Note to self: set alarm to read this in January, 2009

In the throes of the Beijing Olympics, I've sorta forgotten about the fact that summer 2008 is also coming to the end. Since summer is my favorite season, I like to daydream about it when Oklahoma is dealing with sometimes ice and snow but mostly just dreary, overcast, drizzly winter days that are too cold to amount to anything but an hour in an indoor germ-infested playground.


So sometime in January I'm hoping to re-read this post and be lifted out of the winter doldrums that I'm already dreading. What?! I really am a positive person. Mostly.

Summer 2008


1. My last summer of buying swim diapers at almost a dollar apiece. (Hear that, Alex, last summer.)


2. Swimming, swimming, swimming! This is the first year both boys could really get around a pool with the help of lifejackets. Except for nearly losing Alex, we had lots of fun and stress-free visits to Big Waterpark.


3. BlogHer '08! Pete is still wondering what I'm getting out of this whole bloggin' thing; it was nice to spend three days with souls who don't question the addiction.


4. Giving way too much unsolicited advice to my neighbor who just had her first baby (but looks like she listened).


5. Listening to Mickey and Alex have their first real conversations with each other. As much as they bicker, I believe they will soon start combining their powers for use against me and Pete.


6. The Moms' Garage Sale. I told them all I'd like to host another one next year...if I can get certain people to control themselves.



7. The front of our house finally got some bling.



8. ...and Alex graduated seamlessly to his bbb. Bless him for making that so easy for us.



9. Watching Aunt J and her family further endear themselves to my boys...



...in spite of her idea of fun.



10. The Olympics. Wow. I never get tired of them and I truly wish they would happen every year. In prime time, please. Because watching has been like my second job.


(Okay, now I can get back to doing laundry of jeans and sweaters...)

Softest thing on the planet

My neighbor had a baby yesterday. I thought my own babies had soft skin when they were born, then I got hold of this little guy today. Like buttah, I tell ya...

Welcome home, little J!

Games of the 29th No Sleep-iad

I don't think I can take another 11 days of late night Olympic action. Thank goodness I don't have to get up and face a real job every day...now I get to fall asleep on the sofa instead of sitting in a cubicle. Lucky for me (and my kids) Vancouver 2010 will occur in Pacific time; maybe I can handle a two-hour difference.

Instead of attempting to recap anything, though, I will say I am enjoying the brainiacs who are doing commentary. I'll leave you with these two gems. They are paraphrased to pretty-darn-close to what they actually said.

During synchronized diving:

"...we are often asked why the divers go directly to the showers after their dives. The answer is that the water in the pool is quite cold and they go to the showers to warm up, stay loose, and just have fun..."

During women's gymnastics after a floor exercise:

"...two years ago she begged her mother to let her leave the sport, but aren't we lucky she didn't because that was magical..."

Those whip-crackin' Olympic moms: what would we do without them...

Happy late anniversary to myself

The Home Team's blog celebrated an anniversary two days ago, but since I was busy losing sleep watching the Olympics and trying to figure out how to will Alex to a new developmental phase since his current one is having me chant to myself repeatedly "he's only two, he's only two..." I just flat missed the opportunity to thank those of you who read me daily.

And endure my run-on sentences.

Two years is a long time in Internet years, but I still feel like I'm just getting started doing this. Seems there's always something working in the back of my mind that never makes it on paper.

So maybe that's my anniversary resolution?

Or maybe I just hang on and keep writing whatever comes to me, and maybe you'll keep reading, and maybe one day my boys will read it.

Yikes.

Eight, eight, oh-eight!

The Home Team is pretty pumped about the Olympic Games starting; time to stay up late with Jim Lampley and Bob Costas and hear all those annoying and inspiring backstories about the Olympians and watch sports like trampoline and handball that are painfully neglected but for a few days every four years.

I know NBC has tons of online info, but if you're looking for a true fan who is customizing the Olympic Games experience for her homeschooled kiddos, visit my friend Stacey at Shootin Straight. The woman is freaking out over these games! So go get freaky with her...it's quite a spectacle.

U-S-A! U-S-A!

Everything's Hotter in Texas

You know, sometimes I wonder if anyone cares What We Did On Our Summer Vacation, but I promised a recap so I will try to make this as painless as possible for those of you who have better things to do:


The Agenda: Ride the Heartland Flyer from Oklahoma City to Fort Worth, Texas. Rent a car and drive to Pete's very sweet cousin's home just a few minutes from the station, and stay there for three nights. Go to Six Flags and a Texas Rangers vs. New York Yankees baseball game. Swim at my sister's house in Fort Worth while Pete golfs with business associates (whatever!).

The Train: None of us had ever ridden an Amtrak train. Ever. To say we didn't know what to expect...well, understatement of the year. For example, we took seven pieces of luggage. Monumental mistake, unless you also pack small UHaul. Seems the passenger is responsible for loading and unloading, not luggage handlers. And by "passenger" I mean Pete. He was not a happy man by the time he sat down in his seat.

But then the seats...oh, the seats were heavenly. Maybe they made up for the manual labor as we boarded. Can you imagine having this much legroom on an airplane?

I had packed a bazillion snacks and activities for the boys and they were happy most of the time. Then about two hours into our four-hour trip, Conducter Man informs us there will be a two hour delay. For freight train traffic.

That's when the wonderful seats weren't so wonderful anymore.

