Adventures in coffee

get up early with son,
start pancakes, bacon and grind coffee beans
unload dishwasher while cooking pancakes.
kettle whistles
... combine coffee grinds and hot water in French press, filling house with good coffee smell.
get out coffee cup
daughter, scared of thunder, comes stumbling out bedroom and requires soothing before I convince her to go climb in bed with daddy.
head for coffee cup, only to be thwarted by son, who has taken it upon himself to stir the remaining pancake mix.
flip pancake just in time.
take bacon off before it burns.
flip another pancake.
rest of family, roused by all the smells, emerge.
daughter is sitting down to eat just in time to need the potty.
daughter starts crying because the thunder is scary and she doesn't want to go alone.
flip pancake.
convince daughter I cant leave pancakes unattended, and she agrees to use my bathroom (safer than hers for some reason).
flip pancakes
daughter comes out with undies around ankles sobbing because daddies in the safe bathroom.
by this point she needs to go so bad, it doesn't take much to get her into the scary bathroom.
flip pancake.
Intervene when cat picks fight with dog, near son. resort to rolling exercise ball at cat like bowling ball to get her away.
get everyone milk and settled at the bar with food.
daddy emerges from bathroom.
I finish pancakes.
get plate and actually pour coffee.
then realize husband is leaving for school in 10 minutes and I haven't packed his lunch. pack lunch. deal with screaming toddler son who is wants daddies lunch for breakfast.
Son finishes breakfast just in time to soak his cloth diaper.
take diaper off, wipe.
grab stuff for new diaper, catch naked son and wrestle WWE champ into new diaper.
get son clothes so he wont strip diaper off.
put creamer in coffee.
Kiss husband goodbye, and ensure that everyone gets a hug and kiss before he leaves so no one starts crying.
clean up syrupy plates before son tries to use one for hat again.
drink coffee.
type this.
and now I'm going to head off daughter who just headed for door with a fishing pole, stating that its raining so much, maybe she could catch some fish in the yard. My life was so boring before kids, I don't know how I managed...

Super bow

For a family who wasn't even sure what teams were playing, we sure stayed up late watching the super bowl.  (belle calls it super bow)         The only reason sarge watches it is he likes the commercials. 

    The only reason I went is because sarge was going to be there,  and I knew the kids would have fun :)     We were over at his parents house, and I successfully made it for how ever long the super  bow is  around the sister in law who wronged me, taking away my little income that just paid the mortgage,  and the person she got to replace me.   and I was nice to both of them.      score for taking the higher ground and working on forgiving!!

           I was quite frankly embarrassed by alot of the commercials, to say nothing of the halftime show.      Before we turned off the cable, it wouldn't have bothered me.     

I guess I'm not desensitised to that sort of thing anymore, not having seen it much the last year.

The food was good,  but I counted just two dishes that were not drowned in cream cheese
The kids and I are not use to eating much dairy,   so we all have upset tummy's now.    

Next year I think we'll bring our own food, and leave the room for the halftime show. 

I miss the days when the H in Halftime show didnt stand for Hoe dance..

Friends

Sometimes I wonder what exactly is wrong with me.       How could I have friends and not know it??

And  my gosh, what do you say when someone says you have beautiful shiny hair?
I am so suprised when someone complements me, or says they missed me the other night at (insert gathering/party/whatever)   I dont really know what to say....   
And Im not sure why!!!                 

Its going to take some getting use to,  but I am putting myself out there.   In this whole..  Friend world.

   Setting up Playdates at the park,   INVITING PEOPLE OVER TO MY HOUSE!    
This in all new territory for me.   I had friends as a kid, but hitting the teenage years(for many different reasons that i wont get into)   I had exactly 0  friends.     

       Hence, I have no experience with friends,unless my new adult friends want to help me build a big sandcastle at the park, earn girl scout badges, or ambush  a neighbor with the waterhose and demand to know if hes wearing a wig or is that his REAL hair?     

I guess I'll just have to be myself,  (since thats who they like in the first place)     and see how things go!!!                  annd im Diving it!!!   I'll let you know, (or rather I'll record it for myself to read later, because im pretty sure no one reads this)    how things go...........

Fun with dick and jane

Bedtime is becoming a very difficult time for me.
Trying not to burst out laughing.
nay,  trying to read and being unable because of laughing.
Not being able to explain to your daughter why your laughing.

It all comes from the ultimate dick and jane story book collection my mother in law gave Belle for christmas.  

It reads something like this-

  oh, oh, sally.   See dick and jane go down. down, down, down.   oh, oh,oh,  funny dick,  funny jane.      

Come dick, come dick,  oh, oh, oh, come and see jane go down.       funny jane.

I see funny dick.     look jane look!   oh, oh oh, jane look!  funny dick.

Sally said, oh, dick!    pretty pretty!   make it big, big, big,!     
jane said- run away puff!  run away spot!

It has me longing to read little house on the prairie again,   or dr. seuss.          but no....  every night!     thank goodness its only 367 pages.   And thank goodness its plastered with perfectly innocent pictures that take up most of the page. 

