my own form of torture

making the girl child clean out her clothes and it's torture...
these are the rules
*does it fit
*do you wear it
*do you like it
if the answer is 'no' to any of those it goes in the donate bag

and seriously...every.single.item...
she takes it out and asks me...
"should I get rid of this?"...

so again I say
"does it fit...do you wear it...do you like it"

and she will say,
"well, I sorta like it."
me-"but do you wear it?"
her-"well, not really"
me-"why not?"
her-"cuz it doesn't fit me any more"
me-"so did you answer 'no' to the does it fit question & the do you wear it question?"
her-"well, sort of, I guess"
me-"than it goes in the bag"

then the next item

she takes it out and asks me...

"should I get rid of this?"..

so again I say

"does it fit...do you wear it...do you like it"

and she will say,

"well, I don't really wear it."

me-"why not?"

her-"cuz I really don't like it"

me-"so did you answer 'no' to the does it does it fit & the do you like it question?"

her-"yes"

me-"so it goes in the bag"

her-"but it does fit me"

me-"doesn't matter, just one 'no' and it goes in the bag and this one has 2 no's"

and then the opposite...

the boy child wants in on this torture...

getting his own bag without asking and filling it

only my rules for him are different...

*does it fit

*does mommy want you to wear if for some event or picture taking opportunity that she will force you to wear something that you'd never wear unless there was some serious bribing going on

*does mommy have some vision of you wearing it all the time and looking like some adorable little boy that would never live in Pokemon and Bakugan t-shirts

so now while I am once again going thru the above conversation with girl child I am taking clothes out of the boy child's bag and saying, 

"well, I thought if we happened go to a nice garden wedding this summer you could maybe wear that"

have we been invited to a wedding?

NO

do we even know anyone getting married?

NO

would I even take a 5 year old boy to a wedding?

NO

"and this shirt would look really handsome if I got one in the same color for your dad to wear and I got a picture of the two of you playing catch together in our back yard"

can I ever get Beau to wear what I want him to?

NO

do they ever play catch in our back yard?

NO

do we even have a back yard?
NO.NO.NO

why did I decided to do this on spring break?!

What a Joke

I have been so bad about training for the upcoming tri in June...
like crazy lazy and
it's-going-to-actually-kill-me-this-time
bad about training!

a friend and I have planned to go running this morning around 9...
and if I don't flake on her (this is the 3rd run we've scheduled together and I flaked on the other 2)....
then if I actual meet up and run with her this will be the 3rd time in the month of April that I've actually gone running!
What?
yeah, you read that right....
I'm 'training' for a triathlon and I have only run 3 times this month!
well, not 3 times...IF I run today that will make it 3 times...and I have till Saturday to make it 7 times...IF I were to run EVERY day this week I will have only run 7 times the entire month of April...
yeah I blogged my training goals back in Feb...and I was supposed to be running 3 times a week...NOT month!

one of those runs WAS a 5K that I did...
without running almost all winter I signed up for a 5K.
knowing that it would force me to 'train'...
and guess what, I didn't, I totally flaked
showed up the day of the race planning on just walking the whole thing...I actually ended up running most of it and felt pretty good minus the shakes from taking one too many 'hits' from my inhaler....
yeah...my allergies, asthma and overall 'winter lungs' have put a major bump in my running!

My training goals also included swimming
crazy me...I have swimming down in my tri training...
was supposed to swim at least 7x in April...still have yet to swim ONCE...not once..
I WILL go tomorrow...I PROMISE....

oh, and biking...
yeah, but I don't have a bike...
I will also make a call on that today, I have a lead on a bike I might be able to borrow, need to get in into my possession!

okay...so my purpose in today's blog was to embarrass myself into training for this tri.
Or maybe it was more of a confession of my non-training sins and then my penance
(is that the word, I'm not sure since I'm not Catholic)
is to now kick it into gear and over train in the 6 weeks I have left until the actual event!

and if you have stayed with me while I drone on about my failing to train...
your job as my friends is to please keep my accountable...
ask me if I have been running...
if I have hit the pool (at all) or the lake (CRAZY)...
if I have found a bike...and ridden said bike...
please keep me accountable because if I actually die in the triathlon then I will hold all of you as accessories in my death!

