Chaotic??

I feel like my life has suddenly screeched to a halt. Seriously. With a baby in the house all day I suddenly feel like life has slowed tremendously. Maybe that is why I had five kids. With each one comes a sense of calm. At least until they start crawling, walking, talking, and the inevitable pms of a preteen.

In that, I would be referring to Becca. Everyday after school she comes home with this "You suck I rule and I hate the world" attitude. It is pressing my parenting skills to the max. I am not sure how to respond to things like, "no one ever helps me do anything!" or "why do I have to do everything around here?!" Any response I give just illicits a new whine like, "you don't love me!" or "what did I ever do to deserve this!" And she just turned 10 for heavens sake!

I did get an awesome compliment since starting this babysitting gig. The gal I babysit for works in the schools around here. She comes into contact with a lot of my kids teachers and former teachers. Several of them have commented about how lucky she is to have me as her babysitter and what a great find I am. At least I know I am making a good impression. And, I may be biased, but I truly believe my kids are very well behaved (most of the time) and are great kids due in part to our parenting. Yea for us!

Billy didn't finish applying for the pixar job. No surprise to me but I am very disappointed he didn't even think he would have a shot at it. Maybe the next time they have an opening. :(

The shower is installed and almost ready. I cleaned up the bathroom mess my hubby made in the construction process and now I have to caulk every crack, seam, and other orifice. Then we wait 24 hours and it will be fully functional. Next on our list is a sink and vanity for this bathroom and it will be finito! It only took us a year. LOL

I am still reading your blogs everyday but I usually don't get in here until after the kids are in bed so my comments are somewhat sporadic. So even if I don't leave your blog with a piece of me, know that I am reading and enjoying your every word. And LORI, thanks so much for the card. I received it today. I haven't forgotten about your blog. I have a small technical glitch I haven't been able to overcome but I will hopefully get to it this weekend.

I am off to get my blog fix....

Monday

Friday at the dentist went great. Mr. Bill did awesome and loves his new toothbrush. Becca has two cavities so we have to schedule an appointment for her to get those filled asap. She seems to have gotten my teeth. Poor girl!

After we finished at the dentist we took the kids to Toys R Us and while browsing the toys Cassie threw up all over the floor. Apparently her tummy had been hurting all morning. We decided to do lunch at the park (it was 53F in JANUARY!) so that if she threw up again it would be outside. About an hour later she was eating candy, running around and giggling. At least it is not the flu.

We worked on getting our new shower installed the remainder of the weekend. Whoever wrote the directions for this thing should have his head examined. We have had to redo each step about 6 times before we finally figure out what the little pictures represent. We are almost done with it except we ran out of adhesive (the menards guy said three tubes, upon later review we discovered the directions said 6) so we are going to pick some up today and then finish it hopefully tonight. I will post pics soon.

I finished our taxes on Saturday too. Gotta love tax time....at least when you are due money eh?

Gotta run!

Moooooo!

Says our local radio dj this morning...

"It is as dark as the inside of a cow this morning..."

Do I even want to know how he knows this????

I didn't think so.

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My butt, it is sore. And no I haven't taken up exercising (yet, my treadmill is on layaway). The girls signed up for a basketball buddy activity at school. They get to go to one home game and cheer on the team. Tonight was Becca's turn. I sat through 4 hours of girls basketball on a slab of wood someone invented as a seat. My butt was numb by the third game. Is this what I have to look forward to as the kids get older and more active?

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Off to the dentist tomorrow. A day of fun, rest, and relaxation....at least for those of us without cavities. :)

I didn't believe you then either!

Stop telling your kids (especially the full grown ones) they are going to get sick if they go outside without their coat zipped.

Changes in weather and how you dress for it DOES NOT have any effect on your health. I know this and I have PROOF!

So next time tell your kid to zip their coat tell them because it is cold outside, darn it, not because they will catch pneumonia!

Glub, Glub

Where to begin? For the last two days I have been drowing in baby drool, spit up and the dreaded yellow breastfed-baby poo! But I am having so much fun! Today I played with her on the floor after we changed an explosive diaper and found her tickle spot under her chin. She giggled and giggled until she got the hiccups. Then she spit up. LOL Such fun!

