Bonsol Unlimited

Grommet-ized!

2011-10-14T08:39:00.000-07:00

This is Grommet at 1 week old, when we picked him out.

These pictures above are Grommet at 2 weeks old. Just starting to open his eyes a bit.

These pictures of Grommet on the red fabric are him at 3 weeks old. He's just starting to stand here, and his eyes and ears are open. He started barking at this age, and Donna, the breeder, said that it's funny when they do that, because they startle themselves!

The above pictures are Grommet at 4 weeks old. Look how fuzzy he is! He's so fuzzy, I could die!!! We got to meet him 'in person' yesterday morning. Oh. My. Goodness! He is so adorable! We can't wait to take him home!

Below are pictures of our visit with him. He was sleeping when we first got there, so was pretty still while I held him. I didn't get any pictures of ME holding him. I forgot to ask Kai to take photos, but he did try to take some videos. I'll see if they came out later.

Noe holding Grommet. He kept on crawling off of our laps and exploring. This was the first time he had been away from his mommy for so long. She was NOT happy, and apparently growled at Donna when she took him away. She barked the whole time we had him.

All three kids playing with our puppy! They all loved him, and we are super excited to see him again and take him home after Nationals (weekend before Thanksgiving).

Kai, TRYING to hold him. After he woke up, he just kept on moving!

Grommet loves his belly being rubbed! He seems to have a ticklish belly, and kicked his feet a lot when we scratched it!

What's this?

It's a 'road kill' toy. This type of toy resembles a squished road kill squirrel, and has no stuffing, so it's safe for doggies to play with. They don't have to worry about choking on stuffing! I think there is a squeekie thing inside too. Grommet dragged it around a bit.

Noe, petting the doggie in motion. We got to visit with him for about 1/2 hour or so, before he needed his mommy again. I could have held him for a long time! Such a sweet puppy! Donna says he's the biggest one in the litter and most likely will grow to be about 60 pounds. We met his daddy, and he was really nice too, and another female puppy (about 11 months), who was also very well behaved and friendly. I really like this breed of dog. I've never been a 'dog person', but I really like the Australian Shepherds and we are really excited to have Grommet join our family!

Side table

2011-10-14T06:33:00.001-07:00

This is a side table I made for Arnez for his side of the bed. I made it up all by myself with no pattern!

This is the table before it was finished and without the extra shelf in the middle.

Here it is finished. I put in the extra shelf to add some stability and for Arnez to be able to put his sleeping hats on instead of on the floor.

Cross Country

2011-10-14T06:04:00.000-07:00

So, our lives are sort of ruled by the Cross Country bug right now. Starting in August, we once again began running with the Belvidere Tornados. Even Sophia is running now! Kai and Noe REALLY want to go to Nationals this year, which is in West Virginia. Last year (in Kentucky), we didn't go because A) it was our first year and B) they were very slow, and they wouldn't have made the team. THIS year, Kai and Noe have shown dramatic improvements! Here are some pictures of them.

Sophia, don't SING! RUN!

"So, we have to do WHAT now?"

Noe running at the practice race

Finish hard, Noe!

Kai running at the practice race!

2011-08-25T11:24:00.000-07:00

Some lunchtime reading.

Finished!

2011-08-23T22:46:00.001-07:00

So, today I finished the bed. Brought it up stairs and screwed it together. My lovely assistants, Noe and Sophia, helped. They both alternated between holding up headboard/footboards and dancing in the center of the room to two different birthday cards I had gotten (the kind that play music). I was a bit disconcerted to realize how HIGH the new bed is! We are either going to have to get used to it, or lost the box-spring mattress. I DID take a nap in the 'new' high bed today and it seemed to 'work' fine! I'm glad it's done and now I have some extra wood left over. What to make?

Sicky Sophia

2011-08-19T07:25:00.001-07:00

Sicky Sophia Sleeping Silently... in the dining room. She threw up at least 5 times. Maybe 6. Then passed out and slept for about 2 hours.

My friend Julie came by with muffins for us. Sophia declared she was ALL BETTER and wanted some muffins too. I told her to see if the water stays down first! I tied her hair up not very prettily one of the times she was puking into the garbage can so I don't have to wash carrot puke out of her hair. Yes. Carrots. Again and againandagain.... How many times can one person puke up carrots in one morning? It was ONE carrot yesterday! For LUNCH! So it SAT there ALL DAY! And all night. Blech.

A running family! And some icky stuff.

2011-08-19T03:52:00.000-07:00

So, yesterday finished the first week of cross country practice for my kids. Even Sophia, who mostly refuses to run when *I* take her out, ran on Wednesday and Thursday! A whole MILE! Wow. She's only 4! (5 in October) I took her out yesterday afternoon before practice and got her her very first pair of official running shoes. The whole family now has official running shoes! Arnez got a pair last week and went running yesterday with me and Sophia. I'm not supposed to run right now, because I have hip bursitis and I'm trying to get that to heal, but Sophia is too little to run on her own and doesn't know the course anyway.

Sophia woke up at 4 a.m this morning throwing up. I'm not sure why, because she felt just fine yesterday and didn't feel sick while running and ate a nice dinner with no problems. I could tell she was puking up lunch as well as dinner, so that strikes me as odd that her lunch was sitting in her stomach all day and she didn't feel sick while running. She's thrown up 3 times so far and it's only 6:15! I'm hoping she feels better soon. I don't like her being sick, and I'm not sure what I'm going to do if she's still sick later. I teach karate on Friday night. Right now, I've got her sleeping on a little 'bed' of blankets I made up for her in the dining room. That way, Arnez can get some more sleep before he has to head to work.

Various pictures

2011-08-18T09:21:00.000-07:00

Dr. Horrible. I mean Chemist Noe. She was getting ready to use her new chemistry set with Daddy, and is using Kai's Dr. Horrible outfit I made him and that he's too big for. Not sure who Dr. Horrible is? Google him! VERY funny 'musical'.

Cool pancakes.

Hi-tech cooking. The girls were making teddy bear cookies on a stick for my birthday.

The kids "helping" Daddy do pushups... I think...

How the Lord of the Rings Ended. By Sophia

2011-08-18T09:15:00.000-07:00

Mommy, I remember a little bit of the Lord of the Rings movie... There were these two little guys... They walked a lot. They climbed up on a rock. Then they died... sigh. It was sad...

My new bed frame!

2011-08-18T09:06:00.000-07:00

So, for awhile now (oh, maybe two years! nothing like getting right ON things!) I've been wanting to build a new bed frame for our queen sized bed. I had made a bunk bed (custom made) from scratch two years ago for my girls. It was a fun and empowering experience (think learning how to use a circular saw!) A few days ago, I FINALLY got around to making the bed! It's not quite done yet, but here it is!

The head and foot boards.

The assembled bed pre-stain. The side railings aren't screwed in place yet. I'll do that when I'm totally done with it and have it upstairs.

The stained bed. Obviously, I didn't need to stain the parts that won't be seen.

the head board stained.

These are my two lovely assistants. Noe helped me hold the big boards while I sawed them and again while I screwed various parts together. Sophia helped me pick up all the curly cues that were from the planer.

Math According to Calvin, uh, I Mean Kai...

2010-05-17T05:15:00.000-07:00

Kai comes up to me with these word problems this morning, claiming they don't make sense.

18. Three-eighths of the guests at the picnic ate hamburgers. One-half of those people had mustard on their hamburgers. What part of the people at the picnic had hamburgers with mustard?

19. If there were 48 people at the picnic (#18), how many had hamburgers? How many had hamburgers with mustard?

"See," he says, "this is just an example of how ridiculous these questions are! They don't make sense!"

"No," says I, "they DO make sense. You have to figure out HOW MANY people, not a fraction, had hamburgers. And HOW MANY of THOSE people had them with mustard..."

Kai sagely replies, "Oh, that's easy. All 48 people had hamburgers. Everyone loves hamburgers!" And he was thinking, but didn't actually say, "And none of them had mustard, because mustard is gross!"*

*For the record, mustard is NOT gross. It tastes even better with jalapenos mixed in. I'm the only one who likes mustard in my family so far.

The Bible According to Sophia

2010-05-17T04:54:00.000-07:00

So, my kids go to a children's ministry at church called Promiseland. It's where they learn about God and the Bible in a way that is relevant to their age group (i.e. not so boring you're forced to bring a pillow and a blanket). She also has a 'My First Bible' of some sort. The kind where they have lots of cartoon-ish pictures and tell the major Bible stories in a very abbreviated way.

Sophia, who's at that age where just about everything that comes out of her mouth is funny, comes up to me one day, saying, "Mommy, I learned that God and Jesus went into the bushes and died..." My response was to look at her with my mouth opened for a bit.
Me, thinking I've perhaps misheard her: "What, Honey? What was that you said?"
Sophia, with all the confidence of a three year old who knows everything: "Yup, God and Jesus, they went into the bushes. And died."
Me: "Wow, really? I don't remember that story from my Bible..."

Sophia went around for a while repeating her story about how God and Jesus kicked the can in the bushes. I went around scouring my brain, trying to remember WHERE she had heard or learned that. Now, I was pretty sure that she never learned that in Promiseland, because they are, if anything, Biblically correct. So is her baby Bible. WHERE did she learn that Jesus and God were walking around, turned into the bushes and died?

My theory is this, since Sophia isn't telling her sources: she looks at her baby Bible, and not being able to read yet, makes up stories to go with the pictures. I think she found the story of Moses and the burning bush maybe and mistook Moses for Jesus or God and figured that the person in the story burst into flames too... Yes, I know that it was MOSES, ONE person standing there, and not two, (i.e. Jesus AND God), but maybe she figured it was.... I don't know. God was in 'Jesus's' heart? And they both jumped into the burning bush? I'm not going to worry too much, because Promiseland is awesome, and maybe someday they'll teach about Moses and the burning bush and she'll learn that a) Moses didn't burn to a crisp because of the bush and b) God was IN the bush, talking to Moses, not being burned up in the bush. Also, she'll eventually learn to read.

Now, if only I could figure out where the spiders that come out of her window at night and tickle her in the butt and back come from... "And they say, tickle tickle tickle!"

Funny thing

2009-11-11T05:03:00.001-08:00

Funny thing heard at church the other day: Sophia, during our pre-serving huddle (I'm a coach for the Promiseland infant area), announced to one of the volunteers, "And I'd like to thank you very much for coming today!" She's 3. It was funny, and we all looked at her kind of amazed. The lady she was talking to said, "Thank you for thanking me!"

ExSqueeeze Me???

2009-10-17T21:41:00.000-07:00

So, we were at a party tonight at my sister-in-law's house. We were celebrating... um, I think we were celebrating my husband's parent's being in town from L.V. They were in for a wedding. The kids and I didn't get home until about 11 p.m.

Anyway, I had to jot down a funny story before I forget, even though I'm excruciatingly tired.

When a bunch of Filipinos get together, there tends to be a lot of gambling (and yelling, thumping, laughing). So, amongst all this noise, I register somewhere in the back of my mind that Sophia is following me around. She's repeating something. Which isn't unusual for her, because she repeats EVERYTHING she says until she gets an answer. Even if it's just a "huh" or something like that. I tune in to her and hear that she's repeating, "Mommy, can I play?" Uh, honey, there are a TON of kids playing all over the house, and as far as I know, you were JUST playing, so WHY are you asking me if you can play? Of course you can play, Sweetie! Wait, what? What exactly are you talking about? She starts pointing in THAT general direction. I look. There's a lot going on in THAT direction. I think at first she's pointing at the laptop her cousin is playing on. Uh, no, Honey, you can't play on that laptop. She runs off a little ways towards the door. Over by the door, there's a table set up, where about 7 or 8 people are gathered around, playing some sort of card game, and gambling (and yelling, thumping and laughing). They're all kind of looking at me with little smiles. Uh, WHAT did you want to play, Honey? Whereupon my honey says, "Mommy" (spreads her hands palms up with fingers splayed out), "it's only ten dollars!"

Wait, what? What just happened here? My baby just hit me up for some money to gamble. She's not even 3 yet! I don't think either of my other two kids has ever asked me for money before. Stuff, yes. Money, I don't think so.

We all got a good laugh over it, and everyone repeated the story around the house. Looks like the gambling gene got passed to my Sophia. I didn't, however, let her play, and she didn't get any money from me. She forgot her money woes shortly thereafter, however, after falling on her 'bumpkus'. Really, she fell on her head and bumped it, but told me she fell and hurt her 'bumpkus'. No, Baby, your bumpkus is down there. Pat, pat on the patootie. That other thing is your head.

Oh, Hockey!

2009-09-05T04:55:00.000-07:00

The other night, we were watching 'Rocky IV'. Yes, I let my kids watch it. I realize it might not be what some parents consider 'suitable kid watching material', but there you have it. I let them watch the 'Rocky' movies. We have good, educational discussions too, like why you shouldn't do drugs, what are steroids, what are hormones, etc. So, anyway, I fast forwarded to the good scenes (i.e. the ones where people are having a philosophical discussion, or the ones where people are training or beating on each other). It's pretty enjoyable that way. Sophia was sitting on my lap, enjoying along with the rest of us. At the end, when things aren't looking so good for our hero, we all were like, 'get in there! Hit him in the head! Ya got to get IN there!' (if you remember, the antagonist was this behemoth Russian dude-Dolph Lundgren, who is HUGE and has arms about 3 feet long or something). Then, of course, our famous hero, Rocky, ends up beating the snot out of the opposing force, and the whole crowd goes berserk! As the fight had been progressing, the crowd slowly went from 'booing' Rocky, to chanting, 'Rocky, Rocky...' So now, the whole crowd is chanting his name. Our home viewing audience, of course is chanting too, 'Rocky, Rocky'... Which is when I notice that ONE of us isn't chanting, 'Rocky, Rocky!'. One of us, Sophia, is chanting, 'Hockey, Hockey!' Which is another sport where it's ok to beat on people, but I'm pretty sure that there are no Rocky movies involving hockey pucks. The funny things toddlers say!

Funny Two Year Old Speak

2009-08-14T19:17:00.000-07:00

As we're going up the stairs, "Mommy, uppy!" "No, no honey, I can't carry you up" (Mommy broke her toe last Sunday). "Mommy, uppy, uppy!" "No, you're going to have to walk up." "Mommy, my batteries don't work in my feet. They're all gone! Uppy!" (Maybe that's why Mommy is so tired all the time... My feet batteries are dead.")

While sitting on the potty before bedtime: "Mommy, my soup is Daddy! My soup is Daddy!" Uh? Huh? I can't even begin to translate that one. She points to the bath tub, over which her wet bathing suit is laying (after playing in the sprinkler this afternoon), "Mommy, my soup is Daddy!" Oh, I get it now! Your SUIT is DIRTY!

Kai's video

2009-07-04T05:27:00.001-07:00

Here is a link to Kai's video. I'm not sure if it will work. I originally posted it to my Facebook, but it looks like I deleted it from my own computer or something. Or it's lost in the nether regions of my computer somewhere.

Kai's projects

2009-07-04T05:14:00.000-07:00

Kai has been taking a Lego engineering class. Here are some pictures to document it. I had a video, but I can't find it now.

Kai's chainsaw.

A digger thing.

Kai getting ready to start building.

Kai with his mothman. It's not finished yet.

Projects

2009-07-04T04:22:00.000-07:00

Recently, we've had a few really big projects going on. The kids got a new Pergo floor. I saved up money for about 2 years and saved up about $1000 cash. In order to save money, I opted to put in the floor myself. Arnez cut the pieces (and did a wonderful job!) and helped me lay the floor. Here are some pictures to document our project. The floor cost about $550, after everything. I ended up returning two boxes of flooring.

The carpeting starts to come off.

Carpeting removed.

Noe helped me remove squares of carpeting from beneath heavy furniture.

Kai helped me take the rolls of carpeting downstairs.

11 boxes of Pergo laminate flooring. Cost: $622. I returned two, which gave me back $112.

An entire room of carpet fits into two garbage cans.

One side of the room done. We shifted furniture around. There are squares of felt underneath the legs of all the heavy furniture until I figure out something better.

Arnez in our 'workshop'.

A cool, refreshing iced coffee drink to help us through the day.

Our room, with most of the kids' stuff in it.

Laying down the tongue and groove boards is not as easy as people would have you believe!

A tricky cut around the heating vent.

And it's done. Arnez did a great job with this.

Around the door.

Around the closet.

Sophia worked so hard and got so tired! She took it upon herself to appropriate Noe's bed and take a nap.

THE BED
The next project was the bed. I went out and purchased the material while we were still laying the floor. All told, after going back to the store a few times (thanks, Honey!), we spent around $150. This is the price we would have spent on a cheapo, made-in-China bed from Walmart. I wanted to custom make a bed because of the unusual sloping of the wall where the bed will be located. A store bought bed would have been too tall. I found instructions online at this site. I had to tweak the directions (kind of like tweaking a recipe, actually!) to make it shorter. And I didn't like the way their ladder jutted out, so I tweaked it again and made my own version of a ladder that was attached to the bed. You'll see. The cutting started on Tuesday and the sanding was on Tuesday to Wednesday. I did all of that myself. Construction began Thursday morning. Pretty much, I worked all day on that bed. I did most of the work myself, except for having an occasional hand holding a board while I cut or drilled. Arnez helped me cut notches in the plywood that holds the mattresses up and carving the inscription. I applied the first coat of stain last night before dinner.

