Ramblings of a SAHM

Monday, February 27, 2006

I'm fine (although still in this "black cloud over my head" mood), Greg's fine, the kids are fine, the house is fine, the guinea pigs are fine, the vehicles are fine, the squirrel that hides acorns in the shrub by the mailbox is fine. That said, I'm taking the week off from the internet. I'll still be checking email daily so if anything drastic happens, you can reach me there. So be good, take your vitamins, and I'll see you in a bit.

Katie at 8:39 AM

Friday, February 24, 2006

Very busy with Girl and Boy Scout stuff. Still weigh 141.2 pounds. Have a headache. Still grumpy. Have a lovely weekend.

Katie at 3:44 PM

Thursday, February 23, 2006

*crab, crab, crab*

*grump, grump, grump*

*pout, pout, pout*

(Why do things look better in threes?)

Maybe my camp name should be Lucy. (By the way, I'm going with Stitch with Katydid as a backup.)

I don't know why I'm in such a mood, I keep mumbling "It's been a bad week." Usually it's just a bad day. But nope, I'm having a bad week. I can't wait for Monday when I can start over with a new fresh clean week. Because while I should be excited about this weekend (Girl Scout Thinking Day! Dinner Guests! Boy Scout Blue and Gold Dinner!), I'm strangely not. I'm sure I'll enjoy those things but looking forward to them? Not so much.

I think I need a bit of a break. My to-do list is crushing me. It's just that I want to do so much. And NOW! I really need someone to step in and say "Stop, you're being an idiot. Go someplace warm and lay out in the sun for a few hours and do nothing." Someone really needs to figure out a teleporting device. Until then I suppose I'll just *crab, grump, pout* my way through and hope for better soon.

Katie at 9:35 AM

Wednesday, February 22, 2006

Ack, flurries! Must.go.to.the.grocery.store.now!

The thing that sucks is that I actually have to go to the grocery store this morning for our weekly shopping. But if I see anyone with only bread, milk, and toilet paper in their cart I'm going to whack them upside the head with a pound of hamburger.

I thought I had something better to write about today but my brain has been fried (the legal way, with a head cold). It's all "feed children, sew, sew, do laundry, feed children, bead, bead, (damn panda pins for Girl Scout Thinking Day), think about exercising (*cringes*), drink Mountain Dew, clean house, feed children, sew, sew, bead, bead, feed children and Greg, go to bed." Ah bed, I wish I was there now.

Instead I need to fight all the looney toons rushing to the store. I'd really hate to see what would happen if we had a real emergency. I'm in the habit of never letting the van drop below half a tank of gas (enough to get me to the Ohio state border, assuming the interstate isn't a parking lot). In a real emergency, I figure the roads won't be busy for at least an hour because everyone else will be stopping first at the gas station. Preparedness must not be something they teach around here.

Katie at 8:39 AM

Tuesday, February 21, 2006

Pictures!
(click to enlarge)

Zach's game at the US Naval Academy in Annapolis. Pretty cool rink, although it used to be something else. The balcony that runs around the top had pictures of graduations from the 1920's held there. They are building a new rink so this was our last chance to see the team play in Dahlgren Hall.

The new guinea pigs! Cate is on the left, Liv is on the right (they were already named and the kids like them). The other guinea pigs we were originally going to adopt will continue treatment for the mites and will hopefully be adopted by someone else. Greg built their cage, Cubes and Coroplast, I'll have to take another picture another day.

And my Valentine Day flowers (chocolates not shown). They are purple and white dendrobium orchids. My last job before becoming a full time stay at home mom was a year and a half at a florist. They are very lovely and an exotic change from roses.

Quote of the Day: "Flowers... are a proud assertion that a ray of beauty outvalues all the utilities of the world." -Ralph Waldo Emerson

Katie at 9:27 AM

Monday, February 20, 2006

I'm feeling a bit foggy today. Stupid head cold. I have pictures to post later (guinea pigs, Zach's hockey game at the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Valentine's Day flowers, etc) but I'm not sure I have enough brain cells awake yet for such a task. The kids are off school (I'm resisting the urge to type again) so I think I'll pop some popcorn and call it Movie Day. Wake me up when this Monday ends.

