I Love the Circus

I have to say the circus was well worth the money; although our seats sucked and I had The Man With The Biggest Head sitting right in front of me. I had to keep leaning to whichever side was opposite of the way he was leaning, and just as something cool would happen he would lean the other way right in front of me. How annoying. There should be a separate section for really tall people or people with really big heads because they block the view for all the normal people. Luckily after the intermission he moved over a seat and sat in front of Hayden instead of me.

About five minutes after the circus started Hayden starting asking when we were going to leave. He asked me about every five minutes over the next two hours. He sat on my lap a lot, especially after The Man With The Biggest Head sat in front of him. His favorite part was right at the beginning (before he got bored) when a very tiny car was driving around and then a clown got out.

Amaya had a good time and she also sat on my lap a lot. There were several times when I had her and Hayden both on me at the same time. She really liked the animals and her favorite part was when the little dogs were doing tricks.

Carson was totally mesmerized the whole time. After each act was finished he very enthusiastically, almost to the point of being embarrassing, clapped and clapped and clapped. It was so funny watching him. His favorite part was when the elephants were doing their tricks and at the end when a man and woman got shot out of a cannon across the arena.

My favorite part was the whole thing. I LOVE the circus. I don't know what Mike's favorite part was. I didn't ask him. We decided to take the commuter rail so we wouldn't have to try to find parking. I think we'd have been better off if we'd have driven. We drove to the station and parked. It was pouring rain. In fact, as we were leaving our house we actually had sleet coming down. We did bring umbrellas with us. It cost us $10 for a family pass. We initially were only going to buy maybe three tickets, but that would have been $9 and I figured an extra dollar wasn't too much and we'd be covered if we got checked. Now, we have never, ever been checked for tickets whenever we've ridden the train, but you know the first time we didn't buy tickets we would be. We had to stand in the very cold weather for about 15 minutes. Then when the train came it was packed. People these days don't know you are supposed to give up your seat to elderly people or women. It reminds me of when we went to Las Vegas and I was visibly pregnant and we rode the train/shuttle and I constantly had to stand up when there were young men sitting down. What idiots. There were a bunch of 20-something men (if I should even call them that) sitting nice and comfortably while there were older men and women, and our whole family standing in the aisles. Whenever the train would stop or start all the kids would almost fall down. I am definitely going to teach Carson and Hayden how to be courteous to people. The worst part was we were standing right next to a bum. He looked like he hadn't bathed in about a month. They do ride the train all day long because it gives them somewhere out of the weather, but I hate when we get stuck near one. They are always very friendly, though. On the way home it was still raining. We had to wait on the platform with numerous other people. We got on the wrong train, but got off before it left. We finally got on the right one and actually had seats to sit in with no bums sitting near us. There were a couple of Asian women who sat across from us and were speaking to each other in another language. Amaya was totally fascinated by them and wouldn't stop staring. I wonder if it was because she subconsciously recognized some of the sounds they were making, or if she was just being an annoying kid staring at people. As the train was leaving we saw a parking lot a half a block away that cost $7 for parking. I think it would have been better if we'd have driven, and it would have saved us $3, not that that is a big savings compared to how much we spent.

Before when I said the snow cones in the souvenir cups would probably be $20, I was really kidding. I'm sorry I tried to imply that RB & BB Circus would try to rip people off. They were really only $15. Even though they were so cheap, we didn't feel it would be prudent to spend $45 to get our three kids snow cones. Apparently we were some of the few people there who felt that the souvenirs were slightly overpriced. Almost everyone else we saw had snow cones, cotton candy (which was also $15 because it came with a paper hat), cheap plastic swords ($16), light up twirly things ($20), and t-shirts ($50). Okay, I'm just kidding about the t-shirts, but I can guarantee if they'd had them, they would have made an even bigger killing than they did on the other crap souvenirs. There were actually people that had shopping bags full of the stuff. I'm sure they spend more on souvenirs than they did on their tickets.

Even though I think the souvenirs are a total rip-off and wouldn't waste any money on them, we are definitely going to spend more money on our tickets next time and sit in the lower bowl. The circus is so exciting, and to be sitting up so high you are above the spotlights just doesn't cut it. It doesn't quite make the high wire, the trapeze, the tall bendy poles things, the rotating metal thing with circles on it that spin while the people are walking or running or jumping rope on as scary when you are above them. For some reason at the altitude we were at it didn't look like it would be a long drop to the ground if someone had a misstep. I would rather be down low so you can actually see how high these people are. At one point during the trapeze act Hayden said to me, "I hope one of them falls." Although it would make for some entertainment, they did have a net under them so it wouldn't have been very exciting. I was kind of hoping one of the high wire guys would fall because they didn't have a net. They were the true daredevils.