I have begun reading Dr. Phil's Self Matters book and I cannot tell you how much I love this man. He so gets people and our lives. I am only a couple of chapters in and already my outlook is changing. The real work begins in the next few chapters and I am excited to see where I can take this. If you haven't done this book (because "reading" it will get you nothing) I highly recommend it.

Billy found a job opening at Pixar (soon to be Disney I understand) yesterday and I encouraged (okay ordered) him to apply. He absolutely meets all the requirements and it is his dream job. He pretty much said no way but started doing his demo reel after I told him I was filling out the online portion of the application. Then he called a friend to ask if he could use him as a reference and in no sugar-coated words told him he was doing this because his wife told...ummm....he was HUMORING his wife. This happens a lot in our marriage because basically my husband is spineless when it comes to telling people no. He uses me as a scapegoat. Last night that really hurt because this is his dream and I wanted for him what he has always wanted but I guess that wasn't enough. And I am tired of his friends all thinking I am an old nagging hag for a wife. He is on his own now, I am not saying a thing.

Friday we are off to the dentist with all five kids. This will be Mr. Bill's first visit. I know he will be fine as this is a great pediatric dentist but that overprotective mom voice in my head keeps talking to me.

Off to finish this weeks laundry (only two loads to go),
Jodi

Life as I know it...

Tomorrow I start babysitting EVERYDAY FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE!

Okay, I am exaggerating but over the weekend I realized I have gotten a JOB! That is right, a J.O.B.

What was I thinking?! ;)

Overly Sensitive

Mr. Bill has his own personality. There is no doubt about it. Since he was 6 months old, I was not allowed to change his diaper anywhere where someone might see him naked. Not that he could actually say, "Mom, not here!" but he would cry and hold his pants up no matter how much I tried to take them off. I caught on after the third or fourth go-round. Then I would change him in my room, alone, and he was perfectly fine with it.

At about 9 months he got a cut on his palm and would show everyone when someone would talk to him. It became his scapegoat for anytime he felt uncomfortable. He would just stare at his palm and not speak. I am sure people thought he was autistic or something.

Then he started getting embarrased at little things like us watching him dancing and he was only a year old.

And now he pokes us in the nose to "change the subject" if he is feeling embarrased.

In the last few months he has suddenly started hating bathtime. He tells me, "I like naps. I don't like baths!" Does that give you any indication of what I am dealing with. A three year old who would rather nap than bathe? I finally figured out yesterday that he doesn't want me watching him get naked.

Tagged by Rebekah...

4 Jobs You Have Had in Your Life
1. Waitress (various places)
2. Cook @ a sub shop/grill
3. Babysitter
4. Taco Bell Manager
4 Movies You Would Watch Over and Over
Since I am NOT a movie person, there really aren't any I like to watch over and over. But I do like
1. Grease
2. Mary Poppins
3. Dirty Dancing
4. The Chronicles of Narnia
4 Places You Have Lived
1. Anchorage, Alaska
2. Kekaha, Hawaii
3. Fort Collins, Colorado
4. Chico, California
4 TV Shows You Love to Watch
1. CSI- all of them
2. That 70's show
3. Designed to Sell
4. Property Ladder
4 Places You Have Been on Vacation
1. Minneapolis, MN
2. Hot Springs, SD
That is about it. We travel to see family in Hot Springs once a year so that is our vacation. Not very adventurous are we? ;)
4 Websites You Visit Daily
1. Here obviously
2. All the blogs in my list
3. My email
4. My bank accounts
4 Favorite Foods
1. Chocolate
2. Dr. Pepper
3. Anything I don't have to cook
4. Berries~ blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, strawberries, etc.
4 Places You Would Rather Be Right Now
1. Anywhere warm with sunshine
2. Sleeping in my nice warm bed
3. Visiting with my family
4. At the library, reading a good book
4 People You Tag to complete this
1.Tee
2. Perri
3. Jodi (the other one!) :)
4. Chris

Bite Me!

I have the bug, the one that made me do this last year.... That is right, the remodeling bug has bit me and bit me hard! I sit in my living room and stare at my ugly stained carpet and fight the urge to get up and rip it out! I sit at the dining room table and stare at the same carpet that some idiotic person put in the dining room and bite my lip to keep me from getting up and start pulling at the corner of the carpet. The kitchen floor has been void of carpet now for a few years but it has old wood flooring that in some places is in need of repair and I just want to grab the prybar and RIP IT OUT!

