Our Own Little Peggy Ann McKay

We've had a mysterious illness in our house the last couple of days.  It seems to flare up whenever the subject of something which could potentially be perceived as unpleasant by an 8-year-old comes up.  Church, for example.  Or school.

But not so much when going sledding or playing the Wii are mentioned.

Funny how that works.

The thing is, we're on to her.  She may think she has us fooled, what with all the sympathetic hugs and the "I'm so sorry you're not feeling good.  Maybe you should go lie down", but she's wrong.  In fact, I've discovered as a parent that the believability of a medical complaint is directly disproportionate to the number of times that complaint is expressed within an hour.

And also to the degree of bounciness in the child's body as they issue the complaint.

But I'm never telling my kids this.  The last thing I want to do is teach them how to be better liars.

Random Thoughts Thursday

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Ellie is already composing her Christmas list for next year.  At the top of the list?  A puppy.  Also, a veterinarian's lab (in case the puppy gets sick) and a treehouse.

Why is it that my children find it impossible to speak to each other respectfully?  And yet they have no problem being respectful to everyone else?

I think my generation is, as a whole, lazier than the one before.  I can think of no other explanation for the abundance of pajamas I see on the parents at my children's school, often at 3:00 in the afternoon.

This morning in the shower I thought of three things I wanted to put in this post.  Now I can't remember what any of them are.

When Lexi called Ellie a preschooler this morning, Ellie said, "I am NOT a preschooler!  I'm a pre-kindergartner!"
I have three blog post ideas floating around right now, so maybe I'll get back to more frequent posting.  Life is busy.

I used to make fun of an old commercial (I think it was for KFC) where the voiceover said something like, "A homecooked meal, on a weeknight?!?"  I didn't get it then.  I've had a meal planned for the last two weeks and haven't been able to fix it because it takes more time than I've had in the evenings.  On the plus side, that means I have everything I need for a fairly decent meal, so I can make it whenever I want.  On the minus side, this is an indicator of just how truly busy life has become.  We've been subsisting on my collection of fast & easy meals for way too long.

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Public Service Announcement

I thought I'd share a bit of useful information with all of you:

Never assume you know a web address and type it in from memory.

Because you could end up with some very...um...surprising results.

See, we bought a new piece of electronic equipment recently, and were required to register it online and download some software so we could manage it from our computer.  I figured the website would just be www.nameoftheproduct.com, so I just typed it in and hit enter.

And I have never been more grateful in my life that there were no children in the room with me.

Turns out it's www.MYnameoftheproduct.com.  The other site was apparently already taken, by an organization that very clearly has nothing whatsoever to do with the product we purchased.  No. Thing.

I would love to be less vague, but I'm afraid of the potential Google search hits I could generate if I actually write what the website advertised, so I'll leave it up to your imagination.  I'm sure whatever you're thinking is at least close, if not spot on.

You're welcome.  Now, where did I put that brain bleach?

Making Lemonade

This evening on the way home from dance class we dropped Lexi off at her friend's house for a sleepover.

Ellie was aware that this was happening, because Lexi hasn't talked about much else for days.  But when the friend's big sister took Lexi's place in the car, with a pillow in tow, it dawned on Ellie that everyone was having a sleepover but her.

But, of course, my children are calm, rational people, so we were able to discuss the matter in our big girl voices and without tears.

Yeah, right.

What actually happened is that she wailed and sobbed inconsolably for a minute or two before gaining enough control to hear me when I reminded her that sometimes she gets to have playdates and her sisters don't, and sometimes they get to have playdates or other things and she doesn't.  "That's just life," I said.

And she said, "Oh, yeah?  Well, life is dumb!"

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My original plan was to end the post there, because it's funny, but in the time since then, Ellie has decided that it's okay if Lexi has a sleepover with Anya and Vicki has a sleepover with Kate, because she's going to have a sleepover with no one!!!

