Monday, September 24, 2012

My drug of choice

Can I have a title like that when I have a recovering drug addict brother? Hmmmm. Not sure, but moving on.

Toast. I love toast. Yep toast. I am the Forrest Gump shrimp guy. I love butter toast, cinnamon toast, jelly toast, and especially honey toast. Really, any toast will do.

Which leads me to the drug part. I haven't been eating my beloved toast due to my very restrictive corn free diet. The bread I love has corn stuff in it and I try to limit the gluten/wheat I eat due to a relation to a gluten allergy and a corn allergy. That being said, sometimes I cannot help myself. I want and need toast. The last few weeks I decided a little toast never hurt anyone and I would just have a piece here and there. Nope.

Two with breakfast. Ivy's crust. One for a snack. One after dinner. One before bed.

Maybe it was the lack of anything like toast for so long, or maybe I am a toast addict.

So, I had to stop. I didn't feel great, and Autumn was scratching her feet a little more. It has only been three days and I really could use a honey toast right now.

On the positive side of things, I feel more energized and crave my healthy salads all day again.

On the negative side of things, I want toast. I will go to sleep thinking about it and will fight my urges tomorrow to pop in one piece. I have been through it before, in a few days I won't think about it so often and almost eat one more than once during the day. It subsides.

Until then, it is clear: My name is Jen and I am a toast addict and yes, I just wrote a post about toast.

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

I'll leave the light on for you

Staying with me is sort of like staying at the Motel 6. Staying with Angie, on the other hand, is more like staying at the Hilton, or maybe even better.

See for yourself.

Angie's house is cleaned top to bottom the night before your stay. (even the night before her son's surgery)

My house, well it just gets left however it is, so hopefully you arrive the day after our house cleaner and not the day before, that makes a big difference on however it is.

Angie calls you before you leave to find out what you would like to eat during your stay.

I forget you are coming.

Angie stocks her fridge and cupboards with not only the food you ordered but a few extras she picks up that she thinks you may enjoy.

I am currently out of cheese, paper towels, butter, and we are down to the last few rolls of toilet paper. We barely have the basics, who has time to pick up extras.

Angie has a guest room in the basement and keeps Evan quiet until at least after ten to assure her guests are well rested.

My guests sleep on the bottom bunk with Owen on the top. I have no control over what time he peeks down at you to loudly ask if you are awake.

Angie asks her guests their favorite shows and assures her dvr is set to record.

My guests watch Dora and Curious George.

Angie has a spare blow dryer in the guest bathroom so you don't need to even pack yours.

At my house you can borrow mine and the good news is that I just got a new one so you don't have to hold the back on while you dry your hair. Yay!!

Angie is somehow able to make one of her cars an extra car and give you your own car.

You get to ride in my van and usually in the back because Owen insists everyone rides next to him.

Angie cancels all of her appointments and obligations to cook dinner and spend as much time with you as possible.

It is business around here as usual but you can ride with me on my errands and boot camp is only an hour.

In summary, if you are planning to head up this direction, you may want to call ahead and book your stay with Angie. If she is full, call me and I will give you our housecleaning schedule.

.. .... I wonder if I can leave and stay with Angie for a few days. .....


Wednesday, September 12, 2012

It wasn't me

I experienced my first bad deed that no one did.

(although if I were a betting person I would put my money on Ivy)

Ivy was watching tv the other day and I noticed something on the tv. As I went over and tried to wipe it off I realized it wasn't coming off. I turned off the tv to find the entire thing scratched.

A little alarmed, I asked Ivy what happened. She said she and Owen scratched it with some keys, followed quickly by an actually she thinks Owen did it, or maybe actually it was her, she didn't know.

When I explained that this was very sad and dad's favorite thing was ruined, she became quite sure Autumn or Owen did it but she did not do it. She never wavered a bit after that.

Owen came home from school and although I swear he took a few moments to compose himself and his sneaky smile definitely was there, he maintained it was not him. They both were so suspicious and convincing at the same time.

Here we are a few days later and no one did it. I sort of feel like they both know and agreed not to tell me but how could a 7 year old a a 3 year old be capable of such deceit and conspiracy.

I got to hand it to them, at one point I even looked at how high Autumn could reach thinking, maybe she really did scratch the top of the tv.

I better watch this group. I have a feeling ghost child committing bad deeds will be back....

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

So proud

I am so proud of how things are going with school, and by that I mean for me!

I am part of a carpool and I will not lie, it stresses me out. I am on the morning shift and the idea of being responsible for other people's children to make it to school on time is so stressful. I am late to everything. Being late is all I know, so much so that I find myself making me late when I could have otherwise been early or on time. I am always rushing to leave and I usually forget something.

Now fast forward to my first three carpool days and you can imagine my excitement for getting Ivy to school on time, leaving her school and subsequently getting Owen, the twins from next door, and a girl I had never met before carpool, to school EARLY. Mind you this has only been for a few days but it is a few days more than I have ever been early for anything.

I am so pleased with myself. Now whether I say this in January is yet to be seen, but for now I will take my three days and throw myself a party!

Thursday, September 6, 2012

And then there was one

I am not sure how we got here, the place at the end of the summer where we start school all over again.

