Disco Ball

Last night was the school auction/gala. The theme was The Disco Ball. Groovy outfits were everywhere.

My auction project wasn't as popular as I hoped. One of them sold for the minimum, but at least the other one (the one from J's class) sold for $200. I had lots of complements on them which made me feel good.



DH was dressed to the nines. I took a few pictures at the very beginning of the night and then set the camera down. This is all I got.





They mixed things up with the auction this year which had some people unhappy. Even after all of the grumbling, it was a successful evening raising funds for the school & a pretty fun party too.

I'm exhausted after staying up until 3am. Kids are in bed and I'm headed that way myself. Good night!

First Confession

J made his First Confession today. He was suppose to have it a few weeks ago but it was postponed by the Ice Storm.

Aside from a quick panic about what to say right before we left the house he did fine.


In the confessional with the red light on


Feeling holy & relieved

The worst mom mistake ever (so far)

It was a rainy morning. It drizzled, poured, thundered and then drizzled some more. It had the makings of a pretty bad day. About 1pm the sun came out and it turn into a beautiful afternoon.

I picked up B from school and headed to the park to pick up A & J. They are walkers, so when school lets out, they cross the street to the park. J gets out first at 3:15 and then we wait for 20 minutes until A comes across at 3:35.

It was really beautiful out and B ran off to play on the swings with his friend. I talked to her father until J showed up and the dad left with his girls. I then talked to a group of moms. Finally A came across. I herded the kids into the car and headed home. The drive was nice, we talked about dreams & deja vu and sang the Milestone Electric jingle because we saw their truck.

As we turned onto our street, J says, "Where's B?" I answered, "Oh Hell, I left him at the park" and gunned it. I was seriously driving 65 mph down Rosser Road (a residential street). I told A & J not to look at the speedometer. A said something about not getting a ticket. I told her I didn't care, I would lead the police on a chase, I wasn't stopping until I got to the park.

I rolled through a couple of stop signs, went around a car or two and got back to the park in 4 minutes. Fast. I jumped out of the car in a total panic because most of the kids had left and I didn't see B. I ran to look in the tube of playground equipment and started to call the last mom I had been talking to hoping she had grabbed him. Luckily before I made that frantic call, I heard A yell. She found B digging in the dirt underneath a tree. He hadn't even realized that I was gone. Thanks heavens!

I still can't believe I did it. When we got home, J ran in to tell DH what happened. Of course, he shook his head at me but then he confessed to leaving B at Withers park once after a soccer practice a long time ago. At least I'm not the only one to do it, but poor, poor B. He is the forgotten third child!

baby hat

A teacher at B's school is having a baby in a week or so. It is her first boy after 2 girls. She's been so nice to B that I wanted to make her something. I knit up this hat with leftovers from A's bolero. About halfway through I was left with scraps of yarn that were very pink and needed to do something about it. I tried dyeing the yarn with grape koolaid. The color turned out much muddier than I expected so I ended up dyeing the whole project so the colors would match better. I'm not sure if I'm 100% thrilled with the end result but DH & A assured me that it wasn't ugly, but fallish/boyish/nice. I can take those adjectives.

Happy Frankie Day!

One year ago, we came home with a dog. I can't believe it's been a whole year since he joined our family. He's such a nice addition and we're all glad he's around.

pediatrician

I got a phone call this morning. It was from my pediatrician. We were friends in high school so it is kind of funny that she is now my kids' doctor. She works a few days of week in an office with her father.

It was strange that she was calling me. We aren't social friends and don't really talk outside of the office. I read the callerid and wondered what was up.

Bad new for me. She was calling to personally tell me that her father is retiring at the end of the month and they are closing the office. She isn't sure what she is going to do. She plans to take some time off and then look for another part-time position.

I'm sad. I was just telling someone how much I like the pediatrician's office. They squeeze us in whenever we need it. They call me at home to follow up and don't charge me if I call them to ask a question. Shoot, I have her cell phone number so I can call her anytime. I have taken advantage of that before (but not too often because I don't want to abuse it)! Plus the office is 3 minutes away from my house.

I'm not sure what I'll do. I could switch to a new pediatrician or I could go somewhere temporarily until she finds another position. I guess I'll just keep my fingers crossed the kids stay healthy for awhile so I don't have to worry about it right now.

Class Auction Project

Projects are totally finished and turned it. Done!

I forgot to take pictures before I left. I got a phone call that kept me busy until it was time to leave.

I took some cr&&&&y ones in the school office with my phone. They will have to do.





Now I just have to find something to wear to the big gala next weekend.

