September 29, 2008

Girl's Weekend!

So my girls all came into town Friday! I love my girls! Friday night I made a big pasta dinner and we were up drinking and chatting until 3:30 a.m. The kids love my girlfriends and they give the kids lots of attention so everyone had fun (the kids did NOT stay up that late - they had their usual 8 p.m. bedtime!)...

Saturday the kids got up at 6:45, which was brutal. But we all got to hang out all day and relax. Suz brought books for all the kids and Sloan brought over tons of toys and puzzles that her kids have outgrown for my kids.

Saturday night Hubby's parents came over so we could go out to eat - we went to the Lightfoot in Historic Leesburg - it was so AMAZING! It was a fancy wonderful beautiful restaurant - it is a converted old bank and so beautiful inside. Everythingg everyone ordered was so amazing - I had spicy cream of tomato soup with pumpernickel croutons. It was PHENOMONAL! Amazing, super yummy! Then, out of respect for my vegetarian friend I did NOT order the veal steak over sauasage ravioli with mushroom cream sauce (I KNOW, doesn't it sound heavenly??!!) - I got an 8 oz. filet with mashed potatoes and sweet potato fries. And of course, 4 Lightfoot Ales! YUMMY!

Again, we were up until 3 a.m. playing "We love the 80's!", which was TONS of super fun (well, along with several more beers and bottles of wine!)...

Then up again at 7 when the kids got up.

I love my girls. 2 of them are local and I see them more often. 2 are west coasters and we only see each other once or twice a year. But it's just like old times as soon as we all get back together and you'd think we never left the dorms of Virginia Tech!

more holiday help!

I'm behind on my 100 days of Christmas, though I hope to catch up this week...here's another holiday helper I found - this one sends emails, so maybe that will help me stay on track!!

http://thehouseholdhelper.com/holidaycountdownty.html

September 25, 2008

a terrible morning...

I usually get up at 5:15 to shower and get Son up at 6 for school.

Today I woke up at 7.  WHAT THE HELL?  What do I do - the bus comes at 7:10?  Do I yank Son out of bed and out the door or do I shower?  If I don't shower before the 2 babies get up, I have to take them in the shower with me and that is A GIGANTIC PAIN IN THE BUTT.

I hope in the shower.  Son comes running in saying "We're late!".  I tell him I'll drop him off at school and he promptly loses it.  He wants to ride w/his friends (note it is now probably 7:04).  I tell him to get dressed in the clothes I had put out last night (thank god).

I rush out of shower and downstairs - peel him a banana and tell him to take a bite, put on 1 shoe, take a bite, put on other shoe, etc.  I get his lunch ready and pack his backpack and send him out the door.  (we did all this in SIX MINUTES)

I run upstairs and get myself ready (hair in pony tail today!) and get ToddlerT up and then BabyJ.

I carry them downstairs and see on the island...

All the letter squares that Son's teacher had laminated into one big sheet and asked me to cut out for her for TODAY. #@%@#%@$!

So I stand at the island, cutting out squares and crying...because dammit - there is too much for 1 person to keep track of.  3 kids.  2 schools.  A job.  Commuting.  Feeding, shopping, cleaning, laundry.  The pool broke.  I screwed up the water in the hot tub and had to drain it.  The pump for draining the hot tub wouldn't work.  6 girlfriends coming to stay at my house this weekend.  Cub Scouts.

Finally I get eleventy-hundred freaking squares cut out and realize - now I have to drive 15 miles out of my way AND BACK to take these to Son's school.  And because they don't have a drive-thru (they totally should), I have to get out and haul in the younger two to get in the door of the school to drop them at the office.  @#$@%@$%@%

I get everyone in the car. Crap.  No one has eaten, and with the long ride to Son's school and then to my mom's in traffic, they'll need something.  So I go in and grab some milks and raisins.  Drive to Son's school.  Drag/carry the kids in to drop off the baggie of letters.  Back in the car.  Drive 45 minutes IN WASHINGTON DC TRAFFIC to my mom's.  Now she will be hurried trying to get ToddlerT to school.  Hand her sandals for BabyJ and say, sorry, she has no real shoes because I DON'T HAVE TIME TO GO TO THE MALL AND I'D RATHER STAB MYSELF IN THE EYE THAN DRAG 3 KIDS THRU THE MALL MYSELF AFTER WORK TODAY.

