Monday, November 30, 2009

Shoot Me Now: Paint Colors


I've said before that I was born without that gene that makes a woman want to shop and decorate. Apparently God gave me EXTRA mothering instinct gene.

So we're (read: my husband mostly) redoing one of our 2 bathrooms since we'd like to move in the next few years (love the house, but live on a super-busy street where people like to drive drunk, speed and crash their car through people's fences and into their yards) and need to update every room in the house in order to sell it.

With every room he does, he gives me the courtesy of asking my opinion on paint colors. He knows I have no taste. He knows I can't make a decision. He's being nice. And so it is again with the bathroom. How many shades of WHITE are there? This white is too yellow. This one too orange. This one too blue. We've decided on Antique White, then had to decide on one of 6 different finishes ... the one that's easy to clean or the one that looks good? We usually go with something in the middle and hope for the best.

When Aron travels this winter, I've decided I'm gonna repaint the entryway (it's too light and shows all dirt) and work on the "girls' room" (they don't sleep in it yet) because it has a sports border and I wanna tear it down and paint the whole room. Any takers on coming over to help me? Keep in mind there will be 5 small children around, including Tasmanian Devil Eva.

The interesting thing is, I'd like to do this not because I ENJOY it, but to try to help my long-suffering husband out. I fear I may only make more work for him and also fear he won't like the color I choose. Ours is a strange, backwards, mixed-up household. But it works for us.

Sunday, November 29, 2009

Taste in Overland Park, Kansas

Recently Aron and I went out for our Annual Date Night to a restaurant called Taste in Downtown Overland Park, Kansas. Here's us:


Here's what we ate:



Here's what Sam did while we ate and talked:


Here's the rockin' chocolate buffet on a plate we had for dessert:


The dessert came with a chocolate straw, which we made marijuana jokes about:



What do you want from me? My parents were quasi-hippies ... both with a great sense of humor.

Food rocked. Go there!

Saturday, November 28, 2009

My Poor DIL

I've already decided I will call Sam's future wife the SamWitch.

Friday, November 27, 2009

Fireproof: Here Come the Kids

Tresa loaned us the movie Fireproof recently and we got to watch it last night and this morning. It was so clean, the kids even watched a lot of it, too. Aron's off this week and is supposed to be working on the bathroom remodel, but instead we slacked off and watched the movie ... Sam slept on me all morning and the kids played/watched parts of the movie. Callie has never met a movie she didn't like, just like her mom.

Anyway, it was a great movie. Loved it. Very cool. It had an important message even if you aren't religious in any way at all. Does anyone else think the main chick looks just like the Duggars' new daughter-in-law? Maybe it's her sister. Oh, and we think it's cool that Kirk Cameron didn't kiss the actress, but had his wife stand in and kissed her instead. Take THAT, Hollywood! They've been married 17 years and have 6 kids (aka a Catholic Starter Family).

I think they need a sequel, though. It would involve the characters having lots of kids. Heck, even a couple would test that Fireproof stuff. Aron's homeschooling the kids in some simple music stuff right now, and he's getting a little taste of active boys and trying to teach them during a time when they'd rather be doing something like jumping up and down or hitting their heads against the wall.

So, the movie would show what a marriage goes through when you have kids. Come on, people, together we can come up with an awesome sequel screenplay. Give me your plot ideas, and I'll throw them by Kirk.

Thursday, November 26, 2009

Tell Me What You Want. What You Really, Really Want.

Yes, I know this blog is all over the place, just like my brain. Once I got fired from a job with no other reason than that I lacked focus. Part of the problem was that I mostly just wanted to be a mom hanging out at home writing rather than a secretary at a soul-less PR agency.

So I'm wondering what's been useful to you on this blog ("useful" meaning like it made you laugh or made you think or made you mad or whatever). What do you want to hear more about? Options include:

-- Adventures in Homeschooling
-- Attachment Parenting (to include family bed, nursing, baby-wearing and all that touchy-feely parenting stuff that you either do yourself and feel a kinship with me or else you just like to make fun of me)
-- My life as a best-selling, headed-for-Oprah writer (meaning I've sold 11 copies of my e-book since July and have been published in about 12 regional parenting pubs to date)
-- General gripes
-- Life in general, to include being a Travel Widow plus all of the above
-- Recipes (that made me laugh just to type it!)

Love to all my bloggy friends and relatives, and a happy Thanksgiving. By the way, what the hell are you doing online right now anyway? Are you avoiding family? Have you just put the turkey in the oven? Is everyone gone from your house and you're happy to finally have some Alone Time? Many questions today.

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Say What?!

I'm spending too much time online when I tell my son to LOG ON to the boob, rather than LATCH ON.

Pray for me today ... going Christmas shopping with my mom and Spamwich ... where will I hide everything?

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

So What? I'm Still a Rock Star.

