Category: Around the House

…and yet I don’t feel like we’ve done a lot either. (Edited to add: …and then I read this post and it made me feel tired from all that we’ve been doing…)

Last week?  Um.  Yeah.  Monday we did something during the day, I’m sure, but I don’t remember what.  In the evening David had his last regular den meeting for Tiger Cub Scouts.  I took the other kids to nursery at church while I attended VBS training (I’m a craft girl this year).

Tuesday was MDO and I had lunch at Olive Garden with my friend JG.  I also hit Hobby Lobby and used my mother’s day gift card to get a couple really cute shelf brackets, some kids apron & oven mitt sets, and a little camera & phone case.  In the afternoon we got to meet my parents new neighbors (here in my town)– a family of three (their son is 7 months old).  (A funny story: the wife was trying to drive into the garage for the first time and her SUV’s antenna got stuck in the garage door and pulled it off the track.  Ok, maybe that’s not funny, but we got to meet her and chatted while she waited for help to arrive.)

Wednesday we skipped library day in favor of having coffee with some neighborhood moms.  One of them (the new one to the neighborhood) didn’t show up, but it was fun to have the other one over.  She has a little 6 month old girl that is just too cute.  We went out to dinner at the local chinese “super” buffet (there’s sushi & mexican & chinese & a really weird salad bar & ice cream).  Afterwards Nick helped the new neighbors move some stuff into their house (another funny story: they got locked out of their house that time.  The babysitter had to bring the spare keys over.).

Thursday I spent all day baking.  Seriously.  We’d been told that we were going to be low on scouts from our den for the end of the year Pack Meeting/Awards Ceremony/Potluck, so we’d need to bring a bit extra dessert.  Then my parents and Nick’s mom decided to attend, too.  So I ended up bringing four desserts and an extra entree.  And a good thing I did, too.  There was only one dessert besides mine there (a small plate of brownies) and not too much other dinner food either.  The meeting was utter chaos, in part because the pack leader was stuck in another state.  But mostly because the kids were just SOO HYPER.  Not my kids so much, or my friend JB’s, but all the other ones.  One kid drop-kicked another one in the hallway.  The other parents totally ignored the chaos.  We were appalled.  Nick’s mom thanked us for being such good parents and raising such great children and also suggested we find another pack to join.

Friday we went to my friend BB’s for a playdate.  She’d told us to bring a picnic lunch, but we were out of everything sandwich related & we were totally running late (my parents were still here and my mom wanted to show me “just one more thing” in the yard.  *sigh*) so we stopped and picked up chicken biscuits (it was still breakfast serving time when we got to the drive-thru) to go with our leftovers from the pack meeting.  The kids had a lot of fun and we got to meet some new people, so that was good.  The kids all played in the mini-pool.  We have a mini-pool, too, and I’m astounded at how we could fit 5 small kids in it without a fight, because at my house the same size pool is not big enough for 3 kids (although I have to admit that David takes up a ton more space than the small kids).  Anyways, when it came time for lunch I felt like I maybe fed my kids too much food or something, cause BB just fed hers cheese & crackers & fruit and mine didn’t finish their food (which had they been home, they would have finished most of it).  *shakes head*

Saturday I had a coffee date with my long lost friend JB.  See we live in the same part of town, have kids approximately the same age, and were in a mom’s group together, but with one thing and another we manage to never see each other.  Her kid left something at the pack meeting the other night so I called about returning it and we ended up at Starbucks (where neither of us had been in more than a year) for a three-hour-chatfest.  Her house has also been in chaos with a kitchen remodel (they’re doing their own stuff though).  Her family is also leaving the cub scout pack for next year (but for a different one than we’re going to).  And we decided that we can’t ever let our meetings go this far in between because we get along really well.     (And since I forgot to bring her pictures from the pack meeting, we have a perfect excuse to get together again soon!)  Once I got home, I spent two frustrating hours installing a coat rack & a shelf in the front hallway.  Due to my arthritis, I’m no longer strong enough to nail stuff into the wall using a regular hammer, but I’m really really stubborn and tried it anyway.  Eventually it was done and it all looks good.

In the evening, Nick went to prom with his mother.  Yes, you read that right.    Nick’s dad is not the dancing/chaperoning type, so Nick’s mom asked if he could come and dance with her a few times (she’s been watching swing dancing videos & he’s gone over to practice with her a bit).  Nick’s brother was the DJ (and it was the brother’s birthday that night, too).  Apparently it was all good.  I stayed home and watched “The Wedding Date,” which was unintentionally hilarious at times.

