I just wrote a poignant piece about my son being inadvertently mocked and asked for help and feedback from my blogging community.
I put some great jokes to Help make light a sad situation. Then I tried to add a picture to really drive home the point I was trying to make about how "special" my youngest son is, and everything erased.
Where is autosave and draft when I need it? Holy sad face batman this is so not cool. NOT COOL.
Heres the short and not nearly as well written version. A very nice boy made loud observations about how my youngest son is weird in a variety of ways. My youngest didn't hear him and the child wasn't trying to be unkind. The real problem is that I got my feelings hurt and I am now concerned that he might be getting teased for his "uniqueness."
Wha to do, what to do!?!?!
Go on a rampage and protect my son from possible teasing eveywhere like the mama bear that I am?
Confront the mom in a non-confrontational way and ask her to explain to her son that it can sound mean when you point out kids differences and hope it doesnt become some awkward big deal?
Praise the lord and do a dance for joy that my sons obliviousness to the world protected Him from harsh words today?
get my son help for his obliviousness?
There's a lot of options.
I do understand that he is very different and that being different is hard, especially when you're a kid. I guess i've just never really heard a child say something harsh about any of my kids before and I was woefully unprepared.
On a lighter note, I also posted a witty update about the bathroom project in my previous blogging attempt. Now that that attempt is shot to hell I'll just give you the highlights.
- its still not done.
- I wasted 3 days being scared of grout.
- my husband helped and was fun to work with.
- we had some miscommunications (my fault) that led to having no sink to work with, which led to 789 trips back and forth down the hallway to another sink, so that was fun too.
- we can't choose a sink so I may never have my bathroom back again.... Ever.
- my husband tore out another wall just as I finally fixed the last one we tore out. Either he really wants to make me happy and do this project amazingly or he really likes to screw with my head.
- I haven't figured out how to use the fancy camera or where the battery is for the plain camera so there are still no pictures.
And thats the news for now, sad face.
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Thursday, November 17, 2011
Wish me luck!
I am supposed to be at a dinner party in 5 minutes.
My sons are all in the shower and I am blogging, feels like we might be late.
Anyways, now that you know that useless bit of information let me share all the fun stuff.
First, I did work on the project yesterday. It took me 3 hours to tile inside the window and to create tile baseboards on all the walls. It's a little sad to see that in print, it should not have taken 3 hours. I also ruined a bucket, these things happen. There was no post or picture because I finished well after midnight and voted sleep over blogging.
I know, I know, it's like I don't even care about my dedicated readers at all!
Today, oh today! The things I can tell you about today.
I left work early and took a 2 hr nap to recover from all the late nights. Got back to work to pick up my kids and refrained from physically stomping (although I was stomping mad) that the work I needed finished was not finished. Now I get to go into work at 6am tomorrow, like I said, stomping mad. Then I heard that some kid in my youngest sons grade level had some sort of highly contagious herpes. I think the note will come home with the explanation in a day or two but the kids had to be removed from the classroom and everything is being sanitized and the poor herpes kid cant come back til its resolved. It's just a mess. On the to do list tonight is google viral herpes. It will probably give me nightmares.
We had a pleasant and quick homework time today (proof that miracles do happen!) which meant we had time to bake a dessert for the aforementioned (fun word right?) dinner party this evening instead of buying one. Except when I walked in the kitchen I realized I hadn't done dishes for two days so I made my sons wash their hands approx. 100 times while I quickly did dishes, wiped counters, handled recycling and got out ingredients. Then I saw the big bag of garlic on the counter that I was supposed to chop and freeze several weeks ago so we postponed baking and shucked garlic cloves. IT was actually very entertaining and a fun project to do with my boys, I am going to have to remember that.
With all of those distractions complete we finally got to baking, or well, frying really. We made homemade donuts. I cheat at this and use Pillsbury crescent roll dough. I usually just cut it in little pieces, pop it in the oil and then stick it in a bag and shake on a topping like cinnamon and sugar. This time we got fancy. I should know better than getting fancy. The twins rolled the dough and the youngest closed the pieces up to create circles. That's right, we made them look like real donuts! We fried them up, but of course I had the oil too hot because I was rushing for the dinner party that I am officially 7 minutes late for as I type. So they got a little dark and are a little doughy in the middle. Ehhhh, what are you going to do. I let the boys roll them in cinnamon and sugar and we all did taste tests and the baking was complete. Success!
Now we're off, I think everyone is finally dry and dressed.
Strike that.
Youngest just appeared in weirdly tight mismatching pajamas and announced, "I'm ready!" Guess I have a few more minutes.
Tonight I have grand plans to grout the entire tile surface and clean the floor and counter so that tomorrow we can remove the countertop and so I can grout the floor. This is at least a two hour job tonight so the chances of accomplishing it after the merriment of the worlds most fun dinner party (seriously, the invite list is filled with AWESOME!) is not good.
WISH ME LUCK!
p.s. I have pics of the donuts taken by middle child or younger twin, whatever you prefer to call him, I will add them to the post later, so check back if that interests you.
p.p.s. I'm tired of crappy project pics so I am going to wait a day or so and post when it actually looks nice and with my husbands fancy camera (if I can figure out how to turn it on)
My sons are all in the shower and I am blogging, feels like we might be late.
Anyways, now that you know that useless bit of information let me share all the fun stuff.
First, I did work on the project yesterday. It took me 3 hours to tile inside the window and to create tile baseboards on all the walls. It's a little sad to see that in print, it should not have taken 3 hours. I also ruined a bucket, these things happen. There was no post or picture because I finished well after midnight and voted sleep over blogging.
I know, I know, it's like I don't even care about my dedicated readers at all!
Today, oh today! The things I can tell you about today.
