New Years Resolution

I've never been big on the New Year's Resolution thing. Probably because I just didn't want to disappoint myself 10 days later when I completely "forgot" what I was resolving to accomplish.
This year is different.
And for this moment, just right now, I'm hanging up my sarcasm hat that I wear so comfortably.
I feel that we all need a little inspiration now and then. And hopefully you'll gain a little after reading this. If not, that's okay too.
This is mine.

This year I will take care of my family. I will sacrifice everything for them. I will set aside all my comforts and everything I trust, to do what I feel in my heart is right for them. I will do everything in my power to make sure they have what I never did. I will lay the groundwork for my kids to grow up in an environment where they learn to be proud of what they've done, not just to compete to be the best. They will learn to work for what they want and will therefore enjoy it ten times more. Their family will be one they can trust, rely on, learn from, depend on, and of course love. It will be the first place their minds and hearts tell them to go when they are in trouble, not run from. I will discipline my children so that they know right from wrong. I will also let up on the petty things so they can learn for themselves what happens when you slam your toys around, or jump off the couch, or don't hold your cup with two hands. I'll sit back and watch the little lightbulbs above their heads go on, instead of the "uh oh" face that usually shows up. I will aggressively go after and get what I (WE) want for our children. I don't want them to have to work so hard to just make it by the skin of their teeth. I don't want them to live someplace where they have to work so hard that they can't sit back and watch the sunset, or if they can, they have to drive a half hour to see it. I want them to be surrounded by nature. This is something that has always  made me happy. And I know it makes them happy as well. My almost 11 month old has been calmed by just seeing trees since the day he was born. My older two love being outside just to play in mud or pick up sticks and we let them. Simplify. It makes them happiest.
I want my children to have a childhood. Some of ours were cut too short in life. I'll fight to the death to make sure that doesn't happen to mine.
I am far from perfect. I have made mistakes in my life, just like everyone else. In my past, I have hurt the people closest to  me.I have not always chosen the right direction. I have procrastinated when I should have gotten up off my ass. I have sat for far too long waiting for things to fall into place. I have held myself back from things for fear of being judged. This is a learned behavior. One I don't want passing down to my children.
So let the judgement begin.
Judge me for putting off laundry so I could sit and play with my kids. Judge me for putting myself out on a limb, when that's the hardest thing for me to do. Judge me for having parties with my friends and family as often as possible just because I like to surround myself with them. Judge me for cutting ties with those that are poisoness regardless of genetic ties.
It is ingrained in me to stand idly by while the world and life pass me by. I have been taught to not fight for what I want, but to change course. And when I have resisted, I have been made to feel guilty along the way.
I have been resentful and then forgiving, resentful and forgiving too many times. That cycle for me is long gone. Focus lies only in the success of our little family we've created.
And I can't wait to start our new journey. Good things are coming and I can't wait to watch everything unfold!

So to you and yours, I wish you a very Happy New Year. And I hope all your dreams come true!
xo

Fa La La La LA

It's been far too long since I've blogged. And I just KNOW tons of noteworthy things have occurred in my life that I should share with you. But I don't remember a single one of them!
Aside from a conversation(via email of course) with my mother.
Tis that joyous time of year when we all do our best to get together with family and friends and celebrate Christmas. We put on our happy faces and sing carols in the car on the way to the various houses we visit. And attempt to dress our little ones up in dapper attire for the ever present bombardment of flashing cameras that are sure to come their way. We spend far too much money on things that kids and adults alike, don't even need. But it's all in the spirit of giving. I LOVE giving people presents! This is NOT sarcasm. I actually wish I had a huge bank account so I could go on that exciting hunt for the Perfect Gift for each and every one of the people I hold dear to my heart. Sadly, this is not the case. And while I have yet to succumb to grabbing Snuggies for everyone on my list, I've come dangerously close. Instead I've spent endless hours in the kitchen baking yummy cookies for everyone and have otherwise stuck to a strict list for my kids and the "secret santa" picks we have this year.
My kids are easy. Toys light up their lives. And the boxes they come in are even better! I don't have many adults on my list this year, but the ones that are there are getting cookies whether they like it or not.
The Hubbs and I have both drawn teenagers in the Secret Santa with his family this year. So while they're a little tricky, it's nothing I can't handle. Young whippersnappers just love cash. I can't quite bring myself to give ONLY bank cards or gift certificates, but I'll make sure to leave at least a little spending money along with whatever wrapped items I come across.
Our family's Christmas Eve will forever go down in my memory as a joyful event for me! It's spent with my in-laws every year at my brother in law's house. That really is the only house that can contain the entire family PLUS all the gifts and food and booze. We eat. We drink. We laugh. All the kids play. Then they all open their gifts from their Secret Santas. And the adults then go on to open a $20 limit grab bag thingy. It's what we need to do or  we'll all go broke! It does the trick. Then we all pack up the car, drive the little ones home, tuck them in their beds and proceed to Santafy the house.
Now, I am probably more excited about this than the kids are. Seeing the joy on their little faces is just breathtaking. And I can't wait!
BUT.........................
this year we will have extra bodies in our house on Christmas Day.
My folks are coming to town. (reminder: "strained relationship") Originally they had told me that they were coming the week in between Christmas and New Years.  But they then told me their date of arrival was 12/23. I don't remember much these days. But I was pretty sure Christmas fell on the 25th? At least this year.
Their plans (as emailed to me) were to spend Christmas Eve at my sister's house since her husband is on duty.  He's a firefighter. But that was it. Nothing else was in the itinerary. At all. It's 12/22 as I'm typing this. And I still don't know of any other plans of theirs. So I went out on a limb and invited them here for brunch and to spend the day with "the children". Selfish as it may sound, I refuse to let "intruders" in my house while the Christmas morning joy and unwrapping is going on. Judge all you want. I pushed those giant kids out.........I decide who gets to watch them open presents. And for now........it's just me and The Hubbs. I'm not ready to share yet. They grow up way too fast. When they are bored by Santa or no longer believe, be my guest and sit around my house to watch THAT. But the elated glow on the morning of 12/25 is reserved solely for the two of us to enjoy as their parents.
I'm even closing the blinds JUST IN CASE!
So in my email correspondence, I noted that any time after 10am would be fine. I'll have brunch. They can play with "the children". And then I'll make a nice Christmas dinner for us all.
This is where my story stems from.
What to cook? I have a recently stocked freezer full of venison. Do the parentals eat that sort of thing? Who knows? I'll ask.....................and so the email was sent.

ME: "Do you and Daddy eat venison? Or would you?"
THEM: "To our knowledge we have never had it."
siiiiiiiiigh.............my question was unanswered. UGH.
ME: "It's like beef, a little LESS gamey than lamb(which I know they eat often). Would you guys like to try it?"
THEM: "Whatever is convenient for you"
WHAT THE?!?!?!?!?!  Why are they incapable of answering with a simple YES or NO?!?!?! I couldn't care less if they don't want to eat it. My feelings won't be hurt. But for the sake of my sanity....Answer the FRIGGING question!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I need to go grocery shopping and would like to have an inkling of what aisles to hit in the madness that is preChristmas Shoprite!.
And although that reply from them pissed the ever-lovin hell out of me,  I decided it would be best to refrain from the wise ass Hubbs up to tell him the crazy "conversation" I'd just had with the parentals. He was less than thrilled. I like to share :)
Still PO'd when I rolled out of bed in the morning, I had a snippy comment all set to email their way. Instead, I open my email and see this
THEM: "Looking forward to the venison and seeing you all on Christmas. Love Mom and Dad"

Ambien haze? Sleep emailing? I have not the slightest idea what was going on. Maybe they have a tag team email response thing going on? Quite frankly, the possibilities are exhausting to think about. So I left it at that.