The potential, waiting to become something.

First up, the boxes for the mattresses need to be made. This took me pretty much all morning.

Then, putting in the upright posts. This was not actually as hard as making the mattress boxes.

Two more side guard rails to put in.

Now for the ladder. This was surprisingly easy to make. It was almost ridiculously easy.

Noe, trying out her new bed. She'll be sleeping on top.

Arnez, cutting the inscription in.

The first coat of stain. It's an oil-based stain. VERY sticky! And I had to work FAST! Slap, slap, slap the stain on as fast as I could, really.

The inscription, after the stain.

There is still at least one more coat of stain to go, and I'll have to buy a new can for that. The first coat took up almost the whole first can. I also need to buy two mattresses, and then it will get disassembled and moved upstairs to the kids' room, reassembled and bedding put on. For today, though, I am going to rest from my labors! We're going to mom's house to hang out! Sunday, we're going to my aunt's house to celebrate the 4th (Arnez has to work today), then hopefully, the second coat of stain will go on Monday.

Excellent video

2009-06-25T05:22:00.001-07:00

Barbara Frank has an excellent video about John Taylor Gatto on her blog. Check it out!

hot

2009-06-24T10:44:00.000-07:00

Ugh. It's hot today. Nuf said.

Exhaustion

2009-06-22T18:24:00.000-07:00

Well, today I totally exhausted the kids. Kai and Noe anyway. Our friend's son is taking a soccer camp at a large park this week. Around the park is a pathway, which, if I am reading the map correctly, is 2 miles long. Kai, Noe and I have run around that pathway without stopping once already. Today, I met Chris and her kids there, and while Habtamu was doing his soccer camp, Yordi, Noe, Kai and I ran the pathway. We did pretty well, seeing as it was about a hundred degrees out there. Later, we did the family karate at the YMCA.

It has been difficult lately to get the kids to go to bed at 8, since it's still light out, and they can hear other kids playing or walking down the street. I haven't turned the air on yet (which will probably go on tomorrow, if it's this hot again), so I am keeping their windows open, which means that they don't have the benefit of the room-darkening curtains. I was somewhat concerned that they were not going to be able to sleep, what with it still being 'day' outside and all. I took shower #2 (it's been 2-shower weather lately), and by the time I was done, Kai and Noe were totally zonked out. Not a peep but some snuffly snoring. Sophia, who didn't have the benefit of a 2 mile run and family karate, you know, since her legs are only about 12 inches long or so, was still awake, but 2 out of 3 aint bad, huh?

As for myself, I'm pretty tired too. I'm almost recovered emotionally from the basement flooding episode, and I can actually eat again. I took a nice, long nap this afternoon, and could go to bed right now. I'm not going to, though, since I'm kind of addicted to the 'Twilight' book series and am on the last one. I'll probably end up staying up way too late and be tired again. Or, maybe I'll just have a quick snack and then go to bed at a decent hour. Who knows.

Tomorrow, we'll be off to the park to repeat our 2 mile run. Then, Noe has her tumbling that afternoon. Perhaps we'll walk to tumbling. That's a 1 mile round trip. My goal, I think, is to get them so tired, they'll be begging to go to bed. At the very least, no complaining about how it's too light, and can't we please, please, please stay up later?

The Day the Monsoon Rains Came

2009-06-20T16:00:00.001-07:00

Yesterday was monsoon season where I live. I know, I know, I could hardly believe that the monsoon came HERE of all places. I'm just hoping that monsoon season is over for a LONG time. Now, I'm one who loves loves loves a good thunder storm. I have been known to whine when we haven't gotten rain in awhile. My garden is large and I hate spending money to water it. I have been known to curse the weather people and their 70% chances of rain when it doesn't even precipitate a little. Or we get so little precipitation, it's like butterflies spitting.

Something happened yesterday though. We recently installed a self-made rain barrel. I was thrilled when the 70% chance of rain actually made some rain. Wow. That water barrel filled up FAST. So fast, it was overflowing and we had to figure out a way to divert the rain BACK down the drain pipes so it didn't mess up the foundation or basement. While this was happening, a certain little drain pipe in our basement decided that it wasn't getting treated right, contacted the Pipe Union 254 and went on strike. All this before monsoon season hit.

Then came the rains. And they came and they came and they came. I heard from one reliable source that we got something like 4 inches in an hour or something. Or maybe it was 4 inches in ten minutes. Anyway, whatever the amount, it just kept coming and coming. Waves upon waves, without stopping. Kind of like a monsoon. The yards across the street (on the parkway) got flooded. That wasn't abnormal. They flood all the time, when we have a good, fast downpour. Then they drain within 10 minutes or so. Well, this was no ordinary good, fast downpour. This was about 2 hours of unremitting rain. HARD rain. Not the good kind. So, in short order, OUR side of the street flooded.

I wasn't too worried. At this point, it was more of a novelty. Huh, that's interesting. Look, honey, the street's flooded too! Oh wow, look, the neighbor's back yard is flooded! Wow. That's a lot of rain. Uh, honey, OUR yard is kind of looking like it's flooded. That's NEVER happened in our 6 1/2 years of living here. Which is when we discovered that our drain pipe had gone on strike. And that all of the water, which normally would drain into the storm drains was draining into MY basement. And both of my neighbor's basements to either side. But MY basement has NEVER EVER EVER flooded in my memory of living here (I know, I've been here so long, right?) I had faith in my little house. I mean, it's almost 100 years old, right? It's lasted through almost 100 years of floods, winds, feet of snow, a tornado that took a tree out RIGHT NEXT TO MY HOUSE (not kidding), but it never flooded (as far as I know). We don't even have a sump pump, because we've never had more than a trickle in our basement, even during a good, hard downpour or three.

Well, the combination of monsoon season and a strike with the Pipe Union 254 was just too much for my poor house. We found out that we quickly had a 2-3 inch deep bog in our basement. UGH!!!! and DOUBLE UGH!!!! Now, both Arnez and I, being such wise and quick thinkers, didn't hesitate to look stupidly at each other, and query, "What are we supposed to do now?" Kai's idea was to make paper boats and float them. He thought it was the coolest thing that ever happened to us. Until he realized just how stressed and upset 2-3 inches of water could make his parents.

The long and short of it is this: Arnez went out and bought a 350 gallon an hour water pump to pump the water OUT of our basement (into our already flooded yard). We should have bought galoshes (I don't think I've ever wanted THAT particular item of clothing before, much less written that word. First for everything, I say!), because the jury rigged bags over my feet (with rubber bands around them) were NOT water tight. My feet still got cold and wet (ICK!). When I realized that my poor dehumidifier was about to go on strike too (with good reason, as it was 2-3 inches under water at this point, and about to make snide comments about its abilities and how this wasn't in its contract), I realized that I needed to move stuff up OUT of the basement to make room on a chair down there for it to rest.

The water pumped faithfully pumped for several hours until perhaps 1:30 or so in the morning. Whereupon it started making fitful noises and threatened to call ITS union. We both rushed down there and found out that most of the water was gone and the poor pump was in danger of expiring. We turned it off and assessed that yes, water was still coming IN from OUTSIDE, and inexplicably, the previously on-strike drain had decided to make a last-ditch effort, and so now we had an even input and output.

Emotionally, monsoon season has really worked a number on me. I have been so upset, I can barely eat. (I am obviously past the point of eating to drown negative feelings) On the upside, because of monsoon season, I've lost 2 more pounds. Ok, monsoon season, family karate, and an upgraded workout schedule. Which, I suppose is ONE way to lose weight. Not the way I would have chosen (the exercise is fine, the monsoon season has GOT to go). I also realized that I cannot sleep when I am that upset. I tried to go to bed at 10:30 or so. Not even "War and Peace" was boring enough to make me fall asleep (most days, this is not a problem). So, downstairs I went again (about the time that the water pump started protesting) and I read a book (2nd in the 'Twilight' series) for about an hour. I even took a Benedryl. I tried to go back to sleep for a while (tried "War and Peace" again), but no go. I went BACK downstairs, took ANOTHER Benedryl, two ibuprofen (all that working out made my legs ache), had a tiny bowl of cereal (so I didn't get the urge to be sick, either from stress or meds on an empty stomach), read for a bit and tried once again to go back to sleep.

Arnez, who reacts much differently to stress than I do, was sleeping soundly, snoring like a bear. Well, he reacts to most things like that, not just stress. I'm quite envious, because it took me until 3 in the morning to actually fall asleep. I was up at 6, which gave me a grand total of 3 hours of sleep. UGH and double UGH.

If I live to be a 100, I hope to never see monsoon season again. It almost makes me want to move to Arizona and live in the desert, where I'm sure they don't ever have monsoon season or flooded basements.

Like a Little Old Lady

2009-06-08T15:29:00.000-07:00

That's what I feel like. My kids and I joined the family karate class at the YMCA. I haven't really done this 'stuff' for about 10 years. My body is telling me quite plainly that it doesn't appreciate it. Not one bit. We sparred today. It felt ok, even good for about 10 seconds. Then my body started complaining and my lungs started gasping. I think I'm gonna be sore for awhile. I guess I did ok (from what Chris said) but it felt sucky, and I felt like I haven't done it for 10 years. (sorry Chris!) Martial arts is way better exercise than, say, running for 15 minutes, doing the elliptical for 15, doing a bike for 15 and then lifting weights for 15 minutes. And the karate class only lasted for 45 minutes! We'll be back on Wednesday and then on Friday to get all sweaty and disgusting again. Anyway, off to take a shower, cuz I sweat like a pig.

Chocolate Frosting

2009-06-06T18:44:00.000-07:00

Yes, homemade chocolate frosting is so good, it even stands on its own. As I'm proving right now. Slowly working my way through the 'leftovers' from my friend's birthday cake I made for her. It tastes awesome with leftover chocolate cake too, but that was gone by breakfast... uh, yeah...

In other news, potty training is going well. Sophia spent the night with her grandma and grandpa (and brother and sister) and did really well. As long as I wasn't there, it seemed. Well, she just didn't like me LOOKING at her or TELLING her to use the potty or TALKING to her. And she didn't have any problem letting me know vociferously her opinion. And kicking me. And turning her back to me so at least she didn't have to look at me. Snot. Oh, and she had two accidents today at Grandma's house. Grandma took it a lot better than me. Grandma's are good at that kind of thing. I suppose someday, God willing, when I'm a grandma, I won't care so much if they wet their pants twice in one day. Or if all three kids get oreo cookie ice cream sandwich smears all over their faces and hands and shirts. Or if they ALL wake up between 5 and 5:30. My mom is a lot more easygoing than me, and I can only hope to aspire to her level of easygoingness someday. Perhaps in 20 years or so. For now, I'll eat more chocolate frosting.

I made some more jewelry today. I seem to have gotten over my creative/mental stumbling block that comes when I have too much jewelry in stock. I still have too much stuff, but I've been making more for me lately, which doesn't seem to have the same stigma as having too much stuff in my 'for sale' case. I made a cute necklace the other day, and was wearing it to coffee. My friends commented on it being so cute. I thought it was ok, but somewhat too long for me, given my shortness and smallness in certain areas, if you know what I mean (if you don't, don't worry about it). So, I handed it off to my friend Lisa to try on, and the necklace took on new life. It was meant for her and was just waiting for coffee night to let me know. It wasn't meant for me. I was merely the transportation to its rightful owner. Here is a picture of it, and see how happy it is!

And that is that for tonight. My frosting is mostly gone. My eyes and body are exhausted. I've been practicing my pushups. So, I'm probably going to be sore tomorrow. The kids and I joined a family karate class at the local YMCA. And Kai says he can now do 20 pushups without stopping. Gotta keep up with my boy, and make sure I don't look like a sissy if I have to do remedial pushups in karate class. (I'm not AT ALL competitive... Nope, not me!)

Movin' Right Along

2009-06-03T07:22:00.000-07:00

This is how Sophia moved around with her seat. It was so cute, I just had to get a video! She's gonna hate me when she's a teenager, huh?

The World of Potty Training

2009-06-03T06:42:00.000-07:00

Well, it feels like all we ever do around here is talk about potty stuff. But, it's paying off! Sophia made the transition to the big potty with a ring attachment (so she doesn't take a nosedive into the bowl). We did a few practice runs, getting on and off and pretending she had a peepee and had to run to the potty. It was highly exciting (for Sophia) and somehow, in the excitement, she managed to get a jelly bean for doing nothing but getting on and off the potty. Last night, after practicing, she still ended up doing her potties on the floor model. So, today, the floor model 'disappeared' and she has had to use the big potty. Which has gone well.

In other news, when I haven't been potty training with Sophia, I've been finishing up knitting and crochet projects. I finished 4 different ones yesterday. Below is a table runner for my mom's friend I finished. In addition, I finished a hat, a scarf and a sweater. I started some new winter mittens for Noe last night over coffee with the girls.

Yesterday was also a big shopping day. Seemed like the money just flowed out of our account like water. Noe and I bought a few flowers for a planter or two and some tomato and pepper plants. We also purchased some chicken wire and a long pot for the front porch.

Kai got a very temporary hair cut for 'crazy hair day' in Promiseland this Sunday. It will be 'fixed' asap when we get home from church, as no one except Kai really likes it. Mom and Dad, I don't want to hear anything about it! It's temporary!!!

Here are some random pictures I forgot about and have been to tired/lazy to post:

Some Mother's day pics.

Baby butts are awesome!

Noe's birthday cake

I also made my first sale to benefit FMSC last night. As many of you know, I'm having a fund raiser to benefit FMSC. For the whole month of June, 50% of everything I make is being donated to FMSC. Visit http://windchimesjewelry.blogspot.co m to see if anything there is to your liking! Things aren't moving along as quickly as I thought they would, which is rather discouraging. My friend Lisa bought a necklace off me (literally!) last night. I had made a necklace that was cute, but didn't look nearly as cool on me as it did on her. So, she bought it, and 50% of that will go to FMSC. Thanks, Lisa!!!

Potty Training Day 4

2009-05-31T17:18:00.000-07:00

No accidents! For Sophia...

Mommy, on the other hand, found out that potty training is not without its hazards. While dumping out the little pot into the toilet, I brained my forehead on the bathroom door. Gonna have a bruise tomorrow, I bet. Other than that, there were no noteworthy accidents.

Sophia has learned a new way to milk the jelly bean system. She makes a poopy, I clean out the pot, return pot to the floor-model base, and she sits down and makes a peepee. Both times, she is expecting to get a jelly bean. The first time, ok. The second time, uh, ok, but try to make BOTH at the same time, huh? I tried to explain to her to go poops and pee at the SAME time. She insisted, "I can't do it!" very tearfully. Whereupon I proceed to clean out the pot, and set it back in the base. Then, of course, she plops her little bum back onto the pot to, you guessed it, make a peepee. Mommy, however, was not born yesterday and is no one's fool (most of the time, as long as there are no bathroom doors involved), and has made a new rule: Make BOTH at the SAME time, as you WON'T get an extra jelly bean for doing something two seconds later. New rule #2: watch out for those bathroom doors. They're dangerous, and are out to get me.

Potty training day 2

2009-05-29T18:11:00.001-07:00

Well, potty training hit its first several bumps today. The morning time went pretty well, and lunch time was fine. After lunch, however, I tried to get Sophia to go 'once more' before nap time. Cue the meltdowns. Plural. "I CAN'T DO IT!" became Sophia's new motto. This went on for about an hour and a half. But, I'm nothing if not determined. I think it's the Irish in me. Present me with an "I can't do it" or, even worse, when someone tells me, "You can't do it" and I dig in my heels like an Irish mule, refusing to move them taters one more step, gosh darn it! So, with Sophia repeating her motto again and again, and me repeating, "Yes you can!" (goodness, sounds like a politician we all know), it made up for a grueling pre-naptime ramp down. She finally (hooray!) made a tiny amount, and the diaper was slapped on (diapers for sleeping time) and off she went for a nap.

Amazingly, she didn't pee at all while sleeping. I think that was just a fluke. I'm not going to get too excited about that. She woke up, and had another mini-meltdown because she had to do the potty thing AGAIN. I told her she didn't have to sit on the potty, but she did have to GO on the potty once she had to do something (if you know what I mean). She seriously nodded her head ok. She understood. She could do that. She was all on board with that plan... Not two minutes later, she waltzes into the kitchen saying, "Mommy, you come clean that up?" Which is when I pulled "Crazy Mommy Lady" out of my pocket and scared the ... out of her. No, not really, but she did get in trouble with BOTH Mommy and Daddy, so she couldn't play us off one another like she usually does. So, she turned to the next best thing, her good friend Yordanos who was over for a bit and who basically does anything for her that she wants her to do. Yordanos was blissfully (mostly) unaware of the problem, but could hear the crying from the other room. She was helping Kai blast away little Lego dudes on Lego Star Wars though, and didn't come to her rescue. (where was Habtamu when she needed him???)

