Queen of Rambles

I hope all you ladies out there are having as great a weekend as I am! I don’t really believe in Hallmark holidays. Mike and I are notorious about forgetting real holidays, so manufactured card holidays like Mother’s Day doesn’t quite sink into our consciousness. We prefer to celebrate our schlocky love fest every day.

But!

This weekend has been great, so I’m claiming it has been a wonderful Mother’s Day.

We got up bright and early Saturday morning with dread in our hearts. We had several house viewings lined up and I didn’t want to go. I taunt myself with MLS listings that are $50,000 above our price range because the townhouses we can afford are short, squat, dank and dark. I want a house that reflects who I am–bright and airy. Cheerful and fun. Large and inviting. I don’t want cramped quarters that squash my soul. I am not a lotto winner, so I guess I have to take what I can get, no matter how much it hurts.

We met up with the realtor and were happily surprised that the houses weren’t totally trashed. We were unhappily surprised when Erik ran into a room in a house we assumed was empty (after much knocking, doorbell ringing and shouting) and jumped on a sleeping teenager. At least she didn’t wake up.

We found one with brand new appliances, carpet and paint. The dining room was separate from the living room, which is perfect. I hate the townhouse layouts that combine the dining and living room. The kitchen is big, the basement is huge, the master bedroom is twice the size of other master bedrooms we’ve seen in townhouses. The two secondary bedrooms are tiny and there are only 2 1/2 baths in the place. Contingent on what we find out about the radon mitigation system on the side of the house, we are planning on putting in an offer. Can you believe it???? I can’t! It feels like we are moving too fast, but how can we pass up the only decent place we’ve seen thus far. There are a few things that would be a compromise, obviously, but if we did buy it we would eventually be able to update the things we don’t like. All the other places we’ve seen have things that need immediate updating and replacing. This place just has things that would annoy, but don’t need immediate action (the cabinets are ugly and I don’t like the deck). We’ll see what happens!

I came home, spent hours feverishly working on a photo book for my mom’s Mother’s Day gift because I’m such a stellar daughter that I leave things until the last minute, then prepared for a night out on the town!

I planned the Girl’s Night Out I mentioned here a few weeks ago! We executed the plan last night. Only two of the four invitees were able to attend, but it turned out to be perfect. The three of us had personalities that meshed and we had a blast. We are planning on setting up a regular meeting, so I’d say the night was a success! It’s been a long time since I’ve had that much fun with a group of women. I think this is the first time I’ve ever met one of my New Year’s Resolutions. I said I would be vivacious and make new friends, and look at me now! New friends! Of course, part of it is just circumstance since I met the right people at the right time, but part of it is me making sure I call and plan things instead of sitting home waiting for people to call me. Thank you, blogging buddies, for giving me the confidence to think people might actually like me and not run screaming when I call or e-mail them.

Today Mike was a sweet, sweet husband and steamed the carpets. He also brought home roses, so he gets double points. All I really wanted was the night out without a preschooler making demand after demand, while running away in the opposite direction. He is a sweet boy, but he’s so very determined.

I spent most of the day glued to my computer, finishing up my mom’s photo book. I’m so glad I decided to send her one now! It took at least 15 hours of work and ended up being 45 pages long. Can you imagine how huge it would have been if I waited until Christmas? At least I was smart this time and didn’t add all my photos in a giant lump. I added them in groups that made sense, so I didn’t have to scroll all over tarnation and back again to try to get it organized. I have this problem when it comes to making photo books. I can’t just throw them in the book. They MUST be in chronological order. MUST!

I also called both the madre and the grandmadre. Mom is thrilled because my sister’s husband is building an apartment in the garage. As soon as he has it finished, my sister’s family will move out there. What a huge stress relief that will be! I’m sure they’ll still be in and out of the house a lot, but at least they’ll have a separate place to go and they can keep all their shit out there. I have no idea if it is legal, if they are getting permits to build, or anything else. I just know that it will be good for them to have a separate space. Since he is building it himself and supplying all the money, maybe he’ll have some ownership in it and won’t try to convince my sister to move to Florida (or wherever) in a few months.

