Circle the Drain

One of my favorite songs by Katy Perry is Circle the Drain. Okay I have no idea what the title is, but that's the jest of it. So after my little conversation with the Close to My Heart rep today I thought...I think this company is circling the drain.

Several weeks ago I got an email stating that if I didn't order something by the end of February I was going to be dropped from the company. Now to begin with I had already been dropped to Junior Consultant because I wasn't ordering $300 worth of stuff every quarter. I stopped ordering enough to keep up when my sales dropped so much and attendance was way down at my workshops. I chalked most of that up to two of my regulars becoming consultants under me and hard economic times.

Anyway, I thought it over and decided maybe I would go ahead and order one thing to remain with the company. I thought maybe I'll just keep the options open in case life settles down enough for me to start up the workshops again. I mean now I have the space to do them at my own house! I then literally forgot to make the order and remember on March first. I thought, oh well, moving on. I was a little sad, but then I thought--you know what my life is full to the brim right now, so I'll focus on that.

But surprise! I got another email from the company on March 4th that said I had until March 31st to make a purchase. And I started to consider it. On March 15th I got an email that said--and I'm paraphrasing here--"toodles, seeya, we don't want any more money from you!!" Or something to that effect.

Yesterday, I thought about it as I was packing up my scrap room at the old house. I was boxing up paper and stamps, scrapbooks and projects and I thought, you know. I ought to go ahead and place an order. Why not? I could just order one thing and see what happens.

So I tried to log in this morning. No go.

I called the consultant number and found out that she 'didn't know why I got that second email' because 'only the first one was valid' and she's 'heard of this happening before.'

Really? You have a flaw in your system, but you won't honor your email offer to me. That pretty much sums up my entire experience with CTMH. So my closing words to her (after she offered for me to send a copy of that email to headquarters to see what they would do after telling me in a previous case they sided with the company not the consultant) were....

"No, I am totally done with this company. Thanks."

And I have to say....and I mean no disrespect to other consultants and wish them all the best...after seeing the last catalog, and the competition on the internet in this industry, I don't think CTMH is going to be around a lot longer. I think that most of their business is consultants buying as a hobby. I could be way off, but I think they may be about to circle the drain...

A rodeo!

{First let me note for weigh in Friday I broke the plateau and lost three pounds this week!!! Sweet!!}

This morning Little d had her Rodeo at school. The kids are grouped together and get to do little activities like horse shoes and barrel racing. 'Barrel racing?' You say. Yes, with her stick horse of course. That she cutely named Polka-Dot. They also got to "brand" a picture of a cow with real branding irons dipped in paint. It was such a neat day that they planned. They have been studying Texas for a couple of weeks, so this was a little hands on study of our great state.

Little m and Little md had a follow up doctor appointment for their ear infections. So we cut short our rodeo watching and took them in. Little m is terrified of the doctor. She fights every single part of it. And we've been talking to her and trying to get her to see that if she cooperates everything will go more smoothly. Like for example opening her mouth to say ahhhh so he doesn't have to put that stick in her mouth! And something finally clicked yesterday and she did! And after he checked her throat (without her gagging and nearly throwing up) I said "good job--you did it!" She got this little smile of accomplishment and I swear I saw the light bulb go off over her head.

So we went for ice cream afterwards to this spot called Dairy Treat. I think it's been around since the fifties or before. Their ice cream is so good you can write home about it. Or blog about it. Or risk an intestinal fit of dairy protest for it. Anyway, Little m chose strawberry (no surprise there she has a strawberry milk IV hooked up most of the day). And Little md got his first taste of ice cream. He kept making mmmmm--mmm noises. It was so cute! And Little m said "my belly loves this!" So I said "Is it worth a trip to the doctor to get more of this ice cream?" She tilted her head thoughtfully, wrinkled her nose and replied "Hmmm, no."

Oh well.

March Madness!

Well the past two weeks have involved three trips to the pediatrician, six ear infections, two orders for breathing treatments, three kids and a husband on antibiotics and a partridge in a pear tree!

Little d missed a week of school. This week she is on Spring Break and thankfully all the littles are getting better.

Skip ahead to me not posting for a while and now she's back to school. Spring Break is over.

I feel like we were living under a rock for a couple of weeks. The last day of d's break was the only day I let the kids outside in the rockin' wind. They flew kites and then we planted some seeds. Tomatoes, and strawberries that D got from Tractor Supply. Green beans, carrots, squash, beets and three varieties of flowers that came from Uncle T's hardware store in POC. His seeds were two years out of date so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they sprout. Although if they all come up I may have no choice but to till an actual garden...

