People ask me all of the time, "How do you do it? How do you function with a headache all of the time?" I will tell you: Very carefully.
And sometimes not as carefully as I think. Take the results of the last two quick shopping trips I took. One with a headache I would rate at a 6, one I would rate at a 5, quickly approaching 8...
________________________________________________
King: Are these the Triple A batteries we needed?
Me: Yep.
King: You mean these? These Double A batteries?
Me: Um, yep. Crap.
________________________________________________
Sleeping Beauty: Mom, we REALLY need conditioner. Bad.
Me: I know. I bought some last time I went shopping. I put it in your shower.
SB: Oh, this gray bottle. With green writing?
Me: Yeah. That big one.
SB: You mean this one, that says s..h..a..m..p..o..o?
Me: Uh, whoops.
________________________________________________
So, really, it doesn't always turn out as well as I'd like to think. Whoops. :)
May 20, 2011
May 19, 2011
The Abbreviated Story
Well, where have I been this past week? Let me tell you--mostly Lowe's and Kitchen Cabinet stores and Flooring stores and Large Appliance stores. It's a little bit of a long story--got a minute?
A few weeks ago, the laminate floor in our kitchen looked like it was bubbling at the seams. Like there was water damage. Weird. No water anywhere on the floor. I asked the girls if they spilled anything. Nope. I asked King if he spilled anything. Nope. There is a musty smell and the floor gets worse. I figure the musty smell is from the open windows because it never stops raining and my (wonderful) husband has a habit of opening the windows in the morning, no matter what the weather, so that (I think) we'll know what it feels like to live in a humid igloo.
But the floor? It's a mystery. Really. Water damage getting worse, but no water anywhere. I finally convince King that the floor is ruined and we must rip it up to investigate. And...(drum roll)... our "floating" laminate floor is in fact floating on a small lake of water that we find is slowly, but surely, leaking from our dishwasher. So, our floor is wet and ruined and one of our cabinets is also wet. And has been for about two weeks or so. Yummy.
Oh, and that musty smell? Yep, it about killed me when King lifted up the floor. So we set up fans and we started shopping for flooring. Once we knew that we were doing the floor, we wondered if this might be the time to replace cabinets and counters, which was a future plan anyway. Needless to say, it has been a crazy time around here.
The good news:
--We have been saving for a new dishwasher. Every time we ran our old one, a new little plasticky prong thing that holds your dishes in fell off. It was becoming nearly impossible to separate the dishes as they were being washed, so we were anticipating replacing it soon.
--We found the dishwasher I wanted and had it installed a few days ago. We only tortured the children and made them do dishes for a few days. (I wanted to keep doing this, but King is usually the one who is in charge of this form of torture, so I gave in when he wanted the dishwasher right away. Looking for new ways to torture children--leave suggestions in the comment section.)
--We had also been saving for replacing our cabinets. This is a little sooner than expected, but it will work out in the end.
--There are sure a lot of options for cabinets and counter tops out there.
--Our homeowners insurance may pay for some of this.
--We think we've found a really great guy to do the work. And I like the choices we've made for cabinets and counters. At least from what I can tell with a cabinet door and a 4"x4" piece of counter sample.
--We've made enough trips to Lowes, and the Kitchen store, and the Flooring store for estimates and the like that by the time we really need to go there and get work started, I think our car will drive there automatically.
--Our cabinets won't smell anymore and I'm really excited to bleach the heck out of the floors and walls before we put new stuff in.
--We have linoleum floor that was under our wood laminate. So at least we don't have to walk on cement for the time being.
The bad news:
--The laminate floor that was ruined in the kitchen is the same floor that covers our entry, dining, kitchen, and family rooms. We can't match the old, so it all needs to be replaced. Yikes.
--There are sure a lot of options for cabinets and counter tops out there.
--A project like this is not cheap. Which makes me sort of freak out a little when I wonder if I've made the right choices. As in, I keep dreaming in laminate, wood, granite, and Formica colors. Day and night.
--Insurance companies are slow and have been dealing with a lot of natural disasters lately, so we're sort of at the bottom of their priority list at the moment.
--Even if there are no snags in the process, we might have a kitchen put back together by mid-July.