Class Auction Project

I'm a room mom for J's 2nd grade class. So far it hasn't been bad at all. We've got a couple of moms in the classroom who volunteer a lot which really helps. Normally each room mom plans a holiday party. Since there are only 3 parties, I volunteered to do the class auction project for the school gala instead of planning a party.

DH wasn't happy. At all. He thinks I put too much time & work into them. He's right, but if I'm going to do something, I'm going to do my very best.

I came up with what I thought was a good project. I made checkerboards with the squares decorated with the kids' pictures.

For the last 3 weeks I've spent a lot of my spare time working on the project. I had each kid draw a self portrait. I had to scan all the pictures in and then photoshop (well, I use gimp because I won't pay for photoshop) the pencil to black. I printed them on blue & white paper and mod podged them onto a checkerboard.

I wasn't sure how it would be while I was making it. Luckily, the boards ended up terrific. I was super excited with how they turned out.



However, I was worried about the durability of it. Today I bought some plexiglass to cover the boards. I convinced DH to help me attach them. That part didn't go so well. The screws were cheap and broke off. While DH tried to remove them, one of the plexiglass sheets broke. DH was not in a great mood. I drove back to the store to buy some more and missed the store closing by minutes. Ugh.

I'll try again tomorrow. DH says he will help me again, but only if I swear to never volunteer for a class auction project again. I think he's actually going to hold me to that one.

mom's birthday

Today is mom's birthday. The family came over to dinner. Even my niece was let out of her dorm activities to join us for dinner. She was happy about to skip out. I made green chile enchiladas. I liked the sauce but the overall results were just fine. Not bad but not outstanding.

To go with my dinner theme, I made a mexican chocolate cake. I saw this cake being made on the morning program yesterday. I just added cinnamon & a dash or two of cayenne pepper. However, I got a call from work while I was making it and poured the batter into the pan before I floured it. Oops. It was a royal stuck mess. Even DH says it wasn't pretty.

I had to do something so I made a quick ganache and covered the mess. There was a thick layer of icing in the middle of the cake which overwhelmed my attempt at making it a "mexican" chocolate cake, but it tasted good.



S#5 bought her some chocolates from Cadeaux and I bought her some fabric from CityCraft. I hope she had a good birthday.

Light of Christ

J received his Light of Christ medal at the Scout Sunday mass.





Doesn't he look proud!

Warmth

Today the temps broke into the 50s and we all headed outside to play. We have had bad cabin fever with all the ice, snow & freezing temperatures.

We had a rousing game of family basketball and lots of fetch with Frankie the dog.

A & J found the pogo stick J got two Christmases ago. After lots of falling A figured it out.







J tried hard but he doesn't really have the weight to make it bounce consistently. He definitely got an A for effort.







B didn't want to try to pogo stick but didn't want to be left out of the picture taking. He got on his spinning bike that he got for Christmas to show off.







The sun went down and it quickly got cold again. We are looking forward to the rest of the weekend and the predicted highs in the 70s!

kindle cover

It is icing/sleeting/snowing again today. School was canceled again. I think it must be a record for the number of snow days. I'm trying to use my time wisely so I don't yell at the children too much.

I finished a cover for my kindle. A walked in and saw me sewing up the side and was shocked that I was done already. She told me several times that she couldn't believe that I finished it so fast. Honestly, it took me 14 days to knit a 5" x 17" rectangle. I don't think that is all that fast but I am happy to have another project finished.



I have buttons picked out but the needle I was using was too thick to fit through the holes, I need to go find another needle and it will be 100% complete in a few minutes.

On a side note, A made hot chocolate this morning. I am totally anti-hot chocolate. I cannot stand those powdery packets. I know children like them but I refuse to even make them. However, A used Hot Chocolate Mix from Williams-Sonoma that I bought DH for Christmas. It was so delicious. Of course, it is gourmet chocolate flakes melted in hot milk, how could that not be delicious? I tried to find it on their website but it isn't there anymore, I guess it is just a christmas time thing. I'll definitely be on the lookout for it next year.

Mini makeover - laundry room

There's nothing like removing a majority of the junk from your laundry room to clean a minor flood that makes you want to do something about all that junk. Over the past 4 years we've just piled stuff in there. We did a re-arrangement awhile ago but it didn't do anything about the junk. Some of it I tossed, some went in a donate pile, but the rest we do occasionally use like the candy bucket for Halloween. I needed to find a place to put it. It's just too disorganized.



DH came to the rescue for me by making a shelf in the water heater closet.



Now all those bags of cups that DH has purloined from Dad's Club meetings won't fall on me when I open the freezer door.

Also while cleaning we found things that were hidden. The old stained glass window hung in the kitchen in our old house. We went off to IKEA today to get a shelf. I added all the dogwood stuff my mother collects for me.



DH hung the towel rack/clothes hanger I bought at IKEA a year or two ago that we found in the back of a shelf.



