improvisation

i made cupcakes today. got the mix made up and then realized i didn't have any liners for my pans. so, i took some cookie liners and cut them up. then i inverted a cup and formed them around it. they worked in a pinch, but i won't do that all the time.

count the messes

how many messes can one child make in a day?!

well, let's see.
8:30a
   bubbles on the kitchen counter and popcorn in the microwave
10 a
   2 quarts soy milk all over the the dining room floor (required mop and bucket, and sponge bathing ashley)
      afterwhich, i washed the towels
4p
   hot chocolate mix all over a kitchen chair and floor (also required the mop)
8p
   cupcake in the chair in the front room

this actually seems to have been a more decent day as far as messes went.

ouch! ouch!

oh man! this afternoon was tiring, and sort of scary!
i have realized that showering when shannon and ashely are awake, is not the smartest idea. so, i've started waiting until naptime to do it.

i put both girls in bed, and climbed in the shower. while i was in there, shannon came in and knocked on the shower door. great! she was up. i told her to go get back in bed. i quickly finished my shower and then got out to get dressed again. just as i was done drying off, she starts crying. she walks in crying, and saying "owie," with blood dripping from her hand.

i grabbed an old cloth and put pressure on her finger. i then called my mother-in-law and told her i needed her help. as shannon wouldn't stop screaming, i sat down with her in the chair in my room. she finally stopped crying enough for me to leave her in the chair and finish getting dressed. while getting dressed, mom showed up to help. i got a bandaid cut to use a "butterfly," and a few others to wrap it up with. pretty sure she didn't need stitches. it was the tip and there's nothing they could have done for it.

brought her out to the front room where there was more light, and had a good look at it. she had nearly cut off the entire tip of her finger. i think she tried to cut something with my sewing shears.

when i was done playing nurse, we both took a nap. by then, my adrenaline was gone, and i was exhausted.

GRR! frustration!

shaun is subcontracted for a local company in town. thankfully, they've had enough work lately that it's helped us pay the bills, and start to get on top of them. unfortunately, they are a start up, and the work and pay hasn't been extremely reliable.

here's the biggest problem with it though.
they have required him to work in the office. that in and of itself, is not really a problem, except that by doing so, they caused him to fail his classes last semester, and they've killed his ability to do his own art. not only that, but he's starting to get frustrated that he doesn't have ownership of his artwork. as he is not an employee, they can't really force him to work in the office. he's not on payroll, he's subcontracted, which means he's his own "boss."
here's what i don't understand. they don't think that working from home, "works." did they have a problem getting the files they needed from him when he WAS working from home? no. was he getting the work done? yes. was the project progressing? yes. so, how can they say that it doesn't work?

i just spent 20 minutes working through some issues with him. i'm going to start putting my foot down. IF they can't abide by the hours he's said he'll be in the office, then he'll start working from home again. IF they need work from him when he IS supposed to be off the clock and at home, i'm going to start having shaun charge double time for it. if they don't like that, they can wait until he's on the clock in the office. if they have a problem with either of those, they can find themselves another graphic designer.

they are already asking him to give up what he loves and has gone to school for. i won't stand by and watch them destroy him any further.

whoops

i just put a status on facebook, that i decided i shouldn't have. i'm glad there's a delete option!

calendars

so, for grandparents christmas last year, i made calendars. i am still trying to get them printed and delivered. but, as all the pages are complete, i thought i would show the images!

