Oh, to be a kid again

Do you all remember when you were little, and it seemed like the summer went on FOREVER? Days and days of hangin' out, taking it easy. All our summer chores that seemed soooo difficult, and it was sooo hot, and all you wanted to do was run through the sprinkler? I remember thinking that the time between when school got out, which was always that second week of June, until my birthday, which is June 24th, just seemed like it was an eternity, and heck, waiting until the fourth of July just about killed me. How bizarre. And then once 4th of July was gone, wow, summer just drug on forever. We would go on a couple weeks of vacation with the parents, I would spend a week with each grandma, or a week with my aunt. I would haul bark dust or hay for mom and dad, and it seemed like I spent days and days plucking up thistles in the pasture. It was just never ending, that summer vacation. How awesome.

Now, in the adult world, holy goodness, that is just a different story. Chloe is turning nine tomorrow, school is out next Thursday, then we celebrate Craig's sister's birthday the next week, then in a couple more it's mine, and then a couple more and it's fourth of July. My gosh, everything is coming wayyyyy toooo fast for me! If I count it out, I really only have 10 Tuesdays off with Chloe for vacation. That is just not enough in adult land for me! Koben has preschool in July, but is off in June, and I think also August. I have hearing evaluations, audio evaluations, and all sorts of what nots already planned for my days off, on top of meeting up with some friends I don't see much, and then of course, having enough time for Chloe to play with her cousins. Man, in my mind, I'm booked up until August, I'm already worn out, and it's not even June!!! Why does time have to go so fast? Why do our lives pass us by like the speed of light? They tell you to slow down, smell the roses, enjoy your life, live like it's your last day. Who has time for that? I surely don't. It seems like we have to spend so much time trying to make our day to day lives go smoothly, that we never have the time, to stop and take the time, to enjoy the time. Jeesh. How irritating!
So, that is why, in some ways, I really just want to be a kid again!

Holiday

I almost forgot it was a Holiday at our house. It seemed like a Sunday to me. We didn't do anything for Memorial Day this year, which is kinda odd for us, but oh well. No one wanted to bbq because of the rain, and since Craig's b-day fell on the holiday weekend this year, (which is odd, because it's usually Chloe's that falls on the h-day) we had already seen all the family, and decided we were going to take it easy today. I woke up with a major case of the don't wanna's. I just didn't feel like doing anything. Craig drove all over Saturday trying to find the right width of oak veneer plywood for our desk project, so he wasn't able to start on it until today. I was going to pick up the house, do some laundry, and clean the bathrooms. I layed in bed instead! Pitiful. He had his i-pod plugged into the stereo and had it up super loud, so I layed on the bed and watched tv and read. Talk about lazy bones. Jeesh. Chloe and Koben wandered about, playing games in Kobens closet, hanging out with me, and seeing what dad was doing. I wandered about, and did manage to get a couple loads of laundry done. We woke up late this morning, so really, by the time we got going (or I should say Craig got going) on chores, I really only laid around from 11 to 3. Wow, that still sounds pathetic. Oh well, one must have an occasional lazy day, right? =) Then I went to the store for a few things, and came home and tossed Koben in our big tub with all his water toys to keep him out of daddys hair. Craig got all the wood put into the desk, and now all he has to do is varnish the new veneer. Then we get to start on removing base trim, and finally, finally, finally, we can start on the floor. We have to have it done by fourth of July weekend, because we are having his family over for his moms 70th birthday, and I refuse to have it look like this.
So, I guess tomorrow I will finish the laundry. I did manage to get the living room and counters picked up. Mom wants to go to Wal-Mart tomorrow (ugh) and I do need to get a present for the twins since their birthday (and lil miss Chloe's) is on Thursday. Holy Moses, I can't believe they are almost nine! Oh, let the fun begin.

Happy Birthday to my Hubby!

I was a good wife today, and made my husband french toast this morning for breakfast before he went to work. Today is his birthday. I never make breakfast like that during the week. Heck, I never even make breakfast like that on the weekend, because then I have to clean it up, and I hate cleaning the kitchen two or three times on my day off. Ickola. So, he had french toast, I made his lunch, Chloe poured his morning Coke, and off to work we sent daddy. He gets dinner out tonight with my folks, dinner out tomorrow with our friends, and dinner at his parents on Sunday, and who knows what for Monday. Spoiled man! I guess turning 41 has it's advantages. (wow, is he really 41? will I really be 31 in one month and one day? Oh, I feel old.)