After she recovered from her potty fail, she proceeded to do, in quick succession, a #2 and a #1. All those fruits I've been letting her have sure do make things 'move along' smoothly! There were no more accidents and only one or two more wimpy little, "I can't do it!"s . I think Sophia is getting the hang of the "Make a poopie (peepee) on the potty, get a jelly bean" thing. (I even have an awesome song I sing, and I made it up myself!). She willingly sat on the potty to await the next 'event', even when I told her she could walk around a bit right after the previous 'event'. I think she didn't want to risk ever seeing Crazy Mommy again and missing out on a jelly bean.

Kai was funny earlier. He used the potty (the regular potty) and declared, "Mommy, I used the potty, can I have a jelly bean too?" Cute. And No. You can't.

On the Classics

2009-05-28T18:13:00.000-07:00

So, as I've mentioned before, I've been attempting to fill in some gaps in my childhood education (there are a LOT!). To that end, I'm trying to 'read the classics', some of which I've read, and most of which I haven't.

Here is what I've read or listened to off the list so far (note, there isn't ONE list I've been able to find. There are MANY lists, and depending on who wrote the list, some books will be on it or off it, on whatever whim or criteria said person used to determine that list). Some of these are things I've read previously, as noted.

Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
Arabian Nights by Antony Galland (read previously by my own choice)
Huckleberry Finn and Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
Some of the Sherlock Holmes books by Arthur Conan Doyle (read previously by my own choice)
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens (forced to read in school)
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne (I have to admit, I fast forwarded through some of the interminable technobabble, sorry!)
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens (read previously)
Black Beauty by Anna Sewell (again and again and again and again! I own this one!)
Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne
White Fang by Jack London (read in my teens by my own choice-I own this one)
Red Badge of Courage by Steven Crane (forced to in school)
Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare (in high school)
The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells
A Separate Peace by John Knowles
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald (ugh, double ugh. I was forced to read this one in high school, and hated every single second of it!)
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger (high school again, but I should read it again, as I don't remember it)
The Call of the Wild by Jack London
Swiss Family Robinson by Johann David Wyss (read the kid version to my kids and didn't like it. I think it was greatly abridged-wouldn't mind reading the full version)
Lord of the Flies by William Golding (in high school by my own choice-for AP English)
The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
All 3 Lord of the Rings books by J.R.R. Tolkien
The Scarlett Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne (in high school. Not my favorite)
To Kill a Mockingbird by Lee Harper
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck (high school... wow, Steinbeck sure was a cheery fellow, huh?)
The Red Pony Steinbeck again.
Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad (in high school by my own choice. For AP English)
Gullivers Travels by Jonathan Swift
Candide by Voltaire (in high school-I should read this again, since I don't remember most of it)
All of the Narnia books by C.S. Lewis
Emma by Jane Austin (not my favorite book-all about a snobby rich English girl)
Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer (in high school)

I think there may be more, but I can't think of them now and I'm tired and can't make myself look for any more of the many lists that are out there.

Books currently being read: War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy and Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe.

Potty Update

2009-05-28T16:38:00.001-07:00

We have a potty poopage! YAY!

Potty Training 101

2009-05-28T15:11:00.000-07:00

Today, we entered a new phase in Sophia's little life. Potty Training. She has so far earned 5 jelly beans for doing her business on the potty. To start, we use the floor model type baby potty. Usually, I strip off all the clothes (less to worry about, get wet, etc), but today has been a bit cooler than I thought it would be (is it just me, or did hot weather come a lot earlier last year?), so I'm having Sophia wear a short shirt. She is getting all the juice she wants, all the snacks (fruit is good-helps things 'move along'!), movies, books, etc.

This time around seems to be a lot easier than it was with the other two. Kai and Noe are very interested in the whole process and are being very helpful. Noe read to her earlier, Kai has been entertaining her with his gymnastics abilities, and they are taking turns handing out jelly beans for a 'job' well done. Basically, anything at this point that goes in the potty earns a jelly bean. They do start trying to work the system eventually by eking out a couple drops and asking for a jelly bean every 2 minutes. Um, wait, from the other room, I just heard Sophia asking for 'nuther jelly bean, Kai'. When I went to go look, there were like 3 drops in there... Hmm... I knew she was smart, but I didn't think she'd catch on to THAT little trick for a couple days or so.

Anyway, with Kai it was hard, because he was so strong willed, I was doing it by myself, and I was pregnant with Noe. With Noe it was hard because I had a strong-willed toddler who required just about all my energy. Sophia has the benefit of having a doting big brother and sister who are (I think) also hoping to score a couple jelly beans.

Anyway, will try to post more as 'more' happens! I know that all of my readers are terribly interested in finding out how Sophia is doing on the potty!

Then and Now

2009-04-15T11:45:00.000-07:00

This was three years ago, on Easter morning... (I think it was three years ago...)

Little Noe, having a VERY bad morning. I made that little sweater for her. She wouldn't stop crying, so all her early morning Easter pictures were tear-streaked. She pulled it together by the time we got to church though, thankfully.

This is just last weekend. Sophia, wearing the same dress. Despite having woken up at 4:45, she wasn't crying. I think she was too dazed by the early hour to do much of anything. See how she's prepared for Easter. Got cup, drink and pony, will travel.

I tried, but could not find the little matching shrug I had made for Noe. I found it and maybe 4 other shrugs of various colors a few months ago, thought, I'll put these in some place so I can get to them readily for when Sophia needs them. Then I forgot my brilliant location. I looked in the three or four different places I could think of, and couldn't find a single one.

The Bag Brigade

2009-04-15T11:41:00.000-07:00

One minute of time cutting holes+Three bags=3 happy kids. Perfect!

no more donuts

2009-04-15T10:32:00.000-07:00

It has come to my attention that I needed to post something new, as the pictures of my delectable, homemade chocolate donuts are irritating to those who don't have said donuts. So, here I am. Posting something new, but totally uninteresting. Lately, I feel like I'm in an uninteresting phase of life. I'm having a hard time working up the energy to care about much of anything.

The only really new thing is that I'm starting to undergo tests to figure out a strange pain I've been having in my side. (which is probably making me feel like I don't care about much). Today, I went in for an ultrasound. I don't know what that showed, as ultrasound techs take an oath upon entering their new jobs to not tell the testee what they are doing. If you question them directly, they are allowed to give you vague answers so as to not appear rude. "I'm taking a picture of your kidney now..." Which I thought was weird, since not only was she taking a picture of the kidney on the OTHER side from where I have the pain, but my kidneys are most likely not the problem in the first place. Is that ominous? Was there a problem with the OTHER kidney (on the side that hurts?) that made her think she should take a picture of the non-problematic side kidney? Hmm... the mystery abounds. I should find out results in about 2-3 days, once my doctor sees the pictures.

The worst part about the whole thing is that it was a FASTING ultrasound. No food, no drink, no nothing... Might I add that I drink coffee every morning just to wake up? That alone should clue in the clueless that the headache I experienced this morning was frightful. I am pretty sure that they have patients do that so that they are super crabby upon doing the ultrasound. Perhaps being crabby and miserable makes the ultrasound pictures come out better.

In two weeks, I have a fasting (I can have liquids-water, coffee with no additives, more water) blood test. I might have to reschedule that for an earlier time slot. It's supposed to be at 10:30. The ultrasound was at 9:30, and that was horrible to wait that long.

So, that's my new post. Personally, I would have LOVED having one of those donuts this morning, but the are all gone now, alas... I'll have to make some more. I'll bring some to you, Lisa!

Happy Birthday, Kai!

2009-03-19T07:39:00.000-07:00

Today is Kai's birthday! He is 8 years old today, and to help him celebrate, I made chocolate donuts with sprinkles.

Lady Liberty Likes to Cook!

2009-03-09T16:18:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I'm getting ready to make homemade beer nuggets (WAYWAYWAY better than the kind you can buy in DeKalb). Anyway, I digress already...

Ok, so there I am, and Noe is being the artist, and is drawing pictures, which she is giving me a running commentary on. Which I'm only half paying attention to, since she has repeated herself a few times already. She has drawn herself a torch on one paper and a book on the other. Both of which she is waving around for emphasis.

"I'm the Statue of Liberty, Mommy! See, here's my... What's this thing called?"

She waves the picture of the torch at me.

"A torch, Honey."

"Oh, yeah! And this is... her book. You know, for her recipes."

Me: bust out laughing... Good thing I haven't actually started cooking the beer nuggets yet!

New Website!

2009-03-06T05:35:00.001-08:00

My new website is officially up and running now! Check it out!

http://windchimesjewelry.blogspot.com/

Feel free to leave a comment, or contact me if you are interested in any of the pieces!

Wheels, Levers and Pulleys, Oh My!

2009-02-27T04:11:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, Kai and I had a great time learning about simple machines. Sometimes, the kids get all excited about a particular thing they're doing for school (say a computer program, or writing a book) and do that day in and day out with almost no supervision from me. I dearly love those days, because that leaves me some free time to do basically whatever I want with minimal nagging to 'do school'. Then, those things get boring or finished, and the kids mope around, bored, unsure of what to do. This is where having a curriculum might come in handy, but we don't do a curriculum as of yet (I'm going to start a math curriculum soon-Math U See, as soon as I get around to buying the workbook). These are the days where I feel like I'm failing my kids because they aren't excited anymore and the learning kind of slows down... Then, something like yesterday happens, which restores my feelings of peace and harmony in Homeschool Land.

Awhile back, my mom and I bought these really cool books from Usborne books. One is called 'The Usborne Internet-Linked Encyclopedia of World History' and the other is called 'The Usborne Internet-Linked Science Encyclopedia'. Beyond me looking at them and admiring them, they haven't been used and are in pristine condition. I was so proud of Kai (they are beyond Noe's reading level on her own still) because he grabbed them and carted them off to the living room (they are heavy). Yay, my son was going to learn about history and science!!! I kind of forgot about it for a few days and dropped the ball and didn't ask him what he thought. Then, I found out that he wasn't using them to READ and LEARN, he was using them to put under his legs to increase his stretch (think Gumby!). DOH! I then had those feelings of failure.... We spent over $40 on some books that have been used for stretching purposes only... *head slap*

So, yesterday, Kai was wandering around, at odds, loose ends, etc, not sure of what to 'do for school'. I was busy taking pictures of my jewelry and told the kids they had to do school on their own. Noe got right to work with no complaining (hallelujah!), but there was Kai.... What to do, what to do? I reminded him of those big books he had used for stretching... 'Get one of them out, I don't care which one, and start looking at i.' 'But Mommy, they're too hard to read!' 'Then read it slowly and come to me when you have questions!' Which, amazingly he complied with with minimal to no whining/complaining/eyeball rolling/sighing.

A little later, he asked for a ruler, then called me in to look at what he had made (he chose the science one). He had made his very own lever with a pencil (fulcrum), ruler (lever) and book (weight)! I just about broke down crying, I was so happy! I asked him what the book called that kind of machine, and he didn't know, so back he went to the book to see what they called it. 'It's called a le...le-ver, Mommy.' That's my boy! He made a lever! All by his lonesome! And without me telling him to! Just because he found it interesting! So, I took a break from my jewelry photo op and showed him some more examples of levers, some with stuff, some with his own body. I also dragged out another book called, 'The Way Things Work' (you know, the one with the mammoths) and showed him their take on levers. I had forgotten there were 3 kinds of levers. Imagine that!!! Then I showed him more of the simple machines in the book, as well as more complex machines. He was very interested.

In 20 minutes we left the world of Blah and entered the world of Homeschooling is Great! It reminded me of all the reasons I love having my kids at home, and restored my faith that I am doing the right thing by my kids! I wonder what today will bring!

T-Minus...and Counting

2009-02-20T15:49:00.000-08:00

As of today, I'm officially a 'business owner'! I went through all (I think) of the formalities with my county to start my jewelry business. I filled out the application for the Illinois Department of Revenue so I can collect taxes (a necessary evil of doing business in Illinois). I placed the required ad in the free county newspaper (a lot more expensive than I thought it would be) because for some reason, they have to run an announcement for 3 weeks about my business.

Next up-starting a new blog, perhaps running some trial items on Etsy, and getting business cards printed.

YAY! I'm kind of excited, kind of stressed. All throughout the whole thing, I can feel God's hands. I wasn't at all sure of this thing, but people and circumstances are being helpful and organized, respectively, far more efficiently than I could ever have planned it myself. Thanks go to my aunt and uncle who are my accountants for giving me much help, advice and encouragement in what could have been a very scary endeavor for me. Thanks to friends and family who have encouraged me and pushed me. Thanks for the name idea from my friend Brooke, who is very creative in things like cool names (whereas I am not!).

The new name of my business is 'Windchimes-Elegant Fashion Jewelry'. No, I don't plan on selling windchimes. It's a metaphor for me for the calming influence of God's love in my life. It also plays on the whole garden theme, in which I see God's face more than in any other surrounding. Hopefully, with His help and guidance (and friends and family members) everything else will go just as smoothly and painlessly as it has so far!

On Yucky Thumbs

2009-02-06T03:40:00.000-08:00

Well, we are officially training Sophia to not suck her thumbs. She mostly enjoys her left thumb, which is proven by the huge callous sore she has on the back of it. When we told her to stop sucking it (she was complaining about the sore), she moved to the right thumb, something she hasn't done since she was itty bitty and still figuring out which one was her favorite. Having had problems with Kai when he was little (he sucked so much his teeth were getting misaligned), I determined that we should nip the thumb sucking business in the bud now, before she gets teeth problems or an infection from the sore on her thumb.

To do this, we are employing the 'yucky thumbs' technique. Basically, I go buy a bottle of "Yucky Thumbs" at the store. (goodness, I should market this!) Yucky thumbs is really only Tabasco sauce. We smear it on several times a day, definitely before nap and bed time. She's been really good about it so far, unlike Kai, who was so defiant, he'd suck right through the spicy stuff to get to the thumb underneath, even though we could see the effort was costing him. She's stubborn too, but not nearly as bad as Kai. Maybe just in a different way. She's not stubborn, usually, to the point of inflicting pain on herself. We've been at it now since Monday.

Last night, Sophia woke herself up crying at 10:30. I think she's gotten a bit more whiny the past couple days, perhaps because her favorite thumbs are yuckified. I don't know why she woke up this time, if she went to suck in her sleep or if she's coming down with something, but she was not happy for some reason. I'd already been in bed since 9 (ok, 8:30), and was somewhat asleep (not deeply, since for some reason, my room felt like an icebox) when she let 'er rip with her crying. So, we cuddled a bit, I put her back, used the bathroom, got her back OUT of her crib because she was crying again, turned the heater on in my bedroom, sat down on the couch in there and just held her. It was a very sweet time. It's been a long time since she's needed me in the middle of the night, and she was just clinging to me, like I was her favorite mommy ever (which I am). After about 5 minutes of that, I could see she was ready to fall back to sleep. I took her back to her crib and after a couple minutes of grousing about how bad her thumbs tasted, she got herself back to sleep.

Until 4:30, until she started sleep yelling. I think she was yelling at Kai. Perhaps she's decided it's HIS fault her thumbs taste so bad now. Which I suppose is ok (for me). I don't think she's made the connection between the 'medicine' I'm putting on her thumbs and the bad taste. She is a bit confused as to why the 'medicine' isn't going in her mouth like the other medicine does (when she had a cold).

So, here I am now, awake. I tried to go back to sleep, really I did, but that 4:30 time was just too close to the time my body automatically wakes up (5-6 a.m.). So, here I am, drinking coffee by the gallon. I made extra because today's going to be another LONG day, I can just tell!

20,000 Leagues

2009-02-06T03:34:00.000-08:00

Well, I just finished listening to 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. I love listening to books on CD, because they can be enjoyed in the car or while knitting or cooking. I love sitting down to read a book too, but sometimes I just don't have the time to sit. (I usually have a book on CD going as well as a regular book). I mostly enjoyed the book, though I must admit I fast forwarded through some of the very long explanations of marine life that were encountered. I was a bit disappointed by the ending. I won't say why, in case some of you would like to read the book yourselves and don't like spoilers. All in all, it was a good 'read'. Kai said he didn't really enjoy it too much because he didn't understand much of it. I think when he's older, he might enjoy it a lot more.

Next up in my effort to 'educate' myself: "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer". Also on CD, and which I'm NOT going to let my kids listen to, given how "Huck Finn" was. When they're older, I'll have those books be required reading.

Cute Sophia Videos

2009-02-03T07:10:00.000-08:00

This video is Sophia wearing Grandma's tiger slippers. For some reason, the video is a lot darker than it looked on the camera. I didn't have my cool Flip Video camera with me and had to use my regular camera, which doesn't work as well.

