Happy Family Day Lissi!

2 years ago today in the Seoul airport...

My how she's blossomed and grown! I told her today was her special day and she said in her tiny little girly voice, "Me? [i]My[/i] special day? Why?"

Dr. Seuss day is coming up!

Car problem has been diagnosed.

The clutch gave out. It will be just under $700 to replace :( Hello kicker check!

Our new sponsor child!

Meet Eric!

He is 4.5 years old (just like Cal!) and lives in Rwanda with his parents and 6 siblings. With our sponsorship money, Eric will be able to attend school as well as eat one meal per day there and get clothes and toiletries. We are proud to begin praying for him and hoping that through our fund raising efforts (getting great deals with sales and coupons and then reselling) his life and others lives will be changed.
If you would like to be involved in this ministry visit Africa New Life Ministries. To soften your heart, consider reading A Long Way Gone, or (for children) Ryan and Jimmy and the Well in Africa that Brought Them Together or watching Hotel Rwanda before visiting this website.

Car breakdown!

Read about our "adventures" at my other blog here.

Happy Family Day Cal!

We celebrated Cal's 4th family day with our traveling friends. The boys are getting so big!!


And the younger siblings are mighty big as well!

The weekend was so gorgeous that...

1. Wink finally took down the Christmas decorations. Hurray!

2. We finally dug up a tree in front of the house that has been dead for 18 months.

3. We finally planted a grafted cherry tree that we bought last month at Costco (yum! cherries!)

4. I actually got a sunburn!

Here are the 2 schools we are most highly considering.

I was really sad before that Cal would be unable to attend my school (I work 1 mile from home, but in a different district). Now, however, I'm actually glad since the district we live in has a lot of choices besides the neighborhood schools. We have to enter a lottery to get him in, but once he is in, Lissi will be virtually assured to get in when she is school-aged.

Here are the 2 schools we are most highly considering.

A Piaget-theory-based school
Pros:
very creative and artistic, and Cal definitely has artistic gifts
engaging themes that last 3 months each, incorporating reading, writing, science, art, music, etc into the cool themes (such as water, forest animals, etc)
lots of great parent reports
K-8 so if we love the program we don't have to worry about schools again until high school
moving into their own building (used to share with a neighborhood school) so there will definitely be an opening for ds if we put it as our 1st choice
VERY close to our home (less than one mile) and very close to my work (about 1.2 miles)

Cons:
new building means all new procedures that the school has never had to handle before (need a principal, lunches, secretaries, discipline, etc)

Chinese school: 50% of the day is in English, 50% of the day in Mandarin
Pros:
Awesome opportunity to learn another language (and an extremely important language is my guess based on the way the world politics are going right now)
extremely young age of starting the language would make accents almost imperceptible (for many children)
Able to communicate with grandparents in their native language (Wink is sad that he does not speak Chinese)
very high percentage of Asians in the program
very high percentage of children adopted from Asian (China in particular) so that parent groups sometimes have adoptive family meetings

Cons:
shares a building with the neighborhood school of that area
very traditional rote memorization and drill type practice
only K-5 so we'd have to go through all this again for middle school
at least a 15 min drive (if we have no red lights and no traffic)
no guarantee Cal would get in from the lottery
half a day in a foreign language could be really hard and frustrating (!)

We have to make our lottery ranking decisions within the next 2 weeks.

She's one independent little lady!

Her "me do it" streak is strong and fierce, especially compared to her brother!
Here she is singing her ABCs over and over until she gets it just right.

Cal's booty dance

Mommy provides the instrumental

Happy Birth in Christ Day Cal

This evening Cal and I were talking about the Bible verse he chose about living forever with Jesus. I asked him if he wanted to accept Jesus into his heart so that he could be with Jesus forever, and he said YES. So we prayed together that Jesus would be in his heart and Cal would follow him always. :)

Birth in Christ day on Lunar New Year. What a way to start the new year!

Now that he's 4.5, Cal has a few things to say...

Our annual Chinese New Year's celebration

Mock sushi (really its Rice Crispy treats wrapped in fruit roll-up with Swedish fish)


and of course our "traditional" Dragon Dance!

We are SO going to miss our aunt, uncle, and cousins when they move this summer! :(

Happy Lunar New Year!

One of teacher's brought in a Lion and was the head for a Lion Dance through the halls of the school! So cool! An incredible experience for everyone so I had to have my family come to watch.

