Holidays

Daily Dose of Holidays – Hide and Seek!

If you were the PERFECT gift for my father, (a Heathkit tshirt purchased weeks and weeks ago), where would you be hiding? Because it is definitely hiding. I’m beginning to think TW has decided it is the perfect gift for her and has hidden it somewhere. I mean heaven forbid I get my father an actual gift that indicates I know something about him. Or actually knew something about him. Because the dad I knew who would have fiddled with his Heathkits and worn the Heathkit t-shirt doesn’t exist anymore. I have no idea what he fiddles with now. (yes I edited this – it sounded like my dad is a pervert or something the way it was originally written, and he is anything but that, sheesh)

Anyway, WHERE IS THAT DARN SHIRT???

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Daily Dose of Holidays – Advent Angst

advent.jpgI have an Avon advent calendar that my ex mil gave me in 1987. It looks exactly like the one in this picture except right now it has a tiny Starbucks reindeer in it instead of the mouse. The mouse is missing. Again. It does that and has always done that. Missing for years much to the dismay of my children only to reappear again a few years later for one trip through the calendar and then back it goes into hiding. We had the mouse last year. This year, no mouse. It’s ok. We make do. But we still say “move the mouse” when we discuss whose turn it is, whose turn it isn’t and whose turn it is never going to be again if you don’t stop whining about that darn mouse.

Did you detect some frustration there? This advent calendar has a history of causing angst amongst my oldest three children and for the last three years it has caused angst among the youngest three.

His highness, Prince J, only causes a stink over it when he wants to annoy another sibling (preferably Princess E or Princess M). He really doesn’t care about the mouse at all. Moving it is like work. Someone else can do it and if they don’t, Christmas still comes. Work for no reason. No thanks.

RJ really doesn’t have advent calendar issues because she is perfect and always bows to the will of any sibling in the room. (she does this because later she can play the martyr role. I know this because it’s a trait often shared by those with October birthdays. Not me of course, but others. Born in October…)

That leaves Princess E. The baby in the family. Those of you who have experience with “the baby in the family” probably understand exactly what has been going on. But there is a twist to the story…

The twist is that Princess E is not the only “baby in the family”. Princess M, generally referred to as Michelle (the 16 year old with the hair), is also the “baby in the family”. These two girls have been having “move the mouse issues” virtually non-stop since the calendar went up. If E moves it to the proper pocket, Michelle will move it back a day and then move it forward – and then tell E she did it later on. E will do the same thing to Michelle. What’s even better is when Michelle comes home at midnight and says “ohhhh it’s tomorrow, I can move the mouse” when she knows it is E’s turn to do it. When E is not here and not going to be here for a few days, and it’s just Michelle, I have to actually REMIND Michelle to move the mouse. She can go days and not think of it but as soon as E is home or coming home, she goes into move the mouse first, last and only mode!

Advent calendars are a pain if you have more than one child. But they are a real nightmare if you have two “baby in the family” children to deal with!

Edited on 12/24/05 – The mouse came out of hiding! And I’m the one who put him in the FINAL little pouch! hahahahahaha! That’ll teach those princesses!

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Daily Dose of Music – Not so Random 10

Today I’m dropping some music onto Jenn’s iRiver, it’s her Christmas present, so do not tell!), and it’s fun but difficult at the same time. I haven’t spent much time with her in the last 4 years so there are huge blanks where I have no idea what her favorite songs were. Sniff sniff! It will be fun to see her reaction to what I’ve downloaded for her and more fun to hear what she will want to download for herself.

Here’s a random 10 list from what I’m downloading for her:

1) Every Breath You Take – Police (number 1 when she was born)
2) Ice Ice Baby – Vanilla Ice (man she loved Vanilla Ice lol)
3) Lump – Presidents of the United States (we loved it when this came on MTV!)
4) Like a Virgin – Madonna (she adored Madonna, wanted to be Madonna!)
5) I’ll Make Love to You – Boyz II Men (…hahaha family joke)
6) When I Come Around – Green Day (reminds me of her and Audrey and Chanae too a little bit)
7) Changes – 2Pac (yes dear, he really is dead)
8) Wannabe – Spice Girls (I can’t bring myself to put Mmmbop on there so this will have to do)
9) Wonderwall – Oasis (I think she wore this CD out)
10) Strawberry Wine – Deana Carter (for Jenn AND Ronnie because I heard that this was their song about the time they were married)

