Irritated

Do you mind if I complain here for a moment?  

If negativity isn't your thing, feel free to come back tomorrow where I promise to be back to my chipper happy self.  But today I am irked.  

I am all about fundraising and promoting for good causes.  Obviously, or I wouldn't have the sidebar sponsor request.  But there comes a time when requesting money has been taken a step too far.  

I am all too familiar with the school fundraisers which I don't mind participating in my fair share.  Let's see there is Market Day, book fair, Burger King/McDonald's/Five Guys night which are a great excuse to eat out so thank you very much for those opportunities school system.  We also have spirit wear, the annual school carnival, etc.  You catch my drift.  There are many times when we are able to show our support for our schools. 

But here is where I draw the line.  The kindergarten school sent home a student directory order form.  Great, I thought.  Now I can know all the names of the kids and the parents who Carson goes to school with.  

Then I kept reading.  And I got more and more irritated.  

In order to get a copy of this directory you must pay $10.  WHAT?  This type of information should be free to each student who attends the school.  If you are a member of the PTA you automatically get one for free.  Oh, but there is a catch.   IF you decide to become a member of the PTA (what a crock!) you can order a directory and only pay half price.  

Whoo-hoo!  Go PTA.  Gag me please.

I refuse to fall for this.  I smell a rat and I don't like it.  I can live without a student directory if they are going to make me pay for it.  And I don't want to be forced into joining the PTA.  That's my choice.

You tell me.  Am I overreacting to this and should I just be an accepting parent and fork over the $10?  Or better yet, should I be forced to join the PTA and suck it up?

Early fooling

There are only 2 more days until the 1st of April.  Do you know why that is significant?  Because the biggest day of the year is almost here.  April Fools Day.  My kids have been whispering and planning for the past week.  Carson keeps asking me how many more days until the first day of April.  I give him the answer and then he runs off laughing.  

They are plotting.

I am in trouble.

Last year I got Taylor pretty good so I know for a fact there is a great amount of revenge to be dished out.  But I believe the tricks are already starting.  As unintentional as hubby makes it sound he got me yesterday.

I was making pumpkin chocolate chip muffins for dessert.  Not many people think pumpkin and spring go together but I like to live on the wild side.  Call me crazy.  I mixed the dry ingredients in one bowl and was putting together the wet ingredients in a separate bowl.  I poured in the melted butter and a can of pumpkin and then I went to crack the eggs.  I hit it on the side of the bowl and nothing came out.  I thought, "what is wrong with this egg?" It was heavy so I knew the inside didn't somehow fall out.  I take a closer look as my eyes are getting bigger and realized I cracked open a hard boiled egg, but I didn't make any hard boiled eggs.  

It was funny, but not when I noticed that the rest of the eggs were all hard boiled too and now I couldn't finish my recipe without making a trip to the store.  Oh and Jason was just laughing at me.  I should have made him go to the store for "unintentionally" (my butt) tricking me.  

Payback time is almost here honey!   

(Anybody have any good tricks?)

Accusation

For dinner last night I made the kids a frozen pizza and made myself and the hubby a homemade cranberry chicken pizza which was to die for.  But that's not what this post is about.

  

The kids ate their pizza at the table and left the crusts like every normal kid does.  After they ate they decided to go downstairs and play with dad.  I took this opportunity to catch up on the computer, as if I don't do enough of this during the week.  

Zip it. 

Now our dog Sasha has been known to be a little sneaky when the kids leave leftover food at the table.  For example, when the kids have sandwiches for lunch and leave the crust of the bread at the table (what is up with kids not liking crust anyway?) and let's say I don't clean it up right away.  I get sidetracked easily.  If we leave to run errands and come back home I will see the plates on the floor completely licked clean.  Our dog is a garbage disposal, but she can get a bit gassy from people food.  And dog farts are nasty.

So last night when the kids went downstairs I heard our dog eating something.  I look behind me and see her in the dining room chewing food.  Instinctively I yell at her, "Sasha! Bad dog!" thinking she had snuck the kids pizza off the kitchen table.  