I drive 30 minutes back down the road towards my work (which is right by my house - I make 2 round trips to my mom's on Tues/Thurs. because she lives 30 minutes away - I drive from my house to hers, then to my office, which is right by my  house).

At 2:30, I will drive 7 miles to my house to get Son off the bus.  Then 30 minutes back to my mom's to get the 2 younger kids, then 30 minutes BACK to my house.

And 6 people will be arriving tomorrow for a weekend visit -my house is trashed and we have no food.  Awesome.

September 24, 2008

omg! That camera!

is $4,000!

for Christmas PLEASE!

I love Canon SLR Cameras and I thought i'd always be a Rebel kind of girl - but here is the VIDEO this guy (he is a professional) shot with his CAMERA (his regular camera, not a video camera)...I MUST HAVE THIS NEW SLR Camera!

http://www.usa.canon.com/dlc/controller?act=GetArticleAct&articleID=2086

is it really coming out?

Is it really coming out if we all KNEW ANYWAY that you were gay??

September 22, 2008

bad day!

I thought I was having a bad day, until I read this:
 
 
Now I'm just glad I don't have a box of poop!

September 18, 2008

Bartender Song...

OH MY! I caught the video for the version w/Hank JR and fell in love w/this song. So I bought the clean version on iTunes (I didn't realize there was clean and explicit). Well, today I noticed there was an "explicit" version. So I listened to it in iTunes.

OH MY! The younger me would've bought it, but now that my kids might hear it or I might want to play it, only clean for me -the explicit has so many cuss words I couldn't just let them slip by and ignore them. But I do like it better! Though the explicit version isn't w/Hank Jr, so that is a minus, of course.

Treacher?

Do you read "Mother May I Sleep With Treacher"?

Here's line from his most recent post on something Whoopi Goldberg said:

"Good point, Whoopi: What would John McCain know about being imprisoned and beaten for years by people who hate you because of where you came from?"

September 17, 2008

Oprah's show on child predators.

I caught 5 minutes of this and had to turn it off.  I was physically ill when she showed the instruction booklet on how to take proper porn pictures of babies 0+, 3-6 months old, 12 months, 18 months in age.  Someone made an instruction booklet for getting good pictures - by "good" I mean pictures that people  will pay money to buy/see.  HOW DISGUSTING.  That someone would do this to a child is so sickening.  I can only hope there is a special place in hell for this type of person.  She showed some sick examples of what is out there (with the proper blurring, thank god or I would have simply died).  I cannot imagine these poor children.

Seriously, if I caught someone doing that to a child, any child, I would have to kill them.

The point of Oprah's show was to raise awareness ( I am aware now, although I cannot stomach watching the rest of the show ) and to gain support for a new law designed to help protect our children.  Please follow the links to get to your Senator's contact pages and let them know you support the bill.

For children.  For your children.  For your future grandchildren.

http://www.askmoxie.org/2008/09/super-important-us-bill-about-online-child-predators.html

Sexy me!!!

Click for pic---

Getting rid of my premature grays!!!

September 16, 2008

100 days 'til Christmas!

I am so doing this!!!

http://www.100daystochristmas.com/

Heaven knows we need all the help we can get getting things done EVERY DAY, we really need it for a big event like Christmas!  Every year there are so many things I WANT to do, but forget to get started in time or forget to do at all!  So let's give this one a try!

September 15, 2008

Jennifer Lopez - HOW????

See this pic of Jenny from the Block?

http://www.foxnews.com/photoessay/photoessay_5111_images/0915081130_M_lopez.jpg

How did that stomach just hold two babies? WHERE DID ALL THE STRETCHY SKIN GO? How is this possible?