The summer wasted no time in ending and brought about Owen's first day of first grade, Ivy's first day of preschool and Autumn's first day of being the only one at home four days a week.

Owen went from a private kindergarten to the dreaded public school. I wish the school system would update itself and fix some things, but this is a happy post not a rant, although I do have a lot to say lately about a lot of things, maybe next post.

I dropped Owen off at school on Wednesday and he stood outside the car with his backpack and the biggest smile on his face. He waved and waved before being guided to his line. As I looked at him standing there, I started to cry. The tears were unexpected really, and they weren't because I was sad he was big (well a little of that, I miss him all day) but mostly that he was ready. He was so big and so brave just bounding off to school. He just looked so sweet standing there as he proudly waved, I couldn't stop the tears.

I anxiously waited for pickup time and, after an intense lesson about pickup from my neighbor and a teeny mistake on my part where I blocked the entire exit for all the parents, I picked up his smiley self and we declared the first day a success. He was quick to report that he had been there for 6 hours and I should realize that and pick him up a little sooner. I made a note of that for him.

I mostly enjoyed hearing about the part of school where I forgot to pack him a drink in his home lunch. After inquiring as to how he resolved this problem, he sheepishly smiled and then gleefully let me know that they sell chocolate milk at school. Someone was sure he had money on his account and gave him the milk. He probably thought school was so amazing, here he was left to his own thirsty devices with no choice other than to order himself a forbidden chocolate milk.

Owen likes school with the exception that it is too long. Today he insisted it was his third day of school when in fact it was the second. It really must seem long considering he gained an entire day in there.

And next, we had Muffy heading off to preschool today. We carefully picked out her first day outfit, little bird leggings with a matching sweater dress. She really wanted two side ponytails and one in the back. I worked my last little bit of magic I have left on her and managed to only do two (although I had to promise three on Monday). I had a picture perfect girl ready for school, and then, I heard the dreaded words: I don't want to wear this. Nooooooooo!! We almost made it to school with matching clothes and really cute hair..... but that wouldn't be very Muffy like now would it, and what's the fun of matching anyway. Clearly brown bird pants go much better with a bluish-green polka dot shirt anyway.

She loved her school and loved telling Owen about her day. I learned she did not have snack cause we forgot to bring one (I wish things were explained better in schools). Owen explained the concept of one person bringing it for everyone to share. I also learned everyone sang songs except her and the little green guy (the kid in the green jacket of course, not an imaginary alien, like she would have an imaginary alien-like friend when she has her imaginary friend Luko, the little girl). Upon questioning, I was informed simply: she didn't want to sing.

So now I feel like my brain may explode as I figure out their schedules, their lessons, the carpool, the lunches, the snacks, the getting up early, the going to bed struggles, and the homework, all the while making sure my own life doesn't disappear.

Well, here's to a great school year and hoping my brain doesn't explode!

Saturday, September 1, 2012

11 months

That wee little thing turned 11 months old the other day.  We are just one month shy of turning 1.  We have decided she is definitely the nerd of the bunch and sort of weird in an adorably cute kind of way. 

She crawls all over the place, goes up and down stairs, stands up from the ground, moves around with furniture and took 6 steps the other day.  She coughs when she needs a drink and waves her hands around when she wants something.  She is still wearing mostly 6-12 month clothes, and on occasion, 3-6 month clothes. She has 3 teeth, the bottom front two and the top side fang tooth.  We have three others that have just poked through, the top two front teeth and the other side fang tooth.  We are happy for those front teeth, that side fang tooth is not helping her oddness in any way.  She decided yesterday that she doesn’t like long sleeves with something tight on her wrist and works very hard to pull her arm out.  I am not sure I am ready for her to care what she wears at 11 months.  Ben showed me a picture of him reading to Rylee the other day and I laughed at the the idea of Autumn sitting through a book.  She may not sit through a book, but she did try to play Uno with us the other night.  She had a pile of cards and kept throwing her cards into a pile she created.  Owen and I loved that.  She loves her binky and her “special blanket”.  Her blanket is big and she drags it around and gathers it up. 

She is still on a very restrictive diet (as am I, and although I am often starving for something super delicious, I am in the best shape I have ever been in – thanks to boot camp and a serious lack of processed foods).  She has eczema on her feet and legs and it seems a small amount of corn results in sleepless itchy nights and flare-ups on her legs and feet.  It is really hard and there have been a few times when I actually thought, “it is just skin, she will live” because the energy of trying to trace back something she or I ate that may or may not have contained corn was just too difficult for my brain at that time.   She does eat a lot of nectarines, peas, potatoes, olives, apples and blueberries.  I believe her favorite would have to be the blueberries, case in point: we went to a farmer’s market today and bought a pint of blueberries. She ate the entire thing herself as we walked the market. 

She mostly loves Owen and Ivy, maybe more Owen than Ivy, but that is Ivy’s fault.  Hard to love the one that is dragging you across the driveway because you started to cry and that one decided to bring you to mom.  The three of them ride around the kitchen on their cars.  Ivy drives in the front, baby in the middle and Owen last.  They tie their three cars together with a rope and ride in a chain.  She LOVES it and thinks she is so neat. 

She kind of is.  

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