Spoiled Rotten!

The girls came tearing upstairs when they heard the smoke alarm going off.  I’m not sure if they were concerned that the house was actually on fire, or if they have come to associate that sound with their dinner being ready.  Hmmm…scary thought.  

Mimi was the first to arrive and peered over my shoulder to see what I was taking out of the oven.  Her eyes opened wide when she saw what it was.

“Costco has the thin crust pizza again?” she asked breathlessly.

“Yes they do” I answered her.

She grabbed her sister and they both started dancing around the kitchen in apparent joy and shouted out,

“THIS IS SO EXCITING!”

I’m still not quite sure what to think about that.  My poor deprived children.  

Erin Go Braugh

Last night, while we were sleeping, our mischievous little friend Paddy O’Furniture (otherwise known as the Magical Leprechaun) came to visit. The girls were thrilled to find that he had once again magically turned our milk green and our cereal into Lucky Charms. (It’s true, they are magically delicious.) But what a nasty color combination!  

The sneaky little elf also left presents! Each girl received a fun new green shirt and some cute little hair things with shamrocks on them.  Unbelievable, it was those hair things that caused all of the trouble.  Mimi came into the bathroom to find that KT was using her new hair things to tie off the end of two braids.  Being the little sister, Mimi immediately began to copy the clever style much to her big sister’s horror. Thus the battle began.  

I have learned that when the girls start up like that, as long as they don’t get too loud, disrespectful or physical, it works better to just let them figure it out.  So, I removed myself from the area.  Little did I know that a bigger battle was brewing.    

Shaun has gotten into the habit of staying up really late, then coming to bed, popping in some earplugs, then not getting up until after we have gone.  Apparently, last night, one of the earplugs came out.  The girls bickering started to penetrate his slumbering state, and he started to growl.  Soon, like a rudely awaked bear, his growling became a full fledged roar.  I came upstairs expecting to find two little girls who had resolved their troubles, but instead came up to tears and an angry Irishman.  (I nearly ran back downstairs, but decided I had to defend my poor little cubs)

Soon all was calm and we headed back to our normal routine.  With one major exception.  Shaun was still up and for some reason wanted to be part of our routine. He started giving us advise on how we should do things and making sure the girls wouldn’t miss the bus or forget anything or…or….  (it’s not like we hadn’t figured this stuff out years ago)  The funniest part of this was that he was still wearing one earplug (and he doesn’t hear so good out of the unplugged ear) so he was shouting everything.  Then we had to repeat ourselves a zillion times so that he could hear us.  

Sigh…at times like these I just refer to the little magnet that Shaun’s aunt gave me years ago.  It simply says “Living with an Irishman builds character”.  

Boy do I have a lot of character.  


Edit to add: Yes, I'm well aware that St Patrick's day was a week ago and not last night. I'm trying to catch up...just work with me, OK? And, no my cubs weren't in any real danger from the growly ol' bear. Well, maybe the possiblitity of missing the bus...

Scrambled Eggs

It seems that most people think that the perfect cure for almost any illness is homemade chicken noodle soup.  Not me.  I think of something completely different. (And of course, it’s all my mother’s fault.)

What I remember most about being sick when I was a kid was that my mom would make scrambled eggs for me when I was ready to eat again.  Yes, scrambled eggs.  I have no idea why she decided that was the best healing food, but it always made me feel better. Whatever you say about my mother’s cooking, she makes the best scrambled eggs ever. And they always taste best when you are sick.  

KT was feeling better yesterday and told me she was starving.  Did my girl want scrambled eggs? Oh no…she wanted an omelet.  (Well la dee da to her!) She didn’t want just any omelet either, she wanted an olive and cheese omelet made by the world famous boiling method. I had to burst her bubble when I told her we had no freezer bags and couldn’t do it.  

So I found myself making her an omelet…muttering the whole time about how spoiled rotten my kids were.  I carefully chopped the olives as we only had whole ones.  (She didn’t like the idea of just dropping them in that way) and thinly sliced the cheese.  I was carefully added them to the cooking eggs making sure they didn’t get browned when I heard,

“Mooooommmmm! That’s not an omelet!”  

Huh? I looked down at what I was doing.  KT’s “omelet” was actually scrambled eggs with olives and cheese mixed in.  Oops.  

Sounds like the perfect healing food to me!

Sickie Poo

Our KT is home sick today.  She is achy and has been running a fever.  When she feels like this, she goes into “Baby Girl Mode”.  She’s not needy or whiney, she wants me with her constantly.  

