Archives for 2008

Poll Results for When Will Mary Finish Work on the Boys’ Room?

3 votes for “by Labor Day”
1 vote for “after Thanksgiving but before Christmas”
3 votes for “sometime in 2009”
1 vote for “the boys will be in college before the room is finished”

OK–well, to the three of you optimistic friends, sorry to say that I won’t make the Labor Day benchmark, since it’s tomorrow. The room looks EXACTLY the way it did 3.5 weeks ago.

To my other voters: Thanks for playing. I really think it will be “sometime in 2009.” I will keep you posted, as I know many of you are dying of curiosity to see the finished product.

Because I’ve been running behind on life since—oh, I don’t know—fifth grade, I’ve decided this year I’m going to be ready for the upcoming fall season.

I simultaneously embrace and dread October, November, and December. The fall is full of fun activities, but it’s also the busiest time for our family.

So, I woke up the other day and it hit me that Halloween would be here soon. Then, Thanksgiving. And, oh no, Christmas. Last year my Christmas cards and letter were mailed weeks after Christmas. I figure if I get started NOW—in the middle of August—maybe I’ll get them out by Christmas Eve.

I want to do something really cute for the kids this year. I need your help to vote in another poll about your favorite costume idea. I’ve thought of Princess & Two Frogs; Princess Leia, Yoda, & R2-D2; or Dorothy, Lion, & Scarecrow. If you have other “combo” ideas, I’d love to read them in comments section.

OK—then, next I need to start preparing Thanksgiving dinner. And, Christmas shopping? Wrapping?

Ugh. I better get started.

Today my first-born began her school career. Susanna went to Kindergarten.

It was a wonderful day. Chris and I walked her to her class, and she was so eager to begin her day. She was reluctant to even stop at the front door for pictures. “Come on! Let’s go, let’s go!” she said.

She looked adorable in her standard school attire (they don’t call it a “uniform,” per se).

Chris and I stayed for the “Boo Hoo” breakfast, designed to help parents make a clean break from their children.

But I’m not really sad. I’m excited. I have always loved school. It’s crazy, but it’s as if I get to live vicariously through my kids’ school experiences. I love learning new things, having new experiences, and meeting new people. Susanna gets to do all of that now! She has a lifetime ahead of learning and that’s exhilarating to me.

Chris described it well. It’s a feeling of “no turning back.” We’ve hit yet another milestone of parenting. The preschool years have passed.

The absolute highlight of the day: Susanna has her very own locker
with her name posted on the outside.

Susanna and her teacher, Ms. Sullivan. It’s going to be a great year!

In the 21st century blogosphere, what’s the way to earn a little extra cash?

Forget yard sales or odd jobs.

In the blogosphere, it’s all about page clicks.

So, I’m following a fellow blogger’s lead and participating in Blog the Recession. She’s rallying mom bloggers everywhere to help each other out just by taking a look around others’ blogs.

Simple, really. Just read my blog. Like you’re already doing. And tell your friends.

Thank you and the children thank you.

Chris and I are so richly blessed to have loving, supportive, and generous parents. They have given over and again of their time, love, and money to our family. I’m convinced we could not have survived new babies, household emergencies, and automobile catastrophes without them!

Mimi, Papa, Nana, and Papa are a tremendous encouragement to our family. They are “grand” in every sense of the word.

Papa and Mimi (Bill and Linda Bernard) and
Nana and Papa (Frances and Hugh Parker)

Susanna: Mom, why does poo-poo float?
Mom: I really don’t know. I couldn’t answer that. I guess you’d need to ask a doctor to get the right answer.
Susanna: Or Jesus. You could ask Jesus because he made us.

Amen.

I didn’t sleep well at all last night. All of the kids were up and down, about every hour on the hour. We woke up with Seth in our bed and Susanna asleep in the chair in our room. This is really brutal, considering the boys were wide awake and ready to start the day by 4:45. This, in spite of the fact that I KNOW they didn’t sleep well at all.