I left work early and took a 2 hr nap to recover from all the late nights. Got back to work to pick up my kids and refrained from physically stomping (although I was stomping mad) that the work I needed finished was not finished. Now I get to go into work at 6am tomorrow, like I said, stomping mad. Then I heard that some kid in my youngest sons grade level had some sort of highly contagious herpes. I think the note will come home with the explanation in a day or two but the kids had to be removed from the classroom and everything is being sanitized and the poor herpes kid cant come back til its resolved. It's just a mess. On the to do list tonight is google viral herpes. It will probably give me nightmares.
We had a pleasant and quick homework time today (proof that miracles do happen!) which meant we had time to bake a dessert for the aforementioned (fun word right?) dinner party this evening instead of buying one. Except when I walked in the kitchen I realized I hadn't done dishes for two days so I made my sons wash their hands approx. 100 times while I quickly did dishes, wiped counters, handled recycling and got out ingredients. Then I saw the big bag of garlic on the counter that I was supposed to chop and freeze several weeks ago so we postponed baking and shucked garlic cloves. IT was actually very entertaining and a fun project to do with my boys, I am going to have to remember that.
With all of those distractions complete we finally got to baking, or well, frying really. We made homemade donuts. I cheat at this and use Pillsbury crescent roll dough. I usually just cut it in little pieces, pop it in the oil and then stick it in a bag and shake on a topping like cinnamon and sugar. This time we got fancy. I should know better than getting fancy. The twins rolled the dough and the youngest closed the pieces up to create circles. That's right, we made them look like real donuts! We fried them up, but of course I had the oil too hot because I was rushing for the dinner party that I am officially 7 minutes late for as I type. So they got a little dark and are a little doughy in the middle. Ehhhh, what are you going to do. I let the boys roll them in cinnamon and sugar and we all did taste tests and the baking was complete. Success!
Now we're off, I think everyone is finally dry and dressed.
Strike that.
Youngest just appeared in weirdly tight mismatching pajamas and announced, "I'm ready!" Guess I have a few more minutes.
Tonight I have grand plans to grout the entire tile surface and clean the floor and counter so that tomorrow we can remove the countertop and so I can grout the floor. This is at least a two hour job tonight so the chances of accomplishing it after the merriment of the worlds most fun dinner party (seriously, the invite list is filled with AWESOME!) is not good.
WISH ME LUCK!
p.s. I have pics of the donuts taken by middle child or younger twin, whatever you prefer to call him, I will add them to the post later, so check back if that interests you.
p.p.s. I'm tired of crappy project pics so I am going to wait a day or so and post when it actually looks nice and with my husbands fancy camera (if I can figure out how to turn it on)
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
12 hour work day
This kind of schedule is not conducive to the whole wish fulfillment finish the job sort of attitude that I was going for. I got to work at 7am and didn't leave until 7:45pm, it was a long day.
The thing is, I knew my Tuesday was going to be like this in advance, it's not like it was some crazy surprise. Nope I knew I would work for 12 hrs and still I made a commitment to work on my master bath project everyday. Pretty sure I'm off my rocker.
It's due to this fact that I am blogging at 11:36pm after working for the last hour on the project.
That's the picture of what I accomplished. It was taken with the iPad again and the iPad doesn't like me to work at night so it takes cruddy pictures. It's not much, but it was difficult so I figure that counts as something.
On a positive note, the fact that I worked on a project at 10:30pm means that the I'm feeling the peer pressure and the need to at least make an effort each day. Believe me, I wanted to go to bed, but it was too mortifying to blog that I did nothing today, so I stayed up. The text from my sister reminding me to do something may have held influence as well.
Could you imagine if I blogged about my projects everyday? Oh my goodness, this blog would be beyond boring. To lower the boredom factor and up the adorable factor, I'll share a quick story with you all.
My youngest son went to bed very late tonight. About 1/2 an hour after he had disappeared into his room he came storming back out to get a drink of water. As he turned to return to bed I sweetly said,"goodnight sweetheart."
he promptly turned around, hands on his hips, and announced, "you know I like to wear shorts mommy."
I had made him take off his jeans at bedtime so I thought he was referring to the fact that he was in his underwear. I quickly said, "go to bed. It's fine to sleep in your underwear."
he retorted with, "I don't mean at bedtime, I mean for school."
I then realize that I made him wear jeans to school because I hadn't done the laundry in way too many days. I said "oh, you didn't like wearing jeans today? Maybe I should do the laundry."
he proudly said, "that's what I've been thinking."
I thanked him for reminding me to do my chore and promised that I would do laundry. He walked towards his room saying to himself, "mommy should just do her chores when I tell her and this wouldn't happen."
I love my son and I am now staying up way past my bedtime and doing laundry. Goodnight to all of you who do your chores when you're told.
The thing is, I knew my Tuesday was going to be like this in advance, it's not like it was some crazy surprise. Nope I knew I would work for 12 hrs and still I made a commitment to work on my master bath project everyday. Pretty sure I'm off my rocker.
It's due to this fact that I am blogging at 11:36pm after working for the last hour on the project.
That's the picture of what I accomplished. It was taken with the iPad again and the iPad doesn't like me to work at night so it takes cruddy pictures. It's not much, but it was difficult so I figure that counts as something.
On a positive note, the fact that I worked on a project at 10:30pm means that the I'm feeling the peer pressure and the need to at least make an effort each day. Believe me, I wanted to go to bed, but it was too mortifying to blog that I did nothing today, so I stayed up. The text from my sister reminding me to do something may have held influence as well.
Could you imagine if I blogged about my projects everyday? Oh my goodness, this blog would be beyond boring. To lower the boredom factor and up the adorable factor, I'll share a quick story with you all.
My youngest son went to bed very late tonight. About 1/2 an hour after he had disappeared into his room he came storming back out to get a drink of water. As he turned to return to bed I sweetly said,"goodnight sweetheart."
he promptly turned around, hands on his hips, and announced, "you know I like to wear shorts mommy."