Lissi refused to get anywhere near the Lion afterwards, so there are no family pictures to show off. But Cal was brave enough to get near as long as I would "uppie" him.

What inspired the name of my new blog?

Yes, that is Cal still wearing the pink dress. And yes, he really did wear that jammie ensemble to bed that night (and the following morning).

Decisions about Kindergarten!

I can't believe we're looking at Kindergarten already for Cal! Last weekend was a big "schools fair" with all the schools in the district, and all the special programs represented.

On Wednesday Wink and the kids attended our neighborhood school's Kindergarten Round-up. Last night Wink went to an informational night about the "Creative Science" school--one of our front runners as to where we'd like Cal to go. It is moving to a new location next year and will be about a mile (or less) from our home. They use big creative themes to teach all content areas. Within the themes are also art, music, etc. Sounds cool!

The other school we're really interested in is the "Chinese Immersion" program. Cal would be in a class where 50% of the day is in Mandarin and 50% is in English. Although it is not especially close to our home, and probably has a much more traditional academic approach (those are both negatives), what an amazing opportunity!! That informational time will be come up in a week or two.

Anyone have thoughts or experiences with these programs?

Trying out a new blog

I am trying out blogging the "me" stuff on another site:

If Only I Had Super Powers....

I hope to keep this rather annonymous, so you won't see cute pictures of the kids, or hear tons of stories about my family on it. But it will give me a more public place to write. IF (big if) I am good about keeping it up and I put on a few advertisements, maybe I'll even make a few dollars on it! So, if you have some time, stop by there, make me feel loved, and click around! ;)

My schedule as it should look

See here on my new "public" (read less personal) blog!

Conversation today

Me: What does mommy do for a job?

Cal: She teaches in a school.

Me: What does daddy do?

Cal: He washes dishes and stuff like that.

LOL! :)

Does clipping coupons really save money?

Well.... here was my GREAT score at Safeway today.

Price before coupons: approx $75
Amount actually spent: $14

And I would have scored 10 more items for an additional $3 except that the store ran out of juice. So I'll go back tomorrow and try again (this sale ends on Tuesday).

Where am I learning how to stock up and save? Through a few websites: www.thegrocerygame.com (paid membership), and www.moneysavingmom.com and www.centsibleshopper.blogspot.com(free blogs) have been the best.

Where do I get all the coupons? A few people at work stock me up with tons of coupons. They have been lifesavers in my efforts! Other coupons are printed from the internet.

What do I do with all that stuff?! Some of it I keep for our family, as we are trying to limit all grocery, drug store, etc. spending to $300/month. Some of it is donated to food baskets, families at my school, friends, and others in need. And some of the "luxury" items (candles, makeup, nail clippers, etc.) that I score for free are sold to help us in our new efforts to sponsor a child in Rwanda!

Sponsoring a child in Rwanda? Yes! I'm so excited that our family can begin this new adventure of learning to care for God's people around the world. I hope that the kids can see that this takes energy and sacrifice on our part (they are already helping me with the shopping and savings), and that they will want to contribute as well. Check out: www.africanewlife.org for more information. And if you are local, feel free to give us your unused coupons from your Sunday paper! :)

Which picture to choose?

Click on the image to make it bigger and see the numbers.


Our BEST family portrait session ever! Both kids smiled consistently! Hurray!

Now to choose.... We will probably buy a 5x7 of the kids (#19, top left). But we also get a free 8x10 of the family. #23 has both kids simulteously sticking out their tongues, which is very endearing (but do we want it on our wall for all times?). #24 has the cutest smiles, but you can't see their eyes. I don't like the blue background on either of these pictures. #05 might be my favorite, but again, you can't see Lissi's eyes very well.

Decisions, decisions.... At least they are all GOOD choices. On the cruise we tried many attempts at family pictures and had horrible results every time.

Thumbs up to Lord of the Beans

I gave this DVD to Wink last year. Since we never opened it, I re-gifted it to the kids for Christmas (yes, I even re-gift within the family!). It is so cute! Characters include "Toto Baggypants", "Lord Scaryman", and the "Sporks". Its amazing what a great summary of the entire triology this movie makes.

Too cute! Even inspired me to start re-watching the actual triology.

Resolutions that I probably won't keep

but just putting them in writing is a start!

