I am starting to feel convinced that there is a conspiracy going on at my house. My husband and my children are purposely trying to slowly torture me through sleep deprivation. My husband has the annoying ability to fall asleep in the evenings after the kids have gone to sleep while I zone out to my real estate/decorating/cooking shows. This usually happens around 8pm. Once it gets close to 9pm, I start asking my husband if he wants to go to bed. To which he always replies, not yet, then falls back asleep on the couch. My husband gets up between 4am and 5am every morning since he has an hour long commute to work and needs to get there no later than 6:30am. So I totally understand the falling asleep in front of the TV scenario. But this is where the conspiracy starts…
He won’t generally agree that it is time to go to bed on an actual bed until about 10:30pm. So we drag ourselves up stairs and probably fall asleep by 11:30pm. (I have issues with insomnia, so it takes me a while to fall asleep) Then 4am rolls around and my husband’s alarm goes off, which he does not turn off until I have repeatedly elbowed him to do so. Sometimes, he gets up, adds another 30 minutes and sets the alarm again. HE falls back asleep, but alas, I cannot. If he doesn’t re-set the alarm I can usually fall back asleep. That is until he comes and kisses me goodbye (awe, how sweet…) UNTIL HE WAKES ME UP! Now, will someone please tell me how I am supposed to lovingly tell my husband that I appreciate the kiss goodbye, but would rather he didn’t so that I could sleep while he on the other hand has to go to work.
Then my children, who are in on the conspiracy, come in the room at 6am to let me know that they need to go to the bathroom. They never have to ask permission to go to the bathroom, yet for some reason, at 6am they need to come into my room franticly to ask if they can use the bathroom. Every morning I tell them that they can go, yet every morning they come into ask…
So we get through the morning, and early afternoon where I have picked up my eldest from kindergarten, gone home, finished lunch, changed the baby, taken the 3year old potty, put the two younger ones down for a nap and then sat with my eldest to do his homework. After homework, it is nap time for him. He is very upset, since he doesn’t want to take one, but the rule at my house is if you get up too early and spend the morning fighting with your brother, you are tired enough for a nap. Ironically, the only one in the house who wants to take a nap is the only one who doesn’t get to. ME! I am pretty sure that the elderly sleep a lot since they are making up for all of the years of sleep that their children made them lose.
Monday, November 21, 2011
Sunday, November 20, 2011
My super-power!
I am fabulous. Why? It is not because I have a well toned physique which is cellulite free, naturally or unnaturally ample bosom, perfect teeth, glorious flowing locks, perfect completion, above average intelligence, more wealth than I could ever spend, etc. For the record, let it be known that I have NONE of the above! (Sigh…) Well, maybe I have the etc. whatever that is. Oh! I just remembered, I do have the ability to grow lovely finger nails AND my eyebrows are naturally quite nicely shaped. While those two traits are nothing to scoff at, they are not why I am fabulous. I am fabulous because I have three small children (all under the age of six) and I have not killed any of them…yet.
The point? There is none. I have just gotten to the point where I need some adult conversation since my days are filled with whinny (yet adorable) short people asking me for EVERYTHING! Let it be known that my adult conversation is now consisting of me writing to…myself! It is pathetic. But desperate times call for desperate measures. Several months ago my mother, who I love dearly, strongly suggested that I take a test that helps determine your natural strengths. (Definition of “strongly suggested”: bought me the book to take the test; pestered me not daily, but close to it, to take it; suggested that I haven’t found the key to a lifetime of happiness and fulfillment until I have taken the test…you get the idea.) So, yours truly, decided that it was time. I sat down during a quiet 30 minutes of free time that I had and took the test. (Definition of “free time”: time that I should be doing some household chore or something but instead have decided that I can use that moment to plop my butt down and read a novel or watch a show on HGTV or Food Network). Sacrificing an entire 30 minutes of peace and quiet to take the test is a big deal, so mother (if you ever read this) is proof that I love you.
I have to admit that I enjoyed taking the test and learning about what I am naturally good at. This was a moment that I could say was “All About Me”. Those who know me, would say that in times where I am the focus of attention in a good way, not in the you have been walking around with toilet paper stuck to the bottom of your shoe way, is when I seem the happiest. My nirvana would probably be me surrounded by people that wanted to spend time with me and feed me pieces of dark chocolate and ice cream. Notice that I referenced myself four times in that one sentence! I don’t even want to reflect on what that means about my character. So suffice to say, learning about myself was fun. So, my top strength was COMMUNICATION! Verbal, not necessarily written. It is my super-power. So, if you ever need anyone to talk to, I am your gal, provided there is enough time that I can talk too. People that talk without asking for dialogue BUG ME! I try to avoid them.