FYI-red wine/pale ale is a perfect pairing for venison.
I will be enjoying both.

I wonder what pairs well with waffles?

Breakdown?

Ok....so I may have had a mini breakdown yesterday? I'm not really sure, but the kids were all sick and unruly(that makes it sound polite, don't ya think?!) to say the least. Sure enough I signed on to THIS BLOG and saw that God Forsaken countdown to Christmas ticker I put up and almost passed out in my chair. I hadn't even BEGUN to start my shopping yet. And I'll just put this out there.....I don't actually enjoy shopping. For me it's a task most times. And having to go out in this area, this time of year is just not pleasant.
So after a mild kicking and screaming fit(from me), I text the Hubbs who was out in the woods for the day, to get his arse home to spend some quality time with the minis so I can jump ship and get this shopping over with. He actually came right home and I proceeded to get ready to join the general public in some shouting, elbowing, Christmastime madness, and all around rudeness. After giving my middle finger a good warm up ;) I headed out to THE MALL. Ugh. Now please understand the ridiculous amount of motivation I must work up to actually go do this. I loathe THE MALL and the highways around here are murderous. And this time of year, all the back roads are mobbed too. It's like hell, just colder and with squeaky toys.
So I get my keys, my wallet, my coupons, my list. I kiss the minis and tell them to be good for Daddy and that I won't see them before bedtime. It's then that I realize they all need milk. And we don't have enough for the night. So I run to the supermarket quickly to get that. Then home again. My motivation is slowly dwindling. Then, our meat is ready to be picked up at two different places.(our friend had picked some up at her butcher, and we had some at our own butcher too...details details)  So to the bank for cash to pay them with, and off to the first one. The first was a friend, so I sit down and hang for a bit, sans kids. Ahhhhhhhhhh some much needed R&R and adult conversation. I'd say minus the whining, but my friend's English Mastiff is a lover. And if you don't give him your full attention at all times, he sits directly in front of you and whines. So there was that. A short social call, loaded up the truck and headed out to THE MALL. It was flippin cold out, so there was no worry of anything spoiling in the back of my truck. Shop, then run to butcher for the 2nd pickup. That'll work.
At this point, I've been exposed to the elements for a whopping 30 minutes and I'm already ready to go home, take a scalding shower, and hide under the covers for the night watching bad TV and eating popcorn. But I have 3 tiny joy filled little faces to think of. So to Target I go. And wow. Just WOW. I've worked with wild animals that had better manners than the majority of the people shopping there! Shoving, yelling, smacking their gum, (ok so that's just my personal pet peeve.....but it added to the "joy"), and children up waaaaaaay past their bedtimes screaming bloody murder throughout the store. One in particular that chose the same general route that I did and followed me until I couldn't take it any longer and changed my course. One kid was screaming SO loudly and screechily(is that a word?!) that I actually put down what I was looking at to see if I needed to fashion a tourniquet out of pieces of my clothing for the limb they cut off?!?! Just a tantrum........whew. Please folks, I know there are always desperate times when we can't find a sitter and must bring our little ones somewhere that we really don't want to, and maybe this was the case here, but lets all exercise some common sense when going out in public.
Kids bedtime? Don't pack them up to take into the winter night for some "fun" shopping. Tuck them in their beds and do it in the daytime. OR find a sitter. IF YOU CAN! But just remember you're not the only ones in the store.
That's a big issue with me......
Selfishness.
It absolutely infuriates me how most of the people I encounter out in public have zero consideration for anyone or anything around them? How does that happen? Is it just in Jersey? Is there something I don't know like............all things were indeed made solely for the happiness of these particular individuals and no one else? Cuz I missed the memo.
Ugh.
See the foul mood that going to THE MALL will put me in?! Amazing.
I did end my evening on a high note though. My last stop before home (with ALL the minis' gifts bought! WOO HOO!) was the butcher. Which is actually a local guy who is a professional butcher and does this out of his garage come hunting season. He's a vegetarian. Which I just adore! And the group of people that hang out there are these old whipper snappers that always have something clever to say. I love going there. Chivalry lives on, as they carried the very heavy boxes down the very long driveway since I didn't want to block their driveway by parking in it and parked instead on the street. CONSIDERATION....CHECK! CHRISTMAS PRESENTS.........CHECK! FOOD TO FEED THE FAM...........CHECK!
Fa la la la laaaaaaaa la la la LA!

The Sounds of Nature

The few moments in my life that I actually do get to sleep, I dream of nature. I LOVE being outside. I LOVE the mountains and streams and trees and all that fun stuff. Subsequently, when I dream, it's of the sounds of these things. Wind rustling through the leaves. Babbling brooks. Softly singing birds. (not the squawking crows or cracked out woodpecker that likes to peck on my SIDING)

Then I wake up.

Not that sweet long stretch of a wake up either. But rather the panicked jump out of bed to the noise of a 112 pound dog retching his gut at the side of my bed before puking on my rug.

It's 5 am.

If you don't have the distinct pleasure of owning a dog. Let me share the wonderfulness of this noise. There's a very clear, deep, almost drumlike noise as the beast churns up whatever has decided that after sitting there for nearly 10 hours, it can't wait in the stomach for another 2 when normal people wake up. And then a God awful "BLAP" followed by the wet noise that is now my bedroom carpet.

Dog for sale. CHEAP.

After this particular episode, I decided sleep was just not in the cards. So I ran downstairs and let the dogs out, lest there be another pleasant "event" on one of my floors. To the coffee pot. While that was brewing, I decided I'd better go clean up the mess in my bedroom before one of the minis woke up and tried to find Mommy. Because I know no matter where the mess is, their feety pj's will find it. Much to my surprise, there was a present in the middle of the pile!! (I love surprises) String cheese. Still in the wrapper. Isn't that special? Yeah. I thought so too. 

It's things like this that make me laugh (much much after the fact) when The Hubbs claims that I'm not a morning person.

Please feel free to introduce me to the Haldol infused crackhead that IS a "morning person" after dealing with this! I won't hold my breath!

Princess Cupcakes

Sooooooooooo much to write about, sooooooooo little time. So I'm just going to post the pictures from the cupcake job I did Sunday. Which, sadly here in EST, is already yesterday :(
These were for a little girl who turn 5 today(Monday). After this order, I now know 3 perfectly good reasons why I don't bake during daylight hours. A job that should have taken maybe 4-5 hours took 7+. I love my kids, DEARLY! But it's no mistake that I usually bake and decorate for jobs once they're in bed.

2 dozen princess cupcakes

lipstick

shoe(my favorite)

frog prince

the princess

perfume bottle

crown

necklace

Bad Idea Of The Day Part Deux?!

