Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Cute Piccies of the Princess

Uber-stylish. Last night Princess Thumbelina wanted to wear her sunglasses as she coloured.





Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Kids!

Sunday night on the way in to church, Thumbelina fell asleep in the truck. Because she didn't nappy in the afternoon. Mr. Happy was working in the barn, Zoomer had spent the afternoon taking a test to get his gun license, and Shaggy and Tigger took off running, leaving me in their dust. As a result, I didn't have enough hands to carry all the paraphernalia that comes along with being me, so I left my music binder in the truck.

Of course Thumbelina woke up once we took her coat off, and my ladies' trio wanted to practice, so I sent Shaggy out to the truck...with my keys...to get my binder.

Fast forward to after church; it was fellowship night so most everybody was already in the fellowship hall fellowshipping. I was talking with a girlfriend and making her feel better that my kids are worse than hers (that's a whole nuther post of it's own) - I told her that's why I was put on this earth...so that other people could feel better about themselves...hey, at least I can laugh at myself. And other people can too. Anyhoo, back to the topic at hand...Thumbelina and I were almost the last people in the church building, so I went to get my keys out of my purse so that I could stick my assorted paraphernalia into the truck before heading over to the fellowship hall. Except they weren't there.

Mild panic.

We went to the nursery to look for my keys, because Shaggy took Thumbelina to the nursery to play after he brought me my music book. They weren't there.

Still mild panic. Maybe Shags left them in the truck and maybe the truck was unlocked.

Thumbelina and I headed out to the truck but it was locked, and it was too dark to see if there were any keys there. So then we headed into the fellowship hall to find Shaggy and ask him what he did with them. Remember, this is the kid with dyslexia...the kid who can't remember to bring his homework home and who is famous for losing everything...and yes, I was kicking myself for giving him my keys...on our way to find Shaggy, Thumbelina and I passed by my friend whose kids are not as bad as mine and I told her my predicament...as she stood there trying not to laugh at me...it was a concerned laugh...

Found Shaggy as he was being lectured by the Preacher not to push other kids (this story just keeps getting better, doesn't it). Asked Shaggy where my keys were and he said he put them on the piano. Preacher lent me his keys to get back into the church building because it was locked. I left Thumbelina in Shaggy's care...pretty certain he wasn't going to loose her...and headed back to the room where my ladies' trio had been practicing.

No keys.

Panic.

Back to the nursery I went to look a bit more thoroughly, all the while my mind is racing and going to all the places my keys could potentially be...

No keys.

Panic.

Headed back to the fellowship hall and passed Zoomer on my way in who said, "There you are!" And I replied hurriedly, "I can't find my keys!"

Gave Preacher's keys back to his wife and made a bee-line to Shaggy to check his coat pockets. No keys, but I did find wads and wads of candy wrappers. You're all shocked, I can tell.

My friend asked me if I found my keys yet and I told her no, and said I thought it was probably time to call Mr. Happy to come and get us. Her husband offered to drive us home...and I was contemplating which children were going to walk home and which children were going to spend the night...when Zoomer pops up beside me dangling my keys. My keys!!!

Apparently he had taken them out of my purse to unlock the truck so that he could put his stuff in the truck before he went over to the fellowship hall.

Disbelief. Relief. And I wanted to strangle him. I think he gave me a few new gray hairs, too!

So the moral of this story is...just give in and let the kids rule the world. They're going to anyway.

Monday, February 25, 2008

Moronic

I am such a moron. No, really, I am.

Thumbelina has been having diaper issues for the last few weeks. They've been leaking, especially at night, so in the morning her jammies are usually wet as well. And while they're still fitting okay, the diapers are not as easy to put on and not as roomy as they were a few weeks ago. I was thinking that maybe I should move her up to the next size of diapers, but I just did that in November. And I was having a hard time believing that she would need the next size of diapers so soon after going into size 4. Size 4. And then I looked at the bag of diapers, and I've been buying size 3.

Moron.

Saturday, February 23, 2008

Have a Laugh

It's quiet in bloggerville today. What - everybody has a life or something? I have a Mr. Happy who's working at the barn, a son who is at a firearms/hunting course, another one typing something on a computer, the third is supposedly cleaning his room, and the princess is asleep. And I just finished vacuuming and now my back is sore, so I need a rest. Not that you're interested in all that, I just thought I'd throw that in for free.

