Is it strange the I'm watching a video on closet organization during my lunch break (and then blogging about it)?

Is it strange that...

I spend valuable lunch time at work watching videos about organization and reading blogs of the same topic?

When I get home and say "Katie, do you know what time it is?" she answers "Clean up time?" with wide, excited eyes?

I get excited over the prospect of helping someone organize their space?

I clap and make a big deal when Jake puts a toy back in a bin?

All of the toys go into the toy bins during clean up time which we do every day when I get home?

My kitchen counters are empty?

I like to clean out closets?

Ahem, I'll stop there. 

And not because my list is done, but because I'm pretty sure the answer will be a resounding "Yes."

Oh, um, no need to comment on this one.

Hellooo? Is there anybody out there?

Hi everyone!  No, nothing new to report about the kiddos since I posted my last post a few hours ago.

I just wanted to say "Hi."  And let you all know that there's a handy dandy little "Comment" link at the bottom of each of each post.

Feel free to use it often since sometimes I feel like I'm talking to myself (I know I'm not really *talking* per se, the kids haven't given me that final big push over the edge yet!) and I would really like to hear from those of you who read this blog... all 6* of you. 

*I came up with the number based on the number of people who have told me "I read your blog" and yep, 6.  Maybe 8 if I really stretch and count John and my dad who I know probably don't read the blog but might count since John's lived it and Dad probably hears it from mom so in a really far out way... I'll count them in!  In which case, maybe I could count Uncle and Grandpa too!  Hey!  I've just upped my readership to a whopping 10 people!

But I won't know who's reading unless you comment.  *sigh*  *sad eyes*

Who'll be first?!

Oh, and if you don't know how to comment, here's the scoop: Go to the bottom of the post and click on the Comment link.  Usually there will be a number indicating how many comments I've received on any given post.  Here's a hint.  It's usually at 0. 

Ahem.

Write your comment extolling my witty writing and ability to see the humor in many... MANY things, along with my keen fashion sense...

              What?  Oh, okay, forget that last part. 

Then click Select Profile from the drop down list.  Choose Anonymous unless you have any of the other accounts. 

Click Post Comment and TA DA!  Everyone knows how you feel! 

It's *almost* as great as getting your own blog and being able to ramble on for however long you feel like rambling on for about whatever strikes your fancy at the moment!

Oh, but if you ever DID get a blog so you could ramble too, I would for sure comment.  Lots.  Almost incessantly.  Till you asked me to quit.  (Jenny and Mike, that's going to start up any day now so if you want to be proactive, you know, to stop the incessant commenting BEFORE I start up, well, now would be the time.)

I'm glad you read my stuff is what I'm trying to say and I just want to know what stuff you read that strikes your fancy so I can put more fancy-striking stuff out there.  I mean, I'll still post lots of stuff that strikes my fancy, it is my blog after all (see above about getting your own blog), but I'll throw in other stuff too.  Like pictures.  I added more of those after Candy mentioned it.  See!  Already improvment.

Anyway, thanks for reading.  I'll have to come up with a giveaway eventually... Jenny had a great one awhile back... Something for me to think about!

Arg Matey. I'm a pirate now.

I just had not one, but TWO crowns put on.  Luckily they are in the back but still there they are.

I got home on Tuesday (the day I had them put in) and showed everyone how mommy spent $800 on me me me!  Everyone was thrilled.  (Not really.  But they did the obligatory "ooh-ing" and "ahhh-ing" over my new gold teeth and that's all anyone can ever hope for.)

I told Katie that these make me a pirate. 

I threw around some of the lingo (arg, matey, shiver-me-timbers) but I don't know if she's too impressed.

But just wait till Jake learns about pirates... He's going to think I'm so cool...

Pn EWWWW monia

Jake's been coughing for a long time.  A really long time... I mean, ever since our trip to Texas in February.  He recently started coughing a lot more and at night so on Monday night I took him and Katie to urgent care.  Why Katie?  I dunno.  Seemed like an okay idea at the time.  I wanted to spend time with her and the whole evening would have been a wash if she had stayed home so off we all went.

Didn't wait too long.  Spent the time watching Jake walk around and talking about what the numbers/letters on the wall sighs were.  Jake didn't like the weigh in, or the ear check, or the breathing thing.

