Ramblings of a SAHM

Thursday, September 30, 2004

The house is clean, the bathroom light did not get bought (on tomorrow's to do list), and Emily and Ally's parent/teacher conferences are over.

After my initial reaction of "oh shit, what's wrong?" last week, I thought about it and guessed the reason for the meetings was probably their recognition of letters. I first realized they were having trouble back in March. We worked on it a bit (obviously not as much as I should have) and since starting kindergarten, they've always been able to tell me what letter they worked on that day. What I didn't do was check to see if they knew the letter from yesterday. Or the week before. And the answer probably would have been whiney "I don't know!"

Other than that, they are both doing well according to their teachers. They do occasionally tear up when frustrated (they do that to me too) but they know their shapes, colors, numbers, and play very well with others. Ally did a bit too much talking and tried a defiant stubborn act at the beginning (that's Ally Belle) but she's settled down. The teachers gave me some idea worksheets and explained some of the letter games they play so we'll be working on the alphabet here at home in the mornings.

So all together now, what's this letter? *holds up an alphabet flash card*

Katie at 4:54 PM

Oh bother...

It looks like another long day. I'm trying to stay positive but yesterday was rough. I'm trying to be organized and prepared for everything but my brain can only handle so much. A run down of yesterday:

I knew I had to go grocery shopping in the morning (which meant bringing the twins since they are in PM kindergarten) because Kelly would really need her nap in the afternoon to make it through Zach's hockey practice. So far so good. I picked the kids up from school, made snack, checked homework, helped Zach into his hockey gear, and loaded everyone back into the van within half an hour. Hockey practice itself was alright. The kids did the best they could, it is pretty boring sitting in a cold ice arena. I had packed more snacks and some books and coloring books and crayons.

And then it begins to falls apart. An hour and a half later, practice ends (Zach wasn't on the ice the whole time, there's "chalk time" in the locker room before) and the other kids were so ready to go! But we had to wait in a line to order Zach's new jersey. And the other parents were being stupid: "You should get number 90." "I want 9!" "It's taken, pick another." "What size?" And then trying on 4 different jerseys and arguing over numbers some more. Mind you it was after 6:30 (a late dinner time here) and we still had a half hour drive home. And I totally forgot to include dinner plans in my preparations earlier. And I had no cash plus believe it or not, there's no McDonald's (or any fast food) on the way home.

The morning grocery trip sort of saved me. Lunch meat sandwiches, applesauce, and canned green beans. However the kids were so rotten (throwing silverware, poking each other, playing musical chairs, spilling water) while I was putting it together that I lost it. I screamed, I yelled, I was generally a bad mommy. I stumbled my way through preparing the kids' backpacks for the next day and bath time. When they were all tucked in bed, I glanced at the clock. 7:51, 9 minutes early.

Today I need to clean, buy and replace the downstairs bathroom light fixture, and then the dreaded parent/teacher conferences after school. Oh and I now have one for Emily too. Thankfully her teacher rearranged another parent's time so that I talk to Ally's teacher and than immediately her. I'm trying not to grumble about paying for a babysitter.

Course I have a killer migraine and all I really want to do is climb back into bed and ignore the whole world. As Greg so thoughtfully pointed out (while he was driving from New Jersey to DC), it's only going to get worse when the girls' soccer season starts.

I've realized that taking care of 5 children under 5 years old for the most part by myself was nothing. It's when they start school and have homework and projects and after school activities, then it is insane for one person to try to do it all. I had one mom the other day say, "oh you don't work? That's probably good." What do you mean I'm not working?!?!

More Mountain Dew and Tylenol... I'll let you know how the parent/teacher conferences go later.

Katie at 9:53 AM

Wednesday, September 29, 2004

I am now the proud owner of not one, but two cast iron skillets. Woohoo!

*wanders off to find recipes*

Katie at 3:16 PM

Tuesday, September 28, 2004

Amok, Amok, Amok!

Did you know that it's impossible to wind floss back into its container?

Tearing all the paper off and breaking crayons into little bits will amuse a 3 year old and almost 2 year old for exactly 7 minutes. Or that's the amount of time it takes Mom to realize they are being too quiet.

Who needs toys when you can empty the diaper bag?

Chip crumbs taste better on the floor than whole chips out of the bag.

9 times out of 10, Kelly will spill her cup of water. (The other one time it will be split for her by Kyle).

A pile of neatly folded towels must be used as a landing pad for Rescue Hero's helicopter (and therefore will no longer be a neatly folded pile).

Only the first drink out of a bottle of water is acceptable. After that you must open a new bottle if you are still thirsty. And so on...

"I do it myself!" are the 4 most tedious words ever spoken.

Coloring your little sister's belly with a black pen found while dumping out the diaper bag is lots of fun, especially when Mommy is surprised at diaper changing time.

How in the world did I survive Zach, Emily, and Ally at these ages?

