I'm Sooo Smart

You know those days when you complete a task and you think, "I'm so smart! I just got that done!" All in all you feel great about yourself because you have just achieved something you have been putting off. I had one of those moments a few months ago when I finally cleaned out some of the junk in our house and brought it to Goodwill. In the mist of all the junk happened to be a dish drainer I had had since college and thought I would never use again. I'm an idiot. A dish drainer would have been the perfect thing to have on the day your dishwasher decides to leak all over your basement ceiling.

Oh yes, that is exactly what I realized was happening when I discovered a sopping wet ceiling tile in the bonus room of our basement. Did I also happen to mention that our home warranty expired about four months ago. Life is good.

Obviously a leaky dishwasher is not something I can use and unfortunately my leaky dishwasher happened to be full of dirty dishes. I had to wash and entire dishwasher full of dishes by hand. Now I know that my complaining will be falling on some deaf ears since there are people who don't have dishwashers. Let me tell you, I now feel your pain. It takes forever to wash the dishes of a family of five! My grandma had eight children and always washed her own dishes. I don't think she ever used the dishwasher in her apartment, including when we had family get together with thirty people! Crazy! I seriously don't know how she did it!

So to all of you out there who have dish pan hands, I salute you! Since I am among your ranks for a short period of time I now understand how a simple thing like washing a few dishes can make life much more complicated.

A half days worth of dishes for a family of five. Notice no dish drainer in sight. I'm sooo smart.....

Update: We just installed our new dishwasher and it is fabulous! Not only is it super quiet (we could hear our old one upstairs) but all the dishes come our beautifully clean and dry. I am in heaven!

My Newest Endeavor

I have recently opened my own Etsy store. (Etsy is a great website where individuals can sell their handcrafted goods) I design and make jewelry. Please take a look!

http://www.lewelsh23.etsy.com/

Manning Up Baking

The weather today, cold and rainy, has inspired me to bake. For some reason weather like this just makes me want to nest, don't worry I'm not pregnant!

In my house baking is definitely not a solitary job. I have little hands who always want to help and, of course, taste. Interestingly enough the girls really like to bake but S absolutely loves it. From the minute I pull out my mixer he has to be right beside me with a measuring cup or spoon. He loves to dump ingredients in and generally make a big mess. I'm hoping his interest will continue and he can support his dad and I in our later years as a famous chef, think Tyler Florence.

As S and I were elbow deep in flour, R happened to call. As I often do when I bake, I had put on some music. Today's selection was the soundtrack to Mama Mia. R heard the show tunes in the background and said to me,"Honey, I think it's great S is baking, but can't you just man up the music a little, at least play something a dude would like?" I started laughing but, in an effort to "man up" the situation, I did change the music to Pearl Jam. Since it is R's favorite band I think he will approve.

S baking and rocking out to Pearl Jam Live, East Troy.











Coincidentally R and I were at this concert. The music was better in person, but still very manly from a CD.

A Good Year

Today the Goodyear blimp was flying around our city. As J and I were waiting for the school bus I pointed it out to her. The sky was pretty cloudy, so the white blimp was hard for her to find. After about five minutes of diligently looking, she finally saw the blimp just as the school bus pulled up. As she quickly kissed me goodbye and ran to the bus she yelled, "Mom, I'm so excited I saw the blimp, now it is going to be a good year!"

I love kids!

Rock On

My children have a dream of starting a family band, think the Partridge Family but in a silver Expedition. J and A think we are going to put on concerts and perform to sold out crowds. This would be great except for a few small details:

1. I am tone deaf, it is horrible, but I have no musical ability what so ever. (I used to try to pretend I could sing but, finally, I had to admit that if I hadn't found any hidden abilities in the last 28 years they are probably not there)

2. The girls make up all of their own songs. Now don't get me wrong, I love the creativity, but I don't think we are going to pack stadiums with songs filled with words that only rhyme with cat.

3. Finally, not one member of our family can play an instrument proficiently, although A can rock out like no other on her Hannah Montana guitar.

