$30 for JUST the shampoo? Seriously?!?

It looks nice, doesn't it?  An innocuous bottle of shampoo, sitting on the shelf of a salon.  What if I told you this bottle came with a $30 price tag?  Would you still want it?  Yeah, not so much for me.  I got a hair cut today, and after the stylist was done berating me for waiting 8+ months to get a haircut (because she had to cut off *gasp* two whole inches!), she told me I needed to use sulfate- and alcohol-free shampoo and conditioner.  I took a picture of this bottle she showed me to remember what she said, but then I was struck by the whole ridiculousness of the situation on the way home.  First, I just paid someone way too much money to cut my hair.  Second, she ripped me up and down for my wash-and-go hair style I usually use.  Third, why would anyone in their right mind put that kind of money toward hair care?  A stylist, sure, I can see that, but a regular person?  "Hmm, should I pay for gas in my car so I can go to work this month, or that bottle of shampoo that's good for my hair?"  Not gonna happen.  I guess I'll be looking at the different shampoo and conditioners that Target and Wal-Mart carry for these ingredients from now on, and that stylist will definitely not be having me as a client again.  Yikes.

I love embarassing preschoolers

This morning, I took L to preschool, like I do every Tuesday and Thursday morning.  We get there, get her stuff put away, and then she turns to me saying "Mama, I didn't use potty at home!"  This is post-breakfast, which she seems to like to do now.  I said well, there's a potty here in your classroom, can we use that?  Of course, L says, and goes to the potty.  L has a large deposit to make in the potty, which she does just fine.  Afterwards, we come out of the bathroom to wash her hands, and she yells at her teacher (and other classmates coming in) "Miss X, I pooped!  I love poop!  Poop my favorite thing!"  Mind you, she's said this many, many times at home and I've just kind of brushed it off as yes-that's-my-child-saying-strange-things-whatever.  However, I never expected her to say it in public!  Cue Mortified Mom (TM) dragging I Love Poop Daughter to the sink to wash her hands.  The teacher was cracking up, and she told me that she's heard pretty much everything out of the mouths of preschoolers.  I realize this, but still, mortified!  Thanks for making my morning so memorable, L.  Mama still loves you (and your poop). 

Off to visit the CMT

Since the last time we tried to visit the Children's Museum it was closed, I decided to make it up to the girls by taking them today.  We had such fun!  The girls always find something new to do and/or focus on each time we go, so today there was great fun in the 4 & under room, the drawing area, and outside in the play house.  I packed a lunch so that we could just eat there, and found that the CMT has picnic tables by the play house (even kid-size ones!).  Perfect!  All in all, it was a great morning with the girls there.

L the firefighter.

L said she was a cat taking a nap on the "donut."  Ha!

E and L playing on the roof of the padded structure.

E preparing to go through the hole head first.  She and L did this over and over and OVER, laughing hysterically.

This quote was painted on the wall in the main room, and I love it!

Picnic lunch outside with no coats after Thanksgiving?  Yes please!

Christmas lists

Just for the sake of posterity, I thought it'd be fun to put down the girls' Christmas lists here.  They specifically asked for each of the following:

L

1.  Tiana car
2.  Hug to Santa
3.  Prince Phillip doll (my parents are getting this for her already)
4.  Sleeping Beauty figurine set
5.  Princess or Barbie game
6.  Spiderman pajamas (Spiderman costume)
7.  Tiana set (Tiana, Big Daddy, Charlotte, Louis, Ray, etc.)

E

1.  Tiana doll
2.  Jasmine doll (baby)
3.  Castle (baby)
4.  Bouncy ball
5.  Baby doll

Grading papers

Whenever I grade my college students' work, I expect it to show some competency in the material we've gone over.  While I do take time to explain, answer questions, review, practice, and drill the material, I also expect them to take the time outside of class to ensure they understand the material.  This is not high school, and I am not going to baby them through the entire class.  I gave them a test last Tuesday, and part of it was a written portion over key signatures.  We have gone over for three weeks in class, I gave them plenty of homework on it, quizzed them in class, and had them review it in about six different ways to ensure that they could to it and understood it.  I graded the tests today and failed five out of the 14 students who took the class.  One student even earned a 5.  Not 5, as in a scale of 1 to 5, but 5 out of 100.  That's exactly ONE out of 19 questions answered correctly, and it wasn't even the easiest one!  Lucky guess, I suspect.  In any case, I'm pissed off and feeling like why-should-I-give-a-crap-anymore-they-don't-work-anyway toward the entire class, and am just...brooding.  I could reteach the concept, but what's the point?  They don't care. 