Katie at 4:26 PM

The Tree in Our Front Yard, Fall

Also see Winter, Spring, and Summer. Now that I've taken the complete set, I think I'll have 8x10" prints made and frame them for somewhere in the house.

I have another fall picture I want to take later today (it involves some tricky maneuvering on an interstate exit ramp, LOL) that I'll post tonight. Have a lovely Tuesday!

Quote of the Day: "If you cannot be a poet, be the poem." -David Carradine

Katie at 12:27 PM

Monday, September 27, 2004

Drum roll please...

I have the costume ideas for Halloween 2004! After last year's "no theme" (see picture on the left), Greg and I convinced the kids into a set of costumes that have a theme. Previous years the themes have been: shepard & sheep, medieval knight & princesses & jester, and "Halloween Creatures" Frankenstein, witch, ghost & scarecrow. Without further ado, this year's theme will be Peter Pan!

Zach-Captain Hook
Emily-Tinkerbell
Ally-Wendy
Kyle-Peter Pan
Kelly-Crocodile

I'm half tempted to ask if I can borrow Sherry's boys to be pirates and the Lost Boys. *winks*

To balance out the "OMG, she makes all of her kids' Halloween costumes!", I don't bake cookies from scratch or write notes on their napkins. See, it all evens out in the end. hehe

Katie at 11:09 AM

Saturday, September 25, 2004

The best birthday gift, a hot bubble bath in the middle of the afternoon and a restful nap afterwards. *blissful smiles*

Camping pictures tomorrow! (Or maybe Monday...)

Quote of the Day: "Sad? Why should I be sad? It's my birthday. The happiest day of the year." -Eeyore

Katie at 3:26 PM

Friday, September 24, 2004

I'm feeling a bit better so camping tonight is still a go. (Mountain Dew is a great cure-all.) But I'm very spacey at the moment, my focus is totally out of whack. My stream of thought is something like this:

Make lunch.
Oh yeah, the laundry!
Clean up orange spot on carpet.
Drat, lunch is burning!
Where's Kyle?
Hmm, laundry.
Clean up Kyle's mess (Zach's pokemon cards).
Write two things down on camping grocery list.
Need to charge camera battery.
Clean up lunch.
Need to charge cell phone battery.
Uh, laundry?

My day planner to-do list is no help because when I check it, it evilly reminds me of all the other stuff I'm totally forgetting: call hockey coach, call babysitter about Ally's conference next week, the PTO flyer I promised to write, thank you notes from Kyle's birthday (which reminds me of the thank-you notes I need to write from my birthday already), scan pictures and CD covers, buy stamps, pay bills... Oh and the ever helpful "shower" and "blog". Only one of which I have already done today. Oh yeah and there's all the camping gear to pull out, s'mores and other grocery stuff to buy, and hmm, I'm missing 3 kids... *writes in bold, "Pick up kids at 3:30!"*

I'm thinking Greg can pull out the camping stuff so I'm going to get a shower! *adds Mike's Hard Lemonade to grocery list*

Doh, I'm so ditzy, I almost forgot the point of this post! Thank you to Sarah for the JoAnn's gift card (yep, I got it authorized okay this morning) and thank you to TBOMM and The Wife for the Photoshop magazine and card. This poem they wrote on my card was too funny so I have to share:

Happy Birthday to you,
You live in a zoo,
A house full of monkeys,
So have cake and Mountain Dew!

hehe Have a great weekend all!

Katie at 2:52 PM

I'm sick (fever, chills, aches, etc). Boy this week keeps getting better and better. Thank goodness it's Friday.

Katie at 8:47 AM

Thursday, September 23, 2004

I'm tired. Being grumpy takes a lot out of a girl. But things seem back to normal for now. The kids are alive and kicking, the house is sort of clean (it won't be condemned any time soon), and Greg is home for the rest of the week. We also decided against the babysitter and going out, instead we're going camping Friday night. Just at a local nearby campground, we'll be less than twenty minutes from home. Fun stuff.

Quote of the Day: "There is still no cure for the common birthday." -John Glenn

Katie at 12:02 PM

Wednesday, September 22, 2004

The crabby mood has not lifted. Just call me Lucy Van Pelt. I don't suppose being woken up at 7am to Zach and Kyle fighting helped. Anyway yesterday's post is all the wallowing I'm going to do in my bad mood so this will be short. But I promise not to kill anyone today, I'm out of places to hide the bodies. *grins evilly* Hormones are a bitch!

Katie at 8:44 AM

Tuesday, September 21, 2004

**WARNING** Seriously Crappy Day Rant Ahead.

I just received a note from Ally's teacher requesting a special parent/teacher conference next week. They only do this if there's a problem. So this can't be good news and I'm already dreading it.

The kids trashed the house this morning after I spent a lot of time cleaning it yesterday. And Greg left his hiking/camping stuff in our room for me to trip over.

