01.14.2008 | 11:08 pm | Everyday Life
No, not dirty or ugly jokes, stupid jokes is more applicable to this event.
I was being very unselfish this evening, Ironing for almost 2 hours, and then folding more laundry. On top of this, I made cornbread for B for a late night snack (it is about 11.15 pm right now). Really, the cornbread is for B. And maybe the boys for breakfast. B likes the Jiffy brand cornbread. I like the cornmeal, egg, and milk basic cornbread without sugar. Warm, with butter, in milk. Yes, I am definitely from the South!
After I made the cornbread, I was putting the measuring bowl in the sink and dropped my whisk on the floor. I let out a verbal “Agh!” and B came to see what was the matter.
I showed him the whisk and proceeded to cleanup the mess. B said, ” there is a joke in here about the whisk. You know like, ‘That was a whisky thing to do.’ ”
I replied with, “Just whisk it.”
B said, “We shouldn’t have started this!”
You’re correct, as always, my Dear. These jokes were really pathetic!
Comments (0)
01.14.2008 | 9:54 pm | Everyday Life
I emailed the following discussion to Mrs. So (one of J’s preschool teachers):
I was putting J in bed this evening and asked him if he liked his strawberry yogurt and teddy grahams. This was our discussion:
Mom: Did you eat your yogurt and teddy grahams at lunch today?
J: and my cheese.
Mom: Did anyone else have such a good lunch today?
J: no. (pausing for a thought) Some people had zero lunch today.
Mom: some people didn’t have anything to eat today?!
J: Mrs. So and Mrs. Sn (J’s 2 preschool teachers) didn’t eat lunch today.
Mom: I bet they ate at a different time from you today.
J: No. They only eat lunch on Sundays.
Mom: Oh. (?)
That’s one way to have a diet plan! I hope you have a really good lunch on Sundays to make up for the rest of the week! 
This was Mrs. So’s response:
Mrs. Sn sat right next to J and she has the same lunch every time - turkey sandwich, applesauce, and a piece of cheese.
I sat with the other table and had a donut from a birthday in another room (good example for the kids-but I did eat it last) and yogurt, fiber one bar and almonds.
He ate slow today so maybe he did not notice because when we get done we get out all the sheets and mats (for rest time).
Mom here again - sometimes I just shake my head at J! I’ll be sure to remind him that his teachers ate a nutritious lunch today, and not “zero lunch!”
Comments (0)
01.10.2008 | 5:26 pm | Everyday Life
J is our food garbage disposal. If there is any food, give it to J. He’ll eat it. However, I finally found a food that J doesn’t like to eat - avocados.
This evening is “girls’ night out” and it is here at my home. I was making an avocado spread (thanks Mandi for the recipe!) to put in endive leaves and J, my ever-present kitchen helper, was curious about “those green things.”
I sliced a little piece and put the avocado in his mouth. It came quickly out and into the trash. However, J has been enjoying playing outside on the porch, throwing the avocado “ball” (seed).
Comments (0)
01.7.2008 | 8:25 pm | Everyday Life
This evening while I was preparing dinner (homemade chili), J got a little too rambunctious and threw a small toy excavator. B told J, “Since you threw this toy, you aren’t getting it back. I’m taking it to my office to play with it.”
Mommy to Daddy: “So you DO play at work!”
Daddy: “Whatever.”
———————————————–
(Update to the previous Laundry post)
Yesterday, J woke up in the morning and realized that he wet his bed. B put the dirty bed sheets and mattress pad in the washing machine - AND WASHED THEM!!!
Here is our conversation…
Daddy: J’s bedsheets got wet last night so I put them in the washing machine and washed them.
Mommy: Really. I didn’t know you knew how to work the washing machine.
Daddy: Blind luck.
Mommy: Well, you can help me do more laundry now. Thanks for letting me know that you could help me.
Daddy: No. You see, I am an old dog and you can’t teach old dogs new tricks.
I guess I will continue to supply this family with clean clothes and clean bedsheets. Lucky me!
(Seriously, I am greatly blessed to be able to provide this service. Without B working so hard, I wouldn’t get to be home with my boys! Thanks B. It is my joy to wash your clothes. Well. That’s a stretch. B, it is my joy to take care of you. Yes, that’s more honest. Washing dirty clothes isn’t always a joy, but seeing you looking nice is joyful to me.)
Comments (0)
01.4.2008 | 12:48 am | Everyday Life
This morning when C woke up, his pullup was extremely wet and his new red footed jammies with moose (what’s the plural of moose?!) were slightly damp. C requested of me that I please change his bedsheets. Since he asked me nicely, I obliged. (I also felt a little bad that his pullup was so wet since he woke up last night around 1:30 to tell me that he had a bad dream about Transformers. According to C, only the bad Transformers were in his dream, not BumbleBee, one of the good Transformers and my personal favorite. He told me about the bad Transformers and I suggested to C to go back to sleep and hopefully watch Bumblebee fight the bad Transformers in his next dream. C then got a drink of water and went back to bed without going to the bathroom. I should have insisted that C go potty, but I didn’t. Therefore, I kind of thought that I owed him a new set of clean bedsheets.
However, C was not as nice this evening at bedtime when he informed me that I didn’t wash his new red footed pajamas. I told him that I did wash his bedsheets, but I didn’t wash his clothes in his hamper since I washed clothes yesterday. He was a bit whiny so I suggested that I show him how to work the washing machine and dryer. He was actually thrilled to be able to wash his own clothes! I told C to get a stool so he could see the controls (on the back/top of the washer and dryer) and walked him through (with J curiously watching as well) the process of washing clothes.