I'm trying to be fancy by throwing French words into my blog titles! Is it working? I didn't think so.
Well, as I predicted, this title could indeed be a daily thing. Maybe I'm psychic? I hope not. Because then all those times I've said "sorry....my crystal ball is in the shop" when someone was shocked I didn't know something, wouldn't really be funny anymore!
I grew up an animal lover. I had dogs all throughout my childhood. I've always been "that friend" that goes to your house and ends up leaving looking like a used lint roller because I've been rolling around the floor with your pet. And it didn't end with the household pets either. I remember crying so hard riding in the back seat of my parents' car as a little girl after passing a dead squirrel on the road. We lived in suburbia. This was a regular occurrence. I'm pretty sure the parentals were probably close to seeking professional help in the form of a shrink on more than one occasion. But THAT'S a whole other story for another day ;)
Anyway, I'm not really sure when my view on animals officially changed. I still love animals. I'll stop if one is darting across the road in front of the Mystery Machine. I'll call the cops to let them know if a stray dog is running around the neighborhood in the hopes it can find it's way home with their help. (Ok....I may have called the cops on MY dog on one of the many times he's scooted under our fence to trot around the neighborhood. Details Details) But all in all, I do love animals. Maybe not just mine so much. Our first dog, Kayles(don't ask) is a good dog. He listens to every breath that comes out of my husband's mouth. Literally. He sits next to his side of the bed at night just watching him breath. It's creepy. He's a total pleaser (back to the dog now) and makes sure he's not a total pushover with the kids now that their a little older. The baby still has free reign with tail pulling, eyelid lifting, tongue grabbing and fur pulling. But the older kids are put in check from time to time. Which as a parent who is genuinely concerned for all animalkind when minis are involved, I'm glad that the animals in my house are the ones gently teaching the limits now. A parent can only say something so many times(2 maybe?) before they just start to sound like the teacher in the Charlie Brown movies. However, when the dogs go nose to nose with one of the minis after a not-so-gentle game of "horsey", they listen! I've actually watched Kayles herd Child 1 into the corner like he was punishing him. HAHA!
Our second dog, Chauncey aka Fat Bastard, is not such a gem. He's not a bad dog, I guess. He's just not that wonderfully lovable family pet that everyone has in mind when they go to the shelter. He puts up with all the kids crap which in my eyes, makes him good AND worthy of staying under our roof! However, this is the shaky dog. Shortly after having our first son, Fat Bastard started having grand mal seizures. VERY scary to witness. And really not much you can do for the poor animal while it's happening. When he would come to, he didn't have any idea who we were or where he was. Of course, since we had a newborn in the house and sleep was at a minimum, these seizures would only occur in the middle of the f'n night! We had to resort to medicating him because they started to come more often. Sometimes twice a night. So after a few dose changes, he is now on two different seizure meds for life. A side effect of the drugs, is hunger. Let me just say that Fat Bastard got his nickname BEFORE the seizures. He used to(and still does) jump on counters, tables, PEOPLE for a taste of food! Anything he could get his snout on, he was in it. He's gross really. So with the addition of the meds, he was even hungrier! And ever-growing too. He's kind of short and stout. Like a teapot! But weighed in at his largest at 112 pounds. He's a black and tan mutt. Probably mixed with Rottweiler and who knows what. Cute. But fat.
Hmmmm maybe it's just a recent thing that my love for animals has.......dwindled?
Anyway, the poor dears ran out of their ridiculously expensive, high quality food. They pretty much eat better than we do. My only reason for keeping them on this food at this point, is because I know on lower quality food, they'll just poop MORE. We just don't have the plot of land that is needed to support two 100lb dogs pooping 5 times a day. We just don't! I can't even imagine. shiver.
The Hubbs was working, of course. So I bundled up the 3 minis, and packed us all in the Mystery Machine for a trip to the "puppy food store" as we so adoringly call it. Here's where the bad idea falls into play. There was a friggin monsoon outside! I was seriously a little worried. Listening to the radio, it was pretty warm for November in NJ at 56 degrees. But it was pouring with 40 mile an hour wind gusts. Would you like to bet whether or not a child's hood will stay up in that kind of weather? Not so much. We were all soaked! Drenched is probably the correct word used to describe us. So we tour the fish department, pick up the 40 lb bag of food that will last them 2 weeks, and head to the check out where the very nice cashier gathers my 3 coupons and PALS card for savings, yet proceeds to ask me if I'd like to donate $ to poor, poor shelter pets. It wasn't her fault there was a monsoon outside. And it certainly wasn't her fault I needed to drag all these kids to her store to buy this expensive food. So I took a deep breath and said "No Thank You" with a little snicker on my face. I was proud of myself for not venting to this poor girl that it's shelter pets in my home that eat EVERYTHING. It's shelter pets that have cost mortgage payments at the Vet's office because they have seizures, or allergies, or the time that Fat Bastard was sniffing around the counters for food and ate an entire bottle of iron pills when I was pregnant with Child 1! We're eating mac and cheese for dinner while our shelter pets have the very best dog food money can buy. And when they ran out the night before......did I let them starve? NO.....I cooked them brown rice. I might actually make a call to the shelters to see if they have some sort of reimbursement program. Or if at least they'd like to have a friggin statue of me made with angels wings put on the back to display in the middle of their lawn!
Whew.......good thing I kept my mouth shut. I mean I am a parent trying to teach lessons to my offspring of how to act and all! Truth be told, if I started verbalizing all this to the cashier, I'm pretty sure I would have ended up crying in the fetal position by the catnip aisle. Reality bites.
Oh...and another thing.......if I had a spare dollar to give to poor shelter pets, I would have PAID someone to go buy these dogs their snooty falooty dog food in a monsoon instead of dragging my kids out in it. Hmph!

Need to go let the dogs in before they scratch through the glass door out back.  You've seen those nails!!

Bad Idea Of The Day

Yep.
Pretty sure I could do a daily blog of JUST this. But let me share today's.....
I did laundry. No wise ass that was not the bad idea! And to be more efficient, I'll usually throw bath towels in with blankets. (boring you yet?) My kids are "blanket babies". They adore their blankets! In turn, we have 163 of them spread all over the house. Ones to sit on, sleep on, eat with around our shoulders, make forts out of, and ones for the dogs to cuddle up with too. Catching onto my bad idea right about now, aren't ya? Yep, I threw our   bath towels in with the Fat Bastard's fleece, smelly, dog blanket. I STILL didn't realize after switching to the dryer and folding. Sharp, I know.
No my shining moment of clarity was tonight after all the kids were asleep and I was stepping out of my nice hot shower to dry off with my "fresh from the laundry" towel.
I'll spare the photo. Let's just say I closely resembled something between an orangutan and a wookie.
Pour the wine.
I'm punching out for the day.

Time Constraints

So I have about 20 minutes until I need to go pick up Child 1 from preschool. I've managed to vacuum this morning. Which felt like an even huger accomplishment than it really was because my two little ones clapped and cheered as I did it. Clearly they have more "floor time" than I do, and realize just how badly it needed a good vacuuming! Whoops. So while working up a good sweat....I decided to pull the refrigerator out and clean under/behind it. OMG........is there a service for this? Because the people who would offer this, would make a killing. How the hell does all that crap get behind there? The fun part of this was that I had gates up corralling the kids in the living room and the dogs in the kitchen. Said dogs are freakishly afraid of the vacuum. heh heh Now before you go calling the ASPCA on me, I stayed by the fridge on the complete opposite end of the kitchen. But, Fat Bastard decided it would be a good idea to try and hop over the vacuum to attempt to get past me, over the gate, and into the living room to the safety of the minis. Fail. He managed to not get the height he needed to clear the UPRIGHT vacuum(imagine that?!) and instead started Scooby Dooing on my floor while slamming into the cabinets. He'd be eating fried rice and noodles right now if it weren't for my FOOT getting in the way of his giant smelly paws. I had to count my toes after this incident.
That's my excitement for the morning. Apparently I'm allergic to dust. Not even an excuse, although it would be a good one! But my eyes are all swollen and my nose is running. Off to preschool where I imagine I'll look like most of the children in attendance since it's cold season!

