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Friday, June 30, 2006

Girl Scout Camp Day #5

The Last Day! Alleluia!

hehe

Actually it was really good. We didn't have a whole lot scheduled so it was a laid-back and more relaxed day. We hung out in our group site most of the time to work on a few Try-Its and then ran off a bunch of energy playing games in the camp field. I do an awesome inch worm walk by the way.

Oh! Puddles Bug Girl? Bit two of our PA's. She was working on one of the crafty Try-Its and was actually doing an awesome job. But of course she didn't think so. She started running through the campsite crying and screaming so the PA's went after her. As they grabbed her to stop her, she bit them. It's kinda funny now (actually it was kinda funny then too in an exasperating way) but biting is an automatic "Go Home, Do Not Pass Go, Do Not Collect $200" type thing. Here's the "hmm, I see where she might get it" part. When called, her mom told the camp director that first she had to finish her work out (she answered after the 4th try), take a shower, and start dinner. I think the mom showed up a good hour after the biting incident. I feel sorry for the girl, she has some issues.

Course it's not like my children are complete angels. They lost one of Emily's craft projects at the end of the day and Em was a mess of tears. Every time I'd get her to stop, someone would walk by and ask why she was crying. So she would tell them and start crying hysterically again. *grits teeth*

My worry about being seen as a PA did happen. The girls were thanking the PA's (some wrote notes) and yep, several of the girls thought I was one of the PA's. Kinda nice for the ego, I suppose. hehe

My first Girl Scout camp. Overall it was pretty good and I'll definitely be back next year!

Now if only I could get all these crazy camp songs out of my head... "I said a Boom Chicka Boom!"

Katie at 5:16 PM

Thursday, June 29, 2006

Girl Scout Camp Day #4

Hanging in there...

We had one girl show up for the very first time this morning. Even though we were super nice to her (making sure she had her camp button and other stuff we all did on Monday), she still wanted to go home after a few hours. Her mom did list "has anxiety about new situations" on her form so I chalk it up as that. I sincerely doubt we'll see her tomorrow.

Puddles Bug Girl threw another fit when we had to leave a craft area (next group needed the space and supplies) and she wasn't done. "It's not done, it's ugly, I hate it, I can't do anything!" *sigh*

My kids are really tired and a bit cranky this evening. I think I'm ordering pizza delivery for dinner.

I need to remember to write down the kids' favorite parts (and maybe just save in draft form as not to bore you all) so I'll have all the fun little details whenever I finally get around to scrapbooking this week (hmm, I'm two years behind now so in 2009? *sigh*).

Friday's the last day! *cheer!*

Katie at 5:06 PM

Wednesday, June 28, 2006

Girl Scout Camp Day #3

Wall... Have.Hit.The.Wall...

Who knew being outside for hours on end with 18 seven year olds and 5 teenagers would be so tiring?

(I'm an idiot. Or an optimist. Or something.)

We had two girl breakdowns today. The first was a complete surprise, she's been such a good little camper. During one of our group activities, another girl(?) said something(?) to her. (I never did quite get the whole story.) And then she refused to participate in the activity because she was in tears about whatever(?) the girl (?) had said. And then she was upset because the activity was over and she didn't participate. Reminded me of my own seven year olds (who are doing just fine except for hanging on the PA's which drives me insane to watch but their PA's keep allowing it).

The second, well we've known it was coming. Puddles Bug Girl. (Not her real camp name.) She has stepped in every single puddle in the entire camp (and that's a lot since we've had three consecutive days of rain). And also? Must save every living creature in her path. Like there were ants in our camp fire pit. We had to physically restrain her from climbing into the fire to save the ants. There's this poor toad that lives near our site that has been "rescued" half a dozen times. She's a bit off in a some way that I can't quite put my finger on but her camp health form didn't mention anything. She doesn't listen, doesn't care about camp activities, just plain doesn't. But when you tell her she's not going to do something she wants to do, she throws a temper tantrum like a 2 year old. Today it was snow cones. She wanted them at 1:30pm and we weren't getting them until 2:30pm. So she stomped her feet, screamed, pouted, and sat with her back to us for the next hour. She also had sliced red peppers in her lunch to eat (and ate them). That really doesn't have anything to do with the tantrum, I just find it odd.

The PA's... I don't want to step on any one's toes about them but it's an interesting situation. I don't mind being with the seven year olds, I'm used to that but I've been told this is where the PA's are suppose to do most of the work. Except they don't. They have the schedule, they have the list of activities. And yet the other leader lady and I feel like we have 5 extra "girls" as we end up having to direct them just as much as we would normally direct the seven year olds. I understand they are learning how to lead (only they really are suppose to know as we don't have any of the PAT's, PA's in Training) and of course my way isn't necessarily the "correct" way. But trying to get the PA's to give directions to their patrol of girls seems like a heck of lot of time wasted when in the end it seems we end up giving the directions again directly to the girls.

