Oi, I am sick. The only reason I'm awake and out of bed is because the moving/relocation guy was over at noon to take a quick inventory of the house (more on this later when I'm not going through a box of tissues every hour). I met him at the door and said I'm sick and then let him have the run of the house while I sneezed and yawned on the sofa. He looked like a nice enough guy so I haven't checked to see if my jewelry is still upstairs. (My laptop is here and that's all that matters...)
Also I am out of bed because I'm washing my sheets because Greg is coming home tonight and I don't want him to sleep on snotty/sweaty/cracker crumb sheets (Kelly and I ate crackers in bed yesterday.) Clean sheets is going to have to make up for the fact that the rest of the house is a disaster. I did apologize to the relocation guy for the mess and would have rescheduled the whole thing but I didn't have a phone number.
Am too tired to think of all the time I'm wasting being sick. I had to send emails out to all my BKD customers telling their orders won't ship for a few days, that was painful.
Okay going back to sleep now.
Borderline sick today here. I woke up in the middle of the night feverish with chills and a headache. I'm not feeling as bad at the moment (go immune system go!) so Kelly and I are off to the grocery store just in case I take a turn for the worse later (there's some serious flu bugs going around, ick) or if one of the other kids comes down with it. Too bad my local Safeway doesn't deliver on Wednesdays. Luckily it's not a difficult week to take it easy if I have to (ie. no scout meetings, no PTA/school stuff, etc). It's just a matter of keeping the house from falling down and the children fed. That should win me Poster Mom of the Month.
(Greg's in Florida through tomorrow.)
And with that I've used up my daily allowance of parenthesis.
Dude, seriously, why is the universe messing with me?
I kinda feel like I'm in some weird downward spiral.
Last night: all kinds of crazy. This morning: not so good either.
Yesterday after school, Kyle had a play date with A (his mom and I set it up over the phone last week). Which in the end was okay except I thought A's mom (there are three A's in Kyle's class) was named Amy and I showed up at the house and realized I don't remember ever meeting this woman before. Um... (He stayed for an hour, it was fine but I'm kinda freaked out by my whole lack of "knowing.")
So while Kyle was at A's house, we went to the craft store because we didn't go on Saturday and the kicker was I had even been there 4 hours earlier but they were restocking and didn't have the darn silver spacer beads I needed out yet. And since Zach had extra long hockey practice last night (2 1/2 hours), I thought I'd be nice and let the kids pick out a crafty thing to do. Note to self: this sounds like a good idea but never, ever is.
Dinner was creamy chicken noodle soup which ended up being left out over night and I had to throw it away this morning (and it's good leftover, drat).
At hockey practice, Zach's skates were too tight (he needs a bigger size but we have 2 games left, I want to wait until next season, god I'm an awful mother) and he hurt his ankle while putting them on. This all after he threw a hissy fit about putting his pads on at home instead of at the rink. He always puts his pads on at home and I don't know why he thinks it should be otherwise.
So while Zach was whining about his ankle, Kyle was going berserk over his new blendie pens. Okay so he can't read and was doing it all wrong but sheesh, his two older sisters were right there and could have helped. And then Ally somehow slipped a "paint" 3D sticker kit past me even though I said no paint. So she's getting paint everywhere and being completely oblivious to the stains on the table and all over her coat (which took me two cycles through the washer to get out). I threw the whole mess away and she pouted the rest of practice which was thankfully over a bit quicker than it was suppose to be because Zach came off the ice dramatically limping because of his hurt ankle. And then after all his pads were off and we were leaving, he ran to the van outside. *sigh* It was bedtime when we got home much to the dismay of Emily who "hadn't done her important stuff for her WebKinz yet that day."
This morning I'll admit I woke up on the wrong side of the bed. Ally and Em were both having one of their "dazed" mornings where they wander around doing stupid stuff while not getting ready for school. Kyle didn't want to go to school (common theme) and I yelled a lot to get him out the door. I feel bad now. And also both my laptop and desktop computer do not want connect to the wireless router (they worked last night, wtf?) so I'm on Greg's which is hardwired into the connection. I'm resetting everything after I post this and wishing life had a reset button.
Kelly's currently throwing a fit because I won't carry her somewhere. Okay so maybe Greg is right, she's 5 years old and needs to quit with the baby act already.
Tomorrow will be a better day. (Repeat as necessary. And add some vodka.)
I've hit the snag of moving to Indiana:
Telling everyone (Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, hockey, soccer, neighbors, random people at school and church) we're leaving.
I didn't have this problem when we left Ohio a few years ago. We even lived there for almost 5 years. But Zach and the twins had just finished first grade and kindergarten respectively and I'm not exactly the type to have a million and two local friends on speed dial.
