Living by Murphy's Law

Murphy's Law....if it can go wrong, it will.  We (as a family) seem to be late for everything (except work and school).  It seems as if we just can't get everything together, no matter how much of an effort we make to be on time.  Everytime we get ready to leave the house to go somewhere something, inevitably, always makes us late.  There is always a left shoe missing, the favorite bracelet is misplaced, the cat can't be found (we have to make sure she didn't run outside during all of the confusion of getting five people out of the door), somebody forgot to potty and has to run back inside, diaper has to be changed, we forgot to get the dog inside, Madison's clothes are wet and she has to be changed....the list goes on and on.  Are we the only family that this happens to?  I swear the girl that cuts our hair must tell us to be there 15 minutes before she actually wants us to be there.  I cannot tell you how many times we have had to call her to tell her we will be a few minutes late.  I remember a time when I was on time everywhere I went, I didn't have a husband, I didn't have kids, and I had no responsibilities....I had much rather be late everywhere than to not have them.

Tim and I decided to be smart and sell his car to buy a cheaper one (he only uses a car to go back and forth to work, so this made sense to us).  So we bought a 1998 Mercedes (yeah, we sold a Chrysler to buy a Mercedes to save money).  We got a good deal on the car, paid cash, and drove it home.  Then  realized it needed four new tires.  Tim drove it for a couple of days and then decided to take it to a mechanic....it needed new bearings, water pump, brake pads, a tune up.....our "good deal" seems to be going down the drain at this point.  Then we got the bill and it didn't seem so bad.  Drove it for a couple of more days and took it back to the mechanic.  Now it needs two new coils (whatever that is).  Maybe he can drive it for a couple of more days.....

We raked the yard (we have 5 massive oak trees in our back yard) on Saturday, we hadn't raked it since all of the leaves fell in the fall.  The kids helped us (Molli refused to wear shorts, so she raked while wearing a dress and a hairbow).  We had huge piles of leaves.  We were planning on bagging all of the leaves on Sunday because it was so late on Saturday when we finished.  Apparently it was really windy on Saturday night, all of the leaves blew all over the yard.

We were actually on time to church Sunday morning (I'm pretty sure that is the first time that has happened, ever).  Morgan sang in the children's choir (which is why we were on time).  Madison decided to give the  preacher her comments during the sermon.....

I am about to print out my hundreds of coupons to go grocery shopping, let's hope the printer doesn't run out of ink....

Morgan and Molli with Morgan's best friend, Devin



Morgan, Molli, and Devin going to the pond to see the ducks



Tim and his car back at the mechanic's....

Madison watching the rest of us rake leaves

Morgan raking (we've since bought her a bigger rake)

Molli raking in her dress and hairbow

This picture does not do justice to the amount of leaves in our yard...

Pink lemonade break...

Madison got exhausted watching us rake the yard



Morgan and Molli's science experiement.  After stirring the citric acid and baking soday, something is supposed to happen



....and it fizzed and foamed and went everywhere.

Madison's mohawk

Morgan and Molli

Apparently church wore them out

Madison's new sleeping position: on her side

Willpower on Vacation

I did it; yesterday morning I fought my urge to drive through McDonald's...and Krispy Kreme.  I drove straight home after taking Molli to school.  And baked a cake.   So I'm not perfect, but I'm trying.  The good news is that I have only had 3 slices of that cake since yesterday; I could have had much more.  I hope this means my willpower is coming back, it's been on vacation for about a month (it should have taken me with it, I need a vacation too).  I feel like Molli did the night we caught her in the guest bedroom watching TV and eating chocolate (it was 11:30 at night; she had been in bed for hours).  When we asked her what she was doing, she replied (as she had chocolate all over her face) "I can't help it, I'm just a hungry, hungry, candy-eating machine!"  She and I have a lot in common.

