Just got home from the "warehouse club" with three of the four. FUN!
I have been lurking around the internet for a while reading other "mommy blogs" and watching the arguments rise around silly things. Is being a SAHM hard or not? Can you feed kids healthy food on a limited budget? One thing I have tried to keep as my personal motto, yet is the hardest to actually follow is "Judge not, lest ye be judged".
Can you feed kids healthy food on a LIMITED budget? Sure, but don't talk about "the correct way" to feed teenagers until there is actually one living in your house! There is a big difference between making a 6 year old or a growing 6'2" teenage boy eat something. Though, for the record I have found teenagers will eat practically anything...
Do I think that being a SAHM is a hard job? NO. Do you want to know why? Because it is not a JOB, it's a vocation. If you look at it as a "job" YOU WILL BE DISAPPOINTED. Last time I checked I did not get paid vacation, a raise, performance bonuses, travel expenses. I cannot quit because I am bored, not challenged or something better has come along. You can do that with a job. I AM a mom. But I will never "be" my job.
6/22/07
6/21/07
Let's try this again
Ah summer, time to relax hang out, clean the attic? What? I had so many plans for the summer. Actually take the time to write, to read and I have done nothing. Oh well, as my favorite internet guru/fairy (Flylady)says, "You are not behind, jump in where you are!" So, here I am, again...
This week I have done 3 things that I have been putting off and off and off! What a wonderful feeling, now I only have 27 more to go.... :) It's a slow start. Anyone want to scrape popcorn ceilings with me? Waterproof a basemement? Paint basement paneling? Refinish my deck? These are all projects that I have begun and neglected to finish. You think with 2 teens and a tween in the house I would have all kinds of free labor, right? HAHA HAHA! Check again!
Well, I must run, the tree guys are coming to take down a near dead pine at the end of my driveway. I keep thinking that I could save $500 and do it myself-- somehow-- but I am not too good with sharp instruments (or trees and bushes for that matter :))
This week I have done 3 things that I have been putting off and off and off! What a wonderful feeling, now I only have 27 more to go.... :) It's a slow start. Anyone want to scrape popcorn ceilings with me? Waterproof a basemement? Paint basement paneling? Refinish my deck? These are all projects that I have begun and neglected to finish. You think with 2 teens and a tween in the house I would have all kinds of free labor, right? HAHA HAHA! Check again!
Well, I must run, the tree guys are coming to take down a near dead pine at the end of my driveway. I keep thinking that I could save $500 and do it myself-- somehow-- but I am not too good with sharp instruments (or trees and bushes for that matter :))
2/20/07
At a loss for creativity -- here's a meme you can copy tag me if you want and I will come check you out :)
1. What time did you get up this morning? 6:15
2. Diamonds or Pearls? Diamonds!
3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema?
4. What is your favourite TV show? HEROS! and Alias (RIP).
5. What did you eat for breakfast? Raisin toast - yummy
6. What foods do you dislike? Brussel sprouts UGH.
7. Your favourite potato chip? Salt and Pepper
8. What is your favourite CD at the moment? Iam still on a Jack Johnson kick-- even if we aren't at the beach
9. What kind of car do you drive? Reliable (cough) 8 year old mini-van HEY, it's paid for!
10. Favourite sandwich? Boarshead oven-roasted turkey and tomato (+ salt)
11. What characteristics do you despise? Grudges, know-it-alls, rudeness, selfishness, and stupidity
12. What are your favourite clothes? GAP jeans and a v-necked t-shirt (long sleeve in winter- short in summer I am so predictable)
13. If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation, where would you go? 3month tour of Europe
14. What colour is your bathroom? green and aqua blue.
15. Favourite brand of clothing? doesn't matter as long as I got a deal!
16. Favourite time of day? That first cup of coffee!.
17. Where would you want to retire to?Someplace urban -- away from the suburbs.
18. Favourite sport to watch? little league baseball, high school volleyball (biased?)
19. Coke or Pepsi? Diet coke.
20. Are you a morning person or night owl? morning!
21. Any new and exciting news you'd like to share? I am finally learning how to back off from all my volunteer commitments!
22. What did you want to be when you were little? A vet/fireman/nun (hell of a combination, huh?)
23. What is your best childhood memory? Vacations at Houghton Lake, summer swimteam
24. Nicknames? Gooch (kind a loving dad to a pre-teen...) Kath
25. Piercings? Ears- one with 3 holes (anybody else have more than one hole? Have I finally passed that point when my mom said to me-- how will you look at 38 with all those holes in your ear???)
26. Eye Colour? Blue, blue/grey
27. Favourite day of the week? Friday
28. Favourite restaurant? tough one, don't go out much
29. Favourite ice cream? Bruster's Key Lime Pie with LOTS of graham cracker
30. Which store would you choose to max out your credit card? SAMS (a little bit of everything) Target
31. Bedtime? midnight.
32. What are you listening to right now? The 2 little ones arguing over who knows fractions better -- topped with the occasional "I CAN'T DO THIS!!"
