A surprise lunch

We went to lunch today with Jennifer and her daughter in law. It's so weird that one of my friends is a grandma. But anyways, It was fun. I was supposed to go grocery shopping. In fact, I had just pulled the van into a parking space at the store when my phone rang. It was Jennifer saying she was like a mile from my house and her plans had been canceled and she wanted to know if I was busy. Which I suppose I technically was busy, but I would gladly give up grocery shopping for a chance to hang out with her. So I put Connor back in his car seat (to which he was all "WTF Ma?") and we went back home.

It was a fun little unexpected jaunt to lunch. A good time was had by all.

But now I still have to go to the store. I'll go after Larry gets home. If' I'm slick I might even get out of taking the kids with me.

A tribute to my friends.

I don’t make friends very easily. On average I make a friend about every five years or so.
It’s a combination of being kinda shy and the fact that I am extremely picky about my friends. But as a result I have accumulated a group of friends that I wouldn’t trade for the world.

I would like to pay tribute today to my friends. I love each and every one of them. I’ve spent the last 30 years collecting them and I’m very proud to call each and every one of them my friend. I wish I could post a picture so you could see how gorgeous they all are.

Mel – No one in the world has a better work ethic. There isn’t a person on this earth who is willing to work harder than Mel. Despite having M.S. she works circles around everyone she works with all day long. Then comes home and cares for her two boys, and her house is still cleaner than mine. She seriously never stops moving. We have been friends for over 20 years. I honestly can’t say enough good things about her. I wouldn’t be who I am today if she hadn’t been in my life.

Jennifer – Jennifer is my “go to” mom. When I have a question about being a parent she is the first person I call. She has 4 boys and if something can happen to a kid, she’s seen it and knows how to handle it. She gives the best advice and always knows what you need to hear, even if it’s not what you want to hear. She’s a straight shooter and that’s why I love her. She truly knows what it means to be a friend. Everyone needs a friend like her in their arsenal.

Nikki - Nikki is calm, cool, and collected. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen her frazzled. She has such a rational mind and is willing to sacrifice and work hard to meet her goals. She could accomplish anything that she set her mind to. She is such a great friend, her friends are truly her second self. She listens to intently when I talk and remembers everything I say. She even remembers stuff about my life that I’ve forgotten. It kinda freaks me out when she does that.

Sarah – Sarah is a tireless mother. I seriously don’t know how she does it. She has three adorable girls ages 4 and under and runs her own online business. She even gets up before 5 every day so she can go work out. I would be sitting in the corner with a blank stare and a little bit of dribble on my chin if I had half the stuff to do that she does. And she manages to look fabulous while she does it all.

Vanessa – She managed to get her Masters degree while working full time as a single mom. I’m still in awe of that. She is so amazing and smart. The last few years have been busy for her, she’s gotten married, bought a house, had a baby. I’m so happy for her. All her dreams have finally come true. We haven’t talked much lately because she has been so busy, but I will welcome her back with open arms when things calm down for her.

Fat chick

Connor calls chapstick “fat chick”. How funny is that? “Honey? Do you know where the fat chick is?” or “I lost my fat chick. Can you pick some up at the store?’ or “I left my fat chick in my other pants.” In fact, now that I’m thinking about it. I could use some fat chick right now.

We made cupcakes yesterday. Connor is so fricken cute. Even though I gave him the spoon to lick while I filled the muffin cups, I still kept catching him with his finger in a cup. But he looked so cute with chocolate all over his face and that big cheesy grin, I could hardly be mad.

He has also figured out that light bulbs are hot. We were in his room and I had my back to the lamp but he was back there doing something, I wasn’t looking. And then he comes over pointing his finger at me and saying “hot! hot!” and looking at the lamp. Haha. I said “Is the light bulb hot?” “Yeah, owies!” lol. Well yeah…. And then wiped his finger on a wipe that was laying on the floor and was “all better.” Phew!

Larry has to work late tonight. I think I’m going to splurge and take the kids to Red Robin. That always seems like it will be a good time, til we get there and I realize that I’m paying $40 to be trapped at a table with hungry kids for an hour. Should be fun!!

