Why do I feel every post should be called....."True Story"??

So I had a horrible day......nothing major. Just bad.
BUT.........the actual story comes  into play when I was driving to the grocery/liquor store this evening. heh heh WHAT?!?!?!  "The Babysitter" graduated from college today......HUGE accomplishment for her :) And I only wish that I'd remembered this a day earlier because I was forced to pick up store bought baked goods. UGH!!! You know this is a knock to my "professional" baking front. She is a gluten free character.......not strictly, but should be, so I bought some stuff just for her! It was surprisingly yummy for being in the frozen section!!!
Anyway, my day was mainly spent in the Ragiing Rhino...driving Child 1 to and from school, then the Hubbs to and from a doctor's appointment, and later, to and from an MRI appointment all the while towing un-napped kids.  SHOOT. ME. NOW.
So my day end a nearing..........and I'm off to the grocery store/liquor store pre celebration....windows open.....music blaring.........bee flying through my open window......landing on my corroded artery....stinging while I'm driving.
Now I can't help but laugh while I'm typing this. Because this seriously happened..and doesn't sound reasonable at ALL.
I can't turn my head to the left.
Five hours later.
LOL
My misery today will be posted at a later date.
Take joy in the fact that I shared my personal misery with you today.
It was a 50/50 shot that you'd hear it :)
 

Pack

So admittedly not a shining quality to share with everyone.....I used to be one of those people who judged parents with their child on a leash! I know...totally shallow. Especially since I didn't have kids yet, and even for a while after having my own.
Comments flew through my head(and sometimes my mouth) like, "really lady? just control your child." or "maybe if you give it a bone, it'll stop crying?" and "is it that difficult for you to bend down to hold his hand?!".
OBVIOUSLY.....I had no friggin CLUE what I was talking about and the person who invented those little leashes for kids should be awarded a Nobel Peace Prize!
My sweet little angels were fairly manageable in public until we were outnumbered by Child 3! Now my 4 1/2 year old thinks it's hilarious to dart up and down the aisles in stores completely out of my sight. (which scares the crap out of me.) And my darling 2 1/2 year old daughter follows suit or ever-so-sweetly curls herself around my ankles while I'm carrying Ginormous Child 3 and he's wiggling like a walrus having a seizure trying to break free of the ninja grip I have on him.
Whew..........I'm exhausted even THINKING about going to the store.
And while I know there are tons of self proclaimed experts on Child Rearing, I never love everything they have to say when I'm searching for advice.
So I go to the source that I trust.
He's foolproof.
And people all over the country email and call and even go see this gentleman to tap into his wealth of information about handling ornery loved ones. Even if it's just the simple case of being outnumbered like I am.
So I email the Dog Whisperer.
Really.
You know? Cesar Milan!
He really is amazing...I mean COME ON......they gave him his own show and everything!
I email him about my "pack". I mention the kids as certain breeds that I associate them with. For instance, my daughter is very petite but can easily defend herself against her brothers when she needs to. She has a quick step, is very agile, super smart, very capable, not shy, and stubborn as all hell.
She is my Jack Russell.
My youngest is HUGE. He's a 30 lb one year old. Bleach blonde hair. Chubby cheeks. Very happy and sweet. But you sort of cringe when he's running towards you because you know it's gonna hurt. Oh and clumsy :) He's flippin adorable and squishy and complete strangers walk up to him to touch his cheeks.(I hate that by the way...please keep your strange, dirty hands off my adorable baby boy!)
He is my Bulldog.
Now my oldest is a very shy dude. He's highly intelligent. But wired and crazy at the same time. He pushes every boundary known and unknown. But looks after his sister and brother like they're his responsibility.
He's my Labrador Retriever.

My emails go something like this:

Dear Cesar,
I walked in the room the other day to find that my Jack Russell had feces on her face. How do I discourage this behavior without standing over her all day every day?


Dear Cesar,
My Labrador is ornery with myself and my husband. He nips at our Jack Russell every once in a while. But I think it's just for added attention from us? I have made a point to put him into a social environment outside of our house. He loves preschool the dog park but is shy with the other dogs and owners. He loves to play but isn't comfortable engaging others. Any tips on socializing a "shy guy"?


Dear Cesar,
My bulldog eats EVERYTHING! Is this NORMAL?!?!?! Oh, and is there breed known for climbing? 

Now you know my secrets to good sound advice!
I have to go grab the minis out of their crates....I mean rooms and get them ready for Easter Dinner!
Sans leashes of course.
Happy Easter folks!

buzz buzz buzz

There are literally 1743 things buzzing through my head right now....not a one of them that I can grab hold of long enough to actually focus on though. UGH.
The Hubbs hasn't given his 2 weeks notice yet. The new company has been running all the background checks and what not, and a start date was to be determined once everything had officially been cleared ie: when they found out The Hubbs is NOT a crack head or addicted to crystal meth or anything. That's all been done and the new boss announced to him today that the first round of training in California starts on May 2nd! WHAT THE?!?!?! (Insert expletive here________) Any guess what came out of MY mouth?! I'm sure you guessed it. Now as I mentioned before, The Hubbs hasn't given his notice to his current employer. And, just to get technical here, two weeks from today is May 5th. Just sayin'. And the first round of training goes for three weeks....in California. Which just so happens to fall in the same month as Mother's Day and the start of BBQ season! The new boss did say that maybe they could push the training back for him another week so it would start on the 9th instead! But that was a big maybe and only because The Hubbs has 10 years experience in this field. Now more than ever, I feel suffocated. Don't get me wrong, I'm excited for the move. But the training is the LEAST exciting part of all this. Parenthood is hard enough when there are two of you. I seriously don't know how single parents pull it off. I did this last summer and it wasn't fun. So I have some anxiety issues about being left for weeks at a time again. Throw on top of that....the house needs to be sold........and weeded through before I can pack it up.....then packed up.....cars have to be sold....I NEED to have a garage sale desperately....oh.....and I should probably find us a new place to live in Colorado?! Yikes! All this with 3 minis running circles around me? Well, if I ever get on this blog again, it should make for a pretty interesting post or two! That's for sure.
I've already informed The Hubbs that I will be taking a few "girl's nights" over the next two weeks since I'm going to be trapped at home held against my will unable to get away when he's gone. The first one is tomorrow night :) with "the babysitter" and her 170 pound puppy Baloo. I'm going to the sanctuary that is her house for some quiet, calm, focusing time over a few beers and some good conversation! She's a very positive force in my life. She has a great outlook on things and is already checking into airfares to Colorado to come visit :) Love her!
Shit......maybe I'll even bring a lavender scented candle and one of those eye gel masks. We'll pretend it's a spa night...but with beer!
#1744 floating around my head right now>>>>>>Why don't spas have beer?
Accompanied by
#1279-How the HELL did I spend $150 at Walmart on Easter basket "filler" yesterday??
#317-What am I going to make for dinner?
#600-Did I shower today?
#1801-Should I go buy boxes right now? #1802-It couldn't hurt to start packing right?
#5-Weird that this pain showed up in my neck as soon as The Hubbs told me when his training class starts.

:)
SERENITY NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Whoops....sorry about the delay!

HA! I suck. I'm sorry I didn't have a follow-up post! I actually thought I had posted?! Clearly, my mind is going in a million different directions....none of which seem to be FORWARD!

Here's the long and short of it.
They verbally offered The Hubbs the job. The written offer was emailed and another copy is being FedEx'd to the house. They did offer a little less than we would like. So now negotiations will begin. But really only minor negotiations about salary. From here, they require a background check, DMV check, and drug test. We were told those take about 2 weeks. Once those are all cleared, they will discuss a start date and how much notice will be given to the current company. It's pretty much.....in the bag. Which hasn't really hit either one of us yet. I mean, we are excited. And nervous. But in a good way.

~~I guess when you dream about something for so long, and it finally comes to fruition, it's hard to accept that it's reality at that point.~~


Now all the planning and decision making is coming into play. Sell or rent this house? Where exactly in CO should we rent? (there are a few variables here) Dates? There are 12 weeks of training that come along with taking this position. Six of which will be in California. So the minis and I would probably stay East for the majority of that. So our summer will probably be a NJ one.

Obviously, none of this is written in stone because The Hubbs hasn't actually accepted any offer. There is one major thing that could happen here. It is very possible that his current company could offer a counter-offer. The Hubbs had mentioned to his immediate supervisor and the supervisor in the Western territory that he would like to be considered if a position were needed in the CO region. The supervisor out there had said that it was a possibility in the future! So there's always that.

We sat down over a few drinks last night and wrote some Pro/Con lists about the house and the companies. The one thing we did realize from doing this, was that we didn't have the need for a CO vs. NJ list. There is only one thing in NJ for us. And that's our family. Which we love dearly and will miss terribly! But which we also know wants us to be happy no matter what. We will all adapt to Skype conversations with the kids and extended visits back to NJ with big BBQs and parties just because. While this is hard for us to swallow, and for all of them also, it's what we want more than anything and it's ok to chase your dreams!

