Thursday, July 28, 2011

THE PROCESS BEGINS!

I have officially started the paperwork for Brooklynn's adoption!  It's kind of like the first labor pains, even though you know you have several hours ahead of you.  In this case it's several months ahead of me, but the process has begun!

Monday, July 25, 2011

Songs of the Store

We took Brooklynn shopping while at the beach and lived to regret every moment!  I'm sure the folks in Goodwill were ready to call Children's Services:  "Mom!  You're hurting my hand!  Let go!  Waaahaaaa!  Mo-o-o-o-o-o-om!"  (Note to DHS workers who may be reading this blog: I was holding her hand loosely; the problem was that she was throwing herself on the ground while I was holding her hand.)

Once we got home, she had a cup of milk and went straight to bed where she composed her latest song:
"We went to the store,
And I cried, cried, cried.
And tomorrow we'll go to the store,
And I'll cry, cry, cry.
It doesn't matter,
I'll just cry, cry, cry.
When I'm hurt
I cry, cry, cry.
Sometimes when I'm not hurt,
I still cry, cry, cry."

Sunday, July 24, 2011

Beach Vacation


An attempt at mass burial of the middle-sized cousins

After spending a week at the beach with nine children and eight adults, I've come to realize that adults and children have completely different definitions for phrases:
"trip to the beach"
Adults: leisurely strolling along the sand, watching the waves and seabirds, or simply sitting on the beach, soaking up the rays

Children: running wildly in and out of the surf, daring each other to go out further each time, flinging sand, lugging driftwood into the water to watch it trip unwary waders, and burying each other up to the chin in sand




"beach clothes"
Adults: swimsuit/trunks or sundress or beach wrap
Children: clothes?  at the beach?  why?
"soak in the hot tub"
Adults: relaxing in the warm bubbles, easing the knots in muscles, sipping a cold drink
Children: turning the bubbles on and off, plugging the nozzles to make all the bubbles come out of one nozzle, playing who can hold his breath the longest?, dunking each other, launching bodies off the adult who is trying to relax
"go for a hike"
Adults: trudge up a mountain path, avoiding the mud, enjoying the flora and fauna, rest at the top to enjoy the view and take photos
Children: run zigzag uphill near a mountain path, hitting every mud puddle on the way, stopping only to poke an unwary salamander, tumble around in the flowers at the top before running haphazardly downhill to smear mud on the interior of the cars
The unlucky amphibian


"play with cousins"
Adult: Sorry, catch, tag, Frisbee, Chess, etc.
Children: pick up the smaller cousins and use them as missiles to knock the bigger ones down the stairs
"go fishing"
Adults: bait a hook, cast, wait in silence, reel in, repeat
Children: pull worms to bits, bait a hook, cast, reel in 3 seconds later, complain about not catching anything, cast again, catch lakeweed, reel in with help, fight over who has the bigger worm, bait, cast, get help to untangle line from cousin's neck, cast again, drop rod in water, go wading fully clothed, strip down to beach clothes*, swim until lips are blue, cry about having wet clothes to put on
*see "beach clothes"
"bed time"
Adults: 8 o'clock
Children: We're on vacation!  What do you mean bedtime?!

Sunday, July 17, 2011

Bathroom makeover

I wish I had "before" photos.  I never remember to take those.  I will try to describe: sand-colored walls, plastic wood trim, layered with dark blue trim, blah clear shower curtain, blue & white rug.  Pretty basic and boring, but a big improvement over the turquiose blue paint it had when I moved in!

Redo a la cheapo:

Found the shower curtain at Grocery Outlet: $4.00
Matching trash bucket at Ross: $5.00
Bath mat from Kohls: $8.00
Bright colored washcloths from Kohls: $5.00

Supply bucket at Ross: $2.00
Soap dispenser from Ross: $2.00
Brown wall paint: leftover from another project
Colored polkadots for wall: cut out from old gift bags
 I painted over the old wood trim with white trim paint leftover from my bedroom project.  I will replace the blue washcloth basket with a white one from school.  I added a curtain: $8.00 and rod $.75 from Goodwill.  Then bought 2 bath towels, one turquoise and one lime green, and 3 hand towels to match from Fred Meyer's clearance: $8.00 and $4.00.  Total cost: $46.75.  Total time: less than a day.  Response from the kids: "Wow!  Mom, it's beautiful!"





Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Come here so I can yell at you!

Brooklynn sitting on her bed in time out for bossing me:  "Mom, I don't like you.  Mom?  Mom?  Mo-o-o-om!  Mom, I don't like you!  Mom, come here, I'm talking to you!  Mom, I really don't like you!"
I never did respond.  Poor thing!

Friday, July 1, 2011

Well, I guess it was good exercise...

After spending two weeks digging out a sprinkler pipe trench 20 feet long and 8 inches deep, I visited Home Depot to find sprinkler heads.  Did you know they make sprinkler heads that rotate and fan out to cover a huge area?  They're terrific.  All you do is screw them onto the existing sprinkler system (note: not the pipe that you spent two weeks digging a trench for) and they fan out to cover the entire area needed.  I don't know whether to regret the wasted two weeks of digging, or to rejoice that I found a short cut to the project.

Next on my list for the summer:
  1. Buy a camera to record all the work I really am doing while I'm not washing dishes or clothes, bathing the children, cooking meals, vacuuming, mopping, or doing any of the other boring housework that's always here.
  2. Rake aside all the big gravel chunks in my yard, digging up buried soldiers and dinosaurs in the process -- plastic ones, not real.  If I had real dinosaurs in my yard, I guess I couldn't put in a lawn.  Same for real soldiers, I imagine.
  3. Pull every last weed.  Convince Brooklynn to help pull a weed or two each day.
  4. Spread topsoil.  Respread topsoil after Derrick and his friend across the street turn it into a jump for their bikes.
  5. Lay sod.  Any volunteers??
  6. Edge driveway.
  7. Spread gravel on driveway to replace the gravel that Brooklynn throws into the street during her tantrums.
  8. Finish painting trim in bedroom (with trim paint this time, instead of the exterior paint accidentally used).
  9. Paint trim throughout house.  It's about time to cover up all the plastic-covered cardboard that passes for "wood" in this house.
  10. Mend the holes in my wall.
  11. Lay a new kitchen floor.  It's difficult walking around with no floor to stand on...
  12. Paint the kitchen cabinets a color that will look good on my dog.  (This week he is black with white accents.  Last summer he was black with green accents.  Black pretty much goes with everything.)
  13. Rejoice if I get even half of what I plan done.

Compliments from a three year old?

"Mom, your bruise is so pretty.  It looks like a vampire.  Vampires are black and purple too."

"Look, Mom," said in great delight, "I have rolls on my belly just like yours!"

"Your hair is so pretty like that, Mommy."  (My hair was greasy, pinned up loosely, and covered with weeds.  She liked the weeds.)