Full of Interesting-ness

No I haven't died or fallen off the face of the Earth, which I guess would probably result in me dying so that was redundant, but anyone keeping track would know that it's been a week since my last post. 

I've been a little bit busy.  Mostly sitting around watching TV and aimlessly toying around with my new, very first smart phone.  In fact, I composed a draft of this in a "Write & Go" app with the very awesome Swype technology.  Yeah, this makes me cool now.  You know, I like to be up on the trends, catching all the newest technology (even if I catch them a few years later than everyone else.)  Next on our list: DVR!

Anyway, I later discovered that it's actually not helpful to use this "Write and Go" app for this type of writing unless you just want to get your thoughts down some place and fast because now I'm copying what I typed on my phone to the computer.  This led me to download a Blogger app and another called "My Writing Spot" so we'll see if I like either one of them better.

Interesting, this post is huh?

Ok so I may or may not have had a few more things, more productive and less pathetic things, on my plate this past week.  I've been meal planning more often for Brynlee as her eating patterns evolve.  She's eating a bigger variety of things as well as more things.  (Lots of things going on around here.)  I spent three hours in the kitchen making all sorts of meals, veggies and fruits for her (she eats better than the rest of us) which was Tons-O-Fun if you consider a cramped thigh, sore feet and a butt load of dishes (and not just plates and bowls and silverware, but all that plus two pots and two pans) fun.  Why do the little people make the big messes and require the most stuff.  Needy.

Now my kitchen was a mess, but that was OK because it matched the rest of the house.  My house had all of a sudden looked like a construction crew came threw, remodeled some secret room that I don't know about and left all the mess (think drywall dust and dirty foot prints all over the carpet) for me to clean up.  Really, I thought I just vacuumed and dusted yesterday.  Someone needs to be punished for this mess because nature can't be this cruel.  And I'm sure it wasn't the baby, so the boys it is.  How young is too young to vacuum?  (And on that note, how old is too old for a time-out?)

Also to mention from last week's To-Do list: I signed up to be a Tupperware seller lady and have my Grand Opening party this coming Saturday which doesn't help the whole house cleaning problem (and BTW hit me up if you want to order something!  And if you live in or around my living area, you're invited to my party!) 

I figured out how to hang eight pairs of soaking wet jeans on our drying rack after our washer ate a baby sock and some other small foreign items that made it in with the laundry, giving it a seemingly good reason to not drain or spin out.  It seems as of now that Husband has fixed the problem so I'm crossing my fingers that I don't need to post about that later. J

And of course, no To-Do list would be complete if it didn't include "pick up random stuff" and I can't believe how many "random stuff" piles still remain.

In other news, Brynlee has stayed true to her reputation of being a turd at nighttime, waking up almost on cue every night at 10:00 for her pacifier, midnight to eat and again at 4:00 for her pacifier.  Then if I'm lucky she will go back to sleep soundly until 7:00.  Cade was back to school last week, which was oddly difficult to get used to.  All I need to manage is to get him dressed (the baby and I, really that's optional), fed and in the truck but apparently I forgot how to do all of that well, at least.  It's incredibly hard to manage simple tasks when chronically sleep deprived.  My daughter will be paying for this in her teenage years.  I'm not above revenge.

Well, I hope you've fully enjoyed this lovely, most interesting post about my life this past week.  It was a joy to write it for you all.  Hopefully now the cobwebs will be cleared and I'll be able to amuse you with less worthless information.  Thank you for reading. J

Bathroom Drama

Remember THIS:

If you read this post you do.  I believe I ended that story, of my husband demolishing our bathroom ceiling and pouring water out of the exhaust and chopping excess tubing with, "most times everything works out just fine...I hope I don’t eat my words."  I'm eating them.  I'm feasting on them actually.  It's an all you can eat buffet.  In other words, our exhaust, if used in its proper manner, will most likely set our house on fire.

For example, as I was drying my hair after a nice, hot, steamy, relaxing shower, I hear a pop and see an orange ember fall carelessly from the ceiling.  FAAAAAANTASTIC!  "Why, WHY, WWWHHHHYYYY is this happening???"  I interrogate my husband.  My handy-dandy "fix it" man.  "Oh, um, crap, well, must have been the water I poured out.  I mean, I think maybe some of it got into the motor, possibly...maybe..."

