Ramblings of a SAHM

Wednesday, November 30, 2005

Woohoo! IT'S DONE!!! With 91 words to spare and 2 1/2 hours to go...

For the record, I don't recommend waiting until the last minute to write over a fifth of the novel.

Whew, it's done. Now onto Christmas. (So why do I feel like I just jumped out of the frying pan and into the fire?)

Quote of the Day (as requested by Miss Arrogant): "I picked a fine day to run out of Mountain Dew." -Me

Katie at 9:30 PM

Yikes, it's the last day of NaNoWriMo! I currently have 12,000 words to write and luckily we have nothing going on today (other than the usual meals and school stuff). I'll try to update my word count throughout the day and hopefully tonight I'll have my nifty little "winner" icon to show you. My fingers are going to need some serious pampering later...

Edit at 10:45am: Woot! Broke the 40,000 barrier by 4 words so far. LOL One cup of tea down, working on a mug of hot chocolate. I picked a fine day to run out of Mountain Dew.

Edit at 12:30pm: 43,117 of 50,000. Ow, my fingers hurt. Taking a quick break for lunch (although Kyle and Kelly have already helped themselves to yogurt cups and bananas).

Edit at 2:30pm: Eek, that was kind of a long lunch break. And hmm, 29 additional words. What a time to hit a writing block. arrrgggghhh...

Edit at 3:30pm: Block, what block? Up to 45,322 now. Less than 5,000 words is so doable for me. The kids are home from school so another quick break and I hope to finish shortly after dinner. As for reading this crap, sorry it's not going to happen. I told Steph earlier over IM that I didn't even have a kissing scene until about word 41,000. And what good is a book without more of that? hehe Next year, I'm definitely picking a different (and easier!) genre.

Edit at 6pm: Did you know that Microsoft Word gives up trying to mark your spelling mistakes and grammar errors after 76 pages of them? hehe 48,034 words It's all downhill from here!

Quote of the Day: "If I didn't have writing, I'd be running down the street hurling grenades." - Paul Fussell

Katie at 8:01 AM

Tuesday, November 29, 2005

Writing, writing, writing... Oh and ice skating and dentist visiting and chess signing up and grocery shopping and laundry folding. Have a lovely Tuesday!

Katie at 9:33 AM

Monday, November 28, 2005

To recap the weekend...

Great: Thanksgiving dinner with everything
Not So Great: gaining 3 pounds

Great: seeing family and friends
Not So Great: getting up at 3:45am to drive 8 hours in the snow, wind, and rain

Great: Black Friday Christmas deals
Not So Great: standing in 15 degree weather for half an hour outside Target

Great: going to the movies with a bar in the lobby (haven't I told you that Ohio is an awesome state?)
Not So Great: Rent, it's a bit cheesy, I still cried at the right scenes but you're better off listening to the sound track at home

Great: driving through Christmas lights Saturday night
Not So Great: driving 85 miles in 3 hours Sunday night (the Pennsylvania Turn Pike was a parking lot)

Great: being home again
Not So Great: 6 loads of laundry and a mile long to do list

Quote of the Day: "What we're really talking about is a wonderful day set aside on the fourth Thursday of November when no one diets. I mean, why else would they call it Thanksgiving?" -Erma Bombeck

Katie at 9:05 AM

Thursday, November 24, 2005

Happy Thanksgiving!

If you will be traveling along I70 today, make sure you wave at the crazy short woman drinking a Mountain Dew and driving 12 passenger van from Maryland to Ohio.

Katie at 5:00 PM

Wednesday, November 23, 2005

katiefleck's Unofficial Guide to Surviving 3 or more children under the age of 6
Volume 8: Traveling

I think I may be the only person on the planet that doesn't cringe in fear when someone mentions "you should bring the kids over" when "over" involves more than a two hour drive. In fact I love strapping the kids into their carseats and taking off along the interstate. And no I'm not being sarcastic, I made the one thousand mile round trip from Ohio to Maryland 4 times in 2 months. You too may enjoy road trips a bit more after these tips.

(Note: this is for car rides, I haven't been crazy enough to attempt a plane trip with all the kids but you should be able to use some of these tips in that situation as well.)

Timing: If your kids or baby nap well in the car, then nap time is a perfect time to start the trip. They are asleep, you can calmly drive to your destination, and they are well rested when you arrive. Win-win-win! This method works well with shorter, less than 4 hour trips. However I've had mixed results with doing overnight drives like this. First you are awake the entire time (even if you trade driving duties with your spouse, you aren't getting a full night's sleep) and second the kids will be wide-freaking-awake when you arrive dead tired. If we have a 6+ hour drive, I like to start it right after breakfast or lunch and treat it more like a normal day. Just in the van.

Plan on a 20 minute stop every 3 hours. Occasionally you can stretch it to 4 hours or the kids may need a potty break (again!) after 2. If you plan this time into your schedule, you'll feel a lot less grumpy about making the stops and the kids will be happier with the breaks in the monotonous driving.

Food: This is one of the trickiest parts of planning a road trip. Like I said, I like to start out shortly after a meal. The kids are fed and happy and won't be bugging me to stop at McDonald's for at least an hour. I also find it's best to stick to "a normal day just in the van" schedule. So lunch at lunch time, snack at snack time, etc. I don't mind snacks in the van while driving or buying them at a gas station when we stop to fill up. But by meal time, everyone is probably ready for a break so walking into McDonalds to stretch everyone's legs is nice.

Snacks: I have not found the "perfect" in the car snack (if you have it, tell me!) Everything will have a wrapper or core or peel or stick so you'll be dealing with trash no matter what. Pick a snack based on your tolerance level for messiness and uh, healthiness. (You want kids hopped up on sugar strapped into carseats for another 6 hours? I'm not responsible...) I usually go with nutri-grain cereal bars and fruit snacks. The boxes are easy to keep in the van at all times unlike chocolate that can melt or fruit that goes bad and rolls around. While there is a chance of getting mashed into the seats (but doesn't everything run that risk?), the kids like them enough that they eat them quickly, therefore reducing the mess. I prefer small water bottles (refillable!) with sport cap tops instead of juice boxes because someone always looses a straw or squeezes the sticky liquid out on themselves.

***WARNING*** Drinking liquids will require a potty stop within in an hour or two. You can usually get by for a few hours if less than a juice box was consumed. If possible, limit liquids or give them close to when you'll be reaching your destination or another planned stop.

Entertainment: This depends entirely on your budget and threshold for annoyance. You can go the free but somewhat frustrating route of Car Games but your 3 year old won't be able to count cows past ten and your 5 year old will complain you drive too fast to read every road sign looking for the letter Q. Or you can go all out and buy an entire car entertainment system with individual TV screens, DvD players, and headphones. I tend to go down the middle and burn a CD with kid friendly songs, buy a few new books for them, and point out interesting features along our drive. And my kids count McDonald's instead of Old McDonald's cows.

Interstate versus Country Back Roads: Sometimes you don't have a choice and it's "over the river and through the woods" to Grandmother's house you go. But I will go out on a limb and say interstate is the way to travel when possible. First the stopping action at stoplights tends to wake up little children. On an interstate it's continuous 85 80 the speed limit driving. Interstates also have billboards and those nifty blue travel info signs letting you know that you are only a few miles away from a gas station and the-very-important-restroom. On a unfamiliar state route, peeing in some one's yard might be necessary if you have no idea how long until you reach another town.

A tip about interstates, try to find an easy off/easy on exit where you can see the McDonald's or gas station from the interstate. There's nothing like pulling off and finding you need to drive 10 more miles to the advertised place or you have to do some strange reverse cross over ten lanes of traffic after a twenty minute stoplight wait to get back on the interstate. In Pennsylvania on the West Virginia border, there's a McDonald's in a gas station with a nice family restroom just off of I70 (I'll check the exit number tomorrow). Score!

Miscellaneous Tips:

Start with a clean car: There's nothing worse than trying to find Baby's blinkie when he's screaming at the top of his lungs at 85 80 the speed limit in a mess of Little People toys and fast food bags.
Stock the car with essentials: paper towels and baby wipes (for spills and messy kids), plastic bags (for trash or the dreaded motion sickness puke), bottled water, extra blankets (for cold children when the heat is on high or as a quick picnic at a park), windshield wiper fluid, and a map (even if you know where you are going, it's a good back up distraction for your oldest).
There will be fighting. There will be yelling. Hey, it's a "normal day just in the van" remember? If possible, space the kids an empty seat apart (why do you think I drive a 12 passenger van?). Attempt the game, "who can go without talking the longest?" Change the music (or turn it up louder *looks innocent*). Hand out different books or toys. Try a snack, "chewy stops the chatter." If all else fails, it might just be time for a break to run off extra energy (make it a potty break too!).
While we're on the subject of potty breaks, have your kids go to the restroom at every stop. Even if they think they can't "go", have them try. There are few things more frustrating than stopping again in 15 minutes because one child didn't pee at the last stop. A friend asked what I do when I'm traveling alone and the boys refuse to go into the women's restroom. Depending on the situation, I either make them go into the women's restroom anyways (works best if it's just the one room with toilet or if I have to pee) or I step into the men's restroom and make sure no one is in there. I then block the door and don't let any guys in until Zach and Kyle are finished. Seriously. You don't mess with me and my kids' safety (I do the same with the women's restroom by the way). I really need to get behind the "Family Restroom" movement, remind me to do that when I have time.

Babies: Babies deserve a complete section of their own because as usual they don't follow the normal rules of anything (except the "cry, eat, poop, repeat" one). First you are going to have to accept that your trip will probably feel like going to hell in a hand basket. You may luck out and Baby sleeps the entire way. But more than likely Baby will want to eat every hour, scream the rest of the time, and poop out of his diaper and make a mess of his carseat.

***NEVER TAKE THE BABY OUT HIS CARSEAT WHILE THE CAR IS IN MOTION*** I don't give a crap if you've done it before and everything was okay. There will be the one time when some other yahoo doesn't look before changing lanes and we've all heard what happens when a football player tries to hang on to a 8 pound bag of sugar in a car crash. DON'T DO IT. For the sake of everyone, take a few minutes to pull off the road. Really, arriving 20 minutes late or the loss of life? Don't take the risk.

Pack extra of everything. You should be used that by now: extra diapers and wipes, extra formula, extra changes of clothes, extra blankets. Sure you could just pull off at the next exit and buy more but what happens when the interstate closes due to a crash and you're stuck in parking lot conditions? You'll thank me then.
Line the carseat with a thin blanket (those swaddling receiving blankets work well for this). It won't affect the safety of the carseat but gives you another layer that may ease clean up of an exploding diaper. On the same note, extra plastic bags for dirty clothing items will be helpful along with a damp washcloth (in another plastic bag) and Febreeze.
Toys. Bring them all. Pack two of a favorite if you have them. Change them out when the Baby gets fussy. This is when it can be helpful to seat your older child next to the baby on Toy Retrieval Duty. And she can tell you if the baby is sleeping or choking or actually *gasp* happy.
Stick to your schedule if you have one. This may mean waking the baby to eat when you stop. He'll probably fall back asleep when the car is in motion again. You'll arrive with a less cranky baby because he won't feel the demanding need to eat the second you arrive and just want to unwind and unpack. Or he still might but your odds are better if you stick with your original schedule.

So there ya go, my (long!) handy guide to all your car traveling needs. Happy Trails!

Katie at 10:36 PM

Tuesday, November 22, 2005

Hi!

So it's day 22 of NaNoWriMo. And by my original goal of 2,000 words per day I should be at 44,000. *looks at side bar* 26,000... *laughs maniacally*

What happened? Well I can't completely blame my busy life. There was some Brownie stuff that took up a bunch of time and then I knitted the same scarf twice (cause I ripped it apart when I was almost done and started over). Mostly I just haven't sat down at the computer to write.

I kinda blame the story. My main character is just now starting to flesh out, she's been a boring little wall flower through most of the 26,000 words. It's so hard to write something you don't particularly care for. So change it, you say. Easier said than done, I've tried throwing her into interesting events and she backs off like, "oh no, not going there!" (For a very fun example of this, read Zette's Writing & Photography: Author Versus Character)

I don't know. I'm going to try chugging through another 24,000 words. In the end, I will have 50,000 words of crap. They are a few scenes I might steal for another book but on the whole, I'm not thrilled with this one. I think I needed to start in a different direction in the beginning and while I'm trying to push it in a new direction now, the characters are being stubborn and saying it's not their style. NaNo really requires one to turn off the inner editor which is probably good cause otherwise I'd only have about 10,000 words at this point.

Now then, all this rambling has cost me 294 words so I guess I better go attempt another few thousand in my actual story.

Katie at 9:15 AM

Monday, November 21, 2005

Ready for Monday?

Get the kids off to school (pack one lunch), wash sheets (the Little 2 both wet the bed *pulls hair out*), take shower, pick up Zach for Kyle and his doctor appointments, drop Zach back off at school afterwards***, take Greg's laptop to him at work, return home quickly because the kids get out of school 3 hours early for parent/teacher conferences of which I have 3 between 2 and 3pm and no babysitter.

Good thing I bought new running shoes, huh?

*** They are doing something special at school today so Zach wanted to be there even though he'll miss an hour of it. And it's not really that much out of the way and hey, I want to foster him actually wanting to go to school.

So what's your day like?

Katie at 9:00 AM

Saturday, November 19, 2005

*breathe in, breathe out*

Last night actually went very well. We went to the Baltimore Aquarium (I didn't want to say that yesterday in case there are any weird stalkers out there) and everyone had a lot of fun. I owe a huge, big gigantic thanks to Greg as he drove and dropped us off and then parked the van (it was freezing last night!). He also acted as the "head" of the line, his 6'4" frame is a much better barrier than my 5'3" one. We had 8 Brownies, 6 siblings, and 8 adults.

We were 15 minutes late. I warned the two families meeting us at the aquarium and we did the cell phone thing "where are you?" "be there in five" etc. Three of the moms knew the aquarium very well so I turned to them a lot. Overall it was a success.

Whew, it's over! Until next month's Brownie field trip...

And now for the advertisement portion of today's post: Club Mom Promotions*

* (I received a small amount of money per sign up through one of these links. It's a good website, I wouldn't recommend it otherwise.)

Katie at 9:55 AM

Friday, November 18, 2005

I'm having a "not good enough" day. Hormones and a head cold might be partially to blame. It's a lot of little things (which we can go into later if you like, haha) and one big thing. Tonight my Brownie troop is going on their first outing. And I'm going to be found out for the big faker that I am.

See I'm pretty good about bluffing my way through things. My clean house? I vacuum, wipe down the toilets, and clear off the kitchen counters before someone visits. Everyone is impressed enough by swept carpets, clean bathrooms, and a tidy kitchen to look any further. A good fake clean.

A writer and crafter? I guess when I do good stuff, it's good. But then I don't do anything else. I think my little streak of perfectionism hurts me here. For example the scarf that I was 3 rows away from completing that I tore apart because I had screwed up a dozen stitches in the beginning (I never could have lived with the mistake). It's almost finished again and no mistakes and I will happily show it off in a few days. But I could have made at least another scarf in the amount of time wasted on making this one perfect. And you'll notice not one single word of this year's NaNo has seen the light of day on my blog? It's crap. Complete crap and it pains me to continue.

Parenting? Ha! Zach is an easy child, he could raise himself in a pack of wolves and still be the president of a successful company. Emily and Ally have their moments and I know I need to work more with them. Kyle... Is well, Kyle. He's like the girl with the curl in the middle of her forehead. When he's good, he's the sweetest little boy you've ever know. When he's bad... I want to ship him off with the gypsies. Kelly's more like Zach, she's a doll although she's full of herself enough to let you know she's a doll.

So tonight. We're going on our first Brownie outing. And I'm so woefully unprepared. Another mom was suppose to oversee the field trips but she somehow got herself excused from this. Because you know, she has two children, no job, and a husband who travels (okay I might give her the last one). And you'll remember that we moved here a few months ago and I'm working with the barest of knowledge of the area. So we're going to "Downtown Place" tonight as requested by the Brownie girls themselves.

Problem #1, I just realized I gave us half an hour from leaving our house (some girls are riding with us) to meeting the other parents at "Downtown Place". I've driven to the area in 20 minutes on a Tuesday morning at like 10am. We're going at 6pm on a Friday.

Problem #2, our van. Which is tall. Taller than every single parking garage in "Downtown." So we have to either park on the street or in a pay lot. ("Downtown Place" doesn't have its own lot.) The streets are going to be messy at rush hour (I can parallel park the van as long as Greg isn't riding with us, long story) and I'm praying the only lot I know of isn't completely full when we arrive.

Problem #3, I've never been in "Downtown Place." I have no idea if we will have to wait for tickets (we're doing a special ticket price so I couldn't get them in advance). I have no idea the layout out of "Downtown Place." I have no idea if there are going to be crowds on a Friday night. In short I have no idea.

So it's going to go one of two ways. I will either luck out as I usually do with my bluffs and everything will go smoothly regardless of my "I have no idea" problems. Or it'll be a complete disaster and we will be an hour late, won't be able to find parking, wait forever for tickets, the place will be so crowded that I'll hyperventilate about losing a girl the entire time, and everyone will be miserable. And I'll be the one to blame.

It's not a good day to be in my head... Can it please be tomorrow already?

Katie at 9:37 AM

Thursday, November 17, 2005

I'm very tired (can I have an IV of caffeine please?) and feeling very boring so you get a picture of my pantry today. I've never had one before so it's still rather novel to me. Speaking of novel, I should probably be working on NaNoWriMo. Have I ever mentioned my mind wanders in weird directions when I'm tired? Drives Greg nuts! hehe Oh yeah, the pantry...

