After today....

.... we get Justin home for two weeks.

Except for all those pesky applications :)

E was so excited she screamed and woke the baby up this morning.

This Morning

M wakes up stinky.

Dad comes to the rescue and starts to change her diaper.

M yells emphatically: "No! Momma's turn."

Oh, to be the recipient of mother love.

And yes, she did insist I change it.

Do You Want to See Me In Print?

Too bad!

But my friend Bree's book is coming out next Tuesday- yep, that's one week from today:

"The Dark Divine" by Bree Despain

And I did read it a few times and comment, so maybe one of my words is in the book. But probably not. She's very talented on her own.

If you want to read a little, check it out here:

http://romantictimes.com/2009/11/dark-divine-sneak-peak.php


Be sure to get your own copy to read over Christmas break. Justin says instead of assuming that because two of my writer friends have agents, and two are published, I must statistically be the un-achiever, I should assume that statistically we are "clustering" and will all succeed. I think he made that up, but just in case: you should buy her book, so she can be on the New York Times Bestseller List, so that someday I can be too.

See how that logic worked?

Okay, I'm tired.

Go buy the book.

The Way The World Works

On Saturday, as I drove, I listened to NPR.

As usual, they were discussing President Obama - specifically his war speech at the peace prize meeting.

(Don't worry, I'm not REALLY getting into politics... I have NO DESIRE.)

Anyway, they were interviewing a professor who studied war and peace (not the novel) and they asked him a really intelligent question. It went something like this:

"Why can't the world ever move past war? Why can't we ever solve this problem and just all be nice to each other?"

Luckily, the professor was a good sport and didn't laugh hysterically. He said something like this:

"Well, because there are always those people in the world who want what someone else has and want to be in charge. They want it at no cost, and it's our responsibility to stop them."

I must say I agree with the dear fellow.

And I even have my own personal example to share. An example from my very own home!

*******
Flashback to this morning
*******

E: (Yelling from the top of the stairs... right next to the room her brother is sleeping in) "Mom, I NEED you. Mom, I NEED you. MOOOOOMMMMMM, I NEEEEEEED you.

At this time I was going to the bathroom.

Pretty soon, she came to the door. Since she was no longer right next to her sleeping brother's room, she decided she would now whisper.

E: mom, i need you.....

Mom: What? (Okay, I was snippy. But honestly, do I really want the baby to wake up?)

E: M has a dress I want. And I want it.

Mom: I am not going to get if for you.

E: But I want it.

Mom: I am not going to get if for you. (Then came the lecture on yelling from the top of the stairs, blah, blah, blah..... Mom's are soooo fun to listen to.)

E's reply????

E: Fine, I'll get it for myself.

A few moment later I hear M screaming.

I walked upstairs to investigate and found that E had backed M into a corner and was deliberately removing dress from M so she could have it.

I immediately gave a cease and desist order.

And since I am bigger, it worked.

Eventually, however, I had to put E in the ultimate time-out: she had to sit in the crib.... so humililating. At the door, I put on my meanest face.

Mom: And if you scream when I leave this room and wake up your brother you will be in "BIG" trouble.

(This is kind of like threatening Iran... what is "BIG" trouble? Especially when you've already hit the apex of time-out in our home???)

Luckily, she didn't sense my lack of further punishment, and she did not scream.

So... why do we still have war in the world?

Maybe we just need a bigger time-out crib?

More than half the clothes in this post belong to Libbi

This morning our family had an unofficial fashion show. Next week we are having our family pictures and I am trying to prepare.

Unfortunately (as Isaac says), finding cute clothes that match can be difficult.

Fortunately, I have my sister's closets to raid.

Unfortunately, I have no style.

Fortunately, you do.

So, my question is... does any of this work?????

I am doing two locations. One, outside in an orchard. I know I want E's gold dress and sweater here, with us all matching her somehow. Then, we are doing an inside shoot... because it's Winter and I'm crazy to try outside. This would be less fancy shmancy clothes. I like M's pink sweater set, but the purple one from Cousin A is too little for E. I like the brown sweater outfit of A on E, but I don't have a matching sweater for M and her black skirt (even I know the red does not work).

So, what do you think?

Please, solve my problems. I would appreciate it.