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Daily Dose of Shopping – Gift Tags

I have always liked Hearthsong but tonight I was having trouble finding anything that any of the kids in this house really NEEDED. Disappointing. It means they’re growing up. And I’m already having some baby fever. Disappointing. Just as I was about to give up and look somewhere else I discovered the BEST idea EVER. Why haven’t I seen these battery gift tags before? Why didn’t someone think of this YEARS ago?

Awesome brilliant idea.

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Daily Dose of Birthday – Clean Sweep

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I mentioned in my Random 10 post that it was my birthday and I was cleaning my office and I mentioned pictures. Well here’s one… I got too busy cleaning to remember to take more, darn it.

I got a lot done, even though I was distracted by taking TW to work, picking her up, little kid madness, email and AIM. I’m not finished but after five hours of it today, another hour tomorrow should do it.

TW came home from work midday, it’s Gator Homecoming – whoppeeee … Go Missisisippi! 😉 And as soon as we walked in the door, she left to “run a birthday errand”. She came back just as I was about to feed the little kids their lunch. No birthday gift in hand. Hmmm.

The little kids finished their lunch and then TW rounded them up to take them out “birthday shopping” again. Uh oh. TW and 3 small kids unaccompanied on a shopping trip is dangerous. I stayed focused on cleaning the office and doing laundry and within a couple of hours they were home. RJ came in carrying an orchid. Hmmm, nice but odd. TW handed me an envelope. I open it. Gift certificate? Hmmm odd. I look more closely, wondering why TW got me a gift certificate. I do not really like to shop. Ha, a gift certificate for a tanning salon. Hahaha! I often say I wish we could move into the new townhouses that have tanning salons free for use in the exercise room.

Weird that she took the kids out for two hours and came back with just a gift certificate and an orchid. Oh, craft project is about to begin. Uh oh. TW and 3 small kids doing a project is even more frightening then the shopping trip.

I stayed focused on cleaning the office and late in the day took the second bag of trash out to the can and found 3 odd things in the yard. 3 paper pots with plaster hardening and a metal stake sticking out of each one. TW appeared at the door, sure I would know what creation they were making. I was clueless. It wasn’t flamingos again, thank goodness.

The afternoon passed. The girls were in the living room working on part of the project and I did not peek as I passed in and out of there. J was “busy” working on his part in his room for hours and hours. Hmmmm.

Jenn called after she got off work and asked if I was doing something special for my birthday. I told her I spent 5 hours cleaning the office. She said “ohhhh did you do the tarp thing?” (Some of you may not know that TW and I have a TLC thing. Everytime we go on a trip, we spend hours in hotel beds watching Clean Sweep, Trading Spaces, What Not to Wear and Property Ladder. We were just in Charleston last week and had such a marathon) I laughed and said “No, I was mostly by myself and couldn’t take everything outside alone, not to mention it rained most of the day.” She laughed and suggested I should have held off and just done the Clean Sweep thing because there was surely more to get rid of than the 2 bags I took out. Hmph.

After dinner, TW and the little kids went outside for a few minutes. There was a lot of giggling outside of my bedroom window. Super Glue was mentioned, as was bamboo. Hmmmm. TW yelled, “OK, go into the living room.” I did, held the evil dog so he didn’t get out and watched the little kids parade into the house with these umm pots with some signs sticking up on them. Hmmmm

October_005
I looked closely at E’s. It had a big 42 on it, gee thanks kid. And the word keep spelled front ways and backways in nice neat handwriting and lots of the beanie baby stickers I had found in my desk this morning all over it. I told her it was cute as I was laughing and asked why it said “keep, peek” on it. She said, “You’ll find that out later.” Hmmmm.

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I look at RJ’s and it had the beanie baby stickers on it and the word Sell. Ha, it hit me.

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I started to laugh, looked at J and said “TRASH, You’re TRASH!!!!” hahhaha. A large bag of tarps was presented by TW. A Clean Sweep Birthday, woohooo!

