Life in a Small Town

There was quite a commotion at Safeway today. From the frozen food aisle I got the gist of it. Some genius thought it would be a good idea to leave the store with some unpaid merchandise. Said genius was not bright enough to realize that the undercover in-store security had been following him through the store. So, of course he got caught walking out of the store. And wouldn't you know it-every cop in town had to check out the scene. When we left there were 3 sheriff cars, 3 cop cars, 1 cop suv, and a motorcycle cop. You gotta love living in a place where the big police scene for the day is some genius shoplifting from the grocery store at 4 in the afternoon.

And the angels sang

As I am sure you know, we have faced years of food battles with the oldest. To her credit she has come a loooooong way in the last four years. However, there are still struggles. She gets picky at things that I know that she has eaten and liked. For example, apples. She likes apples, eats apples, asks for them at McDonald's instead of french fries. So when it comes time to pack school lunches I feel that it is my duty as a mother that her lunch include some kind of fruit or vegetable. We tried carrots, again something she likes, eats, and asks for. If she buys hot lunch, she always gets carrots from the salad bar. But when they are packed in her lunch she ignores them. What gives?

Then came the great apple experiment. She likes apples, but prefers to have them cut. So daddy tried cutting them and of course they turned brown and came home untouched. So then he experimented. I think with lemon juice. Same result. Untouched brown apples. Yuck. Then I gave in and bought the pre-sliced apples that cost one arm and half a leg. Seriously. $3.49 for what maybe amounts to 3 apples. What ?!? But, again, my mom badge was on the line-get fruit into the kid or lose the badge. Guess what. Still the apples went untouched. ARGH! I started racking my brain. What am I going to feed this kid? To her credit she will eat banana chips-though I have a feeling they have more sugar than banana.

Saturday I was in the fruit cup aisle getting pears for the littlest and oranges for the middle-est. I am super happy that now they come in 100% fruit juice (that's 2 points for my mom badge). So, while in the aisle I see pineapple also in 100% juice. Could she? Would she? Sure why not, if nothing else we can use it for Hawaiian Chicken. I brought it home and launched in with my best infomercial about how great pineapple is and how much she loved it at Disneyland and how she eats it on said, Hawaiian Chicken. I got a maybe. She agreed to try it, but wanted to try it at home before she had it in her lunch. So, tonight while eating dinner she asked if she could try it. What? She asked without cajoling, bribing, or begging? And would you believe it....

she ate the whole thing!

I heard angels singing when she said, can I please have this in my lunch every day? Yes, yes, you can!

Hmmph.

Tonight's dinner falls smack dab in the middle of the category "Why do I bother?" After a hot day at school (the heater ran ALL day) I was thinking of options for dinner. This week we have already had Onion Ring Chicken, Pasta, Caribbean Jerk Chicken with Pasta in a Cream Sauce, and Pork chops with noodles, cornbread, and carrots. This is the most I have cooked in a while (other than pasta or an assortment of frozen delicacies such as corn dogs and fish sticks). So. I decided- not chicken, not pasta....hmmmm. I settled on scalloped potatoes. YUM. Went to the store with two uncooperative, cranky girls in tow. Came home sliced onions, made a bechamel sauce, grated three kinds of cheese, nearly lost my mind using the most worthless mandolin ever, and sliced the ham. More than an hour later my masterpiece was in the oven! 1 hour of cooking and dinner was served. Sorta. The oldest, contrary to usual attitude, dug right in proclaiming dinner delicious! Angels sang. Seriously. I was not so lucky with the littles. They both turned their noses up at it. Begged for more milk and more bread and questioned repeatedly every single morsel (What is this? It doesn't look like a potato.) Alligator tears at every turn. Then to make matters worse the cookies were done. Cookies, which I intend to give to the three guys that I HOPE will fix my heating issue tomorrow. The oldest, having devoured her dinner earned a cookie which sent the middle-est into hysterics. I think they are all calm now. The little-est finally finished his dinner and also earned a cookie. Still (20 minutes later) waiting on the middle-est. I am sure that she will somehow manage to finish just in time for bed which in turn will start a whole new battle. How many more days until Orlando?

Car repairs and fancy talk

Took the car to be fixed today. We thought it was the alternator. It wasn't The nice man said that it was just the battery. I knew that we had bought the battery somewhere else and I am sure it is still pro-rated but just having it fixed and with a battery holding a five year free replacement warranty seemed worth it just to get it done. We also needed an oil change. Then he offered a $28-28 point inspection. It does have 80,000 miles on it so I said. Which apparently resulted in an additional fee of $45 in "shop" materials- that's fancy talk for fluids I found out.

