Maybe I’m the queen of stalling…

I call the Princess the queen of stalling.  She takes forever to do most everything, in other words, she’s stalling.  Getting her ready for school in the morning can be a nightmare.  It takes her 20 minutes to eat breakfast, 15 of those minutes are deciding what she wants, then 5 to actually eat it.  By the times she finally comes upstairs, goes to the bathroom (another 10 minute minimum) and gets dressed, I’m about ready to pull my hair out.  It takes this long with me constantly on her.  If I let her go at her own pace, she might be ready to leave by 11:00am, if at all.  I keep repeating to myself that G-man went through this phase too, and that (hopefully) she’ll grow out of it.

Someone wants to come look at our house tonight between 5:30 and 7:00.  Of course that’s right during the dinner hour, so I called my mom and invited ourselves to their house for dinner tonight.  TRMinator has piano after school, so we’ll already be there (my mom’s neighbor teaches him, so we hang out there during his lesson) and I figured we could just stay after he was done. 

Of course this means that the house needs to be clean and ready to go when I go pick the boys up from school because I’ll go straight to my mom’s house after school. 

I should probably be cleaning right now. 

I’m blogging instead. 

I guess you could say that I’m stalling. 

I’ve got the upstairs done.  I’ve cleaned the bathrooms and picked up the kids room’s and vacuumed the floors.  I started on the downstairs.  I vacuumed the living room, but then I was putting some stuff away in the office when I sat down at the computer and I haven’t gotten back up!

I always assumed that any of my kids bad traits came from Hubby.  I guess maybe one or two of them might have come from me!  Banish the thought!

Alright, fine.  I have to leave in an hour and a half.  I’m going to go back and clean!

It’s my anniversarrarrryy!

Wow.  Has it really been 13 years?

Seems like only 12 1/2.  Just kidding!! 
I guess you know you married the right person, when after 13 years, you wouldn’t change a thing and make the same decision again.

The innocence of youth

We had a cute young couple come look at our house last night.  They saw it online and called our agent to see it.  They were first time home buyers and wanted to take advantage of the tax credit that expires next month.  They made an appointment to look at it Monday (3 days from now) but he told them that if they were in the area, they could swing by whenever to look at it.  (Not quite sure why he told them that, but whatever)

I guess they were pretty anxious to see it, because they stopped by last night at about 6:15, right, may I add, as I was just about to put dinner on the table.  Our philosophy all through this house selling process has been, if someone wants to see your house, you show them your house, even if it’s not very convenient, so Hubby showed them around.

They loved the house.  They loved the appliances, they were wowed by the big yard, the fact that we don’t have a full basement didn’t faze them… so is the house sold?  I’m going to take a stab in the dark here and say….  NO!  They were very nice and really interested, but I don’t think they have a clue as to how much it really costs to buy a house.  I was telling them about a mortgage calculator that I had found online that gives you a pretty realistic view of what your payment will be.  I told them about how it has you add your property tax and insurance to your principle and interest.  The husband kind of got a blank look on his face when I mentioned property tax.  Like he hadn’t considered that before.  I’m sure the thought of PMI would just blow them away.

They would be great for this house, but I really don’t think they can afford it.  You never know, they may surprise me, but I doubt it.  They reminded me of the first time Hubby and I thought we could afford a house.  We had only been married for a few months, and saw a house that we thought was cute that was across the street from the apartments we were living in.  We called the agent on the sign to see how much it was.  That started us on a week’s adventure of looking at houses and dreaming that we could buy one.  We had no idea what it took to buy a house.  The thought of getting preapproved for a mortgage never crossed our minds.  You need money for a down payment?  What?!  Suffice it to say, we were very naive.  We pretty much wasted that realtor’s time, but I don’t feel too bad about it because she was a little crazy.

If this young couple really does have all their stuff together and can buy our house, that would be great.  Maybe I’m being too cynical.  Maybe, but I doubt it! 

Want to know useless stuff? Ask me!

Last night Hubby and I were watching the Tonight Show.  Jay was doing the Jaywalking segment and he was showing people pictures of famous people’s eyes and asking them what they thought of them.  There were probably about 10 pictures in all, and I guessed who they were for about 7 of them.  I got the pope wrong, (I give myself a pass on that one since I’m not Catholic) the president of Iran wrong, (I still don’t know his name) and I missed Joe Biden too.  I got the rest right.  After about the 4th or 5th one, Hubby looked over at me and said, “Wow!” 