But we endured; the boys endured. And we had cell phone service so we notified Pete's cousin and I sent text messages to the family so they could have a laugh. It was all fine when we got to the station only six hours after shoving off. Then we had to contend with the luggage once again and wait in the train station while Pete took a cab a few blocks away for a rental car. Longest 30 minutes of my life.

So yes, we took the train. Yes, the boys got a big charge out of it.

(And yes, we forfeited our return tickets, rented another car, and drove home.)

Six Flags: A blast! HOT! Record setting temp that day for Arlington. I felt a little nuts for going but oh, my...Mickey was LOVING the rides. Alex, not so much. At one point I spent 20 minutes in an air conditioned gift shop while he rearranged necklaces on a rack. Maybe that attraction should be listed in their next brochure. Oh, he liked a couple of rides, but then there were these moments:

(Calm down, Grandma...it wasn't all bad!)

(What, you can't tell he's squealing with excitement?)







Mickey, on the other hand, was grinning the whole time.

Texas Rangers vs. New York Yankees: HOT again. But our seats were in the shade so all we had to contend with was the heat and not sunburn, too. We left Alex with my sister (who I love) and Mickey ate up all the kid-tivities there. We lasted through the sixth inning and missed the exciting finish in the bottom of the ninth with two outs. Grand salami by the Rangers to win the game. Nonetheless...

I'll let the pics speak for themselves:

And lastly, that would be Alex Rodriguez. (What's that saying about being married, not blind?)

Wordless Wednesday: paint pushed to its limits

Since I have so many pics from the vacation, I thought I'd participate in 5 Minutes for Mom's weekly carnival for photos.

Home Sweet...

...unpacking, sleeping-in-our-own-beds, playing-with-our-own-toys, what-am-I-gonna-fix-for-dinner...

home.

Pics and details to come. Just let me figure out where my camera is...

I love my sister

She just set me up with her laptop. And chocolate coffee. And she's watching the boys while I get my computer fix. And chocolate coffee.

And I just heard her say "...yes, we can play that!"

Details on the trip to come. Unless I melt from the record temps here.

All my bags are packed, I'm ready to go

...yeah, and ya'll know I'm lyin' cause it's only 9:30 and no way could anyone with kids be packed that early the night before a vacation.

So yeah, we're almost there and of course it'll all get done, just a matter of how much sleep we get.

Bottomline to this post, and there is one, is that it's looking doubtful I'll be taking the laptop. The load is increasing as I speak so I must start eliminating things. I may get online Monday or so but no promises. Try to live without me for two days.

Ya'll be good and I'll be checkin' in soon.

Photo contest at 5 Minutes for Mom

Update: 5 Minutes for Mom will select finalists and then the internets will vote. That means you. I will post the news here if my photo is selected for the voting round.

One of my favorite sites, 5 Minutes for Mom, is hosting a photo contest with a summertime theme.

I know, the photo below has made an appearance on this blog once before...so if you've seen it you can go about your business.


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If you haven't, this is my littlest son. In this picture he looks like he's about to kick back and relax in that (freshly watered and mowed) green grass, maybe have a leisurely conversation with his brother while lounging on a lawn chair and sipping some lemonade.

But you'd be wrong.

This would be the nanosecond he was standing still, since walking out the front door of our house is like flipping a switch to run-around-as-fast-as-I-can.

So I like this picture because it captures him standing still. But if you look really close at his eyes you can see he's got fleeing on his mind...

Traveling with two toddlers to Texas

All-righty! Saturday's departure day for The Home Team's vacation. The agenda: drive from Tulsa to Oklahoma City and catch the Amtrak train to Ft. Worth, Texas. That's right. TRAIN. As in, no one I've told about this trip has ever taken it. Makes me slightly nervous but I'm thinking the boys (who this trip is really for, not their very much a kid-at-heart father who seems to just smile to himself every time he utters the word "Amtrak," no sir, it's for our precious boys) will get a big kick out of it.

The train ride itself is about four hours long. Four hours with two boys not in carseats. Freeee to roam about, and get into trouble, and get bored.

So my question for you is this: what tips for traveling with littles can you offer? (Pretend we're doing what the rest of the world does and flies or drives to their destination.) I already have goody bags for them to parse out along the way, and one of my savvy mom friends suggested a roll of masking tape for each of them. I can see them taping Pete and I to our seats and really running amuck, but I think it's still a good idea.

Okay, lemme have 'em: your best tried and true tips for traveling with little kids!

(As for the rest of our journey: we're going to Six Flags and a Rangers/Yankees baseball game, and also visiting some family. Any tips for getting through all that without tears on anyone's part are also appreciated.)

Icing on my BlogHer '08 cake

You know when people win something and they say with a stupid grin "...wow, I've never won anything in my life."

Well, that's not me.

Although I do have a stupid grin on my face. You would, too, if you'd just won this beauty:

Seems the kind folks at Symantec (the guys who make the trusted Norton security software) were having themselves a little drawing at BlogHer '08 and whaddya know...they picked me.

(What? You can't seem to read the horribly out of focus print on the picture? It's from Spafinder. As in, 250 smackaroos to use at a spahhhhhh!)

Hmm, when might I find time for that? Oh Peeettttte!

Things I learned this week, and it's only Tuesday

1. My oldest boy can hurl a (clean) diaper so that it softly comes to rest on a ceiling fan blade.

2. I looked down at my lunch plate today and everything on it was a shade of white. For the third time this week (did I mention it's only Tuesday?).

3. "Do we need to take the duct tape on vacation?" is something I never thought I'd utter as a parent. *

4. The best time to take my kids to Big Water Park is two hours before they close. The crowds are thin so if one of them goes on a joy-walk I can find him more easily.

