The guilt. OH the guilt!!!

I feel terrible, just terrible. You remember that lovely little piece I did about Cinderella's Castle several months back? It was a fabulous little dollhouse contraption thing that Maddy played with all her princess dolls and she loved it for about 2 or 3 years.

Then, she didn't love it anymore. One day, just out of the blue, she said to put it up and that I could sell it.

So I did.

Not so fast, you say! Surely it was an impulsive decision for her to demand that I sell it...and so I thought as well. I didn't sell it right away. We kept it a few months. I'd ask her about it every week or so and see if she wanted to play with it.

And she didn't.

So finally...the day came in early December when I listed it on Craigslist.

And no one wanted it.

I just kept it in our storage room--asked her about it occasionally and she stood by her decision that she was not interested in playing with it anymore.

Honestly, it made me a little sad! I didn't want her to be so grown up that she wasn't into the princess thing anymore.

I never deleted the Craigslist ad and wouldn't you know, I finally had an offer for it a month after I originally listed it. I was all set to meet the buyer one day about 3 weeks ago and told Maddy all about it and she continued to nonchalantly dismiss the whole thing and acted glad for the 3 year old who was going to be on the receiving end.

La di da la di da la di da....life goes on.....don't give it another thought.....UNTIL....

Wednesday afternoon we were driving to the Y and I suddenly hear the silent sobbing noise coming from the back of the van. It was as if she were trying her hardest NOT to cry, but she couldn't stifle the emotion and it flowed. Oh, how it flowed.

The source of her grief? SHE WANTS HER CINDERELLA CASTLE BACK. She wants to play with it. Her barbies/princess dolls don't fit in her new dollhouse the way they did in the castle. TEARS and tears and tears and tears and more tears.

So, then I start crying. As I'm driving. Which is not a good combination.

We got parked at the Y and I just had to hold her in my lap and love on her until she got it all out.

It was painful, readers, so so painful. Absolutely broke my heart. And that's the end of that story.

[I don't have a light and happy ending to that part of the story, but I do have something else kind of funny to confess. I am TERRIBLE about negotiating, haggling, bargaining...whatever you call it. I practically give stuff away at garage sales--"oh, just take it--I don't need it...." and I never ask for discounts or a "break" in a price. We could have completely ridiculous service at a restaurant and they could bring me a piece of pink steak when I ordered chicken and I still wouldn't say a word. ANYWAYS, all that is background to the big transaction for selling the Cinderella Castle. I had it listed at $35 on Craigslist, knowing that you never get what you ask for, so I naturally priced it a bit high. When I met the buyer, I was just bracing myself to NOT GIVE IT TO HIM, NO MATTER HOW CUTE HIS LITTLE GIRL IS. Well, he said he'd take it and I said "great" and he proceeds to hand me a twenty, a ten, and a five. That would be, yes, $35. My asking price. SCORE!!! Well, not yet. I felt so awkward about it, so I took the money from him and then promptly handed him back the $5 bill. I told him I'd only feel right about taking $30 for it. WHAT?!?]

Forgiveness. Reconciliation. A Fabulous Return Policy

If you've been reading "Welcometomyblog" for very long, you may remember the whole "I'm going to win this fabulous vacation" thing I had going on in the fall. In the end, I was completely overlooked and dissed by Land's End and the prize ended up going to people who had faced trials and triumphed over them rather than me and my fun family vacation story. Oh, the pain!!! The humiliation! The trauma I suffered...

I was really struggling with forgiving Land's End for their flaws in choosing the wrong winner.

Then my heart started to soften as I got free shipping code after free shipping code over the holidays. They were practically BEGGING me to buy something from them and were willing to cut out the shipping cost in order to mend that road with me.

Well, I had truly started to move along my journey toward reconciliation with them when I got the MARVELOUS and salute-worthy swimwear collection catalog in the mail. Oh my goodness. I believe I spoke of these yesterday in my snow day post. These swimsuits were so beautiful, so classy. TEARS in my eyes, people. I had tears in my eyes as I struggled with the decision of which one to order this summer. (as an aside...Amy, I still say I called dibs on "orange/blue fun top"....we'll take this up later).

I am happy to report this morning that I have completely forgiven Land's End for snubbing me in their Vacation contest. Why? Oh, why not! John's Land's End backpack had a seam tear out of it yesterday and it's only a few months old. I called this morning to see about getting a new one and THEY ARE SHIPPING ME ONE FREE TODAY. Yes, that's right. On the house. I'd always read about their "Guaranteed. Period." policy, but I assumed there was some fine print that stood in the way. Nope. I just have to return the damaged one to a local Sear's/Land's End store and the new one is on the UPS truck as I type.