I had made him take off his jeans at bedtime so I thought he was referring to the fact that he was in his underwear. I quickly said, "go to bed. It's fine to sleep in your underwear."
he retorted with, "I don't mean at bedtime, I mean for school."
I then realize that I made him wear jeans to school because I hadn't done the laundry in way too many days. I said "oh, you didn't like wearing jeans today? Maybe I should do the laundry."
he proudly said, "that's what I've been thinking."
I thanked him for reminding me to do my chore and promised that I would do laundry. He walked towards his room saying to himself, "mommy should just do her chores when I tell her and this wouldn't happen."
I love my son and I am now staying up way past my bedtime and doing laundry. Goodnight to all of you who do your chores when you're told.
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
I blame the dog
I had so many good ideas today. I was going to tile the baseboards and the window area and grout the floor.
But I got home from work just after 8am and took care of getting the neighbors trash to the road and helping my husband with our trash. Then I discussed the tiling options with my husband. Before I knew it 10am had arrived and I hadnt even gotten started.
Next up was a trip to the hardware store. I found the tile I needed and then came home and taped them all to the wall with masking tape to make sure it would work and to send a picture to my husband to make sure he agreed that it would work.
While I waited for dear husband to email me back with his opinion I ate lunch and cut each tile out of the mesh mosaic it came in so that I could alter the grout line size and I chiseled out the section of tile that I had screwed up. By the time I finished it was almost 1pm and 45 minutes was not enough time to do the window area and I couldn't just stop in the middle to pick up my kids from school so instead I took a nap.
After picking up the kids it was homework and I remembered that I needed to wrap presents and get them mailed off ASAP and then it was time for the boys aikido practice and I needed To run errands while they were in class. Then it was 6pm and dinner time.
All this so far was to be expected. I know I get distracted and that I rarely get much accomplished during a school day when I am not working. But this is where things got hairy. Hairy and unexpected. When my son went to feed the dog at dinner time he discovered that we had run completely out of dog food. We had 2 giant bags of cat food but nothing for the poor dog. So we fed her dog biscuits for dinner and I put the boys to bed. Then I had to go to the store to get dog food.
I took my sister so it took an entire extra hour to run a simple errand( we are easily distracted) and then it was 9pm.
I am not starting a project at 9pm, it's just not happening.
So here's what I did today:
- I took out the lines of tile around the window with a chisel
- I bought new tile at the hardware store to outline the window
- I separated all the mesh entwined mosaic tiles so I could make them fit where they shouldn't fit
I feel sure that I would have something tangible to show for my efforts if it wasn't for the late night errand, so yeah, I blame my lack of success today on the dog.
Here's a pic of what I think the tile edge is going to look like. We have bronze metal touches all over so I am hoping it will work within the tile border too.
But I got home from work just after 8am and took care of getting the neighbors trash to the road and helping my husband with our trash. Then I discussed the tiling options with my husband. Before I knew it 10am had arrived and I hadnt even gotten started.
Next up was a trip to the hardware store. I found the tile I needed and then came home and taped them all to the wall with masking tape to make sure it would work and to send a picture to my husband to make sure he agreed that it would work.
While I waited for dear husband to email me back with his opinion I ate lunch and cut each tile out of the mesh mosaic it came in so that I could alter the grout line size and I chiseled out the section of tile that I had screwed up. By the time I finished it was almost 1pm and 45 minutes was not enough time to do the window area and I couldn't just stop in the middle to pick up my kids from school so instead I took a nap.
After picking up the kids it was homework and I remembered that I needed to wrap presents and get them mailed off ASAP and then it was time for the boys aikido practice and I needed To run errands while they were in class. Then it was 6pm and dinner time.
All this so far was to be expected. I know I get distracted and that I rarely get much accomplished during a school day when I am not working. But this is where things got hairy. Hairy and unexpected. When my son went to feed the dog at dinner time he discovered that we had run completely out of dog food. We had 2 giant bags of cat food but nothing for the poor dog. So we fed her dog biscuits for dinner and I put the boys to bed. Then I had to go to the store to get dog food.
I took my sister so it took an entire extra hour to run a simple errand( we are easily distracted) and then it was 9pm.
I am not starting a project at 9pm, it's just not happening.
So here's what I did today:
- I took out the lines of tile around the window with a chisel
- I bought new tile at the hardware store to outline the window
- I separated all the mesh entwined mosaic tiles so I could make them fit where they shouldn't fit
I feel sure that I would have something tangible to show for my efforts if it wasn't for the late night errand, so yeah, I blame my lack of success today on the dog.
Here's a pic of what I think the tile edge is going to look like. We have bronze metal touches all over so I am hoping it will work within the tile border too.
Sunday, November 13, 2011
Wish fulfillment
For lack of a better term, that's what I've decided to go with, wish fulfillment.
You see, I have all these ideas and plans and ummmm, zero follow through.
BUT.....
I've noticed that I have a better completion rate if i tell someone else or if someone else is counting on me.
So this weekend I really wanted to stay home. At first I thought our plate was empty all weekend. Turns out we had aikido practice a sleepover and the twins first aikido test. Soooo, I planned around those things and made a goal, mostly stay home!
To fulfill my wish I posted it on Facebook. I figured if I told everyone I was staying home and then didn't I would look super silly so it would be a motivator to follow through.
Good idea right?
Then I saw a coupon for a great Christmas present but it required me to take a family picture immediately. So instead of staying home I hauled my butt to two stores to get the props I needed and hastily dressed everyone up and made my husband take our picture with his fancy remote thingy for his fancy camera in our front yard in the dark. Then I spent two hours uploading and editing images and missed the coupon deadline and scrambling to find another coupon and got my cool Christmas present ordered.
