Clean and organized... that should be a good thing, right?

I spent the better part of yesterday cleaning out Maddy's room. I took out three huge bags of trash, and about the same amount of stuff to donate. Maybe it's a girl thing... but wow, she loves to collect little tiny things. I can't even describe it. Just handfuls and handfuls of little things. Little shoes. Little hats. Little animals. Hundreds of little plastic toys. Coins. Balls of fuzz. Magnets. Shells. Pine cones. Stickers. Paper umbrellas. Hair bows. A miniature radio... and I mean miniature, like the size of your thumb nail. Why? What playing value could that possibly have? Where does this stuff come from? I don't think she ever throws anything away... especially if it's tiny.

And stuff shoved into hiding places everywhere. Behind the closet door, behind her desk, in the skinny space between her bookcase and the wall. And don't even get me started about under the bed. I know kids like to shove stuff under the bed. Fine, a person expects that. But you don't expect to find an old backpack chock full of hangers she was too lazy to put away. Or every new shirt I have bought her this summer balled up and shoved in the corner behind her dresser. (Mystery solved.)

I like to think that I'm going to give her this wonderful surprise of a fresh, clean, brand new room. Surprise! Isn't it wonderful! Hooray! In my fantasy world I waited til she was at her dad's to do this so that I could surprise her. She will walk into her new room with a face of awe and wonder. A wide eyed, open mouthed smile.

But in reality I did it while she was gone so that I could actually get it done. If she had been there it would have taken twice as long and been half as efficient. We would have spent the entire weekend neck deep in half done art projects arguing about whether or not she was actually going to finish coloring the rainbow. It wouldn't have been cleaned out. It wouldn't have been rearranged. It would not be on it's way to a big girl room. We would have both ended the weekend ready to ring each other's necks.

So hopefully she likes it. But I have a feeling she won't.

Hit and run

Anyone who reads this blog regularly knows that we have problems with our neighbors. So much so that I now have both the numbers to police and the HOA programed into my phone, and I use them. Which really isn't the kind of person I thought I was. But their disregard for our property has pushed me to my limit.

Across the street from our house is 3 parking spaces that are supposed to be used for guests of the cul-de-sac. Our most current annoyance is a U-haul type truck that has been parked in one of those spaces for about a month. Numerous calls to the HOA has lead to a dead end. They have to drive on our grass in order to park the thing over there. They break branches off our tree, knock over our trash cans, and come close to hitting the van (that is parked in my driveway) in order to park. So Larry and I have both been parking over there on the end spaces so that he can't park the big truck there. He can't get into the middle space if we are both parked on the edges. I was hoping he would go annoy some other people and then maybe they would also call the HOA. Maybe we could get a response if several people call... and the fact that he can't damage our property is also nice.

Yesterday we decided that we are going to get some security cameras to catch this guy in the act when he hits our tree or cars. Cause it's going to happen. If he doesn't someone will because their parking has always been an issue. We had the cameras we were going to buy all picked out. We even knew where we were going to mount them outside.

But we weren't quick enough.

They hit Larry's car last night. Left two paralell 6 inch scratches along the side of the car. Grr. Those dang cameras would have paid for themselves already! If we had just thought of it sooner. We ordered them today... but obviously it's too late. That's great that we can catch them if they do it again, but at this point we have missed our chance. We called the cops and they took a report but of course there is nothing they can do. We know who hit our car, but we didn't see it. No one did. So we can't prove anything.

If we only had those dang cameras!

Costco, Spiderwick, and the Ocean

I didn't realize how much stuff I had in my wallet until it was spread out all over the floor at Costco. It wasn't til I was on my knees one foot inside the door with the crowd flowing around me like I was a rock in a stream that I noticed that I have 3 Bahama Bucks loyalty cards. Why? I finally picked up every credit card, insurance card, store card, and whatever else was floating around in there and was able to move to the side to get organized.

My one complaint about Costco is the fact that you have to show your card to get in (which is what caused my spill to begin with). It's hard to push a giant cart (with a wiggly boy in it) while getting your wallet out and searching for your Costco card. And then when you leave you have to keep your receipt out... I really hate that.

On a positive note, we went to see Spiderwick at the movies this week for Summer Movie Fun. Connor LOVED it. He was so cute. The main characters were defending the house against all the Goblins and Connor whistpers to me "They (the goblins) are going to eat them (the humans)!" I said "No, they aren't going to eat them." "They are going to BITE them!" he replied... all excited about it.

Meanwhile, on the other side of me, Maddy was squeezing my arm with all her might and asking if we could leave.

Speaking of Maddy she is on her way to California at this very moment. Shaun is taking her to Lego Land and the Beach. Which I was bummed about because I wanted to take her to the beach for the first time. But whatever. I hope she has fun. I'm sure she will.

Swimming and a nap

Took the kids to the pool yesterday. Connor fell down and got a "scrap" on his elbow. "It's not a scrap Mom, it's a boo boo." But Maddy swam. True actual swimming! Face in the water, moving forward by kicking, actual swimming. I was so proud. She was so proud. I like seeing some confidence in her. I have to be sure to take her up there more often.

