Ramblings of a SAHM

2008-05-12T11:27:00.002-04:00

Cleaning, cleaning, cleaning...

Even though we're renting and don't have to sell this house (woot!), I'm spending today (and maybe tomorrow) deep cleaning. The house will be listed through a realtor tomorrow and so technically showings could start as early as noon. It's not that I'm trying to be nice to the landlord by having the house spic and span (well a little bit nice). If it rents quickly, we may get out of the lease a bit early (i.e. money back). And there's always the deposit to worry about.

So far I've steam cleaned all the carpets and next up are washing the walls, scrubbing the basement floor, and cleaning the bathrooms thoroughly. Time permitting (or energy), I need to straighten a few closets and the pantry.

But first I have to run to the store for sponges because the kids used them all about a week ago (long and not very interesting story) and my last one is kinda gross and won't work for "cleaning" walls. Maybe I'll buy myself a pair of glass slippers too while I'm at it.

2008-05-11T11:25:00.001-04:00

Happy Mom's Day! Hope you have a great one!

2008-05-09T09:03:00.006-04:00

Here we go again with the weight loss thing...

I know. Who wants to listen to anyone complain about 10 15 20 pounds? Wow, 20 pounds? Ouch.

Anyway the scale has been reading 15... One fif... I can't even say it. One forty-nine-ish recently and that is way too much for me at 5 foot 3 inches. Plus all my summer clothes? Do.Not.Fit. Thanks winter clothes for being roomier and hiding my butt and love handles better. *grumble*

Oh and the kicker? My best friend informed me that she now weighs less than me. Like a lot less. If that's not motivation, I don't know what is.

So I plan start the Friday weigh-ins again since they worked so well last time around. Why the weight gain back? Well I stopped going to the gym and kept drinking too much Mountain Dew. And possibly eating too much fast food. Which is crazy because I hate fast food, why am I wasting precious calories on junk? Oh yeah, "fast" and it doesn't involve me cooking. So basically I'm lazy. Which is funny because most people think I'm anything but lazy. Let's go with "makes poor food and exercise choices".

See that's the real issue. I'm not really lazy, in fact I'm pretty darn busy. So what's easier and faster? A chicken sandwich from Burger King (time spent: 3 minutes) or making it myself (if fresh chicken is on hand, at least 10 minutes cooking time and usually they are frozen in my house so add in thaw time, then putting it all together equals another 2 minutes, cutting tomatoes and washing lettuce, etc) Also there's the "eating time". Eating a fast food meal can be done while driving to soccer/hockey/scouts/errands (which works out to like zero time spent) while sitting at home eating a salad takes hours in comparison.

So yeah if I'm worried about 10 minutes eating time, you can imagine how I'm going to fit any exercising into my day.

Time and planning ahead is going to be key in this diet success. I know what to eat, what to avoid, how to exercise, etc. It's just going to be finding the time to make the correct choices and get in some work out time.

The goal? To be 135 by the time we move to Indiana. The move date is set for June 14th so that gives me 5 weeks to lose about 14 pounds. (Ack, 5 weeks?) We'll just ignore the fact that it took me like 3 months to lose 10 pounds last time. Oh and the last 5 to 130 I'll deal with later, 19 pounds in 5 weeks is just insane.

This will work because I am motivated to fit back into my summer clothes and all my new neighbors know me as skinny Katie, not "slightly chubby, who does she think she is trying to squeeze into size 6 clothes?" Katie. I know I can do this especially since I'm making the ultimate sacrifice: No More Mountain Dew. I'll be asleep every night at 9pm but if less calories is what it takes, that's what I'm going to do. I also plan to start good work out habits the second we move to Indiana. Again with the vanity, we have a nearby community pool and bathing suit season will keep me on track for at least 3 months.

Oh and Steph? You're going down! *winks*

(Today's weight: 148.6 *sigh*)

2008-05-08T08:35:00.000-04:00

There's nothing quite like being woken up to someone puking in your bed.

Good morning to you too, Kelly.

So since I had to wash my sheets at 5am, I was kinda up for the morning. The good news is I used that time to catch up on all my sewing for the day. Yay, caught up! The bad news is (besides Kelly being sick of course) I need a nap.

