Peanut and Basketball

Did I mention that Peanut has discovered Basketball?

Yes, well...she did...I'd like to say that she inherited her knowledge and desire from her mother...ahhh, all those years getting plowed over setting picks, running line drills until I nearly threw up beating the team down the court, learning to shoot 3 pointers because I'd get trampled if I even passed the free throw line I wanted to earn points for my team!

No really, I did enjoy basketball...and I played hard...I just wouldn't say I was "awesome" at it...and my favorite part was actually sitting on the bench eating the orange slices and hoping that the coach wouldn't put me in and make me guard the mammoth girls on the other team.  I loved practice though...when I finally figured out a lay-up or when I could swish a 3-pointer.  I think being a perfectionist made playing basketball a little bit harder for me...because I was never quite "perfect" at it:) 

however, Peanut, is more her daddy's personality...and therefore, she's out there for the pure joy of it...she loves scootin' her feet and dribblin' the ball...and if she double-dribbles...eh, no big deal...she's got black shoes with red trim...so she's feelin' Pretty Cool!

Unlike her mother who apparantly needed lots of hair product and cute bows in order to look "cool"

I just made a pair of earrings...

I'm weird like that...

background:  One of my besties, Sara, bought me a beautiful bracelet from Kenya.  It's green and gorgeous...and because of my ridiculously gangly arms, it's too big for my wrist and falls off all the time.  So I can't wear it much.  I LOVED wearing the beautiful black/brown earrings that she got me, but my youngest took them off my dresser one day to "look at them" and I havent' seen them since...I'm VERY sad about it because besides my grandmother's tiny diamond earrings, they were my favorite! (BIG HINT TO SARA:  if you go to back to Kenya, feel free to get me another pair of those earrings...I'll pay ya for 'em)

Anyhoo...this is what happens to an A.D.D. mother of 3 on nights when she could be revising her blog, or organizing her basement or cleaning her desk for heaven's sake...I decide to 'fix' the bracelet, and create earrings to match...

I just took out a couple of the green beads and rethreaded the bracelet...but how to make the earrings?  Goodness, WHAT did we do without the internet back then?  I just googled me some 'DIY earring making" videos...and POOF...I've got myself some new earrings:) 

It's amazing what your husband's old leatherman can do...and what spare parts you can find inyour basement when you KEEP EVERYTHING...I had extra filler beads and claspy things...Just needed to get the posts from Michaels and I was set to go!

That was my evening...I made earrings...and thought I"d just write and tell you about it...I'll post some pictures later:) Make your time GREAT!

Little Munchkin Montage

So, yesterday we stayed home...

all day...

It was cold outside...blustery, wintery, snowy, bitter...C.O.L.D.

and as much as I'd like to think that I"m an outdoorsy type of woman...

I'm not...

especially in winter...

So, Little Munch and I hunkered down, built a fort in the living room, danced to music, read some books, mopped the floor, fixed the fort, did some laundry, made some hot cocoa, watched some Wild Kratts, did some more laundry, listened to more music, played a game...and then I took some pictures...

This is Little Munchkin beating the pants off her Mommy:

She has SUCH the expressions so I asked her to make lots of faces while Mommy "practiced" with her camera...Here's what she came up with...although, she was giggling so much that I'm not sure we got the full spectrum of which she is capable...but, it was fun nonetheless!

that's my baby:)

I forgot to mention that I broke the toilet...

Remember BAD DAY TUESDAY?  Yeah, well, it was just so overwhelming to begin with that I didn't even mention the "other thing" that happened as well..

...the part about when I broke the toilet...

the long and short of it was that it wouldn't flush and so instead of being my normal, patient self...I just put my entire weight (and believe me...there's a LOT of that to go around!) into the teeeny, tiny, shiny, flusher-handle-thing...

it broke...I heard it crack...it was not a happy sound

Italian Stallion has been working on fixing THAT all week along with everything else...

this is not boding well for me right now with regards to all things hygeine either... as my children were frustrated with me already this morning...in their own words, "Mom, you are being extremely wasteful by making us change our underwear everyday!!  think of the laundry!"  to which another one replied, "yeah, why do we have to put a new pair of underwear on every morning, you're just going to make us change it again tomorrow!!!"

Suffice it to say, I STILL made them change their underwear...but we are STILL dealing with toilet issues over here...and sorry for the TMI, but we have clogging issues as well...which is why Little Munchkin does a little dance everytime she has to "go"..."Mommy, is this one clogged?  is it broken?  which one can I use???"

But hey...we're going to keep goin' with the clean panties...rest assured!

What's Been Happenin'

Does anyone remember that show from a longggg time ago called "What's Happenin'"  No idea why that just popped into my head, but I'm just going to roll with it...

