Happy Birthday Hubby!

War and death, loss and despair - people dying everywhere, BUT! Happy Birthday! Happy Birthday!

Now that you're the age you are, your demise cannot be far. BUT! Happy Birthday! Happy Birthday!

We like children, yes we do, boiled or baked or in a stew. BUT!  Happy Birthday! Happy Birthday!

At your age most folks go blind; you've kept your sight but lost your mind. BUT! Happy Birthday! Happy Birthday!

May the candles on your cake burn like cities in your wake. BUT! Happy Birthday! Happy Birthday!

Hear the women wail and weep; kill them all but save the SHEEP! BUT! Happy Birthday! Happy Birthday!

There are many many more verses but I will leave it at that to try to keep it vaguely PG 13 LOL.

Happy Birthday, honey! I am so glad you were born and then decided to grow up into such a great man! Turning 38 just means you are getting distinguished. Not old. Really! Love you!!

Castles in the Sky

I am building castles in the sky today. Castles full of hopes and dreams and plans. Plans to get out of debt.Plans to be able to pay my bills without having to be a master of juggling. Plans to be able to hire a babysitter every now and then and have date night with my husband. Plans to be able to see my husband more and spend time as a family when he is not exhausted.

Steven had his first interview at a different restaurant yesterday. I won't share the name at this time but will say that it is a national chain. They have pretty much guaranteed him the position. Now he has to meet with the General Manager to discuss money. Then it is time for a decision. He says that he has been making his decisions in the past based upon what is best for him. But now he is making decisions based upon what is right for the family. Way to grow up! I just hope that this position will make him at least semi-happy while making us financially stable. I have always told him I did not care where he worked as long as he was happy and the bills were paid. But things have been pretty tight lately. I will be happy to be a little better financially. AND have more time with my husband! I have almost felt like I was married to a stranger for the past year or so. Time to get back to the basics.

So now, let's all cross our fingers that my castle in the sky is not blown away by the winds of reality.

Miscellany

I got a fairy name! Thanks to Claudia for leading me to the link.... check out the sidebar to see what my name is and go get your own! What fun.... I am so easily amused sometimes.

I had a long conversation with my husband last night. Yes! He spoke! I know, it is amazing. But, it was great. He shared his thoughts and feelings on the work situation with me and we discussed what to do now. Some decisions are made and some are in progress. We both agree that this cannot go on. I am just happy he is actually talking to me about it. I hate it when he gets all quiet and won't discuss things with me. I know it is part of who he is.... but still.

I am feeling a whole bunchy bunch better than I have for most of the past week. Even though I am tired and my boys are driving me crazy. I am connected to my husband once more and that makes me feel less alone and more alive. (Sex doesn't hurt, either. I'm just sayin'.)

I had a whole post planned where I bitched about pharmacies and stupidity. And I have decided to forgo that post for today. I think I have complained enough for this week. I need to chill out.

I think I need to cook a damn good meal tonight, have a couple of drinks, take a long hot bubble bath and molest my husband. I'm sure he won't complain too much.

Hey! Anyone who is actually reading this.... I would love some suggestions on new books to read. I read many of the suggestions people have given me in the past. But I am now out of books. I am rereading one of my faves right now. But, I want something thought provoking and fabulous that will make me want to read it again and again. Claudia, I did read Necklace of Kisses and your other suggestions. Now, they have been loaned out to my MIL! So, I need new books!

Stress, Worry, Anxiety

I took The Baby in for his 15 month checkup today. It went well. He is too too funny! He has an ear way issue and when we have to go to the doctors he generally has to have the wax dug out of his ears. Or flushed out. So, today, when he saw the doctor come in the room he grabbed ahold of both of his ears and cried. Sad but funny! The doctor thought so too.



He is growing fine and his development is right where it should be. No problems.



But, since I was there, I decided to talk to doc about The Boys sleep issues and his aggression/ violence. The Boy has an appointment in mid-July in Jackson at the Child Development Clinic for some testing. The doctor wants me to discuss his sleep issues and possible supplements or medications with them at that appointment as he is not comfortable/ does not have as much experience with these issues. So. More waiting. As far as the violence.... he has referred us to a Family Counselor. The Boys first appointment is July 15. They are supposed to, basically, discuss with us different options for discipline and how to help The Boy channel his aggression and anger, etc. blah blah... I have no idea. Wait and see.....



So. Two major appointments coming up in July. Both having to do with psychological issues. sigh..... more stress and worry for me. I hate having my boy have issues and problems. And then, too, I worry that I am overreacting. Maybe this is just normal two - three year old behavior and I am just not used to it anymore. I don't think so. But it could be. Anyway.... I will keep all updated as I find anything out.