And I'm not so much looking forward to the Boy Scout meeting we're hosting tonight at 7pm. Luckily Zach planned the meeting for me out of one of his Boy's Life magazines, I just need to buy supplies (poor Kelly.) Oh and the time Greg's flight lands tonight? 8:45pm. It's a talent, I swear.

2008-05-06T11:25:00.002-04:00

What happens when Greg takes Kyle to get his hair cut:

I don't know who to blame for the crazy teeth.

2008-05-05T09:29:00.000-04:00

9 pizzas, 5 orders of bread sticks, 6 dozen donuts, 3 gallons of lemonade, 2 bags of Swedish Fish, 4 dozen sugar cookies and cupcakes (2 each) with 3 containers of frosting later, we survived the sleepovers. Oh and let's not forget the 36 smores made at Girl Scout Cooking Day. Somehow I lost 2 pounds over the weekend. Hey I didn't say I ate any of this stuff...

While we're still on the subject of sleepovers, how many times have you had everyone RVSP and actually attend something? I only accept about a quarter of the invites to kid's parties (most of the time because the kid invites the entire grade and my child doesn't know him/her that well anyways. Oh and I'm cheap and don't want to spend $100+ a month on gifts to kids we don't know) so I figured maybe half to three-quarters would show up this weekend. Every single kid came. That would be 11 boys (don't ask me how this got out of control, I obviously can't count) and 8 girls. Those numbers do not include any of my 5. To say it was slightly insane at sometimes would be an understatement.

But everyone is happy and it's over and I can look forward to a relatively stress-free month. All I have left is 3 Girls Scout meetings, 4 Cub Scout things, 2 hockey skate sessions, and a handful of soccer practices and games. I'm back to ignoring the whole packing/cleaning of the house in June by the way.

Oh did I mention that all my kids are home from school today with the stomach flu? Kelly's actually fine at the moment but Kyle threw up yesterday, Emily last night, and Zach and Ally look a little green this morning. I wonder if I should mention this to the 17 sets of parents (we had two pairs of twins) who were here over the weekend. Nah, they'll find out soon enough...

2008-05-02T09:03:00.002-04:00

Okay so after Greg and my sister Sarah spent 4 hours at the book store for me (yay!), Greg went and missed his flight home last night because his rental car ran out of gas half way to the airport. Oops. (He'll be home today. I hope.)

Yesterday Zach forgot his lunch at home. Oops.

Today Emily forgot her lunch at home. Oops.

And I sorta misplaced the checkbook which makes bill paying kinda hard. (It's around here somewhere...) Oops.

What was your latest "oops"?

2008-05-01T14:38:00.006-04:00

OMG! (And you have to say it "O!" "M!" "G!" like my girls do).

Scroll down until you see someone familiar. (Hint: he's wearing yellow.)

http://www.yarnharlot.ca/blog/archives/2008/05/01/indianapolis.html

Okay for you non-knitters, Stephanie Pearl-McPhee (aka "The Yarn Harlot") is a superstar writer in the knitting world. She's written at least 5 very hilarious and informative knitting books (with another and a calendar on the way). Long story short, I was being all pouty the other day because her April 29th stop on her current book tour was 5 minutes away... From the Indiana house. And I'm in Maryland. Still...

But wow! Greg is so getting the biggest hug ever! And I guess I should go clean up the house a bit more (he'll be home tonight around 8.)

2008-05-01T08:35:00.004-04:00

If I don't flip my calendars to May, it can still be April, right?

(Oooo! On the same note if I skip ahead to the June page, can it be time to move already?)

See I have these lists of things to do... And yesterday (and part of Tuesday for that matter) I felt awful and didn't get some stuff done. And then random other things get thrown at me like "oh your daughter needs her vision tested!" And "you can get Zach's new skates heat molded and sharpened after school." Which ended up taking 2 hours and 15 minutes with driving time (I had figured an hour tops) and we missed the twin's soccer practice. That wasn't a terribly bad thing (the soccer practice part, the hour and a half at the ice rink sucked) because Emily has been misbehaving during soccer practice and Ally was having one meltdown after another yesterday. So they both went to bed at 7:30. I may start doing that every night because this morning Emily had cleaned the kitchen (my migraine-ish headache kept me from straightening up last night) and Ally was ready to go to school a full 10 minutes early unlike most mornings when I'm shoving them out the door to run after the bus.