So now...a battery that had we replaced it on our own would have cost less than $100 plus the cost of an oil change $40 (because our Korean car has a stupid filter) is now roughly $280 after all is said and done. $280 is fancy talk for "it's a good thing my kids like pasta because meat is no longer in the budget for this week."

And to add insult into injury, the nice man says that I need to have the constant velocity something or others repacked with grease that will cost 15.75 times four. It took me a minute (or 5) until it dawned on me that constant velocity something or other is fancy talk for cv boot. So with labor at $80 per side, plus the grease that job will also run us $260. Which actually is a rather fair price but that's gonna have to wait a week or two because I am stubborn and smart enough to know that my car will be just fine without that grease for quite a while longer. Just goes to show that working at Sears all those years ago was a job that just keeps giving.

After picking up the car, paying the damages, and retrieving the youngest from preschool I headed to an old favorite of mine and said, "I'll take a small butterfinger blizzard." That is fancy talk for "it has been a long day to heck with the calories." :)

Yipes!

We just booked the frequent flyer miles for my free flight to Orlando for an early 10 year anniversary trip. That's the only thing that will be free. Do you think it counts as neglect if I feed my children only ramen for the next six weeks just so that I can indulge for 6 days in Orlando?

Ignorance is Bliss

I must be feeling better. The blind eye that I have been turning on the state of my house is no longer working. Yesterday I overdid it-cleaning the kitchen, folding the laundry, straightening the girl's rooms, and putting away the decorations from the top of the kitchen cupboards. I gave myself a headache and a fever. Great. But I had to be awake because I had the littlest to keep an eye on. Today, though, today I did nothing. Not exactly true. I played the Toy Story video game that I watched Sugar and Spice play yesterday. And I took a 4 hour nap. And picked up the kids and managed to feed them dinner. Well...I managed to order their dinner. That's more truthful. And I think I figured out what is wrong with the van. (More on that later. Just say a little prayer that it does it's job til I can get it to the mechanic after school tomorrow.)

But now as the hour of returning to work is fast approaching I find myself in that all-to-familiar- panic mode. I look around and see it all. I see the state that my room is in and think "why have I let this go for so long?" I see the stack of games in the hallway that need to be put back in the game closet that is maybe 5 feet away. But seeing it I know that opening the closet I will be faced with a disorganized mess that will take at least 30 minutes to sort out before the games will fit again. The linen closet is still desperate for attention. Made 10 times worse by the fact that I simply threw the extra Christmas wrapping, boxes, labels, bags, etc. on top of the already big mess. And alas, someday I will have a clean, functional, organized laundry room without three full baskets of dirty laundry waiting outside to be attended to. The tree is still up. Two trees to be exact. And they are full of decorations. And one still has presents waiting to be put away. The laundry is folded-but still all over the living room with more waiting patiently in the hallway for the children to not only notice it, but to also pick it up and put it, not on their floors, but in the drawers where they belong. I long to take a gigantic load of stuff to goodwill. How is it that Sugar and Spice will be five this year and I still have maternity clothes?

Ah! Can you see it. My unraveling. Sometimes I look around our house and marvel at how much we have accomplished in a year. Other times I look around and wonder how it is possible that we have lived here a full year and still have huge pockets of chaos. For some reason the chaos is just a little bit clearer on the eve of returning to school when I am not quite feeling well. So. Since turning a blind eye is no longer working...I think I will just turn out the lights and walk around in the dark. Though, given the state of things that might result in injury. I guess the only thing left to do is to succumb in my comfy bed and pretend for another night that I am ignorant of the state of things. After all, ignorance is bliss.

Hurts to laugh

Not feeling much better. It is, however, hilarious watching my youngest play the Toy Story video game. It is a full body experience taking up a good portion of the living room. He walks around in whichever direction he is trying to make Buzz go. And he laughs hysterically every time he punches the pig. Wish is didn't hurt so much to laugh with him.

Sick

S.I.C.K.

Sore throat.

Stuffy head.

Horrible coughs.

H.O.R.R.I.B.L.E.

Chills.

Fever again.

Crazy sleep patterns.

Up every hour.

Full on awake from 4:30-6:30.

Amazing husband.

A.M.A.Z.I.N.G.

Fed the kids the best meals they have seen

all week

while I moaned and groaned from the bed.

So blessed

to have the most incredible friend and sub

who will walk in tomorrow and run the show just as I would.

Love her.

L.O.V.E.

Perfect friend that will let my kids ride the bus to her house

so that in my dizzy state I don't have to drive

praying to feel better tomorrow

house looks like a bomb went off

And you know I am

S.I.C.K.

because I close my eyes while I walk past

And pretend that it isn't mine.

There is plenty of time for that.

For now

time for medicine

and sub plans

and ice water

and maybe another cough drop

Hoping beyond hope

to sleep the whole night through.

Just as soon as I send these sub plans off.