Terrible Twos & Store Adventures - 04/29/2006

Continued from earlier's "I Tiwad" blog entry:


J is at his dad's family all weekend. My ex m-i-l, one tough & wonderful broad, is very ill - The Big C. :( So, he's spending time with her. David went to work, so it was just me and Mrs. Squeaklefritz. We went to Bed, Bath & Beyond (aka Bed, Bath & Beyond My Budget). She hates riding in shopping carts, but if I don't put her in one, she runs amok and I get zero shopping done. I put her in..."Waaaaahhhh." She calmed down by the time we got in...for about 3 minutes. As I am walking through the bath section looking for a shower curtain, she's not so much crying as growling, grunting and acting angry. I am ignoring her and it's actually not bugging me. I think I learned to tune it out. I am sure there were many people wishing I would shut her up or leave. But I continued. A married couple in their 50's came up behind me and said "You're a good mother. You're doing the right thing." I looked at them, a bit puzzled. She continued : "Most parents would be trying to cajole them, bribe them with something or pick them up." (he interjects: "Wrong thing to do.") "But you stick to your guns..." etc. It was kind-of odd, and yet a little rewarding too. I am so not perfect with the kids. Just ask my husband...or Jake. I am a nut-case. Every once in a while, I do feel I do a good job though.


Next up, Target. Again, in the shopping cart out by the car and "Waaaaaaaaaah!!" And also some growling and whining with a touch of kicking. She actually stopped before we even got through the front door and was really good. At the register checking out, she noticed the candy. Damn those stores for putting that stuff there. They are evil. EVIL!!! Don't get me wrong....I am NOT perfect. Puhlease....I have purchased the cookie/candy/toy to quiet them once in a while, but for the most part, I try not to. I scooted the cart right past the candy, towards the credit card machine thingie, told Squeak "Nope, there's nothing there you need," and proceeded to scan my card while she cried crocodile tears. Then, the young cashier says "I want to commend you for being a good parent. Most parents give in to their kids when they see that candy and start to scream, and it's hard for me to watch." While she is saying this, another baby happens to be carted by and Squeak immediately stops crying to look at him. I turn to Squeak, say "Big faker," laugh and thank the cashier.


J was such a good baby, I always used to say "My next one's going to be a hellion." I jinxed myself. She turned two and (*insert pea-soup spitting, head-turning horrors here*)...Wham. She's nuts one second, happy & giggling the next. This was such a weird shopping day and I'm glad of the feedback I received.

I Tiwad - 04/29/2006

I'm tired. Stop the insanity. I caulked several places in both bathrooms, touched up some paint around the house, scrubbed the kids bathroom entirely, finished our bathroom that I started on last night, ate a bowl of cereal, mopped both bathroom floors, folded a load of laundry, put another load in the dryer, polished the dining room table - all while a toddler either (a) smiled and had a lovely time (b) cried/whined (c) growled yelled or (d) pulled me towards the pantry for yet another snack. And will someone please tell me how to tell a toddler that, no, it is not ok to put peanut butter on mommy's freshly painted wall..cause I tell ya....I got nothing.


She's napping now. Yay. As soon as she gets up, it's off to Home Depot, Target, Bed Bath & Beyond. For now, I'm going to lie on my bed..possibly get out of my cleaning/yucky clothes. The possibilities are endless...for 2 hours anyway.

Would You Like To See The Menu? - 04/26/2006

This Sunday night, I sat down with my cook books and recipe holder and planned out a week's worth of dinner menus. (Thanks Amy B. for the inspiration!). I went with recipes that I knew I had all the ingredients for. I got 5 days worth. Tres cool. It is so much easier knowing what I have to cook, rather than coming home and hearing "What's for dinner?"....and having no clue. My son J called me tonight on the way home from work, asked that question and I answered "Look at the menu on the fridge." Ahhh. Sweet.


Oh, dinner was a Three-Cheese Pasta Bake, with peas on the side.

Did You Not See her - Hello? 04/25/2006

There's a new person at my office. She met my daughter Friday when David brought her by...and the new girl said absolutely nothing about her. I didn't really notice, because I was busy. Later that night, David said "Did you notice that we got no reaction out of her when she met "I"? It was almost like a guy's reaction." LOL David LOVES to show her off and expects everyone to just be Ga Ga over her. As do I with my constant e-mailings of pictures that annoy everyone. This week, the new girl mentions she never wants to have kids and doesn't like them. Ahhhhhh. O.K. Makes sense now. It's not that "I" is not cute, Lord Forbid, it's that this girl does not like any kids. I mean, seriously. Just look at her here. She's gorgeous.


Don't you hate obnoxious parents. :)

Carpets & Brakes - 04/24/2006

Our current house has new carpet in the living room. Hurray! The installers worked to the tune of a screaming, sick toddler. Poor guys. & Poor Mrs. Squeaklefritz too. She's eaten....yogurt, and Froot Loops (TOLD you I'd feed them Froot Loops for dinner, by gum!). That's it. All day.

David got quoted $1000 to get his brakes fixed. After I picked myself off the floor, he talked to Neighbor Mark. Neighbor Mark is a mechanic, and has a buddy at an auto parts store. The $100 ea. rotors....we got for $16 ea. We're still not sure if the friend behind the counter meant to do that, but Mark didn't wait around long enough to find out. The $600 in parts we were quoted at the "brake place" ended up being $85 with Neighbor Mark's discount. We are VERY happy. Neighbor Mark did all the brakes for us for a very small fee, compared to what we would have paid.


Off Topic: I have 16 mosquito bites on my butt. Thought you'd like to know. Somehow, because we had the doors open yesterday while we worked on the house, a mosquito and his entire family, entered the house and our bedroom. Fast forward to this morning. 16 bites. They had a lot to work with.


24: President Logan is a creep. Run, Martha, Run!!!

Life's A Show and We All Play Our Parts - 04/23/06

"Life's a show, and we all play our parts.." - Joss Whedon.

Let's see how this blog thing works. I was going to title this blog "How the hell'd I end up here?" but, I kind of like here, no matter what it took to get here.

Welcome to my blog. I love to chat & e-mail LONG-winded daily stories. So what better place to put those than here.

We're in the process of fixing the house to sell. The new carpet gets installed tomorrow. We've been busting out butts getting it fixed. David's parents & grandma even came down to help. How cool was that? Let me tell you, my family....yea. Well, to be fair, mom's in Puerto Rico. But David's 'rents drove 9 hours+ to help us out...and it wasn't a major production or ordeal. They asked us if they could come & help. That was nine hours, people. It was very cool of them.

"I"'s got a fever. She's sweating, drinking lots of fluids and watching a Spanish Sesame Street dvd for the second time in a row. She loves it. J's hiding somewhere behind the couch playing a video game and the neighbor is dropping off his daughter for me to watch her until 11:30 p.m. or so. (He has to work and the babysitter bailed. Plus, he's helping David fix his brakes. We got quoted $1,000 to get them fixed!! The neighbor & David are going to look them over tomorrow and see if he could do it for us. So, I couldn't say no to watching his daughter). She's a good kid. BRILLIANT red hair - so beautiful.

Dinner.....I hate cooking. Is it wrong that I want to feed my kids Froot Loops and be done with it? I think I am going to take my buddy Amy's lead and make a menu for 2 weeks ahead of time. She does a month. I can't think that far ahead. I think a menu will help structure things so I'm not coming home from work at 5:15 p.m. and then have to figure out what's for dinner. Tonight? Pizza works for me. :)