Halloween 2007
Emily as a vampire (minus the teeth and makeup, most people thought she was a witch without a hat), Ally as a bat (her ears are drooping), Kelly as the Tooth Fairy (with a Little Mermaid crown), Kyle as a vampire bat (you can't see his wings), and Zach as a piece of pie (he forgot his "fork", a silver painted plastic pitch fork).
Maybe it's just the "I'm tired, I baked 50 cupcakes, made 60 rice krispie balls, helped in Kyle's kindergarten class for 3 hours, and am dealing with the sugar crash of 5 cranky children" but I'm kinda over Halloween.
Bah Humbag.
Sugar OD anyone?
Pillsbury Halloween "Funfetti" cupcakes and Eye Balls (Rice Krispie Treat balls with Skittles and icing)
I'll post a picture of the kids in their Halloween costumes later. That is if I can pry them off the ceiling.
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Pillsbury Halloween "Funfetti" cupcakes and Eye Balls (Rice Krispie Treat balls with Skittles and icing)
I'll post a picture of the kids in their Halloween costumes later. That is if I can pry them off the ceiling.
Once again Zach, Emily, and Ally don't have any clothes.
Sheesh, why do they keep growing?
The temperature has officially hit freezing here (brr!) so yesterday I went through every one's clothes. As usual Kyle and Kelly are ready with ten tons of hand-me-downs. And then the older three have like a pair of jeans and one long sleeve t-shirt between all of them.
Which means I need to go shopping. I'm finally over the angst of paying shipping charges but is it just me or is online shopping a huge pain nowadays? Sure I made out back in August (10 pairs of The Children's Place jeans for $83 with shipping) but this morning I'm not finding any good deals. Plus I swear the sites are more difficult to navigate. I think there are too many choices. I don't want to wade through 90 long sleeve shirts (The Children's Place) to find a few in size large for Zach. At least Old Navy is a bit more helpful with their size selector to filter out the styles that are sold out. But why list every single color on the main page? Drop down selectors are our friends.
Hmmm, Zach, Emily and Ally like to play on the computer... Maybe I'll give them half an hour each to fill up a shopping cart on a few websites with stuff they like in their size ("Kids, let's play a game! Find size 10 jeans and then click the add to shopping cart button! Fun!") and then I'll filter through what they've picked to make the final purchases.
People are always telling me that the kids need to be doing more around the house...
The 2368th way my kids drive me insane:
The twins have a total 6 light weight jackets between them. This morning, they could only find one.
*bangs head on wall*
(I found one more shoved under the girls' bed and waved down the bus on its way out of the cul-de-sac.)
But don't get me started on Zach. He's lost two hooded sweatshirts and a fleece jacket so far. (Lost lost, they haven't appeared in the school's "found" bin yet.) Today he's wearing last year's winter coat with a broken zipper.
Maybe I can have all of them fitted for those lovely white straight jackets...
What's this wet stuff falling from the sky again?
It's nice to be getting some rain again (I swear it hasn't rained since the beginning of August) but I forgot what a pain it can be when it comes to schedules. So far Kyle's school field trip and one birthday party have been moved to later dates. We also have two soccer games over the weekend. The other indoor events include a NaNoWriMo kick-off event, another birthday party, and a Girl Scout thing.
The funniest part is Greg and Zach are going camping with the Boy Scouts tonight through Sunday. hehehehe I've done my share of camping in the rain so I'm allowed to laugh.
Rain, rain, go away. Come again another day.
This is a fun post to write as I stare at 377 boxes of Girl Scout cookies. (It was 936 on Sunday before all the parents picked up their orders.)
I'm beginning to think I'm not as good at multi-tasking as I thought. The Halloween costumes are finished (yay!) and I'm semi caught up on Girl Scouts/Boy Scouts/Room Mom/Etsy stuff. But the house is a disaster, stuff is falling out of closets and the carpets are yucky (job #1 this weekend: steam clean carpets).