I'm really excited at the thought of growing my own vegetables...and I don't even like beets. I also want to plant some red, yellow and orange peppers....

Speaking of vegetables: I, for the last two weigh-ins, lost zero. But the good news is I didn't gain any weight either. I think this is what they call a plateau. Which is fancy for flat. Like my chest. HA!

Little md: I think we can officially say he's a walker. Instead of walking from chair to chair, he now stands in the middle of the floor and takes off. He can pretty much traverse the room in one try. Amazing, still to see my baby learn. Even though he's number three, it's still just as miraculous to me. He's also cutting four teeth on top. Pretty much all at the same time. Crank-o-rama!

Little m: Wants me (or anyone for that matter) to read to her every waking hour of the day. And I try my hardest to oblige. She is still...my gosh still....in diapers. But with them all being sick, I didn't push it over Spring Break which was my target date.

Little d: Was so excited to go back to school...not my kid that's for sure! She has been doing so well. And she needs, as in desperately, to pull those two loose teeth in her mouth. But she is terrified of blood. She still has a crush on that boy in her class. She decided to give up talking about him for Lent. "Not thinking about him--Mom, just talking about him."

D and me. Or is it I? Anyway, we started the huge and time consuming task of cleaning out our old house so we can hopefully sell it in the next few months. Fingers crossed D gets to actually be off during his seven off instead of forced into overtime. Although we do use the money he makes on occasion...

I have decided to bloggerly track something. There are things unfinished around this new house. And there is one in particular that irks me. The mirrors are still not hung in the bathrooms. Still. We have lived in this house for 7 months. We'll see if they are hung by next Christmas. I'm not going to mention it to my husband again. :)

Weigh in Friday--a little late

One more pound down.

I'm starting to try to find a theme for Little md's birthday. It's right around the corner. And speaking of the little guy...he's taking steps now. The other day (and a couple of times since) he's taken up to six wobbley little steps all on his own. He absolutely loves to stand right up in the middle of the floor. I absolutely love the look of pride and accomplishment on his face when he does it.

Gosh I hate when D works nights. I hate when he works days too, truth be told. But nights really suck.

Today is Poppy's 92nd birthday. We're having cake for him tomorrow. Ninety two. That's a lot.

I just finished reading Water For Elephants. That's before I knew it was about to be made into a blockbuster starring "Edward" and Reese Witherspoon. Anyway. It's going on my favorite books lists. I really enjoyed it. Maybe I should do a favorite books lists on my sidebar. Yeah. When I have time...

out for now...cranky baby.

Commencing Phase Two!!

I may not have gone into detail earlier about why I joined Weight Watchers. So here's the lowdown...

Back when I was so miserably out of shape with my third pregnancy, it seems I spent a great deal of time looking forward to getting back into shape. Now I was not hating the fact that I was being blessed with another life. It's just that the third pregnancy was particularly hard on me. I was extremely tired and stressed, probably due to the looming project of building a house, or maybe the fact that I was 35 years old, or maybe even because I was chasing two children around. I had no energy and my home was getting further and further away from clean. I daydreamed about someday looking (and feeling) as good as I did in college. Come on! A girl can dream!

I thought about two things mostly. My body. And desperately wanting it to be honed and healthy. And my face. I was tired of the brown patches of pregnancy and the tired eyes with dark circles and the lackluster complexion and the start of the finest of lines.

I decided that as soon as my body was no longer needed for growing and nourishing this third lovely child I was going to turn the focus on myself. Instead of being a living breathing baby making and growing and feeding machine, I was going to become me again. Only a stronger, healthier, and younger looking me. As I said...a girl can dream.

My hope was that I would by six months post partum be well on my way to losing the almost 60 pounds I had gained. That's funny on so many levels.

Level one. I didn't know that I would spend the first three weeks of Little md's life trying to not claw the skin off my body from a horrible pregnancy induced rash.

Level two. I didn't know that sending a child to school for the first year would cause such a total upheaval of anything resembling relaxation.

Level three. I didn't know that trying to keep up with housework in my new abode would demand nearly every waking hour. And speaking of every waking hour....

Level four. I didn't think Little md would be still be waking to eat several times a night at ten months old. This type of prolonged ridiculous exhaustion is soooo num minding...uh I mean mind numbing.