5. Summer always makes me think of my all-time favorite words to ever come out of my mother's mouth when I was a kid: "...well go get your bathing suit on and let's go..."

6. A short 25 years ago next month I was getting ready to start my senior year. In high school. Don't know why I'm thinking about that right now; maybe because I feel so friggin' old.

7. My soldier brother-in-law is on leave from Iraq until mid-August and I'm not going to see him. Because he's coming to Oklahoma, where I live, and I'm going to Texas, where he lives. On the same weekend.

8. All I'm sayin' is I better win something at Bloggy Giveaways. Get over there and fritter away a few minutes entering contests; there's some really good stuff out there!

9. I agonized for two hours while watching Step Brothers and watching Pete laugh throughout it. I did NOT agonize when I saw the ticket taker turn away a sixteen-year-old because she wasn't old enough to see it without a parent. Then I agonized some more when I heard the tiny voice of a four-year-old in the theater. With her parents.

10. Miscellaneous posts like this one are what you do when you don't have the concentration to actually link sentences together into a real paragraph. They're also good when Alex is asleep and Mickey's hounding me for something to play with, except not a toy for heaven's sake.


* For taping Alex's mouth, uh, diaper up at night.

Overheard: yeah, that's right

The Home Team is taking a little vacation this weekend.

Me: "Is there any way we can take your laptop on our trip?"
Pete: "Probably, why?"
Me: "...in case I want to, uh, write."
Pete: "Oh, so now you're one of them."

(Truthfully, with three backpacks, two carseats, three suitcases, a DVD player, and something to carry food, I think the laptop may not make the cut. Wonder if I really need my suitcase...)

Lands' End Giveaway at Owlhaven

Please, oh, please let me win this awesome giveaway from Owlhaven! A new Lands' End backpack (which I am too cheap to buy) would probably cause my oldest to shed his first tears of joy.

If you're claustrophobic, look away now!

Yesterday in our little city it was a stifling 97 degrees. Add in a little humidity and you've got a suffocating 105 heat index. (Alright, alright...I didn't check the EXACT temps; suffice it to say it's friggin' hot here).

Anyway, here's what Mickey decided to wear for lounging around the house:

It's...fleece. I could barely look at him without breaking into a sweat. I asked him if he was hot and he says "I will be until that air (conditioning) comes on..."

How to accumulate trash while grocery shopping

(You must have a boy toddler and another boy who acts like one.)

1. Push your cart within fifty feet of the deli counter. That's all it takes for said boys to notice it and start screaming "I want a piece of cheese!" (Say "Can everyone just be quiet please?" and sorta smile as the little one whispers "Can I have a piece of cheese?") And I'd like to go on record here: I did not, on my first grocery store visit with the boys, sidle up to the deli counter and ask the deli worker for a sample piece of cheese for each boy. The DELI WORKER offered it. And since my boys never forget someone who gives them food they like, they now ask for it every time we visit the store. So don't blame me if you're spending a fortune giving away free cheese, deli worker. You started it.

2. Get them their cheese sample, which comes wrapped in a piece of tissue, and when they've eaten the cheese, wad the tissue up and stuff it between the bars on the cart (since grocery stores do not have trash cans ANYWHERE. Unless you're in a Super Wal-Mart, and you aren't).

3. Fill your cart about half full, leaving no room in the bottom of it for a gallon of milk (even though you really need two). PLEASE, grocery store designers, would it kill you to move Dairy closer to the front of the store, i.e. earlier in my shopping trip? Realize that the only place for the milk is next to the littlest toddler in the front of the basket. Threaten him nicely at least ten times not to touch the milk. Get comfortable in the fact that you have gotten your point across. Listen to him say "okay" and watch him happily turn his attention to the Lunchables in the cart.

Then turn your head for a millisecond.

Listen to him say "it's milk, Mommy." Be thankful you are in the furthest corner of the store in Frozen Foods by the organic section where no one ever goes. Get your edamame out of the freezer and into your basket with the speed of a big cat. Then take a look at the gallon of milk, whose lid is awkwardly tilted. The gallon is now 7/8 of a gallon, the other eighth having dribbled down over the groceries in the cart and onto the floor.

Take a deep breath and head to the meat section, which is the only place in the entire store where they have paper towels (and I'm not buying them). Tear off seven towels and start wiping down milk-coated groceries. They also have produce plastic bags; grab one, stuff in paper towels and oh, while I'm at it gimme those little cheese papers.

4. Take a look at your wadded up, milked up grocery list, wad it up even more, and stuff it into the bag with the milk, the cheese papers, and the paper towels. And that in-store coupon you got for hotdogs. Its 55 cents is slowly losing its value.

Tell a stockboy guy about the little present you left him in Frozen Foods and breathe a sigh of relief at how kind he is to you.

5. Get to the checkout, where you know they at least have a tiny office-sized trash can under each register. Without saying anything, invade the checker's space and stuff your bag into already-overflowing trash can.

6. Get out of the store and try to figure out a way to strap your own trash bag on the cart for next time.

We interrupt this blog for...housework

Since I got back from BlogHer '08 I must be on the computer at all possible free moments: installing junk on my blog, visiting other attendees' sites, and counting up the huge stack of business cards I accumulated. The latter, thankfully, has been transformed into bookmarked links for later use, and Mickey is finally the proud owner of 28 cards of various shapes and sizes and colors.

All that said...I gotta get some work done here, people! So if you don't see me for a few days, know that my kitchen floor, my laundry room, and my bathrooms are no longer being neglected. More or less.