Kelly's had two messy poopy diapers. Kyle's wet his pants twice.

I snapped the twins for being slow getting ready for school. I'm pissed at myself for yelling at them and then for us being late. I hate being late.

The check-out lady at the grocery store bagged my order all wrong. I always set it up on the belt nicely, frozen together, squishables together, cans together, different meats separate. (By the way at this store I can't bag it myself.) We got home and the raw chicken was with the bread and the cans were mixed in with the noodles. I was keeping an eye on Kyle and Kelly in the cart but she had to seriously work at bagging the order that wrong.

Then I had to throw out food that went bad that I specially bought for Greg and he never ate them. If there's one thing I hate more than spending money, it's throwing away money.

I have to make phone calls and I hate phone calls. One is to Zach's hockey coach to find out the next practice time. Their website isn't updated (what's the point to having a website if you don't update at least once a year?) and there was no practice schedule handed out Saturday.

The other phone calls are to find babysitters for this weekend. Which is another grumble because I don't want to go out. I'd rather order take-out, rent a movie and stay in. Again I don't want to spend the money on babysitters or eating out or the outrageous price to see a movie. But Greg wants the babysitters and the kids to get used to each other. I don't care, I hate spending the money to have a babysitter in the first place!

Greg's in Texas today and tomorrow and in DC all next week. Yeah, yeah, it's his job but that doesn't mean I have to be tickled pink about it. He was just gone Friday through last night. Where he lost his prescription glasses. More money...

Okay to sum it all up, I'm PMS'ing, the kids are driving me nuts, the house is a mess, I haven't showered yet today, my birthday is Saturday which means I'm getting that much closer to 30 (yeah I know it's self-centered and stupid to whine about but I don't care! I don't want to be 30!) and I don't want to spend any more freakin' money!

Please someone return my sense of humor and clean house. In the time being, I'll be crying in the bathroom.

Katie at 4:37 PM

Monday, September 20, 2004

Apples
Not just for weird celebrities who never read a baby names book.

I've never really thought much about apples before. They are a fruit and for the most part I get along well with fruits. They aren't disgusting like the dreaded liver and onions but not as wonderfully delicious as chocolate. You give me an apple and I'd respond, "eh, okay."

Then came this week. It started innocently enough, my mother-in-law called yesterday and suggested apple picking. Eh, sure, why not? So we went apple picking at the farm we also go pumpkin picking in October. I quickly learned that a peck is about a small sized grocery bag, two pecks equals half a bushel, so on and so forth. And of course the kids all had to have their own peck bags. Eh, whatever. Off in the orchard we went!

I'm always painfully aware of how "city-fide" my kids are when we are on a farm. They literally cannot walk in grass taller than 4 inches. It's embarrassing. So while most of the orchard was mowed, it wasn't neatly trimmed around the trees like it is in those Florida grown orange juice commercials. And the branches the kids could reach were near the tree trunk and they were having fits walking in grass. Let alone trying to pull an apple off the tree. "What you mean, we can't pick the ones on the ground? Why aren't they in bins like at the grocery store?" *smacks forehead*

After much apple picking and falling in 4 inch high grass, we decided, eh let's call it a day. Zach showed that he inherited more than just his looks from his father (i.e. his bad sense of direction!) but we made it back to the old man in overalls to pay. We managed to consolidate the 5 peck bags into 4, meaning I was now the proud owner of an entire bushel of apples! But after closer inspection when we got home, my kids suck at picking apples and I threw away about a peck of bad apples. Whew!

Which brings me to today. What the heck am I going to do with half a bushel and a peck of apples? Never fear, the school is coming to my rescue! Huh?

Dear Parents, Please send 2 apples to school to celebrate Johnny "Appleseed" Chapman's birthday and enough apple treats for the whole class. signed Zach's teacher

Okay doke, 2 batches of Apple Muffins coming up! (minus the walnuts) Oh but first I have to make the applesauce to use in the apple muffins recipe.

Dear Parents, Please volunteer to help with our "Apple Day!" Your child will need to bring apples (one red, green, and yellow) this day. signed Emily's teacher

Hmm, well this one kinda looks yellow and maybe this one is green in the right light...

Dear Parents, Please send in ONE apple as we will be doing many apple activities in the next few days. Also an apple treat to share with the whole class would be greatly appreciated. signed Ally's teacher

Only one apple? Are they sure? They really can have this whole peck! And I guess this means I need to make more applesauce and bake more apple muffins...

I just want to know what do other schools do in areas without apples. Kiwi week? Bring a Coconut to school? I never knew so much learning could be had with apples.

I hope I have enough apples...

Katie at 5:56 PM

From Cute Kelly to Blue Kelly...

For his birthday, Kyle received a Sponge Bob coloring book and pencil. On top of the pencil was a little rolling stamp that self inked. Kelly put that end in her mouth (I could have sworn I threw this pencil away!) and there you have it. Smurf Kelly. *bangs head on desk* It's always something with my children...