Land's End, I accept your apology and I forgive you. Just don't let it happen again.

And by the way, I expect to be in Cabo on your dime this time next year as the winner of your next vacation giveaway. Thankyouverymuch.

Various Asundry for January 28

3 posts in 2 days! How'd you get so lucky? (especially after my musing yesterday about stopping the whole operation).

OK, so we got the 6:00 am phone call this morning from a very chipper sounding director of schools saying that this inclement weather was shutting them down today. 6:00 am. really? Is that necessary? I guess it is considering high schoolers around here get picked up for the bus at 6:25. So, we're off today. The sleet has begun and we're "scheduled" to get 1" of snow this morning, then it's over. Our grass looks like marshland--we've gotten so much rain. So, I'm not hopeful the snow will stick or allow for any fun & entertainment since we currently have a river flowing through our backyard. Oh! I just saw the first snowflakes! And yes, they are plopping right to the ground and disappearing promptly.

God bless my mother-in-law who is having fun in the sun in ARUBA this week. She mentioned the other day that we ought to think about going to Aruba for our next big anniversary...to which my sweet husband (always one to seize any opportunity) said, "Well, our 11th anniversary is coming up and that is a pretty big deal, you know...." I don't think 11th anniversary was what she was talking about, considering we just got to cruise the Caribbean in May to mark our 10th.

Yep, it's snowing alright. I wonder how long it would have to snow to completely cover up that box of graham crackers that is still sitting on my patio?

Snow days. Love them. It's 8:19 am. We've already had to shut the Wii off for the morning because of some irreconciliable difference regarding MarioKart. We then moved onto breakfast, the computer, and now we're watching Phineas & Ferb on Demand. I love that show! I think it's because Ashley Tisdale (you know, Sharpay from High School Musical) is the voice of Candace and that always makes me laugh.

Speaking of HSM--the HSM3 DVD comes out in a few weeks. I know what I'm getting Michael for Valentine's Day!!!

I know it's hard to think about swimwear on a Snowday, but have you seen the new collection from Land's End?!?!? AMAZING. They make the best swimsuits!!! I am currently in a "I called it" email debate with my friend Amy about which one of us called dibs on a certain top first. I have a free shipping code.....hmmmmm.......maybe whoever receives the top in the mail first is the one who calls it. Why can't we both get the same suit, you ask? Because 96% of our summer pool time is spent together and there's nothing more awkward than having an adult twin.

AND...I'll finish this off with a very Happy Birthday wish to my sweet niece Lydia who turns 12 tomorrow. I still remember the day she was born like it was yesterday--she's the oldest of all my nieces & nephews and we were all CRAZY about her! (We're crazy about all of the kids, don't get me wrong....) I was a junior in college and I RAN to my car which was parked on the other side of campus. Beth (my sis) and I took off for Lousville to introduce Lydia to her aunts! I'll never forget how funny it looked to see my brother Craig holding a baby. Anyways, Happy Birthday Lydia! Love you girl! (and yes your gift is in the mail) :o)

Oh, those graham crackers are getting a good little dusting of snow already! I feel a photo opportunity coming on...

And the award for mother of the year goes to....

....not me.

you know that crying over cutting teeth/molars last night that I referred to?

Well, it was actually a pretty nasty ear infection for poor Will.

Here's a picture of him this morning at the doctor's office looking no worse for wear...

Notice his crazy rooster hair. That would be from the shower he took in the middle of the night to get him to calm down...you know how your hair does crazy stuff when you go to bed with wet hair? Well, that's his look today. Maddy looked at him when he got up this morning and said, "Will, you are having a VERY bad hair day!"

(And yes, you've probably noticed that I do let him play with the doctor's tongue depressors while we're there. They're much cleaner than the lovely strep-tainted toys that all the other kids play with.)

Bad dreams and molars

2 of the kids are having sleep issues, here lately:

Maddy is scared and says she has bad dreams.

Will is cutting 4 molars all at once.

And I am having bad dreams about kids who have bad dreams and babies cutting teeth. Oh wait, that's not a dream.