So away with you Catholic Guilt that's been ingrained in us since we were wee little ones!!!!

We deserve to be happy!

.................

So we've walked around all morning with our stomachs in our throats...the clock ticking ever so slowly. 8am PST is 11am here. And 11am in the eyes of parents of three minis, is late in the day already.
Well.........it just got even later. The Hubbs went up to the silent sanctuary of our bedroom to receive the phone call. And when it didn't come promptly at 11, he checked his email. Then his email RESPONSE to the HR rep. When he relied to her, he said........I will be available at 9 and am looking forward to speaking with you.
SO......
we have another hour to WAIT!

lmao

gulp!

Now I'M Pacing!!!!!!!!!

Okay Okay Okay.......without any fancy wording....or fun story.......
The Hubbs handed his email over to me right before leaving for work. It was from the HR rep at Abbott Labs and here is what it said:

Hello Hubbs,(ok so it said his name....WHATEVER read on)

Are you available tomorrow morning at 8:00 am PST?  I would like to move forward with a contingent verbal offer.  If not, please feel free to suggest an alternate time.

and then he LEFT for work!!!!!!!  So I've been pacing ever since. ALONE! Until over Facebook chat I somehow convinced my Dear Friend AND babysitter mentioned in previous posts to come over and bring her sister with HER three kids!

WHEW!!!!

Having all of them did wonders for all of my pent up nervous energy, that's for sure. But now I sit here drooling typing this and wondering how I'm going to make it up the stairs for bed tonight? And once I get there....will I actually be able to sleep? 

Only time will tell.

The above mentioned 8am phone call won't actually happen HERE in Jersey till 11am SO...tick tock tick tock.

More to follow tomorrow :)

Not bad news....not exactly good news either

So here's a little taste of Murphy's Law for ya.....
We were in a funeral procession today. The last car in fact. And my coat starts buzzing. Little did I know, The Hubbs threw his cell phone in my pocket at the church. And now it's ringing. While reaching to get it I said "watch that be the Colorado job!". The Hubbs takes a look at his phone and goes "holy crap it's blah-blah-blah area code!!!!!!". I'm typing it like that because obviously I had no friggin CLUE where blah-blah-blah area code was at the time(or now even since I can't remember it! LOL). Indeed it was from California where he had gone to interview a week and a half ago. WOOT! But we're driving...and The Hubbs has no "hands free" device to answer the phone with. On top of that, we were the last car in the procession which holds the responsibility of flashing your hazards, zipping through red lights trying to catch up to the rest of the line, and waving to all the lovely Jersey drivers flipping us off to thank them for letting us through for a funeral! Whew....exhausting really.
Luckily the woman who called left a message for us to listen to on the way. It went a little something like this...."This is so and so from blah blah company calling to give you a status update on the field service position available. Please call us at your earliest convenience." Immediately I watch my other half's shoulders drop. While the woman was very friendly in her message, the words "status update" led him to believe they had gone over the candidates, chosen one, had one accept their terms, and hired them and were now calling to inform him of all that. After all, the manager would call him to offer the position....not an HR representative. Right? So this probably wasn't good. And now that horrible sinking feeling settled into both of our stomachs. UGH. We arrive at the cemetery at the end of the line and there's a brief wait. Suddenly the windows are being rolled up and The Hubbs is dialing the phone with speed and gusto. He was not about to wait any longer. THANK GOD! Because I am incredibly kind of impatient. So he called and the woman from HR answered right away. She is very sweet on the phone. Likable even though she might be about to deliver very disappointing news to us. She opened up the conversation with a very hopeful voice asking "are you still interested in the position?" WHEW. If she was about to tell him he didn't get the job, this woman was a whole new kind of evil after asking that question!!! My poised hubby answered perfectly saying how he was excited about the opportunity and definitely still interested. He has a grace with words that just eludes me. And it's nice to hear him speak on a professional level. I've always worked with burping, farting, or at least armpit farting folk...so it's refreshing to hear the "other" side. haha  Once she heard that he was still interested the tone of her voice changed a bit, almost sounding like relief. This is a good sign, I'm thinking. Or maybe just psyching myself up even higher?! You say potAto I say potato. She begins telling The Hubbs how they have two more interviews they are committed to this week and then that is all of them, but that he is a wonderful candidate and made a great impression all around. She thanked him for being so flexible throughout this process and almost sounded apoligetic to him that they were interviewing anyone else. Her wording "we're committed to these interviews" almost sounded like....we have to do it even though we want to hire you. The Hubbs reiterated to her that he is currently employed so it's not like he's living in a cardboard box with no income until he hears from them(he said this in a much more refined way of course) but that he looks forward to the opportunity to speak with them again. She then threw out another time line(AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH) of a week to a week and a half that we would hear from them "either way". Which translates to 3 weeks the way they move.
Needless to say, we were pretty relieved with the phone call. And I still have a good feeling about the whole thing. Lets hope my gut doesn't let us down!
So we play the waiting game again. If anyone knows of a pro/semi pro team that we can join to play the waiting game..............we've gotten pretty damn good at it! Always have a back up plan!!

Tick Tock Tick Tock

Ok...so I don't actually hear a clock ticking, it's more like the theme song to Jeopardy. We have yet to hear from this company about the job. Ugh. I KNEW this would happen. They are less than expedient about getting back to people. But come ON!!!! Don't they understand that our lives have been on hold for soooooooooooo long and this one phone call could throw us into action?! No, I suppose they don't. But still! A little common courtesy of timelyness shouldn't be so much to ask for.
Instead, The Hubbs is wearing a path deep into the living room carpet and now the hardwood floors with his pacing. And I think I'm developing a blister from "refreshing" our Inbox to see if there's a new email waiting for us. Because they're going to email him?! That's ridiculous, I know. But when powerless, it's all I can come up with!
Every time one of his phones(yes, he has two cell phones) ring, my heart skips a little beat. It even did it when MY phone rang yesterday. Because again, if they don't email him with an offer.....clearly they'll just call ME directly?!
Good thing I don't have my hopes up high or anything. Cuz that would really suck!
In other news, The Hubbs hemmed and hawed yesterday until he finally up and did our taxes. I am 100% not capable of such things. So I give him a shit-ton(heh heh) of credit! He seriously sits down, starts them, and finishes them less than 2 hours later! I don't understand? I swear I used to witness my folks sitting down to do their taxes with a tax guy(this is why I don't touch our finances...."tax guy"?!) for days. Maybe even a week! I remember not being able to go into the kitchen for said days or week because of the 5' tall stacks of paper, ie: receipts, bills, other crap that was important. Thinking back, I don't know if we were even fed during tax season? Oh well. Anyway, ours are done! WHEW! One less thing to pace about....if pacing happens to be your thing ;)
We are also in the process of getting a new vehicle for the crew. The Raging Rhino is just too ginormous for this tiny family of 5 plus 2 dogs. Ok, it's really not that bad, but it gets about 2 miles to the gallon. And with gas prices closing in on $4 a gallon, we'll be able to afford maybe a really big box to house us all if we keep this giant van. Option........mini van. Oh how I loathe those 2 words together! I guess I've always had it in my head that I was too cool for a mini van. I'd rather a diesel pick up with an extended cab. But that's just me I guess. And we'd both have to work, and at least one of the kids too, to afford the gas for that. So mini van, here we come!!!
I'll be sure to update as soon as we hear from The Company. Which better be today, or I'm going to have to tap into our savings for some new area rugs!
Is that my phone?????
Gotta run