Katie at 8:46 AM

Sunday, September 19, 2004

Ahoy! Today is International Talk Like a Pirate Day! Yar!

From this site, you shall now call me: Scribe Short Stubble. (And that is way too fitting on so many levels...) The rest of this post will now be translated into Pirate Speak for your benefit. (Translator)

Happy Sunday to ye all! Th' weath'r is a beauty so we are goin' to th' park. Th' upcomin' week looks pretty uneventful, Zach has a couple of Tiger Scout events and Kyle has his 3 year check-up. So I need to write up a good "projects I've been puttin' off" to do list to keep meself out of trouble. *winks*

Later I plan to watch Pirates of th' Caribbean to ~~drool over Johnny and Orlando,~~ ~~feel th' salty sea mist on me face,~~ brush up on me pirate speak. Now where's me bottle of rum? Arrrr!

Quote of th' Day: "Th' best part of bein' a pirate is drinkin' lots of grog and sayin' "Arrr, me mateys!" a lot." -Scribe Short Stubble

Katie at 8:37 PM

Apple Pickin'

No, not the ones on the ground!

We're suppose to do what?!?!

Kelly being cute.

Ugh, the grass is 4 inches tall! How are we suppose to walk?

Hey, his apple is bigger than mine!

See, apple! (Emily)

Is this one any good?!?! (Ally)

Kelly finds an apple at her level!

Lost in a jungle of apple trees.

Toast to the apples! Now can we go home?

Katie at 10:56 AM

Saturday, September 18, 2004

For waking up at 5:30am, today hasn't been too bad so far. Zach had a blast at hockey practice. I'm so glad we are sticking to activities that they really want to do and not ones we think they should do.

So then we came home and I made pancakes and sausage for breakfast (a nice change from cold cereal). After that I cleaned up a bit but I still need to put away the candles. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that the power went out again last night! For about an hour. It was amusing because at bedtime the kids were like "we don't want to go to bed in the dark!" And they don't even have night lights to begin with so they always go to bed in the dark. Ding dongs. And then I stared at my nice flat screen computer monitor in the candle light for awhile. hehe

The kids and I just got back from running errands: the bank, the post office, the grocery store, McDonald's... Yeah I'm too tired to bake chicken nuggets and french fries on my own. hehe Now I need to put Kelly down for her nap (she fell asleep in the drive-thru, poor baby), put away those candles, do some laundry, and play around in Photoshop. Oh and relax! I love the weekends.

Oh yeah, no update on Greg yet but he said they were getting an early start so with the time difference, they should be hiking right now! He bought a one-use camera so hopefully he'll get some good pics that I can post later. (Somehow I have to make this all work for me, cause it's all about me, you know!)

Happy Saturday to you!

Katie at 12:48 PM

Friday, September 17, 2004

I often joke that hurricanes are the reason I don't live in Florida. Well guess what? Not only is Ivan flooding areas around here (they canceled the high school homecoming football game tonight), it knocked out our power for 3 hours this afternoon (strong winds toppled a big tree a couple of blocks away). What the heck? So I don't have Florida's nice sunny warm weather but I get the effects of hurricanes anyway? I'm rather grumpy about this. Hey Fates, Friday the 13th was last month!

There's no chocolate in the house and the weather is too crappy for a walk (plus there's that whole issue of walking with 5 children). Oh and Zach has hockey practice at 7am tomorrow morning which means we all have to be up and out the door by 6:15am. Can I please have last weekend back?

Update on Tommy and Greg: They are both in California. I spoke to Greg and they were sitting at different terminals at LA X waiting for different flights to the same place (Fresno). I will never understand airline travel.

But to cheer myself up, I took this cute photo of Kelly earlier. She dressed herself, that's her swimsuit cover-up and her new Care Bear shoes. Oh and a piece of wheat bread, she took her sandwich apart at lunch.

Quote of the Day: "And that's that. What do we do next?" -Winnie the Pooh

Katie at 4:18 PM

Well I guess my blog is as crabby as I am today because both my UnkyMoods and BlogRolling sites are down. *rolls eyes*

The weather is yucky. Ivan made its way up here and it's windy, cold, and wet. Ick. I'm thinking about turning the heat on. I already have all the lights on in the house to make up for the lack of sunlight. The rain I can't really do anything about.

And here's the gist of my crabbiness today. I'm worried. And I hate worrying. My mother is a huge worry wart, hypercondriac, and pack rat. So I've gone to the other extreme and try my hardest not to worry. I've also conditioned myself to the point that lots of clutter makes me physically ill. But that's a post for another day.

