The Most Boring Post in This Time or Any Other

I haven't written anything beyond Facebook posts for over two years now, and I have no good reason.

While I miss working, I do enjoy having summers free. We make soft plans for the week and then execute them (or not) depending on weather/mood/gas in car.

Right now the oldest two are creating wallets out of printing paper while the youngest just announced she was taking a nap on the couch. Later it will probably be faxing items, running to the library (Bella has a tag to pick up for reading three hours this week), watching movies before we have to return them, and swimming.

Yesterday swimming was cut short because the girls had a head collision resulting in Ava getting a huge bloody nose. Five minutes of pinching alternating with ice pack later, she was fine except for a slight purple tinge.

This isn't too exciting but I'm still trying to wake up. Getting up in the mornings sometimes feels like how I imagine swimming through molasses would be. It's like I almost have to pull myself out of bed. And for some reason, in my dream, I went from being a customer at a restaurant to the world's worst bartender (ten minutes for a Bloody Mary? And then I put whiskey in it? What is this even).

Well, my Cuban coffee is gone (nooooooo) so hopefully it will kick in and I can get started on the day. Pretty sure the kids have already fit in their cartoon/video game time while I was sleeping and I can hear some weird car game going on.

On a side note, I think the house is tidier with everyone home than when they are at school? What does this say about my organizational skills?

Also, I keep looking for emojis on my laptop keyboard to inset in my wrtiting. That's how long it's been since I actually sat down and typed on a computer.

Test

Since my last post I've had a job, gotten pregnant with my second girl, took leave, went back, left permamently to become a stay at home mom, celebrated numerous birthdays and gained almost forty pounds.

Nothing to add for now, just getting back in the habit of writing. I will be posting a little more regularly this time-as long as I stop getting distracted by all the Pintrest. Oh, Pintrest.

You are Not a Goat

So, I understand that this world is still very new to toddlers, and they don't know enough about what is a food and what isn't, and it is our job as a parent to monitor that.

but, sheesh, I can't vacuum a room so small I can lay my 5'3' self down and touch each end without having to stop and scoop partially eaten potpourri out of my kid's mouth.

And it's not like I threw it on the floor and said, 'lalalal, I think this yummy smelling fruit husk is safe here." Noo, she moved her stroller over to the table, climbed on it, and grabbed said husk.

My fault for not immediately closing the stroller upon returning from our walk. That thing is the biggest pain in the ass to close, and 98% of the time it pops back up when I let my guard down and THINK I've closed the effing thing securely, but I guess wrestling with it IS better in the end than explaining why my child's vomit has a wonderful ginger-peach scent.

On the bright side, she also went into my shower and got into the sugar scrub...which she used in the correct manner. So I guess keeping her in the bathroom while I bathe paid off in one way.

If she ate her peas with the same energy she puts into gnawing on potpourri, crayone, dust bunnies, leaves, and other flotsam, I'd have one damn healthy kid and a cleaner floor.

New Beginnings

I can't believe that last time I was here we were still living at my parents', working through the deluge of paperwork that is home ownership, and Bella was just starting to walk.

Our belongings were deposited in a garage, a storage space, a warehouse crawlspace, and our bedroom. Now we live in a cute 1971 home with half the garage taken up by boxes, and slowly getting the place in shape.
What excites the the most (and is actually a bit sad), is that I never had a place of my own. Always roommates, always renting from someone, always having half my possessions while storing the other somewhere. and as cool as my landlords were (usually being friends or family), there were always someone else's rules. Some were stricter than others, like the friend/landlord who would bring up if you slept in a lot, or if your room was messy (not filthy-no food or drinks lying around rotting). Others were more lax than I was comfortable with. The point being, I never felt fully secure where I lived, because I was not in charge. No matter how cool you are with someone, if it's not your house, it's not your say.

Now, of course I don't live by myself here; I still have a husband, dog and daughter. HOWEVER, I now have a better feeling of security. I do have a say in who stays here and who doesn't. The kitchen and its' contents are all mine to cook with. If I don't want to tidy a room, i can just close the door. Interestingly enough, now that I don't have the majority of my possessions crammed in one room and half a medicine cabinet, I find I am a LOT neater.

None of this is meant as a hit against anyone I rented from. I did luck out in that I did have friends and family to rent from. I have great memories of my freestyle single gal days. And if I wanted to have a place with no roommates, I should have maintained my credit better and applied that little thing called a budget. But man, it is SOO SWEET not having to hear couples fighting in the next room, or arguing about the dishes (well, that part COULD be distributed more evenly, hahaha) or any of the other myriad roommate deals. and if I want a purple room, or create a mural in the hallway, well, let's go buy some paint.

