Wednesday, May 31, 2006

Another Lazy Blogging Day

**Update** J-boy has swimmer's ear and not an ear infection relapse as I thought. He's grumpy as all get out and not sleeping well so that's made for a rough couple of days for all of us.

--

I lifted this from another board I'm on and I've decided to make easy work of my blog post today.

Okay, now on to the ABC's of me...

A - Age: 35
B - Best day ever: Everyday I wake up
C - Children?: 2 boys
D - Dream house: Spanish style in Mexico near the beach with a full staff
E - Eggs (how do you like them?): scrambled with cheese
F - For fun I: reading, scrapbooking, blogging
G - Greatest Accomplishment: raising my boys and being the youngest person in my title when I worked outside the home.
H - How many rooms in your place?: 10
I - Ice cream flavor: sweet cream vanilla
J - Jury duty, ever had to do it?: Nope, and I've never even been called even though I'm registered to vote and have driver's license.
K - Know any good jokes?: Umm, a few.
L - Last book you read: I'm reading "And Never Let Her Go" by Ann Rule that I got from Candy and her bookcrossing stuff.
M - Most treasured possession: My new laptop that I got for Mother's Day from my boys.
N - Name: E to friends and Lainey to family
O - Organization tip: Bags. I use canvas bags embroidered with what's in them to keep track of my different commitments (PTA, Scouts, etc).
P - Pets?: 3 dogs: Zoe, Hurley and Chula
Q - Question--most asked of you: Weren't you on the cover of SI?? *grin* Just kidding - probably stuff about kids since I work with them, but I surely don't feel qualified enough to give advice.
R - Relaxation - what do you do?: Read or blog.
S - State you live in: Texas...yee haw.
T - Talent(s): I can get 15 three and four year olds to actually stand in a straight line, hands behind their back and quietly follow me without losing a one of them.
U - Unique quirk: I have to have my sandwich in a certain order.
V - Vacation: We're going to two Texas locales this summer and to California next summer. We've been to San Francisco, Pacific Northwest, Atlanta, Orlando, Mexico, St. Louis, Oregon, Colorado,Oklahomaa, Kansas...
W - What are you wearing: Khaki shorts and a purple top.
X - X-rays you have had: teeth, back, wrist, ankle, knee, sonogram.
Y - Your hair color: Naturally? Boring brown. Now I've got highlights.
Z - Zoo animal: If I were one I'd be a hippo, but I like the elephants.

Okay, feel free to lift from me, but tell me if you did so I can see what you said.

-e

Tuesday, May 30, 2006

Summer Ponderings

Today is the first "real" day of summer for us. Before I had Papa here so it was more about family time. Now I'm a little panicked about what our schedule looks like this next grand twelve weeks. I feel this pressure (albeit much of it internal) to keep the boys active and J-boy reading. I think I'm good on the reading part having instituted a "quiet time" each day. They're allowed to read, sleep or just look at the wall, but they must have the down time. For me as much as them. Then when Papa gets home they'll be rested enough to have some fun with him.

The thing of it is I still feel like I'm supposed to keep them active. Hmmm...the great challenge with that in Texas is that it's hot. Damn hot. I can take them swimming and I will, but stuff is bound to occur like ear infections. J-boy can't swim while his ear is smarting. So what to do, what to do. So far we've watched TV and played a few video games. We've moved to more board games, but these are sedentary activities. There are some lovely trails in the area, but I won't go walk them alone with the boys. So not safe.

Mostly I'm just worried about what I *should* be doing. I blame that new TLC show "Honey, We're Killing Our Kids". It has these families eating soup and salad for dinner and working out an hour each day. This is the standard?? Okay, maybe the ideal, but I feel this pressure to live up to that level and it's killing us. The "coach" on that show said mom needed to have a calmer life. Yeah, right...calm when she's having to orchestrate an hour of some sort of sports-like activity. Hell, I think taking both kids to the grocery store should count for something.

Anyway, I just had to let out some of this angst. Intellectually I know I'm making much to about nada, but I go with my strengths.

-e

Sunday, May 28, 2006

The Do

A bunch of you have been asking for a picture of the hair so here it is for your review. Ha. This was taken the first day I got it done and I still wasn't quite used to it so I'll have to get new pictures now that I'm not so freaked out about it.



Oh, and don't you love the purple bra with the brown tank top? What? You never would have noticed if I hadn't pointed it out? My bad.

-e

Thursday, May 25, 2006

Thirteen Thursday: Summer Goals

cSpecial thanks to Krisco who brought us this game and encourages us to get to know each other a little better. This week I give you the thirteen things I hope to get accomplished this summer.