I go to the table to see how much she ate and noticed the crusts were untouched.  The dog had been eating her own dog food!  And here I was scolding her for it.  I felt so bad and I went to look for her to apologize and give her some love.  

I looked all over her normal hang out spots.  The couch - not there.  Her chair (yes she has her own chair) - not there.  The laundry room where her food is - not there.  Where in the world could she have gone?  

You know where I found her?  She was hiding in the corner behind a chair cowering and shaking in fear.  

My poor little doggie!  I hope she will forgive me. 

Park Adventures

Yesterday it was actually warm enough to take a trip to a park.  We still needed a light jacket because of the wind, but the sun was out and it felt great to get some fresh air.  

It was just Luke and I since the other boys were at school.  There were a handful of other kids Luke's age so it worked out pretty well.  This one boy was running around yelling "booby trap!" and a girl was following right behind him repeating the phrase, "booby crap!"  It was hilarious.

   

Luke is such a people pleaser and just wants to be friends with every kid he meets.  Except this one particular boy.  The kid had to be just 2 years old, but man was he aggressive.  He had spiked hair and wore red chucks - super cute but ornery.

It first started when bully boy and his sister pointed at Luke, called him an alien, and screamed and ran away from him.  I was a little irritated at the alien comment but figured they were just playing an innocent game of tag and Luke was "it" whether he liked it or not.  Luke continued to play by himself while being cautious yet curious about the other kids.  

Bully boy runs up to Luke as he is trying to make his way to the slide and grabs on to the back of his shirt.  All the while his mom is deep in conversation with her friend and isn't even paying attention.  I could tell Luke was trying not to get upset, but he looked like he could burst into tears at any moment.  Luke got away from bully boy and came over to me.  I told him to try and stay away from those kids and play on something else. 

So he happily goes over to the spider climbing contraption which no one else was on.  And wouldn't you know it, bully boy goes right over to him and starts pulling on his leg as Luke is trying to climb.  

I was PISSED!  

I marched over to the kid, got down on his level and firmly told him not to touch my child again.  I think I may have scared him off, but at least he got the message and finally left Luke alone.  I could care less what him mom thought if she even witnessed the encounter which I highly doubt.

I could see the hurt in my sweet little Luke's eyes as he told me, "That boy is not my friend." 

I saw a man walking his dog nearby and asked Luke if he wanted to go see the dog in an attempt to try and boost his hurt feelings .  Of course that made him happy.  The dog was very sweet and the man reminded me of my dad.  That was until he started talking about his dog's rectum surgery.  Oh look at the time, we must get going.  TMI!

Hopefully our next park adventure will not involve bullies or dog butt conversation.

Cooling Off

Carson and Luke were playing and running around in the basement which made them work up a sweat.  They came upstairs and needed to cool off, so in the creative way of a kid they pulled out frozen pounds of ground beef and put them up to their heads.  I took one look at what they were doing and busted out laughing.  Carson looked at me and asked, "Are you going to blog about this?"

It's electric

The other day I was reminded of a funny story when I opened up a new electronic product.

Exhibit A:

  This would be your typical 2 prong plug device, right?  Or so one would think.  

To keep things anonymous my mom a lady bought a new hairdryer.  At this time we were living next door to each other.  I loved being next door neighbors with my mom this lady.  And miss it to this day.  

So she called me on the phone, even though we lived next door to each other, and said she couldn't get her new hair dryer to work.  

That's odd I thought.  I went through a few check points with her; was the cord untangled, did the circuit breaker trip and need to be reset, did she have the prongs the right way, and so on.  I am no electrician, but my husband was in his previous career so I knew what I needed to get by.  And I was the only help she had since my dad this lady's husband wasn't home and my husband was at work.  

I told her I would come over to see if I could get it to work, otherwise she would have to take it back to the store and get a new one.  

When I got there I made sure the surge protector was engaged and took a look at the hair dryer.  Then I noticed one teeny tiny problem.  

Exhibit B:

 

Problem solved.  

Wordless Wednesday - Spring is coming

But it's still chilly enough for mittens.

For more Wordless Wednesday participants click here.