Hope you all have a fab Holiday weekend. For any of my non-blogging friends, I set up my account so you can leave anonymous comments without creating an account, which I see a couple of you have figured out!

See ya!

Why do chores take so long?

I had such hopes for today. I was going to clean out both kid's rooms, and pull out everything for the garage sale, and then I was going to go out to the garage, and start pricing everything I've been packing out there for the last year or so. I stayed up until 11 last night, watching "must love dogs." Craig went to bed early. He had been out welding in the heat all day, and he was completely exhausted and had flash burns from the welder on both arms. Koben fell asleep about 9, and I sent Chloe to bed at 10. So, this morning, none of us got up until about 8:30, which at our house, with Koben, is like massively sleeping in. I ate breakfast, read a magazine, and headed to Koben's room about 10am. It didn't take long for me to discover this was going to take awhile. Koben has a toy box the size of his closet, in which everything has been getting chucked into forever. So, I made a trip to good 'ol Bi-mart, which is the only place in town I could by what I was looking for. Craig went to work putting together a book case Koben got for Christmas two years ago while I was gone. I bought a set of three shelves, and a whole bunch of plastic baskets. Finally, I could sort everything individually. I didn't realize how much little people stuff Koben had. I had to keep asking Chloe into his room to tell me what set all these pieces went to. Little plastic hay stacks, blocks, tractors, people......jeesh. She knew what absolutely everything was, thank goodness, and helped me out. He has mega toys that he doesn not play with. Originally I was going to put all of it in the garage sale, but duh, obviously it was because it was all in such a pile he couldn't even find everything, and had no clue what to do with it. So, we chucked out a huge pile (actually, filling his old toy box from closet) for the garage sale, and everything is nicely sorted. By the time I finished, it was 3:30, and I decided to heck with it, I haven't gotten to enjoy any of this sunny weather, so Craig and I hauled out our table and chairs, and my adirondak chairs, I put Koben in a little swimmer, and set up his finding nemo sprinkler, and I sat in the yard with my frappacino and a book for a couple hours. So much for the rest of my work! Craig did manage to get the cabinet in the kitchen all pulled out, so now I'm left with the counter, and he needs to put some molding and wood inside to finish it out, so you can't see the melamine from the inside of the cabinet, and all the nails and staples that were inside. So, I will work on Chloe's room on Tuesday. She sorted through some books and stuff, but I need to do a little (Chloe-at-school-mommy-enter-room-with-garbage-bag) and I will be good to go. Since this garage sale will have ours and Suzi's stuff in it, and my bosses sister Cindy's stuff also, I've decided to borrow a rolling rack from work, hit the dollar store and buy a whole bunch of hangers (which actually hold up really well, and we need a bunch more anyway since Chloe's clothes are too big for the little kid ones) and we are going to hang up all the clothes we have for sale, and I think just sell everything for a $1.00 a piece. Since I buy most of the kids clothes at the resale store anyway, I figure it's a good price. I'm picky about what I buy, their clothes are in great shape, and I throw away anything that I wouldn't buy. All the shoes will be one price, all my clothes will be one price, all the books will be one price, and so on and so forth. I hate individually pricing. We have ALOT of stuff. Yeah, it's great to make a little money at a sale, but I really just want to get rid of all this stuff, and get the garage cleaned out. What we don't sell, we will have to donate, or haul to the dump, and the dump costs too darn much to do that, so we will see how it works, now all we need is a fairly sunny weekend where everyone is not busy!

Time for dinner! Easy meal idea for anyone out there:
One pound of breakfast sausage (you can use whatever, we just have a lot of it, and ours is super low in fat since it is home grown. I have used ground turkey also, but it needs to be seasoned quite a bit more)
Sauteed onions, and mushrooms if you would like
Cook together, throw in a can of black beans (I've found the organic brand is lower in sodium, calories, and fat, and is quite often cheaper than the others)
Add a package of uncle bens 90 second whole wheat rice.
Mix it all together and add to a tortilla. Sometimes we fill it with raw spinach, add a little ranch dressing, or sour cream, sometimes basil and pesto dressing, and top with asiago cheese (has a strong flavor, and is really low in fat. Not everyone loves it though, you can add whatever you like)
super quick and easy, inexpensive if you buy the ingredients whenever they are on sale. Everyone here likes it!
Have a good night!