It is not just the flooring that is in jeopardy either... There are walls that need ripped out, paint that needs put on walls, plaster that needs to come down, tile that needs to go in....

Oh the possibilities! Where do I start?

Someone duct tape me to the wall so I can't touch anything!

The Sun, The Moooooon, The Stars

This is really Monday isn't it? I get so confused when my kids have school off.

Yesterday, after an entire weekend glued to the computers, I told the girls there would be no computer time at ALL! They only squawked a little and then found something else to do. They were listening to music on their mp3 players and then decided to put on a play and record the sound with their mp3 players. Then they wanted to take some video footage with my old digital camera. Only it would not cooperate. So in my wisdom, I dug our video camera out of the closet and started searching for a blank tape. I couldn't find a single one. While I was viewing the tapes to find a blank one, all five kids managed to get stuck in front of the t.v. since most of it was baby footage of them.

After watching the first tape, 2 hours long...., we stuck in the next one. At some point we loaned our video camera to our neighbors so they could record a speaker at their church. In the middle of this second tape they break in with a "test run" of the camera. The wife was holding the camera and trying to figure out how everything worked. And then the husband, who was the subject of the "test run" MOONED THE CAMERA! And I saw it all! BLAH, GAG, EWWWWWWWWW! I will never be able to talk to him again without thinking of this incident or containing my laughter.

Wouldn't you have made darn sure you erased the whole thing if you were going to do something like that?! Why would you even do that!? On someone else's tape???????

Excuse me while I go scrub my eyes with bleach, they still feel dirty!

Du Du Du...... (Think Horror Movie Music)

This morning Becca announced that it is Friday the 13th.

I thought nothing of it.

I went to Walmart today to get groceries. While in the dairy aisle I pick up a large pack of yogurt. Mr. Bill says, "I want peach!" So I set that pack down and reach for the one next to it that includes peach. In the process I knock over two individual containers of yogurt. One hit the floor and SPLAT! yogurt everywhere. I picked up the container and dropped it in the conveniently placed garbage can right next to the yogurt selections.

I make it home in one piece and get all the groceries safely put away.

I made some juice because after all the work of carrying the groceries in I was thirsty. I used the sprayer at our sink to fill the pitcher because the sink was full of dirty dishes. After that I cleaned out the litterbox and vacuumed up the runaway litter. Then I went to wash my hands.

I turned on the water and suddenly the sprayer started spraying! My stomach, the floor, the fridge, and the wall across the kitchen were soaked before I could shut the water off. Apparently the handle had gotten stuck down and so it sprayed when the water turned on.

Shall I crawl under the covers and hide now or wait until something worse happens????

Guess what I did today?

I cuddled and loved a 3 month old smooshy baby girl. Yep, I did.

I am going to start babysitting for my neighbor who was desperately looking for a "good" person to watch her new baby when she goes back to work. She found me on the recommendation of the preschool teacher, even though I don't do daycare and had no intentions of starting.

Today I got to stare into the beautiful blue eyes of a newborn, enjoy those goofy baby grins, and watch her fall asleep in that drunken baby glee.

Ironically it didn't make me feel like I wanted another baby of my own. It did quite the opposite. I was so glad to know I wasn't going to have to be the one to get up with her at night, be her on demand breakfast, lunch, and snack machine, be the one to endure the visits to the doctor when she gets her shots, or any of the other painful baby moments.

Nope, I get to love her, cuddle her, and give her kisses and then she goes home. Babies are so luscious!

Calling all visitors...

I am jumping on the blog bandwagon....

So all of you who are out there and visit but don't let your presence be know, would you please leave me a little comment now? You don't even have to use your real name....

Love and Hate

I have decided it is time....


TIME TO ACCEPT MYSELF!


I have always been fairly comfortable with who I am, what I do, what I eat, etc. In the last few years (specifically after Mr. Bill arrived) I got on an "improve Jodi" kick. I started exercising everyday, I watch what I eat, I try to be a better person all around.

