Taking the week off. Which after taking the weekend off means I'm a very lousy blogger.
(Nothing's wrong, I just have an extremely busy week ahead and it would be best if I could limit my computer time. Wish me luck with that...)
Have a nice week, see you later!
Zach has strep throat.
Only that's not what we went into the pediatrician's office for earlier today.
Zach has this small pea sized soft lump under his skin on the side of his cheek. And Zach freaks out and worries a lot (seriously, I never have to worry, this kid has me covered). Greg and the school nurse figured it was a cyst or something and would go away on its own. Me? If there are no bones sticking out or massive amounts of blood, just stay off the carpet and you'll be fine. This laissez faire attitude is going to bite me in the ass someday but in the time being, I figure that's what immune systems are for.*
So anyway I took him in to be on the safe side (and so he'd quit freaking the hell out and bugging me all the time while I'm trying to do something important like read blogs, ha). They did a strep swab because the doctor said occasionally strep can cause cysts. Who knew? Zach doesn't have any of the normal symptoms at the moment like a fever or sore throat, the doctor said we caught it early. And it's not a lymph node thing either because it's above his jawline and soft.
Our first official documented case of strep... I say "first official documented" because we've all probably had it before but I don't relish $15 co-pays and long waits at the doctor's office to confirm it.
Do you think this gets me out of having to take him to baseball stuff all weekend?
*Not a recommended attitude for everyone especially people with compromised immune systems. I'm blessed with annoyingly healthy children (for the most part).
Okay, good mood restored. (For the moment...)
The IRS call went well other than I was on hold for like an hour. I needed to change my employment tax filing from the quarterly 941 to the annual 944 since I'm the sole proprietor of Blue Kitty Designs and don't have any employees besides myself and I doubt I'll be earning more than $4000 this year and...
Oops, lost you all there, huh? It's done and the IRS shouldn't be after me until January 2008 now. Although Maryland wants any sales tax I collect by July 31st...
Right, right, this is a mommy blog. The kids are okay other than they've redeveloped the annoying habit of dropping things all over the house and not picking them up even after I yell a bazillion times. They were cured for hmm, a week I think. Either my back is going to break from bending over or I'm going to lose my voice. I'd consider throwing away everything I pick up but then I'd have to go buy new backpacks, replace library books, and deal with whiny children when all their toys and clothing are gone.
What I really need to do is install an intercom system that announces every 30 seconds, "Pick up what you just dropped NOW!" I could also program it to say "You are not starving, dinner is at 6pm and we're having FOOD, quit asking." And how about, "No, you can not have *insert new fangled expensive toy that will break in two seconds* just because you saw a commercial for it." And special just for the bathroom: "FLUSH!", "Don't leave the water running while you brush your teeth.", and "Did you use soap?"
The Parent Intercom system would come standard in my self-cleaning house if I ever have five freaking seconds of uninterrupted thinking time to invent it.
I want a better To Do list for today. Instead I have 4 phone calls to make (one to the IRS, that should be fun...) and 5 outstanding (as in need to be completed) sewing orders. My email inbox is a mess too. Plus I've gained 5 pounds over the last two weeks so all my spring clothes are tight which makes me very crabby. *grumble, grumble*
If anyone comes across my sunny disposition, send it back this way, would ya?
Emily, Zach, and Ally, First Communion, April 21st
What a weekend! I'd like to say that I had finished sewing the dresses at 10:30 on Friday night but the zipper broke on Ally's 30 minutes before we were suppose to be at the church. Luckily I had a spare white one to sew in as a replacement but I was rather panicked for a few minutes. The girls also didn't end up wearing the shawls I stressed over either because even the second time around, the yarn wasn't "white" enough. Oh well...
Thanks to all the family members who made the long (long!) drive out. We really appreciate you celebrating with us.
As I mentioned in my post over at Larger Families, call ahead to small family run stores to make sure they are open. I "lost" two hours on Friday by driving to one Catholic store and finding it closed due to a family emergency. Therefore I had to drive home, find another store (I called to make sure they were open!), and make the one hour round trip to it. Or maybe I should just remember to buy gifts sooner than the day before. So today I'm shopping for all graduation, Mother and Father's Day, and birthday gifts through the end of June.
