Outnumbered and Out of Control

The interconnectedness of all things

2010-02-21T21:38:00.003-05:00

I've been taking my prescriptions, a multivitamin, Vitamin D and an iron supplement. (Number 75 Take vitamins for a whole month) I was never more happy to finish the month. I haven't had a good poop in AGES . Now I take the iron only 3 times a week LOL I know TMI!

The vitamins have helped my finger nails to grow! I haven't bitten my nails since Christmas! Soon I'll be able to do another item on my list : 73. Get a Professional Manicure. I was also taking the iron because I had been turned down from selling plasma for low iron. Donating plasma 10 times is on my list ( Number 33) as well as earning 1001 dollars (Number 16) Funny how all my goals are interconnected!

Score! I think?

2009-09-12T16:19:00.004-05:00

Number 43 - Keep a houseplant alive for 12 months. I figured I'd better start this one early in case I need a do over! I went with the peace lily. I liked the sound of that and it's pretty too. The tag says it does well with low light. If I can teach the kids to turn the lights off when they leave a room it might have a chance!

Number 67 COMPLETE I bought a new pair of exercise shoes! New Balance 505's just like my old ones. I've heard that shoes GAIN WEIGHT over time from all the grime and sweat YUCK! But for fun I'm going to weight them now that they are new and see if that's true. Using my kitchen scale each shoe weight just about 11 oz. Lets see what happens!

Buying the shoes, that's the easy part. Number 68, "wearing them out", not so easy! SO they very next day I decided to go for a walk. I put the big kids on the school bus and took Strider in the stroller. As always when walking I look for bottles and cans to add to my #16 goal "earn $1001." Over the course of the mile I walked, I found 6 empty bottles and cans and 6 FULL beers!

2009-09-08T17:23:00.002-05:00

Last night I finish reading _The Road_ by Cormac McCarthy. My second book out of my goal of twenty. I really, REALLY, had a hard time getting into the grammar-less writing style. I had to reread frequently to make sense of some passages. I'm not sure if I would recommend this to anyone unless you really enjoy the postapocalyptic genre. But I did learn the value of having a weapon, good shoes, and canned vegetables if the world, as we know it, was coming to an end.

I will NOT be a CHEETAH

2009-09-04T13:15:00.005-05:00

Last night I was so tired I fell asleep watching TV and missed TWO of my goals. I didn't have my Green Smoothie for the day and I didn't wash the dishes. #5 and #65 are CONSECUTIVE day events. So I blew it. First I was disappointed that I missed a day and whined to myself about having to start over.

Then I started bargaining with myself that I could give myself just one slip up and just keep counting. Everyone deserves a little lee way right?

That led to feelings of being a cheetah. I started to think about what my list of 101 things really is. Some of it is a to do list but some of it is a list of challenges, things to strive for. Are these two goals items to just check off and never revisit ( like painting the shed) or are these ongoing items?

These are goals and ideals that I WANT to make a HABIT, a daily occurrence. After day 30 I don't intend to just cross it off and be done with it. These habits should stick with me the whole 1001 days and beyond.

With a happy heart I decided to restart the counter at one I have 983 days to go. Surely somewhere in there I'll hit 30 consecutive days. If I get to the last 30 days and haven't completed the goal I'll set an alarm clock to wake me up at 11:30 each night so I can be sure to finish my daily goals before midnight.

PIMP MY RIDE!!

2009-08-28T17:15:00.002-05:00

Isn't she pretty? I'm the envy of all my friends. AHHH Who wouldn't want a minivan like this? It's clearly a fan favorite because there are hundreds just like this in the Wal Mart parking lot which makes it difficult to find my car or remember where I parked! At least now mine is the clean one. My poor old van had been neglected and needed some TLC. This was a job that spanned several days. One day I just spent hours picking up the trash my kids leave in the rear row and I vacuumed out a full canister of sand and debris. Another day I spent some time washing the windows from the inside, cleaning the dashboard, and chiseling out the toxic waste from inside the kids cup holders. I also hung tote bags from the seat backs for the kids to throw their trash into instead of leaving it on the ground. While I was on the inside, my husband was outside giving it a detailed car wash. And as a bonus it got an oil change and new windshield washer fluid! My van is now a happy van. May she carry us safely where we need to go for many more years.

