"Dillion, did you get presents from Santa?"

Wednesday Merce had a preschool friend (Dillion) over for a playdate. Today she tells Daddy and I that she asked Dillion if he got any presents from Santa. He told her that he did. She informed him that no, he did not. "Santa is dead." Oh!

Our seven year old figured out this year that Mom stuffs the stockings. Something about Dad's stocking having the same stuff as the kids stockings and Bekki mentioning that mom bought that watch. OOOPs. Should've remembered who was with me and given that a week later for her birthday. She asked us about Santa. Steve won't lie. The closest he will come is to say "What do you think?" Jes said that she thought I stuffed the stockings. Steve said she was a smart girl. Bekki and Mercedes were in the room for the conversation. They talked about how the legend of Santa started.

My beloved three year old, armed with freshly attained knowledge has set off to enlighten other three year olds of the farce of Santa. I guess now I sit back and wait for the fall out.

I did know to expect it. When Merce brought her firetruck to show and share at preschool, I pulled the teacher aside. I told her that Merce had learned there was no Santa and to maybe not mention "the man in red" when they talked about her receiving the firetruck for Christmas. I did try. Luckily, I mentioned to Dillion's mom that Merce knew. So, hopefully it won't be a huge shock for her when she finds out what Merce told him.

And if we are all really lucky, she won't find out that Merce happily declared that Dillion has "parts like Josh." Yep, that is a whole different post.

Forget House Beautiful, this is HOME beautiful!

As I was tidying up the house today for a playdate a few things occurred to me:

1. If we all showed how we really are, we would be less crazy about cleaning up for company.
2. I really don't anymore. I figure I have 6 kids, deal.
3. I would be sad to live in a house that looked like my kids DIDN'T live there.


And then I was thinking about our furnishing and decorations. Some very generous terms to be sure. But, we have MANY original
and one of a kind paintings and drawings adorning our walls. I can't imagine having it any other way. A print of some famous painting... why? My children - and sometimes my husband create beautiful artwork. By framing some of their projects, they know that I am proud of them and their work. They get to show people when they come over "I drew that last year." Their artwork not only validates them, but it also is a beautiful snapshot in time. One of my favorites
was my birthday gift this year. Steve purchased a posterboard, paints and frame. He painted my hands and his hands brown and we placed them on the poster. Then he painted each of the kids hands in turn, in different colors and arranged them next to ours. Our own family tree in painted hands.
Truly, ours is a "Home Beautiful."

She Woman Maaannicoootti hAAAter!

(think Extreme and you will know the tune)

A few years back I came across an excellent recipe for Mexican Manicotti. The first time I made it, I didn't think anything of the effort to stuff the shells. The first time you make something is always the most difficult time, right? And the taste, OMGosh, better than... well, better than chocolate! (that says something!) I made it a few times over that summer. But I found each time I made the dinner I hated and dreaded stuffing those darned shells more and more. I tried spoons, knives, I tried submerging the darned shells in the meat/bean mixture. All to no avail! I set that excellent tasting recipe on the shelf.

I had a "light bulb" moment. Try lasagna noodles. Three layers of lasagna noodles is about the right amount, but the flavor wasn't quite right, too much pasta. Again, it got shelved. Enter my sister. She attended a cooking show and they told her a little trick for filling the shells. Put the stuff in a zipper bag and cut a corner, squeeze into the shells. Simple. My sis tried it, said it was easier.

Ok, I'll pull out the Manicotti again. FIVE zipper bags, half a bottle of hand soap and one half the previous amount of time to stuff the shells. I finished the arduous task.

Five bags you say? Yep! The first one I cut the corner a bit too wide. My err. Ok. Great Value sandwich bags started splitting in the middle, and I don't mean the seams. Cheap bags, ok. Next, Glad double zipper bags, splitting in the middle and top popping open (used two of these). Glad double zipper freezer bags, top pops open. Wonder what kind of super strength zipper bags my sister used?

I guess I'll enjoy dinner tonight and go back to being a manicotti hater. Sigh.