--In the eighties (when our linoleum floor (that is now our kitchen floor) was put down) little pink hearts and diamonds were totally cool. Not so much now.
--Our brand new dishwasher (which was worth every penny) is now making strange noises. Am recording today as the first time that I had to call a person back to fix something I paid a million dollars for, and by golly, it better work right. I have a feeling that this will happen a few times in the next couple of months.
So, that's what we've been up to the past week or so. How about you?
P.S. Glad we aren't really royalty and don't really live in a castle. Am beginning to think moats that were all the rage may have been trouble in the long run. It's nice that I am a Queen of my little family kingdom only in my head.
A few weeks ago, the laminate floor in our kitchen looked like it was bubbling at the seams. Like there was water damage. Weird. No water anywhere on the floor. I asked the girls if they spilled anything. Nope. I asked King if he spilled anything. Nope. There is a musty smell and the floor gets worse. I figure the musty smell is from the open windows because it never stops raining and my (wonderful) husband has a habit of opening the windows in the morning, no matter what the weather, so that (I think) we'll know what it feels like to live in a humid igloo.
But the floor? It's a mystery. Really. Water damage getting worse, but no water anywhere. I finally convince King that the floor is ruined and we must rip it up to investigate. And...(drum roll)... our "floating" laminate floor is in fact floating on a small lake of water that we find is slowly, but surely, leaking from our dishwasher. So, our floor is wet and ruined and one of our cabinets is also wet. And has been for about two weeks or so. Yummy.
Oh, and that musty smell? Yep, it about killed me when King lifted up the floor. So we set up fans and we started shopping for flooring. Once we knew that we were doing the floor, we wondered if this might be the time to replace cabinets and counters, which was a future plan anyway. Needless to say, it has been a crazy time around here.
The good news:
--We have been saving for a new dishwasher. Every time we ran our old one, a new little plasticky prong thing that holds your dishes in fell off. It was becoming nearly impossible to separate the dishes as they were being washed, so we were anticipating replacing it soon.
--We found the dishwasher I wanted and had it installed a few days ago. We only tortured the children and made them do dishes for a few days. (I wanted to keep doing this, but King is usually the one who is in charge of this form of torture, so I gave in when he wanted the dishwasher right away. Looking for new ways to torture children--leave suggestions in the comment section.)
--We had also been saving for replacing our cabinets. This is a little sooner than expected, but it will work out in the end.
--There are sure a lot of options for cabinets and counter tops out there.
--Our homeowners insurance may pay for some of this.
--We think we've found a really great guy to do the work. And I like the choices we've made for cabinets and counters. At least from what I can tell with a cabinet door and a 4"x4" piece of counter sample.
--We've made enough trips to Lowes, and the Kitchen store, and the Flooring store for estimates and the like that by the time we really need to go there and get work started, I think our car will drive there automatically.
--Our cabinets won't smell anymore and I'm really excited to bleach the heck out of the floors and walls before we put new stuff in.
--We have linoleum floor that was under our wood laminate. So at least we don't have to walk on cement for the time being.
The bad news:
--The laminate floor that was ruined in the kitchen is the same floor that covers our entry, dining, kitchen, and family rooms. We can't match the old, so it all needs to be replaced. Yikes.
--There are sure a lot of options for cabinets and counter tops out there.
--A project like this is not cheap. Which makes me sort of freak out a little when I wonder if I've made the right choices. As in, I keep dreaming in laminate, wood, granite, and Formica colors. Day and night.
--Insurance companies are slow and have been dealing with a lot of natural disasters lately, so we're sort of at the bottom of their priority list at the moment.
--Even if there are no snags in the process, we might have a kitchen put back together by mid-July.
--In the eighties (when our linoleum floor (that is now our kitchen floor) was put down) little pink hearts and diamonds were totally cool. Not so much now.
--Our brand new dishwasher (which was worth every penny) is now making strange noises. Am recording today as the first time that I had to call a person back to fix something I paid a million dollars for, and by golly, it better work right. I have a feeling that this will happen a few times in the next couple of months.
So, that's what we've been up to the past week or so. How about you?
P.S. Glad we aren't really royalty and don't really live in a castle. Am beginning to think moats that were all the rage may have been trouble in the long run. It's nice that I am a Queen of my little family kingdom only in my head.