So, we did not celebrate Thanksgiving here, but we did have AnnaBella's first birthday party here, as well as our first family Christmas, and a small NYE get-together. We finally have internet and cable, which means I can type this up in our guest room/office with no one else hovering over my shoulder or the library computer running on a timeout. When I am finished here , I will start working on the never-ending box mountain in the garage, make Bella's doctor appointments, and see where I can donate goods and money for victims of these recent destructive tornadoes. when Bella wakes up from her nap, we'll have a snack, storytime and possibly build then destroy a block tower thirty times. Later I'll skim the pool, start dinner, and hopefully get my yoga in.

Having constant internet AND our sturdy MAC finally in its rightful place at the desktop also means I can update here on a regular basis. More recipes, tips, rants about TV shows, unchecked babblings, and all other matter of frivolities to come.

The other funny thing is since we didn't have internet for almost three months, ALL the games I have on Facebook are backed up to an intimidatingly large number of requests. I think there's like Thanksgiving and Christmas requests still in here. it's actually startling how many games I used to participate in. And I don't want to stop them because that would just be admitting I wasted my time playing games, so I've probably spent over three house just getting through the REQUESTS, not even playing. How sad is that?

I Love You, Shut Up

So tonight there was a segment on ABC news about Mommy Bloggers, and how awesome it is, and how much free crap they get and blah blah blah, and I get the question from my husband that I loathe so much: "Hey why don't you do that? You could totally do it; that looks easy." Okay, first of all, no it's not easy. These bloggers, and the various other award winning "Mommy Bloggers" are not the only ones out there. For every Heather Armstrong, there's, say, 150 mes that write but do not have that "it" spark that projects a blog from family/friend read to an actual public offering. My attempt at an argument went thus: 1)some bloggers have things like activities, arts and crafts, recipes, decorating, or some such how-to thing that other parents can use for ideas. While I have posted recipes, I just am not creative often enough to have daily or even monthly project postings; 2) some deal with things like specially abled children, post-partum depression, balancing work/school/home/combination of any or all of these (none of which I deal with); or some other topic people can relate to personally; 3) but the most read ones deal not only with a combination of these, but get very close and personal, bringing the reader into intimate details of the writer's life, sex life, relationships with in-laws, neighbors and parents, photos of the kids, etc etc etc, all of which, by the way, he's completely been against in past conversations about Why My Blog Isn't A Money Maker. (Also I don't write in it enough, but this is about him). However, I never got to finish my pints because he said I talked to much and I was ruining the Special News Segment, so now I'm going to be petty and post this haha!! Now I just need to add a picture of my baby Doing Something Precocious and wait for the offers to roll in! Great idea!!

GoGo Barcelo and the Great Escapes

Bella hasn't quite reached the point where she solely walks, but if we lived in a house built by Escher, she'd have no problem getting around. I mean, the girl lives to climb. You could have a totally flat surface with her favorite toys laying about, and tucked far off in the back is one lone ottoman-and she will bypass everything else to climb on that ottoman. She mostly goes for the couch, but yesterday she climbed on my bed without even the slightest grunt or noise. One minute she was on the ground and I was chatting online with a friend's daughter I hadn't talked to in a year, and I turn around to see her sitting on the bed, just playing with my keys as quietly as possible. So now even if she's napping, it's become hard to enjoy a shower without thoughts of her waking up, attempting to climb out of the crib, and falling on her head. Last night she was impossible to put to sleep (that phrase does NOT sound right), so when she finally drifted off I had to risk waking her up by opening the door just to make sure she hadn't secretly gotten out of her crib and was heading toward the puzzles. Of course, this only leads to being more diligent. Like, locking the handle and bolt on the garage door, double-checking that all other doors are closed, and picking up myriad random objects, not just off the floor, but off the couch, any small tabletops, and of course making sure that things aren't hanging over the edges of tables. I have to say, in some ways it's pretty cool to watch. She can climb super fast, and this is also broadening her play area as well as keeping me from slacking off too much in the mom-watching area

The Only Mom Who Didn't Do Halloween

If it wasn't for Bells catching a fever, I'd have absolutely no excuse for why I had no costume and no plan for how to spend this October 31st.


My cousin's daughter, who was born earlier in the month, had a costume. I dug through a box of clothing until I found my niece's from two years ago and slipped it on. Then took it off an hour later when it seemed her fever was spiking, perhaps due to the hot felt costume.

The night was spent in dealing with her either bouncing off the wall (I guess I have the only kid who is more energetic while sick) or crying as I tried desperately to cool her off and calm her down.

finally, at around 4 am, her fever broke. At 7 she woke up crying again and I just brought her to bed with me, where we slept till almost 11.

Today, though, both her cousins came over, and we dressed them up and took them trick-or-treating to various bedroom doors with aunts and grandparents passing out candy. That was pretty cute.

I have twelve months till the next Halloween. Maybe I can get it together then.