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Cheryl over at Twinfatuation hosts this one. Go on over to see who else is playing – and join in too!
This picture was taken on Thanksgiving of 2003 (before kids!!). My sister would put the stuffed turkey on someone and then take a picture…we have a bunch taken with the turkey on sleeping people 😉
Filed under: holiday, me, WBW | Tagged: Stuffed, thanksgiving, Turkey | 1 Comment »
Hey – that would work for school and Veteran’s day as the kids are off today…but alas, I was talking about the nanny search.
I’ve reached out (so far) to 4 people who look good on paper. I know I’ll be sending a few more inquiries out tonight after the kids go to bed as well. I really hate this process. It’s almost more nerve-racking than dating! I suppose mostly because it’s not just my life I’m messing with…it’s my kids’ lives. You send an email to someone who looks good and hope and pray that they’ll email you back. And then if THAT goes well, you ask them to meet in person and see if THAT goes well. See the parallels here?! (It’s a good thing I met Mike online – and it worked – or this would be even more awful LOL!)
I keep thinking that perhaps I should go through some agency somewhere…but I just can’t justify spending the money on that. I have in my head that the agency would do exactly what I’m doing. . . look through profiles online and then do some background research on people I like. And I suppose having someone do that for me would give me a lot of time back…but this is one of those things where I don’t know who I’ll like – or not like – until I see it.
So…wish me luck and keep your fingers crossed that a.) I’ll find a good one, and b.) it’ll be my LAST nanny!
Filed under: me | Tagged: nanny, nanny search | Leave a comment »
Yesterday’s post was a snapshot of the MMOTA State Convention that I attended. This was my first MMOTA convention and I had a really good time. I’m sure that I would have had even more fun if I had stayed over Friday night, but as this was my first one, I was more comfortable driving down Saturday morning.
Apparently, Friday nights are the fun-get-to-know-people-dance-and-drink-all-night nights. Next year 😉
Saturday is the cool-raffles-fun-workshops-luncheon-speaker-shop-at-the-vendors day.
One of the workshops I went to was about cooking. Specifically cooking for kids, and making enough so that you can use it for lunch ideas the next day. Chef Tom used ….wait for it…..a crock pot!! A man after my own heart. Love, love, love my crock pot. He made short ribs (and we each got a taste of those holy cow yummy things). Then he used the “left-overs” to make ribbed grilled cheese sandwiches. Those were really good too! Then he got to his main point; use different liquids in your go-to meals and it’ll taste totally different. As a demonstration, he had muffins. He made them out of a typical cake mix and had one set made with water – as directed. The next set was coffee, then beer, then cranberry juice, then orange juice. Point made! They all tasted totally different. (Oh, and he put Blueberry beer in the short ribs…and I still liked them 😉 )
Definitely gonna need to expand my liquids. Wonder what I should try first…
Anyway … I skipped my next workshop (BAD NANCY!!!). But, seriously. I’d signed up for one of the (THREE!!) exercise workshops…hoping for the one that would be the least intense (bye bye baby belly or something like that…billed as strength training). When I showed up to the room they were in, I saw all the hot, sweaty ladies coming out and thought, “ya. I don’t want to stink for the rest of the day, thanks.” …and high-tailed it out of there.
It’s all good though cuz I spent my time browsing through the vendors and came away with some great Christmas presents! (And a cool bracelet for me.)
The lunch was good and the comedienne was mostly funny. (She bombed a few jokes, but I did get in a whole bunch of belly laughs). She has twins who are 5 and a 3 year old…to say that I could relate is an understatement 😉
I can’t believe it only took me 5 years to get up the courage to go to one of these…I’m *SO* there next year!!
Filed under: me | Tagged: conventions, MMOTA State Convention, Mom's Night Out, mom's weekend away | Leave a comment »
I learned today that our beloved Nanny Jessica will be moving in 2 months. To say that I’m bummed is an understatement. And the kids are at an age where I think this will be a pretty big impact for them as well.