Level five. I certainly didn't prepare for not losing any weight while breast feeding.

I found myself in January weighing in at 140 pounds. Heavier than I have ever been sans baby on board. I was tired. Miserable. And still wearing the occasional article of maternity clothes. I decided to do something. Weight Watchers seemed like something I could do. It was online--no meetings. And my mom was going to sign up with me, so I had a buddy!

WW sets goals for you. I mean I set my final weight goal of 112, but they will let you know when you do 5% or 10%. Anyway. I decided that when I reached the half way point (which worked out to 14 pounds) that I would treat myself to some type of reward.

Today was the big day. I made it. 14 pounds. I was super excited. It has really been hard work. I miss just noshing. And soda. I really miss soda. Even if I only drink caffeine free stuff. The good thing is...I'm eating healthier. More veggies and fruit, less sugar.

Oh and here's a funny. I own two pair of jeans that fit. One is Levis the other is St. John's Bay (a JCPenney brand.) The Levi's have been getting looser and looser over the last few weeks, while the others are getting tighter. Or at the very least not getting looser. What is that about??

Back to my reward. I decided to pull out the issue of Good Housekeeping that I've been saving that lists their top rated skin care anti-aging products. And make a shopping list. As my reward. And as Phase Two of 'getting back my groove'...uh or whatever. 'The Plan'.

I decided to start with three items. A day cream with SPF for moisturizing, a night cream for repair and renewal, and an eye cream to help with dark circles and fine lines. Well the top three in those catagories were two Olay products and one Loreal. My HEB only had the Loreal, so night cream it is. I started using it tonight...

commencing phase two!!!

How we spent D's birthday weekend...

The titles just get snappier and snappier. So to celebrate this year, I took D out to dinner Friday night after conning my parents into watching the monkeys. Which I am realizing I already posted about. ANYway...

Yesterday I tried to clean. Normally when I start to clean I'm like a whirlwind going on and on and forgetting to eat. But I am trying to fight off a cold, so it was more like go in one room start working...rest...rest some more...eat....do a little work...eat...rest...all the while sucking on lemon drops. But then I hit my second wind or something and used my new Bissell Floormate to clean the kitchen and the long hall. After I finally got the hang of it (in no small part to NOT reading the directions) I actually liked it. It's work, but like D says "is it harder than mopping?" And the answer is no.

And for about four hours the floor was spotless. Then I let the family back in the kitchen. Eggs, Dr. Pepper and Doritos ensued. I was careful to only spill water--I'll have you know.

Hehehe while I'm typing this I'm feeding Little md fruit puffs and he takes them on the tip of his tongue like communion hosts.

D took Little d to sell GS cookies door to door with her troop. He's been gone almost two hours. Hope they are having a good time.

Little m is munching on goldfish. I paused to watch her and she said "what? I'm talking to Lunie." Lunie (pronounced Loo-knee) is but one of her three imaginary friends. Jake and Jeremy being the other two.

I am still doing laundry. I think I started the loads a little over two years ago. Seriously. It is taking forever to catch up. I have three loads of kid's clothes alone! Then I decided to change sheets, so there's a couple of those plus all! the! towels!

I must get off here. Fruit puffs are no longer a good enough distraction.

Weigh In Friday!

Okay hold your horses there....three pounds down! I am now a 128...woohoo!

I also wanted to add to my last "rookie mom" post, that I still feel like a rookie mom. And I'm pretty sure that feeling is never going to go away.

I'm also realizing how important this blog is to me. I need to write more because goodness knows that I'm not keeping record of anything anywhere else. I mean not just to record each and every little cuteness and milestone of the kids, but maybe if something ever happened to me...here would be my voice. For them to read about and someday learn about me. I don't mean that in a conceited way. If something ever had happened to one of my parents growing up, it would have meant the world to me to hear in their own words what they thought about everything from politics to tampons.

Soooo I'm going to try to get back into blogging. Which should be easy peasy--just like that whole 'I'm gonna walk on the treadmill everyday' idea I had in January. Here's an update. I walked on the mill twice. That's two times.

Anyway: here's what the kiddos are up too...

Little d. Picture day today--was a vision in fushia and white spring butterflies. But not sequined shoes...because even after trip number two to the store, I didn't get a size that fit. She has a little (big) crush on a boy. The same one from the beginning of the year. She's not sure if he has a crush on her. She's in girl scouts--as a Daisy. And looks so cute in her little blue vest. She (okay D and I) sold quite a few cookies this year. We had the raspberry tea Valentine's Party last Monday and it was a success.

