Help me decide!

I know you parents will have an opinion on this one.

Which vacuum cleaner should I buy?

Dyson? Electrolux canister? Oreck?

Here's my situation. I have a two story house. Downstairs it's mostly tile. We have 3 large area rugs downstairs along with the carpet that's in the master bedroom. It's all carpet upstairs (where the kids' rooms and their play area are located) except in the kids' bathroom. And I've got some thick carpet. It's got the short and long fibers for texture.

I need something that'll allow me to transition from the area rugs to the tile with no problems but STILL be able to get the dirt and debris that's in the thick carpet. I also want to be able to use this thing to grab up the food particles that the kiddos inevitably drop around the kitchen and breakfast table (no food allowed anywhere else - THANK GOODNESS!).

HELP!

Don't forget that I live in Arizona. So there's dust and dirt that gets in near the doorways.

So what do you all think? Opinions? Suggestions?

Give me, give me, GIVE ME!

I saw something over the weekend that I found totally ridiculous. I've tried to shake off the need to write about it but I can't. So here it goes....

I looked at my younger sister's wedding registry.

It's horrible. It's embarrassing. It's ludicrous.

They are asking for WAY too much stuff.

Granted, the wedding have about 250 people in attendance.

But the items ON the wedding registry are out of order. I mean, for my own sensibilities.

I happened to mention my initial reaction of what I saw on the registry to my older sister when I spoke to her on Wednesday. She told me that she saw someone else's wedding registry a couple months ago and they ALSO had the same caliber of items that I saw on my younger sister's.

What do the wedding books say nowadays?

Shouldn't the items being placed on a wedding registry still be basically the same as its been for the last 100 years?

As I recall, you place your selections for bedroom linens, bathroom linens, small kitchen appliances and utensils, and casual and formal dinnerware, flatware, and glassware. I know that a lot of couples nowadays have incorporated their need for home improvement. I've seen couples ask for gift cards to Lowes or Home Depot. I don't mind that. That's practical.

But the stuff I saw?

I have to tell you. The workout equipment? The side & coffee tables? The breakfast nook table? The bookcases? The desk? The dressers? The couch, chair, and ottoman? The iPod?


Now...can you see why I'm a bundle of nerves about this?


Talk about serious GIVE ME!

Shouldn't my sister and her fiancee be furnishing their home with THEIR money? Looking at their various registries makes the two of them seem so selfish. It's not only the the type of items, it's the COST of these items.

I just don't understand how the two of them can even put that stuff on a list. Like they deserve it or something. I guess if they put it on there they must think it's okay.

But me? And my older sister? WE BOTH THINK IT'S RIDICULOUS!

You'd have laughed too

Last night...

Hubs: "You know what?"

Me: "What honey?"

Hubs: "WHY do I have so many missing work socks?"

Me: "What are you talking about?"

Hubs: "I had two that didn't have partners. And now there TWO MORE!"

Me: "You have 4 missing socks?"

The missing sock scenario was happening. And it tickled my funny bone. So I laughed hysterically.

Hubs: "It's NOT funny."

He said it so seriously too. And with that statement he was off to 'find' his missing socks.

He never found the missing ones. What he did was go to bed in a huff. Without letting me know. And without giving me a kiss.

So he went to bed mad....because I laughed at his missing socks.

Now how RIDICULOUS is that?



I found one sock mixed in with my daughter's black tights. The tights that were all jumbled up. The tights that didn't bother to fold (?) nicely. If I had, then I would have found the lonely sock upon fixing them.

I found another sock in a laundry basket. The basket that holds the 'white' items. A-hem....why did he put that sock in with the white items? The sock? It's black!

So we're down to the two originally missing socks.

You think he's gonna be happy to see only two unmatched socks on his dresser versus four?

Figure skating entertainment

Last night, the young ladies started their competition at the Olympics. This is my most favorite thing to watch in the Olympics so we had to watch it after dinner.

He was busy playing and running around. Suddenly he froze. In front of the television. He saw women's figure skating for the first time.