I finally made it to "Week 2" in my Organize Now! book (I have been on Week 1: Organize Your Mind since January).  This one is "Organize Your Schedule," and one of the things is to keep a notebook by your bed so that you can write down things to do when you think of them....this is going to send me back to Week 1 where I was supposed to "get a minimum of seven hours of sleep per night."  If I am supposed to sleep, the last thing I need is a distracter like a list beside my bed; I will be making lists all night.  Tim will love this, he will wake up in the morning to a list of things to do that I have thought up for him all night.....somehow I don't see him being supportive of this "week," maybe I should skip on to Week 3 "Organize your Cleaning Schedule."  As I write this, I have a pile of dishes and laundry to do, not to mention bathrooms to clean.  I used to have a maid.  Tim didn't think that maid did a good job, but I'm here to tell you, she did much better than I do.  It was so nice to come home from work on Friday and the whole house was clean and the laundry was folded.  But then again, I had a job, and I am thankful that I can stay at home now with the kids.  So that makes me the maid.

Morgan is having a friend spend the night tonight.  This is her best friend, and she is so excited.  Molli is excited too.  It makes me remember what it was like to be a little kid and get to have friends over, sleep didn't matter, and you wanted to stay up all night long.  My how things change.....I don't think there is enough money in the world to make me want to stay up past 10:00 (I'm stretching it here), much less all night.  How in the world did we used to have that much energy?  I'm glad I did at one time, but I sure don't anymore.

Molli and Madison in Madison's room



Madison...I asked Molli to help with Madison and I walked in to find all of Madion's toys around her and on top of her.







Molli, tasting the cake batter

Molli fell asleep on the way to Morgan's dance class

Morgan at dance class

Morgan attempting to keep her balance

Morgan the ballerina

Tim....he got suckered in to going to dance class too

Madison stretching out on the floor while waiting on Morgan

Molli and Tim entertaining themselves while waiting on Morgan

Molli telling Tim how he was playing the game wrong...

Madison watching Molli and Tim

Molli and Morgan...Molli was excited that we could now go home.

McGriddle Eating Taxi Driver

Yesterday I had the idea that maybe I should put a sign on my van "Mom's Taxi," incorporate myself and write off the money I pay in gas to haul my kids around.  I wasn't kidding.  Have you filled up your car lately?  It's a major expense, it was up 7 cents from last week when I filled up.  It's tax season, I think of these things.  There should be some kind of reimbursements for stay-at-home moms (or any moms for that matter) that have to take a kid to school, go home, go back and pick her up, go back home, go pick the other kid up, go home again, take a kid to dance (stay because you can only afford so much gas), and finally go back home.  That adds up.  I'm telling you, I'm going to become my own business, I see no other way.

To top that off, there are these seven pounds hanging over me (or on me, however you want to look at it).  It's becoming a problem.  The problem is that there is a McDonald's on the way to Molli's school.  They sell McGriddles.  I love McGriddles.  But I have seven pounds to lose.  I'm doing the Weight Watchers points, I can only have 29 points a day, the McGriddle is 15 points.  Problem with the McGriddle, it has friends named hash brown and Coke.  These friends have to come along for the ride too which adds another 7 points.  You see where this is going, I can't eat for the rest of the day (which does not happen) because I am out of points.  It has gotten to where I am ashamed to log onto WW and do my daily tracking because I feel as if the computer is judging me when I type in "McGriddle."  Did I mention that I pay for the McGriddle & Friends with change from my loose change cup because I don't want the charges on my debit card because then there would be proof that I was going to McDonalds.  I figure if people don't know, it doesn't really count.  I have a serious problem.  However, I am happy to say that I did not go to that McDonald's today.  I drove right past it.  I drove to Krispy Kreme.  Now, I will hand it to Krispy Kreme, they tried to make it harder for me to get there.  I had to wait at a 5 minute red light, turn into a bank parking lot, and drive through the Wal-Mart parking lot to get there, but I did it.  And that chocolate-iced, custard-filled doughnut was completely worth it.  It even made it not so bad when Madison started screaming from the backseat.  The sweetness from the doughnut stopped me from channeling George's dad from Seinfeld (you know, the guy who says "Serenity Now!").  All kidding aside, I think this sweetness addiction is getting serious.  I need professional help.  I wonder if there is a support group for this?  Maybe I could start one...SEA...Sweet-Eaters Anonymous.  I could serve doughnuts and coffee.

