Ask The Helpful Housewife

If You Want Breakfast In Bed, Then Sleep In The Kitchen!!!!

That's my attitude at the moment...  I've been in the car all day today.  Literally.  After the girls got on the bus this morning, Andrew and I hopped in the car and headed north.  We drove 3 hours to meet my parents so he could continue on his merry way with them for a few days of spoiling and fun; I then turned around and drove back home again to meet the bus at 4 pm when the girls returned home. And right now, making dinner is the LAST thing I want to do!

Ever had one of those nights?  Sure you have!  We all have!  And plenty of them.  Practically every night for some of us.  Normally I love to cook.  But not tonight.  I am tired from driving in bright sunlight, dodging the ever present orange road construction barrels, and listening to horrible radio/mp3's (nothing was really doing it for me).  So this presents a challenge.  How do I provide sustenance for my family without A) blowing a fortune on overpriced, low-quality take-out; B) going back out in the car to the grocery store because I forgot to pull something out of the freezer this morning; or C) losing what little sanity I have left scouring my refrigerator and pantry for some inspiration while listening to hungry girls whine?

Easy!  Toss all three kids in the pool.  Pour a nice cold cocktail. Call husband and tell him it's pizza night, because we haven't had one in a while!  SERIOUSLY! Don't judge me - I know this blog is supposed to be all about having all the answers, having all the tools on hand, having everything prepared for just such an occasion.  Well guess what?! Part of that equation as a modern, realistic housewife, is giving yourself permission to say "the heck with it" and order pizza!  I realized today as I was driving back that I never seem to give you guys the permission to do that, and it is so very important. 

Part of having it "all" is being able to take a night off once in a while and just not do it "all".  It really improves your outlook, your energy level, your mood...  you might even give your husband a big old kiss when he walks in the door with that cardboard pizza box and he'll instantly forgive you for making him go out of his way on the drive home because - OH MY GOODNESS!!!! - you actually physically touched him other than smacking him to get him out of the recliner and out to mow the lawn!

So take tonight off.  I dare you! See if it improves your mood at all.  I betcha it does! Tomorrow we can go back to being perfect superwomen....

Honor

"We can live our life because they fought and sacrificed." - Commander James Winstanley, US Navy Retired, Eagle, Michigan

His statement pretty much sums it up.  Do you ever stop and really think what life would be like had those before us not had honor? They had the honor to fight!  And I don't mean privelege.  I don't mean the gift of going to war.  I mean honor as in character, strength, and belief that what they had to do would mean protecting the greater good?

Honor can have so many meanings.  On Memorial Day, we honor those who went before us and bravely served for our country as well as those serving today.  But have you really thought about what it would mean if they didn't?  What if they hadn't chosen to give their lives in WWII?  How the global picture would be different now!  What if they hadn't stood strong in Korea, Vietnam, the Persian Gulf...  Heck, what if they had gotten to the point of war in the American Revolution, realized what they had gotten themselves into, and said "Yeah, well, this is a bit much guys. I gotta tell, I didn't sign on for this!" We would still be drinking tea at 4 pm and sending enormous taxes to Britain and the women would still be wearing dresses with corsets that break your ribs. 

Every part of your life - every freedom, every right, every belief, every word spoken without fear of imprisonment - you owe to the men and women who fought for it.  You enjoy freedoms the rest of the world can only dream of due only to the bravery and HONOR of those who were willing to go to battle, knowing that the ultimate price could be their life. 

I am so very thankful every day for this.  I thank my husband all the time for what he does.  He will tell you that. I appreciate Memorial Day greatly, because it does make our great nation stop and remember the deeper meaning.  My challenge to you is to continue to remember it every other day of the year, not just on the last Monday of May.  And when you see a veteran, or a soldier, or a member of their family (because they have sacrificed as well!), please thank them.  Without them, your life would not be the same. 

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Happy Memorial Weekend!

Yes, I usually only post Mondays through Fridays, but tonight I felt like popping on the laptop and saying hello to everyone!  And I want to wish everyone a "Happy Memorial Weekend"...especially my husband.  As an active duty member of our armed services, and currently holding the really hated and crappy position of Inspector General, he gets my appreciation!  He is viewed as having leprosy now.  No more joking with the gang - he's the one who has to investigate all the bad allegations. Ick.  So of course everyone avoids him!  So unfair. 