Ridiculous!

I have to post this pic of Child 3 cuz it makes me smile!! Even through swollen, teary eyes!!! How cute is this fat baby?!?!?!

Happy Monday folks!

Pictures!!!

Ok ok.......so I didn't totally give in. Yeah, I did. The Hubbs helped me find the stuff to upload my pictures. FINALLY!!!! I was beginning to think they'd be stuck on my camera forever!

And here are the pics I so wonderfully described in my "Good Morning Vietnam" post :)

If you start with the blonde Flock Of Seagulls pic, and continue to go left to right, they are as follows.......Child 3's Flock Of Seagulls morning do, containment unit for the older kids, dog-toenail-shaped-hole in butter, greasy dog toenail, guilty dog we lovingly refer to as "Fat Bastard", flailing piece of our garage with hornets nest under it ****I must add here that The Hubbs repaired this the next day with the assistance of his brother and Child 1**** , jar of yummy potty treats, broken lens on cell phone, Sammy 2/Deuce, the older kids raking leaves off the bushes

Weekend

So.
I steered clear of the blog for the weekend. Weekends are for family time. AND....Sunday was my birthday :)
I'm not a big birthday person nor am I a bah humbug person. I fall somewhere in the middle. I like it to be acknowledged  and that's about it. Ok....maybe some cake. And nowadays....I want to sleep in a bit. Which the Hubbs totally let me do. And it would have been even later except for the fact that my friend was picking up her cupcake order on the way into work.
So the day started around 8ish for me. Not bad. But lately due to my youngest cutting new teeth, I've been averaging 3-4 hours a night! Throw in a cupcake order and the 5:30am wakeup call from Child 3 when I just got him and brought him into bed with us and I'm borderline nocturnal. Well, that means they sleep during the day though. And I can't say insomnia,  because if I were actually given the opportunity, I KNOW I'd have no problem catching some zzzzz's. I suppose this too shall remain a mystery for now.

The details of my Birthday aren't all that exciting. Woke up, coffee, lots of whiny kids(I thought that was supposed to cease for parents' Birthdays?), chicken parm for breakfast(major highlight), got outside and soaked up some vitamin D while raking the leaves, showered(another major highlight) while eating a cookie(BONUS), and headed off to my Mother-In-Law's house where she cooked me a fabulous dinner!!!  It was a good day.

Here's the kicker. I have a....................strained relationship with my parents. We'll leave it at that for now.
And as being the folks that gave me life, despite my claims to have been adopted, they feel the need to call me at the ass crack of dawn every year to try and beat everyone else to the punch and wish me the 1st Happy Birthday of the day! I heard my phone ringing. I was pretty sure I knew who it was. But I was a good 20+ feet from my cell and had yet to ingest a single drop of coffee. I was far from prepared to have that conversation and hadn't yet had the opportunity to turn the volume down on my phone. You see, my Mother is one of those people that speaks at an unusually high volume into a cell phone. I'm not sure if it's because they don't have that oh-so-familiar ergonomically correct ear cupping feature that our old house phones used to have? Maybe she thinks everyone around her is losing their hearing? I don't even entertain the question of her losing her hearing, because she's always spoken loudly into a phone....giving long distance call a whole new meaning! The further away.....the louder she spoke.
I digress.
So needless to say, I let it go to voicemail and downed some coffee to start being a productive member of the household. Fed the kids, opened the presents they got me :) , and started our day. I know it sounds rude, but I didn't really want to talk to my parents. So I did the smart thing and let the imminent phone call loom over my head all day long until after I put the kids to bed! In between this 12 hour span, another call was made to my cell while I was in the shower(totally legit.....I didn't even screen that one) and an email was sent to me with some vague details included about when my Mom went into labor with me. Was THAT supposed to lure me into dialing the phone? Have I mentioned that my parents are firm believers in Catholic Guilt?! Yeah.
So I finally got all 3 kids to bed and asked the Hubbs to hand me my cell since he was closer to it. Actually, I asked him to make the call for me as my Birthday gift and he refused. How rude. Forgiven only by the glass of wine that accompanied my phone when he came back into the room. After a roll of my eyes and a few lamaze-like deep breaths. I called. And nearly dropped the phone after my Mother answered because I did indeed forget to lower the damned volume. UGH.
The conversation went something like this:

Mom: HELLO?!?!?!?! HELLO?! ?!?!?!?!
Me: um....hi
Mom: OH..........(ok I'll stop using all caps for effect....she was REALLY loud....just remember that when reading) we were starting to get really worried!! We had called a couple of times earlier and then left an email saying(really.......she retold me everything that she'd typed right here, so I'll pass on the details)......
Me: uh huh. I got them.
Mom: I mean as the people responsible for your existence, we knew you'd be sure to give us a call on your Birthday!
Me: Yup. Thanks for that.
Mom: I'm glad I got to personally talk to you on your birthday. I'm glad I got to hear your voice now that you're 32. You sound the same.
Me: Don't feel a day older than 31.
Mom: She says she doesn't feel a day older than 31.
(she tends to repeat the conversation to my Dad, sitting right next to her.With this, he gets on the phone.)
Dad: Hey! Happy Birthday!
Me: Thanks Dad.
Dad: Well I'll get the details from your Mother(obviously we both know that even if she repeats everything I say, he'll still get the play by play after we hang up.) but I hope you had a great day.
Me: Thanks......Just hope the Giants show a better display against the Eagles than the Skins did last week. (Yeah.....I'm the son he never had)
Mom: What? 
Me: I thought Dad was on the phone
Mom: (attempt to repeat what I said about football to Dad)
Dad: (yells in the background something about Virginia Tech?!)
Mom: Ok Honey. Well, did you celebrate? 
Me: Um, I didn't have a party or anything. But sure.
Mom: Uh huh. Ok then. Well I'm really glad you made the time to call us. Being your parents and all. We are glad we were able to wish you a happy birthday personally. I was beginning to think we weren't going to have the opportunity to speak with you at all today. How are the children? (this makes chills run up and down my spine. There are a series of words and phrases that my mother says that just piss me off. This is one of them. I'll write up a full list another day. The Hubbs is quite aware of each and every one on the list and uses them to get a rise out of me. And maybe a pot or pan thrown at his skull once in a while!)
Me: fine.
Mom: Everyone's healthy? 
Me: yes
Mom: OH good. I was worried about that too.(I think she wills us all to get sick sometimes. She always asks if we're ok.)
INSERT AWKWARD SILENCE HERE. I was gulping down wine at this point.
Mom: Ok. Well I'll let you go enjoy a special evening on your 32nd Birthday.
Me: K. Thanks for the call.
Mom: Bye Honey we love you. Please tell the children you spoke with us and we send our love. 
Me: Yep. Bye. love you.




I promptly hung up the phone, finished my wine, and said to my husband "Why don't I record these conversations?"

Since it's taken over 3 hours to type this, including frequent changes of diapers, picking up Child 1 from school, feeding the minis lunch, and so on.......I'm going to leave it at this for now. It's flippin gorgeous out right now so we're off to the park! WOO HOO!