Or the X-RAY.

Yep, that's right.  He had to have a baby x-ray.  The doc thought it might be bronchitis so he was going to treat for that and in between the "blah, blah, blah"s I heard "it might be pneumonia but we won't know for sure."  And I asked how we could know for sure (because that's something I *might* want to know!) and he said we would need to do an x-ray.  So I told him we were up for it and he said I should talk to the lab tech.  Led us over there and left us to wait.  Till Katie had to go potty.  So we take care of that business and get back to find the tech ready for us. 

Oh, and it's lab tech week according to the small poster taped to the desk.  Us admins only get one day... something's just not right about that!

Anyway...

So we go to the room and put our stuff down and the tech explains that Jake has to sit in this tube with his arms above his head and Katie will have to go behind the wall with the tech and I will have to wear a huge apron thing while standing next to Jake.

So we try to get Jacob into the tube.  Ever try to get a cat into a bath?  That's what it looked like.  His feet and hands were rooted to the sides of the thing and we would get one hand off and try for the other and the first hand would grab on again.  Not fun for anyone.  Finally get him settled and the tech tightens the tube and Jake looks so comfortable...  (not really, just trying to see if you're paying attention!) I mean the opposite of comfortable, even though it doesn't look like it hurts.  We get the first slide down and the tech comes in and swivels the chair so he can get a side view and then we're finished.  I do notice that my fillings are a little painful but chalk that up to my imagination.

Back to the room we go to wait.

The doc comes back and shows me the white film on Jake's left side in the film and it's so clear that even my untrained eye can see something's not right.

Doc prescribes medicine.  We go home.  Daddy picks the stuff up.  Jake gets his dose on Tuesday.  Feels better already.  Whew!

I'm supposed to bring him back on Monday.  Another co-pay.  *sigh*

I never win anything...

So when I got an email from Jennifer saying I WON a drawing I entered on her blog (http://thetoyboxyears.blogspot.com/) I thought "Sure... this kind of thing never happens to me. I'll reply with my address but I don't expect anything to actually arrive" and put it out of my mind.
Till today when I arrived home to see the most WONDERFUL sight (and no, it wasn't the Publishers Sweepstakes van parked in front of my house; that would have been *totally* cool). No, it was a package sitting on the counter in the kitchen. A package addressed to yours truly! I immediately thought back to that "winner" email and told myself not to get too excited... but I kind of was.
I opened the box and found this --- inside.
Check out the pic!
Thanks to Jennifer for offering this great prize!
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Kindness can be...

Kindness can be... unexpected.

As I wandered back to my desk from lunch in the cafeteria I held the door open for a guy carrying 5 boxes of pizza.  As we walked down the hall there was the usual small talk like "Where did you order from?", Special occasion?", and "Have fun!"... and after chatting for a minute I was about to turn down the hall to my office when he asked if I thought my co-workers would want any pizza.  (I guess he hasn't been around when free food is put on the counter.)

I said sure and thanks and looked around for plates while I waited for him to take out a few slices.

Instead he gave me... TWO PIZZAS. 

TWO.

I thanked him (and admittedly I gushed for a few minutes because this kind of thing really doesn't happen) and asked him for his name and felt like a hero (heroine?) when I waltzed into our office with two large pizzas and a big smile.

Everyone asked who it came from and instead of my usual, "I don't know" and following up with "He had eyes, and a nose, and a mouth... oh! and hair!  Does this help?", I could say "Rob, from down the hall, shared his team's pizza with us." 

Oh, and just in case people didn't know Rob (as I did not before this wonderful day), I posted his picture above the pizza boxes along with a note recognizing him as the donator of the pizza.  So everyone can thank him.  Or at least make it a point to follow him around whenever they see him carrying stuff back from the cafeteria.

Katie is 4 and These kids are destroying my house!

Yes, my little baby is 4 years old.  She's always seemed a little mature for her age, teaching me and John to mind our manners (no elbows on the table, don't chew with your mouth full, that sort of stuff) and using the big potty, and putting her dishes in the sink after dinner.  I think I really lucked out with how sweet and special she is.

Jake is special and sweet too but in a messy, full speed ahead kind of way.  Love him to bits too!