Thank goodness the weather is nice because Madison and I are going to have to walk an extra lap around the neighborhood this morning....

Madison getting ready for a stroll....I need an extra lap

"Mom's Taxi" going to dance class



"Mom's Taxi" arrived at dance class with 3 passengers



Madison waiting for Molli's dance class to be over

Morgan reading while waiting for Molli's dance class to be over

Molli doing her best ballerina impression

Molli doing some sort of pose

Madison ready for bed after the day's excitement

Morgan ready for bed

Highlight of My Day

Apparently I am not that great at following resolutions, I need to get better.  It is practically a month later and I am just now posting my second blog.  I still haven't lost the weight I vowed to lose, I haven't read another book, but I have spent a lot of time playing with my kids.  I bought a Zumba Fitness DVD and as I watched it while sitting on my couch, it looks like it would be a great workout.  Now if only I could get the energy to get off of the couch and actually do it I could lose my seven pounds.  As far as organization goes, I am still on Week 1:  Organizing your Mind.  I almost have that one down......maybe in another week I can move onto Week 2....

Madison still prefers her bottle to baby food, but I have to say I don't blame her.  Have you ever tasted that baby food?  Not very appetizing, and the texture isn't great either.  Maybe I should try making my own baby food.  That would probably save money.  She still hasn't started sitting up (she is now 7 months), however, she does enjoy standing up  (and bouncing up and down) in her saucer.  She had to get ear tubes two weeks ago, and that turned out to be a great thing.  Now she will sleep in her bed as opposed to her swing.

Last weekend, Morgan and Molli decided that Tim and I needed to do another cook-off.  The first one was a couple of months ago and it involved pancakes.  Supposedly it was a tie, but I think that Morgan felt sorry for Tim and voted for his last minute (obviously Molli voted for me).  This time, however, we had to make cookies, from scratch.  Now, I didn't have a problem with that, but I thought Tim might.  He surprised me (I think all of us) though and made peanut butter chocolate chip cookies that were actually very good.  Although, I won.  I made heart-shaped chocolate sandwich cookies with cream cheese icing and sprinkles.  Tim keeps telling me that the only reason I won was because of the presentation.  I tried to tell him that when trying to win over kids, it has to have sprinkles.....

I wish that I had been the founder of Build-a-Bear Workshops.  Anyone who has ever been into that place has got to feel the same way.  Tons of kids spending their parents' money to stuff and dress a toy that would have cost half of that if bought fully stuffed and dressed in a toy store.  Again, it is about the appeal to kids and the kids drag their parents in that place.  That being said, we visited a BBW last weekend where Morgan and Molli stuffed and dressed a rabbit and a bear, and seemed to have the time of their life.  I need to get a second job to pay for the trips to BBW.

This weekend Tim bought a new car.  Well, new-to-us car.  We spent all day driving around trying to find one, then had to go get new tires for the car.  The next day was spent in the driveway washing and cleaning the new-to-us car.  The kids like to name the cars so they have named Tim's "Zoe."  Poor Tim can't catch a break, everything is female.

Now we are off to the pharmacy (CVS) to buy formula and diapers.  I have figured out that with my coupons and the store sale and the "extra bucks" the store emailed me, I can buy formula (brand name) and diapers (brand name) for a total of $13.  And that is the highlight of this 32-year-old mother's day today....


Molli dressed up for "Cowboy Day"



Madison





Morgan dressed up for the "Fairytale Ball"





Madison playing with her feet





Molli and Morgan washing Tim's car



Morgan washing Tim's car



Morgan and Molli at BBW



Tim, Molli, and  Morgan at BBW



Morgan, Audri, and Molli at BBW

Madison in her saucer

Cookie Cook-off.  Tim's is on the left and Audri's is on the right.