We Need Batteries

I know I've been talking a lot about Amaya lately and not much about the boys, but it's because she's been so funny lately.

The other night we came home and it was almost bedtime. She said she wanted to go play in her room and I told her she could but only for a few minutes because it was time to go to bed. She headed off downstairs to play.

A minute later she came back upstairs and said, "My room is broken. It needs a new battery." I had to have her repeat what was broken a few times because I couldn't understand her at first. It turns out the light in her room was burned out.

Amaya's Christmas Program

Today Amaya had her Christmas program at school. She did such a good job. Her class (two-year-old class) sang two songs and she actually sang the second one. Her mouth didn't actually match up with the words, but it was moving. She was really excited. I didn't know how she would react with so many people there watching because she is usually scared around large groups of people. When her class first came in she looked a little shocked at all the people there, but by the time her class got up in front of everyone I think she relaxed a little bit, especially after she saw Mike and she yelled out really loud, "There's my daddy!" She didn't see me at first because I was over on the side so I could videotape her. One of her teachers was handing little bells to all the kids and I heard Amaya ask her teacher, "Where's my mommy?" Right after that I got her attention so she knew I was there.

Here she is after she was done singing. She was very excited to get a present from her teachers, even though she doesn't look like it here.



This morning, as we were rushing around trying to get ready for school and the program, I decided it would be a good time to take some pictures of the kids for our Christmas cards. I am such a procrastinator. Here is one each of them individually. It's interesting to note that Amaya is the only one who doesn't get the red-eye effect from my cheap camera.

I really wanted a group picture for our cards, though, but it didn't start out too well. Hayden was his usual moody self and didn't want his picture taken.

I told him that anybody who didn't smile wasn't going to get any presents from Santa. That did the trick.

Not too bad for a last-minute-take-a-break-from-getting-ready-for-school-rush picture session.

We're Finally Flowing Freely

Our plumbing problem is finally fixed, after three days. When I called our regular guy (yes, we have a regular rooter man) he was booked up and said there was no way he could come today, so he recommended another guy. When I called the second guy he said they were all booked up but he would try to fit me in. Luckily he was able to fit us in today.

Saturday and Sunday without working plumbing wasn't too bad because we were gone a lot. Saturday Mike and Hayden were working all day and then we had a Christmas party that night. Carson slept over at Mike's mom and dad's house. We made sure we went to the bathroom before we left the Christmas party and we were good until the next morning. Sunday morning we woke up early, got Hayden and Amaya out of bed and took them to my mom's and then Mike and I went shopping. We shopped for about 10 hours. It was crazy. Then we came home and I went to my mom's to watch Survivor.

Today was the worst day because Carson and Hayden both stayed home from school because they were sick. So there were four of us here with no working toilet. I actually went to my mom's early this morning before Mike left for work because I had to go to the bathroom really bad, if you know what I mean. I am so glad it is fixed and we have no worries about it anymore.

Being a rooter man (I say "man" because I just can't imagine any woman out there doing the job) has got to be one of the worst jobs ever. It is way different from being a plumber. I assume this because I don't know any plumbers but I imagine what they do is install or change out pipes. The rooter man has the very dirty job of cleaning out clogged sewer lines. I don't think it gets much grosser than that. I think if I was married to a rooter man I would have to have a shower and a washer and drying installed outside so when he came home he could just strip down out of his poop-covered clothes, throw them in the washer with some bleach and jump in the shower without setting foot in my house first.

It's kind of embarrassing thinking about this man pulling poop-covered roots out of our pipes knowing that he's looking at our poop. Then again, he looks at poop all day long so it's probably not a big deal to him. I got the lecture about not flushing anything except toilet paper because he found a wipe in the pipe. I guess a baby wipe can really screw things up. At least this time I didn't get the lecture about tampons. I got that lecture last time and I was rather uncomfortable during it.

Anyway, enough of this disgusting topic. All I can say is I'm glad we can shower and flush the toilet again.

Shopping Therapy

As I sit here typing, our entire plumbing system is clogged. We can't take a shower, do laundry or flush the toilet. We are not having anyone come to fix it until Monday for several reasons, one of which is that we have to dig a hole in our front yard so the rooter man can access our system and get anything gross out of it outside and not inside our house. I hate anything related to poo, and I would rather deal with not having working plumbing for a few days just to avoid anything that had poo touch it come out of a pipe inside our house. Mike is working all day today and then we have a Christmas party tonight, so he won't even have time to try to dig the hole today, and I'm not going out there in the freezing cold to do it.