Phew!! Things never turn out the way I plan them. Staying home was a fail.
Now for take two in operation wish fulfillment I am taking a note from the interwebs latest craze, pinterest. It's a site that acts as a virtual bulletin board for all your wishes. Things you want to buy, make, give, own etc... Can all be saved in one place to serve as inspiration and motivation.
As I try to figure out this new electronic wonder I think of projects I need ideas for so that I'll have a reason to make my first bulletin board. Of course my thoughts go instantly to my master bath.
My master bath has been a work on progress for a year, which also means it has been unusable for a year. And, it's all my fault ( well mostly.) my husband ripped out the walls and put in a whirlpool tub for me. I put in new flooring and painted the walls and cabinetry. I ordered new faucets And shower heads and found the perfect shower curtain. I bought tiles for a zillion project ideas.
Then we just sort of stopped. This summer my husband allowed me to call for help ( for those of you that know my husband and I you also know that this is a MIRACLE!)
My friends husband is a contractor and he came and put in the drywall for me and gave me tips for how to tile the walls. I promptly went and purchased tile and began the process.
Then the school year started and I stopped again. My bathroom just sits unused and half finished. So, with the inspiration of pinterest and the help of This blog i am going to fulfill my wish of completing my master bath this week.
I will blog every day about any progress made and try to post pictures. Here's how you can help:
1. Hold me accountable. Ask me how it's going, bug me with questions, remind me to get something done..anything.
2. Take my kids. Mostly kidding, and realistically you would need to take my husband too. Family is distracting:) although now that I think about it, if you took them I would be so busy enjoying my quiet casa that I still wouldn't get any work done.
3. Do it for me. That's an option right?
4. Write a comment do I'll feel all warm and fuzzy about my idea and know that someone will actually notice if I fail.
So, here goes, operation master bath wish fulfillment is in full swing. Wish me luck!!
Today I finished tiling the main part of the shower. Don't know what to do about the window and need to work on the tile floorboards tomorrow.
Sorry the pic is crap, it's night and I took it with the iPad.
You see, I have all these ideas and plans and ummmm, zero follow through.
BUT.....
I've noticed that I have a better completion rate if i tell someone else or if someone else is counting on me.
So this weekend I really wanted to stay home. At first I thought our plate was empty all weekend. Turns out we had aikido practice a sleepover and the twins first aikido test. Soooo, I planned around those things and made a goal, mostly stay home!
To fulfill my wish I posted it on Facebook. I figured if I told everyone I was staying home and then didn't I would look super silly so it would be a motivator to follow through.
Good idea right?
Then I saw a coupon for a great Christmas present but it required me to take a family picture immediately. So instead of staying home I hauled my butt to two stores to get the props I needed and hastily dressed everyone up and made my husband take our picture with his fancy remote thingy for his fancy camera in our front yard in the dark. Then I spent two hours uploading and editing images and missed the coupon deadline and scrambling to find another coupon and got my cool Christmas present ordered.
Phew!! Things never turn out the way I plan them. Staying home was a fail.
Now for take two in operation wish fulfillment I am taking a note from the interwebs latest craze, pinterest. It's a site that acts as a virtual bulletin board for all your wishes. Things you want to buy, make, give, own etc... Can all be saved in one place to serve as inspiration and motivation.
As I try to figure out this new electronic wonder I think of projects I need ideas for so that I'll have a reason to make my first bulletin board. Of course my thoughts go instantly to my master bath.
My master bath has been a work on progress for a year, which also means it has been unusable for a year. And, it's all my fault ( well mostly.) my husband ripped out the walls and put in a whirlpool tub for me. I put in new flooring and painted the walls and cabinetry. I ordered new faucets And shower heads and found the perfect shower curtain. I bought tiles for a zillion project ideas.
Then we just sort of stopped. This summer my husband allowed me to call for help ( for those of you that know my husband and I you also know that this is a MIRACLE!)
My friends husband is a contractor and he came and put in the drywall for me and gave me tips for how to tile the walls. I promptly went and purchased tile and began the process.
Then the school year started and I stopped again. My bathroom just sits unused and half finished. So, with the inspiration of pinterest and the help of This blog i am going to fulfill my wish of completing my master bath this week.
I will blog every day about any progress made and try to post pictures. Here's how you can help:
1. Hold me accountable. Ask me how it's going, bug me with questions, remind me to get something done..anything.
2. Take my kids. Mostly kidding, and realistically you would need to take my husband too. Family is distracting:) although now that I think about it, if you took them I would be so busy enjoying my quiet casa that I still wouldn't get any work done.
3. Do it for me. That's an option right?
4. Write a comment do I'll feel all warm and fuzzy about my idea and know that someone will actually notice if I fail.
So, here goes, operation master bath wish fulfillment is in full swing. Wish me luck!!
Today I finished tiling the main part of the shower. Don't know what to do about the window and need to work on the tile floorboards tomorrow.
Sorry the pic is crap, it's night and I took it with the iPad.
Thursday, November 10, 2011
Extreme Christmassing!
My favorite thing about blogging might be that I can make up words and no one really contradicts me on them.
Do you like Christmassing? I'm rather fond of it, thank you very much.
Let me share the concept with you.
You've heard of extreme couponing right? If you haven't, google it, tivo it, hulu it, dvr it etc... until you are more knowledgeable. You NEED to know that this subculture exists and probably to blame for every item they have ever been out of when you desperately needed it at the store (I MAY have exaggerated, but come on, these people are a little much right?)
So I don't extreme coupon. I mean I would, but who has the time? My 17hr work week keeps me full up peeps, full up. BUT... I go mad crazy for a good deal. I research and plan and squirrel away and pounce on just about every good deal in sight. I learn and make notes as I go and every year I get a little better at getting the big scores, the "ungettable" deals. I become the Extreme Christmasser.
