I double dog dare you!

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!

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!

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!

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

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!

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!

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!