Monday, August 24, 2015

Dear Drunken Driver

Dear Drunken Driver...

You may not know this, but you almost smashed your large truck into 3 small children last Monday. How do I know this? I was the driver in front of you on the HRBT bridge, heading to Hampton from Norfolk to go get donuts, and I had my 3 small children in the back seat of my midsize car. You were swerving all over the interstate as we were heading into the tunnel, and it concerned me enough that I called 911 to report erratic driving. You were straddling the divider line, and overcorrecting to the right, and I was worried that you might throw your burgundy Ford SportTrac into the ocean. I WAS CONCERNED ABOUT *YOU*. Think about that for a minute. I was calling to get you off the road, because I thought you might hurt yourself. I didn't even consider that you might floor it coming into the tunnel, then realize too late that traffic was slowing down, coming inches from my bumper as I was heading into the tunnel. Once you figured out that traffic was going slower than you, you slammed on your brakes, thank goodness, but it was almost too late. Oh, and I'm pretty sure that once the guy behind you slammed into you, buckling the front end of his car, he didn't appreciate it when you floored it again, running from the scene. You floored and slammed your brakes 3-4 times, and every time you got near me, I'm sure the 911 operator was appreciative as I cried into the phone about my babies in the backseat, but at least I was able to get a partial plate number (VA last 4 digits 9330).

Drunken Driver, ask yourself this: how would you have felt if I hadn't been able to goose it just as you roared up on me? How would you have felt if you had crumpled my backseat, and my 3 children with it? I'll tell you how I would have felt. I would have died inside if I lost these three. I would have crumpled, and cried, and wondered why, why, why did it have to be us? Can you imagine if that would have been your wife and children in front of you?
Here's what I want from you. I want you to get help. Stop drinking and driving. Get help for your obvious drinking problem, and Stop putting people in danger. Stop thinking only of yourself. Oh, and it'd be really cool if you went and talked to the State Police, since they were antsy to talk to you, though I doubt you'll actually do something like that, that requires courage to face the consequences of your actions, something I always emphasize to my children how important it is to do. Running from the scene of a crime shows me your courage is lacking, Drunken Driver.

The ball is in your court, Drunken Driver. You can choose to keep putting other people in danger with your stupidity, or you can make a change. It's up to you and no one else.

Saturday, May 23, 2015

Things I did instead of Facebook

A few weeks ago, the whole family was SICK. I'm talking trashcans at the feet, "Not again, oh, god, no! I don't want to!" kids hurling, sad baby crying the whole time because all he wanted was to nurse, yet every time he did, it came right back up. S.I.C.K.

Of course, I'm on Facebook quite a bit, anyway. Bored housewife syndrome. Nursing? (Facebook) Take a break from housework? (Facebook) Kids won't interact with me, and are actually enjoying one anothers company? (Facebook) In the summer, with the weather being nice, the Facebooking slows down, because we aren't home as much, but as a one car family, our winter is spent inside during the week.

 So during the sick week, I was on Facebook quite a bit more though, documenting the horrors of norovirus, and checking in to see what allllll my friends were doing. I mean, what else is there to do when you're laying on the couch under a baby who won't stop spewing? After the 30th check into Facebook the last day everyone was sick, I was SICK of Facebook. SO BORING. Everyone spewing the same rhetorical, copy, paste, share share share, vaguebook, whinebook, blah blah blah. There were maybe two things that actually caught my eye, but for the most part, it was all the same blather. Of course, quirkymomma shared a ton of craft stuff that I would love to do, but don't have the supplies to do, and don't have the room to put the supplies after we are done (tiny apartment living, y'all).

But still, my extreme Facebook habit continued past the sick week. Why? WHAT IS SO INTERESTING ON THERE??? So I made a decision to limit my Facebook, which I did, a little, Mostly instead of Facebook, I read on my kindle app. But with the app on my phone, I still was drawn to open it, again and again.

Thursday, I deleted Facebook off my phone.

Sadly, my habit of opening it up every time I sit down, whether to take a break, or to nurse, has led me to completely ignore anyone who talks to me, or tries to get my attention, and it couldn't have been clearer two nights ago, when the baby Bear was trying to play with me, and Mr. Daddy had to TELL ME he was trying to get my attention and play, while I was too engrossed in someone else's life.

So, without further ado, here is a list of all the things I accomplished without Facebook in the past two weeks, but mostly in the past three days:

I wrote this blog post. I haven't written in so long, I don't remember what the last post was about (Was it about writing more often?)

I dumped ALL toys on the floor, and sorted them. They did not get organized (yet), but that will happen soon.

I exercised. First thing in the morning all week, I started legitimately working out.

I cleaned the kitchen. It was becoming a hoarders nightmare, with stacks of random paperwork, beer boxes clustered in the corner, and dishes piled high. In fact, I even scrubbed the baseboards.

CLEAN SHEET DAY!!! I consciously stripped our beds without someone peeing on them in order to make it happen, cleaned them, and slept on clean sheets last night.