Where Have I Been....Part 2

Now, between work, school, playdates, hiking, geochaching(our newest, most fun thing to do as a family!), baking, St Patty's Day(ouch), and just life in general........things are moving forward for us, and quickly! We have it in our minds and hearts that we want to live elsewhere. The rat race around here is just out of control! And we are very outdoorsy people, which isn't always easy to do when you live in Northern NJ, a hop skip and a jump away from New York City. We want to live by mountains, and rivers, and lakes and just.....nature. Not highway after highway....McMansion after McMansion. We've always felt this way. I lived in Colorado for two years. The Hubbs flew out there to drive me home so we could start our lives together, and he fell in love with the place! I remember standing next to him around 1am shivering my arse off because we stepped outside to smoke(I have trouble remembering the days when we smoked?! We both quit over 5 years ago.) and the awe on his face when he looked at the sky. It was alive with stars! Stars you just can't see where we live because of all the lights around here. But in the middle of the mountains, you can see every single one of them and it's breathtaking. We didn't have much time out there to tour around together, but he's been back since for work meetings and loves every part of the state! Sadly, I couldn't join him on that trip because........GUESS?!?!?! Yep, I was pregnant. :) A piece of my heart and his stayed in Colorado. And in the back of our heads(okay maybe not the back....we've always talked about it) we've always known we'd love to end up there. And throughout the years, he's kept his employer aware that if a transfer came up, to let him know because we'd consider anywhere other than Jersey at this point. And while we haven't actively made the move toward Colorado, we've always known, we'd get there. Our hearts fill with joy that our kids will be able to grow up in that environment! And over the past couple of weekends, we've taken the kids on some ridiculously long hikes for toddlers and they were totally in their element. This just confirms our belief that these little gnomes will love the lifestyle that WE do. I could easily see our oldest son getting into Wildlife Management or something like that. And our daughter, well, she might just go live with wolves?! The two of them are becoming master deer trackers, pointing out every single pile of "deer poop" along the way and even starting to recognize other signs that deer have been around. It's awesome to watch. Even Child 3 was very content to hang out in a backpack for 2 hours at a pop as long as we fed him regularly!
So this past Thursday, St Patty's Day, I drove The Hubbs to the airport where he left to fly to California to interview at corporate offices for a job based in Colorado. We are super excited! The interview went well, and now it's just a waiting game to hear from the company. But I have a feeling about this time. I feel like this is it for us. It's finally going to happen! I know it's not practical to have my hopes up this high, but I'm actually nervous about it too. Because my feeling is so strong, I'm also hit with all the reservations about moving as well. The wonderful family and friends we'll be leaving behind. Although I know we are all very capable of travelling from here to there, it's not always in the cards for one reason or another. And that sucks. But the thought of raising my kids in a place that doesn't make us happy, where we can't make ends meet, makes me sick to my stomach. So travel we will! All of our lavish European vacations will be replaced by RV trip across the US stopping at every World's Largest Ball of Yarn or Bottle Of Ketchup along the way. We don't ever go on lavish European adventures, so we certainly wouldn't be sacrificing anything there.And I'd love for our kids to have a rich sense of their country. I sure don't. I've been to Disney World and that's about it! I'm not complaining, they were wonderful family vacations full of fun and fantasy. But I've never even been to a National Park!! I want to explore all these things alongside our kids....Mount Rushmore and the Black Hills, The Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, and every other place along the way!
Cheers to adventure!
I'll keep you posted on the job/move.
:)

Where Have I Been??

No really? Why is it that I feel like I just posted on here? Time flies when you have little ones, I suppose. March has been a wickedly busy month for us so far. In a good way. And quite frankly, I can't even believe it's almost over?! How does that happen??? My last post was sharing a link to my friend's blog. But the one before that was almost 2 weeks ago! I had mentioned how The Hubbs and I haven't really had any time(over the past 4/5 years) to concentrate on just us. And it was time to turn that around a bit. And that Friday( I think), we went out on a date. It was a total surprise to him! Which is basically what I LIVE for. I'm totally one of those people that wishes I had billions of dollars to get everyone around me exactly what they want......the search for the perfect present is one I love. Anyway, I set it up with our friend that she would come by once the minis were already in bed, because.....well....isn't that just easier on everyone involved? I love this girl dearly. And we are very fortunate to not have to pay for our sitters! Oh don't you worry....I feed them well :) And this one person in particular, has become family to us. WHICH by the way, is a double edged sword. Where I trust her with my kids, my dogs, my house and everything else........she's also become a staple at our family gatherings and parties!!! SO, when it comes to needing someone to watch the kids when we're going out with all our friends/family, we're screwed because our sitters are right there partying with us! LOL  Eh, the hassle of finding someone else to watch the kids is totally worth the friendships we've built over the past couple of years. SO, it was dinnertime here and I was serving up a "gourmet" DiGiorno frozen pizza for the kids and The Hubbs was giving me a sideways glance like..."where's my food?". So I kind of had to bust the surprise at that point so he knew he would indeed be eating sometime in the near future. Kids fed, check. Baths, check. Shower for me and clean clothes put on, check. EYE MAKEUP(oh yeah baby!!!), check. This was a date after all! Kids in bed, check. Sitter over, check. Her approval of my outfit(yep.....I SO need this these days!), check. And out the door we went to a little BYOB Italian restaurant that my sister-in-law gave us a gift certificate to back in November for our birthdays. We picked up a bottle of wine for us, and one for the sitter for when we got home so we could all hang out. When we were seated, I have to tell you honestly, I almost felt giddy about us being on a date. We have gone out before since having kids, but I'm usually pregnant or something. This time was just different. We ate like pigs KINGS and stuffed ourselves like we couldn't even believe. We had no problems polishing off two appetizers, salads, 1/2 of our entrees(doggy bags ROCK), the bottle of red and about 14 glasses of water! I insisted on dessert. Solely for the fact that I didn't have to bake it and um.......I LOVE dessert! Can we say lava cake?! YES!!! And much to our surprise, the waiter brought over complimentary shots of Sambuca for each of us. Wow! Now THIS was a date we could appreciate. Food, glorious food, and drink! As we were waiting for the check, secretly wishing we could unbutton our top buttons without strange looks from other restaurants goers, I text the sitter to let her know we were settling the bill and would be home soon. To which I got the response "Home? Go enjoy your date night! Go dancing the night away!". Can you see why we love her so much?! She was at our house studying for a report she had to write for college. To which I attribute her temporary amnesia of who she was talking to............we don't dance. Clearly her brain was fogged with college stuff(such an overachiever) and after I responded "dancing? US?", she came back with "silly me.....go to a bar and go shot for shot..IT'S DATE NIGHT!" She's the best! However, those days are long gone and instead we chose to come home and hang out with her over a few drinks. She tried to bolt out the door so we could have "alone time" but we assured her that would only lead to more work for her in the end if another kid were to come of it! Needless to say, she stuck around for a few drinks and some deep(and not so deep) discussion. We have a little running joke that she's never left our house before 1am. But I'm pretty sure even on the nights where none of us could tell time, she's right! Anything before 1am is too early when with good friends anyway.
Ever want someone to just be around you all the time? Yeah, it's like that. We are truly lucky for the people around us.
In the interest of this not being the longest post EVER......I'll write a part 2.

One of my dearest friends........read on and you'll KNOW why :)

This was today's post from one of my best buds in Colorado!! I love her dearly. And after reading her post(you MUST check out the rest of her blog...she is FABULOUS) you'll know why she and I get along so well! And no.....it's not solely for our affinity towards the F bomb!!! Click on the link below :)

http://confessionsofacornfedgirl.blogspot.com/2011/03/if-you-want-to-be-my-friend-then-show.html