Little m. Still in diapers. Will she ever be potty trained? She not only keeps me on my toes, she keeps me in stitches. Between her expressions and the things that come out of her mouth!

Little md. Cutting a top tooth now. And he has discovered the dance. He bops up and down with bended knees holding on with one hand and waving the other in the air. And grinning ear to ear. It may be the cutest thing you've ever seen. Sometime he sings along.

As for me. I'm still exhausted all the time. And right this second I may be coming down with a cold. Lovely. But I went out to dinner with my hot husband and then cruised through Academy. Nothing like a hot date with the hubby to perk me up. Special thanks to my parents for keeping the monkeys tonight. I am a lucky lady!

Writing assignment...

About a million years ago I used to read blogs written by other people just to pass the time. Oh and because some of them were uproariously funny. Like Mama Kat. So the other day I clicked on her blog again to find myself laughing until tears appeared. I noticed one of her writing prompts was "you know you're a rookie mom when..." and I thought huh. I should totally blog about that.

Well. You know. Me and the whole spare-time thing. I knew there was NO way I would get it done by the due date. Nor did I really want to post and link to another blog right now. My blog is not really viewer friendly right now what with the fits and starts of posting. But I thought it might be fun to try it anyway. Been awhile since I posted anything just for fun. SO here goes...

You Know You're A Rookie Mom When...

The color of poop in the diaper surprises you. Because let's face-it can be just about any color under the rainbow for no reason whatsoever. Except maybe the little sneaks ate a crayon when you weren't looking.

You can't concentrate on a TV show with a kid screaming in the background. I admit I sometimes still have trouble with this one. I've found that sometimes you have to turn the volume all the way up to 18 to actually hear it well enough...

You want sleep more than sex. My mom reads this, so I'm just going to leave it at that. Except to say that sometimes it's still a toss up. But when you're a rookie mom--there is no 'toss up'. It's always sleep. Always.

You wash your hands after wiping your kid's snotty nose with a Kleenex. I know it's horrible to admit, but when you're on kid number three and you know they are all going to get snotty in the end...well the skin on your hands just simply can't take the extra stripping of oils. I mean you are already washing them after diaper changes and dirty laundry and washing dishes. Eesh.

You can't watch the news for fear of seeing a sad story.

You know when you are not making sense and can catch your mistakes. In fact I would say that when you slip so deeply into the oatmeal-for-brains region that your six year old tells you that you didn't buckle her in while leaving the school parking lot, you can officially consider yourself no longer a rookie.

And last...for now...you know you're a rookie mom when no one is calling you for advice. Or maybe I should say you know you're no longer a rookie mom when someone does call you for advice. And it is a pretty good feeling. {Even if you don't know the answer...}

Weigh In Friday!

Well today I weighed two pounds less than last week. So coolio.

I celebrated by eating Sonic tonight. Ick. It has been soooo long since I ate greasy crap-ola. Again I say Ick.

I hope I'm not coming down with something. I am so exhausted this week. Just beyond drained.

It's not a riveting post, but it's real.

A new dress for a funeral

Yesterday I went dress shopping with my mom. Tomorrow I will go to San Antonio for a funeral. My cousin passed away after battling colon and breast cancer for three years. Doctors gave her two at the time of diagnosis, so she beat the odds. But at 47 she was still way too young.

Every morning for the past two or three weeks, after I drop Little d off for school, I pray. I start out praying for Little d to have a good day. Then I've been praying for Sandy. For her peace and comfort. This morning I prayed for Little d as I usually do. But then when I finished, it kind of hit me that Sandy is gone. So I took a breath and prayed for those she left behind. Sandy's mother, {who has lost her husband--almost thirty years ago to a sudden heart attack, and her son--who committed suicide a year ago} and Sandy's husband who took such great care of her, especially in these last few weeks, but really the whole time they were together.

My dress is black and white and red. I bought a shiny alligator skin red purse to match and a red trench coat. I'm planning on looking together on the outside even if I'm not really feeling all that together on the inside.

Snow day!

Minus the snow.

Well the school closed at noon today. I could not be more happy to have the long weekend. It's supposed to snow, but we'll see if it does. I know one thing for shoe-wa....it is COLD out there!

Home made chicken noodle soup tonight. Yum!

Little m's on Tamiflu. She's doing well though. I don't really think it's the flu, but we're following doctor's orders.

