You're Not Bein' Very Nice to Me!

This was a disappointing weekend.
Saturday, we were supposed to have a pseudo-escape. It didn’t work out so well.
The fellowship organization got all the candidates hotel rooms at a nice place so they could easily make all the appointments—even those very early in the morning. Since Saturday was just the banquet and Sunday the getting-to-know-you events, we thought it would work nicely if I stayed over Saturday night. A dinner and hotel room! Free! Yes, I knew I would be necessarily neglected during dinner, but my hope was that the food would be good.
I should know better.
The “banquet” was a few different kinds of sloppy joe that were room temperature and had been sitting out a few hours (food poisoning, anyone?). I didn’t eat. The rooms were like a sauna and there was no hot water. I did not sleep well or comfortably. The morning shower was also unpleasant.
I left fairly early in the morning. Hubby said they’d switched the room to freezing with scalding water the next day (after walking around the city in the pouring deluge) and wondered if it was an endurance test of some kind. I would kind of wonder the same thing after that.
Sasha was mad at us when I got home. He did not want us leaving him (note: We left him with his grandparents, not alone). So he decided to punish us. And so he punished me.
He woke up at 1am and wandered into our room. Sometime before waking me up, he fussed with the buttons on the alarm clock changing it from “radio” to “rain” (keep in mind, it was pouring, so not a sound likely to cause any sleep disruption). Then he woke me up to ask me where his “red doggie pants were”. I didn’t know. At one am I didn’t have any idea what he was talking about. I told him to go back to bed. He pranced out “Ok, I’m findin’ ‘em”.
I opened my eyes a little and noticed his bedroom light was on so I got up.
There were clothes strewn everywhere and his drawers were empty. And he was bottomless. I asked if he’d wet or dirtied his PJ’s. Nope. I asked why he was half naked and in a new top (note to self: he can button). He said he didn’t want his Star Wars ones, he wanted the ones with doggies.
Oh, no. He was getting right back in his undies and pants, helping me put his clothes back, and getting his rear back in that bed.
Apparently that was intolerable. So he threw a fit.
My night of peaceful sleep was then toast and included a good bit of time cramming a wild baboon into clothes and cleaning up a clothing monsoon.
I suppose I should be grateful I got some extra sleep this morning courtesy of his alarm reprogramming.

Cleansed

This weekend I got it into me that we needed to go through our things and dispose of them.
It started with the shoes. I’d destroyed 3 pairs in the last two weeks. Sasha had grown out of every last pair of his. Hubby always says he needs new ones.

I went through the piles and got rid of more shoes than I care to admit we had. Sasha’s mostly got put away with the outgrown clothes. Other than his sneakers, his shoes are in wonderful shape so they can be reused or sold at consignment. Hubby had 3 pair that were legitimately too sad to keep. We’d already replaced two of his so he was only allowed one pair (this vexed him greatly as he kept coming with piles of shoeboxes). I, well, I’m embarrassed. I only had a pair of bone heels, galoshes, and a pair of brown boots left after all the torn, holey, dog-eaten, missing a shoe, or totally useless (like my pointe slippers from college) were removed.

While at the store, Sasha broke my purse (he decided to stand in it for an impromptu potato sack race of one), so I enjoyed some much needed retail therapy completely guilt-free. I legitimately needed to shop for myself so that I could go to work dressed properly so I didn’t sit there and feel the need to put everything back (which is usually my way).

I then started on our closets and bookcases.

I am married to a packrat. The torn and faded drapes which I have thrown out 3 times mysteriously reappeared in the hall closet and I will attempt to throw them out again. A broken DVD player was unearthed. Old, torn, worn clothing that is too pathetic to send to Goodwill was found stored. More was added to the old bags and will be placed on the curb once more. I still feel the need to purge so strongly. I think I’ll go through our belongings with a fine-toothed comb and clear out much of what we hold on to for no good reason. It will probably take a few weeks, but I know I’ll feel better for having done it. And now that Hubby has agreed that these things are all trash and in such sorry shape that they should NOT be saved…I hope we will actually be rid of them.

Then….then I will start on the painting again. I will renew my surroundings and thus feel renewed.

Absence

It’s been a rough and hectic few weeks.

I was constantly unsure if I was about to become unemployed (incessant 1-3 day extensions) and in the midst of it all a planned family vacation to Colorado.

I am exhausted from all of it. The stress, the travel, the lack of oxygen…

The vacation should be known as The One Where We Got 78,000 Photos of Sasha Climbing Rocks.

Garden of the Gods rocks.
Pikes Peak rocks.
Fishcreek Falls rocks.
Hot Springs rocks.

Rocks, rocks, and more rocks. Rocks of every shape, color, size and designation. So now we have extensive proof that preschoolers enjoy climbing and like rocks. As if that needed clarification. But he had fun, the rocks were free, and it does make for some beautiful photos.

Or it could be known as The One Where I Obsessed About Every Penny. During the trip, apparently our we won our jobs in a somewhat more permanent fashion. However, I didn’t find out till I was all happy about staying home today because I’m wiped and need the rest. But it’s good to know I continue to earn a paycheck, so I was still happy to come in. If I’d known it during vacation, we might have been able to have a bit more fun and eat a little nicer (peanut butter and jelly gets old, ya know?), however we did save a lot of money and so I suppose my worries did help our bank balance.