menu...April 25th-May 5th

I did the worst thing E.V.E.R on Saturday!
I went grocery shopping without a menu or a list...
okay, I lied, I had a list..a list with like 7 things on it...
7 things for 2 weeks worth of meals...thinking I might need more...

so I did the, walk thru the aisle and think of meals while putting  random food into my cart...
I have to say I didn't do so bad and it was sort of nice because the kids were at home and the store wasn't crowded....

meals that I thought of during and after shopping...
salad bar (all the fixings/toppings and everyone gets to make their own salad)
potato bar...(ditto of the above)
french bread pizza
french onion chicken (chicken coated with french fried onions)
tacos/burritos/nachos (make beef in the crock pot and get 3+ meals out of it)
Egg McMuffins
French Toast
Spaghetti and Meatballs
sweet-n-sour beans and cornbread
peanut chicken
stir fry with rice and egg drop soup

...
and that's all I got!

recap of Easter

so this is is for those that have nothing better to do with their Monday...

or for the grandmas and aunts....

boy child checking out the goods...and comparing the goods...

forgot to take a picture before we left for church so, this is the kids in the car

and my loveliness

and check out his joy, he is so full of joy on Easter morn!

 the 'bunny' always comes while we're at church to hide the eggs...thanks grandma and grandpa

 Grandpa with his bowl full of jelly beans...

okay so I'm going to let you in on a not-so-little secret....
I take horrible pictures...
the camera comes out and magically all the joy in my life is sucked out of my body
and I become mean, angry, confused, hurt, sad, annoyed, tired..

so Beau hates family picture time...
he can smile on demand and look great...
Farrah hair and all! (yeah, time for a trim or some product!)

 the kids hate picture time...
knowing that mom will not take a good one so we have to take tons...

 not sure why they hate it when I'm the one with all the issues...

maybe that's the problem...
maybe I am absorbing all of their negative energy right before the camera flashes!

 not too bad

 lets try the squat position...

really, look at my legs and the crazy contortion I was doing to not step on my plants...the rest of the family didn't care!

and the squat pose wins!

finally...sort of okay, we'll take it...

 picture with the grandparents...

real smile?  or his he grabbing my bum?  you guess!

 love that girl...

 and the boy with the missing face...

take 2!

okay so you all saw my post a few weeks ago about having our Spring Open House and Craft Boutique....
well...
the problem was that March happened...
and March didn't get that whole memo about
'In like a lion...OUT like a lamb'
and it decided to just embrace the whole LION concept...
so basically our open house was a bust with crazy....
I MEAN crazy weather...
and we had tons of people say,
'wait, I wanted to come, really we did, but the weather was just too crazy to be driving around in'...
so, since we love all our friends and family and other people that like to buy our stuff...
we are having our
 3rd Open House and Craft Boutique...Take 2!!!
minus the wind, rain, hail, and crazy!

and we also all said...
'wow, we won't have to make anything for it, we have so much stuff already!'

...and guess what...we're all liars and made more stuff...more spring/Easter/Mother's Day stuff....

cutie little birdie block that wants to go home with you

some 'harlot' pendents that Mrs. Smith has been making....

bowl of eggs and a sweet bird...all for the taking

need a sweet bow tie for your little boy this Easter?

Mrs. Smith unique facet necklaces....

so even if you came last month...come again and check out our new stuff...
and if the weather kept you in last time...we promise we won't call you names like sissy and chicken
...we'll be nice...

so just come and have a nice time shopping and hanging out with the ladies!
visit our Open House and Craft Boutique facebook page for directions.....

"Is that how you were raised?"

I know my own parents would ask me this question as a child...
and I, in turn have asked my children the same question....

last week at school the girl child had what we will call...
'the granola bar incident'
during lunch, girls were being girls, laughing and having fun...
and then before she knew it one of the girls had taken Madison's granola bar...
she asked for it back and never got it back...apparently the bar ended up getting passed to someone else and that person ate it...
long story short, we had Madison tell the teacher that the granola bar was taken out of her lunch..
blog note...we don't care about the granola bar...but as a parent I would want to know if my child took someones else lunch and gave it to other people...so that being the case we had Madison let the teacher know...