Did I save? Or didn't I?

2009-08-28T16:35:00.003-05:00

Number 17 is document $500 in coupon savings. So far I have documented $74.87 ($54.87 on one day and 20 on the other) but did I really save? I was following the grocery store advertised specials. There were a lot of BOGO deals and 10 for $10 deals so I stocked up. But the question is "did I save over all?" If I had bought a store brand item would it have been cheaper anyway? HMMMM. After the first shopping trip I started to question this so immediately I went to iTunes and downloaded an app for my iTouch to set up a price book. My goal is to sift through some old receipts and add items to my price book. Then each week as I look for special coupon deals I'll know if it REALLY is a deal. I also belong to www.couponmom.com and www.thegrocerygame.com but they don't usually compare the prices to store brand daily prices. The Grocery Game is a paid site I'll have to deduct my payment from the amount saved or unsubscribe from the service. But either way with my price book I'll always know if the savings are truly earned. PS I brought my cloth bags today total - 3 times

Turtle Hatchings!!!

2009-08-27T10:27:00.004-05:00

No I didn't fail #1 NO NEW PETS. The incubating eggs were a "pre-existing condition". Mama turtle layed her eggs in an unprotected location in the middle of our yard on July 2nd. We carefully removed them from the hole right side up and incubated them at around 84 degrees. 56 days later they are hatching. There were 9 in total and so far 3 have begun to emerge. We will keep them for a few days and when the weather is nice and sunny we will release them back toward the lake.

2. Declutter - a few days ago I spent a good part of my day removing everything from and reorganizing my bedroom closet. I was in and out all day but I counted it as a solid 3 hours of decluttering time to bring my total to 5 hours.

In the process I set aside 12 nice items to donate to Good Will ( #42)

39. Have a Home Energy Audit - This was completed on August 26. It will be another 2-3 weeks before the full report comes in. I do know that my windows are still good but I need PILES of extra insulation in the attic. The woman who did the audit was shocked by my home heating bills. When she writes up the report she will estimate the cost of the improvements vs the cost saving it will generate to help point out areas where I will get the most bang for my buck. I learned that my refrigerator uses $20 of electricity each month and that is very high ( average is $8 / month for refrigerators newer than 1997) Turns out I am supposed to get UNDER it and vacuum out the coils once a month! Who knew? I cleaned it out (#40). Maybe my electric bill will go down now.

5. Shine sink for 28 days

2009-08-25T07:18:00.004-05:00

I was determined to get this challenge started early in the 1001 days hoping it would stick. If you follow FlyLady.net then you know that SHINING THE SINK is the first of the baby steps to get your home in order. I was up until 11 last night getting this done. The goal is 28 CONSECUTIVE DAYS. It takes 21 days to form a habit but Flylady says people like me need an extra week to make it stick. Let's see what happens. day 1 and counting.

I'm well adjusted

2009-08-24T13:22:00.003-05:00

Been there, Done that, Got the T Shirt! I went back to the chiropractor for my follow up visit today. He used his fancy shmancy adjuster tool all hooked up to a computer and everything. Another visit on Wednesday AND Thursday. But NO at home exercises. And he said I can't do any significant exercise for 2 weeks. Bummer, I was going to mow the lawn today. *snicker*.

Other 101 progress- I called a roofer to see about getting some snow blockers or fences or whatever to keep the avalanche of snow from blocking us in the house this year. Guys are coming to give me an estimate on Friday. I can't very well be shoveling snow with my new, well adjusted back can I??

Dum Dums to the rescue

2009-08-23T08:03:00.006-05:00

Number 70. Get Strider to sleep in his own bed. This has been one of our most difficult challenges we've had with Strider. None of the other boys had trouble sleeping on their own. By 18 months they all happily said good night and climbed into their own beds and stayed there. Strider is different. Well maybe HE'S not different, we are. We are older and more tired. The effort of laying on the floor and waiting for him to fall asleep and trying to sneak out was too much. It was so much easier to let him fall asleep on our bed then move him later but then he ALWAYS comes back. And if we were too tired and lazy at 9pm to make him stay in bed, we were MORE lazy at 3 am. So this dragged on for YEARS. He is now 4 years old.