I think it's time to get alcohol in this house again:  it's the end of the semester.  :/

Open letter to angry drivers

Dear Angry Drivers,

Hi.  I know you don't know me, but you will probably get pissed off by me at some point.  I'm that lady that drives a gigantic minivan and goes the speed limit through construction zones, patiently waits at left turns until all traffic has cleared to turn, and slows down when the light turns yellow (instead of speeding up).  Most of the time when I drive, I have two small children in the back of my vehicle that cause me to make more cautious decisions rather than just plow ahead.  I'm not perfect, and from time to time I will flip the bird to you for your callous gestures and signs (e.g. honking) that I am being a good driver.  However, it is NOT okay for you to try and run me off the road because I flipped you off.  It is not okay to yell obscenities out the window at my family, slam on the brakes in front of me to try to rile me up, and then follow me just six inches behind when I turn off the main road to get away from you.  I am afraid for my family's welfare when you do things like this, and it makes me wonder why you are like this in the first place.  If you can't take a rude gesture from a complete stranger without flying off the handle, what do you do when someone you are close to does something to you?  You are scary, scary people, and I really wish you would stay off the roads.  My advice to you is to calm down, suck it up, and don't drive like the idiot you are.  Next time, I won't hesitate to call the police and report your ass.

No Love, Me

PS - I realize that you tend to come out much more during the holiday season.  What's up with that?  Let it go, relax, and find another way to let out your anger instead of trying to cause physical harm to someone else (who may have children in their vehicle).
PSS - Also, it was a freaking Sunday morning.  Chill the F* out.

It's a bird, it's a plane, it's...a blimp?!

On our drive back to Tucson from Scottsdale (we went to a baby party/Ong family Thanksgiving), I pointed out some strange silver thing in the sky to the husband as we were coming back toward the city.  I was driving, and I said it looked possibly like a blimp.  As we got closer, the husband whipped out his camera and took a few pictures.  I wonder what it was doing in town?  Too bad the girls were konked out and missed it.

I have these horrible images of someone just dangling from that line...

Thanksgiving, part 2

After I got another good run in this morning, and we set up our Christmas tree, we packed up our stuff and headed to Tempe.  The husband's grandparents usually have Thanksgiving on Wednesday evening prior, but this year decided to do it on Friday evening.  Aside from the fact that the roast took forever to be ready (we ate at 6pm instead of 4:30pm), it was delicious, had great company, and super comfortable.  The girls were the only kids that were there, so they had the run of the toys, people, and place, which made them extremely happy.  The husband and I were just happy to be able to have a low-key get-together, and not have to sleep in the same room as the girls tonight!

Our fruit salad, chopped up by yours truly.

E wearing Ho-Ho's reading glasses.

Peekaboo, I see you!

Thanksgiving

It was so nice to be able to wake up in my own bed for Thanksgiving.  Usually, we're either in Ohio with my parents or in Tempe with the husband's family.  Either way, I'm usually cranky and just wishing for the day to be over.  Thankfully, this year it was not the case!  I went for a run at dawn, pulled together the green bean casserole, took all the food over to the in-laws' house (along with the family), and we had a GREAT day.  My in-laws are such pushovers when it comes to the girls too - L said she didn't like turkey, so they made a ham as well.  Ha!  We had so much good food, a great time hanging out together, a fabulous nap by myself, watched my FIL put up more Christmas decorations, and are tired but happy.  This is how I want to do Thanksgiving every year!  Great, great day.  :)

L and E checking out the candy can decorations in the driveway.

E's checking everything out for quality control.  ;)

Hold me, Ng-Ng!  No, me!  Hold me!  Drop my sister, hold me!

E and I teeter-tottering.  Well, I controlled it, but it was still fun.