Perhaps we could also call it The One Where We Repeatedly Ran Into The Argument That Swimming Doesn’t Equal Bathing. Hubby is from a family of all boys. Wives did not come because they also had work quirks, but had elected to stay home where I figured I may as well go or else I’d just twiddle my thumbs. And this was a family vacation in the sense of EXTENDED family. Colorado has many bodies of water that are beautifully clean and clear, unlike here. I did not get icked out by the idea of jumping in for a swim myself and found it refreshing. However, there is no soap in the stream/waterfall/river/lake/springs. If anything, you may come out smelling worse (sulfer stinks). Men do not appear to understand this concept and BO in close quarters is not your friend.

Or it could be The One Where Kerrygirl Stayed Well. Granted, this was because she stayed with her vet. Who fed her the food we gave her and gave the dog a prophylaxis for her HGE that actually made sense. Xanax. When will other vets/kennels/dogsitters be clued in that Science Diet isn't the end all and be all of canine nutrition and antibiotics and heavy duty wormers are not the answer to all stomach issues? Medicine shouldn't be approched in a cookie-cutter fashion, since the world is not populated by clones with identical lives and experiances. Sometimes the odd and simple answer is the right one.

But mostly, I think it could be known as The One Where Sasha Decided Independence Was Good. He decided to get rid of the little seat for the potty. He fed himself. He decided to walk and hike with us (except the day he had bad blisters) without demanding to be carried or his stroller. He road amusement rides without us without crying. And he’s been really trying to get the #2 in the potty.

All in all, a pretty good time.

Stream of consciousness

It was an eventful weekend.

I passed my PMP.

My Grandfather simply passed.

We went to a fall festival and Sasha had his first pony ride. I use the word "pony" very loosely. Kind of like the people holding the pony rides did. And I'm pleasantly shocked that Sasha didn't cower in fear of the ginormous "pony". Draft horses are an unusual choice to go with for a pony ride...but I imagine that to the little tiny children perched atop them, it was much like sitting atop a very tall, moving sofa with that incredibly broad back. And Sasha? LOVED IT!!! He wanted to go again and only complained it was windy (it was rather windy that day, so not a reflection on the activity).

I went to visit my little neice again and bring them a few little things that are very handy for newborns.

I scrubbed my house from stem to stern with the help of a new product. Evidently, Magic Eraser comes in mop form. My floors haven't been this clean since we installed them. Nor has the tile on our bathroom walls. It's so nice to not have to get on my hands and knees for a change.

Striking Fear in the Hearts of Parents

I’ve begun to be filled with anguish at the hearing of a specific phrase:

“Sasha Help”*

Take for instance, when I heard it last night. I was fixing tonight’s dinner (organic vegan sloppy joe mix. Yum. Maybe. Probably not.), a batch of dog food (yes, I’ve given up and just started making my own for Kerrygirl. She lost serious weight on the commercial food.), and doing a few loads of laundry while Sasha was sitting on his little potty for 5 minutes.

I felt all panicky and ran to where I heard the little voice and saw….

• Him holding the little plastic receptacles and trying to walk over to the potty to empty it himself.
• Naked.
• With a poop still stuck to his butt.
• Sloshing urine and feces everywhere.
  

And given the history of “Sasha help” this was actually better than what I was expecting to see.
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Recompete season is upon us again.

This time I feel more secure and am not worried about getting laid off.

What am I doing? Looking at government jobs. I’m more than tired of dealing with the hassle of being this situation.

I can see the benefits to the client, for sure. But it’s something that wears on you after being in it for a decade or so. Eventually, I think I'd like more stability.

*****************************************************************************
*keeping in mind of course, Sasha is not his real name and just a placeholder. And that it needs to be his specific cadence of speech which is…unique. I’ve heard a lot of toddlers speak, and I haven’t heard his specific one yet. I need to find the musical transcription of the way every. Single. Sentence. Is spoken…

Randomness

The Bathroom is almost done. Pictures should be posted soon. Hubby and I finished everything that was necessary to make it functional (it was my project, but he has trouble letting me work on things like that so he inevitably takes over. Not that I’m inept or anything, but he usually knows of a faster way and doesn’t have to mull over how to do it first). I just need to touch up the paint were it was scratched putting in the counter and put back in the window treatments, toilet paper holder and such. An hour of work at the most. But regardless, it is a fully functional bathroom! I’m ready for that baby shower and guests!

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That’s of course after I clean the house. If you concentrate for 2 weeks on doing a renovation and potty training a child you’d be shocked at how absolutely HORRIBLE your house gets. We need a trip to the dump to get rid of the kabillion boxes and do the deep cleaning I usually do weekly. That hasn’t been done in about 3. Yikes.

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If you go to the Habitat Restore, try to look poor. We went in looking for deals that we could use to either finish the bathroom or do any of 1,000 other projects we wanted to do.