Overall I would have to say the circus is amazing. There is so much going on, hence the term "three-ring circus", and there is not a moment of boredom. I can't wait until next year. On Monday we are going to open a separate savings account just for our circus fund and maybe next year we will actually be able to see the sequins on the spandex outfits.

My Guilt is Justified

I felt guilty for not going with my mom to take her aunt back home, which would have taken about 8 1/2 hours of driving yesterday, spending the night, and 8 1/2 hours of driving today. I just wasn't up for it. My mom and her aunt left yesterday morning and made it just fine. My mom spent the night and left early this morning to come back home. She called me a few hours ago to tell me that the interstate was closed because of snow and she was stuck parked on the side of the highway along with numerous semi trucks. She didn't know how long she would be stuck there and didn't have much information. I felt so bad that she was stuck there alone. I don't worry about her being stressed out about it because she can handle pretty much anything, but it would be better to have someone with you during a time like that. She kept calling me and updating me every once in a while, and the last time she called she said the roads were cleared but that she wasn't going to leave immediately because she wanted all the semis to leave before her so she wasn't stuck in the middle of them. I hope the rest of her trip is smooth.

We're Going to the Circus

Before we ever had kids Mike and I would go to the circus every year. I love the circus. We used to get the most expensive seats because it was totally worth it to pay more for a close seat. I would always get a souvenir cup with a snow cone in it. In fact, I still have all those cups and the kids drink out of them now. I have a lot of great memories of the circus.

Fast forward eight years and I still love the circus. We've only gone to the circus twice since we've had kids. One time we took Carson, bought the best tickets and got him a snow cone in a souvenir cup. Grandma Kay came with us and she bought him an elephant toy that lights up that he still has. It was a lot of fun. The other time we went to a circus (not THE circus) for free because Mike happened to get tickets from his next-door work neighbor. It was lame. The kids were bored and so were we. It was worth the price of the tickets. In my mind there is only one circus, and I'm sure you know who that is.

Anyway, we are going to the circus today. We bought our tickets over the Internet and printed them out ourselves. How cool is that?! I can't believe how expensive the tickets are. It is costing us almost $100 and we got the second to cheapest tickets up in the nose-bleed area. Times sure have changed. Sadly, there probably won't be any snow cones in souvenir cups, since they probably cost $20 now. All I can say is it better be worth it.

I Feel Guilty

Last Friday my sister and her kids and my mom drove 8 1/2 hours to my great aunt's house, stayed until Sunday and then brought my aunt back with them. She stayed at my mom's house this week and we had a great time visiting with her and she loved playing with the kids. She is like another grandma to my kids. They really love her. She is 83 years old so even though she lives so far away we are trying to go visit her or go get her and have her visit with us since we don't know how much longer she may be around. She is really in pretty good health for her age and she still works. She works at a restaurant three or four days a week doing prep work and making all of their soups and sauces.

Anyway, my mom is leaving tomorrow to take my aunt back home. She is driving there tomorrow, staying the night and then driving back on Sunday. I volunteered to go with her so she wouldn't have to drive back alone. I was going to bring Carson along because the last time I went I took Hayden and Amaya. All day long I have been feeling stressed out about the trip. It's not that I mind the drive that much, even though it is long and through some of the most boring scenery in the United States, it's just that I have had such a busy week and I have a ton of work to do for work and around the house that the thought of being gone for the whole weekend was really stressing me out. Finally I called my mom and told her I couldn't go. She said she didn't care if she had to drive home alone, her only worry was the weather, since there's supposed to be a big storm this weekend. She is fine with the fact that I don't want to go. As soon as I talked to her I felt a huge amount of stress leave me.

I still feel guilty about making her drive home alone, though. It is a long and boring drive. She is used to driving long distances alone because she drives to visit my brother, who lives in another state, quite a bit. I'm not really worried about her, I just feel bad that she has to go alone.

All right, I've got to go. Conan is on and I think he is absolutely hysterical.

Fit4Life Friday

I started out all with a lot of motivation last Friday, and I forgot to weigh myself, so I don't know if I lost any weight or not this week. I do know that as of this morning I am right where I was when I left off several weeks back, so if I did gain any weight during my bad time, at least it's gone now.


I did okay this week. I ate breakfast most days and I actually went one day without drinking any Dr. Pepper, and I felt really good that day.


My goals for next week are:

• Eat a healthy breakfast every day.
• Be Dr. Pepper-free for two days.
• Exercise three days

I feel like I'm back on track and will do good next week.

Good luck to everyone else who is participating in Fit4Life Friday. Deedra has not updated yet today, but as soon as she does I will link over to her.

Boys Aren't Supposed to Kiss Boys

Tonight after Mike had put Hayden in bed and read him some books he leaned over to give Hayden a goodnight kiss and Hayden said, "Dad, boys aren't supposed to kiss boys. They're only supposed to kiss girls." I'd like to know what just what they're teaching in Kindergarten nowadays.