The weekend

As far as my own healthy lifestyle goes - I haven't been very good this weekend. :( Friday was a bad, bad day. Yesterday wasn't a lot better in the food department. But I felt better about my choices and my control of the situation. You see, I took one child to lunch after an appointment that she had (and I got a massage during her appointment!) She chose McDonald's, I chose a grilled chicken sandwich with light mayo and a bottle of water. I drank the water and refilled it. :) Steve and I went on our first date in MONTHS! We didn't allow ourselves enough time to eat a "nice" meal. So we drove through Arby's. I got a jr. roastbeef with no sauces and a bottle of water. At the theater, I did indulge in a small popcorn with "butter" topping and a large bottle of water. Who can go to the theater and resist popcorn?

On our date we saw Avatar 3D. Steve had seen Avatar at our local theater with a couple of the kids (non-3D), but wanted to see it again. I'm not sure it was worth the extra cost to see it in 3D, but now we know. :) The movie is worth a see.

And in other news, we have mice - AGAIN! We live in an old house (1945) in the country, even with a cat, I think we are doomed to have mice in the winter. The cat is the reason I know they are back though. She has been going nutty to get into some of our cupboards - of course I let her. :D I also put mouse/rat poison down in a few places I know they are likely to visit. Since it has been cleaned out the last three nights in a row - I'm guessing I need to be prepared for the house to smell for a few days. :-S Honestly, I'd rather deal with that, then setting traps and having to take care of the deceased and any mess left behind! And yes, it would be me taking care of it. As if The Gods would smile on me enough to have Steve around when I discover that it needs taken care of.

New uses, common items

After posting about using binder clips for toothpaste I got to thinking about other things that have received a new use around here.

You may remember a post about lunch bags. Well, that was not the only time the bag got left on the bus. Josh and I talked about how he might better remember to grab his lunch bag. His backpack is too full to put the lunch inside. We talked about clipping the bag onto the closing strap - but honestly I don't think that strap could hold the weight of lunch regularly. And the I got the idea! A carabiner clip! The next time we were at Walmart, I picked up 4 in different colors for a whopping 99c each and clipped them on backpacks. Voila! No more lunch bags left on the bus! :D Now if my oldest would just remember to bring hers home. Baby steps, baby steps. LOL.

Our own kamikaze-

As of yet, he is unsuccessful. I do believe he has earned himself a concussion or more. You see this beautiful red cardinal started flying himself into our bathroom window in Mid-October. He will fly into the window repeatedly, sometimes 15 times in a row before flying off. He does this multiple times a day. (warning: only the first 20ish seconds of the video are worth watching - unless you want to make fun of how I CANNOT hold a camera still while walking)

Now don't go off getting the incorrect opinion that my windows are just that clean. NOT the case. There has been speculation as to why "Kaze" keeps flying into our window -- seriously this guy has been at it for over 3 months. Best guess: our big red bathtub. Not sure if he wants the biggest "mate" he's ever seen or if he is trying to get in to prove that he is really the alpha bird. It is no mystery why our cat has taken to sleeping in the bathroom though. ;-)

I've tried several times to get this little birdie in action - he seems to fly off when he sees me, especially if I have a camera in hand. But about a week ago I finally managed to "capture" him.

So, I gotta wonder, what am I supposed to learn from this crazy cardinal? Is it persistence or to stop beating my head against a wall?

The Constant Toothpaste Mess

I know you fellow moms know what I mean! You want your kids to be independent, and of course, you want them to brush their teeth regularly, but allowing both at the same time can make some catastrophic messes!

One of the biggest problems we used to have around here was people squeezing the tube in the middle. Of course, some comes out, and some goes to the back of the tube - making using all of it nearly impossible. So about a year ago I thought to myself, surely someone has come up with a solution to this problem. Yes, they have. But WHO wants to pay $4.50 for each little piece of plastic with a slot in it? NOT me! Then I had a great idea, a new use for an item we already have. The binder clip! (One might call this a duh moment) As the tube is used, I simply roll the tube up and attach the clip.

Well, I thought I was pretty smart for awhile. And the binder clip does help solve the problem of how to keep the kids from squeezing toothpaste back into the rear of the tube, but (there's always a but isn't there?)... There is still a toothpaste mess! The kids squeeze out too much toothpaste, they put on the lid with toothpaste still gooping out, and a 1,001 other little errors that cause a constant, sticky toothpaste mess in the bathroom.

