We've been pretty busy these past couple of days. On Saturday we attended the local carnival held by our town's fire department. It really is such a lovely event and we look forward to it every August.
Alexander and I have boarded the Dinocoaster. This is about my speed. Don't ask me to go on anything scarier!
Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!
and this sauce...
for this. One of the best pasta dishes I have ever made! (Recipe will be posted on the food blog. Stay tuned!)
Also made some of these... a whole new way to eat Cookies and Cream!
and decided to do a thorough cleaning... 
which left stuff scattered all across the kitchen. Not a spot on the floor nor counter top uncluttered!
and one by one I cleared out and tidied all the drawers...
and 13 hours after I started I am almost done!
As you can imagine I had some distractions along the way. I came across a note with Dell's telephone number on it along with some random numbers. Aha!!! The missing piece of paper. I brought the old laptop into the office and sat on the phone with Dell as they walked me through installing the new hard drive (other one crashed -- long story for another post) and all the software and internet capabilities. I was on the phone with them for nearly three hours.
During that time the two at home (Christopher has soccer camp this week) were amazingly quiet. They knew better than to interrupt me. They wanted their computer back! All the while I heard boxes being dumped, drawers being emptied and knew every single toy would end up on the floor. There was nothing I could do but listen, and cringe! Rebecca came in with a sandwich she had made me for lunch. She even thought to add some Baked Lay's Cheetos on my plate! It was 12:45 and I had been on the phone for just over 2 hours. I motioned that I couldn't eat as I needed to have my hands free to work the computer. I thanked her and sent her away.
A few minutes after that I heard the big plastic storage bin empty out on to the floor. The same one I had picked up earlier. I heard all 1021 Lego, Duplo and wooden block come crashing out in to the middle of the family room floor. I cringed some more. I was nearly done though. All I had left was to reconfigure the wireless chip as it was not working.
Alexander came in. Loudly he said "Mamma, I have to pooooooop!" I whispered to him to go ahead and motioned with my hand to leave the room. Vamoose! Just my luck. Then sooner than I had expected I heard "Mamma, I'm done!.... Mamma, I'm doooone! Mamma, I'm doooooooooone!" I heard him. I was not ignoring him. There was no way anyone would be able to ignore that screaming. But what could I do? I couldn't leave? I was typing away at the keys... inserting the necessary numbers and codes... I couldn't very well say "Excuse me, my three year old needs me now." That wouldn't sound so serious. Or important. And he didn't have an ant in his pants. This time. How to handle walking away from a Twenty-something techie of foreign nationality who was most likely single and child-free? Finally, as if by some miracle the internet icon lit up and I was wireless... and free! Free to go help my three year old whose little derriere was probably stuck to the potty by that point!
So I got the kids set up. Webkinz was their site of choice.
And I got back to my mess and muddled through making more and more and more of a mess as I was cleaning. (Why does cleaning have to be such a messy job?)
And then I noticed that it was 2:30 and Christopher had to be picked up. And neither kid wanted to come with me. Gee, I wonder why that would be? So after a good bit of hemming and hawing I decided to let Rebecca babysit Alexander. I have left them alone together before. Never more than 20 minutes though. And I am never more than a mile or so away. But I figured they wouldn't get into too much trouble on Webkinz. Rebecca knows the drill. Do not answer the phone unless you know who is calling. Don't answer the door. Play quietly. TV and computer are allowed. Rough-housing is not. Showering and bathing are not. Using the stove-top or microwave are not. She's a good kid. I trust her.
I left and locked the kids safely in the house. I returned about a half hour later and saw Daddy's car already in the garage. He was home early. And the house was a mess. A mess. More than a mess. It was a disaster. There were toys (millions of them) on the floor of every room. And then there was the kitchen. A disaster of a completely different kind.
And I went back to my desk. More cleaning. More tossing. More organizing. All along I am wondering how so much of the kids' crap ended up in all my drawers. I certainly never put it there. I found a Soduko book, a Mad Libs book, several notebooks, 3 lobster erasers, a broken pencil sharpener, a variety of broken and dried out pens, pencils and markers, a pair of blue sunglasses, stickers, stickers and more stickers, a barrette, a small metal spatula from the play kitchen, pictures from the kids, pictures of the kids, Play Doh bits... you name it, it was in there.