This is hard. The conflicting emotions are tough because I'm so excited to be moving to Indiana and then people are sad to see us go. Greg said it well, it takes a few years to be comfortable in an area and start to make new friends. We've just hit that mark and now we're leaving. (I feel for military families big time right now.)
I'm kinda bummed by the things we won't be doing. We won't be 3 hours from the ocean or New York City or on a bad traffic day, Washington DC. We're not going to Girl Scout day camp again and will be missing the family Webelo camping trip in July. Zach won't be moving on to peewee level with his hockey friends in the fall. The kids won't see the finished renovations of the school (they've been working on it since we moved here and will be done this summer). Even sadder, Kelly will never attend that school. Kindergarten registration is next week and we won't be signing up. I love, love this school and it makes me a bit misty eyed to be leaving. This is the time of year when everyone is making plans for the summer and next fall and we won't be doing any of that here.
I keep reminding myself of the great things: family and friends close by again, a new house, more reasonable cost of living, a cat and dog (that's all it took for Kelly to be won over). But I can now see why the kids' first reaction was sadness instead of excitement like mine was. I'm beginning to realize that even though I've always really wanted to move back, it means giving up everything I've grown to like about living here.
Bleh, I hate being wishy washy.
My kids won 3 of the 4 door prizes at the Cub Scout Blue & Gold Dinner today.
*am so embarrassed*
What is wrong with people today? (Specifically the people in my house.)
Even Greg was grumpy this morning as he rolled out of bed at 11am.
So far the kids been banned from the computer because I'm tired of hearing "it's my turn" and "she's been on for 30 minutes" and "I said I was after him!"
Now 3 of them are in their rooms for fighting outside. There's nothing I love more than my children kicking and screaming at each other in the middle of the yard for the whole neighborhood to hear.
They also complained about lunch. How can you complain about chicken nuggets, french fries, and fruit?
I had 3 errands to run today. I only finished 2 (post office and grocery store) and gave up on a trip to the craft store after the children's terrible behavior during the first two places. (Greg's at a hockey game with Zach at the moment). Oh shit, it was suppose to be 4 errands. I need to pick up Greg's dry cleaning but the kids distracted me and I forgot. Great... I really don't want to let them within ten feet of each other at the moment and now I need them to all get back into the van.
Seriously I'm trying to be in a good mood and all but it's really hard when everyone around you just wants to complain and fight. At this rate, they'll be going to bed at 4pm with bread and water for dinner.
Usually we don't have this many problems, what's the deal and how can I get everyone out of it? Cause if I need to go skip around the house backwards chatting the alphabet in Latin to improve every one's mood, let me go put my running shoes on.
Woot, no school!
(I'm excited because I still haven't sewn the other 13 skirts for tonight's now canceled Thinking Day event. lol)
Happy Friday!
See this is how I know it's time to move back to some place that knows how to deal with winter weather. I'm so used to the "oh no, white stuff falling from the sky, cancel everything!" attitude that now I'm mentally canceling things based on a forecast.
Do you remember my ill-fated Girl Scout Animal Shelter tour? This story goes a bit like that...
So as a Girl Scout leader, I'm suppose to attend one monthly meeting (technically as the Cub Scout Pack leader I am too but that's never happened). This month they moved it to same time as my troop's Brownie meeting. Crap. So I moved my Brownie meetings (normally 2nd and 4th Wednesdays, I switched to 1st and 3rd). And then due to something (the threat of water falling from the sky?) it was canceled and moved to the 3rd Wednesday of the month or last night. During my Brownie meeting that I had moved because of the original conflict.
Okay so whatever, I changed the Brownie meeting time to earlier in the evening so I could attend the leader meeting afterwards. Do you see where this is going? The leader meeting was canceled again due to the dusting of snow we received yesterday afternoon. ARGH! Twice I rescheduled because of this stupid meeting and it keeps being canceled anyways!
But back to my first statement above... Tomorrow there's a 90% chance of ice. And another Girl Scout event (Thinking Day!) and I'd bet you $50 it doesn't happen. Which would be good because I only have one of 14 skirts sewn and no babysitter for Zach, Kyle, and Kelly... (Greg's out of town for the day, he also has the knack of making my scheduling as difficult as possible. lol)
"Back home again in Indiana, and it seems that I can see..."
Okay I forgot the rest of the lyrics but I'm sure it's something about the schools being in session and life going on as normal during the winter. Is it June yet?
If there's one thing to know about me, it's that I don't like pain.
Seriously I was ready for the epidural at 8 months pregnant every time.
This morning I woke up with the worst cramps I've had since... I don't know, a very very long time.
I took 3 Aleve.* And then passed out curled up on the couch for a few hours.