Last night was particularly grueling. (We do have some good nights, but I never to seem to remember those.) Will had a hard time going to sleep, then woke up at 9:30 screaming in pain. We could not get him to settle down no matter what we tried! We even put him in the shower which is ordinarily his favorite spot! He loves to take showers. That did not do much good. He'd had Motrin, Orajel on his teeth, and lots of love...but they didn't seem to help. He finally fell back asleep, only to awaken again at 11:30 with the same deal.

Finally got him back to sleep only to be awakened by the "I'm scared" call across the hall about an hour later. That went on for a while.

Once she was settled, it took me about 2 hours to go back to sleep.

We all woke up very late this morning (John only had 15 minutes to go from bed to bus!) and it's freezing cold and so wet outside.

I just noticed a package of graham crackers out back on the patio table getting soaked by the rain. No telling what else has been left out there!

Enough for now...gotta get ready for preschool drop off.


[Just read through this before posting...Boooorrrriiiinnnngggg! To blog, or not to blog, that is the question. My creativity has taken a hit these last few months as I have been chasing Will...maybe I'll shut this whole thing down for a while and come back when I can reclaim some of my brain cells? I'm going to post this anyways. Thanks for suffering through!]

Easiest first aid I ever administered:

[Child runs wimpering into the room where I am talking on the phone.]


"What is it Maddy?"


"Look! Look right there! AAGH! Look at my finger, mommy, quick!"


"That's ketchup. Not blood. Ketchup."


"Oh. OK. Thanks mom."


[Child skips off humming a happy little tune.]

I heart camels

Last night we had our little family devotion time and read the story from Genesis about the servant going to look for a wife for Isaac. He was going to choose the girl who watered all of his camels.

So, Rebecca came along & it was obvious that she was "the one". She performed the task at her own will and won the servant's favor.

As we talked with the kids after the story, we asked them what they thought that said about Rebecca's character.

Acceptable answers: This proves that she is hospitable, kind, hard-working, serving, or a host of other desirable characteristics.

What answers did we get? Read on:
Maddy's Answer: "This shows that she loves animals."

Not quite. So, we rephrased the question again and threw in some clues. How hard is it to draw water from a well? Very hard. How many camels did he have? A lot (10 or 12, I believe.)

SO...once again we asked: What does this story prove about Rebecca's character?

John's Answer: "Oh! I get it. I know it now. This shows that she loves camels."

Presidential Job Perks: room & board

It was all about the inauguration around here today. We watched it this morning on TV and saw the throngs of people rushing into DC. Both kids got to watch it on TV at school and had lots of discussions about the importance of today. But the thing that impressed Maddy (age 5) the most...

"Did you know that Barakobama gets to be the President AND they are going to let him live in the White House too?!?!?!?!!!"

I'm glad she did finally get his name right, though it is one big word in her mind. At least she doesn't call him "O'Bracka" anymore.

Biggest Loser & American Idol "tidbits"

We were glued to the TV this week for the auditions on American Idol Tuesday & Wednesday night. It made for some very entertaining viewing. I have to say I was most intrigued by "bikini girl" and how she made it past the judges!

Anyways, I found a great write-up somebody did who auditioned at the same gig as "bikini girl" and she described the audition process--there is some major editing going on, there--it's not always what you see on TV!

If you want to check it out, click here. The author says the crowd BOO'd when bikini girl got her golden ticket.

We also enjoyed a healthy dose of Biggest Loser this week (flipping back & forth between AI and BL on Tuesday night). Great episode--these contestants feel so much NICER than last season! The former model, Tara (green team) is so supportive of everybody. LOVE her. And what about BOB going off on Joelle!!! I really wish Joelle's teammate had stayed at the ranch instead of her--the teammate wanted it more and was more motivated.

Total sadness when Jerry had to leave; everybody was heartbroken!

That's it for now--the kids are off school today for cold temps, so I'm off to find new ways to entertain them when it's too cold to go outside.

Attention Plumbers!

You know the ol' cliche about plumbers and their pants riding low and showing their backside? Well, it's really not so much of a cliche. It's real. And it's happening all the time.

Over the holidays, my parents had a plumbing need and so a very nice man showed up the day after Christmas to work on their gas fireplace. The family was sitting in this room, waiting to start a movie (Dan in Real Life, if you must know). We were all poised to hit "PLAY" on the DVD player when he showed up, so we just decided to wait until he was gone. So, we're sitting around just looking at each other b/c he says he'll just be a minute--nobody wanted to get up and start something new since the movie was ready to go.

The poor guy bends down right in front of us all as we're watching him work and wouldn't you know that we see a little more of him than we cared to see.

THANKFULLY, it was cold outside and he had on some long undies.

