The Grass Is Always Greener...

I spent a good portion of August waiting for the day that the girls would start school. The charts I made to help A understand the amount of time left before her first day at preschool was also helpful for me because I watched with a bit of glee as each sticker was placed indicating another day closer to the momentous occasion of First Day of School for each of my girls. August was a difficult month because unlike July we had very little in the way of organized activities to attend or a planned vacation to prepare for, enjoy, and then decompress from. It was pretty much the same day in/day out and I started to find it hard to come up with new things for the girls to do to occupy their time. They actually do play very well together - up to a certain point. Once they reached maximum levels of exposure to each other I started to hear the screaming ("YOU MESSED UP MY TOWER ANd I DON'T LIKE YOU ANYMORE!!!"), the complaining ("SHE CALLED ME [insert string of nonsense syllables] AND IT IS NOT NICE TO CALL SOMEONE NAMES!"), and the outright violence (smack "OW! SHE HURTED ME A-PURPOSE!") . At times like those I would give them the necessary talking-to and/or the necessary time-out and often after things had simmered down a little I would offer them some screen time in the form of a video game or a movie. I would give them some down time where they were not focusing on each other and it had the added benefit of allowing me some time to relax or get something done without having to act as constant referee. But, overall, things were generally unhurried and somewhat relaxing.

Then school began and life switched gears. The mornings went from carefree and unstructured where the girls could play for a good long while before I bothered to ask them to get dressed and start the day. Now mornings are the rush of eating breakfast, packing lunches, getting dressed (and if I can fit it in I like to be able to take a shower but it's a luxury that isn't always possible), and brushing hair (never an easy task in this house, at least for one particular 6.5 year old drama queen), checking backpacks for requisite items - all before the 8:15ish arrival of the bus. As soon as R is on the bus and headed to school I am herding A and E into the car for the drive to preschool for an 8:45 drop-off. Somehow we rarely get there before 9:00 -- thankfully the school is only 10-12 minutes away otherwise we would be arriving much later than that. Every minute counts when you consider how short a 3-hour preschool day is, so I like to be there as early as possible. Those three hours are precious because it's the only time that I have only one child with me and it makes errands that much quicker and easier. But then there is the fact that E likes needs to nap between 10ish and 12ish. So I'm usually dropping off A, making one quick stop at a store for an errand, and then I am rushing home to get E down for her nap so that she can get the maximum amount of sleep before I need to put her back in the car and run up to school to pick up A. And that's all by either 11:45 on regular days or by 12:45 on days that A stays for lunch (a blessing, but one that I don't care to pay the extra $5 fee for every day because it just gets too darn expensive). While E is napping I'm often trying to get diapers/clothing washed, laundry folded, checking my email and reading a few choice blogs (those highlighted are often my sanity savers because I know I am not alone in this crazy merry-go-round called Parenthood and they are great for a laugh or two mostly at the expense of the blogger), doing the dishes, cleaning the bathroom, wishing I could finally get around to the vacuuming (something that seems to happen way too infrequently these days and our living room looks like some mice had a party and littered the floor with breadcrumb and dried noodle confetti - not a pretty sight on a dark green oriental-style rug) - ya know...the usual. I have good days and not so good days - some days I have these mini anxiety attacks where I feel like I'm forgetting something important or like there are not enough hours in the day or days in the week to accomplish what I'd like to get done. The "attacks" come and go and I have days where I feel like "Feh - whatever gets done, gets done" but I then another day will come with obligations up the wazoo or R will have a particularly rough start in the morning and it will set me on edge for the rest of the day.

I'm just feeling like I need to get off the freakin' treadmill of life for a few days -- and it's only September! The girls are enjoying school and I'm enjoying having them at school, but I do long for those somewhat lazy and carefree (highly relative terms, mind you) days of summer just a bit now and again.

Geesh - it's like I want to have my cake and eat it too, huh?

My girls will love this...

I'm part HORSE! They love their stuffed horses and seeing the horses at the farms we visit. A used to say that she wanted to grow up to be a horse (other days it was a cow or once she just made a blanket statement that she would become "farm animals.") More recently she says she wants to be a horse rider - phew, for a while there she just wasn't buying the explanation that children don't generally grow up to be farm animals. But, hey, mom's half horse! That's gotta count for something, right?

You Are a Centaur

In general, you are a very cautious and reserved person. However, you are also warm hearted, and you enjoy helping others in practical ways. You are a great teacher, and you are really good at helping people get their lives in order. You are very intuitive, and you go with your gut. You make good decisions easily.

What Mythological Creature Are You?

Maaaaaar-ian, Madam Libraaaaar-ian.

I've decided to spend Thursday mornings volunteering at R's elementary school. My mother-in-law is going to come over to watch E for me those mornings and after I drop A off at preschool I will spend a couple of hours helping the school with various tasks. Today I went in to help out the librarian, Lisa, who I happen to know pretty well (her two daughters go to my neighbor's daycare). She is very funny and very real - and not AT ALL like Marian from The Music Man so my title is a perhaps ill-chosen but I couldn't resist. I was glad I can help her out a bit. She has lost ALL her assistant library positions due to budget cuts so when it comes to work in the library she is "It" and has to beg for volunteer help whenever she can get/find it. I find it very frustrating that cuts have come to this level of basic school/academic building blocks and I really wish I had more time to give. She told me today about a project she used to do over the course of the school year with the 2nd graders. They would learn about basic library research and report-writing by studying different countries throughout the year and add a researched entry for each country into a book that they would be able to take home at the end of the year. She said that it was incredible to look at the books at the end of the year and see the transformation that occured in each child's book from the first country to the last as they learned and improved in their writing and research skills. Since she has lost all the helpers who used to make that kind of project possible the 2nd grade classes will no longer benefit from that level of teaching/guidance from their librarian. It is ridiculous! We live in a town that has a high level of commitment to education (heck, we live within a 10-mile or less radius in which there are 4 colleges and a major university). It is one of the main reasons we stayed here and bought our house in this town - the schools here have a pretty decent reputation and Rick himself is a product of the local schools. However, I have a feeling that they have seen better days before the stupidity of "No Child Left Behind" which should more aptly be called "No Child Gets Ahead" for all the assinine red-tape, regulations, requirements, and general adminstrative bullshit for which the school is held accountable but is not given adequate funding to properly implement or maintain! I could go on and on... I have a friend who has a Bush Countdown on her website. I think I need to get myself one of those...maybe it will make me feel better. Or maybe not.