We do have a system in place for the next few days. Since we are going to a party later and will have to shower (well, I guess we don't HAVE to but it would be in our best interest) Carson, Amaya and I are going to go over to my mom's house in a few hours to shower there, then Mike and Hayden will be going to her house later to shower, since Hayden is going to work with Mike for a while. As far as any hand washing that needs to be done, we have a bucket in the bathtub and whenever anyone needs to wash their hands they will just let the used water go in the bucket and then we will dump it in the backyard. As far as pottying goes, the boys can pee outside and Amaya can pee in her small potty, even though she's been using the big one for a while now. I haven't decided what I will do yet since I haven't had to since the clog happened. If anyone has to poop, I guess we'll have to drive over to my mom's house. I think we'll go hang out there all day tomorrow anyway and watch football. By the way, when the plumbing backed up it was only laundry water and not toilet water, so I don't have to stress out about having excrement-laced water on the floor of the basement. Luckily there's not that much water and it's only around the washer so nothing got damaged.


The only thing that makes me feel better about our dire situation this weekend is looking at these:



Aren't they cool? After I went shopping last night and found some new clothes for myself, I just kept thinking about how I have no decent bras and no shoes to match my new clothes, so I went shopping at 7:00 this morning and found those shoes. I love them. I modeled them for the kids and they all like the red ones the best. I know that rounded toes are now in style, and I'm not that fond of them yet, but I bought the black and white ones because they are too cute and I think they'll help me get over my aversion to the rounded toe. I haven't decided what I'm going to wear tonight, but I'm excited enough about the party to take my mind off our plumbing problems for a while.

I know I shouldn't be shopping for myself at this time of year, especially since I've only bought one Christmas present so far, but I really needed the boost. Mike and I are going shopping early tomorrow morning while my mom babysits, and hopefully we can get most of our shopping done tomorrow. I only have to work one day next week so I can get whatever is left next week.

I don't know what's worse, having no working plumbing for the weekend or having to brave the crowds for holiday shopping.

The Good And The Bad About My Shopping Trip

I went shopping tonight to get a few new outfits. I hate shopping. Well, I would love it if I had more money and less body. I only have three pairs of pants that fit me decently and comfortably, and they are all sweats. Okay, I do have one more pair but they are for work. Since I work at different places all the time I don't really need a lot of work clothes because I don't see the same people very often, and since they are mostly men I highly doubt if they remember what I wore the last time I was there. I really needed a few things to wear for all the get togethers we are going to be going to over the next few weeks. The good news is that I found three pairs of pants and two shirts that actually look decent on me. The bad news is they are in the biggest size I've ever had to buy clothes. I've never weighed more than I do now except for when I was pregnant. The other bad news is I still look like I'm pregnant even though it's been five and a half years since the last time I gave birth. The other good news is that it's almost the new year so I can make a resolution to lose weight. It will only last a week, but at least I'll lose a couple of pounds that first week. I hate being fat.

Speaking of being fat, when I had to take all the kids to the doctor in the last week their doctor has a new nurse. She is obese. I really don't get doctors and nurses who are obese or who smoke. If people who work in the health care industry can't be expected to be healthy, how can the rest of us? Give me a break!

I'm a Winner!

The few people that read this probably already know that I won 1st place in my category in the 30 Day Organizational Challenge.

I had such a great time participating in it. Well, it wasn't such a great time getting the room cleared out, but it was a lot of fun getting everything organized after it was cleared out. The kids absolutely love that room and have been spending a lot of time it in.

I know that without that challenge the room would still not be done. It really was overwhelming. I have to admit that I have been completely lazy for the past two weeks and I think it's just because I was so tired after working on that room for a month. Also, I got sick the very next day. I just wonder if I wore myself down. I dont really care, though, because it was totally worth it.

Getting that room done has really got me motivated to get the rest of the house organized. I've slowly been working on it, but I realize I really need to change some of the systems I've put in place because they don't work very well. I've decided to do a similar challenge for each room. I am going to give myself 30 days for each room. None of the rooms are really going to take that long, but if I tell myself at the beginning that I only have to get one room done in a month I won't feel so overwhelmed. Most of the rooms will only take a day, three of the rooms will probably take two days, and I'm not even going to think about the garage until spring. If I can get everything done except the garage by spring, then when it's time to open up the garage and start getting things out it will be time to do it.

I know I have more to say on this subject, but I've got to leave for work now.

One last thing I do want to say is that I really appreciate all of the great comments that everyone left for me. Every single one of them made me feel so good about myself. There sure are some very nice and supportive women out there and I really am grateful for every comment left for me.

