out of Tony's office after he left. They're really trying to do the right thing, as they weren't quite making it out there, but he also took a paycut by joining. So, they're trying to make ends meet, which include both of them working, and him working 2 jobs. It's a lot for a newly married couple, in a new city, 900 miles away from their support system, making less than before. That's the only reason why I agreed to bail them out, but I can't be their everyday sitter. I'm just not cut from that cloth. That cloth that makes me all nice and maternal for all children. My kids? My kids didn't have DINNER last night, so that shows you how much I care about the two I carried around in my tummy for 9 months.

Speaking of kids, both of them are doing well. Aislinn is still enjoying school, Jonny is enjoying having her gone. He wasn't digging having Emily hone in on his mama time either, but he took it with good grace. When she left he said "Boy, am I glad that baby is gone!" Also, he has stopped talking about little brothers. I think he saw his future if mama were to have more kids. He didn't like it one bit!

On the house front, we had our inspection last Friday. Not much is wrong with the house, even though it's older than dirt! The roof is newish, the ac is too the water heater is old. Tony said after they left he thought that the roof looked kinda new, because he went out there one day and noticed the granules were still on the shingles. We're just waiting to hear back from Chuck the Realtor to see when the owner plans to fix everything that needs fixing. CTR seems to be a little hesitant on contacting the guy. I think CTR is scared of him. I don't know, that is just my impression. I have been perusing the SPCA website and listings for animals. I can't wait.

I always assumed that once I got my own place, my feelings toward it would change. I find that happening already. The other day I pulled into the driveway, and smiled at the quaintness of our little abode. Before, I just pulled up and got out and went about my business. It really is quite cute, especially when you see some of the others on our street. It has character. I like it.

So, as you can see, nothing new or exciting is going on in my life. Nothing ever is new or exciting here. Just taking it day by day, and preparing for when Tony leaves in 8 weeks. It's going to be hard, but it's part of our lives, and there is nothing we can do to change it.

Well, back to the schoolwork I guess.

The one where I bore you with my low carb talk

Let me just start off this post by saying one thing. I love low carb.

I realize it's not for everyone. I realize that most of you probably follow and low fat/low calorie/high sugar diet. Ok. Well, that last part was a dig, but honestly if you're eating low fat, you're eating sugar, and if you're NOT eating sugar, you're probably eating high fructose corn syrups, or corn syrup solids, and just because they make a commercial about HFCS being ok in moderation, doesn't make it so. It's just sugar in disguise. Sugar is evil. I probably feel this way since I am a diabetic, and really for me SUGAR IS EVIL. So, realize I am biased.

Anyway, I'm not trying to be preachy, my point of this whole thing is that even though it's been easy breezy for Me and Tony, it's been hard for me to change my kids diets. I have successfully gotten them off juice, and even better, got them from whining about it. I had this whole battle in my head, how I felt I was an evil mom for making them drink WATER, boring ole WATER. AHH THE HUMANITY. I finally had to tell myself that I'm not being a horrible mom by making them drink the best thing to drink.

We have also successfully ditched prepackaged snacks for the most part. Chips are still around, just not as often, and they're not eaten as quickly as before. A bag of chips can last almost a week instead of like a day. We still have sugary cereals. I still haven't figured out how I can replace those (in both convenience and taste) for something healthier. The kids don't eat as much cereal as they could, so I just kind of let that go. They both prefer toast and eggs for breakfast. We still have cans of pasta and ramen noodles. But they aren't eaten nearly as often as before. The kids are eating better, therefore they're eating a lot less in the long run. There were some days over the summer all the kids did was eat junk all day. That's what made me realize that their habits needed to change. It's also funny how after a few weeks of slowly weeding things out, how they have come to prefer the new way without noticing.

I get a little burst of pride when I see my bare cabinets. This is a whole food way of eating. 90% of the things I eat need to be put in my refrigerator, and most of those need to be cooked. There is nothing that is grab and go in my house, and that is good, because we always have to stop and think about what we eat. You never really see mindless munching here anymore. Tony and I watched two movies last night, never once did we have to get up and get a snack. Even though the kids had ramen, they were good for the rest of the night. Oh wait, Jonny did have a low carb pumpkin muffin (made with cream cheese, egg, and a can of pumpkin) but I think that had more to do with it being a muffin than him being hungry.

This way for us is the best way.

Who is this child? Where is my daughter?

First the pants, then she comes home and gets all her homework done in 20 minutes.



*cue mysterious music*



She also voluntarily wore more pants today. I'm starting to get freaked out here folks!



Last night I was in bed at like 8:30. I was sitting here with the family and Tony was watching some dude movie. I just got so tired, I went to bed and crashed. I didn't turn the lights off or take my clothes off or anything. Jonny came in later yelling for me, and it scared the shit out of me. I ended up yelling at him, and Tony put the kids to bed. He had to clean the kitchen and everything. He did it though. Ran the dishwasher and everything.