But they both need to take some responsibility for their actions yesterday.  Or at least I need to be able to print this out and give it to them when they're teens and asking me for money.  Or for a ride.  Or for a car.  Because then I'll point to this letter, posted neatly on the wall, under glass, along with the other "letters from mommy," and I'll raise my eyebrows and tilt my head.  That should say it all.
~~~
Dear Katie,

Mommy is so proud of you and how much you've grown in the last year.  I look at pictures and see your little "baby face" looking back at me.  Now you're so much bigger, the baby face has slimmed out and you've grown taller, so tall that you can get into the things mommy and daddy hide from you, er, um, I mean, set on the counter to "keep out of your way".

I'm proud of your independance and your stubborn streak.  I'm proud of the way you want to help mommy with Jake and the way you keep an eye on him when I leave the room and the way you tell me when he's getting into something "dangerous", which he usually is.

But please don't put my real silverware in your bag of toys.  I don't want to have to start counting that stuff to make sure I have it all.

You are wonderful and you are special, and I am very lucky to be your mommy.

Love you sweetie,

Mom
~~~
Dear Jake,

If you don't stop banging your hands on stuff (namely the mirror above our couch that you've added a collection of prints lovingly and LOUDLY made with your own two hands) and pulling things apart (namely the drawer front to one of our kitchen cabinets), we're going to start calling you BamBam and dressing you in animal prints (not actual fur because that would be too warm in the summer and probably wouldn't machine wash well).  Please be more careful.

Oh, and please tell your sister that just because something is a *tiny* bit broken, she does not need to rip it apart and shred it into tiny pieces.  Our bathroom blinds are supposed to cover the whole window and it's not really doing the job when one of the slats has been removed.  Then ripped up and left on the floor.

Thanks honey!

Mommy
~~~
Dear Makers of those shakey things you're supposed to mix salad dressing in,

I'll start by saying that my dressing shaker was one of my favorite things during my son's first year.  I used it constantly for mixing formula for a seemingly never-ending line of bottles and thought I could put it to use again to prep last nights dinner.

Ahem.  Now for my problem.

You should warn people that shaking warm liquids (arg, this brings back memories of what I like to call "the gravy incident") or, for example, pancake batter, in the shaker does not work well.  Either that or mine has broken because just last night I was using it to shake up some pancake batter and the thing hiccupped... and then barfed... batter all. over. 

All over me, all over the kitchen floor and counters, and all over a very surprised little boy.  I'll call him BamBam. 

It was only slightly hillarious. 

Cleaning up puddles of batter? Not so much. 

So, I'm writing to tell you that you should really add some kind of warning stating that one should not use it for mixing warm liquids (ahem, gravy for example), or pancake batter, and if you could do this, my letter might have saved another from the same fate I suffered.  Twice.

Thank you for such a helpful invention!

A Messy Mommy

Katie just before bed and... I think my temporary crown is coming loose

Katie's giving me shots with her medicine kit (she's carrying many of the pieces to the set in her arms.

She's also checking my heart and foot and now she's checking my ears. Diagnosis: I'm not sick. And I didn't fuss or cry... "I mean you did cry a little... Two times... But you did so good!" I got a nail file and a "cookie" for being so good. I want to go to *that* doctor more often!

Oh, and tonight as I drank my water I noticed a sharp pain where my crown is. Ugh. Hope the temp crown is just coming loose a little and not that I will need a root canal. I've already run up an $800 bill for two crowns... I cringe at the thought of paying for that too!

And boy, I sure am glad that I didn't have to do the $13.00 filling... I got a much better deal on the gold crown in that tooth instead.

"Mommy, it's not good to show your heart."

I was holding Jake and my shirt was pulling down a little in front. Katie looked at me and said "Mommy, it's not good to show your heart... Not good to show your chest. Look, my shirt is coverin me up to my neck."

I laughed lots on the inside so she wouldn't feel bad!

Accidents happen (about once a week around here)

I snapped this picture after Jake fell asleep. I deleted the first take due to the grossness of a boogery nose and after a quick cleanup he was ready for take two.

He's such a cutie EVEN with his boogery, snotty nose.

Oh, Katie's lip looks a million times better now in case ya wondered!
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Caught him IN the act!

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry