Unwinding the whirlwind

The past, ohhh, say MONTH has been just non-stop. Between Easter parties, Bennett's birthday, my folks coming out to visit, Easter, spring break, Melissa's shower, and Camporee, there has not been a ton of time to get my life and my house back in order. In an effort to regain order and tidiness in my house, I spent the better part of today getting stuff done.

I started the day off like I like to, at the gym. After that, I came home and played with Bennett for a little bit and then got started unpacking all the gear that I spent all last week packing up. I cleaned bathrooms, did laundry, cleaned the kids rooms (which had been sorely neglected over the past month), and then I thought it was time for a nap. After all, I spent the entire weekend sleeping in a tent in below 30 degree temperatures.

After my nap, I did all the dusting and vacuuming and before I knew it, it was time to make dinner. I decided to make up a new recipe, because apparently I didn't have enough going on. LOL Besides my goat cheese chicken pasta dish, this is really the first recipe I've made up on my own. Honestly, I'm always looking for a new way to make salmon because we eat it about once a week, so I wanted to come up with something new and different. So, I put together the salmon I had thawed with some bread crumbs, basil, Parmesan cheese, and tomatoes to make this dish, which I guess I'll call Tomato Basil Salmon. I paired it with brown rice and green beans and it was a hit with everyone in the house! Love that!


It was super easy to make.

Line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil, spray with cooking spray and place a salmon fillet on it. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Combine 1/4 c. Italian seasoned breadcrumbs with 1/4 c. shredded Parmesan cheese and sprinkle half to three fourths of it over the salmon. Take fresh basil leaves and place them over the salmon so that they mostly cover. Thinly slice a tomato and place the tomatoes over the basil. Sprinkle remaining breadcrumb/parm mixture over the tomatoes and then drizzle about 2 TBSP fat free balsamic vinaigrette over salmon. Bake at 375 for 20 minutes and then broil for 2-3 minutes.

Putting it back together

Ever get that feeling that your child takes everything for granted? Ever think to yourself that maybe they've become too spoiled? I have the solution for you! Seal off their room for approximately FIVE WEEKS (gosh has it been that long??) so that they don't have access to their normal toys, clothes, or even books for a while. After the five weeks is over, clean up their room, put things back in order and let them in. You will be amazed by their pure joy as they reenter the room that once held things that were "boring" or didn't have enough room for their stuff. Gasps of pleasure. Words like "wow" and "I love it" came out of her small mouth as she walked around her room as if for the first time. She would open a drawer she hasn't seen in over a month and say something like "oh here's that horse, I love that little guy". She was so excited to actually put the things that she's had in the guest room upstairs back where they belong. Funny how that works.

It's been a LONG five weeks. I mean, it's hard for a man who works long days (gone approximately 12 hours a day during the week) and has busy weekends to get projects like this done, but my husband has managed to patch the ceiling in Morgan's room where there was a leak from upstairs, scrape the popcorn ceiling, run a ceiling light, and texture and paint the ceiling. It's all done now, thank goodness. When he tore down the patch the first time, I was starting to get worried. He and I both discussed, with amusement, Morgan's diagrams of the work. She took a lot of time to draw each step of the process. First picture was of her room with the water stain on the ceiling. Next picture was of the ceiling with the hole. Next picture was of the ceiling with the patch. Next picture was of the ceiling with a hole. At the time, she still had another picture to do. You got it, one with another patch. Once she got them done, she taped them together and taped them on the outside of her door. According to her, it was to warn people about what they might encounter in the room. She also asked me to write the following on a post-it note, which we also taped to the outside of her bedroom door.

"Under Construction. Please do not enter."

Lance wasn't quite sure what to make of all of this, but it certainly didn't inspire confidence in him when it was time to go repatch. But, he was able to get it done to his liking the second time and then after a few false starts, was able to get the ceiling sanded, primed, and textured.

Today was the day of finishing touches. The light was installed, the walls were wiped down and paint touched up. The floor was mopped and remopped. Furniture was put back into place and pictures and stuff re-hung. Today was moving in day. And it felt so good. Not just for her, but also for me. I now have access to the 5 cubby hanger in her closet, that I use to divvy out her clothes for the week every Sunday. I'm able to put her crayons, markers, and folders back on her desk. The books she's had access to that have been strewn about the house for over a month now have found their home again.

I feel as though a part of my life that has been living in chaos is now straight again. It feels great! Long live finished projects!

Lazy

You know you've had a lazy day when it's time to go to bed and you don't have to get changed.