September 14, 2008

hahahaha

 
Somewhere in the UK they just figured out that young people will try and get the roadside radar detectors to go bonkers - they try to ge the highest reading possible.
 
Oh yes, I would be guilty of this one - in my younger days ( which was not that long ago, of course ).  When I had my T-Top Z28 ( a total just-graduated-girl car ) I would totally STOMP it and see just how high I could get the thing to read.  Everyone I knew ( of the same age ) did the same thing. 

September 13, 2008

4 day school week

UM!  NO!  I just read an article in the local paper that our school board is actually considering this.  ARE THEY INSANE?

The plan is to have the school day be 10 hours and have the children go 4 days per week rather than 5.

I cannot believe they even consider it.  While I think the 7 hour day they have now is fine although I wouldn't complain if it was a tad longer, there's  no way children can learn effectively with a 10 hour day.  Of course, there are a ton of other issues to consider, aside from if the children can handle it.

They better decide this is a no - go!

September 12, 2008

EWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

You know it's bad when, you look thru the openings on the pool skimmer lid and you see...

EYES LOOKING BACK AT YOU.

Lord help me.

September 11, 2008

Where were you when the world stopped turning?

I was on my way to work and 6 months pregnant when I heard a plane hit the WTC.

"How did the pilot make THAT mistake?" I thought.

Never in my wildest dreams did I think that someone.  ANYONE would do something like this.  It did not even cross my mind.  Even when I arrived at work and my coworker (Stan) said another plane hit the other building, I thought "Damn, twice?  How could that happen twice?".  I really didn't think it could be an attack.  But as the morning wore on, it became quite clear that is exactly what it was.

Our office was right outside Dulles Airport and the rumors on the TV had us going crazy.  Our admin rushed to Circuit city to buy a bigger tv and antenna so we could watch the coverage, but as the news people repeated the rumors that there were planes missing that had left or were headed for Dulles, we all went a little crazy.  They sent us home.

So I got in my truck and headed west towards Leesburg, down the 2 lane highway of Rt. 7.  And sat in standstill traffic.  "Hmm, if we ever have a big evacuation of the DC area, this road is going to be awful", I thought.  I had been speaking all morning with my husband.  He was declard "emergency personnel" and not allowed to leave work.  Now that is scary - being forced to stay in a gov't office when gov't buildings are under attack.  Scary for him and for me, wondering if at any moment me and my son would be without him.

I went home, and like everyone else, watched the coverage on the TV and began to hear stories.  It was hard to concentrate because family was calling to check on me and the baby as well as where was my Hubby and why wasn't he allowed to come home.  Then calls to find my best friend's sister, who lived right near the WTC in NYC.  But as the phone calls stopped and I could focus on what I was seeing on TV, the disbelief.

So many people missing.  So many people in anguish as they searched and hoped.

I hope we never have something like this here again.  I will back any measure necessary at any security checkpoint if it's goal is to keep me safe (and the measure ACTUALLY does keep me safe - banning fingernail clippers is a bit ridiculous - even I could stop a terrorist armed with fingernail clippers).  Want me there 5 hours before my flight because of more intense searching? FINE.  Want a background check and fingerprints before buying a plane ticket?  FINE.  When they make me take the 2 babies out of their double stroller and all take all our gear out of it so they can swab it, FINE.  Keep me safe.  Keep everyone safe.  That is a good goal. 

To our armed forces working to keep us safe every minute of every day, I thank you.

To the people hurting today, just as much as that day 7 years ago, I am so sorry.  We cannot let this happen again.

September 10, 2008

the hell?

what is "Bud Light & Clamato Chelada Beer"?

my god, how can people like this exist in the world?

I am physically ill and teary after reading this.  I can only hope that these adults get SEVERLY punished.  My preference would be that they be treated like they treated the child.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,419502,00.html

September 09, 2008

1st day of preschool

I think ToddlerT is enjoying it - though the look on his face when I said goodbye sort of indicated that he didn't get the jist of how this whole school thing works, even though we went over it time and time again.  But I imagine he's fine, as long as he's not covered in other kids' urine.