This next video is Sophia doing another rendition of the "ABC's". At one point she started whispering, turned, noticed my phone, stopped singing to look at it, forgot where she was, started over at a whisper, remembered where she was, and continued on where she had left off the first time, at a whisper still. At the end, she started saying, "I want it! I want it!" while pointing at the refrigerator. I couldn't figure out what the heck she wanted. There was nothing there that wasn't there before.

Recent happenings

2009-01-29T18:33:00.000-08:00

Um, let's see, it's been awhile since I posted. I had a tooth fixed and Arnez had a root canal. I made $100 selling my jewelry, which was totally cool! Kai and Noe are doing very well in math. Kai is doing 3 by 3 multiplication and getting a feel for division with a remainder (anything beyond that, I'm going to have to 'relearn' it for myself!). Noe is now doing adding with carrying and simple subtraction with borrowing. Sophia is, well, being 2 and cute. And pushy. And cute. And, well, you know, 2 year old stuff. She likes to sing stuff like, 'No jump on bed!' and 'I like a moo it' (I like to move it).

I have been working out a lot lately, and eating super healthy, and now am 7 pounds away from officially not being 'overweight', according to the 'experts' who make this stuff up. Though, from what I can imagine, 7 pounds will not remove all the 'moveable' parts that I'd rather not have moving every time I move. So, obviously, I won't be just stopping the whole healthy living thing as soon as I reach that goal. As it is, I'm totally thrilled with the whole thing, and how far I've come.

Kai and Noe have been practicing their swimming, and are doing really well. I hate getting in the pool in the Winter. I know that it's most likely a psychological hang up, but dang! The pool (and the air in general) seems a LOT colder in the Winter, even though the lifeguards swear it's the same temperature that it was every other time of the year (it's the indoor pool at the YMCA). I can make it about an hour, then we just have to get out. But in that hour, the kids get a good lesson (I teach them) and a nice time to play for a bit. It's really cool to see them do something (in this case, swimming) that I taught them!

Oh, I've also taken it upon myself to 'educate' myself in the 'classics'. Uh, I mean literature. Like, I've read 'The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn' and right now I'm going through the book, '20,000 Leagues Under the Sea'. Up next is 'Adventures of Tom Sawyer'. I have found that there isn't just ONE 'classics' list. I guess whatever someone thinks of as the 'classics' is the classics. I Googled 'classic book list' and found a slew of listings for that subject. Each one in some way different from the other. Some of them have books that overlap, but some of them are unique. Oh, I've also read 'A Separate Peace'. That book, I swear, none of it looked familiar to me until I got to the key turning point and what happened at the very very end of the book. Which tells me I read it at some point, but did I read the Cliffs Notes, or did I just zone out for most of the book because I was a tired teenager who read voraciously? Same thing with 'Huck Finn'. I'm pretty sure I've never read '20,0000 Leagues' ever before, and I haven't come across anything familiar yet. I confess I have been zoning out during some of the long-winded descriptions. Maybe I should have picked out the Cliffs Notes for that one! The science fiction descriptions are a bit much for me, that not being my favorite type of book to read at all. (Movies to watch, yes, books, not so much!). After 'Tom Sawyer', who knows?

Oh, also, don't let your young kids listen to 'Huck Finn' unless you're a racist and you talk like that all the time. In which case, shame on you. I had to have several conversations with my kids that I didn't think I would have to have with them for a long time. We were listening to it on CD in the car one morning, and I had to repeatedly stop it and explain stuff to them, and warn them NEVER EVER EVER, UPON PAIN OF GETTING IN MORE TROUBLE THAN YOU'VE EVER IMAGINED, and losing friends, etc, use THAT word, even when you're by YOURSELF AND YOU THINK NO ONE IS AROUND! I also had to explain why Huck's dad was so bad and abusive. Uh, not something I want a 7 and 5 year old to have to think about for a LONG LONG time. We had to explain to the kids that we never ever ever devalue someone or make fun of someone because of where they live, where they come from, what color their skin is, how much money they make or any other reason. I explained that every single person they would ever lay eyes on (regardless of who they were or how loveable they were or how much money they make, or color of skin, or whatever) is someone God loves and who Jesus died for. Anyway, after listening for about 45 minutes, I got a clue and turned it off. That will be a book for a different day, when they are older and have more wisdom and understanding.

Anyway, the kids are falling asleep, and so am I! It's been a long day (heck, they all are, and most days I could go to bed at 6, immediately after dinner), and I'm beat.

On Facebook Now

2009-01-29T18:32:00.001-08:00

I'm on Facebook now if anyone wants to know. If I understand it correctly, you'd have to look up 'Katherine Bonsol' under the Rockford, IL area.

More Lyrics

2009-01-18T19:28:00.000-08:00

Ok, back by popular demand, I have come up with more lyrics to the 'Booger Song' (remember, sing it to the tune of 'Sound of Silence'). I actually came up with it a few days ago, but have kept on forgetting to post it. I even wrote it down while I was at stoplights (I was driving when my muse hit me) I almost forgot again, but for some inexplicable reason remembered right before getting into bed tonight. I would really hate for any of you to go without any of this song, as it's so moving and all. I know your coworkers would hate it if you couldn't share the whole song with them next time you see them! So, here, most likely in its finality (though I don't make any promises), is the 'Sound of Boogers', by me. (for those of you just joining us, for background, Sophia was sick for about a week and had this unnatural obsession with all things booger and tissue related). For those of you who have memorized the first part of the song, you can skip (though why would you want to?) to the last part. I've notated the new part.

Hello Booger, my old friend
I see you've come to me again
Running freely down my upper lip
You're so amazing, I just have to lick

And your taste, like a precious treat I love,
love to eat,
The sound of boogers!

Sometimes I cry just to make
make more of you so I can pick
rummaging around with my fingers
Digging them out like new treasures

And your texture, so many ways to love,
love to feel,
the sound of boogers!

(Here's the new part)

Mom I say you do not know
boogers like stalagtites grow,
slowly dripping while I am sleeping
on my sheets while I was dreaming

When I woke with the crusties on my nose
no one knows
the true sound of boogers!

Thank you, thank you! I don't understand, but Arnez is incredulous that I wrote the lyrics down. I mean, who wouldn't? It's great!

Ok, I had another inspiration shortly after I wrote down the last part of 'Sound of Boogers'. I bet you'll love this one too, though I only have one verse. It's called 'Super Pooper' and you sing it to the Abba tune of 'Super Trooper'. Yes, I grew up on Simon and Garfunkel and Abba. And I just finished watching 'Mamma Mia' again, so that could be why I'm coming up with Abba lyrics now. Anyway, another Sophia-inspired song. Though, having had 3 kids who all wore diapers as toddlers, I have plenty of fodder for a song like this.

Here it goes!

Super Pooper

Super pooper, think I'm kind of stinky
but I'm having fun
smiling, on the run
you know it's not just number one!

Wasn't that great?!?! I can hear the crowds roaring in appreciation! Or, as I tell my husband, 'If the world won't laugh with me, at least I'll still be laughing!' But I know you all will be laughing with me, right? Right?

Another new card

2009-01-18T19:06:00.000-08:00

We discovered a new card recently that Sophia pulls out. It's cute, but can get out of hand. It's called the 'Repeater' card. Basically, she repeats anything her brother or sister says. If Noe says, "I'm hot!", Sophia will say, "I hot!", even though her little hands are icy cold. If Noe says, "I'm hungry!" (she's always hungry until mealtime comes along), Sophia will repeat it, "I hockey!" It can get kind of funny, because when she says 'hungry' it sounds like 'hockey' and then naturally, I took that into, "Sophia, say, 'I'm a hockey puck!'". Whereupon Sophia will repeat, "I hockey puck!"

Mostly, Sophia parrots Noe, who has an abundance of 'Discontent' cards, and pulls them out all day long, giving Sophia many opportunities to use her 'Repeater' card. This is where the getting out of hand comes in. Noe, in one of her many, many uses of her Discontent card, gives Sophia much practice in whining and complaining about a myriad of different things. Most of which, if she knew what they were in the first place, she probably wouldn't say (for example, she wouldn't really need to say "I hockey" most of the time, because she's ALWAYS shoving food in her mouth and is almost never without a snack-cup of some kind).

In other news, Kai spent the whole day with his Daddy yesterday at work. He had a good time and kept up with Arnez, and didn't complain. The kid was wiped out last night though, and was more than ready to go to bed tonight (minimal complaining from him, though Noe pulled out yet another Discontent card). Noe and Sophia and I spent the day with Grandma, just hanging out.

New Card

2009-01-16T18:31:00.000-08:00

And then there's the 'Player Player' card. The one where a little 2 foot someone, who still hasn't mastered the idea that you can't play Mommy and Daddy against each other in our family, doesn't get something she wants, turns on the water works and runs to the non-offending parent. Like the non-offender doesn't know what's going on here. Hello, it's not like our house is so big that Parent A in the living room doesn't know what Parent B said in the kitchen and didn't hear the asking 20 times before the faucet was turned on, only to hear the pitter patter of furious feet, running to the non-offender to judge her case in her favor. HELLO??? Get a clue, baby. The Player Player card doesn't work in this house!

Still here!

2009-01-16T08:52:00.000-08:00

We are still here, even though I haven't blogged in awhile. It feels like ages! We are mostly all better from being sick. Thankfully, what I thought was going to turn out to be a major cold for me, turned into something like 5 sneezes, 7 coughs, and 5 minutes of a sore throat. Oh, and my nose dripped a bit. Goodness, if that's all I get in the way of sick this Winter, I'll be plenty happy! The kids got it far worse than me, amazingly enough. Usually, they're hacking and coughing in my face and boogers running like faucets, and I can't help but get sick.

I have been just a BIT addicted to a game called 'Around the World in 80 Days', so most computer time has been spent doing that. I've gone 'around' two times now. Kai has progressed to multiplying 3 digit numbers by 2 digit numbers, and Noe is now working on 3 digit added to 2 digit. Something snapped in her today though, and she didn't want to do her math, shed some tears on it, in fact, and was promptly sent up to her room by her insensitive and mean Mommy. Sophia, who has been very good lately and has hardly bothered Kai and Noe while they learn new math techniques decided that TODAY she'd mix things up a bit and demand to have ALL the pencils, sit on Noe's chair with her still in it (preferably knocking her off like a bizarre game), sit on Kai's chair with him still in it (ditto on the knocking off), and basically make a nuisance out of herself. This all miraculously changed when Noe got sent upstairs. "Noe's in trouble, but see, I'm an angel!" My friend Chris calls this the 'Golden Child' card. Chris, my kids must have borrowed your kids' deck o' cards! Kai is playing the 'Great Student' card. Since Noe got in trouble and lost her treat, Kai, who had been making unhappy noises about HIS math too, is now all like, "Mommy, I got another problem done! Can you check it please? I'm doing so great, right?" Do you have the 'Great Student' card, Chris? If you don't, you can borrow ours any time!

I'm still working on getting an online business up and running. You know, I think the hardest thing is thinking up a name that hasn't been used already and is catchy and nice. Which is what I'm still trying to do. Actually, I'm working with my friend, Brooke, who is way more creative than I am. Then I have to figure out if my internet provider gives us a web page and if so, is it enough room? And if not, I have to find a different place to host it. Which I'm not sure I entirely understand. I'd much rather be making jewelry than futzing around on the computer, that's for sure. I also have a line on a craft show in April, which will hopefully do good things for me. I am thinking I might need business cards too. Does someone know about a place that does free cards? I think I heard about that from someone, but I can't remember who or where.

In weather news, it is way too freakin' cold here. Like negative 50 or something with the windchill. Ugh. If I can, I'm trying very hard to stay inside. The kids are not thrilled about staying inside with all that lovely snow outside to play with, but I don't want to have to scrape their frozen little bodies off the snow because they were outside for 5 minutes. Arnez and I joke that we could use a little of that global warming right about now. That might feel real nice...

Sick, Sick and Sicker

2009-01-09T11:40:00.000-08:00

Ugh, so, everyone in my house is officially sick to some degree or another. What started as a cold with Arnez moved to Kai, which moved to Sophia, which moved to Noe, and now me. You know how you can feel a sick coming on? Like your chest feels a bit tight, and your throat feels a bit funky? Yeah, that's how I feel right now. I'm really pushing the fruits and veggies for myself and everyone else in my family right now. Well, we're supposed to be eating those things anyway, so it's not a big deal to eat more of them. I had to go out and get cough medicine for the kids last night because Sophia kept on waking herself up coughing during the night and barely sleeping for naps. Which, of course, makes her more crankified all day long because not only does she feel icky, but she's tired to boot. You know, I've really gotten used to, for the most part, sleeping through the night. Having to wake up the last two nights has been a bit tough, but hey, they're only small once, right?

Even though Kai and Noe have been operating at less than optimal levels, health-wise, they've still been doing great with their schooling. I'm so proud of them! Here's where I take a proud Mommy Moment and share with you what they've been doing!

Kai is always on the lookout for learning some new, tougher math. Not being a 'Mathie' myself, this is more than a little difficult for me. He has been able for some time now to do simple multiplication. You know, 6x7, 8x9, etc. He saw some harder multiplication the other day on a 3rd grade program. It was 2 digit by 1 digit, I think. You know, 46x7. That kind of stuff. So, I taught him how to do that. He got it pretty quick. Then wanted to move on to 2 by 2 digits. 67x82, stuff like that. So, yesterday, he got his feet wet, figuratively speaking, on 2 by 2 multiplication. He seemed to get it, then started putting the numbers in the wrong line, thereby messing up his totals at the end. We went over it again this morning, and he seemed to get it, but then started asking when he could move to 3 by 2 or 3 by 3 multiplication problems. Whoa, there! I explained to him that those were more complicated, so he'd really have to master the 2 by 2's without my help before I could feel good about teaching him anything else. He did the last half of this sheet almost all by himself. I'm happy to say, my math skills (meager though they are) are being bolstered by helping him learn!

Noe has not been lax either in the math department. I'm always hesitant to do math with her, because we've had some really bad experiences in the past, where she ends up crying and I end up mad and frustrated (I'm not the most patient of people, I hate to admit). The past couple weeks, however, she's really made strides and has advanced beyond very simple addition and subtraction (1+2, 6-3, etc) to a little bit more advanced addition and subtraction.

You can see she works on her math and on decorating her math sheet. She noticed that Kai was doing stuff in columns and asked about that, and whether she could do it with addition. Well, sure now, Honey! I think we can do that! All I need is a willing student, and I can teach (and learn!) just about anything! We took some of her problems and added another number to them and WALA! she was doing simple column addition.

If that didn't make me proud enough, she started adding her own numbers to some of the harder problems and wanted to know how to do those too. It was pretty easy for her to add up to 9, because there's no carrying. But what to do about adding up numbers that had two digits for an answer? Like 7+5? (it equals 12, in case you were wondering...) I expected a meltdown when I explained carrying to her, but she took right to it! I was rather amazed (and grateful, if you must know the truth, because I hate those meltdowns) that she got it right away, and was soon carrying all on her own!

Kai started doing his school right away this morning (maybe 7? 7:30?) and finished up by 9:30 and then went with his daddy to work for a few hours. He is an official volunteer for the tech team now, and even has his own lanyard with his name on it! Anyway, with him off with Daddy, I basically only had Noe to teach, so we just concentrated on her, which is a rare occurence. Sophia, amazingly enough, was pretty mild-mannered all morning and didn't push Noe off her chair even once! She sat behind Noe on the same chair at one point, which usually results in her screaming and pushing at Noe and Noe screaming at Sophia. Right before and after lunch, the girls have been playing very nicely, again, amazingly. Usually, Kai and Sophia play nicely, and Noe and Kai fight, and Noe and Sophia fight.

All in all, it's been a very nice and productive morning. I finished two earring/necklace pairs while Noe was doing her math (again, amazingly, there was minimum distraction for both of us). Right now, I'm thinking it's naptime for Sophia. Noe has some things in mind she'd like to do without a toddler interrupting her.

The Sound of Boogers...

2009-01-08T10:19:00.001-08:00

Well, all of my kids are phlegmy and boogery and coughing to some degree or another. Sophia, however, has a special fondness for her nose and the 'treasure' located therein. I came up with a song to commemorate her love of all things booger and sang it while I was cleaning her up after lunch (it included some mopping up of nose discharge). I thought it was funny, and I made myself laugh. I thought it was so funny, I thought I'd share it. Feel free to sing it to your friends/family/coworkers. I bet they'll like it too. Sing it to the tune of 'Sound of Silence' by Simon and Garfunkle.

Hello Booger, my old friend
I see you've come to me again
Running freely down my upper lip
You're so amazing, I just have to lick

And your taste, like a precious treat I love,
love to eat,
The sound of boogers!

Sometimes I cry just to make
make more of you so I can pick
rummaging around with my fingers
Digging them out like new treasures

And your texture, so many ways to love,
love to feel,
the sound of boogers!