I took the kids to the beach, without checking in and posting pictures while they played.

I read several books. In two weeks, instead of Facebook, I made myself open Kindle or a paper book instead. I was able to read 3 books, and I'm halfway through two more.

I watched 3 movies with my kids. And actually paid attention to the whole movie, all the way through, without looking at my phone halfway through.

I biked with the kids down to the OV Fishing Pier, and introduced them to calamari.

Most importantly, I PAID ATTENTION to all the things my kids were trying to say and show me.



This is going to be a permanent thing. I won't be putting Facebook back on my phone. It doesn't add to our quality of life. In fact, it most certainly detracts from our life experiences. I won't be deleting my account, but I will definitely be limiting the time I spend scrolling down the feed, and I sure won't do it absentmindedly while sitting with my kids. They're pretty important. Facebook is not


Monday, August 25, 2014

Two years

It really has been two years since I last updated this blog. Well, technically, two and a half. Excellent job, momma.

Once I figure out how to update this thing all over again, I'm going to attempt to make this into a once a month thing. AT LEAST. Yeah, right. Goodness. Consistency is not my best quality.

Whats new?
Well, lets see. Moved across country. 800 miles.While pregnant. Oh, yeah, also, had another kid! We call him Bear. Ha! I'm now a mom to 3 boys.Totally squeezed this last little dude out in the bathtub. HOMEBIRTH ftw. I'll never go back to the hospital for a birth. Downsized from a house to a tiny apartment, after a hop skip jump into my in-laws house for 10 months. LOVE that family, so thankful they were there for us when we needed to make the move, but at the end of 9 months, everyone was. so. done.

We are starting legit homeschooling this year. I really wanted to unschool, and we still are, KIND of, but at the same time, I'm using curriculum from EasyPeasy this year so I sort of feel like Bug is really learning something. That's what I tell myself. Honestly, I just have no idea how to homeschool other than to do a curriculum, and its really hard to unschool when your husband comes home every day, asking the kid "what'd you learn today?" At least this way, he's got a progress report.

We now live a block from the beach, The ocean happens quite often. This is what I've been looking forward to for the last 5 years. Sand, sun, tan lines. The kids adjusted well. I think having grandparents close by really helped with the transition. Little had some regression in potty training while we were living at the in-laws. Totally normal. Totally aggravating. Little also had to have oral surgery at age 3, which was the most devastating thing I've ever had to experience in his life.

Lets see... Bank of America screwed us royally. Thanks, guys! The house we left behind is still sitting empty, and we could still be enjoying life in the big Indiana, but we would be missing out on our little piece of this dream, so its a damned if you do, damned if you don't kind of event.

I find it amusing that I haven't updated in a couple years, yet consistently get a couple hits every few months. I am trying to keep off facebook more and more these days, so I keep coming back to here. I finally figured out how to merge two of my blogs, so now there's just this one and the paleo blog. That's pretty much it! Stay tuned, I'll try to update this thing more often. At least more often than every two years. Yep.

Monday, January 30, 2012

29 days

Oh, my poor neglected blog(s). Both of my blogs are suffering, and I go back and forth on whether I want to just scrap it all and call it quits, or go ahead and halfway neglect it, write once and awhile, and leave it as it is. For now, we get the half-neglect.

I started the other blog, planning on doing all my foodisms there. Take a regular meal, and paleo-ize it. I really like converting food!

I tried to do the project 365, and failed. I signed up for the picaday February, and guess what? We'll see if I can win that one.

Forget it. Who am I kidding. I'm no good at this consistent blogging thing.

So anyway, on with the writing!


Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Cheap ass Cloth and Care 101

Someone asked me the other day how I go about cloth diapering my kiddo for so cheap, so I decided to make a post for it :)

theluvyourbaby.com has 10 covers for around $50, free shipping, stuff those with prefolds you can get from craigslist or a diaper swap page, and you're set. Depending on baby's age, you'll need between 6 and 12 inserts per day, which I got a ton of from CL for $21, I was set for 3 days worth of diapering, and that was when Little was 2 months old. You'll want to wash on or before day 5 to keep the funk from setting in. Rinse first, hot water, then wash in hot water with soap on the 1 line, and two rinses after, one hot, the other whatever you want it to be. If you clean them right, you'll very rarely need to strip them. Rinse, wash, rinse, then 3 drops of dawn in the machine, wash, rinse til the bubbles stop coming back, 1 c vinegar in that cycle, then one last rinse.

And cloth is SOOOOOO easy. It really is.

If you have a heavy wetter at night, you'll need to invest in some hemp inserts, to keep baby dry at night, otherwise you're going to get pissed almost immediately. If you decide not to do cloth overnight for that reason, or you decide not to do cloth in general, sign up for amazon mom, and use the subscribe n save option. You get 30% off diapers and wipes. AND you can stack the amazon coupons you'll find in parents magazine on top of that. My last $40 box of diapers (7th generation, even) cost me $9.