I used to have a drawer for the kids. The bottom drawer once contained paper and pencils, crayons and markers. I thought it a brilliant idea at the time. Until the kids started actually using it. Destroying it. So now that drawer is off limits. Now the entire desk is off limits. (Yeah, right, let's see how long that'll stay!)
Under my desk are now two small wicker file baskets. (There used to be one massive wicker basket for assorted art supplies. But the bigger the basket the bigger the mess!) One basket is for them to go into and the other one is the "Permission Basket" with items like scissors, paint, and glue.
In what used to be the kids drawer I found some writing of Becca's on a folded up piece of white paper. I opened it up and started howling. By the writing it seemed she had written it a couple of years ago. It's a story (loosely) based on Pinkalicious, a charming story of a little girl who turns pink because she ate too many pink cup cakes.
Here is Becca's version... Oh my... I'm chucking just thinking about it!
She ran as fast as she could to her car so her kids couldn’t see her. She rushed to her doctor and the doctor told her she had an odd case of Redwineatitis. She asked how she could get rid of it. The doctor said that she could get rid of it by drinking white wine!
Isn't that the funniest? Please don't call CPS!
Alexander and I have boarded the Dinocoaster. This is about my speed. Don't ask me to go on anything scarier!
Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!
Alexander had his first cotton candy. To say he loved it would be a complete understatement!
I also did my fair share of playing around in the kitchen, creating this...
and this sauce...
for this. One of the best pasta dishes I have ever made! (Recipe will be posted on the food blog. Stay tuned!)
Also made some of these... a whole new way to eat Cookies and Cream!
And these Espresso cookies made with three kinds of chocolate chips!
(Not terribly bright of me to have snuck a couple into bed last night!)
And today I had had enough of my messy desk ...
and decided to do a thorough cleaning...
which left stuff scattered all across the kitchen. Not a spot on the floor nor counter top uncluttered!
Look at all these ribbons I found jammed in to the back of one of the drawers!
It's funny... if you look closely, very closely at that wine glass it looks as though there is wine in it. But it was empty!
Eventually I started to make some progress...
Eventually I started to make some progress...
and one by one I cleared out and tidied all the drawers...
and 13 hours after I started I am almost done!
As you can imagine I had some distractions along the way. I came across a note with Dell's telephone number on it along with some random numbers. Aha!!! The missing piece of paper. I brought the old laptop into the office and sat on the phone with Dell as they walked me through installing the new hard drive (other one crashed -- long story for another post) and all the software and internet capabilities. I was on the phone with them for nearly three hours.
During that time the two at home (Christopher has soccer camp this week) were amazingly quiet. They knew better than to interrupt me. They wanted their computer back! All the while I heard boxes being dumped, drawers being emptied and knew every single toy would end up on the floor. There was nothing I could do but listen, and cringe! Rebecca came in with a sandwich she had made me for lunch. She even thought to add some Baked Lay's Cheetos on my plate! It was 12:45 and I had been on the phone for just over 2 hours. I motioned that I couldn't eat as I needed to have my hands free to work the computer. I thanked her and sent her away.
A few minutes after that I heard the big plastic storage bin empty out on to the floor. The same one I had picked up earlier. I heard all 1021 Lego, Duplo and wooden block come crashing out in to the middle of the family room floor. I cringed some more. I was nearly done though. All I had left was to reconfigure the wireless chip as it was not working.
Alexander came in. Loudly he said "Mamma, I have to pooooooop!" I whispered to him to go ahead and motioned with my hand to leave the room. Vamoose! Just my luck. Then sooner than I had expected I heard "Mamma, I'm done!.... Mamma, I'm doooone! Mamma, I'm doooooooooone!" I heard him. I was not ignoring him. There was no way anyone would be able to ignore that screaming. But what could I do? I couldn't leave? I was typing away at the keys... inserting the necessary numbers and codes... I couldn't very well say "Excuse me, my three year old needs me now." That wouldn't sound so serious. Or important. And he didn't have an ant in his pants. This time. How to handle walking away from a Twenty-something techie of foreign nationality who was most likely single and child-free? Finally, as if by some miracle the internet icon lit up and I was wireless... and free! Free to go help my three year old whose little derriere was probably stuck to the potty by that point!
So I got the kids set up. Webkinz was their site of choice.