Yesterday, like I mentioned in my last post, I am starting to learn Photoshop. My friend Christina, the all might wise one when it comes to Photoshop helped me a ton. I learned more in one day from her than I have ever gleaned from books or videos or tutorials. She really dumbed it down for me and I appreciated it so much. Like it was "Now look on you right, see that button thingy. Push it" Thank you Christina. Then I remembered Pioneer Woman http://www.thepioneerwoman.com/ had tutorials, and I hoped that with the knowledge C gave me, I might be able to understand better, and I did! I downloaded some of her actions, and tried some of her techniques. She also gives really good descriptions on how to use your camera. I can't wait to play with settings now on my new fangly camera. I've had it for months now, and it's pretty much stayed on auto mode the whole time.



So, I present to you my first official Photoshopped picture! (Those framed ones don't count!)

This is the original. It's a peacock feather, and I took it at the Portland Saturday Market. In my head I envisioned something much more decadent than what I actually got.

So with some futzing I was able to get more of what I envisioned when I first took the picture.
There you have it. Nothing drastic, but it's prettier by far, and I did it in PHOTOSHOP people. Something that I've had forever, and was too scared to use. I don't know what I did to it to be honest, as I did a bunch of different things, lost it all once, and restarted.

Did you see a pig fly by today?

What about the sun? Did the sun come up on the other side? I guess we can't check to see if hell has frozen over.

Why do I ask?

Well, let me tell you! Aislinn. Aislinn wore PANTS today. Real pants, with buttons! and zippers!

Oh and I learned to add frames to pictures in Photoshop! There went another pig! My friend Christina got tired of me whining about it, and finally broke down and showed me what to do. I knew she'd break eventually! haha! The first things I learned in Photoshop. I'm so happy.

Anyway, as you can see, the pants are big, but I don't care. I will take it! She looked SO cute when she left for school. The trick was to get her to try on jeans right away. After that, everything felt good! She was so afraid that I'd make her buy jeans, that she was more open minded about other kinds of pants. She also got two tunics with LEGGINGS. I know! LEGGINGS!!!!! She's two years behind that style trend, but hey whatever. THEY'RE NOT GAUCHOS that's good enough for me! She looked SO cute in the jeans she tried on. I could totally tell that she was digging the look of the jeans, but she couldn't resign herself to the feel. Honestly, I think we are going to have a bona fide jean wearer next year.

Can I just say how much I HATE little girls clothes? Aislinn is 8. She is no bigger than other 8 year olds. She isn't fat, or even chubby. But they make clothes for girls her age ridiculously tight. See her Tshirt? That tshirt is a freaking 14/16 the biggest size in girls clothing! The next option is going to be xs in the junior section! Those pants are a 12. She could have gotten away with a 10, but, that only leaves her with one more size until again, she's moving onto the juniors section. The 14/16 fits perfectly on her. I just can't get over it. Ijust can't believe we're supposed to put our 8 yr olds in skin tight clothing. The jeans? Don't even get me started. Skirts so short a child could never bend over. What is WRONG with the world?

Anyway, she felt good when she went to school. I am happy!

Early morning ramblings

If you have an old mattress, I highly recommend a memory foam mattress topper/pad doohicky. Tony and I have batted back and forth on getting one for awhile now and I had the opportunity to try one in Portland for myself, and I knew we had to get one.

We got one last night, and it was heavenly. I didn't wake up once laying next to Tony. We've been having a hard time sleeping in the same bed lately. We're constantly waking one another. That didn't seem to happen last night. Who would have thought those measly two inches of foam would have made such a difference?

I forgot to mention yesterday that we put a contract on the townhome. I have to run a check by there later for "earnest" money whatever the hell that means. $100 and it will applied toward whatever we have to pay in the end. We're going to close at the end of October. We will be home owners O.M.G. The only thing that could go wrong at this point is if the appraisal comes back super low or inspecitions come back with something wrong. This IS an old townhome. Built in the 70's so we'll see.

I'm enjoying having my Jonny home to myself. He's SUCH a good boy. Yesterday, while we were stuck at the realtor office, he was so good, even the guy said so right before we left. Sure he was bored, and he whined, but we were there for 2 hours, and he hadn't had breakfast. He's been hanging out with me, and we have fun. He likes being at home to do the things he wants to do without Aislinn bothering him. He's kind of a loner, and has no problems sitting with the TV off, making long train tracks on the floor, or playing Mario Kart by himself. We also have to go up to my room and snuggle in my bed at least once a day. I love it!

Today is going to be just a chill day. Actually this whole weekend will be like that with the rain. I have a few small errands to run, and I have to buy some groceries. Our Harris Teeter gave out $20 off coupons. I don't know WHY, but I'll take it! $50 worth of groceries for $30? Sign me up baby.

So I changed my mind!

No Ipod touch for me. I just couldn't bring myself to buy it.

We did get a new memory foam pad for our bed, and I got a cool laptop cooler for my lap, since my laptop gets so warm and makes me sweaty, and we also got the Dr. Skip DVD/CD fixer. Basically all the stuff we say we want to get, but are too cheap to get.