Oh, AND , parents magazine is on sale from barnes and noble for $1 right now

http://www.thriftyandthriving.com/2011/03/barnes-noble-year-subscription-to-parents-magazine-only-1/

Little is 11 months, we go through about 5 or 6 diapers a day, and I use sposies at night because he is a HEAVY wetter.

So what will you need in all? What do you do for messy poopy diaper?

I you buy the ones from luv your baby, the only thing you'll need are the covers and 30 or so prefolds. You fold them and lay them in the diaper, and lay babe on top, then pull the dipe up and snap it or velcro (I got snaps, which I love). Check the YouTube link for video how to :) second one down looks good to me.

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=prefolds+and+covers&aq=0

Is baby's poo solid? If it is, you just shake the turd into the toilet and flush, then put the insert into storage. If it's still runny, just put the cloth & cover (it will be rare that babe misses the cover if it's runny) into your storage place (separate hamper, bucket, I store mine in the washing machine unless I know I'll be doing laundry every day), and on day 4ish, throw them all into the wash and proceed. Don't dry the covers, hang em, they'll last longer.



And for wipes, you can either continue using store bought, or you can use your gerber baby washrags, wetted with warm water. If you use regular wipes, you've got to keep em separated, pitch the wipes, and throw the dipe in the laundry. With a baby washcloth, you can roll it up in the dipe and forget about it :)

Stain tip: if you have stains, wash them like you normally would, then hang them in the sun to dry one super sunny day. The sun will bleach the poo stains right out (that reminds me...)

Good Luck, and have fun with diapering!

Sunday, March 20, 2011

Let's Go Krogering

Now that Mr Daddy is back to work, I've had to change our schedule. Today was the first day I've went grocery shopping on a Sunday since before I had kids. Normally, weekends for me mean clean up and spending time relaxing in house... I hate crowds. I hate having to shop elbow to elbow with the masses of people who 9-5 it Monday through Friday. Monday is my normal grocery day. And Monday is also clearance day at the grocery.  Today is Sunday. And today, I shop.
I decided to leave Bug at home today, so I could just get in, out, and on my way. What should take an hour 45 total, tops, usually works out to about and hour and 15 minutes in Meijer, and an hour in Kroger with a 3 year old. I'm not complaining, but today I really just wanted to get shopping done instead of looky-loo'ing at everything. The time it takes to unload and load children, plus the 20 minutes we spend perusing the toy aisle, and the 15 it takes to get through the checkout, well, let's just say grocery day is a long day for me. And yes, I shop two stores. Price checking makes our grocery bill lower.
I spent a little more than usual this week, since we were literally out of everything. There were a couple boxes of spaghetti, a can of tomatoes, and some green beans left in the pantry, and condiments and a bag of raisins in the fridge. We still had a banana in the fruit bowl, and last nights leftovers for lunch today, but other than that, we were empty.
Surprisingly, Sunday afternoon wasn't too bad for shopping. Both stores netted me front row parking, and I only "ran into" a couple people. That may be due to the fact that I no longer shop the aisles. With our new lifestyle change, the food I buy now is on the outer edge of the store-produce, meats, cheeses, milk products. Aside from the spaghetti aisle (I don't have a pasta maker, but I'm sure if I did, I would be HOOKED on homemade pasta) and the pretzel aisle (with a three year old, you MUST have pretzels on hand at all times), and the baking goods aisle (flour, sugar, salt, etc), I have no use for the other aisles. Occasionally, I am forced to go down the canned goods aisle, and stock up on non perishables, but once I get canning learned, I won't even need that aisle.
So this weeks groceries, with 8 days of dinners, lunch food for Hubs, the big pack of TP, and plenty of chocolate, cost us... $85 at Meijer and $55 at Kroger. Not bad, considering we had nothing left to eat but the cardboard boxes the food came in, and I hadn't shopped in about 10 days.

Saturday, March 19, 2011

Master of his Domain

Well, it's official. Little runs the homestead now. He's boss, and don't let anyone try to tell you differently. The world revolves around him. Or, at least, our world revolves around him. Fluffy little cute thing that he is.

Yesterday, Bug called me from the kitchen, "Mom! Mom! Come look! Brother is on the stairs!" Now, this isn't the first time that alarm has been raised. The other times, I come rushing in to find Little... On step one, sitting on his duff, smiiiiiiling oh so pretty as you please, like, "hi mom." So I'm standing in the kitchen doing (?) and Bug starts calling me, and I stroll on into the living room to see what he's shouting about, and lo and behold, Little is halfway up the stairs, huffing and puffing, pulling and pushing his little chubby legs as hard as they can go. With each step, I hear him, "hah", or "uh". So what do I do? Well I grab the camera, of course. I have to let him do his thing, I want to see just what he can accomplish, how far he can go. He makes it all the way to the top, up over the top, turns around and just GRINS the biggest grin ever. He *knows* he's done something spectacular.

And now I *know* I've gotta keep a gate up from now on. Ha!