House For Sale/Rent **Indoor Pool**

Good LORD it's been raining like I can't even believe here! After a fun day out with the minis and my Mother In Law yesterday, I realized we should have stopped at Home Depot in our travels for some wood to start building an ark! All the surrounding areas have major flooding. Some of the highways are even closed.
(I'll work backwards today....something different)
I am drinking my coffee, blogging, listening to the minis play and the humming sound of the wet-vac going in the basement/indoor pool where The Hubbs is working on sucking up all the water that flooded in yesterday. I knew this was imminent after taking a look-see outside around 12:30am right before going to bed. After a couple of beers, and staying up WAY past my bedtime, I couldn't quite figure out why my backyard was swaying? I didn't drink THAT much. So I turned the outside lights on to reveal that about 5 inches of water was just pooling in our yard and it was still raining. Hmmmmm.......and I wonder why I had to drag the dogs out to do their business?! Maybe they don't like the splashback? Either way, I did peek in the basement just to make sure that nothing of major importance was on the floor(because obviously that's where we put the important things!) and as soon as I opened the door, I could see the water at the bottom of the stairs. Yikes. Good thing I've been in anti-hoarder mode lately! Just yesterday I had about 10 large black garbage bags filled with crapola that no one uses, hauled away by the garbage men. Most of it from the basement floor! It REALLY would have sucked having to throw it all out when it was sopping wet. So yay for me!
The reason I was up so late was because I spent 7 hours OUT of the house with the minis! Yes, my wonderful Mother In Law was with us, and Yes we had a great day! (It's always an adventure when we get together!) However....holy exhausting Batman. It's one thing to be with the kids all day in their own environment. But a whole 'nother ball game when you're out and about with them. I now know why they exist and completely CONDONE the use of those "kid leashes". Especially when your outnumbered. And I'll say this, my kids are pretty good! They have manners and overall listen pretty well. So I can't even imagine it they didn't. Well......I just wouldn't leave the house with them I guess? But after a couple of hours in a store with them, I was ready to go straight to bed. My eldest has been begging to go to Grandma's lately, so after running around Ikea, my Mother In Law and I basically pretended we were in Sweden for the afternoon....meatballs and chocolate and lingdonberry sauce and giant blonde baby(Child 3).....we dropped Girl Scout cookies off to both my brothers-in-law and headed to her house to waste the evening away. Unfortunately, I forgot to stop at the liquor store first. Because as we pulled up to her house the debauchery began. The two littlest minis were fast asleep in their carseats. My Mom In Law got out first in the torrential downpour to run up and unlock the door. Child 1 unbuckled his seatbelt and was coming to the front of the van to follow Grandma, when the baby woke up coughing, followed quickly by puking, then puking again, and once more for good measure. That's his super power you see, when he's sick...and mucusy(I know that's not a real word)he coughs, and pukes. Awesome! I'm looking at the huge, wet pile of swedish meatballs and animal crackers wondering why I didn't just go home. I tell Child 1 "tell Grandma the baby puked, I'll be in in a few minutes" and help him out of the van to go into the house. Believe it or not, this puking event is not even the icing on the cake yet! The evening slowly(ok, not so slowly) degenerated from there. I mopped up Child 3 as best as possible and carried him into the house where he was quickly bathed by Grandma! Whew! Did I have spare clothes? Negatory. You'd think since he's my THIRD CHILD, I would have learned by now. What can I say? I'm slow I guess. I did manage to find a hoodie floating(not literally) in the van that fit him so he walked around Grandma's house in that and a diaper for the remainder of our visit. While he was getting cleaned up, I woke up Child 2 from her lovely little car nap and carried her and our 18 bags of child crap(not one of which had a clean outfit for my "little" man)into the house. I'm immediately nervous for the resident cats. My kids were raised with 2 Rottweiller mutts who are pretty resilient, and ridable! They love animals and are quite convinced that all animals should love them back. Including these poor Ragdolls that they stalk the whole time we're there. I'm pretty sure the cats don't love them back. They're beautiful, long haired cats that were raised in a home that no children live in(lucky). And even though kids are in and out of the house all the time, the cats have a safe haven(the bedroom) where they can retreat to when danger aka KIDS arrive! Did I mention their long flowy locks? Did I mention I'm allergic to cats? LOL Now in my past, I've only really had a problem if I touched a cat and then my face. However, when you have 3 little ankle biters rolling around on the floor like friggin lint brushes and then jumping on your face....you are destined to have at least one cat hair fly up into your sinuses. It did.....along with many of it's friends I'm sure. Because I almost gave myself a hernia and almost pee'd myself from sneezing. Let me mention here, that this is a very touchy subject with my Mom In Law. She feels personally responsible for my allergies. This kind of cracks me up a little. And had we been spending the entire day there, I probably would have popped a Claritin or something, but I usually don't expect to be in that rough of shape after only a couple of hours! Anyway, it was funny to watch her cringe every time I sneezed. Which was a LOT! I even made her turn to wine!! At one point I'm pretty sure she was going to recommend that I snort some just to kill the allergens in my sinuses, but she resisted the urge. The only reason I mention the allergy issue, is because it added insult to injury when it came to managing the minis. Every time I went to speak/yell/chase them, I had to sneeze....leading to me having to cross my legs so I didn't wet my pants....then snot would be flying out of my nose while I was trying to discipline them, which in turn, led to them laughing at me instead of running in fear. Ugh. It's very hard to be effective when you're near wetting your pants and your nose is dripping. So there's a little FYI for ya! Grandma insisted on feeding them since I'm pretty sure she could see I was close to waving the white flag for the day. The entire time before dinner was served, my older two were wreaking havoc similar to the prior week's events and Child 3 was in every drawer, cabinet, nook, cranny, and other place that a one year old shouldn't be. So I had to police the entire house from his little exploratory digits while attempting(and failing miserably)at handling the others. Eventually I just sat on the stoop by the kitchen. This is about the time that the water was put on the stove to boil. My Mother In Law is very perceptive! So the kids were fed. They were ornery at the table. And I finally decided we'd tortured poor Grandma enough for the day, it was time to pack up. I wisely decided to get the older two out first with all our bags then come back for the baby. It was raining after all. No need to try to get all three out in one shot. I handed Child 1 his raincoat, and while Grandma was helping Child 2 with hers, she noticed a not-so-pleasant smell wafting up. Did I mention I couldn't smell at this point? So I went to change her before loading them into the van and she protested saying "I want Grandma to change me!". I'm SO sure Grandma really wanted that task, but like the wonderful person she is, she said "of course I'll change your diaper!" and went about her business. You didn't think this would be without event did you? Once all wiped and a new diaper was almost on her tiny hiney....Child 2 says "I peed". So I'm thinking she pee'd on the floor or something. We go to check and sure enough, it's not PEE. It's remnants of the OTHER stuff that was just removed. And it's on the rug....and on the outside of the fresh new diaper....and on the back of her hand. EW! So now I'm cleaning the rug, while she's cleaning her hand and we're both trying to put humpty dumpty back together again. I throw Child 2's raincoat on and start heading out the door to put them in the van when we realize the baby is nowhere in sight. No big deal. How much trouble could he possibly get into? That's when I heard the shriek from my Mother In Law and the splashing which was Child 3 having a blast "fishing" in the toilet. Of course! Van loaded, tires squealing away. Phew! At least ONE of us will have a little peace and quiet. Child 2 sang the entire ride home. I didn't expect The Hubbs to be home when I got there, what a pleasant surprise! I felt the weight come off my shoulders when I saw his truck at the house. It was only a matter of time that they'd all be in their beds sleeping. Whew! I couldn't even text my Mother In Law thanking her for a fun day....which I did have...it was the night that turned to poop(literally). I just barely had the energy to pop the top off my beer and pour it into a glass before crashing on the couch for the night. Thank God for tiny bursts of energy throughout the evening to refill my glass. Because The Hubbs fell asleep on the other couch pretty early. I had to fend for myself!
Cheers to a dry weekend folks!

Dance

Now I know this doesn't give me the happiest of feelings. But I search for it on YouTube every once in a while and it takes me the better part of an hour to find it. SO....I'm posting it. Not necessarily for YOU, but so I can view it, without the hour-long search.
Music moves me.
Nothing like it moves these people! But my soul dances.
xo
Me

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAXL7Go8ptw

UGH...this site is giving me a hard time posting the link, so just copy and paste it....it's totally worth your time :)

Things that make you go hmmmmmmmmmmm

So hell week is over. Kind of. The kids are still going through whatever it is they're going through. But it seems to be on the upswing at least. Maybe it's just the combination of being sick and the end of winter-beginning of Spring cabin fever thing? I don't know, and quite frankly, I'm tired of talking about it. LOL
We had a birthday party to go to yesterday afternoon. And by the time we came home last night, all 3 kids were passed out and placed gently into their beds(where we changed them into jammies and they totally slept through the whole process!!!). Then we each took a breath of fresh air. Ahhhhhhhhh. Quiet time. We were beyond exhausted, but were up for watching some DVR'd tv together. Oh....and I made a snack because we all know how easy it is to actually EAT when you're juggling 3 kids at a party. Not so much.
We sat on the couch...the same couch and actually had some US time where we weren't doing anything else but just sitting with each other watching tv. And you wanna know the weird part? It was awkward. Not uncomfortable by any means. And maybe awkward is the wrong word? But I realized that it had been SO long that we had any time to just concentrate on US. And last night was one of the first times I can remember in a LONG while that we did that. It was almost foreign. We've been baby making/raising machines for the past 5 years and that has been all consuming. Now that the littlest of our clan is a year old, I think it's time to step back and take care of US....the US that started all of this. We love each other. There's no doubt about that. But we certainly haven't made our relationship any sort of priority recently. We're either too tired, too busy, too occupied with something else....the list could go on I'm sure. I would imagine most young couples in "family growing" mode go through this. But when you sit back and analyze it(like I just did while doing laundry)....it's pretty scary to think that all the feelings and all the love that started this family, have been put on the back burner.
Anyway.......I'm on it! Time to resurrect the relationship that used to make other people envious.
:)
Yay....a new project!

Throwback Night?!