Update on the pay issue..... Steven says that his boss says that he did not work so he is not getting paid.



Yes. I am angry. Steven said he just had to leave before he did something he might regret. We had a talk. Ha. I talked. I told Steven that if he is not going to quit then he needed to request that he be put back on hourly wages. He has been basically giving this man $150 a week for the past year. Because of all of the extra hours he has worked. And if the man is going to screw him then he needs to go back to hourly. He will either work 40 hours and have a fixed schedule (opening up the possibility of a 2nd job or of me working on off days) OR he will get overtime and be better off money wise.



All I know is that he had better keep me away from his boss. I do NOT need to see him right now.



On top of the loss of $350 of pay, we also found out that our Water bill for this past month is about triple what it normally is. Because we had a toilet that was running constantly. We told the landlord about this on May 29th. He did not fix it until June 17th. They read our meter on the 20th (I think). So, the damn thing was running for, basically, 20 days after we told him about it. I am going to have to talk to him. I cannot afford to be paying a $200 water bill. AND, our stupid electric bill is crazy right now with the heat and having to run the AC.



Sorry. Stressing out.



I HATE being this stressed about money and bills. It affects my ability to enjoy my children. And it affects my ability to enjoy just about anything!

Gack.

Send positive thoughts my way. I need them!

The Thursday of Boredom

Ok. First off, I MUST do my menu or I will kick myself later. I already have everything I need for this weeks menu so no more shopping needed. Thank god.

Thursday - Hamburger Gravy and Rice
Friday - Chicken Stew in the Crockpot and Angel Biscuits
Saturday - Leftovers
Sunday - Meat loaf, mashed potatoes and corn with homemade bread
Monday - Hot dogs, Brats and fries with green beans
Tuesday - Chicken Fajitas
Wednesday - Leftovers or Pasta

There. Done. LOL

I am feeling much better today, my back is hurting no worse than it normally does, lol. My children made me insane yesterday. I seriously thought about trying to sell them to the circus. But I think once anyone saw the way they were acting they would refuse to take them. Well. The two youngest anyway. I rarely have problems with my oldest. She is a good girl. Just lazy and lacking in common sense. But that is a typical teenage malady. I remember being the same way myself.

Today I am still trying to get my laundry folded. And I plan to go through the rest of my cabinets to organize and inventory. If it happens, great. Probably, I will not have time. The boys canNOT stand to have me in the cabinets without trying to be in them as well. I may just wait until tonight to do it. After they are in bed. That's when i get the majority of my housework done, anyway!

On a completely different note, I totally want this shirt from Mominatrix. I think it would be fab to wear to play dates. LOL. Because, you know, bondage is the new black. LOL If you have never checked out Mominatrix, you should. She has some great articles on how being a parent affects your sex life. And sex as a mom is definitely different! This article, in particular, is a great one for moms to read.

No planting happened yesterday. My husband irritates me immensly at times. He just sits around when I need him to do things. I asked him when he wanted to go get the soil we need and he answered, "whenever". Sometimes, I just want an answer. I don't want to always be the one making decisions and choosing what to do, when to do it and how to do it. I would love it if he gave me input! That's why I ask! If I didn't want his ideas I would just do what I want ALL of the time. Not just most of the time. LOL

Anyway, not much going on right now. I will try to post again later, but who knows.

Back in the Saddle Again!

Well, figuratively speaking anyway! My Mom and MIL are back home safe and sound. I miss both of them and not just because my mom folded all of my clean clothes and my MIL changed dirty diapers! LOL The house seems kinda empty without them....

So, I have pictures! Of the visit and Easter and birthday cake eating and miscellaneous stuff..... so sit back, grab a drink and prepare for a long update....

Ready?

Here goes....

My Mom... and I wonder where my daughter gets it from? LOL

My MIL playing with The Boy. He pretty much monopolizes her the entire time she is here visiting. Because she loves to play with him!

The Baby in bunny ears...

The Boy in search of the elusive eggs of yumminess....

The Girl hunting the eggs we hid so well that they may never be found again....

Now, here is The Baby right after he (with help) blew out the candles on his cake. I was focused on the fact that he was digging right into the cake! Whole hand fulls of icing were heading into his mouth. I missed the fact that The Boy was using a toothpick to gouge out an entire chunk of cake from the side. He ate a bit of the icing and cake before I noticed. It was pretty funny. You can see him working away at it on the right hand side of this pic.

Now, here is The Baby with his slice of cake to devour. He looks pretty happy with the prospect, huh?