In the meantime, check out Cake Wrecks for some of my creations. Well, not mine yet, but I'm about guaranteed a spot out there at some time or another. (Thanks to Julie via Twitter for the link!)

A must-read on asking a lot from a bathroom

One of my roommates from BlogHer '08 was Mary from Owlhaven. You must check out her 4 women, 1 bathroom post. (Unfortunately I DID forget who I was sleeping with for a fleeting fraction of a second. Fleeting, I tell you. Miniscule. Sorry, Melanie...)

BlogHer '08: ...and perfectionism will keep you from posting

Since I got back from BlogHer '08 two days ago I've been mulling over what to post about it, to say the least. There's so many snippets and stories that are so memorable to me but maybe my readers could do without those. I decided today to stop mulling and just provide you with something useful on my blog for once. So here's a brief recap of my experience at BlogHer '08, and I also encourage you once again to visit Blogging Basics 101 for more info.

Day One

FAQs for Beginning Bloggers: Excellent session! Visit Wannabe Hippie for what was a live blog from the session and Webgrrls International for a list of resources.

MommyBlogging: Public Parenting and Privacy: Really interesting, open discussion with four panelists. Live blog is at It's My Life. This one made me second-guess my decision to post the boys' photos out here.

Writing Workshop: The live blog is at Abigail Schilling, but I found Contentious, who led the workshop, had more detailed info.

Day Two

Building Traffic via Content and Community: Here's where I sat in wonderment (on the floor because it was so crowded) at the information provided by Elise Bauer at Simply Recipes. SR is one of the most-read recipe blogs on the planet and this woman seems to know what she's doing. She admitted this presentation is a couple of years old; to me, that means its info is tried and true. Semi-Charmed Wife has the live blog.

Photography: Another session where I felt very lucky to be hearing the speaker. Me Ra Koh has truly put her mark on the online photography world, and amazingly she only started taking pictures seriously six years ago. The live blog is at It's My Life and be sure to visit Me Ra as well.

Third session: Nothing. I was overwhelmed so I went to the spa and got a wax.
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(You can get recaps and live blogs for all the sessions at the BlogHer site.)

BlogHer '08 was truly a unique experience and I would love to go again next year. If Pete can survive the boys this year then next year they should be even easier, right? Right?

(Pete does want it to go on record that he did housework while I was gone. And there were no injuries. At least nothing that won't heal in a few days...)

There's no crying at BlogHer!

Oh, my. It has been way too long since I had to act like I know what I'm talking about at a professional conference. Like, seven or eight or 12 years. BlogHer has totally sent me into a tailspin of self-doubt, indecisiveness, and a general feeling of technical inadequacy.

And I've loved every minute of it.

First of all, San Francisco is friggin' cold, but only in the 60s so actually invigorating about 3:30 this afternoon when the urge to bust out of break-out sessions and card exchanging overwhemed me.

Day Two will probably be more of the same of everything, but bring it. I'm ready. Maybe.

Could be a long three nights for Pete

Just when I thought I was home free today, this happened:

That would be shards of glass. The glass that was our lamp. Pete and I spent 45 minutes picking up the pieces. And trying to keep little toes off the carpet.

I was a little shaken-and-stirred...with all I have going on tonight. But I made time to take this: "Alex and Primary Colors."

Sorta makes broken lamps a little easier to take.

Why the BlogHer Conference?

What in the heck is BlogHer?

You know those advertisements on the right-hand side of this text? Those are called "BlogHer ads," and they are the product of BlogHer, which is an organization for women who blog. They realized that there are a friggin' lot of women who blog and even more who read our blogs, which equates to untapped (until now) advertising revenue. Now I'm going to try to refrain from using "blog" anymore in this post since it's losing its punch.

What is the BlogHer Conference and why are you leaving your family for four days to go?

Check out the conference site here. They expect around 1000 attendees, not all mommy bloggers like me, of course. I'm going to the conference to find out more about the career of blogging and figure out if this is really something I want to dive into more enthusiastically. You may have noticed that I don't really have a plan for what I write and that's because I don't make writing a priority and that's because I really just do it for myself and not as if it's some kind of job. But it could be. And I'm going to seek out some inspiration to that end this weekend.

Where are you staying?

We'll be at the Westin St. Francis in San Francisco. Supposed to be in a great location with great shopping. Not that I'll have time to do that. I'll be rooming with Melanie and Shannon and Mary. These ladies are rockstars at what they do and I feel a little like the little sister trying to tag along with her teenage sisters. Or I could just be having flashbacks...

How long will you be gone?

Leaving Thursday, coming back Sunday.

What is Pete doing with the kids?

That is between him and the kids. And McDonald's. And grandparents. And aunts with trampolines. All I know is that he very graciously encouraged me to go. But I believe that was before I told him it was out of town. And overnight.

What are you wearing?

Huh? It has been many years since I have had to dress for a conference. Pete said I should dress business-casual but my business-casual these days is what most people wear to the grocery store. At 10:00 on Sunday night. And the weather in San Francisco?! Mid-60s! I don't even know what that means in July.

Will you blog while you're there?

Who knows. I'm not taking a computer but if I can pillage someone else's then maybe. But don't count on it. Count on the inconsistency of this blog you've come to know and love.

We all scream...

Last week the boys and I toured a local ice cream factory where I tried out Alex's monkey on his back. Which it is, he believes.