I don't remember which lady was skating. But there she was. Lifting her leg as she glided across the expanse of ice. Then she jumped and turned in the air. A triple flip.

"WOW! Look aht dat!"

"I see her Buddy. Can you do it too?"

Oh my goodness. He lifted his right leg in front of him. Then he looked at the tv. Then he jumped and twisted in the air. Then he looked at the tv. Lifted his leg behind him and balanced.

The entertainment value was. Through. The. Roof.

Thankfully, I taped the rest of last night's program as the kids had to get into bed before the end of the show.

This morning I played the tape and the kids were mesmerized. Getting ready for school was a piece of cake. They watched. They listened to me. They didn't want to miss any of the jumping. The spinning. The fast foot work.

What have YOUR kids enjoyed watching during this Olympics?

It's not that I know better. I just know what to expect!

Yesterday my husband had the day off. He doesn't get many days off but he did have a 3-day weekend.

Sunday night, he started to ask the Princess about what she wanted for lunch.

Me: "What're you asking her that for?"

Hubs: "I'm going to get her ready in the morning."

Me: "You are?"

Hubs: "Yeah. Since I'm going to be home..."

Me: "Thanks honey!"

He continued to chat with the Princess about school morning prep. I didn't think anything of it.

Later on when the kids were in bed, I started talking to him about how I drop them off.

Me: "So I tend to drop him off first. But on Mondays I drop her off first because we have to bring in his fresh linens to his room on Mondays."

Hubs: "What?"

Me: "Yeah. On Mondays, I walk into the place and drop off his linens..."

Hubs: "But he's staying home tomorrow."

Me: "What? I think you should bring him to school..."

Hubs: "No, it'll be great. I'm going to take care of him."

Okay. Right. I knew right then and there it was a decision he would regret.

My son. At home. With my husband. While I tried to work in our home office.

BIG MISTAKE!

It didn't take my husband long to figure out that the day would not develop into what he had pictured in his mind.

The drama started after the Princess got dropped off. The Bear was a little bit confused when my husband brought him home instead of dropping him at school. He came into the house all mopey-bopey. My husband couldn't read his face. But I knew the kid wanted to go to school.

Then there was the lack of nap. My husband figured that the boy would fall asleep when they went to pick up the Princess from school. The little guy was on the VERGE of falling asleep 2 blocks away from the school. My husband was a little early for pick-up, so he decided to turn on the street just before the school driveway. As my husband made the right turn, the Bear bolted forward in his booster and pointed to the Princess' school.

"Sisssy! Sissy!"

He was on the brink of falling asleep, but he KNEW my husband wasn't going the right way.

But the Bear was pretty edgey all day. It didn't make my husband very happy.

Me: "So next time you'll listen to me, right?"

Hubs: "Uh...."

Me: "If you'd listened to what I said Sunday night about taking him to school..."

Hubs: "Oh that..."

Me: "Just think....you could have had a real nap today if he was at school. You could have done those couple of errands and crashed for a long nap."

He looked at me. He knew he'd made a mistake. He should have kept the Bear in his normal routine. He realized that a day of frustration would have been different. It would have been a quiet day. At home. With no kids in sight.

How about sitting in YOUR chair

My children get their picky eating habits from my husband.

So it's no surprise to me that my son ate two pieces of garlic bread and some strawberries before announcing,

"Aww done!"

I looked at my husband. My husband looked at me.

Then my husband got up and washed the Bear's hands in the kitchen sink.

"Come over here Bud and sit with Mommy."

My little guy walks over to me (still wearing his Superman cape) and climbs up into my lap.

While he was distracted, I took that opportunity to take one small shell of pasta and place it into his mouth.

Yeah. I used stealthy tactics like that. Distraction.

Once he was situated on my lap, he realized he had something in his mouth. He turned to me.

"Mmmm-mmm!"

Then his mouth opened up for more.

Uh...there was a whole slew of this stuff on his place not 3 minutes ago. A whole pile of pasta that he didn't bother to touch. The pile that I slid onto my plate while my husband washed the Bear's hands.

So it was one forkful for me. One forkful for the Bear.