Oh, ick.........

Two words...............jury duty.

Why me? I have avoided county duty all this time, and now...........ick.

Must be in the water. Craig was summonsed for next Thursday in the city jury.

I love how they say on the bottom of your summons. "It is your right, and duty as an American to serve"

Yeah, whatever. It's my right to possibly lose a weeks worth of pay? Yeah, cause their $10.00 a day is so worth it to me!

Hope your Mom's day was great!

Hope you all had a fabulous mother's day. Mine was very good. Sunday morning Chloe made me breakfast (cereal =P) and I got a card from her and Koben, and a gift and card from Craig. Craig bought me four glazed flower pots. Two big, and two smaller in a pretty light green, and a blue. They were very nice, and mom and I are flower shopping tomorrow for all the pots. I think I will wait until after this lovely heat wave we will be having at the end of the week to plant anything. I like warm, but 95 is too hot for me. Whiny, huh? I know, I know. I spent most of the day yesterday cleaning out my upper/lower cabinets and junk drawer(s) in my kitchen, so Craig can pull out the cabinet/drawer portion and turn it into a desk. We can finally get the executive size desk out of our dining room, and I can have my dining room back. I am very excited. I couldn't believe how much stuff I pulled out of those cabinets and drawers. Holy moses, we collect a lot of stuff. I had owners manuals in there for things we haven't had in years, keys to cars we no longer own, nails, tacks, extra smoke detector, loose recipes, tons of child lock/outlet covers, you name it, it was in those drawers. But they are empty now! I did come up with a lot more things to toss into our garage sale. Maybe I can make a few bucks. In the evening my parents came over and we ordered in Chinese food. Craig wanted to go take us out, but I just felt like staying home. The
Survivor finale was on last night, and every place is just too crowded on holidays like this. I gave my mom a card and a turquoise necklace, and she gave me a nice card. We had a good time.

On a odd side note, I think this is interesting. Craig has an uncle that passed away on Friday. No, that is not interesting, nor overly sad. He was 90 years old, and had kidney failure. He has had dementia for several years, and was living in a home, so really, one would say he lived a very nice full life, and his passing was a good thing. His wife passed away a few years ago (she was a sweet little lady) The odd, interesting thing is that he was the husband of Craig's, mom's sister, so he was Craig's uncle. But, he was also Craig's dad's uncle. So on his dad's side, he was his great uncle. I thought that cute and interesting. Maybe not so much to anyone else, but Craig and I got a chuckle out of it once we started thinking about it. It had never crossed his mind before. Why do weird things like that cross my mind? Who really knows. Today would also have been my grandma's birthday. Mom and I can't remember how old she would have been. Somewhere around 85, or 86. Happy Birthday Grandma.

Hope you all have a fabulous day. We will be unloading 90 cartons of laminate flooring this evening. Wish us luck! =)

Chloe's gift

Chloe brought home her mother's day present for me today, since they do not have school tomorrow. The pot she made me is way cute, it is painted and even has my name on it. The plant is tiny, they obviously just potted them today, so I have no idea what it is yet, other than green!
She also painted me an awesome picture that they laminated, and she made me the cutest card, I have to tell you what it said. It was basically a purple strip of paper, card width, that is folded up accordian style, and has some pink cut out flowers on it, it is way cute. On it, it says, verbatum:
dear mom,
you are special because you take care of me and I love you. My favorite thing about you is that you always understand what I mean or say.
thank you for giving me life and taking care of me.
love, Chloe

Holy moses, isn't that the sweetest thing you ever heard? That teared me up, she got a big hug!