Enter the TouchNBrush. As I was heading out yesterday morning I saw a commercial for this product. The kids said "we need that!" Well, I don't disagree, in theory. But I'm not spending twenty dollars, plus eight dollars shipping, then they include the "free" sonic toothbrush but bump your shipping up by another $6 dollars, for some product that *might* help keep my bathroom cleaner. Luckily, several stores frequently carry "As Advertised on TV" products. :)

I stopped by Target and they had the TouchNBrush. Twenty dollars, no shipping, and I still got the free toothbrush. I was dubious, and willing to admit that I may be wasting twenty dollars - but that just tells you how much I hate that icky, sticky mess.

It was installed yesterday and it does seem to work well! I am pretty excited. There is of course still potential for kids to use too much toothpaste, and I am sure they will find some way to abuse this bathroom addition, but for now, I am a happy consumer. :)

What might have been-

Several years back when living in Wyoming I saw the movie Sliding Doors. The idea of a parallel universe has always intrigued me. There are so many times when you are presented with a decision, or set of decisions, that lead your life down a certain road. Take a different path and the end result might be quite different!

The other week we had my daughter's birthday party at the local roller skating rink. The kids had a great time, mom had a great time, and got in some much needed exercise. She also got a glimpse of what might have been - and it scared the heck out of her!

I grew up, well, white trash. My parents would never admit it, but we were. They didn't drink or do drugs or even smoke (in our presence anyway, but that is another post entirely.) But we were poor, very, very poor. It was not unusual for dad to "fix" things in ways that only a true-redneck could even consider. We are talking even lower than using duct tape for everything - duct tape was too expensive. Mom and I called it Jerry-rigging (dad's first name is Jerry.)

In my teen years I fell very easily in with group of people who smoked, drank, and most did drugs too. I don't mean the popular kids who partied and smoked, I mean the derelicts who were never going to get out of that one horse town. The ones that were going to be flipping burgers and pumping gas for a living. I did indeed have fun.

Fast forward to now, I went to college, met my hubby who got an engineering degree and later a law degree. We have six children and lead an upper middle-class life. We are no longer wondering week to week if we will be able to pay the bills that come our way. It's all good.

So, we are at the skating rink, some of the other skaters that day were the local counterpart to the group I hung with in high school. You know the type (see picture above and think just a smidge scruffier.) And it hit me, I coulda been the "old lady" to one of those guys. Yep, it scared me. LOL.

How'd ya like that glimse into my mind. hahahahaha. And sis, no tellin' anyone who that pic is! ;) Says a lil' sumtin though don't it?

Duh moments

This is kind of a repost as my original was published in November. See, I started the post in November and published it today... so, I wanted to make sure ya'll saw it and am reposting now - in January:

My husband works in intellectual property. He once told me that patentable inventions need to fit a need and when they are first discovered many times there is a "duh moment." You know, when everyone knows that THIS is what solves the problem and everyone wonders why no one thought of it earlier. I have had a handful of these myself and thought I would share some of them with you.

It only took SIX kids to figure out that if I put an old towel between the booster seat and my chair, the chair does not get so nasty and the towel is easily washed. It also protects the chairs from getting scuffed up from the booster seat. This had to be my first shared item as it took me six kids to figure this out and many people don't have six kids anymore. I want you to benefit from my er, um, wisdom. :D

The long handled spoons designed for stirring tea, are ideal for making PB&J sandwiches! I HATE getting jelly all over my hands. After the jar hits 1/2 full I can't get a regular spoon in and out of the jar without getting jelly on my hands - UNTIL I made this little discovery.

Finishing the jar of PB with a rubber scraper - duh. Gets so much more than a simple knife can.

I'm sure there are many more that I am just not thinking of right now - and they will show up in later posts. :-D

"That's my kazard!"

If you live in ANY other home you might not know what that means. But when my two year old pointed to a hair barrette on the coffee table that she had been wearing last night when I left to walk with a friend while saying the above - I knew exactly what she was saying and why. LOL. You see, my hubby is very aware of choke hazards. He points them out to the kids all the time. In fact at preschool conferences in the fall Miss Melinda relayed a story about my 3 year old Merce telling a classmate not to put a toy in his mouth because it was a choke hazard. Lord only knows what else she has said in class... I only hope it isn't too bad!

But back to Rita's kazard. Yep, I knew right away that daddy made her take the barrette out of her hair before bedtime. I knew he had told her it was a choke hazard. She apparently thought a "kazard" was a name for the Elmo barrette as it is now "her kazard." Oh well, one step at a time.