Phone Calls in the Middle of the Night Are Never Good

Have you ever had someone call your phone in the middle of the night when you are in a deep sleep? These kinds of phone calls are never good. I had one last night. When the phone rang at 5:23 a.m. Mike's first thought was that something had happened to his dad, who has had some medical issues for the last few years. Normally I wouldn't even hear the phone in the middle of the night because we don't keep it in our room, but it happened to be right next to me. All it was was someone calling to see if I could work at 8:30 this morning. She had someone scheduled to work and they called in sick during the night so she was in a panic trying to get someone to work. My job isn't the type where you can just call in sick and leave it at that. I do not call in sick unless I am unable to pull myself off the bed. It makes it too hard for someone else to get the job covered. It isn't like an office job where if you call in sick other people can do without you for a day by chipping in a little bit. With my job you are assigned to a particular job and if you can't do it at the last minute it wreaks havoc on the owners of the company you work for. I used to own my own firm so I know exactly how the woman was feeling. That is one reason I decided not to own my own firm. I don't like dealing with issues like that. I had to tell the woman I couldn't work because I already had a job scheduled at 9:00. I know she was in a panic. I could hear it in her voice. I felt bad about it, but there was nothing I could do to help.

That is only the third call I've ever gotten in the middle of the night. The first one was when Mike's mom called and said their business was on fire and was burning to the ground. She is the Queen of Exaggeration and of not getting all of her facts straight before she goes around blabbing about things. She actually said to Mike, "Did you leave one of the machines on? The building is on fire." She was basically accusing Mike of burning down the building when she didn't even know what had happened. Mike was totally panicked thinking he did something wrong. Since we live very close to the business we got up, jumped in the car and drove to the scene. We could only get within a couple of blocks of the business because they had all the streets blocked off. We parked and ran down and saw a huge fire. Technically it wasn't in the building that houses the family business but right next door. There were two buildings side by side, each with two businesses, for a total of four businesses. The family business was in the building to the south and was on the north side. Luckily that building wasn't on fire. The building to the north, and right next door to the family business, was totally engulfed. Both businesses ended up being a total loss. It is amazing that the family business didn't burn up because the buildings were so close together they looked like one. You couldn't even stick your finger between them. The firefighters were spraying water on the other two businesses and luckily it worked. They smelled like smoke for a few days, but everything else was fine. The area where the two lost businesses were is now a parking lot.

The second middle of the night phone call was during the early morning hours of Thanksgiving Day. The phone rang and woke us up but we didn't answer it. I could hear the answering machine going off and someone leaving a message. I thought I heard "This is a collect call from the _____ County Jail." I didn't get to it in time. Whoever it was called back. I answered it and found out it was Mike's uncle. The recording said, "To accept this call, please press 1." I tried to, but since it was dark I accidentally hung up. He didn't call back. Mike and I decided that his uncle was in jail for drinking and driving. I felt bad about hanging up on him, but we decided it was for the best since he probably wanted us to drive to the jail and pick him up. Since it was in the middle of the night and he was an a different county than we were, we didn't want to have to spend half the night driving to pick him up. Besides, if he did get a DUI then he deserved to sit in jail for a while and think about his actions. The bad part was we were going to Mike's parents' house for Thanksgiving and he was supposed to be there. I knew he didn't want the rest of the family to know about it, so I waited for a good time and told him I was sorry for accidentally hanging up on him. He said he had called a cab to take him home.

Luckily all of our during-the-night phone calls have all ended up not being something tragic. I know there are too many people who get those phone calls and it changes their lives forever. It's a scary thing, especially when you have teenagers who can drive. I am so not looking forward to those days, and I sympathize with all parents of teenagers.

Works For Me Wednesday

I love chocolate. I need chocolate. But my waistline doesn't love or need chocolate. At least in the amounts that I have been eating it. I sat down and figured out how much chocolate I eat in an average week. I came up with 1200 calories and 45 grams of fat. That is quite a lot of calories and fat that I don't need. But I still need chocolate to help keep me from feeling deprived when I'm trying to eat healthy food. We get our milk, among other groceries, from a local farm that we consider to be healthier and much better tasting than grocery-store milk. In fact, last week we ran out of milk and had to buy some from the grocery store and Carson was convinced one morning that I had put soy milk in his cereal because he thought it tasted so bad. Anyway, they have chocolate milk that is absolutely delicious. If I drink a half cup of chocolate milk a day, that works out to 630 calories and 17.5 grams of fat. If I substitute the chocolate milk for the candy bars it saves me close to half the calories and fat. I haven't even missed eating the candy bars. Whenever I get the craving for chocolate I just pour myself a glass of ice-cold chocolate milk and it takes care of it.

Getting my chocolate fix every day for half the calories and fat works for me.