And what I have discovered is I like me the way I am. I like my personality, I like my attitude, I like all of me. I am going to continue to find ways to exercise because I feel better when I do, both emotionally and physically, but I am going to stop sweating what I eat. This has become the biggest downer and emotional drain in my life. I have found myself doing that negative self-talk if I pick up a cookie. That is not who I want to become. I like my happy and optimistic self. So as of today, I will let myself eat with the usual restraint and not sweat it if I have a cookie or two or three. I am an active person, I am not gaining weight, nor am I losing anymore. I am happy with who I am.

I will learn to love every single stretch mark, every fat cell, every saggy skin section. Because they are me, parts of my life when I was with child and puking my guts out. But hey! It was fun and I don't ever want to forget those precious parts of my life.

I am Jodi and I like me!

Cat Wrangler

The cats are taking over my house. We managed to get rid of 5 of the baby cats but I still have one poor, lonely and lovey kitty left:

And his big brother who was born in April has suddenly hit puberty and has decided his mom is a prime target. Why didn't God explain incest to animals? On the other hand, this may be a new hit movie if it is anything like the new controversial one. Hmmmm....

So the older brother has been scheduled for "surgery" tomorrow and thus cannot eat after 5 p.m. or drink after 10 p.m. Lately I have been throwing him out the door so he cannot "get to" his mother. Today I have to keep him in though so I know where he is by tomorrow morning and so I can watch when he eats. Needless to say this is creating quite a scene here. I have to constantly keep an eye on him so he stays away from his mother. I currently have him locked in a kennel and he is none too happy about it. Oy!

Do we need more chaos?

Life

Well, 4 days after setting my goals I already have 100.00 in savings. How you ask? I got a check from our insurance company to reimburse us for the pills I pay for every month. It was only 49 dollars but combine that with the 42.oo I budgeted to put in there and I am ahead of the game! Wooohoooo! Now if I can just stay on track.

Last night my dear hubby and I were folding a basket of clothes and he pulled out my red shirt (the one I am wearing in my profile pic) and smiles. I know that smile. It means his upper head just quit working and the "other one" just took over. He mentions that this is my "sex shirt". I say, "Really?" He just nods. I put my sex shirt in my drawer and went to bed. Now this morning as I am getting dressed, I am left wondering. Is this my "I want sex shirt" or is this my "you look sexy shirt"? I am betting he means the first option. Oy!

On Saturday we made a run to Menards to get some scaffolding for Billy so he can FINALLY finish the entryway we started almost a year ago now. Well okay, I started.... Anyhoo, while we were there I convinced him to get a light fixture for above the mirror in our upstairs bathroom. You see this bathroom has ONE lightbulb in it and it is on the far north side of the room. The room is dark and it is nearly impossible to be sure I got my makeup on correctly in the mirror. So we picked up a light with three globes. I must mention here that when we moved into this house it had NO modern light fixtures. The ones in the downstairs were from the 70's and the ones upstairs were original to the house (about 1910) and were merely a lightbulb hanging from the wire. We replaced all of the upstairs ones immediately and in the process my husband broke one of the glass shades to the hallway light by throwing the old screws in on top of it. We just laughed and finally replaced that fixture a month or so ago. So this weekend he is installing the new light fixture and takes one of the globes out to install it. He hands it to me and at the same time the cat jumps up on the sink to see what we are doing. Billy grabs the box with the lights in it to keep the cat from knocking it over and in the process he DROPS them both and smashes them. I immediately burst out laughing and tell him he is forever banned at touching the light globes. So today I called the company and ordered two new globes. They will be here in 2-3 weeks. So until then just ignore the two bare bulbs would ya? :)

Tagged by Tee

"The first player of this game starts with the topic five weird habits of
yourself and people who get tagged need to write an entry about their five weird
habits as well as state this rule clearly. In the end, you need to choose the
next five people to be tagged and link to their web journals."

1. I brush my teeth in the shower in the mornings. I am less likely to forget to do it before I put my foundation on this way.

2. I never watch one t.v show at a time. I am constantly flipping through when commercials come on or when a show gets to a boring part. I guess I have the attention span of a two year old.

3. I never reach around when wiping, I always reach through.

4. I only eat the corner pieces of cake or brownies because they are less gooey. The same goes for a pbj sandwich. I can't stand the mushy middle part.