Speaking of steps, I hear a few of them coming in the front door, which means (drumroll) it is time to clear off the computer and get the homework in motion.

Have a great day ya'll!

Where has the fabric gone?

The other week I purchased some white flannel for backs of napkins from our local Hobby Lobby. Great stuff, nice and soft. But, I didn't purchase enough. So, today after taking the youngsters to soccer I decide to take them to JoAnn's to get more flannel. I just want plain white, the closer store is fine, right? Nope.

There is NO plain white flannel there at all. I contemplate loading them up and going to HL, but I have an extra 4 yr old with me (neice) and it is COLD. Ok, red will work, not ideal but it will work. I decide while I am there to look at the holiday fabrics. The selection is dismal! 4 Valentine prints, all just blah. 4 St. Patty fabrics, only 1 would be even suitable for napkins. Sigh. I can't even spend money when I want to. I guess Steve will be happy. They used to carry so many fabrics it would make my head spin. In a good way, of course.

Slimfast RTD alternatives

As some of you might know, Slimfast recently had a major recall of all ready to drink products. That stinks. I get mine from Amazon subscribe and save so I don't have to remember to pick them up at the store. I don't like powdered drinks but find if I don't have protein first thing in the morning that I get a little faint through the day. So, now I have to get store brand versions. First I tried Target. 20 fewer calories, not quite as good (and it doesn't start good with Slimfast, just ok) but doable. I was running low on the Target ones and purchased Walmart brand. YUCK! OMGosh they are terrible! Glad I only bought one 6 pack there. They are right in the middle for calories (SF 190, Target 170, Walmart 180) but I am not sure I am even going to drink the rest of these 6. Slimfast, please get your stuff back together so they can be delivered to my door again! And in the mean time, I'm going to pick up a bunch at Target.

You know it's bad when...

Your own fans are booing you! Pats are down 21-0 with 2 minutes left in the FIRST quarter. Talk about STINKIN' IT UP! Now, ya'all know I'm a 'Boys fan first (though in recent years it is more theory than reality) and a Colts fan second. As a Colts fan I am an anti-Pats fan... as such I'm delighted they are loosing. :)

Saving money with reusable shopping bags!

Reusable/cloth bags are a wonderful idea, not only for an environmentally conscience person like myself, but also for the store. They get to be an environmental hero, touting saving resources while also saving themselves some money (and hopefully passing the savings on to the consumer, we'll get to that in a minute). I worked for Kmart in my late teens and early twenties. At every store I worked at there was a bulletin board of bags on the wall in the break room. Each bag had a number on it. This was how much money each bag cost the store. The average size Kmart bag was $0.004 (or 4/10 of a cent). This was in the late 1980's. Now that doesn't seem like a lot - but it can add up quickly for the store.

The first store I saw selling reusable bags? Target. They are still the bags I like the best! They are ROOMY (as you can see... that is my 3 yr old, who weighs in at 35lbs sitting in the bag). Now, I am getting "paid" to use my reusable bags at two of the stores I shop at frequently. Target scans a coupon for 5 cents off for using reusable bags instead of a plastic bag. And now CVS has a green bag tag program. In a nutshell, you buy their tag for 99c. Each time you use a reusable bag, they scan your tag along with your CVS card. After 4 visits your a credited a $1 CVS buck. That is like getting 25c off each time you reuse a bag. It only takes 4 visits to pay for the tag, then it is equal to a 25c coupon every time you use your tag. I like it. :)

I am not currently affliated with any of the above companies, except as a customer.

Sew Sane

I am publicly thanking my sister for getting me back on the wagon. :) She inquired about making her some cloth napkins. I told ya'all I'm a bit of a environmental freak, right? So, now I am psyched, I get to make more napkins for my sister - and know that she plans to use them.

Originally she talked about buying fabric and shipping it to me to make and ship back to her. I told her we could avoid one way of shipping if she found some fabric online that I might be able to find locally. We went to hunting the internet. Oh, I forgot how I like to look at fabric. :) She mentioned John Deere fabric, and there was a Valentine's print we both liked. She also found a great print that she wanted for everyday. Unfortunately, the print was sold out online and not in my local stores. I am still searching to find it elsewhere online but so far, no luck. But I did make her some JD napkins. I found this fun print, mostly to tease her hubby as he is the JD fan. And I bought a more traditional print as well.