Amaya's Tougher Than Her Big Brother

Last week Amaya had to go to the doctor for her three-year-old checkup. Yes, we are a couple of months behind since her birthday was two months ago. She had to get four shots. We're slowly catching up her immunizations since we have no idea if the records from China were accurate or not. At the time the nurse was giving her the shots, she got a weird look on her face, but she didn't cry at all. I thought that was pretty good considering she got four shots. Then afterward she was all excited because she got a sticker and a sucker and she kept saying, "I didn't cry."

Today Hayden had to go to the doctor for his five-year-old checkup. Yes, we are a couple of months behind since his birthday was in June. Oops. He only had to get one shot. He started crying before the nurse even got near him with the needle. After he got the shot he admitted that it wasn't that bad. He was just scared. He got his sticker and his lollipop and was fine for the rest of the day.

Carson has a doctor's appointment on Wednesday and I think he'll be getting a shot. I'm sure he won't cry. At least I hope not.

Amaya is Too Cute

Amaya is talking so much lately. Sometimes I have to tell her to be quiet because I can't take it anymore. She gets on a roll and she talks so fast nobody can understand her. If you ask her to repeat it she will and then she'll tack on, "I say," at the end so you don't mistakenly think someone else said it.

Tonight I was reading The Night Before Christmas to her and when I got to the part that said, "He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work, and filled all the stockings, then turned with a jerk," she said, "Don't call Santa a jerk."

Later when it was time for bed Mike told her, "I can hear your crib calling you. It's saying, 'Amaya, come to bed,'" and she said, "It doesn't have a mouth. It doesn't have any teeth."

She's pretty funny.

"My Feet Are Scrabbley"

That's what Carson told me when he got home from school today. What he was talking about was how your skin gets wrinkly after it's been wet for awhile. Apparently his shoes got wet at recess and after being wet for several hours his feet were all wrinkled up. It's not just the little kids that say funny things. Sometimes the bigger ones do, too.

I'm in a Complaining Mood This Week

Carson informed me today that there is a chess tournament on Saturday. It is supposedly at his school. Do you think the parents have been informed about this? No. The last time there was a tournament I found out on Friday afternoon after I picked him up from school. He said, "There's a chess tournament tomorrow." I said, "Where?" He said, "I don't know." I said, "How much does it cost?" He said, "I don't know but we were supposed to pay today." Obviously he didn't go. I am supposed to work on Saturday. In the nine years I've had my job I've never worked on a Saturday, but we had a job with out-of-state people come up and I said I would do it because it will be good money. If there's a chess tournament, however, that Carson wants to go to then I don't want to work. Now that I've said I will work, I don't know if they could find somebody else to do it if I can't. I called Carson's friend's mom. Her and her husband were in charge of the chess club last year but they weren't invited back because some parents complained, even though I thought they did a great job. She hadn't heard a word about the tournament either. I checked a website that supposedly has all the tournaments on it, but it doesn't show one for Saturday. I am going to call the school first thing in the morning and find out if there is one, and if there is one I am going to complain about the chess teacher not informing the parents about anything. It is possible that Carson got the information wrong, but he usually pays attention to stuff like that. Two things bother me about this. This first one is how hard is it for the chess teacher to keep the parents informed about what's going on? The chess club is not that big. All he needs to do is write out some information on a piece of paper and make a few copies. The second thing is why were there parents complaining about the way the club was run last year? It seemed well run to me, we were always informed of what was going on and the kids had a great time. They even took the kids on a field trip at the end of the year. Parents, nothing in life is perfect. Get used to it. Unless something is going on that is going to be unsafe or truly damaging for your child, deal with it. If you complain too much you just might end up worse off than you already are.

I hate to be such a complainer, so I'll try to say something good that happened today...

I'm still thinking...

Still thinking...

Oh, I had a good hair day.

Another Boring Day

I don't think I've ever had two such boring days right in a row. I did end up puking a couple of times last night. The only good thing about that was after standing by watching me puke, Hayden felt so sorry for me he said, "I love you, Mom." I guess that makes up for him making me clean up his vomit in the middle of the night last week.

I have to complain about the biggest toy retailer in the country. They suck. There was an ad in the paper today and something that we want to get Amaya for Christmas was on sale. Since I was still feeling a bit under the weather I sent Mike over to get it. He comes home a while later saying they don't have any of the item. They did call another store and said they had a bunch over there. I told him he'd better go get one because it seems to be a popular item and if he didn't we might have a hard time getting it. He wasn't too happy, but he ventured out again. He drove across town and guess what? They didn't have any either. They didn't even have a spot on the shelf for them. He first looked for them on his own and then asked an idiot employee if they had any. The guy left to go look something up and said they didn't have any. Mike was pissed. He called me and I was pissed. He said he would just come home. I got on the internet to find a phone number where I could call and bitch someone out, and just in time Mike called me back to say they actually did have it. Just before he was walking out the door he decided to ask one more person and they found one for him. So it wasn't a wasted trip after all. I hate to say that this is the first gift we have bought for Christmas, so we have a lot more shopping nightmares ahead of us in the next couple of weeks.



