Mom to the Screaming Masses

Our new rooms

Here are some shots of our new rooms:

the playroom:

the other side:

The little girls room:

and the new hallway and shelves:

ENOUGH already!

Our house has the stomach flu.  AGAIN.  We just went through this in, I think, November.  I had two kids sick all weekend, one home from school today, and now my stomach is buggy.  Dammit.  I'm throwing a surprise party for The Hubster's 50th this weekend.  I'm going to have tons of out of state company.  I've only got Wed and Thurs to get everything together.  The Hubster is off Tuesday and Friday and Saturday.  I had planned on doing some of it today, and I feel gross.  I canNOT get sick.

Send some wellness this way, please.  Along with a carpet cleaner.

Spouse

Thanks for the input with regards to family relationships.  I guess the two that I worry about the most are my oldest.  They fight allllll the time.  They are physical fighters - they punch, they hit, kick, pull hair.  They are punished every single time, and yet they keep on. I just really want them to know that family is forever.

On to the next hard question.  Who did you learn to be a spouse from?  Was it from your parents?  Even if you aren't married, either divorced or single, you still observed your parents.  In your relationship with your spouse, do you behave in a manner similar to your same sex parent?  Or completely differently?  Consciously or unconsciously? 

My parents are divorced.  When I was 20, my dad left my mother.  He had talked to me about it many times, and I never really took it seriously.  Here's the thing:  I didn't get it.  My dad was gone a lot, due to his military career.  By necessity, my mother became extraordinarily self sufficient, and raised us to be the same.  My dad, I think, felt very superfluous.  My mother did everything, and she had a hard time giving it up when he came home.  Both of them were at fault. 

When I was first married, I behaved in much the same way.  The Hubster was very adamant, though, that those traits get dropped.  In a big way.  Many, many fights later, and much growing up, and I completely see and respect what he was trying to say. 

Answers, please.

I was just wondering

Do funeral homes have people on staff at night?  If not, that means that the bodies are left by themselves, and that is too weird for me.  If there is staff on all the time, how weird would that be, if you had that job?

Sometimes,  I think too much.

The hole in the roof

Whenever things get really bad, The Hubster and I console ourselves with, "well, at least we don't have a hole in the roof.  It could be a lot worse."

Yesterday, the heating guys came to finish the new heating system installation, and when they left, we discovered that, yes, indeed, things can always get worse.

We now have a large hole in the roof.

The pain, she's still there....

My thumb may never be the same again.  I am in real pain here, and to make matters worse, I keep banging it and the stupid thing bleeds again.  I have to change the bandage and the pad is stuck to my thumb, so it's not going anywhere.  At least until the Hubster comes home and he can help.

In other news, after a phone consult with my favorite pediatrician evah, we started Riley on some Zantac.  She is so miserable and unhappy, and consequently the entire family is as well.  I've never seen a baby so unhappy.  The ped thinks that since one of my other kids has bad reflux, it wouldn't hurt to try her on a small dose for a week.  I've tried tylenol, motrin, gripe water, rescue remedy, ambesol, etc etc, really anything I can think of to try to get her to just CALM THE HELL DOWN.  Today was a bit better. She's actually playing on the floor by my feet, which almost never happens.  Only time will tell, but maybe.  Keep all your bendy parts crossed for me and for her, cuz I surely can't take much more of her crankiness.

I've got a long, really good post in my head about family,  specifically mine, but it will have to wait until my thumb heals.  I'm typing fairly well, but it's going to take some adaptation on my part to get used to not using my thumb.  Maybe tomorrow.

OH!  I forgot!  The upstairs is finished!!!!!!  I moved into our closet, and the girls closet today.  The little girls bedroom is done, and when The Hubster has time off, we can get the beds apart and moved into there.  Woo-hoo!!!  New carpet goes in downstairs tomorrow, and then we should be just about D.O.N.E.

Yeouch!

When using  the extremely sharp food slicer, the one with the "CAUTION"  on the side, you must use the protective finger shield as directed.

I'm just sayin'.

Sleep, sleep, sleep

Thanks to The Proverbial Wife for this one. 

