Reality Check

The other night I started a blog post about my current obsession with the news and our economy. My obsession was becoming unhealthy. I sincerely believe that nothing good comes from watching hours of news every day, and I was heading down that path. I wasn't all that concerned about my families well being (maybe I have a false sense of security), I was just intrigued. I was home alone on Friday night while John was on a ride-along, and after the kids went to bed, I watched news and documentaries on PBS that really fascinated me. After watching part of the debates, the commentaries, and then PBS, I was feeling pretty well informed.

After watching an interview with (???totally can't remember his name???) my opinion on our current situation was solidified. His opinion was that nothing in America will change until we, the citizens change. Our country went from being a nation of producers, a power house of the world, to being a nation of consumers, laden with debt and want. Our leaders can't change our nation until we are willing to change because we won't allow it. Our financial system can't function properly if we are demanding credit, with out being able to afford it. I must say I agree. We have become a nation of lazy consumers who would rather produce beyond our borders just to save a buck and we are now paying the price. I have to admit that I'm a little worried about what is in store for this country, but I really don't think that things will improve until we are willing to make a change. Unfortunately, I think a change of this magnitude will be a painful one. I hope I'm ready to hunker down and weather the storm.

After my night of mental stimulation, and my attempt at posting my newly learned information in a stimulating blog post, I was brought back to mommy reality. I had written the first 2 lines of my post when I realized that all was too quiet in my house of non-sleeping children. Ains was watching TV...but where was Owen. I realized too late that he had climbed to the top shelf of Ainsely's closet to retrieve the watercolor paints. You know, the 8 little circles of paint in a plastic container. He had dug out the paint, mostly black, and there must have been some spit involved, because there was black ALL OVER Ainsley's carpet.

I immediately freaked out and put my paint covered son in the tub, thinking he could do no damage in there. I began scrubbing the carpet, the paint kept spreading, and after about 30 minutes of this I called John and instructed him to rent a carpet cleaner on his way home. Meanwhile, I turned my attention to Owen who had partially disrobed in the tub, peed, and spread paint all over the tub with the paint brush I neglected to take away from him in my haste. I cleaned him up, scrubbed clothes and rugs to no avail, and took a break while waiting for John.

Enter John...We began cleaning the carpet in Ainsley's room and when I saw the amount of dirt that was in the carpet I decided that we should just go ahead and clean the whole house. So, we spent Monday night cleaning our carpets. Tuesday morning I awoke to still wet carpets that had a slight residue. Even though we used the minimum recommended amount of cleaner, there was still a filmy residue left on several areas of our carpet. So I had to redo the WHOLE HOUSE again on Tuesday morning with just water. Not. Fun. So as of now, I still have damp carpets, 36 hours after cleaning them. I learned that water color paints can stain (they didn't stain the carpet but they did stain one of my bathroom rugs and Owen's shirt). And I now know that Rug Doctors just aren't worth it...Next time I'll just call the professionals!

Then tonight (I know this is the never ending story, but I have to tie these two experiences together) I was reading a blog I frequent and I happened upon this...

"We are facing some serious stuff in our country today. Serious stuff that has even my husband, the world’s biggest optimist, freaking out. Some day, I wonder if my children will ask me what I was doing during the economic crises of 2008, when the dow dipped however hundreds of points, and we teetered on the edge of what, according to Sarah Palin, could be the next Great Depression.

I’ll tell them that I woke up, helped my son with his homework before school, took him to piano, made bread from the flour I have stored over the years, took a nap, went grocery shopping, cleaned the house, and did the laundry. Not as dramatic as needing to travel 5 miles to fetch a pail of water, or take quanine to avoid contracting malaria, but still, I am paying attention to the necessities of life.

It’s what mothers do. Even when the dow is crashing. Even when democrats and republicans play with our tax dollars and decide our country’s economic fate. A mother still has to make sure her kid has diapers. Even when the world is on fire."

I just couldn't help but think how true that was. I was totally consumed with our nation and it's politics for a time, and then my reality hit.