I found about a dozen boxes of tile that EXACTLY match our corian and formica countertops. We do not have a backsplash, and I’ve been meaning to tile back there but I hadn’t been able to find the patterns and style that would have looked good and done the job best.
And there they were, all marked at a measly $3 a box. SCORE!!!

But when we went up to pay they marked them UP! To $.50/tile! (which was a LOT more than $3/box).
I bought them anyway, because they were what I’ve been searching for over the last 5 years, but I did NOT get the deal of a lifetime. Do not wear t-shirts advertising a Beltway Bandit Corporation or have a kid walking around in designer (albeit, second hand store designer) clothes and a baby leash. It screams “yuppie.”

I will be back though. I saw some potentially beautiful solid wood furniture that needs to be stripped, refinished, and new hardware put on. When Sasha trades in his baby furniture for big kid furniture? I’ll totally be looking at the ReStore, Salvation Army, etc. Because to last thru a childhood, it can’t be laminate MDF and sandpaper and paint go a LONG way to making things look good.

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A week ago we mowed over and tilled the strawberry beds. The plants were suffering from the most horrible blight I’d every seen and we figured it best to start over. We had a lovely patch of plain old black dirt when we were done.
Yesterday?Row after row of beautiful green new strawberry plants. What the heck?

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I’m totally getting MomMuscles. I was carrying in heavy items (70lbs of dog, cabinets, etc.) with 30+ pounds of kid swinging himself around by hanging on to my back pockets. By the way, WalMart cheapo jeans? Rock and are indestructible.

Be Warned. This post is wrong on many levels.

I feel like I should be talking about the inauguration, given where I live.

But I’m not. I didn’t catch Obama-fever and I will let time and actions show me what kind of President he is, rather than rush to comment on it. All I know now is he left the corner I inhabit untouched and so it has yet to change anything for me…other than make for a huge increase in paperflow up till the point he asked everyone to stay on. And make me take two days of leave rather than one (I don’t get MLK day or inauguration day off, but we are not allowed to go into work either…hence required leave).

SO…

I will talk rather about a far more universal subject. One that took my weekends attention.

POTTY TRAINING! (and if you don’t think potty training is more universally important, you are not to ever sit on my furniture)

…And mostly, how we are apparently not quite ready for it.

Yes, Sasha understands about pulling pants down to sit on the potty. He knows you flush. And he both knows when he’s about to go and is happy to tell me because he hates being messy. Unfortunately, we met LOTS of resistance to actual pottying. He wouldn’t sit long enough, making a trail of mess EVERYWHERE. He didn’t like the little green cup that goes in there to catch the waste, instead attempting to exchange it (repeatedly) for a dog dish filled with water…making more mess because he clutched the dish to his chest to carry it. Water everywhere. Not to mention the urine as he leapt off the potty to race across the room to get the dog dish or the splashes of urine as he tried to grab out the little cup I was trying to hold down. Or how about how I got hosed when he took off the little shield and tossed it?

Oh, and poop. I don’t even want to remember it, much less recount it.

So we’re going to put it all away and try again later.

Meanwhile, this whole experience has reminded how easy it is to be naked from the waist down. Yay!

Nothing like catching your son trying to get “doggy kisses” on his nethers thru the baby gate.

I’m scarred. Scarred, I tell you.

Jesus? Yay!

We’re on the cusp of another little developmental shove. I can sense it.

This weekend was a weekend of freak outs. Things that just seem totally inane scared him. Our child, thus far, has been pretty close to fearless (except of the dark) but that’s all starting to change.

His talking, at least as far as I’m concerned is getting clearer and more frequent. I seem to be the only one though. Hubby says it’s because of HOW I talk to him that I understand him (constantly guessing and asking for confirmation). But still, progress is progress and I am not asking so much which means Sasha’s becoming more consistent.

He’s learning lots of new things. For example, now? He can do the sign of the cross (he gets a little mixed up at the “Holy Spirit” part but that’s still really awesome). He’s the only person I know who ends it with applause and a “Yay!”, but it’s a cute way to end it. I’m sure God appreciates exhuberance, even if the person next to us in Church doesn’t. And if you ask who we talk to when we pray? He says “Jesus”. I know he has no clue who Jesus is, but hey, it’s a start.

The “helping” is reaching new highs. And the poor child, I think we need to give him more guidance. For example, when he comes down in the morning he likes to bring me the dog dishes. Sometimes the dogs have already been fed and are in the middle of eating. Oops. He wants to help me unload the dishwasher, like he does at Grandma’s. But we have heavy stoneware and he drops every single one (thankfully, they haven’t broken) because it’s too heavy. Oops. He wants to help me put clothes away. Unfortunately, he decides to do it from his dirty hamper. Again, oops. I’ve been trying, like guiding him into cleaning up his toys, giving him a cloth with vinegar to clean up where he dumped his milk on the couch, and so on. But I think he needs more.

Minutiae

It's been kind of an odd week.

Work has been insane, to a greater degree than normal.

Sasha has been acting like there's some serious teething going on, but other than his 2 year old (and later) molars...he should be done. And isn't it a bit early for those??? Oh please God tell me it's too early. The last set of molars were so very unpleasant I was enjoying our breif break from teething.