Recovery

Everyone's illness is coming along nicely. I feel much better and Maddy is at school today. Connor was the big sickie yesterday but today he seems like he feels much better. So phew... assuming Larry doesn't come down with 103 today I think we are in the clear.

We went grocery shopping today. (This is exciting stuff, I know!) I worry about a 2 year old boy who stands at the door and yells "shoooopiiiiing!" because I'm taking too long to get out of the house. Poor kid, the highlight of his day is sitting in the grocery cart. Followed by the worst part of his day, bringing the groceries into the house. He gets so upset because there is only one bag of the bunch that is light enough for him to carry. He doesn't want to just help. He wants to do it all himself and it is extremely upsetting to him that he can't. Which is both sweet and frustrating at the same time.

The road to recovery.

I ate a piece of pizza! That means I'm officially on the road to wellness. And apparently the killer headache I had was from caffeine withdrawal because an iced tea from Barro's worked better than the four advil I had taken an hour before.

It's so weird how food takes on a whole new personality when you're sick. UG... food. Just thinking about it made me want to puke. I could tell I was hungry but nothing sounded good at all. Even food commercials made me turn away. I was actually kind of amazed how much food I could eat when I am feeling well. When an orange and half of a snack sized bag of Sun Chips is enough to keep me going I can't believe that I normally eat three whole plates of food in a day. Even today at Barro's it took me 45 minutes to eat one crustless piece of pizza, when normally I hold myself back to two pieces. The thought of wolfing down two whole pieces was just unthinkable. You know how skinny I could be if I ate like this everyday? I weighed myself this morning and I've lost two pounds. Go flu!

Still sick

Everyone is sick. Bleck! What sucks is that I never get sick. Larry laughs every time I say that, but it's true! I really hardly ever get sick, compared to other people. Ok, but right now... I'm sick.

When ever something goes around Larry always gets it the worst, then Connor, then Maddy, then I get it the very least. Larry will be in bed for two days surrounded by tissues and cough medicine. And my total experience with the same cold will be two hours of a sore throat. I hate to say this but I get kinda jealous. I want to get sick enough to be relieved of all my responsibilities and just go crawl into bed for a day or two.

And now here I am, sicker than I've been in a very long time and do I get to lay down? No. Wednesday Maddy came home sick from school and she stayed home yesterday too. I had to go do the Junior Achievement thing and then I had to go to school. I couldn't miss it. And then today is no school and Larry is working late. So blah. No extra rest. Not only do I not get any extra rest, but I have extra kids home during the day. OH! and my neighbors are dog sitting a very big and noisy dog. So I can't even nap because this stupid dog has been howling since dawn.

I just want to lay down!!

Sickie

Maddy came home sick from school today. Poor thing. The nurse called me and said she had a fever of 103. So now I get to use the phrase "If you are too sick to go to school then you are too sick to..." I've been making full use of it so far.

Oh, and I finally volunteered for Junior Achievement. I went to a second grade class. They were so cute. I would ask a question and pretty much every kid would put their hand up to answer. It was a lot of fun and the half hour I was there felt like about 5 minutes. I go again tomorrow.

AND.. I started my cleaning job yesterday. Did I tell you about my cleaning job? I can't remember... but either way I'm doing some light housework for Marie. I know I told you about Marie. It was ok. It will be better once I get a routine down.

School is almost over. I can't believe it! Two more weeks! yay!

Busy!

Hey guys... sorry I haven't posted in a while.

I had the worlds busiest day. Seriously. Connor had a drs appointment with the ENT today. He said everything looks fine and they aren't going to do tubes. Which is what I was expecting. So good news there. Then after that appointment we went to Costco and then to lunch. We got home just in time to put Connor down for a nap and then I had to leave to go take Marie to get her blood drawn.

Marie is umm... how do I put this simply? She is a friend of the family. There, that's simple enough. Anyways, she had a hip replacement recently and can't drive. So I took her over to her appointment and then to Home Depot. Before you get all goofy that I did a good deed, I have to tell you that she paid me $10 to take her. After I dropped Marie off I stopped to do the grocery shopping. Connor was still sleeping when I got home so I did school work til 4:00. Then I made dinner.

Sigh.