It just boggles my mind that they expect one person to run an entire elementary school library! And I'm sure there are many other people who could use some help what with all the budgetary woes - I just need to ask and I'm sure I'll find them easily. I do know that the art teacher was looking for a few volunteers and I hope to check in with her next week to see what I can do to help.

So, anyway, I spent two hours reshelving many, many books for dear Lisa. She was extremely appreciative of my efforts and I promised her I'd be back again next week to help her some more. I actually enjoyed my time there this morning -- there was something calming and medatative about putting books back in their correct places and following Old Man Dewey in his orderly alphabetical and numerical system. I think I've mentioned before my thing for anything organzational so you could say that this was right up my alley - not to mention the fact that I got to do it without a solar system of wee ones orbiting my space with their requests, commands, questions and constant dialogue. It was so peaceful! And it was great to chat a bit with Lisa and to listen to her hysterical dialogue with the preschoolers during the library story time. She read them this book:

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It is such a funny book - made even funnier by the comments of the preschoolers and by Lisa's great sense of the absurd when sharing this book with them.

In other news my toe is feeling a lot better. I definitely still need to wear a supportive shoe to minimize the pain but I can walk almost normally now as long as I'm wearing my sandals. I know I still have a ways to go in the healing process but it's nice not to be in constant pain. And perhaps I won't be needing to add those funky, obnoxious socks to my wardrobe.

Or maybe I will anyway, just for fun.

Just call me Gimpy and other bulleted news

• I am still hobbling through life. I just read on some medical website or other than broken toes can take up to 10 weeks to heal! WTF? That puts me right into the hectic holiday season before I can expect some normalcy back in my life?! Not to mention the fact that my footwear of choice right now are two pairs of sandals that offer support without constriction in the toe area. It's bad enough that I'm getting nowhere in my weight loss and am stuck in E.W. but now I am headed for total Geekdom when I start wearing socks with my sandals to keep my feet warm as the temperatures start to plummet. Nice.
  

• Stinkeroo (aka Little Miss E) has figured out how to get past the temporary fix that Rick put on the gate to keep her from Choking Hazard Central (aka the girls' bedroom and playroom). It lasted just over two weeks before she figured out how to lift the latch from the top to open the gate and make a beeline for 'forbidden land'! As a second temporary fix Rick used a zip tie to attached a heavy duty elastic to the latch thus creating more tension that would be too hard for her to lift while still be managable for the older two girls. Last night when he had more time he replaced the elastic with a metal spring that creates a similar type of tension to the latch but is less likely to break. So far, so good. The girls are still able to work the latch but E has not been able to keep enough upward force on it to actually get the gate open. But, I'm worried that we have the next Houdini on our hands and I pray this fix lasts longer than the last one....particularly since chasing her down the hall 100 times a day is not fun with this damn toe!

• I went to book club last night for the first meeting of the fall. We had a very good turnout - a lot of familiar faces as well as one newcomer for a total of 11 women. The book we discussed was "March" which is a fictionalized account of a fictional character (follow me?). It is the story of Mr. March, the fictional father of Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy and the husband of Marmee in "Little Women". The author of this book wrote about the life experiences of Mr. March up to the point when he returns to his family after being away at war for a year. Most of those in attendance enjoyed the book but felt that it stood apart from the book that inspired it. We had some interesting discussions about race and gender relations, the Civil War, truth and honesty, and idealism vs. realism. The facilitator, Eleanor, also did some background research on Louisa May Alcott's family and that added another dimension to our discussions that was facinating. As Eleanor said, it was a case of "Will the real Mr. March, please stand up" as we discussed the two very different fictionalized accounts to Mr. March and how they compared to the real-life inspiration of Alcott's father. I am looking forward to reading the book for next month "A Walk on the Beach" which is a memoir written by a woman named Joan Anderson about her accidental meeting of and subsequent friendship with the wife of the famous psychoanalyst, Erik Erikson.
  

• The sleep deprivation that was rampant around here this summer has finally started to wane. I have E on a pretty decent nap schedule of 10-12ish and 3-5ish and she goes down for the night around 8:30 and sometimes manages to sleep through the night until 6:30. Other nights, she is up once around 4am but she will nurse for a short time and I can put her back in bed awake and she will drift back to sleep. The older two have gotten mostly out of their night-waking rut as well so Rick and I are getting some decent sleep most nights. That alone is a huge blessing to be thankful for! I am no good without my sleep. I feel like a horrible mother and wife and I hate myself when I am cranky, out of sorts, disorganized, and depressed.
  

• For some reason I've been procratinating on getting A's skirt sewn up. I have all the pieces cut out and waiting but I just haven't found the spark of motivation to do any sewing in the last week or so. I had some time this moring but did I work on it? Nope. I spent the hour or so free time browsing the web and writing my blog. Maybe I'll find some motivation this evening after the girls are in bed. We'll see. I also need to find the time to get up to the quilt shop (that is closing at the end of the year - unless she finds a buyer) to find some fabric to make a quilt for A and use the gift certificate I got for my birthday. Not sure when I'll find the time to hobble over there since it's not along the paths that I travel daily. Oh, and speaking of quilting/crafting, I met a few new mom/crafters when I sat in the waiting area during A's gymnastics class yesterday. One mom (actual a grandmom) was working on a needlework project (plastic canvas...not something I enjoy but I always have to check out other people's handiwork), another mom was knitting a gorgeous yarn into a poncho for her daughter, and a third mom was making a fabulous ocean-themed wall-hanging out of batik fabrics for her son's room. It was great to chat with all of them about their projects and I was kicking myself (with my good foot) for not bringing along a project to work on during that 'free' hour. Next week I'll be sure to bring something portable along - knitting or cross-stitch...or maybe I can get the mom who is making the quilt to teach me how to do applique quilting! She and I already talked quilting for quite a bit and she is trying get me interested in going for a quilting weekend on the Cape in March! LOL
  

I guess those are all the bullets for today. I need to get E up from her nap a bit early because it's time to pick up A from preschool.