The bathroom is almost done, just a few minor adjustments and a paint job and we'll have more than one bathroom. Yay! And this one will be back to being outfitted so you can wash dogs. Double Yay!

We've been working on "fixing" the yard. Our planting beds have gotten a bit out of sorts, our bushes out of control, the bulbs all have needed digging up and splitting for YEARS, and now that we know what our limitations are with the dogs, I have some re-landscaping to do. So far, progress is slow but visible.

I've been preparing for Christmas.

I just received Sasha's Nativity Set in the mail. It's so adorable. I'd been looking for a toddler-friendly set and had been kind of..er..floored at how expensive all nativity sets are. Especially those made of resin or wood so that little hands can play with them. This one was so reasonable, if not exactly "beautiful", I just ordered it straight off. Plus, any kids we have can play with it to their hearts content without worries about breakage or swallowed peices.

I've also found a place where we can go cut our own tree (same place we went for pumpkins).

And started considering some traditions I'd like to do...

The Birthday Cake for Jesus (provided Sasha ever starts likeing baked goods)

The use of some kind of wild animal as a Santa Spy who'd be able to watch on little children unnoticed from anywhere and report directly to Santa.

The Christmas tree for the Animals (ornaments made with popcorn, dried fruit, nuts and seeds) for the FRONT yard (it's not fair to "gift" the wildlife with a sure and painful death at the hands of our resident predators). We started one already this year and I think it's a sweet, simple idea.

Speaking of "The Predators" here's some photos:

A gift, for our beloved Leader.

What? You don't like mice?

If she doesn't want it, seems tasty to me.

The Huntress feasts on fancy, restricted diet kibble.

No Daylight Saved

So, yesterday *should* have been a day to catch up on a little sleep. It wasn’t, but it should have been.

Normally, given no disturbances to his sleep (like being bundled into the car at 6am), Sasha will happily snooze away till 8. We’ve learned that unless we want to be up till midnight, it’s best to wake him up at the usual crack-o-dawn time and go about our day earlier than anyone should ever have to on a weekend.

So, I thought, we’ll let him sleep in a bit and we’ll just start off Sunday on our new schedule. Seems logical right? Well, you’d be wrong.

Nope. He slept horribly the night before. And was cranky and tired all Sunday. And when cranky and tired? He also does not eat. Which does not help the mood.

It was a rather unpleasant day, despite my attempts to force sustenance, naptime, or distractions upon him. Not even naked bathtub fingerpainting was appreciated by him—and that combines some of his most favorite stuff (being naked, making artwork, being able to play in water, and making messes).

So, I myself am exhausted, cranky, and now have a huge and lovely obvious bitemark on my right cheek. And that’s the face cheek.

Also, Kerrygirl’s stomach issues seem to be back, but I wonder if this time it isn’t just worms. For one, this time she seems totally unphased. She’s behaving like her normal obnoxious self—eating everything in sight, bouncing everywhere with joy over nothing (knocking over furniture) and whining when something calls to her attention the fact she isn’t surgically attached to my leg. No moping. No hunger strikes. And then there have been the gifts. Yes, gifts. You always know fall and spring in our household. Because they are the seasons of Mud & Death. The hunting is good and the mudpits are even better making my chore list just absolutely explode. I guess another possibility is the C-word because kerries who get it seem to behave entirely too normal. If so, well, I don’t think it’d be a shock. Poor girl’s health has been so awful since we rescued her that I’m always expecting to find her unexpectedly passed on.

Speaking of chore list, I’m struggling to get thru my twice a year chores (packing away clothes, the Goodwill boxes, shampooing the carpets and drapes, organizing the office, and fixing the garden). The drapes are unsavable—torn, stained, and repulsive. I can’t seem to get Sasha’s carpet shampooed and his is the worst, easily. No opportunities to go spend time in the office alone (it doesn’t work with Sasha with me and Hubby just doesn’t get it). And I haven’t had time to work in the garden.

Do the Parrot Polka

We had a pretty good weekend.
Saturday was spent at the Flea Market. As always, I was looking mostly for furniture to replace the beat-up, half-broken IKEA stuff that Hubby and I had since before we were married. IKEA is great, but by and large it does not travel well. And the recently graduated have a habit of moving every 12 months or so.
But I didn't find anything that was right. So all we ended up with was some cast iron cookware that's still so very usable.
Sasha had an exciting day of scaring venders by running full-tilt at their displays...until he ran out of leash and would just land on his bottom a safe distance away.
Yes, we had him in a leash and harness. It was great. He didn't have to stay trapped and motionless in his stroller, I didn't have to pay thousands of dollars to someone selling estate crystal and dishware.
Sunday I cleaned out the fridge/freezer and went to the store and bought groceries and did some prep for various dinners this week.
This weeks menus are:Chili atop spaghetti squash
Slow cooked bbq pork butt and baked apples
Ratatouille
Mulligatawny
Jambalaya
We've been eating out a lot because of my latenights at work, a lack of easy-prep food, and Sasha's insistance on "helping" in the kitchen. I know Hubby just can't do it all. And a slow-cooker while we're at work is out of the question (the dogs). But now we can eat at home and it'll be easy. I can reheat while he sits in front of Sesame street, shoving chunks of roasted sweet potato, turkey, and green beans in his mouth and "chair dancing".

