A Bummer Deal or a Tender Mercy?

The sitter I had hoped for isn't going to work out. I found out last night and well, I was pretty bummed because I really was hoping for a much wanted vacation. (I almost said needed... but really it's wanted.)

But then I got thinking that maybe it's actually a bit of a tender mercy. There was an article in the Wall Street Journal recently about DH's company looking for buyers. This could really change his job status depending on who buys what. Who knows, maybe he will be out of a job sometime in the nearer future and the money we would pay a sitter as well as that which would fun the trip will need to go to a house payment.

It looks like there is a backup sitter if we are interested. But as much as I want a break, I don't know if it is wise timing. We've had a couple of breaks since we got married almost 17 years ago. We took a 4 night cruise when T was one and then we have had a couple of staycation type of nights nearby. So I shouldn't complain. The timing was just a bummer because S has been a big fit thrower and D has gotten himself into a couple of very long cyclical tantrums in the past few days. But as much as DH and I both have wanted to get away I think it might be a bit of a relief to not be worried about spending the dinero when jobs could be up in the air in the future. (This is just my thinking... it's nothing official.)

What else? M survived her first long day of dance and really liked it. I love that kid. She came home and did some extra stretching and did her chores without complaining. She's going to grow up to be awesome. Today at her violin lesson, her practices got extended to an hour a day. I'm not sure how I feel about that. It seems a bit excessive for a 10 year old. She didn't complain or anything but it seemed like a lot to me. But then again, I have never been one for practicing.

T is excited for his swim meet coming up. He is certain he can have a fabulous day today because it's the only way to get his Ripstik back.

D started dance again yesterday but the class was too advanced for him and the instructor's son. She wants to move him down a level. I totally get that but I just don't know if I can squeeze in the activity without the carpool. I have some thinking to do about it. I made sure he knew she thought he really did a great job but that it was just too difficult. He has been struggling lately and I am less than sure what to do about it. The tornado is out in full force with the same things being repeated over and over again until they are blown all out of proportion. He's not happy when he gets like that. And today he got himself out but it took over an hour. I have to go outside and let him just scream at himself or it just doesn't seem to stop. My attention has to be gone. But thankfully, it's a nice day out and wasn't too hot. Plus, my friend was trying to ride her daughter's new Ripstik and it was pretty dang funny.

S has really had her good moments. She has loved searching for strawberries. She was thrilled with her new shirt I bought last night that says 'Love' on it. She giggled and giggled with the neighbor girls as they played some ghost game.

C has been sneaking any food she can get. I think she has had 3 boxes of raisins this morning. I'm sure the consequence will hit eventually. C loves hanging out with the five year olds in the neighborhood. I guess she figures that she must be one of them because she is their size. Today she asked what she was and I said a toddler. She gave me grief about that. I guess she doesn't think she is a toddler. I then said, "A preschooler that doesn't go to preschool." Hmmm... she didn't like that either. Sorry Charlie! That's all I have got.

Another Run Bites the Dust

8 miles! I did it. It was really slow. I mean, like I was about 1 1/2 minutes slower on each mile. My hamstring on my right leg was really sore yesterday. Then this morning something else near there on the same leg was hurting after only two houses. I wasn't sure what I to do. I needed to get the run in but I didn't want to get hurt. So I decided to start out slowly and see if things got better.

They did. It wasn't perfect and I'm still a little sore but I was able to do it. And by going more slowly I had no pain under the ball of my foot. The bad news is that my heart rate really was too low for just about everything except coming up the heel. But I would rather be uninjured and slow.

Of course I left a note on my door for my yard saling buddy. It pretty much was a hey, call me if you are going note. So here I am 3 miles away from home and she calls. I told her that perhaps she could pick me up at the library because of course I stashed some cash in my pocket. But she was out on her bike exercising so she gave me the time to make it up the hill and home. It's good practice for me. I was kind of hoping for the lazy way out but am glad that I got the hill in after all.

There was some great yard sales today. I managed to find myself a pair of Gap jeans that were actually longs in just my size. Lucky me! I found one shirt at the same place. I don't generally find anything because it's all too short. But if I do find a shirt the good news is that it's already had its chance to shrink.

I found 6 cute books (like we need any more), some great clothes for M, a shirt for S and a shirt and pants for C. It wasn't a good day for boys. Luckily, the boys don't need a whole lot.

I got home and DH told me he needed to go into work to get some things done more quickly than he can at home (which is just about everything). I took the two youngest girls with me to the nursery and we bought our zucchini, cucumber and melon plants. The S and I planted them together.

And since I was already grimy I decided to mow the lawn for DH because I know he has a long run to do later and I would hate for the sun to wipe him out before he even begins. It doesn't look fabulous but it's done :)

I have finally showered for the day and now feel like doing nothing. All I have accomplished since showering is eating (too much most likely), doing the dishes, and blogging. S is still struggling and it's exhausting on top of everything else. I don't know why her new thing is trying to slam people in doors. Where does she get this stuff? I think it's day 4 or so of her struggling so maybe just maybe we are on the verge of a turn around. I thought earlier she was switching back but then things got difficult again.