PS
I'll be screening my calls. If you need to get a hold of me, please make sure you leave an overly dramatic message on my voicemail. That seems to work really well! ;)

Good Morning Vietnam!

At least that's what my living room now looks like after the minis had their way with it! I had grandiose plans of picking up around the house today which has been severely halted by me walking in circles all morning. I guess the biggest issue I have with this is that I'm completely floored at the end of the day when I haven't accomplished a thing but my legs are sore. You'd think I'd learn. Although today I managed to truck 742 lbs of laundry from our bedrooms down to the basement and actually started the wash. It was shortly after that I decided to kick Child 1 and 2 outside for fear of their screaming waking up the napping chub-a-lub. I then stepped over the piles of toys all over the room, reheated my coffee for the twelfth time this morning, and sat down to write about my fascinating day so far :)

The Hubbs returned at 11:15 last night and was off again around 8:30 this morning. Before he left, while the kids were not eating the breakfast I made them, I finally broke down and told him that I'm pretty certain I'd lost the camera. Ugh. I searched high and low. Under piles of toys and clothes. Under the couch cushions. Inside the van. In plastic bags that have miscellaneous crap in them. All to no avail. The guilt that I'm feeling is heavy because I know money is tight right now, but I can't possibly go through the upcoming holidays without a camera. Especially when it's Child 3's first Christmas!!  I'm near tears when a very smug looking man standing before me says "did you look on the shelf right over the computer? Where we normally keep it?" And hands me the camera.

Wise ass.

You KNOW I ran around after he left taking shots of all sorts of stuff I've been wanting to post on the blog, right?! I managed to trap the big kids in a home made containment unit for a while so I could go take pictures, while the little guy followed me around. It was great. There have been so many times over the past week+ that I've been dying to have my camera! Too bad it fell inside the wall where I'd never think to look for it?! Unbelievable. And I'm responsible for 3 kids? Yikes.

So I go to find the USB cord to upload my pics and guess what? Yep. Can't find it. Now I happen to know there are gremlins living in this house that move things all the time. I birthed them after all. But I can't help but just stare in front of me looking at the shelf over the computer waiting for it to start waving or something. Smoke signals maybe?  If I need to ask the Hubbs to help me find it, we're gonna have an issue. I was not born with the personality make-up to be able to ask for help. Ask anyone who knows me :) And I might just smack those pursed lips right off his face if he says "it's right here dear". You can see my dilemma.

I'll describe by beautiful pics that document my morning instead:

1) I couldn't resist....Child 3 woke up with his fuzzy blonde locks sticking straight up in the air, but only on the sides! The middle was flat. FLOCK OF SEAGULLS ANYONE?!?!?! Awesome.

2)The aforementioned containment unit for the big kids. aka...couches pushed together. This only lasted about 15 minutes before they almost cracked their skulls together, of course.

3)The hole in one of the sticks of butter that were coming to room temperature on my counter so I could bake cookies. It's strangely shaped like a dog's giant toenail? And the second stick is missing? Hmmmmm

4) greasy dog toenail

5) guilty looking dog

6) since the deck is stained, I have a new mini project to try to accomplish while juggling 3 minis on my head! Part of the aluminum wrap(I think that's what it's called?) on our garage was partially blown off by the crazy wind we had the other day. So I need to get the ladder and nail it back in place. I'd like to do this before any more windy weather rolls in and takes it off completely. SO...I should probably take care of this myself. Picture is of the piece of metal hanging off the garage. OH and the huge yellow jacket's nest that was hiding under it. Always an adventure!

7)the big jar of M&M's aka potty treats, from Target the other day. The very same jar that I steal a few out of every single time I walk past. WHAT?!?!?! I use the potty too!

8) my cracked lens on my cell phone which is why I really couldn't post any pics on here! Had no clue that happened till I went to take a picture yesterday. Gremlins? Or the crushing capacity of my arse when it was in my back pocket? We'll never know.

9) Deuce/Sammy 2. In her very big, very manly fish tank with the army guy and tank! In the picture you can actually see the pile of eggs she's laid on the top of the water. Whatever....she's breathing so I'm happy.

10)Child 1 & 2 raking the leaves in the backyard. Right off of the branches they were hanging from. LOL


My new mission today...........find that CORD! Cleaning can wait. (funny how I can always find an excuse)

Yikes

Well it was borderline tornado weather here today. So always looking for an adventure........I packed up the kids and headed to Target. WOO HOO! It was a white knuckle adventure driving the Mystery Machine over the bridge portion of 287.For any non NJins, there's actually a sign that states "bridge subject to high winds". And it was gale force out there today!! Such a rush. I even let my "no screaming in the van" rule slide. 

The minis were actually on their best behavior in the store(weird). And all managed to get a special treat while sitting relatively quietly in the cart. After picking up the shaky dog's anti seizure meds, we headed to the candy aisle to get Mommy her fix and potty treats(not for Mommy....ok, well sometimes) in the form of M&Ms. This however almost started a riot in the shopping cart. Amazing what a 5 pound bag of chocolate can do?! Under the cart it went for safe keeping.

Milk...check. Dog cheese(for the shaky dog's pills)....check. Browse through the Christmas decorations, HOLY CRAP that's coming up already?!.....check. And to the checkout with three smiling minis I go. A rather uneventful trip concluded with a wonderfully cheerful cashier. This is where Child 1 makes me turn very red and want to run into the elevator and never come out. The cashier was very friendly with the kids and complimented Child 1's unloading of the cart onto the belt and even managed to make the little Pixie giggle too all while smiling and waving at chubby Child 3! Child 1 then blurts out as I'm swiping my debit card "why is that guy smiling and talking to us?" I realize this sounds innocent unless you were standing in my shoes. The cashier in fact was a female. Albeit, sporting a mullet, no makeup, and a bit of chin hair..........but female none the less. And she was embarrassed! Which made me want to now SPRINT(as if I could) to the elevator, kids or no kids. So I played it off like I heard no gender confusing remark and thanked her and walked briskly to the giant metal box that was my escape. Whew. Yep.........you know that damned alarm went off right? I kid you not. But the poor cashier waved me on. Clearly her spirit was broken and she didn't even care if we were shoplifting. Which, much to my surprise, we didn't steal a thing this trip! 

I even managed to have all three kids nap at the same time for a whopping 4 1/2 minutes! 

All in all........very successful day! 