Where was I? Oh the lists... Not getting done... For some reason I have a warped sense of time and can't figure out how long things take to actually do them. (This is Greg shaking his head so hard in agreement that there's been another earthquake in the Indianapolis area.) In the measly 3 days Greg is gone this week, I had planned to clean the carpets, wash the walls, scrub the basement floor, and repair two kitchen chairs. Which that's all (probably) possible to do if I didn't have 5 children to feed and clothe and help with homework, a massive headache and cold, 2 Girl Scout events to put together and do, and keep up with my Etsy shop. (Which I'm actually a bit behind on in orders, so sorry lovely customers!)

Right I know, I'm only one person but it just all seems theoretically possible so why can't I do it? My head is starting to hurt again thinking about it all. Can I say here that I'm not cleaning the carpets, washing walls, scrubbing the basement floor, and repairing kitchen chairs today? I think I can get that all done tomorrow...

2008-04-30T08:44:00.000-04:00

Crap, I'm sick (sinus pressure, mild earache, sore throat). I wish I could put off being sick until Monday. You know, like rescheduling a dentist appointment.

"Yes, two scout events, two sleepovers, and soccer stuff has come up, I can't be sick right now. Next Monday is wide open, let's do it then. Thanks!"

While I have you here, anyone have any good ideas for inexpensive easy craft projects for the girls (9 years old, approximately 10 of them) to do during the sleepover? I'd recycle some Girl Scout projects except four of the girls are in my Brownie troop already.

Oh shoot, I just remembered we're hosting next week's Boy Scout meeting. Um, can we reschedule the sick day for sometime in 2020?

2008-04-29T09:14:00.001-04:00

Have I mentioned that I'm ready for it to be summer and for us to live in Indiana already? Oh like a million times? But seriously I'm ready for it to be summer and live in Indiana already.

There are these slightly annoying loose ends to tie up here. Like getting my Brownies bridged to Junior Girl Scouts. And passing along all the troop information to the three new leaders. Yes, three people are taking over the position I did alone. I'm not sure what to think about that...

And these sleepovers this weekend. We had promised the twins a big sleepover with lots of friends for their 10th birthday (Zach had one). Except their 10th birthday will now be in Indiana and as crazy as some people are in Maryland when it comes to money, I don't think most of them would be willing to fly or drive out in December. And Zach's... Well I remember sleeping over at a friend's house all the time in 4th grade so this is just the age it starts. And I'm carrying around a wee bit of guilt that the kids are losing all their friends of 3 years.

So I need to get through this weekend and the rest of May and then survive all the school's field days and field trips and picnics (times 3) and a week of no furniture and I'll be in Indiana. Where the streets are paved with corn and basketball hoops and friends and family will swing by Mayberry style and life will be great.

(I'm totally ignoring the part where we're starting over with schools, doctors, sports, neighbors, shopping, scouts, etc and I'll have to make phone calls to set up cable, electricity, gas, etc. Denial is a wonderful place, won't you join me? I'm serving Skyline dip and Donatos pizza.)

Is it summer yet?

2008-04-28T09:40:00.002-04:00

Monday Morning, Bullet Style

I dreamed of washing machines last night. (We're buying new when we move.)
The school bus didn't show this morning. Oh well, the school's not far so it's not a big deal although my tea was cold when Kelly and I returned.
I took 6 garbage bags to the dump and donated 2 bags of clothes and several boxes of toys to Goodwill. I kicked butt in the kids' closets over the weekend and they are ready for summer. So of course, it's 50 degrees (10 C) and raining today.
I'm not ready for May. This weekend we're hosting two sleepovers, have two soccer games, one Girl Scout event, and it's the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival. I'm bummed because I know that me going to the festival is going to get bumped from the schedule...
The stuff with the house is moving along well. Greg's going through it tomorrow with an inspector. Move-in date looks to be June 14 and 15th. I'm excited but also grumpy because that seems sooooo far away. Although with the moving company (assigned by the relocation program), the kids and I are going to be without furniture here in Maryland for at least 5 days. Hmph.
We're out of groceries again. Yesterday morning I ran to the store for
breakfast stuff and grabbed 4 oranges and a bunch of bananas. This morning we have 1 orange left (and only because I refused to peel it for someone). And no milk (had one and a half gallons yesterday). Or bread. (We didn't have sandwiches or toast yesterday so I guess it evaporated.) I know it's only going to get worse as the kids get older, it just kills me how quickly a fully stocked fridge and pantry disappears.