Another mom decided TODAY was the day to start potty training her daughter so she sent her right into school unprepared as well.  Yet another child and their mom we won't be associating with.

September 08, 2008

Why bother??

Click for pic.

I wonder sometimes ....

Black Cloud

I am such a sucker for crappy movies.

I was channel surfing yesterday and came across Black Cloud. I saw that Tim McGraw is in it?? So, of course, I was hooked.

Wow, what a terrible movie though seeing Tim as the sheriff and lots of Tim music make it more than bearable!  But please don't run out and rent it because of me (unless you also like Tim McGraw!)...

September 07, 2008

Sunday School!

I had the older 2 boys signed up for Sunday school.  My parents always just dropped us off at the church and went back home, so I assumed BabyJ and I would go find something to do for an hour then return to pick up the kids.

As I dropped TodderT off at his 2 year old class (where he was THRILLED to be there) it occurred to me that they were sort of expecting the parents to be around, in the building somewhere.  hmmm.  what to do then?

So I took BabyJ to the nursery and asked if I could hang out in there with her - they had the service on closed circuit TV (this is quite the nice fancy church - and the people are the friendliest I have ever met).  So I get her settled and am just sort of hanging out oddly watching her and the sermon.

One of the room mothers urged me to go to the service - BabyJ is fine!  Go! she says.  Hmm.  Go do something adult?  On a whim?  Ok...I left the room and peed thru the window a couple of times and BabyJ was happily eating cheerios and hanging w/the other kids.

So I went up to service.  This is easily the first time I've been to church that wasn't for a wedding, funeral, or Christmas service in I don't even know how many years.

And you know what?  I ENJOYED IT.  I enjoyed the sermon and I enjoyed just watching the people  - thinking they all got up today and came to the early service simply to feed their soul.  I came to entertain my kids on a long Sunday and got some wonderful sermon as a surprise.

So guess what?  Next Sunday we'll go back (Son also LOVED his class) and I'll be ready for the adult service.  I really really did enjoy myself and enjoyed listening.

September 05, 2008

UGH! GROSS!

BabyT went to the preschool open house today.  We are sending him to the same church based preschool that Son went to becuase it is AWESOME and the teachers are great and really love the kids.  Everyone remembered us even though Son hasn't been there in 2 years!
 
So we get BabyT into his class and he's playing.  I hear one of the mom's telling the teachers that she started potty training her son 3 days ago and it isn't working, so he's in a pullup now.  She asks what she should do.

WHOA!  HOLD ON LADY.  This is a school that makes it very clear children should be potty trained.  NO EXCEPTIONS.  Now, I did have a similar problem w/Son - I didn't realize until the weekend before school that potty training was required.  So, luckily he's awesome, and he just put on underwear and went with it.  I remember having some issues on that first day, but other than that he was GREAT - he told me to stop asking him if he needed to go, he'd tell me.  And he did.  For the record, Son was the ONLY child in the 2 year old class that year not to have an accident, by the way (he was also the child with the MOST separation anxiety, but that is beside the point).
 
So the teacher tells her they MUST be potty trained - they aren't licensed to change diapers and he cannot wear pullups.
 
So the mom says "Ok, I'll just send him in underwear then".
 
What the F#@*$@?  You are giong to send a not-potty trained child TO SCHOOL IN UNDERWEAR?  WHAT IS YOUR PROBLEM? IT IS NOT THE TEACHER'S JOB TO POTTY TRAIN YOUR CHILD!  There are only 2 children, and if one is always cleaning up her son's accidents, then the other kids will get jipped on activities.
 
SO GUESS WHAT HAPPENS?
 
The little boy says - "Mom, there's a mess!" and points at a puddle of pee on the floor - which consequently is in between her son and mine.
 
She quickly feels him and declares LOUDLY, "Nope, not you honey, you're dry!!!!!".
 
Hmmm.  The kid that is not potty trained is standing next to a puddle of pee and you're insinuating that MY CHILD, the one that has been trained since June has peed on the floor?  And that YOUR SON, the one you KNOW is not potty trained, who is wearing a glorified diaper, didn't do it?
 