And I got back to my mess and muddled through making more and more and more of a mess as I was cleaning. (Why does cleaning have to be such a messy job?)
And then I noticed that it was 2:30 and Christopher had to be picked up. And neither kid wanted to come with me. Gee, I wonder why that would be? So after a good bit of hemming and hawing I decided to let Rebecca babysit Alexander. I have left them alone together before. Never more than 20 minutes though. And I am never more than a mile or so away. But I figured they wouldn't get into too much trouble on Webkinz. Rebecca knows the drill. Do not answer the phone unless you know who is calling. Don't answer the door. Play quietly. TV and computer are allowed. Rough-housing is not. Showering and bathing are not. Using the stove-top or microwave are not. She's a good kid. I trust her.
I left and locked the kids safely in the house. I returned about a half hour later and saw Daddy's car already in the garage. He was home early. And the house was a mess. A mess. More than a mess. It was a disaster. There were toys (millions of them) on the floor of every room. And then there was the kitchen. A disaster of a completely different kind.
Daddy came down stairs, changed and in his play clothes. "The house is a disaster" he said sort of matter of factly. I went upstairs. Oh. my. G..... It was worse than a disaster! I chuckled. "What the hell ya been doin' all day?" he chided, "Eating bon bons on the couch?" He makes this accusation at least once a day. "Well," I told him. "I did ignore the children for three hours and let them loose around the house!" And then he says "What the Hell I pay ya for if you can't even keep the house clean?" He says this a lot too. Which is hilarious as I am about $277K underpaid. (I did not come up with this number randomly. There was a news story a year or so ago about the worth of Stay at Home Moms. Factor in all we do and we should gross almost $300K a year.)
I laughed... then told him to think about the next time he asked what I did all day. Because today he saw what happened when I didn't do what I normally do all day!
And I went back to my desk. More cleaning. More tossing. More organizing. All along I am wondering how so much of the kids' crap ended up in all my drawers. I certainly never put it there. I found a Soduko book, a Mad Libs book, several notebooks, 3 lobster erasers, a broken pencil sharpener, a variety of broken and dried out pens, pencils and markers, a pair of blue sunglasses, stickers, stickers and more stickers, a barrette, a small metal spatula from the play kitchen, pictures from the kids, pictures of the kids, Play Doh bits... you name it, it was in there.
I used to have a drawer for the kids. The bottom drawer once contained paper and pencils, crayons and markers. I thought it a brilliant idea at the time. Until the kids started actually using it. Destroying it. So now that drawer is off limits. Now the entire desk is off limits. (Yeah, right, let's see how long that'll stay!)
Under my desk are now two small wicker file baskets. (There used to be one massive wicker basket for assorted art supplies. But the bigger the basket the bigger the mess!) One basket is for them to go into and the other one is the "Permission Basket" with items like scissors, paint, and glue.
In what used to be the kids drawer I found some writing of Becca's on a folded up piece of white paper. I opened it up and started howling. By the writing it seemed she had written it a couple of years ago. It's a story (loosely) based on Pinkalicious, a charming story of a little girl who turns pink because she ate too many pink cup cakes.
Here is Becca's version... Oh my... I'm chucking just thinking about it!
“Winealishous”
There was a mom and she loved wine. Especially red wine. She loved it so much she drank 15 glasses a day. (She didn’t even get drunk!) One day she went over her limit. I mean way over her limit. How does 100 glasses sound? It was so crazy. She wouldn’t stop drinking! She stayed up so late drinking wine that she went to bed at 1:30 am and woke up at 12:30 pm. When she woke up she was red! She tried to take a shower but it wouldn’t come off.
There was a mom and she loved wine. Especially red wine. She loved it so much she drank 15 glasses a day. (She didn’t even get drunk!) One day she went over her limit. I mean way over her limit. How does 100 glasses sound? It was so crazy. She wouldn’t stop drinking! She stayed up so late drinking wine that she went to bed at 1:30 am and woke up at 12:30 pm. When she woke up she was red! She tried to take a shower but it wouldn’t come off.
She ran as fast as she could to her car so her kids couldn’t see her. She rushed to her doctor and the doctor told her she had an odd case of Redwineatitis. She asked how she could get rid of it. The doctor said that she could get rid of it by drinking white wine!
Isn't that the funniest? Please don't call CPS!