Anyhoo...so, a lot has happened since Tuesday and I thought I'd fill you in...because I'm one of those people that apparantly doesn't mind just lettin' all hang out...for everyone to see...(and/or laugh at)

So Tuesday was a bad day...a bad bad bad bad bad bad day.  Now, I know that I could try to spin it positively...I could focus on the fact that I don't live in a 3rd world country and have to eat my shoes to stay alive (not that eating shoes and 3rd world countries go together...and I"m NOT trying to poke fun or make light of struggling peoples)  My point is, if I really wanted to have a better perspective, I could focus on those types of things and just be grateful for all the good in my life...

and believe me, I DO...it's not like I take for granted all the blessings that we have...but for the PURPOSES OF THIS BLOG POST...I'm going to assume the roll of GRUMPY and complain just a bit...HAPPY (or DOPEY) to whomever you best associate with me, will return at a later date...for now, I'm taking my cue from Once Upon a Time and going with the "dwarf theme" at present...(again, no idea where all this tv montage is coming from...but we're rolling people...we're rolling!)

Back to BAD DAY TUESDAY...For my husband it was many weeks leading up to Tuesday and then including Tuesday in those weeks...suffice it to say, although my husband is not an outwardly emotional person, he is one of the most thoughtful, insightful, and compassionate persons I know...and therefore some situations were weighing on him like nothing I've seen before where work was concerned (and no I'm not going to elaborate anymore than that...sorry, gotta draw the line somewhere:)

this translates into BLEH at home...and I knew Tuesday was the worst of it...and so, to add insult to injury, I thought it's be a GREAT idea to hit a pot hole and completely blow my tire and bend the rim. 

I KNOW!!!

My neighbor came to my rescue to pick up Sweetpea from violin practice while the younger two and I waited for Al's Towing to come give us a hand...Mr. Al (I have no idea if that was his name, but for the sake of the story, let's just keep it at that)...Mr. Al was the epitome of what I'd expect in a towing company man...he had strong hands completely greased up with oil and dirt, his blue striped jumpsuit, heavy duty boots, a jack and all the tools...and a blue tooth so he could find me the best price for a new tire/rim by callin' all his buddies...He was exceptionally kind and got us on our way quickly...however, I had to make a call to my husband whilst standing there...I'm not sure Italian Stallion was too keen on the status report...but Mr. Al hung in there with me and I drove under 45 mph on my sweet little spare all the way home...

JUST IN TIME to run right back out the door..because, yours truly, somehow went and got herself signed up for a redistricting committee for our local school district...FUN TIMES I tell you!  I honestly can't tell you HOW I got myself into it...but, I'm here nonetheless...and so my evenings are spent looking at spreadsheets and maps and envisioning all the crazy, angry parents that will want to rip our heads off once we come to a consensus...JOY!

Are you getting the common theme here?...

On top of this...I'm still coughing...I put myself back on Nexium and that has helped...I'm also finishing up a dosage of antibiotics, so pretty much, I"m the safest person to be around right now:) I have found that by putting Vicks on the bottom of my feet at night accomplishes two things: 1) it somehow numbs my throat to the tickles that cause me to cough uncontrollable 2) completely grosses out my husband who can't even face me in bed due to the "aroma" that I send off.

OH...and I almost forgot...since my doctor informed me that the strenuous activity of p90x is not doing me any favors currently, I've decided to check out my old friend, Jillian M...

I'm reminded once again that we aren't really friends...

Infact, I just mute her completely and then say nasty things about her in my head (so little munchkin doesn't hear)

I'm happy to announce, that STILL no amount of exercising or eating healthy for the past 2 weeks has procured any change in my weight or body structure...so, I'm thinking that I"m just gonna make my chocolate chip banana bread and EAT it too:)

signing off for tonight,
Grumpy (and a little bit sleepy too)

Love Languages...

Does anyone remember that book written a longgggg time ago called The Five Love Languages? I think it was written back in the 90's or something...Back when I had research papers on birth order and I L.O.V.E.D. taking personality tests (an imposing said "tests" on anyone and everyone in my path...much to the chagrin of many friends and including my then future husband) 

Some people get into all that stuff and some people just think it's a bunch of psycho babble...however, since this is my blog and I get to write whatever I happens to be flitting through my head at the moment, I'm going to "discuss" this little topic with myself you in these wee hours of the night as I"m coughing and have nothing better to do than sit upright and try not to cough up my entire respiratory system.

So...let us begin at the beginning...or at least at a place where I can put some tangible explanations to my thoughts...When Italian Stallion and I got married, you must understand that our "dating" experience was completely long-distance.  Yes, we had been best friends for all the years in the college, but it wasn't until after college that we actually made it "official" that we were dating. 

Let us remember that this was in the time period of no cell phones and neither of us owned a computer.  Therefore our time getting to know one another was on one long distance phone call a week for about an hour on the weekend and WRITTEN letters...with paper and pen...Lord, have mercy I am soooo thrilled for email let me tell you! (you'll understand even more in awhile, but suffice it to say, WORDS get to me!)