So I guess we were feeling a little delirious nostalgic last night and when someone(we seriously have no idea which kid was making noise) started the dreaded noise, we brought the baby into our room to sleep in the Pack N Play. After all, it's been a while since a baby slept in our room! Let me say this, whoever coined the phrase "slept like a baby" should be caned in public. If I'm not mistaken, that phrase is meant to describe a blissful, uninterrupted sleep? Not the kind that REAL babies have when they move every 3 1/2 minutes? Whatever. Even with an extra person in the room, I managed to get more sleep last night than I have in the last 4 days combined. WOOT! The dogs were even kind enough to turn their fart dials down to about 6 last night so we weren't woken up constantly gasping for breath. They DO love us!!
I did the unmentionable yesterday and kept my sweet Angel of a daughter up from her nap even though she barely slept the night before. I earned my cape yesterday, that's for sure. So at brinnertime(I served another gourmet meal of eggs, bacon, and bagels ie: Brinner-Breakfast for dinner) she actually fell asleep in her chair. If it weren't for the bacon(she's a disturbing carnivore)she probably wouldn't have lasted 5 minutes. But she couldn't resist chomping of a few slices. Once she passed out, I carried her up to her bed, changed her, and didn't hear from her again for another 13 hours. Tired much?! Well, I may have heard from her, but it wasn't anything that warranted a visit to their bedroom for attention, only to snatch the baby from his crib and bring him to our quiet, not as smelly as usual, bedroom. And right now she's happy as a clam in her Cruella Deville coat wearing no pants watching Bubble Guppies on tv. Joy to the World!
Child 1 is home from school today since he's coughing like a 2 pack a day smoker and is napping at 9 am?! And sweet little Child 3 is sitting staring at me covered in his own boogers. I'm thinking today might be a good day to clean....a LOT.
On another note.......we're having mattress issues. Our new mattress was delivered last Saturday and The Hubbs and I have a difference of opinion. Weird, I know. He seems to feel that we could bounce quarters off of our new bed and that this is a bad thing. Where I am just happy for a surface that isn't the floor or our old mattress that crippled me, to catch my 20 minutes of zzzzz's a night! According to the retailer, we have 2 weeks to decide if it's the one for us. If not, we can pay a nominal charge to switch mattresses again. So let the count down begin! I'm pretty sure that at this point in my life, I could sleep standing up. So I'm sure he'll "win" and we'll end up trying out at least one more mattress. But after reading the Twilight series along with every other tween girl(what?! It was a good read!) and um....having my daughter around for 2 1/2 years....I'm thinking becoming a vampire might actually suit me! I've always had a funny feeling about Child 2. Even when she was still in my belly, there was something different about her. She's wise beyond her years and has a frightening relationship with meat. Basically, I'd rather rip a hot meal out of a rabid mountain lion's mouth than get in between Child 2 and a slab of meat. This is why I waited until she fell asleep at the table last night! I wouldn't dare suggest she leave any bacon behind. Anyway, back to the vampire thing. It would be cool. I wouldn't have that whole tired-all-the-time thing going on and being up all night wouldn't bother me one bit! And I like meat just as much as the next guy. So it's all good. I'm not even sure anyone would even notice. I'm so pale this time of year, if you look closely enough, you can actually watch the blood flow through my veins. Sexy, I know. The Hubbs is one lucky guy ;)
On that note, I'm off to clean a bit. Good news is Child 3 is no longer covered in his own snot. Bad news: I now have to change my pants after he wiped his face on them. Guess I'll do some laundry too! Maybe I'll work on my "Muah Ha Ha" laugh....Dracula did that right? Or was that the Count Chocula? Eh....whatever...I don't want to be that scary anyway.

This could very well be added to my tattoo collection!

Today's Chuckle

Well since my night didn't end up so great, and I was awoken by the shrieks of Child 2 on this lovely morning, I have made the decision to stay in my jammies all day. Not that it makes me feel better by any means. But it's kind of my "flipping off the world today" attitude. And much more conducive than walking around with my middle finger waving in the air all day. My hair is a mess, no make up. Big comfy brown slippers. Blue and green floral pj bottoms, a very old green T-shirt, and an even older....too small....green robe. I know I sound incredibly color coordinated, right?! Wrong. All the greens are off a bit. Enough to almost make you want to have a seizure when you look directly at me. At least that was the look on the face of our PSE&G guy that gently tapped on our front window this morning to read our meter. Poor guy. He's really nice too. I was kind enough to spare him the obstacle course that is my living room and basement. I ran (ok,kind of slipped) down the basement stairs to get the reading off the meter to tell it to him. When I opened the front door, he looked like he wanted to ask if everything was alright, but instead averted his eyes to his keypad thingy and mumbled "have a nice day" when he walked briskly away from the house. Funny thing is, it's usually the two very large barking dogs that scare him once a month! So I'm feeling mildly powerful right now! And thinking of hiding in the bushes for the mailman later just to make me giggle again :)
Bonus?!
I took the time this morning to put a bra on before venturing downstairs. Otherwise I'd imagine that poor meter man would be handing in his resignation this afternoon. Goes to show you a bad day for me can turn into a lucky day for someone else!
:)

When life gives you lemons.............

.......shove them in your ears so you can't hear my daughter screaming. Good Lord. She woke up(and subsequently woke ALL of us up) at 12:30am. Yep that's what time MY day started today. Jealous yet? She makes this....noise........it's very hard to describe but if it's not THE most annoying noise in the world, it's a close second. Well, she woke up at 12:30 making this noise which of course woke up her brothers(unavoidable with the whole shared room thing-----WHAT WERE WE THINKING?!?!?!) I attempted to calm her down, but when she gets in this mood, she refuses to answer questions like, "what's wrong?" or "are you hurt?". I held her. She chilled out for a bit. Long enough at least for me to calm her baby brother with a bottle and climb back into my own bed and almost fall asleep. Then she started up again. Waking the boys, again. I tried letting it go a bit, probably out of pure laziness if I'm being honest with myself, but you see the girl is more stubborn than me and my husband combined. I do wonder sometimes why we decided to procreate. We might be the two most thick headed people on the planet!? Deductive reasoning would dictate that at least ONE of our kids would be like us....or worse. Ugh. So "the noise" which escalates into screaming eventually, continued for 3 hours. Did I mention she was stubborn? Yeah. I brought her in our bed. That was fun. I was trying to give the boys a little break from the noise, but the whole 3 feet across the hall didn't offer the silence I'd hoped. She threw an all out fit here. Kicking. Screaming. Making "the noise" even louder. Oy vey. After trying about 32 different tactics, The Hubbs finally scooped her up around 3am and brought her to our spare bedroom/playroom downstairs. Where her shrieking managed to wake up the baby one more time from an entirely different level of the house. Impressive. I felt bad for The Hubbs. But, I'm pretty sure he could feel me shaking from rage and lack of sleep and even though he had to work in the morning, he sacrificed a little discomfort for an ounce(or the hope that an ounce would regrow itself during R.E.M) of sanity for me. Today is one of those days that I'd give my left arm up to go to WORK even though I'd be dead on my feet. So I don't feel too bad for him. Staying home with 3 exhausted kids, 2 that are sick(the boys......so they have man-colds like their Daddy), and one very sleep deprived Mommy does not make a wonderful combination. It's not even 10am here. Things are going alright, all things considered. But I threw a movie in to occupy the kids. The creative side of my brain needs sleep. Imagine THAT?! So I'm having trouble coming up with any other constructive ways to occupy them. This will have to do for now. Lest the screaming or "the noise" begin again.
I have planned a few things for later like, snack time and afternoon lockdown.
I personally can't wait for either!
I'm thinking during the latter, I might even snort a pot of coffee down my gullet in record time.
Call Guinness!!!

Dinner time aka......please shoot me

So I just picked myself up from the dinner table and abandoned The Hubbs with all 3 minis.
Why? Child 1 pisses and moans about every bite he has to take AND has to be reminded to chew when something finally finds it's way into his mouth. Child 3 is on a screaming tear. I don't have a clue what his issue is, I can only guess that he's going to be an early talker because he seems to be screaming in frustration of not being able to communicate. Until then, he screams. My dear friend Johi will be quite familiar with this baby behavior. And while my blood pressure rises and rises and threatens to make my head actually pop right off, Child 2 hums or sings the entire time we are at the table. It. Is. Infuriating.
I hate to be THAT person. You know...the one that gives up and just holds her shaking head in her hands. But I'm only human! And tonight was ROUGH. Side note: While I was cooking dinner Child 3 sat directly under my feet the entire time screaming and slamming cabinets and Child 1 asked me 4,127 questions. Luckily I was down a child since The Hubbs took Little Miss Thang to The Depot. Woot Woot! And it was beautifully warm out this evening so I opened the door to the deck and let some fresh air in. Hubbs came home and I sicked the boys on him and ran to the grill for some SERENITY. I'm sorry........does anyone else think I sound like a man after reading this?! LOL I find peace in grilling, manual labor, fresh air combined with peace and quiet, and cold beer. Um........has anyone seen my testes?