Also! I was talking to Ulrica last week and she mentioned that she lets her baby talk to his grandparents with a webcam via Skype every day. My mom finally got high speed internet, so tonight I ordered both of us a webcam and hopefully someone can help her set hers up and figure it out and Erik can start talking to her via video! I think it will be great for keeping the cousins in touch as well.

One last thing, then I’m out of here. We sort of have progress on the Erik book front. I bought him a few puzzle books at B&N last night and he LOVES them. He won’t let me read the words, but he does flip the pages and talk about the pictures. He spent hours messing around with the dinosaur puzzle book, so here’s hoping one day he won’t zip my lips and tell me to be quiet when I try to read to him. He was such a good boy today. He didn’t ask for the TV at all today! Normally he watches a couple of hours a day (when I was sick it was more like 24 hours a day), and then we spend a lot of time outside. We didn’t even go outside today because of the rain and he was perfectly content playing with his toys. It’s so fun watching him get into pretend play. He has a stuffed dog that he’s started to pack around and force into his little games. I love watching his development and all his silly little games. It makes me cry, though, because I know one day he is going to be a sullen teenager who thinks I’m stupid. I need to live more in the present instead of the future. I remember bawling the day he was born because he wasn’t always going to be a little tiny baby. So far this age is the best age yet. I hope that trend continues for a long while.

Sorry to scare you all last night. I was beyond tired and Lost was about to come on. You can only expound upon the joys of toddler temper tantrums so many times, before you start to sound like a broken record. At least when I was a teacher there were enough children to make the craziness unique each day. Sure, there were the same tired excuses on a daily basis, but there was usually just enough crazy to come up with blog fodder that was worth writing down.

I’m reading a book called Your Two Year Old: Tender or Terrible. It’s not a very good book, mainly because it is totally outdated. It came out the year I was two, so it’s been a while. I was laughing at the wise advice to set a precedent for your child to always sit in the back seat so you can pay attention to driving instead of having your active toddler pushing all the dashboard buttons. True, that. I can’t imagine trying to drive with a toddler on the loose in my front seat.

There are some helpful items, including a list that tells you about life with a two year old. Here’s two pearls of wisdom that are SO INCREDIBLY TRUE:

Never expect your day to go smoothly or to accomplish what you set out to accomplish.
You will be unduly fatigued at the end of each day.

At least it’s not just me. Also interesting was the advice to NEVER try to teach a two year old to read or to try to formally teach a two year old anything. I would question the very idea that some crazy person is out there trying to teach a two year old to read, but I know people who do that very thing.

I finished the top of Erik’s quilt last night! It’s needed the four borders for months, but I always drag my feet on finishing up because that means the next step needs to be done immediately: quilting. The problem? Where can I lay the quilt to baste it? Argh!

I would love to get it quilted this weekend, but I don’t think it’s in the cards. Saturday we are looking at houses (the prices keep going down down down! Yay!), going to lunch, and having a girls night out. Sunday we are steaming the carpets. When will there be time for rolling around on the floor with a hot iron and yards of cotton?

I think I won the battle on the steaming front. Mike did the carpets when we were in Oregon last September so he said it was my turn to steam them this time. I say he’s the one who knows how to do it and he would do a better job, so he can go ahead and keep the job. In the end, I think I am taking Erik to the gym and he is going to work on it while we are both out of the house. I can’t believe how gross a carpet can get when you have a kid in the house. It’s nasty. And my mom wants me to get a dog? I think not!

In random, meaningless news, there was a hummer on the balcony two days ago! I went nuts and spent an hour searching for the hummingbird feeder. So far, it hasn’t returned but it’s only a matter of time.