They say Wednesday is the toughest day. The newness has worn off and the campers have had two days worth of being worn out and sunburnt (or soaked in the rain). Friday will be fun as there's a bunch of cool closing ceremony type things. Tomorrow? I hope it's not a repeat of today.

Katie at 5:50 PM

Tuesday, June 27, 2006

Girl Scout Camp Day #2

I, Katie Fleck, started my very first camp fire ever (bonus: using no fire starters!). I even took a picture:

My group had cooking day today so my lovely fire was very important. It rained a bit but the thunderstorms held off until right now as I type. Tomorrow *crosses fingers* we only have a 30% chance of rain.

Here's the kids in their camp shirts:

3 more days...

Katie at 4:21 PM

Monday, June 26, 2006

Girl Scout Camp Day #1

I won't bore you with another weather graphic so I'll just say that they bumped today's chance of rain up to 100% and tomorrow's is 80%. Everyone sing with me! Rain, rain, go away, come again another day..."

Other than when a thunderstorm went through (and then we were crammed 100+ kids/adults in a 50x50 foot room for an hour), we were outside all day. I'm thinking about taking a hot shower to dry off.

Katie at 4:43 PM

Sunday, June 25, 2006

Did I mention Girl Scout camp is an OUTDOOR one?

*bangs head on desk*

Week 3 is up! It's a pretty easy one since we're going to be standing out in the rain from 8am to 4pm...

Katie at 11:17 AM

Friday, June 23, 2006

Girl Scout Day Camp starts next Monday. And I just realized we'll all be out of the house from 8am to 4pm. How weird is that?

So I've been trying to tie up some loose ends like sewing scrubs for my sister-in-law, knitting a sweater for my sister, emptying a bucket of party supplies from the same sister's bridal shower, going through the kids' school backpacks (hey, it's only been a week...). Because? I don't exactly know why but being out of the house from 8am to 4pm for a whole week is so foreign to me that it seems like I should get my affairs in order beforehand.

This Girl Scout Day Camp thing... I never went as a child so when I signed up as a volunteer I had no idea what to expect. (How's this for frugal? Since I'm a volunteer, Em goes free, Ally's fee is halved, and I only pay $20 each for Zach, Kyle, and Kelly. 5 days of camp for 5 for about $150? Beat that!) I've since learned there's this whole system: a unit leader, an assistant leader or two (my unit is short-changed and I'm the only assistant leader), 3 or 4 PA's, and then 15-20 girls. I've forgotten what PA stands for but they are teenagers. And I haven't worked with teenagers since I was one.

(Three paragraphs later and she gets to the point.)

I'm a bit freaked out about this teenager thing. If you haven't noticed, I'm only 28 (sing that Alabama song "In a Hurry to Get Things Done" in your head, you are welcome for your daily earworm). Most people I know with school age kids are in their 30's (or 40's). It's always fun when the age thing comes out, for example at the twins' end of the year soccer party someone mentioned starting high school in 1977 and several parents were like, yep me too. Um... I was kinda sorta born that year.

So I barely fit in with adults and I'm 10 years older than the teenage PA's. Now I'm glad I haven't had my hair highlighted again yet, maybe the gray will keep anyone from mistaking me for a teenager. (My mom went mostly gray in her early 30's but we'll go into that another day.)

(Point, point, it's here somewhere.)

Oh right, freaked out about the teenagers. When I see them around, they seem like a totally different species. Kind of hard to believe I was one a decade ago. Then again I'm thinking maybe I just don't relate well to anyone anymore. So far the unit leader has been happy to tell the PA's what to do (we've had 3 quick meetings together), maybe I'll leave it at that. I'm a good lemming, I'll just follow the crowd.

Out of the house from 8am to 4pm and working with teenagers. My world is going to be completely upside down next week.

Katie at 9:02 AM

Thursday, June 22, 2006

On second thought, I'll keep the kids. Although it was a close call especially after milk soaked cocoa puffs were thrown around the kitchen at breakfast this morning. I just mopped the freaking floor yesterday, people! *deep breath* I can do this...

It's all about routine. And right now our daily schedule honed over almost 9 months of school has been thrown out the window. For example:

During the School Year: After the kids went to the bus stop, Kyle would play on the computer and Kelly would follow me around.
Summer Vacation: After breakfast Zach, Emily, Ally, and Kyle all want to play on the one computer and Kelly follows me around.

During the School Year: The Big 3 had a set lunch and snack schedule. Kyle, Kelly, and I ate whatever whenever we were all collectively hungry.
Summer Vacation: Ally asks me every half an hour what is for the next meal and when it will be. This may not sound annoying but trust me, it is. Like "jab rusty nails in my eyeballs" annoying.

During the School Year: Kyle, Kelly and I all went outside to play at the same time. We would all come back inside at the same time.
Summer Vacation: I should just install a swinging door and deplete the savings account to pay for $500 electric bills because we are attempting to cool the 85 degree air outside to 65 degrees.

