Free Time

I think free time is one of those myths that they tell about in fairy tales...you know the ones that start "Once upon a time there was a mother who had time to clean her house, and decide to fold the clothes, etc." I'm not even talking about the "free time" where I might get to choose a fun activity for me...I'm talking about the free time where I might get to choose to mop the kitchen or vacuum the den.
I had the illusion that I might have some free time this morning. It all began yesterday when my baby-sitter, Ben, said that he was going to take the kids swimming at his apartment because his sister was done with her finals until Friday. He was going to pick up the kids early for a Wednesday (3 whole hours early) so that they had time to get wet and have fun and then be back for lunch and naps.
I stayed up waaayyyy to late finishing my stats final and fell asleep pondering my many options for what to do with that childless, homework free time that was coming. I could mop the kitchen. I could clean up the toy room. I could wrap birthday presents or run a few errands. How in the world was I going to decide what I was going to do?
In the morning it was decided for me.
When I went to bed I had placed my glasses on the dresser.
When I woke up this morning my glasses were on the floor in two pieces.
I have had familiarity with the occasional screw falling out on a pair of glasses, but this was a bit more serious. The entire arm...just after the screw...was broken off on the left side of my glasses.
I also happened to notice a small child had joined us during the night. I was so tired I don't know exactly when we gained a third inhabitant in my bed.
As close as I can figure Andy must have been thirsty when he came to climb in bed with us. My guess is that he got a drink of water out of the glass on my dresser and in the process knocked off my glasses. Then he probably tried to pick up the glasses and perhaps was standing on the arm? I don't know. I can't imagine how else you might break some glasses in the same way.
.
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So my morning was spent going to the eye doctor. Since we have moved I couldn't just go back to the place and order a new arm. Of course even though I was sure that my prescription had not changed much (it hadn't) they couldn't just read the prescription on my glasses and make new ones. I had to do the whole vision check and picking out glasses and such. And of course the place I went it will take 5-7 days for the glasses to come in. Now I just need to decide which is less annoying...constantly adjusting glasses that are only being held on by one arm...or constantly seeing a wad of tape in my peripheral vision.

Bed Springs

Jim has decided that there must be a set of springs on my side of the bed. When I sit down on the bed I immediately pop back up and go to do something else (besides going to bed). Last night I sat down, popped back up to go set my alarm, and when I sat back down Jim grabbed onto me and said "I got you...I thought you were going to spring off the bed again."

I have some sort of syndrome where you can't just do something like go to bed...you have to stop and move the laundry, empty the dishwasher, pick up the socks littering the floor, load the car, etc. all while you are in the process of brushing your teeth on the way to bed. You can't just go down and turn off the lights in the playroom...you have to carry a load of toys down the steps, feed the cats, change their water, find something that needs to come upstairs, etc. You get the picture.

I think it is called Multi-distractitis or something like that.....

Optimist or Pessimist

I don't know if I am an optimist or a pessimist. I used to firmly label myself as an optimist. Then, after a few things in college made me a little more jaded, I am not sure where I fall. I know that it is not just a matter of whether the glass is half full or half empty. Some one truly pessimistic might say that it doesn't matter because the glass is going to get spilled anyway. Someone who is totally optimistic might say it doesn't matter because I can always get a refill.

So this morning started out with me accidentally knocking over one of the boy's glasses of grape juice. The good news is that the junk mail soaked most of it up and after I cleaned everything up the counter was clear.

Job Update

Just an update on the job front. I have applied for a few on-campus jobs...but Jim and I were talking about things and thinking about it and decided that if we can free up some money that is currently going to child care that perhaps I can continue on as a GA next year. So I am looking at putting the boys in a preschool and then using that time to work from home while I watch Jo. Three will need to be a couple days I pass the kids to Jim for the afternoon and hopefully that will cover everything. Now I have to see if there is an opening in a decent preschool with openings for two.

Picking up the pieces

This morning Jo and Andy slept in a little, so for awhile it was just Doug and me. Doug asked for cereal for breakfast so I put a generous handful of Cheerios in a bowl. He said he wanted milk on it, and I told him that he would have to sit at the table. So he picked up his bowl and headed for the table. The poor guy tripped when he got to the kitchen floor and spilled all but two Cheerios.

Yes it was fortunate that they were dry and that they were on the smooth kitchen floor, but that is how the whole day felt...like I was picking up the pieces. Everything I had planned to do didn't get done, and everything that I did was important but something that I didn't know needed to be done and it had to be done right away (I need one of those signs that says "a crisis on your part does not constitute a crisis on my part")

It's never dull....