The thing actually did work and wasn't too uncomfortable for anyone (except I still felt like the bad mom. Did I mention there were moms there with three and four kids and not a monkey in sight?)

Here are a few pics, and also some of later in the day, since apparently there's no cap on the amount of chocolate ice cream my boys are allowed in a day.

Seriously, you need to take the plunge

Every now and then my real-life friends and I talk about what's on my blog, maybe they have a comment on a post (which I suppose they prefer to tell me in person rather than sending me some comment luuuuv...)

Anyway, I've heard several of them say, in the same far-off way one talks about about taking a 7-day cruise to the Bahamas, "I've thought about starting a blog..." My reaction is always the same: WHY DON'T YOU? The fun thing about blogging is that it can be whatever you want it to be. You can keep it private or tell your friends and family. You can tell only your friends and family or you can (attempt to) invite the world to join you.

That's quite a long intro for telling you about a site that will get you going one way or another: Blogging Basics 101. It's authored by my very talented friend Melanie at Don't Try This at Home and Bloggy Giveaways and it's one online blogging source that will truly tell you everything you need to know to get started and continue to develop your blog.

And the beauty of the site? It's easy to read but so thorough it may be the only blogging resource you'll ever need. And Melanie scours other online blogging resources, too, and passes helpful info on to her readers. For us novice bloggers, she keeps her information basic but thorough and doesn't crowd it with a lot of techo-babble. Although she has that on the site, too, the brainiac.

So if you're considering starting a blog, or if you're new to the blogging world, bookmark BB 101 now. Specifically this section. Happy blogging!

Nightmares are a small price to pay for security

You may remember my almost-three-year-old Alex has a thing about fleeing from the safety of my side, not once, but two terrifying times.

Since we have a trip to Six Flags planned in a few weeks, I told Pete I'm not stepping foot out the door without something to keep him from helping himself to an escalator or a log ride.

So today I found this at Target:


He had the choice (as if that's going to help him love being on a leash) of a puppy or a monkey and he chose the monkey. I hate monkeys, ever since I was in high school and one of my friends let me watch a very graphic real-life movie. I will spare you the details but in the video there was a monkey who met a rather morose demise by way of hammer. Every time I see a monkey I think of that horrible scene and how that my friend's parents were losers because I had nightmares for a long time after that.

Anyway, he chose the monkey and now I get to have nightmares some more in order to keep him safe.

(tap, tap, tap....ewwwww!)

I love this country!

Here's what 7:00 a.m. looked like this morning.



And 10:00 a.m.

As Alex so insightfully put this morning: "Happy Fourth of Jul-live!"

Amen, Alex. Amen.

Stars and Stripes Cookies

In my next life I'd like to come back as a chef in the baking department of the Food Network kitchens. Imagine getting to do nothing but test recipes in a gigantic kitchen with a gigantic island, with gigantic trash cans that get emptied by someone else. And all the ingredients would be in giant resealable boxes instead of rolled up in their bags and sealed with a clothespin.

I'd also get to work with cool people like Gale Gand and Sandra Lee and other celebrity chefs that really don't do anything but show up and put the ingredients together. Who do you think measures out all their ingredients and chops all their vegetables into perfect little squares? Some underpaid sous chef who merely aspires to empty their trash, I suspect.

Anyway, what does all that rambling have to do with the title of this post? Well, it's not even Christmas and I'm making sugar cookies today! Red, white, and blue sugar cookies. Once a year is way too little to whip up a batch of Royal Icing and let it work its magic, so I'm doing it today.

And why, you may wonder, am I blogging this now when I don't have anything to show for it? Who really knows. I'm just so excited at the prospect of edible stars and circles in patriotic colors I can't even stand it.

No, I don't really have time to do it. But lately I've tried to stop saying that because I think it's about what you choose to do with the time you have. So instead of saying "I don't have time" I say "I didn't make time for that..." Try it, it's liberating.

But you can bet today I'm makin' me some time for patriotic sugar cookies. Check back tomorrow for the results!

WFMW: Two Five-Ingredient Recipes

Today's Works for Me Wednesday is a themed affair: recipes requiring five ingredients or less. My gosh, I hope Shannon never takes that post down; I could just start from the beginning of the 368 posts (at the time I'm writing this) and make a cookbook.

I thumbed through my recipes and found these two gems. They're both easy and family-pleasing. They're both the required five ingredients or less (minus the salt and pepper). They're both pretty cheap to make.

But there's one glaring difference: one wears angel wings and the other you will hate me for if you're currently dieting. No mystery which one is which:

Chicken Breast with Honey-Balsamic Glaze

From: Weight Watchers; 4 points

1 1/2 t. dried thyme

1/2 t. salt

1/4 t. black pepper

1 t. olive oil

1 pound uncooked boneless, skinless chicken breast, four 4-oz. pieces

2 T. balsamic vinegar

2 T. honey

Combine the first three ingredients; sprinkle over both sides of chicken.

Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken, cook 7 to 8 minutes on each side or until chicken is done.

Transfer chicken to a platter; keep warm. Reduce heat to medium-low; add vinegar and honey to pan. Simmer one minute or until glaze thickens; stir constantly. Pour glaze over chicken. Makes four servings. Really good served with rice.

Almost Candy Bars

From: A mom friend who brought these on our Branson trip. To. Die. For.

1 box devil's food cake mix

1 stick butter

1 bag chocolate chips (milk chocolate or semi-sweet)

1 can sweetened condensed milk

1 c. chopped nuts

Blend butter and cake mix together until crumbly. Press into bottom of a jelly roll pan. Sprinkle chocolate chips and nuts evenly over the top. Drizzle the sweetened condensed milk over the top. Bake at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes or until everything looks melty. You'll know! Remove from oven; let cool and cut into small squares. Makes a lot but not enough!