33. How many tattoos do you have? None, zip, zed, nada, zilch. No thanks!
34. Next film you'll see? Too cheap!
35. Tag anyone? Rachel?
1. What time did you get up this morning? 6:15
2. Diamonds or Pearls? Diamonds!
3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema?
4. What is your favourite TV show? HEROS! and Alias (RIP).
5. What did you eat for breakfast? Raisin toast - yummy
6. What foods do you dislike? Brussel sprouts UGH.
7. Your favourite potato chip? Salt and Pepper
8. What is your favourite CD at the moment? Iam still on a Jack Johnson kick-- even if we aren't at the beach
9. What kind of car do you drive? Reliable (cough) 8 year old mini-van HEY, it's paid for!
10. Favourite sandwich? Boarshead oven-roasted turkey and tomato (+ salt)
11. What characteristics do you despise? Grudges, know-it-alls, rudeness, selfishness, and stupidity
12. What are your favourite clothes? GAP jeans and a v-necked t-shirt (long sleeve in winter- short in summer I am so predictable)
13. If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation, where would you go? 3month tour of Europe
14. What colour is your bathroom? green and aqua blue.
15. Favourite brand of clothing? doesn't matter as long as I got a deal!
16. Favourite time of day? That first cup of coffee!.
17. Where would you want to retire to?Someplace urban -- away from the suburbs.
18. Favourite sport to watch? little league baseball, high school volleyball (biased?)
19. Coke or Pepsi? Diet coke.
20. Are you a morning person or night owl? morning!
21. Any new and exciting news you'd like to share? I am finally learning how to back off from all my volunteer commitments!
22. What did you want to be when you were little? A vet/fireman/nun (hell of a combination, huh?)
23. What is your best childhood memory? Vacations at Houghton Lake, summer swimteam
24. Nicknames? Gooch (kind a loving dad to a pre-teen...) Kath
25. Piercings? Ears- one with 3 holes (anybody else have more than one hole? Have I finally passed that point when my mom said to me-- how will you look at 38 with all those holes in your ear???)
26. Eye Colour? Blue, blue/grey
27. Favourite day of the week? Friday
28. Favourite restaurant? tough one, don't go out much
29. Favourite ice cream? Bruster's Key Lime Pie with LOTS of graham cracker
30. Which store would you choose to max out your credit card? SAMS (a little bit of everything) Target
31. Bedtime? midnight.
32. What are you listening to right now? The 2 little ones arguing over who knows fractions better -- topped with the occasional "I CAN'T DO THIS!!"
33. How many tattoos do you have? None, zip, zed, nada, zilch. No thanks!
34. Next film you'll see? Too cheap!
35. Tag anyone? Rachel?
2/19/07
Presidents Day
Can I just say how much I LOVE this man? He is hysterical and everytime I read anything he writes I laugh. I wish I could write like he does. My daughter's AP Lit teacher had him on their reading list, and the minute I saw that I knew she would love his class. He was used as one of the best examples of narrative in modern literature.
David Sedaris is awesome!
I ran across this book I Capture the Castle at Goodwill the other day (yes I know that you can get books for FREE at the library-- just not me the $1.50 I pay is less than the overdue fines I pay EVERYTIME) I admit I only picked it up because it had a rave review from JK Rowling on the front cover and I thought my daughter would like it. Well, I took it home and it is really wonderful. Written in 1946 by the same author as 101 Dalmations it is another great exmple of beautiful narrative. And it is nice to imagine living in a drafty old English castle!
David Sedaris is awesome!
I ran across this book I Capture the Castle at Goodwill the other day (yes I know that you can get books for FREE at the library-- just not me the $1.50 I pay is less than the overdue fines I pay EVERYTIME) I admit I only picked it up because it had a rave review from JK Rowling on the front cover and I thought my daughter would like it. Well, I took it home and it is really wonderful. Written in 1946 by the same author as 101 Dalmations it is another great exmple of beautiful narrative. And it is nice to imagine living in a drafty old English castle!
2/17/07
A friend of mine mentioned that she was blogging so that her kids might one day want to see what was going on in her mind. My first thought was, "Egad! Why would I want that????" You see, I am the responsible one, I am the perfect one.... heehee.... to see inside this mind is akin to madness.
But then I thought, why not. So jump on the rollercoaster, it's going to be a bumpy ride. From now on I'll blog about what ever is on my mind at the time.