In this case, C just wanted to wash his jammies and not the underwear and other clothes in his hamper. I will have to talk to him about not wasting water and the importance of respecting our natural resources. It was getting late in the evening, I was tired and frustrated with him not being appreciative of all that I do around the house. Yes, he is 5 years old, but he can recognize that I keep this house running because I like to and because I love my family - not because I HAVE to. It is all in the attitude!
With C and J sharing a stool, I talked C through measuring the powder detergent and how to set the washing machine for basic washing. I had to help C with the button that started the washing machine since he is a little short to fully reach it. After the washing machine was started, C was so thrilled with himself and how he was becoming more self sufficient. He told me that when he got a little bit bigger he wouldn’t need my help at all to start the washing machine. Excellent!
C’s jammies are still in the washing machine since he went to bed before the washer cut off and I didn’t get a chance to show him how to work the dryer. C is expecting to get to dry his jammies himself and even thanked me for taking the dry mattress pad out of the dryer to make way for his cleaned jammies. C even wanted to leave the dryer door open, in his eager anticipation!
When B got home this evening around midnight, he asked me how the boys went to bed since he wasn’t home to help with their bedtime routine. My answer was “creatively.”
B wasn’t expecting this response. He is used to “fine” or “really difficult” or “C and J wanted to give Daddy hugs” or something of the like. I proceeded to tell B about C and the washing machine. B listened to me tell about the evening with the kids and how I showed C how to wash his pajamas. B responded with, “I hope this isn’t a habit that he’s going to pick up. Men don’t do laundry in this house.”
I’m sure B was referring to our precious natural resources that have to be protected and monitored and not wasted, and the fact that I enjoy taking care of our home. Right, Dear?! Because, there would be no other way to understand these comments. Right again, Dear?!
I thought so.
(P.S. Click the “Comments” link at the top of this post, under the heading, to read B’s version of our discussion.)
Comments (1)
01.2.2008 | 5:49 pm | Everyday Life
I have enjoyed having B home for several days over the holidays. It has been fun playing with the kids, decorating the house for Christmas, and having family time with a fire in the fireplace and us all sharing a blanket on the couch.
However, there is a price to be paid for all this family time. If I want to play with the kids, I either need
1. a maid, a chef, a person to run errands, and a pet sitter;
2. stem cells to create another me; or
3. some better time management skills.
With today being the first day back to a semi-schedule (Monday will really start it since the kids start back to preschool), I have spent the day doing laundry, mending/sewing, 2 loads of dishes washed - AND PUT UP, and a host of rounding up the house.
The kids have gone with me to do errands and played when at home. I haven’t sat down with them as much as I did while we were “on holiday at home.” For this, I am sad. My New Year’s Resolution is to be better with my time management skills so I can spend more quality time with B, C, and J.
I am, and so are the kids, happier when we have a schedule. Today, as I have cleaned and organized, I noted the following…
*We will sleep better.
Today is the first time in about 2 weeks that my bed has been made up. When B was home, I thought, “Why bother making up the bed? I’m going to get a nap while the kids have their rest time since B will be home to make sure that the kids don’t get out of their rooms and into anything they shouldn’t.”
With a return to normalcy, we will sleep better with smooth, clean sheets without the “tug-of-war” of blankets in the middle of the night.
*We have food in the house.
With a return to normalcy, I actually made a HUGE grocery list (and went through my coupons to maximize my efforts!) and went to the grocery store last night after we put the kids in bed. We were out of most everything and the cupboard was seriously bare! I’m not used to spending almost 2 hours at the grocery store. I didn’t spend all the time in the checkout line or climbing over other people because the store was crowded - it was 11 at night for heaven’s sake! - I just needed to go up and down EVERY SINGLE AISLE because we were out of so many different things.
*We have lots of clean clothes.
With a return to normalcy, I am doing lots of laundry today. Today is washing day, usually a Monday treat (ha!) and I am about to get up from this computer and iron, and tomorrow will be sorting/folding day. It will be great to look in my closet and get clothes off the hanger, or look in my dresser for undergarments. For the past 2 weeks, we have been getting clean clothes out of the dryer or out of a clean clothes pile. Likewise, ironing will get done at one time instead of on an “as needed” basis.
Can I say enough that I love a routine?!
*Toys will be upstairs or in the kids’ rooms. This is a new rule for B and me for 2008. We have spent the past week going through the toys in the playroom and throwing away the toys that are broken and we already have 3 garbage sacks of toys that are going to charity (if you want some, call me!) that C and J have outgrown or just don’t play with.
Part of the kids’ bedtime routine is going to be to take their toys and put them upstairs or in their rooms - anything left out is going to be put up by us. C and J know that means that Mommy is going to get a garbage bag and “Clean up.” C and J don’t like to see the garbage bag of toys go into the attic for a week.
After such a busy day today, I am physically tired, but emotionally peaceful and happy. When my house is in order, my life feels like it is in order. The kids like knowing where their stuff is and what is expected of them. B likes to be waited on with his clothes folded and meat cut up on his dinner plate - things I like to do that I know he recognizes as me taking care of him.
Welcome, year 2008. I look forward to all you hold for me and my family and I expect this to be a great year. Cheers!
Comments (0)
« Previous Entries Next Entries »