Good week thus far. Thinking in pink.

Feeling lazy lately so I just wore the same outfit 3 nights in a row to three different events, that's how we do it @ our house.    We like to conserve on laundry.  

Aren't having friends the best.  You know the ones where you could go without talking for a long time and just pick up right where you left off.   

I met up with the other two girls in the below picture for dinner this week. They were here on business and are still going strong working their stock market hours @ my old place of employment.   Sometimes I have to be honest and say that thinking about going back to work seems like it would be a break.  Being a Mom @ full force takes a strong woman who is not weary of heart.  Could not imagine throwing work into the Mom mix.  I don't know how all of my working Mom friends do it.

Speaking of strength in women and Moms, the below picture represents.  Between all 3 of us we have 15 kids.  Friend on the left has a set of triplets and we all know that I had my five in 2 pregnancies.  We used to hang out back in our single days and never would have guessed that our life would take us to where we are now.  I haven't forgotten to mention my friend pictured in the middle.  Not only does she have five kids but she is fighting stage 3 breast cancer.  She is way to young for this but nonetheless has this battle place upon her plate @ this time.  Now what is so inspiring is both her fortitude and attitude.  None of us know what it is truly like behind closed doors with the battles that people truly fight but outwardly I am completely impressed with the way she is handling this situation.  There's no doom and gloom over where she is.  In fact she has kept such hope and her sense of humor alive.  If you want to be inspired by a great and strong woman feel free to stop on by her cancer blog.  Anybody has the invite to not be shy and give her any words of encouragement to help bolster her up.  In fact the below picture was taken @ a party where some genius thought about throwing a cancer shower.  We all got together to show our support by not only showering her with scarfs, hats, wraps but mostly love and support.  She radiates beauty even without her hair.

My little brain thinks in color all of the time and I think we should throw a big huge pink party when Shelly conquers this chemo thing.

I hope Coke stock goes up.

In my home I've added an 11th commandment; Thou shalt not drink soda pop. Oh and I've made it a very well known tid bit, especially around the in-laws house. Just to preface...rumor has it that back in the day Coke wasn't doing so well. Husbands Grandpa was so nervous that they may go out of business so he bought a bunch of stock in hopes to keep the company alive. Well fast forward 60 years and the in-laws are still keeping the company up and running. Instead of water or any other beverage they drink Coke, I mean they practically bathe in the stuff. We constantly banter back and forth about our polar opposite in the dietary belief system. To them I am an extreme tree hugging bark eating daughter in-law and to me they are the biggest meat eating toxin drinking in-laws. Now it's a good thing all parties have such good senses of humor.

On past visits when Grandma has come to town she hides her Coke in the fridge. When she takes it out to have a sip, she tries to hide her addiction from the kids. She may have even asked for a brown paper bag to put it in while she drinks it but I'm not sure if I just made that one up. I think she thinks she is really funny. Well Grandma's back in town and something has gotten into her crazy bones because she brought the Coke out for all to see as she proudly slurped it down. My worst nightmare started unfolding before my eyes as Little "M" asked for a drink of it tonight. The tension got a little thick as all eyes were on the grandma/granddaughter duo. We all watched closely as Grandma proceeded to tell Little "M" that it didn't taste very good. Little M's response was "Oh, well my Daddy drinks it all the time", followed by a few random snickers heard throughout the kitchen. Let's not talk about the fact that the stuff Daddy drinks is shall we say all yellow, which may deem him as a traitor considering the only all yellow beverage I know about belongs to the Pepsi family and he would be at risk of being disowned. We don't want that to happen because there is still stock involved here if you know what I mean. Anyway little "M" wasn't going to let the topic go. She wanted to know why it was so bad for you. All Grandma could come up with was, "It makes your teeth fall out". Little M's eyes got all wide as she moved in closer to inspect Grandma's teeth. She said something to the extent that you shouldn't drink it then Grandma because that's not good if your teeth fall out. Grandma's response was "It's ok to drink it when your old cause your teeth just fall out anyway." Little "M" finally was satisfied after Grandma let her just smell it.(refer to above picture) 

Good one Grandma...I'll just make up for it and cook you garlic infused tofu every night for the rest of your stay.

Then there's this picture..

We love Grandma. She always comes bearing gifts. This time she thought she could make Little "M" so happy by bringing the Barbie that she had left at her house last time when we were there. Did I mention that Grandma thought she was doing Little "M" a favor by using Gorilla glue to keep Barbies shoes and dress on? It almost sent little "M" over the edge with the thought of not being able to remove Barbie's clothes. I guess Grandma didn't realize that we run a Barbie nudest colony over here. I finally got so sick of telling little "M" to keep the clothes on her Barbie that it was either send Barbie on a get away trip (which sounded like th best option because I didn't give Barbie to the girls anyway) or just ignore it. I chose the latter but wondered if it were the right decision after Baby #2 who hardly speaks a word of English picked Barbie up the other day and said, "baby nakey". Ooops, I'm just glad Baby #2 thinks Barbie is a baby.

What Grandma glues clothes and shoes on a Barbie anyway?