D's training in Corpus Christi got cut short! Yeah! He got to come home last night. So all my family is here in our toasty warm house.

So thankful today!

Despicable Me!

No, not the Pixar flick. I just realized that the last post I did was on my mom's birthday...and I failed to mention that! So, happy on the internet super-belated birthday mom!!!

In other news: On weigh in Friday I lost one pound. Which sounds dismal, but I was bloated for monthly reasons. So I'm not beating my myself up. In fact, I stuck with the program all week and didn't drown in chocolate and salty chips. Big accomplishment people...BIG.

Little md is cutting his second tooth and Little d has lost her first tooth and has another loose one. Oh the things going on with teeth in this house.

I am the proud (well let's reserve that title until we see how it works) new owner of a Hoover FloorMate. I compared the Bissell and the Shark, looking for something that would vacuum and mop, and ended up getting the Hoover. Just got it today--it's still in the box...we'll see how it works.

I did so much housework this weekend that I earned 5 activity points on WW.

We finally FINALLY have the muddy portion of the driveway poured. The concrete is still green, but hopefully in a couple of days we can drive on it...bliss!

Off to unload the dishwasher! Ooooh while I'm on the subject of hot water. Our hot water heater sucks! We have to 'reset' it periodically at the most inopportune times. And while I'm on that subject I never leave Lowe's happy. Okay. Now I'm done. :)

A Calling

{I've decided to keep up with blogging.....because goodness knows I'm not scrapbooking, and how will my children know stuff that happened when they were so little?!?}

Yesterday I received some bad, if not unexpected, news. My cousin, who is in her forties, is close to the end of her battle with colon cancer. She was diagnosed with it along with breast cancer. She's had surgeries and treatments, but she was told at the time of diagnoses, that she had about two years. The last time I saw her was around Thanksgiving. She was in the area visiting with her mom and had to be checked into the hospital here. I went to see her. I could tell that she was not doing very well at that time, so I've been preparing myself for what is to come. If one can prepare for that.

******

I had sooo much housework to do this weekend that I almost cancelled going to church with my Dad, but then in the shower I realized that I needed to pray. So I decided to go. I am so glad I did. The priest's homily (sermon) was about being called to serve God. He told a story of how he was called to serve God when he was serving mass as a 7 year old boy in his African village. He said that his father couldn't raise him because he had no money, so he was raised by a Presbyterian man. But that the man allowed him to follow his calling. Anyway it was interesting to me because he said God's call to service comes in different forms. Like some may hear the voice of God or some may just feel led. But then he said some may just feel restless in their current life and not know why. And then it hit me like a lightning bolt. I've felt restless for a while. And mostly I thought of it as aggravation with things like an untidy house, or still not being completely moved out of the other house, or lack of free time to scrapbook or the extra 25 pounds that were not disappearing on their own.

But then I wonder--because I've always felt this need to do something to help people. I mean from the time I was a small child my career choices centered on trying to help others. I didn't want to be a famous singer, I wanted to be a lawyer--so I could get Matagorda Island back for my family. Or I wanted to be a pharmaceutical researcher--so I could find a cure for cancer. Or later I wanted to be a cop--just to help people. I've done tons of volunteer work, from the Adult Literacy Council to Rape Crisis Hotline.

uhg just uhg i've been typing on this post for days

Anyway. I'm not trying to toot my own horn, but I'm just saying maybe that's why I feel restless--because I haven't done something for the greater good in a while. Although a good part of me argues that my something is raising three well adjusted kiddos!! So anyway. I don't know where all this is going. I didn't know where it was going days ago when I started this post. As they say it is what it is.

Oh and what the heck with my title?? Gotta close this one. Maybe I'll have something better later.

Weigh In Friday!!

Lost five pounds. I just may survive this weight watchers thing--said the lady who has been on it for one whole week...

In completely unrelated news...Little d is selling Girl Scout cookies and the Lemonades are total bliss! {and 2 points a piece}

Have a great weekend--I'm hoping to get the tree down...

We have an Advanced Reader on our hands!

Probably in response to my last post --you know where I said she was reading a little, on target for Kindergarten--Little d came home last night with a REAL library book. And now she informs me she is in the "AR Club". I don't know if all school do this or if it's a Texas thing, but it's a program where kids read books outside of class and then take tests for comprehension and get points for reading so many. I don't know all the details, but the BIG news is only a handful of Kinders were selected to start the program, and Little d is one of them.

I am so incredibly proud of her!!