My Pet...Peeve

New low?

You know you have hit a new low when your Keurig is dead and you are trying to Macgyver a cup of coffee in your sink.

Didn't work....

November- flashback

Nothing stands out to me for November besides Margo's 2nd (!) birthday! (This will be a post on its own) We went to JW's sisters for Thanksgiving- yes, I made a re-dic amount of pies. I was trying to plan ahead and work on The Christmas Card picture. Here are some reasons I work wellbetter under pressure. We started out on a beautiful day going to a new favorite park to take some pictures. While some of them were... ok, the kids just wanted to run and play and while I like the setting, they all just ended up looking a little weird.

Then, there was the sunday afternoon and a big pile of leaves...

But Margo and Henry were all up in each others bidness and she refused to sit near him... and Ellie looks like her head is super imposed onto her body. And again, they all really wanted to take turns and do this...

The beginning of December brought yet another nice day for trying to get a good shot- let's remember that I still hadn't started on making our card. Everyone loved climbing the tree at another great park. Well, everyone except Margo. this was SO close to being The picture except that as I lovingly say, "She's still sweet and our favorite one!" So I just couldn't let this picture go out and have people think this is how Margo usually is...

I love how you can actually hear her through the picture. In her defense, she did wake up with a fever the next day. So on the night of the girls Christmas Concert (better than usual, but still painful) when we were already late, I made everyone sit in front of the tree on our coffee table and got a shot I liked. Notice "Jerry" looking like he is growing out of Ellie's head. *Another separate post on Jerry our elf- I don't care what you people think- we LOVE Jerry!

This isn't the actual one we used but it's close. I liked our card as I took it down to bare bones simple and also fun schwed our Christmas Card list like there was no tomorrow! It felt great to not have the pressure I used to have of 200+ cards to make and only had to make 144!!!

Flashback- October?

I thought the fastest easiest way to flashback would be to just use pictures and then while looking at my HANDFUL of picture folders it is also obvious that I was having "issues" since the last 1/2 of 2011 is pathetically not documented very well. Margo was the "famous" pig for Halloween and upheld the W tradition of being the cutest pig in the world. I think this costume will go down as my all time favorite and something I will try and save for Grandchildren.

We managed to carve pumpkins and roast the seeds- I am amazed at how much the kids love to roast and eat pumpkin seeds.

Halloween night was very fun and was the first year the older 3 "got it" as far as"go fast, go far, get candy!"   They raked in a disgusting amount and also is the reason I am blaming for my pants not fitting- well that and the amount of wine I am consuming. :)

Pig, Green Lantern, Alice and The Mad Hatter

Henry is doing so well in Pre-school! I love his teacher and am counting my blessings that he only acts like a rude fool at home and not there. He has had some fantastic one liners that I am sad that I haven't written down somewhere and have now forgotten. His latest was last week- after going to the bathroom, I watched him NOT flush, NOT wash his hands, NOT turn out the light and NOT close the door (p-u) after ripping him a new one regarding all of the above he looked at me and simply said "Mom! I'm planning on going back in there again today!" It is a good thing he is a cute boy since he is also gross and disgusting.

Ellie and Sarah both played Fall soccer- I am so impressed with S. Soccer is obviously "her thing" as she somehow transforms from her quiet, shy self  into a "mean, lean running machine"  She is amazingly aggressive and even begged to go back into the last couple minutes of a tournament after taking a ball to the face and bloody nose! Obviously not my child.

Ellie- oh Ellie- she has had such a hard time adjusting to the 4th grade girl drama this year. I have gone from telling her she needs thicker skin to telling her to tell them to essentially shove it to telling her to just completely ignore the sometimes nasty rude girls. Either way, she will end up in therapy.She also played soccer, basketball and is now playing volleyball. I kind of think soccer is "her sport" but basketball is her favorite. Her love of music (most of which I have never heard and probably should not be letting her listen to) is so great. She can seriously tell exactly what song it is within 2 notes. :)

We are off to the zoo and I need to get out of my bathrobe! Happy Friday!

 

MUTE....

Sigh... I think the easiest way to get through this post is to just bullet it with my random thoughts and go from there...