Really, though, I did actually get something accomplished. I went upstairs to do my menu planning and got sidetracked looking through old pictures to scan and upload to Facebook. Oh the pictures! That lead to a general picture organization project, which led to going through a few boxes (even Lance got into the mix) and decluttering. Yippee!

Dinner was frozen homemade chicken soup to keep things easy on the kids' delicate tummies and even Lance heated that up. Yep, a lazy day indeed.

Our summer days are counting down...

This weekend was great, don't get me wrong, but I'm a bit run down after too much fun. Seems like as much as I love the weekends, I also love getting back into my groove of the week on Mondays. And knowing that we are only three more Mondays away from Morgan's first day of Kindergarten makes it even more special. Special because I can't wait to GET HER OUT OF MY HAIR and special because, well, it's her first day of big kid school. *sob*

We got up this morning and I got half of my chores done while also getting the kids dressed, fed and all sun screened up. We walked the mile to the community center where we splashed and played in the pool, had snack, and then played a little more before it was time to come home. We walked the mile home and it was lunchtime when we walked in. I got the kids settled down at the table with their corn dogs while I finished cleaning the bathrooms and then ate my lunch myself. There was only one "oh crap" moment during the whole thing and that was when Morgan somehow flung her glass of milk off the table and onto the floor. Glass shards everywhere, Bennett looked confused and a little scared and she was nearly in tears telling me that she didn't mean to and that it was an accident. I told her that it was okay. No big deal. Let's not cry over spilt milk, after all. Once lunch was over, I knew Morgan had a too-busy weekend when she informed me that she was going to go wash her hands and face, go into her room and turn her music on and crawl into bed. I could come in there whenever I was ready to read her her story. So, I read Bennett his story, put him down for his nap and found Morgan all cuddled up inside her comforter, laying on "If you give a moose a muffin". I read her her story and then she quickly went to sleep.

I've spent the better part of their nap time catching up on stuff I normally do on Sundays - meal planning, planning out the classes I'm taking at the club this week, planning my to-do lists, shopping lists, and errands lists. I was too busy and too into MOI yesterday that I did none of this. So, now I'm fully organized again to start my week. Ahhh, love it. I'm debating putting some "bigger" organizational stuff on my to-do list, but part of me wants to put this off until after school starts. I guess I'm planning out the last of the summer and that stuff just doesn't seem to fit the category.

I was reading a book yesterday about preparing for the start of school. It gave lots of practical advice about it, such as having an "end of summer" celebration dinner and starting to get the kids to bed earlier, 10-15 minutes a night. Given the kids were up at least 2 hours past their bedtime each night this weekend, I think I need to get a grip on this. Because next week? I have to start WAKING THEM UP EARLY (I know!!). Just to be prepared because the following week? I have to have Morgan to school by 8. Eeek! So, tonight we'll have our "end of summer" celebration dinner. Morgan has requested pasta, so I'm going to come up with some sort of semi-healthy concoction. And we'll celebrate the end of the summer and start working our way towards being responsible citizens again. You know, getting to bed at a decent time and even trying to get up on a regular schedule. Phooey.

Mop avoidance

You know how I know I hate mopping floors? Because I've just rearranged two drawers and three cabinets in my kitchen, all to avoid mopping the floor. But hey, I did something, right?

I'm sitting here on what's supposed to be a bar stool at a desktop computer that we have tucked away in an armourer in our guest room, squinting at the flat panel monitor that's a good two feet away from me. Now, I haven't used a desktop over a laptop in over five years. I don't really want to start now, but it seems I don't have many other options at the moment. Why, might you ask? Well, that's easy. BECAUSE MY HARD DRIVE CRASHED. I'm trying really hard not to freak out about it. We do have this computer plus, when I really need to lounge on the couch and get my "web-ing" on, I could always borrow Lance's laptop. But *my* laptop will be off until I receive my replacement hard drive from the manufacturer. Yesterday, as I was avoiding other mopping-like tasks, my computer locked up and I could not get it to free up or shut down. So, given no other choice, I just turned it off. You know, with that big power button that turns it off. Which, apparently you are NOT supposed to use unless directed so by the Operating System. Because when I did? It killed my laptop. Never to be seen again.

Now, you'd think having worked in high tech for the past, oh I dunno, ELEVEN years, I would do things like back up my hard drive regularly. Ha! Not me. I like to live on the edge. :) So, I've now likely lost what was on the hard drive.