I couldn't cut my pork chop with him on my lap. He's a bit too squirmy for that. So pasta it was.

I tried to sneak a small sliver of french cut green bean on it but the kid saw it.

Once we finished with the pasta, the Bear slid off my lap and marched in a bouncy way over to my husband. And looked up with those yearning eyes at his Daddy.

Yeah. The little boy ended up 'helping' my husband finish off the pasta that was on his plate too.

Then it was back to me. As I had managed to replenish my supply of pasta along with more garlic bread.

So my son ate. The majority up on our laps. But he ate.

For you gift-stumped people...

Remember that I'm a practical gal?

For Valentine's I wouldn't want to get candy. Or flowers. Or jewelry.

The thing that I covet?

A day at the spa.!

"Ahhhh..."

Are you with me girls? I'm sure you Mommies are with me on this one.

A day alone. Getting a massage. Getting your hair colored AND cut. Getting a manicure AND a pedicure.

Sounds like heaven!

So you guys who get stumped on Valentine's Day?

Visit the local day spa and find out how much a day of pampering would cost you.

Your wife will just DIE with glee when she sees you've got her a whole day alone to get pampered.

Just another day in the neighborhood

I thoroughly love the neighborhood I live in.

We moved here last year. Last March. So we haven't quite been here a year.

But I really do enjoy this area.

We have two big grocery stores a mile either way from our house. We've got two pizza places. Two video rental places. Two famous coffee places. A few fast food joints.

Next year we'll have a new HUGE community park with a library.

What's best though? My neighbors.

Those that I know. And those I don't.

Even the kids have taken note of my friendliness towards the people we usually see.

I stop and chat with our subdivision's customer service team. Either the guy or the gal is around here making fixes to people's homes when they move in.

I wave to the guy who sells newspapers at the main intersection.

I wave at the people who take walks around the time I drive the kidlings out to their schools.

And what's the best? All these people wave BACK!

So my daughter now has taken to waving at the workers that are making the road improvements into our neighborhood. She'll even wave to people in the next car when we're at an intersection. She is SO sad when they don't see her hand waving along with her smiling face. She gets so excited and giddy when people wave back at her.

Such a simple thing. A smile and a wave.

I'm just glad that I'm in a neighborhood where people wave back. AND don't think you're crazy for doing it.

How about you? What's YOUR neighborhood like?

I know I shouldn't make fun...

But you SO would have been laughing your guts out too if you heard what I heard this morning on the radio.

The traffic report.

Not a funny topic for those who commute daily. 30. 40. 60 minutes?

But in my 15 minute round trip car-ride, my funny bone got tickled something awful.

"Dare es a roll-ober on Torn-y-..." translates to "There is a roll-over on Thorny..."

"On Ree-ber, expect de-ways..." translates to "On River, expect delays..."

There were quite a few quibbles and foibles in this guy's blurb. But you get the picture.

What's the funniest is that the morning show people are a hip-happening group of three. Then the traffic guy? Doesn't seem to fit their image.

I just could NOT get over it....hence...the laughter...

Mommy's Night Out

I know couples that have a schedule of when each person goes out with their friends.

It can be a couple that has just married. It can be a couple with kids.

The Hubs and I have never had any kind of personnal time-out schedule.

I might start to have one though.....

Last night, I went to BUNCO!

The ladies in this housing subdivision started a list of interested people at last subdivision pizza party gathering. And it turns out they've got enough interest.

I am a SUB. This means when any of the regulars can't make it they call one of us.

So last night, my neighbor across the street was hosting and had a last minute cancellation. Since I'm just yards away from her she gave me a call. And WAA-LA! I was going out.

It was fun. We just played and had candy. And liquor. I had 3 small glasses of zinfandel. I must say that I was very relaxed.

But it was great. We all were happy to get out of our regular routine. We laughed quite a bit. It's not a totally competitive bunco group. I've heard that some bunco clubs are SO competitive.

I got home by 9:15pm. I was able to watch most of ER.

I'm hoping they call me again when someone can't make it!