Vegetables can teach you a lot

Tonight I made a vegetarian feast in celebration of the season premier of The Office.
Okay, it was actually due to the fact that we had a ton of vegetable that needed eaten and I forgot to thaw meat. But seriously, we had a lot of veggies.

We had...(keep in mind I will be using as many descriptive words as possible to make the meal seem much more complex than it was), corn on the cob, garden fresh carrots with a touch of butter, acorn squash with brown sugar, fried zucchini, mashed red potatoes with roasted garlic and fresh basil, and corn bread muffins with honey. The interesting thing about the evening was that I learned (or maybe just remembered or realized) some things about my family. I could live a vegetarian life (during the fall). John does not consider a meal of vegetables a meal. Ainsley loves squash more than any other 4 year old on the planet...seriously, it's weird. Owen may have an aversion to corn on the cob like his Grandpa Dinger. This is very disturbing to me. Who doesn't like corn on the cob??? It's just not natural! At this point in his life Owen prefers licking butter off the corn instead of actually eating it. (By the way, although John didn't consider our vegetarian meal and actual meal, he was so full that he couldn't finish his dinner.) The best part of this meal, however, is that since a good portion of it came from my garden I think the meal cost me about $3!

Naughty and Nice

Ainsley did 2 naughty things today.

1. We were at the park playing and she wet her pants because she was having too much fun to stop and go to the bathroom. I would have been more upset at her for this one if I hadn't wet my pants until I was in my 20's (like mother like daughter).

2. She opened the car door as we were driving on the freeway!!! I was on the phone (maybe that was naughty of me) and I thought I heard air, like the window was down, but her door was cracked open. I told her to hold on to the door tight. How dangerous is that?!? We had to drive for a good mile or two before the next exit so I could pull over and close her door tight. Scary!

She also did 2 cute things.

1. She threw a penny in the pond at the zoo and I told her to make a wish. After she threw it I asked her what she wished for and she said, "I wished I was a pop star."

2. She was watching her reflection in the TV singing "Seize the Day" from Newsies as she was trying out some smooth dance moves...I wish I would have recorded her.

Jack of all Trades

Tomorrow I begin a second job. I got a completely random call last week from a neighbor of a friend who was in desperate need of a babysitter for her 6 month old one day a week. My friend knew I had been looking for a job a while ago and thought of me when her neighbor was in a pinch. The result is that I now have 2 jobs. I told the mom I will be babysitting for that we'll give this a try and see if her daughter likes being here, if not, I don't think the job will continue. It just isn't worth it for me to have a crying baby on my hands, even if it is only one day a week. So, I guess we'll see if my second job sticks. I also finally got my tutoring flier approved and put into the elementary school near our house...3 jobs??? Not quite sure about that!

*******Update: I am currently babysitting, and it's been a complete breeze. I don't mean to jinx myself, but it really couldn't be much easier. I've been getting paid to make bread, iron, and keep house. The baby loves watching the kids, and they love playing with her. She also took a 3 1/2 hour nap today. I'll be ecstatic if every week is even close to this easy. I feel like I shouldn't be getting paid (okay, that was a lie, I totally should be getting paid. I mean, I did feed her and change her diaper. I even held her on my lap for a while.)

Old

Today my dad is officially an old man. Happy 50th dad!

You must be so proud to be surrounded by such a great family!

A tour, and a bazillion pictures!!!

Last night I went to check on the kids before I went to bed. As I walked into Ainsley's room I couldn't help but laugh. The sight was not new, it just finally struck me as funny. Her paper creations are slowly taking over her room and some of them are just plain funny. So I went around with the camera late last night (hence a the darkened quality of the pictures) and got some shots of her "decorations."