-Read more
-Bake fresh bread
-Keep up with the cleaning and de-cluttering
-Teach the kids new things every day (even if it is small)
-Listen to people in the family more ;)
-Pray more
-Lose the 5 lbs I gained when I turned 30!
-Go to bed earlier (doesn't this conflict with the cleaning one?)
-Keep up with old friends better
-Be more generous
-Have people over to dinner/lunch at least once a month
-Smile more

Happy Teeth

Our little girl frequently omits consonant sounds in running speech (much to her mother's chagrin). Tonight during tooth brushing we could have sworn she told daddy to sing "happy teeth" while brushing her teeth. Since we've never heard of this before we were slightly amused, but he gave it a good try. Only when she requested again (for the 4th time) did I realize that she wanted him to sing "ABCs"!! LOL! :)

Note to self

Turn off the shuffle feature of your iPod BEFORE listening to books on tape!

Books read in 2007

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle (Barbara Kingsolver)
Bangkok 8 (John Burdett)
The Good Husband of Zebra Drive (Alexander McCall Smith)
Water for Elephants (Sara Gruen)
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (JK Rowling)
Born on a Blue Day (Daniel Tammet)
Midnight at the Dragon Cafe (Judy Fong Bates)
The Glass Castle (Jeannette Walls)
Truman (David McCullough)
A Lesson Before Dying (Ernest J. Gaines)
The Audacity of Hope (Barack Obama)
The Namesake (Jhumpa Lahiri)
Naked (David Sedaris)
The Johnstown Flood (David McCullough)
Fried Eggs with Chopsticks (Polly Evans)
Holidays on Ice (David Sedaris)
Barrel Fever and Other Stories (David Sedaris)
Saving Fish From Drowning (Amy Tan)
Between Two Worlds (Zainab Salbi & Laurie Becklund)
I Know This Much is True (Wally Lamb)
Remains of the Day (Kazuo Ishiguro)
So Many Books, So Little Time (Sara Nelson)
Interpreter of Maladies (Jhumpa Lahiri)
The Memory Keeper's Daughter (Kim Edwards)
The Thirteenth Tale (Diane Setterfield)
Never Let Me Go (Kazuo Ishiguro)
Next (Michael Crichton)

All told, I "read" 27 books last year. Quite disappointing since I used to easily get through at least one book per week. And... I should qualify that of this 27, 19 of them were books on tape. I just do not have time to read anymore. Long gone are the days of sitting down with a book. The only time I get to "read" (aka listen to a book on tape) is while I'm cleaning the house! It helps pass the time, but I sure wish I had the leisure of sitting down again and curling up with a blanket, hot drink, and a good book!

Cruise Ship Epidemic

I had never heard, or at least not paid attention, to the common spread of disease on-board cruise ships. Apparently, some ships become so infected that the entire SHIP becomes quarantined and has to stay away from shore for a certain number of hours/days.

Before we boarded our Holland America boat we had to fill out of a quick questionnaire for everyone in our party. Have you been sick in the last 48 hours. Have you experienced vomiting in the last 48 hours? Have you had diarrhea in the last 48 hours? Have you been in close proximity to anyone with these symptoms? The answers for my entire family was "NO", but it occurred to me that even if it was "yes" I probably wouldn't admit it since I wanted to go on my vacation! Gosh darn it if I had been sick. This was an expensive trip and I was getting on board!

It seemed strange to me that when we boarded every major facility (except the casino, because money, cards, and slot machines obviously don't harbor germs!) had a pair of automatic Purell dispensers. They were motion sensitive, similar to the automatic soap dispensers in some bathrooms. We were told to use them before eating and other times to avoid the spread of diseases. Since I'm pretty germ-a-phobic I appreciated this extra precaution.

The following is a timeline of our boat's "Code Red":

Christmas morning 4am. The first family-member "falls" victim to the GI bug. After being very sick for a few hours, she calls the medical facility on board. They immediately quarantine her for 48 hours. The nurse comes to give her extra Purell bottles and some anti-nausea pills. Her eyes practically bulge out when she sees all 8 of us in the room AND (heaven forbid!) 2 young children. She asks "have THEY been around you too???" No, they've never met...they are just standing in this total strangers room on Christmas day opening her presents for her?! I can see fear in the nurse's eyes.