Making Mommy Laugh

You know how songs get stuck in your head?

Here are two examples of songs that my kids have stuck in their heads.

**********

I knew the tune but didn't know all the words to the song so...

"Spiderman, Spiderman, la-la-la-la-la..."

Now?

My son sings the following:

"Spiderman, Spiderman, la-la-la-la-la..."

***********

Those Vonage commercials? The ones wehre they ask people what their typical monthly phone bill costs?

The one with the background "Woo-hoo-woo-hoo-hoo"?

Sometimes when the Princess is meandering around the house I'll hear

"Woo-hoo-woo-hoo-hoo.

Woo-hoo-woo-hoo-hoo..."

A kinder gentler ride

Yesterday morning, the Bear was whiney as we left the house for 'school'.

I couldn't figure out why. I hugged him as I strapped him into his carseat. I gave him his lunchbag to hold.

Still whiney.

I got in the car. Backed it out of the garage.

"Oh, Bubby! What's wrong?"

The Princess said this in a sing-song manner. In her little girl voice.

She turned around and looked at him. He still looked distressed.

I began the drive.

She looked at him. He looked at her.

She held out her hand to him. He reached out to her. And they held hands. **

The moment he touched her hand. He settled down.

They held hands the entire drive to his daycare. All 5 minutes.

But it was quiet. They were both settled. Finally.


**We have three rows in my car. And we sit zig-zag. I sit in the driver's seat (duh!). My daughter sits to my right in the middle row. The middle row has bucket seats and we keep the unused one down. The Bear sits in the third row on the left. So they had to cooperate & work together to hold hands.

Don't be stupid girl!

That's all I have to say. **

Don't give excuses.

You acted like an idiot.

Admit it. Don't try to step back and blame others.

YOU endangered your child.

Everyone under the sun knows not to be in a vehicle with a baby on your lap.

Everyone under the sun knows that babies and children do not ride in the front row.

Everyone knows that airbags are dangerous to babies and children.

You are a person who has traveled the world.

Do not try to act like you don't know what's wrong with the situation.

Be an adult. Be responsible.


** Names have been withheld on this little rant. You all know WHO I'm talking about...

No signs of celebration?

Today there was another birthday celebration at my son's school.

It's was "J's" 3rd birthday. The kids had cupcakes for their afternoon snack.

Nothing weird about that right?

The thing is...it was the teacher that bought the cupcakes. Her family didn't take the time to bring anything to celebrate.

So you parents....

In daycare or preschool, do YOU bring anything for the class to celebrate your child's birthday?

If so, what?

Code Black

So THAT is what it means!

For those of you who don't watch Grey's Anatomy you might as well stop reading....

Bailey is having her baby! I thought it was the cutest when George was gazing into the room while Bailey's cervix was being examined by Addison. And George didn't warn the Chief before HE looked into the room. And then McDreamy also got a good look. He-he-he! But both George and the Chief were ecstatic that Bailey was IN the hospital. Just her presence seemed to make them feel settled.

Totally weird that Burke doesn't want to call McDreamy by his first name. But will allow Mrs. McDreamy first name privileges. Just because Burke doesn't like him. It must be a matter of respect. He doesn't respect McDreamy even though the two have had surgeries together. I found that interesting. Burke can be cordial but not friendly. Makes him more like Cristina. Makes them being a couple less odd.

I couldn't believe that Addison was so calm about it all when she went into that elevator with George & Izzy.

"Yes. It's bad."

What I thought was crazy was Izzy's take on the whole thing.

"Cristina & Mere are do-ers. We watch. We're watchers."

And then she goes and does her business with Alex.

What was shocking was that the anesthesiologist left. He just left. He acted all nicey-nice showing the paramedic (Christina Ricci) how to squeeze that bag. And then he walked out. Can you believe it? How the heck was she supposed to squeeze that bag with one hand? A hand that had a glove on it. And I'm sure she was sweating bullets underneath it. That got me SO mad!

It also made me upset that Bailey's husband was injured. All in his excitement to get to the hospital. And strong, strong Bailey breaking down broke my heart!