Hello again

So I've been M.I.A. for a while now. Sorry folks. Aside from my entire life hanging in limbo with a possible move totally up in the air, I've been suffering(ok not "suffering" per say) with a case of the winter blues. By this of course I mean eating everything in sight, not venturing far from the couch(unless it's to the fridge), and generally just looking out the window cursing at Mother Nature. I was over winter the day after Christmas. I was doing my best as a parent to suit the minis up in their 18 layers of clothes daily to send them out in the lovely white stuff to thoroughly enjoy their childhood. And then even THEY got sick of it. Our outgrown house has a severe lack of closet space on the first floor. So there are snow boots and mittens and hats and snow pants and jackets strewn about that I try to tuck into various inconspicuous places throughout the house so unexpected company wouldn't think I held up the driver of the local Good Will truck! I refuse to pack them up for good because the second I do, the minis will unanimously decide they are now snow bunnies. So I'll probably leave them down here until Memorial Day-ish. Just in case. To make myself feel better, I've been throwing things out again. :) Random "just in case" items that I've now decided(after having 3 kids and no where to store all the crap that comes along with them) that the "just in case" moment will never come. And I'm okay with that. I cleared out the kids playroom AGAIN. Boxing up toys that they barely touch except to throw on the floor for the sole purpose of stepping on. I strategically did this during Child 1's naptime. I just about had everything exactly where I wanted it.....a box full of stuff they don't touch, that takes up WAY too much room, all ready to go in the basement for storage......when he walked in and said "I STILL PLAY WITH THOSE". Sure you do kiddo. While he was picking through my stash, explaining in ridiculous detail for a 4 year old why I shouldn't pack these up, I nodded and hastily threw a bunch of other crapola into the box just to accomplish my goal. Sort of.
Then, off to Home Depot we went! You see......the weather this past weekend was Springlike. Temperatures in the high 40's maybe even low 50's. Snow was melting at a pace rapid enough to empty into our basement. The sun was shining. The kids were in heavy hoodies playing on the deck. It was bliss. Then The Hubbs opened his big mouth........"I really feel like this might be the end of winter". COME ON! You know we'll have at least one more blizzard just because Mother Nature thinks she's funny!!!! Way to jinx the weather Dude.
But, we were both feeling Springy and decided to drag the minis to "The Depot" for some much needed home improvement stuff and to search for our Spring Projects. We both get into clean out mode when the weather gets nice. We spend days at a time outside cleaning out the garage, throwing down fresh mulch, shoveling snow from the yard into the driveway so it melts faster(I kid you not), and one year just moving bushes around the yard just to create yard work for ourselves. It makes us feel good. The kids join in too! Last year the 2 older kids moved garden rocks from one "garden" area to another, and then back again a few days later. It took them HOURS! And they loved every second of it. We didn't even ask them to do it. As a matter of fact we were kind of pissed when we looked over and half the rocks were gone?! But they had a blast. And I'm a firm believer that hard work molds a person. I made sure to bring out a large pitcher of lemonade for them and plenty of snacks! Secretly I was thinking I had to make it look good for when DYFS showed up I guess. But either way, they love working outdoors just like we do and it's very memorable family time for all of us. Heaven actually.....with lots and lots of dirt!
So while perusing the garden/patio furniture area of The Depot the kids were getting  antsy so I yelled out "whoever finds a gnome first gets a treat" and watched the older two spring into action! I turned slowly to capture the priceless look The Hubbs was giving me.....a strange humored look with a "I could smack the crap out of you right now" grimace. Fun times!! You see, my dear Uncle that shares my sense of humor calls my husband a gnome because of his....stature. To clarify, my Uncle cracks himself up! Okay and most of the people in a 20' radius as well, but usually at someone else's expense. Whatever, it's funny. I would never call my husband short and he certainly isn't round like a garden gnome. I would describe him and always have, as stocky! It's the build I've always preferred in men, and wouldn't have it any other way. But where The Hubbs has the perfect build for my taste....my tall, skinny(kind of) Uncle thinks he looks like a gnome. And this has been the running joke in my family, now the Hubbs' family and all our friends too for YEARS. Our kids are gnomies and gnomettes. And life is good. Not to mention quite hysterical at times when passing through a garden department of a hardware store especially with The Hubbs in tow. HA!
Anyway, it ended up that both kids got a treat after finding quite possibly the best lawn decor EVER! It was a  statue of a black bear lifting it's foot to see the squished gnome it had stepped on. BLAH HAHAHA! We all got a good chuckle and ended up having a pretty nice weekend.
I plan to write more now that I'm kind of, sort of, maybe sneaking some sleep here and there. We bought a new mattress this weekend because our old one was trying to kill us. And now if only the kids will stop waking me up in the middle of the night, I might actually get out of the bed in the morning without feeling like a 90 year old cripple. I can't WAIT!
Off to change a stinky then pick up Child 1 from preschool!
Have a great day and be on the look out for gnomes :)

:)

Ok so yesterday sucked. I apologize for my bi-polar posts. But I guess that's how I feel most of the time?! I'm thinking quite a few Mom's do. "they love me, they love me not. they appreciate me, they appreciate me not." That's pretty much what goes through my head all day long. Ugh. Why do our brains insist on torturing us like that?
Anyway,  The Hubbs is WAY more receptive than I give him credit for!! He came home last night and could just see the exasperated look on my face. I was half curled up on the couch, holding a squirming giant one year old and sitting next to Child 2 while she watched Little Bear(their nightly pre-bedtime ritual). Child 1 had been SO ornery and overtired that he was sent to bed shortly after dinner and fell asleep within 3 minutes of being put in there. Two late nights in a row over the weekend didn't agree with him. The little kids finished up their show and were escorted to bed. I could hardly muster up a welcoming smile or anything. The wind had totally been taken out of my sails. Boo hoo....I know....this is such a "poor me" week? What the hell?!?!?!?! Surprisingly, especially to me because I didn't think ANYTHING would drag me out of my funk, a few sweet questions made me cheer up instantly. "Can I get you anything at all babe?" "I'm sorry you had such a bad day." <complete with cute little pouty face and all. "Do you want me to run to the store and get you some cake?" This just made me outright laugh!!! And there you have it.
How to fix a woman.........1)care 2)SHOW that you care 3)offer to do something for her 4)be sweet and understanding 5)just add water(or wine....or beer......or shots) and
TA DA!!!!!!!!!! Instant human :)
Now today hasn't been perfect. Not even close. Our oldest is on a mission to make me scream at him all day. And I haven't yet. Yet. But The Hubbs is home. And I'm enjoying him being here with all of us. Even if I'm in the kitchen baking for Saturday and he's running errands. One of which is getting a new battery for the truck! HAPPY DANCE! At least he's here, and we can team up together. We always did that so perfectly. :)
I'm looking forward to tonight. After finishing the 472 chores on my list today, I can't wait to sit on the couch and snuggle up next to my love.

I'm having a darker day

Let's start by saying I'm PMSing....(TMI?!) but to be completely fair, I'm coming off a weekend by myself. The Hubbs was away for a service meeting from Friday till Sunday. Not a long stint alone at all, but one none the less. So I am completely exhausted! And less than thrilled with things around here anyway. I'm feeling.....stalled in any plans to move, sell the house, blah blah blah. I'm feeling bummed that The Hubbs was away for my lil man's first Birthday Saturday. I know he had nothing to do at all with the planning of this meeting. But I guess I would have liked to see him put a little fight into it. I hear from him that a bunch of other guys didn't show for one reason or another. Anyway, the fight is what makes everything worth it, right!? I like that in a person. To know that they go for what they want. Even if they don't get it. At least they tried and put their heart into it. I feel like I'm the only one who fights anymore. This bothers me. Maybe it's just the winter blues? I don't know.
What I do know is that the minis and I got to spend Saturday morning with my Mother-In-Law. She always knows how to make things special for everyone. I love that in a person. I love her. Just that she even thinks "It's Child 3's Birthday today, I must see him even if it's just for a few minutes". That's admirable, no two ways about it. And it was for more than a few minutes :) We shopped, we ate, we chatted and the minis were on exceptional behavior! It was a lovely morning. Followed by naps at home(for the minis of course) while I decorated cupcakes for a friend's party that night. By Brother-In-Law accompanied me to the bowling alley where the party was held and thank GOD....because there's no way I would have survived/been able to keep an eye on all 3 minis/or actually enjoyed myself without him there! The friends are great, don't get me wrong, but I just wouldn't have been able to even talk to them without his help watching at least one of the kids. He totally rocks by the way :)
But aside from all that we did do Saturday, we didn't do anything special just for Child 3. We go apple picking every year for Child 2 and pumpkin picking for Child 1. I can't help but feel I short-changed my youngest mini.
To add insult to injury, the trucks battery died Saturday night. I found this tidbit out AFTER loading all 3 kids, the Birthday Girl's gifts, and the cupcakes to be served at the party into the truck. I had to call that wonderful Brother-In-Law of mine up to jump the truck(he was supposed to meet us there). And then the next day,(in order to get to the airport to pick up The Hubbs from sunny Florida......WHAT?! I'm not bitter) I jumped the truck after finding a second set of jumper cables in our garage. I hooked them up to our van....which stalls if it goes up a hill or over 40mph. but DOES have a good battery. Apparently it's too much to ask to have a reliable vehicle lying around. My next door neighbor who I LOVE dearly, came and hung out with the minis who were once again all buckled up in their carseats, while Mommy jumped the dead battery. Ugh.
So.....I have a full week ahead of me. It started this morning. The Hubbs was gone by 6am for work. I proceeded to dress, feed, and get all 3 kids ready to drive the eldest to school. I have 14 thousand(maybe a little exaggeration) of laundry awaiting my attention in the basement and a house to get clean for Saturday! Not to mention, I totally feel pressured to out-do myself when it comes to the Birthday Boy's cake this year. I actually have to start baking for Saturday...today. I'm lacking motivation for all of this because I feel like I'm the only one excited about it. Yeah yeah the kids are. But they're kids. They get excited if I yell a color out!
Something just isn't right. And my fingers not quite on it. But I do feel (aside from my friggin unbelievably awesome in laws) that I walk alone most of the time. That's sucky. I want to plan and get excited about stuff with someone. Not just feel like I'm informing them of what's going to happen. Ugh.
And here's the kicker. A card was sent to Child 3 for his Birthday from my parents. I'm pretty sure I've mentioned our relationship in prior posts. There was the obligatory check from them, a very sweet card, and then a note for me in a tiny separate envelope. This is what it read(in my Mother's writing) "I fully intended on being there for Child 3's 1st Birthday as long as someone could have picked me up and taken me to the airport. It just wasn't meant to be."
I never received a phone call nor an email which is their preferred method of communication when there is any. So I'm a teeny bit confused here? Did I fail you somehow by not OFFERING this pick up/drop off service? Did you pretend in your head that we had some sort of conversation about this?
I wish I could say that I'm surprised by this. But here's the simple, harsh truth. I'm not even a little surprised. I'm ashamed to be from a family where talk is just that. Talk. You see.........my Mother prides herself on attending every single one of her grandchildren's First Birthdays. She boasts to her friends and family alike that she has never missed one.
But, they didn't come up when he was born. Or when I spent the week after he was born in the hospital by his side because he was hooked up to tubes and monitors and oxygen. It was a long week. I had the support of the people I love around me. Including a Dr that cared so much, that he put me on iron supplements and told the insurance companies I was anemic and needed to be there, JUST so I could stay with my newborn son.
And a year later, this guy is UNBELIEVABLY strong. You'd never know he was such a "wimp" when he was born.
This first birthday means a lot to me.
I'm going to shake off this pity party......I have to blame it on PMS and a loooooooong winter........and celebrate this amazing little boy! He deserves every ounce of my attention and the attention of 50 of our closest family members and friends this Saturday. I'm not kidding. I couldn't tailor this guest list even a little bit. All my in-laws will be there and are actually excited for the "event"! And only our closest friends that make a point to be in our lives, no matter how difficult we are to get in touch with sometimes!
Live. Love. Laugh.
Even if it goes against everything you were raised to believe
xo

