the spoon making mystery...

-we went to dinner last night to celebrate some friends of ours 30th wedding anniversary. 
-griffin woke up this morning saying they made spoons while we were away.  i said, "you made spoons?"  he said, "yes, spoons."
-we made homemade cookies yesterday.  chocolate chip.  they turned out perfect.  even randy ate them....and he doesn't really eat cookies. 
-hudson and olivia told me they made forts in the living room while we were away last night.
-ella especially enjoyed the cookies.

-ella enjoys her food.

-ella is a lot like her mother.
-i figured out that when hudson and olivia were saying forts, griffin thought they were saying forks.
-i love having a 2 year old....they are so very very funny.

-i love having a 1 year old....they are so very very wobbly.

-8 and 12 year olds are pretty great, too.

-i think that this morning griffin couldn't remember forks, so he said spoons.
-no matter how well a 2 year old speaks, one should take everything they say with a grain of salt....

hello being old....er

friday was one of those days when you realize that age has crept upon you.  here are a few examples as to why.
-it was friday night...we were at the bookstore.
-it wasn't even the cool bookstores like barnes and noble or borders....it was half price books.
-it wasn't even the cool, new half price books in mckinney... it was the old, smelly one in plano.
-after the bookstore we went home....it was 8 o'clock.
-i put the kids to bed so i could get some time shopping by myself.
-i went to target.
-on the way there, the radio started playing love bites.
-i knew every word.
-i turned up the radio.
-i did not turn up the radio because i like it loud and i want to be cool.
-i turned it up b/c the kids left the dvd player in the backseat on....and it was too loud to hear my music.
-i had the windows down because it was a perfect 72 degrees. 
-when it's 72 degrees i roll down the windows because i heard it uses less gas than if the air conditioning is on.
-i heard this on myth busters.
-in other words, i didn't have the windows down b/c i'm cool...i had them down to save gas.
-then it occurred to me that my music was loud, my windows were down, and i was singing.
-that's ok.....when you're NOT in a MINI VAN!
-i thought about rolling up the windows...but i didn't care enough to do that.
-not caring is a symbol of being old.
-i had to buy cough syrup at target. 
-the register went off and the guy had to ask me my age b/c i was buying medicine.
-it was then i realized i had to be at least 18 years older than the guy working at target.
-i got home and randy was watching the rangers play the yankees. 
-i'm not lying when i say the rangers' pitcher looked 17 years old.
-it's ok that i'm getting older. 
-i like the older dezra better anyway....

hurt toes, clean teeth, and the death of store bought cookies....

-i think i broke my toe.  it happened as i stumbled down the stairs carrying ella at 4 o'clock in the morning.  i'm not exactly sure how the injury was sustained....it's possible that i fell asleep between the second to the last stair and the last stair.
-hudson dissected a pig in science class yesterday.  he came home and told us all about it....at dinner....we were eating pork chops. 
-3 of my 4 kids went to the dentist today.  no cavities were found.  and yet the dentist still finds something to complain about. 
-dentists are picky and it irritates me a great deal.
-i'm eliminating high fructose corn syrup from our home.
-the kids miss their store bought cookies.
-the kids don't like homemade cookies.
-my kids are so weird.
-maybe my cookies are not any good.
-this toe makes me think my dancing career could be over.
-i ate my last south african chocolate today...really wishing i had paced myself better....
-this toe may put an end to my "running" for a while.
-can i really say that i am a runner when i've run 10 times in 3 months?
-can i really say that i am a runner if i only run in short spurts before having to stop and walk for a while?
-i tell people that i run when they ask if i work out.
-it's possible that i may need to come up with another name for what i do as a work out. 
-nah, it's easier to say that i'm a runner than it is to say, i run for a while until i feel like i'm going to pass out and then i walk until i feel badly for telling people that i'm a runner and so i start running again until i am about to pass out and then i walk again until i feel badly for telling people that i'm a runner and then i start running again until i'm about to pass out and then i start praying that i'm almost to my car again so that i can stop whatever motion it is that's propelling my body forward..... because i hate it.  i hate being a "runner".

one step forward, two steps back...

being sick with 4 kids is never ideal.  never...  not that my wonderful husband can't take care of them...he does a fine job.  it's the house.  oh my, the house....you have to stay on top of it...or at the very least not more than one step behind it.  and that means you don't sit down....never.  never, ever, ever.  for if you do...it, the "house" races ahead of you on a war path of dirt and disgust that seems ....

sorry olivia just said to me, "it's funny how you start every morning with a  clean house and 20 minutes later it's a pig sty." 

what was i saying?  oh, yes, it races on a war path of dirt and disgust that reaches what seems to be unreal proportions.  it's unexplainable really.  perhaps i'm the only one who has this problem...but i don't think that i am.  a clean house is my goal.  my one and only real goal.  the only goal i can think of that i've pretty much had my entire adult life, but cannot for the life of me accomplish.  some might say just give up.  and by some, i mean all of the people who live with me who get annoyed when i have fits of rage that involve yelling and screaming to pick that up, sweep this, vacuum that, and so on and so forth.  i can't do it alone.  i certainly didn't mess it up alone, so it seems only fair that the filthy people who messed up my house also be the ones to help clean it.  i know it's their fault because i always had a clean dorm room in college.  at least that's how i remember it. 

anyway, randy is gone...and hudson got sick...and then i got sick...which is worse than hudson getting sick...because, well, it just is.  i was in bed all day today.  nauseous and achy and miserable and wishing that i wasn't sick because i knew what was going on downstairs.  hudson felt like going to school today, so that left olivia, the 8 year old, in charge.  she made breakfast, she made lunch, she even made dinner.  she changed diapers, she put the 2 year old in time outs, she homeschooled herself, she ran the show.  and afterwards she told me, "no wonder your life is so hard."  i wasn't sure how to feel about that.  nonetheless, it was just as bad as i suspected when i finally came downstairs.  and so all the hard work that i've put into the deep cleaning of my house while randy is away, seemed very much in vain.  and so while i felt a step ahead of the house for almost a week...i am now 2 steps behind...  oh well... 

i am now feeling better...i guess it was a 24 hour thing...thank goodness!  it's not really the perfect situation for the 8 year old to be in charge...besides i don't want her life to be so hard....whatever that means.

about town and so forth...