During the School Year: The Little 2 and I would watch Dora the Explorer and Little Bear on the family room TV.
Summer Vacation: All 3 TV's (guest room, family room, toy room) are on because everyone wants to watch a different show. And yet when the kids are ~~destroying the kitchen~~ eating, I find all the TV's on the same channel anyways.

I do have to admit it's nice to not have homework. All the papers and questions and requests. The confusing word problems and page after page of blank lines that needed filled out. Sending in field trip checks and finding empty shoe boxes and... Oh you thought I was talking about the kids' homework? Heck no, I'm thrilled to be done with my homework. "Dear Parent, please send in 100 gummy worms, not the bulk candy ones, the pre-packaged ones and also make sure your son/daughter is wearing..."

Where's the sunscreen? I'm going to the pool.

Katie at 9:24 AM

Wednesday, June 21, 2006

For Sale: *

Zach: 8 years old, can read anything, slightly obsessed with his GameBoy and computer, scared of thunderstorms, comes with $800 worth of hockey equipment (you cough up the other $1000 for season fees)

Emily and Ally: 7 years old, matched set (sorry can not split), can cry and whine at the drop of the hat, usually do not remember or follow directions, can color and draw well, able to play soccer if they feel like it, picky eaters: no meat besides hot dogs, hamburgers, and chicken nuggets, salad is acceptable but no other vegetables

Kyle: 4 years old, for those who like a challenge, can write and read his own name, enjoys playing computer games, as stubborn as any mule, has a winning smile, plays alone well with mixed results in groups, wears size 6 clothes and 13 shoes

Kelly: 3 years old, scared of spiders, bugs, and flying insects, likes to cut her own hair, can talk for hours on end, a certified cutie patootie, comes with a homemade quilt and pillow, a princess in training who plays in mud puddles

* Not really. Well maybe... How much are you offering?

Katie at 10:52 AM

Tuesday, June 20, 2006

Ugh...

Kyle puked all over himself and his bed last night. Kelly did that Friday night. I suppose this means Ally's next? (She's 3 minutes younger than Em.)

The Google Ads are gone. They canceled my account, saying I had "invalid clicks." My account balance was $105 (they send the first check at $100). I sent an email in protest and received a form email back with links to their policy terms. Whatever...

We have dentist appointments today and tomorrow. It's too much to have all 5 kids seen at once so we split it up over two days. Even though I'm not going to be in the chair (and I should be since it's been over a year), I'm not looking forward to sitting in the office for hours.

I drank 44 ounces of Mountain Dew yesterday. Soooo not good... All that caffeine and I still needed a quick 20 minute nap on the sofa. We only went to the Girl Scout thing, Target, the library, and grocery store and I was exhausted. This does not bode well for the rest of summer break.

The house is barely hanging on to the clean side of the spectrum. The washing machine and dryer have been running nearly constantly. The kids joined the library summer reading program yesterday so now there are books everywhere. I really want to tell them to stop reading but that would be bad so I just yell at them to put their books away and then end up doing it myself anyways. Suddenly there are shoes and clothes and toys all over the place and my back hurts from picking stuff up all day long. I swear the kids are just randomly carrying things around to drop them wherever whenever.

Needless to say today I'm grumpy, tired, achy, bloated, and feeling a tad bit crazy. And it's only Tuesday.

Katie at 9:13 AM

Monday, June 19, 2006

I feel like the white rabbit in Alice in Wonderland. "I'm late, I'm late!"

Week 2 is up!

Today I have a Girl Scout meeting at 11am, there's no milk in the house, and the swim suits and towels from yesterday's pool trip are sitting in front of the washing machine. At least I've taken the trash out.

Oh we tried that new continuous spray sunscreen yesterday. And while it's super fast, it felt like I was spraying glue to my skin (the feeling faded after a few minutes). Also? Not cheap. We went through 1 and 1/2 bottles for one application. So $20 for convenience? I think I'll stick to the $3 bottles of lotion that last longer.

Quote of the Day: "Did you ever stop to think, and forget to start again?" -Winnie the Pooh

Katie at 9:35 AM

Friday, June 16, 2006

A Week in Review

What a long week...

First, happy 1st day of no school! To which the twins celebrated by waking up at 7am (my alarm didn't go off until 7:45 on school days). grrrrr...

Greg will be home this afternoon. I suppose I forgot to mention he's been in Nashville since Sunday morning. Come home! I'm tired of kid food, cartoons, and the constant question: "where's Daddy?" Although sleeping in the middle of the king sized bed by myself I kinda like. *winks*

Baseball season is over for us as of last night. I'm not sure I ever even said anything about Zach playing baseball. He does alright, last night he got on base each time he batted and made it home once. Oh and he made two nice outs while playing second and first. Hockey is more his thing and after dealing with the bugs and the dirt and the hot sun, I might have to reconsider my complaints about freezing my butt off at the ice rink.