• So much has been happening with me yet nothing has been happening... I know makes no sense
• I feel like my whole situation with work and me leaving (yes, I got a severance!) and the effect it has had has left me well- mute.
• As most of you know, I am anything BUT mute!
• So I think trying to pick up the pieces of me and digging out from the stress of the work mess and the adjustment of focusing on myself and JW and the kids has been an extremely underestimated lengthy process.
• I feel like I don't have a voice. 
• I feel like leaving work (honestly the best decision for my survival) and the immense crazy that goes on there, has taken so much more of me than I ever imagined.
• I have missed this outlet and telling all of the goofy things going on around here but every time I try and "speak," I delete and stuff my sadness about this blog that I love and have ignored since September away and just lurk.
• It really makes me sad on so many levels.
• My silence isn't just on here- it has taken a great toll on family relationships, friendships and my desire to not share my daily life with anyone.
• JW will ask daily "did you talk to anyone today?" and 99% of the time I will say "nope" and he says "NO ONE?"
• How I gained 25+ hours a week from not working and get LESS than whatever I accomplished before is beyond me!
• I have so much I want to tell you-
• my obsession with Pinterest
• the great projects I have accomplished (painting the hutch, canvas pictures, roman shades, kitchen projects, spray painting our chandelier)
• How great the kids are doing even though they whine and cry and argue- :)
• How big they are and that I am trying SO hard to remember that they will only be this young for such a short amount of time
• Our Christmas- Lord our Halloween and Thanksgiving and life since September for that matter!
• I just have to force myself to just plow through all of the stories- I want them on here like all of the other fun (and not so fun) things I have put on here for 7 1/2 years now.
• I have read many of my posts in the archives and laughed and cried remembering things that I don't think I would ever have remembered had I not posted them.
• I love this little pitiful blog of mine and need to give it some attention too.
• I have many friends-true, lovely friends that I would have never had in my life without this place.
• I miss all of you on here- I miss the banter and connection

                                           I'M BACK BABY!

• Well, I'm going to try for a comeback... :)

smooches, K  

I've been trying!

Oh my goodness- I used to be all (internally) snarky when people complained about how frustrated they were with blogger or many other websites that would not let them blog or comment etc.

And then it happened to me! GAH! Typepad has been the PITS this week and hasn't let me read, comment, OR post!

And now that I can, I don't have time!

Happiness:

Henry is LOVING school!
Margo got her tooth fixed and it looks better than I even imagined. (photo coming)
I am going on a field trip with Sarah's class today and she is SO excited that I am driving.
My favorite Fall craft shows are the next 2 weekends.
I can wear a belt.
I have eaten a roast beef, lettuce, tomato,red onion, provolone on a bagel for the last 6 days for lunch       de-lish.
Mini pumpkins on my mantel.

Sad / Crabbiness:

Our basement wall is moldy and leaking and disgusting.
This also resulted in hiring someone to clean out our gutters- $100
He brought his girlfriend and their baby- 15 months old, hearing problems and drinking blue Gatorade from a bottle because "they ain't got no money to buy her milk" Yet they had plenty of cigarettes.
I paid this guy $100 and ended up holding the freaking ladder for him while hearing him complain about how high and steep my roof was etc. FOR 2 HOURS!
Somehow- our house is seriously in a state of Crack house. Well except the mattresses aren't on the floor. I know we are home more but OMG the clutter and laundry baskets and piles of paper and c.r.a.p. How can I just get to maintenance??!!  

A skip in my step

Totally rockin' my new pink polka dot Mary Jane's!


Sent from my BlackBerry device from Cincinnati Bell Wireless

The Goods...

So much for posting daily... I don't know where the time goes! I will admit that I have been on the kids Web*kinz wayyyyy too much keeping their pretend web*kinz bucks up and their gardens alive. I know-pathetic but have you played their solitaire games? Love em...

So, let's see hmm... what has happened this week? Well, as most of you have seen on Facebook, my sweet potato, my little birdie, my precious little hookalaka...

 

BUSTED OFF A GI-NORMOUS CHUNK OF HER FRONT TOOTH!!!

*This picture was just taken via my phone and she has been asked to show her tooth so much, she usually cries so I can't believe she actually let me take a picture of it.

 
No, we have really no clue how or actually where it happened- we went to Ellie's basketball game Friday night and then out to dinner with other basketball families. There was never a time she flipped out or was screaming (as one might think losing a CHUNK of tooth) or holding her mouth... End result, she has to have a freaking crown put on next Tuesday to the tune of $200 for us since our dental insurance pays 90%. Seriously? $2000 DOLLARS for a baby crown.

We have had soccer and basketball games galore also with Ellie scoring a goal in soccer and her first basket in basketball on Tuesday! Sarah scored 3 goals in her soccer game! Quite exciting even for a mother that has yet to see ANY of Ellie's goals scored in ANY of her 4 years of soccer even though I have physically been at all of said games. This time, I was taking off Margo's sweatshirt. sigh...

Also very exciting...

Henry had his first day of Pre-school!

 
Good Lord HOW can this sweet boy give me SO many grey hairs?

 

Our schools art teacher has contacted us to see if Ellie could be in a 4 week by reccomendation only Art Program for children at UC- I think we are going to do it- it sounds like a lot of fun and a neat opportunity- and I can get everyone up and down to UC by 8:45 AM every Saturday for 4 weeks... right?

