Whirlwind

It's been an extremely full weekend.

Saturday, we walked the kids all over town, including to and from the vigil mass. I think we racked up close to 6 miles Saturday and about 4 this morning running errands. We came home and got the whole house cleaned and scrubbed and vacuumed and then we headed out to the backyard. The kids washed all the patio chairs and the playstands and garden tools while J turned the soil along one side of the fence for the garden. I spent that time sweeping the patio clean (which took forever) then knocking down all the cobwebs. After that I got the hose out and sprayed down all that was left and washed the walls and hosed down the cement. It's like having our own solarium now.

We were viciously attacked by the BBQ bug and went out to Home Depot to finally purchase a grill. That led to finding a propane place since HD was all sold out. Luckily, we found one on the way home that just happened to have one left. Score! The remainder of the evening, after the kids were sound asleep, consisted of J building the grill and me leafing through cookbooks trying to remember how to use one. We haven't had one since ours was stolen from our stairwell (along with all our BBQ tools) the first month we were in our apartment at BYU three years ago.

Tomorrow night, we grill.

Feeling better, can you tell?

I've noticed my posting frequency declines swiftly when I'm feeling better. The sun is finally out and it's 80 degrees and I'm just in heaven over it. I think another week of the gray and rain and cold might have led to a loss of the tenuous grasp I had on my sanity. My arthritis was really bothering my hands the past two days but it seems to be resolved now. Well, mostly, anyway. Maybe I'm getting better at ignoring it?

I took a new route to the park today. It took me just about 50 minutes at a pretty snappy pace which is perfect. Now I need to commit to what kind of double stroller I need for the summer. The skinflint in me is clamoring for the relatively inexpensive Babytrend jogger I saw at Babies R Us. The snob is campaigning for the BOB Duallie. It's a moot discussion in either direction until I can get Ian to the store to try them out. He may just be way too big for the Babytrend which leaves only the second option. I guess I'll have to drag him out with me this weekend.

Speaking of the weekend, Ian has a birthday party to attend. He's so excited. We already bought the gift, we just need a card.

Busy busy busy

Since I last posted:

Took the kids to grandma's for the weekend.
Shopped for new bed and mattress with DH.
Built new bed (gotta love IKEA) with aforementioned DH.
Received the heated mattress pad I ordered.
Moved dismantled loft bed to grandma's.
Broke the stupid seat belt thingie on the driver's side back seat.
Searched the internet to fix stupid seat belt thingie.
Coerced DH to help me fix it.
FIXED!

Little known secret to marital harmony: mattresses that don't give you a backache and dual control heated mattress pad.

Portents of things to come

I caught a glimpse of the future in my relationship with my children today. They are remarkable little people when we're not all exhausted and sick and crabby.

I took my first journey with them *in six years* without a stroller. We went to the Folsom Zoo and Wildlife Sanctuary. Lily was afraid of the tigers but really loved the peacocks. My favorite were the bears. Ian loved it all. We walked and ogled the animals. We climbed stairs and ran down ramps together. We rode the model steam train (sans the normal stroller, diaper bag and other small person accoutrements) and waved to people and neither of them attempted an escape en route or other such possible catastrophes. Did I mention the sun was out?

A good, good day.

Resolution

It's all resolved now. I think. Unless things change again. Or something.

Either way, the kids are still sick. I took them both into the Dr yesterday and they have sinus infections. Thus, they have embarked upon a new round of antibiotics which will hopefully stomp all over their infections. I can hope.

We had a nice Easter holiday with the family. Almost everyone in the area was able to attend and I think we all had a good time stuffing ourselves with pie. J's grandmother looked so good (especially considering she's got terminal cancer) as did his grandfather.

J's mom offered to take the kids this weekend and barring any new health crises, J and I should get a break. We really need the time to go find a new mattress for our bed since we're both having awful backaches from the one we've got now. Ever tried mattress shopping with a 2 yo and a 6 yo? It ain't pretty, let me tell you.

Resolution

It's all resolved now. I think. Unless things change again. Or something.

Either way, the kids are still sick. I took them both into the Dr yesterday and they have sinus infections. Thus, they have embarked upon a new round of antibiotics which will hopefully stomp all over their infections. I can hope.

We had a nice Easter holiday with the family. Almost everyone in the area was able to attend and I think we all had a good time stuffing ourselves with pie. J's grandmother looked so good (especially considering she's got terminal cancer) as did his grandfather.

J's mom offered to take the kids this weekend and barring any new health crises, J and I should get a break. We really need the time to go find a new mattress for our bed since we're both having awful backaches from the one we've got now. Ever tried mattress shopping with a 2 yo and a 6 yo? It ain't pretty, let me tell you.