The thing that I'm really trying to remember is what exactly was on there. I didn't have too much really important stuff on there, luckily, since I just got it for my birthday last year. The pictures I just downloaded from my camera while I was on vacation were on there, but I've uploaded them to my online photo sharing page, so I can get them to burn a DVD with the pictures on it. There are various documents that I use regularly that I'll either have to recreate or ask someone that I've given them to to email to me. I'll probably be missing an email address or two, but other than that, I'm not sure. What is that thing that I'm going to slap myself on the forehead about in a month and repeat to myself for the fourteenth time "you should have done a backup"? Guess who's going to have a new backup regimen? :)

Yes, I know this is a very exciting topic. Further evidence of the aforementioned stalling.

Oh, and just for the record, ibuprofen is a wonderful thing. Guess who's going to Core Training through Dance tonight?? :)

Focus

To say that I am having a hard time getting back into the swing of things is the understatement of the year. I have two immediate short term goals -- Morgan's recital and her birthday party -- and I've spent a good time of the day avoiding them! Not good! I don't think it helped that Lance was off of work today because that just made it feel like a weekend. And weekend is slack time! :)

I should have realized that the day was going to go nothing as it should when I woke up at 6am all concerned about my favorite pair of jeans. Yes they are my favorite, and yes they have two giant holes in them. I'll even tell you that Morgan tapped me on the back as we were standing in the security line at the airport to tell me "Psst. You have HOLES in your pants, Mom." Yes, the holes are MUCH bigger than I had realized. So big that I self-consciously tugged at my shirt all the way across the country, trying to hide the place where everyone in the world could see my underwear. But what does this have to do with the tasks at hand? Nevertheless, I got up and immediately started searching online for my beloved Levi 505s that I can't find in the stores anymore. Because apparently the kids are going to EAT THEM ON SUNDAY.

After breakfast, I decided I would head over to the local tennis club, which I was given a one month family pass to. The offer expires on Monday and I had postponed it to after we got done vacationing so that I can make the most use of it to determine whether or not we want to join. I wanted to just run over and get signed up - maybe take a quick tour of the facility and then come back home and get to work on stuff. I left the kids with Lance to be QUICK! And EFFICIENT! Yeah, so an hour and fifteen minutes later I finally returned home. I did, however, get a very thorough tour of the place by the owner himself. I'm excited to start!

After getting home, Lance took off with Morgan to order her birthday cake and then he was taking her to see Wall-E. I took that opportunity to finish unpacking and then Bennett and I headed out to pick up some last minute craft stuff for Morgan's party. I decided to go to Target for the pillow cases and SOMEHOW got sucked in to the calendar/organization section of the store. I'm trying to get a picture of what July is going to look like between Morgan's soccer, and all the playgroups, and the camp she's going to, and the tennis club, etc. I'm having a hard time picturing it and while a new calendaring/planning system might help -- it could wait until Monday. Nonsense!

After Target, I hit the local craft store and found just what I was looking for in the way of fabric markers, paint and iron on transfer paper. But there, I got sucked into looking at frames and mats for a 10x10 picture I have of Bennett that I need a frame for. Also, could wait until later!

I came home and we had lunch and then after lunch, I put Bennett down for his nap and left Lance and Morgan to their own devices while I went to Office Depot. STILL on the hunt for the perfect family planner. Umm, yeah. I spent WAY too long there and then got home and proceeded to look online for what it is I have pictured in my head. I wanted a dry erase calendar that I can stick to the refrigerator (magnetic) and that is color coded by person in the family, so I just write that person's activity in the calendar. This does not exist! I stumbled across the Cozi website, which lured me in with FREE software for family calendaring and ORGANIZATION. They had me at "Free". Cue further stalling and delay tactics.

Yeah, so two hours later, I have all my stuff nicely manged by the online software that will also enable me to access my grocery lists, to do lists, etc. from anywhere. I can even call their special toll-free number and they will either text me the list, or READ IT TO ME. Uhhh....hello, love! But still! I am no closer to having Morgan ready for her recital or for the party I'm throwing on Sunday. But, at least I can tell you what I'm doing on September 1st.

I did manage to go over and pick up our tickets for tomorrow's performances and Morgan and I practiced hair and makeup tonight. She looks so grown up with mascara and blush on!! I can't get over it. She does NOT care for bobby pins or buns. They make her itch. Should be fun tomorrow when she has to wear her hair like that from around 8:30 in the morning until 5 at night!

My kitchen floor needs a good sweeping and mopping and I should probably run the Roomba. I *might* have the energy to do that tonight. Have I mentioned that we have like zero food in the house since we just got back from vacation? Lance did pick up milk last night, but that's pretty much it. Serious grocery shopping needs to happen. Focus!