So I walk to BabyT and ask if he's dry and I get the "Duh Mom" look from him.   I say, "No, Tyler's dry".
 
She checks again...."Oops!  He peed thru the pullup!  I wonder how that happened?"  MORON.  I was seething.  It was a good thing hubby went with us because he probably saved her from a tongue lashing from me.
 
So I hear her discussing w/the teacher that yes, he's supposed to be potty trained, but she thought it would only take 3 days and doesn't understand why he doesn't get it.  MORON.  There is a reason parents usually fear potty training.  It can be hard.  It can take a while (which is why I started in Freaking JUNE!).  She even asks what their tolerance is - how many accidents can he have before they kick him out.  I would say "NONE.  BRING HIM BACK WHEN HE IS POTTY TRAINED.  IT IS NOT CALLED AN ACCIDENT IF THEY AREN'T TRAINED IN THE FIRST PLACE, THAT'S CALLED NEEDING A DIAPER AND YOUR MOM LETS YOU PEE ON THE FLOOR". 
 
I can really bet he's not potty trained on #2 either.  I plan on keeping BabyT as far from this lady and her son as I can.  If for no other reason that she apparently thinks it's ok to PLAN for your child to pee anywhere they currently happen to be standing.  I don't have any respect for people that don't follow rules and are gross.  Guess what - the world doesn't revolve around you.
 
And - guess what else?  She, knowing he isn't potty trained, didn't bring any extra clothes with her (also a smooth move) and DIDN'T LEAVE AFTER HE PEED ALL OVER HIMSELF, instead continued to let him play with all the toys and kids and sit on the carpet and chairs with his urine soaked clothes.  GROSS.
 
Of course he wandered over to BabyJ and took the toys she had right out of her hands.  And of course, his mother was paying no attention to what he was doing so she didn't say anything to him.  Of course, I did.  And loudly - "Please do not take toys from other children.  That is not how we behave!".  He's lucky BabyJ didn't give him the smackdown that she usually gives her brothers when they take things from her - he would have been crying - but of course, then she would have had his pee all over her as he was SOAKED AND HIS MOTHER DIDN'T EITHER CHANGE HIM OR TAKE HIM HOME.
 
Gawd.  I don't know why I don't usually make other mommy friends at preschool!

September 04, 2008

even my toddler knows stomping feet doesn't work

Anyone notice bloggers that are for Obama are angry this week?  Quite a lot of them are saying (in summary) that "you are a fool if you don't see it the way I do".  I don't know if they are all of a sudden more worried now that Sarah Palin has appeared?  Are they worried the treatment of Palin will sway Obama voters her way?  They seem to be doing a lot of tantrum throwing all of a sudden. 
 
I won't stop reading any of the blogs I follow that may declare their love for Obama / throw a tantrum.  I probably read them because they are funny, not because I'm looking for politcal guidance.  But it does give me more insight into them, and that is always good.
 
But throwing a public tantrum and pretty much calling me a stupid redneck for not voting the same way as you?  NOT GOING TO EARN OBAMA any votes!
 
I am not a Republican on all issues - far from it.  But I am extremely against national healthcare (why is it my responsibility to pay to provide healthcare to everyone? I thought I was only responsible for the little people I birthed, but excuse me if I am wrong on that count), I am VERY against higher taxes (we fall into upper class because of income limits, but living in the DC area, are NOT WEALTHY because our area pretty much requires 2 incomes to survive).  I am willing and always seek out other people's opinions in case there is an area where I am either mis-informed or don't have enough experience/knowledge in that area to make an informed decision (example: CecilyK and Julia single-handedly changed my view from pro-life to pro-choice) - but foot stomping is not the way to do it.
 
Ask my two year old - any request bundled with foot stomping gets no attention from me.

so. let me get this straight...

Obama can run for PRESIDENT with small children and that is fine.

Palin is being criticized for running for VICE PRESIDENT with small children?

Seriously people, get it together.  If you want to criticize her on her past performance, etc., do so, but leave the child-rearing part out of it.