"I can't do this without him..."

She's a tough cookie but she is like every other tough career woman. Hard shell. Professional. Precise. But all gooey inside. I adore her more because of that vulnerability!

I LOVE THIS SHOW!

It only took 2 people this time

The last time we all went to get family haircuts, it was a fiasco.

The Bear was NOT a happy camper.

He sat on my lap where I held him sitting straight forward. And to keep him from jumping down off the stool.

The Hubs had to hold the Bear's head in position.

Then there was the poor stylist who had to cut my little guy's hair.

THREE adults to cut a 2 1/2 year old's hair.

Yesterday morning?

The Bear sat on the booster seat all by himself.

The Hubs held his chin forward.

The stylist worked quickly around and got the job done.

There was only a bit of protesting towards the end. I could tell my little guy was at the end of his 'brave' rope. His face was all screwed up in a tight pout. He was trying his hardest to keep his face forward but his little feet were swinging back and forth in protest.

But the job got done in less than 15 minutes.

It was a much better experience this time around. Halleluia!

You know you're sick when...

you sneeze with such force that it stuns you for a moment.

What's even worse is when you sneeze with such tremendous force that you end up with a ugly mass of back-throat lougie on your hand.

EEWWW!

"Disss-gusss-ting!"

Yep. I have been that sick....

Unexpected playdate

Beautiful day today. High wispy clouds. A very slight breeze. The sun was shining...82 degrees! Absolutely gorgeous.

After running some quick errands in the morning, we all came home. I ran inside to see if a website that I needed to access for work was working (it had been down all morning). The Hubs and the kids stayed out front playing.

I could see them running around. Jumping. Laughing outside the office window. I shot out there as soon as I could after doing some work. The kids were so happy that both Mommy and Daddy were outside supervising.

I spotted my little guy's JOhn Deere gator at the bottom of the driveway.

{{{ding-ding-ding}}}

I turned the Gator to go up the driveway. And I sat down on it.

Ok. Calm down folks. I should tell you that I sat carefully onto the little yellow seat with my legs pointed forward.

My daughter picked up on this quick. She ran over behind me and PUSHED me up the driveway. Then we turned around and she pushed me back toward the street. After my daughter pushed me back up the driveway, there was a shift change.

The Bear could NOT be left out in this "fun". So he had a turn of pushing me down and then back up (oh so slowly) the driveway. My boy? He is STRONG!

Anyway, the kids were having a good time and our neighbor's daughter (ND) came riding up on her Razor.

ND: "My Dad said I could come over to play!"

So ND, the Bear and the Princess played outside for another 30 minutes.

We all headed indoors after that. It was 11:30am, so the Hubs mentioend that he was going to make some lunch for the kids.

Me: "What can ND eat?"

Hubs: "I dunno honey."

Me: "Why don't you go ask her Dad (aka Good Neighbor - GD)?"

I walk over to GD's house. He was working outside prepping his pop-up camper for a trip.

Me: "Hey GD!"

GD: "Oh hi!"

Me: "We're going to make some lunch for the kids. We wanted to find out what ND can eat."

GD: "You know she's real picky. Just give her whatever your kids are having and hopefully she'll eat a bit."

ND? She ate all her grilled cheese and tortillas chips.

Anyway, the girls played upstairs for a while. Then they played in the backyard for a while. They did some art project together in the kitchen. Then they played upstairs again.

All of a sudden it was 4:30pm and there was a knock on our front door. It was GD. The afternoon had flown by. And everyone was happy.

GD: "Hey hi! We realized it was getting late and that we should probably pick up ND."

Me: "Okay."

GD: "How was she?"

Me: "She was fine. She ate lunch. She had some drinking yogurt for a snack about half an hour ago. The girls did do some art. Here's the stuff ND made."

GD: "She always plays so nice with the Princess."

I know for a fact that when ND plays with my daughter she's a lot more calm in her play than with the other girls in the neighborhood. I guess she gets a little wild at their houses. And the fact that his daughter was at our house for 5 hours without coming home attested to him that he could leave her with us with no problems.

