Just a Thought

I am not sure which comes first, a bad morning or a bad hair day? Having naturally curly hair that has decided to go wavy in certain areas and straight in others is prone to challenges. This being said, I have an arsenal of tools that help tame my burden.






This morning my arsenal failed me. After the blow drying phase of the morning, things went downhill from there. My hair was a FRIZZY mess.  What had gone wrong?  From then on I could not help but wonder, "Am I having a grumpy day because of my bad hair, or am I having a bad hair day because I'm a grump?"







 When I am not on my game everything seems harder. It means I crumble when my 1st grader comes to me with her 15 written as 51.  What is wrong with this girls teacher?  Of yeah, I am her teacher.

When my little guy spills his milk, like he does every day at lunch, I have to leave the room for a "Mary Moment".

On the way back to clean the milk I pass a mirror and have to decide if cleaning the milk would be more helpful, or another round with my flat iron.

All I can do is hope for a better hair day tomorrow, then all will be right with the world again.

We Are Having Twins!!

Don't worry, I am unfortunately not the one having twins. The next best things is to have a cousin who is!! What a joy!

Having your first baby is so fun. Everything is new and exciting. You get to eat and not worry about your jeans feeling tight (yet). You get to sleep more and not feel guilty. You have to buy new clothes and new shoes to go with the new clothes, plus a new purse...oh yeah you are having a baby not a date! You get to use words like Mucus and Discharge and everybody can understand you and want to hear more. People ask you how you are feeling, truly wanting to analyze every new feeling (a chatty girls heaven)!

I have always wanted twins. I am all about saving time. Why not get 2 for 1! I am not patient person so being pregnant is like torture for me. I would prefer if the stick turned pink and the next weekend baby arrived. So far no luck for me. Instead I had Irish twins.



Jack and Lucy are 12 months apart. I got pregnant 3 months after Jack was born. Looking back I think I was pregnant for like 2 1/2 years. We had a baby born at 20 weeks, that baby Joey did not make it. We then got pregnant 2 weeks after loosing that baby. Had Jack!!! Three months after Jack I was pregnant again. And her name is Lucy. This picture is me about 1 week before Lucy came. Is it just me or is my nose
really big?




After all of that, plus Priscilla, I would still love to have twins. So far I can only make one at a time.

He's Back!

There was still a bit of worry on Pete's first day home from the hospital. He was still pretty worn out and needed to take things slow. Then on Sunday I knew all would be right with the world when after church Pete announced he needed a burger.

The fact that he wanted a burger was encouraging. More importantly, the fact that he was willing to take us out to lunch after Mass was the most revealing on his state of mind and energy.

Let's just put it this way, when we walk into a restaurant people usually ask us, in a hopeful tone, "Are you here for take-out?"

And The Winner Is....

Jessica!! Jessica and I met here in Mobile 2 years ago. It was love at first sight. I know a good gal when I meet one. It is not easy being friends with me, but somehow Jessica has managed to hang in there. Here are some highlights of being my friend:

1. You can never finish a sentence without me saying, "Jack, no interrupting and please talk kindly."
2. If I say I will be at your pool at 3:00- just count me in for 3:30.
3. Whenever you hang out with me there is usually poop involved somehow.






Another lucky winner this week is Pete's mom. She was awarded a week's "vacation" at the relaxing Melnick House. After enduring a week with us she is ready to get back to the tranquil pace of being an ER nurse.

Thanks to everyone who posted online or e-mailed me. My thoughts go to Robby since he is probably distraught over the loss of the chance to own a new cookbook. No worries Robby, Christmas is around the corner.

Ultimately, I am the biggest winner. This handsome guy is home and doing pretty good. Just having him back in any form is great!!

Stay tuned for MORE give-a-ways!

Laundry Anyone?

What a week! Pete is finally feeling better and we got word today that he will be allowed to come home tomorrow. So what does a Mom of five and a Grandma do to celebrate the homecoming of their hero? We pack all five little ones up, walk into a Mexican Restaurant, ask for 2 high chairs and a table for 7 and order 2 beers and a rum and coke. Now that you know what I drank with my dinner and 2 baskets of chips you will understand why I am ready to let you all get to know me better.