As for tonight, I will most likely be a slug. I'm wiped out! I might try to get a little laundry done and well, I guess I should feed my family. What's up with them thinking they need to eat every day ;)

And guess what, I ran 8 miles straight.

Fancy

I got home from my run this morning, showered and got dressed into some capris I found when cleaning out my closet.

She comes over to me, "OOOOh, those pants are cute. No they are better than cute. They are fancy."

She's pretty funny sometimes.

Another dia down

I'm thinking I may just have to move my bedtime. I swear I just am not ready to zonk out at 10 pm. The good news about that is that I can try to go to sleep and then get up and blog a bit.

Today was a super productive day for me. I got a run in, took T to swim where I watched him fly. Actually (I got there to late to see his fly but I saw him zoom in the free). When he's not messing around he's pretty fast.

Then I got to work on my linen closets. I'll be honest, for the past umteen months I have just been trying to shut my eyes when it came to looking at them. I would do the quickly grab a towel and get away from them. The kids have this habit of pulling out the bottom towel or blanket and then all of the others go tumbling down.

But today that all changed.

It took forever but I have now gone through everything except the top shelf of one of the linen closets. (I just can't figure out where I need to put the stuff there yet so why bother.) They look so nice. I was so excited for DH to come home and see them. I also managed to do a ton of laundry and most of it is done, folded and put away. And for the piece de resistance... I folded socks. I hate folding socks. I loathe folding socks. It's one of the reasons I have the wear sandals rule in the summer. It's not because I really care about sandals so much. I just HATE matching socks.

I pulled out the socks that were too little or had holes and tomorrow is going to be a family fun day of scrubbing baseboards with them.

S managed to pull out of two giant screamy fits and D survived a bout of cycling (not the bike kind). T went and ran 3 miles with DH. I was surprised because they managed in I believe 32 minutes. That's slow for DH but fast for little 7 year old T and well, faster than me! (Not that I am saying it takes much to be faster than me.) The poor kid came home bright red and so sweaty.

C was a major pill today. She got into the dog food and got it all over the garage. DH told her she had to clean it up before she could have dinner. She chose to not eat dinner. Three year olds can be so stubborn. What DH didn't know is that she sneaked a bunch of stuff in the late afternoon and pretty much already had an early 'dinner'.

M finished the second book from the trip to the library yesterday. (And for anyone who is worrying about my library fines... I didn't check out the book. She and a friend did it on her friend's card.) So today she took the books over to said friend's house.

I should have gone running again. I only ran 27 minutes this morning. I realized that I didn't have my knee braces on so I went back to T's swim practice. Then I came home and realized that I was supposed to have a longer run today anyway. I never got around to it. I think I have to do five tomorrow now. Bummer!

Oh and how could I have forgotten the trip to the school's lost and found. T and I went in search of both boys' thermoses. (Is that a word?) In the bottom of the fifth giant bag we found them. Hooray! T reminded me that we just saved 32 dollars by getting them back. (He was the one who managed to leave them both... not D. That's not his style.) We also found two other thermoses and T decided to put them on top of the bag since they are so expensive that other kids might come and look for them. I thought that was pretty dang funny. I was glad that he saw the value of them though. (Of course I didn't tell him I waited and bought them 75% off at Target ;) ) I really want my kids to realize that money doesn't grow on trees.

So that was about it. I told DH that even with the bumps in the road I found today to be easier than last year. I love how looking back helps me to see that things are getting better.

For me, that's what blogging is for ;)

The One that Kicked My Keester

So I decided to be adventurous tonight and took an advanced adult ballet class at some other ballet school. I thought it would maybe keep me entertained until my class started back up.

Entertained is not the word.

It was torture and I am not certain it was the good kind.

By the end of plies I was sweating like crazy. I may not have ever mentioned that I go bright red when I am working hard. There's nothing like a deluge of sweat in the first 5 minutes to make you feel confident about the rest of the class.

The other tricky thing was the instructor didn't give just your basic front side back you lost more of your brain cells with each kid you delivered combination. They were all mixed up with so many different steps. And to make things worse, everyone else had done the combinations before so I pretty much had to figure them out from her marking them.

She kept saying, "Cross your fifth. Cross that fifth tightly." Um, have you seen the difference in the size of our thighs lady. Trust me, I am trying to work it. There's just only so much I can do.

I was so exhausted that I almost left after barre. But my pride got in the way. So instead I muddled my way through center. To give you an idea of how hard it was I will just say that she said to just throw in a triple or quadruple turn in the middle of the turn combination. Ummm... I could do a quad on ONE side in my prime. That's it. And I am not in my prime. There were a bunch of 'kids' in there that may be in their prime. They were pre preggo not even a ring on the finger kids.