Anyway I'm worried about Greg and my brother Tommy. Tommy is flying for his first time ever today. And not a simple flight to his destination. He has plane changes at 2 airports (one being LA X) and layovers. I'm afraid he's going to miss a plane or something and be like Tom Hanks in Terminal and we'll never see him again. Or he'll make the plane but then do something stupid like bring a lighter on board (he smokes... bad, bad, Tommy!) and get arrested by Home Land Security and spend 10 years in prison.

And then tomorrow both boys are hiking up Half Dome in Yosemite. These guys don't even walk to the mailbox daily to get the mail. So since I'm already worried about Tommy, it just seems natural to worry about these two hiking up a mountain! And in California there's earthquakes. While we were in Colorado Springs last August someone died from a lightening strike while climbing a mountain. And what about bears and mountain lions? And heaven forbid, one of them hurts himself and has to air lifted out and Greg loses his cell phone and can't remember my phone number and then no one will be able to contact me. See, when I worry, I go all out.

I think I need some chocolate.

Katie at 1:23 PM

Thursday, September 16, 2004

You need to go make this now!

Whole Apple Strudel

The kids haven't stopped mmm'ing since I served it. Although one whole apple is a bit much for little ones, next time I'll give them each a half.

And hey, apples and oatmeal, it's healthy! hehe

Katie at 7:24 PM

Evil One has demanded to know where I was yesterday. I was volunteering at my first PTO event! Sorting Market Day orders! In the hot cafeteria. And the majority of the items were frozen. Does that bug anyone else besides me? Anyway it was good fun but tiring.

*cue tribal drums and chanting* Survivor starts tonight! Woohoo!

And that's it from me. Em, Ally, Kyle, Kelly, and I went shoe shopping this morning so I'm already worn out and it's not even noon. *sneaks off to find a cold Mountain Dew*

Quote of the Day: "It is better to rise from life as from a banquet - neither thirsty nor drunken." -Aristotle

Katie at 11:51 AM

Wednesday, September 15, 2004

Got Jam?

Strawberry, Peach, Red Raspberry

Katie at 8:22 AM

Tuesday, September 14, 2004

Lovely, lovely day. *sarcasm*

Well one, Zach's hockey season is starting early. Good thing, right? I mean we are spending $300, might as well get our money's worth. However not at 7am on a Saturday morning! ARGH! Where will Greg be? Hiking up Half Dome with my brother. Whatever, we'll be there. (Note to self: buy breakfast bars and lollipops)

Second, my scale has turned on me. (We have this evil model) The scale and I usually get along great but this morning it spit out 140.8. 140.8?!?! I did a quick check to make sure no one else was on the scale. *sigh* I should have known that a six pack of Mike's Hard Lemonade, way too many servings of chips and dip, and all that birthday cake over the weekend weren't going to go quietly into the night. My waist more like it...

So since I'm a goal orientated person, here's my plan. On Oct 31st, I want to be 128. I can probably easily drop back down to the 134-136 range that I've been hovering at since March but I want to be under 130. I'm 5'3" by the way and some would say I should be closer to 120. But then I personally think I look like a stick and it would require too much muscle loss. So 128 it is.

I thought about posting a "before" picture in my undies but too many real life friends and family read and I don't want to freak them out. haha So instead, measurements. I have no idea what a reasonable amount of inches to lose would be so no expectations here. I just don't want the top one to change (diet gods? I'm begging here, please, please, please!).

Bust: 36 1/2"
Waist: 34" (what the hell?)
Hips: 40 1/2"
Thigh: 22" (seriously?)

Other goals: wean myself off Mountain Dew (*hides Mountain Dew can*), drink more water, and exercise. I'm going to buy the cheapest pedometer I can find today and then aim for whatever I'm suppose to aim for. Yeah, some more research may be needed here. Also dust off those dumb exercise tapes and check out the library's selection. Hey, I might even walk to the library to do that, bonus points!

October 31st... katiefleck vs. evil scale, round 2

Quote of the Day: "Vegetables are a must on a diet. I suggest carrot cake, zucchini bread, and pumpkin pie." -Jim Davis

Katie at 9:27 AM

Monday, September 13, 2004

I'm kinda bored this morning. I could probably do a load of laundry and I plan to mop the kitchen floor after lunch. The kids are happily playing with Kyle's new birthday toys (which are perfect! no noise, no batteries, no small parts! thank you, present givers!) so they don't want to play with me. *sigh*

I'm back at one of my project crossroads. There are no immediate projects that need to be done since I finished Greg's jean quilt. I won't start Halloween costumes until October and NaNoWriMo isn't until November. I watched the Good Eats episode last night on jam making (I've seen it before) so maybe I'll make up a couple of batches as a head start to Christmas gift giving.

Writing-wise I've kinda lost interest in my Unofficial Guide if you hadn't noticed. I think I've ran out of safe and easy topics that wouldn't be stepping on anyone's toes. I'd hate to tell anyone how to raise their kids but after a little bit of experience with my 5, I do like to make light hearted suggestions that might help out others. But try suggesting the CIO (crying it out) method to some people and they yell as if you had told them to add bleach to the baby's formula. I don't know, I need to think harder I suppose.