And here he is AFTER the devouring has been completed. What a sticky boy! LOL It was ice cream cake so he REALLY loved it! But, every time he took a bite he shivered! It was very very funny to see.

And here he is as we try to wash away the evidence of his war on cake. Can you see why his smile makes me melt?

And one last pic of the birthday boy. Here is his take on the whole turning one thing. He had to go to the doctors for his one year checkup. He got 3 shots, blood drawn, a pee bag taped to his private area to collect urine for testing, an eye test, AND he had to have his ears flushed because he has lots of ear wax buildup. He was not happy!

And in other news...... I have finally completed one of my organizational goals! I have gotten all of my tupperware organized and out of reach of the children. It took a while to figure out what would work the best. But, here it

is! The actual shelves and shelving units/ drawers are behind the door. When you open the door, you can't see the tupperware! Out of site, out of mind as far as the kids are concerned. The drawers will be used for overflow of meds, vitamins and toiletries. Since I have been getting so much from CVS I have to have somewhere to keep it until I need it. I MAY end up trying to fit in a 3rd shelf there by tightening up the space. We'll see. This area is actually part of the room that I will be using for sewing. It has this storage area, our stand up freezer, a 2nd refrigerator, a corner full of music stuff (guitars, amps, speaker cabinets) and one whole half of the room is MINE. For my sewing tables, craft supplies and anything else I want to put there. Now if I can ever get THAT organized it will be a miracle!

And, here is a picture of DH hard at work. He has been down at his boss' OTHER restaurant for the past several weeks, trying to straighten out a mess there. Both the kitchen manager and the front of the house manager walked out in one weekend with no notice. And then they had 8 other employees quit. (All friends of the managers') So, DH has been working his behind off trying to get things in order down there. It is a gourmet pizzeria.

I'm talking fire cooked, brick oven pizza with things like duck and gorgonzola cheese. My favorite one has a white sauce and roasted garlic and cheese. Very yummy. ANYWAY. He will be down there until he gets a new manager trained. Maybe 2 more weeks. He hired a guy the other day who seems to be working out and has the experience they need for a management position. DH cannot wait to get back to his own restaurant and do some real cooking. To him, pizza is great but it isn't real cooking.

So, there you have it. I have three memes I will be posting soon. I have them done but did not want to overwhelm everyone with an update and memes all in one day! LOL

Kitchen Possible

After reading Asthma Girl's post about Kitchen Impossible and what she would take with her to do a mission, I decided to show y'all what a professional chef takes with him to make HIS Mission Possible!

This is my husband. He is a professional chef and has been for more than 20 years. This pic is of him at work the other night, showing off one of his dishes. I have no idea what it is! But, I love him in the black chef coat and hat. Much nicer than white.

Here is his knife bag. He used to have a smaller one and just carried a backpack for anything that did not fit in with his knives. He recently got this one. It makes me laugh. It is huge!

Here is the first pocket. He keeps spare pens and markers, his rolling pin, parts to his slicer (wrapped in a towel to keep anyone from cutting themselves) and things like his ID and his Food Handlers certification in this pocket.

This next pocket he keeps non-knife tools in. Things, as you can see, like his peeler and tongs, thermometer, pastry brush, lighter, etc.

This is the big money pocket. His knives are in here. Also, things that won't fit in the other pockets. Like the rest of the parts for his slicer/ mandolin thingy. You can see I pulled one of the knives out to show what kind he uses. I have no idea what they are. I know he wants to buy a new set that cost about $500. I told him he had to wait! It was laptop or knives right now.

He also takes his laptop with him which is loaded with a crap load of recipe programs and research. He does specials almost every day. Appetizer, soup, salad, entree, dessert. And he is trying to keep track of his new recipes as he makes them up. He has plans to write a cookbook one of these days. And he is also in the process of starting his new blog.

The blog is called Metaphysics and Alchemy. It will be his blog about his adventures in cooking and his experiments in molecular gastronomy. He and his friend Hank have gotten several of the new chemicals that are showing up in kitchens and are planning to experiment and make up new recipes for the restaurant. It should be interesting, if slightly confusing to a neophyte cook like myself! I will be linking to the site once it is up and running.

Here is a pic of Steven (DH) with Hank at the restaurant.

Hank and Steven are hilarious. They might as well be married they way they bicker with each other!

Anyway! That is my DH and what makes his Dinner Possible in a professional kitchen. I once asked him why he had to take all of this in with him. He said he didn't. But, if he wants to be able to find a measuring spoon or peeler when he wants one, it is easier just to bring his own. So... there you go! A little more is known about the Faerie Dad!