-2 of the most important questions i can ask myself... is the gate to the kitchen up, and is the downstairs bathroom door closed? 
-i must ask myself these 2 questions every 30 seconds...

-how exactly do things get behind my couch?  nevermind, i don't really want to know...

-i sat behind a lady at a red light this afternoon, who had a bumper sticker that said, "all my children have paws".  she also had 21, yes 21, sets of paws stickers on the back of her window with names attached...they all started with the letter k...and they were human names.  ex. kelsey, konner, etc.  there are so many things i have to say at this point, but i will refrain....

-today griffin, among other things, jumped off of the couch and over ella's head...once clearing her, once not so much. 
-griffin squished ella today.
-griffin rode ella like a dinosaur...his words, not mine.
-griffin covered ella's face in chapstick while we were en route to pick hudson up from school.
-ella's eyelid's will most likely never get chapped. 
-ella screamed the entire van ride home from picking hudson up from school today.
-4 more weeks until ella can turn around in a forward facing car seat.
-4 more weeks until she can stop being poked, jabbed, and the recipient of chapstick facials. 
-it truly will be a happy birthday, ella.

why i should be a detective or something....

i think i'm pretty good at telling when people are not for real.  it's a gift.  i can smell fake, and i'm not a fan.  i'm also pretty good at knowing when someone is trying to pull the wool over ole' dezra's eyes.  such an event happened at the mall a few weeks ago.  i had been looking online for the perfect fall outfit for ella, and i found it.  but i decided to go to the mall and get it since randy had to go to the the apple store the next day....blah blah blah.   yes, i just blah (ed) the apple store.  everyone will get over it.  freakish cult.  ANYWAY, i find the shirt i'm looking for, but there is only 1.  it is the size i need, so i picked it up, and put it on the back of the stroller and continued shopping.  so i notice this lady standing next to me watching me and the shirt, and i notice she has a baby not much bigger than ella.  so suddenly the lady says to me, "you know that is going to be on sale tomorrow".  i looked at her, and i said, "really?  bummer...."  and i walked off...with the shirt in my hand.  something was off about this woman.  i proceeded to shop, and she walked away.  the next day i had to return a skirt b/c it was too big for ella....there was no sale.  just as i suspected.  seriously?!?!?!!?  i live in a messed up area where shopping moms do crazy things.  but to be honest, i'm not sure which is scarier....that she would try to trick me out of the shirt, or that i knew she was trying to trick me out of the shirt...thus making my mind just as twisted as her's.  weird.  crazy lady tryin' to get my shirt...i don't think so. 

i still have a cold sore.  it is gigantic.  and it looks like i have toothpaste or something on my lip.  it's terrible...i figure i have about 6 more days.  ella came charging at me from across the living room with her finger pointed.  i was like, oh, how cute is she, she is pointing at me and wants to come play with me...and, oh wait, she is coming to poke my cold sore.  i had to move away real quick.  she almost got it.  i really can't even imagine the pain that that would have brought.  probably something close to the pain i experienced as i scratched it in my sleep this morning.  that got me out of bed quick.  i thought i was going to die. 

seriously, randy has got to get home so i have someone to tell these stories to. 

i have no one to talk to....

i saw on the news yesterday that the IRS was going to start communicating with us citizens via the internet instead of via the mail.  they said it was going to save the IRS 10 million dollars in postage.  my question is, if the IRS is operated by the government...and the post office is operated by the government....does anyone else see where i'm going with this?  i'm not trying to be a smart butt or anything, i just really want to know how it is that one government agency can charge another government agency 10 million dollars.  i'm sure it's a simple answer.  but it sure seems like it should all be going and coming the same place.  clearly this is why i'm not in charge....

anyway, all of my blogging is having an unforseen impact on my brain.  when i am in conversation with friends, i don't know who has read the blog and who has not.  i don't want to repeat myself with a boring story that they have already read, but i really have nothing else left to talk about.  i would hate for someone to have to stop me mid-sentence to say, "oh, i um, read the blog...you don't have to keep talking".  that would be so embarrassing.  and really, i don't think i could recover....conversationally speaking, that is.  it also affects things in my head that i have not blogged about.  for instance, i have actually stopped myself from telling randy something because i knew he would read about it later in the blog.  i'm left saving my even more mundane things for actual conversation, which ends up leaving me in akward silence more times than i am comfortable with.   but really, right now, with randy being gone, i can't count on getting to have actual conversations with real people.  the chances of that happening are slim to none, since i rarely leave the house, and so i'm going to have put myself out here....and blog....even though it may mean i have nothing to say later....should anyone want to talk to me...in real life.  moving on....

today i realized i was in a bad way when i got up, looked in the closet for something to wear, and actually got excited that the work out pants (that are too short and i have very few times actually worn to work out in) were clean.  it was even more sad that i was also excited about the work out jacket and tank top (that i slept in) putting the finishing touches on my day's ensemble....  fortunately, i didn't go anywhere except to drop hudson off and pick hudson up at school.....curb side.  i will most likely wear this "outfit" again tomorrow.  it really works for me.  or at least i have convinced myself that i can pull it off....