Stalled

I am still taking photos every day, but I am FAR behind on getting them up on the blog since I can only use my phone camera.  Our real camera broke.  To be more specific, we lost the battery charger.  Even if we COULD find the charger, we still could  not use the camera because a certain toddler spilled juice on the camera so the shutter no longer opens. 

But we are still around, still busy, still snapping photos when we remember, and occasionally videos.  But my whole existence seems to be stalled right now.  Aside from day to day functionality, everything else is ignored. The kids are a handful due to chilly temps and lots of drizzle and massive amounts of pent up energy.  I don't have much help since my husband is working nearly every day and not regular business hours.  So I do what needs to be done to keep them happy and fed, but that's about it.  After that I can't seem to muster the energy to focus on me or our house.  Minimal cleaning is done... enough to keep us clothed, ants away, and visitors not disgusted. 

I don't intend this to be a venting post... I'm not really sure what my intentions are at the moment.  Kids are entertaining themselves and I have found myself having a few free moments to let my mind ramble on, and my fingers seem to be following suit!  That seems to be happening a lot lately, the mind wandering, keeping me up at night thinking about all I wanted to accomplish but didn't, thinking about all I am ignoring, lists of things I want to do but just don't have the energy to do.  I've been here several times before... sometimes harmless, others...well, lets just say interventions were in order (don't worry, nothing like that now!!).  But that fear of "oh gosh...I don't want to go down this road again" are creeping back into my mind as it goes around in circles.  So long as I can keep the day to day going smoothly, things will get back on track, or so I hope!

But right now, with that "single married mom" feeling going on, it is a little difficult to get myself grounded and put my foot down and yell "this is ENOUGH! Go do what you need to do already!!"  So stalled is a good word for me and my life right at this moment.

The Dumb Things We Do

Sometimes as a parent you come up with a really great idea to entertain your children that turns out to be the dumbest idea ever. Here are some of my more recent ones...

1.  Stamps... stamps are fun. I have fond memories of using stamps.  Of course most of those memories are from when I was 8.  Not TWO and FOUR years old.  Thankfully I was intelligent enough to spread the 2 dozen stamps and ink pads on the tile kitchen floor so the mess was easy to clean up.

2.  Six Flags on a 95+ degree day... Yeah, not so much. I thought if we went in the morning then we would be ok.  I felt as though I was dying after 45 minutes! Goodness knows how the kids were feeling in the heat, but weren't telling us because they didn't want to leave.

3.  Bouncy Balls... Yeah, God help my children if they break anything with this dang bouncy balls!  The Jacks that came with them weren't the best idea either.  The four year old is sad because the two year old keeps stepping on them and breaking them.  Thankfully the jacks were free from the treasure box at the dentist.

4.  Water guns... These are a current favorite at our house right now.  Two year old hates being sprayed with water, but of course is spraying his sister which means she WILL retaliate.  Oh well.. at least we bought 8 more yesterday so when friends come over there is no more fighting (over the guns, there will always be fighting over something!)

5.  Rocking chairs... I bought two at a yard sale and they are SO super cute.  They are wooden and just the right size for my kiddos.  Unfortunately the four year old has taken to extreme rocking chair activities. I swear it as if her butt will explode if it touches the chair.  She sits every way BUT the correct way.  I can't recall how many times I have threatened to give these chairs away.  She is a goober and knows that I won't go through with that threat.

Those are just a few examples of my dumb mommy brain as of late. I'm sure there are about 100 more examples of things I have done that I thought would be really great but turned out to be stupid ideas that I soon regretted.  Do you have any examples? Hopefully fewer than mine! 

Where Oh Where Has Spring Gone?

I know it rains in spring.  I accept that fact.  But today is May 26th and it is raining for the third day in a row, and the temperature is not supposed to get higher than 49F.  That is just WRONG. Memorial Day weekends are supposed to have people in shorts, grilling, and playing outside.  And here I am hiding the kids and myself inside as if we will turn into icicles if we step out of the house!

Not that I had grand plans for the weekend.  Holidays in this household are a bit jaded... they mean my husband will be working long hours every day.  No holiday weekend for us (if we are lucky we will get a few hours with him!).  So it is not like it matters if we are housebound, but I would at least like the OPTION of taking my kids outside without hearing whining about getting wet.

I am sure I will find things for the kids to do this weekend; childrens museum, husband's concert, crafts... but I would prefer to choose those things because we WANT to, not because those are the ONLY activities we can do.  I would like parks, Six Flags, walks, etc to be an option!  So, please Mother Nature, return spring to Chicagoland... all of us mothers would REALLY appreciate it, especially yours truly!