Aaawww, I love mother's day

Yesterday I forgot to mention what a cutie Koben is. When I picked him up at school yesterday afternoon, his teacher handed him a little pot with a plant in it that was in a white paper bag with cut outs and a little picture (scribble) on it. The plant was peeking out over the top. So, she gives it to Koben, and says "here, give it to mommy" and he brings it over to me, with his little chest all puffed out, and a big smile on his face, and I take it and say "oh honey, did you make this for me? It's beautiful" and oh, his little face just lit up, and he put his hands behind his back and got all bashful and proud looking. It was sooo cute. All the kids scooped their soil into their pots, and put in the seeds, and added the rest of their soil, and helped the teachers water the pots. It was a Nasturtium (which I call nasty turdiums because I can never remember how to say it) I thought it quite sweet. On Monday, when I brought him home from Monday day care (which is really just our very best friend who insists on watching him for nothing, and I drive all the way to Wilsonville for, just so I can see her once a week and have a cup of coffee with in the morning) she had all of her daycare kids decorate plates, which was pretty cool. They come with a paint like pen, that is permanent once it dries, and can be hand washed. So Koben had drew all over it in red, and then her twelve year old twin daughters decorated the rims with the year and his name, it was really cute. So, so far for Mom's day, I've been spoiled. Chloe was kinda bummed, because she's benn really keeping her gift to me a secret, but when she saw Kobens plant she got all sad and said "well, I guess now you'll have two plants, but my pot is better" which I found quite cute, and promised her I would love it. She didn't think her little brother would try to out do her. I overheard her talking to herself about breakfast in bed for me, so I guess I will try to remember not to get out of bed for awhile on Sunday! Other than that, we have no plans. Craig asked me if I wanted to go to brunch, and it seems like it is always such a zoo, and we don't have reservations anywhere, so I decided to just hang out at home, and get a few things done. I will need to take mom her gift at some point Sunday (we will be with Craigs mom Saturday night) so maybe we will do dinner or something.

Happy evening to everyone, I must go see who gets kicked off American Idol tonight. Jason Castro, anyone?

I hate confrontations

Ok, so last night, I come home to discover the washer and dryer going. Since Craig never does laundry on his own out of the blue, I knew something was up. Apparantly, someone put a container of open chocolate milk in Chloe's book bag yesterday, and she didn't notice until she got to daycare. So, she had a curdled mass of stinky chocolate milk all over her book bag, her coat, her homework folder, and two library books. I went into red mode. That's it, I've had it.

It takes a lot to make me confront someone. I absolutely hate it. And I have such flashbacks to elementary school, where I used to ball uncontrollably when and adult confronted me, or was upset with me, that I just really didn't want to deal with this. Since I married a man who also doesn't like confrontations, I knew I was going to have to deal with it. So, this morning, I head into the office, and tell the secretary I want to talk to Chloe's teacher. So, I head to the classroom, and explain what happened with the book bag, and where I got a little pissy, and said I wasn't paying for the books. There is something not quite right about paying $17.00 for a book the library has had since 1986, and is torn up and smells like a locker room.
So, since I'm there, I decide to discuss the Friday cell phone incident with the teacher. Gee, wouldn't you know, the lady in the office never told anyone about it. Chloe's teacher was clueless. So, I tell her about the little brat, Chloe's teach calls in the little brats teach, and boy, what do you know, they've had problems with this second grader before, he's even been suspended twice this year. Gosh, who would have thought it. So, Chloe tells her story about how he made her trade, wouldn't let her get to an adult, and threatened to smack her in the face if she told anyone the truth. What a sweetie, his parents must be so proud. So, the kids teacher, who happens to be Chloe's teacher from last year, whom Chloe loved, and she loved Chloe, decided to let the pricipal know what was up. Chloe said he glared at her at lunch today, but did not approach her at any time, and he was held in from recess. So, we'll see, but I told her that if he says anything at all negative to her, to let her teacher know, and to let me know, so I could handle it. I also decided it was a good time to let her teach know about the little girl Chloe can't get along with in class. Her teacher looks at Chloe and says "Aren't you in her reading group right now?" Chloe's like, "yah, and she won't leave me alone" teacher hasn't noticed that, obviously. I explain to her that Chloe and her have not gotten along since first grade, and the real kicker was Chloe getting stuck with the girl, and the girls mom when they went on their field trip a month or so ago. Needless to say, the girl will be put in another reading group, and her teacher says she can make a note to suggest they are not in the same class next year. Gee, I feel like I got alot done today.
On Kobens note, we had to send one of his hearing aids in last week, because it wasn't working right, (which costs me $97.00, eeek) so today during his evaluation, they learned the other isn't working right either. I guess they are working correctly, but they are both weak, so they are not amplifying correctly. So, now we pay to have the other one sent in, and hopefully they can fix the, otherwise they replace them. I was kinda dissapointed, since these hearing aids were supposed to last 5-7 years, and he has only had them for two. Fortunately, the gal said this is kinda abnormal, so hopefully once they are refurbished, we will be good to go for awhile.
I'm pooped, it was an exhausting day off. I can't wait till school is out so we can take it easy. Of course, by the end of July, I will be praying for school to start again!