Starting from the top left, there are suppose to be a gazillion kid cereal boxes where the basket of magnet alphabet letters are (long story). But since there aren't, this means I need to go to the grocery store. Drat! And then there are some paper goods and leftover snacks from last Saturday's soccer game.

Next shelf down we have 5 boxes of spaghetti (from an Ohio store) and 10 cans of Skyline chili (a Cincinnati, Ohio tradition but I bought them while in Indiana). We're all about eating exotic imported foods you know.

The next shelf is stuff like powdered sugar and various vinegars and cooking stuff. My mother-in-law had helped unpack the kitchen so this shelf was once very neat and nice and now she's probably cringing at what a mess I've made since I just toss things back in when I'm done. Greg is probably saying in his head, "It takes two seconds to put them back in an orderly fashion." Ha! I have two more seconds to um, hmm there's not much that can be done in two seconds, huh?

Going down another, this is the bread shelf although somehow I ended up with way too many hamburger buns and only half a loaf of sliced bread left. The box of Hefty trash bags is suppose to be on a lower shelf, I guess it didn't like the Ziplock bags and is trying to climb the social ladder of my pantry.

Next we have a mess, err some canning jars, two blenders (I think Kelly added the Pepsi can on top of one), and Ziplock bags of every size (snack, sandwich, quart, gallon) and style (freezer, storage, sliders, blue+yellow=green, etc). I like Ziplock bags. Oh and there's some aluminum foil, it's just screaming out for attention there.

On the floor we have a trash can, paper towels, diet Coke (which no one will ever drink), Pepsi (which is just used to decorate blenders), a bucket, and broom & dustpan. Those with good eyes might notice the Swiffer Wet refills. I have to print a retraction to my mean Swiffer rant. I hadn't made it back to Target to return it yet and then KristyK mentioned her kids like to use the Swiffer. And since I love pawning housework off on the children, I gave it a whirl. The Swiffer stays. Although I still might try damp paper towels as refills.

There ya have it, my pantry. Not nearly as exciting as a HNT picture but about all I can manage before I fall... zzzzzzzzzzz....

Katie at 9:21 AM

Wednesday, November 16, 2005

So as if today couldn't be any more fun with tornadoes near my hometown in Indiana yesterday, dentist appointments for the Big 3 this morning (where Kyle screamed and ran outside while I tried to talk to the dentist), Kyle locking Kelly and I out of the house just a few minutes ago (he's in his room until further notice), a Brownie meeting in an hour, and a Cub Scout meeting tonight, I'm being plagiarized.

Yeah. Seriously.

Here's the blog although I hate to link her because I wouldn't doubt this person is doing it for attention. And hopefully that link won't be working for you shortly if Blogger deletes it for violations of TOS. She has my Swiffer post, milk vs gas prices blurb, and Daylights Savings Time rant (I like how she changed "Greg" to "Jason"). If you flip back to October, she has my Unofficial Guide to Diaper Bags (miscredited to "Kelly", no link) and the very first post (very last post on that page) is this post of mine with the names changed.

How'd I find this out? Because her other posts are stolen as well. The "Lessons learned in the past 14 weeks" entry is originally from Childs Play x2. His kind readers alerted him and they noticed my blog posts as well. He sent an email to me this morning and I've been combination of shocked, annoyed, and angry since. I posted a comment on each of the plagiarized posts asking her to remove them as it violates my copy right. And hey, I do have a lawyer. (Although without even an email address, it would be nearly impossible to track her down.)

I'm about to the point where I'm going to walk out of my house and scream at the world, "What else do you have for me? Come on, bring it!" But I kinda don't want to freak out my neighbors so I'll keep it contained to the internet.

Katie at 2:29 PM

Now this is too close to home, Amish Country Tornado. My family was literally a few miles away from this. They are fine other than their power is out. The tornado took out the home of one of my high school classmate's parents (they are okay but their house is completely gone). In this article we've stayed at that Red Roof Inn and I know Julie Wilz (quoted). My uncle is helping set up the emergency shelters for those who lost their homes. Now if my heart will start beating again, maybe I can go on with my day.

Katie at 8:20 AM

Tuesday, November 15, 2005

I'll take "Weird Things My Kids Do To Drive Me Insane" for 200, Alex.

Answer: Kelly fills this with water when left on the kitchen counter while you see the Big 3 onto the school bus.

Question: What is the half full gallon of milk?