Sunday we….umm….really I should remember, but I don’t.  Nick did a lot of yard work.  The kids and I went to church.  And….I don’t remember what else.  Monday we made the rounds of Nick’s family: first to Mandy & Mark’s house to pick up some pecan wood (and a chain to bring to Nick’s dad) and the kids played & saw baby puppies & kittens & stuff and then off to his parents house to pick up our extension cord (which I’d taken over to the prom on Saturday morning).  The kids played there for a while, too.  We went back home & Nick went up to work to study some more for his PE.  The kids and I started reading The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster, which I love.  They didn’t know what a tollbooth was, so we made one out of an old computer box.  We painted half of it purple (like in the book) and the other half blue (because David wanted it blue).  We made the signs “Slow Down Approaching Tollbooth” and “Have Your Destination in Mind.”  And then we picked out boxes for them to make cars out of, but didn’t get them painted, as Nick needed to get to the grill by then to make supper.  Once back inside and once the allure of the tollbooth wore off, David turned it on it’s end, blue end out, and made decorations so that that side of it looked like the Tardis.  So then there were Adventures!  In!  Time!  And then we ate dinner.

…and yes…there are photos at flickr.com….and they’re terribly out of order, but flickr doesn’t let you fix that…

It was actually pretty quiet here this week.  Monday I had this flurry of back-and-forth phone calls with the cub scout den & pack leaders, the end result of which was that we were having neither the TV station tour nor the pack meeting this week.  Our Tuesday night plans were likewise nonexistent.  So instead we’ve hung out with my parents a lot, weathered a really bad storm, hit the end-of-year mom’s group meeting (had an epiphany there, actually, more about that later), and took Ben to the world’s shortest doctor’s office visit (I only had one kid with me, so of course there was no wait this time).  Playdates were cancelled due to Ben’s illness (ear infection + virus) or rescheduled to next week.  And since we’ve not been at our house much, it’s actually stayed clean, which is heavenly.

In other news, the Great Computer Repair did not turn out well.  I bought a new power supply and I have nearly enough parts for three whole computers, but enough of them either a) don’t work or b) aren’t compatible with other components that I’d actually have to spend more money than I’d like to get them all together (which in my world means that I’d be spending nearly as much to get them together as I’d spend on a new-but-cheap complete system).  It’s very frustrating. We’re going to decide tomorrow whether we buy more parts or just a complete system (I love the tinkering, but I’m almost at the “just buy something new” stage).

It’s come to my attention that when I sign things “Lisa and the boys” that people are thinking that Nick is not included.  Au contraire, mon amies.  Nick is a boy, albeit a big one, and is included in that signature.

(I am sick.  Sick, sick, sick.  I am wearing clothing so close to pajamas that I feel like I maybe never left them.  Mmm…pajamas.  My mother’s day dinner might need to be pureed.)

I’m trying to remember what’s been keeping us so busy and my brain just whirls on and on.  Last week we had two park-related playdates, one with a new friend and one with an old friend.  The new friend works at the church, but is a comic book/Green Day fan with many tattoos.  The old friend is Z’s mom (Z, who is marrying Ben someday, as long as she can call him Mr. Ben-ana and they eat cookies instead of cake at the wedding).  We had lots of fun on both playdates.

This week we went to the DSP with a couple different families (due to a weird misremembered scheduling accident, but it worked out) and no children were lost permanently, but some were missing for about five minutes.  I’d forgotten that you can’t go anywhere in the month of May without running into some school group somewhere.  Drives me nuts.

We had meals at two new=ish places in town last week.  One I went to with my parents for lunch and it was a franchise of The Jalapeno Tree.  It was awful.  Just dreadful food and not great service.  They had lovely decor though.  The other place we went to for date night on Saturday and it was not part of a giant chain and did not have the loveliest decor, but had excellent service & food and even a piano/lounge singer and a mariachi band (Pico de Gallo, for those that want to know).

David has been out-and-about with cub scouts.  Did a hike at the local giant-park-and-trails place.  Went to a local baseball game.  Next week I’m taking them all to tour a tv startion & to watch the evening broadcast.  David will be getting a couple belt badges for bicycling and chess at the next pack meeting, too.

Let’s see, what else?  It’s National Teacher Appreciation week: don’t forget to thank your teachers!    We brought desserts to David’s school and presents for Ben & Greg’s teachers.  (We bought one for David’s teacher, but he’s forgotten to take it to her all week long.)  We’re going to take notes to the Sunday school teachers  & nursery workers this weekend, too (they already did an appreciation thing about a month ago and we brought food for them then).