Both the Bear and the Princess had a grand time with ND. The Bear didn't play with ND the entire time of course. The girls did play alone in the Princess' room for quite a while. I think my little guy was just happy to have someone over.

I walked outside to chat with GD's wife who I hadn't seen in ages. As we talked ND's little sister (LS) started to walk up and down our driveway. ND, being a typical big sister know-it-all, picked up LS and carried her back to where the adults were chatting. Being a typical younger sibling, LS cried out in protest of being controlled.

GD: "ND! Put LS down! She hasn't cried the entire time you've been at the Princess house."

What's funny? Having ND over at our house prevented MY kids from getting on each other's nerves.

Hmmm....Sounds like typical sibling rivalry...

But it was GREAT to have such a good day. It just flew by too quickly....

Scratchy-scratachy...Cough-cough...Hack-hack...

I've got that awful scratchy throat thing. I'm usually fine. When I'm upright. When I lie down? [scratch-scratch]

I even managed to cough some of the ickiness up. GROSS!

Leave it to me to start feeling yucky when it's forecasted to be in the low 80s today and through the weekend.

So I'm feeling icky.

But at least my blog looks cute!

How you liking the photos of the kidlings? Adds a little something, eh?

I can only do SO much with a free account.

I knew he gave me an icky feeling

About a month ago, a new guy (NG) started working at the company. Fine and dandy.

Since he worked at the main office, I never got to meet him face-to-face. I only spoke to him on the phone about half a dozen times. A couple times were on conference calls.

The one time I had him on the phone, it wasn't pretty. I wanted to do was ask him a couple questions and get some simple answers back. Nope. It was 20 minutes of listening to him ramble. The call should have only taken less than 5.

Another time, he called me to ask me some questions. I was swamped trying to complete some work on another project. And he kept on rambling on about what HE needed from me. I tried to put him off. I stopped what I was doing. Mid-stream and I tried to access the information he was inquiring about. But he kept talking. And talking.

NG: "Isn't there a standard set of reports? Aren't you the expert on these reports? All I need is..."

I finally had to lay it on the line...

Me: "Well, I could get you some answers but I'm talking to you. Right?"

Dead silence. For the first time on the call.

Me: "Why don't you give me about 15 minutes and I'll email you the information. Okay? Bye."

He seriously got on my nerves. I would have been fine if he'd just sputtered on for a couple minutes. And then stopped. But he woudn't (or is that couldn'tI even had to vent about the call to another co-worker (CW).

CW: "No I've never had to work with him yet. I've seen him in the office. He seems like a nice enough guy..."

But the doozie was when NG was supposedly the point person on a project. A project that he'd been working on with the head honcho of the company. We had a conference call with these new clients. The head honcho was tied up with another client and couldn't make it to the call. And NG had no idea how to lead the call. He had no idea what the objective of the call was.

And the call ended up being horrible. Uncomfortable. For us. And the client. We're lucky we didn't lose them as a client!

The only good thing about that call was that one of the guys who started the company was in on the call. He tried valiantly to 'save' the call but NG just kept on talking. Us into a hole....

But I found out yesterday that NG is gone. Flown the coup. No longer a part of our team.

And he's left the two projects he's working on...in shambles. He didn't model his documentation like anyone else. He went doing his own thing. Now no one can figure out what the heck the status is on what he was doing based on the documentation.

And from what I can recall on the one conference call with the client. It was a simple project. Find out what the client uses. Get sample source files. Get the finished product the client creates. Find out how the client uses the source files to make the finished product. And BANG! Done!

I just can't believe the nut-job was making more money than me! OY! What a mess he created....

Keep me OUT of that store!

Have you been to Tar-jay lately?

OMG! They suddenly have the CUTEST home accessories.

Yes. They did have some framed mirrors. Those bathroom accessories. Those basic book cases.

But now they've got dark stain magazine holders. BIG candle holders. Large glass vases.

SEE? SEE? Interesting stuff.

My husband always thought it was okay for me to go into that store and NOT spend an arm and a leg. NOW? I'm not so sure...