In October I begin making lists of who our family is buying presents for this year. Then I set a completely unrealistic budget and begin to badger everyone about what they want. I scour online for ideas and read up on the top toy guides of the year etc... Then I come up with my list and my back up list of what I want to get and when I need it by so I have time to ship, wrap etc...
By mid November, let the extreme Christmassing begin. I swear I get a little high over getting the good deals. Retail therapy anyone? This year is all about video games and musical instruments in my household. I can proudly announce that I have already begun seeking out the good deals. I will go to all 10 stores on our island and spend hours online pouring over coupon codes and black friday predictions. Some items you just cant get and some items I wait to buy all year because I know they are on their best deal around the holidays. It doesnt have to be a christmas present either, just a good deal that I or someone I love can use.
I should become like some of the extreme couponers and use my powers for good. Hmmm, file that in thoughts for later...I do love to share my "finds."
This year I got a jump start. My first amazon shipment is ordered and the UPS man will soon be ringing my door daily (oh yeah, he's on the christmas list). This weekend I happened upon one of those "ungettable" deals and got the toy of the season $50 off. 3 days later and I am still patting myself on the back over that one! I may have had to argue and beg but I got the deal that I wanted and there was nothing they could do about it!
Before you get all judgey,
what you didn't think I would know what you were thinking?
I am judging myself as I type this, how materialistic am I?!?
Let me point out that we buy one combined gift for our 3 boys each year and one santa present. My husband and I do not buy gifts for each other. We have 5 siblings + 3 sibling spouses between us, 3 parents, 1 grandparent and 5 nieces and nephews. Also, because we live in Hawaii its often easier for us to buy presents for our sons from other family members so that we all save on shipping. Its a lot of people and planning to think about. If you ever wondered why I suck at Christmas cards, its becuase I am busy with this.
With that disclaimer out of the way, I like to have my shopping done by Thanksgiving. That way I can spend the entire Christmas season decorating, carolling, baking and reading the nativity story over and over. I love the presents but I don't want them to become the reason (or the stress) for the season. Plus it gives me an entire month to revel in my amazingness at getting good deals.
So that's it. Now you know one of my dark secrets. What exciting presents are you looking into this holiday season? Need help finding that sweet deal? Any of you locals venturing into the dark unknown of Black Friday?
I might be available :)
You'll be feeding my addiction, but isn't that what friends are for?
Talk to you soon, I have to go scour for early release ads!
Do you like Christmassing? I'm rather fond of it, thank you very much.
Let me share the concept with you.
You've heard of extreme couponing right? If you haven't, google it, tivo it, hulu it, dvr it etc... until you are more knowledgeable. You NEED to know that this subculture exists and probably to blame for every item they have ever been out of when you desperately needed it at the store (I MAY have exaggerated, but come on, these people are a little much right?)
So I don't extreme coupon. I mean I would, but who has the time? My 17hr work week keeps me full up peeps, full up. BUT... I go mad crazy for a good deal. I research and plan and squirrel away and pounce on just about every good deal in sight. I learn and make notes as I go and every year I get a little better at getting the big scores, the "ungettable" deals. I become the Extreme Christmasser.
In October I begin making lists of who our family is buying presents for this year. Then I set a completely unrealistic budget and begin to badger everyone about what they want. I scour online for ideas and read up on the top toy guides of the year etc... Then I come up with my list and my back up list of what I want to get and when I need it by so I have time to ship, wrap etc...
By mid November, let the extreme Christmassing begin. I swear I get a little high over getting the good deals. Retail therapy anyone? This year is all about video games and musical instruments in my household. I can proudly announce that I have already begun seeking out the good deals. I will go to all 10 stores on our island and spend hours online pouring over coupon codes and black friday predictions. Some items you just cant get and some items I wait to buy all year because I know they are on their best deal around the holidays. It doesnt have to be a christmas present either, just a good deal that I or someone I love can use.
I should become like some of the extreme couponers and use my powers for good. Hmmm, file that in thoughts for later...I do love to share my "finds."
This year I got a jump start. My first amazon shipment is ordered and the UPS man will soon be ringing my door daily (oh yeah, he's on the christmas list). This weekend I happened upon one of those "ungettable" deals and got the toy of the season $50 off. 3 days later and I am still patting myself on the back over that one! I may have had to argue and beg but I got the deal that I wanted and there was nothing they could do about it!
Before you get all judgey,
what you didn't think I would know what you were thinking?
I am judging myself as I type this, how materialistic am I?!?
Let me point out that we buy one combined gift for our 3 boys each year and one santa present. My husband and I do not buy gifts for each other. We have 5 siblings + 3 sibling spouses between us, 3 parents, 1 grandparent and 5 nieces and nephews. Also, because we live in Hawaii its often easier for us to buy presents for our sons from other family members so that we all save on shipping. Its a lot of people and planning to think about. If you ever wondered why I suck at Christmas cards, its becuase I am busy with this.
With that disclaimer out of the way, I like to have my shopping done by Thanksgiving. That way I can spend the entire Christmas season decorating, carolling, baking and reading the nativity story over and over. I love the presents but I don't want them to become the reason (or the stress) for the season. Plus it gives me an entire month to revel in my amazingness at getting good deals.
So that's it. Now you know one of my dark secrets. What exciting presents are you looking into this holiday season? Need help finding that sweet deal? Any of you locals venturing into the dark unknown of Black Friday?
I might be available :)
You'll be feeding my addiction, but isn't that what friends are for?
Talk to you soon, I have to go scour for early release ads!
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Curses upon the Facebook
The whole Facebook redo thing is making my life difficult. I am fairly tech saavy and could probably figure it out but instead I just shout at the computer screen and feel sorry for myself cause it feels like I lost friends now that I cant figure out how to see their Facebook posts.