So if it was 1% milk originally, is it now 1/2% milk? *bangs head on desk*

Katie at 9:10 AM

Monday, November 14, 2005

Happy Birthday Kelly!

(With her cookie cake at her party last night and this morning in her "Princess Dress")

Katie at 8:51 AM

Saturday, November 12, 2005

Happy Saturday to you!

From Busy Mom:

Kinetic Artificial Technician Intended for Efficient Fighting, Logical Exploration and Ceaseless Killing

Click the picture for your own. *giggles* (It takes so little to amuse me somedays.)

Katie at 9:45 AM

Friday, November 11, 2005

To Do Lists, the results

Greg mentioned the other day that I usually post my to do lists but you never hear what the end results are. So he says you all think that I magically finish these to do lists. And yes I usually do, eventually. Although eventually may be a month from now. Or a year. Or I procrastinate an item for so long that it doesn't need to be done anymore (shh, that's a secret!). In all fairness to you so you don't get some mistaken impression that I am Wonder Woman (the outfit's colors don't work well with my skin tone, sorry!), here are the results of two recent to do lists:

This Week's To Do List: (since Monday morning)
JoAnn's for new tablecloth check!
UPS return a pair of Greg's shoes check!
Enter receipts in Money check! (although probably needs done again)
Spot Shot (aka clean carpet) spots check!
Mop toy room floor sorta done, issues with Swiffer, see post from Tuesday
Take out trash check!
Water plants nope
Call school principal about Brownie meeting place at school nope
Clean out a specific kitchen cabinet check!
Clean pencil off Zach's desk nope
Buy packing tape and mail out GS cookies check!
Wash sheets check!
Call to make kids' dentist and doctor check-ups nope
Send brother in law's birthday gift check!
Buy twin's black dress shoes check!
Tailor 4 sets of pants half done
Fix a lamp shade nope
Paper work for new Brownie check!
Target returns check!
Trip into bank for singles and quarters for lunch money check!
Pay bills check!
Grocery shopping check!
Clip coupons check!
Various Brownie emails check!
Pick up additional Girl Scout cookies at "Cookie Cupboards"check!
Unpack remaining 4 boxes from move nope
Girl Scout Leaders Service Unit meeting check!
Hang up new clothes that I bought a month ago that are still laying on the floor cause I need to move Greg's additional clothes out of our closet into the guest room's closet nope
NaNoWriMo novel ha! Woefully about 10,000 words behind

My September "New Year" Goals (click here for original post):
Scrapbooking: make albums for the kids, catch all the kids' albums up to at least the beginning of 2005, scanning my pre-digital photos into the computer and organizing all my pictures into an online album. no (although I bought the supplies!), no, and no

Writing: clean up and finish fantasy series, Unofficial Guides, NaNoWriMo no, no, and working on it

Sewing: my brother-in-laws suit, a valance for the girls' room, slipcover a chair, line Kelly's denim jacket, make a bedskirt for the guest room, Halloween costumes, some dressy clothes for the girls before Thanksgiving, possible quilt, check! nope, nope, probably not doing since we have moved into winter coats, nope, check! will probably buy, nope.

Random other stuff: Potty train Kelly. doing really, really well! Update all the pages on this website and create the scrapbook gallery of all the kids' layouts. started but not finished Volunteer as much as possible at the kids' school and PTO. doing well. I wrote this before becoming the Brownie Girl Scout leader Organize and print nice copies of all my recipes to put in a binder. started Get into a healthy eating and exercise routine. still working on it, I bought new running shoes! Read one book a month. does "Green Eggs and Ham" count?

So there you have it, obviously my life is one big work-in-progress. I've also knitted 3 scarves and a poncho since Sept 1st (I think the knitting bug bit after that). And the weekly to do list isn't a complete list of what I've done this week (like I left out "buying hockey skates for Kyle" and "trip to yarn store"). The ones above are what I actually wrote down that I wanted to complete this week. So now I guess I need to make those phone calls, huh? Ick...

Katie at 1:09 PM

Thursday, November 10, 2005

Up to my ears in Girl Scout cookies... Hopefully I'll have everything straightened out by tomorrow afternoon and everyone will have their cookies. And then there's the fun part of making sure everyone pays for their cookies. Who's brilliant idea was it to start a Brownie troop in the middle of Girl Scout cookie sales and be "The Cookie Manager" as well? (usually another parent takes over that job) Oh yeah, mine...