This is a common sight around our house, laundry. We go through some clothes. I have 4 girls and all of them go through several outfits a day. I am doing laundry ALL the time. Pete is doing laundry ALL the time. While Pete's mom is here she has been doing laundry ALL the time.




I was getting pretty down about 10 months ago about the amount of laundry I was buried under. Then I met an amazing Mom who changed my life. She introduced me to her laundry system. I wanted to to erect a monument to her in honor of this laundry revelation.




So, here it is. This is how I have a spare hour or two at the end of the day to write on this really fun blog. NOBODY HAS CLOTHES IN THEIR ROOM!! That sentence changed my life. All the clothes for all the children live in a separate room. It is not pretty. In fact it is REALLY not pretty.






All the children have plastic drawers with their name marked on them with a description of what is inside. They are stacked and somewhat in shambles at times, but they are managed mostly by the owner of the drawer.

The beauty of this system is this:
1. The kids can put their own clothes away right from the laundry basket (even Jack at 3).
2. When kids get dressed and undressed it happens in one location, leaving
less running around for me.
3. I have to limit the clothes I buy for everyone because they only have so many drawers .
4. We don't have laundry baskets filled with dry clothes waiting to be put away.
5. Clothes go from the washer,to the dryer, to the drawer ALL IN ONE LOCATION! DONE!!!
6. Anyone can do ALL the laundry, not just MOM!

This draw wall is behind a door so it is not seen unless you come into the room, close the door and look behind you. I DO NOT LOVE THE LOOK! I have to tell you THIS WORKS!

I have an extra note on the "limiting the clothing I buy" comment. This is a VERY hard thing to do especially for me because I really like to match all my kids and I really like clothing. Then I started to realize there were only certain outfits that my kids go to . I had all sorts of clothes that they never wore. Oh yeah, and we had a fire and lost TONS of clothes.

SO, there it is folks! A little housekeeping to wrap up the week. If I ever go out to eat again and have more than 1 beer I will tell you about my shoe management system!!

How To Make a Post

Hurry, hurry, don't delay time is running out on this great GIVE-A-WAY. For all of us like minded nontechnical people all you have to do is look for the "Post a Comment" highlighted line under each post. You click it and leave a post. Anyone who e-mailed me instead of posting will be considered in the random choosing. Although a post would be nice and next give-a-way I may not be that forgiving. We are very scientific here, as you know we homeschool!! In that case we will scientifically count the entries and then Emily will scientifically pick a number between 1 and whatever. Then I will announce the winner on Oct. 3rd!!

Can You Love More Than One Man, Or Want To Be More Than One Thing?

Meet Mick. Oh my, I am in love. Pete knows all about it and he understands.  You see this horse was made for me to fall in love with. He is so beautiful I wish I were the fly's who surrounded him just so we could get to know each other. I think he would like me more than the flies.

This is Blondie, and of course Emily is in love too. She has been riding for about 3 weeks and is doing great. I am not sure if she has a future with the Central Park Mounted Police force yet, nevertheless she can trot, canter and post. Which is more than I can say for her mother.

I do watch the girls and think to myself, "I want to ride a horse.  How can I get horseback riding lessons?" I am sure there is a way to strap a few babies on me while I learn how to have the correct posture in the saddle. The funny thing is whatever the girls are doing I always think I wish I could do it too. Last year they were in ballet. When we went to the nutcracker to watch Emily I could not help myself from imagining me up on the stage in a tu-tu. And then I stopped the thought. Even I did not want to picture 9 month preganant me in a tu-tu. Some dreams are better left unimagined.

I think owning a horse would be so cool.  I have always wanted to own a worn out, dark leather cool pair of cowboy boots. Who hasn't dreamed of being able to wear a cowboy hat without people giggling? It's all about the outfit.

 

When Pete and I first got married, did I really want to learn to snowboard, or did I just want the cute snowboard clothes?  When my friend got pregnant and was getting all new maternity clothes did I really want to have a baby, or just new clothes?  You decide!