Go over to Rocks In My Dryer for more great tips.

Trying To Stay Focused

I started this week off with a renewed motivation to be healthy and to work on my huge list of projects, but I am under a lot of stress this week and it is hard to stay focused. My big stress this week is work. Normally I work outside the home two days a week, but this week I am working outside the home four days. Two of those days, yesterday and today, I had jobs that started at 7:30 a.m. and 7:00 a.m., respectfully. To say that I am not a morning person is an understatement, and to have to wake up early enough to leave the house when the first number on the clock is a 6 is pure torture. I have had a headache for two days now, and I know it is because of work and having to wake up so early. I have to work all day tomorrow and then I will have Thursday off so hopefully I can relax for one day. I have to work Friday, which should be a short job. I am definitely looking forward to the weekend. I realize that sounds pretty sad since today is only Tuesday, but this week just sucks.

I'm not writing this to complain. I am just trying to pay attention to the kinds of things that keep derailing my plans. There is some underlying reason that I haven't been able to follow through on my plans. I will figure it out eventually. I haven't really gotten off track this week, I've just slowed way down. I am going to make a list of things I want to accomplish tomorrow. Since this week is so busy I think I just need to concentrate on one day at a time. If I try to focus on the whole week it is way too overwhelming. When I think of just tomorrow I feel less stress.

I am really lucky that during times when I'm really busy with work Mike steps up and does a lot around the house and with the kids. Tonight when he got home from work he took the kids outside to play for a while. Then when they came in he made dinner and fed them. Then he got all three of them ready for bed and put them in bed. Now he is going to the grocery store. That makes it a lot easier for me to get work done.

Right now I need to get off the internet so I can finish up a job and then I am going to go to bed earlier than I normally would so I won't be too tired tomorrow.

Good night.

The List

I've made my list for my eight-week project. Right now there are 50 items on it, but I keep adding more as I think of them. That means I need to do at least one a day with a few days here and there doing more than one. Some of the items will only take a few minutes, some will take a few hours, and at least one will probably take a week. During the week I do the big one I will still do small ones each day so I don't get behind.

So far there are a few projects in the works and only one totally finished. The finished one is the hallway. There are two closets in it, which were already organized. There is a coat closet and a linen closet. This was the first item because it was one of the easiest. One of the best organizing tips I used in the coat closet was to hang up an over-the-door bathroom organizer with pockets in it to put hats, scarves and gloves in. There are seven rows of pockets. Mike and I each get two rows and the kids each get one row. I used to have a three-drawer unit in the closet for these items, but everything would always be shoved in the drawers and it was hard to find anything. This works much better. The kids can get their own things out and put them back. I didn't make this brilliant idea up, but I can't remember where I got it. I get so many great tips from reading blogs, and I write down all the good ones, but I don't write down where I get them. I should start doing that so I can give credit where credit is due. Here is the hat, scarf and glove organizer:


Our hall is very small so there's not much in it. There is only a hamper and these pictures:

About 12 years ago I was working at an accounting firm as a secretary and at the opposite end of the building from us was an interior design firm. They had a storage area that opened up into the main hallway which I had to walk past every time I went to the bathroom. One day I saw these pictures leaned up against a wall in their storage room. I thought they were really cool. They are drawings of old-fashioned golf clubs. One of the neatest parts is the matting. Here is a not-so-good picture of the matting. It has lists of the scores from golf tournaments. It is fun to look at it and find the famous names. Sorry, this is the best I could get with my less-than-perfect camera.

These prints are limited edition prints and are beautifully framed. At the time I had never bought any expensive artwork, but I loved these pictures. You should know that by "expensive" I don't mean thousands of dollars. Unfortunately for me, hundreds of dollars was expensive. Every day for a week I walked by and admired these pictures, but they were expensive. One day the owner of the business was moving some stuff around and I asked him about the pictures. He said a client had wanted them, but after they had ordered them she decided she didn't want them. I decided that if I wanted them I'd better say something fast, so I asked him if I could buy them and he said I could. I was so excited, but also nervous because of the cost. But I loved them. I bought them and brought them home and they actually sat in the basement for a few years because we didn't have a good place to put them. I didn't want them in our family room. I wanted them for the fabulous game room we were going to have when we bought a real house. After coming to the sad conclusion that we weren't going to have a real house for many, many years, I decided we'd just better put them in the hall; otherwise, they would stay stashed in the basement forever. So that's where they remain to this day.

One down, 49 to go.

A Very Fitting Quote

I just noticed that the quote under my Quote of the Day is:

After all is said and done,

more is said than done.
-Aesop-

That quote could not be more fitting for me after my last post.