So the laugh. We have a fancy-shmancy phone system that gives us multiples extensions for multiple locations. It's great. The phone calls come in at the house and I can send the caller to wherever the person is they're looking for. Except the phone in our basement has an echo and it drives me crazy. Mr. Happy downloaded an upgrade and installed it, so the other night when we were watching TV, he asked me to call the 2nd line and talk to Zoomer upstairs to see if the echo was still there. Zoomer knew this was going to happen.

So I called the number...mind you I was half lying on the couch and the phone was on the table up near my head, so I could only partially see the numbers as I was dialing. Our conversation went something like this:

Zoomer: Hullo (in a whispery, bored, monotone sounding voice)

Me: It's me.

Zoomer: Uhuh

Me: Watcha doin?

Zoomer: Nuthin

Me: Hey, there's no echo.

Zoomer: Uhuh

Me: Why is your voice like that?

Zoomer: What do you mean?

Me: Why are you disguising your voice? You sound like an old man!

Zoomer: What?

Me: Your voice - you're starting to freak me out!

Zoomer: Who is this?

Me: Oh Zoomer!

And I hung up. And then Zoomer came downstairs wondering why I hadn't called him yet...

I have no idea who I called...but the conversation was exactly like one I'd have with Zoomer, that's why I thought it was him...except I was starting to get freaked out because his voice never changed from the whispery, bored, monotone, and I was surprised that Zoomer could pull that off for so long.

Mr. Happy said I probably insulted a very nice old man.

And Thumbelina was a stinker going to bed that night. She was just running circles in her playpen and falling and giggling. When we went to bed, she was nekkid. Totally nekkid and asleep. And her bed was wet. I sure hope she grows out of this clothing aversion thing before she gets too much older!

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Frustration

I am frustrated today. All day long I've been frustrated, in fact. It started when I couldn't get the carseat buckled into the truck properly this morning (I was babysitting assorted nieces and nephews yesterday and the extra space was needed in the truck, hence why the carseat was taken out in the first place). And then later on in the morning, my assistant was experiencing computer difficulties. I couldn't even go pee in peace.

Get on with the story, already Jaj, jeesh!

Okay. Okay. So Shaggy came home from school today with what is obviously pink-eye. Or some other such affliction, which is causing his eye to ooze goop and tears and is red and itchy. I called our doctors office a full half-hour before they closed never expecting to get an appointment for this afternoon, but it doesn't hurt to ask.

Me: Hi, I'd like to make an appointment for my son to see my doctor this afternoon.

GTTMOBOHI (Girl That Ticked Me Off Because Of Her Indifference): What is your son's name?

Me: Shaggy Jaj

GTTMOBOHI: I'm sorry but your doctor has stopped seeing patience for the day as of 4:00. What seems to be the problem?

Me: He came home from school with pink eye.

GTTMOBOHI: Ewe. Can you please hold?

GTTMOBOHI: Thank you for holding.

Me: Well what about tonight?

GTTMOBOHI: He's not taking any patients tonight and I'm pretty sure the family doctor on call is all booked up for tonight. Can you please hold?

GTTMOBOHI: Sorry about that.

Me: Well, can my doctor just call in a prescription for me?

GTTMOBOHI: I'm not even sure he's still here. I can leave him the message but he won't get it if he's not here. And it will cost you $5.00. Can you please hold?

GTTMOBOHI: Has he ever done this for you before?

Me: For me he has, but not for my son. He used to get conjunctivitis all the time when he was little, and we just need some gentamicin drops.

GTTMOBOHI: Can you hold?

I have no idea why I was put on hold so many times...there were no phones ringing in the background and all was quiet...it was getting annoying...

GTTMOBOHI: What pharmacy?

Me: The new pharmacy on the corner that is open until midnight. Can I make an appointment with my doctor tomorrow in case he doesn't get your message?

GTTMOBOHI: No. You'll have to call back tomorrow.

Me: insert crickets chirping

GTTMOBOHI: You'll have to call back tomorrow to see if there's a cancellation.