Until next time...

Life goes on...

My toe is recovering slowly...oh so painfully slowly. I can get around but too much walking means I pay for it later. However, if I rest it - as much as is possible with three kids in the house - nothing seems to get accomplished and I feel crankier so I am dealing with the pain as best I can. Ibuprofen is my friend right now. I'm not a very patient person about certain things and illness and injuries are the kinds of things that put a black mark on my permanent record. Pregnancy (aka Waiting For The Big Day) was another one. I'm so bad at waiting for things to happen. I'm very much a planner and when those plans get derailed, side-tracked, or the journey seems interminably long (like when your baby is born 9 days past the due date and only after many hours of attempts to induce birth - none of which seem particularly successful - and everyone including the midwife tells you this one will be "quick" because it is your third. HA!) . I won't say I need instant gratification but I guess I like to know where the end of the tunnel is located and how long it's going to take to get there.

So, I am hobbling along hoping that it starts to feel better sooner rather than later and I can start my daily walks again. Preferably before the snow starts to fly! I'm missing out on some nice crisp fall mornings - fall being my absolute favorite season - and it annoys the heck out of me. The weight loss journey is on a definite hiatus and it is so frustrating. I find myself eating without really feeling hungry AND I'm not excercising. Bad combination. And the holidays are just around the corner - damn. I can feel that some of the weight is back on that I lost this spring but I don't dare even bother to step on the scale because it all seems so futile and discouraging at the moment.

To keep occupied with something more sedentary I've been listing a few things on eBay. It's fun and I've made a few bucks in the process. I sold a couple of buntings - the kind that you put in an infant car seat to keep them warm without the need for jackets or snowsuits - and made a fair bit more than tag sale prices on them. Now I have a pair of toddler shoes (New Without Tags) and a gently used sleep sack/wearable blanket up for auction. The shoes were ones I bought for A but the size ended up being too small once the correct season rolled around and the sleep sack was something I only used for E so it's in great shape. It's fun to see how many people are watching an item and even better when the bids start rolling in. I have two bids on the shoes already but there are 13 watchers so it has the potential for going a lot higher than the current price. As I continue to clear out stuff for our tag sale I'm constantly on the lookout for things that might fare better on eBay or craigslist (for those large, bulky items that I'd rather not ship). At least it keeps me from going completely crazy during my convelescence.

And so, life goes on. The girls are having a great time at their respective schools. R has made fast friends with a girl in her class who is a 2nd grader. She lives in our neighborhood and from what I've seen of her she is a sweet, imaginative, polite, and gregarious young girl. We arranged for a play date this afternoon and she played very nicely with R and A for about 3.5 hours. Her mom got a break (since it was naptime for her 2-year-old brother) and I did too since the girls kept each other happy and entertained. Win-win situation. We hope to get them together again real soon.

A has a birthday coming up in less than a month (and having lost an entire week to my toe injury I was realizing in the wee hours of the morning as I nursed E back to sleep that I had yet to buy invitations or party supplies for the requested unicorn-themed birthday event) and she has already created her guest list. I limit the guests for birthday parties to no more than the age of the birthday child - so A will be allowed four guests this year. She named two friends from school right off the bat and then asked for two friends from outside of school and thus her list was complete. I ran hobbled down to the party store today and actually found appropriate unicorn-themed partyware - cups, plates, napkins, and banner and coordinating plastic table covering, treat bags and party blowers (or whatever these are called). I even managed to get a game (bingo) and most of the party favors for the guests and a few days ago I had picked out a beaded bracelet craft kit as another acitivity, time permitting. R is going to assist me in creating a "pin the horn on the unicorn" game and I need to figure out how best to accomplish a unicorn-themed cake (plastic unicorns placed on top of a straightfoward round cake, artistic attempt at creating a 2-D unicorn drawing out of icing on top of a sheet cake, or cutting a cake somehow in the actual shape of a unicorn and then using appropriate-colored icing and adornments for decoration? Decisions...decisions...time to search the internet for ideas). Aside from that, and the actual process of writing out and sending off the invitations I think we are pretty much ready for A's birthday party. E's special day is just shy of two weeks after A's birthday and I think we are going to go pretty low-key for that one. We will do a family party with my in-laws in which we have dinner together, help her blow out her candle and let her have her first taste of cake and ice cream and then open her presents for her while she shreds the wrapping paper into itty-bitty pieces and tries to eat it! It will be just right. And of course I will have pictures to share of both events, like it or not.

Speaking of the Littest Miss, we have a feeling that we will have another bipedal member of the family in very short order. E is standing quite well all on her own without holding on to anything and last night, in a vain attempt to steal the toothpaste cap from me while I held it juuust out of reach, she managed two very tiny steps. It's a thought that is exciting, scary, and bittersweet all at once. Some things will be made easier and we will move on to a new chapter called Toddlerhood but she will also be more of a menace and able to get into even more mischief than she is currently capable of...

...and of course it is one more thing to remind me that my last baby is growing up.

Indeed, life goes on.

9:45AM and All's Well...

The house is quiet aside from some little babble noises from a particularly cute 10 1/2 month old. R got off to school without too much drama (no small feat most days) and my dear, sweet MIL came shortly thereafter to pick up A and drive her to preschool.

I am still in jammies and need to take my shower soon. My broken toe is buddy taped and causing me continued grief but at least I'm able to get around.

I went to the PGO meeting at school last night....

Oops - now the cute babbling has turned to insistant fussing and so I must go and try to get little miss down for her morning nap. More in a bit...

I'm back (as if you noticed I was even gone).

I put E down for her nap and am now showered and dressed. The excitement never ends around here!