1) Clean up my craft room/office. I want it to go to more of an office than a craft room. Papa bought me a laptop for Mother's Day so I have my very own "space". No one gets to use this bad girl but me. Maybe it seems like a small thing to other people, but for someone who's kids eat right off her plate the idea of a small place all my own is just giddy-producing.

2) Teach 7 weeks of Camp MDO. We're doing different countries as themes and the research and preparation is great for teaching my own kids.

3) Paint the boys room. I want each of them to get to put their own personalities in their space - even if it does mean some crazy colors or whatever. It's just paint, I keep reminding myself.

4) Shred all the old documents stored in the garage. I'm down to the last three boxes of crap that were collected for years. Now it's time to get it gone.

5) Clean up the indoor file cabinet. We have a four drawer and that just makes us keep every little scrap of paper (okay, it makes Papa keep it; I'm a serial throw-aware). I want to bring down our on site paperwork to two more decorative drawers and not this big metal box that we used at our old office.

6) Paint the baseboards. I love, LOVE, LOVE!! my new floors. We're almost done except the last of the painting the baseboards with a high gloss paint. Okay...maybe I'll give this one to Papa...

7) Put a bunch of stuff on eBay, Craigslist or Freecycle. After pimping Pampered Chef I have so many stones. I have found that I really only use a few of them so the rest of them are being sold. I've found a few other things we've been holding on to that would really be better out of our house and maybe being put to better use somewhere else. This may be a byproduct of my HGTV addiction.

8) Visit every free pool or attraction in our town. We live a great town that has a ton of free things to do. I want to experience all of them with the boys!

9) Get J-boy's tonsils removed. Since it's already scheduled for June I feel pretty safe saying this will get done. I'm scared...

10) Buy bikes for Papa and myself so that we can take the boys down to the Velloway to ride.

11) Have at least 3 friend get-togethers at our house. We are so bad about not having people over because we get caught up in other stuff. We need to have connections and fellowship with others.

12) Find a church home. We've been putting it off for far too long.

13) Start The Grocery Game to try to cut our grocery bill down. I see that line in the budget keep climbing and with two boys I can't imagine it getting smaller. I'm just trying to control or manage it.

That's some of the goals. I'm sure there are more.

Did you play??

-e

Friday, May 19, 2006

Butterfly










Z-boy graduated from his MDO/PreK program today. So cute! I wanted to hold it all together, but I started boo-hooing the minute Pomp & Circumstance started. Of course me tearing up caused all the other parents and teachers to start crying too. Z-boy's teacher said she had a big speech planned, but was too emotional to finish. So here we are after the big event. All he can think about is the cake and punch they get when the ceremony was over.

I know, it sounds sappy, but it's so hard to think of my little boy growing up. Everything he goes though is an emotional roller coaster because I think "this is the last time we're going to ___".

Of course I'll have to look back on this post during the summer when the boys are driving me crazy.

-E






Thursday, May 18, 2006

Thirteen Thursday: Evidence I've Turned Into My Mother

It's that time again when Krisco has us all getting to know each other just a little bit better. Usually I follow her lead, but I've been a rebel the last few weeks and come up with my own. As a belated homage to Mother's Day this week's Thirteen Thursday will review things I've said in the last week that convinced I am becoming my mother.

1) If you put things back in their place you'd know where to find them.

2) You don't have to like it, you just have to do it.

3) Shut the door!

4) Turn the volume down! I can't even hear myself think!

5) Try at least one bite before you decide you don't like it.

6) Why do you always wait until the last minute to tell me these things?!

7) You'll always be MY baby!

8) Don't slam the door!

9) Don't talk with your mouth full.

10) There is always money for books.

11) Quien te lo manda??

12) Yeah, but they're family.

13) When you have your own house you can make the rules.

Did you play? Or feel free to add your own here in the comments section.

-E

Wednesday, May 17, 2006

Stop Growing!!















Happy Birthday, Z-Boy!! You have blessed our life for FIVE whole years!!


I can't believe that 5 years ago today my baby was born. He went from an 8.5 pound bundle of joy to the hurricane of activity he is today. I think I'm even more morose because he has his MDO (preschool) graduation on Friday. He will no longer be a Caterpillar, but will blossom into a Butterfly and fly away to Kindergarten. Sob!!



Look! Mommy and Daddy brought me home a new pet. I'm going to keep him in this cage so I can crawl in and hang out with him.




Thank you, Dr. Seeker for making this birthing experience more than I could have hoped for. You brought my boy into the world healthy and happy. We can't thank you enough!!

