Monday, February 18, 2008
Saturday, February 16, 2008
I'm moving
It was Lisa at Take 90 West that finally inspired me (have you seen her new blog yet?), but I'm making the move to wordpress.
Come visit me there.
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
My kids are anal
They get it from their father.
Because God knows, I'm far from anal. Things don't have to be perfect in my book. I don't mind a little clutter, my clothes are never perfectly ironed, and my bed is rarely made. Ok, so it is only made when the cleaning ladies come because they do it, details, details. But yes, I live in a little clutter. I certainly wouldn't be friends with Bree. Well, I would because I've love to go to her house, rub myself all over her impeccably organized house and hope some of it would come off on me, but I'm afraid that she wouldn't want to come to mine.
But LushMan is just plain anal. "Everything in its place and a place for everything" is something he says often around here. Good thing I don't take him seriously. We only need one uptight adult in this house.
My poor innocent babies though. They've been infected. TheOldest and TheMiddleChild have gotten the anal gene. The first sign was when they lined up all their Little People train pieces at almost 28 months and 14 months. Notice all the people and animals are facing the same direction.
This brings me to Wednesday. It was the first day of TheMiddleChild's speech therapy. The therapist said that part of her problem is that she's a perfectionist. If she can't say something the right way, she gets frustrated and doesn't try. She does not like to make mistakes.
It's all LushMan's fault.
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Works For Me Wednesday: Mastercook
I stumbled upon a cookbook software a few years ago and I have to say that not a few days go by that I don't use it.
Mastercook has become a life saver for me. It comes with its own recipes (over 8000 actually!), but what I like it best for is to create my own cookbooks. I have one cookbook for crock pot cooking, one for Christmas cookies, and now I'm starting one for dairy free meals.
It manages shopping lists too. In fact, I made a dairy free recipe today. Instead of writing out my shopping list, with one click, I added the ingredients necessary to create my meal. I was able to delete the ones I had at home too. The coolest thing about the shopping list is that it automatically sorts the items by location in the store. No more wandering aimlessly in the grocery store.
Meal planning is something that seems like it would be a good idea, but I just can't get my act together to do it. But when I do, the software also does that.
All that and more for only 20 bucks.
I was tagged
How fun! This is my first blog tag game. I was tagged by Boys Rule My Life. I'm sure the majority of the 5 I'm tagging have no idea who I am as I'm kind of a quiet reader. I know, I know, if I want people to comment here, I should comment THERE. Tit for tat and all that stuff.
Let me just say to the 5 I'm tagging, that I do enjoy their blogs.
*Start Copying Here*
I have randomly selected 5 of you below to be tagged and I hope that you will similarly publish this post in your blog. You will have to tag 5 other bloggers and just keep adding on to the list. (Do not replace, just keep on adding! Yes we hope it will be a long list!)
It's real easy!
Tag others and see your Technorati Authority increase exponentially!
The benefits of Viral Linking:
2.Increase your Google PageRank fast
3.Attract large volume of new traffic to your site
4.Build your community
5.Make new friends!
A Room of Mama's Own
Exploring Autumn
Immoral Matriarch: Catechizer
Real Life
Boogiemum
Peace is Every Step
Life According to Lizzy
Following Forward
Boys Rule My Life
A Quest for Relevance
Not Trying for a Boy
The Gaspards
Orryally's journal
My Life with Boys
CityMama
Seven Clown Circus
Take 90 West
Big Mama
Chased By Children
The last five blogs are ones I added.
*Stop Copying Here*
The Money Pit's updates
As you know, I hate love my house. When we first acquired it in the fall of 2006, it needed so much work that we couldn't move in for 6 weeks after closing. The previous owners really liked having blue carpet in the kitchen and throughout the house and wallpaper in every room. I didn't like it as much.
The before pictures only give a hint to how bad it was. We're still working on it (it is a never ending project, isn't it), but here are some after pictures.
We haven't done much to the kitchen because eventually we'd like to redo it all. We did get new appliances, but that was mostly out of fear of what might have been living on or in them. Kind of like that blue carpet.
I think what makes me happiest about the house though is that our garage door opener will finally be replaced on Thursday. And I can't wait. Nothing like a few days of 0 degree weather and snow on top of snow to make you appreciate your home even with all of its faults.
Monday, February 11, 2008
Snow cones
It was 2 degrees this morning while driving the girls to school. Normally, it wouldn't have bothered me that much as I could go from my warm house into my running, heated car in my not so warm garage. Today I wasn't so lucky. Our garage door broke last week following the footsteps of almost everything else in my lovely house.
Because I had to go out the front door and down the walkway to our driveway, I passed by many of the 40 or so rose bushes we inherited with this house. They are so beautiful:
Oh wait, that's how they looked last summer. This is what I saw today. And it made me cry. Sobbed really. Well, maybe not. I would have cried but I was afraid of my tears freezing to my skin. That would have hurt and made me cry more. Plus, I wanted to get my butt inside the car as quickly as possible.