Thought I might bring you a little trivia, as well.  Did you know that General George S. Patton was dyslexic?  Also, did you know that he grew up very privileged, was a millionaire, graduated near the bottom of his class in West Point, yet was still able to succeed in spite of his learning disability and prove he could work hard despite his background? He was a lover of the arts, especially architecture and classical music.  And here's a bit of obscure trivia - he wrote volumes of poetry!

These are the things that float around my head today as I am STILL in my pajamas from LAST NIGHT!  I'm not even joking.  Our family has been on fast forward for months now.  This is our first weekend without field trips, military duty, games, events, etc...  It is STILL raining outside... and we are all just worn out.  So no one got dressed today!  And I mean no one.  Heck, I even tweeted a photo around 3 pm of Andy still in bed with Aelin, watching cartoons on Boomerang! Here it is, 9:30 pm, and the kids are all heading to bed for the night, and Andy and I are still in pajama mode as well.  Ever have one of those days?  Well, you should!  Good for the soul!

Okay, off to more AMC classic movies.  I think we're on "Apocolypse Now".  This is what we watch this weekend here in our house!  What else, when you're married to a Lt. Colonel who's a WWII history buff?  Nothing but war movies on AMC!

Enjoy your long weekend - may it be safe and happy!

What Time Is It?

Child (any, pick one!): "What time is it?"

Me: "7:30."

Child: "Oh. What time is that?"

Me: "Halfway between 7:00 and 8:00."

Child: "What's 8:00?"

Me: "It's bathtime! Stop asking me questions about the clock!!!"

Child, running off to siblings: "It's bath time!"

See, there is a benefit to having a schedule!  It really shortens THOSE conversations.  Until kids are old enough to comprehend time, say, at about 33 years old and they are late for work, they just don't understand what anyone means when they tell them the actual TIME. And when you have a set schedule, it's just easier to tell them "It's bath time" or "it's time for lunch" or "it's quiet time, because Mommy is about to break into the vodka if we don't have quiet time."

I get so many emails asking me about routines and schedules. I get more hits on the link to the routines posted here than on any other part of the site!  Apparently, this is an area that is a quandry for so many people.  And it's easy to see why.  There is a mindset that once you set a schedule, that's it.  It's written in stone, and it needs to be followed.  That's just not realistic, folks!  I know I have my detailed schedule that I posted out here, but it isn't a letter of the law document!  If something comes up, then the schedule gets tossed out the window until we can come back to it.  And it's more of a general guideline anyway, to keep me progressing through my day.  I don't walk around with a stopwatch! (Unless the kids are brushing their teeth or cleaning up the play room!)

So, you want a schedule of your own. But where do you start?  It's kind of like the analogy of filling the jar with stones and sand to make them all fit.  You start with the biggest and end with the smallest, with the small filling in all the crevices.  To get an idea of how your day can be laid out, you first need to identify those things that you HAVE to do.  They are scheduled FOR you by others, or by needs you/others have.   And the things I'm talking about are daily things, not once a year events... employment would probably top that list!  Getting the kids to school might also be a non-negotiable????

Then you add in things like meal times, nap times (for kids), carpool schedules, practices, etc. Starting to look full, isn't it?  But you can still find those blocks of time that are open.  That's where you fill in the other stuff.  For example, up until today I had Monday through Thursday afternoons to myself while Andrew was at school.  From 12:15 to 3:15, I was on my own!  This is when I scheduled in the things I didn't want to do with kids in tow, such as grocery shopping, errands, and other things.  I made all of my doctor appointments during this time frame, and tried to get as much done as possible that would be easiest without the tribe.  Things like laundry and vacuuming and housework?  Those I can do anytime!  So I would fill in regular time slots on the calendar just to make sure I stayed on top of it.  But it didn't matter if everyone was home!  I can fold towels while the family has movie night.  I can vacuum and dust while the kids are working on art projects or playing outside. 

But if something comes up and I have a regular item  on my schedule?  Who cares!  I'll get to it the next go round! It's called flexibility.  And it's available BECAUSE of the schedule.  If you use a schedule to stay on top of everything, when you do have to break routine it won't completely disrupt your life.  You'll be ready for whatever life throws at you...

