Monday, April 24, 2006

Timeline of a Monday

12:39 am - crawl out of J's bed where I have been for about an hour because he woke up screaming
12:41 am - crawl back into my bed (no the house isn't that big, I stopped for a class of water)
1:12 am - retrieve J from his bed because he his crying and I'd rather sleep than force the "sleep in your own bed: issue)
1:13 am - deposit J in my bed after pushing The Husband's pillows back onto his side of the bed.
1:14 am - sleep
3:18 am - kick The Husband out of bed to go give P a new paci. Really I should let her figure it out herself, but again I'd rather sleep than force the "sleep through the night" issue.
4:15 am - push J back to the middle of the bed before I fall out of the bed.
5:17 am - repeat
6:15 am - snooze alarm
6:24 am - snooze alarm and then try to convince myself that it would be easier to get out of bed now than to try to get 3 kids out the door in less than 20 minutes.
6:30 am - get out of bed
6:31 am - wake C, realize he has no clean clothes in his closet, continue down hall to wake M and E and find that they don't have any clean clothes either
6:32 am - put away kids clean clothes while kids get dressed
6:35 am - do M & E's hair while they brush teeth
6:48 am - arrive in kitchen to feed M & E. Check C's teeth and send him back upstairs to try again (those darn braces).
6:50 am - start making lunches
6:55 am - recheck C's teeth and take matters into my own hands
6:58 am - kids put on shoes and chose #'s between 1 and 10 to see who gets on the bus first.
7:00 am - close door behinds kids and sit down to check email and blogs.
7:05 am - hear bedroom door open, J is awake. He wants koolaid for breakfast but it's gone so we settle on caffeine free Mountain Dew
7:07 am - continue checking blogs and email
7:25 am - kiss husband good bye and hear P waking up.
7:30 am - get P out of bed
7:32 am - J and P decide they want Oreos for breakfast, I give in because the crying and whining has already been too much this morning.
7:47 am - realize if I go to the gym an hour earlier than usual, I won't have to take the kids
7:48 am - okay this with my Mom (aka Nan) and head downstairs to get dressed
7:49 am - change P's diaper and take of her already dirty pj's (darn those Oreos)
7:50 am - change into workout clothes
7:51 am - pretend to try to fix my hair, realize it's hopeless without at least a shower and possibly a hair cut and give up.
7:52 am - tell Nan I'm leaving
7:53 am - spend 5 minutes trying to convince J that he didn't want to go play at the gym, that's why I'm going early. doesn't work, distract him by having Nan make koolaid
8:15 am - check in at gym and head for treadmills
9:00 am - leave gym (I know it was a short workout, but it was all there was time for)
9:15 am - arrive home in time for Nan to leave for her meeting
9:20 am - get in shower
9:25 am - turn of shower and dry off, realize I forgot to wash my hair and get back in shower
9:27 am - get back out of shower, hear J screaming, run through house naked to let him back in the house (don't lecture me, I don't know how he got out)
9:30 am - get dressed, try to do something with my hair
9:40 am - dress P and J
9:47 am - try to convince J that he does want to go out.
9:52 am - I win, if only because I have the power to carry him to the car.
10:00 am - get hair cut, ahhh I get to sit still for a few minutes. J and P are remarkably good considering the amount of crying and whining we've had this morning.
10:25 am - leave hair-cutting place (hey I have short hair, it doesn't take that long to cut)
10: 45 am - arrive at destination 2 - Home Depot, explain to J that it doesn't matter if he doesn't want to go to Home Depot, we are going. Again I win because I have the power to put him in a cart.
11:15 - load back up and head to restaurant for lunch with the girls. I'm first.
12:58 pm - Lunch was good, conversation was great. Leave restaurant covered in salsa.
1:05 pm - J and I arrive at Walmart (P went home with Nan whom we met at the restaurant)
2:00 pm - leave restaurant with another car for J, the laundry detergant we forgot on Sat and several other things we just couldn't live without including the Frogger plug-and-play game that I wanted for Christmas, but couldn't find.
2:20 pm - home. start this entry
2:52 pm - kids get off the bus
2:55 pm - start C painting his puppet for his book report that is due on Wed
3:11 pm - make hot chocolateloate for M -- still writing this entry.
3:18 pm - have to stop now because C needs to do research for a paper and I want him to be up here when I can be sure he's working.

Are you tired yet. I still have to take M & E to a doctor's appt, attend a Homeowner's Association board meeting, get the kids in bed and watch Prison Break and 24.

Thursday, April 20, 2006

A Little Bit of This and a Little Bit of That

In February I photographed the contestants of for a local High School scholarship pageant. A few days after mailing off a re-order, I received a call from the contestants mother. She very nicely stated that she was not happy with the pictures and could I replace them. Of course (and when I looked at them again, she was right they were too dark). Anyway, she sent them all back (now that I think about it I should have told her to just trash them) and now I have them. Pictures I don't need. I can't get a refund from the processing company because it was my fault - I gave them a bad picture and they state right on their page that they don't adjust, they just print what you send them (part of the reason I use them). I know I should just shred them (I'll probably hang on to the 8x10 for my portfolio - it's not really bad, just not as good as it should be) but I just can't do it. But I will.


Conversation with a nearly 6 year old --
M (as she's watching me try to use hem tape on a project) -- What's that?

Me -- what's what? The fabric?

M -- no the thing your using?

Me -- an iron

(No I don't iron much. Truthfully, do you?)



Conversation with a client's mother before a Senior pictures session

Mother - Do you have an ironing board I could use? I need to knock a few wrinkles out of her blouse.

Me - I don't own an ironing board.