Ok, I know you all enjoyed that just as much as I did.

To Whom it May Concern

2009-01-08T08:23:00.000-08:00

Dear Dog Walker,

You may be under the misguided idea that 'Ms. Marybelle', 'Mr. Mugsy' and your precious 'Sweetums' are the most beautiful, cute and bright animals in the world. To you, they may be. To me, they are not. I venture to think that to most of the population of this world, they are not nearly as amazing as you think they are.

To this end, I must raise a concern I have with you and your ilk. When you are walking your dog past my yard, and I happen to look out my front window, I notice that not only are you carrying your dog's leash (with your dog unattached to it), you are NOT carrying that most essential of all dog-walking apparatus, the plastic bag. To add insult to injury, I notice that your dog, who, might I remind you, is not in the least precious to me, is sniffing around my yard. MY YARD. And you are just watching your little 'Marybelle' sniff around my yard, not even attempting to call it back to you. Which shouldn't surprise me, since you are, after all, carrying the leash, instead of having it attached to your mutt. Now, you should probably know, that if you can see me through my window, I most assuredly can see you, and your little poop machine. What you and your dog are doing is not a big secret.

You may be under the impression that since we live in a small town that doesn't seem to have any limits on how many dogs a person can have or care how smelly a yard will get, that all of the neighbors along your dog-walking route have the same feelings in regards to dog poop. You may think that just because my back yard neighbor never cleans up their dogs' doody that I don't care. This is not the case. I'll have you know that in my humble opinion, dog doo is one of the worst smelling things on this planet. I suppose that road kill that's been sitting for a long time in 80+ degree weather may possibly outrank dog doo in the smell department, but not by much.

Now, you may not think that your dog's piles don't smell too bad. You would be wrong. I have yet to find a dog who doesn't make poops that stink to high Heaven. I'll have you know that one of the main reasons we don't have a dog at my house is because I don't want dog poo in my yard. I also have kids who, believe it or not, like to play in the yard. I know, I know, it's amazing, but there it is. They don't like stepping in your dog's doo. I don't like stepping in it. I don't like cleaning it off of our shoes or from between our toes. I don't like going out with a bag and picking up YOUR dog's poop off of MY lawn.

'But', you say, 'my dog isn't pooping in your yard-he did that two yards over-he's peeing. You know, marking his territory. It's natural.' Well, I'll have you know, I don't work my butt off every Spring/Summer/Fall so that your mangy thing can burn my lawn or my precious plants that I put in with their toxic pee. And no, my yard is NOT your dog's territory. It's mine. Should I buy a BB gun or a shotgun and 'defend my territory'? That's natural too.

If you absolutely MUST walk your dog in front of my house, keep it on the damned leash. And bring a plastic bag with you so you can pick up your own dog's crap. If I wanted dog doo in my yard, I'd go get my own dog. Better yet, do the leash and baggie thing and pick a different route to walk your dog. My neighbor in the back, for instance, probably wouldn't care if there was another pile in their yard. Or, you could pick up your own dog's mess and do me the favor of picking up some of their dog's messes. Goodness knows, you probably owe this town a lot of dog-doody removal.

Thank you,
Irritated Home Owner
(remember, I can see you!)

Fast and Juice Flush

2009-01-07T05:24:00.000-08:00

Today, I'm doing an internal juice fast/flush the system out thing. I've been researching it, and while I don't have all the components yet to do a whole hog flush (I had to special order something at the health food store, and it won't be in until next week), I'm doing a pre-whole hog flush. Basically, I don't eat any solid food, and stick to mostly this 100% cranberry/orange juice mixture mixed with psyllium powder. By itself 100% cran juice is totally disgusting and bitter. I think that's why the orange juice is mixed in, so it's palatable. If you don't mix too much psyllium powder in at one time, it's not too horrible. I should forgo the coffee too, but hey, I'm not that much a sucker for punishment. I don't want to deal with the horrible caffeine withdrawal headaches.

I've done the whole thing before and have felt really good afterwards (and hungry). The idea is to give your system a break from food and clean it out at the same time. We'll see how today goes and if I can keep the crabby at bay!

My Knitted Rug...

2009-01-06T16:50:00.001-08:00

She is done!!!

The actual rug is much lighter than the picture turned out, I'm not sure why.

I started this rug maybe 1 1/2 years ago, using leftover bits and scraps of cheap-o acrylic yarn. The pattern said to use wool, because cotton and acrylic don't hold their shape. My problem with that is that I'd hate to spend about a gazillion dollars on a rug that people are going to walk on, the cat is going to sit on and, most likely, choose IT for a vomit rug at some point. Not to mention that wool has a tendency to shrink if you're not super careful (sometimes even if you are super careful) and I'd hate to have to give Noe a gazillion dollar dolly rug. So, I went for the acrylic. As I sewed it up (oh, about a year ago), it puffed up very unattractively in various spots. Ok, all over, really. So, I took it all out and re-sewed it. I can't remember, since it was so long ago, but I might very well have re-re-sewn it again. Finally, I came up with the idea, that, hey, since acrylic doesn't hold its shape really well (fancy that...), I'd sew the rug onto a doubled-up thickness of very heavy denim. Which I finally, finally finished tonight. Then, I cut a piece of anti-rug-slip material (I have no idea what it's called-it's that stuff you stick under rugs so that it doesn't, well, slip) and placed it right smack in the middle of my bedroom. Where the cat can sit on it to her little heart's content, hopefully not thinking that it's a good venue for hairballs. Now, I have to warn everyone not to just RUN right past it, forgetting it's there, and thereby tripping on it and hitting the wall on the fly.

Rubber *ucky, You're My Friend!

2009-01-05T19:16:00.001-08:00

Ok, what do you get when you cross a little yellow squirty bath duck with a little squirty bath Flounder fish (from Little Mermaid), and you're only 2, having fun in a bath tub? Hmm? Here's what it looked like:

Sophia: Ducky!
Me: Yes!
S: Ducky!
M: Yes!
S: Fishy!
M: Yes!
S: *ucky!
S: *uck!
S: *ucky, *uck!
M (in my head, trying not to laugh): good thing you're in SOAPY water!

I didn't correct her too much, because obviously, she has no clue what she's saying. Not to mention, it was cute. I stressed that THIS was a DUCKY and Yes, this was a FISH! Whereupon she would once again say, "*ucky!"

Indiana Kai can jam!

2009-01-03T08:34:00.000-08:00

This is Kai, playing 'Rock Band' by himself, with a bit of back-up vocals from Sophia.

"Camping Out"

2009-01-03T08:01:00.000-08:00

In the breezeway!

Kai and Noe got to 'camp out' in the breezeway last night, since the curtains were finally hung. Yesterday was the last day of Arnez's post-Christmas vacation/break, so I thought it would be a nice way to end the week for the kids. Well, not Sophia, who's not ready for that type of thing yet, but Kai and Noe had a great time. They stayed up late, watching 'Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends' and fell asleep while it was still playing. They woke up at 7:15 (lately, for some unknown reason, they've been sleeping in past 7. Yippee!). Sophia woke up around 8 or so and joined them on the couch. Currently, Kai and Noe are alternately watching season 2 of 'Foster's' and fighting. Sophia is sitting with me, while I blog and balance the checkbook-which is by far not my favorite activity, though one that's necessary. She's looking very tired and saying she's 'seepy' (sleepy).

On other news, I've been working overtime on my earring-making venture. I'm kicking around the idea of opening up my own online blog to sell them. I looked at Etsy as a possible place to market my jewelry, but was rather off-put by the 34,324 pages of jewelry a person would have to flip through to find MY stuff. Not to mention, that while it's free to join, it's not really completely free to post your items and you have to pay a percentage of your profits to Etsy. Now, neither the fee nor the percentage are high (much lower than, say EBay's, fee or the percentage I would pay to place my items in a boutique or gallery), but when you take into account the 34,324 pages of items (over 11,000 of which are earrings) a prospective buyer would have to scroll through just to find MY stuff, I'd probably end up losing money in the long run. It might pan out, but having been burned by my 'adventures' into EBay once before, where I lost a grand total of $8 something for a few knit items, I'm hesitant to lose more money. On the other hand, the posting time for Etsy is 3 or 4 months (I can't remember exactly), much longer than the posting time for EBay, which might give people time enough to scroll through over 34,000 pages (and adding on, I think) of handmade jewelry. If they have that kind of time to spare.

To make a long story short (too late!), I came up with the idea of starting a new blog where I can sell my own items and keep my own profits and not have to pay a fee to post anything. I need to think up a snazzy name though, something I'm very bad at doing. I asked Arnez to help me (since he's very good at stuff like that), but since he's been sick and not feeling well, his creative naming genius isn't working up to par right now. If anyone has any ideas, I'd be more than happy to hear them!

In closing, here is Sophia, doing her "I'm so sleepy, I'll even lay on the floor" routine. She grabs a coat (usually one of Noe's coats, for some reason) and lays on the floor, sucking her thumb, sometimes covering her head up.

Introducing...

2009-01-02T13:04:00.001-08:00

The Best Bread Ever Made!

In my house, anyway. Certainly the best bread I think I've ever eaten...

This very happy bread dough

Turned into very happy bread. Two of the biggest, fluffiest, tastiest loaves I've ever had the pleasure of making. Seriously. Most of my bread turns out into little brick loaves. They usually taste ok, but nothing to write home about. This bread was crusty on the outside, so soft and fluffy (dare I say 'pillow-like') on the inside. Like store-bought bread, only worlds better-tasting.

There was enough for me to freeze two big freezer bags for later! Of course, I had to taste it. It was delicious, and had a slightly fermented taste, on the order of sourdough, even though there wasn't any sourdough involved.

On a separate note, we finally have curtains up in the breezeway. Thanks Arnez for hanging them! Thanks Amy for the curtains! They look great with the cream-colored trim!

Christmas and stuff

2008-12-29T11:19:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas, everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful day. Our family had a really nice Christmas. Arnez worked 12 Christmas Eve services (starting the Thursday or Friday before Christmas). We were very glad to have him be done with all that and go home to celebrate as a family. This was probably the very best Christmas I've had in a very long time. Everyone was in a good mood, no one whined (for the most part-there has to be some token whining every day, I think), no one got into the presents before hand, no one dropped into a bad mood or funk afterwords (all of which has happened on every single past Christmas in my memory). Everyone enjoyed my home-made coffee cakes. All in all, it was very relaxing and enjoyable.

Here are some pictures of Christmas-time baking I did.

These are kringles I made for my mom. One was cranberry and one was butterscotch. They are 18 lovely, flaky layers of dough and butter, curled around a delish filling. Definitely not something I can have around my house full time.

Here is a raspberry coffee cake I made. It was ok, but I will make some changes next year to make it better.

This is a cream cheese filled coffee cake. Arnez and Kai have in the past liked the Entenmanns cream cheese coffee cake. I was trying to duplicate their cream cheese coffee cake and their raspberry one. This one was very good, but again, will require some changes for the next time.

Meet Frannie the Fryer. She's the newest addition to my limited amount of kitchen appliances. I've been wanting her for awhile now.

Here is what I've made so far with Frannie's help:

Donuts. *wipes drool off of face*

I have to admit that we love something called beer nuggets. They are a DeKalb, IL regional treat. Basically, they are totally bad for you, but totally yummi-licious. They are, in a nutshell, fried pizza dough. You dip them into pizza sauce. And enjoy. Yumm.

Tonight, I'm planning on going out to coffee with my friend(s). Looking forward to it! First though, I'm planning on taking a nap!

(oh, and now that Frannie has joined our family, I've decided I need to work out at least 2 times a day. Frannie has a bad influence on my thighs!)

Some nice pictures

2008-12-22T17:05:00.000-08:00

Here are some pictures (finally) of the kids my friend Chris took awhile back. I am really not on top of this kind of thing. I've had them for, oh, at least a month or so.

Sophia has found her cheeks.

These next two, Habtamu and Yordanos are behind Chris, trying to keep her happy and ON the white sheet. She spent most of the photo shoot running away from the camera.

Kai being goofy.

Cool, unconcerned Kai.

Sophia, contemplating how quickly she can escape the camera.

Sneaking off the sheet...

Gotta love the flowers!

My cutie girls.

Noe, practicing a dancing move.

Thank you, thank you! I'd like to thank my Mommy and my Daddy, and...

We took some with Chris's kids, Yordanos and Habtamu also. Yordi loves Sophia and tries to spend all available time with her when the kids are together.

Habtamu is so goofy and is totally great with the kids. He was able to get Sophia to actually LOOK at the camera.

Here are some pictures with me and the kids. I'm not particularly photogenic, so I tend to try to stay out of the way of cameras.

If I remember correctly, I had to tickle Sophia to get her to consent to stay up in my arms.

Kai was all over me, trying to wrestle and get tickled. This was probably the best one of that group.

Noe, of course, sat perfectly nicely.

I like this one. It would have been better with Sophia in it, but I couldn't get her to sit still for the picture.

The Epitomy

2008-12-12T12:39:00.000-08:00

Of Geekdom...

This YouTube video gets my vote! I'm married to a guy who would do this in a heartbeat. If he had a suit. Which he doesn't, but IF he did, he'd be up there too!

Bedouins, Fudge and Cookies...

2008-12-12T10:03:00.001-08:00

Here are my little Bedouins. I don't know about you, but I think there's something totally cool about tents. Even tents inside the house. Maybe ESPECIALLY tents inside the house. I loved making 'forts' or 'houses' inside when I was growing up, using blankets, pillows, chairs, whatever. The kids have been making tiny little blanket forts for the past couple days. They've been pretty good lately, and I'm in the 'Christmas spirit' today, so I decided to educate them in the art of fort making. I have to credit my brother, Lee, for teaching me everything I ever needed to know (and then some) about making blanket forts. We usually had made-up guns/grenades/bombs that we'd chuck out of our tent. My kids are deprived, as we don't have anything like that (and I'd probably lose that Christmas spirit REAL fast if they started chucking things around the house-Mom, I don't know how you stayed sane all those years!). I remember one time we even made a Lincoln Log fire like we were camping out (no, we didn't actually set fire to it!). We have absolutely no Lincoln Logs in this house, so there's no fire. There will, however, be lunch had INSIDE the tent, if they can manage to not fight or yell about anything until then. My little dictator, Kai, usually has a plan on how they are all going to play inside the tent, so often fighting erupts. Lee, he reminds me so much of you! Anyway, here are some pictures of the living room-wide tent.

In addition to being 'Master tent-maker' today, I've made another batch of fudge, this time mocha-flavored. I'm not sure how it turned out, and I'm thinking I should have added the coffee powder a lot earlier than I did. Next time!! Here is my fridge stocked with fudge.

I've also been working on my jar cookies. They make great gifts, and it frees me up from doing all that holiday baking. Fill up a jar with layers of ingredients, and the recipient does the baking! Doesn't get much better than that!

I'm hoping to get some quality knitting time in sometime today too. I have a few more little Christmas gifts I'm making. Since a certain little person or two in my house are pretty good readers now, I'm not going to say what they are, in case they get their little hands on this post somehow. Later tonight, we have a party to go to. This year, we've managed to avoid getting caught in that 'party every other day' trap that we used to hit this time of year. This will be party #2. I have one little get-together party next week for my mom's group, and that's a fine amount of socializing for me! Lately, I just want to hole up in my little house (maybe under a tent!) and just BE. I'm having trouble getting up energy to go much of anywhere lately, and have spent much of this month either knitting, reading or doing little baking projects.

More ABC's

2008-12-11T06:37:00.000-08:00

Here is Sophia trying the ABC's again.

ABC Girl...Sort Of

2008-12-11T05:50:00.000-08:00

This is me, trying to get Sophia to do the ABC's for the video camera. She is very camera-shy, unlike the other two ever were. She'll sing the song, front to back, with no problems, until the video camera comes out. Then, she gets hung up and distracted, or runs away. She kept on starting over.

Green Eggs and Ham

2008-12-11T05:39:00.000-08:00

Here is a video of Noe reading part of Green Eggs and Ham. She read the whole thing, but I figured I'd get an excerpt, since it would be a very long video if I got her reading the whole thing. The noise in the background is mostly Sophia, wanting to have her two cent's worth get recorded too, and Kai, yelling at her for doing something.

Funny Girls

2008-12-04T08:40:00.000-08:00

Arnez took this video of the girls being silly the other day.

More Fun in the Snow

2008-12-04T08:00:00.000-08:00

It snowed yesterday. The kids went out to play in the snow. They had fun. Here is a video of them having fun in the snow. (yes, I know, this is reading like a beginner reader book)

They saw me with the camera within seconds of turning it on. Serious camera radar going on there. They should be spies or something. I was even inside the house and didn't announce that I was going to take a video. The first minute or so is Kai posing. Later, Noe decided to dance. Kai then thought it would be funny to throw snow at the door.

Fun in the Snow

2008-12-04T06:36:00.000-08:00

Here's a video of the kids having fun in the snow yesterday.