BUT(T)...they were HOLE-Y long undies. Yes, he had a rather obvious tear in his undergarments and it was nothing but simultaneously awkward and somehow quite funny as we all tried hard not to stare. Even more difficult, however, was trying not make eye contact with each other because we knew it'd all be over then and we would be unable to recover from the hysterics that were sure to ensue.

So, imagine my delight when I saw an ad in the local paper that addresses this problem:

"NO CRACK PLUMBING. WE WEAR OVERALLS."

How delightful is that! I tip my hat to a plumbing company that takes this epidemic seriously!

Trying to get "ahead" in life

Two head injury incidents came to light yesterday. Both were for my oldest son John who has had at least 3 rounds of stitches on his face/head (that I can remember--I feel like I'm still missing one). I had brothers growing up, but that sure did not prepare me for being the mom of a son who tends to be a touch accident-prone.

Imagine my surprise as I sat at Panera yesterday having lunch with a friend. My phone rang and it was the YMCA. Thinking I had left something there (I had just left the Y 30 minutes before), I answered and it was the children's program director calling to find out how John's head was. You see, apparently, he bumped it pretty hard the WEEK BEFORE (as in 7 days prior to this phone call) and she was just following up from the incident report they'd filed to find out how he was doing. WHAT?!? News to me. Obviously, I told her, he was doing just fine.

So, onto incident #2. Maddy was looking out the front door waiting for John's bus when she suddenly declared "There are two busses on our street! One of them is driving up to our house!" (It was all very exciting.) Well, John was on the bus coming to our house and he was the ONLY kid on that bus. The other bus carried the rest of the students that normally ride with him.

The thought going through my head was that this was either really really good (perhaps a good behavior perk is to have your own private bus? No? Didn't think so) or this was really really bad (a fight? an injury?). Yes, that's more like it.

So, the bus driver and John came up to the house and she explained that he had an accident on the bus by falling out of his seat and cut his head on a piece of metal ON THE FLOOR. He is holding a bloody paper towel on his head and he is obviously shaken up. Bus driver felt terrible, our neighbors are there to check it out, and Maddy in a sudden attempt to gain some attention declares that her head hurts too. Thankfully, Will was napping or it would've been a total circus!

[As to why he was on his own bus? Best I can figure out is if someone is bleeding, they have to clear the entire bus...maybe? I don't know for sure. He said the bus driver was planning to take him back to school to fill out the report, etc, but he wanted to come home and "see my mom." Awww.....melts my heart! No matter how old he gets, he still wants his mom!]

My mother in law, the RN, (everybody needs a nurse in their family, you know?) came over and checked it out to determine that he didn't need a stitch.

Yeah for that! He was ok at this point, but I could tell he was still feeling some anxiety about the whole ordeal.

Our sweet friends & neighbors came over to check on him later with a homemade "Go Vandy!" sign and a Snickers for John (and some Smarties for Maddy who declared they gave that to her because she has asthma.) That definitely cheered him up.

So far, so good today--we're incident free!

American Idol: Top 12 Songs that should never be sung again

I was reading Boomama's blog (she's great, by the way) and she is really into American Idol as well. She posted a link to Entertainment Weekly's List of the "12 Songs that should be banned from American Idol Forever". Before taking a click, I tried to brainstorm what I thought that list would be and came up a few, but one was CLEARLY lacking:



Bonnie Raitt's "I can't make you love me."



Do they love that song on there or what? Seriously! Every season, particularly in the auditions, that song is absolutely worn out. Dawg.


I hold a special affinity for that song since Michael's old secretary also serenaded the entire office & their significant others at the Christmas Party in Atlanta a few years ago. She brought a TRACK, y'all. Really! She brought a track tape and gave it to the DJ and got all serious on us, grabbed a microphone and suddenly....'turn down the lights....' is stuck in my head for all time.


No, I wasn't jealous. Just because I am the karaoke queen [albeit self-proclaimed] and know my way around a mic stand in front of a crowd doesn't mean I envied the guts & gumption the secretary took that night..........


Anyways, other songs on the Top 12-never-to-be-repeated-again list:

1. Alone, by Heart

2. Anything by Stevie Wonder

3. Against All Odds, by Phil Collins

4. Sugar Pie Honey Bunch, The Four Tops

5. I Have Nothing, Whitney Houston

6. Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me, Elton John

7. Son of a Preacher Man, Dusty Springfield

8. I Believe, Fantasia

9. I Believe to my Soul, Ray Charles

10. It's Raining Men, Weather Girls

11. Rhythm is Gonna Get You, Gloria Estefan

12. My Girl, the Temptations [total aside: did I ever tell you about the time I saw them perform LIVE in Moscow, Russia on the 4th of July? No? Well, I did and it rocked.]