I Am On A Mission

I have eight weeks until I turn 41. When I turned 40 I decided it was time to get my act together and get my life organized and running smoothly. I don't want the next 40 years to be as hectic as the first. Well, I have eight weeks to make it happen. In case you haven't noticed, my biggest character flaw is that I'm a major procrastinator. Another bad trait that I have I inherited from my dad. I always get really good ideas, make great plans in my head, and then never follow through. Back when I decided to go to court reporting school (which had a 75% drop-out rate) I heard my mom talking to Mike and she whispered to him (not too quietly since I could hear her from across the room) "She won't finish school. She'll quit." I should remind her of that, considering I have now been a court reporter for almost 10 years. Anyway, I am totally aware of these two bad habits of mine, and have been working to change them.

At the beginning of the summer I planned to get everything organized by the time school started so the school year would run smoothly. Of course, it didn't happen. To be fair to myself I did accomplish quite a bit over the summer. I organized a lot of stuff in my house. I just didn't do as much as I wanted to. You know how some people have perfectly clean and immaculate houses, but you'd better never open a closet door because everything would fall out on your head? Well, right now our house is just the opposite. It is a mess. There are toys, clothes, papers and numerous other things all over. But if you open up a closet or a cupboard, everything is totally organized. I just haven't been able to get anyone to pick up after themselves yet. But I'm working on it. I even lost my wedding ring for about two weeks in the mess, but Mike had a dream about it and woke up and found it.

I have made a huge list of things that need to be done. Now I'm not talking about things like: paint the house, build a deck, get new windows, etc. Those are things that need to be done, but after we are totally organized and have the time and the money to do that type of stuff. The things on my list are things like: organize every room in the house, organize the garage, organize my work stuff, take the truck in for a recall repair, get a U.S. birth certificate for Amaya, etc. You know, the type of stuff I just put off and put off and put off until it never gets done.

I am starting today with cleaning and organizing the bathroom. It is already pretty much organized, but it is getting a deep clean. Walls. Shower. Toilet, inside and out, front and back and sides. Sink. Floor. Towels. Shower curtain. Everything in the bathroom is getting scrubbed and cleaned. It's going to be one of the easiest jobs for me over the next eight weeks, because Mike is doing it! Yeah. He's good at cleaning the bathroom. Not to push off all the work on him, I am cleaning and organizing the family room. Both of these jobs are going to take us two days, but it's a start.

I've already warned the family that until my birthday (which Carson always has to remind me is his birthday, too, yeah, how could I forget spending my birthday in labor) that I am going to be on a cleaning, organizing and weight loss frenzy, and if they follow right behind me messing things up, they are going to be in deep trouble, Misters (four of them, including the dog) and Missy.

I have no more excuses. I am going to do this. I can't help it that I'm now in my 40's (that sounds really weird because I feel like I'm about 25 still, not that I'm that healthy or good looking but I'm just really immature) but I can help how I want to be and how I want to raise my kids, in a clean, organized, stress-free atmosphere, and it's going to feel great when it's done.

Wish me luck. I need it.

Finally, He Mastered School Lunch

Yesterday as the boys were trying to get out the door to school, I told Hayden that there was no drink in his lunchbox because we didn't have a container to put one in that wouldn't leak (we planned on buying juice boxes for next week) so if he wanted something to drink he was going to have to get milk at school. He was upset about it and said he couldn't, but they were running late and I was stressed out and told him I didn't have time to get him a drink so he would have to go without. After he left for school I felt a little bit bad about being so short with him over the whole milk issue, but I was getting frustrated that he wouldn't just grab a milk. It can't be that hard. Anyway, I guess that's what finally pushed him into getting brave enough to get out of line, walk over and pick up a milk and some silverware, pay for it and go sit down. Then, for some reason, Carson's class came to lunch early and Carson sat by Hayden and ate with him. It was an overall good lunch day. When Hayden got home from school he was so excited and proud of himself for getting milk all by himself. Now I think his lunch troubles are over. Since the beginning of school that is the only think that I've felt bad about, the fact that he was scared at lunch, but now that he's overcome it, I think he'll be fine.

Fit4Life Friday

I am a LOSER!

I'm not really a loser but I feel like one every Friday when I realize I have done nothing towards my goals for the week. Every week I have an excuse. This week it was because I was swamped with work and didn't have the time or the energy to eat healthy and exercise. I'm sure anyone reading this is probably thinking, "Why doesn't this loser just give up? She's never going to do it." Only I'm sure you wouldn't use the word "loser" because you're all too nice.

