Great Reads!

So I have read a couple of really great books lately. I want everyone to enjoy them as well.... at least one of them. So here are your choices:






1. "Pillars of the Earth"
by Ken Follett

• Soooo good.
• 1000 pages.
• But sooo good.

2. "The Goose Girl"
by Shannon Hale

• Soooo good.
• A quick read.
• Loved it!

Now that you have your two options. Get reading. No excuses. Everyone should read "Pillars of the Earth" sometime, but if no time is the problem read "Goose Girl"...NOW! Enjoy!

Husbands are dumb

Why do husbands not get it? When we go to them and tell them we are about to LOSE IT! They think we are just being over dramatic. I mean how hard is it to blog, watch girl t.v, read, eat cookies and treats, nap, and play with 4 perfectly behaved children all day? Not hard, right? Wrong. Of course the children aren't perfectly behaving all the time, but even if they were, it would still be hard. Why? Because. Because it is the day in and the day out. Same and the same. Always thinking. Always planning. Always worrying. It's the build up of days that then end in a meltdown over another small unfulfilled expectation.

I have found that I tend to tell Shayne about the hard stuff that happen in my day. The fighting, the whining, the messes, ALL the problems. And then when I tell him, I might exaggerate it just a little. Like when the girls have a couple of friends over. The whole neighborhood was here. And when we have PB & J again for lunch. It's the 4th time this week. (Of course sometimes I truly don't exaggerate.) But why? Why tell only or mostly about the negative? Is it because I think staying home and being "just" a mom is easy? Honestly? Sometimes. Easier than what he does? Sometimes. Maybe I do this because during those few moments during the day when things are good; laughter, play, amazing firsts and discoveries. I feel guilty that I am the one that gets to be there to see it. Yes, that is PART of it. But the part that ends up getting me to the LOSE IT stage is that all encompassing feeling of being under appreciated.

All us moms know ALL the things we do every minute of every day that go unnoticed. Just little things, usually not physically hard things, but add them up. Yep, hard. My kids are great. And every once in a while we get a sweet note, or hug, or a "okay mom" with no argument, that makes me feel appreciated. But usually what I want is a little acknowledgment from my partner that what I do every day matters, that what I do is hard, that I do a great job, and I haven't permanently scarred my kids. Is that so much to ask? Well, if you know Shayne, you won't get a compliment when you ask for it. Soooo, I'll just have to wait and hope that either my LOSE IT mood passes, Shayne gets to urge to acknowledge all my pains, or I'll just have to end up calling my mom. The only thing she knows how to do is compliment me. "Mom...."

Parly Sue

Parly Sue is 8..... wait did I say 8? Wow... seems more like 15. She is growing up so fast. Sooo, Parly has always been very social. I don't think it is possible for her to go a day without seeing or talking to one of her bazillion friends. Because this is the case, we have found the perfect punishment for her when she gets into trouble... no friends. Yep. She can't stand it.

Well, we have been trying to instill in her the importance of being responsible. She has to tell us where she is going and where she is if plans have changed. She also has to be home on time ...usually at 5:30 p.m. She has her own watch and she set the alarm for 5:25 so she has enough time to get home. Our rule: If she is in the door after 5:30, no friends the next day.

She hasn't been late very many times. In the beginning, if she was going to be late one of her friend's mom would call and say that Parly was on her way home and that she (the mom) had lost track of the time... so it wasn't Parly's fault. I've always wondered if Parly got so upset about being late that these moms thought going home late meant she was getting a beating. Well, we discussed this and decided that it was not the mom's responsibility to send Parly home at the right time. This worked for a little while, until the weather got nicer and they would play outside, thus ...the excuse became I was outside and didn't know what time it was. So that's where the wrist watch came in. And with the watch... no problems. It has been fun to see her bursting into the door, out of breath, but on time.