Two nights ago I bribed him. I told him if went to sleep in his own bed AND stayed there all night I'd give him a lollipop every morning with his breakfast. BUT I didn't have any of the goods to deliver that I promise so I told him the first morning he'd get a marshmallow and that day we would go out shopping to buy his special bag of pops.

He went straight to bed! He woke up in the morning and came down stairs all pleased as punch and and announced "I sleeped in my OWN bed, where's my treat!" Later we went to the store ( 2 times and brought CLOTH BAGS!!) and he got a bag of Dum Dum Pops. We keep them safely hidden away and ONLY as a prebreakfast treat.

Again last night he went straight to bed. This morning a repeat of yesterday. He came into my bedroom singing "Mooooooom, I sleeped in my own beeeeeeed!" And he got his lollipop. Now he is collecting his special pop wrappers to send away for a Dum Dums T shirt.

It's only been 2 nights but it's a start!

Progress on several fronts

2009-08-22T07:56:00.004-05:00

Number 60. 20 books - I completed the first book last night. It was No More Mondays by Dan Miller. It's a book about taking the plunge and going from being an employee to running your own business. Not much on the way of step by step instruction but a lot of encouragment to alleviate the fear of such a big move. It was good but since I am not currently employed at all it didn't do much for me. I'll have my husband read it next.

Number 2. Declutter. When I started this project yesterday I didn't even think to take before pictures or even log in my time. But it took HOURS. What did we do? We emptied the kids cubbies out to be ready for the new school year. WOW what a mess. I also sorted through a huge box of kids craft supplies trying to come up with a complete set of colored pencils, and boxes of 24 crayons. I did not want to buy another set of school supplies when I KNEW I had a ton just sitting around. We ended up with 5 full sets of colored pencils and more crayons than I could count. If any family members are reading, expect some interesting crayon craft from the kids for Christmas!

Number 4. Clean and detail the mini van . SIGH another lost opportunity for a before and after photo. I did spend quite a long time pulling out the trash and vacuuming so now it's finally presentable. It still needs to be washed inside and out.

Progress, progress! Look out day 1001 I'm coming!

70. Visit a Chiropractor

2009-08-20T08:48:00.004-05:00

Today I completed # 70 on my list.

I've been meaning to see a chiropractor for quite some time. I have poor posture, even when I think I'm standing up straight I find out I'm not. I frequently wake up with a "crick" in my back or some other mystery pain that typically resolves itself in a few days. This week I woke up in a world of hurt. In the midst of making my 101 list I decided NOW is the time to get this stuff checked out once and for all.

This morning was my first appt. We talked a little about my chief complaint ( neck/ shoulder pain). He did a quick spinal exam and took Xrays. Since the X rays weren't developed yet there wasn't much he could do in the way of an adjustment until after they were reviewed. I was brought to a room with soft music on the radio and got to lay down on a nifty table that starts standing up and lays you down automatically. AHHH That was a relief since I can hardly move on my own right now. The person who invented that gets my heartfelt gratitude! He put on some gel and electrical pads that massaged the area around my spine. Very relaxing. For 10 minutes. Then I was forced to re enter the real world, how cruel.

BUT I get to go back on Monday. Monday can't come soon enough. Cool packs and Advil for the weekend. Maybe some sympathy from my family. How many of my 101 things can I accomplish this weekend from my bed??

My 101 in 1001 by O&OOC

2009-08-19T18:41:00.015-05:00

Start date August 18, 2009

Finish Date May 15, 2012

Household (15 items 1 complete!)