A whole lot of nothing

I felt like I should write something last night, but really didn't have a whole lot to say. Fact is, I've been just hanging out at my parents' house -- not even really leaving the house for whole days lately (except to go for a walk). My days have been consisting of getting up in the morning when I wake up, or when one of the kids wakes me up, whichever happens first, and getting whoever still needs breakfast fed. Since my Mom has been taking Morgan and my niece to VBS every morning, I've had the mornings alone with Bennett. It's pretty much me or my Dad chasing him around the house, trying to keep him from getting into everything. Moving the pig around for him.


I've also been trying to get some stuff done for my Mom in the mornings while she's gone. Just to help out, but mostly to stay busy. I've been cooking lunch for the kids -- Morgan, Bennett and my niece -- and having it ready when they get home. Today was my niece's birthday, so I even added a few candles to her PB&J to make it a little more special (PB&J is her favorite!). The afternoons have consisted of us getting the kids to nap so that errands can be run or things can be organized without their interruptions. We've been trying to head over to the neighborhood pool for two afternoons now, but we are in some sort of weather pattern that brings with it thunder, lightening, and rain just about the time we are ready to go swimming. Poor kids!


Bottom line is that I'm busy trying to fill my days with stuff because I can't stand having NOTHING to do. It's a sickness, right? Of course, my Dad can't stand to see my expending my energies doing useless and mundane things such as cleaning out my Mom's cabinets. He'd much rather "keep me entertained" by having me help him copy computer files and reformating hard drives. Yep, he's really looking out for me. :)

It has been fun to watch the cousins playing together. Morgan is very busy being The Oldest Child (which apparently entitles her to knowing everything, bossing everyone around, and throwing fits when she feels like it). Bennett is very busy being Mr. Busy Body; circling the girls and checking out my nephew, who's about six months younger than him. Yesterday, the girls were sitting on the living room floor and Morgan was doing her cousin's hair. She kept straighteing her neck/head with her hands and telling her that she needed to keep her head still. Gee, wonder where she got that from? My niece is not too sure about Bennett, especially now that he's walking around and might actually come take a toy from her. She has decided that she doesn't much care for that. She keeps a good eye on him. Which, of course, makes him want to be near her even more.


Today, I helped my Mom go through her desk and get things organized. It was fun to see the things that she's been hanging on to. For years. And years. And years. I know we all have things we keep for various reasons, so it's not like this was something to call Oprah about, but I was just curious about how many various size/shaped/colored pads of paper one person might need. Or boxes of rubber bands. Or those return address labels that the Humane Society sends you. Oh! Oooohh! I almost forgot that she has her very own USPS timeline in her desk drawer. Do you remember 29 cent stamps? No? Well, she's got some! And just about every other stop the postage stamp has made on it's way to it's current 42 cent value. :)


I'm very happy to report that my Mom was an easy subject. She didn't object too much to the stuff I was asking her to purge or move. I am pretending that I did not hear her say that I was "cut throat". Because at the end of the day, I know that this will make her life easier. Did I mention where I found the birthday candles I used for today's birthday celebration? In the bathroom. Of course! Isn't that where we all keep birthday candles?? ;) If that's not funny, how about the fact that my FATHER knew to find them there. Yeah, go figure. :)

Reason 1027 why my husband ROCKS!

We had planned to have my mother-in-law in town today, but she came down with strep throat and cancelled at the last minute. Suddenly, we were presented with not only an ENTIRE weekend free, but a three day weekend at that!

A few nights ago, I was lamenting the lack of options that I had seen in stores around here for my CD/DVD organization project. I told Lance that I really wanted to go to The Container Store, which was roughly 30 minutes from home. When we realized we had today free, he suggested that we load the kids up and go. This is like telling a five year old that we are going to Toys R Us, since I'm somewhat of an organization junkie. I even jokingly told Morgan that we were going to a toy store for Momma. When we got there, she was a wee bit disappointed. I'll be really glad when she starts to pick up on sarcasm. But I digress. We went to The Container store and we got these cool CD file boxes (which hold 100 CD's each) and then went out for lunch after.

During lunch, we started to discuss our plan of attack for organizing the CD's. We have, easily, 600 CDs and probably 100 DVDs. The CD file boxes have a sheet in the front where you list the CDs in each CD envelope, by number. It leaves little room for additions. UNLESS YOU COMPUTERIZE IT. This is where my hubby comes in.

You see, he happens to have a bar code scanner. Umm, yep. That's right. And, oh by the way, he also happens to have created an application that parses the data from the barcode and does a lookup to an internet database that pulls down the item's information automatically. Hello holy grail! Since we got home, he's been busy scanning bar codes. He plans to dump the information into Excel and then format it for the size of the cards that go into the boxes and then printing them out.

I'm in love.