Katie at 9:43 AM

Saturday, February 18, 2006

I'm going to Girl Scout camp! You have no clue how excited I am about this, I can't wait for June! I always wanted to go as a kid and although I'll be on the adult side of things, it'll still be fun! Woohoo!!! (And I promise no more exclamation points for the rest of this post.)

Anyway I'm sure I'll write more about all this later but right now I need a camp nickname before I can send in our applications. My service leader's is Kanga (as in Roo) and some of the camp directors' names are Menu, Kayak, Dew Drop, and Michigan. Em and Ally had no problem picking theirs out, they will be Tinker and Ace respectively. Me? I can't name anything, Kelly was a day old before she was "Kelly." So you all need to give me suggestions. I want something unique enough that it won't already be taken but something that resembles me a bit. Please help?

Katie at 11:25 AM

Friday, February 17, 2006

Greg's home, hallelujah!

And then for my weekly weigh-in: 141.2!

And it's not water weight because I've been drinking more water than I usually do. Although I have to be honest with you Internates, I have been drinking Mountain Dew. Daily. In the whole scheme of things, 20 ounces of MD makes me happy and life is short. So if it makes you feel better, I'll start walking another half mile a day. Tomorrow we're going to the gym for the first time so hopefully I can get in the habit of hanging out there a few times week.

I'm going to add a new twist to this "life style change" (because no one says "diet" anymore), I need to make sure to eat at least one vegetable and fruit a day. Lettuce and tomato on my lunch sandwich doesn't count. I have crappy eating habits. Not necessarily junk food ones because I don't buy things like chips, ice cream, cookies, etc. My daily food intake is usually tea, cereal, chicken or turkey sandwich, french fries, nutri-grain or granola bar, Mountain Dew, and dinner is a meat and vegetable/salad with pasta or rice. Or pizza or Chinese. I just don't eat much variety and will let the kids eat the healthy stuff before I do. For example I bought 4lbs of bananas, 6 oranges, and 6 apples on Tuesday. They are all gone and I didn't have a single bite of any of them. I guess next week I need to buy double that and hide half of it.

In other news, we're picking up our guinea pigs this afternoon! Not the same pair as before (the one isn't recovering from mites well and still has open wounds) but piggies nevertheless. I'll post pictures later. Have a lovely weekend all!

Katie at 9:25 AM

Thursday, February 16, 2006

A quick picture of a few sewing projects I've finished this week. I have another quilt just like the red/blue/green one, I just need to sew on the yellow binding. Those will both be donated to Project Linus this weekend. The blue Tinkerbelle pillow is Kelly's, I need to sew two more for Em and Ally. The John Deere one is Kyle's. He picked the fabric out of the remnant bin, it was $.60 so sure...

Katie at 10:43 AM

Wednesday, February 15, 2006

Ow... Seriously bad migraine here. I just want to crawl back into bed. But I can't. Brownie meeting after school, errands, household stuff, the usual.

Speaking of bed (and get your mind out of the gutter), I sent the kids to bed early last night because they were being crazy, fighting and whining and generally driving me up the wall. Like 7:45pm early (they've been going to bed at 8:30 recently). And then I crawled into bed a few hours later and Ally had left me a handmade Valentine on my pillow telling me how much she loved me. I don't think I've ever felt so low in my life.

Mommy guilt + crying yourself to sleep = migraine in the morning

Can we have a do-over for this entire week?

Katie at 8:34 AM

Tuesday, February 14, 2006

I guess I never realized that with all the traveling Greg used to do before we moved to Maryland that he was never home on Valentine's Day due to this HIMSS conference (same time, different warm location every year). I used to say if you wanted to know if Greg's home or not, just assume he's not unless I specifically say he is home (a good reference for going through my October 2003-July 2005 archives). So needless to say, he's not home. Oh well. It's not like we're big on the gift giving and romantic dinner thing anyways.

I hate weeks when I think I don't have a lot going on and then all of a sudden there's a hundred and two million little things to do. Like I just spent the last hour working on Brownie transportation issues for tomorrow's meeting. I haven't even begun the prep for the actual meeting, just working out parent note writing, school bus issues, pick-ups, phone calls, emails, etc. I hate it when things become more difficult then they need to be. I prefer the KISS method, Keep It Simple Stupid. I doubt that would go over real well with the school principal though...

Happy Valentine's Day, I suppose.

Quote of the Day: "All I really need is love, but a little chocolate now and then doesn't hurt." -Lucy Van Pelt (Peanuts, by Charles M. Schulz)

Katie at 9:46 AM

Monday, February 13, 2006

Snow, snow, go away, come again another day.

