Crap!

I just realized that Thursday is the day that my brother and three of his kids come into town to come skiing. I have known about them coming for quite sometime but all of the sudden the time is here. I am currently looking around my house and realizing that the chaos that is currently here is fine if you live here (and contribute to) on a daily basis is not so good when out of state family is coming to visit. And, how did it get this bad in the first place? Aren't I constantly (but obviously not very efficiently) cleaning? Really if it wasn't from my Roomba, I think I would burst into tears. I would call a service to come and clean but first I have to shovel out all of the mess first and I don't think I have time to do that and arrange a cleaning service to come. Crap! Crap! Crap! Would it be rude to make them wear blind folds for the first say 5 hours of their visit and when they got back from skiing everything could be done? Oh and it doesn't help that I just started my period after two years. Yes, two years.

Laundry Folding

I'm always reworking my systems. It seems that once I finally get a good schedule figured out, my kids change and I have to come up with a new plan. So, here is my latest laundry folding plan, that thus far has been working really well.

Right after my kids get into bed, I start folding all of the laundry from the day. Their bedrooms are across the hall from my laundry room and they always start to talk to me. I "allow" them to get out of their beds and put their clothes away. They feel like they are getting away with something because they are out of bed after I have officially put them to bed and I get help with putting everything away. It has been a win/win situation.

PURCHASED!

Well, I finally did it. I went and purchased us a piano today! In December, not only did I turn 35 but my husband and I celebrated our 10 year anniversary. To celebrate both grand events, he said he would buy me a piano. However, he let me do all of the research and go and pick it out and order it. (He is a wise man since I have strong opinions.) I have spent the last 6 months researching and finally today, all the stars lined up and I went and ordered it. It will be here next week. I can hardly stand it!

Getting Stuff Done Even When It Was Not on My Original List

I have had a really productive day, even if I didn't accomplish anything on my original list. Let me explain:

I woke up this morning thinking I would finish folding my laundry, clean the bathrooms, visit teach, go to Costco (how i hate going to Costco) and if I was really organized, maybe make it to Eddie Bauer to buy some new jeans.

Instead, this is how my day went:

--As my husband is leaving for work, "Can you stop by the office sometime and get the supplies list? I really you need you to go TODAY as we are low on a lot of things."

--Toothsome #4 has several melt downs, making folding laundry not possible.

--I took toothsome #3 to pre-school, ran home, had toothsome #2 read to me. She really wanted to finish her book today, so what is normally a 15 minute activity, turned into a 35 minute activity.

--Load up the car, go visiting teaching.

--Take toothsome #2 to the bus stop, go to Dentist husband's office. Talk to Dentist husband's office manager for about 45 minutes, realize I don't have my check book for the Costco run. Go to my car and the "Change oil" comes on. I 10 minutes away from the Honda dealership, so I go straight there. I was told it would be a 1/2 hour. 45 minutes later, I ask what is going on. They forgot about me. 1 hour and 15 minutes later, we are finally out of the dealership.

--Call from Dentist husband, "Have you gone and gotten the supplies yet?" So, I decide to forget Costco and run into the local grocery store and get his supplies.

--Drive home, remember I still have two checks from soccer that have to be deposited at the bank and go there. Pull into my driveway and realize that I need to shovel the snow off of it. Do that.

--Walk into the house and discover toothsome #3 has mashed Goldfish crackers all over my kitchen counter into a fine mist. Spend the next 30 minutes, cleaning the kitchen.

--Make toothsome #1 practice spelling words. Pick up q-tip mess in main bathroom created by toothsome #4. Sit down in front of my computer, cruise Perez Hilton web site and then decide to blog about all of this.

So, off to Barbacoa for dinner (Dentist husband is taking toothsome #3 to Hot Dog on a Stick for their Adventure tonight.) I'll fold laundry tomorrow.

Good Read--Austenland by Shannon Hale

If you have read any other books by Shannon Hale (Goose Girl, The Princess Academy), this is just as good if not better than her others. If you are a Jane Austen fan, you will LOVE this book--particularly if you are a Mr. Darcy fan. Unlike her others, this was written for an adult female audience and is just a fun, sit back and read this in the tub type of book.

On a side note, I just wiped off my kitchen counters for what has felt like the 10 millionth time. What is it about kitchen counters? They are ALWAYS dirty.

Death of the Toaster Oven

Back when my husband was single and just starting in dental school, he was offered a great opportunity to live in the basement of the home of an elderly lady--the mother of one of his professors. The rent was super cheap and my husband had to mow the lawn, take her blood pressure, and just keep a basic eye on things. The basement had its own entrance off an ally, its own bathroom and a small refrigerator and sink. It was very bare bones but for a single man with four years of expensive dental school ahead of him, it was a great set up.

Fast forward 3 and 1/4years later. Dentist husband and I are about to be married (we met at the end of his first year of school) and we were asked to continue living in the basement of this home. The professor's wife informed her husband that no woman should be expected to live in that basement without a kitchen, so strictly out of kindness to us, they converted an old dark room into a small kitchen for us. (They actually did a lot of improvements to it but the kitchen being the key point in this story). The only problem was that there was no 220 outlet for a full sized oven. After doing a lot of shopping around, I found the largest toaster oven available (a Black and Decker). It seemed super expensive at the time (I am thinking about $70) and hoped that someone would get it for us as a wedding present. We did get it (as part of a group gift from a group of nice ladies in my ward). I ordered some special cooking pans that fit into the toaster oven--it had muffin tins, a cookie sheet, a pan with raised-sides, so I could make a small pan of brownies or lasagna. It made enough food to serve two people. I remember placing that toaster oven on my counter and feeling so grown up! I was newly married and I remember the first meal I made in it was toasted cheese sandwiches.

Well, we have used that toaster oven daily, multiple times a day, for the last ten years and it finally died this past week. I had mixed emotions throwing it out. In my current, married with four kids life in a house we built four years ago, it took up way too much counter space. It could only make two toasted cheese sandwiches at a time, which was not enough when making lunch for my kids. It was old and out-dated looking in our stainless steeled appliance kitchen. I now have double ovens and a large assortment of pans and so I didn't use it for making small batches of cookies, brownies, etc. The toaster oven had quit toasting evenly a few years ago and during a visit from my parents, my dad out of frustration, went and purchased us a regular toaster. So, yes, it was time for it to die, but putting it in the trash can, all I could think about was how I felt taking it out of the box 10 years ago, feeling so grateful to have it and feeling so grown up. So, like a beloved pet, I am in no hurry to replace it. It served me well for 10 years and I have a silly empty feeling now that it is gone.

Dropping Like Flies

Well, the stomach flu hit our house BIG time over New Year's eve. We offered to host the family party at our house and for various reasons, everyone turned us down except our in-laws. And thank goodness! We had just finished eating our big meal (see previous post) when toothsome #3 started throwing up. About an hour later (just after I had handed out the awards) toothsome #1 lost his cookies. My in-laws, sensing a trend, decided to leave and about a 1/2 hour later, I got hit. Fortunately, dentist husband and toothsomes 2 and 4 had already had this bug several days earlier. Their version was a much milder case, so it didn't even register in my mind that this could become an epidemic. Well, finally 48 hours later, we are ALL doing better. The upside to this is that I am so reminded how great it feels to be healthy. And, it is much better to be the nurse helping the sickos than be the sick one. Good things to remember. Oh, and the steak (before I threw it up) was one of the best marinades my husband has come up with. The balsamic vinegar made all of the difference.