I remember (for some reason) a minister who told a story about the children coming up during the service for the Children's Minute. In the story the person talking to the children asked the question "What is grey, and has a big bushy tail?" One of the children answered "The answer in church is always Jesus, but it sure sounds like a squirrel to me."

Well, I wish I could say that it was Jesus that we found in the basement workroom....

Sunday Jim and I both commented that we thought we heard noises below Jo's room. Jim checked and both cats were in the main part of the house. I kind of dismissed it as a little weird and went on with life.
Last night I had Jo in my arms and Doug was with me and we went into the workroom to look for a box. All of a sudden I saw a flash of grey and a bushy tail go over a pile of boxes.
Yep, we had a squirrel in the workroom where we still have piles of boxes waiting to be unpacked.
Now, the last time I know for sure that the door to the workroom was open was about a week and a half ago...
I tried to break the news to Jim as gently as possible. Jim and I had a discussion about how to get the squirrel out. I even called the pest control people (they don't deal with wild life) and Fish and Game (they gave recommendations but don't do actual removal).
So I was for trying to scare him out in the evening and Jim was for leaving the door open during the next day.
We went down after the boys were in bed and tried to scare him out but he just went farther into the workroom and we couldn't get him out. So Jim decided that in the morning he would open the door and hopefully the squirrel would find his own way out.
This morning Jim came up and reported that "Rocky" didn't make it through the night...he was dead on the basement floor this morning.
I am guessing he died of dehydration and I am at least reasoning that now we at least know he is for sure gone. What they don't tell you when you by that existing house with an established yard is that it also means wildlife....

Finishing up

I would like to report that I actually finished something.
You might not be aware how on-going some of these house projects are, but I did actually finish something. I wish I could say that we are unpacked and blah blah blah....but we are not even close to unpacked. Somehow daily living, taking care of sick children, and coursework has taken priority.
So I am happy to report that here is my list of things I have actually finished recently....
1) I finally got all of the cupboard handles on the doors and drawers in the bathroom (the kitchen is another story but I have made progress).
2) I FINALLY moved the furniture around in the den. I had been attempting to do it for quite some time. Every time I would get things picked up enough to move the furniture around either a child would need something, it was time to leave or go to bed, or something else would happen. So I finally did it (woohoo...we are no longer craning our necks side-ways to watch TV). I still have a bunch of stuff to unpack in there, but the bones of the room are in place.
3) I got Jo's clothes switched over to the next size. Weight-wise she could probably still wear the old clothes (she is somewhere in the middle of 25-50% weight) but her torso is long (length-wise she is in the 50-75%). So I got out her new clothes.
4) I also got the boys shirt drawer cleaned out a little. For some reason they have twice as many shirts as pairs of pants and we have everything from one lingering 24 month size shirt (Andy doesn't want to give up Bob the Builder), to 2T, 3T, and even a few 4T shirts. Doug has a big head (think Charlie Brown....) so putting a shirt with a small neck hole on him is not a happy process. So the criteria for cleaning out was whether the shirt was too small, and whether the neck hole was small. I have yet to address the sock issue though...one step at a time.
5) We made cookies on Friday! I have had some baking items left on the counter for a few weeks now and I cleaned them up by actually making the cookies I had intended to make.
I am also happy because I have discovered GoogleApps. Not only can I now type a document and have it "be" on whatever computer I happen to be on as long as it is connected to the Internet, but if you use iGoogle as your homepage you can put a To DO list on there. I LOVE To Do lists. Perhaps it will help me stay organized....we'll see.

Mind shift

I had a discussion with the department head last week. It answered some questions about stipends, things about teaching versus not teaching course work, etc. (there is no difference in pay in my department whether you teach a class or not and there are no funded positions for the summer).
I am in the process of wrapping my mind around the idea that I cannot really afford to be a Graduate Assistant next year.
I HATE looking for a job and I HATE the idea of having to put my kids in a full-time day care. I know that it will not be horrible for the kids and that I have really been very fortunate to have them be taken care of at home for so long. I have been very fortunate this year to have even more time with them then I would have had should we have stayed where we were at and not moved. I just have to get my mind wrapped around what my choices are. I will continue working on my PhD, but just won't be a graduate assistant. I don't really want to go back to a classroom full of elementary school kids...I will be the first to admit that discipline is not my strongest point and also the first to admit that I really want something with less responsibility while I am working on my doc classes.
I just have to get my mind wrapped around the possibilities....TOO much to think about.

Why?