A new bloggy outfit

Notice anything different? Woo-hoo! After two years I've finally changed into a new bloggy ensemble. You like? I hope so, could be another two years before I change again.

Thanks to Christy at Be Design for getting me into my new diggs. I thought this would take a couple of weeks to accomplish but my word that girl is fast!

Ya'll have a good day before the day before the day before the Fourth!

@#!$%^~! Camcorder

Let's just say our camcorder isn't getting any warm fuzzies from Pete and I lately. When we tried to play back some of our movies, it CRUNCHED up the tapes, making it impossible to play or even rewind. Mickey's end of school play where he's staring into space could be lost forever!

So we could be in the market for a new camcorder pretty soon. I'm a little stupified by all the choices out there. Does anyone have any tips on buying one? We probably don't want something fancy but I don't want to have to buy a new one in a year. And I'm confused on the recording devices: some of them use mini-CDs or something? Our current recorder uses those little fat cassettes that we have to insert into (horrors!) a VHS tape in order to play on our TV.

Pleeease, isn't there a better way? What kind of camcorder do you have? Would you buy it again? What do you like or not like about it? I know someone out there can enlighten me!

Taking my son to T-ball is a paying job

I filled in for Pete tonight at Mickey's last T-ball game (which isn't really a game since they're just learning fundamentals such as baselines are straight and not squiggly). Anyway, I told Mickey he would have to tell me what to do since I hadn't been there with him before, and he was very happy to give me instructions here and there.

I didn't expect the following bonuses, all while the very patient coach chirped his whistle and barked instructions to the team:

"Mom, the bases are the same color as cupcake batter."

"How did your hands get so big?"

"I'm glad Daddy's out of town so I get to spend time just with you. Then tomorrow I can spend time just with Daddy." (Yeah, that one just confused me.)

There was also the bonus of seeing true joy on my son's face for 45 minutes solid.

The bonus of seeing him tell another boy "good job."

The bonus of having him run and jump into my arms about six times.

The bonus of my very hectic week being forgotten for a while.


I believe Pete can call me to sub anytime.

Overheard: a thing or two to learn

This morning at Vacation Bible School there was a plea to the children to bring "Pennies from Heaven" to donate to our church's charity.

So I asked Mickey if he would like to gather some pennies to bring for donating. I got the following:

"Oh, yes, Mamma. I have lots of money I don't want. I have lots and lots and lots of coins that are getting old and I need to give them away. But I don't have a lot of pennies. I have some nickels and dimes I don't want..."

"Okay, that sounds good."

"I have some dollars but I need to keep them."

"Oh, why do you need to keep them?"

"Because Daddy might need them. I love Daddy..."

A sign I truly need to lighten up

For several years, I have been drooling over beautiful bonded leather photo album from a store who makes, uh, really beautiful bonded leather photo albums. And other beautiful things. Beautifully. Anyway, this particular beautiful item is designed specially for Christmas photos. There's a choice of deep red or rich green. Smoooooth leather...I can just feel it. And I can imagine it being in my family for fifty years and Mickey and Alex fighting over who gets it when I die.

But one thing, and one thing only, has kept me from pulling the trigger and buying it:


The front of the album is preprinted with the phrase "Christmas Thru the Years."

THRU. TEE-AYTCH-ARR-YOU

How hard would it have been to just add three teeny-weeny letters to spell it correctly? They tell me it's worth $75 and then they take a horrifying shortcut with "through"?! I can't do it, I just can't. I would truly need some sort of sedative every time I looked at it.

So I guess my priceless Christmas photos will have to live in a plain 'ol fifteen-dollar album from Target. Without any spelling errors whatsoever.

Maybe Mickey and Alex will find something else to fight over.

Finally from Alex, a pleasant surprise (you owed me, dude!)

Pretend I've made all my excuses for not posting.

Pretend I've already gotten a bazillion comments from you saying "it's okay," and "don't worry, we know you get busy." (Also pretend you remember how to post comments.)

Pretend I've already said I'll try to post more but this working 11-that-feels-like-eighty hours a week while trying to find my lost son is causing me to slip into bed exhausted every night but not too exhausted to read four and a half pages of Harry Potter IV before I fall asleep.

Pretend all that. Then read on:

Maybe one reason Alex felt so independent at Big Waterpark the other day was because we converted his crib into a toddler bed a week ago. At almost three years old, I figured he was approaching old enough. And also I finally located the crib hardware that I haven't seen in four+ years.

I was prepared for many late nights trying to keep him from utilizing the freedom we finally gave him. I was prepared to walk him back to his bed fifty or so times every night until he collapsed from the battle. I was prepared to threaten, cajole, reward and bribe him to stay in his bed (none of which actually worked with Mickey, by the way).

Turns out that preparation was for naught: the boy has yet to get out of bed one time.

Oh, he asked all right: about 30 seconds after we laid him down the first night we heard "Can I get out now?" Beyond that, and "I need my blanket" and "Can you close my door?" this has been the least stressful thing I have done as a parent so far.

And once again it has reminded me that my kids are, indeed, two different people.

Here we go with pics:

Just before the transformation.

You'd think there's only one step involved here.

Nope, breaking down a prison wall seems to take precision work.

And a two-year-old on your back.

Almost looks like a picture frame for sleeping!