That alone was enough to make me feel like maybe my love affair with Facebook needed to come to an end. But now....now?!?!
You will never believe it.
The Facebook is affecting my blogging!
I know you're probably shaking your head in exasperation too. I checked out my stats on blogger.com today and I have lost approximately 10 page views per day since Facebook switched. That's 1/4 of my audience so it's kind of a big deal.
I know all of you bloggers with thousands of members and page views may be smirking a little but to this 18 member 40 page view blogger, well.... my little heart is just devastated.
The question is what do I do next?
Option 1 - Curse the Facebook and all that use it and never grace it with my presence again
Option 2 - Shamelessly begin blog trolling and throwing my blog at anyone who will read it?
Option 3 - Get over myself and remember that my blog is my therapy and I still have a few Facebook friends worth noting.
Option 4 - Put a little more effort into understanding the new Facebook and into marketing my blog (do not vote for this idea, it requires effort and is listed as #4 for a reason, I want the easy way out)
Option 5 - Do nothing other than up the volume on the whining and complaining I have already commenced.
Decisions, decisions.
How do you feel about the new Facebook?
That alone was enough to make me feel like maybe my love affair with Facebook needed to come to an end. But now....now?!?!
You will never believe it.
The Facebook is affecting my blogging!
I know you're probably shaking your head in exasperation too. I checked out my stats on blogger.com today and I have lost approximately 10 page views per day since Facebook switched. That's 1/4 of my audience so it's kind of a big deal.
I know all of you bloggers with thousands of members and page views may be smirking a little but to this 18 member 40 page view blogger, well.... my little heart is just devastated.
The question is what do I do next?
Option 1 - Curse the Facebook and all that use it and never grace it with my presence again
Option 2 - Shamelessly begin blog trolling and throwing my blog at anyone who will read it?
Option 3 - Get over myself and remember that my blog is my therapy and I still have a few Facebook friends worth noting.
Option 4 - Put a little more effort into understanding the new Facebook and into marketing my blog (do not vote for this idea, it requires effort and is listed as #4 for a reason, I want the easy way out)
Option 5 - Do nothing other than up the volume on the whining and complaining I have already commenced.
Decisions, decisions.
How do you feel about the new Facebook?
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Blogiversary!
Wow! I cant believe its been one whole year. For a girl who doesn't stick with things this is a serious accomplishment. I think I will pat myself on the back all day long, people will think I have fleas, but I'll know its for a job well done.
I promised during my 100th post, which was all about myself cause I'm cool like that, that I would finish my list of 100 things you love/hate about B. So that's what I will do for this monumental occasion. Finish something that I started :P
100 things you love/hate about B - part 2
51. I have loudly confessed my love affair with soda
52. I'm one of "those people" that leaves the empty cans lying around everywhere
53. I'm really big on putting a lot of thought into activities
54. I'm really bad about putting actual effort into activities until the last possible second
55. I have extraordinary powers of patience
56. Yet I still yell....a lot....
57. I love to share stories
58. My memory is so short term that I'll probably share the same stories with you hundreds of times
59. I am a fanatic about reading the manuals for everything
60. After I read them I always lose the manuals so no one else can ever read them
61. I mean what I say, you can count on it.
62. My tone doesn't always match my words so no one believes that I mean what I am saying.
63. I love tomato soup
64. I hate tomatoes
65. I love to read
66. I feel compelled to read everything - trash, signs, ingredients, labels, 1000pg books, trashy mags, etc...
67. I'm good at technology and have the patience to help others
68. When tech assistance goes over my head I volunteer my husbands expertise without his permission
69. I make a lot of organized lists
70. I never remember to bring my lists when I need them
71. I shower regularly
72. I always have dirt under my nails
73. I am super healthy (never sick)
74. I always think something wrong with me.
75. I am very thrifty
76. I will tell you the price of anything (do you like my $3 shoes?)
77. I love to create
78. I never have time to clean up
79. I am a collector
80. I force collections onto others (mostly my children)
81. I share my troubles
82. I do nothing to fix them
83. I am very enthusiastic
84. I am very overdramatic and prone to embellishments
85. I love to hear others advice
86. If I take your advice I loudly give blame but never credit
87. I usually have that one thing you need
88. I usually cant find it
89. I love talking to and hanging out with friends
90. I suck at calling or getting together with friends
91. I am a multitasker
92. I cannot seem to master multitasking
93. I love to throw parties
94. Throwing parties almost always makes me cry because I get so overwhelmed and frustrated
95. I am filled with good intentions
96. My good intentions are often unwanted
97. I have an active imagination
98. Its really an overactive imagination
99. I am never going to write a list like this again
100. I will probably forget about this post and write a list like this again
So there you have it, list complete. Some ideas of what you can love or hate about me. How about you? Do you have any love/hate personality traits hidden in your closet?
I promised during my 100th post, which was all about myself cause I'm cool like that, that I would finish my list of 100 things you love/hate about B. So that's what I will do for this monumental occasion. Finish something that I started :P