As I was saying....I went to the PGO meeting last night (see? I lead such an exciting life) and it was great to see/meet the parents of a few kids in R's classroom there. I think we are going to have a a lot of interested and involved parents this year in her class which is great. I hope we can start doing some community building among the parents very soon. In that vein, I sent an email to R's teacher to let her know that I'm here and ready to help. Cirriculum Night is coming up on the 27th and I'm looking forward to connecting with other parents and learning more about the plans for this year from her teacher.

This morning, unprompted, R told me that she had done some fun math with peas and carrots this week. It involved some math with numbers apparently, and she was very proud to tell me that she thinks she "got them all right" and that they were "hard enough" that she needed to use her fingers to do the math. It was nice to hear her enthusiastic again after her previous negative comments. She also giggled when she told me that the teacher actually did something wrong when showing the class something with the peas and carrots. It's good for her to see that even the teacher can make mistakes because she tends to be the kind of kid who won't try something for fear of doing it wrong. She was like that with reading - she would not even attempt to read a word until she knew what she was doing and now she is reading things with incredible fluency and accuracy. It boggles the mind!

A keeps coming home from preschool with great stories about her day and with many awesome easel creations. R was never one to do anything she considered "messy art" until well into her kindergarten year and even then it was a rare occasion - so A is apparently making up for the lack of paintings in our house! She is also enjoying the drawing table almost as much as R did in preschool and she is making some great friends. We hear new names of kids evey day so she is certainly making the rounds! Today is yellow day at preschol and A went to school dressed to the nines in a summery yellow dress (even though it's quite fall-like out there!), a white sweater (at my insistence even though she is likely to ditch it once she gets there), white tights and even a white headband festooned with ribbons and pearls. She is certainly a girly-girl who loves to dress up.

I'm off to get some more coffee and use this free time wisely. I need to clear out some of the summer clothes from the girls' room and figure out what else they need for fall/winter wear. I know I need to get more stuff for them but now with this bum toe I am not sure how easy it is going to be to accomplish that mission any time soon. It is rather annoying that just as I gain some 'free time' (defined as having only one small child underfoot or in tow) I am reduced in my capacity to actively take advantage of the relative freedom. I guess I can use this enforced down time to chip away at the stack of books that are calling my name - I just finished the book club book ("March") - great book, although a bit on the grotesque side given the descriptions of tending to the wounded Civil War soldiers - and still have a library book to finish ("Oh My Stars") before next Tuesday's due date. There are others on the shelf to read but their titles escape me at the moment. And since it is my left foot that is injured I think I might actually be able to get some sewing accomplished - I have the fabric all cut out for A's skirt and it is sitting on my sewing table awaiting my attention.

Hobbling off to make a dent in my to-do list! Happy Wednesday!

And the answer to the question of the day would be...

"Yup. Your toe is broken (but not the bone in your foot) and we can't do anything for you. We recommend you buddy tape the toe for four weeks."

ARRRRGGHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(hobbling off to feel sorry for myself...)

Update On My Unfortunate Incident

The toe and part of my foot are now turning a lovely rainbow of hues - and as much as I like to include visuals in some of my posts I'll spare you the photo op on this particular event in my life. It just ain't pretty. I mean - on a good day my toes are rather ugly and stubby all on their very own but this just takes things to a whole new level.

I had my doctor's appointment yesterday at 4:45 - by that time I had rested the foot enough that I was able to bear some weight on it so I left Rick to take care of the girls and their dinner and I drove myself over to the doctor's office. The nurse brought me in rather quickly and took my vitals and my complaints and then left me to sit in the exam room for almost an hour because the doctor was running behind schedule. She was involved in some kind of toe surgery on some other schmuck who I can only assume is even more "graceful and poised" than I am, considering their need for surgery. I was very glad that I brought along my book! I'm currently reading "March" by Geraldine Brooks and I was able to lose myself in it for a peaceful hour, so the wait didn't feel quite as long as it would have otherwise. In fact, because of that wait and subsequent reading time I was able to get far enough into the book that I hope to have it finished by next Monday's book club.

The doctor spent all of a perhaps minute and a half (and I'm being generous) in the exam room. She looked at the toe and foot and felt around to see where it hurt (ow) and decided to just order an xray. Of course, because of my huge wait to see her and the lateness of the appointment in general the xray offices were all closed. I got my written order and was told to go in this morning (luckily they take walk-ins) and have it done. I wonder what the charge was for a minute and a half of consultation and a written order for an xray? I'll find out when I get the report from my insurance company and I'm sure it is going to work out to something ridiculous like $100/minute for her services. Health care costs are stupid.

This morning's visit to the xray department was fairly uneventful. I am walking a bit better this morning, thankfully. It was getting rather old to use crawling or hopping as a mode of transportation around the house. The technician took xrays from about 6 different angles, including one angle where she had to tape my four other toes aside and lash them to the side of the table and then tape and lash my injured toe in the other direction - can you say OW!? She apologized gruffly and said it was the only way to get the angle the doctor had reqeusted. Niiice bedside manners.

Now I have to wait all day for the stupid, litigiously-handicapped health care system to get back to me because the xray information needs to go through at least 6 sets of hands before I am allowed access to my results. The tech told me that the radiologist will read them after 1:00 when he is expected to arrive at the local xray office. The tech is not licensed to read the films so she can't give me any answers. The radiologist is allow to read the films and state whether there are any broken bones but can't be the one to call me directly. Oh no. My DOCTOR (who I just met yesterday at the appointment) is the only one allowed to inform me of my results. Thus it goes tech to radiologist to receptionist (who is the only one allowed to fax results, I'm sure, given the stupidity of the system) to recpetionist (who collects faxes on the other end) to nurse (who is the go-between from the front office to the doctor) to the doctor. Then the doctor, who is already running behind for the day reads the results but is too busy to call. So, she turns back to the nurse and relays the results (the the nurse could have easily read all on her very own) and tells her to call me to say "Yup. You broke your toe and you're screwed since there really is nothing we can do about it." or perhaps "Yup. You broke a bone in your foot and you can wear a silly boot brace for a while if you want, otherwise there is nothing we can really do for you." It's all so stupid. I don't really even know why I bothered to go once I was able to bear weight again. I was going to cancel but Rick insisted I keep the appointment in case it was more serious than I realized. Yeah, okay. I suppose. At least it is feeling a bit better and maybe I'll actually hear "good" news that there are no broken bones and thus the recovery time will be reduced. I can only hope.