Too much to deal with

I have some serious stuff going on right now. In the end, I'm sure it will all be laughable but I am currently freaking out in a manner out of proportion to the possible reality. Nobody should be crying in the Ikea parking lot trying to decided how to load a bed in a car or rent a van to get it home. I'm just all out of whack. Thankfully, J is a perceptive DH and has been handling me pretty gently for which I'm grateful. If I disappear for a few days, I promise I'll be back when things are straightened out a bit.

People suck

So, this morning, we walked up to the post office and over to Target and over to a few other places to run our errands. Between the PO and Target, there was a big pile of barkdust that they transportation crew has been using to tidy up the train station. As we were walking across the parking lot some idiot drove up and started scooping up buckets full of it and dumping it into a container in their trunk. WTF?! Who steals bark dust? It's not like you can smoke it, for crying out loud. I really had to pee so I didn't have time to take down their license plate number and stupid me forgot I had a camera phone in my bag. I guess it's time to put the police station's number on my phone. The thing about it is that my kids SAW that person doing it. That bothers me more than anything. It did give us a good opportunity to talk about respecting the property of others but it was so stupid.

Guess what?! Lily is still sick and uncooperative and grouchy. She threw up all over our bed (and me) on Thursday night. She's got a bit of a croupy cough and is just really unpleasant. Ian's sick too. I'm thinking he's going to need to see the pediatrician next week since he's just not getting better.

Our sickness is infinite...

....Like the laundry it's infinite...it doesn't rest.

C'mon, everybody sing with me!

Sorry about that, I need some humor and TMBG to burn off the fog of depression and illness that cloaks our house.

Lily has been acting weird the last few days. She's been walking into doors and walls, stuff that she doesn't normally do. Unlike her mother, she isn't a perpetual klutz. (Ever notice how klutz rhymes with putz? Coincidence? I think not.) I was worrying that maybe she needed glasses since J and I are really nearsighted. Now, I think it may just be another virus. She woke up last night freaking out with a fever and a runny nose. She spent all morning in my lap clutching her beloved pink blankie.

I just can't seem to keep this family healthy. We're supposed to have Easter dinner here on Sunday and now I'm wondering if I should cancel it since Ian will probably end up sick by Saturday.

I NEED some sunshine.

Ice Harvest

Anybody seen this one recently? John Cusack, does that ring a bell for you?

As a general rule, I love JC. Grosse Point Blank is one of my favorite movies, but this was an abomination. J and I have only turned off one other movie halfway through in 15 years (Seven, Brad Pitt, sound familiar?).

Don't get me wrong, I like the F word when I'm pissed off or after I've dropped say, an anvil, on my foot as much as the next person. But, it's a swear word. Meaning a vulgar word to equate vulgar sentiments out loud. It's not grammatical filler. You don't just toss it out there to fill dead air. It's not a replacement for "uh...." I was actually unable to count the incidences after a while and it just left me feeling annoyed that it was distracting me from whatever story that might have been cowering in the corner on the back lot of the studio.

Netflix won't let me give it less than one star, but I can do whatever I want here in my blog. Insert evil, maniacal laugh here.

It sucked.

Somebody. Please. Make. The. Rain. Stop.

I really need some sun.

I'm in such a funk. The constant rain has saturated my brain. I'm grouchy and tired and all out of sorts. On the bright side, I did manage to do all the laundry today.

Have I mentioned that Lily has turned into the pee monster? Yes, she has. Last night she soaked herself though three doublers, an ME Sandy, a wool cover and her pajamas. She did the same thing later in the morning, only then it was an ME AIO and all her clothes. Tonight, I put her in a disposable to see if that makes a difference. I never had these problems with Ian. She's also turned into the devil. Today, I found her in our bathroom merrily stuffing toilet paper into the toilet and then flinging it about.

Tomorrow, I buy door knob covers.

Ho hum

Not much to say today. The kids were better healthwise so we took them out for a long walk in the sun (well, the part that peeked before the clouds returned). That was good excepting the part where I got a sunburn where my watch usually is on my wrist. I thought to put sunscreen on my face but neglected that part.

Mom came over and watched the hooligans so J and I could go to the vigil mass for Palm Sunday. We were waiting for the mass to start and someone asked us if we would carry up the offerings. J was sent immediately into panic since he's not Catholic and he hasn't been to mass regularly since November (when the kids started getting sick). I sat and prayed silently that God would calm J down somehow. Interestingly, the reader for the narration of the Passion started reading the wrong gospel and then skipped part of it and went to the wrong page. The reader handled it very gracefully and I really think that it calmed J down quite a bit. Thankfully, carrying up the hosts and communion wine went off without a hitch. It was actually a very humbling experience.