Which dress should M wear with E's gold one? The top one is also gold, but it is actually Cousin A's this year, and it doesn't quite fit. Justin doesn't think the blue works, but it's actually warm.... the other dress makes it all seem so monochromatic.

Bleh.

Can you tell we just got out of the tubby?

Wanted: My Mind Back

Yesterday, I went to the store.

I forgot my purse.

I went home and got my purse.

I went to the store again.

I forgot my wallet.

I ended up paying $3.08 with 300 pennies and one dime.

Don't ask why I had 300 pennies in the car.

Today I went to drop something off to Justin at school.

I forgot my phone.

So, I found a parking spot (miracle of miracles!), got all three children out of the car, took it inside myself, and went back home.

I found my phone in my coat pocket once I got home.

Sigh.

They say things come in threes. I am not looking forward to number three.

Cold

This morning, I ventured into the cold. They were giving H1N1 shots on campus, and though I don't quite believe that they work ("don't quite" being translated as "don't at all") I headed to the Wilk with Justin and our three little banshees.

(Speaking of banshees. This morning I needed to get them up and out of the house quite early. When did they wake up? E woke up at 7:20, and I had to wake the other two up. Wake them up. Are you serious? I'm sure they'll be up at 6:00 on Saturday to make up for their lapse.)

Moving on...

E and M had already got their doses, lucky little things. And GQ is too young to get his... hence my resignation to Justin and I braving sharp objects and doing our part to keep him healthy. (Justin thinks we already had the Swine flu. He's probably right. But I'm still crossing my t's and dotting my i's. It's a disorder I have.)

So, there we were... braving the cold. It was 8:00. We arrived on campus early to ensure that we found parking within the limit of a country mile. Lately they haven't been ticketing in the lots which means all those "undergraduates" (translation... "troublemakers") have been parking in the Graduate parking. We had about an hour before our appointment with pain, so I gathered up some bagels at the Twilight Zone and got the girls to eating.

Soon enough we noticed GQ was stinky. (GQ produces dirty diapers about once a week... so this was an event.) I gathered him up and headed to the restroom where I set to cleaning up his mess. In the process I offended the nose of some more of those undergraduates who gave me a look like, "Who's the crazy lady with the baby?"

Since we'd forgotten GQ's binky... excellent planning, folks... and since the campus bookstore doesn't sell binky's... Why, Why, I ask???... and since GQ was missing his normal morning nap... and since I had to wake him up besides... and since he didn't much like the cold... or his weekly dirty diaper...

he was screaming

More looks from passersby.

And I realized how odd I looked. Even on THIS campus, where children aren't so strange, I was braving frigid weather at 8:00 a.m. with three children, one of them screaming, and I looked 14. As usual.

Speaking of which, E does not quite believe me that girls go to school. Since I stay home, and Daddy goes, that seems odd to her. I pointed several girls out to her today. She still seemed unsure. She also doesn't believe that 12 is 12. She thinks it is 20. And she thinks a certain song she sings about Pocahontas discusses Pocahontas becoming a man (not her small son becoming a man) despite my best efforts to convince her otherwise.

But I am babbling.

My point is, my, what a way I have gone since I went their last. Funny what six years will do to you.

And while I spent two years in Vegas grieving the death of my schooling career... I find I am fine now...

...showing up on campus with three children, one of them screaming, and the other dangling her blanket in the snow.

I am fine that I am getting shots I don't believe in, in hopes that my four month old will stay healthy.

I am fine that it is Justin that has to freeze his ears off every day, wandering around campus, while I stay home and change dirty diapers in the comfort of my own home.

And I am fine, that it is now my job to teach E that 12 is 12, that Pocahontas did not become a man, and that girls do in fact go to school, and like it.

Because that is my job now.

And it is a good one.

Clocky

Okay, so I was going to post a link... but I am link stupid.

Last night when Justin got sick of learning (who needs learning??) he started looking at videos of stupid things online.

He found some videos of an alarm clock called "clocky."

Apparently when "clocky" goes off it jumps off your side-table and begins rolling around the room. Justin said he wished he could get one for his Grandma Duck who once hid alarm clocks in the suitcases of missionaries in her care.

This morning our own three versions of "clocky" came into our room.

Not only do they "jump from their resting places" and "run about the room making irritating noises" but they also break eyeglasses and demand to be fed.

But I don't think we are giving any of them away.