100 things you love/hate about B - part 2
51. I have loudly confessed my love affair with soda
52. I'm one of "those people" that leaves the empty cans lying around everywhere
53. I'm really big on putting a lot of thought into activities
54. I'm really bad about putting actual effort into activities until the last possible second
55. I have extraordinary powers of patience
56. Yet I still yell....a lot....
57. I love to share stories
58. My memory is so short term that I'll probably share the same stories with you hundreds of times
59. I am a fanatic about reading the manuals for everything
60. After I read them I always lose the manuals so no one else can ever read them
61. I mean what I say, you can count on it.
62. My tone doesn't always match my words so no one believes that I mean what I am saying.
63. I love tomato soup
64. I hate tomatoes
65. I love to read
66. I feel compelled to read everything - trash, signs, ingredients, labels, 1000pg books, trashy mags, etc...
67. I'm good at technology and have the patience to help others
68. When tech assistance goes over my head I volunteer my husbands expertise without his permission
69. I make a lot of organized lists
70. I never remember to bring my lists when I need them
71. I shower regularly
72. I always have dirt under my nails
73. I am super healthy (never sick)
74. I always think something wrong with me.
75. I am very thrifty
76. I will tell you the price of anything (do you like my $3 shoes?)
77. I love to create
78. I never have time to clean up
79. I am a collector
80. I force collections onto others (mostly my children)
81. I share my troubles
82. I do nothing to fix them
83. I am very enthusiastic
84. I am very overdramatic and prone to embellishments
85. I love to hear others advice
86. If I take your advice I loudly give blame but never credit
87. I usually have that one thing you need
88. I usually cant find it
89. I love talking to and hanging out with friends
90. I suck at calling or getting together with friends
91. I am a multitasker
92. I cannot seem to master multitasking
93. I love to throw parties
94. Throwing parties almost always makes me cry because I get so overwhelmed and frustrated
95. I am filled with good intentions
96. My good intentions are often unwanted
97. I have an active imagination
98. Its really an overactive imagination
99. I am never going to write a list like this again
100. I will probably forget about this post and write a list like this again
So there you have it, list complete. Some ideas of what you can love or hate about me. How about you? Do you have any love/hate personality traits hidden in your closet?
Monday, November 7, 2011
White pants after labor day
Yesterday was quite a day!
6:30 am - wake up everyone early on a Sunday and rush everyone through breakfast and get them dressed.
7:20 am - run to the dryer to grab the freshly washed aikido pants. Pull them out and discover that I have managed to disintegrate them. Literally all that's left is the waistline and a few strings. They are not identifiable as pants or any type of clothing. How am I going to explain this? Why didn't anyone ever tell me bleach could do this? What kind of monster dryer did I own thatchers aikido pants when you need them? WHY GOD WHY?!?!!
Cue panic.
Five minutes of frenzied mania where I laugh, cry, scream and convince myself and everyone in my household that I have ruined any chance my twins have of passing the test for their green belts.
7:25 am - shove everyone into the car and head to kmart. Husband takes younger twin to sports section on the off chance they have martial arts gear. I head to the little girls department with older twin and youngest son because there is a snowballs chance in hell that they'll have white pants in the boys department. I find white stretch pants with glued on rhinestones at the ankles, maybe we could buy them in xlarge and cut off the ankles? Husband meets me in shoes and shows off his discovery of baseball pants in size xsmall. He wins the finding contest and we rush off to the aikido test at 7:45.
7:55am - we pull up to the dojo parking lot shouting things like "clear your mind!" "be calm!" "put the pants on NOW!" etc.... And rush them inside for their first major test.
Praise the lord we did it!!!! And with five minutes to spare:) the mania is all worth it to see our sons achieve at something they have been working at for a year and a half.
We are greeted inside by "what are you guys doing here? The children's test is next Sunday."
So we turn around and leave.
8:30am - breakfast at IHOP. It's so early to have had that full of a day!
Have you ever gotten the date wrong on something important or is it just me?
6:30 am - wake up everyone early on a Sunday and rush everyone through breakfast and get them dressed.
7:20 am - run to the dryer to grab the freshly washed aikido pants. Pull them out and discover that I have managed to disintegrate them. Literally all that's left is the waistline and a few strings. They are not identifiable as pants or any type of clothing. How am I going to explain this? Why didn't anyone ever tell me bleach could do this? What kind of monster dryer did I own thatchers aikido pants when you need them? WHY GOD WHY?!?!!
Cue panic.
Five minutes of frenzied mania where I laugh, cry, scream and convince myself and everyone in my household that I have ruined any chance my twins have of passing the test for their green belts.
7:25 am - shove everyone into the car and head to kmart. Husband takes younger twin to sports section on the off chance they have martial arts gear. I head to the little girls department with older twin and youngest son because there is a snowballs chance in hell that they'll have white pants in the boys department. I find white stretch pants with glued on rhinestones at the ankles, maybe we could buy them in xlarge and cut off the ankles? Husband meets me in shoes and shows off his discovery of baseball pants in size xsmall. He wins the finding contest and we rush off to the aikido test at 7:45.
7:55am - we pull up to the dojo parking lot shouting things like "clear your mind!" "be calm!" "put the pants on NOW!" etc.... And rush them inside for their first major test.
Praise the lord we did it!!!! And with five minutes to spare:) the mania is all worth it to see our sons achieve at something they have been working at for a year and a half.
We are greeted inside by "what are you guys doing here? The children's test is next Sunday."
So we turn around and leave.
8:30am - breakfast at IHOP. It's so early to have had that full of a day!
Have you ever gotten the date wrong on something important or is it just me?
Friday, November 4, 2011
Brilliant idea!
This is too long to facebook so here comes the blog.
Our sons rule at bed time is to lay with their eyes closed. They, of course, have 100 reasons why they can't close their eyes.
Blah, blah, blah they can easily get to stay up an extra 20 minutes with their gnattering about closing their eyes. (Don't you know that it makes your eyes water when you close them!!!!!)
So the other night my son had a terrible nightmare. I have no idea what it was about, he was too scared to explain it. Whatever, it was 2am and I let him sleep in our bed. Quality parenting at its best, I'm sure.
Then the next night on cue we hear, "I cant close my eyes or I'll have that nightmare again!" Out come the hysterics and curly haired angel and has turned into a nightmare himself.
Then my brilliant problem0solving superhero husband comes on the scene. He assesses the problem and quickly runs off with a shouted, "hold on a sec" over his shoulder. What magic does he return with?
A pink satin eye mask embroidered with "sweet dreams" on the front.