First up...actually I don't know what to call this. I'm not even sure why she wants her shelves covered. None the less, there it is, the shelf cover thingy.
Next up, a random drawing that hovers above the foot of her bed.
These are the signs on her door explaining the rules of her room (she had me write down the information). The sign on the left says, "No screaming, No fighting, No showing up, and no coming in without looking at the sign." The sign on the right says, "You must come in!"
This is one of my personal favorites. It's a person that she made yesterday. She used her baby highchair, a blanket, Owen's basketball, wet wipes for hair, tape with pen on it for the facial features, and decorated paper for the feet. We just didn't have it in our hearts to make her put it away last night as we were cleaning up before bed.
Here is a bag of Ainsley's collections. She usually has 2 bags of random toys that hang here, but she was sleeping with the other one.
Here is a person that Ains made on her wall. I made the mistake of thinking it was a robot the first time I saw it. Just to be clear...it is NOT a robot!
This is a gas station that John helped her make a while ago. We had visited a friends house and they had made a gas pump out of a box and a bike pump and Ains insisted on doing the same. So here is her miniature verson...minus the bike pump. If you look closely you can see the little hole where the bike pump would go to pump the gas.
This is bunny on his bed. Notice the bunny backpack that she has made for him from paper and yarn.
Up next...the scary bats that Ains made a while ago to have hanging from her ceiling. These are just a few of the bats currently hanging in her room.

This is a pirate flag Ains colored a while ago, and I just noticed the stickers on the wall with it last night...those might have to come down.
These are a few other pirate colorings that beautify the area above her bed.
Ahh, another one of my favorites. This is a coat that Ains made a couple of weeks ago that has been hanging in her closet ever since. She wanted to wear this to church last week and I had to put my foot down. I can only imagine the laughs we would get at church if Ains showed up wearing a shawl made out of a hand towel. (Now that I think of it, Ains uses towels in her playing almost as much as paper.)
And here is our dear Ainsley sleeping with her bag of stuff. We caught her with her light on late last night and she explained that she had to turn it on so that she could see her toys. She's in there I promise!

I think a movie quote pretty much sums up this post. "My daughter, odd? Now where would you get an idea like that?" (Odd but hilarious in my book!)

Flash back to the 80's

Last night John and I went to an 80's party. I was determined to go even though I had to work until 10:00. So I asked to get off work a little early, dashed home, got all 80's-ish (as much as you can in 10 minutes. I'm sure I could have gotten my hair much bigger if I had sufficient ratting time.), and dragged John off to the party just in time for karaoke. It was a blast and John was a real sport considering he wasn't feeling great but knew I really wanted to go the party. I mean, how many opportunities do you get to sport a slap bracelet and have it be the coolest thing ever?

The only sad moment of the night was when I got home and realized that I had forgotten to put on my silver braided belt. I was truly depressed.

Buzz

Last night I went to work. John was on bed duty. Owen was in need of a haircut. I suggested that John might want to cut Owen's hair when he gave him a bath. When I went to get Owen out of be this morning I was shocked to see his hair buzzed!
(He might not look different to you...but his hair is usually so much longer!)
I told John the lengths that I usually used with the clippers, but I guess he wanted to take this opportunity to buzz Owen's hair since he's wanted to for some time. But right before winter?

I did what?!?

Last week I had a moment of temporary insanity. A salesman from a certain traveling meat company showed up on my door at a very inconvenient time. And although I was trying to get out the door, and he reeked of cigarettes, I let him in and listened to his spiel. Somehow (I'm really not sure how, but I know there was miscommunication between John and I) as I was walking out the door John was writing out a check for $350, as per my instruction, for a few boxes of meat (Okay, it might have been a bit more than a few boxes...but definitely not $350 worth). After trying to justify my decision all night I finally panicked and realized that I had just blown a huge chunk of money. Luckily for me, there was a money back guarantee, the meat is finally gone, a refund check is in the mail, and I can relax.