I am a fountain of useless information.  If you want to know what celebrity is married to who, or who used to date who, I can tell you.  If you want to know who was in what movie, I can probably tell you, which is all the more amusing considering I don’t like to watch movies. (I start losing interest after about 45 minutes)  Let me tell you, if there is ever a People Magazine version of Trivial Pursuit made, I would clean up! 

I’m sure I deserve an A

One of the things that people fail to mention when you have kids is that you get to go through school all over again, with all the accompanying homework.  It feels like I’ve been through 3rd grade 3 times now.  Once when I was a kid, the second with TRMinator, now I’m on my third go around with G-man.  Maybe I’ll have it down pat by the time the Princess gets there, yeah, don’t count on it!  G-man had an animal report that was due today.  Of course, I forgot about it till yesterday when I stumbled across the note that came home a week ago.  (I’m just glad I didn’t throw it away!) 

When he got home from school I reminded him about the report and told him that we needed to go to the library to get some books to write it since it was due the next day.  After some grumbling he climbed in the car with me and off we went to find some books on snakes.  (At least he had decided on an animal, even though it was an icky one!)

When we got home, I skimmed through the books to find some pertinent information on the nasty reptiles, and G-man had the decency to hang around while I wrote his report.  (In his defense, he did add a few things here and there, and I asked him what he wanted to be included.)  His teacher wanted it either written in cursive or typed.  Since G-man hates writing in cursive he decided to type it.  Ooooh let me tell you, that was a test of my patience watching him type this report.  It took about everything I had not to rip that laptop away from him and just do it myself.  What finally worked for us was when we sat on the couch and he was turned away from me so I couldn’t see him type.  I read it to him as he typed it, and it worked much better. 

The thing that really amused me, was that he wanted to type it all by himself.  Whenever I tried to start taking over, he’d get a little huffy and say, “No, Mom!  I can do it myself!”

They are supposed to read them out loud to the class, then they’ll be graded.  I can’t wait to see how we he did!

Here’s the 411

I know you all are dying to know what’s going on with the new house situation.  Here’s what’s up, we found a house that we like, and made an offer on it with a contingency that we have 60 days to sell our house.  We weren’t sure if they would go for it, because our offer was a little on the low side, but they did!  Now the race is on to sell our house.  Hopefully it won’t take too long.  I guess that means I should start packing a few things!

They got me again

I think we all have those deals that just suck us in, don’t we?  For  Hubby, his is Maverik.  They always have those “two for” deals.  For some reason, they just draw him him.  If they are having 2 cans of Pringles for $2, he’ll buy some.  It doesn’t matter that you can get a can of Pringles at Walmart all day long at $.99, if it’s a “two for” deal at Maverik, he’s there, and he’s bought 4.

Mine is Land’s End.  For some reason they suck me in every time.  I got a catalog the other day with a thing for free shipping.  So I perused through it and found some shirts that the boys would like.  I didn’t order anything because I am trying not to buy stuff that’s not essential since we are going to be buying a house soon, and are trying to save up for a bigger down payment. 

Then I got an email with a code for 25% off the highest item and what I thought was free shipping.  So I thought, “Cool!  I’ll just order that shirt for G-man.”  Then when I went to check out, I realized that they shipping was only free on orders of $49 or more.  I must say, that I didn’t fall into the trap of, “I’ll just order more so I can get free shipping,” because that was way more than I was going to spend in the first place.  So I thought that was the end of it.

Lo and behold, two days later, I got another email from them.  This time it was 20% off your entire kid’s order plus no minimum free shipping.  Well, I couldn’t pass that up!  Of course I ordered the shirt for G-man and one for TRMinator as well.  I’m sure I could have found something comparable at Target for cheaper, but I don’t care.  I liked them, and I saved money because I didn’t order anything for the Princess!   At least that’s what I’m telling myself.

And the award for the best brother goes to…

The other day the Princess wanted to watch her new Barbie movie that she got for her birthday.  Her problem was that both the TV’s were occupied.  G-man was playing on the X Box downstairs and TRMinator was watching a show upstairs.  So with a bit of disappointment she sat down to watch the G-man play. 

After a bit he went upstairs to watch whatever TRMinator was watching.  While he was gone, she put in her movie.  Well, of course when G-man came back he wanted to play on the X Box again, so he told her that she could play with him.  She got really excited that he was letting her play with him, and told Hubby that she got to play with, “the special controller that doesn’t light up!”  In case you are wondering what kind of controller that is, it’s the kind that isn’t on.  It’s the one that makes you think you are getting to play with your brother when you really aren’t.  What an awesome brother!