I really can't think of much else. Did I mention that Connor now comes down after his nap by himself? It's the cutest thing. He just appears on the stairs. "2:00 Mommy! 2:00 time to get up!" Yesterday I took a nap too. A big one. I thought it was morning when I woke up. That's a serious nap. I woke up at 3:30 and Connor had gone downstairs by himself. Luckily Larry was home... so the kids weren't down there by themselves. I can't imagine I would have been able to sleep through their fighting for very long anyways.

Mid-Year Resolutions

Holy cow... how did it become June 10th?! Crazy. June is almost half way over.

I saw a thing today talking about half year resolutions. I guess that would be kinda cool. July 1st would be a good day to reflect on our New Years Resolutions and see how things are progressing along. You remember your New Years Resolutions don't you? Those pesky little things.

My New Years Resolutions for 2009 were:

1. To be more stylish
2. To make $5,000 through diversifying my income
3. Paint a room

I would say I'm doing pretty well. "To be more stylish" isn't the greatest goal, since it's not really measurable. But I would say I'm doing better. I'm buying clothes more often. Part of this goal was to buy a new piece of clothing once a month. Hardly a goal for some... but for me this has taken real effort. I started off really judging and measuring buying something every month. But this has taken a more casual form and I think I'm actually buying several things a month. More than anything it got me in the habit of looking for clothes when I am out. Before I had to wait for a ruling from Supreme Court in order to buy a shirt. Now I just think "hmmm... that's cute." and pick it up. See the difference?

I can comfortably say that I've already made more than $5,000 by diversifying my income. So this goal is met.

I did paint a room, technically. I painted the office. Not really what I had in mind when I said "paint a room". But it is a room... and it's painted.

So how are you doing on your resolutions?

Bigger by the day

Well, we did it. We moved Connor to a booster seat. His regular car seat changes into a booster so we went ahead and used that. It hooks into the car with the LATCH system which leaves the seat belt free to use as the restraint. We took the 5 point harness out of the traditional car seat and now he uses the regular seat belt. (The car seat is built to work that way.)

I like the compromise since I wasn't 100% on a traditional high back booster. I was worried that it would move around when the car turns, like lean to one side. And it gives almost no side protection. So I'm happy with it.

We haven't actually gone anywhere yet. So I haven't been able to see if he will reach over and unhook his own belt while we are on the move. If so I have looked into some devices that I can put on the button to keep him from doing it by him self. But I'm hoping to avoid that. So we'll see.

He has also started to come downstairs after nap all by himself. Which is good. We talked about it and I told him it was ok to come down at "2:00 time to get up". He does an excellent job at that. Comes down right at 2:00, assuming he isn't still sleeping. This is our first step to him getting up in the night to go potty by himself. Which is our ultimate goal. Maybe then I will get to sleep through the night. :) I thought that would happen before he turned 4, but I was wrong.

Would that be considered ironic?

I went to Walmart today. While I was walking up to the door there was this older couple standing there looking out across the parking lot. The lady was saying "I can't read what that blue sign says."

I glanced over to see if I could read it, maybe help them out. Know what it said? Vision Center. hahaha. They were struggling to read a sign that said "vision center". I didn't tell them what it said because I had to giggle to myself instead.


Since this post is so short I will share with you what Connor says every day before he falls asleep.

"I'm going to dream about pirates and kitty cats and helicopters. And the Grand Canyon and bubbles and the trampoline. And the stars and moon."

40.1

A few weeks (months?) ago Connor was fooling around getting into the car and jokingly sat in Maddy's booster seat. He thought that was funny. I pulled the seat belt down and buckled him in. Much to my surprise it wasn't huge on him. The seat belt hit fit him pretty well and with some adjustments it would have fit him perfectly.

Really? Time for a big boy seat already?!

So I struggle to read the sticker on the car seat saying the weight limit. Why do they have to put the sticker right where they know the seat belt is going to be? Seriously, this is very poor planning. I guess they think that you are going to read it when you are installing it. Which I did. But I also installed it 2.5 years ago... and a couple dozen things have happened since then. So I don't remember with 100% accuracy what the upper weight limit is.

The weight limit was 40 pounds... Connor weighed 38.

So close! I was disappointed that I had to keep using the car seat. We have weighed him every day since then watching him inch closer and closer to 40 pounds. Last weekend he finally hit it. All of a sudden I wasn't quite so excited about it anymore.

Should we change his seat? Are you sure? The seat is good up to 40 pounds. Does that include 40? Could we let him gain one more pound? Does it matter? Am I being crazy about it? (yes) Is the booster as safe as the regular car seat? Can he unbuckle the regular seat belt himself? Will he do that while I'm driving?

So we haven't changed his seat yet. I think that we will be happy when we do, because life is so much easier with out car seats. But, I don't know, for some reason I just can't make the leap. When he hits 41 pounds I will really have no choice. He can't ride in the seat above the weight limits. I will just continue to argue with myself til then I guess.