On a more fun note, I have started knitting this scarf. My first time with circular needles and the "woven" stitch. I found a local yarn shop and bought the neatest "Inca Alpaca" wool yarn for this project. I can't wait to finish although I don't know why I start these crazy projects in the middle of all the other crazy projects I am currently doing (NaNoWriMo, a recipe album, a few tailoring projects, etc). So many projects, so little time...

Katie at 12:21 PM

Wednesday, November 09, 2005

Happy Hump Day!
(ie, I've got nothing to write.)

Oh wait, there is one thing. Who keeps visiting my page starting at my very first post: Extremely Dorky Intro? It pops up at least once a day on my Site Meter. It's driving me nuts! (short drive...) Update your link please, www.katiefleck.com is much easier and shorter.

So what are your plans for the day?

Quote of the Day: "Sometimes the road less traveled is less traveled for a reason." -Jerry Seinfeld

Katie at 8:40 AM

Tuesday, November 08, 2005

I think I may be the only person on the planet that doesn't get "Swiffering." Sure I like the dustie thing alright (awesome for ceiling fans, although we don't have any in this house now). But the other stuff... I don't get it.

I have mop issues. (example, example) I like the sponge mops with the scrubbie pad on the front and a plastic thingie that squeezes the water out. A dime a dozen, right? Only if you can find them.

I've lost count how many stores I've been to trying to find a replacement sponge for my mop (I had 2 when we moved so don't think I've been using the same mop head for 3 months). And about this time, I'd break down and buy a new mop (as I've done before). I'm beginning to think the mop business is the opposite of the printer business. Instead of being in it for the sponge replacement sells (ink cartridges for printers), they are in the "buy a new mop every 6 months because we will quit making your replacement mop heads" business.

Fine, I'll buy a new freaking mop. But... There are no mops to buy. Just all this Swiffer stuff. I've avoided Swiffers in favor of a dust pan and broom because they are reusable and I can sweep up big items (I wanna see a dry Swiffer pick up candy wrappers, acorns, and guinea pig food). And all the replacements? Seem so expensive and wasteful because I know I'd go through them like a newborn through diapers. But whatever, I'll try your over-priced plastic dodad.

I'm not happy. I feel like I just wiped my whole with a damp paper towel. And without any pressure cause every time I'd push down to scrub at a spot, the head would twist itself around. With my old mop, I have the scrubbie part and the sponge has texture to help remove spots without annoying swivel action. If I wanted to scrub the floor on my hands and knees (which I had to do since the Swiffer wasn't removing spots), I'd do it without paying $20 for a worthless pole and damp paper towels.

Am I missing some magical Swiffer trick? Maybe I'm not allowed to join the Swiffer fan club because I have 5 messy children? Am I suppose to clean my spots beforehand so I can dance around my nearly clean floor with the Swiffer like they do in the commercials?

Today I'm taking the thing back. I don't care if it's the first time in history a Swiffer has ever been returned. I'm not happy. I'm actually highly annoyed because everyone has been going on forever about how wonderful Swiffering is. And all I was missing out on was bruised knees and curse words.

So back to the mop search... *sigh*

Katie at 9:01 AM

Monday, November 07, 2005

Some things hit way too close to home. Even when "home" is 700 miles away.

Tornado hits Indiana and Kentucky

Everyone I know in the area is safe but my prayers and thoughts go out to those affected.

Katie at 8:05 AM

Sunday, November 06, 2005

So if you were my only, only! CD of all the family pictures from February to June of 2004, where would you be hiding?

I'm trying not to panic. Really. (I'm planning to tear my entire desk apart later, that's not panicking, right?) You may remember that my previous picture host deleted all my blog pictures for the last 2 years in August. So I've been trying to find and upload and fix all the coding for these pictures (I hate red X's).

Yesterday I came across a corrupt CD of pictures. I used to burn all the pictures off the computer and then deleted the files. We had space issues when sharing a computer between Greg, myself, and the kids. Well now I have 1 gig of space on my own computer (and I use barely 10%) so Greg suggested I put all the pictures back onto my computer. Luckily I had a back-up disk from around the same time period of the corrupt CD so I was able to save all those pictures.

2002, check, 2003, looking good, 2005, all still on my computer anyway, 2004, I only had July, August, September, and October (which were also the files on the corrupt CD). November and December 2004 were still on my computer as well and I managed to find a few pictures from January 2004 on a February 2004 back-up CD.

So I'm missing a CD. There's no way that I didn't burn those pictures onto a CD. And the only place where I could possibly find some of those pictures to salvage would be, you guessed it, the online picture host that dumped them all in August. *bangs head on desk*

I'm trying not to panic.