We have spent most of the day with her hot little body snuggled up close to mine.  We had to watch the Academy Awards.  (I thought I had dodged that bullet, but noOOooo.) We are also reading Tuck Everlasting.  Maybe I should be clear and say *I* have been reading.  My poor girl says her eyes hurt too much to read.  Sigh…

She’s back, pestering me to hold her and read to her again.  I’ve got to go, but I just thought I’d let you all know that I haven’t forgotten about this.  (Mostly I just don’t want Shaun to whine at me too!)

Something Silly

I thought I would try this thing just for fun...um...kinda in honor of St. Patty's Day tomorrow. (Can you believe I'm early on something?)

You Are Teal Green

You are a one of a kind, original person. There's no one even close to being like you. Expressive and creative, you have a knack for making the impossible possible. While you are a bit offbeat, you don't scare people away with your quirks. Your warm personality nicely counteracts and strange habits you may have.

What Color Green Are You?

Interestingly, this seems to be pretty accurate! Click the link and see what it says about you.

Unsung Hero

Last week Shaun called me from work to tell me that he had just been given the “Hero” award.  Just a few weeks before this, he had mentioned that he was feeling a little blue because nobody had from his team had even nominated him for this huge honor. When he found out that not only had he been nominated, but that all of his hard work had been recognized in the form of this seldom granted award, he was ecstatic.  Go Shaun!

Thoughts of his Hero Awards have been whirling around in the back of my mind.  There are so many things that Shaun does that make him a hero in my eyes that I’m not sure he’s even aware of.  I think it’s time to publicly recognize them and award him the highly coveted and newly invented,

Heroic Bubby Award

(If there are any computer nerds out there that can design an award for this, now would be the time to strut your stuff.  Heck, I’ll even reward you with...um…with the Award Designer Award! Of course, I’d have to find someone to design that for me…then they’d probably need an award and …oh, this could get complicated.  Let’s just say you would have my undying gratitude and I’ll give you credit you would deserve.  Any takers?)

Anyways…Merriam-Webster defines hero as: c: a man admired for his achievements and noble qualities.  Hmmm, achievements and noble qualities.  There are a quite a few of those, I’ll see if I can touch on just a couple of them.  

A True Hero puts his family first:  Yes, Shaun does put in some crazy hours at work.  (That would partially explain that other award) There are times when it seems as though we don’t see him for weeks on end. But, when he really needs to be there, he is.  Every game, recital, party or simply a day in the park that he’s asked to be, he’s there. Often times, he’d rather be anywhere else (Do you really want to listen to a two hour concert when your kid only plays for five minutes?)

A True Hero is chivalrous:  It’s not uncommon for people to hold doors open for others but that is often the extent of their chivalry. Shaun bends over backwards to help others, often strangers out.  I’ve seen him give up his seat to an elderly couple and encourage his daughter to do the same.  He will run to hold the door open for someone who has their hands full of something.  He doesn’t do these types of things merely to look good, it’s just how he is.  

A True Hero stands up for his beliefs: Shaun’s always the guy wearing the white hat. Sometimes it would just be so simple to just stand back and take the easy way out.  Just let the little stuff slide by and not worry about the consequences.  It’s not always easy to do the right thing, but he always does. And once again, he encourages others to do the same.  (OK, there has to be an exception here.  Everybody knows that when a road is blocked off because of flooding that means you aren’t supposed to drive there. Doing the right thing doesn’t mean that they were saving all that water for you to splash through with your Jeep…not that I would ever nag or anything)

A True Hero brings me little presents: It doesn’t take much to make me happy. I like little things like a Sunday paper, a can of my favorite pop, a bouquet of posies or even a quirky magazine.  It’s fun getting unexpected little gifts for no reason except that he was thinking about me.  (Well, ok, the Sunday paper isn’t really a surprise anymore as I get one each week, but I love that he always gets me one)  

A True Hero shares his knowledge: Shaun truly is one of the smartest people I know.  He is the only one in the world that I know who can make learning so fun and exciting.  I will never forget the time that we were at the tide pools in Pt. Loma, CA and a crowd had gathered around him, asking questions and being amazed at all the wonderful information he was sharing with them.  I still have no idea where they all came from!

On a more recently, I just listened to him answer Mimi’s fearful question about how one got radiation sickness.  (Any guesses how she even got to a question like that?)  He started with atoms and went all the way up to Hiroshima.  She was fascinated.  (I guess he just couldn’t stand my flippant, yet reassuring answer that you could only catch it from goats in the wilds of Montana.)

A True Hero is adventuresome: This man is forever dragging me out of my comfort zone. It seems as though he is always getting a wild hair and dragging me along with him.  There are so many things that I haven’t wanted to do, yet he somehow convinces me that it will be fun...and it is!  


This is getting pretty long.  I’m sure I could fill another page or two, but I’ll stop now.  I think you have the general idea.  