I just realized today that I have eight weeks left until my birthday, and I think I need a certain date to reach a goal by. If I don't give myself a certain date, then I just figure I have the rest of my life to do it, and that is way too long to get anything accomplished (at least I hope it's way too long; I don't want to die tomorrow!). So my new goal is to lose two pounds a week for the next eight weeks. I know I can lose weight. I've done it before. Once I get into it it's really easy to lose the pounds. I just find it very hard to get into it. But as of today I am not going to use any more excuses. I am going to be really busy next week, too, but I'm going to be good anyway. I know that throughout my life there are going to be times when I'm really busy, but that should not be an excuse to be unhealthy. Today is the end of the excuses. Next Friday I am going to weigh two pounds less than I do today. If I don't do it, you can kick me out of Fit4Life Fridays and I'll quit boring you with my lack of accomplishments.

I am not going to do any non-health-related goals for Fit4Life Friday. That's a whole 'nother story that I will deal with elsewhere.

To check out people who are more motivated than I have been, or to participate yourself, go to NspiredByFaith and check it out.

The Horrors of School Lunch

Today was the seventh day of school for Hayden and he still has a problem every day at lunch. First it was bringing a lunch from home and getting school lunch at the same time, then it was not noticing his class was done with lunch and had left the lunchroom while he sat there all alone and then wandered around the school looking for them until Carson happened to see him and told him how to get back to his class, then it was getting school lunch but dropping it on the floor so he didn't eat anything, then it was not eating anything for lunch because he couldn't open it and didn't want to ask for help, then it was bringing lunch from home but not daring to get utensils and milk so he ate with his fingers (yogurt), then it was taking lunch (including utensils and milk from home) and putting his open drink container back in his lunchbox with milk still in it and coming home with milk pouring out of the bottom of his back pack. I don't know what to do with him. He is such a goofball. He asked me the other day if I could come to school with him and take him to lunch. He loves school. He just is having a hard time during lunch for some reason. One of these days he'll figure things out, but for now it's so frustrating.

He's such a goofy kid that Mike's dad said he would give anything to be able to sneak in the school and follow him around all day just to see what he does.

He thinks he is picked on and gets the short end of the stick no matter what. Amaya's been sick since last week and Carson was sick today and stayed home from school. This afternoon Hayden was all pissed off and said, "How come I'm the only kid who's not sick?" Give me a break. He's mad because the other two are sick and he's not. He'd better outgrow this very annoying behavior or he's going to grow up to be a real idiot, just like his uncle (Mike's brother, not mine).

Works For Me Wednesday

My tip for this week is not great, but it works for me when I need my kids to be entertained while I am busy. I am totally swamped with work this week, and working at home with three kids is extremely hard. But I have found one thing that really works.

It is the DVD called What's the Name of That Song? It is the story of how Grover is trying to find a song that everybody can sing together. It shows clips from Sesame Street of 17 different classic songs sung by the Muppets along with celebrities, including Conan O'Brien, Queen Latifah and many others. When I put this DVD on all three of my kids plant themselves in front of the TV and watch it all the way through. Then, when it's over, they want to watch it again. It's amazing. The only bad thing about putting it on when I'm trying to work is oftentimes I end up getting caught up in the songs and find myself watching it instead of working. When I need my kids to settle down and stay put, What's the Name of that Song? works for me.

Go to Rocks In My Dryer for some great tips you can't do without.

I'm Back From The Store...

...and I feel so much better. I think I'll make it through the week in comfort now.

My Schedule Is Ruined

I was trying to stay on my schedule this week so I can get on track with everything: kids, school, work, housework, etc., but my scheduled has already been ruined. I was just starting to feel caught up and relaxed with work, when I just got hit with an avalanche of work this week. Basically I'm going to spend most of my waking hours working, staying up as late as I can handle (which isn't much anymore since I hit 40), and sleeping only when I'm desperate. I anticipate it is going to be like this through Friday. Lucky for me the boys were at school all day and Amaya hasn't been feeling well so she slept half the day. That makes it easier for me to work until Mike gets home from work, then they are all his.

I do need to take a short break to go buy myself some new underwear because even though I do a load of laundry every single day I can never find underwear. I think it's because it's been so long since I bought any, and I keep having to throw some away because they are way past their prime, that the numbers are dwindling fast. The only thing that has spurred me into action on the undie-buying spree is that I have been wearing a thong all day. It was either that or go commando. I'm thinking going commando would have been better.

Best Friends

Today Amaya told me I'm her best friend. Give it another 11 years and we'll see how she feels about that.

Fit4Life Friday

I started out the week trying not to drink as much Dr. Pepper as I usually do, and I did good for about half the week, and as I type I'm drinking my Super Big Gulp of Dr. Pepper. Next week I am going to attempt to make it through the whole week and only drink one a day. I just can't go cold turkey, it's too traumatic.

I am going to eat a healthy breakfast every day this week. I usually skip breakfast because I'm not big on healthy breakfast food. I love bacon and sausage and eggs, but obviously I can't eat those every day. I'm going to eat something healthy every morning, even if it is just a banana. It will be better than nothing.