I'm a words person...words spoken, written, typed...you name it...I like words...I like to read them, I like to speak them...I'm an all around alphabet guru!  And boy, did my honey build into that for 3 years...I have all those letters saved...wish I could have recorded the telephone conversations...we couldn't see each other so we had got to use words to describe our emotions and thoughts...

For a person like me, you better believe that I felt OVER THE MOON happy about this arrangement (minus the part that I never got to see him...but still, I"m feeling LOVED and that's the point I'll eventually get to I promise) 

The problem arose when we got married and all of a sudden we didnt' need to telephone or write letters to talk to one another...we were in the same room...the same house...and therefore, where this was just relaxing to poor Italian Stallion...I went a little stir crazy.  Now, knowing how much I loved those "word filled" years, I began to try to incorporate it into every day life...to the point that I often disregarded the dishes in the sink...come on now, I was composing a beautiful love note that I"m SURE was going to knock his socks off...

Then he'd get home read said note, say thanks and then hmphhh because the kitchen was a mess. 

I didn't get it...So Saturday would come and he'd scour the bathrooms and clean the kitchen to sparkling and sweep out the garage...and I'd say, "hey, thanks for helping...want to go for a walk and talk" To which he'd reply, "Honey, I'm exhausted now...umm, I think I"ll just sit and watch the TV"

You can see where this is going (I hope) 

The long and short of it...I went back into the recesses of all my stored research about marriage & stuff and managed to pull up something about love or whatever...and I stumbled across my old Love Languages Book...

DUH...The way I feel most cherished and loved is to hear it...to read it...to put words to thoughts and emotions...it's just how I'm wired...To Italian Stallion, his top way of feeling loved is when acts of service are performed with him in mind...thoughtful actions, centered around who he is...a clean kitchen, an organized desk, shoes in a row, a vacuumed car, ironed shirt...

Here we were trying to show love to each other in a way that WE felt it, but it wasn't sinking in for the other person...

Fast forward 12.5 years and we've got 3 girls...each of whom have different love languages as well...One is just like me...craving affirmation and notes and cards and compliments...One feels love most when time is spent...she's the one that is always asking to help in the kitchen when I'm there or help fix a toilet with Daddy or play Wii with someone...she just wants to BE with you for no other reason than to connect in that way, because she feels loved in that...One of them feels most loved and secure through touch...she's my girl that will constantly put her hands on my cheeks and pull me close to her and say, "you are my best mommy!"...she's very tactile and wants to hold hands, sit close (if not on top ofyou) on the couch, she wants to hug...

It's amazing how we are all differently wired... oh my, not only just an honor, but sometimes overwelming to me, my responsibility as a parent to show love to my girls so that they REALLY know DEEP down how much they are cherished...and to figure out what makes them tick and how to tune into those "languages"...to be able to talk with them in the future about it so that they can be aware of tendencies or weaknesses because of their "draw" to a certain way of loving...oh my...sometimes my head just spins with it...

I've been thinking of it more lately...we are fast approaching the no more preschool/toddler days...the time where my girls are going to be facing tougher choices and responsibilities...they are coming into their own...I've been watching them more and talking less (which is a big one for me...believe me)

But oh, what I've learned...

do you know your love language or that of your kiddos?  do you ever struggle, like me to show them love in the way they "feel" it most?  just wondering:)

Have a great day!

Dishwasher Magic

Oh...how I love thee...

Yesterday, in my ADD  and attempting multi-tasking tendencies, as I was trying to fix lunch, clean the kitchen, do a load of laundry, check facebook and talk on the phone...I ended up noticing that our dishwasher was disgusting...

Now, I'm going to spare you the details of the "gross-ness" of the situation...for one thing I don't need you thinking worse of me than you already do where it concerns my housekeeping abilities and secondly, it was just nasty...my beautiful, white, dual water shooting top and bottom rack, awesome dishwasher had changed color before my eyes...it was now a pale shade of orange with large "speckles" of black and guck...gorgeous!

So, I did what every mom does when her children are still not fed and she hasn't even taken her boots off from church or changed her clothes...I just grabbed the first spray bottle of 409 that I could find, found 3 different scrub brushes and climbed into the dishwasher head first and began to attack it with vengence. 

Once the fumes hit me, I realized that perhaps all the scrubbing and multi-drains of the machine just wasn't going to cut it and I took a break...that, and the fact that my girls were complaining that they hadn't eaten since 2011 and I was starving them to death...

In this little reprieve, I "happened" to mention on facebook that I had been "working" on that dishwasher for awhile and didn't see much change...a couple people mentioned Dishwasher Magic...

Because I can't seem to keep on task if my life depended on it...I packed up the kiddos who were now in the middle of making forts outside and headed to the grocery store to find the stuff...

Long story short...found it, bought it, brought it home and used it...

Wala:  clean dish washer!

And so...now I'm happy...and my dishes thank me...and once I figure out which set to keep, I'm sure they will enjoy their "baths" much more than if I hadn't "gotten off task" yesterday:) 

Have a happy Monday!