I’m incredibly happy for Nanny Jessica, as this move means great things for her – and I’m a firm believer in doing things that are right for you; but obviously…this sucks!!
And it has to make one wonder…Nanny Jessica is our 9th nanny. Yes, you read that right. NINE. I’m here and I know exactly why each nanny has left us (or been fired…), and it still makes me pause and wonder… are my kids THAT bad? And then…I know that they aren’t. I mean, they are definitely kids, but they’re good kids. So…does that mean that Mike and I are terrible employers? I don’t think so…I mean, I think I’m incredibly flexible (it helps that my job is flexible with me so I can be flexible with my nanny). And I know I’m grumpy in the morning, but after the coffee kicks in, I’d like to think that I’m relatively pleasant. And I try to not butt in and let the nanny be in charge when she’s here…
So … I guess that just means we’re left with lousy luck.
Keep your fingers crossed for us that we’ll find a wonderful replacement!
Filed under: me | Tagged: nanny, the search is on | 3 Comments »
Ya. I don’t. Keep things straight, that is. Especially when it comes to the kids’ stuff.
Whenever anyone asks me who Burke or Maggie has for a teacher, I have to stop and think – every time. You’d think I’d have it straight by now. Nope. (ANOTHER pro for keeping them in the same class! 😉 )
And when I try to think of the other kids I know in each of their classes…I really have to stop and think of which kid is in which class. For example, Maggie has dance class with two of the girls in her class … but since one of the girls from Maggie’s dance class LAST year is in Burke’s class this year, I get all confused (and make an ass out of myself when talking to the parents…)
And forget about it if I see a mom without her kid(s) – especially out of context. It’s taken me months to realize that the mom I say “hi!” to at Logan’s school is the same mom who has a daughter in Maggie’s Girl Scout troop. (I don’t feel TOO bad about that because it took her about the same amount of time LOL!)
And keeping schedules straight is killer. I rely on my Mom’s Calendar (only the best one EVER) and my Outlook reminders. Seriously. I’d forget to: go downstairs to meet the bus, or let Nanny Jessica go home, or head to Art Class … if it wasn’t for my Outlook reminders. Luckily, these reminders pop up on my computer and on my phone, so no matter where I am, I get a ping.
And I now totally understand why all of my sisters’ and brother’s names were mixed up with mine when we were young. (Funny story: since I have a sister named Sharon, I was called “ShitNancy” a lot…or at least, that’s what it sounds like when you start “Sharon” stop abruptly and immediately say “Nancy” …Well. That’s funny now…)
How do YOU keep things straight??
Filed under: deep thoughts, me | Tagged: confused, mixed-up, scheduling | 2 Comments »
Our house is…cluttered. Toys. Books. Clothes. Paper. There’s just STUFF everywhere.
I know that this is all me. (Well, the kids have clutter too…but it all stems from me.) I see something and I think “I should keep that – I can use it to …<insert crafty/useful thing here>.” Which may or may not be true – I could use it for that – but more often than not, I’ll NOT end up doing that useful thing with it and it’ll still be sitting in the same spot months later. I know this. And yet…
We have school papers coming out of our ears. And the oldest kids are only in Kindergarten!! I was taking pictures of the “work” they brought home last year, but I’ve fallen behind. And this year they’re doing more work than the picture-type work last year…but I just can’t bring myself to throw it out – yet. (I WILL!!)
And clothes.*sigh* I hear all about the changing of closets when the seasons change…which sort of works…but we’re all big T-shirt wearers in this house. Year ’round. So there’s not a lot of change-over in those drawers.
BUT…I’ve started going through my clothes anyway. I’ve made a pile of the ones I haven’t had on in more than 3 years. Along with all of the ones below a certain size – ya…never gonna see THOSE numbers again…) And I pulled out all of my shorts and stored them under the bed. I can see my bedroom floor again! (Just don’t look at my bed right now…)
And it’s funny…I started the decluttering and then ran across this post written by a Fishful Thinking peer. I’m taking it as a sign that I’m headed in the right direction.
