2008 January « leta joy

Archive for January, 2008

MIA

January 30, 2008 at 4:57 pm · Filed under i do stuff

I can’t believe it’s been a week since I posted. Oops. I’ve been really busy, but not too sure that anything I’ve been up to is “blog worthy”. Grocery shopping, playdates, babysitting, tea parties, company over the weekend, a trip to the children’s museum, dr’s appointment, dentist appointment, field trip. Nothing horrible has happened, though Arwyn did get quite a smack on the back of the head at the children’s museum when she ran in the path of a cartwheeler. I haven’t attacked any strangers on the street or anything.

I am participating in a great photography project engineered by imollie. If I can ever find time to take the remainder of my 100 photographs, I’ll write about that sometime soon. There is finally some sunshine today so maybe I can steal a few moments before the sun goes down.

Tomorrow afternoon Arwyn leaves for a weekend trip to Aunt Banana’s house. I’m looking forward to a weekend of not yelling at anyone, not breaking up any squabbles, not forcing anyone to eat their vegetables and not entertaining anyone but myself.

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Cupcake Sprinkles & Pancakes

January 22, 2008 at 10:42 am · Filed under cookin' it up, holiday celebrate

I have been craving strawberry cupcakes. From a mix with canned strawberry icing. I had to go to two stores to find strawberry cake mix, so I must not be the only one. You can’t have cupcakes without sprinkles, so I let Miss A help me decorate. Any guesses as to which ones she put the sprinkles on??? She just likes to lick the icing off the cupcakes and she gets mad if I make her take an actual bite of (gasp!) cake. The horror. I told her these would be a practice run for Valentine’s Day and we’ll make cupcakes for her friends at school. Looks like I will need to buy more sprinkles. I had to go to three stores to find the cinnamon hearts. Arwyn wanted to try one right away, not heeding my warnings that she probably wouldn’t like it. She spit it out and said, “It’s too spicy in my mouth.” I resisted the urge to say, “I told you so!” in my best snotty three year old voice.

Here’s the thing with my cravings. I have to have it and then I eat it once and I don’t want it anymore. So now I have all of these cupcakes and one friend who does a raw food diet, one friend who is pregnant and on a diabetic diet, in-laws supposed to be on a heart-healthy diet. I can’t give them to anyone! I should send the rest to work with Bubby. After I read a magazine article about how to thank service people in your life, we boxed these two up and left them out in the mailbox for our mailman. Then I was embarrassed and I hid when he brought the mail. Weird, I know.

This morning I made pancakes using Alicia’s recipe. They are very thin. Bubby wouldn’t like them. Lucky for him, he isn’t here. He’s quite picky about his pancakes, which is why I tried about ten different recipes before finding one that meets his requirements. They have to be thick and hold up well with a lot of chocolate involved. Not that he would ever complain about something I made for him. But if pressed he would say, “They’re ok.” which drives me insane. I want him to LOVE them! Gobble them up like you’ve never had pancakes before! Declare your undying love for me and my insane cooking skills! Maybe my expectations are a tad too high?

Thin pancakes cook very quickly. This is a very good thing if you wake up nauseatingly hungry and need to get something in your belly as fast as possible and you are out of the little yogurt drinks that normally get you through breakfast prep. I just told A we don’t eat cookies for breakfast, even though the other morning I had a strawberry cupcake for breakfast, then felt gross the rest of the day. Genius! On the occasions that I feel sick, I keep forgetting that I still have that wonderful insanely expensive medication I can take until after the fact, when I feel better. Pregnancy brain!

So to wrap up this rambling post, breakfast food is awesome and can and should be eaten for any meal of the day. But don’t eat cupcakes for breakfast. Now I have to go make a person or a cat or a snowflake out of paper.

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Serenity Now

January 20, 2008 at 6:55 pm · Filed under crafty

Here’s what has been keeping me sane the past few days: Holly Hobby paper dolls.

I used a combination of markers and colored pencils. It’s not very creative, but it gave me something to do all week. Not that I don’t have plenty of things to do, but it was a nice distraction. It made me feel about 7 years old again, only this time my coloring and cutting skills are much improved. I even dug my old clipboard out of the basement so my project was portable. I was never into paper dolls as a kid and now I remember why. The clothes don’t stay on! It is frustrating! I enjoy the coloring and cutting out, but then, eh. Arwyn got frustrated about this as well, so these may or may not ever be played with again.

I got the dress-up dolls here. They also have coloring pages, games, videos and other activities. Check out the site if your child is also interested in Strawberry Shortcake, Care Bears or Sushi Pack.

When I worked at the Daycare Which Shall Not Be Named I spent a lot of time making folder games for the teachers. This was probably my favorite part of the whole job and I was really good at it, or so they said. Maybe they just didn’t want to do it themselves, I dunno. Anyway, if it weren’t for this fun aspect of the job, I probably wouldn’t have lasted working there as long as I did. I can put up with a lot of abuse as long as I have free reign with the markers and scissors.