Oh, the life of a third grader

Ok, so Friday, I get a call about lunch time from Chloe's school, telling me there is some sort of debate/problem/disagreement between Chloe and another student over a cell phone. She said Chloe had a cell phone, and when confronted, Chloe told her that I had given it to her the day before. When she wanted to call and confirm that with me, Chloe started crying and altering the story. Chloe does not have a cell phone. So, they put Chloe on the phone, and I'm calmly asking her what in the world is going on. She tells me some kid wanted to trade a pencil she had for his cell phone. He said he lost his, and his mom bought him a new one, then he found the old one, and since it was dead, he decided he didn't need it anymore. By the way, he's seven. So, Chloe, who is feeling massive pressure over this cell phone phenomenon, and really wants one, saw it as an opportunity to have one, without Craig and I having to pay for one. (oh, the mind of an eight year old.) So, I get the office lady on the phone, and I explain to her the story, and who the kid is because they need to find out who the cell phone belongs to. So, after daycare Friday, Chloe goes over to Craigs mom and dad's to spend the night, because she is going fishing with them on Saturday, so I have to wait until last night to get the rest of the scoop in person.
Apparantly, this is a boy who is constantly bullying Chloe. He just won't leave her alone. He is a friend of one of her good friends, so he is always around when Chloe is playing with her. She won a goodie out of the prize box at school for turning in her homework, and she apparantly picked some nifty pencil, and she stuck in her pocket, and forgot about it, so she was wearing it out to the play are. So, this cruddy little boy, gets in her face, because he wants the pencil, and Chloe keeps telling him no, and to leave her alone. But no, he has to keep pushing, then he decides he will trade this phone for the pencil. I truly think Chloe knew it was wrong, but she said that he kept pushing the cell phone at her, and tried to grab the pencil. Chloe said she tried to get to a teacher on the play ground, but he kept blocking her and grabbing her as she was trying to run. So, I guess one of the teachers did see the squabble, and tried to call just Chloe over, because she was visibly upset, and the little punk got in her face, and told her to tell the teacher it was her phone, that I had given it to her, and not to tell her where it came from. So, that is why she lied to the office lady. So, no one is really sure if the story he told Chloe about the phone is true, or whose phone it really was. Man, I was so angry last night. What is wrong with these people? And why does just the secretary in the office get involved? Where is the principal? Where are the other teachers? Why the he*l aren't they keeping an eye on these kids on the playground? I am by no means saying my kid is perfect, but she never gets in trouble at school, and she is always telling me about two or three kids, that just won't leave her alone. There is one girl, that has been in her class since first grade, that is just nasty to Chloe. She makes fun of her teeth (poor girl, has bigger teeth than mouth. That's gonna cost me, but it isn't that bad. I've seen worse) or she makes fun of her clothes, which she gets compliments on all the time, so that one I don't get. She whispers, and pokes Chloe during reading group, until Chloe gets frustrated and yells at her, and then Chloe gets her name card pulled, and when she explains it to the teacher, the teacher just tells Chloe that she needs to learn to get along with everyone. Or, the little girl makes fun of Chloe on the playground, and tells Chloes friends how horrible Chloe is, until they stop playing with Chloe, and play with her. Anyone see a pattern? I personally think the little brat is jealous of Chloe, and is trying to take attention away from her. Maybe she knows she's a brat, maybe her home life is bad, I don't know, but she makes Chloe crazy. So, I asked Chloe if she wanted me to get involved with her teacher over this little brat, and the little brat boy on the playground, or if she just wants to let the last five weeks of the year ride out, and we can re-evaluate in fall. She says she'll ride it out, unless either of them do something that makes her feel scared. Usually if Chloe has someone who is bothering her, they are in a different class the next year, or they've grown up a little, and are tolerable, or even become one of her friends, but these two have been picking on her for years, I've about had it. I hate getting involved too much. I don't want her to get picked on even more from them. Craig keeps insisting on the "pinch them when no one is looking" approach. But, I just know she'll get caught, and since they suspend even in elementary school now for that crap, it's probably not a good idea. I really wish her teacher was more aware. This is the first teacher Chloe has had, that she didn't love. Hopefully next year we can get back to one she really likes. I feel really bad about that, because I recommended that teacher, because a friend of mine, who was doing her student teaching at the school last year told me she was fabulous. Maybe to an adult, but not to my little boo.