9 out of 10 blog readers agree that catchy, fun blog titles are for wusses

ha.

I am alive. I am bitchy and feel yucky but I am alive. The Baby still has not cut his teeth. The Boy is determined to make me insane throught he use of crumbs and licking. The Girl is full of b-day plans and making me feel old old old. DH is working too much at work and not enough at home.

I am just depressed. I can't lose weight. I have no motivation or energy. I feel old. I feel totally un-sexy. And I am tired.

But my house is partially clean. And I have clean clothes. Even if they are not folded and are just in a pile in the livingroom justr waiting for The Boy to decide that he needs to take a running jump while naked and decide to pee ont hem and then they will not be clean anymore. phew.

I will return tomorrow in a (hopefully) better mood with (hopefully) amusing anecdotes to share regarding bday plans and potty training.

First of all, Infinity Goods has contacted me and will be getting her set of fabulous jewelry sometime this week. Hopefully, she will let us know what she thinks of it!

Now, on to the meat of the post... duh duh duh.. LOL. The stupid mouse in my house has stolen another glue trap. Kara suggested on my last post regarding the thieving mouse that I use poison but I am too too paranoid about the boys getting into it. Even if I put it in an out of the way place I am scared that the mouse will drag the poison out where the boys can get it. And both of them still stick stuff in their mouths. So... no poison. The glue traps are obviously NOT WORKING. And I don't think regular spring traps are a good idea, either. The boy gets up in the middle of the night and wanders sometimes. I would hate for him to get ahold of one. And the spot where I am seeing the silly mouse is right in the middle of my liviing room. It is by my fireplace. And so, I would nbeed to put the traps near there. So, no. I am running out of ideas. I might just have to call a professional in.

The weird thing is that I have seen no signs of the mice in my kitchen. No droppings. No chewed up food wrappers. I have a bunch of those ultrasonic pest things plugged in around the kitchen area so maybe that is helping. And we did not see the mice until winter. Maybe they will go away when it gets warm? Yuck.

On a brighter note, the baby has almost cut through his top teeth. He has been teething on these things for MONTHS. And making my life hell. He actually has six teeth up top that he is working on. But only two look like they are cutting through soon. I am hoping for tomorrow!

He has also decided to not nurse during the day any more. At all. Unless he is going to bed. He turns his head away from my nipple and cries. Kinda hurts my feelings. I think he is ready to wean. (Obviously) Maybe I can just keep the bedtime nursing for a bit. He does still want that. My baby is growing up! sniff sniff

The girl will be turning 14 in 2 weeks. That really makes me feel old.

Darling Hubby has injured himself. He has a WOUND on his foot! Yuck. So, I get to play doctor in a not so pleasant way with him. LOL

I had a yard sale yesterday. And made $200. Yay, me! I still have lots of junk to get rid of though. Now I have to decide whether I should hold onto it for a month and have another sale or just get rid of it (freecycle, etc). I do still have 2 rooms to sort through as I am continuing the unending chore of trying to organize my house. So I will probably end up with much more for the sale. If I decide to have another one. I probably will. If I could get DH to part with some of his carefully hoarded junk it would be nice.... The Girl finally decided to jump on the bandwagon and went through much of her stuff. I am so tired of being surrounded by things that we do not need or ever use. It is ridiculous! Clutter, clutter, clutter!

And, the spell check is not working on this thing. So, please forgive any misspellings. I think I at least spelled tomorrow right anyway!

Name that blog!

My darling husband is about to get on the blog bandwagon! Yay honey! He is a professional chef and has been for about 21 years. He plans on writing a cooking blog. Not sure of the details yet but he will hopefully get started soon. His excuse now is that he doesn't have a name!

So...... lets get the brains in gear! Those of you who know Steven know that he has an odd sense of humor, loves music and sci-fi, and loves him some gourmet food. Lets come up with some options for names and get him blogging!

UPDATE** Steven is planning on putting up ideas for easy gourmet meals, candy making, breads, and anything he thinks of. He has a very ecclectic mind. He will also be posting helpful hints for cooking without sugar and for low fat and cholesterol cooking. WHo knows what will show up! I am hoping he will be getting started soon! Help us name it so I can get him all set up!

I will be posting later today or maybe tomorrow about the great, walking 10 mos old, the giveaway addiction that I suffer from and the mouseketeer that would not die....

Anniversary

So my husband and I will be celebrating our first wedding anniversary on Halloween this year. Yes, we got married on Halloween. It was a blast! But I wanted to take this opportunity (before I talk trash) to say how much I love my DH. He is a great man, a wonderful husband and a fabulous father. So now, let the bashing begin! LOL.