Anyway, so knowing that my strength is communication was fabulous, but the caveat was that I am surrounded by people that want to talk to me and have a very difficult time holding an intellectually stimulating conversation. They are my children. Honestly, my eldest is quite capable of holding an intelligent conversation, but his is so smart I am afraid of what he will get me to agree to let him do. Probably play video games for 3 days straight while eating tacos on the living room floor. So the next best thing, is holding a conversation with my computer.
Today we had one of those days that seemed to spiral out of control. We have a rule that you (meaning the children) are not allowed to get up before 7am. My two sons (5 and 3) share a room and were at one point waking up at 5am! Now, if you can function well at 5am and take care of small children, kudos to you. I, however, cannot. I get VERY crabby if I have to wake up before 7am. So for the past several weeks my sons have been coming in my room between 6 and 6:45 asking if they can get up yet. Why has this been happening? Well I blame daylight savings. The whole “spring forward/fall back” is great for anyone WITHOUT kids! If you have young children it just screws with their schedule and you end up keeping them up later, but they still wake up earlier. Ugh. It is a nightmare. Parents should have a daylight savings exemption. I would rather lose an hour of daylight than have three cranky, overtired kids, for two months while they adjust to the time change.
So, since I cannot function before 7am, I let them crawl into bed with me. Awe, sounds cute and cuddly right? HA! They spend most of the time putting their cold feet on me, fighting with each other, or asking me questions. So why not make them stay in their room? Because their room is next to their 17 month old sister’s and they are NOT quiet in the mornings. They end up waking her anyway, but it’s a pipe dream to hold on to that they will come into bed, curl up with me and drift off into a warm snuggly sleep and wake up at 8:30am. So, being that communication is my super-power, I have decided to write my blog so that at least I get to have a faux-conversation once a day!
The point? There is none. I have just gotten to the point where I need some adult conversation since my days are filled with whinny (yet adorable) short people asking me for EVERYTHING! Let it be known that my adult conversation is now consisting of me writing to…myself! It is pathetic. But desperate times call for desperate measures. Several months ago my mother, who I love dearly, strongly suggested that I take a test that helps determine your natural strengths. (Definition of “strongly suggested”: bought me the book to take the test; pestered me not daily, but close to it, to take it; suggested that I haven’t found the key to a lifetime of happiness and fulfillment until I have taken the test…you get the idea.) So, yours truly, decided that it was time. I sat down during a quiet 30 minutes of free time that I had and took the test. (Definition of “free time”: time that I should be doing some household chore or something but instead have decided that I can use that moment to plop my butt down and read a novel or watch a show on HGTV or Food Network). Sacrificing an entire 30 minutes of peace and quiet to take the test is a big deal, so mother (if you ever read this) is proof that I love you.
I have to admit that I enjoyed taking the test and learning about what I am naturally good at. This was a moment that I could say was “All About Me”. Those who know me, would say that in times where I am the focus of attention in a good way, not in the you have been walking around with toilet paper stuck to the bottom of your shoe way, is when I seem the happiest. My nirvana would probably be me surrounded by people that wanted to spend time with me and feed me pieces of dark chocolate and ice cream. Notice that I referenced myself four times in that one sentence! I don’t even want to reflect on what that means about my character. So suffice to say, learning about myself was fun. So, my top strength was COMMUNICATION! Verbal, not necessarily written. It is my super-power. So, if you ever need anyone to talk to, I am your gal, provided there is enough time that I can talk too. People that talk without asking for dialogue BUG ME! I try to avoid them.
Anyway, so knowing that my strength is communication was fabulous, but the caveat was that I am surrounded by people that want to talk to me and have a very difficult time holding an intellectually stimulating conversation. They are my children. Honestly, my eldest is quite capable of holding an intelligent conversation, but his is so smart I am afraid of what he will get me to agree to let him do. Probably play video games for 3 days straight while eating tacos on the living room floor. So the next best thing, is holding a conversation with my computer.
Today we had one of those days that seemed to spiral out of control. We have a rule that you (meaning the children) are not allowed to get up before 7am. My two sons (5 and 3) share a room and were at one point waking up at 5am! Now, if you can function well at 5am and take care of small children, kudos to you. I, however, cannot. I get VERY crabby if I have to wake up before 7am. So for the past several weeks my sons have been coming in my room between 6 and 6:45 asking if they can get up yet. Why has this been happening? Well I blame daylight savings. The whole “spring forward/fall back” is great for anyone WITHOUT kids! If you have young children it just screws with their schedule and you end up keeping them up later, but they still wake up earlier. Ugh. It is a nightmare. Parents should have a daylight savings exemption. I would rather lose an hour of daylight than have three cranky, overtired kids, for two months while they adjust to the time change.
So, since I cannot function before 7am, I let them crawl into bed with me. Awe, sounds cute and cuddly right? HA! They spend most of the time putting their cold feet on me, fighting with each other, or asking me questions. So why not make them stay in their room? Because their room is next to their 17 month old sister’s and they are NOT quiet in the mornings. They end up waking her anyway, but it’s a pipe dream to hold on to that they will come into bed, curl up with me and drift off into a warm snuggly sleep and wake up at 8:30am. So, being that communication is my super-power, I have decided to write my blog so that at least I get to have a faux-conversation once a day!