I guess this beautiful most loving one, who I have to admit that if drinking Coke everyday makes her look this good, then pour me a cold one.

A trail of thought leads to a shower.

As I was doing the dishes for the first time in a couple of days, I was trying to think of anything positive to keep my mind off the fact that every single one of my kids are sick and I have been a one woman band (meaning the other CEO of the home is also trying to be the CFO as well so hasn't been home @ nights) for what seems like an eternity.  Can't really blame him though. 

I started washing out the yogurt containers thinking it was a darn shame to be wasteful and throw them away.  "There's just got to be something I can use these things for...hmmm..they've got good shape", I thought.  That's when the idea for my next project came into my head.  My coping skills kicked into gear and again found myself forgetting about all of my worries by trying to create something else in my head with all of the trims I have hoarded over the years.  

Did I just say hoarded?  Am I a hoarder?  Hoarding sounds like a harsh classification but I do have lots of trims and notions that take up a full room and plus I've had it on the brain lately.  Especially after reading another article on the single lady who hoards children.  You know the one who just had octuplets after having 6 other children all under the age of something really young (in which two of the six were 2 year old twins and 1 was autistic).  I really appreciate the fact that she makes me feel really quite normal so that was good.  Thus far I may hoard fabrics and notions but I am no hoarder of children and I've almost established that I do not hoard water either since it had been a couple of days of no dishes.  Wait come to think of it had I even consumed any water today at all?  Another day without a shower and I certainly hadn't even come close to drinking my eight glasses a day.  That's when I decided to slap a great big award onto myself.  The award of the day goes as follows:

{Grand prize}

"Great water & yogurt container conservationist"

I feel so good about myself now that I've won an award, that I think I deserve to have a shower.  

Stay tuned for the transformation of the yogurt containers.  I have a feeling that they're going to bring much luck.

Now anybody who gets the point of this post deserves their own award.  

Ode to the babysitters, things that fly, snow, and my Love.

Usually not big celebraters of Valentine's Day in our home.  Got lucky though this year and was invited to meet up with my "Love" for a Valentine's weekend ski trip.  So sorry I didn't get any hot pictures of you (aka my love) in your ski mask.   Anyway, here's the Valentine card I forgot to bring on our get-away.

xoxo - Wife

Lots of fun inside that building.

Didn't really matter that it was only zero degrees in this picture.  Ok let's be honest, look at my hand as it's about to fall off due to frost bite.

I only cried once when I thought about my sick babies @ home.  Thank you to all of those that participated in taking care of my chicks, for without you...well you all know where I'd be.

One more picture in the name of love just in case.

I had lots of fun so pls. do think of me again next year, my love.

Good things come is small packages..

{photo via Inchmark}

Yes good things do come in small packages even if "those small things" do find my keys to the car and push the automatic button to open the rear door when the garage is closed.  You'd think I'd learn my lesson by now to hide those keys.  The kids love getting a hold of them and pushing every button until they find the one that sets off the loud panic alarm.  This last time I heard a loud thud in the garage and when I opened the door to inspect I found the back door of the car lodged into the closed garage door.  I thought we were going to be stuck for a long time so we decided to make homemade Valentine's for preschool instead of worrying what Dad was going to say when he got home.

I was so pumped to make Valentines with the girls this year because there are only 12 kids in the class and  I found the cutest idea ever over @ Inchmark, who I want to take the time & thank (for project details go here).  I already had everything I needed from around the house except the matchboxes (which by the way are only 10 cents a piece and you actually get to save the matches for a rainy day).  It was a win win project.  The girls had a blast making these and they were so easy.  The girls colored doilies and glued them onto the cards, put stickers and cut-outs on the tags and boxes, then filled the boxes with the candy, which by far was their favorite part.  I think I'll save this idea for other things as well.  I am amazed we had enough candy to fill their boxes and bags with after they implemented the 5 for me and 1 for my classmate rule.

      

The little tag on the Valentine matchboxes say, "I think you are tweet".

P.S. - Later on after the project I figured out that if I started my car and pulled up just a little that I would be able to get the door shut on the car. Phew, just in time before daddy got home.  Now I'll still get the Valentine's date I've been dreaming of.  

The perfect silhouette of a lady. Happy Birthday Mom!

I have always loved cameos and silhouettes of ladies. When I look @ one it always makes me wonder about what really is behind the lady in the silhouette. Was she strong? Was she kind? You know all of the characteristics that exist behind great women. Well if I had a silhouette of my mother I would not have to wonder because I already know. I have had such a great opportunity to be not only raised but to be a dear friend to a most lovely lady who is beautiful inside out. She is the of kind lady who has great moral character & spiritual beauty.  In the movie Mary Poppins there is  part where she gets the measuring tape out to measure the children & they then in return want their nanny to measure herself  as well.  If you've seen the movie then you know that when she measures herself  her height comes out not as a number but instead it reads, "Mary Poppins perfect in every way."  That makes me think of my Mom.  Even if Mom is not totally perfect I still measure myself by her and if I am half the woman she is than I'm set.  She'll probably think that I am silly for saying that but it's really how I feel. I don't remember her having any tricks up her sleeve like Mary Poppins did when it came to picking up our toys but what she did give us were the tools necessary to thrive and survive this life.  She has taught by her example what it means to be a upright person.  She showed us how to pray, to love, to have hope, to honor & protect womanhood, to have integrity, to obtain knowledge, have charity, forgive, repent, and the list just goes on.  I'm pretty positive that because of her birth she will continue to leave a legacy and impact especially all of her progenitors.  I know I am a better person because of her.  I used to sit in church and feel so special because she wore a necklace that had charms of all of her children with our names engraved on them.  Actually I remember her wearing that necklace more than any others.  I wish I had a picture of her necklace to share on this very day.