-E

Tuesday, May 16, 2006

I Think My Weird-O-Meter Is Going Off The Charts

But first an update...It was an ear infection. And the second ear was well on it's way to being infected too. The doctor thought there may be strep throat too, but the round of antibiotics for the ear would kick that out if so.

On to my looney thoughts...

I checked out the new grocery store that is all the rage today. It's further than about 5 other stores I could go to, but only 2 of them really count since the other stores are ridiculously overpriced. I digress. I liked this new store, but I feel uncomfortable there. I feel like I don't belong. I feel like everyone in the store is looking at me like you don't live in this neighborhood (which is a swanky one at that), what are you doing shopping here? Get lost, you across-the-boulevard trash! Your neighborhood is two subdivisions over.

Now I know they're not really saying that, I suppose, but I can't help but feel I'm trespassing. No, I never felt that way when Swanky Neighbors shopped at the store that is close to me before Chez Grocery opened and they were traipsing over to my 'hood. And the new Mega Warehouse Store that is opening in, count them, 17 days would require Swanky Neighbors to come over to my 5 mile, but I'm civil.

I think a lot of this stems from a park in the area. It's called Swanky Neighborhood Park, but that's not it's real name. It's really a City park that just happens to be in that neighborhood, but some of the moms in that area are very propriatary. That is not my imagination, I've hear it from others.

Anyway, no real point to all of this other than I like the new store and I'll probably keep going to it and if some soccer mom wants to rumble in the parking lot, bring it on.

;)

-E

Monday, May 15, 2006

The Good Lord Willing And The River Don't Rise

We're getting to the end of this crazy season. I've dropped balls all over the place, pissed off more than a few people and left several things undone I'm sure. Still I can bask in my successes. I've passed out all the PTA goodie bags for kitchen staff, lunch monitors, teaching assistants and crossing guards. I'm still giving my time and talents to the end of the year hurrah and doing my best to make sure my students enjoy their last few days with me as their teacher.

Can't win 'em all.

I think J-boy has an ear infection. Shit. And I have to work tomorrow. Double shit. Okay, so I'll take him with me since he's not contagious, but I can't really send him off to his school because of the no fever thing. He has an appointment with the ENT soon so maybe we'll make it until Thursday?

I'm surrounded by piles of paper in this house. I cannot seem to get a hand up on controlling the paper beast. I keep saying as soon as school is done for the year I'll get caught up. At this point I can't help but worry a bit that maybe 12 weeks won't be enough to get my head above water...er...paper? My current plan of action for dealing with the mail is not dealing with it. Not my finest plan I'll admit. And I can't help but be a bit curious why we got two electric bills this month. I know I could just open the envelopes and find out, but why spoil the suspense?

I can't sign off without just a little blurb about Grey's Anatomy. Oh. My. Goodness. That was a pretty steamy scene between Meredith and Derek! I wasn't surprised that Denny died, and yeah the whole Izzy on the bed with dead Denny scene choked me up a bit, but hello! you stole a heart! If you believe in nothing else do you not think, at the very least, karma may have an intervention? Christina was ticking me off. A little, just the tiniest bit of sympathy would not be out of order here. Sheesh! And I love the whole George-Callie story line. They are so cute together. I can't believe I have to wait until September to see my family at Seattle Grace again!

-E

Sunday, May 14, 2006

Mother's Day Madness

Actually it was pretty good. The boys got the concept of Mother's Day this year and did their best to let me have my day. I got breakfast in bed at about 6:30 a.m. and then I took *my* mom to breakfast later around 10 a.m. Then me and my mom went to have massages. It was the best! I'm all goofy from relaxation.

The boys and Papa all cleaned my car for Mother's Day. Papa said the 3rd seat would have sent my cootie-o-meter off the charts. Yeah, don't tell me anymore.

After all that we went to Red Robin for dinner and now I'm waiting for Grey's Anatomy to start. I made banana pudding to cap off the day.

All and all a dandy Mother's Day 'round these parts! How was y'alls?

-E

Saturday, May 13, 2006

Floors other Flights of Fancy

Floors

I thought I'd post a pictures of the finished product since I'm so damn proud. I know y'all don't care, but indulge me.





Ain't they purdy? They clean up like a dream. I'm so happy with them. I'm glad we waited to get exactly what we wanted. It was worth it!