Made it through the first night unscathed (until Mickey crawled over him in the morning to share a snooze).

Five minutes I never want to relive

Today I took Alex and Mickey to Big Waterpark near our house. We were having a great time: first time the boys have been this summer, we saw some friends there, great weather.

And then a black cloud formed over my head.

And I lost Alex for five agonizing minutes.

I don't know how long it was really. Long enough for me to ask four lifeguards and two inquiring moms to help me find him. Long enough for me to venture to two other pools dragging poor Mickey behind me (who had the nerve to ask if he could swim while I went to look for Alex).

And long enough for Mickey to wander over to the deposit pools of two large water slides, probably 50 yards and many obstacles away from me. A swimmer noticed he was alone and ushered him to a lifeguard. By the time I laid eyes on him his lifeguard entourage had grown to three.

Mickey broke away from me and ran to him; when I got there Alex looked up at me and says simply "hi, Mamma." I'd stopped gasping by then and I mustered "hi, Alex." The guy who looked like he was in charge of lost children and loster parents told me it was a good thing I had a lifejacket on him as a lot of kids his age wander the park without them. Thank you for making me begin gasping again...

I gathered him and Mickey up and we made our way back to the little pool and I tried to explain to Alex what he'd done. Didn't exactly have much impact; I got a big grin and "I wanna swim."

The silver lining to this black cloud? I was not rooted to the ground in fear. I did not panic. Okay, maybe there was a tad bit of hyperventilating, but instead of praying aloud and doing nothing I prayed to myself as I was asking people for help. Who, in my opinion, were answers to my prayers in themselves.

I always knew there was hope...

Oh, a couple of pics I took before Alex's joywalk. I believe he was plotting his escape here:


...and good-natured Mickey, who assessed the situation with his usual "...ooooh, this is not good..."

The test I failed

Saturday night Pete and I ventured to a little known first-run movie theater to see Indiana Jones. Little known, I say, because when we arrived at theatre #4 there were only four other people there, 10 minutes before showtime.

Pete announced he was going to the restroom before the movie started, so I settled our drinks and snacks and myself into a chair in the dim light. At that point I became aware of one of the other four people on her cell phone, obviously speaking to 911 (interesting how we refer to "911" like it's a person). I stood up and turned around to see another woman lying back in her chair, her husband hunched over her. The woman on the phone was with her husband, also.

The sick woman's husband was relaying information to the woman on the phone:

"36"
"She's unresponsive but awake. Lethargic."
"...seizure..."

At that point I didn't know what to do. A minuted ticked by: the woman on the phone continued to give instructions to the husband. "EMSA is on its way..." she said.

I think I turned back around to face the front again; still unsure what to do. There were two people helping her already and someone on the phone to 911. I have no medical experience whatsoever. I might be in the way. I might confuse the woman on the phone by asking if I could help. I might interrupt the relay of information to the husband.

So I did the only thing I could do without risking any of those things: I started praying. Aloud. And probably hyperventilating just a little. And wondering why Pete had chosen now to pitch a tent in the restroom.

Then I heard a voice say "Can I help?" I turned back around and saw a third person. "Yes," said the woman on the phone. "Get her on the floor on her back and elevate her head."

With the help of the other man, the husband lowered her to the floor. Said the woman on the phone: "Don't put your fingers or anything else in her mouth; she may bite you." Then the sick woman, now on the floor, began thrashing and tensing and moaning very loudly. I believe I started praying even more loudly at this point, my feet still rooted to the floor.

Then silence from the woman on the floor. The woman on the phone says "she probably can't breathe; you have to keep her calm." The new man says "breathe, you're okay, just breathe..."

About that time six or so emergency personnel barreled into the theatre and took over. I breathed a sigh of relief and the woman on the phone walked toward me with her husband. I could see she was sweating and shaking and I told her what an awesome thing she had just done. She said she'd offered to make the call when the woman's husband told her he didn't have a cell phone.

At that point Pete walked up behind me and I started talking a mile a minute..."she had a seizure, where were you, she wasn't breathing, I didn't know what to do..."

He nodded and said "I know, I know..." like he was familiar with people with seizures. "Who do you know who has seizures?" "No one," he says, "I was down there helping her."

HUH!?

Pete was the person who asked if he could help.

Pete was the person who helped lower her to the floor and held her head in his lap.

Pete was the person encouraging her to relax and breathe.

And I was the person whose feet were made of lead.

And I didn't recognize my own husband or his voice two rows away from me.

So the ambulance took the woman away and three minutes later I was oogling Harrison Ford in a Fedora. Life resumed pretty quickly (for us anyway).

Yet part of me sat bumfuzzled by what had just happened. What was it that kept me from offering my help to that woman, yet made it so easy for Pete to jump in the middle of the situation?

Later we talked about it and even laughed. Don't anyone have a medical emergency when Christine's around...best you'll get is a prayer for someone else to help you.

I guess I always thought myself just the opposite type of person. The type to help when I'm needed, the type to take action when it's critical. I remember a recent story about a man who was hit by a car and while he lay in the street onlookers passed him by without helping. "That would never be me..." I said to myself.

Well, it was me. Embarrassingly, it was.

And the only thing I'm proud of right now is that I married someone who has the quality I wish I had.

Five Things

I know you really, really have better things to do than learn five (or 30?!) new things about me. But hey, since it's Friday you probably need something to pass the afternoon, so here ya go. Thanks to Straight Shooter for the diversion:

Five things I was doing ten years ago:

1. Falling in love with Florida beaches.
2. Making bad relationship choices.
3. Buying my first house (NOT a bad choice).
4. Perfecting my lightening quick Alt+tab to switch from web surfing to work.
5. Blogging before blogging. On paper. Let me know if you'd like to check out a volume or two.

