Keeping Up Appearances

Last night I hosted book club at my house. It was delightful, in case you're wondering. About an hour before it started, Nils helped me do some last minute tidying so that my guests would think that our house is cleaner than it actually is. He got the kids to help clean by bribing them with Oreos. In order to keep the house clean, they were required to eat their Oreos in the bathtub. So they did.

And that is how we keep up appearances.

Why I'm not a Pet Person

Well, I almost just killed the fish. I mean, it has been 5 days, so they're lucky they've made it this long. Their water has been a little murky the past couple of days, so I thought I'd be a good pet owner and refresh their habitat.

Do you like how loosely I'm using words like "pet" and "habitat"?

Anyhoo, we forgot to buy a net to get the little whipper-snappers out of their habitat while cleaning it, so I got them out with a measuring cup. I put them in a nice, roomy bowl and started to clean their home. All of a sudden, I see Pretty I Love You in the sink. Then I see Bolt on the counter. Then Pretty I Love You jumps onto the rubber part of the drain! STUPID FISH!

All the while, Addie and Aani are watching, Addie's bawling, and I was sure it was the end. I could see their little gills just flappin' away in the cold, dry air, but of course they wouldn't hold still and let me catch them with my measuring cup. I can't even remember how, but I managed to get Pretty I Love You before she went down the Insinkerator, and caught Bolt shortly after.

I put a plate over the stupid bowl, washed their freaking house, put them back in, and I swear to you- they both turned to me and gave me dirty looks. Their gills were flapping furiously at me.

Geez. Sorry for saving your lives.

The girls with the fish after the incident. These could be the last pictures taken of these fish.

Ma Peeps

(Last Saturday)
Me & Beverly
Cheri, Laura & Tiffany

What can I say about these girls? We've known each other since the beginning of time. We grew up in the same neighborhood, but when we reached high school we all came together and became a close group. I have been blessed with good friends in all stages of my life, and I'm so thankful.

These ladies are my BFF's from the teen and college years, and I love them. We did so much stupid stuff together back in the day. Oh the memories! We get together 3 or 4 times a year, and we gab for hours and hours about everything under the sun. It's always therapeutic and fabulous, and I'm so happy that we're still in touch and get to see each other fairly regularly.

P.S. I said a lot of bad words while trying to get the camera timer to work for this picture. Sorry, girls.

Welcome to the Family! You'll be Dead Soon!

Saturday, October 24, 2009 is a day that will go down in the annals of history, for it is the day that we got our first pets.

We're not really "pet people", if you will, so our investment of 8 dollars in the pets pictured above seems appropriate. 8 dollars total. Including the exotic tank.

The fish on the left belongs to Anders, and has been named "Bolt". The fish on the right belongs to Addie, and has been named "Pretty I Love You".

On the way home from the store, Addie kept comforting her fish by saying, "Don't worry, Pretty I Love You, I'm right here."

Nils has told the kids repeatedly that these fish will be dead in a matter of weeks, just so they're prepared for the inevitable. Hopefully when it's time for the big flush, they won't be too devastated.

If this goes well, maybe next time we'll spring for the $5 fish.

This week...

This last week has been one full of joy... and joyness. I kid. My fingers are swelling as I type this. They do that at night these days... or, these nights. What?

There was no school last Thursday and Friday due to Fall Break. To celebrate, the children got sick and we were quarantined for 4 days. Addie and Aani have just been hacking like crazy. Anders has been hacking, fevering, sneezing and breaking out in hives. Hives? Good grief.

I was able to escape on Saturday to get my hair done. The woman gave me a full weave and a mullet. I had no idea that I had a mullet until I got home and looked in the mirror at the back. Fortunately, my across the street neighbor is a beauty school dropout. She agreed to trim the mullet as soon as her family is rid of the swine flu. Until then I have to deal. I don't know, though. Maybe I could just rock the mullet like her.

Random McRandomson

Last night I made potato stuffed chimichangas for dinner. I've made fried food about 3 times in my life- two of those times were simply frying tortillas by themselves. So you can imagine the complexity of frying several chimichangas at once. It was a force to be reckoned with, indeed. Here are the successes and failures of my endeavor:

Success:

They were really quite delicious. So delicious, in fact, that the kidders even ate them... and dare I say it? Enjoyed them.

Failure:

I burnt the crap out of my thumb when oil splattered on it. I ate my dinner with my thumb in a glass of ice water, and the pain was unbearable for 5 hours. Ice, ice, baby. Nils told me that he fears for me sometimes. But he still really liked the chimichangas.

Funny:

While I was busy frying away, I heard the following conversation:

Addie: Anders, what do you wish?

Anders: For a hundred-thousand dollars. What do you wish?

Addie: That I was a fire dog.

Anders: Don't you mean a fire woman?

Addie: Or a guard dog.

Ironic conclusion:

After eating our fried dinner, we sat down and watched "The Biggest Loser" as I melted bag after bag after bag of ice on me poor little thumb. I love Bob. And I could really use Jillian screaming in my face around mid-January.

The End.

Kid Stuff

The past little while I've been noticing some things about kids and ages/stages. A lot of the things that were frustrating when Anders was 4 are things that are frustrating now that Addie is 4. Now that Anders is bigger, he's a lot easier to reason with, and understands that it's best just to cooperate. Most of the time. He's been a picky eater for a long, long time. In the past year or so, he has become much better. He'll try things when we ask him to, and he's finding that he actually likes most of it. Yay!

On the other hand, Addie has always been a good eater. She usually sat in her chair and ate her food without complaint. If she didn't like something, she simply wouldn't eat it- but she didn't whine about it. Well, that's all changed. Pretty much every day she acts like she's going to pass away from eating all of the disgusting food she's presented with.

Example: Salad.

Anders eating salad with gusto.

Addie eating salad with Addie-tude. I'M SO PUNNY! But don't you think it's fitting that with a face like that, she's wearing a tiara?

I take heart that mealtime with Addie will improve with age as it has with her brother.

Now to Aani. She's filling the role of 2-year old quite well these days. She hits her sister, then on her way to time-out flashes her biggest, sweetest smile. She destroys things; she's been like a little tornado lately.

Then the other day I walked into the living room and saw this. How cute is that? Sitting in Daddy's arm, channel surfing with cute little piggy-tails. I thought, "she's too cute to be rotten."

Then we got ready for bed and she brushed her teeth like this. And that's Aani lately. Cute and rotten.

And these are the simple days that I'll look back on with fondness, won't I?

The Weekend

Friday I got the kids early from school and we drove to Las Vegas. Have you ever needed to just leave? The thought of driving 6 hours on Friday, and then turning around and doing it again on Saturday was more appealing to me than staying home sans husband for another two days.

Around Mesquite I started feeling a cold coming on, so I kind of felt like poop all weekend. That killed any desire for me to take the kids anywhere near the strip. Well, that and THIS:

Honestly. The thought of walking my kids through tunnels of these guys was too much.


We drove the strip, and the kids oooed and ahhhed at the lights and crazy buildings.

Saturday Nils had classes until the afternoon, so I took the kids to the Lied Children's Discovery Museum. It was good, clean fun. And there were no naked ladies.

Then we drove home. That's us in the reflection. Pretty fancy picture takin' there, Nils. Oh yes, and Nils did forfeit his plane ticket and drove home with us. It was nice. He's my fave.

So Las Vegas is gross, but it was nice to leave the routine. Ya know?

The Belly in Vegas

Oh yeah. Vegas, baby.