I Think Decompression Gave Me the Bends

Today's been such a rough week, that I didn't come to work till almost noon. I wanted to have a little time to myself. To move slowly. To get things done that *I* wanted done.

To decompress.No such luck, and I really should have known better.

The morning started off at a quarter to 4. Screaming from the Nursery.

I went in to an extremely full diaper and proceeded to change it. Well, I got it off when Sasha decided to throw the Butt Paste onto the floor.

I swear I only left him diaper-free for a moment to retreive the precious tube.

But it was enough to shower himself, the wall, the carpet, the bedding in his crib (about 10 feet away) and his Taggie (also on the floor) with urine. I am amazed at how much urine the bladder of a 15 month old can hold. I don't think mine, at it's fullest, holds that much.

So off we went to the bathroom for a quick bath, as his hair was now soaked in pee and I did not have faith that baby wipes were the answer.

Well, this caused louder screaming as he was not only NOT just changed and stuck back in bed, but now was coated in pee but stripped down and stuck in the shower.

Eventually we were both cleaned (although I left his room for later) and back in bed. The morning progressed normally, only I didn't get up again till 0730.

Up to run the dogs around to lessen the crazy that builds up.

Then around the house I zoomed doing laundry, cleaning toilets, replacing air filters, collecting dishware/random trash, dusting, vacuuming and mopping. Then, with a beautifully clean home, I went upstairs to shower.

I think our neighbors must have mowed yesterday and run a poorly aimed sprinkler this morning. Because, when I came out?Mud, grass clippings, etc. All. Over. Everywhere.
And the clean, folded, put away clothes? Pulled out and strewn all about the house.
And no time to do anything about it but go to work.

Weeks like this week are the kind of things that drive people to drink.
But no alcohol for me, too many WW points.

It's the Wallpaper Paste of Foods

A lovely, but busy, last weekend at home before vacation.

Mountains of laundry. Efforts to find bathroom fixtures to order that'd suit Hubby's mental picture (so they may be coming in when we return). And the annual pig roast at the in-laws.

The roast was nice, if hot. There was a pool though so it was easy to get cool, and once you were in the shade (for example, under the tents provided) it was about 15 degrees cooler feeling.

I'd brought poi. The taro I'd bought made more than the tiny dish I'd needed to bring to Friday's luau at work. Way more.

Apparently Sasha likes it. He ate several spoonfuls and let me feed it to him before digging in to the bowl with his hands and shoveling it in that way.

It was a weekend of firsts for him.

First time in the pool. He was greatly frustrated by his flotation device or that he needed to be held and could not be free to wander about an adult-sized pool on his own. We can see that a baby pool would be quite a hit for him.

First time wandering around grass freely. He was at first wary of the pokey blades of grass and stayed on the blanket we put out. Then he got over it and went all over the acerage available. Unfortunately, it seems he's a tad allergic to grass (something I should have been able to forsee). Rash all over his legs and hands.

First time in the sandbox he got for his birthday. Yeasty diaper rashes and such kept him from it for a while. But this weekend seemed okay. He liked scooping, spilling, and breaking up the clumps of sand. And he didn't even try eating it.

He's also made up a little dance. Kind of a mashed potato/twist/toe-touch/fullbody seizure that ends in him lifting his right leg up to his head. He'll do it if you play Celebration. Every. Time. It's hysterical, but I'm getting a little tired of the song. He on the other hand, LOOOOVES it!

We got a little time to ourselves. The date didn't quite work out...a leisurely lunch of sushi had to be rethought because the restaurant isn't open for lunch on Sundays. So pizza and a movie, Wanted. It had been getting rave reviews, but I'm not sure why. Methinks it has something to do with gratuitous gunplay and a nekkid Angelina Jolie. Or people being able to suspend reality enough to think that physics will only apply if you believe in it.

Right. Because a rifled gun barrel doesn't figure in. It's all about what's in your head.

I'm getting a little tired of the "Think Positive" movement that was made famous in The Secret. Because? Really? Just cause you want something bad, it doesn't make stuff happen. Visualizing it, doesn't make stuff happen. There are laws and circumstance already in place that may assist or prevent you in you achieving your goal. It's detrimental to push that thought process because it makes every dream dashed, your fault. Ill family not recovering? Infertility? A vocation you felt called to, not fulfilled? In this philosophy, these are all your own fault. And that's just not right.

Weekend

We had a lovely date night Saturday. Dinner was lovely (but thank goodness for gift cards, I really don't think it was THAT good) and we went to see Iron Man.

Spent the rest of the weekend trying to clean and organize. Took a trip to the dump to freecycle (they have a Too Good to Throw Away building where we take things we have no use for). We got the dogs groomed, and scrubbed the whole house down. I still am working on a mountain of laundry and need to iron and rehang the drapes but we're much better off than we were.

I also tried to clean and organize the office, but have you ever tried to organize stuff in a room where a toddler is playing? Especially one with lots of little drawers and shelves with small, brigthly colored objects?

Yeah, after 2 hours the office actually looks worse than it did when I started.