When I woke up again, the pain was thankfully gone, 3 of the kids were at school (thanks Greg! Or at least, I hope that's where they are), Kelly was watching Play House Disney, and Zach was home. Zach came home early from school yesterday with a fever and he's still feeling yucky today. Either that or Greg kept him home to keep an eye on me.
I'm now 3 hours behind on everything I was suppose to do today. I also found out that you really aren't suppose to take 3 Aleve at one time. And also the Doodlebops is the most annoying show ever. But I love Charlie and Lola. "I have this little sister Lola. She is small. And very funny." Is there some class I can sign the kids up for that will teach them cute British accents? Although who has time for another activity around here? (You don't want my schedule this week, you just don't.)
Right, I need to go clean now. And sew. And run some errands. And prep a Girl Scout meeting (tonight at my house, I'm a sucker for punishment). And probably a shower would be a good idea.
"Hey Lola!" "But, Charlie..."
* If this post doesn't make any sense (and it probably doesn't), I blame the pain meds.
Do.No.Want.To.Work.Today.
Any one want to go to the post office, bank, plan a Girl Scout meeting, sew 14 skirts, sew 4 BKD orders, drop off Box Tops at the school, pick up a pyrex dish from the school, wash and fold 6 loads of laundry, clean the house, and make dinner for me?
(Actually there's another eleven more random things on my To Do list too. Blah...)
Quote of the Day: "Anyone can do any amount of work, provided it isn't the work he is supposed to be doing at that moment." -Robert Benchley
You better be sitting down for this one. Wait, who works at a computer standing up in the first place?
We're moving to Indiana!
*does the Snoopy happy dance*
(Maryland, no offense, you've been fun, but we're moving to Indiana! Woohoo!)
I'm so excited! My inner monologue for the last week has been something like "OMG, Indiana, weee! I'm so excited, I can't wait, Indiana, OMG, weeee!"
Before you think I'm a complete dork about wanting to move to Indiana, let me mention that we will be 3 hours or less drive from all of our close friends and family instead of 8 to 12 hours. And have you seen housing prices in Indiana (specifically north of Indianapolis) compared to those in Maryland? I kinda feel like I'm stealing...
Oh right, why? Greg took a different position with the same company that will need him to be centrally located in the Midwest. Indianapolis isn't call the "Crossroads of America" for nothing. Indiana, yay!
The kids are okay with the move. Zach was the most upset at first because he's made some really good friends over the last 3 years. The twins weren't bothered too much and I have a theory that since they are twins, they always have a built in best friend and changes like this aren't going to affect them as much. Kyle and Kelly are excited about a new house and being closer to their grandparents.
Oh and when? Probably June. We're waiting on the relocation package from work, our current lease is up July 1st (we've been renting in Maryland by the way, which is awesome because no house to sell on this end), and the kids get out of school mid-June. I kinda wish it was sooner because June seems so far away. And as I've already proven on the move out here, 2 weeks is plenty of time to pack up the entire house.
One more thing before I go. While playing an online game, Zach told one of his friends we were moving to Indiana. That friend told another friend and the second friend called to ask Zach about the move. Turns out the first friend said we were moving to India. Which given the high international population around here, more people probably do move to India over Indiana. I do hear the weather is nice in India...
We're back!
Actually we were home last night at 6pm. (Or 5:58 van time exactly.)
The tournament hosts ended up bouncing around the game times which changed one to 6:40am for us. I did not sign up for a 6:40am game! The original times were 5 something Friday night and then 10 something am and 5 something pm on Saturday. Hence the need for the Saturday night hotel stay. Instead we played at 5:40pm on Friday, 6:40am (!) and 10:50am on Saturday.
And they lost. Every game.
So we weren't moving on to the Sunday playoffs and had no real reason to stay. Although the beach and Atlantic ocean were minutes away... But since Greg wasn't with us, it didn't seem fair to get all sandy without him to complain about it. And also I didn't want to pay an additional $150 to fuss with the kids in a hotel room another night. We had 3 double beds and Friday's night sleeping arrangement somehow ended up with Zach alone on the sleeper sofa, Emily on the floor on sofa cushions, Ally alone in the second bed, and me with Kelly and Kyle in the other. What the...
So we're home (where I slept in our California king alone, lol). The kids are off school tomorrow. They skipped school on Friday so we could drive to Virginia and also had Tuesday and Wednesday off last week. I may be reaching my threshold of how much family togetherness I can handle without another adult present.
Because I love my kids and am a supportive mom.
Or I'm crazy.
Whichever.
Today the kids and I are going to Virginia for the weekend to a hockey tournament for Zach. Note: the kids and I. Greg will also be in Virginia but at his MBA program in a different part of the state. The kids and I will be staying at a hotel for two nights and attending a minimum of three games. It could be more but as much as I love and cheer for my son's hockey team, unless the other teams end up with food poisoning or something, I don't see Zach's team making it past the first elimination game. You know, there are some benefits to being a losing team.