Decorations atop the house, garage, and addition.  Wow!

Food is ready

Since we're doing Thanksgiving her in town tomorrow, I volunteered to make quite a bit of it.  I'll be bringing deviled eggs, cranberry sauce, homemade sweet Chex mix, green bean casserole, chocolate bar pie, and caramel-pecan pumpkin pie.  Making all of this during the day has caused the house to be a disaster, as the girls have run rampant, but I think things are looking good.  Here's hoping they taste good!

My helpers  :)

Homemade sweet Chex mix.  I made 24 cups - eek!

Cranberry sauce - MMMMM it was GOOD!

Caramel-pecan pumpkin pie.  Basically, a pumpkin pie with caramel-pecan toppings.

A slice of chocolate bar pie in the foreground, caramel-pumpkin in the back.  YUM.

Poison Control, call #4 for 2012

This morning, the husband was apparently cleaning up the kitchen and left the dish detergent out on the edge of the counter.  As soon as we came downstairs, E decided to go in the kitchen, spied the detergent, and started chugging it down.  When I walked in, I just stopped, rolled my eyes, took the bottle from her, gave her a bottle of water to drink, and called Poison Control.  I can just imagine them knowing me on a first-name basis now.  *sigh*  Of course, the lady I spoke with said the same thing I thought - she'd be fine, might have a tummy ache, and to give her water to flush it out of her system.

That's time #4 for this year, if you're keeping count.  First, it was deodorant.  Then, it was contact solution.  Then, it was white board cleaner.  Now this.  When will my child stop being so dangerously curious?!??

L's Earache

L tells me this morning that her right ear hurts, badly.  She's lethargic, won't eat, and is almost crying because she says it hurts so much.  I call her doctor and set up an appointment, to which she screams hysterically that she most definitely will NOT go see the doctor.  Eh, too bad.  We go to the doctor after she has a long nap in bed with me.  Doctor looks in her ears and says hey, they look great!  She has a cold too, so maybe her ears are clogged a bit?  (you know, like when you need to pop your ears at higher altitudes?)  Great.  I just spent $20 on a copay for her to tell me that L is perfectly fine.  Ugh.  The absolute best part, though, was when I strapped L back in her car seat.  She looks at me and says "Mama, my ear feels great now!"  Apparently, the doctor was right - my guess is the instrument she used to look in L's ear 'popped' it back to normal.

Dammit!  I want my $20 back!  I guess I should just be thankful it wasn't anything worse, but still!

MIGRAINE

I went for a 5-mile run this morning and felt a little tired afterwards.  During breakfast, I started feeling out of it.  When we went to Target, I was trying to figure out why it was so loud and bright in there.  Driving home, the husband noticed that I wasn't doing so hot.  By 11am, I had a full-blown migraine going.  Medication, bath, laid in bed in a dark room (visited by two small loud children), water, and nausea.  JOY.  I had to cancel on a concert I was supposed to go to tonight, which I'm really bummed out about.  Thankfully, it started to abate by about 5pm, so now I feel like I can actually look at the computer screen and not wince in pain.  The house also seems quieter, lol.

I HATE MIGRAINES.

Dinner last night

I didn't post about this last night because it would have tarnished the awesome babysitter post I made.  However, it bears noting for future reference.

The husband and I decided to go to Boston's, as I don't think he'd ever been to one and the last one I'd been to was in Tempe while I was a graduate student.  We got there, got seated right away, and then proceeded to wait for ten minutes before our waitress came by to get our drink order.  Got that taken care of, got the drinks, got our orders in, and again, she disappeared.  When our entrees came out, part of them were missing.  We tried to get it taken care of, but then gave up when she disappeared for 20 minutes.  I eventually had to flag down another waitress and ask for drink refills, as well as more sauce for something, and then suddenly our waitress reappeared.  It was ridiculous.  By the time we were waiting on her for 20 minutes, the restaurant was only about half full.  WTF was she doing?!?  The husband tipped her very little, and I don't think we'll be doing dine in at that location again.  Kinda ridiculous.

Do you have a bad dining experience you'd like to share?  What do you do when waiters/waitresses "forget" about you or treat you badly?  Have you had any awesome resolutions?