I started out the week with a daily schedule in mind, and stuck to it for about half the week. Again, once the week was half over things kind of fell apart. This week I'm going to follow my schedule every day. I do have it written out, I just need to look at it every day.

So those are my goals for the week: drink less Dr. Pepper, eat a healthy breakfast every day, and stick to my schedule every day.

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Made In China

As I was putting Hayden to bed tonight he started talking about where babies come from. He said that some babies are made in their mommy's tummy and some babies are made in China, like Amaya. It was really strange to hear him say that. He has no idea that she was made in a mommy's tummy. He just thinks she was made in China. I also realized that we've never talked to Carson about Amaya's situation. He was five years old when we went to China, and I know we told him there were some babies that didn't have a family and they needed one, but we've never talked to him about the fact that another woman gave birth to Amaya and then gave her up. I know that the way we feel about Amaya it's almost like we forget (not really, but you know what I mean, I hope) that she is adopted. We don't talk about it a lot and we don't think about it a lot. She is just such a huge part of our family and we feel exactly the same about her as we do the boys that it's not an issue.

I guess we need to talk to Carson and Hayden about her situation so they are informed about it and start preparing to talk to her about it; although I dread doing that with her. I wish I didn't have to bring it up until she was old enough to totally understand everything, but I know that the issue will come up since she looks different than us and kids at school might ask about that. We need to give her some information so somebody doesn't make a comment to her and she has no idea what they're talking about. I just feel like she is too young to know that she was in another mommy's tummy. A friend of mine who adopted a newborn baby took an adoption class, along with her husband, before their baby was born, and they were told not to use the term "birth mother" when talking about the woman who gave birth to the child. They were told that when children are very young and find out they have another "mommy" somewhere in the world it is very confusing and upsetting to them. They were told to call the birth mother by her name. I think that totally makes sense, but in our situation we don't have a birth mother's name to use. I have been trying to decide if we should make up a name to use for the birth mother's name. I think that if we did that and then when Amaya is old enough to know her entire history we told her we made up a name because we didn't know her birth mother's name that she would understand. The only thing I have told Amaya is that she was born in China. I know that she doesn't really know what that means, but I feel like it is a first step in telling her about her start in life.

I have noticed on one particular internet group that there are a lot of fairly young adopted Chinese children that are upset and say they "miss their family in China." I have always thought it was strange that such young kids would be like that. I think, and it's just my opinion, that some parents of internationally adopted children go so far out of their way to make sure their kids know their culture that they really go overboard with it. They attend Chinese classes and go out of their way to associate with Chinese people and decorate the child's room with all Chinese things that I think it sometimes backfires a little bit and makes the child feel too different than everyone else. I did have this opinion backed up when I had some e-mail conversations with a woman who was adopted from Korea and then adopted a daughter from Korea herself. I asked her a bunch of questions and she very honestly answered them. She said she found it surprising that young kids would "miss their family in China" when they didn't really understand everything fully. She said she never felt different growing up because her parents didn't push the Korean culture on her, although they did incorporate it in subtle ways. After talking with her I realized that for our family we decided we aren't going to push the Chinese culture on Amaya. Like Mike says, she may be Chinese, but she is American and there is no reason to raise her as if she were still in China. She will be raised as an American. When we were in China we bought quite a few things that she will be given as gifts as she grows up that I think will be special to her because they are from China, and we do buy her Chinese dolls so they look like her. We go to a Chinese New Year's celebration every year. I bought an authentic Chinese cookbook because we love Chinese food, although I've only made one thing out of it so far because almost every recipe has special ingredients that you can only get at a Chinese market and I haven't been to one yet, but I do plan to. We buy books about China and read them to her.

I guess what I'm trying to say is we are going to raise Amaya as an all-American girl, but we will incorporate Chinese culture here and there as she grows up, just not overdoing it. As she grows up we will follow her lead in deciding how much she wants to learn about China and what Chinese customs she might want to incorporate or follow. I hope she would want to learn to speak Chinese. Maybe we can learn together.

Another thing we don't do is celebrate "Gotcha Day". I think that with us having two biological children it would make them feel left out and make her feel different than everyone else in the family. Of course, on the anniversary of our trip to China and the day we did get her I think about it for about two and a half weeks, remembering what we did each day and what an amazing trip it was. We can't wait to go back to China to visit. I'm not sure when we will. It will depend on Amaya. When we feel she is emotionally able to handle the trip, and she feels she is ready to visit her birth country, we are going to go back. I'd like to go to the exact same places we went on our trip, stay at the same hotels and visit the same places. Then I'd like to see some places in China that we didn't get to go to, like Beijing. There are a lot of amazing things in China that I would love to see.

I started this post just to talk about a funny thing Hayden said, and it's turned into a long, rambling post about my feelings of our adoption of Amaya. I guess the main thing I hope is that as Amaya grows up she will have a high self-esteem and know that she is such a special person and she can do anything. Even if there is information missing about the beginning of her life, it doesn't change the fact that she is an amazing, smart, funny, loving, beautiful girl and she is loved by a lot of people, here and on the other side of the world.

