Airing my dirty laundry

So, my little blog has been neglected to the point of death. So, I am resurrecting it...piecing together the remaining bits and pieces, creating new things, and even sticking in some things I have borrowed...my own, personal Frankenstein.

I have spent the last year working on myself and my career goals. There are three things in life that I enjoy doing and I am doing all of them right now. I love writing, teaching and interior design. I currently have jobs in all three areas. Life is good.

But, there is a yearning in my soul for more. (Isn't there always?) I have more goals to make, more achievements to reach for. And I want to use this--my brought from the dead blog--to document my journey.

One of my tasks for this year is organization and streamlining. I already started by purging and reorganizing my pantry.

Isn't she lovely? At least for a dark, small hole in the wall?

And in the aftermath of the toy bomb otherwise known as Christmas, I found myself literally collapsing under a mountain of Legos. The Boy has an extensive collection of Legos thanks to Jolly Old St. Nick and his friendly family of elves. And he has very limited space in which to put them. Every time I passed his room, my throat welled up. I found breathing difficult. I wanted to gouge out my eyeballs. It. Was. Painful.

When I could no longer handle the chaos, I started digging my way out of the mess. One brick at a time. Here is what I had to work with.

Oh, woe is me! In his defense, the white storage unit is new and was just hanging out in the middle of the room until I was ready to get serious, but still. Woe. Is. Me.

There was dust.

And disgust.

And surprises.

Like toys actually behind the baseboard.

But a few nails, a spray cleaner and 5 hours later, I arrived to this!

The storage unit is from Ikea and holds different sets of Legos (Star Wars, Atlantis, Pirates, Hero Factory, etc) I installed a bar which I hung six blue cups from and organized the bricks by color into those. I installed 2 shelves to hold completed projects and protect them from The Girl. And the pocket holder nailed to the wall holds all of the instruction books for the kits.

I moved the bed to the adjoining wall. This freed up the longer wall for a dedicated Lego area. The Boy loves the idea of spying on people through the window while still laying in bed.

Finally, I can breathe.

More projects to come!

More Bits of Wisdom

The Boy: Where are you going?

Me: To the store.

The Boy: Well, who is going with you?

Me: Me, myself and I

The Girl: Nuh-uh! Jesus is in your heart, so he is going too!

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After a particularly heinous whining streak in which The Girl was demanding access to one of The Boy's toys, she finally asks her brother in a polite and acceptable manner if she can play with it. At first he refuses. So, Mom has to intervene.

Me: Please let her have it. We need to show her that when she asks nicely she can have it. (Little do I know that the wheels are already turning. See, he has been trying in vain to play on my IPhone all afternoon. And I have continually told him no all day)

The Boy (in his most respectful voice): Mom, may I pretty please use your IPhone?

Me: uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh (Crap! I hate it when they turn the tables on me)

Techno Geek: HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Out of the mouths of babes

I did not know that...The Girl: "Don't you know vagina is Spanish for bottom?"

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Yes, even 4 year olds can manipulate. :) After a sharp scolding from me to both kids, the Girl follows me around until she can pin me down and give me a long hug. As my heart melting, she runs off to brag the following to the boy: "See? Now Mom isn't mad at me and I can do whatever I want!"

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My children have been taught that the expression "Duh" is disrespectful and not to be said in the house. The other day, I was asking The Girl a question with a painfully obvious answer. I saw her pull her shirt over her mouth and then she looked at me like she had just done something wrong. Then she says, "I really, really needed to say 'DUH" but I didn't want you to hear me."

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I really wish my 8 year old said some lighthearted, silly things these days, but you know when you are in 3rd grade, life. is. serious. Maybe one day...

Motherhood...umph

So, what have I been up to? Hold on to your seats....

An entire week of snow kept us locked into the house, no school, no outside play, very cabin fever style of living. Over the course of time, we had numerous melt downs, a loss of two bags full of toys, left over chocolate being secretly eaten, but the wrappers left sitting around, and a handful of hair being cut off for no particular reason.

And that was just The Girl.

Me? I was blessed with a cold, a bum wrist and a short temper. At one point I was running through my house naked and dripping wet, having rushed out of my shower to stop an argument. It was the stuff therapy is made of. Liquid gold for future psychoanalysts.

We had our high points. We made a fort out of sheets and pillows, we took naps, we drew pictures and played games. Over the weekend we made it out and went snow tubing. We did manage to have hugs, kisses and heard lots of "I love you," too.

And as soon as it began, the snow week was over. Back to school.

Oh! And today I officially realized that I am not smarter than a 5th grader. As a matter a fact, I am not smarter than a 3rd grader. The Boy brought home geometry math work that I have not seen in almost 20 years...I never learned difference between an isosceles vs right triangle back then and I still did not know it now. He giggled to me as I asked questions and told me how funny it was he was having to teach me now. He was also really proud of himself--FINALLY knowing something his Mom did not.

Thank goodness I teach preschool. Otherwise Iwould tell all parents to keep their kids far, far away from me.

Ways in which I will not win Mother of the Year any time soon...

1. When school was cancelled for snow, I had a Valentine's cake that was now rendered useless since the party was going to be rescheduled. We ate it for breakfast. It was my Bill Cosby moment.

2. Falling asleep for 2 hours while my children are watching tv. I only woke up because The Boy walked in announcing he was "bored" from watching so much tv.

3. Letting The Girl wear her pjs until well after lunch almost any day we are home.

4. Allowing bedrooms to look like a grand war was staged in them....the toys exploded...the causalities were too high to count.

5. Encouraging cooperative play through video games...as long as they are playing nice and not crying, whining, hitting, spitting, or tantrum throwing, they can play for as long as they want.