Last Friday Callie and I had a date. We went to the Paul Mitchell School and got CHEAP haircuts (95th and Antioch; $5 kids, $10 adults ... so I tipped the hell out of the students since that's all the money they see there). I woulda gotten even more layers, except I was worried about Baby Sam crying at home and wanting the Boob, so we took off. Anyway, here are some shots:




Monday, November 23, 2009

Huge Earlobes ... why?

What is up with all the white guys I see who are trying to stretch out their earlobes like I've seen in National Geographic? WHY? I'm truly curious. Have you seen these guys around town and on TV? It doesn't turn me on; it just looks painful ... and strange. Who's with me, ladies?

Saturday, November 21, 2009

deep-ish , controversial-ish thoughts ...

... from my facebook status updates:

i used to be so judgmental about out-of-wedlock pregnancies, even though it happened to me at 18. now i don't think it matters so much how a precious baby comes into the world, as long as it is well-taken-care-of and loved.

Thursday, November 19, 2009

Dude, You Know This Tree Rocks


I'm a direct reincarnation from the 60s. I want a silver, white or pink Christmas tree SOOO BAD. Don't tell my husband, but I have a list in my mind of things I'll do or buy if he dies before me. Things like get a laptop of my own or order cable or put a TV in the bedroom. The Christmas tree thing is on this list. This year we get a REAL TREE. I didn't grow up with real ones and hate them. You have to water them and vacuum up after them. They are like having a dog. Also you have to buy them and dispose of them. I'm lazy and like artificial trees. How about you?

Monday, November 16, 2009

Food Hoarding Lies


So the other day all the chairs in the kitchen were taken and I sat on the floor to nurse Samwich. I looked over to see this ... a virtual pantry under my desk (carbs, anyone?). I knew Callie had brought all this crap up from our basement pantry and stacked it neatly under the desk. It cracked my mom and I up and she made a joke about Callie hoarding food since she knows we'll be running out soon (a complete joke ... I always have PLENTY of food around here ... especially chocolate, so I don't know why she has a box of brownie mix AND a whole can of cocoa).

The thing is ... she lied about it when we asked if she did it. And tried to throw her friend under the food bus. The boys didn't have food issues. They didn't lie. But these girls are a different story and I am in trouble, people.

I'm a little frightened about this girl of mine ... what do you do when your kid outright lies to you. You call them out on it ... such an obvious lie (like, "I swear the sky is gold"), and still they lie on. How to punish for this?

Sunday, November 15, 2009

Kids Making Christmas Lists


Have you started making your Christmas list yet? My kids have to start in October because all their relatives like to be done shopping by Thanksgiving. I pretty much just picked up 4 Toys R Us catalogs (pictured with Eva) this year and had them each mark one up with what they want. Joel marked just about everything, while Michael was more discerning. So I had them do a letter to Santa with only FIVE things they REALLY want. Then the fun begins. The shopping I do while they are with me (hiding crap under my coat). The shopping I do to help other people (relatives) out and they just pay me back. The binder I have to keep to keep track of who got which kid what so there's no doubling up. It's a full-time job, I tell ya. This year Mom, Samwich and I are going out to Toys R Us and possibly Target the day before Thanksgiving (Aron's off work and gets paid that day) to try to knock out most of it. We'll probably do a lot of drinking both before AND after the shopping fun. That means Samwich will be drunk, as well. (put the phone down ... no need to call the State ... I'm joking, as usual)

Wish us luck, and help me think of what I can tell the kids about where I'm going that day ... so they don't suspect ... jeez, I hope they don't read this blog and figure out a few things. I hope I've been cryptic enough. We'll see ...

(by the way, that's my husband with the holey shirt in the background holding Samwich and eating a Chipotle burrito ... he was all upset when I told him about the hole because he said that was one of his "honeymoon shirts" ... which means he bought it for and wore it on our honeymoon 11 years ago. so cute!)

Saturday, November 14, 2009

Disappointed Vs. Stolen or Lost

So someone VERY KIND (the mother of a friend of my kids) invited my 3 oldest kids to go to a very popular kids’ pizza place recently. Here are the problems:

1. The invite came at 4:30 when we already had a ham in the oven for dinner.

2. The invite came through the woman’s daughter to me and was discussed with my kid before it was discussed with me, so my kids got all excited first.

3. The invite was for a Saturday night, and this place gets seedy and crazy on a Saturday night.

4. I just had a baby and am in postpartum Mama Bear mode where all I envision is bad things happening to my kids. This woman has 1 kid to take along with my THREE (ages 8, 6 and 4) … how is she gonna watch all of them at once?

5. I can’t let her pay for THREE of my kids and I can’t pay for them, either (NICU bill plus about 8 other hospital-related bills that are coming in).

6. I once saw a CSI episode where a kid wasn’t stolen from this pizza place but was taken into a bathroom … this is why I can’t watch those shows anymore and stick mostly with reality TV-land (Flipping Out, Housewives of [fill in the blank], etc.), except for Gray’s Anatomy and Desperate Housewives and Brothers and Sisters.