Alright I've only finished 1 item on today's To Do List so far (take out the trash) so I better get moving... Have a lovely Monday!

2008-04-25T08:45:00.000-04:00

I'm fighting that slightly sick feeling in the back of my throat. Can.Not.Get.Sick.

You may have noticed my lack of whiny allergy posts this month. I finally wised up and found some prescription allergy medicine that seems to work well for me. It's a nasal spray (I'm too lazy to go check the label) and usually I hate nasal sprays. But being able to breath without the alternating snotty and runny nose is making me like nasal sprays a little bit more. I still have the itchy eyes occasionally so I'm not wearing my contacts as often.

And that's about enough of my belly button gazing for today.

Update on the Toy Room/Basement: I hauled 5 large trash bags of junk out and boxed up all the Fisher Price Little People, Hot Wheels, My Little Pony (the twin's, Kelly was never a big fan), Barbies (although I will probably go back and pull out Kelly's favorite two), and Thomas the Tank Engine stuff for donation. Although the Thomas stuff is barely used, a few years ago Kyle slightly liked it and was gifted several sets which he played with once or twice. The lot may go on eBay (if I can deal with the fees). I still need to go through the books and stuffed animals (the ban of my existence *sigh*).

What's left? Lincoln Logs (Kyle's), My Littlest Pet Shop (Kelly's), Legos, and some Fisher Price Dinosaurs (Kyle's). Plus the books, stuffed animals, American Girl dolls, crafty stuff, and some big things like the air hockey table, the Wii, and PS2 (with DDR, Rock Band, and Guitar Hero). And we're keeping all the outdoor stuff. Like I said, we're really getting past the toy age. Technically Kelly's still in the "toy age" but being the youngest, she wants to keep up with the older kids and would rather play WebKinz than Strawberry Shortcake. I'd probably be more bothered by this (another stage passing us by *sniff, sob*) but the "less stuff" part won me over pretty easily. I'm totally in the "Less is More" camp. Except when it comes to chocolate.

2008-04-24T08:54:00.002-04:00

Today is "Take Your Child to Work Day."

Which means all my kids are home from school.

I knew there was a catch to being a stay at home mom.

Greg's actually here too and since switching positions at his company, he works from home when not traveling. I guess I can tell the kids to go stand around his desk in our bedroom today? That might make his conference calls on speaker phone a bit tricky.

When is "Give Mom a Break from the Insanity of Her Life Day" again?

2008-04-22T07:55:00.002-04:00

I'm ready to be back in Indiana.

I'm ready to be in the new house (close date is the end of May if all the repairs are completed according to the addendum). I'm ready to have my own craft room. I'm ready for a new washer and dryer. I'm ready to garden again. I'm ready for my van to fit in the garage (the door is too short here). I'm ready to have a kitten (yay!). I'm ready to hear soft drinks called "pop" instead of "soda." I'm ready for earthquakes (okay maybe not so much there). I'm ready to watch the Office with my sister and scrapbook with friends. I'm ready to eat Skyline and Donatos (although the Indy area really need a Graeters. Or then again maybe my waist line isn't ready for all three). I'm ready to have cook outs with friends all summer long (especially if Jason grills, lol). I'm ready for the dominant sport to be basketball instead of lacrosse. I'm ready to paint walls. I'm ready for my kids to be so close to their grandparents again (saved the best for last, right?).

I don't think anyone in the history of the United States has ever wanted to move to Indiana as badly as I do right now. June can not get here soon enough!

2008-04-21T09:21:00.000-04:00

Some random Monday updates:

I purchased the Katie Fleck Designs domain this morning. Thanks for all the advice (and votes)! I'm kinda kicking myself for not just going with this in the first place. I suppose I was trying to keep the shop and my personal website a little bit more separate. Why, I'm not sure...

Kate the guinea pig died yesterday. She was my favorite too. Thursday when I changed her litter she was fine and then Saturday morning she wasn't doing so well (breathing funny, trouble with stools). Of course the small animals vet's office wasn't open again until Monday morning. RIP Kate, you were a good guinea pig.