May 10, 2011
Quickly I'll Obey
Mother's Day around these parts was lovely. The girls bought and planted flowers in the pots on my front porch. (I should include a picture, but that would be work.) King and the girls made crepes for lunch and taco salad for dinner. After church, they mostly let me nap and nap (Im pretending it wasn't out of necessity.)
My favorite parts were the two notes Sleeping Beauty made for me and the sweet words Snow White said when she spoke in church that morning. They did my heart good. :)
Because Snow White was speaking in church, we needed to be there just a few minutes early. She was up and ready, except brushing her teeth. Cinderella was slow. I was telling them to hurry and reminding SW, for the third time, that she needed to brush her teeth. I took the opportunity to sing to her a line from a song we'd been singing with the little ones at church..."When my mother calls me, quickly I'll obey."
"Huh? What was that?" she asked.
"You know, the Primary song:
'When my mother calls me,
quickly I'll obey,
For Mother knows just what is best,
Each and every day.'
Don't you remember singing that?"
"No," she replied, "never heard of it."
"Well, obviously, or your teeth would be brushed by now!" I said.
And then I said to Cinderella, "You remember that song, right? You sang it when you were little, didn't you?"
"Well, I remember it," she said, with a mischievous smile, "but I never sang it, I didn't believe in the doctrine it taught."
What a stinkpot. :) I just love her.
My favorite parts were the two notes Sleeping Beauty made for me and the sweet words Snow White said when she spoke in church that morning. They did my heart good. :)
Because Snow White was speaking in church, we needed to be there just a few minutes early. She was up and ready, except brushing her teeth. Cinderella was slow. I was telling them to hurry and reminding SW, for the third time, that she needed to brush her teeth. I took the opportunity to sing to her a line from a song we'd been singing with the little ones at church..."When my mother calls me, quickly I'll obey."
"Huh? What was that?" she asked.
"You know, the Primary song:
'When my mother calls me,
quickly I'll obey,
For Mother knows just what is best,
Each and every day.'
Don't you remember singing that?"
"No," she replied, "never heard of it."
"Well, obviously, or your teeth would be brushed by now!" I said.
And then I said to Cinderella, "You remember that song, right? You sang it when you were little, didn't you?"
"Well, I remember it," she said, with a mischievous smile, "but I never sang it, I didn't believe in the doctrine it taught."
What a stinkpot. :) I just love her.
May 6, 2011
The Weekend is Here--Phew
I'm so glad it's the weekend! I'm not sure why, but this week has felt so long. It could be the homework load was a bit much. It could be that piano was on a different day this week, so it threw our schedule off. It could be Snow White was in three track meets which equaled six plus hours of sitting on ice cold bleachers. It could be that the girls keep singing that "Firework" song and I can't get it out of my head! (But it's probably that for two weeks I have had more really lousy headache days than not, and the days seem to drag on when that happens.)
At any rate, the weekend is here, and I am ready! The girls are watching the third installment of Lord of the Rings with their dad tonight. It's not that I don't like them, it's that they don't like me. (The Lord of the Rings movies, not the girls.) (Actually, I take that back, sometimes the girls actually don't like me. Like yesterday when Cinderella first told me I didn't know what I was talking about and then gave me the silent treatment when I tried to ask questions to figure out what she meant.) (Anyway...) So they are watching a movie and I am going somewhere quiet to read or nap. Yay me!
The big news they brought home from school today was that their choir teacher has been let go. They are no longer funding a full music program at our schools. They will still have choir, but not separated by age groups, and the after-school choir musical group is not likely to happen. Cinderella is the most disappointed by this, as she was looking forward to being in the advanced choir she auditioned for. She is getting a little tired of being in classes with kids who don't care a bit about singing and music, but want an easy A. This new choir class was going to let her improve and really focus on the music. I am sad. They really have liked their teacher, and getting rid of the Arts in schools is rarely a good idea.
And speaking of Arts, Snow White recently found out that she was accepted into the "Advanced/Challenge Art" class for next year. She is very excited. However, the girls also heard that some art classes will be cut next year as well, so we'll see what happens. Needless to say, it's disappointing.
Anyway, have a nice, quiet, relaxing weekend!