I’m a LONG way from done, but it’s a start. And I’m okay with baby steps.
Filed under: house, me | Tagged: clothes, clutter | Leave a comment »
Over the past few days we’ve been to two fairs. The first was a Church fair where all of them women’s groups got together to sell home made things and stuff like that. There was a “General Store” where jams and knitted items and such were displayed (where I worked for an hour). There were booths full of flannel blankets and one booth entirely dedicated to pies. There was a crafting booth where kids could go and paint or make a sand necklace. There were booths with hot dogs for lunch. My women’s group put together bags of bulbs to sell (we almost sold out!). They also had a lawn sale with items that members of the church had donated. The Fair was pretty big! I had a good time at my table…and even came away with an apple pie and 3 of those towels with loop-type tops sewn on so they won’t fall off my oven handle anymore. 🙂
The second one was a book fair at the school. So much fun! I remember loving looking through those Scholastic pamphlets at all the books that had the potential to come home with me…and Burke and Maggie have picked that tradition right up. As soon as the pamphlet came through the door, they were pouring through trying to figure out which books would make it into our house. I gave them each a $20 spending limit. Maggie immediately pointed to the book she wanted …which, of course, was $19.99. And Burke spent his time choosing 4 books that equaled $20. (Shows so much about their personality…most expensive vs. largest number of things for his buck…) The fun part of this though was this it was an actual book fair during their library time today. I got to go in and help them choose what they wanted. Actual books! Luckily, Maggie was the first session of the day and she knew exactly what she wanted – I couldn’t sway her in the slightest – so she made a B-line right for her book. I say “luckily” because there were only 2 of those books…and another little girl in her class snapped up the other one. Burke’s session was later in the day (after lunch) after 4 or 5 other classes had already gone through, but he wasn’t as picky as Maggie. I think we made one substitution for him and he was fine with it.
Helping out at two different (but fun in their own way) Fairs Makes My Monday.
Cheryl over at Twinfatuation hosts this one. Head on over to see what else makes people’s Mondays (there are always some really good ones!)
Filed under: me, MMM | Tagged: Book Fair, books, Church Fair, Fair Fun | Leave a comment »
On Wednesday, my twins club sponsored a Meet the Officer’s Dinner. I had a BLAST! The food was really good, and it was so great to chat with such wonderful people! We had a total of 20 moms…including some fellow mommy blog writers:
(I hope I didn’t miss anyone!!)
Filed under: FFFF, me | Tagged: MNO, Mom's Night Out | 2 Comments »
About 2 years ago, I went through the Top 100 most challenged books from 1990 to 2000 and noticed that I’d read 33 of them. I’m down by 9 this decade; but I’m not too surprised…I haven’t had as much time to read over the past 6 years! 😉
1. Harry Potter (series), by J.K. Rowling
2. Alice series, by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
3. The Chocolate War, by Robert Cormier
4. And Tango Makes Three, by Justin Richardson/Peter Parnell
5. Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck
6. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, by Maya Angelou
7. Scary Stories (series), by Alvin Schwartz
8. His Dark Materials (series), by Philip Pullman
9. ttyl; ttfn; l8r g8r (series), by Myracle, Lauren
10. The Perks of Being a Wallflower, by Stephen Chbosky
11. Fallen Angels, by Walter Dean Myers
12. It’s Perfectly Normal, by Robie Harris
13. Captain Underpants (series), by Dav Pilkey
14. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain
15. The Bluest Eye, by Toni Morrison
16. Forever, by Judy Blume
17. The Color Purple, by Alice Walker