Now I'm especially nervous too since my kids had been hanging all over her and spending tons of time in that room (Cal had even slept there). I get even more obsessive about hand-washing than usual. I'm also a fatalist and expect the worse, so every queasy feeling MUST be the beginning of the bug. I lay out towels by our beds every night. I explain to Cal what to do if he needs to throw up (best option is toilet, next best is the bucket in the middle of the room, most desperate option is the towel by the bed).

Family member #2 gets sick the next morning. That evening family member #3 gets sick.

The captain makes an announcement on the loud speaker that there is an illness going around and we must be extra careful to wash our hands an use Purell.

We receive a letter under our door that night saying that all sick persons must report their illness to the medical staff and be quarantined for 48 hours.

The next day we receive another letter repeating the previous information and saying that extra precautions are being taken to prevent the further spread. The hot tub will be closed. All self serve buffets will be closed. All bread, butter, salt, pepper, and drinks will be given to you by a glovedcrewmember.

That evening we get another letter saying that because young children are staying in our room we need to be particularly careful of about thorough hand washing.

The next day we hear from a waiter that this is considered "Code Red". One family member learns that this only occurs about once per year on this ship.

Finally...the cruise is over and no one else in our party has gotten sick. Phew!!! The captain announced that 27 people had reported being sick which was less than 2% of the boat. I know that this is not a random sampling, but when 3/26 people in my party get sick, I have to believe that a significant more than 2% of the ship got
sick. I know that many people did not report their illness. I'm guessing that it was much closer to 8 or 9% of the boat. Everyone knew someone sick. There were plenty of tales to be overheard at the breakfast buffet. I spent at least half of the trip dreading when it would be my turn, or the kids turn. I tried to figure out what we would do if Lissi got the bug since she can't even get on the toilet by herself and we hadn't brought any pull-ups for her on the trip.

The cruise really was great, but it makes me re-think the "idyllic vacation". I found an interesting article here. It says "Norovirus is often termed the "cruise ship virus," even thought the vast majority—some 60 percent to 80 percent of outbreaks—occur on land. However, it is often more unmistakable on cruise ships because all sick passengers and crewmembers are treated by the same physician, who is required to prepare a special report for the CDC if an outbreak affects 2% or more of the passengers or crew. The CDC launches and investigation if 3% of passengers orcrewmembers become ill." Based on my guesstimates, the CDC should certainly have been investigating this voyage!

When NOT to open your mouth

We got back from our fabulous Mexican Cruise the other night. On that trip I learned a few things about when trying to be conscientious will just get you in trouble:

1.Do not tell the airlines that you are bringing onboard a bottle of oxygen. It doesn't matter if TSA has tested it and cleared you. The airline will take it away and not give it back until your return trip.

2. Do not tell the flight attendent that your husband has occasional medical need for oxygen. They will be forced by law to tell the pilot and the pilot may turn the plane around. Don't then try to explain yourself and wonder "what if he needs it part way through the flight...." because the flight attendent will tell you your husband will be taken off the plane by the paramedics during the layover.

3. Do not call the medical office while on-board a ship to report an illness. You will be told that you will be quarantined for 48 hours in your room and the nurse will check on you and "release" you to actually enjoy your vacation after you've missed 2/7 of it. The first of 3 people in my family group to get sick called the medical office. After learning of the high price of making that call, no other family members dared report themselves.

Freedom for 2 weeks!

I'm now on vacation! No more work for 2.5 weeks. Hurray!

If someone will please give me a child-free couple of hours then I will REALLY be on vacation!

Re-financing the house, while over-run by pests

We just signed the 400,000 papers to re-finance our mortgage today. We will now be on a 15 year FIXED 5.0% mortgage! Woo hoo! 15 years until freedom! Well, at least until the college bills really start adding up. To afford this change I had to switch my number of dependents on my tax papers. Hopefully there will still be enough of a refund in the spring to fund a small portion of our retirement.

Meanwhile, I've spotted our house mouse today. He'd been MIA so long that I hoped one of our various inconsequential traps had finally worked. Alas, no. Ants half the year, recent struggles with bedbugs (or something??), a mouse mascot, and our never-ending rat holes in the front yard...maybe one of these creatures should be paying the mortgage instead?

Hanging out with VA friends

Mark, Ethan, and Cadi made it out from VA this week! We got to spend the evening with them. The kids got their first tree farm experience (and it was COLD). Hopefully it helped answer some of Cal's recent questions when he sees trees on people's cars. "Did they take the tree out of the box first?" The boys ran and ran all over and kept warm through body heat. Cadi tried to keep up with the boys and let no bramble, branch, or vegetation slow her down. Lissi spent the entire time in Ethan and Cadi's grandmother's arms. She didn't get the slightest bit dirty, in stark contrast to her pal!