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The small children are not thrilled with the idea that we may Clean Sweep their room. E in particular is worried about her beanies. She should have realized by the signs that no beanies are every trashed, they’re either kept or sold and I don’t think anyone would want hers, they’re well loved. I, on the other hand, have a good 100 well cared for, clean in acrylic cages, beanies that should definitely wind up on the sale tarp soon.

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Daily Dose of Music – Random 10

TW bought me this cute little iRiver for my birthday and of course she gave it to me a full week early. I’ve been happily downloading music for the last 24 hours or so. Life is good.

And so here I go, joining the random 10 folks with the 10 most recent (and random) songs played on my little iRiver (who has yet to name himself/herself…):

  • Deceptacon – Le Tigre
  • Juice + June – Kris Delmhorst
  • Breaking Vows – Melissa Ferrick
  • Waiting Under Waves – Kris Delmhorst
  • Heartbreak Even – Ani Difranco
  • Similar Features – Melissa Etheridge
  • A Case of You – Diana Krall
  • Breakfast at Tiffany’s – Deep Blue Something
  • Cool Blue Stole My Heart – Joan Armatrading
  • Peaches – Presidents of the United States

What’s playing on your portable device … or in your CD player?

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Daily Dose of Work – Toys

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TW use to work from home but she doesn’t anymore. I feel bad about that, even when she isn’t really sick I feel bad about it. Even when she isn’t actively and loudly missing being at home with the little kids. And that. Is why. I buy. Her TOYS! Yes, toys for work. I’ve bought her lots of toys. And pets. The hermit crabs (Ellen, Spikey and Artemis) that the little kids and I got her for her birthday were suppose to go to work. That hasn’t happened and it has made me sort of grouchy.

Anyway, back to the toys.

Apparently work is suppose to be fun. (who knew???) Apparently not many people find work fun and the folks at To-Done have suggestions about how to change that. Number one on their list is TOYS! Ha, see I am smarter than you people give me credit for!

Now the real question is, should I get her another Hazel to take to work? It’s a great toy, her coworkers would love it… or should I just sign her up for an email joke a day thing instead?

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Daily Dose of Blogs – Happy Blog Day 2005

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I’ve been thinking about Blog Day for almost a full month and everytime I thought I had found a blog that fit the criteria, I changed my mind. It was hard to find blogs by people who were really not like me. Seems odd, doesn’t it? I mean I’m a lesbian, I have six kids, I homeschool one and only one, I work from home in a job that very few people have, I hate sports and watch almost no television and I do not cook. Surely I could find lots of blogs that are not “like me”. Nope, it’s hard to find differences when you are really looking for them (which might be an lesson)

After a month long search, here’s what I’ve got for you. Visit them, let me know what you think and let them know you stopped by!

The Happy Catholic I found this blog via my friend Shelly’s blogroll and I peek in there every now and then to see what’s going on. The Happy Catholic is really nothing like me, except she has good taste in movies and TV. Other than that, we probably disagree. Still, I have always enjoyed going to her blog. What do you think?

PyroManiac I found this one a few weeks ago when surfing for something about comic books. I was surprised, to say the least. Interesting point of view here and interesting use of comic books.

Leylop’s Blog This one got tossed into a note pad on my desktop a long time ago, when Michelle was studying up on Thailand and Singapore and Malaysia after the Tsunami. I hadn’t visited in a very long time and I’m glad I noticed it in my notepad last week. Great pictures, nice look at her life.

Babalu Blog Again, thanks to Michelle and her Spanish class we found this one! Michelle was researching Cuba and stumbled into this interesting look at Cuban Americans and Cuban politics. Cool stuff.

Kathang Pinay I found this one today in my search for one last really PERFECT blog for today’s celebration. I clicked randomly into the archives and found interesting things with every click. Having lived in the Philippines (and giving birth to two American children there who like claiming dual citizenship), this one really touched home for me.

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Daily Dose of Life – Arghhh!

It all started at 1am when I woke with a blinding sinus headache. I thought I was going to DIE. I don’t do well with OTC meds but I was in serious pain so I searched the bathroom for those little red death pills and came up empty. Settled for little pink benadryl and somehow fell asleep around 2am. Woke again at 5am still feeling the pain but dozed through it til the alarm went off.