Dear Movie Producers/Directors/To Whom It May Concern

The past two nights my husband and I watched Avatar.  Yes, TWO nights.  We got about halfway through it Monday night, and decided we had to go to bed.  It was 9:30pm.  We resumed last night and again, finished around 9:30 and headed up to bed.

Maybe we are lightweights... but maybe, just maybe, that movie was too dang long!  Don't get me wrong, I liked it.  But I probably would have liked it more had I been able to watch it in a theater. 

Why couldn't I watch it in a theater, you might be asking me.  Well, since my husband and I are the only two people on this planet who can put our son to bed, that means we cannot leave our house any earlier than 7:30pm. Which also means we are shooting for an 8:30 movie.  If we go to an 8:30 movie that is THREE hours long, we won't be leaving the movie theater until 11:45 (giving 15 minutes for previews).  Then drive home, then feed cats, clean up, go to bed.  That means, probably going to bed past 12:30am.  Our kids wake up at 6.  By my calculations, that is not a lot of sleep. 

Hollywood needs to have a time limit for movies.  2 hours tops, in my opinion (maybe 2.5 for exceptional movies).  As much as I dislike the 7th Harry Potter book being put into two movies, at least then less is lost from the books but I don't have to be in the theater ALL freakin night!  I am willing to pay the price of waiting a year to see the two movies. 

Although seeing Lord Of The Rings in theater was AWESOME, I didn't have kids then.  So it wasn't such a big deal.  Now that I am a mom, sadly I can only watch those long movies at home, which totally looses the cool effect.  Avatar was kinda lame on my tv and no movie theater popcorn and candy!

So please do me, and many moms out there a favor, movie makers... and make your movies shorter!

Thanks.

Rant over now!

The Ultimate Plant Killer

That is what I am... I kill plants with STYLE... well, not even then. Just swiftly and with love.

My daughter REALLY wants to plant a garden this year. She told me we need to grow everything and whatever we can't grow we will get at the store. Love her enthusiasm. Sadly, she doesn't realize that mommy's thumb is RED not GREEN.

It doesn't help that mother nature seems to be against me this year. It is nearly May, and here in the Midwest temperatures are still in the 30s and with lots of wind and little sun. How am I supposed to keep the tray of vegetables a friend gave me ALIVE when they have to stay up high in my house, away from sun?! (If I keep them near a window, the kitties will eat the plants). Let alone PLANT new flowers, fruits, etc?! I don't even know how to move plants from one pot to another, let alone to the ground without completely destroying them.

I had planned to move the vegetables outside, and get new plants, to help my children celebrate Earth Day. Last year it was sunny and in the low sixties, lending us to plant lots of flowers around our tree. This year... well.... its still going to be COLD. Why can't the plants just tell me what they want?!

Hopefully things will take a turn for the better and we can plant our precious vegetables (if they last that long). Hopefully plant some fruits too. And hopefully I won't screw it all up so we actually get edible food later in the season!

Technology Overload

I love technology. I love that I can talk to all my mommy friends from around the world via my computer. I love that family and friends can talk to us through video chat. I love my iPhone. I love my Wii and instant watch on my big TV. I can keep in contact with everyone via Facebook. I love reading books on my Nook anywhere I go and not worrying about children pulling out my book mark or tearing pages.

I DO NOT however, love preschoolers throwing tantrums over wanting to play on my phone. I do not love children fighting over the tv "I WANT TO WATCH SCOOBY DOO" "NOOOOO... I WATCH THOMAS!!!".... I do not love my husband oblivious to the family because he is absorbed in his game of Civilization on his phone.

I have yet to figure out a balance with all this lovely technology. How much tv is too much when I really just want 30 minutes to myself or to be able to cook dinner or bake without kids screaming at me. When should I stop them from playing on the phones and interact with us. Should I buy that Thomas book for my nook for my son.

I think back on my childhood, I didn't get my first video game until I was in 7th grade, and even then it was only tetris for our computer. I didn't have cable, netflix, game consoles, first cell phone was a clunker when I went off to college. My kids are better at video games than I am and they are only 3.5 and nearly 2! Of course, I has about 1/5 of the toys my kids have too.

Right now my daughter is watching tv, my son is reading his books, and my husband is practicing. I am blogging. Should I turn off the computer and tv and be a more "attentive" mother? The guilt-o-meter rises by the minute every time I get on the computer. Yet I keep doing it. I wonder if every mother judges themselves like I do. Constantly wondering how my mother got by without all this, how she got the house clean, children happy, family fed, and kept her sense of self without the aide of a million gadgets.

How do you all keep control of the technology in your households? Do you give in like I do or keep it under lock and key, only to be used in extreme cases?