I know more updates are needed-
* Like how much of an ass our dentist was Monday to Henry when he got his cavity filled
*Like how two of our four children are covered in mosquito bites yet the other two don't have a single bite. I just don't get it. I have one on my ear that is killing me!
*Like how I put up 2 new plantation blinds in our bedroom and it was the most painful home improvement project I have completed in our house to date. Let's just say... first time, wrong sized purchased, second time- stripped screws, split wood and eventually, a tree trimmer used to put them up and make them fit. But now they look great! :)

 

 

 

Wednesday- so far, so good...

Good morning-

Two kids are off to school via their Father. Two littles still snoozing. One Momma sitting at the computer with coffee. So far, so good. Henry gets to meet his teacher today and I can't believe he isn't up yet asking when we can go. I am worried about him. I keep having flashbacks to his week at Summer camp and how overwhelmed he was and how he had no clue what to do. I'm sure he will do fine but I also know he is... well a boy and can behave like a royal jerk. I want the teachers and kids to like him. I don't want him to be labeled as "the pest" as he truly can be one (on purpose) to all of his family. It's funny how I never thought this with the girls. Sweet, stinky boy.

Sarah had an unexplained fever for a couple days over our long weekend. Invites to cook-outs were declined, sleep over plans were postponed (for her) and I went ape-shit on their fooms. Anne, I totally know where you are coming from (AND totally used the work "douche" too when talking to a friend)- I seriously can NOT believe the amount of shit they all had in their rooms! I am shaking my head as I type! The short story is that Henry got a bunk bed (LOVES) and the girls got their room re-arranged, the old big rug pulled up and a new funky IKEA small rug put down. I felt SO guilty that Sarah has been living in that room with all of the dust and crap under the dressers and beds and rug! I plan on tackling the bins of junk and administer birth control to all of the - little people, polly pockets, littlest pet shop, zhu-zhu pets, squinkies and barbies sometime this week as I know it is just one big frat party goin' on in there.

I am loving the cool weather we are having. Fall is my favorite season and it took everything I had not to buy just a little something when I went into Home Goods the other day looking for sheets for Henry's new bed. That is a perfect example of how I just can't do that not working. All of the little things quickly add up. The funny thing about it being 57 yesterday morning was that I had opened windows in the house the day before and when we left to take the girls to school, EVERYONE was crying about how they were freezing- they ALL took blankets out to the van with them just for the drive to school! It made me laugh. I can guarantee Sarah ends up living somewhere in the South when she grows up- that girl cannot stand to be chilly.

I hear rumblings upstairs and need to fill up on another coffee- have a good day. Mine's be good- so far...

*Added to original post since Typepad is being an ass-hat and wont save this post and I have had to copy to Word and re-type. Grrr...

It's all about me...

Good morning- I just read Anne's Friday post and she made reference to some... ahem... blog slackers and since I am incredibly self centered, I immediately thought she was talking about me. Ahem... Again, I don't really have an excuse per say- I can tell the Lexapro is "working" for example, The weather was just perfect on Tuesday- one of the long sleeve with shorts kind of morning. I had many things I wanted to accomplish- laundry, bathrooms, try and do SOMETHING with organizing the kids rooms as they are SO bad and hoarder like cluttered that I just walk in their rooms and just spin in circles and then just walk right back out. So- Henry, Margo and I packed a lunch and went to this new park we have discovered and ended up going on a HUGE walk on a trail that I thought was only going to be a short jaunt but ended up being over a 2 mile trek on a level 3 trail. BUT- both of them HAPPILY walked almost the entire thing!

I even took my camera! It just ended up being a really fun time. The girls have started school and are in full swing of- well all of the crazy- homework (remind me to tell you about the new spelling words assignment for Sarah this year-re-DIC!) both are playing soccer and Ellie is also playing basketball again. Henry starts school on the 14th and seems to be very excited- I am frightened he will be a PITA and they won't like him. Let's be honest- he CAN be a PITA...

Margo- I can't believe how big she seems all of a sudden. She is really chatty- when she doesn't have that darn nya-nya in her mouth. I have alsways stopped the pacifiers right at 2years and I think this is going to be a rough one come November 17th! She is just a funny, sweet chunk.

 

Yes, she has Oreo mouth- It was a long walk! We needed survival food!

On the agenda-
John's 40th Birthday "party"- very fun!
pictures of the kids room- advice needed as Henry is getting a hand-me-down bunk bed
The results of my MRI for my effed up knee
Plan for my "future"
recipe request for easy dinners for late night practice nights

Artist...

Henry: Momma, what is this?
Me: Um... Not quite sure...
Henry: It's people dancing the Limbo and they can go really low...

Hahahahahahaha
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