Onto the blogging side, thanks to everyone playing along with the 50 Days of Summer. We're um, 2 for 5 this week. Making pizzas was fun, the bubbles were spilt within 10 seconds, didn't make it to the library on Wednesday because I hadn't scrounged up $31 to pay for late fees, postcards making and sending went well, and as much as it kills me, today can't be PJ Day because we have to pick up Greg from the airport. Well I suppose we could do that in our PJ's but I thought we'd give the library trip another shot since I went to the bank ATM last night. I want my PJ Day, darnit! Check back Sunday evening for next week's list.

Oh right, to all of you who take weekend computer breaks, Happy Father's Day to all the great dads out there. Greg's already received his gift because I wanted him to have it on his business trip this week, a 30 gig iPod. He's had an iPod before, he just left it in a seat pocket of a Delta airplane last year. And the Delta Lost and Found laughed at him when he called about it. So this one I had surgically attached to his hand. Just kidding! (Could they do that for me though?)

Have a great weekend!

Katie at 10:23 AM

Thursday, June 15, 2006

You all missed my OMG PMS WTF!!!1! post (gotta love draft saves). So instead I would like to whine about my allergies.

Who the hell turned the pollen back on?

On a cheerier note, today is the last day of school!

And doh! I just realized I never posted their first day of school picture back in August. So seen for the first time ever! *drum roll*

Funny, they ended up in exactly the same order without me directing them: Ally, Zach, Emily.

Now I need to go sign my life away to buy some Sudafed. Cause you know, all stay at home moms with young children run meth labs out of their suburban homes. *rolls eyes*

Katie at 8:58 AM

Wednesday, June 14, 2006

Thanks for all the advice yesterday! The tutor idea is a very good one but Emily's been seeing one of the student teachers after school and hasn't made much progress. It's almost like we need a gimmick to get her motivated. And yep, this learning center has one.

I'm still... unsure about the whole learning center thing. We walked in (all five kids and myself) and the director wanted to put everyone on a computer. NO! It was bad enough that Zach and Ally greeted half the kids in there as friends. The director lady and I had talked quite a bit beforehand on the phone so she ushered Emily to a computer without a lot of fanfare. The concept is the kids work through "episodes" (little games) and earn rewards as they go. There's a "tutor" overseeing each set of computers (7) who helps as necessary (the kids raise their hands).

I hate hard sells. The kids and I returned after an hour (we walked down to the pet store and played with the adoptable kittens) and were put in a tiny conference room (well it probably would have been quite spacious if there hadn't been 4 kids in there who'd rather be on a computer or back with the kittens). She pushed to join up Zach and Ally too. There's a 20% discount on the 3rd child. Yeah right! She mentioned how many parents from our school district bring their on or above grade level children in for that little extra edge (again trying to get Zach and Ally in). I have to admit this is the part I'm most uneasy with. Stepford for Children: drop them off, stick headphones on their ears, and hypnotize them with a computer screen for an hour and call it learning.

So why is Emily a member for a month? Because... I don't want to say we didn't try everything. And there are positives. She'll be working at her own pace without being pushed by teachers to keep up with the class. I actually kind of like it's not completely one on one, I'm a bit concerned she's been pulling the "squeaky wheel gets the oil" routine at school for attention. Emily does like computers, this could be the gimmick that helps her confidence level.

The negatives? Zach and Ally are jealous. It's hard to downplay the program to pacify them while still keeping Emily interested in it. Plus after looking at their computer program and hard copy books, I swear it's practically "Hooked on Phonics" that I could buy for a lot cheaper. But then we're back to me working with Emily which often doesn't work. And then the biggest thing, it's an awful lot of money to spend for 3 hours a week in front of a computer monitor...

Katie at 8:58 AM

Tuesday, June 13, 2006

Emily, Emily, Emily...

So Em has always been a bit behind in school. I kinda blame myself and the fact that the twins weren't in a great pre-school program (it was more play group than ABC's and 123's). In kindergarten she struggled and ended up going all day for extra help. By the end of kindergarten, she was almost at grade level in reading and math.

And then we moved. Into a school district where Zach is just barely considered above 2nd grade level (in 1st grade last year, our Ohio school bumped him into 3rd grade subjects). So Em was barely on grade level by Ohio standards, she was way behind in this new school.

Emily is a perfectionist. It's the easiest to see in her artwork, she'll erase the same line a dozen times before it's "right" (or throw away a ream of paper with half a person drawn on each sheet). But it's impossible to be perfect when learning something new. So she won't try. She has a lot of tactics for getting out of work: whining, crying, pouting, making unreasonable demands (example: she made a mistake on a paper, she didn't erase it well enough, the teacher doesn't have a new paper to give her, therefore she can't finish the assignment because she can't work on an imperfect sheet of paper). I warned her teacher at the beginning of the school year: "don't give in, ignore it, she can do the work." And of course the teacher gave in and Em used this to her full advantage and became more stubborn. The teacher was like "I know she can do it, she did a very hard paper effortlessly yesterday but now she won't add 2 and 2."