(Actually don't but that's how the song goes.)

I paid two neighbors kids $30 to shovel the drive and sidewalk. A little pricey but I figured me with a head cold shoveling several yards of 18 inch deep snow? It was worth it.

Oh they did cancel school today but I bet the kids will be back in tomorrow for their Valentine's Day parties. I need to remember to bake cupcakes for Emily's class. Or was it Ally's? eek...

Today we are going to JoAnn's for my long list of random craft stuff. Afterwards we're going to Chick-fil-A because they have a cute indoor play area and I'm tired of McDonald's. And then I promised the kids they could play in the snow at home again. I suppose it's cheap entertainment. I obviously don't place a high price on my sanity.

Tomorrow I hope to have all my sewing projects finished (4 throw pillows, 3 quilts, 3 jumpers, all in various stages of completion) so I can move on to scrapbooking or knitting. I should send Greg away more often. *winks*

Katie at 9:58 AM

Sunday, February 12, 2006

Um yeah, we have some snow. Like 18 inches of it. So now you all may panic. Especially since Maryland seems to have 50 snow plows for the entire state. When it snowed back in December? A yellow construction bulldozer finally cleared our street a couple of days later. And I'm paying how much in taxes here again?

It's not a big deal really, we don't have anywhere to go (the kids' religion classes and Zach's hockey game have been canceled). School will probably be closed tomorrow. I had planned to go to JoAnn's Fabrics today for some random stuff, oh well. Too bad I don't have only 3 children, we could go four wheeling in Greg's Jeep.

Speaking of Greg, he's in San Diego. He flew out for HIMSS yesterday as the snow started to fall. The weather there is 72 and sunny. As it always is in San Diego. I think he made me drive him to the airport just to make sure I didn't smuggle myself into a piece of his luggage.

I am trying my best not to be crabby with the kids because they love snow. My cold is on its worst day yet, I feel like there's a cement block on my shoulders instead of my head. My eyes are watery, my throat is scratchy, and my temples are throbbing. The kids have asked only once each to go out in the snow mostly because I growled an answer that may have had a few curse words in it. So here's a list of what I will try to do today:

I will bit my tongue when all 5 children demand help with their snow boots, gloves, hats, scarves, coats, and snow pants all at the same time.
I will put on my coat and step outside and take pictures. But I reserve the right to make the kids stand by the front steps to do so.
I will not grumble when they leave a trail of wet clothes all over the house when they come back in.
I will make hot chocolate with marshmallows and not complain when they slosh it everywhere while stirring it themselves.
I'm not shoveling the driveway and I don't feel one bit guilty about that.
I will refrain from checking the weather and airline ticket prices to San Diego.

Quote of the Day: ""A lot of people like snow. I find it to be an unnecessary freezing of water." -Carl Reiner

Katie at 10:33 AM

Friday, February 10, 2006

Two posts in one day!

The guinea pig pick up has been delayed. The rescue lady got them from foster care (who knew?) last night and the piggies have mites. So she's treating them over the weekend and we'll talk again on Monday.

The kids are dancing around to the credit music from Wallace & Gromit in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit.

The Brownie outing was fabulous! All the moms were so pleased with the outing and impressed that it was also free, I looked like a genius. I did admit that I found out about this cool little pizza place from the Boy Scouts.

Kelly's feeling a bit better although she keeps wiping her snotty nose on me. Ick!

There are reports of 2-4 inches of snow possibly falling over the weekend here. So everyone else is freaking out in typical fashion. I'm surprised they haven't canceled school for Monday already. *rolls eyes* I'll pretend to panic when it's 6-10 inches in a few hours.

Have a lovely weekend all!

Katie at 12:49 PM

Of all the days to be sick...

Kelly thoughtfully gave me her cold virus last night at 1am when she decided that she needed to keep me awake for an hour. First it was climbing into my bed and pulling all the tissues out of the box. Then I finally wised up and moved her back into her own bed. Where she proceeded to yell for me every 5 minutes (just long enough to walk down the hall and snuggle back into my bed) and wouldn't stop yelling until I went back to her room to hear something important like "How many hours until morning?" and "I said GOOD NIGHT Mommy!" Good indeed, ha.

And of all the days to be sick...