Rainy Day

It's raining. It's a little chilly outside. I've been getting sleepier every second since my eyes opened this morning. And I have three little people wanting me to constantly entertain them. After sucking down 3/4 of the coffee in the pot today, I still have no wild and crazy ideas to keep the minis outside of my 3 feet of personal space? I've tried movies, and they feel the need to update me every time the scene changes. I've tried coloring, but one likes to just peel the crayons and eat them, while the other will only color one picture(for Daddy.......cuz only Daddy gets pictures) before needing another source of fun! Child 3 is amazingly entertained ALL day by spitting up on himself and having explosive poops that shoot out of the top of his diaper. Where this would piss me off if I were him, he's totally content as long as I don't turn my back on him. EVER. 
And yet, despite all this excitement around me, I'm dreadfully bored. The Hubbs and I were supposed to have a movie night last night. I sent him inappropriate text messages telling him to rent a movie on his way home and we could have some "nekkid" couch time while sharing a giant bottle of wine. He took the bait! But after a long day at work, and watching me bathe all the kids and get them in bed, he managed to pass out on the living room floor by 8:30pm! Normally, I'd be very disappointed, but last night I was just happy for a quiet night to myself. I certainly don't have any trouble drinking alone. So I popped the cork and relaxed in front of the computer for a couple of hours after taking a scalding hot shower. Heaven. 
Having woken up with no hangover, I attempted to clean today. I loathe cleaning. And am really no good at it. I'm ok with that. I can totally admit when I'm not good at something. I just wish the people around me would DO something about it other than complain. Like....HIRE SOMEONE. Subtle hint there. Anyway, while lifting the couch cushions to find all the buried treasure my kids leave me,( ie raisins, small choking hazard toys, pennies(never anything worth more than a cent), and socks LOT AND LOTS of SOCKS?!) I rearranged the furniture in the living room. You see, I married the smartest man in the world. He knows everything. Ok, really....he is super intelligent....BUT according to him there was only one way to arrange the couch and sofa in the room. The way that makes complete and utter sense. An irrational thought has never passed through his giant head brain. Now I, on the other hand, like to take some chances in life! Put the chair caddy corner just because we CAN, instead of having it perfectly aligned with the wall. I'm a live-on-the-edge kinda gal. Clearly! And damn skippy that's exactly what I did this afternoon. The sofa is absolutely not where he left it. We'll just see who can fall asleep in this non congruent living room tonight! 
Muah ha ha!!!!

Not enough coffee in all the world

It's 6:27am here on this beautiful fall NJ morning. And I've had the distinct pleasure of being awake with all three of my angelic children for the past 2 hours. Anyone sensing my sarcasm? This is ridiculous.
Prior to having kids, I was always a morning person. And I'm not even just saying that for fun. I always voluntarily took the early shifts at jobs and would be up and ready to go before everyone else around me. Then the kids came. And I had the harsh realization that a marital relationship is indeed NOT 50/50 like I've been led to believe for so long. Now I know my husband was physically incapable of breastfeeding any of our kids. But just because their nursing days are long gone, certainly doesn't mean they don't wake up in the middle of the night..........every night. Or like this morning. At 4:30 and ready to start their day. I'll give you one.........no TWO guesses(cuz it's so damned early) who's still in bed right now?! Anyone? Anyone? So I figured I'd turn to the computer instead of walking upstairs and smothering the Hubbs. Won't get a thank you for that one either, I suppose. If only he knew.
To add insult to injury, my four year old keeps whining(that's my most favorite thing in the world by the way) "wheeeeeen's breeeeakfasssst gonnnna beee readdddy?". He doesn't like my answer that I'm not feeding him for a LONG time. I don't know how to train them out of this early riser shit? But I figure I'd only be imprinting it deeper if I fed them earlier than usual. So our regular breakfast time sticks. By then, hopefully I'll have enough caffeine in me to function properly and maybe even try to figure out some kind of Clockwork Orangelike tactic to make them sleep later.
One can only hope. Clearly it's up to me since I'm the only one affected by it.
In the meantime, I have to go shake out the cape since I didn't have a chance to get all the laundry done yesterday either.
Slacker.
I know.
Suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuure I'll last till 8pm tonight.......on my own again, with all three kids. HA! Maybe I'll even get the second coat on the deck?
We all need goals, right?!

And In My Spare Time..................

Why Yes.....Yes I DID just stain my deck over the past two days. Unfortunately, my past(and present) continuously dictates......If you want something done, do it yourself.
We had a deck built off the back of our house in July. YEP....July. First let me begin by saying that it took months to have THAT done until I stepped in and finally called a contractor. It was beginning to look like we were never getting that deck and one day my friend text a picture of her shiny new deck to my phone. Immediately I asked her for the contact info of the person that built it. He was over that night giving us an estimate and the rest is history. Is it the best job? No. But the price was right and we use it every day! It's probably the most practical purchase we've made in a LONG time. Now.....proper maintenance of a deck includes sealing it. Right? Right. You do the math. It's November. I've been waiting for the other adult party that lives under the same roof to take care of this. We'll call him......hmmmmm.......Procrastinator Pete. Pete kept telling me he'd do it. Yeah yeah.......life got in the way a bit. But PAAAAAAAAA LEASE.....4 months?!?!?!?!?!?! Whatever. I whipped out the cape from storage. And while Pete was around yesterday, I put him in charge of the kids(that's a story for another day) and stained the floor surface of the deck. Obviously this is the part we use most often and would most benefit from the sealing. And today, while Pete was off to work, I covered the railings and the second set of stairs lovingly referred to as "the dogs' stairs".
My resume just keeps getting longer but somehow, my pay stays the same? Weird.
My husband came home for two hours today and in that time I ran out to buy a present for my nephew's birthday party tomorrow, ran to the card store, bought some hand soap and Bath & Body Works, and of course hit the liquor store at the end of my 50 minute shopping spree. Because "Pete" headed back to work at dinner time, the cupcake order I was supposed to have for tomorrow fell through, and I'm going to have a quiet house all to myself. I figure while downing a few of my favorite brews, I can try to figure out why, after staining the deck, I've lost feeling in two of the fingers on my left hand?
Never a dull moment here :)
CHEERS!!!!!!

As Luck Would Have It.................

Yep.....I may be in over my head.
After a remarkably quick bounce-back after having my third child, I was ready to get back into the real world WAY quicker than I was with either of my other 2 kids! I have a grip on reality. My brain is fairly stable....none of that foggy "baby brain" going on. And I strive to be a contributing member of society once again. Even if it's with kids in tow! And Lord knows we need the moula! So I've been making a real effort with my real estate agency to make all the meetings(aside from the one I missed tonight) and get all my training in and show houses and put in my floor time and all that jazz. Just when I think "I can do this", the cupcake side job BOOMS. Unbeknown to me, a "SHIT TON"(thank you Johi) of people absolutely adore custom edible creations and are willing to pay good money for them! Sweet! Pun totally intended!
As I blog now, I'm emailing back and forth with a woman who picked up my card at the Birthday party that I made the puppy cupcakes for and she wants me to make the cake for her daughter's Sweet 16 party in February! I deal in cupcakes.......but in this economy.....who the hell am I to say NO?!?!?! A custom cake for 50-60 people? YOU GOT IT! And for this Saturday I have an order for 3 dozen Disney Princess cupcakes for a friend of a friend. Both paying jobs(that's to say that I'm not charging them the "family & friend" discount which is to pay for ingredients/special supplies only).
So. Real estate. Yep........may have to be put on the back burner for the time being. I hate to sound totally uninterested, because I'm not. But why devote so much time to something I like, when something I LOVE is smacking me in the face asking me for all it's attention AND wants to pay me for it too?
For now, I get to be one of the lucky ones who can feed their creative side a bit. Not just the practical, bill paying side. (That side's no fun anyway although it looks like she may benefit a little from this endeavor too!)


On a side note, we hosted our "November Birthdays" party at our house this past Saturday. Both myself and The Hubbs have birthdays this month along with 5 other adults in the family! It's a snooty falooty wine and cheese get together where everyone brings a bottle of their favorite wine so we can all try something different! I not-so-secretly look forward to this adults only party all year long! This year I had to present some cupcakes of course....and they were of the adult variety :) Chocolate cupcakes with Bailey's infused buttercream icing with shaved dark chocolate on top! And chocolate cupcakes with chipotle chocolate frosting topped with handmade red chili peppers made out of melted white chocolate(tinted red of course). They were AWESOME! And very sophisticated looking and tasting! Pictures will be coming eventually, my camera is MIA at the moment. But my husband assures me that despite his inebriated state on Saturday, he took some good pics for me :) We shall see. I'll post whatever he did take on here for kicks anyway! LOL And so it doesn't sound like I'm bashing my husband...........MOST of us were at least slightly inebriated that evening! And it was a great night :)

Toy Story Cupcakes

We were invited by a friend to a Toy Story Halloween party this past Saturday and I was asked to make cupcakes :) They're my most favorite ones yet. Enjoy.........