Ooooh, okay.  I get it.  Completely understandable...  ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?!?  You THINK water MIGHT have gotten into the MOTOR and you never thought to maybe NOT plug it back in to suggest that it can and should be used in the manner that it is intended to be used?!?  Needless to say the exhaust has been unplugged.  We now tolerate a steam covered mirror and cold drafts from the bathroom door being left open during showers.  FIRE EXTINGUISHERS are boldly written in all caps on our shopping list marker board right under NEW EXHAUST FAN!

Sometimes I wonder about my husband.  Can't live without him, and we might all die with him.  But we love him! J

Household Tips

Rachael Ray had a “tip” themed show today with great tips ranging from how to start your own business to how to make a memory chair out of stuffed animals.  I love love LOVE learning all about things like this and I love it even more when I can actually implement them to better my own life.

So, I decided to compile my own "household tip" list.  I'm no pro with years of experience under my belt, but I do have two kids and am crazy about cleaning and organization.  Most of these might seem completely lame or make you say, “….DUH!  You think that’s a ‘brilliant’ idea??”  Well, to me it is.  And some of these I only know about because I believe I thought of it myself (meaning, I didn’t see it on the Internet or hear about it from someone else) or because my mom did it.  I just want to share and hey, how am I suppose to know if you already know about it or not?

• Secure a cleaning rag to a specific cleaner with a rubber band to avoid “cross clean-tamination” J
• To help with stuck or baked on food on a cookie sheet (or something similar that you can’t easily soak), lay a wash cloth with hot soapy water on it on top of the cookie sheet and let it set for several minutes.  I love the special cleaners that you spray on, let sit, then simply wipe away, but they aren’t advised for nonstick surfaces.
• Keep a small basket with baby diapering essentials in every major room of your house so you don’t have to trudge up (or down) stairs to the changing table every time baby needs a change.  I also keep Q-tips, travel sized lotions and baby powder and disinfecting hand wipes there too.
• Hang a small (locker sized) marker board on the door of your pantry or a cabinet in your kitchen to keep a shopping list.
• This isn’t uniquely my idea, but I’m always buying storage containers to hold all sorts of things that aren’t easily organized.  I always had piles of things on my closet shelves that don’t stack nicely and fall all over the place (like light bulb packages, battery packages, cleaning supplies, medicines, bathroom supplies, etc.)  I’m not sure why it took me so long to automatically buy storage containers that I can shove all those things into and STACK on the shelves.  Seems like a no-brainer, but I guess I needed several reminders, so count this as another one for you!
• Keep a “family binder” with sections for recipes/weekly menus/takeout menus, your budget, event invitations and each family member to keep specific information like health records, school information, activity information, etc.  If you go out and have a babysitter often, you can have a section for them too with emergency phone numbers, kids’ schedules, important Do’s and Don’ts and any other information you need them to have.  I actually got this idea from another great blogger (Sister’s Stuff).
• These are essential items that I always keep packed in my suitcase.  Items that you seem to always need, yet regularly forget when traveling!  Plus, I don’t have to run around the house rounding up everything during those stressful packing times!  It helps to shorten the “To-Do” & “DON’T FORGET!” lists so much when leaving for a weekend.  Also, it cuts down on crazy unpacking moments when everyone gets home tired and cranky.  Everything has come in handy at least once!
• an extra (cheap!) baby monitor set
• a night light
• an extra phone charger
• extra bath/toiletry items (I just have a bunch of travel-sized containers that I always refill.  Then, I don’t have to pack my originals or dry them off after showering that morning!  I also put my old, but still working, hair straightener in there so I don’t have to wait for mine to cool before I pack it.)
• a lint roller
• plastic grocery sacks
• diapers or Pull-ups (I did this with Pull-ups when I stopped using a diaper bag with my son.)