7. Aron had dinner to make and leaves to rake and couldn’t go with them to supervise. I have a tiny baby and didn’t wanna chase the kids around while navigating hundreds of other kids and simultaneously nursing my baby. Leaving him home was not an option because I’d been gone already that day for over 2 hours and just didn’t want to leave him again.

So … am I a bad mom or a paranoid mom or a really excellent mom or a hovering mom or what? I don’t really care. I’d rather have disappointed kids than lost or stolen kids any day.

Friday, November 13, 2009

Christmas Music

Are you kidding me? Christmas music is on my radio as of the 1st of November AGAIN this year. On TWO channels. Let me get through Thanksgiving! What's the rush?

Thursday, November 12, 2009

Wiitards

I've been sitting on this one a while because I think this post may offend THE WHOLE WORLD since I seem to be the only one who does not own this Wii contraption. Perhaps if I played it for 5 seconds I would totally be hooked like the rest of the population of Planet Earth. Perhaps not. I’d rather be writing and creating and being snobby about it.

My neighbor is lovely in every other way, so I pray to God she never sees this snotty post, but she didn't understand why my 4-year-old daughter didn’t want to play their new Wii when she went to their house to PLAY.

You know PLAY, right? Or is that a foreign concept these days? And imagination. And creativity.

I know people who can’t afford to pay their rent yet they have gone out and somehow acquired a Wii. If I couldn’t pay my rent and got that kind of gift, I’d probably sell it and then … PAY MY RENT.

I know a woman who comes home from a long work week and plays Guitar Hero for hours, totally shutting out her kids.

A friend of mine who has a Wii tells me it’s a bunch of B.S. that it helps kids get off the couch, so it’s not like a mindless video game. She says it’s not like actually playing a sport, like bowling or tennis at all.

Do you have a Wii? Would you defend it to the death? Or do you agree with me, being all snobby and snooty?

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Happy Bday Aron and Animated Thanksgiving

Happy 43rd birthday to my awesome husband. Tonight we celebrate big with ... a Cub Scout den meeting at our place. Woo hoo! We do it up big around here!

If you have kids, check out this fun Thanksgiving site called Animated Thanksgiving.

Monday, November 9, 2009

Taco Aficionado

Man, I love tacos. I was a taco fiend when I was pregnant with Eva, and one of her first words was TACO (referring to her vagina).

My mom tried the new stand-up, flat-bottom taco shells. They are easier to fill, but she said they break so much easier. My idea is that they sell taco holders in the taco shell aisle at the grocery store. You’d be able to stand 3 taco shells up in them separately, fill them without mess, then eat one at a time without the others falling over.

They could have plastic washable ones or paper disposable ones. I’m full of ideas, but have zero follow-through. So someone out there needs to manufacture my taco holders and don’t sell them at WalMart, for God’s sake, but sell them at the grocery store.

Sunday, November 8, 2009

Bumper Sticker Addict



Aron got me this for our anniversary. He couldn't choose hair color and says we all look Mexican. That's cool; we'll fit in better at our church. You can get these at this site.

Saturday, November 7, 2009

Michael's Logic

This morning I hear Callie crying upstairs. In a house with 5 kids, someone is crying every 5 minutes, but still I go to investigate. Mostly because Aron's home today and I want to make sure I look like a good mom to him (yeah right ... he knows the truth by now).

Callie comes down the stairs and says Michael smacked her arm. I ask Michael why he did that, tell him we don't hit, blah blah blah.

He goes, "She said nothing hurts her." So he smacked her to show her that things do hurt her.

Today I'm going on a little date with my oldest son to D'Bronx to eat pizza and chat (his choice), then to Target so he can get a Nerf gun with his allowance so he can further terrorize his siblings and friends.

Eva is closing in on the age of 2 and can say the word "Plumpy" so cute!

Samwich is 1 month old today and starting to chunk up like a true McLoughlin. Nursing is going well ... still getting some formula each day, but at least I'm not shelling out billions of dollars on the stuff. What will I do when the free cans run out? If you leave the word "pump" in the comments section, I'll track you down and give you a spankin'. I hate pumping and get minimal milk, so don't even suggest it, Bloggy Peeps.

Catch ya later.

Sunday, November 1, 2009

PenMark Potions

So what are you going to do with your extra hour today? I'm gonna spend 1/2 with my family (raking a leaf pile for my kids to jump in, most likely) and 1/2 weeding through some piles of papers.

One thing I keep meaning to do is to write about the cool products from PenMark Potions. Right now I'm loving the Skin Repair Salve, but there are so many other great oils and lotions and they smell fantastic!

Penny is the cool chick who runs this little company, and she is also known as the Rock n' Roll Grandma because she used to cater all the best rock concerts in Kansas City. Oh, the stories she could tell (and she has ... click on the ABOUT US link to get to her Boomer Girl blog and to sample her memoir).

Check her out!