1. No New Pets for 1001 days (25/1001)

2. Declutter for 101 hours ( not consecutively) (8/101)

3. Learn to successfully groom Shuto ( the shih tzu)

4. Clean and Detail the minivan 8/27/2009

5. Shine sink for 28 days (8/28)

6. Burn all digital photos to DVD/CD

7. Backup all files to external HD

8. Repaint Bathroom cabinets

9. Repaint Kitchen cabinets

10. Finish fireplace mantel and hearth

11. Insulate and finish off attic space

12. Add trim and finish painting shed

13. Hire a roofer

14. Paint garage

15. Do a project alone that requires power tools ( not electric drill)

Finances/ Paperwork (8 items)

16. Earn $1001 by myself ($1.30/$1001)

17. Document $500 in discounts and coupon savings ($306.58/$500)

18. Update wills

19. Complete ICE files / “Love Drawer”

20. Get a GOOD firesafe or safety deposit box at the bank

21. Write and MAIL 50 Christmas Cards

22. Start a family journal of funny anecdotes

23. Set up a Birthday card file

Food/ cooking (9 items)

24. Cook 20 different crockpot meals (1/20)

Chicken Cacciatore

25. Cook meal with all home grown, caught or hunted ingredients

26. Learn to can tomatoes and other homegrown items

27. Fully stock the BIG basement freezer

28. Cook Julia Child's Beef Bourguignon while wearing pearls

29. Bake a loaf of bread from scratch ( home churned butter?)

30. Feed the family with only $150 for one month

31. Give up soda for 3 months

32. Try 5 new local restaurants

Community Service/ Going Green (11 items 1 complete!)

33. Donate blood or platelets 10 times ( 0/10)

34. Put out only 1 bag of garbage for the week on 50 weeks (2/50)

35. Bring cloth bags to the store 100 times (5/100)

36. Hang dry ALL laundry for an entire week

37. 24 hour “blackout” 4 times a year (0/11)

38. Participate in a Habitat for Humanity Project

39. Have a Home Energy Audit 8/26/2009

40. Implement some suggestions from Home Energy Audit

41. Do 15 Random Acts of Kindness (0/15)

42. Give 101 items to Good Will (20/101)

43. Keep a houseplant alive for 12 months (0/12) Start date Sept 10, 2009

Crafts (7 items)

44. Finish 5 previously started projects (1/5)

Snack bags for craft fair

45. Make a quilt for a new baby

46. Get the prepetual calendar 365 knitting stitches a year and test ALL of them (0/365)

47. Set up my craft room

48. Do a “Day in the life” Photo documentary 12 time (0/12)

49. Take Alphabet Photographs (0/26)

50. Update photos in family collage

Worst Case Scenario / Survival Skills (7 items)

51. Learn to fire a gun

52. Start a fire with out matches

53. Prepare family “Go Bags”

54. Take a wilderness Survival course

55. Become proficient with a sling shot

56. Create an EXCELLENT First Aid Kit

57. Read about 5 different conspiracy theories (0/5)

Culture and Arts (6 items)

58. See Spamalot on Broadway

59. See 5 plays at local theaters (0/5)

60. Read 20 books (1/20)

~No More Mondays by Dan Miller 8/20/2009

~The Road by

61. See a movie at midnight on opening night

62. DVD Marathon TV series or Movie Sequels

63. Invite adult friends /family over for the evening

Health and Beauty (14 items 2 complete!)

64. Do 20 pushups in a row (6/20)

65. Have a Green Smoothie for 30 CONSECUTIVE days (8/30)

66. Drink a cup of tea each day in a quiet place

67. Buy exercise shoes 9/10/2009

68. Wear out those exercise shoes

69. Schedule an annual physical

70. Visit a chiropractor 8/20/09

71. Walk a half marathon

72. Complete a skin care regimen for 28 days document results (0/28)

73. Get a professional manicure

74. Have eyebrows professionally waxed

75. Take vitamins for a whole month (0/30)

76. Do a 48 hour liquid fast 3 times (0/3)

77. Get Strider to sleep in his OWN bed all night (2 nights )

Travel (6 items)

78. Visit family in Arizona

79. Get a passport

80. Take a cruise for our 15^th wedding anniversary ( November 2010)

81. Go white water rafting

82. Take a mystery trip with Paul

83. Go on a girls only vacation

Random Games and Diversions (13 items)

84. Catch a fish

85. Go on a roller coaster

86. Win a contest

87. Sleep under the stars ( summer)

88. Sleep in an igloo (winter)

89. Stay up all night

90. Play 10 games of billiards (2/10)

91. Learn to juggle ~ 3 balls in the air for minimum of 3 minutes

92. Go to the movies alone

93. Make a music video

94. Learn how to back into the garage

95. Design a new tattoo

96. Perfect making a frozen hot chocolate (see number 97)

Things to buy (5 items)

97. Heavy Duty Blender

98. Buy a matching bra and panty set

99. Buy an entire outfit at the thrift shop

100. Go Garage Sale -ing and hit 10 sales in one weekend

101. Have a Fun Family portrait framed

Look here! We're back after 2 years!