But the main point of this post is the other thing that suffers when I'm super busy: our meals. Greg's been having some health problems lately (not "going to die tomorrow" type but "you really should be doing this to prevent this" from the doctor) so I'm taking a closer look at what we eat.
Crap. Not literally but we don't eat as well as we should. It's better than it used to be (hot pockets, corn dogs, cinnamon rolls, etc) but it could be better. Like in the area of fruits and vegetables. I'd say I'm lucky if I eat one a day. That's so not good.
I've been working at buying fewer processed foods for quite a while. And switching up stuff like corn chips & salsa instead of potato chips & dip for snack. High fructose corn syrup is another thing I'm trying to get rid of and that's a pain because it's in everything. I finally found a decent ketchup without it (Safeway's Organic) but it's also in salad dressings, granola bars, and barbecue sauce to name a few. Most of the time I try to make my own spaghetti sauce and I guess it's time to start making my own granola bars too.
The goal for the next few weeks is to eat more fruits and vegetables and buy leaner ground beef. I'm so cheap, I hate to spend the extra money for that. We've always eaten chicken breasts so that's one down. I'm heard mixing ground turkey in with the beef helps reduce calorie/fat/cholesterol but ground turkey? Am I the only one who thinks it tastes like ground cardboard? I'm also trying to come up with a better breakfast option for the kids that doesn't involve neon colors and a pound of sugar. But it has to be quick and easy. While we've switched from white to "wheat" bread, it's still the store brand cheap stuff and probably only has brown coloring added to it. And I just checked the ingredient label, guess what also has high fructose corn syrup in it?
My new favorite website, Carmen at The ELFF Diet. If a mom of 6 can get her act together than so can I.
Why can't broccoli taste more like Thin Mints?
"You know you're from Indiana when you plan an orgy and an Euchre game breaks out."
(Sub-title: if you've never played Euchre before this is going to sound like a bunch of mumbo jumbo.)
Question for you, when you order your partner to pick up trump without saying you are going alone, are you expected to play the hand by yourself based on the fact that you ordered up your partner? I was playing with a couple of Canadians last night at hockey (I took Zach by myself! Heaven at a freezing ice rink) and that's the way they've always played.
Now see I've been playing Euchre for over 20 years. Although I think my last game was 5 years ago, how sad is that? And I've come across variations before (bid, high/low, stick the dealer, etc) but this was the first time I've heard that one. I've also played a lot of Euchre in my life time, namely 2 hours daily my entire senior year of high school, aka calculus and physics classes (long story). I aced college calculus and physics by the way so I must have learned something in high school... (I still have the deck of cards, ace through nine look like crap while eight through two are still in perfect condition.)
Back to last night's game, I won the hand alone with the ace, king, ten of trump and two ace off suits. I had ordered the right bower up to my partner and the left was buried (lucky me). Hockey practice ended before we finished but my team was up 7 to 4.
And funny, last night was the first time ever that I kinda sorta missed high school...
The Children of the Corn?
We went to a local pumpkin patch about a week ago and the weather was gorgeous. Although my kids couldn't decide if they should dress for winter or summer obviously.
Pumpkins were picked, we rode on hay bales in a wagon pulled by a tractor, goats were feed out of hand, and we brought home a gallon of apple cider. To Do List for Fall: check, check, check, check.
Course now the kids think we actually have to carve the pumpkins. What? I don't understand? Why would you cut up these lovely pumpkins?
Yeah I'm a wuss. But pumpkin guts and my kids with knives? Um, no?
He's kinda cute though.
I've been feeling rather bi-polar lately. You know, up and down, like an insane teeter-tooter on over drive. That's why if you call me on the phone after a "life sucks" blog post, you often get "oh everything's really fine, I over reacted" and then the next day I'm back to "life sucks."