Your results

The results are in from my Pronunciation Poll.  Thanks to those of you who participated.  For the most part I am in the majority with you all.  I was surprised to see #6 (Caribbean) was an even split.  I never knew which way to say the word until the movie Pirates of the Caribbean came out.

I have one more for you.  Wash.  Do you say "wah-sh" or "wor-sch"?  

1. Data
		Response Percent
day-ta		66.7%
d-ah-ta		38.9%

2. Pajamas
		Response Percent
pa-jaw-mas		11.1%
pa-jaam-as		72.2%
pj's		16.7%
jammies		16.7%

3. Caramel
		Response Percent
kar-mul		72.2%
kaer-uh-mel		27.8%

4. Versatile
		Response Percent
ver-si-tull		55.6%
ver-si-tile		44.4%

5. Aunt
		Response Percent
aeunt		16.7%
ant		83.3%

6. Caribbean
		Response Percent
kaer-ebien		50.0%
ker-ibien		50.0%

7. Coupon
		Response Percent
coo-pon		66.7%
que-pon		33.3%

8. Envelope
		Response Percent
n-vel-oup		88.9%
ohn-vel-oup		11.1%

9. Mature
		Response Percent
meh-tour		5.6%
meh-chure		94.4%

10. Often
		Response Percent
off-en		44.4%
off-tin		55.6%

Handing it over to the kids

Today's post is another installment of kid sayings by my three boys.  If you're new to my blog and have come to visit from the Ultimate Blog Party I welcome you.  I invite you to stick around and check out some of my other posts.  You will find that I mostly blog about things I find humorous and a lot of it comes from my boys, but other times I will be the butt of the joke as well.  

If you like these "kid sayings" and want to read more click on the link at the end of this post cleverly titled "kid saying" and read to your hearts content.  

Thanks for stopping by!

_____________________________________

While tucking Carson (6 years old) in bed and reading him a story I noticed him feeling his armpits.  I asked what he was doing and he, in turn, asked if there was any hair under there.  I told him that he didn't have any yet, but when gets older he will get some.  He continued and said, "Then I will be a man, but it feels like there is glitter in there." 

(His new nickname is glitterpits)

_____________________________________ 

Carson pulled out his folder from school and took out a piece of gum that he had gotten as a prize.  After he walked away I noticed Luke (3 years old) over at the folder.  He took something out, put it in his mouth, chewed it a few times, then spit it out.  He said, "This doesn't taste very good."  I wondered what kind of candy he could have tried that didn't taste good.  So I look down at it a little closer and notice that he was eating a star shaped eraser.

_____________________________________

Our dishwasher completely leaked all over our kitchen floor.  Carson came in and asked what had happened.  I told him our dishwasher just broke and I don't really know why.  He responded by saying, "Maybe if you call the mechanic, he can help you.  For real!"

_____________________________________

The family and I were sitting at the kitchen table having breakfast.  I was reading an article in the newspaper about the name change of the Sears tower in Chicago.  Being that I am from the Chicago-land area I was outraged and voiced my offense out loud by saying, "They can't do that!"  Luke looked at me not having a clue what I was talking about, but responded by saying, "I didn't do it."

_____________________________________

Carson asked if I would get his "Dave & Busters" motorcycle out of the garage so he could ride it.  I was very puzzled at his description and asked what a Dave & Buster motorcycle was and why he called it that.  He pointed to the motorcycle in question.  "Oh," I said, "You mean the Harley Davidson motorcycle?"  He nodded his head in agreement while smiling and blushing at his mix up.

____________________________________

Here are a few "Luke" words he uses:

• black owls = black olives
• statues = pistachios
• pack pack = backpack

____________________________________

No matter where I am in the house, if the kids need me they yell for me - loud.  Just the other day I was getting sick of the requests and questions and just wanted to sit down for a few minutes without any interruptions (heaven forbid!).  And at that moment Taylor (11 years old) calls my name from the other room.  I didn't answer initially thinking if I stay quite he'll think I left.  But that didn't work and after 6 more "Mom"s" I had to respond.  So I yelled back, "Mom's not here anymore."  Taylor yells back (the clever little stinker), "Well tell her I'm leaving a message."