2009-08-19T18:32:00.002-05:00

Back again. Too much to sum up, but I'll try. We're older. Hair has been grown and cut. We moved.

I've recently been challenged to do a 101 in 1001 days so I've come back to blog about it along with other day to day stuff thrown in.

Before and after

2007-04-12T07:42:00.000-05:00

Friday Reese came home from school and announced he needed to go get a hair cut. He had been growing his hair out for over a year and I had already told him that it was time for a trim. He clarified that he needed it cut SHORT. I asked him why after growing it for so long did he want to cut it short rather than just trim it neat. Well he had bragged at school that on Monday he would come in with a big surprise. OK Off to get a $10 hair cut at Wal Mart.

Poof right before my eye I had a new kid!

He said when he went to school everyone was looking at him. He said "Why are you all staring at me?" His teacher replied "Because we can SEE you!" Reese retorted "and now I can SEE too!"

Melissa Needs:

2007-04-12T06:15:00.000-05:00

I got this meme from got it from Kristen and she got it from Lydia this is how you do it:You google your name and the word "needs" in quotes. Then you write on your blog what your results are.

The magic Google 8 ball gave me these results "melissa needs"

Melissa needs to board the blob ship that is hovering overhead.
Melissa needs some spaghetti sauce and always buys Ragu
Melissa needs to take a break,
Melissa needs a parent or parents willing to foster
Melissa needs a fuller understanding to be sure she is on the right track
Melissa needs lots of guidance
Melissa needs blood will you help me?¡
Melissa needs hydration after the walk
Melissa needs to get over herself. Being hot isn’t everything (and yes she is).

I think I'll stop here LOL

Now do yours and let me know what you got!

Retail Therapy??

2007-04-11T08:31:00.000-05:00

Yesterday we had a bunch of errands to run down by the mall. We picked the big kids up at dismissal time so we wouldn't have to wait for them to take the bus home. We got to the mall around 3:30 and stopped at the Things Remembered shop to have a name plate engraved then to the frame shop ( more on this in another post) then we took the kids to get pizza in the food court. This is when we started to lose them! After the early dinner I needed to go shopping for an outfit to wear to an upcoming wedding, the boys also needed so wedding clothes, tricky to find something not too fancy and not too casual. We dragged them through clothing store after clothing store making them wait while I looked through dresses and skirts. Then horror of all horrors I had to stop into Victoria's Secret to get a new bra. Thankfully Daddy was able to take them out to the toys and games shop near by. Thankfully for them, I think Daddy was a little disappointed by the side trip. Of course they wanted to buy everything on the shelves and we told them NO since we were hear for clothes not to buy toys. They also had a chance to walk through the Disney store. After going through the whole mall I came up empty handed. The kids really liked the suit coats they tried on at Sears but they were $60 each because they also came with pants which they didn't need.

On to the next area, we hit Target and Old Navy again NOTHING. It's after 8 pm we needed to get the kids home and in bed since there was school the next day and they were beat.

On the drive home we were listening to the comedy station on Sirius radio some of the kids were dosing off in the back.

Suddenly there comes this piercing wail and sobs from the back seat "I HAD ENOUGH! I HAD ENOUGH!"

Through the sobs we were trying to console Dean all we could make out was "I had enough of red" We thought he was dreaming about something. So we said it was just a dream and he screamed back "NO IT WASN'T. I HAD ENOUGH!"

We were totally confused after about 10 minutes we finally figured out what in the world he was talking about.

There was this tiny stuffed dog toy for sale at Old Navy that dean wanted. It was $4.95 it was a chihuahua that looked like one of his favorite Webkinz and he wanted us to buy it for him. We said no so he put it back and we left. No real argument we never gave it a second thought.