She dragged her sleeping bag and the elephant tent out of the garage and has cleared a spot in the horribly messy bedroom so we can set it up for her.  She's going to camp out on the floor and have a fabulous time, and she says being by herself isn't going to be a problem at all, because she'll have her stuffed animals to keep her company.

After the "life is dumb" comment, I asked her if she thought all of life is dumb.  Her first response was a very stubborn "Yes!", but when I asked if life is dumb when she's playing with friends, or reading stories with Daddy, or eating yummy food, she had to admit that it's not.

And apparently that's all it took tonight to turn her lemons into lemonade.

It's good to remember that yes, sometimes life is dumb, but most of the time it's actually pretty awesome.

And, of course, sleeping in the elephant tent, even by yourself, is way cooler than sleeping on a dumb old bed.

Random Thoughts Thursday

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I need to post between Thursdays.  I just wish I could remember all those things that happen that make me think, This would make a great blog post!

This morning I walked past the bus stop outside the girls' school, and I noticed something written in the fogged up window: "May 21, 2011 is the date of the rapture."  Good to know.

I can remember when I was little and my dad went on the occassional business trip.  It was always a pretty big deal.  Now Chris is out of town every other week and the girls don't bat an eye.  It's just what Daddy does.

I can also remember when he was in school and working late nights at the studio, and I hated being home with the girls without him.  I used to drive half an hour to my parents' house at least once a week just to avoid those long evenings at home alone once the girls were in bed.  Now I don't bat an eye, either.  It's just what we do.

I'm feeling a little burned out on the whole Girl Scout thing.  I guess it's that time of year.  Volunteering ain't easy.

You know when you finish a really, really good book, and then there's nothing to read that can quite compare?  I'm feeling that way.  But I'm excited that I finally have a group of people to discuss the really, really good book with!  I love my book group.

I had a hankering yesterday for a Dime bar, which, of course, they don't sell in this country.  Heath bar comes close, but it's not the same.  Since I couldn't get a fix, I decided to watch old commercials instead.  Here's my favorite, for your viewing pleasure:



Yes, I know I'm weird. I also know that now-unlimited access to YouTube is a very dangerous thing. Funny, but dangerous.

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I almost forgot it was Thursday!  Would anyone have noticed?

Sometimes I feel like I'm the only person who really gets it (whatever any given "it" may be).  But maybe I'm actually the only one who doesn't.

Having sick kids is definitely easier when the kids are older, but it's not any more fun.

I am completely and hopelessly addicted to the show Lost.  It's probably a good thing that the whole thing was over before I started watching it, because I'm not sure I could have waited between seasons.  Now I can just watch it whenever I have time.

Did you know there are still people out there with dial-up internet?  Well, as of tomorrow there will be one less.  It's pathetic how excited I am.

I kind of hate having money to spend, because I can think of all kinds of things I want when I have no money, but as soon as I have the cash, I'm afraid whatever I buy will turn out to be the wrong thing.  I used to be the queen of impusle purchases, but not anymore.  That's a good thing, but still...I'm annoying myself.

Cookie sales have begun.  If you want any, you know who to call!

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Apparently They Do Listen to Me

This was a morning that made me feel like I've been doing something right as a parent.

Maybe not everything, but something.

I was up all night with Ellie when she was sick, and I didn't really get any sleep during the day yesterday, because she was holding me to a very strict schedule: a teeny-tiny spoonful of frozen Pedialyte ("juice slushies") and ice chips every 15 minutes.  That's what the advice nurse said to do, and since I wouldn't let her have anything else, those incremental treats were incredibly important to her.  At the most, I had maybe five 5-minute catnaps all day long.

25 (broken) minutes of sleep in a 36-hour time period does not a happy mommy make.

I collapsed into bed at 9:00 last night.  It would have been sooner, but Chris had an unavoidable church meeting, so I still had to get the kids in bed and the house in a state I didn't mind waking up to before I could crash.