HUGE NEWS!

No....I'm not pregnant.
And I guess it's not necessarily "huge" news, but I'm friggin excited. The founding editor of Cupcakes Take The Cake, which has been featured in the New York Times and is officially the largest cupcake blog ever, is a fan of my cupcake page on Facebook!!!!!!!  I had sent them a link to my page with a flattering email a while back in the hopes that they'd even look at it and apparently they DID. I'm in awe and kind of freaked out all at the same time. Little ol' me? Getting some real attention for the little cupcakes I make in my home? Wowza. This happened yesterday, so it still fresh in my brain and I'm just not too sure how to react.
In other me news...........I somehow pulled off the hugest order I've taken to date. It was for my sister-in-law's friends kids. They had a big party for their son(4) and daughter(6) with 80 something guests. I made two cupcake cakes, each comprised of approximately 50 cupcakes. The daughter had requested a Beach Barbie(it feels wrong to not capitalize that when I type it and I don't know why?) theme. She loves pink, purple, surfing, dolphins, and everything beachy. The son wanted a Toy Story theme which I took it upon myself to suggest the Andy's Room theme for that. I'll always be my toughest critic, and while the Barbie cake came out really nice, it couldn't stand up to the ridiculous detail on the Toy Story cake. To date, it's my most favorite project yet that I am most excited about. Before you view the picture below, here are a few things you should know : Buzz and Woody are the ONLY things not edible on this entire cake. I tried to make them, but with time constraints and two cakes to make, I cut my losses and sent The Hubbs to the party store where he found these little keychain guys to throw on there. There are no toothpicks holding anything in place or any other supports other than the cardboard platform covered in foil that it sits on. I made the headboard and footboard out of chocolate that I melted and put into a pastry bag. I then used a small decorators tip to follow the design I drew out and went over it a few times so it was thick enough to make the dreaded delivery drive! The base cake is made up of 45 cupcakes and the bed is 12 cupcakes(2 rows of 6 stacked on each other). All the characters, the floor, the bedspread, and the rug were all hand molded out of fondant by me :) The Birthday Boy's name is chocolate.

The only unfortunate thing about this is that the pictures didn't come out so great. The venue was pitch black. And I assembled parts of this once I got there so they didn't fall during delivery and ruin the cake. ie the headboard and stuff. So I couldn't really see what I was taking pictures of.

sneak peak of the inside of the bed

The dinosaur above is "Rex". He's leaning on the signature Pixar ball. And of course he's standing next to Mr. Potato Head.

^Slinky Dog^

detail of the bed before the characters were added. check out the "hardwood" floors!! (fondant)

Now the Beach Barbie cake did come out nice so I'll show you that too I suppose. I just feel that it came up short next to this one. 

The Birthday Girl's name is written in chocolate, and I used the Barbie "B"for an added little touch.

There were some fun little details in this cake. The sand is made of crushed Nilla wafers and makes it smell AMAZING!!!!!! Pretzyl rod dock. Beach towel, hat and flip flops under the palm tree. It was very cute!

even some little seashells by the "water"

So there you have it! I'm beaming with excitement and nerves. This might actually turn into something?!

DEEP BREATHS.

Mumford & Sons - The Cave

Just because I can..........I'm posting this song.

I LOVE this band...more like ADORE them.

It's been a long time since music has moved me. Like shake me, make me cry. Not at the words, but the music. They are AWESOME. Watch out if they come on tour locally....because I'll be calling you to babysit.

Enjoy :)

Whats that smell?

Sniff....sniff?
In a moment of caffeinated clarity at the breakfast table this morning.......I realized that smell was me. I can't be 100% sure, but I think the last time I showered was two days ago. Not that that's completely unheard of around here. But these snow days are really screwing with my days. I have to go on my computer every morning to see what day it is. THAT'S bad!
So The Hubbs is home today and decided to take Child 1 to "the beer making store" after breakfast. NO not the liquor store! I mean it's only 9am folks........what kind of parents do you think we ARE?!?!?! My beloved brews his own beer...one of the many reasons I married him. He's very resourceful! And tonight "the guys" are coming up to brew a batch. This includes The Hubbs actually doing all the work while the rest of us helpful folks just sit around and drink beer already brewed :) I LOVE brew nights. Anyway, he needed some last minute supplies and took Child 1 out before cabin fever completely overtook his person.
Child 2 is drawing pictures and Child 3 is still buckled in his booster seat munching on Cheerios and sipping on his morning milk. While child services wasn't looking.....I turned on a Laurie Berkner CD and asked Child 2(at the ripe old age of 2) to watch her baby brother while I hopped in the shower to get the sheen out of my hair.
It's amazing how wonderful a shower can make you feel. It was a quick one, but cleansing none the less. Good thing I don't have to worry about pesky things like shaving my legs or anything. Whew! Marriage is grand!!!!
Life is good..........beer AND cupcakes will be made in this house this weekend!
PERFECTION SQUARED!