This is going to be one of my busy weeks so if I don't post a lot, don't worry. Tonight is a PTA thing, tomorrow is hockey and scouts, Wednesday is soccer and scouts, Thursday is hockey and scouts, and Friday Zach's going to a sleepover. Although the activities really only affect the 5 to 8pm time slots, I technically still have the rest of the day as usual. It just must be a mental thing. And Greg will be somewhere in the Midwest again all week, tonight Indianapolis, after that I don't know. I'm not sure he knows...

Have a happy Monday!

2008-04-20T08:51:00.002-04:00

I'm having a bit of an identity crisis.

Greg's been doing some informal market research for me with random knitters he meets along his travels and the name "Blue Kitty Designs" isn't as popular as I would like. So I'm thinking about changing it. (I know! Me change anything? See the crisis?)

I should mention that I am terrible as naming things, poor Kelly didn't have a name for at least 18 hours after she was born. Our cat was named Kitty. All my random books that I write? No titles. It's mental block of some sort. I'm so jealous of all the genius yarn/knitting shop titles out there but the catch is since I don't actual sell yarn, I don't necessarily want "knit" in the name. Blue Kitty Designs came about because my favorite color is blue and I like cats. (Actually Blue Cat is taken, it's a web design company.)

The easiest would be to switch to Katie Fleck Designs. As I keep track of blogs and forum comments about my items, more than 75% of them refer to my shop as "katiefleck" anyways.

I kinda need to decide on this soon. When we move, I'll have to reform the business in Indiana (legal papers and so forth) and also start a new bank account (because Indiana isn't part of America. By which I mean Bank of America isn't in the Indianapolis area, go figure). I'm about to reorder my sew-in labels and I don't want 500 "Blue Kitty Designs" ones if the name isn't working for me. And I'm going to be a vendor at Stitches Midwest so I need to get my act together before I go that public.

What do you think? Poll time! If you select other, please leave a comment with the name you like. Help please!

2008-04-18T10:10:00.003-04:00

I thought I was moving to Indiana, not California.

(see Magnitude 5.4 earthquake centered on Illinois/Indiana border)

So far my mom, Greg (in St. Louis at the moment), Sarah,and Steph have checked in that they are fine. Dude, earthquakes in Indiana? Next you are going to be telling me there's hurricanes there too.

2008-04-18T09:32:00.000-04:00

What do you mean it's Friday? And the middle of April? I swear it was just the beginning of March the other day.

< insert other cliche phrases about not knowing whether I'm coming or going >

Seriously it's about all I can do to wrap my head around one thing (BKD, scouts, house stuff) and then all of a sudden it's 3:30pm and the kids are home and needing to go to soccer, hockey, or scouts. And eating everything that isn't nailed down. Yesterday I went grocery shopping and this morning we were already out of fruit bowls, lunch meat, and pretzels. I have no idea what they packed for lunch as I was too busy trying to figure out how to dress them when it's 45 degrees (7C) in the morning and 85 (30C) by the time they are off the bus. Did I mention the big 3 have outgrown all their summer clothes again? I'd complain about making time to go clothing shopping for them but I put my mother-in-law on the job for half my budget (thank you!) and then spent the rest the other day online. I'm sure it'll be freezing out again when the clothes are finally delivered.

Right, I better get going. Today I need to clean the house, do laundry, sign kids' report cards/field trip forms, make sleepover invites (both Zach and the twins are having one before we move, heaven help me), reserve a camp site for scouts, cancel the newspaper, and run a few errands.

What? I'm moving 600 miles away in less than 2 months? *sticks fingers in ears* Lalalalalalala, I can't hear you!

2008-04-15T21:31:00.000-04:00

Hi all!

Our last offer was accepted on the house but... There's some issues with the inspection (water in the crawl space, water heater pops, something with the chimney, yadda, yadda, yadda...) so Greg and the real estate agent are adding an addendum to the contract to get all those things fixed and then have a new inspection before we close. So far no one has mentioned mold. *crosses fingers, knocks on wood, presses thumbs, spins around singing Yankee Doodle Dandy backwards* I really never realized what a bother it was to buy a house (and we've bought a house before) so I totally get why people rent for long periods of time.