The kids... Have.Been.Driving.Me.Insane. I don't know if the patience well has been completely drained or what but we're all having a hard time getting along most of the time. And often I'm so frustrated because I try to do something nice and then all they do is complain. It's what I call "I give them the moon and they whine they didn't get the stars as well" syndrome. It's so hard to make the extra effort to be nice if in the end all I get is grumpy kids no matter what I do. If I'm going to get the same complaints after taking them to the park and ordering pizza for dinner as I would locking them in their rooms and feeding them bread & water*, what's the point?
* (Actually have not locked them in the rooms with bread & water. Although it's very tempting.)
I'm just worn out. We've been having the same fights over and over. Why do they completely destroy the kitchen at every meal? Why do they drop their things everywhere? Why can't they do one thing when that's the only thing I've asked of them? (i.e. "Emily go brush your hair, we're leaving." She wanders off to get a book. "Emily, brush your hair." She starts putting on her shoes. "Emily! Why haven't you brushed your hair!?!?" "What Mom? Oh, I forgot.")
The worst part is I don't think there's an answer for this. How do I make this easier? Honestly for the first time in my life, I'm overwhelmed at having 5 children. I swear it's becoming harder. There are more outside influences, more demands, just more. It's no longer playing in our yard, it's "can we ride our bikes there? Can we invite so-and-so over? Can I play at her house?" It's not watching Blue Clues on Nick Jr., it's playing the Wii, the Gameboys, the computer, and watching "High School Musical." It's not one child in preschool and the others taking a nap at home, it's now four classrooms with one child in hockey, three in soccer, and three in scouts. And I have one more (Kelly) who will up all those numbers next year.
The worst part of being overwhelmed is that well, I'm overwhelmed. The little things get blown out of proportion. Emily didn't brush her hair when I asked, big deal. But when it's on top of us being late to hockey because Zach's goofing around on the computer and Kyle can't find his Gameboy and Ally's complaining she doesn't want to go and Kelly wants to change her clothes right now and the breakfast dishes are still on the table and I'm tripping over Zach's trombone after I asked him a dozen times to move it... It makes me want to not do anything. And then by not doing anything, the little things begin to become big things, the laundry basket overflows, the carpets become disgusting, stuff piles up. More overwhelming.
Can we hurry back to the "oh everything's really fine, I over reacted" part now?
4 of the 5 Halloween costumes are finished!
Em and Ally have a Halloween/Birthday party to attend tonight so I had to finish theirs early. Kyle's is very similar to Ally's (she's a black bat, he's a vampire bat) so I put his together as well. All I did was cut out the bottom sleeve seam and side seam of a T-shirt and then sewed them back together putting a black fleece wing shape between the layers. Em's a vampire and she wanted a purple velvet-like gown with a (store bought) black cape. I have no idea what the fascination is with bats and vampires this year...
Course I saved the trickiest costume for last. Zach wants to be a piece of pie. Apple pie to be exact. His has to be done by Tuesday (yet another Halloween party). I have the right colors of fleece, I have batting, I have wire, I have interfacing, I can figure this out. I hope...
(Kelly's wearing Emily's 2003 Tooth Fairy costume. I love that girl. hehe)
Woohoo, it's almost November! Which means lots of left over Halloween candy and writing a bunch of gibberish in an attempt to complete a 50,000 word novel in 30 days.
This is going to be a great NaNoWriMo experience. First unlike last year, we will be home all 30 days of November. And two, I have a laptop! (Still no picture, sorry Dad.)
My 6th NaNoWriMo experience... (I feel so old.) And as usual, I don't really have a plot or characters. I've been kicking around a Sci-Fi Romance idea but it may be too cliche even for a cheesy NaNoWriMo novel. My other options are, um... Where's that dang muse when you need her?
You can read more about my previous NaNoWriMo's at my Writing page, although I haven't updated it to include 2006. Hmmm... (To do list!) You can read Chapter 1 of last year's novel here if you want. Titles? What are those again? Oh and nothing is finished. I'm great at starting things and even do the "middles" pretty well but I have trouble wrapping up the endings. I'll get around to that when someone invents a 27 hour day.