Thank you so much for giving me the outline that I needed before I could fill in my own silhouette. I love you & have a great day Mommazita! To continue in your silhouette charm collection, I finally got around to starting your next generation of charms. They're on the way but awaiting being engraved.

{Above photo via LuckyMeBeads}

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Today I wish you this but without all of the toe fungus you got with your last pedicure 5 years ago, even though I know you will have no time for yourself and will be on your feet all day.

{Above photo via Virtual_Insanity photo stream on Flikr}

One last HOORAH of silhouettes in honor of birthday girl.  

{Top 5 photos via Country Living Online}

Mirrors are Reflective.

As I sat there cleaning all of my mirrored surfaces in my bedroom, I thought to myself why on earth would any Mom with kids have mirrored furniture and closet doors. Ok to give myself some credit we moved into this house with everything mirrored. Even the whole fireplace use to be mirrored and as for the mirrored nightstands I had those years before any of my kids could move around so it's not my fault. Now the chair I had recently reupholstered in white fabric last year, I am totally 100% responsible for. I already made a pact that if that chair has a mishap then I am not allowed to get mad. I couldn't help but reupholster it in white because after all that is my favorite uncolor color. If I were to wait until the kids left the house before I had anything white my hair would probably beat me to it. Let's not mention the whole age thing as I will be another year older soon. Ok now that we got the whole I will not get upset if the white gets ruined thing straight let's talk about the reflectiveness of all of my mirrors.

First I am so proud to have a clean room. Anyone who comes over can vouch that my room rates pretty high on the mess-o-meter so I forever preserved it's cleanness in a picture just case I forget what it looks like again. As I was cleaning my mirrored nightstands I could not believe the different array of hand prints. As I continued cleaning, a sudden rush of deep anxiety set in when I looked behind my bed and noticed my twin size nursing pillow was gone. I didn't remember moving it. Now, now don't worry I quit nursing 8 months ago but you don't understand that this thing was my lifesaver and without it I was nothing. Soon after I calmed down and realized I truly would never need it again I got down to the real root of the problem. You see, I'm not losing a jumbo size nursing pillow I'm loosing my babies. We are hitting a new frontier where babies turn into midgets. Oh man, take a breath. I am sad though, this may by it for babydom for ever. Time certainly hasn't flown to my house, it's flown somewhere far away, somewhere that I will never get the chance to get again. I continued to windex the furniture and when I got to the closet doors I couldn't do it. I couldn't seem to operate the windex bottle and my arm couldn't wax on wax off, so I left it for another day. At least I finally ditched the last of the maternity clothes...except for one thing just in case.

I'm the Queen.

It all started with, "Mom can I have some juice please" as I sit talking to a long time friend.  She probably asked a couple more times but I'm not sure because I heard her but didn't really hear her all @ the same time.  You know the drill.  Finally with a little louder voice, "Caaan I haave some more juice your MAJESTY".  I stopped dead in my tracks and burst out laughing in the middle of a conversation with a friend who was needing some intervention.  Of course I explained to my friend why I was laughing but only I, my daughters mother was going to get the biggest kick out of it.  As I hung up the phone and what she had said sunk in a little more I was trying really hard not to get all offended.  All funny business aside, it got me thinking.  You see last time I checked we don't live in a castle so where on earth did she pull this "your majesty" from.  Then it hit me hard and this is all I could picture.  "Off with your head"  

Oh man, I do sound like the Queen of hearts and as Alice would say "Yes, your majesty".  I have been a little more intense lately but I really would have prefered a reference to the Chesire Cat or I'd even take the Mad Hatter at this point before the Queen.  Now what am I to do, Mrs. Hannigan can't even save the day and make me feel better about myself.  Which meant new resolutions needed to be made.  I pledge I will never yell and only talk sweetly to my kids.  It's going to be all about love & happiness.  Who cares if the shoes never get put away, who cares if the house is in need of a Haz Mat crew and who really cares if kids use the floor instead of the toilet because what it all boils down to is if we are happy.  Without happiness we are so lonely and the home may as well be empty. As the day went on I was feeling a little better and changed my tune from "It's a hard knock life for me" to "It's better to be happy in a cardboard box than to be alone in a castle"  You see I'd trade in that castle to never have my daughter call me "your majesty". In fact I'd trade in just about anything to make sure my kids are happy. It really doesn't matter where we live but that we are together cause that's all I got.  Better make the best of it. 

 

To the little girl who wears the crown, you have won my heart, "your majesty".