My poor balcony is looking a little bare this year. I tried to buy petunias last weekend, but the store didn’t have any except those already in hanging baskets. I am very concerned about food prices, oil prices and the potential of a Parable of the Sower* situation, thus I bought food plants instead. My little herb garden seems to be doing well, but I don’t think strawberries were meant to grow in a pot. I told one of my local friends about my strawberry pot and she got a strange look on her face and basically told me I’m crazy. I admit it. I know NOTHING about gardening and it is probably an idea doomed to failure. As I told her, though, what’s the worst that can happen? The plants will die and I’ll be out six bucks. All in all, not anything to get worked up over.

Guess I better go take a shower. We’re supposed to go to a playdate in an hour.

*Excellent, horrifying sci-fi by Octavia Butler. In the near future food and water shortages lead to a lawless America with a return to (corporate run) slavery.

I have nothing to say tonight.

That is all.

I thought we were all in need of a goof ball picture tonight. I know I am. It was Mike’s birthday today so I tried to be the perfect wife and make the Prime Trifecta! Have you guys heard this theory? I love it. It came from someone on Heather’s friend’s list. There are three main skills that a woman can possess. She can be a perfect housekeeper, an awesome cook or an amazing lover. Most men have to settle for a wife who has mastered one of those skills. Very lucky men get a wife who rocks two departments. No man alive has a wife who is a perfect 10 in all three areas.

Mike is a lucky man.

I am not a good housekeeper.

At.

All.

This wasn’t so bad pre-baby, but with a whirling dervish in the house things can get bad in .07 seconds and I have to step up my game. Mike is a neatnik by nature and prefers organization in all things, thus my main gift to him was a semi-clean house when he walked in the door. Between the dishes, the laundry, the ground in cheerios, the boy unwrapping his presents every ten minutes, and the general detritus of my life it was a very long day.

Ugh.

You know what is really scary? My quilting area. I can’t find anything and get totally frustrated, but I don’t have the first clue where to start. I have a ton of bins, but they are all full to overflowing. What I would really love is one of those big Ikea shelves that has tons of cubby holes. I can’t get one until I’m rich enough to afford a house that has room for one. My quilting area would be helped immensely if we just got rid of our elliptical machine, but I have been very lazy about posting it on Craigslist. I just can’t imagine who would want to pack that sucker down three flights of stairs and give me hundreds of dollars for the privilege. All while not raping, mudering or kidnapping anyone in my household.

I hope he enjoyed his day. Middle of the week birthdays kind of suck. There was no real celebrating tonight since he has to be up at 5:20 in the morning. He did get a Swedish birthday cake, so that seemed to please him. He even got a phone call from my Grandma, which made us all laugh. She is thoughtful, especially when it comes to men.

The main problem, of course, was the toddler. Our wants and needs don’t mesh, which drives us both batty. I tried to involve him in the wrapping of the presents by having him decorate construction paper and using that as wrapping paper. It was all fine and dandy till he started sticking stickers on, then peeling them off. Then he had the idea to just unwrap them all. I didn’t have time for all that! Really, the boy needed to be outside for hours on end, but that just didn’t happen today because of all the cleaning.

I was hoping he would at least be happy for his pappy (heh. I can rhyme), but that was not to be. We pulled into the train station right as the train pulled in. It devastated the boy and ruined his evening. He was so put out that he demanded bed time at 7 pm. Who are we to argue with the whims of a toddler? Especially when that whim works out so well. I might be cursing tomorrow at 6 am. I should probably wrap this up and go to bed myself.

I have to gloat about my major score, first! I picked up a box of freecycle clothes and got a bunch of really great stuff! There’s a few things I’ll pass along to others, but there are some really neat items that I can’t wait for Erik to grow into! There’s a pair of pants with a dragon embroidered on the leg, there are several designer shirts, there are some really cute shirts and lots of pants. Woot! I have all the basics I’ll need for his fall wardrobe, assuming he has a couple of more growth spurts.

Also, where does one buy a penknife? I think a penknife would be much more accurate when cutting out templates for applique.