You know I'm beginning to think life was easier when I had 3 kids under 2 years old all in diapers. Or the weekend when I had the flu and an abscess from a root canal both while Greg was out of town so I was home alone with 5 children under the age of 6. Can we go back to that period?
I thought it was getting better this week. It is the middle of October, things should be settling down right?
Girl Scouts... Dude, some people can not read. It's annoying. And also people really need to check their email more than once a month.
Ally had a major melt down at soccer practice over a bottle of water last night. The kicker is how she argued and screamed at me in front of all the other parents. Nice.
This room parent stuff at the school. Gah, I have 4 children there and yes I do like to be involved but are limits. So far for the Halloween party, I need to send out the item assignments to the parents for one class, make 24 cupcakes for another, and create 50 rice krispie treat eye balls for the 3rd. Mercifully I'm off the hook for the 4th class this time around.
Zach had an incident at school during recess yesterday. It's a long story that I won't go into but he wasn't at fault and he'll be okay. I spent more time than I would have liked on the phone, writing emails, and talking to various people at school today. It's been documented to my satisfaction so the school can handle the rest from here. For my own sanity, I need to let it go.
Plus there's Boy Scouts (camping trip in a week), hockey, more soccer, orthodontic appointments, 2 Girl Scout events (not including my house being taken over by cases of cookies), and no less than 3 Halloween parties in the next two weeks.
I thought if we got through September, it would all be good. Now I'm beginning to think the madness never ends. Along the same line, I've decided I'm no longer reading blogs with teenagers involved. I can't handle thinking about "what happens next." It might make my feeble brain explode.
I'm trying to fight my way through my To Do list. I'm almost done with yesterday's list. Which means it's 2:30pm on Tuesday and I haven't even started today's list. Actually I should say it's more of a Week To Do list because I didn't really write much in for Thursday and Friday. Yet...
Still only 1 of 5 Halloween costumes sewn. And the 1 doesn't really count since it's been done since 2003.
I totally missed my blogging anniversary. It was back on Oct 3rd. 4 years now. Maybe that's explains why I feel like I'm running out of things to say. And yet I'm still writing.
My dayplanner's quote today is "Dream the impossible dream" by Joe Darion. And that today is also Boss's Day. Hmmm...
Have a nice Tuesday!
I want to know what happened to my nice sweet little Kelly.
Friday she was awful at the knitting convention. Laying down in the middle of the aisle and refusing to move is something I'd expect out of a 2 year old, not an almost 5 year old.
Last night she threw a fit when I wouldn't let her look at the Halloween decorations at the store. And then she screamed about her booster seat position in the van. Stupid three rows of seats.
This morning she's mad and yelling because I won't replace the batteries in a toy and I won't go upstairs with her so she's not alone while she gets dressed. Quote: "It's the worstest day ever!"
It makes me want to sit at my computer desk and scream...
It's a good thing I don't buy yarn just to buy yarn. Because otherwise I could have spent serious money at the knitting convention in downtown Baltimore today. And then we would be eating ramen noodles and living in a cardboard box. But we would be warm in all that wool! Want to read more about what I did purchase? Pictures and story over at the Blue Kitty Designs blog.
Sorry I really don't have any more to say, I'm still basking in the afterglow of yarn shopping.
I think I may start wearing ear plugs to Girl Scout meetings. 14 3rd grade girls in one room for an hour can do serious auditory damage.
Tomorrow night, 8 4th grade Boy Scouts. While they aren't as loud, they are just as dangerous in other ways. At least the meeting isn't at my house.
Today, nothing. Praise Jesus.
(In random update news, I called around and found a different tire place that replaced the tire in one hour. Also still haven't found the treadmill key. And Greg's home. Halloween costumes aren't finished. I have a gazillion errands to run today. So you know, life as usual.)
146.8
Know the last time I weighed this much? I was a month away from giving birth to Kelly.