Also today I'm buying new shorts for the twins. Since Mother Nature has finally decided it is indeed spring (only a month late), I did my bi-yearly clothing sort/swap/box ritual yesterday. And as usual Emily and Ally have outgrown everything and are very whiny about wearing anything "winter" like. Kelly on the other hand is quite thrilled to have 2 of everything.
You know how there are some people who are just amazing beyond words? Who face terrifying odds and come out of it with flying colors? Meet Heather.
In 2000, she found out she was pregnant with a daughter who had a life threatening heart problem. Heather wouldn't give up on her unborn daughter and through a heart transplant and mitochondrial myopathy, she fought for the best care and survival of her daughter. Emma Grace is now six years old and has continued health problems but wouldn't be here if it weren't for the strength and perseverance of Heather.
Now Heather has brain cancer. What are the odds? I know I'm always telling the children that life isn't fair, but man, life isn't fair!
I've never asked any of you to donate to a cause. Like Chris, I know there are tons of worthy charities and other heart breaking situations like Heather's out there. But something about this is different. Heather is not going to give up. Her daughter is here against all odds and Heather can beat this too. Heather's traveling to the Mayo Clinic at the end of April, her best chance for treatment. And I think that something as trivial as money shouldn't stand in the way of her fighting this.
BooMama has sent up a PayPal donation button that goes directly to Heather. She's asking for $1. That's it. Afterwards tell Chris and you'll be entered in a drawing for lots of donated prizes. I'm donating a felted handbag I made.
After this week's tragedies, it's easy to think that everything is wrong with the world. But people like Heather remind us that there is good out there, sometimes all they need is a little help.
But I don't wanna clean!
(Oh and the dresses aren't finished. I kept getting interrupted all day long and then had Brownies and soccer practice and then I had a bad allergy attack from all the pollen from being outdoors for Brownies and soccer so I quit sewing at 9pm.)
I better go put some more Mountain Dew in the fridge.
Who's brilliant idea was it to wait until 3 days before First Communion to sew dresses? Oh right, mine...
If you need me today, I'll be chained to the sewing machine.
Also cross your fingers that I can find a nearby Catholic store tomorrow to purchase rosaries. I'm terrible at remembering to buy gifts for occasions like these. Christmas, duh. Birthdays, Greg usually takes care of that. Somehow "First Communion" doesn't signal "buy gift" in my brain.
Pictures!
Easter:
Ally, Kyle, Zach, Kelly, Emily
Greg has this specific hair gel that he likes. I've spent way too much of my life driving around to hair salons trying to find this stuff. Finally I wised up and started ordering it from Amazon. And then it was discontinued. So I went to eBay and bought this:
He should be set for a little while (he goes through about 2 bottles a year). Don't ask the cost, let's just say shipping alone was $25. It was worth it.
The way I help Zach remember to bring home all his jackets and coats from school:
My van has been bleached!
Actually my van is in the shop being repainted. I managed to get the exact same van (minus the extra side doors) as a rental.
And this last picture makes me happy. My $15 solution to my shop's fabric storage. I like to hang fabric and there's no closet near my cutting table (aka the dining room table). Previously the fabric was draped over the treadmill and dining room chairs. A $5 clothing rack and $10's worth of hangers (I splurged at IKEA):
Have a nice Tuesday!
Lately I haven't been able to sleep between the hours of 4:30 and about 6am. Something silly will wake me up (Kelly needing her "bed flatted", going to the bathroom, allergy sneezing) and then I can't fall back asleep until it's almost time to get up again. I'm sure this is common with a lot of people but I've always been one to sleep really easily and really well. So not being able to sleep like I used to is rather annoying.
Is it better to stay in bed and try to fall back asleep? Or get up and do something productive? Today I'm going with the productive, I'm ordering grocery delivery and ironing fabric.
Too bad Kyle and Kelly won't take naps any more.
Here's your giggle for the day:
(Thanks to RockStar Mommy! I think...)
Um, do I have to submit proof? Picture, picture, picture, picture. Maybe I should start a Flickr photo set. Yeah right, in my free time...
