Classic Emily

On the way to voice today I casually said to Emily, "Can you believe school is almost out?"

She responded with, "Yup, your vacation is almost over Mom, while ours will just begin."

She is so funny sometimes.

Cleaning House

As I was wiping down the counters after dinner tonight it occurred to me (and not for the first time I assure you) that the ratio between how long it takes me to clean the house and how long it takes for it to get "un-clean" is entirely too great.

It could potentially take me about two hours to clean the house, and that doesn't just mean picking up things that are not where they belong. I mean really clean (vacuum, dust, wash floors etc). That's just the downstairs. Adding upstairs to the mix, it would probably be more like three or four hours. My house isn't that big. I mean it's good size I guess but it's certainly not "over sized." Anyway, the point? What takes four hours to clean takes approximately four minutes to destroy. There is just something wrong with that.

Try as I might, I just can't seem to find a happy medium. If I clean the house so that it shines, and the kids come home a destroy it anyway, what's the damn point? This is not to say of course, that I should never clean based on the fact that it will undoubtedly just get messy again, because even I have my limits of how much clutter I can deal with. Admittedly, I could be better with the day to day upkeep. Perhaps, if I were to do that, the kids would model my behavior, instead of throwing their dirty clothes on the floor, or scattering their game pieces everywhere, or any other behavior that regularly makes the upstairs look like a hurricane blew through. Honestly though? I just don't care enough or have enough energy or motivation. Is that bad? Maybe it is. I just don't know. My house is clean for company, and generally speaking "clean enough" otherwise. There are days when a random guest dropping in would be somewhat embarrassing. There are days when it wouldn't be. Why though, do I let this bother me? Honestly, in my mind, in my own little world I think that if you are offended in any way by how the house looks, then, well, just don't come over. Can't it just be that simple? I have three kids, a husband and about a million other responsibilities that I have to worry about/take care of. Keeping the house in some state of perfection is beyond what I have energy and time for, and perhaps beyond what I am capable of given everything else that is going on.

Katherine: The Updated Version

Shocking(NOT) results: Katherine has strep again. This time around, the doc prescribed Augmentin. He was alarmed of course, that she had it three times in thirty days time, so we are going back in two weeks, after she is done with this round of antibiotics, to see if she could perhaps be a "carrier" of strep throat. I am not quite sure how this can be given what I have read about being a "carrier"(to my knowledge this means that the strep bacteria are always present but that symptoms of strep are not). The bacteria part makes sense but she certainly has had the symptoms (a low grade fever and um, a sore throat). Of course, I left the office before the question occurred...so I will just ask when we go back in a couple of weeks.

Anyway, whatever.

She had to miss yet another birthday party because of this. She is such a trooper though. A few tears were shed (understandably) but once I explained (again) how she didn't want her friends to get sick too, she was fine (I am sure the promise of ice cream on the way home from the doc's may have helped too). Whatever works I say.

We have the annual Easter Egg Hunt tomorrow at Ryun's grandmothers, which I am, as of right now still planning on taking Katherine to. By the time we get there, she will have had a full 24 hours of medicine doses in her, so she won't be contagious anymore. As long as she is feeling up to it, we will be there and if not, Ryun will take Emily and Julia regardless.

Katherine...

...might have strep throat...again. She went to the nurse today at school who called and reported to me that her throat was red but, she didn't have a fever. She sent her back to class, where Katherine willingly went but, this is how it started the other THREE times she has had it in the past 4 months (1 time in January and 2 times in April). That, combined with the fact that she has never in her life complained of pain anywhere and not had it turn out to be a legitimate illness (for the past 6 years it has been ear infections, this year, apparently it's going to be strep), make me think that this could be the beginning of yet another bout.

So I am thinking that she is either prone to this type of thing, or that she has developed an immunity to the antibiotics (although last time it was cephalexin that she took as opposed to the usual amoxycillin that is prescribed for both ear and throat infections). I am thinking the former rather than the latter. This is not ok. Strep throat 4 times (assuming she has it again) in 4 months time, 3 of which occurred within 1 month of each other? The poor kid. I have a feeling a tonsillectomy may be in her future.

Blah...

Thoughts?

I volunteered, last night at a meeting supporting an override here in town, to design a website for our newly formed committee. Time is short, money is tight, and my patience for website design is in short supply. So, I am looking for your advice.

What I would like to do is design a professional looking site (or as professional as one would expect out of a stay at home mom volunteering her time) which has features like calendars, forms that can be filled out and emailed back to me (to sign up to volunteer), possibly a way of polling visitors and things of that nature. I am looking for the simplest(drag and drop would be fantastic)and least expensive way of doing this, without scrimping on the quality. Moreover, if there is anyone out there in Middleboro reading this that supports paying an additional $280 ( based on a house valued at $350,000)in property taxes to support the children of this community that would like to, well, do this for me, please, step right up.

Seriously though, any thoughts? What have you used in the way of host and site providers? Financially speaking, we can spend the bare minimum, at least for now, while we are getting organized.

I interupt housecleaning to bring you this...

...breakthrough moment, brought to you courtesy of the reigning pre-teen of the moment, Emily Ellis.

So yesterday was one of those days with Emily. Everything made her mad (a couple of times gate-throwing, door-slamming mad),everything made her cry, and every word that came out of her mouth was fresh or disrespectful. Attitude was in full force and tears of frustration threatened to fall from my eyes on many occasions.

This morning she woke up, gave me a hug and said, "I am sorry I had an attitude yesterday. I don't know why I had one, but I know I did."

Three things came to mind after she said this:

1. She just recognized that what she was doing yesterday was wrong. Knowing is half the battle and all that.

2. She just apologized, and actually meant it sincerely.

and the kicker...

3. Oh my God, could she be "pms-ing"?

Seriously, someone somewhere needs to find a way to stop time. Like right now. Mama isn't ready for this yet!

Chili

After Julia ate and appeared to LOVE chili at last weeks playgroup, I have decided to try and make my own, something that I have never done.

So, last night I went out and bought the following ingredients:

2 lbs of ground beef
1 can of light red kidney beans
1 can of diced tomatoes
1 can of tomato sauce (8 oz)

and a bag of chili seasonings which includes:
masa corn flour
caynenne pepper
salt
a bag labeled "chili spices"

I was thinking that I would like to cook this in the crock. I will brown the beef first of course and then throw everything in.

I was wondering though, if anyone has ever done this? I am planning on waiting to add the beans and possibly the diced tomatoes until its about a half hour before the chili is done. I was thinking they were too soft and would cook to "quickly" in the slow cooker but, if anyone has any input in that regard, please share.

How ave you cooked chili in the past? What works best for you?