Thanks for being my Hero Shaun.


sife


.  

Ms. FixIt

Yesterday was the Dreaded Laundry Day. I know that I really shouldn’t complain. After all, we do live in the wonderful age of technology. All I really had to do was treat the clothing and then dump them in my washing machine along with some detergent. This is opposed to trekking down to the river or the well (neither of which we have) hauling up the water and hanging it over the fire (that I had to build) to heat before I could use the scrub board and lye soap (that I had to make) rinsing the clothes out (with more water that I had to haul) and hanging them out on a line (that I had to string) between two trees (that I probably had to plant). Yep, I have it pretty easy. All hail Alva J. Fisher for inventing the first electric washing machine. (You didn’t know you were going to learn something today, did you?)

Sometimes though, there is a problem with the electric washing machine. Sometimes…they make a loud ticking sound and stop working. Sometimes…when they stop working there is a really funny smell in the air…something electrical or motor burningish (like my new word? I just made it up).

Interestingly enough, that actually happened to my washing machine yesterday. Nothing I did would make it start working again. Also, there was that worrisome odor. So, I did what any woman whose husband happened to be home sick that day would do…I asked him to fix it. So Shaun grudgingly looked at it. He pushed a few buttons and wiggled a few things around, then pronounced it officially “broke” and told me to call a repair man.

What? Call a repairman! I couldn’t believe that he wasn’t going to take it apart and figure out what was wrong with it. (OK, after living with the man forever, I could have predicted it, but hope springs eternal or something like that)

You have to understand that growing up, my dad fixed anything that needed fixing. And if he couldn’t fix it, well, it obviously didn’t need fixing! So, I decided that if it was to be fixed, it was up to me. (Even though I am the girl and in my mind, it is the boy that is supposed to fix things) No way was I going to call some expensive repair man, I was going to do it all by myself…even if I had to call my dad to do it.

First, I googled “washing machine repair” and came up with a great website that asked all sorts of questions before it decided that I simply needed to flip the circuit breaker. Hmmm…I knew where the circuit breaker was, but it always seemed so…scary. I would just have to wait for Shaun to wake up. So, I waited. I stared at him for at least five minutes and he just ignored me. Ok, deep breath. I was going to do this myself.

I carefully approached the circuit box, fully prepared to die of electrocution. I flipped the well labeled switch (fortunately with no injury) then ran to check on the washer. It worked! I did it…all by myself! I am so proud of me.

So in addition to thanking Alva J. Fisher for inventing the washer, I suppose we should thank Al Gore for inventing the internet as well.

It's that time of year!

You see them everywhere. The grocery store, the nursery, the hardware store…anywhere that they can fit a small table and their tempting merchandise. This small army is on a mission to raise funds and cause our waistlines to triple. Of course, I am talking about Girl Scout Cookies.

From the way she is talking now, this may be Mimi’s last year selling these alluring treats. She’s been at it for six years now…eight if you count the two years she helped with her sister’s troop.

I can’t help but feel a wave of nostalgia when I think of the very first time my girls sold Girl Scout Cookies. I was one of the troop leaders so we had to bring Mimi along with us wherever we went (we all kind of thought of her as our official troop mascot) My Co-leader and I helped our group of first grade girls set up the table and neatly arrange the boxes of cookies. Then we once again coached them on good manners and how to talk to our customers. All was well…until the first potential customer walked out the door. Can you say panic? Not one of our bold and sassy little girls could utter a peep.

Enter the Heroic Mimi. She courageously stepped forward and asked the young man leaving the store those magical words…”Would you like to buy some Girl Scout Cookies?”

This young man, who happened to work there and was merely going out to rustle some shopping carts politely said those dreaded words, “No, thank you.” Then continued off to do his job

Then our brave little girl’s face just crumpled. She burst into tears at the biggest rejection of her young life. All the other “big girls” then crowded around her in an effort to comfort her.

This weekend, to our jaded merchant, a rejection is no big deal…there’s always the next customer who will buy one of each kind of box. Still, I always think carefully before I decline buying a box or two…I’d hate to break a young girl’s heart.

Potato Puffs

This weekend kt got a wild hair and decided she wanted to work on her cooking skills. So she pored over the vegetarian cookbook that we had borrowed from the library and decided that she would make something called “Potato Puffs”. These lovely little gems were basically leftover mashed potatoes wrapped up in crescent rolls.

I pointed out to her that we had neither leftover potatoes nor crescent rolls. Then I quickly informed her that I wasn’t going to the store. Thwarted, she just glowered at me for a moment as only a teenage girl can do. Not too surprisingly, she quickly turned to her father. Using her best “Daddy’s Little Girl” voice, kt started to charm him into taking her to the grocery store and into making some mashed potatoes for her.