 

Needing Inspiration - or Maybe a New Boss

As I sit here, still staring into space having not moved since posting earlier, it occurs to me that I need one of two things (or both): some new inspiration or a new boss.  And yes, I am self-employed as a "stay-at-home-mom-domestic-engineer-wife-chef-etc.".  So that means I need to fire myself?  You see, I have come to a cross-roads in my life.  I've come to realize that I simply just cannot go on without blogging.  I left for almost a year, and here I am.  Back again.  Like Lindsey Lohan to rehab.  But I can't keep doing this on-again off-again thing anymore.

So I am making a big decision.  I am going to treat this blog as if it is my CAREER.  Not a hobby anymore.  But as I am thrilled to suddenly feel like I have this new role, I realize that I'm completely out of material.  Out of ideas.  Out of mojo.  And I probably don't have the self discipline to do this as a full time "career".  Which leads to the thought that I need a boss to tell me what to do, when to do it, and why I can't just sit on my butt watching Regis & Kelly when I get writer's block.  Does anyone else fight with this?  It must be the curse of the stay at home mom.  We get so busy running around living the schedule of our family, that when it comes to self-motivation for anything we have/want to do, we draw a blank and put it on the backburner.  Or am I imagining this?  Honestly, sometimes I take refuge in the fact that I can blame the other five inhabitants of this household for keeping me too busy to blog because I just don't have the energy to try to come up with material!  And I know you really don't want to hear about my day to day life of cleaning up cat puke while trying to make sure the kids actually get on the bus on time.

By making a declaration that this will be my occupation, a full-time blogger, I am counting on it  motivating me into creating material that is worthy for my readers and lifting it to a higher level. And keeping me honest in my daily responsibility to it. 

I am also opening the floor for comments/suggestions on how you want the blog to evolve.  What topics you want me to cover.  What special events you might want to see.  I want your feedback!  Please email me, leave a comment here, drop me a tweet on twitter, post it on the facebook page.... anything!  I truly do want my friends out here to be a part of this process! It's the only way I can improve and be truly dedicated...

There.  I saved my job today.  But you never know - I might fire myself tomorrow if I don't shape up!

Larger Than Life

My husband walked in the door last night to this in the kitchen:

 
He didn't say hello to me or the kids. Nope.  He just walked in the door from the garage, stopped dead in his tracks, paused for about 30 seconds, and then blurted out "That's a big-ass fork and spoon!"....  Husbands can be so eloquent, can't they?

Personally, I was sick and tired of the blank space above my kitchen slider.  I wanted something up there, but I didn't want the same old text graphics that everyone is doing these days.  So, I've just been ignoring the dead space for a while, and hoping something would just magically appear.  Then, the other day I was in Meijer for something totally different and stumbled across this fork and spoon decal.  I wasn't even thinking about this decorating dilemma at the time, and it was a complete light bulb over the head moment. 

On an end cap, marked down from 19.99 to 4.99 on clearance, was this perfect solution!  I snatched it up and tossed it in the cart, giddy and feeling so darn smug.   Turns out, it was the perfect fit! I am loving it, even if my husband now thinks we live in a tacky diner. Funny how he didn't notice I had scrubbed the kitchen top to bottom and put up the summer curtains!  Again, husbands.... jeesh....

I've turned into a big fan of these wall decals.  I don't have them plastered all over my house or anything, but they are wonderful for accent pieces here and there.  They are like a really thick contact paper, but you can reapply them anywhere it's a smooth surface.  So if you want to move them, you don't have nail holes left in your walls and it isn't a lot of work.  Just simply peel it off, and stick it up in a new place! Stores all over have them now, so check out the bazillion different themes.  Great for kids rooms - when they outgrow it, just peel it off and move on.  No messy wallpaper removal or repainting.  And moisture friendly for rooms like the bathroom and laundry room! Great invention.  Right up there with the microwave oven, if you ask me!

Life at the Speed of 101.8

Here it is, 10 pm, and I am finally getting a chance to write.  So much for my leisurely afternoon blogging session.  My first week back, and already it's full of speed bumps.  Monday and Tuesday were technical nightmares.  Then today hit me. 

It started out wonderfully!  My girlfriend, Jenn, came over this morning with her son, and we enjoyed some good coffee and great conversation while the boys played and grazed on warm cinnamon rolls.  It was so relaxing and enjoyable!  I really have missed "grown up" time.  The kids are finally at a point where I don't have to watch them like a mama hawk all the time, and I can just sit and enjoy company.  It's so nice! Then Jenn took the boys off to preschool for the afternoon and I headed out to my oldest child's classroom for my last weekly volunteer session.