He explains to our now wide eyed 7 yr old that he can wear this over his eyes and it will help him sleep. Our 7 yr old says, "you mean I just wear this and then I don't have to close my eyes?" and excitedly runs off towards his room.
The next morning he announces to us that it works AWESOME and why didn't we give him one sooner. His brothers want sleeping masks with magic powers too.
He has slept with it every night for the past week. He looks ridiculous but the confidence its given him is amazing! Last night I was telling my sister about this mask magic. She went downstairs to his room to check it out for herself.
Our 7 yr old explained to her that it was pink and said sweet dreams and kept him from having bad dreams or closing his eyes. She asked if he liked pink to which he replied, "especially on the inside of it, it's more natural." Then he explained to her that his bad dreams came from the big bed mostly so he just doesn't sleep there anymore. His twin (on the big bed) shouted angrily, "just leave all the bad dreams for me then!" and our 7 yr old quickly shouted back, "Well I'm not catchin' them!"
Sometimes the smallest weirdest things become the best ideas and the most entertaining moments. Have you had any brilliant ideas this week?
Our sons rule at bed time is to lay with their eyes closed. They, of course, have 100 reasons why they can't close their eyes.
Blah, blah, blah they can easily get to stay up an extra 20 minutes with their gnattering about closing their eyes. (Don't you know that it makes your eyes water when you close them!!!!!)
So the other night my son had a terrible nightmare. I have no idea what it was about, he was too scared to explain it. Whatever, it was 2am and I let him sleep in our bed. Quality parenting at its best, I'm sure.
Then the next night on cue we hear, "I cant close my eyes or I'll have that nightmare again!" Out come the hysterics and curly haired angel and has turned into a nightmare himself.
Then my brilliant problem0solving superhero husband comes on the scene. He assesses the problem and quickly runs off with a shouted, "hold on a sec" over his shoulder. What magic does he return with?
A pink satin eye mask embroidered with "sweet dreams" on the front.
He explains to our now wide eyed 7 yr old that he can wear this over his eyes and it will help him sleep. Our 7 yr old says, "you mean I just wear this and then I don't have to close my eyes?" and excitedly runs off towards his room.
The next morning he announces to us that it works AWESOME and why didn't we give him one sooner. His brothers want sleeping masks with magic powers too.
He has slept with it every night for the past week. He looks ridiculous but the confidence its given him is amazing! Last night I was telling my sister about this mask magic. She went downstairs to his room to check it out for herself.
Our 7 yr old explained to her that it was pink and said sweet dreams and kept him from having bad dreams or closing his eyes. She asked if he liked pink to which he replied, "especially on the inside of it, it's more natural." Then he explained to her that his bad dreams came from the big bed mostly so he just doesn't sleep there anymore. His twin (on the big bed) shouted angrily, "just leave all the bad dreams for me then!" and our 7 yr old quickly shouted back, "Well I'm not catchin' them!"
Sometimes the smallest weirdest things become the best ideas and the most entertaining moments. Have you had any brilliant ideas this week?
Thursday, November 3, 2011
This is a terrible world!!
I just left a training seminar on bullying and drug prevention. Our school counselor asked me to attend to see if its something we should be offering the parents of our students.
After leaving and letting the information soak in a bit all I can say is, HOLY CRAP, this world sucks!!!!!
I know these topics are meant to have a "fear factor" when they are trying to teach us to prevent it, but seriously??? In the heat of the moment I think they almost had me convinced that my 5 yr old was huffing whipped cream and my 7 yr olds might know lingo like Lean, mollies, floatopia and a lot of others that were just shooting over my head. When did I get old and out of the drug lingo loop? (j/k, I was never in that loop)
Then I left and calmed down in the car and thought to myself, "I have wonderful kids." (cue contented sigh)
But then..... I remembered that every news article with the pictures of the crying parents were all about how they had such "good" kids, how they had taught them better, how they had no idea etc....
So what is a parent to do?!?!?!?!
Well other than daily urinalysis (which is easy since I can collect it from one of the many places they inappropriately spray it) and custom made Martha Stewart designer liquor and medicine cabinet padlocks, I feel like I'm in a little over my head.
Granted, my kids are young.
But I should probably do more to have open dialogue in our home (instead of my current tyrannical rule where if you speak out of turn you get the death stare) so that in the future if these sorts of things come up, we'll have options.
I could also look into the cost of 24/7 personal body guards, like I said, we need options.
How about you? Do you talk about drugs and bullies in your house? Do you have plans in place for when it's your kid splashed on the front page of the news?
After leaving and letting the information soak in a bit all I can say is, HOLY CRAP, this world sucks!!!!!
I know these topics are meant to have a "fear factor" when they are trying to teach us to prevent it, but seriously??? In the heat of the moment I think they almost had me convinced that my 5 yr old was huffing whipped cream and my 7 yr olds might know lingo like Lean, mollies, floatopia and a lot of others that were just shooting over my head. When did I get old and out of the drug lingo loop? (j/k, I was never in that loop)
Then I left and calmed down in the car and thought to myself, "I have wonderful kids." (cue contented sigh)
But then..... I remembered that every news article with the pictures of the crying parents were all about how they had such "good" kids, how they had taught them better, how they had no idea etc....
So what is a parent to do?!?!?!?!
Well other than daily urinalysis (which is easy since I can collect it from one of the many places they inappropriately spray it) and custom made Martha Stewart designer liquor and medicine cabinet padlocks, I feel like I'm in a little over my head.
Granted, my kids are young.
But I should probably do more to have open dialogue in our home (instead of my current tyrannical rule where if you speak out of turn you get the death stare) so that in the future if these sorts of things come up, we'll have options.
I could also look into the cost of 24/7 personal body guards, like I said, we need options.
How about you? Do you talk about drugs and bullies in your house? Do you have plans in place for when it's your kid splashed on the front page of the news?
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