Ugh!  

Oh so pretty

Just when I thought I had nothing to talk about, one of my boys comes to my rescue and provides me with yet another comical story.  

Luke was in the family room watching TV (or so we thought) while the  hubby and I were in the kitchen finishing up installing a new dishwasher.  I may or may not have been observing the installation while drinking coffee, but that's not the point.  The other night I started a load of dishes in the old dishwasher and half way into the wash I notice water seeping out all over the kitchen floor.  That's all I needed to see for me to request a new one.  The old dishwasher needed to be replaced before we bought the house.  

I glance over to the family room and see Luke's arm waving over the couch as he peeks over.  

I wave back thinking he's just being a cute 3 year old boy.  But then he did it again and had that guilty look on his face and I knew he was up to something.  

He holds his hand up once more and I notice something shimmery as he's wiggling his fingers.  I walk over to him and take a closer look.  He said, "I have pretty fingers!"  Ugh - This is what I saw.

It's a little hard to tell from the picture, but Luke had painted his fingernails.  Apparently, he went into the bathroom and saw my "cotton candy" colored polish and decided he wanted his nails to look like mine.  This child is right handed, but he painted the nails of his right hand which means he used his left hand to do the job.  I was seriously impressed with how well he had done, but was not happy at the fact that he actually painted his nails. 

I attempted to explain to him that most of the time only girls and mommy's paint their nails.  

And he was so sweet about it and just said, "Oh."  It was like he understood, but it was kind of a let down.  He liked his pretty sparkly nails.  Yikes!

Seen and heard at Wally-Mart

If you're ever hurting for blog material I highly recommend taking a trip to your local Wally-Mart and roaming the isles where you will find plenty of material to share. 

Today's trip was no exception.  

Luke and I needed to stop in and pick up a few items.  Our town, unfortunately, does not have a "super" Wally-Mart so I can't get all my grocery shopping done in one stop, which irritates me immensely.  I mean, how long before they stock back up on toaster strudels?  They've been out for 2 weeks.  Does Wally-Mart not know how these are a staple in our house.  And I sure can't get them at my other grocery store (Aldi).  The boys are having T.S. withdrawals.  

Anyway, we're walking through the store and Luke is happily laying in the cart with his feet hanging over the edge which garnered a few smiles and laughs from other shoppers.  As he was looking up at the ceiling (as only a kid would do) he said to me, "Look up at the cupcakes."  Now either my child is hallucinating or Wally-Mart has a strange way of advertising baked goods.  

I look up and at first could not figure out what he was referring to.  Finally, I got it.  There were these sprinklers on the ceiling that resembled copper cupcake liners.  Imagine viewing this from the other direction.  I though how very observant of him it was to come up with that.   (Next time you're in the store, check out the ceiling, you may even see a real bird like the ones that live in the store back in Indiana.)  

We kept on shopping and wouldn't you know it, in true 3 year old fashion, I hear, "Mom - I have to go potty."  But of course.  Never fails.  We head to the back of the store, park the cart, and go into the bathrooms, which smelled really good, surprisingly.  I am not sure if it was the soap or air freshener, but it was quite delightful.  

We were the only one's in there until a lady walked in, I'd say about my age or maybe a little younger and she was talking wildly fast on her cell phone.  She continued to speed talk while she entered the stall and went on as we heard her do her thing AND flush.  Not once did she pause or explain to the person on the other end where she was or "could I call you back in 2 minutes."  Hopefully the speed at which she was talking muffled the sound of nature's call. Unbelievable.  Then of all things, she didn't even wash her hands!  Ugh!  She just kept chatting as she walked right out of the bathroom.  

When we finished, we headed out past the electronics department.  There was a display of about 5 large flat screen TV's listed as 20% off.  A guy with a deep southern drawl said to an employee of the store, "I give you $1000 bucks in cash for this here TV."  