6. Letting The Boy wear short sleeve on 20 degree days simply because he dressed himself and it managed to match. He can wear a jacket if we go out.

7. Finding out (after the fact) that my children have taken plastic coke bottles, play dough and PUSH PINS and made rather impressive space ships.

8. Applauding that decision by taking pictures and posting on my blog.

Smooth Operator

Me: How was your day?

The Boy: Good. I only have one page of homework and I made a Mario card. And Hailey finally did something I have always needed her to do.

Me: What is that?

The Boy: She asked me if I wanted to be her Valentine and I pretended to not be myself and be Venom.

Me: Venom? What did she think of that?

The Boy: She didn’t say anything. I was nervous and sometimes people just get nervous and that is ok. She put a valentine inside my folder.

Me (reading valentine): Roses red, Violets Blue, I love you xoxoxo

The Boy: What?

Me: It says I love you.

The Boy: I’m in second grade! I’m not even supposed to have a girlfriend until 3rd grade!


That’s my boy!

Oh, Happy Craft Day!

So, this morning The Boy had to have two of his baby teeth removed in order to make room for the gigantic adult teeth trying to push their way in. Since the roots were in no way prepared to come out, he got a sedation medication, a dose of laughing gas and 2 shots of Novocaine. All went off well and he spent the afternoon mending at home. Since The Girl was in school today, I had the luxury of spending the afternoon catching up on some of my crafts. I like to make signs. I talked about one of them here. And these are the ones I made today!

I LOVE this sweet little bathroom sign. I can't decide if I am keeping it or selling it.

This sign is for a new crafting center I am putting together for the kids.

This sign is going in the kitchen basket I am making a basket auction at The Boy's school.

I made this star a while ago, but finally got around to sealing it up. It is going up for sale!

And as a little extra because I have not shared it before, here is the sign I made for our dining room a while ago.

I just love crafty days!!!

Fly on the Wall

The fly on the wall heard this today:

The Boy: Get out of my room!

The Girl: NNNNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

The Boy: I am the big brother and big brothers tell little sisters what to do!

The Girl: No, I am Iron Man.

The Boy: And Mom tells me what to do.

Me: Oh really?

The Girl: I AM IRON MAN!

The Boy: And Dad tells Mom what to do.

Me: Oh REALLY?

Indiana Jones and The Temple of Duh

The Boy: I really want to be Indiana Jones.

Me: You don't even know what those movies are about!

The Boy: Yes, I do! In the second movie he breaks into the temple to replace the crystal skull. And he gets caught.

Me: How do you know about that?

The Boy: Uh--Lego's commercial! (With the tone of DUH in his voice)

Me: Oh

Trivial Knowledge

The Boy: Did you know if you fly into the assmussfear that you will get fire hot?

Me: What if you have a space ship?

The Boy: I dunno. Maybe it will get fire hot, but you will be safe inside.

Me: That makes sense.

The Boy: Did you know that Carnage and Venom wear the same outfit but they are different colors and that they both hate really loud noises. And that can only mean one thing. It means that Venom is Carnage's son!

Me: No, I did not know that.

The Boy: And if they hear a really, really loud noise, their clothes fall off?

Me: Their clothes fall off?

The Boy: Yeah!

Me: They are naked?

The Boy: No! They have on underwear.

Me: What kind of underwear do they wear? Think they have Spider Man undies? Like you!

The Boy: Mom! They are mortal enemies. They just have bad guy underwear. (duh)

An investment you can sink your teeth into

The Boy lost his second tooth this week. I meant to blog about the loss of his first tooth which was by far a much bigger deal for him. First tooth, he came home all triumphant that he had gotten the tooth out with minimal bleeding and no pain. He had a certificate from Ms. Drama. He got a treasure box to keep his tooth in as a keepsake. And the tooth fairy left him $5.00 for that very important first tooth. However, she let him keep it since he had that ultra cool orange treasure box for it.

This time....he forgot to tell me that he lost it. He also forgot to bring it home. And the tooth fairy forgot to come....so she snuck in while he was at school the next day. Turns out, the second tooth snags a solid $1.00 bill. Not a bad draw for a 6 year old. In my day she only handed out a quarter. Of course, I never charmed her with pictures like:


That Fairy is putty in his hands...

A conversation between father and son

The Boy: (from inside the bathroom stall) Dad?
Techo Geek: Yes?
The Boy: What does B-O-O-T-Y mean?
Techo Geek: Just finish your business.

Goodnight to me---forever?

Me: You are my little baby boy. (hugging The Boy goodnight) Even if you are big. Look at you--you are like a giant. How did you get so big?

The Boy: I will always be your little baby boy. Now matter how big I get, I will always be your little baby boy and also your big boy. (putting his hands on my shoulders and giving me a serious look) And if you die, I will always remember you.

What a goof....

A Science Lesson

The scene: We are watching some show and beavers are on...PBS versions of beavers that is.

The boy: It's a dam!
Me: That's right. Who made that dam?
The boy: Beavers make them.
Me: Why would they do that?
The boy: They make them to stop the water from getting from this side to that side.
Me: But how do they build them?
The boy: They use their teeth and they eat through a branch and then they pile those up and it blocks the water.
Me: oh, ok

The end.

The Devious Plan

The boy has decided he is going to make a hologram of himself to send to school in his place.



The boy: I am going to make a hologram to send to school.

Me: Really? And what exactly is a hologram? (curious to his response)

The boy: It is when you take a picture of yourself but it is not on paper and then you send it someplace else and people think it is you but it isn't you. It's a hologram!

Me: oh, of course.

And thank you Cartoon Network!