The Joys of Parenting

Amaya woke up with a runny nose, so I figured she had a cold and may not be able to go to school tomorrow. If that's the case she is going to be pissed off. She's already been mad every morning this week when we take Carson and Hayden to school and not her. She only goes Tuesday and Friday mornings. Anyway, she seemed fine other than having a runny nose. I hate when small children have runny noses because it usually ends up all over the place. Yuck!

I had finished up a couple of jobs this morning and had to run downtown to pick up a new job and drop off the three I finished. First I went to the place I had to pick something up. I found a parking place close to the building (I hate trying to park downtown) that actually had free 20-minute parking. I got out of the truck and got Amaya out of her seat. She told me she had a "tummy ache" but I wasn't concerned because she says that a lot. She says it if she's hungry, which is all the time. But then she laid her head down on me so I knew she didn't feel good. You would think I would have gotten the hint when she told me she had a tummy ache, but I was in a hurry and didn't have time to think. I walked out of the parking lot and onto the sidewalk when it happened. She puked all over me. As soon as she did it I set her down, where she puked all over the sidewalk, and moved her over to the side, where she puked all over some bushes. She had puke all down the front of her and so did I. I certainly couldn't go walking into an office building full of professional people with a puke-covered kid and me being covered with it, too. Can you imagine if I had gotten in the elevator with other people? There could have been a few more people covered in puke after that experience. I was trying to figure out what to do as I picked her up, held her as far out in front of me as possible and started walking back to the truck. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a woman walking towards me. I knew her. She hadn't noticed the puke yet. She said, "Hi" and asked what I was doing, then she saw the puke. I told her I was going in the building to pick something up, but that I couldn't now since I was covered in puke. Luckily she offered to go in for me. So I took Amaya to the truck, took her shirt off and put her in her car seat. There wasn't much I could do for myself so I waited until my friend came back out with the stuff I needed and then I got in the truck to leave.

I did something I felt really uncomfortable about. I drove with the shoulder strap behind me because I didn't want to have to clean up the truck. I remembered those commercials where it would show a lady who was practically a vegetable in a wheelchair and a nurse was saying, "I hope we don't wrinkle your pretty dress," as she was strapping the lady in. Then it said that she never wore a seat belt because she didn't want to wrinkle her clothes. I imagined that would be me with a nurse wiping up vomit off of my chin and I was a vegetable because I didn't wear my shoulder strap because I didn't want to get puke on it and I got in an accident and got severely injured.

Anyway, I still had one stop to make so I stopped there and ran in really quick to drop off my work. I know those people very well and it's a small office so I didn't feel too bad going in. I just tried to hurry so I didn't leave a smell behind. They all have kids, too, so I'm sure they've had similar experiences.

When we got home I made a comfy spot for Amaya in the family room and turned on cartoons and she rested for a while. Now she seems a lot better, except for her runny nose, but I doubt if she'll be going to school tomorrow. We'll see how she is in the morning, but I'm predicting she is going to be really bent out of shape if she doesn't get to go. I did tell her, "It's a good thing I love you so much because there aren't many people I would let puke on me without them paying for it." I had to hurry and call my friend, who is due to have her first baby next week, to let her know the kinds of things she has to look forward to. The joys of parenting!

Navigating School Lunch

Today was Hayden's second day of Kindergarten and he just can't figure out how to do lunch. We make lunch for the kids because we think it's healthier than the school lunch and we want to know what they are eating. I tried to explain to Hayden that he wouldn't be getting the food from the school, he would only be getting utensils and milk. Friday he ended up getting school lunch and eating that along with his homemade lunch. This morning I explained it all again and talked to his teacher to see if he could help Hayden figure out what to do. Today he didn't get anything from the school and didn't eat his lunch. The only think he ate was some yogurt which he said he ate with the lid because he didn't get a spoon. He didn't get milk either. He said he didn't know who to ask to get help. We've decided that until he gets used to school we are going to have him get the school lunch instead of taking lunch from home because it is too confusing for him to be doing something different than what all the other kids are doing. I hate the thought of him eating school lunch, but I hate the thought of him feeling different and being scared of what to do more. So school lunch it is.

Fit4Life Friday

First of all, I know it's really Saturday, but I tried to post this last night and ran into an error. Second of all, I have nothing good to report this week. The reason I am posting such a lame post is just to remind myself that I'm not giving up on my goals, even though I haven't even been attempting to meet them. I am just starting out very, very slowly. My hope is that this week will be better because two of my kids will be in school full time and with only one child home I will have more time to get things done. I am also caught up on work, so now I can start a daily schedule and get on track with everything.

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