And there's always scrapbooking. I'm exactly a year behind on all of the kids' books. I pulled out Kyle's album so the company could flip through it if they wanted and I received a couple of joking comments about how Kyle obviously hasn't done anything for the last year. But hey, it's two-thirds complete! Course he did just turn 3... Feasibly I do have the creative energy to catch up the books but I think Greg would completely freak if I spent $300 on pictures and who knows how much on supplies to do it. Right now $20 a month isn't such a shock on the budget.

Anyway enough rambling, the dishwasher just stopped and it's almost time to make lunch and get Em and Ally ready for kindergarten. I hope you all are having a lovely Monday!

Quote of the Day: "Research tells us fourteen out of any ten individuals likes chocolate." -Sandra Boynton

Katie at 11:47 AM

Sunday, September 12, 2004

This has been one of the best weekends ever. Definitely in my top 10 of weekends. The weather was gorgeous, the friends and family were wonderful, the food was good, and everyone had a great time. A few pictures:

The bouncy castle/slide we rented as Kyle's birthday gift. We started out the day with 10 kids in it and another 7 came over later. It was so much fun, the adults even took several turns in it. hehe

Kyle going down the slide.

Blowing out the candles.

Present opening time!

Thanks to you all for Kyle's birthday wishes, I think 3 is going to be a great year for him!

Katie at 5:45 PM

Saturday, September 11, 2004

Happy 3rd Birthday Kyle!

3 years ago, Greg and I dropped Zach, Em, and Ally off at his parents the evening of Sept 10th. At 7am on the 11th, we went to the hospital to be induced. We had picked the 11th because it was Greg's grandfather's birthday (his 67th). At 8:30am, the nurse set up my pit drip.

Greg turned on the TV and flipped through the channels. I'm not a daytime TV watcher (unless it's Nick Jr or Disney) so I told him to turn it off, it was annoying. 5 minutes later he was bored and asked to turn the TV back on. Fine, whatever. He found the Today show just as Matt Lauer announced, "Something has exploded at the World Trade Center" and then the show broke for commercials.

If you were watching TV that day, you know what happened next. The second plane. The plane at the Pentagon. The plane in Pennsylvania. And to my absolute horror, the towers crashing down on live TV. I remember thinking, I just watched thousands of people die. I'm still not over the shock.

That day was filled with tears. But not the right ones for a labor and delivery ward. The nurses stood at the doorways of our rooms to watch the TV's and wept. The cheerful excitement of friends and families visiting new babies and their parents was gone. Instead of crying for the joy of a new life in the world, we were crying for the senseless loss of thousands. While we tried to celebrate a birth, we knew that tonight husbands, wives, children, friends wouldn't be returning home to their loved ones. It seemed so wrong to try to be a tiny bit happy in the face of such extreme sorrow.

I know everyone has a 9/11 story to tell. This is mine.

Kyle Joseph was born at 7pm, Sept 11, 2001.

We will never forget.

Katie at 9:27 PM

Friday, September 10, 2004

Okay, I have the guest list. I have the grocery list. I have the house about half way cleaned and the laundry half way done. I have... Kids?

School's been canceled for the day. At first it was a 2 hour fog delay (which I drove to the school to find out). And then since everything was a bit messed up and the superintendent was feeling generous, they called off the whole day (which I drove to the school to find out).

Welcome to the Looney Bin, I'll be your hostess...

Katie at 10:48 AM

Thursday, September 09, 2004

Testing, testing, 123, is this thing on?

Okay, so obviously everyone was already napping and not interested in me napping. Got it. Anyway last night Greg and I cleaned the garage and I reorganized the attic. And then I completed a toy room purge. We...have...too...many...toys!

Today I've done a lot of nothing even though I should be doing a lot of something. I did weed the backyard gardens earlier, err mulch piles. Since there's actually nothing planted in them to be considered a garden. After dinner, I'm mowing the grass. The neighbor kid usually does it but he doesn't use a mulching mower so there's clumps of cut grass everywhere. Ick.

I do have a good reason for all this procrastinating. Not only do I not know who all is coming this weekend, I do not know what time or who will be staying which night. You try to plan meals and a grocery list with that amount of info. Fun stuff, let me tell you.

Alright everyone go back to napping and ignoring me. *sniff, sniff*

(Just kidding, I'm perfectly fine with no comments. In a slightly insane, obsessive nonchalant kinda way.)