Why is it that professors always make everything due the same week? (Do they have secret meetings to decide when to load up the students?)
Why is it that when you are already running late your kids decide to pick on each other and you know you have to deal with it and can't just leave it for your spouse?
Why is it that the day it rains the hardest is the day that you have the most walking to do?
Why is it that when you know you have a ton to do, everyone wants to talk to you and hash and rehash things over and over?

It has been a busy week with assignments and I have class Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. I will survive this and look back and laugh...right?

Cycles

So everyone has heard of the water cycle, and if I remember from my science days there is a nitrogen cycle. Around our house there are two common cycles ....the dish cycle and the laundry cycle.
Lately the dish cycle has been functioning pretty well. It is somewhat helped along by the fact that the dishwasher in this house appears to have the most inconvenient of arrangements for the bottom rack. I actually quite like the top rack, but the bottom rack is horrid. You put three dishes in and it is full...well perhaps that is an exagerration but not by much. SO therefore we run it fairly frequently and it is quick to load and unload.
Now the laundry cycle is a whole other story.
Somehow, starting last week I have gotten off on the whole wash, sort, fold, and hopefully get at least relatively close to putting in the appropriate drawers cycle. It seems to have all started when Jim twisted his ankle and in the process tore a pair of pants and suddenly had to change before going to work. From there, realizing that the man is hard on pants anyway, it became a survival thing to try and make sure that he had a clean pair for the next day (probably partly due to the fact that he has two or three pairs of pants in need of repair and I have been swamped between Ben the baby-sitter being sick and my own coursework).
This was probably further agrevated by the fact that the laundry basket in our room got moved into the laundry room and somehow never managed to find it's way home to the corner of our room. So therefore there were the piles of laundry waiting to be washed that were sitting on our floor, the piles of laundry in our room that were where we had put our clothes after the laundry basket had gone AWOL, and then various small clothing deposits around the house where small children with and without help had stripped various clothing items (the most common one being socks).
So it culminated in me getting ready to change the boy's diapers this morning and in fact wondering if I even had any clean pants to put them in. I knew that I had a huge number of clean shirts, but clean pants where a big question mark.

I did in fact find two pairs of clean pants, and made a huge push to get back on track with the laundry cycle. ...now if I could just find time to actually try and match up all of those wonderful kid's socks...somehow I didn't have any unmatched socks before I had children.

Knocked out

We are recovering in many ways around here. Monday Jim twisted his ankle and Tuesday we finally took down our baby-sitter, Ben. After a year and a half (well…during the school year, year and a half) of baby-sitting for us he finally had to say he was sick enough he couldn’t keep up with the kids. So if my posts seem short it is because I haven’t had a minute to stop and actually write anything. Hopefully Ben will be back up and running at full capacity shortly. When he called me to see if we could cut the day short I came home and then sent him off with a bottle of Nyquil a bottle some other medicine and instructions to sleep. Jim’s ankle is definitely recovering and he is almost back to full capacity also.
Now we just need the weather to warm up so that everyone can get well and the kids can go outside to play.

Mommy mommy day

Today was the first Friday I was home with the kids.
We actually had a pretty good day overall...but it felt like a bit of a rollercoaster.
It started out ok. The boys and I had planned to make cookies. So we looked at the recipe and realized that we only had tub margarine and needed to go to the store. Maybe is was because I chose a regular grocery store rather than a mega mart or because we only had three items on the list, but the boys were really well behaved. The store didn't have any carts with seating for more than one child, but the boys stayed right with me, and I didn't have to get on to them about wondering or getting into anything.
They were also really good about helping with making the cookie dough. I did have to call my mom because I realized that I couldn't find a tablespoon measure (don't know if it was somewhere else in the kitchen or just not unpacked) and I needed to confirm how many teaspoons were in a tablespoon (woohoo! I was right.). The boys were also really good about helping make some brownies. They followed directions and were actually helpful.
They did reasonably well with lunch (as did Jo). Then...nap time was where we fell apart.
Normal Doug is the one who has trouble falling asleep and I know that naps (even with my babysitter) have been a little shaky lately like the boys might be getting close to not needing them anymore.
Well, I thought Doug seemed tired...he wanted to be held and was putting his head down on my shoulder. Andy even climbed right in bed. However I could hear lots of talking and noise.
I don't even think it was 15 minutes later that I heard enough to go look back in their room and they had pulled all the books off their shelf (which is fortunately just one shelf at the moment since I still have not found the brackets for the other shelves) and all of the extra bed linens and their sleeping bags out from the bottom of their closet. I picked it all up and got them back in bed and we tried again.
Less than 15 minutes later I hear noise again (though they did start out quieter this time) and sure enough they had done the same thing a second time. So this time I took all of that stuff out with me and put them back in bed. I did promise them that if they would stay in bed for 15 minutes and if I found them awake when I peeked in that they could get out. I gave them the offer of one toy to hold or a book to read.
Well, I am almost wishing that I had left the books and sheets in the room. I heard noise (I don't even think it was ten minutes) and looked in and they had pulled all of their clothing out of their dresser drawers and also almost all of their shirts off of the hangers in the closet (breaking 4 plastic hangers in the process...fortunately we have a ton of these). I resist the urge to just throw everything back in the drawers and actually do make them help me get all of the clothes in the dresser and even in the right drawers (and actually even taking time to put long sleeve shirts on one side and short sleeve on the other). Then I let them out of their room with no TV and no cookies (we had made the dough but it had to refrigerate...and the brownies hadn't been cut into at that point).
It was killing them that they couldn't watch TV or have cookies. Finally I give Andy the option of laying on his bed for quiet time for 20 minutes and he actually tells me he wants to go sleep. So Andy did end up taking a nap. Doug on the other hand, stubborn guy that he is, decides to stay up. He actually did pretty well but almost fell asleep during dinner.
Then the day ends with giving the kids a bath. I bathed all three in the tub in the bathroom between their rooms. It starts out like the other times I have bathed them all together...Jo thrilled to be included with her brothers and Andy and Doug just wanting to dump water on each other and on Jo. Then when I go to turn the water off the hot water won't turn off all the way. We're not just talking a small drip...we're talking a steady small stream. Jim couldn't even get it off with pliers so he had to turn off the hot water at the hot water heater, and then we couldn't find a breaker that seemed to turn off the hot water heater. So tomorrow we have a plumber coming...