Erik was begging for his little Irish buddy today, so I sucked it up and called. Can you believe I’ve called the Irish folk several times in the past month? Me either! My phone phobia has been overcome by my desire to see friends who don’t check their e-mail. Today was Irish Mama’s birthday, so I expected her to be too busy to see us. Wrong! She was busy cooking a fantastic roast chicken dinner and invited us all to come partake of it.

Oh.

My.

God.

I have never, ever, ever had such good gravy and roasted potatoes in my life.

Her birthday, she cooked. I felt guilty! We did take over a bottle of wine and they are very social people so seem to really enjoy having down the street friends that can drop over on short notice. Our boys are such a riot together that it would be almost cruel to NOT go over at any opportunity.

Mike’s train was a half hour late, so instead of coming home and cleaning up we had to go straight from the park to the train station to the store to the dinner. We’d been at the sand pit park, so Erik was a total wreck. I sprayed him down with sunscreen prior to throwing him in the pit. It was like coating a pan with grease, then rubbing sugar all up the sides. It was especially maddening adorable when the child decided he was angry and flung himself into the sand face first. I think we could work some sort of Halloween costume out of the experience.

I felt all sorts of old fashioned at the park. I packed up a little sewing kit and worked on hand applique while Erik rolled in the dirt. That’s the only park I would dare try something so attention intensive since that’s the only park Erik doesn’t run around in. He can (and did) sit in the sand for over an hour. Too bad the nasty gypsy moth caterpillars are starting to make an appearance. In a few days (possibly weeks) the ground will be crawling with them and it’s so gross that we have to skip that park until they go away.

You know what? It is well past my bed time and I am tired. I should quit regaling you with boring tales of sand pit monsters and go brush my teeth. I went to Body Pump today and just about killed myself. I didn’t think I was going to be able to chase Erik to the car after class. When we got home from dinner I had to get Mike’s birthday cake made because it requires an evening in the fridge to become a perfect strawberry and pudding soaked delight. The kitchen was such a disaster that I cleaned it up, but still have at least one more load to go in the dishwasher. Mama needs some sleep!

We had the most spectacular day today! We were slated for a zoo visit at 9:30 am, but we were all dreading it. The traffic! Oh dear Lord, the traffic!

The traffic? Didn’t exist. I have no idea how we managed to avoid rush hour traffic on the two busiest roads at 8 am on a Monday morning, but it was an auspicious start to the day. My friend picked me up and Erik immediately fell in love with the van. He had a cushy car seat, a drink holder, and an overhead DVD player. I fell in love with the GPS. I’m a little afraid there might be a mini-van in my future.

We arrived a full hour early, giving Erik and his buddy plenty of time to find a creaky gate and try to escape into the zebra enclosure. When that didn’t work, they gathered up rocks and dirt. Fun times at the zoo!

The zoo was worth the price, especially since we had a group discount. I would have been disappointed if we’d paid full price because it is pretty small, but Erik was in seventh heaven and couldn’t get enough of the animals. This is a small petting zoo with a big barn section full of sheep and goats, a few scattered monkey cages, some big land running birds, some strange African cattle, camels, zebras, and alligators. You buy feed and the animals go nuts. They are all pretty tame and give the kids plenty of value for the money.

The big animals are part of a “safari” which means you get on a big wagonny thing and go on a ride through the park. The animals are used to being fed by the people in the wagon so they come right up and lick you. Yum. We had scheduled a private wagon ride, so we headed to the rendezvous point and were surprised to see a full wagon. Another group that didn’t schedule a private tour absconded with our wagon! It was a little bit shocking. I thought our organizer was going to ninja kick them in the face.

Eventually we had our tour and it was excellent for the kids. They are all two, so it gave them a big thrill. I don’t think older kids would be quite as delighted.

Of course, Erik being Erik, found a big hole that captured his attention far longer than any of the animals.