Mother's Day and Other Celebrations

Why is there all this pressure on *one* day when it comes to celebrations? And in the case of my family why can't people make a plan and stick to it? I said Saturday would work better for a Mother's Day celebration! Everyone has church at different places on Sunday not to mention all the other commitments, let's just give the poor day a break! First we're having something at one sibling-in-law's house, then we're not. Then we're having lunch somewhere else. *sigh*

Then on the other side of the loony bin there's still more Drama for the Mamas. First we hear they want to have something, but aren't quite sure yet. Then they're having a BBQ at mom and step-dad's, but there's no actual time because that would ruin the spontaneity.

Umm, oookay.

I have two small children who are scheduled to the nth degree. Spontaneity or any derivatives of the word do not enter our vocabulary. Tell me when you're having your function and we will do our best to be there, but do not plan around us! And for goodness sake's, if you pick a time and place, DON'T change it or it totally messes up everything else we have planned!

Where's My Hair?

As I mentioned I had my hair highlighted early this week. When I went to work the next time I taught my students saw my new do and they were a little surprised. You have to figure is little kids notice something new that it's got to be pretty drastic? My first hint should have been that my co-teacher didn't recognize me when I walked in the room. Anyway, while I was sitting at the play-doh table one of the little boys came up to me and asked me where was my hair? I told him this is my hair. He tells me "no, where did you leave your old hair, not the new hair?" I told him I left it at The Hair Store and left it at that. Sometimes it's easier to not over explain.

Party Week!

I just realized I will be a partying fool this week. Well, in so much that a PTA/scout mom can be a partying fool. I mean, we're not talking Animal House or anything, but pretty wild for me.

Z-boy's birthday is this week and we're having family/extended family over on Wednesday. Thursday I have my monthly Mom's Night for dinner and then pedicures. Friday I have my PTA Board end of the year soiree complete with food and adult beverages. Now this is the kind of over-scheduled week I like!

Catch you cats later!

-E

Friday, May 12, 2006

I Told You I Was Out of Creativity

So I had to steal this from Cassie.

1. How did you get the idea for your profile name? From a TV show. Then I changed the name of my blog (but not the address) and I thought of it after a few beers at the last Mom's Night Out.

2. What song are you playing now, or wish you were playing? I'm listening to Papa snore while the TV blares in the background. I *wish* I was listening to Sheryl Crow's "Wildflower".

3. Has the death of a celebrity ever made you cry? River Phoenix's death still makes me sad and I cried when he died. I cried at Princess Diana's funeral.

4. What colour underwear are you wearing? Pink.

5. Do you want a baby? No, I have two of my own and many nieces and nephews.

6. What does your dad do for a living? He's retired from SBC. Now he works part time doing something, but I'm not sure exactly what (I don't know if *he* knows).

7. What does your mum do for a living? Works in a law firm.

8. What is/are your pet's name(s)? Zoe Sonic, Hurley Knuckles and Chula Tails. We are swanky giving our pets middle names. Actually that is the work of Z-boy who is gonzo over Sonic The Hedgehog.

9. What colour are your bed sheets? Light blue with Khaki accents.

10. What are the last 3 digits of your phone number? 991

11. What was the last concert you went to? George Lopez

12. Who was with you? Papa.

13. What was the last film you watched? Secondhand Lions.

14. Who do you dislike most at this moment? The "caterer" who slapped a some cheese and fruit together, called it a "display" and waaaaaay overcharged the PTA. But, no, I'm not bitter.

15. What food do you crave right now? Nachos.

16. Did you dream last night? I don't remember if I did.

17. What was the last TV show you watched? A rerun of Melrose Place on Soapnet.

18. What is your fav piece of jewelery? My engagement ring and my longhorn charm.

19. What is to the left of you? a dry erase board.

20. What was the last thing you ate? Chick Fil A

21. Who is your best friend of the opposite sex? Papa - cliche, but true.

22. Who last MSN'd you? I don't have MSN, I have YIM, but I don't have it on.

23. Where is your significant other right now? Sleeping.

24. Do you have a crush? Yes.

25. What is his/her name? George on Grey's Anatomy and the other I can't say because it would embarrass him, but it's not really a crush as much as it's eye candy.

26. When was the last time you had your hair cut? Two days ago.

27. Are you on any meds? Yes, isn't everyone?

28. Do you have a mental disease? Yes, doesn't everyone?

29. What shirt are you wearing? Denim cami.

30. Are you sexy? Too sexy for my cat.

31. What's your favourite store? TJ Maxx.

32. Are you thirsty? No.

33. Can you imagine yourself ever getting married? -- Again? Like if something happened to Papa? No. I couldn't/wouldn't ask my family to "blend". I know it works for other people and someone else might make another choice, but for me as long as my kids are at home I wouldn't want to have to manage two often conflicting relationships. And when the boys are out of the house then, hell, I want to do what I want to do! I figure that's the payoff since I've spend the last 16 years compromising and meeting halfway.