A Brand New Day

Isn't it amazing what a decent night's sleep and a little break can do for one's outlook?! I passed out....like snoring and drooling OUT...at 10pm last night. This is unheard of for me. So apparently I needed it. I was SO unconscious that The Hubbs had to get up with our daughter in the middle of the night because she was yelling. She does this when she wakes up in the middle of the night because it pisses her off that she woke up. So she makes this awful yelling/pushing noise that makes the veins in her neck stick out. Lovely. And all we have to do is walk in her room and lay her pretty little 2 year old head back on her pillow and she falls back asleep. This doesn't take a lot of energy on our part. And SOMEHOW The Hubbs heard her before I did and went in there. This. Is. Monumental. He hasn't gone in the kids' room without being asked to since...since....before we had kids?!  Awesome! Obviously a great day was in the making. The minis awoke, and our day started. Business as usual. Not all pleasantness. Fat Bastard shat or puked (unfortunately none of us could tell WHICH) on the friggin rug again. But other than that, things were looking up! It was snowing, so The Hubbs decided to go into work a little later today. And then these magical words flew like glitter covered rainbows from his lips "why don't you run out to Target for a bit while I stay here with the kids?" What? WHAT?! OKAY!!!! Snow be damned. I hopped in the shower which was nice and hot for once. Proceeded to have an entirely uninterrupted shower(weird...usually at LEAST one person pops their head in the bathroom to "see what I'm doing"). And booked out of the house lightning fast before The Hubbs could change his mind.
I realized after I returned home that I never even turned the radio on!!! I just sat back and enjoyed the silence :)
Isn't it sad that this is my guilty pleasure these days? HAHA Who cares. I'm in a good mood!
So I headed to Target to pick up Fat Bastard's anti seizure meds. Unfortunately they don't carry anti puke/shit on the rug meds. But whatever. And I strolled aisle to aisle mindlessly picking up items I knew we needed. Rug Cleaner> CHECK. Milk(of course....everywhere I stop I pick up milk....I may just buck up and buy a cow this Spring)> CHECK. Laundry Detergent> CHECK. Mini Toothpaste> CHECK. And of course some other stuff too. If you really care to hear my entire shopping list, message me. LOL
My gentle stroll through Target ended at the checkout which was virtually empty and I let a woman with her little girl go ahead of me. When she thanked me I chuckled "no problem....I'm out without the kids....in NO rush" and quickly reminded myself of my father! Yikes!
The drive home was uneventful but Quiet. Peaceful even.
And when I got home the minis greeted me like I'd been away for months! The Hubbs needed to go to work, so I prepared lunch(newly purchased mac n cheese) and he left for the. While it's a "tad" louder in here than it was in the car....I'll take it. The minis are being good and playing relatively nicely together. At least one of them(the baby) has a nap in his near future. And I'm accomplishing things other than just blogging today.
Fun quote of the day: Child 1 comes up to me after The Hubbs leaves for work and says "Mommy, we should have 10 more babies! So you should go eat 10 eggs for lunch and when they're in your belly, turn them into babies!"
And this is how my children will explain the "act" of procreation for years to come if I can help it. Who needs a stork when they come up with this very intelligent explanation all on their own?!
PS
I threw out all the eggs. Just in case.
:)

Where do I even begin?!?!

So I've been on a downward spiral lately. Don't know why? I'm a pretty optimistic person. And I'm quite motivated to get outta Dodge. But I swear "stuff" keeps getting in my way so I can't do anything to make this happen. I'd pay GOOD money...ok I don't actually have any but if I did, I would......for some sleep so I could wake up one morning and just get everything I want taken care of, taken care of. WHY is this such a tall order lately?
Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa. I know I know.....we all have these spurts of crap-filled days. But this is mine. Just remember>you signed in to read this, I didn't call you to bitch! (yet) hehe

So where do I begin. Officially our day starts at midnight. SO......at 12:21am I was awakened by the wonderful wretching noise that I've become so familiar with. Except this time it wasn't the dog?! It came over the baby monitor and was the sound of my daughter puking all over herself, her bed, the floor near the bed, the night table, her pj's, and I swear there was a splat on the door too. She's such a trooper though. Her sweet little two year old self just said "I puked. I'm tired. Please change me MaMa?" I smiled even though I felt like puking myself. I don't think I'll ever go near those oatmeal breakfast squares OR peaches ever again. The smile was because she's just so awesome no matter how crappy she feels. She knew she was a little under the weather, but really just wanted to have clean, dry clothes on and go back to bed. Mommy's little girl <3 Unlike my 4 year old son who already makes the rest of us suffer through his "mancold". You know.......the cold only a man can get that he feels coming 3-4 days in advance and makes everyone suffer 10x more than he actually does for the duration of it?! I've birthed 3 minis and haven't asked for that much attention. So now the trait has been passed on to my eldest. And I'm sure it's only a matter of time until the baby, also a male, picks up on this dreadful behavior and follows suit. Hopefully Mommy can teach them a little something about how self pity doesn't pay off. But THAT will have to be a battle for another, less smelly day in my household.
So I changed my daughter and her linens and cleaned the general area surrounding her bed and she fell back asleep instantly. Child 3 was less than content throughout the night though. So I kept waking to him crying. Then I'd go in their room only to find he'd fell asleep in the time it took for me to climb out of bed and walk alllllllllllll the way across the hall. Then I'd walk alllllllllllll the way back to my bed, get all cozy back under the covers, almost fall back asleep and he'd start at it again. This went on all night until about 5am. Then he passed out hard, as did I. 6:15 was the next time I saw on the clock in our room. I looked up to check the time because I heard my older two picking out clothes for the day. It will never cease to amaze me how self sufficient 4 and 2 year olds can be!! Of course they failed to remember their little brother(who had JUST fallen back to sleep after a night of on again-off again crying) was in the crib in the SAME room. So they woke him up as well! Awesome. Luckily, he was in a decent mood all things considered. and didn't mind hanging out in his crib for a while so Mommy could procrastinate getting out of bed a little longer.
But the second the older minis walked down the stairs we hear "MOM. DAD. CHAUNCEY (aka Fat Bastard) POOPED ON THE LIVING ROOM RUG!" You know you should pull the covers over you head and just try again tomorrow WHEN_________________all of the above happens. Ugh.
The Hubbs took care of that issue, and I crankily rolled out from under the covers that I feel like I hardly know any more, and threw on the same clothes I was wearing the day before so I could get everyone ready and take Child 1 to preschool. Child 3 spared me of a blowout(a trend of his for the past 4 or 5 days) so I felt there was some chance the day would turn out ok. Child 2 seemed to be feeling just fine. She has communication "issues" sometimes though, so we can never be 100% sure. We'll ask "do you feel ok honey?" to which she responds "no". This really means "no-there's nothing wrong with me". This is particularly fun when she's actually crying and hurt and you have to name every part of her body at least twice and STILL end up pushing on things to see if she reacts to find out what actually hurts. We're working on this. We got through breakfast. Child 1 was ornery. But it all worked out ok. The Hubbs left for work. I packed the minis in the van and headed to school. Everything seemed like it was going to be ok. I come back home with the younger two and before I have my little girl's jacket off, she pukes on the rug. Joy. But once again the trooper, she wipes her mouth on her sleeve(oh great) and says "I puked MaMa" as the baby speeds toward it. This is exactly the point that I decided there is no rescuing today, it's better that I just make another pot of coffee and accept that this is how it's going to be today. Don't fret....Child 3 was scooped up by yours truly before he could splash around in the fresh pile o' vomit! So at least ONE thing went right today :)
Here is my optimistic view for today........Child 2 puked in the exact same spot Fat Bastard shit. So at least the rug will only need a deep scrubbing in ONE spot today :)
I'm trying I'm trying. In an attempt to keep being smiley.....I'll refrain from telling you how Child 3 spit up his milk all over himself in the van and how Child 1 came home from school even MORE ornery than when he left. Oh....I'll also leave out the fact that the weathermen are calling for another "nor easter". Those are getting really fun! Better get snow rations in the house(aka liqour).
Keep smiling........it makes them wonder what you're up to ;)

Newer Cupcake Creations

I have yet to update the Widget at the top of my blog with new pics of some of my latest projects. And seeing as I'm having a completely overwhelming feeling wash over me the past few days(ok, maybe that's an understatement), I'm doing this the quick and easy way by just posting the pics on here :) Forgive my laziness....something's gotta give somewhere! Right?!

This came out AWESOME! (holy patting myself on the back Batman!!) But I can't help it.....it really looks SO much better than it did in my head! (hence the surprise in my "voice" and the back patting)

For my 13 year old niece! Very chic :)

Fun with Fondant

Check out the buckle! So cute!

This is by far my most favorite TASTING cupcake yet! Chocolate Candy Cane: rich, moist, chocolate cupcakes filled with dark chocolate peppermint ganache(A-MA-ZING), iced with pink vanilla buttercream and sprinkled with candy cane pieces. YUM!

I have a TON of orders coming up now. It was kind of slow (thankfully) around Christmas and is picking up with a vengeance! I'm booked through March :)

Yay for cupcakes!

Happy Wednesday

That's what I posted on a friends' FB wall right before I dragged my arse to the nearest dentist where he promptly pulled out two of my teeth. The pain started yesterday afternoon. Making the mere opening of one of the minis' mouths hurt the very depths of my brain. But I had other things to worry about AND the Hubbs was at work. Bringing all three of them along for the ride sounded like the beginnings of a horror movie to me. Not to mention they'd probably leave with a deep seated fear of the dentist after watching him rip 2 of mommy's teeth from her mouth. Now I'd love to say right now that I feel better, but this is not entirely the case. If only there were a "Mommy Recoup" place. I think it would be packed all the time! But I think they would make extra room for people that just lost body parts and stuff like that. Then I could pop some "super" Motrin (which is the prescription The Hubbs is picking up as I type) and sleep until the pain wore off. Or at least until I were able to not squint when someone spoke to me in an even tone. UGH. And as I speak, the TV is babysitting my daughter....the cartoon on is called Olivia, and there is a JACKHAMMER on it right now?! Are you kidding me?!
So it's 2:30pm here....and I feel the makings of a loooooooooong day coming. Unless some miracle from the Heavens above comes to me and I'm actually able to take a little nap! But the minis have been a little........off today, NOT making things easy for the Hubbs. And in turn, probably won't be easy for me to sleep.
Wish me luck!