In the meantime, I'm hobbling, but able to get around a bit. I find it best to wear a sandal to give some support to the toe and the strap near my toe is adjustable so it is not squashing my bruise. This morning I managed to make some cookie bars for the Welcome Back picnic tomorrow nigh and I'm going to try to make it to the PGO meeting tonight, too. So, I'm getting some stuff done, just doing it a lot slower. Rick stayed home again today so he could do the pick-up/ drop-off at preschool and take care of stuff for another day so I can rest a bit more. My in-laws are due home tonight so I am hoping that I can lean on my MIL a bit and get her to do the drop-off/pick-up for me. I think I can handle the rest and that will allow Rick to get back to work. Affter being home these last two days I'm sure he's MORE than ready.

Grace is not my middle name....

I started to write this post out yesterday, but unfortunate events intervened.....
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I finished the first of my many projects with the tons of fabric I bought on clearance at JoAnn's last week! I don't know if I mentioned it but I had gone in on the Saturday of Labor Day weekend and bought some fabric and didn't realize until I got it home that all clearance fabric was an additional 50% off - so the fabric I thought I was paying 4-5 bucks a yard was really half that. I went back on Monday and bought a bunch more on the last day of the sale - it was too cheap to pass up and now I have all this fabric to play with! I just wish I had more time.

I bought a few patterns at their $1.99 sale, too. So, my first project was a skirt for R. It was a McCall's pattern and I don't always have good luck understanding the way they like to do things (I prefer Simplicity patterns) but this one was labeled Very Easy so I thought I'd give it a try. Turned out to be one of the easiest patterns I've ever encountered. Maybe they have some new people in the division of their company that is involved in writing out the directions - or maybe I just lucked out for once with their patterns.

One of the fabrics I found was a beautiful blue, shiny, embroidered number with a finished edge - yay, no need to hem it! Here's a close-up of the fabric and it's pretty edging (taken without flash):


And here is the finished product (taken with flash so it shows up a little more shiny than real life):



I had to do some minor tweaking on the waist because R is built like Rick and she is a beanpole. I had cut the pattern to fit a size 7 waist and a size 8 in length (because she is so darn tall and is in a phase where her skirts and dresses need to be long). But, even the size 7 was a wee bit too big so I brought the side seams in a little and it worked like a charm! R is thrilled with her new skirt and I am thrilled with how well it came out - I even did a great job on the zipper (something that doesn't always seem to work out the way it is supposed to even when I think I am following the directions to the letter!).

My next project a cute little flouncy skirt for A in an adorable pink boucle tweed fabric...

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And so, that WAS my plan - but alas, life...and my lack of poise and basic body awareness....has intercepted and created a temporary road block on many projects. I don't know how much sewing I'm going to get done over the next week (or two or six). I was rushing to set the table last night so that I could read the girls a story before dinner was ready and I bashed the little toe of my left foot on the leg of one of our dining room chairs. OUCH! Man, it hurts.

I am completely lame. In more ways than one. I can't believe I managed such a stupid, clumsy maneouver AND I absolutely cannot walk on it AT ALL. I am literally hopping around on my right foot (and wreaking havoc on my right knee while I'm at it, I'm sure). I am so frustrated that this had to happen. I can't do ANYTHING, yet there is so much that needs to be done -- this week in particular. I have the first PGO meeting tomorrow night that I had hoped to attend. School is having a "Welcome Back" picnic on Wednesday night that I wanted to go to with just R (for some mommy and me bonding time) and we were going to make cookies to bring for the bake sale that night and I had offered to help with a 30-minute time slot at said bake sale table. Ugh. Then, there are just the every day things of getting lunches packed, picking up Eliza (and racing after her if she is getting into something dangerous which is a common occurence at least 982 times a day - or so it seems), driving A to and from preschool (and I'm missing her first day of gymnastics today), walking to the bathroom, etc...

ARRRRGGGHHHHH!!!!!

I must, however, count my blessing because I have a husband who is capable of all these things and who is able to send an email to work to say "sorry - needed at home due to accident at home involving my wife, her toe and her lack of grace." Well, ok, so he didn't say that but he may as well have - I'm feeling rather dumb and uncoordinated at the moment but I tend to be my own worst enemy - hence the self-inflicted wounds I cause upon myself. Note: I told Rick about the email comment and found out that what he actually emailed to his co-workers was, in part:

"Wife - 0; Chair -1"

Har-har. Yep - the chair won on that round.

I have a doctor's appointment for 4:45 (such a shitty time seeing as it is around the time we usually get started on making dinner). And I'm sure I'll just hear - "Sorry, nothing we can do to help. You just need to rest it until it feels better." I hope to at least score some crutches or something to stop the incessant hopping. I feel like a demented, one-footed Easter Bunny - and it's not even the right season.

I'd better hop off to the couch and continue to rest this foot. I am going to go stir-crazy before this day is over. Lord help me.

I found this personality test via Karyn who actually snagged it from JK.
It looked interesting so I figured I'd give it a try. When I did the short version something was messed because I almost didn't register on "Extraversion" (anyone who knows me would agree that I at least register on the extraversion scale even if I'm not a total extravert!!) and "Openness To Experience" (I'm not a thrill-seeker but I hope I'm not THAT boring...). Thus, I tried their long version and got more accurate results, at least in my opinion!

Anyway, without further ado here are my exciting results!

My Personality

Neuroticism	28
Extraversion	33
Openness To Experience	52
Agreeableness	96
Conscientiousness	68

Test Yourself Compare Yourself View Full Report Bebo, MySpace Codes and hi5 by Pulseware Survey Software

Neuroticism - I would say that I do have some worries/neuroses, but not too many - a value of 28 (28 what?) seems reasonable.