Phrases

I know that people develop their own way of saying things and sometimes their own phrases, but have you ever had someone mention that you say something odd? I'm not just talking about regional differences in language like whether you say soda or pop, or if you turn on a light versus cutting on the light.
After you are told that you say a certain thing it can make you uber aware whenever you think or say that phrase.
I know I have a few odd phrases that I say.
My mom used to comment that my twin sister and I would talk about "getting up in the 7's" or "getting up in the 8's." To us that meant that we got up sometime during the 7 o'clock hour (or 8 o'clock for the second example) but we didn't notice exactly when.
Jim laughed at me when I used to say that a parking lot was "all parked up." (…meaning of course that the parking lot was really full.)
Well, recently Jim has commented on the fact that I say "very occasionally." He says that the words are contradictory and that I don't need the very to modify occasionally.
He's right of course, but somehow I can't seem to stop using it and now I notice whenever that phrase enters my head. I suppose it isn't such a big deal but now I am uber conscious of it and I know that there is an emphasis on professor speaking correctly. I suppose I will eventually get over it and stop noticing it even if I still very occasionally use the phrase.

Doctor Office

I went to the doctor's office today for my cough. Just to give you an idea of how long I waited:
I skimmed all but the final chapter of one of my professor's dissertations,
I read three chapters in my Educational Research book,
I read most of one chapter in my Technology in Education book....

and then I got to see the doctor. Perhaps Monday is not the best day for a walk-in appointment.

The big push

As I said before we have been very slowly unpacking. This weekend we have friends and family coming to stay with us because Jo is going to be baptized on Sunday. After church we will also have a bunch of people out to the house for lunch to celebrate.

While all of them understand that we recently moved in I really really want to get a bunch of stuff unpacked or moved around so that no one is tripping over boxes. We also need to do some serious cleaning that we have been ignoring so far. I have already finally emptied out the trailer (even though we haven't been staying in it for more than a month). I just hope that I can get most if not all of it done. I do have the fact that I worked a little last weekend so I am able to take off today to work on home things.

So if you find a few extra hours in the day I would love to have you send them my way.

Being a parent

This morning I was thinking about how you end up doing and saying things as a parent that it never occurred to you you might do. This morning I was freshly out of the shower when Jo started crying and I went to pick her up. Her nose was running and sure enough she rubbed her runny nose all over my chest.
Maybe it is just that all of my children are so young still that there are things that if I really stopped to think about them would make me just go "ewwww."

I have picked buggers and been forced to eat things that had previously been in someone else's mouth when the boys INSIST on sharing. I have said things that I never dreamed would come out of my mouth...like "get down off the table" or "stop poking that giraffe in your sister's face."

There are also the things that are really hard to do to/with your children because you don't want them to hurt but you know they will be better for it: like holding your child down while they draw blood to determine if there is an infection, or holding them while they get a shot, or trying to get everything clean while you are changing a diaper and the child has diaper rash that you know stings.

