Entries from February 2007 ↓

Aprons (Y/N): Nope. I don’t even own one. If I did, I suppose I’d occasionally use it.

Baking (Favorite thing to bake): I’d much rather bake than cook. I like to make chocolate chip pan cookies, or cakes. Actually cherry cheese pie is another favorite.

Clothesline (Y/N): Sadly enough, no.  I had one at my old house and adored it. Nothing like the smell of sheets dried on a clothesline.

Donuts: Eating? Sometimes. Krispy Kreme are the only ones that don’t make me sick to my stomach. Something about donuts make me feel like I have a pound of bricks in my stomach.

Every Day (One homemaking thing you do every day): Making the bed and the dishes.

Freezer (Do you have a separate deep freeze?): No. Which is the reason that my freezer in my refrigerator knocks you out every time you open the door. Well, actually the freezer it’s self doesn’t knock out you, but the food that comes falling out on your head from the majorly overstuffed freezer does. I’ve actually taken to putting a small piece of clear tape on it so that it doesn’t come open on it’s own. One time Warrior almost went to heaven by way of a frozen pot roast. Thank God it missed him.

Garbage Disposal (Y/N): No siree.

Handbook (What is your favorite homemaking resource?): My mom or Catherine. hehe

Ironing (Love it or hate it?): This should be a yes or no question. I’d answer no. That’s what the dryer is for.

Junk drawer (Y/N) (Where?):  YES! We have two in the kitchen, and one in the bathroom.

Kitchen (Design and decorating): My kitchen is the next to the top of my list of the most-disliked-rooms-in-the-house. There’s no way to decorate it, because I have no wall space. It’s all cabinets that need repainting because their off white paint is splattered with God knows what that won’t come off. The floor is CARPET! Now who in the name of common sense does that to a KITCHEN? Icky! But I can’t complain about cupboard space. When I get my own house it will be a heck of a lot different I tell ya!

Love (What is your favorite part of homemaking?): I don’t know that I love any household chore. Although I do love making out my Christmas cards or birthday invitations. Does that count? LOL

Mop (Y/N): I used to every few days in our house that didn’t have carpet in the KITCHEN (yes, I’m bitter). Now the only thing to mop is the bathroom nd I don’t do it near enough. It seems pointless to get out a mop for a room smaller than a closet.

Nylons: Could someone please explain this question to me. What do Nylons have to do with housework? I have seen people use them over dryer vents to catch lint though. I don’t know why though. What’s it hurt to let it blow out for the birds?

Oven (Do you use the window or open the door to check?): I can’t see through the window, it’s kind of darkened. I have to open it.

Pizza (What do you put on yours?):  Well on ones I make for our family usually just cheese and green peppers. Occasionally pepperoni. If I were making it for myself only it would have grn. peppers, mushrooms, cheese, and onions.

Quiet (What do you do during the day when you get a quiet moment?): Clean. If everything is clean, I read or scrapbook. But that’s not very often.

Recipe card box (Y/N): Why yes, I do. I don’t know what’s in it though.

Style of house: An apartment above a copy shop. Not terribly exciting, but it does while dh is still in college.

Tablecloths and napkins?  Right now we have place mats. But next time I go to a tablecloth-selling-store, I am going to pick up a tablecloth; they’re easier to clean! Napkins are paper and in a holder in the middle of the table.

Under the kitchen sink (Organized or toxic wasteland?):  It’s somewhere in the middle I’d guess. Maybe an organized toxic wasteland?

Wash (How many loads of laundry do you do in a week?):  Usually 2 loads per day. More if I skip doing it over the weekend.

X’s (Do you keep a daily list of things to do and cross them off?):  Sometimes I do. I get more done that way.

Yard (Who does what?):  Oh to have a yard!!! I’d be out there all summer. I love gardening and tending a yard (even mowing one!). But I live in an apartment and have a scraggly field for a yard.

Zzz’s: Three and a half years of not sleeping through the night. Does that spell it out?