In other news, the kids are fine, driving me nuts as usual. Greg's somewhere in the Midwest and I'm sewing a lot for BKD. I've decided to do one of the bigger knitting/yarn/fiber festivals in August so of course my online shop currently has me swamped with orders. I've barely had time to think about the festival beyond mailing in a deposit check and being excited to go to Chicago WITHOUT* children.

It's been an emotional few weeks but I think it should be smoother sailing for a bit. Although there is this nagging feeling that maybe packing and cleaning this house before we move may not be much fun either...

* You read it here, I don't care if the kids have to stay home with the cat (we're getting a kitten as soon as we move, yay!), they are not coming with me. I love them to pieces but seriously, 5 kids are not much fun in a 10'x10' space for more than 10 minutes, let alone 8 hours a day at a knitting festival.

2008-04-14T08:39:00.002-04:00

Okay so when we last left off, I was going nuts over the children and stressing we'd be living in a cardboard box in Indiana... Oh and sewing 10 skirts.

The skirts were finished (with two hours to spare, go me!) and Greg's home and we sent in a 3rd counter offer last night on a house I really like and would work very well for us. Greg's bummed it doesn't have a huge "WOW!" factor feature but that's a story for another day (methinks he's just looked at too many houses). We're suppose to hear back by noon if they accept and then we move on to the inspection and the dreaded mold test. Seriously if this house has high levels of mold (and it shouldn't, at least from the disclosures we've received), I'm just going to um, live in a cardboard box. Cause they don't mold right?

2008-04-11T10:27:00.002-04:00

Did you know I'm procrastinator? I may have put off telling you that...

So the snowed out Girl Scout Thinking Day (which is Feb 22nd) has been rescheduled for tonight. This gives you an idea of how long I've had to sew 14 elastic waist skirts. How many are done? 4. And those were finished before Feb 22nd.

Hi, my name is Katie and I'm a procrastinator.

Do you think it might possibly snow in Maryland today?

2008-04-10T01:10:00.001-04:00

And then my feeble brain exploded...

(Or maybe I should quit posting at 1am.)

So ~~today~~ Wednesday... Was one of those days.

I just had a nice long rambly post and then Blogger ate it. Blogger has never eaten one of my posts before so I'm willing to admit to user error on this one.

A ~~quick~~ slightly less witty rundown of the day:

poop (not mine and I'm just trying to erase the incident and clean up from my brain)
forgotten band instrument (Zach obviously can't read a band schedule)
lost Girl Scout skit (made up by me with facts from a book I no longer have and with careful casting so not going to be able to google my way out of this one)
Kelly melting down over lunch (who knew rice bowls or turkey pitas were so stressful?)
Greg looking at houses without me (seriously, I was physically shaking over this for awhile)
not one but two people wanting to exchange BKD's stuff for other colors (this has never happened in a year and a half and now 2 in one week)
an air pump needle broken into a soccer ball about 15 minutes before practice started (for the recorded the air pumping was not sanctioned by me as I was trying to take a quick ~~5 minute~~ 90 second shower)
soccer practice on a muddy field (why can't my kids be couch potatoes?)
muddy soccer shoe prints running up the white carpeted stairs and into a bedroom because Emily really wanted to put something away immediately (ARGH!)
Ally screaming and kicking a wall at Girl Scouts because I wouldn't help her with her pinwheel right that second (now I can see why people aren't lining up to take the troop over and I'm even taking the worst offenders with me)
and then the boys refusing to settle down to go to bed. At one point Zach kicked Kyle in the back. They sleep in buck beds, how is that physically possible if both boys are in their own beds?

And then my feeble brain exploded.

Good thing I obviously never use it anyways...

2008-04-08T13:43:00.003-04:00

Today has been a non-stay-at-home-mom day.

We went to the:
bank
post office
Starbucks
dry cleaners
library
Girl Scout cookie mom's house (picked up prizes)
JoAnns fabric store
Trader Joes
Costco
gas station
Safeway

Tonight we have hockey and Kyle has a piece of art on exhibit at a mall (it's a school thing) so we may swing by there to see it. I think I should take a nap first...

2008-04-07T08:19:00.003-04:00

Greg returned home from Europe yesterday evening. Yay!

And he left for St. Louis this morning. Boo!

At least the house is still really clean.