In 1976 our city was having a promotion to decorate for the Bicentennial. I thought this was so cool. We were allowed to paint the fireplugs on our street. I thought that it made Farmington Hills the coolest place to live (ironic that we only lived there for 18 months- the shortest of anywhere) We took our painting very seriously as my mom was an artist and we couldn't have a shabby plug in our yard! I can't tell you now how we painted it, but I do remember the three of us sitting out there on a hot summer day painting, worrying that we might get paint on the grass (hey, I was 11!)
The weird thing is that when this thought popped into my head I decided I'd do a google search and found out that this was apparently done all over! So much for our quaint little cu-de-sac haven.
But then I thought, why not. So jump on the rollercoaster, it's going to be a bumpy ride. From now on I'll blog about what ever is on my mind at the time.
In 1976 our city was having a promotion to decorate for the Bicentennial. I thought this was so cool. We were allowed to paint the fireplugs on our street. I thought that it made Farmington Hills the coolest place to live (ironic that we only lived there for 18 months- the shortest of anywhere) We took our painting very seriously as my mom was an artist and we couldn't have a shabby plug in our yard! I can't tell you now how we painted it, but I do remember the three of us sitting out there on a hot summer day painting, worrying that we might get paint on the grass (hey, I was 11!)
The weird thing is that when this thought popped into my head I decided I'd do a google search and found out that this was apparently done all over! So much for our quaint little cu-de-sac haven.
8/28/06
RAIN!
It is pouring rain. I love the rain. When I was a kid I loved it in the summer because we would run outside and lay on the driveway and feel the warm wet concrete on our backs and the cold rain drops on our faces. Now I love the rain because it means no football -- one less carpool. When it rains it is darker earlier and easier to get kids to bed. And maybe I'll be able to read tonight and not feel guilty.
Looks like it's breakfast for dinner tonight. That thunder is calling for waffles. And it doesn't hurt that hubby is out late tonight at church.
Looks like it's breakfast for dinner tonight. That thunder is calling for waffles. And it doesn't hurt that hubby is out late tonight at church.
5/17/06
trip home
OK,
Just uploadind some pics on Fickr of our trip to N.O.! Unfortunately, I didn't go crazy. We drove 2 cars, the kids and I in one and R and A in the other (with some interesting cargo -- if ya want to know you gotta call me because this story is too long to blog...) It was sad in a way because she had really gotten to know the kids while she was here -- you know the stuff that you don't get to know when you're in a condo on the beach. But there was a lot of singing in our car as we headed south.
We stayed in Metairie. My poor SIL's kitchen is still not finished and they are all still living on the second floor. Uptown looked OK by April, tho it was still really weird. We took the kids to the zoo and most of the animals were out/back. They changed the camp in the La. exhibit to include an old fridge and a blue roof. Walking through the zoo was different. Nagin may be an idiot with his chocolate city comments, but it was a different place. Lots of vanilla!! Not really N.O. The street cars are still not running on St. Charles and most of the university area had flooding. But the fraternity houses on Broadway were up and running! C and S were impressed by the volcano in front of the ZBT house.
The trip was very stressful, and not something I want to publish on a public blog but just let it be known that some of it was loud and furious. And you don't EVER want to leave your house unattended for 7 months in a city that flooded. Even if you are a fastidious housekeeper. The critters ate everything they could get to and had quite a party doing so! Add to that a fridge that sat with dried maggots in it for 7 months (BIG thanks to SIL for doing the initial food/maggot toss -- too bad she couldn't just toss the fridge like every one else in the city) and you have a small picture of our spring break vacation!
We were obviously busy with initial clean up and did not get around much but the kids did get out to the lakefront with their great aunt and C tooks some great shots of the yacht club and Lake Ponchartrain (I'll try to get those on Flickr too). In Metairie, out off Transcontinental, where the flooding was minimal (2-5 inches that came in and stayed when the pumps failed) the effects of Katrina were obvious. EVERY house has a trailer and a POD in the front lawn. You know when I heard that FEMA provided trailers (hey we were offered one for A here) I thought they would all be alike -- some sort of government perfect white box. NO.... it is any trailer they could get their hands on. My BIL's next door neighbor has a hump back trailer off a pickup. Lovely! The streets are still lined with them 7 months later -- and these were houses that had just a little damage in comparison to those washed off their foundations.
By the time we were there things were trying to stive for normalcy. Most high schools had cleaned up and had classes, a few were still sharing facilities (co-ed finally!!) The lakefront and St. Bernard, NO East forget about it. As we were leaving to head home we decided to to a final search for that illustrious N.O. delicacy (at least in our house) Barqs in a bottle. Got on I-10 passed the French Quarter and headed out -- things look the same at 85 miles an hour you don't notice that the homes are all empty and any cars you might see look like little coffins --- they probably floated there. Rhett decided to pull off in NO East around Bullard Ave (someone once left me at a McDonald's there because they didn't like my driving...) I guess he just wasn't thinking. There is nothing there. Well, the old Schweggmen's has a building -- a shell... but that's it. It is a giant ghost town. No cars, no people, no nothing, just empty shells.