A Bunch of Random Stuff (because none of it in and of itself is blogworthy)

Soooo, first of all, this is Owen's finished bowl of oatmeal from the other morning. Why so many spoons you ask? Well, that would be the question of the year my friends. I'm quite confused at his new obsession with baby spoons (he hasn't used one in a LONG time) and I'm even more mystified by the fact that he needs multiple spoons to complete his meals. Baffling.
We took the kids on bike ride on the Green Belt today. (For those of you not familiar with our area, the green belt is a massive bike path that runs through parks and for miles along the river.) I haven't been on a ride there since Jr. High or High School. It was a lot of fun, with only minimal fighting/whining from the kids!

John had to drive to Caldwell this past week to try a conflict of interest case. The defendant was a gang member who was being charged with a felony for stealing a burrito. Restitution was $3.29. The guy didn't show up so now there is a warrant out for his arrest. I haven't been able to think of the burrito thief with out cracking up since I was told about it.

I had my first official night of training on Friday. This is going to be a laid back and easy job. (Until the holidays hit, of course.) I got a free lip lacquer (an $18 value) just for working there. This job definitely has it's perks.
Ainsley heard me use the word possibly last week and has been trying to make it her own. She has yet to use it correctly. I love it when she throws in the word casually and then looks at me to see if she used it right.

Day of firsts

Ainsley and I shared a first day yesterday. It was Ainsley's first day of preschool and my first day of work. I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that Ainsley's first might have been a bit more fun than mine. She's been excited to go back to school for a while now and I've answered the, "How many more day's?" question a bazillion times. I've been excited for Ains to have something to do during the day. I think we've had a bit of the end of summer boredom the past week or so and the kids have been at each other's throats. Hopefully this small break will make my children friends again.

From what I can tell Ains had a great first day. She met new friends, played, and learned the important rules of crayon, marker, glue, and scissor use. Pretty important stuff. She quizzed me in the car all the way home. "Do we color on our clothes? Noooooo. Do we color on the wall? Nooooooo. Do we color on paper? Yesssss." (I'm sure you can picture how the rest of the lesson went.

As far as work went...I'm not quite sure yet. I'm sure I'll like it but last night was an unusual shift. It was a later than usual night where anyone that works there can come and work from 8:00-???? to set up a new floor set. There was a lot of moving boxes, unloading, and cleaning. I got home at about 12:30. I was exhausted. It was nice to get some hours in last night (and fun to see the pretty sets complete and know that I had done them) but I'm glad that I most likely won't be doing many of these in the future because they are usually on Sunday nights. I met some nice people there (there are several teachers employed by b&bw, and surprisingly, a teacher with the worst mouth I've every heard happens to be employed at my location). Most of the employees are moms that work a few hours, and college girls. I have my first night of training on Friday. I'm excited to see what work will actually be like and to get to know people better.

Check. Check. Check.

I've recently checked 3 things off my to do list. Yay for me!!!

#1...We bought Owen a bed. John decided that he'd had enough of Owen sleeping on the floor and insisted we buy our son a mattress. I don't see what the big deal was, don't lots of kids have cute little beds like this on the floor?
I guess things were getting pretty bad. Bad enough that he refused to sleep in his crib at all. He wouldn't take a nap in his crib. One night when we had put him back in his crib after he had fallen asleep, he woke up at 1:30 demanding to be put back on the floor. This morning we found him sleeping UNDER his crib in the little drawer for his blankets. I can only imagine how uncomfortably he slept last night.
So, we did some shopping around and Owen is now sleeping in a big boy bed. Although he currently only has a big boy mattress (I'm headed out tomorrow to pick up a bunk board and a bed frame).
#2...I got our first batch of salsa made! Our garden provided a lot of what we needed.
Ains was a great help with the chopper.
She thought I looked funny in my salsa protective gear (I have a really hard time with chopping large quantaties of onions).
She also thought it was funny that I put baggies over my hands when I chopped and seeded the jalepenos. What can I say, salsa making is a pretty dangerous job.
We boiled.
We bottled, and now the salsa is done (unless I decide to do another batch).
#3...I finished Breaking Dawn. I'm still not sure how I liked it. It was a bit of a let down. What were your thoughts?