Made it through the initial morning rounds – dogs, cats, coffee, morning posts, email, blogs. All was right with the world, even if my head felt like it was about to burst. Stopped at Starbucks for my fix, took TW to work and spent $30 to fill up the gas tank.

Came home and went into the bedroom to read my blog feeds on the laptop since I was ahead of schedule. Finished that and headed back to the office to get back to work. Uh oh. My computer screen was black. Power light was on but the pretty blue windows wallpaper and my cluttered desktop were nowhere to be seen. Just blackness.

I moved the mouse. Still blackness. I clicked the keyboard. Still blackness. I fiddled with the monitor settings. You guessed it, blackness. I turned off the power button, waited a minute and turned it back on. Blackness. Turned it off and fiddled with wires. Black, black, black. (insert profanity)

It’s an all in one that TW’s mom bought me a couple of years ago and I love it or I did until this happened. I had 3/4 of a report on that thing! I had my metrix for the report on that thing. I had work for next week half way completed so that TW and I can take the weekend off and hit the beach before Michelle comes home next week. All of that work and on a kid crazy, school pick up, little kid birthday day!

(insert a lot of profanity)

I went back to the laptop in the bedroom and struggled along. Recreated my report. Scraped up an old metrix spreadsheet and recreated. Struggled along some more. Wrote to Gateway about my poor black screen computer. Worked some more. Took a break to wrap birthday presents for E. Worked some more. Took a red pill of death that TW found this morning before she went to work. Struggle, struggle, struggle.

1:15, time to drive across town and pick up the girls from their school. Got disgusted with a woman who sought my white face out of a crowd of non-white faces to complain about the way folks triple parked during pick up. I love NYC, triple parking doesn’t faze me a bit but her assumption that another white face would agree with her – well that bugged me. (I hope it is not her son’s birthday party we are suppose to attend next weekend)

Got home at 2:30 and struggled through work for another 45 minutes while assisting RJ with homework, fixing snack for both girls, talking to E about her birthday presents and just general life with kid stuff.

Drove to the other side of town to pick up J from school and from there picked up TW at work so she could come home and make E’s birthday cookie with her. Ha. We hadn’t been home long when E discovered the evil dog who ate the cuties earlier in the week had EATEN HER BRAND NEW BACKPACK! sigh

I shut down the work I had been trying to do and jumped in the car. “I think we got that backpack at Target, or maybe Walmart” says RJ. I figure Target. I figured wrong. Luckily Walmart is in the same vicinity as Target so I head there. Target was empty. Walmart was PACKED. No Lisa Frank backpacks! No cutie backpacks at all! They couldn’t have gone to Kmart, it’s not their style! Where did they get that thing???? I was about to give up and head to Kmart when I saw a huge bin of backpacks near the electronics with some bright pink and bright blue in the middle. Paydirt. Lisa Frank – but no pink ones with some funky looking girl and a poodle. I grabbed a light blue one with a CUTIEEEEEEEEEEEE dog on it and hoped for the best.

Drove home, showed it to E, apologizing profusely when she said “I like this one better!” Yea! Crisis averted. So I’m repacking the new backpack and say “Where’s your lunchbox.” Silence. He didn’t. Yes, he did. He ate that too.

Back in the car I go. Back to Walmart. By now it’s 6pm and traffic is umm bad. Walmart is even more crowded than before and again, no Lisa Frank lunchboxes! grrrr! No cutie lunchboxes AT ALL. I’m thinking I’m going to have to drive in the other direction across town and try the other Walmart when I see a wee bit of pink underneath the Spidey lunchboxes. Ha! A Lisa Frank lunchbox just like the backpack Jake ate! It’s not the ugly purple Lisa Frank but surely she will like this since it is the same design as the original backpack, right???

I pay. I drive home. She giggles. Funny. Oh yea, I’m laughing my rear off here as my head threatens to explode some more.

We light the candles on the birthday cookie. We eat. I make a wish that she really was still 4 as she blows out her candles. I don’t know what she wished for but it had better not be another Lisa Frank backpack or lunchbox. I don’t think I can handle that.

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