Well, the other day we had our first issue since getting the watch for Christmas. She forgot to wear her watch. Parly came home 3 minutes late. Sad. Yes, I know 3 minutes. Late none-the-less. No friends tomorrow. Then came the pleading and tears. Sorry. Then came the anger and excuses. "I left when the clock said 5:25." We called Kendra's mom. What does your clock say? Okay, thanks. Sorry still late. "I left when Kendra's watch said 5:25." Called Kendra at another friends house. What does your watch say? Still late, sorry. We called to see what their clocks said thinking maybe the times would be different. Nope. Well this was Thursday. And on Friday she had a birthday party (she had already RSVP-ed to) and then a primary activity to go to. And then on Saturday another birthday party to go to. So... we told her that she would be grounded from playing with friends on Friday and Saturday. Later that night her friend called to see if she could help babysit at a neighbor's. We said yes, only because we thought this would be another chance to learn about responsibility. She had a choice : go babysitting but you will still grounded on Friday and Saturday, or don't go babysitting and no grounding. She chose to go babysitting. It turned out that they waited but weren't able to actually babysit. Of course, Parly then called and asked if she could go to her friend's sister's basketball game since she wasn't able to babysit. What? No. Come home. Tears. Why? Where do we begin, right? Well here's the letter she wrote us that night.

Like I said Parly Sue is 15 years old.

Want to see a great movie?

I just saw "Juno" and loovvvved it! So good. Go and see it!

Say it isn't so.

So I just finished the final book of the Gemma Doyle series, "The Sweet Far Thing". Soooooo good. This one I absolutely could not put down and just had to pretty much pull an all-nighter.
I have a question though : does Trilogy mean only three or can it mean four, possibly more?
I want ... no I need this series to continue.
So Libba Bray if you are out there... another book, please!!!! This cannot be the end of Gemma's saga.

What does a Kia Sedona have that the Honda Odyssey doesn't? Unautomated Doors

The other day I was taking Clayre and a few of her friends to dance. After they all filed out I asked the last girl to please close the door for me. She says sure and proceeds to pull the van door handle forward and then runs off. I just sat there. How does she not know that the door does not have a mind of it's own and you have to follow through with the first step of pulling the handle and then continue to pull it all the way shut? How does she not know this? Because she has probably never actually ever pulled a door all the way shut in her whole life. She has grown up with automatic doors. In fact as I watched all the girls run in to dance class, I realized my little Clayre is the only one that knows that some doors actually don't close by themselves.

We live in a great neighborhood. If we could marry our neighborhood people would say that we married up. Yes, we are one of the very few here that don't have a 3 car garage or drive around in a Honda Odyssey. And let me just say there is nothing wrong with either of those and our neighbors and friends couldn't be nicer. That being said.... we will serve a purpose living here. We will teach all our kids friends that some doors don't close by themselves when ever they get a ride in our Kia Sedona.

The down side of generic.

I love how diapers come in all different sizes. What I don't love how each brand of diaper has it's own sizing. So Maggie is still small but size 3 diapers can't quite keep up with all the wetness through the night, and by the end of the day she starts to leak because I haven't changed her since lunch. I need a diaper that can last long. Less changing = Using less diapers = Save money+ Save energy (laziness). So I decide to switch to size 4. We are at Walmart so size 4 generic brand goes into the cart and they seem to get the job done. Next time we need some diapers Shayne is at Albertson's and I say just buy a small package to hold us over. Well apparently Albertson's generic size 4 is too big and leaks out the sides during the day. Great! (not a happy great). So the next time we go to Albertson's for diapers I have Shayne get size 3 because of the problem during the day, right. Well they aren't big enough to go all night. Great, again. Now what? Solution: Buy size 4 diapers at Walmart use them in the night and finish diapers (size 3) from Albertsons during the day. Brilliant. So I have Albertson's and Walmart generic brands figured out. But lately we have started shopping at Smiths and Lins.... I know we will be buying the generic brands from there.... so now I have to learn a whole new system.

I know you are thinking, how about just buy Huggies. All Huggies diapers are the same even if you buy them from different stores. That is true. But I am cheap and my husband is especially cheap and he is usually buying the diapers. So generic it is!

Looking for some indoor fun?

So for a couple hours a day, 3 days a week, I am at home with only one child. How great is that! Practically "ME" time, right? Not quite. Because the one child that is home is still too small to just sit contently in front of the T.V. AND without any older sisters around to entertain her... I'm stuck. But if you know me at all, you know I always find a way to get what I want exerting as little energy as possible and without spending any money. This is what I have found to keep little Maggie busy so I can get to my reading, blogging, and the occasional cleaning.




And YES, those are panties that Maggie is wearing over her jeans. Kate's panties to be exact. And don't worry they are clean... I do get the laundry done, that's part of the occasional cleaning. Now you see why turning the couch into an indoor playground was so necessary.