18. Go Ask Alice, by Anonymous
19. Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger
20. King and King, by Linda de Haan
21. To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee
22. Gossip Girl (series), by Cecily von Ziegesar
23. The Giver, by Lois Lowry
24. In the Night Kitchen, by Maurice Sendak
25. Killing Mr. Griffen, by Lois Duncan
26. Beloved, by Toni Morrison
27. My Brother Sam Is Dead, by James Lincoln Collier
28. Bridge To Terabithia, by Katherine Paterson
29. The Face on the Milk Carton, by Caroline B. Cooney
30. We All Fall Down, by Robert Cormier
31. What My Mother Doesn’t Know, by Sonya Sones
32. Bless Me, Ultima, by Rudolfo Anaya
33. Snow Falling on Cedars, by David Guterson
34. The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big, Round Things, by Carolyn Mackler
35. Angus, Thongs, and Full Frontal Snogging, by Louise Rennison
36. Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley
37. It’s So Amazing, by Robie Harris
38. Arming America, by Michael Bellasiles
39. Kaffir Boy, by Mark Mathabane
40. Life is Funny, by E.R. Frank
41. Whale Talk, by Chris Crutcher
42. The Fighting Ground, by Avi
43. Blubber, by Judy Blume
44. Athletic Shorts, by Chris Crutcher
45. Crazy Lady, by Jane Leslie Conly
46. Slaughterhouse-Five, by Kurt Vonnegut
47. The Adventures of Super Diaper Baby, by George Beard
48. Rainbow Boys, by Alex Sanchez
49. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, by Ken Kesey
50. The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini
51. Daughters of Eve, by Lois Duncan
52. The Great Gilly Hopkins, by Katherine Paterson
53. You Hear Me?, by Betsy Franco
54. The Facts Speak for Themselves, by Brock Cole
55. Summer of My German Soldier, by Bette Green
56. When Dad Killed Mom, by Julius Lester
57. Blood and Chocolate, by Annette Curtis Klause
58. Fat Kid Rules the World, by K.L. Going
59. Olive’s Ocean, by Kevin Henkes
60. Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson
61. Draw Me A Star, by Eric Carle
62. The Stupids (series), by Harry Allard
63. The Terrorist, by Caroline B. Cooney
64. Mick Harte Was Here, by Barbara Park
65. The Things They Carried, by Tim O’Brien
66. Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, by Mildred Taylor
67. A Time to Kill, by John Grisham
68. Always Running, by Luis Rodriguez
69. Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury
70. Harris and Me, by Gary Paulsen
71. Junie B. Jones (series), by Barbara Park
72. Song of Solomon, by Toni Morrison
73. What’s Happening to My Body Book, by Lynda Madaras
74. The Lovely Bones, by Alice Sebold
75. Anastasia (series), by Lois Lowry
76. A Prayer for Owen Meany, by John Irving
77. Crazy: A Novel, by Benjamin Lebert
78. The Joy of Gay Sex, by Dr. Charles Silverstein
79. The Upstairs Room, by Johanna Reiss
80. A Day No Pigs Would Die, by Robert Newton Peck
81. Black Boy, by Richard Wright
82. Deal With It!, by Esther Drill
83. Detour for Emmy, by Marilyn Reynolds
84. So Far From the Bamboo Grove, by Yoko Watkins
85. Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes, by Chris Crutcher
86. Cut, by Patricia McCormick
87. Tiger Eyes, by Judy Blume
88. The Handmaid’s Tale, by Margaret Atwood
89. Friday Night Lights, by H.G. Bissenger
90. A Wrinkle in Time, by Madeline L’Engle
91. Julie of the Wolves, by Jean Craighead George
92. The Boy Who Lost His Face, by Louis Sachar
93. Bumps in the Night, by Harry Allard
94. Goosebumps (series), by R.L. Stine
95. Shade’s Children, by Garth Nix
96. Grendel, by John Gardner
97. The House of the Spirits, by Isabel Allende
98. I Saw Esau, by Iona Opte
99. Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret, by Judy Blume
100. America: A Novel, by E.R. Frank
I’ve read 24 of these. And 3 or 4 more are ones I was supposed to read in school (shh, don’t tell my teachers!) …and there are 3 or 4 more that I now WANT to read.
How many have YOU read?
Source: American Library Association
Filed under: me | Tagged: banned books, challenged books, rebel reader | 3 Comments »
The Zimmer Zoo 