If you look closely, you can see a rose hiding under a rose cone. Or maybe you can't. The rose cones are being held down with a brick and are almost hidden in the snow. Mmm, snow cones.
See this next little guy? I ran out of cones and being the procrastinator that I am, the stores also ran out of cones. I'm sure he's very mad at me right now and cold. Very cold. We'll see if he survives.
And look at this tree. It should be standing up straight and tall, but the snow weighed it down and just robbed it of all its dignity.
It will be a couple of months still before the cones come off and I see which rose made it through the winter.
Sunday, February 10, 2008
My question of the day
What would possess an almost 5 year old to stick a popcorn kernel up her nose?
It must have seemed like a good idea at the time until it hurt and she began to freak out. One quick blow with me holding the other nostril shut dislodged the kernel which shot out like a cannonball.
And all was right with the world again.
No popcorn kernels were damaged during the making of this blog or the experiment.
Saturday, February 9, 2008
I miss my summer Thursdays
Thursdays in the summer are like Christmas morning. That's the day our box from our CSA is delivered. CSA stands for Community Support Agriculture which really means we get a box of local, fresh, organic veggies each week. It makes me feel good that we are supporting local farmers (ok, so they are really a couple hours away, but at least they aren't from another country where the vegetables are packed up, put on a plane, end up in a warehouse, and then trucked off to the grocery store.)
Last summer was the first time we joined and I do have to say it was overwhelming at times. We got vegetables that I've never made before- like kale, collard greens, beets (wasn't a fan previously), and sometime we got so much of something, we just couldn't use it up especially when TheYoungest was born. My mom got the rewards from that week.
But it was SO MUCH FUN. You never really knew what you were going to get since they didn't know exactly what would be ripe the following week. They did give you an idea of what would be in your box but nothing was guaranteed due to Mother Nature. I made recipes I would have never made before and we ate a lot more veggies than ever before.
I miss it.
It was so cool to get garlic with a big stalk shooting out of it, or brussels sprouts still attached to their stalk knowing they were probably picked just days before. And tons and tons of peppers- that is LushMan's favorite as well as bags of potatoes still with dirt on them. And popcorn still on the stalk with the husk on. Too neat. This summer, I'll share them all with you.
Angelic Organics, the CSA, gave a cookbook last year to all members. It zeros in on the food they grow. It showed how to store veggies the proper way (who knew you just didn't throw them all the crisper?!), some recipes and plenty of interesting stories and quotes.
I received an email from them today with very exciting news. Their DVD, The Real Dirt on Farmer John, is now available on DVD.
"The Real Dirt on Farmer John will turn every idea you ever had about what it means to be an American farmer, or an American dreamer, on its head. Meet Farmer John, the incredible human being whose inspirational story of revolutionizing his family farm and redeeming his own life has won accolades and awards at film festivals around the world."I can't wait to watch it! And if you're interested, you can buy the DVD and the cookbook on their website.
Friday, February 8, 2008
Another piece of Chocolate cake...
As I said on Works for Me Wednesday, I shopped online at Chocolate Cake Club for some Christmas gifts. I've been really a happy with my purchases there and was happily surprised that Sue Kirchner, the founder of the Chocolate Cake Club, was kind enough to stop by and leave me a comment thanking me for the endorsement.
I want to make clear that I don't work for Chocolate Cake Club. I have not been paid, encouraged or threatened to make this post. I have never met Sue or anyone else that works for them. I am just a happy consumer.
That all said, I thought I'd share what I did buy from them. I first found them because I was looking for a 2007-2008 planner. I bought the one I used the year before at Barnes & Noble, but they didn't have this years version and I wanted to start using it. I did a google search for the planner and up came their website. So, in my first purchase, I bought the Mom's Plan-it™ 2008 Engagement Calendar. I also added the Baby Daze™ Sitter Slips because we were starting with a new sitter and I thought they'd come in handy.
For Christmas, for my 6 year old niece, I bought the Playful Chef Kids Cooking Kits. It is adorable and she loved it. I got my nephew, her twin, the I Dig™ Tyrannosaurus Rex Skeleton Excavation Adventure. I cannot begin to say how much he loves this set. Any little boy who loves dinosaurs would love it. I also got him this Dinosaur Kids Talking Alarm Clock.
For me, I bought the Retro Take Out Menu Organizer Binder. Like most people, (I hope it isn't just us!), we have a junk drawer (or two or three or four) that was overflowing with a bunch of crap stuff. Our takeout menus seemed to multiply in the drawer. We had more than one copy from each place we order from. I don't know if they were having little menu babies in the darkness of the drawer when we weren't looking or what, but it was getting way out of hand. Now our menus are organized, all in one place and we only have one copy each.
