Wednesday, December 30, 2009

The Hard Way

My grandmother has been in town from Tulsa, Oklahoma, and tonight was her last night to be on our side of town.  So, we took her to Cracker Barrel with my parents.  I really love Cracker Barrel - their food is awesome, love the biscuits, and they really do have something for everyone.

Dinner was great, but something awful happened that really helped me learn something.  I finally understand the whole point of where the high chair is situated in a restaurant.  Despite the TGI Friday's issue, the manager finally makes sense . . .

We had Sophia in one of the high chairs at Cracker Barrel, which are really cute and I totally love the design.  We were seated at a round table in the corner of the restaurant, and Sophia was on the outside of the table, facing towards the wall.  When the waitress was bringing our food, a gentleman who was being seated decided he didn't like his table, and jumped up in front of the waitress, and crashed into her. 

She had a large tray of food on her left hand, with a single plate on her right hand.  I don't know how she held onto the tray in the milieu, but she lost the single plate in her right hand, and it crashed down right behind my daughter's head.  The plate shattered on the floor into a million pieces, and the food was all over the place underneath Sophia's high chair.  It was seriously centimeters from Sophia's head. 

I watched it happen, in slow motion, and all I could think was to duck and cover Sophia's head.  Thank God it did not land on her.  She was remarkably unfazed (as she always is), and totally safe.  Unfortunately she did have a bit of egg (over easy) coming up the legs of her high chair.  I'm sure you can imagine how I felt about that! 

So, I learned (almost) the hard way, that you should always put the baby in the least flow of traffic in a restaurant.  Obviously if your table is in the middle of the room, there's not much you can do, but if you are in the corner as we were, always put the high chair next to the wall, so there is no possibility of flying food or plates.

Incidentally, the gentleman who was the cause of all the ruckus said nothing at all, but his dinner companion did pause to ask us if the baby was OK.  Neither one asked the waitress.  She had an awesome afro, a big smile, and a great attitude.  She set down the full tray, sweeped up the mess, quickly ordered the lost plate of new food, and delivered the tray with a smile.  God bless her - she kept my baby safe and a smile on her face the whole time!

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Got any restaurant snafus to share?

Pictures!

Today we went to JC Penney and had our monthly pictures taken.  Want to know a secret?  I skipped Sophia's 7 month pictures due to an unfortunate incident that occured during her 6 month pictures, so today I just brought two different outfits for her.  We'll say one is her 7 month picture, and the other is her 8 month picture! 

Both the kids did really well, and I was also able to stay calm and collected, unlike last time we were there.  I also took the opportunity to apologize to the manager there for what had happened during our 6 month pictures (although honestly she really didn't deserve it).  However, she accepted my apology, and even grudgingly offered up one of her own!  I like it when we can all play nice.

Here are some of my favorite shots from the sitting!


Hands down my favorite!!  I had it done in a 20x24, with a silver frame.  So beautiful!


A sweet pic - this is her "7 month" picture.  The bear is from my parents, and the quilt is from Mike's parents.


Me and my sweet kiddos!  I asked the lady if they could photoshop my hiny to make it smaller.  No dice!


Such a sweet pic!  I got copies of these for the grandparents!


Sophia's such a toot - she kept trying to crawl off!

And now for her 8 month picture!  See - she looks older, right?  I cover my mistakes well!

I loved this photo collage - look at the bottom pic of her hands and feet!

Thanks for looking, hope you enjoyed!  I do like JC Penney, they are inexpensive and generally do a good job.  Today made up for our last experience!

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Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Sleepless Nights . . .

I believe that Sophia is either about to get more teeth or else she is about to start crawling.  She's been army crawling for about a month now, but she has yet to get fully up on her hands and knees.  Last night, I put her down at the usual time, but she woke up at midnight.  I tried to wait it out to see if she could fall back asleep, but no dice - she screamed for an hour.

Finally, I sent Mike up to get her, and then she got into our bed with a smile on her face.  Where she stayed, for the next two hours . . . laughing, nursing, grabbing Mike's hair, crawling around.  At 3 am, big brother Sammy came down the stairs and crawled into the bed, too.  It's a good thing we have a king size bed, otherwise, I don't know what we'd do! 

After Sammy got in our bed, Sophia was really excited, rolling over to laugh at him every few seconds.  At this point, I was done.  I took her back upstairs to her bed, fully expecting her to start screaming again.  But she didn't - she crawled around in her crib, on her hands and knees, for about two hours, laughing and smiling the whole time.  Lucky for me, I was safe asleep back in the king size bed again - but I know what she was doing due to our trusty video monitor. 

Sophia fell asleep, and thank goodness no one but Mike got up before 9:45 am . . . otherwise there would have been one very grumpy mommy around here!  I'm ashamed to admit that we've all been in our pajamas all day long, with the exception of Sophia, who got prune juice on hers, so I had to change her into her ducky outfit.  I even ran outside in my pajamas earlier to check the mail - only one neighbor saw me, thank goodness!

