WooHoo! Winning over whining!

Happy Monday!!!
(What?  This isn't your favorite day?)
I'll admit, I was dreading this one.  My in-laws were here for the weekend.  (That isn't dreadful; they're wonderful people).  But the kids stay up later when they're here.  Our guests had to get up and leave even earlier than I normally wake the kids for school. I wanted to be up to have coffee and tell them goodbye, before waking the kids.  But I don't do early, well!

While I was trying to get a few last winks in before I had to get up, the dog heard our guests getting ready and began BARKING.  So I rose to quiet her, started with the coffee, and have been going ever since.  The youngest child (the only one who does not have to be anywhere, today) was the first child to wake, of course.  So I was thinking we would both shoot for a nice NAP today.  But by now I've had far too much coffee to ever actually sleep, anytime soon, so I'm typing, cleaning up, chasing the dog, forgetting what I was typing, reading blogs and then standing in my kitchen trying to remember what I was doing.  I'm moving, I feel busy but I haven't accomplished much.  I look much like this:

So I stopped, tried to stand still and check in here.  I read the comments for my last entry.  I had not yet made to Joshilyn Jackson's blog this morning but Tracy had!  I was so excited to see her comment (thank you, Tracy!) and hopped right on over to FTK.  There is my name, right there on her blog!  You can go see it--under "Winners and a whiner!"  (I often fall into the latter category but today I fit in both!) Thank you to you all! (If it weren't for my readers here, I'd have no reason to link to her.)  I can't wait to read American Rose!  (OK, one more thing to "fit in" but it'll be worth it.  Look for a review here, soon!)

Spending what I don't have

I have not been shopping, just spending far more time than I can afford on silly wanderings around the internet.  It is time to get back to writing and reading.  (I am finally reading The Book Thief, at the moment.  You should be, too, if you have not yet done so!)  I heard (read) about The Book Thief over on Joshilyn Jackson's blog, put it on my Christmas list and am finally getting around to reading it!

I am already taking a break from the things that I should be doing, however, to tell you about another great book that I have not yet read.  Another book that I have found via Joshilyn Jackson's blog, as a matter of fact.  I want to read it.  You will want to read it.  So I am telling you about it for two reasons:

1.  Pure selfishness.  I want to read this book.  Joshilyn Jackson is picking four lucky winners to receive a free copy of American Rose. If I post the link here, and then comment over there, I am eligible for the drawing. 
2.  You will want to read this book. Go on over to Joshilyn's page and leave a comment yourself.  Maybe you will win!  (And maybe you will loan me the book, when you're done.) ;)

Are you ready kids?

Every once in a while, I have an opportunity to use this blog to issue a public service announcement.

Be careful. 

Karma is usually fairly reliable at making things right in the world.  Sometimes Karma is quick-acting and sometimes it takes years, but what goes around comes around.  Occasionally, incidents slip through the cracks and sometimes, Karma lets us off with a warning.  But Karma did not want you to know that!  (Not realizing how important this secret was, I let it slip on facebook, Tuesday). I told the world that Karma was Kind, and let me off with a warning.  Wednesday, I received my reprimand.

Tuesday morning, I said--out loud and in front of the kids--that "we shouldn't all have to drive 20mph on a road that had been plowed."  Stupid.  I never should have said it.  But it was too late, the kids heard and began to chime in with their two cents:  "Yeah!  We lived in Alaska, move people!  Mom, honk your horn!"  I did tell them that was enough and I did not honk my horn but the words were out there, floating around in the universe.
Tuesday afternoon, going faster than 20mph under an overpass (also stupid) I had just enough time to swerve to miss the car in front of me that had just spun entirely around and was now facing me. 
Karma was kind.  By all rights, I should have hit that car.  I am very lucky and grateful but posted on facebook that Karma was Kind and gave me a warning.

Wednesday morning, I was trying to help!  A friend that volunteers at the school library with me was trying to rescue a book that had fallen inside the book bin.  The heavy book bin has a platform/floor that is supported by springs.  (The more books you put in, the more it lowers to allow them to fit.) There is enough space around this "floor" however, for books to occasionally slip through the gap.  The only way to get the books out is to tip the thing all the way over, let the platform fall all the way down and then reach in.  It is heavy.  I told her to wait and I would help.  We found a few books, a sticker, a pencil and a candy wrapper.  She asked if I was ready to help her stand it back up and I reminded her that the platform slams down quickly.  You have to be careful where you put your fingers or it will hurt!  We started lifting it back up, I reminded her again to watch her right hand.  We set it back up and the thing slammed down. It still smashed my finger.

Karma did not like me telling everyone that she has a soft spot.

That was yesterday.  I'm starting to think about getting an x-ray.  In the meantime, my typing style is a bit altered.  I keep thinking of a Spongebob episode* my kids love--Patrick tells Spongebob to lift his pinky when he lifts his teacup to drink.  "It's fancy."  I, of course, am not drinking tea and should not be typing.  Too stubborn to avoid the keyboard , I am trying to type with 9 fingers, holding my left index finger aloft. It's fancy.



*The episode is "Tea at the Treedome" and can be found, somewhere, online if you would like to view it.  I just spent twenty minutes (Yes.  20.  Minutes) trying to find the perfect link for you, all to no avail.  I found the name of the episode, so, there you go. This is the kind of thing I end up doing when I should be getting something, anything done!

Oh, it makes me wonder...

You just never know what is going to come out of a child's mouth.  Especially when that child is three years old.  And you know, sometimes words have two meanings.

"Mom, I used to be a star!"

I smiled.  (Usually people much older than three are the ones making that claim!)  "Really?"

"Yep.  I used to be a star.  But now I'm in a kid."

Oh! 

What ever happened to predictability? The milk man, the paper boy, evening tv?

Before I had children, I made silly, blanket statements.  I said judgemental things like, "I won't let my children watch mind-numbing television.  They will never play a video game with any amount of violence."  Before children, I could not understand how any reasonable person could put their child on a leash, like a pet.

I have three human children, now. The only claim above that I have stuck to is that I do not own a "child leash."  (Clearly, if I was going to "cave" on one, that should have been the winner!)
Before we brought our current dog into our home, we vowed not to give her any "people food" of any kind.

Today, Gracie is one year old.

Our dog has tried most forms of "people food" by now and though we do not give her chocolate, I made her a cake.  A meatloaf cake.  With cheese "icing."  WHY?

Because my children have seen FAR too many old episodes of "Full House," including one with Comet's birthday.  (You will be shocked to learn that their dog was served a meatloaf cake frosted with cheese "icing.")  And because I ask all of my children what what type of cake they would like for each and every birthday but the dog cannot speak for herself--all three children agreed, unanimously, that Gracie wanted a meatloaf cake with cheese icing.

I do not eat meat.  The idea AND sight of ground meat disgusts me.  But I cook meat for my family, occasionally.  Today--I put my hands in a bowl of ground turkey, raw egg and a few other delicious ingredients--and made a meatloaf cake.  For our DOG.