Extraversion - I can be somewhat extroverted but usually when I'm with a group of people I've met before or know well. I do like to meet new people but it can be tough for me to make that first move. And as much as I am social I also like to spend some time alone. So, I guess that score works for me.

Openness To Experiences - I like to try new things - on my own terms. But, I'm certainly not one to jump in line for a roller coaster or bungee jumping. I like to stick with low-key experiences! LOL And I would say I've gotten much better about that as I get older.

Agreeableness - yup, I tend to avoid conflict. I like to do things for others. I guess that sums it up!

Conscientiousness - I like to think that I have a conscience...and use it!

Go take the test and see what kind of pretty colored bar graph you can create!

Loooong week, looooong post

It' s Friday. Whew - what a week.

I started walking again in the morning this week - the month of August was a complete loss as far as the journey out of EW goes (or gain, as the case may be, but I haven't bothered to step on the scale to find out....and I just realized that the shorthand for Elastic Waistland is very appropriate given it is EW or more like "ewwwwww"). I think that has a lot to do with how tired I've been feeling. It's hard getting used to the early wake-up time again. But, it's gotta start happening more regularly now that E seems to be sleeping better at night. I will feel more alert and energetic if I can get out on my morning walks and lose more of the stuff that is weighing me down (yeah, you know - the FAT - just call it what it is, Jeanne, and deal with it).

Last night, I was so beat I went to bed at 8:00 just after getting the kids down for the night. That was, in part, due to an emotional morning at church - I attended a funeral service for a sweet lady who passed away this Sunday. She was one of the "crafty ladies" - a group of women who make homemade items to sell at the church fair every fall - and her passing has left a huge hole in our congregation and in our little crafty group. She will be missed so very much. Say a little prayer for Eunice and her family if you are the praying type.

Lucky for me, E slept through last night and I got a huge chunk of unterrupted sleep - the likes of which I haven't had in many moons. It felt good. I did not, however, get up and walk - which feels bad...or at least makes me feel a tiny bit guilty. But, it was nice to have some snuggle time this morning with Rick before starting the day.

R went off pretty happily to school today - mornings are going much smoother this year than last year and I don't know what to attribute that to aside from the age difference/maturity. She seems more sure of herself as a 1st grader - she isn't the youngest and now knows the ropes at school (well, mostly, she still hasn't found out where the white milk is in the lunch line... LOL...last year the teachers/aides would bring a cart of school lunches to the classroom for the kindergarteners who bought lunch so this is her first year of dealing with the lunchline). Overall, she is enjoying being a 1st grader and is making friends at school. However, after hearing a few choice comments from R about school this week I became a bit worried about her placement in the split 1st/2nd grade class. First of all, the friends she is making seem to be mostly 2nd graders. I am not hearing much about any 1st graders at all. Her 'best friend' so far this year is a very sweet 2nd grader who lives in our neighborhood. I worry that next year when she stays in the current class she is in and her 'best friends' move on to 3rd grade she is going to feel like she is being left behind. She has always gravitated towards the older kids (when she was a toddler/preschooler it was due to the fact that her verbal skills better matched kids who were at least a year older than she was but even now she seems to prefer kids who are older for some reason). I worry that next year when she is one of the oldest in her class (she and her 1st grade classmates stay in that class as 2nd graders and a new crop of incoming 1st graders join them) she won't necessary have close ties to her same-aged peers and she is not likely to make connections with the younger kids. This is the first year that she has really talked a lot about having close friends so I am a bit worried she will make some great friends only to lose them when they move ahead to 3rd grade without her. I know it won't be the end of the world and I wasn't incredibly worried...but then R came home on her early release day (every Wednesday the elementary schools get out 2 hours early in order to give teachers extra planning time during the week) and she made a comment that piqued my concern. I asked her what she did and she, as usual, was reluctant to talk about her day. So, I asked her if she could tell me what the best thing about her day was...

R: "That we didn't have math today!"

Me: "Wait. Why would that be the best thing? You are really good at math."

R: "Well, I didn't like having to make stairs. It was boring!"

Me: (confused) "Stairs? You were making stairs? How did you do that?"

R: "We had to use these interlocking blocks to build these stairs....it's hard to explain...but the 2nd graders got to do math with numbers and I wanted to do that instead."

Me: "Did you ask if you could do that with the 2nd graders?"

R: "Yes. But, the teacher said I couldn't- she said I had to do the steps and it was too easy. I could do what the 2nd graders were doing and they wouldn't let me."

Me: (out loud) "Well, ya know, right now the teachers need to do some things to learn about you and the other kids because they don't know what you are capable of yet. Once you've been in the class for a little while and they find out what you know you'll be able to do more in the classroom. Just hang in there for a bit, okay?" (inside: "Shit. Shit. Shit. Now what?" followed by an internal dialogue regarding her intelligence, her placement in this class, and who I need to get a hold of...and how considering the fact that I didn't have ANY info from her classroom teacher yet about much of ANYTHING except a snack food request--very frustrating after she had the best Kindergarten teacher on the planet, especially when it came to communication).

So, I decided that I needed to get in NOW to talk to the teacher about my concerns. I was not about to wait until the school's Open House Night which isn't until the 27th. I had received that snack food request (parents are asked to supply food and supplies for the class snack pantry every so often) so I decided to use that as my "in" - I went shopping and bought napkins, cups, pretzels, individual applesauce cups, and spoons. Yesterday, on my way to pick up A from preschool I stopped by the school with my 'goodies' and delivered them to the classroom. Funny enough, R was apparently engrossed in a book at the back of the classroom so I didn't see her in the 3 minutes I was there and she never saw me either - this worked out well because I wanted to have a few private word with the teacher. When I entered the room the teacher was on the floor with a small group of kids who all had the same book in front of them that they were discussing. I apologized for interrupting and introduced myself. She recognized me from the meeting but said she couldn't place whose mom I was which was totally understandable. I let her know about the stuff I was delivering and also mentioned that I had signed up to be one of her classroom parent volunteers. I told her we could talk more about what kind of help she needed. Then, I just threw in a little "and I wanted to talk to you about R at some point, as well" and she got up and headed to her desk to write out her email and home phone number for me (yay! contact info - just what I need!). On the way over to her desk I gave her a very, very brief synopsis of what was making me nervous. I wanted her to know how R was feeling about the classwork because R has never been anything but enthusiastic about school and I am worried that if she is not being challenged that she is going to be bored and stop being so excited about school - which would, in a word, suck. She was actually very happy that I told her because as she said "this is the kind of thing that I need to hear about" so that she can more easily figure out the needs of each student. She told me to reassure R that right now the classroom is in a period of adjustment and that things will be changing as she gets an idea of the abilities of each kid. She also commented on the fact that R was connecting with certain 2nd graders (it was nice that she had noticed that, too) and she mentioned how well R is doing with her reading. I let her know that R has only just recently had it "click" for her over the last month or so. She went from reading "well known" board books where she had them practically memorized to being able to pick up a chapter book and read a page or two out of it with only help with a few tough words.