Madison's teacher is an amazingly fair teacher who has a heart to mold and guide her students not only to be good learners but to be positive citizens of the world.

When Madison teacher was talking to the girl that took the granola bar the girl was very remorseful and sorry, and said that yes she took the bar and knew that she shouldn't have...
the teacher than asked the girl...
"Is that how you were raised?"...
knowing the answer to that question already...
OF COURSE NOT!...

the mother of this little girl had now taken the "granola bar incident' to the principle because not only is her child innocent (her story changed once she talked to her mom), but now, because of that simple rhetorical question, the teacher has accused the mother of teaching her daughter how to steal!
when the teacher said, 'Is that how you were raised?'...the mother took that to mean that the teacher is implying that the mother has been teaching the girl how to steal?!?

seriously...
SE.RI.OUS.LY!!!

wow, have you ever heard of a rhetorical question?
(made myself chuckle, asking a rhetorical question about a rhetorical question...yep, I'm a nerd!)

when I say to my child "Where you born in a barn?"

 

...I'm not calling myself a cow...I'm reminding them that our home is a home and you treat it as such, NOT a barn....

when I say to my child, "Was I born yesterday?"...
I'm not saying that I am younger than them...I am making the point that I WASN'T born yesterday and that I might just know what I'm talking about....

when I ask, "Would you jump off a bridge if all your friends did?"....

I'm not asking them to jump off a bridge...I'll hopefully letting them know that just because your friends choose to do stupid stunts I would expect them to make safe choices!

and when I say, "Is that how you were raised?", when they've done something I don't think they should have done...I'm not saying, 'I raised you to steal...or talk bad...or throw your garbage on the ground...etc"  I am saying that NO you were NOT raised like that and you KNOW better!

the crazy "granola bar incident" of '11 will hopefully serve as a reminder to Madison that we do what is right no matter what.

we are not raising our children to be tattlers,
but we are raising them to stand up for what is good & just,
for themselves and others.

Our 'rule' or guideline on talking to an adult about something and making sure it's NOT tattling...
Did something or someone get hurt/broken/damaged or can they get hurt/broken/damaged?
...and we look at that in a "big picture" answer...did Madison having her granola bar stolen get hurt?  NO...but would it hurt this other girl to get away with taking something that's not hers?...YES...
AND, Yes, that IS how I was raised!

Just Doodling!

my mom was a doodler...
I'm a doodler...
my kids are doodlers...
not sure if it's genetic...

anyways...I bought some plain brown paper eggs yesterday...
my plan was to just keep them brown...

and then I saw the Sharpie just sitting there...
and the eggs looked so lonely....
and I started doodling away....

think they turned out fun...I need a whole dozen...

too bad my purple Sharpie ran out of ink...and my kids ran out of quiet...
so the fun ended and the parenting started!

Back on the Wagon...Menu...Again

oops...went a whole 2 weeks without a menu...and it showed...

we had lots of brinner (breakfast for dinner)...
and grilled cheese sandwiches...
and nachos/tacos/burritos....

so looking at the calendar for the next 2 weeks...
have a Leadership training thingy on Friday night so need a fast dinner...
a 5K Saturday morning and straight to the rest of the Leadership Training all day on Sat (need a crock pot meal for sure)...
taking a meal to a family with a new babe next week...(no peanuts because of allergies)...
Wilson's special share day on Friday so need to plan on a treat to take into his class

Getting on the ball again, making a menu and heading off to the store...

Italian Chicken in the Crock Pot (totally winging this recipe and will share if it works)
Sweet-n-Sour Meatballs-girl child's choice
Taco Soup
Creamy Chicken and smashed potatoes
cheddar roast
Spinach Quiche
Chicken Apple Sausage with Potatoes
Chicken Lettuce Wraps
Orange Chicken with steamed rice
Tex-Mex Pie
Brinner-Breakfast Burritos
Leftover Buffet
French Bread Pizza-boy child's choice

...and that's all I got!