Our exhausted kids fell asleep in the car. We were able to take them straight to bed. They slept in their clothes all night. The next morning Cal told me "You didn't brush my teeth."

Let the Holiday parties begin

This weekend we had THREE Christmas parties! My staff party was Friday night. The kids looked adorable. We had to take their picture after the event, knowing it may be the only time this season we get them so dressed up!

On Saturday morning I took the kids to the Holt Playgroup Christmas party. The kids ran around and around and around. Cal promised he was NOT shooting with the space gun in his hands. Yeah, right. So the firing noises I heard coming out of it were what exactly?

Saturday evening composed of our Thanksristmas dinner with cousins. Since we are not able to spend either holiday together, we combined them for a fabulous ham meal. The cousins just got back from a long East coast trip. They brought Lissi a "sparkly" cup and Cal a pirate hat. He learned the art of sword fighting very quickly from his cousin. We called them, "The Pirates Who Can't See Anything!" LOL! In case you don't get that reference, check out this classic Veggie Tales song.

Baking like a mad woman

Over the last few days I have baked 9 mini loaves of pumpkin bread, 1 batch of brownies, coconut-cranberry cookies (these are the best!), 2 dozen pumpkin rolls, 1 loaf of bread, and still have one batch of peanut butter bars to do. I'm up late. I'm cranky. The house is a disaster. Wink is in extreme pain. Aaack! Wish I could enjoy all this cooking instead of just stressing about it.

Snow snow snow!

It's the first of December and it is SNOWING! Okay, so nothing is sticking... That's besides the point. The kids revealed in the cold flakes falling from the sky before I rushed them off again. I wish we could just slow down for a few minutes and enjoy the beautiful things God has made.

Paperwork is DONE!

Woo hoo! Got Lissi's SS number today. That's it! Last piece of paperwork. No more looming lines, fees, or waiting! Woo hoo!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Bugs in the night

...or why my kids room smells like salad dressing!

Cal has been getting strange bug bites once a week or so. He gets them in patches (such as in a line on his back, in a clump on his shoulders, leg, etc). They itch him like crazy. This has been going on for 2 months. The final straw was when he woke up screaming on Thanksgiving night and his whole body was literally errupting into a rash (allergic reaction to the bug bites???).

We literally spent the entire last 3 days washing and steam cleaning EVERYTHING in the house. We sprayed and scrubbed the kids' entire bunkbed with a scouring brush and vinegar spray. I'm surprised our washing machine and dryer still work after all the pillows, blankets, and stuffed animals that we've washed. We also have every leg of the bunkbed and ladder sitting in a container of oil since that will prevent any bugs from climbing onto or off of the bed (can't swim in oil). This is all quite involved considering that we have no idea what is going on. No new bites yet, but they've been coming about once a week in the past. We're all pretty paranoid now. I spent "Black Friday" at Ikea buying Cal a new mattress and a vinyl cover for my bed (please don't spread!!!). So much for "Buy Nothing Day"....

Our living room look is changing...

Out with the Ikea corner cabinet (that never had a cabinet to live in), in with a cool Asian dragon chest to store Lissi's clothes that are still too big for her.



Yeah Craig's List!

My reading genious kid

Finally... Cal read a book without jumping up and down, making strange noises, or complaining mid-page! Listen to this... Makes his mommy proud!



(note: this is one of many books that he practices reading on a regular basis. This is NOT the first time he has read the book. But he is reading... this is not a memorized book. Practice, practice, practice!)

One reason (of many) that my husband ROCKS!

2 weekends ago I had to go to a 2 day conference. That same day my favorite store was having a huge sale--40% off the entire store. This one just couldn't be missed. So I asked Wink to get to the store at it's opening (with the kids of course) and buy me clothes like crazy! Not only did he arrive at 10:05 with 2 kids, a cane, and a stroller, he shopped for an hour, and stood in line to purchase for 45 minutes. What a great husband!!! Both the kids and Wink got multiple compliments on their ability to shop for mama from the child-less, children-less women grabbing clothes.

Due to our budget, I couldn't keep everything. But look at what I did keep! Everything here was between $2.50-$12 each :) !!