In that short 2.5 minute conversation with her teacher I became much less worried, but also very glad that I brought the issue to the teacher's attention. I did not want to stew about it for the next two weeks wondering if R was going to be befriending some great 2nd graders and also be capable of some of the 2nd grade work only to be told that she would not be able to do what her friends were doing because she is a 1st grader and needs to work "over there" with them. Ugh. I think that would be horrible for her on so many levels. She is a bright kid. She is an intense kid. She is perceptive and she feels things deeply.

I just hope that the teacher makes the appropriate changes sooner rather than later and that R doesn't get lost in the shuffle since she is not one to make waves or speak up to the teacher. I know that I need to be her advocate and I want to try to do that in a positive way in regards to the teacher. I don't want to be the pushy, obnoxious parent. I'm really glad that I signed on as classroom parent so I can keep my eyes and ears on the situation and have an excuse for hanging around the classroom!

As for A - she had two days of preschool and she is loving it! She is making lots of friends (no surprise) and loving every minute. She is also sharing all kinds of stories with us at dinnertime about what she did during her time at school (this is new and exciting for us since getting info out of R is like pulling teeth!). She is coming home with beautiful artwork, craft projects and
drawings and she wishes she could go to school as much as R does. She misses R in the afternoons and she was so bummed today because her preschool schedule is Monday through Thursday so she didn't get to go to school this morning like R. But, I made it up to her by taking her to the Eric Carle Museum storytime. We met my friend J and her 3 year old daughter N there which was great fun for both girls.

So, aside from all that the week was full of the usual - laundry, grocery shopping, dishes, reading stories, kissing boo-boos, nursing, rocking, diaper changes, paying bills, vacuuming, sweeping up a gazillion cheerios off the floor, cooking, cleaning toilets, making beds....the list is endless. And I'm pooped.

Bye, Mom!

I know I sound like a broken record, but WHERE does the time go? Where is my baby A? And when did she get to be almost four (four!?) years old?

Today was day one of preschool for my little A. She was so excited last night that she had some trouble going to sleep. She has been waiting for this day for over a month. That little taste of preschool back in July when she attended their 'camp' for three days was enough to create an intense longing in her little being and she's been anticipating this day ever since! She would talk about her school a lot this past month and about all the great things she would be doing. About her teachers and the new friends she wants to have at her birthday party next month. She is so very social and I can imagine she will make some great friends this year just as she did at daycare last year.

When R had her first day of preschool at that same school A was just a little bit of a thing sitting on my hip - just as E was on my hip today watching her sister go off to her first day of school. It was a strange deja vu for me. I put R on the bus at 8:25 and immediately piled A and E into the car for the ride to preschool. Just before getting into the car A stood nicely for a few "1st day of school" pics for her camera happy mom:



We went outside and she remembered that she needed to pick a flower for each of her three teachers:





We arrived at school and I got E into the sling and walked her to the building. She seems so big and yet so small:



Once in the building, before even getting her backpack put away in her cubby she had to hand out her flowers. In this picture the teacher behind her (C.) is the one she thinks she is handing a flower to - in reality she is handing a flower to a parent of one of the kids whose hair color is very similar. But, as much as the adults around her (including me and another teacher (T.) in the headband) tried to explain to her what was what she was so excited to share her flowers and so excited to finally be at school that she was adamant about giving out the flowers to who she thought was the teacher. It did finally get all sorted out and she realized who was who after that!



After the flowers we got her backpack put in her cubby and she washed her hands at the little sinks that she used to LOVE to play in as a baby! Here T. is showing her one of the tabletop activities (gluing macaroni into styrofoam trays) and A is already feeling right at home.


A wandered off somewhere while I was getting to know a few of the parents and catching up a bit with two of the teachers who had been at the school when R was there. (And I was given some "homework" as a board member of the school - the fall is getting busy already!) When I finally caught up with A she was engrossed in playing with the little people set right along with the newest teacher who was just hired this summer (S.) as well as another little girl. She had settled in just fine and was content to say 'bye, mom!' without any hesistation.


It is wonderful that I don't have a child who has difficulty with separation at this age, but on the other hand I do like a little lovin' in the form of a kiss and a hug and I practically had to beg for that. Geesh. In part this is because of A and her wonderfully social nature and her self-assuredness but it is also because she practically grew up at this preschool from the age of 1 to almost 3. She was there with me every day for drop-off and pick-up when R was at that school for two years. So, it's old hat to her and she is just tickled pink to be able to stay for the whole morning (and I'm sure she'd stay the whole day if they would let her!). She never really made a scene when we left R at preschool but she always went away a little sad that she had to go with boring old mom and R got to stay and play with the kids and the toys. Even at the tender age of 2 she had made some friends at R's preschool. Kids who knew A who would invite her to play for a short time before we had to leave and often it would stretch out into half an hour because I'd be chatting with other moms. Those who were new to the school were always surprised to find out that A was a younger sibling and not a part of the class because she seemed to fit right in and played so nicely with the "big kids"! And now that sweet little baby/toddler has grown into one of the big kids and gets to stay and she couldn't be happier!

Clutter, Clutter Go Away...and don't come back!

Busy day today. Rick and I both got the cleaning bug.