Katie at 5:14 PM

I need a nap. *yawn*

Quote of the Day: "I learned to love the journey, not the destination... that life is not a dress rehearsal, and that today is the only guarantee you get." -Anna Quindlen

Katie at 10:24 AM

Wednesday, September 08, 2004

Zach's Model Rocket Launch, 5 Sep 2004, 1900 hours

Weather: 75F, partially cloudy, winds 5-10 mph SW, visibility 5 miles

Rocket preparations: Two rockets are planned to launch. 2 time 4-H blue ribbon model rocketry winner Katie goes over proper engine insertion and paper wadding stuffing with first time model rocket launcher Zach.

"Houston, we have a problem." A team of rocket scientists are called in when the model rocket engines included in the kit are found to be an extremely tight fit in the model rockets resulting in split glue seams. Duct tape is suggested but 4 small rubber bands are deemed a suitable fix.

Excited spectators look on.

Countdown Sequence for first rocket launch. "... 3, 2, 1, Lift off! We have lift off!"

Search and Recovery Team after 1st successful launch.

Second rocket launch (and Zach's head).

Debris from 2nd launch. "Mr. and Mrs. Smith, we regret to inform you that your son passed away on rocket reentry. He died doing what he loved best, serving his country. Thank you and God Bless."

Katie at 8:49 AM

Tuesday, September 07, 2004

Well crap! I showed up at the dentist office (10 minutes early even) and they didn't have me on the schedule! The receptionist remembers talking to me on the phone about my appointment but something got screwed up in the computer so they were booked full this morning. Since I didn't make the appointment while at the office, I don't have a paper to prove I was ever scheduled. So I left feeling like a complete dork and now I'm upset because I have to go through all the waiting all over again. ARGH! I hate the dentist, I hate teeth, and I hate the icky antibiotic mouthwash that I have to keep using until my next appointment (whenever the hell that will be)!

Katie at 10:04 AM

Things I'd rather be doing this morning than going to the dentist for root planning:

Weeding the gardens
Washing windows
Scrubbing toilets
Making steak tartar
Breaking an arm
Gluing together a ceramic dish broken into a million pieces
Killing cockroaches (*shudders*)
Visiting the GYN for a um, you know
Driving to Florida with 5 children
Giving birth without drugs

The only thing I can think of that would be worse than visiting the dentist is having kidney stones, a kidney infection, and preterm labor with twins all at once. Yeah, I really don't like going to the dentist...

Katie at 8:11 AM

Monday, September 06, 2004

Out of the frying pan and into the fire...

I survived the weekend. My family all had to leave early due to various meetings and college studies. And as much I love seeing them all, I wasn't terribly upset. This gives me a chance to regroup and recuperate before we jump into a short but fun filled, action packed week of school. Staying up until 3am drinking tequila shots and laughing so hard that my stomach hurt is not something I usually do. Lick, shoot, suck. It took me a couple of tries to get that down pat again. *winks*

Now onto the fire... You may remember me mentioning Greg's grandfather. Who lives in Florida, celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in August, recently had a heart attack, and shares Kyle's birthday. Due to the hurricanes and his health, he and Grandma are here in the Midwest staying with nearby family members for awhile. Did I mention he shares Kyle's birthday?

Yep, you guessed it. I'm now hosting a joint Kyle's 3rd/Grandpa's 70th birthday party on Saturday for three times the guests originally planned for Kyle's. And before you say anything about "just say NO!", I really do want to do this. I'm just very nervous about it. Greg's mom's side of the family is legendary when it comes to parties. In fact, they receive the thank you notes from their guests for inviting them to their wonderful parties. And my mother-in-law? There are not even words for how great she is at being a hostess. Although she does have funny habit of using post-it notes.

So this week I'll be in super duper cleaning mode (paint touch-ups, "de-frosting" the light fixtures, etc). Again I want my house to look nice, I'm not doing this because I feel obligated. I'm of the mind that a clean, nice house makes guests feel invited and comfortable where as a dirty cluttered one makes them nervous about eating the food and uneasy in general. (But then again, I have issues with clutter and "can't breath" in a severely cluttered environment.)

As for the food, anyone have the number of a good caterer?

We'll all have a great time, we'll all have a great time...

Katie at 3:20 PM

Saturday, September 04, 2004

Greg's Jean Quilt

(Do you know how hard it is to take a picture of a quilt?)

Anyway, once a upon a time it was 17 pairs of jeans and jean shorts donated to us by friends and family members. For the record Greg's jeans and our friend Mr.A's jeans are awesome, lots of big open expanses of material. On the other hand Mrs.A's and my jeans, I didn't get very many squares out of them. hehe

So I took this nifty pile of squares, sewed 'em all together and then went to look for backing fabric. This was in March. When there's no red and black checked flannel to be found because that's a fall fabric. If Greg wanted pink and purple daisies, I would have been all set. But he didn't want that. No idea why not, it was quite lovely...