In less than an hour I will be with 9 Brownies and their siblings (and most of the moms, thank God) at a local pizza place for a tour. And Kelly's grumpy sick. I'm feeling wonderful myself but at least I swallowed my medicine instead of spitting it out all over the shirt I had just put on. (Note to self: still need to change Kelly's shirt.) By the way, I swear this school district never actually has the children in school.

After *hopefully* surviving the pizza tour in one piece we are picking up two guinea pigs we are adopting through a rescue program. Yep, this lady rescues small animals including rats, mice, gerbils, guinea pigs, chickens, etc. The only problem is that she was suppose to email me directions to her house and I haven't seen an email from her yet. Maryland's not that big of a state, right?

Of all the days to be sick...

My yarncountry.com ordered finally arrived yesterday and I don't think I have enough functioning brain cells to count high enough to cast on a project. Which means quilting is also out. Maybe I can count the number of full weeks the kids have at school, that can't be too large of a number.

TGI *grumble, grumble* Friday...

Katie at 8:33 AM

Thursday, February 09, 2006

So this weight thing...

I weigh 143 pounds. Seriously. I guess most people don't look at me and think, "she weighs over 140 pounds." Like this picture? Probably about 140 there. I'm 5'3" by the way and 140 is considered the top end of my healthy weight window, overweight by some standards.

I think everyone's perception of weight is screwed up due to so many women lying about their weight. All those 5'9" people who say they weigh 120 pounds? I was a skinny mini at 120 and I'm 6 inches shorter. Either they found a way to make their internal organs and bones as light as air or they are lying. 5'3" women at 97 pounds? Need a chocolate cake and a dozen doughnuts stat!

I'd like to say I'm enlightened and know that it's just number and what matters is that I'm healthy. But... To say I weighed 120 again? How sweet would that be? The catch is that all the work to get myself back down to 120? I'll admit I'm not willing to do it. That's 23 freaking pounds to lose! 130 sounds almost as good and if I remember correctly (my memory is a bit vague after 4 pregnancies up and down the weight scale), I was happy with my body shape at 130.

The problem is that I've tried to lose these same 5-10 pounds for years. At least as long as I've had this blog. There were periods of time where I'd be about 133 and then the scale would creep back up to 140. And every time this happened, I'd lose muscle tone and put on fat. So three years of yo-yoing and now I'm feeling very flabby.

I want a pill to erase the love handles (and a bit of a start of a muffin top, EEK!) I want my thighs not to jiggle just because I will them not to jiggle. I want to magically wake up dressed in gym clothes at the gym with the kids already in the child care room. I want Mountain Dew to be calorie and fat free.

So drastic times call for drastic measures. No Mountain Dew until I'm under 140 pounds. Walk a mile on the treadmill each day. Use the fancy new gym membership that Greg just bought at the fancy new gym that opens next week. Drink two bottles of water a day (that's 32 ounces, about 24 more than I usually drink. It's a start!). *deep breath* 10 pounds, that's all I'm asking to lose. This is the year to buy myself a new spring/summer wardrobe and I really don't want to need double digit sizes. (I'm clinging to size 8 with every fiber in my body.)

Although am I an idiot for starting a "diet" 5 days before Chocolate, err I mean Valentine's Day?

Katie at 9:25 AM

Wednesday, February 08, 2006

The day in errands (in order):

Bank
Gas station
Dry cleaners
Car wash
Michaels
Target
Blockbuster
Safeway
Burger King
Yarn store
3 parent/teacher conferences
Jo Ann Fabrics
Toys R Us

Tomorrow: The Mall. Why do I have the feeling that today was the easier day?

Katie at 4:12 PM

Tuesday, February 07, 2006

So let's get back into the swing of things. Laundry, check! More crafts projects planned than I have hours in a year, check! Drowning under a pile of papers from school, check!

Does everyone else have this problem? Every day the kids come home with a backpack full of papers. *Sentimental Parents Look Away Now* I pitch all their school papers right away (with the exception of report cards and about 1 art work and test per child per year). Then we wade through the homework sheets, every day for Zach: 1 math, 1 spelling, occasional social studies, every day for Em and Ally: 1 math, 1 phonics, 1 spelling/writing each. A tree was just chopped down somewhere for their weekly homework.