Scary, black man

I've noticed people saying that Obama is just "scary" people who are usually Democrats. They say things like "I can't vote for him, he SCARES me" This is everywhere, this mentality. Honestly, I can't help but think the only thing "scary" about him to these people is that he's black. I hate to make that assumption, but I just don't get the"scary" reference. Maybe it's the knuckle touch he did with Michelle? Maybe they took that as a gang sign? I don't know, but to read otherwise normal people call a grown man "scary" baffles me. Was he my first choice? No, am I scared of him? No. I just think it goes to show that no matter how progressive people see themselves, they still want to the old white guy to be running thangs.

This morning I don't know what I did, but I overslept. I woke up at 7:33 and by the time Aislinn and I made it downstairs the bus was going down the street. First week of school. On top of that, I didn't sleep well last night. I was up late watching Sarah Palin's speech (I strained my eyes from rolling them so much) watched the news to get info on our Hurricane Hannah, which had me freaked out enough, but then we have Ike and Josephine right behind her. Then, because I couldn't go to bed with visions of Hannah and Palin dancin' in my head, I watched some of Joe Biden's speech since I had missed it.

I purposely didn't watch it when it happened because I am still testing myself on what I REALLY believe in. I've been doing this for four years now. Trying to decipher if I vote D because I'm trying to be cool, or because I feel strongly about it. Last night I found it's because I DO believe in it. I sat to watch Palin's speech and wanted to hurl all over the couch watching her. I will say though, she was a breath of fresh air around those dusty old farts. She was a charismatic speaker, and had the most adorable kids. Too bad she wants to set us ladies back about fifty years.

Anyway, today I have a headache from lack of sleep. I could just lay down right now and pass out. We're going out to get my anniversary present today. I am doing something I swore I'd NEVER EVER do. I'm... getting an Ipod. I know! Iknow! I was suckered in by my friend's Ipod Touch! It's got like everything on it and it can surf the web! I've been drooling over one for weeks now, and Tony has to leave tomorrow because of Hurricane Hannah, so he'll be gone for our anniversary. He said he was going to get my present tonight if he could, and I totally guessed what it was. I really don't NEED a Touch, but he said that's what makes it a good present. It's something totally frivolous. I may get there though and decide against it. We'll see.

Big sisters unite

This morning as I was putting away Aislinn's folder I noticed that she had drawn on it. The school provides a very sturdy folder that is supposed to last the whole year. She had hers half the year last year, and it was a mess by the end of the school year. I said something like "Oh Aisy, you drew on your folder already?" and she said "No!" and looked at it and started to cry. "Jooonnnyy" she wailed and burst into tears.

I got annoyed and told her to just erase it at school since it was pencil. I kinda chewed her butt a bit about it just because, well it was early and that's now how I really want to start my day you know? She sat there sniffing, and whimpering while I got the folder together, and put away. I looked over, and told her to come here. I gave her a hug and said "It must stink having a little brother who touches your things and messes up your stuff" I felt her little shoulders sag in relief that I finally got why it was so upsetting. I told her I had two little sisters that were always causing me trouble, so I understood. She said "That must be WORSE than having a little brother, girls whine more" God, she makes me laugh.

We hugged and I told her a few horrible sister stories to make her feel better about her brother writing in her folder. She was all smiles when she went to school, and right when she was runningo out the door she said "Bye mom, I love you and thank you"

What a sweetheart she can be sometimes.

It's like Christmas time for adults

Today is the first day of school! Although it sucked getting up early, and I'm already tired, I have gotten a TON of stuff done today. I mean it's 12:30 and I've already had two meals! I've also done about three hours of school work. I had a nice quiet morning, as Jonny slept in. I had about a good two hour stretch where I sat outside, and did school work and drank coffee. I have also made a list for grocery shopping, and the dishes have been done since 8:30 this morning. Ah, routine is a wonderful thing.

I squeezed in another hour of schoolwork after Jonny got up and I had lunch, but it was peppered with interuptions. No wonder I had such a hard time this summer. I didn't want to SAY that's why I wasn't getting stuff done, but having that two hour break, fresh from a decen nights sleep made me realize that it was a lot harder with the kids home than I was letting myself believe. I am also going to try and go to the library in the evening at least once a week to do some work.

Aislinn did well. She even wore her tennis shoes from LAST YEAR. I know right? She's so grown up. They actually fit her feet properly! She also said she'd like to go to Target after school (we'll hit payless too) to try on a "new style" Sniff sniff. My baby girl is all grown up. Last year I had to buy her the same shoes over and over.

We had one minor incident over a hole in her sock. She almost cried, but we got it fixed quickly with a new sock. She was very excited about going to school, she was ready early, and was waiting at the bus stop before anyone else was there.

Yesterday I decided to read through my blog. Man, I bitch about Tony a LOT. I was actually kind of embarrassed. I do that though because it's better to bitch here than fight all.the.time. In the end though, we love each other very much, and we get along great, and I don't want to be with anyone else.

Today, Jonny is enjoying his Mommy time again. He's actually mopping my floor. I got it a little wet and he's having fun, and cleaning my floor at the same time.