The weather was gorgeous, not too hot or too cold. I was smart and brought a backpack instead of my clunky diaper bag. Erik was sweet and shared his cookies with the other kids and didn’t run away more than once. I didn’t have to drive. How could it get any better?

Oh yes! Excellent dinner! A couple of weeks ago I made Spicy Polynesian Wraps with mango sauce. I thought they were totally bland and gross and struck them from our menu list. Mike, however, kept saying they were delicious and wanted them again. I sighed the sigh of a put-up-on house wife and made them. I added a spicy peanut sauce and . . . la la la! GOOOOOOOD! I think my cold must have already invaded my taste buds last week because there was no way this meal could be considered anything less than scrumptious.

The only sad thing was sending Pat back to Kanasas. He’s been staying with us the past week but it was time for him to go home. We’ll always remember him, though, since he left his most precious possession–a picture of him and his girlfriend. Mwhahahahaha!

Someone please come to my house, make an inventory of the cupboard, make a healthy and delicious weekly menu, write up the grocery list and go shopping. I’ll be magnanimous and put the groceries away. If you buy some chocolate I’ll even bake you some brownies. And I’ll eat them, too. Because that no sugar thing? So didn’t happen this week.

In an effort to be frugal, we’ve been buying only what we need and using the contents of our cupboards in meals. Today there is literally nothing to eat but a few cans of various beans and a jar of peanut butter. I should be doing the food planning, but the thought makes me weep, so I’m complaining to all you lovely people instead.

I went to the gym for the first time in six days. I was not my usual energetic self, but at least I did it and am now primed for the week. It’s funny how fast that old specter of laziness gets ahold on me.

After gym time, we headed off to a local park for a free Kid’s Fest. HUGE mistake. Huge. They had a ton of different bounce houses set up, along with some clowns, magicians, police officers and other random stuff. We stood in line for 15 minutes and Erik bounced about 30 seconds. He wanted to bounce more, but didn’t want to wait in line. The fun fest ended with much crying on his part, growling on my part, and put-up-on sighs on Mike’s part.

What else?

Tomorrow we are headed down to the Reston petting zoo. We are supposed to be there at 9:30 for our scheduled tour. Oh. My. God. Rush hour! On a non-rush hour day it takes about 40 minutes to get to Reston. I have no idea how long it will take tomorrow. My friend is driving since Mike needs the car and she wants to be on the road by 7:30. At least we shouldn’t have to worry about being late. I should be a good girl and down a sleeping pill by 9 pm.

My nostrils are full of hairspray and I keep sneezing. Gross! I’ll take a nose full of hairspray any day if it means no marker stains on Erik’s clothes! Mr. Lady had a post a few weeks ago all about the miracle of hair spray. I remembered it the other day when Erik got a big dab of fabric paint on his brand new shirt. I used it. It worked. If I would have been more patient I think it would have all come out, but he still has a little stain. Today he wrote on himself with a non-washable marker. I ran the shirt into the bathroom, put a couple of washcloths in the middle (very important step!), sprayed, blotted, sprayed, blotted, exhibited extreme amounts of patience and viola! No more marker stain! I never would have dreamed of spraying hair spray on a stain, but it works! I guess it has something to do with the alcohol.

Mmmmmm. . . alcohol. I could really use a kahlua and cream right now. Except I have no idea where the nearest liquor store is and kahlua totally screws with me because I can’t handle the caffeine (or the alcohol, but it’s the caffeine that makes me feel like I want to die when I drink a glass).

So, what should I pack to the zoo tomorrow? I hate packing a lunch. I guess I’ll get stuff for turkey wraps or something.

That reminds me.

I’m supposed to be doing my grocery list right now. Excuse me while I go cry in a corner.

I’ve been hankering after a little mini-ironfor paper piecing, but I am a cheapskate and have heard they aren’t worth the price. A gal on LJ is clearing out her sewing supplies because she needs cash, so I picked up her iron for a song.