Since when can you price haggle at Wally-Mart?  Heck, when I got up to the register I wanted to try this technique.  Could you imagine the look on the cashier's face if I said, "I will offer you 89 cents for this pack of gum, deal?"  Or how about this one, "I would like to buy two and get one free on the milk today."  We're not at a garage sale.  Last time I checked, the price you pay is the price on the sticker.  Maybe I am missing something.  Someone please clue me in.  I don't know what the outcome was if the guy got the TV at his bargain price or not.

Last we stopped in the toy section.  Not because I wanted to, but it was pretty much unavoidable.  We were perusing the books, and did you know that you can purchase your very own Jesus doll?  Who knew he came in doll form?  Jesus as a toy?  Don't get me wrong, I love me some Jesus, but the toy version just seems so strange and in a sense, wrong.  Would  Jenny from Chased by Children care to take off on this one and add her thoughts?  For some reason I can sense her insight on this topic.  

I mean really, would you store him with your daughters Barbies?  I know there could be great witness opportunities there.

Or maybe your child already has a Jesus doll.  How is that working out?  And what role playing and dialogue have you seen played out?  I'm just curious. 

I can just see what's next, the Pope doll.  

It looks like that's been done too, in action figure form.

How about this one.  No collection could be complete without a baby being dropped in a bowl of M&M's.  Or is that an alien with really large eyes?  It's hard to tell.  And are those really M&M's or did baby have a very colorful accident?

This post has completely gone off on a tangent - but it's all in good humor. 

Happy first day of spring

Ah, the first official day of spring is here.  

(Cue soft spring time music.)

I can just picture it: the birds are chirping and searching for worms, the sun is bright against the fresh blue sky, the breeze is crisp and light from the south, I pull out my capris and a short sleeve shirt and maybe even a pair of flip flops.

And I look out my window this morning.

(Music comes to a crashing halt.)

Snow flakes.  Hello Springtime, didn't you get the memo?  You're supposed to be here today.  

Instead the birds are freezing their tail feathers off and all they can find are dead frozen worms stuck to the concrete, there is a layer of thick gray snow clouds for miles with a sharp stabbing northern wind chill and I am layering my clothing and sticking a robe and slippers back on.  

Come to think of it, hibernation sounds good right about now.  Wake me up when it's really spring.

Proper Pronunciation

Last week I did a post asking you a few questions about how you do certain things and I found your answers pretty interesting compared to my responses.  

Today I would love your input again, but with a different spin.  I have compiled a list of 10 words that I have heard different pronunciations for.  I am asking you to tell me which pronunciation you use.  And when you're done you can add your own word(s) that I didn't include in the comment section.  

This kind of reminds me of the Mad Gab game I had you play awhile back.  So start talking to yourself again because you'll need to sound these out.  Below is the link that will take you to the survey.  Have fun.  I can't wait to see your responses.

Click Here to take survey

Conversations from the swing set

That title is kind of catchy, don't you think?  

But that is exactly what I witnessed yesterday as my two younger boys were outside enjoying the unseasonable weather just swinging away and carrying on their conversation.  From inside the house I couldn't make out exactly what they were saying, but I would pick up on a few words and phrases here and there.  I would hear things from light sabers and elephants to baseball and skateboarding.  All the typical little boy talk that brothers share.  

It was so enjoyable to sit back and observe how precious these two sons of mine were enjoying each other's company and how fun it is to be a kid without a care in the world.  Why can't we all be more like that?  

The boys noticed me standing in the doorway watching them.  Carson yelled to me, "Mommy - guess what?  I love Chinese people!"

Uh - okay, great!  

Where in the world did that come from?  I'm all for loving, accepting, and appreciating other cultures and nationalities, but to hear that come out of my 6 year olds' mouth at that particular moment made me a bit speechless.  

And all of this occurred on St. Patrick's Day.  Had he said Irish people I may have understood where that was coming from a little better, but Chinese?  What?

A glimpse of summer

Correct me if I am wrong, but is it March?  

I beg to differ.  

