"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. :)