We are trying to reduce the clutter around the house and get ready for a tag sale. Rick decided to tackle the garage where we have already started to pile a bunch of crap stuff (things we hope people might actually pay us to take away!). We really should have cleaned first, then started to put stuff out there, but it didn't happen for a number of reasons - not the least of which was a pile of stuff we were holding for Rick's parents during the course of their moving expedition. Now that they have retrieved that stuff we have more room in which to work. Or rather - for Rick to work - as he was handling the lion's share of that space reorganization today. He spent a few hours out there and made some decent progress clearing out trash and moving things to their new homes, more or less.

My job today was the basement storage closet. It's one of those places where things that have no home were starting to pile up. It is also where I store the bulk of the hand-me-down clothing and toys. Last week I tried to tackle some of the insanity but I only made it through about half the boxes of clothing - only the ones that were labeled in a half-assed sort of way that only scratched the surface of describing what the heck was in them ("mixed season 4t-5t")...and which seemed to indicate that there might possibly be something in them that would fit one of the girls this fall. Right now I have a small mountain of clothing on the bed in the basement awaiting the arrival of cooler weather when I can then bring the clothing up and switch them for the summer togs in the drawers. Then the summery items can make their way to the basement to be sorted, boxed, and labeled as best as I can at the given moment.

Rinse, lather, repeat.

It's a never-ending process. My system is not perfect but it does save us a few bucks here and there. If I can remember to actually go looking for the right sized clothes at the right season...and actually find anything seasonally-appropriate that actually fits someone. Thus, we are back to the nightmarish storage closet and its lack of organization which makes it difficult to find what I need (and for whom) when I need it. After E went down for her nap I brought the older girls to the basement and for a while they helped me ferry a bunch of small, lightweight boxes from the closet to the basement playroom. After about 15 minutes they got bored and were soon engrossed in playing with something or other downstairs and I was free to do what needed to be done. (You see, it was all part of the master plan - if I didn't ask/let them help they would've been seeking me out to whine and complain that they were bored and asking me to play with them or read to them or...or...or... But if I started off having them help and they realized what a dull and chaotic task I was undertaking they would quickly find something they wanted to do for a while. And the plan worked just as I hoped it would! Am I clever or what?)

I pulled everything out of that damn closet - I threw quite a few things away, ferried a bunch of stuff to the garage for the tag sale, and reorganized a lot of the clothing items. I consolidated many a box because there were so many down there that were only partially filled with clothing or knick-knacks. I spent more than a few precious minutes looking at a box that was actually labeled 'Huge Box O' Pictures.' It is filled with a ton of pictures of which the bulk are probably from the early to mid nineties. A ton of pictures that have never made it to any kind of album because I wasn't really into keeping photo albums back then. I didn't really start filling albums until I became a mother and felt the need to capture all those 'firsts' and organize them neatly into books so I can always be reminded of those sweet baby cheeks, fuzzy heads, tiny toes and toothless grins. I put the box away but I left it on the top of a stack of boxes so that I can pull it out again when I have more than a few moments to walk down memory lane. I pointed the box out to Rick and told him that we need to do that some night after the girls are in bed. Just in the few sets of photos I went through I saw quite a few pictures of the Pre-Marital, Pre-Kids Rick and Jeanne. I can barely remember them now. It will be fun to see them again, even just in a few snapshots. Wow. Time sure does fly by. If I find any noteworthy pictures I'll scan them and share them here someday. They should be good for a laugh or two, I would imagine.

The storage closet project is pretty much done. I was impressed that I managed to get it done in only a few hours. It just so happened that E took a nice long nap during the process and the girls played amazingly well with each other. Otherwise, I don't think I would've been able to finish the task this morning. There are still a few minor odds and ends sitting in the basement hallway but other than that I have a newly organized closet with a whole lot more shelf space than I ever thought possible. It feels good.

My next project is the second storage area in the basement which doubles as our laundry room. It's another area that is a disorganized mess - proabably not as bad as the storage closet but in definite need of some help. But, I was not about to tackle that project today. I had enough organization for one day, thank you very much.

So, instead, I went shopping! Yeah, I know - I just decluttered and now I'm out shopping again? Geesh. The cycle never ends, does it? I decided that I wanted to go to the Labor Day weekend sale at JoAnn's and I'm quite glad I did. I found a few great fabrics on clearance and a few patterns that were on sale for $1.99 each! I also got some thread on sale and the notions I needed for the patterns. I came home with stuff enough to make the girls about 5 skirts, inlcuding the right color thread and the zippers for each as well as some accessories for R's halloween costume (she wants to be a devil - there are days when I find this quite appropriate for her) -- all for less than $40! I really liked the fabrics I found -- if I can get decent pictures of them I'll post them, otherwise I'll wait until I can post pics of the finished projects. I'm just hoping the girls like the fabric and skirt styles that I picked out as much as I do. I decided to work on them while they are in school and surprise them with the finished products. I don't want my little bubble to be burst by any complaints because I really like what I picked out. So there.

All in all a very productive day - and it's not even nearly over yet. Off to make some grub for the troops!

Here Comes Trouble...

Ok, so it's not like I thought she was dumb or anything but I really didn't think that at 10 months of age she would figure out how to work the latch on the gate. Rick installed the gate to keep her out of the choking-hazard-ridden playroom, bathroom and big sisters' room! We tried to keep the latch somewhat simple so the older two could easily get through. Seems as though we need some modifications because the baby has watched repeatedly...and learned! The first two times she "escaped" I assumed that A had left the gate open on her way to the playroom - she is often guilty of that misdemeanor, but then I wondered if it was possible that Miss E had figured out the latch. I closed the gate and positioned her by the fridge and well....see for yourself. She is working hard to really earn her nickname of "Stinkeroo"!


If you are having trouble viewing this video you could try viewing it directly at YouTube.com by clicking here. Not sure it will work but it's worth a try for those who can't view it here and actually want to!

Update: Here is how Rick fixed our gate crasher's little wagon! At least until she is tall enough to lift the latch from the top! The tube keeps her from being able to push up on the bottom of the latch...