That is the most frustrating part. Emily can do the work. She just won't sometimes. She'll throw an hour long fit over reading a paragraph that would take 2 minutes. I wish I was making that up but at least once a week, I'd have to let her stew at the kitchen table because she wouldn't try to read past the word "there". And then she'd get over herself and read the whole paragraph in 2 minutes. Or you'd read the directions: "underline the even numbers and circle the odd numbers." And she'd whine: "I don't understand." *grits teeth* "What's there not to understand?!?!?"

Maybe I should have pushed harder for learning disability testing. But she actually does really well on tests, she'll ace the same math information test that she "didn't understand" the night before as homework. On reading tests, it's more hit or miss, it really depends on the day and her mood. I've heard her read crazy long words on a cereal box and then choke over "The bunny is cute."

So they had her in a special reading group at school. She was seeing a tutor after school once a week. I really would like to help her more myself but I can't. (Ha, now I'm the negative one!) I learn like Zach does, osmosis or whatever. School was never a struggle for me, the only problems I had were the other kids who didn't want to do their own work and would badger me to do theirs for them because I was "one of the smart ones." Which is exactly what it feels like Emily is doing to me somedays: "What's this word?" "THE! You know that one!" I hate to admit it but I don't have the patience to help her. It's kills me when she tries to sound out "two." I just can't do it.

And then there's another train of thought... She's only 7 years old. Being in an excellent "Blue Ribbon" school district means they are going to push all the students extra hard to keep their highly rated status. I've seen the work Zach's done in 2nd grade here and there's no way that Emily could even begin to touch some of the stuff he did. The school here does expect a lot more than back in Ohio. Sometimes I feel they are pushing Emily a lot harder than necessary and again being as stubborn as she is, she is refusing to try. I just want to say "leave her be, she'll get it when she gets it." If it weren't for the fact that Ally is doing alright and will move into 2nd grade okay, I'd seriously consider letting Emily repeat 1st grade. I think that would completely crush her though. And the threat of not going onto 2nd grade with Ally didn't motivate Emily because she is very short sighted and doesn't fully understand what that would mean.

Today we're going to one of those fancy smancy learning centers. They say they can build confidence and skills and lalala, hand over the big bucks. Does anyone have any experience with these? It makes me nervous, if the school isn't getting through to her, how will they? Do I get a money back guarantee? (The $$$ price tag per month honestly freaks me out.) Any thoughts? I really want to help her, I just don't know what to do.

Katie at 9:38 AM

Monday, June 12, 2006

Boring day here: took out the trash, the cable guy swapped out our DVR box (cause it wouldn't record anything, duh!), just finished folding laundry, and next up is grocery shopping.

So to keep you all entertained, here are two of my new favorite blogs:

Larger Families - Chris from The Big Yellow House is handling "Advice from the Trenches" while I'm just meeting many of the other writers. They are still in the lovely dovey phase of blogging about their large families, I'm sure the ugly stuff like "how to split a dozen doughnuts between 7" and "I thought I had 4 kids, who is this 5th one?" will come out eventually.

Want Not - As if I didn't already spit my morning tea out of my nose every morning reading Mir at Woulda Coulda Shoulda, she's now blogging about all things frugal. And I love me some good deals!

Check them out and enjoy! In the meantime, I'll be recovering the fabric seats of the dining room chairs...

Katie at 10:16 AM

Sunday, June 11, 2006

Week 1 is up!

Katie at 10:05 AM

Friday, June 09, 2006

134.8 I'm taking a break from trying to lose weight. I've lost the big chunk that I wanted (10 pounds) and I'm okay with bouncing between 133 and 135 at the moment. Maybe in a few weeks I'll try to lose the other 5 so that I'm between 128-130. I'll try to remember to retake my measurements in a day or two. Thanks for all the support along the way!

And now for one of the most random daily To Do lists ever:

Copy Cub Scout health form
JoAnn's for Kelly's flower girl dress fabric
Drop off Brownie vest and badges (the mom has never picked them up...)
Call coach to pick up Zach's hockey trophy (he's probably thinking "the mom has never picked it up...")
Dick's Sporting Goods to return kites
Back up computer files
Call car insurance company for a paper for the stupid MVA
Bank for money for babysitter
Sew up seams on knitted iPod sock
Buy and mail 4 "Congrats Grad!" and 1 "Happy Birthday" card
Water plants
Call local GMC for van recall appointment (something about the seat belts and my van might not be affected in the first place, fun!)
Grocery for half-n-half and eggs (I'm in the mood for quiche)
Target for socks for Kyle (his have all magically disappeared this week)

Anyone need anything else done while I'm at it?