Another Various Asundry

*No I'm not going to blog "The Biggest Loser" this season. It looks to be pretty good, though--we watched the Premiere the other night & we're hooked for another one. But, don't think I'm going to invest the time into blogging it each week in light of the fact that...

AMERICAN IDOL STARTS NEXT WEEK!!!

Yes, we merely waste our time the other 7 months of the year just waiting for American Idol to dawn each January through May. It is good TV, people! I'll probably do a little blogging about AI this year instead.

Other stuff:

Crafty Kim & Crafty Catherine struck again this Christmas. Check out these cookies! They were amazing to look at and eat.

*Speaking of cookies...I made it through the holidays with only .5 pound weight gain, thanks to Sparkpeople! Now I'm working on the next 6 pounds and I'll be right where I want to be. Lost the initial 7 pounds that made me join the Sparkpeople website/plan. Now I'll work on Goal 2.

*Speaking of Goal 2...I signed up to run the Country Music 1/2 Marathon again this year. My neighbor & friend Micah is going to hold me to it. She's focussed and diligent, she is! I'm sure I'll live through it, but it's looking like it could be an intense training regimen this spring.

Various Asundry for January 5, 2009

Yes, I know I rarely post anymore. I am very sorry. I still love to blog and it's still ever-present on my mind, but with a "highly active" toddler, it is "highly rare" for me to find time to sit and type out the fantastic posts that are lurking in my brain. And, let me tell you, I do have some fantastic posts lurking there....

Also--(excuses, excuses), well, school has been out for well over 2 weeks, so I've been on mom overdrive with the big 2 kids home all the time as well. That'll kick your web surfing and blogging habit real quick, folks!

Anyways, here's a very generic "Various Asundry" for today:

*Currently playing: MarioKart on Wii. SUPER fun

*Currently pumped about: getting the house De-Christmas'd and the storage room cleaned out today.

*Currently cooking for dinner: pancakes

*Currently reading: The Lucky One by Nicholas Sparks. I was on the library's wait list a long time for this one. I guess I should say I'm not currently reading it...will open it up tonight after the kids go to bed.

*Currently thankful for: a quiet house this afternoon! My mother-in-law took the big kids to see Bolt and I got LOTS of stuff done around here.

*Currently waiting for: our van to get fixed. I was in a bit of a fender bender right before Christmas. I am driving a sweet ride, though. You usually get the Ford Escort to tote your family of 5 around in when you have a rental. We lucked out and got a very nice, very brand new Saturn SUV. Maddy actually kissed it when she saw it for the first time.

Currently bored by: This blog post. once again.

OK folks, that's all I can offer today. Perhaps my creativity will burst forth tomorrow as the schoolbus bursts into our neighborhood at 7:25 prompt.

New Year's Day Sleep-in: Name your price

We had a great New Year's Eve/Day. Vanderbilt won the Music City Bowl and my firstborn son spent a little time on the Jumbo-tron, so I'm told. Lots of excitement there.

I spent the afternoon "watching a movie" (also known as "mommy scores a nap") with Maddy while Will slept, then headed off to some dear friends' house for dinner before meeting Michael and John back at our house with some Vandy friends for the evening. We celebrated New Year's Eve with the Eastern Time Zone (we're actually CST) and headed to bed at that point.

Well, January 1 dawned too soon in my tightly closed eyes and the kids, well, they were a callin' before 7:00 am and I could hardly move. When Will kept on calling and crying out for crib rescue, I continued to remain motionless hoping and praying that my husband would seek to love me as Christ loved the church and get up to deal with the kids while I got some more shut eye. I mean, that's what Jesus would do, right? He'd let me sleep in, I'm sure of it.

When Michael began playing an equally good game of *Parent Possum, I resorted to monetary bribery.

"I'll give you a dollar to let me sleep in."
No movement from his side of the bed.
"$1.25"
Still nothing.
"FINE. $1.50"

And, I'm proud to announce that Michael can be bought for 6 quarters. I haven't received a bill yet, but I'm sure it's coming. Either that or a barter for him to get an extra hour tomorrow morning.

*Parent Possum: when you play dead to get out of kid duty in the middle of the night or early morning hours