 

terrible twos

i have never had a 2-year-old who tries my patience and sanity as much as shannon.

if there's a mess in the house, 9 time out of 10,  she's the culprit.
wet cereal in the front room... shannon brought the bowl in and dropped it.
crackers/bread/dry cereal in the kitchen in crumbs... she got a hold of it and decided it needed to be crushed into the floor or couch.
shredded cheese all over the floors...shannon got it out to eat, and dragged it all over the house.
eggs cracked all over the kitchen floor...shannon thought she'd play in the fridge.
milk pooled on the floor and table...shannon wanted a drink.
toothpaste spread all over the sink...she decided to "brush" her teeth.
bandaids and bandage pads all over my bathroom floor...she wanted to "help".
taylor's money all over the house...she wanted to count it.

she's either going to kill us off from illness or starvation.
in the last month, she's wasted 5 pounds of cheese, 3 boxes of cereal, 3 dozen eggs, 2 quarts of milk.
THAT'S A LOT OF MONEY!!!!

opportunity lost

i am SO sad!
there was the perfect photo opportunity with shaun and ashley the other day. i even tried to take one with my phone, but the pic was too dark to see anything!

sad days! it was adorable too!

ashley tidbits

ashley got a hold of some silly putty the other day. she ate part of it. i know that cause when i changed her diaper it was the same color as the silly putty.
yesterday she found part of a candycane. peppermint. she devoured half of it.
the other day, i also caught her choking on a domino.

ashley had a yeast infection about a month ago. then i was on antibiotics. she started getting another rash, and i thought it was another yeast infection. i started using the nystatin. it didn't respond. i took her into the doctor, and he said he thought it was just a normal diaper rash. so, i started using something else. chapstick. it's all i had at the time, and amazingly, it's the thing that's worked the best!

leggo my eggo

shannon loves to get into the fridge and play. one day i bought a lock for the fridge. recently, it broke. when she learned she could get in on her own, she did.
i would frequently come in to find her cracking the eggs on the floor. in the last 3 weeks, i've lost a dozen eggs a week because of that girl!

today, i got fed up and went and bought another lock. she can't get back in there now!!

snap, snap, snap

i was doing some indexing yesterday when i hear this snapping sound behind me. i turned around and saw shannon taking brand new crayons in her hands and snapping them in two.

buttons

shannon, who is 2, buttoned up her shirt by herself this morning. these weren't the normal round buttons either. these were shaped like flowers.

emergency candles

a couple of years ago, i was trying to get into the emergency preparedness club. (hm, that didn't quite come out like i wanted it to. but it's the best i could think of.) i made some homemade emergency candles. they were quick and easy. i took an empty tuna can, wound cardboard inside it, and then covered the cardboard with paraffin wax. when the power went out new years eve, i lit 2 of them in the kitchen so that we could see in the event we went in there.

i'm not sure i will make them again.
it takes 2 matches to get the flame to start.
they flicker something fierce and give me a headache.
they left soot all over the place.
when they get blown out, they smoke for a LONG time!

break

we had an eventful christmas break.

christmas day, the gas heat stopped working. thankfully, the house has both gas and electric heat, so we just turned on the electric heat, and went on with our day. it started working the next day, and on thursday, stopped again. i called and let the landlord know. she had someone come the next day and fix it.

the day the heating guy showed up to fix the heater, the power went out. he checked what he could without the use of power, and came back after it turned back on.

our new years eve was fairly uneventful. i ran a few errands early in the day. got some things for our "party." we came home and ate dinner, and then started to get things ready for a lazy night at home, as a family, as i did not really feel like going anywhere. around 8 or 8:30, the power went out. GAH! since we had no ideas when it would be back on, we pulled out the hide-a-bed, had the kids put their pajamas on over top their regular clothes, and tried to take it easy. we pulled the hurricane lamp into the front room so that we had some light in there. i lit some emergency candles in the kitchen. (more about those later) elizabeth fell asleep early, no surprise there, she's always the first one asleep. the power came back on around 9:30. i put a movie in for taylor and shannon, put ashley down in her bed, and washed the dishes. shannon didn't make it more than a half hour into the movie. by then, the movie was over, and taylor was ready to go to sleep. we let the kids sleep in the hide-a-bed. they enjoyed it.

shaun was the only one who made it into the new year awake. after the kids went to sleep, so did i. i loved having the kids home for the break, but i was always exhausted.