And then there are the papers that require me to do something. Sign this test and send it back saying you saw it! Support our school and order through Market Day! Write down every book your child reads this month! Fill out the number of minutes your child reads every day! Buy a Birthday Book to donate to our library! Order Scholastic Books! RSVP to our Book Fair! (I love the kids reading and books and all but this.is.too.much.) Can we go back to rock and chisel? I bet that would cut down the amount of crap they want me to sign. Or give all the children back problems. One or the other...

What really gets me are the announcement papers: Next Tuesday is 100 days of school! Tomorrow we will see the 4th graders bang on drums! Wednesday is wear *random color* day! Donate a teddy bear to a local hospital! Times three... And often they send reminder papers home for the same darn thing a few days later: Tuesday is 100 days of school! We watched 4th grades bang on drums, awesome! Don't forget to wear *random color* on Wednesday! Donate a teddy bear to a local hospital! Times three... I'm feeling guilty about the overflowing landfills now.

I'm trying my best to keep this all under control. At first I kept important announcement papers in a magnet clip on the fridge. But it gets knocked down too often and I forget to look past whatever is on top. I tried a folder but it's too easy to lose it in all of the kids' folders and notebooks. I have a "homework drawer" but announcement papers tend to be overlooked when shut away in a drawer.

So I've taken to leaving these papers on my desk. Which is annoying because my desk always seems messy but at least I usually flip through the papers daily. Except when I'm not at my desk. Like when I'm in Ohio for the weekend. Which means I missed that today is 100 days of school and Zach was suppose to bring in 100 of something. Oops. But I know that tomorrow is wear *random color* day because I have 6 sheets telling me so! Not that we own anything in *random color*...

Katie at 11:08 AM

Monday, February 06, 2006

Doh, did I forget to mention that we were going to Sherry's house in Ohio Friday night? I'd joke and say it was to see snow (because they had a few inches) but really we just needed a break from here. But we're back in Maryland now (which doesn't have snow). Nothing like a whirlwind weekend in another state! More tomorrow when I'm not unpacking or doing laundry or running kids through the shower...

Katie at 7:54 PM

Friday, February 03, 2006

I fear I've been severely lacking in interesting posts lately. I mean, how exciting is it to hear about my stupid dryer all the time? (Which has finally been replaced and I put away 6 loads of laundry yesterday.) And I don't see any end to this boring trend. The kids don't do as many goofy things as they used to, we don't have any vacations planned, and all I seem to do is knit. I'm tempted to blame knitting, like sitting down and mindlessly working with yarn for hours every evening has sucked all the creative writing energies out of my brain. I promise this will never ever turn into a knitting blog.* It's already a mommy blog, that's bad enough.

I thought about just making stuff up but sadly the writing muse has flown the coop. (Maybe all the knitting bored her to death.) Besides I have too many real life friends and family who would catch me up if I said Greg's quitting his job and we're touring the country in the 12 passenger van for a year. Although it would be a stretch to make up destinations and photos along our "trip". I'm pretty handy with a map and Photoshop, you know.

I thought about taking a break from blogging. For about half a nanosecond. I'd rather drone on about cleaning the bathroom tile (the grout is crumbling a bit, I've never grouted tile before) than give up blogging. I'm sure you're thrilled with that decision.

So... Here we are... I guess I'll fall back on my motto when situations arise like this: "we'll muddle through." It's a very helpful mindset. You aren't expecting the best but with minimal effort you'll arrive on the other end no worse for wear. One day you'll click here and I'll have bright and shiny witty things to say and you'll know "we've muddled through." Until then watch out for knitting needles when you sit on the sofa.

*No offense to knitting blogs. Or mommy blogs. Or any blogs at all except for those annoying political ones. They can fall off the face of Google for all I care.

Katie at 9:01 AM

Thursday, February 02, 2006

I've declared today "I'm not leaving the house day". I'm tired of running errands and chauffeuring children to various activities (thankfully they ride the bus to and from school). Oh wait, I promised the kids I'd take them to the library this evening. Scratch the not leaving the house idea then. Who ever coined the phrase "stay at home parent" was an idiot.

Quote of the Day: "The ideal home: big enough for you to hear the children, but not very well." -Mignon McLaughlin

Katie at 9:48 AM

Wednesday, February 01, 2006

Happy Birthday Greg!

Oh God, I'm married to a 30 year old. *winks* Love ya!

Katie at 8:10 AM

BACK TO THE TOP