I washed and dried the fabric right away and got started. I love the way they turned out. And it got me back behind both my machines again. I finished her napkins, I finally finished a Christmas wall hanging of Rudolph that I have been meaning to do for at least 4 years, I have things in place for napkins for a friend (waiting for the right color of Woolly Nylon to arrive) and finally decided to dress up our tree skirt.

Oh, I have had fun this week. :) And I must say that tree skirt will look mighty nice next year. You see, it was just a piece of white fleece with light blue snow flakes. I cut it into a "cape" and lay it around the tree. I have thought about cleaning up the look with some blanket binding. But today, I played with Koolaid and Fold over elastic. I dyed some FOE with Berry Blue Kool Aid, washed it, dried it and sewed it on and it looks awesome!

Speaking of Kool aid... I just mentioned that I used it to DYE elastic, right? WHY would your put something into your kid that can be used to dye clothing? Can you imagine all the things that food coloring might be doing to those ingesting it? Well, you don't really have to imagine it... there is more, if you want to google it, migraine triggers, allergic reactions, possible negative affects on the immune system.

And when you start paying attention to the food you are buying, so much of it has food coloring in it! :( There are the obvious, brightly colored cereals, but also the not so obvious ones such as pickle relish - yes, relish.

A belated Happy New Year!

We had a nice but uneventful New Year... that's the way we like them as parents. ;-)
Our oldest spent the night at a friends, child 3 spent the night with her cousin and we had just 2/3 of the crew. I think I was in bed by 11. Call me a wild woman. LOL.

I am not really into resolutions, but my sister did call me and ask to help keep her accountable. She wants to eat healthier and exercise more. We agreed to email one another with what we ate. DANG! I hate that accountability thing. :) Sure, she lives 700+ miles away and won't know if I "cheat" - but my jeans will know. AND my daughter put the fear of shopping into me earlier today. You see, Steve's brother is getting married in May. Brandy asked me if I was going to wear the dress that I wore for the work formal in 2008. Well, it was a bit big then, and I am about 5lbs less now, not to mention it is a winter dress. So, no. Then she said "But that is your only nice dress." AHHHHHH! She is right.

I look in the closet when we get home. I have a handful of nice-ish dresses that will pass for a wedding. But, I will need to lose some poundage. Be disciplined, go shopping, be disciplined... Yeah, I'll take no cake, cookies or ice cream for $300, Alex.

Not really looking forward to the wedding. Don't get me wrong, I am excited for Ken and his girlfriend. I hope they have a long and happy marriage... just not looking forward to the formal wedding bit. I feel the noose already. I do think I was spoiled by the last wedding I attended - It was an outdoor ceremony, performed by a minister from the Church of Beer. How could that not be a fun wedding? Campsites were set up. No one needed to leave after the reception - just a big ole party on a farm. The upside to this wedding is that Brandy is somehow going to be in it, Jr. Bridesmaid maybe? I don't know, but she is looking forward to being in a wedding and dressing up. And she will look adorable. :)

Ok, since this has turned into a gripe about the relatives post... how 'bout them grandparents? One set hasn't come out since the Beat was 2 weeks old (she is 25 months old now) but are ok with complaining about how rarely I get out to see them. Um, 700+ miles x 6 kids = 4200 reasons we don't visit regularly. (For the record, I was out this summer, made the trip alone with the kids - then I flew back a mere weeks later for my gpas funeral). And the other ones, oh, the other ones...notorious drive-thrus. The last one was in Jan of 2009 after MIL's mom died. They are seriously here for one, two at most, nights. There are 10 grandkids here. Being here for only one night ensures that we are all in one place for their visit. Then Oma tells us that the kids are a "little overwhelming, aren't they?" Hmm, you come out about once a year for an evening visit, the grandkids get 4-5 hours to visit with you for the whole year. They are all excited to see you, they want to share all kinds of things that have happened to them over the year, that they have planned... [think, the show-off, crazy stage, kids go through for the first few minutes when a loved babysitter comes over for the first time in a few months. Now, multiply it by 10.] Overwhelming, probably, but you set yourself up! Come more often. The kids aren't like that with Laura and Paul (the cousins other grandparents)... oh, wait, they see L & P about once a month, sometimes more. There isn't a year of stuff to share.

I better stop as I am obviously PMSing and a bit pissy to boot.