Ham

Etch made out of fruit rollup and fondant

Woody's hat out of tootsie rolls

Jessie's hat made from Now N Laters(lost a couple of fingerprints playing with those after melting!)

My favorite....Mr Potato Head

Alien

love the patterns under the hats :)

The whole gang!

Sammy The Fish

Yes I'm from Jersey. No this is not a mafia story.
My four year old son was a tough guy to potty train. He showed interest early on and the second something finally came out of his little body, he thought "ok, I did it....now give me back my diaper and leave me alone already!". I worked at it continuously and made a lot of progress. Just when he was ready to leave his diaper years behind him, my husband would have to travel for his job and my son would take 18 steps backwards. At least that's not frustrating or anything. So of course, just this past summer, the Hubbs left for 3 weeks, came home for 4, then left for another 3 1/2. Within this time period, the boy had more accidents than I'd care to remember. Including one time I specifically remember his actually crapping on my hallway floor directly outside of my bathroom. Awesome! There's only so much patience inside of any one human being. I can't even lie and say that I held it together all the time. It's no small feat being the sole person to wake, be with all day, and go to sleep with 3 kids under the age of 4. I totally deserved a medal or even dinner out somewhere after all that. I'm keeping a mental note and may choose to take all the payments for all the times like this summer all at once! HA! I'll show him. Anyway, I digress. Finally, I decided that a small reward should be offered for any continued success. I gave my son a chart with boxes for the days on it and after 5 consecutive days with NO accidents, he could get a pet. Now, this pet was to be his very own. And I'm not naive....we have two 100 pound mutts in this house. I told him he could pick out his very own betta fish at the pet shop. No filter necessary. You feed them when you remember. Very little start up cost and maintenance. PERFECT! And on top of that, my husband and I really wanted to teach the kids about death in a subtle way before they lose their lifelong pups. In our minds, this fish would teach that lesson, probably even sooner then we'd hoped. A win win.
So sure enough, after 5 days were marked on the chart, we all headed to the pet store. My boy picked out his favorite color(blue) fish and his Dad and I picked up the rest of the necessities....bowl, food, little plastic plant. Check out.
The fish is named Sammy by it's proud new owner and lives a very content life in our kitchen. It was summertime and I suppose, optimal temperature for Sammy in our kitchen. He was in clear view of everyone at the table while eating so the kids could enjoy watching him swim around his little bowl, and the adults could remember that it needed to be fed. This extra pet is really paying off. A constant reminder to my son that he needs to use the potty and a reminder to us that our little boy was growing up. Harmony right?
The boy's 4th birthday comes around and a very good friend of ours buys a brand new fish tank for Sammy complete with awesome army tank and an army guy too! It's mid-late October and getting pretty chilly on the east coast. After the party, I put off as long as I possibly could switching this fish's humble abode. My son couldn't wait a second longer to watch him swim around the tank....and the tank in the tank! So I'd set out some water a couple of days prior to let the chlorine evaporate(I SWEAR I read this somewhere). It's now the night before the boy's actual Birthday. I can't say no, and I set up the tank, pour in the water, and drop in the fish. All looks good. Until the next morning that is. At breakfast his Dad loudly points out that Sammy is looking a little "sluggish". Of course my 4 year old Birthday Boy and his little sister are wanting to see Sammy in all his glory swimming around. Thankful for all my distractional tactics sitting around ....I find a way to point them out of the kitchen and assess the situation. I have afterall, once worked in a veterinarian's office. So I would be the better qualified adult in the house to tell what's really going on with Sammy. ;) He was sluggish indeed. Gills still moving, he was kind of sort of on his side a little. Let me sidebar by saying, my kitchen is freaking cold in the fall and winter. Like REALLY cold. If you go in there without slippers, you may lose a toe to frostbite! And here is where this poor fish is all day and all frigid night. So I thought if I moved him into the sun, he might warm up a bit and get the chill out. It was either that, or my way which is to down a hot cup of black coffee. Sun? Coffee? Sun. Definitely. Well, we go do our traditional birthday stuff....pick pumpkins, eat lunch, come home and pretty much do whatever the birthday boy wants and finally naps before dinnertime. I'm getting ready to bake cupcakes for his preschool party the following day and go to check in on the patient. Only to find him sunken next to the army guy. Oops.
Now, I know we wanted to teach the little one a life lesson about death and all.............but it was his birthday for God's sake! And anyone who's been around a 4 year old knows that they don't forget a damned thing. So I certainly couldn't have this poor little boy going to school the next day and when asked "how was your birthday?" his response being that his dear fish Sammy died. So, in lieu of baking, I drove to the pet store and bought the replacement. I can't believe I'm one of "those" parents now. Ugh. And truth be told, it's not even a close match. Yes, it's blue.....I got that far at least. But it has red tips on it's fins and....here's the kicker......apparently it's a girl! Because there's a nice layer of "bubbles" or roe on top of the water now. The Hubbs and I call her "The Deuce" and luckily the kids haven't picked up on that. Yet. I'm sure it's only a matter of time. As fortune would have it, my son is about as observant as I am. While he did notice the bubbles, he has yet to see any difference in the colors or(did I forget to mention this) the fact that "Sammy 2" is almost 1/2 the size of the original. Don't judge. I sleep like 10 hours a week. And will have you know that I was up past midnight finishing Spiderman cupcakes.
To add insult to injury though, my son's new pet now resides in our bedroom. Along with the 200 pounds of smelly dog. Just in case the below freezing temperatures had anything to do with Sammy 1's demise, my room is on the second floor and much warmer. And now smells like dog fart and stagnant water. Very romantic! In that setting maybe we'll muster up the lust to go for a fourth child. We'll get them all ringtailed lemurs, which of course would live in our bedroom too and start a colony in our little NJ town. It'll be freaking GREAT!

Chillin with Sammy 1 the day we brought him home from the pet store. RIP Sammy.

Hear dat?

Those are the cute little words that used to come out of my daughter's mouth when she first learned to talk! "Hear dat Mommy?" In all seriousness, right now all I hear is the white noise coming through the baby monitor and I an a happy woman! My past two weeks around here (okay I think I may have grossly underestimated that time period...what month is this?!) have been neurotically paced at best. I've actually been winded a few times. I wish I could sit here and say that I know the end is near, but mid February is the soonest I'll be able to sit back and relax. Don't get me wrong, I am enjoying all this....I just can't believe how quickly the days are flying by. I truly wish there were more hours in a day. (maybe then I'd manage to sneak some sleep in once in a blue moon....nah.) But by the time my day ends, my list of "to do's" has barely been touched and I'm totally wiped. I bet there's a Google clock in the works that actually extends the hours of a day. They're so crafty!