Last night hubby and I were watching my favorite night time game show - 1 vs. 100. In case you’ve never seen the show, basically what it consists of is 1 contestant and a group of 100 other people affectionately named ‘the mob’. The contestant is asked trivia questions and for every one that he gets right, he gets a dollar amount of each member of the mob that gets it wrong. The dollar amount increases as the game progresses. The questions get harder as well. If at any point the contestant gets an answer wrong, he immediately loses all his money and the game is over. The remaining members of the mob split the amount he had earned thus far. Neat game. All the drama of Deal or No Deal, however unlike Deal or No Deal, it doesn’t get old or boring, because you can actually play along (with the trivia questions). It is about luck when you decide how far to push yourself, but it’s also about how much you know.  Annnnnyway, we were watching and the trivia question was (well, something like this. I can’t remember it verbatim): If your party’s symbol is a jackass, which party do you belong to? Republican, Democratic, or Libertarian. There were 80 members of the mob left at this point, and how many do you suppose got it wrong? 38! Bob Saget, the game show host turned to the contestant, who did get it right, and said "Well, we won’t even go into what that says about us as a country". There are basically only two political parties in this country (and we’ll save that vent for another day… I’m a member of one of them, but certainly not a 100% proud one!), and nearly 50% of people don’t even know their symbol. Starting about 18 months before any presidential election you only have to watch one of the major news networks about 2 minutes before you see elephants and donkeys everywhere! So what concerns me more than their not knowing their party’s symbol (because alone, that serves no use), is the assumption that based on that, and the fact that they symbols are most everywhere where their parties politics are discussed,  most of them are probably not taking the time to research their parties, and their choices for candidates and policies. Anyone can bad mouth the politicians in office, but as far as a better plan goes, or who to vote for to make that plan happen, I’d wager about 1/2 the complainers have no clue who the current candidates are, other than Obama and Hillary. Oh, and by the way. One of the members of ‘the mob’ who got the question wrong…. a Harvard professor. Go figure.

• Never plan a nap for yourself. Children will sleep for 2 hours if you have plans to go somewhere after their nap, but if you plan to nap with them, they awaken 2 minutes after your head hits the pillow. This can easily ruin a day. Or at least the next several hours.
• Potty training a resistant/stubborn might very well be the hardest task you’ve encountered in motherhood, or anywhere else for that matter.
• Even after you’ve been up for 5 nights in a row, nursing an infant countless time, or putting a cool cloth on a fevered brow, and feel like you might fall over from exhaustion, the next night you will somehow find the strength to do it yet again if you have to.
• Windows never stay clean.
• No matter what you said before you became a mother, you will eventually find yourself out of the house with a small darling with a messy face that you forgot to wash before you left home.
• Smashed cheerios stuck to the bottom of your feet is not a good feeling. But you will probably walk around several more hours (or even days), before you decide you really must vacuum or sweep the floor, because putting on slippers or shoes can also effectively solve this problem.
• Mothering is the only job where you can snap a piece back in place on a game, change the batteries in a dying toy, or repair a tear in a paper with a piece of tape, and become an instant hero.
• Bath crayon left on the shower wall too long eventually does stain.
• No matter how often you bathe them, the cleanliness is lost immediately after the next meal. Especially if it involves anything like peanut butter, jelly, macaroni and cheese, or ketchup.
• The afore mentioned foods — peanut butter, jelly, macaroni and cheese, and ketchup will probably be the only foods your child will partake of for a period of at least 12 months in their life.
• Comparing your children to other children does no good for anyone. However I don’t think there is a mother in this world that can resist doing it.
• Getting your baby to sleep through the night seems like a bigger accomplishment than fitting a 7 pound baby through a whole the size of a walnut.
• It doesn’t matter if it is a 2 year old telling you they don’t love you anymore, it still hurts.
• It doesn’t matter if it is a 2 year old telling you that they love you up to heaven, it still feels like you’ve been given the world on a silver platter.
• Lugging infant Carriers around can leave large bruises on your upper thighs. And give you great arm muscles…. in one arm.
• You might not find yourself attractive. However your child is beautiful in every single way, even if he looks just like you.
• You find yourself nonchalantly picking someone else’s nose on a regular basis.
• You know more children’s television theme songs than you do songs on the current top 50 list.
• It doesn’t matter how cheesy you thought holiday photo cards were before you became a mother, you will send them out each year with pride.
• Your heart will never be your own again. It lives in someone else. Never to be reclaimed again, as long as you live.

And as usual, here are some recent pictures of my kiddos. I was amazed at how grown up Forest looks.

Happy Valentine’s Day, everyone!! 

