Who Me? Procrastinate?

Last year at our Owings family Christmas/New Year's get together, my mother-in-law assigned the moms with making a scrapbook page for each of their children. She even gave us a scrapbook ideas book for our Christmas present. The problem is that I don't scrapbook. I don't even get pictures developed.

Back in November Jon's mom had some of us get together at her place to work on our pages. It's probably a good thing too. One of my sisters-in-law gave me some sheets of scrapbook page paper (or whatever it is called). I had asked previously what size page. The answer I got was, "The regular size." To me regular size paper is 8.5 X 11. The pages my sil supplied me with are about 11 and 15/16" X 11 and 15/16". Like I said before, I DON'T SCRAPBOOK! This was one case in which procrastinating was a good thing.

I had some of the pages done yesterday. The rest I finished today. Keep in mind the following:

1. I DON'T SCRAPBOOK!
2. Since I don't scrapbook, I don't have very many scrapbook supplies.
3. Since I don't have very many scrapbook supplies, I had to make do with what I did have.
4. It's a good thing Jon let me keep a few of my BHG magazines "just in case the kids need to cut something out for school".
   
5. No one else in my family seemed too interested in helping me.
6. Due to number 3, I only have school glue. You know, the stuff that isn't supposed to be used with pictures and makes paper warp.
7. That's alright. I don't have "real" pictures anyway. Remember, I don't get pictures developed. I printed the pictures out on regular printer paper and cut them out.

So, without further ado, here are the pages I came up with.

This is the page for Froggie. I didn't have any good pics of just her.

I could probably do an entire scrapbook of Kitty Kat reading.

Birdie

Monkey

Puppy Dog

Little Bear (He was still Baby Bear at the time of the pics.)

Jon took the kids to Young's Jersey Dairy a while back while I was needed elsewhere. The clip-art images on this one are from
http://etc.usf.edu/clipart/index.htm .

These will have to do. I'm out of time. We have to be at the get together at 6pm today.

Monkey's Creative Writing 2/25/05

Monkey was looking through one of her old Creative Writing notebooks this morning. She got a laugh out of this recipe that she came up with. She said I could share it with you as long as I put the date of the assignment. LOL

A round sandwich

ingredients:

2 square slices of swiss cheese
2 slices of 100% whole wheat bread
1 hamburger dill slice
1 stick of pepperoni
1 apple chopped into 4 pieces
1 strawberry chopped into 4 pieces
2 acorns chop each acorn into 3 pieces
3 sunflower seeds

directions:

Mix all ingredients except bread and cheese. Then you spread the mixture on one slice of bread with a wooden spoon. Next, put the slices of cheese on top of the mixture. Put the other slice of bread on the very top. Cut a circle out of the middle of the sandwich with a very long knife (that goes across the living room). You have to be where God is to do it.

Optimistic or Sarcastic? You Decide.

I may never have an empty nest.


So, here's the story that goes with that statement.

Puppy Dog (6yo) had worn out his shoes. I mean the toes of his shoes were completely split open from one side to the other. I taped his shoes last night so that he could wear them to P.E. this morning. Jon picked up a new pair of shoes for him on his way home from work. It just so happens that he found the exact same shoes as P.D. had before. When Jon came in the door with the shoes, P.D. saw the box and got excited and demanded his new shoes. That doesn't work at our house.

Jon slipped the box to me and I had Monkey sneak P.D.'s old shoes to me since he wasn't wearing them. I switched out the shoes and put the lid on the box. Jon then presented the box to P.D. A look of confusion came over P.D.'s face as he opened the box.

Jon then had me take the box back and change the shoes again. Jon took the box out to P.D. and told a story about a salesman telling him that this was a special box. If you put an old pair of shoes in it and close it, when you open it the shoes will be new. Jon told P.D. that it didn't seem to work last time, but maybe it would if they tried again. P.D. opened the box and got excited, "Awesome! I got new shoes!". Froggie (13yo who will be 14yo in Jan.), on the other hand, got excited and yelled, "It worked! It worked!". Froggie then ran to tell Kitty Kat and anyone else who would listen about the magic box. Froggie genuinely believed that the box was magic.