No more Susie

Whew!   My poor babies were sick for a whole week!    Had that awful norovirus that's going around.      And of course my niece Susie who I get paid to watch during the day, stayed with her retired grandfather because her parents (understandably) didn't want her to catch it.     Little did i know, I would get a call (the day everyone was back on their feet)   from my sister in law.  we'll call her evil incarnate.   no, the wicked witch of the west..   welllll...  maybe just holy terror.              

anyway, i get a call from holy terror and guess what?   it was such a hardship for them to get her dad to watch Susie  they found a different babysitter!  who will stay at their house!     sorry for the short notice.  hope there's no hard feelings.            

BOY did i have a lot of feelings!      omg you Bi*ch! that's how i pay my mortgage, how can you do this to me you spawn of evil!!???      wow.     i don't have to deal with your bratty kid anymore!     I don't have to deal with you anymore!    (she  who finds it a much bigger offense if one of your kids makes a mess than if they lie and manipulate and even lie about not liking  food because they don't want to eat anything but captain crunch??  )          I don't have to listen to your lies, i don't have to listen to you Bi*ch,  and I can focus my energy on my babies, instead of focusing it on keeping them safe from your brat!
No, I didn't say any of that to her, but i realllly wanted to.    

So, things will be supertight $ wise for a while.   (like eating beans and conserving gas tight)
         But I am already a lot less stressed, and my house is staying clean because Susie is  a three year old wrecking crew like nobodies business.

In other news,   sarge and I are both sick now, and we spent the whole day in the living room with the kids watching Disney movies.   I am so happy to be blessed with a husband who likes kid movies!  we did get into a very deep discussion about  they fairies in pixy hollow..
Sarge- so, why is it they only deliver seasons and stuff in England?
Me-  well, think about it.   its totally unrealistic that that small amount of fairies  could bring changing seasons to the whole world!
Sarge- no, they totally  could do it. its magic.
We went on in a similar vein about homeward bound, Anastasia, the lion the witch and the wardrobe, Franklins magic Christmas, and Beethoven.
Not the worst way to spend a sick day :)
Oh, and Im reading Frank Baum's   book about Santa clause.  very entertaining!

suicide is NOT painless

I really want to do a post about chrismas, and post up the million pictures i got, but thats not whats on my mind.          

A few days before christmas, one of my best friends  witnessed her father in law commit suicide.
I wont put all the details in here, because no one else needs the mental pictures I have.
My  Christmas was tainted by shorty (yes thats what we called him)  killing himself.     
I faked christmas spirit pretty well for the kids, but deep down I really wanted to just go curl up and cry.  unfortunatly when i had the chance to do just that,  the tears wouldnt come.  
How could he do that?    right before christmas?    with her home?          Yes, he was a PTSD inflicted old man on medication, but its not like he couldnt think properly.     If you can leave a note saying your sorry, you should be able to realize that you will be traumatizing your daughter in law  to the point she cant sleep at night and is afraid to go out in her own pasture alone.              

Once upon a time in a different life,  I thought about it myself but I couldnt do it.   Thinking about how my mother would feel,  visualizing the scene, I just couldnt.        

I dont understand  how anyone could be so selfish!!  

All I can do is be the normal that she needs right now,  not money grubbing relatives who just want to know if he left them any money in his suicide note,  or someone wierd who doesnt know what to say so they dont say anything.   

I think my next post will be a nice happy one with christmas pictures, I just needed to get all that out of the way first.

"Friday" morning

Thanks to fall break, my week of watching Susie ended two days early!          Sarge didn't have to be at school till 9:30, so there was no reason for anyone to get up at six, or six thirty!    We enjoyed a late night family jam session on guitar hero, so the kiddos let us sleep in till 8!
We were all (including the cats)  cuddled up in the big bed, and sarge brings up breakfast.   " Belle  what do YOU want for breakfast??"   (im thinking -oh you!!      don't ask a three year old what they want!    you tell them what they can have!!)     Belle-  I want biscuits!!      Sarge- biscuits?  huh?    what do you say mom?
(his evil plan is becoming clear....)     Me-  oh, i would have to dig out that recipe.    ( no processed biscuits for us since i started insisting on whole wheat flour)        
Sarge-   wellll....   I was thinking something i could just pick up....     Me- you want doughnuts don't you!
 Sarge- It would be nice and easy!       Me-  ohh alright!!    (Sarge checks my pulse, and makes sure im not running a delirious fever)    

        Belle- NO!  i want biscuits daddy!        Sarge- (afraid his plan is backfiring) oh, Belle, don't you remember what doughnuts are??        there like biscuits, with sugar on them!    and a hole in the middle!

Needless to say, we had doughnuts for breakfast.

   
And In  an early morning sugar high Calvin decided to dance on the table, and narrowly avoided injury when he toppled off, because of super mommy's reflexes.       Speaking of super...       As long as breakfast is junk, why not watch a movie this morning and just make it a really fun day?     Belle thought that was fabulous, and  she took about 5 minutes to pick a movie.  The whole time,  I was thinking and willing in my head-  NOT the Incredibles...  NOT the Incredibles.....  please...      "mommy!   i wanna watch the credibles!!"          It seems like any time I let her watch a movie these days, usually afternoon, when school is done and Calvin and Susie are napping and i need her to be quiet,  and I end up listening to a book with earphones so I  don't have to hear it again.        

Sarge and I are listening to the same book,   Stephen  Kings   11-22-63 .  Im not usually a big Stephen king fan, but this book has me hooked!!    

Im gonna go listen to it right now, while i clean up junk cause the exterminator is coming for his regular spray and prevent evil bugs thing.