Today felt like a summer day and I absorbed as much of it outside as I could.  I cleaned up the yard including sticks, leaves, miscellaneous junk that ended up in our yard and dog poop.  I swept out the garage and cleaned up and sorted the outside toys while throwing away our fair share.  Why is it necessary to have over 20 different types of balls?  I don't see how we accumulate them the way we do.  And I believe I counted 6 different pairs of roller blades/roller skates.  Last time I counted I only had 3 boys.  Don't get me started on the water guns.  I think we have enough for each child in the neighborhood which would put us around the average size of a 5th grade class.  

Garage sale season can't come soon enough.  

Some holiday

In an early celebration of St. Patrick's Day I treated the kids to Shamrock milkshakes from McDonald's.  I used to love getting these as a kid and still do.

Carson and Luke have never had a Shamrock shake before so they did not know what to expect and I wanted to keep it a surprise.  When they took a drink (after a long time of sucking through the straw before they successfully got any out) Luke announced in an excited voice, "It doesn't taste like grass!"  I guess that would be a good thing.

I went on to ask them about St. Patrick's Day and what they thought it was all about.  Luke gets all the holidays mixed up and said it was all about hugs and then continued to tell me Happy Valentines Day.  Carson said it was about leprechauns and four leaf clovers.  Then he went on to tell me that we celebrate Patrick.  So I asked who he was.  And you know what he said?  

Patrick from Spongebob.  

Happy Patrick Day.

So this is what napkins are for!

And here I thought napkins were for wiping your mouth.  Not according to my 3 boys

Looks like Taylor is exfoliating his nose with one of those cleaning strips.

Carson has grown some furry ears.  I just love this face!

And this is Luke's way to tell us he's done eating and he won't take no for an answer since he can't hear us.

They are such creative and silly boys.

How do your kids use napkins?

What's a girl to do?

Being that we have another round of guests staying with us this weekend, I began to clean the house on Thursday.  I got the major pain in the neck cleaning done such as the bathrooms, dusting and cleaning the finger smudges off every glass surface.  

Royal pain.

I thought I'd leave the floors last and do them all on Friday, the day the first group comes in to town.  I had not vacuumed in a few days, so the floors definitely needed some TLC.  All three levels.  It's not very fun dragging a very heavy Kirby vacuum cleaner up and town the stairs, but she's all I got.  She's been a part of our family for 10 years and has seen her fair share of crumbs, dust mites and dog hair.  Yes I am speaking about my vacuum cleaner as if it's a person.  Step off.  We basically paid an adoption fee to get her, but that's another post for another day if I ever can get past my embarrassment enough to tell it. 

I pull her out of the closet and start the job in the office and here's what happened.

Do you see?  Her wheels fell off!  I tried to get all the pieces back to together and it seemed like I had, but when I went to push it again - pop goes the wheel and the wheel goes pop!  Ugh!  And of course, Mr. Fix It (a.k.a. my husband) was at work.  I tried my best to vacuum without wheels, but it was pointless and pretty stupid looking.  Yet I was desperate.  How could I have guests come to my home when it looked like a parade had marched through it? 

I called the Kirby company and ordered a replacement part, but it wouldn't be shipped until Monday.  Luckily it was only around $20 so I knew I wouldn't have to buy a whole new vacuum cleaner - whew!  But in the meantime I couldn't sit around and not clean.  

Off to Target I went to see if I could find one of those manual push brooms like you see used in restaurants.  I've actually had one before and loved the quickness and convenience of it.  But I had no such luck and was running out of time.  I settled for this cute little purple guy.

Hello - he's PURPLE!  And he was on sale - love!  Could it get any better?  (I also found a really cute peacock feather shirt (I have this thing for feathers right now) and a bag of Easter M&M's!)

I brought my new friend home, took him out of the box and attached his handle getting all excited to try him out.  Then I looked at the directions and found out I would have to wait 14 hours for the battery to charge.  ARG!  (Now I sound like a pirate.) 

So here I wasted my time shopping for a 'temporary' vacuum that I wouldn't be able to use until the day after my guests arrived.  I resorted to the ol' dustpan and brush method down on my hands and knees.  Hey - I was desperate!  And it was better than nothing.  

I will never take my little Miss. Kirby for granted ever again.  Even if she's not purple.