Quote of the Day: "One only needs two tools in life: WD-40 to make things go, and duct tape to make them stop." -G.M. Weilacher

Katie at 9:18 AM

Thursday, June 08, 2006

I don't know if it's lack of energy (I have been sooo tired the last couple of weeks) or lack of motivation but I've had a hard time getting out of the house recently. The kids' sports and after school activities have been ending so reason #1 To Get Out of the House is gone. The biggest way to tell we haven't been out much is that I usually use half a tank of gas a week. I filled up Monday May 28th while driving home from Ohio, used half a tank that day, and today we're still at half a tank (well maybe 5/12ths).

I suppose I have been out, there are groceries in the pantry and we did go to the gym on Sunday to avoid Mark. And Tuesday Zach had a chess tournament (he placed about 14th out of 25 and was upset because only the top 10 received trophies). But Monday, yesterday, and most of last week, we didn't leave the boundaries of our yard.

It's probably all in my head, we haven't been out as much because there's no need to be out as much. Again the kids' activities are winding down. I haven't been to the craft store in ages because Brownies has been over since the middle of May. I order mailing stamps online and rarely send packages. I'm back to one big grocery shopping trip a week instead of 2 or 3 mini-ones. The kids have all their summer clothes already. If there's a gift giving occasion, I've been ordering online instead of shopping in a store. In general we don't eat out but the Little 2 and I usually have fast food for lunch once a week. We haven't done that recently.

In fact just now Kyle, who hates to run errands, asked if we could go run some errands.

Why do I feel like there's an invisible barrier at the front door? I can't decide if it's I feel I can't go out or if there's just nothing really to go out for in the first place and therefore it makes more sense to stay in. It's at this moment I really wish I had a friend nearby to call up and ask to meet for lunch somewhere. Maybe that's my problem, I have no local friends...

I suppose I need a new tablecloth for the kitchen. And we can swing through Burger King on the way. And then we'll be near the gym. At least we'll be getting out of the house...

Katie at 10:33 AM

Wednesday, June 07, 2006

So I had this idea Monday evening. I really like the notion of planning fun stuff for the kids over summer break (Pez does an awesome job of this with her Summer O'Fun). But I think this and almost never go through with it (yep, didn't make one day trip as far as I can remember that summer).

So! I decided if I blogged about this like I did my weight loss I'd hold myself more accountable and things would actually get done. I did a little math and came up with the 50 Days of Summer from June 12th through August 18th (not counting weekends). Course my kids don't get out of school until June 15th but I know many of your children are already out. And I want you to play along!

The rules are really simple, I'll post the week's 5 activities on Sunday evening. Then you can pick and chose what you would like to do. No pressure to do everything and activities don't have to be done in any order. And you also don't have to have children, you can be the kid! (I'm thinking the "Paper Airplane Day" might be a hit at the office.)

Oh right, more about the activities. They won't be anything crazy like "Create the statue of David with paper mache". In fact you might already be doing some of them like "PJ Day" (a personal favorite here). I tried to pick activities that would appeal to Zach (almost 9 years old) but yet easy enough for Kelly (3 1/2 years). The whole point is to gently remind you of the fun things you can easily do with minimal planning.

So click over to the main 50 Days of Summer page and sign up! Grab a button if you'd like (I'm way too obsessed with Photoshop some days). Each week will have its own set of comments and I promised to update our progress at the Fleck household. But mostly, it's summer! Have fun!

Katie at 9:08 AM

Tuesday, June 06, 2006

We have this kid in the neighborhood... I don't know how we didn't meet him last fall as I guess he's been here since he was born. But our luck has run out.

8pm School Night: Doorbell rings.
Greg and I: ???
Kid: Can Ally come out and play?
Me: Um no, she's getting ready for bed.
Kid: Okay. Can she come out and play?
Me: No...
Kid: Why not?
Me: She'd getting ready for bed.
Kid: Where's Ally? (trying to come into our house)
Me: (considering slamming the door) She's going to bed, come by after school tomorrow.

Repeat the same scenario between 8-8:30pm a few more times. I finally asked the kid his name, (it'll be Mark for internet purposes) and I guess he spoke to Ally at school (they are in the same class) because she was soon asking when she could play with Mark. Never sounded like a great answer.

Sunday morning Mark rang the doorbell. And he doesn't ring it once, he rings it like 3 times and if you don't answer in a split second, he rings several more. *grits teeth* And I didn't have a good excuse to keep Ally from going out to play. So Emily and Ally went outside and I went back to making waffles for brunch.

About 10 minutes later, I stepped outside to call them in. And you guessed it, they were no where to be found. I've never met Mark's parents, I didn't even know where they live. So Greg, two neighbors, and I walked up and down the street looking for them. I now know where Mark lives. The house with the huge 7 foot privacy fence (fences are not the norm in our neighborhood). With a trampoline. And pool. *trys not to faint*

Emily and Ally were collected from Mark's yard and given a stern talking to about not leaving our yard. "But Mark said we could." Mark is 7 years old and a complete brat, do not listen to a word he says!