So... A five hour drive, one way. Three days, two nights. A hotel room and a hockey rink. Five kids. Someone do the math, how many bottles of vodka do I need to bring with me?
Also I have a big announcement to make on Monday, stay tuned!
Happy Valentine's Day!
I was at the grocery store* this morning and in front of me in line were two guys buying flowers, cards, and balloons. Behind me in line, three guys buying flowers. In the lane beside me, two more guys buying flowers and balloons.
Sorry guys, I just told the whole internet that you didn't plan ahead. Although I suppose grocery store flowers are better than gas station teddy bears...
(Greg's already given me a lovely boxed tower of chocolate and chocolate scented spa stuff. The funny part? I gave up chocolate for Lent.)
*Because when I ran cupcakes and apple slices to various class rooms at the school for parties, Kyle's class was short 2 boxes of juice so I offered to buy some and bring them back.
Ice day!
I'm so glad Zach knows how to look up school closings so I could sleep in this morning.
The only thing is that I was planning to go grocery shopping today. Monday I was running other errands, yesterday the kids were home, and now today we're out of food (well the type anyone will eat), and the kids are home again with ice on the roads to top it all off. Hmph. I'm afraid to wait until tomorrow because we'll probably have a worse natural disaster. Or more to the point, I don't want to listen to the kids whine all day that they are starving and there's nothing to eat. We have bread and water, what more do they need?
Although I am out of Mountain Dew.
"Kids! Get your shoes and coats on!"
There, I've done my civic duty for the day. As well as kept the kids off the streets (it's too cold) and off drugs (I'm too cheap). I'm doing an awesome job. lol
Watched the sun rise at the hockey rink this morning.
Wishing I could go back to bed now...
Is it summer yet?
Ally just found Jesus Christ on the Wii (it only took us 7 months to hook it up to the wireless connection).
Oh the kids are home from school. I'm not sure what today's reason is (it was scheduled). They will also be home next Tuesday (Maryland primaries) and the following Monday (President's Day). I'm pretty sure they never go a full week of school for the rest of the year.
I should be sewing for Blue Kitty Designs but after last week's order of 50 DPN wallets, I'm so not in the mood to sew. (The order's sewing process blogged with pictures here.) Which is bad because people keep buying stuff. (Why yes, I am complaining about being successful. I'm annoying like that.)
Is it summer yet?
I'm having one of those "all over the map" type of days. Usually I like to focus on one thing per day. Monday: groceries. Tuesday: BKD. Wednesday: Scouts. Thursday: clean house. And so on. Today I've gone grocery shopping, sewed and mailed Blue Kitty Design orders, prepared for a Brownie meeting, attended parent/teacher conferences, bought books with the kids at the school's book fair, and bought Valentine's Day cards with the kids. I still need to do laundry, prepare a bunch of BKD paperwork for the accountant, sew more pieces, and sign Zach up for soccer.
Tomorrow I think I'm going to focus on playing Guitar Hero with the kids. (I'm getting pretty good at the medium level. Woot!)
Busy, busy here.
Kelly and I just dropped off Greg's sister and brother at the airport (miss you already!) and returned home to a phone call from the school that Kyle's eyes were red. Hmmm... He has this weird thing where his eyes occasionally turn red if he sits at a computer too long and they did have "media" (library/computer lab) today. He was also running a fever on Sunday (he stayed home from school yesterday) but seemed fine this morning. Actually he still seems fine except for the redness. The nurse suggested a warm washcloth over his eyes and I'm going to check with the ped just in case it's conjunctivitis. He's home now and Kelly's bossing him around already. Poor kiddo. lol
Do you know what is funnier than the twins playing Dance Dance Revolution together? 4 kids playing Rock Band together (Kelly dances).
(We have a great weekend. Except for the last two minutes of the Super Bowl when the DVR cable box did something screwy and lost them. We weren't watching it live and all of a sudden the Giants were celebrating on the field. Oh well. Go Giants!)
I love how the county school system senses I need the kids out of the house so I can clean and maybe stay sane (because day 6 of Greg being gone is beginning to wear on me) and calls a 2 hour delay. Because of rain*.
I'm freaking going to track down every county school system employee and punch them in the face.
* Yeah I get that if it was 5 degrees colder it might have been snow but dude, it's snow, not the apocalypse. And when I'm pissed, I seem to talk in italics. ARGH!!!
Oh and speaking of Greg, it's his birthday! I would kinda feel bad that it seems like an after thought on this post but it's not really. All the rain is making me slightly crazy.
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