Anyway—one of the more exciting adventures of the night was with Spencer. He came to our door crying hysterically. I kept trying to figure out what was wrong. So, I just walked him back to bed, tucked him in, pulled up the covers. He was still crying. Please, please don’t wake up Seth.

I was about to crawl into bed with him to snuggle. Then I noticed it.

Oh, no! He’s been abducted by aliens!

His nose was bleeding. Blood was all over his face.

I have very little experience with nosebleeds. I never had them and the other children haven’t had them.

But I am quite familiar with Scully’s plight on the X-Files. Her frequent nosebleeds were the first sign that aliens had abducted her and put some type of cancer-causing chip in her neck.

Anywho, Scully was cured. And Spencer’s nosebleed went away.

And I read in my American Academy of Pediatrics book (at 2 a.m. this morning) about nosebleeds, just to make sure I didn’t need to be really alarmed about something.

Like an alien-placed-cancer-causing chip in Spencer’s neck.

Turns out I didn’t need to.

I just have to say that I DON’T UNDERSTAND AT ALL why our taxpayer dollars are going to assist television owners with upgrading their rabbit ear TVs to the brand-spanking new digital cable. (Unless I’m completely off-base, I am assuming that tax dollars allocated to some branch of the FCC will cover the cost of converter box coupons. I have not read or heard anything about the money coming from some other source.)

I think those TV ads are crazy. “Don’t worry. If you are impoverished and struggling to make ends meet and can’t afford a new digital TV with digital everything service, then by golly, we are going to make it easy for you. We—ahem, the taxpayers of this country—are going to get you what you need. Maybe you can’t feed your kids or pay your electric bill, but you’ll have crystal clear television to view!”

Here’s what the government program website has to say about the cost of converter boxes:

When TV converter boxes are available, retail stores will set the price. TV converter boxes are expected to cost between $50 and $70. The Federal Government permits each U.S. household up to two $40 coupons to help pay for the cost of the converter box. After applying for the coupon, participating retailers will charge the consumers the remaining balance between $10 and $30.

It’s not that I’m opposed to groups, whether it be para-church organizations, the Church, or the government, helping those in need. I am opposed to robbing from those in need to give cable TV (or any TV, for that matter) to the less fortunate. The last time I checked, television is in the entertainment category. It’s optional. A luxury. I.e., not a necessity. Not an $80/household necessity.

Food banks in our area are struggling right now to keep up with the demand. Hmmmm…. I’d rather have my TV “coupon” money buying a case of mac-n-cheese for my city’s food bank. Just a thought.

Since I know that children somewhere are starving … as they watch their government-provided digital TV.

On July 20, I got the boys’ closet cleaned out to get ready to install their new closet organizing system.

Oh, wait. Let me back up. I actually purchased the closet system LAST YEAR. That’s right. I got it in May 2007. It’s just taken me this long to begin the installation process. (I’m not going to mention how no one in my family is as excited about closet organization as I and is, therefore, not motivated much at all to prioritize cleaning out closets.)

OK. So back to the home improvement.

I cleaned out the closet last week. Then decided that before I install the closet organizer, I really need to paint the closet. This of course meant I had to decide paint colors, get the paint, patch all the holes in the wall, tape the edges, then paint.

So, this week, I got all of that done! Woohoo! Yippee!

Except that I ran out of paint. So, I have a kinda-sorta-painted-and-splotchy closet. And since I have to drive all the way to Belle Meade to get the type of paint that I want (Benjamin Moore Aura), it’s really quite a jaunt. And since I have three kids who are uber-fascinated with anything the least bit out of the ordinary (like, I don’t know, making the walls a new color), there’s no way in you-know-where that I would attempt any further work on this project until they are out of the house.

I really don’t know when I’ll get this done. It helps that I’m an extremely patient person and really do enjoy the process of it all. Considering the boys have one more week of preschool then don’t return until after Labor Day, I’m thinking it may be St. Patrick’s Day before the room is all finished. (By the way, I have grandiose creative ideas for their room. I’ll keep you posted how that goes and post pictures, of course.)

I’d love you to vote in my poll. When do YOU think I’ll get the boys’ room done?

Why does life have to be so complicated?