The bad weather hit while I was in the school.  So I got completely soaked running across the lot to the car!  Then, just as I'm pulling in the driveway, daydreaming about all the blogging goodness to come for the next hour and a half, my cell phone rings.  It's the twins' school number on the caller ID.  A report that Aelin got hit in the eye with a drumstick in music class.  She'll be fine, but wanted to let me know. 

Change thoughts back to blogging.  Settle down to the table with laptop and a beverage.  Turn on laptop.  Cell phone rings.  Twin #2!  Annika has a fever of 101.8, and a tummy ache.  Could I come get her?  Of course! So, put it all down, grab the car keys and head out the door....

So, since I'm picking up one of the twins, might as well just take the other one!  On the way home, swing by and pick up Andrew from preschool.  Now it's 3:30 and there went my afternoon of quiet!  So, I get Annika tucked into bed after a round of vomiting, and Aelin is playing away.  But Andrew is into the Indiana Jones Lego game on the Wii....  yeah, real conducive to blogging in the background!  He's so frustrated!  And every 3 minutes, it's "Mom, I can't do it!" in the whiniest, most annoying scream ever.  Tantrum city.  This game is hard, dang-it!  So I alternate between the video game and making dinner until Dad comes home to relieve me on the arcade front!

So far, nothing done. Then the oldest wants to go out to dinner with friends, requiring phone calls back and forth to confirm it's a real plan, and not something concocted by just the 9 year olds! After dinner, still have to clean up, do the dishes, all that jazz...  Annika slept through it all, and woke up at 9:30 wanting cereal.  One bite and she felt sick again....  back off to bed with a warm little forehead and lots of kisses from Mommy.

There you go.  That's what happens when you make plans.  Wednesday with 4 kids happens. Now they are all sound asleep, and here I am.  Drawing a blank.  I could tell you all about how I changed out my kitchen curtains for the spring and summer versions; I could pass along a tip or two abut keeping your washer and dryer going instead of buying new ones; I could even do some research and pull some links together for some great deals going on right now!  But honestly?  I just want to take a dose of Children's Motrin myself and hit the bed.  Because today was the one day this week that was "slow" and scheduled as "uneventful".  I know it doesn't really sound like I was all that physically busy, but as you Moms know, a sick little one can exhaust you emotionally....

So.  Off to dreamland. Tomorrow I have to clean out the refrigerator and find the strange smell in my 9 year old girl's bedroom that makes it perpetually smell like a 16 year old boy's feet.  Such fun!

Monday and Tuesday Blues Got Me Down.... But I'm Back Up Now!

I know I promised that this week the blog would be back up and running again.  I have NOT gone back on my word!  Judging by the bazillion emails I've received over the last year (heck, just the last few days alone!), I've actually been really missed out here.  I am so touched that so many of you look forward to reading my ramblings and thoughts.  I've been told that there's even some useful information in here at times, so I will keep on trucking for you all.  Truth be told, I've really missed it, too!

The last two days I did post, but something funky is going on in the blogosphere.  I have finally gotten the ability to get SOMETHING to post, but this isn't the absolute for today.  I just wanted to let you all know that I will be keeping my promises!  I'll be back later this afternoon with a proper post, with some actual useful information.  (I hope!) Or at least something applicable to this blog....

Off to have a lovely cup of coffee and some homemade cinnamon rolls with a friend.  She's stopping by this morning with her son for a playdate with Andrew.  What a wonderful way to start my day!  If you have never done it - I encourage a weekly "mom date"!

Coming Back to the Blogosphere

The last year has been unbelievablyl hectic for my family, and a lot of things had to be put on the shelf for a while.  Including this little cyber-slice of retro housewife fun!  Next week I will be back to regular blogging again.  I just have to get through these next few days.  One more staff meeting at church, 2 more days of volunteer work at elementary schools, the beginning of golf league,a brownie girl scout field trip for my oldest daughter, a birthday sleepover for my twins, yard clean up day at the church, and girl scout bridging ceremony for all three of my girls.  So, uh, yeah.... still busy.  But next week I will be back at it again, and back in a routine now that the school year is winding down.  And I can't wait!!!!