Okay so maybe this one fits a bit better:
You have to sign up to vote. If you want to vote. I totally voted for myself already...
Let's play True or False!
Update at 5:30pm: Darn it, you all are too good. Everything is True.
1. Kelly stuck a chocolate chip up her nose on Monday. It was messy...
2. Greg's learning how to play the guitar. He's going to play and sing for us around camp fires from now on.
3. I rear ended a school bus when I was in high school. Now I only hit fire hydrants.
4. Kyle refuses to wear jeans and will only wear track pants. Weird kid.
5. Zach has broken all the zippers on all his jackets and coats. He also tends to leave all his jackets and coats at school.
6. I bruise easily. I fell yesterday on the stairs. I'm all purple and green and yellow now.
7. Ally sucks her thumb. Hopefully the orthodontist and $3600 will stop this.
8. Emily's right handed. Sorry, couldn't come up with anything better for her.
9. I love to knit socks. Yep! Bought more sock yarn and itty bitty 5" needles today.
10. We haven't sent in our tax forms yet this year. We owe. It sucks. The government can wait a few more days to get the money.
See today, I'm in a great mood! Oh wait, you can't see that. But I am in a good mood.
Build-A-Bear yesterday went so much better than I expected. We had a few tears (from my Emily of course *sigh*) but it went very well overall. The employees took over the girls' shopping and kept them in their budget and I let Zach, Kyle, and Kelly pick out new outfits for their old Build-A-Bear bears and bunny. (Kyle's bear is now wearing Skechers and I have to admit they are the cutest things ever!) I'd honestly recommend doing a party there but only if you're not footing the entire bill. In other words, my kids better not expect a birthday party there with 20 of their friends but a troop event is well worth it.
Today I am doing laundry and computer stuff, two of my favorite things. (Seriously.) I squeezed the grocery shopping in yesterday and I'll go to the fabric store tomorrow for the First Communion dresses. Today I just need a break and plan to not leave the house. Last night's running from scouts to soccer to baseball to scouts was too much and I hate it when our schedule is nutty like that. Unfortunately I'm stuck with that Wednesday night schedule through May. I begged the soccer coach to not move practice to Wednesdays with no luck obviously. Oh well, it's just through May...
Still rather crabby here. Of my list of 4 things to do yesterday, I only accomplished one. Freezing my ass off at Zach's baseball game. I think they won. I was too cold to keep score. At least at hockey, they have heated lobbies. And a big electronic score board that tells me how much time I have left to suffer. (Oh and the score.)
No babysitter for this afternoon (the two I called never called back). Which means I now need to find a driver for the three Brownies that are displaced from my van. And deal with Zach, Kyle, and Kelly at Build-A-Bear. I'm kicking myself for not remembering to call the babysitter sooner. Stupid Spring Break. I'm also so not enjoying Girl Scouts anymore. I'm losing another one of my "good" girls at the end of the year (she's moving) and I'm really sick of my "problem" girls. Plus the GS Leader/Daughter Day event planned for this Saturday was canceled. I'm as disappointed as the twins, we had a lot of fun at it last year.
No groceries other than I ran to the store quickly last night for cereal and lunch money. Course now we're out of milk...
No First Communion dresses. I'm honestly not that worried about these, I can complete them in a weekend (probably this weekend).
I'm just... grumpy. I'll feel better tomorrow. I hope.
La...
This is me trying not to spazz out again.
I'm rather surprised I have any readers left with my crappy writing skills lately. Who really wants to read about my kids driving me insane or the fact that spending $$$ on wholesale fabric for my store literately kept me awake one night? I should have placed a grocery order to be delivered today...
Crap, see there I go again, completely off topic! I seriously need some help focusing. The kids are back in school, that'll help right? Although I forgot Zach has a baseball game tonight and I haven't planned anything for the next 3 Brownie meetings let alone our camping trip the first weekend in May. Oh oh, and the girls' First Communion dresses that I'm sewing? Hadn't even thought about them until last night. It's only 10 days away. And guests are coming over, my parents (their first trip to see us here in Maryland, woohoo!) and Greg's family. Which means cleaning and menu planning. Um, there's a McDonald's down the street...