Babysitter!

With my in-laws both working a lot more recently (well, my FIL working a lot more), my husband and I have come to the realization that we need to have a babysitter that is outside the family.  Luckily, my piano students' parents are both high school teachers, so I asked them for a recommendation.  They sent me a wonderful high school girl named R.  R came by last week to visit the girls, and E absolutely fell in love with her.  L has been apprehensive about the whole idea all week, so I was concerned how they would do for three hours with R.  I shouldn't have worried.

R showed up early, and both girls were screaming, jumping up and down, and waving their arms at the gate by the front door.  E was even trying to say R's name.  They appear to have had a great time with her - toys were played with, the house wasn't a disaster, R was happy, and the girls were fast asleep when we got home.  Such a relief to find someone reliable and who likes our girls!  L apparently wanted to count all the buttons on R's cardigan while pottying (ha!), and E clung to R at bedtime because she probably wanted to play with her more but was so, so tired. 

I'll check with the girls in the morning on what they thought, but I think R will definitely be coming back in the future.  YAY!  And the husband and I had a great night out!

Poop in a bag

Have you ever had poop in a bag?  No?  Oh, you're missing out.  Let me back up and explain how I came to be the not-so-affectionate owner of one such bag.

L went to preschool today.  When I came to pick her up at the end of the morning, her teacher said "excuse me, but L had an accident today.  I changed her underwear and put her dirty underwear in a bag in her backpack."  I sighed, rolled my eyes, and said thank you.  I thought, she had an accident this morning too!  WTF is going on?!??  We got in the car, drove home, and I wondered why the backpack was particularly smelly the entire time.

At home, I took the backpack to the kitchen sink, pulled out the plastic bag, opened it up, and out rolled a large piece of poop.  I sh*t you not (ahahahaha!).  The teacher had apparently just tossed everything in the bag.  Shouldn't poop go in the toilet?!?  Isn't that what we are teaching our children?!??  I was shocked, a bit mortified, and appalled that I just spent the last 20 minutes in possession of my daughter's poop in a bag. 

I called the school and asked them what their policy was on kids having accidents at school.  The woman I spoke with said she didn't know, she'd find out.  After several minutes, she comes back to the phone to inform me that yes, it is the school's policy to just put the offending material in a bag for the parent to deal with per the state Department of Health.  Who knows what could be in a child's poop?  Syringes!  Drugs!  Partially digested food!  It could make the teacher catch syphilis, Ebola, or worse yet...cooties. 

To be honest, I'm just appalled and disgusted.  Really?  You're going to send my child's poop home to me in a bag instead of just flushing it down the toilet?!??  Isn't that the most sane and most decent way to handle the situation?  Yes, there is a whole room full of other children, but flushing poop down a toilet doesn't require more than about 10 seconds to do!  L will still go to school there, and she'll still go potty there, but you can be damn well assured that I will not be taking poop in a bag home again.  If she does the same thing again, we will promptly go to the bathroom, check the bag's contents, and then flush away any offending material left in the undies.

The worst part to me for L was that her teacher didn't help her clean up her back side.  Though she had new underwear on, it was quite dirty and smelly and...I felt so bad for her.  We had to bathe her to get her clean again, and luckily she didn't seem to notice/care.  Still!  I don't want her known as the stinky child at school.  Poor kid.  Damn teacher!  *fist*

Nostalgia - E is growing up

E started napping yesterday in her toddler bed.  I say "her" toddler bed when in actuality it was L's bed just a few weeks ago.  However, since L now has a twin bed, E got the toddler bed.  She still sleeps at night in the crib, but the napping is a transition phase to full-time bed status.

I realize E is almost 2, but I'm still shocked that she's old enough to do this.  At 22 months, she's amazingly capable.  She speaks in 2- and 3-word sentences all the time (mind blowing!), is very capable of getting into whatever mischief her heart desires, understands everything that's going on around her and is being said to her, can feed herself, tries to potty on her own, and even tries dressing herself.  Where did my sweet teeny baby go???  It almost makes me want to have another baby to fill the "baby" void, but that would just be a disaster.  I just can't wrap my mind around my youngest being almost 2.  2! 