Five things on my to-do list today:

1. Take the boys to have pictures taken in their patriotic T-shirts and Levi's shorts and no shoes.
2. Savor the time they're both napping. And savor the time when they wake up and both climb onto my lap in my shrinking rocking chair.
3. Blog.
4. Water my new landscaping (pics in a future post) while praying nothing dies.
5. Load Alex into the jogging stroller and walk around the neighborhood; no longer be jealous of neighbors' landscaping.

Five things I would do if I were a billionaire

1. Set up a fund for working mothers with preschoolers so they could stay home at least until their kids are in school.
2. Build my mother a lodge with sleeping rooms and a kitchen and a big room for gatherings so she could entertain her family comfortably. I guess that would be a hotel. Okay, build Mom a hotel.
3. Take my family on a cruise once a year for the rest of our lives.
4. Hire someone to clean my bathrooms and mop my floor.
5. Reserve Disney World for a week. For my whole family and Pete's family. Then let me stay home and have the house to myself.

Five of my bad habits

1. Rewarding with M&Ms, my kids AND myself.
2. Gossiping, but you didn't hear it from me.
3. Reading blogs when I should be blogging.
4. Blogging when I should be cleaning house.
5. Cleaning house when...no, I should always be cleaning house.

Five places I have lived

1. Muskogee
2. Tahlequah
3. Tulsa
4. Upstairs
5. Downstairs

Five jobs I've had

1. Babysitter starting at about 12 years old. Although NOTHING could have prepared me for parenthood.
2. Clerk in a golf pro shop.
3. Christmas help at gigantic mall in town. Pure hell.
4. Various writing jobs.
5. Mom.

There ya' go...now as I've told you before: wake up and get back to work!

A powerful video

Jenny at One Thing, a beach-lovin' mom of 12 (TWELVE) unearthed this video about our continuous struggle to walk with The Lord in life. I'm not usually one to seek out this kind of drama and I had my doubts when I first started watching it.

And afterward I realized it is something I had to share.

(It's a little graphic so watch it yourself before you decide to let your kids see it.)

Kohl's has FREE Water Watcher cards

I happened to be in Kohl's the other day...the nearest one is about 10 miles away so I really, really, really have to want to be there. The 30% off everything-even-sale-and-clearance coupon I got in the mail went a long way to make me feel that way.

Anyway, amid my shoppin frenzy I saw these. For FREE.


It's called a Water Watcher card. It's for owners of private pools and it's for that person who usually says "I'm watching them..." referring to a bunch of swimming kids. Then when that person gets up and moves away from the water he or she can pass the lanyard to someone else, so there's always someone to be a designated Watcher.

Summer is my favorite time of year but with a two and four year old who are not afraid of anything (yet) it would give me comfort to see one of these at the private pools we sometimes visit (don't worry, Grandma, I'm bringing you one).

So get to Kohl's before they run out and grab one for a friend even if you don't have a pool. Help ensure the safety of yours and other kids.

Oh, and for some good water safety information, go here.

That is all.

The new job and other stuff

Whew! What a week last week. Here I thought working two days a week wouldn't be so difficult; after all, many moms work 40 or 50 and they survive just fine. I worked at the boys' school a grand total of ten hours and let's just say I didn't quite plan for it. To cut to the chase: my Tylenol bottle's a little lighter but I'm going back for more because my class of 13 three-year-old's is so dang cute.

To add to the fun of starting a job, I figured what the heck: I'm going to have my first garage sale. Ever. And invite 8 or 9 friends to bring their stuff, too.

Pete had mercy on me and took the boys to Grandma and Grandpa's for the night so I could root through his stuff to see what to sell. I didn't make a fortune, far from it, but have quite a flip-flop tan to show for it.

Here are a few gems that found new and loving homes over the weekend (none of them were mine thankyouverymuch):

I guess the owner got his answer and no longer felt the need to keep the Evangecube.

Just as scary in person.

So was this.

Saw a few kids wander by this and just stare.

Something a little creepy about this display. Never found out what kind of animal that was.

Sadly, no one was Jonesin' Saturday.

And as a bonus, my friend G saw fit to break out her collection of wigs for the occasion. I understand this is somewhat of a habit with her, or maybe even an addiction? Lots. Of. People. Must. Dress. In. Wigs.

Here she is as an apparently normal and very cute mother of four beautiful and well-adjusted children. At least until they find her collection of wigs.

...and after her, uh, transformation into her alter-ego, Mrs. Kintner from Jaws.

What I learned this week (without even trying)

(and "this week" meaning since I last posted which was, whaddya know...a week ago!)

1. I learned that winds of 75 miles an hour are enough to take out our electricity for a day and night. I also learned our friends were on vacation on the east coast and left their house unattended. With a heated pool in the backyard. Silly friends...

2. No school for a week and no planned activities for the kids add up to no blogging.

3. Lists posts are good because you don't have to link sentences, which requires concentration, which I have little of this morning.

4. ...because I'm starting a new job today! At the boys' school. I'm slightly nervous because a new job's a new job, even if it's the polar opposite of what I used to do. Which is write. (Pay no attention to the current illustration of that skill.)

5. My husband is the sweetest man on earth for letting me go here in July. I wonder if he realizes it's overnight. Three overnights. Shhh, don't tell him.