And, guess who's starting to crawl on her hands and knees now, instead of slithering like a snake!  Yep, you read it here first - Sophia is well on her way to becoming totally mobile!

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Sunday, December 27, 2009

I am a Bad Role Model . . .

I am a bad role model for my children.  I've decided it.  I don't always use kind words, and sometimes I don't make good choices.  And the main reason for this post is that I don't try everything on my plate before I decide I don't like it.

Now, don't get me wrong, I've got the big stuff down to a science as far as being a role model, but it's in the finer points that the details get lost.  Take today for instance, the catalyst for this post.  My wonderful husband, Mike, got up and decided to make omelettes for breakfast before we went to church.  Very sweet, right?

Well, yes and no.  As many of you know, I do not eat eggs.  No way, no how.  I'm not going to get into the details here about why I won't eat eggs, but suffice it to say, I just don't.  The only exceptions would be eggs in a recipe (such as a cake or cookies) and Paula Deen's breakfast casserole.  No eggs for me - no scrambled eggs, no eggs Benedict, no over-easy, no hard-boiled eggs, no way, no how.  When I used to teach, my students found out I didn't eat eggs, and when they asked me why, I told them I don't believe in them.  That was an interesting conversation - "You don't believe in EGGS?"  Nope, I don't believe in eggs.  Really I just didn't want to prejudice them for life about why I don't eat eggs, but that is besides the point.  I just don't eat eggs.

Back to the matter at hand, my poor role model abilities.  Mike made omelettes.  Good omelettes, with cheese, ham, spices.  And he knows I don't eat eggs, so no pressure or anything, but he did put half an omelette on my plate.  And I want you to know, I tried.  After all, who else's husband wakes up on a Sunday morning and makes a gourmet breakfast for everyone in the house?  I didn't want to discourage him, but I also was having serious issues with my abilities to put a smile on my face and eat my omelette, therefore acting as a role model for my highly food-conscious 3 year old son. 

Let's just say I couldn't do it.  I got up from the table to make coffee, and while thinking about putting a piece of that omelette in my mouth, I started gagging and making retching sounds.  You'd think I was 3 months pregnant - I used to make those gagging sounds all the time!  But I wasn't, and there was really no excuse for my behaviour, I just know that I don't, or let's just say I won't, eat eggs.  And I want you to know I tried, but I couldn't. 

God love Mike, he wasn't upset - he understands my food idiosyncracies.  He does, after all, pull chicken off the bone for me in the other room and throw the bones away so I don't have to see the evidence.  So he understood that I couldn't even try a bite of the omelette.  But the fact that he was so kind about it is what made me feel so bad.  I mean, I know he hates meatloaf, but I love it, so I made it one day, and he even went back for seconds.  That's love - either that or he knew it'd be chinese take-out and pizza for the rest of the week if he didn't pretend to like my home-cooked meal!

Mike moved the omelette away from me, and I poured myself a bowl of Lucky Charms.  Lucky for me, Sammy didn't notice that Mommy wasn't eating her food and got a snack instead.  One of these days, he's going to notice, and then I'm going to have to choke down an omelette.  But maybe I'll have grown out of my food preferences by then . . . or not.  I don't believe in eggs.

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What are your food idiosyncracies?

Saturday, December 26, 2009

Best. Christmas Gift. Ever

Back in early December when it was snowing one day, I made my move and moved our loveable German Shepherd, Kona, into the house for good! Kona's been in and out of the house (depending on his behavior) for about 3 years now, but I played my cards to move him in for good, this time. Mike, of course, was less than thrilled, but he'll adapt!

Mike's main condition of our agreement was that I was in charge of cleaning up all the shedding. Well, of course I am, don't I scrub the toilets, too? So for the past month, I've been taking turns between vacuuming and sweeping. One day I do all the vacuuming, the next day I sweep all the floors. I'd love to be able to do both in one day, but hey, I'm only human, right?

My only complaint is that our vacuum has seriously bitten the dust. Don't get me wrong, it is a good vacuum, it's just not the best tool for the job that is Kona, the incredible shedding German Shepherd! Enter the best Christmas gift ever . . .

Sorry if you're reading this, Mom, but seriously, Mike's parents Rita and Bob got us the best Christmas gift ever. Rita was wondering what to get us, and Mike had mentioned to her that I wanted a new vacuum cleaner. She, of course, was less than thrilled about this option. Who among us hasn't been the recipient of the dreaded cleaning gift - such as an iron, a new mop, etc for a birthday or Christmas gift. On the one hand, yes, you need a new iron, but on the other hand, what does that say about you, the recipient? Did the giver think that you needed to iron your clothes or something?

In any event, Rita hemmed and hawed, and finally Mike came in the other room and said, "Lindsey, Mom wants to know if you are going to be mad if she gets us a vacuum for Christmas?" My answer - a resounding NO! I want/need/desire a new vacuum cleaner, and if you don't get me one, I'll buy my own!