E is still sitting in her bed playing right now, but luckily she hasn't run out of it to play in her room with other stuff.  There's a baby gate across the door, but I guess it's not needed (like I had anticipated - YAY!).  Now if only she'd take a nap!

Praying - Preschool Style

L goes to a Baptist-run preschool.  Every time she is there, they pray before snack time and at the end of the day.  She is very proud of the fact that she can pray, and tells me that they say "God is great, God is good, God is big,...I don't remember."  Today, she came home with a prayer chart they made at school, which is basically seven pictures (one for every day of the week) to mark off for prayer.  After her nap, she said she needed to pray, where was her chart?  I went and got it for her, and then L took it, sat on the loveseat, closed her eyes, clasped her hands, and said "Oh God, oh God, oh God...done!"  I about lost it laughing, but managed to ask her what did she pray for?  She said "my room - I like my room!"  LOL.  L then told me that praying is hard, which I just nodded and agreed with her on.  Such a funny prayer for her to say!

I should probably point out too that L going to a Baptist-run preschool is simply because it's a good school.  We don't care about the religious affiliation - we care about how well things are done there.  I think it's wonderful that she's getting some basic exposure to religion this early in life, and it is my hope that it will help her figure out where she wants to go with it later in life.  To me, beliefs are a choice, not something thrust upon you to believe without question.  That being said, I am getting a kick out of seeing the way she absorbs the stories, songs, and praying from her teacher and classmates.  ;)

Xmas paying for itself

I had to return two shirts to the Disney Store today because they sent me to extra from an order I placed earlier in October.  Why?  Heck if I know.  I don't need them, don't want them, and figured I'd just return them.  While at the store, I picked up two nightgowns for the girls to give for Christmas.  When they processed the return, I basically got the nightgowns for free and was given $7.50 in cash.  HA!  Disney should really look into getting their shipping department working better.  However, the girls get what they want for Christmas for FREE!  YAY! 

MIL's Birthday

We celebrated my MIL's birthday today (though it isn't actually until Tuesday).  A double bonus was getting to meet my newest niece V, as she and her family came to stay for a few days.  It was so much fun watching all four kids play (or sleep, in V's case), and I think MIL really loved having everyone there too.  Long day, but good day (especially since the girls are spending the night over there tonight!).

Auntie V and E in the kitchen.

L rides the tractor while Grandpa pulls and E watches.

My handsome nephew S.

Highlight of the weekend:  having little V nap in my arms.  *swoon*

L and S wrestling.  They were cackling with laughter too!

L holding baby V.  She's such a mommy!

MIL blowing out her birthday candles.

That's right, my FIL used duct tape to hold on a bandaid.  I guess my husband HAD to get a photo of him ripping it off.  OUCH!

The grandparents with their four grandchildren (we took ~50 pictures of this!!!).

E cooing over being able to hold baby V.  She was SO pleased to have a real live baby doll!

Annoyed is...

...only having two eggs in the house when you need three to make any cake, from a box or from scratch.  ARGH!!!!!  At least the husband brought home a dozen eggs and the cake finally got made.

Ta-da!  Happy birthday, MIL!

Zoo

L's friend B's mom asked us if we wanted to go to the zoo today with her and him.  Since L has really enjoyed play dates with him outside of school, and E seems to adore him, I said sure!  The weather is turning cooler, and it was almost chilly today, but since it was overcast as well almost no one was at the zoo until we left around lunch time.  We had a great time.  L, E, and B ran all over the zoo looking at everything.  B had the unfortunate idea of picking up a piece of rodent poop, but beyond that it was good.  I saw a baby elephant, a rhino take a humongous poop, a tiger rolling around enjoying a back scratch on the ground, curious flamingos and giraffes who wanted to get close to E, and three kids having problems staying seated while eating lunch.  I like B's mom too, which helps a lot.  The photo booth photo we did of them was hilarious - "make a funny face!", and only B complied.  Fun times.