What could be better than a beautiful, snowy day? Not having to go out in it. That's cool. Having the kids go out in it. That, as many of you who are parents know, is way cool, because then they're loud OUTSIDE instead of inside. What perhaps might be even cooler than that is homemade hot chocolate. I highly recommend it. What's cooler than a snowy day with the kids outside playing in the snow while I sip hot, homemade chocolate? What's even better than all that, is if that cup of hot chocolate has instant coffee granules in it. And whipped cream on top. Yup. That just about breaks the cool-o-meter.

I got so excited over this cup of coffee/hot chocolate (hot chocoffee?) that I forgot to take a picture of it while it still looked pretty. I.E. before I started sipping it.

Oh, yeah, another thing that makes this whole scene even COOLER, if that were even possible, is being able to catch up on some episodes of LOST while I drink this heavenly concoction.

Recipe for homemade hot chocolate:

1/2 C granulated sugar
1/3 C HOT water
1/4 C unsweetened cocoa powder
4 C milk
1/8 tsp salt
3/4 tsp vanilla extract
instant coffee granules (if desired)

1. Mix cocoa, sugar, water and salt in a saucepan. Over medium heat, stir constantly until mixture boils. Cook, stirring constantly for 1 minute.

2. Stir in the milk and heat, but do not boil. Remove from heat and add vanilla; blend well. Serve immediately.

Makes 4 servings (3, if you're like me and want seconds!)

One More Thanksgiving Video

2008-11-29T17:10:00.000-08:00

This video is Sophia giving 'five' to everyone she could find. She was going to go give five to the dogs too, but they were eating, so we thought perhaps that wasn't a great idea.

Thanksgiving Videos

2008-11-29T07:48:00.000-08:00

As promised, here is a video I took on Thanksgiving with our new little video camera. I was going to add two videos, but for some reason, they are taking forever to load. They are both of Sophia being cute. Kai and Noe were downstairs playing with their favorite cousin, Lauren. They barely came up all day, so there wasn't really any opportunity to take a video of them.

Here is her Grandpa dancing with her:

Food News

2008-11-27T20:56:00.000-08:00

On the 'Thanksgiving Day Eating Front', I'll have you know, I was able to eat everything I wanted to. In teeny weeny itty bitty little minute bites. And I chewed it all mostly with my front teeth, rabbit style. Good thing, a lot of it was kind of soft and squishy, therefore easy for me to eat. I cut up the turkey into the aforementioned sized bites and downed a lot of that. The sourdough rolls I brought were a hit and I ate one of those. I did have some trouble with the cucumber salad, which was good, but a bit crunchy. I ate not one, but TWO pieces of chocolate coffee-toffee cake with buttercream frosting, courtesy of me, again. And, for my own sanity and health, I left the majority of it THERE. I'm a cakeaholic, so it couldn't come home with me. I brought enough home for Kai and Noe to have a piece each. And we brought pumpkin pie home, which turns on absolutely no buttons for me, so I'm safe there. Another good thing is that I brought home a lot of that soft, squishy, yummy stuff, so there's plenty for me to eat until my mouth feels better! On the healing front, my whole face hurts really bad. ALL of my teeth hurt, not just the missing teeth. Which, of course, wouldn't really hurt, since they're long gone, outta there, but you know what I mean. My nose hurts, my cheeks hurt, my chin hurts, my forehead hurts, my neck hurts, the back of my head hurts, and my shoulders hurt. Yeah, I'm kind of whining, but I can, since it's my blog and all.

Anyway, we had a fun and relaxing time. I love spending time with my family. I'll have a video or two to share sometime soon. We got an early Christmas present from my aunt and uncle that is a mini (mini-mini) sized video recorder (I'm sure it's got a technical name, but basically, it's a small video recorder). It's awesome and small and fits in my purse. (about the size of my cell phone) How much better could you get than that? Thanks Aunt Linda and Uncle John!

Reason #1 to Have 3 Children

2008-11-27T09:02:00.000-08:00

What do you do when you have 3 kids, but only 2 beaters to lick? And what to do when it's something awesome to lick, like buttercream frosting, as opposed to tuna pate? Well, I did what any GOOD parent with 3 kids would do. Rather than listening to the inevitable whining from at least one of the kids, since you can't divide two beaters among 3 kids fairly, I did the only RIGHT thing. Yup, I took one for the team and polished them off all by myself. Yeah, I know, that was real big of me. A sacrifice, yes, but one I was willing to take for the better of all involved.

Ok, ok, some of you parents who don't know the ins and outs of frosting science might be like, 'oh, that was so selfish of you, you could have given one a spoon or something!' Well, I had some pretty stiff frosting, and only enough to adequately slather on ONE cake top to bottom, and there really wasn't enough to scoop up with a spoon. Then again, had there been enough, I'd have to listen to the kids for the next millenium argue amongst themselves who actually got THE MOST frosting... A beater licker, or a spoon licker. They'd tell THEIR kids that their mom was horrible and mean and selfish. There would be counseling fees involved. Hurt feelings. Sibling rivalry (like we don't have enough of that going on already), madness and mayhem.

So, since all the kids were conveniently occupied in the other room (not by my own contrivance, amazingly enough-I've been known to shout out 'look, an elephant!' or somesuch to get them to go to the window and away from me and the frosting bowl.) I took it upon myself to lick the beaters and spare them the negativity of squabbling over beaters. See what a loving and caring mom I am? What they don't know, won't hurt them, right?

Doing Better

2008-11-26T16:06:00.000-08:00

Just a quick note to say to those of you who've called to ask, I'm doing a lot better now than I was yesterday, and certainly Monday! I'm not talking too much on the phone though, because it pulls my stitches and hurts. I haven't thrown up in 2 days, and have actually been able to eat a little more 'normally' without too much pain. Mostly soft foods. We went on a 'family excursion' today to the LYS to get some brown wool yarn for some gloves. It was nice to get out. Today has been a catch-up day mostly. Laundry, cooking, baking, etc. I made a chocolate cake for Thanksgiving, sourdough rolls to go with dinner tonight (homemade lasagna) and Thanksgiving tomorrow. I even got a chance to sit for 2 hours and watch a movie. That almost never happens! Anyway, for those of you who were concerned, thanks, and I'm doing a lot better now.

Bad way to lose 4 pounds

2008-11-25T14:33:00.000-08:00

Well, let me tell you, if you want to lose 4 pounds, it would be much better for you to hit the gym and watch what you're eating. Don't go to get two wisdom teeth taken out, get some pain medication that (you find out later) will make you puke your guts out the whole day (not to mention make you woozier than all get-out), and basically don't eat anything or drink much all day long. Because, that's what I did, and while I DID lose 4 pounds, I'd much rather have done it the 'hard and long' way than the 'two day-shoot me please and put me out of my misery' method.

Yeah, so yesterday, I went in to get 2 problem wisdom teeth pulled. My friend Lisa, bless her heart, took me to my appointment. They took this surround-type x-ray of my whole head. When the technician mentioned that they might have to 'drill off some bone' to get my teeth out, I quickly opted for the 'gas-em-up' method of relaxation. I had opted for no general anesthesia, because it makes me puke my guts out for about 2 days afterward. Little did I know that they sent some of that stuff home with me in a baggie to take later! They did their standard local, and had to do it twice on my right side. I also brought some loud drum-beat type music, which I turned up as loud as I could during the drilling portions. I think the surgeon might have been talking to me at some point, but with the gas and the music so loud, I sure couldn't hear him.

The tooth extraction, while not something I'd ever want to repeat (EVER!), was nowhere near as horrible as the dizziness and nausea that came after taking that pain medication. It was so bad, I could barely walk (oh, heck, I crawled at the speed of a sloth through the house) and frequently had to lay flat on the floor because the nausea threatened to overwhelm me. I took to carrying around a bucket with me (or pushing it on the floor in front of me). It got used several times. All in all, I took 2 doses of that stuff and haven't really felt much better since about 2 or 3 this afternoon. In total, I've eaten today: 1 Cup Noodles (it's this soup in a cup stuff) spread out over 3 mini meals, and 1/3 cup ice cream. I tried to drink some coffee this morning and had a mere 3 tiny tiny sips. I have managed to keep it all down, thankfully. So much for avoiding the anesthesia, right? Yesterday, I only had my standard apple with peanut butter for breakfast before my appointment and 3 Tbsp apple sauce in the afternoon, which came back up during dinner, of all things. Thankfully, no one said anything negative as I crouched over the bucket in the middle of the living room. Sophia was very interested and tried to creep as close as she could to watch.

Kai and Noe and Arnez have been great. Arnez basically dealt with everything, since I really couldn't have cared less (the medication fuzzed my brain a lot), and couldn't have done anything about anything anyway. Oh, yeah, we also had a major leak in the basement sometime in the past day or so, so we had to have our friend out to fix it for us. Kai and Noe played 'fetch' for me, and 'hold Mommy's hand while she's curled up on the floor'. Noe read 'Go Dog Go' to me, which was sweet, and Kai read some of my favorite Psalms to me from his Bible, which was very sweet too.

Anyway, I am 4 pounds lighter from this experience, 2 teeth less, and am needing to go sit down on the couch now. I'm still not feeling really well, even if I am able to walk upright like a human and keep everything I've eaten down. I'm hoping to score some pot-pie for dinner (which is in the oven now).

To Ponder

2008-11-22T08:15:00.000-08:00

What do kids, yarn, flour and dirt have in common? Feel free to leave your speculation in the comment area.

Less than Stellar

2008-11-17T14:54:00.001-08:00

Well, I can safely say that today will NOT go down in the ranks of 'Top Fun Days' I've ever had. There were good points, yes, but the bad points kind of outweigh them.

First, Kai woke up shortly after I did at 5:45. Noe woke up shortly thereafter. Ugh. I warned them to NOT talk to me too much or ask me questions or make too much noise, or argue with each other. Any one of which would have definitely sent me off the deep end.

I got to spend some great quality time with Jesus this morning, while drinking coffee, both of which count for highs.

While doing my grocery shopping, I didn't only filled my basket up a little over half way, and still managed to spend about $90. Sigh. Used to be I could FILL it up to almost overflowing and it would run me less than $100. Now, keep in mind, I make almost everything from scratch, don't buy expensive stuff or high cuts of meat (in fact, I didn't buy any meat this time!), and I even make my own bread and don't buy pre-made 'convenience food'. Another UGH.

I took Kai and Noe to my friend Anna's house to play with her kids, so that was a plus. I was able to bring some sourdough dough over, which rose at her house and we had fresh baked bread with lunch. Another plus.

I am not feeling well today, for reasons I'll keep to myself. Not good.

And, to put icing all over that cake, while backing up the minivan out of her driveway, I backed it RIGHT OFF into a drainage ditch, where the snag on the metal drain tube thing that ran under her driveway cut a nasty slit right through my tire. I'm trying to look at the positive side of this though, and trying not to think about how much new tires are going to cost. On the positive side, I now know what sound a tire makes as it quickly loses air. I know where my car's jack (it's a pathetic little thing) is stored. I know where the spare tire is stored. I know where to place the jack on the car. I got to spend some quality time, getting to know Anna's husband, Terry as he helped me change it. Actually, I helped him, as he did most of the work. I managed to not get hurt while doing it, though he sustained a minor injury. We both got to kick at the tire, trying to get it off. His kick knocked it off kilter (the darned thing did NOT want to come off!), which kind of hurt my pride, since I wanted to be the one to kick it off *stomps around, pouting*. Oh well. I taught him the 'easy' way to get off lug nuts. In case you wanted to know, you stand on the wrench. Yes, if you're a man, it looks unmanly to do it that way, but it's a lot quicker, I'll guarantee that.

Oh, I guess on the plus side, is that Anna sent us home with some leftover birthday cake. To brighten my day, I might have to *force* myself to have some cake after dinner. sigh. I'll choke it down, somehow.

Also, might I add, that sometimes, a half hour just is not enough time. I think if you're walking through a cactus patch or having army ants eat you alive or even, changing a tire in 30 degree weather, a half hour might seem just a TAD on the long side. But, if you've just dropped your daughter off for her 1/2 hour dance class and rush downstairs to do some knitting before you have to go back up to get her, a half hour is just way too short. In fact, I think there's some sort of time-continuum warp thing that happens as soon as knitting needles and yarn are in contact. I swear, I only sat there for maybe 5 minutes before it was time to get her again. I'm not a slow knitter, either. I only got one finger done on my fingerless gloves. ONE lousy finger.

Anyway, I will be getting new tires on the car tomorrow. Perhaps if I'M the one who goes to get 'em, I'll bring my knitting. I wonder if knitting and waiting for car repairs to be done cancel each other out?

Bedtime-Y/N?

2008-11-16T18:00:00.000-08:00

Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y!!!!!!!

Ok, while it wouldn't be accurate to say I LIVE for bedtime, I sure do look forward to it on a daily basis. I can safely say that not a day has gone by that I haven't looked forward to bedtime. Some days, like when the kids were mere babes, it was more like looking forward to a 3 or 4 hour consecutive stretch of sleep ("dear Jesus, pleasepleaseplease help my little one sleep for longer than2 hours!"). Most days nowadays, (since my youngest is 2 now and has been sleeping through the night since the tender age of 2 months, unlike a little boy who took just about FOREVER and EVER to get to that point) are concluded for the kids around 8. Is it just me, or is even a couple minutes earlier than a set bedtime a thing to be cherished?

Anyway, lest anyone get the wrong impression that I think my kids are monsters or hoodlums or BAD in any way, that couldn't be further from the truth. While I'd be the last person to say any of my children are saints or perfect, they really are very good kids. Very LOUD good kids. But good nonetheless. There's just something peaceful, dare I even say holy, about a little one soundly sleeping. (even more adorable when they're snoring) Most days around here are pretty good, since Sophia is just barely testing the terrible 2 waters (unlike a certain little boy I won't name who tested those waters to the max, and then some), and Kai and Noe mostly do what they are supposed to do all day long. There have been some, excuse the French, crapola days, however. A lot of those happened when a, yes, a certain little boy was going through the Terrible 2's. (for the record, nothing Noe did ever, ever came close to Kai's rampages-she was a very agreeable child!) I have noticed a strange phenomenon though. No matter how 'south' the day goes, no matter how loud it was, no matter WHAT THE HECK(!) I had to clean up off the floor, or if I bruised any bones stepping on things left on the floor, or wrenched my back avoiding falling over, or who I had to yell at and for how long and 'how MANY MANY times do I have to tell you that?!?!' things I had to say, (the list could go on and on), no matter all that, the minute all the little darlings are sound asleep, safe and snug in their beds, sometimes snoring or thumb sucking, it all goes away. Poof! Then I find myself thanking the Dear Lord for my beautiful, charming, smart, sweet, lovely and loving little ones. I've even gone and caught myself staring down into a little face, oblivious to the world or what havoc he/she has wrought in the house/my heart that day, thinking I've never seen a more beautiful thing in all the world.

It's so beautiful, I wish I could get them to sleep LONGER each morning than their customary 6 or 7 (sometimes earlier). I wish I could extend the peace and beauty until, oh, I don't know, 8? 9? I've heard rumors of children who go to bed at 7 and sleep until 9. Wow, not in this corner of the town!

The next question, is 'would it be accurate to say I LIVE for a cup of coffee every morning?' I don't know, but I can tell you with absolute certainty that Mommy is a whole lot LESS crabby if I have a cup of coffee in my hand (perhaps 1/2 in ME already) before the little darling ones come stompity-stompity down the stairs and decide to play 20 questions with Mommy.

Rosemary (not really) fans

2008-11-14T17:28:00.000-08:00

Today, I made 'rosemary fans' without the rosemary. I have been wanting to try this new recipe for a long time and finally got around to doing it today. They are supposed to have rosemary (hence the name, in case you didn't figure it out), but 'any fresh herb will do' it said. We-ell! The only fresh herb I have anywhere is some tiny little sprigs of oregano out in the garden that are hanging on, even though we've already gotten a few flurries here and there. So, now, they are 'oregano fans'. Overall, I wasn't highly impressed with the recipe itself. I found it online at 'A Year in Bread'. I've had good and bad luck with some of those recipes. Either there was a misprint in the recipe or it was just not understandable to me. The 'starter' it said to make wasn't liquidy at all, but more resembling a ball of dough. The recipe said to let it bubble, but I don't see how my hard little ball was going to do much of anything, really. So, I looked at my sourdough starter recipe and 'tweaked' the starter. I tweaked some other things too, but nothing that would have changed the taste (except the rosemary-oregano tweak). The dough itself I didn't think was outstanding. It probably would have tasted ok with butter, but I really like my bread to have some taste without slathering artery-clogging stuff on it. What I DID like about the recipe was more the idea of how to make a fan. I think next time, I'm going to use a real sourdough bread and tweak that to make it awesome. Maybe garlic fans? Maybe dried rosemary? I do like dried rosemary. Maybe instead of olive oil (that gets poured on the rolled-out dough before sprinkling the chopped herbs on) I'll use some artery-clogging butter... Hmm, no, that's probably not a good idea either. Anyway, if I do it again (and I'm sure I will if God gives me even a few more days to live), I'll post the results.