• Put snacks (like crackers or fruit and cereal bars) in a small Tupperware container in the diaper bag so you never forget to leave the house with a snack AND you aren’t trying to feed your toddler animal cracker crumbs because they got smashed at the bottom of the bag.  Another snack tip, for variety to help keep your child happy while waiting: have a “trail mix” snack in a Tupperware container.  Trail mix ideas: marshmallows, Cheerios or other cereal, raisins, peanuts, Rainbow Goldfish, pretzels, fruit snacks.
• Another diaper bag tip: Have lots of small items falling to the bottom of your diaper bag?  Go to the cosmetics section of your favorite drug store and buy a small makeup bag to hold all those items.  Things I keep in my bag: pen, travel size diaper rash cream, Orajel, chapstick, hand sanitizer, fingernail clippers, tweezers, Tide pen, Infant Tylenol, Infant laxative drops, small tube of Aquaphor, all those extra alcohol wipes you never used on your infant’s umbilical cord.
• My children’s doctor’s office has great little books that they record your child’s stats and shots at each doctor’s visit.  My friend commented that she wished her daughter’s doctor’s office did that.  So, it’s not technically my idea, but it’s a good one!  So get a little Memo notebook to record this information and keep it in that handy dandy bag I suggested in tip #10. J
• Have a lot of your children’s precious artwork, but out of fridge space?  Take pictures of the “best” and at your child’s birthday, make a photo book (like one from Kodak.com) with all the pictures of their artwork from that year.  I also keep some of Cade’s most special drawings or crafts and store them in a storage tub in his closet.
• Okay, another weird one, but it took me 4 years to think of it, so maybe I can shed a few years off for you if it applies.  My kids sleep with fans on to create white noise (blame my husband for starting this habit because now WE sleep with a fan too.)  When Cade was a baby, we always had the problem of the fan circulating too much air in his room, making it chilly.  It hit me when we had Brynlee, to put the fan in the doorway (we have a plug-in behind the door) so it blows right out of the room.  Then, when we’re not using it, we store it behind the door.  We have tower fans so they fit back there nicely.
• For those of you who love to have you kids help you cook (or don’t love it because of the mess) this tip is from a cook book from my husband’s grandma.  Putting salt on a raw egg that’s been spilled on the floor and you can sweep it up with a broom.

Thank God It's...Friday? What's that?

TGIF!  Wahoo!  The last day of the work week!  Weekend here I come.  Two full days of no work replaced by relaxation!  I know exactly how I’m going to spend it.  I’m going to sleep in late, watch TV in bed, order pizza for lunch at 2:00 in the afternoon, shower whenever I want for however long I want, then maybe call some friends to figure out “the plan” for the evening.

Hold up.  You mean to tell me that I’m going to be doing the same things during the weekend that I do during the week?  I’m not going to get a break?  I STILL have to fix food at normal eating times and pick up toys and play make believe and help kids get back to sleep in the middle of the night but still wake up at the crack of dawn?

Oh that’s right, because I’m a mom.  Back to reality.

My husband asked me this morning if it sucks that I don’t have a real “Friday” because I stay at home.  Eh.  Not really.  I still have that “TGIF!!!!!” feeling and the I get the “Monday blues.”  I don’t know why exactly because sometimes my husband even works weekends, so really it is exactly the same as the week.  But I love my job.  I wouldn’t trade it for the world.

Kudos to all you Mommies (and Daddies) out there who sacrifice it all for their little bundles of joy.  You have the most important job in the world, and it's amazing!  But take some time for yourself this weekend, even if it means locking yourself in your bathroom for 30 minutes to enjoy a facial and hot shower.  Why don't you go ahead and sing in there while you're at it.  J

Can We Fix It? ...Um, Yes We Can?

I live with Bob the Builder.  His alter ego is Cory, my husband.  He’s taken on several projects around our house: finishing our basement, ripping up our carpet and laying wood laminate, knocking out some walls and building others.  Most times the project starts out somewhat like this, and I freak out a little.

No big deal, just our exhaust fan hanging from the ceiling.  It started dripping water every time we would take a shower and have it running.  Umm...not good??  Let's just cut out a chunk of the ceiling to investigate what's wrong.

This picture doesn't do this situation justice.  The garbage bag is full of black (moldy??) insulation AND water that poured out of the exhaust system when my husband dropped it down out of the ceiling.  There's drywall dust and pieces everywhere too, and if you've ever done any sort of house construction, you know how ANNOYINGLY EVIL drywall is!



My husband got into our attic to work on our predicament.  After several minutes of spouting off instructions, passing tools back and forth and catching more water in the trash can, down came some of this tube stuff.  Don't we NEED that?  Who knows.  I guess we'll see!



Most times everything works out just fine.  (Most times, my contractor dad is here to guide the job along!)  It’s been several days since this little task and I believe we’re in the clear.  I hope I don’t eat my words.