Oh speaking of making dinner. I did make something new last week (Southwest chicken burritos) but I haven't put it online because I want to try something else with it. I have been carefully watching the rice makers at Chipotle Grill and I think I know how they make their rice. I want to add it to the burritos. That will be so yummy! Then I'll have to start working on their salsa.

Birds

We have some birds that are living in our attic, walls, eves or some place up there. They are very cute, the mommy bird sits on the wall all fat and fuzzy and cute and looks up at the top of the house. Then a baby goes swishing by and she takes off after them. Connor was so excited about it. We were looking out the window and pointing out all the birds we saw. Then after a few minutes he got his buzz blaster and started "shooting" them. Such a boy! So I decided we should just outside so we could get a better view. Plus the added bonus of not scaring the birds with the most annoying toy ever created.

We went out in the front so we could watch the baby birds fly in and out of a hole in the side of the house. I wish I could be a kid again and think it was actually cool that we are sharing our home with a family of birds. Once we were outside and listening it was amazing how many birds we could hear. It isn't something you notice unless you are listening but once you take a minute to pay attention the sound is almost deafening. "What was that you said? I can't hear you over all the tweeting!"

Oh and Connor has a new phrase today. "I don't want to!" Ahh, such a two year old thing to say.
Me: Time to go.
Him: I don't want to!
Me: Connor get into your seat.
Him: I don't want to!
Me: Do you see that big truck?
Him: I don't want to!

Golden

Connor is being very tricky with the potty. At the grocery store today he kept saying he was poopy and wanted a "change". But he wasn't. So I kinda hurried home thinking maybe he was telling me that he needed to go poop and I was hoping to get him to the potty before he went. Well, we get home and he hasn't pooped so I put him on the potty and nothing. So we get off and put his diaper on. An hour later, still nothing but he kept laying down and saying "change, change. Poopy." But he wasn't poopy. I don't know what he was doing. Maybe he just wanted to be poopy. I don't know. Kids are weird.

Seriously, nothing is going on. I have nothing to write about. Unless you want to hear about the red bell peppers at Wal-mart. They looked pretty suspect so I got an orange one, oh excuse me, a golden one. I don't know if there is a difference. I've never really seen the golden ones served in a meal before. Not that I've noticed anyways. Hopefully they taste the same.

School is only 4 weeks from being done. I'm looking forward to that. For me, not for Maddy. She only has about 6 weeks left and I'm totally dreading that. I will be a crazy woman by the end of the summer. A. Crazy. Woman. I seriously don't know what I'm going to do with her.

A bird laughed at me yesterday.

So yesterday was the four year anniversary of me and Larry getting engaged. awww. It was probably the least romantic day we've ever had. (yesterday, not the day we got engaged) I didn't even see Larry til 9:30 at night and both our rings are at the jeweler so neither of us was even wearing our rings. In fact, I didn't even realize it until Larry mentioned it at about 11pm.

I tripped over one of those concrete things in front of parking spaces at school. I didn't fall down but I totally stumbled. It was really embarrassing and I was praying no one was looking. Then I hear "hahahaha" really loud. I didn't even want to look up. But then I heard it again and I started thinking, "You know, that is really rude! Just laughing at me. Don't they know I hurt my toe!" So I look up and the laugh was coming from these two birds. Two very rude birds!

He did it!

We have pee in the potty! He did it the other night, it was very exciting. Now that he has had some success he really likes sitting there and doesn't cry anymore when I bring it up. He did it again this morning, and then peed on the rug. All milestones in the potty training process.

Not much else is going on. I went to Costco yesterday and saw this very old lady taking a stroller out of her car. This caught my attention so I was kinda watching her as Connor was getting out of his seat. I'm thinking, "There's no way this lady has a baby with her." I mean, she was like 90. I just don't see a 90 year old lady taking a baby to Costco, ya know? And then she takes her purse out of the car and plops in into the stroller and off she goes. That made me laugh. She is just wheeling her purse around in a winnie the pooh stroller. haha. It made me think of this old man I used to see when I was living in Fitchburg. He would walk with his little dog everywhere he went and he pushed a little stroller with him so his dog could ride if it got tired. It was really cute.

This week's recipe is Chicken Chasseur with Egg Fettuccine. Hope you like it.