Thursday, September 8, 2011
Painting on a wall...
Greetings all...(never mind that "all" consists of 3 people, lol!)
Recently I decided that it was time to finish/start painting my children's bathroom. If we are going to be totally honest, my mother came over and could no longer stomach walking into a Winnie the Pooh theme, poorly done turquoise sponge paint and faded and peeling wall paper border bathroom and she told me that she was going to paint my children's bathroom. Not that I blame her...it wasn't pretty. I certainly didn't want to say "no" since I had recently painted my downstairs 1/2 bath THREE TIMES in the past month. There is a story there, but I can save that for another time. Suffice to say, I was NOT feeling inclined to paint another room. Enter my mother to the rescue. She loves to paint. (I know what you're thinking, or should be thinking..."Loves to paint? What is wrong with her?") It's true, so I happily let her loose in the bathroom and several hours later I had a lovely freshly painted bathroom with no wall paper border in sight. It was beautiful.
Since I was feeling well with the world at that point I decided to paint some monsters on the walls that went with the bathroom set I had bought for my kiddos. I am NOT an artist and have always been frightened at the prospect of painting on walls anything other than solid colors. My sister IS an artist and my mother is great at painting treatments so I always felt intimidated by it.
Why was today different? It may have had something to do with all the paint fumes I had breathed in during the past month, but I went for it. I tried sketching the monsters on the wall first with pencil and that didn't work great. The lines were hard to see and the pencil actually scratched off some of the paint! Grr... So my monster didn't turn out great. The proportions were off and it's head looked...well weird. Enter my moment of inspiration...
I USED OIL PASTEL TO SKETCH THE REST OF THE MONSTERS AND IT WORKED WONDERFULLY!!! I could see the lines really well and if there was a part that I didn't like I could rub it off with my fingers. So I continued painting my monsters and congratulating myself on my genius. The other monsters turned out much better.
Here are the other tips I found out:
Recently I decided that it was time to finish/start painting my children's bathroom. If we are going to be totally honest, my mother came over and could no longer stomach walking into a Winnie the Pooh theme, poorly done turquoise sponge paint and faded and peeling wall paper border bathroom and she told me that she was going to paint my children's bathroom. Not that I blame her...it wasn't pretty. I certainly didn't want to say "no" since I had recently painted my downstairs 1/2 bath THREE TIMES in the past month. There is a story there, but I can save that for another time. Suffice to say, I was NOT feeling inclined to paint another room. Enter my mother to the rescue. She loves to paint. (I know what you're thinking, or should be thinking..."Loves to paint? What is wrong with her?") It's true, so I happily let her loose in the bathroom and several hours later I had a lovely freshly painted bathroom with no wall paper border in sight. It was beautiful.
Since I was feeling well with the world at that point I decided to paint some monsters on the walls that went with the bathroom set I had bought for my kiddos. I am NOT an artist and have always been frightened at the prospect of painting on walls anything other than solid colors. My sister IS an artist and my mother is great at painting treatments so I always felt intimidated by it.
Why was today different? It may have had something to do with all the paint fumes I had breathed in during the past month, but I went for it. I tried sketching the monsters on the wall first with pencil and that didn't work great. The lines were hard to see and the pencil actually scratched off some of the paint! Grr... So my monster didn't turn out great. The proportions were off and it's head looked...well weird. Enter my moment of inspiration...
I USED OIL PASTEL TO SKETCH THE REST OF THE MONSTERS AND IT WORKED WONDERFULLY!!! I could see the lines really well and if there was a part that I didn't like I could rub it off with my fingers. So I continued painting my monsters and congratulating myself on my genius. The other monsters turned out much better.
Here are the other tips I found out:
- When painting anything red, paint the base in PINK first!! You will get much better coverage and not have to paint 6 coats of red.
- When painting a darker green color, paint it in light green first for the same reason as above.
- If at all possible, get someone else to paint for you...
The purple monster was sketched in pencil and the others were sketched in pastel. I am going to paint some colored dots in the room next, but that is a project for another time...
Friday, September 2, 2011
Checkerboard - Lady Bug and Bee
Look at these little darlings! Genius? Maybe...
Get the instructions to make this project yourself for only $0.99 and let the crafting and games begin!
More than glitter and glue...
Instead on forcing my friends and family to look at all of my art and crafty creations I have decided to put them here. Not only will this save my ego from watching my husband feign int rest/enthusiasm in my latest ladybug pom pom thing, but just maybe it will become of some use and fun to others. So once I figure out all of the nuances of blogging (yes, I am that ignorant about blogging) I will hopefully have this site populated with clever and creative ideas that you will enjoy!
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