As if that wasn't enough.... I thought I was the deal master. I've been doing www.grocerygame.com for the last 6 months and finding some great deals at the stores. I asked Wink to go to Safeway yesterday and get 2 boxes of Wheat Thins (he loves these) along with a few coupons I had cut for him. The total price should have been 95 cents after the coupons (great deal!). I come home from work to discover that he had bought SIX boxes of Wheat Thins and paid only $1.09 total! Wowzers! He wins for best deal finder husband ever!!!

Happy sick Birthday Wink

We had to cancel two dinner plans (last night and tonight) because the family is sick :( Lissi in particular has had the lethargic, glazed over look for a few days and Cal's totally unproductive cough is disheartening. I stayed home from work twice this week, and now Wink is getting the cold as well. :( The birthday celebration will need to be temporarily postponed.

Costumes :)

We weren't able to get any Halloween pictures on Halloween night :( But the kids went to their first Halloween party last weekend and I got a couple of cute pictures. Cal was a Train Engineer (which was great b/c we already had everything that we needed and didn't have buy anything) and Lissi was a Butterfly (costume found at a yard sale last summer!). My cuties! They loved Trick or Treating and Lissi even collected a little bit of money for Unicef. Most people looked at her little Unicef box with a totally blank look and were confused how to put candy inside (insert rolling eyes icon).

Singing on the bunks

My mom had requested a movie of the kids singing on their new beds (which they frequently do). After a few tries I got the perfect video. Both kids were singing, they were happy, they were doing great, until......Cal missed his ladder step and fell head first onto the ground. Although I did catch the drama on video, I've decided to spare him (and you) the tragedy.

So here instead is a later (and much less enthusiastic) version of "baa baa black sheep"

Apple Festival x2

We had so much fun last weekend at the Apple Festival with cousins that we went again with friends this weekend! Unfortunately, the second trip's temperature was about 30 degrees colder and off and on POURING rain! We didn't make it very long before we had to go home and warm up!

Capris at the Pumpkin Patch

Cal had his very long awaited and anticipated preschool field trip to the Pumpkin Patch. He chose the largest pumpkin he could find (Wink could barely carry it) and got pulled around in a wagon. He also wet his pants in the outhouse, 10 seconds before sitting on the toilet. Aaaaack! He couldn't make it the last 10 seconds. This hasn't happened in at least a year. So Wink goes to the car to find a change of clothes (being the good mommy I always keep in the car). Unfortunetly, the "good" mommy has never bothered to switch the clothes in the car and the pants and underwear were 2 sizes too small for him! So he got to run around in the freezing morning wearing "oh so fashionable" capris.

New necklaces

I ordered something from a long distance friend. In my box were my ordered items along with 2 beaded necklaces for the kids!!! Score! Cal has even been sleeping with his at night. Would you expect anything less from a boy dressed in a red "love" dress along with matching tights?

Building up my business

We are currently taking a Dave Ramsey class at church, and I've been listening to his program on podcasts. Most of it makes a lot of sense. So, in an effort to build up some of our savings (something we are not good at), I want to expand my private practice. I'm thinking of working with a couple of clients on Saturday mornings in our bonus room. I'm going to try for word of mouth advertising and see how that goes. I think I'll create a flier and email it to friends and colleagues in the area. Maybe I'll call this "Saturday Morning Speech". It has a nice flow and ring to it!

I'm realizing, however, that we may need to move up the new carpet plans for the bonus room to NOW as opposed to next summer......

Night 2 of bunks

The kids are sleeping in their new bunk beds for the 2nd night. They LOVE the new beds! I think they are pretty fun too :) But Lissi can barely sit up in the lower bunk without hitting her head, so I hope she doesn't get claustraphobic as she grows bigger (and never gets up suddenly in her sleep!)

Last night before they fell asleep I overheard Cal tell his sister, "I love you". It melted my mommy heart.

Ode to Craig's List (and equivalents)

Oh Craig's List you save us dough
When back and forth to new homes we go
We sell and buy and sell and buy
And now we have a new dresser high!
Our white changing table is gone
Our crib buyer was not a con
Our treadmill has run away
But a new bunk bed has come to stay!
With some pieces removed, and others to add
We understand that "bartering" is more than just a fad.
No richer now, nor poorer we know
The kids' room is transformed...how fast they grow!