Obviously Dean had been giving it a lot of thought and suddenly in the car he had a breakthrough. For Easter, 2 days ago, Grammy had given him $5 in an Easter card (1 dollar for each year of his age). He HAD ENOUGH FOR FRED. By this time we were almost home and he was begging us to turn the car around and go back for him. NO way ! It was nearly 9! We had to get home and the store wouldn't even be open by the time we got there.

No matter then, he announced, we would drive back the next day. With a half an hour car trip each way to the mall his $5 dog would cost us more in gas money!

Today Paul has a dentist appointment hopefully after the appointment he could zip over to mall which is somewhat nearby and pick up Dean's dog and surprise him. Dean better be ready to fork over his Easter money when Daddy delivers the goods!

UPDATE:

I guess the surprise was on MOM. Daddy came home with TWO dogs for Dean.

FRED JR. FRED(original) FRED DANIEL

40 hours later

2007-04-09T19:29:00.000-05:00

We still have 8.75 POUNDS of Easter candy left. I can't even begin to estimate what has been consumed so far. That tin is FULL ( no Easter grass filler in here folks) of jelly beans, with a few peanut butter eggs, malt balls, and packages of gummies thrown in for good measure. Those are only about half the peeps we have left. Next year PENNIES!

Almost 2 and quite the virtuoso!

2007-04-09T18:05:00.000-05:00

Photo Sharing - Upload Video - Video Sharing - Share Photos

Strider just loves music. He had been sick all week with a cold and Easter Sunday still didn't bring him any relief. He was tired and cranky and snotty nosed and having a hard time deciding whether he wanted to play or take a nap. But when he was given the opportunity to play the piano with Steve he was a whole new boy!

April Frogs

2007-04-05T07:57:00.000-05:00

This week Jaren's First Grade class read the book The April Rabbits by David Cleveland.

The kids were encouraged to write their own version of this story.
Click here to read Jaren's story April Frogs.

Wrong Again!

2007-04-05T06:50:00.000-05:00

It was not 6 inches of snow.. It was THIRTEEN!!

The kids were looking forward to going outside to play since it's a SNOW DAY but this late in the season their snow pants have huge rips in the knees and they destroyed their snow boots in the previously blogged "pond" so it looks like I'll be doing some emergency snow gear repairs this morning.

I guess I spoke too soon!

2007-04-04T15:10:00.000-05:00

We are expecting over 6 inches of snow by morning!!

Spring is officially here!

2007-04-02T10:54:00.000-05:00

We had a such a beautiful weekend! Mud season is in full swing with the melting snow. I spent 2 hours grooming one of my dogs to help cut down on the mud he tracks in. I also spent the weekend working in the back yard trying to prepare the land for planting grass. Yes, I know fall is the time to plant grass seed but we need a quick cover to hold the soil in place or else my daylight basement will be under ground!

But aside from yard work the true signs of spring arrived this morning. We saw our first robin of the year AND our ducks made their annual visit to our temporary pond. They will probably stay a day or two then move on.

Locks Of Love!

2007-03-29T07:04:00.000-05:00

I did it! I donated my hair to locksoflove.org

I've been needing a hair cut for so long. It had been nearly a year since my last haircut. I wasn't really planning on going so short but Locks of Love needs ponytails that are at least 10 " long.

Here are some pictures of my day.

They Might be Giants

2007-03-12T12:17:00.000-05:00

The boys have finally discovered TMBG. I have always like that band since the 80's and now everything old is new again. It actually started with the baby. He loves the HOT DOG song from Disney Channel's Mickey Mouse Clubhouse as well as the Higglytown Heroes. I tried to explain to the kids who that band was and I pulled out some old CD's and TAPES ( anyone remember TAPES?)

Now Reese has about 50 songs on his ipod. By far their favorites are the "Fingertips" songs. They wake up to "Mysterious Whispers" each morning.

Last night we given a live music video of "Particle Man". Reese sang a capella the other boys acted it out complete with props.

Even better we video taped it.

Blackmail anyone?

Webkinz!!