I gave it a test drive tonight and encountered one giant problem. It doesn’t look like an iron.

Thus, my finger now has a big burn on it.

I was so stupid. I just completely spaced it and stuck my finger right on top of the hot plate.

The good? It doesn’t get as hot as a real iron. It makes it a little less helpful to work with, but my finger is quite happy to have retained all its skin. You win some, you lose some.

Overall, I was very pleased with the iron, mainly because it kept my work space from getting so hot. My real iron is so big and hot that I always get overheated and cranky.

Here’s my test block:

It’s Hermonie’s time turner from HP3. The pattern is from Ofenjen over at sewhooked.org. I’m so glad she’s giving all us LJers a chance to be pattern testers! If her book is ever published, I’ll buy it in a heart beat. Thanks, Jen!

I also did something a little different tonight and hooked up my walking foot. All those tiny pieces made for bulky seams, but the walking foot. . . walked. . . right over them. Score!

And now I have exactly three people left reading this post. Except maybe there are some of you who know the rambles can go anywhere, so you’re sticking with me, right?

Preschool today was good. For those not keeping track, we are doing a co-op preschool so I teach every six weeks. Thank Al Gore for the internet! Without it, I would be clueless. My whole lesson plan was formulated from Google searches.

Erik was a little pill, but he’s always a little pill. He and the lone girl run all over the place, while the other four boys cling to their mothers. At one point, we lost track of Erik and the little girl and suddenly noticed a side gate was open. I was running up and down the street shouting for Erik, only my voice is totally hoarse so no sound was really coming out. Talk about terror. They were finally located in the other side yard, secure behind a sturdy fence. Whew!

After class, we headed to the mall so I could return a bunch of stuff. I over bought his summer wardrobe, and am trying to be a good potential-house-buyer, so back went the overstock no matter how cute it was. We spent a good two hours playing at the playground, then going down a “slide” made of stone next to the escalators. There was another little boy there with his 17 year old mother. I knew it wasn’t a good idea, but was too tired to fight it. Guess who got yelled at by a security guard? Guess who yelled back at him? Not me. The 17 year old mother had words with him while I hustled off my screaming child. He was so pissed at me that he RAN IN FRONT OF A CAR in the parking lot. I was so scared and angry that I spanked him several times. Some woman was staring at me and I think she wrote down my license plate. She’s probably going to call the authorities, but I don’t think there’s any law against spanking your child after he runs out in front of traffic. We don’t generally spank for several reasons, mostly because we don’t want him to hit. Sometimes, though, it is the only way to get him to stop and think.

All was forgiven as soon as we got home. I think. I’m not so sure. I suggested we go play in the sand, so he came out with me. Suddenly, he went inside and locked the door. It’s a good thing Mike was home! Every time I would come in the house, he would tell me “go play in the sand!” and try to lock me out. I feel so loved.

Battlestar is coming up next! Surely it will be better than last night’s Lost. Ugh. I could not care a single iota less about Jack and Kate. Give me some Starbuck! Hey! That’s it! The fleet will land on the island and Ben will kill all the cylons!

I’ll tell you where the night has gone! It’s gone to cutting out strips of construction paper and gluing them back together. UGH!

I am teaching preschool tomorrow, thus I’ve been cutting out zebras, printing out elephants, hunting down black paint, and cooking lasagna. I think I make things way too complicated.

Last week the teacher had colored a piece of paper, then made color copies. Smart! I tried to do the same thing, but my color copier is a POS and my plan tanked. I had to think on my feet, thus the construction strips (I’m giving the kids a pile of animal stickers and having them stick each sticker on the appropriate color strip).

I thought I was going to have a couple of hours to make a fabulous Harry Potter paper pieced block (check out Sew Hooked for patterns), but noooooooo. . . the night is gone thanks to those silly paper strips.

My cold is doing much better, but I have almost no voice. I’ll be taking tea bags to class with me tomorrow, that’s for sure. I haven’t taken any medicine today and I survived. Thumbs up for survival! I even took Erik outside for a while before the rain came pouring sprinkling down. He needs more outdoor time and less TV time.