Anyway first I could use all the babysitting karma you can spare because yeah I forgot to call the babysitter earlier to watch Zach, Kyle, and Kelly during tomorrow's Brownie meeting. We're going to Build-A-Bear and I think $25 for the babysitter is worth it to avoid the $60 I'd probably have to spend on Zach, Kyle, and Kelly there. Let alone how much fun it's going to be with 12 second graders at the mall, I don't really need my other 3 to add to the confusion.
Babysitter, groceries (we're out of cereal, I had to make pancakes for breakfast this morning), First Communion dresses, baseball game. That sounds like a good plan for today. Proper writing skills can wait for another time.
Hey, happy belated Easter!
I'll try to post pictures later. It was fun hunting Easter eggs in snow flurries. (not...)
It is nice to be eating chocolate again. I did have chocolate chip cookies for breakfast and then chocolate pie for dessert after dinner.
Today is the kids' last day of Spring Break. I hope I can survive one more day. One more day. (Crap, now I have that song from Les Mis stuck in my head.)
All I really want to do is curl up in a quilt and knit socks. Instead I need to take the trash out, fold laundry, answer emails, and figure out how to deal with the 5 activities planned between 3:30 and 8pm on Wednesday (Brownies, baseball practice, soccer practice, Cub Scouts, Girl Scout leader meeting).
Happy Monday...
Oh in the excitement of all of the insanity that is my life, I forgot to mention I'm now part of the blogging team over at Larger Families. You can read my latest post about how I don't "spring clean" here.
In other news we're dyeing Easter eggs and puzzling over the dusting of snow outside. It is April, right?
I feel like crap.
Yesterday was a bad day. Seriously. The children are lucky they are still living under this roof.
First we had to take the van into the auto shop to get an estimate for repainting over the scratches. The insurance guy was also there so all of it was taken care of at the same time. But the children... How do I properly express how utterly frustrating they were during the 20 minute wait on the paperwork? 20 minutes, Lord, why couldn't they just be good for 20 minutes? I was so livid with their behavior that only Zach got fast food for lunch and I canceled my other errands for fear I would wring their necks.
We planned to see the DC Cherry Blossoms yesterday afternoon with a friend and her 2 delightful children. Greg came home from work early and after a quick 15 minute nap for me on the sofa to recover from the auto shop fiasco, we went to pick them up.
And my kids were absolute brats. On the car ride to and back, they fought and picked on each other and dropped toys and whined about who they were sitting next to and pinched each other and screamed and I swear to God it took everything I had not to pull over and boot them all to the curb.
(The Cherry Blossoms were also a disappointment, I think the peak day may have been Tuesday and then Wednesday there were thunderstorms and wind that probably knocked all the blossoms down.)
This morning I woke up to Ally whining, Emily screaming, and Kyle tearing through the house. And also 4 full bowls of soggy cereal and a mess in the kitchen. (There was one empty bowl in the sink, I'd bet serious money it was Zach's.)
I don't want to be yelling and sending children to their room all day. I want to dye Easter eggs and make our gingerbread Easter house. Why are they acting this way? I'm too tired and sick to do all that preemptive crap (you know, where you are super positive and head off fights with distractions and so on). I want and expect the kids to behave and not act like wild animals and I shouldn't have to try to keep them in good moods.
Did I mention I feel like crap? Easter is going to suck this year.
I had my tonsils and adenoids out when I was in 6th grade. Before then I had chronic ear infections and drank so much of the pink stuff (amoxicillin), I'm lucky I wasn't a walking breeding ground for antibiotic resistant super bugs. It's amazing how easy it is to make bacteria resistant to certain antibiotics, I did it in college biology lab. And considering my awful track record with lab experiments actually turning out like they were suppose to, let's just say it's really easy to make antibiotic resistant bacteria.
The problem was drainage from my ears into my throat. I probably had one sore throat my entire childhood, the classic symptom for tonsil/adenoid removal. Finally some genius doctor thought, hey maybe we should take her tonsils/adenoids out. And since then, I've had 2 ear infections. Going from constant ear pain all winter long for several years (I wore ear muffs nearly constantly) to none was like a gift from heaven.