Me: So can I make an appointment for him to see the doctor on call?

GTTMOBOHI: No. The on-call doctor only works on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.

Me: Wanting to bang my head on the wall because I can't see my own doctor and I can't see the on-call doctor, even though when we signed up with the family of physicians it was supposed to guarantee an appointment with a doctor. You know what, just forget about it. I'll just take him to the walk-in tonight.

GTTMOBOHI: Okay.

Grrrrrr.

I'm all growly now. It has been months and months since I've been able to see my own doctor. I like my doctor. And it wouldn't be so bad if we could actually see the doctor on call, but we usually can't see that doctor either. I just want to get the drops to minimize the spread of the pink eye to the other members of the household.

You know what the worst part of this family group of physicians is? If it's my doctor on call, the girls who answer the phone won't even book his own patients to see him because he has to be open for the other doctor's patients.

Grrrrrr.

Saturday, February 16, 2008

This Post Is Brought To You By the Number 16

Oh sorry, I was channeling Kermit the Frog there for a minute.

So guess what Valentine's Day was! Go on, guess!


Good guess. Now guess how many years (there's a hint for you in the title of this post)...Aren't my roses beautiful??? Mr. Happy's tradition is to buy me one rose for each year we've been married. This year, he threw in 3 extra roses (the yellow, white and pink) because he thought they looked pretty...and because at times it's been a challenging year:
We celebrated with take-out from Boston Pizza. Look! They even made the pizza in the shape of a heart:
The children each received non-candy gifts - Thumbelina's was a heart shaped pillow that she immediately threw on the floor and laid her head upon:
I don't think Tigger could grin any wider if he tried:
So that was Valentine's Day. Today is not Valentine's Day. Today is a day for children to decide to get fevers and other ailments. Three of the four children are sick. Only one is pathetic, although the littlest one was up for a couple of hours last night. She has a stuffy nose, so I think she just had a sore throat from breathing through her mouth (at least I did)...but today...ooooh today she has the kind of ailment where it takes 2 adults to change her diaper, with the help of many many wipies, and then a bath.

The pathetic one is Shaggy and he even skipped out on supper - that's how sick he is. Poor guy. Although he only has a fever, and not a high one at that. But still...for Shaggy not to even want to eat...

Tigger has a fever and has had it since yesterday. He isn't as hot today as he was yesterday.

And yes, now I have a stomachache. Not because I'm getting sick, but because I am paranoid about getting the stomach flu and if someone even hints that they're not feeling well, I automatically get a stomachache.

Family Day should be loads of fun.

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

One of Those Days

Today was one of those days. A double Joe Louis kind of day.

Shaggy and I had a rough morning. It was the kind of morning where you just want to crawl back into bed and pull the covers over head as you find your happy place. Shaggy was up at 6:25 because he thought it was a snow day. And when I told him it wasn't...he went nuclear. He only gets up that early on his days off from school.

And later on, while Thumbelina was having her quiet time, I was cleaning bedrooms. When I peaked in on her, she was little miss nekkid again. Except this time there was poop. She looked at me all innocent like and asked, "Ba?" Meaning, "Bath?" After her bath I stuck her in the highchair whilst I cleaned up the mess. It wasn't squishy, so it wasn't too hard to clean, but I did end up throwing a lite saber out because there was some poop squished in the grooves of the handle...it was just too gross to even think about.

Plus I'm getting annoyed with my assistant. I always say that the only stupid questions are the ones that aren't asked, but today I found out that there really can be stupid questions asked.

And now there's a third Joe Louis calling out to me...and I'm finding it ever so hard to resist his calls.