(the fans were really cool, BTW, in case I didn't mention that. They just pull apart really nicely.)

(and no, as far as I know, I'm not 'outward bound' to the arms of Jesus any time soon, in case I scared anyone!)

A New 'How To' from the Bonsol family

2008-11-13T05:47:00.000-08:00

How to...

Keep warm when you have your thermostat set to 65 degrees...

1. Stay in bed because you can always crank up your electric heating mattress cover.

2. Invite all the kids in with you. All that wiggling around will keep everyone warm.

3. Do dishes in scalding water: they need to be done anyway!

5. Throw on another shirt.

6. Throw on another pair of socks, preferably those warm wooly ones you made.

7. Do some more dishes in scalding water.

8. Do some pushups or some weightlifting.

9. Knead some bread dough. The bigger the hunk of dough, the more you'll have to work on it, and the more warm you'll be. Not to mention you'll get stronger.

10. Run back and forth through the house. Optimize your time by picking up all the toys your 2 year old scatters with frequency around the house.

11. Yell at the kids. When your blood pressure goes up, you'll feel warmer!

12. Yell at the cat. See above.

13. Run up and down the stairs. Preferably while gathering laundry. The heavier the basket, the harder you'll have to work, making you warmer. Just make sure you don't fall down the stairs. That will make you cold.

14. Take a scalding hot shower. For an hour or so.

15. Take a scalding hot bath.

16. Pile on another blanket while you're sitting on the couch.

17. Put a heating pad behind you for your back. All that running up and down stairs, yelling and kneading dough might make your back hurt.

18. Entice the cat to sit on you. For some reason, cats are heat machines, and their warmth will seep into your lap.

19. Entice the kids to sit on you or near you. They are a lot like cats in that regard.

20. Wear a hat and fingerless mittens around the house. If your ears are warm, the rest of you is more likely to be warm. Ditto the hands.

21. Last, but certainly not least, cuddle your hands around a hot cup of coffee. Of course, you'll want to be drinking it too. Your hands will be warm and so will your insides!

Anybody else have any 'keep warm' tips? Feel free to leave them in the comments section!

Not a typical kid...

2008-11-12T14:39:00.000-08:00

Sophia just proved the past couple nights or so that she's sooo not a 'typical kid'. What I mean is, we have to bribe her to eat her main meal (like pot pie or a cheeseburger) with veggies. Yup, you heard me. She goes nuts for the greens. And orange- and yellow-colored stuff. We laughed just about through the whole meal last night (Kai almost choked he was laughing so hard!) because daddy was offering the sweetie his lettuce to get her to eat some of her pot pie. "you eat THAT spoonful and I'll give you THIS tasty leaf! You want this tasty leaf? (S. nods head) Then eat this little bit of food." Whereupon she'd hastily stuff some pot pie in her mouth and chewchewchew as fast as she could to get the 'prize'. The other day, it was beans. Yup, she wouldn't eat her cheeseburger unless daddy shared his beans with her. She'd already finished her pile of beans and was steadily working her way through her daddy's beans.

Not much...

2008-11-10T04:43:00.000-08:00

New here....

Yeah, I haven't blogged for awhile. I'm not sure if there's just not much going on here, or if I'm so tired the thought of being on the computer makes me want to take a nap.

Some notable things that have happened: Halloween is OVER OVER OVER OVER. If only I could KEEP it OVER for, oh, about forever, maybe, that would be great. Unfortunately, it's going to come around again. Unfortunately again, my kids (especially Kai) are PLANNERS. Yeah, major PLANNERS. Kai has the next 2 or 3 Halloweens figured out (costume-wise) already. He seems to delight in picking the hardest thing possible for me to come up with... He wanted to be 'Master Chief' next year. (this dude in a shoot-em-up game Arnez likes, that I can't for the life of me remember the name of) Thing is, Master Chief doesn't just wear some slap-it-together bits of this and that. Master Chief wears this full-body armor. Mama ain't making no Master Chief armor, I can tell you that right now. I told Kai's daddy that he was going to be responsible for next year's outfit for Kai. Good thing is, Arnez is putting around an idea on a cool hobby he wants to take up (also which I can't remember the name of-it's not knitting or macrame), which would enable him to make armor of all sorts. Noe, of course, has to be something girly and frilly. I don't suppose I'd be able to re-use any of Kai's old costumes on her... I don't think she'd want to be Darth Vader, Batman, or a pirate. I went to Walmart to see if any of their costumes were way discounted... There WEREN'T any costumes left. Darn. I guess I'll be either shopping some more or heading out to the thrift store...

Kai is lately into comic making. He has made several comic strips, some of which are totally funny, and some of which... aren't

The kids are excelling at school. Kai is up to doing adding and subtracting large numbers (with borrowing and carrying), easy multiplication and division and he's dabbled in easy fractions. He can read very well and has read 3 (I think) large books. The kind that have many different stories in them. Noe is doing a lot better at her math too. I wasn't sure if she was 'getting it' for a long time there, but now, she is doing a lot better and able to do two whole worksheets (both sides) without too much trouble. Kai is learning cursive all on his own, which is cool. Noe's writing is getting much better too, and her reading is getting better and better every day.

On the healthy-eating front, I slipped a little. I had made a cake for my mom's group I went to, and wow! It was really good. I mean, REALLY good. Ok, well the edges were browner than I liked, but the rest was great. SO, I ate some of it. Sugar really messes up my ability to choose wisely when it comes to food. I am back on track now, and I have a new goal. I want to lose 10 more pounds before the new year. I think this is highly possible as long as I keep up the eating healthy thing and my exercising.

Other than that, nothing really is notable enough to write about. Or maybe I'm just getting tired and need to take a nap now, since I've been on the computer for 30 minutes or so...

Trick or treat!

2008-11-01T10:43:00.000-07:00

Well, Trick or Treating was fun last night. We got a record amount of 'loot' that I, for one, don't think we need. Others might disagree with me. I figure that the older the kids get, the more 'loot' we're going to be dragging home every October 31st. Sophia, who had had absolutely no nap that day, slowed us down a bit, since not only was she very tired, the whole 'holiday' confused her, and her legs are only about a foot long. She insisted for quite some time on walking the route herself. Finally, she let Daddy pick her up ('uppies, Daddy, uppies!'). This didn't slow down her booty gathering too much though, since Kai and Noe were more than happy to ask for an extra for the 'baby, who's tired'. She was so darned cute too, a lot of the candy-hander-outers were more than happy to come to the 'little cute skunk' and put candy in her little basket. Even though she wasn't a skunk, but a kitty, who's hat kept on falling down and leaving only the white belly and black body showing (the kitty head being behind her own head).

No one fell too badly this year, which was nice (unlike last year, where Noe fell flat on her face within spitting distance of Grandma and Grandpa's house, failing to put her hands in front of her to catch her fall, resulting in a very sore forehead-the obvious result of falling without using hands to catch the fall). Kai fell a couple times, and Noe fell once, none of which produced lasting scars, thank goodness. Sophia fell once, and her little basket emptied out onto the sidewalk, resulting in an 'uh oh' exclamation from her, which was cute.

I decided last minute to dress up as a 'crazy knitting lady'. I put on a WHOLE LOT of makeup, stuck knitting needles in my hair, which was caught up in a clip in back, laquered my hair up with about 1/2 a bottle of hairspray, and carried around a borrowed basket (thanks Chris!) filled with a hodge-podge of knitting supplies and more knitting needles. I obvoiusly missed the mark, however, since the minute my dad saw me, he asked if I was going as Sarah Palin... Huh? No, isn't it obvious I'm a crazy knitting lady? Nope, he said, Sarah Palin definitely. With knitting needles in my hair. Someone said it was the glasses. Uh, I'll have everyone know, I had my glasses long before I even knew there WAS a Sarah Palin! Someone else said that if I had a short little red coat, instead of my 'crazy knit' sweater, I'd look just like her. See, it's obvious from the sweater, if the knitting needles and basket weren't clue enough, that I wasn't Palin, but a crazy knitting lady! Maybe I should have worn a sign that said, "I'm a crazy knitting lady, and any resemblance to political figures is purely coincidental and should be ignored. Or I'll stab you with my crazy knitting needle..."

Here's the flower, practicing her ballet moves.

Here's Kai, practicing being horrible. Also, I don't think anyone knew who he was, and he stopped several times to tell people the basic plot lines of the show and tell them it was on the internet and free to watch.

Kitty is too quick for the camera!

You can't get away now, Kitty!

Some pics of the 'hunt'.

Arnez went as the Green Lantern. Some kid propositioned him for his ring ("I'll give you a piece of candy for it!"). Like a good superhero, he refused graciously, without blasting the kid with his super ring. He also trooped all over the neighborhood carrying Sophia the cat/skunk, since she was too tired. He even carted her up and down flights of stairs so she could get her share of the booty.

Here's me. I don't see any resemblance to Ms. Palin. I think I just look like a crazy lady with way too much makeup.

I took this one in the bathroom mirror, since I didn't think the above picture looked so good.

I also let you know, I managed to keep all chocolate OUT of my mouth. I munched on a popcorn ball (shared some of it with Kai). Last year, I snarfed down quite a bit of the chocolate stuff before we even got home. This year, I'm trying to not eat sugar much, so I was very good!

New uses for old jeans

2008-10-30T13:59:00.000-07:00

Today, I ended up doing something I thought I wasn't going to do today... Namely, sewing. I'm not sure it counts though, since I'm not fiddling with a sewing machine and an iron and pins. What I AM doing, is fixing some slippers of Kai's and Sophia's that have needed to be fixed for some time now (Kai's slippers have been asking for a fixin' for almost a year now!). Today is the day. I still have my sewing stuff out (sort of), and having torn up slippers laying around is bugging me. (I'm in a de-clutter and simplify our lives phase)

Basically, here's what you do: Grab some old jeans and lay the slippers on top of them. Trace with a fabric pencil around them, bigger than the base of the slipper. I used a double thickness on these slippers.

Sew around the slipper and the fabric, turning the fabric under, so you don't see the overlapping part.

These are Kai's old cow slippers. He has another pair that's starting to rip on the bottom, so I'm going to fix them too.

It takes a little bit of work, but the effort is worth it to me, if I don't have to spend money on more slippers! It was also rather relaxing, since the house was quite quiet.

I've been working on this while Sophia was taking a nap. I realized it was very nice outside, so I had Kai and Noe play for awhile while their sister was sleeping. They seemed to play nicely for awhile, but I caught them fighting over a leaf just now. Noe had a leaf that she apparently was going to throw at Kai, even though he'd asked her to not do that. Now, Kai is sitting on her, trying to grab her hand (with the leaf) out from under her.

Here's the cat, who could care less what anybody is doing, since they're not feeding or petting her. We don't exist to her if we're not doing something for Her Royal Highness.

Finished at T-Minus 2 days...

2008-10-29T18:27:00.000-07:00

I finally have both costumes finished! I swear, next year, I'm going to the thrift store and scavenging up a bunch of costume-type stuff and they can pick from that. To all my friends, please feel free to remind me to go shopping at the thrift store well before Halloween next year! Anyway... They both turned out pretty good. Considering I'm not a sewing-type person and that I had no pattern for the Dr. Horrible coat for Kai. The coat isn't perfect. I think it doesn't fit too well, but Kai is pretty easy going and keeps telling me he loves it. Great! I also made up a hat to go with Noe's flower dress. That took me ALL DAY to make today. To celebrate being done, and finally being able to put away my sewing machine (until it comes time to put the sleeves on the flower thing so Noe can use it), I took a long soak in the bathtub with some hydrangea-scented bath salt (THANKS MOM!!!). I plan on doing a whole lot of not sewing tomorrow. And then some more not sewing. So, here are some pictures of the kids in their costumes (Noe will appear in just the hat for now, as I had to catch her before she climbed into bed).

His Horrible-ness kept on doing weird stuff with his mouth that I'm sure he thought was cool. I had to keep telling him to shut his mouth. He also kept on flexing his little biceps and propping his hands on his hips. It was kind of funny. I'm sure he thought he was being cool. Also, the gloves are about 21 sizes too big (hey, you try to find welding gloves for a 7 1/2 year old!), and when he dangled his hands at his sides, they started slipping off.

The Lady Flower finally has a hat to go with her skirt. Basically, I took the pattern for the leaves of the skirt and thought about it (a lot). Here's the skirt.

I needed to figure out how to get them all to go together and leave a hole through each leaf so I could stuff some elastic. It all worked out pretty well. Then, I dismantled 4 cheap-o silk flower sets my mom got (THANKS AGAIN, MOM!!!) and threaded a needle through them (with thread) (and I didn't even stab myself once!) and sewed them on to the brim of the hat. For not having a pattern, I was pretty impressed. Once again, it's not perfect, and I'm sure it would have been better had I had a PhD in costume sewing, but it's pretty good for a first-time Lady Flower hat! And Ms. Noella lovesloveslovesloves it, so that's a bonus!

2008-10-27T09:39:00.000-07:00

This is the website for a presidential candidate I can get behind. Chuck Baldwin believes in the Constitution and what it stands for. He is a refreshing alternative to the candidates normally referred to on the news today.

Lost and found

2008-10-26T11:35:00.000-07:00

As some of you know, I've been on a 'diet' lately. I hesitate to call it a diet, because those tend to be crash-course, you try it for awhile, you fail, and then you gain weight again. Mostly, I'm doing a lifestyle change. I determined that I really would like to be healthy and feel healthy and not get diabetes or any number of bad things when I get older. Not to mention, that my face was looking worse than it did when I was a teen. Seriously. While other women my age were slathering on the lotion because their skin was getting dryer, I was hunting the aisles for stuff that WOULDN'T cause acne, and the rare 'for oily skin' soaps and shampoos (they're harder to find than you might think!) I did some research and found that some things would help me with my bad skin problem. Namely, give up sugar, give up wheat, use a vinegar/lavender oil mixture on my face, and make sure I spend quality time working up a sweat. So, I mostly gave up sugar/wheat and coffee (I can't drink it without sugar). I use the vinegar stuff every day and I workout at least 45 minutes 3 times a week at the gym in addition to some minor weight lifting at home.

In addition to helping my skin clear up, I LOST 18 pounds so far! Which means I'm only 12 pounds away from my 'target weight' (what the 'experts' say I should weigh for my age/body type/height). What I FOUND was that I have a waist! Yup, I don't look 5 or 6 months pregnant anymore (which is good, since my 'baby' just turned 2!), and I actually have a waist I haven't seen in about a hundred years.

I am not super super strict with my eating, and I will sometimes have a coffee (with sugar) or a roll or some cake (I'm going to have a piece of cake today!), but I watch enough of what I eat that it has made a big difference. I'm eating tons of fruits and veggies, and some low-fat meat (like turkey or chicken) for protein. I eat a little bit of cheese sometimes, and mostly stay away from breads. Another benefit is that my family is eating healthier too. I pull out fruit or veggies for snacks instead of the crackers. Not that we were eating super unhealthy before (I almost never bought chips or cookies, etc), but everyone is eating a lot healthier now, and it's a good feeling!

Little swimmers

2008-10-26T04:25:00.001-07:00

I forgot to write about this on Friday, but the kids both swam by themselves when I took them to the pool. I've been working with them for some time, teaching them how to swim. I even Googled 'teach children to swim' to make sure I was doing it right (I was). Yesterday, for the first time, Noe swam all by herself without a floaty thing strapped to her! Kai had been able to swim for awhile, but seemed to have some trouble with it. I had been teaching them a new technique and on Friday, he was using it pretty effectively in the deeper end, where he couldn't touch the bottom. They both swam 1/2 the length of the pool and back again! I was so proud of them!

Awhile back, I got a really nice compliment from the head life guard (she's also the one who teaches Kai his tumbling and who used to teach Noe her dancing). She said if I kept up teaching them like that they would have me teaching lessons! I said something like, "I don't know about that, I'm not that great of a swimmer" and she told me I was doing everything right! I thought pretty good about that! And now that both can swim, I can see that I was doing it right! YAY!

Baby turns 2

2008-10-25T14:27:00.000-07:00

Ok, I'm really going to have to get out of the habit of calling Sophia a 'baby'. She's not a baby anymore (though she'll always be MY baby.... *sniff*). She turned two today. Wow. My little 2 foot tall person is now two years old. Seems like just yesterday she was born.

Here's my cousin, Brendan, teaching her Calculus on her first Thanksgiving. Perhaps she'll be better at math than me!

Here is her first Christmas:

She can't sit up yet here:

Her first birthday:

Almost one year ago! Her first Halloween (well, technically 2nd, but she was only a week old the first time around):

Wants to be Tigger, not a pumpkin!

First trip to Florida:

Photo op with Auntie Chris:

Her butt was a lot smaller then!

Last Christmas:

Daddy time!

Just this past summer, having fun in the breezeway as it's being renovated:

I love going through old photos of the kids!