I haven't been eating well, have been drinking too much Mountain Dew and not water, and exercise, ha! Does walking from the computer desk/sewing machine to the laundry room half a dozen times a day count?
I feel chubby. I bought a pair of size 10 jeans the other day. At 5'3", I should not be in size 10 jeans. Blech.
So this morning, I decided I would run on the crappy (but free!) treadmill that doubles as a play toy for the children (yeah I know the safety concerns and I'm not that concerned). I set the alarm early this morning and actually got up! But then my sports bra barely fits. Extra weight means extra cleavage. To draw the eye down from the double chin and up from the muffin top obviously.
Next the angle the treadmill sits in the front room (classy!) and the extra short cord (like 1 foot, wtf?) meant I needed to find an extension cord. The garage light is burned out unless I open the garage door which is below the kids' rooms and I wasn't ready to wake them yet ("Mom! What are you doing? Mom! Can I run? Mom! Why are you wearing those funny shorts? Mom!"). I found a power strip in the linen closet instead (again, why?) that may or may not work because the red light isn't turning on. I then fruitlessly searched for the "key" to use the treadmill and I can't find it any where. The kids probably have it hidden away in their sock and pencil stash somewhere.
At this point it was time to get the kids up and ready for school so I haven't run yet. I'd go to the gym but I still don't have the new tire on the van yet (what happened to "by Monday?") and I don't want to drive on the spare more than necessary. Plus I figure all the useless running around the house trying to get the treadmill to work counts as exercise right?
Yeah maybe I should just cut the size 10 labels out of the jeans...
Emails are going to be the death of me.
And the crappiest part is I don't get paid for it. Okay so like maybe 1% I do but the Etsy shop has been slow recently. This volunteer stuff is for the birds!
I also thought it was worse to be on the receiving end of emails. You know like "oh another email from coach about Saturday's soccer game." But no, the worst part is to be sending the emails and then receiving all the responses back.
Last night I sent out two group emails about Girl Scouts. No big deal. And then I sent a group Boy Scout email. Three emails, easy peasy.
And then wham, this morning I had like 30 responses in my inbox. Plus room mom stuff (times 3, I haven't heard from Zach's class yet) with the upcoming Halloween party. Halloween? Crap, I still haven't made the costumes yet...
I'm to the point where I don't know whether I'm coming or going. In my inbox.
At least with Halloween coming up there's still a chance I'll be able to die the way I'd prefer. Death By Chocolate!
Is it bad to be exhausted an hour and a half after getting out of bed?
I kinda sorta ignored most of To Do list over the weekend (although I did get a lot of Girl Scout and BKD paperwork done) so I'm already behind today.
Greg's out of town again.
My usual babysitter is MIA for the month (something about a school play) so I'm scrambling for a replacement for this Wednesday (Girl Scout meeting) and another date later this month (Girl Scouts again, Greg's out of town again).
The tire on the van hasn't been replaced yet, the tire shop is the first call on my list.
I'm just really tired and a bit overwhelmed with the usual normal stuff at the moment. Funny how I thought I tried to relax yesterday and I feel worse today. Although I'm not sure if you could call 5 kids at home plus an out of town hockey game relaxing in the first place.
I've had my first accident in the Big Van.
katiefleck vs. Evil Storm Drain, Friday October 5th at 6pm EST
I lost.
See the big hole? *whimpers*
Stupid storm drain.
I was dropping the twins off at a play date and while backing into a parking spot on the street, I caught the rear passenger tire on a metal storm drain. I often bump lots of curbs with the van but this one is Evil. It put a huge hole in my tire!
I waved off help from the twin's friend's dad and proceeded to change the tire myself. Which by the way I've never done. But look, the GMC people are looking out for me:
I put on the parking break, loosened the lug nuts, placed the jack in the right place, lifted the van, and was about to remove the spare from underneath the van, all after refusing 2 offers for help from men driving by in SUV's, when a neighbor guy walked by and wouldn't take "no, I've got it" for an answer.
Okay so whatever, I've still never changed my own flat tire. But I totally could have.