(my mother would be mortified. Oh wait, my mother sends her ironing out so she has no room to judge.)



I have been to the gym two days in a row (thanks for asking, April). J and P go to the child care center while I'm working out. Yesterday, P cried when I picked her up after my work out. Today she whined/cried the whole time I was working out. She sat with her back to the door and refused to be consoled by anything. I cut my workout a few minutes short to put her out of her misery. Hopefully she gets the hang of this soon. J, on the other hand, had a grand time.

Monday, April 17, 2006

You Know It's HOT When . . .

1. the air conditioning must run continually to keep the house at a tolerable (but not really comfortable) 78 degrees.

2. the chocolate in the cupboard is soft, semi-melted.

3. the kids are camped out over the air vents.

4. you're tempted to drive aimlessly (yes, even at these gas prices) just to feel cold for a few minutes.

And it's only April.

Come y'all give me your best.

Thursday, April 13, 2006

Of Bottles and Gyms

We have run out of bottle liners for P's bottles. Oh the dilemma. Do we take this opportunity to ditch the bottle forever? Do we buy more liners knowing full well that the bottle is really a crutch the parental units in the house and that P, right now, could probably take it or leave it, but in a few months may be more vocal about her need for a bottle. My brain says get rid of the bottle and celebrate. My hearts says keep the bottle rather than be forced to accept the undeniable fact that my last baby is growing up way too fast. I suppose we meet in the middle somewhere -- mourning the loss of my last baby and celebrating the arrival of my last toddler.

Excuse me while I break for a brief moment of silence and a short cry. . . .



Okay, I'm back.

As for the gym, I have joined one! I have gone over to the dark side. But how do you turn down a "free" 3 year membership? (Yes there is a small maintenance fee that amounts to less than $10 a month, but is anything really free anymore?).

So I will now be attending the gym 4 mornings a week. My goal is to get back to my wedding weight.

Feel free to check up on me. I'll keep you posted on my progress.

Thursday, April 6, 2006

Spring Break, Day 4

We made it to day 4 (not counting weekends) of Spring Break. Only one day left (not counting weekends) before the my sweet little angels thankfully go back to school.

Because of the Septic Saga, we could not afford to actually go away for Spring Break (although I really prefer not to go anywhere during Spring Break because it seems like half the world is on Spring Break too. I would rather go somewhere - usually the beach - during our school's winter break in February, but again the Septic Saga prevented that as well. I promise one day I'll tell you about the Septic Saga.) so I chose do take the kids on a couple of day trips instead. Monday was the Mayfield Dairy and shoe shopping at the Mall of Georgia (I know you're thinking "shoe shopping again!?!?", but with 5 kids there is always someone needing new shoes).

Today we went to the Fernbank Museum, which we will probably not do again. The kids had a good time (we left P home with Nan) and it was very interesting, but once you've seen it, there's just not much to pull you back. Maybe we'd go to the IMAX again if they were showing something really good. After paying $56 for one adult and 3 kids (J is still free) to get into the museum and see the IMAX movie, we spent some time with the dinosaurs and then checked out the Chocolate Exhibit, which was not terribly child friendly nor overly exciting, despite the fact that chocolate is my most favorite thing (I even gave a speech on chocolate in my HS freshman speech class). We did however leave with a bit of chocolate, not for free but for $8. Very smart of the museum people to force visitors through a chocolate gift shop before leaving the exhibit. And no it wasn't even great chocolate, merely okay. But $8 is worth avoiding a tantrum times 4 (yes, my 9 year old still has tantrums on occasion, although they aren't the kicking and screaming variety anymore and M & E can cry on command, so better to just pay the money and avoid the spectacle.)

We moved next to the museum's permanent exhibit - Georgia in Time (or something like that) which started with the Big Bang and worked it's way up to I suppose the present, but we turned back at the Giant Sloth because it was getting close to our IMAX movie time and the exhibit seemed to have worked itself into a cul-de-sac (but now that I think about it, perhaps the corridor that looked like it only went into another viewing room for a short film was really the way to the rest of the exhibit) so we worked our way back to the Big Bang and a definite exit.

After stopping for a short chocolate break, we saw Wild Safari at the IMAX, which was really good, but not very wild.

Next was Lunch, with a capital L because it cost us $30. Why didn't I pack lunches, you ask. Why didn't I take them to a less expensive place outside the museum? First, I hate packing lunches and it didn't really occur to me this morning. Second it's way more fun if you get to eat out. Third, there's no way I was going to walk four kids back through the whole museum, load them in the car, go crazy trying to get them to agree on one place to eat, while driving around the city that I'm only marginally familiar with and seems to be strangely devoid of fast food. So pizza and hot dogs at the museum dining room it was.

Perhaps the best part of the museum was the Nature of Senses room. The room was full of activities for the kids, mostly involving optical illusions and the like, complete with explanations of why they worked and what was happening. Great for the 9 year old who can read. Not so great for the 5 year olds who really can't read and the nearly 3 year old who had to be boosted up to everything. And really not so great for the mommy who was pulled in 3 different directions trying to help them all. But despite that it was great fun -- especially the bubble tub. I really need to get a BIG bubble maker.

Overall it was a great day, but I don't think we need to go back anytime soon. Next time we'll go to the Fernbank Science Center and visit the Planetarium.

Tuesday, April 4, 2006

Who Knew

Windex Multi-Surface cleaner with Vinegar kills little blacks ants nearly as fast at Raid (and I'm not nearly has worried about the kids accidentally stepping in it). I think I've found my new ant-killer, although if the bug guy that's coming today is as good as my friend who recommended him promises, I shouldn't need an ant-killing spray anymore, but it's always good to have a backup plan.