5. I always sit with my legs crossed. Sometimes I find myself sleeping that way too.

Now I tag: Chris, Amanda, Cori, Alison, and Andrea

Round One

Went to Walmart today to do some shopping. Normally that means at least 100.00 will be flying out of my bank account merely as I walk in the door. Today however, with my goals posted in my photographic memory, I walked in WITH A LIST and I chanted quietly, "I will not buy anything extra! I will not buy anything extra!" My list was this: Toothbrush, Shampoo, Cascade, Bandaids, Milk. (On the way to the store I also remembered I needed new permanent markers too.)

As I entered the doors there was a sign in front of me announcing that "All seasonal items are 75% off!" I meandered over to the toothbrush aisle first, ignoring the sign, to get Mr. Bill a new toothbrush because kids under 3 have teeth and they don't just brush them they chew with them causing their toothbrush to appear as if you ran over it with the lawn mower. Next, we headed to the shampoo aisle because I needed shampoo and it was on the list. Next I picked up some Bandaids, Curious George ones, at Mr. Bill's request. An item that was also on the LIST! I then found myself near the seasonal clearance aisle so I went in, muttering to myself, "I WILL NOT BUY ANYTHING EXTRA!" After walking four aisles of toys and Christmas decorations I emerged victorious. Nothing extra had appeared in my cart. Not that it was easy but I was determined.

I made my way over to the grocery aisle and picked up my milk and Cascade (why do they keep cleaning products in the grocery section anyway? I just don't get it!) But anyhoo, I found what I needed and moved on to find permanent markers. I quickly located them and then remembered I also needed brown wrapping paper to get a couple of boxes mailed out (the reason I needed the permanent markers as well) so I grabbed a roll of that too. I then wandered around Walmart for another 30 mintues just looking at stuff. At one point I found a really cute shirt for me on clearance for 5 bucks that said "If you give me chocolate, I will be nicer" on the front. I put it in my cart and walked about 10 feet and took it out again. I ran to the checkout and rang up my items. Total 22.50!

I did it! I shopped and browsed and did not spend an extra penny more than I had too. I decided then I better head home before I push my luck. So now here I am enjoying my internet service that I already pay for while Mr. Bill naps. Yea for me!

Recuperating

It is funny how quickly one gets used to being home alone all day. Once the kids were home for vacation I went around picking up after them constantly. My house, which would stay clean for several hours at a stretch now was a disaster in less than 2 seconds, even if I just picked it up not ten minutes before. They have been back in school since Tuesday and I cannot tell you how nice it feels to clean a room and then come back an hour later and see it is STILL clean!

I have tackled my eating habits now that the holidays are over. I am actually trying to count calories to see how many I truly do eat in a day so I know what I need to change. I think it is more the types of foods I am eating rather than the amounts but we shall see. I also need to get back on the exercise wagon. My shoulder has been giving me a lot of grief over the last several months and so I stopped doing aerobics to see if that was the problem. It helped curb the intensity of the pain but it is still there most days. I am saving to buy myself a treadmill so I can get some exercise without using my arm. I would run outside but it is fairly difficult to run in 2 foot of snow.

And lastly, I have sat down and looked at our finances and decided it is time to act like adults with our money. I found a blog about a gal who did the same about a year ago and have been very inspired by her. I have made four goals for our family this year and I am adamant about sticking to them. They are:
1. 500.00 in savings by the years end
2. Contribute to Billy's 401K
3. Begin to payoff our revolving debt (i.e. credit cards) Get at least ONE paid off by years end
4. Eat out NO MORE than one time per week as a family.
I wrote these in my budget notebook and will be posting them on the wall in front of my desk. I have already made several smart decisions about spending and so far have been successful. I compare our spending habits to a compulsive overeater. I want to stop I just haven't been able to. I am determined though to pull it together and prepare ourselves for life beyond this paycheck. I hope at the end of the year I can look back and see how far we have come.

Well, I am off now to dance among the fairies......

Have you seen this???

I am soooooo signing up! And the best part? IT'S FREE!!! Some external motivation never hurt anyone. Since winter is my most unmotivating time, I figure any extra challenge is good right?

It starts January 14th! Are you in?