Even with all of those reasons stacked against them, the girls will not be deterred from their dreams of rock and roll stardom. Since R and I do like to support our children's dreams, we are always ready to sit and listen to a impromptu performance and cheer them on. Unfortunately the girls seem to think the performances of late have been mediocre. This they attribute to the fact that we don't have enough instruments, the Hannah Montana guitar can only get a girl so far. To remedy this problem they thought of the great idea of asking Santa for instruments for Christmas. Again, trying to be a supportive mother I got out a catalogue to have them circle what they wanted. J has decided she needs an acoustic guitar. After she circled the bright pink guitar, she explained to me that she has been wanting and dreaming about this guitar for her whole life. I'm sure it has been a long five years.

With J's guitar dreams duly noted I turned to A to see what she had circled. I could not believe what it was, she had bypassed the guitars, keyboards and drums and circled an accordion. Apparently, she saw an accordion at preschool and now wants one of her own. That is right my three year old has dreams of learning to play a bright purple accordion.

Watch out world we are going to completely change the music scene with our awesome rhyming songs and mean accordion playing!

Baby Kisses

S has recently realized he can express his emotions. There are pluses and minuses to his new found knowledge. A negative would be he learned he can vent his anger and frustration by throwing a fit. I'm not talking about a little crying, I'm talking about a full on, throw the body on the ground screaming fit. It would be pretty funny to watch if it wasn't my child! The pluse is that he know give kisses and hugs to show his love.

Anyone who has had a big hug from a little kid know there is nothing better. Kids don't hold back, they haven't developed and sense of inhibition yet so their hugs are tight and full of warmth and emotion. Believe me, a hug from a little guy can make any day better.

S' kisses, like his hugs, are full on no holds bar kisses. The only problem is that, like most 18 month olds, he doesn't know how to purse his lips yet. Instead of the traditional closed mouth kiss you get a wide open slober kiss.

A wide open, full mouth kiss with lots of tonuge and teeth was how I woke up this morning. R had brought S into bed with us before the girls were up, S was so excited to have mommy and daddy alone time he went back and forth between the two of us giving kisses and laughing. He was acting as if laying in bed with the two of us was the best thing ever. By the time the kissing fest was over my face was full of slobber but I'll take a wet wake up from S over an alarm any day.

Halloween Drama-Rama

I curse the Halloween catalogues that come to my house! The decision of who is going to be what is a major deal in our family. This year, with the help of the fabulous catalogues, we have had even more drama. The catalogues give my children way too many, way too expensive options for costumes. My poor little kids just can't handle all the options and my poor little brain just can't fathom the cost! Here is how the costumes shake down at our house:

J wants to be a cowgirl. She actually wanted to buy the $100 costume that has the horse attached, but I convinced her the stick horse we have would work. She can just get a cowgirl hat and we'll be great. Whew, crisis averted!

The girls feel S needs to be a rhino. I have no idea why, they just saw a cute $80 costume they think will be perfect for him. Luckily I can defer their idea to R who decided he was in charge of S's costume this year. Apparently the pumpkin I picked out last year was not masculine enough. I wish him luck!

Now comes A, I stupidly thought she would be my easiest. A loves princesses and all things that glitter, so naturally I assumed she wanted to be a princess. In my mind this is a great idea because we have about 25,000 princess outfits. My dreams were soon dashed when, after looking at the numerous catalogues, she declared that she wants to be Wall-E. For those of you who aren't in the Disney movie loop, Wall-E is a big square, dirty, trash compacting robot. She saw the movie when it came out, but fell asleep about five minutes into it. (seven dollars well spent) Since then he has been a topic of conversation off and on.

Now, it's not that I don't think it will be cute because as far as trash compacting robots go he is cute, but seriously this is a girl who always has to put on "lipstick" before we go to preschool. A and robot just don't seem to go together in my mind. Not to mention the costume is $60! I just can't bring myself to spend that much on one costume that will be worn once maybe twice. Too bad A's costume isn't my decision. I guess I have only one option in this situation, bring on the cardboard and glue, it is time for me to get crafty!

I just know I will make the whole Wall-E costume only to have her decide on Halloween that she wants to be Ariel. Next year I'm recycling the stinking costume catalogues before they even get in the house!