Here's another clip. I only wish I could catch Maggie before she notices me filming.

Too much time on your hands?

So I found another great book series. For those of you who liked Stephenie Meyers Vampire Series....here's some books for you. They are by Libba Bray. The first book is called "A Great and Terrible Beauty". Book two is "Rebel Angels". And book three, which just came out is called, "The Sweet Far Thing." I read book one while I was in Portugal and didn't know that there was a book after it. That was not fun. I had to wait until I came home to finally read book two. By the way I liked book two a little more than book one. Then of course I finished book two and think, "There has got to be another book." Yep! And it just came out last week. Just my luck. I can't wait to read it... I can actually... I'm too cheap and I'll wait until the Library has it, but when it's there... I'm there. Try these books out. You will love them and your husbands will hate them almost as much as Edward Cullen.

I love vinegar!

So I'm back. Finally. My excuse? How about 2 weeks in Portugal. Yes, the country. It was there that I learned how much I liked the taste of vinegar. Here is how it happened.... So I'm at a restaurant and I get a salad for part of my meal...just a little background information: I don't speak Portuguese. But Shayne does. He went to Portugal on his mission... I don't know how to say ranch in Portuguese and I wasn't about to ask Shayne to embarrass himself and me by asking so I went with the vinegar and olive oil on the table. Okay. So YUM. From then on I was hooked. The rest of the trip I wanted nothing more than vinegar. I even devoured a bag of salt and vinegar chips. Normally I would have thought, yuck! But not any more. Actually I ate other things which were also very de-lish. So thank you Portugal for introducing my taste buds to something they had been lacking.

Okay, so you probably are also wondering about my trip besides the food. It was awesome. We were gone a day under 2 weeks. My little sister Sadie came down to watch our girls for the whole time. Yes, she is amazing and the girls couldn't have had a better time. Thanks, Sadie! (and Christian, and my mom, and Shayne's mom for also helping out). Also, one of Shayne's mission companions, Ryan came with us. Weird? Not at all! He is awesome and made our trip 100 times better. Have any of you seen The Amazing Race? You know how there is always couple that is constantly fighting and arguing and yelling how much they hate each other? That would have been Shayne and I (well not the hating part). If Ryan had not been there, I would have had to take a more active role in the decision making (I'm horrible at that and Shayne is too. Bad combo) and then the navigating. Now that would not have been pretty. Can you imagine me trying to read a map and road signs in Portuguese? So, thank you Shayne and Ryan....my job of sitting back and enjoying all the sites couldn't have been any better if I planned it myself.

Shayne did a great job travel logging our whole trip on his blog, so you should really read about it there. But here's a few pictures.

We had a day layover in London. We walked everywhere. It took me a little while to adjust to looking the other direction first when crossing the street. [You know how the drive on the other side of the street there.] Let's just say we are very lucky I made it home safely. Thank you London for thinking of me when you painted the direction to look ON THE ROAD.

This is Flat Stanley. Clayre had us take him along for the trip. You can see Big Ben and the British Parliament in the background. That view is from The EYE.

While in London, we also got to see Wicked. Sooo good!

In Portugal we drove around in this little car. It was perfect because the roads are tiny and you can park pretty much anywhere you can fit...so sidewalks, freeway exit ramps, even blocking other cars is free game. There are huge roundabouts everywhere. When it came to driving around, let's just say we were all glad I didn't have to drive.

Most everyone there lives in huge apartment buildings. Some look very shabby with clothes drying on lines out the windows...you would think the poorest people lived there. Not so. Pretty much every building had clothes out drying. Even the wealthiest don't have dryers. This is a picture of one of the church branches. It looked like a warehouse on the outside.

We got to see a lot of amazing sites. Century old castles, Roman ruins, and even a chapel made of human bones. It was amazing to be around so much history.

But the best part was meeting amazing Portuguese people. Families and friends that Shayne knew from his mission. That was great. I of course had to endure conversations in Portuguese and every now and then a translation from Shayne. But it was still great. I also really enjoyed watching Shayne. He did an amazing job speaking Portuguese, amazing because it has been 14+ years since his mission. We had a great time together. This trip was a nice break from our busy lives. I don't think I have laughed so much and so hard in a long time. I can't wait to go back.