Of course, I have a whole other list of things I'd like to buy. One day, one day.
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
Laughadaisy's blog is beautiful!
So, go check out Laughadaisy. Read her blog and enter her giveaway! And let me know you did!
Works For Me Wednesday: On-Line Shopping Edition
I'm jumping on the bandwagon again. Obviously, I'm still new to this blogging thing, but I had so much fun with the giveaway from Rocks In My Dryer that I wanted to join her other things.
So, today is Works For Me Wednesday. The theme is On-Line Shopping.
My absolute favorite place right now is Chocolate Cake Club. They have really cute gifts and toys. My kids as well as my sister's kids all loved their Christmas gifts from there. They have good quality stuff and incredible fast shipping. (you can now see what I bought.)
One of my favorite places to shop for toys is For Small Hands. They focus on Montessori toys and many of the things they sell, the girls have used in their classrooms.
My girls are little Disney princess freaks, (yes, sue me, I give into the whole Disney thing. I might even enjoy it myself.) so I shop occasionally for Disney stuff.
For cloth diapers, I like Cotton Babies and Tree City Diapers. I like Tree City Diapers because she has a lot of other cool stuff too.
I think Amazon is where I do most of my browsing along with Overstock.
And I should probably give an honorable mention to one of the loves of my life, LUSH. I go there to browse still, but now that a store has opened up not ten minutes away (aren't you so jealous?), I don't online shop there anymore.
The Money Pit
I love my house, I really do. I love that it gives us all our own space, but we don't get lost in it. I love the street it is on, and some of the neighbors. I love that I have a basement again. I love the rose garden that came with the house even if I had no idea how to take care of roses the day we closed. I love that I could live here for the rest of my life. Well, once I get a Lush worthy tub and the kitchen is redone.
But, for goodness sake, I hate this house! No, really I love it.
We moved here in September of 06. We bought the house for the location and layout, not for the lovely blue carpeting all over including the kitchen. Oh yes, they had carpeting in the kitchen. With stains and spot and I'm sure little crawly things making their homes in the depths of it. It took about 6 weeks after we closed before we could move in here. We were removing the carpeting, the cigarette tar stained wall paper (30 years of chain smoking in this place and the walls were crying for a cleaning), and the ancient appliances. And then we sanded the existing hardwood in rooms that had it, put it down in rooms that didn't, put ceiling fans (yes, ceiling fans- Trading Spaces will NEVER come here) and light fixtures upstairs then we gave the house a head to toe paint job. It sounds like we're really handy, doesn't it? Well, we're not. We had it all done. And it still took professionals six weeks to get this place in order.
Let's look at some before pictures:
Do they scream old people who have lived here for 30 years?
Our first major problem was using the inspector that our realtor suggested. The wall paper removers/painters used the shower stall in the master bath to dump some of the dirty water down the drain. All of a sudden, we had a huge wet spot on the kitchen ceiling. One of the workers that were here realized that the shower stall was full of cracks. It probably hadn't been used in years. Why didn't the inspector find this?
Let's look at the lovely shower:
Mmm, love that grime.
And the problem it caused:
It was fixed. Those pictures come at a later date. We moved in. We were happy. We had a list of things we'd still like to do like my dream kitchen and Lush worthy tub, but nothing pressing.
Until our first flood.
TheOldest and TheMiddleChild were playing in the basement. They came up stairs soaking wet. Immediately I thought they got into something, but no, we had standing water in their playroom. Ignore the toys.
See my foot prints in the last picture? I have some pretty feet, don't I?
This was at the beginning of the flood. By the end of it, there was wall to wall calf length water. The sump pump failed.
A month later, the new sump pump failed again. Thanks to LushMan though, we didn't have the flooding like before. He actually was able to replace it himself- at 3am. I was very impressed, though I'd never tell him. (Here’s hoping he doesn't read this post. He does read occasionally from work when he really should be making us some more money to pay for all these issues.)
Our next water issue was the hot water heater. It was leaking. In the same basement of the Big Floor of 2006. We had a new one put in.
See a trend here? This house does not like water. Or it likes it too much that it wants it all the time. The next problem was the water tap outside would not shut off. We had to have a plumber come fix it.
Our most recent water issue, and not the most recent issue was that the cold water tap in the half bath froze. Yes, it was cold here, very cold, but it started running again at three in the morning when it was coldest. Explain that one.
That's it for the water issues- right now at least.
Last winter, during a very cold month, we got hit with a gas bill of over a thousand dollars. Apparently we had no insulation in the attic. So, we had to have some blown in.
Then this past summer, being big, hot and pregnant, I called the window company because one of the windows in our bedroom would fall out as soon as you open it. The windows, purchased by the previous owners, were under a lifetime guarantee. The company came out and the previous owners had replaced all of the windows in the house aside from three of them. And yes, the one we had problems with was one of the three.