34. Who's someone you haven't seen in a while and miss? My cousin, Louis.

35. Where do you work? At Casa P's mostly. Also the grade school and finally at a Mother's Day Out program.

There you go! Let me know if you stole what I stole.

-E

Thursday, May 11, 2006

Thirteen Thursday: Things I've Been Doing Since I Obviously Haven't Been Blogging

Where have I been and where are my witty thoughts and contemplations I'm sure you're asking. So in the interest of time I'm going to combine my update with my Thirteen Thursday. Here are 13 things I've been up to the last few weeks.

1) Planning, organizing and implementing the PTA Teacher and Staff Appreciation Luncheon. I will address some of the horror in another post, but suffice it to say I'm glad it's over.

2) Doing all the administrative and accounting stuffola for summer and fall registration at my work. The end of the year is a butt kicker in my line of work. Everyone has questions and everyone expects me to have the answers. Riiiiight.

3) Getting my floors installed!! Woo hoo! That is actually what took me out of commission, blog wise, in the first place. It was a state of chaos in my home. BUT there were blessings galore with the whole installation process that made the inconvenience so worth it. First we got the flooring $.40/sqft cheaper than we expected. Papa and Special K were going to install it all on their ownsome, but Special K was going out of town for two weeks. Not to worry we'd live with concrete floors - and not that pretty, rustic kind of concrete either - until he came back. While we unloading the boxes some guy who was a friend of the guy my step father asked to come look at our floors (you following??) called Papa and asked if he still needed a quote. Papa said were unloading as we speak so come over now. After some negotiating Papa got the guy down to $1.10 a sqft for installation and they'd do it the next day. Hot damn! We were still giddy at our savings on the material so we reallocated the moolah to the installation. I have to say the guys that installed our floor did a fantastic job! I love it! I love having this project complete.

4) Finishing up the last few weeks of our Mother's Day Out program. We're making all the sweet and sentimental end of the year stuff that they'll keep until Mommy cleans out their room.

5) Registering Z-boy for...gulp!...Kindergarten. Even though I know the teachers and the school I'm still so anxious about next year. I will be leaving both of my boys 4 blocks away with someone other than family.

6) Getting my hair highlighted. I told the stylist to do what she thought was best. I was scared shitless with the results the first day, but I'm good now. I knew I had to do something drastic when I passed a window and wondered who the old, matronly looking gal was only to discover it was ME. I went to the salon the next day.

7) I came out of hiding on my online moms group. Not sure how I'm feeling about it all. I still feel fairly disconnected. I have a pretty strong real life community so I'm not really cultivating other friendships at a distance.

8) Watching all my DVR recordings. I do love sweeps month! Lost, Grey's Anatomy, CSI, Ghost Whisperer (yeah, I admit it) and Real Housewives of Orange County. Awesome!

9) Getting J-boy ready to have his tonsils out. We're going to the ENT this week. I'm very nervous.

10) Doing the overview for Scouts next year. It's a well oiled machine, but if you don't volunteer for something you get assigned something. That's never good. So next year we are in charge of the food drive and the cake auction. I still have to do the back-to-school swim party this year.

11) Getting ready for Z-boy's 5th birthday. The boy has BIG plans. We're having a Sponge Bob theme, but he wants Sonic presents. Mmmmkay.

12) Preparing the end of year goodie bags for Teacher's Aides, Kitchen Staff, Special Areas Teachers, Lunch Monitors, Nurses and Administrative Professionals. All of these people have been "celebrated" in the last three weeks. I. Am. So. Tired. And fresh out of creativity.

13) Selling some stuff on ebay. I have a ton of things that need to be auctioned off, but the task of getting it all prepared and loaded just seems to be too much for me right now.

Hopefully I can get a little more consistent letting you all into my life when school finished for the year. I'm so looking forward to the slower pace of summer. I want to hit every free pool in town. I was going to put J-boy in all sorts of things to keep him busy, but so far I've just registered him for two weeks of 3 hours per day of science camp. The rest of the time we're going to bug my neice at the pool she's life gurarding at this summer.

-E

Wednesday, May 10, 2006

Mini Rescue Heros

Where were they when my kids starting collecting those damn Fisher-Price toys? The original RH toys are huge. For J-boy's birthday my mom bought him this huge ass Hyper Jet HQ that is literally a piece of furniture in our home.

Now my kids are into the "mini" versions of everything from Matchbox to slinkies. Include a magnetic component of some kind and you have my kid's money.

-E