Busy, busy, busy

No time to sit back and relax?

Now that my daughter has graduated from college and my son is in the air force, one would think that my life should be settled down.  I shouldn’t be so busy. I should be getting bored right about now, right?  Um… no.

Life, I find, is kind of like a pail of water.  You stick your hand in that pail of water and when you take it out, guess what?  The space it was taking up in that pail of water is already full.

Your kid’s grow up and you think that things won’t be so busy, after all you don’t have to pick them up after track and you don’t have to take them for this lesson or that lesson.  Homework is no longer an issue.  Unfortunately that’s not how it goes.  Other things just take up that space! 

It’s even the same at the grocery store.  When all the kids were home and I went to grocery store I practically had a coronary every time the cashier gave me the receipt.  I don’t think I ever saw my son when he wasn’t consuming something.  I don’t know for sure, but I’d swear he even ate in his sleep.  A gallon of milk every two days was the norm. The refrigerator became an additional cooling device during hot summer days thanks to the door swinging open every few minutes.

Now it’s just the hubby and I.  We eat out a bit more.  I buy ultra-pasteurized milk in the quart size every three weeks or so. I don’t use near as much paper towels but even so, when I get the bill for my groceries each week, it’s the same!

Ok, so long gone are the days of picking up my daughter from a friend’s house with two different shoes my feet while she looks at me with the obligatory eye roll. (I mean just how do they roll their eyes like that and not get a headache?) And I won’t rush out of the house with my shirt on inside out while I try and make it on time to a PTA meeting. Even so, I still feel like there are not enough hours in the day to finish my do to list.  Yup, a pail of water.

The princess, the pea and me

The princess--and the pea

Princess and the pea story

A few months back I suffered a herniated disc.  I had never experienced pain like that in my life.  I discovered that at some point in my life, I had a compression break in my back. (I’m pretty sure it was when I got thrown off a horse with a few loose screws when I was in my 20’s)  Since the herniated disc episode I have had back issues, maybe its psychosomatic and I’m just more aware of it since I have seen the MRI’s.  Anyway, my husband and I decided to get a new mattress.

We chose a good quality orthopedic mattress from the local warehouse store. It was rated to be medium, not hard, not soft. Memory gel foam is internally situated in the mattress, for comfort and coolness--so they say. Unfortunately they were displayed on their sides so we couldn’t lie on them…that was our first mistake. The first night we slept on it brought back memories of sleeping on the hard ground in Girls Scouts.  Definitely not medium softness.  And what in the heck happened to the pillow top?  Was is stuffed with lead. My husband told me to give it a few days to break in...hmmmm now a mattress was like too tight shoes? After the third night I got a thick memory foam pad to place on top.

Let me explain how I have always slept and try not to laugh. I am aware I'm a little odd and have accepted that fact. When I sleep, I cannot have even one wrinkle on the sheets.  If there is a wrinkle I get up and pull it tight.  If the sheet develops a pill I get up and use the clothes shaver to smooth it out. I must have my flat pillow and my fluffy pillow. Even when traveling my suitcase must have room for at least the flat pillow or I don't sleep.   And due to these rather odd idiosyncrasies, my husband has started to call me the “princess and the pea”.

Well the mattress was more comfortable but now the height was really up there and the sheets would hardly fit.  To put it simply the extra thick pad made "climbing into bed" a reality. So I went out and bought some new sheets that were extra deep pockets.  They didn’t fit.  I bought another set that was even deeper and while they fit, they developed wrinkles at night and I've already explained  how well I deal with that.

The next bright idea I had was to get those clips that hold the sheets down tight.  Have you ever used those clips?  If you haven’t you may in for some infantile frustration. The clips are similar to the ones on garter belts that hold up nylons.  Unfortunately sheets are a bit thicker than nylons.  Got a cartoonish visual of me yet?  After fighting with the sheets for 45 minutes and calling my husband for reinforcements we finally got them on.  And guess what...it worked.  The sheets are on, smooth, and the bed is comfy!

I'm dreading changing the sheets but sleeping well...And if you read the story of the Princess and the pea above, you will know that only a real princess could feel that pea and I married my prince.  

Snow, colds, flus and blues

I know I have been a bit MIA of late but I hope you all can cut me some slack.  First of all I know Virginia is known for flip flopping weather patterns.  What Virginian doesn’t know the old adage…”If you don’t like the weather in Virginia, stick around for 24 hours?”  This year however, it’s been flip-flopping all over the place.  One day its almost 70 degrees and the next day its barely past zero and snowing!

This kind of weather tends to help the nasty cold and flu viruses get a good hold on the body.  So first it was my husband, then my daughter.  Guess you could say I was running a soup kitchen for a while—chicken soup kitchen that is.