I was baking and decorating yet another batch of cupcakes for my son's Birthday around 11 o'clock last night.(insanity? quite possibly. I'll get back to you on that one) This time to bring to school to share with his friends. He's my oldest, so I think I might be just as excited as he is for all this to be happening. It's his first year in preschool and he was super psyched to celebrate his birthday with everyone there. Yay! Although I can't even lie by saying I didn't contemplate running to Dunkin Donuts on the way to school this morning instead of baking. Kids love munchkins! And I was sleepy. But instead of making the 174 different super heroes that he'd originally requested, I only made a batch of spider man cupcakes. Red icing, black web, red and blue sugar on the rims. Cute. And I knew it would be more than enough creativity for the rest of the 3-4 year olds in his class. And where I thought I'd done a rush job(they were definitely sub par), the teachers LOVED them. I slipped into the conversation that I do this on the side and they were REALLY psyched! Wanting business cards and to know what other than spider man could I make. :) One of the teachers just got engaged so they actually asked if I make wedding cupcakes. "YUP". So I told them I'd go home and email them some photos so they know I'm not all about the super heroes. I'd forgotten all about making treats for my little sister-in-law's bridal shower. It was this past summer and it was HOT. But I made white chocolate butterflies decorated with edible pearls and colored sugars. AND helped my mother in law make an awesome array of chocolate covered strawberries. Note to self : steer clear of the chocolate creations in the heat.  It all worked out in the end, but I actually couldn't get the A/C in my kitchen cool enough to let the butterfly chocolate set...I had to keep them in the fridge. Here are some pics.....

 



Yummy right?! And I don't even eat fruit and chocolate.....but these strawberries came out awesomely elegant! I helped make them with my Mother-In-Law. She's just the best and makes everything so fun. Like when she insisted we stop at the liquor store on the way to making the strawberries so we would be nice and relaxed about it! I mean...she had a great point....why be stressed around chocolate?! Then I went home that night and after putting the kids to bed, I decided to play around and see if I could make butterflies. They're sort of a theme for my sis-in-law. And as much as the heat wanted to ruin my big idea, I think they came out pretty good! The picture of the butterflies was actually taken inside my fridge because I was afraid to take them out of the cool air. HAHA And once everything was set up the next day at her shower, we placed the butterflies on top of the strawberries. It was so adorable. And no, I don't have a picture. I never seem to have a camera at these times. UGH.

I'm signing off now. Need to switch some laundry and then park in on the couch for some R&R once the Hubbs comes home from the gym. I only update my blog when he's not around. It's like my little affair with my own self. You know.....since I have no followers and am basically just typing to myself!

Sweet dreams

And so the blog name........takes a face! The Caped Cupcake apparently has more than one meaning. I always joke about how my cape is at the dry cleaners anytime someone asks "how do you do it all?!" and I love cupcakes. So of course I thought I was all crafty, thinking I'm the caped cupcake crusader. Whatever...........it worked in my head:) My oldest son is about to turn 4. So we had a "friend" party for him yesterday. The family one is next weekend. He's all big and tough now so he requested a superhero party. Gone are the days of Nemo and Elmo. We don't go crazy buying the party plates and wall hangings and stuff like that, but we decorate like maniacs with balloons and the cupcakes are always the centerpiece! I had great intentions, but alas the Hubbs was inevitably called into work the night before the party and my 8 month old was awake with me till about 4am teething. Gotta love Murphy and his law! So instead of making a bunch of different super hero cupcakes, I only ended up with Superman, Spiderman and then a couple that I slapped icing and sugar on in Batman colors, literally as the guests arrived! Can we say rush job? That's over and now I need to make some for school Thursday and the weekend family party too. I'm seriously considering stapling my husband to the floor so he can't leave. God bless every little coffee bean out there cuz I'm gonna need em to get through this week!

Procrastination? Nah.

So here I sit. 2nd active day on this blog. I have to tell you honestly, this is the third day in a row that I'm home, at night, alone with all the kids asleep, and I think I enjoy the quiet far too much to do anything other than sit here! I'm throwing a Birthday party for my oldest son Saturday, he'll be four. So clearly there's a ton o' crap I could be doing. But instead I sit.....thinking of the 427 balloons I could start blowing up and hanging all over the place. Or even BEGINNING to make templates for the cupcakes. It's a superhero theme. Of course! But not just one of them.....ALL of them :) How can I say no to those big brown eyes?! (ok ok I do all day long, but not when it comes to his Birthday theme request!) AND he is my first born child...so that should count for some extra brownie points on his end?!
I must say that I like how I necessitize(is that even a word?) my priorities. As soon as everyone was in bed, I unpacked 2 HUGE bags of clothes handed down from a friend of mine for my rapidly growing 8 month old! They could have very easily sat there till I was able to throw them in the attic for after the party....but I really wanted to see all the cute new clothes. hehe And I have to stress the need for new clothes here. Yes I have an older son, and yes I still have his old clothes. BUT, my 8 month old is already wearing 18-24m clothing. Yeah, he's small. So I welcome with open arms "new" items friends and family are willing to throw my way! I try to sneak them in the house when my husband's not looking so I can't see the "where the hell are we gonna put that?" look on his face. Somehow, this always manages to put me in a snippy mood when I see that look. Maybe because he doesn't TOUCH the laundry at all. And when I ask him to go grab an item of clothing from the kids' room he comes downstairs a half hour later with something that maybe fit an infant, maybe.....all out of breath, saying "I couldn't find what you asked for so this'll have to do". I know it would take me a few seconds to run the same errand, but it's kind of like when you ask your child to go look for something in the living room even though you know it's not really IN the living room. The old....get them outta your hair trick! Yep. Works for the Hubbs too.

Still thinking of all those balloons that need to be blown up.

And yes, I said kids' room....not kid's rooms. All three of our little angels share the same 4 walls. Originally, we thought we were simplifying things. Bringing our family back to the days when kids didn't all have their own seperate rooms. Seriously most of my nieces and nephews and their friends have more space than I EVER have. Even now! And I own this whole house!! But can I find any decent sized space that isn't occupied by a talking child, a snoring husband, or a farting dog?  Negatory.
Well, we learned the hard way that the whole kids-sharing-a-room thing isn't all it's cracked up to be. I remember our naive days when we said "they'll learn to deal with the __________________". Fill in the blank with whatever you can come up with. Early riser. Kid that talks in their sleep. Kid that likes to turn the light on and off 17 million times before finally passing out at night. Hitter. Poop painter. Screamer. Newborn.
And now why we ever thought THEY would have to learn to deal with any of this is still a mystery to me. We are the ones up in the middle of the night cleaning poop off the wall, or changing sheets for someone who got sick, or was potty training, or picking up all the kids off the floor because they fell out of their beds. (that actually makes me laugh every time I do it.) The kids couldn't give a flying fart what the other ones are doing! Just us.
Is it any wonder why kids grow up and look back at their parents and say "man, they really didn't know anything"?! We didn't!

Ok, the balloon thing is starting to bug me. I'm off to possibly begin being productive maybe sometime soon.

Wish me luck!

First Time Blogger

Try as I might, I can't think of anything even mildly entertaining to write at this moment. I was so excited to start this blog, and now feel like I'm standing naked in front of the entire class without my speech! I'm actually starting to sweat a little. LOL Baby steps, that'll be the name of the game here. As for now, kids are tucked in, Hubbs is at the gym and the dogs are even asleep, so all is quiet. I wait all day for this moment and am not going to let my lack of wit ruin it for me ;) I'll sleep on it and wait for something wonderfully entertaining to come into my head via dream or osmosis through my pillow and will fill you in tomorrow. Night all