1.  What time do you usually go to bed? 10 or 11 p.m.
2.  What time do you usually wake up? 5 -5:30, although I've been awake 5-7 times already.
3.  How many hours do you average of sleep per night? not nearly enough
4.  Do you usually wake up in the middle of the night?  If so, why? duh, nursing non sleeping baby.  Also, a brain that never shuts off and runs all night long.
5.  Do you need total darkness, some light, or lots of light to get to sleep? TOTAL and complete darkness - The Hubster put curtains on the side of the bed for nookie time, and I use them every night to block the light out.
6.  Do you need total silence, white noise (what? music, fan, etc.), or lots of noise (what kind, if that matters) to get to sleep?  Quiet
7.  Do you snore or does your spouse? If yes, do either of you wear earplugs to block it out or sleep in another room? The Hubster snores like a trucker - not personally knowing any truckers, I'm just guessing what they snore like.  I make him sleep downstairs a lot of the time.
8.  Do you like lots of heavy covers or just light bedding? Heavy covers, and a cool room. 
9.  Do you or your spouse hog the covers? Nope.
10. Do you like a soft, medium or firm mattress? Just comfortable.
11.  Do you generally fall asleep pretty quickly after your head hits the pillow or does it take a while?  How long?  HAHAHAHAHA.  Many nights, I fall asleep at the computer before I even get to bed.  I never have a  hard time going to sleep - my trouble is staying asleep.
12.  Does the window have to be opened, closed, or does it depend?  Just keep it cool in the room.
13. Do you lay on your back, stomach, or side (both or left or right?)? Depends on if I'm nursing the baby or not.  Although, I can nurse the baby laying flat on my back, it's not my most favorite position.
14.  Are you a light sleeper or heavy sleeper or in between? Light
15. Do you or your spouse ever talk or walk in your sleep?  The Hubster talks, in between snores.
16.  Do you like to cuddle while sleeping or do you need your space? Space, baybee.  It's one of the arguments we have - The Hubster loves to cuddle and it makes me want to hurl.
17.  Do you sleep in pajamas, nightgown, t-shirt, nothing, or...?  What fabric do you prefer?  Cotton, usually shorts and t's, although I have a bunch of nursing jammies.  And I love me some Hanna Andersson jammies.
18.  Do you often remember your dreams?  Are they very vivid?  OMG, I usually wake up wondering if I had some LSD before bed.  My dreams are really really strange.  Case in point - last night I dreamt I was at my kids school, and one of the Sister's hugged me.  She had a seizure, and I laid her down on the floor.  She began to reverse in age, becoming a teen and then a baby, and turning into a bowl of peas.  (yeah, I KNOW)  I called 911, who came and laughed at me. I laid the peas down, the bowl turned into a baby, who grew up into Sr. right before my eyes.  Now, just tell me - what could THAT mean?
19.  What do you need by your bed before you go to sleep? (glass of water, kleenex, etc.)  Nothing.
20.  What rituals must you perform before going to sleep? (i.e. teeth brushing, reading, snack, etc.)Teeth brushed, contacts out, face washed, lotion and lip chap - what my kids call lip balm - applied.

Bonus:  What weird sleeping or nocturnal habit not covered by this survey do you have? Um, none.  My dreams are weird enough, thank you.

Yes, hello, I'm still here

In between picking out new carpet, and looking at other carpet, and listening to The Hubster discuss the merit of one carpet over another, cancelling one order and placing a second, and then going back to the first.  The addition to the house is going along smoothly, and they expect to be done next week.  Whoot!

i have lots to rattle off, but I'm so tired my eyes are burning.  But, I leave you with this:  The Birdcage is one of the funniest movies ever. Hank Azaria and Nathan Lane absolutely slay me.  Of course, anything with Robin Williams is wonderful. It makes me pee my pants to watch this movie, and yet it's on satellite at least twice a month, and I try to catch it every time.

Other favorites would be Return to Me, While you were sleeping, Yours, Mine and Ours. I'd hyperventilate if I could get ahold of a copy of With Six you get eggroll  - I've tried to get it through Netflix and my local video store, and through Amazon, and even bid on it twice at ebay and lost. 

What movies do you like?

National Delurking Day

Today, thanks to Sheryl of Paper Napkin, is National Delurking Day.  (She's got some great buttons over there, but for some unknown stupid reason my computer keeps saving them in .bitmap format instead of .jpg, and I can't get it to change.  So no new pics will load for me.  Coincidentally, I also can no longer get my digital camera to upload new shots - it used to pop up with a window when I connected the USB, but it doesn't do that anymore.  I have tried and tried, and can't get either program to work.  Frustrated doesn't even BEGIN to describe me.)

Anywho, since I average 50+ hits per day - no where near the realm of the big kids, but more than I thought I had - shout out!  Tell me what's for lunch, how you plan to pay off your credit cards, or your pants size.  Tell me what is your favorite ice cream, type of music, or brand of chips.  Just post a comment already!!!!