Luckily the spare is *almost* a full sized tire so I was able to drive to the local tire store (2 miles) without worrying about damage to the van. Of course, big huge 12 passenger van tires are never in stock but they'll have one to put on by Monday.
Stupid storm drain. At least it wasn't a fire hydrant or a school bus, right?
Shall we discuss how I failed miserably with my 30 before 30 list?
Nah, I didn't think so. ;)
I'm going to take some of them and add them to the new 40 before 40 list. Course who knows if I'll be blogging in 10 years but it seems like a good plan.
A lot of the writing ones didn't get finished because Blue Kitty Designs kinda took over my life in April.
The trips... Instead of going to Canada, we went to Camp Jeep and are sending Greg back to school for his MBA. (The student loans for this are enough to send all of us around the world. Twice.) At one point Greg was considering a job in the Bay area so "seeing the Pacific Ocean" had potential to happen when I wrote it. Now? Not so much. (Anyone want to buy me a plane ticket, hire a nanny, and book a hotel room in San Diego for me?) The Smithson one and Ren Fest haven't happened because we are too darn busy to spare a weekend day. Maybe next year.
I haven't scrapbooked in forever so the picture/scrapbook ones didn't get done. Which really bums me out because I used to be a HUGE fan of the scrapbooking hobby. Now the most I do is throw my monthly Creating Keepsakes magazine (3 year subscription, oops) in a pile to be read later.
The rest... Well I'm suppose to get a pedicure next week (I have a gift card to my local salon, thanks Liz!). I forgot about the painting and caramel ones, I'm a weakling when it comes to push ups, and I just didn't put in the time effort to complete the others. Greg and I did go out on dates over the year but they either weren't terribly romantic (is fast food and a movie romantic?) or we forgot to kiss.
11 out of 30, that sucks. And no, I have not accepted being 30. I'm 29 years, 53 weeks and 2 days old. ;)
You know what I just noticed? In our three bathrooms, the toilet paper holders are all in completely different places. In the kids' bathroom it's on the wall opposite the toilet, in the master on the left, and in the half bath, on the right.
(Yeah I've got nothing today. I'm either in a creative slump or my family is boring. Only they really aren't, I'm just tired of talking about our busy schedule and the way the twins cry every morning before school.)
Look something shiny!
(I'll try harder to be entertaining tomorrow.)
Always the bridesmaid, never the bride.
Okay so there's the Halloween article and picture (I should know by the middle of the month where you can read it) and now I've contributed to Meagan Francis's new book Table for Eight
.Why is my own stuff not published?
Oh yeah, there is that small issue that I haven't tried. At all. (Note: add "get published" to To Do list)
Anyway I've already skimmed through the book and it's definitely a good resource for parents considering going from the average 2 children to many more. And one of the "mom wisdom" quotes about additional children is from me:
"The way I see it, what's one more? Especially when you're going from three to four or four to five kids. At that point the family already has the minivan, the baby stuff, and so forth. It's like planning a huge round the world vacation: you're already packed and out there to experience a once in a lifetime event, so why not stay another night and invite another friend?"Although I sometimes feel like I've lost my luggage and where's the room service?
Yay, October!
I really like the start of a new month or week. And today I get both!
On tap, errand running. I think I could be called a professional errand runner. (Wait, isn't that a concierge?)
Greg is home, yay! It's seriously nice to have someone else to yell at the kids for awhile. (Kidding! Sort of...)
I also have the official Halloween costume list for 2007. Zach: a piece of pie (apple specifically), Emily: vampire (vampiress?), Ally: black bat, Kyle: vampire bat, and Kelly: Tooth Fairy (Emily's costume from 2003) It's a no theme year, Em and Kyle just want to wear vampire teeth. I wouldn't doubt Ally becomes a "vampire bat" in the end too. So other than the piece of pie, this is a really easy costume sewing year for me. Plus one's already finished!
Off to drive all over creation now, watch out world!
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