On the way home we stopped for gas in Biloxi and decided if we were that close that we should head down to Hwy 90 and see if there was more rebuilding in Missisippi. Sheilah and Rob lived in Ocean Springs for a few years and I really got to love the Gulf Coast there. Well, Bioxi looked like Beruit. There was a house across Hwy 90 that had a hole washed right through it-- gorgeous antebellum home. It was still there mind you, all around it were just foundation slabs. Big casinos with the 1st 2floors GONE. The bridge to Ocean Springs was washed out just like I-10 in Pensacola last year and over Lake Ponchatrain this year --except this one wasn't fixed yet. It looked like a toppled house of cards. (That reminds me -- driving over those temp bridge spans was very interesting!!) It looked like there was construction going on around the casinos. We never made it to Ocean Springs.
We did make it home though -- all SIX of us.
Just uploadind some pics on Fickr of our trip to N.O.! Unfortunately, I didn't go crazy. We drove 2 cars, the kids and I in one and R and A in the other (with some interesting cargo -- if ya want to know you gotta call me because this story is too long to blog...) It was sad in a way because she had really gotten to know the kids while she was here -- you know the stuff that you don't get to know when you're in a condo on the beach. But there was a lot of singing in our car as we headed south.
We stayed in Metairie. My poor SIL's kitchen is still not finished and they are all still living on the second floor. Uptown looked OK by April, tho it was still really weird. We took the kids to the zoo and most of the animals were out/back. They changed the camp in the La. exhibit to include an old fridge and a blue roof. Walking through the zoo was different. Nagin may be an idiot with his chocolate city comments, but it was a different place. Lots of vanilla!! Not really N.O. The street cars are still not running on St. Charles and most of the university area had flooding. But the fraternity houses on Broadway were up and running! C and S were impressed by the volcano in front of the ZBT house.
The trip was very stressful, and not something I want to publish on a public blog but just let it be known that some of it was loud and furious. And you don't EVER want to leave your house unattended for 7 months in a city that flooded. Even if you are a fastidious housekeeper. The critters ate everything they could get to and had quite a party doing so! Add to that a fridge that sat with dried maggots in it for 7 months (BIG thanks to SIL for doing the initial food/maggot toss -- too bad she couldn't just toss the fridge like every one else in the city) and you have a small picture of our spring break vacation!
We were obviously busy with initial clean up and did not get around much but the kids did get out to the lakefront with their great aunt and C tooks some great shots of the yacht club and Lake Ponchartrain (I'll try to get those on Flickr too). In Metairie, out off Transcontinental, where the flooding was minimal (2-5 inches that came in and stayed when the pumps failed) the effects of Katrina were obvious. EVERY house has a trailer and a POD in the front lawn. You know when I heard that FEMA provided trailers (hey we were offered one for A here) I thought they would all be alike -- some sort of government perfect white box. NO.... it is any trailer they could get their hands on. My BIL's next door neighbor has a hump back trailer off a pickup. Lovely! The streets are still lined with them 7 months later -- and these were houses that had just a little damage in comparison to those washed off their foundations.
By the time we were there things were trying to stive for normalcy. Most high schools had cleaned up and had classes, a few were still sharing facilities (co-ed finally!!) The lakefront and St. Bernard, NO East forget about it. As we were leaving to head home we decided to to a final search for that illustrious N.O. delicacy (at least in our house) Barqs in a bottle. Got on I-10 passed the French Quarter and headed out -- things look the same at 85 miles an hour you don't notice that the homes are all empty and any cars you might see look like little coffins --- they probably floated there. Rhett decided to pull off in NO East around Bullard Ave (someone once left me at a McDonald's there because they didn't like my driving...) I guess he just wasn't thinking. There is nothing there. Well, the old Schweggmen's has a building -- a shell... but that's it. It is a giant ghost town. No cars, no people, no nothing, just empty shells.
On the way home we stopped for gas in Biloxi and decided if we were that close that we should head down to Hwy 90 and see if there was more rebuilding in Missisippi. Sheilah and Rob lived in Ocean Springs for a few years and I really got to love the Gulf Coast there. Well, Bioxi looked like Beruit. There was a house across Hwy 90 that had a hole washed right through it-- gorgeous antebellum home. It was still there mind you, all around it were just foundation slabs. Big casinos with the 1st 2floors GONE. The bridge to Ocean Springs was washed out just like I-10 in Pensacola last year and over Lake Ponchatrain this year --except this one wasn't fixed yet. It looked like a toppled house of cards. (That reminds me -- driving over those temp bridge spans was very interesting!!) It looked like there was construction going on around the casinos. We never made it to Ocean Springs.
We did make it home though -- all SIX of us.
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