Last night I saw an ad on TV that said “Readers are made in their parent’s laps” or something similar. It made me feel so guilty! I want him to be a reader! We have books galore! I want to read to him! Stories are wonderful! He’ll let Mike read to him on rare occasions, but the second I try to read to him he grabs the book away and tells me “NO!” As soon as I try to tell him a bed time story, he tells me to be quiet. How can this be my child?

The closest I ever get to telling him a story is when the computer picture slideshow comes on and we talk about all the pictures that go by. I wonder if they have picture e-books? I wonder if he would let me tell him stories if the computer was the “book?” I need to figure something out so the guilt doesn’t kill me.

As a trial run of the computer idea, I did something VERY BAD. You know how you can find all sorts of toddler and preschool games online if you go looking? Yeah. I’ve never gone looking because I don’t want my toddler to take over my computer. Today, though, I found a simple game where the child hits a letter key and Elmo says the letter. He LOVED it. I fear I have created a monster. I just couldn’t stand looking at him watch TV for another minute and I didn’t have the energy to do much else. He is perfectly capable of entertaining himself in other ways (he spent an hour playing with a bucket and piece of string today), but he really likes having the TV on and I really can’t stand the fights it causes. Maybe we need to become a TV free household?

Gotta go! Time for Lost!

Heh.

No really.

I think my brain is going to explode. It’s full of snot! My head is fuzzy and my right forehead sinus is full to bursting.

Don’t you love the nitty-gritty details of my less than interesting common cold?

Thanks for all the suggestions. I mixed myself a deadly cold killing cocktail yesterday evening (Sudafed and Mucinex). The snot kept flowing, but my heart took on a decidedly scary fast rat-a-tat-tat beat and I thought Mike was going to have to take me to the hospital. Wouldn’t it be just my luck to kill myself while trying to cure the common cold?

Yesterday I figured out that the best way to be able to breathe a little was to tilt my head forward at an odd angle. The angle was perfect for quilty handwork, so I managed to do little bits on four different projects. One of these days I am going to finish a quilt and we shall all celebrate. Also, I MUST get started on my sister’s baby’s new quilt. I have lots of red sock monkey fabric, but am not sure what to do with it. I think I’ll get some blue fabric to frame it and do something really simple. Should I throw some yellow in as well? Or keep it red and blue? Decisions, decisions.

I think I would feel a lot better if I went to the gym and walked on the treadmill for a while. I skipped zumba because the thought of all that dancing made me want to curl in a ball and cry, but the treadmill would be doable for someone in my sorry state. Too bad the childcare closes in 40 minutes. Poor Erik is going to have a rectangular shaped eyeball on his forehead. He’s been watching TV for hours now. I hate being such a negligent mother, but if he cries it might make my head explode. What child needs that trauma? Instead, he can watch weird shows that he’s never seen before and will soon be begging for.

I really need to go grocery shopping, but I think I’ll wait till Mike gets home. I don’t have the energy to corral Erik while trying to find the best deal on cream of chicken soup. I have no idea what to cook for dinner tonight. We are so far gone on groceries that we don’t even have any left overs. This is what happens when your fabulous menu plans get scrapped in favor of FUN FUN FUN. I have the ingredients for a strawberry poke cake, but that does not a dinner make.

I need to take a picture of Erik and his new treasure chest. We were at Target yesterday. No diaper bag, since my plan had been to take a walk around the neighborhood but he wanted to go on a car ride. Of course, he had to poop so I had to buy a batch of diapers and wipes. Why? Why are two year old so stubborn? Anyway, he found a glittery, pink little box and had to have it. He never asks for anything when we go to the store. I don’t think he even knows the toy section exists since I usually pick up toys from the consignment shop or craigslist. I’m sure his father is proud when he sees his boy carting around his girly cosmetic container.