The sun may be out, but it's cloudy in here

I feel so depressed today.

I can't seem to keep these kids healthy which is crazy. It's not as though we don't have a dishwasher to sterilize everything. The kids wash their hands a hundred times a day. And yet, the sickness rides again. Blech.

J thinks I'm mourning being able to sleep in on Saturday. Yeah, well, maybe. I'm so tired and I just want to crawl into bed and sleep until tomorrow.

The good news is that I've lost two pounds. The bad news is the overpowering urge to make a pan of brownies and eat them all.

Foiled again

Ian woke up this morning with a sick tummy and a 102 degree fever. The weekend trip for the kids to Grandma's was promptly cancelled. I can't believe it. I just got him healthy. The universe is out to get me.

Reorganized and ready to roll

I've been in a clothing rut. I think I've worn the same three shirts and pairs of jeans every day for the last month. They were always the clean ones at the top of the drawer but they were making me feel old and frumpy. I'm too young for frumpy. Really. I am. How is it possible that I could have eight drawers and a closet full of clothes and nothing to wear?

I pulled every piece of clothing I own out of the closets and drawers and flung them on my bed. J came in and thought that I'd either lost my mind or set off an A bomb. I took everything that didn't fit me right and donated it. I matched every top to a bottom and hung them all up in the closet together by outfit and organized them by season. I also bought new trouser socks since not one pair of the ones in the drawer would stay up. This means that I can now wear all my cute shoes instead of my tennies every day.

All I had to do this morning when I got up was grab a hanger and VOILA! Not only was I dressed on time, but everything matched and I looked reasonably put together for a mother to two young children. It's a miracle.

Wise words from small fry

Ian (my 6 year old) turned to me yesterday to remark about the book he was donating to the book drive. The title was Tiki Tiki Tembo. "This is a story about listening to your mother and following directions." Indeed, it is.

You know you're a geek when...

...you IM your husband in the bedroom with his laptop from the couch on your laptop.

Making friends with Fleurville

Somebody stopped me yesterday because of my diaper bag. Let's preface this by acknowledging that I'm probably the least "hip" mom that I know. I only happen to have this Sling Tote because I have friends who are hip. The gal who spoke with me was delighted to see one and had a number of questions about it. I tried to give her an honest review of the pros and cons since the Sling Tote is actually my least favorite bag. It's just not quite big enough when I need to carry a bunch of stuff and it's not small enough for just a quick trip to the store. I haven't really run across a situation where it meets an ideal purpose. The Mothership is great for park outings and long walks and shopping excursions with Lily in the jogger. The Escape Pod is just right if we're going out for a short outing and I won't need my wallet and checkbook. The Wrist Bag is perfect if I'm running out on my own with just my keys, cell phone and DL.

I think I'm a Fleurville junkie. If anyone wants to joing me in my obsession, I'm selling my sling tote here.

IKEA, interrupted

J is sick. Lily is sick. Ian is sick. I appear to be the only member of the household that ISN'T sick. One of my plants even looks sick.

J suggested we revist IKEA in hopes of actually going inside this time. We arrived just as it opened and browsed most of the downstairs before it started to get crowded. We had picked out lamps for our bedroom and the living room. Close to $200 in merchandise in the cart. We attempted to check out the upstairs, but it was beyond crowded and verging uncomfortably on mosh pit crazy. Realizing that discretion is the better part of valor, we took the elevator back down so we could pay for our items. Note: The elevator is at the entrance, and there is a wall between it and the checkstands. IF, the security guy hadn't insisted that we needed to walk back through THE ENTIRE FREAKING STORE instead of just going back around the wall, I would have new lamps. Alas, it was not to be. You couldn't have paid me to try and wrangle that crowd twice. Did I mention that Lily spent most of the trip whining and howling and making those lovely sounds that cause the childless and parents (with children who are momentarily quiet) alike to smugly stare in your direction accusing you of parental incompetence? Thus, we fled to the car and departed for home.

I'm never going back. Well, maybe in a year when the IKEA madness has passed. Definitely not taking the offspring.

Ian asked me to take him to the vigil mass tonight. Funny comments from the priest, "Everyone here was thinking ahead, I see. You all get to sleep in an extra hour tomorrow. Those who put church off tonight have to get up for 7:00 a.m. mass tomorrow." Have I mentioned that I hate the whole daylight savings time thing? It's crazy that someone convinced us all to pretend it's a different time for half the year. And we LOSE an hour of sleep. Which mothers voted for that?