Continuing on Sunday, we let all the kids out to play after brunch. And Mark shows up. Fine whatever, stay in our yard. About an hour later I stepped outside and another of neighbors came over and complained how Mark was riding his bike in the street (it's a suburb cul-de-sac with 2 side streets so a car passes by about once every ten minutes). The neighbor said Mark was trying to get my kids to do it too. Great... So I did what every mom would do, I told the kids we were going to the gym.

Mark: I'll tell my mom I'm going!
Me: ???
My kids: Yippee!
Me: NO! Um, I can't bring you because I've never met your parents and it's for members only.
Ally: He's a mem...
Me: SHHH! Sorry Mark, see you later!

Guess who was waiting in our driveway when we returned? Mark... But we had a soccer game and then dinner and baths and "Sorry Mark, see you later!"

Yesterday, Mark and another kid (we'll call him Brian) rang the doorbell at about 7pm (at least it wasn't 8). Fine, fine, play in our yard. Except Ally didn't want to play outside. So then Mark began running around in my house with his dirty shoes on. NO! He was going upstairs and through the kitchen pantry like he owned the place. OUT, NOW! Geez, I didn't realize what an uptight bitch I was before I met Mark. There's just no way I'm going to be responsible for another kid in my house when I haven't met his parents (do they even exist?). Let alone a rotten brat who doesn't listen.

Finally everyone was outside and a mom with a 3 year old walked into our yard. Looked a bit like Brian... Yep, she wanted to check up on where he was playing. So I asked about Mark and his parents. She said Mark just started showing up at her house one day very much like how he did at ours and after a week, she finally went to Mark's parents house to meet them. Unfortunately one of the kids interrupted us and I didn't get to hear what her thoughts were on the parents. But I thought it was awesome that she would check up on her child as no one in the neighborhood really knows us.

Right now no one is allowed at Mark's house until we meet his parents. And I'm very tempted to never meet his parents because if they don't care he's running up and down our neighborhood going into complete stranger's houses then I really do not want my kids under their supervision. Sure we live in a "safe" neighborhood but he's 7 years old for pete's sake! I hate that his "freedom" is such a draw to my kids and now they are questioning our rules. But I'm completely fine with making our yard the neighborhood meeting place, I might even bring out snacks next time. Either that or I'm disconnecting the doorbell.

Katie at 8:57 AM

Monday, June 05, 2006

My kids were slugs this morning. Which was actually nice because then they were too tired to pick on each other. Breakfast was soooo peaceful.

We didn't have an overly tiring weekend. Em and Ally had their last two soccer games of the season (Em scored the one and only goal on Saturday, Ally is the team's best goalie according to the coach). We managed a quick trip the gym. And other than playing outside for awhile yesterday, that's about it.

The trash has been taken out and now I'm staring at the mess of papers that needs dealt with on my desk. End of the year parties, school picnics, teacher gift donations (the room moms here ask for money and then buy one big gift), a recall on the van (lovely...), a mess of coupons to clip, birthday cards to send, receipts. At least the bills were paid last week.

Two fun things to note: Steph started her new job today and my youngest sister just moved into her first apartment in Lake Snow Effect City. Greg also has family there and they mentioned it snowed over Mother's Day weekend. I think my next knitting project will be mittens for her. Congrats to you both and I can't wait to hear more!

Edit to add: I'm doing some minor work on my site, mostly moving the blogroll and archives to other pages. I've also deleted the Scrapbooks and Shop links at the top because I've never done anything with them. I'm tempted to do a whole site redesign but I don't have a "vision" in mind to work towards so the blue stays for awhile longer.

Katie at 9:15 AM

Saturday, June 03, 2006

Kyle's Rules for Driving
(as told to me while going to the gym one afternoon)

1. No sleeping in the road.
2. No eating while driving if you have to cut up your food.
3. Yellow means slow down.
4. No driving in the grass.
5. No cleaning while driving.

Drive safe, y'all!

Katie at 10:12 AM

Friday, June 02, 2006

Q&A Day

Snapper asks: What has been your favorite 'enjoy the kids' moment lately?

Besides hanging out with them on the beach at Assateague Island, I'd have to say I'm enjoying snack time. Lately I've been indulging their ice cream requests and we all sit together at the kitchen table and talk about their day.

The Back of My Mind asks: You have exactly 24 hours (you pick the starting time) and one million dollars to do whatever you like. What do you do during your selected 24 hour period?

Ugh, you're going to make me spend money?

Okay first I would call up a real estate agent and make her find me a big huge house on like 10 acres of land somewhere in the Midwest within 15 minutes of an interstate and no further than half an hour to a Target and craft store. There, that's like $500,000 (land can still be cheap out in the Midwest). Then I'd go buy a $100,000 gift card at the Home Depot for renovations of the house. And contact a breeder for a herd of mini-cows.