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Snow Day

January 18, 2008 at 2:45 pm · Filed under arwyn dae

It snowed Wednesday night and when Bubby opened the door before bed to show it to Arwyn, she started jumping up and down yelling, “SNOW! SNOW! SNOW!” She immediately asked if we could go outside and play. Um, it’s 10 p.m.? And also, no. And so I promised we would play outside tomorrow, but NOT as soon as she got up, a little bit later, so don’t go getting up at 5 a.m. so we can go outside and play in the snow, OK? OK?!!

She did get up early, but thankfully not 5 a.m. She cried because the satellite was out due to the snow and she couldn’t watch cartoons and we cruelly forced her to watch one of the 2,000 movies we have. She is my daughter, after all. After breakfast, we layered on the clothes and headed to the backyard. I lasted for about an hour before my booty started to go numb. We don’t own any snow pants or snow boots or even water proof gloves (it doesn’t snow here that much) so I thought an hour was pretty commendable. We made the little frosty man shown above, made letters in the snow with our footprints, made shapes with sand molds, played snow kickball and dug in the snow with a sand shovel. And I let her throw snowballs at me. From a foot away.

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Giveaway

January 16, 2008 at 10:19 am · Filed under babes in blogland

Domestic Chicky is giving away some cute retro pink jewelry for the grand opening of Mom-o-matic’s new Etsy shop. Head on over and see what all the fuss is about!

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Seriously?

January 15, 2008 at 6:06 pm · Filed under leta joy, misc

Today I was at the Soul-Sucking International Warehouse of Cheap Products, trying to purvey a butt-load of groceries in the two hours while Arwyn was at school. I was running short on time and then a miracle happened: I saw a really short check-out line. There was only one person in front of me. While I was impatiently waiting to start piling my groceries on the conveyor belt, the check-out lady saw a friend passing by and stopped checking out the person in front of me to talk to her friend for, oh two or three minutes. The calm and collected gentleman in front of me and I conversed about the merits of butter lettuce while she chatted away. Her impromptu reunion over, Check Out Lady continued checking out Calm & Collected. Then, while she was checking me out she stopped to speak to two more co-workers that walked past. All the while I am trying my best to stay cool and just get the heck out of this store. She didn’t seem very pleased when I asked for some of my purchases not to be bagged (I can only re-use so many of those freakin’ plastic bags.) I purchased a six-pack of beer for my hubby (Look at me! Pregnant and buying beer! Woo hoo!) and she asked for my I.D. When I laid my wallet on the counter, the metal key ring on the end of the wallet made a loud noise as it connected with the countertop. Apparently, Check Out Lady thought I slapped it down on the counter in a snit, because she then icily asked if she offended me. I was practically biting completely through my tongue at this point not to lash out at this woman. I merely replied “No” and continued to place my bags into the cart. I wanted to say, “You can check my I.D. all you want. What offends me is you continue to stop doing your job, costing me valuable time, to chat with passers-by.” But I was afraid that if I started down that road, I would lose it and end up being escorted from the store by security as I screamed obscenities. I felt my face turn red as I made a valiant effort to control my temper. Without a thank you, fuck you, or anything else, she slung the receipt in my general direction and walked away from the register, even though there was an elderly couple waiting in line behind me.

I realize I was shopping at the Soul-Sucking International Warehouse of Cheap Products and they aren’t exactly well known for their employee’s mental stability or excellent level of customer service. I also realize that I am pregnant and the hormones are having an absolute field day with me, whipping around and causing all sorts of ruckus. Normally, I steam about something like this for a few minutes and then I can let it go. But I was PISSED. As I was leaving the parking lot, I tried to call Juju so she could have a good laugh at my expense. She was at work, so I called Aunt Banana, who tried to top my story (or at least distract me from it) with a story of being approached by two separate strange men in the lobby of a ski lodge.

It’s like there are two sides of my brain: reasonable and CRAZY. I know that I am being sensitive, emotional and hormonal but there is nothing I can do to stop it. After Sunday’s crying fest and today’s anger fest I am starting to be very, very afraid of the post-partum period that will be upon us in five months.

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I Don’t Wanna Grow Up

January 14, 2008 at 5:22 pm · Filed under misc

Isn’t being a grown up a real bitch sometimes? I mean sure, you get to drink beer, have sex, gamble, vote and drive, but there are so many other headaches that come along with those perks. Since we have another bambino on the way and a very small house, we are thinking of looking at bigger houses. Or finishing out our basement to create more living space in our very small house. How much house can we afford? Should we get a realtor or sell it ourselves? What price should we ask for it? Is it suicide to try to sell a house in this market? My brain hurts from all of the questions and “what if’s” swirling around in there.

It used to drive me crazy when my parents started talking about adult issues like insurance. BOOOOORRRRRRING! Now, look at all of the types of insurance we have: house, car, health, dental, life. That is five types of boring right there, folks.

Some days I just wanna go back to being a Toys R Us kid.