Additionally, Sasha has gotten FAR more active and strong. But being as he has no idea what he's doing, it's not such a good mix.

A good example has been that he broke a part off of our fridge. This is not an old fridge. We bought it when we renovated the kitchen. But now part of the handle has been yanked and snapped off. He also got in there and got a yogurt. Thankfully, it was just a one of his usual snacks.

As a treat for all our hard work today we went out for ice cream (a word to the wise, their mint is nasty)--courtesy of more gift cards. And I made an extremely junky dinner-- bacon cheeseburger pizza. Made a whole grain crust myself and made it from all-natural ingrediants. However, I don't care how healthy that whole grain is, this is NOT a healthy dinner

2 whole grain crusts
1 lb ground beef, fried in olive oil with cracked peppercorns
3 medium-sized mushrooms, sliced, fried with beef
BBQ sauce (can sub ketchup and mustard)
Fried onion rings
Diced tomato
Diced pickle
Chopped fried bacon
Cheddar cheese, shredded

And after baking top with:
Shredded lettuce
French fried potatos

Heart attack on a plate, I'm telling you....

progress

I've been working to replace Linus. I know, I know...he loves it. But it causes problems when we need him to self soothe sometimes.

For example, in sleep. He will try to snuggle it under his face while curled up on his tummy. This makes for an odd and uncomfortable lump. And therefore, crying.

So I am trying to work in the Taggie to replace it.

At the moment, it seems to be going well. I take it out whenever I go to nurse him and rest it on him. It's helped with the SuperSoaker action by giving his hands something to do. And now, I've noticed, he is going to it more and more when he wants to self-soothe. Yay!

Sasha has been doing well. He stood up Saturday night and then took his hands off and stayed there a while. Then of course he got excited and did that arm-flail-spaz he does when excited and fell down. But hey...it was a moment. Now he knows he can do it and is learning to lower himself without holding onto anything.

I can so tell he's categorized things in his room. He has this little train that cycles colored balls thru it. The Hound has eaten all but the orange one, and so he knows that something orange works in the train. He has tried to shove everything orange into that train to see if it also will work. Naturally, it doesn't but it's fortunate that the makers figured on that happening and made the train pull apart easily to fish out jammed in stuffed tigers.

We're trying to teach him to clap, but really I think he'd rather just have us do it for him. He will do it once I hold his hands for him and start singing the song, but spontaneous clapping is just not happenin'. It's not like Peek-a-boo where he'll find a cloth and start playing on his own. Or Humpty Dumpty where he'll start bouncing himself on your lap (after climbing into it) and throwing himself backwards.

Food, well, my step back wasn’t far enough. He just does NOT like texture. The overcooked couscous should not have posed a problem. But he doesn’t want it in his mouth. The dinner we tried this weekend he didn't care for either. It was a veggie dinner with zucchini, corn, greenbeans, etc. Some of it was new and some of the veggies he'd had before. He didn't like something there and was kind of on a food strike on and off all weekend. All he would eat without a struggle was stupid mangos and oatmeal.

Did some errand running and cleaning this weekend. House looks almost presentable and dogs are happy because they got new toys...has been almost a year since I did and theirs were pretty sad. It's hard because they destroy their stuff quickly and I need to find ones that will hold up. This seems their favorite:

Cleaning And Traveling

Today one of my co-workers stopped by to pick up the last of the baby stuff. I feel terrible because of the state of my house.

You know how it looks when you're doing spring cleaning.

Everything is pulled out of the closets and attic into piles everyhere.

Laundry is stacked awaiting the iron because I'm not putting rumply drapes back up.

Because it's spring, it is also "mud season" and the dogs have put their mark on everything.

And then add to it the fact we are, as always, in the middle of doing laundry so there was a pile in the mudroom, that we had breakfast dishes in the sink, the nursery smells like poo because Sasha has soiled his diaper during his nap, and I have yet to shower?

Yeah, embarassing.

But now Hubby is home, and I have help doing this all. And next week? Spring break. He can easily do a few things while Sasha naps. Like iron the drapes for rehanging, Pack stuff for Goodwill or Freecycling into the truck. Go thru that box of old files he had when he married me and trash it (does he really need Taco Bell paychecks from high school? I think not).

And then back to work and the following week, Philly. He still has to hammer out details, but we're staying in the same nice hotel as last time (and I hope we get another surprise upgrade too!). Not that I want to see that, but the free meals and much nicer room more than made up for it for me.

We're planning out our summer trip to California to visit my Grandmother and relatives who don't get out to the east coast. I'm thinking that except for things like dog boarding and food we can go for free. Points for airfare. Different points for lodging. Yet other points for a rental car. And we need to use them too. Apparently several of those programs are going to end soon because the companies are struggling financially. We need to get everything redeemed while we still can.