But the class was even too hard for some of them.

I didn't leave frustrated though and I am glad. It's good to realize what your limitations are. A couple of the people in that class kept saying to come back but I am wondering if it would be better for me to take the intermediate class. The downside is that I would know nobody. I did know one person from my other class that sort of recruited me for this one.

So now I need to think, do I want to take that class because it's one heck of a workout or do I want to take an easier class where I can actually do things properly. It was a workout. I left with salt all over my skin just like after a really long run. I know I am going to be sore tomorrow.

But it didn't feel pretty. It just can't when you are flopping all over the place.

Hmmm... what to do?

Memorial Day Part Deux

DH had the day off work yesterday and we were invited to go boating with friends. The weather wasn't super 'boaty' but heck, it was the last day of May. Plus, cold or not, it is fun to be with fun people.

For the most part we used the giant tube. All of the kids wanted to ride on it. The funniest kid had to be C. She is a little adrenalin junkie. She just smiled and smiled and then would put her thumb up indicating she wanted to go faster. I couldn't believe it. This was the kid that cried through Pirates of the Caribbean.

T had a funny moment too. Scott chucked a Twinkie out at the girls who were having a snack out on the tube. It didn't make it to them. T jumped into the water and went after it like you would imagine a dog would. He came back with purple lips but victorious with a Twinkie still dry in its wrapper.

D seemed to have fun. He thought he wanted to water ski until he felt the temperature of the water. The tube was more than enough.

S loved having a little friend to sit by. She was happy enough to just go on the tube.

And M, she brought a bag with some math work and paper. You know, because she might just get bored out on the lake. Only my little one would do such a thing. What I thought was funny was that she had a little group of kids who were all into it.

Amy and I ended up out there. It's pretty scary I tell you. I'm just wimpy I guess. And I so didn't want to end up tossed in the water. Pretty much every picture of me has my face cringing.

DH and Scott wake surfed. DH surfed for a while and then went down and realized he had forgotten to put on a life vest. Here I was snapping pictures and I didn't even pay attention to that. We were trying to get a nice big wake and most of the kids plus Amy and me were all sitting near one corner. It was um, cozy :)

We went and barbecued at their house after boating. The kids ran around and played. We chatted. The men cleaned up the boat.

Amy and I talked about blogging. It's interesting what different purposes a blog can have. I have one that just has a few pictures now and then to keep S and D's bioparents updated. I have this one which is just a journal pretty much. It's not interesting to other people for the most part but does help jog my memory when I read it. Then I have my picture blog which mainly keeps friends and family in the loop. None of this is particularly entertaining but it's useful. I never would have recorded so many memories if it weren't for this blog.

When we got home I ran to the store. We needed pull ups yet again. (This kid is never going to be potty trained.) I also needed spoons. I don't know where ours go. Thank heavens one of my least favorite stores on the face of the planet sells them in little packs.

So that was our day. We started June this morning. I was thrilled that I stayed in my budget for yet another month. I gave the kids their chore charts this morning. We had a little grumbling from T over his math. Did he really think I was going to give him easy stuff. I realized that I botched the chore thing just a bit. You can't have one kid cleaning off the table AFTER another one sweeps all the floors. Oh well, it's not always about getting the work done. It's about teaching them to work. A good friend's husband made up charts for her kids. They get 2 bucks a day if they do their work. I told her to keep that info to herself. My 3 oldest are getting 10 dollars a month and would be getting less but it's easier to teach percentages for tithing and saving out of 10. I told her I could give them 2 dollars a day but then they would have to feed themselves.

M is less than thrilled with my summer challenge of less wheat and sugar. It's only June 1st and she is whining that wheat is in EVERYTHING. Yep, it sure is. But how about you are grateful that your mom got up and made you eggs and cut up fresh fruit and made a homemade lunch. I don't think she'll get it until she is older. I'm not trying to make them miserable but a) I don't really want to make two meals all the time in order to accommodated DH and T and the rest of the family and b) I am getting more and more convinced that we develop starch bellies. I don't want her or the other kids to have to struggle because I fed them in a way that messed up their insulin responses. So we will do carbs. In fact, occasionally they will have wheat still. It's in everything and I can't be that careful. But I'm going to try to ditch the bread, pasta, and cereals. I figure if they get their carbs from things like veggies and fruit they will get more bang for their buck (or my buck).

Memorial Day

Yesterday was a day to remember those who had died serving our nation. I'm lucky that none of the people in my family have had the fate of dying while serving. I do know that my grandpa wouldn't talk about WWII. I have pictures of his boat coming back to the states after his service. There are so many men on the boats. And to think that so many of them didn't ever make it back.

Could I do that? I don't know if I have the guts.

Yesterday I was listening to the radio as they discussed Israel's flotilla raid. Then I thought of the heightened tension between North and South Korea.

It could happen again.