Katie at 9:47 AM

Saturday, November 05, 2005

Who knew I'd be so excited to pay more for a gallon of milk than a gallon of gas again? ($2.79 versus $2.37) WOOT! So to celebrate, we're staying home today.

Katie at 9:26 AM

Friday, November 04, 2005

As Kelly is fast approaching 3 (3!?!? What's happening to my baby? *sobs*), she is quite the talker. You never know what's going to come out of her mouth. She loves to have long rambling conversations, the likes you've only heard in a mental institution. We'll start out by talking about Boots (from Dora the Explorer for you Nick Jr-less people) and somehow be discussing cows in four sentences flat.

By the way, her current obsession is cows (it used to be bunnies). I don't know why but on our last three trips to the library, I had to quickly find her two cow books before she screamed "COWS!" so loudly that the librarian would have to kick us out. Luckily our library is well stocked in cow books so we should be okay for another month or two. Hopefully the cow fixation will wear off by then and instead we'll be looking for "spotted tree frog" books or something like that.

Here are a few of the choice phrases heard from her recently:

"It's freaking me out!" (my sister-in-law's favorite of Kelly's)

"I are too!" (usually in response to me saying "you aren't suppose to be doing that.")

"Mo-om, you're annoying me!" (seriously, this can start at 2? She was telling me to quit singing, which I'll admit, can be annoying.)

"Damnit!" (Um, my fault. Totally my fault. She does use it in the right context like when she spills her drink or drops a toy. Which, you know, is when I use it. hehe)

"I five!" (her answer to "how old are you?" accompanied by her holding up 5 fingers. Hey at least she can count to 5 right?)

"I want to look at the Yucky Charms box!" (I don't, here ya go kid.)

And the most popular toddler sentence of all time: "I do it!" (Followed by me gritting my teeth as I wait several very long minutes for her to a. put on her socks, b. get out of her carseat, c. pour her own cereal, d. walk up 2 flights of steps, e. oh, you get the picture...)

I'm glad 2-almost-3 year olds don't instant message. I think my "shift+1" keys would have been worn out by now.

!!!!!!!!!!!!

Katie at 9:23 AM

Thursday, November 03, 2005

NaNoWriMo Write-In

(AKA "Sheesh, I'm full of pictures lately!")

Even though this is my 4th year of NaNo, I attended my first ever write-in last night. It was fun! I don't have a laptop so I printed out my first 3700 words and brought some paper and a pencil. About 12 other crazy NaNo'ers showed up as seen above. Some writing was done but the best part was the chatting. It is so nice to finally feel a bit more "normal" about attempting a 50,000 word book in one month. No one expects greatness, they are all just having fun writing. Like me.

This is Lee and me. She's our municipal liaison (fancy term for the person who gives us NaNo goodies, monitors the Maryland forum, and tells us where to go, hehe). She's adorably 6 months pregnant and has 3 year old boy/girl twins. Another participant has 5 year old identical twin boys so we could have started a mini twins group right there.

Anyway I'm not sure how many words I actually wrote last night, I still need to type them into my NaNo Word file. I even crossed out a few, eek! (a big NaNo no-no, you're suppose to keep your inner editor under lock and key this month) Well it was more like I rewrote a couple of paragraphs so I doubt it'll effect my word count in the end (and it made the story flow better). I'm off to type now, I hope to break the 1/10th (5,000 words) barrier today!

Katie at 8:23 AM

Wednesday, November 02, 2005

Ice Skating Lessons

Kelly and Kyle had their first ice skating lessons yesterday morning. After some skate sizing issues (Kelly has little square fat feet, hehe) they were ready to go on the ice. And boy was Kelly ready to be on the ice. She grabbed her walker (although she called it a car. ??? ) and without a moment's hesitation, was on the ice for over an hour. She was too cute! And fearless! She cried when I finally had to pull her off as the instructors ended the class.

Kyle on the other hand (didn't you see this coming?) refused to get on the ice for a good 20 minutes. "It's too slippery" and "I can't". Finally I told him we couldn't go eat lunch until he went on the ice. Have you ever met a child that wasn't motivated by food? hehe So once he was on the ice, he did enjoy himself and was quite proud that he can skate.

Kyle wants to learn how to ice skate to play hockey like Zach. Kelly's taking lessons just because. We have free passes to open skate although they don't let little kids use walkers then. And guess who's never ice skated before in her life? *raises hand*

Katie at 8:34 AM

Tuesday, November 01, 2005

NaNoWriMo Update: 3,712 words and counting. Now I suppose I should go do something productive.

Katie at 3:34 PM

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