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

When I'm A Old Lady

...and live with my kids

When I'm an old lady, I'll live with each kid,
And bring so much happiness...just as they did.
I want to pay back all the joy they've provided.
Returning each deed! Oh, they'll be so excited!
(When I'm an old lady and live with my kids)

I'll write on the wall with reds, whites and blues,
And I'll bounce on the furniture...wearing my shoes.
I'll drink from the carton and then leave it out.
I'll stuff all the toilets and oh, how they'll shout!
(When I'm an old lady and live with my kids)

When they're on the phone and just out of reach,
I'll get into things like sugar and bleach.
Oh, they'll snap their fingers and then shake their head,
(When I'm an old lady and live with my kids)

When they cook dinner and call me to eat,
I'll not eat my green beans or salad or meat,
I'll gag on my okra, spill milk on the table,
And when they get angry...I'll run...if I'm able!
(When I'm an old lady and live with my kids)

I'll sit close to the TV, through the channels I'll click,
I'll cross both eyes just to see if they stick.
I'll take off my socks and throw one away,
And play in the mud 'til the end of the day!
(When I'm an old lady and live with my kids)

And later in bed, I'll lay back and sigh,
I'll thank God in prayer and then close my eyes.
My kids will look down with a smile slowly creeping,
And say with a groan, "She's so sweet when she's sleeping!"

Sunday, February 10, 2008

PBD - Day 2 - Saturday

Saturday was Day 2 of Shanny's Photo Bloggy Days. Just bear with me and try not to let the excitement that is my life overwhelm you.

I tried to sleep in. My goal was 8:00, but I only made it to 7:15...Mr. Happy had already fed Thumbelina her breakfast and Shaggy was playing with her, so I went to my computer and posted Day 1 of Shanny's Photo Bloggy Days.

Dolores asked if that was a typical day, and yes it was. Minus the battle of homework after school (the boys need a break so I don't make them do homework on Friday nights) and on regular nights, I usually try to go to bed by 10:00...but since I had planned on sleeping in, I stayed up until midnight...next time I'll have to let Thumbelina in on my plans too.


Of course Thumblina soon got bored with her brother and wasn't happy that she was stuck on the other side of the gate:

I needed to get to work planning this week's menu so that Mr. Happy could go to the store for me and buy the groceries:

Thumbelina kept herself busy by reading:

And getting into the garbage:

And just being adorable:

So I decided she needed another snack:

Mmmmm, applesauce:

The aftermath of Hurricane Thumbelina:

Next came quiet time so that I could finish my meal planning:

There, that's better:

And because I am a freak, I type out my grocery list and arrange things as they are laid out in the store...Mr. Happy used to make fun of me for doing this until he discovered that my organizational skillz are quite convenient:

10:30 and time for homework:

Somebody wasn't too happy:

11:00 and time to practice...with my helper, of course:

And also time to clean up the kitchen:

And let the boys finally eat breakfast - I wouldn't let them eat before homework, because they had already been up for 3 hours....they were just using hunger as a stall tactic:

My Tray of Togetherness:

I tried a candy from it...it was sort of like a buttercream candy but with a different sort of aftertaste:

11:30 and time to dust:

12:00 and Thumbelina needed her lunch:

While I worked at getting the spilled wax off of the entertainment centre (I won't tell you that it's been there since Christmas):

Zoomer making himself a grilled cheese:

My lunch (leftover fried rice):

Shaggy talking to the in-laws at the compound:

Sometime in the afternoon while Thumbelina was napping, I decided to go through the toys and start organizing them; Mr. Happy had taken Shaggy and Tigger with him to the grocery store...he was actually going to take them sledding, but they wasted time getting their chores done and by the time they were ready to go, it was raining...

Plus I managed to throw out a couple of bags of old and broken toys:

Time for laundry (I have no idea what time it is now...4:00 ish maybe):

While watching my all important decorating shows:

With the Little Miss' help, of course:

And what a good helper she is:

5:00 ish and time to put the groceries away and make supper:

Easy Meatball Panini:

The finished product (basically a meatball sub):

With pudding for dessert:

Such a happy child:

Um, yeah:

He's related to his relatives:

This was Thumbelina's expression when she heard the water running in the bathtub...she loves her bath:

All clean and ready for bed:

I didn't take any more pictures of my day, but after cleaning up the kitchen, and tucking the littler boys into bed, I sat on the couch and started dozing off as Zoomer and Mr. Happy were watching NASCAR. But then I decided I needed to iron to get the church clothes ready for this morning. I was still late, even with having everything ready to go - like really late - like so late that I didn't have time to practice my solo with my piano player so when I sang in the service this morning, that was my practice...that's how late I was...not that you needed to know that, I just threw that in for good measure.