My Craigslist Etiquette Checklist

Please excuse me while I vent a little about recent Craigslist issues I've been having with sellers and buyers. (most importantly, the last item)

1. Please post pictures. I know that this isn't necessary, but really, I will not even look at a post if there isn't a picture.

2. If your item is sold, please delete your listing. It would save you the hassle of having to respond to my inquiry, and it would save me the time and disappointment.

3. Please check your spam folder. You are having strangers respond to your listings. Their emails will go into your spam folder.

4. If you want to buy my item, please show up when we arrange to meet. I have children, a husband, a busy schedule arranged around these three people. I am obviously staying home for you and could be doing other important or fun things. Don't mess with me, be kind. Show up when you say you will.

5. Most importantly... IF SOMEONE WANTS TO BUY YOUR ITEM AND YOU ARRANGE A MEETING TIME... DO NOT SELL THE ITEM OUT FROM UNDER ME!!!! That is just rude. I understand you do not know who I am, and don't know if I am a total flake. However, if I cannot meet you right away because my husband is WORKING and cannot be home with the sleeping children, please give me the common curiosity of not selling the item I really wanted when I cannot be at your house. It hurts my feelings. Obviously if I am buying your item used I cannot afford it new. And now I just want to send you an angry hate mail because I am furious. Instead I will vent on my blog and eat way too many chocolate mint chocolate chip cookies.

Good Idea, Bad Idea

Good idea... Six Flags season passes.

Good idea... Going to Six Flags often.

Good idea... Going to Six Flags with friends.

Good idea... Buying funnel cake sundae at Six Flags.

Bad idea... Going to Six Flags after 6pm when one of your children hasn't napped. On a Saturday. When it is hot and crowded and there are long lines.

Yeah, won't be doing THAT again.

26 Hours Please!

I wonder if any other mommy feels the way I do, that each day needs at least 2 more hours in it. Preferably while children are sleeping. I wake up at 6am to my two wide awake children. The entire day is filled with activities to keep them happy, cooking, (minimal) cleaning, and whatever else the day may bring. Then they go to bed and I have about 2-3 hours to do everything I want to do before I go to bed myself. That might seem like a lot, but I work at night, I have crafts I want to work on, and there is the ever-neglected list of chores. No wonder my blog is neglected so much, there just isn't enough time in the evenings to get it all done!!

How can one person possibly juggle all this without staying up until the wee hours of the night? That is just not an option for me. I doubt my parenting abilities would be even sub-par if I went to bed later than 10 pm every night. So, powers above, please add 2 more hours to my evenings so I can be more productive and less overwhelmed! Thank you ever so much!

Edited to add... in case anyone noticed, I have figured out how to change the layout of my blog. This, plus some major editing to html (which I've NEVER done before) took me an hour to do... and hour in which I should have been working... OOPS!

Infestation

When we decided to have children we didn't really think about all the things that come with having children. We thought about the financial aspect (and failed, by the way), childcare, how I would work and hubby would finish school, clothing, diapers, furniture, how to baby proof the house, how the cats would react, how we would focus more on being good, healthy role models. All that sort of stuff. Not once did we ever think about what the kids will give to us. Sure they would give us love and fill our lives with joy we couldn't imagine until deep into the experience.

But my god do they like to share GERMS. And germs I can handle... colds, ear infections, fevers, puking... those all suck, but fairly easy to deal with. Don't get me wrong, they are all stressful and no mom or dad is happy to see them affect their little ones.

Do you know what else children share? BUGS. I'm not talking about beetles or ants... I'm talking the big L word. LICE!

My daughter is not in daycare or school. Where on earth she caught LICE from, well, you know as well as I do. Not a flippin' clue! Thankfully bugs are the one thing my daughter was gracious enough not to share with the rest of the family, because I did NOT sign up for this when I had her. I didn't think about her being school age and having to deal with the inevitable lice infestation, because, well, my daughter will never be school age. She will stay my little girl...right???

Ok, back to reality. Sunday morning, while eating breakfast, I looked up from my iphone (teehee) and saw a BUG hanging from one of the strands of my daughter's bangs. WWHHHHAAAAAT??? Yes, a bug. A big yucky lice attempting to feed off my daughter's scalp. Not on MY watch! After treatments and picking, we got ALL of them *fingers crossed*. As of tonight there is not a single louse, nit, or egg on my precious girl's head. Of course, they wouldn't be able stay on, we've greased up her head so well. I'm so glad she is such a good sport, happily announcing to her grandma "I have bugs in my hair!" and sitting nicely with cookie and icing while we combed out her hair many times.

I am still shuddering a little and thinking I can feel creepy crawly bugs in my hair, but I know we did well. We caught them early and killed them GOOD!