Next I would fly myself to New York City (although Chicago came in a really close second here, it would probably depend on my mood) and rent a limo to find a lovely day spa to have my hair cut and colored, manicure, pedicure, and make-up. Back to the limo for shopping! I do need a new wardrobe and with all this money, I'll just pay someone to pick out the clothes for me and I'd try them on while sipping champagne and knitting.

All meals will be lavish with chocolate desserts. I'll catch at least one Broadway show, having the best seat in the house. I'll go to a book store and just buy everything that interests me to keep me stocked in reading material for years. I'll go to an art gallery and buy a piece that "speaks to me." And probably after purchasing the art, I'll be out of money and ready to go home anyways.

Mary asks: What is your laundry system?

I think my system is probably a bit odd but it works for me. I have two laundry baskets in my bedroom that everyone dumps their clothes into (with reminders. And Greg always misses with his socks. *rolls eyes*) These two baskets usually fill up every 3 or 4 days so then I have a "Laundry Day." I sort on my bedroom floor: whites, lights/pastels, jeans, darks, Greg's work shirts, and towels. I like Tide powder (original) and occasionally use Downy fabric softener (I think it overpowers the clothes too much if I use it every load). Stain stick for stains and when I think about it, I toss a little bit of oxiclean in with the whites. I'm kinda lax about dryer sheets too (actually I think I'm out at the moment).

As the clothes come out of the dryer, I dump everything on the family room sofa and do one big fold at the end of the day. I fold into piles by clothing owner, for example all Zach's shirts in one stack right next to all Zach's pants next to his socks and underwear. Then I carry each kid's set of clothes up to their rooms and put it away in their chest of drawers (the boys share one, the girls share two, Greg and I share one). I don't fold socks or underwear, I'm a big fan of "stacks". Each kid has their own type of sock and only one type of sock so no matching is required.

So then all the laundry has been washed, dried, folded, and put away in one day. Even though laundry is probably my favorite household chore, I don't want to do it every day. I'd rather have one long day of pushing every through and not have to worry about it for a few days. I wash the bedding the same way, one big day of it every couple weeks. (I wish I could be disciplined enough to do it once a week but yeah, not happening at the moment.)

Erando (aka my linguistic anti-grammarian nut sister) asks: Um, did you know your sister's a linguistic anti-grammarian nut?

Yes. And I love you for it. :)

Steph asks: what you gonna scrap next, chicka??

Um... I still need to finish up Christmas 2003, I have everything, I just need to sit down and put the pages together. Next I have Emily and Ally's 1st lost tooth pages, this picture, Easter 2004, and Summer 2004. I already have the pictures in hand for all those. Once these are done, it's time for the Disney World layouts!

Maggie asks: if you could live anywhere- where would it be?

Right next to you, of course! Actually some place like I described in the "$1 million in 24 hours" question: a big house on some land/farm in the Midwest close to an interstate, Target, and craft store. I'm sure that place exists. No particular town jumps out at me, I just like the Midwest to be close to family and friends.

Jen asks: Why is Ohio considered the midwest if it's on the eastern time zone?

Actually the majority of Indiana, Kentucky, and Michigan are also on Eastern time and so "most" of the Midwest is on Eastern time. Here's the goofy thing about these states: they like to pretend they are important enough to New York City and Washington DC that they need to be in the Eastern time zone for business reasons. I think "Midwest" stands more for the type of people there (generally conservative white lower to middle class blue and white collar workers) than the location. The people of Ohio are more like Indiana and Michigan residents than say another Eastern time zone state like Massachusetts.

Pez asks: If you could have one food for the rest of your life, what would it be?

Mountain Dew! Wait, that's a drink. I would have to go with chicken. I'm a big fan of any type of chicken.

Wendy asks: I want to know what your scrapbooking system is. When you set up to scrap what do you have out with you? Or are you one of those lucky ones who has a scrapbooking room?

I do not have a scrapbook room although I'd really love to have a craft room at some point. In the beginning I had an Iris cart with all my supplies and I'd sit at the dining room table to scrap. Then Greg bought this awesome big desk (I think for himself but I kinda took it over, hehe) and I kept my supplies in an empty TV amoire and Iris cart by the desk. However since moving to the Maryland house (that picture is from the Ohio house), I don't have quite the same set up (i.e. the TV amoire is in another room and the Iris cart is in a closet) so my scrapbook supplies aren't as handy.

So... I actually usually scrapbook on the family room coffee table. I grab my pictures, paper, my fiskars trimmer, a plain tupperware-like plastic container with pens, glues, scissors, and any other accents and sit on the floor of the family room. I'm also getting into scrapbook store crops too.

Whew! I think that does it! Now maybe I should think about answering some emails... Have a lovely Friday and weekend!

Katie at 10:36 AM

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