Rita and Bob got us the best vacuum cleaner ever. I'm not joking - this thing rocks! It's a Bissell Lift-Off Multi-Cyclonic Pet. That's a mouthful, but seriously, I love it. Mike made me help him put away all the Christmas presents before he would get it out, and when he did, I went crazy!

This vacuum has awesome suction, it's bagless, and let me tell you what, it picked up a ton from our floors. My only regret is that I should have vacuumed once with our old vacuum, and then gone over it with the new miracle vacuum - then we'd really know how bad off the old vacuum was.

The best part about our new clean machine is that is comes with pet vacuum tool. You think I'm joking, but it really has a tool that you attach to the hose, and you rake it down your pet's coat, and it picks up all the excess shedding. After I vacuumed all the floors in the downstairs, I brought Kona to the kitchen with it and went to town. At first, he wasn't sure about it, and seemed downright scared, but I think he ended up loving it! He actually came back for more after I'd turned it off and then turned it back on again and called him to me.

Another great thing about the vacuum is that is does bare floors as well. So much for doing half the cleaning in one day - now I can do it all at once, just carry the vacuum around from room to room. I guess maybe I'd still better sweep once a week or so, but meanwhile my new trusty Bissell can take care of the rest.

My only regret - the new vacuum works so well that I won't be able to tell little white fibs to Mike anymore about when and where I cleaned. If I didn't make it into a room before, I could fib and say, "I vacuumed in there, but our vacuum is awful, so I know it doesn't really look like it." Now I can't say that anymore - my sidekick Bissell will tell all on me!

Rita, I know you're reading this, and I just want to say - Best. Christmas Gift. Ever. Period! Thanks!

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PS - I bet my house is cleaner than your house! No? Did you vacuum your dog today? Yeah, I didn't think so. I win!

Friday, December 25, 2009

Merry Christmas to All!

My house looks like someone broke into a toy store and went crazy. Seriously . . . I have Lite Brite pegs all over the floor (choking hazard!), little balls that the Busy Ball Popper pooped out while it was going across my floor, pieces everywhere from the Little Einsteins rocket, teacups and fake desserts - it's crazy!

But I'm so glad we got to celebrate Christmas with our sweet kiddos! This morning was a little rough - we got in late from Mike's family last night, and come 6:30 am, Sammy came running into our bedroom, exclaiming "Mommy, Daddy - Santa brought me some more presents!" He was so excited! Mike convinced him to cuddle with him for a bit, so Sammy climbed in the bed next to Mike, where he stayed for about a minute.

Then Sammy jumped down again to go see if the presents were still there. They were, and he came running back announcing it at the top of his lungs! Mike rolled over and looked at me, and we silently communicated that sleep, unfortunately, would have to wait. Mike took Sophia, and he had a rough time getting her to wake up, but finally she opened her sleepy little eyes when we got by the Christmas tree.

I tried really hard to stick to our 3 gift rule, but unfortunately, I did not succeed. I ended up getting each of the kids 5 presents, plus their stocking stuffers. I guess that's better than 20, though!

Mike got me a beautiful silver and gold Pandora bracelet, just like I asked for. He found a cute little boy and little girl charm, and then he got me two silver and gold S charms. I think he did a great job, I was really happy!

I think the best part of Christmas for me was getting to see Mike's face when he opened his iPod. He was completely shocked! I honestly don't think he had any idea that I even listened to him when he mentioned it once back in November that he wanted one. And since he knows now, that means I finally get to post the full details from my Black Friday shopping experience!

All in all, we've had a wonderful Christmas. I'm so glad for our wonderful family and friends that helped make it awesome for us. I hope your Christmas was great as well!

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Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Love that Roomba!

I forgot how much I LOVE my Roomba! I honestly haven't used it in several months, as I've been a vacuuming fiend since we let Kona live in the house again. However, we've got friends coming over today, and I just don't have the energy to get out the dustpan and broom, and the vacuum. HELLO, ROOMBA! It's so awesome - you just push that little button, and off goes your own personal cleaning fairy!

The best part about the Roomba is that it's willing to go under and around all of your chairs, so all those times I've put off moving the giant chairs out of the dining room are now gone forever. My best friend, the Roomba, is completely willing to go to town and get down and dirty!

Would it be bad if I let the Roomba charge, and then went and put it into my bedroom? And then let it charge again, and brought it upstairs to the playroom? And then let it charge again and put it into every single room in the house? Mike will think I've become a cleaning genius overnight!

Speaking of cleaning geniuses, I found the best product the other day. I am LOVING the Scrubbing Bubbles http://www.scrubbingbubbles.com/products.aspx?product=flushable-bathroom-wipes Flushable Bathroom Wipes! They came as a sample in my new Scrubbing Bubbles disposable toilet scrubber, and I'm hooked - can't wait to buy my own! I love cleaning the bathroom, and with my life I've got to get some shortcuts - there's nothing like having a sparkling bathroom in less than 5 minutes, with no laundry to do afterwards!

What are some of your favorite cleaning shortcuts?
 
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