It’s also doctor’s appointment week, it seems.  I finally got David in for his 7-year-old well-child check-up (I had no idea it would take so long for them to get him on the schedule).  He’s 4 foot, one inch tall now and weighs 56lbs.  I loved watching the neuro-check, it’s hysterical.  He and Gregory both got the HepA or HepB shots (whichever is the one they give to kids in school & daycare; I never can remember).  So I took them to McDonald’s afterwards, which has become a tradition.     I have a doctor’s appointment tomorrow for a check-up and actually found a friend both willing & available to watch my kids so they don’t have to be dragged along (It’s a hard combination to find, sadly).

Next week Nick will be out of town, as he’s going to some big long training/study session for his PE exam (which he’s taking in October).  It may not technically be the PE exam; he told me the other initials of the specific branch of the exam he’s taking and I can’t remember exactly (CSEPE?  Maybe?  Control Systems Engineer Practical Exam?).  I’m doing both the TV studio tour and the pack meeting on my own (with all three children), not to mention mom’s group and everything else.  I may go insane.  If you hear a giant “argh!” out of nowhere, it’s probably me.    (I did have a friend offer to take one of my kids during key moments next week if necessary, which is very much appreciated, but I’ll have to reciprocate during the next week with one of hers.  Fortunately, both kids we need to have out of the way are the laid-back, easy to deal with kids.)

Is that really all?  I don’t know.  I’m still finding jello soup everywhere….

My parents have been in town two days now.  Yesterday my kids each drank a bunch of creme soda and ran around like crazy wild beasts.  Today after the kids each drank another can apiece (special treats, ya know.  only at grandma’s.  at home they drink no soda.)  we took a closer look at the cans, which in addition to not being diet (my mom knew they weren’t, but bought them anyway) now include among their ingredients: caffeine!

And my head?  It is pounding so hard that while I was lying on the bed I noticed that my cell phone, lovingly placed on my forehead by a boy, was throbbing in rhythym with my heartbeat.

(So yes, the boys are watching The Goonies in the next room.  I know it’s terribly inappropriate for 1-year-olds and 4-year-olds and 7-year-olds.  I may have been 9 by the time it came out, but I know that my sister, then 6, and my best friends sister, age 4, loved it.)

It’s been a good week.  Aside from the hacking cough and looming threat that it will turn into pneumonia, everyone’s been really quite happy and not having too many of the meltdowns we had last week.

In other happy news, a certain very-soon-to-be-married lady sent me computer parts to repair the old computer, so instead of spending $500 for a new one, we can spend about $50 for a power supply and call it done.  (They are sooo getting a good wedding gift!)

Also in the mail came a care package from a certain beagle loving lady in Austin.  The kids loooved their little Just Add Water! toys and we’ve listened to the cd many many times now.

We got two contradictory things in the mail as well: one a letter stating that no, you can’t have money out of your medical cafeteria plan and one a check from that plan in the exact amount the previous letter said we couldn’t have.  It was exciting, really.

Ben wants you to know that his new name is Prince Swimming Pool and my name is Princess Mommy Sunglasses and David’s is Prince Magic Rings and Gregory is the Dread Pirate Baby Booty.  He would like to rename his daddy King Baseball Cap, but Nick was not responding to it, so he gave up on that idea.  (Oh, and since I’ve started typing this my name has changed to Princess Mama Mema.  The other names he gave out a few days ago, but apparently I get a new one now.  woo-hoo!)

I got a birthday card in the mail yesterday, as did David.  We’re conspiring to put our birthday money together and buy something fabulous.  We don’t know what.  But we only have $28 dollars now, as he had to put some of his money towards replacing something he broke in the backyard, so we may have to wait for another holiday to get more money for our something fabulous.  That’s okay.  We can be patient (we keep repeating that to ourselves, as we’re really not all that good at being patient.).

In other news, every time I turn my back on him Gregory does something else naughty.  This morning alone he has drank water from the toilet (using a medicine cup), eaten enough of my toothpaste that he might be minty for life, climbed inside the oven (one rack was set low and the other high and there was just enough room for him to climb in the middle.), taken all my money out of my purse and strewn it around the house, attempted to eat a beer bottle top that he dug out of the trash can, and dragged down the guitar (which he attempted to put on and play) & used the nunchuk from the Wii as a pick.

We had another successful playdate the other day.  Today we’re going to the park with a group of ladies not from my personal mom’s group, but from another one (my group doesn’t have anything scheduled that works with my calendar, but another group has graciously taken me in on their scheduled outings), and we’re also meeting friends there (who we’ve recently found out is the sister of another person we know).

Sorry if this post is scattered; I’ve been interrupted more times than you can imagine while typing.  (Plus the sound of Wii Bowling combined with the wild orchestral music from Yanni is a bit much to think over, especially when your ears are stuffed up enough that everything sounds like it’s inside a tin can.  FUN, I tell ya.)