This morning right before Chris left for work he mentioned that it looked like it hadn't warmed up quite as predicted.  Apparently he knew this because the tree in front of our house was awfully shiny.  Also, the car was covered in ice.  I asked (it might have been more of a command, really) him to bring me my phone, and there was a text message saying school was canceled, so I just rolled over and went right back to sleep.  This was at about 6:30am.

I vaguely remember hearing the girls' alarms go off at 7:00, but since I knew there wasn't any school, I didn't worry about getting up to force them to help them get moving.

At 8:00 Vicki knocked on the door, fully dressed, and told me she and Lexi just wanted to let me know that they had gotten themselves breakfast and were all ready for school and just waiting for their ride to come pick them up.

And I dissolved into a puddle of mushy happy mommy right there on the bed.

We're always talking to them about responsibility and self-reliance, but they don't often have the opportunity to demonstrate those skills in such a major way.

They were a little bummed when they found out that they didn't actually have school today.  Well, okay, Vicki was bummed.  She said, "You mean I got all dressed and ready for nothing?"  Lexi just said, "Woohoo!" followed quickly by, "Can I play the Wii?"

The rest of our morning hasn't been quite so perfect and parentally blissful (at least one child may have been banned from the Wii for the rest of the day, and someone might have been sent to their room at one point to gain control of their emotions), but at least I know that my kids really do listen (at least sometimes) and take what we teach them to heart.

Knowing that, I can handle all the rest.

Tick...tick...tick...

Last night at 10:30 I told Chris I was just going to read one more chapter and then I’d turn off the light. Two minutes later a small person named Ellie knocked on our door and announced, “Um, I'm really sorry but I just threw up on my bed.”

And so it begins.


A moment of peace in the middle of a raging storm


The poor girl is so sick. She was tossing her cookies every 10 minutes for three hours. After that it got a little better, but she’s still struggling to keep anything, even Pedialyte, down. Thankfully, she has developed good aim, and The Throw-up Bowl (which we haven’t been able to bring ourselves to use for food for going on ten years now) is always close by.

And, amazingly, her sisters slept through the whole ordeal. Somehow my children have developed that uncanny, but incredibly useful, ability. No matter who’s doing the heaving, or how horrendous it is, the other two always manage to sleep through it.

But we all know that the stomach flu is like a time bomb. I’m just waiting to see who will be unfortunate enough to get in the way when it goes off next.

Please let it not be me...

Random Thoughts Thursday

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This morning I burned myself a copy of Lexi’s Wicked CD so we could stop fighting over it. All I can say is that show better come to Portland soon so we can see it and get it out of our systems.

I am putting my Christmas cards – okay, New Year’s cards – in the mail tomorrow. I swear.

I haven’t missed a day yet on my new round of Project 365! Granted, it’s only the 6th, but, as they say, start as you mean to go on! I have to beat 361 days, so I better pay attention.

Of course, Chris took the camera to California with him today, but I can’t really use that as an excuse, since Vicki and Lexi both own decent cameras and are as excited about this project as I am.

If you haven’t yet tried Costco’s dark chocolate-covered pomegranates, you really must. But don’t blame me when you can’t stop eating them. Antioxidants are a good thing, and I’m sure they totally outweigh any potential bad that could come from consuming way more than you should. Right?

Just a heads up: Girl Scout cookies go on sale this weekend. Plan accordingly.

I am in need of a robot that cleans out closets. And also finds new places to store more stuff. Anyone know where I could find such a thing?

I haven’t done any laundry since we got home. I think it’s time to suck it up and get started, but I have no desire at all to do so, and, honestly, I still have plenty of underwear, so what’s the rush?

Maybe we should become nudists.

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A bit of advice for the linky tool: please link directly to your Random Thoughts Thursday post, and not to your entire blog. To do this, simply click on the title of your post. This will take you to that post's page, and you can then copy and paste that url into the linky. This way people linking from my blog won’t have to scroll through any other posts you might put up to find your randomness. Thanks!