Until now. I have to up the number to 3 ear infections since I was 12. It's probably all the drainage from my allergies. I'm thinking about blaming the children's yelling to trick them into being good, "you are causing Mommy's ears to ache!" Although I doubt it will work. They completely ignore me when I tell them to stop fighting because "it's driving Mommy up the wall!"
Anyone know where I can buy a pair of earmuffs this time of year? I'm kinda partial to the over the head adjustable plastic strap with big furry blue circles type.
It's raining.
Which I guess is helpful in preventing the "why can't I play in the street?" arguments that I had all day yesterday with the children (mostly Kyle). By the end of the day I was sorely tempted to say "fine, go get run over by a car but I'm not calling 911 for you." But by that point it was baseball practice time and being the fabulous mom I am (or maybe just being tired of saying "NO!"), I let them play in the muddy creek next to the ball fields. I'm currently ignoring the mess of laundry that resulted from that decision.
At the moment I am refereeing discussions over which movie to watch with continued monitoring of the "he keeps pausing it!" and "she's making too much noise!" yells.
If I can keep my sanity and nice mommy-ness, we'll be decorating the Bunny Hutch Cookie House Kit later. I completely admit to being a sucker for gingerbread house kits. (Remember the Halloween one?) And this one is even pre-assembled, it doesn't require hours of patience and cans of fruit cocktail. And there's no chocolate so I can eat it with the kids. Haha! (I gave up chocolate for Lent in case you weren't paying attention.)
By the way we're having chocolate chip cookies, double chocolate fudge brownies, chocolate milkshakes, chocolate truffles, chocolate cake with chocolate icing, Girl Scout Thin Mints, chocolate pudding, hot chocolate with chocolate whipped cream, and chocolate bunnies for breakfast on Sunday.
Happy Tuesday!
Yesterday went surprisingly well. The weather was warm and we invited two kids over to play. Zach's current friend is so sweet and polite that I want to adopt him. In fact I kinda forgot he was here until dinner time when his mom knocked on our door.
Although... The kids played so hard yesterday that we are paying for it this morning. Ally's whiny and "resting" (her word) in her room while the other kids are fighting over any sitting activity (namely the computer and TV). I have a couple of errands to run (post office, dry cleaners) so I'm thinking today is not the day for a trip to the park. Maybe the library.
I do have one little complaint before I finish up here. Spring Break to me is all about a break from normal activities. So why do we have one soccer and two baseball practices scheduled this week? And also a birthday party that the twins are invited to. I can't really skip the practices because one of the coaches asked what we were doing for Spring Break in a chatty kind of way. I said nothing, we're staying home. To which he replied, great you'll be able to come to practice! Oops...
Shop Talk
So my biggest problem with my store has been fabric. Trying to find a good price, am I buying too much or too little, what colors would people want, etc. And the answers seem to be I never buy enough of the ones people do like and then JoAnn's is out of that design two weeks later. I've known JoAnn's isn't the most reliable source for fabric and as I was telling Greg, 95% of what they have I don't like or is um, well, crappy quality. Yesterday I drove to two JoAnn's and didn't buy one single piece of a fabric. Sad, huh?
Point, I have a point. I'm going wholesale online. Sure $57 per bolt of 15 yards sounds like a lot but it works out to $3.80 a yard which is at least $2 cheaper than JoAnn's "quality" stuff. Plus I'll have 15 yards (I usually buy 1 1/2 to 2 right now) and since I'm closer to the source, I'll have a better chance of re-ordering.
However I will have 15 yards of that certain style and color. What if it doesn't sell? People's tastes are all over and I'm amazed at some of the prints my competitors sell (as in I think they are ugly). So here's where you come in if you like. I'm going to compose a Word file with pictures of color combinations and send it out to anyone who'd like to take a moment (or ten) to check which ones that you personally like. I think I would like to begin with 4 color combinations of 2 fabrics (one main color, one accent). Holy crap, that's almost $500 of fabric. See why I would really like to get this right the first time?
Either leave your email address in the comments or send me a quick email to katiefleck@hotmail.com with something like "Color Test" in the subject box. Thanks so much!
Doh, it's spring break. I guess I should tell the Big 3 they can come back from the bus stop. *winks*
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