And then the snow came.  In Virginia when it snows even a few flakes everything shuts down.  And when it snows 9 or 10 inches, well, you get the picture.  The grocery stores look like they’ve been looted, mail and newspaper delivery ceases. I won’t even go into the issues a little Jack Russell terrier has simply doing her morning business. And since I live on a hill, I suffer from another sort of malady…cabin fever.

Valentine's Day red

And to top it all off my husband had to work extra hours on Valentine’s Day from 4 a.m. to 11. P.M! Before you think I’m whiny let me explain.  We got engaged on Valentine’s Day, so it’s special.  So I spent the first Valentine’s Day since we’ve been married alone.  Need I say I was suffering from cabin fever and the blues?  It did help that I woke up to see the sweetest card and a cute stuffed bear holding a big red heart. 

So things are slowly getting back to normal.  The snow is starting to recede, the schools reopen on a formerly slated holiday (Presidents day) and all is right with the world.

Only two more weeks till the day you can show how much you care!  I'm featuring these free printable Valentine cards on Make it easy crafts.  Instructions for making presentation envelopes too!

Click for tutorial

Crying baby? Where are your manners…parents?

You know I don’t often weigh in on controversial issues, which is why I have a lot of friends.  Every once in a while though I just have to add my two cents. As I read the paper this morning I noticed an article that is making it’s way across the Internet.  It concerns the issues of a crying baby in a fancy restaurant.

Now don’t get me wrong.  I love kids.  I was a girl scout leader and I’ve raised two of my own and although I wasn’t considered a strong disciplinarian and was more of a pushover I did teach my children manners.  You see I was taught manners as a child and I am always considerate of those around me.

When the children were little I wouldn’t dream of taking them to the opera or to a fancy, quiet restaurant where they might make a loud scene…that is consideration.

I guess I ate a lot of McDonald’s salads and Chuck E Cheese pizza because those are the places that catered to my tiny tots.  In stores and other restaurants, if the children misbehaved or caused a scene I simply took them outside and if they continued I went home with my dinner in a doggie bag.  I can truthfully say they didn’t do it very often, because they wanted to be there and knew if they acted up they wouldn’t be.

My husband and I go to a movie each and every week since they kids grew up.  I am always amazed at how many people bring tiny tots to heavy R rated movies and I’m not talking about action adventure, I’m talking about horror movies that even give me nightmares, let alone a 3-year old. 

Just last week we went to a movie and a woman came in toting 4 kids all under the age of 5, she set them down behind us and went and sat with a babe in arms three rows back.  The kids kicked my seat, talked through the movie and spilled popcorn and drink all over the place.  In addition one started to walk down the stairs, fell and screamed for 5 minutes.  All the while the woman enjoyed the movie three rows back.  Now that is inconsiderate!

Here is my answer to the question of kids in restaurants and public places.  If the place you are going doesn’t cater to kids and your baby sitter cancels…don’t ever hire that babysitter again and chuck it up to experience.  If your child acts up when you take them in public, be considerate of those around you and take them outside.  I guarantee you will only have to do that once or twice and they will get the message.  And if you can’t afford a baby sitter maybe your can’t afford to go out at the moment.  Teach your kid’s manners and they will be thankful, grateful and mindful.

Weather wimps just need to put on a coat and realize…it’s winter

Lately I’ve been wondering what in the heck has happened to people these days.  We have a cold snap and it’s 0 degrees at night and in the 20’s during the day and they close schools for two days!  Yes, in Virginia they closed schools because it was too cold. Today there was no school again, because it rained and it might freeze! Tomorrow they are predicting the temperature will reach 65 degrees with thunderstorms!  Yes I did say thunderstorms. Guess my little dog will be hiding under the couch for a while.

The way you hear the weathermen and women talk you would think that we are on the meteorological eve of destruction…

“Listen up people you better button up that overcoat because if you walk out that door you are going to freeze in your tracks!”

“Icicles are going to be hanging from your eyelashes.”

“Oh gosh Steve how long do we have to suffer in these crippling temperatures?”

“Well Linda, an artic front is moving in and will arrive by noon, so hop under those covers and stay there till March!”

The way they go on we must be heading to a second ice age!

When I was a kid, we weren’t lucky enough to get a “cold” day off from school.  It had to snow to be able to leave that homework unfinished. We sometimes had entire weeks of single digit temperatures and no one batted an ice encrusted eyelash.  We just put on a coat and went about our business as usual. Are we breeding a generation of weather wimps? 

I live in Virginia.  It’s not Antartica and the temperatures are usually rarely extreme in the winter. This past week was the first time I used my coat in 3 years.  I was beginning to think it would out of style before I got any use out of it.  We haven’t had more than a dusting of snow in four years and my snow shovel is gathering cobwebs somewhere in the basement.  And everywhere you go all anyone talks about is how cold it is. 

Before you know it, though, winter will be just a memory and the winter weather wimps will go into hibernation and out will come the summer ones…

“Geez it’s so hot you can fry an egg on the sidewalk, how will we survive this deadly heat wave?”