Anyway fast forward to July and JoAnn's now has fall fabrics in stock. In July. Flannel and fleece everywhere! In July. Okay, I don't know, maybe there's a mad rush for polar fleece in the middle of the hottest month ever but I was able to buy Greg's red and black checked flannel. And then the procrastination bug set in. As any quilter will tell you (ha, I've made 4 quilts my whole life, one you are currently looking at), the hardest part is the finishing. There are woeful tales of many a quilt top that never finds a soft piece of batting or a nice backing fabric to spend the rest of its life with...

Well anyway I stalled because I didn't know how exactly I wanted to quilt it. Machine quilt? Tied? Super glue? I tried machine quilting it first. And looking back that was very dumb because denim and flannel are two very different fabrics. Which means they handle completely different under the sewing machine needle. Long story short, it wasn't going to work. Well it might have, but I'm not a patient person when it comes to sewing. And checking both sides of the quilt every 4 stitches to make sure I was "in the ditch" on one side and not warping the lines of the flannel on the other side sounds worse than pulling my eyes out with a rusty pair of kitchen shears.

So back to the "Craft To Do" pile it went for a month and a half. And then Greg started mentioning the quilt. "Sure would be nice to have a quilt" he'd say as he looked at me snuggled under my Christmas tree quilt (one of the 4 I've made and yes, I know it's summer but I haven't made a summer quilt yet!). Or "It's almost fall, what a great time for a thick heavy jean camping quilt." And then "Um, are you going to finish my quilt any time soon?" Okay, okay I get the hint!

So I dug it out and started ripping the seams from the ill fated machine quilting attempt. And then bought some crochet thread, a needle and a can of basting spray. I now have a nice callus on my thumb from tying off the quilt. But the rest was all downhill from there, it was just a matter of sewing on the bias tape binding. And finally it's done!

He looks pretty cute don't you think? *smiles*

Katie at 8:42 AM

Friday, September 03, 2004

Yippee, it's Friday!

Oh crap, it's Friday...

Yeah I know I wanted it to be the end of the week earlier in the week mostly because I missed Greg (we pick him up at the airport at 5pm today, woohoo!). But this morning I realized that I have company coming over this weekend and I have done absolutely nothing, zip, zero, nada in preparation for them. I did finish Greg's jean quilt however so it's not like I watched TV and ate bonbons all week. I don't even know where to buy bonbons and you try changing the channel from Noggin around here. You think fog horns are loud? You ain't heard nothing yet.

Anyway, tonight it's my sister, her husband, and one of their friends until Sunday night. Tomorrow it's the rest of my family: Mom, Dad, sister, and two brothers until Monday night. Hmm, I think that's it. But I haven't bought any food and although the house is in decent shape, it should be better. And someone said something about a birthday cake for Kyle. *cringes* Oh boy, today should be interesting.

Have a great Friday and a safe and fun Labor Day weekend!

Katie at 8:58 AM

Thursday, September 02, 2004

To my neighbors and everyone who drove by my house last night, sorry about the PJ's and flashlight at 9pm. I found out today was "Bring a Bug to School" Day (what happened to "Bring a Grandparent to School" Day?) as I was tucking Zach into bed after he had already stayed up late mixing various household products with water, science homework. The bazillion spiders that have been spooking the children (especially in the bathroom, why can't they all hide in the laundry room where they would only bother me?) had mysteriously all disappeared. A fly wouldn't do although the ones in the house are so slow and stupid I can catch them in mid flight. A cricket was deemed worthy of the honor of "Bring a Bug to School" and since Zach was all freshly scrubbed for Picture Day, also today (sheesh, talk about over scheduling the kids), I wasn't about to let him outside.

Oh and about Picture Day? Guess who scraped the heck out of her face last night? (further details are sketchy, it involved a toy bin, a Care Bear, and 400 legos) I guess it'll be easy to tell the kindergarten pictures apart. Emily's the one sporting a lovely scratch and bruise under her right eye. *sigh*

Katie at 9:06 AM

Wednesday, September 01, 2004

It's September, it's September! *does the Snoopy dance of joy*

I love this month and season. Which is funny because as a kid I hated them both. September had that whole icky Back-to-School vibe then. And fall meant winter was coming and I hate the cold and snow. But now as an adult, I can enjoy the month for its true beauty... My birthday!

No really, I love autumn because of the leaves changing colors, pumpkin patches, Halloween (my favorite holiday!), the cooler weather, wearing jackets and jeans, fall breezes. And this is the season when I fell in love with Greg (8 years ago!) so that makes me feel all warm and fuzzy too. Did I mention my birthday?

Spring used to be my favorite season. But then I developed allergies so I hate the whole month of March due to some unknown plant rudely polluting the air with pollen. And the spring rain showers I loved as a kid now drive me crazy because they mean my children are stuck in the house and worse, mud! So fall is the best season in my opinion. The mosquitoes are dead and it's the perfect weather for a camp fire and long hikes in the woods.

And my birthday happens to be September 25th if anyone feels like sending me a present. *winks*

Katie at 1:01 PM

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