To Purple

There is a blog I read. I find her project of simplifying her life and ridding it of all the unnecessary trappings and progressing towards “greenness” as quite interesting and a concept I am very on board with. But as she mentioned in one of her posts “For some people Purple is Green”, well….we’re purple.
As much as I’d love to reject the material and live a zen existence, it’s just not practical. I am married to a Gadget Man/Packrat/Obsessive Tinkerer. As anyone who knows such a person is aware, having ‘things’ is a necessity for them. If they don’t have ‘things’, they will create them. It is futile to fight it. The best I have been able to manage is to keep the influx of ‘things’ balanced by a steady stream of outgoing ‘stuff’.
I also have to rely on hiring professionals to help us out on keeping things up. For example, we pay people to groom our dogs and clean our house. That is a luxury, but one that has become necessary with me in school (in addition to working full-time). Such things are luxuries. However, it does simplify our lives. Grooming a kerry blue takes ALL DAY. Time I would rather spend in quality time with my family. And the cleaning of our house is a special arrangement that seems to benefit everyone---not to mention I’ve never had it cleaner or cleaned more greenly.
But other things have been done. For one, our food is all cooked from fresh ingredients. I traded cleaning for cooking and think it’s benefiting us all greatly.
Another is that we didn’t buy a new construction home or hire a lot of contractors. No, we bought an old Colonial and did nearly everything ourselves and just got all the permits and inspections done. I really think there’s a lot less waste in that because extra parts got returned to the store or used elsewhere in the home. Like the extra wood/hardware for our deck? Turned into patio furniture. Crown moldings? Picture frames. Nothing was wasted. Also, when it comes time to replace broken Ikea-type furniture, I like to do it in one of 2 ways: 1) find vintage or antique pieces at The Big Flea that are quality craftsmanship and will go with my décor, or 2)Have my husband (our in-house craftsman) build something out of scrap furniture grade lumber. Unless of course we’re talking mattresses, sofas, or other things that don’t last well. Those we get new.
We also have eliminated almost all the chemical cleansers. We still use dishwasher detergent and fragrance/phosphate-free laundry products, but for the most part that’s it. Everything else is able to be cleaned/disinfected with steam or boiling water. When we clean in between big cleanings, I don’t find the Shark takes any longer or more effort. And mysterious rashes have disappeared.
I did try to garden to raise some of our own organic fruit and veggies. That hasn’t worked so well. The dogs eat it or it accidentally gets mowed over. We have been considering getting into hunting. I have no problems with the concept provided all parts of the animal are used, and with us they would be (free dog food!). And we have 2 breeds that have the ability to be used for hunting—and I’ve seen them work together to take down prey, they’re very good at it.
For clothes, some friends and I have a clothing swap every season. Stained/destroyed clothing is of course not allowed, but everyone has things they’ve decided they just don’t like or don’t fit as well as they once did. I’ve gotten some lovely things…and given them away as well. It’s kept my closet from building up and kept my clothing budget down to a minimum.
And finally, medically we’ve been trying to be as holistic/homeopathic as possible. I have seen a big difference in the health of both ourselves and our pets with this change. I really think that working WITH the body to fight illness rather than against it to be quite beneficial.
So here’s to Purple.

Dreamin'

well, the mother-in-law as cleaning lady has been great. It took a little getting over my privacy concerns (and realizing I had nothing that was all that interesting), but it's really great.

I would normally be upset about having her know we live in such filth, but really, *we* aren't dirty. My laundry is all folded and hung (maybe not put away, but it's okay sitting in a basket all tidy), my dishes and counters are clean, my fridge and oven get scrubbed out regularly, and so on. We're actually pretty clean.

It's those dogs....Those blankety-blank dogs who like to dig and bring in half-eaten vermin and hide them under the sofa (and I discover when I smell something funny). And it's obvious because after she came to clean, she came back the next day to visit...

And the muddy pawprints were back and the Hound (as seen right) brought in a freshly killed squirrel.

I love my girls, but yickkkkkhhhh!!!

But besides all that, we are still looking at very "doggy" dogs for future pets. We don't expect KerryGirl to live too many more years and know a waitlist can be as long as 2-3 years with a breeder. And it can take a while to find a good one and get them to put you on their list so we're kind of thinking about types now. No prissy lapdogs for us.
And nothing tiny either. The Hound is even a little small for us.
We have a few thoughts: Podengo Medio, Airdale, Kerry Blue Terrier, Spinone Italiano, Portuguese Water Dog, Polish Lowland Sheepdog, Twatha-Utonagan, Irish Wolfhound...

Dunno exactly what we'd want and they're all a bit odd choices. Since I'm pretty decent at grooming and now have practice with dealing with nearly every temperment I think we can manage just about anything. They're all beautiful, good with kids (okay, the airdale and spinone may take some work, but very doable) and medium-ginormous. They all have their good and bad points.

Plus, we don't expect to stay where we are. We hope to move to the Pacific Northwest and get a large lot and build our home. It's cheaper up there, life is a little less harried (but not to the degree of "island time"), and we thought it was beautiful. When I finish school and the housing market improves (we'd never be able to sell now), we may pack up and go. We already have 'the list' drawn up of what the house should have. We do think a good alternative to building new may be to buy a really old home and restore. But that depends on Sasha and any hypothetical future children.

Work would be easy to find, as Hubby teaches and my job is...lets just call it Highly Applicable to Everything.