Chex mix

I decided to be all Suzie Homemaker today and try my hand at making my own batch of Chex Mix.  This mix will be sweet, though, instead of salty.  I had no idea how involved the process was going to be, but luckily I was able to do it during the time that E and I were home alone (while L was at school).  When I laid it all out on the counter to dry after baking, I had it on foil and walked away to do something.  I came back a little bit later and found the entire corner closest to the edge of the counter was missing, and a little child's stool was right underneath that point.  I went and found E, asked her if she ate some of the stuff I had on the counter, and she couldn't reply because her mouth was stuffed chock full of the mix she had stolen.  LOL!  Tasty, I'll probably do it again sometime, but man is it time consuming!

Picture post

I'm too lazy to type something up right now, so I'll just post some recent pictures:

Look, TWO princesses!

I bought a sh*tload of groceries the other day.  Yikes.

This is how E tries to eat her lunch - upside down.  THIS is why she has to be strapped in!

A moment of sanity for myself, so I took a picture - the girls happily doing crafts.

Election Day 2012

Today was election day.  It's that wonderful day of the year where A) you get to vote for candidates and/or issues, B) the damn phone calls about said candidates and/or issues finally stop, and C) you seriously wonder what kind of shenanigans go on behind the scenes in order to make candidates and/or issues win/lose.  I guess the big one today was for president:  reelect Barack Obama (D), or elect Mitt Romney (R).  Honestly, I've felt like this entire election season has been a choice between the lesser of two evils, and had a hard time filling in my absentee ballot because of it.  In the end, I went with Romney.  Lo and behold, my streak of always voting for the losing presidential candidate is unbroken!  Gore in 2000, Kerry in 2004, McCain in 2008, and now Romney in 2012 - I rock at choosing the loser!!!!  Nonetheless, I will be glad tomorrow when people start settling back into their normal routines and forget about politics for another year or so.

Cravings

I've been craving three things lately:  tuna salad, egg salad, and chicken salad.  See a theme here?  With a big trip to the grocery store this morning, I got a lot of the essentials I need to make them all (except celery - doh!).  This afternoon, I made a super easy tuna salad:  tuna, mayo, relish.  Slap it between two slices of bread and it was my slice of heaven for the day.  Yum! 

What are you craving right now?

Family pictures

We made our annual trek to the photo studio for our family pictures.  Beyond all the crappy things that the studio had/did, we got some decent photos.  I just wish that going to photo studios wasn't such a pain in the ass to deal with.  In any case, here are a few:

This would have been an AWESOME shot if E had been looking at the camera!

L was laughing at a story the photographer was telling her.

This was an awkward pose, but at least the girls were in a good mood.

My favorite from the entire session.

The girls on the floor.

L playing sports

I thought I would just upload a video today to show how L plays her sports.  It makes me laugh hysterically every time I watch it.  L, are you going to shoot the ball?  L?  L, where are you?  Why the f* are you over there watching a truck park?!?!???

A day to myself

My husband is wonderful to me when I'm sick.  This morning, he let me sleep in (his off Friday).  Then, he let me enjoy my breakfast in peace by taking the girls to Wal-Mart with him.  That allowed me to eat without fighting for my own food, finish work for my college class that I couldn't do yesterday, collect/start doing laundry, and organize all the junk we have on top of the washer and dryer.  That's just one hour of stuff!  It was so nice.  I got to nap without worrying about the girls this afternoon, and he sent me off for another bath this evening to relax.  Right now, he's out getting us ice cream to help me feel better.  Score!  How did I end up with a guy that treats me so well when I feel that I can't possibly treat him the same way in return?!?  I'm a lucky person.  :)

SICK BLARG!

Woke up this morning feeling like utter sh*t.  Thankfully, so did L, so she didn't go to school.  I cancelled my college class for the evening because there is no way I could get the work done for it prior to going today.  YUCK.  Headache, stuffy nose, cough, and just weak/tired.  We DID, however, hit up Target for Halloween clearance and made out with a Barbie costume for L and a doctor costume for the girls to share.  Beyond that, not a productive day.  At least the husband came home and ordered me to take a bath and relax.  That was nice.  Here's hoping to feel less poop-like tomorrow.

Dr. L and Dr. E scrub up.

Dr. E checks on her patient.  She's so thorough - not only did she listen to her patient's heart, she also listened to her butt!