For her birthday cake tomorrow (we're not having a party-just a small family gathering for dinner), I made a carrot cake. With orange cream cheese frosting. Oh, my goodness! I never thought I'd ever say I like any frosting better than butter cream, but I think this orange cream cheese frosting might just beat it! I'm looking forward to trying some of that cake (who cares about dinner, when there's cake to be had!). I'm going to have to try really hard to not sample the cake before tomorrow!

Back to School

2008-10-25T14:08:00.000-07:00

For me!

Well, back to homeschool for me, to be exact. I've known for a long time that I was going to have some trouble teaching math to the kids, not being a 'mathie' myself. Which is an understatement in grand proportions. So, I ran into a little roadblock in my knowledge (I was hoping it would come later, but wasn't really kidding myself). Kai wanted some 'harder' math because a program he was using was too easy. And I think he was getting bored with addition/subtraction/easy multiplication and division. Not that he's a whiz with those yet, but I do try to accommodate interests when I can. We had given him some problems adding fractions with like denominators (the number on the bottom). Those were easy, so he flew through them. We've worked on fractions before with cooking and such, but I wasn't sure he really GOT it. I even did demonstrations with water and measuring cups and spoons. I Googled 'teach kids fractions' and came up with some good sites I used. Emints.org had some good sites I used (I haven't gotten through very many of them). I also found a nice tutorial that explained the basics pretty well.

Even with the tutorial, though, we got to some points that I thought Kai wasn't going to understand. Then we got to some points that I myself didn't understand. Huh. Go figure. No surprise there. That's when I decided that Mommy was going to have to *sigh* relearn fractions too. So, I visited some of the other sites on emints. org to find out how to add fractions with unlike denominators. I found helpwithfractions.com was very useful. Yeah, I know, I'll probably never use that skill, but I have to admit it was kind of fun to learn math. (ooh, did I use the word 'fun' with a math subject??? Never thought I'd use fun and math in conjunction with each other!) Perhaps it has something to do with not having to be forced to do it in jail. (oh, I mean school) I even did some math worksheets on my own, for my own pleasure (oh, goodness, now I'm using the word 'pleasure' with math... will it never end???). Next, I might just go on to re-teach myself how to subtract those unlike-denominator fractions, and *gasp!* multiply and divide them!

Costume pics!

2008-10-23T19:11:00.000-07:00

Well, you all saw pictures of Noe's little skirt a couple posts ago, which she wore for the first time during her last class of her dancing.

I thought she was super cute. If you notice someone pushing her at the end, it was this really snotty girl who had a snotty little face. Yeah, I thought she was a snot and she was pushing MY LITTLE GIRL. I wanted to smack her, but hey, I'm a bigger woman than that. Not to mention she was only like 6 or something. Sheesh! And her mother was sitting right there, not saying anything. Grrr. Maybe I should have smacked the mom...

Anyway...
This next one is pretty cute. The little girl she's doing her thing with this time is named Allison. She is a a cutie and very sweet (not a snot like some other little girls) and also takes tumbling with Kai. She was having a teeny wardrobe malfunction, but didn't seem to mind. I'll also say that Allison's mom is also very nice, and quick to tell Allison when to NOT TOUCH other kids, which is nice. They gave Noe her ballet slippers because they were too small for Allison. I'm all about passing on clothing!

And one last one here for Noe's recital thing. She stopped doing what they were supposed to be doing, and just posed for the camera with her head tilted to the side. (she kept on posing for me the whole 1/2 hour). She stood like that for awhile and then, when her instructor asked her if she wanted to try it, she said, "what are we doing again?" She had no clue what was going on, because she was so interested in me with the camera. I can see why they don't want the parents in on the regular classes. I usually go down to knit, but sometimes to work out.

Here are some pics of Kai with his not-yet-finished Dr. Horrible costume. He kept on doing this goofy thing with his mouth, so I had to keep telling him to shut it. It's not finished yet, obviously. It will have sleeves (maybe tomorrow?) and more velcro to keep it shut on the side. I also haven't finished the back belt thing.

I also got him to pose in the flower outfit, but I didn't take a lot of pictures with him in it. I didn't want him to feel bad about it, though he was a good sport. I explained to him why I was making the flower outfit, and that when I was finished with his I'd finish it and just give it to Noe. It is obviously way too big on her.

And Noe with Dr. Horrible goggles, which kept on sliding down. Most of the time, Dr. Horrible wears them above his eyes on his forehead. These goggles were way too loose, and wouldn't stay on her forehead.

Uum, yeah.

2008-10-22T19:51:00.000-07:00

I didn't do any sewing today. Blame it on plummeting hormones or all-day sewing marathons, I was lucky to get through my 45 minute workout this morning. All day, I felt like I had 50 pound weights strapped to each leg and 20 on each arm. You know that feeling that your walking through Jell-o? Yeah, that's what I had today. Sew.... I don't have any pictures to show you yet. I did do two loads of laundry. I attempted to take a nap. I read a lot. I heated up some dinner (chicken stew) and made some homemade buttermilk biscuits. I took the kids over to our friend's house to let her kids and mine play (while we knitted). There is no way I'm dragging my tooty out of bed early tomorrow. Unless the kids wake up early, which I admit, is highly likely. Highly unexplainable, since I'm about as fun to be around early in the a.m. as a crabby bear. Perhaps tomorrow, the kids will sleep in late, and I will be able to as well, and then I'll feel all sunshiny and stuff and get back to the sewing. And picture taking.

Dr. Horrible's coat for Kai

2008-10-21T18:41:00.000-07:00

Well, today was Dr. Horrible day. I have been mentally psyching myself up to do Dr. Horrible's coat in miniature (for a 7 1/2 year old). You may recall that in a weak mommy moment (or a brain-dead, too tired mommy moment, take your pick) I agreed to let Kai be Dr. Horrible for Halloween. Since I try to be a mommy of my word, I've been wracking my brain (yes, I've decided I still own one, it's just really in love with a little boy, so I can't renege on my promise) on HOW to come up with a Dr. Horrible coat. Since I can't afford to buy the $100 coat they seem to be offering online (sorry, can't find a link) or one from the lady who designed one and is selling an extra to the highest bidder (I saw prices over $200 being offered), it was up to me to figure out how to make the coat for him.

I came up with a plan, which sorry to say, I don't have pictures of. I'm hoping to get some pics tomorrow with Kai actually wearing the thing. Perhaps I'll get him to pose with the 'scrap fabric' I used to make a template with too. Anyway, if I seem discombobulated, it's because I've been sewing all day. Basically, I found a plethora of flowery fabric stashed away for just a reason as this. I dragged it out, and started measuring and cutting. Pinning and ironing. Measuring, pinning, holding things up to Kai. Etc, etc. When I felt like I had the major pieces (front, back, 1/2 panel in front) right, I pinned the flowery stuff onto the white stuff and started re-measuring and pinning, ironing and cutting, etc, etc.

After several hours, most of which were pretty enjoyable, surprisingly, I came up with most of the coat, minus the arms, which I'm hoping to borrow a pattern for (Chris!!! Can I borrow your karate pattern, if you still have it???) and a back belt loop. I even got the buttons sewn on before I had to send the model up to bed. I decided to skip the button-hole maker thingee for my sewing machine and go instead with a velcroe/hook and eye system to keep the whole thing on. Seriously, I used the button holer thingee a time or two, and it always gives me the heebie jeebies. Perhaps if I used it more often I'd be more comfortable, but hey, I use the sewing machine itself so often I have to read the directions every time I pull it out, just to make sure I remember how to do it right (and I don't have that short of a memory, if you know what I mean).

Tomorrow, hopefully, I'll finish the sleeves and the belt thing and make it up to the sewing store to get some hook and eye clasps, which I apparently don't have, though I thought I did. I'll also try to get Kai to pose for some pictures so you can see how he looks.

Flower Girl

2008-10-17T11:05:00.000-07:00

Eez Not Compleet, but werking on eet...

One of my friends commented that I haven't blogged in awhile. Yeah, I do that sometimes. First, there was Arnez's trip to Mississippi for a Habitat for Humanity trip. You might remember he went last year. Last year's trip was great for him, suck-ville for me. This year, I prayed a lot about being home alone with 3 kids, and planned some time with friends and family to keep me sane. I was bummed because I couldn't do my girls' night out for coffee thing, but I went out the Friday Arnez got home (ok, I only had to wait one day...). Thanks Chris and Mom, for helping to keep me sane!

For some reason, I checked my brain in at the door when it came to 'I want to be *fill in the blank* for Halloween, Mommy' time. I'm not sure I've found my brain yet. The above pictures are of Noe with her FINALLY finished flower skirt. Ugh. Tulle and silk. I hate working with them! I broke not one, but two needles on my sewing machine! It took me probably 3 days to finish the project. I have also decided that sewing patterns were written with people in mind who have a PhD in sewing science. Which, I might add, I don't have. After the fact, I can see why they asked the sewer to do certain things, but a) they were written in only semi-intelligible fashion (keep in mind I'm not in possession of great sewing skills, so I don't get all the sewing mumbo jumbo) and b) don't explain WHY they are having the sewer do said unintelligible task (i.e. 'this slit makes it possible for the little girl to get the skirt ON and OFF') and c) the pictures didn't always make a whole lot of sense to me. I've heard that there are 'easy' patterns out there, but I obviously didn't get one of those, and if I had, it probably wouldn't have been a flower skirt (Noe wants to be a flower). On the bright side, I have enough silk left over to make a flower hat... Hmm. I have a pattern for 'leaves' and I have lots of elastic. Perhaps I have learned enough to make one of those? We'll see. I haven't found my brain yet, so the chances are high that Noe will be sporting a flower hat in silk this Halloween.

Another sign that I haven't found my brain yet, is that I agreed (in a stupid-mommy moment) to allow Kai to be Dr. Horrible for Halloween. The only problem is, is that there is no pattern available for that coat. Which means, I'm going to have to find my missing brain and engage it in some never-before-done (by me) techniques, which might not work, to make that coat. Though, if I find my missing brain, maybe it'll decide to not make the coat after all! Updates to come!

They call him...

2008-10-02T15:52:00.000-07:00

Bendy Boy!

Here is what Kai has been practicing on the past several weeks. He finally did it all by himself today at tumbling.

Start the day with song and dance!

2008-10-02T05:30:00.000-07:00

Here's what the kids were doing pretty much first thing in the morning! It's great to wake up praising God!

News article

2008-10-01T09:25:00.001-07:00

Kid gets suspended for having a broken pencil sharpener (and using it! GASP!!!) at school!
Click on the link to read the story.

OH NO!

2008-09-27T10:39:00.000-07:00

What to do???

When your kids want a family dish called 'rum tum diddy' and you don't have any tomato soup downstairs on the shelves? Make your own tomato soup!

Rum tum diddy is this concoction handed down from a grandma's grandma's grandma on my mom's side (maybe even another grandma thrown in there). Basically, and I never remember exactly how much of each ingredient to use, you melt some butter and some Velveeta cheese in a saucepan. Then you add a can of tomato soup. Then you add equivalent of that can in milk or milk/water (the more milk, the richer). Then you heat it up for a bit and then spoon it over crackers on a plate (or bowl, for the little ones).

Problem is, I don't have any tomato soup in the house. Kai's been asking for it for a couple days now, and I just haven't been able to deliver, for one reason or another. Today was the day, so I went down to get a can of tomato soup... hmmm. There has to be one here somewhere... behind there? Over there? Nope, nary a can in the house. I do, however, have a plethora of tomatoes. I also have internet access, and I've found you can find most anything online. So, a-surfing I went...

You know, there are about 50 thousand recipes for homemade tomato soup out there, some of which had ingredients I would never have in the house, or took an almighty long time to concoct. I figured it shouldn't really take too long, and it shouldn't have more than a few ingredients in it. So, to make homemade rum tum diddy, this is what I did:

2 Tbsp butter and 2 really thick slices of Velveeta cut up in the pan. I melted those, then added some milk (maybe a cup?). Then I added one of my 4 jars of tomatoes that I have. I added 2 cans of tomato sauce next. I then added a bit of salt to taste, some pepper, some garlic powder, a smidge of onion powder (it's pretty strong stuff), a dash or two of sugar to take away the acid taste of the tomatoes and a bit of cayenne pepper (which I neglected to tell Noe about, or I'd never hear the end of how much her mouth burned). It was very chunky, so I mashed it a bit with a potato/apple masher thing. If I had a blender, I could have put it in there, but our blender went to the great appliance store in the sky a couple months ago and hasn't been replaced. Truth to tell, it was really tasty with the chunks, though. The kids had theirs traditional-like with the crackers. For myself, I just drank it right out of a bowl (it was so good, a spoon was taking too long). I had two bowls. Since it was mostly good for me (excepting the Velveeta), I didn't worry too much about it.

Kai raved about it, Noe ate the whole thing without complaining, which was amazing, since she was acting the last couple of days like she'd be eating her last meal on this earth if I made her gag down rum tum diddy. (there was even some pathetic sobbing involved) Sophia ate it until she decided to be 'cute' and demand to be fed without saying 'please'. When she finally said please, she said, 'NO!' and turned her head, which means I had to be quick with the spoon so her flying hair wouldn'tt get tomato soup on it.

Anyway, I'm not too worried about not having any cans of tomato soup again... That was about one of the tastiest things I've had in the last month, probably.

Up later, after naps: I'm going to make an apple pie for dessert tomorrow after our pizza night with a friend. I'm also going to try to squeeze in some pumpkin muffin thing using the last of some pumpkin butter my friend Lisa gave me. (thanks, again, Lisa! I'll let you know how they turn out!)

Dr. Horrible

2008-09-27T03:51:00.000-07:00

For those of you who like Joss Whedon (and Mal from Firefly), you can view an online 'movie' about Dr. Horrible and his efforts to get into the 'Evil League of Evil'. It is about 45 minutes long, broken up into 3 15 minute segments. VERY FUNNY!

Update on Today

2008-09-25T19:08:00.000-07:00

Well, today was, overall, a good day. The early nap thing worked well and we went to Lisa's house (thankyouthankyou!) so the kids could all play. I got to have some 'girl' time, mostly without kids, while they played in the yard. They all seemed to wear themselves out playing and running. Tumbling at the YMCA went well for Kai and he (mostly) listened to his teacher, though he was pretty wound up. One lady asked me if he was hyperactive. Uh, no, just has LOTS of energy. I guess he's a typical boy. An un-drugged typical boy, at any rate.

I even got a shower today. Glory hallelujah! I don't always get one, but I try really hard to make sure I can squeeze one in on Thursday before my girls' night. Wouldn't want to gross out the girls, right? (though I'm sure they'd all understand, even if they did all end up sitting on the far end of the room)

Coffee night was delightful. I basically save up all of my sugar cravings for that one night, when I splurge and let myself get a 'designer' coffee. That's almost the entire sugar I eat all week. The companionship of other ladies doesn't hurt either! (I love my friends!) On another plus note, I didn't want to scrounge around and try to find my jeans in my messy room (it's still a jumble from all the clothes-rearranging I've been doing), so I picked up a pair of jeans I had tried on two weeks ago to see if, perchance it would fit today. WOW! It fit. I thought it was way too tight, but I could put them on and still breathe. Not comfortably, but I could breathe! Maybe next week, I'll be able to keep the button closed the whole time! Good thing Starbucks is so freakin' cold, so I could put my sweater on and no one could see I had the button undone!

And now, I'm off to bed. Hopefully my insomnia of last night will not plague me tonight and I'll get a good night's sleep so I can do my workout tomorrow. I didn't do one today since I woke up so late. I would hate to lose my runner's physique. HAH!

Thursday smells good

2008-09-25T10:57:00.000-07:00

Today has felt like a good day so far. I couldn't sleep very well last night (what is it with Wednesday night insomnia?) so I stayed up late watching one episode of Heroes and one of Eureka. Which meant I got to bed at 11:30 ish and didn't wake up at my usual 5 a.m. I woke up at 6:30 instead (I just can't sleep much more than that) and the kids woke up then too. After breakfast, we started school early (around 8) and the kids did a really good job. Noe's working on simple addition (one digit plus one digit) and did pretty well. Kai is learning his times tables. Then all 3 of them 'helped' me make English muffins. Mostly, Kai and Noe just helped flip the muffins around in the corn meal and Sophia contented herself with touching everything she could reach and bouncing up and down on the chair, which ended up with Noe sobbing because she got bonked on the chin with a toddler head. Sophia didn't feel a thing and had no idea what Noe's problem was.

I also decided to use up all the tomatoes I had picked the other day and get them off my breezeway table. I made a huge batch of spaghetti sauce. My house smells so fine now!

For lunch, I shuffed Kai and Noe outside to eat. Sophia took an early nap because we're going to Lisa's house later and then right to tumbling. I needed her to take a nice nap so she's not crabby toddler from another planet all afternoon.

For dinner, we're having that second pot pie I made a couple weeks ago. It's so nice to have stuff in the freezer for those busy days!