Happy birthday to my brown eyed girl

I can’t believe my baby turned 5 yesterday!  I think she had a fun day.  It would probably depend when you would have asked her.  Let me give you a rundown of her day.

She had school yesterday and it was her snack day also, so she brought cupcakes to share with everyone.  She came out of school wearing a birthday crown, and on the way home I told her that it was hers and she got to keep it.  Apparently she didn’t realize that because she got really excited and told me that, “This is the best day ever!!”  Not two minutes later, this was her state of mind.

   

All because I wanted her to put her hands down so I could get a picture of her shirt.  She proceeded to stomp up the stairs to her room crying, “This is the worst day ever!”

I guess she wanted to make a heart with her hands when I took her picture.  Once I let her, she was happy.

Next we went to McDonald’s with a play place for lunch.  She was crying when we left there as well, but that was because someone stepped on her hair when she was going down the slide.  I guess we’ll excuse that one.

After I took her shopping that afternoon to spend her birthday money that she got from my grandma, we went to Boondocks for her family party.  She was pretty excited to go there, but her brothers may have been a little more excited.   They were anxious to play laser tag and discussed their strategies for days. 

After dinner and games we went home for cake and ice cream and presents.  My mom’s neighbor made her cake.

She was very excited when she saw it.  I should have gotten a picture of her reaction, but I didn’t.

All in all it was a pretty good day.  She only had a couple of meltdowns, so I think we could call that successful.  It’s hard to believe that my baby girl isn’t a baby anymore!

Back in my day…

Bear with me as I wax nostalgic for a bit.

Is it just me, or did life seem to be much simpler 20 years ago.  I remember when I was a kid, growing up in Iowa, life seemed to be easy and relaxed. 

We had a little corner market not too far from my house called Balbort’s.  They had a few groceries (my mom said they were overpriced, so you only bought those if you were out of something and didn’t want to run all the way to the store) but what I remember most was the candy section.  I could have stood there all day perusing the selection of goodies to try and decide what I wanted.  They also had candy that actually cost a penny.  They were little individually wrapped red hard candies.  Since they were red, you would assume that they were cinnamon, but actually they were strawberry flavored.  I loved to get those because I could get a lot with whatever change I might have had.

There was also a 7-11 not too far away.  We would cut through the neighbor’s yard and walk down the back alley to the store and get Big Gulps.  Back in those days, that was a treat.  We also thought they were huge at 34 oz.  The 100 oz. Maverik mug nowadays would put those to shame!

One of my favorite memories was when my brother and I would go on  bike rides around the cemetery.  You might think that sounds creepy, but we had one of the most beautiful cemeteries, and it was pretty big, so we could ride around for what seemed like hours.  There were so many hills and twists and turns that it made it seem like we were on a treasure hunt the whole time.

I hope that when my kids are my age, they can look back on their time growing up and think that they had the best childhood too.

Drum roll, please…

Today is my mother’s birthday.  If you know her, you may somewhat comprehend what a momentous occasion this is.  If you have grown up with her, as I have, you know that it should be considered a national holiday, and needs to be celebrated as such by her family.

The funny thing about my mom and birthdays is, she really doesn’t care if you get her presents, although they are a bonus.  She especially doesn’t care if you spend very much on said presents.  In fact, she loves cheap crap!  (I think she has used those words in the past, so don’t blame me!)  The key to making my mother happy on her birthday is just to make a big deal about it.  She wants the celebrations and the accolades that go with having birthdays, and she wants to feel like it is her special day.  Trust me, I’ve had it drilled into me now, for… well, let’s just say a little over 30 years.  I really don’t know anyone else like that!  So here’s my shout out to my mom on her birthday!!

Socks, socks, and more socks!!!

What is with the socks laying all over my house?!  I swear they are multiplying and replenishing all over my floors.  I don’t think I can walk into a single room and not find at least one pair on the floor.

The root of the sock saga is that the G-man doesn’t like to wear them.  He says they are “uncomfortable”.  As soon as he walks in the door he takes the pair that he is wearing off.  Sometimes they land by the front door, but the majority of the time they land next to where he sits down.  Then when it’s time to go anywhere, he goes and gets a new pair, then when we get back,  that pair winds up on the floor, and so on and so forth.

Since that is G-man’s mode of operation, the Princess has decided that if it works for him, it will work for her, so her socks are flung around as well.  I’m starting to think that maybe I need to put some super glue inside each one so that when they put them on, they stay on and they can’t get them off!  (insert evil laugh here)  That will solve my sock problem!