2007-02-28T08:13:00.000-05:00

Webkinz are all the rage at my house these days. A few weeks ago I didn't know what Webkinz were. I had heard about them a little bit from my imaginary on line friends and thought my kids might like them for Valentine's Day.
For those of you not in the know Webkinz are cute little stuffed animals that you can buy for about $10. When you bring it home you open the tag to reveal the secret code. This code allows you to adopt your Webkin online and grants you one year access to a kid friendly Internet community it's full of games and activities and best of all a virtual version of your Webkin that you can build a home for, dress and feed. The kids can add the screen names of their friends so if they are online at the same time they can meet at their pet's house for games like go fish!

Anyway back to my story... It was February 13 and I went to the store that sells them. I asked the store owner, "where are your webkinz" he said "you mean WebKIN" I only have 1 left"

Well I needed 4 of them so one just wouldn't do and it was a white unicorn at that and I don't think any of my boys would have been interested in that one. He went on to tell me they were sold out every where. BUT he had a shipment of 500 of them coming in any day maybe even that afternoon. So I looked over his list of what was coming in and reserved one for each of my boys. And got them gift certificates to give them for Valentine's day.

Those next few days waiting for the call from the store to say the shipment was in seemed to last forever. But finally they came it! What an exciting day!

Dean got a polar bear that he named "Frank". Reese got a tree frog that he named "Ray". Jaren got a frog that he named "Pod". And I (i mean Strider) got a monkey that is named "Dobby".

The next week was school vacation week. Let me tell you they logged in a LOT of hours at webkinz.com setting the timer for 15 minute intervals so they could take turns.

Right now these pets are living large. They have played games to earn "KinzCash" and have bought them virtual mansions, swimming pools, gourmet meals, and fashionable clothes and accessories. Even the real life plush pets have been in the lap of luxury. They take them everywhere they go, not only do I have to do a head count to make sure I have all my children I need to count the pets to make sure that "Frank" hasn't been left behind. They also now have a custom built quadruple bunk hammock!

It's crazy but they sure have had a lot of fun with them.

Dean, Dean, Dean.....

2007-01-31T10:12:00.000-05:00

I sent him upstairs to get dressed. 40 minutes later he came down like this…

T shirt, shorts and bare feet. I told him it was a bad choice for today. He said “Why?”
So I put him outside to see “Why?” for himself. I was nice and let him wear the boots.

His shirt says it all “GOOF”

I double dog dare you!

2007-01-18T20:09:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I got a call from the school. The secretary called and said “you will never guess what your son Jaren did today before he even got into the school building…. He stuck his tongue to the pole outside.”

It was 1 degree out there this morning

Two bus drivers and the Head Teacher had to free him with cups of warm water. He left half of his upper lip stuck to the pole and has a small raw spot on his tongue.

He was very shaken up so I went to the school to sit with him for a little while in the nurses office. Reese had been by his side the whole time. He claimed he was just walking by and got stuck. I sent Reese back to his classroom so I could talk with Jaren alone. After some coaxing he admitted that he did it on purpose. No one tricked him or dared him to do it. He just wanted to see if it was true. He calmed down considerably once the real story was out.

He took me outside to see the scene of the incident. He was highly embarrassed. We talked it up as an adventure that he could share with his friends to make it exciting and dangerous instead of embarrassing. Finally he agreed to go back to his classroom. His friends were all very concerned about him and they all wanted to see his tongue. No one laughed at him. At least none of the kids laughed. To them it was all very serious. After seeing that he was alright, the grown ups, me included, couldn’t help but snickering and thinking of A Christmas Story.

I left him to join his class with a stick of lip balm to use if his lips felt sore.

Later I went back to the school to get a pictures of the lamp post with his lip still attatched.

Dapper diapered dogs!

2007-01-18T19:57:00.000-05:00

The diapers are working! I have not found any puddles on my floor! And no more spray marks on my door frames. WOO HOO! Only twice have I found a diaper to be wet so it is discouraging them from even trying!. The first few days it was difficult to remember to put the diaper ON when they came in and OFF before they go out. More than once the kids have let the dogs out with diapers still on OOPS. But now it is becoming a habit. One dog is still reluctant to have me put his on but this dog still objects to letting me put his leash on to go for a walk but he's learning!

The desk challenge is complete!