Earlier this morning, before his fun shopping trip, Mike took a quick trip to the store. When he came out from the store the truck wouldn't start. Luckily he was right next door to his work at a convenience store where he has known the guy who was working for years. The guy jump started the truck. It has been having a problem lately and last week we took it in to get an oil leak fixed, the battery checked and a tune-up. For some reason, even though it was written down on the work order, they only fixed the leak. We have to make another appointment for the other two things. Gee, they must get their employees from the same place the giant toy retailer gets theirs. Now we have to deal with the truck having problems for a few days and I have a job tomorrow that is about 45 minutes away from home. I hope I don't get stranded there. At least if it was in town I could call Mike and he could come and help me. I guess I'll figure something out between then and now.



On a happier note, Spot loves the snow. He is such a goofball. The boys played outside for a while today and worked on their snowman they built yesterday. Amaya was taking a nap again. I guess we'll have to start planning outside play when she's awake because she was pretty upset when she found out the boys got to play outside and she didn't. Mike hasn't pulled our tomato plants out yet and there are still some red cherry tomatoes on them, even though they are frozen. Carson got a couple of tomatoes and put them on the snowman for eyes. Spot saw them and he jumped up and ate the eyes. Carson went and got more and gave the snowman eyes again. Spot ate the eyes again. Then it became a game. Now that I'm thinking about it, it probably wasn't a good game. I hope I won't be cleaning up tomato barf tonight. I guess it would be better than cleaning up poo barf, but that's another story for another time.

Blah Day

I have been nauseous all day and it sucks. I hate that feeling. I would much rather have a cold or body aches or a fever, because then I could just dope myself up and go to sleep. As it is I just have to lay in bed feeling sick and there's nothing that can be done. I did take a nap for about three hours, but it wasn't a good one because I kept waking up and not being able to fall back asleep because of my stomach. Yuck.

On a better note, I have checked out everyone's before and after photos from the Challenge and I can't believe how good they are. I love looking at stuff like that because then I can get ideas that might work for me. The Challenge helped me more than I can say. I would never have gotten the room done without it. It got me motivated to do a challenge on each room of my house. Most of the rooms will only take a day because they are already organized, they just need a little tweaking here and there. I have three more rooms, Amaya's bedroom, my bedroom and the laundry/storage room, that will take a couple of days each. None of them are near as bad as the Fun Room, formerly known as the Messy Room. I admit that was a total disaster. Then I have a few things outside of the house to organize, like the garage, shed, car, truck and outdoor toy boxes, but most of those will wait until spring since I'm not going to be outside doing any organizing during the winter. I'll have Mike do the car and the truck. He's good at that. The garage is the only other thing to organize that will take a while because it's pretty bad, too. We built our garage specifically for storage. We never had an intention of putting a vehicle in it. Our house is so small we don't have a lot of storage, so the garage is the main storage. There is a lot of stuff out there to get rid of, I know that.

I have to say it's probably going to be pretty easy to keep the Fun Room clean now. Last night I got out a couple of files that contain owner's manual for practically everything we own. I was looking for a specific one, which I didn't find. I was trying to think of a better way to organize them. Something came up, I can't remember what, and I left the files sitting on the floor. I decided I would do it this morning. First thing this morning Carson came downstairs, took one look in his beloved new room and yelled to me, "Who left papers all over the place?" I didn't know what he was talking about. I figured Hayden or Amaya had gotten into the files and thrown the papers all over. I walked in to check it out and there were two files sitting on the floor, no papers. He said, "I want those put away." I asked him why. He said, "Because I don't want this room getting messy. That is a first. He's never cared whether any was messy before. I think he just loves the room so much he's going to help keep it clean. The kids have been in it all day today playing computer games, playing video games, drawing and finger painting. It's great.

The boys went outside for a while and built a snowman while Amaya took her nap. I would have taken a picture of it but I'm afraid if I get up I might puke. Mike even went to the store and is making soup for dinner, but I don't think I'm going to be able to eat it.

I feel like I'm rambling about nothing, so I am going to stop. I hate being sick. I know boys gave whatever it is to me. Carson stayed home from school Tuesday because he was sick and Hayden stayed home Thursday after puking all over his bed. Fun stuff. Bye.