“I don’t know how to make mashed potatoes!” her daddy protested. “You go make them”

“But, Daddy…I don’t know how!” she whined.

“Well, I think you just cook them for a while and then you smush ‘em”

“What?” she cried out in astonishment, “You have to cook the potatoes?!”

Shaun and I just looked at each other in amazement. Could this really be our child? Our beautiful, smart, funny and talented child? Was it possible that she really was that clueless? Or maybe…just maybe...could it be that we use entirely too many instant potatoes in this house?

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!

I’ve always loved Dr. Seuss. He has a wonderful silliness that absolutely appeals to me. This is a man has that inspired so many to read. It amazes me that he does this simply by making up words and goofy stories! What's not to love about that? If I make up a few words here and there, all I get is a severe eye roll. (And they never listen when I tell them they are going to get stuck that way…)

It just dawned on me that I’m writing about Dr. Seuss in present tense. I started to go back and correct everything to past tense and then I stopped myself. He may have died nearly 15 years ago, but I believe that he is an icon that will never truly die. Hmmm…I never before thought of Dr. Seuss and Elvis as having anything in common. I wonder if we'll ever have Dr. Seuss sightings? I guess, in a way, we already do...only we call him the Cat in the Hat.

Today the girls are thrilled to be participating in “Read Across America” in honor of Dr. Seuss. What a wonderful thing to be able to go to school in your jammies and just read ALL day long. (With a HUGE bonus of not having any homework to worry about for tonight!)

In preparation for this joyful day, KT emptied out her backpack and stuffed in a pillow, her books and as many snacks as she could come up with. Mimi...Oh Mimi…she brought a pillow, a blanket, a big huge stuffed dog and two pigs. She also felt the need to bring lots of snacky stuff. (I had no idea that my children couldn’t read without eating several snacks.) I was rather amused to discover that our little Mimi had completely forgotten to pack her book!

In addition to all of her reading gear, Mimi dressed up. She wore a big red and white striped hat and painted on a nose and whiskers. We also quickly made her a big swishy cat tail that she tucked into the back of her waistband. I have to say that I thought she looked adorable. Of course, as I was dropping her off for school she had to quickly scan the playground to make sure that she wouldn’t be the only one dressed up!

As for me, I’m just trying to cook up a little silliness to ensure some major eye rolling this evening. I’m thinking maybe I’ll feed them green eggs for dinner (I wasn’t awake enough to make any this morning.) Naturally, I’ll have to make some words up and speak in goofy rhymes as well. Who knows what else I’ll come up with?
Here’s to you Dr. Seuss. Thanks for all you have given to us!

My Way of Thinking

There’s a funny little thing that KT and I tend to do together that I like to call “The Random Game”.  Usually it starts when I say something completely unrelated to what we were talking about out of the blue.  She’ll almost always look at me oddly and say “That’s so random, where did that come from?”  

Then I can almost see the wheels of her brain start to turn faster and faster.  I’m pretty sure that she is trying to figure out how I came up with that.  Pretty soon, her face will change again and she’ll start looking around her.  Then she’ll make some sort of seemingly random statement. (Awww…isn’t that sweet? My baby wants to be just like me!) Much to her dismay, I can almost always pinpoint where it came from.

I try to explain to her that she can never be more random than I am.  (It’s amusing to me that she sees this as a desirable trait)  It isn’t really something that I am striving towards.  My brain just works in ways that she will never ever understand. Heck, I can barely understand it myself and I’ve lived with it for many years.  

Even Shaun struggles to understand how my mind works.  Sometimes he’ll ask me what I’m thinking about.  Generally I tell him that I’m not thinking about anything because it’s just too much effort to explain to him what’s going on in this head of mine.  If he persists in knowing what’s going on, I’ll take a deep breath and start rattling on. And I do mean rattling, I’m rarely ever thinking of just one thing. There’s always several unrelated thoughts going on at once.

This could be a possible explanation as to why I get things mixed up sometimes.  It’s not unheard of for me to tell a family member that the shirt they are looking for is in the oven or that I want them to get all of their cats out of the gas station before they go in the house. (I’m sure Shaun could gleefully give you a zillion examples of my brain goofs) I figure these are a slight crossing of the wires in my head. No big deal.  I’ve trained my family well and they can pretty much figure out what I mean.  Sometimes it can be a challenge, but I have a lot of faith in them.  

Shaun often tells me that something I say or do “isn’t logical”.  It just occurred to me that it is indeed logical.  He just needs let his mind get a little more agile to be able to take the leaps and curves that mine can do.  The way I’m seeing it right now, I’m the most logical person there is.  Now that’s random thinking!


(Are you confused? I’m not)