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I Used to be Good at Multitasking

January 10, 2008 at 4:46 pm · Filed under misc

So, this morning I was talking to Aunt Banana on the phone while I was making breakfast and cookies. First I halved the pancake mix and not the milk, so I had to make twice as many pancakes as I meant to, then I put in 1 cup too many of flour into the cookie dough. Later I was getting ready to dry my hair and had the hair dryer sitting on the side of the sink. I had to go potty first (because I “go” about 50 times a day now) and, you guessed it, when I opened the lid of the toilet the hair dryer fell off the sink and into the toilet, which had not been flushed. Potty water in the hair dryer = not good. I dried my hair in front of the fan. Although I was slightly afraid to leave the house (who knew what else would happen to me out there in the world??), a trip to Target to purchase a new purple hair dryer, milk and pancake mix quickly ensued. Perhaps if there were more than an inch between the sink and toilet, this would not have happened.
Dear Target: I am ready to buy Valentine candy. Where is it???????? All you had to offer me was Dove hearts and M&M’s. I want cinnamon hearts, Sweet-tarts, conversation hearts and the like. You have swim suits and Easter dishes, but no Valentines. What is going on????

I thought yesterday, which involved a lot of toddler bodily fluids and laundry, wasn’t my day. I guess today wasn’t it either. Seriously, universe, you are kicking my ass here. Have I offended you in some manner?

Looking on the bright side I have upcoming visits from Juju, Aunt Banana & my mom, and Arwyn has a trip to Aunt Banana’s scheduled. What will I do when I’m not changing clothes, sheets, and digging my hair dryer out of the toilet???

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Product Review

January 9, 2008 at 7:45 pm · Filed under i buy stuff

The Bissell 1867-7 Steam Mop did arrive and lo, it was good. I put it together at 11 pm last night so it would be good to go today for Floor Cleaning Day. Because it says “floors” on my calendar today so that means I HAVE to mop the floors TODAY OR ELSE. Or else what, I have no idea. No one else who lives here even notices that they are clean except me. How can you not notice that yesterday when you walked across the floor 11 million crumbs stuck to your feet and today there are none? Anyhoo, after using the mop a whopping one whole time(s), I like it. It easily cleaned as well as or better than my grungy old sponge mop, it is very easy to put together and use, it is relatively quiet and it didn’t kill my shoulder and back. It was fast and there’s no dirty water to get rid of after.

This is what the pad looked like after mopping the kitchen:

The pads are washable, so I threw the dirty one in the washer with the laundry and it is now good as new. You get two with the mop, so if you don’t wash it right away you have a replacement. I ordered a second pack of pads which have not arrived yet, so I don’t know if or when I will need them. I assume these will get worn out eventually.

I thought the water tank looked smallish, but it held enough water to mop my kitchen and living room. We do have quite a small house, though. The cord length was adequate for my rooms, but if you had larger rooms you might have to move the cord mid-moppage. Overall, I give it a thumbs up.

Unfortunately, no one paid me to write this. I bought the darn thing with my hard earned Christmas money. What, you think it’s easy for me to be good all year long?!?

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Random Thoughts

January 8, 2008 at 10:59 pm · Filed under misc

I read at least 41 books in 2007. I say ‘at least’ because I’m sure there are some that I forgot to add to the list somewhere along the way. Is that a lot? It doesn’t seem like very many.

It is rainy outside. I hate rainy. There is also a tornado watch until 9 pm tonight. This makes me want to hibernate inside all day. The storm sirens are going off as I type this. We have now been upgraded to a tornado warning. Maybe I will venture out into the rain once more today and go down the street to Grandma’s and camp out in their basement tonight. I really wish our basement was finished. Arwyn is taking a nap. It looks like the storm is headed toward the north side of the city, so we should be ok. Storms make me nervous, but not as nervous as they used to make me. I used to seriously freak out about storms. I cannot continue watching Season 3 of Deadwood because I have to keep the tv on a local channel to track the freaking storm. Edited to add: right after I wrote this, the tv weatherman informed me that funnel clouds had been spotted, so I promptly freaked out, got Arwyn up from her nap and booked it down to my in-laws in my house slippers, where we stayed in the basement for three hours. Yeah, storms don’t scare me a bit.

UPS is supposed to be delivering this to me today. This is what I bought with part of our Christmas money. Woo hooooooooooooooo!!!! I’ll let you know if it works as brilliantly as I hope it does.

I’ve been “researching” the raw food movement (diet? fad?) and am looking at juicers. A mountain of books checked out from the library counts as research, doesn’t it? RPMs, watts, horse power??? Geeze-oh-pete, I didn’t realize I was purchasing a car to extract my juice.

If I write something on my calendar or to-do-list, I will do it just so I can put a check beside it or cross it off. My quasi-New Year’s resolution is to keep up with the house better. If I write a house cleaning chore on each day, I will do it, even if this means mopping the floors at 9 pm. It’s a sickness.

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