I'm finally at our latest issue. All of the previous problems happened within a year and a half of living here.
Yesterday, all three girls were in the van ready to go to TheOldest's therapy. I open the garage door. At least I think I do. The opener goes and goes and goes. But doesn't open. Out of the van we all go again. LushMan says we need a new opener if not a new track for the door. All I have to say about that one is thank god I didn't have this problem between dropping the girls off at school and picking them up.
So, what will be our next unexpected drain on the finances? Whatever it is does not make me happy. With each one, my dream kitchen and Lush bathroom get further and further away.
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
So(y) Busted.
Continuing from my previous post, we were to try soy formula since her RAST test came back negative to soy. I was so looking forward to using soy instead of the very expensive formula ($25 for 3 days worth.) Like I've said before, I would like to breastfeed exclusively again, but more on that later.
Saturday we decided to try the soy. First I'd nurse, then we'd follow up with a few ounces of formula. She did have a bit of a cold and I wasn't thinking or else I would have waited. Throughout the day, she got sicker and sicker. And crankier and crankier. She's normally a very happy baby, so I just figured she wasn't feeling well (LushMan gets cranky when he's sick too.)
Right before bed, she projectile vomited. And then slept better than she had all day. And we went back to the Nutramigen. Hello, ridiculous expense. Goodbye, Luxuries.
So, back to the nursing. I'm still plugging away at it. The thing that kills me the most is that she started out nursing well. She was going to be my baby who nursed the longest (in my mind.)
Thank you for the comments yesterday, the advice, the support. It really helped.
Monday, February 4, 2008
TheYoungest's first few months (cont.)
Where was I? Oh yes, the vomiting, the hives. It is hard to believe that was a month ago. That means TheYoungest is 5 months old. Happy Month Birthday, Baby!
I had instructions to call the allergist the next Monday morning. Our pediatrician recommended one that I had already seen with TheMiddleChild. I didn't care for her that much, so I looked around for another.
I really wanted one affiliated with Children's Memorial but the soonest I could get in was 7 weeks later. I decided to see the first allergist, who had an appointment seven days later. I figured she could at least start the testing.
The appointment with her wasn't too exciting. She didn't impress me any more this time, but she did order the blood test I was hoping to get. We got the results a week ago and it appeared as if she was only allergic to milk.
I was told we could start soy formula with her instead of the Nutramigen. Even though I'm nursing, I am not producing enough milk due to her refusal to nurse when I was drinking milk. Nutramigen is very expensive so I was happy to hear about the soy.
We decided to wait to try it until the weekend when LushMan would be home just in case.
Sunday, February 3, 2008
Vote for Martha's Stewarts Allergy Magazine
I don't like or dislike Martha. I do appreciate some of her tips (have you seen the way she folds a fitted sheet?) and some I just find silly.
But right now she's considering doing a new magazine. If you love me, and I know you do, please vote for her to do the food allergy magazine. I could use the advice that would potentially be in the magazine!
And the LUSH goes to...
Congratulations to Tami at Welcome to Parenthood!
You are now the proud owner, or rather you will be when I get my lazy self to the post office, of some incredibly smelly Lushie goodness.
To the rest of you losers (just kidding, I loved the visitors)- Thank you all for the comments. And thanks for the compliments on the "Not Trying For a Boy" name. Sorry to those of you that deal with the same frustration.
To "j": Oh, I love Bath Bombs too. And I have used random bath bombs and the Lush bath bombs. There is just no comparison. Sadly, I don't use them that often though because although LushMan provides me with Lush, he has yet to provide me with a good Lush tub. So, I Lush in the shower mostly. If you end up with one, the Butterball is a very good place to start.
Killlashandra: There are LUSH stores in the US now, but it doesn't look like there are any near you. LUSH is a great excuse to get some good music and go on a road trip!
Shannon- Wow, you failed with those handsome men, huh?
Rachel- Oooh, therapy. I'm drooling now.
Team Zachary- I gave my mom a gift one year that had Sonic Death Monkey in it. She was like "What the ...." but she ended up loving it!
just jaime- You're thinking of Honey I Washed the Kids. It does smell amazing. My kids use that soap in their bath.
runlikeagirl- Wow, "the best giveaway". Thanks. Does your closet smell amazing now? I love how new LUSH makes the entire room smell like the store.
Meleah the Mommy - My sister has boy/girl twins and gets the same comments all the time. People are just stupid.
Williams' Family- I bet you are so disappointed that you locked yourself in your room, under your covered and cried for 6 weeks. Congratulations on your newest son!
Friday, February 1, 2008
SNOW DAY!
We have a snow day today. To celebrate, here are some pictures of the first snow this winter. We're going to try to get out today to play, but TheYoungest is a bit sick and is not letting me do anything.