My sister announced her engagement recently. She wants me to go look at wedding gowns with her sometime next week. Only problem is the kiddos. Can you imagine them in a bridal shop? It would probably be more dangerous than a bull in a china shop, and I mean that. I often wish that I had someone to keep them during the day. My dear Grandmother-in-law would keep them anytime I asked her, however she is in her 70’s. If I can hardly keep up with the two of them in my 20’s, in a child-proof house no less, then I don’t know how she will. My mother-in-law is always suggesting I leave them with her, but I always try to graciously skirt around the issue. The last time I left Forest with her was about a year ago. He was 2 + a few months, and she said to me "He stands so obediently at the top of his steps when I go down to get something in the basement." AHHHHHH! So he hasn’t been back since! I know it hurts her feelings, but it’s my job to make sure they reach adult-hood in one piece.

So anyway, back to my sister. She is getting married in July. She wants the perfect wedding. Well, don’t we all? I am watching her plan. Checking out where she is placing her priorities. Funny thing is, now that I’m married, I know exactly how to have a perfect wedding next time. Only problem is, I’m never getting married again. I think next time I would place my priorities (thus, my money) on a great photographer, and someone to help me plan. Someone to worry about A-L-L of those little details that really start to rain down on you about 2 weeks before the wedding, and then turn into an all out hurricane the day of the wedding.  You know the old custom of the bride and groom not seeing each before the wedding on the day of the ceremony? Well, my husband and I were arguing over how full to fill the little baskets of mints and mixed nuts at 10am. My hair and nails were done, and my veil was in. Those are the kinds of things I would eliminate. I’d never ever hire a family member (that was not a professional) to photograph my wedding again. My husband’s aunt did it for us. Only problem was, it was an outdoor wedding and the sun was shining upon us for all of the pictures. I look Asian. Which would be fine, if I WAS Asian. However I am not. So I don’t look like myself in any of the pictures. Not only that, half of her film got ‘damaged’ at the K-Mart she took them to be developed at. That is not her fault, but I don’t think a professional would take their pics to K-Mart. Anyway, her priorities are getting it catered, and where to have the reception. Do you even remember how your food tasted at your wedding? I don’t even remember what I ate. I just remember thinking that my dress might suddenly rip down he back if I ate too much, so I only took a few bites of course.

I guess it’s a live and learn thing. But most people only have one go at it. And most people hope they never have to do it again. The only thing I wish I could relive was the ceremony. In fact it’s about the only thing I remember clearly.

For a minute all of the world stopped and I wasn’t worrying about the balloon arch that wanted to keep straying in the wind (we got married in a big open field), and I stood there looking at my husband who was so handsome I thought no one could ever match up to him. I remember smiling so hard I thought my face would break. But I meant every second of it. I remember looking at his face and watching him vow his life to me. We were so young, but I meant every word I said. And you know, I never doubted that he did either. He has the most honest and sincere eyes you’ve ever seen. By looking at him on that day, I could tell that he’s not the kind of guy who will ever pursue great riches, who will work long hours at work in hopes of climbing the corporate ladder, who will ever explore the world on great business trips to Paris, who will ever write prize winning books, or belong to the country club and smoke Cuban cigars as he golf’s with his friends. Not that he couldn’t do any or all of those things (except the cigar thing… God please let him never smoke one of them!). But he is the kind of guy who would bring home a steady  paycheck each week, who would parent with me equally, who would wipe a thousand snotty noses, and mop up a million tears, who would every now and then reach over and squeeze my hand lovingly as we watched a comedy on television, who would bring me a cup of water, just because I mentioned I was thirsty,  and everyone who ever met him would know where his priorities lay, and who he loved, and how he took care of us all. And I knew by looking in those young eyes that I would never have to worry about him forsaking me. Ever.  And now here I am, married to him for 5 years, and that head over heels in love feeling shows it’s face less often than it used to, and kids now sleep between us most nights. But when I do look into those eyes, I still see those same things. He has never failed me. And I know he never will.

And I look at my sister, and I know that right now it might seem like it’s all about the wedding to her. But I know that in the end, how fabulous or not fabulous it turns out, that the real reward comes in time. When you can look at that man that you married, and still feel your heart swell with pride and know without a shadow of a doubt that you made the perfect decision, so you reach over to kiss him, and the sparks start to fly… and in walks Jr. crying "Mommy, I had a bad dream", and he reaches out his arms, and pulls that little child to him. Those will be the details in life that matter