At any rate, the weekend is here, and I am ready! The girls are watching the third installment of Lord of the Rings with their dad tonight. It's not that I don't like them, it's that they don't like me. (The Lord of the Rings movies, not the girls.) (Actually, I take that back, sometimes the girls actually don't like me. Like yesterday when Cinderella first told me I didn't know what I was talking about and then gave me the silent treatment when I tried to ask questions to figure out what she meant.) (Anyway...) So they are watching a movie and I am going somewhere quiet to read or nap. Yay me!
The big news they brought home from school today was that their choir teacher has been let go. They are no longer funding a full music program at our schools. They will still have choir, but not separated by age groups, and the after-school choir musical group is not likely to happen. Cinderella is the most disappointed by this, as she was looking forward to being in the advanced choir she auditioned for. She is getting a little tired of being in classes with kids who don't care a bit about singing and music, but want an easy A. This new choir class was going to let her improve and really focus on the music. I am sad. They really have liked their teacher, and getting rid of the Arts in schools is rarely a good idea.
And speaking of Arts, Snow White recently found out that she was accepted into the "Advanced/Challenge Art" class for next year. She is very excited. However, the girls also heard that some art classes will be cut next year as well, so we'll see what happens. Needless to say, it's disappointing.
Anyway, have a nice, quiet, relaxing weekend!
May 3, 2011
A Ribbon!
Snow White was asked to join the upperclassmen in the "away" track meet today, and came in third place in the 1600m run! I almost didn't go, but am so glad I did so I could see her face when she finished. She was so proud. She even gave me a hug and kiss right in front of her teammates. She may still be my little girl after all. :)
(And it didn't rain. Phew.)
(And it didn't rain. Phew.)
May 2, 2011
Soggy
Today Snow White had a track meet for just the sixth-graders. She was really excited because she has been running the fastest in her grade on her events. But, her coach decided to change it up on her and had her run the 400m and a 400m relay instead of the 800m and 1600m. And she'd never trained for either event. In fact, when I found out she was going to do a relay, I asked her if she practiced passing the baton, and she said, "You use a baton in a relay?"
So, clearly, she was not prepared. But, she did alright anyway. She got over being bummed that she wouldn't really have a chance at a ribbon and was a team player. She ran hard, even if she wasn't particularly fast. :)
The most exciting (?) part was arriving and being recruited to help. King was asked to time runners. I warned the coach and explained she probably didn't want me doing anything too official; I can't be completely trusted when my headache hurts this bad. She looked at me strange (probably thought when I said "headache" I meant the kind of headache normal people get and not the kind of headache that never, ever, ever goes away and hampers my thinking), and gave me the nominal job of recording times and sorting ribbons. Yep, that's not tricky at all. (?!?!) I only made two major mistakes (at least the ones I caught) so she hopefully won't hate me.
I think I actually did pretty well until about 2/3 of the way through and it started raining so hard the ribbons were fading colors onto each other and my paper was so soggy my pencil wouldn't work. I was miserable, and all I was doing was writing. Those poor runners. I didn't have to run on a wet track and pass a slippery, freezing cold baton to my teammate. (Although, Snow White managed to hold on to her baton and make the pass without a hitch. Phew!)
As we were heading to the car in the torrential mess, I was thinking, 'This was the worst idea EVER,' and Snow White said, "That was fun! It might have been better if it wasn't raining as hard, but at least they didn't cancel. That would have been really sad."
CLEARLY, she did not get her passion for the sport from me!
So, clearly, she was not prepared. But, she did alright anyway. She got over being bummed that she wouldn't really have a chance at a ribbon and was a team player. She ran hard, even if she wasn't particularly fast. :)
I think I actually did pretty well until about 2/3 of the way through and it started raining so hard the ribbons were fading colors onto each other and my paper was so soggy my pencil wouldn't work. I was miserable, and all I was doing was writing. Those poor runners. I didn't have to run on a wet track and pass a slippery, freezing cold baton to my teammate. (Although, Snow White managed to hold on to her baton and make the pass without a hitch. Phew!)
As we were heading to the car in the torrential mess, I was thinking, 'This was the worst idea EVER,' and Snow White said, "That was fun! It might have been better if it wasn't raining as hard, but at least they didn't cancel. That would have been really sad."
CLEARLY, she did not get her passion for the sport from me!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