It's going to be perfect come summertime for all the pool towels. Maybe since they will have a place they won't get dropped on the floor or on the back of the chairs in the playroom anymore. I can dream!

Dog hair

We've had a dog for almost a year now. The dog is very nice, a great dog that is very compatible with our family. Kids love him to pieces. I do like the dog, but I don't like the dog hair. I found myself in church this morning not paying attention at all because I was picking dog hairs off my coat. I think the coat must have fallen on the floor because it was covered.

Then I found an email in my spam folder for the Dyson Dog Grooming tool. I'm intrigued. Even at $70.00, I'm intrigued.



Does it really work? If it does work, could I actually get Frankie to sit still while I vacuum him? I wonder. I'm off to google it and see what other people have to say. Frankie's "birthday" is coming up in a couple of weeks. Maybe I just found the gift to get him!

Mistakes mothers make

I just discovered I made a big mistake.  I waited until A was 10 almost 11 to make her wash dishes. 

She decided she wanted to bake something by herself.  I helped her when she asked.  Aside from accidently adding 1/4 c flour instead of a 1/4 c sugar, I think she followed the recipe and the chocolate cake should turn out fine.

However, when the cake went in the oven, I instructed her to clean the dishes.  First she was grossed out because there was some spring mix lettuce in the bottom of the sink from DH making a salad earlier.  She couldn't figure out how to get it into the disposal.  When I told her to use her hands, the tears ensued. 

I had to actually show her how to clean the dishes.  She was holding the kitchen aid paddle attachment in her left hand by her fingertips and the sponge in her right hand by her fingertips.  She was barely swiping the sponge across the paddle.  I had to show her how to immerse it in the sinkful of water and rub it all over with the sponge to get it clean.  Wow, the tears were flowing.


Next I instructed her to save the frying pan that DH used to cook breakfast until last because it was rather greasy.  She flipped her lid when she realized she would have to wash things that she didn't use.  I informed her that I washed all kinds of things that I never used and if she wanted to bake, then she had to learn how to wash or there would be no more baking ever again.

I have a feeling I'm going to have to re-wash those dishes anyway, the effort she is putting into them probably isn't enough to actually get them clean.

I am the worst mother in the universe or at least I think that was what she was mumbling under her breath as I left the room.

Ice Storm/Snow Storm '11 Day 4

So here we are 4 days into the big Ice Storm of 2011.

The boys spent the last two days playing outside.  Crazy kids, it's cold out there.  B was especially happy because he got to play hockey on real ice.  They rigged up a sled with a plastic bin lid.   DH let them eat nasty dirty icicles hanging off the handrails of the portables (classrooms, not toilets,  DH made me clarify!) at the elementary school down the street.  Gross!










Our shower pipe was unfrozen by the hairdryer and we've left it running periodically so it doesn't freeze again.  We were feeling pretty smug that we had escaped the ice storm without much damage.  We saw several neighbors with plumbing trucks out yesterday.  Our next door neighbors forgot to turn off the sprinklers which led to a big ole mess and several extra inches of ice.




All was going well until DH decided it was time to do some laundry.  Luckily, I walked past the laundry room and realized that something didn't sound quite right.  Our washer drain pipe had frozen and all the water was spilling over onto the floor.  There is a lip/edge to the floor that kept the water out of the carpet in the playroom, thank heavens.  It was pain to mop up but the laundry room has never been cleaner.



All the stuff moved out of the way to mop up the water.



The load of towels in the quite deep sink!


Last night the ice storm turned into snow.  We got several inches and it is quite pretty out.





We're spending our 4th day out of school with Family Game Time and running around being very loud driving mommy even battier that I already was!

Ice Storm '11 - day two

An ice storm hit Dallas Monday night.  We've been stuck at home with children for the past 48 hours.   This isn't fun like the snow storm that hit 50 weeks ago.  

Last night DH decided to brave the roads in order to buy some sour cream.  He really wanted sour cream.  His trip lasted less than a minute when he figured out that the gate across our driveway was frozen shut.

Today he bundled up and headed out to release the gate.  He broke up chunks of ice a couple of inches thick.  After an hour of work, lots of ice breaking and pouring of hot water, the gate is now free and he can go shopping for some sour cream.



(This is as close I got to going outside)

Unfortunately, we also discovered that the hot water pipe in the master shower is most likely frozen.  We've got the shower running, the bathroom heater on, a hole in the wall opened (well, re-opened because we cut the hole a couple of years ago and never repaired the drywall) with a hair dryer blowing on the pipes.

Hopefully nothing will burst.  Otherwise, I'm looking forward to ripping out our shower and fixing all the things that I didn't like about it from when we first installed it.