Being a parent is one roller coaster ride.

A screw costs how much???

So since we broke down and bought the hex wrench to put some furniture together I actually put the dining room table together (with much "help more work" from Andy and Jo).
Then we went to Jo's room to put together her crib. I had it 3/4ths put together when I discovered that one of the screws was missing. I was committed to getting the crib together because I had already taken down the pack'n play and she was going to have to have some place to sleep.
Since Jim was working on laundry I loaded up all the kids and headed to the home improvement store to buy "a screw." Of course I also thought...well if I am going to have to go there anyway I might as well also get a new blind for the boys' room (since they ripped off the old one that was only half stapled on) and I need to get something to take care of the previous owners installation of carpet on the stairs (where they had used staples and carpet tacks that were pulling up and Doug had already scratched his foot twice).
So... we found a screw that would work with some help from an employee.
Then I asked about the carpet issue and went to a different department to talk to another employee. This lead to a phone consultation with Jim to make a decision and get some measurements.
Then we went to get the new blind, but on the way remembered we needed more shelf liners. And, oh yeah, I passed the picture hanging hardware and we needed to get something to make a hanger for the picture of the kids the baby-sitter gave us for Christmas so I picked that up as we passed it.
So we found the pull down shade we needed but of course it needed to be caught so I have to wait for an employee to come cut the blind. Then I start thinking that if I have someone there already I should go ahead and replace the old shade in Jo's room and the master bedroom (since they are curling and cracked). So I have to call Jim again and get him to measure how long they have to be.
Then we go back and get the carpet transition piece since I now have measurements and all that from Jim.
Finally we get to go check out. Suddenly the one, less than a dollar, screw we came for has added up to some serious money. I don't know that Jim will let me go to the home improvement store again by myself....

Avalanche

So if you heard a loud "phump!" and thought maybe there had been an avalanche that was the sound of a whole lot of work being dumped on my plate. It started Friday when suddenly I had my paper and a professor's paper to work on over the weekend. Then there was the stuff I grabbed on Thursday because I thought I might have a little bit of time on the weekend (which of course the answer was no I didn't have time). Somehow we haven't even had a week of classes this semester and there is already tons to do.
So perhaps part of my problem is perfectionism
and part is procrastination (I am the queen at using one important thing to procrastinate on doing another important thing)
and part is being indecisive about prioritizing (Me: You mean that I actually have to make a decision about what to tackle first? Ack! I'll just start it all)
So did I get things done this weekend?
No! I DID things but I wouldn't say I actually FINISHED anything.

Jim got more kitchen unpacked, I moved around some furniture, we broke down and bought the tool we need to put together Jo's crib and the table and etc. and we will probably find our tool tomorrow. I even made a stab at organizing toys in the play room.

Reminders

Every so often I feel like I get this nudge that reminds me about something...it might be something that I really need to remember or it might be something that gives me perspective on how far I have come.
Last Fall I was looking up an education research article for one of the profs I work for and suddenly came across a Math article written by someone I graduated college with. It turns out that she had gotten a doctorate, had gotten married (I'm not sure on the order), had a daughter, and is working at a small university on the East coast. It took me back to my undergraduate days and made me remember things that I hadn't thought about for a long time. Today I walked across campus to buy my textbooks for the new semester. I watched all the undergraduates and realized that even though I started as an undergraduate almost 15 years ago (wow!) that they were not that different then I was at the time. I was realizing how much I had changed since then.

Last night at choir we were singing a piece that had the phrase "peace that passes understanding" in it. That was my breath prayer back when I was thinking about having such a thing. It reminded me that I missed that and that I needed to keep that with me.

Shave and a Haircut....

So I really need to take some pictures...but we went a little crazy with the razor on Saturday.
Jim needed a haircut so I did it (I have given him haircuts before) in the laundry room. I don't currently know where my hand held mirror is so I held up one of Jo's toys that has a mirror on it and he trimmed his beard.

Then...I have been threatening to have Jim cut my hair for awhile now. If you have short hair and you go to a hair stylist with short hair and just let her cut it...it usually ends up about the same shape as her hair. After my last haircut I came home and Jim said "I think I could do that." Well, we did. I lost about 2 inches off which is not unreasonable since I hadn't had it cut since the beginning of November.

Then Doug was saying "hair cut me, hair cut me." So he hopped up in the chair and we buzzed him. Then Andy was next. Jo didn't get a hair cut because she doesn't have enough to cut yet.

When we were done there was a huge pile of hair on the floor. We probably saved ourselves about $60 not included and broken bottles of expensive haircare products. When I remember to get the camera out I will definitely post some photos.