I know I get dreamy about the future when I'm tired. It's an escape mechanism to disappear to a time where today's problems don't exist and life is all exactly the way I want it because all our plans have panned out that everything is hunky-dory.

Sasha's state has degraded to no naps, no sleeping at night, and repeated crying jags. Oh yeah, and he isn't the only one. Thankfully, I'm in school this week so I get a break while he goes to Mom's.

Bright Starts has offered to send us 2 replacement Linuses--free of charge. I called them, told them our situation, and asked if they will sell parts and they said no. But they are very kind and giving them to us. They now belong on my list of Companies with Great Customer Service along with Nylabone.

Linus the Lion

Hiring my mother-in-law as our cleaning lady was a great idea...I think, at least.

Our house is spotless. She moved all the furniture to clean the floors under, cleaned our fridge, folded the laundry that was in the dryer, washed the windows...All sorts of things that weren't part of the cleaning service deal. And I felt freer too. I didn't have to hole-up with the baby and the dogs in the office for hours so she could work. Because I wasn't being crawled all over by the 3, I could work too.

Hopefully she didn't use the time to snoop, but if she did, oh well...she can live with the consequences.

Sasha's temper tantrums are continuing. He's finally done some for his Grandma (my Mom) so she is no longer telling me "Oh, he doesn't do that. Babies don't throw tantrums that early". At home we've discovered a simple thing that is working for the moment. He has this little stuffed lion that plays a tune. It came with his floor gym. When he has it, he's the happiest guy in the world. We've been putting it in his crib with him at night and I wonder if THAT's why he's sleeping thru. He HAS to have it the minute we finish putting his jammies on and when he takes his last nurse of the day he lays there petting it. And in his crib he flips his nose with the tail while he sucks his fingers...and once in a while gives it a good shake to get he music going. If he wakes up and can find it, he has no problems going back to sleep. If not, panic sets in.

I guess it's good he's found something in addition to his fingers to help him soothe himself. Lately there've been a lot of owies. His attempts to stand have moved beyond his use of KerryGirl's beard. Furniture, the baby gates, everything is fair game. So now there's a lot of falling and bumped heads. Also his curiosity has gotten his little hands into things they shouldn't have. His inspection of the glider resulted in smooshed fingers and so now we know we can't just close the gate on his room and let him play while we go about other things. But the lion can soothe all. Hubby has named it even. His name is Linus.

Another Weekend Down

The weekend went well.

Friday worked from home as usual and all I can say is thank God for the Jumpy. I do not know what I would do without that thing. Sasha is too mobile and active otherwise.

Saturday did a lot of cleaning, all of which has since been undone by the dogs, warm temperatures, and rain. Then that night we had the Bachelorette party. It went well despite the earlier shenanigans. And despite my in-laws (who’d promised to babysit) decided to not be home. They apparently thought their ‘just turned 12’ son was going to be fine looking after an infant. I love my nephew, but he’s very much a little boy still. He can watch my dogs…not my baby.

I just felt so old. All of these young, young college aged girls and me in my 30s. I kept being ‘the Mom’ and being asked to inspect everyone’s meat to see if it was cooked thru.

I left after dinner, drinks and desert. They were sweet—wanting to pay the tip or “their share”. But they thought a 4 course meal for 6 and so forth would only run about $100 total. I had to laugh. It was a very good thing I had planned to pay for it from the beginning. They still had their group budget to go take Sister out for more fun when her old boring big sister had to go home and to bed (and to pump…I was in agony). One girl suggested I just order a Red Bull and “squeeze out in the sink”. I can just imagine the look on peoples’ faces when they came into the bathroom to that sight.

Sunday had Mass and then errand running. Sasha has picked a sippy cup style he likes and unfortunately, it’s difficult to find. None of the stores near us carry it in stock. Not even Babies R Us. They sell it online, as does Diapers.com (where we got our 1st one), but not in a store. I had to order them. Same with a 2nd Jumpy. And while we were ordering I just put in a few other things we need…like the baby corral, fireplace bumpers, etc.

Wouldn’t you know it, Sasha likes the MOST expensive sippy cup?

I do like that it’s BPA-free though and to upgrade it to non-training all I have to do is replace the tops.

In other news, I think I’ve solved my cleaning issue—my mother-in-law.

She wants to do something for a little side money. Paint. Fix things. Babysit. Walk the dogs. Etc. However, I’d really rather have Hubby do the fixing (he’s better at it) and me do the painting (I remember to keep the dogs out of the paint). As for dogs, Ive never gotten her to understand the concept of leashes or obedience (so they run off, as did her dog frequently) and the baby she gets too easily distracted from watching. So we’ve decided to hire her as our cleaning lady for the same amount we were spending on the big name service.

I don’t know how good of a job she’ll do but I feel better about it in general. We’re helping her out in a way she doesn’t feel like a charity case. Additionally, she’s helping me out by taking on stuff I just don’t have ample energy for, but feel can be passed off onto someone else.

Changing the subject again, I think the evil neighbors may have packed up and left. They spent the weekend taking the nice things out of their house and packing them up and leaving. No one spent the night there last night either. And the yard? Filled with crap they just chucked out their windows. I wonder if they didn’t have money for rent so skipped town?