So, there's just one example of why we may never have an empty nest.

Seriously though, does anyone have any words of hope for us?

A Tickle For Tuesday

My mom sent me an e-mail with a link to a monitor cleaner at the end of January. I put off following the link until tonight.

monitor cleaner

It turns out that it just had to be a "God thing" that I went to it today. I needed the humor.

I had decided to share the link, so I went to create a post. Just as the posting template came up, I heard what sounded like the pressurized steam being released from a paper mill. If you have been in the vicinity of a paper mill when this happens, then you know what I mean. If not, then imagine the weight blowing off the valve of a pressure cooker. The sound came from my kitchen. No little people were in the kitchen. I went to investigate and discovered that the water line to our dishwasher had blown off the hot water line under the kitchen sink. Steaming hot water was spraying (think high pressure) out of the pipe out toward the cabinet door and all over my hardwood kitchen floor. "Quick, grab some towels!," I hollered. Kitty Kat and Monkey came to the rescue. I tried to turn off the valve, but I wasn't strong enough. I had to go find a pair of pliers. Finally, I was able to turn off the water.

The two girls helped clean up the water from the floor, emptied the cabinet, wiped off each item they took out, discarded soggy items that couldn't be saved, dried the cabinet, and put everything away. Meanwhile, I changed my clothes and started a load of towels in the washer. Puppy Dog helped get me an empty basket for getting the load out of the dryer so I could change the loads around. He also took the full basket out of our tiny laundry area for me. Both boys wanted to be in on the action in the kitchen, but I kept shooing them away so they wouldn't get their feet wet and have to change again before bed.

It is now about 9:45 pm here and the kids are all in bed. They're only forty-five minutes late for bed.

Where were Froggie and Birdie? They were in a trance in front of the T.V. They were completely oblivious to what was going on a couple rooms away. It was probably a good thing though, they would have been scared.

Hmm...I guess I better go fold that laundry.

Three small words . . .

. . . I didn't want to hear. This is how I woke up this morning.

Birdie: "Mom, (Bear) threw up!"

(a quick prayer of distress and a groan, then)

Me: "Where?"

Birdie: "on the couch and on the floor"

Me: "(Baby Bear) are you O.K.?"

There was no answer after asking him several times.

Me: "(Birdie), is (Baby Bear) O.K.?"

Birdie: (in a voice that said, Duh! He just threw up!) "No!"

Me: "Is he alive? He's not answering me."

Birdie: "No."

Me: "He's dead?"

Birdie: (Not at all distressed.) "Yeah."

Me: "Is he at least breathing?"

No answer. Birdie had gone upstairs.

I get to the living room and Baby Bear is standing on the couch like a statue. There were odd looking puddles on the couch seat and the arm of the couch. A watery stream was on the floor running from just under the arm of the couch to about three feet away.

Baby Bear: "Mom, clean me up!"

I sniffed the air.

Me: "Did you drink syrup!?"

Baby Bear: "Uh-huh."

Me: "Where's the bottle?"

Baby Bear: "in my yoom" (read room)

I tried to clean Baby Bear up with baby wipes, but he was too sticky. He got a bath.

I spent a long time sopping up syrup. I had to get a bucket of cleaning water to clean the couch. After a while, I laid paper towels and then a cloth towel on the spots hoping the rest of the mess would soak up into it. Guess what I get to do later today. Yep, I get to clean the couch again. Our house now smells like maple syrup. I guess I'll have to burn the pancake candle I got for Christmas, then maybe we won't notice. I don't think Baby Bear will want pancakes for a while.

As I was getting Baby Bear out of the tub, he asked me why he had to get out. I told him it was because I had to fix breakfast. What he said next confirmed my thoughts on him choosing pancakes, "I don't haunt (read want) breakfast!"

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As Birdie was bringing her breakfast dishes to the kitchen drinking her milk as she came she asked in typical Birdie style, "Mom, what's for lunch?".

I can see it's going to be one of those days.

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While talking to Birdie later, she told me that she had misunderstood what I meant when I asked if Baby Bear was breathing/alive.