The Tree Is Decorated

There is a reason why my Mom didn't let us help decorate the tree until we were oh, say, teenagers.

If you don't know me well, let me start by saying that I lean more towards the obsessive/compulsive side of things.  If you do know me well, I assume you have a mental image of this evening.

I can usually watch my children make giant messes and put their toys away in the totally wrong place (as long as it's off the floor, I'm generally happy).

Decorating the tree, however, is something that I have lovely mental images of: slowly taking ornaments out of their boxes, picking the perfect place to put them - you get the idea.  That is not what happened tonight.  It started off well enough: Molly was putting non-breakable ornaments on the bottom branches and Emmett was busy pushing one of Molly's dolls around in its stroller.  Which was great.  Until Molly got her stool to put ornaments up higher.  Then Emmett just wanted to push Molly off the stool so he could get on.  Molly started yelling because Emmett was pushing her.  Then Emmett noticed the ornaments and pulled some of them off the tree.  Molly started yelling because Emmett was knocking things off the tree.  Then Molly wanted to start pulling ornaments out of the box herself, which meant that my lovely organized tree turned quickly into 90% of the ornaments on the bottom 1% of the tree.  And I tried to keep my head from exploding.  At one point, I just left the scene and put E in pajamas to keep from losing it while Molly kept pulling things out being like, "Oh look at this one!" then putting it down & grabbing another one, "Can we do this one next?"

I know... I know... I need to relax and enjoy the moment, that I'll be sad when they're older & they don't care about decorating the tree.  So I'll try.  And if not, next time I'll just go put my pajamas on.

Was It Worth It?

Seeing everyone's posts this weekend about the great deal they got at this store or that, I had to ask myself - was it worth it?

Was it worth spending your Thanksgiving plotting which store you would hit first to try to get that one thing you "had" to have?  Did you miss a moment with your family that you'll never get back while pouring over the ads?

Was your desire for a $200 TV worth the big-box employee having to leave their Thanksgiving dinner to get to work in time to have their store open at midnight?  Or the employee who worked a split shift on Thanksgiving to get stock out and set up the promotions so that they didn't get a chance to spend the day with their family?  Was it worth the Target employee who crashed her car because she was so exhausted after her Black Friday shift?

We talk about the greed of the 1%, of the big businesses in America... maybe that greed is not so far away after all.  When people are pepper-spraying other customers, maybe it's time for all of us to take a good look in the mirror.

My Kids Crack Me Up

This morning, Molly has been particularly funny.  The last thing she's been doing was having her birds, Jewel and Blue (from Rio) hitting each other and then making them apologize and have a time out.  While doing this, she's saying things like, "Blue it is not nice to hit your friends.  Say you're sorry to Jewel and then go sit over here in time out."  Then putting them on the trampoline while she jumps - which I suppose is a pretty good punishment if toys are really like they are in Toy Story.

Right now she's practicing tracing letters on her Leapfrog thing.  And doing an incredible job.  It's crazy how one day they just decide things are interesting.

Emmett's vocabulary is exploding lately - I love this stage.  It's adorable when he says, "Bye!" and gives people big hugs and "Whee!" when he does anything fun.  But I think my favorite thing is when he goes & sits on Molly's potty and says, "Poop."  And sometimes he actually does - thankfully he hasn't figured out how to take off his diaper yet.

I Bet My Monday Is Worse Than Your Monday

I bet my Monday is worse than your Monday.  Here's why:

1) The toilet was clogged this morning.  Thankfully, the hubby took care of that one.

2) Hubby's car won't start.  Luckily the kids & I were dressed, so we drove him to work.

3) While taking the hubby to work, the dog ate all of my daughter's Halloween candy.  Chocolate, gummy bears, Nerds - everything.  Wrappers and all.  At least now my living room & dining room are freshly vacuumed.

4) After cleaning all the dog mess, I finally got a chance to use the bathroom.  (Did I mention I needed to do a #2 before leaving to take the hubby to work?)  While in the bathroom, my daughter used her potty that's downstairs.  Her little brother decided to pick up the full potty and dump it all over the kitchen floor.  So I got to mop that up.  I'm just thankful he didn't decide to bring it in the living room.  I'm pretty sure he was trying to be helpful and dump it in the kitchen sink.

5) I start my new job today.

And now that I'm sitting still, I'm pretty sure I stepped in pee and not just mopped floor because my socks smell like pee.  

I'm going to go shoot myself in the face now (and then change my socks and wash my feet).

My Period Wants Cheese

I have my period.  I want cheese.  If you're still interested, please read on.

The last 3 days, I have wanted cheese.  I went to the grocery store to deposit a check and bought myself spinach/ricotta ravioli.  I had them for lunch the other day.  Yesterday I made myself spinach dip because I really wanted more of the ravioli.  Today I made myself a quesadilla & forced myself to put chicken in it because I probably would've put an entire package of cheese in it otherwise.  Dairy will do in a pinch (like the Hershey bar I engulfed), but if I could figure out how to just fry cheese in a pan without it sticking, I probably would.  Repeatedly.

Since I had Emmett, my periods have been insane.  It's like being in high school again.  Migraines, extreme cramps, acne - you name the symptom, I've got it.  Is this common?  I can't wait until my OB/GYN appointment next month so I can get this under control.

On a side note, Emmett can fall asleep for his nap any time now.

What To Write

I've been having some issues deciding what to write lately.  Everything seems short enough to be a Facebook status update.  

That and the fact that I started watching a couple of little boys every day.  If I thought I was tired with Molly & Emmett...  So we're settling into that routine.  

And Molly started school.  The first week was really rough.  She would scream bloody murder and her teacher had to call me to pick her up because she was upsetting the other kids.  Want to know what will make you feel like a crappy Mom?  That.  She's always been so independent and outgoing.  I was wondering where my bold, wonderful little girl went...  Yesterday we had Dad drop her off and she finally stayed the whole day.  Thank goodness!  I know she'll love school once she gets used to not being home with me and makes a couple friends.

I F**king Hate Spiders

There is a HUGE spider in my house.  It was last seen running under my dryer at approximately 10:00PM last night.  Now every time I walk into my kitchen, I am going to be paranoid until a) I find it and kill it or b) I forget about it (at which point I'm sure it will make it's return).  Getting Molly her milk & juice this morning was torture.

I spend most of spring on a house-wide spider killing bonanza.  I'm not excited for a round two this fall.  But those are (while creepy) run of the mill spiders.  This thing is big and fast.  Mike tried to kill it several times for me last night before it made it's eventual escape.

Ugh.  I f**king hate spiders.