2007-01-18T19:46:00.000-05:00

I logged every single receipt I had on that spike which dated back to September. I balanced 4 months worth of bank statements. I tamed a tangle of assorted USB cables and ipod accessories. And I vacuumed out about a half pound of dust out of my keyboard. I finished last night so the total time was 10 days!

Unusual Weather We're Having!

2007-01-11T15:45:00.000-05:00

We live in Maine and winter is supposed to be cold and snowy. January is typically the coldest month of the year, but not this year. We actually had temperatures in the 60's earlier this week. We have no snow and the ground is not even frozen. That means no ice skating, no sledding, no snowforts, no snowmobiling.... nothing.

Suddenly Mother Nature snapped out of it and gave us some bitter January weather. In the morning it was 10 degrees. The pond had a skim of ice over it. Then it happened! at 1:00 pm there was actual SNOW falling from the sky! Too bad it only lasted 15 minutes.

When theboys got off the bus that afternoon they came running up the front steps.

"Mom! Mom! did you see the snow today!"

Jaren my 7 year old was determined that he was going to have a snow man.

And here it is!

This is something I don't do every day

2007-01-09T21:00:00.000-05:00

I sewed diapers for my dogs! I have been a very bad pack leader and my dogs think they own the house. Every time I leave the house I lock them into the kitchen area. This is because they will pee all over my house. At least there is no carpeting in this area but it is still frustrating and disgusting to come home to puddles of pee on the floor and sprayed on the chair legs. I have never caught them in the act.

I was at my wits end. I have been trying to walk the dogs daily as prescribed by the Dog Whisperer. But it's not working yet. So I surfed the web looking for help and I found that people make diapers for dogs. Male dogs have a special contraption called a Belly Band. It's basically a padded belt that you velcro around their waist covering their tinkler. They come in all sorts of outrageous fashion colors. I am a little more plain than that so I went up to my craft room and whipped up 3 plain black dog diapers, belly bands, wiener wraps what have you.

In theory they won't bother trying to pee with them on. If they do they just end up wetting themselves which is supposed to be a deterent from future peeings, or at the very least even if they do pee with them on at least it's not on your rugs or furniture!

My three dogs let me put them on without fuss. All I had to do was wait an hour or so to witness the results.

I hid in my living room, lying on my couch under a blanket. I caught one of my dogs come in and lift his leg to a chair! And the proof of his deed was in the diaper! Later I brought the kids to karate class. The dogs were still locked in the kitchen and this time diapered. I was only gone a half an hour when I had to return home unexpectedly. Sure enough that same dog had wet his diaper AGAIN. Woo Hoo I just prevented 2 incidents in one afternoon! Hopefully this will taper off as I fight to regain my role as the pack leader here.

One out of four ain't bad!

2007-01-08T14:27:00.000-05:00

I was sitting trying to clean my desk ( see below) drinking a cup of water. Yes I'm also trying to drink more water. My special water cup is a lot like a cup with a lid that you get at a fast food place except it's hard plastic, not disposable.

My toddler came up to me ( he's 20 months old today) and asked for some water. I handed him my cup because he loves to drink from a straw and not 2 seconds later he spilled my water on the floor. I looked down at him and shook my head and sighed "Oh Strider, is there ANYTHING you can do with out making a mess."

Dean ( my 5 year old) reprimanded me. "Mom he's just a baby! He doesn't know how to do anything yet."

"i know he's just so messy"
"he's supposed to be messy!"

Then in toddles Stri with a dishcloth in his hand. He got right down on his knees and wiped up the water spill.

" Awww, I forgive you!"

Place Your Bets! Place Your Bets!

2007-01-08T11:41:00.000-05:00

It's a new year and I'm trying lots of new things and setting lots of mini goals. My first one is to clean up my desk! I plan to spend 30 minutes each day attacking it and that means actually filing each and every one of those papers and not just sticking them in a cardboard box somewhere. So place your bets! How long will it take me!

Yes I followed the crowd!

2007-01-06T11:16:00.000-05:00

Everyone else is doing it so why shouldn't I? I've been meaning to keep track of the daily goings on around here but just never did. It's a new year so I might as well start now.