Lissi carries on the swim cap tradition

In efforts not to be outdone by her brother's pics in this same hat, Lissi posed in her namesake's old swim cap.

Calling all Elmo fans!

We celebrated with Elmo for Lissi's party. It was sponsored by the letter "F" and the number "2" so we had a scavenger hunt for items starting with "F" (there were 2 of each). The kids measured up with Elmo, and we ate Elmo cupcakes.

Happy Birthday big girl!

You are 2 years old! What a big girl!!! To celebrate you pretended you were 21 and ate Lime Daiquari sherbet!

Painting

We've been in the "middle of painting" since before our trip to Virginia. Now at last the furniture has been put back and I can use the room again! We're also trying to clear it out of "stuff" while going through this process. I'm starting to sell some things to form an "Ikea fund". Hopefully, I'll raise enough money to pay for some new Ikea furniture such as toy and media shelves for this room.

We don't have any great before and after pics, but you can see the cabinets before and after in these pictures:

Who knew it could be cleaned?

After spending years cleaning the dirt out of the kitchen floor cracks with my whimpy and somewhat non-existent fingernails, I have a new discovery. The floor can be cleaned! Really cleaned. Not just mopped, or wiped with a cloth, or even bristled with a toothbrush. It can be scrubbed and scrubbed with a heavy duty cleaning brush. But there are two additional secrets (little known and heavily guarded secrets). Scrubbing works best with steaming the exact area to be cleaned AND vinegar to loosen the dirt. Now you too know the secrets for a cleaning a vinyl/linoleum or whatever kind of floor I have. Oh, did I mention that it takes about six HOURS of intensive labor to clean 60 square feet?!!

Me, the new NPR podcasting fanatic

Podcasting and I have just become good friends. I mean REALLY good friends. Its hard to find me around the house or taking a walk without listening to a podcast. My newest and most favorite podcast is a hilarious new quiz-show. I'll listening in reverse chronological order (who me?!) so the news I'm now learning is more and more out of date. Oh well. I'm certainly laughing a lot!

The following is part of the 7/15/07 transcript from "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me"

Q: Researchers at Iowa State University studying 72 married couples found out that the key to a happy marriage is how often the wife…..

A: How often she gets her way…. They took these 72 couples and they asked them to rate their levels happiness. And then the video taped them as they discussed some topic of importance and difficulty between the couple. The result: the happiest couples according to BOTH the man and the woman, keep in mind, were the ones in which the husband quickly, intently, and enthusiastically gave in to the wife’s demands.

To which one female panelist replied: further proof that there is a god!

Pumpkin patching a little early

Gorgeous September weekend! Time for the pumpkin patch (minus the traffic and crowds!)....Of course we had to go on the hayride. The kids (and Wink) also did the cow train ride (Wink looks slightly squished!).
The bad news was that this day's events were too much for Wink and he was in a lot of pain afterwards.

My new favorite store

We were at the mall today attempting to get some t-shirts and shorts for the adults in the family (yes, our kids are WAY better dressed than us). As we were "leaving" we walked into a store that was new to us. It was my idea of clothes heaven! No dry-cleaning. Lots of cotton. Relaxed. Tons of designs with embroidery (I'm a sucker for that). Even lots of teacher clothes with apples and cute buttons. I ended up trying on clothes for more than an hour! The kids helped by trying on my clothes themselves :) They also raced the double stroller around and around the clothes racks. The poor saleswoman that helped me was ultimately VERY disappointed that in spite of the tons of clothes I had tried on and $200 worth of clothes that I WANTED to buy... I refrained from going over-board and only bought 3 things. But no worries.... I'll be back! I got on the mailing list and now I hope I'll be back with coupons!

Wondering what to buy me? Click here: Gift certificates please! :)

How did it come to this?

Obviously not. Wink just received his in the mail. Riddle me this: The fact sheet says that he does not have to pay for metered parking (over 30 minutes) when his permit is displayed. Why does having a disability exempt him from paying for a meter?

My thought is that I WANT to exercise and get in as many steps as I can (heck, I'm a card carrying pedometer woman!) so I have no intention of taking advantage of this permit. However, after searching up and down the parking rows at the mall today, I actually started to look for handicapped parking! Fortunately, I found regular parking. In spite of this, Cal insisted on putting the permit up on our rear-view mirror. Upon leaving the mall, he was quite upset that I increased my visibility by taking down the permit.